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V 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


City  of  Columbus 


Capital  of  Ohio, 


BY 


ALFRED  B:  lee,  A.  M. 

Author  of  *'Euroi>ean  Days  and  Ways,"  *' Battle  of  Gettysburg," 

Sketches  and  Studies  of  Leading 
Campaigns,"  etc. 


<< 


IN  TWO   VOLUMES. 

ILLUSTRATED. 
VOLXTLrOC    I. 


■  J 

I 


PUBLISH BD  BY 

MUNSELL  it.  CO., 

Kkw  York  and  ChicaOo. 

1892. 


i 


CC>I»YWIGH'r,    lHf»l*. 
BY 
PVIUNSKLU   A  CO,    NKW    VORK 


TO  THE 

Brave,  Honesthearted,  Muchenduring  Men  and  Women 

vrho  'vsrere  the  pioneer  architects  of  civilization  in  Central  Ohio ; 

,to  all  of  their  successors  ^vho,  by  industry,  intelligence  and 

virtue,  have   contributed   to   the   advancement   of   their 

'vsrork  to  its  present  majestic  proportions  ;   and  to  all 

who  shall  hereafter  strive  with   honest  purpose 

to   carry  forward   that    work    to    results    yet 

more     beneficent    and     beautiful,     these 

volumes   are  respectfully  dedicated. 

THE    AUTHOR. 


3ai.9r:i3 


^ 


CONTENTS 


Origin  op  the  State:  Paqe. 

Chapter  I.  The  Ohio  Wilderness Alfred  E.  Lee.        3 

Chapter  II.  The  Prehistoric  liaces Alfred  E.  Lee.      19 

Chapter  III.  Ancient  Earthworks  in  Franklin  County    .    James  Linn  Rodgers  44 

Chapter  IV.  The  Iroquois  an<l  Aljjonquins                    .  Alfred  E.  Lee.  ()2 

Chapter  V.  Advent  of  the  While  Man Alfre^l  E.  Lee.  81 

Chapter  VI.  Founding  of  Ohio Alfred  E.  Lee.  105 

Chapter  VI.  The  Territorial  Government          ....  121 

Chapter  VI.  The  State  Government 123 


Oric.in  op  the  City 

Chapter  VI L 
Chapter  VIII. 
Chapter  IX. 
Chapter  IX. 
Chapter      X. 


Franklinton     I Alfred  E.  Lee.  135 

Franklinton  II Alfred  E.  Lee.  152 

Franklinton  III Alfred  E   Lee.  104 

Franklin  County  (Mvil  List        ....  174 

Worthington Alfre<l  E.  Ue.  184 


Evolution  of  the  City  : 


Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 


XL 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVL 

XVIL 

XVIIL 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXL 

XXII. 

XXIIL 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XX  VL 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 


The  Forest  Settlement    ....        Alfred  E.  I^e.  201 

The  First  War  Episode      ....     Alfred  E.  Lee.  230 

The  First  Public  Buildings     .  Alfred  E.  Lee.  251 

The  Capital  as  a  Borough.  1816  1834.    I.     Alfred  E.  Lee.  2(K) 

The  Capital  as  a  Borough.  1810-18:J4.  11.     Alfred  E,  Lee.  273 

The  Borough  Taverns  and  Coffeehouses    .  Alfred  E.  Lee.  281 

Fur,  Feather  and  Fin      ....        Alfred  E.  Lee.  291 

The  Scioto  River Alfred  E.  Lee.  301 

From  Trail  to  Turnpike  .        Alfred  E.  l^e.  311 

The  National  Road Alfred  E.  Lee.  320 

The  Canal Alfred  E.Lee.  330 

Mail  and  Stagecoach  ....     Alfred  E.  Lee.  341 

Mail  and  Telegraph         ....        Alfred  E.  Lee.  357 

Beginnings  of  Business        ....     Alfred  E.  Lee.  308 

Business  Evolution  ....        Alfred  E.  Lee.  380 

Banks  and  Banking    ....         John  J.  Janney.  390 

The  Press,      I  ....  Osman  C.  Hooper.  410 

The  Press.  II Osinan  C.  Hooner.  452 

The  Schools.      I        .         .         .       James  !■.  Barnhill,  M.  I).  494 

The  Schools.    II  .  James  U.  Barnhill,  M.  1).  521 


IV. 


Contents. 


Evolution  of  the  City— Continued : 


Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 
Chapter 


XXXI. 

XXXII. 
XXXIII. 
XXXIV. 

XXXV. 
XXXVI. 


Bench  and  Bar 
Lands  and  Land  Titles 
Geology  and  Geography. 
Climate  and  Hygiene.    I 
Climate  and  Hygiene.  II 
Social  and  Personal 


Leander  J.  Critchfield,  A.  M. 

John  E.  Sater,  Esquire. 

.   Edward  Orton,  LL.  D. 

Alfnd  E.  Lee. 

Alfred  E.  Lee. 

Alfred  E.  I.iee. 


Paoe. 

W2 
616 
663 
695 
716 
7«0 


Church  History — Part  I. 

Chapter    XXXVII.  Pnsbyterian 

Chapter  XXXVIII.  Methodist 

Chapter      XXXIX.  Congregational 


W.  E.  Moore,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.  757 
Joiin  C.  Jackson,  D.  D.  784 
BenJHUiin  Talbot,  A.  M.    830 


Biographical: 

Chapter  XL. 


Representative  Citizens 
.\mbo8,  Peter  E. 
Andrews,  Doctor  John 
Buttle?,  Joel 
('arpenter,  William  B. 
Cox,  Samuel  S. 
Critchfield,  Leander  J. 
Egan,  Patrick  A.    . 
Fieser,  Frederick 
Firestone,  Clinton  D. 
Frisbie,  Charles  H. 
Galloway.  Samuel 
Greene,  Milbury  M. 
Harrison,  Richard  A. 
Hildreth,  Abel 
Hillery,  Luther 
Hinman,  Fdward  L. 
Hoster,  Louis 
Hubbard,  William  B. 
Hughes,  John  R. 
Jaeger,  Christian   K. 
Janney,  John  J. 
Johnson,  Orange 
Jonet*,  Richard 
Kilbourn,  James 
Kroesen,  James  C. 
Kilbourn,  Lincoln 
Lee,  Alfred  E. 
I^onard,  Theodore    . 
Lindeman,  Louis 
Neil,  Hannah    . 
Neil,  Robert  K.      . 
Neil,  William     . 
Orton,  Edward 
Otstot,  John 
Peters,  Oscar  0.     . 


Walter  B.  O'Neill,  Esq. 


•  • 


•  • 


•  • 


•  • 


■  • 


•  • 


•  • 


•  • 


855 

m\ 

888 
857 
909 
893 
902 
909. 
893 
920 
885 
856 
870 
903 
885 
910 
872 
915 
890 
873 
869 
396 
912 
876 
866 
917 
878 
900 
876 
887 
911 
884 
879 
906 
868 
919 


c 


Contents.  v. 

Representative  Citizens^-Continued :  Page. 

Pfaff,  Carl  T 874 

Piatt,   William  A 864 

Pugh,  John  M 874 

Powell,  William 888 

Reinhard,  Jacob 877 

Sater,  John  E 905 

SessionH,  Francis  C. 912 

Shepard,  William 908 

Slade,  William  H 899 

Smith,  David sm 

Sullivant.  Lucas, Frontispiece 

Taylor,  David 881 

Thurman,  Allen  G 855 

Townshend,  Norton  8 859 

Wilson,  Andrew 916 

Wright,  Horatio 917 

Wright,  James  E 861 

Zettler,  Louis 814 


J 

I 
1 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Historical  :  Page. 

Glacial  Boundary  in  Oiiio 20 

The  Serpent  Mound 38 

Ancient  Earthworks  near  Worthington 46 

Ancient  Mound  on  the  Pope  Farm opposite    48 

Ancient  Earthworks  in  Delaware  County 60 

Ancient  Earthworks  in  IMcka way  ('Ounty 50 

Map  of  Franklin  County  Earthworks opposite    56 

Ancient  Earthworks  in  Fairfield  County opposite    56 

Surrender  of  the  Captives 88 

The  Indians  and  Bouquet  in  Council 00 

Orifjfinal  Plat  of  Franklinton 140 

The  Lucas  Sullivant  Store,  Franklinton 154 

The  Lincoln  Goodale  Store,  Franklinton 165 

Original  Plat  of  Worthington  190 

Original  Plat  of  Columbus,  West  Section 202 

Original  Plat  of  Columbus,  East  Section 203 

Portrait  of  John  Kerr 206 

Portrait  of  Lyne  Starling 207 

John  Kerr's  Land  Office 20?) 

John  Brickeirs  Cabin 211 

General  Harrison's  Headquarters,  Franklinton 242 

Harrison  Elm  and  Hawkes  Hospital,  Franklinton 247 

View  of  High  Street,  1846 253 

The  Swan  Tavern 283 

Old  Milestone 321 

Fort  Cumberland  in  1755 325 

Freeman's  Chronicle  Extra,  January  24,  1813 42J 

Page  of  Freeman's  Chronicle,  June  16,  1813 431 

First  Page  of  Freeman's  Chronicle,  July  23,  1813 455 

Page  of  Freeman's  Chronicle,  February  25,  1814 465 

Western  Intelligencer  Extra,  October  1,  1814 477 

School  District  Map  of  Columbus,  1826  1845 497 

Old  Rich  and  Third  Street  Schoolhouse 501 

The  Old  Academy 506 

Sullivant  School 511 

Third  Street  School 514 

Garfield  School 517 

Franklinton  School  524 


viii.  Illustrations. 

Historical — Ck)ntinued:  Paob. 

Twentythird  Street  School 530 

Fifth  Aveoue  School 635 

Siebert  Street  School .        .  543 

Portrait  of   Asa  D.  Lord 547 

Library  Room,  Public  School  Library 550 

Portrait  of  D.  P.  Mayhew 553 

l*ortrait  of  £.  D.  Kingsley 554 

Central  High  School 556 

I'ortrait  of  William  Mitchell  .        .  558 

Portrait  of  K.  W.  Stevenson T        .        .  5<n 

North  Side  High  School 563 

Land  Map  of  Columbus    * 631 

Franklinton  Presbyterian  Church,  1811 760 

Original  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Columbus 764 

"Trinity  in  Unity"' 766 

Present  First  Presbyterian  Church,  before  Alteration 769 

First  Presbyterian  Church,  State  and  Third  Streets 777 

Wesley  Chapel,  1892 792 

Third  Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 801 

Broad  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 815 

Shepard  Sanitarium opposite  704 

Portraits  : 

Ambos,  Peter  E opposite  128 

Andrews,  Doctor  John opposite  400 

Buttles,  Joel opposite  56 

Carpenter,  William  B opposite  720 

Cox,  iSamuel  S. opposite  448 

Critchfield,  Leander  J. opposite  584 

Egan,  Patrick  A opposite  736 

Fieser,  Frederick op}>08ite  432 

Firestone,  Clinton  D.,  Volume  II opposite  160 

Frisbie,  Charles  H. opposite  3H8 

Galloway,  Samuel opposite  32 

Greene,  Mil  bury  M opposite  240 

Harrison,  Richard  A. opposite  600 

Hildreth,  Abel opposite  376 

Hillery,  Luther opposite  816 

Hinman,  Edward  L opposite  256 

Hoster,  Louis opposite  752 

Hubbard,  William  B opposite  416 

Hughes,  John  R opposite  264 

Huntington,  P.  W opposite  768 

Jaeger,  Christian  F opposite  224 

Janney,  John  J.,  Volume  II 0]>po8ite  256 

Johnson,  Orange  .  opposite  312 

Jones,  Richard opposite  304 

Kilbourn,  James opposite  184 

Kilboum,  Lincoln opposite  336 


Illubteutionb.  iz. 

PoRTBAiTS— CoDtinneiJ  ;  Page. 

Kroeeen,  James  C opposite  "20 

Lee,  Allreiii;, opposite  S04 

Leonnni,  Tlieodore opposite  296 

Lindemen,  Ixiuis opposite  384 

Neil,  Hannah opposite  784 

Neil,  Itobert    ...                opposite  360 

Neil,  liobert  E opposite  352 

Neil.  William                                 opposite  344 

Orton,  Edward    .        .                opposite  672 

Otslot,  John opposite  200 

Peters,  Oscar  U.,  Volume  II opposite  152 

Pfttff,    CarlT opiiosite  272 

Piatt,  Williain  A opposite  144 

Powell,  WilJiam opposite  3<I2 

Puf-li  Joljn  M.           opposite  28» 

Et^inliard,  Jacob oiiposite  328 

Sater,  John  E. opposite  616 

Sessions,  Francis  C opposite  S32 

Shepard,  William opposite  701 

eUfle,  W.  H opposite  480 

Smith,  David opposite  450 

Sulivant,  LuChs Frontispiece 

Taylor,  DaviJ opposite  160 

■rtiurman  AllunG opposite  18 

Townalieni!   Norloii  8 opposite  80 

Wilson,  Andrew opposite  lOH 

Wright,  Horatio opposite  102 

Wright,  James  E. opposite  104 

Zettler,  Ltiuis opposite  64(1 

RSSIDBKCEH : 

Amhos.  Peter  E opposite  128 

Fieser,  Frederick opposite  432 

Frisbie,  Mary  L. opposite  3f(8 

Hinman,  E.  L. opposite  256 

fioBter  Lonia                  opposite  752 

Hubbsrd  Homestead opposite  416 

Hugrhea,  John  It opposite  264 

Otstot,  John opposite  200 

Powell,  Frank  E opposite  3!I2 

Pogh,  John  M opposite  2)48 

Sessions,  Francis  C opposite  8!W 

Thurman,  Allen  G opposite  16 

Zettler,  Louie opposite  640 


Preface  to  Volume  I. 


The  labor  which  has  i)r(Kluced  this  work,  so  far  as  its  author  is 
concerned,  has  been  performed  during  such  intervals  and  opportuni- 
ties as  have  been  vouchsafed  by  an  exacting  business.  Two  years 
were  spent  in  i)reparatory  investigation  and  collection  of  materials 
before  a  line  of  the  text  was  written.  No  statement  has  been  made 
without  authority,  and  the  best  authorities  within  reach,  pertaining 
to  the  different  subjects  treated,  have  been  consulted.  When  these 
have  differed,  as  has  not  infrequently  been  the  case,  the  author  has 
exercised  his  own  judgment  ac(*ording  to  the  best  lights  before  him. 
His  primary  and  directing  purpose  has  been  to  be,  before  all  things, 
truthful  and  fair.  Tens  of  thousands  of  details  have  had  to  be  dealt 
with,  but  in  no  instance  has  anything  been  left  to  mere  hypothesis  or 
opinion  when  the  exact  truth,  real  or  apparent,  could  be  arrived  at. 
Much  of  the  routine  work  has  necessarily  been  confided  to  copyists, 
but  the  utmost  care  has  been  taken  to  prevent  errors.  For  mis- 
prints, or  errors  in  the  matter  quoted,  neither  the  copyist  nor  the 
author  is  responsible.  As  a  rule,  quoted  matter  has  been  reproduced 
exactly  as  it  has  been  found,  verbatim  et  literatim.  Even  the  punc- 
tuation, however  awkward  and  contrary  to  present  rules,  has  usually 
been  preserved.  Where  inelegancies  of  expression  or  grammatical 
mistakes  have  occurred,  these  have  been  allowed  to  remain.  Some- 
times these  faults  of  diction  have  historical  significance;  they  help 
to  reflect  the  writer's  mind  and  the  spirit  of  his  time. 

In  general  historical  treatment  the  plan  has  been  adopted  of  pre- 


xii.  Prbkacb. 

senting  each  subjoct  soparatoly,  rather  than  that  of  blending  all  sub- 
jects, chronologieally,  into  one  continuous  narrative.  This  classifica- 
tion, it  is  beli(*vecl,  will  make  the  work  much  more  ccmvenient  and 
useful  for  reference  than  it  could  i)ossil)ly  have  been  if  constructed 
on  the  continuous  narrative  jjlan.  To  produce  a  symmetrical  histor- 
ical tree  we  must  have  both  stem  and  branches,  and  in  order  to  give 
these  their  proi)er  balance*  and  i»roportion  we  must  before  all  consider 
the  origin  ot  the  tree  and  the  elements  from  which  its  life  and  char- 
acter have  l)een  d(Tive<l.  Hence  the  preliminary  chapters  of  this 
work  which  relate  to  the  i)rimitive  races  and  wilderness  and  the 
original  settlement  and  organization  of  the  State.  The  history  of 
Columbus  is  not  merely  that  of  a  city,  but  also  that  of  a  capital,  and 
no  history  of  the  capital  of  Ohio  would  be  com[)lete  which  did  not 
take  into  account  the  settlement  and  social  organization  of  the  great 
commonwealth  which  created  the  capital  and  of  which  it  is  the  polit- 
ical centre. 

If  any  readers  expect  to  find  in  these  pages  any  labored  and 
irrelevant  personal  mention;  any  coiinivance  at  pretentious  selfasser- 
tion  at  the  expense  of  merit ;  any  indulgene-e  of  mere  family  pride 
to  the  detriment  of  historical  fairness;  any  unnecessary  parade 
of  personal  folly  and  weakness;  any  i)andering  to  appetite  for 
the  salacious  and  criminal ;  any  apj)eals  to  the  j>artiality  of  wealth, 
power  or  personal  vanity ;  any  disguised  advertisements  mascjuerad- 
ing  in  the  name  of  history  ;  or  any  fulsome  laudation  of  the  city  or 
its  citizens,  individually  or  collectively,  they  will,  the  author  hopes, 
be  })rofoundly  and  completely  disappointed.  The  mission  of  this 
work  is  to  record  facts  and  not  to  i)raise  or  dispraise  persons  or 
things  except  in  the  voice  and  terms  of  accurate  and  unswayed  his- 
torical statement. 

To  those,  of  whom  there  are  many,  who  have  responded  orally 
or  otherwise  to  the  author's  rerpiests  for  information,  his  acknowledg- 
ments are  due,  and  are  hereby  heartily  tendered  ;  to  the  others,  bap- 


Preface.  xiii. 

pily  few,  who  have  not  responded  to  such  requests  even  to  the  extent 
of  the  ordinary  courtesy  of  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a  letter,  no 
aspersions  are  offered  and  no  reference  would  be  made  except  as  a 
matter  of  justice  to  the  author  in  showing  that  the  task  of  collecting 
the  materials  for  such  a  work  as  this  has  not  been  easy  or  always 
pleasant. 

To  the  gentlemen  with  whose  contributed  articles  the  author  has 
been  favored  he  feels  deeply  indebted,  but  his  obligation  is  small 
compared  with  that  which  these  conscientious,  painstaking  and  able 
writers  have  laid  upon  the  students  of  local  history.  The  work  they 
have  so  faithfully  done  is  their  fittest  and  best  eulogium.  No  invid- 
ious distinction  is  intended,  and  certainl/  none  will  be  inferred,  when 
it  is  stated  as  the  tribute  of  a  personal  friendship  more  than  twenty 
years  old,  and  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  one  of  the  greatest  living 
geologists,  as  well  as  to  a  citizen  to  whom  Ohio  and  science  owe  a 
measureless  debt,  that  the  scholarly  yet  most  interesting  and  practi- 
cal chapter  on  local  geology  and  its  related  topics  which  Doctor 
Edward  Orton  has  contributed  to  this  volume  was  one  of  the  very 
latest  tasks  which  had  engaged  his  pen  prior  to  the  moment  when  a 
sudden  affliction  compelled  the  suspension,  brief,  let  us  hope,  of  his 
work  and  usefulness- 

The  biographical  sketches  which  close  this  volume,  it  should  be 
stated,  have  mostly  been  written  by  Walter  B.  O'Neill,  Esquire,  a 
graduate  of  Michigan  University. 

For  the  publishers  of  this  work  the  author  desires  to  say  that 
the  spirit  they  have  shown  in  risking  a  large  amount  of  money  in  an 
undertaking  of  this  kind,  and  the  efforts  they  have  made  to  produce 
such  a  result  as  would  be  creditable  to  the  city  and  satisfactory  to  all 
interested,  are  such  as  richly  deserve  the  cordial,  helpful  and  liberal 
recognition  of  every  publicspirited  citizen.  Few  indeed  are  there 
who  would  have  had  the  courage,  not  to  say  the  ability,  to  grapple 
with  the  difficulties  and  discouragements  incident  to  such  an  enter- 


xiv.  Preface. 

prise,  and  still  fewer  are  there  who  would  not  have  found  in  it  the 

grave  of  their  financial  hopes.     The  response  with  which  the  lousiness 

skill,  energy  and  determination  of  those  gentlemen  have  lieen  met 

has  surpassed  the  author's  expectations,  hut  has  not  surj massed  their 

deservings. 

ALFRED   E.   LEE. 
Columbus,  Ohio,  July  27,  1892. 


I 


I 

I! 


l! 


ii 


1 

\ 


' 


■ 

I 


Origin  of  the  State. 


CHAPTER  1. 


THE    OHIO    WILDERNESS. 

In  the  annals  of  Ohio  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  forms  the  divid- 
ing line  between  history  and  myth.  All  beyond  that  is  vague  and  shadowy.  Two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  the  country  now  known  as  Ohio  was  a  primeval  wilder- 
ness which  no  white  man  had  ever  seen.  Except  along  the  southern  shores  of  Lake 
Erie,  where  dwelt  the  Cat  Nation  of  Indians,  it  was  occupied  by  no  fixed  inhabit- 
ants. During  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  a  hunting  preserve 
to  the  various  Indian  tribes  which  approached  it  from  the  north,  south  and  east.* 

The  authentic  descriptions  of  this  primitive  solitude  are  extremely  meager. 
For  adequate  conceptions  of  its  virginal  grandeur,  gloom  and  loveliness,  changing 
with  the  seasons,  and  untouched  as  yet  by  the  hand  of  man,  we  are  left  mainly  to 
the  conjurations  of  our  own  fancy.  La  Salle,  who  was  its  first  white  explorer,  has 
left  us  no  record  of  its  piiysical  aspects.*  Hunters  and  captives  tell  us  of  their  ad- 
ventures, but  do  not  describe  the  country.^  We  know  more  of  the  interior  of 
Africa  than  they  have  told  us  of  the  vast  interior  regions  \vost  of  the  Alleghanies. 
The  early  travelers  and  annalists  have  done  little  better.  They  came  to  view  the 
land  not  for  historical  purposes,  but  to  inspect  and  report  its  material  resources. 
They  have  given  us  glimpses  here  and  there  of  the  external  features  of  the  coun- 
try, but  only  glimpses.  They  have  at  best  drawn  but  the  vague  outlines  of  a 
picture  the  details  of  which  would  now  be  of  intense  interest. 

The  Jesuit  missionaries  who  explored  the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi  were  so  absorbed  in  the  work  to  which  they  had  conse- 
crated their  lives,  or  so  occupied  with  other  special  purposes  set  before  them,  as  to 
have  given  little  thought,  apparently,  to  their  unique  surroundings.  They  nar- 
rate incidents  and  experiences  with  minuteness,  but  dismiss  natural  objects  with 
the  barest  allusion.  It  is  by  free  interpretation  of  what  they  say,  rather  than  by 
what  they  have  actually  said,  that  we  must  fill  out  and  perfect  our  impressions  of 
the  great  northwestern  wilderness.  Such  interpretation  we  find  in  the  pages  of 
one  of  their  most  accomplished  annalists,  who  has  drawn  the  following  Dore-iike 
picture  of  the  primitive  Canadian  forest: 

Deep  recesses  where,  veiled  in  foliage,  some  wild,  shy  rivulet  steals  with  timid  music 
through  breathless  caves  of  verdure ;  gulfs  where  feathered  crags  rise  like  castle  walls, 
where  the  noonday  sun  pierces  with  keen  rays  athwart  the  torrent  and  the  mossed  arms  of 
fallen  pines  cast  wavering  shadows  on  the  illumined  foam  ;  pools  of  liquid  crystal  turned 
emerald  in  the  refiected  green  of  impending  woods ;  rocks  on  whose  rugged  front  the  gleam 
of  sunlit  waters  dances  in  quivering  light;  ancient  trees  hurled  headlong  by  the  storm  to 
dam  the  raging  stream  with  their  forlorn  and  savage  ruin  ;  or  the  stern  depths  of  immemorial 


^••■•sn*    V.  11  till  ♦!.»*n-  M  I  ''a:' "-n     •{.<  ir.it**:    v  -.:     m:r:i*m.  ^    rizt*.  -iaiiiii    ix*  li 
\\y\i\*ii'..vr  -'A  ▼*.»^il   .?"  .»*».»•*?».  i.-.ii  ♦•v*ar;.:j:  :»*^»^^ui.  :iii:u*r.a^»  M'*^  .•*  :.irt  XZ''.  ;:'.L.T3^r«!<: 
-nil     **.riu»  *^:i' ■.»!■/  .1  ; -.''.r.!*.   *•.".■.•*   r^i*. 7  ▼"■:■.   '.'^•r-rz*.'.  us^.  z.x^-\i:,Lrr*t  '^  Mmjijp:  iLp?i;.:r:7f:a. 


M  •.•*r.r'.  A  '.'M  v:yj>ru*j»:  'S  •.onr.i***  ^i*.-^-  ..-  .c*rr»''-.'.r:-r«i  :  t-:-  is.  v  ■*-"•-  j-ilv"*-  -i*^ 
;4i'.»v.i'Ji*r,.vjr  "^^d  •*?»  •,■.*  "..-•^  ;r.-.*n*.   *  ri.:.  *:*.:>  L*:'----i.  *:!•:  :c  jL:i-i  "r  •i;£^  lii-wi  *cr.TM^ 

•  m 

TV.**7  /:.!>»:  •a..".t  T'/Ts,  ;.-.-  -.rfcr.  .n  .  «r.f«rarL   "' j  >^r.-i*  --.i  .£-^i  •■-.-/i  -.r»*r*  4z-i  zLinrd 

■'/  »  ;:»r-^:.-;pfc.  r-»s.vf*  -.7  •..'...£*•>  4r*i  ...ir-r.r^  a.'.  ;  -.-■«».:.  ar'-  sir. :  rir^  usi-rr  :£.<*  •iL*iow- 
.rvgr  v*»>:5t.  r^'.»*^r*  -■  v'>^>  v.:-  '.  r.£<i-;  :  v»-  :.-'.,'.  iitr  :h-r  V  i  '-  r .  ■■  :  •».  --  » :.:.ir  t'.aJ.  A: 
r,//r."  'f-i^   'A  3  ■-.'.*■.  — '.r^    uf.  .•;-•  .r.7r'*r'i  '  r.  i'-'  '  4.1*:.  '.T-r-  rl.  t-::-^  nrr   ::.r  meju  ■>**  r-:«*>n- 

''/  '/Xv^r^-Ji  vyr  't^3k::.*r  .-.'.or*:  fr<b«'j-;-ri:  ar.  i  L'.O'je^  aci  i— r.-  brow^-:  :f»  -  ";.e  plaici?:  «trmnice 
*ri.?r^..*  »*:^f*  »^:^r-  :rav«:r*lf.;f  '.h*:  nvrr.  an  i  ::iOD-'r:."-i  ±*L  a:  r-^a^ei  :r.  :t>  wairr*.  Bat  ihey 
fz/'XA^i'^'t  '>r,  '.^^.f  -waT  arxi.';  :»';;-  *'^.;*.-;  :«f-,  inztxi^A  '•  y  :"js  ni^cr  a*r-itrn.v  of  n-an.  Descend- 
,f*jf  JST.I.L  fir.r**:f  u*«Ty  'ak.*:  '.o  u^f:  lar.'i  ,f  tL«r  M.-.-r*.  -'t  i^^itioa.  whi-.h.  with  the  tarker 
•/*rAff>*:  •.f,*  »^/l«r  fj^u^t^fA  of  thfr  wiid^rmes- :  all  ■^tti'irr  zan.^r  ha  :  -ii^ppearoi. 

W*  i^*r  uoiW,riii  hfi\  •i«i*rr  and  m^xr^.  ba*tarL*  ani  wingl^*  «>wan«.  for  they  she»l  their 
j/i'ir/i*r*  Ifi  tKi*  'y/'intrj',  Frofii  t:m«:  lo  time  we  nr*cr^t  OiOiistrou?*  n.sh,  one  of  which  struck  so 
vioi^-ft'ly  a;fi&(n.^t  ^'ir  ^.-ano*:  that  I  vy>k  it  lor  a  larare  trtre  ^ probably  a  t-atfi^h]  al»ut  to  knock 
uft  10»  pi^>*.  ArththtzT  tiuifr  we  j^ierf-eive*]  on  ih»-  water  a  luonster  with  the  hea*i  of  a  tiger,  a 
\ffiiuU'A  nuh^A  like  a  wildcat's,  a  li^-ard  and  '.-an*  erect,  a  i^rayish  head  and  neck  all  Mack.  On 
(AKt^tiif  otif  n*iUi  we  have  taken  hturifeon  and  a  very  extraordinary  kind  of  tish  :  it  resembles 
a  lro*it  with  thij*  differen':e,  that  it  hah  a  larger  lui.iUih  but  ^nialier  eye:^  and  snout.* 

-'  Both  nidenoflhe  river."  oouiiniie?  Maniueiie.  -are  lined  with  lotlv  woods. 
The,  tuAihii^fffA,  elrn  and  whitewood  are  of  admirable  heiirht  aiid  size.  The  num. 
SfiiTH  of  A'ild  oattb:  we  heard  bellowing  make  us  belifve  the  prairies  near.  We  saw 
/|iiaiU  on  the  water  s  edf^e,  and  killed  a  little  j»arrot  with  halt' the  ht-ad  red,  the  rest, 
with  the  neok,  yellow,  and  the  b^>«ly  green." 

S^ime  of  the  glorious  Mrenen  whicdi  Uennepin  has  taint ly  described  but  must 
have  witneHWjd  when  he  explored  the  upper  Missi>sippi  in  Itj^O,  are  thus  jx>rtrayed 
by  hJM  i^oetic  ehronicler: 

The  yotHiK  MiflHiflHippi,  fre«h  from  its  northern  springs.  unstaine<l  as  yet  by  unhallowed 
union  with  the  riot^>u8  Mi«80uri,  floweil  calmly  on  its  way  amid  strange  and  unique  beauties; 
a  wildeniew  clothed  with  velvet  graas;  forest-shadowed  valleys:  lofty  heights  whose  smooth 
nUfiHiH  Hft^fined  levelled  with  the  scythe ;  domes  and  pinnacles,  ramparts  and  ruined  towers, 


The  Ohio  Wilderness.  6 

the  work  of  no  human  hand.  The  canoe  of  the  voyaji;ers,  borne  on  the  tranquil  current, 
glided  in  the  shade  of  ^ray  cragj*  festooned  with  blossoming  honeysuckles;  by  trees 
mantled  with  wild  grapevines,  dells  bright  with  the  flowers  of  the  white  euphorbia,  the  blue 
gentian  and  the  purple  balm ;  and  matted  forests  where  the  red  squirrels  leaped  and  chat- 
tered. .  .  .  And  when  at  evening  they  made  their  bivouac  fire,  and  drew  up  their  canoe, 
while  dim  sultry  clouds  veiled  the  west,  and  the  flashes  of  the  silent  heat-lightning  gleamed 
on  the  leaden  water,  they  could  listen,  as  they  smoked  their  pipes,  to  the  strange,  mournful 
cry  of  the  whippoorwills,  and  the  quavering  scream  of  the  owls." 

The  wilderness  stretching  southward  from  Lake  Erie  was  analogous  to  those 
solitudes  of  the  Northwest,  and  yet  different.  An  enthusiastic  writer  declares  that 
"  the  Creator  never  planted  on  any  other  portion  of  His  globe  a  forest  more  mag- 
nificent that  that  which  clad  the  primeval  hills  and  valleys  of  the  Ohio  basin."  '® 
Another,  writing  in  1888,  savs  "  tho  wild  scenery  of  this  region  seventy  or  oven 
fifty  years  ago  must  have  been  eminently  beautiful.  If  any  one  at  that  time  had 
ascended  any  elevated  ground  nenr  the  Ohio,  or  any  of  its  larger  rivers,  the  prospect 
of  hill  and  dale,  spread  out  immense,  must  have  been  delightful  to  the  eye  of  the 
beholder.  The  spectator  behold  tall  trees  covered  with  vines  of  the  grape  and  of 
wild  roses  hanging  in  clusters  tVom  near  the  ground  to  the  topmost  boughs.  He 
saw,  too,  a  beautiful  shrubbery  of  flowering  plants,  tall  grasses  and  a  great  profu- 
sion of  wild  flowers  in  full  bloom,  of  every  shade  of  color.  All  was  silent  and  still 
except  the  singing  birds  of  every  variety,  of  wild  fowls, —  the  paroquet,  bob-of-lin- 
coln,  quail,  turkey,  pigeon  and  mocking-bird.'" 

Daniel  Boone  has  left  this  recortl  of  what  he  saw  when  he  entered  Kentucky 
in  1769: 

We  found  everywhere  abundance  of  wild  beasts  of  all  soits  through  this  vast  forest.  The 
buffalo  were  more  fre<]uent  than  I  have  seen  cattle  in  the  settlements  browzing  on  the  leaves 
of  the  cane,  or  cropping  the  herbage  on  those  extensive  plains,  fearless  because  ignomnt  of 
the  violence  of  man.  Sometimes  we  saw  hundreds  in  a  drove,  and  the  numbers  about  the 
salt  springs  were  amazing.  .  .  .  Nature  was  here  a  series  of  wonders,  and  a  fund  of  delight. 
Here  she  displayed  her  ingenuity  and  industry,  in  a  variety  of  tiowers  and  fruits,  beautifully 
coloured,  elegantly  shaped  and  charmingly  flavored  ;  and  we  were  diverted  with  innu- 
merable animals  presenting  themselves  perpetually  to  our  view.  In  the  decline  of  the  day, 
near  the  Kentucky  River,  as  we  ascended  the  brow  of  a  small  hill,  a  number  of  Indians 
rushed  out  of  a  thick  canebrake  upon  us,  and  made  us  prisoners. 

In  another  part  of  Boone's  narrative  occurs  this  passage  : 

One  day  I  undertook  a  tour  through  the  country,  and  the  diversity  and  beauties  of 
nature  I  met  with  in  this  charming  season  expelled  every  gloomy  and  vexatious  thought. 
Just  at  the  close  of  the  day  the  gales  retired,  and  left  the  place  to  the  disposal  of  a  profound 
calm.  Not  a  breeze  shook  the  most  tremulous  leaf.  I  had  gained  the  summit  of  a  command- 
ing ridge,  and  looking  around  with  astonishing  delight,  beheld  the  ample  plains,  the  beau- 
teous tracts  below.  On  the  other  hand  I  surveyed  the  famous  river  Ohio  that  rolled  in  silent 
dignity  marking  the  western  boundary  of  Kentucky  with  inconceivable  grandeur.  At  a  vast 
distance  I  beheld  the  mountains  lift  their  venerable  brows,  and  penetrate  the  clouds.  I  kin- 
dled afire  near  a  fountain  of  sweet  water,  and  feasted  on  the  loin  of  a  buck  which  a  few  hours 
before  I  had  killed. 

The  unstudied  rhetoric  of  this  narrative,  and  its  artless  grouping  of  events, 
rather  deepen  than  impair  the  impressions  it  conveys. 

The  scenes  along  the  Ohio  River  at  this  i)eriod  possessed  a  unique  fascination 
which  excited  the  enthusiasm  of  every  voyager.     Colonel  John  May,  who  visited 


6  HiSTORV    OP   THE    CiTY    OF   C0LUMBU8. 

"  the  Ohio  country  "  in  1788-89,  floated  down  the  river  in  a  flatboat  crowded,  as  he 
informs  ua,  with  men,  cows,  calves,  hogs,  dogs,  and  baggage.  His  journal  contains 
this  striking  passage  referring  to  his  experience  while  he  took  his  turn  at  the  helm 
one  dark  night  during  a  thunderstorm: 

We  moved  on  still  as  night.  In  the  thick  forest  on  either  liand  was  to  be  heard  the  howl- 
ing of  savage  beasts,  the  whooping  of  one  kind  of  owl,  the  screaming  of  another,  while  every 
now  and  then  would  come  a  burst  of  thunder. 

In  another  part  of  his  journal  May  makes  this  record  :  '*  Could  not  help  re- 
marking again  the  beauties  of  the  river.  On  each  side  mountains  with  valleys  be- 
tween, rising  progressively  to  view,  and  filling  the  mind  with  admiration  and 
wonder.  .  .  .  While  bathing  I  saw  a  flock  of  yellow-legged  birds  flying  over 
and  called  them,  when  they  lit  down  quite  near  me."" 

More  suggestive  still,  and  much  fuller  in  details,  is  the  journal  of  **  A  tour  in 
the  unsettled  parts  of  North  America,"  in  170(>  and  1797,  by  Francis  Baily,  a  Fel- 
low of  the  Boyal  Society  of  England,  and  a  scientist  of  considerable  repute.  Mr. 
Baily  set  out  from  New  York  in  September,  179G,  and  while  descending  the  Ohio 
from  Fort  Duquosne  disembarked  to  visit  the  ancient  mounds  at  Grave  Creek,  in 
Virginia,  below  the  present  site  of  Wheeling.     Describing  this  adventure  he  says  : 

We  at  first  traversed  over  a  flat  bottom  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  then  ascending  a 
very  steep  and  high  hill  we  were  carried  along  the  ridge  of  it  till  we  came  within  about  a 
mile  of  the  place.  As  this  hill  carried  us  above  the  level  of  the  .surrounding  country,  every 
break  through  the  trees  presented  to  us  a  »ea  of  wxxis^  whose  tops  just  tinged  by  the  setting 
sun  displayed  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sylvan  scenes  I  ever  remember  seeing;  at  the  same 
time  every  now  and  then  the  Ohio  opened  to  our  view,  whose  gentle  stream,  covered  with 
drifting  ice,  formed  a  fine  contrast  to  its  umbrageous  shores.  We  had  scarcely  proceeded 
half  our  journey  before  a  bear  with  three  cubs  crossed  the  road  at  some  distance  before  us. 

Another  incident  which  conveys  a  vivid  idea  of  the  scenes  along  the  Ohio  at 
this  period  occurred  while  the  rude  crafl  bearing  the  voyager  was  descending  with 
the  current  at  midnight,  in  the  midst  of  a  violent  thunderstorm.  It  is  thus  de- 
scribed : 

We  were  surprised  at  seeing  a  light  ahead  of  us,  apparently  on  the  banks  of  the  river.  On 
our  nearer  approach  to  it  Me  observed  this  fire  to  move  in  different  strange  directions,  and 
for  some  time  puzzled  our  imaginations  in  conceiving  what  it  could  be.  .  .  .  On  our  com- 
ing opposite  to  it  we  saw  distinctly  the  appearances  of  human  beings  nearly  naked,  and  of  a 
colour  almost  approaching  to  black  ;  and  each  of  these  beings  furnished  with  a  couple 
of  firebrands  which  they  held  in  each  hand.  There  might  be  about  a  dozen  of  them,  and 
they  had  got  a  large  fire  blazing  in  the  middle  of  them,  and  were  dancing  around  it  in  the  wild- 
est confusion  imaginable,  at  the  same  time  singing,  or  rather  muttering  some  strange  incohe- 
rent sounds.  Their  peculiar  appearance,  whose  effect  was  heightened  by  the  contrast  of  the 
tempestuousness  of  the  night,  and  the  rolling  of  the  thunder  and  lightning  around  us, 
put  me  in  mind  so  much  of  the  descriptions  which  are  given  of  the  infernal  regions  that  for 
the  moment  1  could  not  help  considering  them  as  so  many  imps  let  loose  upon  the  earth  to 
perform  their  midnight  orgies  ;  though  it  proved  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  few  Indians  who, 
disturbed  by  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  could  not  sleep,  and  were  innocently  diverting 
themselves  with  singing  and  dancing  round  their  fire. 

In  another  place  Mr.  Baily  speaks  of  "  the  delightful  scenery  "  along  the  river 
and  says  :  "  If  we  put  ashore  ...  we  saw  the  works  of  nature  profusely  lavished 
through  an  uninhabited  country  ;  if  we  possessed  the  water,  our  attention  was 
continually  attracted  by  the  flight  of  immense  flocks  of  wild  fowl  and  other  birds, 


Thb  Ohio  Wilderness.  7 

who,  undisturbed,  preserved  their  course  regardless  of  our  near  approach  ;  or  we 
might  behold  the  nimble  deer  browzing  on  the  banks,  or  the  fierce  bear  darting 
through  the  thicket." 

This  passage  is  suggestive  :  "  After  we  had  retired  to  rest  sometime  ...  we 
heard  (  as  we  had  often  done  before  )  the  howling  of  wolves,  bears  and  other  wild 
animals  around  us;  and  several  times  the  noise  of  their  feet  among  the  dry  leaves 
on  the  ground,  prowling  about  in  search  of  prey." 

Further  interesting  chronicles  of  the  scenes  along  the  Ohio  are  found  in  the 
journal  of  "A  tour  into  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,"  in 
the  spring  of  1803,  by  Rev.  Thad<ieus  Mason  Harris,  a  member  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society,  of  Boston.  Journeying  by  way  of  Philadelphia,  Lancaster, 
Carlisle,  Shippeuvsburg  and  Sharpsburg,  Mr.  Harris  arrived  at  Pittsburgh  and 
there  embarked  for  the  parts  below  in  one  of  the  primitive  boats  of  the  period.  Of 
the  appearance  of  the  country  from  the  river  he  says: 

Sometimes  we  were  in  the  vicinity  of  dark  forests  which  threw  a  solemn  shade  over  us 
as  we  glided  by;  sometimes  we  passed  along  over  hanging  banks  decorated  with  blooming 
shrubs  which  timidly  bent  their  light  boughs  to  sweep  the  passing  stream  ;  and  sometimes 
around  the  shore  of  an  island  which  tinged  the  water  with  a  reflected  landscape.  The  lively 
carols  of  the  birds,  which  "sung  among  the  branches"  entertained  us  exceedingly,  and  gave 
life  and  pleasure  to  the  woodland  scene.  The  flocks  of  wild  geese  and  ducks  which  swam 
upon  the  stream,  the  vast  number  of  turkies,  partridges  and  quails  we  saw  upon  the  shore, 
and  the  herds  of  deer  or  some  animals  of  the  forest  darting  through  the  thickets,  afforded  us 
constant  amusement. 

The  verdurous  islands  set  like  gems  upon  the  bright  surface  of  the  water  must 
have  contributed  much  to  the  beauty  of  the  river  then,  as  they  still  do.  Harris 
notes  their  loveliness  and  mentions  the  curious  circumstance  that  "they  are 
increasing  in  extent  at  the  upper  end  and  losing  ground  at  the  lower,  which  has 
led  to  the  remark  that  the  *  islands  are  moving  up  the  river.' " 

In  the  recollections  of  H.  M,  Brackenridge,  who  journeyed  down  the  Ohio  to 
the  Mississippi  in  1792,  we  are  told  that  "  not  far  from  the  Wabash  they  [Bracken- 
ridge  and  his  companions]  saw  a  small  herd  of  buffaloes  and  secured  a  large  calf 
for  their  supper.     Once  having  encamped  near  a  beautiful  grove  of  sugar  trees,  the 
party  found  that  a  flock  of  turkeys  had  taken  up  their  night's  lodging  over  their 
heads.     Twelve  or  fourteen  of  these  served  them  for  supper  and   breakfast.     At 
another  time  the  travellers  had  a  *  naval  battle  with  a  bear'  which  thev  attacked 
as  he    was    swimming    across    the  Ohio   River.     After  an  exciting  fight     .     .     . 
they  dragged  their  valorous  but  vanquished  foe  into  their  boat,  and  he  proved  to 
be  of  enormous  size.     .     .     .     Flocks  of  screaming  paroquets  presently  alighted 
over  their  heads,  and  humming  birds  attracted  by  blossoming  honeysuckle  flitted 
around  them  and  flashed  away  again." 

Thus  far  we  have  seen  the  Ohio  wilderness  only  as  it  was  observed  by  early 
voyagers  descending  the  river  from  Fort  Duquesne  (Pitt),  now  Pittsburgh.  From 
the  mouths  of  the  Muskingum,  the  Scioto  and  the  Miami,  some  of  these  men  turned 
aside  to  explore  the  country  north  of  the  river  and  there  found  themselves  im- 
mersed in 

Majestic  woods,  of  every  vigorous  green. 

Stage  above  stage,  high  waving  o'er  the  hills, 
Or  to  the  far  horizon  wide  difi'used, 
A  boundless,  deep  immensity  of  shade. 


H  History  of  the  City  of  Colitmbuh. 

To  oue  of  these  explorers'^  who  ascended  the  Miami  Valley,  we  are  indebted 
for  this  bit  of  description  : 

Aboat  one  or  two  o'clock,  having  come  to  a  delightful  Hpot  surrounded  by  lofty  trees, 
(all  of  which  were  in  full  bloom)  and  furnished  with  a  carpet  which  nature  had  decked  with 
her  most  luxuriant  colours,  through  which  ran  a  rivulet  as  clear  as  the  purest  crystal,  we 
agreed  to  halt.  .  .  .  The  sun  shone  beautifully  bright  and  the  atmosphere  was  without 
a  cloud ;  and  as  our  horses  required  a  little  rest,  we  tied  them  to  a  tree  and  wandered  out 
into  the  woods,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  sweet  present  of  nature,  wherein  every  step  we  took 
afforded  new  beauties. 

Speaking  of  the  same  region  this  writer  tells  us  that  he  had  "seen  oak  trees, 
and  those  not  uncommon,  which  measured  near  tour  feet  in  diameter  at  the  bot- 
tom, and  which  had  a  straight  trunk  without  a  single  branch  for  seventy  feet;  and 
from  that  part  to  the  termination  of  the  upper  branch  it  has  measured  seventy 
more." 

Such  was  the  sylvan  majesty  which,  at  a  later  period,  inspired  the  pen  of 
William  D.  (rallagher  when  he  wrote,  one  says,  '*  from  the  very  bosom  of  the  Miami 
woods,"  these  stately  linos: 

Around  uie  here  rise  up  majestic  trees 
That  centuries  have  nurtured ;  graceful  elms, 
Which  interlock  their  limbs  among  the  clouds; 
Dark-columned  walnuts,  from  whose  liberal  store 
The  nut-brown  Indian  maids  their  baskets  fille<l 
Ere  the  first  Pilgrims  knelt  on  Plymouth  Rock ; 
Gigantic  sycamores,  whose  mighty  arms 
Sheltered  the  red  man  in  his  wigwam  prone, 
What  time  the  Norseman  roamed  our  chartless  seas; 
And  towering  oaks,  that  from  the  subject  plain 
Sprang  when  the  builders  of  the  tumuli 
First  disappeared. 

Another  explorer"  makes  this  record  of  what  he  saw  in  these  woods: 

There  is  something  which  impresses  the  mind  with  awe  in  the  shade  and  silence  of  these 
vast  forests.  .  .  .  Our  course  through  the  woods  was  directed  by  marked  trees.  As  yet 
there  is  no  road  cut.  There  is  but  little  underwood,  l)at  on  the  sides  of  the  creeks  and  near 
the  river  the  pawpaw  {Anyiona glabra^)  the  spice  bush,  or  wild  pimento  {fjaurus  benzoin,)  and 
the  dogberry  {comus  Florida,)  grow  in  the  gre4itest  abundance.  We  often  stop  to  admire  the 
grapevines  in  these  forests,  which  twine  among  and  spread  a  canopy  over  the  highest  trees. 
Some  are  nine  inches  in  diameter.  They  stretch  from  the  root,  which  is  often  thirty  and 
forty  feet  from  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  and  ascend  in  a  straight  line  to  the  first  high  limb  thirty 
and  even  sixty  feet  from  the  ground.  How^  they  have  reached  such  an  height  without  the 
help  of  intermediate  branches  is  unaccountable. 

The  Muskingum  Valley,  as  it  appeared  to  the  Moravian  missionary  Zeisberger 
when  he  explored  it  in  1772,  is  thus  described  in  his  biography: 

It  extended  a  distance  of  nearly  eighty  miles,  enclosed  on  both  sides  by  hills,  at  the  foot 
of  which  lay  wide  plains  terminating  abrui)tly  in  bluffs,  or  sloping  gently  to  the  lower  bot- 
toms through  which  the  river  flowed.  These  plains  that  now  form  the  fruitful  fields  of  the 
**  second  bottoms,"  as  they  are  called,  were  then  wooded  with  the  oak  and  hickory,  the  ash, 
the  chestnut,  and  the  maple,  which  interlocked  their  branches,  but  stood  comparatively  free 
from  the  undergrowth  of  other  forests.  The  river  bottoms  were  far  wilder.  Here  grew  wal- 
nut trees  and  gigantic  sycamores,  whose  colossal  trunks  even  now  astonish  the  traveler; 
bushy  cedars,  luxuriant  horse-chestnuts,  and  honey  locusts,  cased  in  their  armor  of  thorns. 


The  Ohio  Wilderness.  9 

Between  these,  clustered  laurel-bushes,  with  their  rich  tribute  of  flowers,  or  were  coiled  the 
thick  mazes  of  the  vine,  from  which  more  fragrant  tendrils  twined  themselves  into  the 
nearest  boughs,  while  here  and  there  a  lofty  spruce  tree  lifted  its  evergreen  crown  above  the 
groves. 

Daniel  Boone  refers  to  the  Scioto  Valley,  through  which  he  was  conducted 
during  his  captivity,  as  "exceedingly  fertile*'  and  "remarkable  for  fine  springs 
and  streams  of  water."  Others  speak  of  it  as  marshy  and  malarious.  Smith's 
narrative  contains  the  following  allusions  to  the  upper  Scioto  country  lying 
within  the  present  boundaries  of  Franklin  and  the  neighboring  counties  west  and 
north : 

About  the  time  the  bucks  quit  running,  Tontileaugo,  his  wife  and  children,  Tecaughre- 
tanego,  his  son  Nungany  and  myself  left  the  Wiandot  camps  at  the  carrying  place,  and  crossed 
the  Sciota  River  at  the  south  end  of  the  glades,  and  proceeded  on  about  a  southwest  course  to 
a  large  creek  called  Ollentangy,^*  which  I  believe  interlocks  with  the  waters  of  the  Miami, 
and  empties  into  Sciota  on  the  west  side  thereof.  From  the  south  end  of  the  prairie  to 
Ollentangy,  there  is  a  large  quantity  of  beech  land,  intermixed  with  first- rate  land.  Here  we 
made  our  winter  hut,  and  had  considerable  success  in  hunting.  ...  A  few  days  after 
Tecaughretanego  [an  Indian  soothsayer]  had  gone  through  his  ceremonies  and  finished  his 
prayers,  the  rain  came  and  raised  the  creek  a  sufficient  height  so  that  we  passed  in  safety 
down  to  Sciota,  and  proceeded  up  to  the  carrying  place.  About  our  winter  cabbin  is  chiefly 
first  and  second  rate  land.  A  considerable  way  up  Ollentangy  on  the  southwest  side  thereof 
or  betwixt  it  and  the  Miami,  there  is  a  very  large  prairie,  and  from  this  prairie  down  Ollen- 
tangy to  Sciota,  is  generally  first-rate  land.  The  timber  is  walnut,  sugar-tree,  ash,  buckeye, 
locust,  wild  cherry  and  spicewood,  intermixed  with  some  oak  and  beech.  From  the  mouth 
of  Ollentangy  on  the  east  side  of  Sciota,  up  to  the  carrying  place,  there  is  a  large  body  of  first 
and  second  rate  land,  and  tolerably  well  watered.    The  timber  is  ash,  sugar-tree,  walnut, 

locust,  oak  and  beech We  proceeded  from  this  place  down  Sandusky,  and  in 

,  our  passage  we  killed  four  ))ears,  and  a  number  of  turkeys. 

But  the  country  was  by  no  means  all  timbered.  Smith  speaks  of  **  the  great 
meadows  or  prairies  that  lie  between  Sandusky  and  Sciota,""^  which  must  have 
been  in  their  primitive,  as  they  are  now  in  their  cultivated  state,  of  great  natural 
beauty.  Samuel  Williams,  a  member  of  Captjiin  Henry  Brush's  company  of  Chilli- 
cothe  volunteers  who  marched  to  the  relief  of  Hull  at  Detroit  in  the  summer  of 
1812,  writes  on  the  third  of  August,  that  year,  from  camp  at  Mauniee  Kapids. 
"  The  country  we  yesterday  passed  through  [yet  in  its  original  wildnessj  is  the 
most  delightful  1  have  ever  seen.  Our  route  most  of  -the  day  was  over  natural 
plains  of  many  miles  in  extent,  apparently  as  level  as  theocean,  seemingly  bounded 
only  by  the  distant  horizon,  and  interspersed  with  a  few  islets  or  groves  of  oak 
and  hickory  timber  and  hazel  bushes,  and  here  and  there  a  solitary  oak  tree  or  two 
standing  out  in  the  open  expanse.  These  isolated  trees  and  groves  contributed 
much  to  the  beauty  of  the  scenery.  But  this  is  not  all.  These  plains  are  covered 
with  a  most  luxuriant  growth  of  grass  and  herbs,  and  an  endless  variety  of  beauti- 
ful native  flowers,  representing  all  the  hues  of  the  rainbow,  and  loading  the  atmos- 
phere with  their  perfume." 

Other  prairie  districts,  since  known  somewhat  indefinitely  as  the  Darby  and 
Pickawa3'  plains,  are  referred  to  by  Williams  as  the  *'  barrens,"  through  which,  he 
tells  us,  the  Brush  company  marched  for  two  days  exposed  to  the  hot  sun,  before 
reaching  Urban  a.  Speaking  of  this  district  A  twater  says, '' the  prairie  north  of 
Circleville  appears  to  have  been  the  bed  of  some  considerable  stream,  the  Scioto 


10  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

River,  perhaps.  In  some  places  it  is  four  feet  from  the  present  surface  to  the 
ancient  one.  On  the  latter  once  stood  a  thick  forest  of  white  cedar  trees;  these 
trees  now  lie  on  the  ancient  surface,  in  different  stai^es  of  decay.  .  .  .  The  whole 
prairie  was  once  a  cedar  swamp."'* 

The  animal  life  of  the  wilderness  was  exceedingly  interesting^  and  naturally 
drew  more  of  the  attention  of  the  early  chroniclers  than  its  vegetable  life.  Smith's 
narrative  contains  frequent  reference  to  the  wild  game  of  the  woods.  In  his 
earlier  pages,  after  having  narrated  his  wanderings  and  adventures  with  the 
Indian  party  to  which  he  was  captive  until  they  arrived  at  the  creek  now  known 
as  Rocky  River,  in  Northern  Ohio,  and  there  halted  for  the  winter,  he  says: 

As  it  was  still  cold  weather  and  a  crufit  upon  the  pnow,  which  made  a  noise  as  we 
walked  and  alarmed  I  he  deer,  we  could  kill  nothinjr,  and  consequently  went  to  sleep  without 
supper.  The  only  chance  we  had  under  these  circumstances,  was  to  hunt  l)ear  holes;  as  the 
bears  about  Christmas  search  out  n  winter  IcMlj^inp  ])lace,  where  they  lie  about  three  or  four 

months  without  eating  or  drinking The  next  morning  early  we  proceeded  on, 

and  when  we  foun<l  a  tree  scratched  l»y  the  l>ear8  climbing  up,  and  the  hole  in  the  tree 
sufficiently  large  for  the  reception  of  the  bear,  we  then  fell  a  sapling  or  small  tree  against  or 
near  the  hole  and  it  was  my  business  to  climb  up  and  drive  out  the  bear,  while  Tontileaugo 
stood  ready  with  his  gun  and  bow.  We  went  on  in  this  manner  until  evening,  without  suc- 
cess: at  length  we  found  a  large  elm  scratched,  and  a  hole  in  it  about  forty  feet  up.  but  no 
tree  nigh  suitable  to  lodge  against  the  hole.  Tontileaugo  got  a  long  pole  and  some  dry 
rotten  wood  which  he  tied  in  bunches,  with  bark,  and  as  there  was  a  tree  that  grew  near  the 
elm,  and  extended  up  near  the  hole,  but  leaned  the  wrong  way,  so  that  we  could  not  lodge 
it  to  advantage;  but  to  remedy  this  inconvenience  he  climl)ed  up  this  tree  an<l  carried  with 
him  his  rotten  wood,  fire  and  pole.  The  rotten  wood  he  tied  to  his  belt,  and  to  one  end  of 
the  pole  he  tied  a  hook,  and  a  piece  of  rotten  wood  which  he  set  tire  to,  as  it  would  retain 
fire  almost  like  spunk  ;  and  reached  this  hook  from  limb  to  limb  as  he  went  up;  when  he 
got  up  with  this  pole  be  put  dry  wood  on  fire  into  the  hole,  after  he  put  in  the  fire  he  heard 
the  bear  snuff  and  he  c^me  speedily  down,  took  his  gun  in  his  hand  and  waited  until  the 
bear  would  ('ome  out;  but  it  was  some  time  before  it  appeared,  and  when  it  did  appear  he 
attempted  taking  sight  witH  his  rifle,  but  it  being  then  too  dark  to  see  the  sigbti).  he  set  it 
down  by  a  tree,  and  instantly  bent  bis  bow,  took  hold  of  an  arrow,  and  shot  the  bear  a  little 
behind  the  shoulder;  I  was  preparing  also  to  shoot  an  arrow,  but  he  called  to  me  to  stop, 

there  was  no  occasion  ;  and  with  that  the  bear  fell  to  the  ground We  remained 

here  about  two  weeks,  and  in  this  time  killed  four  bears,  three  deer,  several  turkeys,  and  a 
number  of  raccoons. 

This  simple  narrative,  rude  and  spontaneous  like  the  forest  itself,  convoys  a 
more  vivid  impression  than  we  obtain  from  many  a  more  polished  and  pretentious 
attempt  at  descriptive  writing. 

Beai*s  w-ere  common  in  the  Ohio  woods  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  after,  which  they  were  rapidly  exterminated.  Major  John  Rogers's 
journal  of  a  voyage  along  Lake  Erie  in  17(11  contains  this  passage:  "  Wo  traveled 
eleven  miles  and  encamped,  having  killed  in  our  march  this  day  three  Bears  and 
two  Elks."  The  following  adventure  in  the  valley  of  the  Little  Miami  is  narrated 
in  Baily's  journal,  already  (juoted  : 

We  had  not  [)roceeded  far  in  the  woods  ere  we  discovered  a  hole  in  the  top  of  a  lofty 
oak,  whose  diameter  was  upwards  of  three  feet  at  the  bottom,  and  itj*  height  near  150  feet. 
.  .  .  We  saw  evident  traces  of  his  [a  bear's]  claws  impressed  on  the  bark  of  the  tree,  and 
it  was  soon  lesolved  that  the  tree  was  to  come  down.  Accordingly  our  two  men  set  at  it,  and 
when  they  had  nearly  got  through  it  we  took  our  appointed  stations  to  watch  the  egress  of 
this  tyrant  of  the  woods.     In  a  short  time  the  immense  trunk  began  to  give  way,  and  carry- 


The  Ohio  Wildernbss.  11 

ing  all  before  it,  fell  with  a  tremendons  crash  upon  the  ground.  Bruin,  finding  his  habita- 
tion in  motion,  began  to  look  out  before  it  reached  the  ground,  and  with  a  sudden  spring 
arrived  there  first.  Immediately  Dr.  Bean  levelled  his  piece  and  shot  him  through  the  body, 
but  only  so  as  to  wound  him,  and  the  bear  began  to  turn  upon  him;  when  at  the  lucky 
moment  a  limb  of  the  tree  fell  upon  the  stump  of  his  tail,  and  left  him  struggling  to  get  free. 
This  afforded  me  time  to  come  to  Dr.  Bean's  assistance,  when  I  shot  the  poor  animal  through 
the  head.  ...  In  this  expedition  we  killed  two  or  three  deer,  and  saw  great  quantities 
of  wild  turkeys. 

Both  elk  and  buffalo  roamed  the  Ohio  woods  grior  to  the  year  1800.  Smith 
mentions  the  slaying  of  a  "buek-elk"  which,  he  remarks,"  was  the  fattest  creature 
I  ever  saw  of  the  tallow  kind."  His  account  indicates  that  the  animal  was  taken 
somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Muskiniijum.  Atwater  affirms  that  "  when 
Circleville  was  first  settled  the  carcasses,  or  rather  skeletons,  of  fifty  individuals  of 
the  elk  family  lay  scattered  about  on  the  surface."'*  In  his  paper  on  the  Mam- 
mals of  Ohio,  embodied  in  the  State  Geoloirical  Survey  Report,  Prof  A.  M.  Bray- 
ton  says  :  "  There  is  ample  evidence  of  the  former  existence  and  abundance  of 
the  buffalo  in  Northern  Ohio  ;  it  occurred  in  otiicr  parts  of  the  State.  Colonel  John 
May  met  with  it  on  the  Muskingum  in  1788,  and  Atwater  says  '  we  had  once  the 
bison  and  the  elk  in  vast  numbers  all  over  Ohio.'  Hutchins  says  tiiat  in  the  natural 
meadows,  or  savannalis, '  from  twenty  to  fifty  miles  in  circuit,'  from  the  moutii  of  the 
Kanawha  far  down  the  Ohio  the  herds  of  buffalo  and  deer  were  innumerable,  as 
also  in  the  region  drained  by  the  Scioto."  In  his  description  of  Lake  Erie,  about 
1687,  La  Hanton  (quoted  by  Professor  Brayton)  says  .  *' 1  cannot  express  what 
quantities  of  deer  and  turkeys  are  to  be  found  in  these  woods  and  in  the  vast 
woods  that  lie  on  the  south  side  of  the  lake."  In  1718  Vaudrcuil  said  of  Lake  Erie  : 
"There  is  no  need  of  fasting  on  either  side  of  this  lake,  doer  are  to  be  found  there  in 
such  abundance.  Buffaloes  are  to  be  found  on  the  south  but  not  on  the  north 
shore.  .  .  .  Thirty  leagues  up  the  river  [Maumec]  is  a  place  called  La  Glaise 
[now  Defiance]  where  buffaloes  are  always  to  be  found;  they  eat  the  clay,  and 
wallow  in  it."  Harris  speaks  in  his  journal  of''  oi)en  cleared  spots  on  the  summits 
of  hills  called  *  buffaloe  beats'  because  supposed  to  be  occasioned  by  the  resort  of 
those  animals  thither  in  fly-time."^* 

Smith's  narrative  contains  this  passage  : 

We  then  moved  to  Buffaloe  lick,  where  we  killed  several  buffaloe,  and  in  their  small 
brass  kettles  they  made  about  half  a  bushel  of  salt.  I  suppose  thi.«?  lick  was  about  thirty  or 
forty  miles  from  the  aforesaid  town.^'  and  somewhere  between  the  .Muskingum,  Ohio  and 
Sciota.  About  the  lick  was  clear,  open  woods,  and  thin  whito-oak  land,  and  at  that  time 
there  were  large  roads  leading  to  the  lick,  like  waggon  roa<ls.  We  moved  from  this  lick  about 
six  or  seven  miles  and  encamped  on  a  creek. ^* 

Smith  also  tells  of  ambuscading  a  buffalo  herd,  from  which  he  succeeded  in  kill- 
ing "a  very  large  cow/'  This  seems  to  have  occurred  between  the  Olentangy 
(  Darby  Creek  )  and  the  Scioto. 

Of  the  panther  species  both  the  mt)untain  tiger  and  the  mountain  cat  were  in- 
habitants of  the  Ohio  wilderness.  The  commissioners  of  Athens  County  offered 
bounties  for  both  panther  and  wolf  scalps  down  to  the  year  1818.-'^  Within  a  mile 
of  Newark,  Licking  County,  a  marauding  panther  was  shot  as  late  as  1805.^^ 

Wolves  infested  the  wilderness  in  great  numbers,  and  their  ululations  at  night, 
particularly  in  winter,  must  have  been  extremely  dismal. 


12  Hl8T(>RV    OF    THE    ClTV    OK    COLTMBUS. 

The  gray  i'ox^  a  beautiful  animal,  was  very  ahundaiit,  but,  strange  to  say,  with 
tbi;  approach  of  civilization  the  red  fox  supplanted  it. 

Another  frequent  inhabitant  wan  the  deer,  whose  timidity,  grace  and  innocence 
enlist  our  sympathy  although  they  never  evoked  the  hunters  mercy. 

SquiiTels  were  numberless,  and  their  grand  migrations  were  among  the  curi- 
ous phenonuMm  of  the  forest/* 

Serpents  of  various  kinds  fre<|uented  the  marshes,  the  tall  grass  of  the  prairies 
and  the  tangled  copses.  Atwater  says:  "At  an  early  period  of  our  settlement 
the  large  rattlesnake  was  found  along  the  Scioto,  in  considerable  numbers,  but  the 
newly  settled  inhabitants,  ascertaining  that  these  ser])ents  burrowed  in  a  large 
stone  mound  a  few  miles  northeastwardly  from  Circlevilio,  after  the  seri>ents  had 
gone  into  their  winter  quarters  fenced  in  the  mound,  and,  as  the  serpents  came 
out  of  it  in  the  spring  of  the  next  year,  they  killed  them,  so  that  it  is  a  rare  thing 
now  to  find  one  on  this  region."" 

Probably  no  other  ])ortion  of  the  earth  was  ever  peopled  by  a  more  interesting 
vurietv  of  birds  than  the  Ohio  wilderness.  Mr.  Atwater's  remarks  on  this  subject 
are  interesting.  He  says:  "The  wild  goose  visits  us  on  the  Scioto  early  in  the 
autumn,  and  tarries  with  us  until  spring.  .  .  .  This  bird  lives  all  winter  about 
Sandusky  bay,  and  from  thence  southwardly  to  Pickaway  plains.  .  .  .  Loons  are 
seen  along  the  Ohio  River,  but  they  are  seldom  killed.  The  heron  and  the  crane 
visit  us  in  the  spring,  and  tarry  here  all  summer  and  rear  their  young.  The  wmd- 
hill  crane  lives  on  the  Scioto,  and  tarries  there  nearly  all  the  year.  .  .  .  After  a 
long  storm  from  the  southwest  many  birds  of  ditierent  species  are  oflen  seen  hei"o 
of  a  most  beautiful  plumage,  which  disappear  again  after  a  week's  fair  weather. 
.  .  .  (rulls,  or  stormy  )»etrels  are  often  seen  along  the  Ohio  River,  before  a  south- 
western storm.  A  few  years  since,  panxjuetts,  in  large  fiocks,  lived  in  the  woods, 
along  the  Ohio  River,  from  Miller's  bottom  downwar<ls,  and  along  the  Scioto  River, 
upwards  from  its  mouth,  to  where  ('olumbus  now  stands.  They  are  still  in  the 
woods  along  the  bottoms  below  (.'hillicotiie  near  the  river  where  there  is  ])roper 
food  for  them  to  eat,  and  birds  enough  tor  them  to  torment  by  their  squalling 
noise.     * 

Myriads  of  wild  jugeons  nested   in  the  wilderness,  and  their  migi*atory  flights 

over  the  silent  *' sea  of  woods''  were  sometimes  prodigious.     One  of  the  French 

voyagers  on  the  Mississippi  remarks  that  "  tl»e  air  was  darkened  and  quite  covered 

with  them.  "        Harris's  journal  (  1803  )  contains   these  statements    referring  to 

Ohio: 

The  vast  fiights  of  pij^eous  in  this  country  seem  incredible.  But  there  is  a  large  forest 
in  Waterford  (on  the  Muskingum )  containing  several  hundred  acres,  which  had  been  killed 
in  consequence  of  their  lighting  upon  it  during  the  autumn  of  1801.  Such  numbers  lodged 
upon  the  trees  that  they  broke  off  large  limbs ;  and  the  ground  below  is  crovered,  and  in 
some  places  a  foot  thick,  with  their  dung,  which  hai«  not  only  killed  all  the  undergrowth, 
but  all  the  trees  are  as  dead  as  if  they  had  been  girdled.*'  -"^ 

John  Bradbury,  an  English  botanist  who  explored  the  Missouri  country  in 
1809-11,  writes  of  these  birds  : 

I  .  .  .  soon  discovered  that  pigeons  were  in  the  woods.  .  .  .  This  npecies  of  pigeon  (Col- 
unibo  migratorius )  associates  in  prodigious  Hocks:  one  of  these  flocks  when  on  the  ground* 
will  cover  an  area  several  acres  in  extent,  and  are  .so  close  to  each  other  that  the  ground  can 
scarcely  be  seen.    This  phalanx  moves  through  the  woods  with  considerable  celerity,  picking 


The  Ohio  Wildbrnehh.  K> 

up,  as  it  passes  along,  everything  that  will  serve  for  food.  It  is  evident  that  the  foremost  ranks 
must  be  the  most  successfal,  and  that  nothing  will  remain  for  the  hindermost.  That  all  may 
have  an  equal  chance  the  instant  that  any  rank  becomes  the  last,  they  rise  and  flying  over 
the  whole  dock  alight  exactly  ahead  of  the  foremost.  They  succeed  each  other  with  so  much 
rapidity  that  there  is  a  continual  stream  of  them  in  the  air,  and  a  si<le  view  of  them  exhibits 
the  appearance  of  the  segment  of  a  large  circle  moving  through  the  woods.  I  observed  that 
they  ceased  to  look  for  food  a  considerable  time  before  they  become  the  last  rank,  but  strictly 
adhere  to  their  regulations,  and  never  rise  until  there  are  none  behind  them.'*  "^ 

The  ornithologist  of  the  Geological  Survey,  Dr.  J.  M.  Wheaton,  M.  D.,  late 
of  this  city,  says  in  his  report: 

Until  about  1855  pigeons  were  extremely  abundant  in  Central  Ohio,  having  at  and  before 
this  time  a  roost  and  breeding  place  near  Kirkersville,  Licking  County.  Then,  for  weeks  at 
a  time,  they  might  be  observed  flying  over  this  city  or  around  its  suburbs.  In  the  morning 
soon  after  sunrise  until  nine  o'clock  or  after,  their  flight  was  westward  from  the  roost.  In 
the  afternoon  from  four  o'clock  until  sundown  they  were  returning.  During  these  periods 
they  were  never  out  of  sight,  and  often  dozens  of  flocks  were  in  view  at  once.  .  .  .  Vast 
numbers  were  shot,  killed  with  poles  on  their  roosts,  or  captured  in  nets.  .  .  .  Many 
thousands  were  offered  for  sale  in  the  market  of  this  city.  Most  of  them  were  brought  alive 
in  coops,  and  the  purchaser  had  the  choice  of  carrying  them  home  alive  or  having  them  killed 
on  the  H[)ot.  If  he  chose  the  latter,  the  seller  by  a  dexterous  movement  fractured  or  dislo- 
cated the  bird's  neck  between  his  teeth.  The  average  price  at  this  time  was  five  or  six  cents 
a  dozen.    .    . 

On  several  occasions  we  have  been  favored  with  a  general  migration  of  these  birds,  when 
they  have  appeared  as  described  by  Wilson,  in  **  congregated  millions."  This  was  the  case  in 
1854,  when  the  light  of  the  sun  was  perceptibly  obscured  by  the  immense,  unbroken,  and 
apparently  limitless  flock  which  for  several  hours  passed  over  the  city.  In  the  fall  of  1859  I 
witnessed  a  similar  migration  near  Granville,  Licking  County,  since  which  time  the  birds 
liave  been  much  less  numerous.  On  this  occasion  I  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  a  large 
flock  while  feeding.  The  flock,  after  a  little  circling  by  the  foremost  ranks,  alighted  upon  the 
ground,  presenting  a  front  of  over  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  with  a  depth  of  nearly  a  hundred  yards. 
In  a  very  few  moments  those  in  the  rear,  finding  the  ground  already  stripped  of  mast,  arose 
above  the  treetops  and  alighted  in  front  of  the  advance  column.  This  movement  soon  became 
continuous  anduniform,  birds  from  the  rear  flying  to  the  front  so  rapidly  that  the  whole  pre- 
sented the  appearance  of  a  rolling  cylinder  having  a  diameter  of  about  fifty  yards,  its  interior 
filled  with  flying  leaves  and  grass.  The  noise  was  deafening,  and  the  sight  confusing  to  the 
mind.** 

If  such  were  the  multitudes  of  these  birds  which  swarmed  over  the  country 
nearly  sixty  years  after  civilization  had  begun  to  destroy  them  and  drive  them 
from  their  haunts,  how  phenomenal  must  they  have  been  when  they  roved  the 
silent,  unseen  wilds  before  the  white  man's  advent! 

The  waterfowl  of  the  wilderness, 

Consulting  deep,  and  various,  ere  they  took 
Their  arduous  voyage  through  the  liquid  sky, 

we  may  well  believe  constituted  one  of  its  most  curious  phases.  Smith  gives  us 
some  glimpses  of  it  in  his  narrative.  Describing  a  grand  circular  hunt  on  the 
Maumee  during  which  the  Indians  drove  multitudes  of  deer  into  the  river  he  says  : 
**  The  squaws  and  boys  were  busy  tomahawking  the  deer  in  the  water,  and  we 
shooting  them  down  on  the  land.  We  killed  in  all  about  thirty  deer,  tho'  a  great 
many  made  their  escape  by  water  " ;  and  then  adds  : 

We  had  now  great  feasting  and  rejoicing,  as  we  had  plenty  of  homony,  venison,  and 


14  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

wild  fowl.  The  i^eese  at  this  time  appeared  to  be  preparing;  to  move  southward  —  it  might  be 
askeil  what  is  meant  by  the  geese  preparing  to  move?  The  Indians  represent  them  as  hold- 
^^K  &  great  council  at  this  time  concerning  the  weather  in  order  to  conclude  upon  a  day  that 
they  may  all  at  or  near  one  time  leave  the  Northern  I^kes  and  wing  their  way  to  the  south- 
ern bays.  When  matters  are  brought  to  a  conclusion  and  tlie  time  appointed  that  they  are 
to  take  wing,  then,  they  say,  a  great  number  of  expresses  are  sent  off  in  order  to  let  the  dif- 
ferent tribes  know  the  result  of  this  council,  that  they  may  be  all  in  readiness  to  move  at  the 
time  appointed.  As  there  is  a  great  commotion  among  the  geese  at  this  time,  it  would  ap- 
pear by  their  actions  that  such  a  council  had  been  held.  Certain  it  is  that  they  are  led  by 
instinct  to  a(»t  in  concert  and  move  oflf  regularly  after  their  leaders. 

In  another  place  Smith  says:    "Then  (in  October)  the  geese,  swans,  ducks, 
cranes,  &c.,  eamo  from  tlio  north,  and  alightetl  on  this  little  Lake  (Sandusky  bay) 
without  number  or  innumerable.     Sunyendeand  [a  Wyandot  town  on  the  bay]  is 
a  remarkable  place  for  fish  in  the  spring,  and  fowl  both  in  the  fall  and  spring." 

The  approach  of  civilization  modified  but  l>y  no  means  discontinued  these 
phenomena.  "  Wild  geese, swans,  ducks  and  wading  birds,*'  wrote  Dr.  Kirtland  in 
1850,  "  literally  swarmed  about  every  lake,  pond  unti  creek,  during  spring  and 
autumn.  Many  species  also  bred  on  the  Heserve.  Forty  years  since,  while  travel- 
ling from  Buffalo  to  Ohio,  along  the  immediate  .shore  of  the  lake,  the  scene  was 
constantly  enlivened  by  the  presence  of  ducks  leading  their  young  on  the  margin 
of  the  water,  or  hastily  retreating  to  it  on  our  aj)proach.  It  often  happened  that 
on  doubling  some  point  of  land  or  fallen  tree,  we  j>laced  ourselves  in  a  position  to 
cut  off  their  communication  with  their  favorito  element.  The  instructive  expedi- 
ents to  which  the  thoughtful  mother  would  resort  to  extricate  her  charge  from 
impending  danger,  was  to  us  a  matter  of  amuMcment  and  interest." 

**  At  the  present  time,"  wrote  Dr.  Whcaton  in  1871),  *' the  geese  find  no  more 
secure  feeding  grounds  than  the  vast  cornfields  of  the  Scioto  Valley.  However 
these  birds  are  less  numerous  than  formerly,  at  least  in  the  vicinity  of  this  city. 
They  seem  to  retain  for  a  long  time  an  attachment  for  places,  and  visit  each  year 
a  favorite  locality  on  the  Olcnlangy  Kiver,  so  near  this  city  that  1  have  known 
amateur  sportsmen  to  refrain  from  shooting  them,  for  the  reason  that  they  *  were 
too  near  town  to  be  wild  geese.'  "*'' 

A  letter  quoted  by  Dr.  Manasseh  (hitler,  writing  at  the  Marietta  settlement  in 
1788,  says:  ''Every  spring  a  prodigious  number  of  storks  come  to  visit  these 
plains;  they  arc  at  least  six  feet  high,  and  more  than  seven  feet  from  tip  to  tip  of 
wings.  1  have  never  seen  them  come  to  feed  that  they  were  not  surrounded  by 
sentinels  who  watch  around  them  to  announce  the  approach  of  enemies.  Some- 
times before  their  departure  they  assemble  in  great  flocks,  and  the  day  being  fixed 
all  rise,  turning  slowly,  and  preserving  always  the  same  order,  they  describe  long 
spirals  until  they  are  out  of  sight." 

Paroquets  in  the  Ohio  woods  are  referred  to  in  various  old  chronicles,  some  of 
which  have  been  already  quoted.  Their  harsh  squawk  must  have  been  one  of  the 
most  impressive  if  not  pleasing  voices  of  the  summer  wilderness.  They  seem  to 
have  been  partial  to  the  valley  of  the  Lower  Scioto,  although  they  were  observed 
as  far  north  as  Lake  Michigan.  Audubon,  writing  in  18H1,  says:  ^^OurParra- 
keets  are  very  rajndly  diminishing  in  number,  and  in  some  districts  where  twenty- 
five  years  ago  they  were  plentiful,  scarcely  any  are  now  to  be  seen."  In  1838  Dr. 
Kirtland  observed  that  "  the  parrakeets  do  not  usually  extend  their  visits  north  of 


The  Ohio  Wilderness.  IB 

the  Scioto.*'  In  July,  1862,  the  late  W.  S.  Sullivant,  of  Columbus,  noticed  a  flock  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  which  alighted  among  the  trees  opposite  his  residence  on  the 
Capitol  Square.** 

Another  impressive  bird  of  the  wilderness,  and  one  especially  in  keeping  with 
its  gloomier  aspects,  was  the  turkey  buzzard,  of  which  we  have  the  following  strik- 
ing picture  in  Bradbury's  account  of  his  exploratioiis  of  the  Missouri  woods  :  "  We 
began  to  notice  more  particularly  the  great  number  of  drowned  buffaloes  floating 
on  the  river;  vast  numbers  of  them  were  also  thrown  ashore.  .  .  .  These 
carcasses  had  attracted  an  immense  number  of  turkey  buzzards  ( Vultur  aura)  and 
as  the  preceding  night  had  been  rainy,  multitudes  of  them  were  sitting  on  the 
trees,  with  their  backs  toward  the  sun,  and  their  wings  spread  out  to  dry,  a  com- 
mon practice  with  these  birds  ailer  a  rain."^^ 

A  similar  spectacle  formerly  frequent  on  the  Ohio  is  mentioned  by  Harris,  who 
says  in  his  journal :  "  On  the  upper  beach  of  one  of  the  islands  we  saw  a  large 
flock  of  Turkey  Buzzards,  attracted  there  by  a  dead  carcass  that  had  floated  down 
the  river,  and  lodged  upon  the  bar.  These  birds  did  not  fly  upon  our  ap- 
proach."" 

Dr.  Cone  says  of  these  scavengers:  *'The  Turkey  Buzzard  breeds  sometimes 
in  communities  and  sometimes  by  single  pairs,  depositing  its  aggs  on  the  ground, 
on  rocks,  or  in  hollow  logs  and  stumps.  The  situation  is  generally  in  thick  woods  ; 
and  when  numbers  breed  together,  the  foulness  of  the  resort  is  beyond  description 
—  vegetation  may  be  destroyed  over  large  areas.  .  .  .  They  walk  or  hop 
indifferently,  and  sometimes  move  with  a  succession  of  leaps,  accelerated  with  the 
wings.  When  about  to  take  flight  from  the  ground,  they  stoop  for  an  instant  till 
the  breast  almost  touches,  and  then  unfolding  the  wings,  give  a  vigorous  spring 
into  the  air;  with  a  few  powerful  hurried  flaps  they  are  fairly  ott\  They  soon 
begin  their  gyrations  with  set  wings,  only  beating  at  intervals,  when  they  are 
forced  to  rise  rapidly  away  from  some  obstacles;  and  circling  thus  they  are 
shortl}'  in  the  upper  air." 

Of  the  eagles  a  whole  chapter  of  interesting  facts  might  be  written.  Smith 
says  in  his  narrative:  **  We  came  to  Lake  Erie  about  six  miles  west  of  Canesa- 
dooharie  [Black  River,  in  Lorain  County].  ...  I  saw  on  the  strand  a  number 
of  large  fish,  that  had  been  left  in  flat  or  hollow  places;  as  the  wind  fell  and  the 
waves  abated,  they  were  lefl  w^ithout  water,  or  only  a  small  quantity;  and  num- 
bers of  Bald  and  Gray  Eagles,  &c.,  were  along  the  shore  devouring  them." 

In  another  place  be  says  "great  numbers  of  turkey-buzzards  and  eagles" 
collected  to  devour  some  rockfish  left  by  the  Indians. 

The  black  eagles,  says  a  colonial  writer,  "  are  most  frequently  sitting  on  some 
tall  tree  by  the  riverside,  whence  they  may  have  a  prospect  up  and  dowMi  the 
river,  as  1  suppose  to  observe  the  fishing  hawks  ;  for  when  they  see  the  fishing 
hawk  has  struck  a  fish,  immediately  they  take  wing,  and  'tis  sometimes  very 
pleasant  to  behold  the  flight,  for  when  the  fishing  hawk  perceives  herself  pursued, 
she  will  scream  and  make  a  terrible  noise,  till  at  length  she  lets  fall  the  fish  to 
make  her  own  escape,  w^hich  the  eagle  frequently  catches  before  it  reach  the 
earth  or  water."" 

Wilson's  Ornithology  contains  the  following  references  to  the  whiteheaded 
eagle  in  this  State : 


1<>  HiSToKV   OR   TIIK   (*ITV    OF   CoLCMKI'S. 

lu  one  of  tliose  partial  ini)j;rations  uf  triH^'  wiuirreln  that  sometimes  take  place  in  our  weet- 
ern  forests,  many  thousands  of  them  were  drowned  in  attempting  to  cross  the  Ohio ;  and  at 
a  certain  place  not  far  from  Wheeling,  a  prodigious  number  of  their  dead  bodies  were  floate<1 
to  the  shore  by  an  eddy.  Here  the  vultures  assemble^!  in  great  force,  and  had  regaled  them- 
selves for  sometime,  when  a  bald  eagle  made  his  api>earance,  and  took  sole  possession  of  the 
premises,  keeping  the  vultures  at  their  proj»er  distance  for  several  days.  He  has  also  lH*en 
seen  navigating  the  same  river  on  a  floating  carrion,  though  scarcely  raise^l  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  water,  and  tugging  at  the  carcass  regardless  of  snags,  sawyers,  planters  or 
shallows."^ 

Doctor  Wheaton,  writing  in  1879,  says:  "In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Colum- 
bus the  white  headed  eagle  is  rare,  and  migrant  or  winter  visitor.  I  have  not 
seen  one  for  twenty  years,  but  a  fine  adult  spociman  was  observed  on  Alum  Creek, 
about  four  miles  from  the  city,  by  my  friends  Doctors  Fullerton  and  Landis  in  Sep- 
tember last,  r  have  seen  it  in  October,  at  the  Licking  County  Reservoir,  and  have 
been  informed  that  it  remains  through  the  summer  and  probably  breeds  there. 
About  thirty  years  since,  when  a  fatal  epidemic  prevailed  among  cattle,  eagles  ap- 
peared in  considerable  numbers  in  the  northern  part  of  this  county'  and  fed  upon 
the  carc^isses  ol'  the  victims.''*' 

The  song  birds  of  the  wilderness  excite  the  admiring  comment  of  all  its  early 
explorers.  Among  those  partial  to  the  Scioto  Valley  was  the  thrush,  of  which  At- 
water  writes  in  the  following  strain  of  rhapsody: 

This  Shakspeare  among  birds  seats  himself  on  some  tree  where  the  greatest  variety  of  all 
sorts  of  birds  dwell,  and  makes  it  his  business  to  mock  and  disappoint  them.  Hence  his  com- 
mon name  of  mockingbird.  Having  seated  himself  in  a  proper  place  he  listens  in  profound 
silence  to  the  songs  of  the  several  birds  around  him.  In  the  vernal  season  he  makes  the 
love  call  of  a  female  of  some  near  neighbor  with  heart  stirring  melody,  until  the  males  come 
in  flocks  to  caress  their  loved  mate,  when  lo  I  no  such  lovely  bird  is  there.  They  find  in- 
stead of  the  lovely  fair  one  a  homely  brown  thrush.  ...  In  the  evening,  after  the  birds  have 
reared  their  young  ones,  and  when  all  join  to  raise  their  several  hymns  of  praise,  the  thrush 
seats  himself  in  this  woodland  orchestra,  and  begins  by  singing  in  succession  the  notes  and 
songs  of  all  the  birds  around  him,  beating  all  of  them,  using  their  own  notes  and  singing  their 
own  songs. 

Having  thus,  as  he  supposes,  carrie<i  ottthe  prize  in  this  musical  contest,  he  prepares  for 
his  finale^  by  taking  his  seat  on  the  topmost  end  of  the  highest  bough  of  the  loftiest  tree 
standing  on  the  highest  ground  in  all  tlie  grove,  and  then  commences  to  sing  his  own  clear 
notes,  and  his  own  most  delightful  song.  At  times  his  wings  are  expanded,  his  neck  is  ex- 
tended, every  feather  in  his  whole  body  quivers  with  his  exertion  of  every  limb,  and  his 
whole  soul  is  exerted  to  its  utmost  power  to  produce  the  most  perfect  melody  that  was  ever 
heard  in  the  woods  of  Ohio.*^ 

Such  are  some  of  the  best  indications  we  can  obtain  of  what  the  Ohio  wilder- 
ness was  before  modern  civilization  entered  it.  But  strange  to  say,  we  find  here 
the  traces  of  another  civilization,  or  at  least  of  a  modified  barbarism,  which  must 
have  antedated  even  the  advent  of  the  red  man.  We  also  find  imbedded  in  the 
rocks,  and  scratched  upon  their  surfaces,  the  tokens  of  events  which  took  place  in 
the  vast  development  of  nature  before  this  goodly  land  became  habitable  for  man, 
whether  civilized  or  savage. 

Before  proceeding  farther  let  us  examine  these  vestiges  of  the  past,  and  inter- 
pret, so  far  as  we  can,  their  mysterious  meaning. 


Jy..  . 


'^■'^<-tyT.^t^<.ct<i^ 


.  » 


1*    *a 


The  Ohio  Wilderness.  1? 

NOTES. 

1.  All  the  early  voyagers  on  the  Ohio,  and  all  the  first  emigrants  to  Kentucky,  represent 
the  country  as  being  totally  destitute  of  any  recent  vestiges  of  settlement.  Mr.  Butler,  in  his 
history  of  Kentucky,  remarks  in  the  text,  that  '*  no  Indian  towns,  within  recent  times,  were 
known  to  exist  within  this  territory,  either  in  Kentucky  or  the  lower  Tennessee '' ;  but  in  a 
note  he  says,  "  there  are  vestiges  of  Indian  towns  near  Harrodsburg,  on  Salt  River,  and  at 
other  points,  but  they  are  of  no  recent  date."  The  same  author  and  all  others  assert  **  that 
this  interjacent  country  between  the  Indians  of  the  South  and  those  northwest  of  the  Ohio, 
was  kept  as  a  common  hunting  ground  or  field  of  battle,  as  the  resentments  or  inclinations  of 
the  adjoining  tribes  prompted  to  the  one  or  the  other." — W.  H,  Harrison*s  DiKoune  on  the 
Aborigines  of  the  Ohio  Valley. 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  after  the  destruction  of  the  Eries  by  the 
Five  Nations,  in  1656,  what  is  now  the  State  of  Ohio  was  uninhabited. — Manning  F,  Force  on 
The  Indiana  of  Ohio, 

Speaking  to  the  same  effect,  Hildreth  says :  "  A  belt  of  country  from  forty  to  sixty  miles 
in  width,  on  both  the  north  and  south  banks  of  the  [Ohio]  River  seems  to  have  been  appro- 
priated by  the  tribes  who  laid  claim  to  the  territory,  almost  exclusively  as  hunting  grounds." 
--Pioneer  Hutory,  by  S.  P.  Hildreth, 

2.  History  accepts  it  as  an  established  fact  that  early  in  July,  1669,  this  bold  adventurer 
left  Montreal  at  the  head  of  an  exploring  party,  and  that  he  probably  spent  the  winter  of 
1669-70  in  the  Ohio  country  between  Lake  Erie  and  the  great  stream  which  the  Indians 

called  •*  Ohio,"  "  Oligheny-sipu,"  or  "  Meesch-zebe."  Writers  conjecture  variously  that  he 
reached  the  Ohio  by  following  down  either  the  Muskingum,  the  Scioto,  or  the  Big  Miami.— 
Footprints  of  the  Pioneers  of  the  Ohio  Valky,  by  W.  H,  Venable. 

3.  The  Narrative  of  Colonel  James  Smith  affords  a  good  illustration  of  this.  Smith  was 
captured  by  the  Indians  in  Pennsylvania  in  1755,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  remained  with 
them,  most  of  the  time  in  the  Ohio  wilderness,  until  he  made  his  escape  near  Montreal  in 
1  759.  His  journal  kept  during  that  period,  and  afterwards  revised  and  published,  is  a  valu- 
able and  extremely  interesting  record  of  experience,  but  portrays  meagerly  the  wild  and 
wondrous  forest  scenes  in  which  that  experience  took  place. 

4.  The  Old  Regime  in  Canada ;  Francis  Parkman. 
6.    Discovery  of  the  Great  West ;  Francis  Parkman. 

6.  Id  June,  1673. 

7.  Discovery  and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  John  Gilmary  Shea. 

8.  Polydon  spatula,  now  very  rare. 

9.  Parkman. 

10.  Venable's  Footprints  in  the  Ohio  Valley. 

11.  History  of  Ohio ;  Caleb  Atwater.  A.  M.,  1838. 

12.  Yellow-legged  snipe  or  tattler,  then  common  along  the  western  rivers  in  autumn. 

13.  Francis  Baily,  already  quoted. 

14.  Thaddeus  Mason  Harris. 

15.  This  probably  refers  to  the  Big  Darby.  A  note  on  this  passage  by  Smith's  commen- 
tator, Mr.  Darlington,  based  on  John  Brickeirs  Narrative,  says :  *'  By  a  law  of  the  legisla- 
ture of  Ohio,  passed  in  1833,  *  to  restore  the  Indian  names  to  certain  streams,'  this  name 
(Ollentangy)  is  incorrectly  given  to  the  Whetstone,  the  eastern  affluent  of  the  Scioto,  the 
Delaware  Indian  name  of  which  was  Keenhongsheconsepung,  or  Whetstone  Creek,  in  Eng- 
lish. .  .  .  Big  Darby  Creek,  which  rises  in  Logan  County  and  flowing  southeast  empties  into 
the  west  side  of  the  Scioto  in  Pickaway  County,  opposite  Circleville,  is  the  real  Ollentangy  ; 
this  is  evident  from  Smith's  description  of  his  route  from  the  Sandusky  portage  to  that  stream, 
and  of  the  country  between  it  and  the  waters  of  the  Miami  (or  Mad  River)." 

16.  Afterwards  known  as  the  Sandusky  Plains,  and  now  embraced  within  the  counties  of 
Crawford,  Wyandot,  Marion  and  Hardin. 

17.  History  of  Ohio. 

18.  Ibid. 


18  History  of  the  City  ok  CoUMiirs. 

19.  HarriB'e  Journal. 

20.  The  town  liere  referred  to  is  mentioned  by  Smitii  on  a  preeeding  pa^,  a8  '*  an 
Indian  town  on  the  went  branch  of  the  MuHkinguni,  about  twenty  miles  above  the  forks, 
which  was  called  TuUilahs,  inhahiUni  by  Delawares.  Caughnewagas  and  MohieanH." 

21.  **  In  Licking  and  Fairfield  counties,  now  known  as  the  Reservoir  or  Licking  Summit 
of  tiie  Ohio  Canal,  ten  miles  south  of  Newark.  The  main  Indian  trail  from  the  forks  of  the 
Ohio  to  the  Miami  towns  led  by  this  swamp,  then,  no  doubt,  of  vast  extent.  Christopher 
Gist,  agent  of  the  Ohio  Company  (of  Virginia),  sent  out  to  examine  the  country,  with  George 
Croghan  and  Andrew  Montour,  messengers,  with  presents  from  Governor  Hamilton,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, to  the  Twight wees  (Miamis),  reached  this  point  and  encamped  on  January  17th,  1751. 
On  the  next  day  they  '  set  out  for  the  Great  Swamp,*  as  it  is  notice<l  by  (list  in  his  journal." — 
Note  by  W,  M,  Darlington, 

22.  History  of  Athens  County  ;  C.  M.  Walker,  ISiMi. 

23.  History  of  Licking  County  ;  Isaac  Smucker. 

24.  Hildreth's  Pioneer  History  of  the  Ohio  Valley  speaks  of  the  migration  of  gray  squir- 
rels, in  early  times,  "  coming  in  millions  from  the  north  to  the  south,  destroying  whole  fields 
of  corn  in  a  few  days.** 

"  I  learn  from  Dr.  Hoy"  [of  Racine,  Wisconsin],  says  Prof.  Brayton,  "that  one  of  these 
migrations  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  1842;  he  witnessed  another  in  1847,  and  a  third  in 
1852.  From  these  facts,  and  from  observations  made  in  Ohio  and  elsewhere,  he  is  of  the 
opinion  that  the  migrations,  in  most  cases,  at  least,  occur  at  intervals  of  five  years,  and  if  he 
be  right,  the  S(iuirrels,  which  are  now  exceedingly  abundant  again  in  Southern  Wisconsin, 
may  be  expected  to  migrate  in  the  aututnn  of  1857.*  He  further  says  that  the  migrations  ob- 
served by  him  in  Southern  Wisconsin  occurred  when  the  mast  was  exceedingly  abundant 
and  the  squirrels  in  good  condition.  Near  Riicine  th<*y  were  observed  passing  southward  in 
very  large  numbers  for  about  two  weeks,  at  the  end  of  September  and  the  beginning  of  October, 
and  it  was  a  month  before  all  had  passed.  They  moved  along  rather  leisurely,  stopping  to 
feed  in  the  fields,  and  upon  the  abundant  nuts  and  acorns  <»f  the  forests.  So  far  had  they 
departed  from  their  accustomed  habits  that  they  were  seen  on  the  prairie,  four  or  five  miles 
away  from  any  timber,  but  even  there,  as  usual,  they  disliked  to  travel  on  the  ground,  and 
ran  along  the  fences,  wherever  it  was  possible."— /?^>orf  on  the  Mammaliii  of  OhiOj  by  Prof,  A. 
M.  Brayton,    Ohio  Oeological  Surrey  Report,    Volume  IV. 

25.  History  of  Ohio. 
20.     History  of  Ohio. 

27.  Gravier. 

28.  Journal  of  a  Tour,  etc. 

20.     Travels  in  the  Interior  of  America  in  the  years  ISCK),  ISlOarul  isll  ;  by  John  Bra<lburv. 
80.     Report  on  the  Birds  of  Ohio;  by  J.  M.  Wheaton,  M.  D.,  1S70.     (leological  Survey  Re- 
port, Volume  IV. 

31.  Ibid. 

32.  Ibid. 

:53.    lYavels,  etc. 

34.  Journal  of  a  Tour,  etc. 

35.  John  Clayton,  Rector  of  Crofton,  to  the  Royal  Soiuety,  May  12,  \(V^,  on  Virginia  and 
what  he  saw  there. 

'MS.     A n\erican  Ornithology,  by  Alexander  Wilson,  Philadelphia. 

37.  Geological  Survey  Report,  1808-14. 

38.  Historv  of  Ohio. 

♦  A  migration  of  black  and  gray  s^juirrels  did  take  |dace  in  1S57,  as  pre<lieted. 


CHAPTER  11. 


THE    PREHISTORIC    RACES. 

The  antiquity  of  man  in  the  Ohio  Valley  18  one  of  the  dark  and  fathomless 
secrete  of  the  past.  Science  has  endeavored  with  but  faint  success  to  pierce  its 
mystic  shadows.  Only  within  the  last  few  years,  and  then  by  accident,  have  the 
first  feeble  glimpses  been  obtained  into  its  remoter  mysteries.  By  these  glimpses, 
vague  and  unsatisfactory  as  they  are,  the  eye  of  science  traces  the  existence  of 
man  in  this  region  back  to  that  wondrous  period  when  a  vast  sheet  of  ice, 
descending  from  the  north,  lay  like  a  monstrous  shield  over  the  greater  part 
of  the  Ohio  basin. 

Of  the  advance  and  recession  of  that  stupendous  continental  glacier  the  record 
is  clear,  copious  and  authentic.  Nature  has  herself  written  it  in  cyclopean  char- 
acter, manifest  and  enduring  as  the  earth  itself.  "  The  evidence  is  conclusive," 
says  Professor  Wright,  "  that,  at  a  comparatively  recent  period,  the  northern  por- 
tions of  Europe  and  America  were  covered  with  a  vast  mass  of  slowly  moving  ice, 
pressing  down  from  the  north  pole  towards  the  warmer  latitudes."*  This  prodig- 
ious sliding  mass  was  doubtless  produced,  like  the  glaciers  of  the  Alps,  by  annual 
accumulations  of  snow,  under  a  low  temperature,  packed  and  solidified  by  the 
influences  of  wind  aod  sun.  East  of  the  Atlantic  it  covered  most  of  the  British 
Islands,  the  whole  of  the  Scandinavian  peninsula.  Northern  Germany,  and  West- 
ern Russia.  On  this  continent  it  slid  down  over  the  present  area  of  New  England 
and  New  York  until  it  plunged  into  and  was  dissolved  by  the  ocean.  "  Westwaixi 
from  New  York  City,"  says  Professor  Wright,  "  I  have  myself  carefully  traced  in 
the  field  the  southern  boundarj^  of  the  glaciated  regions  as  far  as  the  Mississippi. 
Beginning  at  New  York  City,  and  omitting  the  minor  features,  the  line  marking 
this  southern  boundary  runs  northwest  to  Salamanca,  New  York,  thence  southwest 
to  the  neighborhood  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  thence  bending  north  to  the  upper 
part  of  Brown  County,  Indiana,  thence  southwest  to  Carbondale,  Illinois,  and 
thence  northwest  to  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Louis.  To  this  limit  the  ice  of  the 
glacial  period  continued  in  its  southern  movement,  grinding  down  the  elevated 
surfaces  and  filling  up  the  depressions  of  the  country,  and  bringing  its  vast  burden 
of  granite  rocks  from  the  north."* 

In  Ohio  the  glacial  boundary  is  wonderfully  distinct,  and  has  been  located 
with  precision.  Professor  Wright,  who  explored  it  during  the  summer  of  1882, 
declares  his  belief  that  he  has  traced  it  with  "  tolerable  certainty  .  .  .  upon  nearly 
every  mile  of  its  course."*  Entering  the  State  from  the  east  at  Achor,  in  Columbiana 
County,  it  "continues  nearly  west  to  the  middle  of  Stark  County,  where  it  turns 

[19] 


20 


HlBTORy*OF   THK   ClTY   OF    OoLCMS 


more  to  the  Bontli,  crosHin^  the  northern  portion  of  Holmea  County  to  (he  northeast 
corner  of  Knox  and  Licking  Coiinticx,  the  wusicni  pun  of  Perry,  turning  here  so 
as  to  pass  throu<,'li  Lancaster,  in  Fairfield  County;  touching  the  western  edge  of 
Hocking,  and  entering  Rosn  at  Adelplii  in  the  northcust  corner.  Here  it  turns  to 
the  west,  crossing  the  Scioto  Vnlloy  a  few  miles  north  of  Chillicottie,  and  emerg- 


ing from  the  county  at  its  southwest  corner,  proceeding  thence  through  the  sonth- 
eastern  corner  of  Highland,  the  northwestenj  of  Adiim^,  reaching  the  Ohio  River 
in  the  southerii  part  of  Brown  Connty,  near  Ripley.  Cincinnati  was  completely 
enveloped  by  ice  during  the  glacial  period,  and  extensive  glacial  deposits  exist  in 
the  northern  part  of  Campbell  and  Boone  Counties,  Kentucky,  and  near  Aurora 
in  Dearborn  County,  Indiana."' 


The  Prehistoric  Races.  21 

The  force  exerted  and  the  effects  produced  by  this  resistless  ice-current 
were  inconceivably  vast.  In  New  England,  says  Professor  Newberry,  it  was  "  of 
such  thickness  and  magnitude  as  to  override  all  the  features  of  the  local  topog- 
raphy except  Mt.  Washington."*  From  its  marks  on  that  mountain,  which  served 
as  a  kind  of  Nilometer  to  the  glacier,  Professor  Newberry  concludes  that  its  upper 
surface  must  have  been  six  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea;  "in  other 
words  that  the  ice  was  three  thousand  feet  thick.*'*  By  the  movement  and  pres- 
sure of  tl)is  mass  the  surface  of  the  earth  was  prodigiously  scoured,  furrowed  and 
shaped.  Hills  were  abraded,  great  valleys  and  basins  scooped  out,  huge  heaps  of 
gravel  deposited,  terraces  now  known  as  ridges  heaped  up,  and  enormous  quanti- 
ties of  loose  rock  pushed  or  carried  into  the  depressions  formed.  Crossing  the 
original  channel  of  the  Ohio  twenty-five  miles  above  Cincinnati  the  ice-barrier 
arrested  and  threw  back  the  descending  waters,  and  thus,  as  it  is  believed,  formed 
a  lake  six  hundred  feet  deep  in  its  lower  part,  and  in  its  upper  covering  the  pres- 
ent site  of  Pittsburgh  to  the  depth  of  three  hundred  feet.  When  the  ice  melted, 
enormous  volumes  of  water  were  produced  which  carried  the  gravel  and  silt  down 
into  the  prodigious  groovings  of  the  glacier,  filling  them  in  many  instances  to  a 
depth  of  more  than  two  hundred  feet.  Thus  the  beds  of  our  present  watercourses 
were  raised  approximately,  to  their  present  level,"  and  the  whole  surface  of  the 
country  was  submerged  or  swept  by  swirling  eddies  and  currents.  In  the  basin 
of  the  Great  Lakes,  excaviited  by  the  mighty  glacier,^  a  fresh-water  sea  was  formed 
in  which  pinnacled  icebergs  floated  dovN  n  from  the  Canadian  highlands,  sowing 
broadcast  their  monstrous  freightage  of  rocky  debris  as  it  fell  from  their  slippery 
sides  under  the  action  of  the  sun. 

Behind  it  the  receding  ice-sheet  left  a  surface  of  boulder  clay  which  seems  to 
have  been  overgrown,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  w^ith  immense  forests  of  coniferous 
trees.*  This  growth  continued  long  enough  to  form  a  carbonaceous  soil,  and  in 
many  places  beds  of  peat  in  which  remains  of  the  walrus,  thcmusk-ox,  the  masto- 
don and  the  giant  beaver  have  been  found.  "When  the  forest  growth  had  spread 
over  most  of  the  drift  area  south  of  the  lakes,  and  had  occupied  it  for  hundreds 
and  perhaps  thousands  of  years,  a  submergence  of  the  continent  took  place  which 
brought  the  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  up  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  until 
this  formed  an  arm  of  the  sea  which  reached  and  covered  all  the  lower  half  of  our 

state."^** 

The  lapse  of  time  which  has  taken  place  since  the  close  of  the  glacial  era  can 

be  only  conjecturally  estimated.  Judging  by  the  rate  of  erosion  which  has  been 
produced  by  the  waters  of  Niagara  and  other  post-glacial  streams.  Professor 
Wright  thinks  the  recession  of  the  ice  cannot  date  farther  back  than  ten  or  fifteen 
thousand  years.  A  period  of  about  eleven  thousand  years  seems  to  have  elapsed 
since  "  the  Niagara  began  its  work  at  Queenstown." 

Whether  the  existence  of  man  has  been  coextensive  with  this  period,  and 
reached  back  to  the  stupendous  but  vanishing  disorder  of  the  Ice  Age,  is  a  question 
which  has  been  often  asked.  "  To  give  an  answer,"  says  Sir  Archibald  Geikie, 
"we  must  know  within  what  limits  the  term  Ice  Age  is  used,  and  to  what  partic- 
ular country  or  district  the  question  refers.  For  it  is  evident  that  even  to-day 
man  is  contemporary  with  the  Ice  Age  in  the  Alpine  Valleys  and  in  Finnmark. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  inhabited  Europe  alter  the  greatest  extension  of  the 


22  History  of  the  City  op  Columhus. 

ice,  but  while  the  rivers  were  Htill  larger  than  now  from  the  melting  snow,  and 
flowed  at  higher  leveln.*'" 

That  man  was  eon  tern  porar}'^  with  glacial  recession  on  this  continent  is  now 
one  of  the  most  positive  conclusions  of  science.  At  the  time  when  the  ice-front  in 
Ohio  extended  as  far  south  as  Cincinnati,  says  Professor  Wright,  "  man,  in  a  state 
of  development  similar  to  that  of  the  Eskimo,  was  hunting  the  mastodon,  and  the 
reindeer,  and  the  walrus  in  the  valley  of  the  Delaware.  ...  At  that  time  the 
moose,  the  caribou,  the  musk-ox  and  reindeer  ranged  through  the  forests  and  over 
the  hills  of  Kentucky.*''*  Eemains  of  these  animals  have  been  found  in  the  peat 
bogs  of  the  glacial  epoch,  and  while  human  remains  have  not  been  found  there,  evi- 
dences have  nevertheless  been  brought  to  light  which  clearl}^  indicate  the  presence 
of  man  in  the  Ohio  Valley  ten  thousand  years  ago.  While  digging  a  cistern  at 
Madisonville,  on  the  Little  Miami  River,  eleven  miles  northeast  of  Cincinnati,  in 
the  year  1885,  Doctor  C.  L.  Metz  took  out  of  the  glacial  gravel,  eight  feet  below 
the  surface,  a  stone  implement  "  of  the  true  paheolithic  type."  The  stone  was 
black  flint  "not  smoothed,  but  sinij)ly  a  rudely  chipped,  pointed  weapon  about 
three  inches  long."**  Subsequently,  in  the  spring  of  1H87,  Doctor  Metz  found 
another  pala^olith  in  a  similar  deposit,  thirty  feet  below  the  surface,  at  Loveland, 
Ohio.  This  second  find  was  an  oblong  stone  al)out  six  inches  long,  and  carefully 
chipped  to  an  edge.  Both  the  Madisonville  and  the  Loveland  implement  are  ob- 
viously of  human  manufacture,  and  must  have  lain  imbedded  in  the  gravel  ever 
since  their  deposit  by  the  glacial  streauK  *'  They  show,"  says  Professor  Wright, 
"that  in  Ohio  as  well  as  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  man  was  an  inhabitant  before  the 
close  of  the  glacial  period."'^  Simple  as  these  articles  are,  the}'  furnish  proofs  dif- 
ficult to  dispute  that  the  Ohio  Valley  was  t)ne  of  the  first  portions  of  the  globe  to  be 
inhabited  by  human  beings. 

That  earlier  race,  perhaps  resembling  the  present  Esquimaux  of  the  distant 
North,  was  doubtless  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  races  which  have  since  come  and 
gone.  Man}'  years  ago,  says  Geikie,  the  Danish  archaeologists,  taking  their  cue 
from  the  Latin  poets,  classified  the  prehistoric  races  of  man  as  those  of  the  Stone 
Age,  the  Bronze  Age,  and  the  Age  of  Iron.  "  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  on  the 
whole  this  has  been  the  general  order  of  succession.  Men  used  stone  and  bone 
before  they  discovered  the  use  of  metal. 'V,.  The  primitive  Ohio  man  now  appears 
to  have  been  a  user  of  stone,  and  an  antitype  and  contemporary  of  the  cave  and  lake 
dwellers  of  Europe.  What  further  traces  of  him  the  gravel  beds  may  yield  no  one 
can  tell,  but  that  further  traces  await  discovery  and  will  in  due  time  come  to  light 
seems  altogether  probable. 

Who  and  of  what  j)articular  character  the  paleolithic  man's  immediate  suc- 
cessors were  must  be  determined,  as  yet,  chiefly  by  analogy.  Everywhere,  says 
Dr.  Wilson,  man  seems  to  have  passed  through  the  same  progressive  stages:  First, 
that  of  the  savage  or  purely  hunter  state  wherein  he  appears  as  "  the  savage  oecu- 
pant  of  a  thinlj^-peopled  continent,  warring  with  seemingly  inadequate  means 
against  gigantic  carnivora,  the  contemporary  existence  of  which  is  known  to  us 
only  by  the  disclosures  of  geological  strata  or  ossiferous  caves,  where  also  the 
remains  of  still  more  gigantic  herbivora  confirm  the  idea  of  man's  exhaustive 
struggle  for  existence":  second,  the  -'  pastoral  state,  with  its  flocks  and  herds,  its 
domesticated  animals  and  its  ideas  of  personal  property,  including   in  its  earlier 


Tub  Prehistoric  Kaces.  23 

stages  that  of  property  in  man  himself";  and  third,  the  agricultural  stage,  or  that 
of  tillers  of  the  soil,  "the  Aryans,  the  ploughers  and  lords  of  the  earth,  among 
whom  are  developed  the  elements  of  settled  social  life  involved  in  the  personal 
homestead  and  all  the  ideas  of  individual  property  in  land.'"^ 

The  succession  of  the  earlier  races  on  this  continent  seems  to  have  followed 
something  like  this  order  of  development,  except  that  a  savage  race  has  succeeded 
one  of  apparently  agricultural  habits.  Whether  the  more  enlightened  race  degene- 
rated into  the  savage  one  or  was  displaced  by  it  is  an  unsolved  problem,  but  that  a 
race  or  races  antecedent  and  in  some  respects  superior  to  the  Indians  dwelt  here 
and  spread  over  a  large  proportion  of  our  present  national  area,  is  not  doubtful. 
The  evidence  of  this  is  palpable,  not  speculative,  and  is  spread  before  us  at  our 
very  doors.  It  was  not  submerged  by  glacial  floods,  or  buried  in  glacial  debris, 
but  dates  from  a  far  more  recent  period  than  the  Age  of  Ice.  It  confronts  us  on 
hilltop  and  plain,  and  in  the  depths  of  the  unplowed  forest.  We  .see  its  mani- 
festation in  multitudes  of  ancient  works  of  earth  and  stone,  erected  with  immense 
labor,  contrived  with  superior  intelligence,  and  stored  with  curious  mementoes  of 
a  vanished  race. 

In  the  Scioto  Valley  that  ancient  people  seems  to  have  dwelt "  in  greater 
numbers  than  anywhere  else  in  the  Western  States."'"  In  no  other  equivalent 
space  are  their  works  so  numerous,  varied,  and  interesting.  Between  Columbus  and 
the  Ohio  River  they  strew  the  valley  to  the  number  of  perhaps  fifleen  hundred. 
About  six  hundred  of  these  are  found  within  the  limits  of  Ross  County.  Some 
memorable  specimens  once  stood  within  the  present  corporate  limits  of  Columbus. 
Manifestly  this  region  was  a  favorite  dwelling-place  of  these  mysterious  pioneers 
of  the  prehistoric  period.  It  was  an  attractive  .seat  of  ])opulation  in  their  day  just 
as  it  has  been  since.  Whatever  has  been  or  can  be  ascertained  about  them  must 
therefore  have  an  absorbing  interest  for  their  successors  in  this  valley. 

The  number  of  these  ancient  works  within  the  State  of  Ohio  approaches  twelve 
thousand, but  the  entire  area  of  their  discovery  embraces  a  vastly  greater  field.  They 
do  not,  so  far  as  known,  occur  north  of  the  Great  Lakes,  but  they  are  found  in 
Western  New  York  on  the  headquarters  of  the  Alleghany,  as  far  east  as  the  county 
of  Onondaga,  and  along  the  shores  of  Lake  Ontario  to  the  River  St.  Lawrence. 
In  Pennsylvania  they  accompany  the  Susquehanna  as  far  down  as  the  valley  of 
Wyoming.  They  are  observed  along  the  Mississippi  as  far  north  as  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota,  and,  at  wide  intervals,  on  the  Upper  Missouri  and  its  tributaries. 
They  are  scattered  through  the  Gulf  States  from  Texas  to  Florida,  from  whence 
they  extend  northward  into  the  Carolinas.  Their  occurrence  is  frequent  in 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

But  the  distribution  of  these  works  is  by  no  means  uniform.  They  keep 
company  with  the  larger  watercourses,  and  are  seldom  found  among  the  hills. 
"The  alluvial  terraces  or  *  river  bottoms,'  as  they  are  popularly  termed,  were  the 
favorite  sites  of  the  builders.  The  principal  monuments  are  found  where  these 
^bottoms'  are  most  extended,  and  vvhere  the  soil  is  most  fertile  and  easy  of  cultiva- 
tion. At  the  junction  of  streams,  where  the  valleys  are  usually  broadest  and  most 
favorable  for  their  erection,  some  of  the  largest  and  most  singular  remains  are 
found.  The  works  at  Marietta  ;  at  the  junction  of  the  Muskingum  with  the  Ohio; 
at  the  mouth  of  Grave  Creek  ;  at  Portsmouth,  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  and  at  the 


24  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

moath  of  the  Great  Miami,  are  instances  in  point.  Occasional  works  are  found  on 
the  hilltops,  overlooking  the  valleys,  or  at  a  little  distance  from  them  ;  but  these 
are  manifestlv,  in  most  instances,  works  of  dofuncc  or  last  resort,  or  in  some  way 
connected  with  warlike  purposes.  And  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  sites 
selected  for  settlements,  towns  and  cities,  by  the  inva<linii:  Europeans,  are  oflen 
those  which  were  the  especial  favorites  of  the  inoun<l  buildei*s,  and  the  seats  of 
their  heaviest  population.  Marietta,  Newark,  Portsmouth,  (-hillicothe,  Circle- 
ville,and  Cincinnati,  in  Ohio:  Frankfort  in  Kentucky';  and  St.  Louis  in  Missouri, 
may  be  mentioned  in  confirmation  of  this  remark.  The  centres  of  population  are 
now  where  they  were  at  the  period  when  the  mysterious  race  of  the  mounds 
flourished."'- 

The  exploration  of  these  works  was  undertaken  in  the  year  1845  by  Messrs. 
E.  Gr.  Squier,  A.  M.,  and  E.  H.  Davis,  M.  I).,  of  Chillicothe,  Ohio.  It  was  the 
original  purpose  of  these  gentlemen  to  investigate  the  ancient  monuments  of  the 
Scioto  Valley,  but  their  researches  were  finally  extended  to  the  general  field  for 
this  class  of  antiquities  in  the  West.  From  their  admirable  rej)orl,  embodied  in  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  ('ontributions  to  Knowledge  in  1847,  the  statements  last 
above  quoted  are  taken.  Tht*irs  was  l>y  no  moans  the  first  or  the  last  investigation 
that  has  been  made,  hut  it  was  so  ]>ainstaking  and  thorough  that  subsequent  dis- 
coveries have  not  added  very  materially  to  the  light  which  it  sheds  on  the  nature 
and  significance  of  these  vestiges  of  the  past. 

Technicall}"  the  word  mound  signifies  a  tumulus  of  earth,  but  the  works  of 
earth  and  stone  from  which  the  so-ealled  Moun«l  liuilders  have  derived  that  name 
are  by  no  means  all  of  that  character.  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis  classify  them  as 
mounds  and  enclosures,  which  generic  orders  they  subdivide  as  mounds  of  sacrifice 
or  worship  and  sepulture,  and  enclosures  for  defense,  and  for  sacred  and  miscel- 
laneous purposes.  The  distribution  of  these  works  according  to  their  character  is 
comprehensive!}'  stated  by  General  Force  : 

In  the  Southern  States  are  most  of  the  great  truncated  mounds  and  terraces,  while  de- 
fenBive  are  scarcely  found,  unleFS  the  great  ditches  peeuliar  to  the  southern  works  were  of 
this  character.  The  extraordinary  collection  of  great  truncated  moundfl  at  Carthage,  Alabama, 
was  formerly  surrounded  by  a  feeble  line  of  embankment  now  wholly  ploughed  away,  that 
once  might  have  been  the  base  of  a  8tocka«le.  The  works  found  on  the  alHuents  of  the 
Upper  Missouri  are  massive  defensive  work-*.  Those  found  in  Wisconsin  are  almost  exclu- 
sively effigy  mounds  or  isolated  conical  mounds;  and  elligy  mounds  are  scarcely  found  out- 
side of  Wisconsin.  Going  eastward  from  the  .Mississippi  we  find  in  Illinois  and  Indiana 
many  conical  mounds,  both  large  and  small;  in  Illinois  at  Cahokia  ihe  giant  truncated 
mound;  and  in  Indiana  some,  though  not  many,  are  elaborate  defensive  works.  In  Ohio  are 
foun<l  the  most  important  works  of  defense  ;  numerous  mounds,  some  quite  large;  and  a  few 
of  them  truncated,  and  several  effigy  mounds.  Besides  presenting  rei)re8entative8  of  every 
species  of  work  formed  elsewhere,  Ohio  contains  some  of  a  character  found  nowhere  else, 
such  as  the  combinations  of  great  squares  and  circles,  and  the  altar  mounds.  South  of  the 
Ohio,  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  there  is  also  a  marked  prevalence  of  works  of  a  military 
character. 

An  attentive  examination  <liscovers  more  local  distinction**.  The  Si*ioto  Valley,  forming 
a  belt  running  north  and  south  through  the  middle  of  Ohio,  has  for  its  peculiarity  the 
mounds  designated  by  Squier  and  l>avis  as  "  altar  mounds,"  and  also  systems  of  embankments 
making  enclosures  of  various  mathematical  fi>;u res,  mainly  the  square  and  the  circle.  The 
distinguishing  feature  of  the  ea:?tern  ])elt  of  the  state  is  the  truncated  mound  or  terrace  so 


The  Prehistoric  Rages.  25 

rare  at  the  north  yet  found  in  great  perfection  at  Marietta.  The  distinguishing  feature  of  the 
western  belt  of  the  state  is  the  ereat  line  of  strong  and  naturally  supporting  works  of  defense. 
These  three  belts,  corresponding  with  three  valleys  —  the  valley  of  the  Miamis  to  the  west, 
the  Scioto  Valley  in  the  centre,  and  the  Muskingum  Valley  to  the  east  — appear  by  these 
local  peculiarities  to  have  been  the  homes  of  three  different  though  kindred  tribes.  They 
appear,  moreover,  to  have  lived  in  the  valleys  as  fixed  abodes  long  enough  to  have  learned 
to  borrow  from  each  other.  For  one  small  truncated  mound  or  terrace  is  formed  in  the  Scioto 
Valley,  and  a  few  of  the  mathematical  figures  that  abound  in  the  Scioto  Valley  are  found, 
but  not  so  perfectly  constructed,  in  the  valley  of  the  Miamis.  The  pipe  of  peculiar  form, 
called  by  Squier  and  Davis  **  the  pipe  of  the  Moundbuilders  "  seems  to  be  a  specialty  of  the 
tribe  of  Moundbuilders  who  lived  in  the  Scioto  Valley.'* 

The  topographical  relations  of  the  different  works  in  the  same  valley  or  sec- 
tion are  sach  as  to  indicate  some  general  design.     Touching  this  subject  General 

Force  says: 

% 

Three  great  works  on  the  Great  Miami — one  at  its  mouth,  one  at  Colerain  and  one  at 
Hamilton,  with  subsidiary  defensive  works  extending  along  the  river  at  Hamilton ;  several 
advanced  works  to  the  north  and  west  of  Hamilton,  and  streams  flowing  into  the  Great 
Miami ;  and  other  similar  defenses  farther  up  the  river  at  Dayton  and  Piqua,  all  put  in  com- 
munication with  each  other  by  signal  mounds  erected  al  conspicuous  points,  constitute 
together  a  connected  line  of  defense  along  the  Miami  River.  Fort  Ancient  on  the  Little 
Miami  stands  as  a  citadel  in  rear  of  the  centre  of  this  line.  A  mound  at  Norwood,  back  of 
Cincinnati,  commands  a  view  through  a  depression  of  the  hills  at  Redbank  eastwardly  to  a 
mound  in  the  valley  of  the  Little  Miami ;  northwardly  through  the  valley  of  Mill  Creek  and 
the  depression  in  the  lands  thence  to  Hamilton,  with  the  works  at  Hamilton ;  and  by  a  series 
of  mounds  (two  of  which  in  Cincinnati  and  its  suburbs  have  been  removed)  westwardly  to 
the  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami.  So  a  series  of  signal  mounds  along  the  Scioto  from 
the  northern  boundary  of  Franklin  County  to  the  Ohio  River,  a  distance  of  over  one  hundred 
miles,  could  transmit  by  signals  an  alarm  from  the  little  work  north  of  Worthington  through 
the  entire  length  of  the  valley  to  the  works  at  Portsmouth.** 

Further  proof  of  general  design  is  seen  in  the  arrangement  of  the  mounds, 
which  seem  to  form  in  each  valley  a  chain  of  signal  stations  like  the  cairns  of 
the  ancient  Celts.  Squier  and  Davis  remark  that  "ranges  of  these  mounds  may  be 
obsei-ved  extending  along  the  valleys  for  many  miles.  Between  Chillicothe  and 
Columbus,  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Scioto  Valley,  not  far  from  twenty  may  be 
selected  so  placed  in  respect  to  each  other  that  it  is  believed,  if  the  country  were 
cleared  of  forests,  signals  of  fire  might  be  transmitted  in  a  few  minutes  along  the 
whole  line.  On  a  hill  opposite  Chillicothe,  nearly  six  hundred  feet  in  height,  the 
loftiest  in  the  entire  region,  one  of  these  mounds  is  placed.  ...  A  fire  built  upon 
it  would  be  distinctlj'^  visible  for  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  up  and  an  equal  distance 
down  the  valley,  (including  in  its  range  the  Circleville  works,  twenty  miles  dis- 
tant), as  also  for  a  long  way  up  the  broad  valleys  of  the  two  Paint  Creeks, —  both 
of  which  abound  in  remains,  and  seem  to  have  been  especial  favorites  with  the 
moundbuilders.  .  .  .  Upon  a  bill  three  hundred  feet  in  height  overlooking  the 
Colerain  work  and  commanding  an  extensive  view  of  the  [Miami]  valley,  are 
placed  two  mounds  which  exhibit  —  in  connection  with  other  circumstances  not 
entirely  consistent  with  the  conclusion  that  the}'  were  simple  signal-stations  — 
strong  marks  of  fire  on  and  around  them.  Similar  mounds  occur,  at  intervals, 
along  the  Wabash  and  Illinois  Eivers,  as  also  on  the  Upper  Mississippi,  the  Ohio, 
the  Miamis  and  the  Scioto.     On  the  high  hills  overlooking  the  Portsmouth  and 


2()  History  of  the  City  ok   CoLrMBUs. 

Marietta  works  mou!j<l.s  of  stone  are  situated  ;  those  at    the   former  place  exhil>it 
evi<lent  marks  ot'tire." 

An  enthusiastic  student  of  these  anti«|uities,  Coh»nel  W.  M.  Andernon,  of  Cirele- 
ville,  '*  has  demonstrated  by  actual  survey,  made  at  his  own  expense,"  .says  one  of 
our  local  historians,  "that  these  si^rnal  posts  or  watch  towei-s  which  occur  in  the 
Scioto  Valley,  formed  a  regular  chain  or  system,  and  that  by  means  of  tiros  upon 
them  sit]rnals  could  be  sent  up  or  down  the  country,  to  ^ive  warning  of  tl»e 
approach  of  an  enemy  or  to  convej'^  other  intelligence."  To  which  the  writer  adds 
this  interesting  comment : 

It  is  by  no  uieanB  improbable  that  centuries  ajro  stirring  information  of  danger,  of 
defeat,  or  of  victorv  may  have  been  flashed  from  station  to  station  hv  means  of  beacon  fires, 
the  whole  length  of  the  Scioto  and  that  messages  of  vast  import  may  have  been  almost  as 
guickly  sent  by  this  means  in  tlie  prehistoric  age  as  they  now  are  hy  electricity.  It  is  an 
astounding  but  in  every  repi)ect  reasonable  conclusion  that  before  the  tiiscovery  of  America 
hy  Columbus  or  by  the  Norse  atlventurers  intelligence  may  have  l>een  sent  from  the  Ohio 
River  to  the  interior  of  what  is  now  the  Stat^*  of  Ohio  with  at  least  as  great  rapidity  as  in  the 
present  age  by  the  steam-driven  mail  train  tliat  sweeps  up  the  valley  from  Portsmoutli  to 
the  Capital.-'  " 

The  magnitudi' of  these  ancient  works  is  no  less  im})ressive  than  the  skill  of 
their  arrangement,  or  the  extent  of  their  distribution.  *'Some  of  them  recall  the 
barrows  of  Europe  and  Asia,  or  the  huge  mounds  and  ram|)arts  of  Mesopotamia,  as 
displayed  at  liabylon  and  Nineveh;  while  others  remind  us  of  the  ruined  hippo- 
dromes and  am])hitheatres  of  the  (ireeks  and  Homans.  .  .  .  The  barrows  and  ram- 
)Kirts  arc  construetetl  of  mingled  t^arth  and  stones:  and  from  their  soliility  and 
extent  must  have  re<|uired  the  labour  of  a  numerous  pojmlation,  with  leisure  and 
skill  sufficient  to  uiulertake  combine*!  an<l  vast  operations.  .  .  .  These  barrows  vary 
in  size,  from  a  few  teet  in  circumference  and  elevation,  to  structures  with  a  basal 
circumference  of  one  or  two  thousand  fei't,  and  an  altitude  of  fi'om  sixt}*  to  ninety' 
feet,  resembling,  in  dimensions,  the  vast  tumulus  of  Alyattes  near  Sardis.''"  The 
lines  of  embankment  vai'y  in  height  from  five  to  thirty  feet,  and,  in  the  inverse 
order  of  their  fre<|Ui'ncy  enclose  areas  of  from  one  to  tiily.  two  humlred  and  oven 
four  huntlred  acres.  Lewis  and  Clarke  discovered  one  on  the  Upper  Missouri 
with  an  estimated  interior  area  of  six  hundred  acres.  Hut  the  space  enclosed  does 
not  always  indicate  the  amount  of  labor  expen<led.  A  fortified  hill  in  Highland 
County  has  a  mile  and  tive-eighths  of  heavy  embankment  enclosing  an  area  of  onlj* 
forty  acres.  The  group  of  works  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto  has  an  aggregate  of 
not  less  than  tw^^nty  miles  of  embankment  surrounding  a  space  of  about  two  hun- 
dred acres.-' 

The  mounds  vary  in  height  and  diameter  from  a  few  feet,  or  yards,  to  the 
ilimensions  of  the  famous  tumulus  at  Crave  Creek,  in  West  Virginia,  which  has  a 
height  of  seventy  feet,  and  measures  a  thousand  teet  around  its  ba.se.  The  groat 
mound  near  Miamisburg,  in  Montgonieiy  County,  Ohio,  rises  to  a  perpendicular 
height  of  sixty -eight  feet,  has  a  circumference  of  852  feet,  and  contains  311,853 
cubic  feet  of  earth.  "The  truncated  pyramid  at  Cahokia.  Illinois,  the  largest 
ancient  earthwork  in  the  United  States,  has  an  altitude  of  ninety  feet,  and  is 
upwards  of  two  thousand  feet  in  circuinterence  at  the  base.  The  great  mound  at 
Selserslown,  Mississippi,   is  computed    to  cover  six  acres  of  ground.     Mounds  of 


The  Peehihtoric  Races.  27 

these  extraordinary  dimensions  are  most  common  at  the  South,  though  there  arc 
some  of  great  size  at  the  North.""  Sa3'8  Flint  in  his  geography  :  **  We  have  seen 
mounds  which  would  require  the  hibor  of  a  thousand  men  employed  upon  our 
canals,  with  all  their  mechanical  aids,  and  the  improved  implements  of  their  labor 
for  months.  We  have  more  than  once  hesitated,  in  view  of  one  of  these  prodigious 
mounds,  whether  it  were  not  really  a  natural  hill." 

The  builders  of  such  works,  observes  General  Force,  '*could  not  have  been  a 
sparse  population  ;  they  must  have  been  to  some  extent  an  agricultural  people; 
they  must  have  had,  perhaps  each  tribe  for  itself,  a  strong  government  of  some 
sort,  whether  a  chief  or  a  council,  that  directed  and  was  obeyed."** 

The  purpose  of  all  this  mammoth  delving,  ramparting  and  mounding  is  indi- 
cated rather  by  the  form  it  has  taken  than  by  its  dimensions.  A  few  special  ex- 
amples may  illustrate  both.  Let  those  of  an  obviously  military  character  be  first 
considered. 

The  positions  of  such  works,  as  well  as  their  torma  of  construction,  are  almost 
invariably  suggestive  of  a  judgment  shrewd  and  trained  in  defensive  warfare.  The 
elevations  which  they  occupy  are  such  as  no  other  points  can  command,  and  are 
usually  inaccessible  by  their  steepness  except  at  one  or  two  points.  The  summits 
are  guarded  by  simple  parapets  thrown  up  a  little  below  the  brow  of  the  hill,  and 
of  variable  height  and  solidity,  according  to  the  facilities  of  the  outlying  ground 
for  assault.  Sometimes  the  embankment  crosses  the  peninsula  formed  bj^  the  junc- 
tion of  two  watercourses  and  is  refused  along  each  bank  which  it  touches,  as  if  to 
guard  against  flank  attack.  Within  the  intrenchments  water  for  the  garrison  is 
invariably  supplied  by  springs,  streams  or  ponds.  Mounds  so  located  as  to  suggest 
their  use  as  watchtowers  sometimes  rise  within,  without  or  in  connection  with  the 
parapets.  Concentric  or  overlapping  walls  usually  guard  the  openings  which  seem 
to  have  been  intended  as  gateways.  Other  openings,  sometimes  numerous,  are 
believed  to  have  been  occupied  by  bastions  of  wood,  which  have  now  disappeared. 

"Nothing  can  be  more  plain,"  says  Colonel  Whittlesey,  *'  than  that  most  of  the 
remains  in  Northern  Ohio,  particularly  those  on  the  Cuyahoga  river,  are  military 
works.  There  have  not  yet  been  found  any  remnants  of  timber  in  the  walls;  yet 
it  is  very  safe  to  presume  that  palisades  were  planted  on  them,  and  that  wooden 
posts  and  gSLtas  were  erected  at  the  passages  lefL  in  the  embankments  and  ditches. 
All  the  positions  are  contiguous  to  water,  and  none  of  them  have  higher  land  from 
which  they  might  in  any  degree  be  commanded.  Of  the  works  bordering  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Erie,  through  the  State  of  Ohio,  there  are  none  but  may  have  been 
int<)nded  tor  defence,  although  in  some  of  them  the  design  is  not  perfectly  mani- 
fest. They  form  a  line  from  Conneaut  to  Toledo,  at  a  distance  of  from  three  to  five 
miles  from  the  lake,  and  all  stand  upon  or  near  the  principal  rivers."^*  This  line 
seems  to  have  been  part  of  a  general  system  of  defenses  *' extending  from  the 
sources  of  the  Alleghany  and  Susquehanna,  in  New  York,  diagonally  across  the 
countr}'  through  Central  and  Northern  Ohio  to  the  Wabash.'  *' 

Whittlesey  continues:  '*  The  most  natural  inference  in  respect  to  the  northern 
cordon  of  works  is,  that  they  formed  a  well-occupied  line,  constructed  either  to  pro- 
tect the  advance  of  a  nation  landing  from  the  lake  and  moving  southward  for  con- 
quest; or,  a  line  of  resistance  for  a  people  inhabiting  these  shores  and  pressed  upon 
by  their  southern  neighbors.     The  scarcity  of  mounds,  the  absence  of  pyramids  of 


28  HisTORT  or  the  Citt  of  Columbus. 

earth  which  are  so  common  on  the  Ohio,  the  want  of  rectangular  and  other  regu- 
lar works,  at  the  north. —  all  these  differences  ten* i  to  the  conclusion  that  the  north- 
ern part  of  Ohio  was  occupied  bv  a  distinct  people.  At  the  north  there  is  generally 
more  than  one  wall  of  earth,  and  the  ditches  are  invariably  exterior.  [In  the  non- 
military  works  the  ditches  are  usually  ^^^//irf  the  parapets  ]  There  are  some  pas- 
sages, or  'sally  ports,'  through  the  outer  parallel,  and  none  through  the  inner  one. 
There  is  also,  in  general,  a  space  between  the  parallels  suflScientl}'  large  to  contain  a 
considerable  body  of  fighting  men.  By  whatever  people  lhe.se  works  were  built, 
they  were  much  engaged  in  offensive  or  defensive  wars.  At  the  south,  on  the 
other  hand,  agriculture  and  religion  seem  to  have  chiefly  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  ancient  people. 

"  In  view  of  the  above  facts  we  may  venture  to  suggest  a  hypothesis,  without 
undertaking  to  assign  to  it  any  more  than  a  basis  of  probability.  Upon  the  as- 
sumption that  two  distinet  nations  occupied  the  State,— that  the  northern  were 
warlike,  and  the  southern  peaceful  and  agricultural  in  their  habits, —  ma}'  we  not 
suppose  that  the  latter  were  overcome  by  their  northern  neighb:)rs,  who  built  the 
military  works  to  be  observed  on  the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries,  while  the  more  regu- 
lar, structures  are  the  remains  of  the  conquered  people?"" 

The  differences  here  pointed  out  between  the  northern  and  southern  earth- 
works are  important.  The  northern  are  exclusively  military',  the  southern  are 
partly  so  but  mostly  ot'a  non-military  character.  First  among  the  defensive  works, 
in  the  order  in  which  they  are  mentioned  by  Squier  and  Davis,  is  that  which  oc- 
cupies the  summit  of  a  lofty  detached  hill  near  the  village  of  Bourneville,  twelve 
miles  west  of  Chillicothe.  This  striking  eminence  rises  abruptly  in  the  broad  val- 
ley of  Paint  Creek,  the  waters  of  which  wash  its  base.  Its  summit  is  a  wide  plain 
marked  with  considerable  depressions  which  contain  water  the  whole  year  round. 
Around  its  brow,  a  little  below  the  crest,  are  seen  the  remains  of  a  stone  wall  which 
is  two  and  a  quarter  miles  in  length,  and  encloses  a  space  of  14t>  acres.  On  its 
southern  face  this  wall  crosses  an  isthmus  between  the  waters  of  Black  Run  and 
Reeves  Hun,  and  is  so  arranj^ed  there,  by  curving  inward,  as  to  form  three  gate- 
ways eight  feet  in  width.  The  stones  are  of  all  sizes,  and  of  sufficient  quantity  to 
have  formed  a  para|)ct  eight  feet  thick  and  t^f  etjual  height.  On  the  least  abrupt 
sides  the  wall  is  heaviest.  The  position  commands  a  view  of  numerous  other 
works  of  the  mound -buiMing  race,  which  seems  to  have  been  partial  to  the  Paint 
Creek  Valley.  In  respect  to  area  inclosed  this  is  the  most  extensive  hill-work 
known  in  this  country.  It  betokens  great  labor  and  the  presence  of  a  largo  popu- 
lation. 

The  work  known  as  Kort  Hill,  describe*]  in  the  first  Geological  Survey  of  Ohio, 

is  situated  in  the  southern  part  of  Highland  County,  thirty  miles  from  Chillicothe 
and  twelve  from  Hillsborough.  This  also  is  a  steep,  detached  eminence  and  on 
most  of  its  circumference  difUcult  to  scale.  Its  embankment,  over  a  mile  and  a 
half  in  length,  consists  of  mingled  earth  an<l  stone,  and  varies  in  height  from  six 
to  fifteen  feet,  with  an  averai^e  base  of  thirtv-tive  or  fort v  feet.  It  extends  around 
the  brow  of  the  hill,  enclosing  an  irregular  space  of  forty-eight  acres  within  which 
are  three  difterent  ponds.  The  ditch  lias  an  average  width  of  fifty  feet,  and  is  in 
some  places  sunk  into  the  stratum  ()f  sandstone  which  underlies  the  terrace. 
Thirty-throe  gateways,  eleven  of  which   have  corresponding  causeways  across  the 


i 


l^HE   PRKHIBTORIC   RaCES.  29 

ditch,  open  in  the  embankment  at  irregular  intervals.  "Considered  in  a  military 
point  of  view,  as  a  work  of  defence,  it  is  well  chosen,  well  guarded,  and,  with  an 
adequate  force,  impregnable  to  any  mode  of  attack  practised  by  a  rude  or  semi- 
civilized  people.  As  a  natural  stronghold,  it  has  few  equals ;  and  the  degree  of 
skill  displayed  and  the  amount  of  labor  expended  in  constructing  its  artificial  de- 
fences, challenge  our  admiration  and  excite  our  surprise.  With  all  the  facilities 
and  numerous  mechanical  appliances  of  the  present  day,  the  construction  of  a 
work  of  this  magnitude  would  be  no  insignificant  undertaking."*'  Excepting  a  few 
small  scattered  mounds  there  are  no  other  ancient  remains  nearer  this  work  than 
the  Paint  Creek  Valley,  sixteen  miles  distant. 

Another  fortified  eminence  rises  on  the  west  side  of  the  Great  Miami  in  Butler 
County,  three  miles  below  Hamilton.  Its  summit,  skirted  by  a  ditchless  wall  of 
earth  and  stone  averaging  five  feet  in  height,  overlooks  all  the  adjacent  country. 
The  sides  of  the  hill  are  steep,  and  are  flanked  by  deep  ravines.  The  enclosed 
space,  sixteen  acres,  shows  several  excavations  or  "dugholes,"  from  which  material 
for  the  work  seems  to  have  been  taken,  liounds  suitably  placed  for  sentinel  and 
observation  posts  are  composed,  in  part,  of  loose  stones.  Four  entrances  twenty 
feet  wide  open  at  the  salients,  and  are  curiously  guarded  by  curved  embankments 
folding  over  one  another  like  the  Tiascalan  gateways  of  the  Aztecs. 

The  crowning  illustration  of  this  cla.ss  of  works,  and  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing on  the  continent,  is  that  known  as  Fort  Ancient,  situated  in  Warren  County, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Little  Miami,  thirty -five  miles  northeast  of  Cincinnati.  Profes- 
sor John  Locke,  of  the  first  Geological  Survey,  thus  described  it  in  1843  : 

This  work  occupies  a  terrace  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  and  230  feet  above  its  waters. 
The  place  is  naturally  a  strong  one,  being  a  pennisula  defended  by  two  ravines,  which,  origi- 
nating on  the  east  side  near  to  each  other,  diverging  and  sweeping  around,  enter  the  Miami, 
the  one  above,  the  other  below  the  work.  The  Miami  itself,  with  its  precipitous  bank  of  two 
hundred  feet,  defends  the  western  side.  The  ravines  are  occupied  by  small  streams.  Quite 
around  this  peninsula,  on  the  very  verge  of  the  ravines,  has  been  raised  an  embankment  of 
anasual  height  and  perfection.  Meandering  around  the  spurs,  and  reentering  to  pass  the 
heads  of  the  gullies,  ic  is  so  winding  in  its  course  that  it  required  196  stations  to  complete  its 
sarvey.  The  whole  circuit  of  the  work  is  between  four  and  five  miles.  The  number  of  cubic 
yards  of  excavation  may  be  approximately  estimated  at  628,800.  The  embankment  stands  in 
many  places  twenty  feet  in  perpendicular  height;  and  although  composed  of  tough  diluvial 
clay,  without  stone  except  in  a  few  places,  its  outward  slope  is  from  thirty-five  to  forty-three 
degrees.  This  work  presents  no  continuous  ditch ;  but  the  earth  for  its  construction  has  been 
dug  from  convenient  pits  which  are  still  quite  deep  or  filled  with  mud  and  water.  ...  I  am 
astonished  to  see  a  work,  simply  of  earth,  after  braving  the  storm  of  thousands  of  years,  still  so 
entire  and  well  marked.  Several  circumstances  have  contributed  to  this.  The  clay  of  which 
it  is  built  is  not  easily  penetrated  by  water.  The  bank  has  been,  and  is  still,  mostly  covered  by 
a  forest  of  k)eech  trees,  which  have  woven  a  strong  web  of  their  roots  over  its  steep  sides  ;  and 
a  fine  bed  of  moss  {Poiytrichum)  serves  still  further  to  afford  protection. 

The  embankment  has  an  average  height  of  between  nine  and  ten  feet,  but 
sometimes  rises  to  twenty,  with  a  base  at  the  most  exposed  parts  sixty  feet  in 
width.  There  are  over  seventy  openings  in  the  line  which  it  is  believed  were 
originally  occupied  by  bastions  or  blockhouses  of  timber.  Originally  these  open- 
ings seem  to  have  been  ten  or  fifteen  feet  in  width.  An  outwork  1350  feet  long 
consists  of  two  parallel  walls  which  close  at  their  farther  extremity,  there  enclos- 
ing a  small  mound.     The  main  work  comprises  two  grand  divisions  connected  by 


4. 


30  IIlSTORY^OK   THE    CiTY    OF    CoLUMBirK. 

u  lung  and  narrow  paHHUge  across  whiili  travei-scH  are  tlirowii.  Water  for  the 
garrison  is  supplied  by  reservoirs  and  springs.  At  numerous  points  along  the  em- 
bankment are  found  large  <iuantities  of  water-worn  stones  which  it  must  have 
required  great  labor  to  colloot.  Hmvely  defended  the  work  is  impregnable  against 
barbarian  assault. 

The  ancient  earthworks  in  Ohio  excel  in  numbers,  extent  and  variety  those 
of  all  the  other  States.  Whatever  the  force  was  which  has  left  these  vestiges,  we 
find  its  presence,  it«  character  and  its  magnitude  more  profusely  and  significantly 
symbolized  here  than  anywhere  else.  In  part  this  symbolization  betokens  a  mili- 
tJiry  people,  but  only  in  part.  While  certain  works,  such  as  those  just  described, 
are  plainly  of  a  military  origin,  a  much  larger  number,  of  no  special  military  adap- 
tation, seem  to  be  int^jnded  for  some  purpose  connected  with  the  superstitious  or 
pastoral  pursuits  of  the  builders.  This  is  particularly  the  case  in  the  Scioto  Valley, 
where  the  square  and  cin-le,  either  separately  or  in  combination,  were  favorite 
forms  of  construction.  "Most  of  the  circular  works  are  small,  varying  from  250  to 
300  feet  in  diameter,  while  others  are  a  mile  or  more  in  circuit.  Some  stand  iso- 
lated, but  most  in  connection  with  one  or  more  mounds,  of  greater  or  less  dimen- 
sions, or  in  connection  with  other  more  complicated  works.  Wherever  the  circles 
occur,  if  there  be  a  /o.s5<^  or  ditch,  it  is  almost  invariably  interior  to  the  parapet. 
Instances  are  frequent  where  no  ditch  is  discernible,  and  where  it  is  evident  that 
the  earth  composing  the  embankment  was  brought  from  a  disUmce,  or  taken  up 
evenly  from  the  surface.  In  the  square  and  in  the  irregular  works,  if  there  be  a 
fosse  &i  all,  it  is  exterior  to  the  embankment;  except  in  the  case  of  fortified  hills, 
where  the  earth,  for  the  best  of  reasons,  in  usually  thrown  from  the  interior."*' 

The  circular  and  rectangular  enclosures  are  generally  situated  on  low  bottom 
lands  under  the  command  of  adjacent  heights.  This  of  itself  proves  that  they 
could  hardly  have  been  intended  for  defensive  purposes.  The  fact  that  the  fossr, 
whenever  it  accompanies  this  class  of  works,  lies  within  the  parapet,  makes  the 
j)roof  conclusive.  The  walls  are  sometimes  massive,  but  for  the  most  .part  vary 
from  three  to  seven  feet  in  height.  The  smaller  circles  haveea<*h  a  single  gateway, 
opening  usually  to  the  cast.  Sometimes  they  contain  one  or  more  small  mounds 
suj)posed  to  be  intended  for  sacrificial  purposes.  Numerous  little  circles,  from 
thirty  to  fifty  feet  in  diameter,  and  devoid  ofentrances,  are  observed  in  the  vicinity 
of  larger  works,  (.'onjecture  has  doubtfully  assume<l  that  they  may  be  remains  of 
the  vanished  lodges  of  officers  or  priests.  A  few  of  the  circles  are  slightly  ellipti- 
cal, and  octagonal  forms  of  construction,  as  well  as  squares  and  rectangles,  are 
sometimes  seen.  A  large  octagon  near  Chillicothe  has  equal  sides,  and  angles 
arranged  in  mutual  correspondence.  In  the  rectangular  works  gateways  open  at 
the  angles  and  midway  on  each  side,  all  covered  by  small  interior  mounds  or  other 
elevations.  The  geometrical  symmetry  of  the  forms  is  striking.  Many  of  the  cir- 
cles are  perfect,  and  many  of  the  squares  exact.  Taken  with  the  further  fact  that 
several  of  the  squares  measure  exactly  one  thousand  and  eighty  feet  on  each  side, 
this  is  supposed  to  indicate  the  useof  some  standard  of  measurement  and  some 
means  of  determining  angles. 

The  great  magnitude  of  some  of  these  enclosures  has  been  cited  as  the  strongest 
objection  to  tiie  hypothesis  of  their  exclusively  religious  purpose.  Squier  and 
Davis,  who  raise  this  objection,  answer  it  by  suggesting  that  the  Ohio  works  "wore 


The  Prehistoric  Races.  31 

probably,  like  the  great  circles  of  England,  and  the  squares  of  India,  Peru  and 
Mexico,  the  sacred  eDclosures  within  which  were  erected  the  shrines  of  the  gods  of 
the  ancient  worship  and  the  altars  of  the  ancient  religion.  They  may  have  em- 
braced, consecrated  groves,  and  also,  as  they  did  in  Mexico,  the  residences  of  the 
ancient  priesthood."  Like  the  sacred  structures  of  the  Aztecs,  they  may  have 
been  regarded  as  a  tinal  refuge  in  time  of  peril,  under  the  protection  of  the 
deities  to  whom  they  were  dedicated.  They  may  also  have  been  used  as  arenas 
for  games  and  other  amusements. 

The  further  suggestion  is  made  that  the  religious  ceremonials  of  the  mound- 
builders  may  have  partaken  of  a  national  character,  and  therefore  have  drawn  great 
multitudes  together.  Reasons  are  not  wanting  for  the  belief  that  the  government 
of  the  people  may  have  been  a  government  by  the  priesthood,  and  that  the  popular 
superstition,  whatever  it  wan,  exercised  a  powerful  control  over  the  minds  of  its 
devotees.  Certain  it  is  that  altars  have  been  found  within  the  sacred  enclosures 
on  which  sacrifices  were  performed,  and  on  which  human  beings  were  probably 
immolated.  **We  find  also  pyramidal  structures  which  correspond  entirely  with 
those  of  Mexico  and  Central  America  except  that,  instead  of  being  composed  of 
stone  they  are  constructed  of  earth,  and  instead  of  broad  tlii^hts  of  steps  have 
«rraded  avenues  and  spiral  j)athways  leading  to  their  summits.'" 

As  these  structures  resemble  those  of  the  ancient  Mexican  race,  may  not  the 
ceremonials  to  which  they  were  consecrated  have  borne  a  like  resemblance? 
Human  sacrifices  were  practised  by  the  Aztecs,  we  are  told,  surpassing  those  of  any 
of  the  nations  of  antiquity.  The  number  of  victims  annually  ottered  up  has  been 
estimated  at  from  twenty  to  fifty  thousand.  One  of  the  most  important  Aztec 
festivals,  says  Prescott,  "was  that  in  honor  of  the  god  Tezcatlepoca,  whose. rank 
was  inferior  only  to  that  of  the  Supreme  Being.  He  was  called  'the  soul  of  the 
world,'  and  supposed  to  have  been  its  creator.  He  was  de|>icted  as  a  handsome 
man,  endowed  with  ))erpetual  youth.  A  year  before  the  intended  sacrifice,  a  cap- 
tive distinguished  for  his  personal  beauty,  and  without  a  blemish  on  his  body,  was 
selected  to  represent  this  deity.  Certain  tutors  took  charge  of  him,  and  instructed 
him  how  to  perform  his  new  part  with  becoming  grace  and  dignity.  He  was 
arrayed  in  a  splendid  dress,  regaled  with  incense,  and  with  a  profusion  of  sweet- 
scented  flowers,  of  which  the  ancient  Mexicans  were  as  fond  as  their  descendants 
at  the  present  day.  When  he  went  abroad  he  was  attended  by  a  train  of  royal 
pages,  and  as  he  halted  in  the  streets  to  play  some  favorite  melody,  the  crowd 
prostrated  themselves  before  him,  and  did  him  homage  as  the  representative  of 
their  good  deity.  In  this  way  he  led  an  easy,  luxurious  life  till  within  a  month  of 
his  sacrifice.  Four  beautiful  girls,  bearing  the  names  of  the  principal  goddesses, 
were  then  selected  to  share  the  honors  of  his  bed;  and  with  them  he  continued  to 
live  in  idle  dalliance,  feasted  at  the  banquets  of  the  principal  nobles,  who  paid  him 
all  the  honors  of  divinitv. 

At  length  the  fetal  day  of  sacrifice  arrived.  The  term  of  his  shortlived  >?lories  was  at  an 
end.  He  was  stripped  of  his  gaudy  apparel,  and  bade  adieu  to  the  fair  partners  of  his  revel- 
ries. One  of  the  royal  barges  transported  him  across  the  lake  to  a  temple  which  rose  on  its 
margin,  about  a  league  from  the  city.  Hither  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  flocked  to  wit- 
ness the  consummation  of  the  ceremony.  As  the  sad  procession  wound  up  the  sides  of  the 
pyramid  the  unhappy  victim  threw  away  his  gay  chaplets  of  flowers,  and  broke  in  pieces  the 


32  History  op  the  City  op  CoLUMBrs. 

musical  instrumente  with  which  he  had  eolaced  the  hours  of  captivity.  On  the  summit  he 
was  received  hy  six  priests  whose  lon^  and  matted  locks  flowed  disorderly  over  their  sable 
robes,  covered  with  hierojrlyphic  scrolls  of  mystic  import.  They  led  him  to  the  sacriflcial 
stone,  a  huge  block  of  jasper,  with  its  upper  surface  somewhat  convex.  On  this  the  prisoner 
was  stretclicd.  Five  priests  seciiro<l  his  head  and  limbs;  while  the  sixth,  clad  in  a  scarlet 
mantle  emblematic  of  his  bloody  office,  dexterously  openi'd  the  breast  (►f  the  wretched  vic- 
tim with  a  sharp  razor  of  itztii—  a  volcanic  substance  Imrd  as  Hint,  —  and  inserting  his  hand  in 
the  wound,  tore  out  the  palpitating  heart.  The  minister  of  death,  first  holding  this  up 
toward  the  sun,  an  object  of  worship  throughout  Anahuac,  cast  it  at  the  feet  of  the  deity  to 
whom  the  temple  was  devoted,  while  ihe  mnliitudes  l)eIow  prostrated  themselves  in  humble 
adoration.** 

Who  knows  but  that  scenes  of  which  this  was  a  type,  exaggerated,  perhaps, 
only  in  its  splendors,  may  have  taken  place  within  these  mysterious  circles, 
squares  and  polygons,  and  around  these  skeleton-bearing  mounds,  io  the  valleys 
of  Ohio? 

The  most  primitive  form  of  human  memorials  is  thai  of  a  simple  heap  of  earth 
or  stones.  It  is  the  form  which  seems  to  Iiave  fii*st  suggested  itself  to  the  prehis- 
toric races,  and  time  has  fully  justified  the  wisdom  of  its  adoption.  While  the 
proudest  architecture  in  marble  and  granite  has  crumbled  in  decay  these  mounds 
of  earth  have  preserved  their  symmetry  almost  perfect  through  the  lapse  of  cen- 
turies. Many  of  them  stand  to-day  a|)j)arently  as  rounded  and  complete  as  the 
hands  of  their  builders  left  them  before  recorded  history  began.  Nor  have  they 
been  limited  to  any  single  country,  or  continent.  *' They  are  scattered  over 
India;  they  dot  the  steppes  of  Siberia  and  the  vast  region  north  of  the  Black  Sea; 
they  line  the  shores  of  the  Bospliorus  and  the  Mediterranean ,  they  are  found  in 
old  Scandinavia,  and  are  singularly  numerous  in  the  British  Islands.  In  America, 
they  prevail  from  the  great  lakes  of  the  north,  through  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  seats  of  semi-civilization  in  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  Peru,  even 
to  the  waters  of  the  La  Plata  on  the  south.  We  find  them  also  on  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  Kiver,  and  on  the  Colorado  of  Cali- 
fornia."^'^ In  the  V>restcrn  and  Southern  States  of  this  Union  they  may  be  counted 
by  tens  of  thousands. 

The  individual  forms  of  the  mounds  were  doubtless  determined  by  the  special 
purposes  for  which  they  were  intended.  Usually  they  are  simple  cones,  some- 
times terraced,  frequently  truncated.  Some  are  elliptical  or  pearshaped.  The 
pyramidal  form  is  always  truncated,  and  commonly  provided  with  graded  ascents 
to  the  summit.  A  lozonge-shaped  mound  surrountled  by  a  wall  and  ditch  rises  on 
the  Virginia  shore  of  the  Ohio  nearly  opposite  to  Blennerhassott's  Island.  An 
octagonal  mound  in  Woodford  County,  Kentucky,  measures  150  feet  on  each  side, 
and  has  three  graded  ascents.  Two  small  cones  surmount  its  level  truncated  sum- 
mit. A  curious  oval-shaped  mound  rises  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto  River  in 
Libert^'  Township,  Ross  County,  Ohio.  In  Bradford  County,  Tennessee,  exist 
several  extensive  terraces  or  earth  platforms,  one  of  which  covers  three  acres. 
The  courthouse  of  Christian  (-ounty,  Tennessee,  at  Ilopkinsville,  is  built  on  one  of 
these  artificial  terraces.  Another  large  terrace  in  Henry  County,  same  Stat«, 
serves  as  the  site  of  a  dwelling.  In  the  South  are  found  many  Teocalli-shaped 
structures,  bearing  a  suggestive  resemblance  to  those  of  the  Aztecs.  Examples  of 
this  form  are  found  as  far  north  as  Portsmouth,  Marietta,  Chillicothe  and  Newark. 


/  I 


^/ 


•  •! 


•  •• 


The  Prehistoric  Races.  33 

The  conical  form  is  sometimes  mounted  by  a  spiral  stairway,  other  forms  by  ter- 
races resembling  stairs. 

The  size  of  the  mounds  varies  extremely,  generally  increasing  as  we  go  south. 
The  great  Cahokia  mound  on  the  Mississi])pi,  at  the  mouth  of  Cahokia  Creek,  in 
Illinois,  is  in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram,  covering  a  surface  of  eight  acres.  It  is 
500  feet  wide  and  700  long  at  the  base,  and  is  ninot}*  feet  high.  On  one  side  of  it 
is  a  broad  terrace  which  is  reached  by  a  graded  ascent,  and  was  once  cultivated  by 
the  monks  of  La  Trappe  as  a  garden.  The  entire  summit  area  measures  about  five 
acres,  and  the  interior  contents  of  the  whole  structure  about  twenty  million  cubic 

feet. 

Earth  predominates  in   the  composition   of  the    mounds,  and  sometimes  the 

material  is  clay  exclusively  although  it  is  not  found  near  by,  and  must  have  been 

transported  for  a  long  distance.     It  may  have  been  preferred  because  of  its  superior 

tenacit}'  and  power  to  resist  the  elements.     Stone  is  freijuently  used,   sometimes 

exclusively  and  sometimes  as  a  component  part. 

The  Ohio  mounds  occur  sometimes  in  grou))S  but  oftener  singly,  and  mostly 
within  or  near  the  ancient  embankments.  A  reniarkable  group  of  twentysix  on 
the  Scioto  Kiver  three  miles  above  Chillicothe  has  acc^uired  the  name  of  Mound 
( -ity.  The  single  specimens  are  numerously  seen  crowning  the  valley -bordering 
hilltops  and  promontories  in  the  neighborhooil  of  the  cinuilar  and  angular  earth- 
works, but  it  is  no  unusual  thing  to  find  them  among  the  hills  and  in  secluded 
places  remote  from  the  principal  watercourses. 

Popularly,  these  shapely  works  have  been  supposed  to  be  the  monuments  and 
sepulchres  of  distinguished  persons,  or  to  mark  the  sites,  and  enshrine  the  slain  of 
great  battles.  But  all  this  is  mere  conjecture.  In  accordance  with  their  form  and 
indicated  purpose  the  mounds  are  classified  by  S(|uier  and  Davis  as  sacrificial, 
sepulchral,  templar  and  nondescript  or  anomalous.  Exclusive  of  the  temple 
mounds,  which  are  least  numerous,  those  of  the  Scioto  Valley  are  distributed 
among  the  other  three  classes  in  nearly  equal  proportions. 

The  sacrificial  mounds  have  three  distinguishing  characteristics:  1,  they 
occur  only  within  or  near  the  sacred  enclosures ;  2,  the}' are  stratified ;  3,  they 
contain  altars  and  altar  deposits  which  have  been  subjecte,d  to  the  action  of  fire. 
The  stratification  is  composed  of  separate  layers  which  conform  to  the  convexit}" 
of  the  outer  surfac-e,  and  cease  at  the  natural  level.  In  one  of  the  Mound  City 
(Ross  County)  specimens  into  which  a  shaft  was  sunk,  these  layers  were  pene- 
trated in  the  following  order:  1,  gravel  and  pebbles  to  the  depth  of  a  foot;  2, 
earth,  slightly  mottled,  to  the  depth  of  two  feet;  3,  a  lamination  of  fine  sand  one 
inch  thick:  4,  earth,  eighteen  inches;  5,  another  lamination  of  sand  still 
thinner  than  the  first;  6,  an  earth  deposit  a  foot  thick;  7,  sand;  8,  a  few 
inches  of  earth  ;  9,  a  round  altar  of  burned  clay,  concave  on  the  top  and  nine  fieet 
In  diameter  at  the  base.  The  basin  of  the  altar  was  evenly  filled  with  fine  dry 
ashes  mixed  with  fragments  of  pottery  the  exterior  of  which  exhibited  excellent 
finish  with  tasteful  carvings.  Over  the  ashes  covering  the  entire  basin  sheets  of 
silvery  mica  were  laid,  and  on  these  was  heaped  the  partially  burned  fragments 
of  a  human  skeleton.  A  few  convex  discs  of  copperlike  harness  ornaments  were 
also  found.  The  altar  was  solidified  throughout  by  fire,  its  basin  being  so  vitrified 
as  to  resist  the  blows  of  a  hatchet.     During  the  excavation  a  human  skeleton  was 

3 


34  History  ok  thk  City  of  Coli'mbiis. 

found  about  two  feel  below  the  surface,  with  its  head  to  the  east.  No  relics 
acconi])aiiie<l  it.  Probably  it  \vas  an  example  of  the  Indian  internient,s  for  which 
the  upper  portions  of  the  mounds  were  used  long  after  their  original  construction. 
The  red  men  are  known  to  have  held  the  mounds  in  great  veneration  and  to  have 
frequentl}^  buried  their  dead  in  them,  usually  from  eighteen  inches  to  three  feet 
below  the  Hurface.  Mo8t  of  the  bodies  lie  horizontally,  but  some  are  found  in  a 
Hitting  posture.  Among  the  relics  found  with  them  are  rude  implements  of  bone 
and  stone,  coarse  pottery,  silver  crosses,  gunbarrels  and  French  dial  plates,  all  of 
which,  of  course,  are  of  Indian  or  modern  origin.  "As  a  general  rule,  to  which 
there  are  few  exceptions,  the  only  authentic  and  undoubted  reniains  of  the  mound- 
builders  are  found  directly  beneath  the  apex  of  the  mound.''*** 

The  altars  found  in  the  sacriticial  mounds,  and  from  which  they  take  their 
name,  vary  both  in  form  and  size.  Sc»me  arc  parallelograms,  others  round,  ellipti- 
cal, or  square.  There  are  diminutive  ones  only  two  feet  in  diameter,  and  others 
fifty  feet  long  and  twelve  or  fifteen  wide.  Their  height  rarely  exceeds  twenty 
inches.  They  are  all  moulded  of  tine  clay  burned  hard,  and  rest  on  tlie  original 
surface  of  the  ground  which  has  in  some  instances  been  first  sprinkled  with  sand. 
They  have  occasionally  been  found  without  su])erstructure  or  covering,  and  have 
in  such  cases  been  referred  to  by  early  annalists  as  "  brick  hearths." 

Beneath  another  tumulus  of  the  Mound  City  grouj)  an  altar  in  the  form  of  a 
parallelogram  was  found,  with  ashes  in  its  basin  with  which  fragments  of  pottery 
were  mingled.  A  beautiful  va.sc  was  restored  from  these  fragments.  Three  feet 
below  the  apex  two  well-j)reserve<i  skeletons  were  found,  accompanied  by  numer- 
ous implements  of  stone,  bone,  horn  and  copjier.  In  the  altar-ashes  of  a  third 
mound  of  the  same  group  were  found  discs,  tubes  and  silver-mounted  ornaments 
of  copper,  and  about  two  hundred  stone  pipes  skillfully  carved  with  figures  of 
quadrupeds,  birds  and  reptiles.  Among  the  images  shown  in  these  carvings  are 
those  of  the  otter  and  the  heron,  each  holding  a  fish  in  its  mouth  ;  the  hawk  grasp- 
ing in  its  talons  a  small  bird  which  it  is  tearing  with  its  beak  ;  the  turtle,  trog, 
toad  and  rattlesnake;  and  the  crow,  swallow,  buzzard,  paroquet,  and  toucan. 

In  a  fourth  mound  of  this  group  w^as  reached,  at  the  de))th  of  four  and  a  half 
feet,  a  floor  of  water-worn  stones  on  which  a  human  skeleton  lay  with  its  head, 
which  was  singularly  large  and  massive,  pointing  to  the  northwest.  The  bones 
retained  much  of  their  animal  matter  although  a  tire,  of  which  the  traces  were 
plain,  had  been  built  over  the  body  after  its  dej)osit.  After  the  burial  the  hole 
had  been  filled  and  another  fire  kindled,  burning  the  earth  to  a  reddish  color. 
Around  the  skull  lay  fragments  of  syenite  such  as  the  Indians  were  accustomed  to 
use  for  the  manufacture  of  implements  before  they  learned  the  use  of  iron. 

In  a  fifth  mound  of  the  same  grou])  were  found  sevei*al  instruments  of  obsidian, 
scrolls  skillfull}'  cut  from  thin  sheets  of  mica  and  pertbrated,  traces  of  cloth  made 
apj)arently  from  some  fine  vegetable  tiber,  pearl  beads,  and  articles  carved  from 
stone,  bone  and  copper. 

In  a  sixth  mound  an  altar  was  found  coinj)osed  of  successive  layers  placed  one 
on  top  of  another  at  ditfcreiit  periods.  The  basin  was  paved  with  round  stones 
about  the  size  of  a  hen's  ey;<r  aiid  ccmtained  a  thin  layer  of  carbonaceous  matter 
mingled  witb  burned  human  bones.  Ten  well  w^rought  copj>er  bracelets  encircling 
some  calcined  bones  were  f(;und  in  two  heaps  of  five  each.     These  and  other  cir- 


The  Prehistoric  Races.  85 

cunistanceH  strongl}'  indicated  that  human  sacrifices  had  been  offered  on  this  altar. 

Mounds  of  the  character  just  described  are  ahnost  invariably  embraced  within 
enclosures  which  bear  evidence  of  having  been  intended  for  religious  purposes. 
Their  location,  their  method  of  construction  and  their  contents  alike  justify  the 
inference  that  they  were  primarily  designed  and  used  for  sacrifice,  and  not  for 
int-erment.  Fragments  of  the  altars  are  found  mixed  with  the  calcined  bones  as  if 
scaled  off  by  the  heat  at  the  time  the  burning  took  place.  The  relics  found 
deposited  in  and  about  the  altars  are  so  arranged  and  ))rotected  as  to  indicate  that 
they  were  placed  there  as  votive  offerings  Among  the  articles  of  this  class  were 
found  in  one  case  fragments  of  ivory,  fossil  teeth,  pieces  of  pottery,  and  stone 
carvings  of  coiled  serpents  carefully  enveloped  in  sheet  mica  and  copper.  In  lieu 
of  an  altar  there  were  found,  in  another  instance,  two  layers  of  hornstone  discs, 
some  thousands  in  number,  round  in  shape  or  formed  like  spearheads.  The  relig- 
ious zeal  which  prompted  such  painstaking  offerings  must  have  been  of  an  extraor- 
dinary type. 

The  mounds  classed  as  sepulchral  are  destitute  of  altars,  vary  in  height  from 

six  to  eighty  feet,  and  generally  take  the  form  of  a  simple  cone.  "  These  mounds 
invariably  cover  a  skeleton,  (in  very  rare  instances  more  than  one,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Grave  Oeek  mound),  which  at  the  time  of  its  interment  was  enveloped  in 
bark  or  coarse  matting,  or  enclosed  in  a  rude  sarcophagus  of  timber, — >the  traces, 
in  some  instances  the  very  casts,  of  which  remain.  Occasionally  the  chamber  of 
the  dead  is  built  of  stone,  rudely  laid  up,  without  cement  of  any  kind.  Burial  by 
fire  seems  to  have  been  frequently  practiced  by  the  mound  builders.  Urn  burial 
appears  to  have  prevailed  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the  Southern  States." 
Various  remains  of  art  are  found  accompanying  the  skeletons.*^ 

Burial  in  this  form  must  have  beeii  a  deliberate  and  solemn  ceremonial.  En- 
veloped in  its  coverings  of  bark,  slabs  or  matting,  and  sometimes  overspread  with 
plates  of  mica  and  framed  in  by  horizontal  timbers,  the  skeleton  lies  prone  on  the 
smoothed  original  level  of  the  ground,  directly  beneath  the  apex  of  the  tumulus, 
which  seems  to  have  been  piously  and  skillfully  heaped  over  the  remains.  The 
bones  have  been  so  borne  upon  by  its  weight  as  to  have  sometimes  indented  the 
hard  ground  on  which  they  lay.  Usually  a  stratum  of  charcoal  lying  within  a 
few  feet  of  the  summit  betgkens  the  use  of  sacrificial  fire,  which  was  covered  with 
earth  before  it  had  burned  long  enough  to  produce  ashes  or  bake  the  earth  be- 
neath it.  Fragments  of  bones  and  a  few  stone  implements  have  sometimes  been 
found  mingled  with  the  charred  embers.  The  skeletons  have  been  reduced  by  the 
lapse  of  time  to  a  few  handfuls  of  dust,  but  have  often  left  a  good  cast  of  their  out- 
lines in  the  superincumbent  earth.  Their  positions  indicate  ceremonious  deposit, 
but  are  not  uniform  as  to  direction.  None  occupy  the  sitting  posture  in  which 
Indian  remains  are  often  found.  The  sepulchral  mounds  are  sometimes  seen  in 
groups,  as  in  Butler,  Pike  and  Ross  Counties,  but  no  general  cemeteries  of  the  race 
of  their  builders  hava  yet  been  discovered.  Presumably  the  remains  covered  and 
commemorated  by  the  mounds  are  those  of  distinguished  persons.  Their  less  con- 
spicuous contemporaries  have  vanished  utterly. 

The  Grave  Creek  mound  exceptionally  contains  two  sepulchral  chambers,  one 
at  tlie  base  and  one  about  thirty  feet  above  it.  Two  human  skeletons  were  found 
in  the  lower  chamber,  one  male,  the  other  female.     The  upper  chamber  contained 


36  History  ok  the  (-ity  of  CoLiMitrs. 

ono  Hkeleton  only.     Some  thousands  of  slu^ll  lM*uils.  s«>ine  inicA  ornainentH,  Hcvcral 
copper  bracelets  and  various  stone  carvings  were  found  with  the  human  remains. 

Mounds  of  this,  oa  well  as  of  the  tirst  class,  were  oft«n  distuHied  by  the  later  Indians. 
Their  remains  are  frequently  found,  in  some  teases  in  lar^*  quantities,  as  if  the  mound  had 
been  used  for  a  long  period  as  a  general  burial  place.  Such  was  tlu^  ease  with  a  large  mound 
situated  six  miles  above  the  town  of  Chill icothe.  in  which  a  great  numl>cr  of  burials  had  been 
made,  at  various  depths,  from  eighteen  inches  to  four  feet.  The  skeletons  were,  in  places, 
two  or  three  deep,  and  placed  without  arrangement  with  respect  to  each  other.  Some  were 
evidently  of  a  more  ancient  date  than  others,  showing,  from  their  condition  as  well  as  posi- 
tion, that  they  had  been  deposited  at  different  periods.  One  or  two  were  observed  in  which 
the  skull  ha«l  been  fractured  by  blows  from  a  hatchet  or  other  instrument,  establishing  that 
the  individual  had  met  a  violent  death.  .  .  .  Beneath  all  of  these,  at  the  depth  of  fourteen 
feet,  and  near  the  base  of  the  mound,  were  found  traces  of  the  original  deposit  of  the  mound - 
builders.'** 

The  socalled  temple  mounds  arc  not  numerous  in  Ohio.  The  only  well-de- 
fined  specimens  known  in  the  State  are  found  at  Portsmouth,  Mariett^i,  Chillicothe 
and  Newark.  They  may  be  round,  oval,oblont;,  square  or  octangular  in  form,  hut 
invariably  have  level  tops.  Sometimes  the  upper  surface  embraces  several  acres, 
in  which  case  they  are  called  ''  platforms."  Usually  they  are  embraced  within 
embankment  enclosures,  and  are  mounted  by  terraces  or  graded  paths.  Their 
name  has  been  given  them  l»e(rause  of  their  apparent  suitableness  as  sites  of  tem- 
ples, or  for  the  performance  of  spectacular  religious  ceremonies.  Their  likeness  to 
the  Mexican  teocallis  of  the  Aztecs  is  suggestive.  No  ivlies  or  human  remains  are 
found  in  them. 

Another  form  of  ancient  memorials  occasionally  found  in  the  West  is  that  of 
stone-heaps,  or  cairns.  One  of  the  most  notable  of  these  in  Ohio  is  situated  near 
the  old  Indian  trail,  about  ten  miles  southwest  of  Chillicothe.  It  is  a  rectangle  in 
form,  sixty  feet  wide,  one  hundred  and  six  feet  long,  and  between  three  and  four 
feet  high.  It  is  composed  of  stones  of  all  sizes  laid  up  originally  in  symmetrical 
outline.  A  similar  heap,  not  so  large,  is  seen  on  top  of  a  high  hill  nejir  Tarleton, 
Pickaway  County.  Tlie  plow  has  turned  up  many  rude  relics  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. Small  and  irregular  stoncheaps  arc  otTli'n  seen  in  hilly  districts.  Almost 
invariably  each  covers  a  skeleton. 

Pictured  and  inscribed  rocks,  bearing  the  images,  of  birds,  beasts  ami  other 
objects  are  seen  in  various  parts  of  the  West.  A  few  specimens  have  been  found 
in  Ohio.     They  are  probably  of  Indian  origin. 

Most  singular  and  striking  of  all  the  works  of  the  moundbuilding  race  are 
those  which  assume,  fancifully,  the  shape  of  men,  birds,  quadrupeds,  and  reptiles. 
In  the  Northwest,  notably  in  Wisconsin,  these  elKgies  are  seen  upon  the  undulat- 
ing prairies,  accompanied  by  earth  cones  and  embankments.  Along  the  great 
Indian  trail  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  near  Milwaukee,  to  the  Mississippi 
above  Prairie  du  (Allien  they  are  especially  common.  One  of  the  human  forms 
measures  279  feet  between  the  extremities  of  the  outstretched  arms,  and  111  feet 
from  the  top  of  the  head  to  the  tinghs.  Another  elfigy  of  a  gigantic  man  with  two 
heads  measures  twenty tive  feet  across  the  breast. 

Some  of  the  most  curious  of  the  effigy  works  extant  are  found  in  Ohio.  Lick- 
ing County,  which  seems  to  have  been  "  the  centre  of  population  of  the  old  mound 
builders  of  the  State,"''  contains  some  remarkable  specimens.     One  of  these  forms 


earthwork  effiRiert.  "  It  is  situuteil  upon  a  liigli,  iroscenl-form  liHl  or  spar  of  land 
riJ-ing  one  hundred  and  fifty  fiv-t  aliovo  the  It'vel  of  Brusli  (.'reek,  which  wnHhes  its 
base.  ■  The  side  of  the  liill  next  the  stream  prewenls  a  perpend ioulnr  wail  of  rock, 
while  tlie  other  slopes  rapidly,  thoii^rh  it  is  not  bo  steep  as  to  pretludo  rultivation." 
The  top  of  the  hill  is  not  level  but  slightly  convex,  and  presents  a  very  oven  8ur- 
tace  one  hundred  and  fitly  feet  wide  by  one  thousand  long,  nieasuring  from  its  ex- 
tremity to  the  point  where  it  oonnocts  with  the  table  land.  Conforming  to  the 
curve  of  the  hill,  and  oecnpyinfj  Itf  very  snnnnil,  is  the  serpent,  its  head  resting 
near  the  point,  and  its  body  wiTiding  hack  for  seven  hundred  feet  in  graceful  undu- 
lations, terminating  in  a  triple  coil  at  the  tail.  .  .  .  The  neck  of  the  serpent  ist 
stretched  out  and  slightly  curved,  and  iln  mouth  is  opened  wide  au  if  in  the  act  of 
swallowing  or  ejecting  an  oval  figure,  whiuli  rests  partially  within  the  distended 
jaws.  The  oval  is  formed  by  an  embankment  of  earth,  without  any  perceptible 
opening,  four  feet  in  height,  ami  is  perfectly  regular  in  outline."" 

Such  was  the  appearance  of  the  work  iis  it  was  seen  and  described  by  Squier 
and  Davis  in  1S46.  It  wa-  then  covered  with  stately  (brewt  which  was  swept  down 
by  a  tornado  fourteen  years  later.  The  work  of  the  husbandman  followed  that  of 
the  storm  in  clearing  the  surface,  which  was  abandoned  after  a  few  years  to  a  pro- 
miscuous irrowth  ofred-hnd,  sumac  and  briers.  Fortunately  the  spot  was  visited 
in  1883  l>y  Professor  F.  W.  I'litnam,  now  of  Harvard  University,  who  became  so 
much  interested  in  the  prcwrvation  of  the  work  in  the  interest  of  science,  that  he 
arranged   for  its  protection    and   also  tiir  its  purchase.     His  efforts  were   nobly 


The  Preuistobic  Races.  39 

seconded  by  Miss  Alice  C.  Fletcher  and  other  Boston  ladies  of  rare  intelligence,  by 
whose  zeal  subscriptions  to  the  amount  of  six  thousand  dollars  were  obtained,  and 
sixty  acres  of  land,  including  the  Serpent  Cliff,  were  purchased  and  conveyed  in 
perpetual  trust  to  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Harvard  University/*  Additional  land 
has  since  been  purchased  aud  the  whole  has  been  laid  out  as  the  Serpent  Mound 
Park,  which,  at  the  suggestion  of  Professor  M.  C.  Read,  of  the  State  Geological 
Survey,  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio  has,  by  special  enactment,  placed  under 
police  protection,  and  exempted  from  taxation. 

The  measurements  of  the  serpent  are  phenomenal.  The  oval  figure  at  the  ex- 
tremities of  its  distended  jaws  is  sixty  feet  across  at  its  point  of  greatest  width  and 
one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long.  The  point  of  the  promontory  on  which  it  rests, 
eighty  feet  from  the  precipice,  "seems  to  have  been  artificially  cut  to  conform  to 
its  outline,  leaving  a  smooth  platform  ten  feet  wide  and  somewhat  inclining 
inwards  all  around  it.'*^"*  Near  its  center  once  existed  a  Kmall  elevation  of  stones 
showing  the  marks  of  fire.  This  probable  altar  has  been  demolished  by  ignorant 
visitors  in  the  search  for  treasure. 

Partly  enclosing  the  oval,  nine  feet  from  its  eastern  extremity,  is  a  crescent- 
shaped  bank  seventeen  feet  in  width.  The  serpent'n  jaws  begin  from  the  extremi- 
ties of  this  crescent,  which  are  sevent3'fivo  feet  apart.  The  head  at  the  point  of 
union  of  the  jaws  is  thirty  feet  wide  and  i^ve  feet  hii^h.  The  total  length  of  the 
body,  from  the  extremity  of  the  upper  jaw  to  the  tip  of  the  tail  is,  1,254  feet.  Its 
average  width  of  twenty  feet,  and  its  average  height  of  about  five,  respectively 
taper  down,  to  one  foot,  and  two. 

The  graceful  curves  throughout  the  whole  length  of  this  singular  efiigy  give  it  a  strange, 
life-like  appearance;  as  if  a  huge  serpent,  slowly  uncoiling  itself  and  creeping  silently  and 
stealthily  along  the  crest  of  the  hill,  was  about  to  seize  the  oval  within  its  extended  jaws. 
Late  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  lights  and  shades  are  brought  out  in  strong  relief,  the  effect 
is  indeed  strange  and  weird ;  and  this  effect  is  heightened  still  more  when  the  full  moon 
lights  up  the  scene,  and  the  stillness  is  broken  only  by  the  "  whoo-hoo,  hoo-hoo"  of  the 
unseen  bird  of  nigbt.^ 

The  purpose  which  prompted  the  construction  of  this  curious  work  is  believed 
to  have  been  a  religious  one.  Such  are  the  conclusions  of  Squier  and  Davis,  who 
say  in  their  comments:  " The  serpent,  separate,  or  in  combination  with  the  circle, 
egg,  or  globe,  has  been  a  predominant  symbol  among  many  primitive  nations.  It 
prevailed  in  Egj-pt,  Greece,  and  Assyria,  aud  entered  widely  into  the  superstitions 
of  the  Celts,  the  Hindoos  and  the  Chinese.  It  even  penetrated  into  America,  and 
was  conspicuous  in  the  mythology  of  the  ancient  Mexicans,  among  whom  its  sig- 
nificance does  not  seem  to  have  differed  materially  from  that  which  it  possessed  in 
the  old  world."** 

Professor  Putnam,  who  has  carefully  examined  this  work,  and 'explored  its 
ancient  grave  and  mound  adjuncts,  is  of  like  opinion.  He  says :  "  Here,  near  this 
sacred  shrine,  ceremonies  of  great  import  have  taken  place  ;  individuals  of  import- 
ance have  been  buried  in  connection  with  ceremonies  of  fire,  and  in  two  instances, 
at  least,  accompanied  by  the  burning  of  human  bodies  —  possibly  human  sacrifice, 
that  constant  accessory  of  many  ancient  faiths.  In  later  times  the  shrine  was 
still  a  place  of  resort,  possibly  as  one  held  sacred  in  myths  and  legends;  and  finally 
a  few  of  the  scattered  bands  of  the  last  century  made  their  habitation  on  the  spot, 


4»«  HiSTilRY    OK   THK    CiTV    OF    OoLl'MBrs. 

pr.i«ibly  witlitiut  any  lf:rt^iidary  knowledge  or  thought  of  the  earlkT  wor^bipen*  at 
tfaTT  •'hririo.  ovvrirrown  and  halt*  hidden  by  a  forest  whieh  ueventy  years  ago  was  of 
the  sarikv  •-harart<-r  a8  that  on  ail  the  hills  about. "** 

While  the^e  lines  are  being  written  it  \s  announced  from  Chillicothe  that  the 
ft.*rm  01  <ome  feline  animal  in  iriirantir  outline  ha.s  been  traced  for  the  first  time 
amoDiT  ihf  ancient  works  of  Koss  <*ounty.  Evidently  the  mystery  of  the  mounds 
Tiiay  yet  be  pn.ibed  mort*  tieeply  than  it  has  heretofore  l>een. 

How  ^hall  we  measure  the  antiijuity  of  the<e  works?  How  far  back  in  the 
anwritteii  and  unexplored  hif*tory  of  man  lies  thf  secret  of  their  origin?  "The 
^p'Wih  «»f  trees  upon  the  works."  says  General  Force,  *•  gives  one  indication. 
""^-laivr  and  Davis  mention  a  trei*  six  hundred  years  old  upon  the  great  fort  on 
Paint  Oeek.  Barrandt  speaks  ofa  tree  six  hundre<l  years  old  on  one  of  the  works  in 
in»--  ^.i>!  Ml  try  of  I  Ik*  UpjK.'r  Mi«»?M^uri.  It  i>  said  that  Doctor  Hildreth  heard  of  a  ti-ee 
fijhi  huniirc«i  v«ar??  t>ld  on  ont*  «>!' tlu-  niouii«is  at  Marietta.  Manv  trees  thi-ec  hun- 
drcd  and  ti»ur  hundred  vears  old  liavi-  been  observed.  Some  of  the  works  must 
th<.'ix*fori-  havi-  been  abandoned  six  or  right  hundred  years  a:^o.  It  is  quite  |K>ssi- 
bit*  thcv  Were  abandMiied  earlier,  tor  these  survivinir  trees  niav  not  have  been  the 
tirst  to  sprinir  up  on  the  abandonment  of  the  works.  ...  It  may.  therefore,  be 
lairly  held  with  some  eoiitidence  that  the  disap|H»arance  «»f  the  mouhibuilders  did 
not  bei^in  further  back  than  a  th(»us:ind  years  ai^o.  antl  that  their  extinction  was 
Dot  accomplished  till  centurie>  later.  '** 

Others  who  have  earefullv  studied  the  subject  believe  the  mounds  have  ."(tooci  at 
Iea>l  twice  ten  eenturie-.  <  General  VV.  H.  Harrison  >uggeste<l  that  the  mixed  forests 
whieh  grew  upon  them  rnighl  have  been  the  result'^  of  several  generations  of  trees. 
He  believetl  their  builders  were  of  a  race  identical  with  the  Aztecs.  Many  of  their 
works,  says  Atwater,  *•  had  irntevvays  and  parallel  walls  leading  down  to  creeks 
whirh  once  washed  the  fo*>t  of  hilU  trom  whence  the  <tivams  have  now  receded, 
forming  extensive  and  newer  alluvions,  and  worn  down  their  channels,  in  some 
instances,  ten  and  even  tit^een  teei."**  That  the  nice  of  the  mounds  lived  here  a 
long  time  appeai-s  evident,  thinks  Mr.  Atwater,  bei-ause  of  the  **  very  numerous 
cemeteries,  and  the  vast  numbei-s  of  persons  of  all  ages  who  were  here  buried.  It 
is  highly  prv>bable  that  more  per>ons  were  buried  in  these  mounds  than  now  [I8ii3] 
live  in  this  state.  They  lived  in  towns,  many  of  which  were  populous,  es|>ecially 
along  the  Scioto  from  Columbus  southward.  .  .  .  Some  have  supj>osed  that  they 
were  driven  away  by  powerful  foes,  but  appearances  by  no  means  justify  this  sup- 
position. That  they  co!i tended  against  some  j>eople  to  the  northeast  of  them  is 
evident,  but  that  thev  leisurelv  moved  down  the  streams  is  also  evident  trom  their 
increased  numbers  and  their  imprvn-ement  in  the  knowledge  of  the  arts.'**^* 

Who  were  the  moundbuilders.  whence  came  they,  and  whither  did  they  go? 
Thest^  questions  will  perhaps  never  be  settled  conclusively.  The  Indian  traditions 
which  seem  ti>  tt>uch  the  ancient  race  are  very  t*ew  and  meager.  The  most  tangible 
and  interestiiii^  is  that  of  the  Uelawaiv**,  who  claimed  to  be  the  oldest  of  the  Al- 
gonquin  tribes  and  were  kriown  as  gnindfathors.  Originally  they  were  called 
Lenni  Lenape,  sitcnityini;  men.  According  t»>  a  tradition  transmitted  by  their 
ancestors  t'rt>m  i!:eneratii>n  u>  generation  they  dwelt  many  centuries  a^o  in  the  Far 
West,  and  f»»r  st)ine  reas«Mi   not   i^xplained  eniiu:rated  in  a  body  toward  the  East. 

.\t\er  loiii;  journeying  I  hoy  arrived  on  tlio  Namaesi-sipu  (Mississippi)  where 


Tbe  Prebistoric  Races.  41 

they  fell  in  with  the  Mcngwe  (Iroquois)  who  were  also  proceeding  eastward.  Be- 
fore the  Lenape  reached  the  Mississippi  their  couriers,  sent  forward  to  recon- 
noitre the  country,  discovered  that  the  regions  east  of  the  Mississippi  were  in- 
habited by  a  very  powerful  nation  which  had  many  large  towns  built  beside  the 
great  rivers.  These  people,  calling  themselves  Tallegwi,  or  Tallegewi,  are  said  to 
have  been  wonderfully  tall  and  strong,  some  of  them  being  giants.  They  built  in- 
trenchments  from  which  they  sallied  forth  and  encountered  their  enemies.  The 
Lenape  were  denied  permission  to 'settle  near  them,  but  were  given  leave  to  pass 
through  their  country  to  the  regions  farther  east.  Accordingly,  tbe  Lenape  began 
to  cross  the  Mississippi,  but  while  so  doing  were  attacked  by  the  Tallegwi  who 
had  become  jealous  and  fearful  of  the  emigrants.  The  Lenape  then  formed  an 
alliance  with  the  Mengwc,  and  fought  numerous  battles  with  the  Tallegwi,  who, 
after  a  war  of  many  years,  abandoned  the  country  and  fled  down  the  Mississipjn, 
never  to  return. 

Such,  in  substance,  is  the  tradition  of  the  Delawares  as  narrated  by  the  Kev. 
John  Heckeweldei',  a  Moravian  missionary  to  the  Indians.  Mr.  Horatio  Hale, 
who  is  an  authority  on  the  subject  of  Indian  migrations,  arrives  at  the  conclusion 
tliat  the  country  from  which  the  Lenape  emigrated  was  not  the  Fnv  West,  but  the 
forest  region  north  of  Lake  Superior;  that  the  people  who  joined  them  in  their 
war  on  the  Tallegwi  were  not  the  Iroquois  but  the  Hurons;  and  that  the  river 
they  crossed  was  the  Detroit,  and  not  the  Mississippi.  The  adaptation  of  the  line 
of  defensive  works  in  Northern  Ohio  for  resistance  to  an  enemy  approaching  from 
the  northwest  seems  to  support  this  theory.  But  as  to  the  identity  of  the  race 
which  fought  behind  those  works  we  are  still  left  mainly  to  conjecture.  No 
hieroglyphics  or  scrap  of  written  record  remains  to  tell  their  story.  That  they 
were  of  a  race  now  extinct,  and  had  reached  a  degree  of  civilization  far  above  that 
of  their  Indian  successors,  is  a  hypothesis  strongly  confirmed  by  evidence  and 
stoutly  maintained  by  many  thoughtful  and  learned  stuctents  of  American  anti- 
quities. Others  equally  careful  in  their  investigations  insist  that  the  builders  of 
the  mounds  were  Indians  of  the  same  race  with  tribes  now  living.  As  the  subject 
belongs  to  the  department  of  ethnology  rather  than  to  that  of  history,  its  discus- 
sion will  not  here  be  attempted. 

NOTES. 

1.  The  Glacial  Period  and  Archjeology  in  Ohio  ;  Professor  G.  F.  Wright  in  the  Arch;e- 
ological  and  Historical  Quarterly,  September,  1887. 

2.  Ibid.  Discussing  the  same  subject  from  a  European  standpoint,  Sir  Archibald  Geikie 
Bays  :  "  From  fhe  height  at  which  its  transported  debris  has  been  observed  on  the  Harz,  it 
[the  ice]  is  believed  to  have  been  at  least  1470  feet  thick  there,  and  to  have  gradually  risen 
in  elevation  as  one  vast  plateau,  like  that  which  at  the  present  time  covers  the  interior  of 
Greenland.  Among  the  Alps  it  attained  almost  incredible  dimensions.  The  present  snow- 
fields  and  glaciers  of  these  mountains,  large  though  they  are,  form  no  more  than  the  mere 
shrunken  remnants  of  the  great  mantle  of  snow  and  ice  which  then  overspread  Switzerland. 
In  the  Bernese  Oberland,  for  example,  the  valleys  were  filled  to  the  brim  with  ice,  which, 
moving  northwards,  crossed  the  great  plain  and  actually  overrode  a  part  of  the  Jura 
mountains.'' 

3.  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Ohio,  Volume  V.,  page  755. 1884. 

4.  Ibid,  page  757. 


42  History  ok  thk  City  ok  Columbl's. 

'>.  Profes8c>r  J.  S.  Newberry's  theory  of  the  cliinatic  cause  c»f  this  is  thas  stated:  *'At  a 
period  probably  synchronous  with  the  glacial  epoch  of  Europe  — at  least  corresponding  to  it 
in  the  seijuence  of  events  —  the  northern  half  of  the  continent  of  North  America  had  an  arctic 
climate;  so  cold,  indeeil.  that  wherever  there  was  a  copious  precipitation  of  moisture  from 
oceanic  evaporation,  that  moisture  fell  as  snow  ;  and  this,  when  consolidate<i,  formed  glaciers 
which  (lowed  by  various  routes  toward  the  sea."  One  solution  of  this  phenomenal  con- 
dition of  things  has  been  found,  sayn  Profefis<:)r  Newberry,  in  the  eccentricity  of  the 
earth's  orbit.  The  suggestion  of  this  explanation  was  first  made  by  Sir  John  Herschel,  but 
it  has  been  subsequently  advocated  by  Professor  James  Croll,  of  Glasgow,  with  so  much  zeal 
that  he  may  almost  be  considered  its  author.  By  careful  determinations  of  eccentricity, 
through  a  period  of  several  millions  of  years.  Professor  Croll  ascertained  that  the  earth  re- 
ceded, at  one  time,  eight  millions  of  miles  farther  from  the  sun  than  it  is  now,  and  that  this 
must  have  caused  the  winter  in  the  northern  hemisphere  to  last  thirtysix  days  longer  than 
the  summer,  the  heat  received  during  the  winter  being  one-fifth  less  than  now.  '*  Hence, 
though  the  summer  was  one-fifth  hotter,  it  was  not  sutficiently  long  to  melt  the  snow  and 
ice  of  winter  ;  and  thus  the  effects  of  the  cold  winter  might  becumulativein  each  hemisphere 
through  what  may  be  called  the  winter  half  of  the  great  year  (of  21,000  years)  produced  by 
the  precessic)n  of  the  equinoxes," — Refxjrt  of  the  GfoU)g\ral  Suri^ey  of  Ohw,  Voiumf  IL 

<».     Geological  Survey  Report,  Volume  II. 

7.  The  Ohio  throughout  its  entire  course  runs  in  a  valley  which  has  been  cut  nowhere 
less  than  ir>0  feet  below  the  present  level  of  the  river.  .  .  .  The  Beaver  at  the  junction  of 
tlie  Mahoning  and  Chenango,  is  flowing  IV)  feet  al)ove  the  bottom  of  its  old  trough,  as  is 
demonstrated  bv  a  large  number  of  oil  wells  bored  in  the  vicinity.  .  .  .  Borings  at 
Toledo  show  that  X\w  old  becl  of  the  Maumee  is  at  least  140  feet  below  its  present  surface 
level. — Profefior  S^'whetry. 

8.  No  other  agent  than  glacial  ire,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  capable  of  excavating  broad, 
cleep,  boat-shaped  basins  like  those  wliich  hold  our  lakes. — Ibid. 

*.♦.  The  forests  and  flowers  south  of  this  margin  [of  glaciated  territory]  were  then  very 
<lifferent  from  those  now  covering  the  area.  From  the  discoveries  of  Professor  Orton  and  others, 
we  infer  that  red  cedar  abounded  over  all  the  southern  part  of  Ohio.  Some  years  ago  a  pail 
factory  was  started  in  the  neighborhood  of  (iranville,  Lickmg  County,  using  as  the  material 
logs  of  red  cedar  which  were  probably  of  preglacial  growth.  There  is  a  record  of  similar 
preglacial  wood,  in  Highland,  Clermont  and  ButlerCounties,  s|H*cimeD8  of  which  can  be  seen 
in  the  cabinet  of  the  State  University.  In  a  few  secluded  glens  opening  into  the  Ohio  River 
above  Madison,  Indiana,  where  the  conditions  are  favorable,  arctic  or  northern  plants,  which, 
upon  the  advance  of  the  glacial  sheet  had  been  driven  southward,  still  remain  to  bear  witness 
of  the  general  prevalence.— /Vo/>*)»or  G.  F.  Writjht  in  the  ArchceMogical  and  Historical  Quar- 
terly, September  y  18S7. 

10.  Professor  J.  S.  Newberry  in  Geological  Survey  Report,  Volume  U. 

11.  Sir  Archibald   (reikie,   Director  General  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  United 

Kingdom. 

12.  Archaeological  and  Historical  Quarterly,  September,  1887. 

13.  Ibid,  December,  1887. 

14.  Ibid.  ^^ 

15.  Sir  Archibald  Geikie. 

ir>.     Daniel  Wilson,  LL.  D.,  Professor  of  History,  University  of  Toronto. 

17.  Atwatt^r's  History  of  Ohio. 

18.  Squier  and  Davis,  in  Smithsonian  Institution  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  Volume 
I,  1847. 

19.  To   What  Ra<*e  Did  the  Mound  Builders  Belong?    A  paper  read  before  the  Congrh 
IniernatioTiftJ  dex  Amt-rieanisteSf  by  General  Manning  F.  Force,  of  Cincinnati. 

20.  Ibid. 

21.  History  of  Franklin  and  Pickaway  Counties;  published  by  Williams  &  Company, 
1880. 

22.  Article  "America,"  by  Charles  Maclaren,    Fellow   of  the   Royal  Society  of  Edin- 
burg,  Knc.  Britannica.  Volume  1. 


The  Prehistoric  Races.  43 


23. 

Squier  and  Davip. 

24. 

Ibid. 

25. 

Force. 

26. 

Colonel  Charles  Whittlesey,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

27. 

Squier  and  Davis. 

28. 

Whittlesey. 

29. 

Squier  and  Davis. 

30. 

Ibid. 

31. 

Ibid. 

32. 

History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico ;  William  H.  Prescott. 

33. 

Squier  and  Davis. 

34. 

Ibid. 

35. 

Ibid. 

36. 

Ibid. 

37. 

Archaeology  of  Ohio  ;  M.  C.  Read. 

38. 

Ibid. 

39. 

Squier  and  Davis. 

40. 

Smithsonian  Contributions. 

41. 

Ibid. 

43. 

In  188(5. 

43. 

Squier  and  Davis. 

44. 

Professor  F.  W.  Putnam  in  the  Century  Magmine  for  April,  1890 

45. 

Smithsonian  Contributions. 

46. 

Century  Magazine. 

47. 

Force. 

48. 

Western  Antiquities,  ISiW. 

49. 

Ibid. 

V 


CHAPTER  III. 


AN<MKNT  KAHTHWORKS  IN  FRANKLIN  COUNTY. 

ItV    .lAMKS    LINN    KO DOERS. 

[James  Linn  Kixlgers  was  born  on  SnllivantV  Hill,  near  Columbus,  September  10,  IStH. 
Ho  received  his  education  in  the  schools  of  Columbus  and  at  the  Ohio  State  University.  His 
chosen  profession  is  that  of  journalism,  in  which  he  has  })een  enga^^ed  during  the  last  dye 
years.  He  is  now,  and  for  some  time  past  hap  been,  Assoi-iate  Editor  of  the  Columhw*  Errning 
Dispatch,] 

The  science  of  geology  huH  demonstrated  that  the  southern  half  of  that  terri- 
tory which  is  now  Ohio  offered  to  agriculture  for  ct'nturios  before  positive  history 
began  a  soil  abounding  in  fertilizing  elements.  The  researches  of  ethnologists 
have  led  to  the  conclusion  that  tiie  mound  builders  were  inclined  to  pastoral  pur- 
suits rather  than  to  war.  Ardueologists  have  obtained  convincing  evidence  that 
these  people  were  also  in  many  ways  artistically  inclined.  Science  and  investiga- 
tion have  therefore  given  us  a  basis  of  fact  upon  which  to  build  the  general  struc- 
ture of  knowledge  of  the  early  conditions  which  surrounded  the  ancient  people  who 
dwelt  in  the  region  about  us.  It  will  not  be  diverging  from  the  line  of  history  to  say 
that  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Muskingum,  the  Scioto  and  the  Miami  were  undoubt- 
edly densely  inhabited  by  the  people  of  that  early  day.  Between  those  valleys 
were  lands  of  promise,  but  along  the  water  courses,  the  Ohio  archaeologist  has  dis- 
covered the  most  general  evidence  of  a  practically  coextensive  population.  Of  the 
traces  of  habitation  which  make  the  Muskiiitrum  and  Miami  valleys  rich  fields  for 
arclueological  exploration,  it  is  not  necessary  to  write  because  antecedent  and  con- 
temporary literature  has  had  much  to  say  concerning  them.  Of  those  of  the  Upper 
Scioto  and  the  small  tributary  valleys  something  may  be  writU'n  that  can  claim  to 
be  new. 

The  alluvial  deposits  loft  by  the  floods  which  for  centuries  unnumbered  swept 
thi'ough  the  central  groove  of  the  southern  half  of  Ohio  made  a  broad  and  continuous 
valley,  from  the  sit«  of  Columbus,  or  a  little  north  of  it,  to  the  Ohio  River.  When 
the  softening  influence  of  time  had  altered  the  aspect  of  the  landscape,  this  valley 
could  well  have  had  great  attractions  for  an  agricultural  people.  That  its  advan- 
tages were  appreciated  can  be  seen  even  at  this  late  day,  for  no  extensive  area  of  the 
Scioto  Valley  exist>^  that  has  not  some  faint  or  pronounced  trace  of  the  works  of 
ancient  humar»  beings.  The  hills  which  overlook  what  was  once  the  broad  Scioto 
bear  evidence  of  the  labor  of  anc'ient  man;  the  level  lands  and  river  terraces  show 
renuiants  of  <»arth  works  and  mounds.  an<l  the  soil  itself  is  the  repository  of  count- 
less relics  whii^h  contriV)ute  their  testimony  to  the  solution  of  the  question  of  the 

[44] 


Ancient  Earthworks  in  F^ranklin  Coitntv.  45 

identity  and  customs  of  their  original  owners.  Therefore  we  know  that  the  Scioto 
country  was  the  chosen  home  of  a  numerous  people.  It  is  of  the  traces  Icfl  by 
these  aborigines  in  this  immediate  vicinity  that  this  chapter  will  treat. 

Anyone  who  has  studied  the  topography  of  Franklin  County  need  not  he  told 
that  the  Scioto  River,  which  is  the  main  channel  of  the  local  watershed,  has  a  com- 
paratively  broad  valley  until  it  passes  Columbus,  going  northward.  The  tribu- 
taries of  the  river  spread  out  like  the  veins  of  a  leaf  as  soon  as  Franklin  County 
is  reached  in  the  journey  up  the  valley,  and  this,  while  furnishing  apparent  proof 
of  the  causes  for  the  greater  width  of  the  valley  to  the  southward,  shows  that  the 
identity  of  the  principal  basin  is  lost  in  this  vicinity.  The  point  known  to  the 
pioneers  as  The  Forks,  forming  the  junction  of  the  Scioto  and  the  Whetstone,  now 
called  Olentangy,  may  be  deemed  as  a  general  terminus  of  the  bottom  land  of  the 
basin.  That  this  fact  had  its  influence  with  the  ancients  is  proven  by  the  further 
fact  that  the  territory  round  about  us  contains  the  last  of  the  distinct  and  numer- 
ous traces  of  the  race  which  inhabited  the  Scioto  Valley,  justifying  the  conclusion 
that  the  ancient  people  stopped  their  northward  Scioto  River  migration  in  Frank- 
lin County,  or  that  they  selected  this  region  as  the  starting  point  of  their  habita- 
tions on  their  southward  retreat.  Consequently  an  inference,  justified  by  all  facts 
and  theories,  would  be  that  while  other  branches  of  the  same  race  penetrated 
farther  north  in  other  valleys  and  spread  over  a  wider  territory,  the  people  of  the 
Scioto  Valley  limited  their  domicile  to  the  Franklin  County  portion  of  the  Scioto 

basin. 

Franklin  ('ounty  was  once  rich  in  the  works  of  the  mound  builders,  an<l  while 

the  specimens  could  hardly  rival  the  great  products  of  the  race  which  have  made 
the  lands  around  Chillicothe  perhaps  the  richest  of  all  fields  of  Ohio  archaBological 
exploration,  they  were  important  enough  to  warrant  early  attention  and  careful 
preservation  in  history,  if  not  in  material  shape.  Fifty  years  ago  accurate  descrip- 
tions of  these  works  could  have  been  had ;  to-day  much  time  must  be  spent  in  re- 
search and  investigation  to  make  possible  even  a  fragmentary  account  of  their 
existence.  The  pioneers  were  too  busy  in  establishing  their  homes  to  give  much 
attention  to  the  vestiges  of  an  unknown  race;  and  their  later  successors,  although 
possessed  of  more  leisure,  regarded  such  piles  of  earth  as  fit  objects  for  the  subdu- 
ing influence  of  the  plow.  Engineers  of  public  roads  and  canals  respected  no  such 
impediments  reared  by  ancients,  and  cut  through  or  leveled  them  for  the  gravel 
they  contained.  Later  realists  and  men  of  practice,  not  theory,  have  nearly  com- 
pleted the  work  of  destruction,  and  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  in  a  county  which 
once  had  nearly  a  hundred  of  the  distinct  and  well-defined  productions  of  ancient 
labor,  there  remain  but  few  which  have  been  spared  in  their  original  form.  This 
fact  has  rendered  a  complete  catalogue  of  these  works  an  impossibility,  and  has  so 
seriously  interfered  with  the  task  of  collecting  historical  and  descriptive  data  that 
this  chapter  must  be  given  with  a  frank  acknowledgment  of  its  deficiencies.  It 
may  also  be  said  that  the  partial  destruction  of  the  earthworks  and  tumuli  has 
resulted  in  such  a  chaos  of  reports  and  theories  that  a  perfect  classification  of  the 
works  is  now  hopeless.  The  mounds  that  have  been  explored  by  inexperienced 
persons  received  none  of  the  careful  scrutiny  now  accorded  to  similar  works  by 
competent  field  archseologists,  and  therefore  accurate  accounts  of  the  discoveries 
made,  and  Bcientific  identification  of  the  relics,  are  lacking  and  will  never  appear. 


46 


History  op  tiik  City  of  Columri's. 


For  this  reason,  principally,  the  fitateiiioiits  made  here  must  be  restricted  to  bare 
detail  in  the  majority  of  instances. 


TIIK    KARTilW(»KKS. 


In  all  discussions  of  tho^c  remains,  precedence  is  given  to  the  en<*Iosures  which 
s<*em  to  have  coml>ined  the  mysterious  functions  of  fortifications  and  places  of 
worship.  Ln  deference  Ut  the  established  rule,  which  is  doubtless  correct  in  theory, 
the  peculiar  work  near  Worthin^lon  will  tirst  receive  attention. 

In  Squicr  and  Davis's  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  published 
as  volume  one  of  the  Smithsonian  Contrihutions  to  Knowledge,  is  found  a  descrip- 
tion of  this  Worthington  work  as  it  appeared   over  titty  yeai*s  ago,  when    it  was 


\s/onrnf  scroti     WoMk* 


CUctf 


surveyed  and  delineated  hy  Colonel  ('harles  Whittlesey.  Time  has  changed  it 
much  since  then,  but  the  following  extract  from  Colonel  VVhittlesev's  account  is 
worthy  of  repetition  : 

This  work  occurs  on  the  banks  of  OlentauKy  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Scioto  River,  about 
one  mile  west  of  the  town  of  Worthinj^on,  Franklin  County,  Ohio  The  plateau  upon  the 
e<ljre  of  which  it  is  situated,  is  elevated  a])out  fifty  feet  above  the  bottoms  of  the  Olentangv, 
and  consists  of  a  clayey  soil  rest  in  jr  upon  the  black  shale  formation  of  Ohio.  The  work  is 
rectangular  in  form ;  its  sides  correspond  very  nearly  with  the  cardinal  points  (varying  but 
five  degrees)  and  measure  six  hundred  and  tliirty  and  live  hundred  and  fifty  feet  respectivelv. 
The  walls  are  accompanie*!  by  a  ditch,  and  are  very  slight,  tliough  distinctly  traceable. 
In  the  line  of  the  southern  wall  is  a  largo  truncatetl  mound,  twenty  feet  in  height  and  measur- 
ing one  hundred  and  ninety-two  feet  in  <iiani<*ter  at  the  base,  and  seventy-six  feet  in  diameter 


Ancient  Earthworks  in  Franklin  County.  47 

at  the  summit.  It  is  covered  with  large  trees.  The  wall  that  leads  from  this  mound  to  the 
left,  is  placed  a  little  further  outwards  than  that  leading  to  the  right.  The  mound  in  the 
centre  of  the  enclosure  is  small  and  low.  Near  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  work  is  a 
small  circle  with  an  interior  ditch  and  single  entrance ;  it  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in 
diameter.  Some  distance  to  the  northwest  of  the  enclosure,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  a 
deep  ravine,  is  another  small  circle,  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  in  diameter,  with  three 
entrances. 

A  plan  of  thiH  work,  reproduced  from  the  drawing  of  Colonel  Whittlesey  as  it 
appears  in  Squierand  Davis's  report,  is  herewith  presented. 

A  short  distance  south  of  Worthington,  on  the  Cook  farm,  are  some  remnants 
of  an  embankment  and  accompanying  mounds.  These  are  on  an  elevated  spur  at 
the  junction  of  two  small  rivulets,  or  more  properly  speaking,  dry  ravines  as  they 
now  are.  The  embankment,  which  in  part  follows  the  brow  of  one  ravine,  is  nearly 
circular  with  an  interior  ditch,  and  tiie  walls  are  but  a  few  feet  high.  Two 
mounds,  now  very  small,  but  originally  conical  in  shape  and  about  ten  feet  high, 
are  in  the  enclosure.  One  mile  southeast  of  this  work,  on  the  farm  of  Amazon 
Web-iter,  and  near  the  tracks  of  the  C.  C.  C.  &  St.  L.  Railway,  is  an  earth  circle 
about  thirty  feet  in  diameter  with  slight  walls.  Another  embankment  of  an  irregu- 
lar course  is  located  about  twenty  rods  west  of  the  circle. 

In  Williams's  History  of  Franklin  and  Pickaway  Counties  is  a  description  of 
some  remains  of  earthworks  which  occur  near  Dublin  in  this  county.  As  these 
works  exist  in  a  much  damaged  state,  the  observations  made  a  good  many  years 
ago  are  valuable  and  are  here  quoted : 

"On  the  banks  of  the  Scioto  River,  in  Perry  Township,"  the  Williams  History 
says,  "are  remains  of  ancient  works  which  have  the  appearance  of  fortification 
and  were  undoubtedly  used  as  such  by  some  earlier  inhabitants  of  this  county,  of 
whom  all  trace,  further  than  these  forts  and  mounds,  is  lost.  On  the  farm  of 
Joseph  Ferris,  a  mile  north  of  Dublin  Bridge,  are  to  be  seen  in  a  good  state  of  preser- 
vation, the  outlines  and  embankments  of  three  forts.  One  of  these  is  within  a  few 
feet  of  his  house  and  is  perhaps  eighty  feet  in  diameter  inside,  with  an  entrance  at 
the  east  side.  The  ditch  and  embankment  are  well  defined.  A  short  distance 
northeast  of  this  spot,  and  within  arrow  shot  of  it,  is  a  large  fort  in  a  square  form, 
and  enclosing  nearly,  or  quite,  half  an  acre  of  ground.  Although  the  tramping  of 
cattle  for  many  years  has  worn  down  the  embankments,  they  are  several  feet  high 
and  the  ditch,  which  is  inside  the  works,  is  now  some  six  feet  deep.  When  the 
country  was  first  settled  this  ditch  was  filled  with  water,  and  was  a  bed  of  mire,  a 
pole  thrust  into  the  ground  to  a  depth  often  feet  finding  no  solid  ground  beneath. 
This  would  tend  to  show  that  originally  this  was  a  strong  place  and  that  the  ditch 
was  quite  deep.  Time  has  filled  it  with  dead  leaves,  and  refuse  matter  has  assisted 
in  obliterating  this  work.  It  is  situated  on  a  hill  that  commands  a  wide  view  of 
the  country  for  a  considerable  distance  in  either  direction.  At  a  little  lower 
point,  and  nearer  the  river,  is  a  small  mound.  There  was  also  a  small  mound  in 
the  centre  of  the  larger  fort,  which  was  opened  many  years  since,  and  was  found 
to  contain  the  bones  of  a  large  man.  These  crumbled  in  pieces  soon  after  being 
exp9Bed  to  the  air.  It  is  possible  that  by  uncovering  the  ditch  of  this  fort  some 
relics  of  the  extinct  race  that  built  these  works  might  be  obtained.  Search  of  this 
kind  has  generally  been  turned  to  the  mound,  instead  of  the  inner  ditches  of  the 


4S  IlisT<»RY  or  THE  City  of   (\uj'MBrs. 

fori,  whuro  probably  wan  the  bubiUition  of  tbe  biiildera.  A  Hhort  distance  from 
this  larger  fort  in  a  smaller  one  than  that  first  deHcribed.  There  have  been  Heveral 
old  works  of  thiH  kind  along  the  bankH  of  the  river  between  these  works  and 
ColiinibuM.  bnl  they  are  mostly  oblileratA^d  by  tho  cultivation  of  the  land  on  which 
they  stood." 

In  this  rather  cxtt'ndtMi  di'scription,  whi<-h  has  been  ipioted  verbatim,  there  is 
much  to  interest  the  general  reader  besides  the  theories  with  which  man}'  have 
studied  these  ancient  works  will  not  agree.  The  Dublin  works  can  be  seen  to  be 
somewhat  similar  to  those  opposite  Worthington.  In  each  is  displayed  the  appre- 
ciation  of  the  builders  for  a  strong  natural  position.  In  reference  to  the  statement 
that  other  works  were  located  farther  south  along  the  Scioto,  it  can  be  said  that  it 
is  more  than  probable  that  there  were  remains  of  this  character,  but  if  such  was  the 
fact  a  diligent  search  has  faile<l  to  disclose  their  sites.  It  should  be  remembered, 
however,  that  ten  years  of  cultivation  of  the  land  will  do  more  to  destroy  such 
earthworks  than  hundre<ls  of  yeai*s  of  natural  decay,  and  inasmuch  as  that  |K)rtion 
of  the  Scioto  ]>lateau  has  been  plowed  and  harrowed  for  nearly  seventj*  years,  it  is 
not  strange  that  the  traces  of  circles  or  fortifications  have  not  survived. 

.\nother  extract  from  (Njlonel  Whittlesey's  paper  reads :  "Along  Big  Darbv 
Creek,  in  the  western  part  of  Brown  Township,  there  existed  man}^  evidences  of 
that  mysterious  ])eople  of  whom  so  much  has  been  written  and  so  little  known. 
On  the  farm  of  Henry  Francis  there  is  yet  remaining  an  extc»n.sive  mound,  and 
tow-ards  the  creek  were  numerous  others  which  have  now  <Hsappeare<l.  These  weiv 
evidently  tumuli,  or  burial  places,  as  many  human  bones  were  found  during  the 
excavation  of  these  works.  There  was  also  an  enclosure,  or  fort,  on  the  farm  of 
11.  r.  Adler,  Esq.,  with  two  circles,  enclosing  perhaps  one  half  an  acre  of  ground.  Its 
location  was  upon  the  high  bank  of  the  creek,  toward  which  was  the  usual  opening 
found  in  works  of  this  kind.  It  was  compri.»4ed  of  gravel  which  has  been  removed 
for  building  and  other  purposes.  Human  bones  were  also  found  here.  It  is 
highly  probable  that  this  was  a  favorite  camping  ground  for  the  Indians,  as  stone 
hatchets,  arrow  points,  skinning  knives,  etc.,  were  found  here  in  great  numbers  by 
the  settlers."  These  remains  are  the  only  ones  yet  discovered  in  the  northwestern 
part  of  the  county. 

In  the  valuable  contribution  of  Colonel  Whittlesey  to  the  publications  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  contained  ii»  Volume  III.,  there  is  a  description  of  ancient 
works  on  the  llarrisburg  Road,  about  three  miles  southwest  of  Columbus.  "These 
structures,"  wrote  Colonel  Whittlesey,  *'are  simply  circles  or  figures  approaching 
to  circles  with  occasional  irregularities.  There  is  a  difference  offiftyfeetin  the 
diameters  of  the  larger  ones  and  the  outline  bends  each  way  from  the  curve  of  a 
true  circle  a  few  feet,  making  short  straight  portions  not  capable  of  representation 
on  our  scale.  The  ditches  are  at  present  very  slight  and  not  uniform  in  depth  or 
breadth.  From  the  top  of  the  bank  to  the  bottom  of  the  ditch,  the  difference  in  no 
place  exceeds  two  an<l  a  half  feet.  On  all  sides,  for  miles,  is  a  low,  clayey  plain  in- 
clined to  be  wet,  with  very  slight  undulation.  This  is  the  only  remarkable  fact 
connected  with  this  work.  Its  ditch  being  external  and  its  openings  narrow  indi- 
cates a  work  of  defense,  and  if  it  wore  known  that  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the 
Scioto  Valley  used  palisa<les,  we  might  safely  conclude  this  to  be  a  place  of  defense, 
relying  solely  upon  artificial  strength.     There  is  no  running  water  in  the  vicinity." 


Ancient  Earthworks  in  Franklin  County.  49 

These  circular  works,  according  to  the  same  authority,  were  about  eight  hundred 
and  five  hundred  feet  in  diameter.  At  this  time  little  if  any  trace  remains  to  at- 
tract the  inexperienced  eye. 

Upon  insufficient  authority  it  has  been  stated  that  remnants  of  earthworks, 
suppose(i  to  be  ancient  forts,  existed  on  the  second  eastern  terrace  of  the  Scioto 
River,  about  two  and  a  half  to  three  miles  south  and  southeast  of  Columbus.  No 
such  traces,  faint  or  otherwise,  are  now  to  be  found.  Not  only  have  the  socalled 
earthworks  vanished,  but  all  recollection  of  them  has  faded  from  the  minds  of  men 
who  can  remember  when  agricultural  labor  was  new  in  the  Scioto  Valley.  The 
most  easterly  and  southerly  work  was  said  to  have  been  situated  on  the  level,  mid- 
way between  Alum  Creek  and  the  Scioto.  The  others  were  assigned  to  a  situation 
directly  south  of  the  city,  on  the  brow  of  the  terrace.  It  is  more  than  doubtful 
whether  those  small  enclosures  ever  existed,  and  the  strong  ])robabilit3'  is  that 
some  low  mounds,  perhaps  surrounded  by  the  ditch  and  embankment,  slight  in 
form,  were  accepted  as  places  of  defense  and  called  "forts"  in  lieu  ol"  a  better 
name.  ^ 

On  the  farm  of  Absalom  Borror,  one  mile  south  of  vShadeville,  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Scioto,  is  a  circular  embankment  with  low  but  very  distinct  walls.  The 
diameter  is  about  one  hundred  feet.  It  is  situated  on  the  level  near  the  river  and 
at  the  opening  of  a  large  ravine  which  extends  towards  the  west.  There  are  no 
accompanying  evidences  of  ancient  w^ork. 

About  ten  miles  southeast  of  Columbus,  on  the  second  terrace  of  Big  Walnut 
Creek  and  midway  between  that  stream  and  the  eastern  line  of  the  county,  there 
is  to  be  found  on  the  farm  of  Thomas  Patterson  a  nearl}"  obliterated  embankment, 
which  is  now  beyond  satisfactor}'^  measurement.  A  similar  embankment  or  enclos- 
ure is  found  on  Noah  Leahman's  place,  on  George  Creek,  a  mile  southeast  of  the 
Patterson  remnant.  It  is  partly  in  the  woods,  and,  from  the  distinct  trace  there, 
is  supposed  to  have  been  circular,  or  approximately  so. 

The  late  Joseph  Sullivant,  of  Columbus,  who  took  a  great  interest  in  these 
ancient  works,  said  that  parallel  lines  of  embankment  existed  near  the  old  site  of 
Franklinton,  now  enlarged  into  West  Colwnbus.  These  works  cannot  now  be  dis- 
covered ;  they  vanished  with  the  coming  of  the  pioneers. 

Besides  these  well  authenticated  works  in  Franklin  Count}^  there  are  two 
which  have  often  been  credited  to  Franklin,  but  which  really  belong  to  Delaware 
and  Pickaway  Counties.  The  first  of  these  is  situated  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Whetstone,  four  and  a  half  miles  above  Worthington.  The  artificial  defenses  con- 
sist simply  of  an  embankment  of  earth,  three  feet  in  height,  with  an  exterior  ditch 
of  corresponding  depth.  This  embankment,  which  formed  the  arc  of  a  circle, 
when  combined  with  the  high  blufi*  of  the  creek  and  the  two  ravines  leading  east- 
ward, made  a  place  of  strong  defensive  advantages.  The  Pickaway  County  work 
is  situated  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Scioto  River,  some  distance  south  of  the 
Franklin  County  line.  Colonel  Whittlese}^  said  of  it:  "The  ditches  are  here 
interior  to  the  walls,  which  circumstance  is  averse  to  the  idea  of  a  defensive  orit^in. 
The  situation,  however,  with  a  steep  bank  and  deep  water  on  one  side,  and  deep 
ravines  with  precipitous  banks  on  the  othei's,  is  one  of  great  natural  strength  and 
adaptation  lor  defense." 


HlHTORY    OK   THR   CiTT   nr   COLtTHBOH. 


Ancient  Earthworks  in  Franklin  County.  51 

A  circular  work  about  one  mile  west  of  Alum  Creek,  and  ^ve  miles  distant 
from  Columbus,  near  the  Westerville  Road,  has  been  called  an  "ancient  fort,"  but 
its  authenticity  as  a  product  of  the  moundbuilding  race  has  been  seriously  ques- 
tioned on  account  of  a  tradition  that  the  embankment  was  the  base  of  a  stockade 
constructed  by  General  Harrison's  Indian-fighting  force  in  1812.  Some  old  settlers 
declare  that  the  stockade  was  garrisoned  for  some  time,  and  that  the  slight  em- 
bankment is  the  only  remaining  vestige  of  that  work.  How  true  this  may  be 
cannot  now  be  definitely  ascertained,  but  the  weight  of  opinion  inclines  to  the 
theory  that  the  circle  is  of  ancient  origin,  because  if  a  stockade  had  been  a  feature 
of  the  embankment,  some  trace  of  it  would  have  been  left,  whereas  there  is  none. 
Moreover,  no  mention  is  made  in  history  of  an  outpost  established  by  General 
Harrison  so  near  to  Franklinton.  At  any  rate,  whoever  may  have  built  the  cir- 
cular work,  it  possesses  little  that  can  attract  attention.  It  is  small  and  isolated, 
and  there  are  no  mounds  near  it. 

At  some  remote  period  there  may  have  been  other  earthworks  along  the  high- 
lands bordering  the  various  watercourses  of  Franklin  County,  but  at  this  time  no 
record  or  knowledge  of  them  seems  to  be  extant.  If  probabilities  are  to  be  con- 
sulted, it  may  be  said  that  from  the  location  of  several  mounds  along  the  valleys 
of  Big  Walnut,  Rocky  Fork  and  Black  Lick  Creeks  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the 
county,  it  could  be  imagined  that  some  earthworks  existed  there,  if  not  for  defen- 
sive purposes  perhaps  for  sacred  observances.  But  since  other  more  thickly  settled 
portions  of  the  county  are  barren  of  these  works,  the  theory  fails  unless  other 
embankments  and  the  like  are  discovered.  It  can  be  stated,  therefore,  that  as  far 
as  known  the  works  above  described  constitute  the  onl}'  authentic  and  easily 
recognized  remains  of  the  kind  in  this  immediate  vicinity. 

That  Franklin  County,  especially  the  portions  of  it  contiguous  to  the  Scioto 
River  and  extending  eastward  along  its  tributaries,  had  once  many  specimens  of 
ancient  mounds  of  nearly  all  classes  and  sizes,  can  be  perceived  even  at  this  time. 
Although  the  present  generation,  and  its  predecessors,  of  our  people  have  shown 
little  respect  for  these  interestin*^  works,  a  sufficient  number  of  mounds  exist,  in 
whole  or  in  purt,  to  prove  that  we  now  dwell  in  what  was  once  a  district  thickly 
settled  by  the  moundbuilding  race.  This  is  proven  not  on\y  by  many  visible  ves- 
tiges, but  also  by  numerous  tra^litions  relating  to  ancient  works  which  have  been 
obliterated.  The  heedless  destruction  of  these  works  has  made  it  difficult  to 
ascertain  where  they  were  situated,  and  the  ill-treatment  accorded  to  those 
remaining  has  necessitated  conjectural  descriptions  to  some  extent.  But  with  the 
assistance  of  old  county  maps,  the  recollections  of  citizens  who  may  now  be 
called  pioneers,  the  notes^  of  the  earlier  observers,  and  personal  investigations 
during  many  days  ol  rambling  over  the  country  in  Franklin  County,  a  compara- 
tively accurate  record  of  the  mounds  it  now  contains  has  been  obtained. 

One  of  the  most  pretentious  mounds  of  the  county  was  that  which  formerly 
occupied  the  crowning  point  of  the  highland  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Scioto 
River  at  the  spot  where  now  rises  St.  Paul's  Lutheran  Church  and  adjoining  build- 
ings, on  the  southeast  corner  of  High  and  Mound  Streets,  in  Columbus.  Not  a 
trace  of  this  work  is  left,  save  the  terraces  of  the  church,  although  if  it  were  yet 
standing  as  it  stood  a  century  ago  it  would  be  remarked  as  one  of  the  most  impos- 
ing monuments  of  the  original  Scioto  race.     When  the  first  settlers  came  it  was 


iVi  History  ov  the  City  of  CoLrMurs. 

regarded  as  a  wonder,  and  yet  it  was  not  8pare<l.     The  ex])ansion   of   the  city  de- 
manded   its   demolition,  and  therefore  this  grand   relic  of  Ohio's  antiquity   was 
swept  away.     From  the  best  intbrmation*  to  be  had  at  this  time  this  mound  must 
have  bt'en  quit43  forly  feet  in  height  a!>ove  the  natural  surface  of  the  river  terrace 
or  blutr      It  is  said  to  have  been  a  shapely  and  graceful  structure,  with  gradual 
slopes  in  all  directions  save  t^)  the  southward,  where  the  declination  was  somewhat 
abrupt.     Standing  as  it  did  at  the  very  crest  of  a  natural  shoulder  of  the  highland, 
it  must  have  been  a  giant  among  mounds.     As  was  usual  with  such  works,  it  was 
in  the  tbrm  of  a  truncated  cone,  and  if  wc  accept  its  reported  height,  its  diameter 
on  the  level  surface  at  the  top  was  certainly  one  hundred  or   more  feet.     Its  base 
diameter  cannot  be  estimated  accurately,  but   was  ])robal)ly  not  less  than  three 
hundred  feet.     That  its  proportions  were  ample  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  a  large 
double  frame  house  stood  on  its  summit.     Doctor  Young,  who  erected  this  build- 
ing, was  in  later  years  succeeded  in  its  occupancy  by  several  well-known  families 
of  the  town.     Oak  trees  three  feet  in  diameter  grew  upon  the  mound  in  those 
days,  and  it  is  stated  that  five  large  locust  trees  were  rooted  in  the  level  surface  on 
its  summit.     Such   was  the  condition  of  the  work  up  to  the  time  when  the  city's 
streets  encroached  upon  its  slopes.     When  its  destruction  began,  two  forces  of  ex- 
cavators pushed  into  it  from   north  and  south  until  they  met,  and  High  Street 
became  continuous  in  a  straight  line.     The  outer  covering  of  the  mound  consisted 
ol  hard  clay  followe(f  successively  and  regularly'  down  to  the  base  b}'  stratifica- 
tions of  gravel  and  sand,  much  of  which  now  ibrms  the  bed  of  some  of  the  princi- 
pal   streets   of  that    neighborhood.     While  the  excavation    was  going  on   man\* 
human  bones  were  unearthed   which   crumbled  to  dust  as  soon  as  exposed  to  the 
air,  but  were  probabl}'  not  remains  of  the  moundbuilding  race.     Inasmuch  as  the 
Indians  buried  their  dead  in  the  upper  ])ortions  of  these  mounds,  it  is  rcASonahle  to 
assume  that  these  bones  belonged  to  the  re<l  men.     All  who  remember  the  opening 
of  this  mound  have  a  mite  of  information   to  add  Uy  the  story  of  its  demolition. 
One  says  ''utensils'  of  various  kinds  were  found ;  another  that  **  trinkets  "  were 
discovered  ;  a  third,  that  the  father  of  the  late  William  Piatt  found  a  skull  so  large 
that  it  would  go  over  his  head  ;  a  fourth  that  a  silver  buckle  was  turned  up  by  the 
spade,  and  so  on.     But  none  of  these  statements  can  now  be  verified  by  the  identi- 
fication of  the  articles  taken  from  the  mound,  every  trace  of  them  having  been  lost. 
Tt  is  therefore  safest  to  assume  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  silver  buckle  report- 
ed, the  finds  are  to  be  classed  as  relics  of  uncertain  origin  and  doubtful  antiquity. 
The  buckle  was  probably  the  treasured  possession  of  some  Indian  who  had  been  in 
commercial  relations  with   the  French   or  English  at  Montreal,  or  their  emissaries 
in  the  wilderness. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  story  of  the  High  Street  mound  that  its  value  as  a 
meansof  unlocking  the  secrets  of  its  builders  was  completely  lost.  If  it  was  reared 
over  the  treasures  of  a  tribe  or  the  bones  of  its  dead,  the  excavators  did  not  go 
deepenoni^h  to  discover  them,  and  they  may  still  lie  beneath  the  massive  church,  or 
its  adjuncts.  This  theory  has  often  been  advanced,  but  putting  iiside  such  con- 
jectures, attention  may  be  given  to  another  possible  purpose  of  this  work.  For 
many  centuries  the  great  earth -pile  rose  above  the  primeval  forest  of  the  river 
terrace.  The  natural  elevation  is  such  that  when  artificially  increased  forty  feet, 
an  extensive  view  of  the  upper  Scioto  Valley  was  ol»taine<i.and  this  has  led  to  the  gen- 


Ancient  Earthworks  in  Franklin  County.  53 

eral  belief  that  the  mound  was  a  prominent  signal  station  from  which  communication 
by  beacon-light  could  be  had  with  distant  points  in  the  valley.  The  facts  which 
support  this  theory  will  develop  as  other  mounds  in  this  vicinity  are  mentioned. 

It  has  been  maintained  by  intelligent  persons  who  have  studied  this  subject,  and 
particularly  by  the  late  Joseph  Sullivant,  that  upon  the  bottom  lands  near  the 
junction  of  the  Scioto  and  the  Whetstone,  were  several  well-defined  specimens  of 
mounds  of  which  the  pioneers  availed  themselves  when  they  needed  earth  or 
gravel.  One  of  these  is  said  to  have  been  situated  in  the  central  part  of  Franklin- 
ton ;  another  where  the  Ohio  Penitentiary  now  stands,  and  several  smaller  ones 
immediately  south  of  these  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  Not  a  vestige  or  even  a 
record  of  these  works  remains. 

The  next  mentionable  mound  stands  on  high  lands  which  forms  the  terrace  of 
the  Scioto,  about  two  and  a  half  miles  northwest  of  the  State  Capitol.  It  is  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  river,  and  in  such  a  favorable  location  that  from  its  summit  the 
whole  southward  sweep  of  bottom  lands  may  be  seen.  It  may  have  been  due  to 
this  fact  that  local  tradition  has  assigned  to  this  mound  the  purpose  of  marking  the 
head  of  the  valley  together  with  that  of  serving  as  a  station  for  one  of  a  chain  of 
signals.  Of  all  the  mounds  in  Franklin  County  this  is  the  best  preserved.  The 
owntTS  of  the  land  on  which  it  stands  have  jealously  guarded  it,  and  to-day  it 
exists  in  a  state  as  nearly  perfect  as  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  fret  of  the  elements 
will  permit.  A  symmetrical  truncated  cone,  graced  with  trees  of  modern  growth, 
it  is  and  may  always  be  an  inviting  mystery.  It  is  twentyone  feet  in  height,  one 
hundred  and  eleven  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base,  and  fift}'  feet  in  diameter  at  the 
summit.  Its  present  owner,  Mr.  William  A.  Pope,  takes  great  pride  in  it,  en- 
courages nature  in  covering  its  surface  every  season  with  a  beautiful  sod  and  care- 
fully preserves  it  from  any  kind  of  injury.  Concerning  this  work  Mr.  Pope 
recently  gave  the  writer  some  interesting  information.  In  planting  a  tree  at  a  due 
east  point  on  its  circumference,  he  discovered  several  large  stones,  which,  with 
mufch  regularity,  were  set  at  nearly  a  right  angle  from  the  slope,  and  adjacent  to 
this  curbing  was  a  mass  of  hard  burned  clay.  At  another  time,  when  digging  a 
hole  for  a  flagstji if  which  now  rises  from  the  summit  of  the  mound,  he  noticed  that 
the  stratification  was  clearly  defined,  and,  at  a  depth  of  about  three  feet,  clay  con- 
taining charred  wood  was  reached.  This  is  the  extent  of  the  exploration  of  the 
work  yet  made,  but  from  these  discoveries  it  may  reasonably  be  inferred  that 
extremely  interesting  revelations  await  further  investigation.  The  portion  of 
curbing  unearthed  would  indicate  that  the  mound  has  a  continuous  base  protection 
of  that  kind,  and  the  burned  clay  discovered  may  be  part  of  one  of  the  sacrificial 
altars  so  common  to  these  works.  The  antiquity  of  this  mound  is  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  several  years  ago  Mr.  Pope  dug  out  of  it  stumps  of  black  walnut  trees 
three  feet  in  diameter. 

On  the  second  terrace  of  the  river,  a  short  distance  north  of  the  mound  last 
described,  is  a  smaller  one  which  was  recently  explored  by  Mr.  Pope.  In  it  were 
found  five  skeletons  which  were  undoubtedly  of  the  later  Indians.  They  were 
placed  in  a  sitting  posture,  and  were  above  the  original  level,  a  fact  which  disposes 
of  any  theory  that  they  were  remains  of  the  ancient  race.  As  the  excavation  was 
not  complete,  more  important  developments  may  reward  a  careful  investigation. 
The  mound  was  originally  about  ten  foot  in  height,  and  possibly  sixty  five  feet  in 
diameter  at  the  base. 


54  History  ok  thr  City  of  roi.TiMBrs. 

Northwest  of  these  moun<l8,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  locality  which  for  nearly  a  century  haw  been  designated  by  the 
rather  inisleadin^r  name  of  '*  Marble  Cliff/'  is  a  mound  of  about  fifteen  feet  in 
height  and  eighty  feet  base  diameter,  ft  is  on  the  Shrumm  farm,  and  quite  near 
the  Dublin  Pike,  Although  much  overgrown  with  bru«<h  and  trees,  it  is  in  a  fair 
state  of  preservation,  and  has  never  been  explored.  The  location  is  such  as  to 
justify  the  assumption  that  it  could  well  have  been  utilized  as  a  signal  station. 

About  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  the  work  just  mentioned,  and  on  the  same 
side  of  the  river,  are  said  to  exist  the  cultivated  remnants  of  two  once  pretentious 
mounds.  The  writer  has  not  been  able  to  locate  these  works  and  must  therefore 
accept,  on  seemingly  good  authority,  the  assurance  of  their  existence. 

The  mounds  near  Dublin  have  already  been  described  in  connection  with  the 
circles.  These,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained!,  conclude  the  list  of  mounds  on  the 
west  side  of  the  river.  To  the  Pope  Mound  and  its  neighbor  on  the  east  side  can 
be  added  the  record  of  two  remnant*  of  ancient  works,  now  nearly  plowed 
away,  on  the  Legg  land,  one  mile  north  of  Marble  Cliff,  and  of  another  on  the 
Davis  farm,  five  miles  north  of  the  works  last  named.  The  Davis  Mound  stands 
on  clear  ground  which  has  been  cultivated  for  half  a  century,  and  is  therefore 
much  damaged.  Its  original  dimensions  probably  measure<l  fifteen  feet  in  height 
and  one  hundred  feet  in  base  diameter.  These  are  all  the  mounds  of  the  most 
northerly  Scioto  group.  Those  of  the  Worthington  work,  and  the  ones  attached  to 
the  embankment  on  the  Cook  farm  have  already  been  referred  to,  but  concerning 
the  first  named  some  additional  information  can  be  given.  The  large  mound 
which  interrupts  the  southern  wall  of  the  enclosure  remained  untouched  by  ex- 
plorers for  a  long  time,  but  early  in  the  autumn  of  18(16,  it  was  partially  investi- 
gated by  Mr.  William  McK.  Heath,  of  Worthington,  who,  after  much  difficulty, 
obtained  permission  from  the  Vining  family,  who  owned  the  land  on  which  the 
works  are  situated,  to  explore  these  mounds  and  circles.  From  the  Ohio  State  Jour- 
nal of  October  1,  1866,  the  following  account  of  the  exploration  is  taken: 

Mr.  Heath  ran  a  tunnel  from  eastward  to  centre,  and  sank  a  shaft  from  the  top  intersect- 
injj  the  tunnel,  developing  hundreds  of  tine  beads,  ashes,  charroal,  etc.,  fragments  of  antique 
pottery,  and  remains  of  two  skeletons,  much  decayed  of  course,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by 
multitudinons  layers  and  carvings  of  wood  now  decayed.  The  positions  of  the  skeletons 
were  nearly  east  and  west.  Mr.  Heath  was  prevented  from  pushing  his  explorations  further 
on  account  of  want  of  time.    He  is  confident  that  interesting  developments  await  the  explorer. 

This  account  is  introduced  here  because  it  has  a  decided  bearing  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  classification  of  other  mounds  in  Franklin  County.  In  Koss  County,  whore 
such  mounds  abound,  explorers  have  had  almost  the  same  results  as  those  obtained 
bj'  Mr.  Heath.  The  same  traces  of  fire,  the  beads  and  shells,  the  pottery  and  the 
human  bones  covered  with  vegetable  mold,  have  been  found  in  the  more  southern 
mounds.  The  evidence  is  therelbre  practically  conclusive  that  the  customs  of  the 
ancients  who  inhabited  Franklifi  County  territory  w^ero  identical  with  those  of  the 
race  which  dwelt  in  other  counties  of  the  Scioto  Valley.  It  may  further  be  re- 
marked that  Mr.  Heath  probably  discovered  all  the  articles  of  any  consequence  in 
the  mound  which  he  explored.  From  the  fact,  clearly  established  by  manj'  ex- 
plorations, that  the  altar  in  this  class  of  mounds  was  usually  in  the  line  of  the 
axis  of  the  cone,  or,  if  the  mound  was  elliptical,  then   near  its  center,  and  on  the 


Ancient  Earthworks  in  Franklin  County.  55 

original  surface  of  the  ground,  we  may  reasonably  infer  that  Mr.  Heath  exhausted 
the  secrets  of  this  work.  So  far  as  known  no  attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  ex- 
plore the  small  mound  in  the  center  of  the  enclosure. 

Along  the  Whetstone  is  found  a  series  of  small  mounds,  one  of  which,  on  the 
Kenney  farm,  east  side  of  the  river,  was  originally  fifteen  feet  high  and  seventy- 
five  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base  but  is  now  nearly  extinct.  It  occupies  a  site  on 
an  elevated  terrace  from  which  a  wide  view  of  the  bottom  lands  can  be  obtained. 
On  the  Coe  farm,  on  the  west  side,  is  the  remnant  of  another  work  which  originally 
was  ten  feet  in  height  and  nearly  seventy  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base.  One  mile 
north  stands  another  which  once  may  have  been  a  distinct  feature  of  the  landscape, 
but  is  now  of  greatly  diminished  size.  With  the  additional  mention  of  a  cache  on 
the  Wetmore  land,  a  short  distance  south  of  Worthington,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
field  of  the  Whetstone  has  been  exhausted.  This  statement,  however,  depends 
upon  the  identity  of  the  field  to  which  some  of  the  mounds  situated  immediately 
northeast  of  Worthington  are  assigned.  The  first  of  these  is  on  the  farm  of  G.  J. 
White,  one  mile  and  a  quarter  north  of  Worthington  and  near  a  small  run  called 
the  "Narrows."  North  of  that,  about  half  a  mile,  and  within  view  from  the 
C.  C.  C.  &  St.  L.  Eailway,  stands  a  mound  which  was  originally  about  twelve  feet  in 
height  and  seventy  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base.  The  first  named  is  much  smaller. 
Both  have  been  considerably  damaged  by  the  cultivation  of  the  land. 

In  going  toward  the  northern  central  part  of  the  county,  we  observe  the  first 
of  the  most  northerly  mounds  on  Alum  Creek.  It  is  situated  on  the  Samuel  farm, 
one  mile  west  of  Alum  Creek,  on  the  high  land  near  the  Westerville  road.  It  has 
been  greatly  reduced  by  the  plow,  and  no  estimate  of  its  original  size  can  be  made 
at  this  time. 

Six  miles,  or  thereabouts,  to  the  southward  from  this  work  stands  a  mound 
occupying  the  high  lands  west  of  the  creek.  Its  dimensions  are  small.  Remains 
of  a  small  mound  once  existed  on  the  old  Buttles  farm  two  thirds  of  a  mile  west  of 
the  creek,  and  about  two  and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  the  geographical  center  of 
Columbus.  The  traces  of  this  work  are  now  so  slight  that  they  admit  of  no  de- 
scription, brief  or  otherwise. 

Until  the  last  ^ve  years,  a  mound  of  fifteen  feet  in  height  and  of  a  diameter  of 
seventyfive  feet  at  the  base,  stood  on  the  crest  of  the  creek's  eastern  terrace,  about 
two  hundred  yards  south  of  the  present  extension  of  Broad  Street.  Its  excellence 
as  a  gravel  bed  led  to  its  partial  destruction,  and  now  only  a  confused  muss  of  earth 
remains  from  it.  During  its  excavation  a  variety  of  relics  were  found,  but  prob- 
ably none  of  importance,  since  no  record  of  them  has  been  preserved. 

The  mounds  along  the  northern  portion  of  Big  Walnut  Creek  next  claim  at- 
tention. Those  found  in  the  southern  part  of  the  county  along  this  watercourse 
will  be  mentioned  later. 

One  mile  and  a  half  north  of  Central  College,  in  Blendon  Township,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  creek,  rises  a  mound  the  dimensions  of  which  cannot  be  ascertained 
at  this  time.  One  mile  south  of  Central  College,  and  also  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
creek,  is  a  small  mound  which  constitutes  a  topographical  feature  of  the  farm  of 
M.  Dickey.  For  a  long  distance  from  that  point  southward  no  mounds  are  to  be 
found,  but  finally,  on  the  high  land  of  the  farm  of  A.  Morrison,  one-fourth  of  a  mile 
north  of  the  tracks  of  the  Pan  Handle  Railway,  on  the  cast  side  of  the  creek,  we 


I 

■ 

k. 


56  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

encounter  a  mound  of  perhaps  ten  feet  in  height  and  eighty  feet  in  diameter  at  the 
base.  It  has  for  some  time  been  subjected  to  the  work  of  the  plow.  To  com- 
plete the  record  of  the  most  northerly  mounds  of  the  Big  Walnut,  it  is  necessary  to 
mention  one  which  is  situated  on  the  land  of  W.  Cornell,  on  the  east  side  of  the 
creek,  about  seven  miles  from  Columbus.  Although  greatly  marred  b}'  the  exca- 
vation for  the  Old  National  Road,  which  cuts  into  its  southern  slope,  enough  of  this 
work  remains  to  show  that  it  was  originally  symmetrical  and  of  large  dimensions. 
Probably  it  was  thirty  feet  in  height  and  two  hundred  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base. 
No  one  seems  to  know  whether  it  has  ever  been  explored. 

Rocky  Fork,  a  tributary  of  the  Big  Walnut,  flowing  through  Plain,  Jefferson 
and  a  small  part  of  Mifflin  Townships,  has  several  mounds  along  its  Franklin 
County  course.  The  most  northerly  of  these  works  is  on  the  Shull  farm,  in  Jeffer- 
son Township,  two  miles  northeast  of  Gahanna.  It  stands  on  the  east  side  of  the 
creek.  This  mound  is  elliptical  in  shape,  its  greatest  dimensions  (estimated)  beinir 
three  hundred  feet  long  by  two  hundred  feet  wide  and  about  forty  feet  in  height. 
A  small  conical  excrescence  marks  its  summit.  Trees  of  large  size  are  growing 
upon  this  work. 

One-half  a  mile  east  of  Gahanna,  on  the  western  terrace  of  the  creek,  is  found 
a  large  formation  usually  called  the  "  Table  Mound."  This  may  or  may  not  be  an 
artificial  work,  the  strong  probability  being  that  it  is  not,  because  it  occupies  an 
area  of  at  least  eight  acres,  and  is  decidedly  unlike  other  products  of  ihe 
ancients.  Being  a  slightly  elevated  plateau,  it  has  a  shape  which  perhaps  justifies 
the  name  given  it.  A  small  mound  is  reported  as  having  once  occupied  the  crown 
of  this  plateau,  but  no  vestige  of  it  now  remains.  On  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
creek,  near  the  Table  Mound,  on  the  Dryer  land,  is  a  much-plowedover  mound, 
which  was  originally  fifteen  feet  in  height  and  one  hundred  feet  in  diameter  at  the 
base. 

Black  Lick,  another  tributary  of  the  Big  Walnut,  and  a  much  larger  stream  than 
Rocky  Fork,  is  bordered  in  Jefferson  and  Plain  Townships  by  some  mounds  of  great 
size.  Three  miles  north  of  Black  Lick  Station,  on  the  Pan  Handle  Railway,  rises 
an  immense  mound  on  the  farm  of  Araba  Mann.  Although  no  accurate  measure- 
ments of  this  work  have  been  taken,  it  is  certainly  thirty  foet  in  height  and  over 
three  hundred  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base.  The  cultivation  of  the  land  has  some- 
what reduced  its  size,  but  in  its  present  shape  it  is  one  of  the  largest  ancient  works 
in  the  county.  It  is  rather  oblong  thun  circular  in  its  form.  One  mile  north  of 
it,  on  the  west  side  of  Black  Lick,  stands  a  mound  now  about  ten  feet  high  and 
nearly  one  hundred  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base.  A  group  of  three  mounds  is 
found  in  Plain  Township  on  the  Ileadley  farm,  almost  due  north  of  the  works  last 
described.  One  of  the  members  of  this  group  which  immediately  arrests  the  eye 
on  account  of  its  irregularity  and  great  size,  has  been  suspected  of  being  a  natural 
rather  than  an  artificial  work.  Competent  and  trustworthy  judges,  however,  have 
pronounced  it  a  work  of  the  mound  builders  which  was  probably  lefl  in  an  un- 
finished state.  It  is  nearly  forty  feet  in  height  and,  by  moderate  estimate,  three 
hundred  feet  in  (its  longest)  diameter  at  the  base.  The  second  mound  of  this  group 
is  forty  rods,  or  thereabouts,  northeast  of  the  one  just  mentioned,  and  was  origi- 
nally very  large,  but  has  been  nearly  leveled  down.  The  third  mound  of  the 
grou]>  is  about  sixty  rods  south  of  the  one  last  named,  and  is  ten  feet  in  height  and 


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Scale,  five  uiilee  per  incb. 

AeteriBka  representa  the  Dioande,  on  enlarKed  scale. 

The  small  ahacled  equaree  denote  the  villages  and  towns  of  the  ('ounty,  arranged  alpha- 
betically and  numbered  as  follows:  1,  Alton,  3,  Black  Lick;  ^,  BIcndon  Cornere;  4,  Canal 
Winchealer  :  b.  Central  College  ;  «t.  Clintonville ;  7,  Dublin ;  8,  Edwards  Station  ;  9,  Elmwood ; 
10,  Flint;  11,  Gahanna;  12,  Gallowaj;  IH,  Georgesville  ;  14,  Grove  City  ;  15.  Groveport ;  16, 
Uarriabarg;  17,  Hilliards;  18.  Haven's  Corners;  19,  Lockbourne;  20,  Morgan's;  21,  New 
Albany  ;  22,  Pleasant  Corners ;  23,  Reeves'a ;  24,  Beynoldsburg ;  2^5,  Scioto ;  2(1,  Sbadeville ; 
27,  Weaterville;28,  Worlhington. 


/ 


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FAinneio  county  sroup 

,     NCnP,  caNAL  ".VIMCHt 


Scale,  about  five  milcB  to  the  incli. 

Mounds  are  reprencDted  liy  aKterifkR ;  pflrtliworkx,  liy  small  circles  and  hall  circltv. 


Ancient  Earthworks  in  Franklin  County.  57 

possibly  seventy-five  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base.  The  first  of  these  works  above 
mentioned  is  protected  by  the  original  forest,  but  the  third,  h'ke  the  second,  has 
been  badly  damaged  by  the  cultivation  of  the  land.  It  cannot  be  stated  positively 
that  none  of  these  northeastern  mounds  have  been  explored,  but  all  attainable 
evidence  and  tradition  points  to  that  conclusion. 

The  order  which  has  been  adopted  for  naming  and  locating  the  mounds  would 
suggest  that  those  in  the  southeastern  and  southern  central  portions  of  the  count}' 
should  be  next  mentioned,  but  since  the  mounds  of  the  lower  land  levels  are  many 
and  those  outside  of  these  districts,  or  in  more  remote  tributary-  valleys,  are  few, 
those  of  the  Scioto  Valley  are  passed  for  the  present,  and  attention  will  next  be 
given  to  suih  as  are  found  in  the  western  and  southwestern  sections  of  the  county, 
beginning  with  that  drained  by  Big  Darby  Creek  and  its  numerous  "  runs" 

One-half  mile  north  of  Galloway  Station,  in  Prairie  Township,  rises  a  small 
mound  on  the  farm  of  A.  J.  O'Harra.  The  dimensions  of  this  work  cannot  at  this 
time  be  given. 

The  mounds  on  the  Francis  farm,  in  Brown  Township,  have  boon  previously 
mentioned.  On  the  high  lands  east  of  the  Big  Darby,  about  one  mile  from  Cheno- 
with's  Mills,  in  Pleasant  Township,  is  seen  a  mound  of  good  size,  and  two  miles  or 
more  southward  another  work  of  this  kind  stands  on  the  farm  of  John  Young,  about 
half  a  mile  northeast  of  Harrisburg. 

Near  Morjran's  Station,  on  the  Columbus  and  Cincinnati  iMidland  Railway,  a 
short  distance  south  of  the  Pickaway  County  line,  are  two  mounds  on  the  bottom 
lands  of  the  Darby.  One  of  these  which  had  already  been  reduced  by  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil  to  a  height  of  about  three  feet,  was  still  further  disturbed  by  the  railway* 
builders,  who  excavated  deep  holes  in  it  in  order  to  obtain  a  resting-place  for  the 
nlas^ive  timbers  of  a  trestle  work.  This  digging  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  two 
skeletons,  a  large  number  of  arrowheads,  and  a  quantity  of  relics  of  various  kinds, 
among  which  were  some  stone  utensils.  These  articles  were  then  and  there  dis- 
tributed among  the  workmen,  and  although  a  few  specimens  fell  into  the  hands  of 
more  appreciative  persons,  the  value  of  the  discovery  was  practically  lost.  It 
seems  certain,  however,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  relics  were  of  Indian  origin. 
About  one  hundred  feet  north  of  this  mound  stands  another  of  loftier  build  and 
more  ample  dimensions,  ft  was  originally  about  fifteen  feet  high  and  one  hundred 
feet  in  diameter  at  the  base,  but  is  now  much  cut  down.  After  the  discoveries  in 
the  smaller  mound,  the  people  of  the  vicinity  determined  to  explore  the  larger 
work,  but  their  enthusiasm  subsided  after  a  small  opening  had  been  made,  and 
since  that  time  the  work  has  remained  undisturbed. 

The  mounds  of  the  southern  central  and  southeastern  portions  of  the  county 
may  now  be  described.  It  was  upon  the  southern  terraces  of  the  Scioto,  and 
along  its  tributaries,  that  the  most  extensive  mound  building  population  existed, 
and  by  comparison  of  the  number  of  mounds  in  the  different  sections  it  would 
seem  almost  certain  that  where  ten  people  dwelt  on  the  land  along  the  upper  por- 
tions of  the  streams,  fifty  occupied  the  bottom  lands  iurther  south.  The  most 
Westerly  oi  the  mounds  which  stand  on  that  part  of  tl)e  Scioto  watershed  now  under 
consideration  is  situated  on  the  Alkire  farm,  on  the  south  si<le  of  Big  Run,  in 
Franklin  Township,  about  onehalf  mile  west  of  the  Harrisburg  Pike.  It  is  of 
average  size,  and  has  been  injured  by  the  plow.     About  two  miles  southeast  of  this 


58  PTiKTORY    OF   THK    OlTY    OF    CoLrMBI'S. 

work  wo  find  another  small  mound  tlio  exact  location  of  which  cannot  now  be 
stated.  One  mile  further  southeast,  on  the  (^orry  land,  near  the  Jackson  Pike,  is 
found  the  remnant  of  a  once  largr  mouud,  the  ijreater  part  of  which  has  been  re- 
moved for  its  gravel.  Excepting  tlu*  fact  that  human  bones  were  found  in  this 
work  during  its  excavation,  nothiiij^  is  known  as  to  its  contents. 

On  the  farm  of  Joab  Borror,  in  .Iacksf)n  Township,  two  and  a  half  miles  south- 
west of  Shadeville,  stands  a  mound  now  only  six  feet  hi^h.  hut  covering  about  onc- 
tburth  of  an  acre  of  ii^round.  Local  tradition  states  that  an  expionttion 'of  this 
work  was  made  many  years  a^o  and  tliat  a  few  relics  were  found  in  it,  but  what 
they  were  is  not  stated.  This  work  is  situated  about  one  and  a  half  miles  due  west 
of  the  cii'cle  on  Absalom  Borror's  farm  heretofore  described. 

.\bout  three  miles  in  a  northwesterly  direction  from  Shadeville,  on  the  land  of 
Solomon  Swagler,  is  situated  a  mound  about  twenty  feet  high  and  one  hundred  feet 
in  diameter  at  the  base.  It  is  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  and  has  never  been 
opened. 

Crossing  to  the  east  side  of  the  Scioto,  and  beginning  at  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  county,  we  find  no  mounds  until  we  reach  the  plateau  between  the  Scioto 
and  the  Big  Walnut,  two  miles  south  of  Shatieville,  when  three  mounds  are  found 
on  the  Cloud  farm,  standini^  in  a  north  and  south  line,  about  two  hundred  feet 
apart.  The  most  southerly  of  these  works,  which  is  also  the  largest  of  them,  is 
about  H  fit  ceil  feet  in  height  and  nearly  on(;  hun<lred  fieet  in  diameter  at  the  base. 
To  the  summit  rises  a  smooth  slope  which  resembles  and  may  bo  taken  for  one  of 
the  graded  roadways  of  the  ancieiits.  The  other  mounds  of  this  group  are  smaller, 
and  being  in  the  woods,  are  well  preserved.  The  largest  one  is  damaged  by  a  road 
excavation  which  has  clipped  ofl'  it.s  southern  base.  Another  mound,  about  ten 
feet  high  and  fifty  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base,  is  situate*!  on  the  high  elevation 
which  overlooks  the  Big  Walnut  from  the  east  side.  It  is  a  mile  northeast  of  the 
mounds  last  mentioned,  and  is  also  situated  on  the  Cloud  land. 

Farther  up  the  creek,  on  its  east  bank,  two  mounds  rise  on  the  Clark  farm, 
but  a  little  distance  apart.  Orio  of  them  is  ten  feet  in  height  and  fifty  feet  in 
diauicter  at  the  base  ;  the  other,  eight  feet  in  height  and  thirty  feet  in  diameter  at 
the  base.  On  the  farn\  of  Mrs.  K.  J.  Younir,  about  one  mile  northeast  of  Lock- 
boiirne,  exists  a  mound  of  which  little  is  known  except  that  it  is  small  and  has 
never  been  subjected  to  exploration.  On  the  high  land  which  overlooks  the 
secondary  terrace  of  the  Scioto,  one  mile  and  a  half  north  of  Shadeville,  and  one 
mile  east  of  the  river,  stands  a  conical  mound  having  a  height  of  ton  feet  and  a 
diameter  of  thirty  feet  at  the  base.  It  issituated  on  the  land  of  William  T.  Span- 
gler,  and  has  never  been  opened.  On  the  Simpson  farm,  twoanda  quarter  miles 
from  the  Spangler  MouikI  in  a  direction  bearing  somewhat  east  of  north,  is  (bund 
a  damaged  sjiecimen,  of  average  original  dimei»sions.  Like  nearl}'  all  of  the 
mounds  of  that  vicinity  it  has  not  been  explored. 

Three  (quarters  of  a  mile  northwest  of  the  work  last  named  are  situated  two 
others  on  the  Shoaf  tarm.  They  stand  in  a  north  and  south  line,  and  are  only  a 
few  hmIs  apart.  The  cultivation  of  their  slopes  and  summits  has  resulted  in  their 
almost  coniplete  obliteration. 

A  quarter  of  a  mile  northeast  of  the  Shoaf  Mounds  are  found  the  remains  of 
two  others   i>f  enormous  size    which    have  severely  suffered  whenever  the  road- 


Ancient  Earthworks  in  Franklin  County.  59 

builders  desired  a  supply  of  gravel.  These  O'Harra  Mounds,  as  they  have  been 
called,  furnish  some  meager  knowledge  of  the  character  of  this  singular  class  of 
works.  Many  years  ago  a  county  road  was  surveyed  and  excavated  through 
these  mounds,  and  although  the  excavation  did  not  go  down  to  the  original  surface 
it  disclosed  the  outline  of  what  was  onco  a  logbuilt  chamber,  and  the  usual  traces 
of  human  bones.  A  skull  found  at  that  time  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Doctor 
Starling  Loving,  of  Columbus.  The  O'Harra  Mounds  stand  in  a  line  true  to  the 
compass,  and  are  separated  by  little  space.  The  northernmost  one  is  oblong  in 
shape  and  has  a  maximum  diameter  at  the  base  of  five  hundred  and  seventyfive 
feet.  Its  minimum  diameter  at  the  base  is  one  hundred  and  fifYv  feet  and  its 
height  is  twenty  feet.  The  most  southerly  of  these  mounds  is  conical  in  form, 
nearly  forty  feet  in  height,  and  has  a  diameter  at  the  base  closely  approaching 
four  hundred  feet.  Eighty  rods  west  of  the  O'Harra  Mounds,  on  one  of  the  Fisher 
tracts,  stands  a  much  reduced  mound  now  only  four  feet  high.  Another  remnant, 
one  mile  north  of  the  O'Harra  Mounds,  is  in  much  the  same  condition  as  the  work 
last  mentioned. 

At  the  intersection  of  the  Lockbourne  and  Groveport  roads,  on  the  south- 
eastern  face  of  the  elevation  known  as  Baker's  Hill,  stands  a  mound  which  has 
been  partially  explored,  and  has  yielded  some  implements  and  fragments  of 
potter^'.  All  trace  of  these  articles  is  now  lost.  Before  being  disturbed  by  the 
excavator  and  the  gravel  digger,  this  work  was  fifteen  feet  high  and  seventytive 
Jeet  in  diameter  at  the  base.  As  a  point  tor  signaling  over  the  broid  valley  it 
could  hardly  have  been  excelled,  and  it  maybe  ren\arked  in  passing  that  the  posi- 
tion of  Spangler's  Mound  offered  the  same  facilities  for  communication  by  beacon 
light  up  and  down  the  valley. 

Two  miles  southeast  of  Columbus  exists  a  low  mound  upon  which  Origin 
Harris  built  his  home  many  years  ago.  This  improvement  has  put  an  end  to  the 
investigation  of  the  secrets  of  this  work  and  deprived  it  of  many  of  its  original 
characteristics. 

Within  the  present  limits  of  Columbus,  on  the  grounds  of  the  late  Peter 
Ambos,  on  South  High  Street,  stands  a  small  mound,  well  preserved.  It  is  a 
truncated  cone,  about  eight  feet  in  height  and  thirty  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base. 
By  reason  of  its  situation  on  the  very  edge  of  the  steep  bluff  which  overhangs  the 
Scioto,  it  affords  an  excellent  point  of  observation.  As  a  signal  station  itcouM  not 
have  been  better  located.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  explore  it  but  have  never 
been  carried  to  completion. 

A  small  mound  which  once  stood  at  the  present   intersection    of  Town  Street 
and  Champion  Avenue,  was  obliterated  when  Town  Street  was  extended  eastward. 
Near  Canal  Winchester,  in  the  extreme  southeastern  part  of  the  county,  an  in- 
teresting series  of  small   mounds  exists.*     Their  value  and  interest  to  the  anti- 
<^luarian  have  been  greatly  impaired   by   the  excavations  of  inexperienced   persons 
Vrhose  discoveries  were  of  little  value  and  by  whom  the  articles  founrl   have  been 
Widely    scattered.     The  first  Franklin   County  Mound   to   he  considered  in   this 
stories  is  on  the  land  of  W.  K.  Algire,  the  second  on  James  Lawrence's  farm,  an<l 
t\\e  third  on  the  farm  of  Isaac  Leahman.     A  pronounced  swell  of  ground  on  whicli 
Htands  the  home  of  E.  Stevenson,  has  been  rated  as  an  artificial  work,  but  it  is  now- 
believed  to  be  a  natural   formation.     The  three  mounds  here  mentioned  are  all 
Hmall  and  are  situated  about  equal  distances  apart  along  the  headwaters  of  George 


Vyi)  History  of  thk  Citv  of  CouMBrs. 

Creok,  a  tributary  of  the  Little  Walnut.     The  most  northerly  <>ne  rises  about  two 
miles  north  of  Canal  Winchester. 

On  Samuel  Dietz's  farm,  a  <|uarter  of  a  mile  north  of  Canal  Winchester,  stands 
an  aluKJst  obliterated  small  m«)nnd,  <mi»  mile  west  of  which,  on  the  Chaiiey  place, 
is  found  another  in  about  the  same  state  of  pnservation.  One  mile  further  west,  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Little  Walnut  an<l  half  a  mile  east  of  Groveport,  is  tound  a 
work  which  was  (»rii^inally  eight  feet  in  height  and  thirty  feet  in  diameter  at  the 
base,  but  now  exists  onl}'  in  a  few  vestiges.  Ain^her  mound,  nearly  obliterated. 
is  situated  in  the  extrenie  southeastern  ]):irt  of  the  towMiship.  All  of  these  moun<is 
rise  on  what  may  be  called  the  second  terrace  of  the  Little  Walnut  Creek. 

In  Fairfield  County,  about  three  miles  to  the  southeast  of  Canal  Wmchester, 
exists  an  interesting  group  of  mounds,  all  of  which  are  situated  on  the  sj)urs  of  the 
high  hills  of  that  locality.     From  any  one  of  the  five  mounds  of  this  group  a  view 
of  the  others  can  be  obtained,  arid,  in  addition,  a  wide  expanse  of  the  eastern  side 
of  the  Scioto  basin  can   be  brought  within  the  range  of  vision.     Three  of  these 
mounds  lie  upon  a  practically  continuous  spur.     .\  not  her  lies  across  a  deep  ravine, 
and  a  third  some  five  hundred  yanls  further  southeast,  upon  another  high  point. 
In  l^late  111.,  where  they  have  been  numbered  for  convenience  of  the  descriptive 
text,  it  will  be  seen  that  numbers  one  and  tour  are  enclosed  by  earth  walls.     Num- 
ber one  is  by  far  the  most  j>eculiar  work   of  the  group.      It   is   now   eleven   feet  in 
height  and  ellij)lical   in  siuipe,  it>  maximum  diameter  at  the  base   being  eighty- 
eight  feet,  and   its  minimum  diameter  >ixtytwo  feet       A-side  from    the  tact  that   il 
is  surrounded  by  two  broad  earth  walls.  whi<h   now   vary  in  height  from   a   slight 
trace  to  over  ten  teet,  this  work  is  peculiar  in  boifig  constructed,  in  greater  part,  of 
sandstones  which   varv  in  size  from   tnii'inent'*  three  inches  in  di:imetcr  to  others 
as  large  as  a  nnm  can  carry.     Tlu^se  s'one^  were  evidently   obtained  from  a  place 
near  by,  where  the  evidences  of  an   ancient   (juarry  exist.     Number  three,   two 
hundred  yards  north  of  number  one,  and  on  tlu'  highest  elevation,  is  also  a  stone 
mound,  no  v  about  ten   teet  in   height  and   seventy  feet   in   iliameter  at  the   ba.se. 
Number  four  is  an  earth   mound  only  four  feet  in    height  and   thirtyfive   feet  in 
iliameter  at  the  base.      It  is  surrounded   by  a  nioat  and  w^all,  the  traees  of  wliieh 
are   now   vi^ry  slight.       Perhaps  twentyfive  per  cent,  of  the  composition   of  this 
mound  is  sandstone.     Number  two,  situated  two   hundred   yards   west  of  number 
one,  is  an  earth  formation,  twelve  feet  in  height  and  eighty  feet  in  diameter  at  the 
ba.se.      Kxplorations  of  the  stone  moun<ls  have  given  no  results  in  relies  or  signs  of 
burial.      However,  number  five,  which  was  an  earth  mound  ten  feet  in  height  and 
sixty  feet  in  diametei*  at  the  base,  gave  a  rich   return   for  the  labor  of  opening  it. 
In  the  present  month  of  February.  1S92,  it  has  been  explore<i  by   .some  eager  pe<»- 
ple  who  had  been   wrought  up  t()  a  high   pitch  of  excitement  and  expectation   by 
the  remarkable  discoveries  lately  made    near  Chillicothe.^      Defying  the  inclement 
weather,  these  inexperienced  exi»lorers  thoroughly   <lemolished   the  mounds,  and 
made  some  discoveries  y^'vy  inierc^sting   to  the  arclneologist  but  rather  disappoint- 
ing to  themselves,  as  they  were  in  search  of  gohl,  silver  and  precious  stones  rather 
than    implements    of  common    stone    or    relics    in    copper.      Penetrating   a  well- 
defined  stratification  intern^.ini^led   with    wood   ashes,  thev   encountei*ed,  near  the 
natural  level  of  grouml,  small  bi>ulders  beneath    whi<.h   were  found  human  bones, 
presumably  of  the  aneienl    people   who  built  these   mounds.     The  skeletons  of  a 
woman  and  a  child  lay   near  the  boulder  covering,  beneath  which,  in  a  compact 


Ancient  Kartii works  in  FrcVNKlin  CorNTV.  (>1 

layer,  were  discovered  the  skeletons  of  men,  and  still  deeper,  in  repositories  scooped 
out  of  the  bod  rock,  lay  other  skeletons.  Around  the  human  remains  a  few  relics 
of  an  uDimportant  kind  were  found.  It  would  be  useless  to  undertake  anything 
more  than  a  simple  statement  of  this  very  interesting  discovery.  The  history  of  the 
twenty  human  beings  whose  remains  were  found  in  this  work  belongs  to  an  inscrut- 
able past  which  their  successors  of  to-day  can  never  penetrate  or  understand. 

From  the  catalogue  of  Franklin  County  mounds  and  earthworks  given  in  the 
preceding  pages  it  will  be  perceived  that,  after  making  due  allowance  for  the  por- 
tion of  those  works  which  may  have  escaped  observation,  and  for  such   of  them  as 
have  long  since  disappeared  through  the  agency  of  man  and  the  elements,  the 
estimate  that  fully  one  hundred  distinct  specimens  of  such  works  have  existed  in 
the  county  is  not  excessive.     It  has  been  the  purpose  of  the  writer  to  devote  this 
chapter  especially  to  the  Franklin  County  works,  without  attempting  any  discus- 
sion of  their  relations  to  similar  remains  in  the  adjoining  counties,  although  such  a 
discussion  might  add  materially  to  the  completeness  of  this  record.     It  may  be 
further  observed   that  little   attention  has  been  here  given  to  the  numerous  tradi- 
tions and  authentic  records  of  discoveries  of  human  remains  and  relics  in  different 
parts  of  the  county,  because  their  antit^uity  cannot  be  known   to  be  more  remote 
than  that  of  the  Indian  races  of  this  region.     The  Indians  buried  their  dead  in 
numberless  places,  and  the  discover}'  of  human  bones,  ornaments  and  implements 
in  the  surface  deposits  is  a  logical  result  of  that  custom,  corroborated  by  the  char- 
acter and  position  of  the  articles  found,  in  both  which  respects  they  are  broadly 
distinct  from  the  remains  of  the  prehistoric  race.     An   illustration  of  this  remark 
may  here  be  cited.     Two  miles  west  of  the  Statehouse,  on  the  Old  JSlational  Road, 
now  West  Broad   Street,  lies  the   remnant   of  a    large    mound    which   has  been 
commonly  supposed  to  have  an  artificial  origin.     In  cutting  the  road  through  this 
work  many  bones,  pipes,  arrowheads  and  flints  of  various  kinds  were  found  by  the 
workmen.     All  these  relics,  including  the  bones,  which  were  reasonably  well  pre- 
served, were  of  unmistakable  Indian  t)rigin.     This  fact,  together  with  the  geologi- 
cal probability  that  the  mound  itself  was  a  glacial  deposit,  disposes  effeciually  of 
the  popular  notion  that  it  was  one  of  the  works  of  the  moundbuilding  race. 

NOTES. 

1.  No  small  part  of  the  data  concerning  the  mounds  df  Franklin  County  has  been  ob- 
tained from  the  paper  of  Mr.  Prosper  M.  Wetmore,  of  this  city,  submitted  as  a  report  to  Pro- 
fessor G.  Frederick  Wright,  of  Oberlin  College,  Editor  of  the  Ohio  Archa?ological  and  Histori- 
cal Society's  Quarterly,  and  contained  in  Volume  1,  published  in  April,  1888.  Mr.  Wetmore, 
who  has,  for  a  long  time,  been  interested  in  the  study  of  these  earthworks  and  mounds,  de- 
voted many  a  summer  and  autumn  day  to  field  observation,  and  upon  bis  notes  of  measure- 
meats  and  the  present  condition  of  the  mounds  a  portion  of  the  foregoing  has  been  based. 
The  writer  gratefully  acknowledges  the  aid  thus  given,  and  also  the  kind  co^iperation  of  Mr. 
Wetmore  in  obtaining  information  of  value  at  this  time. 

2.  The  information  relating  to  this  mound  has  been  gathered  from  many  sources,  but 
chiefly  from  several  old  residents  of  Columbus. 

3.  Mr.  George  F.  Bareis,  of  Canal  Winchester,  Franklin  County,  a  gentleman  who  takes 
the  deepest  interest  in  these  mounds,  has  furnished  most  of  the  data  concerning  the  Madison 
Township  specimens,  and  is  the  authority  for  the  reference  to  the  result  of  the  exploration 
of  the  Fairfield  County  mound. 

4.  See  lUuMrated  American^  New  York,  Volume  IX,  number  102;  article,  **Some 
New  Relics  of  the  Moundbuilders,"  by  Warren  King  Moorehead,  Esq. 


I 

I 


CHAPTER    IV. 


TIIK  IkOQrOIS  AND  ALGONQUINS. 

Emerging  from  the  myst^jry  of  the  iuoun<l  builders  we  cross  the  line  which 
separates  the  extinct  and  reirordiess  races  from  tin*  races  known  to  history.  New 
light  dawns  as  this  bomnlary  is])assed.  but  very  much  that  we  would  like  to  know 
still  lies  in  deep,  impenetrable  shadow.  Whether  the  inhabitants  of  the  two 
American  continents  at  the  time  thev  first  fell  un<ler  the  eve  of  civilization  were 
properly  s]>eaking  one  great  family,  or  were  fundamentally  segregated  by  one 
or  more  lines  ol' racial  distinction,  is  a  question  not  yet  fully  settled.  That  they 
approached  more  nearly  to  one  common  family  character  than  the  indigenous  popu- 
lation of  Asia  or  Africa  is  scarcely  disputed.  *' The  Indians  of  New  Spain** 
[Mexico],  wrote  Humboldt,  "bear  a  general  resemblance  to  those  who  inhabit 
Canada,  Florida,  Peru  and  Hrazil.  We  have  the  same  swarthy  and  copper  colour, 
straight  and  smooth  hair,  small  beard,  scpiat  body,  long  eye,  with  the  corner 
directed  upwards  towards  the  temples,  prominent  cheek  bones,  thick  lips,  and  ex- 
pression of  gentleness  in  the  mouth,  strongly  contrasted  with  a  gloomy  and  seven* 
look.  (.)ver  a  million  and  a  half  of  s(juare  leagues,  from  Cape  Horn  to  the  River 
St.  Lawrence  and  Beh ring's  Straits,  we  are  struck  at  the  first  glance  with  the 
general  resemblance  in  the  features  ot  the  inhabitants.  We  think  we  perceive 
them  all  to  be  descended  from  the  same  stock,  notwithstanding  the  prodigious  di- 
versity of  their  languages." 

"  At  one  extremity  of  the  country,'  says  another  writer,  "  we  find  the  pigmy 
Es(|uimaux  of  four  feet  and  a  half  in  height, and  at  the  other  the  Patagonian  stand- 
ing above  six  feet.  In  complexion  the  variety  is  great,  and  may  be  said  to  em- 
brace almost  every  hue  known  elsewhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  except  the 
pitchy  black  of  the  Negro.  About  onehalf  of  all  the  knowMi  languages  belong  to 
America  ;  and  if  we  consider  every  little  wandering  horde  a  distinct  community,  we 
have  a  greater  number  of  nations  here  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the  world."* 

Among  the  American  aborigines,  numbering  seven  or  eight  millions,  as  many 
languages  were  spoken  as  among  the  seven  or  eight  hundred  million  inhabitants 
of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere.  Yet  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  between  these  multi- 
form mvxles  of  speech  and  those  of  the  other  braneliesof  the  human  family  none  but 
an  occasional  and  evidentlv  accidental  resi'mblatiee  can  be  traced.  At  the  same 
time  there  run  through  all  these  aboriginal  tongues,  numbering  about  450  in  all,* 
certain  threads  of  connection.  '*  It  is  the  confident  opinion  of  linguistic  scholars,** 
says  Professor  Whitney,  ''that  a  fundamental  unity  lies  at  the  base  of  all  these 
infinitely  varying  forms  of  speech  ;  that  they  may  be,  and  probably  are,  all  de- 

[«2] 


The  Iroquois  and  Al(K)NQUIN8.  63 

scended  from  a  single  parent  language.  For,  whatever  their  differences  of  material, 
there  is  a  single  type  or  plan  upon  which  their  forms  are  developed  and  their  con- 
structions made,  from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  Cape  Horn."' 

The  German  naturalist  Blumenbach'*  places  all  the  American  tribes  under  one 
class  except  the  Esquimaux,  who  are  deemed  to  be  of  Mongolian  origin.  After 
examining  scientifically  the  skulls  found  in  ancient  tombs,  and  those  of  existing 
tribes,  Doctor  Morton*  concludes  that  the  American  aborigines,  except  those  inhab- 
iting circumpolar  latitudes,  were  all  of  one  species  and  one  race,  and  comprise  two 
great  families  differing  intellectually  but  strongly  related  in  their  physical  traits. 
These  families  are  denominated  the  Toltecan  and  the  American,  the  first  being  par- 
tially civilized,  the  latter  wholly  savage.*'  The  Esquimaux  are  a  dwarfish  race, 
rarely  over  five  feet  in  height,  crafty  and  dirty.  They  inhabit  the  northern  coasts 
of  this  continent  and  its  neighboring  islands.  On  the  northwest  coast  of  Alaska 
are  found  four  peculiar  tribes  known  as  Kaluschi,  who  have  the  distinction  of 
being  as  fair,  when  their  skins  are  washed,  as  the  Europeans. 

At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Eriglish  colonists  on  this  continent  the  Indians 
occupying  its  eastern  half  belonged  almost  entirely  to  three  stems  :  1,  The  Algon- 
quin, comprising  the  Delawares,  Shawnees,  Narragansetts,  Chippcwas,  Knistonaux, 
and  thirty  or  forty  other  nations,  spread  over  the  territory  between  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Atlantic,  and  all  speaking  dialects  of  the  same  language  ;  2,  The  Iroquois, 
called  alternately  the  Five  Nations  or  the  Six  Nations,  and  comprising  fifteen  or 
more  tribes,  among  which  were  the  Mohawks,  Hurons,  Senccas  and  Oneidas,  dwell- 
ing on  the  south  side  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  all  speaking  dialectic  forms  of  the 
same  language;  3,  The  Florida  Indians,  including  the  Creeks,  Seminoles,  Choctaws, 
Chickasaws,  Natches  and  Mobiles.  These  three  families,  togethi.'rwith  the  Wocons 
and  Catawbas,  numbering  altogether  about  a  quarter  of  a  million  souls,  occupied 
nearly  the  entire  region  east  of  the  Mississippi,  from  Hudson  Bay  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  embracing  a  territory  of  more  than  a  million  square  miles. 

Generally'  speaking  these  various  tribes  were  noted  alike  for  the  virtues  and 
vices  of  savage  character,  in  their  fullest  development.     They  cherished  a  high 
sense  of  honor,  absolute  fidelity  in  personal  and  tribal  relations,  and  a  fortitude 
which  disdained  suffering  or  misfortune.     Few  races  have  equaled  and  none  have 
surpassed  their  stoical  apathy  in  good  and  ill.     Stern,  gloomy  and  severe,  they  de- 
spised mirth  or  laughter,  and  gave  expression  to  joy  only  in  the  hour  of  triumph. 
They  believed  almost  universall3Mn  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being,  and  also  in  a 
spirit  of  evil,  hostile  to  human  welfare.     They  also  believed  firmly  in  a  future  state 
in  which  the  souls  of  brave  warriors  and  chaste  wives  would  tranquilly  pursue  the 
occupations  in  which  they  most  delighted  on  earth.     According  to  the  creed  of  the 
Dakotas  the  road  to  the  "  villages  of  the  dead  "  leads  over  a  ledge  of  rock  sharp  as 
a  knife's  edge,  on  which  only  the  good  could  keep  their  footing  and   from  which 
the  wicked  fell  into  the  abysses  of  the  evil  spirit,  there  to  be  flogged  and  subjected 
to  hard   labor.     Polygamy  was  practised,  and   incontinence  and  incest   were  in- 
dulged in,  but  the  distinction  between  vice  and  virtue  was  clear  in  the  savage  mind, 
^ives  were  purchased,  marriages  festively  celebrated  and  funerals  conducted  with 
decorum.     Some  of  the  nations  wore  little  or  no  clothing,  the  usual   dress  of  the 
m^les  of  the  better-clad  tribes  comprising  a  buffalo-skin  hung  from  the  shoulders, 
a  breechclout  of  undressed  skins  and  moccasins  of  the  same  material,  the  women 


64  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

wore  a  long  robe  of  undresHed  hide,  fastened  around  the  waist.  The  Indian  habi- 
tations consisted  of  huts  or  cabins,,  usually  round  and  small,  but  sometimes  thirty 
or  forty  foot  in  diameter,  formed  with  stakes  set  in  the  ground  and  covered  with 
bark.  An  opening  in  the  top  served  for  the  escape  of  smoke,  and  the  skins  of  wild 
beasts  for  carpet  and  bedding.  The  practice  of  painting  and  tattooing  the  body 
was  almost  universal.  The  warriors  also  adorned  themselves  fancifully,  and  often 
tastefully,  with  plumes  and  other  ornaments. 

Each  tribe  was  governed  by  a  chief  and  council,  who  were  elective,  but  when 
matters  of  importance  had  to  be  decided  all  the  warriors  were  consulted,  and  the 
concurrence  of  all  was  necessary  to  any  final  conclusion.  The  young  might  be 
present  at  the  council  but  could  take  no  part  in  the  debate.  Among  the  North 
American  Indians  there  were  several  hundred  distinct  governments,  which  differed 
from  one  another  chiefly  in  degrees  of  organization.  The  government  of  the  Wyan- 
dots,  who  were  the  immediate  predecessors  of  the  white  men  in  this  part  of  the 
Scioto  Valley,  may  be  considered  typical  of  them  all.  Its  principal  features  may 
be  thus  stated :' 

The  Wyandots  recognized,  in  their  social  organization,  the  family,  the  gens, 
the  phratry  and  the  tribe.  The  family  comprised  the  persons  who  occupied  one 
lodge,  or  one  section  of  a  communal  dwelling.  Such  dwellings,  when  permanent, 
were  oblong  in  form,  and  constructed  with  poles  covered  with  bark.  The  fire  was 
placed  in  the  center,  and  served  for  two  families,  one  occupying  the  space  on  each 
side.     The  head  of  the  family  was  a  woman. 

The  gens  was  an  organized  body  of  blood  kindred  in  the  female  line.  It  took 
the  name  of  some  animal,  which  also  served  it  as  a  tutelar  deity.  At  the  time  the 
tribe  left  Ohio  it  comprised  the  following  gentes:  Deer,  Bear,  Highland  Turtle 
(striped),  Highland  Turtle  (black),  Mud  Turtle,  Smooth  Large  Turtle,  Hawk, 
Beaver,  Wolf,  Sea  Snake,  and  Porcupine.  By  these  names  and  their  compounds 
the  persons  belonging  to  each  gens  were  distinguished,  as  for  example : 

Man  of  Deer  gens,  De-wa-ti-re,  or  Lean  Deer. 

Woman  of  Deer  gens,  A-ya-jin-ta,  or  Spotted  Pawn. 

Man  of  Wolf  gens,  Ha-ro-un-yu,  or  One  who  goes  about  in  the  dark. 

Woman  of  Wolf  gens,  Yan-di-no,  or  Always  Hungry. 

The  tribe  comprised  four  phratries,  each  containing  three  gentes.  The  phra- 
try had  a  legendary  basis,  and  chiefly  a  religious  use.  The  tribe,  by  reason  of  the 
inter-relationships  of  the  gentes,  comprised  a  body  of  kindred. 

Civil  and  military  government  were  entirely  separate.  Civil  powers  were 
vested  in  a  system  of  councils  and  chiefs.  The  council  of  each  gens  comprised 
four  women  who  selected  a  chief  of  the  gens  from  its  male  members.  This  chief 
was  head  of  the  council  of  his  gens,  and  the  aggregated  councils  of  the  gentes 
composed  the  council  of  the  tribes.  The  grand  tribal  chief  or  sachem  was  chosen 
by  the  chiefs  of  the  gentes.  The  women  councilors  of  the  gens  were  chosen,  in- 
formally, by  the  heads  of  the  households.  At  the  installation  of  a  woman  as  coun- 
cilor, a  tribal  feast  was  spread,  and  the  woman,  adorned  with  savage  braveries, 
was  crowned  with  a  chaplet  of  feathers.  Feasting  and  dancing  followed,  and  con- 
tinued, civilized  fashion,  late  into  the  night. 

At  the  installation  of  a  gens  chief,  the  women  adorned  him  with  a  chaplet  of 
feathers  and  an  ornamental  tunic,  and  painted  the  tribal  totem  on  his  face. 


H<i  History  <>k  thk  City  «»f  <'uMM«rs. 

conduct  certain  relii^ious  ceremonies,  ami  to  prepare  certain  medicineg.  Bach  gens 
was  exclusively  entitles!  to  tlu'  worship  of  its  tutelar  god,  and  each  individual  to 
the  use  of  his  own  anuih't. 

Tlie  crimes  recognize*!  by  the  Wyandots  were  adultery,  thet\,  maiming,  mur- 
der, treason,  and  witchcratl.  A  maiden  guilty  ot  fornication  was  ])unished  by  her 
mother  or  guardian,  but  it  the  crime  was  tiagrant  and  repeated  it  might  be  taken 
in  hand  by  the  council  women  of  the  gens.  A  woman  guilty  of  adulter^'  had  her 
hair  cropped  for  the  first  otlense,  and  for  its  repetition  had  her  left  ear  cut  off. 

Accusations  of  theft  were  tried  helbre  the  council  of  the  gens,  from  the  decision 
of  which  there  was  no  appeal.  A  defendant  adjudged  guilty  was  required  to  make 
twofold  restitution.  The  crime  of  murder  was  tried  before  the  ofYender's  gens,  but 
appeal  might  be  had  to  the  council  of  the  tribe.  If  compensation  w:js  not  made 
when  guilt  was  found,  the  crime  might  be  personally  avenged. 

Treason  consisted  in  revealing  the  st*crets  of  medicinal  preparations,  or  giving 
other  information  or  assistance  to  the  enemies  of  the  tribe.  It  was  punished  with 
death. 

The  charge  of  witchcrall  was  investigated  by  the  grand  council  of  the  tribe, 
and  when  sustained  incurred  the  penalty  <d'  death,  but  the  accused  might  appeal 
from  the  adverse  judgment  of  the  council  to  the  ordeal  by  fire.  F'or  this  purpose 
a  circular  fire  was  built,  and  the  accuse<l  was  required  to  run  through  it  from  east 
to  west,  and  from  north  to  south.  If  he  escape<l  injury  he  was  deemed  innocent: 
otherwise  he  was  adjudged  guilty. 

An  inveterate  criminal  might  he  declared  an  outlaw  having  no  claim  upon  the 
protection  of  his  clan.  An  outlaw  of  the  lowest  grade  might  be  killed  by  any  one 
who  chose  to  take  his  life  ;  outlawry  of  the  highest  grade  ma<le  it  a  duty  to  kill 
the  offender  on  sight. 

The  miliUiry  management  of  the  tribe  was  vested  in  a  council  composed  of  its 
ablebodied  men.  and  a  chief  chosen  from  the  Porcupines  by  the  council.  Pris- 
oners of  war  were  either  adopted  into  the  tribe  or  killed.  If  adopted,  it  was  nec- 
essary for  the  captive  to  become  a  member  of  some  famil}'.  .\s  a  test  of  his  cour- 
age the  prisoner  was  required  to  run  the  gantlet.  Should  he  behave  manfully  he 
would  he  claimed  for  adoption,  but  if  disgracefully,  ho  was  put  to  death. 

The  institution  of  fellowhood  was  common  among  the  Wyandots.  According  to 
this  custom  two  young  men  would  agree  to  unite  in  a  perpetual  covenant  of  friend- 
ship, by  the  terms  of  which  each  was  bound  to  reveal  to  the  other  the  secrets  of 
his  life,  to  give  counsel  to  his  fellow  in  matters  of  importance,  to  defend  him  from 
wrong  or  violence,  and  at  death  to  be  his  chief  n\ourner. 

Indian  migrations,  by  clans  and  confederacies,  were  frequent,  and  resulted  in 
a  series  of  wars  by  which  entire  tribes  were  sometimes  exterminated.  "  After  the 
destruction  of  the  Erics  in  KJ;")."),'  says  General  Force.  "  the  tract  now  the  State  of 
Ohio  was  uninhabited  until  the  next  century.  The  nations  known  as  Ohio  Indians 
moved  into  it  after  ITUO,'*"  Who  were  thev,  and  whence  did  thev  come?  General 
Harrison  says, "  the  tribes  rcsi<icnt  within  the  bounds  of  this  State  when  the  first 
white  settlement  commenced  were  the  Wyandots,  Mianiis,  ShawMiees,  Delawares,  a 
remnant  of  the  Moheigans,  who  had  united  themselves  with  the  Delawares,  and  a 
band  of  the  Ottawas.'"*  The  migrations  and  coiiHicts  in  process  of  which  the  State 
became  thus  peopled  constitute  one  of  the  most  ntomentous  episodes  in  Indian  his- 
tory, and  cover  an  immense  territorial  field. 


The  Iroquois  and  ALiiONQuiNs.  «7 

The  leading  part  in  that  episode  must  be  ascribed  to  the  Iroquois,  whose  i^enius 
for  conquest  surpassed  that  of  all  the  contemporary  Indian  races.  Theyhave  been 
called  The  Romans  of  the  New  World.  They  called  themsidves  IIodeno.sannee, 
meaning  **  they  form  a  cabin."'"  Collectively  thoy  were  known  as  the  Ongwe- 
houwe,  or  Superior  Men.  The  name  Iroquois  was  given  them  by  the  French.  They 
proudly  boasted  of  their  racial  antiquity,  and  it  was  undouhtedl}'  great.  The 
Lonapes,  who  bore  the  title  of  Grandfathers,  and  paternally  styled  the  other  Al- 
gonquins  as  children  or  grandchildren,  acknowleged  the  superior  age  of  the  Iro- 
quois by  calling  thora  uncles.  In  turn,  the  Lenapes  were  <lenominated  by  the 
more  ancient  race  as  nephews  and  cousins. 

Tradition,  supported  by  circumstances  of  location  and  language,  indicates  that 
the  original  hordes  of  the  Iroquois  emerged  at  some  very  remote  period  from  the 
human  hives  of  the  Northwest.  When  Jacques  Cartier  sailed  up  theSt.  Lawrence, 
in  1585  he  found  them  at  the  present  site  of  Montreal.  There,  and  along  the  St. 
Lawrence,  they  had  dwelt  since  1450  or  1500.  When  Champlain  followed  in  the 
track  of  Cartier,  in  lOO'J  thev  had  been  driven  south  bv  the  Adirondacks,  and 
dwelt  on  the  southern  borders  of  Lake  Ontario.  Ilorc  tlu^y  had  ibrmcd  a  confed- 
eracy afterwards  joined  by  the  Tuscaroras"  and  known  as  the  Kivo  Nati(ms.  The 
tribes  originally  composing  this  confederation  were  \\\v,  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onon- 
dagas,  C^ayugas  and  Senecas.  This  league,  said  to  have  been  of  very  early  origin, 
waw  joined  by  the Tuscaroras  in  ,1713.  It  then  numbered  aboui  twelve  thousand 
souls,  and  was  unquestionably  the  most  powerful  confederalion  of  Indians  on  the 
continent.  Its  geographical  situation,  its  unity  and  its  warlike  qualities,  alike  con- 
spired to  make  it  the  predominant  race.  "Other  tribes,"  says  I)ouglas  Campbell, 
"were  hemmed  in  by  mountains  or  by  boundless  barren  wastes.  "  Not  so  with  the 
Irocpiois,  "their  *  Long  House,'  as  it  was  called,  lay  on  the  crest  of  the  most  won- 
derful watershed  in  the  world.  On  the  north  thev  had  water  communication  with 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Lakes,  while  on  the  south  and  west,  the  Hudson,  Dela- 
ware, Susquehanna,  Alleghany  and  Ohio  afforded  them  highways  to  a  large  portion 
of  the  continent.  Launching  their  light  canoes  on  the  streams  which  flowed  from 
their  hunting  ground  as  from  a  mighty  fountain,  they  could  in  time  of  need  hurl 
an  overwhelming  force  upon  almost  any  foe." 

To  this  league,  says  Morgan,  "  France  must  chiefly  ascribe  the  tinal  overthrow 
of  her  magnificent  schemes  of  colonization  in  the  northern  part  of  America."'*  Had 
the  French  been  able  to  obtain  its  alliance,  as  they  did  that  of  nearly  all  the  other 
Indian  tribes,  the  English  would  have  beerj  expelled  from  the  contirjent,  and  we 
would  have  had  here  a  Gallic  instead  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  But  nothing 
could  move  these  Iroquois  warriors  from  their  constancy  to  cne  Dutch  and  Eng- 
lish. For  a  century  and  a  half  they  held  the  balance  of  power  between  the  Gaul 
and  the  Saxon,  and  it  was  decided  by  the  east  of  their  influence  that  the  Gaul 
must  go. 

Kindred  in  language  with  the  tribes  of  this  league  were  the  Andastes  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  Eries  of  Ohio,  the  Attiwandaronk  or  Neutrals,  so  called,  on  the  north- 
ern shores  of  Lake  Erie,  and  the  nations  occupying  the  peninsula  between  the 
Georgian  Bay  and  Lake  Huron.  These  together  with  the  Six  Nations  composed 
the  Huron- Iroquois  family,  which  has  been  described  as  an  island  in  the  vast  sea 
of  Algonquin  population  extending  south  from  Hudson  Bay  to  the    Carolinas,  and 


68  History  of  the  City  of  ("ouiMhrs. 

west  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi.  Tbe  Indians  of  this  family  who  dwelt 
along  the  eastern  shores  of  Lake  Huron  were  known  to  the  Iroquois  as  Quatoghies, 
and  to  the  French  as  Hurons.  They  called  themselves  Ontwaonwes,  meaning  real 
men,  but  adopted  the  tribal  designation  of  Wendals,  or  Ouendats,  as  it  was 
Frenchified  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries.  Chainplain  and  the  Franciscan  missionary 
Joseph  le  Caron  visited  them  in  1615,  and  Father  Sagard  in  1624.  According  to 
the  Jesuit  Relations  their  settlements  at  that  time  extended  southwardly  about 
one  hundred  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  French  River  and  comprised  twentyfive 
or  thirty  towns,  of  which  that  of  Ossosane  was  chief  The  total  population  of  these 
settlements  was  about  thirty  thousand.  The  frontier  towns  were  fortified  with  a 
triple  palisade  and  interior  gallery  ;  the  others  were  unguarded.  The  dwellings 
were  made  long  so  that  each  might  contain  several  families,  and  were  built  of 
poles  covered  with  bark. 

The  tribes  comprising  the  Huron  confederation  are  diflPerently  named  by 
different  writers.  The  most  authentic  nomenclature  seems  to  be  that  of  Attigna- 
wantaws,  Attigneennonquahac,  Arendahronon,  Tohonteerat  and  Tionontates  or 
Tobacco  Indians,^^  whom  the  French  called  the  Nation  de  Petun.  The  first  two 
of  these  clans  were  original  Huions,  the  others  adoptive.  From  the  conglomera- 
tion of  these  tribes,  or  rather  of  their  fragments  after  the  Iroquois  dispersion, 
came  the  Wyandots  known  to  history. 

The  Wendals  who  formed  the  basis  of  that  stock  were  much  more  intellit/ent 
and  inclined  to  agriculture  than  their  neighbors,  the  Northern  Algonquins.  None 
surpassed  them  in  courage.  To  die  for  the  interest  and  honor  of  his  tribe,  says 
Harrison,  and  to  consider  submission  to  an  enemy  as  the  lowest  degradation,  were 
precepts  instilled  into  the  Wendat  mind  from  earliest  youth. ^^  In  Wayne's  battle 
at  the  Rapids  of  the  Miami  thirteen  chiefs  of  this  tribe  perished  and  but  one 
survived. 

Very  anciently,  according  to  one  of  their  historians,'*  the  Wendats  "inhab- 
ited a  country  northeastward  from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  or  somewhere 
along  the  gulf  coast,"  but  "during  the  first  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century" 
(1500-1525)  they  quarreled  with  their  neighbors,  the  Senecas,  while  both  were 
dwelling  near  the  present  site  of  Montreal.  One  of  the  traditions  ascribes  the 
origin  of  this  quarrel  to  the  intrigue  and  passion  of  a  Seneca  maiden  who  pledged 
her  hand  to  a  young  Wendat  w-arrior  on  condition  that  he  would  slay  one  of  the 
chieftains  of  her  own  tribe.  The  murder  was  accomplished,  and  its  recompense 
paid,  but  the  Senecas  were  so  enraged  by  it  that  they  rose  in  arms  and  drove  the 
Wendats  from  the  country.  Taking  their  course  westward,  the  fugitives  halted 
first  on  the  Niagara,  next  at  the  present  site  of  Toronto,  and  finally  on  the  shores 
of  Lake  Huron.  Their  subsequent  settlements  in  Ohio,  says  one  of  the  State's 
historians,  were  in  the  nature  of  colonies  from  the  main  tribe,  the  principal  seat  of 
which  was  opposite  Detroit.'* 

The  curious  cosmogony  of  the  Huron  Indians  is  thus  summarized  :  **  A  woman, 
Ataensic,  flying  from  heaven,  fell  into  an  abyss  of  waters.  Then  the  tortoise  and 
the  beaver,  afler  long  consultation,  dived  and  brought  up  earth  on  which  she 
rested  and  bore  two  sons,  Tawescaron  and  louskeha,  the  latter  of  whom  killed  his 
brother."  Aireskoi,  son  of  louskeha,  was  the  chief  divinity  of  tbe  Iroquois  and 
Hurons." 


Thk  Iroquois  and  Aujonquins.  69 

Although  Algonqains,  the  Ottawas,  famous  chiefly  as  the  tribe  of  the  great 
Pontiae,  were  early  friends  of  the  Wyandots.  When  first  discovered  they  inhab- 
ited the  islands  of  Lake  Huron  and  the  peninsula  of  Michigan,  but  at  an  earlier 
period  they  dwelt  on  the  Canadian  river  which  bears  their  name,  and  while  there, 
it  is  said,  exacted  tribute  from  all  the  Indians  who  crossed  from  or  to  the  country 
of  the  Hurons.'^  They  were  unique  among  the  North  American  tribes  as  wor- 
shipers of  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  sun  being  the  object  of  their  supreme  rever- 
ence. The  French  traders  found  them  on  the  Sandusky  peninsula  as  early  as 
1750.  "  The  Ottawas,  so  far  as  they  have  been  observed  on  the  soil  of  Ohio,"  says 
Taylor,  "  have  hardly  sustained  the  gravity  and  dignity  of  position  which  we  spon- 
taneously assign  to  the  Wyandot  and  the  Delaware.  Compared  with  his  forest 
brethren  the  Ottawa,  or  Tawah,  as  the  early  settlers  called  him,  whose  life  was 
nearly  amphibious  by  his  joint  avocations  as  trnpper  and  fisher,  seems  to  be 
rather  a  Pariah  among  his  brethren."'' 

The  Neutral  Nation,  so  called  by  the  French  because  they  refused  to  take 
sides  in  the  Huron-Iroquois  war,  were  known  to  the  Senccas  as  Kahkwas,  and  to 
the  Hurons  as  Attiwandaronk.  Their  dwelling  places  were  along  the  banks  of 
Niagara  and  the  neighboring  coasts  of  Lake  Erie. 

The  Andastes  were  identical  with   the  Susquehannas  and  Canestogas.     They 
inhabited  the  country  watered  by  the  upper  branches  of  the  Ohio  an<l  Susquehanna. 
Of  the  Eries,  so  called  by  the  Hurons,  an<i   named    Eriquehronons  by  the  Iro- 
quois, but   little  is  known.     The}'  dwelt  in  that  part   of   Northern  Ohio  which  is 
skirted  by  the  southeastern  shores  of  Lake  Erie.     Their  territories  are  said  to 
have  been  "very  populous."^     The    title.  Nation  du  Chat  or  Cat  Nation,  given 
them  by  the  French,  is  thus  explained  in  one   of  the  Jesuit  Relations  :  "  We  call 
the  Eries  the  Cat  Nation  because  there  is  in  their  country  a  prodigiou*s  number  of 
wildcats,  two  or  three  times  as  large  as  our  tame  cats,  but  having  a  beautiful  and 
precious  fur."*'     Father  Sagard,  who  was  a  minsionary  among  the  Hurons  in  1823, 
Pays:  "There  is  in  this  vast  region  a  country  which  we  call  the  Cat  Nation,  by 
reason  of  their  cats,  a  sort  of  small  wolf  or  leopard  found  there,  from  the  skins  of 
which  the  natives  make  robes  bordered  and  ornamented  with  the  tails."**     School- 
craft regards  it  as  certain  that  the  Eries  '*  were  at  the  head  of  that  singular  con- 
federation of  tribes  known  as  the  Neutral   Nation,  which  extended  from  the  ex- 
treme west  to  the  extreme  eastern  shores  of  Lake  Erie,  including    the  Niagara." 
Traditional  and  circumstantial  grounds  have  been    found  for  the  belief  that  the 
Kickapoos,  Shawnees  and  Catawbas  all  sprang  from  remnants  of  this  tribe.     That 
the  Eries  were  a  warlike  race  cannot  be  doubted.     A  missionary  journal  of  1658 
refers  to  them  as  "  the  dreaded  Cat  Nation,"   the  subjugation  of  which  had  then 
been  accomplished. 

Next  west  of  the  Eries  were  the  Miamis,  another  warlike  tribe,  first  discovered 
in  Eastern  Wisconsin  by  the  French,  and  numbering  at  that  time  (1 679)  about  eight 
thousand  souls.  Their  belligerent  spirit  involved  them  in  perpetual  broils  with 
their  neighbors,  the  Sioux,  and  later  with  the  Iroquois  and  French.  Their  course 
of  migration  was  thus  described  by  their  famous  chief,  Little  Turtle  :  *'  My  fore- 
fathers kindled  the  first  fire  at  Detroit;  from  thence  they  extended  their  lines  to 
the  headwaters  of  the  Scioto;  from  thence  to  its  mouth  ;  from  thence  down  the 
Ohio  to  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash,  and  from  thence  to  Chicago  over  Lake  Michi- 


70  HiSTORV    OF   THE    CiTY   OF   CoLPMBUS. 

gan."  Their  territory,  says  General  Harrison,  "  embraced  all  of  Ohio  vrest  of  the 
Scioto,  all  of  Indiana. and  that  part  of  Illinois  south  of  the  Fox  Eiver,  and  Wiscon- 
sin, on  which  frontier  they  wore  intermingled  with  the  Kickapoos  and  some  other 
small  tribes.  .  .  .  Numerous  villages  were  to  be  found  on  the  Scioto  and  the  head 
waters  of  the  two  Miamis  of  the  Ohio.""  By  this  tribe,  it  is  believed,  the  Eries 
were  crowded  inland  from  the  northwest. 

The  neighbors  of  the  Miamis  on  the  west  were  the  Illinois,  whose  confederacy 
extended  along  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mississippi  south  to  within  about  eit^hty 
miles  of  the  Ohio. 

The  Lenno  Lenape,  or  Delawares,  claimed  to  be  the  oldest  of  the  Algonquins, 
and  to  have  come  from  the  west.  Afler  driving  the  Tallegwi  from  the  Ohio  they 
pushed  eastward  and  settled  along  the  Delaware  River,  near  which  they  were 
dwelling  when  first  known  to  the  whites,  and  which  gave  them  their  English  name. 
William  Penn  bought  large  portions  of  their  territory,  after  which  the^'  moved 
inland.  This  transaction  resulted  in  a  war,  in  the  course  of  which  the  Delawares 
were  driven  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  The}''  reached  the  Ohio  about  the  year  1700, 
and  moved  into  the  Muskingum  and  Scioto  valleys.'"*  They  afterwards  asserted 
their  dominion  over  most  of  the  eastern  half  of  Ohio. 

TheShawnees  were  a  nomadic  tribe,  sometimes  descriptively  designated   as 
American  Arabs.     Their  roving  disposition  has  given  rise  to  the  fancy  that  they 
were  "a  lost  tribe  of  Israel."-*     They  were  Algonciuins,  primarily  of  the  Kickapoo 
tribe,  and  were  first  found    by  the  whites  in  Wisconsin.     Moving  eastward,  they 
encountered  the  Iroquois,  by  whom  they  were  driven  south  into  Tennessee.     From 
thence  they  crossed  the  mountains  into  vSouth  Carolina,  and  spread  southward  to 
Florida,  and  northward  to  New  York.     At  a  later  period  they  drifted  northward, 
again  came  in  contact  with  the  Iroquois,  and  were  driven  into  Ohio.     Their  arrival 
here,  after  these  wanderings,  took  place  about  the  year  1750.     Gist  found  one  of 
their  settlements  in  that  year  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto.     The  French  called  these 
nomads  Chaouanons,  the  English  Shawanoes,  the  Iroquois  Satanas.     Their  tribal 
divisions,  four  in  number,  bore  the  names  Kiskapocke,    Mequachuke,  Chillicothe 
and  Piqua.     According  to  one  of  their  legends,  while  their  ancient  warriors  and 
wise  men  once  were  seated  around  a  smouldering  council  fire  there  was  a  sudden 
I  crepitation  and  puffing  of  smoke  amid  the  embers,  followed  by  the  apparition  of  a 

man  of  splendid  form  emerging  from  the  ashes.     This  was  the  first  Piquan. 

"  We  first  find  the  Shawano  in  actual  history  about  1660,"  says  Force,  "  and 
living  along  the  Cumberland  river,  or  the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee.     Among 
I  the  conjectures  as  to  their  earlier  history  the   greatest  probabilitj'  lies,  for  the 

present,  with  the  earliest  account  given  by  Perrot,  and  apparently  obtained  by 
him  from  the  Shawnees  themselves  about  the  year  1680 — that  they  formerly  lived 
by  the  lower  lakes,  and  were  driven  thence  by  the  Five  Nations."**  "  The  Shaw- 
nees and  Cherokees  seem  to  have  been  the  foremost  in  the  Indian  migrations 
^  which  met  the  Mound    Builders,"   says  Judge  Baldwin.     According  to  the  same 

1  authority,  "  while  the  Eries  were  at  peace  the  Shawnees  lived  next  south,  probably 

in  Southern  Ohio  and  Kentucky.""  But  the  Eries  did  not  remain  at  peace,  nor 
were  the  Shawnees  permitted  to  stay.  A  thunderbolt  fell  in  the  midst  of  these 
tribes  and  their  neighbors  which  crushed  the  Eries,  drove  oflF  the  Shawnees,  and 
scattered  other  clans  and  confederacies  to  the  four  winds. 

i 


72  HlHTORY    OK   THE    CiTV    OF    CoLUMBrS. 

In  the  year  1655  the  Iroquois,  usin^  their  canoes  as  scaling  ladders,  stormed  and 
carried  the  Erie  strongholds,  foil  like  tigers  upon  their  defenders,  and  butchered 
them  without  mercy.***  The  Erics  seem  to  have  been  utterly  dispersed,  and  were 
scarcely  more  heard  of  in  history.  The  Shawneos,  probable  next  neighbors  of  the 
Eries,  were  driven  south  and  scattered  to  the  winds.  Having  cleared  Ohio  of  its 
inhabitants  the  Five  Nations  regarded  and  kept  it  as  a  hunting  ground. 

Turning  eastward,  they  next  crushed  the  Tiogas,  Abenakis  and  Susquehan- 
nas,  placed  half  of  Long  Island  under  tribute,  and  asserted  their  supremacy  on 
Massachusetts  Bay.  Then  they  resumed  their  career  of  western  conquest.  A  map 
attached  to  Baron  La  Hontan's  Voyages  and  Adventures  in  North  America  be- 
tween 16S:-{  and  1(594  has  a  line  drawn  across  the  country  south  of  Lake  Erie,  ap- 
parently about  thirty  miles  from  the  lake,  representing  ^'  yo  way  that  ye  Illinese 
march  through  .i  vast  tract  of  ground  to  make  war  against  ye  Iroquese  :  The  same 
being  ye  Passage  of  ye  Iroquese  in  their  incursions  upon  ye  other  Savages,  as  far 
as  the  river  Missisipi."  The  annals  of  the  Jesuit  Missionaries  say  the  victorious 
Iroquois  attacked  the  Chicktaghicks,  or  Illinois  and  Miamis,  encamped  together 
on  the  Maumee  in  1<J80,  killed  thirty  and  captured  thret'  hundred  prisoners.  But 
the  defeate<i  clans  rallied,  ambuscaded  the  retiring  victors  and  retook  their 
prisoners. 

The  extent  of  these  later  conquests  of  the  Iroquois  has  been  much  disputed, 
one  side  being  represented  b}'  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton  and  the  colonial  histo- 
rian Colden,  the  other  by  President  William  H.  Harrison.  The  tirst,  says  Bald- 
win, rely  too  much  on  the  Iro(|uois  accounts,  the  other  too  much  on  the  traditions 
of  the  western  Indians,  but  "  it  seems  to  be  well  settled  that  the  Iroquis  continued 
to  occupy  a  considerable  portion  of  Ohio  at  will."**  Colden's  history**  maintains 
that  they  had  subdued  the  Illinois  in  1685,  and  is  full  of  their  wars  with  the 
Miamis.  A  French  memoir  of  1787  says  they  had  attacked  the  Miamis  and  Illinois 
at  Fort  St.  Louis,  founded  by  La  Salle  near  the  Mississippi,  had  there  encountered 
La  Salle  himself,  had  captured  many  prisoners,  and  had  threatened  the  extermina- 
tion of  the  tribes  of  that  region.  They  had  ranged  over  the  whole  of  Ohio,  and 
scoured  the  country  south  and  west  of  it.  Of  the  Delawares,  whose  westward  move- 
ment had  brought  them  into  southeastern  Ohio,  they  had  not  only  ma<le  subjects 
but  "  women."  *'  About  the  year  1700  '*  Messieurs  les  Iroquois,"  as  La  Hontan 
calls  them,  were  at  the  climax  of  their  power.  Their  conquests  were  vaguely  re- 
tained, and  their  dominion  was  loose  and  flexible,  but  such  as  it  was  it  extended 
over  New  York,  Delaware,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  the  northern 
and  western  portions  of  Virginia,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Northern  Tennessee,  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Michigan,  part  of  New  England  and  a  large  part  of  Upper  Can- 
ada.'*' In  Ohio  they  held  not  only  admitted  sovereignt}*,  but  actual  legal  oc- 
cupancy extending  over  most  of  the  territory  which  now  constitutes  the  State." 
Both  the  Shawnees  and  the  Delawares  were  their  tenant*  at  will. 

The  cosmogony  of  the  Iroquois  resembled  closely  that  of  the  Hurons.  They 
worshiped  Agreskoi,  whom  they  honored  with  ot!erings  of  flesh  and  tobacco,  and 
even  with  human  sacrifice.  They  believed  in  spirits,  and  were  particularly  reverent 
to  the  presiding  genii  of  maize,  pumpkins  and  beans.  The  French  missionaries 
succeeded  in  persuading  them,  or  part  ofthen),  lo  worship  G-od,  whom  the  converts 
recognized  under  the  name  of  Havvenniio,  meaning  '*  He  is  master."     They  buried 


The  Iroquois  and  Aloonqiins.  78 

their  dead  temporarily,  and  every  tenth  year  collected  the  remains  in  one  long 
grave  which  they  lined  with  furs,  and  variously  decorated.  Their  captives  taken 
in  war  were  either  adopted  or  tortured  and  burned  at  the  stake.  Their  dress-  was 
mainly  a  breechclout  for  men  and  a  short  petticoat  for  women.  Both  sexes  wore 
moccasins  and  leggings.  Their  huts  were  roofed  with  bark  laid  over  an  arborlike 
frame  of  poles. 

The  distribution  of  tribal  bodies  and  fragments,  in  and  outside  of  Ohio,  caused 
by  the  whirlwind  of  Iroquois  conquest,  was  somewhat  promiscuous.  A  map  pre- 
pared by  Colonel  Charles  Whittlesey,  and  published  in  1872,"  makes  the  following 
apportionment  of  the  Indian  occupation  of  the  State  from  1754  to  1780.  To  the 
Iroquois,  and  tribes  of  their  adoption,  Northeastern  Ohio  extending  as  far  south  as 
Wheeling  Creek,  and  including  the  valleys  of  the  Tgscarawas  and  Cuyahoga  ;  to 
the  Wyandots  and  Ottawas  the  valleys  of  the  affluents  of  Lake  Brie  wostofthe 
Cuyahoga  as  far  as  to  the  counties  of  Fulton  and  Henry;  to  the  Delawares  the 
valley  of  the  Muskingum;  to  the  Shawnees  the  Scioto  and  its  tributaries,  including 
territory  eastward  to  Raccoon  Creek  and  westward  to  the  counties  of  Brown  and 
Highland;  and  to  the  Miamis  the  western  part  of  the  State,  iiicludiiig  the  valleys 
of  the  two  Miamis  and  the  Tipper  Maumee. 

The  Ohio  Iroquois  were  mostly  Senecas  who  settled  in  the  northern  and 
eastern  portions  of  the  State.  They  dwelt  on  friendly  terms  with  their  neighbors 
and  dependents,  the  Shawnees  and  Delawares,  with  whom  they  also  intermarried. 
Those  in  Eastern  Ohio  were  called  Mingoes,  a  Pennsylvania  corruption  of  the 
term  Mengwe  applied  to  the  Iroquois  nations  by  the  Delawares.  Among  them 
were  probably  some  portions  of  the  conquered  Andastes.  The  Cuyahoga  River  is 
supposed  to  have  derived  its  name  from  a  band  of  Cayugas  settled  in  that  vicinity. 
Another  .portion  of  the  Cayuga  tribe  emigrated  to  Sandusky. 

In  1831  the  Senecas  sold  their  Ohio  lands  and  removed  to  the  Indian  Terri- 
tory. Originally  they  were  the  largest  and  most  westerly  of  the  Iroquois  nations. 
One  of  their  principal  chiefs  was  Red  Jacket,  of  the  Wolf  tribe,  whose  original 
Indian  name  was  Otetiani,  meaning '*  always  read}'."  He  died  in  1830.  The  most 
illustriouschief  of  the  Mingoes  was  Tahgahjute,  born  a  Cayuga,  on  the  shores  of  the 
Susquehannn,  and  commonly  known  as  Logan,  of  whom  more  will  be  said  in  a  sub- 
sequent chapter. 

The  Miamis  probably  came  U)  Ohio  witliin  the  historical  period.  Together 
with  their  kindred  the  Illinois,  they  maintained  a  vigorous  war  vvith  the  Iroquois 
by  whom,  some  writers  claim,**  they  were  not  woi*sted.  They  were  known  to  the 
Five  Nations  as  Twightwees.  Led  by  their  noted  chief  MisheUonequah,  or  Little 
Turtle,  they  defeated  Colonel  Hardin's  forces  twice  in  October,  1790,  and  routed 
General  St.  Clair's  army  a  year  later.  In  1834-5  they  were  removed  to  a  Govern- 
ment reservation  in  Kansas. 

Drifting  westward  in  their  war  with  the  Cherokees,  the  Delawares  arrived  in 
Ohio  about  the  year  1700  and  settled  on  the  Muskingum  In  1750  Gist  found 
several  of  their  villages  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto/"  one  of  them,  perhaps,  be- 
ing that  which  gave  its  name  to  the  present  city  of  Delaware.  In  1741  the  Mora- 
vian missionaries  began  to  labor  among  them  in  Pennsylvania,  making  numerous 
converts.  Latera  general  emigration  took  place,  and  h}'  17r)8  the  tribe  had  ceased 
to  exist  east  of  the  Alleghanies.     In  1772  the  Moravian  Delawares  formed  a  settle- 


74  History  op  the  (-ity  of  (>)litmbU8. 

ment  at  Gnadenhutten — "Tents  of  Grace" — now  in  Tuscarawas  County,  where 
ninety  of  them  were  cruelly  butchered  by  the  whites  in  1782,  on  alleged  but 
groundless  suspicion  of  having  been  concerned  in  certain  outrages  in  Pennsylvania. 
There  is  no  darker  bloodstain  in  the  Ohio  wihierness  than  this.  By  treaties  of 
1785-89  lands  were  reserved  for  the  Delawares  between  the  Cuyahoga  and  the 
Miami,  and  for  the  Christians  of  the  tribe  on  the  Muskingum,  but  causes  of  dis- 
content arose  which  induced  the  beneficiaries  of  these  grants  to  transfer  their  set- 
tlements to  Canada,  <m  lands  granted  by  the  Knglish  government.  In  1808  a  few 
members  of  this  tribe  remained  on  the  Muskingum,  and  a  small  band  was  settled 
on  the  Whitewoman  Creek,  near  Sandusky.  Their  Canada  settlement  at  Fairfield, 
on  the  Thames,  was  destroyed  by  the  Americans  in  1814.  In  1818  they  ceded  all 
their  lands  to  the  United  States  and  removed  to  Missouri,  leaving  ou\y  a  small 
band  in  Ohio. 

The  Ottawas,  although  intimately  associated  with  the  Wyandots,  appear  to 
have  been  in  most  respects  their  opposites.  Mr.  Shea  speaks  of  them  as  "  great 
cowards."  After  their  overthrow  b}'  the  Hurons  they  fled  to  the  islands  at  the 
mouth  of  Green  Bay,  and  thence  to  the  Sioux  country  beyond  the  Mississippi. 
Driven  back  eastward  by  the  Sioux  in  1660,  they  halted  at  Mackinac,  where  they 
became  involved  again  with  the  Iroquois.  After  the  settlement  of  Detroit  part  of 
them  migrated  to  that  vicinity,  while  another  part,  remaining  behind  at  Mackinac, 
crossed  to  Arbre  Croche.  After  1672  they  were  in  constant  companionship  with 
the  Wyandots,  by  whom  they  were  persuaded  in  1747  to  settle  on  the  lower  Mau- 
mee.  The}'  took  part  in  the  last  struggle  of  the  French  for  (/anada,  and  when  it 
ended  disastrous!}'  to  their  allies,  their  bold  chief  Pontiac,  refusing  to  yield, 
organized  a  supreme  effort  by  all  the  western  tribes  to  drive  out  the  English.  He 
stealthily  laid  his  plans  for  a  general  massacre  of  the  English  garrisons  and  settle- 
ments in  May,  1763.  reserving  for  himself  the  attack  upon  Detroit.  His  intentions 
becoming  known  in  time  to  prevent  the  surprise  of  the  post,  he  placed  it  under 
siege  and  neglected  no  expedient  known  to  savage  warfare  for  its  reduction.  To 
obtain  subsistence  for  his  warriors  he  issued  promissory  notes  written  on  birch 
bark  and  signed  with  the  figure  of  an  otter.  All  these  notes  were  redeemed. 
The  siege  was  raised  after  several  months,  and  most  of  the  trihes  ceased  their  hos- 
tilities, but  Pontiac  remained  unsubdued.  Withdrawing  to  the  Illinois  country 
he  instigated  fresh  hostilities  and  held  out  for  a  time,  but  his  followers  dropped 
away  from  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  submit,  in  1766,  to  English  rule.  He  was 
finally  slain,  while  intoxicated,  by  an  Illinois  Indian  at  Cahokia,  opposite  St. 
Louis. 

In  1836  the  Ottawas  at  Maumee  exchanged  49,000  acres  of  land  for  36,000  on 
the  Osage,  whither  two  hundred  of  them  removed  while  about  the  same  number 
remained  in  Ohio.  The  Michigan  branch  of  the  tribe  continued  its  settlements 
there,  but  accepted  lands  in  severalty  in  lieu  of  reservations.  The  Canadian  Otta- 
was on  the  Waljjole,  Christian  and  Manitoulin  Islands  have  fused  with  their  Indian 
neighbors  of  other  tribes,  and  are  generally  self  supporting  and  prosperous. 

The  Shawnees  are  clustered,  on  the  ancient  maps,  along  the  Scioto  from  its 
mouth  northward  to  the  Pickaway  Plains,  and  also  northeastwardly  through  the 
present  counties  of  Clark,  Champaign  and  Logan.  Their  Ohio  settlements  seem 
to  have  been  resumed,  afler  the  Iroquois  dispersion,  by  a  discontented  portion  of 


The  Iroquoih  and  Algonquins.  75 

the  tribe  which  emigrated  from  Virginia  about  the  year  1730.  In  January,  1751, 
Christopher  Gist,  a  Virginia  surveyor  sent  out  to  explore  the  Ohio  woods,  arrived 
as  he  8a3'8  in  his  journal  at  a  Shawnee  town,  "  situated  on  both  sides  of  the  Ohio, 
just  below  the  mouth  of  Scioto  Creek,  and  containing  about  three  hundred  men. 
There  were  about  forty  houses  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  an<i  about  a  hundred 
on  the  north  side,  with  a  kind  of  state  house  about  i\inety  feet  long,  with  a  tight 
cover  of  bark,  in  which  councils  were  held."""*  At  the  time  of  Bouquet's  expedition 
in  1764  the  Shawnees  had  u})on  the  Scioto  about  live  hundred  warriors.  Pickaway 
County,  which  takes  its  name  from  their  Piqua  tribe,  contained  their  most  impor- 
tant villages,  the  largest  of  which,  said  to  have  been  the  residence  of  the  Mingo 
Logan,  was  Old  Chillicothe,  now  Westlall.  Cornstalk,  one  of  their  famous  chiefs, 
and  his  sister,  known  as  the  Grenadier  Squaw,  gave  their  names  to  two  others. 
Another  village,  which  occupied  the  jii-esent  site  of  Prankfort  in  Ross  (.'ount}',  is 
called  Old  Chillicothe,  or  Oldtown,  by  Squier  and  Davis.  According  to  these 
writers  a  famous  Shawnee  village  was  situated  there,  grouped  around  one  of  the 
interesting  works  of  the  >round  Builders.  In  its  (jM  Indian  huryingground  numer- 
ous relics  deposited  with  the  dead  have  been  found.  Another  Shawnee  village  was 
located  about  three  miles  north  of  Xenia,"' and  doubtless  bands  of  these  restless 
wanderers  sojourned  for  a  time  in  man}'  different  j)arts  of  the  State.  Their  multi- 
plied migrations  and  settlements  have  bewildered  antiquarian  research.  Their  most 
famous  chief  was  Tecumseh,  horn  near  the  j)resent  city  of  Springfiehl  about  1768, 
an<l  killed  in  Harrison's  battle  of  the  Thames,  October  5,  1H|:J.  hi  18:n  the  Ohio 
Shawnees  ceiled  their  lands  to  the  United  States  and  were  removed  to  a  (rovern- 
raent  reservation  in  Kansas,  w-here,  in  1S54,  the  tribe  inimbered  nine  hundred. 

The  Wyandots,  at\er  having  rallied  from  the  Iroijuois  dispersion,  occupied  the 
countr}'  north  and  west  of  Detroit,  and  ranged  southward  through  the  wilderness 
to  the  Ohio  and  beyond.  In  170H  they  j)enetrated  to  the  Shawnees  and  Choctaws 
on  these  excursions,  and  encountered  detachments  of  (!Jherokees  then  roving  north- 
ward. One  of  these  Cherokee  bands  joined  them  later  in  their  settlements  at  San- 
dusky. In  1732  the  Wyandots  claimed  the  entire  area  of  this  State  as  their  hunt- 
ing ground,  and  warned  the  Shawnees  to  shift  their  settlements  south  of  the  Ohio. 
Gradually  the  tribe  centered  at  Sandusky  prior  to  the  colonial  War  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

The  territory  comprised  within  the  present  limits  of  Franklin  Count}'  was 
visited  and  temporarily  occupied  by  parties  of  Delawares,  Mingoes,  Shawnees  and 
other  tribes,  but  the  Indians  who  held  it  in  predominant  possession  during  the 
historical  period  were  Wyandots.  Theirs  were  the  eorntields  planted  in  the 
meadow  openings  where  Franklinton  was  built,  and  theirs  the  Indian  village  whose 
nmoking  lodges  stood  in  the  forest  where  now  stands  the  city  of  Columbus.  The 
Iroquois,  apparently  reconciled  at  last  with  their  old  antagonists,  were  also  here, 
at  least  three  of  their  villages  being  located  within  the  present  boundaries  of  the 
county. 

The  following  anecdote  of  local  occurrence,  deemed  to  be  illustrative  of  the 
character  of  the  Ohio  Wyandots,  has  been  narrated  :*" 

A  party  surveying  on  the  Scioto  above  the  site  of  Columbus,  in  1797,  had  been  reduee<l 
to  three  scanty  meals  for  four  days.  They  eame  to  the  eanip  of  a  Wyandot  Indian,  with  hie 
family,  and  he  gave  them  all  the  provisions  he  had,  which  cou) prised  only  two  rabbits  and 


7<>  IIlSTORV    OK    THE    CiTY    OF    CoLUMBrS. 

a  small  piece  of  venison.  This  Wyan<lotV  father  had  heen  murdered  by  the  whites  in  the 
time  of  peai'e ;  the  father  of  one  of  the  surveyors  had  l)een  killed  by  the  Indians  in  time  of 
war. 

The  pathetic  story  of  the  nuirdor  of  thf  Wyandot  chief  known  as  Leatherlips 
at  his  dwelh'ng-placo  in  the  northern  part  of  Franklin  County  has  gained  currency 
as  authentic  history.  The  order  for  thin  murder  is  said  to  have  emanated  direct 
from  Tecuniseh  and  his  propiiet  brother  at  Tippecanoe  and  to  have  been  executed 
by  their  emissaries,  (icneral  Harrison  entertained  this  opinion/'  whicli  is  sup- 
ported by  one  of  Heckewelder's  correspondents  in  his  historyof  the  Indian  Nations 
The  following  account  of  the  tragedy  is  given  in  the  autobiography  of  Rev.  J.  B. 
Finle}^  who  was  at  the  time  a  missionary  among  the  Wyandot  Indians: 

During  the  summer  of  1810.  an  event  occurred,  on  the  circuit  adjoining  the  one  which  I 
traveled,  of  a  tragical  and  melan<?ho]y  diaracter;  and,  as  I  propose,  in  connection  with  my 
own  biography,  to  furnish  the  reader  with  a  cotem})oraneou8  historj-  of  the  times  in  which  I 
lived.  I  will  relate  the  circumstances  connected  with  that  event. 

On  the  evening  of  the  first  day  of  June,  six  VV^vandot  warriors  went  to  the  house  of  Mr. 
Benjamin  Sells,  on  tlie  Scioto  River,  about  twelve  miles  above  the  spot  where  now  stands  the 
City  of  Columbus.  They  were  equipped  in  the  most  warlike  manner,  and  exhibited,  during 
their  stay,  an  unusual  degree  of  agitation. 

Having  ascertaine<l  that  an  old  Wyan<lot  chief,  for  whom  they  had  been  making  diligent 
inquiry,  was  then  encamped,  at  a  distance  of  about  two  miles  further  up,  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  river,  they  expressed  a  determination  to  put  him  to  death,  and  immediately  went  off 
in  the  direction  of  his  lodge.  These  facts  were  communicated  early  on  the  ensuing  morning 
to  Mr.  John  Sells,  who  now  resiiles  m  the  village  of  Dublin,  on  the  Scioto,  al>out  two  miles 
from  the  place  where  the  doomed  Wyandot  met  his  fate.  Mr.  Sells  immediately  proceeded 
up  the  river  on  horseback  in  (|uest  of  the  Indians.  He  so«)n  arrived  at  the  lodge,  which  he 
found  situated  in  a  grove  of  sugar  trees  close  to  the  bank  of  the  river.  Th«.t  six  warriors 
were  seated  in  consultation  at  the  distance  of  a  few  hmIs  from  the  lodge.  The  old  chief  was 
with  them,  evidently  in  the  character  oi  a  prisoner.  His  arms  were  confined  by  a  small 
cord,  but  he  sat  witli  them  without  any  manifestation  of  uneasiness.  A  few  of  the  neighbor- 
ing white  men  were  likewise  there,**  and  a  gloomy  looking  Indian,  who  had  been  the  com- 
panion of  the  chief,  but  now  kept  entirely  aloof,  sitting  sullenly  in  the  camp.  Mr.  Sells 
approached  the  Indians  and  found  them  earnestlv  engagotl  in  debate. 

A  charge  of  **  witchcraft''  had  been  made  at  a  former  time  again&t  the  chief  by  some  of 
his  captors,  whf»se  friends  had  been  <lestroycd,  as  they  believed,  by  means  of  his  evil  powers. 
This  crime,  according  to  immemorial  usage  of  the  tribe,  involved  forfeiture  of  life.  The 
chances  of  a  hunter's  life  had  brought  the  old  man  to  his  present  location,  and  his  pursuers 
had  sought  him  out  in  order  that  they  might  execute  uix)n  him  the  sentence  of  their  law. 

The  council  was  of  two  or  three  hours'  duration.  The  accusing  party  spoke  alternately, 
with  much  ceremony,  but  with  evident  bitterness  of  feeling.  The  prisoner,  in  his  replies, 
was  eloquent,  though  dispiissionate.  Occasionally  a  smile  of  scorn  would  appear  for  an 
instant  on  his  countenance.  At  the  close  of  the  consultation  it  was  ascertained  that  they 
had  reaffirmed  the  sentence  of  death  which  ha<l  before  been  passed  upon  the  chief.  Inquiry 
having  been  made  by  some  of  the  while  men,  with  reference  to  their  arrangements,  the  cap- 
tain of  the  six  warriors  pointed  to  the  sun  and  signified  to  them  that  the  execution  would 
take  place  at  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Mr.  Sells  went  to  the  captain  and  asked  him 
what  the  chief  had  done.  "  Very  ba<l  Indian,"  he  replied,  '*  make  good  Indian  sick  —  make 
horse  sick  —  make  die  —  very  bad  chief." 

Mr.  Sells  then  made  an  effort  to  persuade  his  white  friends  to  rescue  the  victim  of  super- 
stition from  his  impending  fate,  but  to  iv>  purpo-e.  They  were  then  in  a  frontier  situation, 
entirely  open  to  the  incursions  of  ihe  northern  tribes,  and  were,  consequently,  unwilling  to 
subject  themselves  to  the  displeasure  of  their  savage  visitors  by  any  interference  with  their 


The  Iroquoir  and  Algonquins.  77 

operations.  He  then  proposed  to  release  the  chief  by  purchase,  ottering  to  the  captain  for 
that  purpose  a  fine  horse  of  the  value  of  three  hundred  dollars.  *'  Let  me  see  him,"  said 
the  Indian.  The  horse  was  accordingly  brought  forward  and  closely  examined,  and  so  much 
were  they  staggered  by  this  proposition  that  they  again  repaired  to  their  place  of  consulta- 
tion, and  remained  in  council  a  considerable  length  of  time  before  it  was  finally  rejected. 

The  conference  was  again  terminated,  and  five  of  the  Indians  began  to  amuse  them- 
selves with  running,  jumping,  and  other  athletic  exercises.  The  captain  took  no  part  with 
them.  When  again  inquired  of  as  to  the  time  of  execution  he  pointed  to  the  sun,  as  before, 
and  indicated  the  hour  of  four.  The  prisoner  then  walked  slowly  to  his  camp,  partook  of  a 
dinner  of  jerked  venison,  washed  and  arrayed  himself  in  his  best  apparel,  and  afterward 
painted  his  face.  His  dress  was  very  rich,  his  hair  gray,  and  his  whc»le  appearance  graceful 
and  commanding.  At  his  request  the  whole  company  drew  around  him  at  the  lodge.  He 
had  observed  the  exertions  u)ade  by  Mr.  iSells  in  his  behalf,  and  now  presented  to  him  a 
written  paper,  with  a  re<iuefit  that  it  might  be  read  to  the  company.  It  was  a  recommendation, 
signed  by  Governor  Hull,  and  in  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  prisoner,  it  was  fixed 
and  left  upon  the  side  of  a  large  tree  a  short  clintance  from  the  wigwanj. 

The  hour  of  execution  being  close  at  hand,  the  chief  shook  hands  in  silence  with  the 
surrounding  spectators.  On  coming  to  Mr.  Sells,  he  appeared  much  moved,  grasped  his 
hand  warmly,  spoke  for  a  few  minutes  in  the  Wyandot  language,  and  pointed  to  the  heavens 
He  then  turned  from  the  wigwam,  and,  with  a  voice  of  surpassing  strength  and  melody, 
commenced  the  chant  of  the  death  song.  He  was  followed  closely  by  the  Wyandot  warriors, 
all  timing  with  their  slow  and  measured  march  the  mueic  of  his  wild  ami  melancholy  dirge. 
The  white  men  were  all  likewise  silent  followers  in  that  strange  procession.  At  the  distance 
of  seventy  or  eighty  yards  from  the  camp  they  came  to  a  shallow  grave,  which,  unknown  to 
the  white  men,  had  been  previously  prepared  by  the  Indians.  Here  the  old  man  kneeled 
down  and  in  an  elevated  but  solemn  tone  of  voice  addressed  his  prayer  to  the  (»reat  Spirit. 
As  soon  as  he  had  finished,  the  (captain  of  the  Indians  kneeled  beside  him  and  prayed  in  a 
similar  manner.  Their  prayers,  of  course,  were  spoken  in  the  Wyandot  tongue.  When  they 
arose,  the  captain  was  again  accosted  by  Mr.  Sells,  who  insisted  that,  if  they  were  inflexible 
in  the  determination  to  shed  blood,  they  should  at  least  remove  their  victim  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  white  settlement.     "  No  I  "  said  he,  very  sternly  and  with  evident  displeasure.   .    .  . 

Finding  all  interference  futile,  Mr.  Sells  was  at  length  compelled,  reluctantly,  to  abandon 
the  old  man  to  his  fate.     After  a  few  moments  delay  he  again  sank  down  upon  his  knees 
and  prayed  as  he  liad  done  before.     When  he  ha<i  ceased  praying  he  still  continued  in  a 
kneeling  position.     All  the  rifles  belonging  to  the  party  had  been  left  at  the  wigwam.    There 
was  not  a  weapon  of  any  kind  to  be  seen  at  the  place  of  execution,  and  the  spectators  were 
consequently  unable  to  form  any  conjecture  as  to  the  mode  of  procedure  which  the  execu- 
tioners had  determined  on  for  the  fulfillment  of  their  purpose.    Suddenly  one  of  the  war- 
riors drew  from  beneath  the  skirts  of  his  capote  a  keen,  bright  tomahawk,  walked  rapidly  up 
behind  the  chieftain,  brandished  the  weapon  on  high  for  a  single  moment,  and  then  struck 
with  bis  whole  strength.    Theblow^  descended  directly  upon  the  crown  of  the  head,  and  the 
victim  immediately  fell  prostrate.    After  he  had   lain  awhile  in  the  agonies  of  death  the 
Indian  captain  directed  the  attention  of  the  white  men  to  the  drops  of  sweat  which  were 
gathering  upon  his  neck  and  face,  remarking  with  much  apparent  exultation  that  it  was 
conclusive  proof  of  the  sufferer*s  guilt.     Again  the  executioner  advanced,  and  with  the  same 
weapon  inflicted  two  or  three  additional  and  heavy  blows.     As  soon  as  life  was  entirely 
extinct  the  body  was  hastily  buried  and  with  all  its  apparel  and  decorations  and  the  assem- 
blage dispersed.      The  Wyandots  returned  immediately  to  their  hunting  grounds  and  the 
^hite  men  to  their  homes.  .  .  .   The  Wyandot  Nation  to  whom  the  old  chief  belonged  never 
afterward  were  reconciled  to  the  tribe  that  killed  him. 

Although  the  charge  made  against  Leathorlips  was  that  of  witchcraft,  his 
friendship  for  the  whites  is  believed  to  have  been  the  real  cause  of  his  murder. 
The  great  Wyandot  sachem,  Tahre,  The  Crane,  was  accused  of  leading  the  assas- 
eins,  but  Harrison  exculpates  him.  The  real  leader  seems  to  have  been  another 
chief  named  Eon  ad  head. 


78  IllSToUY    OF    THE    ClTV    oK    CoLrMBl  S. 

For  a  long  tinn*  the  plact*  ot'oxocution  and  burial  of  tbo  ol«l  chief  was  marked 
by  a  rudo  hoap  of  stones  whi<-h  lias  now  been  replaced  by  a  bandHome  monument 
iTected  by  the  Wyandot  i'lub,  a  social  organization  of  <'olunibus.  The  movtMuent 
which  resulted  in  this  ninnoriul  was  lu^gun  at  the  annual  reunion  of  the  club  held 
September  IH.  1S87,  in  the  stately  forest  known  as  Wyandot  Grove,  eight  miles 
northwest  of  the  city.  On  that  occasion  ( 'olon«'l  Samuel  Thompson,  a  member  of 
the  (rlub,  delivered  an  oration  in  whirh  he  paid  a  glowing  tribute  to  the  general 
character  of  the  Wyandots.  and  among  other  things  siiid :  "I  learned  from  our 
venerable  friend,  the  late  Abraham  Sells,  former  proprietor  of  this  beautiful  grove, 
rightly  named  by  him  Wyan<lot  (irovr,  [thatj  near  yon  crystal  spring  once  stood 
the  cabin  of  this  noted  chief.  It  was  here  that  the  Wyandots  halted  to  rest  and 
refresh  themselves  when  on  their  way  to  the  white  settlements  at  C-hillicothc.  and 
subsequently  at  Kranklinton,  this  county. " 

In  1829  a  small  l>an<l  of  Wyandots  still  <lwelt  on  the  Huron  River,  in  Michi- 
gan, but  the  principal  portion  of  the  tribe,  numbering  about  six  hundred  >ouls, 
was  collecte<l  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Sanduskv.  Hv  treatv  of  \X'A'2  tliev  s<dd 
their  lands  to  the  I'nited  States,  and  were  removed,  <IH7  in  number, to  the  junction 
of  the  Kaw  and  Missouri  IJivers  in  the  present  Slate  ot  Kansas,  (.-olomd  S.  P. 
McKlvain.  a  prominent  citizen  of  ( 'olumbus,  assiste<i  as  Government  .\gent  in 
their  transjKjrtatioii  to  their  new  home.  \  further  removal  of  meml>ers  of  the 
tribe  is  thus  referre<l  to  in  the  A'r/,lif  Tnrrhh'tfhf  of  July  2«I,  1843: 

We  are  infonned  by  a  retnrninji:  wagoner,  wlm  had  been  aflsisting  in  the  transportation 
of  the  Wyandot  Indians  to  Cincinnati  that  four  deaths  (K*curre<l  anion);  them  before  their 
departure  from  that  city.  The  <leceased  persons  were  a  woman  and  a  child,  Warp<^le,  a 
chief  aged  li:^  years,  an<l  John  Hicks.  The  hnlian  la>t  nanieil  was  on  board  a  b<iat  from 
which  he  fell  into  the  river,  in  a  .<»tate  of  intoxication.  an<l  was  drowned 

'•  The  one  <lrowned,  "  says  a  writer  of  the  period,  ••  was  probably  the  «>nl3' 
intemperate  man  of  the  tribe.  "*' 

NOTES. 

1.  Charles  Maclaren,  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  E<linbur^. 

2.  The  Italian  )2^^o.irrapher  Adriano  Halbi  estimate<l  the  number  of  Indian  languages  at 
428,  of  which  211  belonged  to  North,  4-1  to  Central  and  158  to  South  America.  Other  author- 
ities estimate  the  total  nuud>er  of  aboriginal  tonj?ues  at  7tK),  of  which  430  were  attributed  to 
the  north  and  :J:JO  to  the  south. 

X     language  and  the  Study  of  I-^nguage  :  by  Professor  Whitney  of  Yale  College. 

4.  Johann  Friedrich  Blunienthal,  born  at  <iotha,  May  11,  1752;  celebrated  for  his 
craniologieal  researclies,  an<l  first  to  ai)ply  the  science  of  comparative  anatomy  to  ethnological 
stndv. 

5.  Dr.  Samuel  G.  M(»rton,  of  Philadelphia,  a  physician  and  celebrated  ethnological  in- 
vestigator. 

().  The  T<iltecan  fanuly  embraced  the  civilize<i  nations  of  Mexico,  Peru  and  Bogota, 
extentlinj^  from  the  Uio  (iila  along  the  western  shore  of  the  continent  to  the  frontiers  of 
Chili,  and  on  the  eastern  coa.st  along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  in  North  America.  But  even  before 
the  Spanish  conquest,  the  Toltecan  family  were  not  exclusive  poeseasors  of  these  regions; 
they  were  only  the  predominant  race,  or  ca.«le. 

7.    On  the  authority  of  a  paper  entitled  :      "Wyandot  Government;  a  Short   Study  in 
Tribal  Society"  :  by  .1.  W.  Powell,  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology.     First  annual  report:. 
to  the  Secrctarv  of  the  Siiiiths(H)iau  Uhslitution,  18S1. 


The  Iroquois  and  Aloonqiins.  79 

8.  A  paper  entitled  :     **  To  What  Race  did  the  Mound  Builders  Belong?  "     By  General 
Manning  F.  Force. 

9.  Discourse  on  the  aborigines  of  the  Ohio  Valley. 

10.  Their  territorial  grouping  was  supposed  to  take  that  shape.  "  Of  this  cabin,"  says 
Mr.  Shea,  "  the  fire  was  in  the  centre,  at  Onondaga,  and  the  Mohawk  was  the  door." 

11.  The  Tuscaroras  were  a  cognate  nation  which  migrated  southward  at  an  early  period. 
They  attempted  to  massacre  the  North  Carolina  colonists  in  1711,  but  troops  were  called  from 
South  Carolina,  and  they  were  routed  in  the  battle  of  the  Neuse.  January  28,  1712,  losing 
four  hundred  killed  and  wounded.  On  March  20.  1713,  they  suffered  another  disaster  by  the 
loss  of  their  fort  at  Snow  Hill,  and  eight  humlred  of  their  number  captured.  The  residue  of 
the  tribe  fled  northward,  and  became  the  sixth  nation  of  the  Iro(iuois  league.  At  a  later 
period  some  of  them  settled  in  Ohio. 

12.  **  I^eague  of  the  Iroquois,"  by  Lewis  Henry  Morgan;  Rochester,  1851. 

13.  So  called  from  their  extensive  tobacco  product  and  traflic. 

14.  The  following  note  is  attache<l  to  General  Harrison's  *'  Di8«'0urse  "  : 

When  General  Wayne  assumed  the  position  at  Greenville  in  1793,  he  sent  forCaptain 
Wells,  who  eommanded  a  company  of  scouts,  and  told  him  that  he  wishe<l  him  to  go  to  San- 
dusky and  take  a  prisoner  for  the  purpose  of  ol)taining  information.  Wells  .  .  .  answered 
that  he  could  take  a  prisoner,  but  not  from  Sandusky.  **  .\nd  why  not  from  Sandusky?" 
said  the  General.  '*  Because,'*  answere<i  the  Captain,  *'  there  are  only  Wyandots  there." 
**  Well,  why  will  not  Wyandots  do?"  "  P'or  the  best  of  reasons,"  said  Wells,  "  becaust? 
Wyandots  will  not  be  taken  alive." 

15.  Origin  and  Traditional  History  ol  the  Wyandots?,  by  Peter  I),  ('iarke  ;  Toronto,  1S70. 
10.     History  of  Ohio;  J.  W.  Taylor. 

17.  Shea. 

18.  Taylor. 

19.  History  of  Ohio. 

20.  Jesuit  Relation  of  1048. 

21.  Ibid. 

22.  Histoire  du  Canada,  1680. 

23.  Harrison'*?   Discourse. 

24.  During  his  exploration  of  the  Ohio  country  in  1750  Christopher  Gist  found  several 
Delaware  villages  along  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto,  and  was  favorably  received.  He  esti- 
mated the  fighting  strength  of  the  trilns  at  that  time  at  five  hundred  warriors.  Commenting 
on  this  fact  in  a  note  to  his  text  Taylor  says  : 

'*  Gist  by  no  means  found  the  bulk  of  the  Delawares  upon  the  '  east  bank  of  the  Scioto,' 
althougii  'several  villages'  might  have  been  scattered  along  its  course.  His  nmte  was  doubt- 
less by  the  'Standing  Stone,'  now  Lancaster,  and  thence  to  the  fertile  Pickaway  Plains,  where 
the  Shawnees  were  afterwards  assembled  in  considerable  force.  When  the  Delaware  chiefs. 
who  were  in  the  American  interest,  visited  Philadelphia  during  the  Revolution,  they  spoke 
of  '  placing  the  Shawnees  in  their  laps  '—a  figurative  expression  for  the  surrender  of  the 
Scioto  Valley  to  them,  as  they  ascende<i  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  But  the  Delawares 
continued  their  occui)ation  of  the  region  now  bearing  their  name  in  Ohio,  and  (4eorge  San- 
derson, Ksq.,  in  his  History  of  the  Early  Settlement  of  Fairfield  County,  mentions  them  as 
joint  occupants  of  that  vicinity  with  the  Wyandots.  .  .  .  While  the  Wyandots  occupied  the 
present  site  of  Lancaster,  a  Delaware  chief,  calle<l  Tol>ey,  rule<l  over  a  village  called  Tobey- 
town,  near  Royalton." 

The  Wyandot  village  at  Lancaster,  according  to  Sanderson,  contiiined  a  hundred  wig- 
wams, and  was  called  Tahre,  or  Cranetown,  from  the  name  of  its  chief. 

25.  Taylor  says  they  claimed  to  be  such.     History  of  Ohio,  page  31*. 

26.  Some  Early  Notices  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  Ohio  ;  a  paj)er  read  before  the  Historical 
and  Philosophical  Society  of  Ohio,  by  General  Manning  F.  Force,  1871>. 

27.  Indian  Migration  in  Ohio;  Hon.  C.  C.  Baldwin,  1878. 

28.  The  Jesuit  Relation  of  1050  abounds  in  descriptions  of  the  burning  and  torture  of 
the  captured  Eries  by  the  Iroquois.    In  its  account  of  the  storming  of  one  of  the  Erie  pali- 

Badee  occurs  this  extravagant  passage : 


80  History  or  tiik  City  of  CoLrMBrs. 

**  The  beeie^rs  try  to  carry  the  place  by  storm ,  but  in  vain ;  they  are  killed  as  fast  as  they 
show  themselves.  They  resolved  to  use  their  canoi^s  as  shields.  They  carry  these  in  front, 
and  thus  sheltered  they  reach  the  foot  of  the  intrench ment.  But  it  was  necessary  to  clear  the 
Kreat  beams  or  trees  of  which  it  waH  built.  They  slant  their  canoes,  and  use  them  as  ladders 
to  mount  the  great  pahsade.  This  boldness  so  astonished  the  besieged,  that,  their  armament 
being  already  exhauster!,  for  their  supply  was  small,  especially  powder,  they  thought  to 
retreat  and  this  was  their  ruin.  For  the  first  fugitives  being  mostly  killed,  the  rest  were 
surrounded  by  the  Onnontaguehronnons,  who  entered  the  fort,  and  made  such  a  carnage  of 
women  and  children  that  the  blood  was  in  places  knee  deep." 

29.    The  Iroquois  in  Ohio;  a  paper  by  Hon.  C.  C  Baldwin. 

liO,  History  of  the  Five  Indian  Nations  of  Canada  Depending  on  New  York  :  by  Cad- 
wallader  Colden.  member  of  the  King's  Council  and  Surveyor-General  of  the  Province ; 
1727-55. 

31.  General  Harrison  says  in  his  "  Discourse"  : 

**  Singular  as  it  may  seeni  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  the  I^enapes,  ui>on  the  dictation  of 
the  Iroquois,  agreed  to  lay  aside  the  character  of  warriors,  an<l  to  assume  that  of  women. 
This  fact  is  undisputed,  but  nothing  can  l>e  more  different  than  the  account  which  is  given 
of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  brought  about  and  the  motives  for  adopting  it  on  the  part  of 
the  Lenapes.  The  latter  assert  that  they  were  cajoleti  into  it  by  the  artifices  of  the  Iroquois, 
who  descanted  largely  upon  the  honor  which  was  to  be  acquired  by  their  assuming  the  part 
of  peacemakers  between  belligerent  tribes,  and  which  could  never  be  so  effectual  as  when 
done  in  the  character  of  the  sex  which  never  make  war.  The  Lenapes  consented,  and  agreed 
that  their  chiefs  and  warriors  from  thenceforth  should  be  (tonsidered  as  women.  The  version 
of  1  his  transaction  as  given  by  the  Iroquois  is,  that  they  demanded  and  the  Lenapes  were 
made  to  yield  this  humiliating  concession  as  the  only  means  of  averting  impending  de- 
struction/' 

32.  Morgan. 

33.  Baldwin. 

M.     Walling  and  Gray*s  Atlas. 

35.     Notably  General  W.  H.  Harrison. 

3(>.  See  note  24.  In  his  address  before  the  Franklin  County  Pioneer  Association  in  1871. 
Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant,  of  this  city,  said  he  had  reasons  for  the  belief  that  Gist,  in  his  journey 
**  passe<i  over  or  very  near  the  present  sit^  of  Columbus." 

37.  American  Cyclojiedia,  Vol.  XII. 

38.  Gist's  Journal. 

39.  Royce,  in  the  Auttquarian  for  July,  1881. 

40.  Howe's  Historical  Collections. 

41.  Drake's  Life  of  Tecumseh. 

42.  Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County,  published  in  1858,  mentions  William  Sells, 
Esq.,  of  Dublin,  as  '*  perhaps  the  only  survivor  of  the  white  men  referred  to  that  were  pres- 
ent at  the  execution." 

43.  Ohio  StaU  Jofirnal,  July  27,  1843. 


t 
r:  ••     I 


4'  ■    '•,     M.        ^ 


yi^fz^-i-iW^ 


•  •  • 


CHAPTER   V. 


ADVENT  OF  THE  WHITE  MAN. 

First  of  Europeans,  or  of  the  Caucasian  race,  to  tread  the  soil  of  Ohio,  was  the 
brilliant  Norman,  a  native  of  Rouen,  Robert  Cavelier  de  la  Salle:  Eager  and 
daring,  this  tireless  explorer  arrived  in  Canada  from  France  in  IG66,  his  mind 
teeming  with  glowing  fancies  concerning  the  unknown  West.  Learning  vaguely 
from  the  Indians  of  the  great  Mississippi  and  its  beautiful  tributary  the  Oyo,  as  the 
Iroquois  called  it,  he  conceived  the  idea  that,  launching  upon  these  waters,  he 
would  be  borne  to  the  Pacific,  and  far  round  the  globe  toward  India  and  China. 
Therefore,  in  token  of  the  expected  destination  of  his  proposed  enterprise,  he  gave 
to  the  settlement  which  he  founded  on  the  St.  Lawrence  the  name  of  La  Chine.* 
Disposing  of  his  possessions  in  that  colony,  he  set  out  in  16<)9  to  explore  the  country 
between  the  lakes  and  the  Ohio.  At  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario  his  two  white  com- 
panions quitted  him,  but  he  persisted  in  his  purpose,  reached  the  Ohio  River,  and 
descended  it  to  the  present  site  of  Louisville.  La  Salle's  record  of  this  expedi- 
tion, if  he  ever  wrote  one,  has  not  been  preserved.  After  his  assassination  some 
years  later,  his  papers  seem  to  have  been  lost.  He  spent  the  winter  of  1669-70 
within  the  present  limits  of  Ohio,  and  probably  passed  through  the  State  down  the 
Muskingum,  the  Scioto,  or  the  Big  Miami.  It  is  quite  possible  that  he  was  the  first 
white  man  who  ever  visited  the  spot  whereon,  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
later,  was  founded  Ohio's  capital. 

Having  ascertained  from  this  and  subsequent  expeditions  the  real  course  of  the 
Mississippi,  La  Salle  conceived  some  new  and  far-reaching  schemes.  Engaging  in 
the  fur  trade,  for  which  he  obtained  special  favors  from  the  King  of  France,  he 
launched  his  canoes  on  the  Ohio,  the  Wabash  and  the  Maumee,  and  established 
posts  for  traffic  along  the  banks  of  these  rivers  and  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes. 
He  was  also  first  to  conceive  plans  for  exploring  the  country  from  Lake  Frontenac, 
as  Ontario  was  then  called,  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  in  order  to  extend  the  dominion 
of  France  over  the  entire  Mississippi  basin,  and  bring  its  inhabitants  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Christian  religion.  In  1678  he  began  to  build  the  Griffon,  a  bark  of 
sixty  tons,  which  he  launched  the  following  summer  near  the  present  site  of  Buf- 
falo. On  August  7th,  1669,  with  a  crew  of  thirtyfour  hunters,  soldiers  and 
sailors,  he  sot  forth  in  this  ship,  which  was  the  first  craft  of  civilized  construction 
to  ride  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie.  He  was  accompanied  b}''  an  Italian  soldier  named 
Tonti,  and  Lewis  Hennepin,  a  Franciscan  friar  of  the  order  of  Recollects.  From 
Green  Bay,  which  was  reached  in  September,  the  Griffon,  laden  with  furs,  set  out, 
and  was  lost,  on  her  return  to  Niagara,  while  La  Salle,  with  seventeen  men  and  a 
6  [81] 


1 

L 


82  History  of  the  City  of  CoLUMBrs. 

EecoUect  monk  sailed  in  canoes  to  the  mouth  of  St.  Joseph's  River,  then  called  the 
River  of  the  Miamis.  After  building  there  a  trading  fort  he  led  his  party  over- 
land, carrying  its  canoes  and  equipage,  until  he  reached  the  Kankakee,  wliich  he 
descended  to  the  Lake  of  Peoria,  and  there  first  came  in  contact  with  the  Illinois 
Indians.  Here  he  built  another  trading  fort,  and  fitted  out  an  expedition  under  Hen- 
nepin to  explore  the  Upper  Mississippi,  reserving  for  himself  the  voyage  of  dis- 
covery down  that  river  to  its  mouth.  He  then  returned  to  Fort  Frontenac,  and 
after  various  journeys  back  and  forth  rejoined  Tonti,  in  November,  1681,  for  the 
crowning  expedition.  Quitting  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  in  January,  1682,  La 
Salle  led  that  expedition  across  the  country  by  way  of  the  Chicago  River  to  the 
Illinois,  and  on  the  sixth  of  February  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 
On  the  thirteenth  of  February,  all  being  ready,  the  voyage  was  renewed,  the  party 
comprising  twenty  two  arms-bearing  Frenchmen,  Father  Membre — one  of  the  Rec- 
ollect missionaries  —  and  a  band  of  Indians,  including  several  women.  After 
many  interesting  adventures  La  Salle  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi, 
named  it  the  River  Colbert,  and  explored  the  three  channels  by  which  its  waters 
were  discharged  into  the  sea.  He  then  reasconded  to  a  point  beyond  the  reach  of 
inundation,  erected  a  cross  and  formally  proclaimed  the  dominion  of  the  French 
king,  by  right  of  discovery,  over  all  the  territories  of  tffe  Mississippi  Valley. 
Louisiana  was  the  name  with  which,  in  honor  of  his  sovereign,  he  christened  this 
vast  wilderness  realm,  including  the  present  State  of  Ohio.  Over  these  immense, 
indefinitely-bounded  territories  France  held  jurisdiction  for  eightyone  years.  By 
treaties  of  1762  and  1763  she  ceded  her  claims  west  of  the  Mississippi  to  Spain,  and 
those  east  of  it  to  Great  Britain.  La  Salle  undertook  to  colonize  the  Louisiana 
province,  and  for  that  purpose  brought  over  a  party  of  settlers  from  France,  but 
their  ship  missed  her  longitudes,  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  landed 
in  Texas.  From  thence  the  hardy  explorer  undertook  to  make  his  way  overland 
to  Canada,  but  had  not  proceeded  far  before  he  was  treacherously  murdered  by  his 
companions.'  La  Salle  was  a  man  of  genius,  and  deserves  greater  credit  for  his 
achievements  than  he  has  usually  received. 

To  colonize  the  Ohio  country  and  set  a  bulwark  against  the  claims  and  en 
croachments  of  the  French,  the  Ohio  Land  Company  of  Virginia  was  chartered  in 
1749.  It  included  in  its  membership  George  Washington's  brothers  Lawrence  and 
Augustine,  and  was  chiefly  represented  in  England  by  John  Hanbury,  a  wealthy 
merchant  of  London.  Thomas  Lee,  its  founder  and  most  active  colonial  member, 
was  President  of  the  Virginia  Council.  Robert  Dinwiddie,  another  shareholder, 
was  Surgeon-General  for  the  Southern  Colonies. 

This  company  obtained  from  the  British  government  a  grant  of  five  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  land  "  between  the  Monongahela  and  the  Kanawha,  or  on  the 
northern  margin  of  the  Ohio,"  ^  with  the  stipulation  that  no  quit-rent  should  be 
paid  for  ten  years,  that  at  least  one  hundred  families  should  be  settled  within 
seven  years,  and  that  the  colonists  should,  at  their  own  expense,  build  and  garri- 
son a  fort  for  defense  against  the  Indians. 

There  were  at  that  time,  says  Sparks,  *'  no  English  residents  in  those  regions." 
A  few  traders  wandered  from  tribe  to  tribe,  and  dwelt  among  the  Indians,  but  they 
neither  cultivated  nor  occupied  the  land.  The  French  had  established  numerous 
trading  posts  in  the  country,  including  one  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  the  founda- 


Advent  of  the  White  Man.  83 

tion  of  which  dated  prior  to  1740.     Perceiving  the    purposes  of  the  English  they 
began  to  assert  formal  possession  of  their  discoveries  on  the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries, 
and  warned  the  English  and  colonial  traders  to  keep  out  of  them.     To  emphasize 
their  claims,  the  Marquis  de  la  Gallissonniere,   (Governor- General    of  Canada,  dis- 
patched a  force  of  three  hundred  men  under  Captain  Celeron  de  Bienville,  who 
^as  commissioned  to  nail  on  the  trees  and  bury  in  the  earth,  at  the  confluences  of 
trhe  Ohio  with  its  tributaries,  leaden  plates  engraved  with  the  arms  of  France,  and 
'bearing  a  legend  asserting  by  right  of  discovery  and  treaty  the  paramount  sover- 
oignty  of  Louis  XV.  over  all  those  regions.     Above  each  buried  plate  was  erected 
a  wooden  cross.     Mr.  Atwater  states  that  he  had  in  his  possession  for  some  time  one 
of  these  medals,  which  he  describes  as  a  thin  plate   of  lead,   rudely  lettered.     "It 
asserted  the  claims  of  Louis  XV.  to  all  the  country  watered  by  the  *  riviere  Oyo' 
and  branches,  and  was  deposited  at  the  mouth  of  the  '  Venango  riviere  le  16  Aout, 
1749.*"*     This  plate  was  washed  out  at  the  mouth    of  the  Muskingum  —  the   Ye- 
nan-gue  of  the  Indians —  in  1798,  and  was  delivered  to  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton, 
-who  deposited  it  with  the  Antiquarian  Society  of  Massachusetts.     A  similar  plate 
was  found  in  1846  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha,  a  short  distance  above  its  junction 
with  the  Ohio. ' 

Immediately  alter  Celeron's  reconnaissance,  the  Krench  began  to  fortif}'  their 
trontier  with  stockaded  garrisons.  One  of  these  was  established  at  an  inlet  known 
as  Presque  Isle  (now  Erie)  on  the  southeastern  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  another  on  Le 
Eoeuf  (now  French)  Creek,  fifteen  miles  inland,  and  a  third  at  the  confluence  of 
that  creek  with  the  Alleghany.  From  its  site  on  that  of  an  ancient  Indian  village, 
the  fort  last  mentioned  took  the  name  of  Venango. 

At  an  earlier  date,  in  1744,  a  treaty  had  been  made  with  the  Delaware  and 
Iroquois  Indians,  at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  by  which,  in  consideration  of  four 
hundred  pounds  sterling,  the^^  ceded  all  right  and  title  to  lands  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies  to  the  English.  This  pretended  cession  was  a  fraud.  It  was  brought 
about  by  the  free  use  of  spirituous  liquors,  and  was  scottod  at  by  the  tribes  in  actual 
possession  of  the  lands  ceded.  The  only  event  which  seems  to  have  creditably  re- 
lieved the  proceedings  of  this  Lancaster  council  \ya8  the  delivery  of  a  speech,  by  an 
Onondaga  warrior,  in  which  he  suggested  to  the  whites  the  importance  of  a  union 
of  the  American  colonies.  The  Indian  statesman  who  made  this  suggestion  forti- 
fied it  by  citing  the  advantages  which  the  tribes  of  the  Iroquois  league  had  derived 
from  unity.  This  is  believed  to  be  the  first  instance  in  which  the  consolidation  of 
the  states  on  this  continent  as  one  nation  was  ever  broached. 

In  the  autumn  of  1750  the  Virginia  Land  Company  employed  Christopher 
Gist,  a  hardy  pioneer  and  woodsman,  experienced  in  Indian  life,  to  explore  its  al- 
leged possessions  on  the  Ohio  and  the  tributaries  of  that  river.  Quitting  his  fron- 
tier home  on  the  Yadkin,  in  North  Carolina,  Gist  set  out  from  the  Potomac  on  the 
thirtyfirst  of  October,  and  journeyed  westward  by  an  Indian  trail  leading  from 
Wills  Creek,  afterwards  Fort  Cumberland,  to  the  Ohio.  Crossing  the  Alleghany 
ranges,  Gist  arrived  at  Shannopin,  a  Delaware  village  on  the  Alleghany,  swam  his 
horses  across  that  stream,  and  descended  to  Logstown,  an  Indian  village  on  the 
Ohio,  fourteen  miles  below  the  present  site  of  Pittsburgh.  Here  Tanacharisson,  a 
celebrated  Seneca  chief  and  haltking  under  the  Iroquois  confederacy,  ruled  the 
tribes  which  had  migrated  to  Ohio.     At  the  time  of  Gist's  arrival,  this  eminent 


84  History  <>f  the  (*itv  ov  Com-mbts. 

savage  was  absent  in  tlie  chase.  George  Cro»^haii,  an  envoy  from  Pennsylvania, 
with  Andrew  Montour,  his  half  breed  interj)ret<;r,  had  pa.sse<l  through  Logstown  a 
week  previously  on  his  way  to  the  Twightwee  an<i  other  tribes  on  the  Miami. 
Gist  was  regarde<i  with  jealousy  by  the  rough  people  at  Logstown,  who  sulkily 
intimated  that  he  would  never  **  go  home  safe."  Preferring,  he  says,  tlie  solitude 
of  the  wilderness  to  the  companionship  of  such  cutthroats,  he  quitted  them,  pushed 
westward  from  the  mouth  of  Beaver  Creek,  and  on  the  fourteenth  of  December 
overtook  Croghan  at  a  town  of  Wyandots  and  Mingoes  on  the  Muskingum.  This 
town  contained  about  a  hundred  families,  half  of  them  of  French  sympathies  and 
half  of  English.  He  spent  some  weeks  among  them,  and  invited  them  in  the  name 
of  the  Governor  of  Virginia  to  visit  that  province,  pr(»mising  presents.  On  the 
sixteenth  of  January,  1751,  he  resumed  his  journey  accompanied  by  Croghan  and 
Montour,  crossed  the  Licking,  and  on  the  nineteenth  arrived  at  a  small  Delaware 
village  bearing  the  now  familiar  name  of  Hock  hocking.  Thence  he  passed  on  to 
Maguck,  another  Delaware  village,  situated  near  the  Scioto.  "24th,  went  south 
fifteen  miles  to  a  town  called  Hurricane  Tom's  Town  on  the  southwest  of  ScioU> 
Creek,  consisting  of  five  or  six  families.  25th,  went  down  on  southwest  side  of  the 
Creek,  four  miles  to  Salt  Lick  Creek. ''^  The  next  point  noted  is  a  Delaware  town 
of  about  twenty  families  situated  on  the  southeast  bank  of  the  Scioto.  Here  a  halt 
was  called  tor  a  few  days,  a  council  held,  and  some  Indian  speeches  made.  This 
was  the  last  of  the  Delaware  towns  to  the  westward. 

The  next  stoj>  was  ma<le  at  the  Shawnee  town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto. 
Here  a  curious  Indian  dance  was  in  progress,  which  is  described.  After  feasting, 
the  savages  spent  the  night  in  saltatory  revelry.  This  was  kept  up  for  .«*everal 
days  in  succession,  "  the  men  dancing  by  themselves,  and  then  the  women  in  turns, 
around  the  fires  ...  in  the  form  of  the  figure  eight,  about  sixty  or  seventy  of  them 
at  a  time.  The  women,  the  whole  time  thoy  danced,  sung  a  song  in  their  language, 
the  chorus  of  which  was: 

"  *  I  am  not  afraid  of  my  husband, 
I  will  choose  what  man  1  please.^  '*' 

The  Shawnees  found  by  Gist  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto  had  lately  returned 
from  their  southern  wanderings.  Att^r  his  departure  the}*  were  joined  by  various 
additional  fragmentsof  the  tribe,  and  extended  their  settlements  up  the  Scioto  and 
Miami.  They  were  friends  to  the  English  until  these  were  suspected  of  trying  to 
dispossess  them  of  their  lands;  after  that  they  held  everything  English  in  detesta- 
tion. Their  chiefs  promised  Gist  to  attend  a  conference  at  Logstown  the  follow- 
ing spring. 

On  the  twelfth  of  February  Mr.  Gistj)arted  with  the  Shawnees,  and  sot  out  for 
the  Twightwee  town  on  the  Hig  Miami,  lie  was  accompanied  by  Croghan,  Mon- 
tour, and  Robert  Kallender.  The  Twightwees  arc  described  as  a  very  numerous 
people,  consisting  of  many  tribes,  all  under  the  same  form  of  government.  The 
chief  of  their  confederacy  at  that  time  was  the  king  of  the  Piankcshas.  Their  town 
situated  at  the  present  site  of  Picjua,  contained  about  four  hundred  families,  and 
was  considered  the  most  important  in  the  Ohio  country.  The  Miamis  had  been  at 
war  with  the  Iroquois,  but  were  tlieii  at  j)eace.  Mr.  Gist  was  kindly  received  b}' 
these  Indians,  and  closed  with  them,  in  spite  of  overtures  and  presents  by  the 
French,  a  treaty  of  amity  with  the  English.     He  then  returned  to  and  descended 


Advent  op  the  White  Man.  85 

the  Ohio  to  a  point  about  fifteen  miles  above  its  Falls.  From  thence  he  bent  his 
course  inland  to  the  Kentucky  River,  from  a  mountain  in  the  vicinity  of  which  "  he 
had  a  view  to  the  southwest  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  over  a  vast  woodland 
country  in  the  fresh  garniture  of  spring,  and  watered  by  abundant  streams  ;  but 
as  yet  only  the  hunting  ground  of  savage  tribes,  and  the  scene  of  their  sanguinary 
combats.  In  a  word,  Kentucky  lay  spread  out  before  him  in  all  its  wild  magnifi- 
cence; long  before  it  was  beheld  by  Daniel  Boone."® 

In  May,  1751,  Gist  reached  his  home  on  the  Yadkin,  but  found  his  cabin 
vacant.  An  Indian  massacre  of  the  whites  had  taken  place  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  his  family,  unharmed,  had  fied  for  refuge  to  the  settlements  on  the  Roanoke. 

By  the  unique  journeyings  thus  ended  much  authentic  information  about  the 
wild  country  west  of  the  Ohio  was  for  the  first  time  obtained.  "  It  was  rich  and 
level,"  says  Washington  Irving,  "  watered  with  streams  and  rivulets,  and  clad 
with  noble  forests  of  hickory,  walnut,  ash,  poplar,  sugar-maple,  and  wild-cherry 
ti*ees.  Occasionally  there  were  spacious  plains  covered  with  wild  rye;  natural 
meadows  with  blue  grass  and  clover;  and  buffaloes  thirty  and  forty  at  a  time  graz- 
ing on  them  as  in  a  cultivated  pasture.  Deer,  elk,  and  wild  turkeys  abounded. 
'Nothing  is  wanted  but  cultivation,' said  Gist,  *  to  make  this  a  most  delightful 
country.*  Cultivation  has  since  proved  the  truth  of  his  words.  The  country  thus 
described  is  the  present  state  of  Ohio."* 

These  discoveries  led  to  the  circulation  of  some  exaggerated  and  fanciful  ac- 
counts of  the  regions  explored  by  Gist,  and  also  to  some  attempts  to  colonize  them 
which  were  not  successful.     In  1749'"  a  party  of  Pennsylvania  traders  started  the 
first  English-speaking  settlement  known  to  have  existed  in  Ohio.     It  was  located 
at  the  mouth  of  Laramie  Creek,  now  in  Shelby  County^  and  was  called  Pickawil- 
lany     Its  duration  was  brief     In  1752  the  French  and  their  Indian  allies  swooped 
down  upon  it,  destroyed  its  trading  house,  killed  fourteeen  friendly  Indians  of  its 
garrison,  and  bore  off  the  traders  to  Canada,  some  of  them,  it  is  said,  to  be  burned 
alive.     Under  instructions.  Gist  surveyed  the  Ohio  Company's  lands  down  to  the 
Great  Kanawha,  laid  out  a  town  at  Chartier's  Creek  on  the  Ohio  just  below  the 
present  city  of  Pittsburgh,  and  started  a  settlement  at  Laurel  Hill,  near  the  Yough- 
iogheny.     The  Company  also  established  a  trading  post  at  Wills's  Creek,   now 
Cumberland. 

On  the  ninth   of  June,  1752,  commissioners  representing  the  Virginia  colony 
held  a  conference  with  the  Indians  at   Logstown.     The  Shawnees  and  Delawares 
Were  represented,  but  the  Iroquois  declined  to  attend.     The  Ohio  Company  was 
represented  by  Gist.     The  commissioners  urged  the  Indians  to  confirm  the  Lan- 
caster Treaty,   but  they  at  first  refused,  protesting  that  they    had  not  intended 
to  convey  by  that  treaty  any  lands  west  of  the  war  trail  at  the  foot  of  the  AUe- 
fjhanies.     Some  of  their  chiefs  shrewdly  remarked   that  since  the  French   were 
claiming  all  the  lands  on  one  side  of  the  Ohio  and  the  English  all  on  the  other, 
the  Indians  seemed  to  have  nothing  to  concede.     Finally,  by  intrigue  and  bribery, 
they  were  prevailed  upon  to  ratif}'  the  treaty,  and  grant  all  that   was  desired. 
The  French  met  this  by  strengthening  their  garrisons  at  Presque  Isle,  Le  Boeuf 
and  Venango."     George  Washington,  at  that  time  a  young  man  of    twentytwo, 
was  thereupon  selected  by  Governor  Dinwiddle,  of  Virginia,  to  go  to  Logstown, 
confer  with  the  Indians  therfe,  and  ascertain  the  force,  positions  and  intentions  of 


H«>  History  of  tue  City  of  CoLUMBUb. 

the  French.  He  bore  a  letter  from  the  Governor  to  the  French  commandant  ask- 
ing for  explanations.  Accompanied  hy  (rist  and  a  few  frontiersmen,  Washington 
arrived  November  23,  1753,  at  the  present  site  of  Pittsburgh,  inspected  it,  and 
thought  it  would  be  a  good  place  for  a  fort.  He  reached  Logstown  on  the  twenty- 
fourth,  conferred  there  with  the  Mingo,  Shawnee  and  Delaware  chiefs,  visited  the 
famous  Delaware,  Bockengehelas,  at  his  lodge,  and  after  a  few  days  set  out  for  the 
French  forts.  His  party  was  augmented  at  Logstown  b3'  the  Seneca  halfking, 
an  old  sachem  called  White  Thunder,  and  a  few  other  Indians.  He  visited  the 
French  forts  at  Venango  and  Le  Hoeuf,  presented  Governor  Dinw^iddie's  letter  to 
Chevalier  de  St.  Pierre,  the  commandant,  and  received  from  that  officer  an  evasive 
answer  which,  with  much  hardship  and  adventure,  he  bore  back  to  Williamsburgh. 

I^erceiving,  from  this  artful  repl}',  the  hostile  purposes  of  the  French,  Gover- 
nor Dinwiddie  dispatched  Captain  Trent,  a  brotherinlaw  of  Croghan's,  to  tinish 
the  fort  already  begun  by  (he  T^and  Company  at  the  Forks  of  the  Ohio.  Trent 
took  with  him  about  forty  men.  On  the  seventeenth  of  April,  1754,  while  this  de- 
tachment was  busily  engagc'd  ujjon  its  intrench ments,  it  was  suddenly  confronted 
by  a  motley  force  of  more  than  a  thousand  French  and  Indians,  with  eighteen 
cannon.  This  force,  under  Captain  Contrecour,  had  dropped  down  the  Alleghany 
in  canoes  and  barges  from  Yeiumgo.  Ensign  Ward,  commanding  in  lieu  of  Trent, 
who  was  at  Wills  Creek,  surrendered  after  a  brief  parley,  and  was  allowed  to 
march  away  with  his  intrenching  tools.  The  French  took  possession  of  the  un- 
completed stockade,  finished  it,  and  named  it,  in  honor  of  the  Governor-General  of 
Canada,  Fort  Du  Quesne. 

Thus  began  a  nine-years  war  between  the  French  and  English,  in  which  the 
various  Indian  tribes  took  sides  according  to  their  caprices  or  predilections.  We 
need  not  follow  its  details.  It  ended  with  the  Paris  treaty  of  1763,  by  which 
France  surrendered  her  North  American  possessions  to  Spain  and  Great  Brit- 
ain.*'^ The  revolt  of  Pontiae  followed.  To  the  triumphant  English  this  great 
Ottawa  chieftain  spoke  defiance.  '*  Although  you  have  conquered  the  French  you 
have  not  conquered  us,"  he  exclaimed.  *' We  are  not  your  slaves.  These  lakes, 
these  woods,  these  mountains  were  left  to  us  by  our  ancestors.  They  are  our  in- 
heritance, and  we  will  part  with  them  to  none."  Immediately,  from  the  Allegha- 
nies  to  the  Lakes,  the  tribes  with  which  Pontiac  had  conspired  rose  to  exterminate 
the  English.  On  the  sixteenth  of  May,  Fort  Sandusky,  on  Sandusky  Bay,  fell,  by 
treachery,  into  the  hands  of  the  Wyandots,who  massacred  its  garrison,  and  carried  ofl* 
Ensign  Paully,  its  commandant.'^  On  the  twentyfifth  the  stockade  at  the  mouth  of 
St.  Joseph's,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  was  surprised  by  Pottawattomies 
from  Detroit,  and  its  garrison  massacred.  Fort  Miami,  where  the  city  of  Fort 
W^ayne  now  stands,  was  attacked  on  the  twentyseventh.  Fort  Ouachtanon,  on 
the  Wabash,  just  below  Lafayette,  surrendered  on  the  first  of  June.  On  the 
second,  the  tort  at  Michilliniackinac  was  surprised  and  captured  Presque  Isle 
succumbed  on  the  twentysecond.  Le  Boeuf  and  Venango  were  taken  and  burned 
on  the  eighteenth  of  July.  Detroit  was  besieged  by  Pontiac  in  person,  and  a  de 
tachment  sent  to  its  relief  was  destroyed.  Fort  Du  Quesne  —  named  Pitt  by  the 
British  —  w^as  surrounded  bj'  an  Indian  horde,  and  cut  ofl'  from  all  intercourse 
with  the  East. 

Colonel  Henry  ]iou<iuet,  commanding  at  Philadelphia,  was  dispatched  with  a 
force  of  five  hundred  men  to  the  relief  of  the  beleaguered  post  at  the  Forks  of  the 


Advent  op  the  White  Man.  87 

Ohio.  Bouquet  was  an  experienced  and  able  Holdier  who  had  served  in  Holland 
under  the  Prince  of  Orange.  A  Swiss  by  birth,  he  had  been  prevailed  upon  to 
accept  a  commission  in  the  British  colonial  service.  His  expeditionary  force,  the 
old  chronicles  say,  comprised  *•  the  shattered  remainder  of  the  Fortysecond  and 
Seventyseventh  [Highlander]  regiments,  lately  returned  in  a  dismal  condition  from 
the  West  Indies."  Bouquet  took  his  course  by  way  of  Carlisle,  and  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  July  arrived  at  Fort  Bedford.  All  along  the  frontier  he  found  plantations 
ravaged,  mills  burned,  and  the  settlers  fleeing  from  their  homes.  The  march  was 
resumed  from  Bedford  on  the  twentyeighth.  and  continued  without  interruption 
until  Fort  Ligonier  was  pas.sed,  and  Bushy  Run  ap))roached.  Here,  at  a  point 
four  days'  march  from  Fort  Pitt,  the  advance  guard  was  suddenly  assailed  by 
Indians,  who  delivered  a  galling  fire,  and  though  driven  from  point  U>  point  by 
the  Highlanders,  stubbornly  returned  to  the  onset,  with  increasing  numbers,  until 
Bouquet's  entire  force  was  surrounded.  The  fighting  ceased  only  at  nightfall,  and 
was  resumed  at  early  dawn  next  morning,  the  savages  coming  on  again  with 
horrid  yells.  For  a  time  it  seemed  that  the  fate  of  Braddock,  eight  years  be- 
fore,'^ would  be  repeated,  but  Bouquet  was  a  more  skillful  leader  than  Braddock, 
and  entirely  equal  to  the  emergency.  Feigning  retreat,  he  drew  the  savages  into 
an  ambuscade,  attacked  them  simultaneously  in  front  and  flank,  and  routed  them 
completely.  They  disappeared  in  precijutate  flight,  leaving  the  column  to  con- 
tinue its  march  to  Fort  Pitt  without  further  molestation.  The  Indian  force  which 
tr>ok  part  in  this  battle  was  composed  of  Delawares,  Shawnese.  Mingoes,  Wyandots, 
Mohicans,  Miamis  and  Ottawas.  The  defeat  of  these  tribes  had  a  discouraging 
effect  upon  Pontiac,  who  raised  the  siege  of  Detroit,  after  having  maintained  it  for 
eleven  months. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  two  expeditions  were  organized  to  curry  the  war  into 
the  Indian  country  west  of  the  Ohio.  One  of  these,  eleven  hundred  strong,  made 
for  the  lake  region,  and  in  July  arrived  at  Niagara.  It  was  led  by  Colonel  John 
Bradstreet,  who,  as  he  approached  Presque  Isle,  was  met  by  ten  Indians  who  pre- 
tended to  be  authorized  to  treat  with  him  in  behalf  of  the  Delawares,  the  Shaw- 
nees  and  the  Sandusky  Wyandots.  Deceived  by  these  emissaries,  who  were  only 
spies,  Bradstreet  closed  an  agreement  with  them,  they  stipulating  that  all  captives 
possessed  by  the  Indians  should  be  given  up,  and  all  claims  to  English  posts  and 
forts  abandoned.  After  this  treaty,  Bradstreet  was  disposed  to  turn  southward, 
hut  was  required  by  the  commander-in-chief.  General  Gage,  to  push  on  to  Detroit. 
He  arrived  there  on  the  twenty.sixth  of  August,  and  in  the  following  September, 
led  his  force  back  to  Sandusky. 

The  expedition  under  Bouquet  set  out  from  Fort  Pitt  October  third,  passed 
Logstown  and  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Beaver,  crossed  into  Ohio  on  the  present  east- 
ern boundary  of  Columbiana  County,  and,  on  the  ninth,  j)itched  its  camps  on 
Yellow  Creek.  The  march  was  conducted  with  the  utmost  precaution  against 
surprise,  the  column  moving  through  the  woods  in  j)arallel  lines,  open  order,  cov- 
ered by  scouting  parties  in  front,  and  by  a  strong  guard  in  rear.  The  men  were 
required  to  march  at  a  distance  of  two  yards  from  one  another,  keeping  profound 
silence,  and  when  attacked  faced  outwards,  forming  a  square  covering  the  supply 
trains,  cattle  and  baggage.  Sometimes  the  forest  was  so  thick  that  the  brush  had 
to  be  cut  to  make  way  for  the  column,  and   sometimes  it  was  interspersed  with 


KH  IIiMToHY  or  THE  City  or  Culumbiu. 

beautiful  opcniiigH  and  Ritvniiiiut).      Hero  utid  there  trwa  were  seeD  symbolically 
painted  by  the  [iidmiio,  ilonoting  llit:  niimbor  of  their  wars  aod    their  succobb   iii 

prisoners  11  rul  nc-ulpn.     "Two  miles  beyond   Beaver  ('reek,  by  two  amall  springH," 


C:J^//ie  ty^ituarti  i£Attviiai^/A-J^ 


nays  the  chionioler  of  the  expedition,  ■'  was  seen  th«  skull  of  a  child  that  had  been 
fixed  (HI  a  pole  by  the  Indiiins. " 

On  the  fith'entli.  Bouquet  eiitanipcd  on  the  Musbinguin,  where,  the  next  day, 
he  WHH  visited  by  six  Indians  who  said  their  chiefs  were  assembled  eight  miles 
distant,  iviidy  and  anxious  to  tresit  with  liim.  On  the  seventeenth  a  parley  was 
held  with  these  eliiefs  in  ii  ■howei"  i-reeled  for  the  purpose,  the  Seoecas  being 
i-epresenied  by  Kiyashutji.  the  Delawares  by  Cuatatoga  and  Beaver,  and  the  Shaw- 


Advent  of  the  White  Man.  89 

nees  by  Keissinautchtha.  These  warriors  proffered  abject  submission,  and  deliv- 
ered up  part  of  their  captives.  Bouquet  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  remainder 
of  their  prisoners  within  twelve  days,  aftor  which  requirement  he  lurther  terror- 
ized the  neighboring  tribes  by  advancing  to  the  Coshocton  forks  of  the  Muskin- 
gum. At  the  fortified  camp  which  was  there  laid  out,  a  further  delivery  of 
prisonei^s  took  place,  increasing  the  whole  number  surrendered  to  206,  mostly 
Pennsylvanians  and  Virginians.  The  Shawnees  held  one  hundred  more  which 
they  promised  to  and  did  deliver  up  the  following  spring. 

The  scenes  at  Bouquet's  headquarters  when  the  captive  whites  were  brought  in 
and  surrendered  must  have  been  very  touching.  "  There  were  to  be  seen,"  says 
the  chronicler  of  the  occasion,  "fathers  and  mothers  recognizing  and  clasping 
their  once  lost  babes,  husbands  hanging  around  the  necks  of  their  newlj'  recovered 
wives,  sisters  and  brothers  unexpectedly  meeting  together  after  long  separation 
scarce  able  to  speak  the  same  language,  or,  for  some  time,  to  be  sure  that  they 
were  children  of  the  same  parents.  .  .  .  The  Indians,  too.  as  if  wholly  forgetting 
their  usual  savageness,  bore  a  capital  part  in  this  most  ntfectiiig  scene.  They  deliv- 
ered up  their  beloved  captives  with  the-utmost  reluctance;  shed  torrents  of  tears 
over  them,  recommending  them  to  the  care  and  protection  of  the  commanding 
officer.  Their  regard  to  them  continued  all  the  time  they  remained  in  camp. 
They  visited  them  from  day  to  day,  and  brought  thrrn  what  corn,  skins,  horses 
ainJ  other  matters  they  had  bestowed  on  them  while  in  their  faujilies,  accompanied 
with  other  presents,  and  all  the  marks  of  the  most  sincere  aiwi  tender  affection. 
Nay,  they  did  not  stop  here,  hut,  when  the  army  marched,  sonjo  of  the  Indians 
solicited  and  obtained  leave  to  accompany  their  former  captives  all  the  way  to 
Fort  Pitt,  and  employed  themselves  in  hunting  and  bringing  provisions  for  them 
on  the  road.  A  young  Mingo  carried  this  still  further,  and  gave  an  instance  of 
love  which  would  make  a  figure  even  in  romance.  A  young  woman  of  Virginia 
was  among  the  captives,  to  whom  he  had  formed  s-)  strong  an  attachment  as  to  call 
her  his  wife.  Against  all  remonstrances  of  the  imminent  danger  to  which  he 
exposed  himself  by  approaching  to  the  frontiers,  he  })ersisted  in  following  her,  at 
the  risk  of  being  killed  by  the  surviving  relations  of  many  unfortunate  |>ersons 
who  had  been  captivated  or  scal])ed  by  those  of   his  nation." 

It  is  no  wonder,  continues  this  quaint  narration,  that  the  children  whf)  had 
been  taken  captive  in  very  tender  years,  had  been  kindly  treated  by  the  Indians, 
and  had  learned  their  language,  should  have  '*  consi<lered  their  new  state  in  the 
light  of  a  captivity,  and  parted  from  the  savages  with  tears.  But  it  must  not  be 
denied  that  there  were  even  some  grown  j)ersons  who  showed  an  unwillingness  to 
return.  The  Shawaneee  were  obliged  to  bind  several  of  their  prisoners  and  force 
them  along  to  the  camp  ;  and  some  women,  who  had  been  delivered  up,  afterwards 
found  means  to  escape  and  run  back  to  the  Indian  towns.  Some  who  could  not 
make  their  escape,  clung  to  their  savage  accjuaintance  at  parting,  and  continued 
many  days  in  bitter  lamentations,  even  retusing  sustenance. ''"'' 

The  episodes  thus  described  have  furnished  themes  lor  the  genius  of  Benjamin 
West,  and  will  forever  engage  the  student  of  history  with  the  same  unique  fascina- 
tion with  which  they  have  insj)ired  the  soul  of  the  artist. 

Everything  having  been  arranged  with  the  Indians,  Bou(|uet  began  his  return 
march  on  Sunday,  November  18,  and  arrived  at  Fort  Pitt  on  the  twentyeighth,hav- 


90  HiaTORV   OF    THK   ClTY   OF    CoLUHBUB. 

ing  loBt  dnriDgthe  expeditioD  but  one  man,  who  was  killed  and  scalped  while  stray- ' 
\Bg  from  camp.  His  troops  had  retained  perfect  health,  and  had  at  no  time  been 
uhort  of  supplies.     In  testimony  of  the  Hkill  and  success  with  which  he  had  con- 


THB   iHUIAMa  AND   BODQUBT   \. 

ducted  the  expedition  Colonel  Bouquet  received  complimentary  addresses  fVom  the 
legislative  bodies  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  He  died  three  years  later  of 
yellow  fever  contracted  at  Pensacola. 

From  the  marches  of  Bouquet  and  Bradslreot  considerabln  additional  informa- 
tion concerning  the  Ohio  country  was  gained,  but  the  ideas  of  it  which  popularly 
prevailed  were  still  extremely  crude.      This  is  illustrated  by  a  map  published  in 


Advent  of  the  White  Man.  91 

1763,  purporting  to  give  an  outline  of  the  "  British  Dominions  in  North  America, 
with  the  limits  of  the  Govern ments  annexed  thereto  by  the  late  treaty  of  peace 
and  settled  by  proclamation  October  7th,  17<)3/'*"  On  this  map  Virginia  extends 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  takes  in  the  southern  half  of  the  present  Slate  of  Ohio,  the 
remainder  of  which  is  relegated,  under  British  sovereignty,  to  the  Indians.  The 
mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  (Mauniee)  is  assigned  to  the  longitude  of  Fort  Wayne, 
and  the  onl}'  settlement  shown  between  Detroit  and  Niagara  is  '*  Sandoski,'*  which 
is  placed  as  far  east  as  Cleveland.  The  ou\y  stream  indicated  in  Northern  Ohio  is 
the  Maumee,  which  is  faintly  and  inaccurately  traced.  A  town  called  -'  Gwahago  " 
takes  the  place  of  the  Cuyahoga,  of  which  there  is  no  vestige.  The  "  Sciota  "  is 
drawn  in  its  correct  position,  with  a  Delaware  town  on  its  banks  about  where  the 
present  city  of  that  name  stands.  Such  was  the  sUite  of  information  as  to  Ohio 
only  a  century  and  a  quarter  ago. 

The  claims  of  the  English  to  this  territory  were  as  shadowy  as  their  know- 
ledge of  it.  Prior  to  the  treaty  of  Paris  these  claims  were  based  chiefly  upon  the 
rights  supposed  to  have  been  acquired  by  the  Iroquois  conquest,  and  the  convey- 
ance of  those  rights  b}'  the  chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations.  A  treaty  of  this  kind  was 
made  in  1684,  another  in  1701,  and  a  third  September  11,  1726.  By  the  latter  the 
Indians  conveyed  their  lands  in  trust,  to  be  defended  by  the  British  sovereign  '*  to 
and  for  the  use  of  the  grantors  and  their  heirs."  By  the  negotiations  at  Lancas- 
ter, in  1744,  already  referred  to,  a  deed  was  obtained  recognizing  the  right  of  the 
British  king  to  '*all  lands  that  are,  or  by  his  Majest3''s  appointment  shall  be, 
within  the  colony  of  Virginia."  On  this  deed,  obtained  by  intrigue  and  the  free 
use  of  intoxicants,  the  grant  to  the  Ohio  Land  Company  of  Virginia  was  based. 
Its  worth lessness  was  recognized,  and  the  Lo^^stown  Treaty  of  1752,  which  con- 
firmed that  of  Lancaster,  and  was  obtained  by  similar  means,  was  regarded  as 
equally  unsubstantial.  Efforts  were  therelbre  made,  as  soon  as  j)oace  was  declared, 
to  obtain  a  new  and  better  grounded  concession.  Thesi*  efforts  were  hastened  by 
the  encroachments  of  the  whites  uj>on  the  disputed  boundaries,  and  the  resulting 
discontent  of  the  Indians.  Alter  supplementary  and  ineffectual  treaties  had  been 
made  in  1764  and  1766,  a  conference  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Shawnees,  Delawares 
and  Six  Nations  was  hehl  on  the  twentyfourth  of  October,  ITliS,  at  Fort  Stanwix, 
now  Rome,  New  York.  Sir  William  Johnson  conducted  tl^e  negotiations  for  the 
English,  and  obtained  a  grant  of  all  lands  not  within  a  line,  beyond  which  the 
whites  were  not  to  pass,  extending  from  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee  to  the  Dela- 
ware. For  this  grant  a  sum  of  money  amounting  to  about  fifty  thousand  doHars 
was  paid.  It  gave  up  all  the  territories  claimed  by  the  Six  Nations  south  of  the 
Ohio  and  Alleghany,  including  Kentucky,  Western  Virginia  an<l  Western  Penn- 
sylvania. Much  of  this  land  was  rlistributed  as  a  bounty  to  the  V^irginia  volun- 
teers, among  those  making  claims  being  George  Washington,  who  obtained  patents 
for  thirtytwo  thousand  acres.  To  inspect  and  locate  the  larnls  thus  ceded,  Wash- 
ington descended  the  Ohio  from  Fort  Pitt  to  the  Great  Kanawha  in  a  canoe  during 
the  autumn  of  1770.  He  was  accompanied  by  Colonel  Ceorge  Croghan,  then  dep- 
uty agent  to  Sir  William  Johnson. 

During  this  voyage,  we  are  told,  Washington  had  abundant  opi)()rtunity  to 
indulge  his  propensities  as  a  sportsman.  ''  Deer  were  continually  to  be  seen  coming 
down  to  the  water's  edge  to  drink,  or  browsing  along  the  shore  .  tiiere  were  innu- 


1)2  History  of  the  Citv  of  (-oLUMBrs. 

inerable  flocks  of  wild  tiirkoys.  and  stroaming  flights  of  duckw  and  geese;  so  that 
as  the  voyagers  floated  along,  they  were  enabled  to  load  their  canoe  with  game.  At 
night  they  enoainjied  on  the  river  hank,  lit  their  fln?,  and  nuide  a  sumptuous  hunt- 
er's repast. '"■ 

Landing  at  a  Mingo  town  about  seventyflve  miles  below  Pittsburgh,  the 
voyagers  found  the  warriors  busied  with  preparations  to  make  a  foray  into  the 
Cherokee  country  against  the  Catawbas.  Stopping  at  the  mouth  of  Captina  Creek, 
now  in  Belmont  County,  this  State,  they  investigated  a  report  that  a  white  trader 
had  been  recently  murdered  by  the  Indians  in  that  neighborhood.  The^'  soon 
learned  tliat  the  man  had  not  been  murdered  at  all,  hut  had  been  drowned  while 
rashly  swimming  the  Ohio.  Washington  did  not  fail  to  note,  however,  the  dis- 
content of  the  Ohio  Indians  with  the  Stunwi.v  treaty,  an<l  their  jealousy  of  colonial 
encroachments  u])on  tlu'ir  territorirs. 

Meanwhile  a  trio  of  devoted  mm  had  pt^netrated  these  wilderness  regions,  not 
u|)on  any  selfish  or  warlike  errand,  l»ut  upon  a  mission  of  peace  and  good  will. 
These  were  the  saintly  an<l  indefatigable  Moravian  missionaries,  Charles  F'rederick 
Post.  ,Iohn  lleckewehier,  and  David  Zeisberger.  Post  was  the  |>ioneer.  He  had 
begun  his  missionary'  labors  among  tin*  Indians  at  Shekoneko,  near  the  present  city 
of  Poughkeepsie.  New  York,  in  1743,  had  marrie<i  a  baptized  Tndian  woman,  and, 
at  a  later  period,  had  shifted  the  scene  of  his  eftorts  to  Pennsylvania.  From 
thence,  in  1758,  the  colonial  authorities  had  twice  sent  him  to  the  western  tribes 
on  peace- making  missions,  whirh  he  had  surccssfully  fulfilled.  In  1761  he  werjt 
alone  to  the  Muskingum  Valley,  and  with  the  j)ermissi()n  of  the  Delawares,  who 
had  lately  settled  there,  built  a  cabin  on  the  banks  of  the  Tuscaraw-as.  He  then 
returne<l  to  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  and  brought  out  Heckewelder,  at  that  time 
a  youth  of  nineteen.  After  a  perilous  journey  of  thirtythree  days  the\'  reached 
their  <lestination,  and  entered  the  Tuscarawas  cabin  '  singing  a  hymn."  Below 
them,  on  the  river,  dwelt  a  white  trader  named  Calhoon  ;  still  farther  below  was 
an  Indian  town  called  Tuscarora,  containing  about  forty  wigwams.  In  the  course 
of  the  summer  the  services  of  Post  weri^  re«|uirel  by  the  (lovernor  of  Penns^'lvania, 
an<l  llerkewelfler  was  left  alone.  He  remained  until  autumn,  when  the  changed 
temper  of  the  Indians  obliged  him  to  fly  lor  his  lite. 

Zeisberger  was  more  fortur)<MtC.  Invited  by  the  Delawares  and  Wyandots,  he 
led  a  band  of  Christian  Indians  to  the  Tuscarawas  in  1772,  and  founded  the  mis- 
sions of  Schoenbrunn,  Salem,  and  tinadenhiilten.  Among  his  companions  were 
Heckewelder  and  the  Rev.  John  Ettwein.  The  simple  and  pious  code  of  civil  and 
religious  obligation  adopte<l  by  the  Schoenbrunn  congregation  has  been  spoken  of 
as  "the  first  act  of  Ohio  legislation  —  the  constitution  of  1772."" 

While  these  noblehearted  Moravians  were  engaged  in  their  mission  of  peace, 
other  influences  were  at  work  to  j)roduce  war.  During  the  winter  of  1773-4  Doctor 
John  Connolly,  an  a<lventurer  of  the  jn'riod,  undertook  to  assert  the  jurisdiction  of 
Virginia  over  som<'  of  the  western  j>ortions  of  Pennsylvania,  including  the  country 
about  Port  Pitt.  Connolly  was  a  nejihew  to  Colonel  (ieorge  Croghan,  an  in- 
fluential man  w^hcjse  worthless  hrotherinlaw  was  the  absent  commander  of  the 
<letachnient  which  surrendiM'cd  Fort  Du  (^ucsik*  to  the  French.  Supported  b}'  a 
band  of  annt'd  followers,  Connolly  j)roclaimcd  the  authority  of  Virginia,  gave  the 
name  of  her  governor,  i>iininore.  to  Fort   Pitt,  and  got  himself  recognized  as  com- 


Advent  of  the  White  Man.  93 

mandaDt  of  a  district  called  West  Augusta.  At  the  instauce  of  the  Pennsyl. 
vania  proprietors  he  was  arrested,  and  for  a  time  held  in  custody,  by  General 
St.  Clair,  who  suggested  that  this  pestilent  borderer  desired  an  Indian  war  in 
order  to  palliate  his  own  misdoing.  His  correspondence  with  the  traders,  explorers 
and  land  jobbers  along  the  river  justifies  this  presumption.  His  letters  abounded 
in  artful  pretexts  for  brutalities  toward  the  Indians,  and  his  suggestions  were  soon 
carried  into  execution.  The  war  of  1774,  like  some  similar  troubles  of  later  date, 
was  essentially  a  land-jobbers'  war. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  April,  1774,  a  canoe  belonging  to  a  Pittsburgh  trader  was 
attacked  by  Cherokees  near  the  Wheeling  settlement,  and  one  white  man  was 
killed.  Although  the  offense  was  not  committed  by  Ohio  Indians,  it  was  im- 
mediately seized  upon  as  an  excuse  for  attacking  them.  The  Virginia  surveyors 
and  adventurers  along  the  river  assembled  at  Wheeling  and  organized  under 
Captain  Michael  Cresap.  This  band  got  its  cue  from  Connolly  in  two  letters,  de- 
nouncing the  Indians,  and  declaring  that  war  was  inevitable.  War  was  according- 
ly declared  "  in  the  most  solemn  manner,"  and  during  the  same  evening  the  scalps 
of  two  friendly  Indians  were  brought  into  camp,  perhaps  with  equal  solemnity. 
Circumstances  indicate  that  still  more  unoffending  savages  were  murdered.  Ebep- 
ezer  Zane,  the  pioneer  of  the  Wheeling  colony,  opposed  this  butchery,  but  he  was 
not  listened  to.'* 

Next  day  some  Indians  were  seen  in  canoes  on  the  river,  and  pursued.  They 
were  chased  fifteen  miles  and  driven  ashore,  when  u  battle  ensued  and  several  of 
them  were  shot.  It  was  then  decided  to  march  against  Logan's  camp,  thirty 
miles  farther  up  the  Ohio.  Let  us  pause  to  learn  something  of  Logan.  It  is 
worth  while. 

When  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  Moravian  bishop,  visited  America  in  1741-2,  he 
established  the  first  Indian  congregation  of  his  sect  atShekomeco,  on  Seneca  Lake, 
in  New  York.  While  sojourning  there,  he  was  entertaint^d  by  Shikellamy,  chief 
of  the  Cayugas,  who  ruled  a  large  body  of  the  Iroquois.  Shikellamy  was  converted 
to  Christianity,  and  destroyed  the  idol  which  he  wore  about  his  neck.  He  died  in 
1749,  attended  in  his  last  moments  by  David  Zeisberger.  Logan  was  a  son  of  this 
chief  and  derived  his  name  from  his  father's  attachment  to  James  Logan,  Secretary 
of  the  Pennsylvania  colony.  During  his  early  manhood  he  was  known  all  along 
the  frontier  for  his  fine  presence,  attractive  qualities,  and  friendship  for  the  whites. 
Judge  William  Brown,  a  contemporary  Pennsylvanian,  said  of  him  :  -'He  was  the 
best  specimen  of .  humanit}'  I  ever  met  with,  either  white  or  red."  Heckewelder 
soanded  his  praises  in  a  letter  to  Jefferson.  Zeisberger  spoke  of  him  as  a  man  of 
good  judgment  and  quick  comprehension. 

In  1770,  or  thereabouts,  Logan  removed  to  the  Mingo  town,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Ohio,  which  took  his  name.  He  was  there  when  the  border  troubles  of  1774 
broke  out,  and  in  the  councils  of  his  people  advised  forbearance.'*  The  Shawnee 
chief  Cornstalk  had  sent  his  own  brother  only  a  short  time  anterior  to  the  Wheel- 
ing tragedies  to  escort  some  Pittsburgh  traders.  Determined  to  provoke  hostilities, 
Connolly  undertook  to  seize  this  friendly  Indian,  and  in  the  attempt  to  do  so 
wounded  one  of  his  companions. 

Further  outrages  were  scarcely  necessary  to  provoke  the  hostilities  desired, 
but  they  were  not  spared.     After  some  hesitation  which  made  the  crime  deliberate 


1»4  II18TOHV    <>F    THE    r'lTY    OK    COU'MBIS. 

and  tho  moro  atrocious,  the  (.'resap  party,  led  hy  Captain  Daniel  Greathouse,  as- 
condod  the  rivor  to  cany  out  its  nit?ditate<l  tlosi^ns  against  the  Mingo  village. 
The  method  of  this  proctMhiro  stamps  its  perpetrators  with  the  brand  ofcowardiee. 
Tiie  Indian  lodges  were  on  the  Ohio  sjjle  of  the  river,  the  (Treathousc  eom|)any 
took  its  position  on  the  side  opp<»site.  Tnsuspicious  of  harm,  a  party  of  five  men, 
one  or  (wo  wonien  and  a  child,  crossed  from  tiie  lodges,  and  by  direction  of  Great- 
house  were  offered  rum.  Three  of  tlie  men  became  intoxicated  :  the  others,  and 
tiie  women,  on  refusing  to  drink,  were  shot.  The  three  who  were  stupefied  with 
liquor  were  tiien  tomahawked.  Only  the  child,  a  tender  female  infant,  was  spared. 
Hearing  the  tiring,  the  Indians  at  the  lodges  sent  over  two  men  in  a  canoe  to  see 
what  was  the  mattt^r.  These  were  sh<>t  as  soon  they  landeci.  Several  more  Min- 
goes  then  crossed  at  a  point  lower  down,  and  wrre  receive*!  with  a  volley  which 
kille<i  most  of  them.     The  survivors  tied. 

Among  the  victims  of  this  massactre  were  Logan "s  brothers  and  a  sister.  He 
vowed  vengeance.  While  he  l)roo<lcd  on  the  unspeakable  wrong  done  him,  all  the 
savage  impulses  of  his  nature  rose  within  him,  and  took  possession  of  his  soul. 
From  a  counselor  of  peace  and  a  j^attern  of  ge!)tleness,  he  w^as  transformed  into 
an  unrelenting  fury.     Such  was  tlu'  beginning  of  the  Dun  more  War. 

Roaming  among  tlie  white  settlements  on  the  u|)})er  Monongahela,  the  en- 
raged chief,  accompanied  by  eight  chosen  warriors,  soon  had  his  belt  dangling 
with  scalps.  The  Shawnees  and  all  the  Mingo  bands  took  tiie  field,  recruited  by 
some  Delawares,  Cherokees  and  Wyandots,  although  these  tribes  refused  to  take 
part  as  such.  Soon  cries  of  distress  went  up  all  along  the  border.  Connolly  and 
his  fellow  miscreants  had  aroused  a  temj>est  which  they  could  not  allay.  At  the 
hands  of  one  of  his  captives  Logan  <lictated  a  letter  written  in  gunpowder  ink  and 
tied  to  a  war-club.     It  read  : 

"Cattain  Cresap:  -'^'  Wliat  di<l  you  kill  my  people  on  Yellow  Creek  for?  The 
WMiite  people  killed  my  kin  at  Conestoga  a  ^reat  wliile  a^o.  and  I  thought  nothing  of  that. 
But  you  killed  my  kin  again,  on  Yellow  Creek,  and  took  n^y  cousin  prisoner.  Then  I 
thought  I  must  kill  too,  and  I  have  been  three  times  to  war  since.  But  the  Indians  are  not 
angry  —  only  myself.  Captain  Joun  Logan." 

The  legislature  of  the  Virginia  colony  being  in  session,  steps  were  immedi- 
ately taken  to  prote(ft  the  settlements  and  chastise  the  Oliio  Indians  for  resenting 
the  outrages  they  had  sutfered.  A  preliminary  foray  was  made  into  their  country 
by  a  band  of  Virginians  who  assembled  at  Wheeling,  in  July,  under  (./olonel  Mc- 
Donald, marched  to  the  Muskingum,  and  <lestroyed  several  villages.  T-his  exploit 
only  precipitated  a  general  contlict.  To  force  this  to  an  issue,  and  crush  the  In- 
dians on  their  own  ground,  Lord  Dunmore.  Governor  of  Virginia,  organized  an 
expeditionary  army  in  two  divisions,  one  of  which  assembled,  under  his  own  di- 
rection, at  Fort  Pitt,  the  other  at  Cam|»  l^nion.  now  Lewisburg,  in  Greenbriar 
(•ounty,  Virginia,  under  General  Andrew  Lewis.  These  columns  were  to  unite, 
under  Dunmore,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Kanawha,  and  from  thence  strike  the 
Shawnees  at  the  ccntei'  ni'  their  power  in  the  Scioto  Valley.  Lewis's  division  con- 
tained three  regiments,  in  all  rli*vi*n  hun<lred  men,  mostly  hardy  woodsnien.  One 
of  the  regiments  was  led  by  Lewis's  brother,  Colonel  Charles  Lewis,  another  bv 
Colonel  William  Fleming,  the  ihinl  by  Colonel  John  Fields.  A  fourth  was  being 
recruited  under  (V>lonel  fhri.stian.  Fields  and  the  Lewises  had  served  un<ler 
Brad  dock. 


\ 


Advent  or  th«  White  Man.  96 

Christian's  regiment  not  being  ready,  Lewis  set  out  with  the  others  on  the 
eleventh  of  September,  and  was  piloted  by  Captain  Matbew  Arbuckle,  an  experi- 
enced woodsman,  through  the  trackless  forest.  All  the  supplies  and  munitions  bad 
to  be  borne  by  pack  animals,  which  clambered  with  difficulty  over  the  steep  un- 
trodden mountains,  and  through  their  narrow  defiles.  After  a  toilsome  march,  the 
column  arrived,  about  the  sixth  of  October,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha.  Dun- 
more  was  not  there ;  he  had  changed  his  plans.  Having  marched  up  the  Potomac 
to  Cumberland,  and  thence  across  the  mountains  to  Fort  Pitt,  he  floated  his  divi- 
sion in  canoes  and  barges  down  the  Ohio  and  landed  it  at  the  mouth  of  the  Big 
Hockhocking.  From  this  position,  which  he  fortified,  and  called  Fort  Gower,  he 
sent  to  Lewis  a  command  to  march  across  the  country  and  join  him  near  the  Pick- 
away villages.*'  Lewis  was  preparing  to  cross  the  river  in  compliance  with  this 
order,  when  suddenly,  on  the  tenth  of  October,  he  was  attacked  by  about  a 
thousand  Indians,  mostly  Shawnees,  led  by  the  great  chief  Cornstalk.  This  force 
had  descended  the  Scioto  from  the  Pickaway  Plains,  shrewdly  intending  to  inter- 
cept and  crush  Lewis  before  he  could  unite  with  Dun  more. 

The  battle  raged  from  early  morning  until  past  noon,  and  did  not  entirely 
cease  until  after  sundown.  At  the  first  onset  the  Indians  drove  back  the  regiments 
under  Charles  Lewis  and  Fleming,  and  advanced  from  point  to  point,  adroitly 
availing  themselves  of  the  shelter  of  the  trees  and  logs.  Above  the  din  of  the  rifles 
Cornstalk's  voice  was  heard  calling  to  his  warriors,  "be  strong!  be  strong!"  He 
was  seconded,  it  is  said,  by  Logan,  Red  Hawk,  Ellinipsico,  and  other  celebrated 
chiefs.  By  precipitating  Fields's  regiment  upon  the  Indians  while  they  were  driv- 
ing the  other  two,  Lewis  obliged  them,  in  turn,  to  retire.  They  drew  off  sullenly 
and  took  up  a  new  line,  covered  with  fallen  trees  and  driftwood,  extending  across 
the  point  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Kanawha.  They  held  this  line  stubbornly  until  dark, 
and  then  retreated.  Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  skillful  and  obstinate  battles 
foaght  with  the  whites  by  the  Western  Indians.  It  has  passed  into  history  as  the 
battle  of  Point  Pleasant.  It  cost  Lewis  a  loss  of  seven t^* five  officers  and  men 
killed,  and  one  hundred  and  forty  wounded.  Among  the  killed  were  Colonels 
Charles  Lewis  and  Fleming.  As  the  Indians  threw  many  of  their  dead  into  the 
river,  and  bore  off  their  wounded,  their  loss  is  not  known. 

While  Lewis  was  fighting,  Dunmore  was  advancing  up  the  valley  of  the  Hock- 
hocking. He  followed  the  river  to  the  point  where  the  town  of  Logan  now  stands, 
then  crossed  the  divide  and  halted  on  the  banks  of  Sippo  Creek,  about  seven  miles 
southwest  of  the  present  city  of  Circleville.  Here  he  drew  up  his  forces,  in  the 
woods,  surrounded  his  position  with  parapets  and  ditches,  and  gave  it,  in  honor  of 
the  young  queen  of  England,  the  name  of  Camp  Charlotte.  As  he  approached 
this  position,  he  was  met  by  a  white  man  named  Elliott  bearing  a  message  from 
the  Shawnees  proposing  submission,  and  asking  for  an  interpreter  through  whom 
they  could  communicate.  Pursuant  to  this  request,  Dunmore  appointed  Colonel 
John  Gibson,  who  set  out  to  confer  with  the  chiefs  at  their  lodges. 

Meanwhile  Lewis  brought  forward  his  division  and  encamped  on  the  banks  of 
Congo  Creek,  a  few  miles  southwest  of  Camp  Charlotte.  Ho  had  been  reinforced 
by  three  hundred  men  under  Colonel  William  Crawford,  and  was  eager  to  avenge 
bis  Point  Pleasant  losses.  Despite  his  commander's  negative,  and  the  pending  ne- 
gotiations for  peace,  he  was  determined  to  fall  upon  the  Shawnee  villages,  and  was 


9ri  History  ok  the  City  of  Coi.rMnus. 

only  disHuaded  from  so  doing  when  Dunniore,  going  to  him  in  person,  drew  his 
sword,  and  threatened  to  kill  him  if  he  did  not  obey  orders.  Incensed  at  this, 
Lewis  and  his  men  aec-usi'd  Dunmore  of  intending  an  alliance  with  the  Indians 
against  the  colonists,  who  were  then  on  tlie  point  of  revolt  against  British  author- 
ity. There  seems  lo  have  been  no  ground  for  this  accusation.  Dunmore  was 
very  much  <iislilvcd  by  tlie  Virginians,  and  was  the  last  of  their  governors  by  royal 
appointment.  Their  prejudices  against  him  were  easily  excited,  and  were  prob- 
ably the  only  real  basis  for  their  suspicions.  On  the  other  hand  he  certainly  de- 
.serves  great  credit  for  having  refused  to  tolerate  a  useless  and  perfidious  massacre 
of  the  Indians  after  he  had  begun  to  treat  with  them. 

The  negotiations  with  the  chiefs  at  Camp  Charlotte  were  conducted  with  con- 
siderable formality  and  caution.  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant,  of  Columbus,  remembered 
hearing  the  occasion  described  in  his  boyhood  by  the  famous  woodsman,  Simon 
Kenton,  who  was,  at  the  time  of  the  narration,  a  guest  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Sulli- 
vant's  father.  Kenton  claimed  to  have  been  an  eyewitness  of  the  proceedings  at 
Cam}^  ('harlntte.  The  approach  of  the  Indians  to  the  treaty  ground,  he  stated, 
was  the  most  imposing  sight  he  ever  saw.  Over  ^va  hundred  warriors  came  rid- 
ing over  the  prairie  in  single  file,  and  full  paint,  each  one's  face  stained  half  red 
and  half  black.  Aske<l  by  young  Sullivant  what  this  sigrjified,  Kenton  replied 
that  it  meant  that  the  braves  were  e<iuall3'  for  peace  an<l  for  war,  and  indifferent 
as  to  which  should  be  the  out(;ome.  But  this  was  only  foreflfect;  they  really 
w^anted  peace.  *■- 

Apprehensive  of  treachery.  Dunmore  permitted  not  more  than  eighteen  war- 
riors to  enter  his  enclosures  at  a  time,  and  these  were  required  to  deposit  their 
weapons  outside.  Chief  Cornstalk  spoke  for  his  people.  Colonel  Wilson,  of  Dun- 
more's  staff,  said  of  this  Indian's  appearance  and  oratorical  gilts:  **  When  he  arose 
he  was  no  w^ise  confused  or  daunted,  but  spoke  in  a  distinct  and  audible  voice, 
without  stammering  or  repetition,  and  with  peculiar  em])hasis.  His  looks  while 
addressing  Dunmore  were  truly  grand  and  majestic,  yet  graceful  and  attractive. 
I  have  heard  many  celebrated  orators,  but  never  one  whose  powera  of  delivery  sur- 
passed those  of  Cornstalk  on  this  occasion.  " 

The  Mingoes  sullenly  refused  to  take  any  part  in  the  council.  Kenton  told 
Sullivant  that  their  chief,  I^ogan,  was  not  only  not  present,  but  not  believed  to  be 
anywhere  near.  On  the  other  hand  Colonel  Gibson  declares  in  an  affidavit  ap- 
pended to  Jetfer.son's  Notes  that  while  he  was  conferring  vvith  Cornstalk  and  other 
chiefs  at  the  Indian  lodges,  Logan  came  and  took  him  aside  and  delivered  to  him 
a  speech  nearly  the  same  as  that  reported  by  Jefferson ;  and  that  upon  returning 
to  camp  the  deponent,  Gibson,  delivered  this  a<ldress  to  Dunmore. 

Writing  at  Circleville  in  183S,  Mr.  Atw^ater  says  :  "  Though  he  (Logan)  would 
not  attend  on  Dunmore's  council  in  pei*son,  yet,  being  urged  by  the  Indians, 
who  were  anxious  to  be  relieved  from  Dunmore's  army,  he  sent  his  speech  in  a 
belt  of  wampum,  to  be  delivered  to  Earl  Dunmore  by  a  faithful  interpreter.  Un- 
der an  oak  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Wolf  this  splendid  effort  of  heart-stirring  eloquence 
was  faithfully  delivered  by  the  person  who  carried  the  wampum.  The  oak  tree 
under  which  it  was  delivered  Uy  Lord  Dunmore  still  stands  in  a  field,  seven  miles 
from  ( ■ircleville,  in  a  southern  direction.  An  interpreter  delivered  it,  sentence  by 
sentence,  and  it  was  wM'itten  as  it  was  delivered.     Its  authenticity  is  placed  beyond 


Advent  of  the  White  Man.  97 

the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  and  it  of  right  belongs,  and  forever  will  belong  to  the  His- 
tory of  Ohio.  "  « 

On  the  other  hand  Kenton  told  Mr.  Sullivant  that  he  had  never  heard  of  such 
a  speech  until  months  afl«r  the  treaty.  He  was  positive  that  no  such  speech  was 
made.  But  Kenton's  knowledge  of  all  that  took  place  at  the  council  may  not  have 
been  quite  perfect.  It  is  just  as  well  to  let  the  beautiful  tradition  stand,  and 
thereby  preserve  to  the  literature  of  the  wilderness  one  of  its  brightest  gems. 

Of  Logan's  address  three  versions,  substantially  the  same,  have  been  preserved. 
One  of  these,  taken  from  a  letter  of  February  4,  1775,  from  Williamsburg,  Virginia, 
found  its  wa3'  into  the  American  Archives;  another,  also  extracted  from  a  Virginia 
letter,  was  published  in  New  York,  February  16, 1775.  The  third  is  Mr.  Jefferson's, 
published  in  1781-2,  and  seems  to  be  most  authentic.     It  reads  : 

I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say  if  ever  he  entered  Logan's  cabin  hungry,  and  he  gave' 
him  not  meat ;  if  ever  he  came  cold  and  naked,  and  he  clothed  him  not.  During  the  course 
o!  the  last  long  and  bloody  war  rx)gan  remained  idle  in  his  cabin,  an  advocate  for  peace. 
Such  was  my  love  for  the  whites  that  my  countrymen  pointed  as  they  passed,  and  said,  Logan 
is  the  friend  of  the  white  men.  I  ha<l  even  thought  to  have  lived  with  you,  hut  for  the  in- 
juries of  one  man.  Colonel  Cresap,  the  last  spring,  in  cold  blood  and  unprovoked,  umrdered 
all  the  relations  of  Logan,  not  even  sparing  my  women  and  children.  There  runs  not  a  drop 
of  my  blood  in  the  veins  of  any  living  creature.  This  called  on  me  for  revenge.  I  have 
sought  it ;  I  have  killed  many ;  I  have  fully  glutted  my  vengeance.  For  my  country  J  re- 
joice at  the  beams  of  peace.  But  do  not  harbor  a  thought  that  mine  is  the  joy  uf  fear ;  Logan 
never  felt  fear.  He  will  not  turn  on  his  heel  to  save  his  life.  Who  is  there  to  mourn  for 
Logan  ?   Not  one. 

Taken  in  connection  with  the  circumstances  which  are  said  to  have  inspired 
it,  this  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic  deliverances  in  all  literature.  Jn  brevity,  sim- 
plicity and  directness  of  appeal,  as  well  as  in  the  immorlality  of  its  thoughts,  it 
bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  Abraham  Lincoln's  dedicatory  address  at  Gettys- 
burg. 

Owing  to  the  refusal  of  the  Mingoes  to  participate  in  the  negotiations,  a  force 
was  dispatched  by  Dunmore  to  destroy  their  villages  at  the  Forks  of  the  Scioto, 
meaning  the  junction  of  that  river  with  the  Whetstone,  at  which  now  stands  the 
city  of  Columbus.  One  of  Dunmore's  officers  mentioned  this  expedition  in  his 
diary,  a  publication  of  which  was  seen  by  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant,  and  is  referred  to 
by  him  in  his  address  before  the  Franklin  County  Pioneer  Society  in  1871.  Mr. 
Sullivant  thus  describes  in  that  address  the  location  of  the  Mingo  towns  against 
which  he  believes  the  Dunmore  expedition  to  have  been  sent,  and  narrates  some  of 
the  events  which  took  place  at  the  time  they  were  attacked : 

There  were  three  Indian  encampments  or  villages  in  this  vicinity;  one  on  the  high 
bank  near  the  old  Morrill  House,  one  and  a  half  miles  below  the  city,  from  which  the  party 
was  sent  out  to  capture  my  father  and  his  party,  on  Deer  Creek,  in  1795  ;  one  at  the  west  end 
of  the  Harrisburg  bridge ;  and  the  principal  one  on  the  river  below  the  mouth  of  the  Whet- 
stone, near  the  Penitentiary  where  formerly  stood  Brickell's  cabin,  and  now  (1871)  stands 
Hall  and  Brown's  warehouse. 

The  location  of  these  villages  I  had  from  John  Brickell,  Jeremiah  Armstrong  and  Jona- 
than Alder,  who  had  been  captives  among  the  Indians.  Alder  was  my  visitor  in  my  boy- 
hood, at  my  father's  house  and  afterwards  at  mine,  and  I  had  many  of  the  incidents  of  his 
life,  as  related  by  himself,  which  afterwards,  at  my  suggestion,  were  written  out.  In  his  boy- 
hood Alder  had  been  captured  in  Virginia  by  a  marauding  party  of  Indians,  was  brought  into 


98  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Ohio  and  adopted  into  a  tribe,  and  when  j^rown  up  niairied  and  lived  among  them.     He  lived 
on  Big  Darby,  died  then*,  and  was  well  known  to  our  earlier  settlers.    ... 

In  one  of  the  personal  narratives  to  which  I  have  alluded  he  told  me  he  had  heard  from 
the  older  men  of  this  tribe  that,  in  the  fall  of  1774,  when  all  the  male  Indians  of  the  upper 
village,  except  a  few  old  men,  had  gone  on  their  first  fall  hunt,  one  day  about  noon  the  vil- 
lage was  surprised  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  body  of  armed  white  men  who  immediately 
commenced  firing  upon  all  they  could  see.  Great  consternation  and  panic  ensued,  and  the 
inhabitants  fled  in  every  direction.  One  Indian  woman  seized  her  child  of  ^ye  or  six  years 
of  age,  and  rushed  down  the  bank  of  the  river  and  across  to  the  wooded  island  opposite, 
when  she  was  shot  down  at  the  farther  bank.  The  child  was  unhurt  amid  the  shower  of  balls, 
and  escaped  into  the  thicket  and  hid  in  a  large  hollow  sycamore  standing  near  the  middle  of 
the  island,  where  the  child  was  found  alive  two  days  afterward  when  the  warriors  of  the 
tribe  returned,  having  been  summoned  back  to  the  scene  of  disaster  by  runners  sent  for  the 
purpose.  This  wooded  and  shady  island  was  a  favorite  place  for  us  boys  when  we  went 
swimming  and  fishing,  especially  when  we  were  lucky  enough  to  hook  Johnny  Brickeirs 
canoe,  and  I  have  no  doubt  the  huge  sycamore  is  well  remembered  by  many  besides  myself. 

"This  interesting  incident,"  adds  Mr.  Sulliviint,  "  connects  our  county  directly 
with  the  old  colonial  times.""^ 

Colonel  William  Crawford,  who  commanded  the  expedition  against  the  Min- 
goes,  thus  describes  it  in  a  letter  to  Washington  : 

Lord  Dunmore  ordered  my.self  and  two  hundred  and  forty  men  to  set  out  in  the  night. 
We  were  to  march  to  a  town  about  forty  miles  distant  from  our  camp,  up  the  Scioto,  where 
we  understood  the  whole  of  the  Mingoes  were  to  rendezvous  the  next  day  in  order  to  pursue 
their  journey.  This  intelligence  came  by  John  Montour,  son  of  Captain  Montour,  whom  you 
formerly  knew. 

Because  of  the  number  of  Indians  in  our  camp  we  set  out  of  it  under  pretense  of  going 
to  Hockhocking  for  more  provisions.  Few  knew  of  our  setting  off  anyhow,  and  none  knew 
where  we  were  going  to  until  next  day.  Our  march  was  performed  with  as  much  speed  as 
possible.  We  arrived  at  the  town  called  Salt  Lick  town  **  the  ensuing  night,  and  at  day- 
break we  got  around  it  with  one-half  our  force,  and  the  remainder  were  sent  to  a  small  vil- 
lage half  a  mile  distant. 

Unfortunately  one  of  our  men  was  discovered  by  an  Indian  who  lay,  out  from  the  town 
some  distance,  by  a  log  which  the  man  was  creeping  up  to.  Thin  obliged  the  man  to  kill  the 
Indian.  This  happened  before  daylight,  which  did  us  much  damage,  as  the  chief  part  of  the 
Indians  made  their  escape  in  the  dark  ;  but  we  got  fourteen  prisoners,  and  killed  six  of  the 
enemy,  wounding  several  more.  We  got  all  of  their  baggage  and  horses,  ten  of  their  guns,  and 
two  hundred  white  prisoners.  The  plunder  sold  for  four  hundred  pounds  sterling,  besides 
what  was  returned  to  a  Mohawk  Indian  who  was  then*.  The  whole  of  the  Mingoes  were 
ready  to  start,  and  were  to  have  set  out  the  morning  we  attacked  them.  Lord  Dunmore  has 
eleven  prisoners,  and  has  returned  the  rest  to  the  nation.  The  residue  are  to  be  returned 
upon  his  lordship's  demand. 

In  the  same  letter  Colonel  Crawfonl  thus  summarizes  the  treaty  concluded  b3^ 
Dunmore  with  the  Shawnees  : 

First,  they  have  to  give  up  all  the  prisoners  ever  taken  by  them  in  the  war  with  the 
white  people  ;  also  negroes  and  all  of  the  horses  stolen  or  taken  by  them  since  the  last  war. 
And  further,  no  Indian  for  the  future  is  to  hunt  on  the  east  side  of  the  Ohio,  nor  any  white 
man  on  the  west  side ;  as  that  seems  to  have  been  the  cause  of  some  of  the  disturbance  be- 
tween our  people  and  them.  As  a  guarantee  that  they  will  perform  their  part  of  the  agree- 
ment, they  have  given  up  four  chief  men,  to  be  kept  as  hostages,  who  are  to  be  relieved 
yearly,  or  as  they  choose. 

After  the  treaty,  Dunmoro's  army,  twentyfive  hundred  strong,  returned  to  the 
month  of  the  Hockhocking,  and  thence  to  Western  Virginia,  where  it  was  dis- 
banded. 


Advent  of  the  White  Man.  99 

As  to  the  subsequent  career  and  end  of  Ijogan,  Mr.  Taylor  makes  the  Ibllow- 
ing  rtUitemeuts  on  the  authority  of  Henry  C.  Brusli,  of  Tiffin  :  '*  Ih'  wandered 
about  from  tribe  to  tribe,  a  solitary  and  lonely  man.  Dejected  and  broken-hearted 
by  the  loss  of  his  friends  and  the  decay  of  his  tribe,  he  resorted  to  the  stimulus  of 
strong  drink  to  drown  his  sorrow,  lie  was  at  last  murdered  in  Michigan,  near 
Detroit.  He  was,  at  the  time,  sitting  with  his  blanket  over  his  head,  before  a  eamp- 
tire,  his  elbow  resting  on  his  knees,  and  his  head  upon  his  hands,  buried  in  pro- 
found reflection,  when  an  Indian,  who  had  taken  some  offence,  stole  behind  him, 
and  burie<l  his  tomahawk  in  his  brains."=^ 

Accounts  diflbring  from  this  both  as  to  the  manner  and  place  of  Logan's  death 
are  given  by  other  writers,  one  of  whom  claims  that  the  old  chief  came  to  his  end 
in  the  vicinity  of  Urbana,  Ohio. 

The  Dunmore  treaty  proved  to  be  but  a  truce.  With  the  opening  of  the  War 
of  Independence  at  Lexington  the  following  year,' the  intrigues  of  British  agents 
were  brought  actively  to  bear  upon  the  Indians  to  induce  them  to  take  sides 
against  the  colonists.  Otticially  sustained  in  his  pretensions  by  (lovernor  Dunmore, 
(.'onnolly.  the  Fort  Pitt  adventurer,  assisted  in  Ihese  schemes.  The  Six  Nations, 
except  the  Tus<-aroras  and  Oneidas,  allied  theinselvts  with  the  Knglish.  The 
Shawnees  and  W^yandots  wen^  incliue<l  to  do  the  .same  thing.  The  Dehi wares, 
under  the  influence  of  the  Moravian  missionaries,  were  neutral. 

To  promote  good  relations  with  the  frontier  tribes  and  countervail  the  eftbils 
to  alienate  them,  the  (/Ontinei»tal  Congress  organized  an  Indiai»  Department,  in 
three  divisions.  In  1776  ('olonel  (reorge  Morgan,  of  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  was 
placed  over  the  middle  division,  including  the  Western  Indians,  wMth  hea<l<juarters 
at  F'ort  Pitt.  This  seems  to  have  been  a  fortunate  ap])ointment.  Morgan  was  a 
prudent  man,  widely  and  favorably  known  by  the  tribes  in  his  department,  and 
for  nearly  two  years  prevented,  by  conciliatory  manageiiient,  any  general  outbreak. 
His  efforts,  and  tho.se  of  the  kind-souled  Moravians  were  finally  set  at  naught  by 
acts  of  cruelty  which  have  plante<l  in  the  western  course  of  civilization  indelible 
marks  of  infamy.  One  of  these  dee<ls  of  shames  was  the  murder  of  the  Shawnee 
chief  Cornstalk  while  on  a  friendly  visit  to  the  stockade  erected  after  the  Dunmore 
invasion  at  Point  Pleasant."  Accompanied  by  IJed  Hawk,  Cornstalk  brought  to 
that  fort  timely  w^arning  of  tlie  hostile  disposition  of  his  tribe,  whereupon  the  <iom- 
mandantof  the  .stockade,  (-aiitain  Arbuckle,  caused  him  and  his  companions  to  he 
seized  and  held  as  hostages.  The  ca])tive  chief's  son,  Kllii)ipsico,  a  brave  young 
warrior,  came  innocently  in  search  of  his  father,  and  was  also  detained.  The  next 
day,  while  two  men  from  the  fort  were  hunting  in  tlu'  neighboring  woods,  one  of 
them  was  killed  by  a  party  of  hostile  Indians.  Knraged  at  this,  the  .soldiers  of  the 
garrison  fell  upon  their  helpless  captives  and  mercilessly  slaughtered  them. 
Arbuckle,  it  is  said,  protested  against  this  deed,  but  was  powerless  t(»  prevent  it. 
The  behavior  of  the  Shawnees  after  that  was  just  what  sucii  an  act  of  perfidious 
butchery  might  be  expecte<i  to  provoke."'^  Thenceforward  until  1794  there  was  no 
peace  along  the  border,  anywhere  from  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  to  Fort  Pitt.  For  a 
time,  Colonel  Morgan  and  the  Moravian  Heckewelder  managed  to  keej)  the  Dela- 
wares  from  joining  the  P]nglish,  but  their  jiacific  efforts,  prejudice*!  by  the  further 
slaughter  of  unoffending  Indians,  were  finally  overborne. 

Early  in  1778  General  Lachlin  xMcIntosh  was  appointed  by  Washington  to 
command  on  the  western  frontier,  and  erected  at  the  mouth   of  the  Hig  Beaver  a 


100  HlHTORY    OK    THE    CiTY    <iF    ( *OI.rMKITft. 

Blockaded  fortilicatioii  hearing  his  name.  Thence  he  marched  into  the  interior  the 
following  autumn  with  a  force  of  one  ihouBand  men,  and  erected  upon  the  present 
site  of  Bolivar,  in  Tuscarawas  County,  anotiier  fort  which,  in  honor  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  Congress,  was  named  Fort  Laurens.  This  work  was  garrisoned  with  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  under  Colonel  John  Gibson.  In  January,  1779,  it  was  be- 
sieged by  over  eight  hundred  Indians,  and  had  been  reduced  to  great  extremilies 
when  it  was  relieved  b}'  a  second  expedition  under  Mcintosh.  A  few  months 
later  it  was  abandoned. 

During  the  summer  of  1779  Colonel  John  Bowman  marched  from  Kentucky 
with  a  force  one  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  and  attacke<l  the  Shawnees  at  Old  Chil- 
licothe.*'  The  assault  upon  that  place  was  to  be  made  at  daylight  from  difterent 
directions  by  two  detachments,  one  of  which  was  led  by  Bowman,  the  other  by 
Captain  Benjamin  Logan  As  usual  in  such  cases,  there  was  lack  of  cooperation, 
and  the  effort  failed.  The  enemy  then  took  the  aggressive  and  surrounded  Bow- 
man during  his  retreat,  but  he  managed  to  cut  his  way  out,  and  recrossed  the 
Ohio.  Some  months  later  Colonel  Hyrd,a  British  officer,  at  the  head  of  a  band  of 
Indians  and  Canadians,  made  a  retaliatorj*  raid  into  Kentucky. 

During  the  summer  of  1780  Colonel  George  Rogers  Clark,  who  had  two  years 
before  captured  Kaskaskia  and  subdued  the  Illinois,  organized  an  expedition  against 
the  Indians  on  Mad  River.  His  force,  about  one  thousand  strong,  assembled  on 
the  ground  where  Cincinnati  now  stands,  and  from  thence  pushed  for  Old  (^hilli- 
cothe,  which  was  found  deserted  and  burning.  From  thence  a  forced  march  was 
made  to  the  Indian  settlements  at  Piqua,  which  were  attacked  and  dispersed.  The 
town  of  Piqua  was  burned,  and  the  cornfields  around  it  laid  waste.  The  expedi- 
tion then  returned  to  the  mouth  of  the  Licking.** 

This  chastisement  relieved  the  settlements  from  Indian  forays  only  tempora- 
rily. Active  hostilities  were  resumed  after  a  brief  interval,  and  conducted  in  a 
miscellaneous  way,  as  before,  on  both  sides.  Many  of  the  expeditions  by  the 
whites  were  gotten  up  at  private  expense,  without  authority  of  law,  badly  con- 
ducted, and  productive  of  no  good  results.  Thus  was  precipitated  the  crowning 
atrocity  in  the  annals  of  the  border.  Although  the  Moravian  settlements  had 
preserved  strict  neutrality  between  the  combatants,  thoy  had  not  escaped  molesta- 
tion. White  and  Indian  banditti  alike  threatened  them.  The  neighboring  tribes 
had  generally  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  the  British,  and  endeavore<i  to  press  them  into 
that  service.  On  the  other  hand,  they  were  subjected  to  considerable  annoyancei 
and  some  violence,  by  the  colonial  border  ruffians  of  that  period.  In  1777  the 
Wyandot  chief  Pomoacan,  of  Upper  Sandusky,  appeared  before  their  settlements 
at  the  head  of  two  hundred  warriors,  but  treated  them  kindly,  and  retired  without 
doing  them  mischief  In  1778  Gnadenhutten  was  abandoned,  for  a  time,  on  ac- 
count of  its  annoyances  from  white  marauders.  Lichtenau  was  then  settled,  and 
vacated,  in  turn,  the  year  following.  In  1781  a  Delaware  chief,  of  the  English 
party,  approached  with  eighty  warriors,  but  attempted  no  violence.  On  the  con- 
trary he  assured  the  Moravians  of  his  good  will,  admonished  them  of  their  danger- 
ous situtation  between  two  fires,  and  strongly  advised  their  withdrawal  from  the 
fVontier.  Ho  assured  them  that  the  Long  Knives,  meaning  the  Virginians,  would 
one  day  murder  them.  Finally,  in  the  summer  of  1781,  a  band  of  Wyandots,  insti- 
gated by  the  British  commandant  at  Detroit,  compelled   them  to  abandon  their 


Advent  of  the  White  Man.  101 

settlements,  and  remove  to  Sandusky.  Here  they  were  soon  reduced  to  a  condi- 
tion of  great  destitution.  Necessity  compelled  them  to  send  part  of  their  number 
back  to  their  deserted  homes  and  fields  to  procure  food.  Some  of  these  messengers 
were  borne  off  as  captives  to  Fort  Pitt. 

About  this  time,  it  is  said,  some  depredations  were  committed  by  hostile 
Indians  on  the  Pennsylvania  border.  This  was  made  a  pretext  for  a  raid  upon  the 
Moravian  villages.  The  raiding  party  comprised  one  hundred  and  sixty  men 
from  the  Monongahela  settlements,  led  by  Colonel  David  Williamson.  It  arrived 
before  Gnadenhutten  on  the  sixth  of  March  and  found  the  Christian  Indians  at 
work  in  their  cornfields.  After  these  unoffending  people  had  been  corralled  and 
persuaded  to  surrender  their  weapons,  Williamson  put  the  question  to  his  fellow 
miscreants  whether  their  captives  should  be  taken  to  Pittsburgh,  or  pat  to  death. 
There  were  but  sixteen  votes  for  the  more  merciful  alternative.  Of  those  who 
voted  for  death,  some  were  for  burning  the  prisoners  alive,  but  the  majority  were 
for  scalping  them.  Let  one  of  the  chronicles  of  this  sad  history  narrate  what  fol- 
lowed : 

When  the  day  of  their  execution  arrived,  namely,  the  eighth  of  March,  two  houses 
were  fixed  upon,  one  for  the  brethren  and  another  for  the  sisters  and  children,  to  which  the 
wanton  murderers  gave  the  name  of  slaughter  houses.  Some  of  them  went  to  the  brethren 
and  showed  great  impatience  that  the  execution  had  not  yet  begun,  to  which  the  brethren 
replied  that  they  were  ready  to  die,  having  commended  their  immortal  souls  to  God,  who 
had  given  them  that  divine  assurance  in  their  hearts  that  they  should  come  unto  Him  and 
be  with  Him  forever. 

Immediately  after  this  declaration  the  carnage  commenced.  The  poor,  innocent  people, 
men,  women  and  children,  were  led,  bound  two  and  two  together  with  ropes,  into  the  above- 
mentioned  slaughter-houses,  and  there  scalped  and  murdered.  .  .  .  Thus  uinetysix  persons 
magnified  the  name  of  the  I^rd  by  patiently  meeting  a  cruel  death.  Sixtytwo  were  grown 
persons,  among  whom  were  five  of  the  most  valuable  assistants,  and  thirtyfour  children. 
Only  two  youths,  each  between  sixteen  and  seventeen  years  old,  escaped  almost  miraculously 
from  the  hands  of  the  murderers.** 

The  Delawares,  whose  tribe  was  represented  in  the  victims  of  this  atrocious 
outrage,  were  soon  given  an  opportunity  to  avenge  it,  and  most  horribly  did  they 
do  so.  In  May,  1782,  a  mounted  force  four  hundred  and  fifty  strong  was  organized 
for  an  expedition  against  the  Moravian,  Delaware  and  Wyandot  settlements  along 
the  headwaters  of  the  Scioto  and  Sandusky.  Its  place  of  rendezvous  was  the 
Mingo  village  on  the  Ohio,  a  few  miles  below  the  present  city  of  Steubenville. 
The  expedition  set  forth  on  the  twentyfifth  of  May,  under  Colonel  William  Craw- 
ford, one  of  whose  lieutenants  was  Colonel  David  Williamson,  of  the  Moravian 
massacre.  On  the  fourth  day  out,  the  column  halted  over  night  at  the  solitary 
scenes  of  that  massacre,  and  on  the  sixth  day  arrived  at  the  Moravian  village, 
likewise  abandoned,  on  one  of  the  upper  branches  of  the  Sandusky.  Here  some  of 
Crawford's  men  mutinously  insisted  on  turning  back,  but  it  was  finally  decided  to 
continue  the  march  for  another  day.  After  the  column  had  proceeded  for  a  few 
hours,  its  advance  guard  was  attacked  and  driven  in  by  Indians  concealed  in  the 
tall  grass.  The  fighting  continued  until  dark.  It  was  not  renewed  the  next  day, 
but  the  Indians  were  largely  reinforced.  At  nightfall  retreat  was  resolved  upon 
and  begun.  It  soon  became  a  panic,  and  the  whole  command  fled  precipitately, 
abandoning  its  wounded.     Only  about  one-half  of  the  fugitives  ever  reached  their 


102  History  ok  the  City  of  Con  m bus. 

homos.  The  iv8t  were  huiiUMl  down  by  the  IndiaiiH,  and  hutcherod.  Crawford 
abandoned  his  nion,  in  whom  he  ha<i  h>sl  all  eonfidenee,  and  atler  wandering 
thirtysix  hours  in  the  wilderness  was  (captured  l»y  a  party  of  Dolawares,  wMio  took 
him  to  their  eamp  on  the  Tymoehtee,  and  there  [Mit  him  to  death  amid  unspeakable 
tortures.  This  horrible  scents  was  witnessed  by  Moctor  Knight,  who  was  taken 
with  Crawford,  but  afterwards  escaped.  Another  witness,  com])laeent  and  merci- 
less, was  Simon  (lirty,  thi'  notorious  white  Indian  of  the  border. 

A  Delaware  chief  namrd  Wingenund  told  Crawford  that  he  must  suffer  in 
expiation  of  the  Moravian  massacre.  The  vi(*tim,  w^th  his  hands  tied  behind  his 
back,  was  then  bound  to  the  stake  in  such  a  way  that  he  could  walk  around  it 
once  or  twice.  This  being  <lone,  ('a]>tain  Pipe,  a  Delaware  chief,  made  a  speech  to 
an  assembly  of  thirty  or  forty  Indian  men  and  eixt}'  or  seventy  squaws  and  boys. 
Doctor  Knight  thus  narrates  what  then  fl)llowed  : 

When  the  speech  was  tinishe<l,  they  all  yelled  a  hideous  and  hearty  ansent  to  what  had 
been  said.  The  Indian  men  then  tonk  up  their  guns  and  shot  powder  into  the  Coloners 
body,  from  his  feet  as  far  up  iis  his  neek.  I  think  not  less  than  seventy  loads  were  discharged 
upon  his  naked  body.  They  then  erow«le<l  about  him,  and,  to  the  best  of  my  observation, 
cut  otf  his  ears.  When  the  throng  had  dispersed  a  little,  I  saw  the  blood  running  from  both 
sides  of  his  head  in  con8e«iuence  thereof. 

The  det^iils  of  the  torture  which  slowly  and  finally  extinguished  life  from 
Crawtbrd's  body  are  too  horrible  tor  recital.  In  res|iect  to  their  fiendish  atrocity- 
there  is  but  one  material  distinction  to  he  drawn  between  them  and  the  cold- 
blooded butcheries  of  Cnadenhiitten  and  Salem.  In  the  one  case  the  perpetrators 
were  savage,  in  the  other  civilized. 

With  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  on  the  nineteenth  of  September,  17S1,  the 
independence  of  the  American  colonies  was  substantially  achieved.  A  preliminary 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at  Paris  «on  the  thirtieth  of  November,  1782,  and  on 
September  8, 1783,  a  treaty  was  concluded  at  Versailles  by  which  the  colonies  were 
finally  acknowledged  to  be  free,  sovereign,  and  independent. 

In  October,  1784,  the  Six  Nations,  by  treat}-  at  Fort  Stanwix,  released  to  Con- 
gress, with  certain  res<>rvations,  all  their  territorial  claims.  In  this  negotiation 
Oliver  W^olcott,  I{ichard  Butler  aiid  Arthur  Lee  represented  the  colonial  govern- 
ment, and  the  chiefs  Cornplanter  and  Ked  Jacket  the  Indians. 

On  the  twontytirst  of  January,  178;').  a  similar  treaty  was  concluded  with  the 
Wyandot*i,  Delawares,  Chip]>ewas  and  Ottawas,  by  which  they  released  all  their 
Ohio  claims  except  certain  reservations  the  boundaries  of  w^hich  wore  defined. 
Fort  Mcintosh  w-as  the  sceneof  these  negotiations,  which  w-ero  conducted  in  behalf 
of  Congress  hy  Arthur  IjCO,  i^ichard  Butler  and  (rcorge  Kogors  Clark.  Among 
the  chiefs  signing  in  behalf  of  the  Indians  were  Ilobocan,  or  Captain  Pipe,  Wing- 
enund and  Packelant,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been  identical  with  the  famous 
Delaware,  Bockcngehelas. 

By  a  conference  held  withthe  Shawnees  at  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Miami  in 
January,  1786,  they  were  in(luce<l  to  *' acknowledge  the  United  States  to  be  the 
sole  and  absolute  sovereign  of  all  the  territories  ceded  by  CSreat  Britain.** 

Thus  tl)e  Indian  title  to  the  Ohio  country  was  virtually  blotted  out,  and  the 
wilderness  was  prepared  for  the  oeeupancy  of  a  new^  race.  The  white  man  had 
come,  and  come  to  stay. 


Advent  op  the  White  Man.  103 


NOTES. 

1.  A  short  distance  above  Montreal. 

2.  In  Texas,  March  17,  1687. 

3.  Bancroft's  United  States. 

4.  History  of  Ohio . 

5.  Pioneer  History  ;  S.  P.  Hildreth. 

6.  Gist's  Journal. 

7.  Ibid. 

8.  Washington  Irving. 

9.  Irving's  Life  of  Washington. 

10.  Taylor  says,  "  early  in  1752."    See  History  of  Ohio. 

11.  Both  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  at  that  time  claimed  the  territory  within  which 
these  garrisons  were  located. 

12.  To  the  Indian  tribes  this  change,  says  Parkman,  '*  was  nothing  but  disaster.  They 
bad  held  in  a  certain  sense  the  balance  of  power  between  the  rival  colonies  of  France  and 
England.  Both  had  bid  for  their  friendship,  and  both  competed  for  the  trade  with  them. 
The  French  had  been  the  more  successful.  Their  influence  was  predominant  among 
all  the  interior  tribes,  while  many  of  the  border  Indians,  old  allies  of  the  English,  had  of 
late  abandoned  them  in  favor  of  their  rivals.  While  the  French  had  usually  gained  the 
good  will,  often  the  ardent  attachment,  of  the  tribes  with  whom  they  came  in  contact,  the 
English,  for  the  most  part,  had  inspired  only  jealousy  and  dislike.  This  dislike  was  soon 
changed  to  the  most  intense  hatred.  Lawless  traders  and  equally  lawless  speculators  preyed 
on  the  Indians ;  swarms  of  squatters  invaded  the  lands  of  the  border  tribes,  and  crowded 
them  from  their  homes."— Ftowcm  Parkman. 

13.  Paully's  life  was  saved,  it  is  said,  by  the  fancy  taken  for  him  by  a  hideous  old 
sqaaw,  whom  he  was  obliged  to  marry. 

14.  While  leading  an  expedition  against  Fort  Du  Qu^sne,  General  Edward  Braddock 
fell  into  an  ambuscade  of  French  and  Indians  near  that  fort,  and  was  defeated  and  mortally 
wounded,  July  9,  1755. 

15.  Historical  Account  of  the  Expedition  Against  the  Ohio  Indians  in  1764 ;  by  Doctor 
William  Smith,  Provost  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  1766. 

16.  Irving's  Life  of  Washington. 

17.  Taylor's  Ohio. 

18.  **  In  1770  Wheeling  was  settled  by  a  number  of  men  from  the  South  Branch  of  the 
Potomac,  among  whom  was  [were]  Ebenezer,  Silas  and  Jonathan  Zane,  with  Colonel  Shep- 
herd, all  prominent  men  in  the  colonization  and  establishment  of  that  place.  Soon  after 
which,  locations  were  made  on  Buffalo  and  Short  Creek,  above  Wheeling,  where  the  town  of 
Wellsburg  now  stands,  then  called  Buffalo,  and  afterwards  Cha,T\eston  "—Eildreth's  Pioneer 
Bittory. 

19.  Hon.  Henry  Jolly,  for  many  years  a  judge  of  the  courts  of  Washington  County, 
Ohio,  is  quoted  to  this  effect.    See  Taylor's  Ohio. 

20.  Cresap  may  have  connived  at  the  expedition  under  Greathouse,  but  he  was  not 
present  at  the  massacre. 

21.  This  message,  Hildreth  says,  was  borne  by  Dunmore's  guide,  Simon  Girty,  and  a 
man  named  Parchment.  Girty  was  one  of  three  brothers,  Simon,  George  and  James,  who 
were  taken  prisoners  in  Pennsylvania  about  1755,  and  adopted  into  different  tribes.  "  Simon,*' 
says  Taylor,  "became  a  Seneca,  and  although  a  white  savage,  was  not  incapable  of  humane 
conduct,  and  was  scrupulously  exact  in  the  redemption  of  his  word.  James  was  adopted  by 
the  Shawanese,  and  seems  to  have  been  an  unmitigated  monster.  George  was  adopted  by 
the  Delawares,  and  belonged  to  that  small  fragment  of  the  tribes  who  were  constantly 
engaged  in  the  campaigns  against  the  settlements.    The  trio  were  desperate  drunkards. 


104  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

"  Early  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle  the  Girtys,  like  their  Indian  brethren,  were  unde- 
cided how  to  act.  Even  in  the  summer  of  1777  James  Girty  was  the  medium  of  speeches 
and  presents  from  the  Americans  to  atone  for  the  murder  of  Cornstalk  ;  while  Simon  Girty 
acted  as  interpreter  for  the  United  States  on  many  occasions.  About  1777  both  brothers  had 
been  seduced  bj'  the  British  emissaries,  and  are  known  to  border  tradition  as  renegades. 
This  is  hardly  just.  They  should  not  be  regarded  otherwise  than  as  Indians  of  their  respect- 
ive tribes.  Such  had  been  their  training,  their  education.  They  were  white  savages,  noth- 
ing else,  and  the  active  partisans  of  Great  Britain  for  the  rest  of  the  century.'*— TViy/ar'* 
History  of  Ohio. 

22.  Mr.  Sullivant  gave  a  synopsis  of  his  conversation  with  Kenton  on  this  subject  in  an 
address  delivered  before  the  Franklin  County  Pioneer  Association,  in  1871. 

23.  Atwater^s  Ohio. 

24.  Sullivant's  address. 

25.  Called,  according  to  some  authorities,  Seekonk,  or  Seekunk,  which  is  the  corrup- 
tion of  an  Indian  word  meaning  **  a  place  of  salt." 

2r>.    Taylor's  History  of  Ohio. 

27.  The  battle  of  I^xington  was  fought  June  20,  1775. 

28.  Called  Fort  Randol[>h  ;  built  by  troops  from  Virginia  in  the  spring  of  1775. 

29.  See  Taylor's  History  of  Ohio ;  Dodge's  Red  Men  of  the  Ohio  Valley ;  etc. 

30.  "The  Shawnee  town,  *  Old  Chillicothe,'  was  on  the  Little  Miami,  in  this  county 
[Clark],  about  three  and  a  half  miles  north  of  the  site  of  Xenia:  it  was  a  place  of  note, 
and  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  annals  of  the  early  explorations  and  settlements  of  the 
West.    It  was  sometimes  called  the  Old  Town."— //bt/7<»'8  Historical  CoHectioru, 

31.  From  the  skillful  and  energetic  leader  of  this  expedition  Clark  County,  Ohio,  takes 
its  name. 

32.  Loskiel's  History  of  North  American  Missions. 


1 


•  «• 


•  • 


CHAPTER  Vl. 


koi:nding  of  oirio. 

Of  the  events  ineideiii  to  the  birth  of  Ohio,  as  the  seventeenth  State  in  the 
Union,  some  interesting  volumes  mi^ht  be  written.  Only  an  outline  sketch  will 
be  here  attempted.  So  far  as  the  subject  relates  to  the  grants,  surveys,  sales  and 
titles  of  lands,  it  will  be  left  mainly  to  the  pen  of  an  expert. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  the  northwestern  territories, embracing 
those  of  the  present  State  of  Ohio,  were  claimed,  simultaneously,  hy  the  Indians, 
whose  titles  were  but  vaguely  extinguished  ;  by  the  individual  colonies,  and  by 
Great  Britain.  The  treaty  arrangements  hy  which  the  Indian  rights  were  tempo- 
rarily disposed  of  have  alrea<ly  been  referred  to.  The  pretensions  of  the  embryo 
States  were  less  easily  adjusted,  and  lor  a  time  postponed  the  consummation  of 
their  confederation.  Over  the  entire  region  which  now  constitutes  the  States  of 
Ohio,  Kentucky,  Indiana,  J llinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  both  New  York  and 
Virginia  maintained  the  right  of  exclusive  domain.  On  the  other  side  it  was 
vigorously  argued  that  whatever  territories  were  wrested  by  the  joint  efforts  of 
all  from  the  common  enemy,  should  be  placed  at  the  disposition  of  Congress  for 
the  common  benefit.  Maryland  conspicuously  held  out  for  this  proposition,  and 
made  its  acceptance  a  condition  of  her  assent  to  the  articles  of  confederation.  The 
articles  were  dated  November  15,  1777,  and  were  ratitied  hy  ten  colonies  July  9, 
1778.  New  Jersey  signed  NovemV)er  25,  1778,  and  Delaware  February  22,  1779, 
but  Maryland,  for  the  reasons  stated,  still  withheld  her  concurrence.  Other  col- 
onies threatened  to  join  her,  and  the  incipient  union  was  placed  in  jeopardy  of  dis- 
ruption. Persisting  in  her  claims,  Virginia  opened  an  office  for  the  sale  of  lands 
west  of  the  Ohio.  Congress  intervened  by  driving  out  the  settlers,  and  the  crisis 
became  acute.  At  this  juncture  General  Philip  Schuyler  announced  in  Congress 
that  New  York  had  executed  to  the  general  government  a  deed  r)f  cession  of  all 
the  disputed  territory  west  of  her  present  boundaries.  This  patriotic  act  was  con- 
summated March  1,  1781,  in  pursuance  of  an  act  of  the  legislature  passed  the  year 
before.  The  cession  was  made  without  reservation.  Thereuj)on  Maryland  joined 
the  Confederation,  thus  completing,  for  the  first  time,  the  American  Union. 

Constrained  by  the  example  of  New  York  and  the  persuasion  of  Congress, 
Connecticut  and  Virginia  made  conditional  concessions,  the  first  reserving  her 
jurisdiction, and  the  second  excepting  the  whole  State  of  Kentucky  from  her  grant. 
These  proposed  acts  of  conveyance  were  carefully  considered  and  exhaustively 
reported  upon  by  a  committee  of  Congress,  which  declared  that  New  York  had  the 

[105] 


100  lIlSTORV    OF   THE    CiTY    OF    CoLIMBlIS. 

only  valid  title.     The  dved  of  New  York  was  therefore  acoc])ted,  that  of  Virginia 
rejected.     The  aceeptance  dates  from  March  20,  17H2. 

Virginia  thereupon  authorized  a  new  deed  of  cossion,  still  excepting  Ken- 
tucky, but  omitting  some  of  the  objectionable  features  of  the  former  conveyance. 
She  also  reserved  a  body  of  land  bounded  east  by  the  Scioto,  west  by  the  Miami 
and  south  by  the  Ohio,  to  be  distributed  as  a  bounty  to  her  soldiers  in  the  War  of 
Independence.  By  this  act,  perfected  March  1,  1784.  Virginia  relinquished  to  the 
[Tnited  States  all  her  claims  on  the  territories  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  excepting 
the  reservation  named.  By  deed  of  Apnl  IJ),  1785,  Massachusetts  conveyed  to 
Congress,  without  qualitication,  all  rights  under  her  charter  to  lands  west  of  the 
western  boundary  of  New  York.  Connecticut  executed  a  like  deed  of  cession 
September  14,  I78t»,  but  excepted  from  its  provisions  a  belt  of  country  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  long  and  about  fifty  wide,  called  in  early  times  New  Connecticut, 
an<l  since  known  as  the  Western  Reserve.  B}'  the  distribution  and  sale  of  this 
tract  she  indemnified  her  citizens  for  their  losses  bv  the  British  armies,  and  raised 
a  fund  for  the  support  of  her  common  schools.  Washington  and  many  other 
prominent  men  protested  against  her  action,  but  Virginia's  reservations  furnished 
her  a  precedent  which,  with  the  gen<*ral  <lesire  for  peace  and  union,  enabled  her 
to  enforce  her  conditions.  Iler  civil  jurisdiction  over  the  Reserve  was  finally  sur- 
rendered to  the  national  authority  May  30.  1800. 

The  claims  of  (treat  Britain  upon  the  territories  of  the  Northwest  were  main- 
tained with  great  tenacity.  Pjven  after  the  treaty  of  peace  ihey  were  relinquished 
tnrdily  and  ungraciously.  The  ministry  which  negotiated  the  treaty  was  censured 
and  overthrown,  one  of  the  accusations  brought  against  it  being  that  it  had  "given 
up  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  the  Para<lise  of  America."  Lord  North,  leading  the 
o]»position,  insisted  that  the  ministers  "  should  have  retained  tor  Canada  all  the 
country  north  and  west  of  the  Ohio."  The  united  colonies  being  too  weak  to 
assert  immediately  their  authority  over  so  large  a  territory,  the  British  roaorttjd  to 
every  pretext  to  hold  it,  and  in  defiance  of  the  treaty  continued  to  maintain  their 
western  garrisons.  They  even  built  a  new  fort  where  the  town  of  Perrysburg 
now  stands  and  practically  continued  the  war  through  their  allies,  the  Indians. 
Only  the  casting  vote  of  Vice  President  Adams  defeated  a  resolution  in  Congress 
to  suspend  intercoui*se  with  Great  Britain  until  her  armed  forces  in  the  West  should 
be  withdrawn.  History  fairly  justifies  the  declaration  attributed  to  General 
William  JI.  Harrison,  that  the  War  of  Independence  was  not  finally  concluded 
until  General  Wayne's  victory  of  Ajigust  20,  1794,  blasted  the  hopes  of  the  British 
by  crushing  the  power  of  the  Indians. 

Plans  for  the  settlement  of  the  new  territories  of  the  West  were  first  conceived 
and  carried  into  effect  by  the  veterans  of  the  colonial  army.  While  yet  awaiting 
the  conclusion  of  peace  in  their  camps  on  the  Hudson,  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  of  these  veterans  memorialized  Congress  to  grant  them  their  arrears  of  pay 
in  lands  located  between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio.  Washington,  by  request,  laid 
this  petition  before  the  Continental  Congress,  and  reinforced  it  with  his  great 
influence,  but  without  avail.  The  claims  of  the  colonies  upon  the  new  territories 
being  then  still  unadjusted,  nothing  could  be  done.  The  movement  was  obliged  to 
bide  its  time,  and  so  doing,  proved  to  be  the  precursor  of  the  most  important 
pioneer  enterprise  of  the  West.     Fortunately  its  most  active  spirit  was  General 


Founding  of  Ohio.  107 

Bufus  Putnam,  of  Massachu.setts.  On  the  twentieth  of  May,  1785,  Congro«.s  passed 
an  ordinance  providing  for  the  surve}^  of  its  new  western  domain.  Prom  this 
ordinance  as  a  basis  has  risen  the  present  system  of  land  division  in  Ohio.*  It  pro- 
vided originally  for  the  organization  of  a  corps  of  surveyors  comprising  one  from 
each  State,  all  under  the  direction  of  Thomas  Hutchins,  Survey or-Cieneral,  or  so 
called  Geographer,  of  the  Confederation.  General  Putnam  was  elected  for  Massa- 
chusetts, but  was  unable  to  serve,  and  recjuested  that  General  Benjamin  Tupper, 
another  officer  of  the  colonial  army,  should  be  appointed  in  his  stead.  This  was 
done,  and  General  Tupper  repaired  to  his  field  of  labor  onl}'  to  learn  that  nothing 
could  be  done  on  account  of  the  Indians.  But  while  he  was  not  permitted  to  sur- 
vey the  Ohio  country,  he  acquired  a  most  favorable  judgment  of  it  as  a  field  of  enter- 
prise. Accordinfjiy,  Putnam  and  himself  joined  in  a  publication  dated  January 
10,  1786,  inviting  their  former  comrades  of  the  army  to  meet  them  in  a  delegate 
assembly  at  Boston  to  organize  an  association  for  settlement  on  the  Ohio.  The 
meeting  convened  at  the  Bunch  of  Grapes  Tavern,  in  Boston,  March  1,  1786,  and 
orgjinized  by  electing  (General  Rufus  Putnam  as  chairman,  and  Major  Winthrop 
Sargent  as  clerk.  It  comprised  eleven  persons,  rej)resenting  eight  counties.  Arti- 
cles of  association  prepared  by  a  committee  of  which  General  Putnam  was  chair- 
man were  adopted,  and  thus  the  Ohio  Comj)any  was  organized. 

It  was  the  design  of  the  Comj)any  to  obtain  from  Congress,  by  purchase,  a 
large  body  of  land  on  which  they  might  lay  the  foundations  of  a  new  State.  *'  In 
one  sense,"  says  President  Andrews, '' it  was  a  private  enterprise,  as  each  share- 
holder ])aid  for  his  share  from  his  |)rivate  funds;  but  ft  was  also  in  a  measure  a 
public  enterprise,  representing,  on  the  one  hand,  the  veterans  of  the  army,  whose 
private  fortunes  had  been  wasted  by  the  long  war  for  independence,  and,  on  the 
other,  the  st^itesmen  and  patriots  of  the  country  who  were  anxious  to  see  a  new 
empire  founded  in  the  western  region  which,  after  the  long  struggle  with  individual 
states  at  home  and  Great  Britain  abroad,  was  now  in  the  peaceable  possession  of 
the  United  States.'"' 

The  stock  of  the  Company  comprised  one  thousand  shares  of  one  thousand 
dollars  each.  The  owners  of  each  section  of  twenty  shares  were  entitled  to  elect 
an  agent  to  represent  them^  and  the  agents  so  chosen  were  authorized  to  choose 
five  directors,  a  treasurer  and  a  secretary.  The  first  directors  were  General  Eufus 
Putnam,  General  Samuel  H.  Parsons,  and  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler.  General  James 
M.  Varnum,  of  Rhode  Island,  was  subsequei»tly  chosen  as  an  additional  director, 
and  Richard  Piatt,  of  Now  York,  as  Treasurer.  .General  Putnam  was  President 
and  Major  Sargent  Secretary  of  the  Board. 

The  second  meeting  of  the  Company  was  held  at  Brackett's  Tavern,  Boston, 
March  8,  1787,  by  which  time  two  hundred  and  fifty  shares  had  been  taken. 
Among  the  shareholders  then,  or  who  afterwards  became  such,  were  many  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  in  the  Confederation.'  No  colonial  enterpi'ise  was  ever 
favored  with  abler  management  or  better  material.  Negotiations  with  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  for  the  purchase  of  a  bod}-  of  land  for  the  Company  were  author- 
ized, but  were  for  some  time  unsuccessful.  Finally,  through  the  etforts  of 
Manasseh  Cutler  and  Winthrop  Sargent,  a  contract  was  obtained  for  fitleen  hun- 
dred thousand  acres  of  land  at  a  cost  of  one  million  dollars  in  public  securities  then 
worth  about  twelve  cents  per  dollar.     Onehalf  the  consideration  was  to  be  paid  at 


108  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

the  signing  of  the  contract,  the  remainder  when  the  exterior  boundaries  of  the  tract 
should  be  surveyed.  By  the  advice  of  Thomas  Hutchins,  Surveyor-General  of 
the  Confederation,  the  lands  were  located  on  the  Ohio,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Muskingum. 

Such  was  the  Ohio  Company's  purchase.  The  contract  was  concluded  verbally 
July  23,  1787,  and  was  signed  in  writing  on  the  twentyseventh  of  October  follow- 
ing. It  was  the  first  contract  of  sale  ever  executed  on  the  part  of  the  Union  Gov- 
ernment. Under  it  the  Ohio  Company  finally  came  into  possession  of  a  traot  of 
9()4,285  acres. 

In  order  to  eonsunimate  the  arrangement  certain  concessions  had  to  be  made 
which  were  not  originally  contemplated.  One  of  these  was  the  substitution  of 
General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  of  Pennsylvania,  as  the  intended  Governor  of  the  new 
territoiy,  in  lieu  of  General  Samuel  H.  Parsons.  Another  concession  was  the  ex- 
tension of  the  proposed  purciiase  so  as  to  embrace  the  schemes  of  one  William  Duer 
and  others  who  are  described  as  "principal  characters"  of  New  York  City. 
Unless  those  things  had  been  done,  the  negotiations  would  probably  have  failed ; 
after  the}^  were  done  a  favorable  conclusion  was  soon  reached.  In  conformity 
with  these  arrangements  a  second  contract,  of  even  date  with  that  for  the  Ohio 
Company,  was  made,  conveying  over  four  million  acres  of  land  to  ^^  Manasseh 
Cutler  and  Winthrop  Sargent  for  themselves  and  associates.''  Threefourths  of 
this  tract  lay  west  and  onefourth  of  it  north  of  the  Ohio  ('ompany's  lands.  Such 
was  the  socallod  Scioto  Purchase.  It  was  to  be  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  twothirds 
of  a  dollar  per  acre  in  public  securities  delivered  in  four  semi-annual  instalments. 

Simultaneously  with  the  execution  of  this  second  or  Scioto  contract,  **  Cutler 
and  Sargent  conveyed  to  Colonel  William  Duer,  of  New  York  Cit}",  a  onehalf  inter- 
est in  it,  and  gave  him  full  powder  to  negotiate  a  sale  of  the  lands  in  Europe  or  else- 
where, and  to  substitute  an  agent.  Colonel  Duer,  [who  was  Secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Treasury],  agreed  to  loan  to  the  Ohio  Company  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
public  securities  to  enable  it  to  make  its  first  payment  to  Congress — [Duer  actually 
advanced  $143,000]  —  and  procured  a  large  subscription  to  its  shares.  Soon  afler. 
Cutler  and  Sargent  conveyed  a  little  over  threefourths  of  their  retained  interest  in 
about  equal  proportions  to  Generals  Rufus  Putnam,  Benjamin  Tupper,  Samuel  H. 
Parsons,  C'olonel  Ilichard  Piatt,  Royal  Flint  and  Joel  Barlow.  Many  others  became 
interested  with  these  in  greater  or  less  proportions."* 

The  Scioto  Compan}^  appointed  Joel  Barlow  as  its  agent  for  the  disposal  of 
these  lands,  and  sent  him  to  Paris,  where  he  spread  abroad  such  captivating  tales 
of  the  Scioto  region  that  a  large  number  of  sales  were  effected.  About  six  hundred 
of  these  purchasers  came  over  from  France,  intending  to  establish  homes  on  their 
supposed  possessions,  but  soon  learned  that  the  Scioto  Company  had  defaulted  in 
its  payments  and  (rould  give  them  no  valid  title.  Defrauded,  nearly  destitute  and 
surrounded  by  hostile  Indians  in  the  wilderness,  these  French  colonists  found  them- 
selves in  a  condition  truly  pitiable.  Finally,  in  1795,  those  of  them  who  still 
remained  were  indemnified,  in  part,  for  their  losses,  by  a  congressional  grant  of 
twentyfour  thousand  acres  lying  in  the  eastern  part  of  Scioto  County. 

The  Ohio  Company's  outcome  was  altogether  dift'erent.  On  November  23, 
1787,  its  directors  met  at  Brackett's  Tavern,  in  Boston,  and  made  arrangements  for 
sending  out  its  first  band  of  settlers.     General  Rufus  Putnam  was  appointed  super- 


I^ouNDiNa'oF  Ohio.  109 

intendent  of  the  colony;  Ebenezor  Sproat,  Anselm  Tupper,  R.  J.  Moigs,  and  John 
Mathews  were  selected  as  surveyors  of  its  lands.  The  first  party,  numbering 
twentytwo  men,  mostly  mechanics,  set  out  from  Danvers,  Massachusetts,  Novem- 
ber thirtieth,  under  Major  Haffield  White.  Exposed  to  the  inclement  weather  of 
the  season,  this  little  band  journeyed  tediously  over  the  mountains  by  an  old 
Indian  trail,  aiming  for  Simrall's  Ferry,  on  the  Youghiogheny,  thirty  miles  above 
Fort  Pitt.  At  this  appointed  rendezvous  a  halt  was  made  for  the  construction  of 
a  barge  in  which  the  entire  expedition,  when  assembled,  could  float  down  the 
Ohio. 

A  second  detachment,  including  the  surveyors,  quitted  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
January  1,  1788,  under  General  Putnam.  When  it  reached  the  mountains,  its 
wagons  were  unable  to  go  forward  on  account  of  the  depth  of  snow,  and  sledges 
bad  to  be  constructed  for  transportation  of  the  baggage,  (icneral  Putnam  arrived 
at  Simrall's  about  the  middle  of  February.  The  galley  was  then  pushed  to  com- 
pletion,  launched  and  named  the  Mayflower.  It  was  fortyfive  feet  long  and  fifteen 
wide.  Though  not  graceful  it  was  stanch,  its  sides  being  thickly-timbered  for 
protection  against  the  bullets  of  the  Indians.  The  commander  of  this  pioneer 
craft  was  one  of  its  builders,  and  a  veteran  seaman,  C^aptain  Jonathan  Devol.  The 
capacity  of  the  Mayflower  not  being  sufficient  for  conveyance  of  all  the  men  and 
baggage,  a  supplementary  flatboat  and  some  canoes  were  provided.  Embarking 
in  this  flotilla,  the  party,  tbrtyoight  in  number,  floated  away  from  Simrall's  on  the 
second  of  April.  On  the  seventh,  in  the  early  dawn  of  a  misty  morning,  it  landed 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum.  There  by  the 
riverside,  a  rude  shed  was  immediately  built  as  an  office  for  the  superintendent  of 
the  colony,  and  over  it  was  unfurled  the  American  flag.  On  the  opposite  or  west- 
ern bank  of  the  Muskingum,  the  same  friendl}'  emblem  was  seen  floating  over  the 
bastioned  pentagon  of  Fort  Harmar." 

The  first  laws  of  the  colon}^  were  those  of  its  own  adoption.  For  the  informa- 
tion of  all,  they  were  read  aloud  by  Benjamin  Tupper,  and  posted  on  the  trunk  of 
a  tree.  But  the  colonists  were  of  such  a  character  as  to  give  little  need  for  this 
expedient,  and  even  that  little  need  was  destined  to  be  brief  The  subject  of  pro- 
viding a  system  of  civil  government  for  the  socalled  '' transmontane  half"  of  the 
republic  had  engaged  the  attention  of  Congress  long  in  advance  of  this  initial 
attempt  at  its  settlement.  A  committee  of  which  Thomas  Jefferson  was  chairman 
already  had  the  matter  under  consideration  when  Virginia  completed  her  cession, 
and  immediately  thereafter  reported  a  plan  applicable  not  alone  to  the  territories 
north  of  the  Ohio,  but  to  the  entire  western  region,  from  the  (iulf  to  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  Union.  On  the  twenty-third  of  April,  1784,  this  plan,  aft^er  some 
amendments,  one  of  which  struck  out  a  clause  forbidding  slavery,  was  adopted.  It 
proposed  a  division  of  the  territory  into  seventeen  States,  for  ten  of  which  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son proposed  the  following  descriptive  titles:  Sylvania,  Micliigania,  Chersonesus, 
Assenisipia,  Metropotamia,  Illinoia,  Saratoga,  Washington,  Polypotamia,  and 
Pelisipia. 

This  scheme  never  took  practical  effect.  Its  proposed  territorial  divisions 
were  inconvenient.  The  regions  for  which  it  provided  government  contained 
nothing  governable,  as  yet,  to  govern.  It  anticipated  settlement.  But  the  Ohio 
Company's  enterprise  changed  all  this.     The  leading  spirits  in  that  venture  wanted 


110  ITisToRv  OF  TiiK  City  ok  Ccilumbhs. 

law  HO  I08H  than  land.  They  dewirod  frec<loin,  morality  and  social  order 
oven  more  than  land.  They  solieitAjd  in  behalf  of  their  proposed  commonwealth 
not  only  a  territorial  basis,  but  a  strong  and  practical  legal  framework.  Most 
fortunately  for  themselves,  and  for  the  (Ireat  West,  their  wishes  were  fulfilled. 

Various  additional  ])rojects  with  respect  to  the  new  territories  having  come 
before  Congress,  a  committee  on  the  general  subject  was  appointed.  Its  members 
were  Messrs.  Johnson  of  Connecticut,  Pinckney  of  South  Carolina,  Smith  of  New 
York,  Dane  of  Massachusetts,  and  Henry  of  Mar3'land.  In  September,  1786,  an 
ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  territories  was  reported  from  that  committee. 
It  was  a  crude  document,  yet  would  doubtless  have  been  passed  on  the  day 
appointed  for  its  third  reading —  May  9,  178r>  —  but  for  the  antecedent  appearance 
of  the  Ohio  Company's  agent  on  the  scone.  The  presentation  of  that  Company's 
petition  by  (general  Parsons  caused  further  proceedings  as  to  the  ordinance  to  be 
suspended.  On  the  fifth  of  July  Hev.  Manasseh  Cutler  appeared  in  lieu  of  General 
Parsons  as  representative  of  the  Ohio  ('<)mj)any's  interests,  and  this  event  is 
believed  to  have  had  some  connection  with  the  appointment  of  a  new  committee 
on  territorial  government  which  immediately  followed.  The  raembei's  of  this  com- 
mittee were  Messrs.  Kdward  Carrington  and  Richard  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia, 
Nathan  Dane  of  Massaduist'tts,  Kean  of  South  Carolina  and  Smith  of  New  York. 
From  the  hands  of  this  committee  came  the  legislative  masterpiece  known  in  his- 
tory, and  famous  for  all  time,  as  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  It  was  entitled  "An 
Ordinance  lor  the  Government  of  the  Territory  of  the  United  Stat<js  Northwest  of 
the  Ohio,"  and  was  adopted  in  Congress  July  13  by  unanimous  vote  of  all  the 
States.     Only  one  individual  v(>t<j  was  recorded  against  it. 

Next  to  the  Constitution,  which  followed  in  it  the  order  of  time,  this  ordinance 
is  the  most  important  act  In  the  annals  of  American  legislation.  In  1830  Daniel 
Webster  said  of  it :  "We  are  accustomed  to  praise  the  lawgivers  of  an  antiquity; 
we  help  to  perpetuate  the  fame  of  Solon  and  Lycurgus;  but  I  doubt  whether  one 
single  law  of  any  lawgiver,  ancient  or  mo<lern,  has  produced  effects  of  more  d is- 
tinct,  marked  an<l  lasting  character,  than  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  We  see  its  conse- 
quences at  this  moment,  and  we  shall  never  cease  to  see  them,  perhaps,  while  the 
Ohio  shall  flow." 

Thti  authorship  of  this  great  ordinance  has  been  variously  ascribed.  In  its 
original  form  it  was  drawn  by  Nathan  Dane,  of  Massachusetts,  butthe  ideas  wMiich 
made  it  illustrious,  and  which  fixed  the  character  of  the  northwestern  communities, 
were  inserted  afterwards,  and  seem  to  have  emanated  chiefly  from  the  Virginia 
statesmen.  The  slavery  prohibition,  and  that  afterwards  inserted  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, forbidding  all  laws  impairing  tlie  obligation  of  contracts,  have  both  been 
attributed  to  Mr.  Dane,  but  it  is  not  certain  that  either  was  originally  his.  It  is 
claimed  that  Doctor  Cutler  had  considerable  to  do  in  molding  the  final  character 
of  the  ordinance,  and  there  are  reasons  for  believing  that,  while  it  was  being 
framed,  the  committee  freely  consulted  him,  and  profited  much  by  his  suggestions. 
The  sweeping  assertion  sometimes  ijiade  that  he  wasthe  **Father  of  the  Ordinance" 
is  not  sustained  by  historical  evidence. 

One  of  the  thoughttul  forecasts  of  the  Ohio  Company  was  the  adoption  of  a 
resolution  reserving  a  tract  of  four  thousand  acres  for  city  purposes  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Muskingum.     This  was  done  in  October,  1787.     On  the  second  of  July,  1788, 


KoUNDINO  OF  Onio.  Ill 

the  directora  held  their  first  raeetiiig  on  the  Hite  of  the  propoHcd  city,  and  ehris- 
tened  it  Marietta.  The  name  was  intended  as  a  compliment  to  (^ueon  Marie 
Antoinette,  of  France,  whose  conspicuous  kindness  to  Franklin  while  representing 
the  colonies  at  the  court  of  Louis  XVI.  had  touched  the  hearts  of  these  brave  pio- 
neers. To  some  of  the  streets  and  public  places  classical  names  were  given  which 
show  how  literary  predilections,  once  well  grounded,  may  predominate  even  amid 
the  savage  associations  of  the  wilderness.  One  of  the  squares  was  called  Capitolium, 
another  (^uadranaou,  and  a  third  Cecilia;  a  prominent  street,  leading  up  from  the 
landing,  took  the  name  of  Sacra  Via:  a  rectangular  space,  palisaded  with  hewed 
logs,  was  dignified  as  the  Campus  Martins. 

For  some  reason  not  arising  from  any  immediate  political  necessity.  Congress 
made  haste  to  provide  the  new  Territory  with  a  full  corps  of  officials.  On  the  fifth 
of  October,  1787,  before  a  single  emigrant  had  set  out  for  the  Ohio,  Arthur  St.  ('lair 
was  chosen  as  the  Territorial  (Governor.  James  M.  Varnum,  Samuel  Holden 
Parsons,  and  John  Armstrong,  wore  at  the  same  time  elected  Judges,  and  Winthrop 
Sargent,  Secretary.  At  a  later  date  John  (-leves  Symmcs  was  named  as  Judge  in 
lieu  of  Armstrong,  who  declined  to  serve. 

Governor  St.  Clair  arrived  at  Fort  Uarmar  July  li  1788.  He  remained  at 
the  fort  until  the  fifteenth,  when  he  was  formally  received  at  Marietta  and 
delivered  an  address,  which  was  replied  to,  in  behalf  of  the  colony,  by  (leneral 
Putnam.     Such  was  the  beginning  of  organized  civil  government  in  Ohio. 

Hy  provision  of  the  Ordinance,  no  legislature  could  be  cho.sen  until  the  terri- 
tory should  contain  fivo  thousand  free  adult  male  inhabitants.  Meanwhile  it  was 
made  the  duty  of  the  Governor  and  Judges  to  provide  such  laws  as  might  be  neces- 
sary. These  officials  therefore  addressed  themselves  at  once  to  the  formation  of  a 
statutory  code.  St.  (-lair  desired,  first  of  all,  a  law  for  the  organization  of  the 
militia,  but  the  judges,  pursuing  some  unique  ideas  of  their  own,  drew  up  and  pre- 
sented to  him,  instead,  a  scheme  for  the  division  of  real  estate.  This  scheme  seems 
to  have  been  chiefly  intended  for  the  despoilment  of  nonresidents.  St.  Clair 
rejected  it,  and  a  militia  law  was  then  passed.  Other  statutes  which  soon  followed 
provided  for  the  establishment  of  courts,  the  punishment  of  crimes,  and  the  limita- 
tion of  actions.  On  July  twentyseventh  the  Governor  established  by  proclamation 
the  county  of  Washington,  bounded  south  by  the  Ohio,  east  by  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania,  north  by  Lake  Erie,  west  by  the  ('uyahoga  and  Tuscarawas  as  far 
south  as  Fort  Laurens  (now  Bolivar),  and  thence  by  a  line  to  the  head  of  the 
Scioto  and  down  that  stream  to  its  mouth.  The.se  boundaries  included  the  terri- 
tories now  constituting  the  entire  eastern  half  of  Ohio  and  of  Franklin  Count}'. 
The  seat  of  government  for  the  county,  as  well  as  for  the  Territory,  was  at  Marietta. 

The  colony  was  soon  increased  by  the  arrival  of  additional  settlers,  until  it 
numbered  one  hundred  and  thirty  two.  Officers  of  the  militia  were  appointed,  and 
also  a  corps  of  judicial  officers,  including  justices  of  the  peace  and  a  judge  of  pro- 
bate. Rufus  Putnam  and  Benjamin  Tapper  were  made  Judges  of  Common  Pleas 
and  on  Tuesday,  September  2, 1788,  the  first  court  ever  held  within  the  boundaries 
of  Ohio  was  formally  opened.  On  that  memorable  occasion  "Governor  St.  Clair 
and  other  territorial  officers,  and  miliUiry  from  Fort  Harmar  being  assembled  at 
the  Point,  a  procession  was  formed,  and,  as  became  the  occasion,  with  Colonel 
Ebenezer  Sproat,  Sheriff,  withdrawn  sword  and  wand  of  office  at  the  head,  marched 


112  History  of  the  City  of  ('olitmbits. 

up  a  patb  that  had  Ix'en  cut  tliroiigh  the  forest,  to  the  hall  in  the  iiortiiwent  block- 
house ot*  Campus  Martius,  where  the  whole  eountermarcbed,  and  the  Judges, 
Putnam  and  Tupper,  took  their  seats  on  the  high  bench."*  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler, 
then  visiting  the  colony,  offered  prayer,  atlt^r  which  the  commissionsof  the  Judges, 
(■lerk  and  Sheriff  were  read,  and  the  Sheriff  solemnly  proclaimed  :  **0,  yes!  a  court 
is  opened  lor  the  administration  of  even-handed  justice  to  the  poor  and  the  rich,  to 
the  guilty  and  innocent,  without  respect  of  }»ersons,  none  to  be  punished  without 
trial  by  their  peers,  an<l  then  in  pursuance  of  the  laws  and  evidence  in  the  case." 

Several  Indian  chiefs,  who  liad  been  invited  by  (lovernor  St.  Clair  Ut  a  con- 
ference, were  witnesses  of  this  curious  scene. 

Such  was  the  opening  of  the  Court  of  (V>mmon  IMeas.  A  court  of  <^uarter  Ses- 
sions was  opened  Septend»er  ninth.  Paul  Fearing  was  admitted  to  jmictice  before 
it, and  was  the  first  lawyer  in  ihe  Territory. 

A  memoran<iuni  of  August  27  reads:  *'.ludge  Symmes,  with  several  boats  and 
families,  arrived,  on  their  way  to  his  new  |»urchase  at  the  Miami.  Has  a  dauffhter 
(Polly)  along.  They  lodge  with  the  <Jeneral  and  Mrs.  Ilarmar.  Stiiy  three  days 
and  depart." 

This  was  a  reinforcement  for  the  second  Knglish-sjicaking  settlement  in  Ohio. 
In  the  Miami  Valley  that  settlement  was  the  first.  It  had  its  inception  with  Major 
Benjamin  Stites,  who  descended  the  Ohio  in  a  flat-boat  in  the  spring  of  1787,  and 
ascended  the  Little  Miami  to  the  vicinity  of  Old  Chillicothe.  So  captivated  was 
Stites  with  the  natural  beauty  of  the  countr}-  that  he  determined  to  bring  out  a 
colony  for  its  .settlement.  Keturning  east,  he  presented  this  idea  to  Judge  John 
Cleves  Symmes,  then  a  member  of  Congress  from  New  Jersey,  who  had  himself 
visited  the  Miami  country,  and  was  readily  persua<ied  to  undertake  to  purchase 
from  Congress  a  tract  of  land  in  that  region.  In  October,  1787,  Symmes  obtained 
a  contract  for  a  million  acres,  fronting  on  the  Ohio,  between  the  Big  and  Little 
Miami  Rivers.  Stites  embarked  on  the  Ohio  with  a  party  of  twentysix  colonists 
November  16,  1788,  and  a  little  after  sunrise  on  the  eighteenth  landed  at  a  point 
now  within  the  corporate  limits  of  Cincinnati.  '*  After  making  fast  the  boat,"  says 
the  chronicler  of  this  adventure,  "  tiiey  ascended  the  steep  bank  and  cleared  away 
the  underbrush  in  the  midst  of  a  pawpaw  thicket,  where  the  women  and  children 
sat  down.  They  next  placed  sentinels  at  a  small  distance  from  the  thicket,  and, 
having  first  united  in  a  song  of  praise  to  Almighty  God,  upon  their  knees  they 
offered  thanks  for  the  past,  and  prayer  for  future  protection." 

Blockhouses  and  log  cabins  were  built,  and  the  settlement  was  named  Col- 
umbia. 

This  colony  was  directly  followed  by  a  third,  planted  five  miles  further  down 
the  river,  on  a  tract  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres,  bought  of  Judge  Symmes  by 
Matthias  Denman.  The  price  paid  for  this  land,  now  covered  by  the  city  of  Cin- 
cinnati, was  thirty  cents  per  acre.  The  tract  fronted  on  the  Ohio,  directly  opposite 
the  mouth  of  the  Licking.  On  the  fifth  of  August,  1788,  Mr.  Denman  associated 
with  himself  as  partners  in  this  enterprise  Robert  Patterson  and  John  Filson.  A 
short  time  aftt?rwards.  Israel  Ludlow  took  the  place  of  Kilson,  who  was  killed  by 
the  Indians.  By  Filson's  suggctition,  it  is  said,  the  colony  took  the  name  of 
Losantiville.  Its  original  settlers,  whose  debarcation  has  been  noted,  were  members 
of  a  party  which  had  come  west  under  Symmes,  and  halted  atMaysville,  Kentucky. 


FoiiNDJNo  OF  Ohio.  113 

The  oxact  date  of  thoir  arrival  at  the  Denman  tract  is  somewliat  uncertain;  the 
date  most  generally  accepted  is  December  28,  1788.  They  landed  where  the  foot 
of  Sycamore  Street,  Cincinnati,  now  rests,  at  a  little  inlet  afterwards  known  as 
Yeatman's  Cove. 

Ten  months  later,  a  detachment  from  Fort  Harmar,  under  Major  John  Doughty, 
began  the  erection  of  a  fort  within  the  site  of  Losantivillo,  directly  opposite  the 
mouth  of  the  Licking.  This  work  was  completed  the  following  winter  (1789-90) 
and  named  Fort  Washington.  According  to  General  Harmar,  it  was  "built  of 
hewn  timber,  a  perfect  square,  two  stories  high,  with  four  block  houses  at  the 
angles." 

The  fourth  settlement  in  the  Ohio  series  was  founded  by  Symmes  in  person,  at 
North  Bend,  below  Cincinnati.     It  dates  from  February,  1789. 

Governor  St.  Clair  visited  Fort  Washington  January  2,  1790,  and  after  consulta- 
tion with  Judge  Symmes  proclaimed  the  Symmes  purchase  as  the  county  of  Hamil- 
ton. The  credit  seems  to  be  due  to  the  (Jovernor  of  having  blotted  out,  at  the  same 
time,  the  name  of  Losantiville,  and  caused  the  seat  ofgovei'ment  of  the  new  county 
to  hi.'  known  thenceforth  as  Cincinnati. 

The  fiRh  settlement  in  the  series  was  that  of  the  French  colony,  to  which 
reference  has  already  been  made.  It  had  its  beginning  in  1791,  and  took  the  ap- 
propriate name  of  Gallipolis. 

The  first  settlement  in  the  Virginia  Military  District  was  founded  at  Manches- 
ter, on  the  Ohio  River,  in  1791,  by  Colonel  Nathaniel  Massie.  In  the  pursuit  of 
his  duties  as  a  surveyor,  engaged  in  locating  lands  for  the  holders  of  Virginia 
militar}^  warrants,  Colonel  Massie  found  it  necessary  to  establish  a  station  for  his 
party,  convenient  to  the  scene  of  his  labors.  A  tract  of  bottom  land  on  the  Ohio, 
opposite  the  lower  of  the  Three  Islands,  was  chosen,  and  thither  some  Kentucky 
families  were  induced  to  emigrate.  The  entire  town  was  surrounded  by  a  line  of 
wooden  pickets  firmly  planted,  with  blockhouses  at  the  salients.  In  the  further, 
prosecution  of  his  work.  Colonel  Massie  explored  the  Scioto  and  became  promi- 
nently identified  with  its  early  settlement.  In  179(5  he  lai<l  out  the  town  of  (Miil- 
licothe  on  ground  then  covered  by  a  dense  forest.  The  settlement  established 
there  under  his  auspices  was  soon  largely  reinforced  from  Kentucky  and  Virginia. 

Up  to  this  period  colonial  enterprise  had  been  limited  entirely  to  the  southern 
portions  of  the  future  State.  Emigrants  and  explorers  had  naturally  drifted  down 
the  Ohio,  and  had  aimed,  thus  far,  to  keep  within  reach  of  its  facilities  for  communi- 
cation. Central  Ohio  was  yet  unexplored.  In  Northern  Ohio  a  settlement  was 
made  July  4,  1796,  at  the  mouth  of  Conneaut  Creek,  by  a  colony  of  fifty  two 
emigrants  from  Connecticut  under  General  Moses  Cleveland.  In  September  and 
October  of  the  same  \'ear  General  Cleveland  and  his  associate  surveyors  laid  out  a 
town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga,  but  only  two  families  passed  the  winter  of 
1796-7  within  its  limits.  In  honor  of  its  thunder  the  ])lace  took  the  name  of  Cleve- 
land. The  original  colonists,  both  there  and  at  Conneaut,  sutfe red  greatly  from  in- 
sufficiency of  food. 

Ai\4ir  the  settlements  along  the  Ohio,  which  have  been  mentioned,  emigration 
began  to  pour  into  the  country  very  rapidly.  This  excited  the  jealousy  of  the 
Indians;  nor  was  this  their  only  incentive  to  discontent.  The  treaties  of  Forts 
Mcintosh,  Stan wix  and  Finney  had  been  imperfectly  Tinderstood  by  some  of  the 

8 


114  Htrtort  of  thf.  Citt  of  roLFMBrs. 

tribes,  and  very  grudgingly  acquiesced  in  by  others.  Even  those  who  had  con- 
sented to  them  regretted  it  when  they  saw  the  consequences  of  the  act  in  the  steady 
advance  of  colonization  into  the  territories  where  they  had  been  accustomed  to 
roam  in  boundless  treedom.  Added  to  all  this  was  the  disquietude  produced  b}*  the 
intrigues  of  the  British,  who  still  tnaint^iined  their  military  posts  in  the  Northwest, 
and  kept  up  their  trade  relations  with  the  Indians. 

This  condition  of  things  led  to  numerous  forays  by  the  savages  along  the  border, 
and  a  state  of  great  uneasiness  in  the  settlements.  Property  was  destro^'ed,  un- 
protected frontiersmen  were  murdered,  or  borne  away  in  captivity,  and  the  navi- 
gation of  the  Ohio  River  was  made  exceedingly  perilous,  (rovernor  St.  Clair 
endeavored  to  assuage  the  hostility  of  the  border  tribes  by  friendly  advances,  but 
without  success.  He  tinally  succeeded  in  arranging  a  conference  with  their  chiefs 
at  Fort  Harmar.  and  in  pursuance  of  this  arrangement  two  hundred  warriors  made 
their  appearance  at  the  Fort.  On  December  13,  1788,  they  arrived  in  procession, 
and  were  saluted  by  a  discharge  of  firearms.  Troops,  with  music  playing,  escorted 
them  into  the  enclosure,  and  the  negotiations  with  them  formally  proceeded. 
Among  those  present  as  peacemakers  was  John  Hecke welder,  the  famous  Moravian 
missionary.  On  January  9,  1789,  two  treaties  were  concluded  at  this  conference, 
one  of  them  being  signed  by  twenty  four  chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations,  the  other  by 
the  representatives  of  the  Wyandots,  Delawares.  Ottawas,  Sacs,  Chippewas  and 
Pottawattomies. 

The  stipulations  thus  entered  into  confirmed  the  treaties  previously  made,  and 
were  signalized  by  a  large  distribution  of  j)resents  to  the  contracting  savages,  but 
without  producing  the  desired  result.  The  border  disturbances  were  soon  renewed, 
and  the  settlers  appealed  loudly  for  military  protection.  By  correspondence  with 
the  authorities  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  Governor  St.  Clair  suc- 
ceeded in  collecting  a  force  about  fourteen  hundred  strong  at  Fort  Washington, 
where  General  Josiah  Harmar,  commanding  the  Western  Department,  held  his 
headquarters.  The  expedition  set  out  from  the  Fort  in  September,  1790,  aiming  to 
strike  through  the  woods  to  the  Miami  villages  by  wa}'  of  Old  Chillicothe.  Gen- 
eral Harmar  was  in  command.  His  force  comprised  320  regulars  under  Majors 
Willys  and  Doughty,  and  1033  militia  under  Colonel  Hardin,  a  veteran  of  the  Con- 
tinental Army.  The  militia  were  shabbily  equipped  and  poorly  officered.  When 
they  met  the  enemy  they  broke  and  ran,  leaving  the  regulars  to  do  the  fighting. 
General  Harmar  and  Colonel  Hardin,  both  brave,  capable  officers,  did  what  they 
could  to  rally  the  cowards,  but  their  efforts  were  unavailing.  The  Miamis  were 
led  by  their  great  chief.  Little  Turtle.  The  expedition  burned  some  of  the  Indian 
villages,  and  destroyed  a  large  amount  of  ripening  corn,  but  lost  heavily  in  killed 
and  wounded. 

This  failure,  for  such  it  practially  was,  emboldened  the  Indians,  and  led  to  the 
formation  of  a  confederacy  of  the  northwestern  tribes  to  annihilate  the  settlements. 
To  meet  this  emergency  Congress  pa.ssed  a  law  in  pursuance  of  which  General  St. 
Clair  was  made  military  as  well  as  civil  governor  of  the  Territory,  and  appointed 
chief  commander  in  the  West.  After  much  effort  St.  Clair  succeeded  in  gathering 
together  about  two  thousand  men  for  the  renewal  of  operations  against  the 
Indians.  The  troops  assembled  at  Fort  Washington,  and  seem  to  have  consisted,  for 
the  most  part,  of  the  scum  of  the  border.     Their  fighting  qualities  and  equipment 


F^ouNDiNO  OF  Ohio.  115 

were  alike  shabby.  At  the  head  of  this  force  St.  Clair  set  out  from  Fort  Washington 
September  17,  1791,  and  made  his  way  by  a  road  cut  through  the  woods  to  the 
point  where  now  stands  the  city  of  Ilamilton.  Here  he  erected  Fort  Hamilton.  Fort 
St.  Clair  was  established  about  twenty  miles  further  on, and  Fort  Jeflferson  about  six 
miles  south  of  the  present  town  of  Greenville.  The  march  through  the  woods  was 
difficult,  and  desertions  took  place  daily.  Indians  hovered  about  but  offered  no  seri- 
ous resistance  until  November  4,  when  the  army  was  suddenly  attacked  by  fifteen 
hundred  warriors  led  by  Little  Turtle.  The  action  took  place  within  the  present 
limits  of  Mercer  County,  and  resulted  in  a  complete  victory  for  the  Indians.  The 
militia  were  struck  first,  and  fled  precipitiitely  through  the  lines  of  regulars  under 
General  Butler.  The  pursuing  Indians  were  charged  by  Butler,  who  fell  mortally 
wounded.  Lieutenant-Colonel  William  Darke,  commanding  Butler's  second  line, 
also  charged,  and  for  a  time  held  the  savages  at  bay.  General  St.  Clair  was  sick 
at  the  time  of  the  battle,  yet  appeared  in  the  thick  of  the  tight,  and  exerted  himself 
to  rally  the  troops.  He  was  finally  obliged  to  give  orders  for  a  retreat,  which 
quickly  grew  into  disorderly  flight.  The  losses  were  terrible.  The  wounded 
numbered  283,  the  killed  and  missing  <i30.  All  the  artillery  and  baggage  on  the 
field  were  lost.  The  captured  were  subjected  to  horrible  tortures.  The  fugitives 
who  escaped  rallied  at  Fort  Jefferson,  whence  the  retreat  was  continued  in  shame- 
ful disorder  back  to  Fort  Washington.'' 

Stimulated  by  their  success  in  this  affair,  the  Indians  carried  on  their  preda- 
tory war  more  actively  than  ever.  "  To  describe  the  bloody  scenes  that  ensued  for 
twelve  months,"  says  one  writer,  "would  reciuire  a  volume  for  that  alone."*  The 
settlers  along  the  Muskingum  and  the  Miamis  were  obliged  to  seek  refuge  within 
the  forts.  St.  Clair,  though  acquitted  of  all  blame  hy  a  committee  of  ('ongress,  re- 
signed his  commission  in  the  army,  and  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  his  civil 
functions  as  Governor  of  the  Northwest.  President  Washington  asked  for  author- 
ity to  recruit  three  additional  regiments  of  infantry  and  one  of  cavalry  for  a  term 
of  three  years,  unless  peace  with  the  Indians  should  sooner  be  made.  This  request, 
moderate  an<l  reasonable  as  it  was,  provoked  great  opposition.  The  infant  republic 
was  poor,  and  the  States,  already  heavily  in  debt,  were  aver.se  to  being  further  taxed 
for  the  protection  of  new  settlements.  Even  the  abandonment  of  the  country  west  of 
the  Ohio  was  seriously  proposed.  Finally  the  military  establishment  was  increas- 
ed to  four  regiments  of  infantry,  one  of  the  cavalry,  and  a  proportionate  equip- 
ment of  artillery,  making  an  aggregate  of  five  thousand  men.  The  leader  appoint- 
ed for  this  little  urmy  —  an  army  in  himself — was  the  hero  of  Stony  Point,  Gen- 
eral Anthony-  Wayne.  Commissioners  to  negotiate  peace  were  sent  out  from  Wash- 
ington, but  accomplished  nothing,  (reneral  ilutus  Putnam,  aided  by  the  Moravian 
Heckewelder,  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Wabash  and  Illinois  tribes  only.  The 
others  demanded,  as  an  ultimatum,  that  tlie  whites  should  recede  beyond  the  Ohio. 

General  Wayne,  with  Wilkinson  second  in  command,  pushed  his  pre|)arations. 
With  a  force  three  thousand  strong  he  quitted  Fort  Washington  October  7,  1793, 
and  advanced  six  miles  l)eyond  Fort  Jefferson.  Here  he  established  a  fortified 
camp,  near  the  presenl  site  of  Greenville,  Darke  Count}',  and  called  it  Fort  Green- 
ville. A  detachment  un<ler  Wilkin.son  gathenul  up  the  bones  of  the  slain  on  the 
field  of  St.  Clair's  defeat,  and  erected  there  Fort  Recovery.  A  band  of  Indians 
under  Little   Turtle,  assisted  by  officers  in  British  uniform,  attacked  this  fort  June 


116  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

30,  1794,  but  was  repulsed  after  a  stubborn  fight  in  which  the  officer  commanding 
the  fort.  Major  McMahon,  and  twentj'one  of  his  men,  were  slain.  On  the  eighth 
of  August  General  Wayne  resumed  his  advance.  Quitting  Fort  Defiance  on  the 
fifteenth,  he  moved  down  the  Maumee,  with  his  right  brushing  the  river,  and  on  the 
nineteenth  arrived  at  the  head  of  the  Rapids.  Here  he  reconnoitered  his  front  and 
found  the  Indians  strongly  posted  amid  fallen  timber,  behind  a  thick  wood.  They 
were  drawn  up  in  three  mutualh'  supporting  lines,  covering  a  front  of  two  miles, 
and  forming  a  right  angle  with  the  river.     Behind  them  was  the  British  fort. 

Early  on  the  twentieth  General  Wayne  moved  to  the  attack.  His  force  com- 
prised about  two  thousand  regulars,  and  eleven  hundred  Kentucky  cavalry  under 
General  Scott.  The  Indians,  two  thousand  strong,  were  led  by  Little  Turtle.  As 
Wayne  advanced,  they  undertook  to  turn  his  right,  but  he  foiled  them  in  this  by 
precipitating  Scott*s  cavalry  upon  their  right.  At  the  same  time.  General  Wayne 
brought  forward  his  reserves,  and  ordered  a  charge,  with  trailed  arms,  to  dislodge 
the  Indians  from  their  covert.  This  charge  was  delivered  with  great  impetuosity, 
and  was  entirel}'  successful.  Within  the  space  of  an  hour  the  enemy  was  driven 
from  the.  windfall  and  thicket  and  pursued  two  miles.  The  cornfields  of  the  In- 
dians were  then  laid  waste,  and  their  lodges  burned,  even  to  within  pistolshotof 
the  British  garrison.  After  a  peppery  correspondence  with  the  British  command- 
ant. General  Wayne  returned  by  easy  marches  to  Defiance,  but  continued  the  work 
of  destruction  until  all  the  Indian  villages  within  fifty  miles  of  the  Maumee  were 
blotted  out.     Wayne's  loss  in  the  battle  was  only  one  hundred  and  seven. 

This  brilliant  campaign  tranquilized  the  entire  frontier,  from  the  Lakes  to 
Florida,  and  culminated  in  a  treaty  concluded  at  Fort  Greenville  August  3,  1795, 
by  which  the  Indians  released  to  the  Americans  all  their  lands  in  the  Northwest, 
except  a  few  specified  reservations.  The  reserved  tracts  comprised  about  onefifth 
of  the  present  territory  of  Ohio,  lying  in  its  northwestern  corner.  In  considera- 
tion of  the  lands  given  up,  the  Indians  were  paid  twenty  thousand  dollars  in 
merchandise,  and  guaranteed  a  personal  annuity  of  nine  thousand  dollars,  to  be 
apportioned  among  the  contracting  tribes.  The  signatory  chiefs  agreed  to  deliver 
up  all  captives,  and  to  keep  the  peace  forever. 

After  the  Ti'eaty  of  Greenville  the  tide  of  emigration  to  the  Northwest  set  in 
with  renewed  energy.  In  Ohio,  new  settlements  rapidly  followed  one  another 
along  the  valleys  of  the  Miami,  Scioto,  Cuyahoga,  Muskingum  and  Mahoning.  In 
1790  the  white  population  within  the  present  area  of  the  State  numbered  about 
three  thousand ;  in  1787  it  fulfilled  the  prerequisite  of  "  five  thousand  free  male  in- 
habitants of  full  age,"  fixed  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787  for  the  choice  of  a  general 
assembly.  The  Governor  therefore  ordered  an  election  of  territorial  representa- 
tives, to  take  place  on  the  third  Monday  in  December,  1798.  Wayne  County,  with 
its  seat  of  government  at  Detroit,  was  proclaimed  August  15,  1795.  It  included 
the  territories  now  constituting  the  northern  half  of  Ohio,  Northern  Indiana,  and 
all  of  Michigan.  Adams  County  was  proclaimed  July  10,  Jefferson  July  29,  and 
Ross  August  20,  1797. 

The  representatives  to  the  first  General  Assembly  of  the  Northwest  Territory 
convened  at  Cincinnati,  February  4,  1799.  The  Ordinance  of  1787  required  that 
they  should  be  freeholders  owning  not  less  than  two  hundred  acres  each,  and 
should  be  chosen  by  freeholders  owning  not  less  than  fifty  acres  each.     It  was  their 


Founding  ok  Ohio.  117 

first  duty  to  nominate  ten  residents  of  the  Territory,  each  possessing  a  freehold  of 
not  less  than  five  hundred  acres,  from  whom  a  Legislative  Council  of  five  members 
could  be  chosen  by  Congress.  These  nominations  being  made,  the  first  session  ad- 
journed without  other  transactions  of  importance,  until  September  IG.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  first  Council,  selected  by  President  Adams  from  the  legislative  nomi- 
nees, were  Eobert  Oliver,  of  Washington  County;  Jacob  Burnett  and  James  Find- 
lay,  of  Hamilton  County;  David  Vance  of  Jefl^erson ;  and  Henry  Vandenburg  of 
Enox.  The  first  General  Assembly  of  the  Territory,  comprising  the  Governor, 
the  Council  and  twentytwo  Representatives,  convened  at  Cincannati,  September 
16,  1799,  and  adjourned  from  day  to  day,  for  lack  of  quorum,  until  September  23, 
when  Henry  Vandenburg,  of  Knox,  was  elected  President  of  the  Council  and  Ed- 
ward TiflSn  of  Ross,  Speaker  of  the  House.  Governor  St.  Clair  addressed  the  two 
houses  in  joint  meeting  September  2f).  Jacob  Burnett  was  appointed  to  prepare  a 
respectful  response  to  the  Governor  s  speech.  The  response  was  agreed  to  by  both 
houses  and  was  replied  to  by  the  Governor.  On  September  30  Joseph  Carpenter 
was  elected  Public  Printer,  and  on  October  Jj  the  two  houses  in  joint  session  elected 
William  Henry  Harrison  to  represent  the  Territory  as  Delegate  in  Congress. 
Governor  St.  Clair  created  the  office  of  Attorney-General,  and  appointed  his  son, 
Arthur  St.  Clair,  to  that  position.  A  petition  from  Virginia  settlers,  asking  per- 
mission to  bring  their  slaves  into  the  Virginia  military  lands  in  the  Territory,  was 
unanimously  refused. 

During  its  first  session  the  General  Assembly  pas.sed  aboiil  thirty  j)ublic  acts, 
from  eleven  of  which  the  Governor,  pursuant  to  the  authority  veste<l  in  him,  with- 
held his  apj)roval.  Its  rules  won*  ])repan'<l  by  Jacob  Burrictl,  who  was  also  the 
author  of  much  of  its  most  important  legislation.  Act^  regulating  marriages  and 
taverns,  creating  new  counties  and  changing  'the  boundaries  of  ct>unties  already 
existing  were  among  those  vetoed.  These  vetoes  produced  dissatisfaction  with 
Governor  St.  Clair's  administration  which  he  afterwards  found  inconvenient.  On 
December  10,  1799,  he  prorogued  the  General  Assembly  until  the  first  Monday  in 
November,  1800.     In  his  prorogation  speech,  hu  gave  reasons  for  his  vetoes. 

At  the  time  of  his  election  as  Territorial  Delegate  to  Congress,  Mr.  Harrison  was 
serving  as  Secretary  of  the  Territory,  in  which  office  he  had  succeeded  Winthrop 
Sargent,  the  first  Secretary,  who  had  been  appointed  Governor  of  the  new  Territory 
of  Mississippi.  The  candidate  for  delegate  against  Harrison  was  Arthur  St.  Clair, 
the  Governor's  son,  who  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  one.'®  Agitation  for  a 
division  of  the  Territory,  and  admission  of  the  eastern  portion  as  a  State,  had 
already  begun,  and  Delegate  Harrison,  who  had  been  elected  as  an  advocate  of 
both  projects,  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee  on  division.  St.  Clair  favored 
a  temporary  organization  of  the  Territory  in  three  districts,  the  eastern,  with 
Marietta  as  its  capital,  to  be  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Scioto  and  a  line  from 
thence  to  the  western  extremity  of  the  Connecticut  Reserve;  the  central,  with  its  seat 
of  government  at  Cincinnati,  to  have  its  western  limits  at  a  line  drawn  northward 
from  the  Kentucky  River;  and  the  western,  with  Vincennes  as  its  capital,  to  em- 
brace all  the  territory  west  of  the  middle  district.  Congress  finally  determined  the  ' 
matter  by  an  act  passed  May  7,  1800,  making  the  division  upon  a  line  drawn  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River  to  Fort  Recovery,  and  thence  northward  to  the 
Canada  boundary.     From  the  region  west  of  that  line  the  Territory  ot  Indiana 


118  History  op  the  City  of  CouTMBrs. 

was  orgaDized,  with  William  H.  HarriMion  afl  Governor,  and  Colonel  John  Gibson, 
of  Pennsylvania,  as  Secretary.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  Northwest  was  thenceforth 
limited  to  the  territorial  area  east  of  the  dividing  line,  and  its  seat  of  government 
was  fixed  at  Chillicothe.  The  county  of  Knox  falling  wholly  within  the  Territory 
of  Indiana,  Henry  Vandonburg,  who  resided  in  that  county,  ceased  to  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Legislative  Council  for  the  Northwest,  and  was  succeeded  by  Solomon 
Sibley,  of  Detroit,  Wayne  County. 

The  transfer  of  the  territorial  capital  from  Cincinnati  to  Chillicothe  was 
brought  about  by  the  settlere  who  had  poured  into  the  Scioto  Valley.  These  were 
almost  exclusively  Virginians  and  Kentuckians.  The  settlements  iu  the  Muskin- 
gum Valley,  and  along  the  Ohio,  except  the  French  colony  at  Gallipolis,  had  thus 
far  been  derived  mainly  from  Now  England.  Cincinnati  and  the  valleys  of  the 
two  Miamis  attracted  the  Pennsylvanians  and  later  the  Irish  and  German  immi- 
grants. The  Western  Reserve  colony  called  itself  New  (Connecticut,  and  persisted 
in  retaining  its  allegiance  to  the  State  of  its  origin.  The  civil  jurisdiction  of 
Washington  County,  within  which  it  was  included  by  Governor  St.  Clair,  was 
ignored.  After  the  colony  had  suffered  much  loss  and  embarrassment  from  the 
lack  of  civil  government,  the  Connecticut  Land  Company  asked  the  State  to  abate 
the  interest  due  on  its  payments.  This  precipitated  action  by  which  Connecticut, 
on  May  30,  1800,  relinquished  all  jurisdiction  over  the  Western  Reserve,  and  all 
claim  to  lands  therein  conveyed  by  her  authority.  On  July  10,  Governor  St. 
Clair  reorganized  the  district,  including  the  entire  Reserve,  as  Trumbull  County, 
with  its  seat  of  government  at  Warren.  At  its  first  election  for  Representatives 
this  county  cast  only  fortytwo  votes. 

The  first  Territorial  General  Assembly  held  its  second  session  at  Chillicothe 
beginning  November  3,  and  ending  December  9.  1800.  It  elected  William  McMil- 
lan, of  Cincinnati,  as  Territorial  Delegate  to  Congress,  in  lieu  of  Mr.  Harrison,  who 
had  resigned.  Not  much  other  business  of  importance  was  transacted.  The 
session  was  proro^rued  by  Governor  St.  Clair.  At  the  third  and  last  session,  which 
began  November  24,  ISOl,  acts  were  passed  to  incorporate  the  towns  of  Cincinnati, 
Chillicothe  and  Detroit;  to  establish  a  universitj'  at  Athens  on  land  granted  by 
Congress  for  that  purpose  ;  and  to  remove  the  scat  of  government  from  Chillicothe 
back  to  Cincinnati.  The  removal  of  the  capital  aroused  so  much  feeling  in  Chilli- 
cothe, that  for  a  time  the  members  who  voted  for  it  were  threatened  with  mob 
violence.  It  also  accelerated  the  movement  already  begun,  for  admission  of  the 
Territory  as  a  State  in  the  Union.  On  January  23,  1802,  the  Territorial  General 
Assemblj'^  adjourned  to  meet  on  the  fourth  Monday  in  November,  1803,  but  it 
never  reassembled. 

The  politics  of  the  Territory  had,  at  this  time,  reached  an  acute  stage.  The 
struggle  by  which  Thomas  Jefferson  had  gained  the  Presidency,  finally  by  choice 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  had  been  hotly  contested.  Mr.  Jefferson's 
partisans  were  known  as  Republicans;  those  of  his  antagonist,  Mr.  Adams,  took 
the  party  name  of  Federalists.  The  closeness  of  the  contest  produced  the 
temptation  which  has  appeared  at  various  times  since,  to  widen  the  electoral  mar- 
gin between  the  predominant  parties  by  the  admission  of  new  States.  Party  spirit 
was  at  high  tide  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  nowhere  more  so  than  in  the 
Northwest  Territory.  Such  was  the  intensity  of  political  feeling  that  iu  1801  the 
two  parties  in  Hamilton  County  held  separate  celebrations  of  the  Fourth  of  July. 


Founding  op  Ohio.  119 

The  Federalists  of  the  Territory  were  led  by  Governor  St.  Clair,  Jacob  Burnet, 
Rufns  Putnam  and  Benjamin  Stites;  the  Republicans  by  Thomas  Worthington, 
Nathaniel  Massie,  John  Clevos  Symmes  and  Doctor  Edward  Tiffin.  Parallel  with 
the  issues  between  the  parties  ran  the  differences  which  had  arisen  betw^een  Gover- 
nor St.  Clair  and  the  Territorial  General  Assembly.  These  differences  related 
chiefly  to  the  right  of  establishing  now  counties  and  determining  their  boundaries. 
The  Governor  stoutly  maintained  that  these  functions  belonged  to  himself  ex- 
clusively; the  General  Assembly  maintained  with  equal  positiveness  that  "after 
the  Governor  had  laid  out  the  country  into  counties  and  townships,"  it  was  com- 
petent for  the  legislative  body  to  pass  laws  "altering,  dividing  and  multiplying 
them,"  subject  to  executive  approval. 

Owing  to  this  and  other  disputes,  Governor  St.  Clair's  retention  in  office  was 
strongly  opposed.  He  was  reappointed  by  President  Adams,  but  this  only  changed 
the  form  of  the  intrigues  for  his  displacement.  Personal  and  political  enmities 
were  alike  marshaled  for  his  overthrow.  On  the  other  hand,  a  strong  party  rallied 
around  him,  and  proposed  to  make  him  the  first  Governor  of  the  new  State.  In 
pursuance  of  this  ambition  the  St.  Clair  party  brought  forward  in  the  Legislative 
Council  a  scheme  to  procure  such  an  amendment  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  as  would 
make  the  Scioto  River  the  western  boundary  of  the  most  eastern  State  to  be  formed 
from  the  Northwest  Territory.  This  scheme  was  vigorously  opposed  by  the  Re- 
publican leaders,  who  determined  to  send  one  of  their  number  to  Washington  to 
labor  there  for  its  defeat.  Thomas  Worthington  was  chosen  for  this  purpose,  and 
was  ably  seconded  by  Nathaniel  Massie  and  Edward  Tiffin.  It  was  Worthington 's 
mission  not  only  lo  defeat  the  St.  Tlair  scheme,  but  to  obtain  such  legislation  by 
Congress  as  would  enable  the  Territory  as  it  then  was  to  gain  admission  to  the 
Union.  Incidentally  he  sought  also  St.  Clair's  deposition  from  the  territorial  gov- 
ernorship. The  change  which  took  place  in  the  national  administration  favored 
him  in  all  his  endeavors,  and  he  was  in  all  successful. 

The  Ordinance  of  1787  required  as  a  condition  to  the  admission  of  the  Territory 
as  a  State  that  it  should  contain  sixtj-  thousand  free  inhabitants.  According 
to  the  census  of  1800  it  actually  contained  only  45,365.  This  difficulty  was  re- 
moved by  an  act  of  Congress  passed  April  30,  1802,  enabling  the  people  of  the 
Eastern  District  to  frame  a  constitution  and  organize  a  State  government.  This, 
it  was  hoped,  would  add  another  State  to  the  Republican  phalanx. 

In  pursuance  of  the  enabling  act,  a  constitutional  convention  assembled  at 
Chillicothe  November  1, 1802.  It  was  discreetly  chosen,  and  accomplished  its  work 
in  twentyfive  days.  Early  in  its  deliberations  it  was  addressed  by  Governor  St. 
Clair,  whose  speech  on  that  occasion  has  been  differently  reported.  According  to 
Judge  Burnet,  It  was  "sensible  and  conciliatory;"  others  assert  that  it  opposed 
the  formation  of  a  State  government,  and  criticised  the  administration  of  President 
Jefferson.  The  Governor's  removal  from  office  followed  directly.  Mr.  Madison, 
the  Secretary  of  State,  notified  him  of  it  by  letter  dated  November  22,  1802. 
Charles  W.Byrd,  Secretary  of  the  Territory,  thenceforward  served  as  its  Governor 
until  the  first  state  executive  was  installed. 

The  Constitution  of  1802  defined  the  boundaries  of  the  State,  provisionally, 
and  established  the  seat  of  governmet  at  Chillicothe  until  1808.  It  was  never  sub- 
mitted for  popular  acceptance  at  the  polls.  Congress  approved  it  by  act  of  Feb- 
ruary 19,  1803,  and  from  that  act  dates  the  birth  of  Ohio  as  a  State  in  the  Union. 


120  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus, 


« • 


NOTES. 

1.  It  provided  for  a  rectangular  system  of  surveys,  dividing  the  public  domain  into 
ranges,  townships  and  sections,  the  boundaries  being  all  in  the  direction  of  the  cardinal 
points  of  the  compass,  so  that  a  locality  is  designated  by  its  distance  east  or  west  from  a 
given  meridian,  and  north  or  south  of  a  given  parallel,  as  a  ship's  place  at  sea  by  its  longi- 
tude  and  latitude.  The  starting-point  was  at  the  place  of  intersection  of  the  west  line  of 
Pennsylvania  with  the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio  River.  From  this  point  a  line  drawn  west 
fortytwo  miles  was  to  form  the  base  for  the  first  seven  ranges,  from  which  at  the  six-mile 
points  lines  were  to  be  run  south  to  the  Ohio  River.  The  great  system  of  surveys  thus 
inaugurated  has  been  applied  to  all  the  public  domain,  and  through  its  simplicity  and  exact- 
ness of  description  has  proved  of  incalculable  value  to  all  who  have  become  owners  of  the 
soil. — Prmdeni  Israel  Ward  Andrews^  LL,  D.,  of  Marietta  College, 

2.  Ibid. 

3.  •  Among  the  eminent  members  of  the  Company  were  Governors  James  Bowdoin, 
Caleb  Strong  and  Elbridge  Gerry,  of  Massachusetts,  the  latter  also  at  one  time  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States;  Governor  William  Greene,  of  Rhode  Island;  Governor  Jonathan 
Trumbull,  of  Connecticut ;  Samuel  Dexter,  United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts  and 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  Uriah  Tracy,  United  States  Senator  from  Connecticut ;  Ebenezer 
Hazzard,  Postmaster-General  under  the  Continental  Congress;  Brockholst  Livingston,  Asso- 
ciate Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court ;  Alexander  Hamilton,  the  first  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury ;  Henry  Knox,  the  first  Secretary  of  War;  and  President  Joseph  Willard,  of 
Harvard  College. 

4.  Colonel  E.  C.  Dawes,  in  the  Magazine  of  American  Tlwtory  for  December,  188U. 

5.  Fort  Harraar  was  built  by  Major  John  Doughty  in  the  autumn  of  1785,  at  the  mouth 
(right  bank)  of  the  Muskingum  River.  The  detachment  of  United  States  troops  under  com- 
mand of  Major  Doughty  were  part  of  Josiah  Harmar's  regiment,  and  hence  the  fort  was 
named  in  his  honor.  The  outlines  of  the  fort  formed  a  regular  pentagon,  including  about 
three  quarters  of  an  acre.  Its  walls  were  formed  of  large  horizontal  timbers,  the  bastions 
being  about  fourteen  feet  high*,  set  firmly  in  the  earth.  In  the  rear  of  the  fort  Major 
Doughty  laid  out  fine  gardens,  in  which  were  many  peach  trees,  originating  the  familiar 
**  Doughty  peach."  The  fort  was  occupied  by  a  United  States  garrison  until  September, 
1790,  when  they  were  ordered  to  Fort  Washington  (Cincinnati).  A  company  under  Captain 
Haskell  continued  to  make  the  fort  headquarters  during  the  Indian  war  of  1790-95.  From 
the  date  of  the  settlement  at  Marietta,  across  the  Muskingum,  in  the  spring  of  1788,  the  fort 
was  constantly  occupied  by  settlers,  then  rapidly  filling  the  country.— 3fi/t^ary  Posts  in  Ohio  ; 
by  A,  A.  Graham.    Archxological  and  Hiatorical  Quarterly. 

6.  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Arthur  St.  Clair;  by  William  H.  Smith. 

7.  Rev.  Ezra  Ferris. 

8.  Atwater,  with  his  usual  defiance  of  syntactical  rules,  narrates  the  following  dubious 
story :  "  There  were  in  the  army,  at  the  commencement  of  the  action,  about  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  women,  of  whom  fiftysix  were  killed  in  the  battle,  and  the  remainder  were 
made  prisoners  by  the  enemy,  except  a  small  number  who  rc^ached  Fort  Washington.  One 
of  the  survivors  lived  until  recently  in  Cincinnati,  a  Mrs.  Catharine  Miller.  This  woman  ran 
ahead  of  the  whole  army  in  their  flight  from  the  field  of  battle.  Her  large  quantity  of  long 
red  hair  floated  in  the  breeze,  which  the  soldiers  followed  through  the  woods,  as  their  fore- 
runner that  moved  rapidly  onward  to  the  place  of  their  ultimate  destination."— i/wtory  of 
Ohio, 

9.  Smith's  Life  of  St.  Clair. 

10.    The  votes  stood,  eleven  for  Harrison  to  ten  for  St.  Clair, 


FouNDiNO  OF  Onio.  121 


THE    TERRITORIAL    GOVERNMENT.* 

«/>»vr«*)r— General     Arthur    St.     Clair,  from     1788    to    1802;    Charles    W. 
Byrd  (acting),  1802-1803. 

^SrvTf f<in*>j — Major  Winthrop  Sargent,  from  1788  to  1798  ;  William  H.  Harrison, 
from     1798  to  1799 :  Charles  Willing  Byrd,  1799  to  1803. 

^itfirney-Gtufral — Arthur  St.  Clair,  Junior,  appointed  in  1796. 

Troimrer — John  Armstrong,  from  1792  to  1803. 

^-1  tulitors  of  Ptibh'c  Acrouftta — Rice  Bullock,  December  18,  1799;  Thomas  Gibson, 
in  IBOO. 

Territorial  Judtje.^ — James  M.  Varnum,  October  16,  1787,  January,  1789; 
Samuel  H.  Parsons,  October  16, 1787,  November  10, 1789  ;  John  Armstrong,  October 
16, 1 T87,  declined  to  accept ;  John  Cleves  Symmes,  from  February  19, 1788,  to  March 
3,  18€3;  William  Barton,  August  20,  1789,  refused  to  serve;  George  Turner, 
Septomber  12,  1789,  resigned  in  1797 ;  Rufus  Putnam,  March  31,  1790,  served  until 
1796  ;  Joseph  Gilman,  from  December  22,  1796,  to  March  3,  1803;  Rettirn  J,  Meigs, 
Junior,  from  February  12,  1798,  to  March  3,  1803. 

CVfrks  of  Governor  atni  of  Ttrn'toritfl  Court — William  Col  lis,  appointed  in 
'""^ptember,  1788;  Armistead  Churchill,  appointed  May  29,  1795;  Daniel  Symmes, 
time  of  service  unknown. 

X)iJt'ij(ites  in  (^onf/nss — William  II.  Ilurrison,  from  1799  to  1800;  William 
^cHillan,  from  1800  to  1801 ;  Paul  Fearing,  from  1801  to  1803. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Territorial  Counties  with  dates  of  proehunation  and 
nani^gQf  QQmj^y  seats: 

A^ashington,  July  27,  1788,  Marietta;  Hamilton,  January  2,  1790,  Cincinnati; 

pt-.  Olair,  February,  1790,  Cahokia;  Knox,  in  the  year  1790,  Vincennes;  Randolph, 

>n  Lli^»  year  1795,  Kaskaskia;  Wayne,  August  15,  1795,  Detroit:  Adams,  July  10, 

^J^"^,  Manchester;  Jefferson,  July  29,   1797,  Steubenville;  Ross,  August  20,  1797, 

^^^i  1 1  leothe ;  Trumbull,   July   10,    1800,   Warren;    Clermont,    December   6,    1800, 

^•tiamsburg;  Fairfield,  December  9,  1800,  New  Lancaster;  Belmont,  Sopterabcr 

^*    ^HOL  St.  Clairsville. 

"When  the  State  of  Ohio  was  organized  in  1803,  four  of  the  counties  above 
^*^**^«d  fell  outside  of  its  limits.  St.  Clair  and  Randolph  formed  a  part  of  the 
*^^^^cnt  area  of  Illinois,  Knox  of  Indiana,  and  Wayne  of  Michigan. 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  early  territorial  towns,  with  the  names  of  their  pro- 
P^'ifsiors  and  dates  of  foundation  : 

Marietta,  1788,  Rufus  Putnam,  for  the  Ohio  Lund  Company. 

Columbia,  1788,  Benjamin  Stites,  Major  (iano,  and  others. 

Cincinnati,  1789,  Robert  Patterson,  Matthias  Dennian  and  Israel  Ludlow. 

Manchester,  1791.  Nathaniel  Massie. 

Ciallipolis,  1791,  a  French  colony. 

Hamilton,  1794,  Israel  Ludlow. 

Dayton,  1795,  Israel  Ludlow  and  Generals  Dayton  and  Wilkinson. 

Franklin,  1795,  W.  C.  Schenck  and  Daniel  C.  Cooper. 

Cbillicothe,  1796,  Nathaniel  Massie. 

Cleveland,  1796,  Job  V.  Styles. 


Franklinton,  1797,  Lucas  SuUivant. 

Steuben vi lie,  1798,  Basaliel  Wells  and  James  Ross. 

Williamsburg,  1799.  General  William  Lytle. 

Znuesville,  1799,  Jonathan  Zane  and  John  Mclntire. 

New  Lancaster,  1800,  Ebenezer  Zane. 

Warren,  1801,  Ephraim  Quinby. 

St.  Clairsville,  1801,  David  Newell. 

Springfield,  1801,  James  Demint. 

Newark,  1802,  W.  C.  Schenck,  G.  W.  Burnett,  and  J.  N.  Cummings. 

TERRITORIAL  QBNERAL  ASSEMBLY,  1799-1800. 

Legislative  Council — Jacob  Burnet  and  James  Findlay  of  Hamilton  County  ; 
Kobert  Oliver  of  Washington  County;  David  Vance  of  Jefferson  County  and 
Henry  Vandenburg  of  Knox  County. 

Representatives — Joseph  Darlington,  Nathaniel  Massie,  Adams  County;  Wil- 
liam Goforth,  William  McMillan,  John  Smith,  John  Ludlow,  Robert  Benham, 
Aaron  Caldwell,  Isaac  Martin,  Hamilton  County;  James  Pritchard,  Jefi^erson 
County;  John  Small,  Knox  County;  John  Edgar,  Randolph  County;  Thomas 
Worthington,  Elias  Langham,  Samuel  Findlay,  Edward  Tiffin,  Ross  County; 
Shadrack  Bond,  St.  Clair  County;  Return  Jonathan  Meigs,  Paul  Fearing,  Wash- 
ington County;  Solomon  Sibley,  Jacob  Visgar,  Charles  F.  Chabart  de  Joncaire, 
Wayne  County. 

Officers  of  the  Co?/ n(??7— President,  Henry  Vandenburg;  Secretary,  William  C. 
Schenck;  Doorkeeper.  George  Howard;  Sergeant-at-Arms,  Abraham  Cary. 

Officers  of  the  House — Speaker,  Edward  Tiffin  ;  Clerk,  John  Riley  ;  Doorkeeper, 
Joshua  Rowland  ;  Sergeant-at-Arms,  Abraham  Cary. 

TERRITORIAL  GENERAL    ASSEMBLY,   1801-1803. 

Legislative  Co  unci  I —B^oheri  Oliver,  Washington  County  ;  Jacob  Burnet,  James 
Findlay,  Hamilton  County  ;  David  Vance,  Jefferson  Count}' ;  Solomon  Sibley, 
Wayne  County.     Robert  Oliver  was  elected  President. 

Officers  of  the  House — Speaker,  Edward  Tiffin  ;  Clerk,  John  Riley  ;  Doorkeeper 
Edward  Sherlock. 

Representatives — Joseph  Darlington,  Nathaniel  Massie,  Adams  County  ;  Moses 
Miller,  Francis  Dunlavy,  Jeremiah  Morrow,  John  Ludlow,  John  Smith,  Jacob 
White,  Daniel  Reeder,  Hamilton  County;  Zenas  Kimberly,  John  Milligan,  Thomas 
McCiine,  Jefferson  County;  Edward  Tiffin,  Thomas  Worthington,  Elias  Langham, 
Ross  County;  Edward  Paine,  Trumbull  County;  Ephraim  Culler,  William  Rufus 
Putnam,  Washington  Count}';  Frances  J  .  Chabert,  George  McDougal,  Jonathan 
Schieffelin,  Wayne  County. 

CONSTITUTIONAL     CONVENTION. 

Temporary  Officers — President,  William  Golbrth  ;  Secretary,  William  McFar- 
land. 

Permanent  Officers — President,  Edward  Tiffin;  Secretary,  Thomas  Scott;  As- 
sistant Secretary,  VV^illiain  McFarland. 

Mertibers  —  Josi.'yih    Darlington,    Israel     Donaldson,    Thomas    Kirker,    Adam 
County;  James  Caldwell,  Elijah  Woods,  Belmont  County;  Philip    Gatch,  Jam< 


Founding  or  Ohio. 


123 


Sargent,  Clermont  County  ;  Henry  Abrams,  Emanuel  Carpenter,  Fairfield  County ; 
John  W.  Browne,  Charles  Willing  Byrd,  Frances  Dunlavy^  William  Goforth,  John 
Kitchel,  Jeremiah  Morrow,  John  Paul,  John  Reily,  John  Smith,  John  Wilson, 
Hamilton  County  ;  Kudolf  Bair,  George  Humphrey,  John  Milligan,  Nathan  Upde- 
graif,  Bazaliel  Wells,  Jefferson  County;  Michael  Baldwin,  Edward  Tiffin,  James 
Grubb,  Thomas  Worthington,  Nathaniel  Massie,  Ross  County ;  David  Abbot, 
Samuel  Huntington,  Trumbull  County;  Ephraim  Cutler,  Benjamin  Ives  Gilman, 
Rufus  Putnam,  John  Mclntire,  Washington  County. 

NOTES. 

1.  The  foregoing  synopsis  of  the  Territorial  Government  has  been  compiled  from  an 
article  entitled  **  Our  Territorial  Statesmen,"  by  Isaac  Smucker,  in  the  Magazine  of  WaUrn 
Hutory  for  January,  1885. 

STATE  GOVERNMENT.' 


Name. 

Arthur  St.  Clair'  . 
Charles  W.  Byrd » 
Edward  Tiffin  ^ 
Thomas  Kirker* 
Samuel  Huntington 
Return  Jonathan  Meigs 
Othniel  Looker  * 
Thomas  Worthington 
Ethan  Allen  Brown'' 
Allen  Trimble* 
Jeremiah  Morrow  . 
Allen  Trimble    . 
Duncan  Mc Arthur 
Robert  Lucas 
Joseph  Vance 
Wilson  Shannon 
Thomas  Corwin 
Wilson  Shannon  '' 
Thomas  W.  Bartley  * 
Mordecai  Bartley 
William  Bebb 
Seabury  Ford  *    . 
Reuben  Wood* 
William  Medill  '• 
Salmon  P.  Chase   . 
William  Dennison 
David  Tod 
John  Brough  "  f 
Charles  Anderson  f 
Jacob  D.  Cox 
Rutherford  B,  Hayes    . 


GOVERNORS. 
County. 

Hamilton 

Ross 

Adams 

Trumbull 

Washington 

Hamilton 

Ross 

Hamilton 

Highland    . 

Warren    . 

Highland 

Ross 
.Pike 

Champaign 
.     Belmont 

Warren   . 
.     Belmont 

Richland 

Richland 

Butler 

Geauga 

Cuyahoga 
.     Fairfield 

Hamilton 
.     Franklin 

Mahoning 

Cuyahoga   . 

Montgomery 

Trumbull    . 

Hamilton 


Term. 

1788-1802 

1802-1803 

1803-1807 

1807-1808 

1808-1810 

1810-1814 

1814 

1814-1818 

1818-1822 

1822 

1822-1826 

1826-1830 

1830-1832 

1882-1836 

1836-1838 

1838-1840 

1840-1842 

1842-1844 

1844 

1844-1 846 

1846-1849 

1849-1850 

1850-1853 

1853-1856 

1856-1860 

1860-1862 

1862-1864 

1864-1865 

1865-1866 

1866-1868 

1868-1872 


124 


History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 


State  Govemon— Continued. 
Connty. 

Hamilton 

Ross 

Sandusky    . 

Hamilton 

Hamilton 

Seneca 

Hamilton 

Hamilton 

Butler 


Term. 

1872-1874 
1874-1876 
1876-1877 
1877-1878 
1878-1880 
1880-1884 
1884-1886 
1886-1890 
1890-1892 
1892 


Name. 
Edward  F.  Noyos       ... 

William  Allen 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes  '* 

Thomas  L.  Young  f        .         .         . 

Richard  M.  Bishop 

Charles  Foster        .... 

George  Hoadly  .... 

Joseph  B.  Foraker 

James  E.  Campbell    .        .         .        , 

William  McKinley 

1.  Arthur  St.  Clair,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  of  which 
Ohio  was  a  part,  from  July  113,. 1788,  when  the  first  civil  government  was  established  in  the 
Territory,  until  about  the  close  of  the  year  1802,  when  he  was  removed  by  the  President 

2.  Secretary  of  the  Territory,  and  was  acting  Governor  of  the  Territory  after  the  re- 
moval of  Governor  St.  Clair. 

S.     Resigned  March  3,  1807,  to  accept  the  ofKce  of  United  States  Senator. 

4.  Return  Jonathan  Meigs  was  elected  Governor  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  October, 
1807,  over  Nathaniel  Massie,  who  contested  the  election  of  Meigs  on  the  ground  "  that  he  had 
not  been  a  resident  of  this  State  for  four  years  next  preceding  the  election  as  re^^uired  by  the 
Constitution,"  and  the  General  Assembly,  in  joint  convention,  decided  that  he  was  not 
eligible.  The  office  was  not  given  to  Massie,  nor  does  it  appear  from  the  records  that  he 
claimed  it.  but  Thomas  Kirker,  acting  Governor,  continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the 
office  until  December  12,  1808,  when  Samuel  Huntington  was  inaugurated,  he  having  been 
elected  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  October  in  that  year. 

5  Resigned  March  25,  1814,  to  accept  the  office  of  Postmaster-General  of  the  United 
States. 

0.     Resigned  January  4,  1822,  to  accept  the  office  of  United  States  Senator. 

7.  Resigned  April  13,  1844,  to  accept  the  office  of  Minister  to  Mexico. 

8.  The  result  of  the  election  in  1848  was  not  finally  determined  in  joint  convention  of 
the  two  houses  of  the  General  Assembly  until  January  11),  1849,  and  the  inauguration  did 
not  take  place  until  the  twentysecond  of  that  month. 

9.  Resigned  July  15,  1853,  to  accept  the  office  of  Consul  to  Valparaiso. 

10.  Electfd  in  October,  1853,  for  the  regular  term,  to  commence  on  the  second  Monday 
of  January,  1854. 

11.  Died  August  29,  1865. 

12.  Resigned  March  2,  1877,  to  accept  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 
•Acting  Governor.    Succeeded  to  office,  as  President  of  the  Senate. 

tActing  Governor.    Succeeded  to  office  as  Lieutenant-Governor. 

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS.* 


William  Medill 
James  Myei^s 
Thomas  Ford 
Martin  Welker 
Robert  C.  Kirk 
Benjamin  Stanton 
Charles  Anderson 
Andrew  G.  McBurnc}- 
John  C.  Lee 
Jacob  Mueller 
Alphonso  Hart 


1852-1854 

1 854-1 85(j 
1856-1858 
1858-18G0 
18(30-18(32 
1862-18(34 
1864-18(36 
1866-18(38 
1868-1872 
1872-1874 
1874-1876 


Thomas  L.  Young* 
H.  W.  Curtiss^^ 
Jaboz  W.  Fitch 
Andrew  Hickenloopor 
R.  G.  Richards    . 
John  G.  Warwick 
Robert  P.  Kenno<ly^   . 
Silas  A.  Conrad* 
William  C.  Lyon 
William  V.  Marquis 


1876-1877 
1877-1878 
1878-1880 
1880-1882 
1882-1884 
1884-1886 
1886-1887 
1887-1888 
1888-1890 
1890-1892 


Founding  op  Ohio, 


125 


1.  Under  the  new  Constitntion  of  1861,  term  two  years.  Until  the  year  1862,  when  the 
new  State  Constitution  went  into  effect,  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate  was  elected  by  the 
Senate,  and  called  Speaker.  Since  1852,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  has  been  the  presiding 
officer  of  the  Senate,  and  called  President. 

2.  Became  Governor,  vice  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  who  resigno<l  March  2,  1877,  to  become 
President  of  the  United  States. 

3.  Acting  Lieutenant-Governor,  vice  Thomas  L.  Young. 

4.  Resigned  to  take  a  seat  in  Congress. 

5.  Acting  Lieutenant-Governor,  vice  Robert  P.  Kennedy. 


SECRETARIES  OF   STATE.' 


William  Creighton,  Jr.* 
Jeremiah  McLene 
M.08es  H.  Kirby 
B.  Hinkson'* 
Carter  B.  Harlan 
William  Trcvitt       . 

John  Sloanc 

Samuel  Galloway     . 

Henry  W.  King 

William  Trevitt 

James  H.  Baker 

Addison  P.  Russell 

Benjamin  R.  Co  wen* 


1803-1808 
1808-1831 
1831-1835 
1835-1836 
1836-1840 
1840-1841 
1841-1844 
1844-1850 
1850-1852 
1852-1856 
1856-1858 
1858-1862 
1862 


Wilson  S.  Kennon 
William  W.  Armstrong 
William  H.  Smith* 
John  Eusseil 
iRaac  R.  Sherwood 
Allen  T.  Wikoff 
William  Bell,  Jr. 
Milton  Barnes 
Charles  Townsend 
James  W.  Newman 
James  S.  Robinson 
Daniel  J.  Ryan 
C.  L.  Poorman    . 


1862-1863 
1863-1865 
1865-1868 
1868-1869 
1869-1873 
1873-1875 
1875-1877 
1877-1881 
1881-1883 
1883-1885 
1885-1889 
1889-1892 


1.  From  1802  to  1850  the  Secretaries  of  State  were  elected  for  three  years  by  joint  ballot 
of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  Since  1850,  they  have  been  elected  by  the 
people  for  a  term  of  two  years. 

2.  Resigned  in  December,  1808. 

3.  Resigned  in  February,  18;%. 

4.  Resigned  in  May,  1862. 

5.  Resigned  in  January,  1868. 


AUDITORS   OP   STATE.* 


Thomas  Gibson' 
^^njamin  Hough 
^*Ph  Osborn 
John  A.Bryan      . 
Jo^n   Brough 
John  ^oods 
^^*Ham  D.  Morgan 
^'''^nois  M.  Wright 

1.  Until  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  1851  the  Auditor  of  State  was  elected  for  a 
term  of  three  years ;  since  ISTA  the  term  of  office  has  been  four  years. 

2.  Resigned. 

3.  Resigned  in  April,  1863. 


1803-1808 
1808-1815 
1815  1833 
1833-1839 
1839-1845 
1845-1852 
18521856 
1856-1860 


Robert  W.  Taylor* 
Oviatt  Cole 
James  H.  God  man 
James  Williams 
John  F.  Oglevee 
Emil  Kiese wetter 
Ebenezer  W.  Poe 


I860- 1863 
1863-1864 
1864-1872 
1872-1880 

1880-1884 
1884-1888 
1888-1896 


126 


History  or  thk  City  of  Columbus. 


William  McFarland 
Hiram  M.  Curry* 
Samuel  Sullivant 
Henry  Brown 
Joseph  Whitehill 
Albert  A.  Bliss 
John  G.  Breslin 
William  H.  Gibson' 
A.  P.  Stone 
G.  V.  Dorsey 


TRBASURBRS   OF   STATE/ 

1803-1816         W.  Hooper 


S.  S.  Warner 
Isaac  W^elsh* 
Leroy  W.  Welsh 
John  M.  Millikin 
Anthony  Howells 
Joseph  Turney 
Peter  Brady     . 
John  C.  Brown 


.     1816-1820 

1820-1823 
.     1823-1835 

1835-1847 
.     1847-1852 

1852-1856 
.     1856-1857 

1857  1862 
.     1862-1865 

1.  Prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  1851,  the  Treasurer 
for  a  terra  of  three  years;  afterwards  for  a  term  of  two  years. 

2.  Resigned  in  February,  1820. 

3.  Resigned  in  June,  1857. 

4.  Died  November  29,  1875,  during  his  official  term. 

ATTOaNEYS-OENERAL.' 

1846-1851         Chauncey  N.  Olds 
.     1851-1852 

1852-1854 
.     1854-1856 

1856 
.     1856-1861 

1861-1863 
.     1863-1865 

1865 
1.    Term  of  office,  two  years. 

COMPTROLLERS   OF   THE   TREASURY.' 

W.  B.  Thrall  .     1859-1862         Moses  R.  Brailey 

Joseph  H.  Riley  1862-1865         William  T.  Wilson 

1.    Term  of  office  three  years.    The  office  was  abolished  in  January, 

ADJUTANT8.0ENERAL. 

1803  Charles  W.  Hill 

.     1803-1807         Benjamin  R.  Co  wen 


1865- 
1866- 
1872- 
1875- 
1876- 
1878- 
1880. 
1884- 
1886. 


1866 
1872 
1875 
1876 

1878 
1880 
1884 
1886 
1892 


of  State  was  elected 


Henry  Stanbery 
Joseph  McCormiek 
George  E.  Pugh 
George  W.  McCook 
Francis  D.  Kimball 
C.  P.  Wolcott 
James  Murray 
L.  R.  Critchfield 
William  P.  Richardson 


William  H.  West 
Francis  B.  Pond 
John  Little 
Isaiah  Pillars 
George  K.  Nash 
James  Lawrence 
Jacob  A.  Kohler 
David  K.  Watson 


1877. 


Cornelius  R.  Sedan 
Samuel  Fin  ley     . 
David  Ziegler 
Thomas  Worth ington 
Joseph  Kerr 
Isaac  Van  Horn 
William  Daugherty 
Samuel  C.  Andrews 
William  Daugherty 
Jacob  Medary,  Jr. 
Edward  H.  Cumming 
Thomas-W.  H.  Mosely 
J.  W.  Wilson    . 
H.  B.  Carrington 
C.  P.  Buckingham   . 

1.  Term  of  office  two  years, 

2.  Resigned  March  1,  1891. 


1807 

1807-1809 

1809-1810 

1810-1819 

1819-1828 

1828-1837 

1837-1839 

1839-1841 

1841-1845 

1845-1851 

1851-1857 

1857-1861 

1861-1862 


E.  F.  Schneider 
William  A.  Knapp 
James  O.  Amos 
A.  T.  Wykoff 
Charles  W.  Karr 
Luther  M.  Meily 
William  H.  Gibson 
S.  B.  Smith 
E.  B.  Fin  ley 
H.  A.  Axline 
Morton  L.  Hawkins* 
Thomas  P.  Dill 
E.  J.  Pocock    . 


1865- 
1866- 
1870- 
1874. 

1878- 
1880 
1884- 
1886 
1888. 


1866 
1870 
1874 
1878 
1880 
1884 
1886 
1888 
1892 


1865-1871 
1871-1877 


1862-1864 
1864-1868 
1868-1869 
1869-1874 
1874-1876 
1876-1877 
1877-1878 
1878-1880 
1880-1881 
188M884 
1884-1886 
1886-1890 
1890-1891 
1891-1892 
1892 


ForNDiNo  or  Onm. 


127 


JUDGES  OF  THE  SUPREME  COURT. 


Under  the  CoDStitution  of  1802 


Name. 

Samuel  HuDtingtou 
Return  Jonathan  Meigs 
William  Sprigg 
George  Tod 
Daniel  Syinmes 
Thomas  Scott 
Thomas  Morris 
William  W.  Irwin 
Ethan  Allen  Brown 
Calvin  Pease 
John  McLean 
Jessup  N.  Couch 
Jacob  Burnet 
Charles  K.  Sherman 
Peter  Hitchcock 


County. 

Cuyahoga 

Washington 

Jefferson 

Trumbull 

Uamilton 

Koss 

Clermont 

Fairfield 

Hamilton 

Trumbull 

Warren 

Hamilton 

Hamilton 

Fairfield 

Geauga 


Under  the  Constitution  of  1851  : 


Thomas  W.  Hartley 
John  A.  Corwin 
Allen  Ci.  Thurman 
Rufus  P.  Ranney 
William  B.  Caldwell 
Robert  B.  Warden 
William  Kennon 
Joseph  R.  Swan 
Jacob  Brinkerhoff  . 
Charles  C.  Converse 
Ozias  Brown 
Josiah  Scott 
Milton  Sutliff 
William  V,  Peck 
William  Y.  Gholson 
Horace  Wilder    . 
Hocking  H.  Hunter 
William  White    . 
Luther  Day 
John    Welsh 


Richland 

Champaign 

Ross 

Trumbull 

Hamilton 

Franklin 

Belmont 

Franklin 

Richland 

Muskingum 

Marion 

Butler 

Trumbull 

Scioto 

Hamilton 

Ashtabula 

Fairfield 

Clark 

Portage 

Athens 


Name. 

Gustavus  Swan 
Elijah  Hay  ward 
John  M.Goodenow 
Henry  Brush 
Reuben  Wood 
John  C.  Wright 
Joshua  Collett 
Ebenezer  Lane 
Frederick  Grimke 
Matthew  Birchard 
Nathaniel  C.  Read 
Edward  Avery 
Rufus  P.  Spalding 
William  B.  Caldwell 
Rufus  P.  Ranney 

George  W.  Mcllvaine 
William  H.  West 
Walter  F.  Stone 
George  Rex 
William  J.  Gilmore 
W.  W.  Boy n ton 
John  W.  Okey 
William  W.Johnson 
Nicholas  Longworth 
John  H.  Doyle 
William  H.  Upson 
Martin  D.  Folic tt 
Selwyn  N.  Owen 
Gibson  Atherton 
William  T.  Spear 
Marshall  J.  WilliamH 
Thaddeus  A.  Minshall 
P>anklin  J.  Dick  man 
Joseph  P.  Bradbury 


Coanty. 

Franklin 

Hamilton 

Jefferson 

Ross 

Cuyahoga 

Jefferson 

Warren 

Huron 

Ross 

Trumbull 

Hamilton 

Wayne 

Summit 

Hamilton 

Trumbull 


f\y 


Tuscarawas 

Logan 

Erie 

Wayne 

Preble 

Lorain 

Franklin 

Lawrence 

Hamilton 

Lucas 

Summit 

Washington 

Williams 

Licking 

Trumbull 

Fayette 

Ross 

Cuyahoga 


SUPREME  COURT  COMMISSION. 

Served  from  1876  to  1879 : 
Josiah  Scott  Crawford         Luther  Dav' 

W.  W.  Johnson  .  Lawrence       Thomas  Q.  Ashburn' 

D.  Thew  Wright  .     Hamilton 

1.     Appointed  vice  Richard  A.  Harrison,  from  Franklin  County,  who  resigned  in  January 
1876. 


Portage 
Clermont 


128 


History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 


Appointed  vice  Henry  C.  Whitman,  from  Hamilton  County,  who  resigned  in  March, 


1876. 


Served  from  1883  to  1885  : 

Mosos  M.  Granger   .  Muskingum 

George  K.  Nash 
Fmnklin  J.  Dickman 


(Charles  I).  Martin 
John  McCauley 


Franklin 
Cuyahoga 

CLERKS  OF   the    SUPREME   COURT.' 


Rodney  Foos 
Arnold  Green  . 
Eichard  J.  Fanning 
1, 


1 806- 1875 

1875-1878 
18784881 


Dwight  Croweli 
J.  W.  Cruikshank 
Urban  H.  Hester 


Term  of  office,  three  years. 

MEMBERS    OF    THE    BOARD   OF    PUBLIC    W<»RK8.' 


Alexander  MeConnell 
John  Harris 
R.  Dickinson 
T.  G.  Bates 
William  Wall 
Loander  llansom 
William  Reyan 
William  Spencer 
Oren  FoUett 
J.  Blickensderfer,  Jr. 
Samuel  Forrer 
E.  S.  Hamlin    . 
A.  P.  Miller 
George  W.  Manypenny 
James  B.  Steedman 
Wayne  Griswold 
J.  Blickensderfer,  Jr. 
A.  G.  Conover 
John  Waddle 
R.  L.  Backus 
John  L.  Martin 
John  B.  Gregory 

1. 
2. 


1836-1S38 
1836-1838 
18361845 
1836-1842 
1836-1838 
1836-1845 
1839-1840 
1842-1845 
1845-1849 
1845-1852 
1845-1852 
1849-1852 
1852-1855 
1852-1853 
1852-1856 
1853-1857 
1854-1858 
1856-1860 
1857-1860 
1858-1861 
1859-1862 
1860-1863 


Levi  Sargent 
John  F.  Torrence 
James  Gamble    . 
James  Moore 
John  M.  Barrerc 
Philip  D.  Herzing  . 
Richard  R.  Porter 
Stephen  R.  Hosmer 
Martin   Schilder 
Peter  Thatcher 
J.  C.  Evans 
George  Paul* 
James  Fullington 
Stephen  R.  Hosmer 
Leo  Weltz* 
Henry  Weible 
John  P.  Martin 
(\  A.  Flickinger*      . 
Wells  S.  Jones 
William  M.  Hahn     . 
Frank  T.  McColloch 


Fairfield 
Seneca 


1881-1884 
1884-1887 
1887- 1892 


1861-1864 
1862-1865 
1863-1864 
1864-1871 
1864-1870 
1865-1877 
1870-1876 
1872-1875 
1875-1881 
1876-1879 
1877-1880 
1879-1885 
1880-1883 
1881-1884 
1883-1884 
1883-1886 
1884-1887 
1885-1891 
1886-1889 
1887-1890 
1891-1894 


Term  of  office,  three  years. 
Reelected. 

3.  A.ppointed  vice  Stephen  R.  Hosmer,  deceased. 

4.  ReC'lected. 

CANAL  COMMISSION. 

William  H.  Gibson.     Served  from  April  11,  1888,  to  April  11,  1890. 

A.  H.  Latty.     Served  from  April  11,  1888,  to  April  11,  1890. 

C.  F.  Baldwin.^     Served  from  April  11,  1888,  to  July  26,  1888. 

Robert  M.  Rownd.  Appointed  April  26,  1888,  to  succeed  C.  F.  Baldwin,  re- 
signed. Served  until  April  11,  1890,  when  the  Commission  expired  by  limitatioo 
of  law. 


/','/'.     //. 


^\ 


A     :i     i. 


I 


I  , 


\ 


r I 


/'ZZZ^  ^i2^,.,^C_, 


•  % 


FouNDiNcj  OF  Ohio. 


12l> 


The  Commissioii  was  rovivod  by  act  of  CToneral  Assembly,  passed  April  18, 
1890,  and  the  following  members  were  then  appointed  for  the  t<3rm  of  two  years: 
W.  E.  Boden,  Robert  M.  Hownd,  A.  H.  Roose. 

1.  The  Commission  was  originally  created  by  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  passed 
"March  28,  1888,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing;,  by  actual  survey,  the  boundaries  of  the  canal 
property  of  the  State,  including  channels,  reservoirs,  basins,  etc.  Tbe  members  were  ap- 
pointed for  a  term  of  two  years. 

L>.     Resigned  April  2(>,  1«88. 


Samuel  Lewis* 
Hi^m  n.  Barney 
AnsoD  Smythe     . 
C.  W.H.  Catheart^ 
Emerson  E   White 
John  A.  Norris^ 
William  D.  Henkle* 
Thomas  W.  Harvey 


COMMISBIONKRS  OF  COMMON  8(^HOOLS.' 

.    •1837-1840         Charles  S.  Smart 


1854-1857 

1857-1803 

18t>3 

18G3-18G(; 

1806- 18«9 

18()9-1871 

1871-1875 


J.J.  Burns 
I).  F.  De  Wolf 
Leroy  [).  Brown 
Eli  T.Tappan" 
John  Hancock' 
C.  C.  Miller' 


1875-1878 
1878-1881 
1881-1884 
1884-1887 
1887-1888 
1888-1891 
189M892 


1.  Term  of  othce,  three  years. 

2.  From  1840  to  1854  the  Secretaries  of  State  were  ex-otticio  coram issioners  of  common 


schools. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
fi. 
7. 
8. 


Resigned  in  November,  1803. 

Resigned  in  June,  18(>9. 

Resigned  in  September,  1871. 

Died  October  23,  1888. 

Appointe<l  to  succeed  Eli  T.  Tappan,  deceastd.     Died  in  office  June  1,  1891. 

Appointed  vice  John  Hancock,  deceased. 

COMMISSIONERS   OF    RAILROADS    AND   TELEGRAPHS.* 

.     1867-1871         James  S.  Robinson* 


George  B.  Wright* 

Richard  D.  Harrison  ' 

Orlow  L.  Wolcott 

Johti  G.  Thompson* 

Lincoln  G.  Delano 

William  Bell,  Jr.     . 

I. 
•> 


Hylas  Sabine 
Henry  Apthorp     . 
William  S.  Cappeller** 
James  A.  Norton ' 


3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 


1871-1872 
.  1872-1874 

1874-1876 
.  1876-1878 

1878-1880 

Term  of  office  two  years. 

Resigned  in  October,  1871. 

Died  in  April,  1872. 

Resigned  in  December,  1875. 

Resigned  in  February.  1881. 

Removed  by  the  Governor. 

Appointed  vice  W.  S.  Cappeller  and  reappointed  for  a  full  term, 

SUPERVISORS    nV    PUBLIC     PRINTING.' 


1880-1881 
1881-1885 
1885-1887 
1887-1890 
1890-1892 


L.  L.  Kice 

William  O.  Blake 

W.  H.  Foster    . 

L.  L.  Rice    .... 

Charles  B.  Flood 

William  W.  Bond 

1.    Term  of  office,  two  years. 

9 


1860-1864 
1864 

1864-1867 
1867-1875 

1875-1877 
1877-1879 


William  J.  Elliott 

J.  K.  Brown 

W.  0.  A.  de  la  CV)urt 

Leo  Hirsch 

S.  V.  Ilinkle 


1879-1881 
1881-1885 
1885-1887 
1887-1891 
1891-1893 


130  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

superintendents  of  insurance.' 

William  F.  Church  18721875        Henry  J.  Reinmund  1884-1887 

William  D.  Hill  .     18751878         Samuel  E.  Kemp  .     18871890 

Joseph  F.  Wright     .  1878-1881         W.  H.  Kinder  1890-1893 

Charles  H.  Moore  .     1881-1884 

1.    Term  of  oftice,  three  years. 

COMMISSIONERS    OK    LABOR    STATISTICS.* 

H.  J.  Walls  .     1877-1881         Alonzo  D.  Fassett'  1887-1890 

Henry   Luskey  1881-1885        John  McBride''     .  .     1889-1892 

Larkin  McHugh  .     1885-1887 

1.  Term  of  office,  two  years. 

2.  Legislated  out  of  office. 

3.  Appointed  vice  Fassett. 

INSPECTORS  OF  MINES.^ 

Andrew  Roy  1874-1878         Andrew  Roy  1880-1884 

James  D.  Postoii         .  .     1878-1879         Thomas  B.  Bancroft     .         .    1884-1888 

David  Owens  1H79-1880         Robert  M.  Hazeltine  1888-1892 

1.    Term  of  office,  four  years. 

INSPECTORS   OF    WORKSHOPS    AND    FACTORIES.' 

Henry  Dorn  1885-1889         William  Z.  McDonald     .         1889-1893 

1.    Term  of  office,  four  years. 

DAIRY    AND    FOOD    COMMISSIONERS.' 

S.  H.  Hurst  1886-1887         Edward  Bethel  .     1890-1892 

F.  A.  Derthick     .  .     1887-1890 

Term  of  office,  two  years. 

STATE    BOARD    OF    HEALTH.' 

Thomas  C.  Hoover,  M.  D.  Appointed  in  1886.  Reappointed  at  expiration  of 
term. 

H.  J.  Sharp,  M.  D.     Appointed  in  1886. 

D.  H.  Beckwith,  M.  1).     Appointed  in  1886  for  four  years. 

T.  Clark  Miller,  M.  D.     Appointed  in  1886  for  two  years. 

W.  H.  Cretcher,  M.  D.     Appointed  in  1886.     Died  in  1889. 

Professor  E.  T.  Nelson.     Appointed  in  1887. 

John  D.  Jones,  M.  D.     Appointed  in  1886.     Resigned  in  1889. 

S.  P.  Wise,  M.  D.     Appointed  in  1886.     Reappointed  in  1889. 

Joseph  L.  Anderson,  M.  I).     Appointed  in  1889  vice  J.  D.  Jones,  resigned. 

S.  A.  Conklin,  M.  D.  Appointed  in  January,  1889,  for  unexpired  term  of  W. 
H.  Cretcher. 

William  T.  Miller,  M.  D.     Appointed  in  1890. 

A.  J.  Scott,  M.  D.     Appointed  vice  J.  L.  Anderson  in  1891. 

C.  O.  Probst,  M.  D.,  Secretary  of  the  Board. 

1.  Term  of  office,  seven  years.  The  Board  was  constituted  in  1886.  The  Attorney- 
General  of  the  State  is  ex-officio  a  member  of  the  Board. 


Founding  or  Ohio.  131 


STATE   QEOLOGIST. 

1869— John  8.  Newberry,  LL.  D, 
1872— E.  B.  Andrewb,  LL.  D. 
1875— Edward  Ortou,  LL.  D. 

CODIFYING   COMMISSION. 

1875-1879. 
M.  A.  Daugheriy  George  B.  Okey* 

John  W.  Okey'  I.uther  Day' 

John  S.  Brazee* 

1.  Resigned. 

2.  Succeeded  John  W.  Okey. 

3.  Resigned. 

4.  Succeeded  Luther  Day. 


COMMISSIONER    OF    IMMIGRATION. 


1863 — Bevus  Speyer. 

1.    Otiice  establishjed  in  1863;  abolished  in  1867. 

INSPECTOR   OF    STEAM    BOILERS.* 

1869— Charles  M.  Kidgway. 

1.    Office  established  in  1869;  abolished  in  1870. 

INSPECTORS    OF    GAS. 

1867— Theodore  G.  Wormley. 
1877— Ezra  S.  Dodd. 

INSPECTORS    OF    OILS. 

1878-1879— F.  W.  Green. 
1879-1880— William  B.  Williams. 
1880-1884— Louis  Smithnight. 
1884-1886— (part)  David  C.  Balleutine. 
1886 — (part)  Louis  Smithnight. 
1886-1890— George  B.  Cox. 
1890-1892— J.  H.  Dowling. 

UNITED   STATES    LAND    CLAIMS. 

1878 — Charles  J.  Wetmore. 
1878— Horace  P.  Clough. 
1881— George  H.  Foster. 
1885 — Charles  W.  Constant! ne. 
1888— George  H.  Foster. 

REGISTERS   OF    VIRGINIA    MILITARY    LANDS. 

1857— William  A.  Moore. 
1866— Robert  C.  Smith. 
1874— James  E.  Cox. 
1875 — Victor  Gutzweiler,  Jr. 
1876— Robert  C.  Smith. 
1878— William  T.  Higgins. 
1878— T.  Y.  McCray. 


132  History  uk  the  City  ov  Columbus. 

fish  and  qame  wardens. 

1886— L.  E.  BuDtain. 
1890— George  W.  Hill. 

SUPERINTENDENTS    OF   STATE    HOUSE. 

I860— William  A.  Piatt. 
1862— William  M.  Awl. 
1868— John  H.  Grove. 
1870— Charles  M.  Ridgway. 

I.  The  foregoing  synopsis  of  the  State  Government  has  been  compiled  from  the  annual 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Honorable  James  8.  Robinson,  for  the  year  1887,  with  supple- 
mentary additions  mostly  taken  from  W.  A.  Taylor's  Hundred  Year  Book  and  Official 
Register,  published  in  1891. 


Origin  of  the  City. 


CHAPTER  VIL 


FRANKLINTON.     I. 

In  the  spring  of  1795  a  surveyiog  party  of  Kentuckians  appeared  in  the  woods 
on  Deer  Creek,  within  the  present  confines  of  Madison  County.     The  leader  of  the 
party  was  Lucas  SuUivant,  the  pioneer  explorer  of  Central  Ohio  and  founder  of 
Franklinton. 

Mr.  Sullivant  was  at  that  time  about  thirty  years  of  age.  Born  in  Mecklen- 
burg County,  Virginia,  in  1765,  he  participated,  at  sixteen,  in  an  expedition  to  re- 
pel an  Indian  invasion  of  his  native  State.  Cast  upon  his  own  resources  early  in 
life,  he  gained  influential  friends,  one  of  whom  was  Colonel  William  Starling? 
whose  second  daughter  he  afterwards  married.  By  diligent  improvement  of  his 
time  and  means,  he  qualified  himself  as  a  Land  Surveyor,  and  found  in  the  hos- 
pitable wilderness  of  Kentucky,  then  an  outlying  county  of  Virginia,  a  useful 
field  for  the  exercise  of  his  talents  Mr.  Sullivant  first  located  at  Paris,  in  Bourbon 
County,  Kentucky,  and  became  owner  of  a  fine  tract  of  land  in  that  vicinity. 
Subsequently  he  resided  several  years  in  Washington  County  with  a  family  named 
Treacle,  whose  name  he  gave,  after  his  arrival  in  Ohio,  to  the  stream  now  known 
as  Little  Darby  Creek,  in  the  western  part  of  Franklin  County.  Mr.  Sullivant's 
biographer*  describes  him  at  his  maturity  as  a  man  "  of  medium  height,  muscular 
and  well  proportioned,  quick  and  active  in  his  movements,  with  an  erect  carriage 
and  a  good  walk,  a  well-balanced  head,  finished  off  with  a  cue,  which  he  always 
wore ;  a  broad  and  high  forehead,  an  aquiline  nose,  and  a  blue-gray  eye, a  firm  mouth 
and  square  chin.  He  was  firm  and  positive  in  his  opinions,  but  courteous  in 
manners  and  expression,  prompt  and  decisive  to  act  upon  his  own  convictions,  and 
altogether  a  man  of  forcible  character,  exercising  an  influence  over  those  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact.'' 

After  Mr.  Sullivant's  arrival  in  Kentucky,  Virginia  authorized  her  soldiers  to 
appoint  a  surveyor  of  the  lands  which  she  had  reserved  for  them  from  her  cessions 
to  the  National  Government.  Their  choice  fell  upon  Colonel  Richard  C.  Ander- 
son, who  had  served  with  distinction  as  an  officer  of  the  Continental  Army.*  On 
July  20,  1784,  Colonel  Anderson  opened  an  office  for  the  survey  and  distribution  of 
the  Virginia  bounty  lands,  under  the  protection  of  a  frontier  stockade  and  block- 
house on  the  present  site  of  the  city  of  Louisville.  Among  the  deputy  surveyors 
whom  he  appointed  were  Nathaniel  Massie,  Duncan  McArthur,  Lucas  Sullivant, 
John  O'Bannon,  Arthur  Fox  and  John  Beasley. 

Mr.  Sullivant  was  assigned  to  the  northern  portion  of  the  Virginia  Military 
District,  where  we  find  him  at  the  opening  of  this  chapter.     His  party  had  been 

[135] 


130  UlSTfJRY    OF   THE    ClTY    <»F    CoLrMBTR. 

organized  at  liimefltone,  now  Maysville,  Kentucky,  and  comprised  about  twenty 
men,  including  assistant  surveyors,  chain  carriers,  scout^s,  porters,  and  other 
helpers.  While  running  his  lines  on  Doer  Creek  he  encountered  a  mounted 
French  trader  accompanied  by  two  Indians.  Soon  after  this  party  had  passed 
him,  Mr.  Sullivant  heard  shots,  and  going  back  found,  to  his  dismay,  that  his  rear 
guard  had  tired  on  and  killed  the  Frenchman,  and  put  his  Indian  companions  to 
flight.  SuUivant  reprimanded  his  men  severely  for  this  unprovoked  and  unneces- 
sary attack,  well  knowing  that  it  could  not  fail  to  incite  early  retaliation  from  the 
Indians  at  the  villatres  on  the  Scioto.  Some  of  his  companions  scoffed  at  his  ap- 
prehensions, but  so  sure  was  he  of  coming  trouble,  that  he  resolved  to  shifl  the 
scene  of  his  operations  just  as  soon  as  he  could  close  his  work  in  that  neighbor- 
hood. 

His  fears  were  soon  realized.  While  ho  was  running  his  last  lines,  four  days 
aft^r  the  afl^air  of  the  Frenchman,  Sullivant  descried  a  band  of  Indians,  larger 
than  his  own  party,  crossing  the  prairie  at  a  considerable  distance.  This  was  a 
hostile  expedition  sent  out  from  the  Mingo  villages  then  clustered  about  the 
present  site  of  Columbus.  Sullivant  proposed  fight,  but  his  men  were  averse  to  it, 
and  remained  concealed  in  the  high  ^rass  while  the  warriors  passed  by  unsu?^pect' 
ing  that  near  at  hand  were  the  very  men  whose  scalps  they  were  looking  for. 
But  the  Indians  did  not  miss  their  o])portunity.  After  they  had  ])assed.  and  Mr. 
Sullivant  had  cautioned  his  men  to  be  <iuiet,  and  not  to  use  their  firearms,  he  re- 
sumed his  work,  which  he  was  just  finishing,  at  nightfall,  when  a  flock  of  wild 
turkeys  flew  up  into  the  trees  near  by.  Tempted  by  these  birds,  the  men  disobeyed 
orders,  and  fired  several  shots.  Sullivant  warned  his  companions  to  be  ready,  for 
the  Indians  were  still  within  hearing,  and  would  soon  be  upon  them.  He  had 
scarcely  ceased  when  the  warriors  rushed  at  them  with  a  whoop  and  a  volley. 

Mr.  Sullivant,  says  his  son  and  biographer — who  shall  describe  what  followed — 
'*  lifted  his  compa.ss,  which  was  on  the  Jacob's  stafl' standing  beside  him,  and,  toss- 
ing it  into  a  fallen  tree  top,  unslung  the  light  shotgun  he  carried  strapped  on  his 
back,  and  fired  at  an  Indian  who  was  advancing  upon  him  with  uplifted  toma- 
hawk, and,  turning  about  to  look  for  his  men,  saw  they  were  in  a  panic  and  rapidly 
dispersing,  and  ho  also  took  to  his  heels,  and  fortunately  in  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  fell  in  with  six  of  his  men.  Favored  in  their  flight  by  the  darkness,  and 
shaping  their  course  by  the  stars,  thoy  journeyed  all  night  and  most  of  next 
day  before  halting. 

The  third  night,  as  they  were  travelinj;  alonjr.  footsore  and  weary,  they  heard  voices 
which  seemed  to  proceed  from  a  hillock  in  front,  and  they  stopped  and  hailed.  The  other 
party,  discovering  them  at  the  same  moment,  challengt^d  and  ordered  a  halt.  A  parley 
ensued,  when,  to  their  great  stirprise  those  on  the  hill  appeared  to  be  the  other  and  larger 
party  of  their  own  men.  But  no  advance  was  made  by  either  side,  each  fearing  the  other 
might  be  a  decoy  in  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  for  it  was  not  an  uncommon  trick  for  the  cun- 
ning savages  to  compel  tlieir  unfortunate  prisoners  to  play  such  a  part.^ 

Atl;er  many  inquiries  antl  some  threats  had  been  exchanged,  Mr.  Sullivant  ad- 
vanced alone,  and  immediately  verified  his  belief  that  the  men  he  had  been  parley- 
ing with  were  members  of  bis  own  company.  A  reunion  at  once  took  place,  amid 
the  gloom  of  the  wilderness,  but  not  of  the  entire  party.  Two  men  were  missing, 
and  of  these  two  one,  named  Murray,  was  known  to  have  fallen  dead  at  the  first 
fire  of  the  Indians. 


Franklinton.     I.  137 

Many  years  after  these  events,  while  Madison  County  was  being  settled  up, 
Mr.  Sullivant's  compass  was  found,  in  good  condition,  just  where  he  cast  it  during 
his  encounter  with  the  Indians.  His  son,  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant,  carefully  pre- 
served it,  and  still  had  it  in  his  possession  at  the  time  he  wrote  the  foregoing 
narrative.* 

Some  time  after  the  Deer  Creek  adventure,  Mr.  Sullivant  began  his  surveying 
operations  within  the  present  limits  of  Franklin  County.  His  party  carried  with 
it  a  supply  of  bacon,  flour  and  salt,  but  depended  for  its  subsistence  mainly  upon 
the  wild  game  of  the  woods.  This  not  always  being  a  sure  reliance,  the  company 
cook  was  sometimes  driven  to  dire  expedients  to  satisfy  the  hungry  stomachs  of  the 
party.  On  one  occasion,  coming  in  at  night,  weary  and  hungry,  the  men,  to  their 
great  delight,  were  regaled  with  appetizing  odors  issuing  from  a  steaming  camp- 
kettle.  When  the  mess  was  ready  each  one  received  his  share  of  hot  broth  in  a 
tin  cup,  the  chief  being  awarded  as  his  portion  the  boiled  head  of  some  small 
animal.  Opinions  differed  as  to  what  the  animal  was,  the  raccoon,  rabbit,  ground- 
hog, squirrel,  porcupine  and  opossum  each  having  its  partisans.  Finally,  on  being 
driven  to  the  wall,  the  cook  acknowledged  that  the  soup  had  been  made  from  the 
bodies  of  two  young  skunks  which  he  had  captured  '*  without  damage  to  himself" 
in  a  hollow  log.  The  effect  of  this  announcement  was  curious.  Some  of  those 
who  had  partaken  persisted  that  the  soup  was  excellent,  others  wanted  to  whip 
the  cook;  one,  only,  involuntarily  emptied  his  stomach. 

Wolves,  howliniij  and  barking,  hovered  constantly  around  the  camps  of  the 
expedition,  seeking  its  offal,  and  the  American  panther,  or  catamount,  was  more 
than*  once  seen  prowling  about  on  the  same  errand.  Once,  when  the  party  had 
pitched  its  camp  near  a  place  known  to  the  early  settlers  as  Salt  Lick,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Scioto,  three  miles  below  the  present  city  of  Columbus,  a  panther  was 
detected  crouched  on  the  limb  of  a  tree,  almost  directly  over  the  campiire  around 
which  the  men  were  sitting.  The  tail  of  the  beast  was  swaying  to  and  fro,  its 
eyeballs  glaring  and  its  general  behavior  such  as  to  in<iicate  that  it  was  about  to 
make  a  spring.  Seizing  his  rifle,  a  huntsman  of  the  party  took  steady  aim  between 
the  two  blazing  eyes,  and  fired.  The  panther  instantly  came  down  with  a  ter- 
rific scream,  and  scattered  the  camptire  with  the  leaps  and  convulsions  amid  which 
it  expired. 

When  Mr.  Sullivant  awoke  the  next  morning  after  this  adventure,  he  felt  some 
incubus  on  his  person,  and  soon  discovered  that  a  large  rattlesnake  had  coiled 
itself  upon  his  blanket.  Giving  blanket  and  snake  both  a  sudden  toss,  he  sprang 
to  his  feet,  and  soon  made  away  with  his  uninvited  bedtellow. 

In  the  course  of  a  subsequent  expedition  Mr.  Sullivant  appointed  a  rendezvous 
for  his  party  at  the  junction  of  the  Scioto  and  Whetstone  (now  Olentangy)  then 
known  to  the  surveyors  and  map-makers  as  the  Forks  of  the  Scioto.  Should  his 
men  arrive  there  before  he  did,  they  were  directed  to  leave  a  canoe  for  him,  pro- 
ceed up  the  river  and  await  him  at  the  mouth  of  a  stream  now  called  Mill  Creek. 
Owing  to  detention,  he  arrived  at  the  Forks  lati>  in  the  afternoon,  hut  found  a 
canoe  awaiting  him  as  arranged,  and  immediately  set  out  in  it  to  rejoin  his  com- 
panions. He  had  but  just  pushed  into  the  stream  when  he  detected  three  Indians 
lurking  in  a  grove  of  huge  sycamores  which  then  stood  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Whetstone.     He  drove  his  canoe  rapidly  up  stream,  cautiously  followed  by  the 


1H8  HiBTORY    OF    THR    CiTY    OP    C0LUMBU8. 

Indians,  who  apparently  oxpecled  to  surprise  him  after  he  should  encamp  for  the 
night.  At  dusk  he  landed  on  a  hrushy  island  opposite  a  point  since  known  as 
the  Quarry,  three  miles  above  the  Porks.  Perceiving  that  the  Indians  were  still 
following,  he  drew  up  his  canoe  ostentatiously  for  the  night,  cut  brush,  drove 
stakes  and  built  a  tiro,  as  if  intending  to  encamp,  then  taking  his  gun,  compass  and 
pack,  he  crossed  to  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  pushed  on  afoot.  The  Indians 
were  completely  <li.sconcerted  by  this  stratagem  and  gave  no  further  annoyance. 
After  proceedini;  a  little  way,  Mr.  Sullivant  wrote  an  account  of  this  adventure  on 
a  leaf  of  his  note  book,  and  left  it  in  a  split  stick  stuck  in  the  ground  beside  u  tree 
on  which  he  carved  his  initials  and  the  date.  "A  longtime  afterward,'"  says  his 
biographer,  *•  when  botanizing  on  the  bank  of  the  river  above  the  quarry,  I  took 
refuge  from  a  passing  shower  under  the  spreading  branches  of  a  large  sugar  tree. 
Some  ancient  ax  marks  on  the  bark  attracted  my  attention,  and,  passing  around 
the  tree,  I  w^as  surprised  at  seeing  the  letters  Fj.  S.  and  a  date  on  the  bark.  This 
event,  which  I  had  heard  rehited  in  my  l)oyhood,  instantly  occurred  to  me,  and  I 
perceived  I  was  standing  on  the  precise  spot  where  my  father  had  left  this  memo- 
rial of  himself,  in  the  solitude  of  the  wilderness,  near  fifty  years  before,  when 
fleeing  for  his  life,  with  naught  but  his  nwu  courage  and  self-reliance  to  sustain 
him."* 

After  rejoining  his  party,  Mr.  Sullivant  continued  his  canoe  voyage  up  the 
river  and  halted  for  several  days  on  a  creek,  to  which  as  a  compliment  to  one  of 
his  trusted  scouts  and  hunters  he  gave  the  name  of  Boke.* 

The  following  passages  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant  in  the  Sullivant 
Family  MeworifiLuro  of  such  local  interest  as  to  justify  reproduction  entire: 

I  have  heard  my  father  state  that  on  another  rxM'asion,  he  was  a^in  ascending  the 
Scioto  with  his  party  in  canoes,  in  the  latter  part  of  April,  and  when  a  half  mile  Iwjlow  the 
place  now  known  as  the  Marble  Cliff  quarries,  with  the  wind  blowing  down  stream,  they 
encountered  a  most  peculiar  and  sickening  odor,  which  increased  as  they  advanced,  and 
some  of  the  men  were  absolutelv  overcome  with  nausea  occasioned  bv  the  intolerable 
effluvium. 

When  arriving  opposite  the  cliff  the  cause  was  revealed,  and  it  was  found  to  proceed 
from  a  prodigious  number  of  snakes,  principally  rattlesnakes,  which,  just  awakene<l  from 
their  winter  torpor,  were  basking  in  the  spring  sunshine.  Mr.  Sullivant  said,  unless  he  had 
seen  it,  he  never  could  have  imagined  such  a  eight.  FA'ery  available  place  was  full,  and  the 
whole  face  of  the  cMtf  seemed  to  be  a  mass  of  living,  writhing  reptiles. 

It  will  be  remembered  by  the  early  settlers  of  Franklin  Township  that  the  fissures  and 
holes  in  the  rocky  bank  of  the  river  were  the  resorts  of  great  numbers  of  snakes,  that  came 
tliere  every  fall  for  winter  quarters,  an<l  that  several  regular  snake  hunts,  or  rather  snake 
killings,  took  place.  The  most  famous  snake  den  known  was  at  the  Marble  Cliffs.  There 
were  two  entrances  into' the  rocks  from  three  to  five  feet  in  diameter,  leading  into  a  fissure  or 
cave  of  unknown  extent,  and  the  bottom  part  of  these  entrances  was  as  smooth  as  polished 
glass,  from  the  constant  gliding  in  and  out  of  these  loathsome  reptiles,  which  were  the  an- 
noyance of  the  whole  neighborhood,  as  well  as  the  especial  dread  of  us  boys,  who  ha<i  to  go 
with  our  bags  of  grain  to  be  ground  at  McCoy's  Mill,  about  two  hundred  yards  above. 

Several  times  on  my  trips  to  the  mill  I  saw  the  venomous  reptiles  sunning  themselves 
in  the  road,  and  I  always  turned  aside,  and  the  horse,  from  some  natural  instinct,  seemed  to 
be  equally  averse  to  go  near  them.  I  have  a  lively  recollection  of  une  occasion,  when, 
mounted  on  three  bushels  of  corn  on  the  back  of  *'old  Kate,"  we  jogged  until  near  the  mill, 
when  the  old  mare  gave  a  enort  and  a  shy  that  nearly  threw  me  off,  as  she  discovered  a  huge 
old  rattlesnake  lying  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  as  if  he  owned  all  the  premises.    The  old 


Franklinton.     I.  139 

mare,  of  her  own  accord,  gave  his  snakeship  a  wide  berth,  and  continued  to  snort  and  exhibit 
uneasiness  for  some  time,  and  I  know  I  received  such  a  fright  the  cold  chills  ran  over  me, 
although  it  was  a  hot  summer  day. 

For  years  after  the  settlement  of  that  neighborhood,  frequent  attempts  were  made  to 
break  up  this  resort,  particularly  when  the  premises  were  owned  by  Thomas  Backus,  who 
one  cold  winter,  had  large  quantities  of  dr\'  wood  and  brush  carried  into  the  cave,  and 
set  on  fire  in  the  spring;  gunpowder  was  also  used  in  an  attenipt  to  blow  up  this  snake  den, 
as  it  was  universally  called,  and  one  of  the  blasts  found  vent  on  top  of  a  ridge  a  half  a  mile 
away,  and  formed  a  sinkhole  which  remains  until  this  day.  One  of  the  most  efficient  means 
was  building  a  hogpen,  early  in  the  fall,  in  front  of  the  don.  and  the  hogs  were  said  to  have 
destroyed  great  numbers.  A  pair  of  bald  eagles  had  a  nest  in  a  tall  cedar  that  formerly 
crowned  the  cliff,  and  they  also  killed  many  of  these  reptiles. 

While  engaged  in  his  surveying  operations,  Lucas  Sullivant  was  careful  to 
locate  some  choice  tracts  of  land  in  his  own  right.  He  was  much  attracted  by  the 
fertility  of  the  Scioto  bottoms,  of  which  he  became,  at  an  early  date,  an  extensive 
owner.  So  far  reaching  were  his  acquisitions  of  the  territories  over  which  he 
sighted  his  compass  that  he  came  to  be  known  as  "monarch  of  all  he  surveyed."' 
The  region  about  the  Forks  of  the  Scioto  drew  his  attention  esi)ecially.  He  was 
not  only  pleased  with  the  fertility  of  its  soil,  and  the  luxuriance  of  its  forests,  but 
he  foresaw  its  eligibility  as  a  future  scat  of  population.  Its  central  position  in  the 
coming  State  then  crystallizing  into  political  form  occurred  to  his  mind.  The  use- 
ful relations  which  the  Scioto  River,  then  a  navigable  stream,  might  bear  to  a 
civilized  community  were  considered.  An  additional  hint  was  derived  from  the 
fact  that  the  Indians,  whose  settlements  have  so  often  anticipated  the  location  of 
the  leading  cities  of  today,  had  congregated  in  this  neighborhood.  After  the  Iro- 
quois conquest,  they  came  here  to  hunt,  and  also,  finally,  to  dwell.  Within  a  few 
miles  of  the  Forks  of  the  Scioto,  at  the  time  of  Sullivant's  arrival,  stood  several  of 
their  villages.  For  many  decades,  apparently,  their  women  had  annually  planted 
with  Indian  corn  the  rich  bottom  lying  just  below  the  Forks,  within  the  bend  of 
the  river.  Here,  in  a  grove  of  stately  walnut  treses,  skirting  these  Indian  maize- 
fields,  Lucas  Sullivant,  in  August,  1797,  laid  out  the  town  of  Franklinton. 

The  first  plat  fronted  on  the  river  opposite  the  Forks,  and  was  drawn  on  a 
liberal  scale.  The  lots  were  to  be  sold  on  a  certain  day,  but  before  the  appointed 
time,  an  inundation  of  all  tlie  lowlands  took  place,  which  has  been  known  in  the 
traditions  of  that  period  as  the  great  flood  of  1798.  The  plan  of  the  town  w^as 
therefore  changed,  and  made  conformable  to  the  boundaries  of  the  higher  grounds 
adjacent  to  the  original  location.  Here  Mr.  Sullivant  erected  the  tirst  brick  dwel- 
ling in  the  county,  and  established  his  permanent  home.  His  children  w^ere  born 
there,  and  there  he  resided  until  the  day  of  his  death. 

To  promote  settlement,  he  offered  to  donate  the  lots  on  a  certain  street  to  such 
persons  as  would  become  actual  residents.  To  this  thoroughfare  he  gave  the  name 
of  Gift  Street,  w^hich  it  still  retains.  The  very  first  family  settlement  in  Franklin- 
ton was  made  by  Joseph  Dixon  during  the  autumn  of  1797.  Several  additional  ar- 
rivals took  place  during  the  ensuing  winter  and  spring.  First  among  these  early 
comers  were  George  Skidmore.  John  Brickell,  Robert  Armstrong,  Jeremiah  Arm- 
stroDg,  William  Domigan,  James  Marshal,  the  Deardurfs,  the  McElvaiues,  the 
Selises,  John  Lysle,  William  Fleming,  Jacob  Grubb,  Jacob  Overdier,  Arthur O'Harra, 
Joseph  Foos,  John   Blair,  Michael  Fisher  and  John  Dill.     The  McElvaines  emi- 


140  History  of  the  Oitt  of  Coidhbos. 

grat«d  to  Ohio  trom  Kentncky  in  the  spring  of  1797.  They  remained  at  Chilli- 
cothe  during  the  ensuing  aummor,  and  arrived  at  Franklinton  during  the  spring  of 
1798.  William  Domigan  came  from  Maryland,  Michael  Fisher  from  Virginia, 
Joseph  FooB  from  Kentucky,  aod  John  Dill  from  York  County,  Pennsylvania. 


OF    rRANRLINTOH. 


The  career  of  John  Brickell,  who  was  one  of  the  first  three  or  four  white  men 
who  settled  in  Franklin  Couniy,  was  one  of  extraordinary  adventure.  Brickell 
arrived  at  Franklinton  in  1797,  A  few  years  later  he  bought  a  tract  of  ten  acres 
on  which  the  Ohio  Penitentiary  now  fronts,  and  tliore  built  a  cabin  in  which  he 
dwelt  during  most  of  the  remainder  of  his  life.  In  1842,  the  following  deeply  in- 
teresting sketch  of  his  adventures,  written  by  himself,  was  published  in^the 
American  Pioneer :' 


Pranklinton.     I.  141 

I  was  bom  on  the  twentyfourth  of  May,  1781,  in  Pennsylvania,  near  a  place  then  known 
Stewart's  Crossings,  on  the  Youghiogheny  River,  and,  as  I  suppose  from  what  1  learned 
in  after  life,  about  four  miles  from  Beesontown,  now  Uniontown,  in  Fayette  County.  On  my 
father's  side,  I  was  of  Irish,  and  on  my  mother's  of  German  parentage.  My  father  died  when 
I  was  quite  young,  and  I  went  to  live  with  an  elder  brother,  on  a  prei'mption  settlement,  on 
the  northeast  side  of  the  Alleghany  River,  about  two  miles  from  Pittsburgh.  On  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  Indian  war,  a  body  of  Indians  collected  to  the  amount  of  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  warriors,  and  spread  up  and  down  the  Alleghany  River  about  forty  miles,  and  by  a 
preconcerted  movement,  made  an  attack  on  all  the  settlements  along  the  river,  for  that  dis- 
tance, in  one  day. 

This  was  on  the  ninth  of  February,  17?)1.  1  was  alone,  clearing  out  a  fencerow,  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  house,  when  an  Indian  came  to  me,  and  took  my  axe  from  me  and 
laid  it  upon  his  shoulder  with  his  rifle,  and  then  let  down  the  cock  of  his  gun  which  it  ap- 
pears, he  had  cocked  in  approaching  me.  I  had  been  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  the  Indians, 
and  did  not  feel  alarmed  at  this  movement.  They  had  been  about  our  house  almost  every 
day.  He  took  me  by  the  hand  and  pointed  the  direction  he  wanted  me  to  go;  and  although 
I  did  not  know  him,  I  concluded  he  only  wanted  me  to  chop  something  for  him  and  went 
without  reluctance.  We  came  to  where  he  had  lain  all  night,  between  two  logs,  without 
fire.  I  then  suspected  something  was  wrong  and  attempted  to  run  ;  but  he  threw  me  down 
on  my  face,  in  which  position  I  every  moment  expected  to  feel  the  stroke  of  the  tomahawk 
on  my  head.  But  he  had  prepared  a  rope,  with  which  he  tied  my  hands  together  behind 
me,  and  thus  marched  me  oflT.  After  going  a  little  distance,  we  fell  in  with  George  Girty,  son 
of  old  George  Girty.  He  spoke  English,  and  told  me  what  they  had  done.  He  said  '*  white 
people  had  killed  Indians,  and  that  the  Indians  had  retaliated,  and  now  there  is  war,  and  you 
are  a  prisoner;  and  we  will  take  you  to  our  town  and  make  an  Indian  of  you  ;  and  you  will 
not  be  killed  if  you  go  peaceably  ;  but  if  you  try  to  run  away,  we  won't  be  troubled  with  you, 
but  we  will  kill  you,  and  take  your  scalp  to  our  town."  I  told  him  I  would  go  peaceably,  and 
give  them  no  trouble.  From  thence  we  traveled  to  the  crossings  of  Big  Beaver  with  scarce 
any  food.  We  made  a  raft,  and  crossed  late  in  the  evening,  and  lay  in  a  hole  in  a  rock 
without  fire  or  food.  They  would  not  make  fire  for  fear  we  had  attracted  the  attention  of 
hunters  in  chopping  for  the  raft.  In  the  morning,  the  Indian  who  took  me,  delivered  me  to 
Girty,  and  took  another  direction.  Girty  and  I  continued  our  course  towards  the  Tuscarawas. 
We  traveled  all  that  day  through  hunger  and  cold,  camped  all  night,  and  continued  till 
about  three  in  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  since  I  had  tasted  a  mouthful.  I  felt  very  in- 
dignant at  Girty,  and  thought  if  I  ever  got  a  good  chance,  I  would  kill  him. 

We  then  made  a  fire,  and  Girty  told  me  that  if  he  thought  I  would  not  run  away  he 
would  leave  me  by  the  fire,  and  go  and  kill  something  to  eat.  1  told  him  I  would  not. 
"  But,"  said  he  **  to  make  you  safe,  I  will  tie  you."  He  tied  my  hands  behind  my  back  and 
tied  me  to  a  sapling,  some  distance  from  the  fire.  After  he  was  gone  I  untied  myself  and  laid 
down  by  the  fire.  In  about  an  hour  he  came  running  back  without  any  game.  He  asked 
me  what  I  untied  myself  for  ?  I  told  him  I  was  cold.  He  said  :  *'  Then  you  no  run  away  ?"  I 
said  no.  He  then  told  me  there  were  Indians  close  by,  and  he  was  afraid  they  would  find 
me.  We  then  went  to  their  camp,  where  there  were  Indians  with  whom  I  had  been  as  in- 
timate as  with  any  person,  and  they  had  been  frequently  at  our  house.  They  were  glad  to 
see  me,  and  gave  me  food,  the  first  I  had  eaten  after  crossing  Beaver.  They  treated  me  very 
kindly.  We  staid  all  night  with  them,  and  next  morning  we  all  took  up  our  march  toward 
the  Tuscarawas,  which  we  reached  on  the  second  day,  in  the  evening. 

Here  we  met  the  main  body  of  hunting  families,  and  the  warriors  from  the  Alleghany, 
this  being  their  place  of  rendezvous.  I  supposed  these  Indians  all  to  be  Delawares  ;  but  at 
that  time  I  could  not  distinguish  between  the  difierent  tribes.  Here  I  met  with  two  white 
prisoners,  Thomas  Dick,  and  his  wife,  Jane.  They  had  been  our  nearest  neighbors.  I  was 
immediately  led  to  the  lower  end  of  the  encampment,  and  allowed  to  talk  freely  with  them 
for  about  an  hoar.  They  informed  me  of  the  death  of  two  of  our  neighbors,  Samuel  Chap- 
man and  William  Powers,  who  were  killed  by  the  Indians  —  one  in  their  house,  and  the  other 
near  it.  The  Indians  showed  me  their  scalps.  I  knew  that  of  Chapman,  having  red  hair 
on  it 


142  History  of  thb  (*ity  of  ('olumbus. 

Next  day  about  ten  I iidianB  started  back  to  PittHbiirgli.  Girty  told  me  they  went  to  pass 
tbemselve^  for  friendly  Indiana  and  to  trade.  Amun^;  tliene  was  the  Indian  who  took  me. 
In  about  two  weeks  they  returned  well  loade*!  with  ntore  goods,  whisky,  etc. 

After  the  traders  came  back  the  ironjpany  tlivided  ;  and  those  who  came  with  us  to  Tus- 
carawas, and  the  Indian  who  took  me,  niurche<l  on  towards  Sandusky.  When  we  arrive<l 
within  a  day's  journey  of  an  Indian  town,  wliere  FortSentHra  since  stooii  we  met  two  warriors 
going  lo  the  frontiers  to  war.  The  Indian  I  was  with  had  whisky.  He  and  the  two  war- 
rion»  got  drunk,  when  one  of  the  warriors  fell  on  nic  ami  beat  me.  I  thought  he  would  kill 
me.  The  night  was  very  dark,  and  I  ran  out  into  the  wootis,  and  lay  under  the  side  of  a  log. 
They  presently  missed  me,  and  got  lights  to  searcli  for  me.  The  Indian  to  whom  1  belongeii 
called  aloud  ;  "  White  man,  white  man  I  "  I  made  no  answer;  but  in  the  morning,  after  I  ?aw 
the  warriors  start  on  their  journey  1  went  into  camp,  when*  I  was  much  pitied  on  account  of 
my  bruises.  Next  day  we  arrived  within  a  mile  of  the  Seneca  town,  and  encamped  for  the 
night,  agreeably  to  their  manner,  to  give  room  for  their  parade,  or  grand  entrance  the  next 
day.  That  took  place 'about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  ceremony  commence<l  with  a 
great  whoop  or  yell.  We  were  then  met  by  all  sorts  of  Indians  from  the  town,  ohl  and 
young,  men  and  women.  We  then  called  a  halt,  uml  they  formed  two  lines,  about  twelve 
feet  apart,  in  the  direction  of  the  river  They  maile  ^iguf  (or  me  to  run  between  the  hnes 
towards  the  river.  I  knew  nothing  of  what  they  wanted,  and  starteii ;  but  I  had  no  chance, 
for  they  fell  to  beating  me  until  1  was  brui.sed  from  hea<l  to  foot.  At  this  juncture,  a  very  big 
Indian  came  up  an<l  threw  the  company  oil*  me.  an<l  took  me  by  the  arm,  and  led  me  along 
through  the  lines  with  such  rapidity  that  I  s<*arcely  touched  the  ground,  and  was  not  onct» 
struck  after  he  took  me  till  1  got  to  the  river.  Then  the  very  ones  who  beat  me  the  worst 
were  now  the  most  kind  and  oHicious  in  wa»«hing  me  otf,  feeding  me,  etc.,  and  did  their  utmost 
to  cure  me.  I  was  nearly  killed,  and  di<l  not  get  over  it  for  two  months.  My  impression  is, 
that  the  big  Indian  who  rescued  me  was  C^aptain  Pipe,  who  assisted  in  burning  Crawford. 
The  Indian  who  owned  me  did  not  interfere  in  any  way. 

We  staid  about  two  weeks  at  the  Seneca  towns.  My  owner  there  took  himself  a  wife, 
and  then  started  with  me  and  his  wife  through  the  Black  Swamp  towards  the  Maumee 
towns.  At  Seneca  I  left  the  Indians  1  had  l>een  acquainted  with  near  Pittsburgh,  and  never 
saw  or  heard  of  them  afterwards.  When  we  arrivitd  at  the  Auglaize  River,  we  met  an  ledian 
my  owner  called  brother,  to  whom  he  gave  me :  and  1  was  adopted  into  his  family.  His 
name  was  Whingwy  Pooshies,  or  Big  Cat.  I  lived  in  his  family  from  about  the  first  week  in 
May,  1791,  till  my  release  in  June.  I7i»5. 

The  squaws  do  nearly  all  the  labor  except  hunting.  They  take  care  of  the  meat  when 
brought  in,  and  stretch  the  skins.  They  plant  and  tend  the  corn;  they  gather  and  house  it, 
assisted  by  young  boys,  not  yet  able  to  hunt.  After  the  boys  are  at  the  hunting  age,  they 
are  no  more  considered  as  siiuaws,  and  are  kept  at  hunting.  Tlie  men  are  faithful  at  hunt- 
ing, but  when  at  home  lie  lazily  about,  and  are  of  little  account  for  anything  else,  seldom  or 
never  assisting  in  domestic  duties.  Besides  the  common  modes,  they  often  practice  candle 
hunting ;  and  for  this  they  sometimes  make  candles  or  tapers,  when  they  cannot  buy  them. 
Deer  come  to  the  river  to  eat  a  kind  oi  water  grass,  to  get  which  they  frequently  immerse 
their  whole  head  and  horns.  They  seem  to  Ik»  blindeti  by  light  at  night,  and  will  suffer  a 
canoe  to  float  close  to  them.  I  have  practiced  that  kiml  of  hunting  much  since  I  came  to  live 
where  Columbus  now  is,  and  on  one  occasion  killed  twelve  line  deer  in  one  night. 

The  fall  after  my  adoption,  there  was  a  great  stir  in  the  town  about  an  army  of  white 
men  coming  to  fight  the  Inilians.  The  squaws  an*!  boys  were  moved  with  the  goods  down 
the  Maumee.  an<l  there  waited  the  result  of  the  battle,  while  the  men  went  to  war.  They 
met  St.  Clair,  and  came  otf  victorious,  loa<led  with  the  spoils  of  the  army.  Whingwy 
Pooshies  left  the  spoils  at  the  town  and  came  down  to  move  us  up.  We  then  found  our- 
selves a  rich  ^Hjople.  Whingwy  Pooshies's  share  of  the  spoils  of  the  army  was  two  fine 
horses,  four  tents,  one  of  which  was  a  noble  marquee,  wliich  made  us  a  fine  house  in  which 
we  lived  the  remainder  of  my  captivity.  He  ha<l  also  clothing  in  abundance,  and  of  all  de- 
scriptions. I  wore  a  soldier's  coat.  He  had  also  axes,  guns,  and  everj-thing  necessary  to 
make  an  Indian  rich.    There  was  much  joy  among  them. 


Feanklinton.     1.  143 

I  saw  no  prisoners  that  were  taken  in  that  battle,  and  believe  there  were  none  taken 
by  the  Delawares.  Soon  after  this  battle  another  Indian  and  I  went  out  hunting,  and  we  came 
to  a  place  where  there  lay  a  human  skeleton  stripped  of  the  flesh,  which  the  Indian  said  had 
been  eaten  by  the  Chippewa  Indians  who  were  in  the  battle ;  and  he  called  them  brutes  thus 
to  use  their  prisoners.  During  the  time  of  my  captivity  1  conversed  with  seven  or  eight 
prisoners,  taken  from  different  parts,  none  of  whicli  were  taken  from  that  battle,  aj^reeably 
to  my  best  impressions.  One  of  the  prisoners  I  conversed  with,  was  Isaac  Patton  by  name, 
who  was  taken  with  Isaac  Choat,  Stacy  and  others  from  a  blockhouse  at  the  Big  Bottom,  on 
the  Muskingum.  I  lived  two  years  in  the  same  house  with  Patton.  1  think  I  saw  Spencer 
once.  I  saw  a  large  lad,  who,  if  I  recollect  right,  said  his  name  was  Spencer.  He  was  with 
McKee  and  Elliot  as  a  waiter,  or  kind  of  servant ;  and,  if  I  remember  right,  he  was  at  the 
Rapids. 

On  one  of  our  annual  visits  to  the  Rapids  to  receive  our  presents  from  the  British,  I 
saw  Jane  Dick.  Her  husband  had  been  sold,  1  understood,  for  forty  dollars,  and  lived  at 
Montreal.  He  was  sold  because  he  was  rather  worthless  and  disagreeable  to  the  Indians. 
When  I  saw  her  she  lived  at  large  with  the  Indians.  She  became  suddenly  missing,  and  a 
great  search  was  made  for  her;  but  the  Indians  could  not  find  her.  After  my  release  from 
captivity,  I  saw  her  and  her  husband  at  Chillicothe,  where  they  lived. 

She  told  me  how  she  was  liberated.  Her  husband  had  concerted  a  plan  with  the  cap- 
tain of  the  vessel  who  brought  the  presents,  to  steal  her  from  the  Indians.  The  captain  con- 
certed a  plan  with  a  black  man,  who  cooked  for  McKee  and  Klliot,  to  steal  Mrs.  Dick.  The 
black  man  arranged  it  with  Mrs.  Dick  to  meet  him  at  midnight,  in  a  copse  of  underwo<><i, 
which  she  did,  and  he  took  her  on  board  in  a  small  canoe,  and  headed  her  up  in  an  empty 
hogshead,  where  she  remained  until  a  day  after  the  vessel  sailed,  about  thirtysix  hours.  I 
remember  well  that  every  camp,  and  th(?  woods  were  searched  for  her,  and  that  the  vessel  was 
searched  ;  for  the  Indians  immediately  suspected  she  was  on  board.  But  not  thinking  of  un- 
beading  hogsheads,  they  could  not  tind  her.  I  saw  the  black  man  at  Fort  Hamilton  as  I  re- 
tumeil  from  captivity,  who  told  me  how  he  stole  Mrs.  Dick  off,  which  was  in  every  particular 
confirmed  by  Mrs.  Dick^s  own  statement  afterward.  He  also  told  me  that  there  was  a  plan 
concerted  between  him  and  the  Captain,  to  steal  me  off  at  the  same  time.  "  But,"  said  he, 
**they  watched  you  so  close  I  could  not  venture  it."  This  I  knew  nothing  of,  until  I  was  told 
by  the  black  man,  except  that  I  observed  the  vigilance  with  which  they  watched  me. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1794,  three  Indians,  two  men  and  a  boy,  and  myself,  started  on 
a  candle-light  hunting  expedition  to  Blani^hard's  Fork  of  the  Auglaize.  We  had  been  out 
about  two  months.  W^e  returned  to  the  towns  in  August,  and  found  them  entirely  evacuated, 
but  ggve  ourselves  little  uneasiness  about  it.  as  we  supposed  the  Indians  had  gone  to  the  foot 
of  the  Maumee  Rapids  to  receive  their  presents,  as  they  were  annually  in  the  habit  of  doing. 
We  encamped  on  the  lower  island  in  the  middle  of  a  cornfield.  Next  morning  an  Indian 
runner  came  down  the  river  and  gave  the  alarm  whoop,  which  is  a  kind  of  a  yell  they  use  for 
no  other  purpose.  The  Indians  answered  and  one  went  over  to  the  runner,  and  immediately 
returning  told  us  the  white  men  were  upon  us,  and  we  must  run  for  our  lives.  We  scattered 
like  a  flock  of  partridges,  leaving  our  breakfast  cooking  on  the  fire.  The  Kentucky  Riflemen 
saw  our  smoke  and  came  to  it,  and  just  missed  me  as  I  passed  them  in  my  flight  through  the 
corn.  They  took  the  whole  of  our  two  months  work,  breakfast,  jerked  skins  and  all.  One  of 
the  Kentuckians  told  me  afterwards  that  they  got  a  fine  chance  of  meat  that  was  left. 

Wayne  was  then  only  about  four  miles  from  us,  and  the  vanguard  was  right  among  us. 
The  boy  that  was  with  us  in  the  hunting  expedition,  and  I,  kept  together  on  the  trail  of  the 
Indians  till  we  overtook  them,  but  the  two  Indians  did  not  get  with  us  until  we  got  to  the 
Rapids. 

Two  or  three  days  after  we  arrived  at  the  Rapids,  Wayne's  spies  came  right  into  camp 
among  us.  I  afterwards  saw  the  survivors.  Their  names  were  Miller,  McClelland,  May, 
Wells,  Mahaffy,  and  one  other  whose  name  I  forget.  They  came  into  the  camp  boldly  and 
fired  on  the  Indians.  Miller  got  wounded  in  the  shoulder.  May  was  chased  by  the  Indians 
to  the  smooth  rock  in  the  bed  of  the  river,  where  his  horse  fell.  He  was  taken  prisoner  and 
the  rest  escaped.    They  then  took  May  to  camp.    They  knew  him ;  he  had  formerly  been  a 


144  HlHToRY    OF   THE    CiTY    OF    CoLUMBUH. 

prisoner  among  them,  and  ran  away  from  them.  They  told  him :  **  We  know  you ;  you  speak 
Indian  language ;  you  not  content  to  live  with  us.  Tomorrow  we  take  you  to  that  tree ; 
( pointing  to  a  very  large  hur  oak  at  tlie  edge  of  the  clearing,  which  was  near  the  British  Fort,) 
we  will  tie  you  up  and  make  a  mark  on  your  hreast,  and  we  will  try  what  Indian  can  shoot 
nearest  it." 

It  so  turned  out.  The  next  day,  the  very  day  before  the  battle,  they  tied  him  up.  made 
a  mark  on  his  breast,  and  ridilled  his  body  with  bullets,  shooting  at  least  fifty  into  him. 
Thus  ended  poor  May. 

On  the  next  day,  being  myself  about  six  miles  below  with  the  squaws,  I  went  out  hunt- 
ing. The  day  being  windy,  I  heard  nothing  of  the  firing  of  the  battle,  but  saw  some  Indians 
on  the  retreat.  One  Indian,  whom  1  knew,  told  me  I  had  better  go  to  camp,  for  the  Indians 
were  beaten,  and  they  are  pre[)aring  at  camp  to  make  their  escape.  The  runners,  towards 
dusk,  came  in,  and  said  the  army  had  halted  and  encam[)e<i.  We  then  rested  that  night,  but 
in  great  fear.  Next  morning,  the  runners  told  us  the  army  had  started  up  the  river  towards 
the  mouth  of  the  Auglaize.  We  were  then  satisfied.  Many  of  the  Delawares  were  killed  and 
wounded.  The  Indian  who  took  May  was  killed,  and  he  was  much  missed:  for  he  was  the 
only  gunsmith  among  the  Delawares. 

Our  crops  and  every  means  of  support  l>eing  cut  otf,  we  had  to  winter  at  the  mouth  of 
Swan  Creek,  perhaps  where  Toledo  now  stands.  We  were  entirely  dependent  on  the  British, 
and  they  did  not  half  supply  us. 

The  starving  condition  of  the  Indians,  together  with  the  prospect  of  losing  all  their  cows 
and  dogs,  made  the  Indians  very  impatient,  and  they  became  exasperated  at  the  British. 
They  said  they  had  been  deceived  by  them,  for  they  had  not  fulfilled  one  promise.  It  was 
concluded  among  them  to  send  a  Hag  to  Fort  Defiance  in  order  to  make  a  treaty  with  the 
Americans.  This  was  successful.  Our  men  found  the  Americans  ready  to  make  a  treaty,  and 
they  agreed  on  an  exchange  of  prisoners.  I  had  the  pleasure  to  see  nine  white  prisoners  ex- 
changed for  nine  Indians,  and  the  mortification  of  finding  myself  left;  there  being  no  Indian 
to  give  for  me.  Patton,  Johnston,  Sloan  and  Mrs.  Baker,  of  Kentucky,  were  four  of  the  nine; 
the  names  of  the  others  I  do  not  recollect.  Patton,  Johnston  and  Mrs.  Baker,  had  all  lived 
with  me  in  the  same  house,  among  the  Indians,  and  we  were  as  intimate  as  brothers  and 
sisters. 

On  the  breaking  up  of  spring,  we  all  went  up  to  Fort  Defiance,  and  on  arriving  on  the  shore 
opposite,  we  saluted  the  fort  with  a  round  of  rifles,  and  they  shot  a  cannon  thirteen  times. 
We  then  encamped  on  the  spot.  On  the  same  day,  VVhingwy  Pooshies  told  me  I  must  go  over 
to  the  fort.  The  children  hung  round  me  crying,  and  asked  me  if  I  was  going  to  leave  them. 
I  told  them  I  did  not  know.  When  we  got  over  to  the  fort  and  were  seated  with  the  officers. 
Whingwy  Pooshies  told  me  to  stand  up,  which  I  did  ;  he  then  rose  and  addressed  me  in  about 
these  words :  "  My  son,  these  are  men  the  same  color  as  yourself ;  there  may  be  some  of  your 
kin  here,  or  your  kin  may  be  a  great  way  off  from  you ;  you  have  lived  a  longtime  with  us ;  I 
call  on  you  to  say  if  I  have  not  been  a  father  to  you?  If  I  have  not  used  you  as  a  father  would 
a  son ? "  I  said :  ''  You  have  used  me  as  well  as  a  father  could  use  a  son."  He  said :  "I  am 
glad  you  say  so.  You  have  lived  long  with  me ;  you  have  hunted  for  me ;  but  our  treaty  says 
you  must  be  free.  If  you  choose  to  go  with  the  people  of  your  color,  I  have  no  right  to  say  a 
word ;  but  if  you  choose  to  stay  with  me,  your  people  have  no  right  to  speak.  Now,  reflect  on 
it,  and  take  your  choice ;  and  tell  us  as  soon  as  you  make  up  your  mind." 

I  was  silent  a  few  moments,  in  which  time  it  seemed  as  if  I  thought  of  almost  every  thing. 
I  thought  of  the  children  I  had  just  left  crying ;  I  thought  of  the  Indians  I  was  attached  to  ; 
and  I  thought  of  my  people,  whom  I  remembered ;  and  this  latter  thought  predominated,  and 
I  said :  **  I  will  go  with  my  kin."  The  old  man  then  said :  *'  I  have  raised  you ;  I  have  learned 
you  to  hunt;  you  are  a  good  hunter;  you  have  been  better  to  me  than  my  own  sons ;  I  am 
now  getting  old  and  cannot  hunt ;  I  thought  you  would  be  a  support  to  my  age ;  I  leaned  on  you 
as  a  stafl*.  Now  it  is  broken— you  are  going  to  leave  me,  and  I  have  no  right  to  say  a  word  — 
but  I  am  ruined."  He  then  sank  back  in  tears  in  his  seat.  I  heartily  joined  him  in  his  tears  — 
parted  with  him,  and  have  never  seen  nor  heard  of  him  since. 


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PRANKLINTON.      I.  145 

I  learned  the  Delaware  language  well,  and  can  apeak  it  now  abont  as  well  as  English.  I 
will  give  the  Delaware  names  of  a  few  streams.  Sepung,  is  properly  what  we  call  a  stream, 
there  being  no  distinction  between  runs,  creeks  and  rivers,  as  with  us.  They  called  the  Ohio 
Whingwy  Sepung,  or  Big  Stream.  Paint  Creek,  in  Ross  County,  I  never  heard  called  Yocton- 
gee;  but  we  called  it  Olomon  Sepung,  or  Paint  Creek.  Seckle  Sepung,  or  Saltlick  Creek,  is 
what  is  now  called  Alum  Creek.  Whingwy  Mahoni  Sepung,  or  Big  Lick  Creek,  is  what  we 
called  Big  Walnut  Creek.  The  Scioto  was  so  called,  but  it  is  not  a  Delaware  name,  and  I  do 
not  know  its  meaning. 

It  was  about  the  first  of  June,  1795,  that  I  parted  with  Whingwy  Pooshies.  The  next  day 
I  started  for  Fort  Greenville.  I  rode  on  a  horse  furnished  by  the  Americans.  I  was  under 
the  charge  and  protection  of  Lieutenant  Blue,  who  treated  me  with  every  kindness;  and  at 
Fort  Greenville  had  a  good  suit  of  clothes  made  for  me  by  a  tailor.  We  had  been  there  about 
a  week,  when  a  company  of  men  arrived  from  Cincinnati,  among  whom  was  a  brother  of  my 
brother's  wife,  with  whom  I  had  lived  and  from  whom  I  was  taken.  He  told  me  of  a  sister  I 
had,  who  waa  married,  and  lived  about  nine  miles  from  Cincinnati,  up  the  Licking,  on  the 
Kentucky  side.  I  then  left  Mr.  Blue  at  Fort  Greenville,  and  went  to  my  sister's.  She  and 
all  the  neighbors  seemed  to  be  overjoyed,  and  a  great  crowd  collected  to  see  me,  and  hear  about 
my  living  among  the  Indians.  I  then  went  to  Grant's  Salt  Works,  up  Licking,  to  hunt  for 
them.  I  made  money  there  by  killing  deer  at  one  dollar  apiece,  and  turkeys  at  twelve  and 
a  half  cents.  I  bought  me  a  house,  and  had  money  left  to  take  me  to  Pennsylvania.  I  went 
with  a  man  named  Andrew  I^wis.  There  was  great  joy  again,  at  my  brother's  on  my  return 
to  his  house,  from  whence  I  was  taken.  My  sister-in-law,  in  particular,  seemed  much  gratified 
with  my  return,  as  did  the  great  crowd  which  here  again  collected  to  see  me,  and  hear  the 
narrative  of  my  captivity. 

In  1797,  I  came  to  this  place,  that  is,  now  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  have  resided  here  since ; 
generally  enjoying  good  health,  it  never  having  cost  me  a  dollar  in  my  life  for  medical  aid  ; 
and  without  ever  wearing  any  thing  like  a  stocking  inside  of  my  moccasin,  shoes  or  boots, 
from  the  time  I  went  among  the  Indians  to  this  day ;  and  I  can  say  what  perhaps  few  can  at 
this  day,  that  my  feet  are  never  cold. 

At  another  time,  the  Lord  granting  the  opportunity,  I  will  give  more  of  the  incidents  of 
my  life,  as  connected  with  the  settlement  and  improvement  of  the  country. 

Columbus,  Ohio,  Jan.  29.  1842.  John  Brickell. 

Mr.  Brickell  always  wore  a  suit  of  buckskin  to  his  latest  day,  and  was  mis- 
takenly supposed  by  many  persons  to  be,  in  part,  of  Indian  parentage.  The 
habits  which  he  had  acquired  while  associated  with  the  Indians  during  the  plastic 
period  of  his  life,  clung  to  hira,  but  did  not  prevent  his  being  a  useful  and  much- 
esteemed  citizen.     He  died  July  20,  1844,  aged  sixty  three. 

Jeremiah  Armstrong  arrived  in  Franklinton  while  yet  a  youth.  He  and  his 
brother  Robert  were  among  the  earliest  pioneers  of  that  settlement.  After  the 
founding  of  Columbus,  he  bought  of  the  proprietors  a  lot  on  High  Street,  on  which 
he  kept,  for  many  years,  one  of  the  principal  hotels  of  the  town.  His  first  sign 
was  "The  Indian  Chief,"  afterwards  "The  Red  Lion."  His  son  Harrison 
Armstrong  took  his  name  from  General  William  H.  Harrison,  who  was  frequently 
his  guest.  Of  his  captivity  among  the  Indians,  Mr.  Armstrong  wrote  the  following 
deeply  interesting  account,  which  is  taken  from  Martm's  History  of  Franklin  County^   ^  ^^. 

I  was  born  in  Washington  County,  Maryland,  March,  1785.  I  had  a  sister  (Elizab^t>  "-. ' : 
and  three  brothers,  William,  Robert  and  John  older  than  myself.  We  moved  to  the  Mingo 
Bottom,  and  from  there  to  Virginia,  opposite  the  upper  end  of  Blenner basset's  Island.  The 
Indians  made  frequent  incursions  into  our  neighborhood,  and  my  mother  was  in  constant 
dread  of  being  killed  by  them  ;  she  seemed  to  have  a  presentiment  that  she  would  have  the 
fete  of  her  parents,  who  were  both  killed  by  them  in  Mifflin  County,  Pennsylvania.  Some- 
time in  April,  1794,  (I  perfectly  remember  all  the  circumstances  of  that  eventful  night,)  my 

10 


140  History  of  the  ('ity  ok  CoLiiMKOrt. 

brothers  William  and  Robert  had  gone  to  a  floating  mill  which  my  father  owned  on  the  Ohio, 
near  the  hoase ;  the  younger  children  were  in  bed.  Father  went  down  to  the  river  to 
examine  a  trotline ;  my  mother  sUmkI  in  the  door,  lK>ldin>{  a  candle  for  him.  T  shall  never 
forget  her  apj>oarance ;  it  waH  the  last  time  T  ever  l>eheld  her ;  she  stood  trembling  like  a  leaf, 
so  that  the  candle  shook  in  her  hand.  I  suppose  that  she  wa^  afraid  of  the  Indians,  for  1 
then  thought  there  was  nothing  (^Ise  to  fear.  Father  returned  safe;  barred  both  of  the  doors, 
as  was  his  (*usti)ni,  and  then  retiretl.  KIiza1)eth,  John  and  1,  slept  in  the  loft  of  our  log 
house. 

About  three  oVlock,  we  were  awakened  by  the  barking  of  our  dog.  Father  sprang  up, 
and  without  waiting  to  put  on  any  clothing,  unbarred  one  of  the  doors  and  ran  out  and 
hissed  the  dog;  but  in  a  moment  he  saw  neveral  Indians  start  from  t)ehind  the  trees,  hallooeil 
Indians^  and  ran  into  the  house,  barretl  the  door,  and  caught  up  a  gun..  By  this  time  the 
house  was  Hurroun<led  by  twenty  Wyandots.  The  poor,  faithful  dog  had  kept  them  off  till 
he  was  disabled  ;  they  had  cut  him  so  bad  in  the  mouth  that  his  under  jaw  hung  loose.  As 
the  savages  api>roached  the  house,  father  fired  the  gun ;  then  caught  a  bullet  pouch,  and 
sprang  to  the  loft,  put  his  bullet  and  ]>owder  into  his  hand,  but  in  attempting  to  put  it  into 
the  gun  found,  too  late,  that  he  had  taken  the  wrong  pouch,  and  the  bullet  was  too  large;  so 
he  threw  down  the  gun,  tore  open  the  roof,  and  sprang  to  the  ground,  fully  expecting  to  be 
tomahawked  the  instant  he  reached  it ;  but  fortunately  he  was  not  discovereil,  for  the  most 
of  the  Indians  were  already  in  the  house.  They  commenceii  their  bloody  work  by  killing 
the  three  little  ones.  Mother  attempted  to  escape  through  the  chimney,  but  it  is  8upi>ose<l 
that  her  clothes  ciiught  for  she  fell,  and,  as  the  Indians  afterward  told  me,  in  attempting  to 
raise  Yrnr  they  found  she  could  not  stand ;  her  hij)  was  broken.  Had  she  been  able  to  travel 
they  would  not  have  killed  her;  but  as  she  could  not,  they  must  have  her  scalp  as  a  trophy. 
They  also  scalped  the  two  oldest  of  the  children,  but  from  my  mother  took  two. 

They  dry  these  scalps  on  little  hoops,  about  the  size  of  a  dollar,  paint  them  and  ^x  them 
on  poles,  to  raise  as  trophies  of  vict<)r>'  when  entering  their  villages.  When  seeing  these  so 
raised,  I  inquired  why  they  took  two  from  mother?  They  said  because  the  babe's  hair  was 
not  long  enough  to  scalp,  they  took  one  from  its  mother  for  it.  After  killing  my  sisters  and 
brother  below,  they  came  up  to  us,  and  took  us  down.  Oh !  who  can  describe  our  feelings  on 
entering  that  room  of  blood  !  I  was  led  over  the  slippery^  bloody  floor,  and  placed  between 
the  knees  of  one  of  the  savages,  whose  hands  were  still  reeking  with  the  blood  of  my 
dearest  relatives. 

Mr.  Misner.  who  lived  about  a  hundred  yards  al)Ove  us,  hearing  the  noise,  took  a  canoe 
and  started  for  Belpre,  to  raise  an  alarm.  When  half  way  across  the  river,  I  suppose,  he  saw 
the  Indians  and  my  sister ;  she  was  standing  in  the  door  and  the  house  was  lighted.  Mr.  M. 
called,  **What  is  the  matter?"  One  of  the  Indians  told  her  to  say  nothing,  which  she  did, 
being  afraid  to  disobey.  After  plundering  the  house,  they,  with  their  three  prisoners, 
started  southwest ;  they  went  rapidly  for  a  mile  or  two  then  halted,  forming  a  ring  around  us, 
and  lighted  their  pipes,  and  made  several  speeches,  apparently  in  great  baste.  We  watched 
their  gestures,  and  listened  anxiously.  I  was  afterward  told  that  I  was  the  subject  of  their 
debate.  They  expected  to  be  pursued  by  the  people  of  Belpre,  and  they  thought  me  too 
young  to  travel  as  fast  as  necessary  for  their  safety ;  so  they  proposed  killing  me ;  but  a  young 
Indian  who  had  led  nie,  and  observed  my  activity  in  jumping  the  logs,  said  he  thought  I 
would  make  a  pretty  good  Indinny  and  they  might  go  as  fast  as  they  pleased,  and  if  I  could  not 
keep  up  he  would  carry  me.  So  my  life  was  spared,  and  we  continued  our  journey  at  a  rapid 
rate ;  he  sometimes  carrying  me,  and  1  sometimes  begging  my  sister  to  carry  me.  Sh^j  poor 
V"  ;'\  iprf,  could  s(*arcely  carry  herself.    I  was  quite  small  of  my  age. 

.  •  -  \  .*  When  we  arrived  opposite  the  mouth  of  Little  Hocking,  they  found  their  canoes,  which 
they  had  secreted  in  the  bushes,  got  into  them  and  hastened  across  the  river.  When  they 
gained  the  opjmsite  bank,  they  gave  a  never-to  be-forgotten  whoop,  for  they  felt  themselves 
safe.  The  next  day  they  dined  on  a  bear,  which  tliey  had  killed  the  day  before.  The  oil  of 
the  bear  was  hung  up  in  a  deer  skin ;  they  gave  us  some  of  it  to  drink ;  we  could  not  drink  it. 
So  they  gave  us  of  the  bread  and  sugar  which  they  had  taken  from  my  father's  house  —  bread 
which  my  mother  had  so  lately  made.    And  where  was  she?    Oh!  my  heart  ached  at  the 


PRANKLINTON.       I.  147 

thought.  They  treated  us  kindly,  and  while  our  bread  and  sugar  lasted  we  fared  very  well. 
But  to  return  to  my  father.  When  he  jumped  to  tlie  ground  from  the  roof,  he  ran  to  the 
river,  took  a  canoe  and  crossed  over  to  the  island,  went  to  Mr.  James's,  then  to  the  mill  for 
my  brothers,  wakened  them,  and  with  them  returned  to  the  house.  What  a  horrible  scene 
presented  itself!  There  lay  my  mother  and  the  babe  on  the  ground.  In  the  house  the  other 
two  children  were  lying  in  their  gore.  The  boy  was  still  alive,  and  he  asked  my  father  why 
he  pulled  his  hair. 

I  saw  Mr.  John  James^  a  resident  of  Jackson  County,  in  Columbus  some  years  ago.  He 
said  that  he  was  one  of  the  twenty  that  followed  the  Indians  down  the  river,  saw  their  canoen, 
and  where  they  landed,  and  also  discovered  by  the  tracks  that  we  were  still  alive.  They 
were  afraid,  if  pursued  farther,  the  Indians  would  kill  us  to  expedite  their  flight.  They  were 
not  far  behind  —  the  water  was  still  muddy  —  so  they  returned. 

After  eating  our  dinner,  we  started  again,  and  our  next  halt  was  where  Uincaster  now 
stands.  There  we  saw  young  Cox,  a  man  they  had  taken  from  our  neighborhood  a  few  days 
previous.  We  spent  the  night  there.  In  the  morning  two  of  the  most  savage  of  our  party 
took  John  and  myself,  and  started  for  Upper  Sandusky.  I  missed  not  only  my  sister,  but 
the  young  Indian  that  carried  me.  I  had  already  begun  to  consider  him  my  friend,  although 
I  did  not  then  know  that  he  had  saved  my  life 

Our  two  conductors  seemed  to  delight  in  tormenting  us.  They  made  us  wade  streams 
where  the  water  came  up  to  my  chin.  Brother  John  being  two  years  older  than  myself,  and 
taller,  would  lead  me.  They  would  laugh  at  our  fears.  We  had  nothing  but  rootsjind  herbs 
to  eat-  When  we  came  near  their  village  in  Upper  Sandusky,  they  stripped  us  of  our 
clothes,  and  tied  a  small  part  around  our  bodies  in  Indian  style.  When  I  cried  at  the  loss  of 
my  clothes,  one  of  them  whipped  me  severely  with  his  pipe  stem.  The  Indian  squaws  and 
children  came  running  from  all  directions  to  see,  and  we  were  no  sooner  in  the  house  than 
the  door  was  completely  blocked  up  with  them,  which  frightened  me  very  much. 

Ak  few  days  after  our  arrival,  the  party  we  had  left  behind  came  up,  and  I,  when  I  saw 
them  coming,  ran  to  meet  my  friend,  and  was  as  glad  to  see  him  as  if  he  had  been  my 
brother.     My  fondness  for  him  no  doubt  increased  his  for  me. 

The  next  morning  we  started  for  Lower  Sandusky.    In  passing  through  the  Seneca 

nation,  the  pole  of  scalps  was  hoisted.     A  little  Seneca  Indian  ran  to  us,  took  the  pole  from 

the  bearer,  and  carried  it  to  an  old  squaw,  who  was  sitting  in  the  door  of  her  hut.    She 

examined  it,  handed  it  back  to  the  boy,  and  he  returned  it  to  the  Indian,  then  knocked  both 

John  and  myself  down.    It  was  a  privilege  they  had,  as  they  belonged  to  another  nation. 

After  leaving  the  Senecas,  we  came  to  some  of  our  own  nation,  that  is,  Wyandots.    There 

they  formed  a  ring  before  we  ate,  and  the  prisoner  who  spoke  both  languages,  gave  me  a 

gourd  with  shot  in  it.  telling  me  I  must  say  grace.    So  he  put  some  Indian  words  in  my 

mouth,  and  bid  me  go  around  the  ring,  knocking  the  gourd  with  my  hand,  and  repeating  the 

words,    which  I  did  as  well  as  I  could.     But  my  awkwardness  made  them  laugh;  so  I  got 

*^gT  and  threw  down  the  gourd.     I  thought  to  myself  it  was  very  different  from  ttie  way  my 

iat^er  said  grace. 

On  arriving  at  Lower  Sandusky,  before  entering  the  town,  they  halted  and  formed  a  pro- 

ccBBion  for  Cox,  my  sister,  my  brother  and  myself  to  run  the  gauntlet.     They  pointed  to  the 

house  of  their  chief.  Old  Crane,  about  a  hundred  yards  distant,  signifying  that  we  should  run 

iiito  it.    We  did  so,  and  were  received  very  kindly  by  the  old  chief;  he  was  a  very  mild  man, 

beloved  by  all. 

I  was  then  adopted  into  his  family,  the  Deer  tribe,  my  brother  John  into  another,  the 

Turtle  tribe,  and  my  sister  into  another ;  so  we  were  separated.     I  was  p  linted  all  over,  and 

abroad  belt  of  wampum  put  around  my  body.     I  was  quite  an  important  personage;  and  if 

my  dear  sister  and  brother  had  remained  with  me,  I  should  have  been  happy;  yes,  happy, 

fori  thought,  now  the  Indians  were  my  friends,  I  had  nothing  on  earth  to  fear.     My  brother 

and  sister  were  gone,  and  I  was  alone.    I  cried  very  much.    An  old  prisoner  tried  to  comfort  me. 

He  said  I  must  not  eat  with  the  paint  on  me  ;  if  I  did,  it  would  kill  me.     It  was  the  paint  of 

my  adoption,  and  1  suppose  that  while  it  was  on  me,  I  was  considered  neither  white  nor  red, 

and,  according  to  their  superstition  if  L  remained  in  that  state,  I  should  die.    The  prisoner 

took  me  to  the  river  and  washed  it  off,  then  led  me  back  to  the  house. 


14S  History  of  the  City  of  CoLUMBrs. 

John  was  taken  to  BrownHtown,  and  Elizabeth  to  Maumee.  I  did  not  see  either  of  them 
again  for  about  four  years,  wlien  my  brother  and  myself  rejoined  our  liberty.  My  sister  re- 
mained with  them  but  a  few  months.  She  was  stolen  from  them  by  a  ^ntleman  in  searcli 
of  his  sister,  and  taken  to  Detroit.  Ah  sbe  had  no  means  of  returning  to  her  friends,  slie 
went  with  a  family  by  the  name  of  Dolson  to  Canada,  and  married  one  of  the  sons.  When  I 
saw  her  next  she  had  a  family  of  her  own. 

After  our  adoption,  the  family  to  which  I  belonged  came  back  to  Columbus  and  cam{>ed 
near  where  the  Penitentiary  now  stands.  There  we  raised  corn  in  what  is  now  called 
SuUivant's  Prairie.  My  home  while  with  them  was  back  and  forth  from  there  to  Ix)wer 
Sandusky.  The  first  night  I  spent  in  Franklin[ton]  the  Indians  all  got  drunk.  The  squaws 
put  me  on  a  scatfold  to  keep  them  from  killing  me.  The  sc^uaws  had  sense  enough  to  not  taste 
the  rum  till  the  Indians  were  too  drunk  to  harm  them ;  then  they  too  got  drunk.  And, 
oh,  what  a  time  for  me  for  a  few  days  while  the  rum  lasted ;  but  when  it  was  gone  they  were 
very  kind  to  me. 

After  parting  from  my  brother  and  sister,  I  heard  so  little  of  my  own  language,  that  I 
forgot  it  entirely,  ami  became  attached  to  them  and  their  ways.  In  fact,  I  became  a  vi»rv 
good  Indian.  They  calletl  me  Hooscoa-tah-jah,  (Little  Head).  A  short  time  afterward,  thev 
changed  my  name  to  Duh-guah.    They  often  change  their  names. 

In  the  month  of  August,  17^M,  when  I  had  been  a  pris(»ner  about  four  months,  <ieneral 
Wayne  conquered  the  Indiann  in  that  <lecisive  battle  on  the  Maumee.  B*»fore  the  battle,  the 
squaws  and  children  were  sent  to  Iiower  Sandusky.  Runners  were  sent  from  the  scene  of 
action  to  inform  us  <»f  their  defeat,  and  to  onler  us  to  Sandusky  Bay.  They  supposed  that 
Wayne  would  come  with  his  forces  and  massacre  the  whole  of  us.  Great  was  the  consterna- 
tion andc<mfasion ;  and  I,  strange  infatuation,  thinking  their  enemies  mine,  ran  and  got  into 
a  canoe,  fearing  they  would  go  and  leave  me  at  the  mercy  of  the  pale  faces.  We  all  arrived 
safe  at  the  Bay  ;  and  there  the  ludians  conveyed  their  wounded.  Old  Crane  among  the  num- 
ber. He  was  wounded  in  the  arm ;  and  my  friend,  the  one  that  saved  my  life,  was  killed. 
Wayne,  instead  of  molesting  us,  withdrew  his  forces  to  Qreenville;  and  we  returned  to 
Franklin[tonJ  (that  now  is,)  and  encamped  below  the  dam,  where  there  is  a  deep  hole,  called 
Billy's  Hole,  from  Billy  Wyandot. 

The  only  war  dance  I  witnessed,  wa.*<  near  where  the  Penitentiary  now  stands,  when  a 
party  of  them  were  preparing  to  leave  for  Kentucky  in  (juest  of  prisoners  and  8cali»s.  They 
returnetl  with  three  prisoners  and  five  scalps.  Billy  Wyandot  and  others  were  then  prepar- 
ing to  leave  for  Greenville  to  form  a  treaty,  (August,  1795).  By  that  treaty  a  great  part  of  the 
l>resent  limits  of  the  State  of  Ohio  was  ceded  to  the  whites ;  and  the  Indians  were  to  give  up 
all  the  prisoners  in  their  possession,  which  was  d(»ne  where  found  and  recognized. 

My  brother  and  myself  were  still  held  in  bon<lage,  our  friends  supposing  us  to  be  dead. 
When  the  lands  acquired  by  the  treaty  were  being  surveyed  by  Generals  Ma&sie  and 
McArthur,  Mr.  Thomas,  a  former  neighbor  of  my  father's,  being  with  them,  saw  me  and 
knew  me.  He  sent  word  to  my  brother  William,  who  was  then  rt»siding  in  Kentucky.  As 
soon  as  he  heard  that  I  was  alive,  he  left  Kentucky  in  Si'arch  of  me,  with  only  six  dollars  in 
his  pocket.  He  expected  to  lind  me  in  Franklin.  Not  finding  me  there,  he  went  on  to  Upper 
Sandusky.  The  Indians  were  on  a  hunting  tour,  and  I  was  with  them.  The  corn  was  then 
in  the  silk ;  he  was  tohl  that  we  would  not  be  back  until  roasting-ear  time.  So  he  went  back 
as  far  as  Chillicothe,  where  he  remained  until  the  time  appointed.  Then  he  starteil  again 
and  came  to  Ix)wer  Sandusky,  where  he  found  me  quite  happy,  and  so  much  of  an  Indian 
that  1  would  rather  have  seen  him  tomahawked  than  to  go  with  him.  Old  Crane  would  not 
consent  to  give  me  up.  He  said  according  to  the  treaty  they  were  not  obliged  to  release  any 
that  were  willing  to  stay.    They  agreed  to  go  to  Brownstown  and  examine  the  treaty. 

Brother  William,  knowing  the  uncertainty  of  the  Indians,  went  to  Detroit  for  assistance. 
He  applied  to  General  Hamtramck,  who  gave  him  an  olficer  and  twelve  men.  With  this 
force  he  came  to  Brownstown,  sixteen  miles.  We  were  all  there,  and  I  had  found  my  brother 
John  who  was  as  unwilling  to  leave  as  myself.  W^e  were  stnitting  back  and  forth  on  the 
porch.  I  had  a  large  bunch  of  feathers  tied  in  my  hair  at  the  crown  of  my  head  and  rings 
in  my  ears  and  nose.    I  was  fc^eling  very  large  and  defiant.    When  I  saw  William  coming,  I 


Franklinton.     I.  149 

said  to  John,  "  There  comes  oar  white  hrother.''  He  came  towards  as  and  put  out  his  hand 
to  shake  hands,  hut  we  drew  ourselves  up  scorufullyf  and  would  not  allow  him  to  touch  us. 
Oh,  how  little  we  knew  or  thought  of  the  toil  and  suffering  he  had  endured  for  our  sake! 

We  were  both  determined  not  to  go  with  him  ;  so  they  took  us  by  force.  William  took 
one  of  us  by  the  hand  and  the  officer  the  other ;  they  dragged  us  along  to  the  boat.  I  well 
remember  our  setting  one  foot  back  to  brace  ourselves,  and  pulling  with  our  might  to  get 
from  them.  But  they  succeeded  in  geting  us  into  the  boat  and  pushing  off,  leaving  the  old 
sqnaw  who  had  the  care  of  me,  standing  on  the  bank  crying.  There  she  stood,  and  I  could 
hear  her  cries  until  lost  in  the  distance.    I  cried  too,  till  quite  exhausted,  and  I  fell  asleep. 

John,  being  with  the  tribe  that  traded  with  the  whites,  did  not  forget  his  native  tongue. 
Some  days  after  we  started,  William  related  the  story  of  our  capture,  the  murder  of  our 
mother,  sisters  and  brother.  John  repeated  it  to  me.  Oh,  what  a  sudden  change  it  wrought 
in  me!  It  brought  back  the  whole  scene  so  forcibly  to  my  recollection,  that  I  clung  to  my 
brother  with  affection  and  gratitude,  and  never  more  had  a  wish  to  return  to  the  red  men. 

At  Detroit  we  left  our  boat,  and  were  kept  in  garrison  four  or  five  days,  waiting  for  a 
vessel  to  take  us  to  Erie,  Pennsylvania.  We.  went  from  Erie  to  Pittsburgh,  from  there  to  our 
old  home  at  Mr.  Gillespie's,  one  of  our  old  neighbors.  We  then  changed  our  savage  clothes, 
and  after  remaining  several  days,  we  left  for  Chillicothe,  from  thence  to  Franklin, my  present 
home.  Jbrbmiah  Armstrono. 

Columbus,  Ohio,  April,  1858. 

In  1798  James  Scott  opened  a  small  store  in  Franklintpn,  much  to  the  con- 
venience of  the  settlement.  This  v^as  the  beginning  of  permanent  trade  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  Scioto  Valley.  Robert  Russell  opened  an  additional  store  in 
1803.  Nearly  everything  in  the  way  of  supplies  had  to  bo  brought  up  the  valley 
in  canoes,  or  on  packhorses,  from  the  Ohio.  One  of  tbe  articles  most  necessary, 
and  most  difficult  to  obtain,  was  salt,  the  great  scarcity  and  cost  of  which  impelled 
Mr.  Sullivant  to  resort  to  an  expedient  for  its  manufacture.  "  He  knew,"  says  his 
biographer,  "  that  the  deer  resorted  in  great  numbers  to  the  lick  on  the  river  below 
Fmnklintou,  and  he  had  observed,  when  encamped  there  some  years  before,  that 
there  were  strong  evidences  of  the  Indians  having  made  salt  in  that  place.  The 
work  was  vigorously  prosecuted,  and  the  lick  cleaned  out,  when  it  appeared  that  a 
feeble  stream  or  spring  of  weak  salt-water  carao  to  the  surface  at  the  edge  of  the 
river.  A  wooden  curb  was  inserted,  which  kept  out  a  large  portion  of  the  fresh 
and  surface  water.  The  salt-water  was  gathered  into  long  and  large  wooden 
troughs  hollowed  out  from  huge  trees,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  battery  of  common 
iron  kettles  and  long-continued  boiling,  a  limited  quantity  of  rather  poor  salt  was 
obtained ;  but  when  a  road  was  opened  along  Zane's  Trace*  from  Wheeling  to 
Lancaster,  and  thence  to  Franklinton,  it  furnished  greater  facilities  for  procuring 
salt,  and  this  well  was  abandoned.'"® 

More  curious  still  were  the  expedients  resorted  to  for  providing  the  materials 
for  bread.  Writing  in  1856,  Colonel  Andrew  McElvain  says  the  "  first  mealmaking 
establishment"  for  the  infant  community  was  contrived  by  Samuel  McElvain,  by 
burning  a  hole  in  a  stump,  and  adding  "a  sweep  so  fixed  that  two  men  could 
pound  corn  into  meal."  A  sifter  was  added  to  this  equipment  by  stretching  a  deer 
flkin  over  a  hoop,  and  burning  holes  in  it  with  a  heated  wire.  This  primitive  con- 
trivance vanished,  in  due  course,  before  the  enterprising  spirit  of  one  Rogers,  who 
erected  a  hand  mill  to  do  the  meal -grinding  for  the  settlement.  Those  who  were 
not  able  to  afford  the  luxury  of  hiring  the  services  of  the  handmill,  used  improvised 
graters,  or  made  hominy  of  their  corn  by  pounding  it  in  a  log  "  mortar." 


150  History  ok  the  ('ity  of  (^)LrMBrs. 

The  first  ferry  across  the  Scioto  of  which  there  is  any  account  was  owned  by 
Jo8e])h  Foos,  who  was  also  proprietor  of  the  first  hotel  in  Franklinton,  opened  in 
1803.  Owing  to  the  active  part  taken  in  politics  by  its  owner,  this  tavern  —  all 
public  lodging-houses  were  then  known  as  taverns  —  became  the  political  head- 
quarters of  the  settlement.  Mr.  Foos  served  as  Senator  or  Hopresentative  in  the 
General  Assembly  of  Ohio  during  twentyfive  sessions,  including  the  first.  During 
the  War  of  1812,  in  which  he  took  an  active  part  ho  rose  from  the  rank  of  captain 
to  that  of  brigadier-general.  From  1825  until  he  died  in  1832,  he  held  a  commis- 
sion as  Major-General  ol'  the  State  militia.  He  was  a  man  of  original  ideas,  and  a 
speaker  and  writer  of  some  note. 

Lucas  Sullivant  settled  permanently  in  Franklinton  in  1801.  He  had  shortly 
prior  to  that  time  married  Sarah  Starling,  the  second  daughter  and  fourth  child  of 
Colonel  William  Starling,  of  Kentucky.  Of  the  ancestry  of  Lucas  Sullivant  little 
is  known,  but  the  lineage  of  the  Stiirlings  is  perspicuous  as  far  back  as  1670,  when 
their  paternal  ancestor,  Sir  William  Starling,  held  the  office  of  Lord  Mayor  of 
London.  Their  famil}'  name  being  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  important  in 
the  early  annals  of  Columbus,  a  few  particulai*s  as  to  its  antecedents  are  germane 
to  this  narrative.  The  first  of  the  SUirlings  who  came  to  this  country  was  William, 
a  great-grandson  to  the  Lord  Mayor,  who  settled  in  King  William  County, 
Virginia,  about  1740.  Married  soon  after  his  arrival  to  Jane  Gordon,  daughter  of 
a  Scot<'h  j)hysician,  William  Starling  died  in  his  twentysixth  year,  leaving  three 
children,  who  were])laced  under  the  guardianship  of  Colonel  Lyne,  a  wealthy  neigh- 
bor, descended  from  an  old  English  family  which  had  settled  in  King  William  County. 
The  Lynes  were  proud  of  their  lineage,  and  very  aristocratic;  nevertheless  young 
William  Starling  had  the  temerity  to  marry  Susanna  Lyne,  his  guardian's  si.slor. 
Colonel  Lyne's  displeasure  at  this  match  made  it  convenient  for  young  SUirling 
and  his  bride  to  emigrate  to  Kentucky,  where  they  settled,  in  1794,  on  a  farm  near 
Harrodsburg.  One  of  the  eleven  children  born  to  William  Starling  and  Susanna 
Lyne  was  the  second  daughter,  already  mentioned,  who  became  the  wife  of  Lucas 
Sullivant;  another  was  iiyne  Starling,  who,  thougli  he  lived  and  died  a  bachelor, 
has  perpetuated  his  nanie  for  all  time  as  one  of  the  four  original  proprietors  of 
Columbus,  and  the  munificent  founder  of  the  Starling  Medical  (college. 

Among  the  accessions  to  the  Franklinton  colony  in  1803  were  David  and 
Joseph  Jamison,  who  came  from  Shippensburg,  Pennsylvania,  and  were  soon 
followed  by  several  other  representatives  of  their  numerous  kindred.  A  sister  of 
the  Jamison  brothers,  while  visiting  them  in  their  new  home,  "became  acquainted 
with  and  married  Samuel  Barr,  who  had  also  come  from  the  Shippensburg  dis- 
trict. Barr  was  at  that  time  one  of  the  leading  traders  of  the  frontier.  In 
connection  with  his  cousin,  John  T.  Barr,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Baltimore,  he 
became  interested  in  the  firm  of  Barr  k  Campbell  at  Portsmouth,  and  established 
at  Franklinton  that  of  Barr  k  Keys.  Immediately  prior  to  his  settlement  in  the 
Franklinton  colony  he  had  been  engaged  in  business  at  Chillicothe. 

In  1803  Colonel  i^obert  Culbertson,  also  from  Shippensburg,  joined  the  colony 
''with  his  numerous  family  of  sons,  sons-in-law  and  daughters.""  Twice  a 
widower,  there  had  been  born  to  him  twelve  sons  and  daughters.  In  Franklinton 
he  married  a  lady  who  had  been  twice  widowed  and  was  the  mother  of  twelve 
sons  and  daughters.     No  issue  resulted  from  this  third  union  but  the  Jamison  and 


Fbanklinton.     1.  151 

Culbertson  families  intormarriod,  and  from  thenco  sprang  a  nnmorous  progeny. 
One  of  the  suitors  of  Bachol  Jamison,  who  married  Samuel  Barr,  is  said  to  have 
been  the  distinguished  benefactor  of  Columbus  who  has  given  his  name  to  Goodale 
Park. 

Colonel  Culbertson  bought  a  large  amount  of  land,  not  only  about  Franklin- 
ton,  but  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Scioto.  The  next  year  after  his  arrival  he  was 
chosen  as  one  of  the  Representatives  of  Ross  County  in  the  first  General  Assembly 
of  Ohio. 

Soon  after  the  founding  of  Franklinton,  Mr.  Sullivant  laid  out  the  town  of 
North  Liberty,  on  the  Big  Darby,  where  a  few  families  soon  gathered.  This  prob- 
ably took  place  about  the  summer  of  1799.'*  Contemporary  settlements  were 
made  at  the  mouth  of  the  Gahannab,  and  along  the  other  principal  watercourses 
within  the  present  limits  of  Franklin  County.  Among  the  earlier  arrivals  on 
Alum  Creek  were  Messrs.  Turner,  Nelson,  Hamilton,  Agler  and  JRoed.  "In  the 
mean  time,"  says  Martin,  "  Franklinton  was  the  point  to  which  the  emigrants 
first  repaired  to  spend  some  months,  or  perhaps  years  prior  to  their  permanent 
location."'^ 

NOTES. 

1 .  His  son,  Joseph  Sullivant. 

2.  Colonel  Anderson  was  the  father  of  Major  Robert  Anderson,  the  defender  of  Fort 
^^Unater,  and  of  Hon.  Charles  Anderson,  late  Governor  of  Ohio. 

3.  Sullivant  Family  Memorial. 

4.  1874. 

5.  Sullivant  Family  Memorial. 

6.  The  son  of  [Arthur]  Boke  by  a  negro  female,  formerly  a  slave  belonging  to  our 
family  in  Kentucky,  was  abandoned  in  infancy  by  his  mother,  but  was  nourished  at  her  own 
l>reast  by  our  mother,  with  her  eldest  son,  William.  This  Arthur  was,  in  after  years,  my 
nurse,  and,  spending  his  life  in  the  family,  at  last  found  a  resting-place  with  his  old  master  in 
Green  Lawn  Cemetery. — Joseph  SuUivanty  in  the  Sullivant  Family  Meinoriai. 

7.  His  patents  covered  most  of  the  territory  from  Boke's  Creek  south  to  a  point  below 
the   Forks,  and  from  the  Scioto  West  to  the  Big  Darby. 

8.  The  copy  here  given  is  taken  from  the  History  of  Franklin  County,  by  W.  T. 
Ma*-tin;i858. 

D.    In  1797  the  Government  contracted  with  Ebenezer  (some    authorities  say  Noah) 

^'*^,    to  mark  a  trail  from  the  present  site  of  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  through  the  Ohio 

wiliierness  to  Limestone,  now  Maysville,  Kentucky.     For  this  service  Mr.  Zane  was  to  have 

three  eeclions  of  the  public  land,  to  be  selected  by  himself.     Assisted  by  some  Indians,  whom 

"^    employed  as  guides,  he  proceeded  to  survey  a  practicable  route,  wliich  was  marked  by 

t>laxiiig"  forest  trees,  and   was    thenceforward    known  as  Zane's  Trace.     It  crossed   the 

Mns^ingum  and  Hocking  at  the  points  where  now  rise  the  cities  of  Zanesville  and  Lancaster, 

ancl     ^jjg  afterward  extended  from  Lancaster  to  Franklinton.     For  many  years  it  was  the 

pnticipal,  indeed  the  only  traveled  route  through  the  Ohio  wilderness.    The  arterial  roads 

^^^  i^ilways  by  which  it  has  been  since  superseded  have  attested  the  wisdom  of  its  location. 

v^e   Zanesville  and  Maysville  Turnpike  is  said  to  follow  its  path  very  nearly  from  the 

sftnakingum  to  Chillicothe.    Mr.  Zane  further  evinced  his  sagacity  by  selecting  his  land  at 

the  points  where  now  stand  the  cities  of  Lancaster,  Zanesville  and  Wheeling. 

10.  Sullivant  Family  Memorial. 

11.  Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County, 

12.  Ibid. 

13.  Ibid. 


CHAPTER   VIIl. 


FRANKLINTON.    II. 

We  have  now  reached  an  important  point  of  political  departure  for  the  settle- 
ments at  the  Forks  of  th6  Scioto,  and  in  the  wilderness  circumjacent.  It  is  the  be- 
ginning-point of  the  present  County  of  Franklin. 

On  the  twentyeighth  of  August,  1798,  the  territorial  county  of  Ross  was  pro- 
claimed by  Governor  St.  Clair.  It  took  its  name  from  Hon.  James  Ross,  a 
prominent  Federalist  of  Alleghany  County,  Pennsylvania,  and  its  boundaries  were 
described  in  St.  Clair's  proclamation  as  follows: 

Beginning  at  the  fortysecond  mile  tree,  on  the  line  of  the  original  grant  of  land  made  by 
the  United  States  to  the  Ohio  Company,  which  line  was  run  by  Israel  Ludlow,  and  running 
from  thence  west,  until  it  shall  intersect  a  line  to  be  drawn  due  north  from  the  mouth  of  Elk 
River,  commonly  called  Eagle  Creek,  and  from  the  point  of  intersection  running  north  to  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  county  of  Wayne,  until  a  north  line  to  be  drawn  from  the  place  of 
beginning  shall  intersect  the  same ;  and  if  it  should  be  found  that  a  north  line  drawn  from 
the  place  of  beginning  will  not  intersect  the  said  southern  boundary  of  Wayne,  then  an 
east  line  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  eastern  termination  of  said  boundary  until  it  shall  intersect 
the  aforesaid  north  line  to  be  drawn  from  the  point  of  beginning. 

From  the  northern  part  of  the  territory  thus  vaguely  defined,  Franklin  County 
was  set  off  by  act  of  the  First  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  passed  March  30,  to  take 
effect  April  30,  1803.*     Its  limits  were  thus  set  forth  in  the  statute : 

Beginning  on  the  western  boundary  of  the  twentieth  range  of  townships  east  of  the 
Scioto  River,  at  the  corner  of  sections  numbers  twentyfour  and  twentyfive  in  the  ninth 
Township  of  the  Twentyfirst  Range,  surveyed  by  John  Matthews,  thence  west  until  it  inter- 
sects the  eastern  boundary  line  of  Green  County,  thence  north  with  said  line  until  it  inter- 
sects the  State  line,  thence  eastwardly  with  the  said  line  to  the  northwest  corner  of  Fairfield 
County,  thence  with  the  western  boundary  line  of  Fairfield  to  the  point  of  beginning. 

That  is  to  say,  according  to  Martin,  "  bounded  on  the  east  by  nearly  our  pres- 
sent  line,  south  by  a  line  near  the  middle  of  what  is  now  Pickaway  County,  on 
the  west  by  Greene  County,  and  on  the  north  by  Lake  Erie."' 

"The  creation  of  the  county  of  Delaware  in  1808,"  continues  Martin,  "reduced 
our  northern  boundary  to  its  present  line;  the  creation  of  the  county  of  Pickaway 
in  1810,  reduced  our  southern  boundary  to  its  present  limits;  the  creation  of  Mad- 
ison in  1810,  and  of  Union  in  1820,  reduced  our  western  limits  to  the  boundaries 
represented  by  Wheeler's  County  Map,  published  in  1842;  but  subsequently,  by  an 
act  of  the  Legislature  passed  the  fourth  of  March,  1845,  our  western  boundary  was 
changed  by  making  Darby  Creek  the  line  from  the  northwest  corner  of  Brown  to 
the  north  line  of  Pleasant  Township,  as  represented  by  Foote's  Map  of  1856;  and 
by  an  act  passed  the  twentyseventh  of  January,  1857,  entitled  '  An  act  to  annex  a 
part  of  Licking  County  to  the  County  of  Franklin,*  there  were  nine  half  sections 

[152] 


Franklinton.     II.  153 

taken  from  the  southwest  corner  of  Licking,  and  attached  to  Franklin.  This  oc- 
casions the  jog  in  the  eastern  line  of  Truro  Township,  as  represented  on  the  maps. 
Then  at  the  session  of  1850-1851,  a  range  of  sections,  being  a  strip  one  mile  in 
width,  including  the  town  of  Winchester,  was  taken  from  Fairfield  County  and 
attached  to  the  east  side  of  Madison  Township,  in  Franklin  County  as  represented 
on  Footers  Map.  The  county  is  now  [1858]  in  nearly  a  square  form,  and  is  twenty- 
two  and  a  half  miles  in  extent  north  and  south,  and  would  probably  average  a  trifle 
over  that  from  east  to  west."* 

The  statute  creating  the  county  further  provided  that  "  courts  for  the  said 
County  of  Franklin  shall  be  holden  in  the  town  of  Franklinton,  until  a  permanent 
seat  of  justice  shall  be  established  therein,  agreeably  to  the  provisions  of  an  act  en- 
titled *an  act  establishing  seats  of  justice.'  " 

Under  the  Constitution  of  1802  the  ('ommon  Pleas  or  County  Judges  werq 
chosen  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  wore  called  Associate  Judges.  By  the  act  of 
April  16,  1803,  it  was  made  the  duty  of  these  Judges,  to  establish  townships  and 
fix  their  boundaries,  to  appoint  certain  county  officers,  and  to  discharge  various 
other  duties  now  performed  by  county  commissioners.  The  first  Common  Pleas 
Judges  appointed  for  Franklin  County  wore  John  Dill,  David  Jamison  and  Joseph 
Foos,  of  whom  the  first  named  was  the  President  or  Chief  Judge.  This  Court  ap- 
pointed Lucas  Sullivant  as  its  Clerk,*  and  on  May  10,  1803,  proceeded  to  divide 
the  county  into  four  townships,  two  east  and  two  west  of  the  Scioto.  The  eastern 
townships  were  named  Harrison  and  Liberty,  the  western  Franklin  and  Darby.* 
At  the  same  sitting  of  the  court  an  election  of  Justices  of  the  Peace  was  ordered,, 
to  take  place  on  the  twentyfirst  day  of  the  ensuing  June.  In  pursuance  of  this 
order  the  following  justices  were  chosen  on  the  day  appointed :  In  Franklin 
Township,  Zachariah  Stephen  and  James  Marshal ;  in  Darby,  Josiah  Bwing;  in 
Harrison,  William  Bennett;  in  Liberty,  Joseph  Hunter  and  Ezra  Brown.  On  the 
same  day,  Ohio  elected  Jeremiah  Morrow  as  her  first  Representative  in  Congress. 
The  vote  of  Franklin  County,  cast  at  that  election,  as  canvassed  and  reported  by 
Lucas  Sullivant,  David  Jamison  and  Joseph  Foos,  shows  the  following  aggregate, 
by  townships:  Franklin,  59;  Darby,  22 ;  Harrison,  21 ;  Liberty,  28;  total  130. 

Liberal  extracts  from  the  proceedings  of  the  first  Common  Pleas  Court  of 
Franklin  County  appear  in  Martin's  History,  transcribed,  the  author  says,  from 
unbound  sheets  of  manuscript,  in  the  handwriting  of  Lucas  Sullivant,  which  had 
been  thrown  aside  as  office  rubbish.  The  following  portions  of  these  extracts  are 
of  such  local  interest  and  significance  as  to  deserve  to  be  reproduced  here: 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Associate  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Franklin  County, 
on  the  eighth  day  of  August,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  three, 
present  the  Honorable  John  Dill,  Esq.,  first  Associate,  and  David  Jamison,  Esq.,  second  Asso- 
ciate Judges  of  said  Court.  Ordered,  that  the  rates  of  Tavern  License  in  Franklinton  be 
four  dollars  per  annum. 

Ordered,  that  a  license  be  granted  William  Domigan,  Sr.,  to  keep  tavern  in  his  own 
house  in  Franklinton  until  the  next  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Franklin  County,  and  after- 
ward, until  he  can  renew  his  license. 

Ordered  that  license  be  granted  to  Joseph  Foos  to  keep  a  tavern  at  the  house  occupied 
by  him  in  Franklinton  for  the  accommodation  of  travelers  until  the  next  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  for  Franklin  County,  and  afterward  until  the  license  can  be  renewed. 

Adjourned  without  day. 

Teetf  Lucas  Sullivant,  Clerk, 


lIlNTtlRV    OK   TlIK    ( "iTV    Of    ('oM'Mlirs 


Franklinton.     II.  155 

At  a  session  of  the  Associate  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Franklin  County, 
at  the  place  of  holding  courts  in  Franklinton  for  the  county  aforesaid,  on  Thursday,  the  eighth 
of  September,  1803,  it  being  the  first  judicial  day  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  of  the  said  County  of  Franklin— present  John  Dill,  David  Jamison  and  Joseph 
Foos,  Gentlemen  Associate  Judges,  aforesaid,  who  having  assumed  their  official  seats,  and 
were  attended  by  Lucas  Sullivant,  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  said  county,  the 
following  proceedings  were  had,  to  wit:  On  the  prayer  of  a  petition  signed  by  a  number  of 
signers  as  required  by  law,  and  who  were  citizens  of  this  county,  praying  for  a  view  of  a  road 
leading  from  the  public  square  in  Franklinton,  out  of  said  town  on  the  Pickaway  road, 
thence  the  nearest  and  best  way  to  Lancaster,  in  Fairfield  County,  until  it  intersects  the  line 
between  the  counties  aforesaid.  Ordered,  that  the  prayer  of  said  petition  be  granted,  and 
that  John  Brickell,  Joseph  Dickson  and  Joseph  Hunter  be  appointed  viewers  of  said  road, 
who,  or  any  two  of  them,  shall  view  the  ground  aforesaid  in  this  county  and  act  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  viewers  that  may  be  appointed  by  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Fairfield 
County,  on  what  point  said  road  will  cross  the  line  between  the  counties  aforesaid,  to  be  on 
the  nearest  and  best  ground  to  be  had  from  Franklinton  to  Lancaster.  It  is  further  ordered 
that  Joseph  Vauce  be  appointed  surveyor  to  attend  the  said  viewers  on  the  above  described 
road,  and  that  he  make  a  survey  and  report  thereof  to  our  next  January  term 

[Note  by  Martin :  This  road  was  made  to  cross  the  Scioto  at  the  old  ford  below  the  canal 
dam,  and  pass  through  the  bottom  fields,  then  woods,  to  intersect  what  is  now  the  Chillicothe 
road  south  of  Stewart's  Grove ;  and  continued  to  be  the  traveled  road  until  after  Columbus 
was  laid  out.    Jacob  Armitage  kept  the  ferry  over  the  river.] 

On  the  prayer  of  a  petition  signed  by  a  number  of  freeholders  and  citizens  of  Franklin 
County,  praying  for  a  view  of  a  road  to  lead  from  the  northeast  en<l  of  Gift  Street,  in  Frank- 
linton, on  as  straight  a  direction  as  the  situation  of  the  ground  will  admit  of  a  road,  towards 
the  town  of  Newark,  in  Fairfield  County,  so  far  as  the  line  between  the  counties  of  Franklin 
and  Fairfield.  The  prayer  aforesaid  granted;  and  ordered  that  Samuel  McElvain,  Elijah 
Fulton  and  Joseph  Parks  be  appointed  viewers,  who,  or  any  two  of  them  shall  view  said  road 
in  this  county,  and  act  in  conjunction  with  viewers  that  may  be  appointed  by  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  of  Fairfield  County,  at  what  point  on  the  line  between  said  counties  the  road 
aforesaid  shall  cross,  to  be  on  the  nearest  and  best  ground  from  the  point  of  beginning  as 
aforesaid  to  the  termination  thereof.  It  is  further  ordered,  that  Samuel  Smith  be  appointed 
surveyor  to  attend  the  said  viewers  and  make  a  correct  survey  of  said  road,  and  report  the 
same  to  our  next  January  term. 

Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  unto  Jeremiah  McLene,  who  was  appointed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture of  the  State  of  Ohio  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to  fix  the  permanent  seat  of  justice  in 
this  county  (Franklin),  the  sum  of  fifteen  dollars,  it  being  a  compensation  for  his  services  as 
aforesaid  six  days,  and  his  additional  service  in  writing  and  circulating  the  notices  as  required 
b}  law. 

[Note  by  Martin  :  General  Jeremiah  McLene  died  at  Washington  City  on  the  nineteenth 
of  March,  1837,  aged  70  years.  His  sickness  dated  from  his  attendance  at  the  inauguration  of 
Martin  VanBuren  on  the  fourth  of  that  month.  He  had  just  completed  his  second  term  in 
Congress.  He  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  in  early  life  emigrated  from  that  State  to 
the  then  Territory  of  Tennessee,  where  he  was  an  intimate  companion  of  General  Andrew 
Jackson,  for  whom  he  always  entertained  a  great  i>artiality.  He  was  subsequently  a  pioneer 
to  the  Northwestern  Territory.  In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  he  settled  in  the 
infant  town  of  Chillicothe,  and  was,  while  there.  Sheriff  of  Ross  County.  Then,  there  and 
at  Columbus  together,  he  served  twentyone  years  in  succession  as  Secretary  of  State,  and  was 
a  very  popular  State  officer.  He  was  a  surveyor  and  fond  of  his  compass  and  the  business- 
was  for  a  number  of  years  county  surveyor  for  Franklin  County,  and  also  city  surveyor  of 
Columbus.] 

Onlered  that  there  be  paid  unto  James  Ferguson,  who  was  appointed  one  of  the  com- 
missioners to  fix  the  permanent  seat  of  justice  in  this  county  (Franklin),  the  sum  of  twelve  dol- 
lars, it  being  a  compensation  for  his  services  as  a  commissioner  aforesaid  six  days. 


156  History  of  tue  City  o¥  Columbits. 

Ordered  that  there  be  paid  out  of  the  county  treasury  of  Franklin,  unto  William 
Creighton,  who  was  appointed  by  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  Ohio  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  fix  and  establish  the  permanent  seat  of  justice  in  the  County  of  Franklin,  the  sum 
of  twelve  dollars,  it  being  the  compensation  allowed  him  by  law  for  six  days  service  as  a 
commissioner  aforesaid. 
•  •••««•••••••• 

Ordered,  that  there  l>e  allowed  and  paid  to  Joseph  Fooh,  Esq.,  as  follows*.  Four  dollars 
expended  by  him  in  preparing  for  the  reception  of  the  CJourt  of  Common  Pleas  for  Franklin 
County  at  September  term,  IHO.*^ ;  also  the  sum  of  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  expended  by  him 
in  conveying  the  election  l>ox  and  a  volume  of  the  laws  of  the  State  to  the  house  of  election 
in  Darby  Township  prior  to  the  twentyfirst  of  June  as  required  by  law  ;  also  the  sum  of 
three  dollars  paid  by  him  to  James  Marshall,  Estiuire,  for  bringing  from  the  printing  office 
part  of  the  number  of  volumes  of  laws  of  this  State,  as  was  allowed  by  law  for  Franklin 
County,  and  which  was  brought  for  the  use  of  the  different  townships ;  also  the  sum  of  two 
dollars  which  he  paid  for  the  election  boxes  made  use  of  at  the  past  election  in  this  county. 

Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  to  John  Blair  lister  of  taxable  property  in  Franklin  Town- 
ship, the  sum  of  six  dollars  an<l  fortynine  cents,  it  being  the  compensation  in  full  this  day 
claimed  by  him  before  this  court  for  his  services  in  taking  the  list  aforesaid,  and  also  the  list 
of  enumeration  in  said  township,  and  three  miles  mileage  in  making  said  return. 

On  the  prayer  of  a  petition  signed  by  a  numl>er  of  citizens,  house  and  freeholders  of 
Franklin  County,  praying  for  the  view  of  a  road  to  lead  from  the  public  square  in  Franklin- 
ton  to  Springfield,  in  Greene  County,  to  be  on  the  straightest  and  nearest  direction  towards 
Springfield  as  the  nature  of  the  ground  and  circumstances  will  admit  of  a  good  road,  ordered 
that  Thomas  Morehead,  Alexander  Blair  and  George  Skidmore  be  appointed  viewers  of  said 
road,  who,  or  any  two  of  them,  shall  view  the  same  as  far  as  the  line  between  Franklin  and 
Greene  County,  and  make  report  to  our  January  term  next.  It  is  further  ordered  that  Cap- 
tain John  Blair  be  appointed  surveyor  to  attend  said  viewers  on  the  above  premises,  and 
survey  said  roa<l,  and  return  a  fair  plat  or  survey  thereof  a^  required  by  law.  to  our  January 
session  next. 

Ordered,  that  Jacob  Grubb  be  appointed  County  Treasurer  for  the  County  of  Franklin. 

Ordered  that  four  dollars  be  appropriated  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  election 
boxes  in  this  county,  agreeably  to  the  requisition  of  law. 

Ordered,  that  there  be  allowed  for  wolf  and  panther  scalps  as  follows,  to  wit:  For  every 
wolf  or  panther  scalp  any  person  shall  kill  under  six  months  old,  one  dollar  ;  for  every  wolf 
or  panther  that  is  above  six  months  old,  two  dollars.  The  proceedings  respecting  any  wolf 
or  panther  scalp  to  be  particularly  and  pointedly  regulated  by  the  law  passed  by  the  Legisla- 
tive Council  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General  Assembly  of  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River  entitled,  An  act  to  encourage  the  killing  of  wolves 
and  panthers,  passed  ninth  of  January,  1802  ;  said  law  to  be  complied  with  in  every  respect 
except  the  price  given  for  scalps,  which  shall  be  as  before  mentioned  in  this  order;  and  the 
holders  of  any  certificate  for  such  scalps  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  county  treasury  so  soon  as 
the  tax  for  1804  shall  be  levied  and  collected,  and  not  before. 

[Session  of  January  7,  1804]  A  return  of  the  view  of  road  from  Franklinton  lo  New- 
ark was  made  by  the  surveyor  and  viewers  that  were  appointed  at  September  session  which 
return  of  survey  and  report  were  received  and  ordered  to  be  recorded. 

Ordered,  that  the  supervisor  in  Liberty  Township  proceed  to  open  said  road  thirtythree 
feet  wide,  and  prepare  and  make  it  passable  for  loaded  carriages  or  wagons.  A  petition  was 
presented  by  the  Reverend  James  Kilbourne  and  others,  praying  for  a  view  of  a  road  to  lead 
from  Franklinton  to  the  town  of  VV^orthington,  from  thence  to  the  south  boundary  of  the 
fifth  tier  of  townships,  etc.  It  is  ordered,  that  the  prayer  of  said  petition  be  granted,  and  that 
Michael  Fisher,  Thomas  Morehead  and  Samuel  Flenniken  be  appoints  viewers,  who,  or  any 
two  of  them,  shall  view  and  make  report  of  the  same.  And  it  is  further  ordered  that  Joseph 
Vance  be  appointed  surveyor  to  attend  said  viewers  and  make  a  correct  survey  of  the  same 
and  return  it  to  this  court. 


Pranklinton.     II.  157 

It  is  farther  ordered  tbat  the  prayer  of  the  petition  presented  by  the  Reverend  James 
KUbourne  and  others,  praying  for  a  road  to  lead  from  the  town  of  Worthington  to  intersect 
^^e  road  which  leads  from  Franklinton  to  Newark,  be  granted  on  the  conditions  that  the 
^id  petitioners  defray  at  their  own  expense  the  viewing,  surveying  and  opening  the  same. 

It  18  further  ordered,  that  Maj.  William  Thompson,  Ezra  Griswold  and  Samuel  Beach 
^appointed  viewers  of  said  road,  and  report  the  same  to  this  court  at  their  next  session  ; 
also,  that  the  Reverend  James  Kilbourne  be  appointed  surveyor,  who  shall  attend  said 
viewers,  make  a  fair  and  correct  survey,  and  return  the  same  to  this  court  at  their  next 
session. 

On  application  of  Ezra  Griswold  for  license  to  keep  a  tavern  in  Liberty  Township,  he  be- 
ing recommended  to  the  satisfaction  of  this  court, .and  he  also  paying  into  the  Clerk's  hands 
the  tax  required  by  law,  it  is  ordered  that  license  be  granted  him  accordingly. 

On  application  of  Nathan  Carpenter  of  Liberty  Township  for  license  to  keep  a  house  of 
public  entertainment,  he  being  recommended  to  the  satisfaction  of  this  court  and  he  having 
a/so  paid  into  the  hands  of  the  clerk  the  tax  required  by  law,  it  is  ordered  that  license  be 
granted  him. 

Usual  Osboum,  having  given  bond  with  approved  security  for  the  collection  of  the  county 
tax  in  Darby  Township,  it  is  ordered  that  he  be  appointed  collector  of  the  same. 

Ordered,  that  Lucas  SuUivant  be  appointed  Recorder  for  the  County  of  Franklin  ;wo 
tempore^  who  shall  proceed  to  provide  the  necessary  books  for  the  office,  who  shall,  if  he  is 
not  continued  permanently  be  paid  by  his  successor  the  necessary  costs  of  the  same  at  the 
lime  of  delivering  up  the  records,   etc.,  to  his  successor,  which  he  shall  <lo  whenever  a  Re- 
corder shall  be  permanently  appointed. 

Ordered  that  this  court  adjourn  until  Tuesday  next. 

Test,  Ll'cas  SiXLivANT,  Clerk. 

[Session  of  January  10,  1804]  Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  unto  Adam  Hosack,  Sheriff 
of  thia  county,  the  sum  of  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  for  summoning  the  grand  jury  for  Jan- 
Wfy  term,  1804. 

Ordered,  that  there  be  a  jail  built  immediately  for  the  use  of  this  county,  on  the  follow- 

"'^  plan,  to  wit:    Of  logs  twelve  feet  long  and  eighteen  inches  diameter,  with  two  sides 

newed  so  as  to  make  a  face  of  eight  inches,  and  to  be  let  down  dovetailing  so  as  to  make  the 

^  fit  close  together ;  to  be  seven  feet  at  least  between  the  lower  and  upper  floors,  which 

oor  18  to  be  of  timbers  of  like  thickness,  with  three  sides  hewed  so  as  to  let  them  lie  entire- 

y  cioee,  and  to  be  smooth  on  the  face  of  the  lower  floor,  and  the  upper  floor  to  show  an  even 

''^  like  manner  on  the  lower  side,  and  to  have  two  rounds  of  logs  at  least,  of  like  timbers 

.  .^^  the  upper  floor ;  then  to  have  a  cabin  roof  (made  of  clapboards  held  down  by  timbers 

.    ^"^nsversely  in  lines  about  three  feet  apart)  well  put  on,  a  door  cut  out  two  feet  eight 

^*   wide  and  prepared  in  a  workmanlike  order,  to  hang  the  shutter  of  the  door,  which 

tK-^  is  to  be  made  in  a  strong  and  sufficient  and  workmanlike  manner  of  plank  two  inches 

^^«.     There  is  to  be  two  windows,  eight  inches  by  ten  inches  wide,  made  in  said  prison 

.  ^^f^»  which  windows  are  to  be  secured  by  two  bars  of  iron  one  inch  square  sufficiently  let 

*  *^  each  window,  the  corners  closely  sawed  or  cut  down. 

Ordered  that  this  court  be  adjourned  without  day. 

Test,  Lucas  Sullivant,  Clerk. 

[Session  of  March  24,  1804.]  Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  to  Joseph  Parks  and  Samuel  Mc- 
^*vain,  each,  three  dollars  out  of  the  county  treasury,  for  three  days  services  in  viewing  of  a 
""^^  from  Franklinton  to  Newark. 

Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  unto  David  Pugh  and  John  Hoskins,  each,  two  dollars  and 

*  quarter  out  of  the  county  treasury  for  three  days  services  in  carrying  the  chain  on  the  view 
^f  the  road  from  Franklinton  to  Newark. 

Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  to  Samuel  Smith  four  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  for  three  days 
services  in  surveying  the  road  from  Franklinton  to  Newark,  as  per  return  of  survey. 

Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  out  of  the  county  treasury  to  Lucas  Sullivant,  eighty  dollars, 
for  the  building  of  the  jail,  in  Franklinton,  for  the  county. 


158  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Ordered,  that  Lucas  Sullivant  be  appointed  surveyor^  to  attend  the  viewers  of  the  road 
from  Franklinton  to  Springfield,  and  to  survey  and  return  a  plat  thereof  of  that  part  which 
has  not  been  viewed. 

Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  unto  John  Dill,  Esq.,  eight  dollars  out  of  the  county  treasury, 
cash  by  him  advanced  to  purchase  a  lock  for  the  jail  of  Franklin  County. 

Adjourned,  Lucas  Sullivant,  Clerk. 

The  county  jail  ordered  in  the  foregoing  proceedings  was  built  by  Lucas  Sul- 
livant at  a  coHt  of  eighty  dollars.  It  was  burned  down  not  a  great  while  afler- 
wards.  There  is  "no  record  that  stocks  and  a  whipping-post  were  provided  in  con- 
nection with  it,  although  an  early  tradition  so  states,  and  was  corroborated  by  the 
customs  of  the  period.  Under  the  Territorial  Government  the  use  of  such  imple- 
ments of  punishment  began  as  early  as  1788,  and  in  1792  the  judges  passed  a  law 
directing  that  the  stocks,  whipping-post  and  pillory,  as  well  as  a  jail  and  courts 
house,  should  be  erected  in  every  county.  In  defiance  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787, 
forbidding  slavery,  a  law  was  passed  August  15, 1795,  providing  that  a  non-paying 
debtor  might  be  subjected  to  servitude  for  a  period  of  seven  years  on  demand  of 
his  creditor.  Under  the  Constitution  of  1802  similar  laws  were  enacted.  They 
were  borrowed  originally  from  the  Statutes  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  courts  of  Franklin  County  met  in  hired  rooms  until  1807-8,  when  a  court- 
house was  erected  under  the  supervision  of  Lucas  Sullivant.  It  was  built  of  brick 
manufactured  from  the  clay  of  one  of  the  ancient  mounds  of  the  neighborhood.*  A 
brick  jail,  Arthur  O'Harra  contractor,  was  built  about  the  same  time,  situated  a  few 
rods  northeast  of  the  courthouse.  These  buildings  continued  to  bo  used  until  the 
countyseat  was  removed  to  Columbus  in  1824.**  After  that,  the  courthouse  was 
used,  for  some  time,  as  a  school  bouse.  It  remained  standing  until  1873,  when  it 
was  torn  away,  and  the  present  Franklinton  school  building  was  erected  on  its  site. 

Among  the  new  settlers  in  Franklinton  from  1805  to  1809  were  Isaac  and 
Jeremiah  Miner,  Samuel  White  and  sons,  the  Stewarts,  the  Johnstons,  the  Weatb- 
eringtons,  the  Shannons,  the  Stambaughs,tbe  Ramsej^s,  the  Mooberrys,  the  Sharps, 
the  Deckers,  the  Rareys,  the  Olmsteds,  the  Kiles,  Jacob  Gander,  Percival  Adams, 
John  Swisher  and  George  W.  Williams."  To  these  were  added,  from  1805  to  1812, 
several  young  men  whose  talents  and  energy  afterward  made  them  conspicuous. 
Among  these  were  Lyne  Starling,  Doctor  Lincoln  Goodale,  Doctor  Samuel  Par- 
sons, R.  W.  McCoy,  Francis  Stewart,  Henry  Brown,  John  Kerr,  Alexander  Mc- 
Laughlin, Orris  Parish,  Ralph  Osborn,  and  Gustavus  Swan. 

Owing  to  their  subsequent  prominence  and  usefulness,  several  of  these  earlier 
settlers  in  Franklinton  deserve  more  particular  notice. 

Isaac,  afterwards  known  as  Judge  Miner,  arrived  from  the  State  of  New  York 
in  1806  or  1807.  Jeremiah  Miner  came  a  year  later.  After  residing  in  Franklin- 
ton one  or  two  years,  the  brothers  engaged  in  stock-raising  on  Deer  Creek,  in 
Madison  County.  Several  years  later  they  bought  a  large  tract  of  land,  since 
known  as  the  Miner  farm,  from  which  was  derived  a  portion  of  the  ground  since 
consecrated  as  Green  Lawn  Cemetery.  Judge  Miner  died  in  1831,  aged  fiflythree. 
Jeremiah  Miner  was  never  married.  He  died  at  an  advanced  age,  in  Upper  San- 
dusky, and  was  interred  at  Green  Lawn. 

Orris  Parish  came  from  the  State  of  New  York.  He  was  elected  President 
Judge  of  Common  Pleas  for  Franklin  County  in  1810,  and  afterwards  represented 
the  county  in  the  General  Assembly. 


Vranklinton.     II.  159 

Kalph  Osborn  arrived  in  1806  from  Waterbury,  Connecticut,  whore  ho  had 
acquired  the  profession  of  the  law.  After  remaining  in  Franklinton  a  few  years, 
be  removed  to  Delaware  County,  of  which  ho  became  the  first  Prosecuting  At- 
torney. At  a  later  period  he  removed  to  Pickawaj'^  County,  and  in  1810  was 
elected  Clerk  of  the  Ohio  House  of  JRepresentatives.  In  1815  he  was  elected 
Auditor  of  State,  an  office  which  he  held  eighteen  years  in  succession.  In  1833  he 
was  chosen  as  State  Senator  for  the  Counties  of  Franklin  and  Pickaway. 

Doc^tor  Samuel  Parsons,  father  of  Hon.  George  M.  Parsons,  whose  name  has 
been  a  prominent  one  in  Columbus  for  many  j'^ears  past,  was  a  native  of  Reading, 
Connecticut.  Martin's  History  says  of  him  :  "  He  acquired  his  profession  in  his 
native  State  :  removed  to  the  west  a  young  and  unmarried  man,  and  arrived  at 
Franklinton  on  the  first  day  of  the  year,  1811,  where  he  located  and  commenced 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1816  he  removed  over  to  Columbus,  where  he 
continued  to  practice  until  the  last  eight  or  nine  years  of  his  life,  when  he  retired. 
As  a  physician  he  was  attentive  and  cautious,  and  acquired  a  high  reputation — 
and  as  a  citizen  was  highly  respected.  In  1843  he  was,  without  solicitation  or 
desire  on  his  part,  elected  a  Representative  for  this  county  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture, where  he  served  with  abilit3\  He  was  also  for  a  number  of  years  President 
of  the  Franklin  Branch  of  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio." 

(lustavus  Swan  was  born  in  the  town  of  Sharon,  New  Hampshire,  July  15, 
1787.  After  many  severe  struggles  with  poverty,  he  acquired  the  profession  ol 
the  law.  He  set  out  for  Ohio  on  horseback  in  April,  1810,  and  in  the  ensuing 
May  arrived  at  Marietta.  He  brought  with  him  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  which  he 
loaned  to  a  friend  and  lost.  He  was  not  dismayed  by  this  misfortune,  believing, 
says  his  biographer, '°  that  "a  j'oung  man's  best  capital  with  which  to  begin 
active  life  is  good  morals,  a  liberal  education,  and  the  fear  of  starvation."  In  the 
spring  of  1811  he  visited  Cincinnati,  Chillicothe,  Zanesville,  and  finally  F'ranklinton, 
where  he  concluded  to  make  his  permanent  settlement.  He  was  led  to  this  deci- 
sion by  the  conviction  that  the  seat  of  government  of  the  State  would  be  located 
at  the  Forks  of  the  Scigto.  He  opened  a  law  office  in  Franklinton,  served  as  a 
volunteer  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  in  1814  transferred  the  theatre  of  his  professional 
practice  to  Columbus.  Of  his  subsequent  career  more  will  be  said  in  its  proper 
historical  connection. 

John  Kerr  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  born  in  1778,  and  educated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Dublin.  He  came  to  America  early  in  the  present  century,  and  arrived, 
about  1810,  in  Franklinton,  near  which  he  made  extensive  investments  in  land, 
particularly  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto.  Chiefly  from  these  investments  he 
afterwards  became  very  wealthy. 

Lyne  Starling,  born  in  Kentucky,  December  27,  1784,  came  to  Franklinton, 
by  invitation  of  his  brotherinlaw,  Lucas  Sullivant,  in  1805.  Having  served  as  an 
assistant  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  courts  at  Frankfort,  he  soon  became  a 
useful  helper  in  the  official  duties  of  Mr.  Sullivant,  then  clerk  of  the  court  at 
Franklinton.  He  finally  became  the  clerk  himself,  and  hehl  the  office  for  several 
years.  Induced  by  a  taste  for  business  to  renounce  official  station,  he  became  a 
partner  in  trade  with  Mr.  Sullivant,  established  a  flourishing  store,  and  was  first 
to  venture  cargoes  of  produce  in  decked  flatboats  down  the  Scioto,  and  thence  to 
New  Orleans.     When  the  war  of  1812  broke  out,  he  became  a  commissary  for  the 


U]{)  History  of  the  City  of  Columbits. 

Northwestern  Army  under  General  Harrison,  and  took  large  contracts  for  furnish- 
ing it«  supplies.  His  investments  in  land  were  extensive  and  very  profitable,  as 
will  hereatler  be  seen.  Mr.  Starlings  personal  presence  was  imposing,  his  height 
six  teet  six  inches,  his  carriage  graecful,  and  his  dress  faultless  in  the  style  of  a 
gentleman  of  the  old  Virginia  school.  He  was  "  emphatically  a  great  man,"  says 
Hon.  Gustavus  Swan.  **  He  arrived  at  conclusions  and  was  acting  upon  them, 
while  ordinary  minds  were  contemplating  at  j)remises.  It  was  this  peculiar  in- 
tellectual superiority  which  rendered  his  efforts  in  business  so  uniformly  success- 
ful, and  which  enabled  him,  before  reaching  the  meridian  of  life,  to  amass  one  of 
the  largest  fortunes  which  have  been  accumulated  in  the  West."" 

Although  his  wealth  and  dignity  made  him  seem  aristocratic  to  the  popular 
mind,  Mr.  Starling  was  a  man  of  generous  impulses.  Judge  Gustiivus  Swan,  him- 
self a  man  of  uncommon  ability,  paid  him  these  tine  compliments:  •*  Before  the 
progress  of  disease  had  undermined  his  constitution,  and  a  shattered  nervous 
system  had  rendered  his  days  wretched,  Mr.  Starling  was  amiable,  frank,  confid- 
ing, social  and  manly,  wholly  disinterest^^d  in  his  friendships,  charitable  to  the 
frailties  of  others,  and  only  severe  upon  his  own.  The  poor  and  necessitous  never 
applied  to  him  in  vain,  and  he  was  as  far  from  avarice  as  any  man  that  ever  lived. 
His  mind  had  no  grasp  for  small  things,  and  when  he  relieved,  it  was  no  calculat- 
ing or  grudging  bounty."^* 

Another  remarkable  man  who  came  to  Franklinton  in  1805,  was  Doctor  Lin- 
coln Goodale.  The  father  of  Doctor  Goodale  was  Major  Nathan  Goodale,  one  of 
the  '*  minute  men  "  of  the  War  of  Independence.  At  the  first  outbreak  of  that  war, 
in  1775,  Major  Goodale  quitted  his  farm  near  Brookfield,  Massachusetts,  and 
enlisted  in  the  Fiflh  Massachusetts  Infantry.  lie  fought  brilliantly  in  several 
battles,  was  twice  wounded,  and  suffered  the  horrors  of  the  Jersey  Prison-ship,  at 
New  York,  w^hile,  for  a  time,  in  captivity.  Removing  to  the  West,  after  the  war, 
he  arrived  at  Marietta  July  2,  1788,  and  in  April,  1789,  settled  at  Belpre.  There 
he  assisted  in  building  stockades  tor  defense  against  the  Indians,  and  became  an 
ofiicer  of  the  militia  by  apjmintment  ofiiovernor  St.  Clai».  His  subsequent  fate  is 
illustrative  of  the  j)erils  of  pioneer  life  at  that  time  on  the  Ohio  frontier.  Let  the 
story  be  told  in  the  words  of  one  of  the  leading  <*hroniclers  of  the  events  of  the 
border : 

On  the  first  day  of  March,  179:^,  the  [Belpre]  colony  met  with  the  most  serious  loss  it  ha<l 
yet  felt  from  their  Indian  enemies,  in  the  captivity  an<l  ultimate  death  of  Major  Goo<]ale. 
On  that  day  he  was  at  work  in  a  new  clearing  on  his  farm,  distant  about  forty  or  fifty  rods 
from  the  garrison,  hauling  rail  timber  with  a  yoke  of  oxen  from  the  edge  of  the  woods  whicli 
bordered  tlie  new  field.  It  lay  back  of  tlie  first  bottom  on  the  e<lge  of  the  plain,  in  open  view  of 
the  station.  An  Irishman,  named  John  Magee,  was  at  work  grubbing  or  digging  out  the 
roots  of  the  bushes  and  small  saplings  on  the  slope  of  the  plain  as  it  descends  on  to  the  bottom, 
but  out  of  sight  of  Major  Goo<lale.  The  Indians  made  so  little  noise  in  their  assault  that 
John  did  not  hear  tliem.  The  first  notice  of  the  disaster  was  the  view  of  the  oxen  seen  from 
the  garrison,  standing  quietly  in  tlie  field  with  no  one  near  them.  An  hour  or  more  they 
were  observed  still  in  the  same  place,  when  suspicion  arose  that  some  disaster  had  happened 
to  Mr.  Goodale.    One  of  the  men  was  called,  and  sent  up  to  learn  what  had  happened. 

John  was  still  busy  at  liis  work,  unconscious  of  any  alarm.  In  the  edge  of  the  woods 
there  was  a  thin  layer  of  snow,  on  which  he  soon  saw  moccasin  tracks.  It  was  now  evident 
that  Indians  had  been  there,  and  had  taken  him  prisoner,  as  no  blood  was  seen  on  the 
ground.    They  followed  the  trail  some  distance,  but  soon  lost  it    The  next  day  a  party  of 


Ir 


Franklixton.      II.  llll 

ran|2:era  went  out,  but  returno<l  after  u  fruitlo8S  scarcli.  Tho  river  at  tliip  time  was  nearh'  at 
full  bank,  and  less  danj^er  was  apprelioiided  on  that  ar(M>unt ;  it  was  also  early  in  tlie  s(>as<»n 
for  Indians  to  approach  the  sc'tthMuentP.  Tlie  uncertainty  of  his  condition  left  room  for  the 
imagination  to  fancy  everything?  horrible  in  his  fate ;  more  terrihU*  to  )M»ar  tlian  the  actual 
knowledge  of  his  death,  (ireat  wan  the  <ii8tress  of  Mrs.  (ioodale  and  the  children,  over- 
whelmed with  this  unexpe<"ted  <*alamity.  His  loss  threw  a  deep  lijlonm  over  tlu*  whole 
ronimunity,  as  no  man  was  more  highly  valued;  neither  was  there  any  f»ne  whose  roiinrils 
and  influence  were  equally  prized  by  the  settlcuKMit.  Me  was  in  fact  the  life  and  soul  oi  this 
isolated  cominunity.  and  left  a  vacancy  that  no  other  man  couhl  till.     .     .     . 

At  the  treaty  of  1705,  when  thecaj'tives  were  given  up  hy  the  Indians,  sotne  intelligence 
was  obtained  of  nearly  all  the  personn  taken  priH(mei*s  from  this  part  of  Ohio,  but  none  of  the 
fate  of  Major  Goodale.  About  the  year  17'.w>,  Colonel  Forrest  Meeker,  since  a  citizen  of 
Delaware  County,  and  well  acquainted  with  the  family  of  Major  <ioodale,  and  the  circum- 
stances of  this  event,  when  at  Detroit  on  business,  fell  in  company  with  three  Indians,  who 
related  to  him  the  particulars  of  their  taking  a  man  prisoner,  at  Bel])re,  in  the  spring  of  17H3. 
Their  description  of  his  personal  appearance  left  no  doubt  on  the  min«i  of  Colonel  Meeker  of 
its  being  Major  Goodale. 

They  stated  thata  party  of  eight  Inclians  were  watching  the  Hettlement  for  mischief :  and 
as  they  lay  concealed  on  the  side  of  the  hill  back  of  the  plain,  they  heard  a  man  driving  or 
"talking  to  his  oxen,"  as  they  expressed  it.  After  carefully  examining  his  movements,  they 
saw  him  leave  his  work  and  go  U)  the  garrison,  in  the  middl(>  of  the  day.  Knowing  that  he 
woald  return  soon,  they  secreted  themselves  in  tlie  edi;e  of  the  woods,  and  while  he  was 
ooeupied  with  his  work,  sprang  out  and  seized  upon  him  before  he  was  aware  of  their  pres- 
ence, or  could  make  any  defense,  threatening  him  with  death  if  he  made  a  noise  or  resisted. 
After  securing  him  with  thongs,  they  commenced  a  hasty  retreat,  intending  to  take  him  to 
Detroit,  and  get  a  large  ransom.  Somewhere  on  the  Miami,  or  at  Sandusky,  he  tell  sick  and 
could  not  travel ;  and  that  he  tinaliy  dieii  of  his  .sickness. 

A  Mrs.  Whittaker,  the  wife  of  a  man  who  had  a  store,  and  tradt^l  with  the  Indians  at 
Sandusky,  has  since  related  the  sanu;  account.  That  the  Indintis  left  him  at  her  house, 
where  he  died  of  a  disease  like  a  pleurisy,  without  having  received  any  very  ill  usage  from 
his  captors,  other  than  the  means  ntMressary  to  prevent  his  escape.  This  is  probably  a  cor- 
rect account  of  his  fate ;  and  although  his  death  was  a  melanch<ily  one,  among  .strangers,  and 
faraway  from  the  sympathy  and  care  of  his  fri<>nds.  yet  it  is  a  relief  to  know  that  he  did  not 
perish  at  the  stake,  or  by  the  tomahawk  of  the  savages.'' 

Doctor  Goodale  remembered  Veil  bein<^  HtationiMl,  when  a  boy  on  the  farm  at 
Belpre,  to  watch  for  the  approiudi   of  Indians  while   his  lather  and  assistants  wore 
at  work  in  the  fields.    When   he  ouine  to   Kranklinton,  he  brouirht   with   him  his 
widowed  mother,  and  engaged  in  the   practice  of  medicine,  which   profession    he 
bad  studies!  in  the  office  of  Doctor  Leonard  .Jewel l,  at  Helpie.     Hut    the  li'ade  of 
the  frontier  was  at  that  time  so  profitable  that  he  was  soon  drawn  into  mercantile 
business,  and  opened  a  store,  which  be  conducted  with  i^reat  suc'cexs.     Tart  of  his 
stock  consisted  of  drugs  and  medicines,  for  which  there  was  i^reat  demand.     Mean 
while  he  gave  to  the  ]K)or  his  services  as  a  physician   free  of  iharfije.      Kike  the 
other  business  men  of  Pranklint4>n  he  made  large  investnuMits  in  the  lands  of  the 
vicinity,  and  reaped  therefrom  u  liberal  profit,     lie  enlisted  as  a  volunteer  in  the 
War  of  1H12,  becamo  an  AssisUmt  Snri^eon   in  (^)lonel,  afterwards  (lovernor.  Me 
Arthur's  regiment,  and  was  taken  captive  at  II nil's  surrendei-.  and  sent  to  M.ilden 
He  was  afterwards  exchanged  at  (-leveland. 

Doctor  Goodale  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  exeellenee.  lioNjiitable.  i'etine(l, 
strict  in  his  integrity,  and  clear  and  accurate  in  his  jndiiinent,  \\r  delii^lited  in 
assisting  others,  and  did  many  noble  things  in  an  unobtiiisive  way.  Ili.N  bene- 
factions were  numerous,  that  by  wlii(di  he  is  now  best  remembeied  beini^  hi^  niu 
nilicent  gift  to  the  City  of  Columbus  of  the  beautiful  park  which  bears  his  name. 
11 


\Vi'2,  IllST<>RY    OF   TlIK    ClTY    OV    OoMlMBI'S. 

NOTES. 

1.  The  counties  of  contemporary  ori^jin  were  Scioto,  Warren,  Butler,  Mont);omer\', 
Columbiana,  Gallia  and  Greene. 

2.  Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County. 

3.  Ibid. 

In  his  address  before  the  Franklin  County  Pioneers,  June  .*{,  1871,  Mr.  Joseph  iSullivant 
said  :  **  The  first  county  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  establisheil  within  the  present  limits  of 
the  State,  was  Washington  (bounty,  which  included  all  of  our  county  east  of  the  Scioto.  The 
second  county  was  Hamilton,  lying  betwixt  the  two  Miamis,  with  the  Little  Miami  for  its 
eastern  boundary.  The  third  cortnty  was  Wayne,  which  included  a  large  part  of  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  all  of  Michigan  and  a  part  of  Minnesota,  with  its  conntyseat  at 
Detroit.  Now  the  southern  line  of  Wayne  County  was  a  line  drawn  west  from  Fort  Laurens 
and  continued  until  it  intersected  the  east  line  of  Hamilton  County,  which  is  here  declared 
to  l>e  '  a  due  north  line  from  the  lower  Shawnee  towns  upon  the  Scioto  River.'  It  is  evident, 
therefore,  from  this,  that  betwixt  the  time  of  establishing  Hamilton  County,  in  1790,  and  that 
of  Wayne,  in  17%,  the  eastern  boundary  of  Hamilton  had  been  greatly  extended.  This  is 
also  confirmed,  if  we  refer  to  the  alteration  in  the  western  boundary  of  Adams  County 
in  1798 

'*  Now,  whether  we  assume  the  lower  Shawnee  towns  on  the  Scioto  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  to  be  intended,  or  those  in  the  vicinity  of  Westfall,  in  Pickaway  County,  the  due  north 
line  forming  the  eastern  boundary  of  Hamilton  would  include  the  greater  part  of  the  present 
Franklin  County,  and  must  have  passed  just  east  of  the  spot  where  we  are  now  assembled. 
So  that  it  will  be  seen  that  our  territory  has  been  attached  to  seven  distinct  political  divisions 
in  succession,  as  follows:  Bottetourt,  Illinois,  Washington,  Hamilton,  Adams,  Ross  and 
Franklin— with  eight  difiVrent  countyseats,  [viz.],  Fincastle,  Virginia;  Kaskaskia,  Illinois; 
Marietta,  Cincinnati,  Manchester,  on  the  Ohio;  Chillicothe,  Franklinton  and  Columbus." 

4.  The  Constitution  of  1802  contained  thei^  requirements :  "  Each  court  shall  appoint  its 
own  clerk  for  tlie  term  of  seven  years;  but  no  ])erson  shall  be  appointed  clerk,  except  pro 
Unnpore,  who  shall  not  produce  to  the  court  appointing  him,  a  certificiite  from  a  majority  of  the 
judges  of  the  supreme  court,  that  they  judge  him  to  be  well  qualitie<l  to  execute  the  duties 
of  the  office  of  clerk  to  any  court  of  the  same  dignity  with  that  for  which  he  offers  himself.'* 
—Art.  Ill,  Sec.  9. 

5.  Martin's  History  contains  the  following  sketx^h  of  Franklin  Township:  "This  is  the 
oldest  township  in  the  county,  and  the  only  one  of  the  four  original  townships  that  retains 
its  name.  It  was  laid  out  and  organized  when  the  county  was,  in  180:^.  It  then  containeil 
about  twice  as  much  territory  as  the  whole  county  now  does.  Its  first  settlement  was  the 
town  of  Franklinton  and  vicinity.  .  .  .  Then  the  settlement  extended  down  the  river;  and 
amongst  the  first  families  to  settle  there  were  those  of  Samuel  White,  John  Huffman,  William 
Harrison,  Sr.,  and  a  few  others.  The  township  was  not  reduced  to  its  present  limits  until 
after  the  creation  of  Jackson  in  18ir>  and  of  Prairie  in  181'.».  The  town  of  Franklinton  has 
not  varieil  much  in  population  and  business  for  the  last  forty  years  [1858].  It  has  always 
been,  to  a  great  extent,  a  town  of  farmers  and  laborers,  who  lived  in  the  town  and  workeil 
Mr.  Sullivant's  extensive  prairie  fields,  or  were  engaged  in  stonequarrying,  haaling,  etc.  For 
the  last  ten  or  twelve  years  there  has  been  an  extensive  business  done  in  this  township  in 
the  raising,  curing,  and  shipping  of  broom  corn  by  Captain  P.  M.  White  and  C.  L.  Eaton, 
Esq.  The  town  and  township  have  been  the  theatre  for  sportsmen.  The  race  courses  have 
always  been  in  this  township,  generally  in  some  of  the  large  prairie  fields  adjacent  to  the 
town,  but  latterly  at  the  Four-Mile  House,  so  called,  but  still  in  the  township,  where  a  fine 
race  course  was  fitted  up  some  eight  or  ten  years  since,  and  still  kept  for  sporting  characters 
to  practice  their  nags  upon. 

**  In  the  vicinity  of  the  town  is  a  large  milling  establishment,  erected  by  Lucas  Sullivant, 
E8<i.,  in  his  life  time,  and  now  owned  and  w^orked  by  some  half  dozen  men,  under  the  name 
of  the  Ohio  Mannfactiiring  Company.  From  one  to  two  miles  below  Franklinton  on  the 
Scioto  are  Moullrr's  Mills  and  carding  machine,  erecte<l  by  John  Ransburgh.  about  the  years 
181:^-14,  and  which  wore  lonjr  known  as  Iviinsburtib's  Mills. 


PftANKMNTON.       II.  Ifi:^ 

"  On  the  bank  of  the  river  in  the  north  vicinity  of  the  town  is  the  old  Franklinton  bury- 
ing ground.  It  cmbracefl  a  beautiful  little  locunt  grove,  enclosed  with  a  board  fence.  This, 
it  was  supposed,  was  to  be  the  final  resting  place  of  the  pioneers  who  led  the  way  in  the  set- 
tlement of  this  once  wilderness.  But  of  late  years  a  number  of  removals  have  been  made 
from  thence  to  Green  Lawn,  amongst  whom  were  the  remains  of  Lucas  Sullivant  and  wife, 
Lyne  Starling,  and  General  Foos  and  wife.  But  still  the  Franklinton  graveyard  is  rather  a 
neat  and  handsome  village  cemetery,  and  is  as  well  calculated  to  call  up  a  train  of  solemn 
and  interesting  retlections  as  any  other  spot  of  ground  in  the  county." 

As  to  the  creation  of  other  townships  in  the  county  Martin  says  :  "  Previous  to  our  re- 
duction of  territory,  in  1808,  by  the  creation  of  Delaware  County,  the  nuuiber  of  townships 
hail  increased  to  nine,  but  by  the  organization  of  Delawan*  County  the  number  was  reduced 
to  the  five  following,  to  wit:  Franklin,  Sharon,  Pleasant,  Monlgoiuery  and  Hamilton-  which 
have  been  divided  and  subdivided  until  they  now  number  eighteen,  the  names  and  dates  of 
the  establishment  of  which  are  as  follows  : 


Blendon 

.     March  (i,  1815 

Norwich 

.     December  7,  1813 

Clinton 

July  1,1811 

Perry 

June  27,  1820 

Franklin 

.     May  10, 1803 

Plain 

.     March  4,  1810 

Hamilton 

March  9, 1807 

Pleasant 

July  1,  1807 

Jackson    . 

.     March  G,  1815 

Prairie 

.     December  28, 1819 

Jefferson 

September  6,  1816 

Sharon 

March  4,  181() 

Madison   . 

.     March  4,  1810 

Truro 

.     March  4,  1810 

Mittlin 

September  2,  1811 

Washington 

March  4,  1810 

Montgomery    . 

.     March  9,  1807 

Brown 

.     March  3,  1830 

6.  An  act  of  the  General  Assembly  passed  De('em])er  4,  1809,  provides:  "That  there 
shall  be  erected  and  established  in  each  county,  whenever  the  comtnissioners  may  deem  it 
necessary  a  good  and  convenient  courthouse,  and  a  strong  and  suthcient  jail  or  prison,  for  the 
reception  and  confinement  of  debtors  and  criminals,  well  secuned  by  timbi*r,  iron  gates,  bolts 
and  locks,  and  also  a  whipping  [>ost;  and  every  jail  so  to  be  ereded  shall  consist  of  not  less 
than  two  apartments,  one  of  which  shall  be  appropriated  to  the  reception  of  debtors,  and  the 
other  shall  be  used  for  the  safe  keeping  of  persons  charged  with,  or  convicted  of  crimes  ;  and 
the  commissioners  shall  from  time  to  time  alter  or  rebuild  any  of  the  aforesaid  buildings, 
which  have  heretofore,  or  may  hereafter  be  built,  as  circumstances  may  require." 

7.  Howe's  Historical  Collections. 

8.  Martin's  History. 

9.  Ibid. 

10.  Hon.  George  M.  Parsons. 

11.  Biographical  sketch  of  Lyne  Starling,  at  his  death  ;  by  lion.  Gustavus  Swan. 

12.  Ibid. 

Joseph  Sullivant,  writing  in  the  Sullivant  Memorial,  narrates  this  anecdote  of  Lyne 
Starling:  '*  I  was  once  in  his  room  when  Edmund  Starling  was  visiting  him.  He  was  lying 
on  his  bed  and  had  just  made  rather  a  boasting  statement  as  to  his  wealth,  when,  turning  to 
his  brother,  he  said  :  *  Kdmund,  that  is  pretty  well  for  the  fool  of  the  family,  is  it  not  ?'  *  Yes,' 
.said  Edmund,  *but  I  don't  understand  about  the  fool.'  Lyne  continued:  '  Do  you  recollect 
iiearing  of  old  Mrs.  Doake  in  Virginia,  who  used  to  do  the  weaving  for  our  family  ? '  Edmund 
assented,  and  Lyne  said  :  *  When  I  was  a  boy  1  went  with  my  mother  to  carry  some  yarn  to 
Mrs.  Doake,  and,  being  very  bashful,  did  not  enter  the  house,  but  stootl  outsi<le  by  the  door, 
where  I  heard  distinctly  every  word  that  was  sjud.  The  old  woman  was  very  parti(;ular  in 
her  inquiries  about  every  member  of  the  family,  and  wound  up  by  saying,  'and  how  is  that 
poor  simpleton,  Lyne?'  We  all  laughed  ,  as  he  did  also,  saying:  '  Well,  after  all,  1  think  the 
fool  of  the  family  has  done  pretty  well ;  but  the  fact  is,  that  speech  has  stuck  in  my  i^raw  for 
fifty  years.'  Whether  this  speech  of  the  old  weaver  had  stiinulated  him  through  life  or  in 
any  way  influenced  his  career  cannot  be  known,  but,  pecuniarily,  he  was  the  most  surcessful 
of  his  family." 

13.  Pioneer  History  ;  by  S.  P.  Hildreth. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


FKANKLINTON.     III. 

As  yet,  the  Franklinton  settlement  was  but  an  island  of  civilization  in  a  vant 
surrounding  wilderness.  It  was  at  beat  a  raw,  ungainly  frontier  village.  The 
country  roundabout  was  settling  up  gradually,  but  many  of  the  squatters  had  no 
neigh])ors  nearer  than  fifteen,  or  even  twenty  miles,  and  everything  was  yet  in  the 
rough.  "When  1  opened  my  office  in  Franklinton  in  1811,*'  says  Judge  Gustavas 
Swan,  "  there  was  neither  church,  nor  schoolhouse,  nor  pleasure  carriage  in  the 
county,  nor  was  tliere  a  bridge  over  any  stream  within  the  compass  of  an  hundred 
miles.  The  roads  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  were  nearly  impassable.  Goods  were 
imported,  principally  from  Philadelphia,  in  wagons;  and  our  exports,  consisting  of 
horses,  cattle  and  hogs,  carried  themselves  to  market.  The  mails  were  brought  to 
us  once  a  week  on  horseback,  if  not  prevented  by  high  water.  I  feel  safe  in 
asserting  that  there  was  not  in  the  county  a  chair  lor  every  two  persons,  nor  a 
knife  apd  fork  for  every  lour." 

"The  proportion  of  rough  population,"  continues  Judge  Swanks  biographer, 
*^  was  very  large.  With  that  class,  to  say  that  '  he  would  fight,*  was  to  praise  a 
man  ;  and  it  was  against  him  if  he  refused  to  drink.  Aged  persons  and  invalids, 
however,  were  respected  and  protected,  and  could  avoid  drinking  and  fighting 
with  impunity;  but  even  they  could  not  safely  interfere  to  interrupt  a  fight. 
There  was  one  virtue,  that  of  hospitality,  which  was  not  confined  to  any  class."' 

The  hardships  endured  by  the  pioneers  in  the  wilderness  were  many  and 
severe.  The  journey  from  the  East,  usually  made  in  wagons,  by  a  road  which  was 
merely  a  trail  through  the  woo<ls,  was  tedious  and  perilous.  Including  unavoida- 
ble interruptions,  it  sometimes  lasted  for  three  months.  Mountains  and  swollen 
streams  had  to  be  crossed,  often  with  great  difficulty  and  danger.  Arriving  at 
their  destination  the  emigrants  found  themselves  alone  in  the  wild  forest.  In  not 
a  few  instances  their  stock  of  provisions  gave  out,  leaving  them  to  such  subsistence 
as  they  could  gain  from  roots  and  wild  game.  Sickness  was  frequently  brought 
on  by  the  privation  and  exposure. 

A  spot  beiuic  chosen  for  a  clearing,  the  larger  trees  were  girdled,  the  smaller 
ones  cut  down  and  burned.  (Jorn  was  then  planted  by  cutting  holes  in  the  ground 
with  a  hoe,  or  an  axe  and  dropj^iiig  a  few  kernels  into  each  cavity.  When  buck- 
wheat was  sown,  it  was  necessary  to  watch  it,  at  the  ripening  season,  to  keep  the 
wild  turkeys  from  destroying  it.  A  gentleman  whose  father  settled  in  Blendon 
Township  in  1S07-  inibrms  the  writer  that  the  wild  deer  were  accustomed  to  come 
into  the  clearijig  around  the  family  cabin  to  browse  on  the  branches  of  the  fallen 

LUi4] 


Kk  ASK  1,1  STUN.       III. 


lt)(i  lllSTuRY    or    THE    (,*1TY    OF    CoH'MUUS. 

trees.  The  settler  was  a  soldier  of  tlie  War  of  Independonce,  and  had  brought 
with  him  the  long  rifle  whieh  he  had  used  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  With  this 
weapon,  rested  on  the  comb  of  the  roof,  he  irequently  shot  the  deer  by  moonlight, 
from  the  top  of  his  cabin.  The  surrounding  forest  was  very  dense  and  the  trees 
very  large.  Of  roads  there  were  none;  logs  and  swamps  were  frequent.  The 
family  obtained  its  fii^st  supplies  of  corn  from  Pickaway  County,  in  exchange  for 
baskets  manufactured  at  the  home  fireside.  Night  seldom  failed  to  bring  visita- 
tions of  vagrant  wolves,  howling  dismally.  Sometimes,  to  make  their  musical 
powers  more  impressive,  these  serenaders  gathered  in  a  circle  around  the  cabin. 
Cows  and  other  stock  were  permitted  to  range  at  will  in  the  woods,  and  were 
hunted  up  and  driven  home  in  the  evening.  The  animals  huntod  for  the  salt  licks, 
and  doing  so  would  sometimes  wander  away  for  several  miles.  On  one  occasion  a 
neighborhood  damsel  name<l  Jane  got  over  the  creek,  while  driving  the  cows 
home,  by  holding  on  to  the  caudal  extremity  of  one  of  the  animals  and  making  it 
swim.  '*8he  didn't  get  very  wet,"  observed  the  narrator.  "There  wasn't  much 
on  her  to  wet  —  only  a  linen  frock." 

The  cabin  of  the  Ohio  pioneer  was  usually  laid  up  with  round  logs,  notched 
into  one  another  at  the  ends,  and  chinked  between  with  woo<len  blocks  and  stones. 
The  chimney  was  built  outside  of  the  walls,  of  crossed  wooden  strips,  daubed  with 
clay.  At  the  base  it  expanded  into  a  large  open  fireplace,  with  a  firm  lining  of 
stone's.  The  roof  was  made  of  clapboards,  five  or  six  feet  long,  riven  from  oak  or 
ash  logs,  and  held  down  by  being  weighted  with  stones  or  poles.  Not  a  nail  was 
used  in  the  ct)nstruction  of  the  entire  building.  Greased  paper  was  used  in  lieu  of 
glass  in  the  windows,  which  were  sometimes  curtained  with  a  dilapidated  garment. 
The  door  was  hung  on  wooden  hinges,  and  fastened  by  a  latch  raised  from  the  out 
side  by  a  string  passed  through  a  gimlet  hole.  To  lock  the  door  it  was  only  neces- 
sary to  draw  the  latcl. string  in  ;  hence,  to  be  hosj)itable,  in  current  phrase,  meant 
to  leave  the  latchstring  out.  A  ladder  communicated  with  the  "  loft,"  or  space  be- 
tween the  upper  tioor  and  the  roof,  sometimes  used  for  sleeping  purposes.  Tlie 
floor  was  laid  with  puncheons,  of  which  also  a  stationary  Uible  was  built,  sur- 
rounded by  benches  consisting  of  slabs  supported  by  wooden  pins  let  in  with  an 
auger. 

Few  frontier  housekeej)ers  were  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  any  porcelain  dishes. 
The  table  utensils  wore  mainly  articles  of  wood  or  pewter.  Knives  and  forks  w^erc 
rarities.  Baking  was  done  by  spreading  the  meal  dough  on  a  clean  boanl,  and 
placing  it  before  the  fire,  under  wat^rh  of  one  of  the  juvenile  members  of  the 
family. 

l!)astern-made  fabrics  were  so  scarce  and  expensive  as  to  bo  beyond  the  reach 
of  most  of  the  settlers.  Deerskin,  flax  and  the  fiber  of  the  nettle  were  therefore 
used  in  the  fireside  manufacture  of  materials  for  clothing.  By  the  mixture  of  flax  and 
wool,  when  wool  could  be  obtained,  a  coarse  cloth  was  made  called  lir^sey  woolsey. 
''Sheep's  gray"  was  a  compound  of  the  wool  of  black  sheep  and  white.  The  spin- 
ning wheel,  kept  constantly  going,  furnished  the  yarn  from  which  woolen  and 
linen  cloths  were  woven.  Deer  hides  were  first  thoroughly  soaked  in  the  nearest 
running  stream,  then  scraped  and  dried.  They  were  next  tramped  in  a  leathern 
bag  filled  with  water  mingled  with  the  brains  of  wild  animals.  Afler  each  trarap- 
i  ng.  the  hides  were  thoroughly  wrung  out.      To   keep   them  soft,  they  were  some- 


Frankmnton.     111.  167 

times  smoked.  Finally  they  were  colored  with  ochre,  nibbed  in  with  pumico.  A 
single  family  would  sometimes  dress  as  many  as  a  hundred  deerskins  in  this  way, 
in  the  course  of  the  winter.  To  manufacture  the  buckskin  thus  produced  into 
gloves,  moccasins,  and  other  articles  of  clothing,  furnished  useful  occupation  for 
many  a  leisure  hour  in  the  wilderness  solitudes.* 

A  buckskin  suit  over  a  flax  shirt  was  considered  full  dress  for  a  man.  The 
outside  masculine  garment  was  a  hunting  shirt,  with  a  cape  around  the  shoulders 
and  a  skirt  nearly  to  the  knees,  the  front  open,  with  heavy  foldings,  on  the  chest, 
and  the  whole  fringed  and  belted.  Trowsers  of  heavy  cloth  or  deerskin  were 
worn,  or  in  lieu  of  them,  buckskin  leggings.  Women  who  were  so  fortunate  as  to 
have  shoes,  saved  them  for  Sunday  use,  and  carried  them  on  the  way  to  church, 
until  they  neared  the"*'  meetinghouse,"  when  they  sat  down  on  a  log  to  draw  them 
on.  The  men  went  barefoot,  or  wore  moccasins.  Their  buckskin  clothes  were 
very  comfortable  when  dry,  but  just  the  reverse  when  wet.  Hats  and  caps  were 
made  of  the  native  furs. 

The  pioneer  women  had  abundant  opportunity  and  no  end  of  incentive  to 
practice  the  j^oetical  philosophy  that  *'  beauty  unadorned  's  adorned  the  most." 
Their  usual  garment**  were  made  of  linsey-woolsey,  or  a  homemade  mixture  of 
linen  and  cotton,  and  were  fabricated  with  little  regard  for  ornament.  Yet  the 
ingenuity  of  the  sex  seldom  failed  to  find  some  resource  for  ])ersonal  embellish- 
ment. A  typical  belle  of  the  wilderness  has  been  thus  described  :  *'  A  smiling  face, 
fresh  but  dark,  a  full  head  of  smoothly  combe<i  hair  tied  up  behind  in  a  twist 
knot;  a  dress,  made  out  of  seven  yards  of  linsey-woolsey,  closely  fits  the  natural 
form  and  reaches  to  within  six  inches  of  the  floor.  It  is  fancifully  and  uniquely 
striped  with  copperas,  butternut  and  indigo,  alternatirig.  The  belt  is  made  of 
homespun,  but  is  colored  with  imported  dj'e,  and  a  row  of  buttons  down  the  back  is 
also  set  on  a  bright  stripe.  Heavy  cowhide  shoes  conceal  substantial  feet  and 
shapely  ankles." 

Books  were  rare  in  the  frontier  settlements,  an<i  schools  were  a  long  time 
coming.  A  wilderness  schoolhouse,  says  one  of  the  chroniclers  of  the  period,  con- 
sisted of  "a  log  cabin  with  a  rough  stone  chimney  ;  a  foot  or  two  cut  from  the  logs 
here  and  there  to  admit  the  light,  with  greased  i)aper  over  the  openings;  a  large 
fireplace,  puncheon  floor,  a  few  benches  made  of  split  logs  with  the  flat  side  up,  and 
a  well  developed  birch  rod  over  the  master's  seat."  A  teacher  who  received  a  sal- 
ary often  dollars  a  month,  payable  in  produce,  was  considered  fortunate. 

In  a  Centennial  Address  of  July  3,  187<),  Hon.  Henry  C.  Nobh;,  of  ('olumbus, 
described  some  of  the  social  customs  of  the  pioneer  period  :  "  A  wedding  engaged 
then,  as  now,  the  attention  of  the  whole  neighborhood,  and  the  frolic  was  antici- 
pated by  old  and  young  with  eager  expectation.  In  the  morning  the  groom  and 
his  attendants  started  for  his  father's  house  to  reach  the  bride's  before  noon,  for  the 
wedding,  by  the  inexorable  law  of  fashion,  must  take  i)Iace  before  dinner.  .  . 
The  horses,  for  all  come  on  horseback,  were  caparisoned  with  old  saddles,  old 
bridles,  or  halters,  packsaddles  with  a  blanket  thrown  over  I  hem,  and  a  rope  or  a 
string  for  a  girth  or  reins  as  often  as  leather.  They  formed  a  procession  as  well  as 
they  could  along  the  narrow  roads.  Sometimes  an  ambuscade  of  mischievous  young 
men  was  formed,  who  tired  off  their  guns  and  frightened  the  horses,  and  caused 
the  girls  to  shriek. 


]()^  IIlSToKY    OF    THE    ClTY    OV    (V»LrMIil>. 

The  race  for  the  boltlc  took  place  hy  two  or  more  of  tlie  youiiK  men  racing  over  this 
rou^h  roa<l  to  tliebri«le's  limine,  the  victor  to  n»ceive  a  bottle  of  whisky,  wliich  he  bore  back  iu 
triumph,  and  paKsod  alon^  the  procession  for  eacli  one  to  take  a  drink  in  turn.  Then  came 
the  arrival  at  the  bride's  hoiiHe,  the  ceremony,  thy  dinner,  and  the  dance,  all  conducted  witli 
the  greatest  fun  and  frolic  till  morning.  Sometimes  tliose  who  were  not  invited  would 
revenge  themselves  by  cutting  oil'  the  maues,  foretojw  and  tails  of  the  horses  of  the  wedding 
party. 

The  logrolling,  harvesting  and  husking  bees  for  the  men.  and  the  ({uilting  and  apple- 
hut  termaking  inr  the  women,  furnished  freipient  occaisions  for  S(K*ial  intercourse,  and  gave 
ample  opj)ortunity  for  the  ilifl'erent  neighborhoods  to  know  the  goo<.l  or  bad  qualities  of  each 
other. 

Kifieshooting  was  a  pastime  which  men  loved,  as  it  gave  them  an  opportunity  of  testing 
their  skill  with  that  necessary  weapon  of  defense,  and  means,  often,  of  subsistence.  When  a 
beef  was  the  prize,  it  was  divided  into  six  <|uarters  by  this  (jueer  arrangement:  The  two 
hind(|uarters  were  the  highest  prizes,  the  two  foreijuarters  the  next,  the  hide  and  tallow  the 
fifth,  and  the  lead  shot  into  the  mark  the  sixth. 

A  recent  writer^  draws  the  following  spirited  picture  of  an  old-time  upi>lc- 
cutting  frolic :  ''The  mid<lle.nged  and  the  young  of  a  whole  neighborhood  as- 
sembled at  some  spacious  farmhouse  to  peel  and  pare  great  heaps  of  appleB  for 
drying,  or  make  into  *l)utter'  by  stewing  in  boiled  cider. 

• 

The  love-fortunes  of  men  and  maids  were  determined  by  the  counting  of  apple-seeds  : 
and  whoever  removed  the  entire  skin  of  a  pippin  in  one  long  ribbon,  whirled  the  lucky 
streamer  thrice  around  his  head  and  let  it  fall  behind  him  on  the  floor,  and  in  the  form  it 
took  a  quick  fancy  read  the  monogram  of  his  or  her  intended  mate. 

After  the  apples  were  cut,  and  the  cider  boiled,  the  floor  was  cleared  for  a  frolic,  techni- 
cally so  called,  and  merry  were  the  dancers  ancl  loud  the  songs  with  which  our  fathers  and 
mothers  regaled  the  flying  hours.  The  fiddler  was  a  man  of  importance,  and  when,  after 
midnight,  he  called  the  "Virginia  Reel,"  .such  shouting,  such  laughter,  such  clatter  of 
hilarious  feet  upon  the  sanded  punche<m  floor,  started  thescreetjhowl  out  of  doors,  and  waked 
the  baby  from  its  sweet  slumber  in  the  sugar-trough.  I  will  not  deny  that  Tom  Wilkins. 
who  came  to  the  frolic  <ircssed  in  a  green  hunting-shirt  and  deer-skin  trousers,  drank  some- 
thing stronger  than  hard  cider,  and  was  bolder  than  he  should  have  In^en  in  his  gallant 
attentions  to  8nsan.  Kut  let  by-gones  be  by-gones.  The  apple  cutting  was  fifty  years  ago, 
and  Tom  and  Susan  have  danced  the  dance  of  life,  and  their  tombstones  are  decorous 
enough. 

These  |>icturos  of  pioneer  life,  prosaically  described,  became  doubly  interest- 
ing when  animated  and  idealized  in  song.  No  one  was  more  adept  at  this  than 
the  late  Hon.  John  (rroinor,  of  Columbus.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Franklin  County 
I^ioneer  Association,  August  7,  18G0,  Mr.  (ireiner  was  introduced  with  tlie  an- 
nouncement that  he  would  sing  an  old-fashioned  song  to  an  old-faghioned  tune. 
Ste])])ing  forward,  amid  many  plaudits,  he  sang  to  the  tune  "Old  Timen,"  the 
following  ditty  of 

THE  EARLY  PIONEERS. 

What  care  we  for  the  flight  of  time,  the  hasty  flight  of  years; 
The  world's  the  same  as  ever  to  the  early  pioneers. 
In  memory  of  the  olden  time,  of  youth's  bright  sunny  day. 
We'll  have  a  good  old-fashione<l  song,  in  the  old-fashioned  way. 

Once  Columbus  was  a  pawpaw  })atch,  no  Cajjitol  stood  here; 
Xo  public  institutions  were  there  dreamed  of,  thought  of,  near; 
The  people  iu  log  cabins  <lwelt,  the  latchstring  in  the  door. 
Opened  to  the  jolly  neighbors,  dancing  on  the  puncheon  floor. 


■/  /■/  /ill 


.^.^'^^yLzl^?--uj^^Qi^iJj^.<^^^ 


•     • 


Prank  LINTON.     TIT.  IHO 

A  clearing  in  the  wiMwood,  and  a  sedion  stjuare  of  land, 
An  axe  upon  his  shoulder,  and  a  riHc  in  hla  hand  ; 
A  wife  and  towhead  eliiidren  and  an  lionest  heart,  sincere, 
Were  all  the  worldly  riches  of  the  early  pioneer. 

Game  bounding  through  the  forest,  and  game  whirring  on  tlie  wing; 
The  perch,  the  trout,  the  sahnon  from  the  silver  waters  spring; 
Wild  honey  in  the  beegum  —  boiling  sugar  into  cake, 
With  beauty  in  the  wilderness,  life  wasn't  liard  to  take. 

Then  men,  all  honestly  inclined,  in  great  and  little  things, 
Formed  neither  combinations,  cli(|ues  nor  thieving  whisky  rings; 
Officeholders  ctmld  be  truste<i  — unsophisticated  loons, 
They'd  no  more  rob  the  public  than  steal  your  silver  si)Oons. 

Then  farmers  sweat  in  harvest,  from  sun  to  sun,  all  day, 
With  sickles,  scythes  and  cra<lles,  toiled  in  cutting  grain  and  hay  ; 
Now  cutters,  planters,  mowers,  reapers  to  the  fields  they  haul. 
And  ride  and  drive  like  gentleman,  and  scarcely  work  at  all. 

The  ladies  dressed  in  homespun,  and  the  linsey-woolsey  gown. 
Was  worn  by  the  upper-crust,  in  country,  an<l  in  town  ; 
The  house  was  kept  in  order,  and  the  rooms  wt^re  neat  as  wax. 
An<l  the  wheel  was  kept  a  whirling  while  a  spinning  of  the  (lax. 

The  beau  who  went  a  sparking  staid  until  the  break  o'  day— 
Sometimes  till  after  breakfast — he  couMn't  tear  himself  away  ; 
Sometimes  he  got  the  mitten,  and  a  flea  put  in  his  ear, 
Which  made  itcpiite  unpleasant  for  the  early  pioneer. 

Your  grandmothers,  fair  ladies,  all  were  modest  and  demure; 

No  flattery  ever  sought  or  gave,  of  this  you  may  be  sure ; 

But,  home  from  meetings  Sunday  nights, 'twere  worth  a  sparkling  gem 

To  have  seen  these  good  old  pioneers  a  sitting  up  to  them  I 

The  fovG^oinfr  poetry  is  not  classic;  it  is  not  oven  ^^ninimatical,  l)ut  it  is  the 
i^usii  of  a  heart  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  "old  limes,"  and  uflows  in  every  lino  with 
the  frank  and  free,  albeit  untrained  spirit  of  the  conquei'ors  of  the  wilderness. 
More  graceful,  but  Hcarcely  so  truthful,  or  nearly  so  realistic,  are  the  musical  lines 
of  William  D.  (xallaghor. 

A  song  for  the  early  times  out  West, 

And  our  green  old  forest  home, 
Whose  pleasant  memories  freshly  yet. 

Across  the  bosom  come  : 
A  song  for  the  free  and  gladsome  life, 

In  those  earlv  davs  we  le<l, 
With  a  teeming  soil  beneath  our  feet. 

And  a  smiling  Heaven  o'erhead  I 
Oh,  the  waves  of  life  danced  merrily. 

And  had  a  joyous  flow, 
In  the  days  when  we  were  Pioneers 

Fifty  years  ago  I 

The  hunt,  the  shot,  the  glorious  chase. 

The  captured  elk  or  deer; 
The  camp,  tiie  big  bright  lire,  and  then 


170  History  ok  tiik  ("itv  of  <'«»!.(■  Murs. 

Tlie  rich  and  wlioU'soine  cheer : — 
The  sweet  8oiiiid  Hleep  at  dead  of  night, 

By  our  campfire  hlaxin^  hi^h — 
llnhroken  hy  tiie  wolfV  long  howl, 

And  the  panther  springing  by, 
Oil.  merrily  parsed  the  time,  despite 

(.)iir  wilv  Indian  foe. 
In  the  days  when  we  were  pioneers, 

Fifty  years  ago ! 

Thi>  is  oxcelI(M»t  poetry,  hut  the  pioneer's  time  did  not  pass  quite  so  merrily 
us  the  poet  would  have  us  think.  Life  on  the  border  was,  tor  the  most  part,  a 
very  serious  matter.  Sickness a<lded  its  hard  lines  to  those  of  privation  and  hard- 
ship. Pevcr  and  ague  prevniled  in  autumn,  and  made  lite  miserable  until  the 
winter  frosts  set  in.  Sometimes  the  ai^ue  «^ave  place  to  a  bilious  fever  of  a  malii^- 
nant  type.  Franklinton,  owing  to  its  low  situation,  and  want  of  drainage  was  par- 
ticularly exposed  to  these  diseases. 

At\or  the  Treaty  of  Greenville,  the  Indians  mostly  disappeared  from  the  neigh- 
borhood, but  a  few  still  lingered  about.  One  of  these,  known  as  Bill}'  Wyandot, 
because  of  his  connection  with  the  tribe  of  that  name,  had  his  lodge  on  the  w^est 
bank  of  the  Scioto  near  the  present  crossing  of  the  Harrislmrg  Pike.  Here,  we 
are  told,  he  had  many  a  drunken  bout  with  boon  white  companions.  Once,  in  his 
youth,  Billy  had  seen  a  large  black  bear  swimming  across  the  river  at  that  point, 
and  had  plunged  in,  and  slain  the  au<lacious  ])rowler,  in  mid  stream,  with  his  hunt- 
ing knife.  Proud  of  this  exploit,  the  old  Indian,  one  winter  <lay,  insisted  on  show- 
ing a  couple  of  visitors,  with  whom  he  had  been  drinking  freel}',  how  he  had 
kille<l  the  bear.  Against  remonstrance,  he  plunged  into  the  swirling  current,  laden 
with  floating  iee,  and  after  whooping  and  floundering  awhile  in  the  antics  of  in- 
toxication, sank  and  was  drowned  in  the  act  of  killing  an  imaginary  bear.' 

After  Harrison's  victory  of  the  Thames,  in  (*anada,  bands  of  Indians  from  the 
villages  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Scioto  frequently  came  to  Franklinton  to  trade 
with  Lincoln  (foodale,  Starling  \'  J>eLashmutt,  R.  W.  McCoy,  Ileiuy  Hrown, 
Samuel  Harr,  and  other  storekeepers,  as  the  merchants  were  then  called.  These 
Indians  brought  furs,  skins,  baskets,  maple  sugar,  cranberries,  dry  venison,  and 
other  arti(!les,  for  which  they  would  accej)t  pay  onl}'  in  silver.  Having  obtained 
the  coin,  they  bought  ammunition,  tobacco,  knives.  '•  s«juaw-axes,  '  ** squaw-cloth  " 
(broadcloth),  pigments  for  tattooing,  blankets,  brightly -colored  calicoes,  and  finally 
a  supply  of  whisky  for  the  **  high  drunk''  with  which  they  usually  closed  their 
trading  transactions.  These  orgies,  in  which  the  whole  band  participate<l  except 
a  few  old  men  and  women,  who  abstaine<l  to  take  care  of  the  rest,  were  accom- 
])anied  with  much  singing,  dancing,  brawlifig  and  fighting.  They  no  doubt  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  make  Franklinton  life  interesting  in  a  certain  way. 

During  one  of  these  trading  expeditions,  a  massive  Indian  named  Bill  Zane, 
while  vet  under  the  influence  of  his  clebauch,  took  offense  at  Mrs.  Lucas  Sullivant 
because  of  the  accidental  loosening  of  one  of  his  bundles  lef\  at  her  residence,  and 
was  about  to  stab  her  with  his  hunting-knile  when  Mr.  Sullivant  rushed  in,  seized 
the  savage  by  the  throat,  and  hurled  him  out  «)f  doors.  The  nuirks  of  Zane's  hunt- 
ing-knilc,  with  which  he  had  angrily  scratched  the  measure  of  a  piece  of  cttlieo  on 
the  chairboard,  were  for  a  long  time  j)reserved  as  family  mementoes  of  this 
episode." 


Franklinton.     III.  171 

Another  advoDturo,  curiously  illustrative  of  the  condition  of  the  settlement 
and  the  spirit  of  the  times  is  thus  narrated : 

In  1809,  while  some  of  Lucas  Sullivant's  workmen  were  plowing  in  the  Dutch 
Prairie,'  "a  nearly  grown  black  bear  came  along  very  leisurely,  without  appar- 
ently being  in  the  least  disturbed  by  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  men  and 
horses.  One  of  the  men,  unhitching  his  horses,  took  a  singletree,  with  a  heavy 
traeechain  attached,  and  mounting  his  horse,  rode  up  alongside  of  the  bear,  and 
began  thrashing  him  with  the  chain.  The  bear  at  first  showed  fight,  but,  winc- 
ing under  the  heavy  blows,  he  started  off  at  a  lively  pace,  the  man  following,  and 
with  an  occasional  application  of  the  traeechain  finding  little  difficulty  in  driving 
him  in  any  direction  he  chose,  and  finall}^,  in  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  succeeded 
ID  guiding  him  right  into  the  dooryard  of  the  Mansion  House,  where  he  was  im- 
mediately attacked  by  several  dogs.  A  fierce  battle  ensued,  in  which  the  bear 
killed  one  of  the  dogs,  and  fought  his  way  across  the  garden  into  the  next  lot, 
where  he  took  refuge  in  the  angle  formed  by  the  fence  and  house,  and,  protected 
in  his  rear,  stood  at  bay.  ...  A  crowd  of  men  and  boys,  with  fresh  dogs  soon 
gathered,  and  a  regular  bearbaiting  commenced. 

The  bear,  standing  on  his  hind  legs  in  his  corner,  received  the  attack  in  front  from  the 
eager  but  inexperienced  dogs,  and,  with  a  hearty  hitg  and  rip  with  his  hind  claws,  sent  one 
yelping  cur  after  another  out  of  the  fight.  It  was  soon  evident,  that,  so  far  as  the  dogs  were 
concerned,  it  was  a  drawn  battle,  and  measures  were  devised  to  capture  the  bear  alive.  For 
this  purpose  a  rope  was  procured,  with  a  slipnoose  at  one  end,  which  was  attempted  to  be 
thrown  over  his  head,  but  which  he,  with  surprising  dexterity,  cast  aside  each  time.  At  this 
juncture  a  man  by  the  name  of  Corbiis  made  his  appearance,  and,  being  pretty  full  of  whisky, 
undertook  to  place  the  rope  over  the  bear's  head.  When  he  got  sufliciently  close,  the  bear 
struck  him  a  blow  with  bis  paw,  whereupon  CJorbus  dropped  the  rope  and  pitched  in  with 
his  fists  and  feet,  and  a  very  exciting  and  famous  rough  and  tumble  bear  fight  took  place  ;  but 
the  poor  beast,  being  much  weakened  and  exhausted  from  his  previous  eff'»)rt8,  the  human 
brute  came  ofi"  best,  and  killed  the  bear.    This  exploit  was  long  the  talk  of  the  village.^ 

An  incident  of  a  less  exciting  nature,  yet  pleasantly  illustrative  of  pioneer 
times  in  Franklinton,  is  narrated  in  a  manuscript  sketch  furnished  to  the  writer 
by  Mrs.  Emily  Stewart,  of  Columbus.  William  Morion,  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
one,  arrived  in  Franklinton  from  Massachusetts  in  LSOH,  and  took  boarding  with 
Isaiah  Voris,  who  kept  a  tavern  on  Gift  Street,  where  now  stands  the  new  West 
Side  Markethouse.  Let  Mrs.  Stewart  continue  the  narrative:  "MissSallie  Wait 
(daughter  of  Jen ks  Wait,  who  came  with  his  family  to  Franklinton  from  Johns- 
town, New  York,  in  1805,  and  was  then  living  one  mile  south  of  the  village),  was 
going  home  from  shopping,  and  stopped  at  the  door  of  the  Voris  House  to  talk  with 
Mrs.  Voris.  The  young  lady  declined  to  go  in,  knowing  the  boarders  were  at 
supper.  She  talked  a  little  too  long.  Young  Morion  came  out,  and  Mrs.  Voris  in- 
troduced her  friend.  Soon  after.  Miss  Wait  resumed  her  walk,  the  yOung  man 
overtook  her  with  a  bridle  in  his  hand,  said  his  horse  had  strayed  away,  and  he 
thought  it  was  at  the  Salt  Lick,  a  salt  spring  a  short  distance  from  her  father's  house. 
The  young  couple  talked  pleasantly,  and  when  they  came  to  her  house,  he  politely 
bade  her  good  evening,  and  passed  on,  swinging  his  bridle.  The  next  time  she 
went  to  town,  her  friend,  Mrs.  Voris,  spoke  to  her  about  her  *  beau.'  *Who?' 
rthe  inquired.  *Why,  that  Yankee  that  walked  home  with  you.'  *  He  was  no 
beau,'  rejoined   Miss  Sallie,  *  ho  was  only  hunting  his  horse  that  had  strayed  away.' 


172  IIisToKY  «»K  TiiK  City  of  (NnjMBrs. 

The  horse  had  been  <|iiietly  rating  liay  in  tho  Voris  stable  all  this  time.  It  was  too 
t^ood  lor  Mrs.  Voris  to  keej).  She  toUl  it,  and  that  Yankee  had  a  warm  time  of  it 
at  that  boarding  house  tor  a  whiU'.  Hut  he  was  not  <liscouraged,  for,  on  February 
14,  iSOy,  William  Morion  and  Sallic  Wait  were  united  in  marriage  by  tho  liev. 
James  lloge,  then  a  missionary  to  the  Northwest." 

Kev.  James  Iloge,  here  mentioned  by  Mrs.  Stewart,  had  eomc  to  Fntnklinton 
in  ISOo.  lie  had  been  lieensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington,  Vir>rinia, 
and  a)))>ointeil  a  missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  (-hiireh  of  the  United  States  to 
"  the  State  of  Ohio  and  the  parts  adjacent  thereto."  With  his  advent  the  system- 
atic observance  of  the  (Miristian  religion  had  its  inception  in  tho  upper  Scioto  Valley. 
P\)r  a  time,  the  court-room  was  used  as  a  cha])el,  and  the  judges  then  sitting  ad- 
journed, it  it-  said  to  hear  the  tir^t  .serm»)n  of  the  young  missionary.  From  his 
efforts  resulted  the  organization,  on  February  S,  ISOG,  of  the  lii*st  church  of  any 
denomination  in  this  region.  This  was  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  then  of 
Franklinton,  now  of  Columbus.  On  September  25,  1S(»7,  this  society,  comprising 
thirteen  members,  extended  to  young  Ilogo  a  formal  invitation  to  become  its  paster." 
This  call  was  drawn  in  the  handwriting  of  Lucas  Sullivan  t,  and  was  signed  by  him 
as  one  of  the  trustees.  It  was  accepted,  and  the  pastoral  relation  thus  formed 
continued,  without  interruption,  nearly  fifty  yeaiv.'"  In  ISll  Mr.  Sullivant  pre- 
sented to  this  congregation  a  brick  meetinghouse,  the  tirst  in  FVanklinton,  ereeteil 
at  his  own  expense.  This  edifice  stood  near  the  river,  o))posite  the  "  British  Island," 
afterwards  so  called  bocau.se  some  of  the  pris(»ners  taken  from  the  Britisli  Army  in 
the  War  of  1H12  wore  for  a  short  time  confined  there.  Ouring  that  war,  the 
church  wjis  used  as  a  granary  and  storehouse  until  it  was  blown  down  by  a  great 
storm  in  April,  1S13.  Soon  after  that  calamity  a  socofid  church  was  erected  on  tho 
same  site.  (.'Oncerning  this  ])ioneer  ( -hristian  society,  the  author  of  the  Sufiirnttf 
Mimoriiil  writes  the  following  interostinLC  ])assagcs : 

ThtTo  was  hut  one  service  on  ilie  Sjihbath,  to  which  many  of  the  members  came  aft-er 
a  ride  of  r^everal  miles  alon^  the  bri<Ile-path>?  through  the  wt»od8  covering  the  site  of  Colum- 
bus. Amon^  those  were  the  Roods.  Shaws,  Nelsons.  Tayloi-s,  MoolK>rrys,  Shannons,  Pughs, 
Marrs,  Stewarts,  Ilondorsons.  Longs,  Pattersons,  Fishers.  an<i  others.  The  service  was 
todions  —  to  mo,  at  least  —and  the  sermon  an  hour  and  a  half  long,  on  the  principle.  I  sup- 
pose, of  (piantity  oommonsurate  with  tho  distance  and  <lilliculty  «»f  attendance.  The  writer 
has  a  lively  rorolIo<tion  of  the  relief  lie  experienced  when  nineteenthly  was  reache<l.  for  he 
know  tho  practical  obeervations,  the  application,  finally,  and  the  *' in  eonchmon"  would 
soon  f«»lh»w,  and  tho  on<l  was  happily  in  view.  Nor  will  ho  over  forget  how  one  of  the  gootl 
old  elders  used  to  step  forward  in  front  of  tho  pulpit,  and.  with  a  wonderful  a-heming  and 
clearing  of  the  throat,  and  sce-sawing  of  the  hand,  pitch  the  tune,  ami  carry  it  for  the  con- 
gregation. 

In  my  boyhoo<l  I  was  nu»ro  than  once  startled  by  the  appearance  of  a  big  Indian,  in  all 
his  paitit  and  finery,  at  the  door  or  windows  of  tho  old  church,  probably  attnu^ted  bycuriosit\ 
to  SCO  what  was  going  on  within. 

Hev.  Seth  Noble,  also  Presbyterian,  arrived  in  Franklinton,  and  began  preach- 
ing there,  about  the  same  time  as  Mr.  iloge.  A  Nova  Scotia  refugee,  born  in 
Ma.ssachusotts,  ho  located  in  tho  noiirhborhood  on  a  trad  of  refugee  land,  whereon 
he  l>uill  a  cabin  in   which  ho  dwelt  until  he  died  in  1>>07. 

These  sketohos  of  Franklinton  as  an  isolated  and  independent  colony  may 
properly  conclude  with  the  fi>llowing   passages  li-om  letters  written  by  Lync  Star- 


F'RANKLINTr)N.       III.  178 

ling"  to   his  Bistor,  Miss  Jane  Starling — afterwards  Mrs.  Davison — tlien  in   Ken- 
tucky : 

Franklinton,  July  12,  1809. — "  I  have  lati^ly  purchased   an  elegant  seat  and 
tract  of  land  opposite  town,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  vvhi(*h  I  have  an  idea  ol" 
improving.'* 

The  ^'elegant  scat  and  tract  of  land  "  hero  referred  lo  was  j)arl  of  the  ])resent 
site  of  CohinibuH,  then  covered  with  a  dense  forest. 

April  10,  1810. — **  We  have  strong  expectations  of  getting  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment here  after  the  sitting  of  the  next  legislature.  Should  we  succeed,  I  think  it 
would  be  very  much  to  my  father's  interest  to  remove  here.  This  country  is  now 
as  healthy  as  Kentucky,  and  has  every  advantage  which  that  State  possesses,  ex- 
cept the  want  of  slaves,  which  is  not  so  great  an  inconvein'ence  as  is  generall}* 
supposed." 

October  31,  1810.—"  I  intend  going  to  New  Orleans  from  this  place  some  time 
during  next  winter,  and  shall  not  return  until  summer." 

During  the  winter  of  1810-11  Mr.  Starling  built  some  boats,  loaded  them  with 
produce,  and  floated  them  from  Franklinton  to  New  Orleans.  This  was  the  pio- 
neer enterprise  of  its  kind. 

September  13,  1812. — "  Nothing  here  but  the  sound  of  war." 

The  War  of  1812  had  begun. 

NOTES. 

1.  Hon.  George  M.  Parsons. 

2.  Vindl  D.  Moore. 

3.  The  author  is  indebted  for  many  of  tlie  faets  here  stated  to  Mr.  Virj^il  D.  Moore,  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  Franklin  CJonnty. 

4.  W.  H.  Venable,  LI..  D. 

5.  Sullivant  Family  Memorial. 
0.    Ibid. 

7.  The  former  Indian  cornfields  were  so  called.  They  were  also  known  as  Sullivant's 
Prairie. 

8.  Sullivant  Family  Memorial. 

9.  A  full  account  of  this  c^ll  will  he  given  in  the  history  of  the  Preshyterian  churches 
in  Columbus. 

10.  The  call  contained  this  pledge :  *'  That  you  may  be  free  from  worldly  cares  and  av- 
ocations, we  hereby  promise  and  oblige  ourselves  to  pay  you  tlu^  sum  of  three  hundred 
dollars,  in  halfyearly  payments  annually  for  threefourths  of  yonr  tinu*,  until  we  find  our- 
selves able  to  give  you  a  compensation  for  the  whole  of  your  time.'* 

11.  The  letters  from  which  tliest*  extracts  are  taken  are  printed  in  the  Sullivant  Family 
Memorial. 


171  IIlSToKV    OF    TIIK    (/ITY    iiV   ChLVMUVH. 


A  P  P  t:  N  D  1  X     TO     CHAPTER     IX. 

FRANKLIN  CurNTY  CIVIL  LIST. 
KKI*KKSKNTATFVK8    IN    CoNiJKKSS. 

From  the  ori^anizjition  of'lho  Suite  (loveriiinunt  until  1812,  Ohio  was  entitled 
t/>  but  one  Congressional  i{ej)reHentative.  From  1H12  to  1822  the  apportionment 
gave  her  six  Representiitives :  from  1S22  to  18H2,  fourteen;  trom  18S2  to  1842, 
nineteen;  from  1842  to  1802,  twentyoiie;  from  1802  to  1882,  twenty;  from  1882  to 
1892,  twentyone. 

From  1812  to  1822  the  CongresHJonal  District  inclusive  of  this  county  com- 
prised the  counties  of  Franklin,  Lickiiit^,  Delaware,  Madison,  Fairfield,  Champaign, 
Montgomery,  Miami,  and  Darke;  from  1822  until  1832,  Franklin,  Delaware, 
Marion,  Crawford,  Knox,  Jjicking  and  Coshocton;  from  1832  until  1842,  Franklin, 
Madison,  Pickaway,  Delaware,  and  Marion;  from  1842  until  1852,  Franklin,  Lick- 
ing, and  Pickaway.  On  June  27,  1803,  the  State  chose  its  first  liepresentative  in 
Congress,  for  a  term  ol*  two  ycai^,  heginning  with  the  next  preceding  fourth  of 
March.  The  Hej)resentatives  for  the  entire  State,  and  for  districts  inclusive 
of  Franklin  County,  i'roin  1S03  to  the  present  time,  have  been,  with  the  counties 
of  their  residence,  as  follows  : 

1803-1813 — Jeremiah  Morrow,  Warren. 
1813-1817— James  Kilbourn,  Franklin. 
1817-1821— Philemon  Beechcr,  Fairfield. 
1821-1823 — Jose])h  Vance,  Champaign. 
1823  1828— William  Wilson,  Licking.* 
1828-18.33— William  Stanbery,  Licking. 
1833-1837— Jeremiah  McLene,  Franklin. 
1837-1S43— Joseph  Kidgway,  Franklin. 
1843-1844— Heman  A.  Moore,  Franklin* 
1844-1845— Alfred  P.  Stone,  Franklin.' 
1845-1847— Columbus  Delano,  Knox. 
1K47-1 849— Daniel  Duncan,  Licking. 
1 849-1 853  —  (/harlos  Sweetzcr,  Delaware. 
|s53-ls55-K(iHon  B.  Olds.  Pickaway. 
1S55- 1857— Samuel  (J  alio  way,  Franklin. 
1 857- 18(;5— Samuel  S.  Cox,  Franklin. 
lSt;5-lS«;7— James  1{.  Iluhbell,  Delaware. 
lSt;7-lS73 — (Jeorge  W.  Morgan,  Knox. 
1S73-1S75— Hugh  J.  Jcwctt.  Franklin, 
1S75-1S77— Ansel  T.  Walling,  Pickaway. 
1 X77- J  S7!»— Thomas  Kwintf,  Fairfield. 


Fkanklin  Coknty  (hviL  List.  175 

1879-1885 — George  Ij.  Converse,  Franklin. 
1885-1898 — Joseph  H.  Outhwaite,  Franklin. 

1.  Died  before  expiration  of  term. 

2.  Dietl  in  1844. 

:».     Electeil  October  S,  1844,  vice  Moore,  deceased. 

8TATK    SKNATOKS. 

The  Senatorial  District  inclusive  of  Franklin  County  has  been  constituted  and 
represented,  since  the  organization  of*  the  State,  as  follows : 

180H — HosH  County;  Nathaniel  Massie,  Abraham  ('laypool. 

180H-1805 — Hoss  and  Franklin;  Abraham  Claypool. 

1805-1806 — Itoss,  Franklin  and  Highland:  Duncan  McArthur. 

1800-1807 — Uoss,  Franklin  and  Highland;  Abraham  (■layj)Ool. 

1807-1808 — Ross,  Franklin  and  Highland;  Abraham  Claypool,  Duncan  Mc- 
Arthur. 

1808-1810 — Franklin  and  Delaware;  Joseph  Foos. 

1810-1811 — Franklin,  Delaware,  Madison  and  Pickaway;  Joseph  Foos. 

1811-1H12 — Franklin,  Delaware  and  Madison;  Joseph  Foos. 

1812-1814 — Franklin,  Madison  and  Delaware;  John  l^arr. 

1S14-1816 — Franklin,  Madison  and  Delaware;  Jose])h  Foos. 

181G-1818 — Franklin,  Madison  and  Delaware;  Thomas  Johnson. 

1818-1820 — Franklin,  Madison  and  Delaware;  Joseph  Foos. 

1820-1822 — Franklin,  Delaware,  Madison  and  Tnion;  Joseph  Foos. 

1822-1828 — Franklin,  Delaware,  Ma<iison  and  Tnion  ;  Henry  Brown. 

1823-1824 — Franklin,  Madison,  Union,  Delaware,  Marion  and  (Jrawford; 
James  Kooken. 

1824-1825 — Franklin,  Madison  and  Union;  Joseph  Foos. 

1825-1828 — Franklin,  Madi.son  and  Union  ;  Joseph  Foos. 

1828-1831— Franklin  and  Pickaway;  Joseph  Olds. 

1831-1833— Franklin  and  Pickaway;   William   Daugherty. 

1833-1835— Franklin  and  Pickaway;  Ralph  Osborn. 

1835-1837 — Franklin  and  Pickaway;  Elias  Florence. 

1837-1841— Franklin  and  Pickaway;  John  L.  Green. 

1841-1842 — Franklin,  Madison  and  Clark  ;  Alexander  Waddle. 

1842-1844 — Franklin  and  Clark;  Josej)h  llidgway,  Jr. 

1844-1846— Franklin,  Madison  and  Clark  ;  Alfred  Kelley. 

1840-1848 — Franklin,  Madison  and  Clark;  Jennet  Stulson. 

1848-1850 — Franklin  and  Delaware;  William  Denison,  Jr. 

1850-1851 — Franklin  and  Delaware;  Abram  Thomson. 

IS51-1854 — Franklin  and  Pickaw^ay ;  John  Cradhd)augh. 

1854-1850— Franklin  and  Pickaway;  Samuel  Ikrtlit. 

1850-1858— Franklin  and  Pickaway;   Alfred  Kelley. 

1858-1804 — Franklin  and  Pickaway;  Augustus  li.  Pcrrill. 

1804-1800 — Franklin  and  Pickaway;  George  \j.  Converse. 

1800-1868— Franklin  and  Pickaway;  Ansel  T.  Walling. 

180.S-1870 — Franklin  and  Pickaway;   Wobert  Hulchcson. 

1870-1872- Franklin  and  Pickaway;  Adin  G.   Hibbs. 


17«)  HisToiiv  OK  TiiK  City  of  (*oLi:BiBrs. 

1872-I87<i— Frimkliii  and  Pickaway:  John  (i.  Thomjwoii,'  William  Miller/ 
187<i-lH78— Franiciin  and  Pickaway;   William   Millor. 
1878-1880 — Kranklin  and  I'ickaway  ;  Charles  F.  Kriinmel. 
1880-1882— Franklin  and  Pirkaway :  A.  H.  Van  Cleaf. 
1882-1884 — Franklin  an<l  Pickaway;   Horace  Wilson. 
I884-J88S  — Franklin  and  Pi<kawav;  A.  \l.  Van  (.leaf. 
1SSS.IS90— Franklin  and  Pickaway:   William  T.   Wallace. 
1S1K)-1892--Franklin  and  Pickaway;  A.  H    Van  (Mcaf,  William  T.  Wallace. 

1.  ResijriUMl. 

2.  Vice  John  (i.  Thcuiipson,  rcsijjncd. 

KKPKKSKNTATIVKS    IN    THK    (JKNKKAL    A8SKMBLY. 

Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County  says:  •'  Until  the  3'^ear  1808,  Franklin 
elected  with  1^)88  County,  and  was  represented  by  four  memberH.  In  1808  and 
1809  Franklin  and  Delaware  elected  together,  and  were  entitled  to  one  member. 
In  1810  and  181 1  Franklin,  Delaware,  Madison  and  part  of  Pickaway,  elected  to- 
t'ether  and  were  entitled  to  one  member.  In  1S12,  Franklin  alooe  was  first  en- 
titled to  one  member,  and  continued  to  be  represented  by  one  until  1828,  when  she 
was  entitled  for  one  session,  to  two  members;  then  reduced  to  one  until  18H2, when 
she  again  elected  two  members;  in  ls33,  only  one;  in  1SH4,  two;  in  1835  and  1830, 
only  one;  in  1837  and  183s,  two;  in  1S39  and  1840,  one;  in  1841,  two;  in  1842,  one: 
in  1843,  two;  in  1844  and  1845,  Franklin  and  Madison  two;  in  1846  and  1847,  two  ; 
in  1848,  1849  and  18ri0,  one;  and  one  a<lditional  member  elected  in  common  with 
Delaware;  and  since  1851,  under  the  New  Constitution,  Franklin  is  entitled  to 
two  membei's,  to  be  electe<l  biennially." 

Following  is  a  list  oi' the  I^>presentatives  chosen  from  the  organization  of  the 
county  to  the  present  time  : 

1803 — Michael    Baldwin,  liobert  Culbertaon,  Thomas  Worthington,   William 

Patton. 

1803-1804 — James  Dunlap,  John  Evans,  Flias  Langham. 

1804-1805 — Michael    Baldwin,   James    Dunlap,    Duncan    McArthnr,    William 

Patton. 

1805-180t;— James  Dunlaj),  David  Shelby,  Abraham  J.  Williams,  Elias  Lang- 
ham. 

18()r)-1807 — Ross,  Franklin  and  Highland;  James  Dunlap,  Nathaniel  Maasie, 
Davi<l  Shelby,  Abraham  J.  Williams. 

1807-1808 — Ross.  Franklin  and  Highland;  Thomas  Worthington,  Blias  l^ang- 
ham,  Jeremiah  McIiCne,  William  Lewis. 

1808-1809— Franklin  an<l  Delaware:  John  Blair. 
1809- 1810 — Franklin  and  Delaware:  John  Blair. 
1810-1811 — Franklin,  Madison.  Delaware  and  Pickaway;  John  Barr. 
1811-1812 — Franklin,  Delaware.  Madison  and  |)art  of  Pi(;kaway  ;  John   Barr. 
1812  1813— Franklin  ;  (iuslavus  Swan.     Since  1812  Franklin  County  has  been 
entitled  to  separate  rcj)resentation. 
1813-1814— Thomas  Johns(»n. 
1814- 1 81 5  -  Thomas  J  oh  nson. 
181 5-18D;— William  Ludlow. 


Franklin  Cihintv  Civii,  List. 

1816  1817-Thoma8  Moore. 
1817-181H— GustavtiM  Swan. 
18lfl-1820— John  A-  McDow.ll. 
lft:?0-182-J— Jobii  It.  PaiiBh. 
18:i2- 1823— David  Siiiitli. 
18:;:i  1824— JwitiH  KillMiiini. 
l«24-183a— (  florgo  W.  WilliuniH. 
1S2«-1827— Duvid  Smitli. 
1M27-1828— ThomaH  ('.  Flounioy. 
1«28-1829— Josopli  RiUjfway  una  l>iiiiii<l  Upsnii. 
lH2ft-lK30— William  Duughorly. 
18301831— Jostpb  Kidsway. 
1831-1832— Philo  II.  OlmslL'd. 

1H32-18;»— Francis  Stt'wart.  Murniiidiiko  B.  Wright. 
1833-1834— Pliilo  if.  Oliiislod. 
lK34.183ri-Adam  Read,  Jacob  (irubb. 
1835-ia^t)— Adam  Head. 
183i;-lS37— Alfred  Kellcy. 
1837.1838— Alfrod  Ki-lk^y,  KoIhtI  Neil. 
18:W-1839— John  \V.  Aii.lrews,  JuniOH  Killourn, 
1H39-181:0— Biilklcy  ConiHloek. 
1S40-1S41— JiiniOH  <!.  lUiyiKtIdH. 

I84l-I842-J..sepli  Clieimwilli,  Natlmiiiel  Meilh,.|-y. 
1842-1843— JoMc|>li  Chciiowith. 
1S43-1HI4— Saniiicl  I'arwuiH,  Cortu 
lS44-lS4:>-FPiinkliii  and  MiiiiiHoii 
1S45-1S40— Franklin  and  Madisor 
1S4IMS47— Franklin  and  Miiilis<iii 
1. •147- 1848— Franklin  and  Madisitn 
184S-185))— Jami's  Dal/.oil. 
1.-45II-1801— Delaware  and  Frankli 
lSal-1854 — Edward  A.  Stanloy,  Kdwai-d  (-'oiirtriKJil. 
1S34-1856— Hiram  Hundron.  Aluxander  ThoinjiHon. 
18jlj-18f>8— (George  M.  PurHonn,  JuincH  II.  Snitlb. 
!rt58- 18150- William  R.  Itankin,  Hinfb  {>.  Chancy. 
1S6U-18(!2 — Benjamin  L.  Reow-,  (ieor^e  L.  OinverHc. 
1802-1 W 14— ft eorge  L.  C'onverrte,  Otto  Drcfk^l. 
lwn4-lS6li— Otto  Drt^sel,'  Adin  (i.  Ilibbv  J.ilm  (i.  Kdwanls. 
iHfifi-lXdH- Adin  G.  Ilil.hs,  J.  R.  Marshall. 
lStlS.187lt— ('.  T.  Mann,  William  I,.  I(i>ss. 
lf<70-1872— Llewellyn  Baber,  Claiko  Whit,-. 
I.S72-1S74— William  L.  Kohh,  Clarki-  While, 
1S74-1876— (ieorge  L.  Cc.rivcrae,  J-.hii  H,  lli-ilniiiri. 
lS7(M87t*— J.  C-  Gro-)m,  (Jeoi^re  L,  ('onv<!rse. 
lx7H-188(l— H.  J.  Booth.  Claike  Whilt. 

1SK0-18S2— John  C.  iiroom',  Bimjaniin  l!r«s...  W.  T.  Walla.-. 
1H82- 1884— William  Hoi  I,  Jr.,  J.  B.  Hull,  Itt^njamiii  R.'es... 
12 


ns  <;rnm. 

J.Heiih  [(i.ijiway 

,  Jr.,  Cliarh's 

.M.-Cloiid. 

JoHfj.h  Hidgway 

,  Jr.,  Kdwiir.l 

!    Fitzjroi-iild. 

John  Nobl,.,  .h-r. 

^miali  Clark.- 

Aiirini  F.  Perry, 

lioorge  Tayl. 

or. 

;  Wray  Thomas 

and  t'h!irle« 

1,    Kal.>n, 

178  History  of  tiik  (*iTy  ok  (-(U.iTMBiTrt. 

1SH4-1S.SG — Edwani  W.  Youn^,  (!Jiisj)er  Loeweimlein,  Allen  O.  Myers. 
ISSd-lSSS— -Henry  (-.  Taylor,  William  Shei)ar(l,  Hngli  L.  Chaney. 
1888-1890— Lot  h.  Smith,  John  B.  Lawlor. 
1890-1892— John  H.  I.awlor,'  Albert  I).  Hetfner/  Lot  \j.  Smith. 
1892-1894— Philip  II.  Hrmk,  David  P.  Boyer,  Benjamin  T.  Gayman. 

1.  Resijifned. 

2.  Vice  Otto  Dresel,  roBijrnoil. 

.'i.     Dieii  before  expiration  of  term. 
4.     Vice  John  B.  T^awlor,  deceased. 

THE    .IlDiriARY. 

Pns'nhnf  Jfhi^jrs  uf  f/tr  ("inininm  PInis :  1803,  Wyllis  Silliman  ;  1804,  Levin 
Belt;  1805,  Robert  Slaughter;  1807,  Levin  Belt ;  1810,  William  Wilson  ;  1812,  John 
Thompson;  1810,  Orris  Parish,  elected  lor  seven  years,  resigned  1819;  1819,  F'red- 
erick  Grimke,  appointed  to  succeed  Orris  Parish,  deceased;  1820,  John  A.  Mc- 
Dowell, died  in  1823;  1823,  Gustavus  Swan,  appointed  vice  McDowell,  then 
elected  ;  1830,  Frederick  Grimke;  1834-1848,  Joseph  II.  Swan;  1848,  J.  L.  Torbet, 
who  served  until  February,  187)2,  when  the  office  was  abolished  by  the  Constitu- 
tion of  1851.  Under  the  new  organization  of  the  courts  James  L.  Bates  was 
elected  for  live  years,  and  reelected  in  1850  and  1801.  He  served  until  1866.  John 
L.  Green  was  elected  in  1807,  and  afterwards  twice  reelected.  In  1868  Joseph  Olds 
was  elected  for  the  district  comprising  the  counties  of  Franklin,  Madison  and 
Pickaway.  Jn  1873  K.  F.  Bingham  was  elected  as  successor  to  Judge  Olds:  Judge 
Bingham  was  reelected  in  1878,  and  in  1888  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  sitting  at  Washington.  In  1879  Eli 
P.  Kvans  was  elected  for  the  term  of  five  years,  lie  was  reelected  in  1884  and 
1889.  Thomas  J.  Duncan  was  elected  in  1886,  and  reelected  in  1891.  David  F. 
Pugh  was  appointed  by  the  Governor  in  1888,  vice  Bingham  appointed  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  tlie  District  of  Columbia. 

Assoridtt'  Judijcs:  1803,  John  Dill,  David  Jamison  and  Joseph  Foos,  electee i 
for  seven  years;  1808,  William  Thompson,  appointed  vice  Foos,  resigned;  18(»9 
Isaac  Miner,  elected  vice  Thompson;  1810,  J^)bert  Shannon,  William  Reed  and 
Alexander  Morrison,  Jr.  ;  1814,  Arthur  O'Harra,  appointed  vice  Reed,  resigned  ; 
1815,  Reed,  vice  O'Harra;  1817,  Samuel  G.  Flenniken  and  David  Smith;  1819, 
Recompence  Stansbery,  by  appointment  vice  Reed,  deceased;  1820,  Abner  Lord, 
elected  vice  Stansbery;  1821,  Edward  Livingston,  appointed  vice  Lord,  deceased  : 
1822,  John  Kerr,  appointed,  and  afterwards  elected,  vice  Smith,  resigned;  1823, 
Thomas  Johnston,  appointed  vice  Kerr,  deceased  ;  1824,  Arora  Buttles,  elected 
vice  Johnston;  1824,  Samuel  G.  Flenniken,  reelected;  1829,  AVilliam  McElvain  ; 
1831,  Arora  Buttles  and  Samuel  G.  P'lenniken;  1836,  Adam  Reed;  18^7, 
William  McElvain;  1838,  Christian  Heyl  and  Samuel  G.  Flenniken ;  1843,  James 
Dalzell,  appointed  vice  William  McElvain,  deceased  ;  1844,  John  A.  Lazell ;  1845, 
John  Landes  and  Christian  Hej^l ;  1851,  William  T.  Martin,  who  served  until  the 
ofiice  of  Associate  Judge  was  abolished  by  the  New  Constitution. 

J*rol.nif('  Jmhjfs :  This  otlice  was  created  by  the  Constitution  of  1851,  and  in 
()ctol>er  of  that  year  William  W.  Rankin  was  elected  first  Probate  Judge  of  FVanklin 
County,  for  a  term   of  three  years,  beginning  in   February,  1852.     His  successors 


Frankmn  ('(irNTV  Civil  Kist.  I7l> 

have  been  as  Ibllows  :  1S54,  William  Jamison;  1.^57,  Herman  B.  Albery;  ISGH, 
John  M.  Pugh;  1S7S,  John  T.  Gale;  ISS4,  Charles  G.  Saffin  ;  1S90,  Lorenzo  1). 
II  agar  ty. 

('h'rl:x  ijf  tfw  (\nirt :  Prior  lo  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  1851 ,  the  Conrt 
of  Common  Pleas  and  the  Supreme  Court  each  appointed  its  own  clerk  for  the 
term  of  seven  years,  but  in  Franklin  County  the  same  individual  was  always 
ap])ointed  by  both  courts.  The  clerks  since  the  organization  of  the  county  have 
beeii  as  follows:  1S03,  Lucas  Sullivant;  ISIO,  Lyne  Starling;  1S15,  Ahram  I. 
McDowell;  1836,  Klijah  Backus:  1888,  Lyne  Starling,  Jr.:  184<),  Lewis  Heyl  : 
1851,  Kendall  Thomas;  1854,  Albert  Buttles:  1857,  John  L.  Bryan:  1869,  James 
H.  Smith  :  1862,  David  W.  Brooks;  1871,  James  S.  Ahbotl  :  1877,  Harvey  Casiiett  : 
1S88,  John  J.  Joyce;  1800,  Theodore  IL  Beck;  1890,  Willinm  11.  Simonton, 
appointed  vice  Beck  deceased,  and  elected  for  full  term  in  iSiM). 

PROS KCUTINO   A'nORN KYS. 

Until  1833  the  Prosecuting  Attorneys  were  appoirited  for  an  indefinite  period  ; 
after  1833  they  were  elected  biennially,  until,  by  Act  of  April  20,  1881,  the  term 
was  prolonged  from  two  years  to  three.  Since  the  organization  of  the  eounty.  the 
incumbents  of  the  office  have  been  as  follows:  1805,  Reul>en  Bonam  ;  18H),  John 
S.  Wills;  1813,  David  Scott;  1811),  John  A.  McDowell;  1820,  Thomas  Backus; 
1821-1830,  John  R.  Parish,  James  K.  Corey,  (rustavus  Swan,  Orris  Parish,  William 
Doherty:  1830,  Joseph  \\.  Swan:  1834,  P.  B.  Wilcox;  1830,  Moses  IL  Kirby  ; 
1838,  William  W.  Backus;  1842.  Lewis  ileyl ;  1840,  L.  IL  Wehster;  1848,  Thomas 
Sparrow;  1850,  B.  F.  Martin;  1854,  George  L.  Converse:  185t»,  J.  ().  Heamey, 
Milton  H.  Mann;  1808,  K.  T.  Delaney;  1870,  (Jeorge  K  Nash;  1870,  Joseph  H. 
Outhwaite:  1870,  W.  J.  Clarke;  1882,  R.  B.  Montgomery:  1885,  (^yrus  lluling; 
1892,  Curtis  C.  Williams. 


SlfERIFFS. 

9 


1803,  Benjamin  White,  appointed,  Adam  Hosack,  elected  :  1807,  E.  N.  DeLash- 
mutt;  1811,  Samuel  Shannon;  1815,  Francis  Stewart;  1810,  John  McFJvain  ;  1823, 
Robert  Brotherton  ;  1827,  John  McElvain  :  1829,  Robert  Brotherton  ;  1833,  Andrew 
McElvain  ;  1837,  James  Graham;  1841,  William  Domigan  ;  1845,  John  (iraham  ; 
1849,  John  Greenleaf;  1853,  Thomas  Miller;  1855,  William  Miner;  1857,  Silas  W. 
Park  ;  1859,  (jeorge  W.  Huffman  ;  18t;3,  William  Domigan  ;  1807,  (reorge  IL  Ear- 
hart,  who  died  November  27,  1808,  from  which  date  the  Coroner  discharged  the 
duties  of  the  office  until  1869,  when,  by  election,  Samuel  Thompson  became  Sheriflf"; 
1874,  W.  E.  Horn;  1878,  Josiah  Kinnear;  1880,  J.  U.  Kickenbacher :  1881,  Louis 
Heinmiller;   1885,  William  H.  Barbee;   1887,  Brice  W.  Custer. 


COUNTY    AUDrrORS. 


The  General  Assembly  created  the  oOice  of  County  Auditor  at  its  session  of 
1820-21.'  Prior  to  that  time  the  duties  which  have  since  devolved  upon  the  Aiidi- 
tr)r  were  chiefly  performed  by  the  (-ounty  CommissioiuMs  and  their  clci'k.  The 
Auditor  was  elected  annually  until  1824;  after  that  hiennially.  The  first  .\ndilor 
of  Franklin  County  was  Joseph  Grate,  appointed  by  the  Commissioners  in  March, 
1821.     The  Auditors  elected  since  that  time  have  bren  the  following 


180  History  of  the  C-itv  of  Colitmbi-k. 

1821,  Zac'hariah  MilU,  oleetod  for  one  3'ear. 

1822,  JoHeph  (rratc,  elerteci  for  one  year. 
1828,  Joseph  Grate,  elected  for  one  year. 
1824,  Joseph  (4 rate,  elected  for  two  vearH. 

I82f),  Joseph  Urate,  elected  tor  two  years.     I.)ied  a  few  days  after  his  election. 

182tJ,  John  C.  lirodrick,  a])pointed  b}'  the  C'OmniissioncrB  vice  Gmte,  deceased. 
Brodrick  was  reelected  for  a  term  of  two  years  in  1827,  1829,  18H1,  18HH,  1835,  and 
1837. 

1839,  Frederick  (\»le.     I^vlcct^ni  in  1841  and  1843. 

1845,  Smithson  K.  Wright.      Reelected  in  1847. 

1849,  Holdemond  Crary.      IUM*le<ted  in  1851. 

1853,  John  M.  Pu^rh.      Heclected  in  1855. 

1857,  .lohn  Phillips.      Reelected  in  1859. 

1862,  Matthias  Martin.     Reelected  in  18()3  and  1805. 

1806,  Dennis  B.  Strait. 

1868,  S.  E.  Kile. 

1874,  LeviT.  Strader. 

1878,  K.  Kiesewetter. 

1884,  Frank  J.  Reinhard. 

1890,  Ifenry  J.  Oaren. 

1.  At  the  precedinjj  sesHion  of  the  L(»ffislature,  Jud{<e  Flenniken  was  appointed,  by  tlie 
title  of  Auditor,  to  rate  the  lands  of  this  county  for  taxation  ;  hut  it  was  entirely  a  different 
office  from  the  present,  and  only  continued  one  year.  The  lands  were  then  classed  for  taxa- 
tion as  first,  second  and  third  rate,  and  charged  a  specified  sum  )ier  hundred  acres  for  each 
respective  class. — Martin's  HiaU/ry  of  Fruitkiin  County. 

TRRASUUBKS. 

At  first  the  (/onnty  Treasurer  was  appointed  by  the  Associate  Judges;  after- 
wards, until  1827,  by  the  County  ( ■onmiisioners.  In  pursuance  of  an  act  of  the 
General  Assembly  passed  January  24,  1827,  the  Treasurer  has  since  that  date  been 
elected  biennially.  The  first  Treasurer  was  Jacob  Grubb,  appointed  by  the  Asso- 
ciate Judges  in  1803.  lie  continued  to  serve,  by  yearly  reappointment,  until  1827. 
Since  that  year  the  Treasurers  have  been  as  follows:  1827,  ('hristian  Heyl,  ap- 
point^jd  b}-  the  (-ommissioners  ;  1827,  Cliristian  Heyl,  elected  for  two  3'ear8 ;  1833, 
George  McC.'Ormick ;  1835,  William  Long;  1841,  Joseph  McElvain;  1845,  Joseph 
Leiby;  1851,  O.  P.  llines;  1855,  James  II.  Stauring;  1859,  John  G.  Thompson; 
1863,  Joseph  Falkenbach  ;  1867,  Aaron  C.  lladley;  1869,  James  B.  Wright,  ap- 
pointed  vice  lladley,  resigned  j  1870,  Lorenzo  English;  1872,  James  E.  Wright; 
1877,  P.  W.  Corzilius;  1880,  George  Beck;  1884,  A.  D.  Heffner;  1888,  Henry 
Pausch. 

COUNTY     COLLECrrORS. 

"Many  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  mode  of  collecting  taxes.  The  first  two 
or  three  years  aflcr  the  organization  of  this  county,  the  chattel  tax  was  collected  b}" 
Townshij)  (collectors,  and  a  County-  Collector  collected  the  land  tax.  After  that, 
say  from  about  1806  till  1820,  the  State  was  divided  into  four  districts,  and  aCollec 
tor  of  non-resident  land  tax  appointed  by  the  Legislature  for  each  district;  and  a* 
the  same  time  the  County  Collector  collected  the  chattel  tax,  and  lax  upon  resident 


Franklin  ('ointv  Oivii.  List.  ISl 

lands.  And  from  about  1820  until  1827,  the  County  Collectors  collected  all  taxes 
for  State  and  county  purposes.  Since  1827  it  has  been  the  duty  of  the  Treasurer  to 
receive  or  collect  the  taxes." — Mtrrfhi's  JUstnnj  of  Fnniklln  (hunfi/. 

The  Collectors  from  the  organization  of  the  county  until  the  ottice  was  abolished 
in  1S27,  were  as  follows:  1803,  Benjamin  White;  1804,  Adam  ilosack;  1808, 
Klias  N.  DeLashmutt;  1811,.Iohn  M.  vVhite;  1812,  Samuel  Shannon ;  1815,  Francis 
Stewart  ;  1818,  Jacob  Kellar;  1822,  Andrew  Dill;  1823,  Aiora  lUittles;  1824,  Peter 
Scdis;  182G,  Robert  Hrotherton,  who  served  until  the  ottice  was  abolished. 

COUNTY   A8R^:S80KS. 


• 


The  office  of  County  Assessor  was  created  hy  act  of  the  (Tcneral  Assembly, 
passed  February  3,  1825.  Prior  to  that  date,  each  township  chose  its  own  assessor 
at  the  annual  spring  election.  An  act  passed  January  IH,  1827,  pr(»vided  that  the 
assessor  should  be  appointed  by  the  ('ounty  Commissioners,  to  serve  until  the 
following  October,  and  that  thereafter  they  should  bo  elected  by  the  voters, 
biennially.  An  act  of  March  20,  1841,  abolished  the  office  of  County  Assessor  and 
provided  that  an  assessor  should  be  elected  in  each  townsliip.  The  County  Asses- 
sors during  the  continuance  of  the  ottice  were  as  tbllows:  1825,  James  Kilbourn; 
1827,  John  Swisher;  1835,  James  Ciraham  ;  1837,  William  l)omigan,  who  served 
until  the  office  was  abolished. 

KK<H>R1)KRS. 

The  County  iiecorders  were  appointed  by  the  Con»mon  Pleas  Judges  until 
1831  :  since  that  year  they  have  been  chosen  triennial!}'  by  (he  voters.  The  first 
Recorder  was  Lucas  Sullivant,  appointed  in  January,  1804.  He  serve<i  until  1807, 
when  Adam  Ilosack  was  appointe<l.  Ho.sack's  successors  by  appointment  were 
Lincoln  Goodale  in  1813,  and  Abram  L  McDowell  in  1817.      McDowell  served  until 

1831,  since  when  the  recorders  have  been  elected  as  follows:  1831,  William  T. 
Martin;  184G,  Nathan  Cole ;  1882,  F.  M.  Senter;  1885,  Michael  A.  Lilley;  1888, 
Robert  Thompson. 

SURVEYORS. 

An  act  of  March  3,  1831,  provided  that  the  Surveyors  should  be  triennially 
chosen  by  the  voters;  previous  to  that  act,  they  had  been  appointed  by  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas.  The  first  Surveyor  was  Joseph  Vance,  originally  apj)ointed  in 
1803,  and  continued  by  reappointment  until  his  death  in  1824.  His  successor, 
Richard  Howe,  after  serving  a  brief  })eriod,  transferred  the  duties  oi  the  office  to 
his  deputy,  General  Jeremiah  McLene,  who  acted  as  Surveyor  until  1827,  when  he 
was  appointed  to  the  office.     Lyne  Stiirling,  Jr.,  was  elected  McLene's  successor  in 

1832,  but  resigned  in  April,  1833,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mease  Smith,  who  was 
appointed  for  the  remainder  of  Starling's  term.  The  surveyors  since  then  elected 
have  been  as  follows:  1833,  Frederick  Cole:  1S36,  William  Johnston  :  1S39,  Uriah 
Lathrop;  1842,  John  Graham;  1845,  William  Johnston  :  1S48,  Jesse  Cortright  ;  1S54, 
W.  W.  Pollard;  1857,  Daniel  Hess,  resigned  ;  18(»0,  C.  C.  Walcutt.  who  resigned  and 
was  succeeded  by  Uriah  Lathroj),  apj)ointed  for  Walcutt's  unexpired  term:  181)2, 
Uriah  Lathrop,  elected;  1805,  W.  P.  Brown:  1871,  Josiah  Kinnoar;  1875,  B.  F. 
Bowen ;  1883,  Josiah  Kinnear;  1889,  John  J.  Dun. 


182  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

commissioners. 

The  first  Commissioners  of  Franklin  County  were  elected  in  June,  1804,  and 
their  terras  of  service,  determined  by  lot,  were  as  follows:  John  Blair,  Clerk  of  the 
Board,  until  October,  1804;  Benjamin  Sells,  until  October,  1805;  Arthur  O'flarra, 
until  October,  1806.  The  subsequent  members  of  the  board  have  been:  1804, 
Michael  Fisher,  Clerk;  1805,  Ezekial  Brown  ;  1806,  Arthur  O'Harra ;  1807,  Michael 
Fisher;  1808,  James  Marshall;  1809,  Arthur  O'Harra,  Clerk;  1810,  Robert 
Armstrong;  1811,  James  Marshall  (Adam  Hosack,  Clerk);  1812,  William  Shaw; 
1813,  Robert  Armstrong  (Gustav us  Swan,  Clerk) ;  1814,  James  Marshall  (Joseph 
Grate,  Clerk) ;  1815,  William  Mcllvain  (J.  A.  McDowell,  Clerk) ;  1816,  Robert 
Armstrong,  Samuel  G.  Flenniken  (J.  A.  McDowell,  Clerk) ;  1817,  Joseph  Grate, 
James  Marshall  (J.  A.  McDowell,  Clerk);  1818,  David  Jamison  (Joseph  Grate 
Clerk  until  1821,  when  he  was  appointed  County  Auditor,  whose  duties  were,  and 
have  since  been,  in  part,  to  act  as  Clerk  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners) ;  1819, 
George  W.  Williams;  1820,  Joseph  Grate;  1821,  Robert  Armstrong,  Horace 
Walcutt;  1822,  James  Marshall;  1823,  Andrew  Dill;  1824,  Robert  Armstrong; 
1825,  William  Stewart;  1826,  John  M.  Walcutt;  1827,  William  McBlvain  ;  1828, 
William  Stewart;  1820,  Horace  Walcutt,  William  Miller;  1H30,  Matthew 
Matthews;  1831,  William  Stewart;  1832,  Horace  Walcutt,  who  died  in  1833; 
1833,  John  M.  White,  Matthew  Matthews,  and  Timothy  Lee,  appointed  vice 
Walcutt,  deceased;  1834,  Hiram  Andrews,  vice  Stewart;  1835,  Robert  Lisle; 
1836,  James  Bryden  ;  1837,  R.  W.  Cowles,  vice  Andrews;  1838,  John  Tipton, 
vice  Lisle;  1839,  James  Bryden;  1840,  William  W.  Kyle,  vice  Cowles;  1841, 
Samuels.  Davis;  1842,  John  Greenwood,  vice  Bryden  ;  1843,  William  W.  Kyle; 
1844,  Samuel  S.  Davis;  1845,  John  Clarke,  vice  Gree;iwood ;  1846,  Adam 
Stewart,  vice  Kyle;  1847,  Thomas  J.  Moorman,  vice  Davis;  1848,  O.  P.  Hines, 
vice  Clarke;  1849,  Jacob  Slyh,  vice  Stewart ;  1850,  Eli  F.  Jennings,  vice 
Moorman;  1851,  Jesse  Baughman,  vice  Hines;  1852,  C.  W.  Speaks,  vice  Slyh; 
1853,  Edward  Livingston,  vice  Jennings;  1854,  Willis  Mattoon,  vice  Baughman; 
1855,  Theodore  Comstoek,  vice  Speaks;  1856.  Edward  Livingston;  1857, 
C.  P.  Hines,  appointed  vice  Mattoon,  deceased;  1857,  Isaac  White,  elected 
vice  Hines;  1858,  David  L.  Holton,  resigned;  1859,  Thomas  Sparrow,  appointed 
vice  Holton  ;  1859,  John  Snider,  elected  ;  1860,  Dennis  B.  Strait ;  1861,  Jacob  Slyh  ; 
1862,  James  W.  Barbee  ;  1864,  John  M.  Koerner;  1866,  John  G.  Edwards;  1867, 
William  Gulich;  1868,  Eli  M.  Lysle;  1869,  J.  O.  B.  Renick  ;  1870,  Francis  Collins, 
vice  Lysle,  resigned;  1870,  William  Cooper,  vice  Gulich,  resigned;  1870,  Frederick 
Beck;  1871,  John  P.  Bruck,  vice  Beck,  resigned;  1872,  Adin  G.  Hibbs;  1873, 
Francis  Riley;  1874,  Isaac  S.  Beekey  ;  1875,  Daniel  Matheny ;  1876,  Dennis  B. 
Strait;  1877,  Isaac  S.  Beekey;  1878,  Daniel  Matheny;  1879,  Thomas  Robinson; 
1880,  Joseph  M,  Briggs ;  1881,  Josiah  C.  Lunn  ;  1882,  William  Wall ;  1883,  Joseph 
M.  Briggs;  1884,  Richard  Z.  Dawson;  1886,  Lewis  Morehead  ;  1887,  same  as  in 
1886;  1888,  Thomas  D.  Cassidy ;  1889,  same  as  in  1888;  1890,  Richard  Z.  Dawson, 
Thomas  Cassidy,  Lewis  Morehead. 

CORONERS. 

1805,  Joseph  Dixon  :  1807,  William  Domigan  ;  1815,Townsend  Nichols  ;  1817, 
Thomas    Kincaid;  1818,  Robert   Brotherton ;  1819,    William    Richardson;    1821, 


Franklin  County  Civil  List.  183 

Adam  Brotherlin  ;  1825,  Jacob  Bbey ;  1830,  Jonathan  Neereamer;  1835,  George 
Jeffreys;  1839,  James  Wale  utt ;  1843,  A.  W.  Reader;  1845,  Horton  Howard;  1849, 
A.  W.  Reader;  1851,  James  W.  Barbee;  1853,  A,  W.  Reader;  1855,  Blias  Gaver ; 

1869,  Patrick  Bgan  ;  1891,  John  P.  Egan. 

DIRECTORS    OF   THE    INFIRMARY. 

The  first  Directors  were  Jacob  Grubb,  Ralph  Osborn  and  P.  B.  Wilcox,  who 
were  appointed  by  the  County  Commissioners,  in  1832.  Subsequent  appointments 
were  made  as  follows;  James  Walcutt,  George  B.  Harvey,  W.  T.  Martin,  and 
William  Domigan.  Directors  were  first  chosen  by  the  voters  at  the  State  election 
of  1842,  viz.:  George  Frankenberg  for  one  year,  Augustus  S.  Decker  for  two 
years,  and  for  the  three  years  term  Robert  Riorden,  who  was  continued  in  office 
by  releection  until  1848,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  John  Walton.  Directors  have 
since  been  elected  as  follows:  18491,  S.  D.  Preston  and  ArthurO'Harra;  1852,  Amos 
L.Ramsey;  1853,  Rnfus  Main  ;  1854,  Orin  Backus;  1855,  L.  J.  Moeller  ;  1856,  John 
Lysle;  1857,  William  Aston ;  1859,  James  Leirg;  1860,  John  Greenleaf  (appointed 
vice  Moeller,  resigned)  and  Newton  Gibbons  and  Philemon  Hess,  elected ;  1862, 
Fred  Beck  ;  1867,  Jacob  Grau  ;  1868,  Frederick  Fornoff;  1869,  Henry  L.  Siebert ; 

1870,  W.  H.  Gaver;  1871,  John  Schneider;  1872,  John  H.  Earhart  ;  1873,  W.  H. 
Gavcr;  1874,  John  Schneider;  1875,  John  H.  Earhart,  1876,  W.  H.  Gaver;  1877, 
James  Burns;  1878,  John  H.  Earhart;  1879,  Christian  Bngeroff;  1880,  James 
Burns;  1881,  Jacob  Reab;  1882,  Christian  Engcroif;  1883,  James  C.  Cloary  ; 
1884,  Harvey  Lisle;  1885,  Emery  McDermith  ;  1886,  James  C.  Cleary;  1887, 
Harvey  Lisle;    1888,  Stephen  Kelley  ;  1890,  Adam  Fendrich  ;  1891,  John  P.  Egan. 

superintendents  of  the  infirmary. 

Robert  Cloud,  appointed  in  1832,  resigned  and  was  succeeded  by  William 
King,  who  continued  in  charge  until  October,  1837,  when  he  gave  place  to  Edward 
Heddon.  The  Superintendents  since  then  have  been:  1844,  C.  F.  Schenck  ;  1851, 
Joseph  McElvain  ;  1852,  Charles  Jucksch ;  1853,  Joseph  McBlvain ;  1854,  Daniel 
Evans  ;  1857.  L.  J.  Moeller;  1860,  S.  P.  McElvain  ;  1869,  J.  J.  Fanston ;  1871,  S.  P. 
McElvain  ;  1880,  Thomas  A.  Jackson  ;  1881,  H.  C.  Filler. 


CHAPTER  X. 


WORTH!  n(;ton.' 

At  the  very  bo;L?innin^  ot  the  Republic,  the  National  ]>oiicy  with  respect  to 
the  limitation  of  slavery,  became  a  matter  of  profound  practical  concern.  In  New 
England,  particularly,  it  deeply  affected  the  movement  of  population  to  the  (ireat 
West,  then  ojK»ning  to  settlement.  Thousands  who  were  eaecer  to  participate  in 
building  up  new  States  beyond  the  Ohio  were  inflexibly  determined  to  live  under 
no  slavoholding  rvijimt'.  '*  Make  the  land  worth  having,"  said  Manassoh  Cutler  to 
the  Continental  Congress  when  bargaining  for  a  tract  for  the  New  England  Asso- 
ciates. "  Unless  you  do,"  he  continued,  "  we  do  not  want  it."  The  purport  of  this 
admonition  was  fully  understood.  '* Exclude  alaveiy  from  the  Northwest,  and  wo 
will  buy  your  land  there,  and  help  you  to  ]»ay  off  the  war  debt;  allow  slavery  to 
enter,  and  not  a  penny  will  we  invest."  Accordingly  the  great  political  charter, 
then  maturing,  for  the  vast  regions  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  was  so  framed  as  to 
forever  prohibit,  within  their  limits,  all  *' slavery  and  involuntary  servitude." 

Fifteen  years  later  this  question  came  again  to  the  front.  A  new  State  was 
about  to  be  created,  and  a  territorial  convention,  sitting  at  Chillicothe,  was  en- 
gaged in  framing  its  constitution.  Would  that  constitution  admit  slavery  or 
exclude  it  ?  Upon  the  decision  of  that  question  depended  the  political  future  of 
the  new  commonwealth,  and  the  destiny  of  the  thousands  who  desii'ed  to  become 
its  citizens.  Acting  in  conformity  with  the  glorious  covenant  of  the  Ordinance 
of  1787,  the  Convention  gave  its  voice  for  freedom,  and  incorporated  these  epoch- 
making  provisions  into  the  first  constitution  of  Ohio  : 

There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  tliis  State,  otherwise  than 
for  the  punishment  of  crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted ;  nor  shall 
any  male  person,  arrived  at  the  ajre  of  twentyone  years,  or  female  person  arrived  at  the  a^^ 
of  eighteen  years,  be  hehl  to  serve  any  person  at?  a  servant,  under  the  pretense  of  indenture 
or  otherwise,  unless  such  person  shall  enter  into  such  indenture  while  in  a  state  of  perfect 
free<loni,  and  on  condition  of  a  Inyua  /y^e*  consideration  received,  or  to  be  received,  for  their  ser- 
vice, except  as  before  excepted.  Nor  s-liall  any  indenture  of  any  nejj:ro  or  mulatto,  hereafter 
made  and  executed  out  of  the  State,  or  if  made  in  the  State,  where  the  term  of  service  ex- 
ceeds one  year,  be  of  the  least  validity,  except  those  given  in  the  case  of  apprentice8hij>8.- 

Among  the  New  Englanders  who  awaited  this  verdict  with  deep  interest,  was 
James  Kilbourn,  then  residing  at  Granby,  Connecticut.  Mr.  Kilbourn  was  born 
at  New  Britain,  in  that  State,  October  19,  1770.  The  War  of  Independence  broke 
out  when  he  was  but  five  years  of  age,  and  swept  away  nearly  all  the  property'  of 
his  father,  Josiah  Kilbourn,  who  had  been,  prior  to  that  lime,  a  prosperous  farmer. 
This  loss,  together  with  tliat  of  three  members  of  his  family,  who  perished  in  the 

[184] 


/i./V^vn,..       . 


1 


.•• 


WoRTiriN<JT()N.  1^5 

war.  bereft  the  senior  Kilbourn  for  several  years  ol  his  reason.  The  faniilv  home- 
stead  was  broken  iip,  and  young  James  Kilhourn,  then  a  boy  of  sixteen,  was 
obliged  to  quit  his  parents  and  go  forth  in  search  of  the  means  of  self-maintenance. 
This  he  did  with  a  brave  heart,  and  a  spirit  of  determination  above  his  years.  His 
resources  lay  entirely  within  himself.  When  he  crossi'd  the  parental  threshold, 
and  went  out  alone  and  penniless  into  the  great  world,  he  had  neither  coat  nor 
shoes,  and  his  education  was  so  meager  that  he  could  scarcely  write  his  name. 

After  walking  thirty  miles,  he  obtained  employment  with  a  farmer,  which 
engagement  he  exchanged  at  a  later  period  for  an  ai)prenticeship  with  a  clothier, 
whose  trade  he  undertook  to  learn.  Durini^  five  months  of  each  vear,  reserved  by 
the  terms  of  his  apprenticeship  for  his  own  dis])osal,  he  worked  on  the  farm  of  a 
Mr.  Griswold,  whose  son,  then  a  young  man,  afterwards  became  a  distinguished 
bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  fhurch.  The  future  bishop  took  a  friendly 
interest  in  the  young  apprentice,  and  gave  him  instruction  which  supplied,  to  some 
extent,  the  deficiencies  of  his  education. 

By  means  of  these  hel])s.  and  his  energetic  ert'orts  to  help  himself,  3'oung 
Kilbourn  rapidly  nuistered  the  intricacies  of  his  craft,  and  so  won  upon  the  confi- 
dence of  his  employers  that  he  was  placed  at  the  liead  of  the  clothiers  estahlish- 
nient.  He  also  won  the  hand  of  Miss  Lucy  Fitch,  daughter  of  John  Fitch,  of 
Philadelphia,  the  inventor  of  steam  navigation,  and  buihler  of  the  first  American 
steamboat."*  Married  at  the  age  of  nineteen  to  Miss  Fitch,  he  soon  afterwards  en- 
tered upon  a  business  career  which  carried  him  steadily  ori  to  affluence.  After 
becoming  the  owner  of  mills,  stores  and  several  farms,  including  that  which  his 
father  had  lost  by  the  war,  he  settled  as  a  merchant  at  (iranby.  There  we  find 
him  at  the  operiing  of  this  chapter,  meditating  schemes  of  western  colonization, 
and  also  officiating  occasionally  as  a  clergyman  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
in  which,  at  the  solicitation  of  friends,  he  had  taken  orders.  He  had  meanwhile 
founded  a  public  library  and  acquired  s(nne  rej>utation  as  a  writer  and  speaker. 
After  his  ordination,  several  parishes  desired  him  as  their  permanent  pastor,  but 
he  declined  their  invitations.  The  fascination  of  the  Great  West  had  seized  upon 
his  mind,  and  permeated  the  current  of  his  thoughts.  In  pursuance  of  these 
predilections  he  had  already  made  several  preliminary  explorations  in  western  and 
northwestern  New  York,  when  his  fatherinlaw,  Mr.  Fitch,  advised  him  to  turn 
his  attention  to  Ohio.  Acting  upon  this  advice,  he  matured  plans  lor  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  company  to  establish  a  settlement  in  that  region.  These  j)lans  he  began 
to  broach  in  ISOO,  but,  8a3's  his  biographer,  '•  it  took  about  one  year  for  him  to  per- 
suade his  friends  that  he  was  in  earnest  —  and  another,  that  he  was  not  insane. 
Ohio  was  then  regarded  as  on  the  utmost  verge  of  the  West;  ami  they  thought 
him  too  pleasantly  situated  to  make  so  great  sacrifices  as  were  involved  in  such 
an  enterpri.se."* 

Kilbourn  thought  otherwise,  and  persisted  in  his  designs.  Having  enlisted 
the  first  seven  of  the  forty  members  of  his  proposed  company,  he  set  out  in  the 
spring  of  1S02  on  his  first  expedition  to  Ohio.  Traveling  \)y  stage  until  he  arrived 
at  Shippensburg,  Pennsylvania,  where  the  stage  line  then  terminated,  he  there 
shouldered  his  pack,  walked  over  the  mountains  to  Pittsburgh,  descendejl  the  river 
to  Wheeling,  and  thence  penetrated  the  Ohio  Wilderness  by  the  way  of  Zane's 
Trace,  which  he  followed  to  the    Muskingum    and    Lancaster,  where    he  turned 


186  History  of  the  ('ity  of  Columbus. 

northward  to  the  Forks  of  the  Seioto.  After  spending  the  summer  in  exploring 
the  country',  and  conferring  with  those  best  acquainted  with  it,  he  concluded  his 
mission  by  selecting  for  the  j)roposed  settlement  a  tract  of  sixteen  thousand  acres 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Whetstone,  nine  miles  above  Franklinton.  He  did  not 
then  purchase  the  land,  but  returned  to  Connecticut,  and  made  his  report  to  his 
associates.  From  that  report,  written  by  Mr.  Kilbourn's  own  hand,  on  coarse 
paper  now  yellow  with  age,  the  following  extracts  are  here  copied  : 

We,  James  Kilbourn  and  NathM  Little  being  by  a  resolve  and  determination  of  the 
iSeioto  Company  appointed  agent  for  said  Company  to  explore  the  Territory  of  the  United 
States  Northwest  of  Ohio,  and  to  transact  any  other  business  for  said  company  which  we 
should  deem  for  their  benefit,  beg  leave  to  report. 

Here  follow  descriptions  of  the  country  eastward  from  Wheeling,  and  of  the 
lands  in  the  valleys  of  the  Muskingum,  Hockhocking  and  Lower  Scioto.  The 
remarks  on  the  tract  finally  selected  for  the  colony  contain  these  passages  : 

This  tract  is  situate  on  the  Eastern  side  of  the  Scioto,  and  is  watered  largely  by  Wal- 
nut Creek  —  a  stream  as  large  as  Salmon  Brook  in  Granby  —  and  the  Bigbelly  Creek,  which  is 
near  or  quite  as  large  as  Farmington  River  at  Farmington ;  both  clear  lively  stt earns  of 
pure  water  as  ever  flowed  from  a  fountain,  with  small  gravel  and  in  places  large  pebble  bot- 
tom. .  .  .  There  is  in  this  tract  a  thousand  acres  at  least,  in  one  place,  of  the  best  clear  mead- 
ow I  ever  saw  in  any  place  whatever,  without  a  tree  or  a  bush  in  the  whole  extent  and  the 
old  grass  and  weeds  are  burnt  off  every  spring.  The  present  growth  (which  is  good  stack  hay 
if  mowed  early)  was,  in  the  lowest  places,  higher  than  a  horse's  back,  except  where  it  was 
lodged  down;  and  generally  higher  than  my  head,  sitting  on  my  horse,  to  the  topmost  spires. 
It  was  so  thick  as  to  he  almost  impossible  to  force  a  horse  through  it.  A  Mr.  Spence  and  Mr. 
Little  being  with  me,  we  had  to  take  turns  in  going  before,  to  break  down  a  path,  as  a  horse 
would  tire  and  tangle  himself  in  a  small  distance. 

This  meadow  is  so  «lry  as  to  be  good  plow  laml,  and  fit  to  be  planted  with  corn,  any  year, 
with  only  plowing  and  fencing;  and  for  the  latter  purpose  there  is  a  good  forest  of  fencing 
timber  around  it  on  all  sides,  so  that  it  might  all  be  enclosed  without  drawing  any  rails  two 
rods.  The  clear  black  mold  in  all  this  meadow,  and  others  of  the  kind,  is  at  least  three  feet 
deep,  and  will  produce,  if  kept  clear  of  weeds,  seventy  or  eighty  bushels  of  corn  per  acre, 
at  a  crop.    This  is  fully  verified  by  fields  of  corn  on  similar  lauds  in  the  vicinity.     .     .     . 

The  soil  of  this  tract  is,  in  my  opinion,  rather  superior  to  any  of  so  great  extent  1  have 
seen  in  all  the  Territory.  It  is  of  various  depths  from  six  inches  on  the  highest'hills,  to 
three  feet  in  the  bottoms.  Upon  the  large  creeks,  the  bottoms  seem  to  have  a  soil  almost 
as  deep  as  the  banks  of  the  stream.     ... 

The  prim;ipal  timber  is  oak,  making  near  one  half  of  the  whole.  Part  of  this  is  white- 
oak —  perhaps  half  —  and  the  other  yellow,  black  and  Spanish  oak.  Then  there  is  hard 
maple,  hickory,  black  walnut,  ash  and  whitewood  in  abundance.  There  is  also  cherry  and 
butternut,  elm,  soft  maple,  buckwooil,  some  beach  and  honey  locust.  The  undergrowth 
which  is  not  thick  except  in  some  particular  spots,  is  chiefly  spice-bush,  mixed  with  pawpaw 
in  all  the  bottoms  and  richest  uplands.  Upon  the  thinnest  upland  the  underwood,  where 
any  there  is,  consist*  of  boxwood,  hard-beem,  hickory  saplings  and  hazelnut  bushes ;  but  not 
an  alder  of  any  kind  have  I  seen  beyond  the  hills  on  the  Forks.  On  the  sides  of  the  prairies 
are  thousands  of  })lumbu8he8  which  are  very  fruitful. 

The  timber  in  all  this  region  is  much  better  than  it  is  further  south,  and  increasingly  so 
as  we  go  to  the  north,  yet  not  very  heavy,  but  generally  of  a  fine  size  and  straight,  hand- 
some. Its  growth  is  lighter  by  half  than  I  had  expected.  But  yet  there  are  some  very  large 
trees  in  various  parts,  especially  in  the  bottoms.  I  have  frequently  observed  solid  wbiteoaks 
which  will  measure  twelve  feet  in  circumference  many  feet  from  the  ground,  and  black  wal- 
nut and  whitewood  equally  large,  or  nearly  so,  and  buttonwoods  in  the  flats  much 
larger.    .    .    , 


WORTHINaXON.  187 

The  navigable  waters  to  thie  tract  are  the  8cioto  on  the  west  and  tlie  Bigbellyj  which, 
when  there  is  water  sufficient,  is  boatable  and  very  good  for  the  business,  entirely  across  tlie 
tract. 

Plums  and  apples  are  the  principal  natural  fruits,  of  which  there  are  thousands  of 
bushels  to  be  found  in  any  part  of  the  country,  and  they  are  not  only  plenty,  but  the  plums 
are  a  fine  palatable  fruit,  I  apprehend,  however,  not  very  healthy.  I  saw  a  vast  quantity 
of  grapevines,  but  few  or  no  grapes.  They  do  not  bear  in  the  woods,  especially  in  the  rich 
bottoms.  On  the  hills,  and  where  it  is  open,  they  are  said  to  bear  well.  I  frequently  saw 
vines  that  measure  from  six  to  eight  inches  in  diameter.    .     .     . 

There  are  three  or  four  settlers  on  this  tract,  but  none  have  purchased  except  one,  Mr. 
Gibson,  on  the  south  tier  of  sections  of  No.  10. 

The  main  road  from  Chillicothe  to  Franklinton,  at  the  Forks  leads  through  the  western 
part  of  this  tract,  and  a  road  soon  to  be  cut  by  order  of  Congress  from  the  Forks  and  a  great 
distance  to  the  northwest,  to  Lancaster  and  Zanesville  and  thence  on  to  the  eastward  may  be 
brought  through  No.  10  in  a  direct  course. 

The  nearest  trading  town  is  at  present  Franklinton  at  the  Forks.  .  .  .  but  Chillicothe  is 
tlie  best  and  will  be  so  for  a  considerable  time  yet.  ...  It  will,  for  the  present,  be  as  much 
ae  twelve  miles  from  these  townships  to  any  mill  whatever.    .     .     . 

Respecting  the  healthfulness  of  this  country,  I  have  in  rej)ort  that  it  is  in  fact  sickly,  in  a 
(X>n8iderable  degree.     At  the  first  settlement  it  was  thought  to  be  very  healthy,  there  being 
only  a  few  cases  of  the  ague  and  fever;  but  in  the  fall  of  1800  a  bilious  fever  took  place 
of  which  many  were  sick,  in  the  lowest  situations,   and  some  died.      In  the  summer  and 
autumn  of  1801  the  fever  made  its  appearance  again  with  more  terror.     Almost  all  were  sick, 
l>oth  in  towns  and  country,  so  that  it  became  difficult,  in  many  instances  to  get  tenders  for  the 
aick.     In  many  instances  whole  families  were  down  at  a  time,  and  many  died.  ...    In  the 
country  around  the  Pickaway  Plains,   where  are  the  lowest  bottoms  or  rather  the  most  fre- 
<^uent  wet  prairies,  or  meadows,  and  where  the  people  have  uniformly  settled  in  the  low  bot- 
toms by  side  of  the  creeks,  the  fever  prevailed  more  generally  and  violently  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  Scioto  Country.     But  there  is  no  part  of  the  country  exempt  from  the    malady, 
from  the  Great  Miami  txy  the  Muskingum  River.  .  .  .     What  seems  to  me  strange  is  that  the 
Indians  who  were  natives  of  this  country  are  as  subject  to  the  disorder  as  the  whitea.    Of  the 
few  who  remain  in  the  Territory  some  are  now  sick  with  it.  and  they  say  it  has  always  been 
so,  and  that  they  have  often  been  obliged  to  move  back  from  the  meadows  and  bottoms, 
where  they  always  lived,  into  the  woods  and  uplands  during   the    sickly  season  to    es- 
cape it.    .     .     . 

Colonel  Worthington,  who  is  a  gentleman  of  first  rate  information,  informed  me  that  where 
families  were  careful  in  their  manner  of  living  and  housing  themselves  from  the  damp  air 
and  fogs,  they  generally  avoid  the  fever  ;  that  many  families,  particularly  his  own  and  Mr. 
Windship's,  by  prudence,  had  almost  wlioUy  escaped.  And  he  is  of  opinion  that  when  a 
little  more  opened  and  those  vast  meadows  improved  by  planting,  mowing  and  feeding,  so 
that  the  immense  vegetation  does  not  putrefy  on  the  ground,  and  be  wafted  about  in  the  air, 
[this]  will  become  as  healthy  as  any  country  whatever. 

Through  the  lines  of  this  report  wc  see  the  country  hereabouts  as  it  was  when 
just  emerging  from  its  primitive  wildness.  The  staienionts  made  are  frank,  and 
no  doubt  in  the  main  correct. 

The  eftecl  of  this  information,  and  of  the  free  constitution  of  Ohio,  completed 
in  November,  was  such  as  to  enable  Mr.  Kilbourn  to  raise  his  association,  in  a 
short  time,  to  its  full  membership,  to  organize  it  as  the  "  Scioto  Company,"  and  to 
close  in  its  behalf,  the  contract  for  the  sixteen  thousand  acres  of  land  which  he 
had  selected.  The  organization  of  the  Company  dates  from  December  14,  1802. 
On  April  7,  1803,  Kilbourn  again  started  for  the  West,  this  time  on  horseback,  and 
followed  by  a  millwright,  a  blacksmith,  nine  laborers,  and  a  family  in  two  wagons. 
Followinj?  is  the  report  of  this  expedition,  transcribed  from  the  original  manu- 
script in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Kilbourn : 


^1 


188  HI8TORY    OP   THE    ClTY    OP    CoLUMBUS. 

James  Kilbourn,  Agent  for  the  Scioto  Company,  having  attended  to  the  several  objects 
in  the  western  country  for  which  he  was  appointed,  begs  leave  to  report  as  follows. 

Tuesday,  April  5th,  1803.  Was  prevented  from  beginning  my  journey  as  was  expected, 
by  having  to  meet  the  Committee  and  Secretary,  which  took  up  the  whole  day  before  the 
business  could  be  fully  arranged. 

Wednesday,  6th.  Left  Simsbury  and  proceeded  to  Hartford  to  get  the  specie  changed 
for  bill  and  credit.  Procured  the  change  of  Hartford  and  Middletown  notes  with  much  diffi- 
culty and  one  dollar  discount.    Put  up  at  Pratt's. 

Thursday,  7th.  After  finishing  the  business,  which  was  not  completed  yesterday,  set 
out  on  the  journey.  Dined  at  N.  Haven,  and  obtained  an  exchange  of  the  bill  on  that  Bank, 
part  in  gold  at  the  bank  and  part  by  private  hands  in  bills  of  the  United  States,  making  dis- 
count of  25  cents.     I^ft  N.  Haven  just  at  evening,  and  put  up  at  Milford. 

Saturday,  9th.  Arrived  at  N.  York,  and  put  up  at  Dr.  Stanbery's.  Spent  Saturday 
evening,  Sunday  and  Monday,  till  10  o'clock  here,  &  having  got  the  necessary  business 
arranged  set  out  for  the  westward. 

Thursday,  25th.  Arrived  at  Pittsburgh  after  a  very  unpleasant  journey  on  account  of 
the  snow  storms  &  other  disagreeable  weather. 

Friday,  22nd.  Proceeded  directly  to  the  business  of  obtaining  millirons^  blacksmith's 
tools,  iron,  &c,  &c,  for  part  of  which  I  had  to  go  to  the  works  &  wait  to  have  them  made. 
Was  detained  here  till  Tuesday  the  2(ith,  5  days,  *&  closely  employed  to  get  all  things  in  readi- 
ness. During  this  time  I  purchased  the  following  articles  to  wit:  Crank,  gudgeon,  ragg- 
wheel,  stake.  2  cowbells,  1  housebell,  2  faggots,  nail  rods  &  a  box  of  window  glass.  Also 
some  bilious  pills  &  red  Bark  to  use  on  emergency.  Having  this  morning  got  all  the  heavy 
articles  on  Vjoard  a  Cincinnati  boat,  to  be  delivered  by  the  Master  (Mr.  Eleader)  to  the  care  of 
Mr.  Wm  Russell,  at  Alexandria  at  the  mouth  of  Scioto,  at  ten  o'clock  left  Pittsburgh  &  pro- 
ceeded on  my  journey.  The  day  following,  at  Wheeling,  fell  in  company  with  two  gentlemen 
from  Litchfield  who  accompanied  me  thro'  the  wilderneps  to  Zanesville,  where  we  parted. 
Found  no  hay  for  the  horse  in  all  the  hill  country,  from  St.  Clair's  to  Zanesville ;  had  to  keep 
the  horse  wholly  on  oats,  which  foundered  him  in  a  degree.  Put  up  here  from  Friday  even- 
ing, the  twenty  ninth,  till  Wednesday  morning  May  4th,  when  he  became  able  to  proceed  on 
the  journey.    Had  been  hindered  here  4  entire  days. 

On  Wednesday,  May  4th,  left  Zanesville  in  company  with  Wm.  Wells,  Esqr.,  who  went 
with  me  one  day's  journey  on  Licking  road.  Passed  all  the  rest  of  the  wilderness  alone  to 
Franklinton.  Had  a  heavy  N.  E.  storm  all  the  way,  &  to  swim  my  horse  through  2  Rivers, 
by  which  I  was  completely  wet  from  head  to  foot  as  possible ;  the  weather  at  the  same  time 
quite  cold.  This  storm  cleared  with  a  sharp  frost.  On  Friday,  sixth,  at  evening,  arrived  at 
Franklinton  very  wet,  cold  and  much  fatigued.  Put  up  at  James  Scott,  Rsqr's,  the  man  who 
had  the  care  of  survey  the  Dunlap  section. 

Saturday  7th.  Left  Franklinton,  went  up  Whetstone  &  spent  this  &  the  2  following 
days  in  the  woods  viewing  our  lands  &  choosing  out  a  place  most  favorable  for  our  first  im- 
provements. Returned  to  Franklinton  Monday  evening,  the  ninth,  &  found  there  the  Mr. 
[Messrs.]  Morrisons,  who  bad  arrived  the  evening  before,  being  the  8th.  Put  up  with  them 
at  Mr.  Scott's. 

Sunday,  10th.  Procured  as  many  articles  of  supplies  as  could  be  had  at  a  fair  price  at 
Franklinton,  &  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  procured  a  boat  with  some  hands  of  Mr. 
Warren  (a  New  England  man),  who,  with  Mr.  [Messrs.]  Morrisons  put  off  down  the  river  to 
Chillicothe  for  the  rest  of  the  supplies.  Took  a  horse,  and  went  on  myself  by  land,  &  by 
reason  of  some  hindrance  by  Mr.  Warren's  hands  the  boat  did  not  arrive  till  I  had  every- 
thing procured  and  ready  to  load,  altho  I  had  to  procure  the  axes,  chains,  Ac,  &c.,  to  be 
made  after  I  arrived.  Found  all  produce  much  raised  by  the  opening  of  the  port  of  N.  Orleans, 
which  had  been  announced  about  10  days  when  I  got  into  the  country.  Bot.  here  the  fol- 
lowing articles,  viz:  A  smith's  bellows,  300  cwt.  Bar  Iron,  with  some  steel,  grindstone,  a  large 
iron  kettle  for  brewing  &  washing  pot,  dish-kettle,  bake-pan,  spider,  tea-kettle,  frying-pan, 
three  chains,  5  woodsman's  axes,  2  wedges,  plow-iron  &  clevis,  8  hoes,  3  scythes,  2  shovels, 
one  spade,  draughts  for  smith's,  hammer,  sledges  and  a  crowbar,  3  bushels  salt,  a  sad  iron. 


1!HI 


IlisTtiin'  i>K  TiiK  City  ok  Cnr.i'Mius. 


ami  ot'liis  own  sai^acitv  and  iiHloniitabU*  rtlbrtH  in  estaMisliinj^  tlio  now  settliMnent. 
Roadiiii^  tliose  homoiy  but  Hi^niti<ant  dcUiils,  wv  learn  wltat  tlie  eonditions  of  pio- 
neer  lilt?  won',  and  what  toivsi^jjlit,  diiiiron<c  and  resolution  such  an  ontcrpriso  vo 
([uirod. 

I    I 


If 

-  8 

It 

7 

-  8 

10 

"24 

23 

-  26 

26 

-40 

38 

11 

12  - 

22 

21  ' 

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uUH;iN'\|.    n.AT   OK    WQKTniNGTON. 


Tlu?  lands  hoiii^hi  hy  tin*  Coinpany  wcro  tlu*  first  si'ction  of*  the  first  township, 
second  nnd  tliir«l  st*cli(»ns  of  the  serond  townshiji.  and  the  second  seetion  of  the 
third   township,  in  thi'  i-iirliteenth    range   of  the   (.loverinnent  surve}'.     The  priee 


WoRTIIINCJToN.  191 

paid  waft  one  dollar  and  twontytivc  contH  per  aero.  By  iho  terms  oi' their  associa- 
tion, the  purchasers  agreed  to  reserve  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  tor  the  support 
of  schools,  and  the  same  amount  for  the  benefit  of  a  Protestant  Episcopal  C/iiurch. 
It  was  further  covenanted  that  roads  should  be  laid  out,  one  running  north  and 
south,  and  one  east  and  west,  through  the  Company's  tract,  and  that  at  the  inter- 
section of  those  thoroughfiaros  shouM  bo  located  a  town  plat  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  single-acre  lots,  four  of  which  at  the  central  cornerH,^Hhould  bo  resorved  as  a 
public  square.  Reservation  was  also  made  of  one  lot  for  the  school  and  one  for 
the  church.  To  the  members  of  the  Oompany  town  lots  were  apportioned  as 
follows : 

James  Kilbourn,  93,  94,  IIG,  117;  Thomas  T.  Phelps,  5,  G,  150;  Abner  Pin- 
ney,  54,  59,  70,102, 127  ;  Russell  Atwater,  30,  40,  40,  S(),  90,  lOS,  119,  120,  121,  135, 
13(5 ;  Jedediah  Norton,  15,  41,  42,  47,  4S,  49,  50,  55,  56,  74,  S3,  H5,  S7,  92,  10(1,  111, 
113  ;  Job  Case,  84,  S>^,  91,  95,  155  ;  Levi  Hays,  13,  14,  19  ;  Levi  Buttles,  3,  4,  29, 
149,  24;  Jeremiah  Curtis,  68,  09;  Zophar  Topping,  1,  20,  SO  ;  Ebenczer  Street,  57, 
81  ;  Nathan  Stewart,  07,  99,100, 110,  143;  Roswell  Wilcox,  133;  Lemuel  Kilbourn, 
45;  Jonas  Stanberry,  36;  Abner  P.  Pinney,  28;  Josiah  Topping,  23,  24,  53: 
Azariah  Pinney,  44;  Moses  Andre w^s,  21,  22;  Samuel  Slopcr,  51,  52;  William 
Thompson,  03,  77,  82,  103,  115,  141,  142,  140,  159,  160;  Alexander  Morrison,  Sr.,  2, 
26,39,  58,  72:  Samuel  Beach,  11,  12,  147,  148;  John  (iould,  is,  109;  Alexander 
Morrison,  Jr.,  31,  32,  33,  34,  43,  77,  1 14,  125,  12() ;  Ezra  Griswold,  10,  17,  01,  62,  78  ; 
William  Vining,  104,  105,  123,  124;  John  Toi)ping,  131,  132;  Israel  P.  Case,  27  ; 
Israel  Case,  37,  38,  137,  138;  David  Bristol,  7,  S,  00,  (Jl  ;  Glass  (.^ochran,  97,  107, 
112,  139,  140,  150,  151,  152,  153,  154;  Lemuel  G.  Humphrey,  Ambrose  Case  and 
Jacob  Mills,  9,  93,  98;  James  Allen,  05,  09,  90;  Nathaniel  \V.  Little,  25,  71, 
75,  118,  144,  157,  158;  Ichabod  Plum,  101  ;  James  Kilbourn  and  others,  commitU^e. 
10,  35,  04,  76,  134. 

The  first  of  the  colonists  to  arrive  have  already  been  mentioned  in  the  report 
of  Mr.  Kilbourn.  Additional  squads  came  at  intervals,  pursuing  the  Indian  trails 
and  cutting  their  way  through  the  woodj|^  At  midsummer  Mr.  Kilbourn  returned 
to  Connecticut  and  led  out  his  own  ifnd  ten  other  families.  Thus  the  colony 
gradually  increased  until  it  numbered  one  hundred  persons.  Meanwhile,  fields 
were  cleared  and  planted,  the  town  of  Worthington  was  surveyed  and  staked 
out,'  twelve  log  cabins,  a  schoolhouse  (used  also  as  a  church),  and  a  blacksmith- 
shop —  all  of  logs — wore  built,  and  a  mill  and  a  dam  on  the  Whetstone  were  begun. 
St.  John's  Parish,  the  first  Protestant  Episcopal  society  in  the  Northwest,  was 
organized  with  Mr.  Kilbourn  as  its  pastoral  leader.  It  included  in  its  member- 
ship nearly  all  the  adult  members  of  the  colon3\  During  the  winter  a  subscrip- 
tion school  was  taught  by  Thomas  T.  Phelps,  who  was  succeeded,  the  ensuing 
season,  by  Clarissa  Thompson."  Political  obligations  were  not  forgotten.  On 
July  4,  1804,  an  appropriate  oration  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Kilbourn,  and  seven- 
teen giant  trees  wore  felled  —  one  for  each  State — as  a  national  salute. 

The  first  tavern  in  the  colony  was  opened  in  1803  b}'  Kzra  (Jriswold,  who 
built,  two  years  later,  the  first  frame  house  in  the  settlement.  Tin*  first  brick 
house  was  erected  in  1804  by  Mr.  Kilbourn  who,  in  1S05,  built  a  small  gristmill 
on  the  Whetstone.  Subsequently  Preserved  Leonard  managed  to  turn  an  ovorshot 
wheel  for  milling  purposes  by  water  conducted  to  it  in  troughs. 


192  iTlsTORY    OF    THK    CiTY    OP    Coi.rMHlTS. 

The  first  store  in  the  settlement  was  kept  in  the  GriswoUl  cabin.  It«  pro- 
prietor was  Nathan  Stewart,  who  was  also  a  distiller.  A  postoffice  was  estab- 
lished about  the  same  time.  The  first  postmaster  was  William  Robe,  who  held  the 
ottice  ten  years."*  The  mail  was  brought  from  Franklinton.  The  first  physician 
was  hoctor  Josiah  Topping,  who  arrived  in  1805,  but  removed  to  Delaware  in 
1S0(>.  HiH  place  was  supplied  four  years  later  by  I)oct4)r  J)aniel  Upson.  The  first 
marriages  in  the  rolon^'  were  thost'  of  Abner  1*.  Pinney  to  Miss  Polly  Morrison, 
and  Levi  Pinne^' to  Miss  CharlotU*  Beach.  These  allian(res  were  solemnized  FVb- 
ruary  10,  1S04,  by  Thomas  Stevens,  Ksquire,  in  the  log  schoolhouse  at  Krank- 
linton. 

Among  the  youFiger  colonists  was  Joel  Buttles,  who,  later  in  life,  became  a 
business  partner  with  Doctor  Lincoln  (joodale.  Mr.  Buttles's  father  was  a  share- 
holder in  the  Worthington  coloiiy,  and  was  also  interested  in  the  New  England 
settlement  at  Granville,  twenty  miles  further  cast.  He  brought  out  his  lamily 
from  Granby,  Conneeticut,  in  the  autumn  of  ISOL  A  diary  written  by  Joel  But- 
tles in  1835,  and  since  printed,  contains  the  tbllowing  passiiges  referring  to  that 
experience : 

There  were  [in  1S04]  no  white  people  living  north  of  Worthington,  except  souie  four  or 
five  families  in  what  for  a  long  tinu^  was  called  Carpenter's  Settlement,  which  was  on  the 
Whetstone  River,  ahout  Iift4*en  miles  north.  On  the  east  there  were  some  thirty  families 
about  thirty  miles  away;  and  near  what  is  now  Newark  there  were  a  few  familii^s.  In  the 
southeast  direction,  about  ten  miles,  Reed  N«*lson  un<l  Shaw,  and  perhaps  one  other  fan^ily, 
had  made  a  beginning  on  the  bottom  land  of  Alum  Creek.  Following  down  the  Whetstone 
south  hefore  coming  to  Franklinton,  nine  miles  from  Worthington,  a  few  families  had  lately 
settle<l,  mostly  from  Pennsylvania.  These  were  the  Hendersons,  Lysles,  Fultons  and  Hun- 
ters. Franklinton  was  then  the  ))rineipal  town  or  village  north  of  Chillicothe,  indeed  I 
believe  the  only  one,  unh;8s  JefTcrson,  on  the  Pickaway  Plains,  liad  been  located,  of  which  I 
am  uncertain.  It  was  a  county  seat,  where  courts  for  the  county  were  held.  On  the  west  I  do 
not  know  that  there  were  any  settlements 

For  several  years  after  the  time  of  whicl)  I  write,  the  Indians  still  continue<l  to  make  the 
country  around  their  hunting  grounds.  Many  times  I  have  been  to  their  camps.  They  invari- 
ably selected  some  pleasant  situation  for  these^ffenerally  near  the  river, or  some  stream,  where 
water  and  wood  were  convenient,  and  when  they  had  hunted  a  few  days  there  they  would 
shift  to  some  other  situation  and.  as  they  called  it,  hunt  over  another  ground.  It  was 
thought  that  tlie  whites  would  soon  kill  or  drive  off  the  deer  entirely,  but  this  did  not  appear 
to  be  the  case  for  several  years.  Tlie  whites  were  probably  not  as  good  hunters  as  the  In- 
dians, and,  being  so  uiuch  more  engaged  in  other  things,  it  was  found  that  the  deer  in- 
creased more  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  white  settlements  than  at  a  distance  where  the 
Indians  were  more  numerous.     .     .     . 

We  ended  our  journey  on  the  fourth  of  Decmber,  1H04,  now  more  than  thirtyeight  years 
ago.  Three  days  before  we  reached  our  destination  the  snow  fell  about  two  or  three  inches 
deep.  The  storm  began  with  rain  and  finished  with  snow,  the  ground  not  frozen  at  all,  but 
that  snow  was  a  foundation  for  all  others  that  fell  during  the  winter.  It  gradually  accumu- 
late<l  until  it  was  ten  or  twelve  inches  deep. 

About  the  first  of  January  there  was  more  rain,  which  soon  turned  into  snow,  and  l>eing 
cold  afterwards,  a  crust  was  formed  which  would  generally  bear  young  cattle.  We  had  a 
cabin  of  one  room  for  our  numerous  family  and  effects,  and  this  ciibin  was  in  the  woocls, 
about  twenty  rods  north  of  the  public  square  or  Main  Street.  It  was  a  sorry  time  with  us. 
Our  cattle  and  horses  had  to  be  fed,  though  not  much.  We  had  to  go  to  General  Worthing- 
ton*s  mill,  on  the  Kinnacannick,  above  Chillicothe,  for  our  Hour,  al>out  forty  miles  away,  but 
as  the  roads  were  good— good  snow  paths— sleds,  which  could  be  soon  made  were  put  in 
requisition. 


■■v» 


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►  *    •    •     • 

•  •. .  •   • 


W()RTHIN(^TON.  19:^ 

Very  soon  after  our  arrival,  my  father  made  preparations  lor  building?  a  more  comfort- 
able house.  Logs  were  hauled  to  the  sawmill  above  the  town,  on  the  Whetstone  River. 
These  logs  were  soon  converted  into  two-inch  planks,  thirteen  feet  long,  which  being  set  up  on 
end,  edge  to  edge,  and  spiked  to  suitable  timbers,  soon  formed  a  house,  such  as  it  was.  The 
roof  was  covered  with  boards  from  the  mill,  and  the  rough  boards  laiil  down,  without  smooth, 
ing  or  straightening,  for  the  floors.  Thus,  in  about  two  weeks,  we  had  a  house  to  move  into, 
which,  though  not  wanner,  was  more  roomy  than  the  cabin,  as  there  were  two  roomj^  below, 
and  what  answered  to  two  above.  The  chimney,  if  it  could  be  called  one,  was  in  the  middle 
of  the  house;  it  was  constructe*!  of  two  pieces  of  large  timber,  fmmed  in  when  the  house  was 
raised,  about  six  feet  apart,  and  about  five  feet  high,  above  the  floor,  reaching  across  the  whole 
width  of  the  house.  The  fire  was  to  be  built  upon  the  ground,  and  the  smoke  to  ascend 
between  these  two  timbers,  which  should  be  called  mantel -pieces.  On  these  mantelpieces 
boards  were  set  up  on  end,  running  out  through  the  roof,  something  in  the  shape  of  a  square 
cone.     But  this  did  not  do  well,  and  had  to  be  remodeled  as  soon  as  could  be  done.     .     .     . 

At  that  time  there  were  no  other  buildings  in  Worthington  than  log  cabins  except  a 
frame  storehouse  built  by  Nathaniel  Little  on  the  north  side  of  the  public  square.  By  the 
by,  what  I  call  and  is  now  the  public  square,  was  then  pretty  much  all  the  ** opening"  there 
was  about  there.  The  ground  laid  out  for  a  public  S(|uare  was,  as  was  all  the  country  about 
there,  covered  by  a  heavy  growth  of  forest  timber.  At  the  time  I  speak  of  these  trees  on  the 
square  had  been  cut  down  only,  falling  across  each  other  and  every  way,  as  they  were 
naturally  inclined.  It  was.  of  course,  difficult  getting  about  among  these  fallen  trees,  and 
going  from  house  to  house. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  public  square  there  was  the  frame  house  I  mentioned  west  of  Main 
Street,  and  Ezra  Griswold's  double  cabin  on  the  east  side  of  the  street,  who  kept  a  tavern, 
the  only  one  there  was.  On  the  east  side  of  the  square,  there  was  a  large  cabin  built  for 
public  purposes,  and  used  on  the  Sabbath  day  as  a  church,  Major  Kilbourn  officiating  as  a  dea- 
con of  the  Episcopal  Church.  At  all  public  meetings,  it  was  a  town  hall ;  and  whenever  the 
young  people  wished  to  have  a  dance  or  a  ball,  that  being  the  only  room  large  enough  for 
that  purpose,  it  was  used  as  a  ballroom ;  and  this,  I  know,  was  very  oftea,  probjibly  once 
in  ten  days  on  an  average.    Of  course  the  house  was  never  long  unoccupied  or  unemployed. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  public  sf^uare,  the  only  house  was  that  of  James  Kilbourn,  then 
called  Major  and  Esquire  Kilbourn,  now  Colonel  Kilbourn,  who  was  the  principal  sachem  of 
the  tribe,  being  general  agent  of  the  Company  settlement  —  the  Scioto  Company —socalled 
clergyman  of  the  place,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  large  stockholder,  or  rather  landholder  in  the 
Company,  had  been  the  longest  out  there,  and  so  the  oldest  settler,  having  been  there  over 
a  year,  and  many  other  things  which  went  conclusively  to  designate  him  as  head  of  the  clan. 
On  the  west  side  of  the  square,  I  only  recollect  one  house,  which  was  occupied  by  Isaac  Case, 
at  whose  house  I  frequently  boarded.    .    .    . 

During  the  month  of  March,  1805,  Mr.  Buttles's  father  was  overtaken  by  a 
frightiul  tempest  in  the  Licking  wilderness.  He  was  endeavoring,  at  the  time,  to 
make  his  way,  on  horseback,  from  the  Kilbourn  colony  to  the  twin  New  England 
settlemeut  at  Granville.  Seeing  the  storm  coming  on,  at  evening,  he  pushed 
ahead,  hoping  to  find  some  house  or  other  shelter,  but  lost  his  way,  and  was  soon 
involved  in  utter  darkness  excej)t  as  the  lightning  illuminated  with  its  tierce 
flashes  the  rayless  gloom  of  the  woods.  "  Finding  it  impossible  to  go  further,"  says 
the  diary  of  his  son,  *'  he  took  the  saddle  from  his  horse,  and  las  ing  it  down  in  the 
snow  beside  a  large  tree,  he  seated  himself  upon  it  and  leaned  against  tho  tree, 
holding  the  horse's  bridle  in  his  hand,  in  which  position  ho  expectod  to  spend  the 
night.  But  the  rain  poured  down  the  tree  so  that  he  had  to  change  sit  nations  several 
times  before  morning ;  but  no  change  saveil  him  from  wet.  We  can  hardly  con- 
ceive of  a  more  uncomfortable  situation  that  what  he  desitribed  his  to  be,  knowing, 
as  we  did,  the  horrors  of  the  night.     As  soon  as  the  morning  light  enabled  him  to 

13 


194  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

proceed,  he  went  on,  and  soon  came  in  sight  of  the  house  at  which  he  had  expected 
to  stay.  But  a  new  difficulty  had  arisen.  Licking  Creek  was  now  impassable, 
which  the  evening  before  was  not  ten  inches  deep.  In  short,  the  whole  day  was 
spent  in  getting  himself  over,  leaving  his  horse  to  provide  for  himself." 

This  adventure  precipitated  a  fever,  which  resulted  fatally  in  the  ensuing 
June.  Compelled  by  this  calamity,  young  Buttles,  then  seventeen  years  of  age, 
cast  about  for  some  means  of  independent  support.  The  expedients  which  he 
adopted  are  thus  set  forth  in  his  diary : 

Mr.  James  Kilbourn  had  procured  a  printing  office  to  be  brought  to  and  established  at 
Worthington  for  the  purpose  of  publishing  a  weekly  paper.  He  was  himself  acting  as  editor, 
but  his  other  business  rendered  it  desirable  for  him  to  disengage  himself  from  the  paper.  I 
had  never  been  in  any  printing  office  other  than  this,  nor  had  I  ever  seen  a  type  set;  but  I 
proposed  buying  this  in  conjunction  with  a  man  by  the  name  of  George  Smith,  a  printer  by 
trade.  Our  proposition  was  accepted  and  I  engaged  at  once,  not  only  as  editor  but  as  printer. 
This  business  succeeded  so  well,  principally  on  account  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain  soon 
after  this  time,  which  made  this  part  of  the  country  a  scene  of  preparation,  reinforcement, 
provisioning,  etc.,  for  the  army  which  went  against  General  Hull  [sic].  The  failure  of  that 
expedition  left  this  country  exposed  as  a  frontier  to  the  British  and  Indians,  neither  of  which 
it  afterwards  appeared,  bad  the  courage  or  ability  to  molest  us.  But  they  were  fearfully 
apprehended  by  our  people ;  and  many  an  alarm,  or  report  of  their  coming,  gave  great  dis- 
turbance and  distress  to  us.  Such  stirring  times  made  newspapers  in  great  demand,  and 
gave  some  good  job  work,  and  we  made  some  money  by  the  business.  About  this  time  I  had 
to  perform  a  campaign  of  a  few  weeks  only  with  the  militia,  who  were  called  out  en  mane  to 
guard  the  country  from  the  threatened  attacks  of  the  British  and  Indians  of  Canada,  who  it 
was  feared,  would  come  in  by  the  way  of  Sandusky. 

The  weekly  newspaper  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  extract  was  the  Western 
IjitelUyencer,  of  which  a  full  account  will  be  given  in  the  history  of  the  press.  In 
1812  Mr.  Buttles  sold  his  interest  in  the  InteUigenctr  in  order  to  participate  in  a 
store  opened  by  the  Worthington  Manufacturing  Company  at  Franklinton.  The 
founder  of  that  Company  was  Mr.  Kilbourn,  whose  personal  career  continues  to 
engage  our  attention  us  the  most  conspicuous  factor  in  the  development  of  the 
Worthington  colony.  Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  State,  he  was  appointed 
a  civil  magistrate  and  an  officer  of  the  militia  on  the  northwestern  frontier.  About 
the  same  time  he  began  trade  with  the  Indians,  whose  boundarj^  fixed  by  the 
Greenville  Treaty,  was  only  twentyeight  miles  north  of  the  Worthington  settle- 
ment. Appointed  in  July,  1804,  to  survey  part  of  the  military  lands  of  the  Chilli- 
cothe  District,*^  he  explored,  in  the  spring  of  1805,  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Erie, 
and  selected  the  present  site  of  Sandusky  as  a  post  for  northwestern  traffic.  By 
vote  of  the  General  Assembly,  he  was  made  one  of  the  original  trustees  of  the  Ohio 
University  at  Athens  in  1806,  and  one  of  the  three  commissioners  to  locate  the 
Miami  University  in  1808.  Promoted  to  but  declining  the  colonelcy  of  the  Frontier 
liegiment,  he  was  elected  in  1812,  and  many  times  thereafter  reelected,  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  corporation  of  Worthington  College. 

The  Worthington  Manufacturing  Company  was  incorporated  in  1811,  with 
James  Kilbourn  as  President  and  General  Agent.  It  was  the  pioneer  manufactur- 
ing enterprise  of  Central  Ohio,  but  was  by  no  means  limited  to  manufacturing. 
Besides  undertaking  to  produce  various  articles  in  wool,  leather  and  other 
materials,  it  circulated  its  notes  as  currency,  and  engaged  extensively  in  mercan- 
tile business  and  banking.'^     Its  factories  were  established  at  Worthington  and 


\VoRTHINGTON.  195 

Steubenville,  and  its  stores  opened  at  Worthington  and  Franklinton.  When  the 
War  of  1812  broke  out,  the  Company  engaged  extensively  in  the  production  of 
woolen  fabrics  for  army  and  navy  clothing.  This  part  of  the  industrial  depart- 
ment ceased,  of  course,  with  the  conclusion  of  peace  in  1815,  after  which  the 
Company  lost  heavily  in  its  multiplied  enterprises  until  it  failed,  in  1820, 
sweeping  away  the  investments  of  its  shareholders  and  the  entire  fortune  of  its 
President. 

"  Finding  himself  thus  totally  destitute  of  means,"  says  Mr.  Kilbourn's  biog- 
rapher, "  he  took  up  his  surveying  apparatus  again,  and  went  into  the  woods.  For 
more  than  twenty  years  he  was  much  of  the  time  busily  engaged  in  his  calling, 
and  we  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  he  has  surveyed  more  townships,  highways, 
turnpikes,  railroads  and  boundary  lines  than  any  other  three  men  in  the  State."'^ 

Although  fifty  years  of  age  when  financial  disaster  overtook  him,  Mr.  Kilbourn 
regained,  by  these  efforts,  a  portion  of  his  financial  independence,  and  continued 
to  take  a  conspicuous  part  in  public  enterprises.  His  services  in  political  station, 
and  on  occasions  of  general  interest,  at  Various  periods  of  his  life,  will  be  men- 
tioned in  their  proper  historical  connection. 

We  have  now  reached  the  period  when  the  colonies  at  Worthington  and 
Franklinton  became  rival  suitors  for  the  location  of  the  ('apital  of  the  State.  Their 
emulation  related  not  only  to  different  sites  but  differing  elements  of  population. 
Worthington  was  settled  almost  exclusively  from  New  Kngland ;  Franklinton 
from  Kentucky,  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.  The  New  Englanders  offered  the 
most  elevated,  the  healthiest,  and  by  far  the  most  comely  nit  nation,  but  were  over- 
matched. FVanklinton  was  rejected  for  reasons  which  experience  has  fully  justi- 
fied ;  but  when  the  location  was  finally  cho.sen  it  was  near  enough  to  the  rivals  for 
both  to  unite,  and  both  did  unite,  in  the  develo])ment  of  the  new  community. 
Whatever  special  qualifications  each  possessed  were  actively  and  harmoniousl}' 
exerted  to  this  end.  Virginian,  Kentuc.kian,  Pen nsy Iranian  and  New  Knglander 
each  performed  his  part.  They  joined  hands  and  hearts,  not  in  founding  a  new 
city  only,  but  in  the  evolution  of  a  new  individuality — that  of  the  typical  Ohio 
Man. 

NOTES. 

1.  In  writing  this  chapter,  the  author  has  made  liberal  use  of  a  manuscript  sketch  of 
the  Worthington  colony,  written,  and  kindly  submitted,  by  A.  A.  Gralmm,  Esq.,  iSecretary  of 
the  Ohio  Archseological  and  Historical  Society. 

2.  Constitution  of  1802,  Art.  III.,  Sec.  2. 

3.  The  original  model  of  Mr.  Fitch's  steamboat  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  A.  N,  Whit- 
ing, of  Columbus,  who  is  one  of  his  descendants. 

4.  History  of  the  Kilbonrn  Family;  by  Payne  Kenyon  Kill)onrn  ;  ISod. 

5.  This  was  doubtless  the  8ocalle<l  Carpenter  settlement,  mention  of  which  will  he  fonntl 
in  a  subsequent  portion  of  the  present  chapter. 

().  During  these  visits  of  exploration  Mr.  Kilbonrn  drew  a  niiii)  of  Ohio  which  w:i8  sul)- 
sequently  much  used  by  landbuyers  an<l  emij^^rants.  In  executing  this  work,  he  was  iissisteil 
bycharUiand  surveys  placed  under  his  inspection  by  Colonel  Thomas  Worthington,  then 
Register  of  the  Land  OHice  at  Chillicothe.  He  al.so  drew  upon  information  fur?iialie<l  him  ])y 
his  fatherinlaw,  Mr.  Fitch,  who  had  been,  in  his  yontli,  a  captive  anionsj  the  Indians  of  tlie 
Northwest  Territory. 


196  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

7.  The  surveying  was  done  by  Mr.  Kilbourn.  The  lands  of  the  Company  were  divided 
into  one  hundred  acre  tracts,  and  apportioned  among  the  shareholders,  pro  rola.  Each  share- 
holder was  entitled  to  one  town  lot  for  each  hundred- acre  tract  which  he  possessed.  In 
the  selection  of  places  of  residence  in  the  town,  Ezra  Griswold  settled  on  town  lot  71,  Wil- 
liam Thompson  on  70,  David  Bristol  on  60,  James  Kilbourn  on  61,  Samuel  Beach  on  92,  Zo- 
phar  Topping  on  83,  Alexander  Morrison  on  82,  Nathan  Stewart  on  100,  and  Qlass  Cochran  on 
101.    All  drew  water  from  a  well  on  the  church  lot. 

8.  The  log  schoolhouse  stood  on  the  south  college  lot.  In  its  construction  is  said  to 
have  been  used  the  first  timber  cut  in  the  settlement. 

9.  Mr.  Robe  was  a  dwarf,  or  man  of  remarkably  small  size,  not  weighing  more  than 
fifty  to  sixty  pounds  in  ordinary  health.  He  was  well  proportioned  and  neat  in  his  appear- 
ance ;  a  well  educated  man,  and  gentlemanly  in  his  manners.  He  was  a  teacher  in  the  Worth- 
ington  Seminary  —  afterwards  a  clerk  in  the  State  Auditor's  office.  He  died  in  January, 
1823,  aged  about  forty  five  years.— J/aWm's  History  of  Franklin  County, 

10.  This  appointment  was  tendered  in  the  following  letter  —  here  copied  from  the  origi- 
nal manuscript— addressed  to  "Rev.'d  James  Kilburn,  Franklin  County,  near  Franklin- 
ton": 

Marietta,  July  3d.,  1804. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  with  the  approbation  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  you  are  appointed  District  Surveyor  for  No.  1,  of  Chillicothe  District,  or  of 
all  that  tract  within  the  Sd.  District,  which  is  called  the  military  tract..  I  must  request  you  to 
afibrd  me  the  speediest  intelligence  of  your  acceptance  or  nonacceptance.  In  case  of  the  first, 
the  law  requires  an  oath  of  affirmation,  which  it  will  be  necessary  to  take  before  some  magis 
trate,  and  transmit  a  copy  thereof  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  With  profoundest  re- 
spect, f 

I  am  Sir, 

Your  obt.  Hum.  Servt, 

Jared  Mansfield. 

It  appears  on  consideration  necessary  that  a  copy  of  the  oath  should  be  sent  to  this 
office. 

11.  The  following  extracts  from  the  Company's  Articles  of  Association  are  copied  from  an 
original  document,  printed,  except  the  signatures,  at  the  office  of  the  Western  Intelligencer^  at 
Worthington,  in  January,  1813  : 

articles  of  association  of  the  worthington  manufacturing  company. 

Article  1st.  The  objects,  which  this  association  or  copartnership  propose  to  efiect,  are, 
to  establish  at  Worthington  in  the  state  of  Ohio,  an  extensive  Manufactury  of  the  various 
kinds  of  woolen  cloth ;  of  Hats,  Leather,  and  the  various  manufactures  of  which  leather  is  a 
part ;  a  manufactory  of  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  and  generally,  any  and  all  kinds  of  manufactories 
which  experience  may  advise,  and  the  company  think  fit  and  profitable  for  them  from  time  to 
time  to  establish  ;  to  purchase,  raise  and  keep  an  extensive  flock  of  sheep ;  to  introduce  into 
the  state  of  Ohio,  and  encourage  the  raising  of  the  full  blooded  Merino  sheep;  to  purchase, 
export,  and  sell,  any  and  all  kinds  of  the  country  productions  which  we  shall  judge  profitable; 
and  to  establish  and  continue  a  complete  variety  store  of  goods,  both  of  foreign  and  domestic 
articles  which  shall  be  suited  to  the  demands  of  the  country,  including  our  own  manufac 
tories,  and  the  same  to  divide  into  as  many  branches  as  we  shall  think  expedient.  And  to 
promote  these  purposes  and  the  general  object  of  thifi  our  association,  we  will  also  purchase 
and  hold,  or  barter,  sell  and  convey,  as  circumstances  in  the  opinion  of  the  company  duly 
expressed  shall  justify  any  property  or  estate,  real,  personal,  or  mixed ;  prescribing  to  our- 
selves no  other  limits,  as  to  the  amount  of  the  capital  stock,  or  the  application  thereof,  than 
such  as  the  body  shall  determine  by  ordinance  or  special  resolution  as  may  be  done  in  pur- 
suance thereof  by  the  proper  officers.     .     .     . 


WoRTUlNGTON.  197 

Art.  2nd.  The  seat  of  the  said  manufactories,  the  store  and  countinghouse,  or  office  of 
the  company,  shall  be  in  the  town  of  Worthington  aforesaid ;  but  the  members,  and  even 
some  of  the  officers,  as  occasion  shall  require,  may  reside,  and  particular  parts  of  the  business 
of  the  company  be  transacted  in  any  other  place  or  places,  where,  and  when  we  shall  agree, 
or  appoint  by  vote  or  otherwise. 

Art.  3rd.  The  capital  stock  of  this  company,  be  the  same  more  or  less,  shall  be  divided 
into  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars  each,  payable  by  installments  of  one  tiflh  at  a  time  ;  the 
first  at  the  time  of  subscribing,  and  the  remaining  four,  at  such  times  as  the  company  shall 
agree  when  duly  organized. 

Article  fourth  provides  for  the  election  of  a  president,  a  secretary,  three  directors  and 
**  such  other  officers  as  may  be  found  convenient,"  by  the  stockholders. 

Article  fifth  provides  that  the  officers  shall  be  chosen  by  ballot,  each  share  casting  one 
vote. 

Article  sixth  directs  that  no  i)er8on  shall  be  employed  by  the  company  in  any  clerkship 
or  other  important  function  who  is  not  a  shareholder. 

Art.  7th.  When  any  person  shall  make  his  subscription  in  sheep,  labor,  materials  for 
building,  land  for  the  establishment,  or  goods  for  the  store,  to  the  acceptance  of  the  directors, 
the  payment  or  performance  thereof  as  stipulated,  will  be  received  in  place  of  a  regular  pay- 
ment by  installments,  as  in  the  case  of  cash  subscriptions. 

Article  eighth  instructs  as  to  the  duties  of  the  president,  acting  as  general  agent  for  the 
Company. 

Article  ninth  relates  to  proxies  representing  non  resident  shareholders. 

Article  ten  provides  for  the  calling  of  special  meetings. 

Art.  11.  Books  of  subscription  shall  be  immediately  opened,  under  the  care  of  James 
Kilbourn,  of  said  Worthington,  and  George  Fitch,  of  New  York  City,  Who  are  hereby  author- 
ized and  requested  to  superintend  the  same,  provide  the  proper  books,  and  make  exhibition 
thereof  to  the  first  meeting  of  the  stockholders,  to  be  holden  as  hereinafter  provided. 

Article  twelve  fixes  the  time,  place,  and  manner  of  holding  regular  meetings  and  elec- 
tions, and  concludes  as  follows:  "And  we  do  hereby  appoint  James  Kilbourn  to  be  our 
President  and  General  -Agent,  and  Joseph  Garnett,  Secretary,  until  the  said  first  Tuesday  of 
May  next,  and  till  others  shall  be  elected  and  duly  qualified  to  said  offices." 

To  the  foregoing  articles  of  association,  and  to  the  strict  observance  thereof  we  do  each 
of  us  bind  and  pledge  himself  to  the  others,  in  the  full  amount  of  all  damages  which  may 
accrue  by  his  neglect  or  refusal. 

In  testimony  whereof,  we  have  severally  hereunto  subscribed  our  names  and  affixed  our 
seals,  in  presence  of  each  other  and  of  the  attesting  witness. 

First  signed  at  the  city  of  New  York,  this  first  day  of  November,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eleven. 

P.  8.— The  business  proposed  by  this  association  shall  go  into  operation  so  soon  as  one 
hundred  shares  shall  be  subscribed. 


Evolution  of  the  City. 


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CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  FOREST  SETTLEMENT. 

ColumbuH  has  the  unique  distinction  of  having  been  born  a  capital.  ItH  origin 
dates  from  the  hour  when  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  passed  an  act  making 
it  the  seat  of  government.  Until  then  it  was  an  Indian  hunting  ground,  covered 
with  the  primeval  forest. 

The  Constitution  of  1802  fixed  the  seat  of  government  at  Chillicothe  until 
180H,  and  expressly  forbade  any  expenditure  for  public  buildings  for  legislative 
purposes  until  1809.  The  first  General  Assembly  therefore  met  in  the  Ross  County 
courthouse,  which  is  described  as  a  twostory  stone  building  over  which  rose  a 
cupola  topped  by  a  gilded  eagle  standing  upon  a  ball.  The  edifice  thus  provision- 
ally adopted  as  the  capitol  had  been  begun  in  1800  and  completed  in  1801.  With- 
in its  walls,  said  to  have  been  laid  up  by  a  soldier  of  the  War  of  Independence,'  the 
Territorial  Legislature  had  held  its  last  session,  and  the  convention  which  framed 
the  first  constitution  of  the  State  had  met.  But  its  apartments  were  soon  found 
inadequate  for  the  uses  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  were  supplemented  by  erect- 
ing a  brick  annex  connected  with  the  main  building  by  a  covered  passnge.  The 
Senate  met  in  the  brick  edifice,  the  House  of  Representatives  in  that  of  stone.^ 

But  the  government  was  temporarily  located,  as  well  as  housed.  That  its 
permanent  seat  would  go  to  some  ])oint  nearer  the  center  of  the  State  than  Chilli- 
cothe was  generally  anticipated  from  the  beginning,  and,  in  this  expectation,  every 
settlement  in  the  State  even  remotely  eligible  to  win  the  prize  took  timely  steps  to 
secure  it.  Franklinton,  Delaware,  Worthington,  Zanesville,  Lancaster  and  Newark 
were  among  the  earliest  and  most  ardent  of  these  suitors.  The  ''address  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  town  of  Worthington  "  hereto  appended*  doubtless  fairly  re[)re- 
sents  the  spirit  and  ingenuity  with  which  each  of  the  embryo  cities  ambitious  of 
being  Ohio's  capital  presented  its  case. 

Pressed  by  those  importunities,  the  General  Assembly  jiassed  an  act  Februarj- 
20,  1810,  providing  for  a  commission  of  five  members,  to  be  selected  by  joint  ballot 
of  both  bouses,  to  hear  arguments,  inspect  localities,  and  recommend  a  site  for  the 
permanent  seat  of  government.^  In  pursuance  of  this  act  James  F'indlay,  W.  Sil- 
liraan,  Joseph  Darlinton,  Resin  Beall  and  William  McFarland  were  appointed 
commissioners,  and  visited  PVanklinton,  but  discarded  its  pretensions.  It  was 
condemned,  because  of  its  low  situation,  and  the  unsuitabieness  of  its  plan.  The 
commissioners  then  visited  various  other  localities,  with  like  results,  and  finally 
agreed  to  report :  "That  they  have  diligently  examined  a  number  of  different 
places  within  the  circle  prescribed  [forty  miles  from  the  'common  ccntro '],  at?d 

[201] 


r 


HiHTdRv  riF  THB  Cirv  <ir  CoLnaRra. 


F  foLOMBPs — WEST  SBCTIOK. 


The  Forest  Settlbmbnt. 


ORIOIKAL  PLAT  OP  COLUHBtIS— 


204  History  of  the  City  of  Goumihts. 

the  majority  of  said  comniisHionorsare  of  opinion  that  a  tract  of  land  owned  by  John 
and  Peter  Sells,  situated  on  the  weflt  bank  of  the  Scioto  River,  four  miles  and  three 
quarters  west  of  the  town  of  Worthington,  in  the  county  of  Franklin,  and  on  which 
said  Sells  now  resides,  appears  to  them  most  eligible."  This  report,  dated  at  New- 
ark, September  12,  and  signed  by  all  the  commissoncrs  wiis  delivered  to  the  (gen- 
eral Assembly  December  11,  1810.  The  site  thus  recommended  is  that  of  the  ])res- 
sent  (own  of  Dublin,  Franklin  County,  and  seems  to  have  owed  its  preference 
chietl}'  to  the  desire  to  identify  the  ]>olitical  with  the  geogi'aphical  center  of  the 
State. 

The  General  Assembly  continued  to  meet  at  Chillicothe  until  ISIO,  but  in  (he 
latter  part  of  that  year  was  induced  to  transfer  its  sittings  to  Zanesville,  wlujn^  a 
building  for  its  especial  accommodation  had  been  provided.  Here  the  sessions  of 
ISIO-ISU  and  lHll-12  were  held,  and  various  additional  j)roposals  for  permanent 
location,  as  well  as  the  report  of  the  legislative  commission  on  that  subject,  were 
received.  No  definite  action  was  taken,  but  among  the  new  propositions  submit- 
ted was  oi»e  which  narrowed  the  controversy  at  once  to  a  choice  between  the  in- 
ducements which  it  offered  and  those  presented  by  the  pe(»ple  of  Worthington. 

The  objections  made  to  Franklinton  on  account  of  its  low  situation  and  untit- 
nessofplan  suggested  to  some  of  its  citizens,  i)articularly  landowners,  the  eligi- 
bility of  the  plateau  forming  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto,  opposite.  The  elevation 
there  was  reasonably  good,  and  the  opportunity  for  platting  a  town  without  hin- 
drance from  buildings,  prearranged  streets,  or  even  clearings,  was  unlimite<l.  The 
lands  on  the  plateau  had  been  patented  as  early  as  1S02  to  John  Ilalstead,  Martha 
Walker,  Benjamin  Thompson,  Setli  Harding  and  James  Price,  all  refugees  of  the 
War  of  Independence.  The  original  patentees  had  disposed  of  their  titles,  and 
these,  alter  intermediate  transmissions,  had  come  into  the  hands  of  Lyne  Starling, 
John  Kerr,  Alexander  McLaughlin  and  James  Johnston,  (-ombining  their  inter- 
ests, these  four  proprietors  laid  off  a  tract  of  about  twelve  hundred  acres  on  the 
plateau,  platted  it,  provisionally,  into  streets  and  squares,  and  submitted  proposals, 
for  the  location  of  the  seat  of  government  thereon  to  the  General  Assembly  at 
Zanesville.  A  copy  of  the  plat  accompanied  their  propositions,  the  full  text  of 
which  was  as  follows: 

ORIGINAL    l»ROI»OSALS    OF    TIIK    rROPRIK'n)R8    OF   COLUMBUS.* 

Tn  fhc  lIoiM''  the  fjegialaiure  of  the  Stntr  of  (th'm: 

We  the  subscribers  do  olfer  the  followinjr  as  our  proposals  provideii  the  lejjjislature  at 
tlieir  present  session  shall  fix  and  establish  the  permanent  seat  of  Government  for  said  State 
on  the  PJast  bank  of  the  Scioto  River  nearly  opposite  to  the  town  of  Franklinton  on  half  8e<*- 
tions  No.s.  1»,  25  &  2<>,  and  parts  of  half  sections  N(»s.  10  &  11,  all  in  Township  5  of  Range  22  of 
the  Refuj^ee  lauds  and  commence  their  session  there  on  the  first  Monday  of  December,  1817  : 

Ist.  To  lay  out  a  Town  on  the  lands  aforesaid  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  July  next 
aj^ret^ably  to  the  plans  presented  by  us  to  the  Legislature. 

*2<1.  To  convey  to  the  State,  hy  general  warranty  deed  in  fee  simple  such  m^nare  in  said 
town  of  the  contents  of  ten  acres  or  near  it  for  the  public  buildings  and  such  lot  of  ten  acres 
for  Penitentiary  and  dependencies,  as  a  director  or  such  person  or  |>er8on8  as  the  legislature 
will  appoint  may  select. 

8d.  To  erect  and  complete  a  State  House,  oftices  &  Penitentiary  &  such  other  buildings 
as  shall  l)e  directed  }>y  the  Legislature,  to  be  built  of  stone  and  Brick  or  of  either,  the  work  to 
be  done  in  a  workman  like  manner  and  of  such  siz.e  and  dimensions  as  the  Legislature  shall 
think  tit,  the  Penitentiary  &  dependencies  to  be  complete  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  Jan- 
uary, 1815,    The  Statehouse  and  ollices  on  or  before  the  first  Monday  of  December,  1817. 


I 


The  Forest  Settlement.  205 

When  the  baildin}^  shall  be  completed  the  Legislature  and  the  subscribers  reciprocally 
shall  appoint  workmen  to  examine  and  value  the  whole  buildings,  which  valuation  shall  be 
binding,  and  if  it  does  not  amount  to  Fifty  thousand  dollars  we  shall  make  up  the  deficiency 
in  such  further  buildings  as  shall  be  directed  by  law,  but  if  it  exceeds  the  sum  of  Fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  the  I^egislature  will  by  law  remunerate  us  in  such  way  as  they  may  think  just 
and  equitable. 

The  legislature  may  by  themselves  or  agent  alter  the  width  of  the  streets  and  alleys  of 
said  Town  previous  to  its  being  laid  out  by  us  if  they  may  think  proper  to  do  so. 

LvNE  STARLfNG.      [seal.] 
John  Kerr.  [aeal.J 

A.  McLauohlin.    [seal.] 

James  Johnston,     [seal.] 
Attest 

WiL.so>  Elliott. 

Isaac  Hazlbtt. 

These  propositions  were  accompanied  by  the  following  bond  : 

Know  all  men  by  these  presents  that  we,  James  Johnston,  of  Washington  County, 
Lyne  Starling,  of  Franklin  County,  Alexander  McLaughlin,  of  Muskingum  County,  &  John 
Kerr,  of  Ross  County,  all  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  our  heirs,  executors,  administrators  or  assigns 
do  promise  to  pay  to  William  McFarland,  treasurer  of  said  State,  or  his  successors  in  office,  for 
the  use  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  the  sum  of  One  Hundred  Thousand  Dollars  for  the  payment  of 
which  we  do  bind  ourselves  firmly  by  these  presents,  which  are  sealed  with  our  seals  and  dated 
the  10th  day  of  February,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1812. 

The  condition  of  the  above  obligation  is  such  that  if  the  above  bounden  James  Johnston, 
Lyne  Starling,  Alexander  McLaughlin,  &  John  Kerr,  their  heirs,  executors,  administrators  or 
assigns,  shall  truly  and  faithfully  comply  with  their  proposals  to  the  State  of  Ohio  by  erecting 
the  public  buildings  and  conveying  to  the  said  Slate  ground  for  the  State  House,  offices  and 
penitentiary  they  have  proposed  to  do,  then  this  obligation  to  be  null  and  void,  otherwise  to 
be  and  continue  in  full  force  and  virtue. 

James  Johnston,    seal. 

Lyne  Starling,      seal. 

A.  McLaughlin,    seal. 

John  Kerr.  seal. 

In  presence  of 

Wilson  Elliott. 

Isaac  Hazlbtt. 

The  abfiolnto  permanence  of  location  on  which  the  foregoing  scheme  was  con- 
ditioned appearing  to  jeopardize  its  acceptance,  the  following  supplementary 
propositions  were  submitted : 

To  Oie  Hon^  Ote  legislature  of  Ohio  : 

We  the  subscribers  do  agree  to  comply  with  the  terms  of  our  Bond  now  in  possession  of 
the  Senate  of  the  State  aforesaid,  in  case  they  will  fix  the  seat  of  government  of  this  State  on 
the  lands  designated  in  their  proposals  now  with  the  .Senate,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto 
River,  nearly  opposite  to  Franklinton,  and  commence  their  sessions  there  at  or  before  the 
first  Monday  of  December,  1817,  and  continue  the  same  in  the  town  to  be  laid  off*  by  us  until 
the  year  1840. 

These  conditional  proposals  are  oflTered  by  us  for  the  acceptan(;e  of  the  I.,egislature  of 
Ohio  provided  they  may  be  considered  more  eligible  than  those  previously  put  in. 

John  Kerr.  seal. 

Jame.s  John.ston.     seal. 

A.  McLaiuuilin.     seal. 

Lyne  Starling.       seal. 
Witness 

Wilson  Elliott. 

February  11,  1812. 


lltSTVJBY    (IV  TUB   ClTV   OP   Coi.llMBUK. 


The  FoRisT  Bettlembnt.  207 


LvNE  Starunu. 


2(»s  History  ok  tiik  (*itv  of  Coi.uMnrs. 

This  (leparturo  was  promptly  nu'l  by  (rountor  ])roposalK  fi*oin  other  contest- 
ants,  parti <.'uhirly  tVoin  Worlliin^ton,  which  place,  it  luis  been  said,  counted  a  nia- 
j<»rity  in  its  favor.  lUit  in  the  closin«^  hours  ol'  the  si^snion  a  nnpreino  oft'ort  was 
nwule  in  wliich  Foos,  Sullivani  an«l  otiier  alert  citizens  of  Franklinton  took  part, 
and  when  the  test  tinally  eanic,  a  de<-ided  majority  was  found  on  the  Hide  of  Mr. 
Starling  and  iiis  associates.*  On  the  lonrteonlh  of  Februar}',  the  General  Assemby 
settlejl  the  controversy  for  thirty  years,  at  least,  by  passing  the  following  act  : 

Chapter  XXXIV.,  Oliio  I^ws,  Vo!iin»e  10.— An  act  fixing  and  CRtablirthin^  the  perma- 
nent and  temponiry  seats  of  government. 

Skc.  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  tlie  (nMicral  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  That  the  proposals 
made  to  thin  U'^i.^hiture  by  Alexander  Mcl^n^^hlin,  John  Kerr,  Lyne  Starling  and  James 
John.ston,  (to  lay  out  a  town  (►n  tlieir  lamls,  situate  i»n  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto  River,  op- 
posite Franklinton,  in  the  county  of  Franklin,  and  [onj  parts  of  half  sections  number  nine, 
ten,  eleven,  twentylive  and  iwentysix,  for  the  purjjose  of  having  the  permanent  seat  of  |?ov- 
ernment  thereon  established  ;  also,  to  convey  to  this  state  a  K<]uare  of  ten  acres  and  a  lot  of 
ten  acres,  and  to  erect  a  state  house,  such  oHices,  and  a  penitentiary,  as  shall  be  directed  by 
the  legislature),  an?  hereby  aci^epted  and  the  same  and  their  penal  bond  annexed  thereto, 
dated  the  tenth  of  Feb.  one  thousand  eight  hundre<l  and  twelve,  conditioned  for  their  faith- 
ful ]»erformaniH*  of  said  proposals  shall  be  valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  and  shall  remain 
in  tlie  otiice  of  the  treasurer  of  slate,  there  to  be  kept  for  the  use  of  this  state. 

Skc.  2.  He  it  further  enacted,  that  the  seat  of  government  of  this  state  be,  and  the  same 
is  hereby  fixed  and  permanently  establisheil  un  the  land  aforesiiid,  and  the  legislature  shall 
commence  their  sessions  thereat  on  the  first  Monday  of  Dei^ember  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dre«l  and  seventeen,  and  there  continue  until  the  first  day  of  May,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  forty,  and  from  thence  until  otherwise  provided  for  by  law. 

Skc.  '\.  That  there  shall  be  appointed  by  a  joint  resolution  of  this  general  assembly  a 
director  who  shall,  within  thirty  da\'H  aftt^r  his  appointment,  take  and  subscribe  an  oath  faith- 
fully and  im])artially  to  discharge  the  duties  enjoined  on  him  by  law,  and  shall  hold  his 
office  to  the  end  of  the  session  of  the  next  legislature:  Provided,  That  in  case  the  office  of 
the  director  aforesiiid  shall  by  <leath,  resignation,  or  in  any  other  wise  become  vacant  daring 
the  recess  of  the  legislature  the  (foveruor  shall  fill  such  vacancy. 

SKrr.  4.  That  the  aforesaid  <liret*tor  shall  view  and  examine  the  lands  above  mentione<l 
and  suj>erintend  the  surveying  and  laying  out  r)f  the  town  aforesaid  and  direct  the  width  of 
stn^ets  and  alleys  therein  :  also,  to  select  tlu>  square  for  public  buildings,  and  the  lot  for  the 
penitentiary  and  dependencies  according  to  the  proposals  aforesaid;  and  he  shall  make  a  re- 
port thereof  to  the  next  legislature  ;  he  shall  moreover  perform  such  other  duties  as  will  be 
required  of  him  by  law. 

Sk<t.  'i.  That  said  Mclaughlin,  Kerr,  Starling,  and  Johnston  shall,  on  or  before  the  first 
day  of  July  next  ensuing,  at  their  own  expence,  cause  the  town  aforesaid  to  be  laid  out  and 
a  plat  of  the  same  recorded  in  the  reconler's  olli.^e  of  Fninkliu  County,  distinguishing  therein 
the  square  and  lot  to  be  by  them  conveyed  to  this  slate;  and  they  shall  moreover  transmit  a 
eertified  <'opy  thereof  to  the  n<ixi  legislature  for  their  inspection. 

Skct.  r>.  That  from  and  after  the  llrst  day  of  May  next,  Chillicothe  shall  be  the  tem- 
porary s<'at  of  goverinncnt  until  otherwise  provided  by  law. 

Matthias  Corwin, 
Sprnker  oj  the  Hoim-  of  Rfprent'nttUireg. 

Tnos.  KiKKRK, 
Spenk'fr  of  the  S'iuUe, 

IMie  tr:i<-t  ol'  wlhl  woodland  thus  chosen  as  the  capital  of  Ohio  was  named 
(■olunibus."  The  christening  look  place  vi'ry  un<'ereinoniou8ly,  it  seems,  by  joint 
resolution  passed  February  20,  ISTJ.  on  whic  h  date  the  (reneral  Assembly  passed 
an  additional  resolution  appointing  .loel    Wright,  of   Warren   County,  as  Director 


The  Forest  Settlement. 


I.  Howe,  Columbu.s  Camera  Club.  imi. 


210  lllSTOIlY    OK    TIIK    (-ITY    oK    CoUTMlJUK. 

to  '*  view  uird  oxaniine  *  llu'  lands  prott'ercd,  und  to  lay  out  aiid  survey  "the  town 
uforoHaid."  Meanwhile  the  four  projirietors  whose  propositions  had  been  aeeept'ed 
proceeded  to  perfect  their  stipulations  with  one  another,  and  joined  in  a  written 
covenant  the  preamble  to  which  recites  that  "  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Ohio 
have,  by  law,  fixed  and  established  the  permanent  seat  of  Government  for  said 
State,  (n»  half  sections  Nos.  0,  25  and  2i\,  i\i\d  parts  of  half  soc^tions  Nos.  10  and  11, 
all  in  Township  5,  ratii^e  22.  refugee  lands,  agreeably  to  the  proposals  of  the  par- 
ties aforcsai<l,  made  to  the  Legishiture  of  said  State/'  In  these  presents  it  was 
agreed  that  a  connnon  stock  should  be  created  for  the  benefit  of  the  copartners; 
that  all  donations,  and  the  proeeeds  of  all  salfc,  should  be  received  by  the  syndi- 
cate on  joint  account  ;  that  Starling's  contribution  to  tlie  real  estate  assets  should 
be  half  section  number  twent^'tive,  except  ten  acres  already  sold  to  John  Brickcll ; 
that  Johnston  should  contribute  half  section  number  nine  and  one  half  of  half  sec- 
tion number  ten  :  that  MeLaughlin  and  Kerr,  who  had  previousl^*^  formed  a  part- 
nership with  one  another  and  were  considered  as  a  third  party  to  the  agreement, 
should  put  in  half  section  number  2G ;  that  eacii  partner  should  individually  war- 
rant the  title  of  the  lan<ls  he  contributed  ;  that  the  business  of  the  company  should 
be  managed  by  an  agent  of  its  own  appointment;  that  on  the  fii'st  Monday  iu 
January,  for  live  successive  years,  each  partner  should  pay  to  this  agent  twenty- 
four  hundred  dollars,  and  sueh  further  sums  as  might  be  necessary  to  complete 
the  public  buildings ;  and  that  when  the  contract  with  the  State  should  be  ful- 
filled, a  final  settlement  and  e<|ual  division  of  profits  and  losses  should  take  place. 
These  stipulations  were  closed  at  Zanesville,  J'ebruary  19,  1812. 

To  complete  the  town  plat  in  the  size  and  form  desired,  a  contract  was  made 
with  Kev.  James  lloge  lor  eighty  acres  from  the  southern  portion  of  half  section 
number  eleven,  and  one  with  Thomiui  Allen  for  twent}'  acres  from  the  south  part  of 
half  section  number  ten.  One  half  of  each  of  these  tracts  was  retained  as  a  con- 
tribution, and  the  other  half  conveyed  back,  in  the  form  of  city  lots,  to  the  donor. 
The  McLaughlin  and  Kerr  tract  extended  from  the  southern  boundary  of  the  town 
plat  northward  to  an  east<and-west  line  }>arallel  to  and  just  south  of  the  present 
course  of  State  Street.  Stiirling's  tract  lay  next  on  the  north,  extending  to  the 
vicinity  of  our  present  S])ring  Street.  Beyond  Starling's  lay  the  tracts  obtained 
from  Hoge  and  Allen.  At  a  later  period  the  proprietors  laid  out  a  supplementary 
addition  of  about  forty  two-acre  lots,  still  further  north,  and  conveyed  to  the  town 
0!»e  acre  and  a  half  tor  the  cemetery  afterwards  known  as  the  North  Graveyard. 
The  value  of  the  total  donations  obtained  by  the  company  on  subscription  was 
estimated  at  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  first  agent  of  the  company, 
appointed  in  April,  1812,  was  John  Kerr,  who  was  relieved  on  his  own  volition,  in 
June,  18ir>.  From  that  date  until  the  company  finally  wound  up  its  affairs,  its 
business  was  maiuiged  by  Henry  Hrown. 

The  proprietors  having  ch>8ed  their  contract  with  the  State,  and  all  the  pre- 
liminaries liaving  been  arranged,  Director  Wright  called  to  his  assistance  Joseph 
Vancre,  of  Kranklin  County,  and  proceeded  to  surve}'  and  stake  out  the  streets, 
public  S(|uarcs  and  building-lots  of  the  ca])ital.  The  principal  streets  wore  made 
to  take  the  directions  which  they  yet  retiiin,  erossing  one  another  at  right  angles, 
and  bearing  twt^lve  degree^  west  of  inn'th,  and  twelve  degrees  north  of  east.  The 
breadth  of  the  two  main  tlloroughfan^s,  one  ;r(»ing   i»orth   and  .•40uth  and  the  other 


Thb  Forest  Settlement. 


212  History  of  the  City  ok  CoLUMBits. 

east  and  west,  was,  respeetivel}',  one  hundred  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet; 
that  of  the  other  streets,  oightytwo  and  one-half  feet.  The  frontage  of  the  iulots 
was  sixtytwo  and  one-half  feet,  their  depth  one  hundred  and  eightyseven  and  one- 
half  feet.  The  outlots  contained  each  about  three  acres.  #he  town  lots  were  ex- 
empted from  taxation  for  county  purposes  until  January  1,  1816,  but  were  mean- 
while subject  to  an  equivalent  levy  l)y  the  State  Director,  who  was  required  to  ap- 
ply as  much  of  the  proceeds  Jis  necessary  to  sinking  a  well  for  the  Statehouse,  and 
improving  the  State  Road  from  Columbus  to  Granville." 

As  soon  as  the  Director  had  marked  the  boundaries  of  the  streets,  alleys, 
public  squares  and  building  lots  of  the  proposed  city,  its  proprietors  published  the 
following  captivating  advertisement : 

For  Sale. 

On  the  premieep,  commencing  on  Thursday,  the  eighteenth  day  of  June  next,  and  to 
continue  for  three  days,  in-  and  out-lota  in  the  town  of  Columbus,  established  by  an  act  of  the 
legislature,  as  the  permanent  seat  of  government  for  the  state  of  Ohio. 

Terms  o/  Sale:  One  fifth  of  the  purchase  money  will  be  required  in  hand;  the  residue 
to  be  paid  in  four  e<iual  annual  installments.  Interest  will  be  required  on  the  deferred  pay- 
ments from  the  <lay  of  sale,  if  they  are  not  punctually  made  when  due.  £ight  per  cent,  will 
be  discounted  for  prompt  payment  on  the  day  of  sale. 

The  town  of  Columbus  is  situated  on  an  elevateti  and  V>eautiful  site,  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Scioto  River,  immediately  helow  the  junction  of  the  Whetstone  branch,  and  opposite  to 
Franklinton,  the  seat  of  justice  for  Franklin  County,  in  the  center  of  an  extensive  tract  of 
rich  fertile  country,  from  whence  there  is  an  easy  navigation  to  the  Ohio  River.  Above  the 
town,  the  west  branch  of  the  Scioto  affords  a  goo<l  navigation  for  about  eighty  miles,  and  the 
Whetstone  branch  a*^  far  as  the  town  of  Worthington.  Sandusky  Bay,  the  only  harbor  on 
the  south  shore  of  Lake  Erie  (except  Presque  Isle)  for  vessels  of  Burthen,  is  situate  due 
north  from  Columbus,  and  about  om»  hundred  miles  from  it.  An  excellent  roatl  may  be  made 
with  very  liitle  ex|)en8C'  from  tlie  I-.owcr  Sandusky  town  to  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Scioto  a 
distance  of  about  sixty  miles.  This  will  render  the  comnmnication  from  the  lakes  to  the 
Ohio  River  throujjh  the  Scioto  very  easy  by  which  route  an  immense  trade  must,  at  a  da\' 
not  very  distant,  be  carried  on  which  will  make  the  (^ountry  on  the  Scioto  River  rich  and 
populous.  The  proprietors  of  the  town  of  Columbus  will,  by  every  means  in  their  power 
encourage  industrious  uiechanics  who  wish  to  make  a  residence  in  the  town.  All  such  are 
invited  to  become  purchasers. 

Dated  at  Franklinton,  April  13,  1812,  and  signed  by  the  four  proprietoi*8. 

The  widespread  interest  which  had  already  been  excited  by  the  movement  to 
found  a  new  State  ca])ital  in  the  woods  of  Central  Ohio  was  intensified  by  these 
alluring  statements.  Attracted  by  them,  lot  bu^'ors  and  homeseekers  eame  from 
near  and  far  to  view  the  "high  bank  of  the  Scioto  "  of  which  so  much  had  been 
8aid.  They  found  there  little  except  paper  plats  and  freshly -driven  stakes  to  in- 
dicate a  town,  or  even  a  settlement,  yet  the  promises  of  nature  and  of  destiny 
alike  conspired  to  make  the  locality  interesting.  Of  the  scenes  which  at  that  time 
greeted  the  canoe- voyaging  pioneer  as  he  approached  the  site  of  Columbus,  ascend- 
ing the  Scioto,  the  following  spirited  picture  has  been  drawn:* 

On  his  left  hand  was  a  broad  plain,  bounded  on  the  west  by  a  low  range  of  wooded  hills, 
now  in  part  a  waving  cornfield,  in  part  a  grassy  meadow.  Along  the  water's  edge  grew  many 
wil<l  plum  trees  whose  blossoms  filled  the  air  with  a  pleasant  perfume.  Beyond  the  meadow 
an<l  the  corn  the  busy  town  of  Franklinton  appeared  in  the  distance,  guarded  on  the  east  and 
north  by  the  river,  whose  thread  of  water  was  lost  in  the  forest  above.  On  the  right 
bank  of  the  river  rose  a  sharply  inclined  bluff,  covered  by  a  sturdy  growth  of  native  forest 


Tub  Forest  Settlement.  213 

timber.    The  abruptness  of  this  bluff  gradually  declined  as  the  voyager  ascended  the  stream. 
As  he  came  up  Ihe  river  he  would  have  seen,  south  of  the  Indian  mound,  from  which  Mound 
Street  took  its  name,  a  small  cleared  field,  in  which  was  the  pioneer  home  of  John  McQowan, 
*ho  then  cultivated  a  farm  which  he  afterwards,  in  1814,  laid  out  as  McGowan's  addition  to 
Columbus.    On  the  incline  of  the  bluff,  not  far  from  the  present  crossing  of  Front  and  State 
streets,  stood  a  round  log  cabin,  surrounded  by  a  small  clearing  and  occupied  by  a  man 
'darned  Dearthirf  and  his  family.    He  was  probably  a  squatter  on  the  Refugee  lands,  and  was 
^^nre  in  his  home  as  long  as  the  rightful  owner  did  not  claim  possession.    His  small  garden, 
|^^8  rifle  and  his  traps  furnished  him  an  abundant  frontier  living,  and  if  he  could  live  free 
''^in  many  of  the  comforts  of  civilized  life,  he  was  also  free  from  many  of  its  cares.     Farther 
^''th,  and  not  far  from  the  site  of  Hayden's  rolling  mills  on  the  banks  of  a  small  stream, 
^'^fe  the  ruins  of  an  old  saw  mill,  built  about  16CH),  by  Robert  Balentine,  a  citizen  of  Frank- 
//uton.    Near  it  were  also  the  ruins  of  a  distillery,  built  by  Benjamin  White  about  the  same 
tiino.    They  were  now  in  decay  and  almost  covered  by  small  trees  and  underbrush.    Near 
thie  eite  of  the  present  penitentiary  stood  the  cabin  of  John  Brick  ell,  who  for  many  years  had 
b<^c?n  a  captive  among  the  Indians.     He  now  had  a  clearing  made  in  the  ten  acres  sold  to  him 
b5'  l^r.  Starling.    Just  above  his  cabin  was  the  old  Indian  campground  he  had  seen  when  an 
an  trilling  member  of  one  of  their  tribes,  and  where,  for  many  years  before,  Indian  feasts  had 
l^een  held,  councils  of  the  tribes  deliberated,  and  horible  barbarities  inflicted  on  unfortu- 
nate  captives.    Mr.  Brickell  and  his  family  lived  in  measured  security  now,  and  the  man, 
thoui^h  now  a  freeman,  could  not,  and  did  not  entirely,  forego  Indian  customs.     He  always 
wore  deerskin  moccasins  and  a  skin  cap  with  the  tail  of  the  animal  dangling  down  his  back. 
Indians  were  still  plenty,  and,  owing  to  the  evil  influences  of  the  British,  troublesome.    .    .    . 
Had  the  canoeist  moored  his  birch  bark  vessel  and  ascended  the  blufl^,  he  would  have 
found   himself  in  a  forest  of  oak,  beech,  maple,   walnut  and  other  trees  common  to  the 
uplands  of  Ohio.    Their  full  leaved  tops  were  now  the  home  of  the  wild  songsters  of  the 
^'eatern  woocls,  who  filled  the  air  with  their  melodies  as  they  flitted  hither  and  thither 
ainongp  the  branches.    Squirrels  gamboled  up  and  down  their  massive  trunks,  or  from  their 
fiizzy  heights  stopped  to  gaze  at  the  intruder.     Wild  turkeys  were  plenty,  deers  not  strange, 
^^<^  a  still  more  formidable  but  not  less  valuable  game,  bears,  not  uncommon.    About  the 
^'■'^at  trunks  of  the  trees  huge  grape  vines  were  here  and  there  entwined,  whose  abundant 
oloBsonos  promised  a  rich  repast  in  the  autumn.   Smaller  fruits,  such  as  hawberries,  huckle- 
"^^•"ies,  wild  plums,  and  wild  blackberries,  were  everywhere.    The  Ohio  forest  was  here  in 
^^   its   native  grandeur  and  native  beauty.    The  full  leaved  treetops  and  the  leaves  of  the 
'^mibliug  grapevines  almost  hid  the  sun  in  the  heavens.    Trees  of  American  growth  were 
®<^tteped  here  and  there  through  this  forest;  the  dogwood,  wild  plum,  and  hawberry,  with 
*oxuHant  blossoms,  mingled  their  odors  with  those  of  the  wild  flowers  all  about  him,  filling 
the  air  with  a  rich  fragrance.    Nature  was  here  in  all  her  native  supremacy,  and  had  the 
traveller  known  of  the  purpose  for  which  this  plateau  was  destined,  he  perhaps  might  have 
Pondered  if  the  busy  life  of  a  city  would  replace  the  life  of  the  forest  about  him.    Had  he 
t^oticed  the  topography  of  the  city's  home,  he  would  have  seen  a  gradual  incline  from  the 
^OftVi  towards  its  centre,  a  more  decided  one  from  the  west,  and  a  level  land  towards  the 
^^th  ;  eastward,  the  plateau  slightly  declined,  while  northward  was  a  "  prairie,"  as  it  wns 
Mt^rvrards  called,  in  which  he  would  have  found  many  springs  whose  outlet  was  a  small 
*^^eam  which  found  its  way  westward  to  the  river  he  had  left.   Excepting  the  cabins  already 
^^nlioned,  not  a  human  habitation  occupied  the  site  of  the  future  city.    Where  are  now  the 
"^usy  haunts  of  man"  was  a  western  forest,  whose  life  consisted  only  in  that  of  bird  and 
^east,  whose  home  it  had  been  for  ages  past. 

Pursuant  to  announcement,  the  sales  began  on  the  eighteenth  of  June,  1812, 
^nd  contiDued  until  they  were  suflScient  to  justify  tlie  commencement  of  the  public 
buildings.  The  lots  sold  were  located  mostly  on  Broad  and  High  Streets,  and 
brought  from  two  hundred  to  one  thousand  dollars  each.  Araons<  the  early  pur- 
chasers were  Jacob  Hare,  Peter  Putnam,  George  McCormick,  George  B.  Harvey, 


214  History  of  the  City  of  Columbuk. 

John  Shields,  Michael  and  Alexander  Patton,  William  Altman,  John  Collett,  Wil- 
liam McElvain,  Daniel  Kooser,  Christian  Ileyi,  Jarvis,  Benjamin  and  George  Pike, 
William  Long,  Towneend  Nichols  and  Doctor  John  M.  Edmiston.  Visiting  piir- 
chasers  lodged  in  the  tavern  at  PVanklinton,  and  reached  the  place  appointed  for 
the  sales  by  crossing  the  river  in  canoes,  or  nt  the  ferry. 

Improvements  began  at  once,  and  were  prosecuted  with  the  rude  energy  char- 
acteristic of  pioneer  life.  F'or  a  time  havoc  was  let  loose  upon  the  forest  and  soon 
many  a  stately  tree  lay  prone.  The  most  shapely  stems  were  used  in  laying  up 
the  walls  of  cabins  or  sjilit  into  clapboards,  which  served  the  purposes  of  sawed 
lumber,  of  which  little  could  he  had.  The  cropped  undergrowth  and  branches  and 
superfluous  logs  were  piled  in  heaps  and  burned.  For  want  of  time  and  funds  to 
remove  them,  the  stumps  were  permitted  to  remain,  and  for  a  long  time  impeded 
the  streets.  The  actual  through  fare  therefore  at  tirst  disdained  the  surveyor's 
boundaries,  and  took  such  devious  courses  as  convenience  and  the  condition  of  the 
ground  might  suggest.  A  few  settlors  were  housed  by  autumn,  but  most  of  the 
cabin  builders  made  arrangements  to  occupy  their  domiciles  the  following  spring. 

The  influx  of  settlers  when  that  season  opened,  and  during  the  remainder  of 
the  year  1813,  was  considered  large.  It  was  suflicient  to  increase  the  population  of 
Columbus  by  the  end  of  the  year  to  about  three  hundred.  There  were  several  ar- 
rivals from  Franklinton,  several  from  Worihington.  and  a  good  many  from  Chilli- 
cothe  and  other  settlements  down  the  valley.  These  newcomers  located  chiefly  on 
Broad,  Front,  Town,  State,  and  Rich  streets,  and  on  High  Street,  west  of  the 
Capitol  Square.  Front  was  then  expected  to  be  the  principal  residence  street,  and 
became  such  for  the  time  being.  One  of  the  first  mercantile  ventures  in  the  vil- 
lage was  that  of  the  Worthington  Manufacturing  Company,  which  opened  an 
assortment  of  drygoods,  hardware  and  groceries  in  a  small  brick  building  orecteil 
on  the  subsequent  site  of  the  block  known  as  the  Broadway  Exchange,  a  few  rods 
north  of  the  present  Neil  House.  Joel  Buttles  was  manager  of  this  establish mont. 
McLene  &  Green  opened  a  general  store  about  the  same  time  in  a  small  log  cabin 
which  stood  just  east  of  the  spot  on  which  Mechanics'  Hall  was  afterwards  built, 
on  the  south  side  of  East  Rich  Street.  In  the  autumn  of  1812  John  Collett  erected 
a  twostory  brick  tavern  on  the  second  lot  south  of  State  Street,  west  side  of  High . 
This  pioneer  inn  ot  Columbus  was  opened  for  guests  in  1813,  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Volney  Payne.'"  Collett  took  charge  of  it  himself  from  1814  until  1816, 
when  he  sold  it  to  Robert  Russell. 

Among  other  taverns  opened  about  the  same  time  as  Collett's  was  one  on 
Front  Street,  corner  of  Sugar  Alley,  kept  by  Daniel  Kooser,  and  one  by  McCollum, 
known  as  the  Black  Bear,  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Front  and  Broad.  A  fourth, 
kept  at  the  northeast  corner  of  High  and  Rich  by  two  brothers,  ex-boatmen, 
named  Day,  was  disguised  as  a  grocery,  but  became  so  notorious  for  its  brawls 
among  Scioto  River  navigators  as  to  be  popularly  styled  The  War  Oflice. 

The  Columbus  Tnn  was  opened  in  1815  by  David  S.  Broderick,  in  a  frame 
building  at  the  southeast  corner  of  High  and  Town.  It  is  historically  moDtiouod 
as  "a  respectable  tavern." 

Isaiah  Voris  came  over  from  Franklinton  and  started  the  White  Horse  Tavern. 
It  was  located  on  the  present  site  of  the  Odd  Fellows'  Temple." 

In  the  spring  of  181()  James  B.  Gardiner,  also  from  Franklinton,  started  the 
Ohio  Tavern,  occupying  a  wooden  building  on  Friend  Street,  just  west  of  High. 


TuE  Forest  Settlement.  215 

Such  were  some  of  the  earlier  Cohimbufi  hostelries,  of  which,  together  with 
their  successors,  a  more  particular  account  will  be  given  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

A  similar  enterprise,  which  afterwards  developed  as  one  of  the  most  popular 
and  widely-known  inns  of  the  period,  was  undertaken  by  Christian  Heyl,  whose 
experiences  as  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  in  the  embryo  capital  are  deeply  inter- 
esting. They  are  narrated  in  an  autobiographical  sketch'*^  which  states  that  Mr. 
Heyl,  when  he  arrived  at  Franklinton  in  the  spring  of  1H13,  found  that  place  so 
crowded  with  soldiers  of  the  Northwestern  Army,  and  labor  so  scarce,  that  he 
could  neither  obtain  a  house  to  live  in,  nor  help  to  build  one.  He  therefore  betook 
himself  to  Columbus,  w^here  he  had  not  at  first  intended  to  locate.  How  he  estiib- 
lished  his  home  in  that  wilderness  borough  is  thus  described  : 

I  succeede<l  in  getting  a  very  rough  cabin  on  the  soiitheiiHt  corner  of  Rich  and  High 
streets,  where  the  Eagle  Drug  Store  now  is.  The  acconimodationfl  were  very  poor  indeed, 
but  still  I  had  to  pay  $125  rent  and  the  cabins  were  not  worth  twenty  dollars.  They  belonged 
to  Nichols  and  Mr.  Bradney.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  I  moved  to  Columbus.  We  were 
three  days  on  the  way  from  Lancaster  to  Columbus;  the  roa<l8  were  very  bad  indeed.  We 
had  two  heavily  loaded  wagons,  with  a  five-horse  team  to  each,  and  they  had  very  hard  work 
to  get  along. 

The  second  day  we  intended  to  get  hh  far  as  Williams's  Tavern,  about  five  miles  from  Col- 
umbus on  the  old  Lancaster  road,  but  we  did  not  reach  it,  an<l  so  had  to  camp  on  the  banks 
of  the  Big  Belly,  as  it  was  then  called.  On  the  hist  day  we  arrived  at  Columbus  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  road  from  the  old  William  Merion  farm  was  laid  out,  but  the 
logs  were  not  rolled  out  of  the  way.  We  therefore  had  to  wend  our  way  as  best  we  could. 
When  we  came  to  South  Columbus,  as  it  wjis  called,  at  McGowan'a  Finn,  the  road  was  fenced. 
Old  Mr.  McGowan  refused  to  let  me  go  through  his  gates.  I  tried  to  prevail  on  him  to  let 
me  pass  through.  I  also  found  that  the  old  man  was  fond  of  a  little  good  old  whisky.  I 
promised  to  make  him  a  present  of  some,  and  the  gates  were  at  once  opened.  We  then 
passeil  on  without  any  further  trouble,  and  arrived  at  my  great  hotel,  which  I  opened,  and 
built  a  fire  and  got  my  wi<lowed  sister  to  cook  »ome  supper  while  we  unloaded  the  wag(»n. 
After  all  was  unloaded,  I  set  the  table,  which  was  the  lid  of  my  dough  tray  laid  across  two 
barrels  of  flour  set  endwise.  I  rolled  barrels  of  flour  on  each  Hide  for  our  seats,  and  we  made 
out  to  take  our  supper,  and  as  we  wen*  very  hungry,  1  think  it  was  the  best  meal  I  ever  ate 
in  Columbus.  Old  Mr.  Mc(Towan  did  not  forget  to  call  the  next  day  for  the  prize  I  had 
promise<l  him.     .     .     . 

I  then  went  on  and  l)uilt  myself  an  oven  to  carry  on  the  baking  business.  1  had  to  get 
all  my  supplies  from  Lancaster,  Fairfield  County,  for  a  number  of  years,  this  being  a  new 
county  and  Franklinton  the  headquarters  of  the  army,  where  a  great  many  troops  were  lo- 
cated, and  consequently,  provisions  scarce.  .     . 

We  had  to  go  to  Franklinton  for  all  our  drygoo<lfi,  as  there  was  at  that  time  no  store  in 
Columbus.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1H14  Green  &  Mcl^ne,  of  Lanca.ster,  started  a  small 
drygooiis  store  in  a  cabin  on  the  same  lot  where  1  lived.  A  second  store  was  opened  in  a 
little  brick  house  by  the  Worthington  Manufacturing  Company,  and  wan  managed  by  Joel 
Buttles.    .     .     . 

The  first  winter  that  I  was  in  Columbus  I  had  uiy  firewood  very  convenient,  as  I  cut  it 
off  of  the  lot  where  I  lived.  My  cabin  was  divi<led  into  three  rooms,  or,  more  properly,  into 
three  stalls.  A.  widowed  sister  kept  house  for  me  and  having  lixed  up  the  old  cabin  pretty 
comfortably,  T  carried  on  the  baking  business  <iuite  briskly.  In  May,  1S14,  I  marrie<l  Esther 
Alsbach  in  Fairfield  County,  Ohio.  When  she  first  saw  my  great  hotel,  she  seemed  a  little 
surprised,  but  she  soon  became  contented.  1  did  business  in  the  old  cabins  for  two  years.  I  then 
purchased  a  lot  on  the  same  square,  and  built  upon  it  the  house  that  is  now  the  Franklin 
House.  I  kept  a  hotel  there  for  twentyeight  years,  and  then  traded  it  od'  for  a  farm  live  miles 
northeast  of  Columbus  on  Alum  Creek. 


21  ♦»  UisTtiKY  OP  TiiK  City  of  C«»LiTMBn8. 

A  picturu  of*  early  Columbus,  com|mrnou  to  thiH  one  drawn  by  Mr.  Ileyl,  is 
found  in  the  diary  of*  Joel  Huttles,  who  writes: 

When  I  built  my  house,  in  which  I  lived  for  some  years,  it  was  ditficult,  after  the  house 
was  finished,  to  j^et  the  large  trees  around  it  cut  down  without  falling  on  and  injuring  it.  It 
was  a  forest  all  abtmt  it,  and  the  country  almost  in  a  state  of  nature.  The  winter  after  I 
came  to  Cohnnhus  to  live  [1S|:M4],  the  deer  came  into  what  is  now,  and  was  then  intended 
to  be,  the  public  squaie,  to  browse  on  the  tops  of  the  trees  which  had  been  felled  for  clearing. 
The  town,  alttiough  located  as  the  permanent  teat  of  government, and  the{)lan  laid  out  by  an 
agent  of  the  State,  was  looked  upon  with  little  regard  and  slight  expectation.  The  people  of 
Franklinton  were,  of  cour^e,  excee<lingly  jealous,  as  naturally  they  might  be.  with  Columbus 
planteil  directly  before  them  on  the  op|)08ite  bank  of  the  river;  feeling  ran  very  high  and 
sometimes  led  to  insolence  and  altercation.  But  Columbus  in  a  short  time  overtook  Frank- 
linton, and  the  latter  began  to  decline  while  the  former  increased  rapidly. 

Many  of  the  industries  and  mercantile  establishments  of  Franklinton  were 
transferred,  one  by  one,  to  Columbus.  Among  the  more  prominent  business  part- 
nerships and  proprietors  in  the  older  town  when  the  newer  one  was  founded  were 
these  :  Henry  Brown  <fe  Co.,  Dry^oods,  Groceries,  Liquors,  Iron, etc. ;  Richard  Court- 
ney X*  (/O.,  Hardware;  J.  Si  R.  McCoy,  Drygoods,  CxrocerieH,  and  Liquors;  Samuel 
(■ulbertson,  Hatter:  Jeremiah  Armstrong,  Tobacco  and  Cigars;  L.  Goodale  &  Co., 
Drygoods,  Groceries  and  Chinaware;  SUirling  &  De  Lash  mutt,  Drygoods,  China, 
Glass,  Hardware,  Leather,  Whisky,  (tin.  Salt  and  Groceries;  J.  Buttles  &  Co.,  Euro- 
pean, India  and  American  Goods;  D.  F.  Hcaton,  *'Taylor"  [sic] ;  Joseph  Grate,  Silver- 
smith; and  Samuel  Barr,  Drygoods  and  General  Supplies.  Most  of  these  names 
became  j)rominent  in  the  business  of  Columbus.  William  Piatt  began  there  as  a 
silversmith  and  jewelei'  in  1815  or  181t). 

The  first  postmaster  of  the  capital  was  Matthew  Matthews,  appointed  in  1814. 
His  position  seems  to  have  been  barren  of  both  duties  and  emoluments.  The  mail 
arrived  once  or  twice  a  week,  and  was  distributed  at  Franklinton.  Whatever  por- 
tion of  it,  if  any,  Mr.  Matthews  had  charge  of,  he  gave  out  from  his  desk  in  Mr. 
Buttles*8  store,  with  which  he  was  connected.  He  resigned  and  was  succeeded,  in 
1814,  by  Mr.  Buttles  who  held  the  office  thenceforward  until  1829. 

A  sawmill  for  the  supply  of  lumber  to  the  settlement  was  erected  in  1813  by 
Richard  Courtney  and  John  Shields.  Doubtless  this  mill  wrought  a  revolution  in 
the  building  resources  of  the  village.  It  was  located  on  the  oast  bank  of  the 
Scioto,  a  short  distance  below  John  BrickelTs  cabin.  A  flouring  mill  erected  by 
Mr.  Shields  three  years  later,  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  town,  took  the  Colum- 
bus patronage  from  the  Kilbourn  mill  at  Worthington,  and  other  mills  down  the 
river. 

In  1814  the  first  markethouse,  a  substantial  frame  about  fifty  feet  long,  was 
erected.  It  was  built  by  voluntary  contributions,  and  located  in  the  middle  of 
High  Street,  a  short  distrance  south  of  Rich,  where  it  remained  until  1817,  when  the 
transfer  of  the  market  to  some  other  locality  was  proposed.  The  property  owners 
on  Broad,  Town,  State  and  Rich  Streets  all  contended  for  it  as  a  prize,  and  offered 
to' donate  sites  for  a  new  building.  The  Broad  Street  people  deemed  it  a  strong 
point  in  their  favor  that  their  thoroughfare  was  so  wide,  and  it  is  said  that  in  1816 
Joseph  Miller  erected  the  front  part  of  the  brick  edifice  afterwards  known  as  the 
Buckeye  House,  where  the  Board  of  Trade  building  now  stands,  in  the  confident 
expectation  that  the  Markethouse  would  be  located  in  front  of  his  premises.     But 


The  Forest  Settlement.  217 

the  town  HUthoriticB  decided  otherwise,  and  closed  a  contract  with  John  Shields  to 
erect  a  new  twostory  market  buildin^f,  brick  below  and  frame  above,  on  State 
Street,  immediately  west  of  High.  As  a  consideration  for  his  performance  of  the 
contract,  Shields  was  permitted  to  use  or  rent  the  two  upper  rooms  for  his  own 
benefit;  consequently  one  of  them  became  occupied  as  a  printing  office,  and  the 
other,  occasion  all}',  for  religious  services.  Finally  Shields  sold  his  interest  to  John 
Young,  who  appropriated  the  aj)artments  to  gaming  and  its  adjuncts.  The  first 
billiard  table  in  the  town  was  here  made  use  of.  "About  the  year  1S2()  or  lS3i),'* 
saj's  Martin,  "the  Council  bought  out  Young's  interest,  and  the  building  was 
removed,  and  a  larger  markethouse,  without *any  rooms  above,  was  erected  on  the 
same  site,  Elijah  Ellis  contractor.  This  building  continued  until  the  erection  of 
the  present  markethouse  on  Fourth  Street." 

Columbus  passed  the  first  tvvo  years  of  its  existence  without  a  newspaj>er  of  its 
own.  The  first  paper  printed  within  the  present  corporate  limits  of  the  city  was  the 
Frrrmnns  Chronir/c,  issued  weekly,  or  rather  occasionally,  in  Franklin  ton,  by 
James  B.  Gardiner.  AAer  an  existence  of  about  two  years,  the  Chronivle  expired, 
and  its  able  and  independent  editor  betook  himself  to  tavernkeeping.  Its  place 
as  a  local  news  and  advertising  medium  was  supplied  by  the  Western  IntcUi{jf'ueei\ 
which  was  removed  thither  in  February,  IS  14,  from  Worth ington.  Its  proprie- 
tors were  Joel  Buttles,  P.  H.  Olmsted  and  Ezra  Griswold,  Junior.  After  coming 
here  the  InteUigenccr  took  the  additional  name  of  Calumbus  Gazette,  and  was  pub- 
lished, at  first,  in  part  of  the  building  occupies!  by  the  City  House  Tavern,  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  High  and  Town  Streets.  Of  its  history,  and  that  of  its  succes- 
sors in  the  journalism  of  the  capital,  a  circumstantial  account  will  be  given  in  the 
chapters  on  The  Press. 

Of  the  beginning  of  the  Medical  Profession  in  the  new  settlement  the  Freeman's 
Chronicle  of  March  11,  1814,  made  this  announcement :  "Dr.  John  M.  Edmiston 
has  commenced  the  practice  of  Medicine  an<l  Surgery  at  Columbus.  His  shop  is 
on  High  Street,  near  Mr.  Green's  store."  Doctors  John  Ball,  Lincoln  Goodale  and 
Samuel  Parsons  were  among  Doctor  Edmiston's  earlier  colleagues. 

By  or  before  1815  the  Legal  Profession  was  represented  by  David  Smith,  Orris 
Parish,  David  Scott  and  Gustavus  Swan,  who  were  soon  joined  by  John  R.  Parish, 
T.  C.  Flournoy,  James  K.  Cory,  William  Doherty,  and  others  of  later  prominence. 
All  eccentric  Justice  of  the  Peace  named  Shields  is  said  to  have  been  both  droll 
and  expert  as  a  pioneer  in  the  administrati(Hi  of  justice.  The  quarrelsome  boatmen 
of  the  "War  Office"  kept  in  active  exercise  his  talents  both  as  a  jurist  und  a  wag. 
On  Sundays  Esquire  Shields  officiated  as  a  volunteer  clergyman.  Being  a  poet, 
as  well  as  a  preacher,  he  wrote  his  own  hymns.  Justice  Shields  was  a  native  of 
Ireland,  and  by  fundamental  occupation  a  bricklayer.  Among  the  other  early 
justices  were  James  Marshall,  Michael  Patton,  Eli  C.  King,  William  Long  and 
Messrs.  Townsend,  Nichols,  Martin.  Richardson,  Deshler  and  Wood. 

During  the  winter  of  1813-14  a  subscription  school  was  kept  in  a  cabin  on 
the  public  square.  Among  the  earlier  teachers  of  the  public  schools  of  Columbus, 
all  of  which  were  maintained  by  voluntary  donation,  were  Uriah  Case,  John 
Peoples,  a  Mr.  Whitehill  and  W.  T.  Martin. 

The  churchgoers  of  the  new  settlement  attended  the  services  conducted  by 
Doctor  Hoge  in  Franklinton  until  a  cabin  for  church  purposes,  about  twentyfive 


/ 


218 


History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 


by  thirty  feet  in  size,  was  built  on  a  lot  donated  by  Doctor  Hoge,  near  the  corner 
of  Spring  and  Third  Streets,  in  the  spring  of  1814.  Keligious  services  were  held 
in  this  cabin,  as  well  as  at  the  Franklinton  meetinghouse,  until  1818.  Such  was 
the  beginning  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Columbus.  A  Methodist 
Society  was  organized  in  1814,  and  erected  a  hewed  log  church,  with  a  shingle 
roof,  on  Town  Street.  The  building  thus  provided  was  used  for  school  as  well  as 
church  purposes  until  1824,  when  the  society  erected  a  new  church  on  the  same 
site.     The  ground  is  now  occupied  by  the  Public  Library  building. 

The  first  white  person  born  on  the  present  site  of  Columbus  was  Keziah 
Hamlin,  daughter  of  John  and  Mar^i  Hamlin,  who  dwelt  in  a  cabin  said  to  have 
been  the  first  one  erected  on  the  territory  now  embraced  within  the  limits  of  the 
city,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto.  The  Hamlin  domicile  stood  near  the  present 
location  of  the  Hoster  brewery.  Some  of  the  Indians  then  encamped  on  the  low**- 
lands  of  the  vicinity  seem  to  have  been  much  interested  in  the  advent  of  the  little 
stranger,  for  one  day,  not  long  after  its  birth,  they  carried  the  infant  away  to  their 
wigwams,  and  kept  it  until  evening,  when  they  returned  it  with  a  pair  of  beauti- 
fully worked  moccasins  on  its  dimpled  feet.  The  date  of  Keziah  Hamlin's  birth 
was  October  16,  1804.  On  December  19,  1822,  she  was  married  to  David  Brooks, 
of  Princeton,  Ma8sach\isotts,  one  of  the  later  landlords  of  the  White  Horse  Tavern. 
The  late  David  W.  Brooks,  of  this  city,  was  her  son  by  this  marriage. 

In  February,  1814,  Mr.  George  B.  Harvey  was  wedded  to  Miss  Jane 
Armstrong.  This  was  the  first  matrimonial  alliance  solemnized  in  the  Columbus 
settlement.  Joseph  Dillo  and  Miss  Polly  CoUett  soon  afterward  celebrated  the 
second.     The  first  death  is  not  recorded. 

The  Scioto  Eiver  not  being  usually  fordable  at  that  period,  intercourse  be- 
tween Columbus  and  Franklinton  was  maintained  chiefly  by  means  of  a  ferry,  kept 
by  Jacob  Armitage.  To  mitigate  the  inconvenience  of  this  mode  of  crossing,  the 
General  Assembly  passed  an  act,  February  15,  1815,  authorizing  Lucas  Sullivant 
and  his  associates,  "  if  any  there  be,"  to  build  a  bridge  at  the  foot  of  Broad  Street, 
and  authorized  collection  of  the  following  rates  of  toll : 

For  each  foot  passenger,  three  cents;  for  every  horse,  mule  or  ass  cue  year  year  old  or 
upwards,  four  cents;  for  each  horse  and  rider,  twelve  and  one  half  cents  ;  for  every  chaise, 
riding  chair,  gig,  cart,  or  other  two  wheeled  carriage,  with  two  horses  or  two  oxen  and  driver, 
thirtyseven  and  one  half  cents;  for  the  same  an<l  one  horse  and  driver,  eighteen  and  three 
fourths  cents  ;  for  every  coach,  charriot  or  other  pleasurable  carriage,  with  four  wheels  and 
driver,  drawn  by  four  horses,  seventyfive  cents ;  for  the  same  carriage  and  driver,  drawn  by 
two  horsest  fifty  cents ;  for  every  waggon  with  two  horses  or  oxen  and  driver,  thirtyseven  and 
a  half  cents;  and  for  each  horse  or  ox  in  addition,  six  and  a  fourth  cents;  for  every  horse, 
ujule  or  ass  younger  than  one  year  old,  two  cents  ;  for  every  head  of  neat  cattle,  six  months 
old  or  upwards,  two  cents ;  for  every  head  of  cattle  younger  than  six  montlis  old,  and  for 
every  head  of  sheep  or  hogs,  one  half  cent. 

All  "  public  mails,"  and  all  troops  and  artillery  of  the  State  and  United  States, 
were  passed  free.  The  franchise  was  granted  for  the  tei%  of  sixty  years,  but  the 
right  was  reserved  to  change  the  rates  of  toll  after  1831. 

Pursuant  to  this  charter,  Mr.  Sullivant  erected  a  roofless  wooden  toll  bridge  in 
1816.'^  As  its  direction  formed  a  right  angle  with  the  course  of  the  river,  it 
touched  the  west  bank  at  a  point  several  rods  below  the  ford,  makinir  necessary  the 
opening  of  a  new  road  across  the  fields  to  Franklinton.     After  the  lapse  of  eight  or 


The  Forest  Settlement.  210 

ten  years,  this  bridge  became  infirm,  and  in  1826,  was  replaced  by  another  with  its 
western  terminus  at  the  original  landing.  Like  its  predecessor,  it  was  destitute  of 
roof  or  cover. 

A  census  of  the  settlement  taken  by  James  Marshall  in  the  spring  of  1815, 
showed  a  population  of  about  seven  hundred.  The  more  prominent  stores  at  that 
time  were  those  of  Alexander  Morrison,  Joel  Buttles,  Henry  Brown,  Delano  & 
Cutler  and  J.  &  R.  W.  McCoy.  The  Franklin  Bank,  the  pioneer  institution  of  tlie 
kind,  was  incorporated  in  February  and  organized  in  September,  1816.  An  ac- 
count of  it  will  be  found  in  the  chapter  on  Banking. 

Until  this  time  little  attempt  at  street  improvement  had  been  made  In 
1816  a  fund  of  about  two  hundred  dollars  was  raised  by  private  subscription  to 
clear  some  of  the  stumps  from  High  Street,  and  about  the  same  time  something 
vrsiB  done  to  disincumber  Front  Street  of  logs  and  other  debris.  In  following  the 
crooked  paths  which  led  through  the  village  clearings,  the  nightly  pedestrian 
found  the  use  of  a  tallow-dip,  or  the  rarer  luxury  of  a  lantern,  extremely  necessary 
^vv^hen  the  moonlight  failed.  Trees,  logs,  stumps  and  ponds  of  water  alike  hedged 
his  way. 

Such  was  the  capita)  as  a  forest  settlement. 


ISOTES. 

1.  Major  William  Rntledge. 

2.  These  buildings  continued  to  be  used  as  the  seat  of  justice  of  Ross  County  until  1853. 
•^.     The  following  extracts   from  the  document  here  referred  to  are  taken  from   an 

Qrigina.1  printed  copy  bearing  date  February  12,  1808,  and  entitled  an  "Address  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Worthington  relative  to  the  seat  of  government."  The  author 
w  indebted  for  this  copy  to  Miss  Emma  Jones,  of  Columbus,  a  granddaughter  of  Hon.  James 
Kilbourn. 

"  ^o  the  honorable^  the  General  Assembly  of  tfie  Slate  of  Ohio  : 

*'  We,  the  undersigned,  citizens  and  proprietttrs  (»f  Worthington  and  its  vicinity,  in 
Franklin  county,  understanding  that  the  present  general  assembly  will  have  it  constitution- 
ally in  their  power  to  ^x  the  permanent  seat  of  government  of  this  state,  and  provide  for  the 
erection  of  public  buildings,  for  the  accomuiodation  of  the  legislature  and  the  otiicerB  of  state ; 
and  aa  this  or  a  succeeding  legielature  will  fix  upon  a  place  for  the  permanent  seat  of  govern- 
ment, beg  leave  respectfully  to  represent. 

"That  in  our  opinion,  the  town  of  Worthington  is  more  eligibly  situated  for  the  seat  of 
Sovernment,  than  any  other  town  now  settled,  or  any  other  position  which  can  be  chosen  in 
^his  state. 

"The  situation  of  this  town  will  be  perfectly  central  for  business,  taking  all  matters  into 
^consideration,  and  is  almost  so  as  it  respects  territory. 

"The  centre  of  Worthington  is  in  the  third  quarter  of  the  second  township  in  the  eigh- 
^eutb  range  of  the  United  States'  military  lands,  and  about  one  and  a  quarter  miles  south- 
westerly from  the  centre  of  said  second  township. 

"  By  refering  to  the  state  map,  it  will  be  seen  that  this  town  is  exactly  in  a  middle  posi- 
tion, between  the  Ohio  river  at  the  mouth  of  Scioto,  and  the  Sandusky  bay,  west  of 
the  Connecticut  Reserve;  varying  therefore,  so  far  only  from  the  middle  of  the  state, 
south,  as  the  north-east  corner  of  said  Reserve,  and  the  country  west  of  Lake  Erie,  about  the 
Miami  of  the  Lake,  would  carry  it,  which  cannot,  we  apprehend,  exceed  nine  or  ten  miles, 
by  the  best  calculation. 

"  On  an  east  and  west  line  from  the  Ohio  river  to  the  west  boundary  of  the  state,  Worth- 


220  ITlSTORY   OF  THE   CiTV    OK   (Nm.vmbls. 

iii}i^ton  is  al>out  twolve  or  thirteen  milos  from  the  centre,  west ;  but  when  the  slant  made  V»y 
the  Ohio  river  on  the  Fouth-east  part,  w  compared  with  the  projectinj?  north-west  corner, 
about  the  said  Miami  of  th«{  Lake,  it  will  be  found  that  this  town  is  not  more  than  seventeen 
or  eighteen  miles  south  and  west  of  the  real  centre  of  the  state. 

'*  It  will  also  recollected  by  the  legislature,  and  admitted  by  all,  that  the  western  part  of 
this  state,  from  the  more  even  surface  of  the  country,  and  better  (piality  of  the  soil,  generally, 
has  and  must  always  have,  a  greater  |)opulation  than  the  eastern,  according  to  the  extent  of 
territory. 

'*  Wortliington  is  situate*!  on  the  east  si<le  of  the  main  east  branch  of  »Scioto,  (<rom- 
monlv  called  Whetstone  river)  nine  miles  from  its  confluence  with  the  west  branch. 

*•  This  river  is  a  fine  navigable  stream  as  far  up  as  this  town,  equally  so  with  the  Scioto  at 
Fninklinton  ;  for  although  the  Whetstone  is  not  quite  so  large  as  the  other  branch  at  high 
water,  it  is  a  more  enduring  stream,  and  has  full  as  much  water  as  the  west  fork  in  the  dry 
season,  in  proportion  to  its  size.  This  river  is  also  as  uuich  narrower  than  the  main  Si'ioto, 
as  it  has  less  water,  and  has  higher  banks,  and  of  course  is  of  equal  depth  at  least  with  the 
main  river  below  the  forks;  and  being  very  straight,  of  an  easy  and  gentle  current,  and  of 
sufticient  width  (from  ten  to  twelve  rods)  is  fully  sufficient  for  the  largest  Orlean  boats  to 
descend,  or  large  keel  boats  to  ascend,  to  and  from  the  town  in  the  jirojwr  seasons. 

"  Another  very  important  advantage  is  derived  from  this  river,  at  this  particular  {loint. 
Immetliately  above  the  centre  of  the  town,  there  begin  and  conlinue  northward  up  said  river, 
for  several  miles,  a  f^ucces^ion  of  falls,  made  by  bars  of  suli«l  rock,  running  across  the  stream 
which  furnish  a  number  of  the  best  mill  seats  in  this  state,  a  principal  part  of  which  are 
now  iniprove<l  and  improving  for  variqus  kinds  of  mills  and  water  works;  and  this  accommo- 
dation is  found  in  the  centre  of  an  extensive,  rich  body  of  land,  equal  to  any,  without  excep- 
tion, in  the  western  countrv. 

*'  Above  these  falls  the  river  becomes  still  and  gentle  again,  and  continues  so,  and  of 
about  nine  or  ten  rods  in  width,  entirely  to  the  Sandusky  plains,  there  approaching  very  near 
to  the  east  branch  of  the  Sandusky  river ;  so  that,  by  ere<*ting  locks  and  slopes  at  the  three 
or  four  mill-danjs  upon  the  highest  of  those  falls,  (which  from  the  solidity  of  the  foundation 
might  be  done  at  no  great  expence)  salt,  goods,  Ac,  might  be  brought  from  the  Lakes  by 
water,  to  this  town,  with  a  very  short  portage.  And  thus  might  the  mill-dams  now  made 
and  erecting  u|)on  the  river,  while  they  answer  the  first  important  end  proposed,  be  also  sub- 
servient to  the  better  navigation  of  those  falls. 

"There  are  now  in  operation,  at  and  above  this  town,  three  saw-mills,  two  grist-mills, 
and  several  other  useful  water  machines,  and  three  other  mills  are  now  building.  By  means 
of  so  early  attention  being  paid  to  these  important  erections,  the  settlements  in  this  vicinity 
have  i>r(>gressed  in  building  and  other  improvements  beyond  any  other  settlement  in  this 
part  of  the  state,  for  the  time,  and  have  for  three  years  past  supplied,  and  do  now  supply,  all 
the  towns  and  settlements  below  for  more  than  thirty  miles  upon  the  Scioto,  with  all  their 
sawed  timber  for  building,  as  also  with  their  grinding,  to  a  great  distance. 

**  Worthington  is  also  situated  on  a  high  and  handsome  piece  of  ground,  commanding  a 
verv  extensive  view  of  the  countrv  on  all  sides.  In  point  of  elegance  for  building  ground,  it 
is  not  excee<led,  if  e<iualled,  by  any  situation  in  the  state;  and  with  respect  to  healthiness, 
four  years'  experience  has  proved  it  without  a  parallel. 

'*  The  road  from  Zanesville,  by  the  forks  of  Licking,  to  the  counties  of  Champaigne  and 
Miami,  and  the  road  from  Chillicothe  to  Samlusky,  cross  at  right  angles,  in  the  centre  of  this 
town ;  and  several  other  important  roads,  from  tlifferent  parts  of  the  state,  intersect  with 
them  near  the  same  point. 

"  From  a  consideration  of  these  several  particulars,  (with  many  others  of  minor  imj)ort- 
ance)  we  have  drawn  the  above  conclusion.  That  this  town  is  a  more  central  and  eligible 
situation  for  the  i^eat  of  gnrernmetit  than  a/i*/  oifur  that  can  be  found  in  this  state. 

"  With  respect  to  accommodations  for  the  meml)ers  of  the  legislature  «luring  their  session, 
should  th(j  general  assembly  think  proper  to  change  the  seat  of  government  at  the  next 
session,  (which,  however,  we  do  not  expect)  and  should  fix  it  at  this  town,  we  can  say  with 


The  Forest  Settlement.  221 

confidence,  that  the  houses  now  built,  and  building,  (that  will  be  finished  within  one  year) 
will  be  fully  sufficient  for  that  purpose. 

*'  We  would  also  state,  for  the  information  of  the  general  assembly,  that  a  large  and 
commodious  building  is  now  preparing  for  an  academy,  in  which  will  be  three  spacious 
rooms,  either  two  of  which  will  be  of  full  capacity  to  accommodate  the  two  branches  of  the 
legislature,  and  whi«-h,  when  furnished,  will  \ye  offered  for  the  use  of  the  state,  in  the  proper 
season,  until  the  state  buildings  can  be  erected.  This  house  will  l>e  ready  lus  soon  as 
required.  Also,  an  eligi^e  lot  for  the  erection  of  said  public  buildings,  shall  be  furnished 
upon  the  public  ground. 

"  Being  also  informed,  that  the  citizens  of  several  of  the  towns  have  opened  subscrip- 
tions for  the  purpose  of  offering  to  the  legislature,  private  contributions  toward  the  expenccs 
of  erecting  the  public  buildings  for  the  accommodation  of  government;  —  although  we  have 
thought  there  was  reason  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  such  a  measure,  yet,  from  |>resent  circuui- 
stances,  we  have  been  induced  to  follow  the  example,  as  the  following  subscription  will 
show  ;  and  we  confidently  trust  in  the  candor  of  the  legislature,  that  they  will  not  attribute 
the  tender  of  this  our  proposed  contribution,  to  improper  motives.  We  disclaim  th«»  idea  of 
purchasing,  or  offering  to  purchase,  those  privileges  which  of  right  might  belong  to  anoiht»r 
part  of  the  state,  or  which  the  public  interest  wouhl  require  to  be  elsewhere?  established.  On 
the  contrary,  conscious  as  we  are,  that  the  true  interest  of  the  state  will  In*  best  promoted  by 
that,  which  our  interest  and  sense  of  propriety  has  induccMl  ns  hrrein  to  suggest  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  general  assc»mbly,  we  have  no  other  motives  in  this  offer,  than  to  render 
more  secure  what  we  deem  a  natural  privilege,  and  to  manifest  to  i\w  legislaturt',  and  to  the 
state,  that  the  citizens  of  this  town,  and  its  vicinity  will  not  be  behind  th(>ir  neighbors  in 
contributing,  according  to  their  abilities,  in  the  infant  stato  of  tli(»ir  town  and  settlement,  to 
lessen  the  public  expen(»es  to  the  citizens  of  tht»  more  remote  parts  of  the  state,  who  cannot 
partake  so  fully  the  benefits  of  a  central  position,  (which  is  the  only  consideration,  we  con- 
ceive, to  justify  those  who  first  introduced  this  mode  of  procedure)  as  also,  to  counteract,  in 
some  degree,  an  undue  weight,  which  might  otherwi>e  operate  against  the  joint  interest  of 
the  state  and  this  town. 

'*A11  which  we  resjH»ctfully  subndt  to  the  consideration  of  the  ^reneral  assembly,  in  full 
confidence  that  a  concern  so  important  to  the  state,  will  be  justly  weiirhed,  and  that  the 
advantageous  situation  of  the  town  of  Worthington  for  the  permanent  seat  of  the*  state  gov- 
ernment, will  be  duly  noticed,  notwithstanding  the  present  infancy  of  the  settlement. 

**  Therefore  we,  the  undersigned,  citizens  and  proprietors  of  Worthington  and  its  vicinitv 
in  Franklin  county,  do  each  of  us  in  his  individual  capacity,  and  for  himself,  promise  an<l  en- 
gage, to  pay  to  the  treasurer  of  the  state  of  Ohio,  for  the  time  l)einy:,  the  sum  or  sums  annexed 
to  our  names  respectively,  for  the  purpo.se  of  erecting  a  state  house  in  said  town,  for  the  ac- 
commmlation  of  the  legislature  and  other  ollicers  of  the  government,  provi<led  this  offer  shall 
be  accepted  by  the  general  assenddy,  and  the  seat  of  government  of  this  state  he  permanent- 
ly fixed,  by  law,  at  Worthington,  within  two  years  from  the  rising  of  the  present  a.ssend>ly, 
an<l  not  otherwise. 

"The  suras  so  subscribed,  to  be  paid  in  four  equal  annual  installments;  the  first  instal- 
ment thereof  to  become  due  at  the  end  of  one  year  from  the  acceptance  of  the  subscription, 
and  the  passage  of  the  law,  fixing  the  seat  of  governnjent  as  aforesiiid,  and  the  other  three  in 
annual  succession  thereafter,  subject  to  such  other  restricticms  only,  as  shall  he  immediately 
annexed  to  our  respective  signatures :  The  money,  or  other  property  so  subscribed,  to  be  ap- 
plied to  the  building  of  a  state  house  in  said  Worthington,  and  to  no  other  purpose.  — Dated 
Worthington,  January  20,  1«08. 

James  KillM)urn  .         .         .     $*2(K)0  Lemuel  (i.   iluniphry  100 

do.  for  Norton  &  Kilbourn    .  1(X)0  .V<lna  Bristol 100 

do.  for  Jed.  Norton     .        .         .       2000  oOiK)    Charles  Thompson        ....  loO 

James  Kill)ourn  cash,  for  J.  Dayton  KXM)  Aaron  Strong  12o 

in  land 5CK)  ^-^^^^    (Tcorge  Ciuse 100 

EzraGriswold 500     William  Watson lUl 


Joflep))  Sage 
William  Riibe 
MoMfi  Maytiitrii 
Timothy  ^e 
Asa  (lillct 
Anioa  Maxflelil 
SntiiiK-l  WiUe«)n 
llauiel  M.  Brown 
Asaliol  Hart 
John  (iiMHt  rich 
Nnali  Amlrow! 
Joel  Buttles 
GlasH  CochmD' 
Joaiah  To|>)>iiig 
Ghanuey  Barker 
David  Bristdl 
AiB-rnh  Piimcv 
Jopliar  Topping 
ElH^nezer  Bmun 
JoHCpli  C.  MatthewH 
RiiBwell  Willcox 
Thomas  Pa.U 
William  Thompmm  to 
Isaac  Fisher  to  be  psiil 
Ahiai  Case   . 
Deaimon  C 
William  lioremly 
William  U'Curdy 
Kliplittlel  Barke 
AlexiUidcrMoi 
James  H.  Hills 
Jaiiiea  RusKell.  ji 
Jaiiies  Russell 
Cru«er  Wrij[ht 
Samuel  Sloper 
Israul  P.  CuKP 
Israel  Case,  to  bo  paiil 

property 
Preserved  Le 
John  B.  Manning 
William  Morrison 
Simeon  Wilcox 
Bcla  M.  Tnller 
Akxamler  Morrison 
Abner  P.  IViine; 
William  Vininn 
Itiiiac  Case 
Daniel  Btrnjamiti 
Benjamin  Chap 
0\h:<]  Blakely       . 
Seth  Watwm     . 
SiimucI  Bench,  juii' 
John  Cnmi 
U'viGDodrich      . 


HiMTOIlY    llF   THB    ('iTV    OF   f'OUJMmm. 

David  Biiell 
RoHwell  Taller 
George  Case,  jnr 
Bela  Goodrich 
Klias  Vininit 
Daniel  Munsee 
.les»te  Aiafrewfi 
True  man  Caae 
RolierlJnHticf 
Isnac  Biirtlet    . 
Jeremiah  Boardman 
Avery  Powe 
Nathan  ('arjienli^r 
John  Car|ifnter 
John  Patterson 
Thomas  Broirn 
Azaristi  Root 
Urlando  H.  Barker 
Moses  Byxbe 
Mo(!es  Byslje,  jui 
Ralph  Slack 
Jacob  Ay 
Discovery  OIney 
Augnstus  Ford 
John  Murphv 
John  Helt 
Michael  Gil 
Eli  Manvell      . 
Beujuniln  Cantenter 
Cephas  Cone 
Daniel  Alden 
William  Kancher 
Enoch   Doniigan 
Gilbert  Carpenter 
Daniel  Weeks 
Gill>ert  Weeks 

Joseph  l^atshaw 
NiUhanie  Landon 
I  Un.]on      . 
Sumnel  l.andon 
Jona.  Williams 
Jeremiah  Cnrtess 
Ezekial  Bod  jam  n 
Nathaniel  Disljiiry 
Ttwinas  Butler     . 
MoaeB  Carpenter 
Jolm  Welch 
Nathaniel   lall 
JnVm  .TohuHon 
David  Lewis 
Philo  lIoa<lly 
laaait  Uwia 
Chester  [jcwia 


/ 


The  Forest  Settlement.  223 

Amasa  Delano,  payable  in  land  out  of  the 

third  township  and  third  Section,  18th 

range,   when  the  builing  of  the  state 

house  shall  commence                         .  1000  Ezekiel  Brown 50 

^iel  Weeks,  jun'r           .        .       ♦.        .  50  Wm.  Luce 25 

Stephen  Maynard 100  Silas  Dunham 25 

^her  Maynard 100  James  Harper 15 

^oab  Norton    .                .        .  :?00  Hector  Kilbourn 35 

^^ward  Phelps 100  John  Wilson :i() 

J^^'^tT  Clark 50  Anijah  Royce           .....  50 

^®^iben  Carpenter 50  Nathaniel  W.  Little     ....  100 

'^^lifil  Beach           .•        ...  150  John  Topping 150 

l^Vi  Pinney 50  130  subscribers      ....        $25,334 

"  At  a  general  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Worthington  and  its  vicinity,  for  the  purpose  of 
col/ectiiig  subscriptions  towards  erecting  a  state  house,  in  said  town,  (in  case  the  permanent 
seat  of  government  should  be  there  established)    Major  James  Kilbourn  was  unanimously 
e/ecteil  agent,  to  present  the  address  adopted  by  this  meeting  to  the  honorable,  the  general 
aasenably,  as  also  to  tender  to  government,  on  behalf  of  said  citizens,  their  proposed  contribu- 
tions for  the  purpose  aforesaid. 

Wm.  Robe,  Cierk. 
Worthington,  February  3d,  1808. 

The  agent  appointed  as  above  begs  leave  to  observe,  that  for  want  of  time  this  subscrip- 
tion liAd  not  a  full  circulation,  and  that  there  is  good  reason  to  expect  considerable  a<lditions  — 
also  that  the  subscribers  are  many  and  the  sums  small  and  there  is  none  who  is  notable  and 
^illinij^  to  pay  his  subscription  in  case  the  end  is  obtained. 

James  Kilbourn." 
-4-     An  act  to  provide  for  fixing  the  permanent  seat  of  government.     Passed  February 
^.    1 » 1 0.    Ohio  Laws.  Volume  8.    .     .    . 

S^Hition  one  and  two  provide  for  the  appointment  of  five  commissioners  by  joint  ballot 
"^otli  bouses  of  the  General  Assembly,  a  majority  of  the  board  to  be  necessary  for  the  rec- 
^^^rrk^ndation  of  any  particular  site. 

*'^  Sec    3.    That  after  the  commissioners  shall  have  taken  an  oath  or  afhrmation  faithfully 

^  ^^isoharge  the  duties  enjoined  on  them  by  this  act,  they  shall  proceed  to  examine  and  select 

^   ixi ost  eligible  spot,  which   in  their  opinion  will  be  most  central,   taking  into  view  the 

°*^^^^»"al  advantages  of  the  state;  Provided ;  It  shall  not  be  more  than  forty  miles  from  what 

'f^y      l)e  deemed  the  common  centre  of  the  state,  to  be  ascertained  by  Mansfield's  map 

"»«— of. 


•  4 


**Sec.  4.    That  after  the  commissioners  shall  have  fixed  on  the  most  eligible  spot,  they 

^^^    make  up  a  report  of  their  proceedings  and  sign  the  same,  seal  it  up  and  direct  it  to  the 

^^^^-^er  of  the  senate,  and  forward  the  same  to  the  senate,  within  ten  days  after  the  com- 

.  ^r^^^ment  of  the  next  session  of  the  general  assembly ;  and  if  it  shall  appear  to  the  satisfac- 

^^*^   of  the  next  general  assembly,  that  the  place  fixed  on  is  the  most  eligible  place,  they  shall 

^^^rm  the  report  of  the  commissioners,  and  proceed  to  take  such  further  order  thereon  as 

^t^em  shall  appear  most  advantageous  and  proper 

"  8bc  5.    That  the  commissioners  shall  meet  at  Franklinton  on  the  first  day  of  September 
^^Xt,  to  proceed  to  discharge  the'duties  enjoined  to  them  by  this  act,  and  shall  each  receive 
*^»'ee  dollars  per  day. 

"This  act  to  take  effect  from  and  after  the  commencement  passage  thereof. 

Edward  Tiffin, 
Speaker  of  the  fwiise  of  rrpresentatiirs. 
Duncan  Mc Arthur, 

Speaker  of  the  senate.** 
5.    Copied  from  an  old  manuscript  in  the  possession  of  H.  T.  Fay,  Esq. 
().    The  proceedings  in  the  General  Assembly  with  reference  to  the  permanent  location 
of  the  capital,  as  reported  in  the  official  journal  of  the  House  and  Senate,  were  as  follows, 
copied  verbatim  et  lUeratim : 


224  History  of  the  City  op  Columbub. 

I'ROrEEI)IN(»S    IN   THK   SENATE. 

January  17,  lhl2;  Mr.  Evans  from  the  couimittee  appointed,  reported  as  follows: 

The  committee  to  whom  were  referre<i  ho  much  of  the  unfinished  business  of  the  last 
session,  relating  to  the  fixings  of  the  permanent  seat  of  government  and  who  were  directe<l 
to  receive  donations  therefore  now  beg  leave  to  report  that  they  have  received  proposals  for 
the  following  places,  viz.  —  Delaware.  Sells's  place,  Thomas  Backus's  land,  High  Bank  oppo- 
site Franklinton,  High  Bank  Pickaway  plains,  and  Gircleville,  Pickaway  county. 

Your  committee  beg  leave  to  offer,  for  the  consideration  of  the  senate,  an  extract  from 
the  ditferent  proposals  attaching  each  to  the  place  for  which  such  proposals  were  made. 

For  the  town  of  Delaware,  or  any  other  part  of  section  4,  township  5,  range  19,  in  section 
3,  townships  and  range  IS;  —  Messrs.  Moses  Byxbe  and  Henry  Baldwin,  proprietors  of  said 
lands,  submitted  the  two  following  proposals  : 

First  —  to  erect,  at  their  own  expense,  within  such  time  as  the  legislature  shall  fix  on,  a 
building  which  will  accommodate  both  branches  of  the  legislature  ;  an  office  for  the  auditor, 
secretary  and  treasurer;  a  public  prison,  and  such  apperpenances  as  may  be  necessary  for  a 
penitentiary  together  with  one  hundred  acres  of  land,  in  a  place  convenient  for  raising  pro- 
visions for  the  use  of  jirisoners,  or  such  other  purpose  as  may  be  required.  All  the  buildings 
to  be  built  of  good  materials,  in  a  workmanlike  manner,  to  be  in  all  respects  perfectly  com- 
modious for  the  above  purposes,  and  of  such  dimensions  and  plans  as  may  be  designated  and 
adopted  by  the  committee  to  be  for  that  purpose  appointed  by  the  legislature.  The  one 
hundred  acres.  an«l  the  grouncl  covered  by  the  public  buildings,  and  as  much  more  as  may  be 
re<inired  for  walks  and  other  public  conveniences,  to  be  conveyed  to  the  state  or  trustees 
for  their  use,  in  fee  simple,  clear  of  all  incumbrances. 

2<l.  To  convey  an  e<]ual  undivided  moiety  of  four  thousand  acres  of  land,  to  be  laid  off 
in  one  survey,  out  of  section  four,  township  5,  range  1!>,  and  section  3,  township  ft  and  ranije 
IS,  iuid  to  include  the  i>lace  to  be  fixed  on  for  the  seat  of  government:  The  four  thousand 
acres  to  be  selected  by  three  persons,  one  to  be  chosen  by  the  legislature,  one  by  said  Byxbe 
and  Baldwin,  and  the  third  by  the  two  thus  named. 

For  the  place  owned  by  Messrs,  John  and  Peter  Sells,  the  scite  chosen  by  the  commis- 
sioners: —  John  and  Peter  Sells  will  convey  to  the  state,  three  hundred  acres  of  land,  to  be 
taken  off  the  east  end  of  their  tract,  exclusive  of  the  following  reservations  — a  lot  of  l\0  poles 
s(|uare,  inclu<ling  the  grist  mill  of  John  Sells. 

A  lot  of  :\0  poles  square,  including  the  dwelling  house  and  distillery  of  John  Sells. 

A  lot  of  50  poles  in  length,  10  poles  in  width,  for  a  log  yard. 

A  lot  of  '.\0  poles  east  and  west,  and  SO  poles  north  and  south,  including  the  house  of 
Peter  Sells,  and  the  mill  seat ;  an<l  10  inn  lots  in  the  proposed  town. 

Mr.  Walter  Dun  agent  in  fact  of  John  Qraham,  offers  for  the  same  place  four  hundred 
acres  of  land  —  beginning  at  the  upper  back  corner  of  James  Holts's  survey.  No.  2543; 
thence  south  iiS  degrees  west,  70  poles  ;  thence  north  22  degrees  west,  till  the  same  intersect 
the  upper  line  of  the  said  Holt's  survey.  No.  2544;  thence  with  the  said  line,  north  68"^  east, 
and  from  the  beginning  east,  so  far  that  a  line  north  22  degrees  west,  will  include  said  four 
hundred  acres. 

Mr.  James  (THiloway  Jun.  offers  for  the  same  place,  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  entered 
and  surveyed  for  John  Crawford,  on  the  waters  of  Darby  Creek,  No  7075. 

For  the  scite  to  be  on  section  4,  township  1  four  miles  frotn  Pranklinton,  seven  miles 
below  Sells's  place  ;— Mr.  Thomas  Backus,  proprietor  of  said  section,  offers  one  thousand  acres 
of  land,  part  of  the  aforesaid  section,  to  be  laid  out  in  a  town,  as  follows:  One  half  shall  be 
on  the  said  given  lands,  and  the  other  on  said  Backus's  adjoining  land.  The  town  to  be  laid 
out  in  such  a  manner  as  the  legislature  shall  direct.  Said  Backus  offers  to  secure  to  the 
public,  the  use  of  such  streets  and  public  grounds  as  shall  be  laid  out  on  his  land. 

For  the  High  Bank,  nearly  oi>po8ite  to  Franklinton— First.  Messrs.  Kerr  and  M,Laugh- 
lin,  James  Johnston  and  Lyne  Sterling  will  convey  to  the  state  sections  No.  9,  25,  26  contain- 
ing about  one  thousan<l  acres,  in  township  5,  of  range  22  said  tract  to  be  laid  out  by  the  state 
into  inn-and  out  lots,  one  half  of  which  shall  belcmg  to  the  state,  and  the  other  to  said  donors: 


^mjtk»^^m 


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I'    '  •    -. 


1  •  'I    t  :r    •  ■ 

I  ;  I  I       .1  .,  1  '  -     .1  -      '  I  I  !i     all'  1       I 

' ;    ■    il  H  .  jf  .lilt-  :  i  p  •!'  - ,( 1 1' '  atM"! 
iimi  1  11  n  -ati-i     >\\\   >'  '■ -.  <»n'    li,; 


(•'  I.  \ '  '. 


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.1   w  !i  ii' 


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■^I»  l«  I    '  M   h  .1   ._      1) 


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,     :         1    ..    . 

I  iMt  '-^    •' 
•     .11   !     - 
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I.. I' 
I   '  I , .    . .  i  ! ,     : 


c.l  X 


'tUOtA 


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..•:-'.v>.-t' 


The  K(»rest  Settlement.  22.') 

*  They  moreover  offer  to  give  to  the  state,  four  thousand  dollars  for  four  such  lot.s  as  they  wull 
choose  out  of  the  half  belonging  to  the  said  state. 

Second— They  offer  to  convey  three  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land,  off  any  such  part  of 
the  aforesaid  tract,  as  the  state  will,  by  agent  or  otherwise  choose  provided  the  state  do  lay 
out  thereon  a  town  previous  to  the  first  day  of  September  next  ensuing. 

They  reserve  ten  acres  out  of  the  aforesaid  land,  sold  by  Lyne  Sterling,  in  the  north- 
westerly corner  of  his  half  section  ;  also  about  fortysix  acres  of  low  and  broken  land,  in  the 
south-westerly  corner  of  M'Laughlin's  and  Kerr's  half  section— which  land,  so  to  be  reserved, 
is  designated  on  a  plan  accompanying  this  report. 

George  Stevenson,  Esq.,  proposes,  on  condition  that  the  seat  of  government  shall  be 
fixed  at  Franklinton,  or  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Scioto,  within  one  mile  of  that  town,  he 
will  give  live  hundred  acres  part  of  his  section  No.  IS,  or  two  thousan<l  dollars  in  cash,  at  his 
option,  the  conveyance  to  be  executed, or  the  cash  to  be  pai<l  as  soon  as  the  foundation  of  the 
state  house,  or  capitol  shall  be  laid. 

For  the  High  Bank,  in  the  Pickaway  Plain;  —  Mr.  Henry  Nevill  offers  a  <lonation  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land,  for  the  purpose  of  laying  out  a  town  by  the  state,  out  of 
which  he  reserves  for  his  own  use,  two  lots  to  be  by  him  chosen  out  of  all  the  lots  not 
reserved  by  law  for  public  use,  and  moreover,  if  the  state  will  sell  to  the  highest  bidder,  at 
such  time,  and  on  such  terms  of  payment  as  shall  be  prcscribtMl  by  law,  each  and  every  lot  in 
such  town,  (the  two  to  be  by  said  Xevill  reserved  excepted)  if  such  sales  <lo  not  amount  to 
thirty  five  thousand  dollars,  the  said  Nevill  offers  to  make  up  to  the  state  defi(!iency  in  such 
money.  Which  sum  of  thirty  five  thousand  dollars,  shall  be  appropriate<l  for  the  improve- 
ment and  benefit  of  said  town. 

Or  otherwise  said  Nevill  offers  to  take  upon  himself  the  disposal  of  all  the  lots,  (except 
such  as  shall  be  reserved  by  law  for  i>ublic  buildings)  and  out  of  the  proceeds  thereof,  or  of 
his  own  money,  if  the  proceeds  are  not  sufficient,  he  offers  to  erect,  to  the  amount  of  thirty 
five  thousand  dollars,  such  public  buildings  as  shall  be  directed  by  law;  and  if  the  legisla- 
ture thinks  proper  he  will  add  to  the  tract  of  land  heretofore  offered,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
acres  more. 

For  the  town  of  Circleville,  Pickaway  county;— A  subscription,  signed  by  forty  one 
persons,  amounting  to  five  thousand  and  ninety  five  dollars,  was  handed  to  your  committee. 

Your  committee,  having  taken  into  consideration,  the  several  proposals  made  for  the 
dift'erent  places,  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  donations  off^ered,  in  the  first  part  of  the  propos- 
als of  messrs.  Byxbe  and  Baldwin,  if  accepted,  will  be  the  most  advantageous  to  the  state.  In 
thus  making  up  their  opinion,  your  committee  had  in  view  the  eligibility  and  central  situa- 
tion of  the  places  designated  in  the  several  proposals. 

Your  committee  begs  leave  to  recommen<i  to  the  consideration  of  the  senate,  the  follow- 
ing resolution  : 

Remlved,  That  a  committee,  to  consist  of  members,  be  appointed  to  bring  in  a 

bill  for  fixing  the  permanent  seat  of  government,  on  the  lands  of  Moses  Byxbe  and  Henry 
Baldwin,  agreeably  to  the  first  member  of  their  written  propo.««als. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted  by 

J.  P.  R.  Biire.\l:, 
J.  Pkitciiari), 
David  Purviance, 
(teor(JE  Tod, 

Committee. 

And  from  which  Samuel  Evans,  one  of  the  committee.  <lissents  as  to  the  resolutions 
only. 

The  said  report  was  read,  committed  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  .senate,  an<l  made  the 
order  of  this  day. 

January  20,  1812:     On  motion, 

Ordered,  That  the  committee  of  the  whole  senate  be  discharged  from  the  further  con- 
sideration of  so  much  of  the  report  of  the  select  committee,  as  relates  to  the  pro])osals  of 

15 


226  lilSTORY    OF    THE    ClTY    OF    CoLUMBUS. 

messrs.  John  Kerr  ami  Alexander  M'Laugbliii  for  tixing  the  permanent  seat  of  government. 

On  motion, 

Ordered,  Tbat  meanrs.  Kerr  and  M'Laughling  have  leave  to  withdraw  said  proposals. 

January  24,  1812,  Mr.  Evans  laid  on  the  clerk's  table,  proposals  from  inhabitants  of 
the  town  of  Worthington,  for  fixing  the  permanent  seat  of  government,  which  were  referred 
to  the  committee  of  the  whole  senate  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the  select  committee 
on  the  same  subject. 

February  1,  1812:  Mr.  Evans  laid  on  the  clerk's  table  proposals  of  J.  and  P.  Sells,  for 
fixing  the  permanent  seat  of  government  which  were  referred  to  the  committee  of  the  whole 
senate  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  the  select  committee  on  the  same  subject.     .     .     . 

[On  the  same  date  the  subject  of  fixing  the  seat  of  governu\ent  was  recommitte<i  to  the 
committee  on  that  subject  which  had  been  previously  appointed.] 

Februarys,  1812:  Mr.  Evan?  from  the  committee  to  whom  were  referred  the  report 
and  proposals,  relative  to  fixing  the  permanent  seat  of  government,  reported  the  same,  with 
the  following  additional  report : 

The  committee  to  whom  were  referred  the  proposals  for  fixing  the  permanent  seat  of 
government,  begs  leave  to  report.  They  have  examined  the  proposals  made  since  their  first 
report,  and  find  them  as  follows : 

Messrs.  John  and  Peter  Sells  ofiers  to  lay  out  a  town  on  their  land,  on  such  plan  as  the 
legislature  will  point  out,  and  out  of  the  same  they  will  convey  as  much  ground  as  may  be 
necessary  for  a  state  house  ofificen  &  penitentiary,  and  moreover  to  build  a  state  house,  and 
such  other  houses  as  commissioners,  to  be  appointed  by  the  legislature,  shall  direct,  provided 
that  the  same  does  not  exceed  twenty  thousand  dollars ;  which  donation  is  to  be  made, 
if  the  legislature  establishes  the  permanent  seat  of  government  on  their  lands,  within  three 
years. 

[The  Committee  here  recites  the  propositions  submitted  by  Mr.  Starling  and  his  associ- 
ates.   The  report  then  continues  as  follows  :] 

Mr.  James  Kilbourn  ofTers,  if  the  permanent  seat  of  government  is  established  in  the 
town  of  Worthington,  to  enlarge  and  extend  the  plan  of  the  same,  according  to  a  plat  trans- 
mitted to  one  of  your  committee. 

He  also  offers  a  subscription  of  three  hundred  and  forty  inn-lots,  sixty  six  out  lots,  in 
said  town  five  thousand  acres  of  land  near  the  same,  and  six  thousand  dollars  in  cash,  labor 
and  materials.  The  inn-lots  to  contain  about  three  fourths  acres  each  —  the  out-lotfi  to  con- 
tain about  two  and  a  half  acres  each. 

Otherwise  mr.  Kilbourn  proposes  to  erect  public  buildings  of  the  following/limensions, 
viz. —  a  state  house  one  hundred  and  twenty  five  feet  long  and  fifty  feet  wide  in  the  wings, 
two  stories  high,  with  convenient  rooms  for  the  public  offices,  and  a  room  for  the  federal 
court;  of  all  which  a  particular  description  may  be  seen,  by  a  reference  to  his  last  proposals. 
We  observe,  in  short,  that  according  to  the  plan  therein  delineated,  the  buildings  will  be 
elegant  and  commodious.  The  said  mr.  Kilbourn  also  proposes  to  erect  a  penetentiary  house 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  and  thirty  feet  wide,  with  a  sufficient  well,  and  every  neces- 
sary accommodation. 

J.  &  P.  .Sells  have  submitted  to  your  committee,  new  proposals,  in  lieu  of  their  former 
proposals —  stating,  that  in  case  the  legislature  should  prefer  the  following  plan,  they  will 
erect  a  state  house  eighty  feet  long  and  fifty  feet  wide,  two  stories  high,  with  such  rooms  as 
shall  be  necessary  for  the  legislature  and  federal  court,  and  a  separate  brick  building,  forty  feet 
by  twenty  four,  two  stories  high,  for  the  public  offices  ;  and  also  to  convey  a  noted  spring  by 
an  aqueduct,  into  the  public  square. 

Your  committee  can  see  it  is  not  expedient  nor  necessary  for  them  to  give  a  specific 
detail  of  the  several  proi)osals  submitted  to  their  consitleration.  They  therefore  beg  leave  to 
report  this  brief  summary,  believing  that  in  i^ase  the  senate  should  fix  ui)on  a  place  for  the 
permanent  seat  of  government,  it  will  be  necessary  more  particularly  to  attend  to  the  pro- 
posals for  that  place,  an<l  frame  a  bill  accordinj^ly. 

The  said  report  was  read,  and  with  all  documents  on  the  same  subject,  committed  to  a 
committee  of  the  whole  senate,  and  made  the  order  of  this  day. 


The  Forest  Settlement.  227 

[The  subject  was  then  considered  for  a  time  by  the  seuatc  iu  committee  of  the  whole.] 
February  5,  1812:  The  senate,  according  to  the  order  of  the  day,  again  resolved  itself 
into  a  committee  of  the  whole  senate,  on  the  report  of  the  select  committee,  to  whom  was 
referred  so  much  of  the  unfinished  business  as  relates  to  a  bill,  entitled,  ''An  act  fixing  the 
permanent  seat  of  government,"  and  after  some  time  spent  therein,  the  npeaker  resumed  the 
chair  and  mr.  Purviance  reported,  that  the  committee  had,  according  to  order,  had  said 
T^'port  under  consideration,  and  agreed  to  the  following  resolution : 

Retolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  members  be  appointed  to  prepare  and  bring  tii  a 
\>iU,  to  fix  and  establish  the  permanent  seat  of  government,  at  agreeably  to  the 

propositions  of  ;  and  that  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  May  next, 

Lancaster  shall  be  the  temporary  seat  of  government,  until  otherwise  directed  by  law. 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Foos,  to  fill  the  first  blank  in  said  resolution,  with  these 
words,  the  High-bank  on  tlie  east  side  of  the  Scioto  ni'tr,  opposite  the  U/wn  of  Franklinton, 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Bureau,  to  fill  the  first  blank  with  tbese  words,  the  town  of 
Delaware. 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Bigger,  to  fill  said  blank  with  these  words,  the  farm  of  Peter 
ami  John  SelU. 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Caldwell,  to  fill  said  blank  with  these  words,  the  town  of 
^orthington. 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Evans,  to  fill  said  blank  with  these  words,  the  High-bank^  in 
^^Pickatvay  Plains. 

A  Qiotion  was  made  by  mr.  Bureau,  to  fill  said  blank  with  these  words,  the  land  of  Moses 
^j/jrUt'  and  Henry  Baldwin. 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Pritchard,  to  fill  said  blank  with  the  word,  New- Lancaster. 
The  question  was  first  put  on  filling  said  blank  with  these  words,  the  Highbank  on  tfie 
eoju  side  of  the  Scioto  river,  oppodte  the  town  of  Franklinton,  and  decided  in  the  affirmative  :  yeas 
^•^^nays  9. 

The  veas  and  nays  being  required  by  two  members,  those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative 
vere. 

Messrs.   Bigger,  Bureau,   Dunlap,  .Evans,    Foos,    Irwin,    Looker,    M' Arthur,   M'Beth, 
'iirviance,  Slaughter,  Smith,  Trimble,  Welch,  and  Kirker  (speaker). 
Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

^lessrs,   Abbott,  Caldwell,   Kinney,    M, Council,  Pritchard,   Rogers,   Stone,   Todd  and 
^^'*^o<l  bridge. 

The  said  resolution  was  further  amended  and  then  read,  as  follows : 
Jienolved  by  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  that  a  committee  of  three  members  be  ap- 
P<»int^(l  on  the  part.of  the  senate,  to  prepare  and  bring  in  a  bill,  to  fix  and  establish  the  per- 
"»«ntMit  seat  of  government,  at  the  High  Bank,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Scioto  river,  opposite 
^^'<?  tA»wn  of  Franklinton,  agreeably  to  the  propositions  of  niessrs.  Starling,  Kerr,  M'Laughlin 
'^^^^  Johnston;  and  that  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  May  next,  Lancaster  shall  be  the 
^*^^uporary  seat  of  government,  until  otherwise  directed  by  law. 
A  motion  was  made  that  the  senate  agree  to  the  same. 
The  ijuestion  being  put,  was  decided  in  the  athrmative,  yeas  17  —  nays  7. 
The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  two  members, 
Those  who  vote<l  in  the  affirmative  were, 

Messrs.    Bigger,    Bureau,    Dunlap,    Evans,    Foos,    Irwin,    Looker,    M' Arthur,    M'Beth^ 
MTonnell,  Purviance,  Rogers,  Slaughter,  Smith,  Trimble,  Welch  and  Kirker,  (speaker). 
Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Abbott,  Caldwell,  Kinney,  Pritchard,  Stone,  Tod  and  Woodbridge. 
Ordered,  That  mr.  Bureau  request  the  concurrence  of  the  house  of  representatives  therein. 
February  6,  1812 :  A  message  from  the  house  of  representatives  by  mr.  T.  Morris. 
Mr.  Speaker — The  house  of  representatives  have  agreed  to  the  resolution  sent  down  for 
^'onmrrence,  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  bring  in  a  bill  fixing  the  permanent  and 
temporary  seats  of  government,  with  amendments,  in  which  they  desire  the  concurrence  of 
the  senate. 

The  said  amendments  were  read. 


22S  History  of  the  (-ity  op  Columbus. 

A  iiiotiou  was  inado  by  lur.  M'Arlhur,  that  the  Heiiate  ilioagree  to  the  second  amend- 
ment of  the  house  of  representatives  to  said  resolution. 

The  said  amendment  was  read,  as  follows : 

2d  amendment  line  10th  strike  out  *  lAncast^r,'  and  insert  *Chillicothe.* 

On  the  question  that  the  senate  disagree  to  the  sanu%  no  decision  was  ha<l,  yeas  12  — 
nays  12. 

The  yeas  and  nays  being  re.quire<l  by  two  members. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  were,  Messrs.  Abbot,  Caldwell,  Irwin,  Kinney, 
M'Connell,  Pritchard,  Slaughter,  Smith,  Stone,  To<l  Trimble  and  Welch. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were,  Messrs.  Bigger,  Bureau,  Dunlap,  Evans,  F'oos, 
Looker,  M'Arthur,  M'Beth,  Purviance,  Rogers,  Woodbridge  and  Kirker  (speaker). 

The  first  amendment  to  said  resolution,  was  read  and  agreed  to  by  the  senate. 

A  motion  was  made,  by  mr.  Woodbridge,  to  amend  the  third  amendment. 

The  question  being  put,  was  decided  in  the  negative. 

The  third  amendment  was  then  read,  and  agreed  to  by  the  senate. 

Ordered,  that  the  second  amendment  made  by  the  house  of  representatives  to  said  reso- 
lution, lie  for  consideration. 

February  7  1812  :  The  senate  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  motion,  made  yesterday 
by  mr.  M'Arthur  that  the  senate  disagree  to  the  second  amendment  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, to  the  resolution  sent  down  for  concurrence,  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
to  bring  in  a  bill  fixing  the  permanent  and  temporary  seats  of  government. 

The  said  second  amendment  was  again  read  as  follows  : 

2d  amendment,  line  10th,  strike  out  *  Lancaster*  and  insert  in  lieu  thereof  *  Chillicothe.* 

On  the  question  that  the  senate  disagree  to  the  same,  it  was  decided  in  the  negative, 
yeas  10  — nays  13.  The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  two  members,  those  who  voted  in 
the  affirmative  were, 

Messrs.  Abbot,  Kinney,  M'Connell,  Pritchard,  Slaughter,  Stone,  Tod,  Trimble,  Welch 
and  Woodbridge. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Bigger,  Bureau,  Dunlap,  Evans,  Foos,  Irwin,  Ix)oker,  M'Arthur,  M*Beth. 
Purviance,  Rogers,  Smith  and  Kirker,  (speaker). 

In  pursuance  of  said  resolution,  the  committee  was  accordingly  appointed  of  mr. 
Purviance,  mr.  Bureau  and  mr.  Bigger. 

Ordered,  that  Mr.  Evans  acquaint  the  house  of  representatives  therewith. 

February  8, 1812 :  Mr.  Purviance,  from  the  committee  appointed,  reported  a  bill  fixing 
and  establishing  the  permanent  and  temporary  seats  of  government,  which  was  received, 
read  the  first  time,  and  ordered  to  pass  to  the  second  reading. 

February  10,  1812  :  Mr.  Evans  laid  on  the  clerk's  table,  further  proposals,  &c,  of  Messrs. 
Sterling,  Kerr,  McLaughlin  and  Johnston,  relative  to  the  permanent  seat  of  government, 
which  were  committed  to  the  committee  of  the  whole  senate,  to  whom  was  committed  the 
bill  fixing  and  establishing  the  permanent  and  temporary  seats  of  government. 

The  orders  of  the  day  were  postponed  till  to-morrow. 

February  11, 1812:  A  motion  was  made,  by  mr.  Woodbridge,  that  the  committee  of  the 
whole  senate  be  discharged  from  the  further  consideration  of  the  bill  fixing  and  establishing 
the  permanent  and  temporary  seats  of  government. 

The  question  being  put,  was  decided  in  the  negative. 

February  12,  1812:  The  senate  took  up  the  amendment,  reported  from  the  committee  of 
the  whole  senate,  to  the  bill  fixing  and  establishing  the  permanent  and  temporary  seats  of  gov- 
ernment. 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Pritchard,  that  the  further  consideration  of  the  same  be 
postponed  till  the  second  Monday  in  December  next. 

The  question  being  put,  was  decided  in  the  negative :  yeas  12 —  nays  12. 
The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  tw^o  members, 
Those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  were, 

Messrs.  Abbot,  Caldwell,  Foos,  Kinney,  M'Connell,  Pritchard,  Slaughter,  Stone,  To<l, 
Trimble,  Welch  and  Woodbridge. 


The  Forest  Settlement.  229 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Big:ger,  Bureau,  Dnnlap,  Evans,  Irwin,  Looker,  M* Arthur,  M'Beth,  Purviance, 
Rogers,  Smith  ft  Kirker  (speaker). 

The  said  amendment  was  then  read,  as  follows: 

Strike  out  of  the  first  section  of  said  bill,  these  words,  'Alexander  M'Laughlin,  John 
Kerr,  Lyne  Starling  and  James  Johnston,  to  lay  out  a  town  on  their  lands,  situated  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Scioto  river,  opposite  Franklinton,  in  the  county  of  Franklin,  and  parts  of 
half  sections  No.  9,  10,  11,  25,  and  26,  for  the  purpose  of  having  the  permanent  seat  of  govern- 
ment thereon  established  ;  also  to  convey  to  this  state,  a  square  of  ten  acres,  and  a  lot  of  ten 
acres,  and  to  erect  a  state  house,  such  offices  and  a  penitentiary,  as  shall  be  directed  by  the 
legislature,'  and  insert  in  lieu  thereof,  the  following:  *  Moses  Byxbee  and  Henry  Baldwin,  to 
lay  out  a  town  on  section  4,  township  5.  range  19,  of  the  United  States'  military  district,  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  the  permanent  seat  of  government  of  this  state,  in  such  place,  as 
this  general  assembly,  or  a  committee,  or  director,  to  be  by  them  appointed,  shall  direct: 
Also  to  convey  to  this  state,  the  ground  covered  by  the  public  buildings,  and  whatever  may 
be  deemed  necessary  for  walks  and  other  public  conveniences:  Also  one  hundred  acres  for 
the  use  of  the  penitentiary  :  And  to  erect  a  state  house,  public  ofhcos,  and  a  penitentiary, 
within  such  time,  on  such  place,  and  of  such  dimensions  and  materials,  as  the  general 
assembly,  or  a  committee,  or  a  director,  shall  adopt. 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Bureau,  that  the  senate  agre<^  to  said  amendment. 

The  question  being  put,  was  decided  in  the  negative,  yeas  10— nays  14. 

The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  two  members. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  were, 

Messrs.  Abbott,  Caldwell,  Kinney,  M'Connell,  Pritchard,  Slaughter,  Stone,  Tod,  Welch 
and  Woodbridge. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Bigger,  Bureau,  Dunlap,  Evans,  Foos,  Irwin,  Looker,  M' Arthur,  M'Beth,  Pur- 
viance, Rogers,  Smith.  Trimble  and  Kirker,  (speaker). 

A  motion  was  made  by  Mr.  Pritchard,  that  the  tUh  section  of  said  l)ill  be  struck  out. 

The  said  section  was  read,  as  follows : 

Skc.  H.     And  be  it  further  wact^dy  That  from  -  and  after  the  day   of  next, 

Chillicothe  shall  be  the  temporary  seat  of  government,  until  otherwise  provided  by  law. 

The  first  blank  in  said  section,  was  filled  with  the  word  first,  and  the  second  blank  with 
the  word  May. 

The  question  was  then  put,  and  decided  in  the  negative,  yeas  11— nays  l.X 

The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  two  members. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  were, 

Messrs.  Abbott,  Caldwell,  Kinney,  M'Connell,  Pritchard,  Slaugiiter,  Stone,  Tod,  Trimble, 
Welch,  and  Woodbridge. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Bigger,  Bureau,  Dunlap,  Evans,  Foos,  Irwin,  Ixioker,  M'Arthur,  M'Beth,  Pur- 
viance, Rogers,  Smith  and  Kirker,  (speaker). 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Tod,  to  amend  said  bill  by  striking  out  all  the  first  section, 
after  the  enacting  clause,  these  words  *that  the  proposals  made  to  this  legislature,  by 
Alexander  M'Laughlin,  John  Kerr,  Lyne  Starling  and  James  Johnston,  to  lay  out  a  town  on 
their  lands,  situate  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto  river,  opposite  Franklinton,  in  the  county 
of  Franklin,  and  parts  of  half  section  No.  9,  10,  11,  25,  and  26,  for  the  purpose  of  having  the 
permanent  seat  of  government  thereon  established  ;  also  to  convey  to  this  state,  a  square  of 
ten  acres,  and  a  lot  of  ten  acres,  and  to  erect  a  state  house,  such  oltices,  and  a  penitentiary,  as 
shall  be  directed  by  tlie  legislature,  are  hereby  accepted,  and  the  same  and  their  penal  bond 
annexed  thereto,  dated  the  10th  of  February,  1^12,  conditioned  for  their  faithful  performance 
of  said  proposals,  shall  be  valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  and  shall  remain  in  the  office  of 
the  treasurer  of  state,  there  to  be  kept  for  the  use  of  this  Ptate,'  and  inserting  in  lieu  thereof 
the  followins::  'That,  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  November,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thoasand  eight  hundred  and  sixteen,  the  seat  of  government  for  said  state  shall  be,  and 


280  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

remain,  on  section  4,  township  5,  runKe  19,  in  the  United  States'  Military  tract,  situated  on 
the  east  side  of  Whetstone  creek,  opposite  the  town  of  Delaware,  in  the  county  of  Delaware, 
for  the  term  of  15  years.* 

The  question  being  put,  was  decided  in  the  negative,  yeas  8— nays  16. 

The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  two  members,  those  who  voted  in  the  aflirmative 
were, 

Messrs.  Abbot,  Caldwell,  Kinney,  M'Connell,  Slaughter,  IStone,  Tod,  and  Woodbridge. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Bigger,  Bureau.  Dunlap,  Evans,  Foos,  Irwin,  Looker,  M'Arthur,  M'Beth, 
Pritchard,  Purviance,  Rogers.  Smith,  Trimble,  Welch,  and  Kirker,  (speaker). 

The  said  bill  was  further  amended. 

On  motion  of  mr.  Purviance, 

Ordered,  That  said  bill  be  engrossed,  and  read  the  third  time  this  day. 
*  '^-  ***«««*«««  • 

Mr.  M' Arthur  laid  on  the  clerk's  table  further  proposals,  <&c.  of  Messrs.  M'Laughlin, 
Kerr,  Starling,  and  Johnston,  for  the  permanent  seat  of  government,  which  were  read. 

On  motion, 

An  engrossed  bill,  fixing  and  establishing  the  permanent  and  temporary  seats  of  govern- 
ment, was  read  the  third  time. 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Bureau,  to  amend  said  bill  by  way  of  rider,  by  adding  to  the 
second  section  these  words:  'and  there  continue  until  the  first  day  of  May,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  forty,  and  from  thence  until  otherwise  provided  for  by  law.' 

A  motion  was  made  by  mr.  Pritchard,  to  amend  said  proposed  amendments,  by  striking 
out /or(y,  and  inserting  in  lieu  thereof,  twenty  five. 

The  question  being  put,  was  decided  in  the  negative :     yeas  8— nays  16. 

The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  two  members,  those  who  voted  in  the  aflirmative 
were, 

Messrs  Abbott,  Caldwell,  Kinney,  M'Connell,  Pritchard,  Stone,  Tod,  and  Woodbridge. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Bigger,  Bureau,  Dunlap,  Evans,  Foos,  Irwin,  Looker,  M' Arthur,  M'Beth,  Pur- 
viance, Rogers,  Slaughter,  Smith,  Trimble,  Welch  and  Kirker,  (Speaker). 

On  the  question  will  the  senate  agree  to  .*aid  amendment  by  way  of  rider  ?  it  was  decided 
in  the  affirmative,  veas  20— navs  4. 

The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  two  members,  those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative 
were, 

Messrs.  Bigger,  Bureau,  Caldwell,  Dunlap,  Evans,  Foos,  Irwin,  Kinney,  Looker,  M' Arthur, 
M'Beth,  Pritchard,  Purviance,  Rogers,  Slaughter,  Smith,  Stone,  Trimble,  Welch,  and  Kirker, 
(Speaker). 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Abbott,  M'Connell,  Tod  and  Woodbridge. 

On  the  question,  shall  this  bill  pass  as  amended?  it  was  decided  in  the  affirmative: 
yeas  13— nays  11. 

The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  two  members,  those  w^ho  voted  in  the  affirmative 
were, 

Messrs.  Bigger,  Bureau,  Dunlap,  Evans,  Foos,  Irwin,  Looker,  M* Arthur,  M'Beth,  Pur- 
viance, Rogers,  Smith  and  Kirker,  (Speaker). 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Abbot,  Caldwell,  Kinney,  M'Connell,  Pritchard,  Slaughter,  Stone,  Tod,  Trim- 
ble, Welch  and  Woodbridge. 

Ordered^  That  the  title  to  said  bill  be,  An  act  fixing  and  establishing  the  permanent  and 
temporary  seats  of  government. 

Ordered,  That  mr.  Bureau  request  the  concurrence  of  the  bouse  of  representatives 
therein. 

February  14,  1812  :     A  message  from  the  house  of  representatives  by  mr,  Edwards. 

Mr.  Speaker  —  The  house  of  representatives  have  passed  the  bill  sent  down  for  concur- 


The  Forest  Settlement.  231 

rence.   entitled  ''An  act  fixinp^  and    establishing  the  permanent   and    temporary  seats  of 


f» 


government. 

PROCEEDINGS   IN  THE   HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES. 

February  5,  1812:     A  message  from  the  senate  by  mr.  Bureau. 

Mr.  Speaker, —  The  senate  have  passed  a  resolution  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
of  three  members,  to  brios^in  a  bill  fixing  the  permanent  and  tem])orary  seats  of  government, 
in  which  tbev  desire  the  concurrence  of  this  house. 

The  house  took  up  the  resolution  sent  down  for  concurrence,  for  the  appointment  of  a 
committee  of  three  members  to  bring  in  a  bill  fixing  the  permanent  and  temporary  seats  of 
government,  and  the  same  being  read,  was  committed  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  house, 
and  made  the  order  of  the  day  for  this  day :     Whereupon 

The  house,  according  to  order,  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  house,  and 
after  some  time  spent  therein,  mr.  Speaker  resumed  the  chair  and  mr.  M'Cune  reported,  that 
the  committee  had  under  their  consideration,  said  resolution,  and  had  agreed  to  the  same 
with  an  amendment  which  he  presented  at  the  clerk's  table,  and  the  same  being  taken  up 
and  read. 

On  motion  of  mr.  T.  Morris,  to  agree  to  the  amendment  made  in  committee  of  the  whole, 
by  striking  out  Lancaster  and  inserting  in  lieu  thereof  ChilUcoihe^  and  the  question  being 
taken  thereupon,  it  was  determined  in  the  affirmative.  The  yeas  and  nays  being  required 
were,  yeas  25  —  nays  20. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  were, 

Messrs.  Barr,  Bell,  Clay  pool,  Edwards,  Ellison,  Evans,  Foulks,  Gregory,  Huntington,  J. 
Jones,  Johnston,  Ludlow,  Monett,  M'Kinney,  D.  Morris,  T.  Morris,  Newport,  Pollock,  Rus- 
sell, Rodgers,  Renick,  Ross,  Sharp,  Sterrett  and  Corwin,  (speaker)  25. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Bryson,  Crumbacker,  Day,  Ford,  Frederick,  Frame.  Gass,  Hooker,  Hildreth, 
Harman,  Imlay,  T.  G.  Jones,  Jackson,  Mitchell,  M'Cullough,  M'Cune,  Newcom,  Shields, 
Shelby  and  Smith,  20. 

And  the  said  resolution  being  further  amended, 

On  motion  of  mr.  Ellison  to  agree  to  said  resolution  as  amended  :     Whereupon, 

On  motion  of  mr.  Jackson,  to  postpone  the  further  consideration  of  said  question,  until 
the  first  Monday  of  December  next,  and  the  question  being  taken  thereupon,  it  was  deter- 
mined in  the  negative.    The  yeas  and  nays  being  required,  were  yeas  13  —  nays  30. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  were, 

Messrs.  Bryson,  Crumbacker,  Day,  Ford,  Frederick,  Frame,  Gass,  Hildreth,  Harman, 
Imlay,  T.  G.  Jones,  Jackson  and  Mitchell,  13. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Barr,  Bell,  Claypool,  Edwards,  Ellison,  Evans,  Foulks,  Gregory,  J.  Jones,  John- 
ston, Ludlow,  M'Cullough,  M'Cune,  Monett,  M*Kinney,  D.  Morris,  T.  Morris,  Newport 
Newcom,  Pollock,  Russell,  Rogers,  Renick,  Ross,  Shields,  Sharp,  Shelby,  Sterret,  Smith,  and 
Corwin,  (speaker)  80. 

The  question  was  then  put,  that  this  house  agree  to  said  resolution  as  amended :  Where- 
upon, 

On  motion, 

The  house  adjourned  until  nine  o'clock,  to-morrow  morning 

February  6,  1812:  The  house  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  resolution  sent  down  for 
concurrence,  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  three  members,  to  bring  in  a  bill  fixing 
the  permanent  and  temporary  seats  of  government :     Whereupon, 

The  motion  made  yesterday  for  agreeing  to  said  resolution,  as  amended,  was  withdrawn. 

On  motion  of  mr.  Huntington  to  strike  out  of  said  resolution  these  words,  '  High  Bank 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Scioto,  opposite  the  town  of  Franklinton,  agreeably  to  the  proposals  of 
messrs.  Sterling,  Kerr,  M'Laughlin,  and  Johnston'  and  insert  in  lieu  thereof,  the  following: 
'  In  the  town  of  Delaware,  or  on  any  other  part  of  section  4,  township  5,  range  19  of  the  United 
States'  military  tract,  agreeably  to  the  proposals  of  Moses  Byxbe  and  Henry  Baldwin.'    A 


•j:i2  History  of  tiik  City  of  C'okumbi'h. 

division  of  the  queHtion  being  railed  for,  the  (jiieHtion  was  tlien  taken  on  striking  out  of  the 
resolution  the  following:  'high  bank,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Scioto,  opposite  the  town  of 
Franklinton.  agreeably  to  the  proposals  of  messrs.  Sterling,  Kerr,  MM^ughlin  and  Johnston,' 
and  determined  in  the  negative.     The  yeas  and  nays  beintj  requiretl  were,  yeas  20  —  nays  25. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  aflinnative  were, 

Messrs.  Bryson,  Crumbacker.  Day,  Evans,  Foulks,  Frederick,  Frame,  Gass,  Huntington, 
Harman  J.  Jones,  T.  (4.  Jones,  Mitehell,  M'C'ullough,  M'Cune,  Monett,  T.  Morris,  Reuick, 
Sharp  and  Smith,  20. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Barr,  Bell,  Claypool,  Kdwiirds,  Ellison,  Ford,  (Gregory,  Hooker,  Hildreth,  Imlay, 
Johnston,  Jackson,  Ludlow.  M'Kinney,  I).  Morris,  Newport,  Newcom,  Pollo*rk.  Russell, 
Rodgers,  Ross,  Shields,  Shelby,  Sterrett  and  Corwin,  (speaker)  25. 

And  the  said  resolution  being  further  aniended. 

On  motion  of  mr.  Pollock  to  agreee  to  .said  rcsohition  as  amended;  and  on  the  question 
being  taken  thereupon,  it  was  <letermined  in  the  attirnmtive.  The  yeas  and  nays  bein^  re- 
quired were,  yeas  24  —  luiys  20.     Those  who  voted  in  the  allirmative  were, 

Messrs.  Barr,  Bell,  (Maypool,  E<lwanls,  Ellison.  Evans,  Ford,  Gregory,  J.  Jones.  John- 
ston, Lu<ilow,  Monett,  M'Kinney,  T>.  Morris,  T.  Morris.  Newport,  Pollcok,  Russell,  Rodgers, 
Renick,  Ross,  Shelby,  Sterrett  an<l  Corwin,  (speaker)  24. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were. 

Messrs.  Bryson,  Crumbacker,  Day,  Foulks,  Fre«lerick,  Frame,  Gass,  Hooker,  Hildreth, 
Huntington,  Harman,  Inday,  T.  G.  Jones,  Jackson,  Mitchell,  M'Cullough,  M'Cune,  Newcom. 
Sharp  and  Smith,  20. 

OnUred,  That  mr.  T.  Morris  do  carrv  the  .^aid  resolution,  with  the  amendments  to  the 
senate,  an«l  re<iuest  their  roncurrence. 

February  7,  1S12:     On  motion, 

Onkrvdy  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  on  the  part  of  this  house,  to  act  jointly 
with  the  committee  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  senate,  to  bring  in  a  bill  tixing  the  perma- 
nent and  temporary  seats  of  government,  agreeably  to  a  resolution  to  that  effect ;  and  a  com- 
mittee was  ai)pointed  of  messrs.  T.  Morris,  Huntington,  and  Sterrett. 

Ordered,  That  mr.  Monett  acquaint  the  senate  therewith. 

February  12,  1812:     A  message  from  the  senate  by  Mr.  Bureau. 

Mr.  Speaker  —  The  senate  have  passed  a  bill,  entitled  An  act  ti.xing  and  establishing  the 
])ermanent  and  temporary  seats  of  government,'  with  an  amendment  by  way  of  rider,  in  which 
they  desire  the  concurrence  of  this  house.  Whereupon, 

Said  bill  was  read  the  first  time. 

February  \'.\,  1S12:  A  bill  Hxing  and  establishing  the  permanent  and  temporary  seats 
of  government,  wjis  read  the  second  time,  and  committed  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  house, 
and  nuide  the  order  of  the  day  for  this  day.     .     .     . 

The  house,  according  to  order,  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  wliole  house,  and 
after  sometime  spent  therein  mr.  Speaker  resumed  the  chair  and  mr.  Crumbacker  reiK>rted, 
that  the  committee  had  under  their  consideration  a  bill  from  the  senate,  entitled  '*  An  act 
tixing  and  establishing  the  permanent  and  temi)orary  seats  of  government,"  and  had  agreed 
to  the  same  w  ithout  an  anu>ndment,  which  he  presented  at  the  clerk's  table,  and  the  same 
being  taken  up  and  amended. 

On  motion  of  mr.  M'Cullough,  to  amend  said  bill  .striking  out.  in  the  (>th,  section,  second 
line,  the  word  ChiUieoihe,  and  inserting  in  lieu  thereof,  the  word  Franklinton, 

A  division  of  the  question  being  called  for,  the  question  was  then  taken  upon  striking 
out  the  word  ChUlicothe,  and  resolve<l  in  the  negative.  The  yeas  and  nays  being  re<]uired 
were,  yeas  22  —  nays  24.     .     .     . 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Jackson  to  amend  said  bill  by  striking  out  the  sixth  section  to  said 
bill,  as  follows: 

Sec.  (>.  Andbeit  further  enacted.  Thai  from  and  after  the  tirst  day  of  May  next,  Chilli- 
cothe  shall  be  the  temporary  seat  of  government,  until  otherwise  provided  by  law;  and  the 
question  being  taken  thereupon,  it  was  determined  in  the  negative.  The  yeas  and  nays 
being  required  were,  yeas  21  —  nays  25. 


f 


The  Forest  Settlement.  233 

On  motion  of  mr.  Jackson  to  amend  said  bill,  by  adding  a  new  section  as  a  7th  section  to 
said  bill,  as  follows ; 

Be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  the  public  property  belonging  to  the  state  of  Ohio,  now  in 
the  town  of  Zanesville,  shall  be  taken  to  the  town  of  Chillicothe  at  the  expense  of  the  county 
of  Ross,  anything  in  the  above  recited  act  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding ;  and  the  question 
being  taken  thereupon  it  was  determined  in  the  negative.  The  yeas  and  nays  beinjf  requir- 
ed were,  yeas  10  —  nays  36. 

[  A  motion  by  Mr.  Sharp  to  strike  out  the  first  section  of  the  bill  accepting  the  proposals 
of  the  Starling  syndicate  was  rejected,  yeas  18  —  nays  28J. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  affirmitive  were, 

Messrs.  Bryson,  Crumbacker,  Day,  Foulks,  Ford,  Frederick,  Frame,  Gass,  Hildreth, 
Huntington,  Harman,  Ijam?,  Jackson,  Mitchell,  McGullough,  M'Cune,  Sharp  and  Smith,  18. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Barr,  Bell,  Claypool,  Edwards,  Ellison,  Evans,  Gregory,  Hooker,  Imlay,  J.  Jones, 
T.  G  Jones,  Johnston,  Ludlow,  Monett,  M'Kinney,  D.  Morris,  T.  Morris,  Newport,  Newconi, 
Pollock,  Russell,  Rogers,  Renick,  Ross,  Shields,  Shelby,  Sterrett  and  Corwin.  (speaker)  28. 

On  motion  of  mr.  T.  G.  Jones  to  amend  the  said  bill  by  striking  out  in  the  first  section 
12th  line,  the  words,  and  a  penitentiary,  and  the  question  being  taken  thereupon,  it  was  deter- 
mined in  the  negative.    The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  were  yeas  15  —  nays  31.     .     .     . 

On  motion  of  mr.  Shelbv  that  said  bill  be  read  the  third  time  tomorrow  for  its  final  pas- 
sage, and  the  question  being  taken  thereupon  it  was  determined  in  theaff^urmative.  The  yeas 
and  nays  being  required  wei*e,  yeas  27  —  nays  17.     .    .     . 

February  14,  1812:  A  bill  from  the  senate,  fixing  and  establishing  the  permanent  and 
temporary  seats  of  government,  was  read  the  third  time  :  Whereupon, 

On  motion  of  mr.  T.  G.  Jones,  to  recommit  said  bill  to  a  committee  of  three  members  ; 
and  the  question  being  taken  thereupon,  it  was  decided  in  the  negative.  The  yeas  and  nays 
being  required  were,  yeas  11)  —  nays  26.     .     .     . 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Huntington  to  amend  said  bill  by  inserting,  in  the  (>th  section  and  3rd 
line,  after  the  word  until,  the  words  following :  The  tint  day  of  September  in  the  ytar  1817,  unless  : 
and  the  question  being  taken  thereupon,  it  was  determined  in  the  negative.  The  yeas  and 
nays  being  required  were,  yeas  19  —  nays  27.    .     .     . 

On  motion  of  mr.  Harman,  to  amend  said  bill  by  adding  to  the  end  of  the  6th  section,  as 
a  proviso,  the  following  :  Provided,  That  the  inhabitants  of  Chillicothe  shall  provide,  at  their 
own  expence,  a  State  house,  well  furnished,  for  the  reception  of  the  legislature,  oftices suitable 
for  the  treasurer,  secretary  and  auditor  of  State,  <luring  the  continuance  of  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment at  that  place  ;  and  the  question  being  taken  thereupon,  it  was  determined  in  the  nega- 
tive.   The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  were,  yeas  11»  —  nays  27.     .     .     . 

On  motion  that  the  said  bill  do  now  pass  :     Whereuj>on, 

On  motion  ofmr.  Jackson,  that  the  further  consideration  of  said  question  be  postponed 
until  the  first  Monday  of  December  nezt;  and  the  question  being  taken  thereupon,  it  was 
determined  in  the  negative.     The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  were,  yeas  IS  —  nays  28.  .  .  . 

The  question  was  then  taken,  that  said  bill  do  now  pass,  and  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 
The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  were,  yeas  27  —  nays  19.  Those  who  voted  in  the  affirma- 
tive were, 

Messrs.  Barr,  Bell,  Claypool,  Edwards,  Ellison,  Evans.  Gregory,  Hooker,  Imlay,  J.  Jones, 
Johnston,  Ludlow,  Monett,  M'Kinney,  D.  Morris,  T.  Morris,  Newport,  Newcora,  Pollock, 
Russell.  Rodgers,  Renick,  Ross,  Shields,  Shelby,  Sterrett  and  Corwin,  (speaker)  27. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were,  Messrs,  Bryson,  Crumbacker,  Day,  Foulks,  Ford, 
Frederick,  Frame,  Gass,  Hildreth,  Huntington,  Harman  Ijams,  T.  G.  Jones,  Jackson, 
Mitchell.  M'CuUough,  M'Cune,  Sharp  and  Smith,  19. 

On  motion,  • 

Resolved,  That  the  title  be  as  aforesaid. 

Ordered,  That  mr.  Edwards  acquaint  the  senate  therewith. 

Messrs.  Sharp,  T.  G.  Jones  and  Foulks  gave  notice  that  they,  with  others,  in  due  time 
woald  enter  their  protest  against  the  proceedings  of  this  house,  on  the  bill,  entitled  '*  An  act 
fixing  and  establishing  the  permanent  and  temporary  seats  of  government." 


roi" »"  „  Mil**;  „„K,o  *"  .,i„« »«»"', «,«•■  >"  ",  *»  **  .',S« ""'  .  <,««'«*■, 


*^      R,,oli'«d'  f  V  a«A  ^      .    tot  con    „^  ^^  tue  ^vft  ^^t  al  v 


^'       A  agreed  W-  f  ^bly  «/  *^ ^,t.  '>^-'^°^X^o^^  *  «  ot  ^eP^*' 


C"^"*  ordered.  ^^^  «!  ^^^^^^^W^"  VA**^^*  *  kV.o   3°' 

N^ere..  _^^_    Batr.  f^^._  ©.  >^°'' 


The  Forest  Settlement.  235 

Those  who  voted  in  the  -negative  were, 

Messrs.  Bryson,  Grumbacker,  Day,  Foiilks,  Frederick,  Frame,  Ua88,  Huntington, 
Harnian,  Ijams,  J.  Jones,  T.  G.  Jones,  Jackson,  Johnston,  M'Cune,  Monett,  Russell,  Renick, 
Ross.  Sharp.  Sterret  and  Smith,  22. 

February  21,  1812 :     A  message  from  the  senate  by  mr.  Bureau. 

Mr.  Speaker — The  senate  have  passed  a  resolution  giving  a  name  to  the  permanent  seat 
of  government,  in  which  they  desire  the  concurrence  of  this  house  :     Whereupon, 

The  liouse  proceeded  to  consider  the  said  resolution,  and  the  same  being  read, 

On  motion  that  the  house  agree  to  said  resolution  ;  and  the  question  being  taken  there- 
upon, it  was  determined  in  the  allirmative.  The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  were,  yeas 
24— nays  10.    Those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  were, 

Messrs.  Barr,  Bell,  E<hvard8,  Fllison,  Evans,  Gregory,  Hooker,  Imlay,  J.  Jones,  John- 
ston, Ludlow,  M'CuUough,  Monett,  M'Kinney,  Newport,  Newcom,  Pollock,  Russell,  Rogers, 
Renick,  Ross,  Shelby,  Sterrett  and  Corwin,  (speaker)  24. 

Those  who  voted  in  the  negative  were, 

Messrs.  Bryson,  Grumbacker,  Foulks,  Ford,  Fredericrk,  Frame,  Gass,  Jackson,  Mitchell, 
and  M'Gune,  10 

Ordered,  That  mr.  Barr  actiuaint  the  senate  therewith. 

8.  Act  of  January  27,  1814. 

9.  A.  A.  Graham,  in  the  Mngazinf  of  Wi-^iern  Histtn-y  for  March,  1^85. 

10.  Directory  of  the  City  of  Golumbus;by  E.  Glover  and  William  Henderson.     1850. 

1 1 .  Western  Intelligencer. 

12.  Read  before  the  Franklin  Gounty  Pioneer  Association  in  April,  1S71. 

13.  The  following  notice  appeared  in  the  ]Vi9tern  Inlflligencer  of  December  12,  181(5: 
"  My  bri<lge  across  the  Scioto  River,  between  Frankliuton  and  Columbus  is  completed.  The 
gates  will  be  closed  on  the  first  of  December  next.  But  they  shall  be  opened  at  suitable  hours 
on  Sundays  and  days  of  Thanksgiving,  and  a  passage  on  the  bridge  free  to  all  i)ereon8  going 
to  and  returning  from  divine  worship,  and  to  meud)ers  of  tlie  Legislature,  when  going  to  or 
returning  from  the  General  Assembly  of  the  state  of  Ohio.  And  at  all  times  free  to  funeral 
processions  and  on  such  other  occasions,  and  to  such  other  persons  as  I  may  deem  expedient. 
Pernnts  for  passage  on  the  bridge  by  the  year  may  be  had  on  reasonable  terms. 

LrCAS  SULLIVAXT." 

*•  November  25,  IHKi. 


CHAPTER   Xll. 


THE  FIRST  WAR  EPISODE. 

The  beginning  of  the  Columbus  settlement  was  eoineident  with  that  of  the 
second  war  with  Great  Britain.  The  opening  sale  of  lots  by  the  Franklinton 
syndicate  took  place  June  18,181*2;  on  the  same  day  the  formal  declaration  of 
war  was  signed  by  President  Madison.  No  telegraph  flashed  the  news  of  what 
had  been  done  at  Washington,  and  the  sale  of  lots  went  tranquilly  on  as  if  noth- 
ing particular  had  happened.  Yet  the  war  was  by  no  means  unexpected,  and  its 
declaration,  when  it  became  generally  known  some  weeks  later,  caused  no 
surprise.  Under  the  lead  of  Tecumseli,  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Northwest,  insti- 
gated, it  is  said,  by  British  emissaries  and  acting  as  British  substitutes,  had 
actually  begun  hostilities  during  the  preceding  summer.  On  the  seventh  of 
November,  1811,  Tecumseh's  followers  led  by  his  prophet  brother,  Elskwatawa, 
had  attacked  General  Harrison,  the  Governor  of  Indiana  Territory,  in  his  camp 
on  the  Tippecanoe,  and  had  been  defeated.  This  chastisement  had  quieted  the 
malcontent  tribes  for  the  time  being,  but  as  soon  as  war  was  declared  they  rallied 
again  under  the  British  standard. 

In  anticipation  of  the  war,  Congress,  during  its  session  of  1811-12,  provided 
for  the  increase  of  the  regular  army  to  thirtytive  thousand  troops,  and  the  muster 
of  a  large  force  ot  twelve-months  volunteers.  Pursuant  to  these  measures,  Gover- 
nor Meigs,  of  Ohio,  began  in  the  spring  of  1S12  the  organization  of  three  volunteer 
regiments,  and  General  William  Hull,  then  Governor  of  Michigan  Territory, 
proceeded  to  collect  a  force,  consisting  mostly  of*  Ohio  troops,  for  the  invasion  of 
Canada  West.  Hull  had  served  creditably,  though  without  distinction,  in  the  War 
of  Independence,  and  was  believed  to  be  patriotic  and  capable.  He  was  appointed 
commander-in-chief  of  the  western  de])artment. 

Under  the  immediate  supervision  of  Governor  Meigs  the  Ohio  regiments, 
numbered  one,  two  and  three,  assembled  at  Dayton,  Urbana  and  Franklinton,  and 
were  commanded,  respectively,  by  Duncan  McArthur,  James  Findlay  and  Lewis 
Cass.  After  organization,  these  regiments  marched  to  Urbana,  where  the  Fourth 
Regulars,  a  regiment  which  had  participated  in  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  had 
taken  post  the  preceding  autumn.  On  the  tenth  of  Juno  the  volunteers  gave  a 
formal  salutation  to  the  veteransof  the  Fourth,  in  whose  honor  a"  green  arch"  was 
erected,  on  one  side  of  which  was  displayed  the  word  Tippecanoe  with  the  painted 
Q^gy  of  an  eagle's  nest,  and  on  the  other  side  the  word  Glory.  "  The  Fourth 
Regiment  marched  alone  under  the  arch."' 

On  the  eighth  of  June  Governor  Meigs  and  General  Hull  held  a  conference 
with  various  Indian  chiefs  in  the  woods  near  Urbana,  and  closed  au  agreement 

[23(3] 


The  First  War  Kpisodk.  237 

with  them  by  which  Hull  was  to  be  permitted  to  open  a  road  from  the  Greenville 
treaty  line  to  the  foot  of  the  Maumee  Eapids,  and  to  protect  the  route  with  a  chain 
of  blockhouses  twenty  miles  apart.^  Immediately  after  these  HtipulatioiiH  were 
signed  the  little  army,  with  Hull  in  command,  began  its  march,  led  by  the  First 
Regiment,  which  built  Blockhouse  McArthur  about  twenty  miles  north  of  Urbana, 
and  the  same  distance  further  on.  Blockhouse  Necessity.'  Passing  the  First,  the 
Second  Regiment  pushed  on  and  erected  Fort  Findlay.  Nearly  the  whole  country 
through  which  the  army  passed  was  covered  with  a  dense  forest  through  which 
a  passage  had  to  be  cleared  for  the  wagons  and  artillery.  In  the  Black  Swamp, 
through  which  the  column  floundered  with  great  difticulty,  sovoral  of  the  heavily- 
loaded  vehicles  became  hopelessly  mired.  Hull  reached  (he  Maumee  June  30, 
floated  his  command  over  that  river  in  boats,  and  on  July  fifth  arrived  at  Detroit. 
Seven  days  later  he  crossed  into  Canada,  from  which,  after  issuing  a  boastful  proc- 
lamation, he  withdrew  on  the  eighth  of  August  to  Detroit,  which  stronghold,  to- 
gether with  all  Michigan,  he  surrendered,  on  the  sixteenth,  to  the  British  com- 
mander-in-chief, General  Brock. 

The  announcement  of  this  cowardly  capitulation  contained  in  the  Fmman's 
Chronide  of  September  5,  1S12,  caused  great  consternation  in  Franklinton. 
"Such  an  unlooked-for  and  astounding  blt)W  almost  paralyzed  the  country  and 
created  great  alarm,  for  many  of  the  Indian  tribes,  encouraged  by  this  untoward 
event,  and  urged  by  the  British  agents,  now  oi)enly  took  sides  against  us.  Months 
of  apprehension  supervened,  and  a  feverish  anxiety  infected  the  whole  community, 
for  Franklinton  was  really  a  frontier  settlement  and  the  inhabitants  were  in  con- 
stant dread  lest  by  some  sudden  attack,  their  houses  should  be  given  to  the  flames, 
and  their  wives  and  little  ones  fall  a  prey  to  the  tomahawk  and  seal  ping-knife. 
.  .  .  Indian  alarms  were  frequent,  and  on  such  occasions  the  terrified  settlers 
from  up  Darby  Creek,  Sells's  settlement  on  the  Scioto,  from  Delaware  and  Worth- 
ington  and  the  adjacent  regions  came  flocking  into  Franklinton,  and  at  one  time  a 
ditch  and  stockade  was  commenced  around  the  Courthouse,  U)  convert  it  int<)  a 
citadel."*  To  guard  against  surprise,  Mr.  Lucas  Sullivant  kept  two  experienced 
scouts  on  duty  as  far  north  as  the  present  village  of  ZanesHeld,  in  Logan  County, 
to  give  warning  of  any  hostile  approach. 

Governor  Meigs  exerted  himself  with  great  energy  in  forwarding  volunteers 
to  meet  the  new  emergency.  A  number  of  the  Urhann  Wittrh  Toirer^  issued  early 
in  September,  says  :  "  Troops  are  daily  arriving  here,  at  Piqua  and  Delaware  and 
continually  pressing  on  to  the  frontiers,  right  and  left.  Great  exertions  are  mak- 
ing to  meet  the  savages.  .  .  .  ('aptain  McNamara's  company  of  mounted  rifle- 
men started  this  day  for  Fort  Wayne,  to  reinforce  that  post.  Governor  Meigs  is 
here,  and  will  make  this  headquarters.'' 

Governor  Charles  Scott,  of  Kentucky,  was  equally  active  in  pushing  to  the 
front  the  militia  of  that  State.  To  lead  the  Kentucky  regiments  ordered  to  Michi- 
gan, Governor  Scott  selected  the  victor  of  Tippecanoe,  General  William  H.  Harri- 
son, who  overtook  the  troops  assigned  to  his  command  while  on  their  northward 
march,  south  of  Dayton,  which  place  they  reached  September  I.  On  the  third  of 
that  month  Harrison  arrived  at  Pi([ua,  from  whence  he  issued  the  following  stirring 
appeal,  dated  "September  5,  1812,  Four  o'clock  a.  m." 

Mounted  Volunteers  I  —I  requested  you  in  my  late  address  [Sei>temher  2]  to  rendezvous  at 
Dayton  on  the  fifteenth  instant.     I  have  now  a  more  pressing  call  for  your  services  !     The 


2*\x  History  of  thk  City  of  CoLrMBrs. 

Britifih  and  Indians  have  invaded  our  country,  and  are  now  benieging  (perhaps  have  taken) 
Fort  Wayne.  Every  friend  of  his  country  who  is  able  so  to  do,  will  join  me  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble, well  mounted  with  a  good  ritle,  and  twenty  or  thirty  days  provision.  Ammunition  will 
be  furnished  at  Cincinnati  or  Dayton,  and  the  volunteers  will  draw  provisions  (to  save  their 
salted  meat)  at  all  the  public  deposits.  The  Quarter- Masters  and  Commissaries  will  see  that 
this  ordered  is  executed. 

General  Harrison  delivered  Fort  Wayne  from  siege  on  the  twelflh  of  September, 
and  on  the  twentyfourth  rceoivod  a  dispatch  of  the  Hoventeenth  appointing  him  to 
the  chief  command  of  the  NorlhwostoVn  Army.  On  assuming  that  command,  he 
found  tlie  troops  in  summer  dress,  unprovided  with  socks  or  mittens,  and  ver}' 
meagerly  supplied  with  blankets.  He  therefore  appealed  to  the  patriotic  people 
of  Ohio  and  Kentucky  to  contribute  the  articles  oi'  clothing  necessary  to  pi^otect 
their  defenders  from  the  inclemency  of  winter.  "Can  any  patriot  sleep  easy  in 
his  bed  of  down,"  he  pleaded,  "  when  he  reflects  upon  the  situtation  of  acentinel 
exposed  to  the  cold  of  a  winter  night  in  Canada,  in  a  linen  hunting  shirt?  Will 
the  amiable  fair  sex  suffer  their  brave  defenders  to  be  mutilated  by  the  frost  for 
the  want  of  mittens  and  s(M-ks  which  they  can  with  little  exertion  procure  for 
them?" 

To  collect  supplies  and  organize  troops  more  effectively  for  the  expected  winter 
campaign,  General  Harrison  transferred  to  General  James  Winchester  the  com- 
mand at  Fort  Defiance,  to  which  point  he  had  pushed  his  advance,  and  proceeded 
thence,  ria  W^ooster  to  Franklinton.  There  we  find  him  addressing  a  communi- 
cation to  the  War  Department,  on  the  thirteenth  of  October,  At  Chillicothe' 
which  he  visited  on  the  sixteenth,  he  declined  a  ])ublic  dinner  tendered  him,  saying 
the  soldiers  of  his  command,  "already  far  advanced  into  the  wilderness,"  were  suf- 
fering for  necessary  supplies,  and  that  "it\vould  not  bo  very  agreeable  to  those 
brave  fellows  to  learn  that  their  general  was  fciisting  in  the  rear  at  the  time  when 
they  were  confined  to  a  bare  sufficiency  of  the  coarsest  food." 

In  the  execution  of  his  plans  for  retaking  Detroit,  General  Harrison  proposed 
to  establish  a  depot  of  su])plies  at  Sandusky,  concentrate  his  forces  by  different 
routes  at  the  Maumeo  Rapids,  and  advance  with  this  united  column  to  the  River 
Kaisin.  Three  different  lines  of  concentration  and  supply  were  adopted,  the  most 
w^esterly  passing  around  the  Black  Swamp  by  the  valleys  of  the  Auglaize  and 
Maumee,  and  the  others  leading  through  it.  Tl»e  Virginia  troops,  forming,  with 
the  Pennsylvanians,  the  right  wing,  crossed  the  Ohio  at  the  mouth  of  the  (rroat 
Kanawha,  marched  across  the  country  to  Chillieothe,  and  thence  passed  up  the 
valley  of  the  Scioto  /vV/  Franklinton  and  Delaware  to  Upper  Sandusky.  In  eon- 
sequence  of  this  arrangetiient,  Franklinton  became  an  important  rendezvous  and 
depot  of  supplies.  On  the  twentyfifth  of  October  General  Harrsion  held  a  con- 
ference there  with  brigadier-generals  Perkins  and  Heall,  of  whom  the  first  had 
been  assigned  to  the  command  of  a  brigade  of  Ohio  militia  encamped  on  the 
Huron.  \  brigade  of  Virginians  under  (ieneral  Leftwich  arrived  at  Delaware 
November  tJ,  and  was  met  tiiere  by  Harrison  who  had  meanwhile  j)ersonallv 
reconnoitered  the  HIack  Swamp,  and  ordered  Perkins  to  build  through  its  oozy 
and  dismal  confines  a  practicable  road.  A  brigade  of  Pennsylvanians  had  arrived 
at  Mansfield. 

Franklinton  had  by  this  time  become  a  bustling  center  of  war  pi'epa rations. 
The  FrtimaiLn  Chronic/c  of  October  81  says:     "  Our  town  begins  to  aasume  quite  a 


The  First  War  Epi8ode.  231) 

military  appearance.  Six  or  seven  hundred  troops  are  already  here.  Two  com- 
panies of  Pennsylvania  troops  are  "expected  in  a  few  days,  and  we  look  daily  for 
the  arrival  of  one  hundred  U.  S.  Dragoons  from  Kentucky.  The  force  to  be  col- 
lected at  this  place  will  ho  nearly  three  thousand.  How  long  they  will  remain  has 
not  been  ascertained.'' 

The  same  issue  of  the  Chroitirfr  contains  the  following  items  of  minor  military 
mention  : 

General  Harrison  left  this  place  on  Tuesday  morning  for  Mansfield,  arcoinpanied  I)y 
Generals  Beall  and  Perkins. 

Captain  Garrard's  troop  of  horse  arrived  here  on  Mon<iay. 

Colonel  Simrairs  regiment  arrived  on  VV^ednesday. 

Major  Ball,  of  the  U.  8.  Army,  arrived  the  same  day. 

A  company  of  U.  S.  troops  under  Captain  Elliott  arrived  yesterday. 

About  one  hundred  regulars,  from  Piqua,  with  three  pieces  of  artillery,  arrived  today, 
and  fired  a  salute. 

The  Virginia  troops  arrived  some  days  ago  at  C'hillicothe.  They  are  expected  here  on 
Wednesday  next. 

The  same  paper  of  November  7  says  : 

The  Virginia  troops  under  General  Leftwich  arrived  here  on  Monday  evening,  and 
marched  on  Wednesday  for  Delaware,  where  they  still  remain.  Two  companies  of  Pennsyl- 
vania volunteers  under  Captains  Butler  and  Alexander  arrived  in  town  on  Friday. 

The  Cbronide  of  November  17  contains  these  items: 

General  Harrison  arrived  in  town  onTliurstiay  evening  from  Delaware,  and  was  received 
with  the  military  honors  due  to  his  rank. 

On  Friday  afternoon  his  excellency  the  Governor  arrived  here  from  Marietta,  and  was 
saluted  by  Captain  Cushing's  company  of  artillery. 

Major  Benson,  of  the  Virginia  line,  passed  through  here  a  few  days  ago,  to  take  com- 
mand of  a  battalion  now  at  Delaware. 

Several  hundred  stand  of  arms  for  tlie  Kentucky  cavalry  were  receive<l  here  on  Friday. 

All  the  troops  at  this  place  paraded  on  tht^  public  s<juare  yesterday,  and  were  revit^wed 
by  his  excellency  Governor  Meigs,  accompanied  by  General  Flarrison  an<l  his  slaflT. 

To  intimidate  the  Indians,  who  had  been  emboldened  bv  various  minor  sue- 
cesses,  and  to  clear  his  letl  flank,  (icneral  Harrison  dispatched  an  expedition 
against  the  Miami  villages  on  the  Massassiniway,  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the 
Wabash.  The  expeditionary  detachment  comprised  Colonel  Simrall's  Kentucky 
regiment  of  six  months  volunteer  dragoons,  .Major  James  V.  Ball's  squadron  of 
United  States  dragoons,  Captain  P]lliott's  company  of  the  Nineteenlh  United 
States  Infantry,  a  small  company  of  volunt^^er  riflemen  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Greensburg,  Pennsylvania,  under  Captain  Alexandei',  a  company  of  Pittsburgh  vol- 
unteer light  infantry  under  Captain  James  Hutler,  Captain  Markle^-'s  troop  of 
horse,  from  Westmoreland  (-ounly,  Pennsylvania;  Lioutenanl  Lee's  detachment 
of  Michigan  militia,  and  Captain  Garrard's  troop  of  horse  from  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky. This  combined  force,  in  all  six  hundred  strong,  was  mostly  mounted,  and 
was  led  by  Ijieutenant-Colonel  John  H.  ('ampbell,  of  the  Nineteenth  United  States 
Infantry.  The  expedition  was  organized  at  Franklinton,  and  inarche<l  thence 
/'///  Xenia  to  Dayton,  where  it  was  detained  several  days  in  procuring  horses.  The 
Frefinnn's  Chronlde  of  December  5,  1  Hi 2,  thus  notes  its  departure:  ''On  the  eiii^h- 
teenth  ult.,  between  six  and  seven  hundrcl  troops,  under  the  coinmaiHl  of  Colonel 
Campbell,  of  the  United  States  Army,  left  this  place  on  a  .secret  expedition.* 


240  History  of  the  City  of  (youiMiu's. 

By  forced  marehew  in  severely  cold  weather,  Colonel  Campbell  succeeded  in 
surprising  the  Indians  in  their  villages  near  the  present  site  of  Muncie,  Indiana. 
The  savages  made  a  counter  attack  the  following  day,  December  18,  but  were 
again  routed.  The  Fnrtthtti's  ('hron'nli-^  of  December  HO,  1812,  gives  the  followiniir 
account  of  these  battles,  derived  from  (.'aptain  Ilitc,  who  had  "just  arrived,  express 
from  C'olonel  Campbell's  detachment'  : 

On  the  seventeenth,  after  marching  all  night,  Colonel  Campbell,  with  his  command, 
arrive<l  at  one  of  the  Massassineway  towns,  and  instantly  (*har)fed  upon  the  town,  drove  the 
savaj?e8  across  the  Massassineway  River,  killed  seven  of  them,  and  tookthirtyseven  prisoners. 
Only  two  of  our  men  were  killed  in  this  skirmish.     .     .     . 

On  the  eighteenth,  before  daybreak,  the  horrid  savajje  yell  was  heard,  the  word  was 
given /o  an/M,  and  a  niost  <lesperate  contliet  coinmence<l.  Captain  Pierce,  of  the  Zanesville 
troop,  was  killed  at  the  iirst  onset,  while  standing  guard.  He  is  reprt»sented  t^  have  behavo<l 
gallantly  and  died  nobly.  Lieutenant  VVallz  of  Captain  Markley's  company,  from  Greens 
burg,  Pa.,  was  shot  through  the  arm  and  not  being  satisfied  with  that,  he  again  endeavored 
to  mount  his  horse,  and  in  making  the  effort  was  sliot  through  the  head.  His  death  wa>^ 
glorious.  Captain  Trotter,  while  charging  with  fury  upon  the  enemy,  was  wounded  in  the 
hand.  Lieutenants  Basey  and  Hickman  were  slightly  wounded.  A  great  number  of  horses 
were  killed.  The  action  continued  with  unabated  fury  for  one  hour,  when  the  savages  were 
routed,  and  <lriven  in  all  directions.  .  .  .  On  receipt  of  the  above  pleasing  intelligence, 
several  rounds  were  tired  by  Captain  Cushing's  Artillery  company  now  at  this  place.*^ 

Colonel  Campbell's  loss  was  eight  killed  and  twentysix  wounded.  The  Indian 
loss  in  killed  was  supposed  to  be  thirty  or  forty.  As  Tecumseh  was  reported  to  be 
in  the  neighborhood  with  five  or  six  hundred  warriors,  Campbell  prudently  with- 
drew to  Greenville,  and  thence  by  slow  marches  to  Franklinton,  where  he  arrived 
early  in  January.  Many  of  his  horses  were  nearly  starved,  and  one  hundred  and 
eighty  of  his  men  were  frostbitten. 

On  the  second  of  January,  1813,  (fcneral  Harrison  announced  Colonel  Camp- 
bell's success  in  congratulatory  general  orders  issue<l  from  the  Headquarters  of  the 
Northwestern  Army  at  Franklinton.  Until  Oec^ember  30.  the  headquarters  had 
been  at  Upper  Sandusky,  or  rather  wherever  the  Commander-in-chief  liappened  to 
halt  for  a  brief  interval  between  his  rapid  and  frequent  movements.  The  follow- 
ing contemporary  items  of  military  news  are  taken  from  the  Fmnwni's  (■hroHt'rU  o^ 
the  dates  given  : 

December  5  — About  one  hundred  cavalry  of  General  Crook's  Brigade  of  Pennsylvania 
militia  arrived  here  from  Mansfield  on  Tuesday  last. 

Four  thousand  six  hundred  and  fortyeight  large  fat  hogs  have  been  driven  from  this? 
neighborhood  within  a  few  <lay8,  destined  for  the  Rapids,  for  the  use  of  the  Northwestern 
Army. 

December  30— General  Harrison's  Headquarters  are  now  at  Upper  Sandusky.  A  regi- 
ment and  an  odd  battalion  of  the  Virginia  troops  are  encamped  at  that  place.  The  remain- 
der of  the  Virginians  are  at  Delaware;  the  Pennsylvanians  were  on  their  march  from  Mans- 
field to  Upper  Sandusky. 

An  elegant  volunteer  company  from  Petersburg,  Virginia,  have  arrived  at  Chillicothe. 
They  are  expected  in  this  town  in  a  few  days.  They  are  commanded  by  Captain  McRae, 
brother  of  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Virginia.  .  .  .  Since  the  above  was  put  in  type. 
General  Harrison  arrived  here  from  Upper  Sandusky,  and  proceeded  to  Chillicothe.  He  will 
return  in  a  few  days  to  Sandusky. 

Januarys,  ISIIJ  — Captain  Cushing's  eompany  of  Artillery  marched  from  this  place  on 
the  first  instant  for  Sanduskv ;  hut  owing  to  the  extreme  inclemencv  of  the  weather  thev 
have  yet  progressed  no  further  than  Worthington,  nine  miles  from  here. 


J 


^'^/^O^^ 


•  »  • 


m 


•  • 


The  First  War  Episode.  241 

The  company  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  Volunteers  arrived  here  on  Saturday  last,  in  good 
health  and  spirits.  .  .  .  General  Harrison  is  still  at  this  place. 

Colonel  Campbell  and Alexander,  with  their  companies,  have  returned  here  from 

Mississiniway. 

A  company  of  regulars,  under  Captain  Bradford,  arrived  here  a  few  days  ago  from 
Cincinnati. 

January  15 — A  company  of  U.  S.  Infantry  arrived  hereon  Sunday  from  Chillicothe. 
There  are  now  at  this  place  four  companies  of  regulars,  and  throe  companies  of  twelve  months 
volunteers.    It  is  said  they  will  not  remain  here  many  days. 

We  are  asked  every  day  when  the  army  will  move  for  Detroit?  Omniscience  alone  can 
solve  the  question. 

The  public  stores  which  are  daily  arriving  at  and  forwarded  from  this  place  to  the  Head- 
quarters of  the  army  are  immense.  Nevertheless  it  is  said  that  there  is  but  a  small  quantity 
of  forage  at  Upper  Sandusky. 

The  weather,  for  some  days  past,  has  been  extremely  cold,  the  ground  very  hard  frozen, 
and  transportation  thereby  rendered  tolerably  easy. 

In  pursuaiice  of  the  plans  for  a  winter  campaign,  on  which  General  Harrison 
was  still  bent,  General  Winchester  advanced  from  Fort  Defiance  to  the  Maumee 
Rapids  where  he  arrived  January  10,  and  established  a  fortified  camp  near  the 
scene  of  Wayne's  battle.  Here  Winchester  was  visited  by  messengers  from  French- 
town,  on  the  fiiver  Kaisin,  twentysix  miles  south  of  Detroit,  invoking  his  protec- 
tion against  the  Indians  who  threatened  to  ravage  the  settlement.  In  compliance 
with  these  requests,  Colonel  Lewis  was  dispatched  on  the  morning  of  January  17 
with  five  hundred  and  fifty  Kentuckians,  followed  a  few  hours  later  by  a  detach- 
ment one  hundred  and  ten  strong,  under  Colonel  Allen.  With  a  loss  of  twelve 
killed  and  fiftyfive  wounded,  Lewis  dislodged  and  routed  the  enemy  at  French- 
town,  to  which  point  Winchester  immediately  marched  forward  with  an  additional 
force  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men.  On  the  morning  of  January  22,  Winchester 
and  Lewis  were  surprised,  outflanked  and  routed  by  a  superior  force  of  British  and 
Indians  from  Maiden  under  General  Proctor.  Five  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 
Americans  were  captured,  two  hundred  and  ninety  others  were  killed  or  missing. 
The  wounded  were  left  to  the  mercy  of  the  Indians  by  Proctor,  and  were  massacred. 
Among  the  victims  were  man}'  representatives  of  the  most  prominent  families  in 
Kentuck}'.     Winchester  and  Lewis  were  both  taken  captive. 

The  movement  which  resulted  in  this  terrible  disaster  seems  to  have  been 
made  without  specific  authority  from  General  Harrison,**  who,  as  soon  as  he  heard 
of  Winchester's  advance,  rushed  through  the  Black  Swamp  with  a  reinforcement 
from  Upper  Sandusky,  but  arrived  too  late.  Fugitives  from  Winchester's  army 
announced  its  complete  destruction,  leaving  nothing  further  to  bo  done  but  to  bring 
forward  the  available  troops,  and  concentrate  them  at  the  Kapids,  which  was 
accordingly  done  during  the  weeks  next  following.  As  the  term  of  enlistment  of 
the  two  Ohio  brigades,  and  some  of  the  Pennsylvania  and  Kentucky  regiments, 
would  expire  in  February,  all  further  thought  ot  a  winter  campaign  against 
Detroit  was  abandoned.  As  the  position  at  the  Rapids  was  a  key  point  and  an  ad- 
vantageous base  for  future  operations  Captain  Wood,  of  the  Engineers,  was  ordered 
to  fortify  it,  and  constructed  a  system  of  palisades  and  blockhouses  which  took  the 
name  of  Fort  Meigs.  Wood's  own  name  was  afterwards  given  to  the  county  in 
which  the  fort  was  located. 
16 


Vl.\ft'VU*^ 


\ 


'tHE  First  War  Episode.  243 

The  news  of  Winchester's  defeat,  and  the  atrocious  butchery  of  his  wounded 
soldiers,  produced  widespread  amazement  and  horror.  All  Kentucky  was  in 
mourning  for  its  murdered  sons,  and  all  Ohio  in  apprehension  of  Indian  raids  and 
murders  along  the  frontier.  A  draft  was  ordered,  and  a  proclamation  issued  by 
Governor  Meigs  calling  for  three  months'  volunteers,  the  first  division  to 
rendezvous  at  Urbana,  the  second  and  third  at  Franklinton,  and  the  fourth  at 
Upper  Sandusky.  The  Freeman  s  ('hronie/e  ol'  this  period  contains  the  following 
current  military  notes  : 

February  19  —  Governor  Meigs  has  arrived  in  town  to  or^nize  and  facilitate  the  move- 
ment of  the  drafted  militia  now  assembling  here.  Three  companies  are  now  encamped  in 
this  vicinity. 

March  5  —  About  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  drafted  militia,  under  Colonel  Steven- 
son, left  here  last  week  for  Upper  Sandusky.  Several  more  drafted  men  are  yet  here,  ami 
will  march  soon. 

Captain  Garrard's  troop  arrived  here  last  week,  and  started  soon  afterwards  for  San- 
dusky, but  have  since  been  ordered  to  Lebanon  where  the  whole  of  Major  Ball's  squadron 
will  remain  for  some  time. 

March  19 —  We  have  heard  of  no  persons  arriving  from  the  Rapids  for  some  days.  The 
road  through  the  Black  Swamp  is  said  to  be  utterly  impassable. 

General  Harrison  left  here  on  Monday  last  for  Ohillicothe,  from  whence  he  will  go  Cin- 
cinnati, and  perhaps  to  Kentucky.'  He  had  previously  received  notice  of  his  appointment  as 
Major- Oeneral. 

About  one  hundred  drafted  militia,  under  the  command  of  Major  Pitzer,  marched  from 
here  on  Monday  for  St.  Mary's.  General  Wingate  and  suite  left  here  on  Sunday  for  St. 
Mary's. 

March  26  —  There  are  no  troops  now  at  this  place.  Owing  to  the  late  rise  of  the  wat-ers, 
and  the  consequent  badness  of  the  roads,  no  transportation  of  forage  or  militia  stores  can, 
for  the  present,  be  effected. 

April  9  — Cincinnati,  April  3.  On  Tuesday  last  General  Harrison  left  this  place  for  the 
Rapids  of  the  Miami  of  the  Lakes. 

April  23  —  His  excellency.  Governor  Meigs,  arrived  here  on  Tuesday,  to  organize  and 
facilitate  the  march  of  some  independent  companies,  which  have  been  ordered  to  rendez- 
vous here  immediately.  Part  of  a  company  of  riflemen  arrived  here  the  same  day  from 
Circleville. 

April  30  —  Within  the  last  week  the  following  companies  of  Ohio  militia,  recently 
ordered  out  by  his  excellency  the  Governor,  arrived  at  this  place,  viz:  Captain  McConnell's 
company  from  Zanesville,  Captain  Ewing's  from  Lancaster,  Captain  Brush's  from  Chilli- 
cothe.  Captain  Harper's  from  Paint  Creek,  and  Captain  McElvaine's  frouj  Fayette  County. 
These  five  companies  will  form  one  handsome  battalion  of  upwards  of  two  hundred,  and  will 
be  commanded  by  Captain  Brush,  of  the  Chillicothe  Guards,  who  is  the  senior  captain. 
They  will  march  this  day  for  Upper  Sandusky,  where  they  will  be  stationed  to  protect  the 
vast  quantity  of  public  stores  deposited  at  that  place.  The  Governor  will  conduct  them  as 
far  as  Delaware. 

May  7 — By  express  from  Fort  Findlay,  we  understand  that  at  that  place,  cannonading 
was  distinctly  heard,  from  the  first  instant,  in  the  morning,  to  the  third.  For  the  first 
Iwentyfour  hours  it  was  incessant.  .  .  .  Governor  Meigs  was  at  Delaware  when  the 
news  was  first  received  —  who  immediately  gave  orders  for  mounted  men  to  proceed  with  all 
possible  dispatch.  .  .  .  Captain  Vance's  company  [the  Franklin  Dragoons]  of  Cavalry 
left  this  place  yesterday  morning  under  Lieutenant  Grate,  destined  for  Upper  Sandusky, 
where,  we  understand.  His  Excellency  Governor  Meigs  will  concentrate  all  the  forces  now 
collecting  from  this  part  of  the  state.  We  understand  his  excellency  will  command  in 
person ;  if  ao,  we  have  the  greatest  relyance  on  his  courage  and  enterprise.  We  believe  Gov- 
ernor Meigs  will  do  his  duty. 


244  History  op  the  City  op  CoLUMBtts. 

The  firing  heard  at  Fort  Findlay  was  that  of  the  siege  of  Fort  Meigs,  begun 
on  the  twentjeighth  of  April  by  a  force  of  British  and  Indians  three  or  four 
thousand  strong  under  Proctor  and  Tecumseh.  Returning  northward  from  Cin- 
cinnati, by  way  of  the  Auglaize  Valley,  General  Harrison  arrived  at  the  Fort 
April  11,  and  assumed  command  of  the  garrison  in  person.  Ball's  Dragoons,  from 
Lebanon,  and  a  force  of  mounted  Kentuckians  had  reached  there  before  him. 
General -Green  Clay  was  approaching  at  the  head  of  an  additional  Kentuckj^  force 
when  the  enemy  opened  his  batteries  on  the  third  of  May.  Aided  by  sorties  from 
the  fort,  Clay  cut  his  way  into  it  on  the  fifth.  Having  lost  several  of  his  batteries 
and  some  hundreds  of  men  killed,  wounded  or  prisoners.  Proctor  abandoned  the 
siege  on  the  ninth,  and  disappeared  down  the  Maumce.  Satisfied  that  he  would 
not  soon  return,  General  Harrison  rode  to  Lower  Sandusky,  now  Fremont,  where 
he  met  Governor  Meigs  with  a  large  force  of  Ohio  militia  pushing  to  the  front. 
Passing  on  by  way  of  Upper  Sandusky  and  Delaware  to  Franklinton,  the  General 
found  the  entire  route  strewn  with  Ohio  troops  marching  to  the  relief  of  the 
beleaguered  fort.*  The  services  of  these  men  not  being  immediately  needed,  their 
organizations  were  disbanded  much  to  their  chagrin,  by  an  order  issued  by  General 
Harrison  at  Franklinton,  May  16. 

A  call  for  the  enlistment  of  a  troop  of  fifty  mounted  men  for  thirty  days,  to 
assist  in  the  relief  of  Fort  Meigs,  was  published  in  PVanklinton  on  the  seventh  of 
May,  signed  by  Joseph  Foos,"  Brigadier-General  Fourth  Brigade,  Second  Division," 
of  the  Ohio  militia.  During  the  preceding  autumn  General  Foos  had  commanded 
a  detachment  from  the  Second  Division,  stationed  at  "the  Plains  of  Sandusky." 
His  call  for  dragoon  recruits  appealed  especially  to  "  the  patriotism  of  the  young 
men  of  Franklin  County,"  but  the  troop  could  scarcely  have  been  equipped  or  even 
organized  prior  to  General  Harrison's  disbanding  order  of  May  16. 

Another  Franklinton  organization  is  thus  referred  to  in  the  Chronicle  of  May  28 : 

A  part  of  Captain  Vance's  company  of  Franklin  Dragoons  detached  at  Lower  Sandusky, 
to  accompany  the  Governor  from  that  place  to  Cleveland,  have  returned.  .  .  .  Captain 
Vance  is  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  garrison  at  Jx>wer  Sandusky. 

General  Cass  arrived  at  Franklinton  on  the  twentyseventh,  and  Major  Ball's 
squadron  of  cavalry  on  the  twentyeighth  of  May. 

Further  attempts  to  retake  Detroit  being  disallowed  by  the  War  Department 
until  Commodore  Perry's  naval  force,  then  being  equipped  at  Presque  Isle,  now 
Erie,  should  be  ready  to  sweep  the  lake.  General  Harrison  made  a  hasty  tour  of 
inspection  southward  to  Chillicothe  and  Cincinnati,  but  soon  returned  to  Frank- 
linton, following  the  Twenty  fourth  United  States  Infantry,  which  he  ordered 
thither  from  Newport.  The  Twentyfourth,  Colonel  Anderson,  had  been  recruited 
in  Tennessee. 

Riding  ahead  of  the  Twentyfourth,  which  came  in  a  day  later,  General  Harrison 
arrived  at  Franklinton  June  6,  and  immediately  invited  a  conference  there  with 
deputations  from  the  neutral  Indian  tribes  whose  services  he  was  very  anxious  to 
enlist  in  the  American  cause.  The  conference  was  held  June  21,  1813,  on  the 
grounds  of  Lucas  Sullivant,  and  is  thus  described  in  the  SuUivant  Family  Mtmorial  : 

The  Delaware,  Shawnee,  Wyandot  and  Seneca  tribes  were  represented  by  about  fifty  o£ 
the  chiefs  and  warriors.    General  Harrison  rej)re8ented  the  Government,  and  with  him  wert^ 
his  staff  and  a  brilliant  array  of  oHicers  in  full  uniform.     Behind  was  a  detachment  of  soldiers  . 


'..-•-■^t^l   ■ 


The  First  War  Episode.  245 

In  his  front  were  the  Indians.    Around  all  were  the  inhabitants  of  the  region  far  and  near, 
with  many  a  mother  and  maid,  as  interested  spectators. 

The  General  began  to  speak  in  calm  and  measured  tones  befitting  the  grave  occasion, 
but  an  undefined,  oppression  seemed  to  hold  all  in  suspense*  as,  with  silent  and  almost 
breathless  attention,  they  awaited  the  result  of  the  Generars  words,  which  seemed  to  fall  on 
dull  ears,  as  the  Indians  sat  with  unmoved  countenances  and  smoked  on  in  stolid  silence. 
At  length  the  persuasive  voice  of  the  great  commander  struck  a  responsive  chord,  and,  when 
Tarhe,  or  Crane,  the  great  Wyandot  chief,  slowly  rose  to  his  feet,  and,  standing  for  a  moment 
in  a  graceful  and  commanding  attitude,  made  a  brief  reply,  and  then,  with  others,  pressed 
forward  to  grasp  the  hand  of  Harrison,  in  token,  not  only  of  amity  but  in  agreement  to  stand 
as  a  barrier  on  our  exposed  border,  a  terrible  doubt  and  apprehension  was  lifted  from  the 
hearts  of  all.  Jubilant  shouts  rent  the  air,  women  wept  for  joy,  and  stalwart  men  thrilled 
with  pleasure  as  they  now  thought  of  the  assured  safety  of  their  wives  and  children  from  a 
cruel  and  stealthy  foe,  and  they  prepared  at  once,  with  cheerful  alacrity,  to  go  forth  to  the 
impending  battles.' 

During  this  sojourn  of  General  Harrison's  an  event  of  a  tragical  nature  took 
place  in  Frauklinton.  The  Chronicle  of  June  16,  1813,  contains  the  following  ac- 
count of  it : 

Awful  Scenk. — A  man  named  William  Fish,  a  private  in  Captain  Hopkins's  company  of 
U.  S.  Light  Dragoons,  was  SHOT  at  this  place  on  Saturday  last  for  the  crime  of  desertion  and 
threatening  the  life  of  his  captain.  We  never  before  witnessed  so  horrid  a  spectacle ;  and  can- 
not, in  justice  to  our  feelings,  attempt  a  description  of  it.  Three  other  privates,  who  were 
condemned  to  death  by  the  same  court  martial,  were  pardoned  by  General  Harrison.  The 
last  who  was  pardoned  had  been  previously  conducted  to  his  coffin,  and  the  cap  placed  over 
his  eyes,  in  which  situation  he  remained  until  Fish  was  shot;  his  reprief  was  then  read. 

In  tbe  Chronicle  of  the  same  date  are  found  these  items  : 

The  Twentyfourth  Regiment  of  U.  8.  Infantry  marched  from  this  place  on  Sunday  last 
for  Cleveland,  by  way  of  Lower  Sandusky. 

General  Harrison's  Headquarters  are  still  at  Franklinton. 

The  affairs  of  the  Northwestern  Army  begin  to  assume  a  new  aspect.  It  will  hereafter 
be  composed  principally,  if  not  solely,  of  regular  troops.  The  route  by  the  way  of  the  Rapids 
has  been  very  properly  abandoned.  Measures  are  taking  to  transport  the  public  stores  now 
at  this  place  to  Cleveland. 

By  this  time  startling  news  began  to  arrive  again  from  the  north,  whore 
General  Cla}'  had  been  left  in  command  of  Fort  Meigs.  The  Freeman's  Chronicle 
of  June  26  contains  the  following  announcement  which  must  have  caused  groat 
apprehension : 

Highly  Important  !  —  An  express  arrived  here  on  Wednesday  afternoon  from  Fort 
Meigs,  with  despatches  from  General  Clay  to  General  Harrison,  stating  that  certain  informa- 
tion had  been  received  that  FOUR  THOUSAND  INDIANS  had  collected  at  Maiden  — that 
fifteen  hundred  British  regulars  and  militia  were  on  their  march  to,  or  had  arrived  at  Mai- 
den —  and  that  an  immediate  attack  was  meditated  on  Fort  Meigs,  or  the  posts  in  rear  of  that 
Fort.    General  Harrison  supposes  that  Lower  Sandusky  will  be  the  first  point  of  attack. 

On  the  receipt  of  this  intelligence,  all  the  troops  at  this  post  were  immediately  ordered 
to  march  for  Lower  Sandusky.  They  marched  this  morning.  Colonel  Anderson's  regiment 
have  been  ordered  to  halt  on  this  side  of  Lower  Sandusky.  General  Harrison  started  yester- 
day morning  and  will  overtake  Colonel  Anderson  this  evening. 

On  the  first  of  July  a  courier  from  Upper  Sandusky  arrived  in  Franklinton 
bringing  a  report  that  Fort  Meigs,  Lower  Sandusky  and  Cleveland  had  all  been 
attacked  by  Indians.  These  rumors  caused  great  anxiety  until  contradicted  by 
later  information  published  in  an  extra  issue  of  the  Chronicle  July  5.     In  this  issue 


248  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

it  was  stated  that  General  Harrison  had  arrived  at  Fort  Meigs  on  the  twentyeighth, 
that  the  post  had  not  even  been  threatened,  and  that  Colonel  Johnson's  mounted 
regiment  had  made  a  reconnoissance  to  the  River  Eaisin,  but  had  discovered  no 
enemy,  A  band  of  about  one  hundred  Indians,  prowling  about  Lower  Sandusky, 
had  killed  a  couple  of  straggling  dragoons,  and  massacred  a  family  near  the  fort, 
then  disappeared.  Major  Croghan,  with  nearly  five  hundred  regulars,  was  sta- 
tioned at  the  Broad  Ford,  seventeen  miles  from  Lower  Sandusky,  ready  to  move 
to  any  point  which  might  be  endangered.  The  State  militia  ordered  out  by 
Governor  Meigs  during  the  alarm  were  dismissed  again  to  their  homes. 

His  presence  not  being  required  at  Fort  Meigs,  General  Harrison  passed  over 
to  Lower  Sandusky,  and  thence,  underescort  of  Ball's  cavalry,  to  Cleveland,  where 
the  Secretary  of  War  had  ordered  boats  to  be  built  for  transporting  the  army  across 
the  lake.  At  Cleveland  Harrison  exchanged  communications  with  Perry  at 
Presque  Isle,  and  received  orders  from  Washington  to  call  out  the  militia.  Large 
quantities  of  army  stores  were  forwarded  from  Franklinton  to  Lower  Sanduskj'  by 
Quartermaster-General  Bartiett. 

Returning  to  the  Sandusky  River,  Harrison  was  intercepted  by  a  courier  from 
Clay  announcing  that  a  force  five  thousand  stronir,  under  Proctor,  had  ascended  the 
Maumee  in  boats  July  20,  and  was  confronting  Fort  Meigs.  A  reassuring  message 
went  back  to  Clay,  borne  by  his  messenger.  Captain  McCune.  Harrison  suspected 
that  the  movement  on  Fort  Meigs  was  only  a  feint  to  cover  a  descent  on  one  of  the 
Sanduskys,  or  Cleveland.  He  therefore  took  his  station  at  Seneca  Town,  on  the 
Sandusky,  whence  he  could  readily  move  to  any  i)oint  likely  to  be  threatened. 
Nine  miles  below,  where  Fremont  now  stands,  a  small  stockade  had  been  built  on 
a  tract  of  land  reserved  as  a  trading  station  in  Wayne's  treaty  of  Greenville.  At 
the  time  Harrison  took  post  at  Seneca  Town,  this  work  was  known  as  Fort 
Stevenson,  and  was  held  by  a  garrison  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  men  under  Major 
George  Croghan,  a  young  Kentucky  ofiicer  of  twentyone  years,  nephew  to  General 
George  Rogers  Clark. 

After  various  ineffectual  attempts  to  decoy  General  Clay  out  of  Fort  Meigs, 
Proctor  reembarked  his  white  soldiers  and  sailed  down  the  lake,  while  Tecumseh, 
with  some  thousands  of  warriors,  crossed  the  Black  Swamp  toward  the  Sandusky 
River.  On  the  twentyninth  the  Indians  swarmed  out  of  the  woods  along  the  river, 
and  appeared  in  front  of  Harrison's  camp.  Deeming  Fort  Stevenson  untenable,  Har- 
rison ordered  Croghan  to  abandon  it,  and  withdraw  to  Seneca  Town.  Croghan 
replied  to  this  command  that  he  was  resolved  to  hold  the  fort,  and  was  thereupon 
summoned  to  headquarters  to  answer  for  disobedience.  Responding  promptly  to 
this  summons,  Croghan  appeared  before  General  Harrison,  and  so  clearly  proved 
that  it  would  be  more  hazardous  to  abandon  the  fort  than  to  attempt  to  hold  it, 
that  he  was  permitted  to  resume  his  command,  and  execute  his  own  plans.  His 
defense  of  Fort  Stevenson  against  the  assaults  of  a  force  seven  or  eight  times  as 
great  as  his  own,  forms  one  of  the  most  brillant  episodes  of  the  War  of  1812. 
Croghan  was  the  Corse  of  that  war,  and  F'ort  Stevenson  its  Allatoona  Pass.  As- 
cending the  river  on  the  thirtytirst  of  July,  Proctor  began  his  assaults  on  the 
first  of  August,  and  renewed  them  on  the  second,  but  was  on  both  days  disastrously 
repulsed.  During  the  night  of  the  second,  he  drew  off  in  disorderly  retreat,  leav- 
ing the  escarpments,  ditches  and  clearings  around  the  fort  strewn  with  his  dead 


The  First  War  Episodb. 


HAUIMMI  BLM   AND  UAWKBS  HOSPITAL,  FBANKUNTON.     THBKBNTnCEy 
SHELBY    WERE   ENCAMPED  ON  THE   HOUND   ON   WHICH   ■ 

Photognph  by  F.  H.  Howe,  isn. 


248  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

and  wounded,  numbering,  in  all,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty.  Croghan  lost  but 
eight  men.  On  the  thirteenth  of  August,  the  ladies  of  Chillicothe  sent  hiin  a 
complimentary  letter  accompanied  by  the  present  of  a  sword. 

The  rumors  and  reports  which  reached  Franklinton  during  these  events  were 
of  the  most  stirring  character.  The  State  militia,  disbanded  only  a  month  before, 
and  now  mostly  busied  with  the  harvest,  promptly  took  the  field  again  at  the  sum- 
mons of  Governor  Meigs.     The  Frerynan's  Chronicle  of  July  30,  says: 

The  militia  are  rushing  forward  from  all  quarters  of  the  State.  Thousands  are  already  in 
advance  of  this  place,  and  thoiieands  are  on  the  march  to  the  rear.  It  is  impossible  to 
ascertain  the  number  of  troops  assembled  and  assembling  throughout  the  State.  Between 
six  and  seven  thousand  would  he  a  moderate  calculation.  Even  his  Excellency  the  Governor, 
who  arrived  here  three  or  four  days  ago,  and  has  been  engaged  day  and  night  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  militia,  is  still  ignorant  of  what  number  of  troops  are  in  motion  through  the 
State.  Upwards  of  three  thousand  have  passed  through  here  within  the  last  two  days,  and 
we  hourly  hear  of  hundreds  of  others  on  the  march. 

On  the  authority  of  Captain  Vance,  who  had  just  returned  from  the  Sandusky, 
the  Chronicle  of  August  11^  says: 

General  Harrison  is  at  Seneca  Town  with  between  thirteen  hundred  and  two  thousand 
men,  principally  regulars.  All  the  militia,  except  two  regiments,  will  be  sent  home  in  a  few 
days.  The  Governor  will  go  to  Seneca  previously  to  his  return,  which  will  be  in  a  few  days. 
The  Franklin  Dragoons  will  accompany  him. 

The  emergency  for  which  the  Ohio  volunteers  were  called  out  on  this  occasion 
was  soon  over,  but  their  blood  was  up,  and  they  wore  anxious  to  fight  it  out  with 
Proctor  this  time,  and  make  an  end  of  Jiritish  invasion.  Unfortunately  they  had 
enlisted  for  only  forty  days,  a  period  entirely  too  short  to  make  their  services 
available  for  the  autumn  campaign  then  being  planned.  They  were  therefore  dis- 
missed and  sent  homo  again,  to  their  profound  disgust.  The  Freeman's  Chronicle 
of  August  20  says: 

Some  thousands  passed  through  here  within  the  last  week.  Most  of  those  who  returned 
are  extremely  bitter  against  Governor  Meigs  and  General  Harrison.  They  say  they  were 
ciUled  out  and  marched  contrary  to  their  will,  without  proper  authority  or  an  adequate 
emergency ;  and  complained  that  when  they  arrived  at  Sandusky  they  were  not  permitted 
to  proceed  and  terminate  the  northwestern  campaign  by  one  strong  and  decisive  effort. 

But,  notwithstanding  these  complaints,  whenever  volunteers  were  needed,  as 
happened  again  some  weeks  later,  they  were  obtained.  In  Franklinton  so  liberal 
was  the  response  to  the  call  of  patriotism  that  there  was  sometimes  scarcely  an 
able-bodied  man  left. 

The  Chronicle  of  August  20,  1S13,  contains  this  long- looked- for  news: 

Commodore  Perry  writes  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  August  4,  1813,  9  p.  m.  :  I  have 
great  pleasure  in  informing  you  that  I  have  succeeded  in  getting  over  the  bar  the  United 
States  vessels,  the  I^wrence,  Niagara,  Caledonia,  Ariel,  Scorpion,  Somers,  Tigress,  and 
Porcupine.  The  enemy  have  been  in  sight  all  day  and  are  now  about  four  leagues  from  us. 
We  shall  sail  in  pursuit  of  them  at  three  tomorrow  morning. 

Perry's  brilliant  victory  over  the  British  fleet  on  the  tenth  of  September;  the 
capture  of  Maiden  by  Harrison's  army  (transported  across  the  lake  by  Perry)  on 
tbe  twentyeighth;  and  the  victory  of  that  army  over  Proctor  and  Tecumseh  on  the 
Thames  River  in  Canada  October  5,  practically  ended  the  war  in  Ohio.  After  these 
events  the  military  operations  in  the  Northwestern  Department  consisted  mainly 


The  First  War  Episode.  240 

ill  guarding  the  frontier,  which  was  done  under  the  direction  of  Brigadicr-Croneral 
Duncan  McArthur.  General  Harrison  resigned  his  military  commission,  and  was 
elected  tx)  Congress  from  the  Cincinriati  district.  In  March,  1814,  Governor 
Meigs  was  appointed  Postmaster-General,  resigned  the  Governorship,  and  was 
succeeded  therein  by  Othniel  Looker,  Speaker  of  the  Senate.  A  treaty  of  peace 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  was  signed  December  24,  1814,  at 
Ghent,  in  Belgium. 

To  the  end  of  the  war  Franklin  ton  continued  to  be  an  important  military 
rendezvous  and  point  of  distribution  for  both  troops  and  supplies.  Its  armory,  su- 
perintended by  William  C.  layman,  United  States  Commissary  of  Ordnance,  repair- 
ed muskets  and  supplied  ammunition.  In  February,  1814,  the  drafted  Ohio  militia 
were  ordered  to  assemble  at  Franklinton.  to  the  number  of  fourteen  hundred. 
Lieutenant  McElvain  and  Ensign  Cochran  were  the  officers  locally  engaged  at  that 
time  in  collecting  recruits.  The  weather  being  very  inclement,  and  the  roads  almost 
impassable,  the  work  of  enlistment  and  organization  progressed  slowly.  No  further 
imminent  danger  along  the  frontier  impelled  volunteers  to  exchange  the  comfort 
of  their  homes  for  the  hardships  of  a  winter  campaign.  In  the  latter  part  of 
February  about  two  hundred  men  had  assembled  at  Franklinton  under  the  four- 
teen hundred  call,  and  early  in  March  a  battalion  of  Ohio  niilitia  under  Major 
Dawson,  set  out  for  Sandusky.  Volunteers  were  called  for  about  the  same  time  to 
guard  the  British  soldiers  at  Chillicothe,  captured  in  Ilarrisoirs  battle  of  the 
Thames.  Part  of  these  captives  had  been  retained  for  a  short  time  at  Franklinton. 
A  company  of  the  Seventeenth  United  States  Infantry,  (.'aptain  B.  W.  Saunders, 
arrived  there  from  Kentucky  June  4.  One  of  the  military  arrivals  in  July  was  that 
of  British  captives,  from  Chillicothe,  en  mufv  to  Upper  Sandusky.  They  were 
escorted  by  a  detachment  of  regulars  under  Major  Graham.  The  British  taken 
by  Johnson's  regiment  in  the  Thames  battle  were  brought  up  from  Newport, 
Kentucky,  by  Captain  Stockton's  Company  of  the  Twenty  eighth  Infantry,  early 
in  August. 

Transient  bodies  of  troops,  regulars  or  militia,  doubtless  continued  to  enliven 
Franklinton  by  their  arrival,  dej)arture,  or  sojourn  to  the  end  of  the  year.  This 
stimulated  the  business  of  the  village,  and  made  it  prosperous  for  the  time  being, 
yet  all  of  its  people  were  heartily  glad  when  the  war  was  over,  and  all  danger  of 
Indian  massacre  forever  passed  "Thank  God!"  exclaimed  Mi*s.  Lucas  Sullivant 
when  she  read  in  the  Freanans  (Vinmic/e  that  Ilarrison  had  taken  Maiden.  And 
so,  doubtless,  felt  many  another  matron  wlu)  had  survived  through  the  alarms 
and  anxietiesof  frontier  life  in  the  War  of  1812. 

• 
NOTES. 

1.  Freeman's  Ch ran iclf,  J uuii  24,  IS  12. 

2.  The  names  of  the  Indian  Chiefs  who  signed  tl\is  treaty  were:  Tarhe  or  Crane, 
Sha-ra-to,  iSu-tuah,  Mouu-kon,  Dew-o-su,  or  Big  River,  of  the  Wyandots ;  Cut-a  wa-ha  sa,  or 
Black  Hoof,  Cut-a-we  pa,  Pi-a-go-ha,  Pi-ta-na-ge,  Ki-e-hisli-eina,  of  the  Shawneee;  Ma-tha-me, 
of  the  M  in  goes. 

3.  So  named,  it  is  said,  because,  owing  to  the  ditfieulty  of  the  trail  and  the  unstahle 
nature  of  the  ground  in  the  Black  Swamp  wliere  it  was  built,  tliis  blockhouse  was,  from 
necessity,  located  at  that  particular  point. 

4.  Sullivant  Family  Memorial. 


-^«;^ 


250 


History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 


5.  The  same  issue  of  the  Chronicle  (December  30,  1812)  announces  Decatur's  capture  of 
the  British  frigate  Macedonian,  and  Napoleon's  entry  into  Moscow. 

6.  Early  in  January,  1813,  General  Harrison  wrote  to  the  War  Department  from 
Franklinton :  "  My  plan  of  operations  has  been,  and  now  is,  to  occupy  the  Miami 
Bapids,  and  to  deposite  there  as  much  provisions  as  possible,  to  move  from  thence  with  a 
choice  detachment  of  the  army,  and  with  as  much  provision,  artillery,  and  ammunition  as 
the  means  of  transportation  will  allow—  make  a  demonstration  towards  Detroit,  and  by  a 
sudden  passage  of  the  strait  upon  the  ice,  an  actual  investiture  of  Maiden."  —Daioson^s  Life  of 
Harrison, 

•  7.  Referring  to  this  tour  of  General  Harrison's,  Atwater  says:  "Leaving  the  troops 
in  the  garrison  [at  Fort  Meigs]  he  hastily  departed  into  the  interior,  by  way  of  the  Sanduskys, 
Delaware,  Franklinton  and  Chillicothe  to  Cincinnati.  He  everywhere,  as  he  moved  along, 
urged  forward  to  Fort  Meigs  troops,  provisions,  and  all  the  munitions  of  war.  At  Chillicothe 
he  found  Colonel  John  Miller  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  regulars  under  him,  of  the  Nine- 
teenth regiment.  These  the  General  ordered  to  Fort  Meigs  by  way  of  the  Auglaize  route. 
He  found  but  one  company  of  Kentuckians  at  Newport,  but  two  or  three  other  companies 
soon  reaching  that  place,  he  mounted  the  whole  of  them  on  pack  horses,  and  ordered  them  to 
Fort  Meigs.  Going  forward  himself  he  ordered  Major  Ball  and  his  dragoons,  who  had  been 
cantoned  at  Lebanon  ever  since  their  return  from  the  Missisineway  expedition,  to  march  to  the 
same  point.  Harrison  himself  marcheil  to  Amanda  on  the  Auglaize.  Here  he  found  Colonel 
Miller  and  his  regulars,  just  arrived  from  Chillicothe,  and  Colonel  Mills  of  the  militia,  with 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men  who  had  been  building  and  had  completed  a  fleet  of  boats.  Into 
these  boatfi  the  General  and  these  troops  and  boat  builders  entered,  and  in  this  way,  reached 
Fort  Meigs  on  the  eleventh  of  April,  1813. — Aiwater's  History  of  Ohio, 

8.  The  Franklin  Chronicle  of  May  13,  1813,  contains  the  following  enthusiastic  account 
of  the  outpouring  of  the  Ohio  volunteers  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Meigs : 

*'  The  siege  of  Fort  Meigs  was  raised  on  the  ninth,  the  British  and  their  allies  had 
retired,  and  the  communication  was  perfectly  open.  .  .  .  The  troops  were  consequently 
ordered  to  return  to  their  homes,  and  an  express  was  despatched  to  onler  back  all  who  were 
then  on  their  way  to  join  the  main  body.  About  six  hundred  were  met  between  Lower  San- 
dusky and  Delaware  rushing  on  to  the  point  of  destination  with  the  greatest  zeal  and  alac- 
rity. Six  or  seven  hundred  more  were  on  their  march  by  way  of  Fort  Findlay,  who  were  also 
ordered  to  return.  Several  hundred,  probably  thomandSy  of  others  were  preparing  to  march 
from  various  parts  of  the  state,  and  aJl  this  in  the  course  of  a  few  days.  Such  zeal,  such  prompt- 
itude, such  patriotism  were  never  surpassed  in  the  annals  of  the  world.  Alt  ages  and  ranks 
of  citizens  flocked  by  one  noble  impulse  simultaneously  to  the  standard  of  their  country. 
.  .  .  Never  have  we  witnessed  such  a  scene ;  never,  we  believe,  was  such  a  scene  exhib- 
ited in  North  America.  We  are  confident  that  if  the  fort  had  not  relieved  itsef  for  ten  days 
longer,  ten  thousand  men  from  Ohio  would  have  been  on  their  march  towards  it.  Although 
inexperienced  and  undisciplined,  and  sometimes  refractory,  yet  it  may  be  truly  said  that  on 
such  occasions  as  the  late  emergency,  the  militia  is  the  bulwark  of  liberty." 

9.  The  Franklin  Chronicle's  account  of  General  Harrison's  speech  to  the  Indians  is  as 
follows:  *'  The  General  promised  to  let  the  several  tribes  know  when  he  should  want  their 
services,  and  further  cautioned  them  that  all  who  went  with  them  must  conform  to  his  mode 
of  warfare,  not  to  kill  or  injure  old  men,  women,  children,  nor  prisoners;  that  by  this  means, 
we  should  be  able  to  ascertain  whether  the  British  tell  the  truth  when  they  say  that  they  are 
not  able  to  prevent  Indians  from  such  acts  of  horrid  cruelty  ;  for  if  the  Indians  under  him 
(General  H.)  would  obey  /iw  commands,  and  refrain  from  acts  of  barbarism,  it  would  be  very 
evident  that  the  hostile  Indians  could  be  as  easily  restrained  by  their  commanders.  The 
(ieneral  then  informed  the  chiefs  of  the  agreement  made  by  Proctor  to  deliver  him  to 
Tecumseh  in  case  the  British  succeeded  in  taking  Fort  Meigs;  an<l  promised  them  that  if  he 
should  be  successful,  he  would  deliver  Proctor  into  their  hands  on  condition  that  they  should 
do  him  no  other  harm  than  to  put  a  petticoat  on  /tim,  '  for,'  said  he,  *  none  but  a  coward  or  a 
squaw  would  kill  a  prisoner.'" 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE  FIRST  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 

The  State  Director  provided  for  in  the  statute  which  permanently  located  the 
capital  was  vested  with  some  very  important  functions.  By  the  exercise  of  his 
discretion  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  laid  upon  him  the  character  of  the  future 
city  was,  in  some  respects,  permanently  fixed.  Probably  no  functionary  ever  had 
more  to  do  with  molding  the  infancy  and  marking  out  the  adult  future  of  Colum- 
bus, at  least  in  a  topographical  sense.  He  was  required  to  "superintend  the  sur- 
veying and  laying  out  of  the  town,"  to  "direct  the  width  of  streets  and  alleys," 
and  "  to  select  the  square  for  public  buildings,  and  the  lot  for  the  penitentiary  "  and 
its  "  dependencies."  He  was  empowered  to  collect  and  disburse  taxes  on  the  town 
properly  until  January  1,  1816.  In  brief,  the  State  of  Ohio,  acting  through  her 
agent,  Joel  Wright,  was  the  sponsor  of  the  newlyborn  capital. 

Another  duty  with  which  the  Director  was  charged,  was  that  of  supervising 
the  erection  of  the  public  buildings  which  the  original  proprietors  of  the  town  had 
engaged  to  provide.  In  this  matter,  however,  the  agent  of  the  State  was  by  no 
means  left  entirely  to  his  own  discretion.  By  resolution  passed  February  18, 1812, 
a  joint  committee  was  appointed  "to  agree  upon  and  lay  down  the  plan  on  which 
the  statehouse  and  penitentiary  sliall  be  erected,  and  to  point  out  the  materials 
whereof  they  shall  be  built."  Two  days  later  a  resolution  was  passed  "laying 
down  and  agreeing  to  a  plan  on  whicii  the  statehouse  and  penitentiary  shall  be 
erected,"  as  follows: 

Rewlved  by  the  Senate  and  Hou$e  of  Representatives,  That  the  director,  after  selecting  the 
squares  and  scites  whereon  the  statehouse  and  penitentiary  shall  be  built,  shall  proceed  to 
lay  down  the  size  and  dimensions  of  the  said  buildings  as  follows,  viz  ;  The  statehouse  to  be 
seventyfive  feet  by  fifty,  to  be  built  of  brick  on  a  stone  foundation,  the  proportions  of  which 
shall  be  regulated  by  said  director,  according  to  the  most  approved  models  of  modern  archi- 
tecture, so  as  to  combine,  as  far  as  possible,  elegance,  convenience,  strength  and  dura- 
bility. 

The  penitentiary  to  be  sixty  feet  by  thirty,  to  be  built  of  brick  on  a  stone  foundation 
with  stone  walls  projecting  in  a  line  with  the  front  fifty  feet  on  each  end  so  as  to  form  a  front 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  and  to  extend  back  from  the  front  one  hundred  feet,  forming 
an  area  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  by  one  hundred  feet.     The  walls  to  be  fifteen  feet  high. 

The  proportion  of  the  penitentiary  shall  be  regulated  by  the  director,  according  to  the 
best  models  which  he  can  obtain  from  those  states  where  theory  has  been  tested  by  experi- 
ence, and  the  said  director  shall  make  a  report  of  his  proceedings  in  the  premises,  with  a  plan 
of  said  buildings,  to  the  next  Legislature  within  ten  days  after  the  commencement  of  the 
session.' 

[251] 


252  History  of  tue  City  of  Columbus. 

In  compliance  with  theso  inNtructions,  Director  Wright  seloctod  the  ground  for 
the  Pubh'c  Square,  staked  out  its  boundaries,  and  fixed  the  location  of  the  State- 
house  on  its  southwest  corner.  The  Square  was  then  surrounded  by  a  staked  and 
ridered  **  worm  fence/*  and  was  similarly  enclosed  as  late  as  1825.  It  was  covered 
by  a  growth  of  beautiful  forest  trees  which  remained  until  cleared  off  by  Jarvis 
Pike,  under  contract  with  Governor  Worthington,  in  1815  or  1816.*  Pike  was  per- 
mitted to  farm  the  ground,  probably  in  consideration  of  his  labor  in  chopping  off 
its  trees,  and  harvested  from  it  three  or  four  crops  of  wheat  and  corn.  After  that, 
the  fencing  became  dilapidated,  and  the  ground  lay  open  for  several  years  as  a  pub- 
lic common.  According  to  A7/Ao ;//•//('>-  (iazvfttTr  of  1828,  ninetenths  of  it  were  still  un- 
occupied in  that  year  except  by  the  cows  and  schoolboy  ball-players  of  the  village. 
In  1834  the  Square  was  enclosed,  for  the  fii*st  time  presentably,  with  a  fence  of 
cedar  posts  and  white  painted  palings,  built  by  Jonathan  Neereamer.  This  im- 
provement was  instigated  by  Mr.  Alfred  Kelley,  then  agent  of  the  State,  who  had 
the  grounds  planted  at  the  same  time  with  young  elm  trees,  brought  from  the 
forest.  The  picket  fence  remained  until  replaced  in  1839  by  a  higher  one  of  rough 
boards,  built  to  screen  the  convicts  at  work  on  the  present  Capitol. 

The  Penitentiary  was  located  by  the  Director  on  a  plat  of  ton  acres  in  the 
southwest  ]>art  of  the  town,  fronting  on  Scioto  Lane.  A  complete  description  of  it 
is  reserved  for  the  history  of  the  prison. 

Kxcepting  excavation  for  the  foundations,  and  the  collection  of  materials,  not 
much  progress  was  made  upon  any  of  the  public  buildings  in  1812.  In  December 
of  that  year  Director  Wright  submitted  the  following  report  to  the  General 
Assembly  : 

The  director  appointed  to  superintend  the  surveying  and  laying  out  of  the  town  of  Col- 
umbus, etc.,  respectfully  presents  on  the  subject  of  his  appointment  the  following  report: 

Having  with  diflidence  submitted  to  the  unexpected  appointment,  I  repaired  to  the  post 
assigned  lue,  superintended  the  surveying  and  laying  out  of  the  town  on  an  elevated  and 
beautiful  situation ,*on  the  east  side  of  the  Scioto  River,  opposite  the  town  of  Franklinton,  in 
Franklin  County,  directed  the  width  of  the  streets  and  alleys,  selected  the  square  for 
public  buildings  and  the  lot  for  the  penitentiary  and  dependencies,  according  to  the 
plan  or  plat  herewith  presented.  After  selecting  the  public  square  and  penitentiary  lot,  I 
proceeded  to  designate  on  the  ground  plat  the  sites  and  dimensions  of  the  Statehoose  and 
penitentiary,  according  to  the  size  of  each  building  prescribed  by  the  Legislature. 

Being  directed  to  regulate  the  proportion  of  the  penitentiary  acccording  to  the  best 
models  and  plans  I  could  obtain  from  those  states  where  theory  has  been  tested  by  experi- 
ence, I  have  applied  for,  and,  at  some  considerable  expense  procured  several,  viz:  Philadel- 
phia, New  York  and  Kentucky.  On  applying  for  that  at  Baltimore  I  was  informed  it  might 
be  procured  for  thirtysix  dollars;  but  at  the  same  time  being  notified  that  it  was  not  on 
the  most  improved  plan,  I  did  not  think  proper  to  make  a  second  application.  On  ex- 
amining and  comparing  the  plans  received  I  found  the  penitentiary  at  Columbus  could 
not  he  made  exactly  conformable  to  any  of  those  procured  without  varying  the  dimensions 
proposed  by  the  Legislature ;  I  have,  however,  drawn  plans  of  the  different  stories  so  as  to 
make  the  building  useful  as  possible  according  to  its  sixe. 

I  have  also  procured  the  penal  laws  of  Maryland,  with  the  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  government  of  the  penitentiary  at  Baltimore,  the  penal  laws  of  Pennsylvania,  and  an 
account  of  the  state  prison  or  penitentiary  in  the  city  of  New  York.  These  are  submit- 
ted to  the  inspection  of  the  Legislature  with  the  plans  above  mentioned,  to  which  are 
added  plans  of  the  Statehouse  and  public  oifices. 


The  Pikst  Public  Buildinu8. 


^ 


254  History  of  the  City  op  Columbcs. 

It  was  contemplated  to  proceed,  soon  after  last  harvest,  in  building  the  penitentiary, 
so  as  to  have  it  under  roof  previous  to  the  opening  of  the  present  session,  a  contract  to 
that  efTect  being  niatle;  but  the  unsettled  state  of  public  affairs  and  the  drafts  of  the 
military  prevented.  The  foundation,  however,  is  dug,  a  large  <iuantity  of  stone  and  up- 
ward of  three  humlred  thousand  brirks  an'  on  the  ground  ready,  prepared  to  proceed 
in  the  work  early  in  the  succeeding  s})ring. 

Joel  Wright, 

of  Warren  County,  Director. 
Chillicothe,  Ohio,  9th  of  12th  month,  1812. 

P.  S. —  As  the  last  Legislature  clid  not  furnish  any  pe<'uniar>'  compensation  for  the 
director's  services  and  expenses,  he  now  applies  for  what  may  l>e  deemed  proper,  and  re- 
quests to  be  excuse<l  or  released  from  further  attention  to  the  subject  of  hia  appoint- 
ment, and  another  appointed  in  his  room. 

JoBL  Wright. 

Oh  February  10,  1814,  the  General  AsHcmbly  passed  a  joint  resolution  naming 
William  Ludlow  as  "  Director  of  the  Town  of  Oolumbns."  This  appointment  was 
renewed  a  year  later.  Mr.  Ludlow  was  neither  an  architect,"  nor  much  acquainted 
with  building,"  says  Martin,  but 'a  faithful  agent,"  and  "  a  man  of  some  talent 
and  unquestionable  integrity. '*  Under  his  supervision  most  of  the  actual  con- 
struction of  the  public  buildings  was  accomplished.  During  the  year  1813,  but 
little  headway  seems  to  have  been  made,  the  war  with  its  numerous  distractions 
and  constant  calls  for  volunteers  to  repel  invasion  proving  a  great  hinderance;  but 
the  favorable  progress  of  the  war  in  1814  imparted  a  fresh  stimulus  to  the  work, 
and  during  that  and  the  following  year  all  the  public  buildings  contracted  for  by 
the  pr()j)rietorH  were  substantially  completed.  The  Statehousc,  as  it  appeared 
when  finished,  is  described  as  "a  common,  plain  brick  building,  seventy  five  feet 
north  and  south  b}'  tifly  east  and  west,  on  the  ground,  and  two  lofly  stories  high, 
with  a  square  roof,  that  is,  eaves  and  cornice  at  both  sides  and  ends,  and  ascending 
to  the  balcony  and  steeple  in  the  centre,  in  which  was  a  firstrate,  well-toned  bell. 
The  top  of  the  spire  was  one  hundred  and  six  feet  from  the  ground.  On  the  root 
adjoining  the  balcony,  on  two  sides,  were  neat  railed  walks,  from  which  a  spectator 
might  view  the  whole  town  as  upon  a  map,  and  had  also  a  fine  view  of  the  wind- 
ing Scioto,  and  of  the  level  country  around  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach."* 

The  foundation  of  the  building  had  an  outside  dressing  of  cut  stone  to  the 
height  of  two  feet  above  the  ground,  and  a  belt  of  the  same  material  was  laid  in 
the  outer  wall  around  the  building,  at  the  top  of  the  first  story.  Benjamin  Thomp- 
son was  contractor  for  the  stone  and  brick  work,  except  the  stonecutting,  which 
was  done  by  Drummon  &  Scott.  The  carpenter  work  was  done  by  George  Mc- 
Cormack  and  Conrad  Crisnian,  the  plastering  by  Gottlieb  Leightenaker,  the  paint- 
ing by  Conrad  Hoyl.  The  shingles  of  the  roof  were  of  black  walnut,  furnished  by 
Simeon  Moore,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Blendon  Township.  Freestone  for  the  trim- 
ming to  the  foundation  and  openings  was  brought  in  wagons  from  Black  Lick, 
twelve  miles,  by  a  wretched  trail  through  the  swamps.  Theclay  of  which  the  bricks 
were  made  was  obtained,  in  part,  from  the  ancient  mound  which  rose  on  the  present 
site  of  St.  Paul's  Lutheran  Church,  on  South  High  Street.* 

The  principal  entrance  to  the  building  was  at  the  center  of  its  southern  front, 
on  State  Street.     From  the  interior  vestibule  adjoining  the  main  doorway  flights 


The  First  Public  Buildings,  255 

of  stairs  rose  right  and  left  leading  to  a  gallery  and  to  the  Senate  Chamber,  which 
was  in  the  second  story  and  had  two  committee  rooms  but  no  gallery.  The  hall 
for  the  Representatives  was  on  the  lower  floor,  on  the  north  side  of  the  building. 
It  was  provided  with  two  committee  rooms  and  a  gallery,  and  communicated  with 
High  Street  by  a  door  at  the  center  of  the  west  front.  A  rear  door  led  to  the  wood- 
yard. 

The  halls,  we  are  told,  were  "  of  good  size,"  and  "  respectable  wooden  finish  " 
consisting,  in  part,  of  large  wooden  columns  handsomely  turned,  the  workmanship 
of  William  Altman.  The  columns  were  painted  in  imitation  of  "clouded 
marble."*  A  polished  stone  slab,  five  by  two  and  a  half  feet,  built  into  the  wall 
over  the  western  entrance,  bore  the  following  inscription  from  Barlow's  Colum- 
hind  : 

Equality  of  rights  is  Nature's  plan, 

And  following  Nature  is  the  march  of  Man ; 

Based  on  its  rock  of  right  your  empire  lies, 

On  walls  of  wisdom  let  the  fabric  rise. 

Preserve  your  principles,  their  force  unfold, 

Let  nations  prove  them,  and  let  kings  behold. 

Equality  your  first  firm  grounded  stand, 

Then  free  election,  then  your  Federal  band  ; 

This  holy  triad  should  forever  shine, 

The  great  compendium  of  all  rights  divine, 

Creed  of  all  schools,  whence  youtlis  by  millions  draw 

Their  theme  of  riglit,  their  decalogue  of  law. 

Till  man  shall  wonder  (in  these  schools  inured) 

How  wars  were  made,  how  tyrants  were  endured. 

Barlow. 

Afler  the  stonecutter  who  copied  these  lines  had  finished  his  work,  the  State 
Director,  Mr.  Ludlow,  who  believed  that  the  American  Republic  is  a  nation  and 
not  a  confederacy,  had  the  sunken  letters  of  the  word  Federal  filled  up  and  the 
word  Union  imprinted  over  it.  Many  years  later  the  composition  with  which  this 
was  done  fell  off,  and  the  obnoxious  word  Federal  reappeared,  a  harbinger,  perhaps, 
of  the  approaching  confederacy  of  the  Southern  States,  and  their  attempted  secession. 

A  similar  stone  over  the  southern  entrance  was  inscribed  with  an  extract 
from  the  same  poem.  Over  the  east  door  Director  Ludlow  caused  a  smaller  tablet 
to  be  placed,  on  which  were  chiseled  the  following  lines  of  his  own  composition  : 

General  good  the  object  of  legislation, 
Perfected  by  a  knowledge  of  man's  wants, 
And  Nature's  abounding  means  applied. 
Establishing  principles  opposed  to  monopoly. 

The  interior  walls  of  the  legislative  chambers  were  hung  with  maps  of  the 
State  and  engraved  copies  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  besides  "  various 
other  articles  of  use  and  ornament."' 

In  the  autumn  of  1816,  after  the  building  had  been  completed,  a  dozen  or  more 
ladies  of  Columbus  held  in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  a  sewing  party, 
at  which  they  put  together  the  first  cai*pet  ever  laid  in  that  chamber.  The  party 
was  suggested  by  Governor  Worthington,  who  honored  it  with  his  presence,  and 
favored  the  fair  seamsters  with  some  fine  apples  from  his  Ross  County  orchard. 


256  History  op  the  Citv  of  CouiMBrR. 

In  further  appreciatioii  of  their  ettbrls,  the  ladies  were  served  with  tea  in  the 
evening  at  the  resiiieuee  of  Mrs.  John  Martin  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street 
from  the  Statehouse.  Among  those  who  took  })art  in  this  memorable  sewing  bee 
were  Mrs.  William  T.  Martin,  Mrs.  (loorge  McC'ormack  and  Mrs.  George  B.  IIarvt»y. 

The  bnilding  for  the  executive  and  administrative  offices  of  the  State  was 
erected  in  1S15.  It  stood  in  line  with  the  Statehouse,  fifty  or  sixty  feet  north  of 
it,  and  fronted  on  iligh  Street.  B.  Thom}>son,  who  undertook  to  lay  up  its  walls, 
died  before  his  work  was  (•omj)leted,  but  his  <*ontract  was  fulfilled  under  the  super- 
vision of  his  widow.  M.  Patton  contracted  for  the  carpenter  work,  and  Leighten- 
aker  and  Ilcyl  for  the  plastering  and  painting.  The  building  was  a  j)lain  two- 
story  brick,  one  hundred  and  fitly  feet  long  and  twentyfive  feet  deep.  From 
Martin's  de8<*ri})tion  of  it  wc  learn  thut  *it  had  a  rough  stone  foundation,  and  a 
belt  of  cut  stone  along  the  front  and  ends  at  the  height  of  the  first  story,  a  common 
comb  roof  of  joint  shingles,  and  four  front  doors,  one  toward  the  north  end  to 
enter  the  Secretary  [of  State's]  office,  two  towards  the  south  end  to  the  Au<iitor's 
office,  one  of  which,  however,  was  kept  closed  and  not  used,  and  a  large  door  in 
the  centre."  "Immediately  inside  of  tiie  centre  door,''  continues  Martin,  *'by 
turning  to  the  left  you  entered  the  Governor's  office,  or  by  turning  to  the  right  the 
Treasurer's  office,  or  by  advancing  without  turning  to  the  right  or  the  left  you 
ascende<i  on  winding  slairs  to  the  second  story,  which  wasalways  appropriated  for 
the  Static  Librar}',  but  formerly  was  used  also  lor  the  (Quartermaster  s  and  Adjutant- 
General's  offices,  and  by  times  for  other  public  offices.  The  two  front  doors  to  the 
Auditor's  office  rather  injured  the  symmetrical  appearafjce  of  the  building  from  the 

street."" 

Five  years  later,  in  1H2(»,  the  United  States,  or  "  Old  *'  Courthouse,  as  it  was 
afterwards  currently  known,  was  erected.  Fronting  on  High  Street,  it  stood  mid- 
way between  the  present  western  and  northwestern  gates  of  the  Capitol,  in  align- 
ment with  the  State  buildings,  about  sixty  feet  north  of  that  containing  the  execu- 
tive offices.  It  was  built  of  brick,  two  stories  hiirh,  on  a  rough  stone  foundation, 
and  was  surmounted  by  a  circular  green-latticed  dome  from  which  the  roof 
descended  on  four  sides  of  the  walls,  which  terminated  in  castellated  forms.  It 
was  probably,  says  Martin,  about  fortyfive  or  fortysix  feet  square.  "  The  front  had 
a  recess  entrance  about  the  size  of  a  large  portico,  but  within  the  line  of  the  front 
wall.  The  same  recess  extended  up  through  the  second  story,  thus  affording  a 
pleasant  view  of  the  street  fron^  the  second  story.  On  the  lower  floor  there  was 
a  hall  through  the  centre,  and  two  rooms  on  each  side,  one  of  which  was  used  for 
the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  United  States  Court,  one  as  an  office  for  the  mai-shal, 
and  one  as  a  jury  room.     On  the  second  story  was  the  court  room  and  one  jury 

rooni.''^ 

This  buihling  was  first  occupied  by  the  National  Courts,  removed  thither  from 
Chillicothe,  about  the  year  1H21."'  It  was  erected  under  the  immediate  supervision 
of  (Jovcrnor  lilthan  Allen  Brown,  who  is  said  to  have  been  also  its  architect.  Its 
cost  was  provided  for,  in  part,  from  uncurrent  funds  of  the  Miami  Exporting  Com- 
pany, then  in  the  treasury,  but  was  mostly  met  by  donations  from  the  citizens  ot' 
Columbus. 

Behind  the  Unitetl  States  ('ourthouse  a  long,  single-story  brick  building  was 
erected  in  1828  or  1829  for  the  county  offices.     **  It  was  divided  into  four  apart- 


<=5_ni 


•"fc     •      • 


\ 


The  First  Pitblic  RriLDiNos.  257 

ments,"  8aj8  Martin,  "with  an  outside  door  to  each.  The  north  room  was  for  the 
Clerk  of  the  Court,  the  next  one  to  it  for  the  Eecorder,  the  next  for  the  County 
TreftBurer,  and  the  fourth  or  south  one  for  the  County  Auditor."" 

The  county  offices  remained  in  this  buildinii^  until  their  removal  to  the  new 
County  Courthouse,  at  the  corner  of  High  and  Mound  Streets,  in  1840.  It  was 
demolished  at  the  grading  of  the  Capitol  Square  in  1857. 

The  primitive  condition  of  Columbus  at  the  time  the  State  buildings  were 
erected  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  fuel  used  about  that  time  in  the  Western 
Infeliigenrer  oftxcQy  and  perhaps  also  in  some  of  the  public  offices,  was  obtained  by 
chopping  down  the  forest  trees  on  High  Street.''  The  General  Assembly  was  not 
disposed  to  await,  however,  the  evolution  of  the  town.  On  the  seventeenth  of 
February,  1816,  it  passed  an  act  providing  that  from  and  aAer  the  second  Tuesday 
in  October  of  that  year  the  seat  of  government  of  the  State  should  he  established, 
and  thenceforward  continue,  "at  the  town  of  Columbus."  The  second  section  of 
this  act  reads  as  follows  : 

The  auditor,  treasurer  and  secretary  of  state  shall,  in  the  month  of  October  next,  remove 
or  cause  to  be  removed,  the  books,  maps  and  papers  in  their  respective  offices,  to  the  offices 
prepared  and  designated  for  them  severally  in  the  town  of  Columbus ;  and  the  treasurer  shall 
also  remove  any  public  money  which  may  be  in  his  office;  and  the  said  public  officers  shall 
there  attend  and  keep  their  offices  respectively  from  and  after  that  time,  any  law  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding. 

The  third  and   last  section  provided  for  payment  of  the  expenses  of  removal. 

On  December  2,  1816,  the  General  Assembly  convened  in  Columbus  for  the 
first  time.  Colonel  P.  H.  Olmsted,  writing  in  1869,  says  "the  members  generally 
came  on  horseback,  and  sent  their  horses  to  the  country  lor  the  winter.  Several 
boarded  in  Franklinton,  and  one  or  two  in  the  country.  On  the  adjournment  ot 
the  General  Assembly,  several  of  the  members  living  in  the  country  bordering  on 
the  Ohio  River  below  Portsmouth,  descended  the  Scioto  in  skills."'^ 

On  the  twentyeighth  of  January,  1817,  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act 
requesting  the  Governor  to  appoint  "one  or  more  skillful  mechanics"  to  meet  such 
persons  as  might  be  named  by  "  the  proprietors  of  the  town  of  Columbus,"  for  the 
purpose  of  "measuring,  valuing  and  assessing  the  joiner's  work  done  on  the  State- 
house  and  public  offices."  The  act  further  authorized  the  Governor,  provided  he 
could  agree  with  the  proprietors,  to  adjust  their  accounts  with  the  State  without 
the  mediation  of  a  commission,  and  to  issue  to  them  an  order  on  the  Treasurer  in 
full  payment  of  whatever  balance  should  be  found  to  bo  due  them  "over  and  above 
the  sum  they  were  bounden  by  contract  to  expend"  in  the  erection  of"  the  publico 
buildings,  offices  and  penitentiary." 

In  pursuance  of  this  act  an  amicable  settlement  was  arrived  at  by  which,  after 
a  deduction  of  six  or  seven  percent,  from  the  charges  for  carpenter  work,  a  balance 
of  thirtyfive  thousand  dollars,  over  and  above  the  fifty  thousand  dollars  required 
to  be  expended,  was  found  to  be  due,  and  was  j)ai(l  to  the  jiroprietors,  whose 
unique,  difficult  and  highly  responsible  engagements  with  the  state  were  thus  siu*.. 
cessfully  and  satisfactorily  terminated. 


17 


2r»S  History  of  tiik  City  of  (you'MniTs. 


NOTES. 

1.  An  act  inoro  particularly  "  ascertain! nj?  tlio  duties  «»f  the  l>irector  of  the  Town  of  Co- 
hiinhuH"  was  passed  January  2s,  isi:;.  as  follows: 

Sk*  .  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  j?eneral  asMMnbly  of  the  st4ite  of  Ohio,  That  the  DinM-tor 
appointed  by  the  lejjislature,  shall,  within  thirty  days  after  his  appointment,  enter  into  a 
bond,  with  Butticient  security,  payable  t^>  the  treasurer  of  this  state,  in  the  penal  sum  of  four 
thousand  dollars,  and  take  ami  subscribe  an  DUth,  faithfully  to  dinchar^re  the  duties  enjoined 
on  him  by  law,  and  shall  hold  his  oHice  to  the  end  of  the  session  of  the  next  legislature: 
Provide<l,  that  in  case  the  ollice  of  Director  aforesjiid  shall  become  vacant  by  death,  resigna- 
tion, or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the  legislature,  the  (iovernor  shall  till  the  same; 
r*rovided  also,  that  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  so  ccmstrued  as  to  exonerate  the  proprietors 
of  the  town  of  Columbus,  frcnn  any  reponsibility  of  their  original  contract. 

Skc.  2.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  Director  to  superintend  the  erection  of  the 
public  buildings  in  the  town  of  CoUnnbus,  agreeably  to  the  plans  laid  down  by  the  late 
Director  except,  in  his  opinion,  alterations  are  necessary  in  the  internal  arrangement  of  the 
said  buildings,  in  which  case  he  is  hereby  authorized  to  direct  the  same,  in  such  manner  a« 
he  shall  judge  moat  likely  to  answer  the  pur}>08e  for  which  such  buildings  are  erected  ;  and 
in  all  things  to  see  that  the  said  public  buildings  are  compos(»d,  in  all  their  parts,  of  pro}>er 
materials,  and  built  in  a  good  an«l  workmanlike  manner;  and  he  is  hereby  authorized  and 
required  to  object  to  any  materials  nf)t  of  }>roper  quality,  or  any  work  not  of  the  description 
aforementioned  ;  and  if  the  Director  shall  perform  or  cause  to  be  performed  for  his  f>wu 
private  advantage,  any  part  of  the  above  w<»rk,  ho  shall,  on  conviction  thereof,  forfeit  the 
amount  of  his  penal  Ixmd. 

Se(;.  '\.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Director,  for  the  time  being,  to  prevent  and 
abate  all  nuisances,  either  in  the  streets  or  public  squares  of  said  town,  by  digging  for  brick- 
yards, or  any  other  purpose,  and  to  presi^rve  from  trespass  all  wood  and  timber,  the  property 
of  the  state,  within  the  said  town,  an<l  to  cut  an«l  dispose  of  such  part  as  he  may  deem  proper 
for  the  use  of  the  state,  and  annually  account  for  the  proceeds  of  the  same. 

Skc.  4.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Director  to  make  a  report  of  his  proceedings, 
and  of  the  progress  made  in  the  erection  of  said  buildings,  whether  in  his  opinion  the  same 
is  composed  of  good  materials  and  built  in  a  workmanlike  manner,  to  the  next  legislature, 
within  twenty  days  after  the  ccmmiencement  of  its  session. 

Skv.  r>.  That  the  director  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  for  his  services  at  the  rate  of  six 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  for  all  the  time  he  may  be  engaged  in  discharging  the  duties  of 
his  otlice,  payable  quarter  yearly  on  the  certificate  of  the  Governor  that  the  services  have 
been  performed,  being  presented  to  the  auditor,  who  is  hereby  authorized  to  issue  bills  for 
the  siime  payable  at  the  othce  of  the  treasurer  of  the  state. 

2.  Martin's  History  says:  " The  (lOvernor  resided  in  Chillicothe,  and  some  misunder- 
standing having  arisen  between  Pike  and  him  as  to  the  terms  or  conditions  of  their  contract, 
on  the  occasion  of  one  of  his  visits  to  Columbus  Pike  had  him  arrested  on  capias  and  con- 
ducted by  a  constable  l)efore  'Squire  King,  and  the  matter  was  decided  in  Pike's  favor — per- 
haps adjusted  without  trial.*' 

:;.     Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County. 

4.  Ibid. 

5.  Judge  William  T.  Martin,  writing  in  ISvS,  said:  '* Of  those  who  assisted  in  the 
erection  of  the  old  Statehouse,  there  are  still  living  in  the  city  or  vicinity,  Jacob  Hare, 
who  kept  a  team  and  helped  to  haul  the  stone  tor  the  foundation,  Conrad  Heyl,  principal 
painter,  and  George  B.  Harvey,  who  was  employed  on  it  as  car^tenter  through  its  whole 
construction." 


The  First  Public  Buildin(js.  259 

6.  Martin.  ^ 

7.  Eilbourne's  Gazetteer. 

8.  Martin. 

9.  Ibid. 

10.  A  joint  resolution  requesting  the  Senators  and  Representative  of  Ohio  in  Congretfe  to 
use  their  best  endeavors  to  liave  a  law  passed  requiring  removal  of  the  National  Courts  from 
Chillicothe  to  Columbus  was  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  January  .30,  1818. 

11.  Martin. 

12.  Mrs.  Emily  Stewart  informs  the  author  that  the  family  of  William  Merion,  Senior, 
who  built  and  occupied  a  cabin  on  their  land  at  the  present  corner  of  High  and  Moler  Streets 
in  1810,  *•  tapped  the  sugar  maple  trees  around  the  door  and  made  all  the  sugar  they  needed 
for  the  year." 

13.  Communication  to  the  Ohio  State  Journal. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


TlIK   CAPITAL  AS  A  HOR0U(iH.     lrtlO-l?S34.     I. 

The  capital  acquirod  itK  first  corporato  exisU^nce  by  act  of  the  General  Aflsem- 
bly,  sitting  at  C'hillicotlic.     By  that  act,  passed   February  10,  1810,  a  specifically 
bounded  portion  of  **  the  Township  of  Montgomery  in  the  County  of  Franklin"  was 
**erected  into  a    town  corporate,"  to  be  thenceforth   *' known  and    distinguished 
by  the  name  of  the  borough  of  Columbus."     By  the  same  statute  it  was  made  law- 
ful for  the  qualified  electors  of  six  months'  resi<lence  to  meet  at  the  Columbus  Inn 
on  the  first  Monday  of  the  next  ensuing  Ma3^  and  choose  "  nine  suitable  persons, 
being  citizens,  freeholders  or  housekeepers,  and  citizens  of  said  town,"  to  serve  as 
its  "  mayor,  recorder  and  common  councilmen."     The  persons  so  elected  were  re- 
quired to  choose  from  their  own   number  a  mayor,  a  recorder  and  a  treasurer,  all 
of  whom  should  continue  to  act  as  members  of  the  Council,  the  Mayor  being  also 
its  President.     Thus  organized  the  board  was  made  "  a  body  corporate  and  politic," 
endowed  with   perpetual  succession,  "by  the  name  and  style  of  the  mayor  and 
council  of  the  borough  of  Columbus."     It  was  further  empowered  to  enact  laws 
and  ordinances,  levy  taxes,  erect  and  repair  public  buildings, "  receive,  possess  and 
convey  any  real  or  personal  estate  for  the  use  of  said  town  of  Columbus,"  and  to 
appoint  "an  assessor,  a  town  marshal,  a  clerk  of  the  market,  a  town  surveyor," 
and  such  other  subordinate  officers  as  might  be  deemed  necessary.     The  prepara- 
tion of  the  tax  duplicate  was  made  the  duty  of  the  Recorder,  the  collection  of  the 
taxes  that  of  the  Marshal.     The  tt^rm  of  office  of  the  councilmen  was  fixed  at  three 
years,  three  members  to  be  elected  annually,  but  the  thirds  of  the  first  board  were 
required  to  serve,  resi)ectively,  for  one- two- and  three -year  terms,  to  be  assigned 
by  lot.     Tht*  choice  of  councilmen  was  made  by  general  ticket,  on  the  first  Tuesday 
of  May  annually,  all  the  electors  of  the  town  voting  at  the  same  poll.' 

The  first  borough  election  was  held  at  the  Columbus  Inn  May  6,  181(».  The 
('Ouncil  then  chosen  met  at  the  same  place  on  the  thirteenth  of  May,  and  organized. 
Its  members,  in  the  onler  of  their  terms  of  service,  from  one  to  three  years,  as 
determined  by  lot,  were  JarvisPike,  .lohn  Cutler,  Henry  Brown,  itebert  Armstmng 
Michael  Patton,  .Ici'emiah  Armstrong. Caleb  Houston,  Robert  W,  McCo}',  and  John 
Kcirr.  Jarvis  Piki'  was  chosen  Mayor,  R.  W.  McCoy,  Recorder,  and  Robert  Arm- 
strong, Treasurer.  Daniel  Liggett  was  appointed  Assessor,  Samuel  King  Marshal, 
and  William  Long  ('lerk  of  the  Market.  After  ordering  a  purchtise  of  stationery, 
the  first  meeting  adjourned,  as  appears  by  the  minutes,  "  to  Thursday  evening  next, 
at  two  o'clo<*k  in  the  atlernoon." 


Tub  Capital  as  a  BoRoucm.     I.  261 

On  the  twentysecond  of  April,  1817,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Council  held  at  the 
house  of  John  Collett,  the  Treasurer's  accounts  for  the  first  year  of  the  Borougb 
were  rendered.  The  "  state  of  the  treasury,"  as  reported  by  John  Kerr  and  Henry 
Brown,  who  were  appointed  to  examine  the  books,  made  the  following  exhibit: 

Small  bills  in  circulation $210.83J 

Fees  due  the  Common  Council 88.50 

Due  the  Kecorder  for  stationery 14. 

Draft  due  Recorder,  paid  by  him  to  Samuel  King  for  services  as 

Marshal,  third  quarter 20. 

Five  per  cent,  to  Treasurer  for  money  received  (amount  received, 

$311.15) 15.27 

Ten  per  cent,  to  Treasurer  for  issuing  corporation  bills  amount- 
ing to  1555.75       55.57 

John  Cutler's  bill  for  stationery 2.3 U 

426.78i 
Cr. 

By  cash  in  the  hands  of  Samuel  King 165.61} 

261.17J 
Deduct  pay  due  the  Council 88.50 

172.67} 
On  motion  the  pay  due  to  the  members  was  relinquished  "  for  the  benefit  of  the 
corporation."     Christian  Heyl  was  chosen  Treasurer,  to  succeed  Jeremiah  Arm- 
strong, who  resigned.     An  ordinance  passed   by   this   Council   in  March,  1817, 
declared  the  Markethouse  on  High  Street  to  be  a  nuisance,  and  ordered  its  re- 
moval.    It  had  been  erected  by  voluntary  contributions,  and  was  never  much  used. 
During  the  latter  part  of  August,  1817,  the  capital  was  visited  for  the  first 
time  by  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  Nation.     Returning  from  a  tour  of  inspection 
*>f  the  fortifications  in  the  Northwest,  President  Monroe  and  his  retinue  arrived 
'^t    Worthington    from    Detroit,'    whence   the    party    had    journeyed    on    horse- 
back, moving  "generally  in  a  canter."     The  President  wore  an  "old-fashioned 
^hree-cornered  cocked  hat,"  but  was  otherwise  plainly  attired  in  civilian  costume. 
^liB  face  was  ruddy  from  exposure  to  the  midsummer  sun.     The  Franklin  Dra- 
goons, Captain  Vance,  escorted  him  from  Worthington  to  Columbus,  where  he  was 
^^corously  met  and  entertained  by  a  committee  of  citizens.     The  members  of  that 
^*>ramittee  were  Lucas  Sullivant,  Abner  Lord,  Thomas  Backus,  Joseph  Foos,  A.  I. 
;^4;cDowell,  Gustavus  Swan,  Ralph  Osborn,  Christian  Heyl,  Robert  W.  McCoy,  Joel 
uitlos,  Hiram  M.  Curry,  John  Kerr,  Henry  Brown  and  William  Doherty.     The 
resident  was  received  at  the  Statehouse,  where  a  neat  and  appropriate  address  of 
olcome  was  delivered  by  Hon.  Hiram  M.  Curry,  then  Treasurer  of  State.     In  his 
^*^P'y  ^^^  distinguished  traveler  and  guest  favored  with  some  graceful  compliments 
^hiG  "infant  city,"  as  he  termed  it,  from  which  he  received  these  attentions.* 

The  War  of  1812  imparted  a  great  impetus  to  business,  in  both  Columbus  and 

^ranklinton.     Troops  were  continually  passing  and   repassing,   and   there  were 

Occasions  when  a  force  of  two  or  three  thousand  men  awaited  orders  in  the  camps 

ci.1ong  the  west  bank  of  the  river.     Some  of  the  pioneers  of  the  borough  acquired 

TTieans  enough  to  pay  for  their  homes  by  the  sale  of  refreshments  to  the  passing  or 

sojourning  troops  of  the  Northwestern  Army.     The  purchases  and  disbursements 


'262  History  of  tijk  ('ity  of  Columbi:s. 

ol'  the  military  ageiitK  ot'tlie  Ciovorniuont  at  Fraiiklintoii  were  large,  and  the  de- 
mand for  all  kinds  of*  produce  active,  at  high  prices.  The  currency  was  deprecia- 
ted but  plenty,  and  nearly  every  man's  j)oeket  was  flushed.  Pork  advanced  frt>m 
SI. 50  tt)  S4.0()  per  hurnired,  flour  to  S4.0()  per  hundred,  oats  and  corn  from  flf'ly 
cents  to  one  (it)llar  j>er  bushel,  hay  from  ten  t«>  twenty  d»»llars  ])er  ton,  and  other 
articles  in  like  j)roj>ortion.*  The  ])ro])rietors  ol'  (><>Iunibus  sold  their  towiixlots 
readily  at  good  prices  usually  receiving  a  small  cash  payment  with  interest-bear- 
ing notes  lor  the  residue,  and  giving  a  bond  to  make  a  title  when  the  notes  should 
be  paid. 

Thus  things  went  on  merrily  until  the  war  closed,  when  there  came  a  reaction. 
The  disbursements  of  the  National  Government,  then  stiiggering  under  a  war  debt 
ot'eighty  millions,  suddenly  ceased,  the  last  soldier  disappeared  from  Franklinton, 
and  the  early  promise  of  that  village  was  changed  into  doleful  decay.  The  banks 
of  the  entire  country,  except  New  England,  suspende<l  specie  payment,  and  the 
currency,  then  destitute  of  national  quality,  fell  into  hopeless  confusion.  All  sorts 
of  prices  suffered  a  frightful  colla])se:  pork  declined  to  81.50  and  flour  to  SI. 25  per 
hundred,  corn  and  potatoes  io  ten  or  tw(dve  cents  per  bushel,  and  other  commodi- 
ties at  a  similai-  rate.  Real  estate  likewise  took  a  downward  plunge,  and  many  of 
the  town  lots  sold  by  the  borough  proprietors  came  back  to  them,  the  flrst  pay- 
ments being  forfeited  by  the  ])urcha.sers.  Money  became  as  .scarce  as  it  had  just 
been  plentiful,  labor  went  unemploye<l,  and  families  accustomed  to  luxury  were 
obliged  to  use  rye  coftee  and  content  themselves  with  the  coarsest  dress. 

The  crisis  culminated  in  ISIH,  but  its  financial  depression  sjud  confusion 
dragged  wearily  along  for  seven  more  years.  Of  the  Columbus  proprietors 
Alexandi4'  McJjaughlin,  onci'  considered  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  the  State, 
became  completely  bankrupt,  and  was  obliged  to  support  himself  by  teaching  a 
country  school.  I^]arly  in  the  thirties  he  died.  James  Johnston,  another  of  the 
proprietors,  failed  about  the  same  time  as  McLaughlin,  and  emigrated  to  Pittj^- 
burgh,  where  he  died  in  1H42.  John  Kerr  and  Lyne  Starling  weathered  the 
storm,  l)Ut  Kerr  died  in  1823,  leaving  a  young  family  to  inherit,  and  unfortunately 
to  lose  his  large  estate.  Starling  lived  to  the  age  of  sixty  four,  and  being  a  bache- 
lor, left  no  heirs  to  receive  or  to  squander  his  property. 

Such  was  the  depression,  owing  to  the  state  of  the  currency  and  the  failure  of 
the  proprietors,  that  the  greater  j)art  of  (he  real  estate  of  the  borough  was  thrown 
upon  the  markt^.  The  choicest  town  lots  around  thoiJapitol  Square  went  begging 
at  threi*  hundred  dollars  each.  A  great  number  of  others  were  ottered  at  forced 
sale  by  the  Sheriff  or  United  States  Marshal,  but  had  to  be  reappraised  again  and 
again,  at  lower  and  lower  values,  before  they  finally  found  takers.  Single  lots 
which  had  been  held  at  two  or  three  hundred  dollars  seven  vears  before,  were  sold 
for  ten  or  twenty,  and  some  as  low  as  even  seven  or  eight  dollars  each. 

To  add  to  the  depression  of  l)UHines8  and  price  of  j)roperty  [says  Martin]  about  the 
year  1822  or  1823,  the  title  of  Stirling's  half  section,  on  which  the  town  was  in  part  located, 
was  called  in  duestion.  It  had  originally  been  granted  to  one  Allen,  a  refugee  from  the 
British  Provinces  in  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution.  Alien  had  deeded  it  to  his  son, 
and  the  son  had  mortgaged  it,  and  it  was  .sold  at  sheritrs  sale  to  satisfy  the  mortgage,  and 
Starling  was  the  purchaser. 

It  was  now  claimed  by  the  heirs  of  Allen,  who  took  various  exceptions  to  Starling's  title. 
First  as  to  the  sale  from  the  old  man  Allen  to  his  son ;  also  to  the  authentication  of  the 


The  Capital  as  a  Borough.     I.  263 

mortgage  by  the  son,  and  particularly  to  the  sale  of  the  Sheriff  to  Starling,  on  the  ground  that 
there  was  no  evidence  that  an  appraisement  had  been  made  as  required  by  the  statutes  of 
Ohio,  and  suit  was  brought  by  ejectment  against  some  of  the  occupants  who  owned  the  most 
valuable  improvements,  first  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  and  then  in  the  United  States 
Court  for  the  District  of  Ohio. 

Mr.  Starling  defended  the  suits,  and  first  engaged  Henry  Clay,  who  then  practiced  in  the 
United  States  Courts  at  Columbus,  as  attorney.  But  owing  to  his  appointment  as  Secretary 
of  State,  he  was  called  to  Washington  City,  and  gave  up  the  case,  and  Henry  Baldwin,  then 
of  Pittsburgh,  was  next  engaged,  who  conducted  the  defense  with  great  ability,  and  about  the 
year  1826,  it  was  finally  decided  in  favor  of  Starling's  title.  So  the  matter  was  put  to  rest  as 
to  that  half  section. 

The  suit  against  Starling's  half  section  was  scarcely  decided,  when  a  claim  was  set  up 
against  Kerr  and  McLaughlin's  half  section.  They  had  bought  from  one  Strawbridge,  who 
conveyed  by  an  attorney  or  agent,  and  the  deed  ran  thus :  That  the  agent  conveyed  for 

Strawbridge,  instead  of  Strawbridge  conveying  hy  agent,  and  was  so  signed ;  *'  J M 

(the  agent),  (seal),  attorney  in  fact  for  Strawbridge." 

Thus  the  defect  in  Kerr  and  McLaughlin's  title  was  merely  technical.  But  it  was  con- 
tended that  this  was  not  Strawbridge's  deed,  but  the  deed  of  the  agent  who  claimed  no  title. 
And  about  the  year  1826,  a  quitclaim  was  obtained  from  Strawbridge's  heirs,  by  some  man 
purporting  to  be  a  New  Yorker,  upon  which  a  suit  was  brought  in  ejectment,  as  in  the  other 
cases,  against  one  or  more  of  the  occupants  of  the  most  valuable  lots.  By  a  suit  in  chancery 
to  quiet  title,  about  the  year  1827,  this  was  all  set  right,  and  the  title  of  Kerr  and  McLaughlin 
sustained.* 

The  gratification  of  the  people  of  the  borough  at  the  outcome  of  these  suits 

Has  proportionate  to  the  extreme  anxiety  and  suspense  which  they  had  occasioned. 

Accordingly,  when  Mr.  Starling  won  his  case,  a  grand  jollification  was  held  at  the 

-National  Hotel,  which  was  the  next  lineal  predecessor  of  the  present  Neil  House, 

^nd  it  80  happened,  says  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant  in  his  biography  of  Starling,  that 

thii    ^rand  proprietor,  his  lawyers  and  several  friends,  had  tarried  too  long  over 

the   wine  and  were  all  put  to  bed  in  one  large   room.     At   a  later  hour   it  was 

Qetei-rmined  to  give  thera  a  serenade,  as  expressive  of  the  general  joy  produced  by 

^^e  ocicasion.     Accordingly  John  Young,  the  proprietor  of  the  Eagle  Coffeehouse, 

and  ^    warm  admirer  of  Mr.  Starling,  with  great  exertion  gathered  a  strong  orches- 

^'•a  o^  drums,  fifes,  fiddles,  clarionets  and  horns,  and  proceeded  to  the  hotel.     But 

^®  S»^eat  prelude,  more  remarkable  for  noise  and  vigor  than  music  or  harmony, 

^ucJil  ^  niy  aroused  the  sleepers,  and  they  arose  in  haste  to  ascertain  the  cause.     Mr. 

'Uirl  i  ^g  ^as  very  tall,  six  feet  six  inches  in  height,  but  easy  and  flexible  in  move- 

^^^*-«       In  the  room  with  him  was  John  Bailhache,  quite  a  small  man,  once  editor 

^■^  ^   Ohio   State  Journal.     Somehow,  in  the  darkness  and  confusion    of  ideas, 

I     ***i  Bg  managed  to  thrust  himself  into  Bailhache's  breeches,  with  his  feet  and 

^®    ^* ticking  out  nearly  a  yard  below,  and  the  little  editor,  minus  his  own  gar- 

^^'^^j  got  into  Starling's  high  boots  and  longtailed  coat,  which  covered  him  all 


«ind  still  dragged  behind  like  a  fashionable  lady's  train  of  the  present  day. 

^^"^8  were  desperately  struggling  to  force  their  nether  extremities  through  the 

.    ^"^^  ^8  of  their  coats,  and  all  were  sweating  and  swearing  when  they  were  found 

^^  ^  8  ludicrous  guise,  and  informed  that  the  crowd  awaited  their  presence  and 

"^  C)wledgraent  of  the  unusual  honor  of  a  serenade." 

Ihe  domestic  life  of  the  borough  period  reflects  better  than  anything  else  the 
^^    <jondition  of  the  people  at  that  time.     Let  us  take  some  glimpses  into  their 


2tU  lIlSTOKY    OF    TIIK    CiTV    OK    CoU'Mltl'S. 

homos,  tor  horc  wc  j)orceive,  as  iiowlu>re  else,  what  they  enjoyed,  what  they 
endured,  Jin<i  how  they  lived.  Thi^  followin<r  ehurniiiig  pictures  of  the  typical 
homo  and  housewife  of  the  bt)rou^h  arc  drawn  by  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Emily  Stewart, 
/^/vMerion,  the  su])jeet  of  whose  sketch  is  the  pioneer  life  of  William  Morion,  »Senior, 
who  built  a  cabin  and  settli'd  on  his  land  at  the  present  corner  of  High  and  Molcr 
streets  in  the  autumn  of  ISIO.  Referring  to  Mrs.  Mcrion,  nrr  Sallio  Voris,*  Mrs. 
Stewart  writes: 

t)very  one  who  worked  un  a  farm  at  that  time  expei.^te<l  to  be  boarde«i  and  lo<lged.  The 
school  teacher  hoarded  around.  There  were  no  cooking  stoves,  sew injr,  knitting  or  washing 
machines,  and  even  the  i»lain  washboard  was  not  used  here  until  about  ISMO.  It  is  evident 
that  managing  the  housekec'ping  department  of  this  family  was  no  small  matter.  Every 
garment  worn  by  the  family  was  made  from  the  raw  material.  Tlie  flax  had  to  be  spun» 
woven,  bleached  and  made  into  garments.  The  table  linen,  toweling,  bedding,  and  even  the 
ticking  and  sewing  thread  were  hand-made.  The  wool  of  a  hundred  sheep  was  brought  in  at 
shearing  time.  Mrs.  Merion  liad  it  washed,  ])icked,  carded  (in  early  times  by  hand  cards), 
spun,  scoure<l,  dyed,  woven  and  made  into  flannel,  jeans,  linsej',  blankets,  coverlets  and 
stocking  yarn.  Then  it  had  to  l>e  made  into  clothing.  The  men's  clothing  was  all  home- 
made ;  even  their  suspenders  were  knitted.  Kacli  member  of  the  family  ha<l  two  suits  through- 
out, two  pairs  of  stockings,  and  one  pair  uf  mittens  to  commence  the  winter  with.  Tlie  floors 
were  covered  with  beautiful  carpets,  not  nig,  but  all  wool,  of  the  brightest  colors  of  her  own 
dyeing.  The  milk  of  fifteen  to  twenty  cows  was  brought  in  twice  a  day,  to  be  turned  into 
butter  and  cheese.     ... 

It  is  impossible  to  do  justice  to  the  cooking  of  those  days.  Turkeys,  geese,  ducks, 
chickens,  spareribs,  beef  roast,  whole  pi'4s,etc.,  were  hung  by  twine  cords  which  were  fastened 
to  hooks  in  the  mantel,  and  roasted  bi'fore  the  wood  fire.  Chickens,  quail,  squirrels,  an<l 
tenderloin  were  first  dipped  in  melte<l  butter  and  broiled  on  the  gridiron  over  wood  coals. 
The  eorn  pone  that  w-as  haked  in  the  I>utch  oven  all  night,  and  was  hot  for  breakfast,  was 
matched  by  johnnycakes  baked  on  a  board  before  the  fire,  and  chicken  pies  with  not  less 
than  three  and  sometimes  five  fat  chickens  in  one  pie.  The  boiled  dinner  consisted  of  liam 
or  shoulder,  a  bag  holding  not  less  than  three  tpiarts  being  tilled  with  meat,  vegetables  and 
pudding  batter  which  were  all  boiled  together.  Tlie  pudding  sauce  was  sweet,  thick  cream 
and  sugar,  or  maple  syrup.  The  brick  oven,  which  held  four  pans  of  bread  and  twelve  pies, 
was  heated  every  day  in  summer,  and  twice  a  week  in  winter.  Fruit  in  its  season  was  pared 
and  dried  in  the  sun.  Canning  was  unknown.  Tomatoes,  of  which  a  few  plants  were 
placed  in  the  flower  beds,  were  purely  ornamental  and  were  called  Jerusalem  apples.  Soda, 
then  known  as  pearl  ash,  was  not  to  be  had.  Mrs.  Merion  made  it  by  leaching  hickory 
iushes,  boiling  the  lye  into  potash,  and  putting  it  in  an  earthen  vessel,  and  baking  it  in  the 
bri(;k  oven,  until  it  dried  and  wliitened.  With  this  and  buttermilk  she  maile  delicious  bis- 
cuit, hatter  cakes  and  corn  bread.  Her  table  linen  was  of  the  whitest,  her  china  always 
polished,  and  her  table  butter  always  stamped,  in  early  times  with  four  hearts,  later  with 
hanging  pears.  She  was  like  the  woman  described.by  Solomon :  **  She  seeketh  w*ool  and  (lax 
and  worketii  willingly  with  her  hands.  She  layeth  her  hands  to  the  spindle,  and  her  hands 
hoM  the  distati'." 

She  raised  her  family  without  nerves.  They  never  heard  of  nervousness  while  under 
her  car5.  She  was  without  fear.  Returning  from  Frankljnton  in  1H14,  alone  on  horseback, 
she  was  overtaken  by  darkness  while  crossing  the  river  at  the  old  ford,  near  the  present 
lower  bridge  of  the  Hocking  Valley  Railway.  A  gang  of  wolves  took  after  her  and  chased 
her  nearly  to  her  own  door.  When  asked  whether  or  not  she  was  frightened,  she  said,  **  I  am 
a  good  rider,  and  was  on  a  horse  which  nothing  could  overtake.     What  bad  I  to  be  afraid  of?'* 

The  pioneer's  wife  had  no  time  to  improve  her  mind.  All  her  time  was  spent  in  work. 
The  long  winter  evenings  were  occupied  with  sewing,  knitting  or  spinning  on  the  little  wheel. 
The  family  reading  was  the  Bible,  Life  of  Josephus,  History  of  the  United  States,  French 


t    • 
*  » 


•  : »    • 


The  Capital  A8  a  Borough.     1.  265 

Revolution,  Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  the  weekly  paper.  The  mail  came  once  a  month 
in  early  times,  and  the  postage,  which  was  not  prepaid,  was  twentyfive  cents  on  each  letter. 
Mrs.  Merion  liked  to  have  some  one  read  aloud  in  the  evenings,  but  they  had  no  lights  except 
a  large  lamp' or  a  homemade  tallow-dip  candle.''  There  was  a  standing  offer  in  her  family  of 
five  dollars  to  any  one  of  her  children  that  would  read  the  Bible  through  aloud  to  the 
family.  There  were  several  that  read  one  dollar's  worth.  Nathaniel  read  the  Old  Testament 
.but  did  not  get  into  the  New.  His  mother  was  so  pleased,  however,  that  she  paid  him  in 
full. 

The  story  of  another  matron's  life  in  the  borough  shall  here  be  presented.  It 
is  told  in  her  lettera  to  her  parents,  brothers  and  sisters  —  a  package  of  precious 
mementoes  kindly  submitted  to  the  inspection  of  the  author  by  her  surviving  son. 
In  the  summer  of  1817  the  writer  of  these  letters  and  her  husband  quitted  their 
home  at  Easton,  Pennsylvania,  and  journeyed  westward,  resolved  to  try  their  for- 
tunes at  the  frontier  town  of  Columbus.  The  young  emigrants,  then  newly- wedded, 
were  not  favored  with  an  abundance  of  means,  but  were  vigorous,  eager  and  hope- 
ful. After  a  fatiguing  and  somewhat  adventurous  journey  across  the  Alleghanies 
and  through  the  still  meagerly  settled  forests  west  of  the  Ohio,  they  arrived  at 
their  destination  early  in  August.  At  the  price  of  one  thousand  dollars  they 
bought  of  Ilenry  Brown,  afterwards  Treasurer  of  State,  a  town  lot,  now,  in  part, 
the  site  of  one  of  the  principal  business  blocks  of  the  city.  They  were  to  pay  for 
it,  besides  a  gold  watch  worth  two  hundred  dollars,  given  in  exchange,  two  hun- 
dred dollars  in  cash,  four  hundred  April  1,  1819,  and  two  hundred  April  1,  1820. 
The  lot  was  located  on  West  Broad  Street,  north  side,  a  few  rods  west  of  High.  On 
this  ground  the  purchaser,  who  was  a  carpenter,  erected  with  his  own  hands  a 
plain,  wooden  dwelling.  He  and  his  young  wife  immediately  reported  to  their 
eastern  friends  the  enterprise  which  they  had  undertaken,  and  in  response  were 
sharpl}'  admonished  that  they  had  better  not  buy  any  more  town  lots,  at  least  not 
at  such  prices.  The  investment  doubtless  seemed  adventurous  at  the  time,  and  so 
indeed  it  proved  to  be.  To  be  prepared  to  make  the  deferred  payments  when  they 
should  fall  due,  and  to  fit  up  their  little  home  comfortably,  was  the  serious  Uisk  to 
which  the  young  carpenter  and  his  wife  addressed  themselves,  and  it  was  a  task 
which  they  did  not  fulfil  without  a  most  determined  and  difficult  struggle. 

The  letters  to  which  reference  has  been  made  tell  more  impressively  than  can 
otherwise  be  told  the  pathetic  story  of  this  brave  endeavor  to  found  a  home  in 
primitive  Columbus.  They  also  contain  many  valuable  historical  facts  fully  justi- 
^y'^iig  the  liberal  extracts  from  them  which  will  now  be  made.  The  author  of  the 
letters  was  Mrs.  Betsy  Green  Deshler,  anri  her  husband  was  David  W.  Deshler, 
afterwards  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  wealthy  citizens  of  the  capital. 

That  Mrs.  Deshler  was  a  woman  of  uncommon  intelligence  and  natural  beauty 
of  character  is  attested  by  every  line  she  wrote.  Judging  her  by  these  unaffected, 
unconstrained  messages,  than  which  there  could  be  no  truer  reflex  of  her  mind 
and  character,  she  must  have  been  a  wife  and  mother  of  the  noblest  type.  She 
was  also  an  impersonation  of  modest,  practical  good  sense.  Without  self-assertion 
she  narrates  in  the  simplest  way  her  own  and  her  husband's  experiences  —  their 
plans, hopes,  difficulties  and  disappointments. 

On  the  fourteenth  of  August,  1817,  Mrs.  Deshler  writes  to  her  parents  : 

We  have  purchased  and  hauled  1500  bricks  for  our  chimney  at  $4.50  per  thousand  at  the 
kiln,  and  have  engaged  a  frame  twenty  six  feet  front,  eighteen  deep,  one  story  ten  feet  be- 


2t)6  History  of  the  City  ok  Coli'mhus. 

tween  the  joit'e,  which  is  to  l)e  completed  and  raised  for  fifty  dollars.  We  intend  netting  our 
building:  thirtytivo  feet  back,  fronting  towards  the  street,  and  dividing  it  into  a  room  and 
kitchen,  with  chinniey  in  the  centre  so  as  to  have  a  fireplace  in  both.  The  kitchen  will  be 
eleven  by  eighteen,  the  room  fifteen  by  eighteen  incliidin;r  walls,  chimney,  <fec.,— small,  but 
plenty  huire  enough  for  us  and  re<iuiring  less  furniture.  As  soon  as  the  house  is  done  we 
intend  buihling  a  shop  about  the  same  size,  an<l  placin;:  it  in  front,  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
lot.  Both  will  coHt  us  about  four  hundred  dollars  exclusive  of  the  carpent^ir  work.  .  .  . 
The  iH^rson  who  owns  the  next  half  lot  has  offered  us  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  C4ish  for 
five  feet,  but  we  do  not  intend  selling  it  as  long  as  we  can  possibly  hold  it.  I  am  in  hopes  by 
industry  and  economy  we  will  be  able  to  keep  it.    In  a  few  years  it  will  be  very  valuable. 

October  2,  1817,  to  her  brother: 

PiVerything  is  cheap  and  plenty  except  salt  and  coffee,  and  a  few  other  grocery  article^^ 
which  come  liigli,  owing  to  the  distance  they  are  transported,  which  is  from  Philadelphia  or 
Baltimore.  Sugar  is  cheaper  here  than  at  Easton  ;  we  can  get  it  in  the  spring  of  the  year  for 
\2i  cents  per  pound,  owing  to  its  bein^j  the  pro<luction  of  our  own  state.  Salt  will  come  lower 
in  a  short  time,  as  there  are  many  saltworks  in  this  part  of  the  country,  an<l  some  near 
Columbus.  We  can't  boast  of  as  nianv  luxuries  as  vou  (;an,  but  we  have  some  which  vou 
have  not;  one  in  particular  is  peaches.  Such  fruit  I  never  saw  before.  One  of  the  neighbors 
sent  me  in  a  basketful,  several  of  which  meajaured  a  full  quarter  of  a  yard  in  circumference. 
I  have  not  seen  any  pears  this  fall,  or  any  plums  except  wild  ones,  which  we  have  in  great 
abundance.*'  Venison  is  sold  here  at  fourshillings  *  for  a  whole  deer,  and  turkeys  for  twenty- 
five  cents.  Babbits,  pigeons  and  all  kinds  of  game  are  very  cheap.  Tliey  are  brought  here. 
})articularly  venison,  by  the  Indians,  who  live  not  far  olf.  I  wished  for  Lydia  the  other  <lay, 
as  1  ha<l  a  deliglitful  boiled  salmon  for  dinner,  which  was  caught  in  the  Scioto.  [This  prob- 
ably refers  to  a  large  lish  with  tlesh  of  a  red  color,  locally  known  as  **  red  iior84'."  No  salmon 
have  ever  been  taken  in  the  Scioto.]  I  suppose*  it  weighed  between  four  and  five  pounds. 
That,  with  a  lish  called  the  bass,  not  (juite  so  large,  snld  for  twentyfive  cents.  We  have  no 
shad  in  this  part  of  the  country,  but  we  have  other  kinds  of  fish  which  are  caught  at  l^ke 
P>ie  and  sent  here  salted  up  in  barrels. 

I  have  very  good  neighbors.  People  here  are  remarkably  kind  to  strangers.  Several  of 
the  neighbor  women  have  told  me  to  come  and  get  any  kind  of  vegetables  out  of  their  gar- 
dens. There  is  a  little  boy  who  brings  me  cream  every  morning  for  breakfast.  .  .  .  Our 
house  is  getting  along  very  well.  .  .  .  All  the  dry  boards  made  use  of  here  are  kiln-dried, 
as  no  board  j-ard  is  kept  here. 

We  sold  our  horse  an<l  wagon  for  more  than  they  cost  us.  The  horse  we  traded  to  a 
man  for  the  plastering  of  cmr  house,  which  is  the  siime  as  cash.  .  .  .  Wood  sells  as  it  did  at 
F!)aston  many  years  ago,  for  a  dollar  a  load,  or  a  dollar  and  a  cjuarter  for  a  cord,  piled  up  at 
your  house. 

DeccmlK'-r  1,  Is  17,  to  hoi*  titthcr: 

We  shall  occupy  but  one  room  this  winter,  as  David  must  make  use  of  the  other  as  a 
shop.  Our  house  is  not  large,  but  it  is  very  neat  and  convenient.  .  .  .  We  took  a  great  deal 
of  i>ains  to  <liscover  the  prices  of  other  lots,  and  when  we  compared  the  different  situations  ami 
prices  we  found  ours  quite  reasonable.  Property  all  sells  very  high  in  Columbus;  the  lot  on 
the  corner  opposite  ours  was  soM  for  eighteen  hundred  dollars  and  the  owner  has  since  been 
offered  twentyfive  hun<ired.  which  he  tliought  proper  to  refuse,  knowing  that  in  a  short  time 
it  would  be  worth  considerable  more.  You  observe  that  it  would  be  best  for  us  not  to  buy 
any  more  lots.     You  need  not  be  the  least  apprehensive,  as  we  are  now  using  every  exertion 


NoTK—  •  Thf  valin'  of  thi*  shilliiiK  was  oiiesixth  of  a  •l(»llar.  The  most  comiuou  of  the  silver  pleoe«  was 
tlio  York  shilling,  worth  twelvi.*  and  one  half  (vnts,  or  eight  per  dollnr,  and  known  aliK>  m  a  "  bit"  or  **  levy;*' 
and  the  "  tip/'  or  half  shilling,  worth  ti\x  and  a  ({uartor  ceuti<.  In  the  Southern  States  the  tip  was  called  a  pic- 
Jiyune.    It  was  the  smallest  silver  coin  then  used. 


The  Capital  as  a  Boboucjh.     I.  267 

to  pay  for  that  we  have  bought  before  we  put  ourselves  any  more  in  debt.  .  .  .  We  rise  every 
morning  and  have  breakfast  by  candle-light,  and  then  work  industriously  all  day.    .     .    . 

Oak,  ash,  walnut  and  cherry  are  the  only  kinds  of  boards  ma^ie  use  of  in  this  country, 
and  they  all  sell  for  nearly  the  same  price,  viz,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  dollars  per  thou- 
sand ;  kiln-dried,  six  dollars  per  thousand  more.     .     .     . 

Carpenters  do  their  work  by  the  piece ;  journeymen's  wages  one  dollar  per  day  and 
found  ;  bricklayers,  four  dollars  per  thousand,  including  lime,  sand  and  tenders.  I^nd 
unimproved  from  a  dollar  and  a  half  to  four  dollars  per  acre ;  improved  from  eight  to 
sixteen  dollars.  Twothirds  of  the  land  in  this  section  of  the  country  will  average  thirty 
bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre.  The  risk  of  transportation  to  New  Orleans  exceeds  the  ex- 
pense of  carriage.  The  market  for  western  produce,  in  two  or  three  years,  will  be  New 
York  by  the  way  of  Lower  Sandusky  aud  Lake  Erie.  Spinning  wheels  are  <lull  sale  on 
account  of  the  scarcity  of  flax.  .  .  .  The  Sandusky  countrj^  [Indian  reservation]  compos- 
ing onethird  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  will  either  be  sold  or  located  next  year  by  the  IJnited 
States  Government. 

January  31,  1818,  to  her  brother: 

We  have  but  one  meetinghouse  here,  and  that  a  Methodist,  as  onethinl  of  the  in- 
liabitanta  are  of  that  denomination,  but  there  is  one  on  the  other  side  of  the  S<Moto,  about 
a  mile  from  Columbus,  which  belongs  to  the  Presbyterians.  We  [the  Presbyterians]  have 
meeting  very  often  this  winter  in  the  Statehouse,  which  is  a  very  large  and  commodious 
building  for  that  jmrpose. 

March  26,  1818,  to  her  sister  : 

I  have  most  excellent  neighbors.  They  are  as  kind  to  me  as  jKJOple  can  possibly  be. 
Our  nearest  neighbor  but  one  is  the  family  of  the  Auditor  of  the  State.  They  are  very  kind. 
Mr.  Osborn,  for  that  is  the  gentleman's  name  whose  family  I  have  just  mentioned,  when  we 
laid  up  our  pork  came  over  and  cut  it  up,  showed  us  how  to  salt  it,  and  is  now  smoking  it  in 
his  smokehouse.     .     .     . 

The  people,  as  a  mark  of  attention  when  a  stranger  moves  into  the  neighborhood,  send 
them  a  dish  of  something  that  they  think  would  be  acceptable.  .  .  .  Our  nearest  neighbors 
[a  family  named  Mills]  are  from  Vermont,  conse(|uently  Yankees.  They  sent  me  a  fine  mess 
of  stewed  pumpkin,  their  favorite  dish.  Our  next  neighbors  are  Virginians.  You  must 
know  that  they  are  extremely  fond  of  anything  made  of  corn,  and  as  a  mark  of  attention  they 
sent  me  a  dish  of  hominy.    The  next,  a  German  family,  sent  a  dish  of  sourcrout. 

June  20,  1818,  to  her  brother : 

We  have  a  very  neat  house,  and  furniture  good  and  plain,  with  a  handsome  green  yard 
l>efore  the  door,  and  i)lanted  with  trees,  rosebushes,  currant  bushes,  raspberry  bushes  or 
vines,  morning  glories,  and  I  know  not  what  all.     .     .     . 

The  best  wheat  flour  sells  here  for  $2.50  per  hundred,  butter,  by  thousands,  at  twelve 
and  a  half  cents,  eggs  at  six  and  seven  cents  per  dozen,  and  beef,  uncommonly  high,  at  six 
and  seven  cents  per  pound.  At  the  last  session  a  law  was  passed  for  the  incorporation  of 
Columbus,  and  since  then  we  have  our  regular  market  days  and  hours. 

August  20, 1S18  ;  writes  to  her  brother  that  she  had  been  very  sick,  and  not  ex- 
pected tx)  live.  The  physicians  treated  the  disease  chiefly  with  laudanum.  Her 
husband  had  formed  a  partnership,  and  obtained  a  contract  for  work  at  the  State- 
house  by  which  he  hoped  to  make  enough  to  meet  his  first  payment  and  put  up  a 
shop.     The  letter  continues  : 

We  have  at  length  got  a  meeting-house  up,  and  the  seats  have  been  sold  out  to  defray 
the  expence  of  building.  We  have  bought  one,  the  price  of  which  was  thirtyseven  and  a 
half  centfl.  .  .  .  The  Presbyterian  congregation  of  the  place,  is  very  large.  Almost  every 
respectable  family  of  the  town  belongs  to  the  meeting. 


268  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

February  3,  1820,  to  her  father: 

David  works  every  day,  and  for  the  last  five  months  has  not  got  one  dollar  in  money. 
.  .  .  All  the  work  that  is  done  in  Columbus  is  for  trade,  trade,  and  no  money.  It  makes 
it  difficult  to  get  along.    ... 

Produce  of  every  kind  has  become  low ;  beef  three  dollars,  pork  ditto,  butter  twelve  and 
a  half  cents  per  pound,  venison  fifty  cents  per  saddle,  and  all  else  in  proportion.  Yet  it  is 
more  difficult  to  get  cook  thitigs,  as  some  of  the  neighbors  used  to  say,  than  it  was  when  they 
were  higher.  Groceries  are  high ;  coffee  62}  cents  per  pound,  tea  $2.25.  Sugar  we  make 
ourselves,  but  loaf  sugar  is  fiftysiz  cents  per  pound.  Salt  we  get  by  weight,  three  dollars  for 
fifty  pounds.     Drygoods  are  low  in  proportion  to  other  things. 

April  7,  1820: 

Produce  of  every  kind  is  very  low  here,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  money.  ...  I  be- 
lieve the  price  [of  freight  from  Philadelphia]  is  reduced  to  ten  dollars  per  hundred  weight. 

September  10,  1820 : 

In  the  spring  David  had  considerable  business,  but  for  some  time  past  he  can't  get  a 
dollar's  worth  of  work  to  do,  and  not  only  he  but  all  other  mechanics  in  town  are  in  the 
same  condition.  .  .  .  Many  families  have  gone  to  the  Wabash.  .  .  .  There  are  but  three 
stores  in  town  that  do  any  business  worth  mentioning;  formerly  there  were  ten  or  twelve 
large  stores.  Owing  to  the  depreciation  of  paper  money,  and  the  scarcity  of  specie,  merchants 
cannot  collect  their  debts,  and  therefore  cannot  replenish  their  stores.  The  few  that  can 
continue  to  keep  an  assortment  say  they  are  making  money  faster  than  ever  they  did  since 
the  war. 

Produce  of  every  kind  sells  low;  wheat  fifty  cents  per  bushel,  rye  forty,  corn  12},  oats 
12^,  barley  62}  (its  being  used  instead  of  cofi*ee  enhances  its  price  somewhat),  butter  from 
eight  to  twelve  cents  per  pound,  chickens  eight  cents  apiece,  beef  four  cents,  veal  four  cents, 
pork  two  and  a  half  cents  pigeons  from  IH'i  to  twenty  five  cents  per  dozen,  eggs  6|^  cents, 
apples  fifty  cents  per  bushel,  peaches  fifty  cents.  All  are  plenty  and  very  good,  but  it  is 
more  difficult  to  get  the  articles  mentioned  than  when  they  bore  a  high  price,  even  double 
what  they  now  bear.  Tea  and  coflfee  we  scarcely  pretend  to  think  of,  much  less  taste. 
When  the  coffee  ran  out  we  drank  rye,  and  instead  of  tea,  hot  water. 

m 

December  25,  1820,  to  hor  sister : 

[Business  still  stagnant  and  labor  unemployed.  Mr.  D.  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  get 
a  contract  to  make  shelves  for  the  State  Library,  his  first  cash  job  for  over  ten  months.' 
The  first  payment  on  his  lot  coming  due,  he  had  no  funds  with  which  to  meet  it,  but 
managed  to  arrange  for  it.] 

February  14,  1821,  to  her  brother  : 

Columbus  has  been  very  lively  this  winter.  The  Legislature  sat  two  months,  and  the 
Circuit  Court  sat  here  at  the  same  time.  Besides,  we  had  most  excellent  sleighing  nearly  all 
winter.    The  Courthouse  is  to  be  placed  on  the  Public  Square,  near  our  lot. 

We  have  had  a  number  of  conspicuous  characters  in  Columbus  this  winter,  among 
whom  were  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  a  very  genteel  man  in  his  appearance,  but  very  plain, 
indeed.  Tell  father  I  always  thought  he  was  plain  in  his  dress,  but  Mr.  Clay  is  much  plainer. 
If  you  recollect  Uncle  Ben's  old-fashioned  drab-colored  cloth  coat,  with  the  buttons  as  big  as 
a  dollar,  you  will  have  some  idea  of  Mr.  Clay's  coat  which  he  wore  all  the  time  he  was  here.*^ 

With  the  financial  crisiH  of  1819,  and  tho  industrial  and  business  depression 
which  followed,  a  scourge  of  malarial  dinease  prevailed  in  Central  Ohio.  During 
the  spring  and  summer  months  the  undrained  forests  of  that  region,  with  their  rank 
growth  and  decay  of  vegetable  matter,  exhaled  miasma,  and  filled  the  atmosphere 
with  poison.     In  January,  1819,  Mrs.  Deshler  lost  her  firstborn  infant,  a  daughter, 


The  Capital  ab  a  Borouoh.     1.  209 

after  a  brief  illness  with  inflammatory  fever.  From  that  time  forward  her  letters 
make  frequent  mention  of  the  miasmatic  and  febrile  diseases  with  which  herself,  her 
husband,  the  borough  and  the  country  settlements  round  about  were  almost  con- 
stantly afflicted:  Kising  from  a  prolonged  and  nearly  fatal  attack  of  the  prevailing 
fever,  her  convalescence  was  just  in  time  to  enable  her  to  nurse  her  sick  husband 
whose  life,  for  a  time  despaired  of,  was  preserved  by  her  faithful  attentions.  To  such 
distresses  were  added,  not  for  this  particular  family  only,  but  for  scores  of  others, 
indeed  for  the  entire  community,  the  gloom  and  discouragement  of  almost  hopeless 
debt  arising  fmm  the  currency  derangement  and  consequent  industrial  stagnation 
of  the  country.  The  following  additional  extracts  from  Mrs.  Deshler's  letters  will 
convey  some  idea  of  the  general  condition  of  things  which  then  prevailed : 

May  17,  1821, to  her  father: 

We  have  had  a  remarkably  cold  and  backward  spring;  things  in  the  garden  are  but 
barely  up.  On  the  seventeenth  of  April  a  snow  fell  several  inches  deep,  and  as  yet  we  have 
not  had  more  than  two  warm  days  in  succession.  Almost  everybody  here  has  been  sick, 
owing  to  the  disagreeable  weather. 

September,  1,  1821,  to  her  mother: 

We  have  had  nothing  but  sickness  and  trouble  in  our  family  since  June.  .  .  .  David  was 
taken  with  the  bilious  fever  on  the  first  of  July,  and  was  confined  to  bed  for  nearly  seven 
weeks,  and  part  of  the  time  entirely  deranged.  Without  help,  I  took  care  of  him  fourteen 
nights  in  succession.  .  .  .  There  has  been,  this  season,  considerable  sickness  in  Columbus, 
but  none  to  compare  with  that  in  the  country.  .  .  .  There  is  not  enough  business  for  onehalf 
of  the  people  who  are  well  enough  to  work. 

October  20,  1821,  to  her  brother : 

It  is,  and  has  been,  more  unhealthy  this  season  than  for  many  years.  ...  The  most  that 
appears  to  occupy  the  minds  of  the  people  this  year  is  sickness,  taking  care  of  the  sick,  going 
to  funerals,  and  hard  times.  There  is  no  business,  and  any  one  who  can  keep  what  he  has 
does  well,  without  adding  "  a  mite  to  the  morsel." 

March  15,  1822,  to  her  sister : 

Very  dull  times  in  Columbus.  But  one  building  going  up  next  summer  that  we  can  hear 
of.  Produce  of  every  kind  sells  for  little  or  nothing.  The  first  tire  of  any  consequence  that 
ever  took  place  in  this  town  happened  a  few  weeks  since.  Eight  buildings  were  consumed. 
They  were  all  small  shops  except  one,  a  small  dwelling  house. 

May  28, 1822,  to  her  brother  : 

Business  of  all  kinds  is  very  dull  and  produce  very  low;  flour  $1.25  per  cwt.,  corn  12h 
events,  bacon  4  cents,  butter  from  6  to  8  cents,  eggs  3  and  4  cents,  chickens  5  and  t>  cents 
«ipiece,  feathers  25  cents  per  pound,  wool  50  cents,  flax  8  cents  per  pouna,  country  linen  20, 
25  and  37  cents  per  yard,  domestic  molasses  (for  such  is  all  we  have)  50  cents  per 
99illon.  We  laid  in  our  sugar  in  time  of  sugar-making  for  six  cents  per  pound,  but  now, 
<:kwing  to  the  badness  of  the  season,  it  brings  eiglit  cents  per  pound  cash. 

September  29,  1822,  to  her  brother: 

There  has  been  much  more  sickness  this  season  than  has  ever  been  known  since  the  settle- 
ment of  Franklin  County.  Our  burying  ground  has  averaged  ten  new  graves  per  week,  for  a 
number  of  weeks  past.  .  .  .  The  most  healthy,  robust  and  vigorous  persons  are  liable  to  be  taken 
off  with  bilious  fever,  the  prevailing  sickness  of  the  western  country,  and  you  would  be  as- 
tonished to  see  the  anxiety  of  the  people  in  settling  up  their  worldly  business  before  the 
sickly  season  commences.    None  feel  safe,  not  one ;  for  in  three  or  four  days,  from  perfect 


270  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

health,  many  of  our  euterpritiing,  useful  and  beloved  citizens  are  laid  in  the  grave,  and  many, 
many  are  the  orphans  and  widows  that  our  town  presents.  .  .  .  Mr.  Deshler  has  not  in 
eighteen  months  received  twenty  dollars  in  cash  for  his  work.  We  can  get  produce  of  every 
kind  for  work,  but  more  than  what  we  can  eat  must  be  thrown  away,  for  it  cannot  be  sold, 
and  produce  will  not  buy  store  goods,  except  a  few  articles  such  as  whisky,  feathers,  beeswax 
and  wool,  and  these  the  country  people  keep  for  themselves.     .     .     . 

Prices  of  provisions  are  low  ;  wheat  25  cents,  corn  12J^  cents,  oats  14  cents,  pork  $2  per 
cwt.,  beef  $3  per  cwt.,  butter  6  to  8  cents,  eggs  4  cents,  chickens  4  and  5  cents  apiece,  honey  in  the 
comb  8  cents,  lard  (>  cents,  tallow  S  cents,  sweet  potatoes  75  cents,  potatoes  I8\  to  25  cents, 
apples  37>^  cents  per  bushel,  peaches  12^  to  \S^^  cents  per  bushel,  dried  peaches  $1  per 
bushel,  Hhellbarks  50  cents  per  bushel,  &c.  Groceries  are  lower  than  they  have  ever  been  ; 
tea  $1.25,  coffee  37J.i  cents,  loaf  sugar  .37i^  cents,  maple  sugar  10  cents,  pepper,  ginger  and 
allspice  50  cents,  salt  fl  per  bushel,  feathers  31 14  cents,  wool  50  cents,  flax  10  cents,  Ac. 

February  27, 1823,  to  her  brother  : 

Business  is  yet  dull  in  Columbus,  but  I  think  times  are  not  so  hard  as  they  have  been. 
.  .  .  They  [the  hard  times]  have  proved  the  greatest  blessing  to  this  country.  People  have 
felt  the  necessity  for  economy.  They  have  learned  the  true  valuation  of  property,  and  are 
much  more  careful  about  contracting  debts. 

August  10,  1823,  to  her  parents  : 

This  State  has  been  very  sickly  this  season,  and  the  condition  of  this  town  has  been  for 
the  last  two  weeks,  and  continues  to  become,  very  alarming.  The  fever  which  a  great 
number  of  our  citizens  have  become  victims  of  is  bilious,  attended  with  extreme  pain,  some 
losing  sight  and  hearing  and  still  retaining  reason.  From  perfect  health,  some  die  within 
four  days*  sickness,  and  I  know  of  no  instance  of  the  patient  lying  more  than  ten  or  twelve 
days.     .     .     . 

Our  town  is  at  present  nothing  but  a  scene  of  trouble,  sickness  and  death.  If  you  go  to 
the  door  at  midnight  you  see  a  light  in  almost  every  house,  for  watching  with  the  sick  and 
dead.  No  business  of  any  kind  doing,  our  town  perfectly  dull,  people  in  the  country  si<;k, 
and  strangers  afraid  to  pass  through  the  town. 

October  4,  1823,  to  her  brother: 

The  sickness  of  this  country  does  not  abate.  The  distress  that  the  citizens  of  this  State, 
and  of  this  western  country,  and  particularly  this  section  of  the  State  labor  under,  is  unparal- 
leled by  anything  I  ever  witnessed.  This  town,  and  towns  generally,  have  been  awfully 
visited,  and  with  such  distress  as  I  never  wish  to  behold  again,  but  at  the  same  time  nothing 
to  compare  with  what  has  been  endured  in  the  thinly  settled  parts  of  the  country.  I  could 
relate  cases  that  would  appear  incredible  and  impossible,  some  of  which  are  these : 

On  a  small  stream  called  Darby,  about  eighteen  miles  from  here,  there  are  scarcely 
enough  well  people  to  bury  the  dead.  In  one  instance  a  mother  was  compelled  to  dig  a  f:rA\e 
and  bury  her  own  child  in  a  box  that  was  nailed  up  by  herself,  without  one  soul  to  assist  her. 
Only  think  of  it !  Another  case  was  that  of  a  man,  his  wife  and  four  children  who  had  settled 
three  miles  from  any  other  house.  The  father,  mother  and  all  took  sick,  and  not  one  was 
able  to  hand  another  a  drink  of  water,  or  make  their  situation  known.  At  length  a  man  in 
search  of  his  horse  happened  to  call  at  the  house  to  enquire,  and  found  a  dead  babe  four  days 
gone,  in  the  cradle,  the  other  children  dying,  the  father  insensible,  and  the  mother  unable 
to  raise  her  head  from  the  pillow. 

In  another  family,  ten  in  number,  only  a  few  miles  from  town,  all  were  sick  except 
two  small  children  who  actually  starved  to  death,  being  too  small  to  go  to  a  neighbor's,  or 
prepare  anything  for  themselves.  In  numbers  of  families  all  have  died,  not  one  member 
remaining.  A  person  a  few  days  ago  passed  a  house,  a  short  distance  from  town,  out  of 
which  they  were  just  taking  a  corpse.  One  of  the  men  told  him  there  were  three  more  to  be 
buried  the  next  morning,  and  a  number  sick  in  the  same  house.    Such  is  the  distress  of  our 


The  Capital  as  a  Borough.     1.  271 

country  that  the  farmers  can  do  no  ploughing,  nor  gather  their  corn,  potatoes,  or  anything 
else. 

Provisions  of  every  kind  are  very  high,  and  scarcely  to  be  had.  There  is  no  money  in 
circulation,  and  hundreds  who  never  knew  what  it  was  to  want,  are  sick  and  actually  suffer- 
ing for  the  common  comforts  of  life.  .  .  .  You  would  be  astonished  to  behold  the  faces  of  our 
citizens.  There  is  not  one,  young  or  old,  but  that  is  of  a  dead  yellow  color.  No  kinds  of 
business  are  going  on  except  making  (*oflins  and  digging  graves. 

We  are  glad  to  get  flour  at  $4  per  barrel,  beef  at  4  cents  per  {>ound,  butter  at  12 j  to  l(i 
cents  per  pound,  and  everything  v\m  in  proportion  ;  so  you  may  judge  how  living  is,  between 
sickness  and  scarcity. 

October  13,  1S24,  to  her  mother: 

You  have  no  idea  what  ii  scene  of  trouble  and  sickness  we  have  passed  through  the 
last  four  months.  George  was  si<»k  live  weeks  with  bilious  fever,  and  never  walked  a  step  in 
four  weeks.  [This  letter  was  written  by  Mrs.  Deshler  in  her  sick  bed,  on  which  she  had 
lain  for  twelve  weeks.] 

Novomber  20,  1824,  to  her  brother : 

I  was,  perhaps,  when  I  wrote  home  last,  as  low  in  spirits  as  I  ever  was  in  my  life,  and 
nowon<ler;  all  sick,  all  trouble,  everybody  dying,  and,  as  a  poor  negro  says,  **everybo<ly 
look  sorry,  corn  look  sorry,  and  even  de  sun  look  sorry,  and  nobody  make  me  feel  glad." 

May  12,  1H25,  to  her  brother : 

We  have  had  an  unspeakable  winter  in  this  country —scarcely  cold  weather  enough  to 
make  it  appear  like  winter.  ...  I  hope  we  shall  have  a  more  healthy  season  than  the  past  ones 
have  been.  If  there  is  any  change  in  the  times,  I  think  it  is  for  the  better.  Produce,  how- 
ever, is  very  cheap,  and  store  goods  are  very  low,  more  so  than  I  ever  knew  them  at  Easton. 
While  domestic  cotton  sells  for  12J  to  thirtyseven  and  a  half  centfl  per  yard,  good  bed  ticking 
:»7i,  tea  11.50  per  pound,  cofTee  :>li  and  other  things  in  proportion.  Columbus  has  altered 
much  as  respects  dress  in  the  last  three  or  four  years.  A  woman  will  not  now  be  seen  on  the 
street  unless  she  has  on  a  leghorn  flat  and  a  cross  or  figured  silk  or  J^afayette  calico,  or  some- 
thing as  fine.  .  .  .  I>afayette  prints,  belta,  vests,  shoes  and  boots,  and  even  pocket  handker- 
chiefs prevail." 

March  6,  1826,  to  hor  brother  : 

Every  body  in  this  town  has  been  severely  alflicted  with  influenza.'*  Some  few  have 
died,  but  the  prevalence  of  the  disease  has  abated.  ...  I  have  three  little  darling  children 
in  the  graveyard.  .  .  .  We  have  two  here. 

October  10,  1826.     Has  visited  Easton  and  returned.     Writes  to  her  brother: 
You  can  ^t  imagine  how  much  handsomer  it  looks  in  Ohio  than  at  Easton. 

November  26,  1826,  to  her  brother  and  sister: 

Our  town  is  quite  healthy  and  very  lively.     Provisions  are  plenty  and  cheap. 

Mrs.  Deshler  died  August  2,  1827,  when  hereon,  our  present  well-known  fellow 
citizen,  Mr.  William  G.  Deshler,  was  but  ten  weeks  old.  She  passed  away,  at  the 
age  of  thirty  years,  while  yet  in  the  prime  of  her  womanhood,  a  victim  to  the 
anxieties  and  maladies  incident  to  the  frontier.  Y'et  hor  life,  albeit  so  unpreten- 
tious and  inconspicuous,  failed  not  of  enduring  results.  With  such  mothers  as  she 
to  give  birth  to  the  architects  of  her  civilization,  it  is  not  strange  that  Ohio  has 
won  her  present  distinction  in  the  family  of  States.  JUit  we  owe  to  such  mothers 
something  more  than  distinction,  tor  it  was  by  their  efforts  and  sacrifices,  no  less 
than  those  of  their  husbands  and  brothers,  that  the  rude  forces  of  nature  were  sub- 
dued, and  the  wilderness  converted  into  smiling  hills,  valleys  and  plains,  spread 
with  blossoms  and  waving  harvests. 


272  History  of  the  City  of  Oolumbtts. 


NOTES. 

1.  A  more  circumstantial  account  of  the  organization  of  the  borough  government,  to- 
gether with  a  complete  copy  of  the  statute  of  ita  incorporation,  \h  reserved  for  the  history  of 
The  Municipality. 

2.  A  formal  reception  was  given  to  the  President  at  Worthington.  The  address  of 
welcome  was  delivered  by  Hon.  James  Kilbourn. 

3.  Martin. 

4.  Ibid. 

5.  Ibid. 

6.  See  page  171.  * 

7.  **  Pineknots,  tallow  candles,  and  lard -oil  lamps  furnished  light.  The  embers  in  the 
fireplace  were  seldom  suffered  to  burn  out,  but  when  the  last  coal  chanced  to  expire  tbe  fire 
was  rekindled  by  striking  a  spark  from  the  fiint  into  a  piece  of  tinder.  The  tinder-box  was 
to  our  ancestors  what  the  match-box  is  to  us.  Sometimes,  when  the  fire  went  out,  a  burning 
brand  was  borrowed  from  the  hearth  of  a  neighbor.  Bread  was  baked  in  Dutch  ovens,  or  bake- 
pans,  set  over  beds  of  live  coals  raked  upon  the  hearth,  and  meats  and  vegetables  were  boiled 
in  pots  hung  by  hooks  upon  a  strong  piece  of  green  timber,  called  the  *'  lugpole,"  which  was 
placed  across  the  wide  chimney-fiue,  just  above  tbe  blaze.  In  time  tbe  lugpole  gave  place  to 
the  iron  crane.  There  was  invented  also  a  cooking  utensil  of  tin  called  a  refiector,  by  means 
of  which  biscuits  were  baked.  .  .  .  Corn  bread  was  often  prepared  in  the  form  of  a  johnny- 
cake  —  a  corruption  of  journey  cake  —  a  loaf  baked  upon  a  **  johnny  "  board,  about  two  feet 
long  and  eight  inches  wide,  on  which  the  dough  was  spread  and  then  exposed  to  the  fire. 
In  Kentucky,  the  slaves  used  to  bake  similar  loaves  on  a  hoe,  and  called  them  hoe-cakes." — 
Venable^s  Footprints  of  the  Pioneers  ifi  the  Ohio  Valley. 

8.  Much  of  the  fiat  land  on  tbe  west  side  of  the  Scioto  was  thickly  overgrown  with 
wild  plum  bushes. 

9.  These  shelves,  or  rather  cases,  were  afterwards  called  alcoves.  About  twenty  of 
them  were  made  by  Mr.  Deshler's  own  hands.  When  tbe  old  state  building  was  demolished 
and  the  library  removed  to  the  present  Capitol,  these  shelves  were  stored  in  the  basement  as 
old  lumber.  Mr.  William  G.  Deshler  bought  one  set  of  the  cases  of  Governor  Chase  for  ten 
dollars,  and  it  now  stands  in  the  City  Library  as  the  Deshler  Alcove,  to  which  are  attached 
over  two  thousand  volumes. 

10.  Mr.  Clay  was  then  attending  trial  of  the  suit  of  the  Allen  heirs  vs..  Starling,  men- 
tioned in  the  earlier  part  of  the  chapter. 

11.  At  that  time  Lafayette  was  revisiting  and  making  a  tour  of  the  United  States.  The 
gratitude  of  the  American  people  for  his  helpful  services  during  the  War  of  Independence 
was  such  that  he  was  fOted  and  lionized  wherever  he  appeared,  and  one  of  the  forms  which 
the  popular  enthusiasm  assumed  was  that  of  bestowing  his  name  on  the  prevalent  fashions  of 
the  day  in  articles  of  clothing.  I<*afayette  was  invited  to  visit  Columbus,  but  was  unable  to 
do  so,  and  sent  his  regrets. 

12.  Perhaps  a  malady  similar  to  that  now  known  as  la  grippe. 


/    ^'  ''',  .,' 
/  // 


.  I' 


-^^^' 


/.^ 


CHAPTER  XV. 


THE  CAPITAL  AS  A  BOROUGH.     1810-1^34.     II. 

The  contemporary  descriptions  of  ('olumbus  during  its  borough  period  fre 
quently  refer  to  **  its  excellent  springs  and  fine  running  streams  of  water."  Good 
wells,  it  is  said,  were  **  easily  obtained  in  all  parts  of  the  town."'  Later  authorities 
corroborate  these  statements.  They  also  concurrently  represent  that  in  and  about 
the  borough  were  numerous  marshes,  quagmires  and  ponds.  In  other  words,  the 
*•  high  bank  opposite  Franklinton  '  on  which  the  capital  was  located,  while  being 
saturated  intermittently  from  the  clouds  above  and  constantly  from  springs  be- 
neath, had  the  sponge  like  quality  of  retaining  much  of  the  water  it  received,  and 
held  more  of  it,  in  solution  with  decaying  vegetable  matter,  than  was  good  for  the 
people  who  dwelt  in  that  locality.  Doubtless  much  of  the  sickness  mentioned  in 
the  letters  just  quoted  was  due  to  this  fact.  The  ground  had  no  drainage  excejn 
that  of  the  surface,  and  the  imprisoned  water,  as  often  happens  with  other  idle 
agents,  became  a  source  of  deadly  mischief 

The  principal  morass,  with  its  outlying  swales  and  ponds,  embraced  the 
present  sites  of  the  Fourth  Street  Markethouse,  Trinity  Church,  and  the  Cathe- 
dral, crossed  the  line  of  Broad  Street,  and  extended  in  a  northeasterly  direction  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Washington  Avenue.  That  part  of  it  comprisii»g  the  tract 
now  known  as  the  Kelley  property,  and  a  considerable  area  east  of  it,  was  a 
quagmire,  of  such  an  unstable  nature  that  the  falling  of  a  rail,  or  other  similar 
concussion,  would  cause  it  to  shake  for  yards  around.  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant  was 
accustomed  to  say  that  he  could  take  a  station  on  Spring  Street  from  which  he 
could  shake  it  by  the  acre.  Its  most  elevated  point  was  the  natural  mound  on 
which  now  stands  the  residence  of  the  late  Judge  James  L.  Bates,  near  the  corner 
of  Grant  Avenue  and  Broad  Street. 

When  the  Hon.  Alfred  Kelley  built  on  this  ground,  in  1836,  the  large,  colon- 
naded  mansion  which  still  stands  there,  it  was  popularly  termed  "  Kelley's  Folly." 
But  Mr.  Kelly  knew  what  he  was  about,  as  the  sequel  proved.  He  perceived  that 
the  morass  was  due,  primarily,  to  saturation  caused  by  a  spring  of  strongly  cha- 
lybeate water  which  issued  in  great  volume  at  a  point  near  the  site  chosen  for  his 
residence,  just  mentioned.  So  copious  was  the  discharge  of  this  spring  that  its 
tall  over  a  ledge  near  its  origin  could  be  heard,  during  a  quiet  evening,  to  the 
distance  of  several  squares.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Kelley  had  changed  the  direction  of 
itH  current  so  as  to  afford  it  a  ready  escape,  the  bog  around  it  began  to  dry  up,  but 
not  sufficiently  to  prevent  it  from  hopelessly  miring  the  village  cows  which  were 
18  [273] 


274  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

seduced  by  its  marsh  grass  within  its  quaggy  precincts.  The  soil  of  this  morass 
was  a  black  loam,  and  produced  some  excellent  crops  of  corn  for  Mr.  John  L.  Gill, 
who  at  one  time  owned  part  of  it,  for  which  he  paid  the  sum  of  eighty  dollars  per 
acre.    The  price  paid  by  Mr.  Kelloy  was  about  thirty  dollars  per  acre. 

That  part  of  Broad  Street  which  passed  through  the  swamp  was  easily  cut  by 
wheels,  and  in  wet  weather  almost  impassable.  To  make  it  a  practicable  thorough- 
fare, it  was  corduroyed,  about  1820,  from  the  site  of  the  Cathedral  eastward,  by 
citizens  working  out  their  road  tax.  The  roadway  was  thus  considerably  im- 
proved, but  for  a  long  time  afterwards  remained  in  a  very  bad  condition,  insomuch 
that  even  the  light  carriages  which  traversed  it  on  social  errands  were  often 
foundered. 

The  entire  East  Broad  Street  region  abounded  in  springs,  one  of  which,  issu- 
ing in  the  street  a  short  distance  beyond  Cleveland  Avenue,  is  said  to  have  supplied 
the  Old  Statehouse  with  water,  conducted  to  it  by  piping.  When  the  sewers  were 
laid,  the  waters  from  these  springs,  and  of  the  swamp  generally,  were  gradually 
absorbed,  and  so  strong  was  the  current  which  gushed  into  the  channel  cut  for  the 
Broad  Street  sewer  that  the  progress  of  that  work  was  seriously  interfered  with. 

Spring  Street  took  its  name  from  numerous  natural  fountains  which  issued  in 
its  vicinity,  and  fed  a  brook  of  clear  water  known  as  Doe  Run.  This  rivulet  bad 
two  or  three  branches,  one  of  which  extended  through  the  grounds  now  occupied 
by  the  railway?.  Another,  which  had  its  origin  in  a  copious  spring  near  the  present 
Church  of  St.  Patrick,  coursed  southwesterly  to  a  point  near  Fourth  Street  between 
Spring  and  Long,  then,  by  a  sudden  bend,  changed  direction  to  Spring.  Mean- 
dering through  a  wide  and  treacherous  bog,  sometimes  called  "  The  Cattail  Swamp," 
Doe  Eun  was  confluent  on  Spring  Street  with  Lizard  Creek,  the  waters  of  which 
were  gathered  from  the  springs  of  the  Broad  Street  morass,  and  descended  Third 
Street  from  a  point  near  which  now  rises  the  Cathedral.  Pursuing  its  westward 
course,  after  being  fed  by  Doe  Run,  Lizard  Creek  crossed  High  Street  by  a  depres- 
sion often  or  fifleen  feet,  and  thence  rushed  down  a  gulley  twentyfive  feet  deep  to 
the  Scioto.  The  High  Street  roadway  at  first  descended  to  the  bed  of  this  creek, 
but  afterwards  leaped  it  by  a  wooden  bridge.  Mr.  John  M.  Kerr  informs  the 
writer  that  he  caught  minnows  in  its  waters  in  his  youthful  days,  and  Mr.  Harri- 
son Armstrong  states  that  when  attending  a  school  kept  in  a  building  ancestral  to 
the  Merchants'  and  Manufacturers'  Bank,  he  and  the  other  boys  of  the  school  used 
to  amuse  themselves  in  stoning  the  water  snakes  which  glided  in  and  out  among 
the  rocks  in  the  bed  of  the  creek  on  Chestnut  Street. 

Of  all  the  bogs  of  the  borough,  that  of  Lizard  Creek  seems  to  have  been  the 
most  untrustworthy  for  all  pedestrians,  whether  biped  or  quadruped.  Wheels,  of 
course,  dared  not  venture  into  it,  nor  could  a  horse,  much  less  a  cow,  expect  to  get 
through  it  without  human  assistance,  but  a  judicious  man  might  get  over  it  by 
cautiously  stepping  on  the  hummocks,  called  in  the  borough  dialect  "  nig- 
ger-heads," formed  by  tufts  of  swamp  grass.  A  "  nigger-head "  violently 
jumped  on,  however,  would  suddenly  disappear,  together  with  the  jumper. 
On  West,  no  less  than  on  East  Spring  Street,  the  bog  was  totally  unreliable.  Mr. 
John  M.  Kerr  says  he  offered  town  lots  there  at  one  time  for  five  dollars  apiece, 
without  takers.     In  times  of  freshet  Lizard  Creek  sometimes  asserted  itself  tre- 


The  Capital  as  a  Borough.     II.  275 

mentiously,  and  became  a  roaring  torrent.     Mr.  William  Armstrong  says  he  has 

8een  it  deep  enough  to  swim  a  horse.     Although  no  traces  of  it  are  now  to  be  seen, 

as  Iftte  as  May,    1833,  the    Council  of  the  borough   provided  by  ordinance  for 

graveling  Third  Street  on  both  sides  of  it,  and  for  repairing  two  culverts  over  it  on 

Fourth  Street.     The  same  ordinance  provided  for  draining  a   pond  at  the  east 

end  of  State  Street,  opposite  the  residence  of  Judge  Parish,  for  repairing  the  bridge 

at  "  the  south  end  of  High  Street,"  for  filling  up  holes  in  Front  Street,  and  for 

making  a  culvert  at  the  corner  of  that  street  and  llich.     About  a  quarter  of  a  mile 

east  of  the  Union  Station  a  sulphur  spring  gushed  forth.     The  ground  where  the 

Station  now  stands,  and  all  the  territory  round  about,  was  of  a  swampy  nature. 

On  East  Broad  Street,  near  its  junction  with  Twentieth,  lay  an  inconvenient 
body  of  water,  commonly  known  as  the  **  Crooked- wood  Pond,"  in  which  the 
piscatoj*ial  boys  of  the  borough  were  accustomed  to  angle  for  catfish.  A  practic- 
able roi^dway  was  finally  carried  through  this  slough  by  rolling  logs  into  it.  Some 
of  thoti^  logs  were  encountered  in  cutting  for  the  sewer,  five  or  six  feet  below  the 
present  surface  of  the  street.  From  this  point  eastward  to  Alum  Creek  most  of 
the  stroet  was  laid  with  a  corduroy  track  as  late  as  1830.  Going  westward,  the 
outlying  swales  of  the  great  Broad  Street  bog  began  to  be  encountered  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Monroe  and  Garfield  avenues. 

W^  liere  the  Fourth  Street  Markethouse  now  stands,  so  say  several  citizens,  who 
remen\V>er  it,  was  a  pond  in  which  contemporary  boys  often  went  swimming.  The 
north eirn  extremity  of  this  pond  was  a  few  rods  south  of  the  present  corner  of 
State  sLYid  Fourth  Streets.  Mr.  William  Armstronor  says  he  has  oflen  mired  his 
horse  in  a  marshy  place  where  the  First  Baptist  Church  now  stands,  and  some- 
times Had  great  difficulty  in  extricating  him. 

Ki^ooks  which  descended  Fourth  and  Main  streets  poured  unitedly  into  Peters's 

Kun,  lirid  turned  the  wheels  of  Conger's   Flouring  Mill,  which,  in   1825,  stood  in 

the   rn.x^ine  back  of  the  Iloster    Brewery.     The   Fourth  Street   brook  drained  a 

portion   of  the  marshy  territory  east  of  High  Street,  and  was  a  living  stream  the 

jear    i»ound.     Mr.   John  Otstot  saj's  it  sometimes  became  so  rampant  in  rainy 

^eath<5T  as  to  sweep  away  the  worm  fences  along  its  banks.     Mr.  J.  F.  Neereamer, 

oorn    H^re  in  1822,  says  the  Fourth  Street  Run  began  near  the  present  Highschool 

^»ldin^^  coursed  westerly  on   State  Street,  descended  Fourth,  formed  Iloskins's 

<^n<l    where  the  Markethouse  stands,  and  near  the  present  junction  of  Fourth  and 

^^^   Htreeta  was  joined  in  forming  Peters's  Run  by  a  brook  the  source  of  which 

^  ^^ar  the  corner  of  Rich  Street  and  Washington  Avenue. 

^he  grounds  of  the   Institution    for  the    Deaf  and   Dumb  were  originally 

p    *^^^py,  and  were  overgrown  with  the  bushes  of  the  wild  blackberry.     Dick's 

'^^j    a  favorite  skating  place  in  winter,  was  at  the  junction  of  Third  and  Broad 

«    ^^ts.  its  deepest  part  being  the  present  site  of  Trinity  Church.     Where  the  Denig 

.         ^T8on  block  now  stands,  on  High  Street,  the  surface  of  the  ground  was  depressed 

^^  or  four  feet,  forming  a  pond  which   was  also  a  winter  resort  of  the  skaters. 
(1     .       Among  the  other  early  springs  of  the  borough  was  one  on  the  east  bank  of  the 
^^lo,  just  north  of  the  present  location  of  the  State  Street  Bridge,  on  what  was 
.       ^>:'ward8   known  as  Wharflot  No.  787.     A  so-called  "  fountain  springhouse  "  was 
^^t  there  in  1840  by  S.  Doherty. 


27r»  History  of  the  City'  of  CoLUMBrs. 

In  1820,  nays  Mr.  William  Armstrong,  there  were  not  more  than  two  or  three 
brick  houses  in  the  borough.  Its  improved  area  terminated  eastwardly  at  Fourth 
Street ;  Town  Street  was  yet  all  in  timber.  Primitive  oak  and  walnut  trees,  some 
of  them  nearly  six  feet  in  diameter,  were  standing  as  far  west  on  Broad  Street  as 
the  present  site  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  as  late  as  1S27.  Mr.  Harri- 
son Armstrong  says  he  has  walked  on  the  fiiUen  trees  lying  in  Higli  Street.  Some 
of  their  stems,  he  avers,  yet  lie  buried  under  the  Odd  Fellows'  building.  Doctor 
Theodore  Young,  who  arrived  in  the  borough  in  1H20,  informs  the  writer  that 
there  were  then  plenty  of  tree  stumps  yet  rooted  in  High  Street.  At  the  corner 
of  High  and  Friend  stood  a  very  large  one  which  it  required  several  days  to  re- 
move. On  High  Street,  oj>posite  the  present  location  of  the  Metropolitan  Opera 
House,  there  was  a  depression  in  the  natural  surface  of  about  ten  feet.  The  site  of 
the  Opera  House  was  then  occupied  by  the  little  shop  of  a  wheelwright  named 
Aaron  Matthews.  Doctor  Young  thinks  tbe  present  surface  of  High  Street  in 
front  of  the  Capitol  is  ten  or  fifteen  feet  lower  than  it  was  then.  The  northwest 
corner  of  State  and  High,  where  the  American  House  now  stands,  was  then  oc- 
cupied by  Robert  W.  McCoy's  dry  goods  store.  Going  thence  northward,  on  the 
west  side  of  High  Street,  the  buildings  then  existing  came  in  the  following  order  . 
1,  Marsh's  Bakery;  2,  McCuUough's  Tailorshop;  3,  Tommy  Johnson's  Bookstore; 
4,  the  National  Hotel;  5,  three  successive  frame  buildings  occupied  as groggeries, 
and  known  as  the  '*  Three  Sisters  "  ;  6,  Judge  Gustavus  Swan's  residence ;  7,  a  small 
frame  dwelling,  then  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Nashee,  afterwards  used  as  a  school  for 
deaf  mutes,  and  occupying  in  part  the  lots  forming  the  southwest  corner  of  Broad 
and  High  Streets. 

Northward  from  Broad  on  High,  west  side,  came  first  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Greenwood,  and  next  to  that  the  frame  dwelling  of  George  B.  Harvey.  From 
that  there  were  no  more  houses  on  that  side  except  Zinn's  onestory  brick  dwelling 
on  the  corner  of  High  and  Spring. 

On  High  Street,  east  side,  northward  from  Broad,  we  found  the  lots  forming 
the  northeast  corner  of  Broad  and  High  unoccupied,  nor  was  there  anything  more 
in  the  nature  of  a  building  until  we  came  to  Wilson's  tanyard,  which  embraced 
the  present  site  of  the  Butler  Building,  on  the  northeast  corner  of  High  and  Gay. 
From  the  tanyard  on,  there  was  nothing  further  until  we  came  to  Spring  Street, 
where  then  stood  a  vacant  log  cabin.  Beyond  the  cabin  we  stepped  into  the 
Spring  Street  swamp. 

On  the  w^est  side  of  High  Street,  going  south  from  State  we  first  encountered 
Harvey  D.  Little's  brick,  twostory  drygoods  store,  and  next  after  that  came  Rus- 
sell's Tavern,  beyond  which  there  were  no  more  buildings  on  that  side  until  we 
came  to  G Wynne's  drygoods  store,  also  a  twostory  brick. 

The  southeast  corner  of  High  and  State  was,  in  1S20,  vacant,  but  at  a  later 
period  it  was  occupied  by  a  frame  building  erected  by  Crosby  for  a  drugstore. 
The  first  building  on  that  side,  going  southward  from  State,  was  a  harness  shop, 
next  to  which  came  Xorthrup's  horse- pasture,  and  next  to  that  a  little  brick  build- 
ing, on  the  corner  of  the  alley.  Beyond  this  brick  came  Brotherlin's  hatstore. 
John  M.  Walcutt,  whom  Doctor  Young  mentions  by  his  familiar  borough  title  of 
"  Daddy  Walcutt,"  had  a  chairshop  on  the  northeast  corner  of  High  and  Town. 


The  Capital  as  a  Borough.     II.  277 

Speaking  of  the  condition  of  the  borough  at  the  time  his  father  arrived  in  it 
in  1817,  Honorable  John  R.  Osborn  says : 

The  town  had  not  yet  been  cleared  of  its  standing  timber,  trees  were  standing  in  profusion 
on  many  streets,  and  over  a  large  portion  of  the  ground.  High  and  Broad  streets  were  well 
enough  defined,  and  so  were  the  cross  streets  between  Front  and  Third,  to  theMound.  The  pub- 
lic Square  was  chopped,  and  I  am  not  sure  but  that  a  wooden  fence  surrounded  it ;  but  many 
years  afterwards  the  thick  stumps  were  still  to  be  seen  in  it.- 

Mr.  Joseph  SuUivant  stated  in  an  address'*  that  a  pawpaw  thicket  grew  during 
the  borough  period  near  the  present  Second  Presbyterian  Church.  Speaking  of 
his  schoolboy  days,  and  associates,  Mr.  Sullivant,  in  the  same  address,  thus  rhap- 
sodizes: "  What  times  we  had  in  summer,  with  prisoner's  base,  fourholed  cat,  hop- 
scotch, round  the  stakes  and  roley-boley  ;  and  in  winter  how  we  gathered  the  corn 
from  off  the  outlotseast  of  Fourth  Street,  betwixt  Town  and  Rich,  and  parched  it 
on  the  old  stove  from  Mary  Ann  Furnace !  " 

The  stumps  of  primitive  forest  trees  in  High  Street  have  been  seen  and  are 

remembered  by  numerous  persons  now  living.     Mr.  John  Otstot  remembers  a  big 

walnut  one,  which  stood  in  front  of  Heyl's  Tavern   in   1S24,  at  which  time  the 

street  had  not  yet  been  graveled.     Mr.  John  M.  Kerr  speaks  of  another  in  front 

of  the  Capitol  on  which  a  friend  of  his  used  to  sit  during  the  summer  evenings  and 

play  the  violin.     Mr.  Samuel  McClelland,  who  came  to  Columbus  in  1830,  has  seen 

tree  stumps  taken  out  of  South  High  Street,  opposite  Heyl's  tavern.     He  believes 

that  many  others  were  not  displaced  but  covered  over  in  the  original  grading  of 

the  street,  and  this  hypothesis  has  confirmation   in   the  fact  that,  between  Friend 

find  Kieh  Streets,  on  High,  the  stump  of  a  beech  tree  wag  disclosed  in  the  excava- 

tionti  for  the  Nicholson  pavement  in  1867.     In   1830  there   were  yet  several   tree 

«^mn pisin  Third  Street  opposite  the  present  Engine  House.     High  Street  was  then, 

"i  ivot    weather,  no  better  than  a  "  mudhole."     The  only  importiint  building  which 

'^'oiix-t\\  Street  could  shbw  at  that  time  was  the  residence  of  Hiram  Matthews,  on 

the  tio^thwost  corner  of  Town  and  Fourth.     Mr.  Virgil  D.  Moore  remembers  High 

'^treoti     ^R  a  "  big  road  full  of  stumps  "  about  1825.     Long  Street,  east  of  High,  was 

orn  ai,  w^ented  "  with  many  stumps  as  late  as  1834,  says  Mr.  Reuben  E.  Champion. 

tH  ^:^    borough  at  that  period  Mr.  Champion  further  says  : 

^■*  ^:>ing  out  Broad  Street,  on  its  south  side,  after  passing  Third,  all  was  commons  and 

aniis^ ^^^  jj  house  until  we  came  to  where  Seventh  Street  now  is,  and  there  stood  asniall 

Jfr'livmt:.    on  the  Ridgway  farm.     Beyond  that  there  was  nothing  but  woods  to  Alum  Creek. 

"t  li^:^     corner  of  Fourth,  north  side  of  Broad  Street,  was  the  residence  of  Doctor  Hoge,  the 

^en^r-^^^gj  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.     Later,  Peter  Hayden  erected  his  residence 

p       *^^^     northeast  corner.    There  were  no  houses  on  the  east  until  you  came  to  where  W.  A. 

^        **    liouse  was  built ;  there  was  also  a  small  house  on  the  Hubbard  farm.     From  thence  it 


^as    xii-^^  ^^  Alum  Creek.    The  lot  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Broad  and  Third,  where  now 

B  ^^«a    ^  church  [Trinity]  was  the  "  circus  lot."    The  Champion  farm  contained  about  three 

,^^^^*'^d  acres,  and  embraced  most  of  the  land  between  Broad  Street  and  the  Livingston  Road, 

^^'^^^tern  boundary  being  about  opposite  the  old  Lunatic  Asylum.   That  was  out  of  the 

^■o^t^  ,   and  but  little  of  it  [the  farm]  was  even  fenced.  Where  now  stand  the  Courthouse  and 

^  ^^^T^n  Church  was  a  beautiful  mound,  and  about  one  hundred  yards  south  was  "  Nigger 

*^^^,"  the  end  of  creation  in  that  direction.'* 

The  socalled  "circus  lot,"  it  should  be  explained,  took  in  part  of  the  Capitol 
^\^are,  in  rear  of  the  United  States  Court  building.     Nigger  Hollow  was  the 


27S  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

habitat  of  tho  African  population  of  the  borough,  and  hence  its  name.  Its  dusky 
denizens  seem  to  have  been  mostly  emancipated  slaves,  of  whom  there  was  a  consider- 
able influx  about  tho  year  1828.  On  the  Champion  farm,  about  one  mile  from  the 
Statehouse,  grew  an  immense  oak  tree,  which  was  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  borough 
vicinage.  It  was  nearly  six  feet  in  diameter  just  above  the  ground,  and  when  cut 
down  in  1839  produced  305  fencerails  and  ten  and  a  half  cords  of  firewood.  In  its 
immediate  vicinity  grew  several  other  oaks  nearly  as  large. 

Petei's's  Run  took  its  name  from  Tunis  Peters,  Junior,  who  removed  from 
Pickaway  County  to  Columbus  in  1830,  established  a  large  tannery  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  Kun,  and  built  his  dwelling  at  the  spot  which  now  forms  the  southeast 
corner  of  High  and  Beck  streets.  Mr.  Peters,  at  his  own  expense,  erected  of  brick, 
on  Mound  Street,  a  Baptist  Church  building,  which  was  torn  away  when  the  street 
came  to  bo  graded  some  years  later.  His  descendants  are  now  prominent  in  the 
manufacturing  and  other  business  interests  of  Columbus. 

The  forest  occupying  the  present  area  of  City  Park  took  from  its  owner, 
Francis  Stewart,  the  name  of  Stewart's  Grove. 

The  Harbor  Eoad  was  so  called  because  the  pilferers  of  the  borough,  and  later 
of  the  city,  usually  harbored  in  that  vicinity.  People  who  missed  things  went 
there  to  look  for  them.     The  thoroughfare  is  now  known  as  Cleveland  Avenue. 

Friend  Street,  now  Main,  was  so  named  because  in  its  early  settlement  the 
people  who  belonged  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  commonly  called  Quakers,  were 
partial  to  it. 

The  woods  east  of  the  borough  were  very  dense,  and  abounded  in  wild  game, 
of  which  more  will  be  said  in  another  place.  Among  the  open  spaces  of  the  borough 
was  a  pasture  field,  of  mostly  solid  ground,  extending  from  the  present  location  of 
tho  Penitentiary  to  the  Broad  Street  Bridge. 

A  group  of  cabins  on  the  corner  of  Spring  and  Fourth  streets  took  the  name 
of  "  Jonesburgh*'  from  that  of  its  proprietor,  David  Jones,  who  owned  a  very  large 
tract  of  land  in  the  Spring  Street  region,  east  of  High.  On  this  ground  Jones 
erected,  ultimately,  a  score  or  more  of  small  tenements  which  he  rented  mostly  to 
German  families  after  the  people  of  that  nationality  began  to  arrive.  One  of  his 
tenants  was  Jimmy  Uncles,  an  eccentric  character,  somewhat  intemperate,  who 
was  in  perpetual  contention  with  the  proprietary  lord  of  the  swamp.  During  one 
of  their  quarrels.  Uncles  placed  an  old  wooden  pump  stock  in  position,  pointing 
from  his  window,  and  declared  his  purpose  to  bombard  "  King  David's  dominions." 
Thenceforward  **  King  David  Jones  "  was  one  of  the  colloquialisms  of  the  borough. 
On  another  occasion,  when  sued  by  Jones  before  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  the  col- 
lection of  some  claim.  Uncles  put  in  a  counterclaim  for  services  to  the  plaintiff 
in  "  reading  and  expounding  the  Scriptures." 

The  first  German  immigrant  who  settled  in  the  borough  was  Christian  Heyl, 
the  circumstances  of  whose  advent  have  already  been  narrated.  In  the  year  1800 
Mr.  Heyl,  then  a  boy  of  thirteen,  accompanied  his  parents  in  their  emigration  from 
Germany  to  the  United  States.  So  contrary  were  the  winds  that  the  ship  in  which 
they  sailed  spent  tweutythree  weeks,  or  nearly  half  a  year,  in  making  the  voyage 
from  Bremen  to  Baltimore.  Among  the  borough  settlers  of  German  origin  or  descent 
who  came  after  Mr.  Heyl,  were  David  W,  Deshler  in  1817,  the  Boeder  family  in 


The  Capital  as  a  Borough.     II.  279 

1820,  John  Otetot  in  1824,  George  Kraus  in  1829,  the  Studor,  Knics,  Hunt,  Lieht- 
enegger  and  Bberly  families  in  1831 ;  Peter  Ambos,  Benedict  Ritter,  Otto  Zirkel, 
and  the  Krumm,  Jacobs  and  Keinhard  families,  in  1832,  the  Lohrer,  Zettler 
and  Hinderer  families,  Louis  Hoster  and  Leonhard  Beck  in  1833,  and  the  Siebort 
and  Erlenbusch  families,  Joseph  Schneider,  Henry  Roedter,  Fritz  Beck,  Conrad 
Heinmiller  and  the  llickly  and  Esswein  brothers  in  1834.  After  the  opening  of 
the  canal  to  Columbus,  the  German  immigrants  were  landed  at  the  wharf  by  boat- 
loads. Among  the  arrivals  of  that  period  were  the  Moehl,  Pausch,  Neufang,  Mac- 
hold,  Zehnacker,  Lauer,  Moersch,  Schultz,  and  Schweinsberger  families,  Professor 
Jueksch,  Doctor  Schenck,  G.  J.  Mayor,  Louis  Silbcrnagel,  Adam  Luckhaupt,  John 
Knopf,  Esquire  J.  P.  Briick,  Louis  Lindemann,  John  Burkhard,  George  Kreitlein, 
George  Schreyer,  Moritz  Becker,  Joseph  Engler,  Joseph  Weitgenannt,  the  Koetz 
brothers,  Casper  Miller,  John  Blenkner,  and  John  G.  Bickel.* 

A  considerable  influx  of  Welsh  people  took  place  nearly  contemporary  with 
that  of  the  Germans.  Among  the  earlier  arrivals  of  Welsh  settlers  were  those  of 
John  O.,  Richard  and  William  Jones,  Thomas  Cadwallader  and  Morgan  Powell. 

A  census  of  the  borough  taken  during  the  last  week  of  April,  1829,  makes  the 
following  exhibit  : 

Males  under  four  years  of  age 153 

**    between  four  and  fifteen, 280 

"         fifteen  ami  twentyone 153 

over  twentyone, 422 

Total  males, 1008 

Females  under  four 149 

between  four  and  fifteen, 282 

"        fifteen  and  eighteen, 193 

over  eighteen,         . 382 

Total  females, 1006 

Grand  total 2014 

Of  the  total  population,  as  shown  by  these  figures,  one  hundred  and  sixty 
persons  were  of  African  descent. 

The  census  of  1830,  taken  by  Robert  Ware,  shows  a  total  population  of  2438, 
of  whom  1343  were  males,  1095  females,  and  216,  male  and  female,  of  African 
descent. 

The  county  seat  was  removed  to  Columbus  from  Franklinton  in  1824,  at 
which  time  the  Common  Pleas  judges  were  Gustavus  Swan,  President,  and  Edward 
Livingston,  Samuel  G.  Flenniken  and  Arora  Buttles,  Associates.  A.  I.  McDowell 
was  the  Clerk  and  Robert  Brotherton  the  Sheriff.  From  1824  until  1840  the  county 
courts  were  held  in  the  United  States  Court  building,  but  the  county  oflSces,  in  the 
meantime,  were  lodged  for  several  years  in  hired  rooms  until  a  building,  already 
mentioned,  was  erected  for  their  temporary  accommodation,  on  the  Capitol  Square, 
by  the  County. 


280  HlHTORY    OF   THE    CiTY    OF    COLUMBUS. 


NOTES. 

1.  The  NatumcU  Intelligencer,  quoted  in  the  Freeman^s  Chronicle  of  August  5,  1814. 

2.  Address  before  the  Franklin  County  Pioneer  Association  June  1,  1867. 

3.  Before  the  Franklin  County  Pioneer  Association  June  3,  1871. 

4.  Sutiday  Morning  NewSy  March  30,  18tX). 

5.  Most  of  the  information  here  given  as  to  the  German  pioneers  of  Columbus  has  been 
derived  from  a  paper  read  by  the  Hon.  Henry  Olnhausen  before  the  Humboldt  Society  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1889. 


^avt-^fr 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE  BOKOUGII  TAVKKNS  AND  COFFEKHOUSES. 


liiiikocpiiig  in  the  time  of  the  borough  period  of  Columbus  was  HOinething  more 
thiin  a  busincKB;  it  was  almost  a  profession.  Although  it  required  no  special  train- 
ing, like  the  pursuit  of  the  law,  or  of  medicine,  it  did  both  require  and  develop 
special  traits  and  (jualifications.  To  be  a  successful  landlord,  or  landlady,  as  the  inn- 
keepers vvere  called,  was  a  worthy  ambition  in  the  public  opifiion  of  the  time,  and 
enlisted  the  best  endeavors  of  many  of  the  best  people.  Not  a  few  who  undertook  it 
failed,  and  not  a  few  who  succeeded  in  it  became  alHuent,  accjuired  extensive  social 
influence,  and  stepped  from  it  into  stations  of  important  ])ublic  trust.  At  the  polit- 
ical center  of  the  State,  where  the  resources  of  a  new  community  were  strained 
to  provide  for  a  large  official  and  transient  population,  the  opportunities  and 
emoluments  of  this  business  were  particularly  attractive,  and  Columbus  con- 
sequently possessed,  in  its  early  period,  a  larger  proportion  of  inns,  or,  as  they  were 
more  commonly  called,  taverns,  than  any  other  class  of  establishments. 

The  first  or  pioneer  tavern  of  the  borough  began  its  career  some  time  during 
the  year  1818  under  the  management  of  an  original  settler  named  Volney  Payiie. 
It  was  kept  in  a  twostory  brick  building  erected  for  the  purpose  by  John  Collett  on 
the  second  lot  south  of  State  Street,  west  side  of  High.  Its  sign  in  1816  was  The 
Lion  and  The  Eagle.  From  1814  the  house  was  kept  successively  by  Payne,  Col- 
lett, John  McElvain  and  again  Collett,  until  1817  or  1818,  when  it  was  purchased 
by  Robert  Russell,  who  had  an  appropriate  emblem  painted  on  its  sign  and  called  it 
The  Globe.  In  company  with  Doctor  Goodale,  Mr.  Russell,  familiarly  known  in  the 
borough  as  "Uncle  Bob,''  had  originally  come  to  Franklin  (.'ounty  from  Lancaster 
in  1805,  tracing  his  way  through  the  woods  by  the  "  blazed  trees.''  lie  settled  first 
in  F'ranklinton,  followed  merchandizing  for  ten  years,  removed  to  Circleville,  then 
returned  to  Columbus  and  purchased  Collett's  establishment  as  above  stated. 
Under  his  mangemont  The  Globe  came  to  be  considered  one  of  the  best  taverns 
west  of  the  Alleghanies.  After  an  interval  of  some  years  during  which  the  estab- 
lishment was  conducted  by  Mr.  Robinson,  Russell  resumed  its  control,  which  he 
retained  until  1847,  after  which  the  building  was  occupied  successively  by  F.  C 
Sessions's  drygoods  store,  B.  &  C.  Ortman's  shoestore,  and  the  jewelry  store  of  Buck 
&  Brown.  Its  present  successor  is  the  Johnson  Building.  In  1850  Mr.  Russell, 
having  lost  his  wife  by  cholera,  removed  to  a  farm  near  Tiffin. 

The  Columbus  Inn,  at  which  the  Borough  Council  held  its  first  sittings,  was 
opened  in  1815  by  David  S.  Broderick  in  a  frame  building  at  the  southeast  corner 

[281] 


282  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

of  High  and  Town.^  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  establishment  afterwards  widely 
known  as  the  City  House,  and  also,  for  a  time,  as  Robinson's  tavern,  under  the 
proprietorship  of  Mrs.  Robinson  &  Son.  During  the  spring  of  1818  Mr.  Broderick 
retired,  and  was  succeeded  by  James  B.  Gardiner,  who  emblazoned  his  sign  with 
a  blooming  rosetree,  and  the  legend :  "  The  wilderness  shall  blossom  as  the 
rose." 

Of  the  final  fate  of  the  old  Columbus  Inn,  and  of  its  earlier  history,  the  fol- 
lowing mention  is  made,  under  date  of  April  4,  1854,  in  the  Ohio  State  Journal  : 

Yesterday,  the  workmen  commenced,  at  the  corner  of  High  and  Town  streets,  in  remov- 
ing the  venerable  old  twostory  white  frames  formerly  known  as  the  City  Hotel.  This  build- 
ing iH  classic  in  the  early  annals  of  Columbus,  and  many  reminiscences  of  bygone  years  are 
associated  with  it.  At  an  early  day,  David  S.  Broderick,  father  of  the  late  Colonel  John  C. 
Broderick,  did  the  honors  of  host  there.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  facetious  **  Cokeley,"  who 
not  only  entertained  his  guests  with  provant,  for  which  he  was  an  expert  caterer,  but  abund- 
antly amused  them  with  his  overflowing  wit  and  humor.  After  him  came  Mr.  James  Robin- 
son, Mr.  Samuel  Barr,  Colonel  [P.  H.]  Olmsted,  and  we  know  not  how  many  others.  .  .  .  For 
several  years  past  it  [the  building]  has  served  as  a  sort  of  makeshift,  and  been  temporarily 
occupied  by  provision  men,  hucksters,  and  mechanic  shops  until  better  apartments  could  be 
obtained. 

In  the  same  connection  wo  are  told  that  Mr.  D.  W.  Deshler,  proprietor  of  the 
premises,  is  about  to  erect  thereon  a  spacious  and  beautiful  block  of  business 
houses. 

The  White  Horse  Tavern  was  established  at  an  earl}'  date,  on  the  present  site 
of  the  Odd  Fellows'  building,  by  Isaiah  Voris,  of  Franklinton.  Its  name  was  em- 
blematically represented  on  its  sign  by  the  picture  of  a  white  horse  led  by  a  hostler 
dressed  in  green.  It  was  a  one-and-a-half-story  frame  in  front,  with  a  long  narrow 
annex  to  the  rear,  supplemented  by  a  commodious  barn,  which  occupied  the  entire 
rear  portion  of  its  grounds.  An  upstairs  veranda,  with  which  the  rooms  on  that 
floor  communicated,  opened  upon  the  ample  dooryard,  and  furnished  a  pleasant 
lounging. place  in  summer.  The  dining  room  was  ranged  with  long  tables,  and 
warmed  from  a  great  open  fireplace,  out  of  which,  in  winter  time,  the  burning 
logs  snapped  their  sparks  cheerily  while  the  guests  gossiped  around  it,  seated  upon 
sturdy  oaken  armchairs.  In  December,  1829,  David  Brooks  became  its  landlord, 
and  made  it  one  of  the  favorite  hostelries  of  the  borough.  Mr.  Brooks  seems  to 
have  resumed  its  management,  after  an  interval,  in  1837.  It  Was  then  known  as 
the  Eagle  Hotel. 

The  Swan  Tavern,  which  had  its  origin,  already  chronicled,  in  the  bakery  of 
its  proprietor,  Christian*  Heyl,  was  kept  in  a  frame  building  which  yet  stands,  on 
the  corner  of  High  Street,  east  side,  and  Cherry  Alley.  On  its  sign  was  painted  at 
one  time  a  white,  at  another  a  golden  swan.  Members  of  the  General  Assemby 
were  fond  of  stopping  with  Mr.  Ileyl,  who  provided  royally  both  for  them  and  for 
the  horses  from  'which  they  dismounted  before  his  door.  During  its  later  career 
the  Swan  Tavern  became  widely  known  as  the  Franklin  House,  of  which  name, 
although  at  different  times  adopted  b}'  its  rivals,  it  was  the  original  and  proper 
owner.  In  the  spring  of  1841  Colonel  Andrew  McElvain  bought  the  establishment 
of  Judge  Heyl,  and  became  its  managing  host  Its  location  is  described  in  an  ad- 
vertisement of  that  period  as  ^*  pleasant  and  commanding,  ...  a  few  rods  north  of 


The  UiiBoiroii  Tatebnb  ahi)  Cnyt 


284  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

« 

the  entrance  of  the  National  Road  into  High  Street."  In  1842  the  ostablishraent 
passed  from  Colonel  McElvain  to  J.  W.  &  D.  C.  Dryden,  of  Xenia.  In  the  spring 
of  1849  a  Franklin  House,  possibly  the  same,  was  taken  charge  of  by  Grundy  D. 
Taylor. 

Jeremiah  Armstrong's  Red  Lion  Hotel,  despoiled  of  many  its  original  appur- 
tenances, still  stands  on  South  High  Street.  Its  position  is  on  the  west  side  of  the 
street,  a  few  doors  north  of  the  late  Metropolitan  Opera  House  Block,  between  Rich 
and  Town.  Its  nearest  rival  was  the  White  Horse  Tavern,  which  stood  nearh'  op- 
posite. On  its  first  sign  was  painted  an  Indian  Chief,  but  in  the  summer  of  1822 
Mr.  Armstrong  advertised  the  ^'Columbus  Hotel,  sign  of  Christopher  Columbus  first 
landing  from  his  ship  in  America;"  and  in  1827,  ''The  Columbus  Hotel,  sign  of  the 
Red  Lion  .  .  .  one  dollar  per  day  for  man  and  horse."^  Mr.  Armstrong  was  a 
popular  host,  and  entertained  many  distinguished  guests.  Mr.  John  L.  Gill,  who 
alighted  at  the  Red  Lion  when  he  first  arrived  in  the  borough  in  1826,  says  that  "al- 
though not  so  large  as  the  others,  it  became  famous  as  the  headquarters  of  several 
of  the  governors,  among  them  Morrow,  Trimble  and  Mc Arthur."^  General  Har- 
rison, when  visiting  Columbus,  stopped  there  habitually,  as  did  also  Clay,  Ewing, 
Sherman  and  other  men  of  national  reputation.  In  1850  the  front  part  of  the  old 
Red  Lion  Tavern  was  removed,  and  the  remainder  of  it  fitted  up  for  shops  of 
various  kinds. 

James  B.  Gardiner,  who  had  acquired  a  large  acquaintance  as  editor  of  the 
Ffmn<ni'fi  Chronlrh\  in  Franklinton,  started  the  Ohio  Tavern  in  1816.  It  occupied  a 
frame  building  on  ground  afterwards  known  as  "the  Howard  lot,"  situated  on  Friend 
Street,  just  west  of  High.  In  1818  Mr.  Gardiner  took  charge  of  the  Columbus 
Inn,  as  successor  to  Mr.  Broderick,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  Ohio  Tavern  by  Jar- 
vis  Pike.  In  1821  James  Lindsey  suc(!ceded  Pike,  and  raised  the  sign  of  The 
Swan,  but  soon  exchanged  it  for  The  Sheaf  of  Wheat.  In  the  summer  of  1822  Pike 
announced  that  he  had  "taken  that  large  and  commotlious  stand  on  Broad  Street, 
latel}'  the  property  of  II.  M.  Curry,  Esq."  It  occupied  a  twostory  frame  building 
on  West  Broad,  and  was  known  as  Pike's  Tavern. 

McCollum's  Tavern,  The  Black  Bear,  northwest  corner  of  Front  and  Broad, 
was  one  of  the  early  Columbus  inns.  Its  successor,  at  a  later  ])eriod,  was  the  Erin 
go  Bragh.  Daniel  Kooser  opened  an  inn  contemporary  with  McCollum's  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Sugar  Alley  and  Front  Street,  but  its  name  is  not  recorded. 

In  the  autumn  of  1825  was  advertised  the  Tavern  of  The  Golden  Lamb,  kept 
by  Henry  Brown  "in  the  building  foi*morly  occupied  by  Mr.  James  Robinson,  and 
recently  by  Mr.  William  Neil,  on  High  Street,  opposite  the  [Inited  States  ( 'ourt- 
house  and  State  buildings."  An  advertisement  of  the  next  month  following  men- 
tions the  same  place  as  "Franklin  Hall,  sign  of  the  Golden  Lamb."  In  1826  this 
establishment  passed  under  the  management  of  Edmund  Brown,  of  West  Union. 

A  twostory  brick  tavern  known  as  the  Union  Hotel  was  situated  on  South 
High  Street,  west  side,  nearly  opposite  The  Swan,  between  Cherry  Alley  and 
Rich.  John  D.  Rose,  Senior,  and  John  D.  Rose,  Junior,  were  its  proprietors,  and 
its  sign  The  Golden  Plough.  In  1836  the  Roses  announce  that  "  there  being  a  large 
wagonyard  attached  to  the  establishment,  families  traveling,  and  large  teams,  can 
at  all  times  be  accommodated."     At  a  later  date  General  Edgar  Gale  became  the 


The  BoRoriiH  Taverns  and  CoFFEEirousEs.  285 

host  at  the  Union,  after  wlilch  it  wan  generally  known  up  and  down  the  National 
Koad  as  Gale's  Tavern.  The  junior  Kose  acquired  celebrity  as  a  barkeeper,  and 
emigrated  to  New  Orleans,  where  the  St.  Charles  Hotel  paid  him  a  phenomenal 
salary  as  a  dispenser  of  cordials. 

The  large  wagonyard  attached  to  the  Union  Tavern  was  situated  at  the 
present  southwest  corner  of  Maifi  and  High  Streets,  west  side  of  High,  and  was 
kept  by  Amos  Meneely.  It  was  at  one  time  knowMi  as  the  White  Horse,  at  another 
as  the  Cross  Keys,  and  was  a  favorite  and  famous  resort  of  the  great  wheeled 
schooners  of  the  road,  which  were  locked  up  there  over  night  for  safety  of  the 
merchandise  wMth  which  they  were  hiden.  The  Meneely  yard  was  one  of  the 
liveliest  places  in  the  borough,  ]>articularly  in  the  evening,  when,  amid  the  crack- 
ing of  whips,  the  shouts  of  teamsters  and  the  jingling  of  bells  which  the  sturdy 
roadsters  bore  upon  their  hames,  the  mammoth  canvas-covered,  broad-tread,  six- 
hoi-se  wagons,  creaking  with  their  burdens,  and  dusty  \v\{\\  the  day's  travel  came 
flocking  in  for  the  night. 

Another  wagonyard,  not  so  large,  was  kept  on  High  Street  just  opposite 
Meneely 'h. 

On  Front  Street,  west  side,  near  State,  the  Culbertsofi  tavern  was  kept  in  a 
twostory  brick  building  which,  in  1>^80,  was  still  standing.  Its  sign  was  that  of 
The  Fox  Chase,  representing  a  fox  pursued  by  a  pack  of  hounds.  James  Culbert- 
son,  a  son  of  the  proprietor,  was  a  talented  young  attorney,  practising  at  the  Col- 
umbus bar.  On  a  lot  next  to  the  Culbertson  Tavern  building  a  portion  of  the  old 
Markethouse,  removed  from  State  Street,  stood  until  a  recent  period. 

The  use  of  distilled  liquors  was  very  common,  and  every  tavern  had  its 
licensed  bar.  The  guest  was  usually  invited  by  his  host  to  one  gratuitous  dram  in 
the  evening  and  one  in  the  morning;  whatever  additional  fluid  refreshments  he 
consumed  he  paid  for.  '*  Tanzy  bitters"  were  freely  imbibed  as  a  8uppo.sed  pre- 
ventive of  the  prevailing  fevers.  The  habit  of  treating  was  common,  and  at  the 
Russell  Tavern  it  was  a  rule  with  the  loungers  w^ho  used  to  sit  on  the  sidewalk 
benches  in  front,  that  the  first  one  to  rise  should  treat  the  rest.  Mr.  John  M.  Kerr 
says  it  was  habitual  with  many  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  the  borough  to 
enjoy  their  mint  juleps  on  summer  evenings,  seated  on  the  sidew^alk  chairs  or 
benches  of  the  cofl^eehouses  and  taverns.  Ha  lady  of  their  ac(iuaintance  chanced 
to  pass  by,  they  rose  and  greeted  her  graciously,  each  with  his  minted  julep  in 
his  hand. 

The  coffeehouse  of  the  period  was  a  place  for  gossip,  refreshment  and  gaming. 
Among  the  exhilarating  drinks  dispensed  there,  coff*ee  was  one  of  the  least  called 
for,  or  thought  of.  The  borough  and  early  city  life  of  the  capital  developed  many 
ofthe.se  establishments,  by  far  the  most  popular  and  important  of  which  was  that 
of  John  Young.  This  tamous  convivial  resort  and  gambling  place  was  located  on 
the  west  side  of  High  Street,  a  few  rods  north  of  State.  Originally,  in  182r),  it 
took  the  humble  title  of'  Bakehouse  and  Grocery,"  but  in  a  few  years  it  became 
known  far  and  wide  as  the  Eagle  Cofleehouse.  In  one  sense  it  was  a  social  center 
of  the  borough.  A  citizen  wMio  remembei's  it  well  remarked  to  the  writer  that 
"everybody  went  there  except  Doctor  Hoge."  This,  of  course,  was  intended 
partly  as  a  jest,  but  it  was  more  than  half  serious.     People  loved  a  little  recreation 


286  HiSTOEY  OF   THB   OlTY   OP   CoLUMBtTS. 

then,  as  they  do  now,  and  John  Young's  was  the  place  to  find  it.  They  went 
there  to  chat  and  be  merry,  and  right  merry  they  often  were.  The  place  was 
always  cheerful,  and  its  keeper,  according  to  all  accounts,  was  a  very  prince  ot 
good  fellows.  He  had  been  a  baker,  and  had  been  set  up  in  that  business  by  Lyne 
Starling,  who  owned  the  premises.  For  the  gaming  which  he  tolerated  no  excuwe 
can  be  made  except  that  it  was  the  amusement  of  a  raw,  frontier  town  which  had 
scarcely  any  other.  The  establishment  had  a  public  bathhouse  attached  to  it  — 
probably  the  only  one  in  the  borough  —  the  water  for  which  was  pumped  by  a 
big,  black  bear,  chained  to  a  treadmill  in  the  back  yard.  One  day,  while  quite  a 
number  of  loungers  were  watching  this  animal  at  his  task,  and  Trowbridge,  the 
actor,  was  teasing  him,  one  of  the  bystanders  remarked  to  a  comrade  that  he  would 
like  to  see,  "just  for  the  fun  of  it,"  what  would  happen  if  that  bear  should  break 
loose.  A  few  minutes  later  the  bear  did  break  loose,  and  a  general  scatterment 
followed.  Among  those  who  broke  for  a  place  of  safety  was  John  M.  Kerr,  to 
whom  the  writer  is  indebted  for  the  history  of  this  episode.  Most  of  the  company 
rushed  for  the  street,  but  Mr.  Kerr  leaped  upon  a  table,  and  in  the  excitement  of 
the  occasion  was  unconscious  for  several  minutes  that  in  the  spring  he  had  made 
the  entire  rear  part  of  a  dress  coat  he  had  on  had  been  torn  away  by  the  latch  ot 
a  door  against  which  he  had  been  leaning.  The  bear  was  soon  secured  by  his 
keeper,  and  the  loungers  resumed  their  juleps  and  their  jollity. 

With  the  pleasure-seeking  roysterers  who  frequented  Young's  place,  singing 
was  a  favorite  pastime.  Among  the  ditties  with  which  they  fed  their  hilarity  was 
one  entitled  "  The  Bobtailed  Mare  "  ;  another,  "Old  Kosin  the  Bow."  Apropos  ot 
the  latter  a  wellknown  citizen  describes  to  the  writer  a  singular  scene  which  he 
witnessed  as  he  quitted  his  place  of  business  to  go  home  very  late  one  night,  away 
back  in  the  thirties.  Passing  the  open  door  of  Young's  Coffeehouse,  he  saw  Tom 
West  lying  on  the  counter  in  an  accustomed  state  of  intoxication.  Beside  him 
was  a  group  of  revelers  including  various  gentlemen  whose  names,  familiar  in  the 
annals  of  the  borough,  it  is  not  necessary  to  mention.  At  the  top  of  their  voices 
they  were  all  singing  "Old  Hosin  the  Bow,"  closing  each  stanza  with  the  refrain  : 

Now  I'm  dead,  and  laid  on  the  counter, 
A  voice  shall  be  heard  from  below, 
A  little  more  whisky  and  water 
To  cheer  up  Old  Rosin  the  Bow.* 

After  each  chorus  a  draught  of  whisky  was  administered  to  West. 

As  a  gambling  resort,  the  Eagle  Coffeehouse  was  frequented  by  some  of  the 
deftest  experts  in  that  vice  which  the  cities  of  the  East,  South  and  West  could 
then  produce,  and  many  pages  might  be  filled  with  accounts  of  scenes  and  events 
within  its  walls,  thrilling  and  sad  as  those  of  Monte  Carlo.  One  of  its  devotees, 
strange  to  say,  afterwards  became  a  successful  clergyman.  Young  finally  sold  the 
place,  about  1839,  to  Basil  A.  Kiddle,  who  had  long  been  his  assistant,  and  removed 
to  Cincinnati,  where  he  died.  In  1843  Culbertson  &  Vinal  took  charge  of  the 
establishment,  and  changed  its  name  to  The  Commercial.  The  following  passage 
in  the  later  history  of  the  place  is  found  in  the  Ohio  State  *Tournal  of  March  27, 
1876: 


-i^ 


The  Borough  Taverns  and  Coffeehouses.  287 

The  buildlDg  on  High  Street,  opposite  Capitol  Square  between  the  American  and  Neil 
House,  which  has  been  occupied  for  a  great  length  of  time  by  Mr.  Sam.  West  as  a  billiard 
room,  will  be  vacated  on  Friday  next.  On  the  following  day  the  demolition  of  the  building 
will  commence,  to  make  way  for  a  fourstory  stone  front  building,  which  will  be  erected  by 
Messrs.  E.  T.  Mithoff  and  D.  S.  Stafford. 

Most  popular  and  famous  of  the  coffeehouses,  next  to  Young's,  was  the  Tontine, 
situated  on  the  south  side  of  State  Street,  a  few  doors  west  of  High,  and  known  in 
the  political  slang  of  the  thirties  and  forties  as  the  Tinpan.  Samuel  Pike,  Junior, 
was  its  proprietor  in  1837;  in  1843,  4  and  5,  Francis  Hall.  Politically  speaking, 
the  Whig  influences  centered  at  the  Eagle  Coffeehouse,  the  Democratic  at  the  Ton- 
tine. Partisan  meetings  were  held,  and  party  "  slates  "  made  up  at  both  places, 
but  the  Tontine,  paraphrased  as  Tinpan,  became  particularly  noted  for  its  secret 
caucuses,  and  sly  partisan  manipulation,  ritimatol}'',  in  the  heated  party  discus- 
sion of  the  period,  the  word  "  tinpan  "  was  used  as  a  synonym  for  caucus  dictation 
and  clandestine  politics. 

Many  additional  coffeehouses,  so  called,  started  up  during  the  borough  and 
early  city  period.  Among  them  were  the  Buckeye,  on  East  Broad  Street,  in  1841, 
by  Ira  Grover;  the  Eclipse,  in  the  Exchange  Buildings,  on  West  Broad  Street;  and 
the  Bank  Exchange,  by  R.  Biddell,  under  the  Mechanics'  Savings  Institute,  corner 
of  High  and  State,  in  1842.  In  that  year  the  proprietoiN  of  the  Young  establishment 
advertised  it  ironically  as  a  "temperance"  place,  but  real  temperance  refreshment 
rooms  were  not  a  myth.  In  184;")  the  Washington  Temperance  House,  by  Mr. 
Alston,  is  announced,  and  in  184G  a  temperance  restaurant,  in  the  basement  of  the 
City  Bank,  by  W.  ToUivor.  The  first  saloon,  so  called,  is  said  to  have  been  kept 
by  Krauss,  about  1832.  Its  location  was  on  the  west  side  of  High  Street,  three  or 
four  houses  north  of  Main. 

The  advent  of  the  first  pretentious  hotel,  bearing  that  name,  is  announced  in 
the  following  card,  dated  March  1,  1832,  and  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
borough  : 

The  undersigned,  from  Lancaster,  in  this  State,  has  taken  the  noted  Tavern  Stand, 
nearly  opposite  to  the  Public  Buildings  and  Court  House,  in  Columbus,  and  owned  by 
William  Neil,  Esq.,  which  will  hereafter  be  known  as  the  National  Hotel,  and  will  be 
furnished  and  attended  to  in  a  style  equal  to  the  highest  expectations.  The  stages  of  the 
Ohio  Stage  Company  stop  at  this  house,  and  their  office  is  attached  to  the  establishment. 

John  Noble. 

The  signer  of  the  foregoing  card.  Colonel  John  Noble,  had  been  engaged  in 
tavernkeeping  at  Lancaster,  Ohio.  As  his  career  was  identified  in  many  import- 
ant particulars  with  the  early  development  of  the  city,  it  may  here  be  briefly 
sketched.  Born  in  Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania,  the  emigration  of  his  parents 
to  Ohio  in  1811  brought  him  to  that  State,  where  the  family  settled  on  a  farm  near 
Tarlton,  in  Pickaway  County.  During  the  War  of  1812  he  was  engaged  in  busi- 
ness connected  with  the  supply  of  the  army  at  Franklinton.  His  tavern-keeping 
career  began  at  Lancaster  in  1820,  but  was  interrupted  at  later  dates  b}-  various  other 
business  enterprises,  including  canal  contracts  and  a  trading  expedition  to  New 
Orleans.  While  in  Columbus,  he  was  several  times  elected  to  the  City  Council, 
and  was  first  to  inaugurate  the  measures  by  w^hich  Broad  Street  was  redeemed  from 
the  swamp,  and  beautified.     As  host  of  the  National  Hotel,  which  was  the  stage 


2H8  History  of  the  City  op  Oolumbos. 

headquarters,  and  an  eddying  place  to  tlie  immense  current  of  emigration  and 
businefls  travel  then  beginning  to  pour  through  Columbus,  he  acquired  an  almost 
national  acquaintance,  and  became  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  the  West.  In 
1840  Colonel  Noble  removed  to  Cincinnati,  and  took  chari^cof  the  Dcnnison  House, 
in  which  the  futiire  Governor  Dennison  was,  for  a  time,  a  clerk.  He  returned  to 
('olumbus  in  1845,  and  at  a  later  date  was  elected  as  Representative  of  Franklin 
County  in  the  General  Assembly.  He  returned  to  Cincinnati,  and  took  charge  of 
the  Pearl  Street  House  of  that  city,  in  1847,  but  in  1854  removed  back  to  Colum- 
bus, where  he  remained  until  his  death  in  1871,  at  the  age  of  eightyone.  Among 
the  children  of  Colonel  Noble  were  the  late  Hon.  Henry  C.  Noble,  of  Columbus, 
and  General  John  W.  Noble,  of  St.  Louis. 

The  National  Hotel  was  a  twostory  brick  house,  painted  green.  Its  sign  was 
of  an  oval  form,  and  bore  simply  the  names  of  the  house  and  of  its  proprietor. 
The  stage  office,  a  singlestory  brick,  also  green,  occupied  the  present  position  of 
the  main  entrance  to  the  Neil  House.  Colonel  Noble's  successor  as  proprietor  of 
the  National  in  1839  was  Colonel  P.  H.  Olmsted. 

The  next  lineal  successor  of  the  National  was  the  original  Neil  House,  built  by 
William  Neil,  whose  name  it  bore,  from  1839  to  1843,  at  a  cost  of  over  $100,000.  It 
was  considered  a  great  enterprise  in  its  day,  and  was  intended  to  provide  a  hotel 
worthy  of  the  new  era  which  had  by  that  time  begun  in  the  growth  of  the  capital. 

During  the  night  following  the  day  of  the  Presidontml  election,  November  (3, 
18()0,  the  Neil  House  took  fire,  and  owing  to  the  insufficiency  of  the  water  8up])ly 
was  mostly  destroyed.  A  contract  for  its  successor,  the  present  building,  was 
closed  by  Mr.  Neil  in  March,  1861,  with  Miller  tt  Auld,  of  Mount  Vernon,  on  plans 
prepared  by  Mr.  Auld.  The  work  of  clearing  away  the  fJchris  of  the  oM  building 
began  in  the  following  June,  and  in  September,  1802,  the  new  Neil  House,  Wal- 
stein  Failing  in  charge,  was  opened  to  the  public.  It  contained  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  rooms. 

"Where  the  American  House  now  stands,  on  the  northwest  corner  of  High  and 
State  Streets,  a  tavern  called  the  Franklin  was  at  one  time  kept  by  Robinson. 
The  present  building  was  erected  on  the  site  of  McCoy's  dry  goods  store  b}'  its  pro- 
prietor, llobert  W.  McCoy,  who,  in  accordance  with  the  custom*  of  the  time,  broke 
a  bottle  of  whisky  on  its  chimney  top  when  the  last  brick  was  laid.  On  the 
twontysixth  of  November,  1836,  announcement  was  made  that  Charles  F.  Dres- 
bach,  then  a  jeweler,  and  William  Kelsey  had  taken  charge  of  it,  under  the  title  of 
C.  F.  Dresbach  &  Co.  Mr.  Dresbach  had  married  a  daughter  of  the  veteran  land- 
lord, Kobert  Russell.  In  April,  1838,  he  withdrew  from  the  concern  and  was  sue- 
ceded  by  Samuel  Pike,  Junior,  late  of  the  Tontine  Coffeehouse.  The  firm  then 
became  Pike  &  Kelsey.  The  sign  of  the  American  of  that  day  like  that  of  the 
National,  and  of  nearly  all  the  early  Uiverns  and  hotels,  was  of  elliptical  form,  and 
raised  on  a  staff  standing  by  the  sidewalk  in  front  of  the  establishment.  In  1849 
an  additional  story  was  added,  and  various  other  im})rovenients  in  the  building 
were  made.  Mr.  Kelsey  continued  in  the  management  until  1870,  when  he  emi- 
grated to  St.  Louis,  and  took  charge  of  the  Planters'  Hotel  of  that  cit}'.  His  suc- 
cessor in  the  American  was  A.  J.  Blount. 

An  establishment  variously  known  as  the  Buckeye  House,  and  the  Broadway 
Hotel,  with  many  transient  aliases,  occupied  for  man}'  years  the  site  of  the  Board 


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The  Borough  Taverns  and  Coffeehouses.  289 

of  Trade  BaildiDg,  on  East  Broad  Street.  In  1840  its  manager  was  Ira  Grover, 
its  owner  Colonel  John  Noble.  H.  Hurd  had  charge  of  it  in  1842  and  1845.  It 
led  an  inconspicaoas  and  chequered  career,  sometimes  as  a  tavern,  sometimes  as  a 
boarding  house. 

In  March,  1846,  Colonel  P.  H.  Olmsted  announced  that  in  the  following  month 
of  April  he  would  take  charge  of  the  United  States  Hotel,  at  the  northwest  corner 
of  High  and  Town  Streets.  In  1850  the  house  was  "reopened  '*  by  K.  Eussell.  J. 
Smith  &  Son  took  charge  of  it  in  1851.  Simonton  &  Son  conducted  it  for  a  long 
period  of  later  date. 

The  list  of  taverns  and  coffeehouses  of  the  borough  period,  and  of  their  numer- 
ous hotel,  saloon  and  restaurant  successors,  might  be  considerably  prolonged,  but 
without  historical  advantage.  If  this  chapter  has  presented  facts  fairly  represent- 
ative of  the  picturesque  life  and  business  of  the  early  taverns  and  their  congeners, 
its  purpose  has  been  accomplished. 

NOTES. 

1 .  Western  TnteUigencer. 

2.  Mr.  Broderick  had  kept  the  Franklinton  Hotel  prior  to  his  removal  across  the  river 
to  Columbus.    Eliza  Springer  is  announced  as  his  successor  in  the  Franklinton  Hotel  in  1816. 

3.  Ohio  State  JoumaL  December  12,  1827. 

4.  Address  before  the  Board  of  Trade,  July  24,  1889. 

5.  Various  versions  of  this  song,  some  of  which  are  too  coarse  to  be  amusing,  have  been 
published.  The  following  representative  stanzas  are  taken  from  a  very  long  one,  containing 
both  wit  and  sentiment,  which  went  the  rounds  of  the  press  in  1841 : 

OLD  ROSIN  THE  BOW. 

Time  creeps  on  the  wisest  and  happiest, 

As  well  as  all  others,  you  know, 
And  his  hand,  though  it  touches  him  kindly. 

Is  laid  on  Old  Rosin  the  Bow. 

My  fingers  grow  stifif  and  unskillful. 

And  I  musjt  make  ready  to  go, 
Qod's  blessing  on  all  I  am  leaving— 

I  lay  down  the  viol  and  bow. 

This  world  and  my  cheerful  companions,  -* 

I  love,  but  Vm  willing  to  go. 
For  a  better,  I  trust,  is  in  waiting 

Above,  for  Old  Rosin  the  Bow. 

I've  ever  been  cheerful,  but  guileless, 

And  I  wish  all  the  world  would  be  so, 
For  there's  nothing  like  bright  happy  faces, 

In  the  eyes  of  Old  Rosin  the  Bow. 

Full  many  a  gay-hearted  circle. 

Has  tripped  on  a  light  heel  and  toe. 
Through  the  good  old  cotillion  and  contra, 

Inspired  by  my  viol  and  bow. 

19 


n       *■ 


290  History  ok  thk  ('itv  ok  (\»Li'Miirs. 

An«l  when  a  striii;?  or:u-ke<l  in  the  nii<l(lle, 
They  just  took  a  lireath,  as  you  know, 

While  KoHin  retimed  the  oM  li<Mle, 

And  dapped  Home  new  «lust  on  the  how. 

All  the  vonth  love  the  nierrv  old  fellow, 
Anil  his  heart's  not  nn^mteful,  I  know  ; 

For,  to  see  them  all  joyous  and  happy, 
Is  bli^K  to  Old  Kosin  the  Bow 

A  few  whom  we  love  have  <leparted, 
An<l  oft  to  the  ehurehyanl  1  go, 

And  sit  on  some  green,  grassy  hillock, 
And  think  on  the  sleepers  below. 

Now  when  I'm  laid  umler  tin?  j^reens ward. 
Don't  sorrow  Um  deeply  for  me. 

But  think  on  the  morrow  that's  coming, 
How  sweet  our  reunion  shall  be. 

Then  lay  me  'neath  yonder  old  chestnut, 
Without  any  funeral  show. 

And  but  add  to  the  tear  of  affection  : 
"  (rod  care  for  Old  Rosin  the  Bow." 

Then  get  me  a  simple  stone  tablet. 
To  reach  from  my  head  to  my  toe. 

And  modt»stly  trace  on  its  surface 
The  name  of  Old  Rosin  the  Bow. 

But  do  not  forget  to  adorn  it-- 
Just  over  my  bosom,  you  know, 

Where  so  many  lon^  years  I  have  borne  it 
With  mv  cheerful  old  viol  and  bow, 

That  all  who  p:iss  by  and  look  on  it. 

.May  say,  *' after  all,  I  don't  know 
But  the  truest  philosopher  living 

Was  honest  Ohl  Rosin  the  Bow." 

r».     Now  SMUtiiea^t  corner  of  Wall  and  State  streets. 


CHAPTER  XVll. 


FUR,  FEATHER  AND  FIN. 

The  chronicles  of  the  borough  are  not  complete  without  some  incidental  notice 
of  the  wild  creatures  of  the  surrounding  woods.  Between  the  animal  life  of  these 
forests,  and  the  human  life  which  sprang  up  in  its  midst  there  were  naturally 
many  interesting  historical  points  of  contact. 

In  all  the  annals  of  the  Ohio  Wilderness,  the  abundance  and  variety  of  the 
wild  beasts  and  birds  which  infested  it  obtained  conspicuous  mention.  Its  Iroquois 
conquerors  regarded  it  as  a  hunting  ground,  and  at  the  time  of  its  first  exploration 
by  white  men,  parties  of  Indian  nomads  were  roaming  it  in  quest  of  its  game.  It 
was  this  which  tempted  the  Wyandots  southward  from  their  villages  about  Detroit 
and  Sandusky,  and  this,  probably,  which  brought  the  Mingocs  westward  from 
their  haunts  on  the  Susquehanna  and  Mohawk.  In  every  part  of  Ohio  have  been 
plowed  up  the  arrowheads  of  flint  spent  from  the  bow  of  the  moccasined  expert 
of  the  chase.  In  no  part  were  his  skill  and  daring  more  liberally  rewarded  than 
in  the  Scioto  Valley.  The  first  explorers  and  settlers  of  that  region  all  concurrent- 
ly testify  that  they  found  its  forests  abundantly  peopled  with  every  species  of  in- 
digenous game,  both  furred  and  feathered.  The  proofs  are  abundant  that  in  this 
particular  no  exception  is  to  be  made  of  the  forests  which  environed  the  borough 
of  Columbus.  The  village  hunters  usually  went  east,  says  Doctor  Edward  Young, 
nor  did  they  need  to  go  farther  than  where  Twentieth  Street  now  is  to  find  all  the 
game  they  desired.*  The  Indian  hunters  lingered  in  the  neighborhood  long:  after 
the  first  white  settlements  began,  and  for  many  years  pitched  their  annual  camps 
on  Walnut  Creek,  and  other  watercourses  of  Franklin  County. 

"  When  we  first  came  to  this  country,"  says  Joel  Buttles  in  his  diary,  "  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  wild  game,  of  course.  I  have  sometimes  killed  three  deer  in 
one  day.  Turkeys  were  numerous,  and  easily  killed.  Wolves  were  also  numer- 
ous. Bears  were  few,  the  country  being  too  level  to  suit  their  habits.  Buffaloes 
had  long  before  left  the  country,  though  there  had  been  a  time  when  there  were 
many  about.  Raccoons  were  an  annoyance  because  of  the  damage  they  did  to  the 
corn  in  the  fall  season.  The  wolves  could  not  do  much  damage  because  the  sheop 
were  so  few  at  that  time,  but  they  destroyed  young  pigs,  and  it  was  our  interest  to 
kill  them  when  we  could.  ...  I  trapped  for  them,  and  caught  many,  though  my 
younger  brother  Aurora  had  better  success  than  I  had.  I  also  took,  in  trapping 
for  wolves,  many  of  a  certain  kind  of  animals  called  fisher — a  longlegged,  dark- 
brown  animal.     The  wolf,  when  caught,  seeing  no  way  of  escape,  gives  up  all  at- 

[291] 


292  IIiSTORy  OF  the  City  of  Columbus. 

tempts,  and  yields  himself  a  passive  prisoner  to  be  done  with  as  his  captor  chooses, 
but  ho  will  not  thu»  submit  to  a  dog,  and  will  fight  one  with  great  desperation. 

"  I  must  not  forget,"  continues  Mr.  Buttles,  "  to  mention  the  opossum,  a  small 
animal  about  the  size  of  a  cat.  though  very  different  in  appearance  and  form,  being 
much  heavier,  and  generally  very  fat.  He  has  short  legs,  a  sharp  nose,  small  head, 
small,  thin  ears  with  very  little  hair  on  them,  and  the  body  covered  with  a  short, 
coarse,  curly  white  wool,  wMth  long  black  hairs  intermixed,  giving  it  a  very  un- 
sightly appearance.  He  has  a  long  tail  like  a  muskrat,  in  which  there  is  great 
muscular  strength  so  that  the  animal  can  sometimes  suspend  himself  from  the 
bough  of  a  tree,  which,  in  case  of  danger,  it  will  ascend  with  great  difficulty. 
It  can  make  but  little  speed,  and  when  pursued  and  overtaken,  always  throws 
itself  down  and  feigns  death.  I  never  could  by  any  means  make  it  show  signs  of 
life  but  by  putting  a  coal  of  fire  or  a  blaze  to  its  nose.  I  have  known  it  carried  for 
miles  hanging  by  the  tail  across  a  man's  shoulder,  to  all  appearance  lifeless,  and 
nothing  would  make  it  move  but  the  application  mentioned  above.  It  is  one  of 
the  marsupial  tribe,  having  a  sack  or  pouch  under  the  belly  of  the  female,  extend- 
ing from  the  hindlegs  to  the  forelegs,  and  capable  of  being  extended  so  as  to  almost 
prevent  walking,  into  this  pouch  a  small  opening  admits  the  young  ones,  where 
they  find  a  safe  and  congenial  abode.  I  once  caught  one  with  five  young  ones  in 
this  pouch.     They  were  of  the  size  of  a  very  small  mouse,  and  had  no  hair  at  all." 

The  northeast  part  of  Franklin  County,  says  Virgil  D.  Moore,  was  as  good  a 
hunting  ground  as  any  in  Ohio.  How  Mr.  Moore's  father,  with  the  rifle  he  had 
carried  at  Bunker  Hill,  shot,  from  the  roof  of  his  cabin,  the  deer  which  browsed 
by  moonlight  in  his  clearings,  has  already  been  narrated. 

The  first  of  the  wild  quadrupeds  to  disappear  from  the  Central  Ohio  woods 
seem  to  have  been  the  elk  and  the  buffalo.  Both  were  rarely  seen  in  the  Scioto 
Valley  by  the  early  explorers.  Harrison  Armstrong  says  he  has  heard  his  father 
tell  of  elk  which  the  hunters  had  encountered,  but  not  of  buffalo.  A  history  of 
Licking  County  published  in  1881*  says  that  about  the  year  1803  a  small  herd  of 
buffaloes,  six  or  eight  in  number,  '^strayed  from  their  usual  haunts  fistrther  west, 
and  reached  a  point  a  short  distance  east  of  where  Will's  Creek  empties  into  the 
Muskingum.  Here,  for  a  day  or  two,  they  were  pursued  by  the  late  John 
Channel,  a  famous  hunter  and  pioneer,  but  without  success  so  far  as  Mr.  Channel 
was  concerned."  The  antlers  of  the  elk,  says  the  same  writer,  were  found  "  pro- 
fusely scattered  in  the  forest,"  but  no  living  specimens  of  the  animal  remained  in 
Licking  County  at  the  time  of  the  white  man's  advent.  The  final  ezterminatioD 
of  the  elk  and  buffalo  in  Ohio  dates  from  about  the  year  1800.  The  animals  did 
not  emigrate;  they  were  destroyed. 

The  cougar,  commonly  called  panther,  and  the  wild  cat  or  catamount  both 
prowled  through  the  Franklin  County  forests.  They  were  lithe,  fierce  and  not 
pleasant  customers  to  meet  unarmed.  The  panther  was  a  whiskered  beast, 
with  small  head,  large  rounded  ears,  short  hair  of  a  tawny  brown  color,  and 
a  ringed  tail.  His  weight  sometimes  reached  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  His 
favorite  prey  was  the  wild  turkey,  of  which  he  sometimes  made  havoc  bordering 
on  extermination.  A  night  adventure  of  the  Lucas  Sullivant  surveying  party  with 
one  of  those  cats  has  already  been  narrated.      The  wildcat  was  of  the  same  family 


Fur,  Feather  and  Fin.  293 

as  the  cougar,  but  smaller,  and  of  varying  color,  with  dorsal  lines,  and  slightly 
spotted.  It  was  too  savage  to  be  tolerated  and  too  unsociable  to  linger  long  about 
tbe  settlements.  Harrison  Armstrong  says  he  has  seen  wildcats  in  the  woods  near 
the  present  starch  factory  below  the  city.  Another  citizen  informs  the  writer  that 
when  a  boy  he  and  a  companion  killed  a  young  one  near  the  Shepherd  Watercure, 
on  Alum  Creek. 

The  bear  of  the  Ohio  Wilderness  occasionally  came  nosing  around  the  settle- 
ments at  the  Forks  of  the  Scioto.  The  late  William  S.  Sullivant  stated  that  he  saw 
one  come  out  of  the  woods  not  far  from  the  spot  on  which  now  stands  the  Kelley 
Mansion.  This  is  said  to  have  been  bruin's  positively  farewell  appearance  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  borough. 

Of  the  wolves  the  chronicles  are  numerous.  They  infested  the  Franklin 
County  forests  in  considerable  numbers,  and  were  last  of  the  beasts  of  prey  to  dis- 
appear. In  her  sketch  of  the  Merion  family,  whose  log  dwelling  stood  at  the 
present  southwest  corner  of  High  and  Moler  streets,  Mrs.  Emily  Stewart  says  the 
wolves  were  so  numerous  in  that  vicinity  that  "  the  dogs  would  chase  them  from 
the  house  at  night,"  but  that  "  when  the  dogs  turned  toward  home,  the  wolves 
would  chase  them  back  until  they  would  come  against  the  door  with  such  force 
as  to  almost  break  it  down."  How  they  pursued  Mrs.  Merion  on  her  way  home 
from  Franklinton  one  evening  in  1814  has  been  narrated.  "The  first  winter  that 
I  lived  in  Columbus,"  said  Judge  Heyl,  "  we  could  plainly  hear  the  wolves  howl- 
ing at  night  in  the  east  part  of  the  town.  A  colored  man  who  lived  on  Kich  Street, 
one  square  from  High  Street,  put  some  old  meat  on  the  ends  of  the  logs  of  his 
cabin,  and  at  night  the  wolves  came  and  carried  it  off.*'^  Verily,  the  "  high  bank 
opposite  Franklinton  "  deserved  its  title  of  those  days  as  Wolf  Kidge. 

Such  a  nuisance  to  the  settlers  were  these  animals,  by  reason  of  their  depreda- 
tions upon  the  swine,  sheep,  and  poultry,  that  the  General  Assembly  began  at  a 
very  early  period  to  legislate  for  their  extermination.  A  statute  of  February  19, 
1810,  provided  that  any  person  who  should  "kill  or  take  any  wolf  or  wolves  with- 
in this  State"  should  receive  a  bounty  of  four  dollars  for  each  one  over  and  two 
dollars  for  each  one  under  six  months  old,  on  producing  the  "  scalp  or  scalps  with 
the  ears  entire"  to  a  justice  of  the  peace  within  thirty  days,  and  taking  an  oath 
that  the  life  of  no  bitch  wolf  had  been  spared  by  the  claimant  of  the  bounty  "with 
a  design  to  increase  the  breed."  This  law  was  reonacted  December  6,  1819,  and, 
with  some  amendments,  December  22,  1821.  It  was  again  reonacted  in  1830,  and 
again  in  1852.  The  amount  of  bounty  paid  for  wolf  scalps  from  the  public  funds 
has  amounted  to  as  much  as  eleven  thousand  dollars  in  a  single  year,  but  the  claims 
on  which  a  considerable  part  of  this  sum  was  expended  are  believed  to  have  been 
fraudulent. 

Wild  deer  were  often  seen  in  the  vicinity  of  the  borough.  They  sometimes 
approached  the  cornfields  near  Franklinton,  and  loved  to  linger  in  the  woods 
where  now  rise  the  monuments  of  Green  Lawn  Cemetery.  When  the  first  trees 
were  cut  down  in  the  Capitol  Square,  these  meekeyed  creatures  came  to  browse 
upon  their  branches.  Jonathan  Neereamer,  a  Councilman  of  the  borough, frequent- 
ly shot  deer  in  the  forest  which  covered  the  territory  now  known  as  East  Park 
Place.     His  son  tells  the  writer  that  he  killed  one  on  the  ground  contiguous  to 


294  IIlSTollV    OF    TIIK    ('ITY    OF    CoLUMBlfS. 

Broad  Street,  north  side,  cast  of  Gtirfield  Avenue.  In  January,  1825,  John  Ot«tot, 
as  he  informs  the  writer,  saw  five  deer  toetling  together  near  the  old  cemetery,  on 
Livingston  Avenue.  These  were  the  hist  deer  seen  hy  Mr.  Otstot  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Columbus.  In  the  year  1><35  he  killed  one  in  the  Nine  Mile  Woods,  near 
Dublin.  Mr.  John  Barr  informed  the  writer  that  deer  were  seen  between  Alum 
Creek  and  the  Big  Walnut  as  late  as  lS-45.  On  November  13,  1855,  Mr.  William 
Neil  saw  two  wild  deer  in  his  woods  two  miles  north  of  the  city.*  A  buck's  horn 
was  unearthed  six  feet  below  the  surface  during  the  excavation  for  the  water- 
works building  in  1871.*  Judge  Christian  Heyl  relates  in  his  autobiography  the 
following  incident : 

Peter  Putnam,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Columbus,  went  out  hunting  one  day,  and  shot 
an  old  buck,  but  when  he  approached  the  fallen  animal  to  cut  its  throat  it  gave  a  kick  with 
its  hind  legs  which  knot-ked  the  knife  out  of  old  Peter's  hand,  then  sprang  up  and  gave  him 
fight.  Putnam  retreated  behind  a  convenient  tree  followed  by  the  enraged  buck,  whieh 
kept  him  dancing  arouml  that  tree  for  some  time.  Finally  the  buck  drew  off  and  disappeared, 
giving  Peter  an  opportunity  to  hunt  for  his  knife,  which,  however,  he  was  unable  to  find. 
He  went  home  without  game  or  knife,  altogether  ohopfallen. 

"The  hunting  or  killing  of  deer,'  say  Martin,  "  was  successfully  practiced  by 
oandle-  or  torchlight,  at  night,  on  the  river.  The  deer,  in  warm  weather,  would 
come  into  the  river  after  night,  to  eat  a  kind  of  water  grass  that  grew  in  the 
stream,  and  the  hunters,  by  taking  a  canoe,  and  a  bright  light  in  it,  could  let  it 
float  down  the  stream,  and  the  light  appeared  to  blind  the  deer  until  they  could 
float  near  to  them,  and  shoot  them  with  ease." 

So  numerous  and  mischievous  were  the  squirrels  of  the  early  Ohio  woods  as  to 
become,  like  the  wolves,  a  subject  of  legislative  persecution.  A  statute  passed 
December  24,  1807,  contained  these  curious  provisions: 

Section  1.  That  each  and  every  person  within  this  State  who  is  subject  to  the  payment 
of  a  county  tax,  shall,  in  addition  thereto,  produce  to  the  clerk  of  the  township  in  which  he 
may  reside,  such  number  of  squirrel  scalps  as  the  trustees  shall,  at  their  annual  meeting, 
apportion  in  proportion  to  their  county  levies,  provided  it  does  not  exceed  one  hundred  nor 
less  than  ten. 

Section  2.  That  the  trustees  Rhall,  at  their  annual  meeting,  make  out  an  accurate  state- 
ment of  the  number  of  squirrel  scalps  each  person  has  to  produce,  which  list  or  statement 
shall  be  ^iven  to  the  lister  of  personal  property,  who  shall,  at  the  time  he  takes  in  the  returns 
of  chattel  property,  notify  each  person  of  the  number  of  squirrel  scalfw  which  he  had  to 
furnish. 

Section  three  levies  a  fine  of  three  cents  for  each  scalp  short,  and  provides  a 
bounty  of  two  cents  for  each  one  in  excess  of  the  number  required.  Section  four 
makes  it  the  duty  of  the  Township  Clerk  to  receive  the  scalps  and  destroy  them 
by  burning,  or  otherwise. 

The  grounds  for  this  statute,  and  the  facility  with  which  its  requirement*  were 
met,  are  indicated  in  the  following  passage  from  the  diary  of  Joel  Buttles: 

The  grey  and  black  squirrels  were  sometimes  so  numerous  as  to  cause  much  destruction  to 
the  corn  crop,  men  with  dogs  and  guns  not  being  able  to  protect  it.  At  one  time  I  knew  sixty- 
seven  killed  offof  one  tree;  but  this  tree  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  cornfield  into  which  the  squirrels 
from  the  surrounding  woods  had  gathered  to  feed  upon  the  corn.  When  the  dogs  were  sent  into 
the  corn,  the  squirrels  retreated  as  best  they  could,  getting  up  the  first  tree  they  could  reach.    I 


P^TK^  Feather  and  Fin.  295 

have  known  boys  to  go  to  the  rivor  in  the  morning  and  kill  afl  many  nqnirrels  with  clubs  as 
they  could  carry  liome,  in  half  an  hour.  This  is  cxplaint^d  by  the  fact  that,  in  the  fall  season 
of  the  year,  this  s<]uirrel  seems  to  be  migrating,  and  all  over  the  country  travelling  in  some 
particular  direction. 

Mr.  Joseph  Sullivan!  believed  that  these  nii«^rations  were  caused,  in  part,  by 
the  rcstlcssneHH  of  the  little  animals  produced  from  the  torments  of  a  grub  whicii 
h>dged  itself  under  their  skin. 

John  M.  Kerr  avers  that  while  the  migratory  squirrels  were  swimming  the 
Scioto,  just  below  the  moutli  of  the  Whetstone,  he  has  often  waded  into  the  stream 
and  killed,  in  a  few  minutes,  as  many  squirrtds  as  he  could  carry  home. 

The  Coliimhiis  (tnzittr  of  April  25,  1822,  says:  'M)n  Friday  and  Saturday  last, 
there  were  about  nihc  flunisunil  >if/uirrr/,s  kille<i  in  this  county,  near  five  thousand  of 
which  were  killed  in  this  immediate  vicinity." 

The  same  paper  of  August  21),  1S22,  contains  the  following  account  of  the  prep- 
arations tor  a  "grand  scjuirrel  hunt,"  which  has  deservedly  cons^^icuous  mention 
in  all  the  early  chronicles  of  the  borough  : 

The  stiuirrels  are  beconnng  so  numerous  in  this  county  as  to  threaten  serious  injury  if 
not  destruction  to  the  hopes  of  the  fanner  during  the  ensuing  fall.  Much  good  might  be 
done  by  a  general  lurn  wU  of  all  citizens,  whose  convenience  will  permit,  for  two  or  three 
days,  in  order  to  prevent  the  alarming  ravages  of  those  mischievous  neighbors.  It  is  there- 
fore respectfully  submitted  to  the  different  townships,  each  to  meet  and  choose  two  or  three 
of  their  citizens  to  meet  in  a  huiUing  caiicus  at  the  house  of  Christian  Heyl,  on  Saturday  the 
thirty  first  instant,  at  two  o'clock  p.  m.  Should  the  time  above  stated  prove  too  short  for  the 
townships  to  hold  meetings  as  above  recommended,  the  following  persons  are  respectfully 
nominated,  and  invited  to  attend  the  meeting  at  Columbus: 

Montgomery,  Jeremiah  McLene  and  Edward  Livingston ;  Hamilton,  George  W. 
Williams  and  Andrew  Dull ;  Madison,  Nicholas  Goetschius  and  W.  H.  Richardson ;  Tniro, 
Abiathar  V.  Taylor  and  John  Hanson  ;  Jefferson,  John  Edgar  and  Elias  Ogden ;  Plain, 
Thomas  B.  Patterson  and  Jonathan  Whitehead ;  Harrison,  F.  C.  Olmsted  and  Captain 
Bishop;  Sharon,  Matthew  Matthews  and  Bulkley  Comstock;  Perry,  Griffith  Thomas  and 
William  Mickey;  Washington,  Peter  Sells  and  Uriah  Clark;  Norwich,  Robert  Elliott  and 
Alanson  Perry;  Clinton,  Colonel  Cook  and  Samuel  Henderson;  Franklin,  John  McElvain 
and  Lewis  Williams;  Prairie,  John  Hunter  and  Jacob  Neff;  Pleasant,  James  Gardner  and 
Reuben  Golliday  ;  Jackson,  Woolery  Conrad  an<i  Nicholas  Hoover  ;  MifHin,  Adam  Reed,  and 
William  Dalzell. 

In  case  any  township  should  be  unrepresented  in  the  meeting,  those  present  will  take 
the  liberty  of  nominating  suitable  persons  for  said  absent  township. 

Lucas  Sullivant.  Ralph  Osboiin. 

Samukl  G.  Flenniken.  Gustavus  Swan. 

John  A.  McDowell.  C.  Heyl. 

The  meeting  held  pursuant  to  the  foregoing  call  was  well  attended,  and 
adopted  a  series  of  resolutions  dividing  the  county,  for  the  hunt,  into  two  districts, 
viz.:  1,  All  east  of  the  Scioto  '^south  of  the  mouth  of  the  Whetstone  and  east  of 
the  Whetstone  Kiver;"  2,  *'all  west  of  said  boundary."  Afield  marshal  was 
appointed  for  each  district,  Lucas  Sullivant  for  the  first  and  Ralph  Osborn  for  the 
second.  It  was  arranged  that  the  hunters  should  meet  and  the  scalps  be  counted 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Scioto,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Whetstone,  "the  scalps 
to  be  given  in  upon  the  honor  of  the  hunters."  A  match  w^as  arranged  between  the 
districts,  and  stakes  provided  for  as  follows : 


29G  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Re9olvedf  That  for  the  purpose  of  proper  refreshments,  and  to  encourage  attention  to  so 
desirable  an  object,  the  hunt  shall  be  for  one  barrel  of  whiskey. 

The  days  appointed  for  the  chase  were  Saturday,  Monday  and  Tuesday, 
September  7,  9  and  10.     The  Gaztfft  of  September  12,  1822,  thus  announces  the 

result : 

The  hunt  was  conducted  agreeably  to  the  instructions  in  our  last  paper.  On  counting 
the  scalps,  it  appeared  that  nineteen  thouttand  six  hundred  and  nxiy  scalps  were  produced.  It  is 
impossible  to  say  what  number  in  all  were  killed,  as  a  great  many  of  the  hunters  did  come  not  in. 

The  count  showed  a  majority  of  five  or  six  thousand  scalps  in  favor  of  the 
western  district. 

According  to  Doctor  Kirtland,  wild  turkeys  were  at  one  time  more  numerous 
in  Ohio  than  tame  ones  arc  now.  They  were  partial  to  the  Central  Ohio  woods, 
and  to  none  more  so  than  those  around  Columbus.  Attracted  by  the  neighboring 
cornfields  they  frequently  ventured  close  to  the  borough.  One  morning  while  the 
door  was  open  at  the  Merion domicile,  says  Mrs.  Stewart,  "the  dog  chased  a  wild 
turkey  into  the  house,  and  it  took  refuge  on  the  bed,  where  it  was  caught.  It 
weighed  twenty  pounds.*'  A  citizen  now  living  assures  the  writer  that  ho  has 
shot  a  great  many  wild  turkeys  between  Parsons  Avenue  and  Franklin  Park. 
Mr.  John  Otstot  says  he  saw  a  flock  of  twenty  or  more  near  the  present  Asylum 
for  the  Insane  in  1829  or  1830.  On  another  occasion  a  flock  alighted  in  a  West 
Side  cornfield,  just  north  of  the  present  State  Street  Bridge.  They  were  fired  on 
by  sportsmen  whose  attention  they  attracted,  and  scattered  in  a  panic.  Several  of 
the  bewildered  birds  flew  towards  the  town,  and  one  of  them,  striking  a  building, 
was  so  injured  by  the  shock  as  to  be  easily  captured.  The  nest  of  the  wild  turkey 
was  made  upon  the  ground,  and  usually  contained  ten  or  fifteen  eggs  which  were 
of  buff  or  cream  color,  with  blotches  of  dark  umber-brown. 

Quails  in  large  numbers  frequented  the  cornfields  near  Franklinton.  John  M. 
Kerr  tells  the  writer  that  he  has  often  had  good  success  in  shooting  them  there. 

Wild  ducks  made  bold  to  swim  in  the  ponds  in  and  about  the  borough.  Har- 
rison Armstrong  says  he  has  seen  them  visit  the  Hoskins  Pond,  where  the  Fourth 
Street  Markethouse  stands,  and  that  he  has  shot  them  there  from  a  neighboring 
log  stable.  Another  citizen  informs  the  writer  that  he  has  shot  wild  ducks  on  a 
pond  just  east  of  Grant  Avenue,  on  the  grounds  of  the  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb. 

Wild  geese  frequently  made  their  diurnal  and  nocturnal  flights  over  the 
borough,  and  bluebirds  and  nuthatches  merrily  chirruped  the  approacli  of  spring 
in  the  neighboring  thickets.  Flocks  of  blackbirds  chattered  noisily  in  the 
environs  of  the  borough  and  the  early  city.  For  many  years,  daring  the  city 
period,  a  numerous  and  noisy  family  of  swallows  inhabited  the  cornices  of  the 
Fourth  Street  Markethouse.* 

The  species  of  house  swallow  commonly  known  as  the  martin  was  an  inhabi- 
tant or  rather  a  guest  of  the  borough,  invited  and  entertained  by  special  arrange- 
ments for  his  comfort.  During  the  twenties  and  early  thirties,  nearly  every  door- 
yard  in  town  had  its  martinbox  nailed  to  a  tree,  or  erected  on  a  pole.  The 
unsightliness  of  these  boxes,  and  the  chatter  and  insolence  of  their  legionary 
occupants,  impelled  some  one  to  write  as  follows,  September  22,  1831,  to  the  Ohio 
State  Journal : 


j('-l-lrtU'r%      ^Lnt.a^ll(ii 


J^ 


■^v 


•■aTL 


Pur,  P'eathbr  and  Fin.  •     297 

I  certainly  do  not  know  of  any  other  way  in  which  so  much  additional  beauty  ruay  bo 
given  to  Columbus  at  ^so  little  expense,  as  by  merely  taking  down  the  martinboxes.  The 
Martin  is  a  savage  bird,  beyond  all  question,  and  to  retain  him  among  us  may  justly  be  con- 
sidered as  a  badge  of  barbarism,  for  we  find  that  the  Indians  have  always  been  fond  of  him. 
It  is  doubtless  an  amusement  to  them  to  see  him  everlastingly  engaged  in  warfare  with  all 
other  birds.  We  are  told  by  Wilson  that  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  cut  off  all  the  top 
branches  from  a  sapling  near  their  cabins,  leaving  the  prongs  a  foot  or  two  in  length,  and 
hang  on  each  one  a  gourd  or  calabash  hollowed  out  for  their  convenience.  Wilson  adds 
that  '*  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  the  negroes  stick  up  long  canes  with  the  same  species 
of  apartment  fixed  to  their  tops,  in  which  the  martins  regularly  breed.*' 

The  writer  goes  on  to  condemn  the  martin  as  unlovely,  noisy  and  a  vicious 
persecutor  of  other  and  better  birds.  Yet  this  winged  villager,  whatever  enmities 
his  pugnacity  evoked,  no  doubt  had  qualtities  which  made  him  both  a  welcome 
and  useful  visitant  in  those  days,  and  which  contributed  to  the  animation  of  bor- 
ough life.  Doctor  Wheaton  thus  describes,  in  his  report,  the  evening  scones 
around  the  village  haunts  of  the  martins : 

After  the  breeding  season  is  over,  these  birds  congregate  towards  night  in  large  flocks, 
and  having  selected  a  suitable  cornice  on  some  high  building,  make  preparations  for  spend- 
ing the  night.  The  retiring  ceremony  is  very  complicated  and  formal,  to  judge  from  the  num- 
ber of  times  they  alight  and  rise  again,  all  the  while  keeping  up  a  noisy  chatter.  It  is  not 
until  twilight  deepens  into  evening  that  all  are  huddled  together  in  silence  and  slumber,  and 
their  slumbers  are  often  disturbed  by  some  youngster  who  falls  out  of  bed,  amid  the  derisive 
laughter  of  his  neighbors,  which  is  changed  to  petulant  scolding  as  he  clambers  over  them  to 
his  perch,  tumbling  others  down.  All  at  once  the  scene  of  last  night's  disturbance  is  (]uiet 
and  deserted,  for  the  birds  have  fiown  to  unknown  southern  lands,  where  they  find  less 
crowded  beds,  and  shorter,  warmer  nights.'' 

Apropos  of  the  martins  the  following  paragraph  from  the  Ohio  State  Journal 
of  July  25,  1859,  may  here  bo  reproduced: 

Just  before  the  city  council  met,  a  large,  beautiful  martin  fiew  in  through  an  open  window, 
and  after  circling  about  the  ceiling  a  few  moments  rested  upon  the  frame  of  the  lifesize  and 
lifelike  painting  of  Dr.  Goodale,  just  above  the  President's  head.  There  sat  the  beautiful 
bird  nodding  approvingly  to  the  action  of  the  council,  and  blinking  with  suspicious  eye. 

The  flocks  and  flights  of  pigeons  in  the  Central  Ohio  woods  were  phenomenal. 
These  birds  were  accustomed  to  alight  in  great  numbers,  amid  the  Franklin  ton 
cornfields,  and  were  sometimes  taken  by  traps  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
Columbus  borough.  A  citizen  informs  the  writer  that  he  used  to  set  his  traps  for 
them  at  the  present  corner  of  Town  and  Fourth  streets.  The  flights  of  these  birds 
over  the  town  were  sometimes  marvelous  to  behold.  In  1835  or  183(3  their 
numbers  on  the  wing  were  so  great  as  to  fairly  darken  the  sky  for  half  a  day  at  a 
time.  Their  general  course  was  from  west  to  east,  probably  in  the  direction  of 
their  grand  roostingplace  near  Kirkersville,  Licking  County.  The  height  at  which 
they  soared  placed  them  beyond  the  reach  of  firearms. 

Wild  pigeons  were  plentiful  in  the  woods  about  Columbus  in  the  spring  ot 
1852  and  autumn  of  1853  and  1854;  in  March,  1856,  they  flew  over  the  city  in 
myriads.  In  the  Ohio  State  Journal  of  February  24,  1860,  we  find  these  state- 
ments : 

The  number  of  wild  pigeons  caught  in  the  country  the  past  few  days  is  almost  incredi- 
ble.   We  noticed  on  the  streets  the  other  day  three  wagon  loads  of  the  blue-winged  birds,  all 


29><  HisToiiY  <»F  THE  City  of  ('oLUMurs. 

caii^^tit  by  one  comiuiny  of  trapiK^rs.  T\w  city  iiiarkot  is  tl(HMled  with  them,  all  fat  and  in 
g'xwl  condition  for  the  tahle.  They  8i»U  here  for  fifty  (rents  a  dozen,  and  thoiiuands  are 
8hi|>|>cd  to  the  eaHt  where  $1.1*')  and  f !..')()  a  <lozen  iu  readily  jriven  for  them. 

The  same  papcM*  ot*  Marcli  7,  lS(;i,  sa3's : 

Wild  pi^^eonn  made  their  appearance  in  this  hicality  an  early  ;i8  the  nineteentli  of  Jan- 
uary, and  thousands  of  them  havi^  l)e(*n  taken  with  nets,  sold  in  (mr  market,  and  8hip(>ed  to 
the  eastern  citi(*s.  From  January  P.Mo  A])ril  r,  there  have  !)een  ship|>ed  by  tlie  American 
and  Adams  Kxpress  companies  from  this  |H>int  f<»ur  liun<lred  and  three  barrels  [a  total  of 
h)l,2(M)  birds].  About  one  third  of  that  amount  were  dressed,  one  barrel  containing  four 
hundre<l  pigeons. 

In  1S(>9  the  birds  were  a^ain  plentiful,  and  in  .March,  1870,  their  tli<^hts  over 
the  city  were  immense.  The  j>rice  at  which  they  were  sold  in  the  ('olumbus 
market  in  1S7()  was  as  low  as  sixty  an<l  seventy  cents  per  dozen. 

or  the  nii^ht  birds  which  infested  the  unre;x<^Mierale  forests  about  the  boron^^h 
mention  is  rarely  made,  but  we  may  well  believe  that  the  mottled  owl,  common  in 
this  region,  habitually  intoned  in  the  midni«rht  woods  *' its  wailing  sereech."  In 
184G  a  tine  specimen  ol*  the  snowy  owl — head  snowwhite  and  body  same  WMtb 
black  spots —  was  ca))tured  nine  miles  west  <d'  the  city.  In  Juno,  1870,  a  large  gray 
hawk  settled  down  upon  one  of  the  trees  in  the  Capitol  S<juare.  The  perching  of 
a  transient  flock  of  parroqueta  on  a  tree  in  the  same  neighborhood  in  July,  I8r>2, 
has  already  been  noted.  During  the  yeurs  next  preceding  the  borough  period  par- 
roquct.s  were  occasionally  seen  in  the  woods  of  the  neighborhood.  A  gray  eagle, 
which  measured  six  feet  from  tip  to  tij)  was  shot  near  Groen  Lawn  Cemetery  May 
10,  1859.  Another  bird  of  the  same  sjjecies  which  had  gorged  itself  with  young 
lambs,  was  caught  four  miles  south  of  London,  Madison  County,  Februar}' 22,  1856. 
The  eagle's  nest  at  Marble  Cliffs  in  the  early  part  of  this  century  has  been  referred 
to  in  a  preceding  chai)ter.  The  Oh  in  Sfufc  Jniinml  of  April  25,  1860,  contains 
the  following  curious  record  : 

During  the  recent  boisterous  weather,  when  a  strong  wind  from  the  lake  was  blowing, 
8<?veral  lake  fowls  were  conveyed  inland,  and  when  no  longer  able  to  combat  the  elements, 
dropped  throughout  the  country.  A  beautiful  large  loon  was  deposited  alive  within  the 
enclosure  of  the  Penitentiary,  captured,  killed,  and  now  Dixrtor  Hamilton  has  it  stuffed  and 
placed  in  the  rooms  of  the  Columbus  Scientific  Association.  Another  loon  was  lodged  in  the 
steeple  of  the  Holy  Cross  Church,  where  it  died.  A  large  cormorant,  as  big  as  a  hen,  fell  on 
the  farm  of  Mr.  Price,  in  Gabannah ;  also  a  longbilled  lakebird,  name  not  known.  These 
latter  fowls  were  brought  to  Secretary  Klippart,  who  has  had  them  stufifed,  and  will  preserve 
them  as  mementoes  of  the  storm. 

During  the  period  of  the  Civil  War—  1861-1805  —  the  quantity  of  game  of  all 
kinds  in  the  forests  of  Central  Ohio  considerably  increased,  owing  to  the  absence 
of  the  practised  hunters,  and  the  absorbed  attention  of  the  people. 

The  finned  inhabitants  of  the  primitive  Franklin  County  waters  have  been 
less  copiously  chronicled  than  the  feathered  inhabitants  of  the  air,  yet  the  locah 
historian  is  confronted  with  some  fish  stories  of  considerable  magnitude.  To  be- 
gin with,  a  citizen  whose  menior^'^  goes  back  to  the  twenties  has  personal  recol- 
lection of"  a  peculiar  fish,  about  four  feet  long,  weighing  fifleen  or  sixteen  pounds, 
and  possessed  of  a  long  snout  in  the  form  of  a  spatula,"  which,  once  upon  a  time, 
long,  long  ago,  was  taken  at  Billy's  Hole  in  the  Scioto.     [The  writer  may  here  i-e- 


Fur,  Featiikr  and  Fin.  299 

mark  that,  for  want  of  Bpace,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  record  all  of  the  wonderful 
thin^  which  are  said  to  have  happened  at  Billy's  Hole.] 

Mr.  John  Otetot  says:  "The  fish  known  as  redhorse  was  caught  in  the  Scioto 
with  a  brash  drag,  made  by  tying  brush  together  with  grapevines.  This  drag, 
with  some  men  standing  on  it,  was  drawn  along  the  bed  of  the  river,  driving  the 
fish  before  it.  The  fish  were  taken  in  this  way  in  great  numbers,  some  being 
entangled  in  the  brush.  Among  the  redhorse  captured  were  specimens  three  feet 
long.  Suckers,  catfish,  gars  and  waterdogs  were  also  taken.  The  fish  caught 
were  laid  in  heaps  which  were  distributed  by  asking  a  blindfolded  man  who  should 
take  this  one  —  and  this."  Every  little  stream,  continues  Mr.  Olgtot,  was  in 
early  times  "  full  of  fish."® 

Several  black  bass  weighing  from  three  to  four  pounds  each,  and  two  blue 
catfish,  were  caught  in  the  Scioto  in  October,  1854.^  Mr.  Moler  caught  a  catfish 
weighing  over  thirty  pounds  in  the  same  stream  June  16,  1855."*  In  June,  1857,  a 
catfish  weighing  fortytwo  pounds  was  caught  in  the  river  two  miles  below  tiie  city. 
There  are  probably  local  anglers  living  who  can  tell  of  fish  still  larger  than  this 
caught  in  the  Franklin  County  waters,  but  a  historian  feels  bound  to  keep  within 
the  horizon  of  his  information. 

In  1875,  seventyfive  thousand  young  shad  from  the  Rochester,  New  York, 
hatchery,  were  deposited  in  the  Whetstone  just  above  the  Waterworks.  Hon. 
John  H.  Klippart,  under  whose  supervision  this  deposit  was  made,  informed  the 
writer  that  these  fish  would  annually  descend  to  the  Mississippi  lliver,  and,  if 
undisturbed,  regularly  return,  in  season,  to  their  spawning  grounds  in  the  Whet- 
stone. 

In  June,  1876,  nearly  eighty  thousand  young  shad  from  the  hatchery  of  the 
United  States  Fish  Commission  on  the  Delaware  River  were  deposited  in  the 
Scioto.  During  the  same  month  and  year  Secretary  Klippart  made  a  shipment  of 
live  fish  from  the  Scioto  River  to  the  Centennial  Exposition  at  Philadelphia.  Afler 
Mr.  Klippart  had  stocked  the  Whetstone  and  Scioto  with  shad,  the  annual  return 
of  the  fish  was  much  hindered  by  the  dams  in  the  Scioto,  but  fish  weighing  from 
one  to  five  pounds  each,  resulting  from  his  deposits,  were  taken  from  the  river  in 
1883. 

In  the  way  of  snake  stories  the  chronicles  of  the  borough  period  show  nothing 
to  surpass,  in  lively  interest,  that  told  by  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant  of  tl/e  rattlesnake 
den  at  Marble  Clifl^.  It  has  already  been  repeated  in  a  preceding  chapter.  With 
a  single  other  story  illustrative  of  the  prevalence  of  snakes  in  the  early  woods 
around  Columbus,  the  subject  may  be  relegated  to  the  imagination  of  the  reader. 
It  runs  as  follows  : 

In  very  early  times,  it  was  a  custom  along  the  Scioto  bottoms,  for  the  pioneer  farmers 
to  turn  their  horses  out  to  graze  in  the  limitless  forest,  the  natural  growth  of  "  woods 

pasture  "  being  very  luxuriant.    John  C.  ,  the  founder  of  one  of  the  first  families  of  the 

Buckeye  State,  had  brought  out  to  the  Wild  West,  besides  a  beautiful  youn^  wife,  what  was 
almost  equally  valued  by  an  enterprising  Virginia  emigrant,  two  or  three  very  fine  blooded 
horses.  After  tethering  them  about  his  cabin  long  enough,  as  he  fondly  supposed,  to  insure 
their  return  home,  he  turned  them  out  to  "  range."  They  stayed  away  two  or  three  days. 
The  owner  began  to  fear  the  pickings  might  prove  so  abundant  that  he  would  lose  his 
"  impo'ted  stawk  fo'eve'."  Forth  he  started  on  the  search,  provided  with  bridles,  and  a  very 
long  black  hairrope  halter. 


300  History  op  the  City  of  Columbuh. 

AmoDg  the  terrors  to  the  newcomers  of  that  day  were  many  awful  stories  of  large  snakes 
— copi>erheads,  blacksnakes,  rattlesnakes  and  divers  other  reptiles,  the  very  enumeration  of 
which  makes  one's  flesh  creep.  Our  friend  hunted  long  and  faithfully,  prolonging  the  weary 
ta8k  late  in  the  night.  It  was  moonlight,  early  in  the  fall  of  the  leaf.  The  poor  fellow,  nearly 
discouraged  by  not  having  discovered  a  single  trace  of  his  beloved  horses,  was  sad  of  spirit. 
He  felt  lonely  and  nervous.  He  began  to  think  of  the  serpents  and  did  not  know  what 
moment  he  might  put  his  aching  foot  into  the  very  coil  of  some  dreaded  monster.  He  had 
thrown  his  bridles  and  the  rope  halter  over  his  shoulder.  Passing  over  a  heap  of  dry  leaves, 
he  heard  an  ominous  rustle.  Hastily  casting  his  eye  behind  him,  sure  enough !  there  was 
the  enormous  blacksnake  right  at  his  heels.  Instantly  John  broke  off  at  his  best  speefl. 
Soon  he  glanced  back  to  see  if  the  danger  was  over,  when  there  ran  the  serpent  as  close  as 
ever.  He  wondered  at  its  rapidity  in  running,  and  endeavored  to  outdo  himself.  He  now 
passed  a  small  stream  and  the  rustling  ceased.  Thinking  he  had  left  the  reptile  safely  in  the 
rear,  he  sat  down  on  a  log  to  rest  his  tired  limbs. 

He  resumed  his  way,  and  soon,  as  he  crossed  another  pile  of  leaves,  the  rustling  was 
heard  again  ;  again  he  looked  back,  and  there  was  another,  if  not  the  same  serpent,  as  large 
as  the  flrst,  and  nearly  as  close  to  his  legs.  Off  he  started  again  as  fast  as  possible,  and  still 
more  frightened.  Ever  aud  anon  John  would  look  back  but  there  was  the  snake  still  in  hot 
pursuit.  John  was  ready  to  drop  with  fear  and  fatigue.  At  last,  while  his  head  turned  to 
the  rear  to  see  if  he  had  yet  made  good  his  escape,  he  ran  against  a  huge  log,  and  in  utter 
exhaustion  fell  flat  on  the  other  side.  Concluding  it  was  all  up  now  he  exclaimed  :  **  Well, 
then,  just  bite  and  be  d dl*'  Wondering  why  he  was  not  bitten,  while  thus  in  the  pur- 
suer's power,  he  rose  cautiously  to  a  sitting  posture,  and  found  instead  of  a  snake,  his  black 
hair  halter  innocently  coiled  at  his  side,  which  he  liad  mistaken  for  the  great  enemy.  It  was 
a  snake  humbug.'^ 

NOTES. 

1.    In  1839,  Mr.  Alfred  Kelley,  then  residing  on  East  Broad  Street,  published  the  fol- 
lowing "  Notice  to  Sportsmen  :  " 

*'A11  persons,  whether  men  or  boys,  are  warned  not  to  come  into  any  of  my  flelds  or  on 
my  premises,  near  the  city  of  Columbus,  with  guns.  Having  this  day  had  several  panels  of 
fence  and  a  large  patch  of  grass  burned  in  consequence  of  wads  on  fire,  being  carelessly  shot 
into  dry  stumps  or  grass,  I  am  resolved  to  put  a  stop  to  the  practice  of  shooting  on  my  prem- 
ises, and  if  this  warning  fails  to  accomplish  the  object,  I  shall  resort  to  more  effectual 
measures. 

"August  5, 1839." 
.   2.     By  A.  A.  Graham  A  Co. 

3.  Autol)iography  of  Christian  Heyl. 

4.  Ohio  State  Journal^  November  14,  1855. 

5.  Ibid,  July  24,  1871. 

().  Ibid,  September  10,  1859. 

7.  Geological  Survey  Report,  Volume  IV. 

8.  Conversation  with  the  author. 

9.  Ohio  State  Journal. 

10.  Ibid. 

11.  Ibid. 


'  .v\. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE  SCIOTO  RIVER. 


In  his  first  report  to  the  Scioto  Company,  in  1802,  Mr.  James  Kilbourn  spoke  of 
the  Scioto  as  a  navigable  stream.  In  1803  the  supplies  which  he  procured  for  the 
Worthington  colony  were  brought  up  by  boat  from  Chillicothe.  Those  which  he 
purchased  and  shipped  at  Pittsburgh  also  reached  their  destination  by  water.  The 
early  Indian  traders  and  merchants  at  Franklinton  obtained  their  goods  by  the 
same  means  of  transportation.  For  many  years  after  the  first  white  settlements  at 
and  about  the  forks  of  the  Scioto,  that  river  was  the  only  practicable  inlet  for 
merchandise  or  outlet  for  produce.  Commercially  New  Orleans  was  to  Central 
Ohio  then  what  New  York  is  now.  It  was  the  natural  market  for  the  surplus  pro- 
ductions of  the  Scioto  Valley,  and  was  reached  by  barges,  in  frontier  dialect  "  broad- 
horns,"  built  and  laden  at  their  point  of  departure,  and  broken  up,  and  sold  with 
their  cargoes,  at  their  point  of  destination. 

The  emigrants  who  quitted  the  country,  as  some  of  the  early  settlers  did,  trav- 
eled by  the  same  means.  There  being  no  roads,  they  could  not  travel  hy  wagon. 
The  readiest  and  cheapest  way  to  *^go  west"  at  that  time,  was  to  build  a  barge,  and 
float  down  stream  with  the  current.  This  was  done  by  Mr.  John  Bansburg,  who 
settled  in  1809  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  near  the  present  termination  of  Moler 
Street,  and  there  erected  a  threestory  frame  mill.  At  a  later  date  Mr.  Eansburg 
sold  his  property  to  his  soninlaw,  Kollin  Moler,  from  whom  Moler  Street  takes  its 
name,  put  all  of  his  chattels,  even  to  his  domestic  animals,  on  a  large  "  broadhorn  " 
of  his  own  building,  floated  down  the  Scioto  and  the  Ohio  to  the  Mississippi,  and 
settled  near  New  Madrid,  Missouri.  In  1816  Colonel  Andrew  McElvain,  who  set- 
tled at  Franklinton  in  1797,  and  was  the  first  white  man  to  raise  corn  on  the  Sul- 
livant  Prairie,  built  a  barge  on  the  Whetstone  near  the  present  King  Avenue 
Bridge,  and  with  his  family  and  goods,  and  those  of  his  neighbors,  fiallentine  and 
Skidmore,  descended  the  Scioto  and  Ohio  in  this  homemade  craft,  ascended  the  Wa- 
bash, and  settled  at  Vincennes. 

The  Scioto  was  deeper  then  than  it  is  now,  says  Mr.  S.  P.  McElvain  —  son  of 
Colonel  Andrew  McElvain  —  and  such  is  the  concurrent  testimony  of  the  surviving 
pioneers.  The  water  in  it,  says  one  of  these,  was  in  early  times,  never  less  in  depth 
than  three  or  four  feet.  "  I  have  seen  the  keelboats  which  navigated  it  moored 
near  the  present  Broad  Street  Bridge,"  says  another.  "  Many  of  the  broadhorns 
built  here  were  floated  to  New  Orleans,  with  cargoes  of  produce,  and  there  taken 
apart  and  sold  for   the  value  of  the  lumber."     Fed,  as  it  was,  by  the  primitive 

[301] 


302  History  of  the  .City  of  CoLrMiirs. 

springb  and  from  the  marsh -reservoirs  of  the  forests,  we  may  well  believe  that  the 
current  of  the  »Scioto  was  at  that  lime  both  copious  and  clear.  No  dams  obstructed 
it,  no  sewage  or  factory  ottal  polluted  its  waters.  Through  the  great,  silent  wilder- 
ness it  meandered,  overhung  and  shadowed  by  the  giant  buttonwood;  smooth  here, 
rippled  there,  fretted  at  intervals  by  sportive  waterfowl,  and  mottled  by  the  re- 
flected blue  and  green  of  sky,  tree  and  meadow.  Such  was  the  Scioto  when,  nour- 
ished and  screened  as  a  child  of  the  forest,  civilization  had  not  yet  cropped  away 
the  trees  which  protected  its  sources,  made  a  ditch  of  its  channel,  or  exposed  its 
.shrinking  current  to  the  blaze  of  the  uiipit3Mng  sun. 

Lyne  Starling,  it  is  said,  was  first  to  build  barges,  load  them  with  produce,  and 
float  them  from  Frank linton  to  New  Orleans.  Ilis  original  ventures  of  this  kind 
were  made  in  1810-11.  The  boats  of  Lucas  Sullivant  had  navigated  the  river  at  a 
prior  date,  and  at  a  later  one  those  of  William  Neil  descended  from  Worthington  to 
New  Orleans,  whence  their  cargoes  were  shipped  to  Liverpool.  Doubtless  other 
similar  enterprises  were  undertaken  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century. 
In  Pickaway  County  as  many  as  thirty  boats  were  built  for  the  Scioto  River  trade 
in  a  single  year.  Most  of  them,  we  are  told, "  had  a  triangular  bow,  while  others  were 
square  in  the  front  as  in  the  rear.  There  were  three  oars  on  deck — one  in  the 
rear,  called  the  steering  oar,  and  two  side  oars  called  sweeps.  The  sweeps  were 
only  used  to  pull  out  of  an  eddy,  or  to  assist  in  avoiding  objects  that  were  danger- 
ous. The  steering  oar  was  used  only  to  keep  the  boats  in  their  safe  course.  There 
was  no  thought  of  accelerating  the  progress  of  these  boats  after  they  reached  the 
Ohio.  They  were  simply  put  into  the  current  and  allowed  to  go  with  it"  So  says 
a  Pickaway  County  historian. 

So  much  were  the  natural  w^atercourses  used,  and  so  necessary  were  they,  for 
the  purpose  of  commerce  and  local  transportation,  that  the  General  Assembly  pass- 
ed, on  December  4,  1809,  the  following  act : 

Section  1.  That  the  followinp^  streams  be  and  they  are  hereby  declared  navigable,  or 
public  highways,  to  wit:  The  Mahoning  from  the  Pennsylvania  line  as  far  up  as  Jesse  Hol- 
liday's  Mill ;  Stillwater  from  its  confluence  with  the  Muskingum  River  as  far  up  as  the  mouth 
of  the  Brushy  Fork  of  said  stream  ;  Will's  Creek,  from  its  confluence  with  the  Muskingum  as 
far  up  as  Cambridge;  One  Leg  (commonly  called  Kanotton)  as  far  upas  the  division  line  be- 
tween the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  townships,  in  the  seventh  range;  the  Scioto  from  its  con- 
fluence with  the  Ohio  River  as  far  up  as  the  Indian  boundary  line ;  and  the  Little  Musking- 
um from  its  confluence  with  the  Ohio  up  as  far  as  the  south  line  of  Section  number  thirtysix, 
in  the  second  township  of  the  seventh  range. 

Sec^tion  2.  That  no  person  shall  be  permitted  to  build  a  milldam  on  any  of  the  said  riv- 
ers, or  in  any  manner  obstruct  the  navigation  of  the  same,  unless  such  person  or  persons 
erecting  such  milldams  shall  make  a  lock  or  slope,  or  both,  if  necessary,  to  the  same,  of  such 
size  and  dimensions  as  the  board  of  commissioners  of  that  county  in  which  the  milldam  is  to 
he  erecte<l  shall  deem  sutFicient,  so  as  to  admit  of  the  safe  passage  of  boats,  or  other  watercraft, 
either  up  or  down  said  stream,  and  keep  the  same  in  constant  repair  ;  Provided,  always,  that 
if  any  such  person  does  not  own  both  sides  of  the  stream,  he  shall  not  be  at  liberty  to  build  a 
dam  without  the  consent  of  the  person  against  whose  land  such  a  dam  is  intended  to  be 
abutted.  • 

Section  three  provides  that  intention  to  build  a  dam  shall  be  advertised  and 
specifications  as  to  its  form  and  dimensions  laid  before  the  commissioners. 

The  first  briflge  connecting  the  borough  with  Frank  linton  was  that  of  Lucas 
Sullivant,  authorized  by  act  of  the  (ieneral  Assembly  passed   Pebruarj"  15,  1815, 


The  Scioto  River.  303 

and  opened  for  travel  J^ovember  25,  of  the  year  following.  In  the  division  of  Lu- 
cas Sullivant*8  estate,  this  bridge  fell  to  the  share  of  Joseph  Sullivant,  whose  fran- 
chise was  purchased,  early  in  the  thirties,  for  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  surrendered. 
The  purchase  money  was  raised  by  private  subscription,  except  two  thousand  dol- 
lars contributed  by  the  county,  and  was  paid  on  stipulation  with  the  Superintend- 
ent of  the  National  Eoad  that  he  would  erect  a  substantial  free  bridge  in  lieu  of  the 
one  owned  by  Mr.  Sullivant,  the  temporary  substitute  for  which  was  carried  off  in 
1834  by  a  freshet.*  The  bridge  built  in  pursuance  of  this  arrangement  was  a  cov- 
ered wooden  one,  with  two  separated  tracks  for  vehicles,  and  an  outside  walk  on 
each  side  for  foot  passengers.  It  stood  until  replaced  by  the  present  open  iron 
bridge  in  1882-3.  The  following  account  of  the  building  of  this  National  Eoad 
Bridge  was  published  in  1SS2  :  '^ 

Captain  Brewerton  and  Lieutenants  Stockton  and  Tilden,  three  young  West  Pointers, 
were  sent  to  superintend  the  work  of  buildiuf;  the  bridge.  They  began  in  1832,  and  stayed 
about  two  years  before  it  was  completed.  Mr.  Andrew  McNinch,  who  lives  four  miles  west 
of  the  city,  hauled  the  stone  for  the  abutments,  taking  it  from  the  quarry  near  the  present 
site  of  the  Central  Asylum  for  the  Insane.  Besides  him,  Elias  Pegg,  now  of  Franklinton,  and 
Captain  Nelson  Foos,  of  340  East  Oak  Street,  are  probably  the  only  ones  now  living  who 
worked  on  the  bridge.  No  nails  were  used,  except  to  put  the  shingles  on  the  roof.  No  iron 
whatever  was  employed  in  the  construction,  the  iron  rods  now  seen  at  intervals  overhead  in 
the  bridge  having  been  put  in  in  later  years.  Only  oaken  pegs  were  used  to  hold  the  heavy 
pieces  together,  but  they  were  painted  on  the  end  to  look  like  iron,  and  the  deception  work- 
ed well.    ... 

When  the  bridge  was  finished  the  question  arose  as  to  its  strength.  There  were  many 
who  doubted  its  ability  to  stand  all  it  should,  and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  it.  A 
few  days  after  it  was  pronounced  done,  however,  it  had  a  test  which  settled  every  question  ae 
to  its  staying  qualities.  There  was  a  tremendous  amount  of  travel  over  the  pike  in  those  old 
days  — ten  times  as  much  as  there  is  now.  Cattle  and  hogs  were  being  constantly  driven 
through  the  town  on  the  way  to  the  eastern  market.  One  of  the  largest  of  these  droves  came 
along  a  few  days  after  the  completion  of  the  Broad  Street  Bridge.  It  belonged  to  and  was 
driven  by  Richard  Cowling,  of  I^ndon,  well  known  in  these  parts  then  as  '*  Dick  Cowling.'' 
He  stopped  over  night  in  Franklinton.  That  village  was  as  separate  from  Columbus  at  that 
time  as  two  villages  could  be,  and  there  was  not  a  thought  that  they  would  ever  be  joined 
much  less  that  the  corporate  limits  of  Columbus  would  one  day  (extend  far  beyond  the  old 
village.  Just  over  the  river  it  was  all  farm  land,  and  there  was  a  double  row  of  sturdy  locust 
trees  which  extended  from  the  river  to  the  east  entrance  to  Franklinton,  a  few  of  which  are 
still  standing.    But,  to  resume  our  story. 

Dick  Cowling  stopped  over  night  at  the  tavern  in  Franklinton,  and  the  next  morning 
came  down  to  examine  the  bridge  before  attempting  to  drive  his  cattle  through  it.  He  at 
once  concluded  that  it  would  not  bear  the  burden,  and  was  making  arrangements  to  «wim  his 
stock  across.  Captain  Brewerton,  who  had  envrinoered  the  building  of  the  bridge,  assured  him 
that  it  was  plenty  strong  enough  to  hold  all  that  could  be  piled  upon  it,  and  told  him  the 
Government  would  pay  all  the  Iohh  of  the  cattle  if  the  bridge  broke  down  with  them.  Ac- 
cordingly, Dick  decided  to  venture  it,  and  broughtthe  whole  seven  hundred  hea<i  down.  Almost 
everybody  thought  the  whole  drove  would  go  <lown,  and  they  laid  otY  from  work  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  seeing  the  bridge  destroyed.  There  was  some  trouble  in  getting  the  cattle 
started  through,  but  when  they  began  there  was  a  perfect  stampede.  The  bridge  was  tilled 
up — both  roadways  and  footpaths  —  and  all  with  a  rushing,  rearing  crowd  of  steers.  It 
creaked  loudly,  and  settled  down  visibly,  and  everybody  thought  the  end  had  come.  Two 
men  who  brought  up  the  rear,  leading  two  unruly  heifers  by  halters,  became  frightened  by 
the  cracking  sound,  and  leaving  their  charges,  ran  bm^k  as  fast  us  their  legs  would  carry 
them. 


304  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Bat  when  the  last  animal  was  over,  and  the  bridge  was  still  solid,  old  Cowling  went  up 
to  Captain  Brewerton,  and  in  his  graif  manner  laconically  blurted  out:    ''Good  bridge,  by 

G 1 "  and  invited  everybody  who  had  come  down  to  see  the  new  crossing  fall,  to  come  over 

to  Zollinger's  and  have  something  to  drink,  which  invitation  was  generally  accepted.  After 
that  no  one  had  any  fear  to  drive  anything  across  the  bridge,  and  it  has  stood  very  nearly 
fifty  years,  and  never  been  injured  by  anything  placed  upon  it. 

Before  the  original  SuUivant  bridge  was  built,  the  river  was  crossed  by  fords 
and  ferries.  The  Old  Ford,  as  it  was  called,  was  at  the  point  where  the  Hocking 
Valley  Eailway  now  crosses  the  river,  near  the  foot  of  Main  Street.  A  canoe  ferry 
waH  kept  there  by  James  Cutler,  whose  buxom  daughter  Sally,  it  is  said,  some- 
times manipulated  the  oars  for  the  transient  traveler.  Colonel  P.  H.  Olmsted, 
writing  in  1869,  says:  *'Our  usual  route  to  Franklinton,  then  [1814]  the  county- 
seat,  was  to  cross  the  river  just  below  Comstock's  Slaughter  House,  generally  in  a 
ferryboat  kept  by  Jacob  Armitage,  the  Scioto  those  times  being  much  higher  than 
at  present.  During  the  year  1814, 1  think  it  was,  that  stream  was  not  fordable  but 
for  a  few  days  the  entire  year,  a  circumstance  that  has  not  occurred  since.  Before 
Mr.  Sullivant  built  his  dike  to  prevent  the  overflow  of  the  Scioto  during  the  spring 
freshets,  it  was  notunfrequent  for  Franklinton  to  be  surrounded  by  water,  and  could 
only  be  approached  by  some  kind  of  water  crafl.  In  fact,  the  country  to  the  west 
of  us  looked  like  a  lake,  and  Franklinton  like  a  small  island.  I  have  passed  in  a 
skiff  from  this  place  to  that  ancient  town,  and  tied  up  to  a  signpost.**' 

The  first  flood  in  the  Scioto  of  which  we  have  any  record  is  that  ot  1798,  the 
traditions  of  which  indicate  that  it  must  have  been  of  an  extraordinary  character. 
So  great  was  the  rush  of  waters  that  the  flat  lands  around  the  town  of  Franklin* 
ton,  which  had  been  laid  out  the  year  before,  were  all  inundated,  "  and  the  plan  of 
the  town  was  reduced,  and  made  to  conform  in  limits  to  the  higher  grounds."^ 
Freshets  more  or  less  formidable  no  doubt  occurred  at  various  times  during  the 
borough  period,  but  the  recorded  indications  of  them  are  meager.  With,  the  clear- 
ing away  of  the  forests,  as  usually  results  from  that  change  of  conditions,  these 
freshets  seem  to  have  increased  in  suddenness  and  violence.  "  The  great  flood  of 
1832  "  is  spoken  of  by  old  inhabitants  as  a  remarkable  event.  Early  in  July,  1834, 
a  heavy  rainfall  produced  a  rapid  rise  in  the  river  which  carried  away  the  tempo- 
rary National  Koad  Bridge  at  the  foot  of  Broad  Street,  destroyed  a  considerable 
quantity  of  salt  at  the  landing,  and  greatly  damaged  the  freshly -built  embankments 
of  the  canal. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1847  a  flood  took  place  which  surpassed  all  rec- 
ords previously  known.  The  fencing  and  bridges  of  the  Valley  were  generally 
swept  away,  and  many  of  the  warehouses  and  porkpacking  establishments  along 
the  river  at  Columbus  were  surrounded  by  water  five  feet  deep.  Referring  to  this 
event,  the  Ohio  State  Journal  of  January  4,  1847,  says : 

So  high  has  [sic]  been  the  waters,  and  so  great  the  destruction  of  the  bridges,  that  we 
are  almost  destitute  of  the  news  of  this  terrific  flood.  The  bridge  below  Delaware,  at  the 
paper  mills,  is  either  injured,  or  the  approach  to  it.  Reports  say  it  was  swept  away,  but  this 
we  believe  is  not  so.  Report  also  says  the  bridge  over  the  Whetstone  at  Worthington  is  gone ; 
also  that  over  the  Scioto  at  Belle  Point,  Delaware  County.  The  new  stone  bridge  in  this 
county,  at  Dublin,  has  lost  one  of  its  centre  piers.  Hutchins's  flour  mill  this  side  of  Dublin, 
is  moved  around  from  its  foundations,  and  on  yesterday  rested  against  a  tree.     The  National 


'<'<iri,,  ,1 


.  ■  I  ' 


^ 

'^T^^ 


f24&i^ 


•  •  • 


The  Scioto  River.  305 

Road  bridge  between  this  city  and  Franklinton,  and  beyond  Franklinton  is  much  injured  by 
the  rush  of  waters  over  it.  In  addition  to  the  injury  to  the  railroad  bridge  mentioned  on  Satur- 
day, the  embankments  beyond  Franklinton  are  broken  in  three  places,  and  iron  and  timbers 
all  carried  away.    .    .    . 

The  destruction  of  corn  and  fencing  is  incalculable.  One  person  has  estimated  the 
amount  of  fencing  carried  away  on  the  Scioto  alone  as  a  dozen  miles  in  length.  We  have 
beard  the  probable  amount  of  corn  lost,  if  the  flood  was  as  severe  below  as  above,  at  from  one 
to  three  million  bushels. 

Yesterday  was  bright  and  warm  —  as  beautiful  as  a  May  day  —  last  night  it  commenced 
raining  again,  and  it  has  been  raining  pretty  much  all  day.  ...  By  a  mark  made  by  Mr. 
Ridgway  in  the  warehouse  at  the  west  end  of  the  bridge  at  the  great  February  flood  of  1832, 
the  present  flood  was  just  nineteen  inches  higher  than  that,  and  perhaps  the  highest  known 
since  the  settlement  of  the  country. 

Daguerreotype  views  of  this  flood  wore  taken  by  George  A.  B.  Lazell. 

Under  date  of  December  24, 1852,  we  have  the  record  of  a  flood  of  considerable 
dimensions.  The  river  bottoms  opposite  Columbus  were  inundated,  and  the  vil- 
lage of  Franklinton  was  entirely  isolated  by  the  surrounding  waters.  Many  of  the 
workmen  at  the  foundry  of  Ambos  &. Lennox  were  obliged  to  fly  from  their  homes. 
The  loss  of  property  was  great.' 

A  freshet  worthy  of  mention  took  place  February  21, 1859.  On  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  of  April,  1860,  a  flood  of  groat  volume  and  destructiveness  swept  down 
the  Valley.  All  the  flat  lands  on  the  West  Side  were  submerged,  and  the  town  of 
Franklinton  became  a  suburban  island.  On  the  Bast  Side,  the  iron  works  of  Peter 
Hayden  and  the  premises  of  the  Ohio  Tool  Company  were  invaded.  On  the 
eleventh  the  highwater  mark  of  the  flood  of  1832  was  reached,  but  on  the  twelflh 
the  water  fell  six  feet.  The  clay -colored  current,  when  at  its  climax,  was  "  literally 
darkened,"  it  is  said,  **  with  floating  timber."* 

On  the  twentyfirst  of  April,  1862,  the  Valley  was  visited  with  another  men- 
tionable  freshet,  and  in  1866  the  greatest  September  flood  took  place  which,  until 
that  time,  had  ever  been  known  since  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  country. 
After  some  days  of  heavy  rainfall,  the  river  suddenly  assumed  the  dimensions  of 
a  huge,  turbid  torrent  bristling  with  floating  trees,  and  burdened  with  fragments 
of  buildings,  drowned  animals,  fencerails,  pumpkins,  haystacks  and  cornshocks 
innumerable.  From  Tuesday,  the  eighteenth,  to  five  p.  m.  ou  Wednesday,  the 
nineteenth,  the  river  rose  twelve  feet,  passing,  it  was  then  believed,  the  highwater 
mark  of  1832,  and  reaching  that  of  1847.  A  levee  which  had  been  built  north  of 
the  National  Hoad  proved  insufficient  to  hold  back  the  flood,  and  the  entire  low- 
lying  area  of  the  West  Side  was  again  inundated.  The  low  grounds  on  the  East 
Side  were  also  submerged,  the  flood  coming  with  such  suddenness  that  many  peo- 
ple were  driven  precipitately  from  their  homes,  and  with  great  difficulty  removed 
their  household  goods  and  domestic  animals  in  time  to  save  them.  Ininiense 
crowds  of  people  assembled  on  the  east  bank  of  the  river  to  witness  the  angry 
torrent.     Its  appearance,  as  viewed  from  the  dome  of  the  Capitol,  is  thus  described  : 

Up  stream  and  down  stream  was  traceable  the  widened  current  of  Ihe  swollen  river, 
hardly  detached  from  the  broad  lakes  of  still  vi&teT  clustering  about  farmhouses  and  flooding 
the  city  suburbs.  Old  landmarks  were  gone,  the  National  Koad  seemed  blotted,  in  part, 
from  the  map  of  these  suburban  districts,  as  revised,  railroads  were  less  than  dotted  lines, 
and  fences  designated  by  mere  hairstrokes.    The  low  districts  to  the  west  and  to  the  south 

20 


:]0<;  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

were  extremely  well  watered,  and  were  principally  inhabited  by  a  Heating  popalation.  Cat- 
tle and  horses,  caught  napping  on  high  points,  were  navigating  the  inundated  country  in  a 
very  careless  manner,  going  no  way  in  particular,  if  we  except  certain  spasmodic  plunges 
downward. 

There  were  pretty  scenes  in  the  dim  distance  of  women  and  children  being  handed  from 
windows  to  boats  below,  of  men  wading  shoulderdeep  in  the  water  carrying  little  children 
above  their  heads  across  the  floocl,  and  of  anxious  faces  framed  in  windows  toward  which  the 
water  surged  rapidly.  The  scene  was  peculiar,  grand  and  novel,  and  the  event  is  to  be 
remembered  as  a  landmark  in  our  history.'' 

All  the  tributaries  of  the  Scioto  were,  on  this  occasion,  more  than  bankfuli, 
and  the  damage  to  crops,  bridges,  fencing  and  highways  was  very  great.  Traffic 
between  the  city  and  country  was  almost  entirely  suspended.  fThe  water  began 
to  recede  on  the  twentieth,  and  by  five  o'clock  p.  m.  of  that  date  had  di-opped 
eighteen  inches  below  the  highest  point  reached  at  Columbus. 

The  next  notable  freshet  occurred  in  March,  1868,  when  the  river  rose  about 
fifteen  feet  above  its  usual  stage  and  reached  a  point  six  or  eight  inches  below  the 
highwator  mark  of  1866,  and  eighteen  inches  below  that  of  1847.  The  riparian 
territory  of  the  West  8ide  was  again  inundated,  the  ground  stories  of  the  buildings 
on  State  Avenue  were  invaded,  and  the  country  up  and  down  the  raging  river,  as 
seen  from  Columbus,  assumed  the  appeamnce  of  a  vast  lake.  Middletowu,  sub- 
merged in  1866,  escaped  injury  this  time,  owing  to  the  protection  afforded  by  an 
embankment  erected  the  preceding  summer. 

High  water  occurred  again  in  1869,  1870,  and  on  the  second  of  August,  1875. 
On  the  occasion  last  mentioned,  the  West  Side  levee  was  broken  through,  people 
inhabiting  the  fiat  lands  were  driven  from  their  dwellings,  and  numerous  bridges, 
in  different  parts  of  Franklin  County,  were  swept  away. 

Following  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice  in  the  Scioto,  February  10,  1881,  the 
channel  of  the  river  was  swept  by  a  fiood  which  went  over  its  banks,  and  would 
have  done  a  great  deal  of  damage  to  West  Side  property  but  for  the  frozen  condi- 
tion of  the  levees,  which  enabled  them  to  withstand  the  pressure  of  the  raging 
waters.  The  greatest  damage  was  done  below  the  south  bridge  of  the  Hocking 
Valley  Eailway,  where  the  bend  of  the  river  threw  the  current  with  great  force 
against  the  dikes.  The  embankment  yielded  to  the  shock,  and  a  large  scope  of 
territory  around  the  railway  shops  was  submerged,  in  some  places  to  the  depth  of 
five  or  six  feet.  The  blast  furnace  in  that  locality  was  reached,  and  its  fires  extin- 
guished. Many  of  the  small  dwellings  on  the  West  Side  bottoms  had  to  be  aban- 
doned by  their  occupants.  The  water  rose,  on  this  occasion,  12  inches  higher  than 
the  points  reached  by  the  floods  of  1869  and  1870. 

The  fourth  of  February,  1883,  is  mentioned  as  a  "  historical  day,"  in  the  record 
of  Scioto  River  floods.  For  many  hours  previously  a  steady  rain  had  fallen  on  a 
surface  of  glassy  ice  which  covered  the  ground  and  rapidly  precipitated  the  water 
into  every  available  channel.  In  consequence  of  this  the  little  river  soon  began 
to  assert  its  power  and  capacity  for  mischief  in  a  manner  almost  unheard  of  before. 
The  ice  which  covered  the  surface  of  the  river  broke  up  on  Saturday  evening, 
February  3,  and  an  instant  rise  of  five  feet,  followed  by  further  steady  swelling  of 
the  current,  immediately  took  place.  In  the  course  of  a  few  hours  the  engines  at 
the  Waterworks  were  threatened  with  inundation,  thus  putting  the  city  in  jeopardy 


The  Scioto  River.  807 

of  fire,  as  well  as  flood.  Gangs  of  shovelers  were  immediately  put  to  work  on  the 
levee,  but  were  obliged  to  abandon  it,  and  were  able  to  prevent  the  aqueous 
aggressor  from  disabling  the  watersupply  engines  only  by  a  hasty  embankment 
thrown  up  around  the  building.  Thousands  of  people  congregated  along  the 
shores  to  witness  the  mighty,  resistless  sweep  of  the  waters.  The  scenes  which 
fixed  their  attention  for  many  hours  of  mishap  and  anxiety  are  thus  described  by 
one  of  the  chroniclers  of  the  occasion  : 

Standing  on  the  upper  Hocking  Valley  Bridge,  a  person  could  not  help  feel  awed  and 
impressed  at  the  grand  scene  before  him.  To  the  right  and  north,  the  Olentangy  was  pour- 
ing its  yellow,  turbid  waters  into  the  larger  and  more  quiet  stream  of  the  Scioto.  The  large 
ice  cakes  ground  together  with  a  peculiarly  harsh  and  crunching  sound,  and  when  they 
would  strike  the  piers  of  the  bridge  would  cause  the  old  frame  structure  to  tremble ;  then 
they,  with  the  floating  debris,  would  dive  beneath,  and  reappearing  below  would  go  on  in 
their  mad  rush  down  stream.  The  fertile  land  lying  between  these  two  rivers  was  all  inun- 
dated. Here  and  there  a  peak  of  some  lone  haystack  would  appear,  or  the  tops  of  bushes  would 
rise  and  fall  as  the  ice-cakes  passed  over  them.  Far  up  to  the  northwest,  looking  toward  the 
buildings  located  there,  stretched  one  vast  lake  of  water.  The  little  shanty  occupied  by  a  man 
named  Morris,  and  which  is  situated  upon  the  land  which  has  caused  so  much  litigation,  was 
surrounded  by  the  yellow  waters,  and  only  the  roof  and  upper  part  appeared.  The  family 
had  to  move  out  about  eleven  o'clock  Saturday  night,  and  stood  on  the  bank  and  saW  their 
poultry  and  other  property  move  down  stream  on  a  cake  of  ice.  To  the  right  were  the  offices 
of  the  Thomas  and  Laurel  Hill  companies  nearly  submerged  by  the  waters  which  were  gradu- 
ally climbing  up  the  sides  and  finding  an  easy  entrance  at  the  windows.  The  roadbed  of  the 
Dublin  and  Columbus  Pike  had  entirely  disappeared  from  view,  and  only  the  tops  of  the 
fences  showed  where  the  road  was  located.  The  railroad  tracks  were  all  the  land  that 
appeared,  and  they  stretched  off"  to  the  north  and  west,  seemingly  passing  over  a  lake. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  it  became  evident  that  the  water  would  break  through  the  dikes 
and  railway  tracks  and  make  its  way  down  through  Franklinton.  Those  who  had  boats  were 
kept  busily  employed  in  transporting  people  from  their  houses  to  places  of  safety.  About 
eleven  o*clock  the  first  break  occurred  in  the  levee  about  two  hundred  yards  north  of  the 
Harrisburg  Bridge.  The  bottom  lands  at  once  filled  up  several  feet  deep,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  houses  situated  on  the  flats  had  to  make  their  way  to  dry  land  as  best  they  could.  .  .  . 
About  four  o'clock  the  water  had  reached  a  height  of  twelve  and  one-half  feet  above  low 
water  mark,  which  was  about  one  foot  lower  than  the  height  attained  in  1847.  The  water, 
however,  continued  to  rise,  and  before  midnight  the  old  mark  had  been  eclipsed  and  the 
water  was  a  foot  higher  than  it  was  ever  known  to  be  before.  Early  in  the  evening  cars  were 
heavily  loaded  with  pigiron  and  placed  upon  the  two  bridges  of  the  Hocking  Valley.  This 
great  weight  held  the  bridges  to  their  places  and  was  all  that  kept  the  structures  from  being 
swept  away.  The  water  broke  over  the  embankments  at  the  waterworks  about  eight  o'clock, 
and  the  lower  engine  was  extinguished  at  once.  The  upper  one,  however,  was  started,  and  at 
eleven  o'clock  was  working  away,  although  the  water  was  over  the  cylinders  and  the  firemen 
were  up  to  their  waists.    .    .    . 

Early  last  night  the  water  broke  over  the  levee  west  of  the  Hocking  Valley  track,  and 
plowing  its  way  through  the  track  of  the  Little  Miami  Railroad,  it  poured  down  the  grade 
past  the  Door,  Sash  &  Lumber  Factory  and  commingled  lyith  its  kindred  element  which  had 
already  made  its  way  through  the  levee  below.  The  water  there  soon  formed  a  rushing  river 
and  poured  through  this  channel  at  a  lively  rate.  By  this  break  the  bridges  were  saved,  and 
possibly  other  great  calamities  averted.  The  water  also  made  its  way  across  Broad  Street 
farther  to  the  west,  above  the  old  town  of  Franklinton,  and  the  village  was  thus  all  sur- 
rounded on  both  sides  by  the  angry  flood.  It  was  hard  to  judge  from  the  meagre  reports 
received  from  this  quarter  last  night  what  was  the  extent  of  the  damage.     .    .     . 

Later  reports  from  Sellsville  [the  winter  quarters  of  the  Sells  Brothers'  Circus  and  Men- 
agerie] revealed  that  the  damage  had  not  been  half  told.    When  last  heard  from  the  em* 


'M)H  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

ploye8  and  employers  wt*ro  working  with  alinoBt  saperlmman  efforts  to  transport  the  animals 
to  a  ])laec  of  nafety.  The  cakes  of  ice  had  formed  a  fi^r^  al)Out  the  cluster  of  buildin^^,  and 
the  large  elephants  could  not  be  induced  to  swim  to  land  through  this.  The  smaller  ones, 
seven  in  number,  had  been  carried  to  the  dry  groun<l  to  the  west  in  wagons,  as  well  as  some 
smaller  animals.  The  lions  and  other  ciirnivorous  animals  confined  in  the  building  to  the 
north  from  that  occupied  by  the  elephants  kept  up  a  frightful  noise.  A  great  many  cages 
were  placed  dirccitly  on  the  floor,  and  at  five  o'clock  the  water  was  three  feet  deep  in  the 
room  and  still  rapidly  rising.    .     .    . 

The  grandest  view  of  the  flood  was  from  the  iron  bridge  in  the  southern  limits  of  the 
city,  at  the  (grossing  of  Cireen  Ijawn  Avenue.  There  the  tem]X)rary  lake  could  be  seen  with 
the  mighty  current  fighting  through  the  curves  of  the  city  limits,  and  the  water  spread 
out  over  the  whole  of  the  bottom  lands  as  far  down  the  valley  as  the  eye  could  reach,  while  the 
flats  were  under  water  and  the  little  onestory  frame  houses  looked  like  boats  which  were  just 
rejuiy  to  start  out.  The  waU»r  covered  most  of  the  territory  about  sunset  and  became  still 
higher  during  the  night.  In  the  evening  the  west  end  of  the  old  slaughter  house  at  the  foot 
of  Friend  Street  gave  way  and  came  down  stream  like  a  flatboat  bent  on  a  cniise.  It  had  no 
doubt  passed  Circleville  ere  the  denizens  of  that  place  saw  the  light  of  day.    .    .    . 

Numerous  inci<lents  are  told  of  the  peculiar  situations  in  which  people  were  found  in 
their  houses.  They  were  standing  on  chairs,  and  on  beds,  while  the  furniture  floated  about 
the  room.  A  cradle  was  observe<l  to  go  down  the"  river  yestenlay,  but  no  occupant  was  in  it. 
A  l>edsteail  was  floating  down  in  the  forenoon,  and  a  wash  tub  full  of  clothes  followed  it. 

The  present  higli  water  sur])asses  the  famous  flood  of  1H47.  At  that  time  the  levee  broke 
near  the  upper  bend  of  the  river,  and  the  water  poured  down  across  the  isthmus  beyond 
Franklintou.  The  National  Road  was  nearly  ruined  between  the  Broad  Street  Bridge  and 
Sullivant's  Hill.  The  high  water  arose  on  January  4  of  that  year,  and  continued  unabated 
for  some  days.  A  man  named  Joe  Bennett  made  a  great  deal  of  money  running  a  ferryboat 
between  the  Hill  and  Franklinton,  as  the  public  had  to  use  his  boat  for  about  two  weeks. 
There  were  no  railroad  tracks  then  to  interrupt  the  course  of  the  waters,  and  an  enormous 
lake  spread  from  the  State  (2uarrie8  to  the  south  over  the  level  farming  land.  There  have 
been  numerous  great  floods  since,  but  none  have  reached  so  high  a  point  till  the  present  one. 
The  floods  of  18r»7  and  1870  were  very  destructive  to  property  and  spread  devastation  far  and 
wide.*' 

The  subsidence  of  the  waters  on  this  occaBion  was  gradual.  At  lea.st  a 
hundred  families  were  driven  from  their  homos  by  the  invading  element,  and  had 
to  seek  temporary  shelter.  The  Franklinton  Schoolhouse  was  turned  into  a  tem- 
porary hospital,  and  more  than  twenty  families  were  for  a  time  fed  and  lodged 
within  its  walls.  The  police  force  of  the  city  was  kept  constantly  employed,  with 
its  patrol  wagons,  and  the  boats  from  the  parks,  in  the  rescue  of  imperiled  life  and 
property,  and  the  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  were  untiring  in  their  ministra- 
tions of  help  and  comfort. 

This,  up  to  the  present  writing,  has  been  the  most  recent  of  the  important 
Scioto  River  floods.  On  the  twontyfourth  of  January,  1887,  the  water  in  the 
channel  rose  ten  feet  above  its  normal  height,  but  it  soon  began  to  recede,  and  no 
particular  damage  was  done. 

Intermittently  w^ashed,  as  it  has  thus  been,  by  huge  volumes  of  water,  the 
local  topography  of  the  river  has  exhibited,  within  the  historic  period,  some  inter- 
esting changes.  Early  in  the  settlement  of  the  borough,  a  strip  of  land  called  an 
island  extended  from  Broad  Street  south  to  the  dam,  and  was  a  favorite  dancing 
place,  it  is  said,  for  the  manumitted  slave  population  which  settled  in  Nigger  Hol- 
low,    An  island  just  above  the  mouth  of  the  Whetstone,  on  which  part  of  Harri- 


The  Scioto  River.  309 

Bon's  British  captives  of  the  Battle  of  the  Thames  were,  for  a  time,  placed  under 
guard,  has  now  mostly  disappeared.  Another  bit  of  insular  territory,  of  which  no 
vestige  now  remains,  clove  the  channel  of  the  river  just  above  the  present  bridge 
of  the  Little  Miami  Railway.  It  was  variously  known  as  Brickell  Island,  Willow 
Island  and  Bloody  Island,  of  which  latter  title  the  derivation  is  thus  explained  : 

On  a  certain  occasion,  about  1840,  a  ball  took  place  at  the  Neil  House,  and 
among  the  wild  and  mercilessly  bewitching  maidens  there  present,  was  Miss  Lizzie 

H ,  a  frolic-loving  romp,  who  was  simultaneously  solicited  to  dance  by  two 

young  gentlemen,  one  from  Logan  County,  the  other  from  Richland.  Miss 
H gave  her  preference  to  one  of  the  suitors,  no  matter  which,  and  jok- 
ingly told  the  other  he  could  " settle  it"  with  his  rival.  The  suggestion  was  taken 
in  dead  earnest,  a  duel  arranged,  seconds  chosen,  and  the  Willow  Island,  then  a 
retired  spot,  selected  as  the  scene  where  offended  honor  was  to  be  propitiated  with 
blood.  The  murderous  intentions  of  the  young  quarrelers  having  become  known, 
quite  a  number  of  persons  assembled  on  the  river's  bank  to  see  them  fight  it  out. 
Everything  being  made  ready,  shots  were  exchanged  two  or  three  times,  but  with- 
out effect.  The  seconds  were  sensible  men,  and  had  been  careful  to  put  no  bullets 
in  the  pistols.  Finally  some  boys  who  had  been  out  hunting  came  along  with 
loaded  rifles,  whereupon  one  of  the  duelists  proposed  to  "  stop  this  nonsense,"  take 
the  weapons  of  the  hunters  and  settle  the  affair  at  once.  But  this  proposition  did  not 
suit  the  other  antagonist,  and  so  the  affair,  after  some  further  parleying,  ended,  and 
the  willowy  sandbar  of  the  Scioto  which  formed  the  scene  of  this  melodramatic 
episode  bore  thenceforward  the  name  of  The  Bloody  Island. 

Attempts  to  navigate  the  Scioto  by  steam  have  been  frequently  made.  The 
earliest  of  these  attempts  seems  to  be  indicated  by  the  following  advertisement, 
bearing  date  March  6,  1828,  and  quaintly  illustrated  with  a  picture  of  a  steam- 
boat: 

For  Ripley 

The  Superior  Fast  Sailing  S.  B. 

Tiosco. 

A.  H.  Keef,  Master, 

Will  i)08itively  sail  from  the  port  of  Columbus  for  Ripley  between  the  25th  and  2Sth  of 
the  present  oionth  —  weather  permitting;  and  will  touch  at  Circleville,  Chillicothe,  Piketon, 
Portsmouth,  and  the  several  intermediate  landings.  The  Tiosco  was  built  at  Columbus  in  a 
superior  manner,  and  of  the  best  materials,  being  timbered  and  iron-fastened.  She  has  ex- 
cellent accommodations  for  cabin  passengers,  being  very  lofty  between  the  decks,  and  is 
sufficiently  capacious  to  contain  several  small  families.    For  freight  or  pa.ssage  apply  to  the 

captain  on  board,  or  to 

Smith  &  Barney,  State  Street. 

The  writer  hereof  is  not  able  to  embellish  this  record  with  any  reliable  facts  as 
to  the  fate  of  the  Tiosco.  With  her  departure  from  Columbus,  with  "several  small 
families,"  perhaps,  between  decks,  she  disaj)pears  from  history.  ILow  successfully 
she  made  her  way  amid  the  snags  and  sawyers  of  the  sinuous  Scioto,  whether  she 
ever  reached  Kipley,  or  whether  she  perished  miserably  enmeshed  in  the  octopus- 
like roots  of  some  riparian  sycamore,  are  matters  of  pure  speculation.  The  proba- 
bilities seem  to  be  that  one  trip  to  Kipley  was  all  that  her  adventurous  commander 
cared  to  make.     But  however  the  Tiosco  may  have  fared,  there  still  existed,  in 


310  lllSTORY    OF   TUE    CiTY   OP   CoLUMBUS. 

later  years,  bold  spirits  firm  in  the  faith  that  the  Scioto  could  be  made  a  vehicle 
for  the  uses  of  steam.  Of  this  we  have  evidence  in  the  following  advertisement 
which  was  dated  August  8,  1843,  and  appeared  in  the  newspaper  prints  then 
current : 

The  splendid  highpressure  steamer 

Ex  PKKIMBNT 

will  leave  Gill  &  McCune's  dock  at  the  foot  of  Town  Street  every  day  (Sundays  excepted)  for 
the  head  of  navigation,  at  7^  o'clock  a.  m.,  touching  at  all  intermediate  points  on  the  Scioto 
and  Olentangy,  and  run  until  lOJ  o'clock;  and  from  3  p.  m.  until  8  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
Parties  wishing  to  take  a  morning  or  evening  excursion  can  charter  this  boat  by  leaving  a 
card  at  the  American,  or  by  applying  to  the  Captain  on  board.  The  proprietors  have  been  at 
considerable  expense  to  make  this  boat  safe  and  comfortaf}ley  and  the  engine  having  been  fitted 
up  by  Messrs.  J.  D.  Dare  &  Co.,  experienced  engineers  of  Zanesville,  is  second  to  none  for 
safety.     Charges  moderate. 

The  end  of  the  Experiment  is  as  uncertain  as  that  of  the  Tiosco,  but  whatever 
it  was  it  did  not  prove  to  be  the  last  of  steam  navigation  of  the  Scioto,  for,  in  a 
Piketon  letter  to  the  Ohio  State  Jovrnal  of  February  3,  1848,  we  read  : 

The  steamboat  American,  Grey,  Master  is  a  few  rods  below  this  place  on  her  first  trip 
up  the  Scioto,  and  will,  without  doubt,  arrive  in  the  neighborhood  of  Chillicothe  either  this 
evenmg  or  tomorrow  morning.  A  thorough  examination  of  the  river  was  made  a  few  days 
since  by  competent  captains,  and  it  fully  confirmed  the  opinion  heretofore  entertained,  that 
the  Bcioto  i^  navigable  for  light  draught  steamers  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  The 
American  is  not  u  small  boat,  but  it  has  not  as  yet  met  with  any  obstructions,  and  none  are 
anticipated. 

A  steam  canalboat  called  the  Enterprise,  Captain  Douel,  arrived  at  Columbus 
from  Zanesville  in  August,  1859,  and  on  the  twentyfourth  of  that  month  made  an 
excursion  up  the  Scioto  **as  far  as  water  would  permit.*'* 

In  May,  1877,  the  steamer  Vinnio  began  making  trips  from  her  dock  at  the 
foot  of  Town  Street  to  points  on  the  river  above  the  mouth  of  the  Whetstone. 

Thus  closes  the  catalogue  of  steam  vessels  of  local  origin  which  have  plowed  the 
Scioto's  waters.  It  has  probably  not  been  exhausted,  but  a  sufficiency  of  instances 
has  been  given  to  show,  let  us  hope,  that  the  marine  annals  of  Columbus  are  not  so 
barren  as  an  uninformed  person  might  be  induced  to  suppose. 

NOTKS. 

1.  In  February,  1833,  Mr.  Sullivant  published  an  advertisement  inviting  proposals  **  for 
the  construction  of  a  bridge  across  the  Scioto  River  at  Columbus,  after  the  plan  of  the  Alum 
Creek  Bridge,  on  the  National  Road."  The  advertisement  stated  that  the  bridge  would  have 
two  spans,  of  about  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  each. 

2.  Ohio  Staff  Journal. 


3.     Ibid. 


4.  Sullivant  Kaniilv  Memorial. 

5.  Ohfo  State  Journal. 
().  Ibid. 

7.  Ohio  State  Journal,  September  20,  \m\. 

8.  Ohio  State  .Journal ^  February  5,  1883. 

9.  Ohio  State  Journal. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


FROM   TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE. 

Of  all  inventions,  the  alphabet  and  the  printing  press  alone  excepted,  those  inventions 
which  abridge  distance  have  done  most  for  the  civilization  of  our  species.  Every  improve- 
ment of  the  means  of  locomotion  benefits  mankind  morally  and  intellectually  as  well  as 
materially,  and  not  only  facilitates  the  interchange  of  the  various  productions  of  nature  and 
art,  but  tends  to  remove  national  and  provincial  antipathies,  and  to  bind  together  all  the 
branches  of  the  great  human  family.  In  the  seventeenth  century  the  inhabitants  of  London 
were,  for  almost  every  practical  purpose,  further  from  Reading  than  they  now  are  from 
Edinburg,  and  further  from  Edinburg  than  they  now  are  from  Vienna. — Macaulay^s  History  of 
England,  Chapter  3. 

At  the  time  the  borough  of  Columbus  was  originally  located  and  surveyed,  it 
was  touched  by  no  road  or  path  excepting  a  few  primitive  trails  through  the  forest. 
All  the  thoroughfares  which  then  existed  centered  at  Franklinton.  "  There  was  not 
a  road  leading  to  or  out  of  the  town/'  says  Colonel  Olmsted.^ 

The  first  pathway  through  the  Ohio  wilderness  marked  by  civilized  man  was 
Zane's  Trace,  described  in  a  note  to  a  preceding  chapter.  The  original  explorers 
either  took  their  course  by  the  compass,  followed  the  principal  rivers  and  their 
tributaries,  or  traveled  in  the  paths  beaten  by  the  feet  of  the  deer,  the  bison  and 
the  Indian.  When  the  avant-couriers  of  the  pioneer  host  varied  from  these  paths, 
they  marked  their  routes  by  the  barking  or  girdling  of  trees.  No  routes  for 
wheeled  travel  having  yet  been  opened,  most  of  the  merchandise  for  the  early 
settlements  was  transported  on  the  backs  of  horses,  oxen  and  mules.  '^  The  pack- 
saddle  of  yore,'*  says  one  of  the  historians  of  the  wilderness  period,'  "  was  the  ex- 
press car  of  the  backwoods,  carrying  passengers,  freight  and  mails.  Packhorses 
were  often  driven  in  lines  of  ten  or  twelve.  Each  horse  was  tied  to  the  tail  of  the  one 
going  before,  so  that  one  driver  could  manage  a  whole  line.  The  pack  or  burden 
of  a  single  animal  was  of  about  two  hundred  pounds  weight."  Packsaddles  were 
made  by  trimming  the  forked  branches  of  trees  so  as  to  adjust  the  pronged  part  to 
the  back  of  the  burden-bearing  beast.  "Mr.  Speed,"  says  the  writer  just  quoted, 
'^  relates  an  anecdote  of  a  frontier  preacher  who,  at  an  outdoor  service,  paused  in 
the  midst  of  his  sermon  to  look  up,  and  point  to  a  treetop,  saying :  ^  Brethren, 
there  is  one  of  the  best  limbs  for  a  packsaddle  that  ever  grew.  After  meeting  we 
will  go  and  cut  it.' " 

Writing  in  1868  of  his  father's  emigration  from  Connecticut  to  Granville,  Ohio, 
in  1808,  Colonel  P.  H.  Olmsted  says: 

[311] 


HI 2  History  of  the  City  of  Colitmiuts. 

At  that  time  we  bad  to  pass  tbroiifi:h  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness  to  reacb  our  des- 
tination. Only  a  few  marked  trees  served  as  a  jruide  throujrh  the  dense  forest,  there  1)einp 
no  out-out  road.  Purine:  a  December  afternoon  we  were  overtaken  with  a  tremendous  snow- 
storm which  so  blinded  our  way  that  when  within  about  ten  miles  of  Alum  Creek,  we  had  to 
stop  for  the  nisrht.  We  made  a  kind  of  protection  against  the  storm  with  logs  and  branches 
of  trees,  and  a  larjre  fire  in  front,  which  we  kept  buminj^  all  night.  Our  horses  were  fastened 
to  the  wagon  and  covered  with  T>edquilt8,  where  they  remained  during  the  night  without 
water  or  forage.  It  was  a  most  terrible  situation  to  be  placed  in,  and  one  I  shall  never  forget. 
The  next  morning  we  found  the  snow  al>out  ten  inches  deep,  and  the  marks  upon  the  trees 
so  obliterated  that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  us  to  find  our  way,  but  we  persevered,  and 
about  two  o*clock  p.  m.  crossetl  Alum  Creek  and  were  soon  domiciled  in  an  old  log  cabin 
which  was  tendered  us  for  the  winter,^ 

Such  wore  the  conditions  of  emigrant  travel  in  Ohio  at  that  early  perio<l. 
The  country  possessed  neither  roads  nor  bridges.*  The  gristmill  nearest  to  Grjin- 
villc,  says  Colonel  Olmsted,  was  Governor  Worth ington's,  eight  miles  north  of 
Chillicothe,  and  thither  and  back  was  a  journey  of  six  days. 

In  one  of  the  most  striking  chapters  in  his  History  of  England,  Macaulay 
emphasizes  the  civilizing  importance  of  roads,  highways,  and  other  facilities  of  in- 
tercommunication. Singularly  in  keeping  with  the  improvement  of  such  facilities 
in  England,  particularly  by  the  construction  of  solid  wagon  roads  for  neighborhood 
intercourse,  was  the  advancement  made,  as  the  historian  shows,  in  the  intellectual 
and  social  condition  of  the  people.''  Just  so  it  has  been  — still  is  —  in  Ohio.  The 
pioneer  settlers  being,  for  the  most  part,  intelligent  and  enterprising,  one  of  their 
very  first  concerns  was  the  improvement  of  their  means  of  social  and  commercial 
intercourse.  The  highway,  the  schoolhousc  and  the  church  were  allied  enterprises 
and  advanced  abreast. 

When  the  first  Common  Pleas  Court  of  Franklin  County  was  organized  in  1803, 
the  opening  and  construction  of  roads  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  earlier  pro- 
ceedings. From  these  proceedings,  quoted  in  an  antecedent  chapter,  it  appears 
that  preliminary  steps  were  taken  for  opening  various  roads,  first  of  which  was 
one  leading  "  from  the  public  square  in  Franklinton  "  by  "  the  nearest  and  best 
way  to  Lancaster,  in  Fairfield  County."  This  road,  says  Martin,  in  a  footnote, 
"  was  made  to  cross  the  Scioto  at  the  Old  Ford  below  the  canal  dam,  and  pass 
through  the  bottom  fields  (then  woods)  to  intersect  what  is  now  the  Chillicothe 
road  south  of  Stewart's  Grove  and  continued  to  be  a  travelled  road  until  after 
Columbus  was  laid  out.     Jacob  Armitage  kept  the  ferry  over  the  river."* 

The  second  road  for  which  viewers  were  appointed  by  the  Court,  was  one 
leading,  "from  the  northeast  end  of  Gift  Street,  in  Franklinton.  on  as  straight  a 
direction  as  the  situation  of  the  ground  will  admit  of  a  road,  towards  the  town  of 
Newark,  in  Fairfield  County.**  Joseph  Vance  was  appointed  to  survey  the  Lan- 
caster road,  Samuel  Smith  that  to  Newark.  At  the  same  sitting  a  commission  was 
appointed  to  "  view,"  and  Captain  John  Blair  was  authorized  to  survey,  a  road 
"  from  the  public  square  in  Franklinton  to  Springfield,  in  Greene  County."  At 
the  January  sitting,  in  1804,  "  a  petition  was  presented  by  the  llev.  James  Kilbourn 
and  others,  praying  for  a  view  of  a  road  to  lead  from  Franklinton  to  the  town  of 
Worthington."  The  prayer  was  granted  by  the  Court,  and  Joseph  Vance  was 
named  as  surveyor  of  the  line.     Mr.  Kilbourn  was  at  the  same  time  appointed  to 


C--,  III  /-i^-oif/i^' 


'cM^ 


!•   •: 


•  •• 


« 


m  m 


From  Trail  to  Turnpike.  313 

survey  a  crossroad  from  Worthington  to  intersect  the  main  thorou<]^lifare  from 
Franklinton  to  Newark.  The  report  of  the  viewers  of  the  road  from  Franklinton 
to  Worthington  was  received  at  this  sitting,  and  the  supervisor  in  Liberty  Town 
ship  was  directed  to  "open  said  road,  and  make  it  passable  for  loaded  wagons." 
At  the  March  sitting  of  the  same  year,  similar  action  was  taken  as  to  the  road, 
so  far  as  "  viewed,"  from  Franklinton  to  Springfield.  Lucas  SuUivant  was  ap- 
pointed surveyor  to  "attend  the  viewers"  in  their  additional  work  on  that  line. 

Thus,  with  the  beginning  of  the  county,  began  also  its  original  system  of 
highways,  but  necessarily  most  of  the  wilderness  roads  continued  to  be,  for  many 
years  —  even  decades  —  after  they  were  first  opened,  of  a  most  rudimentary  char- 
acter. For  neighborhood  convenience,  forest  paths  and  private  lanes  were  made 
to  suffice.  During  the  early  infancy  of  the  Columbus  borough  its  wheels  and 
pedestrians  took  their  way  by  the  shortest  routes  and  most  solid  ground  they  could 
find  amid  the  stumps  and  brushheaps.  When  Christian  Heyl  approached  the 
place  from  the  south  in  1813,  he  found  the  only  road  then  existing  in  that  direc- 
tion crossed  by  the  private  gate  of  John  McGowan.  By  what  means  and  strata- 
gems Mr.  Heyl  induced  McGowan  to  open  the  gate,  and  let  him  into  the  capital 
of  Ohio,  has  been  narrated. 

The  first  step  toward  readier  ingress  and  egress  seems  to  have  been  the 
authority  conferred  upon  the  State  Director,  by  the  act  of  January  27,  1814,  to 
apply  a  certain  part  of  the  proceeds  of  taxation  of  the  inlots  to  "improvement  of 
the  State  road  leading  from  the  town  of  Columbus  to  Granville."  Additional  prog- 
ress was  made  in  pursuance  of  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  passed  February 
16,  1815,  appropriating  fortysix  thousand  dollars  from  the  Three  Percent.  Fund 
conferred  by  Congress,'  for  the  purpose  of  opening  and  repairing  roads  in  Ohio. 
From  this  appropriation  Franklin  County  obtained  one  thousand  dollars,  thus  dis- 
tributed :  "  On  the  road  from  Columbus  to  Newark,  beginning  two  miles  east  of 
Alum  Creek,"  six  hundred  dollars;  on  the  road  towards  Springfield,  "beginning 
eight  miles  west  of  Columbus,"  three  hundred  dollars;  and  "  on  the  road  towards 
London,  Madison  County,"  one  hundred  dollars.  These  sums  were  not  sufficient  to 
go  very  far  in  the  way  of  making  grades,  building  bridges,  or  even  in  chopping 
down  trees  and  laying  "  corduroy,"  but  they  indicated  a  beginning,  and  a  willing- 
ness to  do  more,  when  the  funds  should  be  had,  to  make  the  capital  ap])roachable. 

On  December  2,  1816,  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  "  to  incorporate 
the  Franklin  Turnpike  Company,"  providing  as  follows  : 

That  Lucas  Sullivant,  James  Johnston,  John  Kerr,  Lemuel  Rose,  Timothy  Spelman, 
David  Moore,  John  J.  Brice,  William  Taylor,  Zachariah  Davis,  William  W.  Gault,  Stephen 
McDougbal,  Lyne  Starling,  Joseph  Vance  and  Joseph  Miller,  and  their  associates,  be  and 
they  are  hereby  incorporated,  created  and  made  a  body  corporate  and  politic,  by  the  name 
and  style  of  the  Franklin  Turnpike  Road  Company,  for  the  intent  and  purpose  of  making  a 
turnpike  road  from  the  town  of  Columbus  in  the  County  of  Franklin  to  the  town  of  New 
Ark  in  the  County  of  Licking,  with  all  the  rights,  privileges  and  immunities,  and  subject  to 
all  the  restrictions,  limitations,  provisions  and  disabilities  prescribed  in  the  act  entitled  un 
act  to  provide  for  the  regulation  of  turnpike  companies. 

In  pursuance  of  this  act,  John  Kerr  opened  the  books  for  subscriptions  to  the 
stock  of  this  company  May  17,  1817. 


314  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

By  an  act  of  December  10,  1817,  Joseph  Vance  and  Abraham  Pickens,  of  Fair- 
field County,  were  appointed  commissioners  to  lay  out  a  road  from  Jacksonville, 
in  that  county,  to  Columbus. 

An  act  *'  to  provide  for  laying  out  and  establishing  a  State  Road  from  Colum- 
bus to  the  north  line  of  Clinton  Township  in  Franklin  County"  was  passed 
December  7,  1820. 

In  1823  the  Granville  road,  which  was  then  the  most  direct  route  eastward,  was 
"little  else,"  says  Martin,  "than  one  continuous  mudhole."  In  consequence  of  its 
almost  impassable  condition  the  following  notice  appeared  in  one  of  the  March 
issues  of  the  Columbus  Gazette : 

The  undersigned  respectfully  request  that  as  many  citissens  of  Franklin  County  as  can 
make  it  convenient  will  meet  at  the  tavern  of  Robert  Russell,  on  Saturday,  the  eleventh  day 
of  April  next,  for  the  purpose  of  making  arrangements  to  meet  the  citizens  of  Licking  County, 
and  labor  on  the  Columbus  and    Granville  road  for  t^o  days,  in  the  latter  part  of  May  next. 

Ebenezer  Butler,  Archibald  Benfield,  Samuel  Shannon,  Henry  Brown,  William  Neil,  J. 
A.  McDowell,  P.  H.  Olmsted,  A.  I.  McDowell,  Edward  Livingston,  John  Kerr,  Samuel  G. 
Flenniken,  Orris  Parish,  Ralph  Osborn,  James  Kooken,  James  K.Corey,  Ell  C.  King,  Francis 
Stewart. 

The  Granville  road  at  that  time  crossed  the  Scioto  near  the  present  western 
terminus  of  Spring  or  Gay  Street,  and  took  its  course  eastward  through  the  settle- 
ments on  the  Big  Darby  and  Gahnnnah.  It  crossed  the  Alum  and  Big  Walnut 
creeks  by  toll  bridges  erected  by  David  Pugh.  The  Worthington  road,  up  the 
east  bank  of  the  Whetstone,  passed  on  to  Delaware.  The  road  from  Franklinton 
to  Lancaster  passed  through  the  cornfields  and  meadows  just  south  of  Franklinton 
and  crossed  the  river  at  the  Old  Ford. 

*  In  1828,  citizens  of  Knox  County  memorialized  Congress  for  the  construction 
of  a  National  Hoad  from  Cincinnati  to  Buffalo,  New  York,  via  Columbus,  Mount 
Vernon,  Wooster,  and  Erie. 

The  first  commercial  connection  of  the  capital  with  Lake  Erie  was  furnished 
by  the  Columbus  k  Sandusky  Turnpike,  built  by  a  joint  stock  company  incor- 
porated by  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  passed  January  31,  1826.  The  incor- 
porators were  John  Kilbourne,  Abram  I.  McDowell,  Henry  Brown,  William  Neil, 
Orange  Johnson,  Orris  Parish  and  Robert  Brotherton  of  Franklin  County,  and 
nineteen  others  whose  residences  were  on  the  line  in  or  near  Delaware,  Bucyrus 
and  Sandusky.  The  capital  stock  of  the  company  was  fixed  at  5100,000,  with 
authority  to  increase  it  to  double  that  amount,  in  one-hundred-dollar  shares.  Con- 
gress was  at  once  earnestly  petitioned  to  aid  this  enterprise,  and,  largely  in  con- 
sequence of  the  efforts  of  Colonel  Pardon  Sprague,  of  Delaware  County,  passed  an 
act  March  3,  1827,  which  appropriated  "to  the  State  of  Ohio  for  the  purpose  of 
aiding  the  Columbus  &  Sandusky  Turnpike  Company  in  making  a  road  from  Co- 
lumbus to  Sandusky  City,  the  onehalf  of  a  quantity  of  land  equal  to  two  sections 
on  the  western  side  of  said  road,  and  most  contiguous  thereto,  to  be  bounded  by 
sectional  lines,  from  one  end  of  said  road  to  the  other,  wheresoever  the  same  may 
remain  unsold,  reserving  to  the  United  States  each  alternate  section,  through  the 
whole  length  of  said  road  through  the  lands  of  the  United  States,  to  be  selected  by 
the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  under  the  direction  of  the  President: 


From  Trail  to  Turnpike.  315 

Provided,  That  no  toll  shall  at  any  time  be  collected  of  any  mail  stage,  nor  of  any 
troops  or  property  of  the  United  States." 

The  amount  of  land  thus  conveyed  in  trust  to  the  State  of  Ohio  for  tho  con- 
struction of  this  road  was  31,840  acres,  or  a  little  over  fortynine  sections.  The 
estimated  cost  of  the  line  was  $81,680,  which  sum  included  $8,400  for  bridges.  The 
company  was  organized  by  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  held  at  Bucyrus  April 
12, 1827.  The  directors  chosen  at  that  meeting  were:  Columbus,  James  Robinson, 
Joseph  Eidgway;  Worthington,  Orange  Johnson;  Delaware,  M.  I).  Pettibono ; 
Bucyrus,  B.  B.  Merriman,  Samuel  Norton;  Sandusky  City,  George  Anderson, 
Hector  Kilbourn  and  Abner  Hoot. 

James  Robinson  was  elected  President;  E.  B.  Merriman,  Treasurer;  Abner 
Root,  Secretary ;  Solomon  Smith  and  Orange  Johnson,  Commissioners  to  locate  the 
road  ;  and  Colonel  James  Kilbourn,  Surveyor.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  held 
January  8,  1828,  a  new  Board  of  Directors  was  installed  and  Joseph  Ridgway  was 
elected  President,  Bela  Latham,  Secretary,  E.  B.  Merriman,  Treasurer,  and  Orange 
Johnson,  Superintendent.  Mr.  Johnson  was  the  company's  principal  agent  from 
first  to  last.  The  road  was  completed,  one  hundred  and  six  miles,  in  the  autumn 
of  1834,  at  a  total  cost  of  $74,376,  or  about  seven  hundred  dollars  per  mile.  The  com- 
pany's charter  required  it  to  construct  "  an  artificial  road  composed  of  stones, 
gravel,  wood,  or  other  suitable  materials,  well  compacted  together,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  secure  a  firm,  substantial  and  even  road,  rising  in  tlie  middle  with  a 
gradual  arch.'*  Based  on  this  requirement,  a  general  expectation  prevailed  that 
the  roadbed  would  be  laid  with  stone  or  gravel,  but  it  was  not  realized.  An 
ordinary  clay  road  was  built  and  this,  in  wet  weather,  soon  became  nearly  im- 
passable. Nathaniel  Merriman,  appointed  as  agent  of  the  State  to  report  upon  its 
construction,  as  required  by  statute,  declared  that  it  had  been  completed  in  accord- 
ance with  the  requirements  of  law.  whereupon  the  company  erected  its  tollgates 
along  the  entire  line.  Popular  dissatisfaction  with  these  proceedings,  and  with 
the  condition  of  the  road,  led  to  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  passed  February 
28,1843,  totally  repealing  the  company's  charter,  and  forbidding  its  further  collec- 
tion of  tolls.  In  the  month  of  March,  during  the  same  session,  a  commission  was 
appointed  to  survey  and  build  a  State  road  on  the  bed  of  the  turnpike,  and  on 
March  12,  1845,  this  road  was  established  by  law  as  a  public  highway/  Directly 
after  this,  the  tollgates,  which  had  been  until  then  maintained,  were  torn  away  by 
wrathful  citizens.  No  exception  was  made  of  the  single  gate  in  Franklin 
County,  located  about  two  miles  north  of  Columbus.  The  company  maintained 
that  the  legislative  acts  adverse  to  it  were  unconstitutional,  and  ap])ealed  to  the 
General  Assembly  for  relief  At  the  session  of  1843-4  a  committee  recommended 
that  the  State  should  exchange  its  bonds  for  the  company's  stock,  and  take  charge 
of  the  road  as  one  of  its  public  works.  On  December  19,  1845,  the  National  House 
of  Representatives  adopted  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  : 

Whebeas,  By  an  act  of  Congress,  approved  July  3, 1827,  there  was  granted  to  the  State  of 
Ohio,  in  trust,  a  quantity  of  land  equal  to  fortynine  sections,  to  aid  the  Columbus  and  San- 
dusky Turnpike  Company  in  the  construction  of  a  road  upon  condition  that  no  toll  should 
be  collected  on  any  mail  stage,  nor  any  troops  or  property  of  the  United  States  passing  over 
said  road  ;  and  whereas,  it  is  represented  that  said  road  is  now  in  such  a  state  of  repair  that 
it  cannot  be  travelled ;  therefore, 


31()  II18T0RY  OK  THE  City  op  Columbus. 

RfMilvedy  That  the  Comtnittee  on  Roads  and  Canals  be  instructed  to  inquire  how  the 
trust  fun<l  aforesaid  has  been  used  and  applied  by  the  State  of  Ohio ;  what  is  the  condition 
as  to  repair  and  otherwise  of  the  said  road  ;  and  what  causes  have  produced  the  results  before 
alluded  to. 

In  1847  tho  company's  claims  and  complaints  were  ret'errod,  by  resolution  ot 
tho  General  Assembly,  to  the  Attornoy-Goneral  of  Ohio,  Hon.  Henry  Stanbery, 
who,  ignoring  tho  question  of  constitutionality,  returned  an  opinion  that  the  com- 
pany had  not  been  fairly  dealt  with.  J)uring  tho  session  of  185C-7  the  Senate 
passed  a  bill  authorizing  a  suit  against  the  State  for  the  alleged  wrong  done  the 
company  by  tho  repeal  of  its  charter,  but  the  measure  was  rejected  by  the  House. 

The  construction  of  subsequent  turnpikes  converging  at  Columbus,  down  to 

1854,  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 

Zrf//KV/.s/fT,  Carroll  J  Pickcr'nujiou  awl  yntiounl  li(nnl  Tarnpikf:  Compniuj. — In- 
corporated in  March,  1839,  to  build  a  road  between  Lancaster  and  Columbus. 
Committee  to  receive  subHcriptions  at  Columbus:  John  Noble,  Christian  Heyl  and 
Jeremiah  Armstrong. 

Cohtmhus  (Uid  Wftrth'nujton  Pldhkroiid  nr  Turnpike. —  Chartered  by  the  General 
Assembly  March  23,  1849.  Incorporators  Solomon  Beers,  John  Phipps,  John  B. 
Piatt,  Philip  Fisher,  Robert  E.  Neil,  and  associates.  Stockbooks  opened  April  15, 
and  subscriptions  completed  May  5,  1849.  First  directors,  B.  Comstock,  William 
Neil  and  Alanson  Bull.  By  permission,  the  road  was  built  on  tho  bed  of  tho  San- 
dusky Turnpike.  It  was  completed  in  1850,  and  the  tiret  dividend  was  paid  to  its 
stockholders  in  January,  1H51.     Capital  stock  $27,825,  in  twontyfivo-dollar  shares. 

Notice  of  a  petition  to  the  General  Assembly  for  a  State  i*oad  from  Columbus 
up  tlio  east  bank  of  the  Scioto  to  the  Delaware  County  line,  was  published  in  Sep- 
tember, 1831. 

Columbuii  ami  Portsmouth  Turnpike, — A  graveled  toll  road  built  in  1847  on  sub- 
scriptions taken  separately  in  each  of  the  counties  through  which  it  passed.  Three 
directors  and  $8,800  of  the  capital  stock  wore  assigned  to  Franklin  County. 
Dividends  were  paid  on  the  stock  at  tho  office  of  Robert  W.  McCoy  in  Columbus, 
November  6,  1848,  and  in  May,  1850.  Pursuant  to  an  act  of  tho  General  As- 
Hcmbly,  the  State's  interest  in  this  road  was  sold  November  20,  1865,  to  flonry  E. 
Ware,  of  Waverly,  for  $8,000. 

(\tlumljus  (tnd  II<irriMn(rij  Turnpike. — Incorporated  in  1847,  built  in  1848-9;  Uriah 
Lathrop  surveyor  and  engineer.  Subscribed  capital  stock  $20,815,  in  twontyfive- 
doUar  shares.  Cost  of  the  road,  $35,602.  The  county  donated  $4,500  towards 
building  the  bridge  over  the  Scioto.  Originally  it  was  a  free  road,  but  aflor  tho 
lirst  two  or  three  years  two  tollgatos  were  erected,  but  ono  of  which  remained  in 

1855.  Down  to  that  year  no  dividends  were  paid  to  the  stockholders,  all  the  ro- 
coipt.s  having  been  ap))1ied  to  debts,  repairs  and  current  expenses.  The  incorpora- 
tors of  this  road  were  Joseph  Chenoweth,  John  Morgan,  M.  L.  SuUivant,  David 
Mitchell,  Jacob  Grubb,  Adam  Brotherlin  and  John  Dunn. 

CotumhuH  and  Groveport  Turnpike. — Company  incorporated  under  act  of  March 
19,1849;  organized  May  18,  1S49.  Incorporators,  William  Harrison,  Nathaniel 
Merion,  William  H.  Rarey,  William  Darnell,  Edmund  Stewart,  William  W.  Kyle, 
and  associates.     Capital  stock,  $20,000,  in  twentyfive-dollar  shares;  actual  subscrip- 


■■ 


From  Trail  to  Turnpike.  317 

tion,  $12,300.  Eoad  complotod  in  tbo  aatumn  of  1850.  Tho  debt  incurred  in 
building  was  Boon  paid  oft' by  earnings. 

Columbus  and  Johnstown  Turninke, — Incorporated  under  act  of  Mai'ch  1,  1850, 
by  Robert  Neil,  Windsor  Atchison,  George  llidenour,  Jesse  Baughinan,  Walter 
Thrall,  and  associates,  with  authority  to  construct  a  turnpike  or  plankroad  from 
Columbus  to  Johnstown,  via  New  Albany,  and  to  extend  itto  Mi.  Vernon.  Author- 
ized capital  stock,  $75,000,  in  twentyfive-dollar  shares. 

Columbus  and  Sunhury  Turnpike  and  Plankroad. — Incorporated  under  act  of 
March  20,  1850,  by  William  Trevitt,  Christian  Heyl,  Peter  Agler,  James  Park, 
George  W.  Agler,  John  Dill,  Peter  Harlocker,  Timothy  Lee,  W.  G.  Edmison,  John 
Curtis,  E.  Washburn,  Stillman  Tucker,  and  associates.  Authorized  capital  stock, 
$75,000,  in  twentyfive-dollar  shares.  Built  in  1852  from  a  point  on  the  Johnstown 
road  about  three  miles  north  of  Columbus  to  Central  College. 

Columbus  and  Granville  Turnpikej  commonly  railed  Brush's  Plankroad, — In- 
corporated under  act  of  February  8,  1850,  by  Joseph  Ridgway,  Samuel  Barr,  Gates 
O'Harra,  William  A.  Piatt,  Samuel  Brush,  and  associates,  with  authority  to  build  a 
road  surfaced  with  gravel,  stone  or  plank,  from  Columbus  to  Granville,  and  to  ex- 
tend it  to  Newark.  Authorized  capital  stock,  $100,000,  in  tiflj^-dollar  shares.  Built 
in  1852,  with  one  plank  track,  from  Columbus  to  Walnut  Creek.  Samuel  Brush, 
President;  John  M.  Pugh,  Secretary;  D.  W.  Deshler,  Treasurer. 

Cottage  Mills  and  Harrisbunj  Turnpike. — Incorporated  under  act  of  March  20, 
1851,  by  Adin  G.  Ilibbs^  Levi  Strader,  Solomon  Borer,  Isaac  Miller,  William  Duff^, 
and  associates,  with  authority  to  build  a  turnpike  connecting  the  Columbus  and 
Harrisburg  pike  with  that  from  Columbus  to  Portsmouth  at  a  point  opposite  the 
Cottage  Mills.     Built  in   1852,  seven  and  a  half  miles,  at  a  cost  of  about  $13,000. 

The  Columbus  and  Blcndon  Turnpike  Company  was   organized   May   2,    1850. 

Franklin  and  Jackson  Turnpike. — Incorporated  under  act  of  March  20, 1851, 
by  Samuel  Landes,  John  Moler,  Adam  Miller,  Jacob  Huft'man,  John  Stimmel, 
John  Cherry,  William  L.  Miner,  Gersham  M.  Peters  and  Michael  L.  Sullivant,  with 
Authority  to  build  a  pike  optionally  from  that  between  Columbus  and  Harrisburg, 
or  from  Franklinton,  to  the  south  line  of  Franklin  County.  Built  from  the  Har- 
risburg road  down  the  river  to  the  Cottage  Mills  pike,  about  ten  miles,  in  1852,  at 
a  cost  of  about  $8,000,  leaving  the  company  about  two  thousand  dollars  in  debt. 

Columbus  and  Jjockwin  Plankroad. — Incorporated  in  the  spring  of  1853,  under 
general  statute.  Original  stock,  $14,000.  First  five  miles  built  in  1853,  the  remain- 
ing two  in  1854.  Surfaced  with  plank  eight  feet  long  and  three  inches  thick,  laid 
on  two  stringers  four  inches  square.  Cost,  $16,500,  or  about  $2,400  per  mile. 
Began  at  the  intersection  of  the  old  Harbor  Eoad  with  the  Columbus  and  Johns- 
town Turnpike. 

Clinton  and  Blendon  Plankroad. — Company  organized  in  1853,  road  built  in 
1853-4.  Began  at  the  Lockwin  Eoad,  four  miles  north  of  Columbus,  and  extended 
to  the  county  line  half  a  mile  north  of  Westerville;  total  length,  eight  miles. 
Authorized  capital  stock,  $16,000;  cost,  $16,600. 

In  1851  a  planked  track  was  completed  from  the  point  whore  Broad  Street  then 
terminated  to  Alum  Creek. 

The  condition  of  the  country  roads  during  the  borough  period  was  such,  in 
bad  weather,  ^ to  paralyze  trade,  and   make  vehicular  locomotion  next  to  impos- 


81S  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

sible.  Speaking  of  an  "  administration  convention  "  to  be  held  at  Columbus,  Decem- 
ber 28,  1S27,  the  Ohio  State  Journal  of  the  twentysixth  of  that  month  remarks  : 
"  From  the  present  bad  state  of  the  roads  (we  have  never  seen  them  worse)  it  is 
likely  some  fair  weather  delegates  will  be  deterred  from  coming."  In  1830  the 
journey  from  Columbus  to  Worthington  and  return,  such  was  the  condition  of  the 
road,  often  consumed  an  entire  day.  Mr.  S.  P.  McElvain  informs  the  writer  that 
on  the  day  next  preceding  the  great  Whig  convention  at  Columbus,  in  February, 
1830,  he  quitted  Delaware  by  stage,  hoping  to  reach  the  capital  the  following  eve- 
ning. The  vehicle  was  drawn  by  four  horses,  but  dragged  slowly  and  heavily  most 
of  the  way,  nearly  hubdeep  in  the  mire.  It  reached  Worthington  at  four  o'clock 
p.  M.,  and  did  not  arrive  at  Columbus  until  one  o'clock  the  following  morning. 
Rain  fell  throughout  the  day  of  the  convention,  and  High  Street,  on  which  the  big 
political  parade  took  place,  was  ankledeep  with  mud. 

Mr.  Isaac  Appleton  Jewett,  who  journeyed  from  New  England  to  Ohio  in 
December,  1830,  thus  describes  some  of  his  experiences  in  a  letter  dated  March  9, 
1831: 

From  Zanesville  to  Columbus  —  fiftyeight  miles— we  saw  the  wilderness  in  all  its 
gloominess,  and  enjoyed  self-constructed  roads  in  all  their  terror.  We  felt  as  if  carried  back 
to  the  times  of  the  early  settlers.  .  .  .  Our  vehicle,  which,  in  the  dialect  of  the  country  was 
called  a  spanker^  was  intended  for  four  persons,  and  on  this  occasion  was  drawn  by  four  strong 
horses  at  the  rate  of  two  miles  per  hour.  .  .  .  What,  with  the  happy  recollections  of  the 
preceding  day,  the  fearful  anticipations  of  the  future,  the  wintry  wind  driving  through  an 
open  stage,  the  warnings  of  the  driver  to  be  prepared  for  any  and  every  hazard,  the  confes* 
sions  of  a  timid  fellow  traveller,  of  horses  frightened  by  the  howling  of  the  wolves,  of  stages 
overturned,  of  bones  dislocated,  and  lives  in  jeopardy,  all  of  which  he  had  heard  of  and  much 
of  which  he  bad  seen ;  what  with  travelling  the  dreary,  livelong  night  and  arriving  at  Col- 
umbus just  before  daybreak,  and  there  finding  four  of  the  hotels  at  which  we  applied  not 
only  full  but  crowded^  so  that  admittance  for  repose  was  out  of  the  question ;  considering 
these  facts,  as  well  as  the  simple  incidents  that  one  of  our  company  was  ever  shrinking  with 
fear,  another  had  stupefied  his  senses  with  strong  drink,  and  another  was  so  much  given  to 
profanity  as  to  succeed  every  harsh  movement  of  the  spanker  with  a  tremendous  oath,  and  I 
think  one  may  receive  full  pardon  for  uttering  the  "  groans  of  a  traveller.*' 

A  Perrysburg  paper  of  Januar}^  1838,  contained  the  following  account  of  the 
condition  of  the  roads  in  the  Black  Swamp  region  at  that  time  : 

The  mud  extends  to  the  horse's  bridle  in  many  places,  and  is  of  a  consistency  of  which 
no  mind  can  have  an  adequate  idea  without  becoming  experimentally  acquainted  with  its 
appalling  reality.  A  portion  of  the  truth  can  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  six  horses  were 
barely  sufficient  to  draw  a  twowheeled  vehicle  from  Portage  River  to  this  town  in  three  days. 
The  distance  is  fifteen  miles. 

The  editor  proceeds  to  remark  that  the  mail  is  oflen  detained  at  Portage  River 
for  more  than  a  week.  In  a  later  issue  he  says  six  different  mails  were  waiting  to 
get  forward,  and  that  no  strength  of  man  or  horse  could  drag  them  through  the 
existing  mud. 

Under  the  caption  "Infamous,"  the  Ohio  State  Journal  of  April  21,  1843, 
says :  "  A  gentleman  just  informs  us  that  he  was  three  houra  coming  from  Worth- 
ington, eight  mileSy  on  the  repealed  mud  pike  north  of  this,  and  had  to  pay  toll 
at  the  gate." 


From  Trail  to  Turnpike. 


319 


In  July,  1862,  complaint  is  made  of  the  Worthington  Plankroad  that  its 
planks  are  "  warped,"  and  that  its  track  has  for  a  long  time  been  in  a  very  bad 
condition.* 

During  the  open  winter  of  1852-3  the  country  roads  were  reduced  to  a  hor- 
rible state.  Under  date  of  March  2,  1863,  we  read  in  a  contemporary  chronicle: 
"The  country  roads  in  the  vicinity  of  Columbus  are  in  a  terrible  condition,  and 
have  been  so  for  some  time  back.'"* 

Whole  volumes  could  be  filled  with  such  complaints.  Nothing  more  conspic- 
uously marks  the  progress  or  proves  the  beneficence  of  civilization  than  the  marvel- 
ous facility  and  comfort  it  has  brought  in  the  modes  and  means  of  travel  and 
transportation. 

NOTES. 


1.  Ck)mmanication  to  the  Ohio  State  Journal. 

2.  W.  H.  Venable. 

3.  Autobiographical  sketch  addressed  to  B.  F.  Martin,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  the  Frank- 
lin Ck)unty  Pioneer  Association. 

4.  Atwater's  History  of  Ohio  contains  this  passage :  *'  When  the  state  was  first  or- 
ganized, we  do  not  believe  that  there  was  even  one  bridge  in  the  state.  The  roads  were  few 
and  it  was  no  easy  matter  for  a  stranger  to  follow  them.  For  ourselves  we  preferred  follow- 
ing the  pocket  compass  or  the  sun,  to  most  of  the  roads,  in  the  Virginia  Military  Tract ;  and 
this  even  ten  years  after  the  organization  of  the  state  government.  Travellers  carried  their 
provisions  with  them  when  starting  from  any  of  the  towns  into  the  then  wilderness,  now 
thickly  settled  parts  of  the  state.  Judges  and  lawyers  rode  from  court  to  court,  through  the 
forest,  and  carried  their  provisions  or  starved  on  their  route.  Though  they  generally  got 
into  some  settlement  before  nightfall,  yet  not  always,  as  we  shall  long  remember.  When  the 
streams  were  swelled  with  rain,  they  swam  every  stream  in  their  way." 

5.  See  quotation  introductory  to  this  chapter. 

6.  Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County. 

7.  In  the  Ohio  enabling  act,  says  Atwater,  "  Congress  offered  the  people  one  thirty- 
sixth  part  of  their  whole  territory  for  the  use  of  schools.  They  offered  them  also,  certain 
lands,  on  which  they  supposed  salt  water  might  be  procured ;  they  offered  them  five  per 
cent,  of  all  the  net  proceeds  of  sales  of  lands  owned  by  Congress ;  three  per  cent,  of  which 
was  to  be  laid  out  in  making  roads  in  the  state,  and  two  per  cent,  on  a  road  to  be  made  from 
Cumberland,  in  Maryland,  to  the  state.'' 

8.  The  subscription  books  were  opened  under  the  direction  of  William  Dennison  and 
L.  Goodale.    William  Nell  was  President,  and  Josiah  Scott  Secretary. 

9.  Ohio  State  Journal, 
10.    Ibid. 


CHAPTER   XX. 


THE  NATIONAL  ROAD. 

The  beginning  of  a  now  era  of  trade,  travel,  transportation  and  of  material 
and  flocial  progress  in  Ohio  dates  from  the  construction  of  the  Ohio  Canal  and 
the  National  Road.  For  the  sake  of  topical  continuity  the  latter  will  be  hero  first 
considered. 

In  1784  Philadelphia  was  the  starting  point  of  the  only  thoroughfare  which 
made  any  pretxjnsions  to  communication  with  the  region  then  vaguely  known  as  the 
Far  West.  After  (|uitting  the  city  and  its  neighboring  settlements,  its  course,  we 
are  told,  "lay  through  a  broken,  desolate  and  almost  uninhabited  country,"  and 
was  supposed  to  bo  a  turnpike  by  those  who  had  never  traveled  it,  but  in  reality 
was  "  merely  a  passable  roa'l,  broad  and  level  in  the  lowlands,  narrow  and  dan- 
gerous in  the  passes  of  the  mountains,  and  beset  with  steep  declivities."  Yet  such 
was  at  that  time  the  only  highway  between  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  the  Missis- 
sippi. To  the  imagination  the  Alleghany  chain  of  mountains  then  assumed  the 
proportions  of  a  tremendous  barrier,  separating  those  who  passed  beyond  it  from 
all  connection,  or  hope  of  reunion,  with  their  eastern  friends. 

To  achieve  the  commercial  conquest  of  this  barrier,  and  extend  into  the  great 
wilderness  beyond  it  the  domain  of  American  civilization,  were  projects  hindered 
and  postponed  by  the  poverty  of  national  resources,  yet  none  the  less  cherished  by 
the  earlier  statesmen.  With  the  tide  of  westward  emigration  which  set  in  directly 
after  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  the  resulting  settlement  and  organisa- 
tion of  new  States  beyond  the  Ohio,  the  opportunity  for  realizing  these  projects  of 
extended  and  improved  communication  first  began  to  dawn.  What  had  before 
been  a  dream,  then  became  a  necessity,  and  quite  as  much  so  for  political  reasons  as 
for  economic.  The  utility  of  a  great  east  and  west  wagonway,  as  a  bond  of  union 
between  the  States,  was  no  less  obvious  after  the  War  of  1812  than  was  that  of  a 
great  transcontinental  railway  afler  the  War  of  1861. 

At  the  time  of  Ohio's  birth,  in  1803,  the  road,  or  rather  trail,  westward  from 
Fort  Cumberland  crossed  the  mountains  from  Bedford,  Pennsylvania,  in  two 
branches,  which  reunited  with  one  another  twentyeight  miles  west  of  Pittsburgh . 
The  southern  branch,  known  as  the  Glade  Hoad,  was  that  originally  cut  by 
General  Braddock  in  his  march  on  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  passed  through  the  dreary 
region  of  the  great  Savage  Mountain  then  and  since  known  as  The  Shades  ot 
Death.  The  northern  branch  was  first  opened  by  the  British  General  Forbes 
when  advancing  against  the  same  French  stronghold  in  1758^  and  therefore  bore 

[320] 


Thk  National  Road.  321 

the  name  of  the  Forbes  Koad.  Both  were  rough,  lonely,  primitive,  often  beset 
.  with  highwaymen  and  embellished  to  the  imagination  with  startling  tales  of 
mnrder,  robbery  and  accident.  "The  tavern  signs,  as  if  adapting  themselves  to 
the  wild  regions  in  which  they  hung,  bore  pictures  of  wolves  and  bears  as  em- 
blem!).    High  above  the  Alleghany  summits  the  bald  eagle  soared."' 

As  a  preliminary  step  towards  providing  better  facilities  for  communication 
between  the  States  east  and  the  Territories  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  the  following 
clause  was  appended  to  the  enabling  act  of  April  80,  1802,  by  authority  and  in 
pursuance  of  which  was  organized  the  present  Stale  of  Ohio: 

That  onetwentieth  part  of  the  nett  proceeds  of  the  lands  lying  within  said  state  sold  by 
Congrees,  from  and  after  tlie  thirtieth  day  of  Jane  next,  after  deducting  all  expenses  inci- 
dent to  the  same,  Hhall  be  applied  to  the  laying  out  and  making  public  roads,  leading  from 


the  navigable  waters  emptying  into  the  Atlantic,  to  the  Ohio,  to  the  said  Etat«,  and  through 
the  same,  such  roads  to  be  laid  oat  under  the  authority  of  Congress  with  the  consent  of  the 
several  states  through  which  the  rood  shall  pass. 

This  was  followed  by  an  act  of  March  29,  1806,  authorising  the  President  to 
appoint  "  three  discreet  and  disinterested  persons  "  to  lay  out  a  road  from  Cumber- 
land, or  some  point  on  the  Potomac,  to  the  Ohio  Eiver  at  some  point  between 
Steubeovillo  and  the  mouth  of  Grave  Creek.  It  was  further  provided  in  this  act 
that,  on  receiving  from  the  commisaioDers  a  satisfactory  report  and  plan,  the 
President  might  proceed  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  States  throagh  which  the 
road  would  pass,  and  also  take  prompt  and  effective  measures  to  have  it  built.  As 
21 


322  History  of  the  Citv  of  Colitmihts. 

to  the  conBtruction,  it  wu8  required  that  all  parts  of  the  road  should  bo  cloarod  to 
the  width  of  four  rods,  that  its  surface  should  he  "  raisetl  in  the  middle  with  stone, 
earth,  or  gravel  and  sand,  or  a  combination  of  some  or  all  of  them,"  and  that  side 
ditches  should  be  provided  for  carrying  off  the  water.  For  the  purpose  of  defray- 
ing the  expense  of  laying  out  and  making  the  road,  the  act  api)ropriated  the  sum 
of  thirty  thousand  dollars. 

At  the  time  this  act  and  that  of  1802  wore  passed,  there  was  substantial 
unanimity  among  the  leading  contemporary  statesmen  of  all  shades  of  opinion  in 
favor  of  giving  national  support  to  the  building  of  roads  and  canals,  and  the  im- 
provement of  navigable  watercourses.  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  then  President,  was 
no  exception  to  this,  but  doubted  whether  the  Constitution,  strictly  construed, 
would  admit  of  the  api)ropriation  to  such  purposes  of  the  public  funds.  He  there- 
fore suggested  in  his  December  message  of  1806  such  an  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution as  would  enable  Congress  to  apply  the  surplus  revenue  "  to  the  great  pur- 
poses of  public  education,  roads,  rivers,  canals,  and  such  other  objects  of  public  im- 
provement as  may  be  thought  proper.*'* 

The  annals  of  Congress  indicate  that  the  original  mover  of  this  policy  was 
Senator  Worth ington,  of  Ohio,  but  Mr.  Clay,  who  entered  the  Senate  in  December, 
1800,  soon  made  himself  its  most  conspicuous  champion.  He  maintained  not  only 
that  such  a  policy  was  desirable,  but  that  it  was  already  constitutionally  authorized. 
His  vigorous  efforts  were  promptly  seconded  by  public  opinion,  which  found  a 
voice  in  resolutions  of  the  Ohio  General  Assembly,  petitioning  Congress  as  early, 
as  1817  for  the  construction  of  a  great  national  highway  between  the  East  and 
West.  Additional  appropriations  for  the  improvement,  repair  and  extension 
of  the  Cumberland  Iload  were  therefore  successively  made  as  follows: 

Februar}'  14,  1810,  S60,000  for  "  making  said  road  between  Cumberland,  in  the 
State  of  Maryland,  and  Brownsville,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania/' 

March  3,  1811,  $30,000  to  be  reserved  from  the  funds  provided  for  by  the  enab- 
ling act  of  1802,  for  the  same  purpose. 

May  6,  1812,  S30,000  for  the  same  purpose,  and  from  the  same  fund. 

February  14,  1815,  $100,000  from  said  fund,  for  building  a  road  from  Cum- 
berland to  the  State  of  Ohio. 

April  14,  1818,  $52,984.60,  for  liquidating  unpaid  claims  on  account  of  said 
road. 

On  May  15,  1820,  an  act  was  passed  which  recited  in  its  preamble  that  **by 
continuation  of  the  Cumberland  Road  from  Wheeling  through  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois,  the  lands  of  the  United  States  may  become  more  valuable,*'  and  authorized 
the  President  to  appoint  three  commissioners  "  to  examine  the  country  between 
Wheeling,  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  a  point  on  the  lelt  bank  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  to  be  chosen  by  the  commissioners,  between  St.  Louis  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Illinois  River,"  and  lay  out  in  a  straight  line  from  Wheeling  to  said  point  a  road 
eighty  feet  wide,  its  course  and  boundaries  to  be  "  designated  by  marked  trees, 
stakes,  or  other  conspicuous  monuments,  at  the  distance  of  every  quarter  of  a  mile, 
and  at  every  angle  of  deviation  from  a  straight  lino."  The  commissioners  were 
further  required  to  deliver  a  report  and  plan  of  their  work  to  the  President. 

From  this  act  of  May  15,  1820,  dates  the  beginning  of  the  extension  of  the 
('umherland  Road  through  Ohio  to  the  West.     In  their  report  of  January  3,  1821, 


Thp.  National  Road.  823 

to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  commissioners  remark  that  the  law  limited 
the  location  of  the  road  "  through  the  intermediate  countr}^  between  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  rivers  to  a  direct  line,  with  discretion  only  to  deviate  from  such  line 
where  the  ground  and  watercourses  make  it  necessar}'.'*  Strictly  observing  this 
requirement,  the  commissioners  add,  **  in  all  prohability  neither  of  the  scats  of 
government  of  Ohio,  Indiana  or  Illinois  could  be  embraced  b}'  the  location,  although 
it  has  been  ascertained  that  to  carry  the  line  through  them  all,  commencing  at 
Wheeling  and  ending  at  St.  Louis,  would  not  exceed  in  length  a  direct  liijo  between 
those  ]K>ints  more  than  three  miles." 

But  the  supposed  constitutional  obstacles  to  the  enterprise  had  not  been  sur- 
mounted. In  May,  1822,  President  Monroe  vetoed  a  bill  to  establish  tollgates  on 
the  Cumberland  Road,  and  accompanied  his  veto  with  an  elaborate  argument 
against  the  constitutional  right  of  Congress  to  execute  works  of  internal  improve- 
ment, although  admitting  the  power  to  aid  such  works  from  the  National  Treasury 
if  constructed  by  the  States.  The  same  subject  was  brought  forward  again  by  a  bill 
reported  in  January,  1824,  authorizing  the  President  to  cause  surveys,  plans  and 
estimates  to  be  made  for  such  roads,  canals  and  like  improvements  as  might  be 
deemed  necessar}-  for  postal,  commercial  or  military  purposes.  To  defray  the  ex- 
pense of  carrying  out  its  purposes,  this  bill  appropriated  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand 
dollars.  Eloquently  and  vigorously  supported  by  Mr.  Clay,  it  passed  both  houses 
of  Congress,  and  was  signed  by  President  Monroe,  who  waived  his  objections  to  it 
on  the  ground  that  it  only  provided  for  the  collection  of  information. 

Although  the  particular  measure  thus  enacted  resulted  in  nothing  more  impor- 
tant than  a  few  surveys,  it  was  a  turning-point  in  the  history  of  the  National,  or 
as  the  statutes  call  it,  the  Cumberland  Road,  and  thenceforward  its  extension 
through  Ohio  proceeded  steadily.  On  the  fifth  of  October,  1825,  Jonathan 
Knight,  engaged  in  locating  the  road  from  Zanesville  westward,  arrived  in  Colum- 
bus  at  the  head  of  a  corps  of  engineers,  among  whom  was  Joseph  B.  Johnston, 
afterwards  one  of  the  most  distinguished  generals  of  the  Confederate  Army.  **  We 
understand,"  says  the  Ohio  State  Journal  in  announcing  this  arrival,  **that  he 
[Knight]  will  return  to  Zanesville,  and  divide  the  line  he  has  located  into  halfmile 
sections,  and  make  estimates  of  the  probable  expense  of  constructing  it.  We  are 
further  informed  that  the  line  he  will  locate  will  be  only  about  one  mile  longor 
than  a  straight  line;  that  it  goes  about  seven  miles  south  of  Newark,  fourteen  north 
of  Lancaster,  and  intersects  the  canal  about  twentysix  miles  east  of  this  place.  No 
grade  of  the  road,  it  is  said,  will  exceed  three  degrees,  except  about  fourteen  miles 
of  the  hilly  country  near  Zanesville,  some  of  which  will  probably  amount  to  four 
and  a  half." 

During  the  summer  of  1826  Engineers  Knight  and  Weaver,  with  their  assist- 
ants, completed  the  permanent  location  of  the  road  as  far  west  as  Zanesville,  and 
made  a  preliminary  survey  of  the  line  from  Columbus  west  to  Indianapolis.  In 
Mr.  Knight's  report,  laid  before  Congress  during  the  winter  of  1826  7,  it  was 
Btated  that  between  Zanesville  and  Colnmbusfive  different  routes  had  been  surveyed, 
that  via  Newark  being  the  longest  by  two  miles,  twentyfive  chains  and  fortyseven 
links,  but  having  the  lowest  grade  and  being  least  expensive  by  $2,740.  As  to  the 
location  of  the  line  westward  from  Columbus  the  Ohio  State  Joiir?ial  says:* 


324  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

The  adopted  route  leaves  Columbus  at  Broad  Street,  crosses  the  Scioto  River  at  the  end 
of  that  street,  and  on  the  new  wooden  bridge  erected  in  182(>  by  an  individual  having  a 
charter  from  the  state.  The  bridge  is  not  so  permanent  nor  so  spacious  as  couhl  be  desired, 
yet  it  may  answer  the  intended  purpose  for  several  years  to  come.  Thence  the  location 
passes  through  the  village  of  Franklinton,  and  across  the  low  grounds  to  the  bluff  which  is 
surmounted  at  a  depression  formed  by  a  ravine,  and  at  a  point  nearly  in  the  prolongation  of 
the  direction  of  Broad  Street ;  thence,  by  a  small  angle,  a  straight  line  to  the  blnfis  of  Darby 
Creek ;  to  pass  the  creek  and  its  bluffs,  some  angles  were  necessary ;  thence  nearly  a  straight 
line  through  Deer  Creek  Barrens,  and  across  that  stream  to  the  dividing  grounds  between 
the  Scioto  and  the  Miami  waters  ;  thence  nearly  down  the  valley  of  Beaver  Creek. 

In  June,  1827,  the  engineers  left  Columbus  for  the  boundary  of  Indiana  to 
locate  the  road  through  that  State.  At  the  same  time  it  was  announced  that  the  grad- 
ing between  Wheeling  and  Cambridge  had  been  nearly  completed,  and  that  the 
construction  contracts  as  far  west  as  Zanesville  would  soon  be  let. 

The  construction  superintendent  of  the  Ohio  divisions  of  the  road  in  1827,  was 
Caspar  W.  Weaver,  whose  report,  for  that  year,  to  G^eneral  Alexander  McComb, 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  United  States,  contains  the  following  statements  indicative  of 
the  progress  then  being  made  in  the  work  : 

Upon  the  fin>t,  second  and  third  divisions,  with  a  cover  of  metal  of  six  inches  in  thick- 
ness, composed  of  stone  reduced  to  particles  of  not  more  than  four  ounces  in  weight,  the 
travel  was  admitted  in  the  month  of  June  last.  Those  divisions  that  lie  eastward  of  the 
village  of  Fairview  together  embrace  a  distance  of  very  nearly  twentyeight  and  a  half  miles, 
and  were  put  under  contract  on  the  first  of  July,  and  first  and  thirtyfirst  of  August,  1825. 
This  portion  of  the  road  has  been,  in  pursuance  of  contracts  made  last  fall  and  spring,  covered 
with  the  third  stratum  of  metal  of  three  inches  in  thickness,  and  similarly  reduced.  On 
parts  of  this  distance,  say  about  five  miles  made  up  of  detached  pieces,  the  travel  was 
admitted  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  winter,  and  has  continued  on  to  this  time.  In 
those  places  where  the  cover  has  been  under  the  travel  a  sufificient  time  to  render  it  compact 
and  solid,  it  is  very  firm,  elastic  and  smooth.  The  effect  has  been  to  dissipate  the  prejudices 
which  existed  very  generally,  in  the  minds  of  the  citizens,  against  the  MacAdam  system,  and 
to  establish  full  confidence  over  the  former  plan  of  constructing  roads.     .    •    . 

On  the  first  day  of  last  July,  the  travel  was  admitted  upon  the  fourth  and  fifth  divisions, 
and  upon  the  second,  third,  fourth  and  fifth  sections  of  the  sixth  division  of  the  road,  in  its 
graduated  state.  This  part  of  the  line  was  put  under  contract  on  the  eleventh  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 182G,  terminating  at  a  point  three  miles  west  of  Cambridge,  and  embraces  a  distance 
of  twentythree  and  a  half  miles.  ...  On  the  twentyfirst  of  July  the  balance  of  the  line  to 
Zanesville,  comprising  a  distance  of  a  little  over  twenty  one  miles,  was  let.  This  .letting  of 
the  road  was  taken  at  more  regular  and  fairer  prices  than  any  former  one. 

The  engineer  concludes  by  recommending,  in  earnest  words,  that  "  a  system 
or  plan  for  the  regular  repair  and  preservation  of  the  road  should  be  early  devised 
and  adopted."  This  suggestion  he  reinforces  with  the  remark  that"  that  great  monu- 
ment of  wisdom  and  beneficence  of  the  General  Government,  the  road  from  Cum- 
berland through  the  Alleghany  Mountains  to  the  Ohio  River,  has  nearly  gone  to 
destruction  for  want  of  that  provident  care  and  constant  attention  which  it 
required,  and  its  great  utility  claimed."^  The  contentions  which  arose  as  to  the 
choice  of  routes  through  Licking  and  Franklin  Counties,  caused  considerable  delay 
in  the  westward  progress  of  the  work,  and  seem  to  have  assumed  some  political 
aspects,  for  in  September,  1827,  wo  find  Mr.  John  Kilbourne,  then  a  candidate  for 
Congress,  announcing  that,  as  to  ''  location  of  the  National  Boad  from  Zanesville 


The  National  Roai>. 


\ 


\.  326  History  of  the  City  of  Columbps. 

to  Uclumbus  '*  he  was  **  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  straight  and  direct  route  through 
the  town  i>f  Hebron."  Efforts  were  made  to  induce  the  General  Assembly  to 
declare  its  preference  as  to  the  rival  routes,  but  a  resolution  by  Senator  Gault,  of 
Licking,  having  that  object  in  view  was  defeated.  Referring  to  this  subject  in  a 
letter  written  from  Columbus  August  18,  1831,  M!r.  Isaac  Appleton  Jewett 
remarked : 

The  progress  of  the  National  Road  has  been  retarded  by  a  great  variety  of  conflicting 
interests  among  private  persons  who  are  not  reconciled  to  the  destined  route  between  this  and 
Hebron,  twenty  miles  east  of  us.  But  the  department  have  recently  dispatched  an  oflficer 
into  this  quarter,  who,  after  investigating,  decided  the  matter,  and  operations  are  about  to  be 
resumed. 

This  controversy  being  allayed,  and  the  Hebron  route  chosen,  the  Superintend- 
ent gave  notice,  in  July,  1830,  that  he  would  receive  proposals,  in  Columbus,  "  for 
grubbing,  clearing  and  grading  that  part  of  the  National  Road  lying  from  Colum- 
bus to  the  Big  Darby,  a  distance  of  about  twelve  miles,"  and  for  "constructing  the 
bridges,  culverts  and  other  necessary  masonry  for  the  above  space ; "  also,  *'  for 
grubbing,  clearing  and  grading  twentysix  sections  of  one  mile  each,  east  of  Colum- 
bus, extending  from  the  Ohio  Canal  to  said  town,  which  will  be  divided  into  sec- 
tions of  six  and  a  half  miles  each  for  the  construction  of  bridges,  culverts,  and  other 
necessary  masonry."  Fourteen  miles  of  the  road  westward  from  Columbus  wore 
put  under  contract  about  the  same  time,  the  first  three  miles  to  be  graveled.  The 
following  additional  appropriations  for  the  construction,  repair  and  extension  of 
the  road  were  made  by  Congress : 

March  2,  1827,  830,000,  for  repairs  from  Cumberland  to  Wheeling. 

March  2,  1829,  $100,000,  "for  opening  and  making  the  Cumberland  Road  west- 
ward from  Zanesville,  in  the  State  of  Ohio." 

March  3,  1829,  »100,000  to  repair  the  road  east  of  Wheeling. 

March  2,  1831,  $100,000  "for  opening,  grading  and  making  the  Cumberland 
Road  westwardly  of  Zanesville,  in  the  State  of  Ohio.'* 

On  March  2,  1831,  Congress  also  passed  an  act  consenting  to  and  ratifying  an 
act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  passed  February  4,  1831,  taking  into  the  care 
of  the  State  so  much  of  the  completed  road  as  lay  within  its  borders. 

An  act  of  June  24,  1834,  appropriated  $200,000  for  continuing  the  road  through 
Ohio,  and  the  same  amount  for  its  continuance  through  the  Stales  of  Indiana  and 
Illinois.  This  act  further  provided  that,  as  soon  as  completed,  the  finished  portions 
of  the  road  should  be  surrendered  to  State  control,  and  make  no  further  claim  upon 
the  National  Treasury.  A  similar  provision  was  contained  in  the  acts  making 
subsequent  appropriations  for  the  work.  "  The  Cumberland  Road  cost  $6,670,000 
in  money,"  says  Mr.  Benton,  "  and  was  a  prominent  subject  in  Congress  for  thirty- 
four  years  —  from  1802,  when  it  was  first  conceived,  to  1836,  when  it  was  aban- 
doned to  the  states."*  Its  total  length  in  Ohio  was  three  hundred  and  twenty 
miles,  but  that  portion  of  it  lying  between  Springfield  and  the  Indiana  boundary 
was  still  uncompleted  when,  ^y  act  of  January  20,  1853.  it  was  surrendered  by 
Congress  to  the  State.  By  appointment  of  the  Goverrjor,  Seth  Adams,  of  Zanes- 
ville, became  State  Superintendent  of  the  road  in  1831;  in  1833,  Mr.  Adams  was 
succeeded  by  Colonel  George  W.  Manypenny,  then  editor  of  the   St.  ClairsviUe 


The  National  Road.  827 

Gazette,  The  Superiatendent  of  Construction  in  18Ji6  was  Lieutenauttx.  Dutton, 
of  the  United  States  Engineers.  In  1847  the  resident  en^^ineer  of  the  western  divi- 
sion was  John  Field,  of  Columbus.  Late  in  the  thirties,  the  resident  engineer  and 
superintendent  of  repairs  for  the  eastern  division  was  Thomas  M.  Drake. 

One  of  the  most  important  adjuncts  of  the  road  was  the  great  suspension 
bridge  by  which  it  leaped  the  Ohio  at  Wheeling.  This  daring,  aerial  structure  — 
a  thrilling  recollection  of  the  writer's  childhood  —  was  begun  in  1848  and  com- 
pleted in  1854.  The  river  interest  fought  it  stubbornly,  and  obtained  from  the 
National  Supreme  Court  a  decision  to  the  effect  that  the  State  of  Virginia  had 
no  right  to  authorize  the  erection  of  such  a  bridge.  To  obviate  this  difficulty, 
Congress  passed  an  act  declaring  the  bridge  a  post  route,  whereupon  the  constitu- 
lionaliiy  of  that  act  was  contested  in  a  famous  legal  argument  at  Washington,  in 
which  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  afterwards  the  great  War  Secretary,  represented  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Re verdy  Johnson  the  City  of  Wheeling. 

In  Eastern  Ohio,  where  the  writer  remembers  it  best  —  for  beside  it  was  his 
boyhood  home  —  the  National  Road  when  completed,  appeared  like  a  white  riband 
meandering  over  the  green  hills  and  valleys.  It  was  surfaced  with  broken  lime- 
stone, which,  when  compacted  by  the  pressure  of  heavy  wagons,  became  smooth  as 
a  floor,  and  after  a  rain  almost  as  clean.  Wagons,  stages,  pedestrians  and  vast 
droves  of  cattle,  sheep,  horses  and  hogs  crowded  it  constantly,  all  pressing  eagerly 
by  the  great  arterial  thoroughfare —  for  there  were  no  railways  then  —  to  the  mar- 
kets of  the  East.  Westwardly,  on  foot  and  in  wagons,  traveled  an  interminable 
caravan  of  emigrants,  or  "movers,"  as  they  were  commonly  called,  whose  gipsy 
fires  illuminated  at  night  the  roadside  woods  and  meadows.  For  the  heavy  trans- 
portation both  east  and  west  huge,  covered  wagons  were  used,  built  with  massive 
axles  and  broad  tires,  and  usually  drawn  by  from  four  to  six,  and  sometimes  eight 
horses.  The  teamsters  who  conducted  these  "  mountain  ships,"  as  they  were  known 
in  the  Alleghanies,  were  a  peculiar  class  of  men,  rough,  hearty,  whiskered  and  sun- 
burned, fond  of  grog,  voluble  in  their  stories  of  adventure,  and  shockingly  profane. 
Their  horses  were  sturdy  roadsters,  well  shod,  fed  and  curried,  and  heavily  har- 
nessed as  became  the  enormous  burdens  they  had  to  draw.  When  on  duty,  each 
of  the  animals  in  the  larger  teams  bore  upon  its  hames  a  chime  of  from  three  to  six 
small  bells,  which  jingled  musically,  and  no  doubt  cheered  the  sweating  toilers  at 
their  task,  while  the  groaning  wain  rolled  slowly  but  steadily  up  hill  and  down. 
Should  one  of  these  teams  encounter  another  of  its  kind  stalled  in  the  road  the 
teamster  latest  come  was  entitled  by  custom  to  attach  an  equal  number  of  his  horses 
to  the  stalled  wagon,  and  should  he  be  able  to  draw  it  out  of  its  difficulty  he  had 
the  right  to  appropriate  as  trophies  as  many  of  the  bells  of  the  balked  team  as  he 
pleased.  Thus  the  jingling  of  the  champion  was  sometimes  so  prodigious,  from  the 
multiplicity  of  its  bells,  as  to  herald  its  coming  from  afar. 

The  road  was  frequented  by  traders,  hucksters,  peddlers,  traveling  musicians, 
small  showmen,  sharpers,  tramps,  beggars  and  odd  characters,  some  of  whom  made 
periodical  pilgrimages,  and  wore  familiar  to  the  wayside  dwellers  from  Columbus 
to  Cumberland.  The  solitary  places  were  also  haunted,  sometimes,  by  villains 
bent  on  crime,  and  many  were  the  highway  legends  of  robbery,  murder  and 
accident. 


328  History  of  the  City  of  Ck)LnMBn8. 

To  ColumbaB,  as  to  many  other  towns  and  cities  along  its  line,  the  opening  of 
this  groat  thoroughfare  was  an  event  of  immense  importance.  Commercially 
speaking  it  was  a  revolation.^  By  means  of  it  the  East  and  West  were  for  the  first 
time  broaght  into  practicable  and  profitable  trade  relations.  The  difficulties  of  the 
slow,  costly  and  painful  methods  of  travel  and  transportation  which  had  hitherto 
prevailed  were  immensely  mitigated.  But  not  trade  alone  profited  by  means  of  it ; 
the  National  Eoad  was  the  great  original  pathway  of  civilization  on  this  continent. 
The  vast  current  of  commerce  which  flowed  along  its  path  was  a  powerful  agent, 
as  commerce  always  and  everywhere  is,  for  the  diffusion  not  of  wealth  only  but 
also  of  light  and  knowledge.  To  this  splendid  enterprise,  and  to  the  statesmen 
who  conceived  it,  Ohio  and  her  capital  owe  an  incalculable  debt  both  material  and 
moral. 

The  National  Road  flourished  until  the  railway  era  dawned,  then  began  its 
decay.  Gradually,  as  course  after  course  was  opened  for  the  wheeled  couriers  of 
steam,  its  inter-state  and  transcontinental  currents  of  travel  and  traffic  were  di- 
verted, dwindled,  and  disappeared  until  nothing  remained  of  its  original  glory  but 
its  convenience  for  neighborhood  use.  First,  in  1854,  lessees  took  charge  of  it,  and 
a  renewed  tide  of  wagon  emigration  to  the  West  enabled  them  to  derive  a  profit 
from  it  for  a  time,  although  the  opening  of  the  Central  Ohio  Railway  swept  away 
nearly  the  whole  bulk  of  its  ordinary  revenues.  In  1859  this  condition  of  things 
had  so  far  changed  that  the  contractors  claimed  to  have  lost  heavily,  and  begged 
to  be  released.  As  to  the  condition  of  the  road  at  that  time  there  were  conflicting 
statements,  but  the  signs  were  unmistakable  that  its  degeneracy  had  begun.  On 
April  6,  1876,  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  surrendering  the  road  to  the 
care  of  the  counties,  and,  last  scene  of  all,  on  October  23,  of  the  same  year,  the  City 
of  Columbus  assumed  by  ordinance  the  care  and  control  of  the  road  within  its 
corporate  limits. 

Let  an  unknown  poet  of  1871  here  take  up  the  refrain,  and  fitly  close  this 
chapter : 

THE  OLD  TURNPIKE.' 

We  hear  no  more  the  clanking  hoof 

And  the  stagecoach  rattling  by, 
For  the  Steamking  rnleth  the  travel  world, 

And  the  old  pike's  left  to  die. 

The  grape  creeps  o'er  the  flinty  path, 

And  the  stealthy  daisies  steal 
Where  once  the  stagehorse  day  by  day, 

Lifted  his  iron  heel. 

No  more  the  weary  stager  dreads, 

The  toil  of  the  coming  morn, 
No  more  the  bustling  landlord  runs 

At  the  sound  of  the  echoing  horn ; 

For  the  dust  lies  still  upon  the  road 

And  the  brighteyed  children  play, 
Where  once  the  clattering  hoof  and  wheel 

Rattled  along  the  way. 


■/   / 


/.  . 


Jc^-\.c.A. 


The  National  Koad.  329 

No  more  we  hear  the  cracking  whip, 

And  the  strong  wheel's  rambling  sound, 
For  now  the'steamsprite  drives  us  on, 

And  an  iron  horse  is  found. 

The  coach  stands  rusting  in  the  yard, 

The  horse  has  sought  the  plow, 
We  have  spanned  the  world  with  an  iron  rail. 

And  the  Steamking  rules  us  now. 

Tlie  old  turnpike  is  a  pike  no  more, 

Wide  open  stands  its  gate. 
We  have  made  us  a  road  for  our  horse  of  steel. 

And  we  ride  at  a  flying  rate ; 

We  have  filled  the  valleys,  leveled  the  hills. 

And  tunneled  the  mountain  side, 
And  around  the  rough  crag's  dizzy  verge 

Fearlessly  now  we  ride. 

On,  on,  with  a  haughty  front, 

A  puff,  a  shriek,  and  a  bound. 
While  the  tardy  echoes  wake  too  late 

To  bring  us  back  the  sound ; 

And  the  old  pike  road  is  left  alone, 

And  the  roadsters  seek  the  plow  ; 
We  have  belted  the  earth  with  an  iron  rail, 

And  the  Steamking  rules  us  now. 


NOTES. 

1.  Venable's  Footprints  in  the  Ohio  Valley. 

2.  Two  later  Presidents,  Madison  and  Monroe,  raised  the  same  constitutional  objection, 
and  suggested  the  same  remedy. 

3.  General  Johnston's  next  visit  to  Columbus,  after  his  services  as  engineer  of  the  Na- 
tional Bead,  was  made  in  July,  1873. 

4.  February  22,  1827. 

6.  Superintendent  Weaver's  assistant  was  John  8.  Williams,  whose  efficiency  he  strongly 
commends. 

6.  Thirty  Years  in  Congress;  by  Thomas  H.  Benton. 

7.  The  location  of  the  road  through  the  town  gave  rise  to  a  great  deal  of  rivalry.  The 
North  and  South  "  ends  "  of  the  borough,  then  divided  by  State  Street,  and  both  lying  south 
of  the  present  railway  station,  were  each  jealous  of  the  advantages  which  the  location  might 
afford  to  the  other.  A  compromise  was  therefore  efiected  by  which  the  road  entered  the 
borough  on  Friend,  now  Main  Street,  passed  down  High  to  Broad,  and  down  Broad  to  the 
Scioto.  This,  it  is  said,  was  a  great  disappointment  to  some  of  the  property  owners  in  Frank- 
linton,  who  confidently  expected  that  the  road  would  cross  the  river  and  go  westward  on 
State  Street  instead  of  Broad. 

8.  Ohio  Statesman,  June  30,  1871. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


THE  CANAL. 

Tho  Soveoth  Governor  of  Ohio  was  Bthau  Allen  Brown,  a  native  of  Con- 
necticut. He  studied  law  with  Alexander  Hamilton,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1802/began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Cincinnati  in  1804,  was  chosen  by  the 
General  Assembly  as  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  in  1810,  and 
in  1818  was  elected  Governor  of  the  Slate.  To  him  belongs  the  honor  of  having 
first  officially  and  practically  inaugurated  the  connection  of  the  Ohio  Valley  by 
artificial  lines  of  water  transportation  with  Lake  Erie  and  the  markets  of  the 
East. 

In  1816,  while  yet  serving  on  the  Supreme  Bench,  Judge  Brown  conceived 
the  vast  importance  and  beneficence  of  this  enterprise.  He  therefore  opened  a 
correspondence  on  the  subject  with  the  great  originator  and  champion  of  the  Erie 
Canal,  DeWitt  Clinton,  and  when  elected  Governor  in  1818  embodied  the  convic- 
tions he  had  thus  matured  in  his  inaugural  address.  The  ideas  thus  expressed 
were  repeated  with  more  particularity  and  emphasis  in  a  message  which  Governor 
Brown  transmitted  to  the  General  Assembly  in  January,  1819.  By  that  time  a  bill 
had  been  introduced  in  the  Senate  to  incorporate  a  company  to  excavate  a  canal 
from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio,  but  no  steps  for  obtaining  reliable  information  as  to 
tho  feasibility  of  such  a  scheme  had  up  to  that  time  been  taken.  That  the  law- 
makers would  act  blindly  in  such  a  matter  was  not  expected,  but  that  a  profes- 
sional survey  and  report  should  be  provided  for,  as  a  basis  of  action,  was  most 
cogently  urged.  The  Governor's  reasoning,  repeated  and  further  emphasized  in 
his  messages  of  1821  and  1822,  was  acquiesced  in,  and  in  January,  1819,  a  commit- 
tee  to  consider  a  plan  of  interior  navigation  was  appointed.  Early  in  1820  the 
subject  was  again  taken  up,  and  on  February  20,  of  that  year,  an  act  was  passed 
appointing  three  commissioner  to  locate,  through  the  public  lands,  a  route  for  a 
navigable  canal  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio  River,  and  providing  that  a  proposi- 
tion should  be  made  to  Congress  to  grant,  in  support  of  the  improvement,  two 
million  acres  of  the  lands  which  had  lately  been  acquired  from  the  Indians.  Through 
various  misadventures  this  act  failed  to  produce  any  important  result,  and  nothing 
practical  was  done  until  December  6,  1821,  when  a  resolution  was  presented  in  tho 
General  Assembly  by  the  Hon.  Micajah  T.  Williams,  of  Cincinnati,  referring  the 
canal  recommendations  of  the  Governor's  message  to  a  special  committee.  From 
the  committee  appointed  in  pursuance  of  this  resolution  an  able  report  was  made 
by  Mr.  Williams,  accompanied   by  a  bill   "authorizing  an   examination  into  tho 

[330] 


The  Canal.  331 

practicability  of  connecting  Lake  Brie  with  the  Ohio  River  by  canal."  The  bill 
became  a  law  January  31,  1822,  and  in  accordance  with  its  provisions,  Benjamin 
Tappan,  Alfred  Kelley,  Thomas  Worthington,  Ethan  Allen  Brown,  Jeremiah  Mor- 
row, Isaac  Minor  and  Ebenezer  Buckingham,  Junior,  were  appointed  commis- 
sioners to  obtain  the  desired  surveys  and  estimates.  Jeremiah  Morrow  resigned 
after  a  service  of  some  months  and  was  succeeded  January  27, 1823,  by  Hon.  Micajah 
T.  Williams.  Of  four  routes  suggested  for  examination,  one  crossed  the  State  from 
the  Maumee  River,  one  from  Sandusky  Bay,  one  by  the  sources  of  the  Black  and  Mus- 
kingum rivers,  and  one  along  the  headwaters  of  the  Grand  and  Mahoning.  Con- 
cerning one  of  the  abovenamed  commissioners  appointed  to  execute  this  prelimin- 
ary work,  local  considerations  require  that  some  incidental  facts  should  here  be 
stated.  The  commissioner  referred  to,  Hon.  Alfred  Kelle}',  to  whose  financial 
genius  and  executive  energy  the  successful  completion  of  the  canal  system  of  Ohio 
was  chiefly  due,  and  who  afterwards  became  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Columbus 
whose  public  spirit  and  services  have  in  many  ways  honored  and  benefited  the 
city,  had  been  elected  in  1814,  at  the  age  of  twentyfive,  to  represent  the  counties 
of  Ashtabula,  Cuyahoga  and  Geauga  in  the  General  Assembly,  had  boon  re- 
elected in  1815,  and  in  1821  had  been  chosen  Senator  from  a  district  comprising 
the  counties  of  Cuyahoga,  Sandusky  and  Huron.  After  a  careful  study  of  the 
topography  of  the  State  Mr.  Kelley  had  been  profoundly  convinced  of  the  importance 
and  feasibility  of  an  artificial  system  of  inland  and  eastern  water  transportation  for 
Ohio,  and  had  devoted  himself  to  its  realization  about  the  same  time,  and  with  the 
same  zeal  as  Governor  Brown,  to  whom,  in  the  practical  inauguration  of  the 
scheme,  he  became  a  sagacious  counselor  and  energetic  helper. 

The  first  engineer  appointed  to  the  service  of  the  commission  was  James 
Geddes,  with  Isaac  Jerome  as  assistant.  A  hardy  pioneer,  and  a  selftaught  survey- 
or, Geddes  had  been  employed  as  one  of  the  engineers  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Canal.  He  was  engaged  for  the  Ohio  service  by  Governor  Trimble,  at  a  salary  of 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  expenses.  Governor  Brown  resigned  Januarj^ 
4,  1822,  to  accept  the  office  of  United  States  Senator,  but  continued  to  servo  as  a 
member  of  the  commission,  and  in  June,  1822,  went  to  Upper  Sandusky  to  meet 
Mr.  Geddes,  and  cooperate  with  him  in  his  examination  of  the  country  between 
the  Maumee  and  the  Miami.  As  indicative  of  the  progress  of  the  work  during  the 
summer  and  autumn  of  1822  the  following  contemporary  chronicle,  from  the 
Cohnnhiis  Gazette  of  September  12,  is  important  and  interesting: 

Judge  Tappan,  Governor  Worthington,  Colonel  Kelley,  Judge  Minor  and  Governor 
Brown,  Canal  Commissioners,  met  in  this  town  on  the  fourth  instant.  We  understand  that 
they  have  directed  the  engineer  to  ascertain  the  practicability  of  constructing  a  canal  from 
the  Muskingum  to  the  Scioto,  through  the  valley  of  the  Licking,  so  as  to  open  a  navigation 
from  the  Scioto  country  to  Lake  Erie,  provided  the  supply  of  water  on  the  Sandusky  and 
Scioto  summits  should  be  found  insufficient. 

They  have  also  directed  the  engineer  to  gauge  the  streams  which  may  be  brought  on  to 
the  Sandusky  summit,  to  ascertain  their  sufficiency  or  insufficiency  ;  also  to  make  further 
examination  to  ascertain  whether  Mad  River  can  be  brought  on  to  the  summit  between  tlie 
Scioto  and  Miami  valleys. 

The  engineer  is  instructed  to  make  further  examination  on  the  summit  between  the 
waters  of  the  Great  Miami  and  the  Auglaize,  and  to  explore  the  several  practicable  routes  in 
order  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  probable  expense  of  constructing  a  canal  on  each. 


332  History  of  the  City  of  Columbuh. 

Mr.  Jeroiue  is  now  tnunng  the  route  of  a  feeder  from  Cuyahoga  River  to  the  Tuscarawas 
and  Killl)uck  summits.  The  project  of  teiking  a  canal  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio  River  east 
of  the  Scioto  is  not  abandoned. 

The  work  of  the  engineers  was  arduous.  "  All  the  routes  were  along  the  valleys 
of  streams,  with  only  here  and  there  a  log  cabin,  whose  inmates  were  shivering  with 
malarial  fever.  Those  valleys  wore  the  most  densely  wooded  parts,  obstructed  by 
swamps,  bayous  and  flooded  lands,  which  would  now  be  regarded  as  impassable. 
Between  1822  and  1829  Isaac  Jerome,  Seymour  Kitt',  John  Jones,  John  Brown, 
J^otor  Lutz,  Tlobert  Anderson,  Dyer  Minor  and  William  Latimer,  of  the  engineers, 
died  from  their  exposures,  and  the  diseases  of  the  country.  Chainmen,  axemen,  and 
rodmen  sufiered  in  fully  as  great  proportion.  .  .  .  Of  two nty three  engineers  and 
assistants,  eight  died  of  local  diseases  within  six  years.  Mr.  Forrer  was  the  only 
one  able  to  keep  the  field  permanently,  and  use  the  instruments  in  1823."' 

Among  the  engineers  who  survived,  continues  the  writer  just  quoted,  was 
David  S.  Bates  (chief  engineer  afler  Judge  Goddes),  Alexander  Bourne,  John  Bates, 
William  li.  Hopkins,  Joseph  Ridgway,  Junior,  Thomas  I.  Matthews,  Samuel  For- 
rer, Francis  S.  Cleveland,  James  M.  Bucklang,  Isaac  N.  Hurd,  Charles  E.  Lynch, 
Philip  N.  White,  James  II.  Mitchell,  and  John  S.  Beardsley. 

Samuel  Forrer  was  longest  in  the  field.  His  services  in  connection  with  the 
canals  began  in  1820,  when  Mr.  William  Steele,  an  entorprising  citizen  of  Cincin- 
nati, at  his  own  expense,  employed  him  to  ascertain  the  elevation  of  the  water- 
shed between  the  Sandusky  and  Scioto  above  Lake  Erie.  A  report  of  this  work 
was  part  of  the  information  transmitted  to  the  General  Assembly  by  Governor 
Brown.  During  the  season  of  1822  Mr.  Geddes  surveyed  nine  hundred  miles  of 
canal  routes,  and  Mr.  Forrer  ran  his  levels  over  a  space  of  eight  hundred  miles 
with  a  single  instrument.     The  total  cost  of  this  work  was  but  $2,426.10. 

There  was  much  rivahy  and  contention  between  the  advocates  of  different 
routes,  that  crossing  the  Sandusky  divide  being  the  shortest,  least  elevated  above 
the  lake  level,  and  enjoying  most  popular  favor  until  the  surveys  and  explora- 
tions of  Engineers  Bates  and  Forrer  in  1824  demonstrated  that  its  water  supply 
was  inadequate.  After  the  preliminary  reports  of  the  surveyors  and  commissioners 
were  made,  the  beginning  of  construction  awaited  the  necessary  compromise  of 
these  rivalries  until  February  4,  1825,  when  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act 
providing  for  building  the  Ohio  Canal  from  Cleveland  to  Portsmouth,  r/V/  Licking 
Summit,  and  the  LittJe  Miami  Canal  between  Dayton  and  Cincinnati."  By  the 
same  act  a  board  of  Canal  Commissioners  was  created  to  supervise  the  construc- 
tion, and  also  a  Canal  Fund  Commission  to  provide  means  for  the  work  by  bor- 
rowing money,  as  Mr.  Kelley  had  suggested,  on  the  credit  of  the  State.  By  the 
law,  Ethan  Allen  Brown,  Ebenezer  Buckingham,  Junior,  and  Allen  Trimble  wore 
named  as  Canal  Fund  Commissioners,  and  by  resolution  adopted  on  the  day  the 
law  was  passed,  Alfred  Kelley,  Micajah  T.  Williams,  Thomas  Worthington,  Ben- 
jamin Tappan,  John  Johnson,  Isaac  Minor  and  Nathaniel  Beasley  were  appointed 
Canal  Commissioners. 

Extensive  preparations  were  made  for  the  ceremonious  commencement  ot 
the  work.  For  the  celebration  of  this  event,  the  Licking  Summit  was  chosen  as 
the  place,  and  July  4,  1825,  as  the  time.     New  York's  great  Governor,  Do  Witt 


The  Canal.  333 

Clinton,  accepted  an  invitation  to  be  present,  and  set  out  from  Albany  in  June, 
accompanied  by  his  aides,  Colonels  Jones  and  Heed ;  by  Colonel  Solomon  Yan  Eon- 
selaer  who  had  campaigned  in  Ohio  as  an  officer  under  General  Wayne  ;  by  Messrs. 
Lord  and  Bathbone,  capitalists,  who  had  loaned  the  State  money  with  which  to 
commence  the  canal,' and  by  United  States  District  Judge  Conkling.  This  dis- 
tinguished party  arrived  at  Newark  on  the  beautiful  afternoon  of  July  3.  There 
being  no  houses  near  the  spot  whore  the  work  was  to  begin,  rough  board  booths 
were  built  in  the  woods,  and  plank  tables  were  spread  for  the  grand  feast  which 
Gottlieb  Steinman,  a  hotelkeeper  of  Lancaster,  had  been  engaged  to  prepare. 
The  roasts  ^nd  broils  for  the  dinner  were  prepared  upon  the  ground,  says  a  his- 
torian of  the  occasion,  "  but  all  the  fancy  part  of  the  dinner,  including  pastry,  etc.," 
was  cooked  at  Lancaster,  twenty  two  miles  distant.^ 

The  day  fixed  for  the  celebration  was  an  ideal  Fourth  of  July,  clear  and  sum- 
mery. The  atmosphere  had  just  been  cleansed  by  a  copious  rainfall,  and  wus  fresh 
and  invigorating.  Throngs  of  people  came  from  near  and  far;  Columbus  sent  a 
large  contingent ;  and  so  great  was  the  crowd,  and  so  intense  the  pressure  of  its 
enthusiasm  and  curiosity,  that  a  company. of  cavalry  had  to  bo  drawn  up  to  pre- 
serve  sufficient  open  space  for  the  decorous  observance  of  the  programme.  A  large 
force  of  volunteer  militia  was  present,  equipped  and  uniformed  at  its  gayest  and 
best.  Governors  Clinton  and  Morrow,  accompanied  by  their  aides  and  a  retinue 
of  civil  and  military  officers,  arrived  at  the  appointed  time  from  Newark  Directly 
afterwards  the  two  Governors  were  conducted  to  the  spot  on  the  Summit  where  the 
first  strokes  were  to  be  made  in  breaking  ground  for  the  canals  of  Ohio.  There, 
says  the  historian  above  quoted,  "  Governor  Clinton  received  the  spade,  thrust  it 
into  the  soil,  and  raised  the  first  spadeful  of  earth,  amid  the  most  enthusiastic 
cheers  of  the  assembled  thousands.  The  earth  was  placed  in  what  they  called  a 
canal  wheelbarrow,  and  the  spade  was  passed  to  Governor  Morrow,  a  statesman 
and  a  farmer.  He  sank  it  to  its  full  depth,  and  raised  the  second  spadeful.  Then 
commenced  a  strife  as  to  who  should  raise  the  nes^t.  Captain  Ned.  King,  com- 
manding the  infantry  company  present  from  Chillicothe,  raised  the  third  ;  then 
some  of  the  guests  of  Governor  Clinton's  company  threw  in  some  dirt,  and  the 
wheelbarrow  being  full.  Captain  King  wheeled  it  to  the  bank.  It  is  impossible  to 
describe  the  scene  of  excitement  and  confusion  that  accompanied  this  ceremony. 
The  people  shouted  themselves  hoarse.  The  feeling  was  so  great  that  tears  fell 
from  many  eyes."* 

The  firing  of  a  hundred  guns  announced  that  the  great  work  of  building  the 
Ohio  Canal  had  been  begun.  As  soon  as  quiet  could  be  restored,  the  eager 
thousands  who  had  witnessed  the  ceremony  gathered  around  a  platform  erected  in 
the  shade  of  the  beech  woods,  and  listened  to  an  address  by  United  States  Senator 
Thomas  Ewing.  After  the  address,  the  State  officers,  invited  guests,  and  others 
who  would  buy  tickets  took  their  seats  around  the  tables,  at  which  the  Governor 
of  New  York  was  accorded  the  place  of  honor.  As  most  of  the  people  had  brought 
their  luncheons  with  them,  the  enterprising  host  who  provided  the  repast  is  said  to 
have  been  a  loser  by  the  operation. 

From  the  Summit,  Governor  Clinton  was  escorted  on  the  fifth  to  Lancaster, 
where  he  tarried  over  night.     Attended  by  a  "great  concourse,"  he  journeyed  to 


:{.U  History  op  the  City  op  ('ouiMnus. 

ColiiinbuH  on  the  Hixth,  and  on  the  seventh  was  formally  roooived  and  welcomed 
by  Governor  Morrow  at  the  Capitol.  The  occasion  was  a  great  one  for  the  little 
borough,  and  every  effort  was  made  to  impart  to  it  a  due  measure  of  dignity  and 
circumHlanee.  Governor  Clinton  was  ushered  into  Columbus,  we  are  told,  by  a 
civic  and  military  escort  in  which  General  Warner  and  suite,  Colonel  P.  II. 
Olmsted's  squadron  of  Franklin  Dragoons,  Captain  Hazel's  Company  of  Ijight  In- 
fantry, Captain  Andrew  McElvain's  Rifle  Corps  and  Captain  O'Harra's  Artillery 
bore  a  conspicuous  part.  Hon.  John  K.  Osborn,  who,  then  a  boy,  was  present  in 
the  surging  throng,  thus  referred  in  an  address  of  1867' to  the  Statehouse  cere- 
monies: 

The  Governors,  under  escort  of  the  military,  Colonel  Olmsted  commanding,  were  met  in 
the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  dense  crowd.  .  .  .  Jeremiah  Morrow,  the 
slender,  straight,  intellectual -looking  statesman,  welcomed  the  stoutly-built,  well-fed,  burly- 
looking  (iovemor  of  New  York  to  the  Capital  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  Full  of  the  greatness  of 
that  occasion,  and  alive  to  the  future  destinies  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  the  welcome  to  the 
irovernor,  and  the  excitement  of  the  people,  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  on  my 
young  imagination. 

Governor  Clinton  replied  appropriately  to  the  hospitable  words  addressed  to 
him,  eulogizing  Ohio  and  her  canal  enterprise.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  cere- 
monies he  was  escorted  to  the  Robinson  Tavern,  "sign  of  the  Golden  Bell,  on  the 
lot  where  the  Johnson  Building  is  now  erected,  and  partook  of  a  public  dinner.*"* 

The  letting  of  contracts  for  construction  of  the  canal  immediately  followed 
the  commencement  ceremonies  at  Licking  Summit  and  first  took  place  at  Newark. 
As  to  the  manner  of  doing  the  work,  the  engineers  made  the  following  require- 
ments, to  be  embodied  in  the  contracts: 

All  trees,  saplings,  bushes,  stumps  and  roots  are  to  be  grubbed  and  dug  up  at  least  sixty 
feet  wide  ;  that  is,  thirtythree  feet  on  the  towingpath  side  of  the  centre,  and  twentyseven  feet 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  centre  of  the  canal ;  and,  together  with  all  logs,  brush  and 
woo<l  of  every  kind,  shall  be  removed  at  least  fifteen  feet  beyond  the  outward  part  of  said 
grubbing,  on  each  side ;  and  on  said  space  of  fifteen  feet  on  each  side  of  said  grubbing,  all 
trees,  saplings,  brush  and  stumps  shall  be  cut  down  close  to  the  ground,  so  that  no  part  of 
them  shall  be  left  more  than  one  foot  in  height  above  the  natural  surface  of  the  earth. 

All  trees  that  might  do  injury  by  falling  were  cutaway  for  an  additional  space 
of  twenty  feet.  It  was  required  further  that  the  canal  and  its  banks  should  be  so 
constructed  that  the  water  in  its  bed  should  be  in  all  places  at  least  forty  feet  wide  at 
the  surface,  twentysix  feet  wide  at  the  bottom,  and  four  feet  deep;  each  bank  to 
rise  at  least  two  perpendicular  feet  above  the  waterline ;  the  towingpath,  always  on 
the  lower  side  of  the  channel,  to  be  ten  feet  wide  at  its  upper  plane,  never  more 
than  five  feet  above  the  waterline,  and  to  have  an  outward  pitch  at  its  upper  sur- 
face of  six  inches.  In  crossing  all  ravines  and  watercourses,  the  bed  was  to  be 
supported  by  substantial  culverts  of  stone.  All  locks  were  to  be  ninety  feet  long, 
fifteen  feet  wide  in  the  clear,  and  from  six  to  twelve  feet  high,  as  required  by  cir- 
cumstances. 

The  first  contract  let  embraced  the  section  extending  from  the  point  of  break- 
ing ground  southward  to  the  Deep  Cut,  south  of  which  a  contract  was  taken  by 
Colonel  John  Noble.  Bidders  from  New  York  obtained  some  of  the  (leaviest  jobs, 
such  as  that  of  the  Licking  Reservoir.     The  price  paid  for  cutting  and  filling  was 


The  Canal.  385 

from  nine  to  thirteen  cents  per  cubic  yard  and  for  grubbing  and  clearing  from  two 
to  ten  dollars  per  chain.  At  the  second  letting,  which  also  took  place  at  Newark, 
the  Bocalled  Deep  Cut  and  the  South  Fork  Feeder  were  taken.  The  Cut,  about 
three  miles  long,  and  twentjfour  feet  in  average  depth,  was  divided  into  two 
sections  and  let  at  fifteen  cents  per  cubic  yard,  the  northern  section  to  Scoville, 
Hathaway  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  and  the  southern  section  to  Osborn,  Kathburn  & 
Co.,  of  Colunibus.  The  Now  York  Company  sublet  its  contract  to  Hampson  & 
Parkinson,  of  Muskingum  County,  who  afterwards  abandoned  it  at  a  loss.  The 
Columbus  company  completed  its  work,  but  was  obliged  to  ask  for,  and  received 
advances  on  the  original  contract  making  the  average  cost  about  twentyfive  cents 
per  cubic  yard. 

The  ordinary  laborers  on  the  canal  were  paid  eight  dollars  for  twentysix 
working  days,  beginning  at  sunrise  and  ending  at  sunset.  They  were  well  fed, 
lodged  in  temporary  shanties,  and  received,  at  first,  regular  "jiggers"  of  whisky 
gratis.  The  "jigger  "  was  a  dram  of  less  than  a  gill,  taken  at  sunrise,  at  ten 
o'clock,  at  noon,  at  four  o'clock,  and  at  supper  time.  As  it  resulted  in  mischief. 
Commissioners  M.  T.  Williams  and  Alfred  Kelly  after  a  time  caused  it  to  be  dis- 
continued. As  the  work  was  paid  for  in  cash,  it  was  eagerly  sought  by  farmers 
and  their  sons  in  order  to  obtain  ready  money,  which  was  then  very  scarce  and 
hard  to  get. 

The  workmen  who  were  exposed  to  the  malarial  atmosphere  of  the  swamps 
were  often  severely  scourged  by  the  febrile  disorders  of  the  period.  "  The  past 
season,"  says  a  contemporary  chronicle  of  January  16, 1828,  "  has  been  peculiarly 
unfavorable  for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  work  on  the  Ohio  Canal.  Much 
rain  fell  in  the  spring  and  the  early  part  of  the  summer,  particularly  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  State ;  and  since  the  middle  of  October  few  days  have  occurred 
in  which  work  could  be  carried  on  to  advantage,  owing  to  the  same  cause.  The 
heavy  rains  which  fell  in  the  latter  part  of  June  and  first  of  July,  succeeded,  as 
they  were,  by  weather  extremely  warm  and  dry,  or  some  other  cause  to  us 
unknown,  occasioned  the  prevalence  of  sickness  to  an  alarming  extent,  especially 
in  the  valley  of  the  Tuscarawas  and  Muskingum.  The  alarm  created  by  the  prev- 
alence of  fevers  along  the  line  of  the  canal  did  not  cease  to  operate  in  deterring 
laborers  from  coming  on  to  the  work  until  long  after  the  cause  of  alarm  had 
ceased  to  exist."* 

On  Monday,  April  30,  1827,  work  on  the  lateral  branch  of  the  Ohio  Canal, 
connecting  the  capital  with  the  main  stem  at  Lockbourne,  was  formally  begun  at 
Columbus,  and  duly  celebrated.  The  newspaper  account  of  the  ceremonies  of  the 
occasion  states  that,  at  two  o'clock  p.  m.,  about  one  thousand  citizens  of  Columbus 
and  vicinity  assembled  at  the  Statehouse,  where  a  civic  and  military  procession 
was  organized,  in  which  Captain  Joseph  McElvain's  Company  of  Dragoons,  Cap- 
tain Foos's  and  Captain  A.  McEi^in's  Eiflemen,  the  Columbus  Artillery  and  the 
officers  of  State  took  part.  Marshaled  by  Colonels  McDowell  and  McElvain,  and 
led  by  General  Warner  and  staff,  the  procession  moved  to  the  appointed  spot  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Scioto,  where  a  short  address  was  delivered  by  Hon.  Joseph  E. 
Swan.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  address,  General  Jeremiah  McLene,  then  Secre- 
tary of  State,  and  Nathaniel   McLean,  Keeper  of  the  Penitentiary,  first  took  the 


1 


336  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

implemonts  in  hand  and  excavated  a  barrowful  of  earth  which  was  wheeled  away 
by  Ralph  Osborn  and  Henry  Brown,  Auditor  and  Treasurer  of  State,  amid  the 
applauding  shouts  of  the  multitude.  The  procession  then  re-formed,  and  moved  to 
the  brow  of  the  hill,  a  few  rods  north  of  the  ground  on  which  the  Penitentiary 
then  stood,  where  a  "  cold  collation  "  prepared  by  Christian  Heyl  was  dispensed. 
After  the  feast,  toasts  were  drank  in  honor  of  Ohio,  the  Ohio  Canal,  the  Canal 
Commissioners  and  the  citizens  of  Columbus.  In  -the  evening  the  event  of  the 
day  was  further  signalized  by  a  ball,  numerously  attended,  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Browning. 

The  contracts  for  the  canal  dam  across  the  Scioto,  and  the  Columbus  Locks 
were  taken  by  Messrs.  William  and  Andrew  McElvain  and  Benjamin  and  Peter 
Sells ;  for  the  Fourmile  Locks  by  Aaron  Lytic,  and  for  the  eight  locks  at  Lockbourne 
by  a  Granville  company  comprising  Messrs.  Monson,  Fassett,  Taylor  and  Avery. 
The  first  mile  of  excavation  was  done  by  Penitentiary  convicts,  fortyfive  of  them, 
it  was  stated,  having  signed  an  agreement  by  which  their  punishment  was  com- 
muted to  work  on  the  ** Columbus  Lateral  Canal.""  Progress  in  the  work  was 
slow  until  1829,  when  Nathaniel  Medbery  and  John  Field  took  charge  of  it,  and 
pushed  it  us  rapidly  as  possible  to  completion.  The  assignment  of  sections  at  the 
letting  of  December  9,  1829,  was  as  follows:  Number  6,  McElvain  &  Hunter ;  9, 
Nathan  Spencer ;  10,  Watkins  &  Shannon  ;  11,  Sanford  B.  Allen  ;  12,  Hunt,  Bayless 
&  Millar;  13,  Frezell  &  Boardman  j  14,  Sidney  S.  &  F.  Sprague;  15,  and  16,  Aaron 
Smith;  17  and  20,  Simon  Doyle  &  Sons;  18,  Eeeseman  &  Hayes;  19,  J.  L.  Vance 
and  Love  &  Love;  21,  and  22,  Meek  &  Wright.  John  Loughry,  of  Columbus,  was 
contractor  for  Section  101,  including  the  aqueduct  over  the  Scioto  River  at  Circle- 
ville. 

Water  was  let  into  the  canal  for  the  first  time  at  Licking  Summit  on  Saturday, 
June  23,  1827,  and  on  the  same  date  and  at  the  same  place,  a  boat  was  launched  in 
the  presence  of  a  large  crowd  of  spectators.  This  boat,  called  the  **  Experiment/ *  be- 
gan making  short  excursion  trips  from  the  Summit  a  few  days  later.  Boats  first 
arrived  at  Dayton  from  Cincinnati,  on  the  Miami  Canal,  in  February,  1829,  and  in 
November  of  that  year  the  Ohio  Canal,  excepting  a  few  sections  in  Tuscarawas  and 
Licking  Counties,  was  ready  for  the  water  from  Newark  to  Lake  Brie.  The  first 
boat  through  from  Cleveland  arrived  at  Newark  July  10,  1830,  and  with  the  open- 
ing of  navigation  in  the  spring  of  1831,  the  boats  of  the  Troy  and  Erie  Line  began 
receiving  freight  and  passengers  at  Newark  for  Cleveland  and  New  York. 

On  Tuesday,  September  13,  1831,  water  was  let  into  the  Columbus  Branch, 
usually  called  the  Feeder,  for  the  first  time,  and  at  8  p.  m.,  on  Friday,  the  twentythird 
of  the  same  month,  the  firing  of  cannon  announced  the  arrival  of  the  canalboat. 
Governor  Brown^  from  Circleville,  with  **  several  of  the  most  respectable  citizens  of 
Pickaway  County"  on  board.  In  its  circumstantial  account  of  this  important  epi- 
sode in  the  commercial  history  of  Columbus  the  Weekly  Ohio  State  Journal  of  Sep- 
tember 29,  1831,  says : 

The  next  mornings  at  an  early  hour,  a  considerable  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  of 
Columbus  repaired  on  board  to  pay  their  respects  to  their  visitors,  and  after  the  delivery  of  a 
brief  but  very  appropriate  address  by  General  Flournoy,  and  exchanging  those  friendly  salu- 
tations and  cordial  greeiings  which  the  occasion  was  so  well  calculated  to  call  forth,  the  party 


/.,...,'^.  /-'/^^ 


c^^.^/^.   7,ii//?^M-^-'--- 


>  r  • 


The  Canal.  337 

proceeded  back  to  Circloville  accompaiiie<l  a  short  distance  b'y  a  reapcctahle   nnnibor  of  onr 
fellow  citizens,  and  the  Columbus  band  of  music. 

On  Monday  afternoon  [September  26]  at  about  half  past  four  o'clock,  the  canalboats  Cin- 
cinnati  and  Red  Hover,  from  the  Lake  via  Newark,  entered  the  lock  at  the  mouth  of  the  Colum- 
bus Feeder,  where  they  were  received  by  a  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  and  pro 
ceeded  under  a  national  salute  of  twentyfour  guns  and  music  from  the  Lancaster  Band  to  a 
point  just  below  the  bridge,  where  the  commanders  were  welcomed  in  the  name  of  the  citi- 
zens of  this  town  by  Colonel  Doherty,  in  a  very  neat  address.  ...  A  procession  was  then 
formed,  when  the  company  proceeded  to  Mr.  Ridg way's  large  Warehouse,  an«l  partook  of  a 
collation  prepared  in  handsome  style  by  Mr.  John  Young.  A  third  boat,  the  Lady  Jarw,  ar- 
rived soon  afterward,  and  was  received  in  a  similar  manner.  .  .  .  On  Tuesday  morning 
[twenty seventh]  the  l)oats,  having  disposed  of  their  freight,  took  their  departure  back  for 
Cleveland,  in  the  same  order,  and  with  the  same  ceremonies,  as  on  their  arrival,  a  large  number  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  together  with  the  Columbus  Band,  accompanying  the  welcome  visitors 
as  far  a.*»  the  Fivemile  I^ck.  Here  they  were  met  by  the  ChiUicoLhe  and  (ieitrge  Baker,  which 
took  onr  fellow  citizens  on  board,  and  reached  this  place  at  about  two  p.  m  ,  when  they  were 
receive<l  in  the  same  manner  as  the  preceding.  Since  that  time  several  other  boats  have  ar- 
rived, and  we  indulge  the  pleasing  hope  that  the  navigation  between  our  thriving  town  and 
the  Lake,  which  has  been  commenced  un<ler  such  favorable  auspices,  will  prove  as  advan- 
tageous to  all  parties  as  the  most  sanguine  friends  of  the  canal  policy  have  at  any  time  an  tic - 
ipated. 

In  a  private  letter  written  from  Columbus  to  a  friend  November  1,  1831, 
Mr.  Isaac  Appleton  Jowott  makes  the  following  intorosting  statements  with  refer- 
ence to  the  opening  of  the  canal :" 

Since  September  22  we  have  had  more  than  eighty  arrivals  of  boats  laden  with  eastern 
merchandise,  destined  to  almost  every  section  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  I  have  seen  boxes 
labeled  for  Cincinnati,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  the 
Arkansas,  crowded  together  in  a  single  warehouse,  waiting  for  transportation  to  the  head  of 
the  Miami  Canal  [Dayton]  to  be  conveyed  thence  to  their  several  places  of  destination.  The 
final  completion  of  the  canal  to  the  Ohio  River  will,  of  course,  supersede  the  necessity  of 
landing  goo<ls  at  this  place  for  states  further  west.  [Until  the  Ohio  Canal  was  com- 
pleted from  Newark  to  Portamouth  in  1832,  western  bound  shipments  from  Cleveland  were 
brought  to  Columbus,  and  transporteil  thence  by  land  to  Dayton,  whence  they  were  for- 
warded by  the  Miami  Canal  to  Cincinnati.] 

The  boats  which  have  arrived  here/uW  have  been  compelled  to  depart  empty.  We  have 
not  yet  gathered  our  pork,  beef,  flour  and  grain  togettier  for  transportation  to  every  (quarter 
of  the  world.  This  is  a  fact  which  evinces  the  incredulity  of  our  worthy  farmers  with  regard 
to  the  rapid  completion  of  the  canal,  and  their  shortsightedness  with  regard  to  its  powerful 
operation  upon  their  interests  when  completed.  .  .  .  They  would  have  set  a  man  down  as 
mad  who  had  ventured  to  n)ake  to  them  the  assertion  two  years  ago  that  in  183 1  three  hun- 
dred thousand  bushels  of  wheat  might  be  sold  in  Columbus  for  aish,  or  that  one  hundred 
thousand  barrels  of  beef  and  pork  might  be  here  put  up  for  transportation  to  the  Eastern 
SUtes. 

Truly  the  canal  had  wrought  a  commercial  revolution  lor  Central  Ohio,  the 
full  scope  of  which  the  people,  so  long  accustomed  to  wildernesK  isolation,  wore 
slow  to  realize. 

"  The  first  canalboats  seemed  like  fairy  palaces,"  fla3'8  Mrs.  Emily  Stewart,  and 
we  may  well  believe  her.  "  They  were  painted  white,  and  the  windows  had  green 
shutters  and  scarlet  curtains.  The  inside  panels  of  the  cabin  contained  mirrors 
and  pictures.  The  officers  of  the  passenger  boats  were  gentlemen.  The  cabin  was 
a  dining  and  sitting  room  in  day  time,  but  was  converted  into  a  sleeping  apartment 
22 


:;:js  History  of  tiik  <-itv  of  rouMiirs. 

lit  ni^ht.     There  wero  sUitiToomH  at  oiU'h  ond  tor  ladies,  whose  comfort  wiisfurt'er 
promoted  by  tlie  attentions  ol  a  polite  aiul  dilijLcent  stewarciess. 

For  years  after  the  canal  was  opened  the  boats  always  came  in  with  a  hand  nf  music 
playintr  on  boanl.  The  captain  of  the  Iwmt  nnnally  playe*!  the  clarionet  fortlic  entertainment 
of  the  pjipsen^rers.     The  horses  wer**  clianired  every  ten  niilcH,  and  always  movcMl  on  the  trnt. 

I^'avin^  here  by  pa<?kethoat  in  the  niorninir,  at  nine  oVhu'k,  the  passi'njrers  roai'hed 
Chillicothe  at  nine  v.  m.  A  trip  to  Kuropc  now  is  nothin;;  to  a  Ciinal  trip  then.  Un  the 
journey  to  Chillicothe  passenjrers  took  dinner  and  supper  on  boanl.  The  in«*alH  were  superh. 
Kverythinjr  was  well  cooked  and  cle^mtly  served. 

Verily,  canal  travel  was  not  so  bad.  after  all.  We  are  nithcr  dis|)Osed  to  ridi- 
cule it  now  as  wc  rush  through  the  country  fast  as  the  wilderness  j)i«;eons  f1(>w,  but 
atler  all  do  we  enjoy  travel  any  more  than  did  the  canal  ])assengers  of  the  thirties 
who  floated  as  fast  as  a  horse  couhi  trot  through  the  aromatic  summer  woods  and 
meadows  of  Ohio  in  tlu^  cosy  cabins  of  the  N////;//,  the    IVtirv  and  the  Urd  llir*1  .* 

When  the  opening  cd"  the  Columbus  Branch  was  being  celebrated  in  Septem- 
ber, 1S31,  a  prominent  citizen  who  was  a  spectator  l)ut  not  a  participant  is  said 
to  have  remarked  :  '*  Make  as  much  ado  as  you  like  over  your  muddy  ditch,  but 
before  twenty  years  ])asH  by  most  of  its  traffic  will  be  carried  on  wheels."  The 
prediction  came  true,  an<l  in  less  than  twenty  years  a  poetical  cynic,  inspired  by 
the  stcamfiencl,  was  singing  in  the  Columbus  newspapers  in  the  following  ironical 
strain  : 

A  life  on  the  ni^inj:  canawl, 

A  home  on  the  ra)(in^  deep, 
Where  through  summer,  spring  an<l  fall 

The  froj?8  their  revels  keep. 
IJke  a  fish  on  a  hook  I  pine, 

On  this  <la11  unchanging  shore; 
Oh  give  me  the  packet  line 

And  the  raging  canawTs  <lread  roar. 

Once  more  on  the  deck  I  stan<l, 

On  my  own  swift  gliding  craft ; 
The  hopses  trot  olFon  the  land 

An»l  the  boat  follows  close  abaft. 
Wc  slioot  through  the  turhi<l  foam, 

bike  a  hullfrog  in  a  stjuidl, 
And  like  the  frogs,  our  home 

We'll  lin<l  in  the  raging  canawl. 

The  sun  is  no  lon;:cr  in  view. 

The  clouds  have  hegun  to  frown, 
liut,  with  a  hum|>er  or  iwo, 

We'll  say,  let  the  storm  come  down, 
And  this  song  we'll  sing,  one  and  all, 

\\  Idle  the  storm  around  us  pelts, 
A  life  on  the  raging  oanawl, 

Oh,  we  don't  want  '*  nothin'  else." 

Yet  the  canals  have  not  ceased  to  be  usrf  ul  ;  probably  never  will.  The  patient, 
stronir,  toreseeing  men  who  conceived  the  system,  and  carried  it  through  onor^ 


The  Canal.  339 

inous  difficiiltien  to  completion,  perl'orinod  a  work  the  bonoficoni  etfecls  of  which 
will  neither  cease  nor  bo  fbr^otten  while  the  State  endures.  '^  F'or  thirty  years," 
8ay«  Ryan'8  History  of  Ohio,  "these  waterways  were  the  jt^rcat  controlling  factors 
of  increasing  commerce,  manufactures  and  population.  -Through  their  influence 
villages  became  cities,  towns  were  built  where  forests  grew,  farming  developed 
into  a  profitable  enterprise,  and  the  trade  and  resources  of  the  world  w^ore  opened 
to  Ohio.  The  new^ly  found  markets  for  farm  products  added  fifty  per  centum  to 
their  prices,  thus  oidarging  the  field  "of  agriculture,  and  bringing  wealth  to  the 
State  by  its  extension.  .  .  .  While  the}'  have  put  into  the  State  Treasury'  over  six 
millions  of  dollars  more  than  they  cost  .  .  .  as  reguhitors  of  our  domestic  trans- 
portation charges,  their  effect  has  been  marked  and  admitted.  .  .  .  Every  canal 
line  in  Ohio  has  an  effective  and  tangible  influence  over  the  freight  charges  of  the 
railroads."'* 

The  author  here  quoted  proceeds  to  present  an  overwhelming  array  of  facts 
and  arguments  in  favor  of  maintairjing  and  perJectiug  the  canal  S3'stem.  Ilis  con- 
clusions are  sound.  There  is  no  country  in  the  worhi  possessing  such  a  system 
which  has  not  found  its  usefulness  indispensable,  no  matter  how  man}' railways 
have  followed  it. 

The  first  collector  of  canal  tolls  at  (•oUunbus  was  Jose|)h  Ridgway,  Junior, 
whose  office  was  at  the  Hidgvva}'  Warehouse,  at  the  foot  of  West  Broad  Street, 
to  which  nearly  all  the  boats  ascended  to  discharge  and  receive  freight.  The  next 
five  collectors,  in  the  order  of  their  service,  down  t<>  1(S58,  were  M.  S.  Hunter, 
David  S.  Doherty,  Charles  B.  F'lood,  Samuel  Mch]lvain  and  Benjamin  Tresenrider. 

Attempts  at  the  steam  navigation  of  the  canals,  have  at  various  times  been 
made.  On  September  14,  1849,  the '*  canal  steam  packet  Niagara,"  said  to  have 
been  the  first  boat  j)ropelled  by  steam  on  the  Ohio  canals,  arrived  at  Dayton.  On 
September  first,  1859,  the  arrival  of  the  steamer  Enterprise  at  Columbus,  with  a 
cargo  of  seventeen  hundred  bushels  of  coal,  was  announced.  In  I860  the  City  of 
Columbus^  a  very  handsome  steam  canal  packet,  belonging  to  Fitch  &  Son,  oT  this 
city,  plied  regularly  between  the  capital  and  Chillicothe.  In  November,  1859, 
Fitch  &  Bortle,  of  West  Broad  Street,  who  wore  then  competing  with  the  stages, 
announdcd  that  in  the  following  spring  they  would  put  a  line  of  steam  packets  on 
the  canal  between  Columbus  and  Portsmouth. 

This  chapter  may  appropriately  close  with  the  following  succinct  exhibit  of 
the  canal  lines  and  property  of  the  State  as  they  now  exist,  taken  from  Ryan's 
History,  above  quoted  ?* 

The  Miami  and  Erie  system,  being  the  main  canal,  from  Cincinnati  to  Toledo,  250  miles, 
the  canal  from  Junction  to  the  state  line  18  miles,  and  the  Sidney  Feeder  14  miles,  making  in 
all  a  total  of  282  miles  ;  the  Ohio  Canal,  extending  from  Portsmouth  to  Cleveland,  a  distance 
of  309 miles,  together  with  25  miles  of  feeders,  or  a  total  of  3J^4  miles;  the  Hocking  Canal,  5() 
miles  long,  and  the  Walhonding,  25  miles;  the  Muskingum  Improvement,  extt»nding  from 
Dresden  to  Marietta,  a  distance  of  91  miles,  ciinnot  now  be  listed  as  a  part  of  the  State's  prop- 
erty—  the  general  government  controls  and  maintains  it.  So,  exclusive  of  the  latter,  there 
is  a  total  canal  mileage  of  097  miles  owned  by  the  state  of  Ohio.  In  addition  to  this,  there 
are  necessary  adjuncts  and  a  part  of  the  public  works  in  the  shape  of  reservoirs.  These  are 
as  follows:  Grand  Reservoir  in  Mercer  County,  covering  17,000  acres;  the  I^wistownin  Logan 
County,  7,200  acres;  the  Lorain  in  Shelby  County,  1800  acres;  Six  Mile  in  Paulding  County 


MO  IIi«TC)Ry  OP  THE  City  op  Columbus. 

2,500  acres ;  Licking  in  Licking  County,  3,(i00  acres,  and  the  Sippo  in  Stark  County,  fiOO  acres, 
making  a  total  in  reservoirs  of  82,100  acres.  Tlie  Paulding  Reservoir,  with  its  18  miles  of 
canal,  from  Junction  to  the  In<liana  line,  has  lately  Wen  practically  al)an<loned,  and  is  no 
longer  a  jwrmanent  part  of  the  Puhlic  Works  of  Oliio. 


NOTES. 

1.  Colonel  Charles  Whittlesey,  in  Howe's  Hi^ttorical  Collcciiom. 

2.  Pas8e<l  in  the  »Senate  by  a  vote  of  34  to  2  ;  in  the  House,  by  58  t«i  13. 

3.  In  their  rei)ort  of  December  0,  1825,  the  Canal  Fund  Comissioners  state  that  they 
have  made  arrangements  with  I-ord  &  Rathbone,  of  New  York,  for  a  loan  of  $400,000,  gross, 
$390,000  net,  for  which  certificates  were  to  be  given  at  97^  for  the  gross  amount,  at  five  per 
cent,  semiannually,  rt»deemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  State  after  1850. 

4.  History  of  Licking  County,  by  N.  N.  Hill,  Junior. 

5.  Ibid. 

0.  Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County. 

7.  Before  the  Franklin  County  Pioneer  Association. 

8.  Martin's  History. 

9.  Ohio  State  Journal, 

10.  Ohio  8tat4'  Journal^  May  3,  1827. 

11.  For  an  inspection  of  this  and  other  letters  written  by  Mr.  Jewett,  the  author  is  in- 
debted to  Mrs.  Richard  T.  Clarke,  of  Columbus. 

12.  Conversation  with  the  author. 

13.  A  History  of  Ohio  ;  by  Hon.  D.  J.  Ryan.    1888. 

14.  Ibid. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


MAIL   AND   STAGECOACH. 

In  1760  Benjamin  Franklio,  then  Deputy  Postmaster-General,  startled  the 
people  of  the  American  colonics  by  proposing  to  run  a  mail  "stage  wagon" 
between  Philadelphia  and  Boston  once  a  week.  The  schedule  time  of  this  vehicle 
each  way  was  just  six  days,  beginning  on  Monday  morninjr  and  ending  on  Saturday 
evening,  weekly.  In  1775  Thomas  Jefferson  was  occupied  ten  days  in  making  the 
journey  to  Philadelphia,  and  ^  was  obliged  to  hire  a  guide  to  pilot  him  through  the 
wilderness.  During  the  War  of  Independence,  it  has  been  said,  there  were  but  five 
coaches  in  New  York  City,  and  these  had  been  brought  over  from  England.  In 
1550  there  were  but  three  coaches  in  Paris;  in  1(525  hackney  coaches,  and  in  1829 
omnibuses,  were  first  introduced  in  London.  The  first  American  coach  factories, 
three  in  number,  were  established  in  New  York  about  the  year  178G ;  public  stages 
made  their  advent  in  1800.  The  mail  and  passenger  carrying  vehicles  of  the 
colonial  and  early  national  period  were  clumsy  and  comfortless.  They  dashed  at 
a  furious  rate  along  the  smooth  streets  of  the  towns  and  villages,  but  covered  their 
distances  laboriously  and  tediously  on  the  primitive  roads  of  the  country.  The 
journey  from  Baltimore  to  Pittsburgh  required  twelve  days,  and  was  made  in  peril 
of  lurking  Indians. 

In  the  Ohio  Wilderness  the  use  of  wheels  for  mail  and  passenger  transporta- 
tion necessarily  awaited  the  development  of  roads  and  highways.  Until  then,  the 
communication  of  the  settlements  with  their  neighbors  and  distant  friends  was  at 
best  precarious  and  occasional.  "  When  the  mailcarriur  tramped  from  Pittsburgh 
to  Warren,  along  a  trail  that  led  through  great  solitudes  of  forest,  he  cumbered 
himself  with  no  heavy  roailbag,"  says  a  recent  historian  of  those  times,  "but 
carried  his  bundle  of  letttM's  in  a  pocket  handkerchief.  When  the  settlement 
through  which  his  route  led  possessed  no  postmaster,  the  carrier  seated  himself  on 
a  log,  or  stump,  sorted  out  the  mail  marked  for  that  neighborhood,  left  it  in  care  of 
the  nearest  cabin,  dropped  his  budget  of  gossip  from  the  outside  world  into  the 
hungry  minds  of  those  about  him,  and  trudged  away  upon  his  lonely  journey. 
Cleveland's  first  postmaster  transformed  his  hat  into  an  office,  carrying  the  mail 
therein,  and  delivering  it  to  its  owners  as  he  met  them,  or  had  time  to  seek  them 
at  their  homes."' 

In  Franklin  County  the  postal  service  began  in  the  summer  of  1805  at  Frank- 
linton.  Adam  Hosac  took  the  first  mail  contract,  and  was  also  the  first  post- 
master.    Colonel  Andrew  McElvain,  employed,  in  his  boyhood,  as  the  first  post- 

[341] 


342  llisToHY  OK  THE  City  of  Colimbih. 

currier  undiT  Ilosao,  llius  (loscrihes  the  service  he  ])erformed  .'  "  The  T'oute  then 
WH8  on  the  west  side  of  the  Seioto.  A  weekly  tnail  h'fl  F'rafikliiitori  eacli  Fridav, 
stayed  over  iii«(ht  at  Markly's  Mill,  on  [>;irhy  (-reek,  next  (i.iy  made  Chillieothe, 
and  returned  to  Thompson's,  0!i  Deer  Creek,  tlience  liome  on  Sunchiy.  When  the 
route  was  first  estahlished  there  was  no  postoffiee  between  F'ranklinton  and  Chilli- 
eothe,  but  durinir  the  tirst  winter  there  was  one  estaldishe<i  at  Weslfall,  now  in 
Piekaway  County,  afterward  one  at  Markly's  Mill,  about  that  time  changed  to 
Hall's  Mill.  1  was  the  first  appointe<l  earrier,  and  did  carry  the  first  mail  to 
Franklinton,  and  was  employed  in  that  busines**  about  one  year,  during  the  winter 
and  spring,  having  twice  to  swim  Darby  and  Deer  Oeek,  carrying  the  small  mail- 
bag  on  my  shoulders.  ...  I  commence*!  carrying  the  mail  at  thirteen  years  old. 
There  was  not  a  house  but  William  BrowMi's  on  Big  Run,  between  Franklinton 
and  Darb}',  and  but  a  cabin  at  Westfall  and  Deer  Creek  to  Cliillicothe.  It  was 
rather  a  lonesome  route  for  a  boy.  .  .  .  There  was  no  rei^ular  mail  to  Worthing- 
ton,  but  their  mail  matter  was  taken  u|)  by  a  young  mati  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a 
store  —  I  think  Mr.  Matthews." 

The  successors  of  Mr.  Ilosae  in  the  Franklinton  I'ostoffice  are  thus  named 
by  Martin:"  1811,  Henry  Hrown  ;  1S12,  Joseph  Grate;  181H,  James  B.  Gardiner  • 
1815,  Ja'ob  Kellar:  1819.  Jose])li  McDowell ;  1820,  William  Lusk  ;  1831,  W.  Uis- 
ley.     A   few  years  after  Hisley's  appointment  the  ofllice   was  discontinued. 

As  to  the  efiiciency  of  the  service  in  the  delivery  of  news,  even  at  the  capital 
of  Ohio,  during  the  first  decade  of  tlie  century,  the  following  editr)rial  remark  of 
the  Cfn'llirof/u'  (rdzittt'  nijixunnvy  9,  ls09,  is  siirnificant :  "  We  have  had  but  one 
eastern  mail  for  several  weeks:  of  couisc  i\o  very  late  news  from  Congress." 

Prepayment  of  postage  was  not  required,  arhl  until  18K)  the  rates,  fixed  by 
law,  were  graded  according  to  distance  of  carriage,  as  follows:  For  a  single  letter, 
which  meant  one  composed  of  a  single  pieci'  of  paper,  eiirht  cents  under  forty 
miles,  ten  cents  under  ninety,  twelve  and  a  half  cents  umler  lot),  seventeen  cents 
under  300.  twenty  cents  under  500,  and  for  all  distances  over  five  hundred  miles 
twenty  five  cents.  An  act  of  ISK;  roa<i  justed  this  scale  and  ehargcd  an  additional 
rate  for  each  addiiional  piece  of  paper,  and  four  rates  for  each  letter  weighing  more 
than  one  ounce.  The  use  of  the  weight  standard  combined  with  that  of  distance 
as  a  measure  of  postage,  dates  from  1S45.  F<»r  many  years  during  the  earlier  his- 
tory of  the  service  lctt(»rs  were  carried  by  express  between  the  principal  cities  at 
lower  rates  than  those  nf  the  ])Ostoffice. 

Payment  on  delivery  was  the  original  rule  and  practice  in  the  collection 
of  postage,  but  wns  1)\'  no  m^^ans  rigidly  adhered  to,  as  witness  the  following  an- 
nouncement of  Postmaster  Tlosac.  dated  October  1.  1812: 

ExperifHce  proves  how  inattentive  many  peo])le  are  to  pay  the  i>o8tage  of  News  papers 
received  through  the  nitMliuin  of  the  po^tofl'nv.  Tliosein  arrears  for  postage  may  not  expwtt 
to  receive  any  more  pap(*rs  unless  arrearages  are  paid.  I/t»tter8  will  not  be  credited  on  any 
account  without  a  previous  arrangement. 

To  the  Hon.  James  Kilhourn,  founder  of  Worthington,  belongs  the  honor  of 
having  brought  about  the  establishment  of  the  first  postotiico  opened  in  Columbus. 
On  June  22,  1813,  Mr.  Kilbourn,  then  a  Hepresentative  in  Congress,  addressed  the 
following  letter  to  Hon.  (iideon  Granger,  Postmaster-General  : 


Mail  and  STAUKcoArii. 


343 


Dear  Sib:  I  am  requestod  to  make  application  to  the  Postmaster- (lenerai  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  postortice  in  the  t4>wn  of  Coliiinhus,  in  the  Slate  of  Ohio,  with  which  request  I 
rea<Hly  comply,  believing  that  the  pro,>0'^e  I  estiiblisliment  would  be  of  public  utility. 

Columbus  is  now  established  as  the  permanent  seat  of  government  of  that  State,  and  is 
situated  in  the  County  of  Franklin,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto  River,  immediately  op- 
I>06ite  the  conflai*n<!e  of  the  two  main  branches  of  that  stream,  si  sty  three  miles  north  of  Chil- 
licothe  and  nine  miles  south  of  VVorthington. 

Would  also  take  the  liberty  of  nominating  to  you  Matthew  Matthews  as  a  suitable  person 
for  theofKci*  of  Deputy  Postmaster  at  that  place.  Communications  may  be  addressed  to  him 
through  the  postoffice  at  Worthington.     .     .     . 

J  AS.    KiLItOUKN. 

In  tho  latter  part  of  this  letter  Mr.  Kilbourn  rocomniendod  the  appointment  ot 
John  S.  Wills,  Judge-Advoeato  of  the  NorthvveHtorn  Army,  a.s  j)08tina8ter  for  that 
arni\'.  Mr.  Matthews,  who  was  a  clerk  in  tho  branch  store  of  tho  Worthington 
Manufacturing  Company  managed  by  Joel  Buttles,  was  appointed,  as  suggostod,  to 
be  j)08tniaHter  at  Columbus.  He  did  not  formally  open  an  office,  but  soeuis  to  have 
distrii)uted  fnnii  his  desk  the  mail  brought  over  from  Franklinton.  lie  resigned 
in  1814,  an<l  was  succeeded  by  his  employer,  Joel  Buttles,  who  retained  tho  office 
until  the  advent  of  the  Jackson  Administration  in  1829  —  fifteen  years  —  when  he 
was  dis|»la<o  1  for  partisan  reasons 

A  pr»8tal  service  for  the  capital  had  no  sooner  been  established  than  its 
irregularity  began  to  be  complained  of  Perhaps  a  little  taste  of  its  conveniences 
made  the  people  too  eager  t<j  appreciate  the  difficulties  of  increasing  or  maintain- 
ing them.  The  weekly  mail  carried  on  horseback  between  Chillicothe  and  Frank- 
linton was  frequently  interrupted  by  high  water,  and  sometimes  did  not  arrive 
for  the  space  of  two  weeks.  "During  the  last  winter,"  says  tho  Franklinton 
\_?ytU'HKt7i\i\  Chrohldc  of  January  15,  1813,  "  at  no  time  did  the  mail  arrive  two 
weeks  in  succession  regular,  and  now  it  seems  to  take  the  same  course."  And  that 
at  a  time  when  the  people  were  eager  for  news  of  the  war  then  in  progress  !  "  The 
postmasti-r  at  Marietta,"  continues  the  Chrontr/c  in  the  issue  just  quoted,  "is  in  the 
habit  of  sending  two  mails  for  this  place  eac'i  week,  one  by  the  way  of  Chillicothe, 
the  other  by  way  of  Zanesville."  The  editor  proceeds  to  state  that  these  mails,  if 
j)romj»tly  forwarded  by  the  intermediate  postmasters,  should  reach  Franklinton 
simuilaneously,  but  cites  an  instance  in  which  that  coming  through  Zanesville 
arrived  ria  Worthington  fouiteen  days  late,  and  that,  too,  with  important  War 
Dej)artmcnt  (lisj)atchos  for  General  Harrison. 

In  manifest  hope  of  relief  the  Chronirle  of  March  2i),  1813,  makes  the  following 
announcement: 

We  most  sincerely  congratulate  the  public  r>n  the  establishment  of  an  Express  Post  from 
Chillicothe  by  Fratiklinton  and  Delaware  to  th(^  Kapi-ls  of  the  Miama.  It  will  leave  Chilli- 
cothe every  Wednesday  and  Saturday,  at  one  o'clock  p.  .m  ,  and  arrivt*  at  Franklinton  every 
Thursday  and  Sunday  at  about  four  o'clock  i\  m.  Returning  it  will  pass  her^^  on  Tuesday 
and  Friday  evenings,  and  arrive  at  Chillicothe  every  Wednesday  and  Saturday  at  one  o'clock 
i\  M.  It  will  travel  on  the  west  side  of  the  Scioto  River  until  it  arrives  at  Franklinton,  wheie 
it  will  cross  the  river  and  proceed  on  the  east  side  of  the  Scioto  and  west  side  of  tlw  Whet 
stone  to  Delaware  —  from  thence  to  Upper  Sandusky  and  along  the  new  road  to  the  Rapids. 
It  will  go  in  three  days  from  Chillicothe  to  the  Rapids,  and  in  the  same  time  from  the  Rapids 
to  Chillicothe.  As  this  post  will  detain  but  fifteen  minutes  at  the  Franklinton  postollice, 
persons  liaving  letters  to  send  to  the  Rapids  should  put  them  into  the  olRce  on  Wednesday  and 


i-U  lIlSTOUY    OF    THE    (/ITY    OK    ( •OI.r.MIUiS. 

Saturday  I'veniiigs  by  eiK^t  o'clock  — ami  to  Chillicotlie  on  Tuestlay  an«i  Friday  aliernoon  by 
four  o'clock. 

As  to  wbat  was  meant  by  an  "oxprcsH  j)ost  "  wo  have  thti  tbllowinij^  .statement 

from  Mr.  .lolin  L.  (Jill:^ 

When  (ieneral  .lacknon'M  hiauj^iiral  nuissa)^*  was  sent  out  [Marcli  4,  IS'J^J,  it  was  by 
expret-s  mail,  whicli  lia<l  horses  stationed  at  every  ten  miles  from  Washinjjton  City  to  St. 
Ix)ui8.  The  mail  was  carried  in  a  valise  similar  to  some  of  those  now  carrie<l  by  commercial 
travelers.  This  valise  was  swnnjj:  over  the  postboy's shouhler,  and  he  was  re<|uired  to  make 
his  ten  miles  on  horseback  in  one  hour  without  fail.  At  the  en^l  of  his  route  he  found  a 
horse  siiddled  and  bridled  ready  for  a  start,  and  it  took  but  a  moment  to  dismount  and 
remount,  and  he  was  ofl*.  The  rider  was  furnishe<l  a  tin  horn  with  which  he  used  to 
announce  his  com  in  jr.  His  arrival  here  wtw  about  ten  a.  m.,  and  it  was  amunin;;  to  see  the 
people  run  to  the  postollice  when  the  post  rider  galloped  through  the  strcH'ts  blowing  his 
horn.     The  few  letters  carried  by  this  express  bore  double  postage. 

On  September  S,  1814,  the  lion.  James  Kilbourn,  Uepresontativc  in  Coricress 
from  the  Fif'tli  Ohio  District,  published  a  circular  in  which  he  announced  that,  at 
his  solicitation,  the  following  --postroadH"  —  n)utes  —  had  been  established  : 

From  Athens,  the  seat  of  the  Ohio  Universitv,  on  the  Marietta  route  by  New  l-4inc:ister 
to  Ojlumbus,  and  from  Columbus  by  F>anklinton  and  London,  in  Madison  County,  to  Xenia 
in  the  county  of  (Jreen,  there  intersecting  with  the  old  pr)st  route  from  Cincinnati.  .Mso 
[but  in  this  Mr.  Kilbourn  claims  only  to  have  assisted]  from  Columbus  throujrh  the  south- 
east part  of  Madison  County,  by  Washington  in  the  county  of  Fayette,  to  Hillsborough  in 
Highland  County,  in  the  direction  and  with  a  view  to  its  future  extension  to  Augusta  in 
Kentucky. 

Mr.  Kilbourn  claimed  to  have  also  suggested  the  opening  of  routes  tVoin 
Ciranville  to  Columbus,  from  Franklinton  to  Springfield,  and  from  Delaw^are  to 
Sandusky,  but  the  Postinaster-(ienoral  did  not  regard  these  as  immediately 
necessary. 

In  the  earl}^  part  of  1814  the  eastern  mail  lor  Columbus  (continued  to  be  for- 
warded from  Marietta  ////  Zanesville  and  Worthinirton,  and  ofton  came  in  away 
behind  time,  causing  great  complaint.  The  editor  of  the  Franklinton  Clmnurh 
inveighs  bitterly  against  this  arrangement  as  one  of  inexcusable  awkwardness, 
which  prevents  him  Irom  receiving  his  eastern  exclianges  "  until  their  contents 
have  become  stale  by  rt^publication  in  all  the  Zanesville  and  Chillicothe  ])a|>ers.*' 

The  distinction  i)f  providing  the  first  wheeled  passenger  and  mail  service 
through  Columbus  belongs  to  Philip  Zinn,  a  native  of  York  Count}',  Pennsylvania, 
who  came  to  Ohio  in  18(13.  Before  quitting  his  native  State,  Mr.  Zinn  had  con- 
ducted one  of  the  *'  mountiiin  ships  "  by  which  produce  and  merchandise  were 
exchanged  across  the  Alleghanies.  "He  carried  the  mails  north,  south,  east  and 
west  of  Columbus,"  writes  one  who  knew  him,'  "  when  they  could  easily  have  been 
deposited  in  the  loj)  of  his  hat,  and  started  the  first  coach  or  hack  that  plied  regu- 
larly through  the  capital.  The  direction  of  travel  then  was  north  and  south,  and 
Mr.  Zinn's  conveyance  carried  the  wayfarer  from  Chillicothe  along  the  Scioto  and 
Whetstone  to  l)claware.  In  these  labors  he  relied  mainly  upon  his  sons  Henry, 
Daniel  and  Adam  ;  in  fact  Daniel  often  drove  the  litl'e  ronndtopped  twohorse 
hack  that  found  its  way  into  Cohnnbus  by  the  old  I'iver  road,  entering  Broa<lway 
near   Kitlgway's   Foundry.      No   doubt   his  tin    horn   then   made   more   aigreeable 


//' 


^---€ 


•  •  * 


:••* 


Mail  and  Staoecoacii. 


345 


niUHJc  thun  the  wlirill  whistle  of  the  locomotive  docs  at  the  present  day.  He  often 
carried  the  great  ( ! )  EuHt-and-Wcst  mail  on  horHcback." 

Mr.  Zihn's  nervice  began  in  181  (],  under  a  contract  to  carry  the  mail  once  a 
week  between  Columbu«  and  Chillicothe.  In  a  short  time,  says  a  writer  in  the 
Ohio  Statesman j^  a  semi- weekly  mail  was  arranged  for,  and  in  1819,  or  thereabouts, 
Mr.  Zinn  contracted  to  carry  the  mail  in  coaches  to  Delaware.  In  1820-21,  pur- 
sues the  same  writer,  "  an  attempt  was  made  to  carry  the  mail  in  stjiges  from 
Zancsville  by  Newark  and  (iranville  to  Columbus,  by  a  Mr.  Harrington,  but 
proved  unprofitable,  and  the  c«)ach  was  run  very  irregularly." 

A  schedule  of  arrivals  and  dcj)artures  of  mails,  published  by  Postmaster  Joel 
Buttles  in  January,  1822,  is  here  i*e|)r()ducod,  with  the  hours  omitted  : 

Eastern  —  Arrives  every  Tuesday,  Tliursday  and  Saturday,  and  is  made  up  every  Mon- 
day, Wednesday  and  Friday. 

Southern  —  Arrives  every  WiMlnesday  and  Saturday,  and  is  made  up  every  Monday  and 
Thursdav. 

Northern  —  Arrives  e very  Monday  and  Thursilay  and  is  made  up  every  Sunday  and 
Wednesday. 

Western  —Arrives  every  Saturday  and  is  made  up  every  Wednesday. 

Piqua— Arrives  every  Thurs<lay  and  in  made  up  every  Sunday. 

Eastern,  via  Newark— A rrivi*s  every  Wednesday  and  is  made  up  every  Satunlay. 

Washington,  Ky. —  Arrives  every  Monday  and  is  made  up  innuediately. 

N.  B.    The  mail  is  alwavs  cloFed  thirtv  minutes  before  the  time  of  departure. 

The  Cohunhusi  (iazcttf  of  May  30,  1S22,  announced  that  the  following  new  mail 
routes,  of  local  importance,  ha<l  been  established  at  the  last  preceding  session  of 
Congress : 

From  Colund)U8  by  Springfu'M,  Dayton,  Faton,  thence  to  Indianapolis,  in  the  State  of 
Indiana;  thence  by  Vandalia,  in  Illinois  ;  tlienre  to  St.  Lewis,  in  Missouri. 

From  Culuud>us  to  Sunhury.  thr(mj;h  Harrison  and  (ienoa  townships. 

From  Colund)us  throu^di  Marysville,  tlie  scat  of  justice  in  Union  County,  hy  Zancstield 
to  Bellefontaine,  in  the  county  of  Lo^ran. 

From  Norton,  in  the  county  of  Delaware  by  Claridon  to  the  City  of  Sandusky. 

From  Bellefontiune  in  Lojran  Countv,  l)y  Fort  Arthur  and  Findlay  to  the  foot  of  the 
Rapids  of  the  Miami  of  the  I^ke. 

In  April,  1822,  John  Stearns  announ(;ed  that,  "  having  prepared  himself  with 
a  good  stage  and  horses,"  he  intended  "running  a  stage  the  iMisuing  season  from 
Chillicothe  to  Lower  Sandusky,"  imd  other  lake  points,  and  "  from  Columbus  to 
any  part  of  the  State."  The  first  line  between  the  capital  and  Mount  Vernon  was 
established  in  the  same  year  by  C.  Barney,  who,  two  years  later,  was  associated 
wiih  C.  W.  Marsh  in  running  a  line  from  Columbus  to  Lower  Sandusky,  then  called 
Portland.  In  182H,  to  the  gieat  delight  of  the  people,  an  uncovered  carriage, 
called  a  stage,  drawn  by  two  horses,  began  making  trips  once  a  week  betwet^n  Co- 
lumbus and  Zancsville.  The  road  being  in  an  execrable  condition,  and  laid  for  a 
great  part  of  the  distance  with  corduroy,  two  days  were  required  for  the  journey 
from  terminus  to  terminns. 

This  Zancsville  line  was  doubtless  one  of  the  enterprises  of  Mr.  William  Neil 
and  his  associates.  Mr.  Neil  was  a  native  of  Kentucky  who  ha<i  come  to  Ohio  in 
1815,  and  settled  at  Urbana.  During  a  visit  at  the  capital  in  181 S  he  was  the 
guest  of  Captain  Joseph  Vance,  then  owner  of  the  land  now  constituting  the  Slate 


^{  HI  lllS'n»HY    OK    TIIK    (-ITV    <»F    ( *Ol.lI.MBITS. 

UnivcTHity  t'arni,  of  whicli  lie  afterward  —  in  182S  —  hiniHclf  becuino  the  owner. 
On  tliis  occasion  lie  made  arranii^einent^  for  a  commercial  expedition  to  New  Or- 
leans, which  did  not  result  favorably.  At  a  later  date,  becoming  by  invitation 
cashier  of  the  Franklinton  liaiik,  he  located  in  Columbus,  and  in  1822  began  the 
rnail-carryini^  eiiter])riscs,  in  the  development  of  which,  and  of  the  passenger 
traffic,  he  made  himself  the  chief,  and  (-olumbus  the  center,  of  one  of  the  most  ox- 
tensive  systems  of  sta«^e  lines  in  the  Union. 

Duriiii^  the  year  1S22,  Mr.  Neil,  in  association  with  Jarvis  Pike,  became  pos- 
sesseti  of  Philiji  Zinn's  interest,  and  undertook  to  carry  the  mail  three  times  a 
week  iKtween  Columbus  and  ( 'hillicothe.  About  the  sume  time,  the  firm  also  ob- 
tained contracts  for  running  a  line  of  mail  wagons  between  Columbus  and  Zanes- 
vilk%  which  service  wns  soon  afterwards  extended  to  Springfield,  Dayton  and  Cin- 
cinnati. (Gradually  Mr.  Neil  and  his  associates  acquired  control  of  additional  lines, 
caused  the  mails  which  had  been  reaching  Columbus  b}'  cross  roads  to  come  thither 
direct,  and  diverted  the  great  through  postal  service  from  other  channels  to  the 
capital.  As  these  combinations  were  perfected,  both  mail  and  passenifer  service 
rajiidly  develojied,  and  we  tind  in  May,  1S20,  the  announcement  by  William  Neil 
and  A.  I.  McDowell  that  their  line  of  mail  stages  would  thenceforth  run  through 
from  Cincinnati,  ////  l)nyton  and  Columbus  to  Portland  in  four  days.  Each  pas- 
senger was  allowed  twentytive  jK)unds  of  bagiage.  In  1827  the  Cincinnati  and 
Portland  service  was  changed  from  triweekly  to  daily,  and  the  tri-weekly  line 
between  Columbus  and  (Miillicothe  also  furnished  daily  service  during  the  months 
of  January  an<l  February. 

Meanwhile  new  lines  of  lo-  al  mail  service  multiplied  rapidly.  The  jiroposals 
of  tlu?  l^)slal  Di'partmenl,  published  in  the  summer  of  1S27,  show  the  following 
routes  with  (\)lumbus  connections  : 

From  Lancaster  ria  Cunrtwrij^ht.  thrice  a  week,  twentyeight  miles. 

To  Lower  Sandinky  (Portland)  ria  Worthinjrioii,  Delaware,  Norton,  Rocky  Creek, 
Marion,  ("laridon,  Burjress,  IJttle  Sandusky,  Up|>L*r  San  lusky,  Tyiiiochtee,  Oakly,  Fort  Ball, 
Fort  Seneca  an<l  Bloomiu^ville,  once  a  week,  one  hundred  and  ten  miles.  Between  Colum- 
bus and  Delaware  this  line  carried  the  mail  three  times  a  week  in  twohorse  stages. 

To  I..ower  Sandusky  three  times  a  week. 

To  Piqua  via  Worthinjjton,  Dublin.  Darby,  Mechanicsburg,  Urbana,  Monroe  and  Troy, 
seventyeight  miles,  twice  a  week. 

To  Zanesville,  ria  (4ranville,  Hanover  ami  Newark,  sixtysix  miles,  thrice  a  week,  in 
stiijres. 

To  Kipley   ria  Franklinton,  (leorgesville,  Dulf's  Fork,  Bloom ingburg,  Washington,  Lees 
burg.  Hillsborough,  Sn)tt,  Nt^w  Market,  West   Union  and  St.  Clairsville,  one  bumlred  and 
three  miles,  once  a  week. 

The  condition  of  the  roads  was  still  such,  however,  as  to  greatly  impede  the 
service,  as  witness  the  following  announcement  of  April  10,  1828:'* 

The  several  mail  stages  have  commenced  running  through  this  plac^e  [Columbus].  The 
unfavorableneFs  of  the  season,  until  within  a  short  time,  has  rendered  it  im}>068ible  to  trans- 
port the  mail  otherwise  than  on  horseback.  This  has  no  doubt  l>een  a  serious  drawback  on 
the  contnictors. 

In  April,  1828,  the  following  announcement  was  made  : 

The  8ubs(Tihers  have  established,  and  have  now  in  complete  operation,  a  line  of  Post 
Coaches  on  the  following  routes,  viz: 


MmI.    and    STA(JE<M)ArH, 


347 


From  Portland,  tliree  times  a  week,tliroiijrli  Mount  Vernon,  ("oluinhiis,  Sprinj^field,  Ac, 
to  Cincinnati,  in  four  days. 

From  Wheeling  to  Cincinnati,  <laily,  by  way  of  Colunihus,  Sprinjjfield^  Djiyton  and  Ixd)- 
banon,  through  in  h*88  than  four  days. 

From  Cleveland  three  times  a  week  through  Wooster,  Mount  Vernon,  Columbus,  Spriuir- 
field,  etc.,  to  Cincinnati  in  four  days. 

From  Portland  three  times  a  week  throu^rh  Ixiwer  and  Upper  Sandusky,  intersecting  the 
above  lines  at  Springfield,  through  in  four  days. 

Thi8  announcemont  was  signed  by  William  Neil,  Robert  Neil  and  Jarvis  Pike, 
of  Columbus;  H.  Mooro  &  Co.,  of  Whoolin^;  T.  Siguier  i^  Co.,  of  Dayton,  and  J. 
Satterthwaite  &  Co.,  of  Lebanon. 

On  April  7,  1H29,  the  follovvinij  pr()<!:ramnie  for  the  season  was  issued  from  tho 
office  of  the  Ohio  Sta^e  Com])any,  at  Columbus,  Robert  Neil,  Secretary: 

A  daily  line  of  Post  coaches  from  Wheeling  mi  the  National  Road  through  Zanesville, 
Columbus,  Springfield  and  Lebanon  to  Cincinnati  in  THREE  DAYS,  and  by  way  of  Dayton 
and  the  Miaud  Canal  in  three  and  a  fourth  days. 

A  triweekly  line  from  Cincinnati  via  Springfield.  Columbus,  Mount  Vernon,  Wooster, 
and  Medina  to  Clevelan«l  bv  wav  of  Ix^banon  in  four  davs  ;  an<l  bv  Davton  in  four  and  a  fourth 
days.     .     .     . 

A  line  triweekly  from  Cincinnati  through  Springtield,  Mount  Vernon,  Columbus,  Mans- 
field, Norwalk  and  Milan  to  Portland  by  Lebanon,  in  four  dayr* ;  and  bv  Dayton  in  four  and 
a  fourth  days.     .     .     . 

The  proprietors  whose  names  were  attache<l  to  this  circular  were:  H.  Moore 
k  Co.,  of  Whceiin^r;  Jarvis  Pike  k  W  k  R.  Nell,  of  Columbus;  Timothy  Squicr,  of 
Dayton;  William  Werden,  of  Sprint^^field  ;  A.  L  Hunt,  of  Tynu>cbtee ;  and  Abner 
Root,  of  Portland. 

As  indicative  of  the  proujress  which  had  by  this  time  been  made  in  the  trans- 
mission of  the  mails,  the  following*  ])arai^raph,  wliich  appeared  in  tlie  Ohio  Sfafr 
Journttf  ofFruUiy,  December  11,  1S2'^  is  sii^nificant : 

Unparalleled  Expedition.  By  the  extraonlinary  exertions  of  the  Ohio  Stage  Company, 
the  President's  message,  which  was  delivered  at  Washinirton  (^itv  at  twelve  o'clock,  at  noon, 
on  Tues^lay  last,  was  received  at  our  otfice  at  fifteen  minutes  before  eleven  in  the  evening  of 
the  following  Wednesday,  having  travelled  the  whole  distiince  between  the  two  pla<!es  — 
estimated  at  about  four  hundred  and  twenty  miles  —over  excessively  bad  roads,  in  the  sfmcf 
of  thirtfffour  hourx  and  fort  if  fire  inwntea  —  n  performance  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  traveling 
in  this  section  of  the  country. 

While  the  mail  service  was  beini^  improved  as  rapidly  as  the  road  facili ties 
would  permit,  the  volume  of  travel  by  stage  steadily  increa.sed.  In  1881  over  seventy 
coaches,  all  crowded,  arrived  at  Columbus  per  week,  their  passenger  lists  (compris- 
ing representatives  from  every  State  in  the  Union.  Along  with"  this  flush  of  busi- 
ness, duo,  in  part,  to  the  building  of  the  National  Road  and  its  tributarv  turnpikes, 
may  be  noted  also  a  marked  (juickening  of  sj)eed.  In  1888  the  mail  from  Washing 
ton  City  came  through  to  Wheeling  in  filtyfive  hours,  and  from  Wheeling  to 
Columbus  in  twentyfour  hours.  The  mail  time  between  Cincinnati  and  VVMiceling, 
vifi  Columbus,  was  fortyeigbt  hours  The  time  of  the  Northern  Lino,  between 
Sandusky  and  Portsmouth,  ria  (-olumbus,  was  forty  bours  Irom  terminus  to  termi- 
nus. Between  Cleveland  and  Columbus,  rid  Wooster  and  Mount  Vernon,  the  time 
was  twontysix  hours. 


:\\^  History  of  tiik  City  of  CoLUMiirs. 

In  1S31  Kobt^rt  Neil  sold  liis  iiiterost  in  the  Ohio  SUii^u  lines  lo  William  Neil 
iinil  retired,  fn  18iU  the  eonipuny  was  known  by  the  firm  name  of  Neil,  M<X)rc  i^ 
Co.,  the  prineipal  partners  heing  William  Neil,  of  Columbus,  and  llenry  Moore,  of 
Wheel inij^.  An  index  of  the  business  of  the  firm  at  that  perioti  i.s  found  in  one  of 
its  advertisements  eallin^  for  •*  one  hundred  youn^  men  of  good  steady  habits  and 
moral  eharaett^r  to  be  em|»loyed  as  stage  drivers."  The  driving  of  a  sUvgo,  indeed, 
was  no  oniinary  tru^t,  as  this  advertisement  indieates.  It  was  not  merely  drawing 
reins,  and  managing  a  tburhorse  team,  although  that  was  no  easy  thing  to  do,  par- 
tieulai'ly  in  winter,  on  the  sli|»pery  niads  of  the  hill  country  in  Eastern  Ohio. 
Then  and  there,  as  in<h'ed  at  all  times  and  places,  the  fidelity  and  capacity  of  the 
driver  had  much  to  do  with  th(>  sal'i'ty  of  the  mails  and  the  comfort  of  the  passen- 
gers. That  teacns  .should  run  away,  coaches  be  upset,  and  limV)s  be  broken,  or  lives 
lost,  weri'  accidents  which  could  n(»t  be  wholly  avoided.  Some  distressing  affairs 
of  this  kind,  personally  known  to  the  writer,  might  be  narrated.  But  considering 
the  ditticultics  of  the  roa<l,  the  number  of  jiassengers  carried,  and  the  number  of 
miles  traveled,  such  accidents  were  perhaps  as  infrequent  as  could  be  exjiected. 

The  drivers,  as  a  class,  wtM*c  men  of  good,  hard  sense,  steady  and  taciturn. 
They  acquired  a  certain  brus(piencss  of  numncr,  as  was  natural,  exjiosed,  as  they 
wei'c,  to  the  inclemencies  of  the  elements,  and  obliged  U>  deal  every  day  with  alt 
the  patience  trying  ti*aits  (»f  hunuin  luiHire;  yet,  like  the  coachmen  of  Paris,  many 
of  them  weiv  men  of  not  onl}*  rare  natural  intelligence  but  fine  education.  If 
they  were  n(>t  also  widl  versed  in  the  waysof  the  world,  it  was  not  for  lack  <d*oj)j>or- 
tunity  to  learn  them.  Thoy  were  particularly  note<l,  says  a  Columbus  writer,  for 
their  *'  never  failing  civility  and  gallantry  to  women.'"* 

In  181^1)  some  socalled  "  o|)p()sition  '  lines  sprang  uj),  whoreuj)on  staging  be- 
came a  lively  business,  indeed.  An  old  citizen  intbrms  the  writer  that  he  has  seen 
the  rival  coaches  come  into  ti>wn  side  by  sich^  at  full  sj»eed.  From  aspirited  sketch 
of  one  of  these  races,  by  a  (/olund)Us  authoress,  the  following  sentences  are 
taken  : '" 

As  tlie  capital  dn*\v  near,  <»ur  restlessness  and  impatience  became  intolenil)Ie;  and  wlien 
a  coach  canu*  up  beside  us,  lleeeher  calle«l  to  the  drivers,  who  were  enjjajred  in  converKjition, 
'*  bet's  Iry  your  ujcttle,  \my».  We  will  make  upa  pursi*  for  the  man  tliat  first  enters  the  town." 
Thenr  were  several  passen^t-rs  in  the  other  coach,  who  joinetl  heartily  in  Beecher's  projMWttil. 
Crack!  cra«  k !  went  the  whips  — away  we  ilashed,  the  passengers  urging  their  respective 
drivers  l)y  erics  ofhravo,  wavinj;  of  tuindkereliit^fs,  and  peals  of  lauj^hter.  The  mud  fiew  in 
great  licaps.  and  iunder  and  louder  hii-hetl  the  wliips,  while  the  drivers  fairly  shrieked  jis 
they  ur^red  llieir  fo.iniinjr  horses  to  greater  speed.  S<m)Ii  the  tine  farms  tiordering  the  .Siaot<» 
wen*  lost  in  the  distance,  and  in  a  shorter  time  than  it  takt^s  to  tell  you,  we  Kalloped  into  the 
l)ustling  town  of  Coiund)us.  Reining  up  at  the  Old  National  Hotel,  on  the  present  site  of  the 
Neil  Ibmse,  the  wager  was  unanimously  awanled  to  "  Yankee"  Cook. 

Some  other  phases  of  stage  adventure  are  seen  through  the  linos  of  the  follow- 
ing narrative  of  Mr.  Ueuben  K.  (yham|»ion:" 

That  oM  iHary  of  mine  notes  that,  on  llie  evening  of  January  27,  lS4y,  a  wa^onload  of 
specie  came  in  from  Chillicothe,  Ohio.  It  was  consigned  to  BeeV>e  &  Co.,  New  York,  and 
slu»uld  have  arrived  several  hours  earlier  in  time  to  go  out  on  our  regular  stage  run  for  Spring- 
field, where  we  ma<le  conncj-tions  with  the  Mad  liiver  I^ilroad  to  Sandusky,  theuee  r*<iLake 
to  Bulfalo  and  the  East. 


fT;t"- 


Mail  and  STAOEcoArir.  349 

For  good  reasons  it  was  not  deemed  safe  to  ho]<l  this  money  over  until  xha  nt'xt  nijjlU  ;  so 
an  extra  sta^  coach  was  chartered  from  Neii,  Moore  &  Co.,  and  I  was  doUiilcd  as  mossen- 
ger  to  take  charge.  The  specie  was  loaded  into  the  coach,  tlie  hack  scat  being  left  vacant  for 
the  messenger.  Just  before  we  departed,  a  stage  drove  up  loaded  down  with  schoolgirls  from 
the  (iranville  Female  Seminary.  Among  them  was  a  young  lady  who  was  exceedingly  anx- 
ious to  reach  her  home  at  Springfield,  and  did  not  wish  to  wait  twentyfour  hour.-*,  or  until  the 
regular  stage  would  leave. 

There  was  room  on  the  back  seat  for  her,  and  for  the  nicfisenger,  and  we  consented  to 
carry  her.  She  was  loaded  in  ere  1  put  in  an  appearance.  The  night  was  dark  and  stormy 
(no  gas  in  those  days)  and  I  could  not  see  whether  my  companion  was  black  or  white,  six- 
teen or  sixty,  but,  as  we  passed  Ca<lwallader'6  Tavern,  on  Broad  Street,  near  the  bridge,  the 
lamps  in  front  of  that  hot^l  enabled  me  to  see  that  she  was  young  an<l  fair,  and  I  immediately 
made  up  my  mind  to  see  my  valuable  cargo  through  in  good  shape.  It  was  an  awful  coM 
night,  and  I  was  compelled  to  loan  my  charge  a  piece  of  my  buffalo  robe.  She  became  very 
sleepy—  no  pillows  in  that  vicinity —  and  involuntarily  she  took  charge  of  my  left  shoulder, 
and  so  slept  the  weary  hours  away. 

The  cxpcrioneo  must  hjive  been  of  an  opjuwite  eluiractor  to  this  whitdi  inspirctl 
a  newspaper  muse  of  the  fifties  with  the  following  strain  of  parody  :  '* 

Jolting  through  the  valley. 

Winding  up  tlie  hill, 
Splashing  through  the  **  branches," 

Rumbling  by  the  mill ; 
Putting  nervous  "gemmen" 

In  a  towering  rage  ; 
What  is  so  provoking 

As  riding  in  a  stage. 

Feet  are  interlacinir, 

Heads  severely  bumped, 
Friend  and  foe  together 

Get  their  noses  thumpe<l ; 
Dresses  act  as  carpets  — 

Listen  to  the  sage  — 
"  Life's  a  rugged  journey 

Taken  in  a  stage." 

Spinsters  fair  and  forty, 

Maids  in  youthful  charms 
Sudtlcnly  are  ca.st  in- 

To  their  neighbors'  arms! 
(-■hildren  shoot  like  squirrels 

Darting  thnuigh  a  cage  ; 
Isn't  it  delightful, 

Riding  in  a  stage. 

Jolted,  thumped,  (liKtractcd, 

Racked,  an<l  <iuite  forlorn, 
"Oh."  cries  one,  ''  what  duties 

Now  are  laid  on  corn  !  " 
Mad,  disgusted,  weary, 

In  a  sweating  rage, 
*  Tis  the  very  mischief, 

Riding  in  a  stage. 


Xt\)  IIisToHv  OF  TiiK  City  of  ('oi.rMnrs. 

In  .lamiiiry,  \H'M\^  ,1.  C.  Achosoii,  ji^cmiI  of*  Neil,  Moore  ^  Co  ,  aiinoiujced  the 
folloNviii^  winter  :irran«^einent : 

Mail  Pilot  Lino,  daily  to  Wluu'linjr  rin  Zai^'sville  an«l  St.  ClairHville,  tliroufrh  in  twenty- 
four  hours. 

iinoi\  Ini«'nt  Line,  daily  to  Wlu'elinj;  by  thr  same  routo ;  tlirou^li  in  twenty  hours. 
C'onn«*(!ts  witli  stajros  for  Raltiniore  an<l  PhilaiU^lphia. 

Mail  Pilot  Line  ('aily  to  Cineinnali,  ttirou^^h  in  thirtysix  hours,  allowinjj  six  hours  for 
roiMwe  at  Sprin^fieM. 

Kagle  Line,  every  other  day  to  Cleveland,  throujrh  in  forty  hours  rin  Mount  Vernon  an<l 
VVooster. 

Telej^raph  Line  for  Sandusky  ('ity  every  other  <lay,  throujrh  in  two  <lays,  allowing  rest  at 
Marion,  antl  eonneetinj^  there  witli  the  line  to  Detroit  tin  L')wer  Sandusky. 

Pho'uix  Line,  every  (»ther  day  to  Huron  via  Mount  Vernon  and  Norwalk,  throu|^h  in 
fortyeijjht  hours. 

Daily  line  to  Chillicothe,  conneetinj;  there  with  the  line  to  Portsmouth  and  Maysville, 
Kentucky. 

The  starting  point  of  the  eoachcs  of  these  lines  wuh  their  office  next  door  to 
Colonel  Noble's  National  Hotel 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  publication  of  the  forei^oing  .schedule,  the 
"Opposition  Defiance  Fast  Jjine  of  Mail  Coaches/'  between  Cincinnati  and  Wheel- 
ing, was  announced.  The  advertised  ]»n>prietors  of  this  line  were  John  W,  Weaver 
and  Co.,  George  W.  Manypenny  and  John  Youtz  from  Wheeling  to  Columbus  ;  and 
James  H.  Bacon,  William  Rianhard,  F.  M.  Wright  and  William  H.  Fife  from  Co- 
lumbus to  Cincinnati.  George  W.  Manypenny  was  the  company's  agent.  The 
coa<-hos  of  the  line  started  daily  from    UusscH's  Globe   Inn. 

On  July  1,  1887,  Neil,  Mom-e  &  Co.  resumed  the  transj^ortation  of  the  mails 
between  Cincinnati  and  Wheeling,  and  about  the  same  time  announced  the  follow- 
ing reduced  passenger  rates  from  Columbus:  to  Zanesville,  82 ;  Wheeling,  85; 
Springfield,  82;  Dayton,  8H. 50  ;  Cincinnati,  85  ;  intermediate  points,  five  cents  per 
mile.  A  reduction  of  the  fare  to  Cincinnati  was  made  by  the  compan}*  during  the 
ensuing  October. 

During  the  midsummer  o(  1H37  an  "  Express  Mail  "  from  Baltimore  through 
to  Cincinnati,  vid  Frederick  and  Cumberland,  Maryland,  Uniontown,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Wheeling,  Virginia,  and  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  sixty  hours  was  established.*'* 
The  time  in  which  this  mail  covered  the  distance  between  Baltimore  and  Columbus 
was  fortyfour  hours  and  a  half.  A  stoppage  of  half  an  hour  was  made  at  each  oi 
six  principal  points  on  the  line,  and  of  one  hour  at  Wheeling.  Letters  intended  for 
this  line  were  marked  E.rprc.sf^  Mftilj  and  were  charged  triple  postage.  Money  let- 
ters were  excluded.  Newspaper  slips  of  not  over  two  columns  of  printed  matter, 
intended  as  exchanges  between  publishers,  were  carried  free.  Simultaneously'  with 
this  arrangement,  the  time  of  the  regular  mail  between  Wheeling  and  Columbus  was 
reduced  to  nineteen  and  onehalf  hours,  and  to  twent^'four  and  onehalf  hours 
between  Columbus  and  Cincinnati.  The  Express  Mail  was  carried  on  horseback, 
at  great  speed,  from  one  station  to  another,  and  was  independent  of  the  control  of 
the  stage  companies.  In  harmony  with  these  increased  facilities  for  through 
mails,  the  Columbus  Pos to tfice  became,  in  1838,  an  office  of  general  distribution, 
employing  the  remarkable  number,  as  it  was  then  deemed,  of  twelve  or  fifteen 
persons. 


Mail  and  STAOEroAcii.  :^51 

A  daily  line  of  stages  between  Columbus  and  Cleveland  was  first  established  in 
the  autumn  of  1839.  About  the  same  time  Neil,  Moore  &  Co.  announced  an  *Mni- 
portant  improvement,"  as  it  was  called,  to  their  Pilot  Lino  of  coaches,  by  employ- 
ing for  each  coach  a  "guard  "  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect  the  baggage,  look  after 
the  comfort  of  the  passengers,  see  that  the  changes  of  horses  were  made  promptly 
and  the  time  schedule  kept,  and  U)  require  of  the  drivers  the  faithful  performance 
of  their  duty  "  both  to  the  passengers  and  the  proprietors."  The  time  allowed  for 
changing  teams  at  the  relay  stations  was  about  live  minutes.  The  watering  of 
teams  on  the  road  was  disallowed. 

Bobberies  of  the  mails  carried  by  the  stages  sometimes  occurred.  During  the 
night  of  September  19,  1837,  the  Great  Western  Mail,  as  it  wfis  called,  bound  east- 
ward, was  taken  from  the  coach  between  Columbus  and  Springfield,  and  plundered 
of  all  the  letters  it  contained.  The  night  of  March  9,  1840,  was  chosen  for  a  simi- 
lar exploit  by  two  villains  who  stopped  tiie  mail  coach  bound  for  Columbus  about 
three  miles  east  of  Springfield,  pointed  their  pistols  at  the  driver,  who  was  alone, 
and  made  him  surrender  the  Cincinnati  mailbag.  which  they  loft  by  the  wayside 
afler  taking  out  its  contents.  In  1841  robberies  of  the  stage  mails  were  very  fre- 
quent, and  were  announced  from  all  directions.  In  1842  we  find  the  record  of  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  rob  the  north wardgoing  mail  near  Sunbury,  in  Delaware 
County. 

During  the  winter  of  1839-40  frequent  interruptions  and  delays  in  the  delivery 
of  the  eastern  mails  were  caused  by  heavy  snowstorms  in  the  Aileghanies,  and 
floating  ice  in  the  Ohio  River.  From  these  causes  the  President's  Message,  sent  to 
Congress  in  December,  1839,  was  not  received  at  Columbus  until  January  2,  1840. 
For  eight  days  next  preceding  that  date,  the  mail  communication  with  Washing- 
ton was  entirely  broken  off.  All  through  the  forties,  until  the  opening  of  the  tele- 
graph in  1847,  irregularities  in  the  transportation  and  delivery  of  the  mails  were  sub- 
jects of  intermittent  complaint.  After  commercial  interests  and  the  press  had  fairly 
begun  to  experience  the  advantages  of  prompt  and  rapid  mail  communication,  the 
least  interruption  of  it.  was  keenly  felt,  and  the  multiplied  accidents  to  which  the 
stage  service  was  exposed  were  not  always  appreciated.  It  should  be  observed, 
however,  that  instances  of  particularly  rapid  transmission  always  evoked  hearty 
plaudits.  In  December,  1841,  the  President's  Message  was  brought  through  to 
Columbus  in  thirtysix  hours  and  twenty  minutes  after  its  delivery  at  the  Capitol, 
which  was  considered  extraordinary  speed.  The  mail  contractors  were  lavishly 
applauded  for  this  manifestation  of  enterprise.  In  March,  1845,  Neil,  Moore  &  Co.'s 
express  brought  President  Polk's  Inaugural  through  from  Washington  to  Columbus 
in  thirtyfbur  hours  and  two  minutes.  The  time  from  Wheeling  was  nine  hours  and 
fortyfive  minutes,  which  was  then  unprecedented.  Such  rapidity,  remarks  the 
Ohio  Statesmarij  "  can  scarcely  be  believed  .  .  .  and  speaks  volumes  for  the  enter- 
prise of  the  age."  From  Cumberland  to  Cincinnati  the  transmission  was  made  on 
horseback.  But  still  greater  things  were  in  store,  as  witness  the  following 
announcement  under  date  of  December  11,  1846,  under  the  caption  ''  Unparalleled 
Speed :"" 

The  President's  Message  was  delivered  and  left  Washington  City  at  meridian  on  Tues- 
day; was  conveyed  thence  to  Cumberland  by  regular  mail,  in  six  and  a  half  hours;  left 


352  History  of  tiik  City  of  (-oLUMmis. 

Cnmbi^rlainl  at  (»:!')  Weilnosday  ovoninjr,  roarhinjr  WluH?linjr  at  a  <iiiartvr  past  eleven  Tlinrs- 
<iay  iiiorning.  It  was  rrceivod  on  the  wwtern  bank  of  the  (^)hio  River,  opposite  Wlieehn^. 
by  the  Oliio  Stiige  Company,  at  thirtyfive  ininntes  past  one  oVlork  v.  m.,  on  Thurp<lay,  and 
was  <lelivered  at  Columhiis  at  ten  minutes  paft  eight  oVloirk  the  same  evening,  having  been 
oonveye<i  from  Wheeling  to  Cohimlms —  l^>o  miles  —  ///  Ifu  iniparnlifM  abort  Hpare  of  «.»  hniim 
and  ft  hntf!  Much  credit  is  aseribeil  for  this  acliievement  to  Messrs.  Hooker  and  Terry,  the 
ellicient  agents  of  the  Stage  Company  who  managed  the  Express. 

This  was  the  culminating  and  last  exploit  of  horscflosh  in  tho  rapi«l  transmis- 
sion of  the  Presiijont's  Message  to  Columbus.  Belbre  an  oj)portunity  for  its  repeti- 
tion arrived  the  express  post  had  been  superseded  by  the  electric  telegmph. 

During  the  forties,  the  credit  system  in  the  administration  of  the  Postollice 
was  still  in  vogue.  In  February,  184(1,  Postmaster  Bela  Latham  gives  notice  that 
"  lettci's  will  be  delivered  to  no  one  who  has  not  a  book  account,  without  the  post- 
age being  paid  at  the  time  ot  their  re<'ei])t.  Frequent  losses,"  continues  the  Post- 
master, "compel  him  to  pursue  this  course.  Hook  account  ma}'  bo  opened  by 
making  a  deposit,  the  account  to  be  balanced  each  month." 

On  December  3,  184tl,  Postmaster  Jacob  Medary  gave  notice  that,  as  required 
by  act  of  Congress, 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1847,  and  thereafter,  all  duties,  taxes,  sales  of  public  lands, 
debts  and  sums  of  money  accruing  or  becoming  du(^  to  the  TTnite<l  States,  and  also  all  sums 
due  for  postages,  or  otherwise,  to  the  General  Postotlire  I  )cpartinent,  shall  be  paid  in  goU! 
and  silver  coin  only,  or  in  Treasury  notes  issued  under  the  aullM)rity  of  the  United  States. 

This  requirement,  to  which  the  people  had  not  been  accustomed,  caused,  ihv 
a  time,  much  harsh  criticism,  mostly  of  a  ]>artisan  nature. 

An  act  of  Congress,  approved  March  8,  1847,  having  provided  for  tho  use  of 
stamps  in  the  j)ayment  of  postage,  the  Postmaster  at  ('olumbus  gave  notice  August 
18,  1847,  that  he  had  received  a  supply  of  stamps  of  the  denominations  of  five  and 
ton  cents,  with  tho  following  instructions  : 

The  stamps  sent  you  are  intended  for  the  supply  of  the  postmasters  in  your  vicinity,  as 
well  as  the  customers  of  your  olfice,  and  in  all  cases,  wht^ther  the  i>08tmasters  or  other 
persons,  they  are  to  be  sold  only  tor  cash. 

The  stage  litics  continued  to  hold  important  relations  with  the  through  mails 
until  the  opening  of  the  Columbus  &  Xenia  Ilailwa}*  in  February,  1850,  of  the  Hee 
Line  to  Cleveland  a  year  later,  and  oi  the  Central  Ohio  Itailway,  November,  1854, 
between  Columbus  and  Wheeling.  The  remaining  record  of  staging  down  to  the 
dawn  of  this  imi)ortant  era  in  the  Ohio  annals  of  transportation  may  now  bo  briefly 
summarized. 

In  December,  1842,  the  National  Road  Stage  ComjMiny,  L.  W.  Stockton  Proai- 
dent,  and  J.  ('.  Atcheson  Secretary,  was  announced.  This  company's  stages 
carried  the  mails,  and  covered  the  disl^uice  between  Wheeling  and  Cumberland, 
309  miles,  in  thirtythree  hours.  At  Cumberland  they  made  connection  with  the 
trains  on  the  Jialtimore  &  Ohio  Railway,  then  completed  from  Baltimore  to  that 
point.  Reduced  fares  to  Haltimore  and  Philadelphia  wore  schoduled.  As 
numerous  accidents  had  occurred  through  the  negligence  of  drivers  while  halting 
their  teams,  unhitched,  at  the  wayside  taverns,  the  company's  advertisemout  con- 
tained this  reassuring  clause : 


I,- 


^ 


I  .     . 
I 


e. 


•  •  * 


Mail  and  Staoecoach.  353 

No  driver  on  any  of  our  lines  is  permitted,  under  penalty  of  five  dollars,  to  stop  on  the 
road  and  water  his  team,  or  leave  his  box  from  the  time  he  starts  from  his  stand  until  he 
reaches  the  end  of  his  route. 

In  February,  1843,  the  company  reduced  its  faros  from  Wheeling  to  Baltimore 
and  Philadelphia,  respectively,  to  ten  and  thirteen  dollars. 

In  February,  1843,  Noil,  M!ooro  &  Co.  published  the  following  "  notice :  " 

General  0.  Hinton  having  sold  out  all  his  stock  and  interest  in  the  firm  of  Neil,  Moore 
&  Ck».,  on  the  first  day  of  January,  instant,  it  is  important  that  the  business  of  the  firm 
should  be  finally  closed  up  to  that  date. 

This  announcement,  signed  by  William  Neil,  President,  and  Eenry  Moore, 
Secretary,  was  one  of  considerable  importance  both  to  the  company  and  the  public 
as  will  bo  seen  further  on. 

The  routes  covered  by  the  lines  of  Neil,  Moore  &  Co.  in  1843  wore  of  an 
aggregate  length  of  about  fiileen  hundred  miles,  and  extended  not  only  to  n/Barly 
all  parts  of  Ohio,  but  into  the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Indiana  and 
Michigan.  Along  the  lake  their  stages,  first  put  on  the  road  from  Erie  to  Buffalo 
in  1843,  ran  continuously  from  that  city  to  Detroit.  On  the  National  Road  they 
maintained  a  faist  service  of  three  daily  lines  between  Cincinnati  and  Wheeling, 
going  through  from  terminus  to  terminus  in  forlytwo  hours.  Their  horses  were 
robust  selected  animals,  but  this  rapid  travel  on  the  fiinty  turnpike  soon  used  them 
up,  and  obliged  the  company  to  relieve  them  by  frequent  transfers  to  the  clay 
roads.  The  repair  shops  of  the  company  in  Columbus  gave  constant  employment 
to  about  twenty  workmen. 

On  July  1,  1844,  W.  T.  Kowe  &  Co.,  J.  W.  Dryden,  Agent,  began  carrying  the 
mails  between  Zanesville  and  Columbus.  This  company  ran  what  it  called  a 
People's  Line  of  stages,  at  low  fares,  from  Columbus  via  West  Jefferson,  London, 
South  Charleston,  Xenia,  Waynesville  and  Lebanon  to  Deerfield  where  it  connected 
with  the  trains  of  the  Little  Miami  Railway  for  Cincinnati.  The  company's  ad- 
vertisement contains  this  significant  statement : 

Should  an  opposition  be  run  upon  the  same  route,  the  undersigned  pledge  themselves 
that  under  no  circumstances  which  can  possibly  arise  will  racing  on  their  part  be  permitted. 
Should  the  opposition  overtake  the  mail  coach,  orders  have  been  given  to  the  drivers  on  this 
line  immediately  to  take  to  the  right  hand  of  the  road,  as  the  law  directs,  and  permit  them  to 
pass  if  they  desire  it. 

In  March,  1845,  while  one  of  Neil,  Moore  &  Company's  stages  was  descending 
a  long  hill  east  of  St.  Clairsville,  the  lever  of  the  lock  broke,  precipitating  the  coach 
forward  upon  the  horses,  which  at  once  took  fright,  and  broke  away  at  full  speed. 
The  stage  was  upset  and  smashed  to  pieces,  and  nearly  all  the  passengers  in  it,  of 
whom  there  were  several,  wore  seriously  hurt.  Among  them  was  W.  A.  McCoy, 
of  Columbus.  In  the  same  vicinity,  near  Lloydsville,  Belmont  County,  another 
stage  was  upset  in  December,  of  the  same  year,  owing  to  the  icy  condition  of  the 
turnpike.  A  third  upset  occurred  about  the  same  time  near  (jumbridge.  When  it 
was  overturned,  this  stage  contained  nine  Pottavvattomie  Indians,  some  of  whom 
were  severely  hurt.  These  illustrations  will  suffice  to  show  that  stage,  as  well  as 
railway  travel,  was  not  without  its  perils. 


:>r)4  History  op  tub  (-ity  of  Coutmriis. 

In  Maroh,  184<l,  the  Mansfield  jind  Siindnsky  (/ity  and  Little  Miami  Railway 
comjmnicp  advertised  for  prop<»sals  from  the  stn^e  (•omj)anies  to  connect,  from 
Columbus,  with  their  trains  at  Mansfield  and  Springfiehl  —  a  circumstjince  in<li(*a- 
live  of  the  pro/^ress  of  events.  From  different  directions  the  railways  were,  by 
that  time,  stea<lily  approaching  the  capital. 

In  1849,  a  daily  line  of  stages  between  Columbus  and  Pomeroy,  rla  Lancaster, 
IjO<^an  and  Athens  was  established.  "The  daily  lino  of  I).  Tallmad<^e  to  Lan- 
caster," runs  the  announcement,  "('onnects  there  with  the  line  to  Pomeroy  nowlj'^ 
established  b}'  Mr.  floyt." 

In  August,  1850,  Frederick  Douglas  delivered  an  address  at  Columbus,  and  on 
the  following  day  undertook  to  pursue  his  journey  eastward  in  one  of  the  Ohio 
Stage  Company's  vehicles,  but  after  buying  his  ticket,  and  taking  his  place  in  the 
stage,  was  ejected  from  it  on  account  of  his  color.  So  strong  was  the  prejudice 
against  the  nogro  race  at  that  time  that  the  company  felt  obliged  to  make  this 
concession  to  the  predominating  sentiment  of  the  traveling  public.  From  this 
affair  some  interesting  legal  proceedings  resulted,  an  account  of  which  will  bo  else- 
where given. 

This  same  year  — 1850  —  saw  the  advent  of  W.  B.  &  J.  A.  Hawkes  in  the  local 
stage  business  of  Central  Ohio.  This  firm  obtained  mail  contracts  to  numerous 
points  from  the  capital,  and  ran  its  principal  line  of  stages  between  Columbus  and 
Portsmouth.  Nothwithstanding  the  opening  of  railway  lines,  the  firm  did  a 
thriving  business,  which  was  much  enlarged,  in  both  profits  and  extent,  during  the 
Civil  War  period.  One  of  its  notable  employes  was  George  Patrick,  who  was  in 
the  stage  service  as  driver  for  thirtythree  years,  and  bought  a  farm  with  his 
earnings. 

Another  event  of  1850,  already  incidentally  hinted  at,  deserves  mention.  On 
the  twentyeighth  of  August,  in  that  year.  General  Otho  Hi  uton,  of  Delaware,  Ohio, 
was  arrested  in  Cleveland  on  the  charge  of  repeated  robberies  of  the  mail  extend- 
ing over  a  period  of  several  years.  Hi  n  ton  was  at  that  time  an  agent  of  the  Ohio 
Stage  Company,  and  had  previously  owned,  but  disposed  of,  an  interest  in  the  firm 
of  Neil,  Moore  &  Co.,  as  we  have  already  seen.  He  was  a  pretentious  politician,  of 
the  most  intolerant  stripe,  and  had  won  his  military  renown  by  conspicuous  service 
on  the  musterdays  of  the  "cornstalk  "  militia.  When  the  trouble  with  Mexico  be- 
gan, he  denounced  the  Mexicans  as  savagely  as  he  had  been  abusing  his  fellow 
citizens  of  opposite  politics,  and  made  a  vainglorious  tender  of  his  services  to  the 
President.  As  he  had  already  begun  to  pilfer  the  mailbags  entrusted  to  his  keep- 
ing, this  exhibition  of  military  bravado  was  probably  intended  to  divert  suspicion. 

Repeated  losses  of  money  from  the  mails  on  routes  traveled  by  Hinton,  ante- 
cedent to  the  time  of  his  arrest,  liad  caused  him  to  be  watched.  A  government 
(lotective  was  placed  upon  his  track,  and  decoy  packages  were  sent  back  and  forth 
through  the  mails  for  his  especial  benefit.  On  his  trial,  which  began  at  Cleveland, 
September  11,  on  charges  of  stealing  money  from  the  mail  between  Cleveland  and 
(/oinnibus,  and  embezzling  money  at  divers  olher  places,  Daniel  M.  Haskell,  the 
Postmaster  at  Cleveland,  testified  that,  on  Sunday,  August  4,  1850,  ho  placed  in  the 
Woosier  bag  a  package  containing  one  thousand  dollars  in  marked  notea,  knowing 
that  Hinton  would  go  in  the  same  coach.     Haskell  sent  forward  John  N.  Wheeler 


Mail  and  Stagecoach.  355 

to  Seville,  Medina  County,  aa  a  8py,  and  followed  the  ooacli  himself  to  Mt.  Vernon, 
where  he  arrived  on  Monday  morning,  August  5,  about  an  hour  and  a  half  later 
than  the  eoach.  Wheeler  boarded  the  stage  at  Seville.  Tlio  passengers  were  llin- 
ton,  A.  N.  Thomas  and  two  ladies  named  Sullivant.  Nothing  occurred  until  a 
point  was  reached  about  eleven  miles  north  of  Mt.  Vernon  when  the  eoach  halted, 
and  Hinton  helped  the  driver  to  unhitch.  The  time  was  three  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. All  the  passengers  except  Ilinton  remained  in  the  coach,  the  shaking  of 
which  attracted  Wheeler's  attention,  whereupon  he  saw  Ilinton  get  down  from  the 
vehicle  holding  in  his  hand  a  mailbng,  which  he  took  with  him  behind  a  shed. 
While  Ilinton  was  gone  with  the  bag  Wheeler  distinctly  heard,  in  that  direction, 
the  rustling  of  papers.  Returning  in  from  five  to  eight  minutes,  Ilinton  threw  the 
bag  into  the  front  boot,  and  after  sitting  there  for  a  moment,  went  into  the  hotel. 
Soon  he  came  out  again,  got  into  the  coach,  aske<l  Wheeler  to  change  scats  with 
him,  and  requested  one  of  the  ladies  to  let  him  have  his  carpetbag,  whicdi  she  was 
using  for  a  pillow.  He  then  put  some  papers  in  the  bag,  and  resumed  his 
former  seat.  When  the  coach  arrived  at  Mt.  Vernon,  about  five  a.  m.,  he  retired  to 
a  room  in  the  hotel.     The  night  was  dear  and  starlit,  but  moonless. 

In  its  issue  of  August  29,  1850,  the  Cleveland  Phdnifca/cr  contained  the  follow*- 
in^  statements: 

Yesterday  our  town  was  thrown  into  j^reat  commotion  by  the  announcement  that  Gen- 
eral 0.  Hinton,  a  gentleman  who  has  reprcflentod  himself  in  those  parts  as  the  Ohio  Stage 
Company,  but  who,  in  fact,  was  merely  a  pensioned  agent  of  sai<l  company,  \\i\a  arrested  on  a 
charge  of  robbing  the  mail  of  some  seventeen  thousand  dollars.  .  .  .  He  was  arrested  in  this 
city  yesterday  afternoon,  and  large  quantities  of  the  marked  money  contained  in  those  [<lecoy] 
packages  found  on  his  person.  He  wtw  examined  before  Commissioner  Stetson  and  bound 
over  in  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  <lollars.  He  applied  to  several  of  our  citizens  without  effect. 
.  .  .  The  following  handbill  in  glaring  cai)itals  met  our  gaze  this  morning: 

Five  Hundred  Dollars  Reward  will  he  paid  for  the  arrest  and  couiiueinent,  in  any  jail  of 

the  United  States,  of  General  O.  Hinton,  Agent  for  the  Ohio  Stage  Company.    Said  Hinton 

was  under  an  arrest,  charged  with  robbing  the  mail  of  the  United  StaU;a  on  the  fifteenth 

instant,  and  a  portion  of  said  money  was  found  on  the  person  of  said  Hinton  at  the  time  of 

his  arrest.    He  is  a  man  about  fiftyfive  or  sixty  years  of  age  ;  weight  one  hundred  and  eighty 

or  ninety  pounds;  has  dark  hair,  almost  black,  very  fleshy,  stout  built,  fiorid  complexion, 

and  looks  as  though  he  was  a  hard  drinker,  but  is  strictly  temperate. 

O.  1).  Haskell, 

Cleveland,  Ohio,  August  29,  IS5(),  Special  Agmt  Postttjjire  DeparlmnU. 

The  events  which  led  to  these  announcements  may  bo  briefly  slated.  On  the 
fifteenth  of  Augusta  moneypackage  was  taken  from  the  mailbags  between  Colum- 
bus and  Cleveland.  Hinton  was  on  the  coach  from  which  the  theft  was  committed, 
and  on  his  return  to  Cleveland  August  2S  was  arrested,  as  stated,  by  Officer 
McKinstry.  After  a  preliminary  hearing  before  the  United  States  Commissioner, 
instead  of  being  locked  up  in  jail,  as  a  less  pretentious  criminal  would  have  been, 
he  was  permitted  to  occuj)y  his  room  in  the  Weddcll  House  where  three  persons 
remained  with  him  as  a  guard.  During  the  night  these  addleheaded  watchmen 
dropped  to  sleep,  leaving  the  key  in  the  door.  Thus  invited,  Hinton  arose,  went 
out,  locked  the  door  from  the  outside  and  disappeared.  Some  time  later,  a  great 
outcry  was  raised  by  the  imprisoned  guards,  calling  for  help  and  release. 

Hinton  was  retaken  near  Wellsville,  on  the  Ohio  River,  September  3,  and  on 
the  fifth  was  brought  by  the    Deputy  Marshal  to  Columbus,  where,  as  the  news- 


35(1  History  op  the  City  of  CoLUMnis. 

papor  report  sUitos,  he  "put  up  at  the  Neil  llouso.*'  The  next  day  he  was  Uikoii 
buck  to  Cleveland.  At  Zanesvillo,  on  his  way  to  Columbus,  ho  was  permitted  to 
harangue  the  crowd  which  gathered  to  see  him,  assorted  his  innocence,  and  de- 
clared that  his  reason  for  attempting  to  escape  was  the  excessive  bail  exacted. 
After  a  hearing  at  ('leveland,  he  was  brought  back,  September  17,  to  Columbus, 
whore,  on  October  10,  1850,  he  was  arraigned,  entered  a  plea  of  not  guilty,  and  in 
default  of  fifleen  thousand  dollars  bail,  was  committed  to  jail  to  await  his  trial 
before  the  United  States  District  Court.  Before  his  commitment  ho  askod  and 
was  granted  permission  to  make  a  statement  in  his  own  behalf,  and,  says  the 
St(ife,smitHy  **  for  half  an  hour  he  spoke  with  the  voice  of  a  Stentor."  On  October 
19,  1850,  his  bond  was  fixed  at  ten  tiiousand  dollars  for  his  appearance  at  tho  next 
term  of  court,  January  17,  1851,  and  on  motion  of  the  defendant's  counsel,  a  con- 
tinuance of  his  case  was  granted.  On  April  16,  1851,  the  required  bond  was  filed 
with  P.  H.  Wilcox,  United  Suites  (.-ommissionor,  and  llinton  was  discharged.  His 
case  was  never  brought  to  a  final  issue.  Owing  to  his  prominence,  and  social  con- 
nections, public  sympathy  was  wrought  upon  in  his  favor,  and  he  quietly  disap. 
peared,  forfeiting  his  bond.  We  next  hear  of  him,  a  few  months  later,  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  where  he  spent,  undisturbed,  the  remainder  of  his  days. 

As  soon  as  the  railways  had  taken  up  the  through  mails,  a  crisis  in  the  fate 
of  the  old  stage  lines  was  reached,  as  witness  the  following  advertisement  of  the 
Ohio  Stage  Company,  dated  at  Columbus,  June  17,  1853: 

STAGE   COACHES    FOR   SALE. 

Fifty  superior  coaches,  sixee,  nines,  fourteens  and  sixteens,  for  sale  cheap  at  our  shop  at 
Columbus,  Ohio.  Stage  proprietors  would  find  it  to  their  interest  to  call  and  examine,  as 
we  intend  to  sell. 

Just  one  year  later,  in  June,  1854,  a  large  part  of  the  company's  stock  and 
e(iuipment  was  transferred  to  Iowa,  for  service  on  the  stage  routes  of  that  State. 
Charles  J.  Porter,  a  veteran  employe,  had  charge  of  the  caravan. 

Thus  do  the  agencies  of  material  and  social  progress  forever  change.  With 
the  coming  of  the  locomotive,  the  stagecoach  cease<l  to  bo  a  leading  or  very  con- 
spicuous factor  in  the  development  of  the  Capital  City. 

NOTES. 

1.  J.  H.  Kennedy,  in  the  Minjn:ine  of  Amerkan  Hhtory  for  IK»ceniber,  1880. 

2.  Leltor  of  November  ;J0,  1S5(),  to  Hon.  W.  T.  Martin. 
.*>.     ^Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County. 

4.  IJoanl  of  Tnv\v  Adlress,  July  21,  1889. 

">.  Coniniun leal  ion  to  X\\(\  Ohio  State  Jonrnnl  of  April  10,  18(»8 

T).  .Tanimry  22.  18(»1>. 

7.  Ohio  Stale  Journal, 

H.  ll)i(i. 

1).  Don't  You  UtMneniber;  l)y  Miss  Lida  R.  McCahe.     1881. 

10.  Ihi.l. 

11.  tolutnhua  Snuflay  AV?/«,  March  :]0,  181)0. 

12.  Ohio  Statrxman,  February  20,  isr>:^. 
l.T  Took  effect  July  1,  18H7. 

14.     Ohio  Slatp  Jimmal. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


MAIL  AND  TELEGRAPH. 

Down  tx>  the  opening  of  the  railway  lines  in  1853,  complaints  of'iiTOguluritios 
and  fuiiuruH  in  the  postal  service  were  incessant.  In  frequent  instances  inefficiency 
of  management  and  office  duty  were  pointedly  charged,  perhaps  indiscriminately 
in  some  cases  but  in  others,  and  too  frequently,  with  apparent  reason.  The 
appointment  and  removal  of  postoffice  officials  and  employes,  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest,  for  predominantly  partisan  reasons,  which,  with  moderate  qualifi- 
cation, has  been  the  practice,  ever  since  the  elder  Adams  retired  from  the 
Presidency  in  1829,  has  been  a  costly  and  constant  detriment  to  the  efficiency  of 
the  mail  administration,  and  has  been  responsible  for  threcfourths,  at  least,  of  all 
the  inefficiency  and  unfaithfulness  with  which  it  has  been  properly  charged.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  should  be  considered  that  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the 
prompt,  swifl  and  sure  transmission  of  the  mails,  ])rior  to  the  advent  of  the  railway 
era,  and  the  vastly  improved  facilities  which  have  followed  it,  were  very  great. 
Storm,  flood,  accident  and  the  bad  keepingof  roads  all  made  themselves  incessantly 
felt  as  interfering  contingencies.  In  such  cases,  when  the  true  causes  of  delays 
and  miscarriages  were  not,  and  could  not  be,  popularly  understood,  the  postoffico 
officials  were  often  heedlessly  blamed. 

Nor  did  the  complaints,  or  their  causes,  by  any  means  cease  until  railway 
transportation  had  been  made  far  more  efficient  and  reliable  than  it  was  at  the 
beginning.  After  the  public  had  become  accustomed  to  count  the  time  of  mail 
transmission  by  hours  instead  of  days,  it  was  just  as  impatient  of  a  brief  delay  as 
it  had  before  been  of  a  long  one.  Yet  the  history  of  the  mail  service  since  the 
steamear  began  to  be  its  adjunct,  has  been  one  of  stead}'  and  rapid  improvement. 
One  of  the  "most  marked  and  significant  features  of  this  progress  has  been  the 
cheapening  of  the  rates  of  postage.  In  1845  CongrcHs  took  an  important  step  in 
that  direction  which  proved  to  be  of  great  popular  benefit,  although  it  caused  a 
deficit  in  the  postal  revenues.  By  an  act  passed  in  that  year  rates  were  established 
as  follows:  For  a  letter  weighing  not  more  than  half  an  ounce,  five  cents  under 
and  ten  cents  over  three  hundred  miles,  and  an  additional  rate  for  every  additional 
half  ounce  or  smaller  fraction.  Newspapers  were  free  under  thirty  miles,  but  for 
distances  over  that,  paid  one  cent  within,  and  a  cent  and  a  half  for  distances  over 
one  hundred  miles  without  the  State  where  published.  The  transmission  of  mail 
matter  by  express  was  prohibited  unless  tlie  postage  was  first  paid. 

By  an  act  passed  March  3,  1851,  still  more  important  changes  were  made,  and 
the  letter  rate  was  fixed  as  follows:     For  a  letter  weighing  not  over  half  an  ounce, 

[:]57] 


358  History  of  the  (.'ity  of  Columbus. 

under  3,000  milc8,  throe  cents,  if])repaid,  and  if  not  prepaid,  five  cents;  over  3,000 
miles,  six  and  twelve  cents;  to  foreign  countries  with  which  postal  arrangements 
had  not  otherwise  been  made,  ten  cents  for  not  over  2,500  miles,  and  for  more  than 
that  <listance  twenty  crents.  Weekly  news]ia])ers  to  actual  subscribers  were  free  in 
the  county  where  published  ;  outside  of  the  county  quarterly  charges  wore  made 
according  to  the  distance. 

By  an  act  which  took  effect  July  1,  1855,  the  letter  rate  was  reduced  to  three 
cents  on  single  inland  lettei"s  for  all  distances  under  three  thousand  miles,  and  pre- 
payment of  all  inland  letter  postage  was  required.  The  lowest  quarterly  postage 
on  newspapers  and  periodicals  weighing  not  more  than  four  ounces  each,  and  sent 
to  actual  subscribers  was  five  cents  weekly.  The  latest  revisions  of  postage  wei*e 
made  by  the  laws  of  1S72,  1S74,  1H75,  and  1885,  w^hich  established,  in  substance, 
the  rates  which  now  prevail. 

With  cheaper  postage  came  greater  multiplicity  of  routes,  a  vast  increase  of 
business,  and  greater  speed  by  water  as  well  as  by  land.  The  steamer  Pacific, 
which  arrived  at  New  York  April  19,  1851,  had  made  the  trip  from  Liverpool  in 
less  than  ten  days,  which,  up  to  that  time,  w^as  the  most  rapid  trip  which  had  been 
achieved.  Postoffices  were  fitter!  up  on  the  railway  trains  by  which  distribution 
was  greatly  facilitated.  On  accommodation  trains  of  the  Bee  Line  this  was  done 
in  the  summer  of  1851.  Office  organization  and  the  facilities  of  local  distribution 
were  greatly  improved.  The  system  of  registration  of  valuable  letters  was  first 
introduced  by  act  of  March  3,  1855.  This  was  followed  by  the  money  order 
system,  first  esUiblished  in  the  United  States  November  1,  1864.  Postal  notes 
were  first  issued  in  September,  1883.  The  foreign  transmission  of  money  by  mail 
took  effect  between  this  country  and  Great  Britain  October  2,  1871.  Postal  cards 
at  a  cost  of  one  cent  each  were  authorized  by  act  of  Juno  8,  1872,  and  wore  first 
issued  in  May,  1873.  By  1874  the  number  of  railway  postoffice  linos  had  reached 
sixtyfour,  and  covered  an  aggregate  distance  of  16,400  miles.  On  July  1,  1884, 
the  railway  mail  service  had  in  its  employ  over  four  thousand  clerks,  and  covered 
an  aggregate  length  of  routes  exceeding  117,000  miles. 

A  uniform  system  of  free  delivery,  first  authorized  March  3,  1863,  was  estab- 
lished on  July  1  of  that  year  in  forty  nine  cities.  During  the  first  year  of  its 
existence  the  system  employed  085  carriers,  but  on  July  1,  1884,  its  service 
extended  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  nine  cities,  and  emj)loyed  3,890  carriers. 

In  1870  popular  expressions  on  the  subject  of  free  delivery  for  Columbus  wore 
invited  by  Postmaster  Comly,  but  the  responses  were,  at  first,  not  favorable.  The 
]>ostmaster  nevertheless  made  request  to  have  the  system  introduced  in  the  city,  but 
was  met  with  refusal  at  the  Department.  In  1873  his  eflfbrts  were  renewed,  and 
being  seconded  by  popular  favor,  were  successful.  Sixty  street  boxes  arrived  in 
June  of  that  year,  and,  by  permission  of  the  City  Council,  wore  attachod  to  lamp- 
posts, the  distribution  on  High  Street  being  one  to  every  square.  Off  of  High 
Street  none  were  placed  nearer  to  that  thoroughfare  than  two  squares,  except  on 
Town  Street.  On  the  postmaster's  nomination,  the  Department  appointed  ton 
carriers,  the  first  to  serve  in  Columbus,  viz.:  Orlan  (ilover,  Thomas  C.  Jones,  John 
M.  Merguson,  James  K.  Perrin,  Thomas  C.  Piatt,  Wesley  P.  Stephens,  Jamos  F. 
Grimsley,  Robert  N.  Vance,  John  II.  Condit,  and  Joseph  Philipson.  The  service 
began  July  1,  1873,  and  was  successful  beyond  anticipation.     In  August  the  basi- 


Mail  and  Teleobaph.  359 

ness  ineroascd  thirty  three  per  cent,  over  that  for  July,  and  twothirdsof  the  rented 
boxes  and  drawerH  at  the  postotiice  were  abandoned.  The  sale  of  postal  cards  in 
Columbus  began  almost  simultaneously  with  free  delivery,  the  first  sale  being 
made  July  18. 

At  the  beginning  of  President  Lincoln's  Administration  the  postoftice  was 
located  on  East  State  Street,  at  the  west  corner  of  Pearl,  whore  it  had  been  for 
many  years.  From  thence  Postmaster  John  Graham  removed  it  in  the  latter  part 
of  1861  to  rooms  prepared  for  it  in  the  roar  part  of  the  Odeon  Building,  opposite 
the  Capitol,  on  High  Street:  Thence  the  office  was  removed  by  Postmaster  Comly, 
November  7,  1874,  to  rooms  on  the  ground  floor  of  the  City  Hall,  in  the  northwest 
part  of  the  building.  These  rooms  were  fitted  up,  the  postmaster  stated,  by  private 
citizens,  at  a  cost  of  four  thousand  dollars.  The  City  Council  having,  by  ordinance, 
gninted  the  use  of  the  rooms  to  the  United  States  at  an  annual  rental  of  five 
hundred  dollars,  an  injunction  was  asked  for  to  prevent  a  lease  at  a  lower  rate 
than  fifteen  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  but,  after  hearing,  the  application  was 
dismissed  by  Judge  Bingham. 

On  July  1,  1877,  General  J.  M.  Comly  resigned  the  postmastei'ship  to  accept 
an  appointment  us  Minister  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  He  was  succeeded  by  Major 
A.  D.  Rodgers.  During  his  administration  — in  1878  —  material  improvement  was 
made  in  the  arrangement  and  convenience  of  the  rooms  at  the  City  Hall. 

Ill  the  spring  of  1879  a  mail  room  for  assortment,  registry  and  transfer,  was 
fitted  up  at  the  Union  Station. 

In  1857-8  the  propriety  of  erecting  a  public  building  for  accommodation  of  the 
postoflSce  and  other  business  of  the  National  Government  in  Columbus,  was  first 
agitate<l.  In  January,  1858,  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox,  then  representing  the  capital  district 
in  Congress,  presented  in  that  body  a  petition  with  the  names  of  eight  hundred 
citizens  attached,  asking  for  the  erection  of  such  a  building.  A  bill  making  an 
appropriation  for  that  purpose  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Cox,  and  passed  the  House 
but  failed  in  the  Senate.  Another  bill  appropriating  for  the  same  purpose  the  sum 
of  $50,000  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Cox  in  June,  1858,  but  the  depleted  condition  of 
the  Treasury  at  that  time  prevented  its  favorable  consideration.  In  the  course  of 
his  argument  in  favor  of  the  measure  Mr.  Cox  made  the  following  historical  state- 
ment : 

In  1850,  the  State  [of  Ohio]  was  divided  into  two  districts,  and  the  [United  States]  courts 
remove<l  from  Columbus  to  Cincinnati  and  Cleveland.  .  .  .  From  the  year  1820  until  1S56, 
the  courts  were  held  in  Columbus.  The  United  States  used  without  intermission  a  building 
which  was  provided  for  that  purpose,  but  not  by  the  United  States.  It  was  built  at  the  joint 
expense  of  the  people  of  Columbus  and  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  The  State  contributed  a  certain 
amount  of  depreciated  bank  (Miami  Exporting  Company)  paper,  then  in  the  Treasury.  But 
the  burden  was  borne  chiefiy  by  the  public-spirited  citizens  of  Columbus.  The  United  States 
Dever  paid  any  rent.  This  rent,  at  a  fair  estimate  of  tbirtyslx  years,  at  six  hundred  dollars 
per  annum,  would  be  $21,600. 

Mr.  Cox  renewed  his  efforts  in  1860,  but  was  again  unsuccessful,  and  twenty 
years  passed  before  the  matter  was  again  taken  up.  During  that  interval  condi- 
tions supervened  which,  fortunately  for  further  attempts  to  obtain  the  building, 
produced  a  necessity  for  it  far  greater  than  that  which  existed  in  18G0.  These 
conditions  are  found  in  the  very  great  growth  of  the  city  and  consequent  increase 


360  History  of  the  City  of  Colitmbits. 

of  tho  postoffiee  businoss;  tho  addition  ofthoponHion  and  internal  revenue  ad  minis- 
tration to  tho  localized  interests  of  the  National  Government,  and  tlie  passage  of 
an  act  restoring  to  the  capital  of  Ohio  tho  sittings  of  tho  District  and  Circuit 
courts  of  the  United  States.  The  act  by  which  this  latter  result  was  accomplished 
was  first  introduced  by  the  Hon.  George  L.  Converse,  then  representing  the 
Ninth  (Columbus)  District  of  Ohio,  and  was  approved  and  took  effect  February  4, 
1880.  Partly  as  a  consequence  of  this  measure,  another,  also  introduced  by  Mr. 
Converse,  was  passed  and  approved  April  11,  18^2,  directing  tho  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to. purchase  a  suitable  site  and  erect  thereon  "a  substantial  and  com- 
modious building,  with  fire  proof  vaults  for  the  use  of  the  United  States  District 
and  Circuit  courts,  internal  revenue  and  pension  offices,  postoffiee,  and  other  gov- 
ernment uses,"  the  cost  not  to  exceed  S250.000.  This  act  appropriated  SI  00.000, 
and  additional  appropriations  for  the  buildine  were  subsequently  made  as  follows : 
March  3,  1885,  for  extension  and  completion,  S110,000;  August  4,  1886,  for 
approaches,  $6,000;  March  30,  1888,  for  elevator.  S8,000. 

After  much  discussion  of  various  proposals  the  building  was  located,  and  its 
site  purchased,  at  the  southeast  corner  of  State  and  Third  streets.  The  cost  of  the 
ground  there  purchased  by  the  United  States  was,  in  round  numbers,  846,000.  On 
October  21,  1884,  the  cornerstone  of  the  building  was  laid  with  masonic  ceremonies 
conducted  by  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ohio,  then  in  session  at  Columbus.  In  a  cavity 
of  the  stone  were  placed  copies  of  the  contemporary  newspapers  of  the  city,  various 
masonic  and  political  documents,  specimens  of  current  coins,  and  a  historical  sketch 
read  on  the  occasion.  While  the  building  was  in  course  of  erection,  the  postoffiee 
occupied  temporary  apartments  on  the  present  site  of  the  Young  Men*s  Christian 
Association  building  on  Third  Street,  to  which  it  was  removed,  on  expiration  of 
the  Government  lease,  from  the  City  Hall.  From  these  apartments  the  ^postoffiee 
was  transferred  to  its  permanent  home  in  the  new  building  October  1,  1887. 

While  the  officers  and  employes  of  the  Columbus  Postoffiee  have  been  efficient 
and  faithful,  as  a  rule,  there  have  been  some  very  serious  exceptions.  The  writer 
has  a  circumstantial  record  of  these  before  him,  but  forbears  to  reproduce  more 
than  its  essential  features.  The  memory  of  such  crimes  is  at  best  of  very  trifling 
value,  historical  or  moral,  and  omission  of  the  names  of  those  who  have  com- 
mitted them,  while  it  may  spare  pain  to  the  innocent,  cannot  impair  tho  usefulness 
of  these  pages     Let  the  most  general  mention,  then,  suffice. 

On  November  30, 1874,  a  deficit  of  about  S12,000  in  the  money  order  depart- 
ment of  the  postoffiee  was  detected.  The  loss,  it  is  understood,  was  borne  by  the 
postmaster,  who  was  entirely  blameless  in  the  matter. 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1875,  money  losses  from  the  mails  of 
Central  Ohio  were  continuous,  and  were  finally  traced  to  the  Columbus  office. 
Captain  C.  E.  Henry,  a  special  agent  of  the  Postoffiee  Department,  was  detailed  to 
work  up  the  case,  and  soon  learned  that  the  depredations  were  being  made  by  a 
thief  of  extraordinary  stealth  and  cunning.  Over  a  hundred  decovs  were  sent 
through  the  Columbus  office  from  different  directions,  but  evervone  of  them  passed 
without  being  touched.  Weeks  were  spent  in  watching,  contriving,  and  appljnng 
various  devices  for  detection,  but  in  vain.  Meanwhile  the  writer,  who  was  one  of 
many  who  wore  subjected  to  almost  daily  losses,  received  numerous  letters  of  un- 


/^^yr^ 


Mail  and  TELEimAPH.  361 

accountable  corapluint  that  romittances  Hont  to  liim  had  not  been  acknowledged. 
The  ])0Htma8ter  and  his  assistants  were  also  harried  with  perpetual  and  increasing 
complaints.  Meanwhile  there  was  not  an  officer  or  employe  in  the  office  who  was 
not,  unconsciously  to  himself,  placed  under  the  strictest  surveillance.  "  For 
months,"  says  a  contemporary  account,^  "  there  was  not  a  letter  distributed  in  the 
office  day  or  night,  which  did  not  come  within  the  observation  of  men  constantly 
on  the  watch.  During  the  night,  at  different  times,  walls  were  pierced,  floors  re- 
moved and  points  of  observation  were  constructed  in  the  very  walls  of  the  build- 
ing, from  which  men  saw  the  unconscious  workers  handling  all  the  mail  (practi- 
cally) that  passed  through  the  office  for  weeks." 

"  The  criminal  in  this  case,"  continues  the  account  just  (juoted,"  '*  w^as  at  work 
night  aflcr  night  under  the  vigilant  eye  of  a  man  of  whose  very  existence  he  was 
unconscious;  a  man  whom  he  had  never  met  in  his  life.  This  man  knew  accu- 
rately  eveiy  motion  of  his  hand  ;  knew  how  much  money  he  spent  in  market,  and 
the  denomination  of  it ;  how  many  eggs  he  bought,  how  many  pounds  of  meat, 
and  what  he  paid  for  the  j)urchase.  ...  In  the  postoffice,  where  he  supposed  he 
was  out  of  sight  and  perfectly  secure,  this  poor  w-retch  had  been  working  in  full 
sight  of  walls  that  had  eyes,  if  not  ears.  One  man  saw  everything  for  eighteen 
nights,  another  for  thirtyeight  nights.  .  .  .  Finally,  one  night,  the  watcher  saw 
tiie  distributing  clerk,  then  entirely  alone  in  the  front  room  of  the  postoffice,  with 
a  quick  motion  'thumb'  certain  letters,  some  of  which,  to  the  number  of  five  that 
night  he  expertly  opened,  and  after  exaniining  the  contents  as  expertly  sealed 
again  and  put  back  into  the  mail.  Nothing  was  taken  out  —  nothing  remained  on 
his  person  as  evidence  —  no  prool  of  guilty  intent  excej>t  the  opening  and  sealing 
the  letters.  The  same  thing  occurred  another  night;  two  letters  were  opened; 
another  night  two  more  ;  other  nights  many,  other  nights  none. 

"  Finally  yesterday  morning  [July  30,  ISTdJJust  before  the  alarm  of  fire  sound- 
ed, ho  was  observed  to  open  five  letters,  laying  them  down  on  his  table.  Captain 
Henry  and  another  whose  name  is  not  to  be  mentioned  (Captain  Henry's  most 
tru.stcd  and  valued  assistant)  immediately  made  a  rush  from  their  j)lacc  of  observa- 
tion, down  the  stairwa}*,  out  —  into  the  street  —  bareheaded,  barefooted,  at  a  break- 
neck pace,  and  found  in  that  short  space  of  time  the  worker  had  deftly  resealed  the 
letters  and  yone  back  to  his  work  ;  nothing  yet  on  his  person,  alter  six  weeks  un- 
varied watching.  The  alarm  of  fire  j>roved  a  friendly  diversion,  and  Captain  Henry 
and  his  assistant  succeeded  in  rejoining  Colonel  Hurr  at  his  post  without  ob- 
servation. 

"  Just  as  they  were  ready  to  desj)air  of  getting  the  desired  incontestable  proof, 
they  saw  the  w^orker  open  one  more  letter,  and  this  time  he  finds  money  The 
money  is  swiflly  jammed  into  one  pocket,  the  letter  into  the  other  of  his  pantaloons, 
and  now  Captain  Henry  feels  that  the  moment  has  come.  While  the  clerk  opened 
and  seemed  to  be  reading  another  letter  they  cautiously  wend  their  way  to  the 
open  door  at  the  rear  end  of  ihe  ])Ostoffiee,  and  enter.  The  clerk  is  engaged  at  his 
work,  and  he  looks  up  with  a  frank  and  |)leasunt  smile  as  he  recognizes  Captain 
Henry,  whom  he  evidently  supposes  to  have  come  casually  in  the  course  of  his 
usual  tour  of  inspection. 

"  *  How  do  you  do,  Captain  Henry,'  said  he. 


362  History  of  the  Tity  of  Columbus. 

^' ('ftptain  Henry  pliU'CH  hin  hand  on  the  nhouldor  of  the  nmiling  man,  or- 
ders him  to  throw  uj)  his  hands und  says  [fiilliiig  him  by  name] : 

'*  'How  could  you  take  that  money  out  of  the  letters?' 

"And  the  ohl  trusted  clerk,  the  man  of  unsus])ected  life,  trusted  in  his  church 
and  in  the  lodge  with  the  very  treasurx"  itself,  thunderstruck  in  his  guilt,  exclaims: 

"  *  J  was  embarrassed,  couhl  not  pay  my  debts,  and  had  to  do  it.* " 

"  Then,  in  very  relief,  as  it  seemed,  he  went  on  and  i>oured  out  a  full  contes- 
sion." 

"  Captain  Henry,"  concludes  this  account,  "says  this  is  the  most  difficult  case 
he  had  ever  had  anything  to  do  with,  or  of  which  he  has  any  knowlc<lge  in  the 
annals  of  the  criminal  side  of  the  posUil  service." 

On  July  20,  1877,  one  of  the  carriers  on  a  route  east  of  Washington  Avenue 
was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  opening  letters,  and  abstracting  their  money  contents. 
He  was  caught  by  a  decoy  package,  and  confessed. 

In  December,  1885,  frequent  complaint  was  made  of  the  loss  of  valuable  letters 
which  should  have  been  received  thi'ough  the  Columbus  postoffico,  and  arrange- 
ments were  in  progress  for  the  detection  of  the  depre<lator,  but  before  guilt  could 
be  established,  the  suspected  person  quitted  the  city. 

In  April,  1887,  one  of  the  most  trusted  carriers  of  the  office  fell  under  suHpi- 
cion,  and  conclusive  proofs  of  his  abstraction  of  the  valuable  contents  of  registered 
letters  was  developed. 

On  Februar}'  26,  1888,  a  carrier  was  arrested  on  a  similar  charge. 

A  comparative  statement  of  the  business  of  the  Columbus  Postoffico  for  a  series 
of  years  past,  and  of  its  present  and  past  organization  and  equipment,  would  fitly 
conclude  this  branch  of  the  subject,  but  the  writer's  rec^uest  for  this  information 
not  having  been  respected,  it  cannot  be  given. 

The  postmasters  of  Columbus  and  the  dates  of  their  service,  from  the  origin 
of  the  city  to  1890,  have  been  as  follows: 

Matthew  Matthews,  1813-14;  Joel  Buttles,  1814-29;  Bela  Latham,  1829-41; 
John  G.  Miller,'  1841-45;  Jacob  Medary,^  1845-47;  Samuel  Medary,  1847-49;  Aaron 
F.  Perry,  1849-53;  Thomas  Sparrow,  1853-57 ;  Thomas  Miller,  1857-58;  Samuel 
Medary,  1858  61;  John  Graham,  1861-65;  Julius  J.  Woods,  1865-70;  James  M. 
Comly,  1870-77;  Andrew  D.  Rodgers,  1877-81;  L.  D.  Myers,  1881-86;  Do  Witt  C. 
Jones,  1886-90;  Andrew  Gardner,  1890. 

The  telegraph  being  a  twin  agent  with  the  mail,  its  introduction  and  develop- 
ment in  Columbus  may  here  be  briefly  sketched. 

Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  its  inventor,  first  conceived  the  idea  of  transmitting  intel- 
ligence by  means  of  the  electric  current  while  voyaging  across  the  Atlantic,  from 
Havre  to  New  York,  in  the  packetship  Sully,  in  the  autumn  of  1832.  Tho  original 
apparatus  was  advanced  to  a  working  condition  in  1836,  and  was  for  the  firet  time 
exhibited  in  practical  operation  at  the  University  of  New  York  in  1837.  Morse's 
patient  but  almost  hopeless  struggles  for  the  recognition  and  support  of  Congress 
finally  triumphed  during  the  night  of  March  3,  1843,  when  an  act  was  passed,  and 
became  a  law,  appropriating  thirty  thousand  dollars  for  the  erection  of  a  trial  line 
between  Washington  and  Baltimore.  At  a  late  hour  of  the  evening,  before  this 
measure  came  to  a  final  vote,  Professor  Morse  retired  to  his  room  in  despair ;  the 


Matl  and  Telegraph.  363 

next  morning  Miss  Annio  Ellsworth,  daughter  of  the  CommiHsioner  of  Patents, 
announced  to  him  the  good  news  of  its  passage.  "As  a  reward  lor  being  the  first 
bearer  of  this  news,'*  said  the  overjoyed  inventor  to  Miss  Ellsworth,  "  you  shall 
send  over  the  telegraph  the  first  message  it  conveys."  On  May  "17,  1S44,  from 
Mount  Clare  Depot,  at  Baltimore,  Professor  Morse  spoke  by  tlie  wire  to  his  young 
friend  at  Washington,  saying  he  awaited  her  dispatch  in  conformity  with  his 
pledge.     Her  immediate  and  singularly  ai)propriate  resjmnse  was : 

WHAT    HATH    (;Ol)    WROUGHT  i 

Such  was  the  first  telegraphic  message  transmitted  in  America.  Since  that 
momentous  hour  what  marvelous  things  this  wondrous  invention  has  accom- 
plished ! 

Its  usefulness  being  incontcstably  ])roven,  the  extension  of  the  telegraph  was  so 
rapid  that  in  1860  over  fifty  thousand  miles  of  wire  were  in  operation.''  By  the  middle 
of  September,  1846,  Morse's  Magnetic  Telegi'aph  Line,  as  it  was  called,  had  been 
extended  westward  from  New  York  City  ria  Troy,  Albany,  Ulica,  Syracuse, 
Auburn  and  Rochester  to  Buffalo,  and  from  Philadelphia  to  Harrisburg.  A  further 
extension  from  Harrisburg  to  l*ittsburgh.  Wheeling  and  Cincinnati  had  also  been 
arranged  for,  and  the  company's  agent,  Henry  O'Reilly,  had  already  ])roposcd,  on 
conditions,  to  carry  the  line  through  Columbus.  The  Ohio  River  was  reached  by 
the  Harrisburg  line  a  month  or  two  later,  and  by  the  end  of  July  the  polesetters, 
following  the  National  Road  westward  from  Wheeling,  had  passed  Columbus  and 
were  pushing  for  Cincinnati,  which  place  they  reached  about  the  tenth  of  August. 
In  the  meantime  a  stock  subscription  of  i^va  thousand  dollai's  allotted  to  the 
capital  had  mostly  been  taken.  After  the  polesetters  had  done  their  work  the 
wires  wore  quickly  strung,  and  between  seven  an<l  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  of 
Wednesday,  August  11,  1847,  the  first  telegraphic  message  ever  received  in  Colum- 
bus came  over  the  lino  from  Pittsburgh.  It  was  thus  written  out  by  Mr.  Zook,  the 
superintending  operator: 

PlTTSIiUKG,   Auj^USt  11. 

Henry  O'Reilly  presents  his  respects,  by  lij^htning.  to  Judge  Thrall,  Colonel  Medary,  and 
Mr.  Batebam  on  the  extension  of  the  Telegraph  within  reach  of  the  Columbus  Press. 

The  instruments  worked  well  for  fifty  or  sixty  hours,  then  stood  motionless. 
A  day,  a  night,  and  another  day  ])assed,  and  still  they  refused  to  speak.  The  case 
was  particularly  provoking,  because  just  then  important  news  was  expected  from 
Mexico.  An  electric  storm  *'  between  Wheeling  and  Pittsbui-gh  "  was  said  to  be 
the  cause  of  the  trouble.  At  last  the  current  resume<l  its  work,  but  not  lon^^ 
Another  break  occurred,  of  which  we  read  in  the  Stdtci/nan  of  August  18  this  ex- 
planation : 

In  consequence  of  some  arrangements  for  working  tiie  whole  line  to  Cinciiniiti  the  tele- 
graph at  Columbus  will  be  suspended  for  two  or  three  days,  after  which  its  operutiona  will 

be  constant. 

Hp:\uy  O'Keillv. 

On  which  the  editor  comments  with  restrained  and  jiardonable  emotion: 
We  hardly  know  what  to  say  to  the  above.     We  can  s(;arcely  excu.se  it  on  any  terms. 
For  two  days  the  machinery  would  not  work  here  in  conseipience  of  the  electricity  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  today,  when  the  weather  is  fine,  the  apparatus  is  removed   to  Cincinnati 
without  a  moment's  notice.    But  we  forbear  to  say  what  we  feel  just  now. 


3ti4  IIlKT<»RY    OK   THE   (/ITY    <»K    CoLIJMHUS. 

By  tlic  intonmty  of  his  diHappointmetit  here  ivcordod  wo  may  measure  the 
editor's  joy  in  mailing  the  following  announcement  in  the  evening  Sfiifesmnn  of 
August  25  : 

We  have  the  telegraph  once  more  in  oi)eration  in  this  city.  Mr.  Smith  arrived  this 
uiorning  with  the  instrument  to  work  it,  and  has  heen  transmitting  messages  for  some  hours. 

For  some  time  *•  The  Latest  Streak  "  was  the  Stfiffsmfins  fuvorile  caption  for 
telegraphic  news.  In  the  issue  of  the  paper  for  October  5,  1847,  it  serves  to  intro- 
duce the  following  incident: 

During  a  thunderstorm  this  morning,  the  lightning  took  a  notion  to  work  the  Telegraph 
on  its  own  hook,  but  made  sad  work  of  it.  Running  along  the  wires,  it  entered  the  Tele- 
graph office  in  this  city,  and  melted  the  wrapping  of  the  magnet  so  that  the  communication 
was  cut  off  for  several  hours. 

On  the  next  day  the  instruments  were  silent  again,  *' the  line  being  out  of 
order  between  Wellsville  and  Pittsburgh."* 

During  the  month  of  November,  1847,  a  teicLcraphic  line  wjis  strung  between 
the  new  Ciipilal  and  the  old  one -Columbus  and  Chillicothe. 

On  March  10,  1848,  we  read  that  the  eastward  line  was  "out  of  order  beyond 
Zanesville,"  which,  observed  a  mortified  editor,  *•  is  ])eculiarly  aggravating  at  a 
time  like  the  present,  when  the  public  mind  is  njxin  the  fpn'  rire  in  reference  to  the 
deliberations  of  the  Senate  upon  the  treaty'  [with  Mexico].' 

This  interruption,  caused  by  some  derangement  between  Wheeling  and  Pitts- 
burgh, continued  for  some  day«.  Me:inwhilc  a  few  belated  news  dispatches  were 
received  via  Wheeling  and  Cincinnati. 

Jn  May,  1848,  a  second  wire  was  stretched  between  J^ittsburgh  and  Cincinnati, 
the  first  one  having  earned  a  dividend  of  six  per  cent,  during  its  first  six  months, 
and  proved  insufficient  to  accommodate  the  busine>s.  The  new  line  paid  a  dividend 
of  three  per  cent,  for  its  first  quarter,  ended  September  'M). 

The  first  notable  bogus  dispatch  which  startled  the  general  public  was  one 
sent  over  the  wires  July  20,  1849,  announcing  that  President  Taylor  had  died  of 
cholera  at  Washington.  The  actual  death  of  the  President  occurred  almost  pre- 
cisely one  year  afterwards. 

-During  the  summer  and  autunm  of  1849  the  Cleveland,  Columbus,  and  Cincin- 
nati telegraph  line  was  strung,  nd  Wooster,  Mount  Vernon,  Washington  and 
Wilmington.  Mr.  Wade,  then  of  Milan,  Ohio,  was  superintendent  of  its  construc- 
tion. Its  wire,  approaching  from  the  north,  touched  Columbus  October  30.  To 
Colonel  J.  J.  Speed,  then  having  general  charge  of  telegraph  extension  in  Ohio, 
was  attributed  the  remark  that  within  sixty  days  from  that  time  every  county 
town  in  Ohio  of  two  thousand  inhabitants  — Dayton  alone  excepted — would  be 
reached  by  one  or  more  of  the  Morse  lines. 

On  May  3,  1851,  the  public  was  informed  that  telegraphic  wires  would  imme- 
diately be  strung  along  the  railway  from  Cleveland  n'n  Columbus  to  Cincinnati, 
and  thence  to  St.  Louis.  This  line,  it  was  stated,  would  use  "House's  Printing 
apparatus,  that  furnishes  the  news  in  good  English  instead  of  a  row  of  dots  and 
straight  lines." 

The  House  instrument  was  introduced  in  the  Columbus  office  about  September 
1,  1851.     The  office  of  the  O'ilellly  lines  was  then  at  the  corner  of  High  and  State 


Mail  and  Teleorapit.  365 

streets.  By  November  1,  1851,  three  wires  connected  Columbus  with  Cincinnati. 
Attempts  to  join  the  opposite  shores  of  the  Athmtic  with  a  telegraphic  cable 
began  in  1857,  and  reached  their  first  successful  result  in  August,  1868.  The  in- 
spiring thrill  of  delight  with  whicli  the  P]ngli8h -speaking  races  of  two  hemispheres 
received  the  news  of  this  sublime  triumph  of  the  human  mind  can  scarcely  be  for- 
gotten by  those  who  experienced  it.  What  happened  in  Columbus  on  that  memora- 
ble occasion  is  thus  recorded  under  date  of  August  17,  1858:* 

The  unoouncement  last  evening  that  a  dispatch  was  expecteil  from  the  Queen  to  the 
President  via  the  Atlantic  Telegniph  Cable  excited  general  interest  among  our  citizens. 
About  eight  o'clock  it  was  anriouiicel  that  tlie  dispatch  hail  been  received.  The  telegraph 
ofRce,  the  banking  house  of  Miller,  Donaldson  &  Co.,  Swayne  A  Baber's  office  and  the 
Oazette  office  were  brilliantly  illuminated.  The  l>an<l  in  the  Statehouse  yard  discoursed 
music  for  the  entertainment  of  the  tTow<l,  and  rockets,  Roman  candles,  etc.,  were  let  off  from 
various  points.  The  Vedettes  repaired  to  their  armory,  and  soon  the  sounds  of  the  spirit- 
stirring  drum  and  the  earpiercing  life  were  heard  issuing  therefrom.  Shortly  after  ten 
o'clock  they  turned  out  for  parade,  and  marched  tlirough  the  streets  firing  volleys  of  mus- 
ketry. During  the  whole  evening  the  streets  [illuminated  with  bonfires]  were  filled  with 
people. 

The  messages  exchanged  between  President  Buchanan  and  Queen  Victoria  are 
next  quoted.  That  of  the  (iueen  contained  ninetynine  words,  and  occupied  in  its 
transmission  sixtyseven  minutes.  The  cable  conlinued  to  work  until  September  1, 
then  ceased.  The  cause  of  its  failure  is  one  of  Old  Ocean's  secrets.  The  first 
permanently  successful  cable  across  the  Atlantic  was  laid  in  1866. 

In  April,  1863,  Mr.  (leorge  Kennan  closed  his  engagement  as  a  night  operator 
in  the  Columbus  office,  and  went  to  Cleveland.  Mr.  Kennan  has  since  distinguish- 
ed himself  on  the  lecture  platform,  and  in  literature. 

"Opposition"  lines  of  telegraph  erected  by  the  United  vStates  Company  es- 
tablished working  connections  with  Columbus  during  the  year  1864.  They  were 
under  the  local  supervision  of  Thomas  (iolden.  Altogether  about  twenty  wires 
ran  into  the  city  at  that  time.  On  March  16,  186(),  the  lines  of  the  United  iStates 
Telegraphic  Company  were  locally  merge<l  with  those  of  the  Western  Union.  In 
April,  1868,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Telegraph  Company  opened  an  office  in  Colum- 
bus for  general  business. 

At  two  o'clock  p.  M.,  on  May  10,  LSGO,  a  company  of  citizens,  assembled  at  the 
oflSceofthe  Western    Union,  listened  to  the  telegraphic  signals  of  the  strokes  by 
which  the  last  spike  was  driven  in  the  construction  of  the  Union  Pacific  Ilailway. 
Simultaneous  announcement  of  this  event  was  made  in  like  manner  at  the  offices  of 
the  Union  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

The  business  of  the  Western  Union  office  during  the  month  of  March,  1874, 
may  thus  be  summarized:  Messages  received  and  sent,  6,500;  messages  forward- 
ed or  repeated,  16,230,  special  news  dis])atclics  sent,  65,000  words;  Associated 
Press  dispatches  received,  200,000  words.  The  apparatus  with  which  the  office  was 
at  that  time  equipped  includc<l  a  81,200  switchboard,  two  sets  of  duplex  instruments, 
two  sets  of  automatic  repeaters,  three  testing  instruments,  a  Siemens  galvanometer, 
and  a  Colland  battery.  The  location  of  the  office  was  on  North  High  Street,  near 
the  Neil  House — W.  A.  Neil's  building  —  where  it  had  remained  for  seventeen  or 
eighteen  years.  On  April  1,  1877,  it  was  transferred  to  the  southeast  corner  of 
High  and  State  streets. 


36()  HiRTORV    OF   THE    CiTV    OF    COLUMBUS. 

For  comparifton,  as  indicating  tho  growth  of  the  telegraph  bunineAS  in  Cohim- 
bii8  an<l  of  the  cit}'  itHolf,  tho  following  Htateracnt  of  tho  businens  of  the  WoBtern 
Union  office  during  the  year  1891,  for  which  the  writor  is  indebte<l  to  S.  M. 
Dunlap,  the  present  manager,  is  here  inserte<l:  Messages  sent,  178J01  ;  messages 
received,  193,431  ;  mcHsagOH  relayed,  437,97(»;  total  number  of  messages  for  the 
year,  810,108  ;  press  specials  sent,  2,750,250  wor<ls ;  press  specials  received,  1,700,- 
520  words;  total  press  specials  sent  and  received,  4,450,770  words.  This  state- 
ment does  not  include  the  dispatches  of  the  Associated  and  United  press  associa- 
tions which  pass  over  the  Western  Union  wires,  amounting  to  thirt}'  thousand 
words  daily. 

On  December  12,  1870,  the  District  Telegraph  Company  was  organized  ;  cap- 
ital stock,  $50,000.  Its  purpose  was  that  of  supplying  a  convenient  means  for  <le- 
livery  and  collection  of  telegraphic  messages,  and  for  commanding  the  execution  of 
all  manner  of  family  and  business  errands  within  the  city  precincts.  The  system 
had  already  been  in  successful  operation  in  various  other  cities.  In  January,  1880, 
the  company  had  in  its  employ  fifteen  uniformed  messengers;  the  present  number, 
80  says  Mr.  George  Cole,  the  manager,  is  fortyeight.  From  the  fact  that  but  two 
messengers  were  needed  during  the  Civil  War  period,  the  growth  of  the  compan3'''s 
business  may  be  inferred. 

In  January,  1880,  the  American  Union  Telegraph  Company  opened  an  office 
in  Columbus,  only  to  be  absorbed  one  year  later  by  the  Western  Union.  In  De- 
comber,  1881,  the  Mutual  Union  Company  obtained  thepermission  of  the  City  Coun- 
cil to  erect  its  poles  through  the  city.  This  corporation  also  soon  fell  under  the 
control  of  the  Western  Union,  and  a  later*  rival,  the  Postal  Telegraph  Union,  was 
not  long  in  reaching  a  similar  fate. 

The  first  practical  test  of  the  telephone  in  Columbus  was  made  by  the  Elec- 
tric Supply  Company  during  the  State  Fair,  in  the  autumn  of  1878.  At  that  time 
a  line  of  telephone  communication  was  erected  on  Long  Street,  connecting  the 
Supply  Company's  office  with  the  Fair  Grounds,  and  so  successful  was  the 
experiment  that  five  working  lines  were  soon  aft;erward  put  into  operation.  The 
Telephone  Exchange,  Mr.  George  H.  Twiss  manager,  was  organized  January  1, 
1879,  and  one  year  later  there  were  ninety  lines  and  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
telephones  in  daily  use  in  the  city.  In  April,  1880,  the  Columbus  Telephone 
Company  was  incorporated  by  C.  W.  Eoss,  George  H.  Twiss,  A.  W.  Francisco, 
William  D.  Brickell  and  George  F.  Williams;  capital  stock,  $50,000,  In  1881  this 
company  extended  its  lines  to  Wostorville,  Worth ington  and  other  neighboring 
villages.  Within  a  period  of  less  than  two  years  from  the  organization  of  the 
Telephone  Exchange,  over  five  hundred  telephones  were  in  use  in  the  city.  In 
April,  1883,  connections  were  made  with  Circleville  and  Chillicothe,  and  by  that 
time,  or  soon  afterwards,  Groveport,  Canal  Winchester,  Carroll,  Lithopolis,  Lan- 
caster, Shadeville,  Kingston,  Clarksburg,  Williamsport,  Dublin,  Delaware,  Galena, 
Sunbury,  Reynoldsburg,  Pataskala,  Granville,  Newark,  Hilliard,  Plain  City,  West 
Canaan,  Marysville,  Magnetic  Springs,  Eichwood,  London,  Lilly  Chapel,  Big 
Plain,  West  JeflForson,  Mount  Sterling,  Summerford,  Midway,  Lafayette,  South 
Charleston,  Springfield,  Urbana,  Mechanicsburgh,  Greenville,  Dayton,  Troy, 
Piqua,  St.  Paris,  and  other  places  within  like  radius  had  been  brought  into  speak- 


Mail  and  Telegraph.  3(>7 

ing  eon neetions  with  the  capital.     In  favorable  atmospheric  conditions  even  C*in- 
cinnati  could  bo  hailed  and  talked  to. 

Durini^  the  last  seven  years  the  extension  and  improvement  of  the  telephone 
service  in  the  city  have  been  quite  in  Ueepini^  with  its  earlier  development.  What 
its  future  may  be,  and  what  still  more  marvelous  thin<^s  may  yet  be  accom|)lished 
with  the  mystorious  agent  which  servos  it,  no  prediction,  s<*arcely  a  hypothesis, 
may  be  safol}"  ventured. 

NOTES. 

1.  Ohio  /Slate  Journal. 

2.  Ibid. 

3.  Mr.  Miller  was  a  brotherinlaw  to  President  John  Tyler. 

4.  Die<l  in  1R47. 

5.  In  18fi<»  the  telej^raph  service  of  the  United  Stiites,  exclusive  of  government,  railway 
and  private  lines,  had  in  use  170,000  miles  of  wire,  and  (Mnploy«Ml  nearly  twentythree 
thousand  persons. 

(>.  Ohio  StiUrsnmn,  October  Ck  1S47. 

7.  Ohio  Slnte  JournnJ. 

S.  Thid. 

a  I  Lid. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  BUSINESS. 

The  first  trade  of  the  Franklinton  colony  consisted  chiefly  of  barter  with  the 
Indians,  and  the  distribution  of  supplies  to  the  settlements.  Goods  were  brought 
from  the  Ohio  River  on  the  backs  of  paekanimals,  or  were  carried  up  the  Scioto  in 
skiffs.  Many  of  the  settlers  went  personally  to  Chillieothe  for  their  flour  and  salt. 
Few  of  them  indulged  in  the  luxury  of  "  storegoods;  "  their  clothing  was  mostly 
homemade.  Implements  of  husbandry  were  bought,  by  those  able  to  buy  them,  of 
the  traders  in  Franklinton.  Tea,  and  other  luxuries  of  light  weight,  were  obtained 
through  the  mail  or  by  special  arragement  with  the  postcarriers,  after  these  re- 
sources became  available.  As  rapidly  as  new  trails  and  roads  were  opened,  new 
supplies  were  brought  in,  mercantile  stocks  were  enlarged,  and  trade  increased 
proportionately.  The  risks  of  transportation  were  considerable,  but  prices  were 
high  and  profits  large.  The  exchange  of  trinkets  and  cheap,  showy  stufi's  for  the 
peltries  and  wild  fruits  brought  in  by  the  Indians  formed  an  important  and  lucra- 
tive traffic. 

The  War  of  1812  imparted  a  great  stimulus  to  trade  in  Franklinton,  as  has 
already  been  narrated.  Money  was  plenty  while  the  war  lasted,  and  labor  in  great 
demand.  The  limited  local  supplies  of  produce  found  ready  sale  at  good  prices,  to 
the  purveyors  of  the  Northwestern  Army.  The  founding  of  the  capital,  coming  at 
the  same  time,  added  no  little  to  the  general  thrift  of  all  the  settlements  at  and 
near  the  Forks  of  the  Scioto.  The  erection  of  the  public  buildings  created  an 
additional  demand  for  labor,  skilled  and  unskilled,  and  produced  an  expenditure  of 
money  very  large  for  the  place  and  period.  Portions  of  the  wild  forest  which  had 
hitherto  been  almost  worthless,  suddenly  took  on  extraordinary  values.  Specula- 
tion was  rife,  and  the  profits  of  merchandizing,  and  army  contracts,  made  fortunes 
for  those  who  had  the  opportunity.  Thus  matters  went  on  until  the  war  closed, 
when  there  came  a  reaction.  The  National  Treasury  was  heavily  weighted  with 
war  debt,  the  currency  of  the  States  was  in  an  execrable  condition,  and  the  evils 
of  speculation  and  inflation  were  quickly  followed  by  those  of  depreciation,  stagna- 
tion and  collapse.  Business  became  languid,  labor  idle  and  distressed,  and  money, 
worthy  of  the  name,  almost  impossible  to  get.  Wages  were  paid  exclusively  in 
trade,  and  all  business  degenerated  into  mere  barter.  Whisky  being  a  supposed 
remedy  for  the  prevalent  fevers,  as  well  as  a  consolation  for  other  hardships  of  the 
frontier,  it  was  in  active  demand,  and  virtually  became  a  standard  of  values* 
Numerous  private  stills  lor  its  manufacture  were  established,  and  it  was  both 

[368] 


I*!  •'»>■!•;  .  ^  '.  -  .!■ 

N  lilt  .  r-  -::  ■     Mi":-  i-    ~i ;  i 


.1 


'.t '  ; 


<^'-^«_;     ^i4^<y^^ 


•;V 


c 


Be<hnnin(]s  of  Huhiness.  369 

offered  and  received  in  purchuscs,  and  the  payment  of  debts.  Doctor  lloge  is  said 
to  have  lost  Bome  of  his  parishioners  because  they  would  not  accept  it  in  discharge 
of  pew  rent.  All  the  stores  sold  it,  as  a  matter  of  course,  aloni^  with  drygood8» 
groceries  and  hardware,  and  its  use  was  well  nigh  universal.  On  August  23.  1821, 
the  wcokl}'  Gazette  of  Columbus  made  this  announcement: 

Goo<l  merchantable  whiskey  will  be  taken  in  payment  of  debts  due  thi-i  office,  at  twenty 
five  cents  per  gallon,  if  delivered  by  the  first  of  November  next. 

The  reactionary  business  depression  which  began  soon  after  the  close  of  the 
War  of  1812  dragged  wearily  on  for  ten  or  twelve  years.  Not  until  18J5-26  did 
the  burden  of  its  distress  begin  to  be  lifted.  Its  effects  in  Columbus  have  been  de- 
scribed so  circumstantial ly  and  graphically  in  the  letters  of  Mrs.  Betsy  Green 
Deshler  heretofore  quoted,  that  nothing  needs  to  be  added  to  her  statements  to 
make  the  picture  of  that  doleful  time  sufficiently  impressive.  We  turn  from  it  to 
other  and  more  pleasing  details  in  the  business  growth  of  the  capital. 

As  soon  as  the  borough  of  Columbus  began  to  take  form  by  the  erection  of 
cabins  and  the  opening  of  taverns,  it  attracted  much  of  the  trade  of  Franklinton, 
as  has  been  stated.  The  most  important  establishments  w^hich  thus  transferred 
their  business  from  the  west  to  the  east  side  of  the  river  were  mentioned  in  a  pre- 
ceding chapter.  The  subsequent  record  of  these  firms  is  limited  almost  exclusively 
to  the  meager  and  occasional  advertisements  which  a|)peared  in  the  borough  news- 
papers. Among  the  partnership  and  individual  business  enterprises  thus  men- 
tioned, inclusive  of  Franklinton,  were  the  following: 

1812— Henry  Brown  &  Co.,  liichard  Courtney  &  Co.,  J.  &  K.  W.  McCoy, 
Samuel  Culbertson,  Robert  Russell,  Samuel  Barr  and  Jeremiah  Armstrong.  It  is 
related,  as  indicating  the  vicissitudes  of  ITusiness  at  that  period,  that  Mr.  R.  W. 
McCoy,  in  buying  out  a  partner's  interest,  stipulated  that  payment  should  be 
remitted  in  case  of  destruction  of  the  goods  by  the  Indians. 

1813  — L.  Goodale  &  Co.,  J.  Buttles  &  Co.,  and  Starling  &  De  Lash  mutt. 

1814— D.  F.  Heaton,  Tailor;  Starling  &  Massie,  (General  Store;  Eli  C.  King, 
Tanner;  John  McCoy,  Brewer,  and  Joseph  Grate,  Silversmith.  Another  early 
silversmith  was  Nathaniel  W.  Smith,  who  made  a  business  in  ''grandfather 
clocks,"  and  employed  Stephen  Berryhill,  a  schoolteacher,  to  set  them  up  for  him. 

1815 — J.  &  R.  W.  McCoy,  drygoods,  groceries  and  liquors. 

1816— Lyne  Starling  &  Co. 

1817 — Goodale  &  Buttles  and  Henry  Brown  &Co.,  who  bought  out  the  general 
store  of  Starling,  Massie  &  Brotherton.  Samuel  Cunning  arrived  during  this  year, 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  erected  a  tannery. 

1818 — Samuel  Barr  &  Co.  are  the  most  extensive  advertisers  of  this  year,  and 
announce  a  stock  consisting,  "  in  [)art,"  as  follows  : 

All  kinds  of  cloths  and  drygcxxls,  notions,  paper  hangings,  boots  and  shoe.s,  books  and 
shawls,  saddles,  bridles  and  portmanteaus.  Bibles,  looms,  shoe-  and  scrubbing-brushes, 
groceries,  hymnbooks,  queen's-,  glass-,  hard-  and  tinware,  wines,  whetstones,  Glauber's  salts, 
stationery,  all  kinds  of  spices,  drugs,  medicines  and  dyestufts,  bells,  shrub,  fryingpans,  to- 
bacco and  cigars,  crosscut  saws,  cradles,  bedcord,  powder  and  lead,  oilcloth,  copper  teakettles, 
Jamaica  spirits,  salmon,  French  brandy,  coflfee,  tea,  shoepega,  sugar  pocketbooks,  umbrellas, 
Morocco  and  calfskin,  Scott's  Commentaries,  steelyards  and  whiskey. 

24 


870  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Such  may  be  considorod  a  fair  illustration  of  what  constituted  a  complete 
"  store  "  stock  in  those  days. 

Among  the  other  names  which  appear  in  the  advertisements  of  the  year  181H 
are  those  of  Hiram  M.  Curry,  Jeremiah  McLene,  Ralph  Osborn,  Abram  I.  McDowell , 
Captain  Joseph  Vance,  Doctor  John  M.  Edmiston,  Henry  Brown  &  Co.,  James 
Kilbourn,  William  Neil,  llobert  Russell,  Orris  Parish,  Joseph  Olds,  Junior,  John 
Kilbourne,  Delano  &  Fay,  and  Francis  Stewart.  William  A.  McCoy,  then  a  lad  of 
seven  years,  arrived  in  1818,  and  was  employed  in  the  store  of  his  uncle,  R.  W. 
McCoy,  in  which  he  afterwards  became  a  partner. 

In  1820  we  find  the  advertisements  of  William  Piatt,  cutlery,  John  Warner, 
silversmith,  and  John  Kilbourne,  bookstore. 

In  1821  Atkinson  &  Martin  advertised  that  they  will  make  "  hats  of  every  de- 
scription, to  order,  on  the  shortest  notice,"  and  that  they  will  pay  the  highest 
price,  in  cash,  for  muskrat  skins.  James  Culbertson,  landlord  of  the  Foxchase 
Tavern,  indicates  the  prevailing  condition  of  trade  in  this  year  by  the  announce- 
ment that  he  will  accept  <*  whiskey,  sugar  and  linen  *'  in  payment  of  all  debts  due 
him.  Francis  Stewart  advertises  a  store  stock  comprising  "  drygoods,  groceries, 
ironmongery,  queen's-,  china-,  glass-  and  tinware;  books  and  stationery;  also,  one 
case  of  elegant  straw  and  Leghorn  bonnets;  salt,  powder,  lead,  cordage,  iron,  steel, 
castings,  nails,  whiskey,  tobacco,  segars,  &c.,  ^c,  &c.*'  Russell  &  Leiby  figure 
among  the  advertisers  of  the  year.  John  F.  Collins,  blacksmith,  "continues  to 
shoe  horses,  all  round,  with  the  best  of  iron,  for  the  moderate  price  of  one  dollar,'' 
but  adds  twentyfive  cents  to  this  price  when  "  steel  toes  "  are  expected.  "  Edward 
Smith,  Gent.,"  announces  himself  as  *^  Senior  Shaver  of  the  metropolis  of  the  State 
of  Ohio,"  and  in  half  a  column,  or  so,  of  magniloquent  phrase  warns  the  public 
against  "  those  itinerant  impiricks"  of  his  **  profession  ''  who  "  periodically  annoy 
the  regular  practitioners  in  this  borough."  Gentleman  Smith  '^fondly  trusts" 
that  the  "distinguished  statesmen  and  literati"  whom  he  counts  as  his  patrons 
will  continue  to  reward  "  his  unwearied  exertions  for  the  public  good." 

From  a  curious  class  of  advertisements  incidental  to  the  trade  and  industry 
of  this  period  the  following  examples  are  taken  : 


One  Cent  Reward.  —  Ranaway  from  the  subscriber,  living  in  Franklinton,  J S- 


an  apprentice  to  the  waggon  making  business,  on  the  eighteenth  instant ;  eighteen  years 
last  March,  about  five  feet  eight  or  nine  inches  high  ;  has  a  down  look,  and  moves  slow.  I 
do  hereby  forwarn  all  persons  from  harboring  or  employing  said  apprentice,  also  from  trust- 
ing him  on  my  account.    The  above  reward  will  be  given  for  the  delivery  of  said  8 ,  but 

no  thank,  or  extra  expense.  J J . 

Apprentice  to  the  Plaistering,  &  c.  ~  I  want  a  Boy  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of  age,  as 
an  apprentice  lo  the  business  of  Plaistering  and  ornamenting  with  water  colors.  One  who 
will  come  well  recommended  will  have  a  good  opportunity  to  learn  his  business,  shall  be  well 
used,  and  have  common  privileges.  Jamks  Unclbs. 

A  "judgment  and  execution  law,"  which  was  intended  to  relieve  the  stress  oi 
the  times  by  retarding  the  collection  of  debts,  was  passed  February  1,  1822,  but 
only  destroyed  credit,  and  made  matters  worse.  The  financial  distress  of  the 
people  arose  primarily  from  the  abominable  condition  of  the  currency,  and  such 
legislation  as  this  entirely  missed  the  root  of  the  evil. 


Becunninos  ok  Business.  371 

Among  the  new  jmrtnership  names  which  appear  in  1825  are  those  of  Kath- 
bono  &  Osborn,  dry^oods  and  groceries;  an<l  O.  &  S.  Crosby,  drui^s.  Messi's. 
Croaby  were  located  at  the  southeast  corner  of  High  and  SUite  streets.  On  the 
northwest  corner  of  these  streets  stood  the  drygoods  store  of  II.  W.  McC^oy. 

In  182G  we  find  the  name  of  L.  lleynohls  in  the  <irygoods  trade,  and  in  1827 
that  of  John  Greenwood  in  boots  and  shoes.  Contemporary  with  (ireenwood  were 
1.  and  E.  Bronson,  hatters,  Jacob  Elmer,  furniture,  and  Jordan  k  Ellis,  dealers  in 
^*  Dutch  bolting  cloths,  from  one  of  the  first  manufacturies  in  Holland.'*  A  dis- 
tillery  in  operation  near  Columbus  in  1827  was  owned  by  Isaac  Taylor. 

J.  Gridley  is  a  drygoods  name  of  1828,  in  which  year,  or  thereabouts,  Osborn, 
Loiby  &  Co.  sold  out  to  Ralph  Osborn  and  James  McDowell.  Up  to  this  time, 
and  long  afterwards,  the  drygoods,  grocery,  (lueensware  and  hardware  trades  were 
almost  invariably  combined,  in  an  exclusively  drug  and  me<iicine  trade  the 
Crosbys  wore  the  pioneers.  John  Kerr  came  in  as  their  principal  rival  sometime 
later.  Deshler  &  Greenwood  entered  the  drygoods  and  grocery  trade  in  1828  in  a 
threestory  brick  building  on  High  Street  between  the  estahlishments  of  Goodale 
<&  Co.  and  Gwynne  k  Baldwin.  Peter  Shar])  had  a  tailor  shop  in  the  building  ol 
Gill  &  Green  on  High  Street,  east  side,  first  door  south  of  Crosby's,  and  C.  W.  Kent 
kept  a  livery  stable  on  Front  Street,  between  Broa<l  and  State.  In  December, 
1828,  the  Crosbys  removed  to  a  new  building,  "one  door  norlh  of  U.  W.  McCoy, 
directly  opposite  the  Slatehouse."  In  this  year  we  find  William  S.  Sullivant  |)ay- 
ing  "  the  highest  cash  j)rice  for  wheat  at  Sullivant's  Mill,  near  (Jolumhus." 

In  1829  I.  N.  Whiting  began  the  hook  and  stationery  business  on  the  north- 
east corner  of  High  and  Town  Streets.  So  states  a  niaiius(;ript  now  before  the 
writer,  but  an  advertisenient  of  1830  locates  Mr.  Whiting  "  one  door  south  of  But- 
tles &  Matthews's  store,  on  High  Street."  P.  \\  Hall  opened  a  "  new  general  store  " 
in  1829,  at  "the  corner  of  High  and  State,  near  the  niiirket,"  and  in  July  of  the 
same  year  Philip  Kced  announced  a  '*  new  saddler  shop,  immediately  opj)()site 
Messrs.  Goodale  and  Buttles's  store,  and  next  door  to  Mr.  Walcutt's  Chair 
Factory."  In  1830  Isaac  N.  Whiting  had  <*ornbined  a  hardware  trade  with  that 
of  books,  and  William  A.  Piatt  announ<ed  a  new  establishment  in  watches  and 
jewelry  "  a  few  doors  south  of  VV^itson's  Hotel,  between  Young's  (yoftee  House  and 
the  PostoflSce."  The  Watson  Hotel  was  kept  by  John  Watson,  of  Chillicothe,  who 
had  purchased  it  from  Edmund  Browning.'  Counterfeit  notes  of  the  United 
States  Bank  and  other  banking  institutions  ohiained  (M)nspicuous  mention  as 
business  plagues  of  this  period.  Between  the  counterfeiters  on  the  one  hand  and 
depreciated  or  worthless  bank  ])a[>er  on  the  other,  busirjess  men  of  the  thirties  and 
forties  had  a  rather  precarious  time  of  it. 

"  In  front  of  every  store,'  says  Mr.  John  L.  (rill,  ''  was  a  i»()st  and  rail  for  i\\v 
convenience  of  the  country  jujojile  to  hitch  their  horses  when  they  (!ame  to 
town."*  So  numerous  were  the  animals,  sad(lle<l,  and  ''sidesaddled,'  thus  hitched 
in  rows  up  and  down  High  Street,  particularly  on  Saturdays,  that  they  wert;  com- 
monly spoken  of  as  "  the  cavalry.''  -  Ifi  the  spring  of  the  year,"  adds  Mr.  (iill,"  it 
was  not  an  uncommon  sight  to  see  a  rnimber  of  Wyandot  Indians,  with  theii' 
ponies  laden  with  furs  and  country  sugar,  who  came  down  to  trade  with  our  mer- 
chants," nearly  all  of  whom,  we  an-  fiirther  told,  ''  made  their  purchases  in  Baiti- 


H72  History  of  the  Citv  of  Columbus. 

more,  as  there  was  no  way  of  getting  goods  from  New  York  an«l  Philadelphia  until 
af\er  the  completion  oftlie  Brie  and  Pennsylvania  canals""* 

The  miainterpretAtion  and  misspellini^  of  business  signs  wore  sometimes  sources 
of  amusement.  On  "  musterdays,"  which  were  also  holidays  for  the  douL^hty 
militiamen  and  their  friends,  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  a  stout  young 
countryman  marching  up  the  middle  of  High  Street,  leading  his  "gal"  with  one 
hand  and  holding  a  huge  section  of  gingerbread  in  the  other.  On  one  of  these 
occasions  a  particularly  happy  pair  of  this  species  happened  to  pass  along,  read- 
ing the  *'siirns"  and  munching  gingerbread,  until  thoj'  came  opposite  to  the  store 
of  Goodale  &  Buttles,  when  the  name  of  that  firm,  in  large  letters,  arrested  the 
countryman's  attention.  Coming  to  a  su<|{len  halt,  and  swinging  his  **giil"  into 
line,  at  a  front  face.  Rusticus  spelled  out  the  names,  letter  for  letter,  and  exclaimed  : 
"  Hollo.  Sal,  I'll  be  darned  if  there  isn't  goo<l  ale  in  bottles.  That's  just  what  I've 
been  looking  for.     Let's  go  in  and  get  some."'     And  in  they  wont. 

Bad  orthography  on  signboards  was  very  common,  but  an  instance  of  it  more 
notable  than  any  other  because  of  the  sport  made  of  it  was  that  of  a  certain  High 
Street  dealer  in    footwear,   who,   daily   expecting  a  consignment    of   t'lo  heavy 
brogans  then  in  demand,  put  up  tlie  placard  :    *'  Lookout  for  course  boots."    Near- 
ly everbody  in  the  borough  did  *Mookout  for  course  boots"  for  a  good  while   after 
that,  and  the  gibes  at  the  unlucky  dealer's  expense  were  endless     Another  subject 
for  jocose  gossip  was  a  Front  Street  sign  which  read:     **  Fancy  dying  done  here." 
The  business  of  the  borough  was  at  first  concentrated  in  the  vicinity  of  llich 
and  Friend  streets,  mostly  on  High,  but  by  the  year  1822  Front    had  become  an 
important  street  both  for  business  and  for  residences.     All  this  was  changed,  how- 
ever, by  the  opening  of  the  National  Road  and  the  Canal,  the  latter  attracting  a 
large  amount  of  the  business  to  the  vicinity  of  the  river,  whore  several  large  ware- 
ho-'ises  were  built.      Until  the  beginning  of  railway  transportation  and  travel,  the 
canal  landing  and  the  stage  offices  were  the  principal  centers  of  business  interest. 
The  effect  of  canal   navigation  on  general  business  was  immediate,  and  im- 
mensely beneficial.     As  soon  as  eastern  connections  were  made,  the  surplus  pro- 
ductions of  Central  Ohio  began  to  find  a  market,  at  advanced  prices.     Before  the 
canal  was  built,  Licking  County,  sajs  Hill's  Histor}',  **had  no  outlet  for  produce 
excej)t  b}*  wagons  to  the  Lake,  or  by  wagons  to  the  Muskingum  River,  and  thence 
by  boat  to  New  Orleans.     The  country  was  full  of  produce  for  which  there  was  no 
market.     Ham  was  worth  three  cents  per  pound,  egi^a  four  cents  per  dozen,  flour 
one  dollar  per  hundred,  whisky  twelve  and  one  half  cents  per  gallon,  and  other 
things  proportionately  cheap."     But  as  soon  as  the  canal  began  to  carry  out  the 
wheat,  it  advanced  from  twentyfive  to  seventyfive  cents,  and  within  a  short  time 
to  one  dollar  and  one  dollar  and  twentyfive  cents  per  bushel.     *'Mr.  Shoemaker,  of 
I'ickaway  County,"  says  Hill's  Histor}',  "was  a  rich  land  owner,  and  opposed  the 
building  of  the  canal  on  the  ground  that  it  would  increase  his  tax,  and  then  be  a 
failure.     But  this  gentleman,  ft)r  such  he  was,  said  that  his  boys,  with  one  yoke  of 
oxen  and  a  hirm  cart,  hauled  potatoes  to  Circleville  [after  the  canal  was  built]  and 
sold  them  for  forty  cents  per  pushol  until  they  had  money  enough,  and  more,  to 
pay  all   their  taxes  for  a  year."     Wheat  and  other  staples  found  a  good  market 
at  the  lake  ports,  where  Canada  appeared  as  an  extensive  purchaser.  •  Thus  did 


•  •  •  I 

ort*ate  a  dcmao-i  f  -r  : ■ :  c  :ri  ">    -:*::. e  <        jk :  i  v.: .; . : ;  t^  v  ;  lu*  v>  »m tori  >  o I  I  Mo       V\w 

awakcniog  of  cufiiEurrvia.    :.:r.r. '  a:  J-    ■*:3^'*.  :;    i\:.:r».  Oiitvv  as  U  has  Ivoii  ovor\ 

where  elsje.  a  grvai  >tr:iv  :l  :hr  {.r.^rrv-ss  >:' •,  :v:.:.':a:iv^Ji. 

The  advantasZ^rs  •>:'  ihr  -.^r.a!  :..•  ;rvrer:»^  bv.>:::o>>  ar\»  iruiMVHsivolv  illitsinito«l  l»\ 
the  enorinoa*«  n>lui:ii«.»r.  \i.  ::.e  '^«»:  ••:  :r:insj*.r:a:;»'.'.  which  it  olKviod  Uotoiv  iho 
cons^truclitin  i>f  the  Na*.:--:::!!  Ki<i..  -'rv-iirhts  ihr>'.i;:h  trvMU  Ualliinoiv  lo  roluinhiis 
had  ranirtHJ  fn>m  mx  iw  U-u  i«jl.ars  j-vt  h;:!iln»"i  p*';irul>.  uiul  woro  ditliiull  to  ^ot  at 
any  priec.  In  S^|»tfmlKrr.  l**;^!.  Ktiwcu-i  Waroham.  ajr^Mit  ot*  iho  WoUainl  ranul 
Company,  annouiatrs  thai  he  will  o»nii";»»  lior  >|>rin:x.suinmor  and  autumn  tfauNpor 
tation.  by  i-anal.  lo  Nvw  Vi»rk  •*  »  t'iovclaiivl.  iho  WoHand  Tanal  auil  ON\vi\ijt».  at  tho 
foMowin;^  rales : 

Flour,  \KT  liarrel.  fri)(n  *.'»ilii'iilni.'S  t«»  Clowlaa-i.  si\iys*»vi*ii  oouts,  iiiotusivo  of  Hornet*; 
fn>iii  Cleveland  to  New  Y«»rk.  ^ne  ih^llar  anil  ten  rents:  i\\\\\  (ro\\\  rolnnihn^t  to  Now  Ynrk, 
one  dollar  and  sewiityeseven  cents.  Pi»rk  and  otluT  staples  were  carrieil  at  proportitniute 
rateis  liiflh  for  wei«;'it  and  distance. 

Oil  westward -i^oi Hi;  i'reiirhls,  such  as  drvijoods.  the  rates  wore,  nor  hundred 
]K>unils,  oi.o  dollar  and  six  and  a  quarter  cents  from  Now  York  to  (Movoland, 
eis^htytwo  and  onchalt*  cents,  inclusive  ot*  sti>rai^i',  from  Clcvoland  \o  Cohunhuh, 
and  one  dollar  and  eightyeight  and  three<|uarter  cents  I'roin  Now  York  t(»  Cidunihui 

The  fi  1*81  coal  consuniod  in  the  ca|)ilal  was  hroui^ht  thither  hy  Mr.  John  L. 
Gill,  who  UjIIh  the  story  thus  : 

After  bein^  in  business  two  or  three  years  I  hrou^ht  out  |  from  the  Kasi  |  a  Mioek  of  iMiok 
Htoves,  the  first  stovoa  ever  hrouj^ht  to  C'oluinhus  |ahout  IS'J!>|  hut  it  wum  un  uphill  huHineriH  lo 
diBpose  of  them.  I  loade«l  up  four  fourhorse  wtij^ons,  mid  took  tln-ni  down  to  AlheiiM,  where 
I  succeede<l  in  trading  thcni  for  horses  which  1  sent  east.  PasMiiij^'  IhrouKli  NelMonville,  I 
stopped  over  night,  and  there  saw  a  line  eoul  lire.  Iii«|uirin>^  of  Mie  liuidlord  where  he  j/oi 
the  coal,  I  was  infonned  that  he  j;ot  it  in  his  i:arden.  which  wjih  literally  true.  On  ini|iihini' 
what  it  was  worth,  he  siiid  it  cost  one  and  one  hnlf<'eniH  to  di;^'  it.  lie  n^Mel•d  lo  loud  my 
teams  on  their  return  to  Athens,  which  In^  ditl,  ami  IIiIh  was  Ihe  llrsl  coiil  thai  ever  eioiH-  lo 
Columbus,  except  a  few  pieces  whi(!h  I  hron^dit  in  my  Maddlehaj^H,  and  inlrrenh-d  IIh' naliveM 
and  others  who  saw  it  hurnin};,  with  the  w'o<m1,  on  antlirons  in  my  parlor.* 

Anion^  the  business  names  and  partn^'i-ships  of  Im;|0  lil  '.'»'!  wr   find   ihoi-e  id 
Samuel  Cutler,  Stewart  tV  11  i^r^^ins,   Lijwis   Mills  and  John    hmwn   ^moii  i..     VV    1% 
Sullivant,  milling;  John  liown  and    Moses  Tjiylor,   luniheryaid  ;  VVilliam    A    I'lail 
k  Co.  and  C.  C,   Beard  iV  ('o.,  j<jvvide|.,;    .Me(;inMiH  A-    I'ilclM-r  and    M*  I'l  rmoM.  A 
Wiley,  hatters;   William  A.  (iill  .V  To,  -ueri-H-oiH  h,  (;ill  A    iiU'ii    ..i«;vi.-.  ■■hi!.- 
and  sheetiron  and  tinware  :  Samu(;l    Mc^.'lellufjd,  riPi'liani   ijoloi       iIh    pi'/ie  *  i    m 
that  business;  Smith  \  Johnson.  hairdn-Mcr-    J     l.'idywuy  A  ^o  ,  ".Min  hou  "     Joho 
Noble,  National  Hotel :  Jano-  and  li'-rijamin  1.    'I  infihnll    ho;l(*»oi'      I     '#    \h)'i 
cabinclware:  S.  Cuth-r  and  O   .V  ^   <'p»'h;,  :.  ■  -:    <''H!'  i  A  t'n    i',i  -..n-inr/  .md  '  nn. 
mi.ssion  ;  IL  Delano  iV  r'o.  dry/' .'»d-    '\nu\    ]'*  u  ,  .  ^w  '.>  i     ..,.1    '...   /    ■   f''/i»    p'/>. 

and  wlii.**ky  :  I««:iin:  '!":•> -Of  :ii;d    -',*:■    i";i«ii'f    ;ir.  I     '•  r.-    ■.   ■,        .,       -J    '  ■.  •'     ""■'    ' 

factore  :*'  Nal:  anei  M    M'  ',*■'.    'iJ-,/  *or<-       n    *■'.■     ■,'■■'//.  i-.f-    '.  .     .      '  --      '•    ''■ 
Slreel,   I'pIK/j-it--   lie:    "^f:t''.f.'' i-  *d      .'•'/''•'  *)'       w  ;'J.-  '  ,       J'-  -  •■    .■■.  i, 

William  L.  Ca-*y.  *-.r  a  '.".     ;  ;=? '    '  ?    ''i   H    '■'      t''   ■''''        •  -  "''■        ' 
i;i»nier  of  Hirrhiif;  1  if /'.-•■';  '•     ..•:/.;."   .-•:.''.••'       ■  .  •'      ' 

in  the  dr>-tfryyJ-  rlr:;    ',-*    V.     '    -    '     ''I-'-    '•        M- K.    »        J^-  /•       '*'  '    - 


" .', 


374  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

grocers  nnd  commiflHion  warohoueo ;  Kent  &  Glazier,  general  merchandise; 
Bridgman  &  McClelland,  corner  of  High  and  Broad  Streets,  merchant  tailors;  J. 
Ridgway  &  Co.,  successors  to  S.  Cntler  &  Co.,  forwarding  and  commia^ion  ; 
Williams  &  Cockerill,  tailors;  John  Abbott  &  Co.,  brewers;  Eobert  Russell  k  Co., 
drygoods ;  Sumner  Clark,  drygoods  and  groceries ;  and  Doherty  k  Leiby,  agents  of 
the  Troy  &  Brie  line  of  canal  packets,  forwarding  and  commission. 

Among  the  new  business  names  of  1833  were  those  of  Burr  &  Sherwood,  Olm- 
sted &  St.  Clair,  and  Sherwood  &  Grejrory,  grocers;  Brownricrer  k  Tartt  and  Burr  k 
Gregory,  drygoods;  D.  S.  Bradstreet,  drugs  nnd  chemicals;  Tiuman  Baker,  cabinet 
ware;  S.  M.  Whitworth,  clothing;  William  M.  Ka«»son  k  Co  .  hardware,  hollow  ware, 
and  tin  and  sheet  iron  work  ;  T.  Van  Horn,  jeweler ;  William  Burdell  and  William 
Armstrong,  tailors  ;  William  M.  Blake,  hoots  and  shoes  ;  Morns  Butler,  books  and 
stationery;  C.  W.  Kent  k  Co.,  livery  stable;  and  Dodge,  Cowles  k  Co.,  comb 
factory. 

In  the  business  calendar  of  1834  we  find  the  names  of  B.  Smith  &  Co.,  tailors; 
C.  W.  Kent,  southwest  corner  of  High  and  Town  Streets,  auction  and  commis^^ion  ; 
S.  M.  Whitworth,  on  Broad  Street,  near  the  Episcopal  Church,  clothiner  and 
groceries;  Chester  Mattoon,  West  State  Street,  bookbindery:  Peter  Ambos.  "  in  the 
buildini;  immediately  south  of  Mr.  Greenwood's  store,  Hisrh  Street,"  confec- 
tioner; H.  G.  Spayth,  "in  room  lately  occupied  by  Doherty  <fe  Leiby,  Goodale's 
Row,"  druggist;  Rudisill  &  Wiley,  corner  of  High  and  Town  streets,  hatters  ;  Tra 
Grover,  Broad  Street,  near  the  EpiJ»copal  Church,  **'  white  marble  tombstones;"  J. 
k  S.  Stone,  brokers  and  drygoods  merchants,  Commercial  Row;  Charles  Scott, 
wholesale  paper  warehouse;  Champion  k  Lathrop  (J.  N.  Champion  and  Henry 
Lathrop),  "  in  the  st<^)re  late  occupied  by  Bond  &  Walhridge,"  drycroods;  McCul- 
lough  &  Son,  next  door  to  Young's  Coffeehouse,  High  Street,  fashionable  tailoring  ; 
John  Abbott  &  Co.,  corner  of  Front  and  Spring  streets,  brewery;  and  J.  B.  Crist, 
on  High  Street,  opposite  the  Statehouse,  bookstore. 

Some  of  the  new  partnerships  of  1835  are  those  of  William  Hamilton  k  Co., 
bakery,  corner  of  Rich  and  High;  McElvain,  Hunter  &  Co..  wool  buyers;  Lazell 
&  Mattoon,  bookbinders;  Henry  Glover  k  Co.,  ii-on  store.  Exchange  Buildings  ;  He- 
rancourt  &  Dresbach,  jewelers;  Stewart  &  Oshorn,  drycroods;  S.  &  S.  B.  Stanton, 
Commercial  Row,  drygoods;  and  S.  W.  k  J.  E.  Palmer,  hardware.  Contemporarv 
with  these  were  James  W.  McCoy,  hatter;  William  M.  Kasson,  hardware;  W.  H. 
Richards,  China,  glass  and  queensware  ;  Mrs.  Dunnavant,  dressmaker ;  J.  N.  Town- 
ly  and  Samuel  McClelland,  merchant  tailors  ;  Thomas  Bridgman,  draper  and 
tjiilor;  Walter  Amos,  tailor;  and  Daniel  B.  Ball,  saddlery. 

By  this  time  various  business  blocks  had  been  erected,  and  had  become  locally 
celebrated  by  such  names  as  their  owners  or  popular  fancy  had  ascribed  to  them. 
Among  these  blocks  was  that  known  as  Goodale's  Row,  erected  by  Doctor  Lincoln 
Goodale,  on  the  west  side  of  South  High  Street,  extending  from  Chapel  Alley 
south,  and  including  the  present  location  occupied  by  Kilbourn,  Jones  &  Co.  The 
Commercial  Buildings,  commonly  known  as  the  Commercial  Row,  stood  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  Main  and  High  streets.  The  Exchancre  Buildings,  sometimes 
called  the  Broadway  Exchange,  owned  by  W.  S.  Sullivant,  held,  for  many  years, 
one  of  the  most  conspicuous  places,  if  not  the  chief  distinction,  among  the  business 


BEOixifiMtS  (IF  Business.  .'^5 

ceDter8  of  Columbus.  The(»c  buiMiiigs  wero  sitiiatod  on  X\\v  south  sido  ot*  Wost 
Broad  Street,  extending  west  from  the  protH^nt  site  tit'tlie  Huntington  Bank.  The 
Buckeye  Building,  or  as  it  was  sometimes  ealled,  the  Buekeye  Block,  n»se  on  the 
northeast  cc»rner  of  Broad  and  High.  A  warehouse  built  by  the  Kidgways,  near 
tlie  Broad  Street  Bridge,  was  known  as  the  Fninklin  BuiKiing.  A  i*ow  eallod  the 
Eight  Buildings  stoorl  on  West  Town  Street,  south  side,  a  short  distance  west  oC 
HiKh. 

Among  the  most  conspicuous  partnersliip  and  individual  business  names 
which  appear  subsec|ucntly  to  those  already  recorded  were  the  following: 

1830 — S.  W.  &  J.  K.  Palmer,  hardware,  Commercial  Buildings;  llammon<l 
Howe,  real  estate;  John  Marcy,  brewer.  Front  Sti*eet :  Ivasson  •Jc  Met Ume,  hard- 
ware; Kerr  &  Mitton,  successors  to  O.  A  S.  Crosby,  drugs,  Broadway  Exchange; 
Thomas  S.  Butler,  drugs,  next  door  to  the  National  llt>tel ;  J.  Ij.  Peters  and  A.  ,1. 
Cain,  successors  to  Tunis  Peters,  tanners;  W.  Starr,  drygoods  and  produce: 
Penney  &  Jud<i,  dr3'goo<is.  Commercial  How;  K.  iV  A.  Case,  read^-nuide  clothing; 
11.  N.  Owen  &  Co.,  merchant  tailors,  Exchange  Buihlings;  Dolson,  Jessup  &  Co., 
dr3'goods,  Commercial  Buildings;  Monroe  Bell,  bookstore,  a  little  south  of  the 
National  Hotel;  L.  S.  Hubbard,  drygoods,  ('ommercial  Buildings;  and  Dennis 
Neil,  merchant  tiiilor,  Exchange  Buildings. 

1837  —  A- newspaper  business  directory  for  this  year,  which  does  not  seem 
to  have  ever  gotten  into  print  in  any  other  form,  is  hero  reproduced  :' 

Drygoods  —  McCoy,  Work  <&  McCoy,  corner  of  High  and  State  ;  W.  Hance, 
northeast  corner  High  and  Friend;  (-hampioiii^  Lathroj),  P^xchange  Buildings;  J. 
B.  Crist,  ditto;  Greenwood  &  King,  High,  between  Town  and  Kich  ;  S.  i\:  S.  B. 
Stanton,  northeast  corner  High  and  Rich;  D.  Brooks,  east  side  of  Higl»,  between 
Friend  and  Kich ;  Joseph  Leihy,  northwest  corner  High  aii<l  Rich;  D.  Wiuxlbury 
&  Co.,  southeast  corner  High  and  F^riend  ;  J.  \'  S.  Stone,  High,  sec<Mi(l  <lo()r  helow 
Friend;  D.  W.  Deshler,  northwest  corner  Broad  and  High;  P.  H.  Olmsted,  High, 
next  door  to  Russell's  Tavern;  Stewart  tV*  Osborn,  High,  east  si<le;  D.  K  Hall, 
High,  corner  Sugar  Alley;  J.  Baldwin  k  Co.,  High,  corner  Sugar  Alley;  M.  B. 
Cushing,  High,  Goodale's  Row;  Case  &  Judd,(litto;  McKlvain, Snyder  tV  (-o.,  ditto; 
Warner  <&  Penney,  ditto;  L.  (loodale  A:  Co.,  <lilto;  Matthews  tV  Morrison,  north- 
west corner  High  and  Town. 

Watches  and  jewelry — William  A.  Piatt,  High,  op|)osite  Statehouse  ;  C.  A. 
Richard,  High,  east  side,  near  Rich  ;  (J.  M.  ilei-ancourt.  High,  cast  side. 

Booksellers  and  binders —  Lazell  k  Mattoon,   High  (jpiiositc  Statt^honsi^.   Mon 
roe  Boll,  High,  opposite  Public  Oflices ;   Isaac  N.  Whiting,  High  Street. 

Hotels  and  coffee  houses — Anjcrican  Hotel,  (•.  V\  Dn^sbach,  High,  <)p|)osit«' 
Statehouse;  Eagle  Coffeehouse,  John  Young,  High,  o|)|H)sitc  Piibli<.  Buildings. 
National  Hotel,  John  Nohle,  High,  opposite  Public  OHices :  NutioiiaM 'Oll'iu'lioiist'. 
Theodore  L.  Shields^  Lafayette  (Jotfeehousc,  K.  P.  Hare,  Hiixh,  o|)pnsit<^  Courthouse^ 
Clinton  Coffeehouse,  T.  Martin,  High,  corner  INihlic  Alley;  Lion  Hotel.  . I.  Ann- 
strong,  Ixjtween  Town  and  Jiich  ;  Uohinson's  (.'ity  House,  southeast  coiner  High 
an<i  Town  ;  Swan  Hotel,  (.'hristian  Hcyl,  High,  cast  side,  eorn(!r  ('hi^rry  Alley 
Hotel,  P.  C.  Whitehead,  High,  .south  of  M<jund  ;  Tontini^  Cotleehousc,  S.  l*ike\'  ('o.. 


370  History  of  the  City  of  C'olumbits. 

State  Street,  south  side,  opposite  Markethouse;  Inn,  Thomas  Cadwallader,  Broad, 
near  the  Bridge;  Broadway  House,  T.  Thomas,  Bro:id,  opposite  Public  Square ; 
Globe  Hotel,  R.  Russell,  High  Street;  Farmers'  Inn,  John  Moyer,  southwest  corner 
Friend  and  High. 

Stage  offices  —  Opposition  Stage  Company,  High,  next  door  to  Eagle  Coffee- 
house ;  Neil,  Moore  &  Co.,  High,  next  to  National  Hotel. 

Grocers  — W.  F.Sanderson,  High,  opposite  Public  Offices;  O.  Risley  &  Co., 
Broadway  Exchange;  F.  Bentz,  bakery  and  grocery.  High,  near  Rich;  J.  P. 
Brooks,  southwest  corner  High  and  Rich ;  W.  Hance  (also  drygoods),  northeast 
corner  High  and  Friend  ;  McElvain,  Hunter  &  Co.,  Broad  Street,  Franklin  Build- 
ings; G.  W.  Higgins&  Co.,  High  Street,  east  side;  John  Bown,  southeast  corner 
High  and  State ;  Gregory,  Burr  &  Gregory,  High,  east  side. 

Merchant  tailors  —  Johnson  &  Burdell,  High,  opposite  Public  Offices;  W. 
Williams,  High,  between  Town  and  Rich;  Adams  &  Townley,  High,  east  side ; 
Walter  Amos,  ditto;  E.  Gaver,  State  Street,  opposite  Statehouse ;  Samuel  Mc- 
Clelland, southeast  corner  High  and  State;  Thomas  Bridgman,  High,  opposite 
Public  Offices. 

Druggists  —  Thomas  S.  Butler,  High,  opposite  Public  Offices;  John  M.  Kerr, 
Exchange  Buildings,  corner  High  and  Broad ;  S.  Clark,  High,  next  door  to 
Armstrong's  Tavern ,  M.  Jewett,  "  Chemical  Laboratory  &  Medica^  Store,"  Rich 
west  of  Front. 

Hatters  —  J.  W.  McCoy,  High  Street,  opposite  Courthouse;  J.  E.  Rudisill, 
northeast  corner  High  and  Town;  C.  Dermott,  Broad,  opposite  Public  Square. 

Postoffice  —  Bela  Latham,  Postmaster,  High,  near  corner  of  Broad. 

Stoves  and  Tinware—  W.  A.  Gill  &  Co.,  Broadway  Exch an i*e  ;  S.  W.  &  J.  E. 
Palmer,  ditto. 

Hardware — H.  Glover  &  Co.,  Broadway  Exchange;  Kasson  &  Co.,  High 
Street ;  S.  W.  &  J.  E  Palmer,  Goodale's  Row;  Ira  Grovcr,  marble  and  hardware. 
Broad,  opposite  Public  Square. 

Printing  offices —  Ohio  State  Journal,  State  Street,  third  door  west  of  Clinton 
Bank  ;  Register  office,  J.  M.  Gallagher,  Broadway  Exchange ;  Hemisphere  office,  S. 
Medary  &  Brothers,  Exchange  Buildings;  E.  Glover,  Front,  south  of  Mound; 
Cutler  &  Pillsbury,  High  Street,  north  of  Broad. 

Cabinetware  —  S.  Z.  Seltzer,  High,  east  side,  between  Friend  and  Rich  ;  John 
Smith,  High,  opposite  HcyPs  Tavern  ;  A.  Backus,  High,  east  side,  south  of  City 
House;  I.  G.  Dryer,  High,  east  side,  south  of  Rich. 

Confectioners  —  Ambos  &  Eigner,  High,  corner  Walnut  Alley. 

Architect — N.  B.  Kelly,  Architect  of  the  Lunatic  and  Blind  nsylums,  over 
Leiby's  store. 

Auctioneer  —  W.  J.  Tyler,  High,  basement  of  Brooks's  Tavern. 

Chairmakers  —  A.  G.  Hibbs,  High,  east  side,  south  of  Rich  ;  J.  C.  Brodrick, 
northeast  corner  High  and  Town. 

Wagonmakers  —  John  Emmick,  Friend,  north  side;  John  Otstot, Front, "south 
of  Friend. 

Carding  machine  —  G.  Jefferies,  between  Friend  and  Mound,  west  of  High, 

Tobacconist  —  A.  Stotts,  High,  west  side,  south  of  Mound. 


~Af   1'- 


wmmm 


M^  ^:/..^^^" 


,*• 


Be(}innin<is  ok  BrsiNEss.  ^^77 

Taiineried  —  J.  L.  Peters,  aoiith  end  t)r  llif^h,  at  the  bridge;  P.  I^itiinm, 
corner  Front  and  Rich. 

Foundry  —  J.  Ridgway  &  Co.,  plow  manutaetiiror8,  near  the  rivor,  north  ot* 
Broad  Street. 

SehooInK)m8  —  J.  O.  MastorvSon,  Broadway  Exchange;  J.  M.  C.  Ilaseltine, 
Third  Street,  opposite  Baptint  Church. 

Shoestores — W.  Keith  &  Co.,  High,  next  lo  Greenwood  &  King;  James 
Cherry,  Friend,  between  High  and  Front. 

Gansmith — Samuel  Thompson.  Friend,  between  High  and   Front. 

Blacksmiths — L.  B.  Pinney,  northwest  corner  Front  and  Public  Alley;  Wil- 
liam Harrison,  High,  opposite  noyl's  Tavern. 

Coachmakers  —  Robert  (Sutler,  High,  north  of  Broad  ;  Pirniey  «.V'  Kvans,  corner 
Public  and  Fair  alleys. 

Carpenters — J.  Neereainer,  Town,  east  of  High;  John  Lakin,  Town,  between 
Fourth  and  Fifth;  Jacob  Turney,  corner  Fourth  and  Town. 

Saddlers —  Philip  Reed,  High,  east  side:  ('.  A  Barker,  High,  next  to  Franklin 
Bank :  D.  E.  Ball,  High,  east  side. 

Brewery  —  L.  Hoster  Jk  Co,  City  Brewery,  south  en<J  of  Front  Street 

Livery  Stable  —  \V.  Barker,  Pair  Alley,  rear  of  Kagle  Cotfeehouse. 

Forwarding  and  commission  —  Z.  Hanford,  Franklin  Building;  B.  Comsiock 
&  Co.,  also  pork  dealers. 

Lumber  —  Casey  &  Field,  Third,  between  State  and  Town. 

Plasterer — Thomas  Y   Miles,  Front,  south  of  Town. 

Leather  —  I.  Taylor  &  Sons,  o|)j)osite  market,  south  si<le  of  State. 

Banks  —  Clinton  Bank  ,  southwest  corner  High  and  J^tate  ;  Franklin  Hank. 
High  Street,  east  si<le. 

Painter  and  glazier  —  Thomas  l^owns.  State  oj)j>ositt'  Statehouse. 

Upholsterer  —  Jaines  Aston,  State.  o])|H)site  Statehouse 

Saddlery  and  coach  and  harness  hardware — P.  Ilayden  iV  (-o.,  late  the  (-o- 
lumhus  Manufacturing  Company,  importers,  nnujufacturers  and  w'.ioK^sale  dealers. 

To  the  foregoing  list  shouhl  be  ad<lcd  the  following  changes  for  the  3'ear  ISIJT: 
John  Siobert  opens  a  new  drygoods  stoi-e  in  the  ('oniinercial  Row;  ().  Hish^y  t^  (-o. 
(O.  Kisley  and  M.  L.  Sullivant)  dissolved  partnership;  David  Brooks  resumes 
management  of  the  Kagle  Holil  ;  11.  Baldwin  o|)ons  a  di*ygoo<ls  husiness  in  the 
Franklin  Buildings;  L.  McCnIlough  i-esumes  tailorini^^ni  Hiirli  Stri'Ct,  opjjosile  the 
Statehouse;  John  French  opens  a  drugstore  on  West  Broad  Street,  ihini  door  from 
the  bridge;  Spilman  &,  Carroll,  tailors,  succeed  Ferguson  A:  Spihnan. 

1888  —  The  following  business  changes  afid  new  names  a|>pt^ar  in  this  year's 
record:  A.  A.  Stewart  succeeds  Stewart  tV'  Hall  in  tailoring;  W.  F.  (-onway  and  M. 
B.  Ross  succeed  Conway  and  Avery  in  forwarding  and  commission  ;  A<huns  iV* 
Townley,  merchant  tailors,  remove  to  the  vicinity  of  Young's  Cotf'eehousi\  on  High 
Street;  S.  VV.  Palmer,  harciware,  removes  from  (Joodale's  I{ow  to  thi^  Fxchange 
Buildings;  1*.  Ambos  succeeds  himself  and  (ieorgt^  F/ignei',  conlectioners ;  Kasson 
At  Co.  (A.  &  C.  VV.  Ka.sson  and  Thomas  K.  Hisbrow)  dissolve^  |)artn(?rshi|>,  and  are 
succeeded  by  Clarke,  Runyan  it  Co. ;  M.  Dresbach  withdraws  from  the  Anjerican 
Hotel  business,   and  is  succeeded  by  S.  Pike,  JunH)r,   and   William   Kelsey  ;  John 


378  HisTORir  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Young  uclds  a  bathhouHO  —  probably  the  first  one  in  the  eitj'  —  to  his  coffeehouse 
on  High  Street;  John  A.  Lazell  advertises  the  "Columbus  Horticultural  Garden," 
situated  northeast  of  the  city;  Ellis,  Winslow  &  Co.,  establish  a  new  hardware  store 
at  the  corner  ot  High  and  Rich  streets;  Meacham  &  Gill  buy  out  Monroe  Bel Ts 
bookstore,  two  doors  south  of  the  National  Hotel ;  George  8.  B.  Lazoll  and  Chester 
Mattoon,  bookbinders,  dissolve  partnership;  Henry  Wharton  announces  a  forward, 
ing  and  commission  business  in  the  Buck  warehouse,  lately  occupied  by  B.  Corn- 
stock  &  Co.;  John  N.  Chumpion  succeeds  himself  and  H.  Lathrop  in  drygoodsj 
William  Aston  announces  a  business  in  soap  and  candles  ;  H.  H.  Kimball  advertises 
a  leather  store  at  the  corner  of  High  and  Friend  streets;  L.  D.  &  C.  Humphrey  are 
succeeded  by  L.  Humphrey  &  Co. ;  G.  W.  &  E.  N.  Slocuni  advertise  the  manufac- 
ture of  saddles,  harness  and  trunks;  Mrs.  E.  Benjamin  opens  a  millinery  and 
fancy  store  in  the  Commercial  Row;  Wray  Thomas  engages  in  the  purchase 
of  Virginia  Military  land  warruntj^. 

1839— G  M.  Herancourt,  music  and  musical  instruments:  Buttles  &  Runyan, 
hardware,  sign  of  the  golden  padlock;  William  Wise,  hatter;  Robinson  Acheson, 
general  store,  Goodale's  Row;  National  Hotel,  P.  H.  Olmsted;  Eagle  Coffeehouse, 
Basil  Riddle;  Columbus  " Tattersalls"  —  livery  and  boarding  —  A.  L.  Olmsted; 
Fletcher's  Double  Reflecting  Lamps,  J.  M.  Kerr  &  Co.,  Exchange  Buildings;  Mills 
&  Augur,  new  shoestore,  near  the  Commercial  Row;  P.  Mnyden  &  Co.,  carriages, 
barouches  aitd  chariotees;  Gwynne  &  Baldwin  dissolve  partnership;  Adams  &  Free, 
merchant  tailors;  Matthias  Martin,  house  and  sign  painter;  Fa}"^,  Kilbourn  &  Co., 
furs  and  hatters'  trimmings.  William  A.  Piatt  removes  his  "  watch  and  jewelry 
shop"  to  the  Neil  House. 

1840 — Adam  Lehman,  optician  ;  Casey  &  Field  (William  L.  Casey  and  John 
Field)  dissolve  partnership  in  the  lumber  business;  James  W.  Ward,  chemist  and 
dniggi>t,  one  door  south  of  the  National  Hotel ;  S.  Brainerd,  musical  instruments, 
Buckeye  Block  ;  James  Kilbourn,  Junior,  &  Co.,  bookstore,  directly  opposite  the 
Suite  house  ;  George  A.  B.  Luzell  removes  his  bookstore  to  "Deshler's  Buildings, 
between  Broad  Street  and  the  Theatre;"  Engraving  and  copperplate  printing, 
Henry  F.  Wheeler,  Old  Courthouse;  D.  F.  Heffner  succeeds  S.  T.  Heffner  in  dry- 
goods;  W.  M.  Savage,  watch  and  clockmaker  and  jeweler,  opposite  Russell's  Tavern. 

1841  —  Trescott,  Jones  &  (.V,  boots  and  shoes;  Sherwood,  Miller  &  Co.  (O.  W. 
Sherw<»od,  John  Miller  and  J.  N.  Champion)  dissolve  ]>artnership ;  Alexander 
Backus,  silversmith,  *'  shop  on  High  Street,  between  Broad  Street  ancl  the  Theatre  ;" 
G.  W.  Penney  k  Co.  succeed  Ellis,  Winslow  &  Co.;  John  Miller,  seedstoro, 
Armstrong's  Block;  J.  Eldridge,  tailoring,  Neil  House;  H.  Daniels,  architect  and 
contractor;  Henry  W.  Derby,  bookstore,  opposite  the  Statehouse ;  John  Williard, 
grocer,  Franklin  Buildings. 

1842 —  William  Kelsey,  American  House,  succeeds  Pike  &  Kelsey ;  P.  Ambos, 
confectioner,  removes  to  his  new  building  on  High  Street,  opposite  the  State  Of- 
fices ;  W.  A.  Piatt,  jeweler,  succeeds  himselfand  Cyrus  Piatt ;  11.  W.  Cowdrey,  tailor ; 
Miller  k  Brown  (John  Miller),  grocers.  South  High  Street;  F.  Bentz  &  Co.,  confec- 
tioners, Noil  House ;  John  Westwater  &  Sons,  china,  glass  and  queensware,  "  new 
building  on  High  Street,  0])posite  the  State  Buildings,  between  the  Neil  House  and 
the  American  Hotel;"  R.  B.  Cowles,  lessee  of  the  Neil  House ;  Franklin  House, 


6eoinnin(}8  of  Businehs.  379 

William  C.  Pipor;  D.  IL  Tafl  &  Co.  (I).  11.  Taft  I'k  D.  W.  I)o8hlcr),  dry^roods,  din- 
solve  jmrtner8hip;  G.  Hammond,  stovoHtoro,  Noil  House;  (J.  S.  Doming  &  Co.  (G. 
S.  &  J.  C.  Doming)  dissolve  iMirtnerHhip;  "Gen.  Samuel  Perkins,"  barber,  corner  of 
Ili^rh  and  State ;  "  Genllemen's  Dressing  Saloon,*' Joseph  Bennett;  A.  W.  Ueader, 
cabinetmaker;  Fa3',  Kilbourn  &  Co.  (L.  Goodalc,  C.  Fay  &  L.  Kilbourn)  dissolve 
partnership;  Gwynno  &  Lamson,  drygoods;  Wing,  Richards  (Ku  Co.  (C.  H.  Wing, 
W.  Richards  and  A.  ]jee)  dissolve  partnership;  C.  B.  Ford,  tombstones,  mantels 
and  hearths;  R.  H.  Hubbell  sells  the  "City  Livery  Stable  and  Tattersalls"  to 
William  Neil.  P.  Hayden  &  Co.  advertise  that  they  will  sell  "  tanner's  oil  and 
Missouri  hides.*' 

This  brings  the  record  of  changes  down  to  the  year  1843,  when  the  first  busi- 
ness directory  of  the  city  which  a]»])eare(i  in  book  form  was  printed  by  Samuel 
Medary  and  published  by  J.  R.  Armstrong.  No  pretense  is  made  that  this  rec- 
ord is  complete  ;  it  contains  oidy  such  memoranda  of  the  successive  stages  of  bus- 
iness incipiency  as  may  be  gleaned  from  the  newsj)apers.  which  are  almost  the  only 
remaining  sources  of  information  on  the  subject  Of  banking,  manufacturing  and 
the  professions  little  mention  has  been  nmde,  as  they  will  be  sej)arately  treated. 

NOTES. 

1.  Watson's  establishment  wus  afterwards  known  as  the  National  Hotel,  kept  by  John 
Noble. 

2.  Board  of  Trade  Address,  July  24,  18S<J. 

3.  Ibid. 

4.  Ibid. 

5.  Ohio  aUiU  Jonnutly  July  2!»,  18:57. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


BUSINESS  EVOLUTION. 

The  (lovolopmont  of  trade  bears  such  an  intimate  relation  to  public  finance, 
that  the  one  cannot  be  comprehensively  considered  without  taking  some  account 
of  the  other.  A  clear  understanding  of  the  general  financial  conditions  which 
prevailed  is  therefore  essential  to  a  correct  interpretation  of  the  local  business 
events  of  the  period  which  has  now  been  reached. 

Prior  to  the  year  18H8  and  for  the  most  part  down  to  the  legislation  incident 
to  the  Civil  War,  local  banking  was  regulated  by  the  States,  and  was  practically 
free.  Under  prescribed  rules,  any  individual  or  corporation  might  issue  notes  on 
a  pledge  that  they  would  be  redeemed  when  presented.  In  the  abuse  of  this  privi- 
lege, during  the  first  two  decades  of  the  prosent  century,  the  country  was  flooded 
with  inconsiderate  and  inf<ecure  issues  of  paper  currency,  the  depreciation  and  col- 
lapHo  of  which  produced  universal  disaster  and  ruin.  Nearly  two  hundred  bank- 
ing institutions,  scattered  through  all  parts  of  the  Union,  failed  between  1811  and 
1820,  and  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  ending  in  1825,  trade  and  industry  were  al- 
most completely  prostrated  Speculators  and  brokers  were  for  a  time  enriched, 
but  labor  was  impoverished, and  business, particularly  on  the  frontier,  degenerated 
into  a  condition  little  better  than  that  of  the  barter  of  nomads  and  savages. 

After  this  bitter  experience  followed  ten  years  of  tolerable  though  fluctuating 
prosperity,  due  almost  entirely  to  the  unlimited  resources  of  the  country,  and  the 
equally  unlimited  industrial  energy  and  enterprise  of  the  American  people.  Had 
the  artificial  conditions  been  equally  as  favorable  as  the  natural,  all  might  have 
been  well,  but  they  were  unfortunately  not  so.  Another  sudden  and  enormous  in- 
flation of  the  paper  currency  took  place,  increasing  the  amount  in  circulation  from 
»()G,G28,898  in  1830  to  $149,185,890  in  1837.  The  speculative  fever,  which  is  the 
invariable  accom])animent  of  such  inflation,  again  raged,  and  again  culminated  in 
the  collapse,  bankruptcy  and  ruin  which  are  its  inevitable  consequences.  The 
crises  of  1837  and  1839  were  currency  crises  absolutely,  and  were  affected  in 
no  way  whatever  by  the  economic  measures  and  discussions  of  the  period. 

The  amount  of  bank  paper  in  circulation  diminished  from  $149,185,890  in 
1837  to  $83,734,000  in  1842,  and  $58,563,000  in  1843.  This  enormous  shrinkage 
measures  the  extent  of  the  reaction.  In  1837  payments  were  stopped  by  every 
single  bank  in  the  Union.  As  an  enormous  amount  of  small  notes  had  been  issued, 
and  those  had  mainly  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  laboring  classes,  tliey  were,  as 
usual  in  such  cases,  the  chief  sufferers. 

[:380] 


BrSINEHS    EVOLITIOX. 


3S1 


The  banks  rc8ume<i  liricflv  in  HHS.  but  another  crash  followoii  in  1S40,  whon 
about  one  hundred  and  ei«;hty  hanks,  inrludin;^  that  of  the  l-nitoH  Slates,  wore 
annihilated.  Then  foMowed  a  cat^iclysin  of.  **  wildcat"  an  I  **  nhinplastor "  cur- 
rency, the  character  of  which  may  he  ju-l^cil  h}*  the  f«»llowin^  N]KM*iincns  copied 
from  the  circulation  of  1?^41  : 


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10 


RECEIVABLE  FOR  COUNTY  TAXES 


No   783. 


June  9.  1841. 


AUDITORS  OFFICE,  ('II I LLK'OTIIK,  OHIO. 


Tho  Treasurer  of  Ross  County 


Will  Put/  I).   Coffins,  or  lininr 


Fifty 


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Fifty  (\'nt>i  on  ifnnmuf  out  of  any  /untfs  in  the   Tnasury. 


0. 


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No.  476 


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WILLIAM   KINNEV 


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26 


I^ftJI  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

The  passion  for  games  of  chance  was  a  natural  accompaniment,  if  not  result,  of 
such  a  currency  as  this,  and  accordingly  we  find  that  the  sale  of  lotler}-  tickets 
was  extensively  carried  on  during  the  inflation  ])eriod.  The  institutions  of  this 
class  most  extensively  advertised  in  the  Columbus  newspapers  were  those  of  Mary- 
land, Delaware  and  Virginia. 

But  the  condition  of  things  indicated  by  this  lottery  vice  and  its  twin  rag- 
money  rage,  could  not  fail  to  produce  heroic  efforts  to  mitigate  its  evils  The  leader 
of  such  efforts  in  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio  was  the  Hon.  Alfred  Kelley  of 
Columbus.  To  prepare  the  way  for  an  intelligible  statement  of  what  Mr.  Kelley 
undertook  and  accomplished  in  this  emergency,  mention  should  be  made  of  his  an- 
tecedent services  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Canal  Fund  Commissioners,  to 
which,  in  March,  1841,  he  was  appointed  as  successor  to  the  Hon.  Gustavus 
Swan.'  When  the  financial  tempests  of  1837  and  1840  broke  upon  the  country 
the  State  of  Ohio  was  engaged  in  the  extension  of  her  canal  system,  and  had  in- 
curred, chiefly  in  the  construction  and  enlargement  of  that  system,  a  debt  ap- 
proaching the  sum  i)f  $15,000,000.  Owing  to  the  depression  and  distrust  produced 
by  the  crisis,  great  difficulty  was  found  in  raising  money  on  the  credit  of  the  State 
to  meet  current  demands,  and  pay  the  interest  on  this  debt,  amounting  to  nearly 
$900,000  per  annum.  Tempted  by  a  stress  of  less  comparative  magnitude,  some 
other  States  had  repudiated  their  obligations,  and  Ohio,  for  the  first  and  only  time 
in  her  history,  was  in  serious  danger  of  committing  the  same  stupendous  ioWy. 
Efforts  to  negotiate  a  loan  in  England  were  made  in  1840,  but  substantially  failed, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  ended  November  15,  1841,  the  Canal  Fund  Com- 
missioners had  just  $1,393.33^  with  which  to  meet  about  $700,000  of  maturing 
debts.  This  money  Mr.  Kelley  succeeded  in  raising  in  New  York  by  pledging  his 
personal  credit.  The  details  of  the  legislation  by  which  these  obligations  were 
met  will  not  here  he  entered  into;  they  belong  rather  to  the  history  of  the  State 
than  to  that  of  its  capital. 

In  the  autumn  of  1844  Mr.  Kelley  was  elected  from  the  Columbus  district  to 
the  Ohio  Senate,  in  which  body,  as  chairman  of  its  Finance  Committee,  he  intro- 
duced, January  7,  1845,  a  bill  "to  incorporate  the  Slate  Bank  of  Ohio  and  other 
hanking  companies."  This  bill,  without  material  change,  became  a  law  on  the 
tw^cntyfourth  of  the  following  February,  and  thus,  for  the  first  lime,  >vas  the  bank- 
ing business  of  Ohio  organized  as  a  system,  and  placed  upon  a  substantial,  Siife  and 
solvent  basis.  The  local  relations  of  the  system  to  the  trade  and  industrial  devel- 
opment of  Columbus  need  be  cited  here  only  in  ageneral  way;  their  details  belong 
to  the  chapter  on  Banks  and  Banking. 

The  good  effects  of  this  legislation  were  soon  felt.  Similar  financial  reforms 
were  adopted  in  olher  States,  and  the  entire  country  soon  entered  upon  a  season  of 
prosperity'  which  has  not  been  surpassed  in  its  histor}-.  This  continucii  until  1857, 
when  the  failure  of  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company  on  the  twentyfourth  of 
Augui^t  in  that  year  precipitated  another  crash,  and  all  the  banks  in  the  Union 
again  suspended  payments.  This  crisis  was  also  brought  on  mainly  by  currency 
disorders.  The  bank  paper  in  circulation  had  again  been  greatly  inflated,  and 
much  ol'it  \vas  based  on  stocks  which  proved  to  bo  unsalable  and  insecure.     Fi*om 


BiTSINRKfl    KVOLITTION.  3^7 

1S51  until  1H57  bank  dimMmnts  were  excessive,  Hpoeuhition  wiih  rAinjKint  and  trad- 
ing was  overdone.  A  violent  reaction  naturally  followe  I,  but  after  the  storm  had 
passed  by,  and  the  speculative  t'over  begotten  by  a  redundant  and  practically 
irredeemable  currency  had  collapsed,  the  country  again  became  prosperous,  and 
continued  so  until  the  breaking  out  of*  the  ('ivil  VV^ir. 

Columbus,  like  every  other  ciHisiderable  town  in  the  State,  was  materially 
affected,  for  good  or  for  ill,  by  these  ups  and  downs  ot'  state  and  national  finance. 
Indications  of  the  condition  of  trade  during  the  course  of  these  vicissitudes  may  be 
found  in  the  following  nutnioranda  of  contemporary  i)rices : 

1S31— W.  8.  Sullivant  pays  fifty  cents  per  bushel  for  wheat,  delivered  at  his 
mill  **ono  mile  west  of  C-olumbus." 

1H:W— The  June  prices  current  in  the  C-olumhus  market  were  thus  quoted  : 
Wheat  5r»;Jc.,  ryc37ic.,  corn  2^0.,  oats  25c.,  timothysecd  81.50,  common  wool  20  to 
25c.,  Saxony  wool  31  to  40c.,  dairy  butter  10  to  12Jc.,  firkin  butter  7c.,  hams  5c., 
beans  per  bushel  75c.,  flour  per  bbl.  83.50,  country  sugar  fie,  whisky  j)er  bbl. 
S6.75  to  87. 

1835— July  prices:  Wheat  75c.,  oats  25  to  31  Jc,  corn  37  to  45c.,  cornmeal  44 
to  50c.,  potatoes  75c.,  e^gs  -S  to  lOc.  cheese  fi^c.,  hums  7h  to  9c.,  middlings  fijc, 
flour  per  bbl.  85.50  to  85.75. 

1837— April  prices:  Wheat  81,  corn  37A  to  50c.,  oats  2S  to  31}c.,  potatoes  25 
U)  31  Jc.,  timothyeeed  81. 50  to  82,  cornmeal  per  bushel  40  to  50c.,  superfine  flour 
8t).75  to  87,  sugar  7  to  8c.,  eggs  0  to  He.,  apples  25  to  75c.,  butter  12^  to  KJc.,  hams 
10  to  12Jc. 

1839— The  October  price  of  wheat  was  f»2ic.  at  Columbus,  and  50  to  70c.  at 
Roscoe  and  Massillon,  with  a  downward  tendency.  As  to  the  pork  market  we  find 
the  following  cun*ent  comment  under  date  of  ^Voveml>er  20- : 

The  fltaple  article  of  Southern  Ohio  nppears  to  he  ;roinj^  a  lu'^^rin^  this  fall.  .  .  .  Drovers 
cannot  make  sales  or  ^ct  otFors.  Three  dollars  per  hundred  ha*<  heen  named,  liut  pun'hasers 
cannot  be  found  to  oiler  that  price,  or  drnvers  to  take  it.  .  .  .  Some  demonstrations  have 
l)een  made  by  the  pork  merchants  of  Columbus  towanl.«  the  business  this  fall,  but  on  a  very 
limited  scale  compared  with  former  reasons. 

1841 — Columbus  wholesale  prices  in  May:  Wheat  fortyfive  cents,  rye  31c.,  un- 
shelled  corn  15c.,  shelled  do  17c.,  oats  12A<'.  white  beans  50c.,  h(>ps  30c.,  country 
sugar  6  to  7c.,  New  Orleans  sugar  si.K  to  nine  cents,  salt  per  bbl.  83,  raw  whisky 
per  gallon  15c.,  rectified  do.  IfJ  to  20c.,  geese  feathers  31c. 

In  reference  to  the  wheat  market  of  July,   1841,  the  following  comment  was 

made^ : 

The  price  of  wlieat  at  Sandusky  during?  tlie  last  week  wtus  ^l.(M)  to  1  10  c,  per  hushel. 
At  Massillon  on  July  14,  from  .f? I  to  1.07  wa.s  paid,  though  th(»  (iazttte  consiilerH  this  as  the 
etTcict of  competition  amouL'  l)uycrs,  an<l  a.s  bfing  altojrfthor  too  niurli.  It  id  obstTvahle  that 
nearly  the  same  price  has  been  paid  for  wheat  for  two  or  three  weeks  past,  all  alonj^  the 
Jjake  Shore,  at  Buffalo,  KochesttT,  and  as  far  east  as  Syracuse.  We  do  not  know  how  to  ac- 
count for  this  unless  it  is  caus<*d  by  the  export  to  Cana<la. 

The  "export  to  Canada  "  was  doubtless  the  true  ex|»Iahatioh.  As  the  market 
was  expanded,  better  prices  were  obtained. 


H88  History  of  the  City  op  "Columbus. 

A  few  da3*B  later  the  newspaper  just  quoted  from  makes  the  following  addi- 
tional statements: 

Corn  was  selling  freely  at  Sandusky  last  week  for  forty  cents,  and  as  high  as  fortytwo 
cents  had  been  paid.  .  .  .  Flour  has  advanced  to  $6.50  in  New  York.  From  $1.12  to  1.14  has 
l)een  paid  for  wheat  at  the  lake  ports  for  a  week  past.  The  price  at  Newark  last  Saturday  was 
ninetythree  cents.  At  Zanesville  from  ninety  cents  to  one  dollar  was  paid.  We  look  for  a 
further  rise. 

The  following  observation,  under  date  of  October  25,  1841,  obtains  special 
significance  from  the  business  depression  then  prevailing: 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  in  the  eastern  cities  Columbus  credit  stands  as  high  as  any 
of  the  cities  of  the  West.  This  speaks  well  for  our  metropolis,  and  is  evidence  of  promptness 
and  a  determination  to  keep  up  a  good  credit  abroad.* 

1842  —  June  prices  at  Columbus:  Wheat  $1,  rye  33c.,  oats  15c.,  shelled  corn 
16  to  ISc,  iiay  $4.50  to  $6  per  ton,  wool  20  to  31e.,  rectified  whisky  14  to  16c., 
barley  37c.,  hams  3  to  5c.,  butter  6  and  10  cents,  flour  per  bbl.  $4.00  to  $4.50,  hops 
25c.,  eggs  5c.,  potatoes  75c.  to  $1,  cloverseed  $4.00  to  $4.50,  timothyseed  $1.50,  flax- 
seed 65c.,  turnips  98c.  to  $1,  wood  25  to  75c.  per  cord. 

1843  —  The  Juno  and  July  prices  of  wheat  in  Ohio  this  year  were  90  to  95c. 

1844  —  The  April  price  of  wheat  in  Baltimore  was  $1.00  to  $1.12  ;  in  Cleveland 
85c.     As  to  wool  wo  find,  under  date  of  August  17,  1844,  the  following  statement : 

The  Buffalo  Commercial  Advertiser  of  the  third  instant  notices  the  fact  that  the  Lowell 
Manufacturing  Company  paid  Messrs.  Perkins  and  Brown,  of  Akron,  for  their  wool  from  fif- 
teen hundred  sheep,  for  one  sample  eightyflve  cents  per  pound,  and  for  another  ninety  cents 
per  pound.    The  whole  clip  was  sold  at  from  fifty  to  ninety  cents. 

Tho  same  paper,  August  22 :  "  Pittsburgh  prices  current  for  August  14,  show 
Hftlos  as  high  as  fortyfive  cents  per  pound,  to  wit:  Lamb's  wool  28  to  30c. ;  com- 
mon and  quarter  blood  28  to  30c. ;  halfblood  33  to  35c. ;  threequartors  blood  38c ; 
fullblood  40c. ;  Saxony  45c.  The  purchases  in  this  market  will  come  up  to  a  million 
and  a  half  pounds  this  season." 

1845  — Juno  prices  in  Ohio:  Wheat  75c.,  corn  40c.,  oats  35  to  40c.,  prime 
wool  85c.,  fullblood  do.  33c.,  threoquarter  blood  29c.,  halfblood  do.  26c.,  onoquarter 
blood  do.  23c  ,  common  do.  18  to  20c.,  fiour  $4  50  to  $4.75  per  bbl.,  old  potatoes  75c. 

1847  —  February  prices  current  in  Columbus:  Wheat  55c.,  rye  40c.,  corn  16 
lo  20o  ,  oats  16  to  18c.,  flour  per  bbl.  $4,  hay  per  ton  $4.50  to  $5,  country  sugar  7 
to  8c.,  Now  Orleans  do.  8  to  lOc,  rice  5J  to  6c.,  ham  6  to  7c.,  butter  8  to  12c. 
ihooHo  5  to  6c.,  Rio  cofteo  8J  to  9^0.;  Java  coffee  15c.,  Hocking  salt  per  bbl.  $1.75, 
country  moiassos  50c.  per  gallon.  New  Orleans  do.  37^  to  40c. 

Those  were  low  j)rices,  but  with  the  opening  of  spring  a  great  advance  took 
|>luiT,  and  in  May,  wheat  wns  quoted  in  New  York  at  two  dollars  per  bushel,  corn 
ut  $1.05,  and  flour  at  $8  to  $9  per  bbl.  This  advance  was  well  sustained  during 
the  remainder  of  tho  year,  and  in  August  we  find  wheat  quoted  as  follows:  New 
York  $1.18  to  $1.25;  Baltimore,  white  $1.24,  red  $1.12  to  $1.20;  PittJiburgh,  prime 
rod,  84  to  88c.  The  following  November  quotations  of  wheat  in  New  York  wei-e 
announced  :  Genesee  $1.86,  Ohio  $1.35,  Wisconsin  $1.30.  Corn  was  quoted  at  72 
to73«.     The  Cincinnati  price  of  prime  red  wheat  November  17,  was  $1,02. 


Business  Kvolution.  389 

1848 — In  March  of  this  your  wheat  was  quoted  in  New  York  at  $1.40.  In 
January  Ibo  Philadelphia  price  of  wool  was  33  to  38c.  The  April  i)rice  of  wheat 
in  Now  York  was  Si. 124. 

184D  —  In  New  York  the  June  prices  of  wheat  were  75  to  80c.,  and  of  wool  as 
follows:  Saxony  38  to  40c.,  merino  fleece  35  to  37c.,  onehalf  and  threequarter 
blood  30  to  32c.,  common  27  to  29c.,  j)ulled  number  one  30  to  32c. 

1S50  —  August  quotations  in  Coluinbus:  Wheat  70c.,  unshelied  corn  30c., 
oats  30c.,  Of^^a  8  to  lOc,  potatoes  $1  to  $1.25,  iiay  $0  to  S8  per  ton. 

1851  —  The  following  statement  as  to  the  local  wool  market  bears  dale  July  19  : 

Mr.  Sessions  has  purchased  over  I$00,()00  pounds  this  season.  .  .  .  The  highest  price  he 
paid  was  flftyseven  cents  per  pound  for  a  lot  in  Licking  County.  He  has  paid  fifty  cents  per 
pound  for  several  lots.     He  goes  to  the  farniers,  and  buys  directly  of  theui.*^ 

1852  —  August  quotations,  Columbus  market:  Old  wheat  58  to  GOc,  new  5i) 
to  57c.,  corn  35c.,  oats  20  to  23c.,  potatoes  40  to  45c.,  apples  25  to  30c., 
butler  12  to  15c.,  oggs  8c.,  beeves  S2.25  per  hundred  |»ounds;  live  hogs  ^4.25  do. 
Asolhcr  ^upplies  were  pro])ortionately  low,  these  prices  were  considered  tiiirly  re- 
nmnerative.     The  August  prices  of  wool  in  New  York  were  30  to  40c. 

1853  —  The  prices  of  wool  were  much  higher  than  in  1S52,  the  average  in  Ohio 
being  45  to  50c.  The  following  New  York  quotations  were  announced  March  31  : 
American  Saxony  fleece  50  to(i2c.,  fullblood  merino  50  to  50c.,  onehalf  and  three- 
quarter  blood  40  to  50c.,  native  and  onecjuarter  blood  41  to  40c.,  superfine  pulled 
45  to  59c.,  number  one  pulled  39  to  44c.  During  the  winter  of  1852-3  about  50,000 
hogs  were  slaughtered  in  (/olumbus  for  the  New  York  nuirket. 

1854 — On  April  8,  corn  sold  in  the  Columbus  market  at  40c.,  oats  at  37^c., 
and  potatoes  at  GOc,  per  bushel.  The  Ohio  Sf<ifc  Jouriud  of  May  20  contains  this 
statement:  "  Four  hundred  bushels  of  wheat  were  sold  last  Tuesday  in  this  city  at 
one  dollar  and  eighty  cents  per  bushel  —  the  highest  price  ever  j)aid  in  this  mar- 
ket." T\\M  Ohio  >sy//^?.s7//f/// of  the  same  date  says:  "Flour  is  now  brought  to  I  his 
market  from  Cincinnati,  and  is  selling  at  nine  dollars  j^er  barrel."  In  the  middle 
of  June  new  potatoes  were  sold  in  Columbus  at  four  dollars  per  bushel  ;  in  July  at 
one  dollar  and  sixty  cents.  The  June  price  of  wool  ranged  from  twentyfive  to 
thirtyseven  cents,  and  of  hay  from  six  to  eight  dollars  per  ton.  The  ()hi(t  Sfdfcs- 
mmi  of  August  17  made  this  suggestive  statement :  "  Farmers  and  others  selling  in 
the  city  market  refuse  to  cliange  bills,  in  order  to  accumulate  silver,  for  which  they 
gel  a  small  premium  by  selling  it  to  menihants  and  others."  A  similar  state  nf 
facts  is  thus  noted  September  20  by  the  Ohio  Stafc  Journal :  '*  The  troubles  of  the 
people  in  the  market  places  this  morning,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  small  change, 
were  almost  beyond  endurance.  The  country  people  refused  to  change  any  foreign 
bank  bills,  and  as  many  of  the  buyers  didn't  have  anything  else,  it  may  l>c  wril 
imagined  there  was  a  time."  The  same  |)aper  of  I)e<eml)er  II  says  :  *' Our  drovers 
who  have  driven  their  hogs  to  the  Kast  to  market  are  returning  with  their  pockets 
lined  with  gold.  Three  gentlemen  returned  last  week,  bringing  with  them  four- 
teen thousand  dollars  mostly  in  twenty-dollar  gold  j)iecos  " — the  product,  doubtless, 
of  the  recent  California  discoveries. 


390  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

The  following  Columbus  market  quotations  boar  date  Docembor  9,  1854  :  Oats 
37c.,  corn  50c,  turnips  75c.,  flour  per  bbl.  S8  50,  timothysood  $3,  clovorseed  $G.50, 
hay  per  ton  SIO.  potatoes  $1.40,  butter  20c.,  hams  12j4c.,  rice  8c.,  Rio  coffee  14c., 
Java  do.  IG^c,  New  Orleans  sugar  6  to  7c.,  wood  per  cord  $2.50. 

1855 — On  April  7  potatoes  sold  in  the  Columbus  market  nt  $2  per  bushel, 
butter  at  25c.  per  pound,  eggs  at  15c.  per  dozen,  and  other  things  in  proportion. 
Hay  sold  on  the  streets  in  May  at  $15  per  ton.  Early  in  the  same  month  a  whole- 
sale dealer  in  the  city  offered  seventy  three  cents  per  bushel  for  ten  thousand 
bushels  of  corn,  but  the  offer  was  refused.  Wheat  was  steady  at  $1.25,  and  corn 
sold  at  fifty  cents,  in  August.  The  average  price  of  wheat  from  April  1,  1854,  to 
April  1,  1855,  was  $1.55,  and  from  April  1,  1855,  to  April  1,  1856,  about  the  same. 
Some  sales  were  made  during  the  latter  period  at  as  high  as  $2.05. 

A  contributor  to  the  Ohio  Sfdtesman  of  August  5,  1857,  writes: 

The  highest  price  that  flour  has  reached  during  a  period  of  sixty  years  was  in  \1\H\, 
when  it  sold  at  sixteen  dollars  a  barrel.  ...  In  1847,  the  period  of  the  Irish  famine,  flour 
never  exceeded  ten  dollars.  The  prices  of  breadstiiffs  were  higher  in  1855  than  for  sixty 
years,  if  we  except  the  seasons  of  179(5  and  1817.  From  the  minutes  kept  at  the  Van  Ren- 
selaer  Mansion,  at  Albany,  for  sixtyone  years,  where  large  amounts  of  rents  are  payable  in 
wheat  as  a  cash  equivalent,  on  the  first  of  January  each  year,  tlie  fact  is  ascertained  that 
wheat  has  only  five  times  been  $2,  or  upwards  a  bushel,  while  it  was  seventeen  times  at  one 
dollar,  and  twice  at  seventyfive  cents.  The  average  price  for  the  whole  period  was  $1.38,  and 
for  the  last  thirty  years  $1  25. 

1857  —  The  financial  crisis  of  this  year  has  already  been  referred  to.  The 
Ohio  States7nan  of  September  18  remarks:  *'  There  is  no  denying  it —  hard  times 
are  upon  us.  .  .  .  Money  is  scarce,  and  most  business  men  are  in  debt."  B.  Doug- 
las &Co.,  New  York  mercantile  agents,  reported  the  number  of  failures  during  the 
year  at  204,061. 

1858  —  The  price  paid  this  year  for  wool  by  Columbus  buyers  ranged  from 
twenty  to  forty  cents,  according  to  quality.  Some  of  the  July  market  prices  were 
as  follows:  Corn  45  to  50c.,  oats  40  to  45c.,  old  potatoes  40  to  50c.,  now  do.  $1  to 
$1.20,  butter  12i  to  15c.,  eggs  7  to  8c. 

1859  —  Wheat  sold  in  February  at  $1,  corn  at  80c.,  and  oats  at  50c.  April 
market  quotations :  Corn  78c.,  oats  GOc,  wheat  $1.10,  potatoes  80c.  and  one  dollar, 
eggs  lOc,  lard  12^0.,  hay  $13,  butter  30  to  35c.,  beefsteak  8  to  10c. 

1860  — July  market:  Wheat  90c.  to  $l,corn  35  to  40c.,  oats  28  to  33c.,  lard  lOc, 
eggs  9c.,  new  potatoes,  60c. 

1861  — January  wholesale  prices:  Wheat  80c.,  corn  25  to  30c.,  oats  18  to  24c., 
butter  12^  to  15c.,  potatoes  25  to  30c.,  eggs  13  to  14c.  Wool  sold  in  the  spring  at 
35  to  40c.,  and  in  June  at  25  to  30c. 

This  brings  us  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  afler  which  prices  were  rated 
in  a  depreciated  paper  currency.  We  therefore  resume  the  record  of  the  more  im- 
portant changes  and  new  enterprises  in  business : 

1843 — Wing,  Richards  &  Co.,  drygoods,  change  partners;  Columbus  Marble 
Works,  C.  B.  Ford;  Salmon  Thomas,  produce,  forwarding  and  commission,  west 
end  Broad  Street  Bridge ;  A.  A.  Stewart  succeeds  McClelland  and  Stewart,  mer- 


HrsiNEss  KvoLiJTi«)N.  :>91 

chant  tailorH;  Wyuti  JohiiHoii,  barber;  H.  Coiiist<K'k  \  Co.,  waroliousc  aii<l  wheat - 
buyei's;  W.  Lar^e,  dry^oodrt,  thini  door  north  of  the  American  House:  L,  Lindc- 
man,  confectioner,  High  Street;  Harvey  &  Soibert,  booiibinders,  High  Street; 
warm  and  cold  bathH.  J.G.Armstrong,  in  Jewett's  Building,  Rich  Street;  I.  N. 
Whiting  &  Huntington,  booksellers;  Gray  &  Co.,  marble  works,  near  corner  of 
High  and  Rich;  E.  Gale,  livery  stable,  High  Street;  S.  E.  Wright  A:  Co.  (John 
Greenwood),  drygoods;  A.  Schneider,  confectioner,  High  Street;  W.  A.  McCoy  \' 
Co.,  wholesale  and  retail  drygoods,  opposite  the  Statehouse;  Cushnian  \'  Howell, 
saddles,  harness  and  trunks ;  Lawrence  l)ipj)el,  potti»r,  opposite  Peters's  tannery; 
8.  I).  Proston  &Co.,  drygoods,  corner  Higiia;id  Town;  Booth  &,  Minor,  carriage  inan- 
ufacturci's,  High  Street,  north  of  Broad  ;  J.  N.  Champion,  real  estate  ;  Derby  iV  Al- 
len (  H.  W.  Derby,  H.  S.  Allen),  books  and  stationery;  J.  N.  Cliainpion.  drygoods  and 
boots  and  shoes.  Buckeye  Block;  J.  B.  Wheaton,  chemist  and  druggist,  southwest 
corner  High  and  Broad;  A.  C.  Brown,  boots  and  shoes;  Samuel  T.  Hetl*ner,drygoo(is, 
Hxchange  Buildings;  W.  M.  Savage,  jeweler,  oj)posite  Russell's  Hotel;  Keed  & 
Sheldon,  tailors,  High  Street,  next  to  W.  B.  Brooks's  store  ;  William  Jiurdell,  draj^cr 
and  Uiilor,  Neil  Hou.se;  W.  B.  Brooks,  grocer,  corner  High  and  Rich:  (leorge  J. 
Pugh,  tin,  copper  and  sheetiron  ware.  High  Street,  opposite  City  House:  Kdward 
N.  Slocum,  saddles,  harness  and  trunks,  a  few  doors  south  of  Neil  House;  Jeremiah 
A.  Slusser,  tailor.  High  Street,  third  door  south  of  the  new  Mechanics'  Hall;  .!.('. 
Broderick,  cabinetware,  corner  High  and  Town  ;  William  Middleton,  rope,  cordage 
and  twinemaker,  corner  Front  and  Broad  ;  C.  G.  Shefliehl,  transportation  agent; 
George  Geer,  iron  merchant:  Peter  T.  Krag,  grocer,  corner  Mound  and  High  ; 
Joseph  Kenton,  cutlery.  High  Street  oj)posit(^  Franklin  House;  William  Flintham, 
iron  merchjint.  State  Street,  opj)osite  Statehouse:  D.  H.  Taft,  drygoods,  corner 
Broad  and  High;  Samuel  Thompson,  grocer,  corner  High  and  Friend;  1.  D. 
Pounds,  gunsmith,  Friend  Street:  J.  P.  Bruck,  cabinetware,  Jligh  Street,  south  of 
Mechanics'  Hall  ;  A.  Frankenberg,  groi^eries,  and  boots  and  shoes,  South  High 
Street,  between  Mound  and  South  ;  H.  Daniels,  architect.  Buckeye  Block;  Ben- 
jamin Blake,  carriagi'S,  buggies  and  wag<ms,  Broad  Street,  near  High  :  C.  Ortinan, 
boots  and  shoes.  High  Street,  between  Rich  and  Town  ;  Matthias  Martin,  jKjinter, 
grainer,  glazier  and  gilder,  Deshler's  Block  ;  Nicholas  Hess,  blacksmith,  Friend 
Street,  between  Third  and  Fourth.  A  bnsir»ess  directory  ol  the  city  for  184!M, 
was  published  this  year  by  J.  R.  Armstrong.  It  is  the  earliest  dire(!lory  in  book 
form  which  the  author  has  been  able  to  lind. 

1844 — A.  G.  Hibbs  retires  from  the  tirm  (►f  Dalzell,  Jlibbs  <.\:  Co..  dealei's  in 
grain  and  mill  machinery :  J^jwery  Nursery,  Phili])  Fisher  iV  Son.  north  oi  tin* 
city:  L.  Buttles  succeeds  Buttles  A:  Runyan.  hardware:  Hayden,  Morri.son  iV: 
Co.,  woolbuyers.  Buckeye  Block;  (loodale  <^  Chamberlain,  (IrygcxMJs,  (ioodale's 
Row;  S.  Thomas  iV  R.  Fitch,  j)roduce  and  commission,  "white  warehouse,"  west 
end  of  bridge:  KIlis,  Sessions  &  (>o.,  drygoods,  Kussell's  Building;  .1.  F.  Ihnlisill, 
hatter,  opposite  Public  Otlices  ;  H.  W.  Derby  succeeds  Derby  A:  AIUmi,  bookslori- ; 
Ste^varl  &  Osborn,  woolbuyers ;  Thomas  Atcho.son.  do.;  James  Aston,  fui'iiiture, 
VV^est  Stale,  south  side  ;  Charles  C.  I )eshler  t\:  Co.,  wholesale  and  retail  grocers, 
Exchange  Buildings;   Fay  &  Kilbourn,  Goodale's  How,  drygoods;  Samuel  Crosby, 


392  History  of  tub  City  of  Columbus. 

dry  goods,  groceries,  hardware,  queensware,  etc.,  "  yellow  buildings,"  corner  High 
and  Rich  ;  J.  H.  Riley,  bookstore;  William  Gregory,  wholesale  and  retail  grocer; 
Neil  House;  Armstrong  &  King  (William  Armstrong.  Matthew  King),  drygoods, 
opposite  Goodale's  Row;  Rosenthaler  &  Springer,  drygoods;  E.  W.  k  E.  Gwynne, 
drj'goods;  A.  Schneider,  confectioner,  opposite  City  House. 

1845  —  G.  W.  Penney  retires  from  R.  Ellis  &  Co.,  hardware;  J.  Rickloy  & 
Co.  (J.  Rickley  and  Frederick  Bonningnus),  dissolve  partnership ;  Ellis  &  Sessions 
(T.  P.  Ellis,  F.  C.  Sessions)  succeed  Ellis,  Sessions  &  Co.,  drygoods;  John  Burr, 
nursery.  South  Street,  east  of  city ;  P.  C.  &  C.  A.  Bain,  drygoods.  Exchange  Build- 
ings; Olmsted  &  Peebles,  oyster  saloon.  Exchange  Buildings;  Schneider  k  Goff, 
confectioners,  Neil  House;  Gere,  Abbott  k  Co.,  hardware,  161  High;  Mrs.  M. 
Brock lehurst,  milliner.  High  Street;  Mrs.  Snowdon,  do. ;  M.  Gooding  &  Co.,  dry- 
goods. 

1846  —  Denig  k  Son,  druggists,  near  the  Mechanics*  Hall;  M.  Halm,  cabinet- 
ware,  Rich  near  High;  H.  Brown,  merchant  tailor,  Walcutt's  Building;  A.  P. 
Stone  &  Co.,  drygoods,  "at  their  checkered  store,  with  large  green  window,  two 
doors  south  of  S.  k  B.  Woodbury  &  Co.'s;"  Bright  &  Bobingor,  tinware,  Neil 
House ;  J.  Reeves,  merchant  tailor,  175  High ;  Alhambra  Coffeehouse,  Riddle  & 
DeLashmutt;  Stanton  &  Lee,  drygoods,  Goodale*s  Row. 

1847 — J.  M.  Kinney,  bookstore,  Neil  House;  J.  Ridgway  &  Co.,  Columbus 
Foundry;  M.  Gooding  succeeds  Goodale  &  Gooding;  Humphrey  &  Langworthy 
succeed  Daniel  T.  Kramer,  druggist;  J.  &  W.  B.  Brooks,  wholesale  and  retail 
gi*ocers,  corner  High  and  Rich ;  S.  D.  &  L.  P.  Preston,  Goodale's  Row,  drygoods  ; 
1).  H.  Tall  succeeds  Tafb  &  Wilcox,  drygoods.  Buckeye  Block  ;  Joseph  H.  Riley 
and  Joseph  Sullivant  (Joseph  H.  Riley  k  Co.)  bookstore,  Neil  House ;  Faxon, 
Smith  &  Mailin  (Elisha  Faxon,  B.  E.  Smith,  L.  D.  Martin),  drygoods  and  groceries, 
Neil's  New  Block. 

1848 — S.  D.  &  L.  P.  Preston,  in  consequence  of  fire;  removed  to  Exchange 
Buildings ;  F.  C.  Sessions,  drygoods,  "second  drygoods  store  south  of  the  market- 
house;"  Mitchell  k  Baker,  real  estate;  John  Conly,  grocer,  "opposite  new  court- 
house;" Frederick  Bentz,  ice;  William  A.,  J.  &  John  L.  Gill  succeed  Gills  & 
McCune;  Philip  Rose,  merchant  tailor;  M.  W.  Bliss,  tin,  shoetiron  and  copperware  ; 
James  A.  Aston,  do. ;  E.  Gaver,  merchant  tailor;  C.  R.  King,  teastore  (advertises 
'*fip  muslin");  MeElvain  &  Fitch,  wholesale  and  retail  produce;  L.  D.  Martin  re- 
tires from  Faxon,  Smith  &  Martin;  A.  P.  Stone,  wholesale  and  retail  drygoods; 
O.  P.  k  A.  Langworthy  succeed  Langworthy  &  Humphrey,  druggists ;  George  B. 
Walcutt,  sign  and  banner  painter;  C.  H.  Wing  retires  from  Wing  k  Richards, 
Neil's  New  Block;  Scheffer  k  Schneider,  druggists,  corner  High  and  Rich;  J.  k 
H.  A.  Field,  lumber,  Third,  between  State  and  Town ;  P.  T.  Snowden,  ladies* 
dressgoods,  Neil's  Row;  Finch  &  Fl^'nt,  Buckeye  Block;  Joseph  Weitgenannt, 
nurser}',  northeast  of  the  city;  Frank  &  Hess,  readymade  clothing,  corner  High 
and  State;  Edwards  &  Davis,  books,  stationery  and  jewelry,  Neil's  New  Building; 
Kelton,  Bancroft  &  Co.,  drygoods;  Brooks  &  Johnson  (David  Brooks,  Oliver 
Johnson),  real  estate;  G.  Machold  &  Co.,  variety  store  and  musical  instruments;  O. 
Backus,  grocer.  High,  South  of  Town;  H.  Barnes,  confectioner,  191  High;  John  T. 


^^^   (y^u^ZC 


I.*  <*. 


'•: : 


1*   *. 


*«« 


•'• 


* 


BU8INE88  EvoLrTiON.  393 

Blain  &  Co.,  periodicul  and  newH  depot;  Hluko,  Domi^an  &  Co.,  carriage  and 
coach makcrH ;  D.  Brooks,  ehairmakcr,  Iligli,  l)otweon  iiicli  and  Town;  Charles 
Knoderor,  Cannon  Tavern,  Friend,  west  of  iligl»,  Mouth  side;  Cole  &  SUndirth, 
foundr}',  Front,  near  Last  Street;  S.  Clark  &  Co.,  druggistH,  139  High  ;  K.  Cloud, 
lumber,  northeast  corner  Third  and  Friend;  W.  Downs  &  Co.,  copper,  tin  and 
sheetiron  ware;  II.  DeWitt,  carriage  maker;  J.  &  C.  Eldridge,  grocers;  A.  &  D. 
llayden,  grocers.  Buckeye  Block  ;  James  Lennox,  Junior,  engineer  and  millwright; 
H.  Lyndall,  Daguerrean  artist ;  llutus  Main,  grocer,  Broad,  between  High  and 
Front;  J.  II.  Mitchell,  drygoods,  Broadway  Hotel,  East  Broad;  William  Muqih}', 
grocer,  corner  Broud  and  Front;  Augustus  Piatt,  brass  founder,  corner  Front  and 
Spring;  Price  &  Hughes,  cabinctware,  Rich,  between  High  and  Front;  lleinhard 
k  Ficser,  printers.  Mechanics'  Hall ;  Siebcrt  k  Lilley,  bookbinders.  High,  ojiposite 
Public  Offices;  E.  A.  Stoughlon,  Daguerrean  rooms;  S.  Thompson,  grocer,  south- 
west corner  High  and  Friend  ;  W.  B.  Thrall,  j)rinter.  A  directory  of  the  cit}'  was 
published  this  year,  in  book  form,  by  John  Siebert. 

1849 — Fischer  &  Schneider,  Eagle  Drugstore;  William  Hlynn  and  Thomas  S. 
Baldwin  succeed  Piatt  &  BIynn  in  jewelry;  Finch  k  Flynt  dissolve  partnership; 
Fay  &  Kilbourn,  do.;  Field  k  Field  do.;  Preston  k  Wetmore  do.;  O.  S.  Hunter 
retires  from  Morrison  k  Hunter;  Mills  \'  Smith,  real  estate;  L.  Preston  &,  Co.  re- 
moved to  Neifs  New  Block  ;  Kellcy  k  Bhickmore,  architects. 

1850  —  A  directory  of  the  city  was  published  this  year  by  E.  (Jlover  and 
William  Henderson.  The  following  business  menu)randa  arc  mostly  taken  frt)m 
its  pages:  E.  Glover,  printer,  o}>})Ositc  the  Franklin  Honsc ;  J.  Schoyerer,  drug- 
gist. Mechanics'  Hall;  Leamon  k  Hurley,  Marblcworks ;  A.  A.  Clark,  jeweler,  187 
High;  Brown  k  Buck,  jewelers,  south  of  Clinton  Hank;  Hall,  ('ase  &  (-o., 
manufacturers  of  edged  tools,  State  Avenue;  H.  (i.  Hood,  gunsmith,  109 
High;  B.  K.  Van  Houten,  millinery,  north  of  the  American;  William 
Say  k  Co.,  brewery,  corner  Front  and  Mulhcrry  Alley;  Lennox  k  Heg- 
enbotham,  machinists.  Broad,  near  Third  ;  Edward  T.  Rees,  saddles,  harness 
and  trunks;  Header  k  Williams,  undertakers;  Ambos  k  Lennox,  Eagle  Foun- 
dry and  Machine  Shop;  P.  Hayden,  manufacturer  of  huilders'  and  mechanics 
hardware.  State  Avenue,  north  of  Broad;  J.  H.  Feh^l),  draughtsman  arul  engraver  ; 
J.  Ridgway  k  ('o.,  castings,  ]>lovvs  aiui  steam  engines;  (iaver  t\:  Sewell,  merchant 
tailor,  Neil  House;  V.  Hurkley  k  (-o,  clothing:  A.  Heed,  musical  instruments, 
High,  north  of  Neil  House:  William  Richards,  drygoods,  Odcon  Buildings,  High 
Street;  Kelton  k  Bancroft,  drygoods,  Commercial  Bow;  B.E.Smith,  drygoods. 
Odeon  Buildings;  P.  Bain,  drygoods,  next  door  north  of  Neil  House;  Stage  & 
Frisbie,  grocers,  forwarding  and  commission,  southwest  c«)rner  High  and  Friend  ; 
O'Reilly's  Atlantic,  Lake  k  Mississippi  Telegra}>l),  City  Bank  Building,  corner 
High  and  State ;  Ohio  Mutual  Insurance  Company;  Wade's  Cleveland  k  Cincin- 
nati Telegraph,  Odeon  Building;  J.  11.  Stauring,  groceries  and  commission,  corner 
High  and  South  Public  Lane;  Buttles,  Comstock  iV  Co.,  forwarding  and  commis- 
sion, head  of  the  canal  ;  Ilanes  \'  (ieorgc,  grocers,  forwarding  and  commission. 
Buckeye  Block  ;  A  Frnnkcnberg,  drygoods  and  groceries.  212  lligli  :  Fitch  iV  llalc. 
forwarding  and  commission,  Railroad    Building,  opposite  the   Hidgway  Foundry  ; 


394  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

W.  M.  Garrett,  f^rocer,  lligb,  opposite  Franklin  IIouso  ;  P.  Conrad,  grocer,  Houtli- 
east  corner  Third  and  Gay;  Rufus  Main,  grocer,  G5  High  ;  G.  M.  Peters,  Green 
Lawn  Farm,  milk  delivery;  Bain  &  Horton,  ironmongers,  63  High;  George  Mc- 
Donald and  John  Miller  (John  Miller  &  Co.).  grocers ;  J.  W.  Constans,  hoots  and 
shoes;  J.  M.  McCuno  &  Co.,  hardware;  John  Rickley,  liquors.  High,  between  Town 
and  Rich  ;  F.  C.  Sessions  &  Co.  (F.  C.  Sessions,  L.  B.  Harris),  drygoods,  four  doors 
south  of  the  American  Hotel;  Kilbourn  &  Jones,  hardware,  Goodale's  Row;  J.  D. 
Osborn  k  Co.,  drygoods. 

With  such  imperfect  resources  as  have  been  available,  this  record  has  now  been 
brought  up  to  a  point  where  it  connects  with  the  city  directories.  There,  for  the 
present,  it  will  rest. 

The  following  interesting  sketch  of  the  later  drygoods  trade,  by  Mr.  William 
G.  Dunn,  one  of  the  veterans  of  tliat  trade,  fitly  concludes  this  chapter  : 

After  an  experience  of  thirtytive  years  in  the  Cily  and  State  of  New  York  as  a  retailer  of 
drygoods  (except  four  years  as  a  buyer  in  a  wholesale  house)  I  looked  for  a  location  further 
west,  and  finally  decided  upon  Colnnibus,  Ohio,  where  I  opened  business  under  the  firui 
name  of  William  G.  Dunn  &  Co.,  in  April,  1869.  I  chose  Columbus  because  it  was  pleasantly 
and  centrally  situated  with  a  good  prospect  for  enlargement ;  also  because  the  drygoods  busi- 
ness there  did  not  seem  to  be  overdone,  and  was  conducted  upon  the  oldtime  plans,  trade  be- 
ing held  to  each  store  mainly  by  the  influence  of  the  salesman  and  credit,  as  it  still  is  in 
many  country  stores.  The  infiuince  of  the  salesman  was  more  depended  upon  than  the 
value  of  the  goods.  The  retail  business  was  at  that  time  all  done  south  of  Broad  .Street,  and 
mostly  on  High  Strejt,  but  there  were  som)  stores  on  Town  an  I  Friend  streets.  The  firms 
then  in  existenc  <  were  Odb  )rn,  Kershaw  &  Co.,  Hea  lley  &  Co.,  Gilchrist  &  Gray,  Richards  & 
Holmes,  James  Naughton.  Fay  &  Co.,  Jesse  Stone,  Kenyon  &  Wigj?in,  Bell  &  Co.,  Eberly, 
and  a  few  smaller  stores  on  Friend  Stret»t  and  5?outli  High. 

I  hired  my  first  store  of  Mr.  David  Deshler  from  April  1,  1869,  on  the  corner  of  North 
High  and  Linden  Alley.  The  good  oM  gentleman  very  kindly  cautioned  me,  as  he  feared  it 
was  too  far  north  fi)r  a  retail  store  to  succeed ;  several  merchants  also  expressed  the  same 
opinion.  I  opjned  at  t^he  appointed  time,  and  was  successful  from  the  start.  Tiie  people 
seemed  pleased  with  a  one  price  store  and  go  3d  merchandise.  Our  sales  the  first  year 
amounted  to  $170,000.  From  that  time  until  my  close  I  have  had  a  very  steady  business, 
running  up  as  high  as  |273,000  per  year  My  trade  has  embraced  not  only  a  large  number 
of  Columbus  families,  but  also  many  from  neighboring  cities.  When  we  changed  to  the 
department  system,  we  lost  considerable  country  trade,  as  our  customers  still  desired  to  deal 
with  the  clerks  they  were  acquainted  with,  and  go  all  round  the  store  with  them  ;  but  our 
loss  was  more  than  made  up  by  increase  of  trade,  in  the  city.  Most  of  the  larger  stores  now 
conduct  their  business  on  the  department  plan. 

In  the  year  1885  I  purchased  a  lot  on  which  I  built,  in  1886,  my  present  store  on  the 
east  side  of  High  Street,  between  Gay  and  Long.  Many  persons  prophesied  failure,  but  the 
store  being  light  and  convenient,  it  helped  the  business  and  our  family  trade  steadily 
increased.  This  year,  1889,  I  have  withdrawn  from  the  active  part  of  the  business  and 
changed  the  firm  name  to  Dunn,  Taft  &  Co. 

During  the  last  twenty  years — 1869  to  1889  — many  changes  have  taken  place,  and  I 
believe  but  one  firm  retains  its  original  name,  viz.  James  Nau^hten.  A  few  retired,  some 
failed,  others  removed  on  account  of  the  strong  c  irapetition,  and  some  new  firms  were  made 
out  of  old  ones.  There  are  nearly,  perhaps  (juite,  fifty  drygoods  stores  in  this  city  today, 
and  there  are  many  more  in  the  outskirts  of  tlie  city  than  there  used  to  be.  The  expense  of 
carrying  on  the  business  is  much  greater  than  it  was  twenty  years  ago,  and  especially  so  in 
the  heart  of  the  city.  The  people  are   wealthier,  and  recjuire  more  attention  and  larger 


Business  Evoliiti(»n.  395 

stocks ;  but  larger  stocks  mean  more  taxes,  and  iiiDre  attention  means  more  clerks  and 
expenses,  as  do  also  the  telephone,  electric  light,  delivery  of  goods,  use  of  water,  steam  heat, 
cleaning  and  sprinkling  streets,  private  watchmen,  and  sundry  other  necessaries  not  inci<lent 
to  the  earlier  trade.  To  offrtet  these  difficulties  we  have  an  increased  vohiine  of  trade  in  the 
sale  of  better  goods  which  also  pay  a  t>etter  profit.  Homespun  goods,  or  their  imitations, 
such  as  flannels,  jeans,  carpets,  hosiery,  etc.,  can  hardly  be  sold  at  all ;  even  country  people 
want  more  stylish  and  better  fabrics.  To  illustrate,  we  can  haidly  sell  any  but  *'  regular  made'* 
hosiery,  whereas  we  used  to  sell  almost  altogether  the  cutup  hosiery. 

Such  are  some  of  tlie  more  recent  changes  in  tlio  retail  trade  in  drygoods. 
Other  branches  of*  mercantile  business,  such  as  the  traffic  in  groceries,  drugs,  and 
hardware,  have  undergone  a  like  metamor]»hoHis.  The  general  store,  in  which  the 
people  of  the  olden  times  were  accustomed  to  purchase  everything  they  wanted, 
from  silks  to  sugar,  and  from  books  to  wiiisky,  has  vanished  from  the  path  of 
metropolitan  pi-ogress.  New  mo  ics  of  life  have  produced  new  wants  and  new 
methods  of  supplying  them  which,  less  than  a  generation  ago,  were  unknown  and 
scarcely  thought  of. 


NOTBS. 


1.  Jud>;eSwan  had  rcHiuned. 

2.  Ohio  Slate  Jountai. 
:j.  Ibid. 

4.  Ibid. 

5.  Ibid. 
G.  Ibid. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 


BANKS  AND  BANKING. 
BY    JOHN  J.  JANNEY. 

[John  Jay  Janney  was  born  near  Lincoln,  then  known  as  Goose  Creek  Meetinghouse, 
Louiloun  County,  Virginia,  April  25,  1812.  The  founder  of  the  Janney  family  in  this  country 
was  Thomas  Janney,  an  eminent  clergyman,  who  arrive<l  at  Philadelphia  in  1()83,  and  settled 
in  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Janney,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  just  one  month 
old  when  his  father  died  leaving  him  solely  to  the  care  of  his  mother.  From  his  sixth  to 
his  fifteenth  year  he  attended  the  Friends'  school  at  the  Goose  Creek  Meetinghouse,  and  at 
the  age  of  twent}'  spent  six  months  in  a  day  school  at  Alexandria.  Dissatisfied  with  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery,  he  quitted  his  native  State  and  removed  to  Warren  County,  Ohio,  where, 
from  1833  to  1848,  be  was  engaged  in  teaching,  landsurveying,  and,  for  a  short  time,  in  keep- 
ing a  village  Store.  For  three  winters,  beginning  with  that  of  1844-5,  he  served  as  a  clerk  in 
the  lower  house  of  the  General  Assembly.  In  the  autumn  of  1847  the  Hon.  Samuel  Gallo- 
way, then  Secretary  of  the  State  and  Commissioner  of  Common  Schools,  tendered  him  the 
position  of  chief  clerk  in  his  office,  which  position  Mr.  Janney  accepted  and  held  until  the 
end  of  Mr.  Galloway's  term  in  1851,  by  which  time,  without  his  knowledge,  he  had  been 
elected  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Control  of  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  until  the  expiration  of  the  charter  of  the  Bank  in  1H()5.  He  was  then  appointed  and 
served  for  one  year  as  Assistant  Postmaster  of  Columbus,  from  which  [Kxsition  he  passeil  to 
that  of  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Columbus  &  Hocking  Valley  Railway  Company* 
wherein  he  remained  until  July,  1881,  when  the  road  was  sold  to  nonresidents.  Mr.  Janney 
has  always  been  fond  of  literature  and  busy  with  his  pen.  A  fwend  of  free  schools,  he  wrote 
the  first  official  decision  ever  made  in  Ohio,  giving  colored  children  a  place  in  the  common 
schools  of  the  State.  He  aided  in  establishing  a  public  library,  which  is  still  in  existence,  at 
Springboro,  Ohio,  and  soon  after  his  removal  to  Columbus  took  a  prominent  part  in  estab- 
lishing the  Atheneum  Library  and  Readingroom.  As  a  member  of  the  City  Council  he  was 
the  author  of  an  ordinance  passed  by  that  body  January  15,  1872,  establishing  the  present 
Public  Library  and  Readingroom  of  this  city.  Mr.  Janney  has  been  repeatedly  elected  and 
appointed  to  positions  in  the  municipal  and  township  government.  From  1852  to  1855  he 
was  a  member  of  the  City  Board  of  Education,  of  which  body  he  was  for  two  years  the 
Treasurer.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Health  in  1867 ;  a  uiember  of  the  City  Council 
from  1868  to  1871 ;  Trustee  and  Treasurer  of  the  Public  Library  and  Readingroom  from  1880 
to  1886  ;  Director  of  the  Columbus  Atheneum  and  Readingroom  from  1853  to  1858;  Director 
of  the  Ohio  Penitentiary  in  18()1 ;  member  of  the  Board  of  Police  Commissioners;  member 
of  the  Tyndall  Association  from  1870  to  1880;  member  of  the  Columbus  Horticultural  Society, 
and  part  of  the  time  its  Secretary,  from  1850  to  the  present  time ;  member  of  the  State  Horti- 
cultural Society  since  1880 ;  member  and  Treasurer  of  the  Prisoners'  Aid  Society,  the  prede- 
cessor and  forerunner  of  the  present  Board  of  Stato  Charities ;  a  teacher  in  the  Sabbath- 
school  of  the  Ohio  Penitentiary  from  1850  to  1865;  Chairman,  Secretary  or  Treasurer  of  the 
Whig  and  Republican  city  and  county  committees  during  many  years,  and  Secretary  and 
Tr<*J«Piirt*r  of  the   Republican  StJite  Committee  during  the  memorable  campaigns  of  1863  and 

[m\] 


Hanks  ani>  liANKiNci.  :^97 

18«>4.  Mr.  Jannoy*8  parents  were  im'Uibors  of  the  relivrious  sfwiety  of  Friends,  to  which  he 
has  also  borne  a  lifetime  attjichment,  an«l  in  the  yt-arly  ine-ting?  of  which,  at  Waynesville  or 
Richmond,  Indiana,  he  has  taken  an  at^tive  part.] 


At  the  time  of,  and  during  many  yt^ars  subsequent  to  the  loeation  and 
cstablisiimcnt  of  the  i-ity  of  Columbus,  the  business  of  bankintj^,  not  only  in  Ohio 
but  throughout  the  country,  was  in  a  very  crude  and  chaotic  state.  Gencriilly  the 
socallcd  banks  of  that  day  were  established  literally  without  capital  or  experienco 
on  the  part  of  iho  manager.  Notes  for  cin-ulation  w-ero  scarce,  and  when  obtained 
were  of  very  doubtful  value.  In  acommunication  to  the  legislature  of  Ohio,  by 
llalph  Osborn,  Auditor  of  State,  in  the  winter  of  1820,  on  Finances  and  Jlatos  of 
Taxation,  he  8aid : 

Having  previously  written  to  the  oHicers  of  the  bankt*  on  the  subject  of  exchange  in  May 
last,  I  called  upon  the  officers  of  the  banks  to  redeem  their  paper  with  current  funds,  and 
from  the  Miami  Exporting  Company,  five  thousand  dollars  in  specie  was  obt^iineii ;  four 
thousand  dollars  deposit«<l  on  interest,  the  re.si<lue  retained  (being  th^n  to'erable  current)  for 
the  puri>oseof  redeeming  Audited  Bills.  The  balance  of  that  paper  remaining  in  the  tre.isury 
and  on  deposit  is$ll,osl.()(». 

With  the  Bank  of  Cincinnati  no  exclmngi*  could  b.*  had  ;  and  after  gaining  every  pos- 
sible information  of  the  solvency  cf  this  insiitutiou,  aiid  being  assured  by  the  othct-rs  that 
every  honorable  means  should  be  useil  for  the  speedy  redemption  of  their  paper,  a  deposit  of 
that  paper  was  made,  bearing  interest,  being  in  amount  $r>,S()l  ?  ^^  hundred  dollar  post  note 
being  rejecte<l,  as  an  altered  note.  |r».tH)i. 

With  the  l><»banon  Miami  B inking  Company,  a  snuill  exchange  was  made. 
With  the  Urbana  Banking  Company  no  ex(?hange  could  be  made  ;  having  demanded  of 
the  cashier  the  endor&ement  of  tlu'ir  i)ap(jr.  he  objecte<l,  and  I  «lecliDe<l  making  the  deposit, 
they  having  previout*ly  failed  in  their  engagements  with  the  late  Treasurer  of  State,  to  this 
department. 

W^ith  the  Farmers'  an<l  Mechanics'  Hank  of  Cincinnati  nothing  could  be  obtained  in 
exchnnge  but  one  liundre<l  and  seventy  <lollarsof  scrip  of  the  Corporation  of  Cincinnati,  bear- 
ing interest;  the  notes  on  hand  and  scrip  are  in  amount  $4()JJ. 

For  the  paper  of  the  banks  of  Burlington,  Greensburg,  (leorgetown  and  Columbia  (Ken.) 
no  exchange  could  be  had  in  that  State;  the  amount  of  which  is  $(>0. 

Noopportunity  yet  o  Me  red  to  try  the  exchange  of  the  following  paper,  but  I  have  no 
doubt  the  greater  part  is  irremediably  lost  to  the  State  : 

Bank  of  Wooster, $827. (K) 

Kentucky  Insurance  Comj>any, oS.OO 

Franklin  Bank  of  Alexandria, tM.(M) 

Mendiants  Bank  of  Alexandria. o.OO 

Bank  of  Beaver, 5')  00 

KIkton  Fiank  of  Marvland HOOO 

Farmers*  Bank  of  Sonn.rset  and  Worcester,  .         .         .  10.00 

Su8(juehanna  Bri<lge  an<l  Banking  Comjiany,  .  5.00 

Bank  of  Washington,  IVnnsylvania, 7I.(X) 

Cumberland  Bank  of  Alleghany 150.00 

Bank  of  Juniata, 10.00 

Bank  of  (ireen(!astle. o.lK) 

Wilkesbarre  BridL'e  C(nnpany, iy.OO 

Bank  of  Niagara, lO.(K) 

Farmers'  Mechanics'  <Sl  Man.  Bank  of  Chillicothe,        .  .'Vi.OO 

$148:^.00 


398  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Mr.  OHborii  reports  on  Decomber  5,  1821,  that  among  other  things  ho  had 
valued  in  thi.s  statement  was  "four  hundred  and  thirtyone  dollars  of  uneurrent 
paper  issued  by  banks  in  other  states  ...  at  a  discount  of  two  hundred  and  fif- 
teen dollars  and  fifty  cents,"  or  just  fifty  per  cent. 

A  writer  who  signs  himself  Fabius  in  the  Columbus  Gazette  of  January  25, 
1821,  says: 

Our  government  could  no  longer  obtain  loans  without  a  vast  sacrifice.  .  .  .  About  this 
time  the  Ohio  legislature  created  a  multitude  of  state  banks,  in  number  extravagant,  and  in 
nominal  amount  of  capital  twenty  times  exceeding  the  disposable  capital  of  the  state ;  and  what 
was  still  more  unfortunate,  no  banker  was  personally  liable  for  the  redemption  of  his  paper 
until  his  emission  of  bills  exceeded  three  times  his  capital.  The  General  Government 
created  a  bank  for  the  purpose  of  securing  itself  against  the  extortion  of  merchants  and 
money  holders.  Our  state  government  created  within  itself  banks  in  number  exceeding  all 
necessity,  with  the  certainty  apparent  and  undeniable  that  these  banks  must  fall  into  the 
hands  of  speculators  and  merchants;  and  to  judge  of  the  relative  wisdom  of  the  two  govern- 
ments it  is  only  needful  to  look  at  the  fact  that  the  general  government  has  never  transacted 
its  fiscal  affairs  with  so  little  trouble  and  expense  as  through  the  bank  by  it  created ;  and  on 
the  other  hand,  that  the  legislature  of  our  state  is  now  groaning  over  more  than  $33,000  of 
irredeemable  paper  of  state  banks  in  its  treasury. 

At  the  time  the  United  States  Bank  sent  its  branches  into  the  state  of  Ohio,  our  state 
banks,  with  few  exceptions,  had  issued  bills  to  such  an  amount  as  rendered  it  impossible  to 
redeem  them  without  pressing  hard  upon  the  borrowers,  and  this  pressure,  improvidently 
made,  forced  those  borrowers  to  become  borrowers  of  the  branch  banks  to  keep  good  their 
credit  in  the  state  banks.  From  a  variety  of  circumstances  known  to  all  of  us.  the  principal 
of  which  was  the  general  peace  of  Europe,  the  paper  of  our  State  banks  was  not,  by  far,  as 
valuable  in  the  seaport  towns  where  our  merchants  are  indebted,  as  that  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States.  Hence  it  happened,  that  the  paper  of  the  United  States  Bank  had  little  circu- 
lation among  us.  It  was  immediately  gathered  up  by  the  merchants  and  sent  off*,  and  when 
the  time  came  around  that  the  debtors  of  the  branch  banks  were  called  upon  to  pay  up,  their 
only  resource  was  in  our  daily  diminishing  specie  capital,  or  in  the  notes  of  State  banks 
negotiable  only  at  a  ruinous  discount.  The  consequence  was  that  the  state  banks  were 
broken,  and  in  truth  they  were  virtually  broken  before  the  law  passed  to  tax  the  branches  of 
the  United  States  Bank.    .    .    . 

The  money  lenders  at  one  period  of  the  late  war  [1812],  would  advance  to  the  govern- 
ment only  seventy  dollars  in  cash  for  one  hundred  dollars  in  government  securities.  The 
bank  of  the  United  States,  during  the  last  year,  advanced  to  the  government  one  hundred 
and  six  dollars  in  cash  for  one  hundred  dollars  in  the  same  securities. 

A  writer,  referring  to  this  era  in  our  history,  says  he  knew  one  manufacturer 
**  who  was  compelled  to  borrow  from  one  house  about  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and 
paid  as  long  as  he  could  pay  it  monthly,  at  twentysix  to  thirty  per  cent."  The 
coin  in  circulation  at  that  time  was  almost  entirely  Spanish,  consisting  of  the  silver 
dollar  and  its  half,  quarter,  eighth  and  sixteenth,  the  last  two  being  known  as 
"four  pence-ha'penny"  or  "  fippeny  bit,"  and  "ninepeneo"  respectively.  There 
was  also  a  "  pistareen  "  worth  eighteen  and  three  quarters  cents.  The  last  two  of 
these  pieces  being  scarce,  their  place  was  supplied  by  cutting  a  quarter  into  two 
or  four  pieces,  which  passed  for  a  "  ninepence"  or  a  "fip"  respectively,  and  were 
known  in  popular  parlance  as  "  sharp  shins."  As  late  as  1852,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Kentucky,  Virginia,  Louisiana  and  Michigan,  furnished  nearly  all  the  circulation 


Ranks  and  Banking.  399 

used  in  Ohio.  New  England  had  what  was  known  as  the  Suffolk  bank  HyHtem,  b}* 
which  all  her  banks  wore  required  to  keej)  a  specified  amount  on  de])08it  in 
Boston,  80  as  to  keep  their  notes  at  par  in  that  city,  and  New  York  had  adopted  a 
safety  fund  system  by  which  the  circulation  was  sought  to  be  made  secure  But 
the  Metropolitan  Hank  Xote  Repoiicr  of  February  11,  IStJO,  contained  a  broker's 
notice  that  he  would  purchase  the  notes  of  sixtytwo  speciHe«l  banks  at  a  discount 
of  from  five  to  ninety  per  cent.,  and  in  ihe  list  of  bunks  which  was  published, 
there  were  one  hundred  and  twentyono  "closed,"  thirty  *' broken  "  and  nine 
"worthless"  in  New  York;  and  in  New  Enj^land  one  hundred  and  twenty 
"closed,"  thirty  "  broken  "  and  twentysix  "  worthless." 

The  following  is  a  list  of  notes  current  in  Ohio  at  onetime  :  Bank  of  Marietta, 
Bank  of  Steubenville,  Farmers'  and  Manufacturers'  Bank  of  Steubenville,  Western 
Reserve  Bank,  Bank  of  Mt.  Pleasant,  Bank  of  St.  Clairsville,  Bank  of  Lancaster, 
Bank  of  Chillicothe,  Franklin  Bank  of  Columbus,  Dayton  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Commercial  Bank  of  Scioto  and  the  Bank  of  Xenia.  In  addition  to  the  un- 
trustworthy character  of  the  bank  notes  in  circulation,  counterfeits  were  so  abun- 
dant, that  it  reijuired  the  knowleice  of  an  expert  to  avoid  them.  There  were 
counterfeits  on  a  large  portion  of  Ohio  banks,  as  well  as  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  The  engraving  of  the  bank  notes  of  that  day  was  so  poor,  that  it  was  not 
a  very  difficult  task  to  imitate  them.  In  1851,  some  of  the  notes  of  the  Stale  Bank 
of  Ohio  having  been  counterfeited,  the  bank  had  a  set  of  new  plates  engraved,  and 
so  perfectly  was  it  done  that  no  successful  attempt  to  counterfeit  any  of  them  was 
ever  made.  At  the  trial  of  the  cashier  of  the  Havre  de  Grace  Bank,  Maryland,  in 
1851,  he  was  acquitted  because,  as  was  clainied  by  the  attorney,  "all  the  opera- 
tions of  the  bank  were  fictitious  ;  tiiat  the  funds,  soon  after  they  were  paid  in  by 
the  stockholders,  were  returned  to  them  in  New  York  where  all  the  money  be- 
longing to  the  concern  was  kept,  so  that  tliere  was  nothing  left  for  the  cashier  to 
steal." 

In  October,  1837,  the  Ohio  State  Journal  said  the  stockholders  and  directors 
of  several  of  the  banks  of  Ohio,  entertained  serious  intentions  of  closing  their 
banking  business  and  diverting  their  capital  to  some  species  of  investment  which 
would  promise  a  better  return.  On  the  sixth  and  seventh  of  June,  IS38,  a  conven- 
tion of  Ohio  banks  was  heM  in  (/oluinbus,  and  a  committee  on  resumption  of  specie 
payments  previously  appointed,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Swan,  Hubbard,  Woodbridge, 
Moore  and  King,  rej)orted  tliat, 

Whereas,  the  General  A8.«e.nb]y,  by  act  of  Marcli  13, 1S:^8,  re<inire(l  resumption  by  Oliio 
V)anks  on  or  before  July  4,  1S3S,  provided  the  banks  of   New  York,   Philadelphia  and  Haiti 
more  shall  at  that  time  liav(?  resumed  : 

Resolved,  That  it  be  reenmmended  to  the  banks  of  this  state  to  resunie  the  payment  of 
their  notes  in  specie  on  the  fourth  of  July  next,  i)rovidiMl  that  authentic  iiifnrmation  shall 
have  been  received  that  the  banks  of  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  have  resumed 
the  payment  of  their  notes  in  specie. 

2.  In  case  said  eastern  banks  do  not  resume  July  4,  Messrs.  J.  M.  Creed,  R.  VV.  Mc- 
Coy and  William  Neil  are  appointed  a  (committee  to  fix  the  day,  an<l  give  information  when 
the  banks  shall  resume. 


400  lllSTORY    OF    THE    ClTV    OF    (^OLUMBPH. 

On  the  seiroiiil  of  August  tliis  committee  issued  notice  that,  believing  that  the 
banks  of  Massac lui setts,  Rluxie  Island,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Ken- 
tucky, and  Baltimore  would  resume  the  payment  of  their  bills  in  specie  on  the 
thirteenth,  they  recommended  to  the  Ohio  banks  to  do  the  same.  The  Ohio  State 
Journal  in  announcing  the  fact  adds  that,  "as  the  currency  regains  its  original 
strength,  the  hopes  of  the  *  experimenters'  sink." 

Niless  Regiattr  of  Mji}'  20,  1820,  says,  "the  speciopaying  banks  of  Ohio  are 
Chillicothe,  Lan(  aster,  Marietta,  Belmont,  Mt.  Pleasant,  Western  Reserve  and  two 
at  Steubonville.  The  notes  of  the  rest  are  generally  seventy  to  soventyfive  per 
cent,  discount.  Some  of  the  bank  notes  of  Columbus  have  heen  sold  at  that  rate 
in  the  town  of  Columbus.  The  new  banks  of  Kentucky  have  chiefly  gone  by  the 
board;  the  bills  of  the  old  banks  are  hardly  disposed  of  at  Baltimore  at  twenty  per 
cent,  discount.  The  same  or  a  higher  discount  is  required  on  those  of  Tennessee, 
Mississippi  and  Alahatmi.  Pcnnyslvania  bills  of  banks  west  of  the  mountains, 
are  general  1}  bad,  except  those  of  Pittsburgh,  varying  from  fifteen  to  fifty  five  per 
cent,  discount,  but  happily  si-arce." 

Niles's  Register  further  says:  "The  following  has  been  published  as  the  true 
*  democratic'  plan  of  operations  when  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  shall  wind 
up  its  affairs:  *A  substitute  for  each  state  instead  of  a  branch  of  the  United 
States  Bank,  increasing  the  capital  of  each  state  from  one  to  ten  millions  (to  be 
owned  and  managed  by  the  citizens  of  each  state).'  According  to  this  plan  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania  an<l  New  York  would  have  had  ten  millions  apiece."  The  Register 
comments  on  this  plan  by  saying,  "with  this  project  perfected  how  great  would 
be  the  ^division  of  the  spoils'  in  presidentships,  cashierships,  directorships,  clerk- 
ships, and  all  sorts  of  agencies." 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  February,  183(),  the  legislature  of  Ohio  enacted  a 
law  "  to  prohibit  the  circulation  of  small  bills."  The  act  provided  that  the 
Treasurer  of  State  should  draw  on  the  banks  for  twenty  per  cent,  of  their  divi- 
dend, with  the  proviso  that  if  any  bank  should  "  prior  to  the  fourth  of  July  next, 
with  the  consent  of  its  stockholders,  by  an  instrument  in  writing  under  its 
coi-porato  seal,  addressed  to  the  Auditor  of  State,  surrender  the  right  conferred  by 
its  charter  to  issue  or  circulate  notes  or  bills  of  a  less  denomination  than  three 
dollars,  after  the  fourth  of  July,  1836,  and  any  notes  or  bills  of  a  less  denomination 
than  five  dollars  after  July  4,  1837,"  then  the  Auditor  should  draw  for  only  five 
per  cent,  of  the  dividend.  And  this  legislation  was  enacted  at  a  time  when  the 
country  was  flooded  with  what  was  known  as  the  "  fippenny  bit "  or  "  shinplaster  " 
currency,  issued  by  towns,  corporations  and  individuals  in  amounts  from  five  cents 
up  to  a  dollar. 

On  the  tenth  of  the  following  June,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  banks 
in  the  State  was  held  in  Columbus.  The  number  of  delegates  in  attendance  indi- 
cates the  interest  felt.  The  following  is  the  list:  From  the  Franklin  Bank, 
Columbus,  Gustavus  Swan  and  Alfred  Kelley ;  Clinton,  Columbus,  Joseph  Ridgway  ; 
Commercial,  Cleveland,  T.  P.  Handy  ;  Bank  of  Cleveland,  John  M.  Woolsey  ; 
Bank  of  Marietta,  Douglas  Putnam  ;  Bank  of  Zanesville,  D.  W.  Rhodes ;  Bank  of 
Xenia,  J.  Hivling ;  Bank  of  Chillicothe,  Thomas  James  and  Nathaniel   Sawyer; 


I 


t*   *■ 


•  •  • 


Hanks  am»  BAN'KiMi.  401 

Bank  of  Xorwalk,  G.  Mygull .  Farmers*  and  Mt.-chanif.s'  Bank  of  SteiiKenvilk\ 
Daniel  L.  Collier;  <  oitiiiu-rL-ial  Bank  of  Sci«ilo.  II.  Buchanan  aD<l  T.  Irvin  ;  Bank 
of  Cirelevi  lie,  Joseph  Ul<i>  and  H.  Lawrence.  Belmont  Bank  of  St.  Clairsville,  W. 
B.  Hubbard;  Wftlern  Reserve  Bank.  Zaimon  F'itch  :  roluinbiana  Bank  of  New 
Lisbon,  Charles  I).  Coffin  :  Bank  of  Muskin^ruui.  II.  Stillwell  and  B.  Van  Home; 
Farmers*  Bank  of  Canton.  Jolin  Ilarri** :  Bank  of  Woistor,  Joseph  S.  Lake;  Gran- 
ville Alexandrian  Society.  A.  G.  HaiuTnond  and  J.  Baker:  Lancaster  Bank,  J. 
Creed  and  Samuel  F.  Maccracken  :  The  Miami  Ex]»orting  Company,  Daniel  Gano. 
Gustavus  Swan  was  chairman  and  T.  P.  Handy  secretary  of  the  convention.  The 
object  of  the  convention  wa**  declared  to  be  to  consider  the  propriety  of  surren- 
dering that  portion  of  the  bank  charters  which  allowed  the  issue  of  bills  of  a  less 
denomination  than  five  dollar>.  an'l  adopt  other  measures  in  relation  to  the  act 
before  referred  to.  Resolutions  were  adopted  recommending  compliance  w^ith 
the  terms  of  the  act,  both  bv  the  banks  which  are  and  those  which  are  not  embraced 
in  its  provisions.     Among  the  resolutions  adopted  was  the  following: 

Resolved  that,  in  the  present  «tate  of  ptrcuniary  enibarraasment,  it  is,  in  the  opinion  of 
this  convention,  the  dntv  of  the  hanks  to  extend  to  the  communitv  all  the  relief  in  their 
I>ower  not  inconsistent  witli  tlie  paramount  duties  of  preservinjj  a  sound  currency  and  secur- 
ing their  own  safety. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  April,  H37,  a  large  meeting  was  held  in  the  UriiUMi 
States  Courtroom,  composed  largely  ot  leading  citizens  in  attendance  on  the  Cir- 
cuit Court,  then  in  session,  to  consider  the  <icrangcd  state  of  the  currency  and  the 
measures  adopted  by  the  late,  and  persisted  in  by  the  pre.^ent  administration  of  the 
General  Government.  Addres.ses  were  made  i>y  Colonel  William  Key  Bond,  Al- 
fred Kelley,  General  W.  H.  Murphy  and  Colonel  Richard  W.  Thompson.  A  cor- 
responding committei'  was  apj)ointed  consisting  ot'  John  L.  Miner,  L^'iie  Starling, 
William  Doherty,  John  W.  Andrews  and  Joseph  Hidgway,  Junior. 

On  June  2,  18i^7,  the  (Jhin  *s'^/^  .Jtmruiil  said  :  '•  The  tippenny  bit  note  system 
has  now  got  completely  under  way  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  eHj)ecialIy  in  the 
eastern  cities,  and  is  daily  being  ado}>tcd  in  the  principal  business  towns  in  Ohio." 
On  the  twentieth  of  May.  181^7,  the  delegates  again  met  in  convention,  with  W.  H. 
Hubbard,  chairman,  and  J.  Delafield,  secretar\'.  Among  other  resolutions  the  fol- 
lowing were  adopted  : 

1.  Each  bank  pledges  itself  not  to  sell,  during  the  suspension,  other  than  by 
the  exchange  of  coin  lor  coin,  any  of  its  silver,  gold  or  bullion. 

2.  The  business  of  each  bank  shall  bo  so  conducted  as  to  enable  it  to  resume 
specie  payments  at  any  moment. 

3.  The  rate  of  excliangc  lor  sight  draft^M  on  Kastern  ('ities  not  to  exceed  two 
per  cent. 

4.  Every  bank  to  receive  for  debts  duo  it  pa]>orat  j>ar  of  banks  roj)ros(^nt(Ml  in 
this  convention. 

5.  Ever}'  bank  to  furnish  the  others  its  ollicialiy  certified  statcMnonI  t*vory 
sixty  days. 

The  statement  of  the  banks  of  Ohio  at  this  time  showo(l  liabilities,  !?!).<I7  1,717 ; 
available  means,  817,715,10(>.     Tho  Ohio  Life  Insurances  and  Trust  f.'ompany  saved 

2G 


402  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

its  charter  by  resuming,  but  succumbed  txjn  years  later.  The  newHpaperscontaiiieci 
a  notice  of  832,000  of  Eastern  drafts  for  sale  on  liberal  terms  by  I).  W.  Dc^lilor, 
corner  of  High  and  Broad  streets. 

At  a  convention  of  Ohio  banks  held  in  Columbus  on  the  twentyscvcnth  of 
June,  1S39,  of  the  thirtytwo  banks  in  the  State  twentyfive  were  represented. 
Among  other  things  recommended  was  that  frequent  and  frank  disclo.'^urcs  should 
be  made  between  the  banks,  and  by  the  banks  to  the  public,  as  to  condition  and 
business.  This  was  subsequently  effectually  accomplished  by  the  State  Bank  of 
Ohio,  every  branch  being  required  to  make  out  on  the  first  of  every  month  a  com- 
plete statement  of  its  business  on  that  day,  which  was  forwarded  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Control,  and  by  him  tabulated  and  printed,  and  a  copy  sent  to  every 
branch. 

At  a  meeting  of  citizens  of  Detroit  in  January,  1820,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
notes  of  Ohio  banks  should  he  received  at  the  following  rates:  Chillicothe,  New 
LancaKter,  Marietta,  St.  Clairsville,  Farmers'  and  Mechanics'  Bank  of  Steuben - 
ville,  and  Western  Reserve  Bank,  at  par,  these  banks  paying  specie ;  Miami 
Exporting  Company',  Lebanon;  Miami  Banking  Company  ;  Dayton  Manufacturing 
Company;  Zanesville  Canal  aud  Banking  Company ;  Urbana,  Columbus,  Canton, 
Hamilton,  West  Union,  and  Commercial  Bank  of  Lake  Erie  at  twenty  per  cent, 
discount. 

Ah  late  as  October,  1«S54,  "wildcat"  banking  had  assumed  serious  propor- 
tions. The  newspapers  abounded  in  statements  that  monetary  distress  pervaded 
all  classes,  and  **  the  hank  excitement  was  raging  furiously."  All  the  banks  of 
Columbus  except  the  City  l^ank  refused  to  receive  any  notes  of  banks  west  of  Ohio 
except  the  State  Bank  of  Indiana. 

The  legislation  of  Ohio  was  very  hostile  to  banks  during  the  first  fifty  years  of 
tlu?  existence  of  the  State,  or  until  the  year  1860.  Repeated  acts  of  hostility  were 
passed  changing  the  bank  charters,  especially  by  altering  the  manner  of  taxation. 
By  an  act  passed  March  14,  1853,  it  was  enacted  that  if  a  bank  should  refuse  to  paj- 
the  tax  assessed  against  it,  which  might  be  different  from  that  provided  in  its 
charier,  with  a  penalty  of  five  per  cent ,  within  five  days  after  notice,  the  treasurer 
was  authorized  to  seize  any  "gold,  silver,  or  copper  coin,  bullion,  bank  bills, 
promissory  notes  or  bills  of  exchange  or  other  securities  or  chattels  .  .  .  of  the  hank, 
or  of  an}-  partner  or  member  thereof,"  and  any  "commissioner"  appointed  to  col- 
lect such  tax  was  authorized  to  pursue  "said  coin,  bullion,  bank  bills,  promissory 
notes,"  &c.,  into  any  other  county  in  the  State  to  which  they  may  have  been  re- 
moved;  and  to  perform  their  duties  under  the  act,  "the  county  treasurer  or  com- 
missioner .  .  .  shall  have  power  to  break  and  open  any  outer  or  inner  door,  win- 
dow, or  enclosure,  and  any  vault,  safe,  chest,  box,  desk,  drawer  or  other  depository." 
The  county  treasurer  or  commissioner  was  also  made  subject  to  a  penalty  of  the 
amount  of  taxes  due,  with  interest  and  penalty  of  ten  per  cent,  for  any  neglect  of 
duty.  Such  laws  as  these  were  enacted  even  after  the  Supremo  Court  of  the  State 
had  declared  them  unconstitutional. 

By  an  act  passed  May  1,  1854,  it  was  made  unlawful  "  to  pass,  transfer,  or  cir- 
culate,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  or  offer  to  pass,  transfer  or  circulate,  or  cause 


Banks  and  Haskinv..  4lK{ 

to  be  pa^ed.  transforroil  *>r  iin-ulalo«l.  or  to  rocoivo  or  cause  lo  bo  roivivoii,  anv 
bank  bill  or  note  of  less  <iei>ominat[«>i)  than  ten  ilollars*  issueii  by  anv  b;\nk  out  of 
thi8  State,  under  a  penalty,  if  a  bank  otliL*er.  nf  one  hundred  ilollamt;  or  if  is8UoJ  by 
any  other  penson.  ten  dollars ;  and  the  bank  otiieer  must  redeem  the  notes  issued 
''  in  gold  or  silver  coin.'*  The  object  of  the  law  ab*>lislung  small  notes  was  to  bring 
into  circulation  silver  an>l  gold  coin — '•  Benton's  Mint  Di\)ps/*  as  the  piei'os  weri> 
then  calle<l,  from  an  cltM|uent  pas^^age  in  one  of  Senator  Benton's  speeches  in  which 
he  represented  the  ^old  coins  droppin*;  tVom  the  mint,  and  every  farmer  carrying  a 
long  silken  purse,  through  the  intei-stices  of  which  the  gidden  coin  would  glitter. 
The  bank  of  the  United  States  had  establisheil  a  branch  at  Cincinnati  January  28. 
1817,  and  one  at  Chillicothe  October  13,  in  the  same  year.  The  charier  of  the  bank 
provided  the  method  of  taxation,  but  the  States  Rights  doctrine  got  possession  of 
the  legislature  of  Ohio,  and  on  the  eighth  of  February,  ISU),  an  act  was  passed  pn>- 
viding  that  *'  if,  after  the  tii*sl  day  of  September  next,  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  .  .  .  shall  continue  to  transact  banking  business  within  this  state**  it  '*shall 
pay  a  tax  of  fifty  thousand  dolhirs  per  annum  upon  each  office  of  discount  and  de- 
posite.*'  The  act  also  taxed  "each  individual,  company  or  association  .  .  .  that 
shall  commence  or  continue  to  transact  banking  business  within  thisstnte  atlor  the 
first  day  of  September  next"  ten  tliousand  dollars  per  year.  The  Auditor  of  St^ite 
was  authorized  to  appoint  ''  any  person  "  he  might  choose  to  collect  the  Uix  and, 
in  case  payment  was  refused,  and  such  person  could  not  find  in  the  banking  room  any 
money,  bank  notes,  goods,  chattels,  or  other  proj)erty  whereon  to  levy  he  should  go 
into  each  and  any  other  room  or  vault  of  such  banking  house,  **  and  every  closet, 
chest,  box,  or  drawer  in  such  banking  house  to  open  and  search"  and  take  j)os- 
session  of  wMiatever  might  bo  found.  If  the  levy  should  not  be.  made,  tiion  the 
"cashier,  clerk  or  other  persons  .  .  .  who  have  charge  of  the  funds  of  the  bank" 
wore  to  be  brought  before  the  next  court  of  common  pleas,  but  if  they  were  dis- 
charged they  must  pay  the  costs. 

On  the  twentyninth  of  January,  18:il,  the  legislature  of  Oiiio  enacte<l  a  law  to 
withdraw  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  the  protection  and  aid  of  the  laws 
of  the  Suite  in  certain  cases.  Section  one  of  that  act  nui<le  it  unlawful,  alUu'  St^p- 
tember  first,  for  "any  sheriff  or  other  kcijper  of  any  jail  within  this  State  to  receive 
into  his  custody  any  person  arrested  .  .  .  taken,  or  charged  in  execution  at  the 
suit  of  the  president,  directors,  and  company  of  the  Bank  of  the  Unite<l  States,  or 
any  person  committed  fur  or  upon  account  of  any  otfense  alleged  and  charged  to 
have  been  committed  upon  the  property,  rights,  interests  or  corporate  franchises 
of  said  bank."  Section  two  i)rohibited  any ''judge,  justice  oi'  the  peace,  or  other 
judicial  officer"  in  the  State  from  receiving  "any  acknowhulgment  in  proof  of 
the  acknowledgment  of  any  deed  or  convtiyainte  of  any  kind  whatt^ver  to  which  " 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  a  party,  **  and  no  recordcjr  shall  nn-eivt?  int-o  his 
office  or  record  any  deed  of  conveyance  ofan}'  descrij)ti()n  whatever"  in  whiidi  tin* 
bank  was  a  party.  >Jotaries  were  forbidden  to  make  protest  of  any  note  or  bill 
payable  to  the  bank.  Section  four  provided  that  for  any  violation  of  the  provisions 
of  the  act  the  sheriff  should  be  liable  to  a  fine  of  two  hundred  dollars,  and  a  judge, 
justice  or  recorder  to  a  fine  not  exceeding  five  hundred  dollars,  and  a  notiuy  should 


404  History  op  the'  City  of  Columbus. 

bo  removed  from  office.  But  section  five  was  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  speci- 
men of  1e/;iB]ation  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  the  country.  It  provided  that  if 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  should  discontinue  its  suits  in  tlie  courts  of  the 
State  brought  to  determine  its  rights  under  the  laws  of  the  State,  and  agree  to  pay 
a  tax  equal  to  four  per  cent,  on  its  dividends,  then  the  Governor  should  issue  his 
proclamation  declaring  the  act  suspended  and  that  it  ceased  to  have  any  effect. 
Thus  a  bank  chartered  by  Congress  being  objected  to  and  an  attempt  to  destroy 
it  having  been  frustrated  by  the  courts,  the  legislature  then  outlawed  it,  deprived 
it  of  all  the  usual  means  of  even  collecting  a  debt,  and  to  give  a  romantic  finish  to 
such  legislation,  if  the  bank  would  acknowledge  itself  beaten  and  do  all  that  had 
been  demanded  of  it,  the  Governor  was  to  repeal  the  act  of  the  legislature  by  issu 
ing  his  proclamation  declaring  it  null  and  void.  Why  could  not  such  legislation 
be  enacted  against  some  obnoxious  individual  as  well  as  against  a  bank  ?  The 
following  members  of  the  legislature  entered  their  protest  against  the  passage  of 
this  act:  William  Vance,  James  Cooley,  James  Harris,  Jonathan  Sloane,  John  R. 
Parish,  and  William  W.  Gault. 

On  the  passage  of  the  act,  the  bank  not  ceasing  to  do  business,  the  officers  of 
the  State  proposed  to  collect  the  tax.  The  bank  applied  to  the  United  States 
Court  for  an  injunction,  which  was  granted.  Notice  of  the  injunction  was  served 
on  the  Auditor  of  State,  but  he  issued  a  warrant  for  the  collection  of  the  tax,  and 
authorized  John  L.  Harper  to  collect  it.  Taking  with  him  Thomas  Orr  and  J. 
McCoUister,  on  the  seventeenth  of  September,  he  went  to  the  Chillicothe  branch 
and  demanded  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  was  refused,  the  refusal  being 
accompanied  by  notice  of  the  injunction.  Harper  entered  the  vault  and  seized  the 
amount  in  coin  and  bank  notes,  and  handed  it  over  to  the  Treasurer  of  State. 
Subsequently,  Samuel  Sullivan,  then  State  Treasurer,  reported  that  the  United 
States  Court  had  ordered  him  to  return  the  amount  taken  from  the  United  States 
Bank,  but  inasmuch  as  the  Auditor  of  State  had  issued  no  order  as  required  by 
law,  he  refused  to  comply,  whereupon  he  was  "  placed  in  custody  of  the  marshal  " 
and  the  keys  of  the  treasury  taken  from  him  by  "  the  commissioners  named  in  the 
writ,  who  entered  the  vault  of  the  treasury  and  took  therefrom  the  ninetyeight 
thousand  dollars"  which  had  been  taken  from  the  bank  at  Chillicothe.  Two 
thousand  dollars  of  the  sum  taken  from  the  bank  had  been  retained  by  the  sheriflf 
as  his  fee.  The  Supreme  Court  affirmed  the  decision,  and  the  State  submitted, 
but  in  January,  1821,  the  legislature  adopted  the  following  resolutions: 

That  in  respect  to  the  powers  of  the  governments  of  the  several  states  that  compose  the 
American  Union,  and  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government,  this  General  Assembly  do 
recognize  and  approve  the  doctrines  asserted  by  the  legislatures  of  Kentucky  and  V^irginia  in 
their  resolutions  of  November  and  December,  1798,  and  Jannary,  1800,  and  do  consider  that 
their  principles  have  been  recognized  and  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  American  j)eople. 

That  this  General  Assembly  do  assert  and  will  maintain,  by  all  legal  and  constitutional 
means,  the  right  of  the  State  to  tax  the  business  and  property  of  any  private  corporation  or 
trade  incorporated  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  and  located  to  transact  its  corporate 
business  within  any  state. 

That  the  Hank  of  the  United  States  is  a  private  corporation  of  trade,  the  capital  and 
business  of  which  may  be  legally  taxed  in  any  state  where  they  may  be  found. 


Banks  and  Banking.  405 

That  this  General  AsHerably  do  protest  against  the  doctrine  that  the  political  rights  of 
the  separate  states  that  conipose  the  American  Union  and  their  oMvers  as  such  sovereign 
States  may  be  settled  and  determined  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  so  as  to 
conclude  and  bind  them  in  cases  contrived  between  individuals  and  where  they  are  no  one  of 
them  parties  direct. 

As  a  further  illustration  of  the  singular  legislation  of  the  period,  the  following 
mi^y  be  cited :  An  act  passed  January  27,  1816,  intended  to  prohibit  the  circula- 
tion of  the  notes  of  unincorporated  banks  provided  that,  if  any  person  shall  receive 
and  offer  in  payment  the  bond,  bill,  note  or  contract  of  any  bank  knowing  the  same 
to  bo  unincorporated,  payable  to  bearer  or  to  order,  he  shall  for  such  offense  for- 
feit three  times  the  amount  of  such  bond,  bill,  note  or  contract. 

On  February  8,  1819,  an  act  was  passed  which  provided  that  it  shall  not  be 
lawful  for  any  person  within  this  State  to  purchase,  receive  in  payment,  or  receive 
upon  any  kind  of  barter  or  exchange  whatever,  any  bank  note  or  bank  notes  for  a 
less  amount  than  the  sum  expressed  to  bo  due  in  the  body  thereof  under  a  penalty 
of  five  hundred  dollars. 

In  order  to  furnish  a  better  currency  for  the  State,  the  legislature,  on  February 
23,  1816,  enacted  a  general  banking  law,  incorporating  the  following  banks  :  The 
Franklin  Bank,  Columbus;  The  Bank  of  Lancaster,  The  Belmont  Bank  of 
St.  Clairsvillo;  The  Commercial  Bank,  of  Lake  Erie;  The  Bank  of  Mount  Pleas- 
ant, and  The  Bank  of  West  Union,  with  a  capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
each.  The  act  was  signed  by  Matthias  Corwin,  President  of  the  Senate,  and  Peter 
Hitchcock,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Tlie  charter  provided  that 
"  the  total  amount  of  the  debts  which  any  one  of  said  corporations  shall  at  any 
time  whether  by  bond,  bill,  note  or  otherwise  contract  over  and  above  the  monies 
actually  deposited  in  such  bank,  shall  not  exceed  three  times  the  sum  of  capital 
stock  subscribed  and  actually  paid  into  the  bank,  one  half  of  which  at  least  shall  be 
in  specie."  The  capital  of  every  bank  might  be  augmented  to  five  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  by  vote  of  the  directors.  One  share  in  every  twentyiive  was  set  apart 
to  the  State  in  lieu  of  all  taxes,  the  dividends  on  such  shares  to  be  reinvested  for 
the  State  in  stock  until  it  should  "  amount  to  one  sixth  pail  of  the  whole  stock  of 
each  bank,"  thus  making  the  State  a  stockholder  and  engaging  it  in  the  business 
of  banking.  This  law  was  repealed  in  1825  by  an  act  relinquishing  the  stock  so  set 
apart,  and  substituting  in  its  stead  a  tax  of  two  per  cent,  on  the  dividends  from 
the  date  of  the  charter  up  to  that  date,  and  four  per  cent,  thereafter. 

In  the  act  incorporating  the  Franklin  Bank  of  Columbus  Samuel  Parsons, 
Lucas  Sullivant,  John  Culler,  John  Kerr,  Alexander  Morrison,  James  Kilbourn, 
Javis  Pike,  and  Henry  Brown  were  authorized  to  receive  subscriptions  of  stock 
The  bank  was  organized  on  the  first  Monday  in  September,  with  Lucas  Sullivant 
as  president  and  A.  J.  Williams  as  cashier.  Mr.  Sullivant  was  succeeded  as  presi- 
dent in  1828  by  Doctor  Samuel  Parsons,  who  served  until  the  expiration  of  the 
charter.  Mr.  Williams  was  succeeded  as  cashier  by  William  Neil,  who  served  until 
January  18,  1827,  when  James  P.  Espy  was  elected.  The  bank  did  a  successful 
and  honorable  business.  In  183G  it  reported  $696,(191  of  loans  and  discounts,  and 
8132,662  specie  in  its  vaults.     A    writer  in   the  Banker^'  Mtujazltw  stated  that   in 


406  History  of  the  City  of  Colitmbub. 

18434,  when  resumption  was  effected,  but  oi^ht  of  all  the  banks  in  Ohio  remained 
solvent,  and  among  tnose  reported  as  failing  was  the  Franklin,  which  was  an 
erroneous  statement. 

In  March,  1834,  the  Franklin  Bank  took  possession  of  its  new  banking  house 
which  is  thus  referred  to  in  the  Ohio  State  Jonrnnl  of  the  eighth  :  "  This  is  a  hand- 
some structure,  presenting  a  front  of  cut  freestone,  with  a  portico  to  match,  sup- 
ported by  four  Doric  columns.  The  whole  of  the  building  is  completely  fireproof 
and  affords  a  creditable  specimen  of  the  skill  and  good  taste  of  the  artisans  of  our 
rising  city." 

At  the  expiration  of  its  charter  in  1843  the  bank  was  closed,  but  on  the 
establishment  of  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio  another  bank  with  the  same  name  was 
organized  as  a  branch  of  the  State  Bank.  It  began  business  on  January  1,  1845,  at 
the  southwest  corner  of  High  and  Town  Streets,  with  Gust^vus  Swan  as  president, 
who  served  until  the  sale  of  the  stock  of  the  bank  to  D.  W.  Deshler,  W.  S.  Sullivant, 
Orange  Johnson,  and  others,  when  Mr.  Deshler  was  elected  president  and  served 
until  the  close  of  the  bank,  August  23,  1854.  Mr.,  Espy  resigned  and  formed  a 
partnership  with  Eli  Kinney,  of  Portsmouth,  as  Kinney,  Espy  k  Co.,  bankers  at 
Cincinnati.  Joseph  Hutcheson  succeeded  him  as  cashier,  but  he  too  resigned  to 
form  the  firm  of  Hayden,  Hutcheson  &  Co.,  and  was  succeeded  by  David  Overdier. 
The  bank  did  a  large  and  successful  business,  its  discounts  averaging  from  four  to 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum.  On  closing  its  books  it  had  but  two 
thousand  dollars  pastdue  paper  and  nothing  in  litigation  except  one  collection  of  one 
hundred  and  twentyfive  dollars,  which  was  not  in  dispute.  It  turned  over  to  the 
Franklin  National  Bank,  which  succeeded  it,  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  de- 
posits. It  paid  liberal  dividends  to  its  stockholders  and  divided  a  large  surplus 
among  them.  In  March,  18()8,  there  were  seventeen  thousand  dollars  of  its  notes 
still  outstanding. 

Upon  the  establishment  of  the  National  Banks  the  Franklin  National  Bank  was 
organized  with  D.  W.  Deshler,  William  G.  Deshler,  John  G.  Deshler,  Walstein 
Failing,  P.  W.  Huntington  and  James  L.  Bates  as  directors.  It  commenced  busi- 
ness in  January,  1865,  with  D.  W.  Deshler  president  and  Joseph  Hutcheson 
cashier,  and  a  capital  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  with  authority  to 
increase  it  to  five  hundred  thousand.  D.  W.  Deshler  died  August  2,  18(19,  when 
John  G.  Deshler  was  elected  president.  He  served  until  his  death  in  January, 
1887,  when  the  bank  was  closed.  Mr.  Hutcheson  resigned  as  cashier,  and  was 
succeeded  by  C.  B.  Stewart,  who  served  until  the  close  of  the  bank. 

In  the  year  1889  another  bank  was  established  by  the  name  of  the  Franklin 
Savings  Bank,  with  a  capital  of  sixty  thousand  dollars,  Albert  Goldstein  being  presi- 
dent, and  S.  A.  Frank  cashier.     This  bank  was  in  existence  but  a  few  months. 

The  Clinton  Bank  of  Columbus  was  incorporated  July  3, 1834,  with  a  capital  of 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  books  for  subscription  to  the  stock  were  to  be 
opened  at  the  store  of  Olmsted  &  St.  Clair  on  the  eleventh  of  August,  according  to 
a  notice  by  Jos.se  Stone,  Ralph  Osborn,  N.  H.  Swayne,  William  Neil,  ,1.  Patter- 
son P.  H.  Olmsted  and  William  Miner,  published  in  the  Ohio  Stntt'  Journal  of 
July  19,  1834.     The  first  directors  were  William  Neil,  Christopher  Neiswander,  D. 


Banks  and  Banking.  407 

W.  DoHhlcr,  DumuN  AdaraH,  John  Patlorson,  Johso  Stone,  Noah  II.  S  way  no,  Joseph 
Ridgway,  Bela  Latham,  William  S.  SuUivant,  William  Miner,  O.  W.  Sherwood 
and  Nathaniel  Medbery.  William  Neil  was  the  firet  president  and  John  Delalield, 
Junior,  the  cashier.  Mr.  Neil  served  as  president  until  1841),  when  William  S. 
Sullivan  was  elected  and  served  until  the  expiration  of  the  charter  in  1854.  John  R. 
Jeffords  was  olecte<J  cashier  in  January,  1838,  and  served  until  his  death  in  1842, 
when  D.  W.  Deshler  tixik  his  place,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the  bank.  The 
Clinton  Bunk  did  a  lar^e  business  outside  of  the  State.  It  was  for  a  long  time  af- 
ter the  destruction  of  the  United  States  Bank  the  only  United  States  depository 
west  of  the  Ohio  River.  Payments  on  government  works,  the  National  Road,  the 
mails  and  military  posts  and  other  government  service  were  made  by  it,  and  the  re- 
ceipts of  the  land  office  at  the  village  of  Chicago,  as  it  then  was,  were  (lej)osited  in 
it,  being  hauled  thence  to  this  place  in  wagons,  under  guard.  The  bank  is  said  to 
have  had  an  average  circulation  of  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In  183t)  it  re- 
ported its  loans  and  discounts  at  $557,139,  and  the  specie  in  its  vaults  at  8124,879. 
Many  of  the  direcloi^s  of  the  Clinton  Bank  will  be  recognized  as  men  who  were  prom- 
inent in  the  subsecjuent  history  of  the  city,  as  for  instance,  William  Neil,  1).  W. 
Deshler,  Demas  Adams.  John  Patterson,  Noah  II.  Swayne,  Joseph  Ridgway,  Bela 
Latham,  William  S.  Sullivant,  W^illiam  Miner,  and  S.  Medbery. 

In  May,  1835,  a  successful  forgery  was  practiced  on  the  Clinton  Bank  On 
the  first  of  that  nionth  a  man  giving  the  name  of  Lyman,  who  was  sto])ping  at 
the  National  Hotel,  j)rcsented  at  the  bank  a  drafl  purporting  to  be  drawn  by  the 
Decatur  Branch  Jiank  of  Alabama  on  the  Union  Bank  of  New  York  for  three 
thousand  dollars  payable  to  David  Leight  or  order,  and  endorsed  by  Leight  and 
made  payable  to  bearer.  Lyman  pretended  to  be  traveling  for  his  health.  The 
draft  was  promptly  cashed  by  giving  one  thousand  dollars  (Minton  Bunk  notes  and 
a  dratl  for  two  thousand  dollars  on  the  Phcenix  Bank,  New  York.  Lyman's  draft 
was  forwarded  to  the  IMxju'nix  Bank  for  collection  and  returned  on  the  twelfth  of 
May  as  a  forgery.  Mr.  Delafield,  the  cashier,  and  William  Miner,  a  director,  went 
to  (yincinnati  in  pursuit  of  Lyman,  having  traced  him  in  that  direction.  They 
ascertained  that  a  Cincinnati  broker  had  cashed  the  Phcenix  Bank  draft  for  two 
thousand  dollars  ten  days  before  for  a  man  calling  himself  James  Wilson.  They 
secure<i  evidence  that  Lyman  had  gone  to  Louisville.  Upon  going  to  that  city, 
in  company  with  the  Cincinnati  broker,  they  discovered  that  a  broker  of  that  city 
had  lately  changed  three  fifty  dollar  notes  for  a  gentleman  of  the  nameof  Ludlow, 
of  the  most  respectable  character,  for  some  time  a  resident  of  Louisville.  Upon 
going  to  Ludlow's  dwelling  they  identified  him  as  Lyman,  (il/'as!  Wilson.  He  had 
represented  himself  as  the  son  of  a  rich  South  Carolina  planter,  and  had  engaged 
in  marriage  the  daughter  of  a  respectable  citizen  of  Louisville.  A  newspaper 
account  of  the  case  said  :  "Thursday  last  was  to  have  been  the  wedding  day. 
Preparatory  to  his  intended  marriage,  he  (Lyman)  had  leased  a  house  for  three 
years  at  six  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  and  was  fitting  it  u])  with  rich  carpeting 
and  costly  furniture,  and  had  purchased  a  splendid  pianoforte  for  his  intended 
bride."  lie  had  a  large  nunil)er  of  valuable  articles  in  his  possession,  presumably 
stolen,  there  being  among  other  things  a  seal  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine.     One  of  his 


408  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

trunks  contAined  sixteen  hundred  dollars  in  money.  He  was  arrested  and  brought 
to  Columbus. 

The  Clinton  Bank  was  authorized  by  its  charter  to  draw  and  issue  post  notes 
and  bills  of  exchange  on  individuals,  companies,  or  corporations,  payable  to  order, 
and  at  such  places  and  at  such  time  or  day  as  the  directors  for  the  time  being  should 
deem  expedient.  These  post  notes  were  violently  opposed  by  the  Democratic  party. 
The  Clinton  Bank  commenced  business  at  the  southwest  corner  of  High  and 
State  Streets,  from  whence  it  removed  to  near  the  northwest  corner  of  High  and 
Broad  streets,  where  it  remained  until  it  was  closed.  An  act  to  recharter  the 
Bank  was  passed  March  12,  1850,  the  original  charter  expiring  in  1854.  A  rumor 
was  started  in  1853  that  this  Bank  had  failed,  or  was  about  to  do  so,  but  the  report 
seems  to  have  had  no  foundation. 

In  September,  1861,  William  G.  Deshler,  cashier  of  the  Clinton  Bank,  was 
appointed  by  S.  P.  Chase,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  an  agent  to  receive  subscrip- 
tions to  the  National  loan  just  issued.  On  the  twenty  fifth  of  the  month  he  issued 
notice  that  subscriptions  to  said  loan  would  be  received  at  the  Clinton  Bank,  and 
that  the  treasury  notes  would  be  issued  in  sums  of  fifty,  one  hundred,  five  hundred, 
one  thousand  and  five  thousand  dollars,  and  bear  interest  at  the  rate  of  seven  and 
three  tenths  per  cent.,  which  would  be  two  cents  per  day  on  every  one  hundred 
dollars,  the  notes  being  dated  August  19,  1861,  and  payable  in  three  years.  On 
October  11,  seventeen  days  after  notice,  it  was  announced  that  the  amount  sub- 
scribed was  849,270,  and  by  the  following  persons  : 

Mrs.  Ann  Eliza  Deshler,  $1,000;  John  6.  Deshler,  $100;  Miss  Kate  Deshler,  $50;  Miss 
Mary  E.  Deshler,  $50;  William  G.  Deshler,  $5,000:  S.  Burcbard,  $10;  George  W.  Sinks, 
$1,000  ;  James  F.  Dyer,  $700;  George  McDonald,  $1,000;  James  M.  Westwater,  $1,000;  D.  W. 
Deshler,  $10,000 :  Jacob  M.  Desellem,  $50;  Samuel  E.  Ogden,  $1,000;  G.  Q.  McColm,  $500; 
Allen  G.  Thurman,  $1,000;  Jacob  T.  Conine,  $1,500;  Frederick  J.  Fay,  $250 ;  David  L.  Wood, 
$500;  Mrs.  Susan  £.  Smith.  $150;  Jesse  Jones,  $50;  William  S.  Sullivant,  $1,500;  Conrad 
Greiner,  $150 ;  Joseph  A.  Montgomery,  $100 ;  William  T.  Bascom,  $600 ;  Frederick  Fieser, 
$500;  Mrs.  Louisa  Fieser,  $1,000;  Benjamin  Talbot,  $200;  L.  Donaldson.  $100;  William  B. 
Hubbard,  $5.000 ;  Mrs.  A.  A.  Ogden,  $100;  Francis  A.  Marble,  $100;  Stanton  Sholes,  $300; 
Roswell  H.  Kinney,  $100 ;  Mrs.  Harriet  Randall,  $500 ;  Sherman  M.  Bronson,  $500 ;  Asa  D. 
Lord,  $150;  Harlowe  Allen,  $100;  Ralph  R.  Anderson,  $200;  Mrs.  Lydia  A.  Hershiser,  $50; 
William  A.  Hershiser,  $50;  Jesse  W.  Dann,  $500;  Mrs.  Ruth  C.  Bartlit,  $100;  Joseph 
McCampbell,  $1,000;  James  G.  Bull.'  $400;  Mrs.  A.  Claypoole,  $750;  Adam  B.  Crist,  $100; 
Mrs.  Mary  Bigelow,  $100;  William  B.  Hawkes,  $3,000;  Mrs.  Mary  M.  Coggeshall,  $100;  Mrs. 
Ruth  Austin,  $200;  Richard  Miller  A  Co.,  $500;  John  A.  Lazell,  $250;  Mrs.  Jeannette  S. 
Ridgway,  $2,000;  Mrs.  Jeannette  J.  Ridgway,  $700;  Miss  Esther  A.  Ridgway,  $700  ;  Alfred  P. 
Stone,  $1,000 ;  Mrs.  E.  G.  R.  Hills,  $100 ;  Mrs.  Selina  Andrews,  $550 ;  Enoch  S.  Mcintosh,  $400  ; 
William  A.  Piatt,  $500 ;  total,  $49,270. 

January  3, 1887,  the  Clinton  National  Bank  was  established  with  a  capital  of 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  M.  M.  Greene,  M.  A.  Daugherty,  W.  M.  Greene, 
H.  A.  LanmaUp  and  R.  S.  Warner,  directors.  M.  M.  Greene  was  president,  and  F. 
W.  Prentiss,  cashier.  M.  M.  Greene  died  January  26,  1887,  when  D.  S.  Gray  was 
elected  president.  The  bank  commenced  business  at  the  northeast  corner  of  High 
and  Chestnut  streets. 


Banks  and  Banking.  409 

Tho  first  bank  to  issuo  notes  for  circulation  in  Ohio  was  the  Miami  Exporting 
Company,  which  was  incorporated  in  April,  1803.  It  was  a  trading  company 
merely,  and  its  charter  contained  no  reference  to  a  bank  or  bank  notes.  Its  author- 
ized capital  was  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars 
each,  payable  at  the  rate  of  five  dollars  in  cash  and  fortyfive  doUara  in  produce  and 
manufactures  during  the  first  year,  the  remaining  fifty  dollars  to  be  paid  in  pro- 
duce and  manufactures  from  July  to  March  in  the  ensuing  year  if  called  for  by  the 
president  and  directors.  The  company  commenced  business  as  a  commercial  com- 
pany, but  there  was  a  clause  in  the  charter  by  virtue  of  which  the  directors  claimed 
the  power  to  issue  notes  for  circulation.  Notes  were  accordingly  issued,  but,  as 
always  happens  in  such  cases,  the  time  soon  came  when  the  notes  became  uncur- 
rent,  and  nothing  better  being  at  command  to  redeem  them  a  collapse  followed. 
This  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  kind  of  bank  notes  which  constituted  the  currency  of 
Ohio  during  the  first  thirty  or  forty  years  of  its  existence. 

To  remedy  this  grievous  public  burden,  the  legislatures  of  several  of  the  then 
Western  States  established  State  banks.  Illinois  created  one  in  1884  which  was  in 
existence  but  about  twelve  years.  Indiana  chartered  a  similar  institution  in  the 
same  year  which  had  a  creditable  history;  and  in  1845  the  legislature  of  Ohio 
passed  an  act  to  incorporate  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio  and  other  banks.  This  law 
differed  from  any  that  had  preceded  it,  inasmuch  as  it  did  not  establish  a  State  bank 
proper,  but  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio  was  formed  of  branches  located  in  all  parts  ot  the 
State.  These  branches  severally  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Control,  which 
board  formed  a  legislature  for,  and  had  supreme  control  of,  all  the  brandies.  This 
board  met  semiannually  in  May  and  November.  Its  first  meeting  was  held  July 
15,  1845,  at  which  nine  branches  were  represented.  On  the  next  day  the  board 
organized  by  electin^i:  Gustavus  Swan  president,  and  James  T.  Claypoole  secretary. 
It  was  the  duty  of  the  president  to  sign  the  notes,  which  were  then  turned  over  to 
the  secretary  to  be  by  him  issued  to  the  branches,  as  provided  by  the  charter. 

In  1852  the  board  established  a  clearing  bureau  at  its  office  in  Columbus,  to 
which  all  "mutilated"  notes  untit  for  circulation  were  returned  and  burned,  and 
for  which  new  ones  were  issued  in  their  place.  The  express  business  then  only 
reaching  the  large  towns,  many  of  these  notes  were  remitted  by  mail  in  packages 
containing  as  much  as  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  yet  in  an  experience  of  several 
years,  but  two  packages  were  lost,  one  being  sent  from  Steuben ville  and  one  from 
Ripley,  together  amounting  to  less  than  four  hundred  dollars.  A  package  ot 
twelve  hundred  dollars  from  Bridgeport  had  a  narrow  escape.  The  accomj)any. 
ing  sack  containing  the  letter  of  advice  was  stolen,  but  the  sack  with  the  money 
in  it  escaped. 

As  an  evidence  of  the  amount  of  notes  which  it  was  necessary  for  the  secretary 
to  have  on  hand  in  order  to  be  able  to  supply  all  the  demands  of  the  branches,  it 
may  be  stilted  that  he  had,  on  the  thirteenth  of  May,  1SH2,  of  sii^ned  and  unsigned 
notes  $2,734,749,  which  was  considerably  below  the  average  amount.  In  May,  1870, 
there  were  still  outstanding  S8f)(),021. 

The  Ohio  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Conipariy  failed  in  August,  l.sr)7.  This 
being  an  Ohio  company,  and  one  in    which  the  banks  of  Ohio  had  contidence,  its 


410  History  of  the  City  of  Colubibus. 

New  York  office  was  used  by  them  very  generally  us  a  depository  for  their  eastern 
funds.  At  the  time  of  its  failure  man}''  of  the  branches  of  the  State  Bunk  had 
nearly  as  much  as,  and  one  of  them  had  more  than  the  whole  amount,  of  their  capital 
so  deposited.  Fortunately  two  leading  members  of  the  Board  of  Control  —  Daniel 
Applegnte,  of  Zanesville,  and  Noah  L.  Wilson,  of  Marietta  —  were  in  New  York 
and  were  successful  in  making  an  arrangement  with  the  cashier  of  the  Trust  Com- 
pany by  which  the  deposits  of  the  branches  of  the  State  Bank  were  secured.  A 
special  session  of  the  Board  of  Control  was  called,  and  so  intense  was  the  excitement 
that  Doctor  Andrews,  the  president,  who  was  suffering  from  asthma,  hesitated  in 
his  speech  while  addressing  the  Board,  and  after  uttering  a  few  incoherent  words 
fainted  and  fell  to  the  floor.  He  recovered  in  a  few  minutes,  and  finished  his 
remarks.  At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Board,  arrangements  were  made  by  which 
the  redemption  of  all  outstanding  notes  was  secured,  it  being  the  wish  of  the  Board 
that  no  notes  issued  by  a  branch  should  ever  fall  below  par. 

During  the  twenty  years  of  its  existence  the  Board  of  Control  occupied  the 
rooms  now  used  by  the  Capital  City  Bank,  and  so  unpretentious  was  its  style  that 
there  was  never  even  a  sign  at  the  door  to  tell  where  the  office  of  the  State  Bank 
of  Ohio  might  be  found.  Judge  Swan  served  as  president  until  November  21, 
1854,  when  he  asked  to  be  relieved,  and  Doctor  John  Andrews,  who  had  been 
vicepresident,  and  was  at  the  time  president  of  the  Jefferson  Branch  at  Steuben- 
ville,  was  elected  president.  He  served  until  November,  1866,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Joseph  Hutcheson,  who  served  until  the  final  meeting  of  the  Board  May 
17,  1870,  when  the  Board  was  finally  dissolved.  James  K.  Claypoole  was  elected 
secretary  of  the  Board  at  its  first  meeting,  and  served  until  January,  1847,  when 
he  accepted  the  appointment  as  cashier  of  the  Mad  River  Valley  Branch,  at  Spring- 
field, and  James  Gillet  was  elected  in  his  place,  and  served  until  March,  1850,  when 
John  J.  Janney  was  elected.  Mr.  Janney  served  until  May,  1865,  when  11.  C. 
Hull  was  chosen  as  his  successor.  Mr.  Hull  served  until  the  final  adjournment  of 
the  Board. 

In  1862  the  legislature  authorized  the  banks  of  Ohio  to  suspend  specie  pay- 
ments. The  brokers  of  the  country  were  more  thoroughly  organized  than  the 
banks.  A  broker  in  Cleveland  would  select  all  the  notes  he  could  get  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Cincinnati,  and  send  them  to  a  correspondent  in  that  city  and 
receive  in  return  all  in  his  own  vicinity.  The  circulation  in  the  country  was  being 
rapidlj'  returned  to  the  banks  with  no  benefit  to  anybody  except  the  broker. 

On  February  26,  1839',  the  Mechanics*  Savings  Institution  was  opened  for  busi- 
ness in  what  was  known  as  the  llussell  Building,  on  or  near  the  spot  now  occu- 
pied by  the  Johnson  Building.  The  following  notice  was  published  by  this  con- 
cern :  *'  Deposits  will  be  received  until  further  notice  on  the  following  terms  and 
rates  of  interest :  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  with  one  year's  notice  of  withdrawal,  five 
per  cent,  with  nine  months'  notice;  four  per  cent,  with  six  months'  notice;  three 
per  cent,  with  four  months'  notice.  Weekly  deposits  of  five  dollars  and  upward 
will  be  allowed  four  per  cent,  per  annum.  On  business  deposits,  to  be  withdrawn 
at  will  interest  would  be  allowed."      This  is  the  first  socalled  Savings  Institution 


Banks  and  Banking.  411 

establmbcfl  in  the  city.  The  Mechanics'  Savings  InHtitution  was  succeeded  by  the 
(;ity  Bank  in  1845. 

At  the  first  of  the  mooting  of  the  Board  of  Control  of  the  State  Bank,  the 
Exchange  Branch  of  the  State  Bank  was  admitted  as  a  branch.  It  had  com- 
monced  business  on  the  twentyfourth  of  May  preceding,  with  a  capital  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twentyfivc  thousand  doUars.  W.  B.  Hubbard,  1).  T.  Woodbury,  J. 
Edwards  Pierrepont,  Oren  Follett,  Peter  Hayden  and  Lincoln  (roodale  were 
directors,  with  W.  B.  Hubbard  president,  and  H.  M.  Hubbard  cashier.  On 
January  7,  1856,  M.  L.  Neville,  who  succeeded  H.  M.  Hubbard  as  cashier,  resigned, 
and  C.  J.  Hardy  was  elected  cashier,  and  P.  W.  Huntington  teller.  D.  W. 
Oeshler  was  then  elected  president.  The  bank  did  business  in  the  building 
erected  by  The  Franklin  Bank,  where  the  First  National  Bank  now  stands,  and  in 
1856  removed  to  the  northwest  corner  of  High  and  Broad  streets.  At  the  expira- 
tion of  the  charter  of  the  Exchange  Branch,  the  National  Exchange  Bank  was 
organized  with  William  Dennison,  D.  W.  Deshler,  William  A.  Piatt,  W.  B. 
Hawkes,  James  S.  Abbott,  and  William  G.  Deshler  as  directors;  D.  W.  Deshler 
being  president,  and  C.  J.  Hardy  cashier.  The  caj)ital  stock  was  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  At  the  death  of  David  W.  Deshler,  July  30,  18G1»,  William  G. 
Deshler  was  elected  president.  The  National  Exchange  Bank  has  been  since 
its  organization  a  United  States  Depository,  in  which  are  deposited  collections 
from  customs  and  other  funds  of  the  government,  from  which  payments  for  pen- 
sions, mail  service  and  other  public  claims  are  ])aid.  Just  after  the  organization 
of  the  National  Rlxchange  Bank  it  found  itself  burdened  with  the  bonds  of  an 
insolvent  railway  company,  but  it  boldly  shouhlore<i  the  load  and  sunk  it  out  of 
sight  in  the  profit  and  loss  accour)t,  and  has  had  a  remarkably  jn'osperous 
existence. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  knowledge  and  watchfulness  required  on  the  pari  of 
bank  officers,  the  following  "  Cashier's  Christmas  Story,"  for  which  the  writer  is 
indebted  to  Mr.  C.  J.  Hardy,  cashier  of  the  National  Exchange  Bank,  is  interest- 
ing: 

On  the  tweutysecond  day  of  Deceinher,  185(5,  a  man  purporting  to  be  (mgaged  in  huyinjr 
pnxhicein  the  country  around  Cohinihus,  presented  at  the  counter  of  the  Exchange  Branch 
Bank,  lo<tated  in  the  old  Deshler  Building  at  the  northwest  corner  of  High  and  Broail  streets, 
three  hundre<l  and  eighty  dollars  in  the  new  twenty-dollar  notes  of  the  Troy  City  Bank  of 
New  York,  and  requested  therefor  the  same  amount  in  "  red  backs,"  as  the  circuhition  of  the 
State  Branch  Banks  Wius  called  by  reason  of  the  red  design  printed  on  the  backs  of  the  notes. 
Accordingly  a  package  of  five  hundred  dollars  in  new  bills  was  taken  from  the  teller's  drawer 
and  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  taken  out  and  j)assed  over  to  the  stranger. 
About  noon  of  the  twentysixth  II.  K.  Cfreble,  teller  of  Ilarshnian  &  Gorman's  Bank,  at  Day- 
ton, Ohio,  sat  reading  in  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  a  description  of  a  very  dangerous  twonty«lollar 
note  on  the  Troy  City  Bank  of  New  York,  said  {le^•cription  having  been  written  by  Mr. 
George  Jones,  a  member  of  Rawdon,  Wrigbt,  Hatch  &  Co.,  who  had  engravetl  a  part  of  the 
genuine  plate.  While  reading,  Mr.  Grel)le  was  interrnpte<l  l)y  a  stranger  wlio  presented  for 
exchange  three  of  the  very  counterfeits  of  which  h<*  had  just  read  the  «lescriplion.  Calling 
to  his  side  connter  one  of  tlie  clerks,  he  sent  him  quietly  butcpiickly  for  an  otlicer,  arnl  mule 
some  excuse  for  dela)  to  the  stranger,  who  after  wailing  a  few  moments,  Ix'came  saspici«»ns, 
snat(*hed  his  three  notes  from  the  counter,  and  started  lor  the  door  but  there  encountere<l 


412  History  of  tdk  City  ok  Columbus. 

the  otiicer  and  clerk  as  they  came  in,  and  was  arrested.  On  searchiD^  him  the  three  notes 
coald  not  be  found,  and  the  (juestion  arose  as  to  how  he  could  l>e  held,  but  this  was  solved 
by  discovery  of  the  Exchange  Branch  notes,  and  by  answer  to  a  telegram  received  the  same 
afternoon  from  Harshman  &  Gorman  enquiring:  "  Did  you  exchan^^e  $1^80  of  your  circulation 
for  twentydollar  Troy  Notes?  If  so,  come  first  train;  have  caught  the  counterfeiter."  I 
answere<l :  "Yes ;  will  come  first  train  in  the  morning."  The  early  Christmas  morning  train 
carried  me  to  Dayton,  where  I  was  met  by  a  city  oflScer,  and  was  informed  that  they  were 
waiting  for  me  to  identify  the  suspected  party  at  the  Mayor's  office.  Business  being  dosed, 
the  Mayor's  conrt  was  filled  with  people.  I  was  taken  into  the  crowd  and  requested  to  find 
my  man.  This  was  a  new  business  for  me,  but  I  went  to  work  on  the  crowd  with  my  eyes, 
and  after  a  minute  or  two  discovered  the  rascal  standing  just  at  my  right.  I  turned  and 
patting  my  finger  up  to  his  face  said  :  "  You  are  the  man."  After  he  was  committed  to  jail 
I  was  requested  by  the  Mayor  to  describe  the  money  I  had  paid  to  the  suspected  man,  which 
I  did  by  giving  the  numbers  and  denominations  of  the  bills.  I  was  permitted  to  take  the 
money  back  to  Columbus.  On  arriving  at  the  bank  I  sat  down  to  see  if  I  could  ^t  back  one 
of  our  counterfeit  Troy  twenties  which  had  been  expressed  to  Atwood  &  Co.,  bankers,  New 
York,  for  our  credit,  as  was  our  custom  in  making  New  York  Exchange  of  all  eastern  money. 
I  wrote  to  Atwoo<l  &  Company  requesting  them  to  send  me  one  of  those  "dangerous  Troy 
notes,"  and  in  due  course  of  mail  received  the  reply  that  they  had  been  very  fortunate  and 
had  not  taken  any.  To  close  the  story  we  got  credit  for  $380  with  Atwood  &  Company,  and 
got  back  the  same  amount  of  circulation  that  was  given  in  exchange,  making  a  neat  Christ- 
mas gift  to  the  Branch  Bank,  which  was  credited  to  the  account  of  ]>rofit  and  loss.  About 
three  thousand  dollars  of  these  counterfeits  were  destroyed  at  the  clearing  house  at  Albany, 
New  York,  without  being  recognized  as  counterfeit. 

The  act  incorporating  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio  provided  for  the  cstjiblishment 
of  independent  banks.  In  relation  to  the  branches  of  the  State  Bank,  the  only 
security  that  their  notes  would  bo  redeemed  in  case  of  failure  was  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  other  branches,  each  branch  being  responsible  for  the  redemption  of 
the  notes  of  all  the  rest.  The  independent  banks  deposited  with  the  Treasurer  of 
State  bonds  on  which  they  received  ninety  per  cent,  of  circulation.  The  result 
demonstrated  that  the  State  Bank  system  was  equally  as  safe  as  the  other,  for 
while  out  of  fortyono  branches  established  six  failed,  their  notes  circulated  just  as 
well  as  before,  were  received  by  all  the  branches  and  all  other  parties  in  the  State 
at  ])ar  with  those  of  the  solvent  branches,  and  were  returned  to  the  ofllice  in 
Columbus,  redeemed  from  a  fund  provided  for  the  purpose,  and  burned. 

Among  the  independent  banks  established  was  the  City  Bank  of  Columbus, 
which  commenced  business  in  1845.  William  S.  Sullivant,  Noah  H.  Swa3'no, 
William  M.  Awl,  Samuel  McClelland,  Orange  Johnson,  and  William  A.  Piatt  were 
the  first  directors.  Joel  Buttles  was  president  until  his  death  in  1850,  when 
Robert  W.  McCoy  took  his  place,  and  filled  it  until  his  death,  when  William  A. 
Piatt  became  president  and  served  until  the  bank  was  closed.  Thomas  Moodie  was 
cashier  during  the  existence  of  the  bank.  He  had  been  cashier  of  the  Mechanics* 
Savings  Institution  which  was  closed  at  the  organization  of  the  City  liank.  The 
capital,  S450,000,  was  the  largest  bank  capital  in  the  city.  The  bank  was  located 
in  the  east  room  of  the  building  at  the  southeast  corner  of  High  and  State  streets, 
which  was  erected  and  occupied  by  the  Columbus  Insurance  Company.  That 
Company  failing  in  1851,  the  City  Bank,  which  was  closely  affiliated  with  it,  tried 
to  help  it,  but,  as  is  very  apt  to  be  the  result  of  such   friendly  efforts,  they  both 


Banks  and  Banking.  413 

wont  down  togothor.     Tho  notes  of  the  bank  were  redeemed  by  the  TreaHurer  of 
State,  and  the  creditors  were  paid  in  full. 

Miller,  Donaldson  &  Company  commenced  a  private  banking  business  in  1854, 
in  the  room  formerly  oocupiecl  by  the  Columbus  Insurance  Company,  whence  they 
removed  one  door  cast  in  1801.  Mr.  Donaldson  had  been  in  business  with  C.  A. 
Bain  as  L.  Donaldson  &  Company,  the  Citizens'  Savings  Bank,  and  C.  A.  Bain  & 
Company  one  door  further  east,  during  a  short  time,  but  Mr.  Bain  having  left 
the  city,  Mr.  Donaldson,  John  Miller,  and  A.  II.  Greene  formed  a  partnership  as 
Miller,  Donaldson  &  Company,  and  did  a  successful  business  until  1889.  Mr. 
Greene  retired  in  1857.  Mr.  Miller  died  in  1888,  and  Mr.  Donaldson  a  few  months 
after  the  close  of  business. 

The  banking  house  of  liickly  &  Brother  was  established  in  1857  by  S.  S. 
Rickly  and  J.  J.  Rickly.  In  1870  the  junior  partner  retired,  and  S.  S.  Rickly  con- 
tinued the  business  alone  until  1875,  when  the  Capital  City  Bank  was  incorpoi'ated 
with  a  capital  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  and  W.  S.  Slirum,  J.  W.  Souder,  G.  W. 
Bright,  S.  S.  Rickly  and  R.  R.  Rickly,  as  directors,  S.  S.  Rickly  being  president 
and  R.  R.  Rickly  cashier.  Rickly  &  Brother  occupied  at  first  the  building  formerly 
used  by  the  Exchange  Bank,  but  subsequently  moved  into  the  room  at  the  south- 
oast  corner  of  High  and  State  streets,  whore  they  remained  until  the  formation  of 
tho  Capital  City  Bank,  which  commenced  business  at  its  present  location  in  the 
room  formerly  used  by  tl»e  Board  of  Control  of  tho  State  Bank.  While  in  business 
alone  Mr.  S.  S.  Rickly  made  an  assignment  atone  time,  not  because  of  failure  but 
in  order  to  protect  himself  against  an  unjust  claim,  after  the  arrangement  of  which 
he  resumed,  having  paid  all  creditors  in  full. 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  Mr.  S.  S.  Rickly  for  the  following  letter,  which  he 
wrote  to  the  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Denver  : 

Though  a  total  stranger  to  you,  I  desire  to  condole  with  you  in  the  loss  of  money  you 
have  sustained  on  account  of  a  villain,  as  reported  by  telegraphic  dispatches  from  your  city, 
and  also  to  congratulate  you  on  your  escape  with  life  and  limb.  Two  episodes  in  my  life  as 
a  banker  will  doubtless  satisfy  you  that  you  pursued  the  wisest  course  under  the  trying 
circumstances.  Some  ten  years  ago,  during  the  dinner  hour,  when  I  was  alone  in  the  bank 
for  a  few  minutes,  two  men  stepped  in,  one  handing  me  a  package  of  one  hundred  new  one 
dollar  bills.  The  other,  after  I  had  commenced  counting  the  package,  requested  me  to  change 
him  a  gold  piece.  This  necessitated  my  going  into  the  vault,  and  thinking  to  be  back  in  a 
moment  I  unfortunately  left  the  safe  open,  but  on  one  pretext  or  another  I  was  kept  out  of 
sight  of  the  safe  and  vault  while  a  third  confederate  entered  by  a  rear  window  and  succeeded 
in  abstracting  some  six  thousand  dollars  in  currency  and  some  fourteen  thousand  dollars  in 
government  and  city  coupon  bonds.  In  the  mean  time  the  second  party,  who  had  been  pro- 
vided, as  I  learned  afterward,  with  a  revolver,  and  only  waited  the  necessity  of  using  it  to 
accomplish  their  purposes,  left  the  room  and  I  finished  counting  the  one  hundred  dollar 
package  and  gave  the  party  a  draft  on  New  York  for  it,  as  he  desired  when  he  left  the  room. 
One  of  my  clerks  coming  in,  I  remembered  leaving  the  safe  open,  and,  upon  examination,  to 
my  astonishment  found  the  above  mentioned  property  gone.  If  I  had  discovered  their  trick 
in  time,  I  would  doubtless  have  resisted  and  my  life  would  have  been  taken.  I  have  never 
recovered  any  of  the  stolen  property  except  one  thousand  dollars  of  our  City  Hall  bonds, 
which  had  been  pledged  to  a  bank  in  New  York,  and  from  which  a  friend  obtained  them  by 
paying  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar  for  them. 


414  History  of  the  City  of  CoLUMBifs. 

The  next  episode  was  nearly  nine  years  ago,  when  a  fellow  ahout  noontime  came  into  the 
bank  and  presented  a  certificate  of  the  trustees  of  one  of  oar  bankrupt  coal  firms,  calling  for 
about  one  hundred  dollars,  and  said  in  an  imperative  manner:  **  Give  me  fifty  dollars."  I 
lookeil  at  the  certificate,  which  was  wrapped  in  an  envelope,  and  saw  that  several  payments 
had  been  indorsed  on  it,  leaving  but  seventy  dollars  due  him.  I  said  to  him,  calling  him  by 
name,  for  he  wa«  a  repident  of  this  city,  "I  do  not  know  what  this  is  worth,  and  I  don't  want 
to  take  anything  from  you,  if  it  is  worth  more  than  fifty  dollars.''  He  said  in  the  same  peremp- 
tory tone  as  at  first:  *'Give  roe  thirtyfive  dollars."  I  said  kindly  but  firmly  to  him,  '*  I  have 
not  got  the  money  to  spare,"  and  aa  quick  as  thought  he  presented  a  revolver  to  my  forehead 
and  fired.  The  last  I  saw  was  that  revolver  within  an  inch  of  the  middle  of  my  fore- 
head, and  in  my  effort,  I  presume,  to  escape  the  consequences  I  must  have  slightly  turned 
my  head,  for  the  ball  entered  my  left  temple  and  passed  through  both  eyes,  lodging  against 
the  right  cheekbone.  Two  thoughts  seemed  to  be  passing  slowly  through  my  mind  ;  one  was, 
*•  is  this  fatal  ?"  the  other,  »'  shall  I  fall  ?  " 

My  son,  who  was  in  the  next  room  and  heard  the  conversation  but  did  not  see  either 
of  us,  says  I  fell  instantly,  although  it  seemed  several  seconds  at  least  while  I  felt  the  excru- 
ciating pain  and  the  light  of  day  forever  passing  from  me.  He  aimed  at  my  son  who  was 
coming  to  my  assistance  but  who  succeeded  in  escaping  from  the  room,  and  going  out  to  the 
street  called  for  assistance.  In  the  mean  time  the  wouldbe  assassin  went  around  behind  the 
counter  where  I  lay,  apparently  to  see  if  I  was  dead,  and  thinking,  no  doubt,  that  I  was  dead, 
shot  himself  dead,  and  never  bled  a  drop  or  made  a  stir.  The  report  of  that  shot  brought 
me  to  consciousness,  and  I  thought  he  was  shooting  at  my  son,  while  he  and  a  former  clerk 
who  happened  along,  hearing  the  report,  thought  he  was  still  shooting  at  me,  and,  takin<i^ 
their  lives  in  their  hands,  came  in  to  my  assistance.  They  picked  me  up  and  laid  me  on  a 
lounge,  and  I  said  to  my  son,  '*  are  you  hurt  ?  "  He  said  no,  but  that  the  villain  lay  there  dead. 
I  am  still  living,  but  totally  blind,  and  am  having  this  written  by  an  amanuensis.  Of  course  life 
Is  sweet,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  possess  that  which  all  men  aim  to  get—  money  and  posses- 
sions —  but  oh,  how  much  sweeter  would  be  the  light  of  day,  at  least  to  me  without  one 
dollar  or  one  foot  of  ground,  and  you,  my  dear  fellow- banker,  may  congratulate  yourself  and 
yours  on  your  fortuuate  escape.  We  now  have  our  windows  screened,  our  counters  screened, 
and  I  might  say  we  have  our  conscience  screened.  The  door  to  my  private  room  is  con- 
stantly locked  and  no  one  admitted  unless  he  be  known  or  can  identify  himself. 

The  banking  house  of  Hayden,  Hutcheson  &  Company  was  organized  in  1866^ 
with  a  stock  of  $75,000.  The  firm  was  composed  of  Peter  Hayden,  William  B. 
Hayden,  and  Joseph  Hutcheson.  Mr.  Hutcheson  retired  in  1871,  after  which  the 
firm  comprised  Peter  Hayden,  Charles  H.  Hayden,  William  B.  Haydon,  and  E.  K. 
Stewart,  with  Mr.  Stewart  as  cashier.  Peter  Hayden  died  April  6,  1888,  but  the 
firm  name  and  the  buHinessof  the  bank  were  not  thereby  changed.  The  Company 
began  bubiness  at  Number  13,  South  High  Street,  in  the  rooms  formerly  occupied 
by  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio,  but  subsequently  removed  to  the  present  location  on 
East  Broad  Street. 

The  banking  house  of  Ileinhard  &  Company  began  business  December  1,  1868, 
and  was  composed  of  Jacob  Reinhard,  Thomas  Miller,  Frederick  Fioser,  and 
Joseph  Falkenbach,  with  a  capital  of  twenty  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Miller  retired 
in  a  short  time,  as  did  Mr.  Falkenbach  in  1884,  afTber  which  the  firm  comprised 
Jacob  JReinhard  and  Frederick  Fieser.     Mr.  Fieser  died  in  1891. 

The  Fourth  National  Bank  began  business  in  January,  1870,  with  a  capital  of 
$100,000.  It  was  the  successor  of  the  Bank  of  Commerce,  which  had  been  estab- 
lished a  short  time,  W.  S.  Idc,  president. 


Banks  and  Bankinh.  415 

Sparrow,  HinoR  &  Company  began  busincHs  in  Jjinuarv,  1872.  Mr.  Sparrow 
retired  in  a  nbort  time,  and  tbe  firm  then  became  IlincH,  Taylor  &  Company,  and 
oonHiBted  of  O.  P.  Ilines,  David  Taylor,  James  M.  Walker,  and  David  W.  Brooks. 
From  the  death  of  members  an<l  change  of  ownership  the  firm  ban  changed  lo  D. 
W.  Brooks  and  C.  P.  h.  Buller.  D.  W.  Brook.s  died  January  31,  1891.  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  Herbert  Brooks.     Mr.  Butler  died  in  1891. 

The  Deshler  Bank  was  esUiblished  May  1,  1879,  by  William  G.  Deshler, 
George  W.  Sinks,  and  John  G.  Deshler,  Junior,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  and  G. 
W.  Sinks  as  president,  and  John  G.  Deshler  as  cashier.  It  occupies  rooms  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  High  and  Broad  streets,  in  a  new  building  on  the  spot  for- 
merly occupied  by  the  Exchange  Bank.  On  June  15,  1891,  the  Deshler  Bank  was 
reorganized  as  the  Deshler  National  Bank,  and,  as  the  law  required  in  cities  such 
as  Columbus,  increased  itsca])ital  to  8200,000.  The  organization  of  the  bank  was 
not  changed,  and  the  business  was  passed  over  to  the  new  organization. 

In  1879,  J.  II.  Andei*son  &  (Company  established  the  People's  Deposit  Bank  on 
the  north  side  of  Ikoad  Street,  a  few  doors  east  of  High.  It  existed  but  a  short 
time. 

The  First  National  Bank  commenced  business  December  7,  18t)3,  with  a  ca|)i- 
tal  of  $300,000.     P.  Ambos,  William  Monypeny,  E.  T.  Mithoff,  W.   B.   Brooks,  and 

D.  A.  Randall,  were  the  directors;  P.  Ambos  being  president,  and  T.  P.  Gordon 
cashier.  At  the  death  of  Mr.  Ambos,  William  Monypeny  was  elected  president. 
The  bank  was  closed  by  vote  of  the  stockholders  in  1890,  and  reorganized  with  the 
same  capital  and  officers,  as  the  National  Bank  of  Columbus.  During  its  existence 
as  the  First  National,  it  did  a  large  and  successful  business,  paying  satisfactory 
dividends  on  its  stock,  which  it  returned  to  its  stockholders  with  a  premium  of 
sixty  per  cent. 

Ide,  Bailey  k  (Company  did  business  for  a  short  time,  before  1863,  when,  in 
company  with  N.  Schlec.  they  established  the  Central  Bank,  with  W.  E.  Ide  as 
president  and  L.  C.  Bailey  as  cashier.  In  1867  the  firm  of  Bailey,  Thomp.son  & 
Company  (L.  C.  Bailey  and  John  G.  Thompson)  carried  on  business  for  a  brief 
period.     In  1876  Bailey,  Thompson  &  Company,  B.  E.  Smith  &  Company  and  W. 

E.  Ide  organized  as  the  Central  Bank,  with  W.  E.  Ide  president,  and  L.  C.  Bailey 
cashier.     This  concern  had  but  a  short  life,  but  closed  it  honorahly. 

P.  W.  Huntington  &  Company  commenced  business  January  1,1866,  at  the 
northwest  corner  ot  High  and  Broad  streets.  The  firm  consisted  of  P.  W.  Hunt- 
ington and  D.  W.  Deshler.  Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Deshler,  August  1,  1869,  Mr. 
Huntington  has  been  in  business  alone  in  a  fine  bunking  house  which  he  erected 
on  the  southwest  corner  of  High  and  Broad  Streets.  The  firm  of  P.  W.  Hunting- 
ton &  Company  was  the  successor  of  the  Deshler  Savings  Bank,  which  was  estab- 
lished by  the  same  parlies,  bul  was  closed  after  a  few  years'  busine-*s  on  account  of 
what  was  deemed  to  he  unfavorable  legislation. 

The  Citizens  Savings  Bank  was  incorporated  in  July,  1873,  with  a  capital  of 
$100,000.  The  directors  were  Ilenr}-  Miller,  John  11.  Hughes,  E.  L.  Hinman,  John 
Beatty,  and  A.  I).  Rogers,  John  Beatty  being  presi<lent,  John  Beatty,  Junior,  sec- 
retary and  F.  R.  Shinn  cashier.     It  has  been  successfully   managed,  and   has  paid 


416  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

out  during  tho  first  fifteen  years  of  its  existence  one  hundred  and  sixtyfive 
thousan<l  dollars  in  interest  on  savings  deposits. 

The  Columbus  Savings  Bank  was  organized  March  7,  1881,  with  E.  L.  Hinnian 
as  president,  J.  R.  Hughes  vice  president,  B.  N.  Huntington  treasurer,  C.  D.  Hin- 
nian secreUiry,  and  E.  L.  Hinman,  J.  K.  Hughes,  B.  N.  Huntington,  John  Beatty, 
Charles  G.  Henderson,  Charles  D.  Hinman,  G.  T.  Tress  and  J.  F.  Oglevee  as 
trustees.     Its  banking  office  is  in  the  Park  Hotel  Building,  North  High  Street. 

The  Mechanics*  and  Manufacturers'  Bank  was  established  September  5,  1881, 
by  J.  W.  King  and  W.  D.  Park,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000.  At  the  death  of  Mr. 
King,  in  1885,  George  M.  Peters  was  elected  president  and  Howard  C.  Park 
cashier.  The  bank  occupies  a  fine  banking  house  built  for  the  purpose,  at  the 
southeast  corner  of  High  and  Spring  streets. 

In  1869  Orange  Johnson,  F.  C.  Sessions  and  J.  A.  Jeffrey  established  tho  Com- 
mercial Bank  at  the  southeast  corner  of  High  and  Long  streets,  which  did  a  suc- 
cessful business  until  1881,  when  the  business  was  turned  over  to  Sessions  &  Com- 
pany, who  have  since  done  a  business  as  investment  bankers  with  a  capital  of  tbirty 
thousand  dollars,  dealing  in  stocks,  bonds  and  mortgages.  In  1881  the  Commercial 
National  Bank  was  established  with  a  capital  of  S2U0,000.  F.  C.  Sessions  was  presi- 
dent, Benjamin  S.  Brown  vice  president,  and  W.  H.  Albery  cashier.  The  directors 
were  Benjamin  S.  Brown,  T.  Ewing  Miller,  C.  D.  Firestone,  William  G.  Dunn,  John 
Joyce,  M.  McDaniel,  Walter  Crafls,  and  W.  A.  Mahony,  since  which  time  D.  E. 
Putnam  has  succeeded  Mr.  Dunn,  and  Jesse  W.  Dann  has  replaced  Mr.  Crafts. 
Mr.  Sessions  and  Mr.  Albery  have  been  in  their  present  positions  over  twenty 
years.  The  bank  has  done  a  large  and  profitable  business.  At  the  time  of  its 
establishment,  the  friends  of  Mr.  Albery  advised  him  not  to  accept  a  position  offered 
him  in  it,  because  its  location  was  thought  to  be  so  far  from  the  business  of  the 
city  that  it  would  get  but  little  custom.  At  the  end  of  nine  years,  it  is  one  of  the 
three  largest  banks  in  the  city,  and  there  are  four  banks  north  of  it,  still  further 
away  from  what  was  thought  to  be  the  business  center. 

The  South  End  Bank  was  established  in  1882,  with  H.  Mithoff  president, 
L.  Lindeman  vice  president,  and  P.  W.  Corzili us  cashier.  It  was  in  existence  only 
six  years  when,  by  reason  of  the  cashier's  default,  the  directors  determined  to  close 
it,  which  was  done  by  an  assessment  on  the  stockholders. 

The  Farmers'  and  Mechanics'  Bank  commenced  business  September  5,  1889, 
with  D.  E.  Sullivan,  Ephraim  Sells,  J.  M.  Loren,  Charles  M.  Jaynes,  and  George 
J.  Atkinson  as  directors,  D.  E.  Sullivan  being  president,  and  Charles  M.  Jaynes 
cashier. 

The  Ohio  Savings  Bank  began  business  in  May,  1888,  with  a  capital  of  thirty- 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  John  Siebert  was  its  president,  Isaac  Eberly 
vice  president,  and  Emil  Kiese wetter  cashier.  The  capital  stock  has  since  been 
increased  to  $52,500. 

John  F.  Bartlit  and  F.  K.  Hulburd  established  a  banking  house  in  July,  1850, 
with  a  capital  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  B.  E.  Smith  became  a  member  of  the  firm 
in  September,  1851,  and  the  firm  name  was  consequently  changed  to  that  of 
Bartlit,  Hulburd  &  Company.     Mr.  Hulburd  retired  from  the  firm  in  1883,  afler 


^5^^^%, 


•*•- 


H      : 


i-  • 


ji::-    .         • 


Ufy3 ,  j9,.M^-^ 


I*    •« 


• 


Banks  and  Banking.  417 

which  the  huHincHS  was  conducted  by  Bartlit  <&  Smith,  with  a  capital  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  William  Person  was  cashier.  The  concern  did  a  prosperous 
business,  but  Mr.  Smith  having  become  largely  interested  in  railways,  the  financial 
weakness  of  which  was  developed  by  a  commercial  crisis,  the  banking  house  of 
Bartlit  k  Smith  was  carried  down  with  them.  It  was  accordingly  closed  in  July, 
1877,  an<l  wa.s  unable  to  pay  its  creditors  in  full. 

Two  young  men  who  had  been  connected  with  the  business  of  Bartlit  & 
Smith  opened  a  banking  office  in  the  same  room  under  the  firm  name  of  Mood ie 
&  Hubbard,  but  their  enterprise  was  shortlived  and  not  successful.  The  house  of 
Bartlit  &  Ilulburd  had  been  preceded  in  the  same  room  by  the  firm  of  Preston  & 
Company,  which  warn  in  existence  only  a  few  months.  About  the  same  time,  in 
1851,  William  A.  Neil  and  William  M.  Finch  opened  a  private  bank  which  existed 
only  a  few  months. 

The  banks  of  Columbus,  both  incorporated  and  private,  have  been  well 
managed.  There  have  been  thirty  four  different  organizations,  of  which  sixteen 
yet  continue.     Only  four  have  failed,  and,  ofthe.se,  two  paid  their  creditors  in  full. 

In  1870,  the  Columbus  Clearing  House  showed  balances  amounting  to 
830,773,800.  In  1889  the  balances  rose  to  $131,154,900,  the  individual  deposits  to 
$105,786,000,  and  the  loans  and  discounts  to  $10,998,000. 

In  1848  Columbus  contained  only  four  banks,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of 
$722,925.  Their  resources  were  $2,()75,000,  and  their  liabilities  $2,396,07r).  There 
are  now  in  the  city  twelve  incorporated  banks  and  four  private  ones,  with  a  total 
capital  of  $1,5 18,000. 

The  following  statement,  compiled  from  the  reports  of  the  National  banks  to 
the  Comptroller  of  the  Currency  and  ot'  the  other  banks  to  the  Count}'  Auditor,  for 
the  year  1889,  shows  the  business  of  the  Columbus  banking  institutions  at  that 
time : 

RESOURCES. 

Loans  and  discounts, 15.378,005 

United  States  and  other  bonds 958,883 

Checks  and  cash  items r»fJ0,n28 

Bank  notes  of  other  banks, 291,332 

Specie, 373,WJ5 

Real  estate, 140,806 

Otlier  available  assets, 975,152 

Total $8,778,971 

LIARIMTIES. 

Capital  stock, $1,518,000 

Surplus  and  undivided  profit*, 458,f>44 

Notes  in  cinmlation, 202,000 

Individual  depositors, 5,788.071 

United  States  deposit, 140,a'i2 

Due  other  banks, 534,351 

Total, $8,(m,118 

27 


418  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Deducting  capital,  surplus  and  undivided  profits,  these  banks  have  a  net  sum 
of  eight  and  a  half  millions  of  resources  against  a  little  over  six  and  a  half  of 
liabilities. 

The  improvement  of  the  currency  which  has  taken  place  during  the  last  fifty 
years  of  the  period  covered  by  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  most  notable  facts  in  the 
history  of  banking.  As  late  as  1842  the  writer,  then  a  citizen  of  Warren  County, 
Ohio,  collected  a  note  in  Utica,  Licking  County,  for  the  sum  of  sixty  dollars.  On 
receiving  the  money  he  perceived  that  none  of  it  was  current  in  Warren  County, 
but  it  was  the  best  the  debtor  could  pay.  This  event  was  brought  back  sugges- 
tively to  the  writer's  mind  a  few  years  ago  by  the  casual  inspection  of  a  package  of 
the  national  bank  currency  of  twentyone  localities  in  nineteen  different  States, 
every  dollar  of  which  was  just  as  valid  and  just  as  current  in  one  part  of  the 
American  Union  as  in  another. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


THE  PRESS.    I. 

BY    08MAN    C.    HOOPER. 

[Osman  Castle  Hooper  was  born  April  10,  1858,  near  Alexandria,  Licking  County,  Ohio. 
His  father,  Richard  Hooper,  of  English  birth,  was  then  postmaster  and  merchant  in  the  vil- 
lage. His  mother,  Celestia  (Castle)  Hooper,  was  the  daughter  of  Augustus  Castle,  one  of  those 
sturdy  Vermont  farmers  who  came  in  the  early  part  of  the  century  to  make  their  homes 
in  Ohio.  Mr.  Hooper  attended  school  at  Alexandria,  at  Central  College  and  Columbus,  and 
took  a  college  course  at  Denison  University,  Granville,  Ohio,  graduating  there  in  1879  with 
the  degree  of  A.  B.  He  began  newspaper  work  in  the  spring  of  1880  on  the  Evening  DUptUcht 
with  which  paper  he  has  been  connected  in  some  capacity  continuously,  with  the  exception 
of  about  a  year  in  188()-7.  In  the  spring  of  1887,  he  became  editor  and  part  owner  of  the 
Sunday  Morning  Netm^  a  relationship  which  he  still  maintains.] 


Churches  and  newspapers  were  among  the  first  outgrowths  of  that  civilization 
which,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  came  westward  and  laid  claim 
U)  the  Northwest  Torritor}'.  The  first  settlement  in  Ohio  was  made  at  Marietta  by 
the  Ohio  Company,  April  7,  1787.  The  first  church  on  Ohio  soil  was  erected  at 
Columbia,  five  miles  above  Cincinnati,  in  1790,  and  the  first  newspaper  in  the 
territory  now  the  State  of  Ohio,  was  established  at  Cincinnati  by  William  Maxwell, 
November  9,  1793,  under  the  name  of  the  Sentinel  of  the  Northwest  Territory. 
The  white  population  within  the  present  State  boundaries  was,  in  1790,  about 
3,000,  the  population  of  Cincinnati  at  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Maxwell's 
venture  being  between  700  and  800.  Chillicothe  was  laid  out  in  1796,  and  in  1800 
the  Scioto  Gazette  was  founded  by  Nathaniel  Willis  and  has  existed  ever  since 
in  various  measures  of  prosperity  and  power.  Similarly  in  other  settlements,  the 
newspaper  came  early  as  an  essential  exponent  of  the  thought  that  was  then  mov- 
ing these  sturdy  pioneers.  It  served,  too,  an  educational  purpose,  and  played 
no  small  part  in  directing  the  energies  of  the  people  even  before  the  days  of  state- 
hood. 

In  1803,  Ohio  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  State.  Seven  years  later,  there 
were  fourteen  newspapers  published  within  its  borders.  Of  these  the  principal 
ones  were :  The  Scioto  Gazette  and  the  Supporter,  both  Federalist  organs,  published 
at  Chillicothe ;  the  Fredouian  and  the  Independent  Republican,  both  organs  of  the 
then  Republican  (now  Democratic)  party,  also  published  at  Chillicothe;  the  Whig 
and  the  Liberty  Hall,  both  of  Cincinnati ;  the  Ohio  Gazette  and  the  Commentator, 

[419] 


420 


History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 


both  of  Marietta;  the  Ohio  Patriot,  of  New  Lisbon,  and  the  Western  llenild,  of 
Steubenville.  Papers  were  also  published  at  Zanosville,  St.  Clairsvillo  and  Lebanon. 
As  settlement  and  civilization  progressed,  the  list  of  newspapers  grew.  Some 
of  the  earliest  born  served  their  purpose  and  died  or  passed  out  of  existence 
for  other  reasons.  But  others  came  to  fill  the  vacant  j)lace8  and  to  supply  new- 
wants,  and  there  was  continually  a  net  gain  in  the  number  of  papers.  From  the 
Columbus  Gazette,  now  the  Ohio  Stat43  Journal,  the  following  interesting  table  is 
taken  : 

LIST  OF  NEWSPAPERS  PUBLISHED  IN  OHIO  IN  1821. 


Cleveland  Herald 

Western  Reserve  Chronicle 

Ohio  Patriot 

Ohio  Repository  .... 

Ohio  Spectator        ..'... 
American  Standard     .... 
Delaware  Gazette  .... 

Franklin  Chronicle     .... 
Columbus  Gazette  .... 

Ohio  Monitor 

Olive  Branch 

Ohio  Eagle  (English) 
Ohio  Eagle  (German)     .... 
Newark  Advocate       .  •     . 
Muskingum  Messenger  and  Democratic 

Republican        .... 
Express  &  Public  Advertiser     . 
Tuscarawas  Chronicle    .... 
Harrison  Telegraph    .... 
Webtern    Herald   and  Steubenville 

(jazette 

The  Philanthropist  (4to)     . 

American  Friend 

Belmont  Journal         .... 
Scioto  Gazette  &  Supporter    . 
Weekly  Recorder  (4to) 
Hillsborough  Gazette  and  Highland 

Advertiser         .... 

Political  Cenpor 

Scioto  Telegraph  and  I^wrence  Gazette 

The  Benefactor 

Farmers'  Friend  .... 

Liberty  Hall  and  Cincinnati  (iazette 
Western  Spy  antl  Weekly  Advertiser 

The  Inquisitor 

The  Volunteer 

Eaton  Weekly  Register  .        . 

Ohio  Watchman  .... 

Western  Star 

Ohio  Interior  Gazette 

Farmers'  Advocate         .... 


C.  Willes&Co. 
Hapgood  &  Thompson 
William  D.  Lepper 
John  Saxton 
J.  Clingam  &  Co. 
Charles  Colerick 
Jacob  Drake 
Griswold  &  Spencer 
P.  H.  Olmsted 
David  Smith     . 
William  B.  Thrall 
John  Hermann 


Cleveland. 
Warren. 
New  Lisbon. 
Canton. 
Wooster. 
Mt  Vernon. 
Delaware. 
Worth  ington. 
0)lumbufl. 
Col  nm  bus. 
Circleville. 
Lancaster. 


»< 


•I 


{{ 


B.  Briggs 


E.  T.  Cox     .... 
O'Harra  A  Barrett    . 
James  Patrick 
Joseph  Tingley 

James  Wilson 
Elisha  Bates 
Royal  Prentiss 
A.  Arm.strong  . 
George  Nashee    . 
John  Andrews 

Moees  Carothers 

James  Finley    . 

C.  Hopkins 

I^udon,  Butt  &  Co. 

William  A.  Camron 

Morgan,  Ixxlge  &  Co 

Looker,  Palmer  &  Reynolds 

J.  M.  Mason 

T.  L.  Murray 

Samuel  Tieard 

Robert  J.  Skinner 

A.  Van  Vleet    . 

Kendall  &  Denny 

S.  H.  Rodgers 


Newark. 

Zanesville. 

New  Philadelphia. 
Cadiz. 

Steubenville. 

Mt.  Vernon. 

Marietta. 

St.  Clairsville. 

Chillicothe. 


K 


Hillsborough. 

West  Union. 

Portsmouth. 

Levanna. 

Williamsburg. 

Cincinnati. 


(I 


It 


Hamilton. 

Eaton. 

Dayton. 

Lebanon. 

Xenia. 

•Springfield. 


The  Press.     I.  421 


IMPORTANT. . 

fsxtrdct  of  a  letter  ftom  Gen.  ffarrisorti  ta  Gov, 
MeigSy  dated  Head  Quarters  of  (He  Norik 
Western  Armftfy  Rapids  of  the  Miamii  fmmartf 
20,1813- 

I  haVc  the  pleasnrt*  t<J  ifiroriii  you  thRLtlie  de* 
tachfiient  under  cot  Lewis  was  completely  sac* 
Gt^sstttl  in  its  attack  upon  the  pact  of  ih^  enemy 
•at  tiie  rivci'  Reiein*— 4hclr  force  tli(s!ir  consisting  of 
^uine  hundl'cds  of  Indians  and  a  cofnpany  of  mi« 
litiawhiob  were  placed  bchind.pickets,  were  at* 
tacked  fcy  our  troops  about  So'clotk  on  the  18th 
inst.  The  action  JUstod^  until  night,  when  ijie 
enemy  ^ere  completely  rdutcd..  The  Indians 
f  uilered  considerah2y«««thch'  allies  ran  off  with  a 
piece  of  artillery  ia  the  ^omraenccmept  of.  the 
i|ction<r*oiir  loss  is  about  ten  killed  and  two  cap« 
tains  ah  d  20  privates  wqunded.  Gen.  AVinches- 
tfer  marched  yesterday  with  250  men  to  takethe 
command  at  the  river  Rezin^— 'He  will  have 
ftboUt  1000  elfectives,  and  I  am  thisijiom^nt  <|e8« 
hatching  live  companicji  more  of  Gen.  Fermo. 
brigade. 

FREEMAN'S  CHRONICLE  EXTRA,  JANUARY  44,  1818. 


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The  Pkb8S.     I.  423 

nearly  all  of  it  was  tAkeii  from  othor  paporH  received  in  exchange.  The  Chronicle 
had  also  its  political  battles  to  fight,  and  though  not  a  financial  success  it  served 
while  it  lasted  us  a  medium  through  which  debtors  were  dunned,  personal  quarrels 
aired  and  considerable  business  advertised.     The  paper  was  discontinued  in  1815. 

The  Chronicle  held  undisputed  sway  at  the  future  capital  of  the  State  until 
March,  1814,  when  the  Western  Intelligencer  was  moved  to  this  city  from  Worth- 
ington,  where  it  had  been  established  in  1811  and  conducted  up  to  that  time.  It  is 
to  the  Western  Intelligencer  that  the  present  Ohio  State  Journal  traces  its  origin. 
The  career  of  the  paper  extends  over  a  period  of  ninety  years,  marked  by  many 
vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and  absorbing  the  more  or  less  extended  eftbrts  of  many 
men.  The  publication  of  the  Western  Intelligencer  was  begun,  as  state<l,  in  1811, 
but  the  first  steps  toward  the  establishment  of  the  paper  were  made  two  years 
before.  It  was  in  the  summer  of  1809  that  Kobert  D.  Richardson,  who,  prior  to 
that  time,  had  published  the  Fredoniau,  at  Chillicothe,  and  Colonel  James  Kilbourn 
brought  the  first  newspaper  press  into  the  county  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a 
paper  at  Worth ingion.  The  intention  was  to  begin  the  publication  that  fall,  and 
to  that  end  Ezra  Griswold,  then  apprenticed  to  Mr.  Richardson,  made  a  trip  to 
Chillicothe  and  procured  paper  of  the  then  publisher  of  the  Scioto  Gazette,  and  set 
up  seven  columns  of  matter  for  the  first  number.  Mr.  Richardson,  however,  failed 
to  issue  the  paper  and  soon  left  the  place,  and  the  enterprise  was  temporarily 
abandoned.  It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  the  press  here  referred  to  had  been  the 
property  of  James  B.  Gardiner,  editor  of  the  Freeman's  Chronicle,  having  been  used 
by  him  in  the  publication  of  his  first  paper  at  Marietta,  Ohio.  This  strengthens  the 
identification  of  Mr.  Gardiner  with  the  earliest  journalistic  ventures  in  the  county 
and  city,  and  gives  him  a  clear  title  to  whatever  honor  there  is  in  being  the  father 
of  Columbus  journalism. 

The  W^orthington  new8i)aper  enterprise  remained  undeveloped  and  the  press 
lay  idle  in  the  possession  of  Colonel  Kilbourn  until  1811,  when  the  publication  of 
the  Western  Intelligencer  was  begun  by  Joel  Buttles  and  George  Smith.  In  1812, 
Mr.  Smith  sold  his  interest  in  the  paper  to  Doctor  James  Hills  and  Ezra  Griswold, 
who,  together  with  Mr.  Buttles,  continued  the  publication  of  the  paper  until  the 
spring  of  1813,  when  Mr.  Buttles,  who  had  been  the  editor,  retired  from  the  firm, 
having  connected  himself  with  the  Worthington  Manufacturing  Company,  then 
doing  business  at  Franklinton.  Mr.  Buttles's  interest  in  the  paper  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Captain  Francis  Olmsted,  who  subse<|uently  sold  or  gave  it  to  his  son, 
Colonel  P.  H.  Olmsted.  It  was  while  the  paper  was  in  the  hands  of  Hills,  (iriswold 
and  Olmsted  that  the  removal  to  Columbus  was  made.  Professional  duties  com- 
pelled Doctor  Hills,  who  had  been  editor,  to  retire,  and  Mr.  Buttles  came  back  into 
the  firm,  the  name  of  the  paper  being  at  the  same  time  changed  to  Western 
Intelligencer  and  Columbus  Gazette.  Mr.  Griswold  became  the  editor  and  con- 
tinued in  that  capacity  until  the  winter  of  181G-17,  when  both  he  and  Mr.  Buttles 
withdrew  and  Colonel  P.  H.  Olmsted  became  the  sole  propriet^^r.  He  changed  the 
name  of  the  paper  to  the  Columbus  Gazette  and  continued  the  publication 
unchanged  until  July  1,  1K25,  when  George  Nashee  and  John  Bailhache  bought  into 
the  concern  and  the  name  of  the  paper  became  the  Ohio  State  Journal  and  ('olum- 


424  History  op  the  City  of  Columkub. 

bu8  Gazette.  On  November  18,  182G,  this  partnernhip  was  dissolved  by  the  retire- 
ment of  Mr.  Baiihache.  Messrs.  Nashce  and  Olmsted  continued  tiie  paper  under 
the  firm  name  of  George  Nashee  &  Co.,  until  the  death  of  Mr.  NasheeMay  1(5,  1827. 
The  following  month,  Mr.  Olmsied  took  into  partnership  in  the  concern  John  Baii- 
hache, and  William  Camron,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Lebanon  Star,  and  Mr.  Baii- 
hache became  the  principal  editor.  Mr.  Camron  sold,  his  interest  to  his  partners  in 
May,  1829,  and  went  to  Springfield,  where  he  bought  an  interest  in  the  Western 
Pioneer.  Baiihache  and  Olmsted  continue!  together  until  September,  1831,  when 
Mr.  Olmsted  retired  and  Mr.  Baiihache  became  the  sole  proprietor,  continuing  in 
that  capacity  until  the  spring  of  1835,  when  he  sold  out  to  Charles  Scott  and  Smithson 
E.  Wright.  In  1837,  Mr.  Wright  sold  his  interest  to  Mr.  Scott,  and  John  M. 
Gallagher  came  into  the  firm,  bringing  with  him  the  Ohio  Political  llegister,  which 
he  had  established  a  few  months  before.  The  name  of  the  paper  was  changed  to 
Ohio  State  Journal  and  Register,  but  before  long  the  latter  part  of  the  name  was 
dropped  and  the  paper  assumed  its  present  name.  In  the  spring  of  1839  Mr. 
Gallagher  sold  and  was  succeeded  in  the  partnership  by  Samuel  Douglas,  who 
remained  in  the  firm  less  than  a  year  and  sold  to  Mr.  Scott.  In  1843,  John  Teesdale 
came  in  as  editor  and  the  paper  was  published  under  the  firm  name  of  Charles 
Scott  &  Co.  In  October,  1846,  Messrs.  Scott  &  Teesdale  retired  and  W.  B.  Thrall 
became  editor  and  proprietor.  In  May,  1848,  Henrj-  Heed  bought  an  interest  in  the 
paper  and  became  one  of  the  editor«.  This  arrangement  continued  until  Novem- 
ber, 1849,  when  both  Thrall  and  Reed  retired,  and  Charles  Scott  again  became  part 
owner,  his  partner  being  William  T.  Bascom.  In  1854,  this  firm  made  an  assign- 
ment, and  the  paper  was  issued  for  a  time  by  I.  Thomas,  assignee,  who  offered  it 
for  sale  and  succeeded  in  March  of  that  year  in  selling  it  to  a  joint  stock  compan}^ 
organized  for  the  purpose. 

The  principal  stockholders  in  this  company  were  Oren  Follett,  of  Sandusky, 
and  Aaron  F.  Perry,  of  Columbus.  Under  the  new  management,  Met^srs.  Oren 
Follett  and  William  T.  Bascom  were  the  editorial  writers  and  John  Greiner  was 
the  city  editor.  Mr.  Perry  sold  his  stock  in  February,  1855,  to  Charles  B.  Dennett 
and  Nathaniel  W.  Lefavor.  In  July,  1856,  the  paper  passed  into  the  hands  of 
William  Schouler  &  Co.  The  new  proprietors  were  Colonel  William  Sehouler,  of 
Cincinnati,  and  prior  to  that,  of  Boston,  and  Mr.  A.  M.  Gangewer,  proprietor  of  the 
Ohio  Columbian,  which  he  brought  into  the  firm  with  him  and  consolidated  with 
the  Journal.  This  partnership  continued  until  April  27,  1858,  when  Colonel 
Sehouler  retired.  Mr.  Gangewer  was  not  successful  in  the  publication,  and  in  the 
following  August  the  material  of  the  office  was  levied  on  by  Miller  &  Hines  to 
secure  a  debt  incurred  for  paper.  On  November  19, 1858,  the  i)apor  pasvscd  into  the 
hands  of  Henry  D.  Cooke  and  J.  and  H.  Miller.  In  April,  1859,  J.  and  II.  Miller  sold 
out  and  Mr.  C.  C.  Bill  bought  into  the  concern,  and  the  paper  was  published  under 
the  firm  name  of  Henry  D.  Cooke  &  Co.,  until  November  of  the  same  year,  when 
Mr.  F.  W.  Hurtt,  of  Cincinnati,  bought  an  interest,  and  the  firm  name  became 
Cooke,  Hurtt  &  Co.  This  an-nngement  terminated  in  July,  ISGl,  Cooke  withdraw- 
ing and  the  publication  being  continued  by  Hurtt,  Allen  <t  Co. 


The  Press.     I.  425 

In  October,  1864,  the  paper  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  company  known  as  the 
Ohio  State  Journal  Company  which,  in  January  following,  sold  to  William  T.  Cog- 
geshall  &  Co.,  who  in  turn,  on  November  8,  1865,  disposed  of  the  paper  to  Comly, 
Roby  &  Smith.  On  October  12,  1866,  A.  P.  Miller,  formerly  of  the  Scioto  Gazette, 
purchased  Mr.  Roby 's  interest  but  remained  in  the  firm  but  six  months.  In  1868, 
J.  Q.  Howard  bought  a  onethird  interestand  became  an  editorial  writer,  continuing 
there  until  March,  1871,  when  he  retired  to  accept  a  literary  position  in  the  Bast, 
selling  his  interest  a  year  later  to  Comlj-  &  Smith.  In  1872,  Mr.  A.  VV.  Francisco, 
who  had  just  left  the  Cincinnati  Times,  was  employed  as  business  manager,  and 
on  September  19  of  the  following  year,  he  purchased  a  onethird  interest,  the 
firm  name  being  changed  to  Comly,  Smith  &  Francisco.  On  March  3,  1874,  Geo- 
emi  Comly  purchased  Doctor  Smith's  interest,  and  later  Messrs.  Comly  and  Fran- 
cisco became  equal  owners.  General  Comly  was  appointed  United  States  Minister 
to  Honolulu  and  retired  i'rom  the  editorship,  September  1,  1877,  when  Mr.  Francisco 
assumed  full  control,  with  Mr.  Sylvanus  E.  Johnson  as  the  leading  editorial  writer. 
Later,  when  Mr.  Johnson  was  called  to  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer, 
Colonel  James  Taylor  became  leading  editorial  writer.  In  July,  1878,  Mr.  Fran- 
cisco disposed  of  a  onesixth  interest  in  the  paper,  selling  onotwelftli  to  Samuel  J. 
Flick inger  and  onetwelfth  to  George  E.  Ross,  and  the  firm  name  was  changed  to 
Comly,  Francisco  &  Co.  In  March,  1879,  Mr.  Ross  sold  to  W.  VV.  Bond,  and  the 
j)artnership  continued  unchanged  until  January  1,  1882,  when  it  gave  way  to  the 
Ohio  State  Journal  Company.  At  the  time  of  this  change,  Mr.  Alfred  E.  Lee,  who 
had  been  assistant  writing  and  news  editor  for  three  years  with  General  Comly,  was 
leading  editorial  writer,  having  succeeded  Mr.  Taylor  in  the  pi'ecoding  Novem- 
ber, but  retired  June  24,  1882,  and  was  succeeded  by  General  B.  R.  Cowen.  Mr. 
Henry  Monett  was  president  and  business  manager  of  the  new  company,  but 
retired  from  the  latter  position  Ma}'^  3,  1882,  to  become  General  Passenger  and 
Ticket  Agent  of  the  Nickel  Plate  route  and  was  succeeded  as  business  nuinager  by 
Jerome  C.  Briggs.  In  November,  1884,  General  Cowen  resigned  as  editor,  having 
been  chosen  Clerk  of  the  District  and  Circuit  United  States  courts  for  Southern  Ohio, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Samuel  J.  Flickinger.  In  the  summer  of  1889,  Mr.  Briggs 
retired  from  the  business  management,  and  Mr.  Flickinger  assumed  the  double  duty 
of  managing  editor  and  business  manager,  in  which  capacity  he  is  still  serving;,  lie 
has  associated  with  him  in  the  editorial  deimrtment,  W.  S.  Furay  and  E.  K  Rifo, 
while  his  main  assistant  in  the  business  department  is  George  B.  Hisehe,  who,  on 
the  retirement  of  Mr.  Briggs,  was  elected  treasurer  of  the  company. 

Having  thus  traced  the  career  of  the  Western  Intelligencer  from  its  beginning 
to  the  Ohio  State  Journal  of  to-da}',  we  must  take  a  leap  backward  to  1816  and 
mention  the  third  newspaper  to  make  its  appearance  in  Columbus.  That  was  the 
Columbian  Gazette,  |)ublished  with  the  outfit  of  the  defunct  Freeman's  Chronicle 
by  John  Kilhourn.  Two  numbers  only  were  issued  before  the  ])ublisher  lost  faith 
in  the  enterprise,  discoi»tinued  the  paper  and  sold  the  material  by  piecemeal. 

That  same  year  (1816)  witnessed  the  birth  of  the  Ohio  Monitor,  which  has  u 
lineal  descendant  today  in  the  Press.  The  publishers  were  L)avi<l  Smith  and  Ezra 
Griswold.     The  Monitor  was  not  only  the  rival,  but  also  the  ])oliticial  opponent  of  the 


tm^Hmmt^mtmammai^m^^K^a^B^twaBaiBi^mH^^^mti^s^mw^^mama^Ha 


42G  History  of  tiie  City  of  ConuMBUs. 

Intelligencer  —  un  antagoniHm  whicli  waH  maintained  until  July,  1888,  a  period  of 
seventj'two  years.  Messrs.  Smith  and  Griswold  did  not  continue  long  together  in 
this  enterprise,  the  latter  selling  out  to  his  partner,  Mr.  Smith,  who  conducted  the 
paper  alone  until  1835,  when  he  sold  it  to  Jacob  Medary  by  whom  it  was  con- 
solidated with  the  Hemisphere,  and  published  under  that  name  until  July  5,  1837, 
when  its  name  was  changed  to  the  Ohio  Statesman,  with  Samuel  Medary  & 
Brothers  as  proprietors.  It  was  issued  weekly  except  during  the  sessions  of  the 
General  Assembly,  when  it  was  published  twice  a  week.  Eventually  it  was  pub- 
lished tri-weekly,  as  well  as  weekly,  and  was  thus  continued  until  August  11,  1847, 
when  the  first  number  of  the  Daily  Ohio  Statesman  was  issued. 

Samuel  Medary  having  become  solo  proprietor  of  The  Statesman,  it  was,  in 
July,  1845,  transferred  by  him  to  C.  C.  and  C.  R.  Hazewell,  the  former  being 
editor.  In  July,  184(j,  C.  K.  Hazewell  became  sole  proprietor,  C.  C.  Hazewell  con- 
tinuing as  editor  until  October  23,  1846.  On  November  4,  1846,  Samuel  Medaiy 
again  assumed  the  proprietorship  of  The  Statesman  and  became  its  editor.  The 
next  change  occurred  on  April  1,  1853,  when  James  Haddock  Smith,  Colonel 
Medary's  soninlaw,  and  Samuel  Sullivan  Cox  were  announced  as  the  editors  and 
proprietors  of  the  paper.  On  January  2,  1854,  Mr.  Smith  sold  his  interest  to  Mr. 
Cox,  who  then  became  sole  proprietor  and  editor.  The  latter  sold  on  May  23, 
1854,  to  the  proprietors  of  the  Dail}'  Ohio  State  Democrat  and  H.  W.  Derby,  the 
well-known  publisher  and  bookseller.  The  proprietors  of  the  Democrat  were 
Osgood,  Blake  &  Knapp,  who  hud  started  it  a  short  time  before  as  a  rival  Dem- 
ocratic paper.  The  two  papers  were  consolidated  and  the  new  journal, took  the 
name  of  The  Ohio  Statesman  and  Democrat.  The  editors  of  the  Democrat,  Horace 
S.  Knapp  and  Charles  B.  Flood,  became  the  editors  of  the  consolidated  paper. 

On  February  10,  1855,  the  paper  was  again  sold  to  Samuel  Medary,  who  thus, 
for  the  third  time,  became  its  sole  proprietor  and  editor.  The  words  "  and  Dem- 
ocrat" were  dropped  from  the  title,  and  the  paper  again  assumed  its  historic  name, 
The  Ohio  Statesman.  On  August  17,  1857,  it  was  sold  to  James  Haddock  Smith, 
with  whom  Charles  J.  Foster  became  associated  in  the  editorial  management  On 
June  5,  1858,  Mr.  Smith  sold  a  onehalf  interest  in  the  paper  to  Thomas  Miller,  and 
on  January  4,  1859,  the  latter  and  George  W.  Many  penny  became  proprietors  of 
the  Statesman,  Colonel  Manypenny  taking  the  position  of  editor.  Three  yoara 
later.  Colonel  Manypenny  retired  from  the  editorship  to  take  the  management  of 
the  Public  Works  of  the  State  for  the  lessees  thereof  (he  being  one  of  them),  and 
Amos  Layman,  of  Marietta,  was  chosen  to  take  the  place  of  editor.  Mr.  Layman 
entered  upon  his  editorial  duties  on  the  first  of  January,  1862.  Two  years  after- 
ward, he  organized  The  Ohio  Statesman  Company,  and  on  the  seventeenth  of 
January,  1864,  the  paper  was  sold  by  Manypenny  &  Miller  to  this  company.  Mr. 
Layman  was  president  of  the  company  and  continued  to  hold  the  position  of  editor 
until  he  sold  his  interest  in  the  paper  and  retired  from  its  management  in  1867. 
During  several  months  of  the  year  1864,  Lewis  Baker,  of  Wheeling,  West  Virginia, 
was  associated  with  him  in  the  editorial  department.  When  Mr.  Baker  retired,  E. 
B.  Eshelman,  of  Chillicothe,  took  his  place  as  asssociate  editor  and,  on  the  with- 
drawal of  Mr.  Layman  from  the  paper,  became  the  editor. 


;=£^ 


The  Press.     I.  427 

The  Statesman  was  sold  on  November  13,  1867,  to  Richard. No vins,  and 
Charles  B.  Flood  became  editor  with  Mr.  Eshelman.  The  latter  retired  from  the 
paper  in  January,  1869,  and  soon  thereafter  F.  H.  Medary  acquired  an  interest  in 
it,  when  the  firm  became  Nevins  &  Medary,  with  C.  B.  Flood  as  editor.  On  March 
31,  1870,  the  announc^ent  was  made  that  the  proprietors  were  Nevins,  Medary  & 
Co.,  with  James  Mills  as  editor.  April  1,  1872,  Jonathan  Linton  and  E.  S.  Dodd 
bought  the  Statesman  and  changed  it  from  a  morning  to  an  evening  paper.  Mr. 
Dodd  retired  after  a  few  months  and  Mr.  Linton  conducted  the  paper  alone.  In 
July,  1872,  however,  he  suspended  the  publication  of  the  daily  and  transferred  its 
subscription  list  to  the  Evening  Dispatch,  continuing  the  publication  of  the 
Weekly  and  Sunday  issues  of  the  Statesman.  Mr.  Linton  also  sold  the  Statesman's 
Associated  Press  franchise  to  General  Comly,  then  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  who 
aflerward  sold  it  to  the  Evening  Dispatch.  In  October,  1874,  Mr.  Linton  sold  the 
paper  to  Judge  Joel  Myers,  of  Mansfield,  and  A.  J.  Mack,  of  Shelby,  who  in  turn 
sold  it  to  John  H.  Putnam  in  1876.  The  following  year  Mr.  Linton  bought  the 
paper  back  and  resumed  the  publication  of  the  daily  edition.  In  the  fall  of  1878, 
Captain  Putnam  again  became  owner  of  the  paper,  but  sold  it  the  following  year 
to  The  Columbus  Democrat  Company,  which  had  for  some  time  been  publishing 
the  Columbus  Democrat.  The  two  papers  were  consolidated  and  the  new  journal 
was  known  as  the  Democrat  and  Statesman,  both  morning  and  evening  editions 
being  published.  Solon  L.  Goode  was  manager ;  James  Goode,  his  brother,  was 
editor;  the  late  George  W.  Henderson,  afterwards  of  the  Cleveland  Plaindealer, 
was  associate  editor  and  Leslie  McPherson  was  city  editor. 

In  November,  1879,  Captain  Putnam  brought  suit  to  foreclose  a  chattel  mort- 
gage for  $8,800.  George  B.  Okey  was  appointed  receiver  and  continued  the  busi- 
ness with  Captain  Putnam  as  manager,  the  Sunday  issue  of  the  paper  being  dis- 
continued. On  March  15,  the  Times  Publishing  Company  was  organized,  with 
Captain  Putnam  as  manager ;  V.  C.  Ward,  assistant,  and  William  Trevitt,  treasurer. 
The  name  of  the  paper  was  changed  to  the  Times,  and  Carson  Lake  was  chosen  to 
assist  Captain  Putnam  in  the  editorial  department.  In  November,  1880,  John  G. 
Thompson  bought  a  half  interest  in  the  paper,  and  in  August,  1882,  Captain 
Putnam  sold  his  remaining  half  interest  to  George  H.Tyler,  of  the  Chillicothe 
Register.  Mr.  Thompson  continued  as  leading  editorial  writer,  and  Leslie 
McPherson  became  news  editor.  Under  this  management  the  paper  was  con- 
tinued for  about  a  year  and  a  half,  when  it  again  fell  into  financial  distress  and  the 
courts  were  resorted  to.  The  paper  was  bought  at  judicial  sale  by  Judge  J.  H. 
Collins  who,  on  February  29,  1884,  sold  it  to  the  Franklin  Printing  and  Publish- 
ing Company,  which  had  been  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000.  The 
incorporators  were  :  Simeon  K.  Donavin,  W.  W.  Medary,  II.  S.  Warner,  F.  W. 
Prentiss,  and  William  Trevitt.  Mr.  Donavin  became  editor,  and  E.  K.  Rife  city 
editor..  In  December  of  the  same  year,  Henry  T.  Chittenden,  as  president  of  the 
company,  took  control  of  the  paper  and  conducted  it  both  editorially  and  finan- 
cially. On  February  9,  1885,  the  Times  forsook  the  evening  field  which  it  had 
occupied  for  some  time  and  became  a  morning  j)aper,  its  United  Press  franchise 
passing   by    purchase   into    the  hands  of  William  D.    Brickell,  proprietor  of  the 


428  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Evening  DiHjmtch.  On  Juno  14,  1885,  Mr.  (-hittcnden  sold  the  Times  for  $7,500  to 
Ferd.  J.  Wendell,  of  Dayton,  who  soon  made  an  evening  paper  of  it  again.  In 
November,  1887,  Mr.  Wendell  organized  the  company  by  which  it  is  now  published, 
and,  in  July,  1888,  changed  the  name  of  the  paper  to  The  Press.  The  paper  had 
been  Democratic  continuously  for  seventytwo  years,  but  H||^en  this  last  change  of 
name  was  made,  the  paper  ceased  to  be  a  party  organ  and  became  independent  in 
politics.  Editions  of  the  paper  for  every  morning  except  Monday  were  added,  and 
the  paper  is  now  published  in  morning  and  evening  editions.  The  morning 
United  Press  franchise, of  the  old  Times  was  retained  and  the  company  hus  since 
added  the  franchise  of  the  Press  News  Association.  The  Press  is  now  conducted 
under  the  general  management  of  Mr.  Wendell,  with  Charles  W.  Harper  as  busi- 
ness manager,  J.  H.  Galbraith  as  chief  editorial  writer,  and  William  C.  Pai*sons  at 
the  head  of  the  local  staff 

The  Western  Statesman  was  founded  in  1825  by  Zachariab  Mills  and  Martin 
Lewis.  In  1826,  Mr.  Mills  sold  his  interest  to  Captain  Elijah  Glover,  and  the 
publication  firm  was  for  a  time  Lewis  &  Glover.  Freedom  Sever  subsequently 
bought  Mr.  Lewis's  interest,  and  Glover  k  Sever  sold  the  paper  in  1828  to  John 
Bailhache  and  P.  H.  Olmsted,  and  they  merged  it  into  the  Ohio  Slate  Journal. 

The  Civil  Engineer  and  Herald  of  Internal  Improvements,  a  weekly  issued  on 
Saturda3'8,  was  published  here  for  a  time,  beginning  Jul}'  10, 1828.  John  Kilbourne 
was  its  editor,  and  it  was  devoted  to  the  interests  of  canals  and  roads,  and  the 
advancement  of  manufactures  and  internal  improvements  generally. 

In  1829,  the  Ohio  State  Bulletin  was  founded  by  John  A.  Bryan  and  John  A. 
Lazell.  In  about  a  year,  Bryan  sold  his  interest  to  Lazell,  though  he  continued  as 
editor.  In  18^52,  the  paper  was  sold  to  George  Kesling  and  George  H.  Wood,  who 
changed  the  name  of  the  paper  to  the  Columbus  Sentinel  and  published  it  until 
1835,  when  they  sold  it  to  Scott  &  Wright,  and  the  paper  was  merged  into  the 
Ohio  State  Journal.  Jonas  R.  Em  He  was  associated  for  a  time  with  Kesling  and 
Wood  in  the  publication  of  the  Sentinel,  and,  beginning  in  July,  1833,  P.  C. 
Gallagher  was  nssociatod  with  Colonel  Kesling  in  the  editorial  work. 

The  National  Enquirer,  a  weekly  paper,  was  established  in  June,  1827,  by 
llorton  Howard.  The  character  of  the  publication  may  be  best  judged  by  the 
announcement  of  the  editor,  in  which  he  said  that,  in  NoHh  Carolina,,  his  native 
State,  he  had  become  acquainted  with  the  feelings  of  the  slaveholders,  and  that  his 
travels  in  the  Middle,  Northern  and  Eastern  States,  and  a  residence  of  "seven  and 
twenty  years  in  that  part  of  the  western  country  which  is  now  the  State  of  Ohio,'* 
have  made  him  acquainted  with  the  feelings  prevailing  in  these  sections  of  the 
country.  He  deprecates  sectionalism,  wants  to  preserve  the  Union,  and  proposes 
**  to  encourage  charitable  dispositions  and  promote  botanic  research  with  a  view  to 
encourage  the  use  of  the  vegetable  productions  of  our  own  country  for  the  j)reven- 
tion  and  cure  of  disease."  The  paper  was  published  for  eighteen  months,  with 
Harvey  D.  Little  as  editor,  being  discontinued  in  December,  1828,  and  consolidated 
with  the  National  Historian,  published  at  St.  Clairsville. 

The  publication  of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  a  Jacksonian  Democratic  paper, 
was  begun  in  1832  by  (xilbert  &  Melcher.     It  was  a  weekly,  but  had  for  a  short 


Tbe  Pres&     I.  42^ 

time  in  the  winter  of  18^'4adailv  e*lition  which  was  calliNi  the  l>ailv  A<lvornsi*r. 
Tliis  Utter  was  very  small  and  very  shortlived,  hut  it  enjoys  the  distinction  ot' 
heing  the  fir^t  daily  puhlieation  in  Columhus,  Mr  Melchor  s^ld  his  intoivst  s<H>n 
Mitcr  this  daily  venture  to  Russell  G,  Bryan,  and  liill>ert  A  Bryan  st>ld  to  Jatx^h 
Medaryand  Geoi^  W.  Many|»enny.  The  latter  sold  it  to  Saoket  Ili^ynolds,  who 
sold  it  to  Jacob  Medary  again.  Mr.  Meilary  ct>nsolidateil  it  with  the  Monitor,  as 
previously  stated. 

The  Ohio  Raster  and  Anti -Masonic  R»'view  was  niovini  to  this  city  fnmi 
Milan,  Huron  County,  about  the  time  olthe  Morgsin  excitement,  nnd  was  published 
here  for  three  years  by  Wanvn  Jenkins  and  Elijah  Giover  In  IS;^:^  the  anti- 
masonic  excitement  having  about  died  out,  the  pa|>er  wasdisooutinuinL 

The  People's  Press  was  established  in  1833  hy  James  B.  Ganliner.  It  sup- 
ported William  Henry  Harrison  for  President  and  Robert  Lucas,  l>emoi^rat,  for 
Governor.     It  lived  only  six  months. 

The  Ohio  Confederate  was  established  in  1836  by  John  G.  Miller,  who  i*t>n- 
ducted  it  for  a  while  as  a  Democratic  and  State's  Rights  paper,  but  in  time  wluvled 
it  into  line  in  support  of  William  Henry  Harrison  for  President.  In  1841,  Mr, 
Miller  was  appointed  Postmaster,  and  transforre<l  the  p;i|>er  to  L.  J.  Mivller  and 
N.  M.  Miller,  who  changed  its  name  to  the  Old  School  Republican,  and  conducteil 
it  for  two  years,  when  it  was  discontinued. 

The  Tornado,  edited  by  R.  P.  Sage,  and  The  Slraightout  Harrisonian,  pub- 
lished by  Allen,  Sage  &  Beverage,  were  publications  of  the  Presidential  campaign 
of  1840. 

The  Whig  Battering  Ram  or  Slraightout  Revived,  editeil  b^'  R.  P.  Sage,  was  one 
of  the  publications  of  the  campaign  of  1844. 

The  Ohio  Tribune  wasa  W'hig  paper  whicli  was  started  for  campaign  purposes 
in  1842  by  Captain  Elijah  Glover,  who  was  the  proprietor  of  a  book  and  job  office. 
It  lived  for  about  three  years  under  the  editorial  direction  of  Walter  Thrall,  Gideon 
Stewart,  and  others.     It  was  discontinued  in  1845. 

One  of  the  weekly  papers  of  long  life  and  much  influence  was  the  Colum- 
bus Gazette,  which  dates  back  to  1849,  when  George  M.  Swan  bought  the  material 
which  had  heen  used  in  the  publication  of  the  Ohio  Tribune  and  established  Swan's 
Elevator  for  the  purpose  of  advocating  Free  Soil  principles.  He  coimI acted  the 
paper  on  this  lino  until  1853,  when  a  temperance  paper  called  tho  Maine  Law 
Advocate  was  brought  hero  from  Hocking  County,  where  it  had  been  established, 
and  consolidated  with  Swan's  Elevator.  Tho  consolidation  Wds  marked  by  a 
change  of  name  to  the  Columbus  Elevator.  In  1855  Mr.  Swan  sold  the  paper 
to  Gamaliel  Scott,  who  loft  tomporance  to  tako  caro  of  itself  and  continued  tho  paper 
on  its  original  plan,  as  an  advocate  of  Free  Soil  principles.  In  185(1,  John  (i roinor 
bought  an  interest  and  the  name  of  the  paper  was  changed  to  the  Columbus  (iazette, 
with  Mr.  Greiner  as  editor.  In  1858,  Mr.  Scott  sold  his  interest  to  Charles  S.  Glenn, 
and  the  paper  was  published  for  a  year  under  tho  firm  name  of  Greiner  «fe  (ilenn. 
In  December,  1859,  L.  G.  Thrall,  who  had  been  a  printer  with  tho  Ohio  State 
Journal  for  eighteen  years,  bought  the  half  interest  of  Mr.  Greiner,  and  the  papor 
was  published  under  the  firm  namo  of  Glenn  &  Thrall,  Mr.  Greiner  continuing  as 


430  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

editor  for  several  months  until  his  appointment  as  Governor  of  New  Mexico.  The 
paper  continued  under  the  same  management,  the  editorial  work  being  done 
by  Milton  M.  Powers,  James  Q.  Howard  and  Alexander  B.  Glenn  until  1864,  when 
Mr.  Thrnll  sold  to  Glenn  &  Heide  (Charles  S.  Glenn  and  Charles  Heide).  Mr. 
Heide  was  a  printer  who  had  been  taken  into  the  firm  some  time  before.  Glenn  & 
Heide  published  the  Gazette  until  1873,  when  Mr.  Heide  retired  and  Mr.  Glenn 
continued  the  publication  alone  until  his  death  in  1874,  when  the  paper  passed 
into  the  hands  of  his  widow,  Mrs.  S.  A.  Glenn,  and  was  conducted  by  her  with 
S.  S.  Peters  and  others  as  editors  until  1882,  when  she  sold  to  Spahr,  Vercoe  &  Spahr 
(George  T.  Spahr,  J.  H.  Vercoe  and  Charles  Spahr),  who,  in  turn,  sold,  January  27, 
1883,  to  B.  O.  Randall,  who  sought  to  make  a  literary  journal  of  it.  On  May  25, 
of  the  same  year,  Mr.  Randall  sold  the  Gazette  to  Hann  k  Adair,  who  changed  its 
name  to  the  Living  Issue  and  Gazette,  and  published  it  as  a  Prohibition  organ. 
Subsequently  the  name  was  changed  to  the  Home  Gazette  and  published  as  such  by 
the  lastnamed  proprietors  until  1886,  when  the  paper  was  bought  by  George  B. 
Thrall,  who  had  edited  it  for  some  time,  and  was  by  him  taken  to  Cleveland,  where 
it  expired  after  a  few  months  of  unsuccessful  effort. 

The  Ohio  Whig  Auger  and  Loco  Foco  Bxcavator,  Thomas  W.  H.  Moseley  editor, 
began  publication  in  August,  1844,  with  the  announcement  that  it  would  be  pub- 
lished until  after  the  election  of  Henry  Clay.  Its  promise  was  not  kept,  and  the 
paper  lives  in  history  only  as  a  campaign  publication. 

The  Tax- Killer  was  the  name  of  a  campaign  paper  issued  weekly  from  the 
Statesman  office  in  1846. 

The  Ohio  Press  was  a  weekly  Democratic  paper,  established  in  1847  by  the  late 
Bli  T.  Tappan,  Matthias  Martin  being  associated  with  him  as  editor.  It  had  also  a 
semiweekly  edition  and,  for  a  short  time,  a  daily  edition.  It  was  intended  to  give 
expression  to  the  dissatisfaction  with  the  Statesman  as  the  Democratic  organ,  a 
mission  which  it  performed  with  some  ability  but  without  financial  success.  It 
lived  less  than  two  years. 

The  Ohio  Standard  was  a  Free  Soil  paper  established  in  the  fall  of  1848  by  B. 
S.  Hamlin  and  Israel  Garrard.  It  was  issued  part  of  the  time  as  a  daily.  Publica- 
tion was  discontinued  in  February.  1849,  but  in  November  of  that  year  Franklin 
Gale  and  Thomas  Cleveland  revived  it  and  continued  the  publication  as  the 
People's  Weekly  Journal  until  September,  1850.  It  was  then  bought  by  Orlan 
Glover,  who  published  it  until  the  spring  of  1851  and  then  discontinued  it. 

The  Campaigner  was  a  Whig  campaign  sheet  published  by  the  proprietors  of 
the  Ohio  State  Journal,  beginning  in  June,  1848. 

The  Western  Mechanic  was  a  weekly,  published  by  H.  H.  Bniden  &  Co.  in 
1849. 

In  the  summer  of  1851,  a  number  of  journeymen  printers  organized  and  began 
publication,  under  the  firm  name  of  H.  N.  Jennings  &  Co.,  of  the  Daily  Capital 
City  Fact.  The  persons  interested  in  the  venture  were :  B.  Burke  Fisher,  M.  L. 
Beits,  J.  A.  Kissinger,  H.  N.  Jennings,  and  M.  H.  Allardt.  Mr.  Fisher  was  the 
chief,  and  Mr.  Betts  the  local  editor.  In  December  of  that  yeixr,  John  Greary 
purchased  an  interest,  and,  in  November,  1852,  the  old  firm  dissolved  and  a  new 


The  Press.     I. 


■  ■_•.   afEVBi'v  AmarjiMn.  Iha  ?<>»>  upwi  >)u  iniiicn.            -Ic^a  M'ElmOi 

""~'   dapiruid  hnjviU  liuJ  •  ropv  rf  th«  Joupiul  u  i,ia,Il'Ti'~'"'''''ij^ 

I—  ■  -    -, .-■-»■   ,  lonib"  Ls|it  ind    carl[fied    on  -^_^^^^^_^__ 

SliSS-^S!^  cS!.^.'™'3rilM  "H|^'f^.»;5'"'^  rii-S^^?' 

rrjs??:^"™  'J^^^B^'*.  hi'iiriErsi;:^  ^-^S^^ 

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■*^.    .  _         *«  d.iir,«nitiBi., '  Bj""**.            ■s:irs.'rr.£Ki3 

^              i-«^,,«      ridrtiW.      noinbor-  '•!  c^.  24ii  jj^  l^y-,*™,—  -jt. 

'n  v„~l.<[!ri»   tk.n(nr<r.wiiiH''for  Lk>>leii>nlC<>ki«)Jo>>B  CK^wtiiSr^t?'^ 

!SrJ:,"L^»£i:1'™    rol«iitaB-lomroI«wn>.  EC*m|ib*|LofUHl»l1i     *'1C?i'nS.*7'»* 

X.. -JSf-...-.-   Hivet  (or   llH  impOH  RpiiKM^ibtuUT, to     ^.I?!..        ' 

S^r^;::^':^:^*:    erukln^pun  .»   KH;e   Uunnkor  CdIibJ  by 

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fc*iZ.-r.fr^~.3    North  \V«m  Ann,,  tlie  bulla  of  Wuioii. 


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L<iE  OF  PHEEMAN-li  CHRONICLE.  JUNE  IK,  I 


432  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

firm  consisting  ofJohn  CJeary,  .1.  A.  Kissinger  and  M.  L.  Allardt  took  charge.  Mr. 
Fi.slier  retired  as  editor  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Allardt.  In  July,  1S54,  Mr. 
Allardt  withdrew  from  the  paper  and  went  to  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  and  Mr. 
Geary  became  the  editor  and  continued  in  that  capacity  until  1862,  when  Colonel 
VV.  L.  McMillan,  of  the  Ninetj'tiflh  Ohio  Infantry,  became  associated  with  him  in 
the  editorial  management.  In  September,  1863,  the  Fact  was  sohi  to  VV.  H.  Foster, 
who  clianged  its  name  to  the  Daily  Evening  Express  and  continued  its  publication 
under  that  name  until  June,  1864,  when  he  discontinued  it. 

The  Columbian  was  a  Free  Soil  weekl}'  paper  which  had  its  birth  in  January, 
1853.  its  principal  editor  was  L.  L.  Rice,  later  Supervisor  of  State  Printing,  and 
it  was  published  by  Osgood  &  Blake.  In  October,  1854,  E.  S.  Hamlin  assumed 
control,  and  in  1855  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  A.  M.  Gangewer,  who  advocated 
the  nomination  of  Chase  for  Governor.  The  following  j'car  he  merged  it  into  the 
Ohio  State  Journal. 

The  Daily  Ohio  State  Democrat  was  established  December  12,  1853,  by 
Knapp,  Osgoo<l  &  Blake.  It  was  edited  by  Horace  B.  Knapp  and  Charles  B. 
Flood.  In  the  following  spring,  the  Franklin  Printing  Company  was  organized, 
composed  of  the  publishers  of  the  Democrat  and  H.  W.  Derby.  This  company 
secured  control  of  the  Ohio  Statesman  and  consolidated  the  two  papers  under  the 
name  of  the  Ohio  Statesman  and  Democrat,  the  editors  of  the  Democrat  becoming 
the  editors  of  the  new  paper. 

The  Columbus  Reveille,  a  daily  evening  paper,  Know-Nothing  in  politics, 
made  its  first  appearance  in  November,  1854.  It  was  published  by  a  company  of 
printers,  viz.:  Messrs.  Thomas  S.  Shepard,  Samuel  Bradford,  M.  L.  Bryan  and  Ira 
Berger.  Eighty  three  numbers  of  it  were  issued,  but  it  was  unsuccessful  financially 
and  it  was  suspended  in  Februar^'^,  1855.  Six  weeks  before  the  collapse,  Mr.  Brad- 
ford sold  his  interest  to  Charles  Bliss,  father  of  J.  P.  Bliss. 

The  Western  Home  Visitor,  edited  by  E.  A.  Higgins,  was  removed  here  from 
Mt.  Vernon  in  November,  1854,  and  was  issued  separately  for  a  short  time  by  the 
publishers  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal.  In  the  following  January,  it  was  consoli- 
dated with  the  Columbian,  which  was  itself  merged  into  the  Journal  in  1856. 

In  May,  1855,  W.  W.  McBeth  issued  the  prospectus  of  a  weekly  Know-Noth- 
ing paper  to  be  called  the  Continental,  and  to  bear  as  a  motto  Jackson's  words, 
"  It  is  time  we  were  becoming  a  little  more  Americanized."  The  publication 
duly  appeared  and  continued  for  a  short  time,  its  principal  editor  being  A.  Bann- 
ing Norton,  who  had  taken  a  vow  never  to  have  his  hair  cut  until  Clay  was  elected 
President. 

The  Columbus  Daily  Enterprise  made  its  appearance  in  December,  1855,  and 
was  continued  for  a  few  months  b}'  its  publisher,  John  M.  Kinne3\ 

The  Alliance,  a  weekly,  published  by  A.  A.  Stewart,  under  the  patronage  of 
the  Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars,  was  issued  here  first  in  February,  1856. 
Its  platform  was:  Total  Prohibition;  Annihilation  of  the  Rum  Traffic. 

The  People's  Press  was  a  weekly,  established  in  June,  1859,  by  James  B. 
Marshall,  and  published  as  a  Douglas  organ  for  a  short  time. 


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The  Press.     I.  433 

The  Evening  Bulletin  was  established  in  the  latter  part  of  August,  1860,  by  a 
number  of  printers,  who  had  gone  out  of  the  Statesman  office  on  a  strike.  It  was 
independent  politically,  but  its  special  purpose  was  to  antagonize  the  nomination 
of  S.  S.  Cox  for  Congress.     It  lived  just  fortyfive  days. 

Common  Sense  Against  the  Maine  Law,  was  the  name  of  an  anti-Prohibition 
paper  published  for  a  short  time  by  Doctor  P.  Johnson,  beginning  in  1853. 

One  of  the  ablest,  most  widely  circulated  and  be^t  hated  weeklies  ever  pub- 
lished in  this  city  was  the  Crisis,  the  publication  of  which  was  begun  by  ex- 
Governor  Samuel  Medary,  January  31,  1861.  It  was  an  cightpage  paper,  with 
0ve  columns  to  the  page.  It  was  established  at  a  most  critical  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  country,  and  its  mission  was  to  advocate  the  Monroe  doctrine.  Staters 
Eights  and  the  settlement  of  the  troubles  between  the  States  without  resort  to 
arms.  It  was  essentially  a  peace  Democrat  paper,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  say 
anything  further  than  that  to  convey  to  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  sensation  which 
its  articles  created,  promulgated  as  they  were  at  a  time  when  the  war  spirit  was 
abroad,  and  when  not  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the  war  seemed  to  those  who  were 
its  advocates  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the  South.  The  Crisis  did  not  prevent  the 
war,  but  it  was  a  great  financial  success,  reaching  at  one  time  a  circulation  of 
22,000  copies.  Ex-Governor  Medary  continued  as  owner  and  editor  until  his 
death,  November  7,  1864.  The  paper  then  passed  into  the  hands  of  Samuel  A. 
Medary,  who  soon  took  in  as  partner  the  late  Willoughby  Webb,  and  they,  after 
publishing  the  Crisis  for  a  few  months,  sold  to  Doctor  William  Trevitt.  Doctor 
Trevitt  sought  to  make  the  Crisis  a  compendium  of  the  history  of  the  time,  includ- 
ing all  public  documents  of  historical  importance  as  well  as  the  opinions  of  wellin- 
formed  men  on  the  then  burning  questions  of  State  and  National  policy.  In  1870, 
Doctor  Trevitt  sold  the  Crisis  to  Charles  H.  Matthews,  and  a  few  months  later, 
Mr.  Matthews  sold  the  concern  to  Richard  Nevins  and  P.  H.  Medary,  who  merged 
it  into  the  Statesman. 

The  Union  League  was  a  stanch  Union  paper  which  was  established  in  the 
fall  of  1863,  during  the  Vallandigham  campaign.  It  was  edited  by  O.  B.  Chap- 
man, and  was  printed  at  the  office  of  the  Gazette.     It  was  discontinued  in  1864. 

In  December,  1865,  a  company  was  incorporated  for  the  purpose  of  publishing 
a  Republican  paper  to  be  called  the  Ohio  State  Sentinel.  The  incorporators  were 
Benjamin  E.  Smith,  George  M.  Parsons,  C.  P.  L.  Butler,  Theodore  Comstock  and 
Henry  Miller.  Its  purpose  was  said  to  be  to  sustain  President  Johnson  as  against 
the  dominant  element  of  his  party.     The  paper  never  materialized. 

The  Republic,  a  weekly  organ  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  made  its 
appearance  in  May,  1867.  Its  publishers  were  Wilmer  S.  Simmons,  C.  Warren 
Campbell  and  Charles  L.  Griffin.  In  October  of  the  same  year  it  was  moved  to 
Cincinnati. 

The  Whip-poor-will  was  printed  from  January  to  December,  1866,  by  a  num. 
her  of  boys  for  juvenile  readers. 

The  Mac-o-chee  Press,  published  by  Grubble  Brothers  and  edited  by  Colonel 
Donn  Piatt,  was  moved  from  Bellefontaine  to  Columbus  in  September,   1866.     Its 

28 


434  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

publication  here  was  not  a  success,  and  it  was  moved  back  to  Bellefontaine  early 
in  1867. 

The  Sunday  Morning  News  was  founded  in  November,  1867,  by  the  late  Doc 
tor  William  Trevitt.     Associated  with  him,  but  having  no  financial  interest  in  the 
enterprise,  was  Willoughby  Webb,  who  had  held  editorial  positions  on  the  States- 
man and  Crisis.     Doctor  Trevitt  published  the  News  for  three  years,  selling  in 
1870  to  John  Webb  and  Charles  H.  Matthews,  who  conducted  the  paper  until  July, 

1871,  and  then  sold  to  Honorable  W.  T.  Wallace,  who  in  turn  sold  November  17, 

1872,  to  Orebaugh  &  Brodbeck  (E.  G.  Orebaugh  and  P.  A.  Brodbeck).  They 
published  the  News  for  6fleen  years,  reaping  a  rich  financial  harvest.  In  March, 
1887,  they  sold  to  O.  C.  Hooper  and  L.  P.  Stephens.  In  the  following  September, 
Mr.  Stephens  retired  and  J.  B.  K.  Connelly  took  his  place  in  the  firm. 

The  News  was  begun  as  a  sixcolumn  folio,  and  is  now  a  sixcolumn  quarto, 
it  having  been  changed  to  its  present  form  from  a  ninecolumn  folio,  when 
Hooper  &  Connelly  bought  the  Saturday  Telegram  in  December,  1887,  and  con- 
solidated it  with  the  property. 

Among  the  men  who  have  at  different  times  done  work  upon  the  News,  in 
addition  to  those  already  mentioned,  are:  S.  E.  Johnson,  now  of  the  Cincinnati 
Enquirer;  Hon.  Allen  O.  Myers;  Professor  Joseph  R.  Smith,  of  the  Ohio  State 
University;  the  late  Lanson  G.  Curtis,  after  whom  the  local  Press  Club  was 
named  ;  Benjamin  P.  Gaines,  who  was  private  secrotar}-  of  Hon.  J.  Warren  Keifer 
when  that  gentleman  was  Speaker  of  the  National  House  of  Representatives, 
and  John  A.  Arthur,  who  died  in  this  city  after  a  mysterious  assault  at  his  own 
door. 

The  Columbus  Evening  Dispatch  was  of  humble  origin,  but  it  hns  had  a 
remarkable  growth.  It  is  one  of  the  few  instances  of  successful  cooperative  effort, 
having  begun  with  a  capital  stock  in  which  labor  had  a  greater  representation  than 
money.  It  was  in  1871  that  the  foundations  of  this  newspaper  property  were 
laid.  A  number  of  men,  most  of  them  printers  and  all  of  them  having- a  practical 
knowledge  of  the  business  in  some  one  of  its  departments,  met  and  decided  that  the 
time  was  ripe  for  a  new  journalistic  venture.  In  the  latter  part  of  June,  1871,  the 
Dispatch  Printing  Company  was  incorporated  with  a  nominal  capital  stock  ot 
810,000.  The  incorporators  were:  William  Trevitt,  Junior,  Samuel  Bradford,  Tim- 
othy McMahon,  James  0*DonnelI,  Peter  C.  Johnson,  L.  P.  Stephens,  John  M.  Webb, 
J.  S.  B.  Given,  C.  M.  Morris,  and  W.  W.  Webb.  There  were  ten  incorporators  and 
all  of  them  were  stockholders  except  the  lastnamed,  W.  W.  Webb.  Each  of  the 
nine  stockholders  paid  in  one  hundred  dollars,  and  with  a  paidup  capital  of  nine 
hundred  dollars,  and  a  press  which  was  the  property  of  Mr.  Trevitt,  the  Dispatch 
Printing  Company  began  business,  it  being  further  agreed  that  each  stockholder 
should  give  his  labor  for  ten  weeks  without  drawing  any  salary,  all  of  his  earnings 
in  that  period  to  be  credited  to  him  on  the  books  of  the  company. 

The  company  was  organized  as  follows:  Samuel  Bradford,  President;  Wil- 
liam Trevitt,  Junior,  business  manager;  Willoughby  Webb,  editor;  C.  M.  Morris, 
advertising  solicitor  and  city  agent;  John  Stone,  city  editor;  Samuel  Bradford, 
foreman  of  the  composing  room.    The  first  number  was  issued  on  July  1,  1871. 


The  Press.     1.  435 

Tho  city  had  previously  been  canvassed  for  another  paper  which  was  never  issaed, 
and  about  one  thousand  names  had  been  secured.  The  Dispatch  Company  came 
into  possession  of  this  list,  and  the  Dispatch  was  delivered  to  all  these  persons  for 
a  time  on  trial.  Over  eight  hundred  of  the  thousand  remained  as  regular  patrons, 
and  paid  from  the  date  of  tho  first  issue. 

The  agreement  that  none  of  the  stockholders  should  draw  any  money  for 
their  labor  during  the  first  ten  weeks  was  rigidly  adhered  to,  but,  beginning  with 
the  eleventh  week,  each  stockholder  was  paid  in  cash  twentyfivo  per  cent,  of  his 
earnings,  the  remainder  being  credited  to  him  on  the  books  as  so  much  payment 
on  his  stock.  During  the  second  and  third  years,  the  payment  to  tho  stockholders 
in  cash  reached  fifty  per  cent,  of  their  earnings,  and  at  the  time  of  the  first  trans- 
fer of  tho  property,  seventyfive  per  cent,  was  being  paid  to  the  stockholders 
in  cash. 

In  the  summer  of  1874,  the  Dispatch  was  sold  by  the  company  that  had 
founded  it  to  Captain  John  H.  Putnam  and  Doctor G.  A.  Doren  for  S10,500.  These 
gentlemen  had  first  agreed  conditionally  to  give  $12,000  for  the  property,  but  on 
examination  they  found  that  the  contract  for  the  use  of  the  Associated  Press  dis- 
patches, which  had  been  made  by  the  original  proprietors  with  the  owners  of  the 
Ohio  State  Journal,  was  unsatisfactory.  When  tho  Ohio  Statesman  had  suspended 
its  daily  issue,  its  Associated  Press  franchise  had  been  sold  to  General  Comly,  who 
had  only  leased  it  to  the  Dispatch  Company.  This  fact  resulted  in  the  sale  of  the 
paper  to  Putnam  &  Doren  for  810,500.  This  firm  bought  the  press  franchise  from 
General  Comly,  otherwise  improved  the  equipment,  and  conducted  the  Dispatch 
successfully  until  January  1,  1876,  when  they  sold  it  to  Myers  &  Brickell  (Captain 
L.  D.  Myers  and  William  D.  Brickell).  This  partnership  continued  until  Nov.  24, 
1882,  when  Captain  Myers,  the  editor,  who  had  been  appointed  postmaster  of  the 
city,  retired.  Mr.  Brickell  bought  his  partner's  interest  and  became  sole  pro- 
prietor. 

In  its  career  of  twenty  years,  the  Dispatch  has  had  six  editorsinchief. 
Willoughby  Webb  was  the  first;  John  A.  Arthur  the  second,  and  John  M,  Webb 
the  third,  all  of  these  serving  during  the  control  of  the  original  company. 
Captain  John  S.  Putnam  was  editor  during  the  ownership  by  Putnam  &  Doren,  and 
Captain  L.  D.  Myers  while  Myers  &  Brickell  were  the  proprietors.  Captain 
Stephen  B.  Porter  has  been  editor  since  the  sole  proprietorship  of  Mr.  Brickell  began. 
Frank  A.  Layman  became  associate  editor  in  1875,  but  resigned  in  1880  to  go  to 
Sandusky,  whece  he  and  his  brother  Charles  bought  and  for  a  time  published  the 
Journal  of  that  city.  Mr.  Layman  was  succeeded  on  the  Dispatch  by  Osman  C. 
Hooper,  who  served  until  October,  1886,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  a  position  on 
the  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  and  was  succeeded  by  Charles  M.  Lewis.  In  November, 
1889,  Mr.  Lewis  was  succeeded  by  J.  L.  Rodgers,  promoted  from  the  assistant  city 
editorship. 

The  first  city  editor  of  the  Dispatch  was  John  Stone,  a  printer,  still  residing  in 
the  city;  then  John  A.  Arthur,  Lanson  G.  Curtis,  William  Galer,  Captain  Stephen 
B.  Porter,  and  the  present  incumbent,  John  H.  Green. 

The  Sentinel  was  a  morning  daily,  of  four  pages,  backed  by  Allen  G.  Thurman, 


43G  History  of  the  City  of  Columbur. 

Henry  Chittondon,  John  G.  Deshlor,  and  other  Liberals  and  Democrats.  Its  pub- 
lication was  begun  September  15,  1872,  and  was  discontinued  November  11,  1S78. 
Its  mission  was  to  support  Horace  Greeley  for  the  Presidency.  J.  Q.  Howard  was 
editor,  Henry  Reinhard  business  manager,  W.  G.  Thoman  and  B.  F.  Gaines  cit}- 
editors. 

The  Sunda}'^  Herald  was  established  January  1,  1875,  by  T.  J.  Kwin^;,  a  son  of 
Judge  P.  B.  Ewing,  of  Lancaster.  J.  K.  Farver  was  associated  witli  Mr.  Ewing  in 
the  business  department.  The  venture  was  not  as  successful  as  the  proprietor 
thought  it  should  be,  and  the  paper  was  sold  by  him  in  October,  ISTt),  to  Captain 
John  H.  Putnam,  who  changed  it  from  political  independence  to  the  RU])port  of  the 
Democracy.  W.  S.  Furay  bought  an  interest,  and  later,  in  April,  1877,  became  sole 
owner  and  made  the  paper  Republican,  which  it  has  continued  to  be  up  to  tlie 
present  time.  In  January,  1879,  the  late  Sylvester  W.  Gale  bought  an  interest, 
and  he  and  Mr.  Furay  conducted  it  jointly  until  December  14,  1880,  when  Mr.  Gale 
sold  his  interest  to  his  partner,  but  subsequently  he  published  the  Herald  under  a 
lease  from  the  proprietor.  In  the  summer  of  1881,  W.  S.  Furay  sold  the  proj^erty 
to  Captain  T.  W.  Collier,  formerly  editor  of  the  Coshocton  Age,  but  bought  it  from 
Collier  in  August,  1882.  Captain  Collier  went  to  Raton,  New  Mexico,  where  he 
went  into  business,  and  Mr.  Furay  conducted  the  Herald  until  the  spring  of  1884, 
when  W.  J.  Elliott  got  possession  of  it,  but  he  sold  it,  after  issuing  a  few  numbers, 
to  Samuel  Shafer.  Mr.  Shafer  sold  it  November  2, 1885,  U)  Captain  J.  C.  Donaldson 
and  George  L.  Manchester,  who  in  turn  sold  the  property  February  11,  1886,  to 
Charles  E.  Bonebrake,  the  present  publisher. 

The  Sunday  Capital  first  made  its  appearance  February  17,  1878,  G.  W.  Hen- 
derson  and  Arnold  H.  Isler  being  the  publishers  and  proprietors.  It  was  first 
issued  as  a  folio,  with  eight  columns  to  the  page.  In  politics  it  was  Democratic.  The 
agreement  between  the  partners  was  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Henderson  should  put 
k\  $500  cash  and  take  the  editorial  management,  while  Mr.  Isler  should  furnish 
three  hundred  paid  subscriptions  and  attend  to  the  advertising  and  circulation. 
The  terras  of  the  agreement  were  faithfully  kept  and  the  concern  .prospered  almost 
from  the  start.  After  the  campaign  of  1878,  Mr.  Isler  sold  his  interest  to  Mr. 
Henderson,  but  in  the  following  January  he,  in  conjunction  with  John  Byrne, 
bought  the  paper  back.  A  year  of  hard  and  not  altogether  successful  work  followed, 
but  in  the  third  year  the  business  improved.  Claude  Meeker,  later  private  secretary 
to  Governor  Campbell,  began  work  on  the  Capital  in  1881  and  continued  until 
February,  1882,  when  the  paper  was  sold  to  W.  J.  Elliott.  On  March  8,  1884,  the 
Capital  absorbed  the  Sunday  Tribune,  which  had  been  founded  in  the  fall  of  1883  by 
J.  J.  Lallie,  who  sought  to  build  up  a  paper  without  recourse  to  advertising.  The 
Tribune  was  a  handsome  eightpage  paper,  but  its  beauty  could  not  save  it.  For 
some  time  after  the  consolidation,  the  Capital  printed  a  supplement  under  the 
name  of  the  Tribune,  but  this  was  soon  abandoned  and  the  word  "  Tribune"  was 
added  to  the  Capital  heading. 

December  1,  1878,  witnessed  the  birth  of  the  Columbus  Democrat,  an  eightpage 
morning  daily  with  a  Sunday  edition.  It  was  established  by  Allen  0.  Myers  and 
Solon  L.  Goode,  under  the  firm  name  of  Allen  O.  Myers  &  Co.,  Mr.  Myers  being 


( 


The  Press.     I.  437 


editor,  W.  A.  Taylor  associate  editor,  J.  H.  Hewitt  city  editor,  and  Mr.  Goodc 
being  the  business  manager.  In  April,  1879,  Mr.  Myers  retired  and  the  paper  was 
published  by  the  Columbus  Democrat  Company,  with  Solon  L.  Goode  as  manager 
and  W.  A.  Taj'lor  as  editor.  Mr.  Taylor  remained  in  editorial  charge  only  until 
I  June,  and  then  gave  place  to  James  L.  Goode,  a  brother  of  the  manager.     In  July, 

J^  the  Democrat  and  the  Ohio  Statesman  were  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the 

[  Columbus  Democrat  and  Ohio  Statesman,  which  was  published  for  a  time  in  morn- 

ing and  evening  editions. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1878,  the  Brown  Brothers,  then  abstractors  of  titles,  con- 
ceived that  there  was  need  for  a  more  perfect  publication  of  the  transactions  at  the 
Franklin  County  Courthouse,  than  was  given  in  the  daily  newspapers.  So  they 
begun  the  publication  of  a  little  daily  which  they  called  the  Law  Bulletin,  which 
was  designed  to  furnish  lawyers,  bankers  and  real  estate  dealers  with  the  news 
of  the  courts  in  detail.  This  did  not  prove  a  paying  enterprise,  and  the  Brown 
Brothers  were  glad  enough  to  sell  the  Law  Bulletin  in  January,  1879,  to  Jonathan 
LintiOn,  who  had  conceived  the  idea  of  publishing  a  weekly  paper,  partly  on 
the  same  plan,  for  the  information  of  the  people  of  the  county.  Mr.  Linton's  idea 
took  form  in  an  eightpage  weekly  which  he  called  the  Franklin  County  Legal 
Record,  and  which  he  published  until  March,  1881,  when  he  sold  it  to  Brown 
Brothers,  James  Finley  Brown  assuming  the  editorship  and  W.  P.  Brown  the  busi- 
ness management.  Shortly  afterward,  Mr.  J.  F.  Brown  transferred  his  interest  to 
.  Mr.  W.  P.  Brown,  who  has  published  the  paper  ever  since,  the  former  continuing  as 

'  editor.     About  the  first  of  January,  1889,  the  name  was  changed  to  the  Columbus 

Record,  and  on  January  1 ,  1890,  the  form,  which  had  been  for  some  time  a  folio,  was 
changed  to  a  quarto  and  a  new  dress  of  type  was  bought  for  it.  The  Record  is  an 
independent  Democratic  paper  and  makes  a  specialty  of  Courthouse  and  county 
news. 

The  National  Greenback  Leader,  a  paper  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the 
Green]>ack  party,  was  removed  to  Columbus  from  Canal  Dover,  in  April,  1879. 
It  was  published  by  the  Phelps  Brothers  as  a  daily  and  a  weekly.  In  the  follow- 
ing July  it  suspended  publication. 

The  Commonwealth  was  established  in  the  fall  of  1878,  as  the  organ  of  the 
Prohibition  party,  and  died  in  the  summer  of  the  following  year. 

In  February,  1879,  a  number  of  Union  printers,  encouraged,  doubtless,  by  the 
success  of  the  Dispatch,  formed  a  company  and  began  the  publication  of  the 
Daily  Labor,  a  fivecolumn  evening  paper.  A.  A.  Braddock  was  editor.  The 
company  was  incorporated  in  April,  by  James  M.  Boyle,  A.  A.  Braddock,  Frank 
W.  Ra3'mond,  James  A.  Miner  and  A.  H.  Handiboe.  In  the  following  few  months, 
several  changes  took  place  in  the  company,  Braddock  and  Handiboe  retiring  and 
George  H.  Ross  and  W.  A.  Taylor  coming  in.  The  number  of  stockholders  was 
increased  and  the  name  of  the  paper  was  changed  to  the  Daily  Courier,  with 
James  M.  Boyle  as  business  manager  and  W.  A.  Taylor  and  George  H.  Ross 
editors.  Before  the  end  of  the  year,  however,  the  company  got  into  financial 
straits  and  the  publication  was  discontinued. 


438  History  ok  the  City  of  Columbus. 

The  Ohio  Way,  by  Listoii  McMillen,  of  Iowa,  an  advoeato  of  temperance,  and 
the  Little  Buckeye,  by  Milton  R.  Scott,  of  Newark,  Ohio,  were  very  shortlived 
daily  ventures  of  1881. 

The  Ohio  State  Sentinel,  John  T.  Shryock  editor,  was  a  Greenback  or^nn 
which  was  published  here  in  1881. 

Several  eflTorts  have  been  made  to  establish  a  colored  people's  paper.  Among 
the  first  of  these  was  the  Afro- American,  by  R.  J.  Waring,  early  in  the  eighties. 
David  Jenkins  began  the  publication  of  the  Palladium  of  Liberty  in  1884,  and  D. 
A.  Eudd  started  the  Ohio  State  Tribune  in  May,  1885.  None  of  them  lived  ion^. 
In  1887,  the  Free  American  was  established  by  George  M.  Dickey  and  Walter  S. 
Thomas  to  champion  the  same  cause,  but  followed  its  predecessors  to  an  early 
grave. 

The  Bohemian  was  founded  by  A.  H.  Islcr,  in  March,  1882.  It  was  a  Satur- 
day paper,  eight  pages,  with  five  columns  to  the  page.  Its  mission  was  to  criticise 
the  stage,  society  and  politics.  At  the  outset,  Mr.  Isler  was  the  editor,  Claude 
Meeker  astfociate  editor,  and  Edward  Noble  business  manairer.  The  paper  started 
with  a  boom  and  gave  promise  of  a  future  which  was  not  altogether  realized.  At 
the  end  of  tlie  first  year  of  publication,  the  finances  were  in  a  bad  state,  and  Mr. 
Meeker  left  to  go  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  had  been  offered  a  place  on  the  News- 
Journal.  At  the  same  time  Mr.  Noble  also  quit,  and  Mr.  Isler,  with  the  aid  of  his 
wife  as  writer  and  office  assistant,  continued  the  publication  into  the  third  year, 
when  ho  made  an  assignment.  This  ended  the  Bohemian.  Its  epitaph  is  thus 
written  by  Mr.  Isler:  •*  The  only  mistake  that  I  made  in  the  Bohemian,  was  in 
allowing  it  to  see  daylight.  There  was  never  any  excuse  for  it.  There  was  never 
anything  in  it  worthy  of  a  live  journalist,  and  I  cannot  for  the  life  of  me  see  how  it 
lived  so  long.  It  only  goes  to  show^  that  the  Columbus  reading  public  is  very 
kind  and  merciful.'* 

The  Telegram,  an  eightpai]^e  Saturday  publication,  was  founded  in  October, 
1886,  by  Enos  W.  Barnes,  Horace  G.  Dobbins  and  Willard  Barnes.  It  was  a 
branch  of  the  Elmira,  New  York,  Telegram,  half  of  the  paper  being  printed  tJiere 
and  sent  to  this  city.  The  other  four  pages  were  filled  with  local  correspondence 
from  nearby  towns  and  some  special  feature  articles.  It  was  intended  to  put  it  on 
a  nonadvertising  basis,  but  a  circulation  of  four  thousand,  the  result  of  a  year's 
work,  did  not  make  it  a  paying  investment,  and  the  paper  was  sold  in  November 
to  Hooper  &  Connelly,  proprietors  of  the  Sunday  Morning  News,  by  whom  it  was 
consolidated  with  the  News.  Mr.  Barnes  returned  to  his  home  in  New  York,  and 
in  a  few  months  died. 

The  publication  of  the  Evening  Post,  Democratic,  was  begun  December  4, 1888, 
by  the  Post  Printing  and  Publishing  Company,  which  was  incorporated  November 
23,  1888,  by  S.  G.  McCullough,  A.  D.  Heffner,  Frank  C.  Smith,  Edward  Donmead 
and  Dundon  &  Bergin.  The  authorized  capital  stock  is  850,000,  but  onlj-  half  that 
amount  was  issued.  The  company  was  organized  as  follows:  President,  A.  D. 
Heffner;  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  Frank  C.  Smith;  Directors,  A.  D.  Heffner, 
Frank  C.  Smith,  Edmund  Smith,  S.  G.  McCullough  and  Edward  Denmead.  The 
first  editor  was  H.  S.  Chapin  and   the  first  city  editor  was  S.  N.  Cook.     The  first 


The  Press.     I.  439 

pablication  office  was  od  East  State  Street  in  the  Converse  Block.  There  it 
remained  for  about  two  years,  when  it  was  removed  to  the  southwest  corner  of 
State  and  Wall  streets,  where  better  accommodations  for  the  growing  business 
weresecured.  Early  in  1891,  Judge  Joshua  Seney,  of  Toledo,  made  a  contract  for  the 
purchase  of  a  controlling  interest,  and  a  few  numbers  of  the  Post  were  issued 
under  his  management,  but  the  deal  was  never  consummated  and  he  soon  retired, 
and  the  matter  was  taken  to  the  courts  where  it  still  awaits  adjustment  On 
April  13,  1891,  Charles  Q.  Davis  bought  stock  to  the  amount  of  815,000  and  became 
the  general  manager,  a  position  he  still  retains.  After  two  years  of  editorial  work, 
Mr.  Chapin  resigned  to  return  to  newspaper  work  in  Toledo,  ih)m  which  city  he 
had  come  to  edit  the  Post.  He  was  succeeded  by  David  S.  Tarbill  who,  after  five 
months'  service,  resigned  to  take  a  position  on  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer.  Henry 
Apthorp  then  became  the  principal  editorial  writer,  being  assisted  by  John  H. 
Mackley.  Soon  after,  Mr.  Davis  assumed  the  management,  Mr.  Cook  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  news  to  the  business  department  and  R.  J.  Bancroft  became  city 
editor.  At  the  present  time,  W.  P.  Huntington  is  the  managing  editor,  and 
Messrs.  Apthorp  and  Mackley,  assistants ;  George  E.  Kelley,  city  editor ;  8.  N. 
Cook,  dramatic  editor;  Charles  Q.  Davis  general  manager,  assisted  by  B.  F. 
Gayman. 

The  Post  retains  its  original  form,  a  sevencolumn  folio,  except  on  Saturdays, 
when  it  is  issued  in  eightpago  form.  A  weekly  edition  was  also  established  at  the 
same  time  as  the  daily,  but  on  October  1,  1891,  a  somiweekly  edition  was  begun, 
taking  the  place  of  the  weekly  and  being  furnished  at  the  same  price.  The  Post 
is  now  under  contract  for  the  morning  and  evening  franchises  of  Di^lziel's  News 
Agency,  assuring  it  a  good  telegraph  service. 

A  humorous  illustrated  weekly  called  at  first  The  Owl  but  afterwards  Light, 
made  its  first  appearance  the  last  week  in  March,  1888.  Opha  Moore  was  the 
editor  and  O.  A.  Macy  was  the  business  manager.  It  was  a  very  bright  publica- 
tion, practically  all  the  matter  being  original  and  fully  up  to  the  standard  of 
Eastern  publications  of  the  same  character.  The  cartoons  and  illustrations,  too, 
were  of  a  high  order.  Everything  about  it  was  firstclass  and  expensive,  and  the 
paper  failed  because  too  much  had  been  attempted  at  the  very  outset.  It  was  pub- 
lished for  six  months,  most  of  the  time  as  a  twelvopage  paper,  but  occasionally  in 
sixteenpage  form.  Other  persons  took  the  name  and  the  subscription  list  and 
attempted  to  establish  a  pictorial  weekly  at  Chicago,  but  they,  too,  failed  after 
850,000  had  been  sunk  in  the  venture. 

The  Sunday  World  was  an  outgrowth  of  a  Saturday  labor  paper,  established 
in  the  summer  of  1889  by  James  Bergin  and  David  Boyer,  and  culled  the  Trades 
Ledger.  In  December  of  the  same  year,  the  day  of  publication  was  changed  to 
Sunday,  and  the  name  became  the  Sunday  World  and  Trades  Lodger.  The 
paper  continued  to  be  an  advocate  of  labor  interests,  but  it  became  more  distinc- 
tively a  newspaper  of  Democratic  politics.  In  February,  1890,  it  was  bought  by 
Charles  Q.  Davis  and  F.  W.  Levering,  who  dropped  the  Trades  Ledger  from  the 
title  and  conducted  it  as  a  Democratic  organ.  It  was  published  for  a  time  as  an 
eightcolumn  quarto,  but  is  now  a  ninecolumn  folio. 


ZZTS 


^w 


440  History  op  the  City  ok  Columbus. 

The  United  Mine  Workers'  Journal  is,  as  its  name  indicates,  the  organ  of  the 
miners  and  the  mine  laborers.  It  was  established  early  in  April,  1891,  and  is  pub" 
lished  weekly  by  the  National  Executive  Board  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of 
America.  It  is  a  paper  of  eight  pages,  six  columns  to  the  page.  Us  first  editor 
was  Mr.  W.  E.  Prine,  who  resigned  a  position  on  the  local  staff  of  the  State  Journal 
to  accept  the  place.  Mr.  Prine  retired  the  first  of  November,  1891,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  John  Kane,  of  Indiana,  a  member  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  Miners' 
organization. 

Among  suburban  ventures  was  the  North  Side  Enterprise,  which  was  pub- 
lished for  several  years  under  that  name,  and  in  1891  became  an  organ  of  labor 
under  the  name  of  the  Labor  Courier.  The  East  Side  News,  which  is  still  flourish- 
ing, made  its  advent  in  September,  1890,  and  is  devoted  almost  entirely  to  matters 
pertaining  to  that  section  of  the  cit}'. 

The  Irish  Times,  by  J.  B.  O'Reilly,  now  dead,  and  the  Express,  by  Stephen  W. 
McFarland,  have  appeared  at  varying  intervals. 

Clarence  C.  Waring  published  in  1889  a  few  numbers  of  a  monthly  called  Our 
School  Youth. 

The  Industrial  Union  was  another  short-lived  paper  of  1888.  It  was  a  cham- 
pion of  organized  labor. 

The  Ohio  Fish  and  Game  Protector  is  a  small  eightpage  monthly  devoted  to 
fishing  bunting  and  sports  in  general.  It  was  establithed  in  March,  1890,  by  the 
Ohio  Fish  and  Game  Protector  Publishing  Company,  with  Colonel  Horace  Park  us 
editor. 

Notwithstanding  the  large  number  of  papers,  the  careers  of  which  have  been 
outlined  in  the  foregoing  pages,  there  are  still  others  that  repose  in  the  newspaper 
graveyard,  with  naught  but  the  name  recorded  to  tell  that  they  existed.  Among 
these  are  the  following:  The  Independent  Press,  by  Hugh  M.  Espy  &  Co.,  about 
1832-3;  the  Budget  of  Fun,  by  the  same;  the  Ohio  Freeman  by  Captain  John 
Duffy,  and  then  the  Columbus  Herald,  by  the  same,  both  in  1842-43;  the  Eclectic, 
by  Horton  Howard,  edited  by  William  Hance  ;  the  Ohio  Intelligencer  (German), 
published  in  1834;  the  Daily  Enquirer,  which  was  published  a  short  time  in  1855 
by  John  M.  Kinney  &  Co. ;  the  Ohio  Convention  Re])ortcr,  in  1870,  by  J.  G.  Adell ; 
Shadows,  by  A.  C.  Osborn,  early  in  the  eighties.  The  Veteran,  Grand  Army  of  the 
Eepublic  paper,  S.  S.  Peters,  editor;  Junia  Banner,  by  Ivor  Hughes  and  John  C.  L. 
Pugh  ;  the  Kural  Call,  by  Charles  W.  Harper. 

The  Emigrant  was  the  first  German  paper  published  in  this  city.  It  was 
begun  in  1833,  and  discontinued  in  the  following  year.  Henry  Roedter  was  the 
editor. 

The  Ohio  Staatszeitung  was  a  Whig  paper  established  in  1840.  It  was  discon- 
tinued aft«r  the  Presidential  election  of  that  year. 

The  Ohio  Eagle  (Adier)  was  published  for  about  eighteen  months  by  V. 
Kastner,  beginning  in  the  spring  of  1841. 

The  failure  of  the  Eagle  sug<jested  to  Jacob  Reinhard  the  idea  of  trying  his 
hand  at  newspaper  publishing,  and  he  immediately  set  about  the  preliminary 
work  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Westbote,  in  October,  1843.     F. 


The  Press.     I.  441 

Fieser,  who  was  then  in  Cincinnati,  as  the  editor  of  the  Voiksblatt,  thus  tells  the 
story  of  the  establishment  of  the  Westbote,  the  oldest  living  and  the  most  success- 
ful German  paper  of  Columbus: 

"In  the  summer  of  1842,  Jacob  Keinhard  came  to  Cincinnati  to  broach  the 
subject  of  starting  a  German  paper  in  Columbus,  as  the  Ohio  Eas^le  was  a  thing  of 
the  past.  I  had  become  acquainted  with  Mr.  Rcinhard  when  he  was  the  engineer 
of  the  National  Eoad,  between  Springfield  and  Columbus.  The  prospects  were 
good,  and  so  I  consented.  Heinhard  returned  to  Columbus,  and  I  looked  after  the 
numerous  small  details,  in  which  Stephen  Molitor  assisted  me.  Several  names  for 
the  new  paper  were  suggested,  and  we  decided  the  question  by  writing  the  names 
on  separate  slips  of  paper  and  putting  them  all  in  a  hat.  A  daughter  of  Stephen 
Molitor  drew  the  name  (Der  Westbote)  out  of  the  hat.  It  has  been  stated  that  the 
Westbote  was  printed  with  the  type  of  the  defunct  Eagle,  but  such  is  not  the  fact. 
I  bought  the  type  in  Philadelphia  and  no  secondhand  material  was  ever  used. 
The  first  number  of  the  Westbote  was  issued  on  the  second  day  of  October,  1843, 
the  publication  office  being  on  East  Main  Street,  in  a  frame  structure  which  has 
since  given  way  for  the  handsome  residence  of  Isaac  Eberly.  Columbus  was  in 
1843  quite  small  and  the  German  population  not  very  numerous.  You  could  count 
the  German  business  men  on  your  fingers.  Besides  that,  the  Whigs  were  in  the 
majority  in  both  county  and  city,  and  the  establishment  of  a  German  Democratic 
newspaper  was  therefore  not  an  easy  task.  The  difficulties  were  not  overcome  for 
years;  but  when  once  the  turning  point  was  reached,  the  improvement  was  rapid. 
The  field  of  the  Westbote  gradually  extended  into  other  States  and  its  influence 
steadily  grew  stronger  until,  in  many  localities  in  the  State,  the  paper  was  con- 
sidered the  ^Democratic  Bible.' " 

Eeinhard  &  Fieser  continued  the  publication  of  the  Westbote  until  May,  1884, 
a  period  of  more  than  forty  years,  when  Mr.  Fieser  sold  his  half  interest  to  William 
F.  Kemmler,  George  J.  Brand  and  Peter  Hinterschitt,  all  of  whom  had  for  many 
years  been  in  the  service  of  the  firm  of  Reinhard  &  Fieser.  Mr.  Kemmler's  service 
dates  back  to  1862,  Mr.  Brand's  to  1855,  and  Mr.  Hinterschitt's  to  1847.  The  busi- 
ness of  the  Westbote  was  continued  by  the  new  firm  until  February  25,  1885, 
when  a  joint  stock  company  was  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  S100,000, 
Jacob  Reinhard,  Henry  A.  Reinhard,  William  F.  Kemmler,  George  J.  Brand,  and 
Peter  Hinterschitt  being  the  principal  stockholders  and  forming  the  board  of 
directors.  Mr.  Jacob  Reinhard  is  president  of  the  company;  his  son,  Henry  A., 
is  business  manager;  Mr.  Kemmler,  managing  editor;  Mr.  Brand,  superintendent 
of  the  book  and  job  department,  and  Mr.  Hinterschitt,  foreman  of  the  composing 
room.  The  business,  since  the  change  from  a  partnership  to  a  corporation,  has 
greatly  increased,  and  much  material,  including  a  stereotyping  outfit,  has  been 
added.  Seventyeight  men  are  now  regularly  employed  about  the  establishment. 
The  Westbote  was  at  first,  and  for  the  major  portion  of  its  career,  a  weekly.  It 
became  a  semiweekly  while  in  the  hands  of  Reinhard  &  Fieser,  and  is  now  a  tri- 
weekly, having  been  made  such  when  the  stock  company  was  formed.  Henry  A. 
Reinhard,  the  present  business  manager,  has  been  actively  connected  with  the 
Westbote  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  though  he  is  yet  a  comparatively  young  man. 


.^J-'.  JL!'_J !l — *i!i'L« 


442  History  of  tub  (>ity  of  Columbus. 

In  1852,  Roiuhard  &  Feisor  published  u  Domocratic  campaign  pa])or  aiUed 
the  Sharj)shooU*r. 

The  Volkstribunc,  a  paper  of  abolition  tendencies,  was  started  in  1854  by 
George  llessenauer  &  Co.     It  lived  about  eighteen  months. 

The  Columbus  Kej)ublican  was  a  shortlived  publication,  the  first  number  ot 
which  was  issued  March  UJ,  1859.  Philip  Croissant,  a  native  of  Germany,  who 
came  to  Columbus  from  New  Philadelphia,  was  the  editor. 

The  Republikanische  Presse  was  published  for  a  short  time,  beginning  in  1858, 
by  John  Siebert  and  Henry  Lindenberg.     Herman  Ruess  was  the  editor. 

John  H.  Orf  began  the  publication  of  the  Allgemeine  Volkszeitung,  a  weekly 
independent  paper,  July  20,  1872.  The  publication  offco  was  at  165  East  Friend 
(now  Main)  Street.     This  paper  lived  only  a  few  months. 

The  Ohio  Staatszeitung,  a  daily  evening  paper,  began  a  short  career  May  21, 
1883.  The  persons  interested  financially  in  the  publication  were :  Frank  He m- 
mersbach,  Theodore  Landien,  F.  A.  Wayant,  and  Joseph  Voll.  The  paper  was 
not  a  success,  and  after  several  thousand  dollars  had  been  sunk  in  the  venture,  was 
discontinued  April  21,  1884. 

The  Ohio  Sonntagsgast,  a  Sunday  paper,  was  founded  in  April,  1878,  by  L. 
Hirsch,  who  is  still  its  editor.  Henry  Raab,  Adolph  Hirschberg  and  Albert 
Guthkeat  different  times  had  a  financial  interest  in  the  publication,  but  Mr.  Hirsch 
has  always  held  a  controlling  interest  in  it,  as  well  as  being  its  editor.  The 
Sonntiigsgast  has  always  been  Republican  in  politics,  and  has  exercised  during  its 
career  not  a  little  influence  in  behalf  of  the  Republican  party.  When  the  publica- 
tion was  begun,  the  paper  was  a  fburpage,  uinecolumn  paper,  but  five  months  later 
its  form  was  changed  to  a  quarto  of  seven  columns  to  the  page.  To  the  regular 
eightpage  paper  is  now  added  a  fburpage  literary  supplement.  A  fourpage  edition 
of  the  Sonntagsgast  is  also  printed  for  circulation  at  a  distance,  and  to  meet  the 
needs  of  other  than  city  subscribers. 

The  first  religious  paper  published  here  was  the  Cross  and  Journal,  a  Baptist 
weekly,  which  was  moved  to  this  city  in  1838  and  published  here  for  the  eleven 
years  next  following.  Its  publisher  and  editor  at  the  time  of  the  removal  was 
George  Cole,  who  conducted  it  alone  until  1845,  when  Rev.  D.  A.  Randall  became 
associate  editor.  In  1847  the  paper  w^as  sold  by  Mr.  Cole  to  Mr.  Randall  and  Rev. 
J.  L.  Batchelder,  who  changed  its  name  to  the  Western  Christian  Journal.  This 
partnership  continued  until  1849,  when  Mr.  Batchelder  became  sole  proprietor  and 
removed  the  publication  office  back  toCincinnati,  where  the  paper  is  still  published 
under  the  name  of  the  Journal  and  Messenger  as  the  organ  of  the  Baptists  of  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky  and  West  Virginia. 

There  are  published  in  this  city  twelve  Lutheran  papers  and  magazines,  the 
oldest  of  which  is  the  Lutheran  Standard,  a  weekly  of  eight  pages  now  in  its  forty- 
eighth  year.  Its  editors  are  :  Professor  M.  Loy  and  Professor  G.  H.  Schodde.  The 
paper  is  devoted,  as  its  name  implies,  to  the  interests  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and 
has  a  circulation  of  about  four  thousand.  It  was  established  in  1842,  and  was  then 
published  at  New  Philadelphia,  Ohio,  with  Rev.  E.  Greenwald  as  its  first  editor. 
Two  years  later,  Rev.  S.  A.  Mealy  was  elected  as  its  editor  by  the  Capital  Univer- 


■Mrfu 


The  Press.     I.  443 

sity  Board,  and  its  place  of  publication  was  changed  to  Zanesvilie,  where  Rev.  Mr. 
Mealy  was  then  engaged  in  pastoral  work.  The  following  year,  Rev.  C.  Spielman 
took  charge,  and  the  paper  was  removed  to  Somerset.  He  remained  editor  until 
1848,  when  Professor  F.  Lchmann  was  chosen  editor,  and  the  paper  was  brought  to 
Columbus,  where  it  has  remained  ever  since.  Rev.  Mr.  Green wald  served  as 
editor  from  1851  to  1854,  and  Professor  Worley  from  1854  to  1864.  In  the  latter 
year,  Professor  M.  Loy  was  elected  editor,  in  which  capacity  he  has  continued  to 
serve  until  now.  In  1879,  Professor  Schodde  was  chosen  as  associate  editor,  a 
relationship  which  he  still  sustains. 

The  Lutherische  Kirchenzeitung  (Lutheran  Church  Paper)  is  a  semi-monthly 
of  eight  pages  which  was  established  in  1860.  It  is  printed  in  German.  Its  first 
editor  was  Professor  F.  Lehmann,  now  dead.  He  was  succeeded  in  1880  by  Pro- 
fessor W.  F.  Stcllhorn,  who  is  still  its  principal  editor.  He  is  assisted  by  Professor 
E.  Schmid. 

The  Lutheran  Child's  Paper,  a  monthly  publication  intended  for  Sunday- 
school  children,  was  established  in  1878,  with  Rev.  H.  A.  Becker  as  editor.  He 
served  in  that  capacity  until  1886,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  G.  W.  Lose, 
who  is  still  its  editor.  It  is  a  small  fourpage  paper,  of  which  about  six  thousand 
copies  are  printed  monthly. 

A  German  paper  corresponding  in  character  and  purpose  with  the  foregoing, 
is  the  Kinderfrcude,  which  was  established  in  1884,  and  has  a  circulation  of  8,000. 
Its  editor  is  Rev.  E.  A.  Boehme. 

The  Little  Missionary  dates  its  existence  from  1885.  It  is  a  fourpjige  monthly, 
devoted  to  the  reports  of  missionary  efforts  and  to  the  work  of  sustaining  the  mis- 
sions of  the  church.     Its  e<iitor  is  Rev.  E.  Pfoiffer. 

Lesson  Leaves  for  Sundayschool  workers,  published  in  English  and  German, 
is  edited  by  Rev.  P.  A.  Peter. 

Kinderlust  is  a  sixteenpage  monthly,  devoted  very  largely  to  religious 
stories.  It  was  established  in  1882  and  is  edited  by  Rev.  G.  F.  H.  Meiser.  It  has 
a  circulation  of  4,000. 

The  Columbus  Theological  Magazine  is  a  sixtyfour  page  bimonthly  devoted  to 
the  discussion  of  theological  themes.  It  was  established  in  1880,  and  is  edited  by 
Professor  M.  Lov. 

A  kindred  periodical  differing  from  the  foregoing  principally  in  the  fact  that 
it  is  printed  in  German,  is  the  Theologische  Zeitbliitter.  It  was  established  in 
1882,  and  is  edited  by  Professor  F.  W.  Stellhorn. 

The  Christliche  Erziehungsbliitter  is  a  German  monthly  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  the  Lutheran  parochial  schools.  It  was  established  in  January,  1890, 
and  is  edited  by  Professor  John  L.  Fehr. 

The  Blumeii  und  Garben  (Flowers  and  Sheaves)  is  a  bimonthly  devoted  to 
church  history  and  religious  news.  It  is  an  eightpage  publication,  which  has  been 
in  existence  since  1889.  Its  editor  is  Rev.  C.  H.  Rohe.  Its  circulation  is  about 
four  thousand. 

The  Western  Missionary  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  in  America  w:«s 
the  name  of  a    semimonthly,  the  publication  of  which  began  in  November,  1848. 


444  History  of  the  Citv  of  Columbits. 

JRev.  J.  II.  Good  was  its  editor,  and  it  was  ])ubli8hcd  by  the  Board  ol*  the  Synod  of 
Ohio  and  adjacent  States. 

The  New  Church  Herald,  edited  by  Rev.  S.  Hough,  was  removed  to  this  city 
in  1858,  and  began  its  tliird  volume  in  Sei)tember  of  that  year. 

The  Ohio  Waisenfreund  was  founded  in  1872,  at  Pomeroy,  Oiiio,  by  its  pres- 
ent editor  and  proprietor,  liev.  J.  Jessing.  Its  name  was  then  simply  Ohio.  In 
1877,  the  establishment  was  removed  to  Columbus,  the  name  of  the  paper  changed 
to  that  which  it  now  bears,  and  its  scope  extended  over  ail  the  States.  It  rapidly 
grew  in  favor,  and  about  four  years  ago  attained  its  present  circulation,  about 
forty  thousand  copies.  It  is  a  religious  weekly  for  Catholics,  containing  a  synop- 
sis of  the  political  news,  religious  and  historical  instruction,  and  selections  of  read- 
ing matter  for  the  family.  The  proceeds  of  the  Ohio  Waisenfreund  have  been 
used  for  the  establishment  of  the  St.  Joseph's  Orphans*  Home —  a  home  for  desti- 
tute or  homeless  boys  —  and  are  still  used  for  the  support  of  its  inmates. 

The  Columbian  Printing  Company,  for  the  publication  of  a  weekly  journal, 
to  be  known  as  the  Catholic  Columbian,  was  incorporated  on  the  seventeenth  of 
December,  1874,  by  Right  Rev.  S.  H.  Rosecrans,  Rev.  D.  A.  Clarke,  Rev.  M.  M. 
Meara,  Luke  G.  Byrne  and  Major  O.  T.  Turney.  Although  incorporated,  the 
company  never  organized.  Bishop  Rosecrans  did  the  editorial  work,  assisted  by 
Rev.  D.  A.  Clarke,  who  acted  also  as  business  manager.  The  ownership  was 
vested  in  Rev.  D.  A.  Clarke,  who  paid  in  capital,  as  needed,  from  the  receipts  of 
the  paper. 

The  material  for  the  publication  of  the  Columbian  was  bought  by  Mr.  James 
F.  Turney,  late  foreman  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal  composition  rooms.  The  paper 
was  at  first  a  folio,  28  x42,  and  the  first  number  was  printed  January  U,  1875.  It 
was  issued  from  the  Dispatch  press,  and  the  publication  office  was  on  the  second 
floor  of  the  building  at  26  North  High  Street.  In  July,  1875,  the  paper  was 
changed  to  a  quarto,  a  form  which  it  has  retained  to  the  present. 

At  the  death  of  Bishop  Rosecrans  in  October,  1878,  the  editorial  work  devolved 
on  Father  Clarke,  who  remained  business  manager  as  well.  This  arrangement 
continued  until  1881,  when  Father  Clarke,  finding  the  burden  of  the  paper  too 
heavy  for  himself  alone,  in  connection  with  his  other  duties  as  priest,  associated 
with  him  Mr.  John  A.  Kustcr,  of  Newark,  who  purchased  an  interest  and  took 
charge  of  the  business  mangement 

In  the  spring  of  1883,  failing  health  forced  Father  Clarke  to  retire  from  active 
work  on  the  Columbian,  and  Rev.  W.  F.  Hayes,  now  of  Newark,  conducted  the 
editorial  and  literary  departments  with  marked  ability  and  success  for  over  a 
year.  On  Father  Clarke's  return  from  the  West,  whither  he  had  gone  to  recuper- 
ate, he  again  resumed  charge  in  the  summer  of  1884,  but  after  a  few  months  dis- 
posed of  his  interest  in  the  concern  to  Mr  Kuster,  who  has  controlled  its  destinies 
ever  since. 

The  early  history  of  the  Columbian  is  filled  with  trials  and  embarnissments, 
but  hard  work,  close  application  and  friendly  encouragement  enabled  the  young 
publisher  to  overcome  difficulties  and  finally  to  witness  the  solid  establishment  of 
a  Catholic  family  journal  in  Central  Ohio. 


The  Press.     I.  445 

The  Little  Crusader,  a  weekl}'  juvenile  paper  for  Catholic  Sundayschools, 
was  established  in  January,  1882,  by  Anna  M.  Murph}',  and  was  edited  and  con- 
ducted by  her  until  her  death,  April  17,  1890.  The  publication  is  continued  by 
her  sister,  Adelaide  M.  Murphy.  The  paper  consists  of  four  pages,  nine  by  twelve 
inches,  and  the  front  page  is  alwaj^s  embellished  by  an  attractive  picture.  Several 
Catholic  priests  and  others  interested  in  the  extension  of  that  church  are  regular 
contributors  to  the  columns  of  the  Little  Crusader,  which  has  in  its  career  of  eight 
years  attained  great  success.  It  circulates  now  in  every  State  and  Territory  of  the 
Union  and  reaches  into  Canada,  France  and  Australia.  The  number  of  copies 
printed  weekly  is  12,000.  The  paper  is  intended  strictly  for  the  instruction  and 
amusement  of  the  young,  and  no  advertisements  are  admititcd  to  its  columns. 
During  the  eight  years  of  Miss  Anna  Murphy's  work  on  the  Little  Crusader,  her 
identity  was  concealed  behind  the  initials  *'A.  M.,'*  since  it  was  thought  that  if  it 
were  generally  known  that  the  editor  and  publisher  was  a  woman,  the  influence 
of  the  little  paper  might  be  lessened.  Her  associates  in  the  church  speak  highly 
of  her  devotion  and  the  excellent  character  of  her  work. 

The  Gospel  Expositor,  a  weekly  publication,  an  organ  of  the  Friends'  society, 
was  established  here  in  December,  1882,  by  Rev.  A.  H.  Hussey  and  Rev.  W.  G. 
Hubbard.  The  latter  was  the  business  manager,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Dugan  Clark,  of 
Richmond,  Indiana,  was  the  editor.  It  was  published  for  two  or  throe  years  and 
was  then  consolidated  with  the  Christian  Worker,  another  organ  of  the  same 
denomination,  which  was  and  is  still  published  at  Chicago. 

Other  religious  publications  of  a  character  indicated  by.  their  titles  are  :  The 
Parish  Monitor,  by  Rev.  F.  O.  Grannis ;  the  District  Review,  by  Rev.  J.  C.  Jack- 
son ;  Our  Sunday  School,  by  George  VV.  Dickey.  There  have  been,  besides, 
numerous  small  church  and  denominational  papers  which  have  had  for  the  most 
part  a  rather  ephemeral  existence. 

The  first  agricultural  paper  published  in  this  city  was  the  Ohio  Cultivator,  an 
eightpage  semimonthly,  established  by  M.  B.  Bateham,  January  1,  1846.  It  was  a 
journal  of  very  creditable  appearance,  and  seems  to  have  met  with  marked  finan- 
cial success.  It  was  devoted  to  agriculture  and  horticulture,  and  covered  those 
fields  with  ability  and  care.  Some  idea  of  its  success  may  be  had  from  the  editor's 
announcement  at  the  close  of  the  first  volume,  in  the  course  of  w  hich  betakes 
occasion  to  say  that  "  the  Cultivator  has  obtained  a  circulation  of  more  than  five 
thousand  copies  within  the  State  of  Ohio,  besides  many  in  adjoining  States;  and  it 
has  published  communications  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  correspondents,  nearly 
all  of  them  practical  farmers,  and  horticulturists,  or  men  of  extensive  scientific 
knowledge."  Mr.  Bateham  continued  the  publication  of  the  Cultivator  for  about 
eleven  years,  and  when  he  sold  it  in  1856  to  S.  D.  Harris,  the  journal  had  a  circula- 
tion often  thousand  copies.  Colonel  Harris  continued  the  publication  in  this  city 
for  some  time,  but  finally  removed  to  Cleveland.  Mr.  Bateham,  before  his  very 
successful  venture  here,  had  edited  the  Genesee  Farmer,  at  Rochester,  New  York. 
His  wife,  who  was  an  accomplished  woman  and  was  the  editor  of  the  Housewife's 
Department  in  the  Cultivator,  died  in  this  city,  September  25,  1848. 


446  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

The  Ploughshare  and  Pruninghook,  a  Heiniinonthl}^  began  publication  here  in 
July,  1845.  It  was  published  by  tiio  Integral  Phalanx,  and  was  **  devoted  to  the 
eause  of  associative  unity." 

The  German  Farmer  was  the  name  of  another  agricultural  paper  which  was 
published  here  for  a  short  time.  W.  Raine  was  its  proprietor,  and  the  first  number 
was  issued  in  August,  1848. 

The  Western  Agriculturist,  edited  by  W.  W.  Mather,  Corresponding  Secretary 
of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  was  established  in  January.  1853.  It  was  first 
published  by  J.  H.  Riley  &  Co.,  and  after  February,  1852,  by  Samuel  Medary.  It 
was  shortlived. 

Field  Notes  was  the  name  of  an  eightpage,  sevencolumn  paper  published  in 
1859  by  S.  D.  Harris  and  James  D.  Hurd.     It  lived  only  a  year  or  two. 

The  Farmer's  Chronicle  was  a  sixtecnpage  quarto,  the  publication  of  which 
was  begun  in  December,  1867,  by  Joseph  W.  Dwyer  and  William  H.  Busbey. 
Among  its  contributors  were  G.  S.  Innis,  A.  B.  Buttles  and  John  H.  Klippart. 

The  City  and  Country,  a  monthly  devoted  to  home  and  farming  interests,  was 
established  in  November,  1881.  It  was  published  by  an  incorporated  company, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  five  thousand  dollars.  Will  C.  Turner  was  managing  and 
A.  G.  Lincoln  associate  editor.  In  December,  1882,  the  publication  was  purchased 
by  Mr.  Turner  from  the  City  and  Country  Company,  and  the  new  proprietor 
assumed  control  of  the  business  and  editorial  departments.  In  March,  1889,  the 
Will  C.  Turner  and  Nitschke  Brothers  Publishing  Company  was  incorporated, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000,  Mr.  Turner  taking  onehalf  and  the  Nitschke 
Brothers  the  other  half  of  the  stock.  The  business  and  publication  office  of  the 
City  and  Country  was  retained  here,  but  Mr.  Turner  edited  it  from  New  York, 
with  various  assistants  at  the  heads  of  departments.  This  arrangement  con- 
tinued until  June,  1890,  when  the  paper  was  sold  to  O.  D.  Jackson,  who  is  still 
conducting  it. 

The  medical  publication  first  to  make  its  appearance  in  this  city  was  the 
Thompsonian  Recorder,  published  as  the  exponent  of  the  Thompsonian  school  of 
medicine  from   1832  to  1842,  when  it  was  removed  to  Cincinnati.     It  was  pub- 
lished by  Jarvis,  Pike  &  Co.,  and  was  edited  by  Doctor  S.  Curtis. 

The  Medical  Counsellor  was  established  in  1856  by  Dr.  R.  Hills,  who  was  its 
editor  and  proprietor.     It  was  discontinued  the  same  year. 

The  Ohio  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal  was  established  in  January,  1848, 
with  Doctor  John  Butterfield  as  editor  and  J.  H.  Rilej'  &  Co.,  as  publishers.  It 
was  the  organ  of  Starling  Medical  College.  In  January,  1850,  Doctor  Butterfield 
died,  and  Doctor  S.  M.  Smith  became  the  editor,  being  succeeded  one  year  later  b}' 
Doctor  R.  L.  Howard.  On  January  1,  1854,  Doctor  John  Dawson  bought  the 
journal  from  the  faculty  and  issued  it  as  editor  and  proprietor.  In  July,  1858, 
Doctor  J.  W.  Hamilton  became  its  associate  editor.  In  January,  1862,  the  Starling 
Medical  College  faculty  purchased  it  from  Doctors  Dawson  and  Hamilton,  and 
Doctor  Dawson  became  its  editor,  assisted  by  the  entire  faculty.  Doctor  T.  G. 
Wormley  was  its  publisher.  The  publication  was  suspended  by  vote  of  the  faculty 
in  November,  1864.      In  June,  1876,  the  paper  was  revived,   with   Doctor  J.   H. 


The  Press.     1.  447 

Pooley  as  editor.     This  "  new  series"  continued  nntil   December,  1878,  when  it 
again  ceased  to  appear. 

The  Columbus  Review  of  Medicine  and  Surgery,  edited  b}'  Dr.  W.  L.  McMil* 
len,  was  a  bimonthly  established  in  August,  18(50. 

The  Monthly  Sanitary  Record,  the  official  publication  of  the  State  Board  of 
Health,  began  its  career  in  January,  1888.  It  is  devoted  exclusively'  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  matters  relating  to  hygiene  and  the  public  health,  and  was  conceived 
by  the  Board  of  Health  as  the  best  means  of  communicating  to  interested  persons 
the  facts  and  statistics  regarding  disease  and  deaths,  particularly  in  Ohio.  It  is 
published  in  sixteenpage  pamphlet  form,  at  the  nominal  price  oftwentyfive  cents  a 
year.  Doctor  C.  O.  Probst,  Secretary  of  the  Board,  has  been  its  editor  since  its 
publication  was  begun. 

The  Ohio  Medical  Recorder  was  a  fortyeight  page  monthly,  the  first  number  of 
which  was  issued  June  1,  1876,  its  editors  being  Doctors  J.  W.  Hamilton  and  J.  P. 
Baldwin.  It  was  the  organ  of  the  Columbus  Medical  College.  The  intention  had 
been  to  call  the  new  journal  The  Ohio  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  but  that 
name  was  found  to  be  the  property  of  the  faculty  of  tlie  Starling  Medical  College 
and  hence  not  available.  A  not  very  amiable  controversy,  however,  was  indulged 
in  between  the  editors  of  the  proposed  publication  and  the  dean  of  Starling  Medi- 
cal College  before  the  name  was  relinquished.  In  January,  1881,  the  Recorder  was 
leased  by  the  College  to  Doctor  Baldwin,  and  in  February  of  that  year  Doctor  J. 
H.  Lowraan,  of  Cleveland,  became  associated  with  him  as  editor,  Doctor  Hamil- 
ton being  only  nominally  connected  with  the  paper.  In  July,  1881,  the  Recorder 
became  the  official  "  organ  *'  of  the  Ohio  State  Medical  Society,  under  the  name 
Ohio  Medical  Journal,  and  Doctors  T.  C.  Minor,  of  Cincinnati,  George  A.  Colla- 
more,  of  Toledo,  and  W.  J.  Conklin,  of  Dayton,  were  added  to  the  editorial  force. 
Doctor  Hamilton's  name  being  dropped.  In  July,  1882,  the  contract  with  the 
State  Medical  Society  having  expired,  the  Journal,  with  all  its  belongings,  was 
turned  over  to  the  Columbus  Medical  College,  and  the  five  editors,  with  Doctor 
Baldwin  as  the  managing  editor,  started  the  Columbus  Medical  Journal.  As  the 
faculty  of  the  College  did  not  continue  the  publication  of  the  periodical  thus 
returned  to  them,  the  Columbus  Medical  Journal  became  its  virtual  successor,  and 
the  only  medical  publication  in  the  field.  This  journal  has  been  issued  regularly 
ever  since  its  origin.  At  the  end  of  its  first  volume,  the  four  associate  editors, 
finding  themselves  unable  to  be  of  any  assistance  on  a  paper  issued  at  a  distance 
from  them,  resigned,  and  Doctor  Baldwin  continued  as  sole  editor  until  July,  1890, 
when  the  Journal  was  increased  in  size,  and  Doctor  J.  E.  Brown  became  its  asso- 
ciate editor. 

The  first  secret  society  publication  founded  in  this  city  was  The  Ark  and  Odd 
Fellows'  Western  Monthly  Magazine,  the  first  number  of  which  was  published  in 
January,  1844.  Its  editors  were  John  T.  Blain  and  Alexander  E.  Glenn.  It  was 
the  first  Odd  Fellow  publication  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  was,  in  its 
palmy  days,  really  well  edited  and  managed.  Both  its  editors  were  well  informed 
on  Odd  Fellowship,  and  their  paper  became  the  mouthpiece  and  oracle  of  the  fra* 
ternity.     Even  to  this  day,  the  bound  files  of  the  Ark  are  frequently  referred  to  as 


44^  History  <•>'  the  <'itv  **v  r«»LriiBi  >. 

aiitliorit\'  in  j^Kriety  inatl».-i>.  Mr.  Hlain  retired  fn»iij  ilit^  firm  iii  January,  l'?-!*!. 
an']  Htarte<J  a  rival  |Mibli<-atiori  <'alle*]  The  Patriarch,  an  ei:rlit|i:ii;c  semimonthly, 
which  waH  fli?-eontinue<l  De<^remli«'r  5  «»r  the  <kme  vear.  Mr.  Glenn,  who  bi'Came 
Pa8t  Grand  in  1*<44.  and  Grand  Ma>ter  in  1^49,  and  wa-  Grand  .Socrelary  of  the 
OnJer  in  Oliio  from  1^5<»  to  l**»*ft,  continued  the  piiblicatinn  of  The  Ark  until  1S61, 
when  that  paper  U)0  went  out  of  existence. 

The  Companion  and  American  Odd  Fellow  date**  back  to  l^^tTy,  when  Mitchell 
C.  Lillej',  John  Siebert,  Henry  Lindenber^  and  r'harles  U.  Lindenberganited  their 
energies  under  the  finn  name  of  M.  C.  Lilley  k  <'o..  for  the  pur|K>se  of  publishing  a 
monthly*  magazine  devoted  to  0«ld  Fellowship.  An  office  was  established  at 
Number  2H  North  Hij^h  Street,  and  the  first  number  of  the  ma<razine  was  that  for 
August,  IHdb.  It  was  a  magazine  of  fortyeight  octavo  royal  pages,  and  was  called 
The  Odd  Fellow's  Companion.  Hen  r}' Linden  l>erg  was  the  editor:  John  Siebert 
fluperintende<J  the  mechanical  part  of  the  busines.«.  and  <'harles  Lindenberij  went 
on  the  road  to  solicit  subscribers  and  other  patronage.  Captain  Lilley*R  part  in 
the  business  was  that  of  an  adviser  rather  than  that  of  an  active  participant  in  the 
work.  The  first  j'ear  of  the  magazine  was  one  of  hard  work  and  many  disappoint- 
ments. The  war  had  just  closed,  and  affairs  were  in  a  rather  chaotic  condition. 
Many  businesses  were  a  source  of  loss  rather  than  gain,  but  the  new  firm 
had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing,  at  the  end  of  the  first  year,  that  they  had  made 
f^i.52  over  and  above  all  expenses.  Henry  Lindenberg  continued  as  the  editor  of 
the  magazine  until  1872,  when  the  growth  of  the  business  made  it  desirable  for 
him  to  turn  his  attention  to  another  department.  Mr.  H.  P.  Gravatt  then 
became  e<litor  and  remained  such  until  1881,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  late 
Doctor  S.  C.  Chorlton,  who  came  from  Cincinnati  to  take  charge  of  the  paper. 
Doctor  Chorlton  continued  as  editor  until  his  death  in  May,  1889,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Charles  A.  Poland,  the  present  editor.  The  Companion  grew  to  be  a 
verj'  influential  organ  of  the  order,  and  one  of  its  editors,  Mr.  Gravatt,  now  of  the 
Wooster  Democrat,  tells  in  a  recent  letter  of  the  man}-  reforms  in  Odd  Fellowship 
which  the  Companion  was  among  the  first  to  advocate.  The  paper  reached  prob- 
ably what  was  its  greatest  influence  after  its  consolidation  with  the  American 
Odd  Fellow,  of  Boston,  in  1874. 

The  Knight,  a  sixteenpage  monthly  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  was  established  by  M.  C.  Lilley  &  Co.,  in  1873,  the  first  number  having 
been  issued  in  September  of  that  year.  Its  first  editor  was  II.  P.  Gravatt,  who 
was  succeeded  in  August,  1881, by  Doctor  S.  C.  Chorlton.  The  latter  remained  the 
editor  until  his  death  in  May,  1889,  when  he  was  succeeded  b}-  the  present  editor, 
Charles  A.  Poland. 

The  Masonic  Chronicle  dates  back  to  October,  ISSI,  when  it  was  established 
by  M.  C.  Lilley  &  Co.,  with  Doctor  S.  C.  Chorlton  as  e<litor.  It  is  a  sixteenpa<r«^ 
monthly  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  Charles  A.  Poland  has 
been  its  editor  since  May,  1889.  Like  the  other  publications  issued  b}'  this  firm, 
the  Masonic  Chronicle  has  a  large  circulation,  reaching  into  every  State  and  Terri- 
tory of  the  United  States,  Canada,  Europe,  South  America  and  Australia.  The 
news  field  of  each  is  as  broad  as  the  dominion  of  the  Order. 


'^y^'  r,-.         ■■'     ( 


w   . 


•  •  • 


•  • 


"■■i^ 


The  Press.     I.  449 

The  Bandlo  of  Sticks,  an  Odd  Follow  publication,  was  established  in  April, 
1884,  as  a  foiirpago  monthly.  Its  editor  was  Kov.  I.  F.  Stidham  and  its  assistant 
editor  Cyrus  Huling,  while  its  business  managers  wore  Messrs.  Charles  Young  and 
L.  W.  Sherwood.  The  success  of  the  paper  was  such  that,  with  the  third  number, 
the  size  was  changed  from  four  to  eight  pages.  When,  in  September,  1884,  Rev.  Mr. 
Stidhnm  loft  the  city  to  accept  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  at 
Cincinnati,  Cyrus  Huling  became  the  editor  and  C.  II.  Lyman  the  assistant  editor. 
A  few  months  later  Mr.  Huling  retired  to  make  the  canvass  for  Prosecuting  Attor- 
ney, and  Mr.  Lyman  became  the  editor,  a  position  which  he  has  filled  ever  since. 
About  this  time  the  Gazette  Printing  House  bought  the  paper  and  continued  its 
publication,  with  Mr.  Lyman  as  editor.     No  subsequent  change  has  taken  place. 

The  Washingtonian  is  a  monthly  paper  established  in  1889  as  the  organ  of  the 
Patriotic  Order  of  Sons  of  America.  It  is  a  private  enterprise,  and  is  now  owned 
and  edited  by  C.  C.  Haskins. 

The  periodical  of  greatest  literary  pretensions  ever  published  in  this  city  was 
doubtless  the  Hesperian,  or  Western  Monthly  Magazine,  the  publication  of  which 
was  begun  in  May,  1838.  The  organizers  of  the  understaking  were  William  D. 
Gallagher  and  Otway  Curry,  both  of  whom  wore  men  of  culture  and  literary 
talent.  At  the  end  of  six  months,  when  the  first  volume  had  been  completed,  Mr. 
Curry  retired  and  Mr.  Gallagher  continued  to  edit  the  magazine  in  this  city 
for  another  six  months,  but  in  May,  1839,  removed  it  to  Cincinnati,  where  he 
continued  its  publication  for  some  time.  The  Hesperian  was  a  respectable  periodical 
of  eighty  pages  to  each  number.  About  half  of  its  space  was  devoted  to  original  con- 
tributions, all  of  which  were  of  a  statistical  and  historical  rather  than  of  a  light  and 
entertaining  nature.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  boast  of  the  editor,  made  in  his  editorial 
announcing  tha  change  of  place  of  publication  from  Columbus  to  Cincinnati,  that  the 
"  useful  and  solid  had  greatly  predominated  over  the  light  and  simply  amusing''  in 
the  contents  of  the  first  two  volumes.  To  give  a  clearer  idea  of  the  tone  of  the 
magazine,  it  may  be  said  that  the  chief  of  the  contributed  articles  for  the  first 
volume  were:  "Ohio  in  1838,"  a  carefully  prepared  account  of  the  internal 
improvements,  the  literary  and  scientific  institutions,  the  common  school  system, 
the  humane  asylums,  mineral  resources,  etc.,  of  Ohio;  "The  Internal  Trade  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  "  ;  "Notes  on  Texas  " ;  "  The  Origin  of  Bituminous  Coal "  ;  "  The 
Claims  of  Universities  "  ;  and  "  The  Proper  Sphere  of  Woman."  About  onethird  of 
the  magazine  was  devoted  to  miscellany  selected  from  the  best  European  and  Ameri- 
can periodicals,  but  if  there  was  at  that  time  anything  light  in  these  latter  publica- 
tions, it  did  not  find  its  way  into  the  pages  of  the  Hesperian.  The  remainder  of  the 
magazine  was  devoted  to  the  editorial  and  literary  departments,  abounding  in 
stately  periods  and  sober  discussion  of  serious  questions.  The  magazine  bore  the 
imprint  of  Charles  Scott  and  John  M.  Gallagher,  Printers,  45  State  Street,  a  location 
which  was  just  west  of  High  Street. 

The  Modern  Argo  was  established  in  July,  1878,  by  S.  H.  Dooley,  as  a  literary 
and  society  weekly.  It  was  intended  as  a  highclass  journal,  and  it  was  everything 
that  it  should  have  been  typographically,  but  the  publisher  was  a  comparative 

29 


450  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

8trangor,  and  the  class  of  people  to  whom  he  appealed  was  unresponsive.      In  the 
following  December  the  paper  was  discontinued. 

In  1884,  W.  Farrand  Felch,  well  known  by  reason  of  his  numerous  contribu- 
tions to  Columbus  newspapers  and  periodicals,  printed  u  few  numbers  of  the 
Western  Critic.  Early  in  1885,  Mr.  Felch,  Mr.  James  M.  Kerr  and  Mr.  Thomas 
C.  Harbaugh  united  their  forces  and  decided  to  enlarge  the  Critic.  They  called 
the  remodeled  periodical,  The  Inland  Monthl}',  and  issued  four  numbers,  which 
were  excellent  in  typography  and  materials.  Lack  of  patronage,  however,  forced 
the  discontinuance  of  the  periodical,  and  soon  afterwards  Mr.  F'elch  went  to  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  Mr.  Kerr  to  Minneapolis  and  thence  to  Rochester,  New  York,  and 
Mr.  Harbaugh  back  to  his  home  in  the  Miami  Valley,  where  he  has  since  been 
engaged  in  the  production  of  poetry  and  fiction  which  have  found  their  way  into 
various  publications. 

The  Saturday  Critic  was  established  by  Colonel  W.  A.  Taylor  in  April,  1882, 
and  was  published  for  just  one  year,  being  discontinued  to  permit  Colonel  Taylor 
to  accept  the  position  of  staff  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  News-Journal.  The 
Critic  was  an  eightcolumn  folio,  and  was  devote<l  to  literature,  art  and  general 
criticism.  Colonel  Taylor  was  its  proprietor,  publisher  and  editor.  W.  Farrand 
Felch  was  assistant  editor,  V.  E.  Hanna  circulation  agent,  and  C.  F.  McKenna 
advertising  solicitor.  The  Critic  had  quite  a  staff  of  contributors,  among  whom 
were  F.  E.  and  W.  E.  Denton,  now  of  Cleveland  ;  John  W.  Cooper  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
Mattie  B.  Owens,  of  Missouri  ;  William  J.  O'Leary  and  Minnie  Owrey,  of  Pitts- 
burgh ;  Colonel  James  Taylor,  brother  of  the  editor,  and  two  foreign  correspon- 
dents—  Millikin  Pasha,  at  Cairo,  Egypt,  and  Albert  Rhoadcs,  then  located  at 
Nice,  France.  The  Critic,  in  the  year  of  its  publication,  paid  expenses,  which  is 
probably  more  than  can  be  said  of  most  of  the  literary  publications  of  Columbus. 

The  Home  Journal  was  a  monthly,  published  first  in  1880,  by  J.  C.  McClena- 
han.  In  March,  1881,  a  partnership  was  formed  for  its  further  publication,  the 
partners  being  Mr.  McClenahan,  Rev.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus,  E.  M.  Lincoln  and  Joseph 
Ruft'ner,  the  latter  of  Cincinnati.  Mr.  McClenahan  was  business  manager  and 
Messrs.  Gunsaulus  and  Lincoln  were  the  editors.     The  publication  was  shortlived. 

The  iSaturday  Dial  was  a  most  creditable  literary,  musical  and  society' journal, 
the  publication  of  which  was  begun  here  by  Mr.  Goddard,  of  St.  Louis,  the  latter 
part  of  April,  1887.     It  was  suspended  after  four  issues,  May  28,  1887. 

The  Ohio  Law  Journal  was  founded  by  Charles  G.  Lord  and  J.  H.  Bowman  in 
1880.  It  was  a  weekly  publication  devoted,  as  its  name  implies,  to  the  interests 
of  the  legal  profession.  It  gave  in  full  the  decisions  of  the  State  Supreme  Court, 
and  hnd  departments  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  current  legal  questions.  Mr. 
Lord  retired  from  the  firm  in  1882,  and  Mr.  Bowman  then  organized  a  stock  com- 
j)any  for  the  continuance  of  the  publication.  Of  this  company,  William  A.  David- 
son, of  Cincinnati,  was  president;  F.  Siegel,  of  Columbus,  vice-president,  and  J. 
H.  Bowman,  secretary,  treasurer  and  general  manager.  The  company  very  soon 
lost  faith  in  Mr.  Bowman  and  retired  him  from  the  management,  but  permitted 
him  to  remain  as  a  director.  Mr.  Lord  was  called  to  take  the  position  thus  made 
vacant.     Mr.  Bowman  did  not  take  his  retirement  in  good  part,  and  made  much 


■^ 


The  Press.     I.  451 

trouble  for  the  managemont.  Afler  a  turbulent  meeting  of  the  directors,  Decem- 
ber 10,  1883,  in  which  bloodshed  was  prevented  only  bj'  the  interference  of  the 
police,  the  affairs  of  the  company  were  put  into  the  hands  of  O.  T.  Gunning  as 
receiver,  who,  on  March  14,  1884,  sold  the  property  to  George  M.  Brand,  acting 
for  the  publishers  of  the  Cincinnati  Law  Bulletin.  The  latter,  having  got  a  rival 
with  an  unsavory  record  out  of  the  way,  established  a  publication  office  here  and 
be^an  publication  of  the  Weekly  Law  Bulletin  and  Ohio  Law  Journal.  The  paper 
is  still  issued  as  of  Cincinnati  and  Columbus  by  the  Capital  Printing  and  Publish- 
ing Company,  witli  Carl  G.  Jahn  as  editor  and  general  manager. 

The  Ohio  School  Journal,  a  monthly,  was  established  here  January  1,  1848, 
and  published  for  a  short  time. 

In  1852,  the  Ohio  Journal  of  Education  was  established  by  the  State  Teachers' 
Association,  and  was  published  monthly,  beginning  in  February.  It  was  edited 
for  a  time  by  Doctor  A.  D.  Lord,  Superintendent  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Colum- 
bus, assisted  by  six  of  the  ablest  practical  teachers  of  the  State.  In  1860,  this  jour- 
nal was  succeeded  by  the  Ohio  Teachers'  Monthly,  which  was  published  for  a  time 
by  F.  W.  Hurtt  &  Co.  (Anson  Smythe  and  F.  W.  Hurtt). 

The  Lantern  is  a  paper  published  for  and  by  the  students  of  the  Ohio  State 
University.  The  first  number  appeared  in  1881,  its  founders  being  Fred  Keffer, 
R.  H.  Pool,  F.  Howald,  F.  W.  Fay,  and  W.  K.  Cherryholmes.  It  was  in  a  little 
red  frame  house  on  West  Ninth  Avenue  that  these  students  met  and  arranged  for 
the  establishment  of  the  paper.  W.  K.  Cherryholmes  was  the  first  editorinchief, 
and  his  successors  thus  far  have  been  Messrs.  Fassig,  C.  C.  Miller,  W.  R.  Maione, 
McMurray,  George  Smart,  W.  P.  Bently,  V.  J.  Emory,  H.  T.  Stephens,  J.  A.  Wil- 
gus,  Harry  Hedges,  John  A.  Brownocker  and  Carl  G.  Doney.  The  Lantern  was 
at  first  published  monthly,  and  afterwards  fortnightly,  but  is  now  issued  weekly. 

The  Spectator  is  the  organ  of  the  students  of  Capital  University,  the  Lutheran 
educational  institution  located  on  East  Main  Street.  It  was  established  in  1886. 
Its  present  editor  is  A.  O.  Swinehart. 

The  Mutes'  Chronicle  is  a  little  paper  issued  from  the  printing  office  of  the 
Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb.  The  principal  of  the  school  is  its  editor,  and 
much  of  the  writing,  typesetting  and  other  work  on  the  paper  is  done  by  the 
pupils.  The  paper  furnishes  a  medium  of  communication  between  the  present 
and  the  former  pupils  of  the  institution. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


THE  PRESS.    II. 

BY    08MAN    C.    HOOPER. 

The  story  of  joarnalism  in  this  city  is  an  interesting  one,  but  has  heretofore 
been  but  meagerly  told.  The  early  editor,  or  printer  as  he  oflen  called  himself 
and  was  called  by  others,  had  no  easy  task.  He  was  the  victim  of  storms,  delayed 
mails,  and  scarcity  of  materials  even  to  the  rags  of  which  paper  was  made.  All 
of  the  early  papers  were  weeklies,  and  each  had  its  regular  day  of  publication,  but 
announcement  was  often  made  in  some  special  way  that  publication  would  be 
made  on  the  most  convenient  day  of  the  week.  This  irregularity  was  usually  not 
a  matter  of  choice  ;  nevertheless  publication  was  often  deferred  to  enable  the  editor 
to  attend  to  some  business  which  he  considered  more  important.  The  uncertainty 
of  news  transmission  was  a  frequent  cause  of  embarrassment  and  delay.  A  paper 
worth  reading  could  not  be  printed  when  the  mails  furnished  no  Eastern  exchanges 
to  clip  from.  Even  when  exchanges  were  received  the  publisher  might  have  no 
ink,  or  be  unable  to  get  a  supply  of  paper  because  the  paper  mill  could  get  no 
raw  materials.  Sometimes,  too,  the  journeyman  printers,  who  were  none  too 
numerous,  would  unexpectedly  leave  the  editor  in  the  lurch.  The  Freeman's 
Chronicle  of  November  17,  1812,  contained  the  following  apologetic  statement: 

For  some  time  past  the  Chronicle  has  not  been  as  interesting  and  useful  to  its  readers  as 
the  editor  always  designed  to  render  it.  Sickness  in  bis  family,  his  own  long  indisposition, 
the  recent  pressure  of  extra  work  and  the  impossibility  of  procuring  mechanical  assistance 
have  been  the  only  impediments  which  have  caused  this  deficiency.  Having  now  sur- 
mounted the  greater  part  of  these  obstacles,  the  public  are  assured  that  every  exertion  will 
be  made  at  this  all-important  crisis  to  furnish  them  with  the  most  early  and  correct  intel- 
ligence which  the  very  eligible  situation  of  Franklinton  at  present  affords.  At  no  point,  per- 
haps, in  the  Western  States  will  more  facilities  unite,  than  at  tbis,  to  collate  all  the  particulars 
relative  to  the  operations  of  the  Northwest  A.rmy ;  and  as  soon  as  they  transpire,  it  will  be 
our  task  to  communicate  them  to  our  readers  as  speedily  as  possible.  We  shall  be  carefully 
guarded  against  such  idle  rumors  and  marvelous  tales  as  alternately  amused,  agitated  and 
tantalized  the  public  mind  during  Hull's  Quixotic  campaign. 

This  was  followed  by  the  statement  in  the  next  issue,  that "  a  most  unexpected 
disappointment  in  receiving  our  customary  supply  of  paper  compels  us  to  issue  only 
a  half  sheet,  this  week,  and  to  omit  several  advertisements  which  ought  to  have 
been  inserted." 

[462] 


'  -J  ■■•1 


The  Press.     II.  453 

On  December  5,  of  the  same  year,  the  Chronicle  contains  another  long  sUite- 
ment  from  the  editor  in  which  he  complains  that  his  journeymen  have  left  him, 
that  his  paper  has  but  just  arrived,  that  his  ink  has  not  yet  been  received,  and 
that  it  is  impossible  to  procure  any  nearby.  He  assures  his  readers  that  he  will 
print  his  paper  whenever  it  is  possible  for  him  to  do  so,  and  that  the  omitted  num. 
bers  will  be  made  up  at  the  end  of  the  year. 

The  successors  of  this  pioneer  of  Columbus  journalism  had  similar  embari-ass- 
ing  experiences  for  many  years.  Bad  roads,  floods  and  delayed  mails  harassed 
them  continually.  Even  as  late  as  1838  the  State  Journal  explained  its  delayed 
issues  by  confessing  inability  to  obtain  paper  with  which  to  print  them. 

During  the  financial  troubles  of  the  first  quarter  of  this  century  publishers 
were  unable  to  get  cash  subscriptions  and  were  obliged  to  accept  the  best  sub- 
stitutes then  current  in  lieu  of  money.  In  the  fifth  number  of  the  Western  Intel- 
ligencer (1811)  it  is  announced  in  bold  type  that  "  rags,  candles,  and  oats  will  be 
received  at  this  oflBce  in  exchange  for  subscriptions."  Whisky  at  the  rate  of 
twentyfive  cents  a  gallon,  bacon,  hams,  tallow,  beeswax,  wheat,  flour,  beans,  peas, 
sugar,  molasses,  flaxseed,  raw  sheepskin,  sausages,  fresh  meat,  cheese,  butter,  eggs, 
feathers  and  poultry  were  willingly  taken  at  newspaper  oflBces  in  payment  for  sub- 
scriptions and  printing.  But  such  articles  would  not  buy  paper  and  ink.  Some 
money  was  necessary,  and  we  frequently  find  the  editor  imploring  that  at  least 
onehalf  of  the  sums  due  him  should  be  paid  in  cash.  But  woi*se  than  the  sub- 
scriber who  wished  to  pay  all  his  debts  in  produce  was  the  one  who  would  not  pay 
at  all.  To  bring  these  incorrigibles  to  terms,  entreaties  were  first  tried,  and  when 
these  failed  threats  **  to  put  the  obligations  in  suit,"  or  in  other  words,  "to  use 
the  coercive  measures  of  the  law,"  were  resorted  to.  In  an  editorial  threatening 
delinquents,  the  Freeman's  Chronicle  of  April  8,  1814,  declares  that  "  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  have  been  expended  by  the  editor  for  paper  alone  during  the  last 
six  months,  and  not  more  than  thirty  dollars  received  for  subscriptions  during  that 
time." 

The  means  for  transmitting  news  to  these  early  periodicals  were  of  course 
very  meager.  The  stagecoach  and  canalboat  were  chiefly  relied  upon,  with  occa- 
sional resort  to  horsemen  or  Indian  runners,  as  during  the  Indian  war.  Washing- 
ton intelligence  a  month  old  was  considered  fresh,  and  foreign  news,  of  which  a 
great  deal  was  printed,  was  at  least  three  months  old.  Local  events  were  very 
scantily  reported,  perhaps  on  the  presumption  that  there  was  no  need  of  telling 
the  villagers  through  the  paper  what  everyone  already  knew  from  street  gossip  or 
personal  observation.  The  unreliability  of  current  news  and  the  expedients 
resorted  to  for  obtaining  it  find  some  curious  illustrations.  The  Columbus  Gazette 
of  November  15,  1821,  contains  this  announcement : 

The  following  was  written  on  the  margin  of  a  waybill  received  in  this  town  on  Tuesday 
evening  last : 

Putnam,  O.,  Nov.  12,  1821. 

Zanesville  is  on  tire,  and  has  been  this  two  hours,  and  all  attempts  to  extinguish  the 
flames  have  as  yet  proved  abortive.  One  square  is  already  consumed.  There  is  no  telling 
when  its  ravages  will  end.    In  haste.  P.  M. 


454  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

In  the  next  issue  of  the  Gazette  these  startling  sUitements  were  thus  recalled : 
"  The  fire  that  was  stated  to  have  been  raging  with  such  violence  in  Zanesville,  as 
ooiiced  in  our  last  ])a])er,  has  fortunately  proved  to  be  a  false  statement."  The 
editor's  chagrin  perhaps  explained  the  blundering  construction  of  this  sentence. 

The  pioneer  editor  entertained  a  wholesome  respect  for  the  rights  of  individ- 
uals. He  was  cautious  of  giving  neeiiless  offense,  and  was  careful  to  treat  his 
adversaries  fairly.  Public  opinion  sometimes  held  him  in  slavish  restraint.  Even 
as  late  as  1826,  a  contributor  to  the  State  Journal  wrote  :  **  The  editor  of  a  news- 
paper who  should  dare  to  say  what  he  thinks  of  political  affairs  would  have  the 
consolation  of  printing  his  newspaper  without  a  subscription  list."  On  April  20, 
1826,  the  State  Journal  prefaced  an  account  of  the  Randolph-Clay  duel  with  the 
following  editorial  observations:  "We  know  not  whether  the  subjoined  statement 
of  an  unpleasant  affair  which  recently  took  place  in  Washington  will  be  acceptable 
to  our  readers.  We  are  aware  that,  with  many  of  them  as  well  as  ourselves,  senti- 
ments are  entertained  opposed  to  a  settlement  of  personal  differences  by  a  resort 
of  this  kind." 

In  political  discussions  the  editor  was  careful  to  give  his  opponents  the  fairest 
possible  hearing.  The  State  Journal  of  October  4,  1827,  remarked  editorially  : 
"This  being  the  last  paper  we  shall  publish  before  the  election,  we  have  declined 
all  electioneering  communications"  The  Columbus  Gazette  of  October  3,  1822, 
contains  this  kindred  announcement:  "  As  this  is  the  last  number  that  will  appear 
previous  to  the  election,  we  have  refused  several  communications  from  our  former 
correspondents,  on  the  merit*^,  etc.,  of  the  several  candidates.  This  course  we  con- 
sidered fair  and  honorable  to  all  parties  concerned.  We  wish  to  admit  nothing  to 
our  columns  to  which  there  would  be  no  opportunity  to  reply."  The  editors  of  to- 
day are  troubled  with  no  such  scruples. 

The  extra  editions  which  are  given  and  accepted  as  a  mark  of  newspaper 
enterprise  date  back  almost  to  the  beginning  of  Columhus  journalism.  The  papers 
were  then  all  weekly,  and  the  extras  were  vsometimes  issued  to  fill  gaps  in  the  regu- 
lar publication  due  to  some  of  the  causes  heretofore  mentioned,  or  to  announce 
some  extraordinary  news.  In  1813,  before  the  Western  Intelligencer  was  brought 
to  Columbus,  and  while  the  Freeman's  Chronicle  held  sole  possession  of  the  local 
field,  James  B.  Gardiner,  editor  of  the  Chronicle,  issued  occasional  extras  to  give 
information  of  the  progress  of  the  Indian  war  One  of  these  was  issued  Sunday 
evening,  January  24,  1813.  It  was  but  a  small  handbill,  and  announced  "Lewis's 
victory  at  the  River  Raisin."  Following  Mr.  Gardiner's  example,  other  early  pub- 
lishers issued  small  extras  atoning  in  part  for  the  frequent  failures  of  their  regular 
editions.  The  method  pursued  is  illustrated  by  the  following  extract  from  the 
State  Journal  of  May  26, 1846 : 

We  have  issued  a  large  number  of  extras  from  this  oftice  within  two  or  three  weeks  in 
consequence  of  the  deep  interest  felt  in  events  now  transpiring  on  our  frontier.  The  eastern 
mail  arrives  in  the  evening  and  the  other  late  at  night.  Our  hands  have  been  employed 
several  times  after  miduight,  and  occasionally  honrs  before  our  citizens  generally  ariee  in  the 
morning.  .  .  .  We  have  thus  far  circulated  all  our  slips  gratis,  giving  them  to  all  who  called. 
Of  one  edition  we  published  more  than  2,000. 


*i*fc- 


Thb  Press.     II. 


455 


FREEMAN'a  CHRONICLE. 


AMtmcAm 

tMOftrcMDCiicr. 
VHunr  kiuhtm 

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{ 


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FRIDAY,  JULY  9S,  iVia. 


[NuBbor  4<. 


Foreigii  Soromanr. 

WabMtWtMiA 


•<*M»Mrtk«i 


^•rahawttvalW  rxnck 

«f«««Ma   t%*   t 

T»«   tT««l   MW 

I  iiyftii<  •m  «•••  ■•  tau"  a*- 
KM  af  ika  raaoataaa  m<  iM  c kafac- 
■arafaharaaMdnanaln.  Tta«ia> 
■avaa*  ■><■■■■!  baa  tltvaJy  kaaa 
at  Itai  fcf  «>•  — — "«  «*fc—  •» 
Ika  ilwaliA'  ia  h  aa  w  *  bvMllii 
cMBiTT.  mA  kf  Ike  fMwtwiriaai 
•tetk  art  tfcr»iiaaa<  Tb«  mtaaia 
•kM,k  aill  bIWa,  «UI  |rt«car4  (a*  a 
•arf  (real  rtaaf  ia  ifca  waaatw  al 
•kayaayl*.  »kaiMta«  Ikc  larrar  a( 
BiiaiJM  faaa*  atali  4ita7t>raf.  b  k 
••*  «aaal«4*4  ikM  aa  tmtAttmtm  caa 
*ka  pto(»4  kf  Ika  CMaict  afrrafara  ia 
any  <tifataw  akkh  mn  ka  fc<M4  ia 
HaNaadL  fcf  aty  Uccati*a  haa  kaaa 
— i>laya4  !•  ikta  aaca  tiaritMat 
(••Mry,  kal  alMwm  cka««aa  ito  C 
:;aua  af  H*Um4  aucbi  viak  la  *• 
^i«a«k  aiarfaialrariaa,  iba  Datck  aaa 
aa  paliikal  aaaaacuoM  la  Karaya 
vkicb  ptaaiac  (raaMr  a4*aa«acaa  m 
«kair  caaMry,  ikaa  aiU  ka  4a«l»a< 
|r«Bi  lk<  cawMrir*  aak  vkick  Ikaf 
fp%  «t  yraacM  ani*4.  r««a  If  Ikaf 
I  ika  fana  «f  ikair  cava 

ai   -kair  likenr  kf   Ika 

^__    '  af  tka  kaaiaa  «l   Oraafa 

Oa  Win   ptaialr   •••  tka   kiftM  ^ 


ia  a|aai  aa:i' 

Ma«ktaal 

ilkafa«acaraf>-<  ''"^ 
III  t«(|riah 
I  la  all  aka  •in  rca4  n.  >a  1 
tka  Caariaci  ia  tr««lar  ana*  «M  aal 
Uftm€mt4  ikaai4  vkibk  kaa kaaa  Ikr- 
aiakad  kf  ika  kaniy  aj*it«a  a*  A«a«> 
k».  Tka  lata  tkaMiaa  af  ika  Fraack 
IHia  Ikaaa  aa  —»^  pray  M  Ikaaa  a4> 
aaalarer*,  aa  ii  **aM  la  aar  aar«t««< 
kaj  ika  Praack  BMrckrd  M  Aacrwa 
liaM  Cayfar  rWar  la  lia4Ma*a  B^y. 
ia  Uw  tract  af  Haaraa.  aa.  ika  aaatil 
aT  Ika  aw  wtM  aa(  ka  Kitlad  ia  iMa 


UMvaaiMpt 
aaaa-  aaiaaaaf  aaf 
iian,nai»aia  aiaitt^vlm 
aa  •rit)-h  wai 

ika  ywitaaa  taaaafiM  ibalaaMp**' 
war  aanawi  kr  tka  Aaaataaa-^ai 
laMvIr  Ma4faM«kya 


ky^Ua  hvanaa  rapaMk,  m<  pi»* 
4Ma4  a  saatfaata  af  tka  ■iitkaa.a 
Im  fm^  la  vMck  tka  aalaa  af  ikia 
«aai«af«a  vm  rr|Ka»aaia4  tf  tka 
Mack  ikawailaaa,  aaa  ka  U«a  k«a 
aaBaNyaMa  laaaBaw  ika  aai»laf«aa« 
Fiaack  aaMaaraa    ga«a  aal 


Waraaarava 
ika  mtoa  af  pany  aa4  nnja^lca.  a^ 
akaaU  haaai  a  aaafflilaa  aa  pfUmr- 
If  aalatMaaia  iar  tka  kayaa  t*  l»aU 
§■4  aittaa.  Bat  vkcs  «<  tmt  kav 
aaaa  tka  aiitartili  Iar  tka  ••■«•  af 
caaiaatiaa  arc  raatfy  ia  aB  laaattia^ 
•aa  aaalart  aavaalava  If  Ika  kaBcftkai 
«aa  kaaa  ia  «ka  ^akBc  Bkanf  aa  wm- 
pla  laaaai  iar  all  aa  mBm,  Tka  it* 
yatt  af  «ka  «aaik  af  aa  K«paaar  gt«v* 
■alaatMUw  1*  aal 
I  Ika  aanA  af  a  4a|«  r> 
MafMka 
taaki 
itkayaa  laafl^  aaytaattkrirAa. 
•Itk  tka  »aikic«l  aijar  cf  F«r 
■aaaaiait  tka  aaiaral.  a^a  if 
tkay  aa  akara  fliar  m  caaa^l'ia  af  •«• 
^#ja>»rj 

faavaaavTai  (K.  H.)  Jsna  U. 
9HhHyi'».\  KtlGATC. 
I^ttrl.rr  Jfm»   faatwaa 
a«    #au|nn  M  M«  /raratf  /a  Mm 
•••a,  tfMfrf  Aiar  II. 
I  kaaa  aaaaaraad  auk  i 


aato  ka  tka  aeaaal  iiiipa<taikaaa.kai  hf 
*a  aaa  af  Ihmk  tkifa.  Tka  ca«a> 
^MMaaa  aMck  aaaa  atnra  akk  Oaiek 
want  ara  (ra«  tka  aaclk,  8*4 
I  ikc  Daita  by  ibaar  yraaaat 
I  tera  aaara  ta%apa  tJ<aafram 
l^jAaaaaaAdaa  Katayaiaaapraaaut 
aiaia  caa  aCtr.  Tka  ataaraacaa  (rata 
tka  Praack  ara  aary  a  .caaraf  iB(.  aad 
tkay  ara  caaBraMd  kf  ika  taiaaau 
laiataaia  af  laa  laa  ^apla,  aa«  aaly 
••a  aaiu4  ia  aaa  aaipi<t,  kat  Iraai 
fkair  iliaatlai  Iar  aaa(<Ml  ai4  ia  c<hb> 
ta.  Tka  Praacii,  kf  ikatr  fad 
I  af  tka  caaairtaa  kaivaaa  tka 
,  Ika  Wraar  aad  ike  lUaa:  ^avaal 
■af  iffraack  af  tka  aar  la  ik«  l>alt^ 
t»*.  Waaaa  an^ara  iar  tka 
•aa  af  iIm  aar<  aaa  wtial  4aaa 
CraM  Kx;)*!^  »«t>«ldiaa, 
■aal  cava  akafathcr  fia«  ikr  Raa* 
ilM  aapira.  A  »rii«rin  Tlio  «ka 
■alli  ki«aalf 'Aa  AaMrtcM  laialy  r»> 
Miar^   Mp    Cara^.'  ka*  |i*aa  a 


FOUB 
I  aad  kr«aa  |rf.xaaaa 


BiaUaaikcaa.aU 


,  VMKk  daaartaa  aUantiaa.— 
ITa  akarxaa.  ikai  C*Uwrtaa  aaa  bm- 
kK  la  c«Baat  a  faavaaa  a^aal  la  ikal 
af  ilia  aacaafcjy  a<4ar  U  auiaa  ia  Ka- 
fa^  Tka  aaaaw  ka  a«al«aa  kataaa 
wkarMf.  aktck  ia  aakmma4  la  a«a> 
rf  ima'a  )«4«n>aa>  Tka  araaiaa  a<a 
«r.>a  {rvw  tka  laiaiiar  af  tka  Ca- 
pM*  By  aaakChiac  tka  ial*a4  pay 
aU-taaaf  a  caa^MT)  aMck  4raM«4a 
Ika  tra.unacanoaif  afikaUaa4.aa4 
Ika  caniHMMl  appiicauaa  af  tka  acn. 
caliural  lakar.  ikraa  Icaiaa  vara  aari. 
aaa  anla.  Tka  Military  airaafJi  raa 
plaa  iwpafcaa  ky  la^limi  nm.(|  ika 
•Bl4icry,  caaafiraciaa  ai  Caan.  aad 


a  i'^aar  (haimm 
fr-jiar  Ml  thaw)  k«a  ika  kaai  af  fcta 
Wara-iia      Bat  gatta.aaia  -IBraa 
Ika  «»f  Ikaiikla aiaai^N  af  k^karty 
aac  aal  la  Aa'aHcaaa. 

UlWBEN-cTisNO  Moati 

Tka  mUh  af  Laafcaaa  kaaiaf  M* 
fcaa  iia  Bcki  la  ika  Maaklaaa  af  Mh^ 
Ik  b^  «ab»<r<a  wMb  Ika  aaala  al  ika 


DIBKC  r 
Tka  fcljivaaf  afa 


IWta  Mik,  ib«  Iraat  kia  aa 
caa  4a,  It  n  aaikkim  ki*  aicaiara.  ai.4 
Ibafeh  lAk  cbiMraa  tabaaar-jMaaa^ 
ai  tiM  aa4  ki>  braaa  aaaiyirtati  aka 
••••  U.'laa  ■  «ba  lap  af  (tary.  Tlia 
laiVuaMi  article,  abtUi  »a  I<i4lawa 
J«.rrUB4  -  - 


af  tha  <>>b  ak. 

kau*ra  i^*  fm  af  a  (aaiirana  aka 
kk>  (•*>:«.•.  ly  IB  iUtal>ka4  kivaatf 
ky  ptac.ci.ae*  ck*ranrTiac4  ky   aa- 


dkciM,!  f*B(y  a<i4  aa  awtiaary  gaakkk 
Wa  °tna«pla  t  iba  Baaar  laaa  aa* 
aalaW-i  «lik  aiack  pitaaara.  ^ki.  Jk*. 


Tkr  Iraaaw  -rta  aaM 
aa  aar«  '— Tka  O ratal  af  Awarii^ 
m\  k  aaritaa  a<  iHaafk,  ka4  kat  jaU 
r>.«a.Va4  kar  Bkk  raaal  aaaaaiy,  aaa 
ky  iMa  laaa.  it*  aaak  abaa  aka  k  «al« 
Ia4.  by  ika  *T«ca  af  gaainl  cartaaa 
la  tattaaar  la  laar*  Ikr  kaiaa'a  Aaalk. 
Mace  Ika  lata  af  Waabiayaa.  aa» 
caaatry  ixa  awaiaaa*  aa  aaaa*  ca 
cf«au<a  a(  aatiataal  4iipaa4aaiy.  aa 
tka  capiatr  af  tkc  Cbaa^aabaj  aal 
•kat  a«'  >aa  of  fiary    vaa  i*r«<ika4. 


C 

M.r*i  at 
•tatta  Mt 

•arsa  1* 

it«.i«f  ri 

n 

4M.UI  M 

lotari  u 

•M.«r«  14 

u 

III^Ul  •• 

_     f  •* 

M4.ita  la 
••»«*•  *• 

IMM4  »• 
UI.M4  t» 


W  4ay  aba  la  pmkatety  Bi^aaiaic4  aa  I 
vitk  tkc  taiaa af  *a Hiiiin  ii  t  ka Hf  aar 
tka  ka«  tka  gaaa  afa  SII,TT  FOUB  B 


tkc  aaaaia  af  a«r  kUaa  aiibaai  a<ct» 
flaa«  f «i.  hka  aiar*  *«t;«4  ky  ika  4*rk« 
aaaa  af  aifkl.  ikay  aarai  akat  BaM 
aar  dav  1^  tka  giaoat  Waa^bi  kpaa 


af  (haia  a*Ui  aiUl  aalal.      If  .. 
I  Ika  IM«  aiaaiiaa  af  Baatto  alil. 
^1;m  aa  •4«BnUfa  la  tka 
vW  laaaact  ara  la  aa 


prapartiaaf  m 


_  adarfiMd  ia 

fkaiB 


.-« la  a  |l««a  caaaa,  akaa  aa« 


kar  qaanar  aa 
piacaahikertaf^  Baai4i 
kaaaaaaAarafaaiy  taa 
•laaf  vitk  tackia,  ca  aa  la  palaa  tmd 
pMat  ikaai  ia  cay  4hcctiaa  lary  wick, 
kal  BiyccicUp  la  cat  aaay  tka  lapa  af 
tbair  aaaray.  Tka  Jkiaaaa  kr  aaya 
crriaaiaail  hlXTT  C^'N.!;  a>^  m 
a««ry  rcapaci  ia  mack  *apcnur  to  IM 
Af'K*,'  a*4  aafwriar  ta  Mf  M  aur  fri* 
gaira.  Ha  ks>  bran  a»  k'*.- li  kf  fcalhi 
•a.,  lartbcr  tialct  tfal  IBaf  bar*  aa 
kaar4  c*«>y  k»n4  at  la-iKt-cnU  of 
caiafeaaubic  nkaiitr  ikal  n  i«  pMaaiiMa 
laitmhaf  Tbaii«ist.-)ah«f  L.cCvaf 
•aaiwi'r  of  ika  i>lia««ws,  -  ,.  |.v«at> 
bic,  IS  UiBr4  w  cava  li«  *:'vai4  k<fa 
aa  aa(a(anMal  ailb  aiK.  af  aar  ffi- 
gataa,  and  <kcr«(ora  vat  faapa'ca  iar 
Ikal  parpnaa.  la  kci,  ilia  ^aaila— a 
a.f «  »bc  ta  a^faal  la  at^aaa  aay  SIXTT 
r.UN  iilllP  ibai  tka  lUvltak  kaaa, 
ecaapt  ikuaa  wkkk  ara  |>jnkaUr1y 
r<|aifi  a»4  iiMaaa4  (*r  tka  parpaaa  af 
B<catiai|  aitkaoaafoarfriKUav  Capi, 
Brafea'a  crav  a.a  alt  ptckc4  an4  tt^ 
aiaa  a  a«ntkcr  af  aaprraaiaariga  btaly 
tacct*a4  an  baai  I,  la  caa*  ha  O'hI  ci«- 
gasa  aaa  af  u«r  tki|n,  ba  hk^m  ta 
lala  Iwr  at  *ll  ■  -«ni». ' 

Cb'std  ikkra  be  a  pl^rnrr  U-ii  «(. 
kaavla4<a»aal  af  iIm  avpeiinr  aaval 
•kill  af  AaicricB  ikaa  a|aprar«  la  tlia 
•baxa  kcti.  Aa  lliicn><i  31  <;<m  akip 
ia  fcrcaaf  fa»a,aM'!prk>»bl7  rfai-iH 
aaatana4  iata  a  akip  e(  ai  leati  a  lf> 
ty  gaa  faia.  bawJai  car«ra4  wiUi  caa*.' 
Iter  la  varroat  ^laa, 
if  aaa4  la  tka  awmcM  af  caa- 
ia  tka  caaa  af  lb<  ^haanna. 
it  laiaaiarlal,  vkrthar 
al  »aa  a  (vaaiy  ar  a 
-.J-lami  Kva  atlp,  vltk  a  ccat* 
iaaa4ar  vka  ka4  Icli  a  akip  of  lar)(ar  * 


Biaaa  Ika  Iral  af  t'  •itaaib.  aa>.a 
a  aaatbk  aB4  gcHaactp 
a4  tkc  Sbtaaaa.  a 
Awiriria'W  iiaart  kat  kaca 
•a  a  piMk  al  Malaiy  aaaar  aalB 
w«p«rkaca4.  Tka  »klM>ia4ai  af  fc»» 
taaa  aa  aar  l^'catler  kata  kaaa  ff' 
clclM>a4  la  aa  JaaratBila  paHi.  A 
tplrn  af  apalky  kaa  kaak  aeata4^la  afa> 
t|  braaat,  aa4  a  palaf  al 
k*trafa4  «a  arary  aakjaci  caaa  |i 
a  bisk  baa  cafrat<a4  aar 
Tba  cyct  af  aN  kaaa  k^aa 
tbc  ifcaaa,  Mt4  arery  Ml 


paii      ■a?aa:|-faar  Kaa 


aa  ita  bacaai  kaa  kava 

Wrgar  af  |Eaa4h  ll 

la«r  ki«e  kaaa  Icll  ali 

•sr  a>  4   4rprccai   y«l   ka| 

iMaily  cbaara4,  wkila  tka 

vbick  prac»4a4  ikla  Ika 

liaialiii  I  of  aar  laaa,  aaak 

kMi  bba  tb..  aabaM  kaall 

aaaacaa  tka  paaaiag  aarpaa  a(  a  k> 

waaii4  tricad. 

TW  4ra*«,  ikt  mttit  Lamrrmtt  it  aa 
cwrr.  .Ha «b>  a<t4e4 ihc  laM  briUiaal 
trapby  la  aar  triaiapkal  4ia4eta.  tka 
kB4  af  sfary  tea  racci«c4.  Ila«ara4 
ky  taaa  »a  ■  far  «l;naM  b]i4,  kn  laak 
U  taaa,  iaiiiin^.  like  aaatbcr  LarattCb 
Ike  pilcHaiafa  af  Iks  bra**;  vkara. 
Ilk*  t\«  lu=niMe-in(;  *i-|tal  a(  aaercy, 
tka  kia<lr«4  tkidc  of  Moaicaaary 
kat  CI  a,  batlsvitig  with  hcaaeuty  litaa 
tka  kara'i  grave. 

■  »ap*f 
rnUVAK^S  U»  THB  WAB. 

Oar  pont,  herbaf  i,  bays  aaaa4t  h 
riaara  ihiacd  agatait  aJI  kM4a  af  |ta4a, 
tao  af«ar  frigjua,  t«4  ■  ilpip  af  var 
Mocka4a4  «p  al  Mav  Lao4aa,  aaa  Irt. 
gale  pcaaaa  ap  hi  tka  Ckaa^eaka,  a<a 
4aia  aa  ike  caaet  af  Saaik  AaMnca— 
aad  aaa  Mgata  k  BbMaa.vilb  aaarly 
b^k.-r  crav  hiUe4as4  «aai 
t»a  geaa.  pttaaacra  k  "Upyar 
ii,"*  I."":     '  •>^T     -re  -.  r  •..  I 


■OW4ALLIC4L 
AMB  haap«aa4  kaik  Naaaaa aff 


kv    dmiikg  tka  kaiWng  a  awake*   af 
■b4    kargaa  |ar  ta*  gkMw  ,  trr  tka  4a. 


f^aca  af  tka  ckaraa  aa4  vMava  «  «ba 

V.  IkMc.  Tkkkacpt«kaaf<Uk  •« 
•kk  Mack  caaMric  I 
4aaar4  vrtl  a***^'  • 
I  af  tack  awiurn  caJ  •  -  >• 
vkaa  aairte4  iaia  eaacaika,  •  v^ 
kaat  parttaPy  arratt  tka  Britkb  aa 
taaaiag  mmI  4apra4aikt  yart-  •  f  'b 
rkcra  aB4  aar  iIm.1  valara.  Aar  far.  "^ 


EVACU.\TION  up  M.\Lntlf. 

We  ara  kfaf  a4  fra«a  a  •narre, 
IkM  ve  4ac«  c  vrract.  ikal  tkc  pruiak 
ar«  prapariag  ta  akca4aa  MaMta  -^ 
Tbcy  kaaa  abippcd  at  a  <aat«4erabla 
Bart  af  ikair  r^aaMc  ef  ret*  a-  l*ka 
llaraa.  ll  •>  iboacbt  ibrr  «<'l  'a  la 
Ike  tpper  aaf  ef  Ulir  lla'aa.  *>cra4 
a  ri*rr  ikal  ciriMifi  iMa  Ub*  ll->r>«k 
and  bead*  afar  iKr  kc«4  <4  ih<  Oiv- 
••a  mt  Uraad  riTrr.  vkitb  dor  b- 
ksgaca  uaetf  asl  far  fraai  Momf*^. 
Tkraafk  itnacbaparl  tltr  Mnnb  t\  r>i 
ParCaaipaaf  irati.pun  <a  faaar  M 
Ike  aapplkt  (at  ibr  Indiaat.  ai  Ity 
vay  al  tkc  lekra.  Tba  panaga  it  kal 
If  ve  auatiifce  aaU  iradara 
C«aa  ai  tni\  caaaaa  by  iki*  raj^ 
Maatrakl.  la  'Bl.  Jaaepk'a.  t^ 
raa4afkkaMafcakai^ 

ro».v  V^ 


FIRST  PAGE  OF  FREEMAN'S  CHRONICLE,  JULY  93,  1813. 


i'f*i  Hl>ToKV    nV    TUB   f'lTV    OK    riUJMHI  >. 

TheM?  extra?*  wurt.'  oircalale*!  free  ol*  all  eo>l  l«»  ihc  rca<ler-.  unlil.  by  j«»iiit 
arraij^eriient  of  the  Ohio  Statesman  and  the  Ohio  State  J«>urrial.  (.Muht-r  1,  l'*47. 
the  practice  wa»  «Ji?Kfiiitiiiued  and  the  extras  were  srild.  *-owintf  i**  ilic  tjreat  co>t 
of  receivin::  news  by  telegrraph." 

The  advent  of  the  tck-irraph  revolutionized  the  j«iiirnali>ni  of  rolumbus.  aii<l 
made  the  daily  pa[>er  a  nece>!*ity  as  well  a.-  a  iK«$>ibiIily.  Several  atteiii]»t>  had 
previously  been  made  to  establi-^h  dailies  iu  the  town,  but  they  had  proved  abor- 
tive. As  early  an  ls33.  Gilbert  &  Melcher.  prriprietors  of  the  Hemi>phere,  bad 
published  a  small  paper  called  the  Daily  Advertiser,  but  it  was  unremunerative 
and  was  Hoon  discontinued.  The  demand  for  more  frequent  publicuti<»n  was  never- 
theless resfK*cted.  The  semi  weekly  followed  the  weekly  and  wa>  in  turn  fol- 
h»wed  by  the  triweekly.  Usually  both  the  Stutestnan  and  State  Journal  made 
their  issues  more  frequent  during  the  sessions  at'  the  General  A>'*embly  than  at 
any  other  tinie  in  the  year.  This  was  at  first  done  by  ]iublishirig  senii weekly 
or  triweekly  editir^ns,  but  about  the  year  H40  daily  editions  durinir  the  legislative 
sessions  began  t<»  api»ear.  As  sof»n  as  the  telegraph  arrived,  ndvantaire  was  taken 
of  the  improved  facilitie*^  which  it  furnishe^l.  On  August  11,  1M7.  the  Slate 
Journal  announced  that  the  citv  had  been  connected  with  the  East  bv  wire, 
that  on  the  following  day  telegraphic  dispatches  would  be  received,  and  that  the 
publication  of  a  regular  daily  edition  of  the  pa]»er  would  at  onee  begin.  Next  day. 
August  12,  the  paper  apf>ea red  according  to  promise  but  in  lieu  of  telegraphic  news 
contained  this  announcement  : 

Six  o'clock  p.  M.— We  have  delayed  going  to  press  for  the  last  four  hours  wailing  for  our 
expected  tele^^raphic  dispatch,  but  in  default  of  its  arrival,  are  constrained  to  go  to  prese 
without  it,  in  order  to  reach  our  subscribers  by  mail.  Should  any  iiitelligrence  of  iiu|>ortanre 
arrive,  it  will  be  ^ven  in  a  second  edition. 

The  next  day  "  the  telegraphic  dispatch  "  came,  but  it  was  very  short.  The 
State  Journafs  news  by  wire  appeared  under  the  heading,  -  By  Express  Light- 
ning;" that  of  the  Statesman  was  headed,  **  The  Latest  Streak."  The  service  was 
meager,  unreliable  and  expensive,  and  before  its  novelty  had  worn  of!"  the  editors 
l>egan  to  consider  how  it  might  be  improved  and  cheapened.  The  Presidential 
election  in  184H  occurred  November  7,  but  the  success  of  Taylor  was  not  announced 
until  the  fifteenth.  On  July  20,  1849,  a  lK)gus  Washington  dispatch  was 
printed  announcing  the  death  of  President  Taylor.  These  are  .samples  of  the 
troubles  which  caused  the  State  Journal  to  discontinue  the  service  in  August,  1S41»; 
the  great  cost  was  another  consideration,  but  the  publishers  .soon  found  out  that 
they  could  not  dispense  with  the  use  of  the  telegraph,  and  resumed  it  a  few  weeks 
later. 

While  newspaper  proprietors  were  thus  wrestling  with  the  telegraphic  news 
question,  the  field  of  local  intelligence  was  very  indifferently  worked.  Little  indi 
cation  then  appeared  of  the  present  fierce  rivalry  in  publishing  the  earliest  and 
fullest  accounts  of  local  events.  The  State  Journal  and  Statesman  were  accus- 
tomed to  copy  city  news  from  one  another,  each  giving  credit.  Such  was  the  case 
even  with  reference  to  a  matter  of  such  importance  as  the  con.^-truction  of  the 
Columbus  k  Xenia  Railway  in  1849. 


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■Mi 


The  Press.     II.  457 

As  it  was  the  telegraph  which  opened  eommuincation  between  the  capital  and 
the  world  at  large,  and  which  made  daily  newspapers  necessary,  so  it  was  the  rail- 
way which  brought  outside  competition  to  the  local  press.  The  State  Journal,  on 
March  18,  1850,  under  the  heading,  "  The  March  of  Improvement,"  stated  : 

On  Saturday  evening  the  boys  were  crying  the  Cincinnati  papers  of  that  morning  on  our 
streets.    It  made  us  feel  that  we  were  getting  to  be  near  neighbors. 

The  early  life  of  the  Columbus  dailies  was  one  of  hard  work  and  small  financial 
returns.  There  was  frequent  shifting  of  the  time  of  publication  from  morning  to 
evening  and  from  evening  to  morning  in  the  hope  of  stimulating  patronage.  In 
July,  1850,  the  State  Journal  changed  its  hour  of  publication  from  six  p.  m.  to  one 
p.  M.,  and  in  the  course  of  the  following  j'ear  assumed  the  character  of  an  early 
morning  paper  to  appear,  as  was  stated,  "  say  by  six  o'clock,"  in  order  "  to  meet 
the  various  mails  from  the  city."  The  same  paper,  confining  itself  to  weekday 
publication,  again  changed  its  issue  from  morning  to  evening  in  1853.  In  1855  the 
Statesman  was  issued  in  the  morning  of  Sunday  and  in  the  evening  of  weekdays, 
but  in  1857  it  was  changed  to  a  morning  paper  throughout.  The  State  Journal 
continued  to  bo  published  in  the  evening  until  1859,  when  Cooke  &  Miller  trans- 
ferred it  to  the  morning  field. 

From  1825  until  the  office  of  Supervisor  of  Public  Printing  was  created  under 
the  Constitution  of  1851,  it  was  the  custom  of  the  General  Assembly  to  electa  State 
Printer.  This  office  carried  with  it  a  good  deal  of  patronage,  and  was  usually 
bestowed  upon  one  of  the  newspaper  publishers  of  Columbus.  Among  the  early 
State  Printei'S  were  George  Nashee  and  P.  H.  Olmsted,  of  the  Columbus  Gazette, 
now  State  Journal;  David  Smith,  of  the  Monitor,  afterwards  Statesman;  John 
Bailhache  of  the  State  Journal,  and  Samuel  Medary  of  the  Statesman.  Upon  the 
political  complexion  of  the  General  Assembly  depended  the  disposition  of  this  office, 
the  rivals  for  which  were  Columbus  publishers  exclusively.  One  notable  excep- 
tion to  this  rule  occurred  in  1831,  when  all  the  Whig  candidates  before  the  legisla- 
ture were  elected  except  John  Bailhache  for  State  Printer,  in  lieu  of  whom  David 
Smith  was  chosen. 

When  George  Nashee  took  charge  of  the  State  Journal  in  1825,  he  announced 
his  intention  to  print  a  newspaper  in  which  the  proceedings  of  the  General 
Assembly  would  be  promptly  and  accurately  reported.  "  Regular  notice,"  it  was 
promised,  "  would  be  taken  of  all  bills,  resolutions,  etc.,  submitted  to  the  considera- 
tion of  either  House,  and  of  their  progress  until  finally  disposed  of  A  brief  sketch  of 
the  arguments  used  for  or  against  any  measure  of  general  interest  will  be  given,  and 
when  room  will  permit,  or  after  the  close  of  the  session,  the  debates  on  the  most 
interesting  questions  will  be  published  at  length."  This  is  a  fair  outline  of  the 
course  pursued  by  both  the  State  Journal  and  the  Statesman  in  their  reports  of 
the  legislative  proceedings  for  many  years.  It  is  "noticeable,  however,  that  the 
reports  were  purely  routine.  They  contained  none  of  the  explanation,  comment, 
innuendo  and  general  exposition  of  the  spirit  of  the  proceedings  to  which  the 
newspaper  readers  of  today  are  accustomed.  This  was  well  enough  as  loni^  as  ihe 
General  Assembly  was  not  only  the  chief  source  of  news  but  also  a  dispenser 
of  patronage.     But  the  telegraph,  the  railway  and  the  growth  of  the  capital  opened 


458  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

other  iields  for  news  eDterprise  which  demanded  attention,  and  so  it  was  tliat, 
at  the  opening  of  the  session  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1856  the  State  Journal 
and  the  Statesman  presented  a  joint  memorial,  asking  that  the  House  and  Senate 
each  elect  an  assistant  clerk  to  report  the  proceedings  for  publication  at  the  rate  of 
four  dollars  per  cohimn.  A  House  Committee  to  which  this  memorial  was  referred 
reported  that  it  would  incur  an  expense  of  not  less  than  twenty  dollars  per  day. 
After  much  discussion,  in  which  the  proposition  was  severely  denounced,  the 
House  resolved,  48  to  45,  to  elect  an  assistant  clerk  to  furnish  such  reports  if  their 
publication  was  made  free.  Thereupon  the  State  Journal  withdrew  its  memorial 
and  subsequently  both  the  daily  papers  refused  to  publish  the  legislative  reports  as 
they  had  done  before,  to  the  thankless  and  unprofitable  exclusion  of  better  new^s. 

In  1855-6  the  editorial  columns  of  both  the  Statesman  and  the  State  Journal 
contained  comment  on  the  hazardous  character  of  daily  newspaper  publication. 
On  resuming  charge  of  the  Statesman  in  1855,  Samuel  Medary  wrote  in  that  paper: 
"  The  withdrawal  of  the  State  patronage  from  the  papers  of  Columbus  has  rendered 
the  newspaper  business  one  of  great  risk  and  uncertainty.  A  vast  deal  is  expected 
of  a  paper  printed  at  the  capital  and  intended  as  the  central  organ  of  certain  soirti- 
mentsof  a  groat  party."  Commenting  on  the  exit  of  Samuel  S.  Cox  and  Horace 
Knapp  from  the  Statesman  and  the  return  of  Mr.  Medary  to  that  paper,  the  State 
Journal  said:  "The  political  newspapers  of  Columbus  of  themselves  have  never 
been  profitable,  and,  in  very  few  instances,  paying  concerns.  They  have  always, 
except  for  short  periods  during  exciting  campaigns,  been  sustained  by  the  other 
business  of  the  establishment.  We  are  free  to  acknowledge  that,  at  the  present 
time,  the  Journal  could  be  dropped  from  our  printing  establishment  without  any 
serious  detriment  to  its  profits.'*  The  realization  of  these  unpleasant  truths  seems  to 
have  had  a  beneficial  effect  on  the  publishers.  Greater  energy  was  necessary,  and 
the  results  of  renewed  zeal  are  apparent  in  the  character  of  the  papers  for  the  next 
few  years.  More  attention  was  paid  to  local  news,  and  a  clearer  perception  of 
latent  opportunities  was  manifest. 

The  Civil  War  period  was  an  exciting  and  eventful  one  for  the  newspaper 
publishers  of  Columbus.  Hurtt,  Allen  &  Co.*s  proprietorship  of  the  State  Journal 
began  with  the  war  and  ended  with  it.  The  same  was  practically  true  of  Many- 
penny  &  Miller's  ownership  of  the  Statesman.  The  Capital  City  Fact  changed 
hands  twice,  and  finally  expired  under  the  name  of  the  Express.  Chapman's 
Union  League  and  Medary's  Crisis  sprang  into  existence.  The  Gazette  was  still 
in  full  bloom.  The  State  Journal,  the  Fact  and  the  Union  League  were  suppor- 
ters of  the  war;  the  Statesman  was  lukewarm,  and  the  Crisis  strongly  and  ofien- 
sively  opposed  to  a  resort  to  arms.  The  uniqueness  of  the  position  of  the 
Crisis,  as  well  as  the  vigor  with  which  its  editor,  Samuel  Medary,  promulgated 
his  views,  made  that  paper  the  most  conspicuous  Columbus  publication  of  the 
period.  On  the  night  of  March  5,  1863,  the  office  of  the  Crisis  was  mobbed  by 
enraged  citizens  and  soldiers.  Numbering  about  two  hundred  men,  and  evidently 
well  organized,  the  mob  moved  noiselessly  through  the  heavily  falling  enow,  late 
in  the  evening,  to  the  corner  of  Gay  and  High  streets,  where  the  ofticc  of  the 
offensive  publication  was  located.     Mr.  Medary   had  gone  to  Cincinnati,  on  the 


OBB 


The  Press.     II.  459 

aflernoon  train,  and  ihero  was  no  one  in  the  office  to  resist.  Soldiei^s  with  fixed 
bayonets  formed  a  ciixjle  about  the  door,  and  threatened  with  death  any  who 
should  interfere.  Then  the  work  of  sacking  the  office  began.  Doors  were  forced 
open  and  windows  were  smashed.  Books,  furniture  and  fixtures  were  destroyed, 
and  copies  of  the  Crisis  were  scattered  by  thousands  in  the  street.  E3^ewitnesscs 
reported,  although  no  published  account  so  states,  that  Mrs.  Henry  Wilson, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Medary,  forced  her  way  through  the  line  of  guards  to  secure  her 
father's  private  papers,  in  which  dangerous  undertaking  she  was  successful.  The 
composition  and  presswork  of  the  Crisis  were  done  at  the  office  of  Richard  Nevins, 
half  a  square  north,  a  fact  of  which  the  mob  did  not  seem  at  first  to  be  aware. 
When  that  became  known,  however,  a  rush  was  made  for  Mr.  Nevins's  office 
where  the  first  side  of  the  Statesman  was  then  being  run  off.  The  door  of  the 
press  room  was  assailed  with  heavy  timbers,  but  before  an  entrance  could  bo 
effected,  "the  police  arrived  and  remonstrated  till  the  crowd  desisted,"  as  a  news- 
paper  account  puts  it.  Genei*al  Cooper  also  appeared  upon  the  scene,  but  the 
soldiers  had  then  dispersed. 

Whatever  private  feeling  in  regard  to  this  resort  to  violence  may  have  been, 
public  expression  took  the  form  of  disapproval.  The  State  Journal,  which  repre- 
sented the  war  sentiment,  while  offering  no  apology  for  the  coui'se  of  the  Crisis, 
deplored  the  invasion  of  personal  and  property  rights.  The  next  day  General 
Cooper  issued  an  order  with  reference  to  the  "outrage"  and  '*  violence"  which  he 
said  was  "conduct  strangely  inconsistent  with  the  soldier's  duty  to  uphold  the 
law."  He  further  characterized  the  assault  as  a  "  cowardly  attack  and  felonious 
outrage,"  and  warned  the  soldiers  against  similar  offenses,  declaring  that  the  per- 
petrators, if  detected,  would  be  punished  with  the  severest  penalty  authorized  by 
law.  Mr.  Medary  was  not  the  man  to  be  swerved  from  his  purpose  by  a  mob,  and 
the  tone  of  the  Crisis  continued  as  before.  The  feeling  against  the  paper  remained 
intense,  but  there  was  no  further  violence.  On  February  13, 1864,  word  came  from 
Camp  Chase  that  a  portion  of  the  Second  Ohio  Cavalry  had  determined  upon 
mobbing  the  Statesman  and  Crisis  offices.  General  Heintzelman  was  informed  of 
the  scheme,  and  at  once  took  steps  to  preserve  order.  Soldiers  were  sent  to  guard 
both  offices  threatened,  and  the  assault,  if  any  had  been  intended,  was  averted. 
This  violence,  real  and  threatened,  accomplished  the  result  usual  in  such  cases  of 
advertising  the  Crisis.  It  was  already  a  financial  success,  but  the  demand  for  it 
was  made  greater.  Mr.  Medary 's  friends,  of  whom  there  were  many,  declared 
themselves,  and  on  his  return  from  Cincinnati  after  the  violence  of  March  5,  1863, 
met  him  at  the  station  and  gave  him  quite  an  ovation. 

The  rush  and  excitement  of  war  times  had  a  stimulating  effect  on  newspaper 
energies.  The  war  developed  newsgatherers  just  as  it  developed  generals,  and 
Columbus  papers,  as  well  as  those  elsewhere,  showed  improvement,  particularly  in 
their  local  columns.  The  city  editor  was  becoming  an  important  personage, 
although  he  still  continued  to  do  all  the  local  work  himself,  the  use  of  reporters,  as 
they  are  now  called,  in  newsgathering  not  having  yet  been  introduced.  Among 
the  city  editors  of  1867-8  were  W.  H.  Busbey  of  the  State  Journal,  now  of  the 
Chicago  Inter-Ocean  ;  George  K.  Nash,  also  of  the  Journal,  and  J.St.  J.  Clark8on,of 


460  HiSTORT   OF   THE   CiTY   OF   COLUMBUS. 

the  Statesman.  In  the  spring  of  1872  the  city  editors  of  the  dailien  were  S.  E. 
Johnson  of  the  Journal,  W.  G.  Thoman  of  the  Statesman,  and  L.  G.  Curtis  of  the 
Dispatch.  Five  years  had  passed,  but  the  development  of  the  reporter  was  not 
yet  complete.  Aside  fV*om  the  matter  which  friends  and  interested  parties  con- 
tributed, the  city  editor  wrote  all  the  local  news,  besides  occasionally  doing  work 
for  outside  papers,  of  which  those  at  Cincinnati  and  Cleveland  had  correspondents 
in  Columbus  during  the  legislative  sittings,  but  at  other  times  relied  upon  their 
Dolumbus  exchanges  for  news  from  the  capital.  But  a  change  was  at  hand.  The 
rapid  growth  of  the  city  and  the  rivalry  of  the  Columbus  press  with  that  of  Cin- 
cinnati made  the  reporter  a  necessity.  It  was  about  1875  that  the  city  editor  was 
given  his  first  regularly  employed  assistant.  One  by  one  reporters  were  added  to 
the  several  local  staffs,  and  the  work  was  apportioned  among  them  by  the  city  editor 
who  became,  as  he  now  is,  a  director  rather  than  a  newsgatherer  —  an  office  man 
who  plans  the  work  of  each  day,  makes  assignments,  reads  and  revises  copy  and 
adjusts  the  several  parts  to  one  another,  so  as  to  make  a  harmonious  whole. 

All  the  early  Columbus  newspapers  were  printed  on  hand  presses,  and  it  was 
not  until  1834  that  the  steam  power  press  was  introduced  in  Ohio.  Such  a  press 
was  a  part  of  the  equipment  of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette,  introduced  by  Stephen  S. 
L*Hommedieu,  one  of  the  owners  of  the  Gazette  at  that  time.  It  was  not  until 
some  years  later  that  steam  presses  began  to  be  used  in  Columbus,  and  even  then 
only  the  machines  employed  in  newspaper  and  book  work  were  propelled  by  st^am- 
power,  the  smaller  presses  for  job  work  being  driven  by  crank  or  treadle.  Single- 
cylinder,  doubleeylinder  and  even  sixcylinder  presses  have  been  successively  used 
in  the  Columbus  newspaper  offices,  and  it  wtis  not  until  1887  that  these  began  to 
be  supplanted  by  the  perfecting  presses  now  in  use  by  all  the  leading  newspapers 
of  the  city. 

The  Statesman  and  State  Journal,  during  the  long  period  in  which  they  were 
competitors  and  chief  newspapers  of  the  capital,  were  printed  on  many  diiferent 
sites.  In  1820,  the  Gazette,  now  State  Journal,  was  located  on  State  Street,  east 
of  the  Statehouse;  in  1825,  near  the  Markethouse,  which  was  thei^on  West  State 
Street;  in  1832,  in  a  large  frame  building  on  High  Street  south  of  State ;  in  183(>, 
on  West  State  Street,  south  side;  in  1843,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  High  and 
Town  streets;  in  1845,  at  the  corner  of  High  Street  and  Chapel  Alloy;  in  1861,  in 
the  Piatt  building  on  Bast  State  Street ;  1870,  in  a  building  at  the  corner  of  Chapel 
and  Pearl  alleys,  which  had  been  erected  by  Charles  Scott  in  1851 ;  in  1881,  on 
State  Street,  just  east  of  the  City  Hall,  where  it  is  now  located. 

One  of  the  early  locations  of  the  Statesman  office  was  on  Broad  Street,  just 
east  of  High,  but  in  1839  the  paper  was  published  on  Broad  Street  between  High 
and  Front;  in  1844,  in  a  frame  building  on  State  Street,  just  west  of  the  present 
site  of  the  City  Hall ;  in  1847,  on  Bast  State  Street,  in  a  brick  building  erected  by 
Samuel  Medary;  in  1853,  corner  of  High  and  Broad  streets;  in  1858,  in  Neil's 
Building  on  High  Street,  near  Gay;  in  1870,  in  the  building  at  the  corner  of  High 
Street  and  Blm  Alley,  which  was  at  that  time  bought  by  Kichard  Nevins  from 
Lafayette  Lazelle,  by  whom  it  was  erected;  and  in  1876  the  office  was  removed 
back  to  the  corner  of  High  and  Broad  streets,  where  it  continued  to  be  published 


The  Press.     II.  461 

us  tbo  TimoH  until  Mr.  Wendell  bought  the  paper  and  established  its  place  of  pub- 
lication on  Wall  Street  in  rear  of  the  Neil  House. 

The  occasion  of  resort  to  violence  by  editors,  or  by  others  against  editors,  have 
not  been  very  numerous,  and  may  be  briefly  mentioned.  Mr.  Clarkson,  writing  in 
the  Ohio  Statesman  of  July  30,  1867,  says :  "  My  memory  goes  back  to  1840,  when 
Colonel  James  Allen  (of  the  Journal)  received  a  trouncing  from  T.  J.  Buchanan, 
then  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  for  bringing  a  lady  into  a  political 
contest.  Soon  after  this  incident,  M.  H.  Medary,  then  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
Statesman,  flogged  a  Journal  editor,  believed  to  be  Mr.  Oren  Follett,  for  a  similar 
offence.  Subsequently  Doctor  Miller,  editor  of  the  Old  School  Republican,  gave  a 
sound  flogging,  in  front  of  the  American  House,  to  V.  W.  Smith,  known  in  current 
newspaper  slang  as  '  Bot '  Smith,  then  editing  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  for  a  gross 
slander.  On  another  occasion  Colonel  Medary  gave  a  sound  caning  to  John  Tees- 
dale,  Smith's  successor  on  the  State  Journal." 

On  March  27,  1855,  John  Geary,  editor  of  the  Fact,  was  assaulted  on  High 
Street,  in  front  of  Savage's  jewelry  store,  by  George  M.  Swan,  editor  of  the  Eleva- 
tor. Geary  was  struck  but  not  seriously  injured,  and  the  intervention  of 
bystanders  prevented  further  hostilities.  Swan  was  arrested  and  admitted  to 
$1,000  bail.  The  Grand  Jury  failed  to  indict  him.  In  1864,  one  of  the  editors  of 
the  Express,  the  successor  of  the  Fact,  was  assaulted  by  O.  B.  Chapman,  editor  of  the 
Union  League.  In  the  same  year  &  local  editor  of  the  State  Journal  was  cowhided 
on  the  street  by  a  woman  whom  he  had  denounced  as  ''  a  long,  lean,  lank,  sallow- 
comploxioned  she-rebel."  The  same  night  the  wife  of  the  local  writer  met  on  the 
street  the  woman  who  had  wielded  the  cowhide  on  her  husband,  and  returned 
the  compliment  with  a  buggywhip.  The  accounts  of  the  affair  indicate  that  the 
indigant  wife  secured  full  revenge.  Chauncey  Newton,  the  legislative  correspon- 
dent of  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  was  twice  assaulted  while  stationed  in  Columbus. 
Senator  Peres  B.  Bueli,  of  the  Fourteenth  District,  took  offense  at  the  publication 
of  his  speech  by  Newton  and  assaulted  him  in  the  Senate  Chamber  April  19,  1874. 
Newton  was  thrown  to  the  floor,  but  not  much  hurt.  On  March  12,  1875,  he  was 
attacked  on  the  street  by  Edward  C.  Lewis,  Representative  from  Tuscarawas 
County,  because  of  criticisms  in  the  Enquirer  correspondence.  Nothing  serious 
came  of  this  affair.  Mr.  Newton  died  in  Cincinnati,  April  6,  1880.  The  next  day 
the  newspaper  men  met,  with  Senator  Lecky  Harper  as  chairman,  and  Miss  Lillie 
DarHt  as  secretary,  and  adopted  appropriate  resolutions.  On  the  night  of  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1875,  Captain  John  A.  Arthur  was  assaulted  at  the  door  of  his  residence 
on  Front  Street,  near  Spring,  by  some  person  or  persons  whose  identity  was  never 
discovered.  He  was  struck  between  the  eyes  with  some  blunt  instrument  and  his 
skull  was  crushed.  The  assault  occurred  shortly  after  midnight  on  Friday,  and 
Mr.  Arthur  died  on  the  following  Tuesday.  At  the  time  of  the  assault  he  was  a 
local  writer  for  the  Sunday  News  and  was  legislative  correspondent  for  Toledo 
papers. 

On  June  12,  1882,  Edward  Eberly  assaulted  W.  J.  Elliott,  of  the  Sunday 
Capital,  for  an  offensive  article  which  had  appeared  in  that  paper.  On  November 
8,  1885,  Hon.  Emil  Kiesewetter  fired  two  shots  at  Elliott  in  the  lobby  of  the  Neil 


462  History  of  the  City  of  CoLUMBrs. 

IIouso.  Mr.  Kiesowotter  was  impelled  to  this  act  by  animadversions  upon  him  in 
the  Capital  which  he  deemed  intolei*ablo.  Neither  of  his  shots  took  effect.  He 
was  arrested,  admitted  to  bail  in  $1,000,  and  after  a  hearing  before  Mayor  Waleatt 
on  November  16,  was  discharged  on  the  ground  of  provocation.  This  affraj'  led 
Jiev.  Francis  E.  Mai*sten,  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  Rev.  Washington 
Gladden,  of  the  First  Congregational  Church,  to  preach  sermons  on  immoral  jour- 
nalism. On  July  27,  1886,  Mr.  F.  A.  Brodbeck,  business  manager  of  the  Sunday 
News,  was  assaulted  by  Robert  B.  Montgomery  in  the  office  of  the  paper.  The 
case  against  Montgomery  was  taken  to  the  courts,  but  was  not  pressed,  as  no 
bodily  injury  had  been  inflicted.  On  February  23,  1891,  W.  J.  Elliott  and  P.  J. 
Elliott,  of  the  Sunday  Capital,  met  A.  C.  Osborn,  of  the  Sunday  World,  on  High 
Street,  opposite  the  Statehouse  Square,  and  opened  fire  upon  him  with  revolvers. 
Osborn  was  killed  and  Washington  L.  Hughes,  an  innocent  bystander,  was  also 
shot  dead.  Osborn  tried  to  return  the  fire,  and  in  the  fusillade  a  number  of  per- 
sons were  injured.  The  shooting  was  the  result  of  an  interchange  of  newspaper 
attacks  of  a  personal  nature.  W.  J.  Elliott  is  now  serving  a  life  sentence  in  the 
Penitentiary  for  the  crime. 

Efforts  to  form  associations  of  editors  and  publishers  have  been  numerous 
although  intermittent.  Some  have  been  partisan,  some  nonpartisan  ;  some  local 
and  some  State.  In  June,  1833,  a  call  for  the  first  editorial  convention  of  which 
there  is  any  record  was  issued.  The  date  set  for  the  convention  was  July  9,  but 
so  few  were  the  responses  that  no  organization  was  effected.  The  Democratic 
Editorial  Association  held  meetings  in  Columbus  in  1845-6-7-8.  The  principal 
business  transacted  was  the  adoption  of  partisan  resolutions  and  plans  of  organi- 
zation to  assist  the  party  in  its  campaigns.  The  convention  of  1845  adopted  a 
resolution  which  condemned  personal  bickerings  among  editors.  One  resolution 
of  the  convention  of  1846  declared  "  uncompromising  hostility  to  a  currency  of 
paper  money,  which  we  believe  to  be  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  wicked  engines 
ever  invented  to  corrupt  the  morals  of  the  people,  to  tax  their  labor  and  subvert 
their  liberties."  Among  the  men  prominent  in  these  deliberations  were  D.  A. 
Robertson,  of  the  Lancaster  Eagle;  John  Brand,  of  the  Steubenville  Union  ; 
Daniel  Gotshall,  William  S.  Morgan,  Chauncey  Bassctt,  Samuel  Medary,  Thomas 
Sparrow  and  Matthias  Martin. 

In  1849  Samuel  Medary,  William  B.  Thrall  and  Henry  Reed  united  in  issuing 
a  call  for  an  Ohio  Editorial  Convention,  irrespective  of  party  affiliations.  The 
convention  met  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  November  29,  of  that  year,  there  being 
present  a  large  number  of  editors  of  various  partisan  complexion,  from  all  parts  of 
the  State.  Edwin  R.  Campbell,  of  the  Cincinnati  Dispatch,  was  chairman,  and 
J.  R.  Kuapp,  of  the  Marion  Democratic  Mirror,  secretary.  A  committee  on  plan  of 
organization,  consisting  of  Charles  B.  Flood,  L,  L.  Rice  and  George  M.  Swan,  was 
appointed  at  this  or  a  subsequent  meeting,  and  recommended  that  the  association 
meet  annually  on  January  17,  the  birthday  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  Accordingly, 
the  convention  assembled  on  that  date  in  1851,  in  the  room  of  the  State  Library, 
E.  R.  Campbell  presiding,  and  J.  Medill  and  T.  Brown  acting  as  secretaries. 
Thirty    delegates    were    present.     Permanent  officers    were   chosen    as  follows: 


The  Press.     II.  463 

President,  A.  G.  Di m mock ;  Vice  President,  E.  Bratton ;  Second  Vice  President, 
A.  T.  Walling  ;  Secretaries,  James  Mackenzie  and  D.  H.  Lyman.  Resolutions  were 
adopted  favoring  the  publication  of  the  new  Constitution  by  one  paper  of  each 
party  in  each  county;  compulsory  advertisement  of  all  sales  of  property;  discon- 
tinuance of  gratuitous  advertising  of  magazines;  the  revision  and  equalization  of 
postage  rates,  and  the  election  of  the  State  Printer  by  the  people.  The  organiza- 
tion thus  eflfectod  survived  for  a  number  of  years,  although  its  meetings  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  regular.  In  1854,  the  convention  was  held  at  the  Spencer  House,  in 
Cincinnati,  on  January  10,  a  week  earlier  than  the  date  recommended  by  the  com- 
mittee of  1851.  The  next  convention  was  held  January  17,  1856,  at  Deshlor's 
Hall,  Columbus.  J.  R.  S.  Bond  was  temporary  and  Samuel  Medary  permanent 
chairman.  Resolutions  were  adopted  declaring  that,  in  the  dignity  and  imper- 
sonality with  which  the  late  exciting  political  campaign  was  conducted  by  the 
journals  of  Ohio,  the  question,  "What  good  can  an  editorial  convention  do?"  is 
answered.  It  was  also  resolved  that,  in  the  growing  brotherhood  apparent  among 
the  editors  of  the  State,  is  indicated  the  good  work  which  the  interchange  of  per- 
sonal courtesies  will  effect.  Personalities  and  bitter  controversies  were  deprecated, 
local  newsgathering  commended,  and  annual  meetings  advised.  About  thirty 
delegates  attended  this  meeting.  Officers  for  the  ensuing  year  wore  chosen  as 
follows:  President,  Samuel  Medary  ;  Vice  Presidents,  W.  Schouler,  A.  B.  Lum  ; 
Secretaries,  J.  H.  Baker  and  H.  D.  Cooke ;  Treasurer,  S.  D.  Harris.  It  was  decided 
to  hold  the  next  meeting  at  Mansfield,  January  17,  1857,  and  Miss  Metta  Victoria 
Fuller,  of  Lancaster,  was  chosen  poet  for  the  occasion.  At  the  Mansfield  meeting 
there  was  a  large  attendance,  and  William  Schouler,  of  the  State  Journal,  was 
chosen  president.  The  next  annual  meeting,  held  in  Cleveland,  January  19,  1858, 
appears  to  have  been  the  last  one  held  by  that  association,  the  excitement  and 
antagonisms  of  the  war  probably  interfering. 

On  January  4,  1865,  a  convention  of  Ohio  editors  and  publishers  was  held  in 
Columbus.  William  T.  Bascom,  of  the  Mount  Vernon  Republican,  was  chairman, 
and  L.  L.  Rice,  of  the  Lorain  News,  secretary.  A  scale  of  prices  for  advertising 
and  job  work  was  adopted,  and  the  committee  was  appointed  to  memorialize  Con- 
gress for  the  repeal  of  the  duty  on  paper,  so  as  to  give  relief  from  the  monopoly 
which  that  duty  protects.  A  State  organization  was  effected  as  follows:  President, 
W.  II.  P.  Denny;  Secretary,  Amos  La3^man  ;  Treasurer,  W.  D.  Bickham.  Nothing 
more  seems  to  have  been  done  by  this  particular  organization. 

A  number  of  Ohio  publishers  met  in  convention  at  the  Secretary  of  State's 
office,  April  18,  1867,  with  Doctor  William  Trevitt  as  chairman,  and  J.  L.  Board- 
man,  of  Hillsboro,  secretary.  The  principal  topics  discussed  were:  The  best 
means  of  obtaining  a  reduction  of  prices  of  printing  paper;  repeal  of  the  tax 
on  paper  ;  advance  payment  of  subscriptions  ;  rights  of  the  press  to  county  printing  ; 
prices  of  advertising  and  job  work,  and  the  establishment  of  an  Ohio  publishers* 
agency  in  New  York.  An  adjourned  meeting  was  called  for  June  20,  that  year, 
to  further  discuss  these  matters. 

On  May  22,  1873,  the  day  after  the  Republican  State  Convention,  the  Ohio 
Editorial  Association  held  a  meeting  in  Columbus.    Joshua  Saxton,  of  Urbana,  was 


iVA  History  of  the  City  of  Columhur. 

chairman,  and  J.  Q.  A.  Canipboll,  of  Bollofontaino,  secretary.  Oscar  T.  Martin,  of 
Springfield,  delivered  an  addrcHson  JournaliBm.  In  tiie  busineAH  nession  following, 
a  resolution  was  ado]>ted,  asking  for  a  law  graduating  the  rales  of  postage  on  news- 
pai)ers. 

The  Ohio  Editorial  Association  met  in  Columbus,  June  8,  1875,  immediately 
ailer  the  Republican  State  convention,  and  was  largely  attended.  General  James 
M.  Comly  was  chairman  of  this  mooting.  A  banquet  was  given  to  the  visit- 
ing delegates  at  the  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  and  on  the  next  day 
the  Association  took  an  excursion  down  the  Hocking  Valley  Railway.  Besides  its 
discussion  of  professional  matters,  the  Association  listened  to  an  address  b}' 
S.  R.  Rood,  on  The  Great  Moral  Engine,  and  a  poem  by  Archie  McGregor. 

The  Democratic  editors  of  weekly  papers  mot  in  State  convention  July  15, 1880. 
Hon.  Tiocky  Harper,  of  the  Mount  Vernon  Banner,  was  chairman,  and  Thomas 
Wetzler,  of  the  Lancaster  Eagle,  secretary.  Hon.  Allen  G.  Thurman  delivered  an 
address,  and  a  Democratic  Press  Association  was  organized:  President,  Leek}' 
Harper ;  Vice  Presidents,  Judge  Estill  and  C.  B.  Flood  ;  Secretarj',  Thomas  Wetzler  ; 
Treasurer,  M.  L.  Bryan. 

About  seven tyfive  editors  of  the  State  held  a  meeting  at  the  Board  of  Trade 
rooms,  February  9,  1882,  as  the  State  Editorial  Association,  and  discussed  the  law 
of  libel,  legal  advertising  rates,  etc.  Hon.  Lecky  Harper  presided.  On  December 
5,  1883,  another  meeting  of  the  same  organization  was  held  at  the  same  place. 
There  was  a  large  attendance  and  the  usual  interchange  of  ideas  was  had.  The 
officers  elected  were :  President,  I.  T.  Mack ;  Vice  President,  L.  A.  Brunner ; 
Secretary,  W.  C.  McClintock ;  Treasurer,  B.  R.  Alderman. 

The  business  managers  of  Ohio  papers  held  a  conference  at  the  Neil  House, 
November  5,  1885,  of  which  F.  J.  Wendell  was  chairman,  and  organized  the  Busi- 
ness Managers'  Association,  with  the  following  officers :  President,  W.  S.  Cappeller ; 
Vice  President,  F.  J.  Wendell;  Secretary,  F.  S.  Presbey;  Treasurer,  J.  P.  Chew. 
On  July  13, 1886,  another  mooting  was  held  and  the  Ohio  Associated  Press  Com- 
pany was  organized  with  a  view  to  establishing  a  news  service  for  Ohio.  F.  J. 
Wendell  was  authorized  to  obtain  rates  from  the  telegraph  company  and  report  the 
cost  of  the  service  desired.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  it  was  decided  that  the 
expense  would  be  greater  than  the  revenue,  and  tho  project  was  abandoned,  but  the 
business  managers  still  maintain  an  organization  which  is  known  as  the  Associated 
Ohio  Dailies,  and  annual  meetings  of  its  members  are  held. 

The  first  meeting  of  German  editors  of  which  there  is  any  local  record 
was  held  at  the  Westbote  office,  February  13,  1877.  On  January  17,  1878,  another 
meeting,  largely  attended,  was  held.  A  third  meeting  was  held  in  Schneider's 
Hall,  February  15,  1886,  at  which  organization  was  effected  as  follows  :  President, 
J.  B.  Froman,  of  Chillicothe;  Vice  President,  W.  Kauffman,  of  Cleveland  ;  Secre- 
tary, W.  F.  Kemmler,  of  Columbus ;  Treasurer,  L.  Hii-sch,  of  Columbus  At  another 
meeting  in  1889,  Joseph  Zimmerman  was  elected  President,  W.  F.  Kemmler  Vice 
President,  Hans  Otto  Beck  Secretary,  and  Leo  Hirsch  Treasurer. 

The  Republican  editors  of  Ohio  held  a  meeting  in  Columbus  July  8,  1886,  and 
adopted  a  series  of  resolutions  denouncing  the  action  of  the  United  States  Senate 


The  Press.     II. 


•  Sj/T* ^?Ti ,1* T^-T*  vice  R6I1M  ftAn  <ta> 


■  i~..w       Gnn   tood    eltiia    ._ _ __.      , 


PAGE  OF  FREEMAN'S  CUROKICLE,  FEBRUARY  B,  1814. 


46()  History  of  the  City  of  (yOLUMBiTs. 

in  refusing  to  reinvestigate  char^eft  of  bribery  already  investigated  b}'  the  (Jent^ral 
Assembly  of  the  State,  pertaining  to  the  election  to  the  National  Senate  of  Hon. 
Henry  li.  Payne.  At  this  meeting  a  State  Republican  Editorial  Association  was 
formed,  with  J.  M.  Comly  as  President,  E.  S.  Wilson  Vice-I^residcnt,  S.  J.  Flickin- 
ger  Secretary,  and  F.  C.  Reynolds  Treasurer.  This  organization  did  not  again 
meet  until  1891. 

The  Hocking  and  Ohio  Valley  Editorial  Association  is  an  organization  for 
social  and  business  pur]»oses,  of  which  many  Columbus  nevvsj)apcr  men  are  mem- 
bers.    It  has  been  in  existence  a  number  of  years. 

Numerous  organizations  of  Columbus  newspaper  men  have  been  formed  for 
social  purposes, but  for  the  most  part  have  had  an  e])hemcral  existence.  The  single 
exce])tion  is  the  Curtis  Press  Club,  organized  November  29,  1881,  and  named  in 
honor  of  Lanson  G.  Curtis,  then  recently  deceased.  On  November  20,  1881,  two 
days  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Curtis,  the  journalists  of  Columbus  met  and  resolved 
to  pay  tribute  to  his  memory  by  organizing  a  press  club  hearing  his  name.  A 
committee  then  appointed  to  ]>re])are  a  plan  of  permanent  organization  reported 
to  a  subsequent  meeting  held  November  29,  presenting  a  code  of  regulations  which 
was  adopted.  By  agreement  the  following  named  seven  men  first  signed  the  con- 
stitution and  were  authorized  to  act  as  a  quorum  to  pass  upon  the  eligibility  of 
additional  members,  active  and  honorary:  W.  A.  Taylor,  W.  D.  Brickell,  T.  VV. 
Collier,  Charles  G.  Lord,  F.  A.  Brodbeck,  L.  Hirsch,  and  H.  A.  Reinhard.  The 
following  persons  then  signed  the  constitution  and  were  admitted  as  members: 
S.  B.  Porter,  L.  C.  Macpherson,  S.  S.  Peters,  B.  G.  Orebaugh,  Osman  C.  Hooper, 
W.G.  Thoman,  Albert  Guthke,  William  P.  Brown,  H.  G.Simpson,  John  A.  Kuster, 
T.  W.  King,  Allen  O.  Myers,  H.  L.  Conard,  F.  W.  Snell,  and  S.  J.  Flickinger. 
Officers  were  then  elected  as  follows:  President,  W.  A.  Taylor;  Vice  President, 
W.  D.  Brickell ;  Secretary,  S.  S.  Peters;  Treasurer,  F.  A.  Brodbeck;  Executive 
Committee,  Allen  O.  Myers,  Chairman,  T.  W.  Collier,  S.  B.  Porter,  D.  L.  Bovver- 
smith,  and  C.  G.  Lord. 

To  j)rovide  funds  for  fitting  up  its  rooms  the  Club,  on  February  17  and  18, 
1882,  gave  two  entertainment  at  the  Grand  Opera  House  and  thereby  realized  the 
net  sum  of  $8G5.20,  Rooms  were  then  rented  and  furnished  in  the  building 
occupied  by  the  Ohio  State  Journal  on  vState  Street,  and  on  the  evening  of  July  11, 
1882,  were  formally  opened.  The  club  at  that  time  had  sixty  two  active  and  seven- 
teen honorary  members.  On  September  27,  1882,  it  gave  a  reception  to  General 
James  M.  Comly  on  his  return  from  Honolulu.  A  welcoming  address  was  made 
by  President  W.  A.  Taylor  and  a  pleasant  response  by  General  Comly.  Professor 
Eckhardt's  quartette  furnished  music  and  refreshments  were  served.  On  Decem- 
her  5,  1882,  the  club  elected  the  following  officers:  President,  A.  W.  Francisco; 
Vice  President,  F.  1).  Mussey ;  Secretary,  S.  S.  Peters;  Treasurer,  F.  A.  Brodbeck  ; 
Corresponding  Secretary,  W.  C.  Turner;  Executive  Committee,  II.  E.  Conard, 
Allen  O.  Myei*8,  D.  L.  Bow.ersmith,  S.  C.  Chorlton,  and  S.  J.  Flickinger.  The  club 
gave  a  New  Year's  reception  January  1,  1883,  and  on  March  8  and  9  of  that  year 
gave  an  entertainment  at  the  Comstock  Opera  House,  from  which  a  net  profit  of 
$414.67  was  realized. 

For  various  reasons  the  interest  in  the  club  had  by  this  time  begun  to  abate 
to  such  a  degree  that  on  October  26,  1883,   its  Executive  Committee  recommended 


The  Press.     II.  467 

that  it  be  disbanded,  and  that  all  its  ^ifts  be  returned  to  the  donors  and  its  other 
property  sold.  The  club  decided  not  to  disband  but  to  carry  out  the  other  recom- 
mendations of  the  committee,  and  its  rooms  were  accordingly  given  up,  and  its 
property  disposed  of.  Occasional  meetings  continued  to  be  held  and  on  December 
21,  1883,  the  following  oflScers  were  elected:  President,  S.  C.  Chorlton  ;  Vice 
President,  D.  L.  Bowersmith  ;  Secretary,  S.  S.  Peters;  Corresponding  Secretary, 
C.  E.  Bonebrake;  Treasurer,  W.  C.  Turner  ;  Executive  Committee,  S.  J.  Flickinger, 
F.  A.  Brodbeck,  W.  F.  Kemmler,  C.  G.  Lord,  and  F.  W.  SnoU.  Mr.  Turner  declining 
to  give  the  bond  required  of  the  treasurer,  Mr.  Brodbeck  was  continued  in  office. 
The  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  realized  from  the  sale  of  the  club's  effects  was 
donated  February  13,  1884,  toward  the  relief  of  sufferers  by  a  flood  in  the  Ohio 
Hiver.  At  the  annual  meeting  in  December,  1884,  the  following  officers  were 
elected:  President,  Allen  O.  Myers;  Vice  President,  Amos  Layman;  Secretary,  S. 
S.  Peters;  Corres])onding  Secretary,  C.  E.  Bonebrake;  Treasurer,  F.  A.  Brodbeck; 
Executive  Committee,  D.  L.  Bowersmith  and  W.  F.  Kemmler. 

The  last  meeting  of  the  Curtis  Press  Club  of  which  there  isany  record  occurred 
OctoV)er  29,  1886.  A  donation  from  the  funds  of  the  club  to  Charles  B.  Flood, 
a  newspaper  man  then  aged  and  ill,  was  made,  and  the  treasurer  was  authorized 
to  dispose  of  any  property  of  the  club  still  remaining  in  his  custody.  Since  that 
date  the  organizations  of  the  local  members  of  the  press  have  been  special  and 
temporary.  In  September,  1888,  an  organization  of  this  kind  was  effected  under 
the  direction  of  W.  D.  Brickell,  Chairman,  for  the  entertainment  of  newspaper 
men  who  came  to  attend  the  National  Encampment  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic.  Writing  and  sleeping  rooms  were  j)rovided,  and  a  lunch  room  was 
opened  for  the  Hj)ccial  accommodation  of  visiting  members  of  the  press.  The 
work  was  creditably  done,  and  a  considerable  part  of  the  money  appropriated  for 
the  use  of  the  Press  Committee  was  turned  back  into  the  treasury  of  the  General 
Council. 

The  most  recent  attempt  to  organize  a  Press  Club  was  made  July  16,  1889.  A 
constitution  was  adopted  and  a  membership  of  thirty  was  secured.  Officers  were 
elected  as  follows:  President,  W.  D.  Brickell;  Vice  President,  D.  L.  Bowersmithj 
Treasurer,  W.  F.  Kemmler;  Secretary,  George  Smart;  Directors,  S.  N.  Cook,  O.  C. 
Hooper,  and  L.  Ilirsch.  Several  meetings  were  held,  but  the  interest  soon  died 
out  and  the  club  practically  became  a  nullity. 


The  pioneer  editor  of  Columbus  is  James  B.  Gardiner,  who  published  the 
Freeman's  Chronicle  in  Franklinton  in  1812-14.  He  was  a  man  of  ideas,  strong  in 
his  (convictions  and  alwa3"s  ready  to  contend  fc)r  what  he  believed  to  be  right^ 
The  Chronicle  was  a  very  creditable  paper  for  its  opportunities,  but  was  not  finan- 
cially successful,  and  Mr.  (iardiner  abandoned  it  with  the  intention  never  to  enter 
the  journalistic  profession  again.  But  he  was  driven  to  it  by  his  inclinations,  and 
as  he  frankly  said  to  the  public,  by  the  necessit}'  of  earning  a  livelihood,  so  that  in 
1826  he  began  the  publication  at  Xenia,  of  the  People's  Press.  This  he  did  under 
rather  peculiar  circumstances.     A  few  years  before,  he  had  removed  from  Colum* 


4()8  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

bus  to  Xonia  and  had  been  nominated  and  elected  to  the  General  Assembly  from 
that  eount3\  During  the  campaign  he  pledged  himself  to  endeavor  if  elected,  to 
secure  the  repeal  of  a  then  recent  act  increasing  the  salary  of  legislators  from  two 
to  three  dollars  per  day.  He  further  declared  that  he  would  accept  the  sum  of 
three  dollars  per  da}',  but  would  pay  one  dollar  of  it  into  the  treasury  of  Greene 
County.  On  taking  his  seat,  the  question  of  his  eligibility  was  raised,  and  it  was 
charged  that  his  promise  to  the  electors  of  Greene  County  was  in  the  nature  of  a 
bribe.  His  enemies  were  too  numerous  for  him  and  his  seat  was  denied  him. 
Another  election  was  ordered  and  Mr.  Gardiner  was  again  returned  and  again 
rejected,  whereupon  he  began  the  publication  of  the  People's  Press,  as  above 
stated.  He  was  not  vindictive,  however,  and  his  case  before  the  legislature  was 
referred  to  in  his  paper  only  in  a  series  of  articles  reproduced  from  an  exchange 
which  reviewed  the  whole  matter  and  undertook  Mr.  Gardiner's  vindication, 
which,  however,  was  accomplished  in  a  more  substantial  way  b}'  his  election  to 
the  State  Senate  in  1826  from  the  district  then  composed  of  the  counties  of  Greene 
and  Clinton.  Mr.  Gardiner  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  the  following  December 
and  served  out  the  term  for  which  he  was  elected,  at  the  same  time  conducting  his 
paper  at  Xenia.  His  next  and  last  newspaper  work  was  done  on  the  Ohio  People's 
Press,  a  Columbus  paper  of  which  he  was  the  editor  and  S.  R.  Dolbee  the  pub- 
lisher. The  Press  was  issued  during  the  Harrison-Van  Buren  campaign  of  183»> 
as  a  Harrison  organ.  It  had  a  circulation  of  about  seven  thousand  copies.  Mr. 
Gardiner  was  born  in  Marj-land  in  1789,  and  during  his  boyhood  settled  at 
Marietta,  Ohio,  where  ho  learned  the  printing  business  and  was  afterwards  married 
to  Mary  Poole.  He  removed  to  Frauklinton  in  1810  or  1811.  During  President 
Jackson's  administration  he  served  as  Indian  Agent  and  assisted  in  removing  the 
Indian  tribes  from  Ohio.  Two  of  his  daughters  now  reside  in  this  city ;  a  third 
was  married  to  Hon.  Richard  W.  Thompson,  of  Indiana.  Mr.  Gardiner  died  of 
apoplexy  at  Marion,  Ohio,  during  a  Government  land  sale,  April  14, 1837. 

One  of  the  most  earnest  and  influential  of  the  early  Columbus  journalists  was 
David  Smith,  who  was  one  of  the  founders  and  for  twenty  years  the  editor  of  the 
Monitor,  the  paper  out  of  which  grew  the  Ohio  Statesman.  Mr.  Smith  was  born 
at  Francistown,  New  Hampshire,  October  18,  1785.  His  ancestors  were  Scotch - 
Irish  Protestants  and  took  part  in  the  memorable  siege  of  Londonderry.  He 
graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1811,  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  married  in  1814 
and  soon  afterwards  removed  to  Columbus,  Ohio,  where,  in  1816,  in  association 
with  Ezra  Griswold,  of  Worthington,  he  began  the  publication  of  a  small  news- 
paper entitled  the  Ohio  Monitor  and  Patron  of  Husbandry,  which  was  not  a 
strictly  agricultural  journal,  although  part  of  its  name  was  afterwards  adopted  by 
an  organization  of  farmers.  During  the  greater  part  of  its  career  this  j)aper  was 
known  simply  as  the  Ohio  Monitor.  As  its  publication  began  at  the  outset  of  the 
"era  of  good  fieeling,'*  under  President  Monroe,  the  Monitor  had  no  distinctive 
party  affiliation  during  the  first  six  or  eight  years  of  its  existence.  It  was  always, 
however,  an  ardent  advocate  of  a  protective  tariff,  and  in  the  campaign  of  1824 
vigorously  supported  John  Quincy  Adams  for  President.  Afler  the  famous  coali- 
tion of  the  friends  of  Adams  and  Clay,  resulting  in  the  election  of  Adams  to  the 


^:^4-->.>.^jS.-^t:..^-ii-.^.^.«^ 


The  Press.     II.  469 

Presidency  and  the  appointment  of  Clay  as  Secretary  of  State,  Jud^e  Smith, 
whose  hatred  of  slavery  had  caused  him  to  be  bitterly  hostile  to  Clay  because  of 
his  championship  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  became  vehemently  opposed  to  the 
^^administration  party,"  as  the  supporters  of  Adams  were  called,  and  before  the 
campaign  of  1828  began,  the  Monitor  had  become,  as  it  continued  to  be  during 
that  campaign,  an  ardent  supporter  of  General  Jackson  for  the  presidency.  It 
was  ever  after  an  independent,  influential,  and  much  quoted  Democratic  paper. 
Up  to  the  date  of  its  sale  it  still  favored  a  protective  tariff.  Soon  after  the 
presidential  election  of  1836,  the  Monitor  was  purchased  by  Jacob  Medary, 
brother  of  Samuel  Medary,  and  became  one  of  the  component  parts  of  the  Ohio 
Statesman. 

The  distinction  of  being  the  oldest  living  editor  in  Ohio  belongs  to 
Hon.  Oren  Follett,  who,  at  the  time  of  the  preparation  of  this  sketch  (1890)  is 
living  at  Sandusky,  Ohio,  at  the  age  of  ninetytwo.  Much  of  his  editorial  work 
was  done  in  New  York  State,  but  he  was  the  editor  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal 
during  the  campaigns  of  1840  and  1844,  and  again  for  a  period  of  three  years 
beginning  with  1854,  at  which  time  he  was  also  a  part  owner.  Mr.  FoUett's  early 
editorial  work  was  done  at  Eochester,  New  York,  on  the  Gazette,  in  1817,  but  in 
February,  1819,  he  began  by  invitation  to  publish  at  Batavia  a  paper  called  the 
Spirit  of  the  Times.  In  1823  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of  New  York,  in 
1826  bought  an  interest  in  the  Buffalo  Journal,  of  which  he  was  the  editor  until 
1832,  and  in  that  year  came  to  Ohio.  Concerning  his  editorial  services  in  Columbus 
we  have  the  following  account  from  his  own  pen  : 

My  editorial  experience  in  Ohio,  previous  to  1854,  had  been  incidental,  temporary,  on 
special  solicitation  and  occasion :  first  in  1840,  extending  from  March  to  November,  to  carry 
the  party  through  the  Harrison  campaign ;  the  same  in  1844,  through  the  Clay  and  Folk 
campaign,  which  old  politicians  will  remember  was  a  very  vigorous  one  and  hotly  contested 
on  both  sides.  The  State  was  carried  for  Mr.  Clay,  and  the  editor  of  the  Journal  was  thought 
to  have  done  his  full  share  of  the  work.  This  was  manifested  by  a  tender  (in  caucus)  at  the 
session  of  1845,  of  the  office  of  Auditor  of  State,  to  succeed  Brough.  Both  houses  were 
Whig  —  a  nomination  was  in  efl'ect  an  election ;  but  I  declined  the  ofiier  from  considerations 
entirely  personal.  So,  of  the  ofiice  of  State  Treasurer,  withdrawing  in  favor  of  Judge  John 
Sloane,  of  Wayne  County,  who  was  afterwards  United  States  Treasurer. 

But  an  emergency  had  arisen,  and  I  was  called  upon  to  make  a  sacrifice.  The  Board  of 
Canal  Commissioners  was  Democratic  and  was  accused  (as  is  usual  in  party  contests)  of 
extreme  partisanship  and  wasteful  expenditure.  In  addition  to  the  canals,  the  Board  had 
under  its  care,  the  National  Road  and  other  public  ways.  It  had  committed  the  National 
Road  to  the  superintendence  of  one  John  Youtz,  whose  abuses  were  made  the  subject  of 
investigation  by  a  legislative  committee.  There  was  but  one  remedy,  viewed  from  a  party 
standpoint,  sufficiently  prompt  to  serve  all  purposes,  and  that  was  to  repeal  the  law  creating 
the  Canal  Board  and  pass  another  creating  a  Board  of  Public  Works.  The  remedy  was 
promptly  applied.  The  question  then  very  naturally  arose,  who  should  be  the  President  of  the 
new  Board  and  who  the  acting  Commissioners  ?  There  was  no  difficulty  in  adjusting  the  latter 
but  about  the  former  there  was  a  diversity  of  opinion.  Good  old  Colonel  Chambers,  of 
Muskingum,  who  was  President  of  the  Senate  (now  called  Lieutenant-Governor)  had  shaped 
the  bill  so  as  to  make  a  good  place  for  himself  as  President  and  had  busied  himself  in  mak- 
ing friends  in  both  houses  for  his  election.  The  Colonel  was  called  "Old  Hawkeye,"  for  his 
smartness  in  affairs,  but  it  was  feared  by  the  leaders  that  he  might  prove  too  sharp  and 


470  History  of  the  City  or  CoLUMBrs. 

prompt  on  occHsion,  in  the  new  place.  The  membeni,  as  a  bwly,  were  personally  welldis 
pofierl  toward  the  Colonel,  and.  as  he  ha<i  had  the  whole  winter  to  do  his  work  in  his  elec- 
tion seemed  snre.  In  this  emergency,  the  leaders  turned  to  the  man  who  had  refused  all 
offices.  The  offer  was  civilly  but  promptly  declined.  The  Senator  making  the  offer,  in  due 
time  retnmed  with  members  of  both  houses;  it  was  urged  that  by  the  terms  of  the  bill,  the 
President  held  office  but  one  year  at  the  first  election  —  it  would  not.  like  the  offices,  take  my 
whole  time  — and  *' we  can  beat  the  Colonel  with  no  other  name,"  etc..  etc.  I  suffered 
myself  to  be  elected,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year,  notwithstanding  my  public  declination.  I 
was  reelected  for  the  full  term  of  three  vears. 

I  now  come  down  to  1854.  The  slave  power  was  rampant.  I  need  not  repeat  history. 
My  e<]itorial  services  in  Ohio,  thus  far,  had  been  incidental,  temporary,  to  answer  a  special 
purpose.  But  now,  there  was  work  to  be  done  on  a  broader  field  than  State  platform?.  The 
proprietor  of  the  Ohio  State  Jofirnnl  (the  paper  with  which  I  had  l>een  connected)  faile<l  in 
business.  He  had  made  me  one  of  his  assignees.  I  declined  the  trust.  The  situation  was 
canvassed  and  four  of  us  (names  need  not  be  mentioned)  bought  the  concern  for  ♦20,000,  not  as 
an  investment,  but  to  fight  slavery  and  build  up  a  party  of  resistance.  T  omit  more  particular 
allusion  to  the  business  feature  of  this  enterprise,  barely  mentioning  in  passing,  that,  owing 
to  circumstances  about  which  but  few  at  this  late  day  would  care  to  hear,  it  was  not  a 
pecuniary  success.  My  connection  with  the  Journal  lasted  to  the  conclusion  of  the  Fremont 
campaign,  when,  feeling  that  the  party  was  on  a  firm  basis  and  in  a  condition  to  accomplish 
its  mission,  I  retired. 

Colonel  P.  n.  Olmsted,  who  was  connected  with  the  paper  now  known  as  the 
Ohio  State  Journal,  either  as  part  or  sole  proprietor,  from  1812  tol831,  was  born  near 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  came  to  this  county  with  his  parents  in  1808.  The 
family  settled  on  a  farm  near  Blendon  Corners.  Four  years  later  he  bought  a  part 
interest  in  the  Western  Intelligencer,  which  paper  he  and  his  associates  in  business 
brought  to  Columbus  in  1814,  whore  Colonel  Olmsted  spent  the  remaining  years  of 
his  life.  He  was  mayor  of  Columbus  under  its  boroujjh  organization  in  1833  and 
of  the  city  in  1838 ;  reprcHentod  Franklin  County  one  term  in  the  General  Assembly  ; 
became  a  merchant  and  conducted  a  general  store  near  the  corner  of  Main  and 
High  streets  in  1831 ;  was  landlord  of  the  old  National  Hotel  in  1839  ;  manager  of  the 
Neil  House  in  1841  and  of  the  City  House  at  the  southwest  corner  of  High  and 
Town  streets  in  1843;  opened  the  United  States  Hotel  on  its  present  site  in  1846  ; 
retired  from  that  business  in  1850  and  died  February  20,  1870,  at  which  lime  he  was 
the  oldest  representative  of  the  newspaper  profession  in  Ohio.  The  Wall  House, 
which  is  still  standing  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Wall  and  State  streets,  was 
erected  b}^  him. 

George  Nashee,  another  editor  of  the  State  Journal,  died  May  16,  1827,  twenty 
years  before  which  date  he  had  come  to  Ohio  and  made  his  home  at  Chillicothe 
where,  in  conjunction  with  George  Denny,  he  began  publication  of  the  Supporter, 
which  paper  was  consolidated  in  February,  1821,  with  the  Scioto  Gazette,  of  which 
Mr.  Nashee  became  part  proprietor.  During  the  winter  of  1824-5  he  was  elected 
printer  to  the  State,  and  consecjuently  removed  to  Columbus  where,  in  September, 
1826,  in  conjunction  with  his  former  partner  in  the  Supporter  and  Scioto  Gazette, 
then  editing  the  Columbus  Gazette,  he  began  publication  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal 
and  Columbus  Gazette,  to  the  rievelopment  of  which  paper  Mr.  Nashee  devoted  the 
energies  of  his  last  daj's.     At  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  when  he  was 


'imamiMimmtB 


The  Press.     II.  471 

IbrLyono,  Mr.  Na«hec  was  bolievotl  to  bo  the  oldest  editor  in  the  State.  During  his 
residence  at  Chillicothe  he  had  been  mayor  of  that  city  and  had  represented  Ross 
County  in  the  CJeneral  Assembly. 

Alexan<lor  Ewing  Glenn  was  born  at  Spring  Valley,  Pennsylvania,  December 
20,  1811;  came  to  Ohio  in  LS25,  entered  the  office  of  the  St.  Clairsvillo  Gazette 
as  apprentice,  and  after  learning  his  trade  and  working  at  it  in  various  Ohio  towns 
came  to  Columbus  in  1832  and  was  for  a  time  engaged  on  the  Ohio  State  Journal, 
then  published  by  John  Scott,  whose  daughter  Hannah  he  married.  Removing, 
after  his  marriage,  to  Rising  Sun,  Indiana,  he  there  published  a  Democratic  news- 
paper until  1841,  and  was  elected  in  1836  to  the  Indiana  Legislature,  in  which  Oliver 
P.  Morton  was  a  contemporary  member.  In  1841  he  returned  to  Columbus  and 
became  foreman  in  the  office  of  the  State  Journal,  then  published  by  his  brotherin- 
law,  Charles  Scott.  In  1844  he  began  the  publication  of  The  Ark,  with  which  he 
was  connected  for  sixteen  years.  Ho  held  the  highest  offices  that  Odd  Fellowship 
could  bestow,  and  his  paper  was  very  successful.  During  the  administration  of 
Governor  Chase  he  was  (iuartermastor-Goneral  of  Ohio.  He  died  July  26,  1872,  in 
his  sixtysecond  year,  leaving  several  children,  one  of  whom  was  the  late  Charles 
S.  Glenn,  for  several  years  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Columbus  Gazette. 

Smithson  E.  Wright,  who  was  at  one  time  an  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Ohio 
State  Journal  during  the  thirties,  was  born  at  Belmont,  Ohio,  in  1807.  After  learn- 
ing the  j)rinter's  trade  he  came  to  Columbus  while  yet  a  young  man,  and  formed  a 
partnership  with  Charles  E.  Scott  in  the  publication  of  the  State  Journal,  married 
Matilda  Martin,  daughter  of  Hon.  William  T.  Martin,  was  afterwards  twice  elected 
mayor  of  the  city  and  twice  County  Auditor,  served  as  Clerk  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  as  Secretary  of  the  Columbus  &  Xenia  Railroad  Company  and 
was  Treasurer  of  the  Little  Miami  Railroad  Company  until  1888.  He  died  in  Cin- 
cinnati April  1,  1891,  and  his  remains  were  interred  at  Green  Lawn. 

Frederick  P^ieser,  who  vvas  for  more  than  forty  years  actively  connected  with 
German  newspaper  publications  in  Columbus,  iiad  the  honor  of  being  the  editor  of 
longest  continuous  service  in  the  city.  The  following  sketch  of  his  newspaper 
career,  written  by.  himself  at  the  request  of  the  author  of  these  volumes,  modestly 
outlines  his  connection  with  German  journalism  in  this  and  other  cities : 

It  may  be  said  that  my  connection  with  the  German  press  is  due  to  an  accident.  While 
on  my  way  to  Lancaster  in  the  autumn  of  1841  I  casually  met  Mr.  V.  Kastner,  then  publisher 
of  the  Lancaster  Volksfreund.  I  had  previously  known  neither  him  nor  his  paper,  but  in 
the  course  of  our  conversation  he  told  me,  among  other  things,  that  he  had  the  contract  for 
printing  the  message  of  Governor  Shannon  in  the  German  language,  and  that  he  needed  a 
translator  for  the  same.  I  consented  to  do  the  work,  and  was  soon  at  my  task.  Everything 
ran  smoothly,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  my  work  I  became  the  editor  of  his  paper  while  he 
travelled  about  the  country  in  a  wagon  peddling  cheap  literature.  I  believe  he  made  more 
money  in  that  way  than  he  did  with  his  paper  and  that  without  this  resort  his  paper  could 
not  have  existed. 

The  Volksfreund  was  a  small  weekly,  printed  with  the  type  that  had  been  used  on  the 
Ohio  Adler  in  1807.  This  type  had  been  laid  away  for  over  thirty  years,  and  was  so  umch 
worn  that  it  would  not  show  up  well  on  the  wooden  press.  The  readers  justly  complained 
of  the  bad  appearance  of  the  paper,  and  it  was  sometimes  diliicult  to  make  out  the  sense  of 
the  articles.    But  how  could  new  type  be  obtained  ?    It  was  often  hard  enough  to  get  suf- 


472  ElSTORY    OP   THE    ClTY    OP    C0LUMBU8. 

ficient  paper  to  print  the  edition  from  week  to  week.  Yes,  those  were  trying  times  for  the 
publishers  of  German  papers.  The  editors  of  today  who  sit  in  their  wellequipped  offices  and 
have  the  railways,  telegraph,  telephone  and  all  other  modern  inventions  at  their  disposal, 
have  no  idea  of  the  hardships  and  privations  of  the  German  newspaper  pioneers. 

In  1841  the  publisher  of  the  Volksfreund  removed  his  paper  to  Columbus  and  published 
it  here  under  the  name  of  the  Ohio  Adler.  It  was  printed  on  better  type  than  before,  was 
rather  handsouie  in  appearance  and  made  a  good  impression  on  the  people.  I  continued  as 
the  editor  and  worked  hard  as  such.  I  even  wrote  a  piece  of  poetry  for  the  first  number,  in 
which  the  eagle  was  pictured  as  rising  to  higher  regions.  Columbus  was  at  that  time  a  very 
small  town  ;  the  pigs  ran  at  large  on  the  improved  streets,  and  were  considered  better  than 
the  street  commissoners.  The  new  Statehouse  was  not  built  at  that  time,  and  the  old  one 
would  not  now  serve  even  the  smallest  county  as  a  courthouse.  But  Columbus  was  the  capital, 
and  the  Adler  would  have  been  successful  had  its  proprietor  rightly  understood  the  problem. 
I  became  dissatisfied  at  last  and  resolved  to  go  to  Missouri,  where  at  that  time  most  of  the 
German  immigration  was  going.  My  resolve  was  to  leave  German  journalism  forever ;  but 
man  <jannot  escape  from  his  fate. 

A  friend  had  given  me  a  letter  to  George  Walker,  publisher  of  the  Louisville  Volks- 
biihne,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  Mr.  Walker  received  me  with  great  courtesy,  and  after 
reading  the  letter  said :  "  You  come  at  exactly  the  right  time.  I  would  like  to  have  you  ttay 
here  until  the  Rev.  Kroll  returns.  I  have  promised  to  preach  and  attend  to  his  other  duties 
during  his  absence."  Mr.  Walker  was  so  amiable  that  I  concluded  to  grant  his  wish  and 
remain.  Instead  of  a  few  weeks  I  staid  all  winter  in  Louisville.  In  the  spring,  Mr.  Walker 
removed  his  paper  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  associated  himself  with  a  lawyer  by  the  name  of 
Renz.  I  went  with  him  to  Cincinnati.  Mr.  Walker  was  first  a  theologian,  later  an  amiable 
journalist  and  an  orator  whose  speeches  were  received  with  the  greatest  applause,  but  in  real 
life  he  was  highly  impractical,  careless  in  his  appearance  and  one  of  those  happy  people  who 
do  not  worry  about  anything.  It  was  all  the  same  to  him  whether  his  paper,  which  was  a 
tri- weekly,  appeared  regularly  or  not. 

In  Cincinnati,  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Stephen  Molitor,  Henry  Roedter,  Emil 
Klauprecht,  Edward  Muehl,  Carl  Reemelin,  and  others  prominent  in  German  literature. 
Mr.  Roedter.  with  whom  I  had  become  acquainted  in  Columbus,  was  the  founder  of  the 
Volksblatt,  which  at  a  later  date  passed  into  the  control  of  Mr.  Molitor.  Mr.  Roedter  at  that 
time  edited  the  Volksblatt  and,  as  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
could  not  give  the  paper  proper  attention.  At  his  request,  I  assisted  him  and,  when  he 
retired  to  enter  on  the  duties  of  his  political  office,  he  asked  me  to  take  charge  of  the  paper. 
That  was  quite  an  honor  for  a  "  beardless  youth"  like  me,  as  the  Whig  organ  of  that  place 
put  it,  since  several  others  had  asked  for  the  position.  The  V^olksblatt  was  at  tliat  time  the 
only  German  daily  in  the  United  States ;  even  the  New  York  Staatszeitung  was  published 
only  thrice  a  week.  With  additional  vigor  I  went  to  work.  My  relations  with  Mr.  Molitor 
were  of  the  best  and  I  lived  some  of  my  happiest  days  there.  I  would  probably  have  remained 
for  years,  had  not  a  new  opportunity  suddenly  presented  itself.    , 

The  opportunity  hero  referred  to  was  an  offer  fi*om  Jacob  Reinhard  to  join 
with  Mr.  Fieserin  the  publication  of  a  German  paper,  the  Wostboto,  in  Columbus. 
This  induced  Mr.  Fioser  to  resign  his  position  as  editor  of  the  Volksblatt  and  como 
to  Columbus,  where  the  Westbote  was  began  in  October,  1843.  Mr.  Fiesor's  suc- 
cessor as  editor  of  the  Volksblatt  was  George  Ritz.  Mr.  Roedter  was  afterwards 
a  member  of  the  General  Assembly.  Mr.  Molitor  continued  his  paper  successfully 
until  age  compelled  him  to  retire,  when  ho  transferred  the  property  to  his  sonin- 
law,  Mr.  Hof,  and  Frederick  Hnssaurek. 


The  Press.     II.  473 

Mr.  Fieser's  career  of  over  forty  years  in  this  city  as  editor  and  one  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  Westbote  was  full  of  profit  for  himself  and  for  his  fellow  citizens. 
His  ability  and  traits  of  character  were  such  as  to.  inspire  universal  respect.  For 
many  years  he  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  City  Library,  an  institution  in  which 
he  took  a  deep  and  valuable  interest.  He  also  served  in  the  City  Council,  as 
Trustee  of  Green  Lawn  Cemetery  and,  for  many  years,  as  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Education. 

The  connection  of  the  late  distinguished  Congressman  and  author,  Hon. 
S.  S.  Cox,  with  Columbus  journalism,  began  in  April,  1853,  when  he  bought  a 
half  interest  in  the  Ohio  Statesman  and  became  its  editor.  The  Ohio  State 
Journal,  which  was  at  that  time  edited  by  William  T.  Bascom,  greeted  the  new 
editor  of  the  Statesman  kindly  but  rather  patronizingly,  remarking  that  "  Mr. 
Cox  is  a  young  gentleman  of  liberal  education  and  considerable  literary  acquire- 
ments." Subsequent  events  have  shown  that  Mr.  Bascom  did  not  overstate  the 
case. 

The  incident  of  Mr.  Cox's  editorial  career  in  this  city  which  surpasses  all 
others  in  interest  was  the  writing  of  that  now  famous  editorial,  "A  Great  Old 
Sunset,"  which  was  the  subject  of  a  great  deal  of  contemporary  newspaper  com- 
ment, some  of  which  was  written  in  jest  approaching  ridicule  But  the  article  has 
lived  as  a  brilliant  bit  of  wordpainting,  and  is  the  subject  of  much  curiosit}'  and 
interest  on  the  part  of  all  who  study  the  career  of  Mr.  Cox  —  not  only  so,  but  of  all 
who  seek  out  and  admire  the  masterpieces  of  poetic  fancy  in  American  literature. 
It  gave  its  author  the  soubriquet  of"  Sunset,"  bestowed  derisively,  strange  to  say, 
on  account  of  a  magnificent  achievement  in  word-painting  which  should  have 
elicited  only  admiration  and  respect.  The  phenomenon  described  was  a  sunset  in 
May,  and  Mr.  Cox's  sketch  of  it,  which  was  an  offhand  eff^usion  and  appeared  in  the 
Statesman  of  May  19, 1853,  was  as  follows: 

What  a  stormful  sunset  was  that  of  last  night!  How  gloriouB  the  storm,  and  how 
splendid  the  setting  of  the  sun  !  We  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  seen  the  like  on  our 
round  globe.  The  scene  opened  in  the  west,  with  a  whole  horizon  full  of  golden,  interpene- 
trating lustre  which  colored  the  foliage  and  brightened  every  ohject  into  its  own  rich  dyes. 
The  colors  grew  deeper  and  richer  until  the  golden  lustre  was  transfused  into  a  stormcloud 
full  of  the  finest  lightning,  which  leaped  in  dazzling  zigzags  all  around  and  over  the  city. 

The  wind  arose  with  fury,  the  slender  shrubs  and  giant  trees  made  obeisance  to  its 
majesty.  Some  even  snapped  before  its  force.  The  strawberry  beds  and  grassplots,  **  turned 
up  their  whites  "  to  see  Zephyrus  march  by.  As  the  rain  came,  and  the  pools  formed,  and 
the  gutters  hurried  away,  thunder  roared  grandly  and  the  firebells  caught  the  excitement  and 
rang  with  hearty  chorus. 

The  South  and  East  received  the  copious  showers  and  the  West  all  at  once  brightened 
up  in  a  long  polished  belt  of  azure,  worthy  of  a  Sicilian  sky.  Presently  a  clou«l  appeared  in 
the  azure  belt  in  the  form  of  a  castellated  city.  It  became  more  vivid,  revealing  strange 
forms  of  peerless  fanes  and  alabaster  temples  and  glories  rare  and  grand  in  this  mundane 
sphere.    It  reminded  us  of  Wordsworth's  splendid  verse  in  his  "  Excursion  " : 

The  appearance  instantaneously  disclosed 
Was  of  a  mighty  city  ;  boldly  lay 
A  wilderness  of  buildings,  sinking  far. 
And  self  withdrawn  into  a  wondrous  depth. 
Far  sinking  into  splendor  without  end. 


474  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

But  the  city  vanished,  only  to  give  place  to  another  isle,  where  the  most  beautiful  forms  of 
foliage  appeared,  imaging  a  paradise  in  the  distant  and  purified  air.  The  sun,  wearied  of  the 
elemental  commotion,  sank  behind  the  green  plains  of  the  We8t.  The  *'  great  eye  in  Heaven," 
however,  went  not  down  without  a  dark  brow  hanging  over  its  departing  light.  The  rich 
flush  of  the  unearthly  light  had  passed,  and  the  rain  had  ceased  when  tlie  solemn  church 
bells  pealed,  the  laughter  of  children  rang  out  and,  joyous  after  the  storm,  was  heard  with  the 
carol  of  birds ;  while  the  forked  and  purple  weapon  of  the  skies  still  darted  illumination 
around  the  Starling  College,  trying  to  rival  its  angles  and  leap  into  its  dark  windows. 

Candles  are  lighted.  The  piano  strikes  up.  We  feel  it  is  good  to  have  a  home,  good  to 
be  on  the  earth  where  such  revelations  of  beauty  and  power  may  be  made.  And  as  we  can- 
not refrain  from  reminding  our  readers  of  everything  wonderful  in  our  city,  we  have  begun 
and  ended  our  feeble  etching  of  a  sunset  which  comes  so  rarely  that  its  glory  should  be  com- 
mitted to  immortal  type. 

This  article  produced  a  sensation  in  Columbus  journalism.  The  State  Journal 
stjlod  it  "one  of  the  choicest  specimens  of  literature  that  have  been  ushered  into 
this  round  globe  for  we  don't  know  how  many  years,"  and  republished  the  article 
entire,  with  a  number  of  annotations  intended  to  ridicule  it.  Papers  in  other  parts 
of  the  State  broke  into  cachinnatory  paroxysms  in  the  contemplation  of  this 
derisively  termed  "sublime  rhapsody,"  and  an  editor  at  Circleville,  whom  Mr.  Cox 
refers  to  but  does  not  name,  produced  a  parody  on  the  article  which  was  entitled 
"A  Great  Old  Henset."  Mr.  Cox  took  all  this  goodnaturedly  and  returned  the 
ridicule  with  interest.  Commenting  on  the  State  Journal's  reproduction,  he  said  : 
"Our  landscape  improves  by  being  thus  framed.  If  we  can  ever  find  anything  in 
the  Journal  above  the  dry,  dead  level,  we  shall  reciprocate  favors  by  framing  it  in  our 
best  gilding —  and  the  Journal  knows  that  we  can  gild  when  it  pleases  our  fancy. 
The  Journal  may  now  take  out  its  advertisement  for  the  sale  of  the  establishment. 
That  *  Sunset'  will  make  the  paper  sell  without  further  notice." 

llcferring  to  the  Circleville  parod}','"  A  Great  Old  Henset,"  Mr.  Cox  wrote: 
"Apollo!  Why  didn't  you  shoot  him  in  the  gizzard  ?  The  Journal  threatens  to 
copy  it  and  would  have  copied  it  no  doubt  but  for  its  vulgarity  and  personality. 
Well,  when  we  reflected  .  .  .  that  Walter  Scott,  Wordsworth,  Byron,  Southey, 
et  id  omne  genus^  had  their  parodists,  we  felt  consoled  and  we  may  say  elated.  We 
felt  like  sitting  right  down  and  doing  up  a  *  great  old  sunrise.'  We  may  do  it  yet 
if  we  can  get  up  early  enough.  In  this  day  of  newspaporial  dearth,  anything  above 
the  mud  level  will  create  a  sensation." 

This  gives  a  faint  idea  of  the  comment  occasioned  by  the  article  at  the  time  of 
its  publication.  But  that  is  not  all.  None  of  Mr.  Cox's  subsequent  literary 
achievements  served  to  throw  this  incident  into  eclipse.  Frequent  public  references 
have  been  made  to  it,  and  it  has  been  the  chronic  delight  of  the  reminiscence- 
writer  to  reproduce  the  sketch  and  narrate  its  history. 

Mr.  Cox  retired  from  the  Statesman  May  22,  1854,  afler  a  little  more  than  a 
year's  work  as  editor  and  proprietor.  He  had  assumed  the  editorial  duties,  us  he 
stated,  "  not  unmindful  of  the  responsibilities  attending  this  position;  not  without 
hesitancy,  yet  with  no  timid  apprehensions;"  recognizing  the  difficulties  even  with 
past  success;  convinced  that  the  "best  line  as  well  as  the  shortest  line  between 
two  points  is  the  straight  line,"  and  proposing  to  follow  it   "  with  an  unswerving 


■iSM^ 


The  Press.     II.  475 

faitb  that  good  men  and  true  will  approve  of  such  a  course."  Mr.  Cox  retired 
from  the  paper  disappointed  with  the  results  of  his  labors.  In  his  valedictory 
ho  said  ho  had  expected  to  have  the  cooperation  of  a  practical  printer  and 
business  manager,  but  had  been  disappointed.  Ho  had  managed  the  business  and 
editorial  departments  himself  and  was  worn  out  in  spirit  and  body.  He  intimated 
that  the  paper  had  not  been  supported  as  he  had  expected  it  would  be,  and  that  it 
was  in  financial  straits.  The  patronage  had  been  divided  between  the  Statesman 
and  the  Democrat  founded  by  Mr.  Knapp  in  the  previous  December,  and  the  con- 
solidation of  these  two  papers  was  a  part  of  the  agreement  by  whicli  Mr.  Cox  was 
to  retire.  He  was  thirty  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  editorial  experience  in 
Columbus.  Quitting  journalism,  he  devoted  himself  to  politics  and  literature,  and 
in  both  fields  won  success.  In  1855  he  went  to  Peru  as  Secretary  of  Legation  ;  in 
1856-()2  represented  the  Columbus  District  in  Congress ;  and  in  1866  removed  to 
New  York  City  from  one  of  the  districts  of  which  he  was  successively  chosen  as  a  Rep- 
resentative in  Congress  until  he  was  appointed  by  President  Cleveland  as  United 
States  Minister  to  Turkey.  Returning  from  this  mission  in  1887,  he  was  again 
elected  to  Congress  and  continued  to  represent  his  New  York  district  in  that  body 
until  his  death,  September  10,  1889.  The  most  notable  of  his  last  public  efforts  were 
in  advocacy  of  the  admission  to  the  Union  of  the  Territories  of  Washington  and 
Dakota,  and  as  champion  of  a  bill  for  the  relief  of  letter  carriers,  by  which  class  of 
public  servants  a  statue  to  his  memorv  has  been  erected  in  New  York.  In  his 
oration  at  the  unveiling  of  this  statue.  General  Thomas  Bwing  said  :  "  His  public 
career  was  so  patriotic  and  useful,  his  character  so  ^sterling  and  stainless,  his  intel- 
lect so  strong,  versatile  and  brilliant,  and  love  of  humanity  so  intense  and  bound- 
less that  Samuel  Sullivan  Cox  deserves  to  be  commemorated  as  one  of  the  best 
products  of  American  civilization." 

Mr.  Cox's  published  writings  are :  "  The  Buckeye  Abroad,"  "  Eight  Years  in 
Congress,"  "  Search  for  Winter  Sunbeams,"  "Why  We  Laugh,"  and  "Three  Decades 
of  Federal  Legislation." 

Samuel  Medary,  born  in  Montgomery  County,  Pen  n  83^  I  van  ia,  February  25, 
1801,  removed  to  Clermont  County,  Ohio,  in  1825,  and  for  a  time  boarded  there  as 
a  teacher  with  the  Simpsons,  whose  daughter  had  married  Jesse  R.  Grant,  father 
of  General  U.  S.  Grant,  then  a  child  about  three  years  of  age  whose  mother,  said 
Medary,  frequently  remarked  as  to  the  future  General :  **  This  boy  will  some  day 
be  President."  Mr.  *Medary  began  his  career  as  an  editor  in  association  with  Hon. 
Thomas  Morris,  afterwards  United  States  Senator,  in  the  publication  of  a  weekly 
paper  at  Bethel,  Clermont  County,  in  1828.  The  paper  was  entitled  the  Ohio  Sun, 
was  a  success  from  the  start,  and  now  survives  under  the  name  of  the  -Clermont 
Sun.  Jt  was  Democratic  in  politics,  and  warmly  supported  Andrew  Jackson  for  the 
Presidency  in  1828.  On  its  first  page  it  bore  the  motto:  "  Unawed  by  the  in- 
fluence of  the  rich,  the  great,  or  the  noble,  the  people  must  be  heard  and  their 
rights  protected."  Mr.  Medary  served  three  terms  in  the  General  Assembly,  first 
as  the  Representative  of  Clermont  County  in  1834-5,  and  immediately  thereafter 
for  two  terms  as  State  Senator  from  the  Clermont  District.  When  he  began  the 
publication  of  his  first  newspaper  he  was  not,  by  trade,  a  printer,  but  did  the  edit- 


476  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

ing,  aBHiHtod  in  the  mochanical  work  of  the  oflSce  and  suporvinod  itn  business. 
Before  the  close  of  his  service  in  the  General  Assembly  he  sold  the  8uu  to  his 
brothers,  Jacob  and  A.  C.  Medary,  and  became  connected  with  the  Ilemisphere,  of 
Columbus,  of  which  he  assumed  the  management  when  he  quitted  the  legislature, 
and  changed  the  name  to  the  Ohio  Statesman.  He  was  about  the  same  time 
chosen  by  the  General  Assembly  as  State  Printer,  a  position  which  he  held  for 
a  number  of  years.  He  was  also  chosen  Printer  to  the  Constitutional  Convention 
of  1851,  and  published  the  debates  of  that  body.  His  connection  with  the  Colum- 
bus press  has  already  been  narrated  in  the  historical  sketches  of  the  Statesman  and 
Crisis.  He  was  a  sturdy  partisan,  a  clear  thinker,  a  vigorous  and  fearless  writer 
and  a  man  of  rugged  personality,  possibly  the  strongest  character  that  has 
appeared  in  the  journalism  of  Columbus.  His  connection  with  the  Statesman  and 
Crisis  gave  to  those  papers  a  wide  celebrity.  President  Buchanan  tendered  to  Mr. 
Medary  an  appointment  as  Minister  to  Chili,  but  the  honor  was  declined.  In  1857 
Mr.  Medary  accepted  an  appointment  as  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Minnesota, 
and  just  prior  to  his  departure  to  assume  the  duties  of  that  position  was  given  a 
complimentary  dinner  by  his  Columbus  friends.  Governor  Chase  was  on  that 
occasion  president  of  the  evening,  and  Chief  Justice  Bartley,  Hon.  Lester  Taylor, 
Judge  Allen  G.  Thurman,  and  Hon.  Jacob  Keinhard  were  Vice  Presidents.  Toasts 
were  responded  to  by  William  Schouler,  of  the  State  Journal,  and  Joseph  H.  Gei- 
gor,  Esq.  Hon.  Charles  Anderson,  United  States  Senator  George  E.  Pugh,  Judge 
Thomas  W.  Bartley  and  others  delivered  addresses,  and  John  Greiner  sang  an 
original  song.  After  serving  two  years  in  Minnesota  Mr.  Medary  was  appointed 
Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Kansas,  in  which  position  he  also  served  for  two 
years  Returning  to  Columbus  in  1860,  ho  began,  in  January,  1861,  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Crisis,  which  he  continued  until  his  death,  November  7,  18G4.  Over  his 
remains  in  Green  Lawn  Cemetery  rises  a  costly  and  beautiful  monument  erected  in 
1869  by  the  Democracy  of  Ohio. 

Charles  B.  Flood,  born  at  Alexandria,  Virginia,  January  19,  1810,  learned  the 
printing  business,  removed  to  Zanesville,  Ohio,  in  1832  married  there  Miss  Mary 
Dean,  of  Darke  County,  established  the  Democrat  newspaper  at  Marietta  in  1835, 
and  was  appointed  Register  of  the  Marietta  Land  Office  by  President  Jackson. 
Having  sold  the  Democrat  in  1838  ho  came  to  Columbus,  was  for  several  years 
engaged  there  on  the  Statesman,  and  early  in  the  forties  went  to  Detroit  where  he 
was  for  a  short  time  connected  with  the  Free  Press.  He  soon  returned  to  Colum- 
bus and  resumed  his  work  on  the  Statesman,  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Ohio  Senate 
in  1852,  reelected  to  the  same  position  in  1854,  edited  the  Urbana  State  Democrat 
in  1857,  and  in  that  year  went  to  Cleveland  where  he  published  the  National 
Democrat  until  it  expired  in  1861.  From  Cleveland  he  went  to  New  York,  where 
he  was  for  several  years  one  of  ^le  editors  of  the  News.  Returning  to  Columbus, 
he  assumed  for  the  third  time  an  editorial  position  on  the  Statesman,  and  in  1868 
was  once  more  elected  Clerk  of  the  Ohio  Senate.  In  1875  he  was  appointed 
Supervisor  of  Public  Printing,  from  which  position  he  retired  in  1877.  liis  later 
newspaper  work  was  chiefly  that  of  an  occasional  contributor.     He  died  in  this 


The  Press.     II. 


477 


'Ofilce  of  the  Western  Tntrflio^ticcr,  Columbus,  Saturdijr  M'orr.in;^^  Oct.  1,  leii. 


%Ve  are  f^ratlfiecl  that  i(  U  tn  our 
^owar,  tluniii;  the  neccMarj  tuiiica* 
«ion  of  our  pnpc^  to  \*y  befort  our 
TfMdcts  in  luotlbill  form  the  most  im- 
■portint  nen's  that  uiiiia  to  band  bjr 
^ohicrday's  fn«il. 

From  th^  te.oto  GartUti 


The  expediuoji  »^MMi  the'  bmtite     *'*'  •  3«gree  of  pat'riotitm  ukI    brave 


with  &  zQil  «im1  precision  hiKhly  credit-    chcVemJmleriir»re  to  ibtlow  iJm  nctt 
nolo  to .  ilieniMlvet  Mid  booorabio  to     luomiug. 
their  eoutiirj. 

Our  kMt  M  criSmi;  indeed,  hiving 
onljr  one  o(B;er  end  fiAcen  men  liiilcd, 
•lie  one  oflker  And  30  mm  wounded. 

Tjie  Militia  of  NeW-York  and  iho 
Volunicers  ul  Veriuout  have  been  ex- 
ccedin^ljr  serviceiib;e  and    have'  ctin- 


u 


^nduqs  it  not  abauduoed  %•  stated  in 
the  (;cner«l  unlcr  published  in  our 
la»t  -  t>n  hl«  ■rrivaiat  Uortwna,  Gen. 
M' Arthur  received  hi%  inttrtlriiunt 
Wid  prcKeedrd  to  or)r«i|,xa  the  troops 
then  there.— >  We  uiidcrsund  thst  ihejr 
mjrcbcd   from    Urbaiu  t>n    Monday 


Chtlous  Mrof. 

We  have  the  hi^nest'  aaiitfactioo  in 
"bying  before  our  leaders  ilie  (utloy/uiB 
Itiiportant  official  letters,  wbich  an- 
noutieet  the  annihilation  nf  tl<e  Biitiah 
^avsl  fordo  on  L.>lke  Clum plain,  .and 
the  defeat  of  a  vcrjr  lar^e  Ori.iJi  arnif 
«t  the  head  Af  the  Lalte  uii'dtr  the  i:n* 
XBcdiate  command  of  Cover iwr  J're- 
^Stott  i  I—  /futial. 

Copy  ef  a  letter  from  com.   hTDo- 
ntugh  to  the  Secretary  of  the  na- 
I6y  daitd 

U.  8.  ihtp  -SeratoKp,  cCT  Plaltf 
bui^i    iSept.  1 1 . 
SIR —The     Almi((htx    has    bccQ 

SIcKkcd  to  |;r.4it  us  a  sigo-il  vtctorjr  od 
...kc  Cbdinptain,  in  the  capture  of'-on« 
Ai(;jite,  otio  brig,  and  two  afoapt  el 
^..r  of  the  enemjr- 

1  have  ihQ  Honor  to  b0i  TC17.  Mspect^ 
IC^iiy,  air,  yuiir  buJ't  aeH't. 

T.  M'DONOUGH.    - 
Hobs  Win.  Junct. 

becfclaiyuftho  Navjr. 

*mptf  of  a  letter  from   General   Mtt* 
'comO  Cjust  received  J  to  the  J>c- 

eretary  ^War,  dated 

Fomr  .VioBs.At>,  Sept.  IS.  ISU. 

Sir — 1  nave  the  honor  to  inform  yott 
khat  tbe  British  affny,^unsisiin|(.  of 
4Dur  brigadcat  a  corps  of  artitleryi  • 
vquodioo  ol  norse.  and-  a  airoag  hqht  • 
«orp»  amoonting  in  ail  to  abuui  four- 
teen tbousaM  meot  after  invesiing 
this  place  on  tne  ftiorth  of  ihe  Sarriiao 
•i\er  kiiice  the  5tb  i:iat.  broke  up  tlicir 
oamp.  and  raised  the  setge  tbu  ibum* 
^g  al  9  o'doik.  '    \ 

Thajr.are  now  retreating'precipitate* 
)j,  leaving  their  sick  and  wuundcd. 

The  cntoty  Cjpeited  his  tMtieries 
(^•tordajr  iiionliiig.,and  coniinuad  tho 
«ann«naidiitg.  bOHMxiftiipg  ..nd  rocket 
4riugunui  suiise^  |  by  i<iis  time  our 
battery  had  completely  siieoced  ihoso 
ol  our  one  in  7. 

I'he  ii;{ni  tro).^  and  militu  are  now 
)n  full  poisuit  of  iho  enemy,  mjkiug 
yriaoncrt  in  ail  diroelions.  Deserters 
•re  continunlly  Cim:ng  in,  so  that  the 
Ipsaoi  (be  DriUsn  army  in  thife  eaters 
Urize^yU  be  cohaidar^ble.. 


ry  worthy  of  tlienistftyes  and  the  states 
to  which  they  rckpectivciy  beloog. 
.■  Tbe  strength  of  tbe  Uarnaon  is  only 
I  sob  eRective  men  rank  n»d  file. 

1  havethe  honor  to  be,  wiiti  pertect 
respect,  sir,  your  most  obedient  seiv 
aul, 

ALKXR    MAC6\1B. 
The  Hon.  the  Secici^iy  of  War. 

fin  addition  10  the  ^b<^i[e.  wc  Irarli 
ti-rti  the  IUV4I  battle  was  mn^i  tju. 
Kuinarjr  ;  that  tlie  Dritish  lou  loC  kiit* 
-<d  on  bo^rd  their  LrgeM  xc^mtI  ;  und 
tbiiour  total  loss  was  Il5  killed,  and 
13<>  wounded. 

l^very  ollkcr  on  boerd  mir   rommo> 
dure's  vessel  was  kt  led  oi'  wounded 
except  bimeelf.     1  be'Briiiih  Ci»mmo> 
dori  Mraa  killed   the  first  fire.     GVorto 
tito  I  liitria  ftna 


We  are  ««fhilly  tnrome<!.  ihst  a& 
iheni(;htsoftbe  Hihg^d  l2Mi  inst. 
thi<>c  iltousand  mili'.la  crosaed  fronV 
RuifJota  Fort  Lric..  thai  ibe.BHfiah 
are  Retreating  to  Fort  Cieorge,  an^tloir' 
three  ihou«an<i  more  of  the  .milifU 
.  I>«ve  mirch*^  down  to  cross  ikeNisga. 
ra  bel'j^  the  fall»,  with  a  view  to  rut  '-It 
their  retreaU  fVar  hotter, 

•  a  ► 

C'^pv  of <  lrtti^lro.-B  the  pbati^M.' 
icr  at  Platts'Vurgh,.  to-  ihe'vdiioir. 
■^  of  ibi-  Alh«oy  Ai»;tJs,  dsted  Sun* 
day  nmrning,  j^pr.  iSih,  11  oVork!^ 
■     SIK'^'lh.-ive  tbe  plrMSU^c  lu  <«•» 
■ounce  tv.ryou,  th^i  -nf.  er  aa   jiKtiotf 
t!  two  hours  ..this   fnorntsg;  C^.m^ 
mtiduic    M'Donfliugh^     cor     otvi^ 
command  r.     took  .ih«    WfiOLJT- 

.   BK I  rjsH  ^eKcie'qp  thik  ]L4n;^ 

•     With  the  extc^MWMi  6»  %,jxt  6  /^ 
'    lies,  that  inad^heii;  jtkan<.     Ilw 


IfcxoT(fri%  SejU.  )8»  Sunday    la  «• 
ehck. 

The  StesmWt  Car  of  Neptune  has 
Just  arrived  from  Albany,  by  which  we 
hdte  the  ioilpwiog  1 
Amutet  •mdfwee  ^Waae/t    engoged  im 

the   tale  and    MrAerafl/f  Jtatiie  om 

Lake  CkamfUvn. 


Saratngs, 
Superior, 
Ttcondeiog^ 
FrcHduUf 


.       BRsnis. 

\m  Cunfiancoi 
Brig,  name 
Gvowlor, 

EAgiOt     • 


13  Row  GstllH 
1-    do       do 


Guita. 
36 

SO 
IS 
10 

90    • 
Oiuit 
95 


IC9 


A  geotlemsn  frotn  BorfingtaJB,  wW> 
Tieft  there  on  Wednesday,  i&fa^om 
thavgovcrbor  Prevea^-%^p>'  Ms  army, 
hsd  e(lcciedKisi%tf«a%.ifithout  racese- 
int;  any  matcrul  check  subsaquetit  to 
gen.  Macomb's  commuucsfSon,  vNdek 
wi  published  on  Saturday. 

Utn  Ixtird  and  suite  ||sd  arrived  at 
Sjck^ttS  lljrbor,  whorr  SO  row  boats, 
CBrryi%;  one  luog  gun  ^«ch«  and  cap.»- 
ble  of  takiag-on  board  ISO  men  eaLlh 
Were  le^iy.  An  attack  on  Kingston 
6r  Fort  Ceor^  was  contcmplsted. 

G'«x. 


jtkcapS. 
*-cs3«K  captured  are,  1    frrgate    oT 
32  guns.  1  brig    ,of.2J   gum*     X^ik 
alorps  of  10  guns,  each  aod •tvft.il 
gdiics.     I'saw   the  ^  action,   <l^biir|^ 
has  JUS'  clo^d-^he  baitle.'W:ls  i^- 
Plattsburgb   .fay.  M    wait    i^iill- 
anxiety  lue  ctrent  of  the  bjttll  A<Hr 
pending  qo  tiie  lanU — i  huve  StWSy 
hopes  ihcie  likewise  >  bvlt  is  Vitr. 
ry  Warm  and  we  have- to.  contrAd. 
^with  Bay    8000  iSriiiah    regulars. 
lilaJk  .shore  ul  ihf  -  river  .is    lined 
"Viih oar  militisT db'd    abont   3  ' t^ 
4000   «blttot«cra    irnm  •.Vf.a.ont, 
which  the  eiieoiy  must  pass  (^Tur4 
they  can    repch  our  baiicnca— >biic 
if  they  tffect  a  paasag«  ut  the  riv'^ 
er  acd  approadi  the    taurlts,    thry 
iriil  &ua  the  battle  hot  jtftt   btgutu' 
More  aa  sooo  aa    ttrenia  iran«pii«« 
yotua,flic.  ILYNDE, 

J*<MtmcMter,'  FlmtttturiMk 

^N.  B.  Tbe  vilta(»e  ol  Plattsbtirgh 
Ws  bean  in  possisaaion  6f  tbo  autiiiy 
sioce  10  o'clock  fa»t  Totsday,  und 
mioy  01  the  beat  bduscaaredeauojed. 

Preiki  lelffcn  .received  in  this  p^ro 
fMni  NeW'Urleana.  d^l^d  lU  ar,.. -d 
Sei^.wa  leant  that  Gen.  J....kM*n  wi.li 
tbo  second  sud  third  regitucnia,  umI 
re-occopiad  .Mobile  Ptdnt  on  ib«  t«>i m'/ 
mtM  ttlt.  and  ordered  the  gun  lH)4ta 
M  resume  tbeir  former  atatioii  iic.»r 
the  poinf.  An  iofasaiun  of  that  p«rt 
of  the  country  was  ippreiHAded  hod 
active  ptcparadons  bat%  been  n«^d«  and 
are  making  10  n^cet  tha  riirnty  s  tuuid 
be  atteoipt  it.  t>en  J.Kksun  has  i^iil 
an  embargo  on  tretscls  bound  u«t  liuos 
Ncw*Qrleans  with  flour  kc.  in  tunse* 
qurjtce  ol  which  it  is  luuui^ut  tiifj^ 
ibvrwiMbe  kiwat  thai^re       « 

iinrfrtfmt  iTy  fmfier. 


Albany,  Se/ii   16. 
Major  Generals  Scott  and  GuliicS» 
A  ioWe  detailed  report  will  be  made    with  their  suite,  arrived  in  this  city  oa 
of  tbe  'felge.  and  cfrcbmstancas  attend*    Wedacsdiy-evaning 
jlog  i*^  early  aa  possible. 

rhe  oft<.erft  and  tAtkt  have  all  done    tember  10.     Between  3  and  4000  mill* 
^eir  duty.    The  artillery  and  the   en*    tie  had  volunteered  t«i  cro^  10  Fort  K-     ^  .  .  . 

^ori  hate  perCsrmed  their  (taeUen   rle  t  1«W  had  «OBe  fU  ttMldau     OruuU)(.rCAI9nca> 


Col*  Newton  Can!#^%* 
Oar  accooDu  Iro'in  Erio  arc  to  Sep-     elected  to  Congress  Iritnnii^ 

Sta.eof  Tcnnrb.sft:  vicu  Mr. 


EXTRA  OF  WESTERN  INTELLIGENCER,  OCTOBER  1,  1814. 


478  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

city  October  27,  1887.     By  service  on  the  staff  of  one  of  the  governors  of  Michigan 
he  acquired  the  military  title  of  colonel  by  which  he  was  popularly  known. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  men  ever  contiected  with  the  press  of  Columbus 
was  John  Greiner,  born  in  Philadelphia,  in  1810,  and  located  as  a  young  man  at 
Marietta,  Ohio,  where  he  worked  at  his  trade  as  a  painter,  married  his  first  wife, 
Laura  Bennett,  and  acquired  reputation  as  a  composer  and  singer  of  songs  on  the 
subject  of  temperance,  of  which  he  remained  throughout  his  life,  even  through  the 
hardciderdrinking  campaign  of  1840,  an  ardent  and  consistent  advocate.     Of  the 
famous   political  struggle  of  1840  he  was  the   principal  songwriter  and   singer, 
although  the  identity  of  the  verses  of  which   he  was   the  author   is  somewhat 
ambiguous.      Most  of  his  compositions  were  impromptu,  written  on  his  hat  while 
riding  to  a  meeting,  or  upon  the  platform  while  the  orators  were  speaking.     Ho 
never  failed,  however,  to  strike  the  popular  chord.    The  phraseology  of  many  of  his 
songs  was  preserved  in  print,  but  affords  no  idea,  it  is  said,  of  the  power  which  his 
verses  exerted  when  sung  by  himself,  with  a  great  crowd  joining  in  the  chorus- 
His  songs  were  conspicuous  in  the  Corwin-Shannon  campaign  of  1842,  and  of  the 
Presidential  campaigns  of  1844  and  1848.     Removing  in  1841  to  Zanesville,  where 
he  resumed  his  trade  as  a  painter,  he  was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  to  the 
position  of  State  Librarian  in  1844,  returned  to  Columbus  and  continued  to  reside 
there  until  1849,  was  in  that  year  appointed  Indian  Agent  for  the  Territory  of  New 
Mexico,  was  appointed  Secretary  of  that  Territory  by  President  Fillmore,  served 
as   acting   Governor  of  the    Territory  until   displaced    for  political   reasons   by 
President  Pierce,  and  in  1861  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln  to  be  full  Governor 
of  New  Mexico,  in  which  position  he  served  until  186.5.     During  the  interim  of 
this  public  service  he  was  connected  as  a  writer  with  the  Ohio  State  Journal ;  later 
he  was  editor  of  the  Columbus  Gazette,  from  the  office  of  which  paper  he  returned 
to   New   Mexico   in    1861.     On    his  return   from   the   West  in    1865    he  settled 
in  Zanesville,  where  he  bought  the  City  Times  which  he  conducted  until  1868  when 
he  sold  that  property  and  began  the  publication  of  a  Eepublican  campaign  paper 
called  The  Workman.     In  1870  he  returned  to  Columbus,  resumed  for  a  short  time 
the  editorship  of  the  Gazette,  retiring  from  which  he  again  took  up  his  original 
occupation  as  a  painter.     He  was  stricken  with  paralysis  while  making  an  address 
before  the  Odd   Fellows'  Grand  Lodge  in  Toledo,  where  he  died  from  the  effects 
of  this  stroke  May  13,  1871.     His  remains  are  interred  in  Green  Lawn  Cemetery. 

William  Dean  Howells,  the  wellknown  novelist,  became  engaged  as  a  compositor 
on  the  Ohio  State  Journal  in  1861.  He  was  then  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  had 
learned  to  set  tj^pe  in  the  office  of  the  Hamilton  Intelligencer,  of  which  paper  his 
father  was  for  some  time  the  publisher.  Later,  the  elder  Howells  disposed  of  the 
Intelligencer  and  removed  to  Dayton,  where  he  bought  and  published  the  Dayton 
Transcript,  which  he  transformed  into  a  daily.  William  worked  in  the  composing 
room,  and  when  the  typesetting  was  done,  aided  in  the  distribution  of  the  paper  to 
the  subscribers.  The  Transcript  failed,  and  soon  afterward  William  secured  a  posi- 
tion, as  above  stated,  on  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  and  received  for  his  services  the  sal- 
ary of  four  dollars  a  week,  which  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  money  he  ever  earned 
as  his  own.     Here  his  talent  began  to  crop  out,  and  he  frequently  composed  vei*ses 


i^i 


The  Press.     II.  479 

and  put  them  inlo  type  without  tlio  use  of  manuscript.  Some  of  these  effusions  found 
their  way  into  the  columns  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal.  After  his  connection  with 
that  paper  ceased,  Mr.  Howelis  took  up  his  residence  with  his  parents  in  Ashtabula 
County,  from  whence  he  reappeared  in  Columbus  in  1857-8  as  legislative  correspon- 
dent for  the  Cincinnati  and  Cleveland  papers, a  dual  position  which  would  now  be 
considered  phenomenal  if  not  impossible.  In  1858,  when  Henry  D.  Cooke,  brother 
of  Jay  Cooke,  the  banker,  reorganized  the  working  force  of  the  Ohio  State 
Journal,  Mr.  Ilowells  became  its  new  and  literary  editor,  in  which  position  he  was 
for  some  time  associated  with  the  late  Samuel  R  Heed,  who  was  the  leading  edi- 
torial writer  on  the  paper.  In  18()0  a  little  volume  entitled  "  Poems  of  Two 
Friends"  was  published  in  Columbus  by  William  D.  Howelis  and  John  J.  Piatt. 
Mr.  Howelis  remained  with  the  State  Journal  until  President  Lincoln  appointed 
him  Consul  at  Venice  in  1861.  Before  that  event,  however,  he  h:id  begun  writing 
for  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  of  which  periodical  he  became,  in  1866,  the  associate 
editor.  On  December  24,  1862,  he  was  married  at  the  United  States  Legation  in 
Paris,  to  Miss  Eleanor  G.  Mead  of  Brattleboro,  Vermont.  His  later  career  as  a 
novelist  and  as  editor  of  Harper's  Monthly  is  w^ellknown. 

(ieneral  James  M.  Comly  was  born  in  Perry  County,  Ohio,  in  1832,  came  to 
Columbus  a  fatherless  boy  in  1842,  became  a  messenger  in  one  of  the  printing 
offices  of  the  city,  and  when  the  late  Rev.  D.  A.  Randall  came  here  to  assume  the 
assistant  editorship  of  the  Cross  and  Journal,  worked  in  the  office  and  became  an 
innuite  of  the  household  of  that  gentleman.  While  learning  the  printer's  trade  he 
conned  the  old  dictionary  in  the  composing  room,  attended  a  night  school,  fre- 
quented the  State  Library,  the  accumulated  lore  of  which  had  a  wonderful  attrac- 
tion for  his  youthful  mind,  and  wrote  for  the  press  occasional  contributions  which 
led  to  his  becoming  an  accredited  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette.  He 
studied  law  in  the  office  of  Attorney-General  Wolcott,  and  was  made  Chief  Clerk 
to  A.  P.  Russell,  Secretary  of  State,  in  1858.  about  which  time  ho  was  a  roommate 
with  William  D.  Howelis  in  the  Starling  Medical  College  building,  where  he  was 
also  associated  with  the  Rev.  Thomas  Fullerton,  now  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Both 
Howelis  and  Fullerton  had  made  some  ventures  in  the  realm  of  poetry,  and 
Fullerton  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  have  one  of  his  productions  accepted  by  the 
Atlantic  Monthly.  Subsequently  Howelis  realized  a  similar  success  and  was 
delighted  to  receive  one  day  twentyfive  dollars  in  payment  for  his  contribution. 
This  money  having  been  placed  in  bank  to  Howells's  credit,  he  not  long  afterwards 
sought  in  great  perplexity  his  roommate,  Comly,  to  whom  he  put  the  query : 
**  Jim,  when  you've  put  money  in  the  bank,  how  do  you  get  it  out  again  ?"  Messrs. 
Huntington,  E.  A.  Fitch,  R.  S.  Neil,  Charles  Scarritt  and  E.  L.  Taylor  were  addi- 
tional members  of  the  circle  of  young  men  in  which  Howelis  and  Comly  moved. 
These  friends  were  addicted  to  long  walks  on  Sunday,  which  took  them  out  into 
what  was  then  the  open  country.  One  of  the  remote  points  reached  by  them  in 
these  walks  was  what  is  now  the  corner  of  Parsons  Avenue  and  Town  Street.  In 
his  daily  peregrinations  between  the  Starling  Medical  College  and  the  Statehouse, 
Mr.  Comly  passed  the  residence  of  Doctor  S.  M.  Smith,  at  the  northeast  corner  of 
State  and  Fourth  streets,  where  he  became  acquainted  with  the  Doctor's  accom- 


480  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

plished  daughter,  Miss  Libbic  Smith,  to  whom  he  was  afterwards  married.  At  an 
early  date  in  the  Civil  War  he  became  a  Lieutenant  in  a  Home  Guard  Company  of 
which  M.  C.  Lilley  was  Captain.  Later  he  was  made  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the 
Fortythird  Ohio  Infantry,  of  which  Wager  Swayne  was  Colonel.  From  this  regi- 
ment, to  gratif}'  his  desire  to  get  into  active  service,  he  was  transferred  to  the 
Twentythird  Ohio  Infantry,  of  which  regiment  ho  was  much  of  the  time  during  its 
Virginia  and  West  Virginia  campaigns,  in  command.  In  the  course  of  his  military 
experience  he  rose  through  successive  grades  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general  by 
brevet.  In  October,  1865,  he  became  the  editor  and  part  proprietor  of  the  Ohio 
State  Journal,  with  which  paper  he  retained  these  relations  until  he  was  appointed 
United  States  Minister  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  He  was  a  pureminded,  warm- 
hearted man,  and  the  aid  that  was  given  him  in  his  early  struggles  he  was  glad 
in  his  later  years  to  give  to  others  who  needed  a  friend.  His  memory  as  a  raan,  a 
soldier  and  a  journalist  is  rightly  cherished  by  all  who  knew  him. 

The  late  Kev.  Dr.  D.  A.  Randall  is  not  often  thought  of  as  an  editor,  but  he 
was  a  man  of  great  versatility  and  was  at  different  times  in  the  course  of  his  life  of 
seventyone  3'ear8  teacher,  preacher,  editor,  business  man,  lecturer,  author,  journal- 
ist and  traveler.  His  editorial  career  began  when  he  was  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church  at  Medina,  Ohio.  For  four  years  while  there,  beginning  in  1840,  he  edited 
the  Washingtonian,  a  weekly  paper  devoted  to  the  great  temperance  agitation 
which  was  then  sweeping  over  the  country.  His  work  attracted  favorable  notice, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1845  he  was  invited  by  George  Cole,  proprietor  of  the  Cross  and 
Journal,  the  organ  of  the  Baptist  denomination  in  this  and  adjoining  States,  to 
become  the  associate  editor.  Mr.  Randall  accepted  in  November  of  that  year,  and 
removed  to  this  city,  which  was  bis  home  from  that  time  until  his  death  in  1884. 
He  made  himself  familiar  with  all  departments  of  newspaper  work,  and  in  1847 
became  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  paper,  Mr.  James  L.  Batcheler  being  his  part- 
ner. Mr.  Randall's  literary  style  was  most  pleasing,  and  all  his  writings  were 
characterized  by  force  of  conviction  tempered  by  charity  and  good  will. 

Alfred  B.  Lee,  a  native  of  Belmont  County,  Ohio,  spent  the  first  twenty  years 
of  his  life  on  a  farm,  graduated  at  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University  in  1859  and  at 
the  Ohio  State  and  Union  Law  School  at  Cleveland  in  1861 ;  and  after  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War,  in  which  he  served  from  1861  until  July,  1865,  as  an  officer  of  the 
Eightysecond  Ohio  Infantry  and  as  Adjutant- General  of  a  brigade,  he  began  the 
practice  of  law  at  Delaware,  Ohio,  but  was  soon  afterward  invited  by  General 
Carl  Schurz,  chief  editor  of  the  Detroit  Daily  Post,  to  accept  a  position  on  the  edi- 
torial staff  of  that  paper,  the  duties  of  which  position  thus  tendered  he  assumed 
with  the  issue  of  the  first  number  of  the  Post  in  March,  1866.  In  August  of  that 
year  he  bought  a  controlling  interest  in  the  Delaware,  Ohio,  Gazette,  of  which  he 
remained  chief  editor  and  proprietor  about  seven  years.  After  having  sold  his 
newspaper  interest  at  Delaware  in  1873  he  was  invited  by  Doctor  S.  M.  Smith,  one 
of  the  proprietors  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  to  assume  editorial  charge  of  that 
paper  during  the  illness  of  the  chief  editor,  General  Comly.  Acquiescing  in  this 
request,  he  was  from  that  time  forward  assistant  or  acting  chief  editor  of  the  paper 
until  his  appointment  as  Private  Secretary  to  Governor  Hayes  in  January,  1876. 


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The  Press.    II.  481 

fleturning  from  his  services  as  Consul-General  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  Ger- 
many, he  resumed  his  cooDection  with  the  State  Journal,  this  time  as  chief  writ- 
ing editor,  in  November,  1881,  and  continued  to  serve  in  this  position,  notwith- 
standing the  sale  of  the  establishment,  until  June,  1882.  In  1883,  he  united  with 
Messrs.  Coraly  and  Francisco  in  the  purchase  of  the  Toledo  Daily  Telegram,  but  a 
few  months  later  sold  his  interest  in  that  paper,  having  meanwhile  accepted  an 
appointment  tendered  him  as  assistant  writing  editor  on  the  Cleveland  Daily 
Herald,  from  which  position  he  resumed,  and  for  one  year  continued,  his  connec- 
tion with  the  editorial  staff  of  the  State  Journal.  A  complete  sketch  of  his  life  to 
the  present  time  appears  elsewhere  in  this  work. 

Charles  S.  Glenn,  son  of  Alexander  E.  Glenn,  was  one  of  many  whose  names 
are  inseparably  connected  with  the  career  of  the  now  defunct  Gazette.  Born  at 
Rising  Sun,  Indiana,  September  23, 1834,  he  came  to  Columbus  with  his  father  in 
1840,  learned  the  printing  trade,  went  to  Washington  City  and  worked  there  on 
the  Globe  in  1855,  and,  returning  to  Columbus,  in  1858  bought  a  half  interest  in 
the  Columbus  Gazette,  the  other  half  being  retained  by  Governor  John  Greiner. 
The  firm  name,  at  first  Glenn  &  Greiner,  then  Glenn  &  Thrall,  became  at  a  later 
date  Glenn,  Thrall  &  Heide,  and  still  later  Glenn  &  Heide.  In  1873  Mr.  Glenn 
became  by  purchase  the  sole  proprietor  of  the  paper  and  printing  office,  which  he 
continued  to  own  until  his  death  in  1875.  Like  his  father,  Mr.  Glenn  was  active 
in  secret  societ}'  work,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  belonged  to  the  Masons,  the 
Odd  Fellows,  Knights  of  Pjrthias,  and  Improved  Order  of  Eed  Men.  He  was  a 
selfmade  man,  upright,  industrious,  and  held  a  warm  place  in  the  hearts  of  all  who 
knew  him. 

Jonathan  F.  Linton,  for  several  years  proprietor  of  the  Ohio  Statesman,  and 
whose  connection  with  the  Becord  and  the  City  and  Country  is  elsewhere  men- 
tioned, was  born  December  16,  1831,  near  Springfield,  Ohio,  and  attended  school 
at  Clifton,  Greene  County,  in  a  cabin  which  had  been  built  for  the  use  of  Whig 
political  meetings.  His  great  grandfather,  John  Linton,  was  one  of  the  first 
settlers  in  the  Little  Miami  Valley,  and  his  grandfather,  Nathan  Linton,  a  pioneer 
in  Clinton  County,  held  the  office  of  County  Surveyor  in  that  county  continuously 
for  fifty  years.  Jonathan  F.  Linton  learned  the  printing  trade  in  the  office  of  the 
Springfield  Bepublic,  then  owned  by  Gallagher  &  Crane,  in  1845,  and  in  1847 
worked  in  the  office  of  the  Wilmington  Itepublican,  then  owned  by  David  Fisher,  a 
member  of  Congress.  After  a  varied  experience  in  the  study  of  engineering  and 
in  the  pursuit  of  that  profession  he  bought  the  Peru,  Illinois,  Democrat,  which, 
after  changing  its  name  and  politics,  he  converted  into  a  daily.  In  1855  he  sold 
this  paper  and  engaged  in  farming,  but  in  1857  returned  to  the  printing  business. 
In  the  summer  of  1861  he  enlisted  as  First  Lieutenant  in  the  Thirtyninth  Illinois 
Infantry,  a  Chicago  regiment,  and  in  the  course  of  the  war  served  on  the  staffs  of 
General  Howells,  Osborn  and  Vogdes.  Quitting  the  army  in  1864  he  has  since 
been  engaged  in  milling,  printing  and  farming. 

Franklin  Gale,  who  was  for  many  years  connected  with  the  Statesman  and 
other  local  papers,  was  born  at  Oxford,  Massachusetts,  October  25,  1802.  In  early 
life  a  farmer,  he  taught  school  in  winter^  removed  to  Barnesvillej-Ohio,  in  1833,  was 

31 


482  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

admitted  to  tho  bar,  practised  law  at  ZaDesville  and  Columbus,  and  made  his  first 
newspaper  venture  at  Zanesville  in  the  forties.  This  publication  he  removed  to 
Columbu8  in  1849  and  consolidated  with  the  Columbian,  which  w^as  itself  merged 
into  the  Statesman.  For  a  time  he  practised  law,  but  during  the  greater  part  of 
his  residence  at  Columbus  he  was  connected  with  the  press.  During  the  war  and 
after  its  conclusion  he  was  one  of  the  editorial  writers  of  the  Statesman.  In  1868 
he  was  chosen  official  reporter  of  the  Ohio  Senate,  a  position  which  he  held  until 
his  death  in  1874.  During  his  newspaper  career,  lasting  about  twentysix  j^ears, 
he  was  connected  editorially  with  six  or  seven  different  papers. 

Colonel  James  Taylor  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Harrison  Township,  Perry 
County,  May  3,  1825,  and  began  newspaper  work  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  In  1846, 
in  connection  with  Philander  H.  Binckley,  he  began  the  publication  at  Roseville  of 
a  monthly  called  the  Souvenir,  which  was  continued  for  eighteen  months.  Later, 
in  anticipation  of  the  establishment  of  a  new  county  to  be  composed  of  portions  of 
Belmont  and  Guernsey,  he  published  a  paper  at  Fairview,  which  undertaking  not 
being  successful,  he  sold  the  property  and  in  1850  went  to  New  Philadelphia,  where 
he  became  associated  with  Hon.  Charles  Matthews  in  the  publTcation  of  the  Ohio 
Democrat.  In  1856  he  returned  to  Perry  County  and  established  at  New  Lexing- 
ton a  paper  called  the  Ambrotype,  which  he  edited  for  one  year,  then  sold.  Sub- 
sequently, in  conjunction  with  his  brother,  George  W.  Taylor,  he  established  at 
New  Lexington  the  Locomotive,  which  still  lives  in  the  New  Lexington  Tribune. 
Serving  in  the  Thirtieth  Ohio  Infantry  and  other  regiments  during  the  war,  he 
resumed,  at  its  close,  his  newspaper  work,  wrote  for  a  number  of  journals,  and 
during  the  proprietorship  of  Comly  &  Francisco  became  an  editorial  writer  of  the 
Ohio  State  Journal,  a  position  which  he  held,  except  during  short  intervals  when 
other  enterprises  interfered,  until  his  death  January  25,  1891.  Colonel  Taylor 
was  a  man  of  large  and  varied  information,  and  was  first  to  disclose  to  capitalists 
tho  great  mineral  resources  of  Perry  County.  In  conjunction  with  General 
Thomas  Ewing  he  conceived  and  undertook  to  carry  out  the  project  of  building  a 
railway  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Atlantic  Coast,  but  the  panic  of  1873  prostrated 
this  enterprise,  and  nearly  all  that  was  invested  in  it  was  lost.  The  Toledo  & 
Ohio  Central  Kailway  was  built  by  others;  mines  were  developed  and  towns  grew 
up  on  land  that  Colonel  Taylor  and  his  associates  had  once  owned,  and  he  lived  to 
see  his  great  project  a  success,  although  others  were  its  beneficiaries.  While  he 
was  at  the  height  of  his  prosperity  as  a  cooperator  and  railroad  projector  he  was 
named  the  "  Duke  of  Ferrara,"  a  soubriquet  which  clung  to  him  for  many  years. 

William  D.  Brickell,  proprietor  of  the  Evening  Dispatch,  was  born  in 
Steubcnville,  Ohio,  in  1852,  and  is  the  only  son  of  Captain  D.  Z.  Brickell,  of 
Pittsburgh.  His  grandfather  was  Captain  John  Brickell,  at  one  time  commander 
of  the  Boston,  the  first  of  the  fast  line  of  steamers  on  the  Western  rivers.  His 
grandmother,  Mrs.  Catharine  E.  Brickell,  is  still  living  at  Pittsburgh  at  the  ago 
of  ninetyone  years.  John  Brickell,  who  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  this 
locality,  and  was  for  some  time  held  captive  by  tho  Indians,  was  a  cousin  of 
William  D.  BrickoH's  father.  Mr.  Brickell  spent  his  early  life  in  Pittsburgh  and 
was  educated    at    the    Western   University  of   Pennsylvania.     He   learned   the 


-     ,  — ^-^^-^--^^'^-^^ — ^.^^^^^^^ — .>*- 


The  Press.     II.  483 

printer's  trade  on  the  Pittsburgh  Post  when  it  was  owned  by  the  late  Hon. 
James  P.  Barr,  and  did  work  in  all  the  various  departments  of  that  paper.  He 
was  also  at  different  times  connected  with  the  St.  Louis  Democrat,  Indianapolis 
Sentinel  and  other  Western  papers.  In  1876  he  became  part  owner  of  the 
Dispatch,  and  in  1882  acquired  also  the  interest  of  his  partner,  Captain  L.  D.  Myers, 
and  has  since  then  remained  sole  proprietor  of  the  paper. 

Samuel  J.  Plickinger,  the  present  editor  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  was  born 
on  a  farm  near  Millville,  Butler  County,  Ohio,  in  1848  and  spent  his  boyhood 
there.  His  education,  as  far  as  the  schools  are  concerned,  was  completed  at 
Otterbein  University,  Westerville,  Ohio.  He  began  his  newspaper  work  on  the 
Dayton  Journal  in  1876,  as  telegraph  editor.  Two  years  later  he  came  to  Columbus 
to  engage  in  work  on  the  Ohio  State  Journal  and  was  successively  reporter,  city 
editor  and  telegraph  editor.  In  1881  he  was  the  Columbus  correspondent  of  the 
Cincinnati  Commercial  for  three  or  four  months,  doing  such  excellent  work  in  that 
time  that  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer  sought  his  services  and  secured  them.  For 
three  years,  ending  in  November,  1884,  he  remained  correspondent  of  the 
Enquirer,  resigning  at  that  time  to  become  managing  editor  of  the  Ohio  State 
Journal,  a  position  which  he  has  ever  since  filled. 

The  newspaper  career  of  Colonel  W.  A.  Taylor  dates  back  to  1855,  in  which 
3'ear  he  began  work  on  the  Perry  County  Democrat,  then  published  at  JNew 
Lexington.  A  few  years  later  he  went  to  Zanesville  where  he  became  connected 
with  the  Press,  a  daily  paper,  and  began  contributing  to  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer. 
In  1865  he  went  to  Cincinnati  and  became  a  member  of  the  Enquirer  editorial  staff, 
from  which  he  resigned  in  1868  to  accept  a  position  on  the  Pittsburgh  Post,  which 
he  retained  until  1872,  when  he  went  to  New  York  to  accept  a  position  on  the 
Sun.  In  1873  he  returned  to  the  Pittsburgh  Post  and  remained  with  that 
paper  until  1876,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  a  place  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the 
Evening  Telegraph.  In  1878  he  came  to  Columbus  to  edit  the  Democrat,  with 
which  paper  he  remained  until  shortly  before  its  consolidation  with  the  Statesman. 
Later  he  was  connected  with  the  Times  until  1882;  published  the  Saturday 
Critic  from  April,  1882,  until  April,  1883;  then  staff  correspondent  of  the 
Cincinnati  News  Journal,  and  a  correspondent  of  numerous  other  papers  until 
April,  1885,  when  he  accepted  the  position  of  staff  correspondent  of  the  Enquirer, 
which  he  still  holds.  Colonel  Taylor  was  Clerk  of  the  Senate  in  the  Sixtyninth 
General  Assembly,  and  while  in  that  office  prepared  an  official  register  of  the 
Territorial  and  State  officers  of  Ohio  from  the  beginning  of  civil  government  in  the 
State  until  the  present  time. 

Stephen  B.  Porter,  son  of  James  and  Marguerite  Porter,  was  born  August  12, 
1838,  near  Steubenville,  Ohio,  and  was  early  left  an  orphan.  Ho  was  reared  by 
his  grandmother,  and  obtained  such  an  education  as  a  country  school  and  the 
academies  at  Richmond,  Ohio,  and  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania,  could  give  him. 
Meanwhile  he  had  worked  on  a  farm  and  clerked  in  country  stores.  He  married 
in  1859,  enlisted  in  the  Second  Ohio  Infantry,  September  1,  1861,  served  with  his 
regiment  until  October  8,  1862,  was  twice  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Perryville  and, 
owing  to  his  wounds,  was  assigned  to  clerical  work  with  General  Cox,  at  Cincin* 


484  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

nati,  and  at  hospital  headquarters  at  Camp  Dennison.  He  served  three  years,  was 
discharged,  and  was  commissioned  Second  Lieatenant  in  the  One  Hundred  and 
Ninetyfirst  Ohio  Infantry,  with  which  he  went  to  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  where 
he  served  until  the  close  of  the  war,  part  of  the  time  as  First  Lieutenant,  to  which 
rank  he  had  been  promoted.  He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  in  August,  1865, 
began  newspaper  work  as  a  reporter  on  the  Cleveland  Herald  in  November  of  that 
year,  and  in  1869  went  to  thePlaindealer,  with  which  paper  he  was  connected  as  a 
reporter  for  several  years.  In  November,  1872,  he  came  to  Columbus  to  become 
city  editor  of  the  Dispatch,  in  which  capacity  he  served  until  the  firm  of  Myers  & 
Brickell  was  dissolved,  when  he  became  editor  of  the  paper,  a  position  which  he 
has  ever  since  continuously  held. 

Lanson  G.  Curtis,  born  in  Columbus  in  September,  1845,  became  a  messenger 
boy  in  the  office  of  Governor  Dennison  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  served  in  various 
capacities  in  the  executive  offices  of  Governors  Tod,  Brough  and  Anderson,  was 
sept  as  bearer  of  tickets  and  ballotboxes  to  the  army  in  the  Southwest  in  1865,  was 
clerk  in  the  office  of  General  Wikoff,  Secretary  of  State ;  succeeded  B.  J.  Loomis, 
transferred  to  Washington,  as  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  and, 
when  Mr.  Loomis  returned  to  Columbus,  became  the  regular  Columbus  correspon- 
dent of  the  Cincinnati  Times,  a  position  to  which  was  soon  added  the  local  agency 
of  the  Associated  Press.  For  a  few  months,  Mr.  Curtis  was  city  editor  of  the  Dis- 
patch, but  soon  withdrew  from  that  service  to  devote  all  his  energies  to  newspaper 
correspondence.  He  was  also  the  Columbus  representative  of  the  New  York 
Herald  and  Chicago  Times.  In  addition  to  his  newspaper  duties,  Mr.  Curtis  for 
several  years  edited  the  annual  publications  of  the  Conductors'  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  the  United  States.  He  died  November  18,  1881,  at  the  age  of  thirtysix, 
in  the  house  on  State  Street  in  which  he  was  born.  Commemorative  resolutions 
were  passed  in  his  honor  by  the  members  of  the  Columbus  Press,  who  also,  as 
before  narrated,  organized  a  club  and  gave  it  his  name.  He  was  a  man  of  charm- 
ing personal  qualities  and  rare  professional  talent  and  accomplishments. 

W.  S.  Furay,  now  leading  editorial  writer  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  is  a  native 
of  Frankfort,  Koss  County,  Ohio.  After  short  attendance  at  Wittenberg  College 
and  a  summer  spent  in  study  at  Oberlin  he  entered  Antioch  College,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  the  spring  of  1861,  having  in  the  meantime  taught  school  several 
terms.  A  day  or  two  after  graduating,  he  left  home  to  join  the  Union  Army  in 
West  Virginia,  where  he  began  his  newspaper  work  with  a  series  of  volunteer  let- 
ters to,  the  Cincinnati  Gazette,  the  proprietors  of  which  were  so  much  pleased 
with  his  work  as  to  engage  him  as  a  regular  correspondent.  As  a  personal 
observer  he  described  eleven  of  the  great  battles  and  many  minor  conflicts,  raids, 
sieges,  and  secret  expeditions.  The  battles  described  were  Perryville,  Stone  Eiver, 
Chickamaugat,  Mission  Kidge,  Lookout  Mountain,  Hesaca,  Kenesaw,  Peach  Tree 
Creek,  Franklin,  Nashville,  and  Blakeley,  in  front  of  Mobile,  the  last  taking  place 
on  the  day  of  General  Lee's  surrender.  Mr.  Furay  remained  in  the  South  five 
years  after  the  close  of  the  war,  conducting  a  bureau  of  southern  correspondence 
for  the  Cincinnati  Gazette.  He  was  tendered  but  declined  the  post  of  Private 
Secretary  to  Governor  Bullock,   of  Georgia.    The  one  recollection  on  which  he 


tmti^ma^m/tl^tmmmiUimmm^mmmmimma^^^m^m^^i^^mmi^mmmmi^m^m^^ 


The  Press.     II.  485 

most  prides  himself  in  connection  with  this  period  is  that  of  the  close  of  the  Ala- 
bama reconstruction  convention  in  1866,  when,  at  a  great  popular  meeting  hold  to 
endorse  the  proceedings,  ho  spoke  for  an  hour  and  a  half  from  the  very  rostrum 
on  which  Jefferson  Davis  stood  when  sworn  in  as  President  of  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy. Eeturning  to  Ohio  in  1870  ho  served  for  ten  years  as  general  State 
correspondent  for  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  with  his  headquarters  at  Columbus.  He 
withdrew  from  the  Gazette  to  become  owner  and  editor  of  the  Columbus  Sunday 
Herald,  which  he  sold  in  1884.  He  served  five  years  as  Trustee  of  the  Ohio 
Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Homo  by  appointment  of  Governor  Hayes;  held 
for  two  and  a  half  years  the  position  of  Chief  Clerk  in  the  office  of  Hon.  J.  F. 
Oglevee,  Auditor  of  State,  and  in  1883  was  appointed  United  States  Revenue 
Collector  for  the  Columbus  District,  which  position  ho  soon  lost  by  consolidation  of 
this  district  with  that  of  Chillicothe.  In  1883  he  was  commissioned  by  President 
Arthur  as  United  States  Commissioner  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  and  on  his 
return  from  service  in  that  position  in  1884  was  offered  and  accepted  the  newspaper 
connection  which  he  now  holds. 

Charles  Q.  Davis,  now  general  manager  of  the  Evening  Post,  was  born  Septem- 
ber 29,  1863,  at  Jackson,  Ohio,  removed  to  Columbus  in  1869,  attended  the  Ohio 
State  University  three  years,  began  newspaper  work  as  a  reporter  of  the  Sunday 
Morning  News,  and  when  he  left  college  in  1885  became  a  member  of  the  Ohio 
State  Journal  local  staff.  After  retaining  this  position  about  a  year  he  was  offered 
and  accepted  that  of  State  correspondent  for  the  Cleveland  Plaindealer,  which 
relation  he  maintained  until  December,  1890.  In  April,  1891,  he  bought  a  con- 
trolling interest  in  the  Columbus  Evening  Post,  and  became  its  general  manager. 
In  1884  Mr.  Davis  was  Secretary  of  the  Democratic  State  Executive  Committee,  and 
in  1890  was  Secretary  of  the  Democratic  State  Central  Committee. 

Leo  Hirsch,  editor  of  the  Sonntagsgast  and  the  Express,  is  a  native  of  Germany, 
in  which  country  he  was  apprenticed  to  and  learned  the  printer's  trade.  In  1866 
he  went  to  London,  Enland,  where  he  became  manager  of  the  Londoner  Zeitung, 
then  said  to  be  the  only  German  paper  printed  in  that  country.  Emigrating  to  the 
United  States  in  1871,  he  worked  six  months  at  his  trade  at  New  York  City,  then 
became  manager  of  the  Oestliche  Post,  a  German  Republican  morning  paper  which 
advocated  the  election  gf  General  Grant  to  the  Presidency.  In  1872  he  went  to 
St.  Louis,  where  he  first  worked  in  the  job  office  of  the  Democrat  and  subsequently 
became  Superintendent  of  the  Missouri  Staatszeitung,  the  career  of  which  was  cut 
short  soon  after  by  its  purchase  by  Messrs.  Pulitzer  and  Hutchins  and  its  sale  the 
same  day  to  the  Globe-Democrat.  In  1873  Mr.  Hirsch,  with  others,  began  the  pub- 
lication of  the  St.  Louis  Tribune,  but  the  enterprise  was  not  successful.  While  he  was 
in  St.  Louis,  Mr.  Hirsch  conceived  the  idea  of  German  stereotype  plates,  and  traveled 
extensively  to  introduce  them,  being  thus  the  pioneer  in  the  German  stereotype  plate 
business.  In  1876  he  was  offered  a  position  on  the  Westbote,  and  in  July  of  that  year 
came  to  Columbus.  He  served  with  the  Westbote  in  various  capacities  for  a  year  and 
a  half,  began  in  April,  1878,  the  publication  of  the  Sonntagsgast.  and  in  1887  was 
appointed  Supervisor  of  PublicPrinting,  to  which  position  he  was  reappointed  in 


486  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

1889.     In  Octx)bcr,  1891,  he  orgauizod  a  company  and  bogan  the  publication  of  the 
Columbus  Express,  a  German  Evening  Daily. 

J.  H.  Galbraith,  editor  of  the  Press,  is  a  native  of  Perry  Township,  Franklin 
County,  and  graduated  from  the  Ohio  State  University  in  1883.  Immediately  on 
quitting  the  University  he  took  an  engagement  as  a  reporter  on  the  Columbus 
Times,  then  managed  by  the  late  John  G.  Thompson.  When  the  Times  passed  into 
other  hands,  with  S.  K.  Donavin  in  charge,  Mr.  Galbraith  was  made  its  city  editor, 
from  which  position  he  passed  to  that  of  managing  editor,  which  he  still  holds 
under  the  proprietorship  of  F.  J.  Wendell. 

William  F.  Kemmler,  present  managing  editor  of  the  Westbote,  a  native  of 
Wirtemberg,  after  serving  for  three  years  as  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  mayor  of 
Ebingen,  his  native  town,  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in  the  autumn  of  1857, 
and  settled  in  Circleville,  Ohio,  where  he  apprenticed  himself  to  the  printer's  trade 
in  the  office  of  the  Watchman,  which  was  then  conducted  by  Niles  &  Case, 
and  now  flourishes  as  the  Democrat  and  Watchman,  under  the  editorial  direction 
of  Hon.  A.  R.  Van  Cleaf.  After  fulfilling  his  apprenticeship  and  working  an  addi- 
tional year  as  compositor,  he  accepted  a  position  as  compositor  and  translator  in  the 
office  of  the  Westbote  of  Columbus,  January  2, 1862,  from  which  date  until  the  pres- 
ent time,  excepting  an  interval  of  six  months,  he  has  been  connected  with  the 
Westbote  either  in  its  mechanical  or  its  editorial  department.  Since  the  retirement 
of  his  lamented  chief,  Mr.  Frederick  Fieser,  from  the  business  in  1884,  he  has  been 
managing  editor  as  well  as  part  proprietor  of  the  paper,  and  since  the  organization  of 
the  Westbote  Company  he  has  been  one  of  its  directors.  In  1862  he  married  Miss 
Barbara  Palm,  w^ho,  with  her  parents,  came  from  his  native  town  to  Circleville  in 
1840.  Mr.  Kemmler's  newspaper  work  has  been  characterized  by  sturdy  honesty 
and  the  intelligence  of  a  welltrained  mind.  With  the  project  for  the  erection  of  a 
moment  to  Schiller  in  the  City  Park  he  was  from  first  to  last  closely  and  actively 
identified. 

Herman  Determann,  present  associate  editor  of  the  Westbote,  began  his  con- 
nection with  that  paper  in  1870.  He  was  born  at  Amsterdam,  Holland,  and  com- 
pleted his  education  at  the  universities  at  Gottingen  and  Munich,  where  he  pur- 
sued a  special  course  in  philology  and  jurisprudence.  On  his  arrival  in  the  United 
States  in  1870,  he  chose  the  newspaper  profession,  in  which  be  has  been  associated, 
at  different  times,  with  German-American  papers  in  Cincinnati,  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee and  other  cities.  For  eleven  years  he  was  chief  editor  of  the  Evansville 
Democrat,  much  of  the  success  of  which  was  duo  to  bis  intelligent  efforts.  He  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  recent  political  struggles,  and  has  acquired  prominence  as 
a  campaign  speaker.  He  has  rare  literary  gifts,  and  is  the  author  of  much  meri- 
torious poetry  which  has  from  time  to  time  appeared  in  current  periodicals  of  the 
United  States  and  Germany. 

Ferdinand  A.  Wayant,  a  native  of  Cologne,  Germany,  and  of  Swiss- French 
parentage,  after  graduating  with  high  honors  from  the  gymnasium  of  his  native 
city,  emigrated  in  1871  to  the  United  States  where  he  at  once  entered  upon  a  jour- 
nalistic career,  and  found  employment  on  different  German  papers  at  Newark, 
New  Jersey,  Albany,  Providence  and   Bochester.     In  1882  he  came  to  Columbus 


The  Press.    II.  487 

and  accepted  a  position  on  the  Westbote.  Shortly  afterwards  he  and  F.  Ilem- 
mersbaeh  founded  the  Ohio  Stuatszeitung,  a  German  daily  of  Democratic  politics. 
The  enterprise  was  financially  unsuccessful,  and  Mr.  Wayant  again  became  con- 
nected with  the  Westbote,  with  which  he  was  employed  as  reporter  and  assistant 
editor.  Although  physically  frail  and  for  years  a  sufferer  with  lung  affection,  he 
performed  his  duties  with  rare  ability  and  devotion  until  his  death,  which  took 
place  June  11,  1891.  Of  genial  and  kind  disposition,  he  had  many  warm  friends 
and  admirers.  His  sense  of  humor  was  keen,  and  often  cropped  out  in  his  writ- 
ings for  the  press.     His  untimely  death  was  widely  and  deeply  regretted. 

Charles  F.  Brown  (Artemus  Ward)  worked  for  a  short  time  as  a  compositor 
in  the  newspaper  offices  of  Columbus  prior  to  his  connection  with  the  Cleveland 
Plaindealer,  in  which  he  became  famous.  He  came  here  as  a  tramp  printer, 
ragged  and  dirty,  and  set  type  in  the  office  of  the  Reveille,  a  shortlived  daily 
which  began  publication  in  1854. 

Hon.  (ieorge  K.  Nash  had  a  newspaper  experience  of  about  one  year,  having 
been  city  editor  of  the  State  Journal  from  March  18,  1867,  to  April  17,  1868. 
Prior  to  that  time  he  had  done  some  volunteer  writing  for  the  State  Journal,  and 
when  W.  U.  Busbey  resigned  as  city  editor  to  become  Private  Secretary  to  Gover- 
nor Cox,  the  vacant  position  was  tendered  to  and  accepted  by  Mr.  Nash. 

Sylvanus  B.  Johnson,  now  the  Washington  Representative  of  the  Cincinnati 
Enquirer,  came  to  this  city  late  in  the  sixties  as  a  printer,  in  which  capacity  he 
was  employed  on  the  Statesman,  of  which  he  afterwards  became  city  editor.  On 
April  1,  1872,  he  became  city  editor  of  the  State  Journal,  of  which  paper  he  was 
subsequently  one  of  the  editorial  writers.  In  1880  ho  went  to  Cincinnati  to  accept 
a  position  as  assistant  managing  editor  of  the  Enquirer,  with  which  paper  he  has 
most  of  the  time  since  been  connected. 

Aaron  F.  Perry,  the  wellknown  Cincinnati  lawyer,  did  much  editorial  work 
for  the  State  Journal  while  practising  his  profession  here,  although  this  was  not 
generally  known  at  the  time.  Subsequently  he  was  associated  with  Oren  Follett 
and  others  in  the  proprietorship. 

C.  C.  Hazewell,  who  was  in  1845-46  editor  of  the  Statesman,  returned  to 
Massachusetts  after  severing  his  connection  with  that  paper,  became  editor  of  the 
Boston  Times  in  1850  and  figured  prominently  in  the  politics  and  journalism  of  that 
period  in  the  Bay  State. 

John  Teesdale,  editor  of  the  State  Journal  in  1843-6,  was  afterwards  editor  of 
the  Akron  Beacon.  In  1857  he  went  to  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  where  he  bought  and 
edited  a  newspaper. 

Henry  Reed,  who  with  his  brother,  S.  R.  Reed,  held  a  prominent  place  in  Ohio 
journalism,  came  to  Columbus  May  1,  1848,  from  Maumee  City,  Indiana,  and 
became  part  owner  and  one  of  the  editors  of  the  State  Journal,  his  associate  in  the 
paper  being  William  B.  Thrall.  He  retired  from  the  State  Journal  the  following 
year,  and  in  March,  1852,  became  editor  of  the  Cincinnati  Atlas.  In  1855  he  was 
one  of  the  editorial  writers  on  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  from  which  he  retired 
in  1859.     Later,  he  and  his  brother  began  the  publication  of  a  cheap  Cincinnati 


488  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

daily  which  was  shortlived.     Both  the  Reed  brothers  are  now  dead,  S.  R.  Heed 
having  died  at  sea  in  1889. 

James  Haddock  Smith,  a  soninlaw  of  Samuel  Medary,  began  his  editorial 
work  on  the  Statesman  in  1850.  He  had  represented  Brown  County  in  the  Forty- 
sixth  and  Fortysoventh  General  Assemblies.  When  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox  became  part 
proprietor  of  the  Statesman  in  1853,  Mr.  Smith  was  his  partner.  In  1854  he  sold 
his  interest  to  Mr.  Cox  and  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Judge  Warden.  From 
1857  to  1859  he  was  again  financially  connected  with  the  Statesman,  but  severed 
his  connection  with  the  paper  in  1859  and  was  appointed  County  Clerk  vice  J.  L. 
Bryan,  resigned. 

William  D.  Gallagher  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  in  1808,  and  at  an  early  ago 
came  West.  He  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  with  Charles 
Hammond,  who  gave  to  that  paper  its  first  great  repntation.  In  1838*9  he  was 
editor  of  the  Hesperian  in  Columbus,  with  the  literary  and  political  press  of  which 
ho  was  afterwards  variously  connected.  In  1853  he  removed  to  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, where  for  a  time,  he  edited  the  Farm  Journal  and  subsequently  retired  to 
a  farm  near  the  city.  Author  of  much  excellent  poetry  and  prose,  he  achieved  an 
enviable  reputation  in  the  current  contemporary  literature  of  his  period. 

Ezra  Griswold  had  the  distinction  of  being  connected  at  the  outset  with  both 
the  Western  Intelligencer  and  the  Monitor.  Besides  setting  the  first  type  for  the 
former  paper,  he  was  a  partner  of  David  Smith  in  the  establishment  of  the  Moni- 
tor. Mr.  Griswold  sold  his  interest  in  the  Monitor  in  1820  and  began  the  publica- 
tion of  a  paper  at  Worthington,  called  the  Columbian  Advocate  and  Franklin 
Chronicle.  This  paper  he  removed,  in  the  fall  of  1821,  to  Delaware,  Ohio,  where 
he  continued  its  publication  until  1834,  when  it  passed  into  the  ownership  of 
Abram  Thomson,  and  became  the  Olentangy  Gazette.  It  is  still  published  by  Mr. 
Thomson  as  the  Delaware  Gazette. 

John  M.  Gallagher,  after  leaving  Columbus,  published  the  Springfield  Ilepub- 
lie,  and  represented  Clarke  County  for  three  terms  in  the  General  Assembly,  one 
term  as  Speaker  of  the  House. 

Charles  Scott,  who  was  sole  or  part  proprietor  of  the  State  Journal  for  twenty 
years  ending  in  1854,  was  a  man  of  much  energy  although  his  business  ended  dis- 
astrously. From  Columbus  he  went  to  Chicago  where  he  was  connected  with  several 
business  enterprises  including  a  large  printing  establishment,  and  died  in  1888. 

Henry  D.  Cooke,  brother  of  Jay  Cooke,  the  famous  banker,  was  for  about 
three  years,  beginning  in  1858,  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  State  Journal.  He 
had  previously  had  editorial  charge  of  the  Sandusky  Commercial  Register.  During 
his  connection  with  the  State  Journal  that  paper  was  greatly  improved  editorially, 
typographically  and  in  its  local  news  service.  After  his  retirement  in  1861  Mr. 
Cooke  was  associated  in  business  with  his  brother,  Jay  Cooke.  He  died  in  Wash- 
ington City  February  24,  1881. 

James  Allen,  who  was  editor  of  the  State  Journal  early  in  the  fifties,  sub- 
sequently went  to  California,  where  he  wai^  elected  State  Printer  by  the  legislature 
in  1855. 


ata—i^— 1— i— ■■  I  I  ■  ■* 


The  Press.     II.  489 

Walter  C.  Hood,  onco  an  employe  of  the  State  Journal,  and  later  editor  of  a 
Democratic  paper  called  the  Spirit  of  the  Times,  at  Ironton,  was  State  Librarian 
in  1874-5,  having  been  appointed  by  Governor  William  Allen.  Ho  died  while 
in  office. 

William  T.  Bascom's  connection  with  the  State  Journal  began  in  1849  and 
ended  in  1855.  He  was  at  first  part  owner,  afterwards  editorial  writer.  In  185G-8 
he  was  clerk  of  the  Ohio  Senate,  was  at  a  later  date  Bank  Register  in  the  office  ol 
the  Treasurer  of  State,  was  Private  Secretaiy  to  Governor  Dennison,  beginning  in 
1860,  and  in  1865  resumed  newspaper  work  as  editor  of  the  Mount  Vernon  Eepub- 
lican  until  1867. 

Colonel  William  Schouler,  who  had  been  connected  with  the  press  of  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  became  editor  and  joint  proprietor  of  the  Stat^  Journal  in  1856,  and 
retired  from  the  paper  in  April,  1858.  Prior  to  his  departure  he  was  honored  with 
a  complimentary  dinner  given  by  Governor  Chase,  ex-Governor  Samuel  Medarj^ 
and  other  prominent  citizens.  He  was  appointed  Adjutant-General  of  Massachu- 
setts in  1861  and  died  in  October,  1872. 

William  T.  Coggeshall  was  a  proprietor  and  editor  of  the  State  Journal  about 
ten  months  in  1865.  He  had  previously  been  Slate  Librarian,  to  which  position 
he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Chase  in  June,  1856.  From  that  position  he  went 
to  Springfield  in  1862  and  took  charge  of  the  Republic.  His  connection  with  the 
State  Journal  began  January  21,  1865,  and  terminated  November  8  of  the  same 
year.  In  December,  1865,  Mr.  Coggeshall  was  appointed  Private  Secretary  to 
Governor  J.  D.  Cox.  In  1866  he  went  to  South  America  as  United  States  Minister 
to  Ecuador,  and  on  August  2,  1867,  died  at  Guapolo,  near  Quito. 

James  B.  Marshall,  who  was  one  of  the  editorial  writers  on  the  Statesman  in 
1856-7,  came  from  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer.  He  was  chosen  Reporter  for  the  Ohio 
Senate  in  January,  1858,  and  in  May  of  that  year  became  editorially  connected 
with  the  Capital  City  Fact.  In  1859  he  began  the  publication  of  a  Columbus 
weekly  called  the  People's  Press,  which  was  not  successful.  Mr.  Marshall  was  a 
brother  of  Humphrey  Marshall,  the  eloquent  Kentucky  Congressman  and  Con- 
federate General.  Some  years  ago  he  fell  from  the  window  of  a  Memphis  hotel 
and  was  killed. 

John  Bailhache,  connected  with  the  State  Journal  at  different  times  between 
1825  and  1835,  was  editor  of  the  Scioto  Gazette  in  its  early  career  and  came  to 
Columbus  from  Chillicothe.  In  1837  he  went  to  Alton,  Illinois,  where  he  edited 
the  Telegraph  until  1855.     He  died  there  in  September,  1857. 

A.  M.  Gangewer  was  connected  with  the  Columbian  until  its  consolidation  in 
1856  with  the  State  Journal,  with  which  he  was  also  connected  from  that  time 
until  1858.  He  was  appointed  Private  Secretary  to  Governor  Chase  in  1859,  and 
in  1861  became  connected  with  the  duties  of  an  office  in  the  Treasury  Department 
of  the  United  States,  which  position  he  retained  for  many  years. 

James  Q.  Howard,  author  of  a  campaign  biography  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  was 
a  young  lawyer  in  Columbus  when  named  in  1861  as  United  States  Consul  at 
St.  John's,  New  Brunswick,  in  which  position  he  was  succeeded  by  Colonel  Darius 
B.  Warner  in  1866.     Returning  to  Columbus  he  became  one  of  the  editors  and  a 


490  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

joint  proprietor  of  the  State  Journal,  from  which  ho  retired  in  1871.  In  1872  ho 
edited  a  Greeley  campaign  paper  called  the  Sentinel,  an  aiiteelection  editorial  in 
which  entitled  **  Victory  Foreknown,"  acquired  some  celebrity  as  a  mistaken 
prophecy.  In  1876  Mr.  Howard  wrote  a  campaign  biography  of  General  Kuther- 
ford  B.  Hayes.  During  the  term  of  Mr.  Hayes  as  President  he  was  appointed 
Appraiser  of  the  Port  of  New  York. 

Willoughby  W.  Webb,  a  native  of  Canton,  Ohio,  was  for  several  years  city 
editor  of  the  Statesman,  from  which  he  retired  in  July,  1860.  During  the  Civil 
War  he  was  for  some  time  a  Second-Lieutenant  in  the  Forty  third  Ohio  Infantry. 
He  was  one  of  the  editorial  writers  of  the  Crisis  under  the  management  of  Doctor 
William  Trevitt,  and  was  the  first  editor  of  the  Evening  Dispatch.  He  died  June 
7,  1872.  His  brother,  John  M.  Webb,  was  financially  identified  at  different  times 
with  the  Sunday  Morning  JNews,  the  Crisis,  and  the  Dispatch,  of  which  latter 
paper  he  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors  and  at  one  time  editor. 

Asa  L.  Harris,  who  was  a  local  writer  on  the  State  Journal  prior  to  the  Civil 
War,  bought  the  Coshocton  Age  in  1860,  and  for  some  time  published  that  paper. 
He  is  now  editor  of  the  Southern  Eailroad  Record,  of  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

Frank  Higgins,  who  learned  the  printer's  trade  in  the  office  of  the  Slate 
Journal,  published  in  1861  a  Secessionist  paper  called  the  Times,  at  Messilla,  Ari- 
zona.    He  is  now  dead. 

Salmon  P.  Chase,  in  1861,  and  before,  furnished  considerable  editorial  matter 
to  the  Ohio  State  Journal  and  the  Cincinnati  Commercial. 

G.  W.  Roby,  one  of  General  Comly's  first  partners  in  the  Stjite  Journal,  came 
to  Columbus  from  Ross  County,  where  he  had  at  different  times  practised  medicine 
and  been  Provost  Marshal  of  the  Twelfth  Congressional  District.  In  October, 
1866,  he  sold  his  interest  in  the  Journal  to  A.  P.  Miller,  of  the  Scioto  Gazette,  and 
purchased  the  interest  of  George  C.  Benham  in  the  drugstore  of  Thrall  &  Benham, 
the  firm  becoming  Thrall  &  Roby. 

W.  W.  Beach,  city  editor  and  agent  of  the  State  Journal  and  author  of  numer- 
ous popular  and  humorous  sketches,  changed  his  occupation  from  Journalism  to 
the  insurance  business  in  1867,  and  in  1869  went  to  Springfield,  Ohio,  where  he 
became  connected  with  the  Advertiser. 

B.  J.  Loomis,  who  had  for  several  years  been  Columbus  correspondent  of  the 
Cincinnati  Commercial,  accepted  in  February,  1868,  a  position  on  the  editorial 
staff  of  the  Cincinnati  Chronicle.  Subsequently  he  resumed  charge  of  the  Colum- 
bus bureau  of  the  Commercial,  a  relation  which  he  maintained  until  late  in  the 
seventies.  He  was  Clerk  of  the  Ohio  House  of  Representatives  in  1866-8,  and  again 
in  1872-4. 

W.  B.  Thrall,  a  native  of  Rutland,  Vermont,  who  came  to  Ohio  in  1817,  and 
did  his  first  newspaper  work  on  the  Circleville  Herald,  of  which  he  was  editor  and 
proprietor  for  about  twentyfive  years,  became  in  1846  one  of  tlie  editors  and  pro- 
prietors of  the  State  Journal,  after  his  retirement  from  which  in  1849  he  did  much 
editorial  work  for  various  papers  with  which  he  was  never  publicly  identified. 
He  was  a  man  of  marked  ability,  and,  while  a  resident  of  Pickaway  County,  served 
on  the  Common  Pleas  bench  and  in  the  legislature.     He  was  chosen  Comptroller 


L    A       -i-    ..' 


tm^m^mm^imm^itU^mmm^mmmiimm^^^m^m^m^^mmi^mmmi^m^a^^ 


The  Prbss.     II.  491 

of  the  Treasury  in  1859,  and  was  appointed  by  President  Fillmore  to  an  office  in 
Washington.     Ho  died  in  this  city  during  the  seventies. 

Lucian  G.  Thrall,  born  at  Circleville,  Ohio,  in  1825,  learned  the  printer's  trade 
in  the  office  of  the  State  Journal  under  the  proprietorship  of  Charles  Scott,  and  in 
1852  undertook  the  publication  of  the  Ohio  State  Times  at  Mount  Vernon.  He 
returned  to  Columbus  in  1853  and  served  in  the  composing  room  of  the  State 
Journal,  chiefly  as  foreman,  until  1859,  when  he  bought  an  interest  in  the  Gazette, 
which  he  sold  in  1864.  In  1865  he  purchased  a  half  interest  in  the  Jeffersonian  at 
Findlay.  Subsequently  he  was  connected  with  newspapers  at  Pomeroy,  Ohio,  and 
Aflon,  Iowa.     He  now  holds  a  responsible  position  in  the  office  of  the  Westbote. 

E.  G.  DeWolf,  once  connected  with  the  State  Journal,  became  the  editor  of 
the  Hancock  Jeffersonian  in  September,  1868. 

F.  W.  Hurtt,  senior  proprietor  of  the  State  Journal  in  1861,  was  appointed 
Brigade  Quartermaster  and  ordered  to  report  to  General  Rosecrans,  by  whom  he 
was  assigned  to  duty  at  Clarksburgh,  Virginia.  In  March,  1862,  the  employes  of 
the  State  Journal  presented  to  him  a  handsome  military  saddle  and  other  horse 
equipments.  Some  months  later  he  was  tried  by  court  martial  on  charges  of  mis- 
appropriation of  public  funds,  and  was  found  guilty. 

Isaac  J.  Allen,  a  partner  with  F.  W.  Hurtt  in  the  State  Journal  during  the 
war,  was  appointed  in  July,  1864,  to  be  United  States  Consul  at  Bangkok,  but  was 
subsequently  transferred  to  the  consulate  at  Hong  Kong. 

M.  P.  Beach,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Capital  City  Fact,  enlisted  in  the 
Fortieth  Ohio  Infantry  in  September,  1862. 

Colonel  E.  Hanford,  once  a  writer  on  the  State  Journal,  is  the  author  of  a 
history  of  the  Sixth  Ohio  Infantry,  written  in  1869. 

John  W.  King,  once  a  city  editor  of  the  State  Journal,  entered  the  legal  pro- 
fession, in  the  successful  practice  of  which  he  is  now  engaged  at  Zanesville. 

Captain  John  H.  Putnam  came  to  Columbus  from  the  Chillicothe  Advertiser, 
of  which  he  had  been  editor,  and  united  with  Doctor  G.  A.  Doren  in  the  purchase 
of  the  Evening  Dispatch  in  1874.  After  the  sale  of  the  Dispatch  by  himself  and 
partner  in  1876  he  became  financially  interested  in  the  Statesman,  retiring  from 
which  in  1882  he  returned  from  Chillicothe  to  edit  the  Eegister.  In  1885  he  was 
appointed  Consul  at  Honolulu,  in  which  position  he  remained  until  1889. 

Doctor  E.  C.  Cloud  was  for  a  time  city  editor  of  the  Statesman,  beginning  in 
August,  1869. 

Francis  M.  Perley  was  in  charge  of  the  publishing  department  of  the  State 
Journal  from  August  16,  1869,  to  January  28,  1871. 

Samuel  B.  Price  was  associated  with  Henry  D.  Cooke  in  the  editorship  of  the 
State  Journal  in  1860.  Subsequently  he  went  to  Toledo,  where  he  worked  on  the 
Commercial.     He  died  in  Toledo  April  20,  1870. 

Captain  W.  J.  Vance,  for  a  time  assistant  editor  of  the  State  Journal  and  its 
Washington  correspondent  in  1871-2,  formerly  owned  and  edited  a  daily  in  Piqua. 
He  wrote  over  the  nom  de  plume  "  Pendennis.** 

A.  W.  Francisco,  who  was  business  manager  and  part  owner  of  the  State  Journal 
between  June  20,  1872,  and  January  1,  1882,  came  to  Columbus  from  Cincinnati, 


492  HlHTORY   OP   THE   ClTY   OP   CoLUMBUS. 

whoro  ho  had  boon  for  many  yoars  tho  businosfl  manager  of  the  Times  under  its  pro- 
prietor, C.  W.  Starback.  In  April,  1883,  in  conjunction  with  James  M.  Comly  and 
AlfVod  R.  Leo  he  bought  the  Toledo  Telegram,  the  name  of  which  was  very  soon 
aflorwardn  changed  back  to  that  of  The  Daily  Commercial.  A  month  after  this 
purchase  Mr.  Francisco  bought  an  interest  in  the  Los  Angeles  Times,  with  which, 
some  months  later,  he  placed  himself  in  personal  connection  after  having  sold  his 
newspaper  interest  at  Toledo. 

Doctor  L.  J.  Mooler,  who  died  at  his  residence  in  Columbus,  November  17, 1872, 
came  hero  in  "Tyler  times,"  and  became  associated  with  Doctor  N.  M.  Miller, 
brother  of  John  (f.  Miller,  Postmaster,  in  the  publication  of  tho  Old  School 
Republican.  He  subsequently  became  a  director  and  superintendent  of  the 
County  Infirmary.  Previous  to  his  arrival  in  Columbus  he  had  published  a  Whig 
paper  in  Somerset,  Perry  County. 

Samuel  Bradford,  present  foreman  of  the  Evening  Dispatch  composing  room, 
came  to  Columbus  from  Adams  County  early  in  the  fifties,  worked  at  his  trade  in 
tho  Statesman  ofiUce,  was  foreman  in  the  office  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Uoveillo  in  1854,  and  when  that  paper  was  discontinued,  returned  in  1855  to  the 
Statesman,  with  which  he  was  engaged  from  1855  to  1860.  lie  was  one  of 
Hovoral  printers  who,  in  August,  1860,  began  the  publication  of  the  Evening 
Bulletin  ;  was  foreman  in  the  composing  room  of  the  Crisis  from  1861  to  1871,  and 
was  one  of  tho  founders  of  the  Evening  Dispatch  in  the  latter  year.  His  service 
with  the  Dispatch  has  been  continuous  since  its  establishment. 

David  Boyer,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Sunday  World,  came  to  Columbus 
fVom  Dayton  in  1867  to  become  foreman  of  the  Statesman  composing  room.  Ho  has 
for  many  yoai*s  boon  ])rominont  in  typographical  union  and  general  labor  circles. 

Prank  P.  llankin  died  JNovember  14, 1881,  while  a  member  of  the  State  Journal's 
looal  staflfl 

Prank  A.  Layman,  who  was  associate  editor  of  the  Dispatch  for  six  years  end- 
ing in  April,  1880,  wontatthat  time  to  Sandusky  where  ho  and  his  brother,  Charles 
A.  Layman,  published  the  Journal  fbr  several  years. 

J.  L.  Uodgers  began  newspaper  work  as  a  reporter  on  the  Columbus  Times. 
In  1886  ho  accepted  a  situation  on  the  Dispatch,  of  which  he  became  assistant 
city  editor  and,  in  November,  1889,  associate  writing  editor. 

James  R  Armstrong,  now  one  of  the  oldest  printers  in  the  city,  was  connected 
with  tho  State  Journal  in  diflTeroDt  capacities  from  August,  1845,  to  May,  1849. 
Ho  was  subsequently  cimnecteii  with  the  pai>er  for  a  few  months  just  prior  to  the 
SiH)tl  vV  Ra«^com  failure  in  1854,  In  1877  Mr.  Armstrong  entered  tho  business  office 
of  the  Rvening  Dispatch,  where  he  remained  aa  bookkeeper  and  assistant  manager 
until  July,  1891,  when,  owing  to  impaired  bealth,  he  retired. 

Jacob  Reinhani,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Westbote,  has  performed  a  promi- 
nent and  oroiiitable  }>art  as  a  Dew)Si>a)>er  man,  banker  and  citizen.  Mr.  Rein  hard 
was  born  near  Asehaffenbarg,  Bavaria,  April  16,  1815,  but  the  greater  portion  of 
his  life  haa  bet^n  s|>ent  in  this  country.  A  biographical  sketch  of  him  appears  else* 
wher^  in  this  work. 


The  Press.    II.  493 

John  A.  Arthur,  whose  death  by  violence  is  elsewhere  mentioned  in  this 
sketch,  was  engaged  with  the  Penny  Post  and  the  Times  of  Cincinnati  prior  to  the 
Civil  War,  at  the  outbreak  of  which  ho  entered  the  armv.  At  the  termination  of 
his  military  service  he  resumed  newspaper  work  at  Cincinnati,  but  in  1871  he  came 
to  Columbus  where  he  was  successively  engaged  on  the  Dispatch,  State  Journal 
and  Sunday  News,  with  which  latter  he  was  connected  when  killed. 

Kay  Haddock  was  the  local  editor  of  the  Statesman  &  Democrat  from  Ma}^ 
1854,  to  February,  1855.  He  was  succeeded  by  Asa  G.  Dim  mock,  who,  in 
February,  1856,  went  to  Coshocton  to  take  charge  of  the  Democrat. 

Colonel  George  W.  Manypenny,  who  was  editor  of  the  Statesman  for  three 
years,  beginning  in  January,  1859,  had  just  prior  to  that  time  been  Commissioner 
of  Indian  Affairs,  and  had  also  been,  at  one  time,  the  unsuccessful  candidate  of  his 
party  for  Congress  in  the  Muskingum  District. 

Merrill  Watson  transferred  his  services  as  a  reporter  from  the  State  Journal  to 
the  Cleveland  Herald  in  March,  1875,  and  afterwards  became  editor  and  proprietor 
of  the  Age  of  Steel,  a  St.  Louis  trade  paper. 

C.  K.  Kiley,  born  in  Culpeper  County,  Virginia,  came  to  Ohio  when  a  boy, 
learned  his  trade  in  the  office  of  the  Cadiz  Sentinel,  and  about  the  year  1843  came 
to  Columbus,  where  he  remained  continuously  employed  at  his  trade  for  fortyfive 
years.  His  first  work  was  done  on  the  Statesman,  but  in  1849  he  transferred  his 
services  to  the  State  Journal,  in  the  office  of  which  he  worked,  except  during  a  few 
brief  interruptions,  until  his  death  in  December,  1888.  He  was  one  of  the  group 
of  printers  who,  in  1860,  attempted  to  establish  the  Evening  Bulletin. 

D.  L.  Bowersmith  began  an  engagement  on  the  local  staff  of  the  State  Journal 
in  1875,  under  Samuel  Shafer  as  city  editor,  to  which  position  he  was  himself  after- 
wards advanced  and  in  which  he  has  since  continuously  served  except  a  period 
of  about  two  years,  1884-6,  when  he  was  the  Columbus  correspondent  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati Enquirer. 

John  H.  Green,  who  is  by  trade  a  printer,  followed  that  profession  in  Spring, 
field,  Columbus  and  Toledo  until  1879,  when  he  began  work  as  a  local  writer  for 
the  Dispatch,  being  the  first  regularly  employed  assistant  to  the  city  editor  of  that 
paper.  In  1882  he  himself  became  city  editor  of  the  Dispatch,  a  position  which  he 
has  ever  since  retained.  He  has  served  for  a  period  of  three  years  as  representa- 
tive of  the  Fifteenth  Ward  in  the  City  Council. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


THE  SCHOOLS.     I. 
BT  JAMES  U.  BARNHILL,  M.  D. 

School  Laws,  —  The  history  of  the  Schools  of  Columbus  properly  begins  with 
those  of  Fi*anklinton,  the  pioneer  village  of  the  Capital  City,  and  would  be  incom- 
plete without  an  account  of  the  generous  gifls  and  wise  policy  of  the  National 
Government  which  so  greatly  promoted  the  cause  of  education,  and  which  have 
contributed  directly  to  the  support  of  the  schools.  Before  the  pioneer  settlement 
of  Central  Ohio  was  planted  **on  the  low  banks  of  the  slowwinding  Scioto,'*  Con- 
gress made  certain  provisions  for  the  maintenance  of  schools  within  the  territory 
in  which  that  settlement  was  afterwards  situated,  thus  anticipating  its  welfare  by 
a  "sort  of  parental  providence."  On  May  20,  1785,  in  an  ordinance  for  disposing 
of  western  lands,  Congress  provided  that  **  a  thirtysixth  of  every  township  of  the 
western  territory  "  should  be  reserved  from  sale  for  the  maintenance  of  public 
schools  within  the  township.  The  ordinance  of  July  13,  1787,  for  the  government 
of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio  confirmed  the  provisions  of  the  land 
ordinance  and  further  declared  that  "religion,  morality  and  knowledge  being 
necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the 
means  of  education  should  forever  be  encouraged."  The  original  reservation  of 
land  for  school  purposes  did  not  provide  like  donations  for  the  support  of  schools 
in  certain  tracts  in  Ohio,  among  which  was  the  Virginia  Military  District  in  which 
a  part  of  Columbus  is  situated.  The  first  constitutional  convention  requested  that 
a  "  like  provision  be  made  for  the  support  of  schools  in  these  districts,"  and  on 
March  3,  1803,  Congress  assented  and  appropriated  lands  to  the  amount  of  one 
thirtysixth  of  each  of  these  tracts  for  the  use  of  schools  therein,  and  provided  that 
all  the  lands  "appropriated  for  the  use  of  schools  in  the  State  should  be  vested  in 
the  legislature,  in  trust,  for  the  maintenance  of  schools  and  for  no  other  use,  intent 
or  purpose  whatever." 

The  Constitution  of  1802  embodied  the  famous  educational  clause  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1797,  and  supplemented  it  by  declaring  that  schools  and  the  means 
of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged  by  legislative  provision  not  inconsistent 
with  the  rights  of  conscience.  It  further  declared  that  the  doors  of  the  schools, 
academies,  and  universities  endowed  in  whole  or  in  part  from  the  revenue  arising 
from  the  land  grants,  shall  be  open  for  the  reception  of  scholars,  students  and 

[404] 


9 


The  Schools.     I.  495 

teachers  of  every  grade.  The  school  lands  were  to  be  leased  and  the  revenue 
applied  impartially  to  the  education  of  the  youth,  but  owing  to  the  newness  of  the 
country  it  was  many  years  before  the  income  from  this  source  could  materiall}^  aid 
in  maintaining  schools.  The  income  to  the  Columbus  schools  from  the  land  grants 
will  be  separatel}'  considered,  but  before  any  such  revenue  was  realized  the  chil- 
dren were  needing  school  facilities,  and  hence  private  schools  or  schools  supported 
by  donation  or  some  form  of  local  taxation  were  necessary.  The  early  inhabitants 
were  men  and  women  of  intelligence  who  held  the  church  and  the  school  to  be 
indispensable  to  the  welfare  of  the  community.  With  the  usual  promptness  of  our 
western  pioneers  they  first  provided  places,  however  rude,  for  divine  worship,  and 
second,  places  for  the  education  of  their  youth.  The  same  building  served  fre- 
quently, if  not  usually,  the  purposes  of  both  a  church  and  a  school.  Private  schools 
and  academies  were  liberally  sustained,  and  for  several  years  after  the  organization 
of  the  public  schools  the  predominant  sentiment  was  in  favor  of  the  former.  But 
even  these  schools  were  favorably  influenced  by  the  educational  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  by  the  general  awakening  of  intercHt  in  education  occasioned  by  the 
land  grants  and  subsequent  school  legislation.  The  private  schools  directed  atten- 
tion to  the  subject  of  public  education  and  emphasized  the  truth  that  general  intel- 
ligence is  necessary  to  the  prosperity  of  a  community.  They  nurtured  a  sentiment 
in  favor  of  good  schools  and  inculcated  the  noble  idea  that  school  privileges  should 
be  extended  to  all  classes,  so  that  finally,  by  the  side  of  the  exclusive  private 
school  the  general  subscription  school  also  flourished.  Donations  were  not  infre- 
quently made  for  the  maintenance  of  schools  or  to  pay  for  the  tuition  of  the  needy. 
When  at  length  State  laws  made  adequate  provision  for  the  support  of  good  public 
schools  almost  all  others  were  discontinued.  The  private  schools  formed  a  memor- 
able episode  in  the  educational  history  of  the  infant  capital,  and  fulfilled  an  impor- 
tant mission  in  its  social  development. 

Common  schools  sustained  by  the  State  and  patronized  by  all  classes  are  of 
comparatively  recent  date.  Massachusetts  first  proclaimed  and  established  the 
principle  that  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  government  to  provide  by  means  of  fair 
and  just  taxation  for  the  instruction  of  all  the  youth  of  the  community,  and  free 
schools  were  among  her  earliest  institutions.  The  article  on  education  in  her  con- 
stitution of  1780  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  kind  ever  incorporated  into  the  organic 
law  of  a  State.  The  first  law  for  the  support  of  schools  in  the  State  of  New  York 
was  passed  in  1795,  and  not  until  1834  did  Pennsylvania  adopt  a  general  free 
school  system. 

The  school  history  of  the  City  of  Columbus  will  be  here  treated  under  the  fol- 
lowing general  topics  in  the  order  of  their  mention  :  School  funds  and  school  leg- 
islation, private  schools,  and  the  public  school  system. 

The  schools  of  Franklinton  and  subsequently  those  in  that  portion  of  Colum* 
bus  west  of  the  Scioto  River  have  been  supported  in  part  by  the  Virginia  Military 
School  Fund.  The  Virginia  Military  School  Lands,  consisting  of  105,155  acres, 
were  not  finally  located  until  February  13,  1808.  They  were  located  in  Wayne, 
Holmes,  Ashland,  Richland,  Crawford  and  Morrow  counties.  Provision  was 
made  by  the  legislature  for  leasing  the  school  lands  for  the  purpose  of  improving 


496  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

the  same  and  thereby  rendering  them  more  productive  in  order  that  the  profits 
which  they  should  yield  might  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the  schools,  but  the 
lands  were  really  not  leased  and  the  rental  derived  from  them  was  small.  In  his 
annual  message  of  1821  Governor  Brown  said:  "So  far  as  my  information 
extends  the  appropriation  of  the  school  lands  in  this  state  has  produced  hitherto, 
with  few  exceptions,  no  very  material  advantage  in  the  dissemination  of  instruc- 
tion—  none  commensurate  with  their  presumable  value."  In  1826  the  income 
from  all  the  lands  then  leased  was  about  five  thousand  dollars.  Pursuant  to  a  pro- 
vision of  law  the  people  of  this  reservation  voted  in  1828  their  assent  to  the  sale  of 
their  school  lands,  and  within  the  same  year  the  unleased  portions  were  ordered  to 
be  sold.  Prior  to  1838  sixtyeight  thousand  one  hundred  and  fiftyfive  acres  had 
been  sold  for  $129,549.29 ;  the  annual  rental  on  the  remainder  was  then  $4,503.76, 
which  made  an  annual  income  from  this  source  of  $12,276.71.  The  proceeds  from 
the  sale  of  these  lands  have  been  loaned  to  the  State,  and  the  annual  interest  at  six 
per  centum  on  this  money  and  the  rent  on  the  unsold  lands  constitute  the  Vir- 
ginia Military  School  Fund,  which  fund  is  distributed  annually  among  the  several 
counties  of  the  reservation  in  proportion  to  the  youth  of  school  age  in  each.  From 
1821  to  1828  the  State  borrowed  the  income  of  these  school  lands,  compounding 
the  interest  annually,  during  which  time  the  fund  amounted  to  $54,000.  Early  in 
the  following  3'ear  this  amount  was  distributed  proportionately  to  the  schools  ot 
the  Virginia  Military  district.  Our  County  Auditor's  ledger  shows  that  District 
Number  Two  of  Franklin  Township  of  this  county  received  on  March  10,  1828, 
the  sum  of  $73,873,  or  $1,717  for  each  householder  in  the  district.  The  annual 
distribution  thereafter  was  of  course  much  less.  In  1835  the  income  distributed 
was  $11,091.77,  or  about  eighteen  cents  for  each  school  youth;  and  in  1837  it 
amounted  to  about  seventeen  cents  for  each  youth  between  four  and  twentyone 
years  of  age.  These  school  lands  have  all  been  sold,  except  a  few  sections  which 
are  under  perpetual  lease  without  revenue,  at  twelve  cents  per  acre.  The  total 
amount  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  this  land  up  to  1890  was  $192,622.68,  and  the 
interest  on  this  fund  and  on  the  unsold  land  for  that  year  amounted  to  $11,800.87, 
which  amount  was  distributed  according  to  law  to  the  counties  and  parts  of  coun- 
ties embraced  in  the  reservation. 

In  lieu  of  Section  Sixteen  of  Montgomery  Township,  which  was  a  part  of  the 
Refugee  grant,  Section  Twentyone  of  Madison  Township  of  this  county  was  selected 
March  4,  1806.  There  seems  to  be  no  record  to  indicate  whether  or  not  any 
income  was  realized  from  this  land  prior  to  its  sale.  It  was  sold  October  15,  1828, 
in  half  quartersections  severally  to  John  Swisher,  Adam  Sarber,  Benjamin  Cleringer 
and  Adam  Rarey  for  $2,688.84,  to  be  paid  in  four  equal  annual  instalments,  with- 
out interest  on  deferred  payments.  This  money  was  loaned  to  the  State  and  the 
interest  on  it  at  six  per  centum  has  been  annually  applied  to  the  support  of  schools 
in  this  township.  In  1832  there  were  1,052  youth  between  five  and  fifteen  years  of 
age  in  the  township,  886  of  whom  lived  in  the  school  districts  of  Columbus.  This 
fund  therefore  amounted  to  fifteen  cents  and  three  mills  for  each  youth  of  school 
age,  or  $135.55  for  these  districts,  which  sum  at  that  early  day  gave  great  encourage* 
ment  to  the  schools. 


Thk  Schools.     I. 


497 


The  first  general  school  law  of  Ohio,  entitled  an  "act  to  provide  for  the  regula- 
tiOQ  and  support  of  ^mmon  Bchools,"  was  passed  Janoar^  22,  1821.  This  law 
authorized  the  division  of  townships  into  school  districts,  the  election  in  each  dis- 
trict of  a  school  committee  constating  of  three  resident  householders,  and  the 
assessmentof  a  school  district  tax,  not  for  the  maintenance  ofa  free  public  school,  but 
only  "for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  schoolhouse,"  and  of  "making  up  the  deficiency 


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SCHOOL  DISTRICT  UAP  OF  COLDHBUS.  M»«-1BI5. 

that  might  accrue  by  the  schooling  of  children  whoso  parents  or  guardians  wer*^ 
unable  to  pay  for  the  santo."  The  law  was  entirely  inadequate  to  provide  good 
schools,  but  it  is  of  historical  interest  as  the  first  statutory  provision  of  the  State  for 
local  taxation  for  school  purposes. 

The  law  of  February  6,  182.%  being  an  act  to  provide  for  the  support  and 
better  regulation  of  common  schools,  required  county  commissioners  to  levy  and 
assess  onehalf  of  a  mill  upon  the  dollar  to  be  appropriated  for  the  use  of  common 


498  History  of  tiir  City  op  Columhus. 

schools  in  their  respective  counties  "for  the  instruction  of  youth  of  every  class  and 
grade,  without  distinction,  in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and  other  necessary 
branches  of  a  common  education."  This  law  made  it  the  duty  of  the  County 
Auditor  to  open  an  account  in  a  book  to  be  kept  by  him  for  that  purpose,  with  each 
township,  in  which  the  several  townships  should  be  credited  with  the  amount  col- 
lected on  their  duplicates  for  the  use  of  schools.  The]amount  so  collected  in  each  town- 
ship was  required  to  remain  in  the  county  treasury  for  the  use  of  the  schools,  and  it 
was  made  the  duty  of  the  trustees  of  each  township  to  layoff  the  same  into  districts, 
the  numbers  and  descriptions  of  which  were  to  be  communicated  in  writing  to  the 
clerk  of  each  township,  who  was  required  to  record  the  same.  The  law  further 
provides  that 

The  trustees  shall  take  or  cause  to  be  taken  an  enumeration  in  writing  of  all  the  house- 
holders residing  in  the  district,  and  the  clerk  shall  record  the  same  and  deliver  to  the  County 
Auditor  the  number  and  description  of  each  school  district  and  also  the  list  or  enumeration 
bf  the  householders  residing  in  each,  and  all  alterations  which  shall  from  time  to  time  be 
made.  Onethird  of  all  the  householders  of  a  district  assembled  in  pursuance  of  due  notice  shall 
constitute  a  legal  meeting  for  the  transaction  of  business;  they  shall  elect  three  school 
directors  to  manage  the  concerns  of  said  district,  and  have  power  to  designate  and  determine 
ui)on  the  site  of  a  schoolhouse  and  to  provide  the  means  of  building  the  same  and  to  provide 
the  necessary  funds  for  organizing  a  school.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  school  directors  to 
employ  a  teacher  and  also  to  receive  and  faithfully  expend  all  funds,  subscriptions,  donations 
or  dividends  of  school  funds.  The  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  each  county  shall  appoint 
annually  three  suitable  persons  to  be  called  examiners  of  common  schools,  whose  duty  it 
shall  be  to  examine  every  person  wishing  to  be  employed  as  a  teacher,  and  if  they  find  such 
person  qualified  and  of  good  moral  character,  to  give  a  certificate  to  that  effect.  No  person 
shall  be  allowed  to  teach  any  district  school  or  recover  at  law  any  wages  for  teaching 
until  such  person  be  examined  and  receive  a  certificate  of  approbation.  The  township 
trustees  shall  pay  over  to  the  school  directors  of  the  several  school  districts  a  dividend  of  all 
rents  or  moneys  received  on  account  of  section  sixteen  for  the  use  of  schools,  or  other 
lands  in  lieu  thereof,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  families  in  each  district.  School 
directors  shall  pay  the  wages  of  the  teachers  employed  out  of  any  money  which  shall  come 
into  their  hands  from  the  revenues  arising  from  donations  made  by  Congress  for  the  support 
of  schools  or  otherwise  so  far  as  such  money  shall  be  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  and  for  the 
residue  of  the  waives  of  any  such  teacher  the  school  directors  shall  give  him  a  certificate  stat- 
ing the  length  of  service  and  the  balance  due  him  on  account  of  wages  thereof.    .    .    . 

This  law,  from  the  pen  of  Nathan  Guilford,  Senator  from  Hamilton  County, 
was  the  first  adequate  legislative  provision  for  the  establishment  of  free  common 
jjchools.  For  its  enactment  great  credit  is  due  to  the  commission  appointed  by 
Governor  Allen  Trimble  in  1822  to  devise  and  report  upon  a  common  school 
system.  This  commission  consisted  of  Caleb  Atwater,  Chairman ;  Rev.  James 
Hogc,  Rev.  John  Collins,  Nathan  Guilford,  Ephraim  Cutler,  Josiah  Barber  and 
J.  M,  Bell.  In  1827  a  supplementary  act  was  passed  which  created  the  office  of 
school  district  treasurer  and  defined  his  duties;  authorized  the  school  directors  of 
each  district  to  levy  a  special  tax  of  not  more  than  three  hundred  dollars  for 
building  or  repairing  a  schoolhouse,  provided  threefifbhs  of  the  householders 
assented;  appropriated  certain  fines  for  the  use  of  schools,  and  authorized  an 
increase  of  the  number  of  school  examiners  to  the  number  of  townships  in  the 
respective  counties.     An  act  of  January  27,  1827,  authoriaed  the  sale  of  the  school 


The  Schools.    I.  499 

lands  and  established  a  Bokool  fand  consisting  of  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the 
salt  lands  and  sach  donations,  Itgaeies  and  devises  as  might  be  made  to  the  fand, 
the  interest  thereof  to  be  an nna!ly  funded  for  five  years  and  distributed  to  the 
counties  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  fVee  male  inhabitants  in  each  above  the 
age  of  twentyone.  On  February  10, 1829,  an  amendatory  act  was  passed  raising 
the  rate  of  school  taxation  to  threefourths  of  a  mill,  giving  minute  directions  for 
holding  district  meetings  and  defining  the  powers  of  school  officers.  Failure  of 
townships  to  form  districts  and  organise  schools  within  three  years  forfeited 
school  funds.  Black  and  mulatto  persons  were  not  permitted  to  attend  the  public 
schools,  but  all  taxes  assessed  on  their  property  for  school  purposes  were  to  be 
appropriated  by  township  trustees  "  for  the  education  of  such  persons  and  for  no 
other  purpose  whatever."  In  1831  the  maximum  school  tax  per  district  in  any 
one  year  might  not  exceed  $200  ;  in  1836  it  was  again  placed  at  $300  ;  two  years 
later  all  limitation  of  the  amount  was  removed.  The  law  of  1834  made  it  the 
duty  of  every  person  sending  a  child  to  school  to  provide  his  just  proportion  of 
fuel,  but  no  child  could  be  excluded  from  school  on  account  of  the  delinquency  of 
its  parents  in  this  respect.  In  1827  each  householder  was  required  to  pay  a  school 
tax  of  not  less  than  one  dollar,  which  he  might  discharge  by  performing  two  days' 
labor  in  building  a  schoolhouse.  This  tax  was  lessened  subsequently,  and  in  1838 
was  omitted  entirely.  In  1831  the  country  commissioners  were  given  discretion  to 
add  onefourth  of  a  mill  to  the  existing  rate  of  taxation  for  school  purposes.  In 
1834  the  law  was  reenacted  with  amendments  and  the  rate  of  taxation  was  raised 
to  one  mill,  to  which  the  county  commissioners  were  authorized  to  add  half  a  mill 
at  their  option.  In  1836  the  rate  of  school  taxation  was  raised  to  one  mill  and  a 
half  with  an  additional  half  mill  at  the  option  of  the  commissioners. 

In  1836  Congress  directed  the  surplus  revenue  of  the  National  Government  to 
be  deposited  with  the  several  States  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  their  Senators 
and  Aeprcsentatives.  Ohio's  share  was  a  little  over  two  million  dollars,  and  by  act 
of  the  General  Assembly  passed  in  1837  this  fund  was  distributed  to  the  several 
counties  in  proportion  to  their  population,  the  interest  on  onetwentieth  of  it  to  be 
appropriated  for  the  support  of  schools.  For  several  years  the  income  from  this 
source  was  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum.  In  March,  1837,  the  office 
of  State  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  was  created  and  Samuel  Lewis  was 
elected  to  the  position.  Under  the  able  supervision  of  Mr.  Lewis  great  progress 
was  made  in  developing  the  common  school  system  of  Ohio.  In  March,  1838,  the 
school  laws  were  thoroughly  revised,  new  features  were  added  to  them  and  new 
life  was  imparted  to  the  entire  system  by  a  more  liberal  provision  for  its  support, 
especially  by  the  establishment  of  a  State  common  school  fund  of  $200,000  "  to  be 
distributed  annually  among  the  several  counties  according  to  the  number  of 
youth  therein."  An  additional  fund  to  be  raised  in  each  county  by  a  county  tax 
of  two  mills  per  dollar  was  authorized.  By  this  law  school  directors  in  districts 
consisting  of  incorporated  towns  or  cities,  and  township  clerks  acting  as  township 
superintendents  of  common  schools,  were  directed  to  make  an  estimate  of  the 
money  required  additional  to  the  distributable  fund  *'  to  provide  at  least  six 
months'    good    schooling     to  all  the    unmarried    white    youth    of  the    district 


500  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

during  the  year  ensuing;"  the  question  of  levying  a  tax  to  raise  this  sum  to  bo 
submitted  to  the  voters  of  the  district  or  township.  Provision  was  made  for 
instruction  in  English  grammar  and  geography  when  requested  by  three  or  more 
householders.  Every  incorporated  town  or  city  was  made  a  separate  district  with 
power  to  create  subdistricts  and  assess  taxes  for  building  school  houses.  In  1839 
provision  was  made  authorizing  any  district  to  borrow  money  to  purchase  a  lot 
and  erect  a  schoolhouso  thereon,  and  the  directors  were  authorized  to  levy  a  tax 
for  such  purpose  and  also  for  renting  rooms  for  school  purposes  when  necessary. 
The  county  commissioners  were  authorized  to  reduce  the  county  school  levy  to  one 
mill  and  directors  of  town  districts  were  required  to  provide  evening  schools  for  the 
instruction  of  young  men  and  boys  over  twelve  years  of  age  whose  occupation 
might  prevent  their  attendance  at  the  day  schools.  The  directors  were  also 
authorized  to  determine  what  branches  and  languages  might  be  taught  provided 
they  were  such  as  were  "  generally  taught  in  common  schools."  They  might 
employ  German  teachers  when  the  patronage  of  such  as  spoke  that  language  was 
sufficient.  Since  1853  boards  of  education  have  been  authorized  to  provide  German 
schools  for  such  youth  as  may  desire  to  study  the  German  and  English  languages 
together. 

On  February  3,  1845,  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  "  for  the  support 
and  better  regulation  of  the  commoQ  schools  in  the  City  of  Columbus,"  which  pro- 
vided for  election  in  the  spring  of  1845  of  six  directors  of  common  schools,  two  of 
whom  should  serve  for  one  year,  two  for  two  years  and  two  for  three  years,  the 
order  of  seniority  to  be  determined  by  lot,  but  after  the  first  election  two  directors 
to  be  chosen  annually  for  the  term  of  three  years.  The  directors  elected  in  pursu- 
ance of  this  statute  were  declared  to  be  "a  body  politic  and  corporate  in  law  by 
the  name  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  town  of  Columbus."  The  law  provided 
that  this  board  should  employ  teachers,  establish  rules  for  school  government,  keep 
the  schools  in  constant  operation  except  during  seasonable  vacations,  and,  should 
the  public  money  be  found  insufficient  for  the  support  of  the  schools,  provide  for  the 
deficiency  by  levying  a  tax  at  the  end  of  each  term  on  the  parents  and  guardians 
of  the  scholars,  provided  that  exemption  from  this  tax  should  be  made  of  such  per- 
sons as  might  be  unable  to  pay.  The  law  further  directed  that  a  vote  should  be 
taken  on  the  question  of  levying  a  tax  for  the  erection  of  schoolhouses  under  su- 
pervision of  the  Board  of  Education,  all  legal  title  to  property  acquired  under  the 
act  to  be  in  the  name  of  the  town  of  Columbus.  It  provided  also  for  the  enumera- 
tion of  all  youth  in  the  town  between  the  ages  of  four  and  twentyone,  and  author- 
ized the  City  Council  to  appoint  three  school  examiners  whose  duty  it  should  be  to 
examine  applicants  for  positions  as  teachers  and  to  grant  certificates  to  those  found 
qualified.  "  The  examiners,"  pursues  the  law,  **  shall  visit  the  schools,  observe  the 
discipline,  mode  of  instruction  and  progress  of  the  scholars,  and  semiannually 
report  their  proceedings  and  suggestions  to  the  Council  and  to  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation. Annually,  at  such  time  as  the  board  may  appoint,  public  examination  of 
all  scholars  shall  be  had  under  the  direction  of  the  Mayor,  the  Board  of  Education 
and  the  Examiners."  Under  the  provisions  of  this  law  the  Board  of  Education 
of  Columbus  maintained  schools  of  two  grades  in  1845  and  1846,  and  in  January, 


Thb  Schools.     I, 


501 


1847,  olectod  a  supeHotendent  of  public  acboola  and  orgnnisod  primary,  secondary, 
grummar  and  high  HchooU. 

Tlio  Akron  school  law  passed  February  8,  1847,  is,  with  tho  exception  of  fivo 
sections,  a  verbatim  copy  of  this  law,  but  the  new  sections  of  the  Akron  law  con- 
stituted its  distinctive  features,  since  they  provided  for  establishing  a  central  gram- 
mar school  and  primary  school.  The  Columbus  law,  as  amended  February  Iti, 
1849,  authorized  the  Board  of  Education  to  establish  "  schools  of  such  grades  as 
they  may  deem  most  for  the  public  interest,  employ  such  officers  and  teachers  as 
they  may  deem   expedient,  make  all   necessary   rules  and   regulations  therefor, 


determine  the  iige  at  which  scholai-s  may  bo  admitted  into  such  schools  and  the 
period  for  each  grade  an<l  prescribe  terms  for  nonresidents,"  and  also,  in  lieu  of 
the  levy  made  on  parents  and  guardians  to  supply  deficiencies  in  school  funds,  to  ' 
levy  an  additional  tax  of  not  more  than  one  mill  and  a  half  per  dollar  on  the  tax 
valuation  of  city  property.  Tho  County  Treasurer  was  required  to  pay  to  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Boanl  of  Education  all  school  funds  collected  for  the  use  of  tho 
city.  A  tax  for  sites  could  be  ordered  only  by  vote  of  the  electors.  This  act  sub- 
stituted in  the  law  to  which  it  was  an  amendment  the  word  city  for  "  town  "  and 
])ublii.'  school  for  "  common  school."  The  city,  whatever  its  corporate  limits  might 
be,  constituted  but  one  school  district.     A  further  amendment  passed   March  21, 


502  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

1851,  authorized  the  Board  of  Education  to  enlarge  school  buildings,  purchase  now 
sites,  erect  new  buildings  as  they  might  be  needed,  provide  school  furniture  and 
apparatus  and  levy  an  additional  tax  of  not  more  than  three  mills  per  dollar  of 
tax  valuation  for  school  purposes.  On  March  25,  1864,  the  law  was  so  amended  as 
to  provide  that  "  the  qualified  voters  shall,  on  the  second  Monday  of  April,  1864, 
meet  in  their  respective  wards  and  elect  one  member  of  the  Board  of  Education 
for  each  of  said  wards  who  shall  seKe  for  the  odd  wards  one  year  and  for  the  even 
wards  two  years,"  the  term  of  service  thenceforth  to  be  two  years  and  vacancies  to 
be  filled  by  the  City  Council  with  the  consent  of  the  board.  An  amendment  of 
April  11,  1865,  authorized  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  County  Auditor  to  lev}' 
such  amount  as  might  be  needed  in  addition  to  the  State  school  fund  for  defraying 
the  expenses  of  the  public  schools  of  the  city,  provided  such  sum  should  not  in  any 
one  year  exceed  five  mills,  or  after  1868  four  mills,  per  dollar.  By  a  supplemen- 
tary act  of  April  16,  1867,  the  Treasurer  of  Franklin  County  was  made  ex  officio 
treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Education.  A  special  act  of  April  12,  1870,  authorized 
the  board  to  borrow  money  and  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of  fifty  thousand  dollars 
for  the  erection  of  the  SuUivantand  Central  German  school  building.  An  act  of  April 
3, 1871,  authorized  the  board  to  borrow  seventyfive  thousand  dollars  for  building  pur- 
poses, twentyfive  thousand  to  be  expended  in  building  and  furnishing  a  schoolhouse 
for  colored  children,  twenty  thousand  for  building  and  furnishing  the  Fieser  School- 
house  in  Middletown  on  the  West  Side,  and  thirty  thousand  for  finishing  and 
furnishing  the  two  buildings  which  had  been  partially  constructed  the  year 
before. 

By  act  of  Februarj-  24,  1848,  boards  of  education  in  cities  were  authorized  to 
establish  separate  school  districts  for  colored  persons,  within  which  the  colored 
taxpayers  might  choose  their  own  directors  and  their  own  property  was  alone 
chargeable  for  the  support  of  such  schools.  An  act  of  March  14,  1853,  authorized 
and  required  boards  of  education  to  establish  separate  schools  for  colored  children 
when  the  enumeration  of  colored  youth  exceeded  thirty,  which  number  was 
changed  to  twenty  by  an  amendment  of  1864.  These  laws  relating  to  schools  for 
colored  youth  were  not  repealed  by  the  codification  of  1873.  In  1874  colored 
youth  were  admitted  to  the  Central  High  School,  and  in  1882  the  color  line  was 
entirely  obliterated  from  the  public  schools  of  the  city.  In  this,  as  in  several  other 
instances,  Columbus  is  distinguished  for  moving  in  advance  of  the  general  educa- 
tional progress  of  the  State. 

The  general  school  law  of  March  14, 1853,  devoted  onetenth  of  a  mill  per  dol- 
lar of  tax  valuation  as  an  annual  fund  for  providing  school  libraries  and  apparatus 
for  all  the  common  schools  of  the  State.  The  books  provided  under  this  law 
formed  the  nucleus  of  a  school  library  for  each  school  in  the  State.  This  levy 
has  been  maintained  by  all  subsequent  legislation,  and  additional  provision  has 
been  made  for  the  appointment  of  librarians  and  the  regulation  of  school  libraries. 

A  law  of  May  1,  1873,  entitled  "an  act  for  the  reorganization  and  mainte- 
nance of  common  schools  "  was  a  codification,  producing,  to  some  extent,  uniformity 
in  school  organization  throughout  the  State,  and  rendering  local  school  legisUtiou 


The  Schools.     I.  503 

• 

unnecessary.  With  a  few  supplemental  and  amendatory  acts  it  constitutes  the  body 
of  school  laws  embraced  in  the  Revised  Statutes  of  1880. 

Section  4023  of  the  Revised  Statutes  provided  that  every  child  between  the 
ages  of  eight  and  fourteen  should  bo  sent  to  a  common  school  at  least  twelve 
weeks  per  year  unless  excused  for  legal  cause.  It  also  prohibited  manufacturers 
and  other  persons  from  employing  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  during 
established  school  hours,  and  made  it  the  duty  of  boards  of  education  to  ascertain 
the  condition  of  all  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  within  their  jurisdiction, 
who  were  not  in  attendance  at  any  common  or  private  school,  and  to  report  all 
infringements  of  this  law  for  prosecution  and  punishment,  the  penalty  being  a  fine 
of  from  five  to  ten  dollars  for  each  offense.  The  present  statute  applicable  to  this 
subject  was  passed  April  15,  1889,  and  requires  all  parents,  guardians  and  other 
pers<ms  having  the  care  of  children  to  instruct  them  or  cause  them  to  be  instructed 
in  spelling,  reading,  writing,  English  grammar,  geography  and  arithmetic,  and 
requires  that  such  children  between  the  ages  of  eight  and  fourteen  shall  be  sent  to 
some  public  or  private  school  not  less  than  twenty  weeks  per  annum  in  city  dis- 
tricts under  penalty  of  from  five  to  twenty  dollars  for  each  violation  of  this  provi- 
sion. The  law  further  provides  that  all  children  between  seven  and  fourteen  years 
of  age  who  are  habitual  truants  from  school,  or  vicious  or  immoral  in  conduct,  and 
all  minors  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  who  cannot  read  and  write  the 
Bnglish  language,  who  absent  themselves  from  school  and  habitually  wander  about 
the  streets  and  public  places  during  school  hours,  shall  be  deemed  juvenile  disorderly 
persons,  and  subject  to  a  sentence  to  some  juvenile  reformatory  or  county  chil- 
dren's home.  Boards  of  education  in  cities  of  the  first  and  second  class  are  required 
to  employ  a  truant  officer  to  assist  in  the  enforcement  of  this  act,  said  officer  to  be 
vested  with  police  powers  and  authorized  to  enter  factories,  workshops,  stores  and 
other  places  where  children  may  be  employed,  and  perform  such  other  service  as 
the  superintendent  of  schools  or  the  board  of  education  may  deem  necessary  for 
preservation  of  the  morals  and  good  conduct  of  school  children. 

An  act  passed  April  14,  1888,  requires  that  the  nature  of  alcoholic  drinks,  and 
of  narcotics,  together  with  their  effects  on  the  human  system,  shall  be  included 
in  the  branches  regularly  taught  in  the  common  schools. 

Since  1825  teachers  have  been  required  to  obtain  certificates  of  qualification 
from  some  properly  constituted  board  of  examiners.  A  law  of  1831  required  that 
no  certificate  should  be  given  to  any  teacher  unless  he  should  be  found  qualified 
to  teach  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic.  A  later  statute  passed  in  1853  required 
that  every  teacher  should  be  qualified  to  teach  orthography,  reading,  writing, 
arithmetic,  geography  and  English  grammar.  The  present  law  additionally 
requires  that  the  teacher  shall  be  qualified  to  give  instruction  in  United  States 
history,  physiology,  the  nature  and  effect  of  alcohol  and  narcotics,  and,  in  city  dis- 
tricts, in  still  other  branches,  and  shall  be  versed  in  the  theory  and  practice  of 
teaching.  A  law  of  1864,  now  in  force,  provides  for  a  State  board  of  examiners 
who  are  authorized  to  issue  State  certificates  of  high  qualification  to  such  teachers 
as  may  be  found  upon  examination  to  possess  requisite  scholarship  and  who  may 
also  exhibit  satisfactory  evidence  of  good  moral  character  and  of  eminent  profes- 


504  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

sional  experience  aD(l*ability.  Sach  certificates,  countersigned  by  the  State  School 
Commissioner,  supersede  the  necessity  of  any  other  examination,  and  arc  valid 
throaghoat  the  State  during  the  life  of  the  holder. 

For  the  purpose  of  affording  the  advantages  of  free  education  to  all  the  youth  of 
the  State,  Section  3951  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  as  amended  M^rch  20,  1891,  pro- 
vides  that  there  shall  be  annually  levied  a  State  tax  the  proceeds  of  which  shall 
constitute  a  State  common  school  fund,  and  that,  for  the  purposes  of  higher  agri- 
cultural and  industrial  education,  including  manual  training,  there  shall  be  levied 
and  collected  a  State  tax  which  shall  constitute  the  Ohio  State  University  fund. 
The  General  Assembly  is  expected  to  designate  the  rates  of  levy  for  these  funds 
once  in  two  years,  but  in  case  it  fails  to  do  so  the  rates  are  fixed  at  one  mill  for  the 
common  school  fund,  and  one  twentieth  of  one  mill  for  the  university  fund,  upon 
each  dollar  of  taxable  valuation. 

From  1825  to  1853  the  legal  school  age  was  from  four  to  twentyone  years; 
from  1853  to  1873  from  five  to  twentyone ;  from  1873  until  now  it  has  been  from 
six  to  twentyone  years  of  age.  Since  the  law  of  1873  was  passed  the  enumeration 
has  been  taken  under  oath,  but  the  laws  of  Ohio  have  never  expressly  excluded 
fW>m  school  either  children  under  school  age  or  adults  over  it.  In  1834  provision 
was  made  for  the  admission  of  adults  to  the  common  schools  on  payment  of  tuition. 
In  Columbus  it  is  customary  to  admit  to  the  evening  schools  all  adults  who  apply 
for  admission.  The  public  schools  are  free  to  all  youth  between  six  and  twentyone 
years  of  age  who  are  residents  of  the  district,  and  no  pupil  can  be  suspended  from 
school  except  for  such  time  as  may  be  necessary  to  convene  the  board  of  education 
of  the  district,  nor  can  any  pupil  be  expelled  except  by  a  vote  of  twothirds  of  such 
board,  and  then  not  until  the  parent  or  guardian  of  the  offending  pupil  shall  have 
been  notified  of  the  proposed  expulsion  and  permitted  to  be  heard  against  the 
same.    In  any  case  expulsion  can  be  made  only  for  the  current  term. 

An  act  repealing  some  previous  legislation  on  the  same  subject  was  passed 
March  4,  1891,  creating  a  State  Schoolbook  Board,  to  bo  composed  of  the 
Governor,  State  Commissioner  of  Common  Schools  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  and 
providing  for  supplying  the  schools  of  Ohio  with  good  and  sufficient  schoolbooks 
at  the  lowest  prices  at  which  such  books  could  be  fbrnished.  This  board  was 
required  to  fix  the  maximum  price  at  which  said  textbooks  were  to  be  sold  and 
purchased  by  boards  of  education,  the  price  so  fixed  not  to  exceed  seventyfive  per 
cent,  of  the  wholesale  price.  It  further  provided  that  if,  in  the  opinion  of  said 
Schoolbook  Board  the  proposals  of  publishers  for  supplying  textbooks  should  not 
.  well  and  sufficiently  supply  the  public  schools  of  the  State  with  good  schoolbooks 
equal  to  the  demand  and  best  interests  thereof,  it  should  be  the  duty  of  the  Board 
to  procure  texts  for  a  series  of  Ohio  Schoolbooks,  and  to  contract  with  persons 
qualified  to  compile  such  texts  to  be  used  in  the  production  of  a  complete  set  of 
books  to  be  known  as  the  Ohio  Series  of  Schoolbooks.  Under  the  operation  of 
this  law  the  prices  of  schoolbooks  have  been  greatly  reduced,  resulting  in  a 
saving  to  the  city  of  hundreds  of  dollars  annually. 

T?ie  Private  Schools. — The  pioneers  who,  in  the  autumn  of  1797,  planted  the 
settlement  on  the  west  bank  of  the   Scioto  beside  which  our  beautiful  city  has 


7 


/-     aCc<__ 


3B 


.•  •: 


•  •• 


•"• 


The  Schools.    I.  505 

grown,  were  men  and  women  of  intelligence  who  brought  with  them  enlightened 
views  on  the  subject  of  education.  They  evidently  regarded  the  school 
and  the  church  as  indispensable  to  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  their 
new  community.  The  private  schools  and  academies  of  a  little  later  date  could 
only  have  been  the  outgrowth  of  such  intelligence  and  enlightened  sentiment. 
The  early  settlers  encouraged  private  schools  and  instruction.  Some  of  them  who 
had  witnessed  the  practical  operation  of  public  schools  in  the  I^ew  England  States 
cherished  the  hope  that  free  schools  might  in  the  coui*se  of  time  be  organized  here 
aiKO ;  meanwhile  they  joined  hands  with  their  neighbors  in  establishing,  with 
western  promptness,  private  schools  for  their  children.  "  They  lost  no  time  after 
securing  bodily  shelter  in  providing,  first,  places  —  though  never  so  rude— of 
Divine  worship  for  their  families;  and  second,  of  educational  training  for  their 
youth."  The  schools  were  supported  usually  by  tuition  fees,  the  teacher  agreeing 
with  a  number  of  families  that  for  a  fee  of  one,  two  or  three  dollars  for  each  child 
instructed  he  would  teach  school  a  certain  length  of  time. 

The  character  of  the  early  inhabitants  is  sufficient  assurance  that  the  schools 
were  not  neglected.  Lucas  Sullivant,  the  founder  of  Franklinton,  took  a  deep 
interest  in  education.  Jeremiah  Armstrong,  John  Brickell,  Jacob  Overdier, 
Joseph  Foos,  Arthur  O'Harra,  Lyne  Starling,  George  Skidmore,  Jacob  Grubb, 
Kobert  Eussell  and  James  Hoge  were  all  intelligent  publicspirited  men,  who  held 
education  to  be  of  prime  importance.  The  names  of  several  of  them  are  insepar- 
ably connected  with  the  history  of  the  schools  during  subsequent  3*ears.  The 
primitive  schoolmaster,  it  is  said,  was  a  *^  consequential  individual,'*  generally 
*^  morose  and  forbidding  in  manner;  who  with  goads  and  switches  in  view  of  the 
scholars,''  ruled  his  school  with  an  imperious  air;  that  he  usually  had  a  local  repu- 
tation as  an  astronomer,  mathematician  or  almanac-maker;  that  he  believed  in 
witches  and  'ghosts,  a  belief  which  he  took  special  pains  to  communicate  to  his 
scholars;  that  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  prodigy  of  knowledge  and  a  village  oracle, 
^^  the  indispensable  terror  of  school  3'outh ;"  that  in  general  he  was  a  scholar 
according  to  the  books;  a  stickler  in  spelling  and  arithmetic,  but  knew  little  or 
nothing  about  human  nature;  not  unfrequently  professing  to  know  a  great  deal 
about  dead  languages  but  having  really  little  knowledge  of  the  living  ones.  Some 
of  the  pioneer  teachers  of  Franklinton  and  Columbus  possessed  their  full  share  of 
these  characteristics,  but  most  of  them  were  well  qualified  and  successful.  A  few 
made  teaching  their  life  work,  while  many  exchanged  it  for  other  callings  and 
became  leading  citizens  of  the  community. 

At  a  very  early  date,  not  exactly  known,  Lucas  Sullivant  built  a  roundlog 
Hclioolhouse  which  was  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  feet  square  with  puncheon  floor, 
rough  slab  benches  supported  at  either  end  by  a  pair  of  hickory  pins  inserted  into  .^ ,., 
auger  holes ;  battened  doors  with  wooden  hinges  and  latch  raised  from  its  n(XiAi\J  :'  *  * 
with  a  string;  a  clapboard  roof  with  weight  poles,  and  a  fireplace  and  stick 
chimney.  It  is  probable  that  this  village  scholhouse  of  early  times,  like  its  suc- 
cessors of  later  years,  had  greased  white  paper  for  window  light  in  winter  and 
open  windows  in  summer.  This  buikling  was  located  about  a  square  and  a  half 
north  of  the  Old  Courthouse  west  of  Washington  (now  Sandusky)  Street,  and  was 


606 


HisToBY  oi'  TUB  City  ok  Coi 


probably  bailt  buforc  or  about  Iho  year  ISOti.     Il  is  tliu  first  sclmol  building  in 
tb»  Franklinlon  Hvttlcmout  uf  whit^h  wu  have  any  rocood. 

Muny  persons  dlill  living  reinuinbur  tUiti  primitive  HcliOolhouHo.  At  tirsl  it 
was  warmed  liy  means  of  a  lar^o  "  fireplace,"  but  later  by  u  alovo,  Joso])h  Siilli- 
vant  said  hifl  first  acquaintance  with  Hebool  life  began  in  tbis  "  cabin  witli  its  slabM 
for  seats  polished  by  use,  and  big  chimney  with  downward  (irafl«,  with  floai^  iimidc 
and  hogs  under  the  floor,  no  grammar,  no  geography,  but  a  teacher  who  ruled 
with  a  rod."  Miss  Sarah  itood,  afterwards  long  and  favorably  known  ns  an 
iostruclor  and  Christian  worker,  was  one  of  its  early  teachers.    She  is  said  to  have 


assisled  Doctor  lloge  in  organizing  the  first  Snndayschool  of  the  town.  MiiM 
Mary  Wail,  wbone  parents  came  to  Franklinton  in  IHOS,  tuught  school  there  at  a 
very  early  date.  It  is  probable  that  Misses  Reed  and  Wait  both  tanght  in  this 
priraitivo  scbooJhoiise.  Thefollowingarticleof  agreement  between  one  of  thcesirly 
teachers  who  afterwards  became  prominent  in  Columbus,  and  the  patron  of  his 

...sebpul,  is  an  extract  from  the  diary  of  Joel  Buttles,  whose  parents  settled  in  Worlh- 

■•'ington  in  1804: 

That  preienit  vntnr»$eth:  That,  on  condition  that  Joel  Buttles  shall  attend  iliily  live 
days  in  one  week  and  six  days  in  the  other,  alternately,  and  six  hours  in  each  ilay  fur  the 
Bpac«  of  three  months  and  teach  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  acconlint:  1o  th<!  best  of  liis 
knowledge,  we  the  Bubscribere  promise  and  oblige  ourselves  to  pay  said  Joel  Buttles  at  the 
expiration  of  said  term  of  three  months,  each  for  himself,  one  dollar  and  sixtytno  and  a  liidf 


The  Schools.     I.  507 

cents  for  each  scholar  we  may  respectively  sabscribe,  and  should  some  anavoidable  or  anfor- 
seen  accident  hinder  said  Buttles  from  attending  the  whole  of  said  term,  we  obligate  our- 
selves to  pay  said  Buttles  in  a  due  proportion  for  the  time  he  may  attend.  And  likewise  the 
subscribers  are  to  bear  each  his  just  proportion  in  boardin^said  Butiles,  and  to  furnish  a  con- 
venient schoolhouse  together  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  firewood  so  that  school  may  com- 
mence the  first  day  of  January  next.  In  testimony  whereof  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hand 
and  seal  this  14th  day  of  December,  1808.  Name  of  subscriber :  Robert  Molean,  two 
pupils;  Michael  Rareden,  three ;  Charles  Warde,  one  and  onehatf;  Philip  WooUet,  one; 
Alexander  Dennixon,  two ;  Philip  Hare,  one ;  William  Hamilton,  one. 

This  school  was  probably  located  in  or  near  Worthington.  The  following 
notice  appeared  in  the  Freemmis  Chronicle  of  February  4,  1810  : 

A  schoolmaster  wanted, — A  man  well  qualified  as  a  teacher  for  young  scholars,  and  can  be 
well  recommended  by  respectable  characters  to  be  trustworthy  and  exemplary  in  that 
employment  will,  on  application  to  the  editor,  be  furnished  with  proposals  from  a  few 
individuals  of  good  standing  wherein  the  necessary  encouragement  will  be  given  by  them  to 
a  teacher  as  aforesaid  to  take  charge  of  a  school  in  Franklinton. 

In  the  Chronicle  of  February  25,  same  year,  this  notice  appeared  : 

A  schoolmaster  wanted, — A  person  possessing  a  good  moral  character  and  the  necessary 
qualifications  for  a  teacher  of  a  school  of  young  scholars  will  meet  with  employment  on 
application  to  Lucas  Sullivant. 

It  is  thus  evident  that  the  pioneera  took  an  active  interest  in  providing  school 
advantages  for  their  children.  The  leading  men  of  the  town  were  endeavoring  to 
secure  good  teachers.  They  wanted  teachers  "well  qualified,  trustworthy  and 
exemplary  in  that  employment."  Peleg  Sisson,  afterwards  a  prominent  physician 
of  Columbus,  taught  school  in  Franklinton  in  the  log  schoolhouse  just  described, 
"  boarding  around  "  a  week  at  a  time  with  the  patrons  of  his  school.  The  follow- 
ing is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Mrs.  Judge  Price,  nee  McDowell,  now  of 
Hillsborough,  Ohio: 

In  1816  Doctor  Sisson  had  a  school  in  Franklinton  which  I  attended.  It  was  a  log 
schoolhouse  built,  I  think,  for  that  purpose,  the  only  furniture  being  benches  made  of  slabs  of 
wood  with  legs  in  them.  My  uncle,  Lucas  Sullivant,  had  it  built.  As  no  one  in  those  early 
days  took  boarders.  Doctor  Sisson  made  his  home  for  a  week  at  a  time  among  his  different 
pupils,  with  the  rich  and  poor  alike.  The  only  two  pupils  I  remember  who  attended  this 
school  were  my  cousin,  the  late  Joseph  Sullivant,  and  Mr.  Elijah  Backus,  now  of  Toledo.  Il 
was  a  good  school,  for  Doctor  Sisson  was  a  man  of  high  character.  I  was  studying  the 
elementary  branches  and  do  not  know  what  else  was  taught. 

At  a  very  early  day  William  Lusk,  an  Irish  schoolmaster  who  came  hero  from 
Massachusetts,  settled  in  Franklinton  and  taught  a  common  subscription  school.  In 
1817  he  began  the  publication  of  an  alamnac  entitled  the  Ohio  Register  and  Western 
(7rt/67K/^r,  a  pamphlet  of  about  sixty  or  seventy  pages  which  he  published  annually  for 
about  thirtyfivo  years.  In  1818  or  1819  Mr.  Lusk  established  an  academy.  In  his 
almanac  of  1821  he  said:  "There  are  in  Franklinton  a  common  school  and  an 
academy;  in  the  latter  are  taught  English  Grammar,  geography,  bookkeeping, 
(double  and  single  entry),  mensuration,  geometry,  trigonometry,  (plane  and 
spherical),  surveying,  navigation,  algebra,  and  astronomy." 


508  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

First  Schools  East  of  the  River.  —  In  1814  a  school  was  oj)onod  in  the  log  Pres- 
byterian Church  on  Spring  Street.  In  Zion  Chapel,  which  was  a  hewed  log  house 
built  in  1815  on  the  present  site  of  the  Public  School  Library  building  on  Town 
Street,  William  T.  Martin  conducted  a  school  in  1816-17.  lie  taught  the  advanced 
scholars  and  his  wife  the  younger  ones.  One  of  his  pui)ils,  Elijah  Glover,  sjieaks  in 
the  highest  terms  of  Mr.  Martin  as  a  teacher  and  says  that  he  cannot  recollect  an 
instance  of  any  chastisement  in  any  form  in  this  school  during  the  time  of  his 
attendance.  Joseph  Olds,  who  afterwards  became  a  j)rominent  lawyer,  taught 
school  in  a  building  on  Broad  Street,  subsequently  known  as  the  Broadway  Hotel. 
While  teaching,  he  prejmred  a  manual  on  astroniomy.  About  this  time  Uriah 
Case  and  John  Peoples  were  also  engaged  as  teachers. 

The  first  classical  school  in  Columbus  was  opened  in  1817,  in  the  west  room  of 
a  frame  building  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Town  and  High  streets,  where  the 
United  States  Hotel  now  stands.  Its  first  teacher  was  a  Mr.  Butler,  who  conducted 
it  for  two  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Doctor  P.  Sisson  who  had  moved  his  scliool 
from  Franklinton  to  a  room  in  the  Pike  Tavern,  which  room  he  abandoned  to  take 
charge  of  the  classical  school,  which  contained  several  quite  ad-vanced  students, 
"  thus  justifying  its  enrollment  in  the  list  of  early  seminaries  of  the  State."  From 
the  Pike  Tavern,  saj^s  Mrs.  Price,  above  quoted,  *'  Doctor  Sisson  removed  to  a  build- 
ing which  stood  on  the  present  site  of  the  United  States  Hotel  and  which,  I  think, 
was  built  by  subscription  for  a  school  house.  This  was  Doctor  Sissons  largest 
school,  and  I  think  he  had  an  assistant.  He  had  previousU'  taught  both  boys  and 
girls,  but  now  his  school  consisted  of  boys  alone.  About  this  time  Mrs.  Smith,  wife 
of  tiie  editor  and  proprietor  of  one  of  the  papers  published  in  (yolumbus,  o])ened  a 
school  for  girls  only  on  Front  Street  near  the  old  Presbyterian  Church.  She 
bad  twelve  or  fifteen  pupils.  In  addition  to  the  instruction  in  the  different  branches 
of  learning,  we  were  taught  to  embroider  sam])les,  and  had  lessons  in  needlework 
on  satin  and  painting  in  water  colors.  She  [Mrs.  Smith]  was  a  refined,  intelligent 
and  cultivated  woman."  Rudolphus  Dickinson  taught  the  languages  to  a  class  of 
boys  in  a  frame  house  on  Front  Street,  not  far  in  rear  of  the  Neil  House.  The 
Explanatory  Monitor,  a  schoolbook,  was  published  in  Columbus  in  1818.  Samuel 
Bigger,  aflerwardsan  able  lawyer  and  Governor  of  Indiana,  and  Daniel  Bigelovv, 
were  among  the  early  teachers. 

During  the  settlement  period  the  number  of  schools  was  suflScient  to  accom- 
modate all  who  desired  to  attend.  "  There  was  not,"  says  Hon.  J.  R.  Osborn,  "  as  early 
as  1817  the  same  demand  for  schools  that  would  be  found  perhaps  in  similar-sized 
villages  of  the  present  day,  and  in  the  absence  of  a  general  law  for  the  nuiintenance 
of  schools  public  sentiment  was  not  sufficiently  advanced  to  permit  an  assessment 
for  the  education  of  all  the  children  of  the  community."  The  advantages  of  general 
education  were  not  then  regarded  as  indispensable  to  the  welfare  of  the  State,  yet 
it  was  sufficiently  esteemed  to  secure  to  this  isolated  community  fair  school 
opportunities  at  moderate  cost.  When  it  is  remembered  that  in  1817  there  were  less 
than  two  hundred  dwellings  in  Columbus  and  about  seventy  in  Franklinton,  it  will 
be  perceived  that  this  community  was  fairly  provided  with  schools  and  with 
excellent  teachers,  for  a  pioneer  settlement. 


The  Schools.     I.  509 

From  1820  to  1830  the  number  of  private  schools  increased  from  about  four  to 
eight  or  ten,  all  grades  included.  From  that  time  the  private  schools  for  small 
scholars  diminished  in  number  until  1845,  by  which  time  nearly  all  of  them  were 
discontinued.  John  Kilbourne's  Ohio  (lazdtevr  for  1826  says:  "Columbus  con- 
tains four  or  five  English  schools  and  a  Classical  Seminary,"  there  being  "  two 
hundred  dwellings  and  fourteen  hundred  inhabitants."  Near  the  close  of  that 
year  the  first  j)ublic  school  was  established,  and  with  the  gradual  growth  of  the 
public  school  system  the  jirivate  school  pupils,  especially  the  younger  ones,  were 
drawn  to  it.  Nevertheless,  many  primary  ])ay  schools  were  maintained,  while 
instruction  in  the  higher  branches  was  left  almost  wholly  to  the  private  schools, 
which,  under  the  names  of  academies,  seminaries,  classical  schools  and  institutes, 
pro8])ered  until  the  introduction  of  the  graded  public  school  system.  The  number 
and  character  of  the  schools  indicates  a  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  education. 
Persons  who  took  "  bound  "  children  to  rear  were  required  to  send  them  to  school 
at  least  one  quarter  in  each  year  and  "to  teach  them  reading,  writing  and  the 
three  rules  of  arithmetic."  The  term  of  school  usually  lasted  three  months  but 
some  of  the  schools  were  kept  in  almost  continuous  operation.  Until  the  advent 
of  the  common  school  system  the  ])rimary  schools  in  which  the  rudimentary 
branches  were  taught  bore  the  name  of  "common,"  and  the  academies  and 
seminaries  received  the  more  advanced  pupils.  The  terms  "subscription"  and 
"  pay,"  as  a])plied  to  schools,  came  into  use  to  distinguish  the  private  ones  from 
those  which  were  public  or  free.  Many  schools  designated  as  academies  and 
seminaries  were  simply  subscription  schools  into  which  pupils  of  all  ages  were 
admitted,  and  in  which  little  else  than  the  common  branches  was  taught,  while 
others  contained  classes  of  advanced  scholars  and  merited  the  names  applied  to 
them. 

On  December  1,  1820,  John  Shields,  a  Newlight  preacher,  afterwards  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  opened  a  school  called  the  New  Academy,  in  the  second  story  of  the 
old  markethouse,  a  single  room  being  used  both  for  schools  and  for  church 
purposes  and  another  for  a  printing  office.  Mr.  Butler,  already  mentioned,  and 
others,  also  taught  in  this  building.  In  1820  Miss  Sarah  Reed  taught  a  school  on 
the  east  side  of  High  Street  near  Broad  ;  the  same  lady  afterwards  taught  a 
"  Female  Seminary  "  in  a  frame  house  on  the  west  side  of  High  Street  north  of 
Main.  Among  the  textbooks  used  were  Murray's  Grammar  and  Morris's  Geog- 
raphy. There  being  but  two  copies  of  the  geograi)hy  in  the  schools,  the  scholars 
learned  their  lessons  from  them  by  turns.  Drawing  and  painting  were  taught  in 
a  rudimentary  way. 

The  Columbus  Arademy. — In  1820  Lucas  Sullivant  and  about  twenty  other 
citizens  organized  a  school  company  and  built  what  was  known  as  the  Columbus 
Academy,  a  singlestory  tworooni  frame  building  near  the  site  of  the  ])resent  Second 
Presbyterian  Church  on  Third  Street.  Its  furniture  was  of  i)rimitive  style  — 
"  desks  built  around  the  room  where  scholars  could  conveniently  sit  with  backs  to 
their  teacher,  while  their  eyes,  unobserved,  might  look  out  at  the  open  windows  or 
else  be  employed  with  pocketknives  upon  the  smooth  surface  of  the  desk."  This 
building  stood  away  out  in  the  commons  "  among  the  pawpaw  bushes,  with  but 


610  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

three  other  houses  in  the  vicinity.*'  The  Academy  was  opened  for  the  reception 
of  students,  having  as  its  first  teacher,  Aaron  G.  Brown,  a  graduate  of  the  Ohio 
University,  who  was  '^a  gentle  and  kind  man,  a  good  scholar  and  a  good  teacher.'^ 
One  of  his  pupils  refers  to  him  as  kind,  good,  patient  Mr.  Brown.  He  was  after- 
wards a  professor  in  his  ahtia  mater  and  still  later  became  a  noted  lawyer.  His 
successor  as  teacher  was  Cyrus  Parker,  a  man  of  education  and  high  character, 
who  taught  in  the  Academy  for  a  number  of  years,  usually  in  the  north  room 
after  it  was  removed  to  Front  Street.  Moral  suasion  was  not  an  element  of 
school  management  with  him.  Although  he  had  a  partially  withered  right  hand, 
be  excelled  all  the  other  teachers  of  the  town  in  the  administration  of  corporal 
punishment.  His  frequent  and  immoderate  use  of  the  whip  sometimes  trans- 
cended even  the  tolerance  of  that  age  of  physical  force  and  heroic  living.  During 
the  winter  months  Parker  also  taught  an  evening  school.  At  the  close  of  each 
term,  certificates  of  diligence  and  good  behavior  were  given  to  the  scholars  who 
merited  them.  Besides  the  common  branches,  geometry  and  astronomy  were 
taught.  The  textbooks  were  Webster's  Spellitigbook,  Murray's  English 
Grammar,  and  Pike's  and  Daball's  arithmetics.  Among  the  pupils  during  the 
first  two  or  three  years  after  the  school  was  opened  were  J.  Sullivant,  W.  A.  Piatt, 
John  Overdier,  Daniel  Overdier,  Margaret  Livingston,  J.  K.  Osborn,  Robert  and 
John  Armstrong,  Henry  Mills,  Keys  Barr,  Margaret  Hoge  (afterwards  Mrs.  Judge 
Baldwin),  Elizabeth  Hoge  and  Hev.  Moses  Hoge.  The  Academy  was  several 
times  removed ;  about  1826  it  was  taken  to  the  southwest  corner  of  Sugar  (Chapel) 
Alley  on  Fourth  Street,  the  latter  being  then  the  eastern  limit  of  the  town,  beyond 
which  were  cowpastnres  and  cornfields.  In  close  proximity  to  this  location  was 
a  large  pond  which  occupied  the  territory  on  which  now  stands  the  Central 
Markethouse.  At  a  later  date  William  Lusk,  the  almanac-maker,  in  good  nature 
and  with  lax  discipline,  taught  a  crowded  school,  composed  usually  of  boys,  in  one 
room  of  this  building.  Often,  as  he  took  his  afternoon  nap,  the  boys  would  steal 
away  to  skate  on  the  pond  or  to  enjoy  their  games  of  '^  two  and  fourhole  cat "  and 
"  round  the  stake."  After  the  nap  was  completed,  a  wave  of  the  teacher's  old 
umbrella  or  at  most  a  short  trip  down  to  the  pond  brought  back  the  troop  of  boys 
who,  after  mild  reprimand,  returned  to  their  studies.  Mr.  Lusk  also  taught  in 
other  partd  of  the  city.  He  is  said  to  have  been  well  educated  and  at  first  efficient 
and  popular,  but  in  later  life  he  became  intemperate.  "  Old  Billy  Lusk,"  says  one 
who  knew  him,  was  ^*a  short  stout  man  with  a  red  face,  a  still  redder  nose  and 
short  grisly  hair,  who  wore  an  old  camlet  cloak  and  carried  an  old  umbrella  with 
a  brass  ring  about  it." 

H.  N.  Hubbell,  Andrew  Williams  and  Moses  Spurgeon  also  taught  in  this 
Academy.  Most  of  the  persons  over  sixty  years  of  age,  educated  in  the  schools  of 
ColumbuS)  received  instruction  in  this  institution,  which  will  alwa3S  be  an  object 
of  interest  in  the  history  of  the  city.  Although  the  school  directors  bought  the 
Academy  in  1827,  it  seems  that  members  of  the  original  company  (whether  at  that 
time  school  directors  or  not  does  not  appear)  collected  part,  at  least,  of  the  rent 
for  the  use  of  the  building,  and  Willi:im  Lusk  claimed  to  have  bought  ncarlj-  half 
of  the  shares  from  the  original  owners.     Lusk  says :  "  Two  of  the  company  rented 


TsE  Schools.     I. 


611 


the  building,  the  teachers  paying  only  what  would  keep  the  house  in  repair  for 
some  time.  After  the  disorganization  of  the  company,  the  member  who  pur- 
chased the  lot  deeded  it  to  the  iliroctorn  of  the  district  in  which  it  was  located." 
On  July  16,  1836,  William  Lusk  offered  for  sale  an  undivided  onehalf  of  the  lot 
on  wliich  the  Academy  stood.  At  an  early  date  James  Rohinson  taii;;ht  school  in 
a  small  brick  building  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Wall  and  Broad  streets.  Sheep 
were  then  pastured  on  the  commons  around  that  building.  In  the  fall  of  1826, , 
J,  P.  Smith,  who  afterward  taught  in  the  public  schools,  had  charge  of  a  school  in 


NT    SCHOOL. 


the  Academy  and  gave  instruction  in  the  "various  branches  of  English  learning;" 
—  in  orthography  and  reading  at  $2.50  per  quarter;  in  writing  and  composition, 
arithmetic  and  the  first  rudiments  of  grammar  and  geography  at  S3.00 ;  in 
geography  and  ai^tronomy,  chemistry,  and  natural  and  moral  philosophy  at  tK.OO. 
Mrs.  Smith  instructed  young  ladies  in  fine  needlework,  drawing  and  painting. 
"In  1824  or  1825  Mies  Bigolow  opened  a  Mchool  for  girls  in  a  double  frame  house 
next  to  the  residence  of  Otis  Crosby.  The  instniclion  was  in  reading,  writing, 
arilhmelic,  and  grammar,  which  latter  study  neither  teacher  nor  pupil  under- 
stood." 

In  1S20,  J.  M.  C.  Hazeltine,  an  able  teacher,  opened  a  school  in  a  frame 
building  on  Uain  Street  between  Third  and  High.  After  teaching  there  for  sev- 
eral years  he  built  a  frame. schoolhouse,  pi-ohably  in  1832,  on  the  east  side  ofThird 
Street  near  Rich,  where  he  and   others  taught  both    public  and  private  schools. 


512  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

In  1838,  ho  was  accidentally  drowned  in  the  river  at  the  foot  of  Rich  Street.  J.  H. 
Godman  taught  in  Franklinton  between  1820  and  1825,  and  Orange  Davis  con- 
ducted a  school  about  the  same  time  in  a  onestory  building  on  the  south  side  of 
West  Gay  Street.  Simultaneously  with  these,  Stern  Berryhill,  James  Higgs, 
Cornelius  Sharp  and  Huldah  Bull  were  instructing  the  youth  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  city.  Seth  Smith,  A.  Montgomery  and  John  Calvin  were  also  teachers  of 
that  period. 

*'  A  Female  Academy,"  conducted  by  Miss  Anna  Treat,  formerly  of  the 
Worthington  Academ}^  and  Miss  Sarah  Benfield,  of  Columbus,  was  opened  in  the 
Jarvis  Pike  property  on  West  Broad  Street,  in  1826,  and  was  maintained  for  sev- 
eral years.  Keading,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography  and  embroidery  werean^ong 
the  branches  taught.  This  was  a  wellmanaged  school.  Maps  are  still  extant 
which  were  drawn  by  a  ten-j-ear-old  pupil  of  this  school  in  1827,  and  show  good 
instruction.  In  1829,  an  "  English  Classical  and  Scientific  School  "  was  opened  by 
John  Eilbourne  in  the  Miller  building  (Buckeye  House)  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Public  Square. 

The  Columbus  Female  Seminary  was  opened  on  the  first  Monday  in 
December,  1829,  under  favorable  auspices,  with  Rev.  Joseph  Labaree  as  Principal, 
and  N.  McLean,  K.  W.  McCoy,  J.  M.  Espy,  Henry  Brown  and  James  Hoge  as 
superintending  committee.  It  occupied  rooms  in  the  second  story  of  the  McCoy 
building  on  High  Street,  opposite  the  Statehouse.  Mr.  Labaree  was  a  refined 
and  successful  teacher  who  *'  required  the  scholars  to  get  their  lessons.'*  The 
school  contained  two  departments,  one  taught  by  the  principal  and  the  other  by 
Miss  Emily  Richarcjson,  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Labaree,  assisted  in  1829  and  1830  by  Hiss 
Margaret  Livingston.  Setting  copies  and  making  quill  pens  for  the  scholars  was 
no  small  part  of  a  teacher's  duties  in  those  days.  The  studies  were  reading,  writ- 
ing, arithmetic,  grammar,  geography,  botany,  Latin,  and  heathen  mythology.  Mr. 
Labaree  taught  at  a  later  date  in  the  Eight  Buildings.  The  memory  of  Mrs.  Amy 
Adams,  a  teacher  of  several  years,  is  still  cherished  by  those  who  received  her 
instruction. 

Id  the  basement  of  Trinity  Church  were  kept  successively  a  Grammar  School 
by  J.  W.  Mattison,  a  Scotchman ;  an  Bnglish  and  Classical  School  by  J.  O.  Master- 
son  ;  a  Select  School,  in  1837,  by  W.  S.  Wheaton  ;  a  Classical  School  by  George 
Cole  ;  a  "  School  in  English  Branches  "  by  Ezra  Munson ;  and  an  "  Elementary 
School  for  Boys"  by  Dorance  Mathews.  Twenty  years  later  R.  W,  Thompson, 
referring  to  this  period,  addressed  these  lines  to  General  Irvin  M<^Dowell : 

When  that  old  fence  was  built  around 

The  Statehouse  yard,  you  know, 
'Twan  there  we  played  our  schoolboy  ^mes 

Upon  the  lovely  green, 
And  happier  hearts  —  some  silent  now  — 

The  world  has  never  seen  ; 
*Twa8  Wheat  on 's  school  just  over  the  way, 

Methinks  I  hear  the  bell, 
That  called  us  from  our  sport**  and  play,— 

Its  ringing  seemed  a  knell. 


The  Schools.    I.  513 

For  sevonil  years  a  school  wais  taup^ht  in  a  ho  wed  log  house  on  the  southeast 
corner  of  Spring  and  High  streets,  near  the  banks  of  Doe  Run,  by  Hugh  Maxwell, 
who  lived  in  the  upper  story  of  the  same  building.  The  same  teacher  taui^ht  in  a 
small  brick  building  which  is  still  standing  on  the  southeast  corner  of  High  and 
Gay  streets.  J.  O.  Mastcrson  tauglit  in  the  Old  Jail  Building  on  Gay  Street,  and 
also  on  West  Broad.  One  morning,  just  before  dismissing  his  school,  Mr.  Master- 
son  requested  each  of  his  scholars  to  write  an  essay  —  a  very  unusual  request  — 
giving  them  as  a  nubject,  *'  never  speak  ill  of  the  dead,''  and  told  them  to  bring 
their  compositions  next  morning,  which  they  did  and  learned  that  their  teacher 
ha<l  been  drowned  in  iho  Scioto.  Miss  Molly  McGowan  taught  in  a  building  on 
High  Street  near  McGowan^M  Run.  Miss  Penelope  Lazelle  and  others  taught  in  a 
Hmall  sclioolhouse  near  the  corner  of  Third  and  Lazelle  streets.  George  B.  White- 
sides,  who  tauiiht  here  about  1830,  was  very  exacting  about  having  the  boys 
"  make  bows."  He  is  said  to  have  governed  without  the  aid  of  the  whip.  In  1830 
Ilev.  George  Jeffries  taught  in  a  hewed  log  school  house  which  he  erected  on  the 
south  side  of  Mound  Street  near  Wall.  The  First  Baptist  Church,  of  which  he  was 
pastor,  used  the  same  building  as  a  house  of  worship.  The  record  shows  that  the 
congregation  contributed  $4  95  in  money  and  two  and  threefourths  days*  work 
'*  toward  fixing  the  sclioolhouse  built  by  Elder  Jeffries  for  the  purpose  of  having 
meetings  in."  Several  3'ears  later  the  Baptist  Church  building,  which  is  still 
standing  on  Front  Street,  near  Noble  Alley,  was  used  for  a  schoolhouse.  Mrs.-J. 
B.  Ward,  a  refined  English  lady,  tauglit  a  school  for  young  children  in  a  frame 
building  yet  standing  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Fourth  and  Walnut.  She  after- 
wards conducted  a  Ladies'  Seminary. 

During  the  cholera  plague  of  1833  the  schools  were  suspended.  In  an  auto- 
biography of  Christian  Spielman  we  find  this  passage:  "The  schools  were  closed 
and  business  was  almost  paralyzed.  Our  seminar}*  was  al>o  closed  for  a  number 
of  months  and  the  students  returned  to  their  homes.  I  desired  to  utilise  these 
months  in  earning  a  little  money.  Through  the  aid  of  Professor  Schmidt  I  secured 
quite  a  number  of  pupils  in  German,  to  whom  I  imparted  instruction  in  the  little 
frame  church  on  Third  Street,  where,  in  after  years,  the  Universalist  Church  was 
erected.  At  that  time  there  were  only  six  or  seven  German  families  in  Columbus. 
A  larger  number  of  my  pupils  belonged  to  prominent  American  families  among 
whom  a  lively  interest  had  been  awakened  for  the  German.  At  last,  in  the  height 
of  the  plague,  I  was  also  forced  to  close  my  school." 

The  department  of  classical  and  general  education  of  the  Lutheran  Theological 
Seminary  was  opened  in  1831  under  the  superintendence  of  Rev.  William  Schmidt 
For  fifteen  or  twenty  years  instruction  was  given  in  the  elementarj'  branches  to 
students  preparing  for  the  ordinary  business  of  life  as  well  as  to  those  preparing 
for  the  advanced  studies  of  the  Seminary.  Neither  the  teacher  nor  the  students 
in  this  department  were  required  to  bear  any  special  relation  to  the  Lutheran  sect. 
The  school  was  conducted  first  in  the  basement  of  the  Reformed  Church  which  stood 
on  the  south  side  of  Town  Street;  in  1849  and  1850  in  the  Covert  Building  on 
Town  Street;  and  later  in  the  University  Building  on  South  U'urh  Sireet.  The 
literary  department  was   alllcrwards   und*  r  the  direction  of  C,  F.  SchaellVr  and 

33 


M4 


History  of  the  City  op  Cni.uHBUS. 


Charles  Ji'ickHch,  and  special  instruction  was  also  given  in  the  training  of  toacliori*. 
P.  Pence,  0.  F.  Schaofler  and  S.  lleyl  wcro  the  managing  committee  appointi-d  hy 
the  Board  of  Directors,  ThTOughouL  the  early  history  of  the  city  the  hasuinenls 
and  lecture  rooms  of  the  churches   were   very  generally  used  for  school  piirpiisos. 


In  18;-<8-0  a  High  School  for  Young  Ladies  was  conducted  in  tho  lecture  room  of 
the  First  PrcRbytorian  Church  by  Miss  Mary  A.  Shaw,  who  had  formerly  tiiiiglit  in 
other  parts  of  tlio  city.  Rev.  i.  Luburee  conducted  a  school  in  this  roinn  :it  nno 
time,  the  pupils  reciting  French  to  Uoneiour  Gauthier.     Abiel  Foster  and  others 


•  The  Schools.    I.  516 

also  taught  school  in  this  church  at  different  times.  The  Wells  sisters,  Susannah, 
Abbieand  Anna,  were  identified  with  the  schools  of  the  city  as  prominent  teachers 
for  many  years.  They  taught  a  Young  Ladies'  School  in  a  rude  building  on 
High  Street  just  north  of  the  Deshler  Block,   and  also  in  the  Exchange  Building. 

Among  other  schools  of  less  note  between  1830  and  1845  may  be  mentioned 
one  on  the  corner  of  Front  and  Cherry,  taught  by  Jacob  Hare,  subsequently 
founder  of  the  Hare  Orphans*  Home;  a  "  Ladies  School  for  instruction  in  the  vari- 
ous brandies  of  a  useful  and  polite  education,"  by  M^iss  E.  Johnstone;  a  school  for 
the  study  of  French,  Spanish  and  Italian,  by  Carlo  de  Haro ;  a  school  in  the  base- 
ment of  Mrs.  E.  Campbell's  residence  on  Front  Street  by  Mary  B.Smith  ;  instruc- 
tion in  music,  singing,  drawing,  painting,  French  and  German  by  Edward 
Kersten,  late  from  Paris;  a  school  in  Number  5,  Commercial  liow,  by  Samuel  D. 
Preston  ;  "  an  evening  school  for  gentlemen  in  Greek,  Latin,  bookkeeping  and 
Euclid,"  by  J.  K.  Hoffer;  instruction  in  "common  and  higher  branches,  together  with 
the  French  language,  also  drawing,  painting  and  needlework,  by  Miss  H.  Shaw, 
tuition  four  to  ten  dollars  per  term;"  school  for  young  ladies  and  misses  in  the 
Exchange  Building,  over  the  store  of  Cushing  &  Warner;  "boarding  and  day 
school  for  young  ladies  by  Mrs.  and  Miss  Heilson  ;  "  a  school  by  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
McCauly  at  their  residence,  Number  32  East  Town  Street;  a  Female  Seminary  in 
Mrs.  O.  Parish's  residence  by  the  Misses  De  Bartholds ;  the  Columbus  Female 
Seminary  by  B.  Gonzales;  a  young  gentlemen's  select  school  in  the  Buttles  Block, 
corner  of  High  ^nd  Town,  by  J.  S.  Brown ;  and  a  school  for  instruction  in  survey- 
ing, engineering,  di*awingand  mathematics  in  the  Exchange  Building  by  Valentine 
Gill  and  others.  We  here  perceive  the  great  variety  of  this  class  of  schools  and  of 
their  location.  There  was  no  uniformity  in  their  courses  of  study  or  textbooks. 
Many  of  them  existed  for  only  a  short  time. 

A  High  School  was  opened  June  18, 1832,  by  Horace  W  ilcox,  in  a  building  erected 
on  State  Street  by  Colonel  Olmsted.  It  contained  three  departments,  each  having 
its  appropriate  studies  and  textbooks  best  adapted  to  the  ages  of  the  pupils  and 
their  capacity  for  improvement.  Its  managers  endeavored  to  make  its  course  of 
study  and  thoroughness  of  instruction  compare  favorably  with  those  of  the  best 
contemporary  institutions  of  its  kind,  but  during  the  following  winter  it  was  dis> 
continued  for  want  of  a  suitable  building.  In  the  ensuing  spring  it  was  reopened 
with  some  modification  and  in  more  commodious  apartments.  As  reorganised  it 
was  styled  the  Columbus  High  School  for  Young  Ladies.  Horace  S.  Gillett  was 
engaged  as  one  of  its  assistant  teachers.  Adjacent  to  the  building  were  five  or  six 
acres  of  land  planted  with  shrubbery  and  fruit  trees,  and  used  as  a  playground. 
The  school  was  subsequently  removed  to  Town  Street  and  is  said  to  ^ve  been 
equipped  with  chemical  and  philosophical  apparatus.  The  tuition  was  three  dol' 
lars  in  its  primary,  four  dollars  in  its  junior,  and  five  dollars  in  its  senior  depart* 
ment,  per  quarter. 

In  July,  1836,  a  Charity  School  was  established  under  the  patronage  of  a  few 
ladies  who  became  convinced  of  the  necessity  for  it  while  engaged  as  almoners  of 
the  Female  Benevolent  Society.  It  was  instrumental  in  doing  much  good.  The 
ladies  who  founded  it  organized  a  society  of  representatives  of  all  the  Christian 


516  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

denominations  of  the  city.  The  annual  subscription  fee  was  one  dollar.  At  the 
time  of  the  December  meeting  in  1837  seven  hundred  and  filly  dollars  had  been 
raised  and  the  school  had  been  conducted  five  quarters  at  an  expense  of  S287.55, 
on  a  lot  in  rear  of  Mrs.  Parish's,  which  had  been  presented  to  the  society  by  Alfred 
Kplley  and  on  which  a  commodious  brick  schoolhouse  was  erected.  Of  ninetytwo 
children  received,  thirtynine  Were  fatherless  and  several  motherless.  The  average 
daily  attendance  had  been  thirtyfive  and  the  average  annual  expense  of  each  child 
less  than  S6.20. 

The  colored  people  of  Columbus  have  been  active  in  their  eflbrts  to  secure 
educational  opportunities  for  their  youth,  and  their  school  progress  has  been  in 
advance  of  that  of  their  people  generally  throughout  the  State.  Prior  to  1836  the 
colored  people  maintained  a  school  in  the  southern  part  of  the  city,  near  Peters's 
Run.  In  that  year  they  organized  a  school  society  with  David  Jenkins,  B. 
Roberts  and  C.  Lewis  as  trustees.  In  the  fall  of  1839  they  had  sixty  dollars  in 
their  treasury  and  a  subscribed  building  fund  of  $225.00.  The  estimated  cost  for 
schoolhouse  and  lot  was  $700.00.  M.  M.  Clark  was  their  authorized  agent  to 
solicit  subscriptions.  Within  the  year  ended  August  31, 1840,  a  colored  school  with 
sixtythree  scholars  enrolled  was  maintained  for  six  months.  On  September  7,  1840, 
the  School  Fund  Association  of  the  colored  people  of  Ohio  met  in  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  received  the  cooperation  of  citizens  of  Columbus  in  promoting  its  objects. 
In  spite  of  many  discouragements  the  colored  people  secured  fair  school  privileges  for 
their  children  so  far  as  possible  to  do  so  by  their  own  eflbrts,  and  by  prudent  manage- 
ment prepared  the  way  for  the  final  withdrawal  of  the  color  line  from  the  schools. 
In  1841  Alfred  Kelley,  John  L.  Gill  and  Peter  Hayden,  as  a  company,  erected  a 
building  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Oak  and  Fifth  streets,  and  established  a  school 
therein  which  was  succes.sfully  conducted  for  several  years  by  Robert  Barrett. 
The  building  is  now  used  as  a  residence. 

On  May  11,  1840,  the  Columbus  Institute  was  opened  under  the  direction  of 
Abiel  Foster  and  his  sister.  Miss  Catherine  Foster.  It  was  begun  in  a  new  building 
on  the  corner  of  Rich  and  Front  streets.  Its  course  of  instruction  included  reading, 
writing,  composition,  English  grammar,  geography,  Latin,  Greek,  mathematics 
and  higher  branches.  It  was  graded  at  first  into  two  departments,  and  was  soon 
removed  to  the  Eight  Buildings,  where  a  third  department  was  opened  under 
the  care  of  Augusta  Foster.  In  two  rooms  on  the  second  floor  girls  were  taught  by 
the  Misses  Foster,  while  Mr.  Foster  taught  the  boys  " down  stairs.'  One  of 
the  tricks  of  mischievous  boys  in  this  and  other  schools  of  that  day  is  said  to  have 
been  that  of  throwing  crackling  hackberries  on  the  floor  and  stairways,  which 
startled  i^G  pupils  as  they  walked  over  them  and  often  prefaced  the  morning 
exercises  with  a  fusillade.  The  Fosters  were  well  educated  and  capable  teachers. 
They  introduced  new  methods  of  instruction  and  were  quite  successful.  Special 
attention  was  given  to  good  reading. 

The  Columbus  Literary  and  Scientific  Institute,  a  school  for  advanced  scholars, 
was  opened  November  2,  1840,  in  a  private  residence  on  Town  Street,  under  the 
supervision  of  Rev.  John  Covert,  formerly  of  Black  River  Institute  at  Watertown, 
New  York,  and  liev.  Leicester  A.  Sawyer,  from  New  Haven,  Connecticut.    A  Female 


The  Scuoolb.     I.  517 

Seminary  under  Mrs.  S.  S.  Covert  wan  attiiohod  to  tbie  institution,  of  wliicli 
Ibo  gunoral  iniinaj^omont  wan  ontrUHted  to  a  board  of  traijt«03  the  members  of  which 
wore  H.  N.  IIubbuM,  Pruaident,  Joscpli  Ridgway,  Junior,  Vice  President,  J.  It. 
Swiin,  D.  W.  Dushlor,  Ermine  Case,  Peleg  SiHSon,  John  Covert,  Warren  Jenkins, 
Ichabod  G.  Jones,  William  Chapin,  M.  J.  Gilbert  and  L.  A.  Sawyer.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  the  name  of  the  institution  was  changed  to  that  of  Columbus  Academical 
and  Collegiate  Institute.  On  June  1,  1841,  the  eorner-atone  of  a  building  for  thiH 
Institute  WUK  hiid.     A  twoxtory  brick  house  of  four  rooms,  jileaeantly  situated  on 


Town  Street,  in  a  "'retired  part  of  the  city"  was  erected.  It  ia  now  the  residence 
of  Mrs.  J.  J.  Person.  The  Institute  was  designed  to  partake  of  the  nature  of  botli 
an  academy  and  a  college,  and  consequently  offered  instruction  in  a  great  variety  of 
studies.  It  was  provided  with  chemical  and  philosophical  apparatus  and  a  library 
of  some  hundreds  of  volumes.  Rev.  Leicester  A.  Sawyer  was  President;  Kev.  John 
Covert  Vice  President ;  R.  S.  Boaworth  Professor  of  Chemistry ;  and  Mrs.  S.  S.  Covert 
Princijml  of  ihc  Female  Do|);irtmont.  The  following  year  Rev.  J.  Covert  became 
Principal,  and  Robert  Thompson,  C.  Runyan  and  W.  B.  Hubbard  were  added  to  the 


518  IIlBTORY   OP   TUB    CiTY    OF    COLIIMKUS. 

board  of  trustees.  Miss  Mary  A.  Shaw  was  afterwards  employed  as  an  assistant  in 
the  Female  Department.  T.  C.  Hunter  was  the  teacher  of  vocal  music,  and 
K.  S.  Bosworth  of  mathematics,  surveying  and  astronomy.  Mr.  Bosworth  had  a 
telescope  of  considerable  power  mounted  upon  a  pile  of  rocks  in  the  Statchouse 
yard  for  the  use  of  his  classes.     The  Institute  was  closed  in  184G  or  1847. 

A  Female  Seminary,  conducted  by  Mr.  and  Mi's.  E.  Schenck,  the  former  a 
graduate  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  and  the  latter  from  Mrs.  Wil- 
lard's  Female  Seminary  of  Troy,  New  York,  was  established  in  a  new  brick  build- 
ing at  the  corner  of  Broad  and  High.  It  began  on  Monday,  April  3,  1843.  and 
continued  until  Mr.  Schenck's  death  in  1848.  In  1846,  the  trustees  of  this  school 
were  J.  R.  Swan,  Adams  Stewart,  O.  FoUett,  Joel  Buttles,  N.  H.  Swayne,  P.  Sis- 
son,  John  Noble  and  John  W.  Andrews. 

The  Esther  Institute  w^as  opened  October  4,  1852,  in  a  private  residence  on 
Rich  Street,  under  the  name  of  the  Columbus  Female  Seminary,  with  Professor 
Charles  Jiicksch,  Professor  T.  G.  Wormley,  Miss  Hcrmine  A.  P.  Tctu,  Samiiia 
Schnedly,  Mary  W.  Atcheson  and  G.  Machold  as  the  corps  of  teachers,  and 
Christian  Heyl  as  business  manager.  In  1853,  the  present  Irving  House,  near  the 
northwest  corner  of  Fourth  and  Broad  streets,  was  erected  for  this  school,  which 
was  opened  therein  September  28, 1853,  under  the  name  of  Esther  Institute.  Miss 
Agnes  W.  Beecher  was  principal  and  Miss  Margaret  A.  Bailey  was  teacher  of 
mathematics.  The  Institute  was  closed  in  1862,  and  its  building  was  converted 
into  a  military  hospital.     Financially,  it  was  not  successful. 

Throughout  the  earlier  history  of  the  city  many  of  its  prominent  families  sent 
their  children  to  the  seminaries  and  colleges  of  other  towns  or  cities;  at  the  same 
time  the  schools  of  Columbus  were  also  much  patronized  from  abroad.  Some  of 
the  disadvantages  of  the  private  schools  were:  1.  The  unsuitable  character  of 
their  apartments,  which  were  usually  adapted  for  other  pur])Oses  and  were  insuffi- 
ciently heated  and  ventilated.  Of  the  seven  private  schools  in  operation  in  1847, 
four  were  taught  in  basements  and  the  remainder  in  a  room  space  affording  less 
than  one  hundred  cubic  feet  of  air  per  scholar.  2.  The  incompetency  of  many 
teachers  and  their  transient  character,  which  precluded  the  adoption  of  necessary 
means  for  testing  their  efficiency.  3.  The  want  of  uniformity  in  courses  of  study. 
In  perhaps  the  majority  of  cases,  in  order  to  make  up  a  school  of  sufficient  num- 
bers, scholars  were  received  without  any  reference  to  previous  attainments,  and 
were  allowed  to  pursue  such  studies  as  their  own  caprice  or  that  of  their  parents 
dictated.  Hence  it  was  not  uncommon  to  find  scholars  studjnng  natural  philoso- 
phy or  astronomy  who  did  not  know  the  multiplication  table ;  or  studying  botany, 
geology,  or  rhetoric  without  being  able  to  spell  the  most  common  words  or  to 
read  intelligibly  a  single  paragraph  in  the  English  language.  4.  Irregularity  of 
attendance,  which  was  not  infrequently  encouraged  by  the  practice  of  exacting 
pay  only  for  the  time  of  actual  presence  in  the  school.  5.  The  cost  of  tuition,  in 
the  better  class  of  seminaries  and  high  schools,  was  so  high  as  to  prevent  the 
great  majority  of  those  who  attended  them  from  continuing  long  enough  to  secure 
anything  like  a  thorough  education.     But  the  day  of  private  schools  was  by  this 


The  Schools.     L  519 

time  past.  Thoy  had  served  a  good  purpose,  but  a  new  and  better  system  had 
become  established  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

Various  societies  have  at  different  times  been  formed  in  the  city  for  mutual 
education.  Among  these  was  the  Columbus  Lyceum,  organized  in  October,  1831, 
under  the  personal  direction  of  Josiah  Holbrook,  founder  of  the  Boston  Lyceum. 
Kev.  James  Hoge  was  its  President;  Hon.  J.  W.  Campbell,  Vice  President; 
William  Preston  and  Henry  Espy  its  Secretaries;  P.  B.  Wilcox  its  Treasurer; 
James  Labaree  and  Messrs.  Parker  and  Smith  its  Curators.  The  design  of  the 
Lyceum  was  "  to  procure  for  youths  an  economical  and  practical  education,  and  to 
diffuse  useful  information  throughout  the  community  generally  by  means  of 
essays,  discussions  and  lectures." 

An  English  and  Classical  School  was  begun  by  Misses  L.  M.  Phelps  and 
B.  H.  Hall  in  1884  in  the  Arnold  House  on  East  Broad  Street  with  seventeen 
pupils.  During  its  second  year  it  occupied  more  convenient  apartments  in  the 
Kogers  House,  a  few  doors  from  its  former  location,  and  at  the  end  of 
that  year  was  removed  to  the  Gwynne  House,  which  is  its  present  location, 
on  East  Broad  Street.  The  school  prospered  from  its  inception,  and  in  1890 
the  trustees  of  the  estate  erected  the  present  handsome  and  commodious 
building  which  it  now  occupies  on  Fourth  Street  and  which  is  admirably  adapted 
to  its  needs.  The  rooms  are  large,  well  lighted  and  well  ventilated,  and  accommo- 
dations are  provided  for  both  boarding  and  day  pupils.  The  purpose  of  the 
school  is  to  furnish  the  girls  a  liberal  education  while  giving  special  attention  to 
conduct  and  health.  The  school  embraces  four  departments:  The  Kindergarten, 
Primary,  Intermediate  and  Classical,  the  latter  including  the  studies  of  the  usual 
curriculum  in  higher  institutions  of  learning.  A  well-selected  library  and  suitable 
apparatus  are  among  its  equipments.  The  present  teachers  are:  Miss  L.  M. 
Phelps,  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy  and  Logic ;  Miss  B.  H.  Hall,  Mathematics, 
History  and  Rhetoric;  Miss  Ellen  Dewey,  Drawing,  Painting  and  Art  Criticism; 

Miss    Charlotte    R.    Parmele,    Primary    Department;   Miss   Elizabeth 

Kindergarten  ;  J.  D.  H.  McKinlcy,  Latin,  Greek  and  Mathematics;  Miss  Catharine 
Preston,  Latin  and  English  Literature;  F.  W.  Blake,  M.  D.,  Physical  Science; 
Miss  Anna  Petersen,  French  Language  and  Literature;  Miss  Zaide  Von  Briesen, 
German  Language  and  Literature ;  Miss  Mary  Shattuck,  Elocution  and  Physical 
Culture;  Mrs.  Emma  Lath rop-Le wis.  Vocal  Music;  Professor  Hermann  Ebeling, 
Instrumental  and  Class  Music;  Professor  Hermann  Schmidt,  Instrumental  Music. 

The  Columbus  Latin  School  was  opened  under  the  name  of  a  Preparatory 
School  for  Boys  in  the  fall  of  1888  in  a  building  on  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  State 
streets,  by  Charles  A.  Moore,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College.  During  the  first  year 
twenty  three  pupils  were  received.  Mr.  Moore  having  accepted  a  tutorship  at  Yale, 
Mr.  Frank  T.  Cole,  a  graduate  of  Williams  College,  took  charge  of  the  school  in 
the  fall  of  1889  and  removed  it  to  East  Town  Street,  where  it  has  since  been  con- 
ducted under  the  name  above  given.  Professor  Amasa  Pratt,  also  a  graduate  of 
Williams  College,  became  associated  with  Mr.  Cole  in  the  management  of  the 
school,  the  object  of  which  is  to  prepare  boys  for  college.  The  ancient  and  modern 
languages  are  embraced  in  the  course  of  instruction.     During  the  last  two  years 


520  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

the  school  has  had  an  average  attendance  of  forty;  its  graduates  thus  far  number 
eighteen.  It  has  a  boarding  department)  but  depends  chiefly  on  the  city  for  its 
patronage. 

The  city  being  an  important  commercial  and  manufacturing  center,  it  has 
given  rise  to  numerous  business  colleges,  many  of  them  of  high  standing.  The 
Columbus  Business  College,  established  in  1864,  prospered  for  twenty  five  years. 
The  Capital  City  Commercial  College,  established  in  1878,  continued  in  operation 
eleven  years.  These  two  schools  were  consolidated  in  1889  under  the  name  of  the 
Columbus  Commercial  College,  which  was  discontinued  in  1891.  The  National 
Business  College,  established  in  April,  1889,  by  H.  B.  Parsons,  is  located  in  the 
Sessions  Block,  and  instructs  classes  both  day  and  evening.  The  Columbus 
Business  College,  now  managed  by  W.  H.  Hudson,  on  North  High  Street,  was 
established  about  seven  years  ago.  Yarnell's  Business  College,  also  on  High 
Street,  gives  special  attention  to  bookkeeping.  A  school  of  penmanship  was 
established  in  1888  by  C.  P.  Zaner.  A  school  in  stenography  and  typewriting  is 
now  conducted  in  the  Wesley  Block  by  Professor  W.  H.  Hartsough. 

Several  kindergartens  are  sustained  as  individual  enterprises;  others  which 
are  free  are  maintained  in  different  parts  of  the  city  by  the  Woman's  Educational 
and  Industrial  Union,  of  which,  at  present,  Mrs.  J.  N.  Dunham  is  President  and 
Mrs.  P.  C.  Maxwell,  Secretary.  These  free  kindergartens  are  intended  for 
children  under  school  age,  and  especially  those  whoso  parents  are  unable  to  send 
them  to  the  subscription  schools.  The  Union  also  maintains  at  its  central  build- 
ing on  the  corner  of  Oak  and  Fourth  streets,  a  training  school  for  preparing 
teachers  in  kindergarten  work. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


THE  SCHOOLS.    II. 
BY  JAMES  U.  BARNHILL,  M.  D. 

Public  Schools.  District  School  Management,  1826  to  1838.  -—  In  keeping  with 
the  enlightened  sentiment  of  the  famous  educational  compact  the  pioneer  settlers 
of  Franklinton  and  Columbus  provided  fair  school  privileges  for  their  children. 
Before  revenues  from  the  land  grants  were  realized  or  general  school  laws  enacted, 
private  schools  and  means  of  education  had  been  very  generously  encouraged.  In 
the  very  infancy  of  the  town  of  Columbus  its  founders  had  constructed  a  school- 
house  for  the  benefit  of  the  community.  In  1820  a  school  company  formed  by 
leading  citizens  for  the  extension  of  school  facilities  erected  an  academy,  organized 
a  school  and  otherwise  aroused  public  interest  in  education.  An  academy  on  the 
west  side  and  a  classical  school  and  the  academy  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  had 
been  liberally  patronized.  A  great  many  subscription  schools  had  been  main- 
tained. Some  of  the  teachers  were  college  graduates  and  the  leading  spirils  of  the 
community  were  men  of  learning.  The  general  sentiment  seems  to  have  been  in 
favor  of  popular  education,  but  there  were  very  naturally  differences  of  opinion  as  to 
the  best  modes  of  securing  it.  Lucas  Sullivant  and  Orris  Parish  were  among  the 
incorporators  of  the  Worthington  College.  They  with  other  prominent  citizens  had 
taken  an  active  interest  in  securing  efficient  legislation  for  the  maintenance  of 
schools.  Not  only  had  schools  been  encouraged  but  the  claims  of  moral  instruc- 
tion had  not  been  disregarded.  The  church  and  school  were  planted  side  by  side 
and  fostered  as  cardinal  interests.  The  schools  were  frequently  conducted  in 
church  buildings  and  the  New  Testament  was  used  as  a  textbook  in  reading. 
Bev.  Dr.  James  Hoge,  the  founder  of  the  first  church  and  first  Sunday  school  of 
the  settlement,  was  a  zealous  friend  of  popular  education,  was  identified  with  the 
efforts  to  promote  its  interests  and  greatly  aided  in  molding  the'  educational 
sentiment  of  the  community. 

In  January,  1822,  Governor  Allen  Trimble  appointed  a  board  of  commissioners 
in  which  Caleb  Atwater,  Eev.  James  Hoge,  and  Rev.  John  Collins  were  the  active 
men,  to  report  a  system  of  common  schools  for  Ohio,  and  although  the  system 
agreed  upon  by  these  commissioners  was  not  adopted  "  they  are  entitled  to  grate- 
ful remembrance  for  what  they  did  in  awakening  an  interest  upon  which  more  was 
accomplished  than  they  deemed  advisable  to  recommend."     They  prepared  the  way 

[521] 


522  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

for  the  enactment  of  the  Guilford  law  of  1825,  which  was  the  first  general  law  for 
the  support  of  schools  in  the  State. 

On  April  25,  1826,  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  this  county  appointed  liev. 
James  Iloge,  fiev.  Henry  Mathews  and  Doctor  Charles  H.  Wetmore  as  the  school 
examiners  for  the  county.  The  examiners  appointed  by  the  court  in  1828  were 
Rev.  James  Hoge,  Doctor  Peleg  Sisson  and  Bela  Latham ;  in  1829  Samuel  Parsons, 
Mease  Smith,  P.  B.  Wilcox;  in  1830  S.  W.  Ladd,  R.  Tute.  R.  W.  Cawley  and  Doc- 
tor C.  H.  Wetmore;  in  1832  Isaac  N.  Whiting,  Rev.  W.  Preston  and  Isaac  Hoge, 
Cyrus  Parker  being  at  the  same  time  appointed  examiner  of  female  teachers  ;  in 
1834,  John  W.  Ladd,  Erastus  Burr,  Rev.  James  Hoge,  Rev.  William  Preston,  Rev. 
George  Jeffries,  William  S.  Sullivant,  Jacob  Grubb,  Doctor  A.  Chapman,  W.  H. 
Richardson,  Jacob  Gander,  Rev.  Ebenezer  Washburn  and  Timothy  Lee ;  in  1835 
J.  C.  Brodrick,  W.  T.  Martin,  Joseph  Sullivant,  Jacob  Grubb  and  M.  J.  Gilbert;  in 
1836  David  Swickard,  James  Williams,  Joseph  Moore,  Henry  Alden,  J.  R.  Rodgers, 
Cyrus  S.  Hyde,  David  Smith,  and  Arnold  Clapp. 

Among  the  first  teachers  to  receive  certificates  were  Joseph  P.  Smith,  W.  P. 
Meacham,  C.  W.  Lewis,  Eli  Wall,  H.  N.  Hubbell,  Nancy  Squires,  John  Starr,  Robert 
Ware,  J.  Waldo,  George  Black,  Kate  Reese,  Margaret  Livingston,  Cyrus  Parker, 
Lucas  Ball  and  Ira  Wilcox  of  Montgomery'  Township;  Ezekiel  Curtis,  Caleb  Davis, 
PhcBbe  Randall  and  William  T.  Dcnson  of  Franklin  Township ;  Lucy  Wilson,  Wil- 
liam Dunlev}',  Priscilla  Weaver,  Isabella  Green  and  F.  J.  Starr  of  Sharon  ;  Grace 
Pinny,  John  Sterrett  and  Benjamin  Bell  of  Mifflin;  Flora  Andrews,  Emily  Maynard 
and  W.  G.  Harper  of  Clinton;  Rachel  Jameson,  W.  H.J.  Miller,  Pymela  White, 
Hannah  Calkins  and  S.  Lucius  of  Blendon  ;  John  Scott  and  Daniel  Wright  of  Plain; 
W.  G.  Graham,  Mary  Ross,  Samuel  Gould  and  David  Graham  of  Truro;  Orange 
Davis  and  Jacob  Keller  of  Norwich;  Peter  Sharp,  J.  M.  Cherry  and  T.  J.  Howard 
of  Madison;  Frederick  Cole,  Jinks  Waii,  O.  Risby  and  Isaac  Lewis  of  Pleasant ; 
C.  S.  Sharp,  Henrietta  Christie,  J.  W.  Maynard  and  D.  Benton  of  Hamilton;  John 
Juds  of  Jackson;  J.  K.  Lewis,  Jacob  Feltner,  T.  Kilpatrick,  Joseph  Ferris  and 
Jacob  Kilbourne  of  Perry  ;  Peter  Mills  and  Willis  Spencer  of  Jefferson.  All  of 
these  taught  in  their  respective  townships  prior  to  December  31, 1829,  and  for  such 
service  were  paid  by  the  County  Treasurer. 

Franklin  Township  was  divided  on  May  10,  1826,  by  its  trustees  into  five  full  dis- 
tricts, of  which  the  second  and  third  included  the  town  of  Franklinton,  which  con- 
tained at  that  time  about  sixtyfive  houses  and  three  hundred  and  fiilyseven 
inhabitants.  The  boundary  of  District  Number  Two  was  thus  described  :  "  Com- 
mencin^r  at  the  Scioto  River  where  the  road  leading  from  Newark  to  Springfield 
(West  Broad  Street)  crosses  it,  then  along  said  road  to  the  west  line  of  the  town- 
ship, thence  northerly  with  the  township  line  to  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
township,  thence  down  said  river  to  the  place  of  beginning."  The  householders 
of  this  district  were  Joseph  Grate,  Reuben  Golleday,  Nancj'  Park,  Sarah  Jameson, 
Lewis  Risley,  Joseph  Davidson,  Polly  Perrin,  Homer  L.  Thrall,  William  Barger, 
Nathan  Cole,  Samuel  Flemming,  Jacob  Eby,  Henry  Saunders,  Jacob  Grubb,  Mrs. 
Sterling,  Elisha  Grada,  Horace  Walcott,  Earl  Frazel,  Joseph  K.  Young,  Edward 
Green,  Williani  Ross,  William  Flemming,  John  Swisgood,  J.   B.   Meneley,  John 


The  Schools.     II.  523 

Fowler,  Mrs.  Hannah  Monoley,  Mrs.  Broderick,  Jacob  Kollor,  Esther  Waldo,  John 
Seott,  Joseph  Badp^er,  Samuel  Johnson,  S.  Wickson,  William  Scott,  George  I^ead, 
George  Skidmore,  Mrs.  Marshall,  A.  Hopper,  J.  R.  Godown  and  Jennie  Eobinson; 
forty  in  all. 

District  Number  Three  was  thus  bounded  :  "  Beginning  with  District  Number 
Two,  thence  down  the  Scioto  fiivcr  to  the  line  dividing  I.  Miner's  and  Thomas 
Morehead's  land,  westwardly  with  said  line  until  it  intersects  the  Hillsborough 
Road,  thence  northeastward I3"  with  said  road  until  it  intersects  the  road  leading 
from  Newark  to  Springfield,  thence  along  with  said  road  to  the  place  of  begin- 
ning." The  householders  in  this  district  were  Joseph  Brackenrage,  William  Per- 
rin,  Samuel  Dcardorf,  Jacob  Armitage,  William  Lusk,  A.  Brotherlin,  John  Robin- 
son, Ezekiel  Pegg,  Mr.  Monroe,  Samuel  Scott,  Jacob  Runels,  Mrs.  Park,  B. 
Curtis,  William  Domigan,  Temperance  Baccus,  Mrs,  Lord,  Robert  W.  Riley,  Mrs. 
Barr,  Epkin  Johnson,  David  Deardurff,  Katharine  Deardurff,  Urias  Perrin,  Elias 
Pegg,  Elizabeth  Swan,  William  Wigdin,  Lewis  Williams,  Thomas  Reynolds,  Arthur 
O'Harra,  Isaac  Miner,  J.  Ransburg,  Andrew  Jameson,  John  Mannering,  Mrs. 
Rabourn,  Cornelius  Manning,  Mrs.  Bennett,  Lewis  Slaughter,  Wi<low  Fanny;  total 
thirtyscven.  This  list  is  certified  in  behalf  of  the  trustees  by  Ezekiel  Curtis,  Town- 
ship Clerk.  In  the  entire  township  there  were  one  hundred  and  fortysix  house- 
holders. The  school  directors  wore  elected  in  the  fall  or  winter  of  182(5.  In  the 
following  year  Caleb  Davis  and  Ezekiel  Curtis  were  emploj'cd  as  teachers  in  the 
second  and  fifth  districts  respectively.  Winchester  Risley,  William  Badger, 
Samuel  Deardurff  and  Horace  Wolcutt  were  among  the  earliest  directors  in  the 
Franklinton  districts.  The  amount  of  school  funds  appropriated  to  the  second 
and  third  districts  respectively  for  the  year  1826  was  $9,845  and  $9,107;  for  1827 
$9.52  and  $8.29;  for  1828  $10.48  and  $11.53.  From  the  levy  of  five  mills  for  school 
purposes  in  182G  Franklin  Township  received  $35.8(>,  Montj^omory  Township 
$162.31,  Hamilton  $61.04,  Truro  $17.75,  Jefferson  $10.63,  Plain  $9.68,  Mifflin  $16.27, 
Clinton  $27.73,  Perry  $22.80,  Sharon  $42.62,  Norwich  $15.18,  Blendon  $22.96, 
Washington  $10.02,  Prairie  $12.58,  Pleasant  $17.43,  Jackson,  $10.60. 

On  July  26,  1H28,  that  part  of  District  Number  Two  lying  west  of  the  "  Cattail 
Prairie  and  a  line  extending  northerly  to  the  river  near  the  stone  quarry"  was  set 
apart  as  District  Number  Seven.  The  householders  of  the  Second  District  still 
numbered  forty.  Many  had  moved  out  of  the  district,  while  the  following  new 
names  appeared:  Fredom  Bennett,  Ambrose  ('anfiold,  John  Robinson,  Nathan 
Cole,  Ignatius  Wheeler,  Peter  Lisk,  Wesley  Srieves,  Samuel  Scott,  William 
S.  Sullivant,  William  Mitchell,  John  Hickman,  William  St.  Clair  and  Israel  Gale. 
The  following  new  names  appeared  in  the  third  district  in  1828;  Michael 
L.  Sullivant,  Griffin  Miner,  Levi  Taylor,  Abram  Mettles,  William  Riley.  Henry 
Saunders,  Winchester  Risley,  Enos  Henry,  Benson  Sprague,  Riley  Thacker,  and 
Jane  Brown.     The  total  number  of  householders  in  the  district  was  ibrtythree. 

Montgomery  Township  was  divided  by  its  trustees  into  school  districts  in  the 
spring  of  1826.  According  to  William  T.  Martin  the  first  school  meeting  for  the 
district  embracing  the  town  plat  of  Columbus  was  hehl  pursuant  to  the  act  of  1825 
at  the  old  Presbyterian  Church  on  Front  Street  November  21,  1826.     Orris  Parish 


524 


History  of  toe  City  of  Coi.umuus. 


was  chooon  chuirman  and  William  T.  Martin  Mucrolary;  and  Doclor  Pclcg  Siiwun, 
R«v.  Cliarl(!8  Hiiikle  and  William  T,  Martiu  were  oloutcd  hcIiooI  diruclors.  Soon 
aflurwurdis  a  Mr.  Smith  was  cniployud  ur  toaclior  and  n.  jiublic  school  which 
continued  about  tliroo  inontim  wan  organized.  This  toachor  was  probably  Joeupli 
P.  Smith,  whi>  a  sitort  time  bufore  had  lice n  ongiigcd  in  to&chingu  private  school  in 
Uka  Aiadcmy  on  Fourth  Streol,  and  who,  aH  the  records  show,  taught  during  the  fol- 
lowing year  a  public  school  in  the  lillh  districl.  However,  before  the  school  funds 
for  182G  were  distributed,  the  township  had  been  dividod  into  seven  dimricts  con- 
taining roapuctively  29,  59,  27,  8ti,  34,  59  and  24  householderd.     The  total  luimbcr 


of  householders  in  the  township  in  1826  was  268,  about  two  hundred  of  whom 
resided  in  the  town.  Tlie  dteiribution  of  the  school  funds  to  the  districts  for  1826,  as 
entered  on  tbo  County  Auditor's  books,  was  as  follown :  First  District  ?1 7.4 16,  second 
»:«.3U5,  third  8!8.17(),  fourth  821.644,  fiflb  820.505,  sixth  835.150,  seventh  814.063; 
total  8162.313.  The  following  additional  entries  appear :  "  March  31,  18:^7.  The 
Trustees  of  Montgomery  Township  met  and  now-districted  the  township  for  school 
purposes  us  follows,  to  wit: 

Firpt  Diplrict  to  lie  romjuwed  of  all  thnt  jinrt  of  the  town  of  Coluinlnia  and  township  of 
Monl([omery  lyinu  north  of  Lonj!  Stifet  in  said  town  and  as  tar  caslwanl  as  llif  eastern 
eitri'mity  of  llie  outlots  of  said  town  [line  of  East  Public  I.ad<.-J  ;  houaeholilprs,  Jolin  Van- 


The  Schools.     II.  525 

Voorst,  John  Brickell,  Stephen  Robinson,  John  Doherty,  David  Jones,  Margaret  Johnston, 
Benjamin  Piatt,  H.  Rochester,  Abraham  Jaycox,  Samuel  Ca^y,  Jonathan  Fullt^r,  Thomas 
Dawson,  John  Hamm,  John  Jackson,  John  Jones,  John  Loutharos,  James  Dean,  Joseph 
Gamble,  Bela  Latham,  Thomas  Tipton,  Solomon  Miller,  Elizabeth  Sparks,  Thomas  Robins, 
Gustavus  Swan,  G.  Leightenaker,  William  Gimpson,  Martin  Baringer,  Sarah  Philips,  Thomas 
Locket,  Samuel  Ayres,  James  Wood,  Jane  Lusk,  John  Thomas,  Elizabeth  Zinn.  Total  thirty- 
four.  [The  Clerk  says  this  should  be  fiftyfour.  The  estimated  number  of  children  in  the 
district  from  five  to  fifteen  years  of  age  was  sixtyone.] 

Second  District,  to  be  composed  of  all  that  part  of  the  town  of  Columbus  lying  between 
Long  and  State  streets ;  householders,  R.  Pollock,  D.  Rathbone,  Henry  Brown,  Charles 
Knoderer,  G.  B.  Harvey,  Cyntha  Vance,  Jarvis  Pike,  D.  W.  Deshler,  Orris  Parish,  R.  Osborn, 
R.  Armstrong,  Mary  Kerr,  Mary  Justice,  Jacob  Elmore,  E.  Browning,  Thomas  Johnston, 
Thomas  Martin,  Edward  Davis,  John  Young,  John  Marcy,  R.  M.  McCoy.  J.  McLene,  John 
Loughry,  James  Hoge,  William  Doherty,  Mrs.  Miller,  William  Latham,  Joseph  Ridgway, 
Samuel  Crosby,  John  Jones,  (tailor),  Elizabeth  Culbertson,  David  Lawson,  James  Coudson, 
Benjamin  Henly,  William  Montgomery,  Mary  Peoples,  Mrs.  Adams,  James  Robinson 
(teacher),  Robert  Dawson,  William  Waite,  Henry  Hawkin,  Hiram  Plate,  A.  J.  McDowell, 
John  Cunning,  M.  Smith,  E.  Herrington,  P.  B.  Wilcox,  Theodore  Nealy,  Samuel  Leonard, 
Ebenezer  Butler  ;  fiftyone.    Estimated  to  contain  slxtyuine  children  from  five  to  fifteen. 

Third  District  to  be  composed  of  all  that  part  of  the  town  of  Columbus  lying  between 
State  and  Town  streets,  including  the  white  house  at  the  end  of  Town  Street ;  householders,  R. 
Rupill,  P.  M.  Olmsted,  James  Robinson,  R.  Brotherton,  F.  Stewart,  L.  Reynolds,  William 
Long,  David  Smith,  Joseph  Jameson,  Henry  Farnum,  Joseph  Leiby,  C.  Fay,  L.  Goodale, 
William  Armstrong,  J.  Neereamer,  J.  M.  Walcutt,  Otis  Crosby,  R.  Lalaker,  George  McCor- 
mick,  Abraham  Raney,  Mrs.  Lanford,  Elijah  Cooper,  M.  Northrup,  Joel  Buttles,  Mrs.  Tumey, 
Ed.  Phenix,  George  Riardon,  M.  Gooden,  Joseph  P.  Smith,  John  Wilson ;  thirty.  Estimated 
to  contain  fiftyfour  children  from  five  to  fifteen. 

Fourth  District,  to  be  composed  of  all  that  part  of  the  town  of  Columbus  lying  between 
Town  and  Rich  streets ;  householders,  Alex.  Patton,  William  K.  Lnwson,  J.  C.  Brodrick, 
John  Greenwood,  Peter  Putnam,  John  Kilbourn,  Jeremiah  Armstrong,  William  Madison, 
John  Whitsel,  Nathan  Soals,  David  Brooks,  A.  Benfield,  J.  Vorys,  A.  Backus,  Benjamin 
Sells,  John  M.  Edmiston,  Gibbs  Greenham,  Samuel  Barr,  C.  Lofland,  Margaret  Wherry, 
William  Altman,  M.  Matthews,  Jacob  Overdear,  John  Stearns,  Thomas  Wood,  Henry  Butler, 
James  Bryden,  Amos  Jenkins,  Samuel  Parsons,  James  Harris,  John  Wise,  Conrad  Notestone, 
Mrs.  Powers,  Jennet  Vanderburgh,  James  Uncles,  John  Boiland,  Hamilton  Robb;  thirty- 
seven.    Estimated  to  contain  sixtyseven  children  from  five  to  fifteen. 

Fifth  District,  to  be  composed  of  all  that  part  of  the  town  of  Columbus  lying  between 
Rich  and  Friend  streets;  householders,  John  McElvain,  James  Cherry,  Peleg  Sisson,  John 
Kelly,  Ira  B.  Henderson,  Mary  Nichols,  William  John,  J.  W.  Flinniken,  John  Emmick,  C. 
Heyl,  John  Warner,  Conrad  Heyl,  Peter  Sells,  George  Nashee,  Dennis  Faris,  Amos  Menely, 
Jacob  Hare,  Aaron  Mathes,  William  St.  Clair,  John  D.  Hodgkins,  John  Robinson,  Samuel 
Gelin,  William  T.  Martin,  Mrs.  Wynkorp,  John  B.  Compston,  Moses  Jewett,  Thomas  Piper, 
John  John,  William  McElvain,  Elizabeth  Strain,  H.  S  High,  Sarah  Stahl,  Moses  R.  Spingien, 
William  Thrall,  Mrs.  Wright;  thirtyfive.  Estimated  to  contain  sixtyfive  children  from  five 
to  fifteen. 

Sixth  District,  to  be  composed  of  all  that  part  of  the  town  of  Columbus  and  of  the  town- 
ships of  Montgomery  as  lies  south  of  Friend  Street,  and  as  far  eastward  as  the  eastern 
extremity  of  the  outlots  excepting,  however,  such  territory  and  families  as  have  been  attached 
to  Hamilton  Township  for  the  formation  of  a  school  district  from  a  part  of  each  township  ; 
householders,  Matthias  Kenney,  David  Gibson,  Caleb  Houston,  John  McLoughlin,  Ebenezer 
Thomas,  N.  W.  Smith,  Jesse  K.  Nixon,  Mrs.  Booth,  Joseph  McElvain,  Joseph  OTIarra, 
Arthur  O'Harra,  Nathaniel   McLean,  Purdy    McElvain,   Christian   Crum,  Thomas   Bryson, 


526  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Hiram  Barret,  Andrew  Woo<l,  James  Pierce,  John  Scott,  William  Parker,  Jacob  Shier,  James 
Parish,  George  Dolten,  Philip  Boreman,  Peter  Yamel,  Hngh  McMaster,  James  Young, 
William  Young,  Thomas  Webb,  Jacob  Goodhen,  Adam  Kerns,  John  Cutter,  Richard  Fluig, 
Samuel  Price,  Brinckley  Daniels,  Robert  Williams,  James  Brown,  George  Eastwood,  Mrs. 
Huster,  Thomas  Carpenter,  Elijah  Tolle,  Alphan  Tolle,  Walter  Vanhorne,  Henry  Jewett, 
Colbert  Stewart,  Mrs.  Putnam,  Jacob  Robinson,  John  Miller,  Thomas  Jones,  Nathaniel 
Turner,  Anson  Smith,  George  Jefferies,  L.  Sharp,  Nathaniel  Powers,  Gilbert  Jewett,  Jacob 
Leaf,  David  Shead,  John  D.  Rose,  Elijah  Glover,  Gardiner  Bowen,  Jonathan  Farrer,  Edwin 
Burnley,  Henry  May,  David  Bowen,  Charles  Hinkle,  Julius  G.  Godman ;  sixtysix.  Esti- 
mated to  contain  eightyeight  children  from  five  to  fifteen. 

Seventh  District,  to  be  composed  of  the  Alum  Creek  settlement  including  all  that  part 
of  the  township  not  already  included  in  any  of  the  foregoing  districts ;  householders, 
Alexander  Mooberry,  Thomas  Hamilton,  Sarah  Ross,  George  Turner,  William  Turner, 
Elizabeth  Kooser,  C.  L.  White,  Daniel  Boothe,  William  Shaw,  David  Nelson,  Junior,  John 
Lewis,  John  Barr,  John  Wallace,  John  White,  Catharine  Vining,  George  White,  Frederick 
Otstott,  Robert  Barrett,  Edward  Livingston.  William  White,  John  Moobery,  Isaac  Taylor, 
Harvey  Adams;  twentyfour.  Number  of  children  not  returned  A  correct  extract  from  the 
township  record.     W.  T.  Martin.  Township  Clerk. 

According  to  this  report  the  six  districts  embracing  Columbus  contained  two 
hundred  and  sevontythree  householders  and  four  hundred  and  five  children  from 
five  to  fifteen  years  of  ago. 

On  October  4,  1832,  the  first  district,  containing  180  school  children,  was 
divided,  on  petition  of  Augustus  Piatt,  John  Starr  and  others,  into  two  districts, 
tho  part  east  of  High  Street  and  the  new  turnpike  to  remain  district  number  one 
and  the  western  part  to  be  renumbered  as  district  number  eleven.  At  a  called 
meeting  the  inhabitants  of  the  sixth  district  petitioned  the  township  trustees  to 
divide  their  district,  as  it  was  "  much  too  large  for  any  common  school,"  and  on 
October  4,  1832,  it  w^as  divided  and  renumbered  so  that  the  portion  south  of 
Friend  Street  and  east  of  High  should  remain  district  number  six;  the  portion 
west  of  High  and  north  of  South  (Fulton)  Street,  extending  west  with  the  section 
line  to  the  river,  should  be  numbered  twelve;  and  the  portion  lying  south  of 
South  Street  and  west  of  High  should  be  numbered  thirteen.  On  October  23, 
1833,  the  northern  portion  of  the  first  and  eleventh  districts,  the  dividing  lino 
between  which  was  the  north  corporation  line,  then  Naghten  Street,  was  desig- 
nated as  district  number  fourteen,  the  portion  of  these  districts  between  Long 
Street  and  the  corporation  line  remaining  as  district  number  one.  On  March  7, 
1838,  Columbus  became  by  legislative  enactment  a  separate  school  district,  to 
which,  by  consent  of  the  district,  tho  township  trustees,  on  October  13,  1838, 
attached  all  the  territory  within  the  following  boundaries  :  Beginning  at  the  Scioto 
River  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Henry  Brown's  land,  half-section  twenty  nine, 
and  running  east  on  Moler  Road  to  the  cast  line  of  said  section,  thence  north 
to  the  south  line  of  halfsection  number  thirty,  thence  east  to  the  east  line  of  said 
halfsection,  thence  north  on  a  line  of  the  said  halfsection  continued  to  a  point  half 
a  mile  north  of  North  Public  Lane  to  the  Whetstone  River,  thence  with  the 
meanderings  of  the  Whetstone  and  the  Scioto  to  the  place  of  beginning.  This  dis- 
trict, comprising  the  whole  town  plat  and  part  of  the  township,  and  embracing 
five  and  twotenths  square  miles,  was  divided  by  the  directors  into  subdistricts  in 


The  Schools.     II.  527 

such  a  manner  "as  best  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  inhabitants.**  The  district  was 
but  slightly  altered  until  February  5, 1845,  when  by  a  special  act  of  the  legislature, 
the  corporate  limits  of  the  city  became  again  its  boundaries  as  they  have  since 
remained,  except  that  certain  territory'  within  the  city  limits  has  occasionally  been 
attached  to  the  district  for  school  purposes.  In  1856  the  school  district  extended 
south  to  Kossuth  Street,  oast  to  Bast  Public  Lane  (Parsons  Avenue),  north  to 
North  Public  Lane  and  the  Johnstown  Plank  Road, and  on  the  west  to  the  Colum- 
bus Feeder,  the  river  and  Pennsylvania  Avenue. 

In  Franklinton  the  boundaries  of  the  districts  remained  about  as  originally 
described  for  thirtythree  years.  To  entitle  the  third  district  as  well  as  as  the 
second  to  the  use  of  the  old  Courthouse  for  school  purposes,  the  dividing  line  was 
fixed  on  April  18,  1853,  as  follows:  "Commencing  at  the  centre  of  the  National 
Eoad  where  the  same  crosses  the  Scioto  River,  westward  to  a  stake  directly  south 
of  the  west  side  of  the  south  door  of  the  Old  Courthouse,  then  embracing  the 
entrance  to,  and  upstairs,  and  all  the  upper  stor^'  of  said  building  and  onehalf  of 
the  courthouse  lot,  then  from  said  stake  westward  to  the  line  between  the  Ranee 
and  Stevenson  survey,  near  the  twomile  stone.  The  southern  boundary  of  the 
third  district  was  the  Columbus  and  Harrisburg  Road.  On  September  19,  1858, 
subdistricts  numbers  two  and  three  were  united  and  designated  suhdistrict  number 
two.  On  December  5,  1870,  the  corporation  line  was  extended  westward  with  the 
Scioto  River  to  Darbj'  Street,  thence  south  along  that  street  to  the  Harrisburg 
Pike,  and  thence  eastward  to  the  river,  including  most  of  the  Franklinton  Dis- 
trict, while  the  remainder  of  it  was  attached  to  the  city  for  school  purposes. 

Diviaion  of  the  history  of  the  public  schools  of  Columbus  into  periods  muy  be 
made  as  follows:  1,  From  1826  to  March  7,  1838,  twelve  years,  during  which  the 
schools  were  under  township  district  management  under  the  law  of  1825 ;  2,  from 
the  end  of  the  first  period  until  February  5,  1845,  seven  years,  during  which  time 
Columbus  was  a  separate  school  district  under  the  law  of  1838 ;  3,  from  the  end  of 
the  second  period  until  May  1,  1873,  twentyeiglit  years,  Columbus  being  during 
that  time  a  city  school  district  under  the  law  of  1845  and  subsequent  local  legisla- 
tion; 4,  irom  the  end  of  the  third  period  until  the  present  time,  eighteen  years, 
during  which  the  schools  have  been  conducted  under  general  laws,  Columbus  being 
a  "city  district  of  the  first  class.''  Franklinton  was  divided  into  two  districts 
from  1826  to  185iB,  and  was  included  in  one  district  from  that  time  until  1870, 
when  its  identity  was  lost  in  the  capital  city  which  had  absorbed  it.  Prior  to 
1830  the  school  funds  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  County  Treasurer  and  were 
paid  out  only  on  the  order  of  the  Auditor;  hence  the  records  of  these  officials  show 
the  amount  of  school  money  raised,  the  dividends  to  the  several  districts  and  the 
names  of  the  teachers  employed  up  to  that  time.  During  the  remainder  of  the 
first  period  the  school  money  passed  through  the  hands  of  district  treasurers,  and 
during  the  second  period  the  Township  Treasurer  was  custodian  of  the  school  fund. 

In  the  spring  of  1827  school  directors  were  elected  in  several  districts  and 
schools  were  organized.  Among  the  first  directors  chosen  were  William  T.  Martin, 
Doctor  Peleg  Sisson,  David  Smith,  Otis  Crosby,  William  Long,  D.  W.  Deshler, 
Orris  Parish,  Andrew  Backus,  Rev.  Charles  Hinkle,  Thomas  Carpenter  and  Joseph 


528  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

HuDter.  The  pioneer  teachers  of  the  public  schools  were  Joseph  P.  Smith,  W.  P. 
Meacham,  C.  W.  Lewis,  Caleb  Davis,  Eli  Wall  and  H.  N.  Hubbell.  Afler  the  new 
districts  had  been  formed  the  directors  chosen  in  the  fifth  district,  between  Rich  and 
Main  streets,  were  Peleg  Sisson,  William  T.  Martin  and  James  Cherry,  two  of 
whom  had  been  directors  in  the  previous  year.  They  employed  Joseph  P.  Smith 
as  teacher.  The  time  of  his  service  is  not  given,  but  the  following  transcript  from 
the  Auditor's  journal  shows  part  of  his  salary:  "June  7,  1827.  Paid  Joseph  P. 
Smith  in  part  for  his  services  as  school  teacher  in  the  fifth  district  of  Montgomery 
Township  as  per  voucher  No.  520,  $19,625."  This  account  was  paid  by  the  County 
Treasurer  June  16,  1827.  It  is  the  first  item  of  expenditure  for  school  purposes 
found  in  the  records  of  the  County  Auditor  and  Treasurer.  The  second  teacher  to 
draw  a  salary  was  W.  P.  Meacham,  who  taught  in  the  district  south  of  Friend, 
now  Main  Street,  probably  in  the  hewed  log  schoolhouse  on  Mound  Street.  The 
record  runs:  "June  30,  1827,  paid  W.  P.  Meacham  as  schoolteacher  in  district 
No.  6,  of  Montgomery  Township,  $34.00."  In  the  fourth  district,  between  Town 
and  Rich  streets,  Andrew  Backus  was  one  of  the  first  directors  and  C.  W.  Lewis 
was  employed  as  teacher.  A  record  of  payment  to  Mr.  Lewis  from  the  public 
funds  reads:  "July  4,  1827.  Montgonery  Township,  To  Paid  C.  W.  Lewis  as 
schoolteacher  in  district  No.  4,  $21,644." 

According  to  this  record  Caleb  Davis  was  the  first  teacher  to  receive  public 
money  for  his  services  in  Frank linton,  as  appears  by  the  following  entry :  "August 
the  12,  1827.  Paid  Caleb  Davis  as  school  teacher  in  district  Number  two,  Franklin 
Township,  $9,845."  Mr.  Davis  probably  taught  in  the  Sullivant  log  schoolhouse, 
as  that  was  the  only  building  in  the  village  at  that  time  exclusively  devoted  to  the 
use  of  schools.  The  second  district  paid  its  first  dividend  of  school  money  to  Eli 
Wall.  The  record  reads :  "  September  the  8,  1827.  Montgomery  Township,  To 
Paid  Eli  Wall  as  school  teacher  in  district  No.  2  $35,365,"  which  was  a  fair  salary 
at  that  day  for  a  service  of  three  months  as  teacher. 

The  school  directors  of  the  third  district  —  Otis  Crosby,  David  Smith  and 
Willinm  Long —  who  had  bought  the  old  academy  on  Fourth  Street  "  for  the  sole 
use  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  school  district  for  the  use  and  support  of  a  school 
therein  according  to  the  statute  passed  January  the  30,  1827,  respecting  common 
schools,"  employed  Horatio  N.  Hubbell,  afterward  first  superintendent  of  the 
Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  to  teach  a  common  school,  concerning  which 
service  we  find  the  following  record :  **  October  11,  1827.  Montgomery  Town- 
ship, To  Paid  H.  N.  Hubbell  as  school  teacher  in  District  No.  3  in  said  township 
in  full  of  all  money  due  said  district  as  per  voucher  No.  198,  $18.17."  The 
Mr.  Smith  who  was  employed  in  November,  1826,  may  have  been  paid  out  of 
school  money  which  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Township  Trustees  for  the  School 
Directors  as  rents  from  the  section  of  school  lands,  and  would  not  therefore  appear 
in  the  county  records.  Some  of  these  first  teachers  are  known  to  have  been  men 
of  education  and  ability  who  distinguished  themselves  in  later  years.  The  names 
of  the  directors  are  a  sufficient  guaranty  that  the  school  funds  were  wisely  used. 
As  to  the  respectable  character  of  the  teachers  employed  and  the  liberal  public 


The  Schools.     II.  529 

sentiraent  which  prevailed  with  respect  to  education,  we  have  the  following  testi- 
monial in  the  Ohio  State  Journal  o^  ApvW  19,  1827: 

This  town  has  been  laid  off  Into  school  districts  and  teachers  of  respectability  have 
})een  employed.  Our  citizens  seem  disposed  to  give  the  system  a  fair  experiment,  and  if 
found  deficient,  endeavor  to  obtain  such  amendment  as  will  remedy  any  defects  that  may  at 
present  exipt  in  the  laws  upon  the  subject. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  directors  ^f  tho  third  district  —  the  territory 
bctvvcen  State  and  Town  streets  —  was  to  purchase  tho  academy  on  Fourth  Street 
for  school  purposes.  This  historic  building,  tho  first  school  property  acquired  by 
the  town,  or  any  part  of  ii,  was  purchased  nineteen  days  after  tho  organization  of 
the    district.     The  instrument  of  conveyance  of  this  property  reads   as  follows: 

John  Cunning  to  ScIiom]  Directors.  This  indenture  made  this  nineteenth  day  of 
April,  A.  D.  1827,  between  John  Cunning  of  Franklin  County  State  of  Ohio  of  the  one  part, 
an<l  Otis  Crosby,  David  Smith  and  William  Long  as  school  directors  of  school  districrt  No.  3 
in  the  township  of  Montgomery,  and  county  aforesaid  of  the  se<*ond  part,  witnesseth  that 
the  said  John  Cunning  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  thirty  dollars  to  him  in  hand 
paid  by  said  school  directors  hath  and  does  hereby  sell  and  convey  infeoff  unto  the  said 
school  directors  and  their  successors  in  office  an  inlot  in  the  town  of  Columbus  in  the 
County  of  Franklin  numbered  on  the  town  plat  of  said  town  six  hundred  and  twenty  to 
have  and  hold  stdd  inlot  with  the  appurtinences  unto  said  Otis  Crosby,  David  Smith  and 
William  lx>ng  asschrx)!  directors  as  aforecaid  and  unto  their  successors  in  said  (»ffice  for  the 
sole  use  of  the  inhabitants  of  said  si'bool  district  for  the  use  and  support  of  a  scthool  therein 
ect,  according  to  the  statute  passed  January  '30,  1827,  respecting  common  s(*hools.  In 
witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal  the  day  and  the  year  first  above 
written.  Executed  in  the  presence  of  D.  W.  Deshler,  Robert  Broiherton,  John  Cunning, 
seal.    Acknowledge*!  and  certified  to  by  D.  W.  Detshler,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

T5e  lot  thus  convoj'od  extended  from  Town  Street  to  Sugar  (Chapel)  Alley  on 
the  west  side  of  Fourth  Street,  and  on  its  north  end  stood  the  **  academy'"  facing 
eastward.  The  building  was  a  tworoom  frame  forlyeight  feet  long  and  thirtyone 
feet  wide.  Its  furniture  consisted  at  that  time  of  a  few  writing  shelves  or  desks 
which  usually  stood  against  the  wall ;  board  benches,  a  few  of  which  had  low 
straight  backs  while  most  of  them  wore  plain  benches  without  backs,  so  arranged 
that  the  pupils  on  either  sido  of  the  room  usually  sat  facing  those  on  the  opposite 
side;  a  plain  boxlike  desk  and  a  chair  foi*  the  teacher  ;  and  a  small  blackboard.  A 
largo  box  stove  in  which  wood  was  used  as  fuel  stood  in  tho  center  of  the  room. 

The  Fourth  Street  Academy,  purchased  as  just  narrated,  was  erected  in  1820. 
This  temple  of  education,  the  pride  of  the  infant  capital,  was  distinguished  by  a 
respectable  belfry  and  a  bell  much  superior  in  tone  to  **  the  common  tavern  bell '' 
and  secondonly  to  the  Statehouse  bell.  A  publicschool  was  conducted  for  an  annual 
term  of  three  months  or  more  in  one  room  of  this  building  for  a  number  of  years. 
On  January  12,  1836,  the  school  directors— John  L.  Gill,  Ichabod  G.  Jones  and 
Jonathan  Neereamer  sold  the  lot  v»pon  which  the  academy  stood  to  Orris  Parish, 
reserving  the  building  for  school  purposes.  Sometime  afterward  it  was  converted 
into  a  blacksmith  shop,  and  then  into  a  feedstore.     In  1870,  it  was  removed. 

Within  the  year  in  which  the  first  public  money  for  schools  was  received,  five 
teachers  were  employed  in  the  Columbus  District  and  an  aggregate  of  S128.80  was 

34 


530  History  of  rng  CtTv  of  Couimbhs. 

pai<l  for  instruction.  In  ibene  tivu  itlHtrictN  tboru  wuro  in  IH27  tlirce  liumlreil  and 
fortylhreo  children  from  flvo  to  fitteoii  ycnrs  of  ago.  Part  nfliiesc  tttiulKi-H  lniii;tiL 
froo  public  ttcliools  for  all  who  att«ndod,  and  no  doubt  then,  an  luler,  tlio  piildio 
moiioy  MJiH  in  wmio  inntances  used  to  pny  the  tuition  of  cbildivn  wliose  ]i:iroiitc  <>r 
^imrilinnH  were  unable  to  pay  the  tuition  fee;  but  an  tlio  iiuwHpnper  tik'.^  Hhow,  there 
was  from  the  firxt  a  Hlrong  opponition  to  thin  m'rHiijiplieatiiin  of  the  school  I'und.  In 
oitlicr  case,  h<)wcver,  the  fund  was  unod  Vi  provide  free  iimtruction  to  school  youth, 
AflHuming  that  the  wages  of  male  teachers  wasi  at  that  time  filYeen  dollars  pur 
month,  and  tho  average  attendance  iu  these  schools  fifty,  this  iimount  of  money 


would  hav«  provided  one  quarter's  schooliuff  to  ooohundrod  and  fortyono  children; 
or,  if  simply  used  to  pay  tho  nsnal  tuition  feo  of  $2.50  per  quarter,  it  would  have 
provided  free  instruction  to  fiftyone  school  youth,  or  more  than  onescventh  of  all 
the  children  of  the  districts  between  tho  ages  of  five  and  fiFteen.  The  school 
money  collected  and  apportioned  to  the  districts  of  Montgomery  Township  under 
tho  levy  of  1826  amounted  to  sixty  cents  and  five  mills  to  each  householder,  or  about 
fortyone  cents  for  each  child  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years.  Tho 
dividends  apportioned  to  tho  same  district  for  the  year  1327  amounted  to  fiftyone 
centd  and  three  mills  for  each  householder.      The  dividends  for  1^28  were  (31.06, 


The  Schools.     II.  531 

U6M,  «n).85,  $19.32, $19.31,  $35.7(5 ;  for  1829,  $47.03,  $46.30,  $27.24,  $33.60,  $31.78, 
$59.93.  In  1S3()  the  fii-Ht  district  received  $63.00,  the  second  $81.23,  the  third  $48.93, 
the  fourth  $45.50,  the  fifth  $72.73,  the  sixth  $119.87,  there  being  370  householders 
at  that  time  in  the  six  districts. 

The  first  j)ublie  school  in  the  first  district  was  taught  by  John  Starr  in  the  win- 
ter of  1827-28.  The  Auditors  record  is  as  follows:  "  February  13, 1828.  Paid  John 
Starr  as  school  teacher  in  district  number  one,  Montgomery  township,  $46.30." 
In  the  following  winter  he  taught  in  the  same  district,  and  on  March  23,  1829, 
received  for  his  services  $31.06.  Charles  L.  Webster,  a  teacher  from  Clinton 
Township,  and  J.  S.  Martin  taught  a  few  years  later  in  "Jonesburg,"  the  neighbor- 
hood near  the  corner  of  Third  and  Spring  streets.  The  following  treasurers  of 
the  district  drew  from  tlie  county  treasury  the  amounts  following  their'names, 
respectively,  for  school  purposes:  Joseph  Hunter,  March  20,  1831,  $63.00;  David 
Smith,  February  17,  1832,  $58.25;  same,  April  14.  1833,  $41.00;  John  Ream,  May 
22,  1834,  $68.27  ;  John  Smith,  April  11,  1835,  $74,187;  J.  McPherson,  April  16, 
1836,  $59.85  ;  same,  May  15, 1837,  $83.76  ;  T.  Mason,  April  6, 1838,  $156.24.  Hugh 
Maxwell,  who  usually  taught  private  schools,  was  employed  to  teach  a  few  terms 
of  public  school  in  the  hewed  log  house  on  the  corner  of  Spring  and  High  streets. 

From  1833  to  1838  the  first  district  was  bounded  on  the  west  by  High  Street 
and  on  the  north  by  Naghten.  The  second  district  was  extended  from  Long 
Street  to  State.  D.  W.  Deshler  was  a  school  director  and  the  treasurer  of  this 
district  from  1829  to  1838,  during  which  time  he  drew  from  the  county  treasury 
and  expended  for  school  purposes  $1,621.22.  On  February  13,  1828,  Robert  Ware 
received  $27.28  for  teaching  in  this  district.  In  1835  Miss  Kate  Reese  taught  a 
district  school  in  a  frame  building  on  Third  Street  near  Long.  Miss  Penelope 
Lazelle  and  Eli  Wall  taught  in  this  district.  During  this  same  period  Hugh  Max> 
well  taught  private  and  occasionally  public  schools  in  this  district,  in  the  small 
brick  building  on  Pearl  and  Gay,  and  in  the  small  frame  on  Lynn  and  Lazelle 
streets.  The  number  of  white  unmarried  youth  between  the  ages  of  four  and 
twentyone  in  this  district  during  the  ten  years  ended  with  1838,  was  respectively, 
59,  85,  117,  150,  237,  324,  337,  351,  356,  and  361. 

The  third  distinct,  between  State  and  Town  streets,  received  for  these  ten 
years,  respectively,  $27.24,  $48.93,  $76.17,  $72.32,  $99.56,  $67.75,  $55.00,  $113.00, 
$105.02,  $271.67.  In  1830,  the  school  tax  for  this  district  amounted  to  $35.00,  and 
the  interest  on  the  proceeds  of  the  section  of  school  land  was  $13.93;  there  being 
fifty  householders,  this  amounted  to  seventy  cents  of  the  former  and  twentysoven 
cents  and  eight  mills  of  the  latter  fund  to  each  family.  The  successive  treasurers 
of  this  district  were  H.  Delano,  G.  W.  MeCormick  and  J.  Wilson.  Aft^er  J.  P. 
Smith  and  H.  N.  Hubbell,  the  next  teacher  in  this  district  was  the  severe  dis- 
ciplinarian, Cyrus  Parker,  who  is  best  remembered  as  an  instructor  in  private 
schools.  He  was  in  1832  one  of  the  townshij)  examiners  under  the  law  of  1825. 
The  Auditor's  journal  shows  that  on  June  30,  1829,  Cyrus  Parker  was  paid  as 
teacher  in  district  number  three  $32.97.  In  1832,  J.  M.  Smith  was  district  clerk. 
The  directors  in   1836  were  John   L.  Gill,  Ichabod  G.Jones  and  Jonathan  Nee- 


532  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

reamer.     The  following  report  of  the  clerk  of  the  district  to  tlie  ('ouiiiy  An<!ilor 
or  the  year  1887,  is  very  instructive : 

Number  of  public  scliools  iu  the  district,  one  ;  number  of  private  schools,  two  ;  num- 
er  of  months  that  public  schools  have  been  kept  during  the  year,  four;  iaem  for  private 
ehools,  fourteen  [two  pchools  seven  months  each] ;    numl>er  of  si^holars  in  usual  attendance 
B  public  schools  about  forty ;    idem  for  private  schools,  about  forty ;    one  teacher,  male ; 
amount  paid  teacher,  one  hundred  and  twelve  dollars  ;  schoolhouse,  frame ;  value  of  school- 
house,  two  hundred  dollars;  amount  paid  this  year  for  repairing  schoolhouse,  1 11K27.    The 
teacher  has  a  good  moral  character  and  is  well  qualified   to  instruct.     Books  are  such  as 
are  generally  used  in  schools,  selected    by  parents  and  guardians.      This  district  cannot 
keep  up  a  school  longer  than  four  months,  as  the  amount  of  school  funds  is  not  sufficient 
to  continue  longer,and  also  not  enough  to  get  qualified  teachers  for  all  branches  of  education. 
The  officers  of  the  present  year  are  William  Armstrong,  Jonathan    Neereanier  and   I.    (i. 
Jones,  directors;  John  Wilson,  Treasurer,  and  J.  D.  Osborn,  Clerk. 

Of  the  fourth  district  Andrew  Backus  was  treasurer  from  1H30  to  1838.  His 
withdrawals  of  school  funds  from  the  county  treasury  for  the  district  were  as  fol- 
lows: 1831,  $110.00;  1833,  $160.00;  1836,  $250.00;  1837,  $91.31;  18^8,  $586.75. 
The  families  of  this  district  numbered  during  the  five  years  beginning  with  1826, 
respectively,  36,  37,  37,  41,  and  45.  The  children  of  school  age  in  the  district 
during  the  eight  years  ended  1838  numbered,  respectively,  l:i5,  166,  159,  172,  175, 
186.  234,  and  235.  The  Hazeltme  schoolhouse  was  situated  in  this  district,  as  was 
also  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  Front  Street  in  which  the  first  meeting  was  held 
for  the  organization  of  the  public  schools.  J.  M.  C.  Hazeltine  was  first  employed 
as  a  teacher  in  1832.  He  taught  a  public  school  for  about  one  quarter  in  each 
year,  and  at  other  times  taught  a  private  school  in  his  own  building.  On  Septem- 
ber 25,  1835,  ho  announced  a  night  school  which  w^as  free  except  that  the  ''scholars 
must  furnish  their  own  lights."  About  the  year  1838  Mr.  Hazeltine  was  nccident- 
iill}'  drowned  in  the  river  at  the  foot  of  Rich  Street.  He  was  a  popular  teacher. 
In  1837  Mathew  Mathews  was  one  of  the  directors  and  clerk  of  the  district.  The 
following  report  was  forwarded  by  him  throngh  the  oflSce  of  the  County  Auditor 
to  Samuel  Lewis,  State  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  on  oflScial  blanks 
prepared  for  the  purpose : 

Columbus,  November  1,  1837.  School  District  No.  4.  Number  of  white  males  121,  of 
white  females  113,  between  four  and  twentyone  years  of  age.  No  public  school  this  year. 
Three  private  schools.  Number  of  months  private  schools  have  been  kept  during  the  year, 
twelve.  Eighty  five  scholars  in  usual  attendance  in  private  schools.  Two  male  and  two 
female  teachers  employed  in  private  schools.  No  officers  elected  for  the  year.  Character 
and  qualifications  of  teachers  good.  Books  in  general  use,  Smith's  Grammar,  Cobb's  Arith- 
metic, Olney's  Geography.  There  is  no  uniformity  of  practice  in  the  use  of  books  among  the 
different  teachers.  They  use  such  books  as  they  have  been  accustomed  to  either  in  their 
own  education,  or  in  their  business  of  instruction  heretofore ;  and  oftentimes  those  books 
which  the  pupils  bring  with  them  — books  which  they  have  used  in  other  schools.  It  is 
much  to  be  desired  that  a  thorough  examination  of  books  should  be  made  with  a  view  to  the 
selection  of  a  set  which  should  be  recommended  to  the  teachers  and  school  officers  of  each 
district  in  the  county  for  adoption  in  their  respective  schools.  An  association  of  teachers 
would  alone  be  likely  to  institute  an  examination  of  this  kind,  and  use  the  means  necessary 
for  conducting  it  properly  and  thoroughly.  Such  an  association  is  much  needed  among  us 
on  various  accounts.    It  is  ardently  hoped  and  confidently  anticipated  that  one  will  be  estab- 


The  Schools.     II.  533 

lisbcd  wiihiii  the  space  of  a  few  uionlhs,  at  least  for  the  city  if  not  for  the  country,  as  all  the 
teachers  of  this  city  who  have  been  spoken  to  on  the  subject  have  expressed  their  decided 
approbation  of  it  and  their  desire  to  support  the  measure,  having  personally  felt  the  want  of  an 
institution  of  the  kind.  A  prominent  defect  of  the  system  [of  public  schools]  is  a  want  of  a 
uniform  method  of  instruction.  A  heterogeneous  mass  of  lessonbooks  in  every  branch  encum- 
bers almost  every  school.—  M.  Mathewi*,  Clerk. 

In  the  fifth  district,  lying  between  Rich  and  Main  Btreots,  Charles  Hinkle, 
James  Cherry  and  W.  T.  Martin  were  directors.  The  Auditor's  ledger  shows  the 
foilowinf^  entry:  "Paid,  in  1830,  James  Cherry,  treasurer  of  school  district 
number  5,  Montgomery  Township,  $72.73 ;  in  1833,  $104.37;  in  1836,  $267.46;  in 
1837,  $187.00;  in  1838,  $259.54."  The  number  of  families  each  year  from  1826  to 
1830  was  respectively  34,  35,  42,  49,  and  the  number  of  children  of  school  age  for 
the  same  years  respectively  was  128,  128,  139,  149,  and  154.  The  school  directors 
in  this  district  in  1830  were  John  Warner,  Christian  Heyl  and  William  St.  Clair. 
In  the  following  year  William  McElvain,  Horton  Howard  and  Nathaniel  McLean 
were  chosen  directors.  This  district  deserves  credit  for  having  taken  steps  to 
i^rade  the  schools  at  a  very  early  date.  "  In  1836,  at  a  public  school  meeting,  it 
was  resolved  that  the  directors  should  cause  two  schools  to  be  opened  at  the  same 
time,  one  to  be  taught  by  a  male  teacher  for  the  instruction  of  advanced  scholars, 
and  the  other  by  a  female  for  the  instruction  of  young  children."  The  number 
of  school  children  between  four  and  twentyone  in  the  district  in  1836-wa8  238,  and 
the  amount  of  school  monej'  drawn  by  the  district  treasurer  that  year  was 
$267.46.  One  of  the  city  papers  of  July  24,  1837,  remarked  :  "  In  district  number 
five,  lying  between  Rich  and  Friend  streets,  a  public  school  was  opened  this 
morning  for  the  children  of  that  district  under  the  directions  of  a  female  teacher ; 
schoolroom  on  Front  Street."  William  T.  Martin  was  clerk  of  the  district  from 
1832  to  1837,  and  George  Slocura  was  director  in  1837  and  1838.  The  teacher, 
J.  O.  Masterson,  lived  in  the  district. 

Of  the  sixth  district  Lucius  Ball  succeeded  W.  P.  Meacbam  as  teacher; 
Daniel  Nelson,  George  Jeffries,  T.  Carpenter,  T.  Peters  and  David  Spade  served 
successively  as  treasurer;  an  aggregate  of  $701.75  of  school  money  was  drawn 
from  1830  to  1838;  and  George  Jeffries,  Moses  J.  Spurgeon  and  James  Stevens 
successively  served  as  clerk.  The  clerk  reports  in  1837  that  the  teachers  are 
generally  of  good  moral  character,  "  their  qualifications  ordinary."  The  school 
fund  was  not  sufficient  to  support  school  six  months  out  of  twelve.  Eulda  Bull, 
James  Riggs  and  Steven  Berryhill  taught  public  school  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  district.  From  portions  of  this  district  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  districts 
were  created  in  1833.  The  twelfth  received  from  1834  to  1838,  $493.87.  Its 
succeswive  treasurers  were  J.  Kelley,  J.  Whetzell,  William  Thomas  and  John 
Otstott,  the  latter  drawing  $223.74  school  money  in  1H3H.  The  directors  in  1837 
and  1H38  were  Robert  Cloud,  Elijah  Glover  and  John  Otstott,  of  whom  the  latter 
is  still  living  and  occupies  the  same  dwelling  now  as  then.  In  1837  tiiore  were  48 
boys  and  63  girls  of  school  age  in  the  district;  the  sum  of  $104.42  was  paid  for 
teachifig  its  private  schools  and  $43.54  for  teaching  scholars  outside  of  its  boundaries. 
The  number  of  scholars  usually  taught  in  private  schools  whose  tuition  was  paid 


534  History  of  the  (Jity  of  Columbus. 

with  the  public  money  of  the  district  was  17.  Nine  months  private  school  but  no 
public  school  was  held  in  the  district  that  year.  One  female  and  three  male 
teachers  were  employed.  The  books  used  were  Webster's  and  Cobb's  spelling- 
book,  Smith's  Grammar,  Smith's  and  Adams's  arithmetics,  and  geographies  by 
different  authors.  Some  of  the  teachers  were  good,  some  indifferent ;  generally 
they  failed  in  good  government.  "The  greatest  defect  in  our  district  is  the  want 
of  a  good  schoolhouse,  and  under  the  present  law  we  cannot  build  one;  the 
greatest  part  of  the  real  estate  is  owned  out  of  the  district,  consequently  the  sum 
which  we  can  legall^"^  raise  in  a  year  is  so  small  that  we  cannot  purchase  lot  and 
build  a  suitahle  house.  As  we  had  no  house  and  the  directors  would  not  hire  a 
suitable  room,  we  thought  it  best  to  pay  the  money  to  a  private  teacher  to  take 
the  scholars  by  the  quarter,  as  there  was  no  one  in  the  district  who  had  a  room. 
—  Euflis  Bixby,  Clerk."  The  directors  in  the  winter  of  1837-38  em])loyed 
Elizabeth  Williams,  who  taught  in  the  small  brick  building  which  constituted 
the  old  Baptist  Church,  still  standing  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Court  and 
Front  streets. 

The  thirteenth  district  contained  44  schoolage  children  in  1837.  P.  C.  White- 
head was  its  treasurer  and  one  of  its  directors.  The  fourteenth  district,  lying 
west  of  High  Street  and  north  of  West  Nagh ton,  contained  44  school  children 
during  the  ygars  1835  and  1837.  Robert  Neil,  John  A.  Lazellc  and  John  M.  Starr 
resided  in  this  district.  The  sum  of  S38.37  was  paid  a  male  teacher  for  throe 
months  services  in  1837.  The  schoolhouse  was  built  of  logs,  and  was  valued  at 
twenty  dollars.  The  usual  public  school  attendance  was  fifteen.  The  successive 
treasurers  of  the  district  were  James  Holmes,  J.  Shasborn  and  John  M.  Starr. 
Andrew  Williams  taught  a  public  school  in  the  district. 

The  number  of  public  schools  in  Columbus,  beginning  with  one  in  182(5, 
increased  to  ten  in  1837.  Five  different  teachers  drew  pay  in  1827  for  teaching 
in  the  town  districts.  The  Ohio  Gazetteer  for  1829  states  the  population  of  the 
town  at  2,014,  and  the  number  of  schoolage  children  at  560,  and  says  "  there  are 
not  over  eight  or  ten  schools  actually  taught  in  the  town."  This  included  the 
public  and  private  school.  In  1836  and  1837  the  schools  were  graded  and  an 
effort  was  made  to  secure  uniformity  of  textbooks  and  methods  of  instruction. 
Eented  school  buildings  were  mostly  used. 

The  two  Franklinton  districts  contained  in  1826  seventyseven,  and  in  1830 
eeventynine  families;  in  1831, one  hundred  seventyeight, and  in  1835 one  hundred 
eightyfour  schoolage  children  ;  in  1837,  ninetyseven  male  and  94  female  schoolage 
children  ;  in  1840  one  hundred  eighty,  in  1846  one  hundred  eighty  two,  in  1850 
two  hundred  five,  in  1854  two  hundred  fifty  three  and  in  1858  two  hundred  twenty- 
three  schoolage  children.  In  1829  the  second  district  of  Franklin  Township 
received  $73.87  of  the  Virginia  Military  school  fund,  this  being  $1.71  to  each 
householder.  Winchester  Risley  was  the  district  treasurer,  and  on  April  19,  1830, 
drew  the  sum  of  $33.93  for  school  purposes.  His  successors  drew  as  follows: 
Horace  Walcott,  October  1,  1831,  $37.37;  same,  April  4,  1832,  $1(>.10;  R.  (roliiday, 
July  1,  1833,  $49.25;  William  Perrin,  April  5,  1835,  $87.00;  William  Domigan, 
June  21,  1836,  $63.85;  same.  May  8,  1837,  $51.00;  same,  March  27,  1838,  S144.52; 


The  Schools.     II.  535 

Jacob  Grubb  as  township  treasurer,  Jaimary,  1839,  $103.77.  Similar  dividends 
wcru  lit  the  sume  time  disbumod  to  the  tlilrd  dlstrlot.  William  Badger  was  dis- 
trict trca«uror  in  1830,  and  Samuel  Do:irdurff  from  1H31  to  1839.  It  is  worthy  of 
nuto  that  wliile  the  Statu  school  fund  was  roduced'fttOiOOO  during  the  financial 


duprcfsiort  of  ISII),  and  the  county  commissioners  were  authorized  to  reduce  the 
schoi)!  levy,  the  levy  for  those  dislrictM  was  miiiuUined  and  their  BuhotdM  were 
f^oncrnlly  supiiort^d.  The  achiiol  money  for  the  third  district  for  thai  year  wan 
SI  03,72,  or  *1.10  for  each  scholar.     The  annual  roc«ipt»  of  the  Franklinton  district 


'fiirtntf  riw-  >mHiuntr  -v^t-.h!  *i*nn^  .ir'^i-itiwt  ♦IJ^l.lMi  «.,iii»»i  jfi'">*.  iiM»H:«*}  ''iir-^iH- 
mtft  Wliliitm  Dii»k  -JiMnFt  riirt  IrH  "HaimHr*  .11  'lie  inniit*  ^•fimiiR  ir'  .♦nnrt:innMi.    ae 

Cn  :.<IT  W  jlimn  <  ;iiii'v.jjl  imi  J   D    P«r^ii    v«ii^    lir^fTiiiv.  ma  ±.  '^.im<  tier* 

4v4*  pr!r»:ir»»  4««hivi(  -leiiohir*.  ihrry-tiy  tiiuh  jiut  rhr':yTi»iu*  i«Tiiu«  -MinniiU"^  11  icrwtia- 
SMica  mori 'hfUt  7*-;r<v  unnrjtM^  pmit  fiuhuii  *thimi  Cisaiihrtr  ^'Tt  laiit  }p'""irrf  -^rjinm 
flftif  it»*rr  iTuUiV  I  Ml     imnant:  ^r' -hijuwu  'ax.  s^lT:lll      TMih  -ir.uliiij*  lur^uifi    v^r^i  :^*ait- 

'M' Ch»%  f\uM  i'lHrAox  .i\  i  ;^^  5f-^  :)rthn'i»  Mttumi  va*t  «*^r.  in.  -Jiit  lintr'tj!:  tiir'iiir  "^lar 
/«M^  K«iT,  She  -Him  ^f*  tl»**-l.^  ^:1K  :)aiit  "■,,   Tauj  v.ai'.hi»r^  ■>i'  rw\  -HDrti-m.nn  -H^amni*. 

1flu*iWtt<\<vnn'if'4#thi.r',j  n*,f  "»:4k4KIT  t:t    ^lUisiftH.  pfttnianir:  Trrcin^r  A^T^ji.niir;!!. 

:^ji«»j>  l-****  rhi%  -K^HtVvi  rn-ntt**  liorrii:  H»*imi  -nillbyi^nr*  'jv  pr'  «r«:»^  -mjiii*  ^^*  :•  1-  w  10 
jii|^7' tSvi*  a«1miHmiin  0*  ji*  nuwi^  xtfjia^  ::[ut  out  Coni^honwt  tf*u+  1^^**1  Sr  puaii**. 
♦•H«v%<».  nht*  -HfcfU-.ntt  •tSiH?ini*f*  'Vtiuv^^ri a^r  ?ii\*  li>^r»*r  -^icj  aji«i  "he  liiirt  ";iis  i.io»tf  ^ne. 

l.-wtil.  ^*<MP\y«wr^.  H,  B.  Imart'ifrC  E^fHTZ".  nk-nw- j^tr*.  Ea.  Ir3^"iii«4^  •M-ti'-^Hrf  .(f  FirL;iJC- 
HKhH^v*^  IV,.  ^nrpouir  tii^  «oW  C-6^Knhji04»»*  fiiV  .•^di»-»t  ^tr^'^tHtt^.     T-'.h^  hiii'ji'.^x  *'.■.•«.•:.  /<i 

H  #^an^ ^**^*,yi*i^  tfplh^  B^iKkM  ^A  BKii»««fcac<rfr.i  <*!  Franklin-  Tj'jrni-'^h:^    r* --r  t--.-^  s-t-n  -.■'C 

fMt$^*Khy  Fraiftklil'ftt/yfi.  »^r  I*^!-  ir-5^«r   Mm  J.  MaCL    R  •/rair..   M-s^  I*  Mx.  II 
Hmtv^,  ^Mrj  Umr4.  Jum^A  fifA4ri^:k,  Jfjiiy  FjnaRKi^r^sair.hi    Ml-*?  L  0^:^:1.-  A   llif^- 
C»rw^K^?t  J.  Jli%7«;r  air»4  W,  R  p/jNttSe.      For  ibt  fiftie^n  v-^r*  i^^^-  :ir:>£  w::L  :^3l5 

^^ %Ut  hAtfUirewj^  «A  t^*H  ]fH^f]*\^  <rf  Ohio  Up  ibe  eduf-AlloTt  "i  tL-:r  - ":.:".  irvri.  Hirdiy 
M  fi$AAu  f^$$  \*('.  \fWiA^i  hy  th*;  travfrlkr  in  *r>ffie  j^rt>  of  t^.-  >:a:e  w  iroii  ?i<«!n^ 

mf^iU^  trout  tt  H  flrffVfi  of  liUl*r  wUiV:h':A4*y\  nr*:ii\fL^  iwrirv  ry  :>  ..•  "iiray.  i^ci.traliy 
hs^r^  t»/Ahitif^  Uf  i:t*y**,r  Xh*;\r  fitik*Au«^i^«^  bal  *\\tX  au'j  a  >hort  j*>.'  -  ••:    i:r:y  iiheii) 


The  Schools.     II.  537 

» 

reared  like  stock  on  a  farm,"  Within  tlic  8ame  year  a  resident  of  the  city 
recorded  his  observations  thus:  "  There  are  amongst  our  old  citizens,  permit  me 
to  say,  as  much  order,  temperance  and  morality  as  can  be  found  amongst  the  same 
population  anywhere.  We  have  abroad  the  reputation  of  being  a  plodding, 
industrious,  sober,  hospitable  and  going-to-meeting  people;  but  there  are  many 
children  growing  up  amongst  us  whose  parents  entirely  neglect  their  education. 
They  are  wholly  illiterate  and  enjoy  at  home  neither  the  benefit  of  precept  or 
example  which  ought  to  be  imitated.  Youth  nightly  infest  our  streets  with  riot 
and  din,  accompanied  with  the  most  shocking  profanity.  What  few  schools  wo 
have  are  for  the  most  part  left  to  themselves  and  their  teachers  to  manage  their 
pupils  in  their  own  way.  Teachers  see  to  the  morals  of  the  little  ones  entrusted 
to  thom  no  further  than  the  hours  of  exercise,  and  even  then  sometimes  suffer  a 
state  of  insubordination  wholly  inconsistent  with  improvement.*'  On  returning 
from  a  tour  through  the  State  in  1838,  the  Superintendent  of  Schools  remarked: 
**  The  spirit  of  the  people  in  favor  of  schools  amounts  almost  to  enthusiasm.  *  Maj' 
Ileaven  speed  the  cause  of  common  schools,'  has  been  the  prayer  of  many  hundreds 
as  they  bid  me  farewell.     Heaven  has  heard  and  is  answering  the  pra3'er.'' 

The  drift  of  sentiment,  however,  was  still  in  favor  of  private  schools.  The 
interest  in  "  seminaries  *'  and  "  institutes  '  far  exceeded  that  in  the  common  schools. 
The  advanced  studies  of  these  independent  institutions,  their  high  sounding 
names,  their  respectable  buildings  and  their  chartered  privileges  gave  them  a 
decided  advantage  over  the  public  schools  which  professed  to  teach  only  the  com- 
mon branches.  A  spirit  of  exclusiveness  also  tended  to  foster  the  private  and 
retard  the  progress  of  tlie  free  schools,  while  the  selfish  motives  of  private  instruct- 
ors very  naturally  led  them  to  oppose  a  system  of  free  education.  The  critics  of 
the  ])ublic  schools  further  sought  to  bring  them  into  disrepute  by  calling  them 
pauper  schools.  Nevertheless,  with  the  low  school  levy  from  1826  to  1838,  the 
results  achieved  in  Columbus  compare  favorably  with  those  of  any  other  town  in 
the  State.  The  chief  cause  of  the  unpopularity  of  the  common  schools  was  the 
insufficiency  of  funds  to  make  them  in  all  respects  good.  Schools  maintaine*!  only 
three  months  a  year,  in  wretchedly  inadequate  apartments,  overcrowded  by  chil- 
dren who  had  no  other  educational  advantages,  would  naturally  be  disliked  by 
j>eople  who  were  able  to  patronize  the  private  institutions.  There  seems  to  have 
been  no  opposition  in  Columbus  to  the  principle  of  taxation  lor  school  purposes. 
Within  two  months  after  the  enactment  of  the  law  of  1838,  which  increased  the 
levy  for  school  purposes  fourfold,  the  leading  citizens  of  the  town  held  public 
meetings  to  devise  the  best  means  of  "  securing  uniformity  of  action  and  the 
greatest  possible  benefits  under  its  provisions."  This  indicated  a  wholesome  senti- 
ment in  tavor  of  the  free  school  system. 

Columbus  deserves  credit  for  the  impulse  that  was  given  to  the  cause  of  popular 
education  in  1837,  and  also  for  assistance  rendered  in  securing  the  wise  school  legis- 
lation of  1H38.  Alfred  Kelley,  Representative  of  Franklin  County  in  the  General 
Assembly,  who  was  from  ihe  first  a  warm  friend  of  the  puhlic  school  syslen),  in 
January,  1837,  introduced  a  resolution  in  the  House  instructing  the  standing 
Committee  on  Schools  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  ol  creating  the  office  of  State 


538  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

SuperintendeDt  of  Common  Schools.  As  a  result  of  this  movomont,  on  March  30, 
^1837,  Saraacl  Lewis  became  the  first  incumbent  of  that  office.  By  his  efficiency 
and  general  interest  and  activity  in  the  cause  of  education,  Mr.  Lewis  awakened 
popular  interest  in  that  cause  and  secured  legislation  for  its  benefit.  His  travels 
over  the  State  within  the  first  year  after  his  appointment  amounted  to  over  twelve 
hundred  miles,  and  were  chiefly  made  on  horseback,  the  streams  which  he 
encountered  being  often  crossed  by  swimming  or  rafting.  He  visited  forty  towns 
and  three  hundred  schools,  urging  upon  school  officers  "augmented  interest,  upon 
parents  more  liberal  and  more  active  cooperation  and  upon  teachers  a  higher 
standard  of  morals  and  qualification."  In  his  report  to  the  legislature  he  repre- 
sented that  the  spirit  of  the  people  from  the  humblest  cabin  to  the  most  splendid 
mansion  was  in  favor  of  schools,  mothers  and  fathers  especially  speaking  of  the 
education  of  their  children  with  the  utmost  zeal ;  that  where  the  schools  were  free 
to  rich  and  poor  alike  they  flourish  best.  He  recommended  the  creation  of  a 
State  school  fund,  the  establishment  of  school  libraries,  the  publication  of  a  school 
journal  and  proper  care  of  the  school  lands.  He  desired  that  school  officers  should 
make  reports  and  was  authorized  to  call  upon  county  auditors  for  information. 

The  General  Assembly  to  which  the  Superintendent  addressed  himself  was 
distinguished  for  its  ability.  In  the  Senate  were  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  David  A. 
Starkweather  and  Leicester  King;  in  the  House,  Seabury  Ford,  William  Medill, 
Alfred  Kelley,  William  B.  Thrall,  William  Trevitt,  John  A.  Foote,  Otway  Curry, 
Nelson  Barrere  and  James  J.  Faran.  The  clerks  of  the  Columbus  and  Franklin- 
ton  districts  made  the  reports  called  for  to  the  County  Auditor,  in  whose  office 
they  are  still  on  file.  Some  of  these  reports  have  been  quoted  in  this  history,  but 
it  would  seem  that  that  they  did  not  reach  the  State  Su]>erintendent,  as  he  does 
not  mention  Franklin  County  as  one  ol  those  which  responded  to  his  call  for 
information.  The  Superintendent  was  seconded  in  his  efforts  to  secure  improved 
school  legislation  by  some  of  the  leading  public  men  of  Columbus,  notably  by  James 
Hoge,  Alfred  Kelley,  Mathew  Mathews,  P.  B.  Wilcox  and  Smithson  E,  Wright. 
Meetings  were  held  to  arouse  public  interest  and  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of 
the  new  school  law.  Atone  of  these  school  meetings  held  April  27,  18IJ8  —  Joel 
Buttles,  Chairman,  and  Smithson  E.  Wright,  Secretary — a  committee  consisting 
of  David  W,  Deshler,  Mathew  Mathews,  John  McElvain,  William  Hance,  Joseph 
Kidgway,  Junior,  II.  Bixby  and  P.  B.  Wilcox  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
examine  the  new  school  law  and  inquire  what  steps  were  necessary  to  be  taken 
under  it  to  secure  uniformity  of  action  and  the  greatest  possible  benefit.  This 
committee  was  instructed  to  rej)ort  to  an  adjourned  meeting  the  result  of  its 
inquiries  and  such  suggestions  as  it  might  deem  appropriate  and  useful. 

Si'JiOol  Ej'(iminerH^\'6'^^  to  1845. —  The  school  examiners  during  this  period 
were:  Warren  Jenkins,  1839,  one  year;  Noah  H.  Swayne,  1831),  two  years; 
William  Smith,  1839;  Mathew  J.  Gilbert,  Lewis  Hey  1,  Doctor  A.  Curtis,  Rev.  F. 
Cressy  and  Abiel  Foster,  Junior,  1840;  Samuel  T.  Mills  and  Rev.  H.  L.  Hitch- 
cock, 1842  ;  James  K.  Sinse,  1843;  Charles  J&cksch  and  Smithson  E.Wright, 
1845. 


The  Schools.    II.  539 

The  passage  of  the  law  of  March  7,  1838,  marked  a  now  era  in  the  history  of 
the  schools.  Columbus  became,  as  an  incorporated  town,  a  separate  school  district 
over  which  the  township  trustees  had  no  authority.  This  gave  it  enlarged  powers. 
Elected  for  three  years,  the  directors  were  authorized  not  only  to  divide  the 
district  into  subdistricts,  but  were  authorized  to  estabh'sh  schools  of  different  gnvles^ 
and  were  directed  to  estimate  the  amount  of  money  required  additional  to  the  dis- 
tributable funds  "to  provide  at  least  six  months  good  schooling  to  all  the  whiter 
unmarried  youth  in  the  district  during  the  year  ensuing.''  The  separate  school  dis- 
trict, as  created  by  law,  comprised  the  incorporated  territory  of  the  town.  Seven 
months  later  contiguous  territory  was  attached  for  school  purposes.  The  manage- 
ment of  the  schools  by  a  board  of  directors  was  under  the  general  8upervi.«*ion  of  the 
corporate  authority  of  the  town,  the  town  clerk  being  clerk  of  the  school  board. 
In  1838  twelve  schools  were  maintained  in  the  Columbus  district,  the  amount  of 
school  funds  being  more  than  $3,000.  Although  power  was  given  in  1839  to  county 
commissioners  to  reduce  the  school  levy,  the  amount  of  school  taxes,  as  shown  by 
the  Auditor's  books,  indicates  that  a  fair  assessment  was  maintained  in  Franklin 
County  during  that  time.  The  receipts  for  school  purposes  during  seven  years 
beginning  with  1838-9,  were,  by  years,  respectively:  $3,502.10;  $3,182.00; 
$2,128.01 ;  $2,081.79  ;  81,946.86  ;  $2,212.82  ;  $2,174.80  ;  the  average  annual  enumera- 
tion during  this  time  being  1,645,  and  the  average  tax  being  one  dollar  and 
fifty  cenls  per  annum  for  each  youth  of  school  age. 

From  1838  to  1840  Columbus  was  the  battlefield  upon  which  a  great  victory 
was  won  for  the  cause  of  popular  education.  The  persuasive  eloquence  of  Super- 
intendent Lewis  was  heard  in  the  legislature  and  frequently  in  public  meetings  in 
behalf  of  education.  Doctor  W.  II.  McGuffey  and  Professor  C.  K.  Slowe  spoke  on 
the  same  subject  in  the  churches  of  the  city.  Kev.  McGuffey  preached  on  educa- 
tion in  the  Methodist  Church  on  Sunday,  August  26,  1838.  At  the  Ohio  Educa- 
tional Convention  which  met  in  Columbus  on  December  18,  1838,  its  Chairman, 
Rev.  James  Hoge,  and  its  Secretary,  Rev.  F.  R.  Cressey,  both  of  Columbus,  took  an 
active  part  in  the  deliberations,  and  Professors  Smith  and  H.  A.  Moore,  also  of 
Columbus,  read  pai)ers.  The  newspapers  of  that  day  made  frequent  allusion  to  the 
cause  of  education,  and  did  much  to  popularize  the  free  school  system.  The 
increased  interest  in  educational  affairs  bore  evidence  to  the  active  spirit  of  the  new 
school  law,  which  had  stirred  up  the  "whole  commonwealth  upon  the  subject 
of  popular  education." 

On  August  28,  1838,  one  of  the  Columbus  pajjers  said  editorially: 

The  people  are  becoming  deeply  interested  in  tlie  subject.  Tliey  see  plainly  that  the 
system  of  free  common  schools  is,  more  than  all  other  state  le^^islation,  calculated  to  secure  to 
all  e<iua1  privileges  ;  and  since  the  people  liave  taken  this  matter  into  their  hands  we  may 
depend  on  its  ultimate  triumph. 

At  an  adjourned  meeting  of  citizens  held  at  the  courtroom  on  September  3, 
1838,  with  P.  B.  Wilcox  as  Chairmnn  and  J.  C.  Brodrick  as  Secretary,  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  ascertain  the  ])robable  cost  of  a  suitable  lot  and  house  and  to 
recommend  measures  relative  to  the  common  schools  for  consideration  at  a  sub- 
sequent   meeting.     Joseph  Ridgway    was  chairnian  of  this  committee.     Another 


540  History  of  the  Citv  op  Columbus. 

committee  was  appointed  to  '^  recommend  three  suitable  persons  as  candidates  for 
the  office  of  school  director  of  the  city  of  Columbus  "  at  the  "  approaching  annual 
school  election  to  be  holden  on  the  twenty  first  instant."  Colonel  Noble,  of  this  com- 
mittee, rei)orled  the  names  of  P.  B.  Wilcox,  First  Ward  ;  M.  Mathews,  Second 
Ward  ;  and  Warren  Jenkins,  Third  Ward.  Consideration  of  this  report  was  post- 
poned to  an  adjourned  meeting  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  September  11,  at  which 
Alfred  Keliey  presided  and  Superintendent  Lewis  was  j^resent.  At  this  meet- 
ing Joseph  Ridgway,  Junior,  in  behalf  of  the  committee  on  lots  and  schoolhouses, 
made  an  elaborate  report  which  was  accepted  and  in  its  main  features  endorsed  at 
the  annual  school  meeting.  The  committee  expressed  the  belief  that  it  would  be 
necessary  to  make  arrangements  for  accommodating  during  the  current  and  com- 
ing year  about  eight  hundred  scholars,  and  suggested  that  tlie  buildings  should  be 
large  and  commodious,  having  some  pretension  to  architectural  taste,  "  since  the 
recollection  of  that  house  would  be  among  the  most  familiar  things  in  meraor>\  * 
The  report  continued  : 

Our  halls  for  the  administration  of  justice,  our  temples  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  the 
Almighty,  are  generally  intended  to  display  a  taste  and  beauty  in  their  designs  and  execu- 
tion to  which  we  can  refer  with  a  proper  feeling  of  pride  and  satisfaction.  Should  we  not 
then  feel  as  much  solicitude  to  render  the  buildings  which  are  intended  for  the  education  of 
our  children  worthy  of  a  place  amongst  the  public  edifices  toward  which  we  might  point  with 
some  little  feeling  of  pride?  Is  not  this  a  matter  of  more  deep  and  vital  interest  than 
any  other  which  can  possibly  command  our  attention  ?  Doefl  not  the  earthly  prosperity  as 
well  as  the  eternal  welfare  of  our  children  depend  wholly  upon  their  education  ?  It  is 
important,  then,  to  elevate  the  standard  of  morals  for  the  rising  generation;  to  instil  into 
their  minds  a  love  of  the  chaste  and  beautiful.  Let  us,  then,  begin  by  cultivating  a  taste  for 
such  things  in  early  youth.  Give  them  the  planting  of  trees,  and  the  cultivation  of  shrubs, 
of  flowers,  in  a  schoolhouse  yard.    Set  before  them  forms  of  classical  beauty. 

The  committee  recommended  that  a  tax  should  be  assessed,  at  the  ensuing 
election  for  directors,  sufficient  to  purchase  a  lot  and  build  one  schoolhouse.  "  The 
location  of  such  a  house,"  says  the  committee,  "  is  a  matter  of  little  importance  to 
any  of  our  citizens,  as  the  erection  of  the  requisite  number  to  accommodate  all 
of  our  children  must  necessarily  follow  in  the  course  of  another  year."  The  report 
proceeds  to  say  : 

The  committee  recommend  the  erection  of  but  one  house  tlie  present  season  in  conse- 
quence of  the  great  tax  which  would  be  entailed  upon  us  were  we  to  build  the  required  num- 
lier  at  this  time  It  is  probable  also  that  our  legislature,  in  the  course  of  their  next  session, 
will  provide  a  fund  in  some  way  to  loan  to  corporate  towns  for  the  purpose  of  education,  but 
should  this  scheme  fail  and  direct  taxation  be  resorteii  to  to  raise  the  whole  amount 
required  the  committee  believe  that  when  the  houses  are  built  and  the  schools  in  suc- 
cessful operation,  the  enhanced  value  which  will  thus  be  given  to  all  the  propi^rty  in  this 
city  will  be  tenfold  greater  than  the  tax  to  be  raised.  The  committee  would  propose  a  build- 
ing which  should  contain  four  room*^  for  Rm«ll  and  two  rooms  for  large  sctiolars,  all  above  the 
basement  story  :  the  building  should  present  a  neat,  eliHstt*  front,  in  strict  architectural  pro- 
portion and  should  be  surmounted  by  an  appropriate  cupola.  One  such  building  would 
accommo<late  from  250  to  280  scholars  and  we  should  consequently  require  about  thne  such 
houses  for  our  present  population  provided  all  the  children  can  be  sent  to  these  schools  The 
committee  consider  it  important  that  the  business  to  he  transacted  at  the  meeting  on  Tues- 
day, the  twentyfirst  instant,  should  be  fairly  understooil  beforehand  as   it   will  be  almost 


The  Schools.     II.  541 

impossible  to  discuss  any  subject  satisfactorily  ou  that  day.  After  the  directors  are  elected 
the  business  in  its  details  raust  necessarily  devolve  on  thera.  It  is  important  therefore  that 
this  selection  be  judiciously  made. 

The  following:?  resolution  reconomended  b}'  the  committee,  after  having  been 
amended  on  motion  of  Colonel  Noblo  by  insertion  of  the  words  in  brackets,  was 
adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  this  meeting  recommend  that  the  district  meeting  to  be  holden  on  the 
twentyfirst  instant  authorize  the  levying  of  a  tax  of  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose  of 
purchasing  a  lot  of  ground  (in  the  middle  ward)  and  erecting  a  school  house  thereon,  and  that 
it  be  payable  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  January  next. 

The  meeting  thereupon  adjourned  to  reassemble  September  21,  at  the  council 
chamber,  for  the  purpose  of  electing  three  school  directors  and  of  levying  a  tax 
for  the  purchase  of  ground  and  erection  of  school  houses.  At  the  meeting  held  in 
pursuance  of  this  adjournment.  Doctor  Pelog  Sisson,  Adam  Brotherlin  and  George 
W.  Slocum  were  elected  school  directors,  and  a  tax  of  $3,500  was  authorized.  The 
school  directors  wore  at  the  same  meeting  authorized  to  purchase  one  sciioolhouse 
site  on  Long  and  Third  streets  in  the  First  Ward;  one  on  Third  near  Rich  Street 
in*  the  Second  Ward,  and  one  on  the  corner  of  M.oand  and  Third  streets  in  the  Third 
Ward.  On  January  8,  1839,  the  school  directors  purchased  of  Lyiie  Starling  (or 
the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  inlot  No.  531,  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Long 
and  Third  streets.  On  April  4,  of  the  same  year,  they  completed  the  purchase  from 
E.  W.  Selian  of  inlot  No.  563,  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Mound  and  Third  streets, 
now  the.  site  of  the  Mound  Street  School  building.  For  this  lot  the  sum  of  $525 
was  paid.  On  April  8,  1839,  *Mbr  the  sum  of  $1,200  in  hand  paid,"  Adam  and 
Elizabeth  Brotherlin  deeded  to  the  School  Directors  inlot  No.  563,  with  school- 
house  and  appurtenances  thereon,  being  the  same  us  was  deeded  to  Brotherlin  by 
M.  Mathews,  administrator  of  J.  M.  C.  Hazeltine's  estate.  This  was  the  middle 
lot  on  the  oast  side  of  Third  Street  between  Walnut  and  Rich  —  the  north  half  of 
the  present  Eich  Street  schoolhouse  site.  The  building  erected  by  the  teacher  J. 
M.  C.  Hazel  tine  in  1833,  was  a  respectable  oneroom  frame  which  was  used  for 
school  purposes  until  1846,  when  it  was  sold  and  removed  to  the  corner  of  Sixth 
and  Main  streets  where,  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation,  it  is  still  standing. 

During  this  period  public  schools  were  generally  conducted  in  rented  rooms. 
Prior  to  1845  the  only  buildings  owned  bj'  the  Board  of  Directors  were  the 
Academy  on  Fourth  Street  and  the  Hazeltino  schoolhouse  on  Third  Street.  In  an 
old  log  house  still  standing,  on  New  Street,  a  school  was  kept  which  must  have 
been  of  a  very  rough  character,  since  the  boys,  it  is  said,  practised  such  tricks  as 
that  of  climbing  on  top  of  the  house  and  covering  the  chimney  with  boards  to 
smoke  out  the  teacher  and  the  school.  Among  the  other  buildings  used  for 
schools  were  the  Jeffries  hewed  log  house  on  Mound  Street;  the  Baptist  Church,  a 
small  brick  building  still  ntaiiding,  on  Front  Street;  an  old  frame  and  an  old  log 
schoolhouse,  both  south  of  Town ;  a  frame  on  the  east  side  of  Third  Street  near 
Long;  and  an  old  frame  on  Front  and  Randolph  streets.  From  1837  to  1839  C.  H. 
VYetmore  taught  a  district  school  in  a  hewed  log  schoolhouse  on  the  northwest 
corner  of  Bull's  Ravine  and  the  Worthington  Road,  north  of  town. 


542  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

The  following  letter,  which  appeared  in  one  of  the  city  pai)ors  March  22,  18H9, 
illustrates  the  educational  spirit  of  the  community  : 

It  is  not  generally  known  in  other  parts  of  this  State  that  there  are  now  twelve  teachers 
employed  in  Uie  common  schools  of  this  city,  and  that  the  schools  are  free  and  conducted  as 
nearly  upon  the  plan  of  the  Cincinnati  schools  as  they  can  be  until  we  have  ourschoolhonses 
built,  the  schools  being  taught  now  in  rented  rooms  and,  of  course,  subject  to  great  inconven- 
ience. There  are  now  in  daily  attendance  in  these  schools  more  than  four  hundred  scholars, 
many  of  whom  but  for  these  institutions  would  not  have  the  means  of  instruction,  while 
children  of  the  most  intelligent  and  worthy  citizens  of  the  place  are  found  in  the  same  room 
and  in  the  same  classes ;  and  the  progress  of  the  pupils  generally  would  do  credit  to  any  town 
in  the  State.  I  speak  advisedly  when  I  say  that  some  of  the  common  schools  of  Columbus, 
both  male  and  female,  are  as  good  for  the  branches  taught  as  the  best  private  or  select 
schools;  and  the  whole  number  will  bear  a  fair  comparison  with  any  other  equal  number  of 
schools  of  the  same  grade.  These  things  are  stated  as  facts,  and  they  reflect  no  small  share 
of  credit  on  the  members  of  the  present  Board  of  Directors,  who  have  had  the  chief  labor 
and  direction  in  introducing  so  much  order  and  advancing  the  schools  so  far  in  the  short  time 
since  the  work  was  begun.  It  is  said  that  the  public  funds  are  now  sufficient,  without  increasing 
the  school  tax,  to  keep  a  free  school  for  all  the  children  the  year  round,  if  it  were  not  for  the 
expense  of  renting  school  rooms  which  has  hitherto  been  necessarily  paid  out  of  the  tuition 
fund.  The  city  has,  by  a  vote  of  the  people,  purchased  three  handsome  schoolhouse  lots 
and  levied  a  tax  of  $3,500  to  pay  for  the  same.  Shall  these  lots  remain  unimproved  and  at 
the  same  time  the  city  be  taxed  $(KX)  per  year  for  room  rent  for  the  miserable  accommodations 
now  furnished  in  the  rented  rooms,  or  shall  the  people  borrow  money  enough  to  build  at  once 
the  three  schoolhouses  that  are  required  to  accommodate  the  children  ?  The  interest  on  the 
loan  will  not  exceed  the  amount  now  paid  for  rent;  the  expense  must  be  borne  by  the  city 
and  will  be  the* same  either  way.  Will  not  the  parents  of  four  hundred  youth  now  in  these 
schools,  as  well  as  all  others  who  have  the  prosperity  of  the  city  at  heart,  take  hold  of  this 
subject  and  secure  convenient  accommo<lations  for  their  offspring?  Will  they  suffer  the 
children  to  contract  disease  and  death  by  confinement  to  unhealthy  rooms  and  seats  when 
they  have  the  right  and  power  to  secure  gowl  rooms  and  seats?  While  the  State  is  expend- 
ing millions  here  for  the  accommodations  of  her  legislature  and  other  public  bodies  shall 
there  be  no  attention  paid  to  the  people's  colleges  ?  Where  are  the  patriotic  females  that  sus- 
tained a  charity  school  when  there  was  no  other  sufficient  provision  to  include  the  poor  ?  It 
will  take  less  effort  on  their  part  to  procure  the  erection  of  three  good  common  school  houses 
with  four  rooms  each  than  it  took  them  to  sustain  the  charity  schools  for.  a  few.  Is  the 
whole  of  less  importance  than  a  part,  or  are  you  unwilling  to  have  the  poor  sit  with  the  rich  ? 
The  very  suggestion,  if  made  in  earnest,  you  would  consider  an  insult.  I^t  us  all  then  take 
hold  of  this  work,  ami  by  taking  the  only  step  now  required,  place  Colunjbus  on  the  most 
elevated  ground  in  reference  to  common  school  advantages. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  author  of  this  letter,  who  signs  himself  **  M.," 
was  Rev.  Mathew  Mathews  from  whom  we  have  elsewhere  quoted,  but  whether  it 
was  from  this  warm,  friend  of  the  common  schools  or  not  it  is  evidently  the  testi- 
mony of  an  intelligent  and  public  spirited  citizen. 

In  November,  1840,  the  Directors  made  arrangements  to  open  an  evening 
school  in  the  Eight  Buildings  for  the  benefit  of  such  white  male  youth  as  could 
not  attend  a  day  school.  Arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  geography  and  other  useful 
branches  were  taught;  the  school  was  under  the  care  of  Messrs.  Soyer  and  Covert. 
Each  pupil  furnished  his  own  light;  in  other  respects  the  instruction  was  free. 
The  Directors  also  maintained  a  night  school  in  the  middle  ward. 


The  Schools.     II. 


543 


In  Soptembur,  1841,  Jamua  Cherry,  I'.  B.  Wilcox  jind  Polcg  Sisson  were 
choeen  Scliool  Dire<toi's  for  the  tei-ni  of  ihrcc  yciim.  Tlie  nnnutil  report  of  iho 
dircflorsoftliecniniiionRclionlHof  C^liiii)l)UH  for  llio  ycnr  I8I2  8Ii«wh  the  rollnwiiig 
iarte;  Since  lasl  pi-evioim  rvpori,  dutcd  HiptcnilH-r  17,  1.H4I,  UiirlvtMi  coiiiinon 
Rcliool.H  were  kept  until  the  t'limlR  weri^  oxhaii-ttud  :  oiiu  of  thcHC  wat  (iurinuri ;  (ivu 
were  tanglit  by  male  iitnl  oigiil  by  lomiilu  teaL'ht^rR;  Mpcllinn,  reiuling,  writing, 
arithnietio,  ^'oogrnphy  and  other  KogliKli  bniiKheR  were  tanglit,  inconliiig  to  the 
capacity  of  the  cliildren  ;  tliu  number  »»f  ncbolarH  vuricil  from  liOO  to  750 ;  pay  of 
mnio    tcaohci-H  eighty  ami  of  female  tcachcrH  fifty  ilolhirn   [n-r   ijmirter;    money 


drawn  nincc  last  report  42,677.38,  via. :  For  pay  of  male  leachors  {946.90,  for  pay 
of  female  teuchero  tl,144.47,  for  rent  $409.00,  for  wood  S45.37,  for  stoves  and  putting 
them  up  $50.50,  for  cutting  wood  and  suadry  oxponaea  $81.14.  The:*e  disburse- 
ments included  a  portion  of  the  expenses  for  ibe  preceding  year ;  amoanl  Btill  duo 
on  Bclioolhouse  lots  purchased  $500.00;  no  school  money  likely  to  be  in  the 
treasury  until  the  following  spring.  According  to  this  report,  which  wjis  Bub- 
mitted  In  behalf  of  the  Directors  by  P.  B.  Wiieox  and  addressed  to  "  the  Clerk  of 
School  District  in  ColumbuH,"  five  schools  taught  by  male  teachers  were  kept  in 
operalioD  seven  months,  and  tho^^e  taught  by  female  teachers  eight  and  a  half 


544  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

moiitliH  of  Ihat  school  year.  There  being  1,598  children  of  school  ix^ro  in  the 
district,  forlyei^ht  per  cent,  of  them  were  enrolled  in  the  piiMic  schools.  On 
December  28,  1842,  a  meetini;  of  teachers  and  the  friends  of  edncallon  was  held  at 
the  Covert  Institute  on  Town  Street  and  a  teachers'  association  for  improvement 
of  the  schools  and  elevation  of  the  profession  of  teaching  was  organized.  The 
teachers  who  signed  the  call  for  this  meeting  were  William  Chapin,  M.  J.  Gilbert, 

A.  W.  Penneman,  W.  H.  Churchman,  H.  N.  Hubbell,  J.  S.  Brown,  J.  Covert  and 
H.  S.  Gilbert.  The  association  was  maintained  for  many  years.  On  April  1, 
1843,  fourteen  schools  were  opened  and  in  the  course  of  the  year  an  additional' 
one  was  organized.  Of  the  fifteen  teachers  employed  three  were  males  (one  a 
German)  and  ten  were  females.  The  Directory  of  Columbus,  published  in  1843, 
states  that "  the  schools  and  seminaries  of  learning"  comprised  fifteen  district  or 
free  schools  with  over  seven  hundred  scholars;  a  respectable  academy  for  both 
sexes  conducted  bj*  Kev.  John  Covert ;  a  German  Theological  Seminary,  and  "some 
half  dozen  small  subscription  common  schools."  The  first  annual  report  of  the 
Board  of  Education  made  pursuant  to  the  law  of  1845  and  signed   by  Smithson 

B.  Wright,  Secretary,  states  that  when  the  Board  entered  upon  the  discharge 
of  its  duties  on  April  7,  1845,  there  were  in  operation  thirteen  public  schools, 
of  which  five  were  taught  by  male  and  eight  by  female  teachers. 

Thus  it  appears  that  throughout  the  period  from  1838  to  1845,  which  was  one 
of  financial  depression  and  slow  municipal  growth,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  common 
schools  were  maintained  for  twentyfour  to  thirtyone  weeks  per  annum,  and  that  the 
aggregate  amount  expended  for  school  purposes  during  the  period  was  $17,229.18. 
From  1836  the  schools  were  graded  into  at  least  two  departments,  one  for  the 
primary  and  one  for  the  advanced  scholars.  The  primary  schools  were  usually 
taught  by  female  teachers,  those  for  the  larger  and  more  advanced  pupils  by  males. 
The  number  of  teachers  increased  during  the  period  from  twelve  to  fifteen  in 
1843  and  thirteen  in  1845.  Of  1,231  youth  of  school  age  in  the  district  in  1838-9, 
six  hundred,  or  fortyeight  per  cent.,  were  enrolled  in  the  public  schools.  In  1845 
the  enrollment  comprised  only  forty  three  per  cent,  of  the  school  enumeration. 
While  the  attendance  in  the  public  schools  had  not  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of 
the  population,  this  was  chiefly  due  to  the  lack  of  school  accommodations.  The 
schools  were  even  at  that  time  regarded  as  "established  facts  and  not  as  experi- 
ments.'* Their  defects  were  beginning  to  be  regarded  as  results  of  mistaken  man- 
agement rather  than  of  the  principles  of  the  system. 

That  the  common  school  system  2)Osses8ed  superior  advantages  as  a  plan  for 
securing  general  education  had  become  evident,  and  the  conviction  had  been 
deeply  rooted  in  the  public  mind  that  it  was  the  duty  of  ever}-  community  to 
educate  all  its  youth.  Hence  all  publicspirited  citizens  anxiously  anticipated  such 
legislation  as  would  secure  practical  improvements  in  the  management  of  the 
schools.  In  the  autumn  of  1844  public  meetings  were  held  for  the  purpose  of 
awakening  public  interest  in  education  for  securing  such  legislation  as  would 
insure  better  regulation  of  the  schools  and  for  raising  money  to  erect  .«jchool  build- 
ings. This  movement  took  shape  in  an  effort  to  secure  *'  union  graded  schools." 
Its  leading  spirits  were  Joseph  Ridgway,  Alfred  Kelley,  P.    B.   Wilcox,  James 


The  Schools.     II.  545 

Cherry,  Mathcvv  Mathews  and  J.  H.  Thompson.  On  December  4,  1844,  Hon. 
Joseph  Kidgwaj',  Junior,  Representative  of  Franklin  County  in  the  General 
Assembly;  introduced  in  the  House  a  bill  to  provide  for  the  bettor  regulation  and 
support  of  the  common  schools  of  Columbus.  This  bill  was  endorsed  by  Hon. 
Alfred  Kelley,  then  a  member  of  the  Senate,  and  became  a  law  February  3,  1845. 
This  statute,  understood  to  have  emanated  from  the  pen  of  Joseph  Ridgway, 
Junior,  laid  the  foundation  of  our  present  public  school  system  and  marked  an 
important  era  in  the  educational  progress  of  the  city. 

Organization  of  the  Schools  under  the  Act  of  1845. — April  15,  1845  to  May  14, 
1847. — At  the  annual  election  of  city  officers  which  took  place  April  7,  1845, 
William  Long,  P.  B.  Wilcox,  James  Cherrj',  H.  F.  Huntington,  J.  B.  Thompson  and 
Smithson  E.  Wright  wore  elected  common  school  directors.  This  was  done  in 
pursuance  of  the  act  of  February  3,  1845.  On  April  18,  they  organized  by  appoint- 
ing William  Long  President,  S.  E.  Wright  Secretary  an<l  H.  F.  Huntington 
Treasurer.  These  directors  and  their  succesr^iors  in  office  constituted  a  body  politic 
and  corporate  in  law  by  the  name  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  Town  of  Colum- 
bus. It  was  decided  by  lot  that  the  first  two  of  the  directors  above  named  should  serve 
for  three  years,  the  next  two  for  two  years  and  the  last  two  for  one  year.  At  the  same 
election  a  vote  was  taken,  as  required  by  law,  on  the  question  of  levying  a  tax  for 
erecting  school  houses,  and  resulted  in  404  votes  in  favor  of  the  tax,  211  against  it 
and  501  blanks.  This  unfortunate  result  indicated  apathy  rather  than  enmity  in  the 
public  mind  with  reference  to  the  needs  of  the  public  schools.  The  previous  Board 
of  Directors,  loyal  to  the  interests  of  the  schools,  served  until  their  successors  were 
qualified  and  then  turned  over  to  them  thirteen  schools  then  in  session,  five  of  which 
were  taught  by  male  and  ei^ht  by  female  teachers.  These  schools  had  enrolled 
750  scholars.  For  the  year  1844  5  the  receipts  for  school  purposes  from  all  sources 
amounted  to  $2,174.81,  of  which  sum  $1,277.95  was  expended  by  the  previous 
board  ;  of  the  remainder,  $404.50  was  disbursed  prior  to  the  first  of  April  of  that 
year.  The  number  of  schoolnge  youth  enumerated  in  the  fall  of  1845  was  2,430; 
the  school  funds  for  1845-6  aggregated  $3,377.34.  The  city  owned  but  one  school- 
house,  and  that  was  the  frame  one  already  described  on  Third  Street  near  Rich, 
which  was  becoming  unfit  for  school  purposes.  The  Board  therefore  rented 
rooms,  as  had  previously  been  done,  in  different  parts  of  the  town.  These  rooms 
were  generall}'  inconvenient,  badly  lighted,  warmed  and  ventilated,  and  so  situated 
that  any  accurate  classification  or  gradation  was  impracticable.  The  teachers, 
remote  from  each  other,  had  few  opportunities  for  personal  intercourse,  comparison 
or  mutual  improvement.  In  1845  thirteen  schools  were  sustained  for  three  months 
and  sixteen  for  an  average  of  five  months  each,  all  being  suspended  from  the  third 
until  the  twentyfirst  of  July.  The  amount  paid  for  teachers'  salaries  was  $1,499.34. 
The  whole  number  of  pupils  enrolled  was  about  one  thousand,  the  average  attend- 
ance about  ^VQ  hundred.  The  expense  for  the  tuition  of  each  scholar  was  about 
$1.50,  and  the  cost  of  the  tuition  of  each  scholar  in  actual  attendance  during 
the  year,  $3.00. 

At  the  spring  election  of  1846  J.  B.  Thompson  and  S.  E.  Wright  were  reelected 
directors,  and  the  question   of  a  tax  for  building  school  houses  was  carried  by  a 

35 


546  History  of  the  City  of  Columbiis. 

vote  of  776  to  323.  At  ft  mooting  on  February  25,  1846,  the  Board  or<lero<l  that 
tl)o  schools  should  resume  their  sessionH  on  the  first  Monday  of  April  of  that  year; 
that  five  male  and  eight  female  teachers  should  be  employed,  at  fitly  dollars  for  the 
first,  and  thirty  dollars  for  the  last  named,  per  quarter;  and  that  J.  B.  Thompson 
be  authorized  to  provide  the  schools  with  fuel.  James  Cherry  was  delegated  to 
furnish  the  schoolrooms  with  gtovos  for  heating.  The  Board  appointed  P.  B.  Wil- 
cox and  James  Chorry  to  report  plans  and  estimates  for  new  school  houses.  Tho3- 
recommended  that  three  onestory  buildings,  mmleled  at\er  some  "  Ijancastrian  " 
schoolhouses  in  the  East  should  be  built.  This  recommendation  being  approved, 
the  City  Council  levied  a  tax  of  $7,500  for  the  proposed  buildings,  three  of  which 
were  located  on  the  sites  purchased  in  1839.  One  of  these  three,  called  the  South 
Building,  was  located  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Mound  and  Third  streets;  the 
Middle  Building  on  Third  Street  near  Ilich ;  and  the  North  Building  on  the 
Southeast  corner  of  Long  and  Third.  These  buildings  wore  completed  in  June, 
1847.  They  were  each  187^  feet  long  and  twentyfour  feet  wide.  Each  containe<l 
six  rooms  tburteen  feet  in  depth.  The  end  and  two  middle  rooms  were  each  about 
twentytwo  by  twentynine  feet;  the  remaining  two  wore  each  about  eighteen  by 
thirtytwo  feet,  in  lateral  dimensions.  The  two  entrance  doors  each  led  into  a  hall 
extending  along  the  side  of  the  middle  rooms  of  each  half  of  the  building,  with 
doors  opening  from  it  into  three  schoolrooms.  The  windows  were  suspended  bj^ 
weights ;  the  ceilings  were  provided  with  ventilators  and  the  rooms  wore  heated 
by  stoves.  The  middle  room  of  each  half  of  the  building  was  designed  for  the 
large  pupils,  or  grammar  grade,  and  the  others  for  the  primary  and  secondarj' 
schools.  The  primary  school  rooms  wore  furnished  with  single  seats  fastened  to 
the  floor  and  receptacles  for  books  and  slates  between  each  two  pupils.  The 
secondary  and  grammar  school  rooms  were  furnished  with  seats  and  desks  accom- 
modating two  scholars  each;  thoj^  were  made  of  poplar  lumber  stained  and 
varnished,  and  were  comfortable,  firm  and  "altogether  respectable"  in  appearance. 
The  amount  invested  by  the  city  in  these  sites,  buildings  and  furnishings  was 
about  814,000.  The  new  buildings  provided  a  home  for  and  gave  an  air  of  respect- 
ability to  the  public  school  system.  The  effect  of  this  was  favorable  to  the  cause 
of  popular  education  both  here  and  elsewhere.  While  the  buildings  did  not  con- 
form to  the  suggestions  of  tho  liidgway  committee  of  1838  as  to  "  strict  architec- 
tural proportion"  and  the  cupola,  they  did  present  *' a  neat,  chaste  front"  and 
interior  forms  possessing  some  degree  of  "  classic  beauty." 

In  June,  1846,  the  Board  took  measures  to  secure  uniformity  in  the  textbooks 
used.  They  decided  to  continue  the  use  of  Webster's  Elementary  Speller, 
Mitchell's  Geographies,  Kay's  Arithmetics  and  Smith's  Grammar,  and  adopted  the 
Eclectic  Readers.  The  primary  schools  were,  as  a  rule,  conducted  by  female  and 
the  more  advanced  ones  by  male  teachers.  The  number  of  scholars  enumerated  in 
1846  was  2,129.  In  their  second  annual  report,  dated  April,  1847,  the  Board  states 
that  fourteen  teachers  have  been  employed  for  four  quarters.  The  greatest  num- 
ber enumerated  in  any  quarter  was  912,  and  the  largest  average  attendance  528. 
They  paid  for  salaries  for  teachers  $1,992.52;  for  rent,  $40.25;  for  taking  enumera- 
tion,  $10.00;   other  incidental    expenses,   $11.05;   total   expenditures,    $2,053.82. 


The  ycHnoLs.     II. 


547 


>no  thousand,  tlio  coet  of  tuition  jobs  titan  two 
t  little  less  than  four  dollars  tor  eacti  scholnr  in 


Tlio  eiii-otlmont  was  more  tliaii  < 
dollars  each,  "  The  expense  was  i 
duily  nttendanco  during  the  year." 

To  ColiinibuH  belongs  the  distinction  of  having  employed  tho  first  Superinten- 
dent of  Public  Si-hools  in  the  Slate.  Iluving  found  it  impossible  to  give  "the 
nci-CKHury  amount  of  ]>ersonnl  attention  to  tlie  schools  and  to  the  maniigomont  of 
lliedolnilsof  uscIkioI  system  for  the  city,"  the  Board 
of  K  Itication  cant  about  for  the  best  me:in»  of  secur- 
ing supervision.  After  consultation  with  Hon. 
Henry  Barnard,  of  Jlhodc  Island,  Hon.  Samuel  Gal- 
loway, .Secretary  of  State,  and  other  distinguished 
friends  of  education,  the  Hoard  decided  to  create  the 
office  of  Superintendent,  and  in  January,  1S47, 
largely  upon  t1  o  rccommendalion  of  Mr.  Burnard, 
elected  Asa  I>.  Lord,  M.  D.,  late  Prinei))al  of  the 
Western  Kesorvo  Teachoi-s'  Seminary  in  Lube 
County,  to  the  po.'*iti()n.  Mr.  Lord  assamod  the 
duties  of  his  olfice  May  15,  1847.  About  this  time, 
npou  solicilation  of  Oliio  c<lucaUii-s,  Hon.  Henry 
Barnnrd  viMite<l  the  State  to  aid  in  promoting  the 
cause  of  popular  education  therein,  and  spent  tivo 
ASA  n.  LORD.  weeks  at  the  capital  an  tbe  guest  of  Hon.  John  W. 

Andrews. 
Doctor  Asa  D.  Lord,  the  first  Superintendent  of  Puhlie  Schools  of  Columbos, 
was  born  in  Madrid,  St.  Lawrence  County,  New  Vorlf,  .luno  17,  1810,  Ho  taught 
Ills  first  Hchool  nt  the  ugc  of  siMccn,  and  in  1889  accepted  tho  position  of  Principal 
<>£  tho  Western  Reserve  Seminary,  at  Kirtland,  Oliio,  which  was  one  ol  the  fii-st,  if 
not  the  very  first,  of  tho  normal  cehools  of  the  United  StaleN.  In  1S43  he  organ- 
ized the  first  lencherrt'  institute  in  Ohio  nt  Kirtltind,  from  whence  he  was  called  to 
Columbus.  Here  he  inanguiiiled  the  first  graded  sclioels  in  the  Stitt*.-.  He  served 
as  editor  of  tho  Okh  •'School  Journal,  the  School  Friend,  tlie  Public  firliool  Advocate 
and  the  Ohio  Jourmii  of  Education.  While  at  Kirtland  ho  took  his  degree  in 
medicine.  In  1863,  linvirig  completed  a  courso  in  theology,  ho  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  tho  Presbytery  of  Franklin.  He  was  styled  "one  of  the  pioneers  and 
masterbuilders  in  the  educational  enterprises  of  Ohio,"  He  made  the  Oliio  Insti- 
tution for  the  Blind,  of  which  he  was  for  several  years  the  Superintendent,  "an 
honor  and  a  blessing  to  tho  State."  In  1868  he  was  called  to  the  superintendeney 
of  a  similar  institution  in  Batavia,  Now  York,  whicli  position  he  held  until  his 
deatli  in  1874,  His  memory  is  inseparably  connected  with  tho  school  history  of 
Columbus, 

During  Doctor  Lord's  incumbency  as  Superinlendont,  from  May  15,  1847,  to 
February  25,  1H54,  the  board  entrusted  to  the  Superintendent  a  general  ovei-sight 
of  tho  schools,  the  examination  of  applicants  for  employment  as  teachers,  the 
arrangement  of  tlie  course  of  study  and  inslruction,  and  the  supervision,  as 
Principal,  of  the    High  School.     For  his   first  years   services    he  received    860tP, 


54^  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

of  which  Hiiin  $100  was  paid  by  a  puhliespiriled  citizen.  The  first  official  act  of 
the  Superinlondent  was  that  of  assistin.i^  in  the  examination  of  camlidalos  for  tho 
position  of  teacher.  The  Board  of  Examiners,  of  which  the  Superintendent  was 
chairman,  adopted  from  the  first  tho  plan  of  using  printed  questions  and  requiring 
written  answers  in  connection  with  an  oral  examination.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
school  year  1847  tho  following  teachers  were  employed :  North  Building, 
I).  C.  Pearson,  Principal,  Misses  Larina  Lazolle,  Koxana  Stevens  and  A.  N.  Stod- 
dart ;  Middle  Building,  Charles  J.  Webster,  Principal,  Miss  Catherine  Lumney,  Miss 
Koda  Sinnel,  Doctor  and  Mrs.  A.  D.  Lord,  Miss  E.  Faliy ;  South  Building,  Orlando 
Wilson,  Principal,  S.  S.  Rickly  (German  teacher),  Emily  J.  Ricketts.  To  this  list 
four  more  teachers  were  added  during  the  first  year.  The  principals  were  paid  $400 
per  annum,  the  other  male  teachers  less;  the  female  teachers  received  $140  per 
annum.  Before  the  commencement  of  the  schools  the  teacherselect  were  assembled 
as  a  class  apd  instructed  as  to  the  pi'oper  mode  of  organizing,  classifying  and  govern- 
ing schools,  together  with  the  best  method  of  teaching  and  illustrating  the  studios. 
The  new  schoolhouses  were  first  opened  July  21,1847,  and  primary,  secondary  and 
grammar  grades  were  organized  in  each  building.  At  the  beginning  of  the  term 
fourteen  teachers  were  employed,  during  the  second  quarter  sixteen  and  during  tho 
last  quarter  seventeen,  besides  the  Superintendent.  Tho  average  cost  of  tuition  and 
supervision  for  each  of  the  1750  scholars  enrolled  was  $2.07,  and  for  the  798  in  daily 
attendance  during  the  year  $4.53  each. 

The  popularity  and  growth  of  the  schools  surpassed  expectation.  The  need  of 
a  Uigli  School  for  years  to  come  had  not  been  anticipated.  So  long  had  the  peoplo 
been  accustomed  to  rely  on  private  schools  for  instruction  in  all  the  higher  branches, 
and  so  few  who  were  able  to  patronize  suoh  schools  had  ever  made  a  practice  of  send- 
ing  their  children  to  free  schools,  that  it  was  assumed  that  there  would  be  no 
immediate  demand  for  such  a  department.  However,  soon  after  the  new  buildings 
w»re  occupied,  applications  began  to  be  made  for  the  admission  of  scholars  already 
too  far  advanced  to  be  profited  by  the  grammar  schools,  and  it  was  perceived  that 
unless  instruction  could  be  furnished  to  such  it  would  be  impossible  to  secure 
in  behalf  of  the  system  the  favor  and  cooperation  of  many  citizens  and  taxpayers. 
On  September  22,  1847,  announcement  was  made  in  one  of  the  daily  papers  that  the 
High  School  department  of  the  public  schools  would  be  opened  in  the  west  room  of 
the  Middle  Building  on  that  date,  and  that  in  this  apartment  instruction  would  be 
given  in  the  higher  English  branches,  mathematics  and  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages.  Tlxe  advanced  pupils  had  evidently  not  been  turned  away  but  had  been 
organized  into  classes  and  instructed  in  the  branches  mentioned.  These  classes  con- 
stituted, in  substance,  a  High  School,  but  this  department  was  not  officially 
organized  until  two  months  later.  Soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  second 
quarter  the  west  room  in  the  Middle  Building  was  appropriated  by  the  Board  for 
the  instruction  of  advanced  scholars  under  the  immediate  charge  of  the  Superin- 
tendent for  half  of  each  day,  while  Mrs.  Lord,  who  was  an  invaluable  coworker  with 
her  husband,  taught  the  school  during  the  remainder  of  the  time.  Thus  in 
November,  1847,  the  High  School  was  formally  established. 


The  Schools.     II.  549 

For  6omo  time  ibc  propriety  of*  making  the  High  School  an  integral  part  of 
the  school  system  was  carefully  deliberated  by  the  Board.  The  conclusions 
reached  were :  1.  That  such  a  department  was  necessary  in  order  to  give  the  course 
of  instruction  its  requisite  completeness,  system  and  eflSciency  and  to  enable  it  to 
meet  public  expectation ;  2,  that  the  difference  in  the  average  cost  of  tuition 
inclusive  or  exclusive  of  a  High  School  was  very  trifling  compared  with  the  influ- 
ence and  eflSciency  imparted  to  the  whole  system  by  such  a  department;  3,  that 
without  such  a  school  the  advanced  scholars  could  not  be  properly  instructed 
without  neglecting  the  majority  of  the  school ;  4,  that  there  was  not  a  city  in  the 
Union  with  flourishing  schools,  which  did  not  possess  or  contemplate  such  a  depart- 
ment; and  5,  that  while  more  than  a  hundred  towns  and  cities  had  established 
such  a  department,  not  one  had  abandoned  it  atler  trying  the  experiment.  Such 
are  some  of  the  considerations  which  induced  the  Board  of  Education  to  make  the 
High  School  a  permanent  part  of  the  system,  by  which  step  a  more  influential 
patronage  was  obtained. 

A  systematic  and  consecutive  course  of  study  was  prescribed.  The  required 
time  for  completing  the  course  of  study  in  the  lower  grades  was  from  two  to  three 
years  and  in  the  High  School  four  years.  Pupils  from  five  to  seven  years  of  age 
were  assigned  to  the  primary  department;  from  seven  to  ten,  to  the  secondary 
grade  ;  those  over  ten  to  the  grammar  grades,  and  those  over  twelve,  who  were 
prepared  for  it,  to  the  High  School,  in  which,  during  the  year  1848,  an  English 
and  classical  course  was  arran«:ed.  The  studies  of  the  lower  grades  comprised 
exercises  in  elementary  language  sounds,  spelling,  reading,  writing,  arithmetic  — 
mental  and  written  —  geography  with  globe  and  outline  maps,  and  English  gram- 
mar. In  all  the  schools  instruction  was  given  in  the  meaning  and  use  of  words, 
the  elements  of  geometry  and  in  vocal  music. 

The  English  course  in  the  High  School  included  the  sciences  and  was  fully 
equal  to  that  of  the  best  academies.  The  classical  course  was  more  extensive  than 
was  then  required  for  the  preparation  of  college  students.  During  its  second  term 
this  pchool  became  so  large  that  the  Covert  building,  now  Mrs.  J.  J.  Person's 
residence  on  Town  Street,  was  rented  for  it,  and  the  school  was  opened  in  that 
building  on  Wednesday,  April  19,  1848.  S.  S.  Rickly  began  service  as  an  assistant 
teacher  June  5, 1848.  He  taught.about  one  year,  and  on  April  3, 1849,  was  succeeded 
by  E.  D.  Kingsle}*.  From  May,  1849,  until  some  time  in  the  following  winter  the 
High  School  occupied  the  basement  of  the  Reformed  Church  on  Town  Street  at  the 
present  site  of  the  Hayes  Carriage  Works.  From  thence  it  returned  to  the  Covert 
Building,  where  it  remained  untir  the  completion  of  the  State  Street  building  in 
1853,  in  which  it  found  a  home  for  nine  years.  Twentyfive  pupils  attended  the 
High  School  during  the  first  quarter,  thirtythree  the  second  and  fifty  the  tliird. 

For  some  time  the  Superintendent  visited  the  schools  several  times  per  week, 
and  after  the  organization  of  the  High  School  at  least  once  a  week,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  aiding  the  scholars,  establishing  proper  order  and  discipline  and  inciting 
due  diligence.  For  the  purpose  of  awakening  deeper  interest  in  the  schools  a 
series  of  juvenile  concerts  was  given  during  the  fall  and  winter  of  1847  in  the 
largest  churches  of  the  city. 


550 


IIlaTdRV   OF   THE   CiTV   OF   C(>l.tIMHi;B. 


One  Bt-hoiil  for  partly  colored  children  had  l>cen  Kiii^Uiiiicil  Bincc  tlio  paeMa^e  or 
the  act  of  1839,  and  was  etill  maintained  with  about  fifty  schotant  who  were 
instructed  at  an  exponso  of  about  throo  dollars  eaeli.  Two  such  sclioois  wero 
sustainod  in  1853. 

From  the  organization  which  took  place  under  the  law  of  1S3H  to  1845  oiio 
nnd  perhaps  more  (rcrman  schools  had  been  maintained  iis  a  part  of  the  public 
Bystem.  In  1845  there  were  two  (ierman-Knglish  schools,  and  at  the  Ixi^jinning  of 
Doctor  Lord's  adminislration   three,  occupying  the  South  Buildlnf;  and  a  rented 


"U&RARy  R"'/^- 


rJT-IACKARP6fAy-AficnTVMS"CIATCP- 


room.     In    l.S5()   the    three  schools  of  this   character   had  an   eriri)llineiit  of  207 
scholars. 

Kroni  the  fii-Mt,  teachers  wero  required  to  Jittonii  at  the  I'ooni  of  the  Supurin- 
Icndont  three  hours  every  Saturday  mornini;  fiir  review  of  all  the  sluiiies  taufrht 
and  for  instruction  as  to  tuition,  government  and  discipline.  In  addition  to  tbia 
the  teachers  formed  n  society  for  mutual  improvement  which  met  liiweekly.  The 
viaitalion  of  teachers  by  one  another  during  sclioollimo  for  profit  hy  mutual  sng- 
gostioii  ami  observnlion  was  requested  by  the  Boiird.  BcHiilcN  these  rneans  of 
improvement  the  teachei-M  attended  county  institutes  which  were  hold  in  April. 


TuE  Schools.     II.  551 

Al  the  cloHC  of  the  tirst  year  of  Doctor  Lord's  superintendency,  the  Board 
npoke  with  pleasure  of  the  great  change  that  had  taken  place  in  public  sentiment 
in  regard  to  the  schools,  and  of  the  faithful  services  of  the  Superintendent  and 
teachers,  the  schools  having  "  succeeded  beyond  their  highest  expectations."  The 
following  official  statement  of  Samuel  Galloway,  Secretary  of  State,  ex  officio  State 
Suj)erinteiident  of  Common  Schools,  is  of  interest  as  coming  from  a  man  who,  with 
favorable  opportunities,  closely  watched  the  indications  of  school  progress: 

As  evidence  of  the  improvement  which  may,  by  appropriate  exertions,  be  realized,  and 
as  deservedly  complimeDtary  to  those  who  have  conducted  and  sustained  the  laudable  enter- 
prise, it  may  be  stated  that  an  intelligent  citizen  of  this  State  who  recently  visited  the  public 
schools  of  this  city  remarked  that  their  organization,  mode  of  instruction  and  advantages 
were  superior  to  those  which  he  had  seen  or  in  which  he  had  been  educated  in  his  native 
New  England  state. 

The  Superintendent's  salary  was  increased  to  $800  in  1848  and  to  $1,000  in  1849. 
In  1848  9  the  average  cost  of  tuition  in  all  the  schools  for  each  of  the  1,800 
instructed  was  $2.80;  for  those  in  actual  daily  attendance,  $5.37.  The  cost  of 
tuition  in  the  High  School  was  $18.()0  ;  in  the  grammar  schools,  $7.80 ;  in  the 
seconcUiry,  $4.15  ;  and  in  the  primary,  $2.87.  The  price  of  tuition  in  private 
schools  varied  from  ten  to  forty  dollars  per  year.  In  December,  1850,  evening 
schools  were  opened  in  each  of  the  districts  under  the  instruction  of  teachers  of 
the  grammar  schools,  and  were  attended  by  one  hundred  and  fiflythree  scholars, 
varying  in  age  from  twelve  to  thirty  two. 

The  High  School  teachers  and  their  salaries  in  1850-1  were  as  follows:  A^a 
D.  Lord,  $1,000;  Almon  Samson,  $700;  Anna  C.  Mather,  $400.  The  grammar 
school  teachers  were,  D.  C.  Pearson,  $500;  William  Mitchell,  $500 ;  John  Ogdon, 
$500.  Secondary  teachers,  Misses  M.  L.  Wheeler,  $225.50;  J.  E.  Welles,  $225.47; 
S.  .1.  Hull,  $225.45;  M.  E.  Robertson, $225.52 ;  H.  S.  Gregory,  $225.49,  and  H.  S.  Car- 
ter,  $225.49.  Primary  teachers,  Mrs.  W.  F.  Westervelt,  $225.63  ;  Misses  M.  Bunker, 
$225.G0;  C.  E.  Wilcox,  $225.47;  S.  S.  Miner,  $225.48;  Amelia  Byner,  $225.55; 
P.  II.  Brooks,  $225.46,  and  Mary  Sawhill,  $225.56;  Mrs.  M.  J.  Ogden,  $225.54. 
Gcrman-Knglish  teacher,  Peter  Johnson,  $400.60;  Gustavus  Schmeltz,  $300.51  and 
Christian  Pape,  $300.96. 

In  1851,  N.  Doolittle,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Examiners,  reported  that  the 
schools  had  been  constantly  rising  in  public  favor  and  confidence.  The  Super- 
intendent had  guarded  them,  he  said,  with  a  parent's  care  and* his  judicious 
management  and  unwearied  vigilance  had  eminently  contributed  to  their  pros- 
perity. 

The  enrollment  in  all  the  schools  for  the  eight  years  from  1847  to  1855  was, 
respectively,  1,750,  1,800,  2,000,  2,000,  1,691,  2,400,  2,483,  2,800 ;  the  average 
enrollment  for  these  yeai's  being  seventyfour  per  cent,  of  the  average  enumeration. 
The  number  of  teachers  increased  from  seventeen  to  twentyseven  and  the  annual 
expenditure  from  about  $5,000  to  $23,000.  Prior  to  1850  the  annual  school 
tux,  exclusive  of  the  sum  paid  to  the  State  fund,  was  less  than  one  mill  per  dollar  on 
the  taxable  valuation.     In  January,  1851,  the  German-English  schools,  four  in  num- 


552  Hl8T<iBY    OK   THE    CiTY   OK   COLITMBl'S. 

ber,   hud  an  onrollmont  of  316   un<J  an  average   daily  atteiidanee   of  fifty  each. 
Their  classification  was  improved. 

On  November  7,  1851,  the  Board  purchased  a  lot  on  Fourth  and  Court  streets, 
93 X  120  feet,  vahied  at  $2,000,  and  erected  thereon  in  1852  a  frame  onestory  build- 
ing, 32  by  70  feet,  at  a  coHt  of  $3,000.  The  German-English  schools  were  removed 
to  this  building  during  the  winter  of  1852-3. 

The  present  site  of  the  Sullivant  School  building  was  purchased  in  1852, 
and  upon  it  a  plain  brick  building,  60  by  70  feet,  three  stories  and  basemeDt, 
was  erected.  Its  estimated  cost  was  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  To  this  building  the 
High  School,  which  had  been  previously  taught  in  the  Academy  on  Town  Street, 
was  removed  in  1853.  These  two  buildings  accommo<i  a  ted  seven  hundred  scholars. 
In  185-i-5  the  instruction  at  the  High  School  embraced  a  full  English  course, 
a  business  c*<Mirse  and  an  academic  course. 

The  twentythree  schools  taught  during  the  last  year  of  this  administration 
were,  one  High  School,  three  grammar  schools,  seven  secondary,  seven  primary, 
three  German  English,  and  two  colored.  In  the  course  of  the  year  two  additional 
schools  —  one  secondary  and  one  oolore<l  —  were  oj»ened.  Be-iides  the  Superinten- 
dent, there  were  employed  thirtytwo  teachers,  eight  of  whom  were  males  and 
twentyfour  females.  In  January,  1854,  the  Superintendents  salary  was  incrca.sed 
from  one  thousand  to  twelve  hundred  dollars.  Salaries  of  other  teachers  were 
raised  in  proportion.  The  total  expense  of  each  pupil  during  the  year  1853-4  way 
as  follows  :  High  School,  $17  ;  grammar  school,  $13  ;  secondary,  $7  ;  primary,  $6  ; 
grammar,  $7 ;  colored,  $8.  The  rules  adopted  for  school  government  were  admirable, 
as  the  following  extracts  will  show : 

It  phall  be  the  constant  aim  of  the  teachers  to  secure  the  greatest  possible  amount  of 
thoroughness  and  accuracy  in  scholarship  on  the  part  of  each  pupil ;  to  this  end  they  shall 
be  careful  not  to  propose  leading  questions,  or  employ  in  their  questions  the  language  to  be 
used  in  answering  them,  and  not  to  question  classes  regularly  in  the  same  order  ;  they  shall 
adopt  as  far  as  possible,  the  plan  of  reciting  by  topics,  and  of  preparing  written  abstracts  of 
the  lessons ;  they  shall  constantly  aim  at  cultivating  in  their  pupils  the  habit  of  sel freliance, 
of  looking  for  the  meaning  of  everything  studied,  of  comprehending  ideas  rather  than  mem> 
orizing  words,  and  of  expressing  their  ideas  clearly,  correctly  and  elegantly  ;  and  should 
never  allow  them  to  think  ihey  understand  a  subject  till  they  can  explain  it  clearly  and  intel- 
ligently to  others. 

The  teachers  will  be  expected  to  improve  favorable  opportunities  for  communicating 
prudential  and  moral  instruction,  to  pay  special  attention  to  the  physical,  social  and  moral  as 
well  as  the  intellectual  habits  of  their  pupils,  to  exert  over  them  an  elevating  and  refining 
influence,  and  to  inculcate  both  by  precept  and  example  the  importance  of  purity,  integrity 
and  veracity,  and  of  habits  of  industry,  order,  cleanliness  and  proprietyOf  deportment. 

The  High  School  graduated  its  first  class  in  Deeembei-,  1851,  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  Board  issued  diplomas  to  the  graduates  and  hononiry  certificates 
to  scholars  who  had  completed  a  course  of  two  or  three  years.  The  graduating 
exercises  were  held  in  the  Reformed  Church  on  Town  Street.  They  elicited  the 
following  newspaper  comments: 

A  large  number  of  our  citizens  have  this  week  had  an  opportunity  of  attending  the 
examination  and  exercises  of  our  public  schools  under  the  sujKTintendence  of  Doctor  Lord, 


The  Schools.     II.  553 

and  we  but  rujiurt  tin-  t'eneral  voice  whun  we  Bay  it  bus  beeu  with  bigb  gralifii^tion  and 
admirationoflbexealandabilityof  tbeteocberBandtheprogreHof  thescholars.  ,  ,  .  On  Tues- 
day evening  we  attended  the  exhibition  of  the  schools  connected  with  the  High  School  at  the 
Kpforinecl  Cliurch  on  Town  Street.  The  capacious  building  was  compleiely  and  densely  filled. 
The  t-xprcises  were  of  an  interesting  character  and  well  calculated  to  gratify  the  teachers,  the 
Board  of  l£ducatioQ  and  the  friends  of  thescbolarstbHl  took 

part  in  these  ezerciseB.  We  cannot  close  tble  article  without 

commending  the  arduouB  tabors  of  our  city  Board  of  Edu- 
cation in  their  efforts  to  make  our  public  schools  what 
Ihey  are.  The  citizens  of  Colnmboa  owe  them  a  debt  of 
gratitude  that  Ihey  can  never  pay.  Among  the  number 
let  ue  designale  one,  the  Hon.  James  L.  Bates.  His  address 
to  the  ^aduating  class  on  Tuesday  evening  was  one  of  the 
happiest  and  most  impressive  things  we  have  ever  listened 
to  in  that  line;  and  his  remarks  in  favor  of  the  public 
schools  of  the  city  to  the  audience  at  the  close  were  excel- 
lent.   We  wish  every  parent  in  the  city  coulil  have  listened 

III  aetepting  Dr.  Lord's  resignation  as  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Instruction  on   February  24,  1854, 
the  Board  of  Education  adopted  resolulioiis  bighlj- 
eulogistic  of  tlio  efficiency   and   usefulness  of  hia 
n.  p.  MA^HK   .  Kervices. 

David  P.  Mayhow,  second  Suporint«ndeDt  of  the  Columbus  s<^hoolB,  whs  a 
native  of  New  York  Slate,  and  graduated  in  1838,  fi-om  Union  Collcfjo.  From 
1839  to  1852,  he  was  Pi-incipal  of  Lowville  Academy.  His  services  with  tlio 
dchoolH  of  Columbus  began  February  25,  1854,  and  ended  with  his  reHrgnation 
July  10,  1B55.  During  (he  next  ten  jears  he  filled  the  chair  of  Chemistry  and 
Phyaics  in  the  Michigan  State  Normal  School  at  Tpsilanti,  of  which  institution  lie 
was  President  from  18G6  to  1871.  His  death  took  place  in  1887.  Under  his 
admin iHtration  the  schools  were  opened  August  21,  1854,  and  closed  for  the  school 
year  on  Juno  30,  1855.  They  included  three  grammar,  eight  secondary,  nino 
primary,  three  German  and  three  colored  schooh  and  the  High  School.  Night 
schooiis  under  the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Education  were  also  maintained.  Rev. 
Daniel  Worley  waa  appointed  Doetfjr  Lord's  successor  as  Principal  of  the  High 
School,  but  resigned  November  13,  1855.  J.  Siifforn  was  appointed  as  a  special 
teacher  of  music  and  Mr.  Folsom  of  penmanship.  These  were  the  first  special 
instructors  in  thono  departments.  Superintendent  Mayhow  gave  much  attention 
to  the  improvement  of  the  primary  and  secondary  departments,  particularly  as  to 
methods  of  jiromotion,  classitication  and  conduct  of  recitations.  On  May  30,  1855, 
the  Hoard  ordered  that  Webster's  Dictionary  be  adopted  as  the  standard.  After 
the  four  colored  schooin  had  been  organized  much  zeal  was  shown  by  tho  colored 
people  in  the  education  of  their  childron,  of  whom  33ti  were  enumerated  and  312 
in  attendiinco.  These  schooln,  of  which  two  were  on  Gay  Street,  one  on  High 
iind  one  on  Town,  were  taught  by  C.  II.  Langaton,  J.  A.  Thomi).>«>ii,  T.  N.  Stewart 
and  A,  E.  Fuller.  In  the  High  School  150  pupils  were  onrollcl  and  the  average 
attendance  during  the  year  was  ItlO. 


and  epecial  improvei 


564  HlSTORV    OF   THE  CiTV    <!>■    COLUMHIIH. 

During  the  school  year  1855-ti,  twoiityKCvvn  wliools  wwv  taiiglil.     At  tho  close 

of  tho  term  in  December,  Rov.  D.  Worloy  Hcvored  his  cuMiiuction  willi  the  High 

School  and  Joliii  G.  SteUoii  aucceuded  liim  an  Principal.     The  onrolliiioiit  was  as 

follows:  High  School,  169;  grammar,  4tiG  ;  ttceoiidury,  (iOll ;   primitry,  \,2t)2  ;  Ger- 

mnn,    539 ;    colored,    300.      Tho    Principala    were  : 

North    Building,  I).  C.  Pearson;  State  Street,  E.  L. 

Traver;  South  Building,  George  C  Smith;  Mound 

Street,  H.   N.  Bolander;  Middle  Building,  Hiss  E. 

RohertRoii.     During  tho  summer  of  1850,  the  achooi 

houses  on   Mound  and  Long  Htreote  were  enlarged 

by  tho  addition  of  a  twostory  wing  to  each  and  by 

putting;  another  story  on   the  middle  portion.     On 

July  18,  185G,  an  additional    lot  was  puruhased    for 

the  Mound  Street  schi>ol. 

On  July  10,  1H55,  Doctor  Asa  D.  Lord,  who  had 
resigned  the  year  before  to  accept  the  position  of 
agent  for  tho  State  Teachers'  Assoi-iation,  wu8 
reelected  Superintciiilent.  Duringhiaaecond  admio- 
islration  moru  than  the  usual  amount  of  time  was 
spent  in  the  cxaminalion  of  classes  for  promotion 
as  made  in  rending,  spelling  and  penmanship.  Tho 
<chools  for  colored  children  were  classified  into  two  grades.  Teachers'  meet- 
ings, which  had  been  mostly  omitted  for  some  time,  were  resumed.  On  the  sub- 
ject of  monii  instruction,  the  Superintendent  thus  exiiressod  hirasclf: 

Religions  culture  slioulil  not  be  entirely  ignoreii  in  the  sclioolroom,  What^iver 
incrvaEes  our  reverence  for  the  Supreme  Beingand  ourregnrd  Uir  His  woril,  whatever  height- 
ens our  seiise  of  obligation  to  Iliui  and  cherishes  the  desire  lo  avoid  His  disapprobation  and 
wrure  His  tavor,  wh«tever  inclines  ue  to  do  right  because  it  is  rigbi,  to  do  this  in  the  dark 
as  in  the  light,  inaj'  be  regarded  as  connected  with  religious  culture.  Tbe  practice  of  reading 
the  Scriplures,  of  Eiiiging  appropriate  hymns  and  engaging  in  prayer,  whk-li  has  been  pur- 
sued by  a  majority  of  tlic  tenuhere  has  had  a  most  excellent  influence  upon  our  achoola  and 
perhaps  done  more  than  any  other  thing  lo  secure  order  and  obviate  the  necessity  of  a  resort 
to  discipline. 

Having  accepted  a  call  to  the  auperintendoncy  of  tho  State  Listitution  for  the 
Blind,  Doctor  Lord  retired  from  the  snperintendoncy  uf  the  Columbus  schools. 
He  was  indeed  a  masterbnildcr  in  the  educational  enterprises  of  the  city. 

Erasmus  D,  Kingaley,  A.  Mi,  third  Superintendent  o(  the  Columbus  schools, 
was  a  native  of  Whitehall,  New  York,  and  was  for  one  year  Principal  of  iho 
Aurora  Academy,  In  1848  he  graduated  at  the  New  York  Slulc  Norma!  School 
at  Albany.  In  1848-9  he  was  one  of  the  teachers  in  tho  Columbus  High  School. 
From  the  termination  of  that  engagement  until  his  return  to  Columbus  he  was 
Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  at  M:iricttu,  Obio.  In  ls:)4  lie  received  the 
degree  oi  Masler  of  Arte  from  Marietta  College,  His  ckction  U'  the  suporinton- 
doncy  ol  the  public  schools  of  Columbus  took  place  July  II,  ISfjG,  He  filled  tho 
position  ibr  nine  years. 


The  Schools.     II.  555 

In  185()  the  fivo  school  buildingH  owned  by  the  city  were  that  erected  in  1853 
on  State  Street,  the  north,  middle  and  south  buildings,  and  the  German  school- 
house  on  Fourth  and  Court  streets.  Added  to  these  were  rented  buildings,  mak- 
ing the  whole  number  of  school  rooms  in  use  thirtysix.  On  July  18,  1856,  an 
additional  lot  beside  that  occupied  by  the  German  school  on  the  corner  of  Fourth 
Street  and  Strawberry  Alley  was  purchased  for  $490.  On  February  25,  1857,  the 
Board  purchased  a  lot  adjoining  that  occupied  by  the  South  Building  and  now 
forming  part  of  the  present  Rich  Street  site.  A  large  lot  in  Medary's  Subdivision, 
now  forming  the  site  of  the  Douglas  School,  was  bought  about  the  same  time. 
On  March  20,  1858,  the  Board  purchased  lot  Number  645  on  the  corner  of  Long 
and  Fourth  streets,  then  valued  at  $2,500.  The  school  house  sites  were  at  that 
time  estimated  to  be  worth  $33,700,  and  the  school  buildings,  $32,000.  In  1859  the 
Middle  Building  was  declared  unfit  for  use,  and  in  1860  a  plain,  twostory  brick 
structure  of  seven  rooms  was  erected  in  it«  stead  at  a  cost  of  $15,000.  This  was 
the  third  generation  of  school  buildirigs  on  that  site,  and  represents  the  prevail- 
ing style  of  architecture  at  that  period.  At  the  sugcrestion  of  Superintendent 
Kingsley  it  was  provided  with  cloakrooms.  This  building  served  as  a  model  for 
those  afterwards  erected  on  Third  and  Sj'camore  streets,  on  Spring  Street,  on 
Second  Avenue,  on  Park  Street,  and  on  Fulton  Street. 

In  1859  the  Board  of  Education  purchased  of  Trinity  Church  for  $8,820  a  lot 
99x200  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Broad  and  Sixth  streets,  inclusive  of  a  stone 
foundation  wMiich  had  been  laid  on  the  premises  in  1856.  On  this  foundation, 
originally  intended  as  the  substructure  of  a  church,  the  Board  erected  the  main 
part  of  the  present  High  School  building  in  1860-61  This  building,  opened  for 
use  at  the  ensuing  autumn  term,  was  at  the  time  considered  an  architectural  orna- 
ment to  the  city.  From  the  northwest  corner  of  its  main  part,  60x200,  rose  a 
tower  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  height.  The  first  floor  comprised  the  Superin- 
tendent's room,  in  the  tower,  three  large  school  rooms,  a  laboratory  and  an 
apparatus  room.  On  the  second  floor  were  three  school  rooms,  a  library*  and  a 
reading  room.  On  the  third  floor  a  large  room  for  chapel  exercises  and  an 
audience  room  were  arranged.  The  building  cost  $23,400,  and  accommodated 
about  three  hundred  pupils.  A  few  years  later  some  contiguous  ground  was  pur- 
chased and  two  additions  to  the  building  were  made. 

During  Mr.  Kingsley's  administration  the  number  of  buildings  belonging  to  the 
Board  increased  to  twelve;  the  number  of  school  rooms  from  thirtysix  to  fifVyseven 
and  the  number  of  teachers  from  twentj'seven  U)  sixtythree;  the  number  of  school- 
age  youth  from  4,366  to  7,759,  and  the  enrollment  from  2,881  to  4,148  in  1864. 
Notwithstanding  the  distractions  of  the  Civil  War,  the  average  <laily  attendance 
increased  from  fitlyone  per  cent,  in  1856-7  to  soventyfive  per  cent,  in  1864-5,  and 
fifty  one  per  cent,  a  year  later. 

In  1856-7  the  Board  had  under  its  supervision  twentytwo  English,  four 
German  and  three  colored  schools.  Of  the  forty  teachers  employed,  ten  were 
niak'S.  Sj)ccial  teachers  w^ere  engaged  for  classes  in  German,  French,  penmanship 
and  music.  The  German  language  was  taught  in  the  High  School  by  C.  E.  Boyle, 
and   music    in    all   the   schools  by   S.    B.    Phipps.     The  teacher  of  writing    was 


556  HlHTORY  OP   THE   ClTT    OF  CuLllMBim. 

Hr.  Rittenbei^;  of  French,  Adolph  Mott.  In  1859  tliu  i*riiicij>alH  were:  High 
School,  Horace  Norton;  grammar,  Slate  Street  Building,  A.  W.  Train;  North 
Builitlng,  Osmer  W.  Pay;  Middle  Building,  J.  H.  Pock;  South  Building, 
G.    W.    Hatnpflon ;   German    achoolK,   II.    N.    Bolatidcr ;  colored   scboolit,  J.   A. 


ThninpRon.  The  buitdinfjs  wore  at  that  lime  crowiiud  to  tiieir  ulmoMt  cnpacity. 
The  lotiil  attcnduiiee  numbered  2,000  i-hildren,  of  whom  3H8  wore  in  the  German 
HchoolH  and  120  in  the  colored.  During  Mr.  Kini^alcy'H  udniiniHlrution  the  rules 
governing  the  schoolM  were  made  more  ample  and   exjiticit  and  ihe  courera  of 


The  Schools.     II.  557 

study  were  revised.  The  classification  was  changed  from  four  to  five  departments, 
designated  primary,  secondary,  intermediate,  grununjir  and  high.  Tlie  grounds 
appurtenant  to  the  buildings  were  enlarged  and  so  divided  as  to  provide  separate 
playgrounds  for  the  sexes,  whicli  were  also  separated  in  the  High  School.  Pro- 
grammes designating  the  hours  of  study  and  the  daily  exercises  were  prepared  fi)r 
the  use  of  teachers,  and  special  pains  .were  taken  to  secure  unift)nnity  in  the 
studies  of  each  grade.  Natural  methods  of  instruction  were  adopted  and  special 
attention  was  given  to  the  elementar}*  branches,  particularly  reading  and  npeliing. 
The  oflSce  of  principal  of  the  sd^ools  of  the  district,  or  building,  was  created.  In 
1856  Mr.  Kingsley  introduced  the  word  method  of  instruction  in  reading.  This 
method  he  thus  defined  : 

Instead  of  commencing  with  the  alphabet,  the  child  is  taught  at  once  a  few  easy  and 
significant  words  from  cards  or  blackboard ;  these  words  are  then  combined  into  short  and 
simple  sentences.  The  scholars  are  required  to  reproduce  each  lesson  on  their  slates  as  an 
exercise  in  spelling,  and  to  impress  the  words  more  firmly  on  their  minds.  The  parts  that 
compose  the  words  are  frequently  dwelt  upon  and  by  such  means  the  child  learns  the  force 
of  letters  better  than  in  any  other  way.  The  names  of  the  letters  can  soon  be  taught  by 
occasionally  calling  the  attention  of  the  scholars  to  them  as  they  occur  in  words.  It 
has  been  the  universal  testimony  of  teachers  that  by  the  word  method  in  a  single  term 
children  can  be  taught  to  read  fluently  in  easy  reading.  The  only  practical  use  of  spelling  is 
the  proper  arrangement  of  the  letters  that  enter  into  the  construction  of  words  in  written 
composition.  The  old  routine  mode  of  teaching  by  pronouncing  columns  of  words  to  be 
spelled  orally  failed  to  secure  the  desired  end.  There  is  no  certainty  that  scholars  who  have 
been  taught  to  spell  orally,  correctly,  can  write  the  same  words  without  making  mistakes, 
but  it  is  certain  that  those  who  spell  correctly  in  writing  will  be  prepared,  if  ifbcessary,  to 
spell  audibly  ;  hence,  written  exercises  shouM  bo  mainly  relied  upon  in  teaching.  Oral  sp<'ll 
ing  is  simply  a  tax  of  the  memory  ;  written  exercises  in  spelling  are  mental  and  mechanical, 
and  correspond  with  practice  in  after  life. 

Pupils  entering  the  primary  grades  were  required  to  furnish  themselves 
with  slates  and  pencils.  From  the  organization  of  the  schools  under  Doctor  Lord, 
it  bad  been  the  custom  to  invite  committees  of  citizens  to  visit  them,  assist  in  the 
examinations  and  make  reports  to  the  Board.  The  course  in  music  was  by  order 
of  the  Board  confined  to  the  grammar,  intermediate  and  secondary  schools,  and 
the  musie  instructor,  Mr.  Phipps,  was  provided  with  a  room  at  each  of  the  build- 
ings where  ho  had  the  same  control  of  his  pupils  as  that  exorcised  by  other  teach- 
ers. Tbe  average  age  of  the  pupils  in  1857,  was  thus  stated  :  Primary,  seven  and 
onefifth  years;  Secondary,  eight  and  fiveninths  years;  Intermediate,  eleven  and 
onefourth  years ;  Grammar,  thirteen  and  onehalf  years ;  High  School,  sixteen 
years;  average  in  all  the  departments,  eleven  years. 

In  1858,  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant,  a  devoted  and  useful  promoter  of  the  educational 
interests  of  the  city,  procured  for  the  High  School,  at  great  personal  sacrifice  of 
time  and  effort,  a  wellselected  collection  of  apparatus  to  illustrate  the  principles  of 
natural  science,  including  Obcrhauser^s  achromatic  compound  microscope,  a  solar 
and  oxy hydrogen  microscope,  Atwood's  machine  illustrating  laws  of  gravitation) 
working  models  of  the  electric  telegraph,  an  extensive  set  of  electrical  apparatus, 
a  powerful  magic  lantern,  and  various  other  interesting  articles. 


55S  HlHTORT    op   THB    f'iTT   IIP   <'l»[.rMRrs. 

Ni;;]it  m:hrioU  ami  U-ocliers'  mertini;:M  wlTl'  muiiitiiineil  thrnu^hoiit-thi.t  ailiaia- 
istnition.  whii;h  w:ih  :i  period  of  stonily  j2;rowth  nml  primpiirity,  riigtializeil  ity 
mcreoiicd  patronage  and  iniproveil  ci{nipment».  In  !>^lil,  liei)rg«  H.  TwinH  fuc- 
ceede't  T.  H.  Litlle  ax  Prinripnl  of  ihe  Thir.l  DJHtriit. 

['mil  1MH+,  the  memf>ers  cf  ilie  Boanl  were  elected  on 
a  general  tii-bet  by  the  whole  '-ity,  hul  in  that  year  a 
npecial  act,  drawn  hy  J.  J.  Janiiey.  wan  pu«M<l  chan^a^ 
the  time  of  election  and  authorizing  each  ward  to  L-hooae 
leniber  of  the  Board.  The  tirnt  election  by  war<la  in 
1  piirniiance  of  this  law  Cooli  place  April  11,tS*>4,and  the 
I  Board  thii§  chotten  ori^anised  in  the  ensuing  May  by 
I  elei-tinir  Freiierick  Ficser  ok  ilw  Presiilent  and  H.  T. 
'  Chittenden  as  itit  Secretary.  B.  D.  Kingsley  was  at  the 
le  time  reiilcfted  Riiperintemient  and  Jonaa  Hutehin- 
son  was  choHen  as  Principal  of  the  High  School.  Hon. 
Thoma.'^  W.  Harvey,  then  of  Motfeillon,  was  electetl 
Saperintendent  of  the  Colambns  schools  on  July  10, 186&, 
bat  decliDed  the  appointment. 
William  Mitchell,  A.  M.,  fourth  ^nperintendent  oftbe  Colambiis  Public  School.-t, 
elected  September  11,  1865,  was  educated  at  the  Ashland  (Ohio)  Academy,  under 
Lorin  Andrews,  and  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  froni  Kenyon  Col- 
lege. Prior  to  his  teaching  service  here  be  bad  been  Saperintendent  of  Schools 
at  FredeiVktown,  Norwalk  and  Mt.  Vernon.  In  IH62  he  entered  the  National 
Volunteer  Army  at  the  head  of  a  company'.  In  the  position  of  Superintendent  oftbe 
C'olnmbns  schools  be  served  six  years.  Subsequently  he  practised  law  in  Clevelaad 
and  removed  from  thence  to  North  l>akota,  where  he  wus  elected  State  Super- 
intendent of  Pnblic  Instmction  and  died  in  March,  1890. 

Until  1867  one  of  tbe  members  of  the  Boai-d  of  Education  served  as  it8 
Treasurer,  but  in  that  year  a  special  act  was  passed  by  virtue  of  which  the 
Traoanrer  of  the  Coanty  became  ex  officio  Treasurer  oftbe  School  District. 

Under  Captain  Mitchell's  administration,  aa  had  been  thi;  case  befora,  the 
school  buildings  were  overcrowded  ;  accordingly,  additional  grounds  were  pur- 
chased. These  acquisitions  in  1866  comprised  three  lot.i  on  the  northwest 
corner  of  Park  and  Vine  streets,  and  one  on  the  corner  of  Third  and  Sycamore. 
On  each  of  these  tracts  a  brick  building  costing  about  115,700  wa.s  erected.  In 
1867  six  lots  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Spring  and  Neil  streets  and  live  on  East 
Falton  Street  were  purchased  at  a  cost,  in  each  case,  of  about  five  thousand 
dollars.  In  1868  a  building  was  completed  on  each  of  the^e  tract.-^,  the  whole  cost 
being  $34,000.  These  four  buildings  were  all  patterned  after  that  mi  Rich  Street. 
They  were  of  two  stories,  plain,  and  contained  besides  an  office  and  a  recitation 
room,  three  school  rooms  each. 

In  1870  tbe  old  State  Street  building  was  condemned  and  in  1^71  the  Sullivaut 
bnilding,  so  named  in  honor  of  Joseph  Sullivant,  who  had  done  so  much  for  tbe 
cause  of  education  in  the  city,  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  $(i8,992.:^7.  It  is  an  impos- 
ing atractnre  and  was  the  beginning  of  another  era  in  hx^al  school  architecture 


The  Schools.     U.  559 

although  not,  except  in  size,  subsequently  patterned  afler  in  other  buildings.  It 
contained  originally  nineteen  rooms  including  one  for  reception  and  an  office. 
Two  playrooms  were  provided  in  the  basement.  The  furnishings,  which  were 
very  complete,  included  an  electrical  clock  and  a  system  of  signals  from  the  prin- 
cipal office  to  the  other  rooms  —  a  contrivance  constructed  under  the  direction  of 
Professor  T.  C.  Mendenhall,  who  was  at  that  time  teaching  in  ihe  High  School. 
The  Central  German  building,  corner  of  Fulton  and  Fourth,  was  cornpU-ted  the 
same  year;  cost,  $17,981.14.  Thus,  witliin  the  six  years  of  Captain  MitchelPs 
administration,  six  buildings  with  an  aggregate  seating  ca|)acity  of  about  three 
thousand,  were  erected  ;  aggregate  cost,  $174,530.27.  This  increased  the  number 
of  buildings  from  ten  to  nineteen  and  more  than  doubled  the  rooms  available. 

The  school  enumeration  in  1865  was  8,216  ;  in  1871  it  was  10,117.  The  aver- 
age daily  attendance  increased  meanwhile  from  2,773  to  3,76r>.  From  $79,786.78 
in  1866,  the  annual  expenditures  increased  to  $140,229.95  six  years  later.  This 
shows  that  the  educational  progress  of  the  city  kept  abreast  with  its  material 
growth.  In  1865-6  the  number  of  children  in>tructed  was  4,087;  in  1870-1  it  was 
5,683 — in  each  case  over  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  enumeration.  The  number  of 
teachers  increased  during  this  time  from  sixtyfive  to  ninetyfive.  In  1869  the 
city  was  divided  into  nine  school  district^.  The  schools  were  still  classified  into 
five  grades,  with  a  grammar  department,  when  practicable,  in  each  subdistrict. 
The  school  year,  beginning  on  the  first  Monday  in  September,  comprised  three 
terms  aggregating  forty  weeks.  The  rules  and  regulations  were  revised  and  in 
large  part  remained  unchanged  for  several  ycai*8.  The  course  of  study  was  reiir- 
ranged,  but  still  covered  a  period  of  nine  years  excepting  the  High  School  courao. 
These  nine  grades  were  designated  as  Lower  and  Higher  Primarj-,  Lower  and 
Higher  Secondary,  Lower  and  Higher  Intermediate,  an<i  C,  B  and  A  grammar. 
The  High  School  course  of  four  years  comprised  the  Freshman,  Sophomore,  Junior 
and  Senior  Departments.  The  textbooks  then  in  use  were  Webb's  Word  Method, 
McGuffe3''s  Readers,  De Wolf's  Speller,  Guyot's  Geography,  Stod«lard's  Arithmetics, 
Quackenbos's  English  Grammar  and  Rhetoric,  Sclmabel's  Erstes  Deutsches  Spraeh- 
buch,  Berthlet's  and  Adler's  German  Headers,  Goodrich's  United  States  His- 
tory, Worcester's  General  Historj',  Youman's  Chemistry,  Gray's  Botany,  Ray's 
Algebra,  Geometry  and  Trigonometry,  Spalding's  Ens^lish  Literature,  Woodbury's 
German  Grammar  and  various  textbooks  in  the  languages.  The  methods  of  instruc- 
tion were  those  most  approved  by  the  leading  educators  of  the  time.  Children  under 
six  years  of  age  were  not  received,  although  the  legal  school  age  was  not  raised  from 
five  to  six  years  until  four  years  later.  Special  attention  was  given  lo  school  dis- 
cipline and  government.  Contemptuous  language,  passionate  reproof  and  the  imposi- 
tion of  additional  tasks  as  a  penalty  were  held  to  be  improper  modes  of  punishment, 
and  teachers  were  admonished  that  their  fitness  would  be  judged  in  great  measure 
by  their  ability  to  maintain  good  discipline  by  mild  measures  and  gentle  influences. 
Success  in  government  took  rank  before  length  of  service  or  variety  of  scientific 
acquirements. 

Guided  by  such  enlightened  sentiments,  the  teachers  sought  opportunity  for 
professional  improvement,  regularly  attended  the  teachers'  meetings,  collected  libra- 


560  HlHTORY    OP   THK   ClTY    OF    roLFMBrs. 

ricH  and  «*<H">p4*mt4*<|  zoaloiisly  i\w\  harmonionsly  with  the  Sii|H>rinton<loiit  and  tlio 
Boanl.  ('or|M>rnl  punishment  av«»nit^cd  one  vam*  in  a  s<-Ihm»1  of  fift)-  <»very  twenty- 
five  «lav«;  tanliiies8  averat'eil  one  ease  to  one  hiindn-il  and  twenty  dav^  of  attend- 
anee;  thtr  triianrj'  reeord  showed  one  eas**  to  everj'  thirteen  pupils riirolliMl.  Only 
sixtyfoiir  seholai-s  weri'  re|)orted  to  the  Superintendent  tor  infractions  of  the  rnlef*. 
"  Compared  with  lornier  years,'*  says  the  Superintendent,  "  these  items,  though 
quite  too  largo,  show  a  saiisfaictory  falling  off/*  The  final  examinations  of  each 
year  were  as  far  as  possible  written.  Advances  from  class  to  class  and  from  grade 
to  grade  were  made  on  the  ground  of  scholarship  simply,  but  honorable  promo- 
tion  could  take  place  at  any  time  on  the  ground  of  good  conduct  united  with  gO|od 
scholarship.  The  names  of  all  pupils  found  worthy  of  honorable  promotion  were 
inscribed  on  a  Table  of  Honor.  Pupils  whose  general  standing  reached  ninety  per 
cent,  or  over  were  exempt  from  examination.  'A  general  standing  of  at  least 
ninety  per  cent,  was  a  necessary  condition  to  honorable  promotion.  Pupils  whose 
general  standing  was  below  sixty  per  cent,  wore  classified  without  examination  in 
the  next  lower  grade  except  that  when  such  low  standing  was  due  to  protracted 
illness  the  scholar  could  bo  examined  and  passed  with  his  class  on  condition. 
Pupils  whose  general  standing  was  between  sixty  and  ninety  per  cent,  were 
examined  and  obliged  to  make  an  average  of  seventy  per  cent,  or  be  set  back  to 
the  next  grade  below. 

Frederick  Fieser,  President  of  the  Board  in  1869,  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  school  attendance  was  proportionately  larger  in  Columbus  than  in 
any  other  city  of  the  State,  and  in  his  annual  report  of  the  same  year  the  Super- 
intendent said:  *  There  is  no  city  in  the  State  nearly  equal  in  size  to  Colum- 
bus  which  has  in  its  High  School  an  enrollment  and  attendance  as  large  in  propor- 
tion to  the  enrollment  and  attendance  in  the  other  grades.'' 

Superintendent  Mitchell  resigned  August  25,  1868,  and  S.  J.  Kirkwood  waft 
elected  to  succeed  him,  but  Professor  Kirkwood  declined  and  thereupon  Mr. 
Mitchell  was  reelected  at  a  largely  increased  salary. 

Prior  to  1871  the  buildings  in  which  the  colored  schools  were  conducted  were 
unsuitable  both  in  character  and  in  situation,  but  the  active  efforts  of  a  few  leading 
colored  citizens,  among  whom  wore  W.  Ewing,  W.  H.  Honey,  James  Poindexter, 
Butler  Taylor,  J.  T.  Williams,  James  Hall,  J.  Freeland,  J.  Ward  and  T.  J.  Washing- 
ton, brought  the  subject  prominently  before  the  public,  and  on  May  23,  1871, 
the  Board  of  Education  decided  to  reconstruct  the  school  building  on  the  corner  of 
Long  and  Third  streets  and  assign  it  to  the  colored  schools.  At  the  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Andrews  it  was  designated  as  the  Loving  School,  in  honor  of  Doctor  Starling 
Loving,  the  member  of  the  Board  who  had  been  the  prime  mover  in  its  establish- 
ment. 

In  the  fifth  and  sixth  districts,  comprising  the  southern  part  of  the  city, 
the  children  were  taught  to  read  German  and  afterwards  English  ;  subscijucntly  tho 
reading  exercises  comprised  both  languages.  The  schools  of  the  eighth  district  were 
exclusively  for  colored  children,  whoso  thoroughness  and  rate  of  |)rogrcss,  said  tho 
Superintendent,  compared  favorably  with  tho  achievements  in  tho  other  schools. 
Male  principals  were  employed  in  each  district  which  contained  a  large  building,  and 


The  Schools,     il.  561 

were  charged  with  ciiforconiont  of  the  lefcilatione  of  the  Board.  It  was  made  the 
duty  of  each  principal  Co  visit  all  tbo  rooms  under  his  charge  ut  least  three  times  a 
week  and  announce  "by  the  ringing  of  the  bell  the  hour  of  beginning  and  closiD^ 
school,  recosscx  and  recitations."  Duringtbis  administration  the  average  attendance 
varied  from  foitycight  to  filtyscvon  per  cent.,  and  tlie  average  daily  attendance 
from  sixtyfour  to  soventyfour  i>er  cent,  of  the  enrollment. 

Robert  W.  Stevenson,  A.  M.,  the  fifth  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Columbus  schools,  wan  a  native  of 
Zancsviile,  Ohio.  His  election  to  that  |K>sition  took 
place  July  13,  1871.  He  had  previously  performed 
similar  service  at  Dresden  and  Norwalk,  in  this 
State.  As  subsidiary  to  his  professional  duties  lie 
took  an  active  part  in  educational  societies  and 
movements,  and  was  a  frequent  contributor  U>  the 
current  educational  literature  of  the  day.  In  1889, 
he  was  appointed  Supcrinlendent  of  Public  Schools 
at  Wichita,  Kansas,  a  position  which  he,  at  tbo 
present  lime,  continues  to  occupy.  During  bis  long 
administration  of  the  schools  of  this  city,  their  devel- 
opment  in  extent  and  usefulness  was  steady  and 
gratifying.  Prior  to  1875,  one  of  the  members  of 
the  Board  of  Kducatioa  acted  as  its  Scerotarv- 
From  1875  to  1885,  Granville  A.  Frambes,  who  was  Assistant  Supenntcndeut, 
served  also  as  Clerk  of  the  Board,  beginning  with  a  salary  of  SI, 200,  which  was 
increased  Ut  $2,200.  In  1885,  0.  E.  D.  Barron  was  elected  Cleik  at  a  salary  of 
$1,200,  and  now  holds  tbo  position  at  a  salary  of  «2,100. 

By  the  extension  of  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city  in  1872,  the  following 
school  property  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Board  ;  Franklinlon  Building  — 
the  Old  Courthouse— total  value$],890;  Mount  Airy  Schoolhouse  ;  Friend  Street 
.Schoolliouse;  Mount  Pleasant  Schoolhouse;  North  Columbus  Schoolhouse,  total 
value,  <3,620;  South  German  Schoolhouse;  North  High  Street  Schoolhouse ; 
Johnstown  Road  Schoolhouse ;  East  Broad  Street  Schoolhouse ;  all  of  which  except 
the  Franklin  ton  Building  were  suburban.  In  1873,  the  Fiesor  school  building  and  a 
twostory,  fourroom  building  on  East  Main  Street  and  Miller  Avenue  were  erected. 
In  1875,  a  fourroom  addition  to  tbo  Fiesor  school  was  built.  The  Douglas  school, 
fifteen  rooms,  was  erected  in  1876,  and  in  the  same  year  a  sixroom  additiou  was 
made  to  the  High  School.  Most  of  the  large  buildings  were  heated  by  steam  and 
supplied  with  water  by  the  Holly  system. 

In  August,  1879,  the  corner  stones  were  laid  of  a  twelveroom  building  on  the 
(^o^no^  of  Third  and  Mound  streets,  of  a  fourroom  building  on  the  site  of  the  Old 
Courthouse  in  Frankliiiton  and  of  another  fourroom  structure  on  Northwood 
Avenue  and  High  Street.  In  1882,  the  Loving  School  building  was  abandoned 
and  sold.  The  Garfield  School  building,  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Garfield  and 
Mount  Vernon  avenues,  was  built  in  1881-2.  In  1882,  nearly  all  the  schools  were 
provided  with  slate  blackboard'*,  and  during  the  same  year  a  tract  of  ground  187J 


5(52  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

■ 

feet  i^|uaro  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Front  and  Jjon^  streets  was  purchased  at  a 
cost  of  $41,977.10.  On  the  ground  thus  acquired  a  threestory  huihlin«(  which  cost 
$r>4,7K;i  was  erectc^d  in  1H85.  A  tract  nieasurinj^  145x2H2^  I'eet  on  the  corner  of 
Fifth  Avenue  and  ilighland  Street  was  purchaseilJune  3,  1SS4,  and  two  years  later 
a  threestory  building  of  tilleen  r(M>m8  was  erected  thereon  at  a  cost  of  $4<),67(*.48. 
This  was  the  hist  of  the  threestory  schoolhouses,  the  buihiing  committee  of  the 
Board  having  made  it  plain  that  buildings  of  two  stories  were  more  convenient, 
economical  and  conducive  to  health.  The  average  cost  per  schoolroom  of  eighteen 
of  the  principal  school  buildings  of  the  city  at  that  time  was  $3,200,  while  the 
average  cost  per  room  of  the  threestory  buildings  was  $3,5t>0,  and  of  the  twostory 
buildings  $3,141.  The  entire  school  property  controlled  by  the  Board  in  1SS6  had 
an  estimated  value  of  $700,000.  The  Kuttan-Smead  system  of  warming  and  venti- 
lating was  about  this  time  introduced  in  several  of  the  buildings  ;  most  of  them  have 
since  been  e(|uipped  with  it. 

On  June  14,  1887,  six  lots  extending  from  Reinhard  Avenue  to  Siebort  Street, 
east  of  the  City  Park,  were  purchased  for  $3,iJ00,  and  on  the  same  date  a  site  on 
the  southeast  corner  of  Twentieth  Street  and  Mount  Vernon  Avenue,  200x150 
feet,  was  purchased  for  $5,500.  On  June  28,  1887,  the  Board  purchased  a  site  on 
the  corner  of  Eighth  and  Wesley  avenues  for  $7,500,  and  in  the  following  year  a 
twostory,  tenroom  building  was  erected  on  the  Siebert  Street  ground  and  a  twostorj^, 
fifteenroom  building  on  Twentythird  Street.  In  1884  the  Board  of  Education 
created  the  office  of  Superintendent  of  Buildings,  at  a  salary  of  $1,200,  and  Henry 
Lott  was  electe<l  to  that  position.  The  office  was  abolished  three  years  later,  but 
was  again  established  in  1888,  at  which  time  it  was  conferred  upon  Frederick 
Schwan  at  a  salarj-  of  $1,800.  In  1890  Schwan  was  succeeded  by  Frederick 
Kruinm. 

During  the  eighteen  years  of  Mr.  Stevenson's  administration  the  extent  and 
value  of  the  school  property  of  the  city  were  largely  increase*!  and  many  improve- 
ments wore  made  in  the  equipments  of  the  schools.  The  few  oldfashioned  double  desks 
which  remained  in  the  buildings  in  1871  were  soon  displaced  by  single  desks.  The 
amount  expended  for  slate  blackboards  alone  was,  in  1882,  $1,751.75.  Much  atten- 
tion to  the  ventilation,  lighting  and  sanitation  of  the  buildings  was  given.  Radical 
changes  in  the  organization  were  made.  On  July  12,  1871,  a  plan  reported  from 
the  Committee  on  Salaries  was  adopted  by  which  the  city  was  divided  into  three 
school  departments  or  districts,  each  to  be  composed  of  subdistricts,  and  a  male  prin- 
cipal for  each  department  and  a  iemale  one  for  each  subdistrict  were  provided  for.  Ifl. 
P.  Vaile,  Alfred  Humphreys  and  C.  Forney  were  elected  supervising  principals  of 
the  three  departments,  among  which  the  schools  were  divided  as  follows:  1,  Park 
and  Spring  Street  schools  and  the  suburban  ones  in  the  northern  part  of  the  city ; 
2,  the  SuUivant  school,  the  Middle  Building  and  the  schools  of  Franklinton  and 
"Middletown"  (Fieser);  3,  The  South  Building,  the  German-English  schools 
and  the  suburban  ones  in  the  eastern  and  southern  portions  of  the  city.  A  female 
superintendent  was  placed  in  charge  of  each  largo  building,  and  the  A-Grammar 
classes  which  had  been  distributed  among  six  buildings  were  united  in  three 
classes,  of  which  two  were  assigned  to  the  Sullivant  and   one  to   tlie  Central  Ger. 


The  Schoolh.     II. 


563 


maii-Englieh  school.  The  duties  of  Mr.  Vailo  wuie  divided,  upon  \na  resignation, 
which  soon  toolf  place,  between  the  two  remaining  supervising  principals.  The 
eonrso  of  study  was  tliopijughly  revised  and  its  length  redaced  from  thirteen  years 
ti>  twelve.  Tlie  grades  were  designated  as  A,  B,  C  and  U  Primary  and  A,  B,  C 
and  I)  Grammar.  The  elements  of  zoology,  botany  and  physics  were  introduced, 
and  in  the  grainmiir  grades  one  hour  per  week  was  devoted  to  oral  Instruction  in 


NORTH  side;  high  school  building,  ) 


these  sciences.  To  secure  full  and  accurate  statistics  of  the  work  performed  new 
blanks  for  leaehei-n'  reports  were  prepared.  In  lieu  of  the  practice  of  marking 
daily  recitations,  periodical  examinations  were  adopted.  On  the  basis  of  these 
c:iaminations  many  promotions  from  lower  to  higher  grades  took  place;  the 
standing  shown  by  the  eitaminations  was  considered  in  the  promotions  made  at 
the  end  of  the  year.     Meetings  of  teachers  for  discussion  and  compari.'Wn  were  fre- 


5i>4  History  of  thk  (^ity  of  CoLrMBirs. 

quont.  The  Hular}'  of  the  Superintendent  was  raised  to  8i>,()(M);  of  the  usHistantH 
to  $1,500  each;  of  the  Principal  of  the  Ilit^h  School  to  $2,(MM» :  ol*  (he  ]>rincip!il.s  of 
the  Grammar  and  Primar}'  departments  from  SSOO  to  $1,000;  of  the  otlier  teucbers 
tlie  salaries  varied  from  $400  (o  $700,  according  to  efficiency  and  experience.  T.  C. 
Mendenhall,  then  teaching  in  the  High  School,  gave,  outside  of  school  hours,  a 
course  of  triweekly  lectures  on  phj-sics  for  the  benefit  of  the  teachers.  Visiting 
committees  whose  duty  it  was  to  inspect  the  various  grades  to  which  they  were 
assigned  at  least  once  a  month,  and  to  attend  and  report  upon  the  public  examina- 
tions, were  appointed  by  the  Board.  The  standard  of  proficiency  required  in  the 
High  School  was  fixed  at  sixty  per  cent,  as  the  minimum  in  any  one  study  and  at 
seventy  per  cent,  as  a  general  average.  The  requirement  for  promotion  from  tlio 
A -Grammar  grade  to  the  High  School  was  fortyfive  per  cent,  minimum  and  sixty 
per  cent,  as  the  general  average;  in  the  B,  C  and  D  Grammar  and  the  Primary 
grades  forty  per  cent,  was  the  minimum  and  sixt}'  the  general  average.  As  the 
years  2>assed,  this  standard  was  raised. 

At  the  end  of  the  school  j'ear  1872-3  Professor  T.  C.  Mendenhall  retired  from 
the  High  School  to  assume  the  duties  of  Professor  of  Phj^sics  in  the  Ohio  Ac^ri- 
cultural  and  Mechanical  College.  Albert  G.  Farr,  who  had  for  several  years 
been  associated  with  Professor  Mendenhall  in  the  High  School,  was  elected  teacher 
of  physics.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  school  j-ear  1873,  C.  F.  Krimmel 
resigned  from  the  duties  of  Assistant  Superintendent,  which  were  thereupon 
assumed  by  the  Superintendent  and  his  remaining  assistants.  Drawing  and  music 
were  made  prominent  features  of  the  course  of  instruction,  which  was  revised  from 
time  to  time  according  to  the  suggestions  of  experience.  In  accordance  with  sug- 
gestions from  the  Board,  additional  time  was  given  to  English  literature  and  com- 
position, and  courses  denominated  English,  German-English,  Latin-English  and 
Classical  were  provided  for.  The  English  course  was  one  of  three  years;  the 
others  contained  English  literature  in  their  first  and  last  years.  In  1877  the  three- 
year  and  the  classical  courses  were  abandoned  and  the  other  two  were  combined 
with  elective  studies  and  English  through  most  of  the  curriculum.  In  1884  Greek 
was  dropped  from  the  High  School  and  in  1885  a  "  business  course  "  was  adopted. 

The  German-English  schools  have  always  formed  an  integral  part  of  the 
Columbus  system,  of  which  they  have  constituted  a  proportion  varying  from  one- 
eighth  to  onefourth.  Generously  sustained,  they  have  also  beeu  wisely  directed 
and  have  been  patronized  by  many  native  American  families  on  account  of  their 
superior  advantages  for  language  study.  They  send  up  to  the  High  and  Normal 
schools  pupils  of  unusual  thoroughness  in  scholarship.  In  1872  they  were  attended 
by  over  fifteen  hundred,  and  in  1886  by  more  than  three  thousand  scholars.  They 
were  mostly  located  in  the  southern  i)art  of  the  city.  The  study  of  German  was 
permitted  only  on  the  request  of  parents  and  was  found  to  be  no  hindrance  but 
rather  an  advantage  in  the  completion  of  the  English  course.  Institutes  for  the 
teachers  of  the  city  began  to  be  held  in  1874  and  were  frequently  visited  by  dis- 
tinguished educators  from  abroad.  A  City  Teachers'  Association,  organized  in 
October,  1880,  was  maintained  for  several  years  afterwards.     In  1875  the  supers 


The  Schools.     II.  565 

vi^^illg  force  was  reduced  by  adding  the  duties  of  the  Clerk  of  tlie  Bofird  of  Educa- 
tion to  those  of  the  Assistant  Superintendent. 

At  the  request  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Education  at  Washington  the  Board 
prepared  an  exhibit  to  represent  the  schools  of  Columbus  at  the  Vienna  Exposi- 
tion in  1878.  For  this  purpose  the  manuscripts  of  the  scholars  in  the  monthly 
examination  of  January,  1872,  were  bound  in  eleven  volumes,  each  containing 
about  one  thousand  pages.  For  those  papers  and  accompanying  reports  a  diploma 
of  merit  was  awarded.  At  the  Centennial  Exposition  held  at  Philadelphia  in  1876 
tlie  Columbus  schools  were  represented  by  an  educational  exhibit  consisting  of 
twa'nty  volumes,  eighteen  of  which  were  wholly  the  work  of  the  pupils.  Each 
volume  oonlained  about  eight  hundred  pages.  By  invitation,  an  exhibit  of  draw- 
ing from  our  schools  was  made  at  the  New  Orleans  Exposition  of  1884.  Premi- 
ums for  the  art  work  of  j^upils  of  the  Columbus  schools  have  frequently  been 
awarded  at  the  Ohio  State  Fair;  the  number  of  such  premiums  conferred  at  the 
Faii^of  1883  was  twentyfour.  During  the  same  year  specimens  of  art  work  from 
our  schools,  in  such  number  as  to  cover  over  one  thousand  square  feet  of  wall 
space,  wore  exhibited  at  an  educational  exposition  held  at  Madison,  Wisconsin,  and 
elicited  high  commendation. 

In  1874  a  class  of  colored  pupils  applied  for  admission  to  the  High  School,  and 
all  of  the  applicants  who  passed  the  examination  were  received.  The  next  step  in 
the  solution  of  this  problem  was  to  admit  colored  pupils  to  the  schools  for 
white  children,  which  was  done  without  difficulty  and  with  only  one  protest.  The 
third  step  was  the  distribution  of  the  two  higher  Grammar  grades  of  the  separate 
colored  school  to  the  buildings  occupied  by  white  children.  By  resolution  of  the 
Hoard  the  Superintendent  was  instructed  in  1881  to  place  all  pupils  in  buildings  in 
the  districts  w^here  they  dwelt,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  schools  on  Monday, 
September  5,  of  that  year,  the  colored  people  availed  themselves  of  this  privilege. 
The  principal  of  the  Loving  School  had  only  four  pupils  in  his  room  ;  one  or  two 
other  teachers  had  only  a  few.  The  final  step  in  this  movement  was  taken 
February  21,  1882,  by  the  sale  of  the  building  which  had  been  used  exclusively  for 
colored  children.  This  resulted  in  the  distribution  of  all  the  colored  youth  of 
school  age  to  the  other  buildings. 

In  1883,  in  order  to  relieve  the  crowded  condition  of  the  High  School,  a  branch 
of  that  institution  was  established  in  the  Second  Avenue  building  with  C.  D.  Everett 
as  Principal  and  Miss  Eosa  Hesse  as  assistant. 

During  this  administration  the  number  of  schools  increased  from  100  to  1D8 ; 
the  number  of  pupils  in  the  High  School  from  211  to  652;  the  number  in  the 
grammar  grades  from  1,714  to  3,617;  in  the  Primary,  from  4,129  to  7,227 ;  and  the 
number  of  teachers  from  110  to  229.  In  1881  Mr.  A.  G.  Farr  severed  his  con- 
nection with  the  High  School,  of  which  he  was  an  alumnus,  after  a  service  of  eleven 
years.  Mr.  Abram  Brown  was  reelected  as  Principal  of  the  School,  the  general 
progress  of  which,  particularly  in  the  department  of  phj'sics,  probably  surpassed 
that  of  any  similar  institution  in  the  State. 

Jacob  A.  Shawan,  A.  M.,  sixth  Superintendent  of  the  Columbus  schools, 
elected    on    June  11,   1889,   is  a    native  of  Wapakoneta,  Ohio,  and    a   graduat-e 


666  HlKTORY   OF    THE    ClTY    OF   C0LUMBU8. 

of  Oberlin  College.  At  the  time  of  hie  call  to  Columbus  he  was  at  the 
head  of  the  publie  schools  of  Mount  Vernon.  His  activity  in  educational  a880cia 
tions  and  movements  has  been  marked.  During  hi«  administration  numerous 
improvements  to  the  school  property  of  the  city  have  been  made,  amon^^  which 
may  be  mentioned  the  Eighth  Avenue  building  and  an  addition  to  that  on  Elast 
Friend  Street,  both  erected  in  1889;  the  Fair  Avenue  building  and  three  additions 
erected  in  1890,  and  four  other  buildings  and  additions  now  in  course  of  construc- 
tion. In  conjunction  with  this  enlargement  of  material  facilities  the  rules  and  regu- 
lations and  the  courses  of  study  have  been  carefully  revised.  More  time  has  been 
given  to  reading,  arithmetic,  geography  and  history,  and  less  to  music  and  drain- 
ing. The  series  of  textbooks  entitled  "  Classics  for  Children  ''  has  been  adopted 
for  supplementary  reading  ifi  the  grammar  grades.  The  course  in  United  States 
Histor}'  has  been  extended  from  one  to  two  years,  and  a  special  course  preparatory 
to  the  Ohio  State  University  has  been  introduced  in  the  High  School,  the  other 
courses  of  which  have  been  so  arranged  as  to  afford  time  for  careful  review  of  the 
common  branches  during  the  last  half  of  the  senior  year  by  candidates  for  the 
profession  of  teaching.  Enforcement  of  the  compulsory  school  law  and  supervision 
of  the  night  schools  have  been  added  to  the  other  duties  of  the  Superintendent. 
In  pursuance  of  the  compulsory  law,  David  O.  Mull  was  elected  truant  officer,  hut 
a  conservative  course  has  been  |>ursued  in  the  sentence  of  delinquents  to  the 
Reform  Farm,  and  the  law  has  been  so  administered  as  to  commend  it  to  popular 
favor  while  increasing  the  school  attendance.  Mr.  Mull  having  died,  John  E.  Jones 
was  elected  his  successor.  For  the  benefit  of  children  affected  by  the  compulsory 
law,  who  were  unable  to  attend  day  school,  night  schools  have  been  conducted 
about  two  months  during  the  winter  season  and  were  attended  in  1890  by  434 
persons;  in  1891  b}'^  796. 

During  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Shawan's  service  the  following  plan  of  promotions 
was  announced :  1.  The  teachers  to  make  an  occasional  estimate  of  the  daily 
work  of  each  pupil  in  each  study,  to  constitute  the  grade  in  recitations:  2.  Three 
regular  written  examinations  to  be  held  during  the  .year,  the  third  covering  the 
work  of  the  entire  year  inchiding  that  graded  ;  3.  An  estimate  in  habits  of  study 
to  be  made  once  or  more  per  year  as  a  test  of  the  degrees  of  application  ;  4.  Pupils 
susUiining  an  average  grade  of  eightyfive  or  more  in  any  study,  taking  the  three 
foregoing  elements  into  account,  to  be  excused  from  final  examination  provided 
the  standing  in  deportment  is  eightyfive  or  more;  5.  Seventy  lo  be  the  passing 
grade  in  each  branch  of  stud3^  This  plan  has  proved  satisfactory  and  has  been 
applied,  in  substance,  to  the  High  School.  In  the  lowest  primary  grades  instruc- 
tion in  reading  is  begun  with  the  sentence  method,  "as  children  comprehend 
a  simple  thought  expressed  in  words  more  readily  than  thev  do  an  idea  as 
expressed  by  a  single  word."  Further  on,  a  coml)inod  method  is  used  embracing 
the  good  points  of  the  word  and  phonic  methods.  On  January  1,  1892,  C.  W. 
Slocum  was  a])pointe<l  special  teacher  of  penmanship,  and  recently  the  Board  has 
engaged  Anton  Leibold  as  a  special  instructor  in  physical  culture.  The  classifica- 
tion of  the  schools  has  remained  substantially  unchanged;  in  buildings  of  less  than 
twelve  rooms  the  princi])als  are  held  responsible  fur  the  government  of  the  entire 


The  Schools.     II.  567 

building;  in  buildings  containing  twelve  or  more  rooms  the  principals  teach  cer- 
tain classes  regularly,  give  model  lessons  for  inexperienced  teachers  and  take  per- 
sonal charge  of  the  backward  pupils;  the  principal  of  the  High  School  teaches 
from  one  to  two  classes  regularly. 

When  women  were  first  employed  as  i>rincipals,  it  was  done  as  a  matter  of 
economy  and  with  many  misgivings  as  to  the  success  that  would  attend  this  inno- 
vation ;  but  experience  has  justified  the  step  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Board  has 
adopted  the  equitable  rule  that  salaries  in  school  work  should  be  based  on  the 
character  of  the  service  performed  without  regard  to  sex,  and  in  accordance  with 
this  enlightened  view,  the  Board  of  Education,  on  June  17,  1890,  placed  the 
female  teachers  in  the  High  School  on  the  same  basis  as  to  compensation  as 
the  male  teachers,  which  is  to  say,  the}''  were  to  receive  ^1,000  for  the  first  year's 
service  and  an  increase  of  $100  per  year  until  the  maximum  of  $1,500  should  be 
reached.  As  early  as  1846  Samuel  Galloway  recommended  the  substitution  of 
female  for  male  teachers,  but  not  merely  as  a  measure  of  economy  nor  from  the 
weightier  consideration  that  the  schools  could  be  maintained  for  a  longer  period  ; 
but  from  the  "conviction  that  more  eminent  moral  and  intellectual  advantages 
would  result  to  the  country."  "Woman,"  said  he,  "appears  to  be  Heaven-anointed 
for  ministering  in  the  sacred  temple  of  education." 

"  1  am  glad  to  be  able,"  says  Superintendent  Shawan,  "  to  testify  to  the  pro- 
fessional spirit  of*  our  teachers."  The  Columbus  Educational  Association  has  a 
largo  membership,  and  the  various  reading  circles  organized  under  the  direction 
of  the  Ohio  Teachers'  Eeading  Circle  have  an  aggregate  membership  of  181, 
Columbus  having  a  larger  membership  than  any  other  city  in  the  State.  The 
enrollment  in  the  High  School  now  exceeds  one  thousand  ;  in  1889  it  was  652. 

Instruction  in  music,  introduced  in  1854,  has  ever  since  been  included  in  the 
course  of  study.  Its  early  teachers  were  Messrs.  Dunbar,  Phipps,  VanMeter,  Carl 
L.  Spohr,  Carl  Schoppelrei  and  Hermann  Eckhardt.  Professor  Eckhardt  resigned 
in  1873  and  was  succeeded  by  J.  A.  Scarritt.  Mason's  Natural  Music  Course, 
known  as  the  Boston  System,  was  adopted.  In  1880,  Miss  Mary  H.  Wirth,  a 
teacher  of  ability;  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  department  of  music  in  the  High 
School.  On  June  29,  1886,  Professor  Scarritt  resigned.  His  successor  was  W.  H. 
Lott,  bv  whom  the  course  of  musical  instruction  was  revised  and  the  National 
Music  Course  was  adopted.  In  1888  he  was  directed  by  the  Board  to  give  special 
instruction  to  all  the  teachers  who  were  unable  to  teach  music  satisfactorily.  His 
salary  was  raised  during  the  same  year  to  two  thousand  dollars.  On  the  occasion 
of  the  reception  of  General  Grant  in  1878  a  chorus  composed  of  two  thousand 
school  children  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Scarritt  rendered  the  song  of 
welcome  written  for  the  occasion.  "The  singers  were  massed  in  the  Rotunda  of 
the  StatehouHc  and  made  its  arches  ring  with  earnest,  joyous  welcome."  One  of 
the  memorable.features  of  the  opening  day  of  the  Ohio  Centennial  in  1888  w^as  the 
rendering,  under  direction  of  Professor  Lott,  of  the  Centennial  song  by  a  chil- 
dren's chorus  of  one  thousand  voices.  Recently  the  Board  of  Education  has 
adopted  a  rule  that  every  teacher  shall  be  qualified  to  give  instruction  in 
music. 


5t>8  History  of  the  City  ov  Columbus. 

Ill  1872  instruetion  in  drawing  was  given  by  the  teacher  of  penmanship.  At 
a  later  dater  Walter  Smith's  system  ofindustrial  drawing  wns  introduced  and  Pro- 
fessor Wilh'am  Briggs,  of  Boston,  was  engaged  to  instruct  tlie  teachers  and  mark 
out  a  graded  course  in  this  branch.  Before  the  opening  of  the  schools  in  the 
fall  of  1874,  Professor  Walter  S.  Goodnough  was  elected  Superintendent  of  Art 
Education  at  a  salary  of  $1,500.  A  graded  course  of  Art  instruction  was  intro- 
duced, drawing  classes  were  organized,  and  on  November  18,  1875,  a  free  even- 
ing art  school  was  opened  which  continued  for  some  time  with  an  average 
attendance  of  from  forty  to  fifty  pupils.  A  room  was  specially  fitted  up  for 
drawing  purposes  in  the  High  School  and  was  supplied  with  a  generous  collec- 
tion of  examples  and  models.  Miss  N.  Neaie  Stewart,  who  had  for  some  time  boon 
special  teacher  of  drawing  in  the  High  School,  resigned  in  1879  and  was  succeeded 
by  Miss  Helen  Frasor.  The  salary  of  Professor  Goodnough  was  raised  in  1882  to 
$1,800. 

Under  his  supervision  the  course  in  drawing  developed  into  a  system  of 
manual  training.  In  December,  1890,  Professor  Goodnough  resigned  to  take 
charge  of  a  similar  department  in  the  schools  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  Miss 
Helen  Fraser  was  elected  as  his  successor.  Miss  Jane  1).  Patterson  was  promoted 
to  the  position  of  teacher  of  drawing  in  the  High  School,  and  Miss  Lizzie  Cook 
was  elected  an  assistant  teacher  in  the  same  branch. 

In  his  first  annual  report  Superintendent  Stevenson  suggested  to  the  Board  of 
Education  the  propriety  of  establishing  in  the  High  School  a  class  for  instruction 
in  teaching,  and  in  the  following  year  the  Board  of  City  Examiners  expressed  the 
opinion  that  a  training  school  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  should  be  estab- 
lished. On  September  25,  1875,  a  school*  for  normal  instruction,  to  be  held  each 
Saturday  forenoon,  was  opened  under  direction  of  the  Principal  of  the  High  School, 
who  was  assisted  by  such  members  of  the  corps  of  tcacliei*s  as  he  might  select. 
The  teachers  chosen  for  this  service  performed  it  without  extra  compensation. 
The  course  of  instruction  embraced  the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching,  reading, 
writing,  arithmetic,  grammar,  geography,  physics  and  German,  and  was  limited  to 
two  years.  Upon  its  comj>letion  a  certificate  of  recommendation  to  the  City  Board 
of  Examiners  was  granted  afler  a  satisfactory  test  of  proficiency.  High  School 
pupils  who  had  reached  the  age  of  sixteen  wore  entitled  to  the  ])rivileges  of  the 
normal  class.  The  number  of  scholars  enrolled  in  this  school  varied  from  sixty  to 
one  hundred  and  twentyfour.  It  soon  became  evident  that  the  class  could  not 
supply  thoroughly  qualified  teachers  ;  nevertheless  it  was  an  initiatory  step  toward 
the  establishment  of  a  normal  department.  In  August,  1888,  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion authorized  the  organization  of  a  normal  school  to  be  placed  under  the  charge 
of  Miss  L.  Hughes  as  Principal,  and  Miss  N.  T.  VVolverLon  as  training  teacher. 
The  school  was  opened  in  the  Sullivant  building  during  the  following  September 
and  consisted  of  two  departments,  one  of  theory  and  one  of  training.  The  train- 
ing departments  comprised  three  and  sometimes  four  primary  schools,  usually  of 
different  grades.  Pupils  were  admitted  after  having  completed  the  High  School 
course,  or  its  equivalent,  and  having  been  tested  in  the  riindainental  branches  by 
the  City  Board  of  Examiners.     In  1889  the  school  was  reorganized  in  pursuance  of 


The  Schools.     II.  569 

a  plan  reported  b}'  the  normal  scliool  committee  of  the  Board  of  Education  adopted 
July  10.  Thenceforward  the  normal  course  comprised  a  department  of  theory 
and  two  departments  of  practice,  one  of  the  latter  consisting  of  eight  model  schools 
located  in  pairs  in  separate  buildings  and  including  the  primary  and  grammar 
grades;  the  other  do])artment  of  practice  included  the  eightroom  buildings  and 
such  others  as  the  Superintendent  might  select.  On  July  16,  1889,  Miss  Margaret 
W.  Sutherland  was  elected  Principal  of  the  Normal  School  and  Miss  Alma  Simp- 
son, Miss  Mary  Gordon  and  Miss  Pauline  Mees  were  elected  as  training  teachei*s. 
In  1890  Miss  Anna  M.  Osgood  and  Miss  Augusta  Becker  were  also  elected  trainin:;^ 
teachers,  the  latter  in  lieu  of  Miss  Simpson,  who  resigned.  Under  the  supervision 
of  Miss  Sutherland,  ^ho  is  widely  known  as  assistant  editorof  the  Ohio  Educa- 
tional Monthly^  the  normal  school  has  taken  rank  among  the  best  of  its  kind  in  the 
State.  Its  course  includes  psychology  and  moral  science,  school  management  and 
the  history  of  education,  and  a  review  of  the  common  branches  with  reference  to 
methods  of  teaching.  The  kind  of  school  government  inculcated  **  is  that  which 
aims  at  character  culture  as  its  result."  The  department  of  theory  and  two  of  the 
model  schools  under  the  training  teachers  are  located  in  the  Sullivant  building ; 
two  of  the  model  schools  are  in  the  Garfield,  two  in  the  Central  German  and  two 
in  the  Fit\h  Avenue  building.  In  the  department  of  observation  and  practice  the 
pupil-teachers  assist  the  principals  to  whom  they  have  been  assigned  and  in  this 
way  obtain  an  insight  into  the  general  working  of  the  schools  of  the  city. 

Before  the  Normal  School  was  organized  about  twothirds  of  the  teachers 
annually  employed  by  the  Board  had  been  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
the  city.  Most  of  them  had  graduated  from  the  High  School,  but  a  few  had  passed 
through  the  grammar  grades  only.  Since  the  Normal  School  has  been  established 
the  standard  of  teaching  qualifications  has  been  raised  and  few  untrained  teachers 
have  been  employed.  Of  the  297  teachers  now  employed  in  the  schools  of  the  cit}', 
205  are  graduates  of  the  High  School  and  115  are  graduates  of  the  Normal  School. 

Ever  since  the  gradation  of  the  schools  in  1847  the  school  library  has 
been  cherished  as  an  important  educational  agency.  Early  in  Doctor  Lord's 
administration  a  library  of  books  on  the  subject  of  education  and  the  theory  and 
practice  of  teaching  w^as  formed.  In  1853  the  High  School  library  contained  649 
volumes;  the  libraries  of  the  grammar  departments  1,635  volumes  ;  total  2,284.  In 
1872  the  number  of  books  in  the  High  School  library  had  increased  to  about 
thirteen  hundred.  At  the  opening  of  the  City  Library  on  March  1,  1873,  the 
Board  of  Education  placed  therein  385  volumes.  Further  deposits  from  the  same 
source  were  made  as  follows:  August  21,  1874,  one  hundred  volumes;  September 
28,  1875,  two  hundred  and  nineteen  volumes.  These  later  deposits  chiefly  consisted 
of  juvenile  books  transferred  from  the  High  School.  On  July  19,  1875,  an 
arrangement  was  made  between  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  Trustees  of  the 
City  Library  whereby  the  two  libraries  were  temporarily  united,  that  of  the  city 
being  controlled  hj'  a  Board  of  Tru-itees  consistini^  of  the  Mayor,  the  President  of 
the  ('ity  Council,  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  four  members 
elected  b}'  the  Council.  Rev.  J.  L.  Grover  was  tlie  Librarian.  To  this  boanl  was 
entrusted  the  keeping  and  management  of  the  school  library,  the  Board  of  Educa- 


670  History  or  the  City  op  Columbus. 

lion  bearing  about  half  of  the  expense.  Since  1876  the  Board  of  Education 
has  received  the  benefit  of  a  tax  levy  of  onetenth  of  a  mill  per  dollar  for  library  pur- 
poses, and  the  City  Council  has  had  for  the  same  purpose  a  levy  of  onetwentieth  of 
a  mill  per  dollar.  In  1890, 16,796  of  the  28,000  volumes  in  the  combined  libraries 
belonged  to  that  of  the  schools.  The  veteran  librarian,  Rev.  J.  L.  Grover,  has  had 
for  his  assistants  John  J.  Pugh  and  Evan  J.  Williams,  who  still  have  charge  of  the 
Public  Library. 

But  the  combined  collections  of  books  outgrew  their  accommodations  in  the 
City  Hall,  and  an  obvious  duty  devolved  upon  the  Board  of  Education  of  provid- 
ing for  the  school  collection  separate  apartments  where  it  would  be  under  the 
exclusive  management  of  the  Board.  Accordingly,  after  careful  consideration  of 
the  prices  and  availability  of  various  sites  and  properties,  the  committee  on  Public 
School  Library  recommended  that  the  Town  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
should  be  purchased  for  S35,000,  and  that  it  should  be  reconstructed  and  furnished 
for  the  uses  of  the  library  and  the  official  meetings  of  the  Board.  This  recom- 
mendation was  unanimously  adopted;  on  June  H,  1890,  the  purchase  was  con- 
summated ;  and  in  1891  the  reconstruction  of  the  building  was  completed.  The 
building  is  centrally  located,  architecturally  handsome,  and,  in  addition  to  its 
principal  library  room,  52  x  59  feet,  provides  assembly  rooms  for  teachers  and 
principals,  rooms  for  the  Board  of  Education  and  offices  for  the  superintendents 
and  clerks.  On  March  24,  1891,  J.  H.  Spielman  was  elected  Librarian  ;  on  April 
20  of  the  same  year  Miss  Hattie  Toler  was  elected  first,  and  Mrs.  Charles  Taft 
second  assistant  librarian.  At  a  later  date  Mrs.  J.  L.  Eastman  was  engaged  as 
clerk.  On  April  7,  1892,  the  building  was  formally  opened,  and  thus,  on  the  spot 
where  seventysix  years  ago  a  primitive  school  was  conducted  in  a  little  log  church 
on  the  outskirts  of  a  pioneer  settlement,  has  been  established  the  libraiy  of  the 
schools  of  a  great  and  prosperous  city.  The  Public  Library  is  still  maintained 
in  the  City  Hall  and  continues  to  grow  in  extent  and  usefulness.  Both  it  and  the 
school  collection  are  alike  open  to  the  general  public  as  well  as  to  teachers  and 
scholars. 

BOARD  OF  EDUCATIOX. 

1820.     W.  T.  Martin,  Peleg  Sisson,  Charles  Hiukle. 

1827.  W.  T.  Martin,  James  Cherry,  Charles  Hinkle,  Daniel  Siiiith,  Otis  Crosby,  Williain 
Long. 

1828.  David  Smith,  Otis  Crosby,  William  Long,  C.  Hinkle,  W.  T.  Martin,  James 
Cherry. 

18iW.  John  Warner,  William  8t.  Clair,  Christian  Heyl,  Cieorge   JeflVies,  James  Cherry. 

183L  William  McElvain,  Horton  Howard,  Nathaniel  McL«»an,  David  Nelson,  A. 
Backus. 

1KV2.  John  L.  Gill,  I.  G.  Jones,  J.  Neereainer.  (Jeorjjje  JeflVies,  (leor^e  Delano,  Andrew 
Backus. 

18:^8.  John  L.  Gill,  I.  G.  Jones,  J.  Neereainer,  David  Smith,  \K  W.  Deshler,  Andrew 
Backus. 

1834.  John  Ream,  D.  W.  De.shler,  H.  Delano,  Andrew  Backus,  .Ihiiks  Cherry,  T.  Peters. 

183(i.  John  L.  Gill,  I.  G.  Jones,  J.  Neereamer,  I.  Wilson,  1).  W.  Deshler,  .lames  Cherry. 


The  Schools.     II.  571 

1837.  William  Armstrong,  J.  Ncereamer,  I.  G.  Jones,  Matbew  Mathews,  George  W. 
Slocum,  John  Otstot,  Robert  Cloud,  Elijah  Glover. 

1838.  Peleg  Sisson,  Adam  Brotherlin,  G.  W.  Slocum. 
1841.     James  Cherry,  P.  B.  Wilcox,  Peleg  Sisson. 

1845-6.  William  Long,  P.  B.  Wilcox,  James  Cherry ,  J.  B.  Thompson,  H.  F.  Huntington, 
S.  E.  Wright. 

1846-7.    J.  B.  Thompson.  S.  E.  Wright,  P.  B.  Wilcox,  James  Cherry,  William  Long. 

The  first  three  names  of  each  list  denote  those  of  the  President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer, 
respectively. 

1847-8.  William  Long,  S.  E.  Wright,  H.  F.  Huntington,  P.  B.  Wilcox,  J.  R.  Thompson, 
James  Cherry. 

1848-9.  William  Ijong,  S.  E.  Wright,  H.  F.  Huntington,  J.  R.  Thompson,  P.  B.  Wilcox, 
A.  F.  Perry. 

1849-50.  William  Long,  J.  L.  Bates,  H.  F.  Huntington,  J.  R.  Thompson,  S.  E.  Wright, 
J.  W.  Baldwin. 

1850-1.  J.  B.  Thompson,  J.  L.  Bates,  H.  F.  Huntington,  William  Long,  S.  E.  Wright, 
J.  W.  Baldwin. 

1851-2.  J.  B.  Thompson,  J.  L.  Bates,  H.  F.  Huntington,  William  Long,  S.  E.  Wright, 
Joseph  Sullivant. 

1852-3.  J.  B.  Thompson,  J.  L.  Bates,  H.  F.  Huntington,  S.  E.  Wright,  Joseph  Sul- 
livant, Thomas  Sparrow. 

1853-4.  Joseph  Sullivant,  S.  E.  Wright,  Thomas  Sparrow,  H.  F.  Huntington,  J.  K.  Lin- 
nel,  James  L.  Bates. 

1854-5.  Joseph  Sullivant,  S.  E.  Wright,  Thomas  Sparrow,  J.  K.  Linnel,  J.  J.  Janney, 
J.  L.  Bates. 

1855-6.  Joseph  Sullivant,  S.  E.  Wright,  J.  J.  Janney,  J.  K.  Linnel,  A.  B.  Buttles,  A.  S. 
Decker. 

1856-7.    Joseph  Sullivant,  S.  E  Wright,  J.  J.  Janney,  J.  G.  Miller,  A.  B.  Buttles. 

1857-8.  Joseph  Sullivant,  A.  B.  Buttles,  S.  E.  Wright,  A.  G.  Thurman,  J.  G.  Miller, 
A.  S.  Decker. 

185S-9.  Joseph  Sullivant,  A.  G.  Thurman,  Thomas  Sparrow,  J.  G.  Miller,  William  Tre- 
vitt,  George  Gere. 

1859-60.  Joseph  Sullivant,  Francis  Collins,  Thomas  Sparrow,  A.  G.  Thurman,  Doctor 
Eels,  J.  H.  Smith. 

1860-1.  Joseph  Sullivant,  John  Greiner,  Thomas  Sparrow,  A.  G.  Thurman,  J.  H.  Smith, 
George  Gere. 

1861-2.  Joseph  Sullivant,  Otto  Dresel,  Thomas  Sparrow,  George  Gere,  J.  H.  Smith,  Star- 
ling Loving. 

18()2-3.  William  Trevitt,  Otto  Dresel,  Thomas  Sparrow,  George  Gere,  Starling  Loving, 
E.  Walkup. 

1863-4.  William  Trevitt,  Otto  Dresel,  E.  Walkup,  Stariing  Loving,  E.  F.  Bingham,  S.  S. 
Rickly. 

1864-5.  Frederick  Fieser,  H.  T.  Chittenden,  E.  F.  Bingham,  T.  Lough,  C.  P.  L.  Butler, 
K.  Mees,  H.  Kneyde],S.  W.  Andrews,  J.  H.  Coulter. 

1865  6.  Joseph  Sullivant,  S.  W.  Andrews,  Frederick  Fieser,  E.  F.  Bingham,  H.  Kneydel, 
J.  H.  Coulter,  K.  Mees,  T.  Lough,  H.  T  Chittenden. 

186(»-7.  Joseph  Sullivant.  Peter  Johnson,  Frederick  Fieser,  E.  F.Bingham,  K.  Mees, 
Isaac  Aston,  Stariing  Loving,  S.  W.  Andrews,  T.  [x)ugh. 

1867-8.  Joseph  Sullivant,  Peter  Johnson,  Fredorick  Fieser,  K.  Mees,  E.F.Bingham, 
Isaac  Aston,  Starling  Loving,  S.  W.  Andrews,  T.  Lough. 

1868-9.  Frederick  Fieser,  Peter  John.son,  Joseph  Sullivant,  Otto  Dresel,  T.  Lough,  Star- 
ling lA)ving,  K.  Mees,  S.  W.  Andrews,  C.  P   L.  Butler. 


572  History  of  the  City  of  Columbup. 

1869.70.  Frederick  Fieser,  R.  O.  Hull.  O.  P.  L.  Butler,  SUrling  Loving,  Otto  Dresel, 
Daniel  Carroichael,  K.  Mees,  R.  M.  Denig,  Lewis  Hoster. 

1870-1.  Frederick  Fieser,  R.  C.  Hull,  C.  P.  L.  Butler,  Htarling  I>oving,  C.  T.  Clark,  Daniel 
Carmichael,  K.  Mees,  R.  M.  Denig,  Louis  Hoster. 

1871-2.  Frederick  Fieser,  R.  M.  Denig.  Starling  lx)ving,  C.  T.  Clark,  K.  Mees,  S.  W.  An- 
drews, Louis  Hoster,  C.  P.  L.  Butler,  T.  C.  Mann. 

1872-3.  Frederick  Fieser,  R.  M.  Denig,  Starling  Loving,  K.  Mees,  E.  F.  Bingham,  S.  W. 
Andrews,  Alexander  Neil,  Louis  Hoster,  V.  Pausch,  L.  J.  Critch field,  L.  D.  Myers. 

1873-4.  Sterling  Loving.  Otto  Dresel.  L.  D.  Myers,  L.  J.  Critchfield,  C.  C.  Walcutt,  J.  B. 
Schuller,  S.  W.  Andrews,  Louis  Siebert,  V.  Pausch,  Alexander  Neil,  Rudolph  Wirth. 

1874-5.  C.  C.  Walcutt,  S.  W.  Andrews,  L.  D.  Myers,  L.  J.  Critchfield,  Horace  Wilson, 
J.  B.  Schiiller,  Philip  Corzilius,  Louis  Siebert,  J.  W.  Hamilton,  Alexander  Neil,  Rudolph 
Wirth. 

1875-6.  C.  C.  Walcutt,  J.  E.  Huff",  L.  J.  Critchfield,  Horace  Wilson,  J.  B.  Schuller, 
C.  Engerofi".  Philip  Corzilius,  Louis  Siebert,  J.  W.  Hamilton,  J.  H.  Neil,  Alexander  Neil. 

1876  7.  C.  C.  Walcutt,  Charles  J.  Hardy,  J.  E.  Huff",  Horace  Wilson,  John  B.  Schuller, 
Henry  Olnhausen,  Louis  Siebert,  Starling  Loving,  J.  H.  Neil,  Alexander  Neil,  Christian 
Engerofi". 

1877-8.  Starling  Loving,  J.  E.  Huflf,  Charles  J.  Hardy,  C.  C.  Walcutt,  Horace  Wilson, 
George  Beck,  Henry  Olnhausen,  Louis  Siebert,  J.S.Andrews,   A.  Neil,  Christian  Engeroff. 

1878-9.  Starling  Loving,  J.  E.  Huff",  Charles  J.  Hardy,  C.  C.  Walcutt,  Charles  E.  Pal- 
mer, George  Beck,  Henry  Olnhausen,  Louis  Siebert,  J.  L.  Andrews,  Alexander  Neil,  Christian 
Engerofi". 

1879-80.  Henry  Olnhausen,  J.  E.  Huff",  C.  J.  Hardy,  C.  C.  Walcutt.  C.  F.  Palmer. 
George  Beck,.  Ix)uis  Siebert,  Starling  lx>ving,  J.  L.  .An<lrews,  Alexander  Neil,  Christian 
Engeroff^. 

1880-1.  C.  C.  Walcutt,  Louis  Siebert,  Christian  Engerofl',  George  Beck,  P.  H.  Bruck,  J. 
E.  Huff",  C.  T.Clark.  J.  L.  Andrews,  P.  W.  Corzilius,  L.  D.  Myers,  G.  H.  Stewart,  T.  P. 
Gordon,  Alexander  Neil. 

1881-2.  (\  C.  Walcutt,  J.  B.  Schuller,  P.  W.  Corzilius,  R.  Z.  Dawson,  G.  D.  Jones.  G.  H. 
Stewart,  8.  H.  Steward,  P.  H.  Bruck,  Starling  Loving,  T.  P.  Gordon,  G.  H.  Twiss,  E.  Pagels, 
C.  T.  Clark,  Alexander  Neil. 

18823.  C.  C.  Walcutt,  R.  Z.  Dawson,  P.  W.  Corzilius,  J.  B.  Schiiller,  G.  D.  Jones.  B.  N. 
Spahr,  S.  H.  Steward,  W.  H.  Slade,  Starling  Ix)ving,  F.  C.  Sessions,  G.  H.  Twiss,  E.  Pagels, 
C.  T.  Clark.  Alexander  Neil. 

1883-4.  Edward  Pagels,  J.  B.  Schuller,  P.  W.  Corzilius,  C.  A.  Miller,  C.  C.  Walcutt, 
W.  R.  Kinnear,  B.  N.  Spahr,  J.  Z.  Landes,  W.  S  Huff",  Starling  Loving,  George  H.  Twiss,  F. 
C.  Sessions,  F.  Schwan,  Alexander  Neil. 

1884-5.  Edward  Pagels,  J.  B.  Schuller,  P.  W.  Corzilius,  B.  N.  Spahr,  J.  J.  Stoddart,  C. 
C.  Walcutt.  W.  R.  Kinnear,  J.  Z.  Landes,  W.  S.  Huff",  James  Poindexter,  G.  H.  Twiss, 
Edward  Pryce,  F.  Schwan.  Alexander  Neil. 

1885-6.  B.  N.  Spahr,  W.  R.  Kinnear,  C.  C.  Walcutt,  Frederick  Krumm,  P.  W.  Corzilius, 
J.  B.  Schiiller,  J.  N.  Bennett,  W.  S.  Huff",  James  Poindexter,  J.  E.  Sater,  Edward  Pryce,  W. 
H.  Albery,  F.  Schwan,  Alexander  Neil. 

1886  7.  B.  N.  Spahr,  W.  R.  Kinnear,  C.  C.  Walcutt,  Frederick  Krumm,  John  Hein- 
miller,  J.  B.  Schuller,  J.  N.  Bennett,  W.  S.  Huff",  James  Poindexter,  E.  J.  Wilson,  W.  H. 
Albery,  Alexander  Neil,  J.  E.  Sater,  F.  Schwan. 

1887-8.  B.  N.  Spahr.  W.  U.  Ki-.near,  C.  C  Walcutt,  FitHKrick  Krumm,  John  Hein- 
miller,  Frederick  J.  Hcer,  J.  N.  Bennett,  W.  S.  Huff*,  James  Poin«K;xtir,  K.  J.  Wilson,  J.  A. 
Hedges,  Alexander  Neil,  D.  P.  Adams,  F.  Schwan,  J.  K  Sater. 

1888-9.  J.  E.  Sater,  F.  J.  Heer,  John  Heinmiller,  F.  Krumm,  C.  C.  Walcutt,  W.  R.  Kin- 
near,  E.  O.  Randall,  J.  N.  Bennett,  W.  S.  Huff",  James  Poindexter,  K.  J.  Wilson.  J.  A. 
Hedges,  W.  A.  McDonald,  D.  P.  Adams,  B.  H.  DeBruin. 


The  Schools.     II.  573 

18Sl)-00.  J.  E.  Sater,  B.  H.  DeBruin,  J.  H.  Bennett,  J.  A.  Hedges,  J.  U.  Barnhill,  James 
Poindexter,  E.  J.  Wilson,  E.  0.  Randall,  F.  Kriimm,  F.  J.  Heer,  John  Heinniiller,  W.  S. 
Huff,  W.  A.  McDonald,  D.  P.  Adams,  C.  C.  Walcutt. 

1890-1.  J.  A.  Hedges,  J.  U.  Barnhill,  F.  J.  Heer.  John  Heinmiller,  J.  J.  Stoddart,  C.  C. 
Walcutt,  T.  H.  Ricketts,  J.  N.  Bennett,  F.  Gunsaulus,  James  Poindexter,  E.  J.  Wilson,  W.  A. 
McDonald,  D.  P.  Adams,  William  A.  Inskeep.  Albert  Cooper. 

1891-2.  E.  J.  Wilson,  James  Poindexter,  F.  Gunsaulns,  J.  N.  Bennett,  Thomas  H. 
Ricketts,  Thomas  C.  Hoover,  C.  C.  Walcutt,  John  J.  Stoddart,  Henry  OInhausen,  F.  J.  Heer, 
G.  W.  Early,  W.  A.  McDonald,  E.  R.  Vincent,  W.  A.  Inskeep,  [^wis  C.  Lipps. 

1892-3.  J.  J.  Stoddart,  F.  J.  Heer,  T.  C.  Hoover,  J.  N.  Bennett,  James  Poindexter,  G. 
W.  Early,  E.  R.  Vincent,  L.  C.  Lipps,  H.  OInhausen,  Junior,  C.  C.  Walcutt,  Z.  L.  White,  F. 
Gunsaulus,  T.  A.  Morgan,  W.  A.  McDonald,  R.  S.  Albrittain. 

SCHOOL  EXAMINERS. 

1826-1892. 

1826.    James  Hoge,  C.  H.  Wetmore,  Henry  Mathews. 

1828.  Peleg  Sisson,  Bela  Latham,  Samuel  Parsons. 

1829.  Mease  Smith,  P.  B.  Wilcox. 

1832.  Isaac  N.  Whiting,  William  Preston. 

18,'i4.  John  M.  Ladd,  Erastus  Burr,  George  Jeffries,  W.  S.  Sullivant. 

1835.  W.  T.  Martin,  Joseph  Sullivant,  Mathew  J.  Gilbert. 

1836.  Joseph  Williams. 

1837.  Cyrus  S.  Hyde,  Arnold  Clapp,  Henry  Alden,  J.  R.  Rogers. 

1839.  W.  Smith,  Warren  Jenkins,  Noah  H.  Swayne. 

1840.  Mathew  J.  Gilbert,  Lewis  Heyl,  A.  Curtis,  T.  Cressey,  Abiel  Foster,  Junior. 

1842.  Henry  S.  Hitchcock,  S.  T.  Mills. 

1843.  James  K.  Simse. 

1845.  Charles  Jiieksch,  Samuel  T.  Mills,  Smithson  E.  Wright,  John  P.  Bruck. 

1846.  Samuel  C.  Andrews,  A.  P.  Frii-s.* 

1847.  A.  D.  Lord,  N.  Doolittle,  A.  F.  Perry. 

1856.  S.  C.  Andrews,  James  H.  Smith,  F.  J.  Mathews. 

1860.  E.  D.  Kingsley,  F.  J.  Mathews,  S.  C.  Andrews. 

1872.  W.  F.  Schatz,  Abram  Brown,  Charles  E.  Burr,  Junior. 

1873.  E.  E.  White,  Charles  E.  Burr,  W.  F.  Schatz. 

1876.     Frederick  Fieser,  T.  C.  Mendenhall,  R.  W.  Stevenson. 
1878.    Frederick  Fieser,  R.  W.  Stevenson,  J.  J.  Stoddart. 
1889.    J.  A.  Shawan,  J.  J.  Stoddart,  J.  J.  Lentz. 


!   CiTV   (tF    CnHIMBDH. 


1827  Aiwlemy    -_ 

1839  Rirh  Htre^t 

|M6MMille  BiiiMin);. 

l.s4.i'N"rlh  Biiililinic 

im.'jfw.iiih  BuMdiniE - 

IHTdCcTmBn-Engliah 

IS-'iS  Ail'lition  North  BitiMiaK- 
1S53  Addition  iteatb  Buililing- 


IS53 
1860 
18f» 
18(Ml 
186(1 

\ms 

1S68 


1873 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1675 
1675 
1876 
167U 
1679 
1879 


Central  Fourth  Street. . 
Old  State  Stivet.- 

Rich  Street 

High  School 

Park  Street 

Tl-urd  Street 

Spring  Street 

Fulton  Street 

Central  Fulton  — 

Loving  School 

Sullivant 

Fmnklinton 

8«KDnd  Avenue-— 

New  Street-- 

Firs 


Norlli   High'"--"'/ 
ffortli   Coliiinbus-- 

Mount  Airy 

Jahnatovn  Road... 

East  Broad 

!4outh  High 

Franklinton 

Friend  filreet 

Mount  FleaBant  — 


t8Ml 
18«l 
18H1 


1802 
1892 
1892 
1892 


Addition  to  Fieser 

East  Friend  Street 

Douglas 

Addition  to  High  School  — 

Northwood 

HoundStreet 

Franklinton 

Addition  to  First  Avenue- 
Addition  to  Fart  Street  — 

GBrfield  School 

Addition  to  Fulton  Street-. 
Addition  to  Second  Avenui 

Beck  Street 

Front  Street 

Fifth  Avenue 

Addition  to  Franklinton  — . 

Siebert  — 

Twentythird  Street 

Addition  to  Northwood  — 

Eiuhth  Avenue 

Addition  to  EaBt  Friend-.. 
Addition  to  First  Avenue.. 
Addition  to  High  School  - 
Addition  to  Fieeer 


Library  

Avondaie 

North  Side  lliKb  School- - 

Medary 

Addition  to  New  Street. - 


15.400  00 


S7,5(IO  00 
:W,070  OO' 
2ll,Ml!  00' 

1 7,(ei>i  m 

38,tNK)  00 
Sfi.rViO  00 
20,781  UO 
16,0I>0  00 
7S,«t7  00 


22,;!71  l» 
24,574  00 
Ilt.73l  IN) 
IJ.IOO  01) 


.1,500  00 
1.100  00 

i.aio  00 

1,000  00 
2,300  00 
10.600  00 
1,000  00 
1,350  00 
f),345  00 
12,710  00 
40,848  00 

le.Boi  00 

22,217  00 
51,430  00 
14,551  00 
7,944  00 

16,400  00 
58,783  00 
10,269  00' 
15,400  00 
13,000  W. 

»e,500  00 

52,582  00' 
11,140  00 
35,400  00, 
43,500  00 
10,600  00 
(36,000  00 
13,193  00; 
13,203  00 
O.500  00 
\Sfiin  00 
38.062  00 
45.000  00 


fiDtcar  Alley  and  Fimrt 
Tliirtl  near  tiii'li. 
Tliirtineftrllioh. 
IjongandThinl. 
Monnd  and  Third. 
Fourth  near  Fulton. 


Fourth  and  Fulton. 

Eant  .-^Ute  near  Fifth. 

Thinl  and  Rich. 

Sixth  and  Broml- 

Parkand  Vine. 

Third  ami  .-^v.ainore. 

Spring  HndNril. 

tult'Hi  iiiid  Washington  Arcni 

Fiiurth  and  Tnlton. 

Uug  and  Third. 

Elast  SUte  near  Fifth. 

W(-«t  Btoail  and  Sandusky. 

Ka«t  .'^etMnd  Avenue. 

New  ami  StewanI  Street*. 

Firal  Avenue  mid  John  Street. 

State  and  Starling  Streets, 


State  and  Surling. 

FaatMainAnd  Miller  Avenue. 

DouKlas  near  Oolt. 

Sixth  and  Broad 

North  High  aad  Northwood  Ave. 

Third  anil  Mound. 

West  Broad  and  San.lusky. 

FirKt  Avenue  iind  John  Strut't. 

Park  and  Vim: 

Uarfleld  and  Mount  Vernon  Av.-. 

Fulton  near  Washington  Avenue. 

East  Second  Avenue. 

Beck  and  3r)|{KS. 

Frontand  I.«n)( 

Fifili  AvenuHdiid  Highland. 

Kroad  and  Sanduety. 

Siebert  Street  and  Reinhard  Ave. 

Twenlylhird  and  Mount  Vernon, 

North  High  and  Northwood 

Kighth  Avmii,-  andWpsleyStreeU 

East  Friend  and  Mi  Hit  .Avenue. 

Fimt  Avenni-  and   Harrison   Ave. 


.  Sixth 
.  Stale 


I  lip.' 


rar  Laltu. 

.  1-jialTown  iinar  High. 
.  Town  anil  Avondaie. 

-  Dennison  and  Fourth  Avenaea. 

-  Medary  .iiid  TompkinB. 


The  Schools.     II. 

ENUMERATJ^)N,  ATTENDANCE  AND  EXPENDITURE. 

182(MK92. 


Vi-nr. 

244 

h<"'"r 

Twith's 

l-IxpfOilltllre;.. 

Yp«r, 

18511-00 

Kiium 

DnilV 

Tuvli'a 

BiprndUare.. 

IKl'll- 

tl48  25 

5,634 

1,828 

41 

128.1 11  06 

isai-3T 

273 

5 

ir.2  77 

1S«0-GI 

5,962 

1,766 

40 

38,315  18 

1827-2K 

•2m 

n 

i;fl)  87 

1861-62 

0.5.">;i 

1  919 

30 

37,889  72 

lS«tt-2H 

311 



n 

24.188 

1862-63 

7,494 

2.:m 

48 

29,763  48 

Ifl2!]-:H) 

31111 

0 

4:yi2B 

186.'MH 

7,241 

2,568 

56 

41,176  3t! 

ISMKil 

7)W 



G 

Slow 

lS«l-fi5 

7.7M 

2.038 

63 

52,239  02 

is.ii-:i2 

8»n 



0 

541  01 

186.'>-66 

8,216 

2,773 

68 

n8,SI6N  76 

1K3l'-33 

1,015 

7 

70D90 

1806-67 

8,598 

3,08,1 

70 

00,373  42 

1x33  :!4 

1.208 



7 

7(H7H 

1867-68 

8,619 

3,515 

W 

88.353  94 

1H.-H-:n 

1,205 

8 

8211  12 

1868-60 

11.373 

3.fiW) 

88 

98,769  82 

ISVi-ail 

I,3H1 



(1 

i.ini  55 

18611-70 

0,518 

3,652 

91 

113,488  18 

!n:[(1-;|- 

1,500 

!l 

1,172  3fi 

1870-71 

10,117 

3,765 

01 

137,581  65 

is:i--38 

IpM- 

n 

1,507  M 

1871-72 

ii>,r>i4 

3.713 

107 

148.H46  28 

is3«-m 

i,2;ii 

41X1 

12 

3.50i  10 

1872-73 

11,316 

4,402 

104 

137,270  51 

irtiJiHO 

1.33(1 

400 

12 

3,182  00 

1873-74 

11,751 

4,710 

116 

150,627  11 

lWO-41 

i,4.ii 

420 

12 

2,128  81 

1874-75 

13,198 

4,ii5a 

124 

170,224  11 

1«41-« 

l/lllH 

480 

13 

2,UT7  38 

1875-76 

12,6Sfi 

5082 

I2S 

17o,4:H  50 

lH42-« 

1,59S 

430 

13 

l,«40S6 

1876-77 

14,209 

i.iWi 

m 

162,260  70 

]8ia-44 

l,til2 

4r« 

15 

2,212  82 

1877-78 

14,246 

5,5o9 

144 

182.005  12 

1S14-45 

1,612 

420 

13 

2,174  SO 

1878-71) 

14,178 

5,707 

137 

164.708  36 

1»45^IS 

2,430 

500 

15 

3,377  34 

1879-80 

14,662 

5,953 

137 

ia6.W7  16 

1846-47     2,12? 

528 

14 

2,053  82 

1880-81 

15,889 

6,103 

167 

183,775  96 

1M7-JS  1  2,419 

799 

17 

17,776  16 

1881-82 

16,531 

6,542 

166 

266,538  17 

1H48-4B     2,0-20 

iUO 

18 

5,122  00 

1882-83 

16,858 

6,851 

178 

237,238  90 

184l)-50     2,825 

1.075 

20 

6,613  52 

1883-84 

17.498 

7,418 

(M 

202,796  44 

i»oO-6l     2,785 

i.107 

22 

7,lt9a  75 

1884-85 

17,498 

7,723 

201 

209.058  64 

1861-52 

2,790 

I.IOO 

22 

1,1,009  63 

1885-86 

19,682 

8,003 

207 

243.S1109 

1852-63 

3  710 

1,224 

24 

H),!45  33 

1886-87 

22,404 

8,460 

217 

227,546  87 

1853-54 

4,323 

1,343 

24 

33,249  93 

1887-88 

23,451 

8,940 

219 

264,746  79 

1854-55 

5,005 

1.575 

3S 

23.605  33 

1888-89 

25,648 

9,181 

229 

347,087  40 

1S55-50 

4,320 

1,533 

37 

18,4«7  51 

1881t-90 

26,164 

9,576 

255 

364,826  58 

1856-57 

4,366 

1,442 

30 

29,666  28 

18110 -01 

26,001 

10,404 

279 

459,166  79 

1857-58 

4,603 

1.550 

37 

30,547  88 

1891-92 

27,000 

11,000 

297 

433,000  00 

i8aa-5« 

8,234 

1,787 

38 

24,833  40 

57»)  IIiHToiiY  OP  TiiK  City  op  ('olumbis. 

(iRADUATKS  OF  TIIK  IIKJII    SCHOOL, 

1S51.  Ilt'nry  T.  CliitUndcn.  iHiibcIla  I'o<il«*,  Maria  K.  Duntoii,  Maria  Cutler,  Melane 
Karl,  St**rin»  Cbittoinlen,  Mary  K.  C«><>I,  Jam*  Fiti-li,  Mary  M.  hryer,  Pilizahetb  I).  Morjirnn, 
Anu'lia  N.  Darling',  Ln<y  M.  Wilctox,  Isabella  Brown. 

ISTri.  AIm'1  \V.  Hall,  Eujienia  <iray,  Elizabeth  C.  Tbomppon,  Mary  C.  McCle11aii<], 
Meli88a  H.  \Vi  b.-tcr,  Virj^inia  A.  Sami>Fon. 

18o3.  Cornelia  Jobnson,  Elizabeth  E.  Thatcher,  Eleanor  Morjran,  Francis  E.  Scarritt, 
Henry  Butler,  Henry  V.  Hitchock,  Mary  E.  Finley,  Mary  E.  Arnistronj?,  Montgomery 
H.  Lewis,  Mary  E.  Gooding,  Martha  Thompson,  Sarah  J.  I^uf^blin. 

1854.  Frances  V.  Washington,  Frank  Higgins,  Jano  Shepherd.  Kate  Gardiner,  Mary 
A.  Thnrsten,  Pamela  B.  Neil,  William  H.  Hubbell. 

1855.  Anna  C.  Foos,  Eliza  K.  Ball,  E^lward  C.  Stone,  Howard  Fay,  John  N.  Champion, 
John  Z.  Hall,  John  F.  Hitchcock,  Lizzie  B.  Gardiner,  Lucy  H.  Peters,  Mary  E.  Bamhart, 
Margaret  Richards,  Mar>'  W.  Campbell,  Melinda  S.  Holmes,  Mary  S.  Whitney,  Theodore 
8.  Greiner. 

1856.  Clarissa  Cram,  Charlotte  Herd,  Euphemia  Duncan,  Charles  W.  Remington,  Mary 
E.  Cutler,  Josiah  H.  Jenkins,  William  J.  P.  Morrison,  George  P.  Roberts. 

1857.  C.  Sullivant,  Edward  Bates,  James  Kilbourne,  John  M.  Wheaton,  Jennie  Stump, 
Kate  Dunning,  Lizzie  Christian,  Louisa  Stafford,  Lucy  Weaver,  Minnie  Awl,  Mary  Jones, 
Mattie  Thompson,  Mary  Howie,  Martin  Wright,  Mary  Hirsh,  Nettie  Johnson,  Sarah  Siebert, 
Tillie  Hayden,  William  H.  Rice. 

1858.  A.  Wright,  A.  S.  Field,  Linda  Clarkson,  Lizzie  Cooke,  C.  W.  Breyfogle,  Emma 
Humphreys,  Ed.  Rudisill,  Gus.  M.  Bascom,  H.  J.  Page,  H.  Raynor  Wood,  Jennie  Hard, 
Lizzie  F.  Merrick,  Marion  E.  Gault,  M.  B.  Gilbert,  Mary  Tuther,  L.  Babbitt,  R.  G.  Alexander, 
Wood  Awl,  W.  H.  Day,  W.  W.  Olds. 

1859.  Anna  Hall,  Annie  Washington,  Charles  H.  Hall,  Emma  McClelland,  Georgiana 
Williams,  Hannah  Wilier,  Henry  0*Kane,  Hiram  McArthur,  Irene  Barnhart,  John  A.  Ball, 
Julia  A.  Pryce,  lauraTruax,  Lizzie  Denig,  Ix)u.  Brownell,  Mattie  Riley,  Minnie  Lowe,  Mattie 
Simonton,  William  P.  Brown,  Thomas  J.  Janney. 

1860.  Amanda  McDonald.  Amelia  Sanderson,  D.  H.  Zigler,  F^rmine  Case,  G.  W.  Shields, 
John  S.  Roberts,  L.  S.  Sullivant,  Martha  Powell,  Mary  E.  Welherby,  Mary  E.  Dunbar,  Mary 
H.  Wirth,  W.  H.  Smith,  W.  B.  Headley. 

1801.  C.  E.  Baker,  C.  L.  Osborn,  Carrie  Strong,  C.  G.  Piatt,  B.  F.  Stage,  Emma  Black, 
P.  H.  Bruck,  F.  W.  Merrick,  Minnie  Neal,  Mary  S.  Bates,  Nellie  S.  Walker,  Selina  R.  Whitsel, 
R.  J.  Nelson,  Mary  L  Taylor. 

1862.  Antonie  E.  Mees,  Gertrude  Green,  Louisa  F.  Boyle,  Mary  E.  Edwards,  Pauline  S. 
Mees. 

1863.  Annie  E.  Marshall,  C.  Clay  Corner,  Emma  J.  Brown,  Fannie  B.  Scarritt,  George 
W.  Ball,  Jennie  Howell,  Julia  A.  Felton,  Julia  A.  Freeman,  J.  M.  Bennett,  Kate  Stone,  Louise 
C.  Christie,  Sarah  E.  Ogan. 

1864.  Clara  C.  Wetmore,  Florence  S.  Williams,  Hattie  L.  Cutler,  Isabella  Frost,  Jennie 
Proctor,  Jay  A.  Coatesworth,  John  P.  Bruck,  Mary  Douthart,  Morris  S.  Booth,  Mary  E. 
Denny,  Nettie  R.  Curtis,  Lillie  Nelson,  Lucy  A.  Booth,  S.  F.  Aapinwall. 

1865.  Annie  E.  Peters,  Arthur  Mees,  Ellen  A.  Hartford,  Grace  E.  Reed,  Helen  M. 
Hayden,  Helen  Millay,  Isadora  Runnels,  Minerva  S^.  Louder,  Martha  H.  Pilcher,  Theodore 
M.  K.  Mees. 

1866.  Anna  B.  Kilbourne,  Ada  Shewry,  Carrie  R.  Thacker,  Delia  Roberts,  Eugenia  G. 
Pearce,  George  Reuhlen,  Josie  E.  Romans,  Jennie  Hall,  Lucy  Benton,  Lydia  J.  Milne,  Elwood 
Williams,  Emma  C.  Willard,  Emily  A.Jennings,  F.  D.  Albery.  W.  H.  Albery,  Mags^te  A. 
Lewis,  R.  H.  Hurd,  Sarah  D.  Crozier,  W.  C.  Stewart. 

1867.  Albert  A.  Hall,  Alice  M.  Denning,  Belle  Clark,  Clara  A.  Pamar,  Ella  M.  Stage, 
Ella  Harrison,  Frank  B.  Fassig,  George  S.  Knapp,  George  C.  Hall,  Julia  A.  Young,  Josiah  R. 


The  Schools.    II.  577 

Smith,  Mattie  M.  Jenkins,  Maggie  B.  Eldridge,  Marion  Neil,  Lelie  8.  Dniry,  Mary  A. 
Ruggles,  Robert  A.  McGowan,  W.  P.  Little. 

1868.  Alexander  W.  Krumm,  Anna  M.  Janney,  Arthur  M.  Gray,  Anna  E.  Riordan, 
Emma  Armstrong,  Ellen  A.  Raehlen,  Francis  J.  Reed,  James  L.  Harrington,  Julia  A.  Powell, 
Josephine  Klippart,  Kate  R.  Mi  Hay,  Linda  E.  Work,  Linnie  S.  Wood,  Maria  L.  Shield,  Mary 
E,  Gale,  R.  R.  Rickly,  Rush  S.  Denig,  Libby  L.  Tarbox,  W.  L.  Jamison,  Z.  F.  Westervelt. 

1860.  Augusta  Pfeiffer,  Arthur  H.  Smythe,  Alice  Williard,  Alexander  Fraser,  Clara  G. 
Brown,  Cornie  Lonnis,  Carl  L.  Mees,  Lizzie  Briggs,  Laura  A.  Ritze,  Lizzie  White,  Laura 
Affleck,  Lucinda  B.  Weaver,  Mary  8.  Case,  Mary  M.  Harrington,  Frank  Merion,  Frank  B. 
Everett,  Frank  H.  Eldridge,  Frank  C.  Burt,  George  S.  Innis,  Hattie  J.  Comstock,  John  S. 
Galloway,  John  N.  Eldridge,  Susie  A.  Mendenhall,  Mary  H.  Fowler,  Mary  Graves,  M.  Alice 
Shaw,  Maggie  E.  Dennis,  Nannie  S.  Wise,  Anna  E.  Sims,  Rosa  D.  Weaver,  Sallie  M.  Harker, 
William  H.  Silver. 

1870.  Annie  E.  Spencer,  Annie  Palmer,  A.  G.  Fare,  Ella  E.  Palmer,  Emma  Franken- 
berg,  Flora  A.  Brooks,  Helen  M.  Wheeler,  Jessie  A.  Neate,  Jennie  Miner,  Jennie  M.  Tracy, 
Katie  C.  Ellis,  Kate  L.  Phelps.  Laura  V.  Schilling,  Mary  G.  Overdier,  Mary  L.  Fisher,  R. 
Grace  Denig. 

1871.  Alexander  L.  Smith,  O  P.  L.  Butler,  Clara  M.  McColm,  Ella  Fraser,  Grace  M. 
Dungan,  Isaac  M.  Bortle,  Isal>ella  C.  Innis,  Julia  L.  Lott,  Kate  B.  Foos,  Kate  B.  Ritson, 
Lucy  B.  Stone,  Percy  R.  Wilson,  Retta  M.  Cox,  Ralph  0.  Smith,  Belle  Williams,  Sallie  M. 
Dering,  Frances  G.  Janney. 

1872.  Anna  A.  Monypenny,  Alice  Hayden,  Carrie  L.  Olds,  David  W.  Pugh,  Edward  T. 
Williams,  George  W.  Stockton,  George  B.  Stewart,  John  C.  L.  Pugh,  Virginia  S.  Clark,  Louise 
Knoderer,  Lida  Postle,  Mary  M.  Denig.  Samuel  Bevilheimer. 

1873.  Delia  Bingham,  Jessie  F.  Wood,  Hattie  L.  Brocklehurst,  Emma  F.  Harris,  Ella 
Jones,  Ijaura  B.  Ware,  George  M.  Halm,  Curtis  C.  Howard,  Lilla  Southard,  Frank  P.  Ross, 
Emma  B.  Thompson,  Frank  D.  Jamison,  Eva  J.  Jones,  Wilbur  B.  Marple,  Edward  C.  Moore, 
Annie  M.  Osgood,  Annie  M.  Perley,  Sarah  F.Perry,  Eva  M.  Preston,  Addie  L.  Palmer,  Alice 
L.  Duval,  Ira  H    Wilson. 

1871.  William  Wallace,  Allie  L.  Cherry,  Nettie  H.  Martin,  Laura  Belle  Matthews,  Iila 
M.  Evans,  George  W.  Lattimer,  Lillie  E.  Eastman,  Ada  A.  Bell,  Ada  S.  McDowell,  John 
Field,  Rosella  A.  Moore,  Jennie  Ethelyn  Lewis,  Minnie  Hammond,  L.  Anna  Cornell,  George 
T.  Spahr,  Sadie  A.  Henderson,  Dida  Phillips.  Wade  Converse,  M.  Laura  Cbrnell,  Belle  M. 
Coit,  Jane  D.  Sullivant,  Anna  M.  Spencer,  G.  Stanton  Coit,  Edward  Pfeiffer. 

1875.  Ella  M.  Earhart,  Flora  E.  Shedd,  Julia  E.  Ware,  Clara  E.  Piatt,  Jessie  Creighton, 
Jennie  S.  B.  Cashatt.  Julia  T.  Hyer,  Mary  J.  Rowland,  Annie  E.  Hull,  Olive  M.  Beebe,  Min- 
nie M.  Bohanan,  Mary  Mnllay,  John  H.  Williams,  Lillie  M.  Davies,  Almeda  E.  Loomis, 
Libbie  M.  Cherry,  Osman  C.  Hooper,  Clara  L.  Remmy. 

1876.  Mary  D.  Anderson,  Harry  Barcus,  George  A.  Backus,  Kate  K.  Tower,  Janie  M. 
Earhart,  Charles  D.  Everett,  John  F.  Evans,  B.  Gard  Ewing,  Caddie  M.  Fiehl,  Harry  M.  Gal- 
loway, Annie  Houck,  Fannie  D.  Clark,  Jenny  Kelley,  Anna  Lofland,  Hattie  Adair,  Sarah 
Murray,  Christina  Robertson,  Cora  B.  Runyan,  Noble  L.  Rockey,  Ada  Stephens,  F.  Belle 
Swickard,  Charles  B.  Spahr,  Ida  Strickler,  F.  Josie  Tippett,  Edward  R.  Vincent,  Nettie  A. 
Wasson. 

1877.  Kate  T.  Ayers,  Harriet  E.  Akin,  Emma  Bancroft,  Jennie  Bailey,  Ida  M.  Stitts, 
Kate  Deterly,  Wilbur  T.  Eldridge,  Bertha  V.  Farr,  Edith  Fales,  Fred  W.  Flowers.  Nellie  8. 
Gill,  Kittie  Tablant,  Emma  M.  Howald,  Mary  P.  Jones,  Lily  Jamison,  Fannie  I.  Kinsell, 
Rebecca  L.  Kelly,  Emily  J.  Ogier,  Mary  L.  Miller,  Ida  E.  Marshall,  Annie  R.Jenkins,  Esther 
A.  Reynolds,  Mary  E.  Rose,  Mary  H.  Ritson,  Anna  B.  Smith,  M.  Ella  Stimpson,  Thomas  G. 
Spencer,  Cora  Breggs,  Kate  E.  Smith,  Fannie  B.  McCune,  Ida  B.  Rankin,  Lizzie  Wallace, 
Charles  A.  Woodward,  E.  J.  Warning,  Mary  Hall. 

37 


578  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

1878.  Emma  Pegg,  Caroline  Beatty,  Edith  C.  Bingham,  Callie  M.  Breyfogle,  Flora  S. 
Barnett,  Laura  Monett,  Harriet  G.  Bortle,  Emily  8.  Butler,  Mary  L.  Case,  Lettie  H.  Clark, 
Lizzie  F.  Curtiss,  John  W.  Champion,  Mary  E.  Cunningham,  Helen  M.  Day,  Phena  Neebitt, 
Martha  L.  Day,  Thomas  M.  Earl,  Mary  H.  Evans,  M.  Ada  Evans,  Lolla  J.  Foos,  Xeoma  Fank- 
house,  M.  Miller,  Lelia  J.  GriflBn,  Sada  J.  Harbargar,  Flora  Hesse,  Sylvester  W.  Hoffman, 
Ida  B.  Huffman,  Joseph  C.  Hull,  Adelia  M.  Hanlen,  Louise  Harpham,  Rosa  Hesse,  M. 
Leonora  Horlocker,  Minnie  B.  Hughes,  Mary  E.  Knight,  Jane  E.  Kershaw,  Eva  S.  Knopf, 
Emma  E.  Lesquereux,  Margaret  C.  Livingston,  Kate  M,  Haller,  Orville  McAninch,  Frank  B. 
Miller,  Thomas  A.  Morgan,  Kate  A.  Mullay,  Fred  C.  Marvin,  Mary  P.  McVay,  Henry  A. 
Morgan,  Sarah  J.  Morris,  Sarah  J.  Mullay,  Lizzie  B.  Nagle,  Ella  C.  Nevin,  Mary  H.  Neil, 
Mary  Osborn,  Clara  G,  Orton,  Emma  M.  Newburg,  Minnie  P.  Pickles,  Mary  E.  Poste,  Rosa 

A.  Reed,  Mary  A.  Ross,  Cora  M.  Ross,  A.  Mary  Runyan,  Charles  L.  Sohwenker,  Frank  R. 
Shinn,  Mortimer  C.  Smith,  Lucy  T.  Sells,  Carrie  0.  Shoemaker,  Louisa  D.  Stelzer,  Harriet  E. 
Thompson,  Clara  Tippett,  George  A.  Weaver,  Charles  R.  Wheeler,  Hattie  M.  Taylor,  Kate 
Williams. 

1879.  Allie  E.  Bancroft,  M.  Abbie  Booth,  Sarah  D.  Broadis,  Edward  B.  Champion, 
Oliver  J.  Gaver,  Nettie  C.  Claypoole,  Minnie  S.  Davis,  Carrie  A.  Durant,  Edwin  Eberly, 
Mary  K.  Esper,  Olive  Flowers,  Belle  Gardiner,  Annie  E.  Griffiths,  Henry  F.  Guerin,  Emma 
J.  Hall,  Hugh  Hardy,  Mamie  E.  Johnson,  Fannie  Kahn,  Louisa  A.  Krumm,  Julia  Loomis, 
Minnie  Loy,  Ella  G.  McCoy,  Cora  A.  Miner,  George  W.  Mitchell,  Thomas  H.  Mullay,  Anna 
Pfeiffer,  Lewis  L.  Rankin,  James  L.  Rodgers,  Edwin  Fay,  Ernestine  0.  Schreyer,  Florence  M. 
Snell,  Carrie  B.  Staley,  Mary  Stokes,  Flora  Stump,  Gertrude  Swickard,  Lizzie  Thomas, 
Edward  O.  Trent,  Eliza  S.  Huffman,  Ellery  W.  Wilkinson,  Riley  F.  Williams. 

1880.  Harry  E.  Armbruster,  Charles  Bauer,  Harry  C.  Cook,  William  G.  Benham,  F^agle- 
ton  F.  Dunn,  Milton  H.  Fassig,  Warren  W.  Gifford,  Henry  Gumble,  Edward  O.  Horn,  Fred- 
erick W.  Hughes,  Ewing  Jones,  David  Tod  Logan,  Charles  E.  McDonald,  James  D.  Osborn, 
Frank  C.  Smith,  J.  Macy  Walcutt,  Alice  B.  Barnett,  Emma  C.  Elliott,  Helen  L  Bortle,  Helen 
M.  Capron,  Lizzie  L.  Crook,  Lizzie  S.  Denig,  Emma  Deterly.  Louise  Dunning,  Fannie  F. 
Elliott,  Ella  J.  Evans,  I^ieanor  Fankhouse,  Fannie  M.  Farringer,  Dora  Frankenberg,  Jessie 
Eraser,  Lizzie  C.  Ginder,  Fannie  S.  Glenn,  Belle  Goodel,  Ella  M.  Graham,  Louta  A.  Hamil- 
ton, Mary  Hanlen,  Carrie  Hegner,  Ida  B.  Henry,  Florence  M.  Holton,  Julia  Horton,  Emma 
F.  Irwin,  Anna  D.  Jenny,  Katie  B.  Evans,  Lizzie  Jones,  Louise  W.  Kanmacker,  Maggie  H. 
Kanmacker,  Clara  E.  Kemmerle,  Emma  Kienzle,  Madie  E.  Knepper,  Emma  Litchford,  Lida 
R.  McCabe,  Cora  A.  McCleery,  Maggie  L.  McElvain,  Stella  M.  Nelson,  Cornelia  C.  Olnhausen, 
Frankie  C.  Park,  Nellie  J.  Perley,  Adah  A.  Phelps,  Kate  B.  Porter,  Louise  Reither,  Maggie 

B.  Remmy,  Rae  F.  Sanders,  Xenia  L.  Schaefer,  Emma  B.  Schneider,  Mattie  Stelzig,  Blanche 
Stevens,  Florence  Todd,  Geneva  Trent,  Helen  I.  Twiss,  Lizzie  M.  Vincent,  Lizzie  Vogle- 
gesang,  Ella  F.  Warren. 

1881.  William  Benbow,  John  H.  Davis,  Clyde  L.  Farrell,  Arthur  Gemuender,  Theodore 
E.  Glenn,  J.  Nicholas  Koerner,  Edmund  J.  Montgomery,  Charles  A.  Pryce,  John  J.  Pugh, 
George  R.  Twiss,  lizzie  Alexander,  Jennie  Armstrong,  E.  Louisa  Bainter,  Tuza  L.  Barnes, 
Ella  Boyer,  Ada  D.  Charters,  May  M.  Cherry,  Emma  J.  Clark,  Ottilie  Clemen,  Mamie 
Cornell,  Emma  L.  Dieterich,  Alma  Dresel,  Lizzie  Earl,  Florence  Eberly,  Bessie  M.  Edgar, 
Mae  F.  Elliott,  Flora  L.  Engeroff,  Eva  Ewers,  Anna  Finn,  Lottie  I.  Geren,  Mattie  Glover, 
Ida  Gottschall,  Marie  S.  Greenleaf,  Ella  M.  Grove,  Augusta  Haberstich,  Mary  Haig,  Emma 
Holton,  Laura  M.  Hughes,  Addie  Johnson,  Minnie  Jackson,  Mattie  V.  Kershaw,  Carrie  D. 
Houck,  Annettie  Lakin,  Jennie  Lee,  Mignon  Loechler,  Oliver  Loefiler,  Mina  Loomis,  Lydia 
Mahlmann,  Harriet  C.  Marple,  Carrie  W.  Martin,  Zitta  McConnell,  Mattie  E.  McGrew, 
Alma  McKenzie,  Jennie  Merion,  Clara  E.  Miller,  Louisa  8.  Mulligan,  Mary  E.  Nagle, 
M.  Helen  Osgood,  Willie  A.  Phelps,  Louisa  Piersche,  Nettie  Poindexter,  Sallie  E.  Price, 
Lena  M.  Schoedinger,  Alice  H.  Sells,  Lizzie   Shoemaker,    Lulu    Stelzig,  Mamie   Taylor, 


Thb  Schools.     II.  579 

Alwina  M.  Turkopp,  Emma  C.  Uhlmann,  Mary  E.  Vercoe,  Caroline  M.  Viet,   Adelia  I*. 
Waring.  Dora  H.  Weis,  Carrie  Williams,  Nellie  C.  Wilson,  Jessie  G.  Zigler. 

1882.  Robert  H.  Allen,  Harry  Bingham,  Charles  E.  Chandler,  Albert  B.  Fletcher, 
Alfred  A.  Jones,  Gustavus  J.  Karger,  Harvey  Kirk,  Carlton  Nelson,  Leonce  A.  Oderbrecht, 
George  W.  Sinclair,  Lillian  Auld,  Stella  Baker,  Grace  Barcus,  Etta  M.  Benbow,  Luella  A. 
Boston,  Caroline  Buchsieb,  Flora  M.  Bardell,  Susan  Cunningham,  Jessie  Edwards,  Estelle 
A.  Farmer,  Ella  K.  Farquhar,  Alice  A.  Fassig,  Lizzie  R.  Fassig,  Emma  P.  Felch,  Margaret 
A.  Felch,  Clara  Fisher,  Georgia  A.  Fornofi,  Margaret  A.  Godsall,  Kate  Hertenstein,  Carrie 
D.  High,  Louise  M.  Hittler,  Carrie  F.  Johnson,  Ida  M.  Joyce,  Agnes  W.  Keagle,  Anna  R. 
Kinney,  Florence  Kinsell,  Ida  M.  Knell,  Emma  Lentz,  Hattie  J.  Leyy,  Emma  L.  Linke, 
Frances  E.  Loudin,  Florence  A,  Martin,  Annetta  McDonald,  Bertha  McVay,  Rose  B.  Mullay, 
Sallie  B.  Olmstead,  Sallie  Phillips,  Adelaide  E.  Pugh,  Harriet  M.  Ritson,  Norma  E.  Schueller, 
Belle  T.  Scott,  Nora  F.  Seegur,  Susan  Senter,  Viva  Torrey,  Laura  E.  Vorhees. 

1883.  Mary  Johnson,  Anna  B.  Keagle,  Clarence  Jones,  Belle  Kinsman,  Minnie  Schaub, 
Ella  Hesse,  E.  Corner  Brown,  Cassius  C.  Collins,  Robert  Eckhardt,  Charles  E.  Hampson, 
John  B.  Metters,  Emma  Jones,  Mary  Jones,  Ordelia  Knoderer,  Mary  B.  Lakin,  Carrie  M. 
Lash,  William  H.  Siebert,  Harry  Taylor,  Mattie  Allen,  Fannie  Bancroft,  Emilie  Bauer, 
Nellie  B.  Bordie,  May  Comstock,  Lulu  Conway.  Fannie  Doherty,  Maggie  Ebin,  Alice  Ewing, 
Lizzie  Fearn,  Hilda  Finn,  Lida  Filler,  Mazie  Geren,  Benigna  Green,  Ella  M.  Graves,  Lizzie 
Griswold,  Antoinette  Haberstich,  Minnie  Hoffman,  Annie  L.  Holman,  Lizzie  A.  Hughes, 
Nora  B.  James,  Beatrice  Joyce,  Henrietta  Lesquereux,  Fannie  Litchford,  Abbie  McFarland, 
Clara  Miller,  Sallie  Morgan,  Anna  Moore,  Mary  Mulligan,  Cora  J.  Neereamer,  Ada  Otstott, 
Laura  Owen,  Margaret  Pinnev,  Mary  Reed,  Minnie  Reese,  Minnie  Reynolds,  Ida  Rowland, 
Lulu  B.  Runyan,  Rettie  Russell,  Lizzie  Sinclair,  Nellie  G.  Smith,  Ida  Stelzig,  Leah  Thomas, 
Clara  Weinman,  Fannie  Wheeler,  Emilie  Wirth,  Clemmie  Watson. 

1884.  Jennie  Chamberlain,  Josephine  M.  McGufley,  Theodore  B.  Comstock,  Emma 
Parsons,  Maude  Alexander,  Ida  L.  Pryce,  Richard  Bebb,  George  Constock,  Rudolph  Day, 
Joseph  A.  Frambes,  Harry  Holton,  Daniel  Hughes,  James  Judge,  Harry  Lum,  Edward 
McConnell,  Morton  McDonald,  Birnie  Neil,  Howard  C.  Park,  John  F.  Robinson,  Benjamin 
Talbot,  Lincoln  Wagenhals,  Allen  W.  Williams,  Jennie  Arthur,  Katie  Aston,  Emily  Bortle, 
Alice  L.  Brown,  Amalia  Buchsieb,  Jennie  T.  Burr,  Hattie  Clark,  Maggie  Dent,  Clara  Dresel, 
Lulu  M.  Fankhouse,  L.  Minnie  Ferrell,  Marion  Garner,  Bessie  Garwood,  Mary  Etta  Gatch, 
Jessie  L.  Glenn,  Addie  C.  Gordon,  Kena  M.  Haig,  Jennie  Hammond,  Nannie  Harrison, 
Laura  Hoffman,  Florence  Hopper,  Jessie  Jelleff,  Jessie  Jones,  Louisa  C.  Junker,  Kate  M. 
Lacey,  Emma  C.  McCloud,  Jessie  B.  McKim,  Effie  G.  Millar,  Henrietta  Molt* r,  Telia  Miller, 
Anda  G.  Morin,  Wilhelmina  Ochs,  Julia  L.  Palmer,  Mamie  B.  Price,  Laura  J.  Pryce, 
Sadie  Reed,  Minnie  M.  Reichard,  Eudora  F.  Ross,  Carrie  L.  Scott,  Jennie  L.  Shilling,  Josie 
Sullivant,  Clara  Spohr,  Nellie  K.  Thatcher,  Emma  E.  Trott,  Mea  J.  Williams,  Sarah  A. 
Williams 

1885.  William  B.  Abbott,  William  Altman,  Philip  Cullman,  William  P.  Dunlap,  Gran- 
ville S.  Frambes,  Earl  M.  Gilliam,  A.  H.  Huston,  John  C.  Lincoln,  Harry  F.  Miller,  William 
H.  Reams,  Andrew  D.  Rodgers,  Frank  W.  Savage,  Sherman  T.  Wiggins,  Charles  A.  Wikoff, 
Thomas  D.  Williams,  Sadie  D.  Akin,  May  Baker,  May  F.  Barratt,  Pauline  Beck.  Maude  F. 
Beller,  Elizabeth  E.  Bortle,  Maude  E.  Botimer,  Helen  Bradford,  Eleonora  Brunning,  Josie  M. 
Burck,  Sarah  A.  Carr,  Maude  Collins,  Nellie  M.  Crawford,  Jennie  M.  DeHaven,  Lillie  E. 
Dougherty,  Bertha  Drobisch,  Anna  P.  Fischer,  Kate  Fornoff,  Margaret  S.  Getz,  Clara  Good* 
man,  Florence  A.  Holmes,  Jestina  Jones,  Ella  Kershaw,  Margaret  Koerner,  Clara  McDonald, 
Fannie  K.  Morrell,  Mary  K.  Park,  Jennie  D.  Patterson,  Julia  T.  Phelps,  Mary  H.  Ransom, 
Rose  M.  Rittinger,  Emma  A.  Ruppersburg,  Emma  Schaub,  Laura  E.  Schreyer,  EJda  H. 
Schueller,  Stella  E.  Schueller,  Minna  A»  Schaffer,  Ada  M.  Shipley,  Nellie  B.  Skinner,  Nellie 
A.  Spring,  Nellie  Talbot,  Bessie  T.  Taylor,  Minnie  Williams,  Alice  C.  Willson,  Emma  Wirth, 
Adaline  E.  Woods,  Flora  L.  Ziegler. 


580  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

1886.  Maude  C.  Baker,  Mabel  Basterdes,  Harry  L.  Bean,  Nellie  Beggs,  Frank  Benbow, 
M.  H.  BlisSi  Junior,  Clara  T.  Bucbsieb,  Hallie  G.  Brown,  Carrie  C.  Bidleman,  H.  W.  Cham- 
berlain, George  N.  Cole,  Lucy  Corbin,  Lillie  M.  Crethers,  May  A.  Collier,  Mary  Doherty, 
May  B.  Davey,  Retta  J.  Dutoit,  Ix)11ie  Flowers,  Tillie  T.  Gill,  Alice  H.  Moodie,  Arabella 
Marks,  Laura  M.  Martin,  Ernestine  Mayer,  Mary  P.  Martini,  Camma  Neil,  Clarice  G. 
Nessmith,  Mary  J.  Orton,  Margaret  M.  Owen,  Martha  Ochs,  Sarah  D.  Patterson,  Thomas  C. 
Pugh,  Florence  M.  Beasoner,  Grace  T.  Roberts,  Jennie  A.  Roberts,  Grace  E.  Radebaugh, 
Bessie  S.  Seibert,  Ella  A.  Somermier,  Daisy  Schaefer,  Zalmen  P.  Gilmore,  Gertrude  K.  Gregg, 
Hattie  L.  Hall,  Minnie  G.  Jeffrey,  Frank  Jennings,  Lizzie  Jung,  Harriet  Knight,  Lulu  Stout- 
senberger,  Ray  Steward,  Myra  Slyh,  Florence  Turney,  Dora  Walter,  May  L.  Weaver,  Mina  It. 
Waring. 

1887.  Carrie  E.  Allen,  Edna  Adelia  Archer,  Martha  H.  Bailey,  Margaret  Alice  Beach, 
Hattie  M.  Blackwood,  Mary  Blakiston,  Clara  Blesch,  May  V.  Bromley,  M.  S.  Browne,  Olivia 
Bruning,  Carrie  M.  Bryson,  Le  Ora  L.  Burington,  Joseph  P.  Byers,  Charles  L.  Clark,  Junior, 
Charlotte  L.  Claypoole,  George  S.  Cooper,  Theresa  M.  Daly,  Jane  McC.  Doren,  Annie  L. 
Dunlap,  Lillian  S.  Fassig,  Laura  J.  Gamer,  Daisy  Z.  Glenn,  Mary  E.  Gormley,  H.  Louise  Hall, 
Rose  Hammond,  Florence  E.  Henderson,  Margaret  E.  Huston,  Helen  G.  Jaynes,  Annie  O. 
Jones,  Marie  Jane  Lash,  Clarence  Metters,  Martha  Moses,  Edwin  A.  Myers,  Elizabeth  H. 
Naddy,  Desdemona  E.  Neil,  Mary  V.  Nessmith,  May  O'Harra,  Sarah  E.  O'Kane,  Katherine 
Palmer,  Lila  J.  Pipef,  Edward  W.  Poiner,  Norah  Prentice,  Isaac  Pugh,  Elmer  G.  Rice,  Ida 
Richards,  Grace  H.  Rose,  Emilie  Schaub,  Lucy  Alice  Seely,  Harry  J.  Shaw,  Alica  B.  Sherman, 
Christopher  E.  Sherman,  Esther  Steinfield,  Mignonnette  Talbott,  Edward  L.  Taylor,  Atta  M. 
Terry,  Mary  J.  Uart,  Hattie  B.  Waggoner,  Edwin  R.  Wheeler,  Ida  Wirth. 

1888.  Riley  H.  Bean,  Elmer  J.  Butterworth,  D.  F.  Callinan,  W.  R.  Colton,  Harry  F. 
Flynn,  James  E.  Meek,  Arthur  L.  Pace,  William  E.  Restieaux,  William  C.  Safford,  Herbert 
S.  Talbot,  Olive  Alison,  Mary  E.  Bainter,  Emilie  L.  Beck,  Mary  Beekey,  Lois  E.  Bradford, 
Lizzie  M.  Bratton,  Hortense  H.  Brooks,  Henrietta  Browning,  Etta  G.  Bryson,  Nannie  Coff- 
man,  Gertrude  Conklin,  Carrie  A.  Cooke,  Cora  B.  Crane,  Grace  E.  Croy,  Abbie  E.  Dean, 
Esther  Dent,  Minnie  E.  Fearn,  Ruth  E.  Fenimore,  Evangeline  Fox,  Grace  Fox,  Emma  A. 
Fritsche,  Emma  M.  Gates,  Margaret  M.  Greenwood,  Louise  Herrick,  Harriet  A.  Judd,  Kmma 
K.  Kaefer,  Bathsheba  A.  Lazelle,  Gertrude  C.  Leib,  Anna  N.  Loudenslager,  Adah  V.  Millar, 
Klla  Miller,  Lora  D.  Dix,  Helen  Monroe,  Mary  F.  Nelson,  Juliet  E.  Nesmith,  Alice  Pflieger, 
Mary  W.  Roberts,  Alma  Schaub,  Cora  L.  Schrock,  Winifred  A.  Scott,  Ella  M.  Shupe,  Ada 
M.  Skinner,  Olive  Slade,  Anna  M.  Spencer,  Carolena  M.  Stock,  Daisy  J.  Swickard,  Florence 
M.  Taylor,  Lucy  B.  Tucker,  Clara  B.  Turney,  Clara  A.  Tussing,  Wilhemina  L.  Volk,  Anna  F. 
Williams. 

1889.  Conrad  C.  Bom,  John  W.  Butterfield.  Dennison  D.  Byers,  Jesse  H.  Comsauth, 
William  E.  Dawson,  Walter  English,  William  L.  Graves,  Christian  Jaeger,  John  K.  Krumm, 
William  H.  Krumm,  Sinclair  B.  Nace,  John  Newton  Patton,  Frank  R.  Shepherd,  John  G.  W. 
Slemmons,  William  C.  Williard,  James  H.  Zinn,  Margaret  F.  Ackerman,  Renetta  M.  Ayers, 
Maude  G.  Archer,  Dorothy  B.  Beach,  Lillie  Von  Behren,  Cora  W.  Brooke,  Minnie  Buchsieb, 
Luella  B.  Crook,  Anna  G.  Dill,  Helen  C.  Fickey,  Grace  M.  Ford,  Mary  C.  Gale,  Minnie  G. 
Hanawalt,  Alice  D.  Hare,  Florence  L.  Hess,  Carrie  B.  Humphrys,  Amelia  Jaeger,  Florence 
M.  Jaquith,  Emma  L.  Jenkins,  Dickie  Joyce,  Anna  L.  Kaiser,  Lillian  M.  Lee,  Theresa  L. 
Lentz,  Nellie  Lombard,  Elizabeth  Lucas,  Ella  R.  Mayhugh,  Clara  McGuire,  Fannie  W.  Mix, 
Minnie  A.  Mock,  Grace  O'Harra,  Grace  A.  Piatt,  Nettie  M.  Reitsche,  Elizabeth  Samuel,  Anna 
L.  Schwarz,  Elizabeth  Scott,  Maud  V.  Smith,  Emma  h,  Schiele,  Laura  E.  Stoner,  8anh  A. 
Vandegriff,  Anna  Wilcox,  Elizabeth  Williams,  Mae  Willoughby,  Lillie  Witter. 

1890.  Grace  G.  Alexander,  Lois  E.  At  wood,  Louise  C.  Balz,  Effie  F.  Beach,  Albert  Bean, 
Flora  D.  Becker,  Mary  E.  Bell,  Grace  B.  Bidleman,  Mary  A.  Blakely,  Erden  E.  Blackwood, 
Ella  A.  Brooke,  Ashley  Bradford,  Amy  F.  Bratton,  Bertha  B.  Browne,  Grace  S.  Burdell, 
Frederick  V.  Burington,  Grace  D.  Butterfield,  Mary  £.  Carr,  Martha  A.  Carter,  Arthur  W. 


The  Schools.    II.  581 

Colton,  Alice  Comstock,  Emma  Criswelli  Edith  L.  Dann,  Nellie  E.  Dayis,  Mertie  I.  Davis, 
Bertha  Dille,  Ahigail  Donovan,  Katherine  L.  Doren,  Estelle  Dubois,  Carrie  L.  Earnest, 
Mary  Eisenbise,  Laura  H.  Eswein,  Tannie  O.  Fassig,  Martha  J.  Fisher,  Maud  A.  Fowler,  Oscar 
R.  Flynn,  Francis  E.  Gill,  Joseph  C.  Goodman,  Maud  E.  Graham,  Jessie  C.  Graves,  Mary 
Green,  JeannetteB.  Hall,  Charles  Hiell,  Lulu  P.  Henry,  Ida  Hoffman,  Chester  Hardy,  Mary 
L.  Hull,  Holmes  Hubbell,  Gracie  M.  Jamison,  Ida  M.  Jones,  Rachel  E.  Jones,  Adeline 
Kaefer,  Edward  Kaem merer,  Flora  Kercher.  Anna  S.  Kilroy,  Blanche  A.  Kroesen,  Leanora 
M.  Krumm,  Gertude  A.  Leport,  Elizabeth  M.  Lisle,  Mamie  L.  Loewenstein,  Bertha  Maddoz, 
May  McClane,  Grace  E.  Martin,  Clara  J.  Miller,  Helen  E.  Ziegler,  Mary  G.  Miller,  Charlotte 
E.  Moore,  Amelia  Moritz,  Kate  L.  Neereamer,  Edith  B.  Newman,  Albert  Nickens,  August 
Odebrecbt,  Elizabeth  H.  O'Harra  Elsie  M.  Phaler,  Anna  L.  Phelps,  Clara  Pfeifer,  Maud  L. 
Piatt,  Lewellyn  E.  Pratt,  Mary  Pumpelly,  Maud  Ray,  Minnie  Ray,  Anna  L.  Rickel,  Susan  A. 
Ritter,  Charles  A.  Roedelheimer,  Kate  V.  Sands,  Charles  Swan,  Annie  Sheppard,  Alic6  G. 
Shilling,  Josie  P.  Slemmons,  Ida  Steinhauser,  Ethel  M.  Steward,  Lily  M.  Thomas,  Helen  M. 
Tippett,  Mary  G.  Twigg,  Tessa  Wharton,  H.  O.  Williams,  Elva  H.  Young,  IHarriet  A.  Ziegler. 
1891.  Nellie  BachtelK  Jessie  Barber,  Lulu  Barton,  Emma  Blesch,  f^ith  Benbow,  Mabel 
Booth,  Nellie  Bradford,  Daisy  M.  Brooke,  Grace  Conaway,  Estella  Conklin,  Mary  E.  Con  well, 
Grace  Crawford,  Phena  Davis,  Emma  Drake,  Rica  Hyneman,  Leona  D.  Humphreys,  Ida 
Jones  Emma  Lentz,  Maud  Jeffrey,  Clara  Kaiser,  Katherine  Kiser,  Lillian  L.  Krumm,  Daisy 
Lowenstein,  Lena  Liockhart,  Cora  Livingston,  Ida  Ines  Martin,  Gertrude  Owen,  Lida  Park, 
Nellie  N.  Smith,  Effie  L.  Stewart,  Grace  Thompson,  Lucy  Thomas,  Daisy  Tootle,  Daisy 
Tyhurst,  Edith  M.  Twiss,  Clara  Volk,  Mary  Walker,  Nellie  Webster,  Hattie  Wilcox,  Grace 
Williams,  Christine  Wood,  Harry  Alexander,  Cora  Eichhorn,  Mary  E.  Ewing,  Georgietta 
Fisher,  Clara  Garner,  Clara  German,  Maud  Gillespie,  Delia  Gunning,  Helen  M.  Hague,  Rose 
Haviland,  Nellie  Herrick,  Retta  Howell,  Maria  H.  Peters,  Edith  Prall,  Florence  Pritchard, 
Mary  Pyne,  Fannie  Riggs,  Grace  D.  Saviers,  Lena  Scbenck,  Alice  Schrock,  Abbie  E.  Simpson, 
Blanche  Smith,  George  H.  Calkins,  W.  C.Cole,  Harry  Frost,  Charles  Herbert,  Newton  Jenkins, 
Otto  H.  Magley,  William  A.  Marsh,  Perry  L.  Miles,  George  A.  O'Bryan,  Marcus  Simonton, 
Anna  N.  Coady,  Edna  P.Collins,  Jessie  Crane,  Lillie Howie,  Sarah  Shay,  Bessie  Shields, Lulu 
Townsend,  William  Beitel,  Frank  J.  Dawson,  Oscar  A.  Newfang. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


BENCH  AND  BAR. 

I  BY  HON.  LEANDER  J.  CBITGHFIELD. 

I 


Within  tho  proper  limits  of  a  single  chapter  no  more  than  a  mere  outline  his- 
tory of  the  Bench  and  Bar  of  the  City  of  Columbus  can  be  given.  The  purpose  of 
this  chapter  is  not  bio|;raphy,  but  general  notice  will  be  taken  of  the  courts  held 
in  this  locality  as  parts  of  a  judicial  system,  and  of  the  nature  and  conduct  of 
business  in  the  courts,  and  of  the  relation  of  the  judiciary  to  the  community  and 
the  government,  omitting  details  and  individual  names  with  few  exceptions. 

Charles  Dickens  says:  **The  administration  of  justice  is  the  noblest  duty  of 
social  man." 

The  history  of  organized  society,  whether  of  a  state  or  a  lesser  political  sub- 
division, cannot  be  completely  written  or  properly  understood  without  consider- 
ing the  place  and  influence  of  the  bench  and  bar  in  its  organization.  The  judicial 
function  in  government  is  essential  to  the  preservation  of  public  order  and  the 
protection  of  individual  rights.  The  immemorial  existence  and  exercise  of  the 
judicial  ofiSce  in  all  forms  of  government,  whether  a  despotism,  an  oligarchy,  a 
monarchy  or  a  republic,  proves  its  necessity.  In  the  ruder  state  of  society  the 
judicial  power  was  usually  vested  in  the  executive ;  but  in  more  advanced  civiliza- 
tions, in  independent  judicial  courts  established  by  the  sovereign  authority  and 
representing  it.  The  advance  in  civilization  is  at  once  marked  and  measured  by 
the  learning  and  independence  of  the  judicial  magistrates. 

As  the  bench  is  indispensable  to  the  State,  so  is  the  bar  indispensable  to  the 
bench.  As  oflScers  of  the  court  the  members  of  the  bar,  in  an  important  sense, 
conduct  the  business  of  the  courts  in  representing  the  litigant  parties  and  in  pre- 
senting their  causes  for  adjudication  upon  reason  and  authority.  In  the  elegant 
though  florid  language  of  D'Aguesseau,  the  profession  of  the  advocate  is  "  as  ancient 
as  magistracy,  as  noble  as  truth,  and  as  necessary  as  justice."  In  the  most 
enlightened  and  powerful  nations  of  ancient  and  of  modern  times,  lawyers,  as 
a  body,  have  been  held  in  high  honor  for  the  learning  of  their  profession,  the 
responsibility  and  dignity  of  their  employment,  and  the  importance  of  their  serv- 
ices in  the  vindication  of  personal  rights  and  the  promotion  of  the  public  welfare. 
From  the  bar  the  bench  must  be  supplied  and  largely  assisted  in  its  work.  They 
act  and   react  upon    each   other.      A    learned  and    pure    body  of  lawyers  will 

[582] 


Bench  and  Bar.  583 

furnish  learned  and  pure  judges.  An  elevated  bench  will  draw  the  bar  up  to  its 
level.  They  both  come  to  their  best  estate  under  free  institutions  and  popular 
government,  and,  in  turn,  are  their  surest  guaranty.  The  founders  of  our  govern- 
ment, national  and  state,  have  wisely  provided  in  our  constitutions  and  legislation 
for  the  administration  of  justice  as  indispensable  to  the  permanency  of  the  govern- 
ment itself. 

The  judicial  history  of  Ohio  Territory  covers  a  period  of  over  one  hundred 
years,  embracing,  as  it  does,  the  provisions  relating  to  the  courts  and  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  found  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787  for  the  government  of  the  ter- 
ritory northwest  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  in  the  laws  adopted  by  the  Governor  and 
Judges  under  the  authoritj-  of  that  instrument;  in  the  subsequent  enactments  of 
the  territorial  legislatures;  in  the  first  and  second  constitutions  of  this  State;  in 
the  enactments  of  the  st^ite  legislatures,  and  in  the  practical  adminiHtration  of  the 
laws  by  the  several  courts  established  for  that  purpose.  Each  county  subdivision 
furnishes  part  of  that  history.  The  parts  furnished  are  alike  in  character.  The 
unity  of  the  general  plan  of  our  judicial  systems  appears  in  their  continuity,  in  the 
territorial  ordinance  and  statutes, and  in  the  state  constitutions  and  statutes.  The 
several  changes  made  in  the  last  century  have  been  largely  in  matters  of  jurisdic- 
tion and  modes  of  practice,  and  not,  to  any  groat  extent,  in  the  plan  of  distribution 
of  judicial  ])owers.  The  territorial  courts  are  prototypes  of  those  under  the  state 
government,  as  are  the  courts  under  the  first  state  constitution  prototypes  of  those 
under  the  second.  That  it  should  be  so  is  natural.  Many  of  the  men  who 
administered  or  were  familiar  with  the  territorial  government  and  its  judicial 
system  were  framers  of  the  Constitution  of  1802,  and  the  system  under  that 
instrument  became  familiar  to  the  people  and  was  followed  in  framing  the  Con- 
stitution of  1851.  The  General  or  Supreme  Court  of  the  Territory  is  the  |>rototype 
of  the  State  Supreme  Court  in  Banc  and  on  the  Circuit.  The  Circuit  Court  of 
the  Territory  may  be  likened  to  the  State  Supreme  Court  on  the  Circuit,  or  the 
later  District  Court,  or  the  present  Circuit  Court.  The  territorial  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  and  the  court  of  that  name  under  the  state  constitution  are  substan- 
tiallj'  identical.  The  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  of  the  peace  of  the  Territory  with 
criminal  jurisdiction  is  the  later  criminal  court  established  from  time  to  time  in 
certain  counties  or  cities  of  the  State;  the  Probate  Court,  and  later,  the  Orphans' 
Court  of  the  Territory,  are  like  our  present  Probate  Court;  and  courts  of 
justices  of  the  peace  in  the  townships  are  common  to  the  territorial  and  state  gov- 
ernments. 

Upon  the  establishment  of  the  state  government  provision  was  made  by  legis- 
lation for  the  transfer  of  the  business  pending  in  the  courts  of  the  Territory  to 
like  courts  of  the  State.  The  transition  from  the  first  to  the  second  state  consti- 
tution di<i  not  radically  change  the  judicial  plan.  The  Supreme  Court  on  the  cir- 
cuit, under  the  first  constitution,  was  succeeded  under  the  second  by  the  District 
Court,  now  the  Circuit  Court.  The  probate  jurisdiction  of  the  Orphans'  Court 
under  the  territorial  system  was  vested  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  under  the 
Constitution  of  1802,  and  divested,  under  the  Constitution  of  1851,  and  vested  in  our 
present  Probate  Court 


584  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

This  unity  and  continuity  in  the  judicial  plan  show  tho  present  courts  in  any 
county  to  be  related  to  the  systems  of  the  past,  and  likely  to  be  parts  of  any  future 
system.  A  history  of  local  courts  is  connected  with  the  larger  history  of  the 
system  of  which  they  are  parts. 

This  locality  having  been  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  or  Suprerae 
Court  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  Kiver  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787, 
a  passing  reference  is  here  made  to  that  court  and  its  judges.  The  Ordinance  of 
1787  provided  for  "  a  court  to  consist  of  three  judges  any  two  of  whom  to  form  a 
quorum  who  shall  have  a  common  law  jurisdiction."  That  jurisdiction  was  both 
original  and  appellate  in  civil  and  criminal  cases  and  exclusive  in  cases  for 
divorce  and  alimony.  The  decisions  of  the  court  were  final.  No  reports  of  them 
were  made  in  any  permanent  form.  As  to  the  routine  business  of  the  court  par- 
ticulars are  not  desirable,  and  could  not  be  ascertained  for  want  of  records.  Those 
that  were  made  have  probably  perished  in  the  ruins  of  time.  The  general 
character  of  the  causes  that  came  before  the  court  for  adjudication  may  be 
inferred  from  its  jurisdiction  and  the  condition  of  civilization  and  the  occupations 
of  the  people  in  the  Territory. 

The  judges  and  lawyers  who  went  to  the  Territory  took  with  them  the 
ordinance  for  its  government  and  the  principles  of  the  common  law,  and  very 
little  additional  aid  in  establishing  a  system  of  courts  and  practice.  TheUovernor 
and  Judges  were  empowered  by  the  ordinance  to  adopt  such  laws,  criminal  and 
civil,  of  the  original  States,  as  the  necessities  and  circumstancesof  the  Territory  and 
people  required.  They  exercised  that  power  and  exceeded  it  also  by  enacting  laws 
of  their  own  framing.  The  task  of  building  up  a  satisfactory  judicial  system  was 
not  very  well  accomplished  within  the  time  of  the  territorial  government,  but  the 
work  was  lefl  to  be  improved  upon  under  the  state  government. 

The  General  Court  was  held  at  Cincinnati,  Marietta  and  Detroit,  at  fixed 
terms,  and  in  other  counties  in  the  territory' as  the  business  demanded.  The  first 
Territorial  Judges  were  Samuel  llolden  Parsons,  James  Mitchell  Varnum  and 
John  Armstrong.  They  were  appointed  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation. 
Armstrong  declined,  and  John  Cleves  Symmes  was  appointed  in  his  place.  After 
the  National  Constitution  was  adopted,  President  Washington  reappointed  Judges 
Parsons  and  Symmes,  as  judges  of  the  General  Court  of  the  Territory.  William 
Barton  was  appointed  to  the  same  bench  at  the  same  time  but  declined,  and 
George  Turner  was  appointed  to  the  vacancy.  Judge  Parsons  died  soon  after  his 
last  appointment  and  Kufus  Putnam  was  appointed  in  his  place.  After  a  short 
service  Putnam  resigned,  and  Joseph  Gillman  was  appointed  to  the  vacancy. 
Judge  Turner  resigned  and  Eeturn  Jonathan  Meigs  was  appointed  in  his  place. 
Judges  Symmes,  Gillman  and  Meigs  were  in  commission  in  1802,  when  the  terri- 
torial government  was  superseded  by  the  state  government  of  Ohio  established  in 
the  eastern  division  of  the  Territory. 

It  would  not  be  in  keeping  with  the  limited  scope  and  pur])Oses  of  this  chap- 
ter to  give  any  extended  review  of  the  judicial  systems  of  the  constitutions  of  1802 
and  1851;  but  it  may  be  briefly  stated  that  from  the  beginning  we  have  had  a 
Supreme  Court  at  the  seat  of  government;  a  court  in  the  counties  superior  to  th^ 


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Bench  and  Bab.  585 

Court  of  Common  Pleas,  being,  under  the  Constitution  of  1802,  the  Supreme  Court 
on  the  circuit,  and,  under  the  Constitution  of  1851,  originally  the  District  CouH, 
consisting  of  two  or  more  common  pleas  judges  of  the  district  and  one  judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  later,  under  the  amendment  of  1883,  of  the  constitution,  the 
present  Circuit  Court,  consisting  of  three  judges;  a  court  of  Common  Pleas  in 
each  county,  consisting,  under  the  Constitution  of  1802,  of  a  president  judge  and 
not  more  ihan  three  nor  less  than  two  associate  judges,  and  under  the  Constitution 
of  1851,  of  one  judge  ;  a  Probate  Court  under  the  Constitution  of  1851,  consisting 
of  one  judge;  and  both  constitutions  provided  for  "a  competent  number  of  justices 
of  the  peace"  in  each  township,  as  did  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 

A  most  important  provision  of  the  Constitution  of  1851,  is  the  one  for  the 
appointment  of  three  commissioners  to  revise,  reform,  simplify  and  abridge  the 
]>ractice,  i)lcadingR,  forms  and  proceedings  of  the  courts  of  record,  and  for  abolish- 
ini^  the  distinct  forms  of  actions  at  law  then  in  use,  and  for  the  administration  of 
justice  by  a  uniform  mode  of  proceeding  without  reference  to  any  distinction 
between  law  and  equity.  In  obedience  to  this  provision  of  the  constitution  the 
Code  Commissioners  were  appointed,  and  their  work  was  the  beginning  of  the 
reformed  procedure  now  prevalent  in  this  State. 

The  territory  now  within  the  limits  of  Franklin  County  was  first  settled  in 
1797,  then  being  a  part  of  the  county  of  Ross,  and  was  under  the  territorial  gov- 
ernment. In  other  chapters  the  history  of  that  first  settlement  is  given,  detailing 
the  work  of  Lucas  Sullivant,  a  young  civil  engineer  ot*  Kentucky,  with  his  corps 
of  assistants,  in  making  surveys  and  locating  land  warrants  in  the  Virginia  Mili- 
tary District  west  of  the  Scioto  River.  In  August,  1797,  he  laid  out  the  town  of 
Franklintoii,  subsequently  the  first  seat  of  justice  of  Franklin  Count}',  designated 
as  such  by  a  legislative  commission  as  hereinafter  stated.  Under  the  act  of  March 
30,  1803,  the  county  of  Franklin  was  carved  out  of  the  county  of  Ross  and  organ- 
ized. It  was  bounded  on  the  east  nearly  as  it  is  now  ;  on  the  south  by  a  line  near 
the  middle  of  the  present  county  of  Pickaway ;  on  the  west  by  Greene  County,  and 
on  the  north  by  Lake  Erie.  The  creation  of  numerous  new  counties  out  of  this 
extended  territory,  including  Delaware,  Pickaway,  Madison  and  Union,  and  some 
subsequent  changes  in  lines,  and  some  additions  from  Licking  and  Fairfield,  left 
the  county  of  Franklin  bounded  as  it  is  at  present.  Under  the  act  of  March  28, 
1803,  "  establishing  seats  of  justice,"  Jeremiah  McLene,  James  Ferguson  and  Wil- 
liam Creigijton  having  been  appointed  commissioners  by  the  legislature  to  fix  the 
permanent  seat  of  justice  of  Franklin  County,  on  June  20,  1803,  selected  "the 
town  of  Franklinton  on  the  Scioto  River,  in  the  county  of  Franklin  aforesaid,  as 
the  most  suitable  place  for  the  seat  of  justice  and  holding  the  courts  for  said 
county."  Franklinton  remained  the  countyseat  until  1824,  when  Columbus, the 
capital  of  the  State,  was  made  the  seat  of  justice  of  the  county  of  Franklin. 

The  Courthouse  in  Franklinton  was  not  erected  until  1807-8.  At  what  partic- 
ular places  in  Franklinton  the  courts  were  held  previous  to  that  date  the  record 
does  not  inform  us,  except  that  the  March  term  of  t'le  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in 
1805  was  held  at  the  house  of  Joseph  Parks,  and  the  July  term  of  that  year  at  the 
house  of  Robert  Armstrong.     The  precise  location  of  these  houses  is  not  known  to 


586  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

the  preseDt  generation.  They  were  probably  built  of  logs  obtained  on  or  uesr  the 
spot.  The  change  of  place  of  holding  the  coarts  indicates,  what  wo  may  w^ell  sup- 
pose, a  difiSculty  in  seearing  either  a  suitable  or  a  permanent  room  for  the  purpose. 
The  first  public  building  erected  was  a  jail.  The  houses  obtainable  were  probably 
not  strong  enough  to  hold  offenders  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  State. 
At  the  January  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1804  the  erection  of  a  jail 
wag  provided  for,  as  stated  in  a  preceding  chapter.  The  specifications  of  this 
•'prison  house,"  primitive  as  it  was,  are  certainly  artistically  drawn,  showing  the 
hand  of  a  master,  probably  that  of  Lucas  Sullivant,  Clerk  of  the  Court  and  civil 
engineer.  As  the  order  that  this  log  jail  be  "built  immediately"  was  urgent,  no 
doubt  a  full  force  of  builders  was  put  to  work  without  delay.  The  logs  wore  prob- 
ably obtained  in  the  forest  near  by,  and  forent  echoes  awakened  by  the  felling  of 
the  trees.  The  building  was  completed  within  a  few  weeks,  for,  at  a  sessiou  of 
the  Associate  Judges  held  on  March  24,  1804,  it  was  "ordered  that  there  be  paid 
unto  John  Dill,  Esq.,  eight  dollars  out  of  the  county  treasury  cash  by  him 
advanced  to  purchase  a  lock  for  the  jail  of  Franklin  County." 

The  brick  Courthouse  built  in  1807-8  was  located  in  Franklinton,  fronting  on 
the  north  side  of  what  is  now  known  as  West  Broad  Street,  on  the  site  of  the 
present  new  public  school  building,  and  was  itself  used  as  a  schoolhouse  for  many 
years.  The  log  jail  built  in  1804  was  superseded  by  a  new  brick  jail  erected  at 
about  the  same  time  as  the  Courthouse,  and  a  few  rods  northeast  of  it.  All  trace 
of  these  public  building's  has  now  disappeared.  They  answered  their  purpose 
until  they  were  abandoned  on  the  removal  of  the  countyseat  in  1824  from  Frank- 
linton to  Columbus.  The  first  courthouse  erected  in  Columbus  was  a  brick  build- 
ing located  on  the  Statehouse  Square  nearly  opposite  the  present  main  entrance  of 
the  Neil  House.  In  this  building  the  United  States  courts  were  held  until  they 
were  removed  to  Cincinnati  and  Cleveland  on  the  division  of  the  district.  It  con- 
tinued to  be  used  as  the  county  courthouse  until  the  erection  of  the  next  new  one 
in  1840  at  the  southeast  corner  of  High  and  Mound  streets,  where  the  present  ele- 
gant courthouse  now  stands.' 

The  first  county  jail  in  Columbus  was  a  brick  structure  located  on  the  south 
side  of  East  Gay  Street,  and  is  now  part  of  a  tenement  house.  It  was  used  as  the 
jail  until  1840,  when  a  new  one  was  erected  about  the  same  time  the  courthouse 
was.  This  jail,  subsequently  remodeled  and  enlarged,  continued  in  use  until  the 
completion  of  the  present  one,  erected  on  the  lot  fronting  on  Fulton  Street. 

These  progressive  improvements  to  accommodate  the  courts  were  in  harmony 
with  the  general  progress  of  the  country,  and  the  increasing  demands  of  business. 
It  may  not  be  said  that  equal  improvement  lias  been  made  in  the  administration 
of  justice.  That  was  not  to  be  expected.  Some  advance,  no  doubt,  has  been  made 
in  methods  of  practice,  but  legal  principles  are  not  subject  to  change,  nor,  perhaps, 
does  the  iiuman  intellect  improve  in  any  general  sense  as  the  medium  for  their 
application.  The  principles  of  law  announced  in  the  great  decisions  of  Chief 
Justice  Marshall  and  his  clear  and  strong  intellectual  proee-ses  have  not  been 
improved  upon  and  are  not  likely  to  be  in  all  coming  time. 


Bench  and  Bar.  587 

By  tho  Ordinance  of  1787  the  Governor  of  the  Territory  was  required  to 
appoint  such  magistrates  in  each  township  as  he  should  "  find  necessary  for  the 
preservation  of  the  peace  and  good  order  in  the  same."  From  an  inspection  of 
their  powers  and  duties  as  defined  by  acts  adopted  by  the  Governor  and  Judges  of 
the  Territory  and  enacted  by  its  legislature,  it  is  seen  that  justices  of  the  peace 
were  deemed  very  important  officials  in  the  Territory,  as  they  have  been  in  the 
State,  both  in  civil  and  in  criminal  administration.  These  township  courts,  acces- 
sible to  the  people  in  their  own  immediate  neighborhoods,  and  comparatively  inex- 
pensive and  speedy  in  the  disposition  of  business,  have  ever  been  and  are  likely  to 
continue  to  be  regarded  as  indispensable  in  any  adequate  judicial  system. 

On  May  10,  1803,  in  obedience  to  an  act  of  the  legislature  "to  regulate  the 
election  of  justices  of  the  peace  and  for  other  purposes"  the  Associate  Judges  of 
Franklin  County  met  at  the  place  of  holding  courts  and  proceeded  "to  lay  out  the 
county  into  a  convenient  number  of  townships,  and  appoint  to  each  township  a 
proper  number  of  justices  of  the  peace."  They  subdivided  the  county  into  four 
townships,  as  narrated  in  a  previous  chapter,  and  provided  for  the  election  of 
justieen.  Tho  election  was  held  June  1,  1803,  and  thus  the  first  township  courts  in 
Franklin  County  were  inaugurated.  It  is  not  practicable  and  would  not  be  profita- 
ble to  name  the  successive  justices  of  the  peace  in  the  several  townships  of  Frank- 
lin County  from  its  beginning  to  the  present,  but  a  few  of  those  who  served  in  the 
townships  in  which  the  countyseat  was  located  may  be  mentioned.  Franklin 
township  was  organized  in  1803,  and  Montgomery  in  1807.  William  Shaw,  the 
first  justice  of  the  peace  in  Montgomery  township,  was  elected  in  1807;  Michael 
Fisher  was  elected  in  the  same  township  in  1808. 

Arthur  O'llarra,  elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Franklin  Township  in  1809 
and  reelected  in  1812,  1854  and  1858,  was  a  man  of  prominence  and  usefulness  for 
more  than  half  a  century.  In  1814  he  was  appointed  an  associate  judge  of  tho 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  this  county. 

Jacob  Grubb,  elected  justice  of  the  peace  for  Franklin  Township  in  1820,  was 
likewise  a  man  in  whom  the  early  settlers  had  great  confidence.  He  was  reelected 
in  1823,  1826,  1829,  1832,  and  1^835.  During  much  of  this  time  he  was  also 
Treasurer  of  Franklin  County,  to  which  office  he  was  appointed  by  the  Associate 
Judges  in  1803  and  reappointed  for  successive  terms  until  1827. 

William  Henderson  was  elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Franklin  Township 
in  1841.  His  official  career  became  noted  in  connection  with  the  Jerry  Finney 
kidnapping  case  referred  to  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  chapter. 

William  T.  Martin  was  elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Montgomery  Town- 
ship in  1820,  and  reelected  in  1826,  1830,  1833,  1839,  1842,  1845,  and  in  1848.  He 
declined  reelection  in  1829.  His  long  continuance  in  service  is  a  signalproof  of  his 
ability  and  fidelity.  His  stately  presence,  dignified  appearance,  elegant  manners 
and  general  culture  and  intelligence  are  remembere<i  by  the  older  citizens  of  the 
present  day.  In  1831  he  was  elected  County  Recorder,  and  was  reelected  for  suc- 
cessive terms  of  three  years  each  until  1846.  In  1851  he  was  elected  an  associate 
judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 


588  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

$ 

David  W.  Deshler  was  cloctod  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Montgomery  Town- 
ship in  1822,  rec'lect^d  in  1825  and  resignoil  in  182G.  The  City  of  Columbus  never 
had  a  more  excellent  citizen.  In  acee])ting  the  office  of  justice  and  serving  the 
public  for  four  j-ears  in  that  capacity  he  exhibited  his  appreciation  of  duty  to  the 
communit}-  in  which  he  live<L  He  was  a  man  of  very  superior  mental  powers, 
and  could  have  excelled  in  any  other  profession,  as  he  did  in  banking  and  other 
business.  His  intellectual  qualities  were  equaled  by  his  kindness  of  heart, 
elegance  of  manners  and  fidelity  to  every  trust. 

John  P.  Bruck  was  elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  of  Montgomery  Township  in 
1842,  and  was  reelected  in  1845  and  1849.     Ho  is  remembered  as  a  German  gentle- 
man of  ability  and   integ)*ity,  and  a  most  excellent  magistrate.     In  the   list    of 
causes  which  appear  on  his  docket  was  an  unusual  one  thus  entitled  :  "  Frederick 
Douglas  V.  The  Ohio  Stage   Company."     On   July  16,  1850,   Frederick    Douglas, 
the  distinguished  colcyed  orator,  paid  to  the  Stage  Company  the  sura    of  three 
dollars,  which  was  the  regular  stage  fare,  for  his  passage  from  Columbus  to  Zanes- 
ville.     When  the  stage  called  for  him  in  its  rounds  for  passengers  he  took  a  seat 
inside  in  company'  with  a  lady  who   had  delayed  her  journey  for  a  day  or   two  for 
the  benelit  of  his  protection,  but  on  their  arrival  at  the  Stage  Office  Douglas  was 
ordered  out  of  the  coach  by  Hooker,  the  agent.     Being  in  poor  health  and  disin- 
clined to  contend  with  the  atjent,  Mr.  Douglas  got  out  and   was  then  ordered  to 
take  a  seat  on  the  top  of  the  stagu.     He  declined  to  do  that,  and  demanded  his 
money   back.     This  being  refused   he  brought  this  suit  to  recover  it.     Joshua  H. 
Giddings  was  his  attorne}'.     The   case  did  not  come  to  trial,  but  was  settled,  the 
company  paying  the  plaintiff*  thirteen  dollars  and  liquidating  the  costs  of  the  suit. 

John  G.  Miller  was  elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Montgomery  Township  in 
1854,  and  was  reelected  in  1857.  He  is  remembered  as  a  courtly  Virginia  gentle- 
man of  the  old  school,  possessing  a  good  legal  education  and  great  dignity  and 
urbanity  of  deportment.  He  was  commonly  spoken  of  as  Chief  Justice,  and  in  his 
court  not  only  were  the  principles  of  the  common  and  statute  law  duly  adminis- 
tered, but  the  principles  of  equity  were  freely  applied  whenever  occasion  and 
justice  seemed  to  require  it. 

Many  other  township  magistrates  are  deserving  of  special  mention  which  the 
scope  of  this  chapter  does  not  permit.  Let  one  other  name  close  the  list.  The 
venerable  Lot  L.  Smith,  whose  recent  and  sudden  death  in  office,  on  March  8, 
1892,  brings  his  many  rare  virtues  as  a  citizen  and  magistrate  of  Montgomery 
Township  into  special  prominence,  served  as  justice  for  an  aggregate  terra  of  nine 
years  lacking  one  month.  First  elected  to  the  office  in  1878  he  was  reelected  in 
1881,  and  finally  in  1889,  each  time  for  a  term  of  three  years.  His  legal  learning, 
rare  intellectual  endowments,  good  sense  and  sterling  honesty  esj^ecially  qualified 
him  for  the  important  duties  of  a  magistrate,  which  he  discharged  with  ability, 
firmness  and  kindness,  and  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  the  public.  As  a  man  and 
citizen  he  will  long  be  remembered  for  his  amiability,  integrity  and  generous  traits 
of  character. 

The  Mayor  of  Columbus  exercised  police  jurisdiction  during  the  years 
previous  to  the  creation  of  the  office  of  Police  Judge  by  the  legislative  act  .of  March 


Bench  and  Bar.  58d 

2, 1891.  Under  that  act  Matthias  Martin  was  elected  Police  Judge  for  the  prescribed 
term  of  three  years,  and  is  now  in  commission.  His  administration  of  the  office  is 
characterized  by  legal  acumen  and  good  sense,. promotive  of  public  order  and  safety 
without  infringing  upon  the  just  rights  of  the  individual. 

The  Probate  Court  is  provided  for  in  the  Constitution  of  1851,  and  its  juris- 
diction is  regulated  by  statute.  To  that  jurisdiction  are  committed  vast  property 
interests  in  the  matter  of  estates  and  trusts,  in  which  widows,  children  and  others 
are  vitally  interested.  This  court  is  always  open  and  accessible.  The  Probate 
Judge  is  elected  by  the  voters  of  the  county  for  a  term  of  three  years.  In  the  forty 
years  of  the  existence  of  this  court  its  duties  have  been  discharged  by  seven  judges 
in  the  following  order:  William  E.  Rankin,  William  Jamison,  Herman  B.  Albery, 
John  M.  Pugh,  John  T.  Gale,  Charles  G.  Saffin,  and  Lorenzo  D.  Hagerty,  the 
present  incumbent. 

The  ancient  and  useful  tribunal  of  the  people  known  as  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  has  been  familiar  to  our  judicial  system  from  the  time  of  its  origin.  Follow- 
ing territorial  precedents  in  order  to  meet  primitive  conditions,  the  earlier  legis- 
lation  of  the  State  imposed  miscellaneous  duties  not  of  a  judicial  character  upon 
the  judicial  branch  of  the  government,  and  particularly  upon  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  or  its  judges.  Among  these  duties  was  the  appointment  of  the  Sheriff, 
Recorder,  Treasurer  and  Surveyor  of  the  county  and  of  the  collectors  and  asses- 
sors or  "listers  of  taxable  property"  for  the  townships;  also  the  establishment  and 
opening  of  roads,  together  with  other  duties  now  discharged  by  the  County  Com- 
missioners. These  and  other  executive  functions,  such  as  granting  licenses  to 
keep  houses  of  public  entertainment,  gave  the  early  courts  and  particularly  the 
Associate  Judges,  eniplojMuent  suited  to  their  qualifications,  to  the  great  conven- 
ience and  benefit  of  the  ])eople. 

The  advance  of  the  State  in  population  was  attended  b}'  a  corresponding 
increase  in  the  judicial  and  nonjudicial  business  of  the  courts.  The  judicial  system 
of  the  Constitution  of  1802  was  ngt  adapted  to  this  enlarged  demand  upon  it 
and  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  especially  seemed  to  be  beyond  relief  by  legisla- 
tion. The  circuits  of  that  court,  although  increased  in  number  as  new  counties 
were  created,  remained  too  large  for  the  President  Judge,  who,  alone  of  the  judges, 
was  a  lawyer,  and  upon  whom  the  judicial  business  rested.  The  Associate  Judges, 
generally  most  excellent  citizens  and  intelligent  men,  were  not  educated  in  the 
law  and  therefore  not  able  to  assist  the  presiding  judge  in  the  discharge  of  strictly 
judicial  functions.  In  probate  matters  and  the  numerous  executive  duties  hereto- 
fore mentioned,  the  Associate  Judges  rendered  important  service.  The  system  was 
found  to  be  confused  and  inadequate.  It  was  better  that  much  of  the  executive 
business  should  be  vested  in  the  board  of  county  commissioners,  the  probate  busi- 
ness in  a  probate  court,  and  the  judicial  functions  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  a 
single  judge  learned  in  the  law. 

By  the  act  of  April  15,  1803,  "organizing  the  judicial  courts,*'  the  State 
was  divided  into  three  circuits,  of  which  the  counties  of  Hamilton,  Butler,  Mont* 
gomery,  Greene,  Warren  and  Clermont  composed  the  first;  the  counties  of  Adams, 
Scioto,   Ross,  Franklin,  Fairfield,  and   Gallia,  the  second ;  and  the  counties  of 


690  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Washington,    Belmont,    Jefferson,   Columbiana  and   Trumbull    the   third.       The 
act  provided  that  "a  president  of  the  courts  of  common  plcjis  shall  be  appointed  in 
each  circuit,  as  the  constitution  directs,  who,  together  with  three  associate  judges, 
to  be  appointed   in    each    county  as  aforewaid,  shall  compose  the  court  of  com- 
mon pleas  of  each  county,  any  three  of  whom  shall  be  a  quorum,  and  where  they  are 
equally   divided    in   opinion,   the   president   shall    have   the   casting  vote/'     The 
act  also  fixed  the  times  of  holding  the  Court  of  Common    Pleas  in  the  several 
counties.     In  Franklin  County  the  first  terms  were  appointed  for  the  first  Tuesday 
of  May,  September  and  January.     The  appointments  of  judges  have  been  elsewhere 
mentioned.     The  records  of  these  courts  show,  as  is  characteristic  of  the  ruder  state 
of  society,  that  frequent  acts  of  violence  "against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the 
State,"  required  prosecution  and  punishment  on  the  criminal  side  of  the  court,  and 
that  actions  for  trespass  vi  et  armis  for  the  same  violence  took  their  places  upon  the 
civil  docket  along  with  ordinary  actions  for  debts,  damai^os  and  the  like.     Questions 
as  to  land  titles  were  numerous  in  the  first  settlement  of  the   country,  and   for 
decades  afterward.     This  was  especiall}'  true  in  the  Virginia  Military  District. 
Actions   of  ejectment  were   common   in   Franklin    County,   as  elsewhere.     Many 
such    causes  are  found  upon  the  court   records   of  this  county    during  the  first 
fifty  years  of  its  history.     The  character  of  litigation  changes  in  harmony  with  the 
progressive  development  of  the  country,  the  ever-multiplying  employments  of  the 
people,  and    the   ever-changing  methods  and  agencies   of  business.     During  the 
earl}'  settlement  of  the  countr}^    the  business  pursuits  were  few    and    primitive, 
but  as  society   became   more  mature  and  trade  more  abundant  and  farreaching 
through  the  agency  of  improved  roads  and    transportation,  legal  questions  call- 
ing for  adjudication  became  accordingly  more  important  and  complicated.     This  fact 
is  reflected  in  the  court  records.    While  general  legal  principles  remained  unchanged, 
their  application  to  new  conditions  imposed  upon  the  judiciary  new   and  more 
difficult  duties. 

The  first  session  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Franklin  County  was  held  in 
the  town  of  Franklinton  "on  the  first  Tuesday  in  May,  and  on  the  third  daj^ 
thereof,"  as  the  record  states  it.  The  year  is  not  given,  but  it  was  1803.  The  court 
was  held  by  the  Associate  Judges.  The  record  runs  as  follows:  "John  Dill, 
David  Jamison  and  Joseph  Foos,  Esquires,  having  been  duly  commissioned  by  his 
Excellency,  Edward  Tiffin,  Esquire,  Governor  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  as  Associate 
Judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  county  of  Franklin,  and  having  first 
taken  the  oaths  of  allegiance,  as  also  the  oath  of  office,  assumed  their  scats. 
The  court  then  proceeded  to  appoint  their  clerk,  whereupon  Lucas  Sullivant 
was  appointed  Clerk  pro  tempore,  who  also  took  the  oath  of  office."  It  seems  that 
Benjamin  White  was  Sheriff*,  and  that  no  lawyers  were  in  attendance.  The  record 
shows  that  the  first  and  only  judicial  act  of  this  first  term  of  the  court  was 
an  order,  emblematic  of  the  transitory  nature  of  human  interests,  granting 
"the  application  of  Joseph  Foos  and  Jane  Foos,  widow  and  relict  of  John  Foos, 
deceased,  for  letters  of  administration  on  his  estate."  The  court  then  adjourned 
until  the  first  Tuesday. of  the  ensuing  September,  the  date  fixed  for  its  next  term. 


/ 


Bench  and  Bar.  591 

The  Common  Pleas  record  of  the  September  term,  1803,  reads  thus: 

At  a  court  of  common  pleas  begun  and  held  in  the  town  of  Franklinton,  on  the  first 
Tuesday  in  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  three,  and 
of  the  State  the  first,  before  the  Honorable  Willys  Silliman,  Esquire,  President,  and  David 
Jamison  and  John  Foos,  Esquires,  two  of  the  Associate  Judges  of  said  court,  John  S.  Wills, 
Michael  Baldwin,  Philemon  Beecher,  William  W.  Irwin  and  Jonathan  Reddick,  intending  to 
appear  as  attorneys  in  this  court,  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  this  State,  the  oath  to  support 
the  Constitution  of  this  State,  and  the  oath  of  an  attorn ey-at-law,  [and]  they  are  severally 
admitted  to  practice  as  attorneys  therein. 

On  the  same  day  of  the  term  the  three  commissioners  —  Jeremiah  McLene, 
James  Ferguson  and  William  Creighton  —  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  to 
fix  the  permanent  seat  of  justice  of  the  county,  reported  to  the  court  that  they  had 
selected  the  town  of  Franklinton.  The  report  was  ordered  to  be  recorded  and  the 
commissioners  were  allowed  for  their  services  —  six  days — the  sum  of  twelve  dol- 
lars, Jeremiah  McLene  being  allowed  three  dollars  "  additional  for  writing  and 
circulating  the  notices  required  by  the  law."  As  a  further  specimen  of  the  com- 
pensation paid  for  public  service  at  that  time  the  following  entry  on  the  docket  is 
here  copied  :  "  Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  out  of  the  county  treasury  unto  John  S. 
Wills,  Esq.,  the  sum  often  dollars  as  a  compensation  for  his  services  as  prosecuting 
attorney  for  the  county  during  the  present  term."  Probably  that  fee  corresponded 
with  the  hotel  bills  of  that  early  time. 

The  first  regular  business  of  the  court  at  the  September  term,  1803,  was  to 
charge  the  Grand  Jury,  which  "  withdrew  from  the  bar.  and  after  some  time 
returned  into  court"  and  made  a  presentment.  It  seems  that  in  the  preced- 
ing June,  Usual  Osborn  had  committed  an  assault  and  battery  upon  Joseph  Story 
"  contrary  to  the  laws  of  this  State  in  such  case  made  and  provided."  This  indict- 
ment was  signed  by  John  S.  Wills,  Prosecuting  Attorney  pro  tern.  At  the  next 
term  of  the  court,  held  in  January,  1804,  the  Prosecuting  Attorney  refused  to  pros- 
ecute further  on  the  indictment,  probably  on  account  of  defects  in  it,  and  a  new 
one  was  presented  by  the  Grand  Jury.  The  new  indictment  was  "  nol  pros'd,"  in 
accordance,  probably,  with  the  terms  of  a  settlement  of  a  pending  civil  action  for 
the  same  assault  shown  by  the  following  entry  on  the  record,  the  orthography,  but 
not  the  italics  being  the  same  as  in  the  original : 

John  Story,  Plaintitf,  against  Usual  Osborn,  Defendant.  In  trespass  vi  et  arm  is.  This 
suit  being  agreed  by  the  parties  —  It  is  ordered  that  their  agreement  be  made  the  judgment 
of  the  court,  which  said  agreement  is  in  the  words  and  figures  following,  to  wit :  "  Tiiis  is  to 
surtify  that  John  Story  and  Usual  Osborn  has  settled  thare  sute  themselves  on  these  condi- 
tion. — Osbourn  agreese  to  pay  the  cost  of  the  RiU  and  of  three  Supenes  and  half  the  court 
and  Clarke  fees,  and  John  Story  pays  the  balance  of  the  cost.  Given  under  our  hands  this  4th 
day  of  January  1804— we  agree  to  here  set  our  hands  and  seals. 

John  Story.  [L.  S.] 
EsuAL  Osbourn.  fL.  S.l 

Among  the  orders  entered  at  this  January  term  (1804)  was  the  following: 
"Ordered,  that  there  be  paid  unto  Adam  Hosack,  SheriflP  of  this  county,  the  sum 
of  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  for  summoning  the  grand  jury  for  January  term^ 
1804.*' 


692  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

It  may  be  assumed,  without  entering  into  detail,  that  the  routine  business  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Franklin  County  continued  from  term  to  term  and 
year  to  year  in  its  ordinary  course,  except  as  now  and  then  marked  by  cases  of 
exceptional  character.  After  the  lapse  of  nearly  ninety  years  we  now  find  the 
same  court  continuing  its  sessions  with  two  thousand  cases  on  its  docket  and  three 
judges  on  its  bench  — Eli  P.  Evans,  Thomas  J.  Duncan  and  David  F.  Pugh  ;  occa- 
sionally assisted  by  Isaac  N.  Abernethy,  all  excellent  judges. 

The  Superior  Court  of  Franklin  County  was  established  by  an  act  passed  in 
1857  and  was  abolished  by  law  in  1865.  The  object  of  this  court  was  to  relieve 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  which  had  a  larger  docket  than  it  could  readily 
dispose  of.  But  such  courts  being  exceptional,  and  not  in  direct  line  with  the 
other  tribunals  in  the  judicial  sj^stem  of  Ohio,  they  have  not  always  been  regarded 
with  public  favor,  although  conducted  by  able  judges.  Such  was  the  case  with 
the  Superior  Court  of  Franklin  County.  Two  excellent  lawyers  successively 
occupied  the  bench  of  ihat  court,  the  first  being  Fitch  James  Matthews,  elected  in 
1857  and  reelected  in  1862,  each  time  for  a  term  of  five  years,  but  was  obliged  by 
failing  health  to  resign  in  February,  1864.  Judge  Matthews  was  succeeded  by  J. 
William  Baldwin,  who  was  appointed  by  the  (Governor  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and 
who  served  until  the  court  was  abolished  about  one  year  later.  Noah  H.  Swayrie, 
then  a  resident  lawyer  of  Columbus,  was  a  candidate  at  the  first  election  for  Judge 
of  the  Superior  Court  against  Matthews  and  came  within  a  few  votes  of  being 
elected.  Swayne's  defeat  was  probably  the  greatest  good  fortune  that  ever 
happened  to  him  except  his  appointment  in  January,  1862,  by  President  Lincoln 
as  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  a  position  to 
which  he  would  probably  never  have  acceded  had  he  been  elected  to  preside  over 
the  Franklin  County  Superior  Court.  • 

All  the  judges  of  the  courts  under  the  Constitution  of  1802  were  elected  by 
joint  ballot  of  both  houses  of  the  General  Assembly  "  for  the  term  of  seven  years, 
if  so  long  they  behave  well."  Vacancies  were  filled  by  appointment  by  the  Gov- 
ernor. Under  the  Constitution  of  1851,  all  the  judges  are  elected  by  the  people 
for  specified  terms,  the  Common  Pleas  judges  by  the  electors  of  each  judicial  sub- 
division for  a  term  of  five  years,  the  Probate  judge  by  the  electors  of  the  several 
counties,  for  a  term  of  three  years.  Vacancies  are  filled  by  executive  appointment 
and  subsequent  election  by  the  people. 

.   The  City  of  Columbus  is  in  the  Common  Pleas  subdivision  consisting  of  the 
counties  of  Franklin,  Madison  and  Pickaway. 

Wyllis  Silliman,  the  first  President  Judge  of  the  Franklin  County  Common 
Pleas,  presided  for  the  first  time  at  the  September  term  in  1803,  and  after  his 
retirement  resided  at  Zanesville,  where  he  engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  law. 
When  the  writer  was  a  small  boy  in  Holmes  County,  Judge  Silliman,  then  in 
advanced  age,  attended  the  courts  there,  and  is  remembered  as  a  venerable  gentle- 
man of  fine  presence  and  elegant  manners.  He  was  reputed  to  be  an  able  and 
accomplished  lawyer. 

Without  departing  from  the  plan  of  this  chapter,  or  making  any  formal 
attempt  to  write  biography,  mention  may  be  made  of  three  additional  Common 
Pleas  judges  who  lived  and  died  in  Columbus,  viz.:  Joseph  R.  Swan,  James  L. 


Bench  and  Bar.  5d3 

Bates,  and  John  L.  Green.  Judge  Swan's  most  useful  and  distinguished  judicial 
service,  was,  perhaps,  that  which  he  performed  on  the  Common  Pleas  bench  dur- 
ing the  fourteen  years  extending  from  1834  to  1848  In  the  lower  court  in  an 
extended  circuit  he  was  nearer  to  the  people  and  the  lawyers  than  he  could  be  on 
the  Supreme  Bench  to  which  lie  was  promoted.  His  administration  of  the  law  in 
the  Common  Pleas  was  performed  with  such  rare  ability,  impartiality  and  dignity 
as  to  produce  respect  for  the  courts,  and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  his  judi- 
cial service  honored  his  profession  not  onl}"^  within  the  limits  of  his  circuit  but  far 
beyond  them. 

In  1851  James  L.  Bates  was  elected  as  the  first  Common  Pleas  judge  in  Frank- 
lin County  under  the  Constitution  of  1851,  and  was  reelected  without  opposition  in 
1856,  and  again  in  1861.  His  Judicial  service  for  fifteen  consecutive  years  was 
efficient,  impartial,  conscientious  and  satisfactory  to  the  people.  He  will  long  be 
remembered  as  an  able  and  upright  judge. 

John  L.  Green  succeeded  Judge  Bates  by  election  in  1866,  and  was  reelected  in 
1871  and  1876  for  tetms  of  five  years  each.  He  was  a  cultured  gentleman,  a  good 
lawyer  in  all  branchesof  jurisprudence,  and  adorned  the  Common  Pleas  bench  with 
rare  learning  and  ability. 

Brief  mention  may  be  made  also  of  the  two  judges  of  the  Superior  Court. 
Fitch  James  Matthews,  the  first  judge  of  that  court,  is  remembered  as  a  good  lawyer, 
an  able  and  impartial  judge  and  a  good  citizen.  His  successor,  J.  William  Baldwin, 
served  only  about  one  year,  but  in  a  manner  eminently  satisfactory  to  the  bar  and 
the  public.  On  the  bench,  as  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  he  maintained 
a  reputation  for  great  learning  in  all  branches  of  the  law,  but  particularly  in  equity 
jurisprudence  and  the  law  of  real  property,  in  which  he  was  more  of  a  specialist  than 
any  of  his  contemporaries.  His  opinions  in  these  branches  were  generally  accepted 
as  authority. 

The  difference  between  the  Supreme  Court  in  banc  and  the  same  tribunal  on 
the  circuit,  during  the  first  year  or  two  in  the  history  of  this  branch  of  our 
local  jurisprudence,  is  not  easy  to  determine.  The  record  in  the  first  order  book  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  •*  December  term,  1810,*'  in  the  Statehouse,  shows  that  **at  a 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  holden  in  the  town  of  Franklinton,  for 
the  county  of  Franklin,  on  Monday  the  twentyfourth  day  of  December,  1810,  and 
ninth  year  of  the  State,  the  Honorable  Thomas  Scott,  William  W.  Irwin  and 
Ethan  Allen  Brown  severally  produced  to  the  clerk  commissions  from  his  Excellency 
Samuel  Huntington,  Governor  of  this  State,  appointing  them  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  this  State,  and  it  appearing  that  they  had  regularly  qualified  thereto,  they 
took  their  seats  on  the  Bench  .  .  .  Thomas  Scott,  Chief  Judge,  and  William 
W.  Irwin  and  Ethan  Allen  Brown  Judges  of  said  court."  The  court  was  in  session 
three  days,  and  "appointed  Lyne  Starling  Clerk  of  tlie  Supreme  Court  for 
the  county  of  Franklin  for  the  term  of  seven  years,"  and,  "on  motion  of  Charlotte 
Smith  by  John  S.  Wills,  her  attorney,  her  petition  for  a  divorce  was  withdrawn.** 
On  a  writ  of  error  the  court  reversed  a  judgment  of  the  Franklin  County  Common 
Pleas,  and  ordered  to  be  entered  and  certified  back  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  counties  five  cases  adjourned  from  Fairfield,  two  from  Muskingum  and  one  from 

38 


594  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Washington  ;  and  it  was  further  "  ordered  that  this  court  be  adjourned  until  court  in 
course.'     A  record  is  made  of  the  same  "  December  term,  1810,"  in  the  County 
Clerk's  oflSce.     The  next  **  court  in  course"  for  the  county  of  Franklin  wa%  begun 
and  held  in  Franklinton  on  November  29, 1811 ;  present,  Thomas  Scott,  Chief  Judge, 
and   William    W.  Irwin,   Judge,   as  appears  from  Order   Book  Number    One,  in 
the  Clerk's  office  in  the  Statchouse,  but  according  to  the  recor.is  in  the  County 
Clerk's  office  a  term  was  begun  and  held  '*  for  the  county  of  Franklin  at  Franklin- 
ton on  the  ninth  day  of  December  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred   and   eleven,   and    tenth    year   of    iho   State;"    present,   Thomas    Scott, 
Chief  Judge,  and  William  Irwin  and  Ethan  Allen  Brown,  Judges.      The  apparent 
confusion  arises  from  the  probable  fact  that  the  terms  of  the  Supreme  Court  held  at 
Franklinton  in   1810  and  1811  were  terms  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  banc  as  well 
as  on  the  circuity  if  any  such  distinction  was  then  made. 

There  were  seventeen  cases,  all  told,  on  the  docket  of  the  Supreme  Court  at  its 
December  term  in  1810.  The  last  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  on  the  circuit  in 
Franklin  County,  under  the  Constitution  of  1802,  was  that  of  November,  1851.  It 
began  November  27,  of  that  year,  and  adjournctl  without  da}',  January  15,  1852  ; 
present,  William  B.  Caldwell,  President  Judge  ;  Kufus  P.  Ranney,  Judge;  and  Lewis 
Heyl,  Clerk.  Yearly  terms  of  the  Supreme  Court  on  the  circuit,  beginning  in 
1810,  ended  in  1852,  when  that  court  on  the  circuit  and  in  banc,  and  the  judicial 
system  of  which  it  was  a  part,  were  superseded  by  the  District  and  Supremo  courts 
provided  for  by  the  Constitution  of  1851.  The  first  term  of  the  Supreme  Court 
under  that  constitution  was  that  of  March,  1852,  and  was  held  in  Columbus;  pres- 
ent, William  B.  Caldwell,  Chief  Justice,  and  Allen  G.  Thurman,  Thomas  W.  Bart- 
ley,  John  A.  Corwin  and  Kufus  P.  Ranney,  Judges.  Under  successive  judges  this 
court  has  continued  to  be  held  in  Columbus  until  the  present  time  as  the  court  of 
last  resort  in  the  State.  Such  has  been  the  increase  of  its  business,  in  conformity 
with  contemporary  growth  in  the  population  and  wealth  of  the  State,  that,  at  the 
beginniug  of  its  January  term  in  1892  there  were  over  one  thousand  cases  on  its 
docket,  an  impressive  showing  when  compared  with  the  docket  numbering  only 
seventeen  cases  at  the  December  term  in  1810. 

To  relieve  the  congested  state  of  business  in  the  Supreme  Court,  a  commis- 
sion of  five  members,  each  to  serve  three  years,  was  appointed  in  1876,  and  in  1883 
a  similar  commission  was  appointed,  the  members  of  which  were  each  to  serve 
for  a  term  of  two  years.  The  sessions  of  these  commissions  were  held  in 
Columbus. 

The  first  case  reported  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Ohio  Reports  was  that 
entitled  "  Lessee  of  Moore  v.  Vance,"  and  was  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  on 
the  circuit  held  in  Franklin  County  by  Judges  McLean  and  Hitchcock.  It  was  an 
action  of  ejectment  involving  the  title  to  a  body  of  land  in  the  Virginia  Military 
District,  and  the  controversy  related  to  the  validity  of  a  deed  executed  without 
attesting  witnesses  under  the  laws  of  the  Territory  and  acknowledged  outside  of 
the  Territory  by  one  of  its  judges. 

Of  the  thirty  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  under  the  Constitution  of 
1802  not  one  survives,  Judge  Rufus  P.  Ranney  who  recently  died  being  the  last  of 


Bench  and  Bar.  595 

the  number.  Of  the  five  judges  who  constituted  the  court  at  its  first  session  under 
the  Constitution  of  1851,  the  sole  survivor  »it  the  present  time  is  Judge  Allen  G. 
Thurman,  the  "  Nestor  of  the  Ohio  Bench  and  Bar."  Of  the  successors  of  those  first 
five  judges,  numbering  thirtythree  in  all,  only  ten,  including  the  five  now  in  com- 
mission, are  yet  living.  The  writer  would  deem  it  a  labor  of  love  to  recall  many 
of  these  eminent  jurists  by  name  and  characterize  their  abilities  and  virtues  in 
affectionate  terms,  but  this  is  not  the  place  for  eulogy.  "■  They  have  ceased  from 
their  labors,  and  their  works  do  follow  them."  The  present  Supreme  Court  is  con- 
stituted as  follows:  William  T.  Spear,  Chief  Justice;  Joseph  P.  Bradbury,  Frank- 
lin J.  Dickman,  Thaddeus  A.  Minshall  and  Marshall  J.  Williams,  Judges. 

The  first  case  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  held  by  all  its  judges, 
sitting  as  a  court  in  banc,  was  disposed  of  at  a  special  session  held  at  Columbus  in 
December,  1823.  It  was  entitled  *' Luckey  v.  Brandon  and  others,"  and  is 
reported  in  1  Ohio,  50.  It  was  reserved  from  Stark  County  and  relates  to  a  debtor 
imprisoned  within  jail  limits  under  statutes  authorizing  imprisonment  for  debt* 
The  court  humanely  decided  that  the  debtor  thus  imprisoned  might  go  into  private 
houses  or  labor  on  private  grounds,  within  such  limits,  without  bein^  guilty  of  an 
escape.  In  the  progress  of  civilization  in  this  State,  imprisonment  for  debt  and 
other  relics  of  barbarism  have  happily  disappeared,  in  obedience  to  an  enlightened 
and  humane  public  sentiment. 

Under  the  Constitution  of  1851,  a  District  Court  was  provided  for  each  county, 
to  be  held  by  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  three  judges  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  of  the  judicial  district,  any  three  of  these  functionaries  to  constitute  a 
quorum.  The  first  district  court  in  Eranklin  County  was  held  in  June,  1852.  It 
was  formally  opened  June  15,  and  there  were  present  James  L.  Bates,  Sheppard 
F.  Korris,  and  John  L.  Green,  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  The  first 
order  entered  was,  that  H.  B.  Carrington,  B.  Backus,  N.  H.  Swayne,  Henry  C. 
Noble  and  John  W.  Andrews,  or  any  three  of  them,  be  appointed  a  committee  for 
the  examination  of  applicants  for  admission  to  the  bar.  On  the  next  day,  June  16, 
1852,  the  court  met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  there  being  present  Thomas  W. 
Bartley,  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  same  judges  as  the  day  before. 
The  term  ended  on  the  third  day  by  a  sine  die  adjournment.  For  some  succeed- 
ing years  the  District  Court  of  the  county  was  composed  of  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  and  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  but  the  docket  of  the  Supreme 
Court  increased  so  rapidly  that  the  judges  of  that  court  could  not  meet  its  require- 
ments and  also  attend  the  district  courts;  consequently,  contrary  to  the  intention 
of  the  constitution,  the  district  courts  wore  left  in  charge  of  the  judges  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas;  and,  whether  with  or  without  good  reasons,  became 
unsatisfactory.  One  of  the  chief  objections  urged  against  the  District  Court  as  held 
by  the  Common  Pleas  judges,  was  that  in  the  Di.strict  Courts  they  sat  in  judg- 
ment on  their  own  rulings  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  ;  and  although  attempts 
were  made  by  legislation  to  obviate  that  objection,  the  District  Court  came  more 
and  more  into  disfavor  until  it  was  superseded  by  the  Constitutional  Amendment 
of  1883,  providing  for  a  Circuit  Court  composed  of  judges  having  no  connection 


596  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

with  the  lower  courts  upon  the  judgments  of  which  the  Circuit  Court  would  sit  in 
review. 

The  first  terra  of  the  Circuit  Court  for  the  Second  Circuit,  composed  of  the 
counties  of  Franklin,  Preble,  Darke,  Shelby,  Miami,  Montgomery,  Champaign, 
Clark,  Greene,  Fayette  and  Madison,  organized  under  the  Constitutional  Amend- 
ment of  1883,  and  the  statutes  in  aid  of  it,  was  held  in  Columbus,  beginning  Feb- 
ruary- 23,  1885,  the  judges  present  being  Marshall  J.  Williums,  Presiding  Judge, 
and  John  A.  Shauck  and  Gilbert  H.  Stewart.  The  court  consists  of  three  judges, 
who  are  elected  for  a  term  of  six  years,  afler  the  first  election,  by  the  people  of  the 
circuit;  and  any  two  of  them  constitute  a  quorum.  The  only  change  which  has 
taken  place  in  the  personnel  of  the  court  has  been  made  by  the  election  of  Charles 
C.  Shearer  in  place  of  Judge  Williams  elected  to  the  Supreme  Bench.  The  Circuit 
Court  has  proved  to  be  very  satisfactory,  and  deserves  and  receives  the  confidence 
of  the  bar  and  the  public.  Its  business  in  Franklin  County  is  large  and  increas- 
ing. At  its  June  term  in  1852,  the  District  Court  in  the  county  was  leisurely 
occupied  only  a  little  over  two  days  in  the  discharge  of  its  business,  whereas  tlie 
business  of  the  Circuit  Court  at  its  January  term  in  1892,  taxed  the  best  energies 
of  its  judges  for  sixtysix  days. 

Soon  after  the  seat  of  government  of  the  State  was  permanently  established 
the  General  Assembly  passed  a  resolution  requesting  Congress  to  transfer  the 
National  Courts  from  Chillicothe  to  Columbus,  and  the  transfer  was  made.  The 
first  session  of  these  courts  in  Columbus  was  held  in  a  brick  building  subsequently 
used  as  a  hotel  and  known  as  the  **  Buckeye  House,"  on  Broad  Street,  located  at 
the  present  site  of  the  Board  of  Trade  Building,  which  is  its  immediate  successor. 
In  1821  the  General  Assembly  by  resolution  authorized  these  courts  to  hold  their 
sittings  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the  first  Statehouso.  The 
sittings  were  accordingly  held  there  until  a  courthouse  "  for  the  reception  of  said 
courts"  was  erected  mainly  with  money  contributed  by  citizens  of  Franklin 
County.  This  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  first  county  courthouse  erected  in  Colum- 
bus. Its  location  and  appearance  have  been  described  in  a  preceding  chapter. 
The  National  Courts  were  held  in  it  until  their  removal  to  Cincinnati  and  Cleve- 
land. Afler  those  courts  were  reestablished  in  Columbus,  on  the  creation  of  the 
Eastern  Division  of  the  Southern  District  of  Ohio,  in  1880,  they  were  at  first  held 
in  the  Council  Chamber  in  the  City  Hall,  and  subsequently  and  until  the  connple- 
tion  of  the  present  United  States  Building,  at  the  southeast  corner  of  State  and 
Third  streets,  in  rooms  in  the  second  story  of  the  brick  building  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  State  and  Fourth  streets. 

Charles  Willing  Byrd  was  the  first  United  States  District  Judge  in  Ohio. 
He  was  born  in  Virginia  and  educated  in  Philadelphia.  After  serving  as  the  first 
Secretary,  and  for  a  time  as  acting  Governor,  of  the  Northwest  Territory  he 
became,  on  the  admission  of  Ohio  to  the  Union,  a  United  States  District  Judge  by 
appointment  of  President  Jctferson.  He  remained  in  commi.ssion  until  his  death 
in  August,  1828,  when  President  John  Quincy  Adams  nominated  as  his  successor 
William  Creighion,  Junior,  of  Chillicothe,  but  for  partisan  reasons  this  nomination 
was  not  confirmed  by  the  Senate.     Judge  Croighton's  services  in  connection  with 


Bench  and  Bar.  597 

tlic  United  States  Court  at  Columbus  therefore  lasted  only  from  November  1  to 
Deoeinbor  31,  1828.  in  March,  1829,  President  Jackson  nominated  to  the  vacancy 
John  W.  (^ampbell,  of  Brown  County,  and  this  appointment  was  unanimously  con- 
firmed. Judge  Campbell  accepted  the  office,  and  in  1831  removed  to  Columbus, 
where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his  death  in  1833,  at  Delaware,  whither  he  and 
his  wife  had  gone  to  visit  the  springs  for  rest  and  recuperation  sxftev  exhausting 
vigils  with  the  sick  and  dying  during  the  cholera  epidemic  of  that  year.  Upon  the 
death  of  Judge  Campbell  President  Jackson  nominated  Benjamin  Tapimn,  of 
Steubenvillo,  as  liis  successor.  He  held  court  only  three  days  —  December  23,  24 
and  25,  1833  —  the  Senate  refusing  to  confirm  his  nomination.  The  Tappans  were 
of  Massachusetts  origin.  Benjamin  was  a  brother  of  Arthur  and  Lewis  Tappan, 
merchants  of  New  York,  both  pronounced  in  their  antislavery  sentiments.  Arthur 
was  the  founder  of  Oberlin  College.  In  1834  President  Jackson  followed  up  the 
unconfirmed  nomination  of  Judge  Tappan  by  sending  in  the  name  of  Humphrey 
H.  Leavitt,  who  was  confirmed  and  continued  to  serve  until  his  death  in  1871, 
whereupon  President  Grant  appointed  Philip  B.  Swing,  of  Clermont  County;  to 
the  vacancy.  Judge  Swing  served  until  his  death  in  1882,  when  William  White, 
of  Springfield,  was  nominated  and  confirmed  as  his  successor,  but  died  shortly 
afterwards  and  was  succeeded  by  George  R.  Sage,  of  Lebanon,  Ohio,  appointed  by 
President  Arthur.  Judge  Sage  took  his  seat  upon  the  bench  in  Columbus  during 
the  month  of  June,  1883,  and  is  still  in  commission. 

Pursuant  to  an  act  of  Congress  passed  in  1842,  the  summer  term  of  the 
National  Courts  was  held  at  Cincinnati  and  the  winter  term  at  Columbus;  finally 
the  removal  of  these  courts  from  Columbus  was  made  complete,  and  in  1855  the 
State  was  divided  by  act  of  Congress  into  two  judicial  districts,  the  counties  of 
Belmont,  Guernsey,  Licking,  Franklin,  Madison,  Champaign,  Shelby  and  Mercer 
and  all  counties  south  of  these  to  constitute  the  Southern  District  with  the  courts 
at  Cincinnati,  and  all  the  counties  north  of  those  just  named  to  constitute  the 
Northern  District  wi I h  the  courts  at  Cleveland.  Judge  Leavitt  and  his  successors 
were  assigned  to  the  Southern  District;  Judge  Wilson,  appointed  and  confirmed 
as  District  Judge  for  the  Northern  District,  was  succeeded  by  Judges  Sherman, 
Welker,  Day  and  Judge  Hicks,  the  present  incumbent. 

On  February  4,  1880,  the  President  approved  an  act  of  Congress  reorganizing 
the  Southern  District  of  Ohio  in  two  subdivisions  known  as  the  Eastern  and  Wes- 
tern, transferring  certain  counties  from  the  Northern  to  the  Southern  District,  and 
providing  for  circuit  and  district  courts  to  be  held  at  Columbus  on  the  first  Tuesday  in 
June  and  December  each  year,  for  the  Eastern  Division,  comprising  twentynine 
counties.  The  first  sittings  of  the  courts  which  took  place  in  pursuance  of  this  act 
were  held  in  the  Council  Chamber  in  the  Columbus  City  Hall  on  the  first  Tuesday 
in  June,  1880.  The  Judges  present  were  Noah  H.  Swayne,  Associate  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  Philip  B.  Swing,  District  Judge.  To 
signalize  this  occasion  the  Columbus  Bar,  on  the  evening  of  June  1,  1880,  gave  a 
banquet  to  the  United  States  Judges  and  other  court  officials  at  the  rooms  of  the 
Tyndall  Association  in  the  City  Hall.  An  address  of  welcome  was  delivered  by 
Henry  C.  Noble,  and  was  responded  to  by  Justice  Swayne.     In  response  to  toasts. 


598  IIlST(»RY    OF   TlIK    ClTV    OF    CoLUMBlIS. 

addresses  wore  delivered  by  Judges  P.   B.   Swing,  William  White  and  Joseph  R. 
Swan,  and  by  Hon.  Richard  A.  Harrison. 

At  subsequent  terms  of  the  United  States  Courts  at  Columbus,  no  Jud^e  of  the 
Supreme  Court  was  present;  but,  in  pursuance  of  an  act  of  Congress  creating  cir- 
cuit judges,  John  Baxter,  of  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  was  appointed  judge  for  the 
Sixth  Circuit,  and  was  j)re8ent  with  the  District  Judge,  as  was  also  HoweU  E. 
Jackson,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  appointed  Circuit  Judge  on  the  death  of  Judge 
Baxter.  At  the  sittings  of  these  courts  in  Columbus  for  the  June  term  of  the  year 
1883,  George  R.  Sage,  District  Judge,  was  on  the  bench,  as  he  has  been  at  nearly 
every  subsequent  term  except  as  occasionally  relieved  by  exchange  with  other  dis- 
trict judges.  In  such  exchanges  Judges  E.  Shelby  Hammond,  of  Tennessee,  and 
Henry  F.  Severens,  Henry  H.  Swan,  and  Henry  B.  Brown  of  Michigan,  have 
occupied  the  bench  in  Columbus.  Judge  Brown  is  now  an  Associate  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 


While  it  is  impracticable  and  would  be  unprofitable  to  burden  this  chapter 
with  details  of  court  proceedings,  some  cases  of  more  or  less  interest  may  be 
given,  as  illustrating  the  character  of  litigation  at  different  periods. 

Early  in  the  history  of  Ohio  it  became  very  evident  that  the  section  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  supplementary  acts  of  Congress,  providing 
for  the  reclamation  and  surrender  of  fugitive  slaves  were  odious  to  many  persons 
in  this  free  State,  and  were  really  favored  by  only  a  small  and  diminishing 
minority.  Ohio  being  situated  contiguous  to  the  slave  sections  of  the  Union,  the 
escape  of  bondsmen  into  her  territory  was  easy  ai»d  frequent,  and  bitter  contests 
often  took  place  between  the  claimants  and  abettors  of  the  fugitives.  Columbus 
being  within  easy  reach  of  the  river  border,  it  was  one  of  the  way  stations  on  the 
"  underground  railroad  "  from  thence  to  Canada,  and  became  the  scene  of  many 
of  these  contentions.  A  few  of  the  cases  which  thus  arose  and  were  brought  before 
the  courts  and  judges  at  the  capital  may  be  mentioned  : 

In  February,  1845,  Jane  Garrison,  a  colored  woman,  with  her  little  boy  named 
Harrison,  was  living  as  a  servant  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Parish,  a  lawyer  of  San- 
dusky, Ohio.  A  man  named  Mitchell  appeared  and  claimed  the  mother  and  child 
as  fugitive  slaves  belonging  to  Driskell,  a  Kentuckian,  and  meeting  Mr.  Parish 
near  his  residence,  went  with  him  to  the  house,  where  Jane  Garrison  was  called 
out.  Mitchell  subsequently  stated  that  he  insisted  upon  arresting  Jane  and  the 
boy  on  a  power  of  attorney  which  he  held  at  that  time,  but  that  Parish  said  he 
should  not  do  so,  as  it  required  judicial  authority  to  take  them,  and  that  he 
(Parish)  pushed  them  into  the  house  and  went  in  himself.  Parish  claimed  that  he 
only  insisted  that  the  alleged  slaves  should  have  a  fair  trial,  and  if  Mitchell  estab- 
lished his  right  to  take  them  he  could  do  so  ;  also  that  Mitchell  assented  to  this 
and  went  away  without  attempting  to  arrest  the  alleged  fugitives.  Driskell 
brought  suit  against  Parish  in  the  United  States  District  Court,  in  Columbus, 
under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  for  penalties  for  harboring,  concealing  and  obstruct- 
ing the  arrest  of  fugitive  slaves.     The  case  was  tried  before  Justices  McLean  and 


Bench  and  Bab.  599 

Lcavitt,  and  a  jury,  in  November,  1847.  Henry  Stanbery  and  James  H.  Thomp- 
son represented  Driskeil,  and  Salnion  P.  Chase  and  John  W.  Andrews  appeared 
tor  Parish.  Under  the  charge  of  the  court  the  jury  found  Parish  guilty,  and  the 
court,  refusing  to  set  aside  the  verdict,  entered  judgment  against  him  for  two 
])cnalties  of  five  hundred  dollai*8  each,  which,  with  costs,  Parish  paid. 

In  March,  1846,  William  Henderson,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  had  his  office  in 
Franklinton.  .On  the  twentyseventh  of  that  month,  between  seven  and  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  Jerry  Finney,  a  colored  man  residing  with  his  wife  and 
children  in  Columbus,  brought  a  trunk  to  Henderson's  office  from  a  hotel  in 
Columbus  at  the  request  of  Jacob  Armitage,  upon  the  representation  that  a  couple 
were  to  be  married  at  the  magistrate's  office  that  evening,  and  then  leave  clan- 
destinel}'.  On  arriving  with  the  trunk  Finney  found  no  light  in  the  office  excej^t 
from  I  he  ntovo,  but  Armitage,  William  Henderson,  Henry  Henderson,  David  A. 
Potter,  Daniel  Zinn  and  Jolm  Stephenson  were  there,  and  were  immediately 
joined  by  Alexander  C.  Forbes.  The  door  being  locked,  Forbes  seized  Finney  and 
called  for  assistance,  whereupon  Potter  and  Stephenson  assisted  in  tying  and 
handcuffing  Finney,  Forbes  taking  the  handcuffs  from  under  a  bed  in  the  office. 
When  Finney  wns  seized  he  screamed,  but  his  second  and  subsequent  screams 
were  parlly  smothered  by  Forbes,  who  placed  his  hand  over  the  captive's  mouth. 
A  candle  was  then  lighted,  whereupon  Finney  asked  for  some  water,  was  told 
there  was  none  in  the  room,  and  was  presented  by  Forbes  with  a  drink  of  whisky 
from  a  bottle  taken  from  under  the  bed.  Finney  then  asked  to  see  his  wife  and 
children,  and  was  told  that  he  was  seized  for  reclamation  as  a  fugitive  slave  from 
Kentucky.  He  then  said  he  wanted  a  fair  trial,  and  desired  to  have  certain  wit- 
nesses which  he  named  sent  for  to  prove  that  he  was  entitled  to  his  freedom. 
Justice  Henderson  replied  that  Forbes  had  papers  sufficient  for  a  trial  without 
witnesses.  Forbes  was  sworn  and  Henderson  asked  him  whether  Finney  was  the 
man  he  wanted.  A  few  other  questions  were  asked  about  the  captive's  identit}^ 
and  Forbes  signed  a  paper  which  Henderson  retained,  and  Henderson  delivered  a 
paper  to  Forbes.  The  papers  thus  exchanged  had  been  previously  prepared. 
Finney  admitted  that  he  had  once  been  a  slave  in  Kentucky,  but  claimed  that  he 
was  brought  to  Ohio  by  or  with  the  consent  of  his  owner  and  had  thereby 
become  a  free  man.  The  office  door  was  then  unlocked  by  Henry  Henderson  and 
P^inney  was  taken  out  and  placed  in  Zinn's  hack  which,  after  Forbes  and 
Armitage  had  also  got  into  it,  was  driven  off.  They  took  Finney  to  Mrs.  Bathsheba 
D.  Long,  in  Frankfort,  Kentucky.  Forbes  claimed  to  be  Mrs.  Long's  agent  to 
reclaim  Finney  and  take  him  back  to  slavery.  He  also  claimed  that  his  captive 
had  been  born  a  slave  and  had  escaped  from  his  mistress  about  fifteen  years  before 
that  date.  The  next  day,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  as  to  why  witnesses  had  been 
refused  when  Finney  called  for  them.  Justice  Henderson  said  that  no  witnesses  were 
necessary,  as  Forbes  had  brought  a  power  of  attorney  and  depositions  to  show  his 
authority,  and  prove  that  Finney  was  a  slave.  To  the  inquiry  why  it  vvas  that 
Finney  had  been  decoyed  to  Franklinton  at  night  to  have  a  trial  without  wit- 
nesses, and  why  he  was  not  arrested  in  Columbus  where  there  were  magistrates, 


600  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Henderson  said  that  the  Columbus  magistrates   were  "a  set  of  damned    aboli- 
tionists/' and  would  not  give  Forbes  and  Armitage  justice. 

When  Finney  took  the  trunk  to  Henderson's  office,  a  colored  boy  was  with 
him  and  is  said  to  have  been  detained  several  hours  to  allow  the  kidnappers 
time  to  escape  with  their  victim  and  reach  the  cars  at  Xenia  before  they  could  be 
overtaken.  As  soon  as  the  boy  was  released  he  gave  the  alarm  and  there  was  great 
excitement  in  Columbus.  A  pursuing  party  was  organized  and  started  on  fleet 
horses,  but  failed  to  reach  Xenia  before  the  train  with  Finney  and  his  abductors 
on  board  had  lefl  there  for  Cincinnati.  The  pursuers  pushed  on  to  that  city  but 
did  not  reach  there  until  after  Finney  had  been  hurried  into  a  mailboat  and  taken 
across  the  river  to  Kentucky,  on  the  way  to  Frankfort  in  that  State. 

The  excitement  in  Columbus  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  pursuit  was  only  excelled 
by  the  public  feeling  against  the  kidnappers  and  against  Justice  Henderson  and 
their  other  abettors,  who  were  arrested  and,  after  a  preliminary'  examination  con- 
ducted by  Aaron  F.  Perry,  then  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  the  State,  and  by  Fitch 
James  Matthews  and  Albert  B.  Buttles  for  the  defendants,  were  recognized  to  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  in  default  of  bail  were  committed  to  the  coanty  jail. 
An  immense  public  meeting  was  held  at  the  Town  Street  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  at  which  spirited  addresses  were  delivered  by  Samuel  Galloway,  Rev. 
Granville  Moody  and  others,  and  resolutions  were  adoj)ted  fiercely  denouncing 
Finney's  abduction  and  all  connected  with  it,  and  expressing  a  determination  '*  to 
rescue  him  from  the  scoundrels  who  stole  him  from  his  family."  In  the  mean  time 
Colonel  Miner,  of  Cincinnati,  and  Messrs.  Cowles  and  Bartol,  of  Columbus,  at  once 
proceeded  to  Frankfort  to  see  what  could  be  done  for  Finney's  release.  Awaiting 
the  result  of  their  efforts,  a  purse  of  five  hundred  dollars  was  raised  by  the  citizens 
of  Columbus  to  be  added  to  a  like  sum  to  be  offered  by  the  Governor,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  the  kidnappers  to  justice. 

It  was  stated  at  the  time  that  before  taking  steps  to  arrest  Finney  Forbes 
applied  to  Judge  Joseph  R.  Swan,  who  had  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  for  counsel, 
and  had  been  refused.  By  aflSdavit  before  Alexander  Patton,  a  justice  of  the  peace 
in  Columbus,  in  April,  184G,  Forbes  and  Armitage  were  charged  with  violating  the 
laws  of  Ohio  in  forcibly  seizing  and  abducting  Finney,  and  a  requisition  was  issued 
by  Mordecai  Bartley,  Governor  of  Ohio,  upon  the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  demand- 
ing their  surrender  to  William  Johnson,  Esq.,  as  agent  and  counsel  for  Ohio,  to  be 
brought  back  to  this  State  as  fugitives  from  justice.  They  were  arrested  on  the 
warrant  of  the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  and  brought  before  Mason  Brown,  a  Circuit 
Judge  in  that  commonwealth,  for  inquiry'  as  to  their  guilt  or  innocence  under  the 
Kentucky  statute  of  1820  in  relation  to  fugitives  from  justice,  providing  that  in 
case  of  proof  of  ownership,  the  persons  abducting  a  runaway  slave,  whether  prin- 
cipal owners  or  their  agents,  shall  be  discharged  from  custody.  P^orbes  and  Arm- 
itage were  discharged  under  that  statute,  althougli  counsel  for  Ohio  contended 
that  the  Kentucky  statute  was  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  slavery,  being  contrary  to  natural  law,  existed  only  by  municipal  law,  and 
being  thus  local  and  confined  to  the  territorial  limits  within  which  it  is  sanctioned 


JvvtfvX/  XAAAlLy  »Y^«-^A^> 


Bench  and  Bar.  601 

a  slave  once  free  is  always  free;  and  that  Finney,  having  been  brought  to  Ohio  by 
the  consent  of  his  Kentucky  owner,  thereby  became  a  free  man. 

In  July,  1846,  the  Grand  Jury  of  Franklin  County  indicted  Forbes  for  the 
seizure  and  abduction  of  Finney  without  first  taking  him  before  a  magistrate 
in  the  county  and  establishing  his  identity  and  ownership,  and  the  authority 
of  Forbes  to  act,  as  required  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of  Ohio. 
Arraitago  was  also  indicted,  as  were  Henderson  and  others,  as  aiders  and  abettors 
of  Forbes.  James  Cherry  was  Foreman  of  the  Grand  Jury  and  A.  F.  Perry  Pros- 
ecuting Attornej'.  Forbes  was  never  brought  to  trial,  but  at  a  special  term  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  September,  1846,  Armitage,  who  had  returned  to  Ohio, 
was  put  on  trial  with  Henderson  and  his  other  accessories.  William  Dennison  was 
appointed  by  the  court  to  assist  the  Prosecuting  Attorney ;  Noah  H.  Swayne,  John 
Brough  and  Fitch  James  Matthews  represented  the  defense.  Two  days  were 
consumed  in  impaneling  a  jury.  George  Eiordan  was  challenged  as  a  juror 
for  suspicion  of  prejudice  because  of  having  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Associate 
Judges  had  shown  partiality  and  unfairness  in  overruling  the  President  Judge  on 
some  preliminary  question,  and  having  suld  that  in  case  the  Associate  Judges 
differed  from  the  President  in  charging  the  jury  he  would  follow  the  President  and 
not  the  Associates. 

The  taking  of  testimony  occupied  a  week  or  more  and  the  arguments  of  coun- 
sel and  the  charge  of  the  court  occupied  a  day  or  two.  After  deliberating  seven 
hours  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  finding  Justice  Henderson  guilty,  and  acquitting 
all  the  other  defendants  on  the  ground,  mainly,  as  was  said,  that  those  acquitted 
were  ignorant  of  the  law  and  of  the  facts  as  to  Finney's  freedom.  Those  acquitted 
were  discharged  from  custody,  but  Justice  Henderson  was  committed  to  jail  to 
await  sentence,  which  was  suspended  until  the  next  term,  when  judgment  of 
imprisonment  in  the  Penitentiary  was  entered  against  him. 

During  the  trial  one  of  the  jurors  was  excused  by  consent  of  parties  and  the 
trial  went  on  with  the  other  eleven.  A  transcript  of  the  docket  entries  of  the  pro- 
ceedings in  Finney's  case  before  Justice  Henderson  was  put  in  evidence  by  the 
defense,  and  a  bill  of  exceptions  was  taken  by  him,  the  State  claiming  that  Hender- 
son had  not  acted  in  good  faith.  Upon  the  exceptions  Henderson  prosecuted 
a  writ  of  error  before  the  Supreme  Court  in  banc  and  the  case  was  there  decided  in 
January,  1847.  The  court,  Wood,  Chief  Justice,  reversed  the  sentence  of  Hender- 
son, holding:  1.  That  a  juror  could  not  be  withdrawn  by  consent  in  a  criminal 
case  and  the  trial  proceed.  2.  That  Henderson,  being  a  justice  of  the  peace,  acted 
<  in  a  judicial  capacity,  and  had  jurisdiction  in  the  case  of  an  escaping  slave, 
and  that  consequently  his  proceedings  could  not  be  called  in  question  for  not  act- 
ing in  good  faith,  as  he  would  be  protected  by  the  doctrine  of  judicial  immunity. 
3.  That  in  consequence  of  this  judicial  immunity  he  would  not  be  liable  to 
an  indictment,  but  could  be  called  in  question  only  by  impeachment.  While 
Henderson  was  in  jail  awaiting  sentence,  Finney  was  brought  buck  from  Kentucky 
where  he  had  been  confined  in  the  Penitentiary,  and  was  ro"<tored  to  his  family  in 
Columbus.  His  release  was  obtained  by  tiie  payment  of  five  hundred  dollars  con- 
tributed by  citizens  of  Columbus. 


602  lIlSTOBY    OF  TOE    CiTY    OF    C0LUMBU8. 

In  March,  1855,  Rov.  H.  M.  Donison,  desiring  to  send  his  slave  girl    Rosotta 
from  Louisville,  Kentucky,  to  Wheeling,  Virginia,  entrusted  her  conveyance  to  a 
friend,  in  whose  charge  she  left  Louisville  for  Wheeling,  but  the  custodian   of  the 
girl  not  finding  a  boat  at  Cincinnati,  decided,  after  consullation,  to  cross  the  State 
of  Ohio  by  the  Little  Miami  llailway  to  Columbus  and  thence  b}*  the  Central  Ohio 
Railway  through  Zanesville  to  Wheeling.     He  took   that  route  on  a  Saturday 
under  the  impression  that  the  cars  ran  directly  through.     After  being  on  the  train 
some  time  he  was  surprised  to  learn  that  it  would    be  delayed  at  Zanesville  over 
Sunday,  whereupon,  apprehending  less  trouble  from  "  abolitionists"  at  Columbus, 
where  he  had  formerly  lived,  than  at  Zanesville,  he  decided  to  remain  over  Sun. 
day  at  a  private  house  at  the  capital,  where  he  hoped   to  escape  observation,  but 
soon  after  he  had  taken  his  lodgings  in  Columbus  some  colored  w^omen   were  seen 
making  observations;  nor  was  it  long  until  application  was  made  to  Hon.  Joseph 
R.  Swan,  a  ju<lge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  for  a  writ  of  ha  hens  corpus  to  bring 
Rosetta  before  him  for  inquiry  into  the  legality  of  her  detention.     The  writ  was 
executed  by  the  Sheriff,  and  it  appearing  that  although  a  slave  in  Kentucky  she 
had  been  brought  into  Ohio  by  her  owner's  consent,  Judge  Swan  held  that  thereby 
she  became  a  free  person  and  set  her  at  liberty.     The  girl  being  a  minor,  sixteen 
years  of  age,  and  L.  G.  Vanslyke  having  been  appointed  her  guardian,  she   was 
placed  in  his  custody.     Rev.  Mr.  Denison  visited   the  girl  at  Mr.  Vanslyke's  house 
and  told  her  that  he  had  come  for  her,  but  that  as  she  was  in  a  free  State  she  could 
remain  if  she  chose  to  do  so.     After  brief  deliberation  the  girl  concluded  to  remain 
in  a  free  State  rather  than  return  to  shivery.     Thereupon   Rosetta  was  placed    by 
her  guardian  in  the  famil}'  of  Doctor  J.  II.  Coulter,  of  Columbus.     On  March  23, 
two  men  called   about  noon   at  Doctor  Coulter's  residence  and  said  they  wished   to 
consult  him  professionally.     As  they  passed  through  one  of*  the  rooms  they  dis- 
covered Rosetta,  and  one  of  them,  ^vhom  she  recognized  as  a  person  she  had  seen  in 
Louisville,  spoke  to  her,  and  they  had  a  word  of  conversation.     The  other  man 
produced  a  paper  and  told  Doctor  Coulter  that  it  was  a  warrant  issued  by  a  United 
States  Commisbioner  for  the  arrest  of  Rosetta  as  a  fugitive  slave,  and  asked  him 
whether  he  intended  to  resist  their  taking  the  girl   with  them.     He  said  he  should 
resist  until  he  had  time  to  consult  with  his  friends,  and  immediately  went  to  a 
near  neighbor  and  gave  the  alarm.     As  soon  as  he  left  the  house  the  two   men 
seized  Rosetta,  one  on  each  side,  and  hurried  lier  to  a  close  carriaije  which  stood 
in  waiting.     She  was  not  even  allowed  time  to  pTit  on  a  bonnet  or  a  shawl.      Just 
as  Doctor  Coulter  returned,  the  two  men  were  putting  her  into  the  carriage  which 
they  had  procured  at  a  livery  stable.     They  then   drove  hurriedly  to  the   railway 
station  and  transferred  their  captive  to  the  cars  which  were  about  ready  to  start 
for  Cincinnati.     Meanwhile  the  alarm  spread    and    several    citizens  reached    the 
station  before  the  train  started.     The   men  having  the  girl  in  possession  claimed  to 
have  legal  process,  and  by  presentation   of  papers  and  revolvers  showed  that  they 
were  determined  to  take  her  with  them,     Mr.  Van  Slyke  and  Doctor  W.  E.  Ide 
proceeded  to  Cincinnati  witli   the  girl  and  her  captors,  and  there  defeated  their 
plan   to  take  her  at  once  before  United  States  Commissioner  Pendery,  who    had 
issued  the  warrant.     This  was  accomplished  by  obtaining  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in 


Bench  and  Bar.  603 

pursuance  of  the  counsel  of  Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  had  just  completed  his  term  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  Upon  this  writ  Eosetta  was  brought  before  Judge 
Parker  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  where  Mr.  Chase  appeared  in  her  behalf, 
accompanied  by  Judge  Timothy  Walker,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  bar,  and 
R.  B.  Hayes,  a  promising  young  lawyer  of  Cincinnati.  George  E.  Pugh,  Mr.  Chase's 
successor  in  the  National  Senate,  and  Judge  Jacob  Flynn,  of  Cincinnati,  appeared 
on  behalf  of  Mr.  Denison. 

After  extended  argument  by  counsel  Judge  Parker  held  that  as  Rosetta  had 
been  brought  from  Kentucky  into  Ohio  by  her  master  or  his  agent  she  was  free 
and  should  be  delivered  to  the  custody  of  Mr.  Van  Slyke,  her  guardian.  To  avoid 
apprehended  danger  that  the  girl,  if  delivered  in  the  courtroom,  would  be  imme- 
diately .seized  ai:ain  by  the  United  States  Marshal,  Mr.  Chase  applied  to  Judge 
Parker  tor  an  order  that  the  Sheriff  should  protect  the  girl  at  some  safe  place  until 
surrendered  to  her  guardian.  The  order  was  made  and  Rosetta,  followed  by  an 
immense  crowd  of  people,  was  taken  to  the  Woodruff  House  in  Cincinnati,  and  was 
there  restored,  amid  great  excitement,  to  her  guardian,  but  was  soon  afterwards 
rearrested  by  United  Slates  Marshal  Robinson  and  taken  before  Commissioner 
Pendery,  who,  afler  argument,  discharged  her  from  custody,  as  had  previously 
been  done  by  Judge  Swan,  at  Columbus,  and  by  Judge  Parker  at  Cincinnati. 
While  the  hearing  was  going  on  before  Commissioner  Pendery,  Judge  Walker  and 
Mr.  Chase  procured  process  against  the  Marshal  for  contempt  of  court  in  rearrest- 
ing the  girl,  and  he  was  taken  into  custody  by  the  Sheriff.  The  Marshal,  in  turn, 
applied  to  Judge  McLean,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  for  a  writ  oi*  habeas 
rorpifSy  and  was  discharged  from  the  custody  of  the  Sheriff  upon  the  ground  that  a 
stale  court  or  judge  had  no  jurisdiction  to  discharge  any  person  held  as  a  fugitive 
slave  under  process  authorized  b}*  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act.  Meanwhile  Rosetta  was 
at  liberty  and  remained  in  the  custody  of  her  guardian,  Mr.  Van  Slyke,  who 
brought  her  back  to  Columbus. 

At  the  time  this  slave  girl  was  abducted  from  the  house  of  Doctor  Coulter  by 
the  Unit^^'d  States  Marshal,  a  wealthy  lady  from  New  England,  who  happened  to 
be  in  Columbus  at  that  time,  became  interested  so  much  in  her  that  upon  her 
return  as  a  free  girl  she  took  her,  with  her  full  consent,  to  New  England,  and  had 
her  educated  in  one  of  the  best  seminaries  of  the  country.  Rosetta  was  bright, 
intelligent  and  every  wa}'  deserving  of  this  partiality.  In  recognition  of  Mr. 
Van  Slyke's  arduous  efforts  in  obtaining  the  girl's  rescue  from  slavery  the  colored 
people  of  Columbus  presented  to  him  a  silver  pitcher.  The  ceremony  took  place 
at  the  City  Hall  and  was  accompanied  by  earnest  and  eloquent  addresses,  and  by 
songs  of  rejoicing. 

On  Saturday  evening.  May  25,  1855,  the  following  entry  appeared  on  the 
register  of  the  American  Hotel  in  Columbus:  "P.  Erican,  three  ladies,  one  child 
and  two  servants."  Mr.  Erican  was  a  Frenchman  from  New  Orleans,  en  route  to 
Europe,  and  intended  slopping  over  for  a  day  or  two  in  Columbus.  On  the  evening 
of  May  28,  C.  Laf»gston,  a  colored  resident  of  this  city,  made  application  to  Joseph 
R.  Swan,  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus^  alleg- 
iiigon  oath  that  the  two  servants  were  unlawfully  deprived  of  their  liberty.     The 


604  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

writ  was  issued  about  midDight  to  Sheriff  Thomas  Miller,  who  proceeded  with  it 
to  the  American  Hotel  and  aroused  Mr.  Erican  from  his  bed  and  informed  him 
of  the  object  of  his  visit.  Mr.  Erican  expressed  his  readiness  to  have  the  ease 
examined  into,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  two  girls  should  appear  before  the 
Judge  the  next  day.  They  appeared  in  conformity  with  this  promise,  and  on 
inquiry  declared  their  desire  to  go  with  their  master,  which. they  were  permitted 
to  do.  They  were  escorted  to  the  train  by  the  Sheriff  and  the  costs  of  the  pro- 
ceeding were  adjudged  against  Langston.  L.  G.  Van  Slyke,  Doctor  J.  H.  Coulter 
and  H.  B.  Carrington  took  an  interest  with  Langston  in  the  case. 

The  cases  entitled  "  i?.r  parte  Simeon  Bushnell"  and  "J^.r  parte  Charles 
Langston,"  reported  in  9  Ohio  State  Reports,  77,  were  brought  on  habeas  corpus 
issued  on  the  separate  applictitions  of  Bushnell  and  Langston  by  order  of  the 
Hon.  Josiah  Scott,  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  in  May,  1859,  directed 
to  David  L.  VVightman,  Sheriff  of  Cu3'ahoga  County,  by  whom,  as  was  said, 
Bushnell  and  Langston  were  held  in  custody  in  the  jail  of  that  county,  and  there- 
by unlawfully  deprived  of  their  liberty.  The  writs  were  returned  with  the  per- 
sons of  Bushnell  and  Langston  before  the  full  bench  of  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Ohio  at  their  chambers  in  Columbus.  The  bench  consisted  of  the  Hon. 
Joseph  R.  Swan  Chief  Justice,  and  Jacob  Brinkerhoff,  Joseph  Scott,  Milton  Sut- 
liff  and  William  V.  Peck,  Judges.  From  the  return  to  the  writs  it  appeared  that 
Bushnell  and  Langston  had  been  severally  indicted  and  convicted  in  the  United 
States  District  Court  at  Cleveland,  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  in  the  jail  of 
Cuyahoga  County  for  violating  a  provision  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1850  in 
the  rescue  of  a  colored  man  named  *' John,"  claimed  to  be  a  fugitive  slave  whose 
service  was  due  to  his  owner,  and  who  was  then  in  the  custody  of  the  owner's 
agent  to  be  returned  to  servitude.  Under  the  writs  the  release  of  Bushnell  and 
Langston  from  imprisonment  was  sought  on  the  ground  that  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Act  was  unconstitutional  in  specified  particulars.  Bushnell  and  Langston  being 
present  before  the  judges,  it  was  insisted  by  their  counsel  that  they  wore  unlawfully 
deprived  of  their  liberty  and  should  be  discharged.  The  counsel  for  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  insisted  that  the  relators  should  be  remanded  to  impris- 
onment. 

A.  G.  Riddle  made  an  oral  argument  on  behalf  of  Bushnell  and  Langston,  and 
Christopher  P.  Wolcott,  Attorney-General  of  Ohio,  made  one  on  behalf  of  the 
State,  also  insisting  on  the  discharge  of  the  prisoners.  Mr.  Woleott's  argument, 
covering  eightyfuur  pages  of  the  report  of  the  case,  was  at  the  time  and  has  since 
been  regarded  as  exceptionally  able,  and  was  printed  in  full  in  the  report  of  the 
case  by  special  direction  of  the  court.  G.  W.  Belden,  United  Stittcs  District 
Attorney,  and  Noah  H.  Swayne,  appeared  as  counsel  for  the  United  States 
Government,  and  presented  a  brief  of  points  and  authorities,  but  did  not  make  any 
oral  argument.  The  day  of  the  hearing  was  a  beautiful  one  in  May,  and  the 
spacious  Supreme  Courtroom  in  the  Statehouse  was  filled  with  distinguished 
lawyers  and  citizens  from  oil  parts  of  the  countr}-,  as  the  contest  was  deemed  to 
be  in  some  respects  one  between  the  State  and  the  National  Government,  and 
there  was  considerable  apprehension  that  this  controversy  in  tiie  forum  might  end 


Bench  and  Bab.  605 

in  a  conflict  of  arms,  as  there  was  in  the  courtroom  a  rumor,  happily  unfounded, 
that  a  national  armed  vessel  was  ready  on  the  lakes  to  steam  into  the  port  of 
Cleveland  to  vindicate  the  national  authority  in  case  of  an  adverse  decision  by 
the  judges.  In  duo  time  after  the  argument  the  decision  of  a  majority  of  the 
judges  was  announced  by  Chief  Justice  Swan,  with  whom  Judges  Peck  and  Scott 
concurred,  remanding  the  relators  into  the  custody  of  the  Sheriff  of  Cuyahoga 
County.  Judge  Peck  delivered  a  concurring  opinion.  Judges  Brinkerhoff  and 
Sutliff  each  delivered  dissenting  opinions  and  concurred  tliat  the  relators  should 
be  discharged.  Public  sentiment  was  strongly  in  favor  of  the  discbarge  of  the 
prisoners,  as  was  wellkiiown  to  the  judges,  but  their  action  was  not  swayed  by  it, 
both  the  majorit}"  and  the  minorit}'  pursuing  solely  their  honest  convictions  of 
duty.  In  the  majority  opinions  it  was  held  that  the  provisions  of  Article  4, 
Section  2,  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  guaranteed  to  the  owner  of  an 
escaped  slave  the  right  of  reclamation,  and  that  a  citizen  who  knowingly  and 
intentionally  interfered  for  the  purpose  of  re.<<cue  of  an  escaped  slave  from  the 
owner  thereof  was  guilty  of  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
whether  the  acts  of  1793  and  1850,  commonly  called  the  fugitive  slave  laws,  were 
unconstitutional  or  not. 

The  elaborate  opinions  delivered  by  tiie  judges,  both  majority  and  minority, 
were  at  the  time  and  have  since  been  regarded  as  able  presentations  of  the  con- 
flicting interpretation  of  the  fugitive  slave  sections  of  the  constitution  —  interpre- 
tations influenced  on  the  one  side  by  conservative  adherence  to  the  supremacy  of 
law,  and  on  the  other  by  an  equally  persistent  adherence  to  the  dictates  of  human- 
ity. Both  classes  of  interpreters  were  loyal  to  the  truth  as  they  saw  the  truth. 
I  well  remember  the  day  when  those  opinions  wore  delivered.  The  majority 
opinion  was  not  on  the  popular  tide.  That  fact  had  no  possible  effect  to  weaken 
the  firm  purpose  of  the  majority  judges  to  declare  the  law  as  they  understood  it. 

In  the  closing  of  Judge  Swan's  opinion  he  rises  to  the  moral  grandeur  of  a 
martyr : 

As  a  citizen  I  would  not  deliberately  violate  the  constitution  or  the  law  by  interference 
with  fugitives  from  service,  but  if  a  weary,  frightened  slave  should  appeal  to  rae  to  protect 
him  from  bis  pursuers  it  is  possible  I  might  momentarily  forget  niy  allegiance  to  the  law  and 
constitution  and  ^-ive  hini  a  covert  from  those  who  were  upon  his  track.  There  are,  no  doubt 
many  slaveholders  who  would  thus  follow  the  impulses  of  human  sympathy ;  and  if  I  did  it 
and  were  prosecuted,  condemned  and  imprisoned  and  brought  by  my  counsel  before  this 
tribunal  on  sl  habeas  corpus  and  were  then  permitted  to  pronounce  judgment  in  my  own  case, 
I  trust  I  should  have  the  moral  courage  to  say,  before  God  and  the  country,  as  I  am  now 
compelled  to  eay  under  the  solemn  duties  of  a  judge  bound  by  my  official  oath  to  sustain  the 
supremacy  of  the  constitution  and  the  law  :    **  The  prwoner  must  be  remanded.'^ 

In  closing  his  concurring  opinion  Judge  Peck  gave  expression  to  like  senti- 
ments. In  Mr.  Wolcott's  argument  reference  was  made  to  a  possible  conflict 
between  the  Nalional  and  Slate  Government  in  the  event  of  the  discharge  of  the 
prisoners.  **  And  are  >ou,  therefore,"  said  ho,  **  to  remand  these  applicants  to  an 
unlawful  imprisonment?  If  these  be  the  only  alternatives,  if  collision  can  be 
avoided  only  by  striking  down  every  safeguard  with  which  the  constitution  has 


606  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

hedged  about  the  liberty  of  the  citizen,  let  collision  come  —  come  now.  .  .    .      But 
there  will  be  no  collision.     These  threats  and  fears  are  alike  idle." 

In  reference  to  that  language  Judge  Peck,  deprecating  the  policy  of  holding 
an  act  of  Congress  of  even  doubtful  constitutionality  invalid,  contrary  to  a  long 
line  of  decisions  by  the  national  courts,  and  thereby  bringing  about  a  conflict  of 
jurisdiction  between  the  national  and  state  courts  and  possible  collision  between 
the  national  and  state  government,  used  these  words: 

If  the  revolution  alluded  to  in  the  ar^ment  must  come,  let  it  not  be  precipitated  by  the 
courts  !  If  the  arch  of  our  Union  is  to  be  broken  into  fragments,  let  other  heads  and  other 
hands  than  ours  inaugurate  and  complete  the  Vandal  work. 

In  less  than  two  years  from  the  date  of  the  decision  of  that  case  the  collision 
had  come,  not  because  of  that  decision,  but  in  the  forward  march  of  the  national 
destiny  toward  a  higher  civilization  wherein,  it  may  be  hoped,  such  conflicts 
between  law  and  humanity  cannot  arise. 

Another  case  worthy  of  special  mention  is  that  entitled  "The  Bank  of  the 
United  States  v.  Ealph  Osborn,  Auditor  of  State  et  al.'  Under  an  act  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  Ohio  levying  a  tax  on  all  banks  and  banking  associations 
transacting  bu^ines8  in  this  State  without  being  authorized  by  its  laws,  a  tax  of 
fifty  thousand  dollars  per  annum  was  levied  on  each  of  the  two  branch  offices  of 
discount  and  deposit  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  established  in  this  State, 
one  at  Cincinnati  and  the  other  at  Chillicothe.  In  the  year  1819,  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  was  levied  on  these  branches  and  collected  by  the  State  Auditor, 
Mr.  Osborn,  and  an  assistant  named  Harper,  by  force,  under  authority  of  the 
State  law.  To  recover  back  this  amount  the  Bank  brought  an  action  of  trospasH 
in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  at  Columbus  against  the  Auditor,  his 
sureties  and  assistants,  for  breaking  and  entering  the  branch  otfices  and  carrying 
away  the  monej^  in  disobedience  to  an  injunction  theretofore  granted  by  the  Cir- 
cuit Court.  In  these  legal  proceedings  Henry  Clay  and  Mr.  Bond  represented  the 
United  States  Bank,  and  Charles  Hammond,  John  C  Wright,  Gustav us  Swan  and 
Mr.  Goodenow  represented  the  defendants.  The  case  came  to  trial  in  January, 
1821,  before  Justice  Trimble,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  SUites,  and  Dis- 
trict Judge  Byrd.  The  court  occupied  the  Represenlatives'  Chamber  in  Columbus, 
and  was  attended  by  an  immense  concourse  of  people.  Mr.  Clay,  on  behalf  of  the 
Bank,  moved  the  court  for  an  attachment  against  Auditor  Osborn  and  Harper,  his 
collector,  for  contempt  in  disobeying  the  injunction  against  the  collection  of  the 
tax;  and  moved  against  State  Treasurer  Sullivan  to  require  him  to  answer  a  bill 
in  chancery  filed  by  the  Bank  .for  sequestrating  the  tax  collected  by  the  Auditor; 
but  these  motions  were  withdrawn  and  a  compromise  was  effected  by  the  passage 
of  a  bill  through  the  General  Assembly,  on  January  31,  1821,  to  refund  ninety 
thousand  dollars  of  the  sum  collected  in  1819,  the  tax  being  deemed  unreasonable 
and  excessive,  and  the  Bank  agreeing  to  submit  to  a  tax  of  four  per  cent,  on  its 
dividends,  and  to  discontinue  its  suits. 

The  first  case  taken  on  error  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  Slates  from 
the  National  court  in  the  District  of  Ohio,  was  a  case  in  ejectment  brought  by 
Jackson  vs.  Clark  to  recover  a  tract  of  land  lying  in  the  Virginia  Military  District, 


Beiich  and  Bar.  007 

The  counsel  in  the  case  were  Leonard  and  Hammond  for  the  plaintiff,  and  Crcigh- 
ton  and  Ewing  for  the  defendant.  Chief  Justice  Marshall  delivered  the  opinion  of 
the  Supreme  Court  at  the  January  term,  1828.  The  case  is  reported  in  1  Peters, 
628.     The  court  held  that 

The  United  States  having  received  the  cession  of  the  land  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River 
not  only  in  trust  for  the  Virginia  troops  on  the  continental  e8tahli8hiiient  hut  also  for  the  use 
and  benefit  of  the  members  of  the  Confederation,  have  the  right  to  prescribe  the  time  within 
which  Virginia  military  warrants  might  be  located,  and  to  annex  conditions  to  tho  extension 
of  the  time;  and  that  under  the  act  of  March  2,  1807  (2  Statutes  at  Large,  424)  defective  sur- 
veys protected  the  land  from  being  patented  under  subsequent  warrants  and  surveys  by  those 
claiming  under  the  United  States. 

In  thus  holding,  the  Supreme  Court  affirmed  the  ruling  and  decree  of  the 
court  in  Ohio  held  by  Judge  Byrd  at  Columbus,  and  settled  vital  questions  in  regard 
to  land  titles  in  the  Virginia  Military  District.  The  case  is  a  good  specimen  of  the 
character  of  litigation  in  those  early  days. 

We  come  now  to  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  celebrated  episodes  in  the 
history  of  Ohio  litigation.  In  December,  1852,  upon  the  affidavit  of  Sidnej*  C. 
Burton,  a  writ  was  issued  for  the  arrest  of  Lj'mtin  Cole,  Amasa  Chapin,  Lorenzo 
Chapin,  James  W.  Chandler,  Willam  F.  Kissane  and  William  H.  Holland,  upon  the 
charge  of  conspiring  to  burn  and  of  actually  burning  the  steamboat  Martha  Wash- 
ington and  her  cargo  on  the  Ohio  River,  on  December  l.i,  1851,  in  order  to  defraud 
certain  insurance  companies  which  had  written  policies  on  the  boat  and  its  cargo. 
These  accused  persons  were  arrested  and  brought  before  P.  B.  Wilcox,  a  United 
States  Commissioner  at  Columbus,  for  a  preliminary  examination  which  lasted 
until  January  14,  1853.  On  January  17,  of  that  year,  Commissioner  Wilcox  hold 
all  the  defendants  to  bail  to  answer  in  the  United  States  Court,  before  which  tribunal 
they  and  others  wMth  them  were  indicted  by  the  Grand  Jury  in  the  following  May. 
On  this  indictment  trial  took  place  in  October,  1853,  Judge  McLean  presiding.  The 
District  Attorney,  assisted  by  Henry  Stanbery  and  by  Mr.  Ware,  of  Cincinnati, 
conducted  tlie  prosecution,  and  Thomas  Ewing,  Walker  &  Kebler,  George  E.  Pugh, 
George  H.  Pendleton,  Ex-Governor  Morehead,  of  Ken  tuck}',  R.  fl.  Stone,  T.  J. 
Gallagher,  D.  Brown,  Noah  H.  Swaj-ne  and  Samuel  Galloway  conducted  the 
defense.  The  trial  attracted  great  interest  not  only  by  the  enormity  of  the 
charge  against  the  prisoners  but  also  on  account  of  the  eminence  and  zeal  of  the 
counsel  engaged.  It  seems  that  the  court  entered  an  order  forbidding  the  publica- 
tion of  the  testimony,  and  that  for  a  violation  of  the  order  Judge  McLean,  on 
motion  of  Mr.  Ewing,  expelled  from  the  courtroom  two  reporters  for  the  Cincin- 
nati Sun.  But  the  order  forbidding  publication  of  the  testimony  was  subsequently 
rescinded. 

After  a  trial  lasting  many  days  the  testimony  was  closed,  and  the  District 
Attorney  made  before  the  jury  the  opening  argument  for  the  prosecution,  the 
expectation  being  that  he  would  be  followed  by  Mr.  Ewing  and  other  counsel 
for  the  defense,  and  that  Mr.  Stanbery  would  make  the  closing  argument  lor  the 
Government,  but  Mr.  Ewing,  after  the  District  Attorney  had  concluded  hisaddress, 
declined   to  argue  the   case  and  thereby   pievented   Mr.  Stanbery  from  making 


60ft  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

the  closing  argument  to  the  jury,  greatly  to  his  disappointment  and  to  the  dismast 
of  his  friends,  who  openly  charged  that  Mr.  Ewing  feared  Mr.  Stanbery's  last 
appeal  to  the  jury;  whereas  Mr.  Ewing's  friends  regarded  his  submission  of 
the  case  on  the  address  of  the  District  Attorney  as  a  masterstroke  of  policy,  as  tho 
event  proved.  Judge  McLean  charged  the  jury  in  a  remarkably  able  manner,  even 
for  him,  drawing  tears,  it  is  sai<l,  even  from  the  eyes  of  Mr.  Bwing — crocidile  tears, 
as  Mr.  Stanbery's  disgusted  friends  characterized  them.  The  jury  deliberated  on 
its  verdict  for  two  days,  and  when  it  was  announced  that  a  conclusion  had 
been  reached  and  would  be  presented,  intense  interest  pervaded  the  crowded  court- 
room. The  announcement  of  a  verdict  of  "  not  guilty  '*  was  followed  by  a 
shout  from  the  multitude,  while  the  prisoners,  with  one  exception,  gave  way  to 
their  feelings  and  freely  mingled  their  tears  with  those  of  their  wives  and  friends,  all 
of  whom  united  in  fervent  thanks  to  the  jurymen  who  had  brought  deliverance. 


In  the  chapter  on  Lands  and  Land  Titles,  cases  involving  questions  pertaining 
to  those  subjects  are  cited,  and  will  not  be  repeated  here,  with  a  single  excep- 
tion relating  to  land  on  East  Broad  Street,  with  the  litigation  respecting  the 
title  to  which  the  writer  was  professionally  connected.  The  case  here  referred  to 
is  that  of  Margaret  H.  Paschal  I  vs.  Gottlieb  Hin<ierer,  reported  in  28  Ohio  State 
Reports,  568,  and  is  one  of  local  interest  because  of  its  subject  matter  and  the 
parties  involved  in  it,  and  further  because  its  final  decision  "by  the  Supreme  Court 
at  its  December  term,  in  1876,  settled  the  title  to  a  parcel  of  land  extending 
from  Broadway  to  Long  Street,  between  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  streets,  in 
Columbus.  The  pl.ice  is  remembered  by  many  of  the  older  business  men  of  the  city 
as  a  big  field  in  which  stood  a  little  wooden  house  used  by  an  old  German  as  a  shop 
for  the  manufacture  of  baseball  clubs  and  similar  articles  for  tho  bovs  of  that 
period,  but  which  is  now  occupied  by  numerous  elegant  residences.  The  title  came 
in  question  upon  the  following  facts  of  a  somewhat  romantic  character: 

John  George  Wheeler,  who  dwelt  with  his  wife  and  three  infant  children 
in  the  kingdom  of  Wirtemberg,  Germany,  died  there  in  1829,  leaving  854  florins 
($341.60)  to  his  children.  This  money  came  into  the  hands  of  the  guardian  of  the 
minors  to  whom  it  belonged.  In  1830  the  widow  Wheeler  was  married  in  Germany 
to  Gottlieb  Hinderer,  who  adopted  his  wife's  children.  Desiring  to  emigrate  to  the 
United  States,  Hinderer  applied,  in  1831,  to  the  proper  court  for  leave  to  take  the 
children  and  their  money  with  him,  which  was  granted  on  the  accepted  condition 
that  he  would  invest  the  money  in  land  for  the  benefit  of  its  infant  owners. 
On  arriving  in  Columbus,  in  1832,  Hinderer  purchased  the  land  above  mentioned, 
paid  on  it  ?150  of  the  children's  money  and  8100  of  his  own,  and  moved  upon  and 
occupied  the  tract  as  his  home.  On  July  23, 1834,  having  made  his  payments  in  full, 
he  took  the  title  to  the  property  in  his  own  name.  Of  the  children,  Margaret  w^as 
at  that  time  only  five  and  a  half  years  old,  George  was  a  year  or  two  older  than  she, 
and  John  about  as  much  older  than  George.  While  quite  young  these  children,  the 
girl  as  well  as  the  boy,  worked  hard  in  the  brickyard  which  Hinderer  conducted  for 
some  years  on  this  land,  and  after  they  got  older  they  and  their  mother  be^an 


Bench  and  Bar.  609 

to  consider  their  property  rights,  and  some  quarreling  ensued  between  Hinderer 
and  his  wife  who  insisted  that  he  should  give  to  her  children  their  share  of 
the  land.  Finally  the  mother  left  Hinderer  and  was  allowed  alimony,  which  was 
made  a  charge  on  this  land  by  the  court. 

In  December,  1867,  Margaret  and  George  brought  a  suit  in  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  to  obtain  a  decree  declaring  a  trust  in  their  favor  against  Hinderer 
in  the  land  to  the  extent  it  was  paid  for  with  their  money,  and  to  require  him  to 
convey  to  them  that  share  of  the  land,  the  value  of  which  had  by  that  time 
greatly  increased.  Hinderer  defended,  claiming,  first,  that  all  the  money  of  the 
children  was  expended  in  moving  from  Germany  to  the  United  States,  and  that 
none  of  it  was  used  in  the  purchase  of  the  land ;  second,  that  their  claim  was 
barred  by  lapse  of  time ;  and  third,  that  if  he  was  liable  to  account  to  the  children 
for  their  money  he  was  entitled  to  pay  for  their  support  during  their  minority. 
L.  J.  Critchfield  and  Francis  Collins  were  i^ttorneys  for  Margaret  and  George; 
H.  C.  Noble  and  Otto  Dresel  for  Hinderer.  The  Common  Pleas  and  also  the 
District  Court  decided  on  appeal  against  Margaret  and  George,  on  the  ground  that 
by  lapse  of  time  their  claim  had  become  stale  and  was  barred,  although  it  was 
found  that  their  money  had  helped  to  pay  for  the  land.  At  this  point  George 
abandoned  further  effort,  being  in  good  circumstances  without  the  land;  Margaret, 
however,  was  not  so  fortunate,  but  being  more  courageous  she  took  her  part  of  the 
case  to  the  Supreme  Court  and  there  succeeded,  that  court  holding  that  in  taking 
the  whole  legal  title  in  his  own  name  Hinderer  committed  a  breach  of  trust,  and 
that  to  the  extent  to  which  the  purchase  money  had  been  paid  out  of  the  money 
belonging  to  the  children  he  held  the  title  in  trust  for  them;  that  his  continued 
possession  and  use  of  the  land  as  a  home  and  as  a  means  of  support  for  the  family 
during  the  minority  of  the  children  was  not  adverse  to  their  rights  and  equities; 
and  that  their  claim  was  not  stale  or  barred,  he  not  having  denied  their  rights  in 
the  land  until  after  they  became  of  age,  and  not  then  twentyone  years  before  suit. 
After  this  final  decision  by  the  court  of  last  resort,  Margaret's  interest  was  set  off 
by  Hinderer  to  her  by  deed  by  metes  and  bounds,  and  she  quitclaimed  the  residue 
to  him.  The  German  boy  George  was  none  other  than  George  F.  Wheeler  who 
became  a  prominent  and  prosperous  merchant  of  Columbus,  the  founder  of 
Wheeler's  Grocery  house  at  Number  15  North  High  Street,  now  conducted  by  his 
sons. 

The  case  entitled  "The  State  Ex  rel.  Flowers  v.  The  Board  of  Education 
of  the  City  of  Columbus,"  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  at  its  January 
term  in  1880,  and  reported  in  35  Ohio  State  Reports,  368,  was  one  of  very 
considerable  local  interest  at  the  time,  and  presented  for  adjudication  a  novel 
question  of  parliamentary  law  in  connection  with  statutory  provisions,  in  a 
mandamus  proceeding  in  that  court.  At  a  regular  meeting  held  August  12,  1879, 
the  Board  of  Education  adopted  Harper's  geographies  as  the  textbooks  on  that 
subject  in  the  public  schools  of  Columbus,  in  the  place  of  the  Cornell  series.  That 
meeting  of  the  Board  finally  adjourned  without  any  motion  to  reconsider  the  vote 
by  which  Harper's  geographies  were  adopted.  At  the  next  regular  meeting  held 
August  26,  1879,  the  Board  by  a  mere  majority  vote  assumed  to  reconsider  and 

39 


i^Md 


filO  IIlrtTORV   OF   THE   CiTY    OF   C0LUMBU8. 

roBciiid  the  vote  taken  at  its  proviouH  meeting,  and  to  reinstate  the  Cornell  Bcries 
a8  the  textbooks,  and  thereallor  refused  to  permit  the  use  of  Haqjer's  gcograpliies 
in  the  schools,  although  Mr.   Flowers  and  other  parents  who  had  purchased  thoi^e 
books  desired  their  children  to  use  them.     The  Board  sought  to  justify  this  action 
on  the  ground  that  the  vote  adopting  Harper's  geographies  had  been  reconsidered 
and  rescinded.     On  the  other  side  it  was  insisted   that  under  Section    52  of  the 
School  Law  (70  O.  L.  2011)  no  change  in  such   textbooks  could  bo  made  within 
three  years  after  tlieir  adoption  without  consent  of  threefourths  of  the   members 
of  the  Hoard,  and  that  as  the  rescinding  vote  was  only  a  majority  vote  and    not  a 
threefourths  vote,  and  was  given  at  a  subsequent  meeting,  no  motion  to  reconsider 
having  been  made  at  the  meeting  at  which  the  Harper  geographies  were  adopted, 
the  rescinding  vote  could  not  have  that  effect,  but  lefl  the  adopting   vote  in  full 
force  and   Harper's  geographies  as  the  textbooks  in  the  schools.     The  Supreme 
Court  so  decided,  and  further  held  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Board  of  Education 
to  permit  the  use  of  those  geographies  in  the  schools,  and  that  such  duty  could  be 
enforced  by   mandamus  on  the  application  of  Flowers,  a  patron  of  the    schools. 
The  questions  raised  in  this  case  were  somewhat  new,  and  the  interest  in    them, 
as  well  as  in  the  outcome  of  the  contest,  commonly  called  "the  geography  war," 
was  quite  general   for  a  time  in   the   city.     The  case  was  argued  on   behalf  of 
Flowers,  the  relator,  by  JR.  A.  Harrison,  L.  J.  (.'ritchfield  an<l  C.  N.  Olds,  and  on 
behalf  of  the  Board  of  Education  by  Lorenzo  English,  James  E.  Wright,  De  Witt 
C.  Jones  and  Alexander  W.  Krumm,City  Solicitor.     It  may  be  supposed  that  back 
of  the  parties  on  the  record  were  the  publishing  firms  of  Harper  Brothers,  pub- 
lishers of  the  Haq^er  Geographies;  and   Van  Antwerp,  Bragg  &  Co.,  publishers  of 
the  Cornell  series;  and  that  these  firms  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  contest. 

In  the  spring  of  1875,  Corbin's  saloon  in  Westerville  was  considerably  wrecked 
by  an  explosion  of  gunpowder.  For  this  act  Corbin  caused  seven  of  the  leading 
citizens  and  temperance  people  of  the  village  to  be  arrested  and  brought  before 
Justice  Remmy,  of  Columbus,  on  a  charge  of  riotous  destruction  of  property.  The 
Justice  put  the  arrested  persons  under  bond  to  appear  at  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  to  answer  to  an  indictment  that  might  be  presented  against  them  by  the 
Grand  Jury.  No  indictment  was  found,  and  the  defendants  were  dischar^^ed  ; 
but  some  ol  them  and  others  to  the  number  of  nine  had  also  been  arrested  on  a 
peace  warrant  on  Corbin's  complaint  and  brought  before  Justice  Remmy,  who  put 
them  under  bond  to  answer  the  complaint  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  On  a 
plea  of  "  not  guilty  "  the  defendants  came  to  trial  before  Judge  Edward  P.  Bing- 
ham in  April,  1876,  and  after  full  hearing  were  discharged  with  judgment  ag^ainst 
Corbin  for  costs.  During  the  progress  of  this  trial  one  of  the  attorneys  for  the 
prosecution  intimated  pretty  strongly  by  his  questions  that  one  of  the  defendants, 
a  pronounced  temperance  man,  would  himself  occasionally  take  a  drink.  Finally 
the  time  came  for  this  attorney,  just  after  returning  from  across  the  street,  where 
he  had  been  '-to  see  a  man,''  as  was  said,  to  make  a  bold  charge  in  the  form  of 

this  interrogatory:  "Now,  Mr.  ,  don't  you  think  that  you  and  I  can    drink 

more  whisky  in  a  given  time  than  any  other  two  men  in  the  State?  "     The  court, 
counsel  and  large  audience  were  appalled  at  such  a  question  to  such  a  man,  but 


Bench  and  Bar.  611 

not  80  the  gentleman  addressed,  who,  adjusting  his  spectacles  at  a  proper  focus, 
slowly  and  deliberately  replied  to  his  accuser:  "I  don't  know  but  that  is  so, 
and  I  wouldn't  have  to  drink  any  either!"  At  this  reply  the  whole  body  of 
listeners  was  convulsed  with  laughter  in  which  the  discomfited  attorney  himself 
joined. 

The  following  incident  is  said  to  have  occurred  in  the  presence  of  Judge  J.  R. 
Swan  while  sitting  on  our  Common  Pleas  bench.  Elijah  Backus,  then  at  the  bar, 
presented  the  application  of  a  native  of  Ireland  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  and  requested  the  court  to  have  the  requisite  oath  to  support  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  administered  to  the  applicant,  to  whom  Judge  Swan, 
before  swearing  him,  addressed  the  inquiry  whether  he  had  ever  read  the  Consti- 
tution. The  man  replied  that  he  had  not,  and  that  he  could  not  read,  whereupon 
the  Judge  suggested  that  the  proposed  oath  would  not  amount  to  much  unless  the 
man  taking  it  should  know  what  he  was  swearing  to  support,  and  that  he  had 
bettor  first  inform  himself  as  to  what  the  Constitution  was.  This  was  shortly 
before  the  noon  recess,  during  which  Mr.  Backus  took  his  client  out  into  the 
backyard  and  read  the  Constitution  to  him  from  beginning  to  end.  When  the 
court  reconvened  in  the  afternoon  Mr.  Backus  addressed  Judge  Swan  as  follows: 
"  May  it  please  your  Honor,  during  the  recess  of  the  court  I  have  read  to  my  Irish 
friend  here  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  from  beginning  to  end,  and  he 
seems  to  be  very  much  pleased  with  it !  I  renew  my  motion  that  the  requisite  oath 
to  support  the  Constitution  be  now  administered  to  him,  and  that  he  be  admitted 
to  citizenship."     Judge  Swan  enjoyed  the  joke  and  granted  the  motion. 

Many  amusing  things  occur  in  court  proceedings.  On  a  certain  occasion  one 
A  was  on  trial  for  stealing  hogs,  and  in  tiie  course  of  his  testimony  in  his  own 
behalf  declared  that  he  bought  the  hogs  of  a  stranger  and  gave  his  note  for  the 
purchase  price  in  whole  or  in  part.  He  then  left  the  witness  stand  with  a  fair 
prospect  of  acquittal,  but  his  counsel  had  omitted  to  ask  him  when  he  gave  the 
note,  and  recalled  him  in  order  to  make  inquiry  on  that  point,  saying:  "  Mr.  A,  I 
forgot  to  ask  you  when  it  was  you  gave  the  note;  was  it  before  or  after  you  stole 
the  hogsf  "  The  answer  was,  "  it  was  before.  '*  The  court,  counsel  and  bystanders 
exploded  with  laughter,  and  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of"  guilty  as  charged  in 
the  indictment." 

The  Supreme  Court  some  years  ago  decided  a  case  in  which  Chauncey  N.  Olds 
presented  a  printed  argument  for  his  client.  After  due  consideration  the  court 
decided  the  case  against  Mr.  Olds.  Soon  afterward  one  of  the  judges  on  meeting 
Mr.  Olds  referred  to  the  case  and  the  decision  against  him,  and  complimented 
him  highly  on  the  "  able  *'  argument  he  had  presented  I  In  his  peculiar  dry 
humor  Mr.  Olds  replied  :  "  Yes,  my  argument  was  able;  I  am  sorry  that  its  abil. 
ity  didn't  get  into  the  decision."  The  joke  was  on  the  judges,  and  they  frequently 
told  it  on  themselves. 

Our  courts  have  tried  numerous  criminal  cases  which  have  attracted  public 
attention,  but  special  mention  of  them  would  not  be  justified  by  any  important 
questions  of  law  involved,  as  the  controlling  questions  in  such  cases  are  generally 
questions  of  fact.     Few  of  our  lawyers  have  made  a  specialty  of  criminal  practice, 


r)12  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

nearly  all  of  them  having  <li}V0ted  their  attention  t<»  general  professional  service 
and  having  thereby  Injconie  better  and  broader  in  their  aocnniplishmcnts  than  Ihey 
could  have  been  as  mere  specialists  in  criminal  cases.  I  once  heard  Judge  J.  R. 
Swan  speak  disparagingly  of  '^criminal  lawyers."  Jlis  remark  was  that  you  eoiiUi 
take  a  loud,  glib  talker  and  make  a  ''criminal  lawyer"  out  of  him  in  from  t%venty- 
four  to  thirtysix  hours.  His  criticism  was  made  after  an  oral  argument  before 
the  Supreme  ('ourt  in  a  criminal  case  brought  there  by  a  noted  **  criminal  attorney  " 
who  addressed  the  court  loud  and  long  in  the  style  in  which  he  was  accustomed 
to  address  juries,  probably  making  the  same  speech  before  the  Supremo  Bench 
which  he  had  made  to  the  jury  in  the  ('ommon  Pleas.  Judge  Swan's  criticism 
would  not  apply,  of  course,  to  many  able  lawyers  who  engage  in  the  trial  of  crim- 
inal cases  of  exceptional  importance,  wherein  the  best  abilities  and  ail  the  resources 
of  professional  and  general  learning  are  required  and  exerted. 

A  distinct  and  interesting  phase  of  jirofessional  life  at  the  bar  in  the  earlier  his- 
tory of  Ohio  may  here  be  briefly  referred  to.    It  pertains  to  what  were  known  as  **  the 
lawyers  on  the  circuit."    The  circuit  of  the  territorial  court  and  bar  included  Marietta 
on  the  southeast,  Cincinnati  on  the  southwest,  Detroit  in  the  northwest  and  the  vast 
intermediate  r<^gion,  most  of  which  was  an  unbroken  wilderness  during  the  years 
of  the  territorial  government,  and  long  afterwards.     The  mere  distances,  although 
great,  were  not  the  only  or  the  principal  obstacles  encountered  by  the  judges  and 
lawyers  in  making  the  circuit.     The  lack  of  roads,  bridges  and  even  ferries  made 
their  pilgrimages  laborious  and  dangerous,  while  the  scarcity  of  supplies   for  man 
and  beast  caused  both  inconvenience  and  hardship.     Even  bridlepaths  through  the 
wilderness  were  not  always  to  be  found.     In  passing  from  one  seat  of  justice  to 
another,  the  judges  and  lawyers  traveled  in  companies  of  five  and  six,  usually,  on 
horseback,  accompanied  by  packhorses  for  extra  baggage   which  included  a  few 
elementary  law  books.     These  parties  were  oflen  overtaken  by  storms  of  rain   and 
snow  and  also  by  darkness  in  the  midst  of  the  wilderness,  besides  being  frequently 
confronted  with  swamps  and  swollen  streams.     Jn  the  selection  of  their  horses 
special  importance  was  attached  to  the  dexterity  of  the  animals  in  swimming 
which  accomplishment  was  indispensable  to  a  good  saddlehorse  in  those  days,   as 
was  illustrated  by  many  interesting  adventures  in  which  the  instinct  of  the  horse 
proved  to  be  superior  to  the  judgment  of  his  master. 

This  circuit  practice  continued  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  during  the  first  fifly 
years  in  the  history  of  the  State,  but  with  increasing  comforts  and  diminishing 
dangers.  Only  a  few  of  the  lawj^ers  of  that  period  now  survive,  but  the  older  ones 
of  the  present  generation  may  remember  something  of  the  circuit  excursions  of 
their  predecessors  from  county  to  county,  and  from  court  to  court  with  the  judges. 
A  list  of  the  names  of  the  earlier  and  later  circuit  practitioners  would  revive  many 
interesting  recollections,  but  space  allows  the  mention  of  only  a  very  few  of  a  typi- 
cal character,  such  as  Jacob  Burnet  of  the  territorial  circuit,  and  Thomas  £wing 
of  the  later  period.  The  writer  well  remembers  the  first  time  when  he,  then  a  very 
small  boy,  saw  Mr.  Ewing.  It  must  have  been  iatXy  years,  or  more,  ago.  Mr. 
Ewing  was  on  his  way  from  Lancaster  to  Medina  to  defend  a  man  about  to  be 
tried  for  murder.     He  traveled  on   horseback.     The  horse  was  a  large  black  one. 


Bench  and  Bar.  613 

About  noon  the  distinguished  lawyer  rode  into  Millersburg,  and  stopped  at  the 
village  tavern  for  dinner.  The  horse  had  a  swinging  gait  and  carried  a  stately 
rider,  both  impressive  to  their  boy  observer,  whose  impressions  of  them  have  sur- 
vived the  lapse  of  years.  The  correspondence  between  the  manner  of  the  man  and 
that  of  the  beast  which  he  rode  was  curious.  As  a  passing  observation  it  may  be 
remarked  that  the  exercise  of  horseback  riding  was  promotive  of  clear  thinking 
and  of  excellent  work  in  court  at  the  end  of  the  journey. 

For  the  privations  and  dangers  which  they  encountered  the  circuit  practition- 
ers were  not  without  compensation.  Such  experiences  as  they  had  would  be 
endured  only  by  courageous  men  more  intent  on  laying  deeply  and  broadly  the 
foundations  of  free  and  enlightened  commonwealths  than  on  the  acquisition  of 
merely  personal  fortunes,  yet  it  is  said  that  the  litigation  in  the  territorial  courts 
was,  in  many  cases,  largely  remunerative,  inasmuch  as  it  often  involved  property 
of  great  value  and  carried  with  it  large  fees.  The  circuit  travelers  had  in  addition 
to  their  pecuniary  compensation  much  satisfaction  in  exploring  the  primitive  for- 
ests, in  learning  the  habits  and  studying  the  character  of  the  abcyigines,  and  in 
taking  part  in  or  observing  their  amusements.  In  the  settlements  where  the 
couris  were  held,  the  hardy  and  adventurous  settlers  and  the  oflBcia I  families  of  the 
froTjtier  garrison  often  entertained  the  judges  and  lawyers  with  banquets,  dancing 
and  other  revelry.  Illustrative  of  these  phases  of  professional  life  at  the  bar  dur- 
ing the  territorial  and  earlier  state  period  we  have  the  following  interesting  reminis- 
cences of  Thomas  Ewing  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Joseph  Sullivant  ( Ohio  State 
Jounuil,  October  30,  1871) : 

I  was  born  in  the  old  village  of  Franklinton  which  was  the  seat  of  justice  for  Franklin 
County  until  1825  or  182(>.  In  my  boyhood  I  was  a  frequent  attendant  in  the  Old  Courthouse 
during,'  the  sessions  of  the  court,  where  was  often  gathered  the  best  legal  talent  of  the  State. 
Besides  the  members  of  our  own  bar,  such  as  Gustavus  Swan,  Orris  and  John  Parish,  John 
A.  McDowell  Thomas  Backus,  David  Smith,  P.  B.  Wilcox,  James  K.  Cory  and  others,  there 
were,  from  other  counties,  B.  Tappan,  Baldwin,  Wright,  Hammond  and  Stanbery  from  the 
Eastern  part  of  the  State  ;  and  Creighton,  Scott,  Brush  and  Dick  Douglas,  from  Chillicothe ; 
John  Irwin,  Slaughter,  Beecher  and  Thomas  Ewing,  of  Lancaster,  and  others  from  Delaware, 
Zanesville,  London  and  Dayton,  who  attended  at  the  old  Courthouse  in  Franklinton.  I  well 
recollect  the  first  time  I  saw  Thomas  Ewing,  then  a  young  lawyer  not  yet  having  much  busi- 
ness, or  making  much  of  a  mark.  I  was  struck  with  his  large  head,  and  generally  massive 
and  muscular  but  rather  awkward  build. 

It  was  summer  time,  and  the  court  had  adjourned  early  in  the  afternoon.  Several  of  the 
lawyers  remained,  and  the  conversation  turned  upon  athletic  exercises  and  feats  of  strength. 
Among  those  present  was  Joe  McDowell,  a  brother  of  Abram  and  John.  He  declared 
that  he  was  so  swift  of  foot  that  he  had  never  been  beaten  in  a  race  of  one  hundred  yards, 
and  he  helieved  he  could  not  be  beaten,  and  offered  to  bet  ten  dollars  that  he  could  beat  any 
one  in  the  crowd.     Finally  Orris  Parish  took  him  up  and  they  went  out  on  the  green. 

It  was  not  yet  determined  who  was  to  be  McDowell's  competitor,  but  when  the  ground 
was  measured  off,  Mr.  Ewing,  who  had  taken  but  little  part  in  the  conversation,  and  whose 
demeanor  liad  been  very  modest  and  retiring,  offered  himself  to  run  the  race,  and  to  the  sur- 
prise of  all,  for  none  supposed  he  could  run.  Judges  and  stakeholders  were  appointed,  and  I 
will  never  forget  the  gleam  of  Ewing's  eye  or  his  air  of  resolution  as  he  stripped  off  his 
coat,  vest  and  shoes  and  took  his  place.  The  word  go  was  given,  and  the  young  athletes 
sprang  off  with  an  even  start;  soon,  however,  Ewing  began  to  gain  and  came  to  the  winning 


614  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

post  well  ahead  of  McDowell,  who  was  bo  chagrined  at  the  result  that  he  be^^n  to  find 
excuses  and  said  he  had  tripped  and  stumbled  or  otherwise  he  would  have  won.  EwinK 
smiled  and  said :  *'  Well,  if  you  are  not  satisfied  let  us  try  again/'  They  did  run  airain,  and 
McDowell  was  beaten  worse  than  before. 

Other  sports  and  trials  were  made  —  standing  jumps,  running  jumps,  shoalder  stone, 
throwing  the  ax  and  the  maul,  in  all  which  Mr.  Kwing  proved  his  superiority—  and  finally 
the  high  jump  over  a  stretched  string  was  tried;  but  on  this  latter,  Mr.  Ewing  made  no 
attempt  until  Mr.  McDowell,  who  proved  to  be  the  best  at  that  exercise,  challenged  him,  to 
"beat  that."  Ewing  replied,  **  well,  let  us  t»ee  your  best,"  and  when  McDowell  waa  done, 
Ewing  had  the  judges  put  the  string  four  inches  higher,  then  stepping  back  a  few  feet  he 
came  at  it  with  a  curious  sidelong  swing  and  motion,  and  over  he  went,  amid  the  cheers  of 
the  crowd. 

The  meeting  of  lawyers  at  Columbus,  in  attendance  upon  the  court,  during 
the  greater  part  of  each  winter  fifty  years  ago  or  more  became,  in  effect,  a  hi^h- 
school  of  law  and  oratory.  The  men  w^ho  thus  assembled  wore  the  flower  of  the 
Ohio  bar,  and  in  measuring  strength  with  one  another  in  the  discussion  of  causes 
in  court  they  developed  and  exhibited  the  highest  intellectual  powers  of  the  pro- 
fession and  tho  best  specimens  of  forensic  eloquence.  During  these  discussions  the 
disputants  were  stimulated  to  their  best  exertions  not  only  by  tho  interests  at 
Btako,  but  also  by  the  presence  of  their  professional  associates  whose  habit  and 
pleasure  it  was  to  personally  attend  the  discussions.  Weinay  readily  imagine  ivhat 
deep  interest  the  court  and  har  as  well  as  the  general  public  would  take  in  these 
battles  of  the  giants,  when,  during  that  early  period,  the  combatants  were  such  men 
as  Burnet,  Hammond,  Wright  and  their  compeers,  with  the  occasional  presence 
and  participation  of  Doddridge,  of  Virginia,  and  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky;  and 
when  during  the  later  period,  Ewing,  Stanbory,  Corwin,  Vinton,  Goddard  and  their 
associates  were  in  their  prime  and  contended  for  the  mastery.  But  this  distinct 
phase  of  professional  life  has  almost  entirely  disappeared;  the  winter  meeting  of 
lawyers  are  things  of  the  past;  tho  counsel  in  canes  before  our  courts  arrive  by 
railway  instead  of  on  horseback  and  deliver  their  arguments,  possibly  before  the 
judges  alone  or  with  judges  and  jurors  and  a  few  attending  witnesses  and  clients 
as  their  sole  auditors,  instead  of  being  listened  to  by  a  large  number  of  membors 
of  their  own  profession.  I'lider  these  changed  conditions  forensic  eloquence  has 
degenerated.  It  may  not  be  true  that  the  legal  profession  is  less  intellectual  now 
than  it  was  during  the  earlier  history  of  the  State,  but  it  has  nevertheless  been 
permeated  by  the  commercial  spirit  of  the  age.  Verdicts  and  judgments  are  now 
contended  for  because  of  the  dollars  rather  than  the  principles  at  stake  in  them. 
The  ideal  has  given  place  to  the  practical.  In  his  devotion  to  science,  Agassizsaid 
he  had  no  time  to  make  mone}'.  But  in  their  devotion  to  money-making  many  of 
the  brightest  minds  in  tho  profession  of  the  law  practically  admit  that  they  have 
no  time  to  develop  the  principles  of  jurisprudence  except  as  expedients  for  acquir- 
ing wealth. 

In  the  paragraphs  introductory  to  this  chapter  the  intimate  relation  which  the 
bench  and  bar  boar  to  one  another,  and  their  necessity  to  civil  government,  have 
been  referred  to.  In  concluding  the  chapter  some  allusion  to  the  local  influence 
of  the  legal  profession  seems  to  be  proper.     Authority  is  always  impressive,  and 


Bench  and  Bar.  615 

the  power  of  the  courts  to  declare  the  law  and  thereby  settle  controversies  and 
preserve  public  order  commands  both  attention  and  respect.  In  every  civilized 
community  the  judicial  courts  conducted  with  impartiality  and  dignity  by  learned 
and  upright  men  are  sure  of  the  reverence  of  the  people.  No  other  institutions  of 
government  are  regarded  with  such  veneration  as  are  the  judicial  courts,  and  pro- 
perly so,  as  they  are  the  last  refuge  for  the  security  of  property,  liberty  and  life. 
This  community,  like  many  others,  has  been  influenced  to  a  very  considerable 
degree  in  every  phase  and  stage  of  its  existence  by  the  important  functions  of 
judi(tial  administration  which  have  here  been  exercised.  The  character  of  both 
the  bench  and  the  bar  of  Columbus  has  been  good  from  the  beginning.  Profes- 
sional delinquencies  have  been  rare;  the  judges,  as  a  rule,  have  been  honest  and 
WL'll-behaved,  as  have  also  been  the  lawyers.  Both  have  impressed  the  commun- 
ity strongly  and  favorably.  The  reasons  for  this  are  fundamental.  On  the  bench 
as  well  as  at  the  bar  investigations  are  made  for  the  attainment  of  truth,  both  as 
to  fact  and  as  to  principle,  and  the  processes  adopted  are  both  intellectual  and 
moral.  A  body  of  learned  and  honest  judges  and  lawyers  pursuing  their  functions 
before  the  public  thereby  become  instructors  of  the  people,  and  a  citizen  called 
from  his  farm  or  shop  to  the  jury  box  enters  a  school  in  which  valuable  lessons  are 
imparted.  In  the  peculiar  relations  which  they  bear  to  the  general  public  the 
courts  become  fountains  of  knowledge  as  well  as  means  of  discipline.  They  illus- 
trate precepts  by  examples;  and  careful  analysis  justifies  and  confirms  the  convic- 
tion that  their  general  influence  has  nowhere  been  more  profound  or  beneficial 
than  at  the  capital  of  Ohio.* 

NOTES. 

1.  In  the  summer  of  1840  the  courts  and  county  officers  were  removed  to  the  then  new 
courtliouse  on  the  corner  of  High  and  Mound  streets.  This  building,  it  was  considered,  con- 
stituted a  firstrate  courthouse  and  jail,  but  the  offices  were  too  contracted ;  the  cost  of  which 
appears  to  have  been  about  $41,000  exclusive  of  the  ground.  The  two  lots  upon  which  the 
building  stands  having  been  bought  by  contributions  of  the  citizens  of  the  south  end  of  the 
town,  were  donated  to  the  County  in  the  Spring  of  1838.  Four  years  after,  in  1842,  the 
County  Commissioners  purchased  the  third  lot  so  that  the  county  might  own  the  entire 
block.-—  Martinis  History  of  Franklin  County. 

A  historial  sketch  of  the  present  courthouse  will  be  given  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

2.  In  the  preparation  of  the  foregoing  chapter  important  facts  were  obtained  from  Judge 
Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County,  by  permission  of  his  son,  B.  F.  Martin,  Esq.,  and  from 
N.  W.  Evans,  Esq.,  of  Portsmouth,  in  relation  to  the  early  United  States  District  Judges; 
from  Judge  Burnet's  History  of  the  Northwestern  Territory;  and  particularly  and  largely 
from  notebooks  prepared  with  great  research  by  Hon.  Alfred  E.  Lee.  For  these  valuabje  aids 
thanks  are  due  and  are  cordially  given.  L.  J.  C. 


CHAPTER  XXXIL 


LANDS  AND  LAND  TITLES. 


BY  JOHN  E.  8ATER,  ESQ. 


It  is  a  fundamental  principle  in  English  law  that  the  king  is  the  supreme 
lord  and  original  proprietor  of  all  the  lands  within  his  kingdom.  Within  his 
dominion  he  is  the  source  of  all  valid  titles.  It  is  a  principle  equally  funda- 
mental in  this  country  *Hhat  all  valid  individual  title  to  land  within  the  United 
States  is  derived  from  the  grant  of  our  own  local  government,  or  from  that  of  the 
United  States,  or  from  the  crown,  or  royal  chartered  governments  established 
here  prior  to  the  Revolution."*  Every  valid  individual  title  to  lands  within  the 
corporate  limits  of  the  city  of  Columbus  is  derived  from  some  grant  of  the  United 
States  Government.  It  is  the  knowledge  of  this  fact  which  causes  the  owner  of 
real  estate  to  feel  secure  in  his  title,  when  it  is  traced  back  to  the  government  and 
found  free  from  defects.  Such  sense  of  security  is  fully  warranted.  For  all  practi- 
cal purposes  inquiry  need  not  be  extended  further.  It  will  be  proper,  however, 
to  state  briefly,  at  least,  how  the  United  States  acquired  title  to  these  lands,  and 
how  the  French,  the  English  and  the  Indian  titles  were  extinguished.  It  may  be 
interesting  to  trace  the  conflicting  claims  made  to  these  lands  by  the  colonies,  and 
how  those  colonies,  when  they  attained  to  the  dignity  of  states,  prompted  by  the 
loftiest  patriotism  and  by  a  desire  for  the  common  weal,  made  cessions  of  the 
western  territory  claimed  by  them  to  the  general  government.  It  may  be  interest- 
ing to  inquire,  in  treating  of  Columbus  lands,  as  to  the  origin  of  the  terms  United 
States  Military  District,  Virginia  Military  District,  Eefugce  Tract,  arid  Congress 
Lands,  and  to  note  what  portion  of  the  territory  within  the  city  limits  falls  within 
these  respective  districts  or  tracts.  It  will  be  proper  to  state  how  these  lands 
were  surveyed,  and  how  the  title  passed  from  the  United  States  to  individuals. 
In  short,  the  present  chapter,  altliough  it  is  not  designed  to  be  an  exhaustive 
treatise  of  the  subject  of  land  titles,  may  very  properly  make  some  mention 
of  matters  such  as  those  above  named,  and  should  refer  to  some  of  the  more 
important  state  and  national  leiiislation  and  to  some  of  the  decisions  relating 
to  and  affecting  the  lands  under  consideration.  It  will  be  proper  to  recite  also  such 
facts  and  incidents  of  a  local  character  as  affect  any  paVt  of  the  lands  and  land 
titles  within  the  city. 

[616] 


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Lands  and  Land  Titles.  617 

The  French  were  the  first  civilized  inhabitaDts  of  the  Ohio  Valley.*  They 
effected  their  entrance  through  Canada.  As  early  as  1535  James  Cartier,  sailing 
under  a  French  commission,  penetrated  that  country  as  far  as  Montreal.*  He 
erected  a  cross  bearing  the  arms  of  France  and  an  inscription  which  proclaimed 
his  royal  master  sovereign  of  the  newly  discovered  realm.  He  named  the  terri- 
tories 80  discovered  New  France.  Immediate  attempts  at  colonization  were 
unsuccessful.  In  1608,  Champlain,  "  the  Father  of  Canada,*'  founded  the  first 
permanent  French  settlement  within  the  limits  of  that  country,  on  the  present 
site  of  Lower  Quebec*  The  aggressive  and  warlike  Iroquoi«a,  with  whom 
Champlain  and  the  French  came  in  conflict  by  reason  of  an  alliance  with  the 
Hurons  and  Algonquins.  turned  the  French  aside  from  the  south  and  southwest, 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lower  lake  regions,  to  the  north  and  west,  to 
Lake  Huron,  the  Ottawa  and  the  Nipissing.*  The  French  traded  in  furs,  cultivated 
favor  with  the  Indians,  made  explorations  and  established  missions  in  the  upper 
lake  regions  long  before  they  knew  of  the  more  genial  climate  and  productive  soil 
of  the  Ohio  Valley.  Of  all  the  five  Great  Lakes,  Lake  Erie  was  the  last  to  be  dis- 
covered and  explored.*  Of  all  the  region  comprised  within  the  Northwest 
Territory,  Ohio  was  the  last  to  be  discovered.'  The  French  reached  the  Missis- 
sippi by  way  of  the  Illinois  and  Wisconsin  rivers  long  before  they  knew  of  the 
the  shorter  route  by  the  Ohio."  Their  early  acquaintance  with  the  upper  lake 
region  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  Sault  Sainte  Marie  was  founded  one  hundred 
and  twenty  years  before  the  first  settlement  was  made  in  Ohio  at  Marietta."  But, 
in  1666,  there  came  to  Canada  La  Salle,  the  most  daring,  perhaps,  of  all  the 
spirits  that  sought  to  extend  in  the  New  World,  at  that  time,  the  dominions  of 
France.  French  explorations  had  not  then  extended  south  of  the  Great  Laken. 
La  Salle  learned  from  the  Iroquois  Indians  of  a  river  called  the  Ohio,  flowing 
southward  to  the  sea.'°  He  believed  it  to  open  a  way  to  China.  Its  discovery 
became  to  him  an  absorbing  ambition.  It  now  seems  to  be  reasonably  well 
settled  that  he  discovered  the  Ohio  River  some  time  prior  to  1670,  and  possibly 
descended  it  to  a  point  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  site  of  Louisville." 

Marquette  and  Joliet,  commissioned  by  the  French  Governor,  Frontenac,  for 
that  purj)08e,  discovered,  in  1673,  the  Mississippi  River,  which  they  descended  to 
the  thirtythird  parallel  of*  north  latitude  —  far  enough  to  determine  that  the  river 
emptied  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  discovery  of  the  MiHHissipj)i  awakened  in 
La  Salle  a  desire  to  secure  to  the  King  of  France  the  great  valley  drained  by  that 
river  and  its  tributaries.  Accordingl}',  in  April,  1682,  he  descended  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Gulf,  and  a  short  distance  above  the  mouth  of  the  river  erected  a  column 
bearing  the  arms  of  France  and  an  inscription  announcing  that  in  the  name  of  his 
King  he  took  possession  of  the  entire  Mississippi  Valley.  Says  Parkman  :  "On 
that  day  the  realm  of  Franco  received  on  parchment  a  stupendous  accession.  The 
fertile  plains  of  Texas  ;  the  vast  basin  of  the  Mississippi  from  its  frozen  north- 
ern springs  to  the  sultry  borders  of  the  Gulf;  from  the  woody  ridges  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies  to  the  bare  penks  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  a  region  of  savannahs  and  for- 
ests, suneracked  deserts  iind  grassy  prairies,  watered   by  a  thousand  rivers,  ranged 


618  IIlSTORT    OP   THE   CiTY   OP   CoLUMBrS. 

by  a  thousand  warlike  tribes,  passed  beneath  the  sceptre  of  the  Saltan  of  Ver- 
sailles; and  all  by  virtue  of  a  feeble  human  voice  inaudible  at  half  a  mile."" 

In  honor  of  his  king  La  Salle  named  the  territory  thus  acquired  liouisiana. 
It  comprised  the  fairest  portion  of  the  western  hemisphere  ;  its  area  waH  more  than 
six  times  that  of  France;  its  resources  were  unbounded.  La  Salle's  discerning 
mind  at  once  perceived  that  the  seat  of  future  empire  was  not  in  Canada,  bat  in 
those  valleys,  and  that  great  commercial  and  industrial  advantages  must  necessa- 
rily follow  their  colonization.  He  recognized  the  fact  that  the  best  route  to  those 
valleys  lay  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  not  through  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

A  Spanish  sailor,  Pineda,  discovered  the  MiBsi.st^ip]^  as  early  as  1519."  I>e  Soto 
and  his  adventurers  in  quest  of  gold  and  ])lunder  in  154<),  traversed  the  northern 
portion  of  the  present  State  of  Mississippi,  and  touched,  at  length,  the  Mississippi 
Kiver  in  who8e  bosom  De  Soto  found  his  grave.  But  Spain  did  not  occupy  the 
territory  thus  discovered.  So  great  was  the  greed  for  immediate  gain  that  the 
thought  of  founding  an  empire  in  the  heart  of  the  American  Continent  seems  not 
to  have  entered  the  Spanish  mind.  La  Salle  found  the  Mi.ssissippi  Valley  unoccu- 
pied. France  therefore  claimed  it  not  only  by  right  of  dincovery  but  by  reason  of 
prior  occupation.  La  Salle  j)rop<)sed  to  occupy  the  land,  to  close  it  against  intru- 
sion by  the  erection  of  forts  and  to  restrict  English  colonics  to  the  Atlantic  coast.** 
"It  was  La  Salle,"  says  Hinsdale,  "  who  first  distinctly  conceived  the  policy  that 
lead  on  to  Fort  Duquesne,  Braddock's  defeat  and  Forbes's  march  to  the  Forks  of 
the  Ohio."'*  Although  ho  fell  a  victim  to  foul  assassination  long  before  his  plans 
were  executed,  in  after  years  a  chain  of  military  posts  extending  from  Canada 
to  the  Gulf  was  established  by  the  French  Government  to  protect  the  French 
dominions."' 

But  PVance  was  not  the  only  claimant  to  the  vnlleys  of  the  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi. In  1497,  more  than  a  year  before  any  Spanish  navigator  had  touched  the 
mainland  of  the  American  Continent,  and  twontyseven  years  before  Verrazano, 
the  first  French  explorer,  discovered  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America,  John 
Cabot  and  his  son,  sailing  under  a  patent  granted  by  Henry  VII,  which  authorized 
them  as  vassals  of  the  King  to  take  possession  of  any  territories  they  might  dis- 
cover, and  erect  thereon  the  Plnglish  banner,  skirted  along  the  greater  portion  of 
the  eastern  shores  of  what  is  now  the  United  States.'*  The  extent  of  coast 
explored  by  them  is  a  disputed  question  the  solution  of  which  is  not  important  in 
the  present  discussion.  By  reason  of  this  discovery  England  laid  claim  to  all  the 
territories  between  the  Atlantic  coast  so  discovered  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  then 
commonly  termed  the  South  Sea.  So  little  interest,  however,  did  she  manifest  in 
her  western  acquisition  that  one  liundrod  and  ten  years  elapsed  before  she  planted 
at  Jamestown  her  first  colony,  but  wMthin  that  period  the  spirit  of  adventure 
grew  apace,  and  her  maritime  superiority  became  assured.***  When  coloniza- 
tion began  it  progressed  rapidly,  especially  as  compared  with  the  PVench  settle- 
ments. The  second  charter  oi'  the  London  Coni]>any,  granted  in  1609,  gave  to  the 
Virginia  colony  a  territory  having  a  coast  frontage  of  four  hundred  miles,  of 
which  Old  Point  Comfort  was  the  centre,  and  extending  "  from  sea  to  sea.''"  The 
second  charter  of  the  Plymouth  Company,  granted   in   1620,  conferred  upon  that 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  619 

company  the  territory  lying  between  the  fortieth  and  the  fortyeighth  parallels  of 
north  latitude,  and  extending  **from  sea  to  sea."*  In  other  words,  the  territory 
included  in  those  two  royal  grants,  extended  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from 
a  line  drawn  due  west  from  the  vicinity  of  Cape  Fear  to  a  line  drawn  oast  and 
west  through  a  point  a  little  north  of  Quebec. 

England  did  not  base  her  claim  to  the  Ohio  Valley  upon  the  right  of  discovery 
alone.  The  Iroquois  Indians  who  were  hostile  to  the  French,  and  long  prevented 
French  ^explorations  towards  the  south  and  southwest,  were  in  the  main  friendly 
to  the  English.  They  claimed  by  right  of  conquest  ownership  of  the  lands  east  of 
the  Mississipppi  between  the  Lukes  and  the  Cumberland  Mountains.  In  1684  they 
sought  the  protection  of  King  Charles  and  the  Duke  of  York;  and  in  the  Treaty 
of  Utrecht  Franco  acknowledged  the  Five  Nations  as  "  subject  to  the  dominion  of 
Great  Britain."  A  conference  was  held  by  the  Oneidas  and  Mohawks  in  1701  with 
English  commissioners.  The  minutes  of  that  meeting  recite  that  those  tribes 
placed  their  hunting  grounds,  which  extended  to  Lake  Nipissing,  under  English 
protection.  In  1726  the  Iroquois  confirmed  that  cession  by  treaty.  The  land  so 
conveyed  lay  north  of  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario  and  east  of  Lake  Huron,  and  was 
about  eight  hundred  miles  in  length  by  four  hundred  miles  in  width.  In  1744  the 
Iroquois  relinquished  to  Maryland  their  claims  to  lands  within  that  colony  and 
convoyed  the  entire  West  by  deed  to  Virginia.  England  therefore  claimed  owner- 
ship to  the  Northwest  Territory  and  the  lower  portion  of  Canada,  not  only  by 
reason  of  the  Cabot  voyages,  but  on  account  of  the  Iroquois  cessions  anJ  treaties." 

England  was  slow  in  occupying  the  lands  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  Her 
settlers  on  the  Atlantic  coast  were  not,  as  a  rule,  adventurers.  Colonies  wore 
planted  all  along  the  Atlantic  shore  before  the  English  broke  the  barriers  of 
the  mountains,  but  at  length  English  subjects  found  their  way  along  the  Mohawk 
to  the  trapping  grounds  about  the  Lakes.  To  prevent  these  English  incursions 
and  protect  the  territories  claimed  by  them,  the  French  erected  Fort  Detroit.  It 
was  not  until  1748  that  the  English  planted  their  first  settlements  west  of  the 
mountains,  at  Draper's  Meadows  **  A  year  later  the  Ohio  Company  was  organ- 
ized to  traffic  in  land  and  furs,  and  obtained  an  additional  ^n*ant  for  half  a  mil- 
lion acres  between  the  Kanawha  and  the  Monongahela.  Still  another  year  later 
they  sent  Christopher  Gist  to  make  explorations  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  about  the 
same  time  settlers  were  making  their  way  through  the  Cumberland  Gap  into  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee."  All  along  the  chain  of  "The  Great  Mountains"  the  English- 
speaking  people  were  seeking  entrance  to  the  West.  The  conflicting  claims  of 
France  and  England  rendered  a  contest  inevitable.  Negotiations  to  establish  the 
boundary  line  between  these  rival  powers  proved  unsuccessful.  The  western 
boundaries  of  the  British  dominions  were  to  be  drawn  by  the  sword.  To  protect 
their  possessions  the  French  constructed  a  line  of  forts  extending  southward  from 
Presque  Isle  to  Fort  Duquesne.  The  conflict  between  France  and  England  had 
begun,  and  when  Washington's  command  was  withdrawn  from  Fort  Necessity  the 
entire  Mississippi  Valley  was  left  in  the  possession  of  the  French.**  Braddock*s 
campaign  for  the  reduction  of  Fort  Duquesne  ended  in  disaster  and  gloom;  but  at 
this  juncture  William  Pitt  became  the  controlling  spirit  in  the  councils  of  theEng- 


620  History  of  the  City  of  CouTMBrs. 

lish  nation  and  resolved  on  a  war  of  conquest  for  the  reduction  of  the  French  pos- 
sessions. War  resulted  between  England  and  France  on  both  continents,  and  on 
both  England  triumphed.  On  the  thirteenth  day  of  September,  1759,  on  the 
Heights  of  Abraham,  overlooking  the  spot  on  which,  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  y^ears  before,  Champlain  had  founded  the  first  permanent  French  settlement 
in  Americn,  the  armies  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm  determined  the  question,  adversely 
to  the  French,  as  to  whether  the  Ohio  Valle}'  should  bear  the  impress  of  English 
or  of  French  civilization.  The  Treaty  of  Peace,  concluded  in  1763,  fixed  the  west- 
ern boundary  line  of  the  EngliBh  possessions  at  the  middle  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
excepting  that  France  retJiined  New  Orleans  and  the  island  on  which  it  stands. 
Thus  passed  the  title  to  all  the  lands  in  the  Northwest  Territory  to  the  British 
Crown.     The  Treaty  of  Paris,  made  ia  1763,  contained  the  following  passages : 

His  Most  Christian  Majesty  (France)  cedes  and  guarantees  to  His  Briltannic  Majesty,  in 
full  riglit,  Canada  with  all  its  dependencies.  His  Brittannic  Majesty,  on  his  side,  agrees  to 
grant  the  liberty  of  the  Catholic  religion  to  the  inhabitants  of  Canada;  he  will  consequently 
give  the  most  precise  and  the  most  effectual  orders  that  his  new  Roman  Catholic  subjects 
may  profess  the  worship  of  their  religion  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Romish  Church,  as  far 
as  the  laws  of  Great  Britain  permit.  His  Brittannic  Majesty  further  agrees  that  the  French 
inhabitants,  or  others  who  had  been  subject  to  the  Most  Christian  King  in  Canada,  may  retire 
with  all  safety  and  freedom  wherever  they  shall  think  proper;  the  term  limited  for  this 
emigration  shall  be  fixed  to  the  space  of  eighteen  months  from  the  exchange  of  ratifications 
of  this  treaty. 

In  order  to  reiiutablish  peace  on  solid  and  durable  foundations,  and  to  remove  forever 
all  subject  of  dispute  with  regard  to  the  limits  of  the  British  and  French  territories  on  the 
continents  of  Auierica,  it  is  agreed  that  for  the  future  the  confines  between  the  dominions  of 
his  Brittannic  Majesty  and  those  of  his  Most  Christian  Majesty  in  that  part  of  the  world  shall 
be  fixed  irrevocably  by  a  line  drawn  along  the  middle  of  the  river  Mississippi  from  its  source 
to  the  river  Iberville,  and  from  thence  by  a  line  drawn  along  the  middle  of  this  river  to  the 
lakes  Maurepas  and  Tontchartrain  to  the  sea  ;  and  for  this  j)urpose  the  Most  Christian  King 
cedes  in  full  right  and  guarantees  to  his  Britlannic  Majesty  the  river  and  fort  of  the  Mobile, 
and  everything  which  he  possestes  or  o\ight  to  possess  on  the  left  side  of  the  river  Mississippi, 
except  the  town  of  New  Orleans  and  the  island  on  whi(rb  it  is  situate,  \\hich  shall  remain  to 
France,  provi<led  that  the  navigation  of  the  river  Mississijjpi  shall  be  equally  free  as  well  to 
the  subjects  of  Great  Britain  as  to  those  of  France,  in  its  whole  breadth  and  length  from  its 
source  to  the  sea  ;  and  expressly  that  part  which  is  between  the  said  island  of  New  Orleans 
and  the  right  bank  of  that  river,  as  well  as  the  passage  both  in  and  out  of  its  mouth.** 

If,  as  has  been  stated,  "the  triumj)h  of  Wolfe  marks  the  i^roatest  turning  point 
as  3'et  discoverable  in  modern  history,'"^®  it  will  bo  ])ardonable  to  pause  for  a 
moment  to  consider  the  deep  significance  of  Entrland's  triumj)h.  Her  colonists, 
unlike  the  Spaniards,  were  troubled  but  little  with  the  gold  fever.  Though  not 
untouched  with  religious  zeal  or  indifferent  to  the  salvation  of  Indian  souls,  the 
conversion  of  the  Indians  was  not  with  them  a  ])rime  motive  as  with  the  French. 
They  built  towns,  cleared  away  forests,  tilled  farms,  oonstrueted  printing  presses, 
built  churches,  fostered  trade  and  manufactures,  (iiscussed  politics,  strove  for  civil 
and  religious  liberty  ;  in  short,  laid  deep  and  well  the  foundations  of  future  great- 
ness. Although  notentireh'  devoid  of  relii^ious  intolerance,  their  doors  stood  open  to 
receive  the  persecuted  of  other  lands.  The  French  settlement  at  (Quebec  antedated 
that  of  Jamestown  almost  a  century,  yet  the  total  population  of  the  French  settle- 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  621 

ments  in  1754,  was  only  oriefourtoentli  that  ofthe  thirteen  colonies.^  The  French 
population  south  ofthe  Lakes  and  between  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  rivers  at  that 
time  is  estimated  at  ten  thousand."®  Twenty  years  after  its  founding  (Quebec  had 
but  one  hundred  and  five  inhabitants  and  but  two  families  that  supported  them- 
selves by  tilling  the  soil.^.  The  Huguenots,  the  most  inclined  of  all  the  French  to 
colonization,  were  expelled  from  the  French  colonies  and  from  entrance  to  the 
French  possessions.-^  The  French  Jesuits  wished  no  white  men  at  their  missions 
and  sought  to  exclude  even  fur  traders.*^'  The  French  King  discouraged  coloni- 
zation.^^ French  fur  traders  opposed  settlements  because  they  interfered  with 
their  busirjcss.'^*  Parkman  speaks  eloquently  of  the  difference  in  the  characteris- 
tics ofthe  two  classes  of  settlement  as  follows: 

In  the  valley  of  the  St.  I^wronce  and  alonp;  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  adverse  principles 
contended  for  the  mastery.  .  .  .  The  settlements  along  the  nmrcin  of  the  St.  Lawrence  were 
like  a  camp  where  an  army  lay  at  rest  ready  for  the  march  or  the  battle,  and  where  war  and 
adventure,  not  trade  and  tillaj^e,  seemed  the  chief  aims  of  life.  The  lords  of  the  soil  were 
petty  nobles,  for  the  most  part  soldiers,  or  the  sons  of  soldiers,  proud  and  ostentatious, 
thriftless  and  ]>oor ;  and  the  people  were  their  vassals.  Over  every  cluster  of  small  white 
houses  glittered  the  sacred  emblem  of  the  cross.  The  church,  the  convent,  and  the  roadside 
shrine  were  seen  at  every  turn ;  and  in  the  towns  and  villages  one  met  each  moment  the  black 
robe  of  the  Jesuit,  the  gray  garb  of  the  Recollect,  and  the  formal  habit  of  the  Ursuline  nun. 
.  .  .  The  English  colonist,  with  thoughtful  brow  and  limV)8  hardened  with  toil ;  calling  no 
man  master  yet  bowing  reverently  to  the  law  which  he  himself  had  made;  patient  and 
laborious,  and  seeking  for  the  solid  comforts  rather  than  the  ornaments  of  life ;  no  lover  of 
war,  yet,  if  need  were,  lighting  with  a  stubborn,  indomitable  courage,  and  then  bending  once 
more  with  the  steadfast  energy  to  his  farm  or  his  merchandise  —  such  a  man  might  well  be 
deemed  the  very  j)ith  and  marrow  of  a  commonwealth."** 

England's  triumph,  however,  was  fraught  with  great  danger  to  herself.  The 
treaty  of  1703  gave  to  her  all  the  territory  between  the  Mississippi  River  and  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  Her  conquest  ofthe  French  possessions  was  attributable,  in  Inrge 
degree,  to  American  valor.  When  William  Pitt,  who  thoroughly  comprehended 
tbo  American  question,  entered  the  Newcastle  Ministry,  his  sympathies  went  out 
towards  the  colonies.  He  was  willing  not  only  to  use  and  treat  them  respectfully 
but  to  give  them  competent  officers  for  their  armies  and  to  counsel  with  their  leg- 
islatures as  to  the  conduct  of  the  war.  He  gathered  together  their  forces,  and 
Fort  Duquesne,  Northern  New  York,  Louisburgh,  Ticonderogaand  Quebec  passed, 
irretrievably  from  France.  Tire  strength  exhibited  by  the  colonies  in  tlie  war  at 
once  challenged  the  admiration  of  England  and  excited  her  fears.  They  had 
united  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war  and  had  learned  somewhat  of  their  united 
strength.  Differences  already  existed  between  them  and  the  mother  country.  The 
newly  acquired  territory  became  another  source  of  contention  between  them  and 
England.  When  the  French  and  English  ministers  were  discussing  the  treaty  of 
1763,  the  Englif<h  minislcr  was  warned  that  the  cession  of  Canada  would  be  followed 
by  the  independence  of  the  colonics."  *'  It  is  generally  believed,"  says  Professor 
Johnston,  "that  the  abandonment  of  Norih  America  by  Franco  was  the 
result  of  a  profound  policy ;  that  she  foresaw  that  her  retirement  would 
be    followed    by    the    independence    of   the    English    colonies,   and   that   Great 


622  History  of  tub  City  op  Columbus. 

Hritain*8  tempoi'ary  nirgrandiEcrooni  would  result  in  a  more  profound  abase- 
ment. Vcr^ennes  and  ChoiHeul  both  stated  the  case  in  just  this  way  in 
17i53."*  The  poliej'  adopted  by  Enfcland  subsequent  to  the  treaty,  with 
reference  to  the  newly  acquired  territory,  excited  the  keenest  hostility  on  tlie  jmrt 
of  the  coloniKtrt.  Unlimited  wcMitern  expansion  was  their  main  object  in  prot^cut- 
in^  the  war.  There  existed  among  them  an  ever-increasing  conviction  that  the 
newly  accpiired  territory*  belonged  not  to  the  Crown,  or  to  any  colony,  but  to  the 
people  whose  united  efforts  rescued  it  from  France.  To  the  great  disappointmeDt 
of  the  colonies  the  settlement  of  the  West  was  closed  to  them  by  royal  proclama- 
tion made  October  7, 1763,  whereby  all  purchases  and  settlements  by  them  west  of 
the  sources  of  the  rivers  flowing  into  the  Atlantic  were  prohibited  unless  by  the 
King's  permission.  By  that  proclamation  those  who  had  already  settled  in  such 
territory  were  directed  to  remove.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  restrictive  policy 
was  the  preservation  of  ]>eace  with  the  Indians  and  the  safety  of  the  colonists. 
Bancroft  attributes  the  policy  to  a  '^  fear  that  colonists  in  so  remote  a  ref^ion  could 
not  be  held  in  dependence.  England  by  war  had  conquered  the  West,  and  a  mio- 
istr}*^  had  come  which  dared  not  make  use  of  the  conquest."*^ 

The  Quebec  act,  enacted  in  1774,  included  in  that  province  all  the  territory 
west  of  the  Alleghanies,  ni»rth  of  the  Ohio,  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  south  of  Hud- 
son's Bay  ;  abolished  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  in  civil  cases  within  that  territory  —  a 
right  dear  to  the  heart  of  every  Englishman ;  adopted  the  French  system  of  laws; 
abrogated  the  treaty  provisions  of  1703,  securing  to  that  territory  representative 
government;  vested  the  power  of  taxation  in  a  council  appointed  by  the  Crown  ; 
secured  to  the  Catholic  cler^'y  all  the  rights  enjoyed  by  them  under  French 
dominion,  and  restored  to  the  Catholic  Church  all  the  lands  originally  held  b}* 
them  in  that  province.**  This  act  was  considered  by  the  colonists  as  practically 
establishing  the  Catholic  religion  in  the  newly  created  province,  and  thereby  excited 
the  hostility  of  both  the  ^episcopalians  and  the  Puritans.  This  measure,  the  Bos- 
ton Port  Act  and  the  Massachusetts  Act  were  precipitated  on  the  colonies  w^ithin 
the  same  year.  In  the  Declaration  of  Independence  the  colonies  complained  of 
their  sovereign  "for  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a  neighboring 
province,  establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government  and  enlarging  its  boundaries 
so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  introducin/^  the  same 
absolute  rule  into  these  colonies."  The  colonics  refused  to  respect  the  restrictive 
policy  of  the  home  government.  Dunmore,  the  royal  Governor  of  Virginia,  in 
defiance  of  the  Quebec  Act,  in  1774,  strengthened  Virginia's  claim  to  the  Northwest 
by  invasion.  Prior  thereto  he  had  made  purchases  and  surveys  of  western  lands. 
A  patent  for  a  company  which  was  to  purchase  and  locate  2,400,000  acres  of  land 
south  of  the  Ohio  had  been  prepared  and  was  ready  for  the  King's  signature  when 
all  negotiations  for  the  colonization  of  western  territory  under  authority  of 
the  Crown  was  terminated  by  the  commencement  of  the  struggle  for  indepen- 
dence.* 

At  the  beginning  of  that  struggle  there  was  a  well  defined  sentiment  in  favor 
of  the  nationalization  of  western  lands,  but  that  sentiment  was  not  universal.  Dur- 
ing nearly  the  whole  of  that  eventful  period  one  of  the  foremost  questions  was 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  623 

that  relating  to  the  disposition  of  those  lands.  It  provoked  long  discassions, 
excited  feelings  of  hostility  between  the  States,  prevented  the  adoption  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  until  the  war  was  well  nigh  ended,  and  excited  a  lively 
hope  among  the  enemies  of  the  Confederation  that  a  permanent  union  of  the 
States  could  not  be  effected.  The  happy  solution  of  the  question  is  attributable  to 
the  wise  statesmanship  and  exalted  patriotism  of  the  men  who  directed  the  coun- 
cils of  the  several  States  and  of  the  Union.  As  regards  western  lands,  the  States 
were  divided  into  two  classes.  New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Delaware  were  nonclaimants  of  such  lands.  The 
remaining  seven  States  each  claimed  land  west  of  the  mountains.  The  claimant 
States  were  not  only  the  more  numerous  but  far  surpassed  the  nonclaimant  States 
in  wealth  and  population.  But  these  seven  States  were  not  all  agreed  by  reason 
of  overlapping  claims.  It  will  therefore  be  well  to  ascertain  what  States  were 
claimants  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  upon  what  such  pretensions  were 
based. 

By  reason  of  the  Iroquois  treaties.  New  York  laid  claim  to  all  the  territory 
between  the  Cumberland  Mountains  and  the  Lower  Lakes,  and  between  the  Missis- 
sippi River  and  the  western  boundaries  of  Pennsj'lvania  and  Virginia.^  In  1630, 
the  Plymouth  Colony  conveyed  Connecticut  to  its  President,  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick. Connecticut  then  had  a  uniform  width  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
and  extended  from  ocean  to  ocean.  On  April  20,  1662,  Charles  IF.  granted  to 
Connecticut  a  charter  which  fixed  its  eastern  and  western  boundaries  at  Narragan- 
sett  Bay  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  respectively,  and  its  width  at  sixtytwo  miles. 
The  southern  boundary  was  the  (bilyfirst  parallel  of  north  latitude.  Connecticut, 
therefore,  laid  claim  to  that  part  of  the  Northwest  Territory  north  of  that  parallel  and 
south  of  forty  two  degrees  and  two  minutes  north  latitude.*'  The  territory  claimed 
by  Massachusetts  lay  north  of  that  claimed  by  Connecticut. 

The  grant  of  James  I.,  in  1609,  to  Virginia,  contained  the  following  language: 
"All  those  lands,  countries,  territories,  situate,  lying  and  being  in  that  part  of 
America  called  Virginia,  from  the  point  of  land  called  Cape  or  Point  Comfort,  all 
along  the  seacoast  to  the  northward  two  hundred  miles,  and  from  the  said  Point  of 
Cape  Comfort  all  along  the  seacoast  to  the  southward  two  hundred  miles,  and  all 
that  space  and  circuit  of  land  lying  from  the  seacoast  of  the  precinct  aforesaid  up 
into  the  land  throughout,  from  sea  to  sea,  west  and  northwest."  These  boundaries 
have  never  been  satisfactoril}-  defined  and  are  scarcely,  if  at  all,  intelligible.  The 
language  employed  designed  a  west  and  northwest  line ;  if  the  northwest  lino 
should  start  from  the  southern  point  on  the  coast,  the  shape  of  Virginia  would  be 
triangular,  as  follows: 


mm 


624 


History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 


w. 


\ 


o 
o 


o 
o 

CM 


X 


Northern  Point. 


Point  Comfort. 


Southoin  Point. 


Tho  territory  granted,  if  the  above  construction  be  correct,  would  not  greatly 
exceed  that  included  within  the  present  limits  of  Virginia.  The  convergence  of 
the  lines,  west  and  northwest,  renders  im])os8ible  an  extension  to  the  South  Sea. 
If  the  northwestern  line  should  start  from  the  northern  point  on  the  coast,  the 
territory  included  within  the  grant  would  be  shaped  as  follows  :** 


^'n. 


West  Line. 


o 
o 


o 

o 

CM 


Northorn  Point. 


Point  Comfort. 


Southern  Point. 


If  the  latter  figure  correctly  represents  the  meaning  of  the  charter,  the  whole 
of  Ohio,  and  in  fact  all  the  Northwest  Territory,  wore  comprised  within  the  limits 
of  Virginia.  The  western  boundary  would  be  the  South  Sea,  or  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
This  latter  construction  was  generally  conceded  to  be  the  correct  one,  and  was  the 
basis  of  Virginia's  claim  to  the  Northwest.  The  constitution  of  that  State  adopted 
in  1776,  in  which  were  formally  ceded  to  Maryland,  North  Carolina,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania the  lands  which  had  been  detached  from  Virginia  by  the  King,  contained 
the  following  language :  "The  western  and  northern  extent  of  Virginia  shall  in 
all  other  respects  stand  as  fixed  by  the  charter  of  1609,  and  by  the  public  Treaty 
of  Peace  between  the  courts  of  Britain  and  France  in  the  year  1763,  unless  by  act 
of  this  legislature  one  or  more  governments  be  established  westward  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains;  and  no  purchase  of  land  shall  be  made  of  the  Indian 
nations  but  on  the  behalf  of  the  public  by  authority  of  the  General  Assembly/* 
Here  is  a  positive  declaration  of  ownership  of  the  Northwest  Territory  by  reason 
of  tho  charter  of  1609.  Virginia's  pretensions  necessarily  conflicted  with  the 
claims  of  Massachusetts,  Now  York  and  Connecticut. 

The  discussion  between  the  States  as  to  the  western  lands  began  in  framing 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.     The  first  draft  of  the  Articles  contained  a  provi- 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  625 

sion  for  restricting  the  western  boundaries  of  States  claiming  to  extend  to 
the  South  Sea,  or  to  the  Mississippi  Eiver,  and  for  the  formation  of  new  colonies 
in  western  territory.  That  provision  did  not  appear,  however,  in  the  Articles  as 
completed,  but  on  the  contrary  there  was  a  clause  stipulating  "that  no  state 
shall  be  deprived  of  territory  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States.'*  The  Articles 
were  submitted  to  the  States  and  ratified  by  ten  of  them  in  July,  1778.  The 
consent  of  all  the  States  was  necessary  for  their  adoption.  Maryland,  New  Jersey, 
and  Delaware,  three  of  the  smallest  States  and  all  of  them  nonclaimants  of 
western  lands,  withheld  assent.  The  Maryland  delegates  renewed  the  proposition 
contained  in  the  first  draft  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  relating  to  western 
lands,  but  it  was  voted  down.  On  November  25,  1778,  New  Jersey  approved 
the  Articles,  relying  on  the  fairness  and  candor  of  the  other  States  to  remove  the 
then  existing  inequalities  as  to  territory,  and  through  its  delegates  submitted  to 
Congress  a  representation  which  recited  that  the  boundaries  and  limits  of  the 
States  ought  to  be  fixed  and  made  known,  and  that,  as  the  war  was  undertaken 
for  the  defense  of  all  the  States,  the  territory  acquired  during  the  war  should  be 
the  property  of  all  the  Stales,  and  that  all  unpatented  land  should  be  utilized  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  war  and  for  other  general  purposes.  The  propositions 
so  submitted  were  rejected  by  Congress.  On  February  22,  1779,  Delaware  ratified 
the  Articles  of  Confiedcration.  On  the  day  following,  its  delegates  presented  to 
Congress  a  series  of  resolutions  which  declared  that  limits  should  be  fixed  to  those 
States  that  claimed  to  the  Mississippi  River  or  the  South  Sea,  and  thai  as  the 
extensive  country  lying  beyond  the  frontiers  had  been  gained  from  Great  Britain 
and  the  Indians  by  the  blood  and  treasure  of  all,  that  State  was  entitled  in 
common  with  the  other  States  to  the  same,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  a  common 
estate  to  be  granted  out  on  terms  beneficial  to  the  United  States.  Congress  per- 
mitted the  resolutions  to  be  filed  but  expressly  declared  "  that  it  shall  never  be 
considered  as  admitting  any  claim  by  the  same  set  up  or  intended  to  be  set  up." 
Maryland  then  stood  alone  and  pluckily  determined  not  to  assent  to  the  Articles 
of  Confederation  until  her  objections  to  the  western  land  policy  were  removed. 
She  at  first  submitted  to  Congress  a  declaration  reciting  her  reasons  for  refusing 
to  ratify  the  Articles.  Later  she  submitted  instructions  to  her  delegates  to  be 
laid  before  Congress,  which  set  out  at  length  her  views  regarding  the  western 
lands.  The  following  extracts  from  those  instructions  embody  the  principal  argu- 
ments which  they  contain : 

Although  the  pressure  of  immediate  calamities,  the  dread  of  their  continuance  from 
the  appearance  of  disunion,  and  some  other  peculiar  circumstances  may  have  induced  some 
States  to  accede  to  the  present  confederation  contrary  to  their  interests  and  judgments,  it 
requires  no  great  measure  of  foresight  to  predict  that  when  those  causes  cease  to  operate  the 
States  which  have  thus  acceded  to  the  confederation  will  consider  it  as  no  longer  binding, 
and  will  eagerly  embrace  the  first  occasion  of  asserting  their  just  rights  and  securing  their 
independence.  Is  it  possible  that  those  States  who  are  ambitiously  grasping  at  territories 
to  which,  in  our  judgment,  they  have  not  the  least  shadow  of  exclusive  right,  will  use  with 
greater  moderation  the  increase  of  wealth  and  power  derived  from  those  territories  when 
acquired,  than  what  they  have  displayed  in  their  endeavors  to  acquire  them?  We  think 
not.  .  .  .  Virginia,  by  selling  on  the  most  moderate  terms  a  small  proportion  of  the  lands  in 

40 


C2G  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

queetion  would  draw  in  her  treasury  vast  sums  of  money,  and,  in  Y>roportion  to  the  sams 
arising  from  such  sales  would  be  enabled  to  lessen  her  taxes.  Lands  comparatively  cheap, 
and  taxes  comparatively  low,  with  the  lands  and  taxes  of  an  adjacent  State,  woald  quickly 
drain  the  State  thus  dieadvautageously  circumstanced  of  its  most  useful  inhabitants,  its  wealth 
and  its  consequence  in  the  scale  of  the  confederated  states  would  Hink,  of  course.  A  claim  so 
injurious  to  more  than  ouehalf  if  not  to  the  whole  of  the  United  States  ought  to  bo  sup- 
porte<l  by  the  clearest  evidence  of  the  right.  Yet  what  evidences  of  that  right  have  been 
produced?  What  arguments  alleged  in  support  either  of  the  evidence  or  the  right?  None 
that  we  have  heard  of  deserving  a  serious  refutation.  .  .  .  We  are  convinced  [that]  policy 
and  justice  require  that  a  country  unsettled  at  the  commencement  of  this  war,  claimed  by  the 
British  Crown  and  ceded  to  it  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  if  wrestetl  from  the  common  enemy  by 
the  blood  and  treasure  of  the  thirteen  States,  should  be  considered  as  a  common  property, 
subject  to  be  parcelled  out  by  Congress  into  free,  convenient,  and  independent  governments 
in  such  manner  and  at  such  times  as  the  wisdom  of  thnt  assembly  shall  hereafter  direct. 

The  sale  and  disposition  of  western  lands  havinc^  been  lefl  by  the  Articles  of 
Confederation    with   the   several  States  claiming  thorn,   Virginia  precipitated    a 
crisis  by  the  passage  of  an  act  providing  for  opening  a  land  office  for  the  entry  of 
lands  between  the  mountains  and  the  Ohio.     Kemonstrances  against  such  a  course 
were  promptly  filed  with  Congress  by  the  Indiana  and  Vandalia  companies,  and 
in  behalf  of  the  grand  company  organized  by  Thomas  Waipole.     These  remon- 
strances denied  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia  to  the  particular  tracts  claimed  by 
them  respectively.     Congress,  notwithstanding  Virginia's  objection  that  it  had  no 
jurisdiction  in  the  premises,  recommended  to  that  ^^  and  all  other  states  similarly 
circumstanced  to  forbear  settling  or  issuing  warrants  for  unappropriated  lands,  or 
granting  the  same  during  the  continuance  of  the  present  war."     This  recommenda- 
tion, which  was  transmitted  to  the  several  states,  drew  forth  a  remonstrance  from 
Virginia,  but  it  proved  ineffectual  to  stem  the  current  of  public  sentiment  setting 
in  so  strongly  towards  the  creation  of  a  public  domain.     The  patriotism  of  New 
York  rose  above  its  desire  for  western  lauds,  and  that  State,  on  March  7,  1780,  by 
proposing  to  cede  to  the  United  States  the  western  lands  claimed  by  it  lying  west 
of  such  a  boundary  as  its  delegates  might  fix,  cast  its  lot  with  the  nonclaimant 
States.     A  committee  was  appointed  by  Congress;  to  it  were  referred  the  declara- 
tions and  instructions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Maryland,  the  remonstrances 
of  Virginia  and  the  proposed  cession  of  New  York.     That  committee  submitted  a 
report  which  strongly  recommends  to  the  claimant  States''  a  liberal  surrender  of 
a  portion  of  their  territoral  claims"  as  indispensable  to  the  consummation  of  a 
national  union  and  concludes  with  the  following  proposed  resolution  : 

Rewlvedy  That  copies  of  the  several  papers  referred  to  the  committee  be  transmitted, 
with  the  copy  of  the  report,  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States,  and  that  it  be  earnestly 
recommended  to  those  States  who  have  claims  to  the  western  country  to  pass  such  laws  and 
give  their  delegates  to  Congress  such  powers  as  may  effectually  remove  the  only  obstacle  to  a 
final  ratification  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  ;  and  that  the  legislature  of  Maryland  be 
earnestly  requested  to  authorize  the  delegates  in  Congress  to  subscribe  the  said  Articles. 

Congress  adopted  this  report  but  in  so  doing  declined  to  discuss  the  western 
lai»d  question,  and  advised  concession  and  compromise.  It  appealed  to  the 
patriotism  of  the  States,  and  on  October  10,  1780,  resolved  : 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  627 

That  the  unappropriated  lands  that  may  be  ceded  or  relinquished  to  the  United  States 
by  any  particular  Btate  pursuant  to  the  recommendation  of  Congress  of  the  sixth  day  of 
September  last,  shall  be  disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  United  States  and  be 
settled  and  formed  into  distinct  republican  states  which  shall  become  members  of  the 
Federal  Union,  and  have  the  same  rights  of  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independence  as 
other  states;  that  each  state  which  shall  be  so  formed  shall  contain  a  suitable  extent  of 
territory,  not  less  than  one  hundred  nor  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  square,  or  as 
near  thereto  as  circumstances  will  permit;  that  the  necessary  and  reasonable  expenses 
which  any  particular  state  shall  have  incurred  since  the  commencement  of  the  present  war 
in  subduing  any  British  posts  or  in  maintaining  forts  or  garrisons  within  and  for  the  defense, 
or  in  acquiring  any  part  of  the  territory  that  may  be  ceded  or  relinquished  to  the  United 
States,  shall  be  reimbursed  ;  tliat  the  said  land  shall  be  granted  or  settled  at  such  times,  and 
under  such  regulations,  as  shall  hereafter  be  agreed  on  by  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  or  any  nine  or  more  of  them. 

Inasmuch  as  Virginia  had  incurred  the  expense  of  sending  an  expedition 
under  George  Rogers  Clark  to  drive  out  the  British  from  a  portion  of  the  North- 
west Territory,  she  would,  pursuant  to  the  foregoing  resolution,  bo  reimbursed  for 
such  expense  if  she  should  relinquish  her  western  lands. 

The  wisdom  of  the  course  pursued  by  Congress  was  soon  manifest.  Maryland 
instructed  her  delegates  to  sign  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  on  the  same  day 
on  which  these  instructions  wore  fulfilled  —  March  1,  1781  —  New  York,  through 
her  delegates,  formally  ceded  all  her  western  lands  lying  west  of  her  present 
boundaries.  The  cessions  first  proposed  by  Connecticut  and  Virginia  were 
rejected,  but  on  March  1,  1784,  Virginia,  through  her  delegates,  Thomas  JeflTerson, 
Samuel  Hardy,  Arthur  Lee  and  James  Monroe,  executed  and  delivered  in  behalf  of 
that  State  a  deed  whereby  that  commonweijth  conveyed  to  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled,  for  the  benefit  of  said  States,  all  the  lands  claimed  by  her 
northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.  The  deed  stipulated  among  other  things  that  the 
necessary  and  reasonable  expenses  incurred  by  Virginia  in  subduing  British  posts, 
or  in  maintaining  forts  and  garrisons  within  and  for  the  defense  or  acquisition  of 
the  territory  relinquished  should  bo  fully  reimbursed  by  the  United  States,  and 
further  provided. 

That,  in  case  the  quantity  of  good  lands  on  the  southeast  side  of  the  Ohio,  upon  the 
waters  of  the  Curuberland  River  and  between  the  Green  River  and  Tennessee  River  which 
have  been  reserved  by  law  for  the  Virginia  troops  upon  Continental  establishment  should, 
from  the  North  Carolina  line,  bearing  in  further  upon  the  Cumberland  lands  thau  was 
expected,  prove  insufficient  for  their  legal  bounties,  the  deficiency  should  be  made  up  to  the 
said  troops  in  good  lands  to  be  laid  ofi*  between  the  rivers  Scioto  and  Little  Miami,  on  the 
northwest  side  of  the  River  Ohio,  in  such  proportions  as  have  been  engaged  to  them  by  the 
laws  of  Virginia.  That  all  the  lands  within  the  territory  so  ceded  to  the  United  States  and 
not  reserved  for  or  appropriated  to  any  of  the  beforementioned  purposes,  or  disposed  of  in 
bounties  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  American  Army,  shall  be  considered  a  common 
fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  of  the  United  States  as  have  become  or  shall  become 
members  of  the  confederation  or  federal  alliance  of  the  said  states,  Virginia  inclusive,  accord* 
ing  to  their  usual  respective  proportions  in  the  general  charge  and  expenditure,  and  shall  be 
faithfully  and  bona  fide  disposed  of  for  that  purpose  and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose  what** 
soever. 

During  the  War  of  Independence,  Virginia  had,  by  several  legislative  acta, 
offered  land  bounties  to  encourage  the  enlistment  of  soldiers,  and  the  reservation 


i\2X  IIisT(»iiY  OF  THE  City  of  Columbus. 

of  land  between  the  Seioto  and  Little  Miami  rivers  for  Virginia  troopH  xras  maJc 
to  enable  tiie  state  to  fulfill  its  oblif^ations.  The  territ<iry  eoniprised  in  tliis  reser- 
vation is  known  as  the  Virginia  Military  J)i>trict,  and  includes  the -Vir^inisi  Mili- 
tary Lands.  Hy  resolution  of  July  7,  178r>,  Congress  requested  Vir|2^iiiia  to  so 
modify  her  deotl  of  <-ession  as  to  j>ermit  the  creation  of  not  more  than  five,  nor  letss 
than  three  st^ites  out  of  the  territory  ceded,  and  this  request  was  eoni}died  M'itli  by 
an  act  of  the  fieneral  Assembly  of  Virginia  on  December  80,  17SS  On  A|fril  19, 
17S5,  Massachussetts,  through  her  delegates  in  Congress,  ceded  to  the  United 
States  the  western  lands  claimed  by  her.  On  September  IH,  178<),  Conncelicut 
made  a  like  cession  excepting  so  much  of  Ohio  as  is  known  as  the  Western  I^^servc, 
and  in  May,  1800,  she  released  all  claim  to  jurisdiction  over  the  part  80  reserved." 

By  the  definitive  treaty  of  j>eace  at  Paris,  made  between  the  United  States 
antl  Great  Britain,  his  Britannic  Majesty  for  himself,  his  heirs  and  suceessors, 
relinquished  all  claim  to  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississip]ii  north  of  the  thirty- 
first  degree  of  north  latitude,  but  notwithstanding  this  relinquishment  and  the 
cessions  of  the  several  states,  the  western  territory  was  really  not  nationalized 
until  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  for  by  provision  of  the  second  of  the  Arti- 
cles of  Confederation  the  United  States  had  no  j)owers  except  such  as  were  expressly 
delegated  by  the  several  states.  An  examination  of  the  deeds  of  eession  reveals 
the  fact  that  all  the  cessions  were  made  to  the  United  States  for  the  benefit  of  the 
states.  Whatever  the  United  States  received  by  way  of  revenue  from  the  lands 
ceded  would  have  to  come  through  the  states.  By  the  final  treaty  of  peace  with 
Great  Britain,  the  cessions  of  the  several  states  and  the  adoption  of  the  constitu- 
tion the  ultimate  fee  to  the  territory  now  occupied  by  us  became  vested  in  the 
United  States  subject  only  to  the  In^dian  right  of  occupation.**  The  arguments 
urging  the  cessions  of  western  lands  to  the  United  States  assumed  that  those  lands 
would  prove  a  source  of  revenue.  Experience  has  demonstrated  that  lands  are 
practically  valueless  except  as  cultivated  and  developed.  From  the  origin  of  the 
public  domain  to  June  30,  1880,  the  net  cash  receipts  therefrom  aggregated 
$200,702,849.11.  The  cash  expenditures  on  account  of  the  public  domain  during 
the  same  period  were  8322,049,595.26.  In  other  words  the  cost  to  the  date  above- 
named  exceeded  the  receipts  by  $121,346,746.85."  The  cash  receipts  from  public 
lands  since  that  date  have  been,  and  in  the  future  will  be,  comparatively  small ;  for  in 
1879,  the  agricultural  lands  of  the  West,  excluding  certain  lands  in  some  of  the 
Southern  States  subject  to  survey  and  disposition,  and  cultivable  without  irrigation 
or  artificial  apj)liances,  did  not  exceed  the  area  of  the  State  of  Ohio.** 

Although  the  ultimate  and  absolute  title  to  the  lands  under  consideration 
became  vested  in  the  United  States  by  the  various  stops  heretofore  mentioned 
they  were  held  subject  to  the  Indian  right  of  occupancy.  The  European  nations 
—  England,  France,  Spain  and  Holland  —  recognized  and  enforced  the  principle 
that  discovery  gave  title  to  the  government  by  whose  subjects  or  under  whose 
authority  it  was  made,  as  against  all  other  European  governments,  and  that  the 
title  so  acquired  might  be  perfected  by  ])ossession.  The  nation  making  the  dis- 
covery possessed  the  exclusive  right  of  acquiring  from  the  natives  the  territory 
discovered  and  of  making  settlements  therein.     The  Indians  were  recognized  aa 


Lanes  and  Land  Titles.  629 

the  rightful  occupants  of  the  soil,  with  the  right»t(»  possess  and  use  it  at  their  dis- 
cretion, but  with  no  power  to  dispose  of  the  same  except  to  the  government  claim- 
ing the  right  of  preemption.  The  right  of  the  Indians  to  use  and  occupancy  is  no 
more  inconsistent  with  the  seizin  in  fee  in  the  government  than  a  lease  for  years. 
The  United  States  succeeding  England  in  the  ownership  of  a  part  of  the  American 
continent  asserted  and  enforced  the  principle  recognized  by  the  discovering 
nations,  and  excepting  those  instances  in  which  land  has  been  acquired  from  the 
Indians  by  conquest  in  wars  deemed  just  and  necessary,  all  Indian  titles  have 
been  extinguished  by  purchase  or  by  voluntary  cessions.  In  recognition  of  the 
foregoing  principles  Congress  provided  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  that, 

Tiie  nt most  good  faith  shall  always  be  obeerved  towards  the  Indians;  their  lands  and 
property  shall  never  be  taken  from  them  without  their  consent;  and  in  their  property,  rights, 
and  liberty  they  shall  never  be  invaded  or  disturbed  unless  in  just  and  lawful  wars  author- 
ized by  Congress  ;  but  laws  founded  in  justice  and  humanity  shall  from  time  to  time  be  made  for 
preventing  wrongs  being  done  to  them  and  for  preserving  peace  and  friendship  with  them. 

The  policy  pursued  by  the  government  towards  the  Indians  under  the  Arti- 
cles of  Confederation  has  been  continued  under  the  Constitution  by  virtue  of 
Article  One  of  Section  Eight,  which  empowers  Congress  "to  regulate  commerce 
.  .  .  with  the  Indian  tribes,"  but  an  Indian  tribe  or  nation  is  not  a  foreign  state 
in  the  same  sense  in  which  that  terra  is  used  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  although  it  is  such  a  state  as  may  bind  itself  by  treaty.  The  Indian  nations 
have  been  treated  as  subject  principalities  or  domestic  dependent  nations,  entitled 
to  governmental  protection  and  relief,  but  incapable  of  passing  a  title  to  their 
lands  which  the  courts  will  recognize.  They  do  not  hold  the  fee  in  the  land  of 
their  original  occupation,  but  only  a  usufruct,  the  fee  being  in  the  United  States  or 
in  some  of  the  several  states.  The  United  States,  or  the  State  owning  the  fee,  may 
grant  the  same,  subject  to  the  Indian  right  of  occupanc}^.  The  relations  between 
the  Indian  nations  and  the  Government  closely  resemble  those  of  a  ward  to  his 
guardian.  "The  condition  of  the  Indians  in  relation  to  the  United  States,"  as  was 
held  in  the  case  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  v.  State  of  Georgia,  5  Peters,  "is  perhaps 
unlike  that  of  any  other  two  nations  in  existence.  In  general,  nations  not  owing 
a  common  allegiance  are  foreign  to  each  other.  The  term  foreign  nation  is  with 
strict  propriety  applicable  by  either  to  the  other.  But  the  relation  of  the  Indians 
to  the  United  States  is  marked  by  a  pecular  and  cardinal  distinction  which  exists 
nowhere  else."  In  the  case  of  Worcester  v.  The  State  of  Georgia,  (J  Peters,  515,  the 
same  court  held  :  "  The  Indian  nations  have  always  been  considered  as  distinct, 
independent,  political  communities,  retaining  their  original  natural  rights  as  the 
undisputed  possessors  of  the  soil  from  time  immemorial,  with  the  single  exception 
of  that  imposed  by  irresistible  power  which  excluded  them  from  intercourse  from 
any  other  European  potentate,  and  the  first  discoverer  of  the  coast  of  the  particu- 
lar region  claimed."^' 

The  Indian  right  to  use  and  occupancy  of  lands  in  and  about  Columbus  was 
extinguished  by  a  series  of  treaties  between  the  Indian  nations  and  commissioners 
appointed  by  Congress.  In  1785  George  Eogers  Clark,  Richard  Butler  and 
Arthur  Lee,  as  commissioners  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States,  entered  into  a 


630  History  of  the  City  ok  Columbus. 

treaty  at  Fort  Mcintosh,  with  tbo  Wyantlot,  Delaware,  Chippewa    and  Ottawa 
nation?,  all  of  whom  dwelt  and  claimed  territory  within  the  limits  of  Ohio.      The 
second  article  of  the  treaty  declared  the  Indian  nations  and  all  other  tribes   to  be 
under  the  protection  of  the  United  States  and  of  no  other  sovereignty  whatever. 
A  boundary  line  as  hctwccn  the  United  States  and  the  Wyandot  and  Delaware 
nations  was  fixed  by  tlie  third  article  of  the  treaty  as  follows:     Beginning  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  River,  thence  u])  the  river  to  the  portage  betw^een  it  and 
the   Tuscarawas  branch    of   the   Muskingum,   then    down  that  branch    to    Fort 
Laurens,  near  Bolivar,  Tuscarawas  County,  thence  westwardly  to  the  portage  of 
the  Big  Miami  CFort  Loramie,  Shelby  County),  thence  along  said  porta/o^e   to  the 
Saint  Mary's,  thence  down  it  and  the  southeast  side  of  the  Maumee  to  its  mouth, 
thenee  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Erie  to  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga.     The   treaty 
ftirther  provided   that   all   the  lands  within  the  above  limits,  excepting   eei  tain 
tracts  reserved  for  trading  posts,  were  allotted  to  the  Wyandotsand  Delawares  and 
to  such  of  the  Ottawas  as  lived  within  the  same,  and   all  citizens  of  the  United 
States   were    prohibited    from    settling   within    the   territory   so  assigned    to    the 
Indians.     All  the  lands  east,  south  and  west  of  the  territory  so  set  apart,  in  so  far 
as  these  nations  were  concerned,  were  relinquished  to  the  United  States.     The  pro- 
visions of  this  treaty  were  referred   to  and  readopted  in  the  subsequent   treaty   of 
Fort  Harmar,  made  by  Arthur  St.  Clair,  January  9,  1789.     The  south  boundary 
line  above  mentioned  is  represented  on  maps  as  passing  through  Cardin«^ton,  Mor- 
row County,  which  is  almost  due  north  of  Columbus. 

In  1786  the  United  States,  through  its  commissioners,  George  Kogers  Clark, 
Richard  Butler  and  Samuel  IT.  Parsons,  made  another  treaty  at  Fort  Finney,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  River,  with  the  Shawnee,  Delaware  and  Wj-andot 
nations.  In  that  treaty  the  Shawnee  nation  acknowledged  the  sole  and  absolute 
sovereignty  of  the  United  States  over  all  land  ceded  by  the  treaty  of  peaee  with 
Great  Britain  made  January  14,  1784,  and  relinquished  to  the  government  all 
lands  in  Ohio  except  an  irregular  territory  lying  west  of  the  Great  Miami. 

The  treaty  made  at  Greenville  August  3,  1795,  by  General  Anthony  Wa^-ne 
in  behalf  of  the  United  States  with  the  Wyandot,  Delaware,  Shawnee,  Ottawa, 
Chippewa,  Pottawattoniie,  Miami,  Eel  River,  Wea,  Kickapoo,  Piankeshaws  and 
Knskaskia  tribes  was  more  comprehensive  than  the  treaties  above  mentioned. 
The  boundary  line  between  those  tribes  and  the  United  States  was  made  to  begin 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Cu^^ahoga,  from  whence  it  extended  up  that  river  to  the  portage 
between  it  and  the  Tuscarawas  branch  of  the  Muskingum,  thence  down  that  branch 
to  Fort  Laurens,  thence  westerly  to  a  branch  of  the  Great  Miami  at  Fort  Loramie> 
thence  westerly  to  Fort  "Recovery  on  the  Wabash,  thence  southwesterly  in  a  direct 
line  to  the  Ohio,  so  as  to  intellect  that  river  o})posite  the  mouth  of  the  Kentuckx'-. 
The  Indian  tribes  ceded  and  relinquished  forever  all  claims  to  the  east  and  south 
of  the  boundary  line  so  established.  The  United  States,  by  the  fourth  article  of 
that  treaty,  relinquished  all  claim  to  all  lands  between  the  Mississippi  River  and 
the  boundary  line  above  named,  excepting  sixteen  small  tracts  ceded  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  United  States,  and  "for  that  convenient  intercourse  which 
will  be  beneficial  for  both  parties."     These  tracts  were  reserved  for  forts  and  posts. 


Lands  and  Land  Titles. 


631 


The  basis  of  the  treaty  was  the  previous  ODe  made  by  Arthur  St.  Clair.  Thus  was 
the  Indian  claim  or  title  to  lands  in  Ohio  east  and  south  of  the  boundaries  named 
in  the  foregoingf  treaties  forever  extinguished.**® 


Mt.  oi^/,ii*s  t^m^/a^0^  *rm^A^if*4A»n  ^/atiotj  5^0^  c/rr. 


■^^^M^^ 


^jdM/ir^^  T&^^sMP 


LAND    MAP   OF   COLUMBUS. 


The  treaty  line  above  mentioned,  crossing  Ohio  and  generally  known  as  the 
Greenville  Treaty  Line,  is  nearly  one  hundred  and  fortyfive  miles  in  length,  and, 
although  represented  on  the  maps  as  a  straight  line,  is  in  fact  a  very  crooked  one; 
"  nevertheless  all  adjacent  government  surveys  were  based  upon  it,  and  there  is 


L 


632  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

hardly  a  county  within  twenty  miles  of  it  that  does  not  depend  upon  it  for  ita 
location."  Yet  the  marks  and  evidences  of  the  location  of  this  line  have  became 
almost  entirely  obliterated.  "  Upon  a  recent  and  careful  examination  of  about 
twenty  miles  of  this  line  there  could  be  found  but  three  trees  which  bore  the 
original  mark  of  the  surveyor's  ax  and  the  Indian's  tomahawk."** 

As  heretofore  stated,  there  are  four  classes  of  lands  within  the  limits  of 
Columbus,  viz:  The  United  States  Military  Lands,  the  Refugee  Tract,  the 
Virginia  Military  District  and  the  Congress  Lands.  We  shall  state  briefly  how 
these  lands  came  to  be  so  designated,  and  their  location.  The  United  States 
Military  Lands  are  so  called  because  they  were  set  apart  to  satisfy  certain  claims 
of  soldiers  who  engaged  in  the  War  of  Independence.  On  September  16,  1776, 
Congress  by  resolution  made  provision  for  granting  lands  to  the  officers  and 
soldiers  who  should  engage  and  continue  in  service  until  the  close  of  the  war,  or 
until  their  discharge  by  Congress,  and  to  the  representatives  of  such  officers  and 
soldiers  as  might  be  slain  by  the  enemy,  in  the  following  proportions:  To  a 
colonel  five  hundred  acres,  to  a  lieutenant-colonel  four  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  to 
a  major  four  hundred  acres,  to  a  captain  three  hundred  acres,  to  a  lieutenant  two 
hundred  acres,  to  an  ensign  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  to  each  noncommissioned 
officer  and  soldier  one  hundred  acres.  The  expense  of  procuring  lands  was  to 
be  paid  and  borne  by  the  states  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  other  expenses  of 
the  war.  Two  days  later,  the  provisions  of  the  above  recited  resolutions  were 
.  extended  to  all  who  had  enlisted  or  should  enlist  in  the  army  of  the  United  States 
during  the  war.  Subsequently  the  provisions  of  the  resolution  were  so  extended 
as  to  include  major-generals,  brigadier-generals,  directors,  surgeons,  physicians, 
apothecaries  and  other  designated  persons  serving  in  the  army.  To  meet  the 
obligation  created  by  the  foregoing  resolution,  an  act  entitled  "An  act  regulating 
the  grants  of  land  appropriated  for  military  services  and  for  the  society  of  the 
United  Brethren  for  propagating  the  gospel  among  the  heathen,"  was  passed  by 
Congress  June  1,  1796,  setting  apart  the  tract  of  lands  in  Ohio  known  as  the 
United  States  Military  Land.  The  tract  so  designated  extended  from  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  seven  ranges  of  townships — a  point  fortytvvo  miles  west  of  the 
intersection  of  the  Ohio  River  and  the  western  boundary  line  of  Pennsylvania 
—  due  south  fifty  miles,  thence  west  to  the  Scioto  River,  thence  up  that  river  to  a 
point  where  it  crosses  the  Indian  boundary  line  as  fixed  by  the  treaties  of  1785, 
1786,  and  1795,  thence  along  that  boundary  line  to  the  Tuscawaras  branch  of  the 
Muskingum  River  at  the  point  above  Fort  Laurens,  near  Bolivar,  thence  up  the 
river  to  a  point  due  west  from  the  place  of  beginning,  thence  easterly  to  the  place 
of  beginning.  In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  act  the  lands  were  divided 
into  townships  of  ^vo  miles  square  by  running,  marking  and  numbering  the 
exterior  lines  of  the  townships  and  marking  corners  in  such  lines  at  the  distance  of 
of  two  and  onehalf  miles  from  each  other.  Grants  were  to  be  made  of  only  a 
quarter  of  the  township  to  which  the  lands  belong,  lying  at  the  corners  thereof. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  required,  for  a  space  of  nine  months  after 
public  notice  in  the  states  and  territories,  to  register  warrants  for  any  one  or  more 
tracts  tor  any  person  or  persons  holding  the  same  on  account  of  military  services. 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  633 

Inimediatoly  after  the  expiration  of  that  time  he  was  required  to  determine  by 
lot,  drawn  in  the  presence  of  the  Secretaries  of  State  and  War,  the  priority  of  loca- 
tion of  the  registered  warrants.  The  person  or  persons  holding  the  warrants  then 
made  their  locations  after  the  lots  had  been  proclaimed,  on  the  day  fixed  in  the 
public  notice  for  the  registration  of  warrants,  but  in  case  they  failed  so  to  do,  they 
were  then  postponed  in  locating  warrants  to  all  other  persons  holding  registered 
warrants  Patents  signed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  counter- 
signed by  the  Secretary  of  State,  were  to  issue  free  of  cost  to  persons  so  locating, 
their  heirs  or  assigns.  After  the  time  limited  for  the  making  of  locations  had 
elapsed,  any  person  or  persons  holding  warrants  for  military  services  sufficient  to 
cover  one  or  more  quarter  townships  might  make  their  locations  on  any  tract  or 
tracts  not  before  located.  All  lands  not  located  by  January  1,  1800,  should  no 
longer  be  held  for  the  satisfaction  of  such  warrants,  but  should,  as  any  other  vacant 
territory,  be  at  the  free  disposition  of  the  United  States.  All  warrants  or  claims 
for  land  on  account  of  military  services  which  were  not  registered  and  located  by 
that  date  were  to  be  forever  barred.  All  navigable  streams  within  the  territory 
so  set  apart  were  made  public  highways,  and  in  case  the  opposite  banks  of  unnavi- 
gable  streams  should  belong  to  different  persons,  such  streams  and  their  beds 
should  be  common  to  both.  By  an  amendment  to  the  above  recited  act,  made 
March  2,  1799,  the  time  for  the  location  of  lands  within  the  United  States 
Military  District  was  extended  to  January  1,  1802,  and  all  lands  not  located  at 
that  time  were  to  be  released  from  the  reservation  and  to  be  subject  to  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  United  States  as  any  other  vacant  territory.  All  claims  and  warrants 
for  land  unregistered  and  unlocated  at  that  date  were  to  be  forever  barred.  On 
February  11,  1800,  the  original  act  was  still  further  amended  by  directing  that  for 
fourteen  days  after  the  expiration  of  the  nine  months  allowed  for  the  registration 
of  warrants  for  military  services  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  should  still  register 
warrants  in  the  manner  prescribed  in  the  original  act.  The  amendment  further 
provided  that  the  priority  of  location  of  such  warrants  and  of  warrants  registered 
under  the  original  act,  should  be  determined  by  lot  immediately  after  expiration 
of  the  fourteen  days  for  which  the  time  of  registration  was  extended,  and  that  the 
day  for  the  location  should  be  fixed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  by  public 
notice  given  in  one  of  the  Philadelphia  Gazettes. 

The  southern  boundary  of  the  United  States  Military  Lands  in  the  City  of 
Columbus  corresponds  with  Fifth  Avenue,  and  constitutes  the  boundary'  line 
between  Clinton  and  Montgomery  townships.  There*  are  about  four  thousand 
square  miles,  or  two  million  five  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  acres,  in  the  tract. 
There  are  six  and  onefourth  square  miles,  or  four  thousand  acres,  in  each  quarter 
township.  The  accompanying  figure  indicates  the  manner  in  which  the  quarter 
townships  are  numbered: 


634 


History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 


2 
3 

1 

4 

The  United  St4ite8  Military  Lands  lie  west  of  the  seven  ranges,  south  of  the 
Greenville  treaty  line,  east  of  the  Scioto  River  and  north  of  the  Congress  and 
Refugee  Lands.  Clinton,  Sharon,  Perry,  Mifflin,  Blondon,  Plain  and  Jefferson 
townships  in  Franklin  County  lie  within  the  district.  The  act  of  June  1,  1796, 
provided  that  the  lands  should  be  divided  into  quarters  two  and  one  half  miles 
square.  These  quarters  are  often  termed  sections.  To  accoramodate  soldiers  who 
hold  onehundredacre  warrants  some  of  the  quarters  were  divided  into  one- 
hundredacre  tracts.  The  southeast  quarter  in  Plain  Township  and  that  portion 
of  Perry  Township  bordering  on  the  Scioto  Eiver  are  so  divided.  The 
surplus  remaining  after  satisfying  warrants  was  divided  into  sections  of  six 
hundred  and  forty  acres.  Quarter  sections  containing  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  were  drsj)Osed  of  by  the  government  as  other  Congress  lands.  The  lands 
lying  within  the  north  half  of  Plain  Township  belonged  to  this  class.  Quarter 
township  number  three  was  j)atented  to  Johnathan  Dayton.  He  was  a  member 
of  Congress  from  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  and  was  probably  the  largest  land  owner 
in  the  State  of  Ohio.  His  possessions  within  the  State  were  from  fifty  to  sixty 
thousand  acres.  He  was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  for  tw^o  terms 
between  1793  and  1797,  and  was  elected  to  the  National  Senate  in  1799.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  convention  which  framed  the  National  Constitution. 
Quarter  township  number  four  was  patented  to  George  Stevenson.  The  boundary 
line  between  these  quarters  starts  at  a  point  on  East  Fifth  Avenue  nearly  opposite 
Mount  Pleasant  Avenue,  and  extends  northward  through  Section  Street  and  Day- 
ton Avenue.  Within  these  two  quarters  lies  all  that  })art  of  Columbus  north  of 
Fifth  Avenue. 

The  greater  part  of  the  City  of  Columbus  lies  within  what  is  known  as  the 
Ilefugee  Tract.  These  lands  were  set  apart  and  granted  as  a  reward  to  such  indi- 
viduals of  the  Hrilish  Pro.vinccs  as  had  assisted  the  colonists  in  the  war  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  found  it  agreeable  to  emigrate  from  their  old  homes.  In  response 
to  a  memorial  of  Brigadier-Cieneral  Hayden  in  behalf  of  himself  and  other  Cana- 
dian I'efugecs,  Congress  on  April  23,  17S8,  resolved  that,  retaining  a  lively  sense  of 
the  services  of  the  Canadian  officers  and  men  rendered  to  the  United  States,  it 
would,  whenever  it  could  consistently  make  grants,  in  that  way  reward  the  officers, 
soldiers  and  other  refugees  from  ('anada.  On  April  13,  1785,  Congress  passed 
another  resolution  of  similar  import.  To  fulfill  the  ])romises  embodied  in  these 
resolutions,  Congress,  on  April  7,  1708,  passed  an  act  entitled  "  An  act  for  the  relief  of 
the  refugees  from  the  British  Provinces  of  Canada  and  Novia  Scotia,  which  directed 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  635 

the  Secretary  of  War  to  give  notice  in  one  or  more  papers  of  each  of  the  states  of 
Vermont,  Massachnsetts,  New  York,  New  Hampshire  and  Pennsylvania,  to  all 
persons  having  claims  under  those  resolutions  to  transmit  to  the  war  office  within 
two  years  from  the  passage  of  the  act  a  just  and  true  account  of  their  claims  to  the 
bounty  of  Congress.     The  persons  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  this  act  were : 

First,  those  heads  of  families,  and  single  pereons  not  members  of  any  such  families,  who 
were  rt  sidents  in  one  of  the  provinces  aforesaid  prior  to  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1776,  and  who 
abandoned  their  settlements  in  consequence  of  having  given  aid  to  the  United  Colonies  or 
States  in  the  Revolutionary  War  against  Great  Britain,  or  with  intention  to  give  such  aid, 
and  continued  in  the  United  States  or  in  their  service  during  the  said  war,  and  did  not  return 
to  reside  in  the  dominions  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain  prior  to  the  twentyfifthday  of  Novem- 
ber, 1783;  secondly,  the  widows  and  heirs  of  all  such  persons  as  were  actual  residents  as 
aforesaid,  who  abandoned  their  settlements  and  died  within  the  United  States,  or  in  their 
services  during  the  said  war ;  thirdly,  all  persons  who  were  members  of  families  at  the  time  of 
their  coming  into  the  United  States,  and  who,  during  ihe  war,  entered  into  their  services. 

Proof  of  the  facts  entitling  applicants  to  the  benefit  of  the  act  was  to  be  taken 
before  any  judge  of  the  Supreme  or  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  or  a  judge 
of  the  Supreme  or  Superior  Court,  or  the  first  justice  or  first  judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  or  county  court  of  any  state.  At  the  expiration  of  fifteen  months 
from  the  passage  of  the  act  and  from  time  to  time  thereafter  it  was  made  the  duty 
of  the  Secretary  of  War  to  lay  such  evidence  of  claims  as  he  may  have  received, 
before  the  Secretary  and  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury,  and  with  them  examine  the 
testimony  and  give  their  judgment  as  to  what  quantity  of  land  ought  to  be  allowed 
to  the  individual  claimants  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  their  respective  services, 
sacrifices  and  sufferings  in  consequence  of  their  attachment  to  the  cause  of 
the  United  States,  allowing  to  those  oC  the  first  class  not  more  than  one  thousand 
acres  and  to  the  third  class  not  more  than  one  hundred  acres,  and  to  make 
such  intermediate  class  as  in  their  judgment  was  proper,  and  make  report  thereof 
to  Congress.  If  any  claimant  could  not  be  justly  classed  in  any  one  of  the  general 
classes  a  separate  report  was  to  be  made  of  his  circumstances,  together  with  tlie 
quantity  of  land  that  ought  to  be  allowed  him,  reference  being  had  to  the  fore- 
going ratio.  There  were  certain  conditions  relating  to  the  allowance  of  claims, 
one  of  which  was  that  the  claims  under  the  law  should  not  be  assignable 
"  until  after  the  report  made  to  Congress  as  aforesaid,  and  until  the  lands  be 
granted  to  the  persons  entitled-  to  the  benefit  of  this  act."  The  act  further 
provided  that  all  claims  in  virtue  of  the  resolutions  of  Congress  that  shall  not 
be  exhibited  as  provided  by  the  act  within  the  time  limited  thereby,  should 
forever  thereafter  be  barred. 

On  March  16,  1804,  the  act  was  revived  and  continued  in  force  for  two  years 
from  the  last  mentioned  date.  On  February  18,  1801,  Congress  enacted  a  law 
directing  the  Surveyor-General  to  cause  fractional  townships  of  ranges  16,  17,  18> 
19,  20,  21,  and  22,  which  join  the  southern  boundary  line  of  the  Military  Lands,  to 
be  subdivided  into  half  sections  containing  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  each, 
and  return  a  survey  and  description  of  the  same  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
on  or  before  the  first  Monday  of  the  following  December;  and  the  act  set  apart 
and  reserved  the  lands  within  those  townships  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  the 


636  HiSTORT   OF   TBB   CiTY    OP   CoLrHBUS. 

claims  of  persons  entitled  to  lands  under  the  act  of  April  7, 1798,  above  mentioned. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  required  to  proceed  within  thirty  days  after 
the  survey  of  the  lands  had  been  returned  to  him  to  determine  by  lot  in  the 
presence  of  the  Secretaries  of  Slate  and  War  the  priority  of  location  of  the 
})erson8  entitled  to  landn.  The  persons  so  entitle*!  were  to  make  their  location 
severally  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  January,  1802,  and  the  patents  for  the  lands  so 
located  were  to  l)e  granted  in  the  manner  directed  for  the  Military  Lands  without 
the  payment  of  any  fee.  Claims  were  made  and  allowed  under  the  act  of  April  7, 
1798,  as  follows:  Martha  Walker  (widow  of  Thomas  Walker),  John  Ed^r,  P. 
Francis  Cozeau,  John  Allen  and  Seth  Hardini^,  respectively,  2240  acres  each  ; 
Jonathan  Eddy  an«l  Colonel  James  Livincrston.  1280  acres  each ;  Thomas  and 
Edward  Faulkner,  Lieutenant  Colonel  BradfonI,  Noah  Miller,  John  Starr,  John 
McGowan  and  Jonas  C.  Mi  not,  960  acres  each  :  Benjamin  Thompson,  Joseph  Bin- 
don,  Joseph  Levittre,  Lieutenant  William  Maxwell,  James  Price,  Seth  Noble,  John 
Halstead,  640  acres  each.  The  several  tracts  of  land  above  mentioned  were  to  be 
located  in  half  sections  by  the  respective  claimants  The  lands  were  located  by 
lottery.  The  numbers  representing  the  different  tracts  were  put  in  a  wheel,  and 
as  each  name  was  called  out  a  number  was  drawn. 

Montgomery  Township  is  known  as  Township  Number  Five,  fiange  Twenty- 
two,  Refugee  Lands,  and  was  surveyed  in  May,  1799,  by  John  Matthews  and  £ben> 
ezer  Buckingham,  United  States  Surveyors,  in  pursuance  of  the  act  of  Congress 
entitled  "An  act  providing  for  the  sale  of  lands  in  the  United  States  in  the  terri- 
tory northwest  of  the  Ohio  River  and  above  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River,'' 
which  act  will  be  hereafter  mentioned.  The  division  of  sections  into  half  sections 
was  made  in  IHOl  by  Elnathan  Schofield, surveyor,  in  pursuance  of  the  act  of  Con- 
gress of  February  18,  1801. 

By  virtue  of  the  foregoing  act  relating  to  refugees  jjatents  for  half  sections  in 
Montgomery  Township  were  issued  as  follows,  the  numbers  denoting  the  half  sec- 
tions patented  :  1,  Edward  Faulkner;  2,  Martha  Walker;  3,  Martha  Walker;  4 
and  5,  John  Starr;  6,  Caq^enter  Bradford;  7,  Robert  Culbertson,  preempted  by 
John  De  Ruche;  8,  Robert  Culbertson;  9,  John  Halstead;  10,  Martha  Walker ;  11, 
James  Price;  12,  Seth  Harding;  13,  Selh  Noble  :  14,  Thomas  Faulkner;  15.  James 
Livingston  ;  16,  Carpenter  Bradford;  17,  Pierre  Francis  Cozeau  ;  19  and  20,  Pierre 
Francis  Cozeau  ;  18,  William  Maxwell ;  21,  Noah  Miller ;  22,  John  Edgar;  23, 
Joseph  Levittre ;  24.  Jonas  Minot  ;  25,  John  Allen;  2(1,  Heiijaniin  Thompson;  27, 
John  xMcGowan  ;  28,  Jonathan  Eldy  ;  29,  Joseph  Bindon  ;  30,  John  Edgar;  31, 
Seth  Harding;  82,  Seth  Noble;  33,  Pierre  Fran<is  Cozeau  ;  34,  James  Livingston  ; 
35,  Seth  Harding;  36,  James  Price;  37,  John  McGowan  :  3S,  Jonas  C.  Minot ;  39, 
Edward  Faulkner  ;  40,  Thomas  Faulkner  ;  41,  Jonathan  Ed<l y  ;  42,  Thomas  Faulk- 
ner; 43,  Martha  Walker. 

The  Refugee  Tract  embraces  about  one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land.  It 
extends  southward  a  distance  of  four  an  1  oiiehalt'  miles  from  Fil\h  Avenue 
extended  eastward,  an*!  from  the  Scioto  River  fort\ eight  mile^  ea-^tward,  except- 
ing, however,  the  lands  lying  west  of  Township  Twentytwo  (about  the  west  line 
of  the  farm  of  Daniel  Thomas.)     It  is  south  of  the  rniled  Slates  Military  Lands 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  637 

and  north  of  the  Congress  Lands.  The  townships  included  within  the  tract,  hav- 
ing an  extent  north  and  south  of  but  four  and  onchalf  miles,  are  fractional.  The 
sections  are  numbered  as  in  Congress  Lands. 

That  part  of  the  territory  inclucied  in  the  corporate  limits  of  the  City  of 
Columbus  lying  west  of  the  Scioto  is  within  the  Virginia  Military  District.  The 
lands  of  that  District  were  reserved  by  Virginia  in  her  deed  of  cession  to  satisfy 
the  claims  of  her  troops  who  served  in  the  continental  line  in  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence. On  August  16,  1790,  Congress  enacted  a  law  entitled  "An  act  to  enable 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  Virginia  line  on  continental  establishment  to  obtain  title 
to  certain  lands  lying  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio  betw^een  the  Little  Miami  and 
Scioto.  '  This  act,  after  reciting  the  insufficiency  of  good  land  southeast  of  the 
Ohio,  assigned  by  the  laws  of  Virginia  to  satisfy  her  troops  for  the  bounty  land 
due  them  in  conformity  to  such  laws  provides  that,  for  the  purpose  of  locating  for 
such  troops  the  land  remaining  due  them  between  the  Scioto  and  Little  Miami 
rivers,  the  Secretary  of  War  shall  return  to  the  Executive  of  the  State  of  Virginia 
the  names  of  such  officers,  noncommissioned  officers  and  privates  of  the  lino  of 
that  state,  as  served  in  the  army  of  the  United  States  on  the  eontinenal  establish- 
ment during  the  war,  and  who,  in  conformity  to  the  laws  of  that  State  are  entitled 
to  bounty  lands,  and  shall  also  return  the  number  of  acres  to  the  line  by  reason  of 
such  laws.  The  agents  of  these  troops  were  authorized  to  locate  between  llie 
rivers  named  such  a  number  of  acres  of  good  land  as,  with  the  number  already 
located  between  those  rivers  and  southeast  of  the  Ohio,  would,  in  the  aggregate, 
equal  the  amount  to  be  returned  by  the  Secretary  of  War  to  the  Executive  of  Vir- 
ginia.    The  romaining.sections  of  the  act  as  amended  June  9,  1794,  provided  : 

That  all  and  every  officer  and  soldier  of  the  Virginia  line  on  the  continental  establish- 
ment, his  or  their  heirs  or  assigns,  entitled  to  bounty  lands  on  the  northwest  side  of  the  river 
Ohio  between  the  Scioto  and  Little  Miami  rivers,  by  the  laws  of  the  Slate  of  Virginia  and 
included  in  the  terms  of  cession  of  the  said  state  to  the  United  States,  shall,  on  producing  the 
warrant  or  a  certified  copy  thereof  and  a  certificate  under  the  seal  of  the  office  where  the  said 
warrants  are  legally  kept  that  the  same  or  a  part  thoreof  lemains  unsatisfied,  and  on  pro- 
ducing the  survey,  agreeably  to  the  laws  of  Virginia,  for  the  tract  or  tracts  for  which  he  or 
they  may  be  entitled  as  aforesaid  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  War,  such  officer  or 
soldier  his  or  their  heirs  or  assigns  shall  be  entitled  to  and  receive  a  patent  for  the  same  from 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  anything  in  any  former  law  to  the  contrary  notwithstand- 
ing ;  Provided,  that  no  letters  patent  shall  be  issued  for  a  greater  quantity  of  land  than  shall 
appear  to  remain  due  on  such  warrant,  and  that  before  the  seal  of  the  Unite<l  States  shall  be 
affixed  to  such  letters  patent,  the  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  War  shall  have  endorsed 
thereon  that  the  grantee  therein  named  or  the  person  under  whom  he  claims  was  originally 
entitled  to  such  bounty  lands,  and  every  such  letters  patent  shall  be  countersigned  by  the 
Secretary  of  State  and  a  minute  of  the  date  thereof  and  the  name  of  the  grantee  shall  be 
entered  of  recoid  in  his  office  in  a  book  to  be  specially  provided  for  that  purpose.*^ 

Holders  of  Virginia  Military  warrants  were  permitted  to  locate  any  lands 
within  the  district  which  had  not  already  been  located.  The  district  was  not 
divided  into  townshi])s,  and  was  not  surveyed  in  any  regular  lorm.  Many  of  the 
surveys  fell  short  in  quantity,  others  overlapped  each  other.  Confusion  and  liti- 
gation necessarily  resulted.  The  fii*st  surveyors  in  the  Virginia  Military  District 
were  accustomed  to  add  or  throw  in  a  percentage  in  their  surveys.     Sometimes  as 


63 rt  History  of  the  City  op  Coliimbits. 

much  as  ten  per  cent,  was  thus  added/'  The  lines  specified  in  the  patents,  when 
run  between  the  estahlished  corners,  were  generally  of  greater  length  than  dcsig. 
nated.  As  a  result,  the  government  was  frequently  cheated  out  of  large  tracts  of 
land.  **  The  Virginia  Military  District,"  says  Professor  K.  W.  Me  Far  land,  "was 
surveyed  in  a  manner  wonderful  to  behold.  It  would  scarcely  be  exaggeration  to 
saj'  that  ever  Hurveyor  *  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes  bat  wrong  in 
the  eyes  of  everybody  else.'  Unlike  the  modern  *  walkist '  who  has  so  many  miles 
and  one  lap,  these  lines  have  all  lap  and  no  miles.  The  worst  case  falling  under 
my  personal  notice  was. a  tract  calling  for  ninety  acres,  the  given  metes  and 
bounds  of  which  enclosed  over  1,600  acres.  This  might  be  given  as  a  noble  exam- 
ple of  *  making  the  land  hold  out.' "" 

That  portion  of  Columbus  lying  west  of  the  river  is  within  surveys  numbered 
1393  and  2i)C}H.  Survey  1393  was  entered  by  Lieutenant  Robert  Vance  and 
assigned  by  him  to  Tjucas  Sullivant,  to  whom  a  patent  was  thereafter  issued  by 
John  Quincy  Adams,  President  of  the  United  States,  March  20,  1800.  Hugh  Stev- 
enson, a  colonel  in  the  Virginia  line  on  continental  establishment,  entered  survey 
number  2668;  it  was  assigned  by  him  to  Lucas  Sullivant.  A  patent  was  issued  to 
Lucas  Sullivant  for  the  lands  within  that  survey  on  May  14,  1800,  by  John  Quincy 
Adams,  President  of  the  United  States. 

All  hinds  within  the  city  lying  south  of  the  Refugee  Tract  are  known 
as  Congress  Lands,  and  are  so  termed  because  they  were  sold  to  purchasers  bj"  the 
National  Government  through  its  officers  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  In  pursuance  of  "An  act  providing  for  the  sale  of  lands  of  the 
United  States  in  the  territory  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio  and  above  the  mouth  of 
the  Kentucky  River,""  enacted  by  Congress  May  18,1796,  and  the  acts  amendatory 
thereto,  these  lands  were  surveyed  into  townships  six  miles  square,  and  the 
corners  of  the  townships  were  marked  with  progressive  numbers  from  the  beginning. 
Each  distance  of  one  mile  between  such  corners  was  also  distinctly  marked, 
the  marks  being  different  from  those  of  the  township  corners.  The  townships  were 
subdivided  into  sections  containing  as  nearly  as  possible  six  hundred  and  forty  acres 
each,  by  running  through  the  township  parallel  lines  each  way  at  the  end  of  every 
two  miles,  and  by  marking  a  corner  on  each  of  such  lines  at  the  end  of  every  mile. 
The  sections  were  numbered  respectively  beginning  with  number  one  in  the  north- 
east section  and  proceeding  west  and  east  alternately  through  the  townships 
with  progressive  numbers,  the  last  being  number  thirtysix.  The  following 
diagram  indicates  the  manner  of  numbering  the  sections  : 


Lands  and  Land  Titles. 


()39 


6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

7 
18 

8 
17 

9 
16 

10 

11 

12 
13 

15 

14 

19 
30 
31 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

2f) 

28 

27 

26 

25 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

The  sections  wore  further  subdivided  into  quarters  termed  the  northeast,  south- 
east, northwest,  sounth  west  quarter.  By  act  of  Congress  passed  April  24,  1820,  and 
•which  went  into  operation  July  1,  1820,  the  quarter  sections  were  further  equally 
divided  by  north  and  south  lines  into  halfquarter  sections.  The  law,  however,  did 
not  apply  to  fractional  sections  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres.  The  price 
of  land  was  fixed  by  the  act  at  one  dollar  and  twentyfivo  cents  per  acre.  The  price 
had  previously  been  two  dollars  per  acre.  The  surveyors  were  further  required  to 
mark  on  a  tree  near  each  section  corner  and  within  the  section  the  number  of  suck 
section  and  the  number  of  the  township  within  which  it  was  located.  The  range 
was  also  marked,  although  the  act  does  not  seem  to  have  required  that  to  be 
done.  John  Kilbourne  says  in  his  Ohio  Gazetteer:  "in  establishing^ the  township 
and  sectional  corners  a  post  is  first  planted  at  the  point  of  intersection  ;  then  on  the 
tree  nearest  the  post  and  standing  within  the  section  to  be  designated,  is  numbered 
with  the  marking  iron  the  range,  township  and  number  of  section,  thus: 


R. 

21 

R. 

20 

T. 

4 

T. 

4 

S. 

36 

S. 

31 

R. 

21 

R. 

20 

T. 

3 

T. 

3 

s. 


S.     6 


The  quarter  corners  are  marked  J  S»  merely. 


"»4 


'  r. 


I  , 


p66to^ 


«. 
*  I. 

« 


«■*». 


•     t. 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  641 

mortgage,  execation  was  saed  oat  against  the  premises  and  a  sale  thereof  was  made 
by  the  Sheriff  to  Lyne  Starling,  whose  deed  bore  date  of  July  11,  1809.  This  deed 
contained  no  recital  of  an  appraisement  of  the  value  of  the  mortgaged  premises,  and 
there  was  no  evidence  offered  on  the  trial  that  such  appraisement  was  in  fact  made. 
The  heirs  of  John  Allen  denied  the  validity  of  the  sale  to  G.  W.  Allen  and 
the  authentication  of  the  mortgage  given  to  Langdon,  and  particularly  excepted  to 
the  sale  of  Starling  on  the  ground  that  there  was  no  evidence  of  the  appraisement  of 
the  premises.  One  suit  was  determined  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  (8  Ohio  107, 
178)  and  in  the  United  States  Court  for  the  District  of  Ohio.  The  suits  were  instituted 
against  the  owners  who  claimed  title  through  Lyne  Starling,  and  were  defended  by 
him.  He  was  at  first  represented  by  Henry  Clay,  and  afterwards  by  Henry  Bald- 
win, of  Pittsburgh.  In  1826  the  suits  were  determined  in  his  favor.  The  Allen 
heirs,  prior  to  the  commencement  of  the  above  suits,  instituted  proceedings  in 
ejectment  for  the  recovery  of  the  premises  in  the  United  States  courts.  One  of  the 
suits  was  decided  against  them,  and  the  other  failed  for  want  of  prosecution. 
In  1846  Starling  quieted  the  title  to  the  same  premises  against  William  Neil 
and  the  heirs  of  John  Allen.  Neil  had  obtained  a  conveyance  of  a  oneeighth 
interest  in  the  tract  from  some  of  the- Allen  heirs."  In  deciding  one  of  the  above 
cases  (3  Ohio,  107)  the  Supreme  Court  held  that,  although  John  Allen  had  sold  his 
interest  in  the  halfsection  prior  to  the  issue  of  his  patents,  his  conveyance  passed 
the  title  to  his  grantee.  The  provision  in  the  act  of  Congress  of  April  7, 1798,  above 
quoted,  providing  that  no  claim  under  that  law  should  be  assignable  until  the 
lands  were  granted  to  the  persons  entiled  to  the  benefit  of  the  act,  was  construed  to 
give  the  right  to  the  government  to  declare  a  forfeiture  if  a  claim  was  assigned 
before  the  patent  issued,  but  the  government  having  waived  such  right  and  having 
perfected  the  title  by  issuing  the  patent,  the  patentee  and  his  grantee  became  sub- 
ject to  the  principles  of  the  common  law  and  the  title  acquired  by  G.  W.  Allen  was 
good. 

About  the  time  the  title  to  halfsection  twentyfivo  was  in  dispute,  that  of  the 
owners  of  halfsection  twentysix  was  also  assailed.  The  halfsection  was  patented 
by  Benjamin  Thompson  and  conveyed  by  him  to  James  Strawbridge,  who 
executed  a  power  of  attorney  to  John  McDowell  authorizing  him  to  sell  the  prem- 
ises. On  March  12.  1808,  McDowell  as  attorney  in  fact  convoyed  the  halfsection 
to  Alexander  McLaughlin  and  John  Kerr.  The  instrument  recited  a  conveyance 
from  McDowell  for  Strawbridge  instead  of  from  Strawbridge  to  McDowell,  his 
attorney  in  fact.  The  deed  was  signed  "John  McDowell,  Attorney  in  fact  for 
John  Straiw bridge."  Attached  to  the  deed  was  a  receipt  for  the  purchase  money. 
About  1825,  Anthony  W.  Cooley  obtained  quitclaim  deeds  from  the  heirs  of  James 
Strawbridge*"  conveying  their  interest  in  the  halfsection.  Proceedings  in  eject- 
ment were  instituted  by  him,  but  at  the  April  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
of  the  year  1827,  in  a  suit  in  which  McLaughlin  and  Kerr  were  plaintiffs  and 
Cooley  and  the  Strawbridge  heirs  were  defendants,  the  title  of  the  plaintiffs  was 
quieted. 

Certain  persons  claiming  to  be  the  heirs  of  Hugh  Stephenson  by  a  proceeding 
instituted  in  the  United  States  District  Court,  disputed  the  title  of  Lucas  Sullivant 
41 


642  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

to  survey  2668.     Tbc  suit  was  dismissed  in  1822.     In  1838,  James  Stephenson  and 
others  made  a  second   attack  on  the  title  of  the  same  premises  in   the    Court  of 
Common  Pleas  of  this  county  against  the  three  sons  of  Lucas  Sullivant.      Their 
bill  in  equity  recited  that  Hu^h  Stoi)henson,  a  colonel  in  the  Virginia  line  on  con- 
tinental establishment,  was  entitled  to  6,666^  acres  of  land  in  the  Virginia  Military 
District,  and  that  he  died  leavin^^  a  wife  and  a  i)08thumous  child,  Richard  Stephen- 
son, his  only  heir  at  law  ;  that  Richard  St<iphenson  died  without  issue,  leavin/^  no 
heirs  excepting  his  fraternal  uncles;    that  certain   illegitimate  children  of  Hu^^h 
Stephenson    assumed  control  of    hiw  warrant  and   assigned  it  to  Sullivant,  who 
located  the  same  and  obtained  a  patent  for  the  land  in  question.     The  bill   further 
charged  that  Sullivant  fraudulently  obtained  an  asHignment  of  the  plats  an<l  certifi- 
cates for  the  lan<l  in   question  and   procured   patentH  therefor  in  his  name.     The 
prayer  wan  that  the  defendants  be  required  to  convey  the  land  to  the  plaintiflfH  and 
account  for  lands  sold.     The  bill  was  dismissed  in   1840,  without  prejudice,  at  the 
complainant's  costs,  and  the  title  has  not  since  been  questioned. 

The  title  to  three  hundred  acres  of  land  in  the  third  quarter  of  Clinton  Town- 
ship was  in  question  in  the  case  of  Lessee  of  Moore  v.  Vance.**  An  action  in 
ejectment  was  brought  to  oust  Joseph  Vance,  who  had  purchased  from  his  brother 
Alexander,  by  whom  the  premises  had  been  purchased  from  Jonathan  Dayton 
through  Dayton's  attorney  in  fact,  Joseph  Vance.  Dayton  had  also  executed  a 
power  of  attorney  to  one  Bonham,  authorizing  him  to  sell  the  lands  to  M!oore  ;  the 
lands  were  conveyed  to  Moore  by  such  attorney.  The  deed  to  Alexander  Vance 
was  acknowledged  and  recorded  but  was  not*  witnessed.  The  acknowledgment 
was  made  outside  of  the  Northwest  Territory  but  inside  of  the  United  States,  and 
was  taken  by  J.  C.  Symmes,  a  judge  of  the  Territory.  The  court  held  that  as  the 
law  then  existed  witnesses  were  not  necessary  and  that  the  deed  conveyed  the 
title  to  Alexander  Vance. 

After  the  Penitentiary  was  removed  to  its  present  site  the  tenacre  lot  set  apart 
by  the  original  proprietors  of  Columbus  became  the  subject  of  litigation.     It  was 
contended  on  the  one  hand  that  the  lot  reverted  to  the  original  proprietors  or 
their  heirs,  and  on  the  other  that  the  title  remained  in  the  State.     An  action  in 
ejectment  was  brought  March  26,  1847,  against  Edward  N.  Slocum,  Quartermaster- 
General,  to  recover  possession   of  the  property.^     The  suit  was  brought  in   the 
name  of  Gustavus  Swan  and  M.  J.  Gilbert.     Elijah  Backus  appeared  as  attorney, 
and  it  was  generally  understood  that  he  was  prosecuting  for  his  own  benefit.     A 
default  judgment  was  rendered  in  favor  of  the  plaintiffs  in  1851.     On  September 
26, 1854,  the  State  brought  an  action  in  ejectment  to  regain  possession  of  the  lot. 
Two  years  later  judgment  was  rendered  in  its  favor.     Under  an  act  of  March  17, 
1856,  the  premises  were  replatted,  appraised  and  sold. 

Althougii  the  early  suits  involved  the  title  to  large  tracts  of  land,  their  value 
at  the  time  the  suits  were  insti(ute<l  was  less  than  that  of  some  of  the  lands  which 
have  recently  been  and  are  still  in  litigation.  In  1890  a  number  of  cases  were 
brought  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  by  the  heirs  of  John  Briekell  for  an 
accounting  of  rents  and  profits  and  the  partition  of  a  tract  of  seven  and  a  half 
acres  of  land  extending  northward  from  Spruce  Street,  between  High  and  Park 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  643 

streets.  John  Brickell  died  in  1844.  By  his  will  he  gave  his  wife  what  the  law 
allowed  her;  to  his  daughter  Susan  five  hundred  and  fifty  dollars;  to  his  grand- 
daughter Evaline,  four  hundred  dollars.  These  legacies  were  to  be  paid  as  soon 
as  his  executor  could,  in  his  opinion,  without  sacrifice,  convert  any  part  of  the 
testator's  estate  into  money  for  that  purpose.  He  also  bequeathed  to  his  son 
McLean  ten  dollars.  After  bequeathing  the  premises  then  occupied  by  his  son 
John  to  him  he  further  gave  and  bequeathed  to  him  the  undivided  moiety  in  the 
rest  and  residue  of  his  real  estate,  to  have  and  to  hold  during  his  natural  life,  but 
to  be  equally  divided  among  his  lawfully  begotten  children  living  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  The  undivided  half  of  seven  and  a  half  acres  of  a  twentyacre  tract  in  Clin- 
ton Township,  and  of  a  lot  near  the  Penitentiary,  passed  to  John  Brickell,  Junior? 
under  this  item  of  his  will.     The  sixth  and  eighth  items  are  as  follows: 

.VucfWy  —  Should  my  son  John  think  proper  to  remove  from  this  quarter  of  the  country 
he  may  sell  in  fee  his  moiety  of  said  residue  of  my  real  estate,  provided  he  shall  vest  the 
proceeds  in  other  land  in  the  name  and  for  the  use  of  his  children,  he,  my  said  son  John. 
Teta\n\T\f^  and  holding  to  his  use  for  life  the  rents  and  profits  of  said  land  so  to  be  purchased, 
and  the  purchasers  of  said  moiety  of  said  residue  to  be  answerable  for  the  appropriation  of 
the  money  in  manner  aforesaid. 

EiffhtMy  — AW  the  rest  and  residue  of  my  property,  choses  in  action,  notes  of  hand, 
money  and  everything  else  not  above  disposed  of  I  give  in  equal  proportions  to  my  daughter 
Evaline,  my  granddaughter  Susan  and  my  sons  Cyrus  and  John,  to  be  divided  between  them 
share  and  share  alike. 

Alexander  Patton  was  named  as  executor.  He  qualified  as  such  soon  after 
Brickell's  death  and  fully  administered  his  estate.  On  September  10,  1845,  Cyrus 
Brickell  conveyed  his  interest  in  the  seven  and  a  half  acres  to  Lincoln  Goodale  for 
$750  00,  and  on  September  24,  1845,  John  sold  his  half  in  the  same  premises  to 
Goodale  for  $650.  His  deed  recited  that  ho  was  about  to  move  from 
this  part  of  the  country  and  that  after  the  debts  of  his  father  and  the 
legacies  mentioned  in  the  will  were  paid  from  the  proceeds  of  the  sale,  the  residue 
was  to  be  invested  in  lands  in  the  name  of  his  children  and  for  their  use  and 
benefit  after  his  death,  agreeably  to  the  will  of  his  father.  The  Brickell  heirs  assert 
that  at  the  time  John  Brickell  sold  to  Goodale  he  had  not  thought  "  proper  to 
remove  to  another  quarter  of  the  country,"  had  no  intention  of  so  doing,  and  did 
not  in  fact  so  remove  until  in  October,  1851.  They  allege  that  neither  he  nor 
Goodale  invested  the  proceeds  arising  from  the  sale  of  the  seven  and  a  half  acres 
in  other  lands  in  the  name  of  John's  children,  and  that  Goodale  acquired  by  his 
purchase  from  John  only  his  life  interest  in  the  tract.  The  defendants  claiming 
under  Goodale  interposed  a  number  of  defenses.  In  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
all  the  cases  tried  were  determined  against  the  claimant  heirs.  Twentytwo  of  the 
cases  were  recently  disposed  of  in  the  Circuit  Court.  The  facts  found  by  that 
court  were  substantially  as  follows : 

At  the  time  of  his  death  John  Brickell  knew  the  amount  of  his  debts  and 
liabilities  and  the  condition  of  his  real  and  personal  property.  His  personal  estate 
was  inadequate  to  pay  in  full  his  debts  and  liabilities,  the  legacies  mentioned  in  his 
will,  the  year's  allowance  to  his  widow,  her  distributive  share  in  his  personal 
property  and   thecosts  of  administration.     His  personal  estate  was  not  sufficient  to 


644  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

pay  the  legacies  or  either  of  them.    The  teMtator  owned  no  real  estate  other  than  the 
three  tracts  above  inenlioned.     By  proceedings  instituted  in  October,  1844,    the 
widow's  dower  in  all  of  the  three  tracts  above  mentioned  was  assigned  her  in  the 
tract  near  the  Penitentiary,  and  on  November  3,   1846,   was  of  the  value   of  S480. 
Cyrus  Brickell,  on  September  10,  1845,  conveyed  to  Goodale  his  undivided  half  of 
the  seven  and  a  half  acres.     Soon  after  John  Brickell's  conveyance  to  Goodale  he 
disposed  of  the  lands  specifically  devised    to  him  to  John  M.  Walcutt.     John    and 
Cyrus  conveyed  their  respective  interests  in  the  lot   near  the  Penitentiary   also  to 
Walcutt  and  sold  the  Clinton  Township  land  to  Windsor  Atcheson.     In  pursuance 
of  an  agreement  made  at  or  ahout  the  time  John  Brickell  sold  to  Goodale,  and    as 
further  assurance  of  the  title  of  Goodale  to  the  undivided  half  of  the  land  conveyed 
to  him  by  John  Brickell,  and   to  effectuate  the  object  of  the  testator  in  ro8p>ect  to 
the  title  to  the  premises  and  secure  the  payment  in  full  of  the  legacies  mentioned 
in  the  will,  Pattoi),  as  executor,  executed  and  delivered  a  deed  to  Goodale  for  the 
undivided  half  of  the  seven  and  a  half  acre  tract,  in  considerdtion  of  the  ])lacing  in 
the  hands  of  the  executor  of  so  much  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  as  would,  with 
the  proceeds  of  the   sale  to  Atcheson,  fully  pay  onehalf  of   the    legacies.     The 
legacies  were  intended  to  be  and  were  charged  upon  the  lands  sold  to  Goodale  and 
Atcheson.     Cyrus  Brickell  at  the  same  time,  from  the  proceeds  of  sales  made  by 
him,  placed  sufficient  sums  in  the  hands  of   ihe  executor  to  pay  the  remaining  half 
of  the  legacies.     The  entire  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  seven  and  a  half  acre  tract 
were  applied  by  the  executor  in  payment  of  legacies,  and   by  John  Brickell  in  the 
purchase  of  land  in  Mifflin  Township,  to  himself  for  life  with  the  remainder  to  his 
children.     This  was  done  with  the  consent  and  knowledge  of  Cyrus,  John,  Sasan 
and  Evaline  Brickell.     The  receipt  of  Evaline  and  Susan  Brickell  for  their  legacies, 
given  when  they  were  of  full  age,  are  on  file  in  the  Probate  Court.     The  testator 
intended   to   confer  on    his   executor  the   power  to  sell  and  convey  any  of  his 
residuary  estate  for  the  payment  of  the  legacies. 

At  the  time  John  Brickell  conveyed  to  J.  M.  Walcutt  the  homestead  devised 
to  him  by  his  father,  and  he  and  his  brother  Cyrus  conveyed  to  Walcutt  the  bal- 
ance of  the  Penitentiary  lot,  which  conveyance  was  subject  to  their  mother's 
dower,  Walcutt  conveyed  to  John  in  fee  twoeighths,  and  to  his  children  in  fee, 
subject  to  his  life  estate,  threeeighths  of  the  283  acres  in  Mifflin  Township.  At  the 
same  time,  in  consideration  of  $2,625  paid  Cyrus  Brickell,  Walcutt  conveyed  to 
him  in  fee  the  remainder  of  the  undivided  threeeights  of  the  Mifflin  Township 
land.  The  unpaid  purchase  money  on  the  283  acres,  amounting  to  $1,000,  was 
paid  by  John  and  Cyrus  Brickell  in  equal  proportions.  At  the  same  time  they 
gave  to  Walcutt  a  mortgage  to  indemnify  them  against  the  dower  interest  of 
their  mother  in  the  Penitentiary  lot. 

John  Brickell  removed  in  1846,  with  his  family,  to  Mifflin  Township,  about 
eight  miles  from  Columbus,  and  in  1881  removed  to  Iowa.  He  died  February  2, 
1890.  Prior  thereto  his  children  had  all  died  unmarried,  childlej?8  and  intestate. 
Ill  1848  the  Mifflin  Township  lands  were  partitioned,  and  117  acres  and  twebtyone 
poles  were  setoff  to  the  children  of  John  Brickell.  In  the  proceeding  of  Andrus, 
administrator,  against  Stickel  and  others.  No.  7830,  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  645 

of  Franklin  County,  the  Brickell  heira,  by  virtue  of  the  investments  made  by 
John  Brickell  in  pursuance  of  his  father's  will,  were  awarded  the  lands  which  had 
been  set  oflf  to  John  Brickcirs  children  in  1848.  The  persons  now  in  possession 
and  those  under  whom  they  claim,  from  nnd  including  Goodale,  have  been  in  open, 
notorious,  continuous,  uninterrupted,  exclusive  and  adverse  possession  of  the 
promises  claimed  bj'  them  respectively  since  December  24,  1845,  and  each  and  all 
of  them  have  claimed  and  believed  themselves  at  all  times  to  be  the  absolute 
owners  of  the  whole  of  their  respective  premises.  Since  1845  the  premises  have 
been  frequenlly  conveyed  and  transferred  by  general  warranty  deeds,  all  of  which 
are  matters  of  record  in  the  office  of  the  Franklin  County  Recorder.  The  premises 
were  platted  and  subdivided  by  Goodale,  and  permanent  and  valuable  im))rove- 
ments  have  been  erected  on  nearly  all  the  lots.  By  proceedings  in  the  Common 
Pleas  Court  Goodale,  after  platting  the  premises,  vacated  some  of  the  streets  and 
alleys,  and  after  his  death  his  executors,  fully  empowered  so  to  do,  caused  an 
amended  plat  of  the  premises  to  be  made,  and  in  exercise  of  the  powers  conferred 
on  them  by  his  will  sold  the  lots  therein  to  divers  persons  by  deeds  of  general 
warranty.  The  present  owners  and  those  under  whom  they  claim  have  exercised 
full,  exclusive  and  absolute  ownership  over  the  premises  since  the  purchase  by 
Goodale  from  John  and  Cyrus  Brickell,  and  took  the  premises  claimed  by  them 
respectively  without  any  notice,  knowledge  or  information  of  the  claims  asserted 
by  the  Brickell  heirs,  except  such  as  was  given  by  the  records  of  Franklin  County. 
The  Brickell  heirs  knew  of  the  improvements  being  made  on  the  premises,  and  that 
the  persons  in  possession  thereof  were  exorcising  acts  of  ownership  over  the  same, 
yet  made  no  claim  of  title  to  or  interest  in  said  premises  until  the  year  1888. 
Cyrus  Brickell  also  had  full  knowledge  of  all  the  facts  connected  with  the  sale  of 
the  several  parcels  of  real  estate  and  the  parts  thereof  mentioned  in  his  father's 
will,  and  the  application  and  use  of  the  purchase  money  arising  therefrom  to  the 
payment  of  the  legacies,  to  the  purchase  of  the  Mifflin  Township  lands,  and  of  all 
the  mattei-s  related  to  or  connected  with  the  same,  and  participated  and  acquiesced 
therein.  He  participated  by  the  execution  of  his  own  deed  in  the  transaction 
between  himself,  his  brother  John,  Goodale  and  Alexander  Patton  as  executor 
whereby  Goodale  became  vested  with  the  title  to  the  seven  and  a  half  acres.  In 
1846  John  Brickell  executed  and  delivered  to  Evaline  Brickell  a  mortgage  deed 
on  his  undivided  twoeighths  interest  in  the  Mifflin  Township  land,  which  mortgage 
was  canceled  and  satisfied  by  her.  The  legatees  named  in  the  will  accepted  pay- 
ments of  their  legacies  with  notice  of  all  the  facts  and  transactions  above  inen- 
tioned,  and  of  the  lact  that  Goodale  had  seen  that  the  purchase  money  of  the  seven 
and  a  half  acres  was  used  by  the  executor  in  the  payment  of  legacies  and  by  John 
Brickell  in  the  purchase  of  the  lands  in  Mifflin  Township  to  himself  for  life  with 
remainder  to  his  children. 

The  court  thereupon  found  that  none  of  the  Brickell  heirs  have  any  right, 
title  or  interest  in  or  to  the  premises  in  controversy  and  that  they  are  not  entitled 
to  any  relief  whatever.  The  property  involved  is  worth  several  hundred  thousand 
dollars.     The  cases  will  be  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court. 


646  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Another  suit  affecting  a  large  tract  of  land  is  that  brought  by  Peter  Ramlow 
and  about  eightyfive  others  against  John  Ream,  Senior,  and  others,  and  known  on 
the  docket  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  as  number  23,582.     William  Simmons  was 
during   his   lifetime  ti»o   owner   of  a  seven tyfour  acre  tract  of  land  in  what  is 
now   known  as  North  Columbus.     He  died  leaving   ten  children,   one  of  whom, 
named  Nancy,  intermarried  with  John  Ream,  who  purchased  the  interest  of  one  of 
the  Simmons  heirs  in  the  tract  and,  on  January  11,  1827,  together  with  his  wife, 
Nancy  Ream,  for  an  adequate  consideration,  as  the  plaintiffs  claimed,  conveyed  to 
David  Beers  their  interest  in  the  tract  by  a  quitclaim  deed.     The  petitioners  recite 
that  the  deed  was  duly  signed,  sealed,  witnessed  and  delivered  and  was  acknow- 
ledged before  a  justice  of  the  peace  of  Licking  County,  but  that  through   mistake 
the  justice  failed  to  state  in  the  certificate  of  acknowledgment  that  Nancy  Ream,  the 
owner  in  fee  simple  of  a  part  of  the  premises  conveyed,  was  examined  separate  and 
apart  from  her  husband.     They  further  allege  that  if  she  was  not  so  examined  it  was 
through  mistake,  as  she  did  in  fact  voluntarily  and   freely,  for  a  valuable   and 
adequate  consideration,  execute,  acknowledge  and  deliver  the  deed.     The  prayer  of 
the  petition  is  for  the  correction  of  the  deed  and  for  all  other  proper  relief.       The 
premises  have  been  platted  into  lots,  streets  and  alleys  and  constitute  apart  of  North 
Columbus.     Nancv  Ream  died  in  1881.     Several  of  the  heirs  filed  a  voluminous 
answer  and  crosspetition  reciting  numerous  conveyances  and  denying  that  the  deed 
to  Beers  was  the  deed  of  John  and  Nancy  Ream.     They  assert  that  these  parties 
never  agreed  to  convey  their  interest  in  the  promises,  that  they  received  no  considera- 
tion for  the  same,  that  Nancy  Ream  was  not  examined  separate  and  apart  from  her 
husband  by  any  one  authorized  to  take  the  acknowledgment  of  deeds,  and  that  the 
deed  was  delivered  to  Beers  through  a  brother  of  hers  to  defraud  her  and  her  hus- 
band.    They  also  base  their  claim  to  a  part  of  the  tract  on  a  deed  executed  by 
Anna  Furby,  formerly  the  widow  of  William  Simmons,  who,  without  her  husband 
joining  her,  executed  a  deed  in  1825  for  her  interest  in  the  premises.     She  died  in 
1836.     There   are  other   claims   made,   but  the   pleading   is  too   lengthy   to   be 
fully  abstracted    here.     The   cross-petitioners  assert  that   if  the   deed  of  Ream 
and  wife  be  valid  it  only  convoyed  onotenth  of  the  premises,  and  pray  for  a  parti- 
tion of  the  same.     They  ask  that  some  ninety  other  persons  be  made  parties  to  the 
suit,  and  claim  to  be  tenants  in  common  with  such  persons  and  the  petitioners. 
The   plaintiffs  reply  denying  the  material   averments  of  the  answer  and  cross- 
petition  and  plead  the  statute  of  limitations.     The  case  was  determined  adversely  to 
the  Ream  heirs  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  is  now  pending  in  the  Circuit 
Court. 

The  case  of  Edmiston  Gwynne  and  others,  heirs  of  Doctor  Ichabod  G.  Jones, 
against  James  K.  Jones  and  others,  owners  of  a  twoacre  tract  in  Nelson's  Addi- 
tion, was  recently  disposed  of  in  the  Circuit  Court.  When  the  Friend  (Main) 
Street  Railway  was  projected  the  trustees  under  the  will  of  Doctor  Jones  agreed  that 
if  the  road  were  constructed  they  would  donate  two  acres  to  the  Company.  When 
the  road  was  completed  the  trustees  executed  and  delivered  a  quitclaim  deed  to  the 
Company  for  the  nominal  consideration  of  one  dollar.  The  Company  sold  the 
lands  to  James  Nelson  for  $1,800.  Nelson,  who  had  previously  purchased  and 
platted  the  remainder  of  the  fifty  acres,  then  made  a  new  subdivision  of  the  whole 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  G47 

tract.  The  twoacre  tract  included  a  number  of  lots  and  parts  of  lots.  The  Jones 
heirs  brought  an  action  to  partition  the  premises  and  to  quiet  the  title.  The  suit 
involved  the  question  as  to  the  right  of  the  trustees  to  make  such  a  conveyance. 
The  case  was  never  heard  on  the  issues  raised  by  the  pleading,  but  was  satisfac- 
torily adjusted  by  the  parties  and  a  decree  entered  for  the  defendants. 

Space  forbids  extended  notice  of  other  suits.  The  case  brought  by  the  execu- 
tors of  Harriot  E.  Ide  against  Julia  B.  Clarke  and  others  affected  but  few  people 
although  it  involved  a  large  amount  of  real  and  personal  property  and  presented 
some  interesting  legal  questions.  The  same  is  true  of  the  case  of  Mary  K.  English 
and  others  against  William  Monypenny  and  others.  This  case  is  still  pending.  A 
very  recent  case  is  that  brought  by  Mary  E.  Fisher  to  recover  possession  of  prem- 
ises fronting  on  the  south  side  of  West  Ninth  Avenue  between  High  and  Hunter 
streets.  We  have  been  unable  to  find  a  single  case  involving  the  title  to  any  con- 
siderable amount  of  property  and  affecting  a  large  number  of  owners  which  has 
finally  been  determined  against  the  defending  parties. 

In  a  historical  sketch  like  this  only  a  few  of  the  important  wills  conveying 
large  amounts  of  property  can  be  mentioned.  Of  the  wills  of  recent  years  those  of 
Theodore  Leonard,  Luther  Donaldson,  Louise  Deshler  and  James  Ohlen  were  con- 
tested and  set  aside.  That  of  Doctor  Van  S.  Seltzer,  after  a  prolonged  trial,  was 
sustained.  The  will  of  Alfred  Kelley  disposed  of  some  of  the  most  desirable  pro- 
perty in  the  city.  A  large  tract  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  city  passed  under 
the  will  of  Eobert  Neil.  William  Neil,  long  prior  to  his  death,  conveyed  to  his 
children  large  tracts  of  land ;  yet  his  will  and  that  of  William  S.  Sullivant  disposed 
of  more  land  within  the  present  city  limits  than  any  others  admitted  to  probate  in 
Franklin  County.  Excepting  the  Goodale,  Hubbard,  Starr  and  Fisher  tracts,  and 
a  small  tract  south  of  Eighth  Avenue,  William  Neil  at  one  time  owned  all  the 
pioperty  west  of  High  Sti'eet  between  Goodale  Street  and  Lane  Avenue.  At  the 
same  time  his  possessions  extended  south  of  the  western  portion  of  Goodale  Street 
to  the  Scioto  River.  He  also  owned  large  tracts  east  of  High  Street.  William  S. 
Sullivant,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  held  considerable  property  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  city,  but  most  of  his  possessions  were  west  of  the  Scioto  River.  The  magni- 
tude of  his  estate  may  bo  learned  by  an  examination  of  the  proceedings  in  partition 
brought  by  his  executors  and  trustees.  Other  wills  conveying  large  estate  are 
those  of  Lincoln  Goodale,  Gustavus  Swan,  David  Taylor,  Lyne  Starling,  Jacob 
Hare,  Phillip  Fisher,  David  W.  Deshler  and  Orange  Johnson. 

Much  information  relating  to  the  history  of  Columbus  lands,  although  required 
to  be  made  a  matter  of  official  record,  has  not  been  preserved,  yet  enough  remains 
to  show  some  striking  contrasts.  The  rate  of  taxation  as  shown  on  the  duplicate 
in  the  Auditor's  office  for  the  year  1826  was  six  mills  on  the  dollar;  in  1827  six  and 
seveneighths  mills.  The  increase  in  population  and  wealth  necessarily  increased 
the  expenditures  of  the  city.  In  1873  the  rate  of  taxation  was  higher  than  at  any 
other  time  in  the  history  of  the  city,  the  levy  for  all  purposes  for  that  year  being 
twentyfive  and  twotenths  mills.  The  levy  for  1870  and  1891  was  twentyfour 
mills.  A  tabulation  showing  the  value  of  real  property  and  the  rate  of  taxation 
for  a  series  of  years  will  be  found  in  the  appendix  to  this  chapter. 


648  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

The  duplicato  of  property  listed  for  taxation  for  the  year  1811  for  the  whole 
county,  covered  nearly  nineteen  double  pages  j  that  of  1812  tweDtythree  double 
pages;  of  181G  thirtyono  and  a  half  pages;  of  1817  twentynine  and  a  half  pages. 
From  oncsixth  to  on^tifth  of  the  entire  space  covered  by  each  of  the  foregoing 
duplicates  was  required  for  the  listing  of  the  lands  of  Lucas  Sullivant.  The  dupli- 
cate of  the  city  of  Columbus  for  1891  alone  covers  974  large  doable  pages.  In  this 
connection  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  city  limits  now  extend  far  heyond 
those  of  the  original  town,  the  site  of  which  covered  about  eight  hundred  acres. 
At  the  beginning  of  1863  the  city  area  was  eleven  hundred  acres,  but  in  the  course 
of  that  year  it  was  increased  to  twentyseven  hundred  acres.  In  1873  the  city 
area  was  increased  by  annexation  to  6,752  acres ;  it  is  now  estimated  by  Joeiah 
Kinnear,  City  Civil  Engineer,  at  10,240  acres.  The  number  of  new  dwellings 
erected  from  1826  to  1829  was  one  hundred.     That  was  considered  rapid  growth. 

The  duplicate  in  the  Auditor's  office  for  the  year  1811  shows  that  in  the  entire 
county  four  persons  owning  twenty  pieces  of  property,  twelve  of  which  belonged 
to  John  S.  Mills,  were  delinquent  for  taxes;  that  of  1812  shows  twelve  delinquent; 
that  of  1813  five  ;  that  of  1817  four.     The  amount  of  delinquent  taxes  for  1817  was 
$274,687;    the  penalty  was  $245.79.     The  record  does  not  show  whether  the  taxes 
were  paid  or  not.     The  greatest  delinquents  were  George  Turner,  Arthur  O'Harra, 
James  Johnston  —  one   of  the   original    proprietors   of  Columbus — and    Henry 
Brown,  who  was  at  that  time  the  proprietors'  agent.     In  1827  seventysix  persons 
and  ninetyseven  pieces  of  property  were  returned  as  delinquent.     At  the  clothe  of 
the  duplicate  of  1816  appears  a  list  of  transfers  of  real  estate  in  the  county  for  that 
year.     These  transfers  numbered  in  all  sixtyfour,  and  were  accompanied  by  a  brief 
description  of  the  property  sold.     The  number  of  transfers  in  the  entire  county 
in    1817   was   seventyone.     There  is  nothing  to  indicate  whether  the  names  on 
the  lists  are  those   of  purchasers  or  sellers.     In  the  early  history  of  the  County 
transfers  were  not  noted  as  now  on  the  margin  of  the  duplicate.     If  there  was 
any  systematic  method  of  recording  transfers  it  has  escaped  our  attention.    In  1848  a 
book  of  transfers  was  opened,  but  the  record  relating  to  Columbus  skips  from  pa^e 
to  page  in  such  a  bewildering  manner  as  to  defy  all  attempts  to  determine  the 
number.     There   was,  however,  a  great  increase  in    the  number  of  transfers  as 
compared  with  the  years  above  mentioned.     Another  book  of  transfers  was  begun 
in  1863.     A  tabulation  of  deeds  and  mortgages  filed  for  record  will  be  found  at  the 
end  of  this  chapter. 

In  1831  four  hundred  persons  were  returned  as  owning  land  in  Montgomery 
Township;  two  hundred  and  ninetythree  of  these  were  returned  as  owning  pro- 
perty in  the  City  of  Columbus;  the  names  of  twelve  were  unknown.  The  imper- 
fect manner  in  which  the  record  was  kept  throws  some  doubt  upon  the  absolute 
accuracy  of  the  above  figures,  but  they  are  substantially  correct.  It  is  estimated 
by  the  County  Auditor,  Henry  J.  Caren,  that  there  are  now  in  the  city  as  many  as 
fifteen  thousand  real  estate  owners. 

The  early  records  in  the  Auditor's  office  were  not  kept  in  books  of  a  durable 
nature  and  have  not  been  preserved  with  very  great  care.  Most  of  the  duplicates 
arc  bound  with  pasteboard  covers ;  but  few  of  them  are  so  much  as  an  inch   iq 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  649 

thickness.  They  are  ordinarily  about  eight  inches  long  and  thirteen  wide;  some 
of  them,  however,  consist  simply  of  sheets  of  paper  fastened  together.  The 
method  of  entering  lands  on  the  duplicate  differed  in  many  respects  from  that  now 
employed.  The  office  of  County  Auditor  was  not  created  until  1820,  prior  to  which 
year  the  duties  of  the  office  were  discharged  by  the  County  Commissioners  and 
Tax  Collectors.  The  duplicates  of  1811,  1812  and  1813  are  contained  in  a 
single  book.  Following  the  duplicate  of  1812  is  evidently  that  of  1813,  but  the 
entry  "  1813"  placed  in  the  upper  lefbhand  corner  of  the  first  page  is  ihe  only 
one  to  indicate  the  purpose  or  nature  of  the  record.  The  duplicate  of  1820  con- 
tains nothing  between  its  covers  to  indicate  what  it  is;  excepting  the  first  three 
pages  there  is  nothing  at  the  top  of  the  page  to  shed  any  light  on  its  purpose  or 
contents.  The  book  containing  the  list  of  delinquent  lands  for  1829  shows  no  head- 
ing on  any  of  its  pages.  An  analysis  indicates  that  it  comprises  a  list  of  delin- 
quent land  with  the  taxes  on  the  same  and  marginal  entries  showing  when  and  by 
whom  the  taxes  were  paid.  The  writ<)r  was  not  able  to  find  duplicates  for  several 
of  the  years  between  1813  and  1826.  One  book  is  marked  :  "Year  unknown.  No  tax 
on  this  duplicate."  Another,  folded  like  foolscap,  cannot  be  identified  but  is  prob- 
ably a  tax  duplicate  of  some  year.  The  first  duplicate  on  which  we  were  able  to  find 
the  lands  of  Columbus  designated  as  outlots  and  inlots  was  that  of  1825.  Prior  to 
that,  as  far  as  observed,  the  lands  were  returned  in  bulk  as  acreage.  In  1827  the 
value  of  lots  in  Columbus,  as  shown  by  the  duplicate,  ranged  from  six  dollars  and 
forty  cents  to  four  hundred  and  eighty  dollars.  A  large  number  were  valued  at 
eight  dollars  apiece.  The  valuation  of  other  lots  was  usually  some  multiple  of 
eigjit.  The  first  duplicate  which  approaches  completeness  is  that  of  1826.  It  is 
highly  improbable  that  any  of  the  early  sales  of  lands  for  delinquent  taxes  were  in 
strict  accordance  with  statutory  requirements. 

The  value  of  real  estate  depends  largely  on  its  proximity  to  sewers  and  on  the 
amount  of  travel  on  the  street  on  which  it  is  located.  The  amount  of  travel 
depends  in  great  measure  on  the  condition  of  the  streets.  A  tabulated  statement 
of  expenditures  for  street  paving  and  sewers  is  therefore  appended  hereto. 

The  partial  destruction  by  fire  of  the  records  in  the  office  of  the  County 
Recorder  during  the  night  of  March  31,  1879,  occasioned  a  serious  loss  of  informa- 
tion regarding  land  in  this  city  and  county.  As  the  territory  within  the  present 
limits  of  Franklin  County  constituted  originally  a  part  of  Ross  County,  all  con- 
veyances of  real  estate  lying  within  our  present  county  boundaries  were  recorded, 
before  Franklin  County  was  organized,  in  the  Ross  County  records.  These 
records,  so  far  as  they  pertain  to  Franklin  County  lands,  were  transcribed  in  a  book 
kept  in  the  Recorder's  office.  The  next  oldest  deed  books  were  lettered  A,  B,  C,  D, 
E,  F,  G,  and  H.  The  lettered  deed  books  contained  all  the  deeds  up  to  about  the 
year  1823.  All  other  deed  books  were  designated  by  figures.  Adjoining  the 
Recorder's  office  in  the  old  Courthouse  on  the  corner  of  High  and  Mound  streets,  a 
vault  was  built  for  the  presevation  of  all  records  and  documents  required  to  be  kept 
in  that  office.  This  vault  was  fourteen  by  sixteen  feet  inside,  and  was  connected  with 
the  Recorder's  office  by  double  iron  doors.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  Recorder, 
Nathan  Cole,  to  lock  the  inside  door  but  simply  to  close  the  outer  door  loading  to 


650  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

the  vault.  Opposite  the  doors  was  a  window  with  double  iron  shutters.  Wooden 
shelving  for  books  was  ari*angod  on  the  east  and  west  sides  of  the  room  ;  the  cases 
for  chattel  mortgages  and  other  papers  stood  near  the  entrance  to  the  vault,  on  the 
west  side  of  which  were  kept  the  deed  books  and  on  the  east  side  the  mort- 
gage books.  The  walls  of  the  vault  were  hollow  and  madeof  bricK  ;  the  floor  was 
stone  and  the  ceiling  of  brick  supported  by  iron  posts.  When  the  Chief  Clerk  in 
the  Recorder's  office,  Bcal  E.  Poste,  attempted,  on  the  morning  of  February  1, 1879, 
to  open  the  outer  doors  of  the  vault  he  found  them  bolted  and  the  coinbi nation  hot. 
The  space  between  the  inner  and  outer  doors  was  filled  with  smoke,  and  when  the 
inner  door  was  opened  a  dense  volume  of  smoke  issucil  from  the  vault.  An  alarm 
was  soon  given  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  fire  was  extinguished.  It  started  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  vault  under  deed  hook  A,  and  extended  northward  along  the 
west  side. 

The  deed  books  began  with  the  oldest  volumes  on  the  bottom  shelf  in  the  south- 
west corner  and  proceeded  north  and  south  alternately  along  the  west  side  of  the 
vault  in  progressive  numbers.  The  volumes  burned  were  the  Ross  County  records 
(since  replaced)  and  volume  A,  B,  C,  D  (except  a  few  pages),  E,  F,  Gr,  H,  1,  2,  3,  5i 
10,  11  (the  last  two  containing  the  deeds  recorded  in  the  years  1833  and  1834),  105, 
112,  113,  114,  115,  116,  119,120, 122, 123, 124,andplatbooksl,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6.  Thefol- 
lowing  volumes  were  damaged  or  partially  burned  :  4,  6,  7,  8,  9,  104,  106,  107,  108, 
109,  110,  111,  117,  118,  121,  125,126,  127,  128,  130  and  131.  The  whole  of  Volume 
119  was  not  destroyed  but  what  remains  of  it  is  so  badly  damaged  that  it  yields  little 
information.  The  records  prior  to  1804  and  from  1871  to  1877  are  damaged  or  burned. 
Volume  F  contained  the  orginial  town  plat  of  the  City  of  Columbus  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  conveyances  from  the  original  proprietors  of  the  capital.  The 
total  number  of  deeds  and  instruments  destroyed  was  about  11,500.  Of  these  about 
3,500  have  been  restored.  About  six  hundred  plats  and  maps  were  also  destroyed 
which  have  not  yet  been  restored  to  the  records.  None  of  the  mortgage  records  or 
chattel  mortgages  were  injured. 

The   destruction  of  the  county  reconis   produced  intense  excitement.      The 
presence  of  petroleum  or  some  other  inflammable  substance  on  some  of  the  books, 
and   the  fact  that  the  backs  of  some  of  them  were  folded  together  so  that  their 
leaves  hung  oi)en   and  projected  beyond  the  shelving,  produced  a  belief  that  the 
burning  was  the  work  of  an  incendiary.     The  odor  of  petroleum  is  still  percepti- 
ble on  deed  books  104  and  105.     Henry  Ileinmiller,  Chief  of  the  Fire  Department, 
estimated  that  there  were  twcnlyfivc  unburned  volumes  whose  backs  wore  folded 
together  and   whose  open  leaves  hung  j)rojecting  beyond  the  shelving.      Several 
of  the  volumes  were  burned  through  the  center  while  other  j)ortionsof  them  were 
but  slightly  injured.     One  fireman   removed  five  volumes  held  in  their  places  bj 
the  backs;  the  open  leaves  of  these  books  j)rojected  heyond  the  shelves.      Another 
fireinari   removed  seven  volumes,   and    still    another  removed   three  which   were 
found  in  a  similar  j)Osition.     The  County  Commissioners  offered  a  reward  of  three 
thousand  dollars  for  the  detoctioii  and  conviction   of  the  incendiaries.     Albert  F. 
Brown  was  arrested.     In  his  ]>reliminary  hearing  beibre  the  Mayor  the  State  was 
represented  by  Hon.  George  K.  Nash  and  Prosecuting  Attorney  W.  J.  Clarke,  and 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  651 

the  accused  by  J.  C.  Groom  and  Hon.  George  L.  Converse.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  testimony  Brown  was  discharged  and  no  further  arrests  were  ever  made. 
The  origin  of  the  fire  remains  a  mystery.  The  Board  of  County  Commissioners 
appointed  a  committee  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  fire.  As  the  report 
contains  valuable  information  it  is  here  given  entire: 

Columbus,  Ohio,  February  5,  1879. 
To  the  Board  of  County  Commisaioners  of  Franklin  County ^  Ohio, 

Gentlemen  —  The  Committee  appointed  by  your  Honorable  Board  to  examine  the 
Recorder's  vault,  and  the  books  recently  burned  therein  have  carefully  examined  the 
premises  and  many  of  the  books  damaged  by  the  fire.  We  have  also  taken  the  sworn 
testimony  of  about  twentyfive  persons  who  had  some  knowledge  of  the  records  and  the  fire; 
and  from  examination  of  the  premises  and  books,  and  from  what  has  been  adduced  from  the 
testimony  taken,  we  are  forced  to  the  unanimous  conclusion  that  the  fire  was  unmistakably 
the  work  of  an  incendiary,  the  proof  of  which  is  abundant  and  conclusive  in  the  partially 
burned  books  which  have  been  saturated  with  coal  oil,  or  some  other  inflammable  liquid, 
and  the  further  fact  that  many  of  the  books  had  been  taken  from  their  proper  position  in 
the  case  and  reversed  by  bringing  their  backs  together  and  putting  them  —  the  backs  — in 
the  case  with  the  leaves  hanging  outside  of  the  shelving;  this  is  further  substantiated  by  the 
fact  that  many  of  the  books  have  the  centre  leaves  burned  while  the  backs  are  but  little 
damaged.  This  condition  of  things  could  not  exist  without  the  interposition  of  an  incen- 
diary hand.  We  would  therefore  recommend  that  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners 
immediately  ofier  a  reward  of  not  less  than  $2,000  for  the  apprehension  of  the  guilty  person 
or  persons,  and  payable  upon  their  conviction. 

The  window  of  the  vault  is  provided  with  two  sets  of  iron  shutters,  and  while  they  are 
believed  to  be  safe,  as  against  a  conflagration,  yet  they  are  but  little  or  no  protection  against 
burglars.  The  main  entrance  to  the  vault  is  a  double  iron  door.  The  inner  door  fastens 
with  a  Yale  lock,  plain  key,  easily  duplicated  and  of  but  little  security.  The  outer  one  of 
the  iron  doors  is  provided  with  a  combination  lock.  The  combination  wheels,  however,  had 
been  taken  off  by  the  Recorder  and  the  lock  on  that  door  of  the  vault  has  never  been  used. 
There  were  two  keys  to  the  inner  door  of  the  vault,  one  of  which  was  carried  by  Mr.  Cole, 
the  Recorder,  and  the  other  by  his  clerk,  but  within  the  last  six  months  this  one  key  has 
been  in  the  hands  of  four  different  persons  from  one  to  ten  days.  The  outside  office  door 
was  locked  with  a  common  key,  a  simple  brass  key,  without  any  wards,  and  therefore  of 
little  or  no  protection^  The  vault  in  which  the  books  of  the  Recorder's  office  were  kept 
was  intended  to  be  fireproof,  and  it  is  believed  to  be  secure  from  exterior  fire,  but  experience 
has  shown  that  it  was  not  proof  against  burglarious  operations  or  internal  burning.  We 
believe,  too,  that  the  wooden  cases  in  the  vault  were  the  means  of  increasing  an<l  intensify- 
ing the  fire,  and  it  is  therefore  a  dangerous  element  and  ought  not  to  be  tolerated  in  any  of 
the  vaults.  We  are  also  of  the  belief  that  the  vaults  in  which  valuable  records  are  kept  are 
no  safer,  and  ranch  more  insecure.  We  would  therefore  recommend  that  the  Commissioners 
remove  or  cause  to  be  removed  all  the  wooden  shelving,  tables  and  cases  in  the  different 
offices  and  vaults  in  which  valuable  records  are  kept,  and  cause  iron  shelving,  tables  and 
cases  to  be  put  up  instead;  and  to  make  all  other  repairs  or  improvements  that  may  be 
necessary  to  secure  all  the  public  records  against  both  fire  and  burglars.  Of  such  great  value 
are  the  public  records,  and  the  loss,  inconvenience  and  litigation  that  comes  from  their 
destruction  are  such  as  to  urge  that  the  Commissioners  shall  act  with  promptness  in  the 
matter,  leaving  nothing  undone  to  secure  their  safety  beyond  any  question.  Expense  in 
securing  these  improvements  is  a  secondary  consideration  in  comparison  with  the  object  to 
be  attained. 

Your  committee  deemed  the  subject  under  iiivestigation  of  sufficient  importance  t<") 
require  the  services  of  a  stenographer  and  all  the  testimony  was  therefore  taken  verbatim, 


I 


652  Hi8T()RY  OF  THE  City  op  Columbus. 

a  summary  of  which  is  herewith  submitted;  and  we  would  recommend  that  the  entire 
testimony  as  taken  be  written  out  in  full  and  retained  by  the  CommissionerB  in  the  fireproof 
pafe,  and  we  would  further  recommend  that  none  of  the  testimony  be  published  at  present. 

B.  F.  BowBN, 

T.  EWING  MiLLKR, 

C.  H.  Frisbie, 

Joseph  H.  Outhwaitb, 

Commiilee, 

Ineonvonienco  and  unnoyanee  no<:os8ariIy  rcHultod  from  the  destruction  of  the 
rocords.  BcsideH  the  cxpenHo  and  Iosh  of  time  incurred  by  the  property  OMrners  in 
procuring  affidavitH,  fiew  deeds  or  other  evidence  to  supply  missing  links  in  the 
chain  of  title,  or  in  soino  casi's  in  quieting  titles  by  legal  proceedings,  the  pecuniary 
loss  actually  sustained  is  not  believed  to  bo  great.  The  evidence  of  many  bound- 
ary lines  has  doubtless  been  destroyed  tbrevor;  copies  of  many  of  the  plats  may 
be  seen  in  the  City  Kngineer's  office  but  they  do  not  possess  the  same  value  as  the 
originals.  But  titpe  heals  every  wound,  and  it  is  silently  and  effectually  repairing 
the  loss  of  the  burned  documents.  In  this  connection  the  following^  communica- 
tion from  a  distinguishecl  jurist,  printed  in  the  Ohio  State  Journal  of  February  4, 
1879,  is  worthy  of  repetition  : 

It  seems  to  me  an  unnecessary  consternation  has  been  excited  by  newspaper  comments 
about  the  destruction  of  some  of  tlie  records  of  deeds  of  Franklin  County.     It  will  not  pro- 
bably result  in  the  loss  of  a  foot  of  any  one's  lot  or  farm.     In  the  first  place  nearly  every  tract 
or  lot  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the  owner,  with  those  before  him,  for  more  than  twenty- 
one  years.     In  general  this  is  a  title  that  no  one  can  disturb.     Time  is  a  wonderful  quieter  of 
titles.     In  the  next  place,  anyone  claiming  title  against  the  one  in  possession  must  prove  a 
paper  title  in  liimself.     Tlie  burden  is  on  liiin,  and  what  help  can  he  derive  from  records  of 
deeds  burnt  and  originals?    Possession  is  literally,  as  to  land,  more  than  nine  points  in  law. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  forge  a  deed,  acknowledgment,  names  of  parties  and  names  of  wit- 
nesses without  detection.    There  is  no  prot)ability  that  anybody  will  attempt  it.     The  mis- 
fortune will  probably  result  in  some  apprehensions  on  the  part  of  a  purchaser  who  hereafter 
buys,  an<l  that  will  not  amount  to  much.    Tlie   whole  county  is  mappe<L    Some  will  allay 
their  fears  by  procuring  from  Brown  Brothers  an  abstract  of  their  title.    Better  wait  nntil 
you  have  a  lawsuit  about  your  title.     Reflect  how  seldom  it  is  that  one  sees  or  has  occasion 
to  see  the  deed  of  his  farm.     In  a  city  like  Chicago,  where  the  lots  are  shingled  over  with 
mortgages,  and  many  lying  out  in  prairie,  the  destruction  of  the  records  was  a  much  more 

serious  inconvenience  than  the  burning  of  a  few  volumes  of  our  deeds. 

J.  R.  Swan. 

The  loss  occasioned  by  the  destruction  of  the  records  is  materially  reduced  by 
the  existence  of  abstracts  of  records  prepared  prior  to  the  fire.  Some  of  these 
abstracts  are  accessible  to  property  owners.  In  the  latter  part  of  1859,  while 
General  C.  C.  Walcutt  was  holding  the  office  of  County  Surveyor,  he  began  to 
abstract  the  records  of  the  county  and  continued  his  operations  until  the  openiog 
of  the  war  in  April,  1^61.  The  abstracts  prepared  by  him  give  the  names  of  the 
grantor  and  grantee  in  each  deed,  the  consideration  therein  named,  the  description 
of  the  property  conveyed,  the  number  of  witnesses  to  the  instrument,  its  date  and 
acknowledgment,  the  number  of  the  deedbook  in  which  it  was  found,  and  the  page 
on  which  it  was  recorded.  A  warranty  deed  correct  in  every  particular  was 
marked  "  Deed."     A  quitclaim  deed  which  w^as  correct  in  all  its  parts  was  marked 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  (553 

"  Q.  C."  If  thoro  was  any  defect  in  ihe  instrument  or  variation  from  the  usual 
terms  employed  in  a  deed,  the  defect  or  variation  was  noted.  General  Walcutt 
abstracted  all  the  deeds  and  instruments  filed  for  record  prior  to  May  27,  1821, 
and  contained  in  the  book  of  Ross  Count}'  records  and  in  books  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G, 
H,  1,  and  2.  Each  day  the  abstracts  prepared  on  that  day  were  compared  with 
the  original  records  abstracted,  and  when  the  abstracts  wore  indexed  they  were 
again  compared  with  the  original  records.  General  Walcutt  himself,  assisted  by 
William  M.  Mills,  an  attorney,  made  the  comparisons.  These  abstracts  are  now 
owned  by  George  J.  Atkinson  and  are  in  daily  use  by  him  in  his  abstracting 
business.  The  Walcutt  abstracts,  as  tested  by  the  indexes  in  the  Recorder's  office, 
by  the  indexes  hereinafter  mentioned  owned  by  George  J.  Atkinson  and  prepared 
by  Poste  &  Crum,  and  by  the  instruments  which  have  been  again  recorded  since 
the  destruction  of  the  originals  by  fire,  are  found  to  be  accurate." 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  Mr.  Atkinson  is  in  possession  of  a  complete  index 
of  grantors,  grantees,  mortgagors  and  mortgagees  prepared  originally  by  Poste  & 
Crum  and  continued  by  Mr.  Atkinson  to  the  present  time.  These  indexes  were 
prepared  from  the  original  records  before  the  fire  and  are  not  merely  copirs  of  the 
indexes  in  the  Recorder's  ofiice.  They  were  carefully  compared  with  the  original 
records  to  secure  accuracy.  They  contain  the  names  of  the  grantors,  grantees, 
mortgagors  and  mortgagees,  arranged  alphabetically  and  with  reference  to  the 
vowels  and  consonants;  the  volume  in  which,  and  the  page  on  which  each  instru- 
ment is  recorded,  and  the  consideration  therein  named ;  a  pertinent  description  of 
the  property  conveyed  and  the  date  of  each  instrument.  The  kind  of  deed, 
whether  quitclaim  or  warranty,  is  also  designated.  An  index  of  plats  was  also 
made.  From  these  indexes  a  complete  chain  of  title  can  be  made.  Mr.  Atkinson 
has  also  preserved  and  filed  away  on  slips  of  paper  an  abstract  of  all  instruments 
shown  in  abstracts  prepared  by  him. 

The  Brown  Brothers'  abstracts  were  prepared  by  William  P.  and  James 
Finley  Brown.  In  a  circular  issued  by  the  Brown  Brothers,  dated  November  1, 
1879,  they  claim  to  have  "an  abstract  of  every  deed,  mortgage,  lease,  mechanic's 
lien,  chattel  mortgage  or  other  instrument  of  record  in  the  county,  showing  the 
property  to  which  the  same  relates^  the  names  of  the  parties,  witnesses  and  officials 
appearing  in  each  ;  also  the  date  of  execution,  acknowledgment  and  filing  for 
record ;  also  an  abstract  of  every  judgment,  decree  and  entry  on  the  journals  of 
the  Common  Pleas  and  District  Courts  during  the  past  five  yearn,  together  with 
indexes  of  all  land  and  divorce  suits  in  said  courts  the  past  seventy  five  years."  At 
the  time  the  records  in  the  Recorder's  office  were  burned,  the  Brown  Brothers  had 
completed  their  abstracts  up  to  that  date.  When  they  were  overtaken  by  financial 
reverses  their  abstracts  passed  into  the  hands  of  John  G.  Edwards;  they  are  now 
owned  by  George  L.  Converse,  Junior.  Through  the  courtsey  of  Mr.  Converse,  the 
writer  was  permitted  to  examine  all  the  abstracts  prepared  by  the  Brown  Brothers, 
excepting  the  abstracts  of  the  burned  deeds,  which  are  prepared,  however,  the 
same  as  those  which  were  exhibited  by  Mr.  Converse.  Miss  Jennie  Geren,  of  Mr. 
George  J.  Atkinson's  office,  who  assisted  in  the  preparation  of  the  abstracts,  aided 
in  the  examination.     The  abstracts  of  the  burned  records  are  kept  by  Mr.  Con» 


054  History  op  the  City  of  Coixmbus. 

verne  in  a  vault  at  the  bank.  All  the  others  and  all  the  papers  and  di^cumeiits  in 
the  |K>SHehsion  of  the  Brown  Brothers  at  the  time  of  their  failure  ai-e  stored  in  a 
room  in  the  Converse  building.  The  books  while  kept  in  the  vault  prepared  for 
them  by  the  Brown  Brothers  becunic  damp  and  mouldy.  Some  of  them  would 
have  to  be  rebound,  if  uned,  but  they  have  not  been  seriously  injured. 

There  are  about  thirty  large  volun:eH  of  the  size  of  the  deed  books  or  mortgage 
reeonJs  in  the  (/ounty  Recorder's  office,  and  about  thirty  smaller  volumes.  These 
sixty  volumes,  however,  do  not  all  relate  to  deeds  or  mortgages. 

The  abstracts  of  deeds  are  contained  in  bound  volumes  from  an  inch  to  an  inch 
and  a  rpiarterin  thickness,  and  are  about  as  wide  as  the  books  in  which  the  Auditor's 
duplicate  is  now    kept,   and    nearly    half  as   long.     The  abstract    of  any    ^iven 
deed  begins  at  the  left  hand  page  and  extends  across  both  pages  towards  the  right. 
The  items  abstracted  are  shown  in  the  following  order,  to  wit:  —  The  name  of  the 
granU>r  and  of  hin  wife  (if  ho  were  married),   the  names  of  the  grantees,   the 
civil  township,  section  or  survey,  township,  range,  number  of  acres,  number  of  sub- 
division,  lot,  outlot,   addition  or   subdivision,  consideration,   date  of  instrument. 
acknowledgment   and  date  of  the  same,  date  of  filing,  where  recorded.   United 
States  stamp,  if  any,  release  or  nonrolease  of  dower,  the  names  of  the  witne-sses,  the 
name  of  the  notary  public  or  justice  of  the  peace  before  whom  acknowledged  and  a 
description  of  the  property.     In   designating   the   kind   of  instruments,   "  Q.  C." 
indicates  a  quitclaim  deed ;  "  W  ''  a  warranty  deed  with  all  the  covenants ;  *'  D  "  a  deed 
without  convenants  ;  "  M.  C."  a  master  commissioner's  deed  ;  if  any  of  the  covenants 
are  wanting  the  fact  is  indicated  by -1,-2,- 3,  and  -4,  as  the  case  may  be.      The 
covenants  are  designated  by  the  numerals  and  the  minus  sign  indicates  which  one  is 
omitted.     Iftlie  last  covenant  only  is  given,  it  is  indicated  by  "4  only.''     If  theroare 
no  covenants  in  the  deed  the  letters  "  N.  C."  are  sometimes  used.     The  deed  books 
contained  abstracts  of  all  deeds  filed  up  to  the  month  of  June,  1881.      Accompany- 
ing each  book  of  abstracts  of  deeds  is  an  affidavit  made  by  the  person  comparing 
the  abstracts  with  the  original  record  as  to  correctness.      The  affidavit  recites  that 
the  person  making  it  has  carefully  compared  with  the  Brown  Brothers'  abstracts  of 
any   given  deed  books  each  of  the  instruments  recorded  in  such  deed   books   in 
the  Recorder's  office  of  Franklin  County,  Ohio,  and  thai  the  abstracts  of  such  deed 
records  as  so  compared  are  correct;  that  references  are  noted  to  all  instruments  tho 
abstract  of  which  has  been  corrected  by  the  affiant  while  comparing  the  same   and 
that  all    alterations   or   corrections  are   designated   in    the   proper   columns    on 
the  Brown  Brothers'  abstract  books.     Tho  affidavits  were  made  before  Judge  John 
M.  Pugh.     The  abstracting  was  done  on  specially  prepared  sheets    which    were 
afterwards  bound  together  in  book  form.     The  corrections  were  made  on   these 
sheets   and   appear   on  the   abstract  books    themselves.     The  comparison   of  the 
abstracts  with  the  original  records  was  made  in  each  case  by  a  person  different 
from  the  one  who  made  tiic  abstracts. 

Thereare  two  sets  of  mortgage  abstracts,  one  of  which  is  bound  in  volumes  similar 
to  those  containing  the  abstracts  of  deeds;  the  other  is  made  on  sheets  of  paper,  each 
showing  the  abstract  of  five  mortgages.     These  abstracts  were  made  by  one  person 
and  were  verified  by  another  who  certifies  on  each  abstracted  mortgage  that  he  has 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  655 

compared  it  with  the  original  record  ;  subsequently  a  second  comparison  with  that 
record  was  made  by  a  person  who  made  affidavit  as  to  correctness  of  the  work. 
The  mortgages  show  the  same  items  as  the  abstracts  of  deeds. 

No  indexes  were  prepared  for  the  dee«ls  filed  between  the  years  1827  and 
1877.  The  deeds  up  to  and  including  deed  book  eight,  i.  e.  to  tlio  year  1827,  are 
indexed  in  one  volume.  The  names  are  arranged  alphabetically,  with  reference 
to  the  Christian  name  and  the  vowels  of  the  surname.  The  names  are  arranged  in 
two  columns,  the  grantors'  and  grantees*  names  occurring  in  each.  The  grantors  and 
grantees  are  designated  by  the  words  "  from  and  to,"  written  between  the  columns 
of  names,  thus:  "John  Doe /rom  Richard  Doe;  John  Doo  to  Richard  Doe."  The 
indexes  give  the  civil  township,  section  or  survey,  township,  range,  number  of 
acres,  number  of  subdivision,  number  of  lot,  number  of  outlot,  the  addition  or 
subdivision,  date,  consideration,  record  and  remarks.  If  the  premises  are  described 
as  so  many  acres  more  or  less,  the  expression  "  more  or  less  "  is  indicated  by  a 
circle  with  a  dot  in  the  centre.  If  the  number  of  acres  is  actuall}'  greater  than 
named  in  the  deed  it  is  indicated  by  a  plus  mark  after  the  number.  In  the  index 
beginning  with  the  year  1877,  a  minus  sign  following  a  name  indicates  that  of  a 
grantor.  The  plus  sign  following  a  name  indicates  more  than  one  grantor  or 
grantee,  as  the  case  may  be.  The  index  of  deeds  beginning  with  the  year  1877, 
the  mortgage  indexes  and  the  index  of  deeds  filed  prior  to  1827,  were  all  prepared 
in  substantially  the  same  manner  and  show  the  same  items.  On  the  mortgage 
index  the  letter  "  W  "  following  the  mortgagor's  name  indicates  that  his  wife 
joined  in  the  mortgage.  There  is  also  what  is  termed  a  property  index  for  the 
inlots  and  outlets  of  Columbus.  The  arrangement  of  the  indexes  is  such  as  to 
show  almost  at  a  glance  every  mortgage  over  filed  affecting  any  given  lot.  If  the 
release  of  a  mortgage  is  irregular,  it  is  indicated  by  an  interrogation  mark  ;  if  par- 
tial, by  an  asterisk.  Under  remarks  statement  is  made  of  the  portion  of  the  lot 
mortgaged.  If  the  mortgage  contained  reference  to  a  deed  or  olher  instument, 
the  place  where  such  document  may  be  found  is  noted.  The  mortgage  records 
are  numbered  successively.     The  index  is  completed  to  the  year  1875. 

The  plat  books  contain  copies  of  all  the  plats  that  were  recorded  prior  to  the 
time  their  books  passed  out  of  their  hands.  These  plats  bear  evidence  of  careful 
preparation.  On  the  margin  of  the  books  are  noted  many  facts  designed  to  aid 
the  Brown  Brothers  in  the  preparation  of  abstracts,  such  legislative  acts  as  affect 
the  premisiBS  described  in  the  plat,  suits  affecting  any  part  of  the  platted  premises, 
a  reference  to  Auditor's  deeds  for  premises  sold  for  delinquent  taxes,  and  proceed- 
ings of  the  City  Council  relating  to  the  vacation  of  streets  and  alleys.  The  plat 
books  show  where  the  plat  was  recorded  and  by  whom  it  was  made  and  certified. 
In  many  cases  plats  were  made  of  surveys  in  the  Virginia  Military  District;  also 
of  sections,  halfsections  and  quarter  townships.  The  various  corners  and  bearings 
as  determined  by  the  original  survey  are  also  given.  The  work  is  done  with  neat- 
ness and  conveys  an  impression  of  accuracy. 

The  history  of  real  estate  transactions  in  Columbus  indicates  that  the  market 
has  been  active  or  dull  as  the  general  business  of  the  country  has  been  prosperous 
or  depressed.     The  financial  disturbances  of  1817,  1837,  1857  and  1873,  and  the 


656  History  op  the  City  op  OoLUMBttd. 

(lepreHHion  which  set  in  about  two  years  ago,  affected  real  estate  quite  as  much  as 
any  other  article  of  barter  and  sale.  Of  the  various  species  of  property  realty  is 
one  of  the  last  to  decline  in  value  in  periods  of  financial  depression,  and  al80  one 
of  the  last  to  respond  to  returning  prosperity.  The  location  of  the  capital  at 
Columbus  gave  an  impetus  to  the  real  estate  trade  for  several  years.  The  effects 
upon  that  trade  of  the  financial  stress  which  followed  the  War  of  1812,  coupled 
with  the  failure  of  two  of  the  original  proprietors  of  the  town,  and  the  attacks 
made  upon  the  title  of  the  proprietors  in  the  courts  have  already  been  described  in  a 
preceding  chapter. 

In    the   year   1826   real  estate   business   entered   a   new   period    of    activity 
which  continued    until  about  1837.     A  census  of  the  town  taken   in  the  spring 
of  1826  showed  a  population  of  1,400  and  about  two  hundred  houses.     Three  years 
later  the  population  had  increased  to  2,01 4 and  the  houses  numbered  three  hundred. 
The  advance   in   real  estate  prices  between  1829  and  1837  was  rapid.      In   1836 
the  wharf  lots  were  laid  out  under  direction  of  the  City  Council.     Young's  addition 
was  platted  and  put  upon  the  market  in  1831,  Brotherton  &  Wulcutt's  in    1831 
or  1832,  McKlvain's  in  1832,  Otis  and  Samuel  Crosby's  first  and  second  addition  in 
1833,  Heyl  and  Parson's  and  Matthew  J.  Gilbert's  additions  in  1835  and  Kclley  and 
Northrup's  in  1838.     John  McGowan*s  addition  was  laid  out  in  1814.      During  the 
financial   disturbances  of  1837  and   the  agitation  as  to  the  removal  of  the  seat 
of  government   which    soon    afler   began,   real   estate    became   dull    and   so  con- 
tinued until  1844  when  an  upward  movement  again  set  in  and  was  maintained  not- 
withstanding the  ravages  of  the  cholera  until  1853.    Within  this  period  the  Gwynne 
Block  and  many  other  important  buildings  were  erected.     In  1853  the  financial 
disturbance  began  which  culminated  in  1857.     With  the  opening  of  the  Civil  War 
there  came  a  revival  of  all  kinds  of  business,  that  of  real  estate  included.     The 
depreciation  of  the  currency  induced  many  capitalists  to  invest  their  money  in 
realty,  the  market  for  which  consequently  improved  and  remained  active  until  the 
panic  of  1873.     Although  the  growth  of  the  city  continued  after  that  panic  there 
was  no  perceptible  advance  in  real  estate  prices,  except  in  a  few  favored  localities, 
for  ten  or  twelve  years.     Property  remote  from  centres  of  trade  suffered  most,  and 
some  purchasers  who  were  unable  to  meet  their  obligations  or  had   become  dis- 
couraged for  other  a<l  verse  reasons  permitted  their  property  to  be  sold  or  to  relapse 
to  the  original  owners.     To  our  personal  knowledge  there  were  numerous  cases  in 
which  the  owners  of  additions  who  had  faith  in  the  future  development  of  the  city 
rather  than  distress  worthy  people  vvho  had  purchased  of  them,  paid  the  taxes  of 
such  purchasers  and  waited  on  them  for  the  payment  of  interest  for  periods  of 
from  five  to  twelve  years.      The  growth  of  the  city  was  such,  however,  that  in  the 
latterj)artof  the  eighties  such  owners,  after  paying  the  accrued  taxesand  liquidatiusr 
their   mortgages   were   able   to  sell  their   lots   without   loss  and    in    many  cases 
with  profit.     Those  who  held  their  property,  after  paying  all  incident  expenses  and 
six  per  cent,  annual  interest  on  their  investment, either  realized  a  profit  or  escaped 
loss. 

In  1888  tliere  was  a  general  advance  in  the  prices  of  real   estate   all    over 
the  city.     An  upward  movement  occurred  about  the  same  time  in  other    cities 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  657 

as  for  example  Cincinnati,  Cleveland  and  Toledo.  The  Columbus  "  boom  "  in  real 
estate  began  in  the  month  of  January,  1888,  and  soon  aflerward  property  advanced 
considerably  throughout  the  city,  that  located  on  East  Town  and  Bast  Broad 
Street  being  most  affected.  During  this  activity  some  of  the  principal  real  estate 
offices  were  so  crowded  that  many  persons  were  unable  to  gain  admission  and 
the  agents  were  in  some  instances  obliged  to  remain  at  their  desks  until  nearly  raid- 
night.  The  excitment  attracted  attention  in  all  parts  of  the  city  and  in  neighboring 
towns.  Some  of  the  small  buyers  turned  their  property  with  profit  three  or  four 
times  successively.  Platted  ground  frequently  sold  in  block,  and  there  was  some 
gambling  in  options.  Prior  to  the  "  boom"  an  average  number  of  from  ten  to  twelve 
deeds  had  been  filed  for  record  per  day  :  on  February  15,  the  number  of  deeds  so  filed 
was  fifteen,  on  February  7,  forty  two,  and  on  February  10,  forty  three.  Directly 
after  the  latter  date  the  number  declined  and  the  excitement  subsided,  although 
real  estate  transactions  continued  to  be  more  frequent  than  usual.  The  number 
of  sales  made  in  which  deeds  did  not  pass  is  unknown  but  is  supposed  to  have 
been  quite  large.     A  large  amount  of  property  was  purchased  by  outsiders. 

Following  this  episode  large  tracts  of  land  west  of  the  Whetstone  and  Scioto 
rivers,  even  beyond  the  State  Asylums,  also  south  and  east  of  the  State 
University,  as  far  nortli  as  Clin  ton  ville,  east  of  Parsons'  Avenue,  about  the 
United  States  Barracks,  beyond  Alum  Creek,  in  the  southern  portions  of  the 
city,  and  even  south  of  the  corporation  line,  were  platted  and  put  upon  the  market. 
Not  only  hundreds  of  lots  but  hundreds  of  acres  which  had  lain  unimproved  or  as 
farm  lands  were  offered  for  sale.  The  total  number  of  plats  of  property  within  or 
adjacent  to  the  city  filed  for  record  from  1879  to  1888  was  twohundred  and  sixty- 
four.  The  number  filed  in  the  four  succeeding  years  was  two  hundred  and  sixty, 
distributed  as  follows:  In  1888  eighty;  in  1889  fortyeight;  in  1890  sixtj^eight;  and 
in  1891  sixtyfour.  In  some  additions  lots  were  sold  on  weekly  or  monthly  payments, 
a  title  bond  being  in  such  cases  usually  given  at  the  time  of  sale  to  be  followed  by 
a  deed  when  a  specified  sum  should  be  paid.  In  order  to  attract  purchasers  the 
owners  of  additions  frequently  provided  them  with  sewers,  sidewalks  and  other 
street  improvements  before  putting  their  property  on  the  market.  The  spread  of 
the  city  which  resulted  from  these  transactions  created  a  demand  for  extended 
street  car  facilities  and  more  rapid  transit.  The  system  of  sewerage  was  also 
enlarged  and  extended. 

Under  a  street  improvement  law  enacted  May  11,  1886,  and  amended  March 
21,  1887,  many  thoroughfares  were  permanently  paved  at  the  cost  of  the  abutting 
property.  Sometimes  these  expensive  works  were  extended  to  unimportant  and 
sparsely  inhabited  streets  of  the  suburbs.  The  aggregate  cost  of  the  street 
improvement  under  the  law  just  njimed  amounted  to  ^406,034.69  during  the  year 
ended  March  31,  1888.  During  the  year  ended  March  31,  1889,  the  cost  of  such 
improvements  was  $800,836.48;  year  ended  March  31,  1890,  $850,815.18  ;  yesLV 
ended  March  31,  1891,  $724,308.39.  The  aggregate  cost  of  all  the  street  improve- 
ments in  Columbus  during  the  year  ended  March  31,  1892,  was  $983,158.50.  The 
corporate  limits  have  been  extended  until  the  platted  property  within  and  adjoin* 
ing  the  city  is  commensurate  with  a  population  of  several  hundred  thousand 
42 


658  HlHTOBY    OF   THE    CiTY    OP    C0LUMBU8. 

inhabitants.  Large  nambers  of  new  buildings  have  been  erected  and  the  general 
style  of  architecture  has  been  much  improved.  New  streets  have  been  opened, 
while  others  have  been  widened,  straightened  or  so  changed  as  to  make  tlicm 
more  attractive.  To  accommodate  the  increasing  population  costly  bridges  have 
been  thrown  over  the  Scioto  and  Whetstone  rivers,  new  water  mains  have  been 
laid,  a  new  pumping  station  introduced  and  new  fire  engine  and  markethouses 
built.  A  natural  ^as  supply,  discovere<l  about  thirty  miles  east  of  Columbus,  has 
been  carried  to  all  parts  of  the  city. 

Notwithstanding  the  various  seasons  of  depression  in  the  real  estate  market 
the  increase  in  reality  values  has  been  on  the  whole  steady  and  permanent.      From 
1829  to  1837,  from  1848  to  1853,  from  1860  to  1873,  and  from  1880  to  1891  this 
increase  was  very  marked.     The  County  Auditor's  duplicate  of  lands  subject  to 
taxation   confirms    this   remark    by    many   interesting   facts.     The   Neil    House 
stands,  in  part,  on  inlots  268,  269  and  270.     In  1825  the  first  two  of  these  were 
valued  at  twenty  five  hundred   and    twenty  five   dollars,   respectively.     In  lot  269 
was  doubtless  unimproved.     In  1827  the  respective  values  of  the  same  lots  were 
sixtyfour    hundred    and   forty    dollars.     In    1846   the    three  lots    were    valued 
at  twentysix  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifly  dollars,  and  their  improvements  at 
fiftyfive  thousand  dollars.     In  1859  the  same  lots  were  valued  at  (37,700  and  their 
improvements  at  $65,000.     In  1891  the  three  lots,  including  the  improvements, 
were  valued  at  $241,970.     The  average  estimate  of  four  competent  judges  as  to  the 
present  value  of  the  lots,  exclusive  of  improvements,  is  sixteen  hundred  dollars 
per   foot   front,   or  three  hundred   thousand  dollars.     In  1846   the  valuation  of 
inlot  292  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Spring  and  High  streets,  on  which  a  part  of 
the  Chittenden  Hotel  now  stands  was  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars;  inlot  309, 
at  the  northeast  corner  of  High  and  Chestnut  streets,  now  covered  by  a  portion 
of  the  Clinton  Block  was  valued  at  seven  hundred  dollars;  inlot  322  on  which 
the  Sessions  Block  now   stands  was  valued  at  $1,650  and  the  improvements  at 
$3,500;  inlot  324,  on  which  the  Hinman-Beatty  Block  now  stands  was  valued  at 
$1,500,   and   the  improvements  $1,600.     The  average  estimate  of  the  same  four 
persons   abovenamed  as  to  the  present  value  of   these  lots  per  front  foot,    not 
including  buildings,  is  $1,300.     Each  of  the  lots  has  a  frontage  of  sixtytwo  and  a 
half  feet,  and  is  worth  on  the  above  estimate  $81,250,  exclusive  of  buildings.     In 
1846  inlot  445,  on  which  the  residence  of  William   G.  Deshler  now  stands,  was 
valued  at  $2,800.     In  1863  the  entire  frontage  on  the  east  side  of  High  Street 
between  Spring  and  the  first  allej'  south  sold  for  $25,500.     If  the  buildings  were 
all  removed  the  ground  would  now  sell  for  as  much  per  front  foot  as  the  inlots 
abovenamed,  i.  e.  $1,300.     In  about  the  year  1859  William  A.  Hershiser  bought 
lot  number  eight  of  the  Starr  farm,  as  subdivided  by  William  Jamison,  adminis* 
trator.     He  paid  four  thousand  dollars  for  the  lot.     It  lies  on  the  north  side  of 
West  Third  Avenue  between  High  Street  and   Dennison  Avenue.     Mr.  Hershiser 
has  up  to  the  present  date  sold  eighty  thousand  dollars  worth  of  property  from 
the  tract  and  values  the  portion  which  he  retains  at  twentyfive  thousand  dollars. 
The  net  advance  in  the  value  of  the  property  after  deducting  the  cost  of  improve- 
ments  is  perhaps  seventy   thousand   dollars.     In    1870   the  grounds  of  the*  old 


Lands  and  Land  Titles.  659 

Asylum  for  the  insane  on  East  Broad  Street  were  purchased  for  $200,500,  and 
were  platted  as  the  East  Park  Place  Addition,  containing  three  hundred  and  ten 
lots.  The  twentyone  lots  of  this  addition  which  abut  on  Broad  Street  have  an 
aggregate  frontage  of  1104.61  feet,  and,  as  estimated  by  the  four  persons  above 
named  are  worth  at  this  time  one  hundred  and  seventyfive  dollars  per  front  foot, 
or  $193,306.75  in  all.  In  1869  Henry  M.  Neil  was  offered  three  hundred  dollars 
for  an  acre  of  land  lying  on  High  Street  and  Fourteenth  Avenue.  His  father 
thought  it  worth  at  that  time  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  In  1888  it  was  sold 
by  Mr.  Neil  at  a  price  fixed  before  the  real  estate  "boom"  of  that  year  for 
$15,000.  It  is  needless  to  further  multiply  instances  to  illustrate  the  increase  in 
value  of  Columbus  real  estate. 

Investments  in  realty  have  largely  contributed  to  the  financial  strength  of 
many  wealthy  families  and  citizens.  The  foundations  of  many  of  the  greatest 
estates  were  laid  by  large  and  judicious  investments  in  lands.  Not  all,  however, 
have  dealt  with  profit  in  Columbus  lands.  The  same  degree  of  care  and  skill 
necessary  to  success  in  other  kinds  of  business  is  requisite  to  success  in  real  estate 
transactions.  While  many  have  accumulated  a  competency,  or  made  large  for- 
tunes, many  others  have  waited  long  and  in  vain  for  a  rise  in  value  or  the  oppor- 
tunity to  sell.  Yet  it  is  generally  conceded  that,  at  almost  any  time  in  the  history 
of  the  city,  investments  in  real  estate,  judiciously  made,  have  been  safe  and  pro- 
fitable. 

In  concluding  this  chapter  it  is  proper  to  express  my  gratitude  to  those  who 
have  assisted  in  its  preparation.  Mr.  George  J.  Atkinson  and  the  ladies  in  bis 
office.  Misses  Jennie  M.  Geren,  Henrietta  C.  Geren  and  Mary  J.  Jones,  whose 
long  experience  in  abstracting  titles  has  made  them  familiar  with  lands  in  every 
part  of  the  city,  have  by  their  suggestions  and  assistance  materially  reduced  my 
tabor.  *  The  tables  of  statistics  were  prepared  by  E.  J.  Converse.  The  map  show- 
ing the  kinds  of  lands  lying  within  the  corporate  limits,  the  portion  of  the  city 
included  in  the  original  inlols  and  the  present  limits  of  the  city,  was  prepared  by 
B.  F.  Bowen. 

NOTES. 

1.  Kent's  Commentaries,  Volume  3,  pa^es  501,  502,  tenth  edition. 

2.  Chase's  Statutes  of  Ohio,  Volume  1,  page  9. 

3.  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  Volume  1,  paf^e  16. 

4.  Parkman's  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,  302,  303. 

5.  Ibid,  308,  et  seq. ;  Hinsdale's  Old  Northwest.  25. 

6.  Ibid,  page  26. 

7.  Ibid,  page  28. 

8.  Ibid,  page  44;  Chase's  Statutes,  page  10. 

9.  Hinsdale's  Old  Northwest,  38. 

10.  Parkman :  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  8. 

11.  Ibid,  24  to  27;  Encyclopedia  Brittannica,  article  Ohio;  Old  Northwest,  30,  31% 

12.  Parkman  :  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  288. 

13.  Old  Northwest,  6. 

14.  Parkman :  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  324,  et  seq. 


660  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

15.  Old  Northwest,  32. 

16.  Chase's  SUtutes,  10. 

17.  Old  Northwest,  12. 

18      Bancroft's  History,  Volume  1,  Chapter  4. 
10.     Ibid,  Volume  2,  99;  Old  Northwest,  78. 

20.  Bancroft's  History,  Volume  2,  215;  Old  Northwest,  75. 

21.  As  to  claims  and  cessions  of  the  Iroquois,  see  Bancroft,  Volume  2,  175,  211,  222; 
Old  Northwest,  4<i,  59,  65. 

22.  Old  Northwest,  58. 

2:5.     Bancroft,  Volume  2,  34.S,  ,'^62. 

24.  Ibid,  385. 

25.  Rufus  King's  Ohio  in  America  Commonwealths,  401. 

26.  American  Political  Ideas,  by  John  Fiske,  5(>. 

27.  Bancroft,  389,  391. 

28.  Old  Northwest,  48. 

29.  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World ;  Parkman,  395. 

30.  Ibid,  399. 

31.  La  Salle's  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  93. 

32.  Ibid,  113. 

33.  Old  Northwest,  48. 

34.  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  Volume  1,  Chapter  2,  47,  48. 

35.  Parkman's  Wolfe  and  Montcalm,  Volume  2,  403. 

36.  Encyclopedia  Brittannica,  Unite<l  States  ;  Bancroft's  History,  Volume  2. 

37.  Bancroft's  History,  Volume  3,  32. 

38.  As  to  Quebec  Act,  see  Encyclopedia  Brittannica,  article,  United  States ;  Old  North- 
west ;  Pitkin's  History  of  the  United  States,  appendix. 

39.  As  to  England's  western  land  policy,  see  Old  Northwest,  Chapter  8. 

40.  Old  Northwest,  198;  Magazine  of  Western  History,  Pt.  2,  page  345. 

41.  Old  Northwest,  199 ;  Magazine  of  Western  History,  Pt.  2,  345. 

42.  Magazine  of  Western  History,  Pt.  2,  345,  etc. 

43.  For  cessions  by  the  States,  see  The  Public  Domain,  by  Donaldson,  «56  to  88 ; 
Chase's  Statutes,  Volume  1,  pp.  12,  13,  14 ;  Land  Laws  of  the  United  States,  1828,  93  et  seq.; 
King's  Ohio,  Chapter  7  ;  Old  Northwest,  Chapters  12,  13, 

44.  Chase's  Statutes,  Volume  1,  15  ;  Old  Northwest,  249,  250. 

45.  Donaldson's  Public  Domain,  21. 

46.  Ibid,  22. 

47.  In  addition  to  authority  cited  as  to  Indian  titles  see  Kent's  Commentaries,  Volume 
3,  Lecture  51 ;  The  Public  Domain,  by  Donaldson,  Chapter  16,  and  authoritiee  there 
mentioned. 

48.  For  Indian  treaties  referred  to  in  the  text,  see  Western  Annals,  288,  295,  296  442  • 
Land  Laws  of  the  United  States,  148  to  154  ;  Taylor's  History  of  Ohio,  439,  440, 457,  458 ;  Land 
Laws  of  Ohio,  477,  et  seq. 

49.  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  1881, 13,  14. 

50.  For  acts  relating  to  the  United  States  Military  District,  the  Refugee  Tract,  the  Vir- 
ginia Military  District  and  the  Congress  Lands,  see  Ohio  Land  Laws,  Land  Laws  of  the 
United  States,  1828,  and  Local  I^nd  Laws  of  the  United  States,  Volume  2.  Mr.  Samuel 
McClelland  is  authority  for  the  method  of  alloting  Refugee  Lands. 

51.  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  1881,  16. 

52.  Ibid,  1883,  47,  48. 

53.  Ohio  Land  Laws,  35,  et  seq. 

54.  Ohio  Gazetteer,  56. 

65.    Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  1883,  45. 


Lands  and  Land  Titles. 


661 


66.  Chaee'e  Statutee,  Volume  1,  167 ;  Moore's  Leasee  v.  Vance,  1  Otito,  I. 

57.  Chancery  Record,  7,  .WO,  etc. 

5S.  Deed  Book  6,  psffes  173  sad  173. 

59.  See  1  Ohio,  I. 

60.  Ohio  State  JournsI,  Februarj'  5, 1679. 

61.  The  description  of  the  Walcattabetractfi  is  obtained  from  the  t«stiinony  giv<in  by 
General  C,  C.  Walcult  in  the  case  ot  I>eardurff  v.  Deardnrff  etal.,  Common  Pleas  Con rt. 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Annual  real  estate  valuation  and  tax  levy  in  the  city  of  Oolumbns  from  1848  to  I860,  and 
from  1879  to  1890,  inclusive. 


\^Vr 

Urjj,r 

Year 

VahiHilon. 

ulUi. 

1S4H 

|3,?«ia.715 

lOA 

1878 

J  Ifi.  740,320 

20 

2.T23.(m 

141 
I3A 

1H7!1 

Ul.l  60,040 

21  ^ 

ISoO 

£,  828,6 14 

1880 

l!l..'i09,460 

23>» 

1851 

2.!W!5.L'45 

15* 

1881 

21,062,(170 

20ft 

1853 

:1.!  04,384 

1882 

22,204.690 

1S53 

3.231',  ]t)» 

J883 

23,01  a.S70 

1854 

6,514  2:W 

101 

1884 

23,981,980 

31  ^ 

1855 

5,7.W.632 

i:»,i 

1885 

25.252.150 

ISA 

1856 

5,852,391 

i:iv„ 

1886 

26,3.33,100 

5,900.814 

Ki 

1887 

27.638,310 

1858 

5,076,264 

13! 

1888 

28,S¥0.640 

185!) 

6.050,391 

1880 

3O,O7S.2.'J0 

21]^^ 

IfifiO 

6,794,922 

1890 

31,570,710 

Deeds  an<l  inortgaf^  of  city  property,  and  consideration  for  si 
and  from  1880  to  1800,  inclusive. 


n  the  years  1860,  1870 


YEAR. 

DE^m 

c.«.n.„.no«. 

X'BlUAO'a 

085 

„»,.„..„„. 

1800 

i2a'>" 

» 

|l,2B:f.l37  49 

l(!!N',t 
1918 

1.880.875  00 
(Hi«,925  00 

1880 

3.406.;i81  00 

l.~)43 

IH8I 

1918 

186,21.5  00 

1511 

1,(160,074  00 

1882 

186li 

3,116,8(iSI  00 

11XJ7 

2.7!W,51W  00 

1883 

1840 

3.214,800  00 

2164 

3,043.653  m 

1803 

3,|S0.2.".3  60 

1885 

1827 

3,89!»,245  52 

2448 

3,:{00,«79  44 

1886 

2040 

1,734,000  00 

1675 

«84,4(H1  m 

1887 

3496 

3,140,400  00 

2,788,000  00 

188!) 

4450 

4,.58O,100  00 

3iKMi 

4,,500,000  IH) 

1890 

2903 

3.018.400  00 

2977 

2,097,400  00 

'Leases,  and  all  deeds  for  the  county,  included. 
fFor  the  whole  county. 


662 


History  or  thi  Citt  or  Ck>LUMBUs. 


Cost  of  street  improvements  and  of  main  and  lateiml  aeweiB  in  the  city  of  Colambi 
daring  the  years  ended  as  indicated. 


cost  of  strkbt 
impbov'mbnts. 


126,056  38 

110,908  17. 

300,443  20 

83.777  74 

5,108  64 

3.070  00 

12.795  93 

81,756  41 

116,845  42 


COST  op  MAIN  AMD 
LATERAL  8KWBIS. 


I  60.340  64 
11,176  05 
7.099  08 
4.669  60 
1.773  40 
1,182  47 
1.639  86 
2,453  76 
51,089  91 


YEAR 

ENDING 

April 

8. 

1875 

<( 

8, 

1876 

« 

8, 

1877 

i( 

8. 

1878 

i< 

8, 

1879 

«< 

8. 

1880 

March  31 

,1881 

it 

27 

,1882 

({ 

26 

,1883 

cx)st  of  8trbxt 
impbovrm'ntb. 


121.139  76 
100,042  82 
64,921  51 
186,060  22 
453,866  83 
871,563  63 
853,849  25 
796,190  87 
983,158  50 


OQvr  or  MAiv  awd 


253,0M  76 
90,854  85 
21,623  04 
28,470  47 
93.801  94 
63,277  91 
56.386  89 
144,127  26 
111,646  08 


EMDING 


March  31, 1884 

*'  30, 1885 

"  29,  1886 

"  28,  1887 

"  30,  1888 

••  25,  1889 

"  31,1880 

"  30, 1891 

"  23, 1892 


CHAPTER  XXXllI. 


GEOLOGY  AND  GEOGRAPHY. 

BY  EDWARD  ORTON,  LL.  D., 

Professor  of  Geology  in  the  Ohio  State  University  and  State  Geologist  of  Ohio. 

In  the  present  chapter  a  brief  account  will  be  given  of  the  geology  and  physi- 
cal geography  of  Columbus.  Under  the  latter  division  the  topography  and  climate 
of  the  city  will  be  discussed,  and  the  relations  of  both  its  geology  and  geography 
to  its  water  supply,  drainage  and  sewerage  will  also  be  considered. 

GEOLOGY. 

The  geological  history  of  Ohio  is  marked  by  very  little  that  can  be  counted 
unusual  or  surprising  in  character.  There  are  no  mountains  in  the  State  and 
there  never  have  been  any.  This  is  the  same  as  saying  there  is  no  geological 
record  in  its  rocks  of  great  uplifts  or  extensive  fractures  of  the  strata,  involving 
earthquake  and  volcanic  energy,  within  that  portion  of  the  surface  of  the  earth 
which  we  call  Ohio.  On  the  other  hand,  while  the  history  contained  in  the  rocks 
of  the  State  carries  us  back  through  vast  spaces  of  time  and  therefore  covers  great 
changes  in  the  physical  geography,  and  thus  in  the  life  of  the  area  represented,  its 
several  stages  are  connected  with  one  another  in  most  instances  by  almost 
imperceptible  gradations  and  transitions,  lu  other  words,  the  series  that  com- 
poses our  geological  column  is  a  very  regular  and  orderly  one,  considering  its 
range  and  extent.  But  this  fact  must  not  be  understood  as  implying  that  our  geo- 
logical annals  are  uninteresting  or  unimportant.  On  the  contrary,  the  general 
regularity  of  the  record  enhances  its  value  in  some  respects;  and  in  any  case  we 
may  be  sure  that  no  portion  of  the  earth's  crust  can  be  studied  with  due  care 
and  with  suitable  facilities  without  being  found  replete  with  interest  and  instruc- 
tion. What  we  already  know  of  the  geological  history  of  the  State  makes  for  us 
an  instructive  chapter  of  science;  but  our  strata  will  yield  to  the  students  of 
geology  for  many  centuries  to  come,  materials  which  will  prove  the  basis  of  ever- 
widening  knowledge  and  ever-deepening  interest,  and  in  comparison  with  what 
will  then  be  known  all  that  we  have  hitherto  learned  will  seem  fragmentary  and 
insignificant. 

[663] 


664 


History  of  tbb  City  op  Columbus. 


Geological  time  preceding  the  present  order,  is  divided  into  four  great  divisions 
which  are  named  in  descending  order  as  follows: 

Cenozoic  time^ 
Mesozoio  time, 
Pah'ozoic  time, 
Archaean  time. 

These  divisions  have  all  been  of  vast  duration  according  to  the  measures  that 
we  are  accustomed  to  employ,  but  they  appear  to  have  been  very  unequal  in 
length.  The  oldest  division,  viz.,  the  Archa>n  rocks,  undoubtedly  cover  in  the 
stages  of  their  history  a  much  longer  period  of  time  than  any  of  the  subsequent 
divisions.  Next  to  it  in  duration  is  Paleozoic  time.  An  aggregate  of  not  less  than 
fifty  thousand  feet  of  stratified  rocks  is  credited  to  the  Paleozoic  column  in  North 
America ;  and  probably  no  geologist  would  undertake  to  account  for  the  ^^rowth 
of  this  vast  series  of  formations,  holding  as  they  do  all  the  distinct  records  of 
the  earliest  life  of  the  globe,  without  assigning  many  millions  of  years  to  the 
history. 

All  the  bedded  rocks  of  the  Ohio  scale  belong  to  the  Paleozoic  series.  The 
lowest  of  them  are  found  at  about  the  middle  of  this  series  and  they  extend  nearly 
to  its  summit.  The  Ohio  column  contains  the  following  main  divisions  named  in 
descending  order  : 

Upper  Barren  Measures. 

Upper  Coal  Measures. 
Barron  Measures, 
Ijowor  Coal  Measures, 
Conglomerate  Series. 

Logan  Group. 
Cuyahoga  Shale, 
Berea  Shale, 
Berea  Grit, 
Bedford  Shale. 


Perm  oca  rhon  ifero  us — 
Carboniferous — 


Suhca  rbo 71  ifero  us — 


Devonian — 


Upper  Silurian- 


Ohio  Black  Shale, 

Upper  Helderberg  Limestone, 

Lower  Helderberg  Limestone. 

Niagara  Limestone  and  Shale, 
Clinton  Group, 
Medina  Shale. 


Lower  Sulurian 


Hudson  Kiver  Series, 
Trenton  Limestone. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  in   a  chapter  of  this  character    that   all  of 
these  rocks,  with  the  exception  of  the  Coal  Measures  in  small  part,  are  marine  for- 


Geology  and  Geoqraphy.  665 

mations.     All  are  the  prodacts  of  the  seaB  that  covered  the  area  that  we  now  call 
Ohio,  and  widely  adjacent  territory  as  well. 

Columbus  is  centrally  located  in  the  State  and  it  so  happens  that  the  rocks 
underlying  it  are  found  at  the  middle  of  the  state  column.  The  two  formations 
that  crop  out  within  or  near  its  boundaries  are  the  Upper  Helderberg  limestone 
and  the  Ohio  shale.  Both  are  of  Devonian  ago.  The  former  is  found  in  the  great 
quarries  that  line  the  banks  of  the  banks  of  the  Scioto  within  three  miles  of  the 
Statehouse,  and  the  latter  is  shown  in  many  considerable  outcrops  in  the  northern 
portions  of  the  city.     Bach  of  these  will  be  briefly  described. 

The  Devonian  or  Upper  Helderherg  Limestone. — It  will  be  seen  by  an  inspection 
of  the  column  previously  given  that  the  lowest  or  oldest  portions  of  the  rocks  of 
Ohio  are  limestones.  It  is  also  a  wellknown  fact  that  all  of  these  limestone  forma- 
tions occupy  in  their  outcrops  the  weslern  half  of  the  State.  The  stratum  with 
which  we  arc  now  concerned  is  the  latest  or  highest  of  this  series.  Underneath 
it  limestones  and  limestone  shales  are  to  be  found  without  any  important  inter- 
ruptions for  at  least  twentyfive  hundred  feet.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  con- 
siderable limestone  overlying  it  in  the  series  of  the  State.  It  is  not  only,  therefore, 
the  highest  of  this  particular  series,  but  it  is  also  the  last  of  the  great  limestone 
formations,  so  far  as  our  column  is  concerned. 

Divisions. — The  formation  consists  of  two  distinct  portions,  which  by  some 
would  be  regarded  as  distinct  strata,  a  lower  and  an  upper,  of  about  equal  thick- 
ness. Each  has  a  thickness  of  thirty  to  fort}'  feet,  in  full  section.  The  lower  is 
an  even  bedded  and  fairly  pure  limestone,  suitable  for  lime-production  and  for 
building  stone.  The  upper  consists  of  thin,  shaly  beds  containing  a  considerable 
number  of  flinty  nodules,  in  more  or  less  definite  courses.  When  crushed,  it  serves 
a  good  purpose  as  street  foundations.  This  is  the  only  use  that  has  been  found  for 
it  thus  far.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  hydraulic  cement  could  be  manufactured 
from  some  of  its  beds. 

The  lower  series  is,  by  reason  of  the  service  which  it  has  been  made  to 
answer,  much  the  better  known  of  the  two  divisions.  It  is  this  division  which 
is  recognized  as  Columbus  limestone  and  which  has  been  turned  to  so  large 
account  in  the  building  of  the  city.  The  Statehouse  is  the  most  conspicuous 
example  of  its  use  in  architecture.  The  quarries  have  been  of  great  advantage  to 
Columbus  from  the  beginning.  They  have  furnished  not  only  excellent  founda- 
tions for  all  its  wellbuilt  structures,  but  also  caps,  sills,  threshholds  and  stops  as 
well ;  and  all  the  lime  used  in  the  city  has  been  derived  from  the  same  source  at 
least  until  the  last  eight  or  ten  years.  They  have  also  supplied  in  large  amount 
curbings,  crossings,  flaggings  and  road  metal  for  the  streets  and  walks  of  the  city. 
The  advantages  of  such  a  supply  at  moderate  cost  to  a  rapidly  growing  city  are 
very  great. 

For  a  part  of  these  uses  the  stone  is  well  adapted.  As  far  as  architectural 
effects  are  concerned  ;  in  its  employment  as  a  building  stone  it  is  fairly  satisfactory. 
The  stone  is  gray  in  color.  It  takes  a  certain  amount  of  ornamentation  to  fair 
advantage  and  in  the  matter  of  strength  also  it  meets  all  demands.  But  when  we 
come  to  the  question  of  durability,  which   is  the  most  important  one  that  can  be 


666 


History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 


raised  as  to  a  building  stone,  it  does  not  faro  qaite  as  well.  While  mach  of  the 
stone,  and  inoBtof  it  when  properly  set,  is  moderately  durable,  a  part  of  it  gives 
way  when  exposed  to  the  atmosphere,  as  is  abundantly  illustrated  in  the  State 
Capitol  and  many  other  structures  in  the  city.  It  does  not  avail  us  to  say  that 
the  beds  are  not  all  equally  liable  to  disintegration.  While  this  is  strictly  true, 
the  products  of  the  entire  quarries  lose  standing  to  some  extent  when  it  is  known 
that  any  of  the  coui'sos  are  untrustworthy.  The  trouble  originates  in  the  fossili- 
ferous  character  of  the  beds,  combined  with  the  fact  that  the  rock  easily  ^ives 
away  along  the  lines  of  fossil  deposit.  The  evil  practice  that  was  follow^ed  in  the 
construction  of  the  Statehousc  of  setting  a  good  deal  of  the  stone  on  ed^  in  what 
are  called  ashlur  courses  is  responsible  for  the  worst  defacement  and  decay  that 
have  taken  place. 

The  quarries  yield  building  stone  of  all  desirable  sizes,  the  coarses  ran^ng 
between  faur  and  sixty  inches  in  thickness.  Platforms  and  columns  eight  to  ten 
feet  in  length  and  of  any  required  breadth  can  be  supplied  without  limit.  The 
columns  at  the  west  front  of  the  iStatehouse  show  the  stone  in  its  most 
imposing  form.  The  bed  composing  the  columns  was  originally  sixty  inches 
thick,  but  for  convenience  the  blocks  were  split  in  the  middle  before  being  laid. 
Under  this  mode  of  treatment  the  stone  will  stand  forever.  Some  of  the  main 
staircases  of  the  capitol  building  also  illustrate  the  strength  and  excellence  of  the 
stone  ill  a  striking  way.  The  steps  are  thrown  out  six  feet  or  more  from  the 
adjacent  wall  without  support  of  any  kind  except  that  which  they  command  in 
the  blocks  of  which  they  form  a  part.  These  are  anchored  securely  in  tho  wall, 
while  their  free  or  unsupported  ends  form  the  stairway. 

For  curbing  and  flaggirig  the  stone  cannot  for  a  moment  compete  with  the 
products  of  the  great  sandstone  quarries  of  Northern  Ohio  which  have  been 
thrown  open  to  us  for  the  last  few  j'cars,  but  in  the  early  setting  in  order  of  the 
city  it  rendered  an  invaluable  service.  While  ihe  city  is  not  obliged  to  rely  on 
these  great  quarries  as  exclusively  as  it  did  in  its  early  days,  the  time  will  never 
come  when  they  can  be  counted  of  small  importance  to  its  growth.  The  lime 
manufactured  from  the  Columbus  stone  is  of  high  quality  and  has  also  rendered 
practical  service  of  great  value  to  the  building  interests  of  the  city.  The  same 
courses  of  tho  quarries  that  are  best  suitel  to  lime  production  are  also  turned  to 
account  on  a  large  scale  as  a  source  of  flux  for  the  blast  furnaces  of  the  Hocking 
Valley. 

(re(flo(jlca1  Jfistory. — Passing  from  consideration  of  the  practical  service  that 
the  column  is  able  to  render,  let  us  briefly  inquire  as  to  its  geological  history.  If 
the  story  of  its  origin  which  it  carries  within  its  own  beds  is  intelligently  followed 
it  is  found  full  of  interest  and  instruction.  The  sheet  of  limestone  that  is  now 
under  discussion  is  part  of  a  widespread  stratum  that  takes  an  important  place  in 
the  geolog}'  of  the  country.  It  can  be  traced  northward  from  Columbus  through 
the  Delaware,  Marion  and  Sandusky  quarries  to  those  of  Lake  Erie^  and  through 
Kelly's  Island  and  Pelec  Island  into  Ontario  arul  Michigan.  Westward  from  Ohio 
t  is  followed  into  Indiana,  thence  southward  to  Kentucky  and  again  westward  to 
Illinois  and  Iowa.     Followed  to  the  eastward  it  is  found  to  attain  a  fine  develop- 


Geology  and  Gbography.  667 

ment  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  Btill  further  eastward  it  has  been  identified  in 
some  of  the  metamorphosed  strata  of  the  New  England  mountains.  The  stratum 
is  everywhere  characterized  through  this  wide  extent  by  an  abundant  and  highly 
interesting  assemblage  of  fossils,  the  representatives  of  the  life  of  the  Devonian 
seas.  The  fossils  are  in  many  cases  excellently  preserved,  and  we  can  learn 
almost  as  much  of  their  structure  as  if  we  had  recent  specimens  to  examine. 

One  of  the  most  striking  groups  of  these  Devonian  fossils  is  the  corals,  which 
are  found  in  great  numbers  and  variety.  They  belong  to  genera  and  families 
that  have  no  near  representative  in  the  present  world,  but  still  their  structure  and 
relutionHhip  arc  not  at  all  obscure.  These  coral  polyps  built  reefs  in  the  old  seas,  and 
their  work  is  often  shown  in  our  quarries  of  Devonian  limestone,  as  distinct  and 
as  well  characterized  as  any  that  can  be  found  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  or  in  the 
South  Pacific  at  the  present  day.  One  reot building  form  in  particular  may  bo 
named  that  apparently  covered  the  floor  of  the  Devonian  sea  for  a  time  through 
its  whole  extent  in  what  wo  call  Ohio.  This  fossil  has  a  distinct  place  in  our 
quarries  and  can  be  always  recognized  when  looked  for  with  due  knowledge.  It 
attains  a  still  finer  development  in  Northern  Ohio.  The  type  specimen  was  taken 
from  our  own  locality  by  a  famous  French  geologist  Verneuil,  who  visited  the 
quarries  under  the  pilotage  of  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant.  He  carried  the  specimen  to 
Paris  for  description.  Milne  Edwards  published  the  description,  commemorating 
the  discoverer  by  the  specific  designation,  Eridophyllum  Verneuilianum.  Another 
interesting  section  of  these  ancient  forms  of  life  is  that  of  the  nautiloid  chambered 
shells,  a  group  now  and  for  many  ages  past  wellnigh  extinct.  Its  development  in 
the  Devonian  limestone  was  remarkable,  and  the  shells  of  the  various  genera  and 
species  are  amon^  the  most  striking  of  the  limestone  fossils.  They  are  often  iden- 
tified by  the  quarrymen  as  petrified  ram*s  horns.  This  is  one  of  the  determina- 
tions that  the  quarryman  is  least  willing  to  have  called  in  question.  There  are 
some  things  that  he  knows. 

But  the  crowning  life  of  the  period  which  we  are  describing  was  that  of  fishes. 
For  many  years  it  was  held  that  the  first  appearence  of  vertebrated  animals  in  the 
entire  geological  scale  of  the  country  was  to  be  found  in  rocks  of  this  age.  While 
this  claim  is  no  longer  tenable  by  reason  of  the  discovery  of  undoubted  fish- 
remains  in  lower  levels  in  the  geological  column,  it  is  still  true  that  the  first 
abundant  and  varied  life  of  fishes  that  we  know  must  be  referred,  at  least  for 
this  continent,  to  the  age  of  this  limestone.  The  Columbus  quarries  furnish  strik- 
ing testimony  to  the  abundant  representation  of  this  branch  at  this  time  in  the 
world's  history. 

Immediately  below  the  line  separating  the  upper  and  lower  sections  of  the 
Devonian  limestone,  as  already  described,  a  veritable  bonebed  occurs.  It  is  one  to 
six  inches  in  thickness  and  is  often  composed  in  main  part  of  the  plates,  teeth  and 
bones  of  these  ancient  fishes.  Chemical  analysis  shows  in  selected  portions  of  the 
rock  not  less  than  eighteen  per  cent,  of  phosphate  of  lime.  If  there  were  more  of 
it,  it  would  become  available  as  a  fertilizer.  The  bonebed  was  originally  dis- 
covered by  the  late  Hon.  J.  H.  Klippart,  Secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Agricul- 
ture.    This  thin  stratum  takes  rank  with  the  most  interesting  deposit  of  the  whole 


H68  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

geological  scale  of  Ohio.  A  like  formation  in  the  Ludlow  beds  of  Sn^land  has 
been  made  famous  in  the  geological  literature  of  the  entire  world.  The  Columbus 
stratum  deserves  to  be  much  better  known  than  it  is. 

Without  doubt  the  particular  fossil  that  would  arrest  the  attention  of  the 
untrained  observer  more  readily  than  any  other  to  be  found  in  these  quarries  is 
the  head  or  rather  the  surface  of  the  head  of  one  of  these  old  fishes.  The  quarry- 
men  never  fail,  however  little  observation  they  expend  on  such  matters,  to  notice 
and  save  this  one  fossil.  They  identify  it  promptly  and  with  full  assui*anee  as  a 
turtle.  A  good  head  they  long  ago  learned  to  recognize  as  having  a  distinct  money 
value.  The  market  has  its  fluctuations,  as  it  has  for  the  game  of  the  fields  or  the 
fish  of  the  rivers,  hut  the  old  fish  keeps  well  and  a  purchaser  is  sure  to  find  his  way 
to  it  at  last. 

The  place  in  the  series  in  which  this  fossil  is  found  is  ten  to  twenty  feet  below 
the  bonebed.  It  occurs  in  various  stages  of  preservation  and  it  has  also  considera- 
ble range  in  size.  An  average  speciman  can  be  described  in  general  terms  as  fol- 
lows: The  skull  is  about  eight  inches  long  and  its  breadth  is  rather  more  than 
twothirds  of  the  length.  It  is  covered  by  a  continuous  plate  of  enamel,  the  surface 
of  which  is  thickl}'  set  with  stellate  tubercles.  When  the  enamel  is  wanting  in  the 
specimen,  as  it  generally  is,  the  upper  surface  of  the  skull  is  seen  to  be  composed 
of  polygonal  plates  of  symmetrical  pattern.  The  occipital  bono  has  appended  to 
it  a  prolongation  not  elswhere  known,  according  to  Cope,  which  is  difficult  of 
interpretation  and  which  has  led  many  paleontologists  into  error.  The  eyesockets 
arc  of  large  size  and  are  very  conspicuous.  No  teeth  have  been  found  in  connec- 
tion with  the  cranium  above  described  and  it  is  conjectured  that  the  fish  was  des- 
titute of  teeth.  It  undoubtedly  belongs  to  the  division  of  Ganoids,  the  group 
which  includes  most  of  the  earlier  fishes  of  the  world.  The  group  is  now  wellnigh 
extinct,  but  the  lakes  and  rivers  of  North  America  still  harbor  more  surviving 
representatives  of  it  than  any  other  quarter  of  the  globe.  Among  them  are  the 
sturgeon,  the  garpike  and  the  dog-fish.  The  ancient  fish  that  we  are  now  describing 
is  thought  to  bo  allied  to  the  sturgeon  more  nearly  than  to  any  other  living  form- 
It  is  known  to  science  by  a  name  of  learned  length,  Maeropetalicthys  Sullivanti. 
In  the  specific  designation,  the  geological  work  of  the  earliest  and  most  successful 
cultivator  of  the  science,  in  Columbus,  viz.,  the  late  Joseph  Sullivant,  Esq.,  was 
commemorated.  It  was  by  his  sagacity  and  i)ainstaking  that  a  part  of  the 
admirable  material  brought  to  light  in  the  extensive  workings  of  the  State  quarries 
for  the  stone  used  in  the  building  of  the  Statehouse,  was  saved  to  science. 

The  quarries  of  Coliiinbus  have  already  heeome  classical  ground  to  the  geol- 
ogist by  reason  of  such  fossils  and  groups  of  fossils  as  have  been  already  named 
and  there  are  scores  of  others  that  j)()ssess  a  similar  interest.  While  much  study 
has  already  been  devoted  to  them,  they  will  continue  to  furnish  attractive  fields 
for  geological  investigation  for  many  generations  to  come.  Some  of  the  condi- 
tions under  which  this  sheet  of  limestone  took  its  origin  can  be  inferred  with  ail 
confidence  from  the  contents  and  composition  of  tlie  formation.  In  the  first  place, 
the  character  of  the  fossils  contained  in  it  demonstrates  conclusively  that  it  grew 
beneath  the  open  sea.     Some  of  the  formations  of  the  Ohio  column  give  evidence 


Geolooy  and  Geography.  669 

that  they  originated  in  isolated  and  contracting  seas  that  were  on  the  whole 
unfriendly  to  life.  The  Lower  Helderbcrg  limestone,  which  directly  precedes  the 
Columbus  limestone  in  time,  or  in  other  words  which  underlies  it,  is  a  formation 
of  this  character.  It  contains  fossils  but  sparingly  and  what  there  are,  are  of 
peculiar  type.  Moreover,  beds  of  gypsum  and  occasionally  of  salt  are  inter- 
bedded  with  the  dolomitic  layers  that  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  formation.  The 
Upper  Helderberg  or  Columbus  limestone,  on  the  other  hand,  when  examined  in 
its  upper  or  more  characteristic  portion,  is  crowded  with  those  forms  of  ancient 
life  that  arc  most  distinctive  of  the  sea,  such  as  crinoids,  corals,  brachiopods  and 
molluscan  shells.  Wherever  these  are  found  no  question  in  regard  to  the  condi- 
tions in  which  they  originated  can  be  raised.  The  composition  of  the  limestone 
affords  testimony  also,  as  to  the  general  conditions  under  which  it  originated.  The 
Lower  Helderberg,  the  underlying  formation,  as  has  just  been  stated,  is  a  true 
dolomite  or  double  carbonate  of  lime  and  magnesia;  and  the  lowest  beds  of  the 
Upper  Helderberg  are  highly  magnesian  in  character,  but  they  are  found  to 
change  rapidly  in  this  respect  as  we  rise  in  the  scale,  the  percentage  of  lime 
increasing  at  the  expense  of  the  magnesia  until  in  the  uppermost  twelve  to  fifteen 
feet  of  the  formation  the  rock  reaches  an  average  of  ninety  to  ninetysix  per  cent, 
of  carbonate  of  lime.  The  facts  as  to  the  composition  of  the  series  caa  be  shown 
in  tabular  form  as  follows  : 


Carbonate  of  Lime, 

• 

Carbonate  of  Magnesia, 

Upper  Helderberg 

1. 

Highest, 

96  per  cent. 

2  per  cent. 

Limestone. 

2. 

Middle, 

81  per  cent. 

16  per  cent. 

Limestone. 

3. 

Middle, 

64  per  cent. 

34  per  cent. 

Limestone. 

4. 

Lowest, 

55  per  cent. 

41  per  cent. 

Lower  Helderberg 

Limestone. 

53  per  cent. 

43  per  cent. 

Figures  like  these  seem  to  mark  the  progressive  change  from  an  isolated  basin 
of  salt  water  to  the  open  sea. 

These  facts  lead  us  back  to  a  recognition  of  some  of  the  physical  conditions 
which  prevailed  in  this  part  of  the  world  at  the  time  when  this  rock  was  in  pro- 
cess of  formation ;  in  other  words,  they  lead  us  back  to  a  recognition  of  the 
physical  geography  of  this  part  of  Ohio  at  this  early  time.  This,  it  may  be 
remarked,  is  the  end  and  aim  of  geological  science.  When  it  has  restored  the 
physical  geography  of  any  part  of  the  earth's  surface  for  the  time  of  which  it 
treats  with  all  that  this  description  properly  involves,  its  work  can  be  counted 
accomplished.  A  few  points  under  this  head  we  are  able  to  deduce  from  the  facts 
already  given.  1.  The  sea  floor  of  this  general  region  was  undergoing  a  slow  sub- 
sidence at  the  time,  allowing  free  access  of  the  open  sea  to  what  had  been  a  shal- 
low and  isolated  basin  before.  The  rate  is  attested  by  the  gradual  change  in  the 
percentage  of  lime  and  niagnesia,  and  also  by  the  want  of  fractures  or  faults 
in  the  strata.  2.  While  free  connection  was  established  between  this  region  and 
the  open  sea,  the  Upper  Helderberg  limestone  was  deposited  in  very  shallow 
water.     This  is  proved  by  the  occurrence  of  the  impressions  of  seaweeds  in  many 


670  History  of  the  City  ov  Columbus. 

of  its  couTHCB  and  by  occuRional  ripple  marks  upon  their  surface.  The  latter  are, 
however,  rare  and  exceptional.  3.  The  conditions  of  this  sea  were  most  favorable 
to  life.  IlH  watern  were  of  tropical  warmth,  as  we  know  from  the  fact  that  eoralH 
and  crinoids  ^^row  only  in  such  temperatures.  The  waters  were  clear,  as  we  know 
from  the  same  sort  of  testimony,  and  also  from  the  remarkable  purity  of  the  lime- 
Htone.  No  sand  or  sediments  are  found  in  them.  No  more  genial  conditions  in 
fact,  can  be  shown  in  any  porlion  of  our  entire  column  than  those  which  prevailed 
at  that  time.  On  the  floor  of  this  clear  and  tropical  sea  all  the  life  of  the  age  was 
wonderfully  developed.  Coral  reef  alternated  with  crinoid  bed^  and  the  interven- 
\npr  spaces  were  crowded  with  chambered  shells,  a  group  abuodant  then  but  now 
verging  to  extinction,  and  also  with  univalves  and  bivalves  of  familiar  types.  One 
living  genus,  at  least,  in  each  division  is  represented  in  our  lists  of  fossils.  There 
was  a  time  in  which  fishes  swarmed  in  such  numbers  in  this  shallow  sea  that  thev 
almost  monopolized  its  waters.  The  teeth,  plates,  and  bones  of  successive  genera- 
tions as  they  grew  and  finally  perished  there  paved  the  floor  of  the  sea  over  wide 
areas.  The  six  inches  of  the  bonebed  already  described  stand  for  a  long  period  of 
accumulation. 

Afler  this  highly  fossiliferous  portion  of  the  series,  which  terminated  in 
the  bonebed,  was  completed,  a  change  came  in  the  conditions  prevailing  here  which 
it  is  easy  to  follow.  There  was  a  wholesale  destruction  of  the  abundant  life  that  has 
been  already  pointed  out,  brought  about  by  a  reelevation  of  the  seafloor  immecli- 
ately  to  the  southward.  Sediments  were  now  brought  in  which  destroyed  the 
varied  fauna  previously  existing  and  they  also  forbade  the  introduction  of  any  new 
forms  of  life.  Two  or  three  of  the  hardier  species  survived  and  are  occasionallv 
preserved  in  the  shaly  and  flinty  bods  which  make  a  part  of  this  series.  The  sur- 
faces of  the  latter  show  the  abundant  presence  of  seaweeds.  The  flinty  bands  were 
doubtless  organic  in  origin  and  they  stand  for  a  considerable  development  of 
life  of  which  we  have  few  distinct  traces.  The  shaly  beds  show  the  characteristics 
here  described  only  in  this  portion  of  the  territory.  To  the  northward,  beds 
occupying  the  same  place  in  the  series  become  the  bluestone  of  Delaware,  Marion, 
and  Sandusky,  a  series  of  some  economic  importance  as  a  source  of  building  stone. 

With  this  series  the  great  limestone  formations  of  Ohio  come  to  an  abrupt  ter- 
mination. They  had  been  growing  for  vast  periods  of  time  on  the  floor  of  an 
interior  sea,  a  sea  which  continues  in  a  dwarfed  representative  even  to  our 
own  day  and  which  we  know  as  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  world  was  moving 
through  long  and  peaceful  cycles,  with  far  more  uniformity  of  condition  and 
far  less  indication  of  change  than  belong  to  our  own  day.  And  yet  through  all 
these  tranquil  ages  change  was  always  coming.  Species  were  being  modified: 
some  that  were  once  abundant  in  the  sea  grew  rare  and  finally  disappeared  and  new 
forms  came  in  from  time  to  time,  from  distant  stations,  perhaps,  that  multiidied 
rapidly  and  filled  the  sea  in  their  turn.  Occasionally  certain  structural  changes 
intervened,  as  the  lowering  or  elevation  of  portions  of  the  seafloor;  and  these  physi- 
cal clianges  are  always  correlated  with  changes  in  the  life  of  the  district  affected. 
The  dividing  lines  between  our  formations  are  due  to  such  causes. 


Geology  and  GEooaAPUY.  671 

The  Ohio  Black  Shale, — Tho  black  shalo  which  directly  underlies  the  series 
already  described  is  in  reality  a  more  characteristic  and  important  element  in  the 
geology  of  Columbus  than  is  the  better  known  limestone.  It  occurs  in 
extensive  outcrops  in  the  northern  portions  of  the  city,  and  is  but  thinly  covered  by 
drifLbeds  in  other  considerable  areas,  as  for  example,  from  Fifth  Avenue  north- 
ward and  eastward.  It  therefore  directly  influences  the  topography,  drainage  and 
water  supply  of  the  city  to  a  small  extent,  whereas  the  limestone  is  without  influence 
in  these  respects  except  in  its  westernmost  boundaries. 

From  several  points  of  view,  the  Ohio  shale  is  an  important  formation.  On 
first  inspection,  as  shown  in  Central  Ohio,  it  would  be  pronounced  as  indeed  it  has 
been,  an  undivided  and  simple  formation,  but  when  properly  underjstood,  it  is 
found  to  be  quite  complex.  From  its  lowest  beds  to  its  highest  it  proves  the 
equivalent  in  age  of  the  whole  or  a  part  of  four  or  five  strata  that  are  distinct  and 
important  members  of  the  geological  column  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  The 
formations  referred  to  are  the  Hamilton,  Genesee,  Portage,  Chemung  and  Catskill. 
In  its  outcrops  in  Ohio  it  has  a  thickness  of  250  to  350  feet,  but  as  it  is  followed 
under  cover  to  the  eastward,  by  records  of  deep  wells,  it  is  found  to  be  not  less 
than  ten  times  as  thick.  In  distribution  it  has  a  very  wide  range.  From  Ohio  it 
stretches  northward  into  Canada  and  Michigan,  westward  into  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
southward  into  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  the  Virginias,  and  eastward  into  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  York.  Doctor  Newberry  made  a  threefold  division  of  the  shale 
in  Ohio,  basing  the  divisions  on  color  and  naming  them  respectively  the  Huron, 
Erie  and  Cleveland  shales.  The  first  and  last  divisions  were  described  as  black 
shales  and  the  middle  division  as  a  greenish-blue  shale.  But  it  is  impossible  to 
hold  to  these  divisions  in  the  State  at  large,  for  there  are  no  markings  by  which 
they  can  be  sharply  or  definitely  separated  from  one  another.  Neither  physical 
tests  nor  fossils  suffice  for  this  end  as  yet,  but  a  division  will  some  day  be  effected, 
afler  all,  in  this  interesting  series.  In  composition  the  formation  consists  exclu- 
sively of  finegrained  material,  silicious  clay  making  the  great  bulk  of  the  stratum 
everywhere.  But,  as  its  color  indicates,  it  also  contains  a  notable  percentage  of 
organic  matter.  This  makes  eight  to  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  substance  of  the 
blackest  portions  of  the  shale.  The  outcrops  of  the  shale  occasionally  take  fire  by 
accidental  means  in  dry  seasons  and  the  burning  goes  on  in  the  beds,  sometimes 
for  weeks  and  months  at  a  time.  The  shale  contains  a  considerable  quantity  of 
iron  pyrites,  or  fool's  gold,  distributed  through  it,  for  the  most  part  in  nuggets  or 
concretions  of  various  size,  but  sometimes  in  thin  sheets.  Part  of  the  sulphide  of 
iron  is  in  a  form  that  decays  easily  when  exposed  to  the  air.  As  it  weathers  it 
forms  copperas.  The  weathering  shale  also  contains  sulphate  of  lime,  or  gypsum,  in 
small  quantity,  which  is  formed  through  the  agency  of  the  decomposing  sulphide. 

Fossils,  —  Two  years  ago  a  very  short  chapter  would  have  suflSced  for  an 
account  of  the  fossils  of  the  Ohio  shale.  The  substance  of  such  a  chapter  would 
have  been  "There  are  no  fossils  in  the  Ohio  shale."  Today  the  case  stands  in  an 
altogether  different  light.  The  fossils  of  the  Ohio  shale  are  now  recognized  as  not 
only  the  most  striking  and  interesting  of  the  geological  scale  of  the  State  by  all 
oddS)  but  as  among  the  most  important  representatives  of  Devonian  life  that  have 


072  History  of  tub  ("ity  of  Columbus. 

yet  boon  discovcrod  anywhero  in  tho  world.  The  loading  formn  are  the  remains  of 
gigantic  fiHhes  of  strange  typo  and  pattern.  Their  massive  skeletons  occur  spread 
out  in  the  shale,  and  since  we  have  learned  where  and  how  to  look  for  them  they 
are  found  in  considorahle  numbers.  Single  bones  are  also  met  with  at  the  hearts 
of  the  great  concretions  that  are  so  characteristic  of  the  shale.  Some  of  tbesM; 
fishoH  must  have  been  fiftoon  to  twenty  feet  in  length.  The  names  by  which  they 
have  been  <lesignated  in  science,  as  lor  example  Titanicthys,  Diniethys  (Titan  fish, 
terrible  fish),  suggest  the  astonishment  they  have  called  forth  in  the  mindM  of  their 
discoverers.  From  the  valley  of  tho  Big  Walnut  near  Central  College  some  of  the 
largest  bones  yet  discovered  in  the  State  have  boon  taken. 

It   is   to   Doctor   Newberry   that  we  owe  most  of  our  knowledge    of  these 
remarkable  fosHils,  so  far  as  their  structure  is  concerned.     The  work  that  he  has 
done  in  describing  them  will  remain  a  lasting  monument  to  his  learning  and 
sagacity.     The  collectors  of  these  fossils  also  deserve  to  be  remembered   in  this 
connection.     First  in  the  list  in  order  of  time  is  Kev.  Herman  Herzer,  a  clergyman 
of  the  German   Methodist  Church,  to  whom  we  owe  tho  original   discovery  of 
Dinicthys.     Tho  first  specimen  was  found  at  Delaware,  in  tho  centre  of  one  of  the 
groat  concretions  of  the  shale,  and  the  thousand    fragments  into  which    it    was 
broken   wore  brought  together  again  in  their  natural  positions  by  Mr.  Herzer, 
but  only  by  the  exorcise  of  considerable  skill  united  with  incredible   patience. 
Jay  Terrell,  Esq.,  of  Oberlin,  comes  next  in  tho  list  of  successful  collectors.      He  has 
made  some  invaluable  additions  to  our  knowledge,  his  finds  coming  mainly  from 
the  shales  of  Avon  Point  and  vicinity  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Brie.      Following 
Mr.  Terrell  in   his  order  of  entrance  upon  this  work,  Doctor  William  Clark  of 
Beroa  is  next  to  be  mentioned.     Tho  additions  which  he  has  made  to  our  materials 
for  study  in  this  most  interesting  division  perhaps  outrank  all  other  collections 
combined  in  intrinsic  value.     Part  of  the  material  above  referred  to  was  described 
by  Doctor  Newberry  in  the  volumes  of  Ohio  Paleontology;  but  a  later  and  more 
complete  account  has  been  published  by  the  same  author  in  tho  Monograph  Series 
of  the  United  States  Geological  Reports,  Volume  XII. 

These  gigantic  fishes  excepted,  there  are  very  few  conspicuous  animal  fossils 
to  be  found  in  the  shale  series.  In  some  portions  of  it  tho  brachiopod  shells  of 
Lingula  and  Dincina  occur,  strown  thickly  over  the  surface  of  the  beds.  But 
there  are  parts  of  the  formation,  a  hundred  feet  thick  in  a  single  section,  in  which 
the  closest  inspection  fails  to  reveal  any  animal  remains  except  those  of  micros- 
copic. Among  the  latter  we  must  not  omit  to  mention  the  hexactinellid,  or  six- 
rayed  sponges.  Their  spines  have  been  known  for  several  years,  but  during  the 
last  summer  a  massive  cast  of  one  of  the  sponge  colonies  was  found  in  Fishes 
quarries  on  Fifth  Avenue.  It  is  somewhat  difl'erent  with  regard  to  vegetable 
fossils.  Blocks  of  silicified  wood  are  more  widely  distributed  through  the  shale 
than  the  great  fishbones;  while  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  strapshaped  forms  of 
vegetable  origin  a  foot  or  two  in  length  on  the  surface  of  the  bods.  These  forms 
suggest  their  reference  to  the  family  of  the  scovving  rushes  or  calamities,  but  the 
reference  is  not  unquestioned.  Sometimes,  though  rarely,  the  impression  of  tree 
trunks  of  lepidodendroid  type,  a  score  or  more  feet  in  length,  are  met  with.      The 


v'/./. 


C^d^^-tt.'-iS^'L..^     Cf  ^^^-^^-z 


•  •  • 
_  « 


GeOLOgV   and   GEOGRAPHTf.  673 

blocks  of  wood  referred  to  above  are  the  most  common  of  these  vegetable  fossils. 
Excellent  specimens  are  frequently  found  within  the  limits  of  the  city.  They 
sometimes  occur,  like  the  fishes  already  described,  as  the  nuclei  of  the  symmetrical 
concretions  which  abound  in  the  shale.  The  wood  when  examined  in  thin  sec- 
tions under  the  microscope  proves  exceedingly  interesting.  It  belongs  to  an 
extinct  group  of  coniferous  trees.  The  rings  of  annual  growth  are  clearly  recog- 
nizable in  the  wood  and  they  appear  to  show  a  division  of  the  year  even  at  this 
early  time  into  seasons  of  growth  and  rest,  as  at  present.  Several  distinct  species 
of  woods  hav.e  already  been  described  on  the  basis  of  their  microscopic  structure. 
Most  of  our  specimens  fall  under  Dawson's  genus,  Dadoxylon,  but  Knowlton 
has  recently  found  some  of  them  to  be  Auracarioxylon. 

Concretions. — The  remarkable  forms  known  as  concretions,  which  occur  abun- 
dently  throughout  the  entire  shale  series,  have  been  repeatedly  referred  to  in  the 
preceding  discussion.  They  are  sure  to  attract  the  attention  of  oven  the  least 
observant.  They  are  brought  as  curiosities  from  the  ravines  where  they  are  found 
into  dooryards;  they  are  employed  as  hitching  blocks,  or  built  into  columns,  and 
in  all  these  ways  they  demonstrate  the  fact  that  nobody  can  pass  them  by  without 
notice.  As  a  rule  they  are  symmetrical  in  form,  the  most  common  type  being 
that  of  an  oblate  spheroid.*  When  situated  in  the  shale  in  si'^u  the  flattening  of 
the  spheroid  is  seen  to  be  in  the  line  of  the  bedding  of  the  shale.  In  other  words, 
the  shorter  diameter  is  always  perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  the  bedding.  Some- 
times they  differ  but  little  from  the  form  of  spheres  and  sometimes  they  are  flat- 
tened out  into  discoidal  shapes.  In  size  they  show  a  wide  range,  their  diameters 
varying  from  five  or  six  inches  to  five  or  six  feet.  In  fact  the  extreme  figures  wiK 
divide  or  double  even  the  ones  above  given,  but  the  cases  in  which  blocks  more 
than  six  feet  in  diameter  occur  are  rare.  In  composition  they  exhibit  some  diver- 
sity. They  can  be  said  in  general  to  consist  of  compounds  of  iron  and  lime  with 
which  a  few  other  substances  are  occasionally  associated.  The  iron  occurs  largely 
as  carbonate  (siderite)  but  sometimes  as  sulphide  (pyrite  or  marcasite).  When 
the  iron  weathers,  hydrated  peroxide  results,  and  this  is  the  most  common 
mode  of  the  occurrence  of  the  concretions  in  the  surface  deposits  of  the  city. 
When  a  heavy  block  of  stone  covered  an  inch  deep  with  iron  rust  is  found  in  an 
excavation  in  the  city,  it  is  next  to  certain  that  a  decomposing  concretion  is  in 
hund.  The  lime  exists  as  carbonate.  Silica,  barite  and  celestite  are  occasionally 
found  in  the  interior  of  the  concretions.  Fluorite  has  also  been  reported.  As 
indicated  by  the  last  sentence,  the  interiors  of  the  concretions  are  frequently  crys- 
talized.  Calcite  is  the  most  common  element  here,  but  with  it  the  substances  named 
above  are  associated  when  they  are  present.  The  calcite  of  the  concretions  has  a 
very  characteristic  appearance.  It  is  distinctly  crystallized  and  has  a  dark  brown 
or  almost  black  color.  No  other  known  mode  of  its  occurrence  is  likely  to  be  con- 
founded with  this.  The  color  is  due  to  presence  of  bituminous  matter.  The  cen- 
ters of  the  concretions  often  show  hollow  spaces  of  a  few  cubic  inches  in  dimen- 
sion. Sometimes  a  small  quantity  of  petroleum  is  found  here,  and  sometimes  also 
asphaltic  grains  are  associated  with  the  crystals. 
43 


m^ 


674  History  <>f  the  City  of  Columbus. 

How  are  these  concretioiift  formed?  What  explanation  can  be  given  of  their 
origin?  The  amount  of  interest  which  these  symmetrical  and  unusual  bodies 
inspire  can  bo  measured  very  well  by  the  frequency  with  which  the  questions 
above  given  are  asked.  One  can  scarcely  enter  into  a  conversation  upon  the 
geology  of  Franklin  County  with  any  person  of  ordinary  observation,  "without 
being  interrupted  after  a  little  with  questions  of  this  character.  In  attempting  a 
partial  explanation  of  these  formations,  a  few  facts  that  have  been  already  stated 
will  be  recalled.  One  of  these  facts  is  that  the  great  bony  plates  of  the  fishes  of 
the  shale  are  often  found  at  the  centers  of  the  concretions.  Another  fact  is  that 
fossil  wood  otlen  has  a  like  situation.  And  still  another  fact  in  the  same  connec- 
tion can  be  profitably  recalled,  viz.,  the  occasional  occurrence  of  petroleum  or 
asphalt  in  the  central  portions  of  the  concretions.  A  fourth  fact  my  be  added, 
viz.,  that  the  black  bituminous  calcite  that  is  so  frequently  found  at  the  centres  of 
the  concretions  is  sometimes  found  also  in  fossil  wood.  Partof  what  was  originally 
a  bloi'k  of  woo<l  has  been  converted  in  such  a  case  into  this  black  calcite,  while 
surrounding  portions  of  the  sanie  fnigment  are  silicified  and  retain  all  the  cell 
markings  of  the  original  growth.  It  seems  safe,  therefore,  to  conclude  that  all  of 
the  hlack  calcite  has  this  mode  of  origin. 

In  the  light  of  these  facts  it  is  probably  safe  to  say  that  all  of  the  concretions 
of  the  shale  originally  had  organic  nuclei.     This  is  about  the  same  as  laying  that 
some  fragment  of  an  animal  or  a  plant  lodged  in  the  shale  by  ordinary  agencies  is 
the  cause  of  the  formation  of  the  concretion.     Invariable  association  would  carry 
with  it  the  idea  of  cause,  under  these  circumstances.     The  question  returns,  how 
do  these  organic  nuclei  accomplish  this  work?    The  answer  is  by  means   of  the 
organic  acids  to  which  they  give  rise  in  their  decomposition,  or  by  means  of  the 
carbonic  acid  into  which  all  these  organic  acids  soon  fall.     A  wide  range  of  solvent 
power  belongs  to  these  organic  acids.      They   are,   however,  energetic  in  their 
attacks  on  iron,  lime  and  silica,  for  which,  indeed,  they  are  the  proper   solvents. 
All  of  these  substances  are  rendered  freely  soluble  in  their  presence.     According 
to  this  view  the  organic  fragment  is  buried  in  the  shale,  at  least  a  few  feet  deep, 
on  the  old  sea  floor ;  decomposition  goes  forward  and  petroleum  may  result,  on  the 
one  side,  but  probably,  in  sparing  quantity ;  on  the  other  side  the  organic   acids 
are  set  free  in  abundant  amount  and  are  blended  with   the  water  that  surrounds 
the  fragment.     Wherever  these  acids  are  difl^used, —  above,  below,  on   the   right 
hand  and  on  the  left,  they  dissolve  the  iron  and  lime  of  the  shale  and  the  silica  iu 
part,  and  these  substances,  one  or  all,  descend,  or  ascend,  or  migrate,  along  these 
radial  lines,  towards  the  centre  from  which  the  disturbing  agency  proceeds.      The 
silica  is  quite  likely  to  reach  and  replace  the  wood  itself,  though  sometimes   the 
structure  will  be  lost  in  part.     As  we  have  already  seen,  bituminous  calcite  some- 
times  divides  with  the  silica  the  space  where  the  wood  lay,  but  it  never  retains  the 
vegetable  structure. 

A  hone  exerts  a  similar  agency  to  that  of  the  block  of  wood,  but  it  does  not 
itself  suffer  complete  replacement  as  the  latter  does.  Its  organic  matter  is  lost,  but 
tlie  phosphate  of  lime  remains  in  great  part  as  it  was.  In  concretions  in  which 
the  sulphide  of  iron  is  prominent,  it  would  seem  probable  that  the  nucleus  was  of 


Geoloay  and  Geography.  675 

animal  origin,  for  the  reason  that  sulphur  is  found  in  much  larger  quantities  in 
animal  structures  than  in  plants.  It  must  be  added  that  the  organic  nucleus  often 
disappears  altogether  in  this  process,  especially  if  it  is  of  a  vegetable  matter.  Its 
former  presence  is  in  such  cases  indicated  by  black  calcite,  petroleum  or  asphalt 

The  answer  to  the  question,  how  were  concretions  formed,  is  according  to  this 
view  as  follows  :  They  result  from  the  deposition  around  an  organic  nucleus,  of 
carbonate  of  iron  and  also  of  silica  and  a  few  other  minerals,  all  of  which  were  set 
free  from  the  surrounding  rock  by  the  action  of  the  acids  that  wore  formed  in  the 
decomposition  of  the  nucleus.  This  answer,  it  may  be  added,  is  in  substantial 
harmony  with  the  facts  that  we  have  lately  learned  as  to  the  growth  of  concretions 
of  manganese,  silica  and  iron  that  are  now  in  progress  of  formation  on  the  floor 
of  the  deep  seas. 

Petroleum  and  Gas. — The  Ohio  black  shale  has  always  been  noted  as  a  source 
of  weak  oil  and  gas  springs  which  occur  along  its  outcrop.  The  formation  is  given 
to  ^^  surface  indications^''  and  during  the  last  few  years  in  the  eager  search  that 
has  gone  on  for  these  snbstai  ces,  it  has  raised  in  half  a  dozen  states  a  great 
many  hopes  and  expectations  that  it  was  unable  to  fulfill.  What  is  the  source  of 
these  bituminous  substances  that  are  found  universally  distributed  throughout  the 
formation  wherever  it  occurs?  In  answering  the  question,  petroleum  and  gas  do 
not  need  to  be  treated  separately  and  independently.  Petroleum  comes  first  in 
the  order  of  nature  and  is  easily  decomposed  into  the  simpler  body,  natural  gas. 
When  oxidized  by  exposure  to  the  air  it  turns  into  maltha  or  tar,  and  finally  into 
asphalt.  The  origin  of  petroleum  in  the  black  shale  is  unquestionably  due  to  the 
decomposition  of  organic  matter  that  was  deposited  in  the  shale  contemporane- 
ously with  its  accumulation.  The  occasional  presence  of  petroleum  in  the  concre. 
tions  of  the  shale  has  already  been  noticed  and  has  been  connected  with  the 
decomposition  of  the  organic  nuclei,  at  least  as  a  possibility.  But  do  we  find 
organic  matter  that  suggests  or  offers  a  source  for  the  petroleum  that  occurs  in 
every  foot  of  the  shale  from  top  to  bottom  of  the  formation  ?  Unquestionably  we 
do.  The  five  to  fifteen  per  cent,  of  organic  matter  that  colors  all  the  darker  por- 
tions of  the  shale  certainly  prove  an  abundant  supply  of  organic  matter  in  its 
formation.  What  was  the  character  of  this  organic  matter?  From  what  source 
was  it  derived?  The  microscope  comes  to  our  aid.  We  find  many  portions  of 
the  shale  crowded  with  beautifully  preserved  spores  of  ancient  sea-weeds,  and  this 
fact  gives  full  support  to  Newberry's  suggestion  that  the  black  shale  sea  was  a 
sargasso  sea;  or,  in  other  words,  a  sea  the  surface  of  which  was  heavily  mantled 
with  marine  vegetation,  the  decaying  fragments  of  which  found  their  way  to  the 
bottom  and  became  incorporated  with  the  silicious  clay  that  distant  rivers  were 
bringing  in. 

We  are  sure  that  the  petroleum  of  the  shale  is  not  the  result  of  volcanic  heat 
or  of  any  high  temperatures  that  have  affected  the  formation.  There  are  no  traces 
of  the  disturbance  or  the  mineral  change  that  such  factors  would  necessitate.  It 
is  certain  that  no  high  temperatures  have  taken  part  in  the  history.  We  are 
therefore  shut  up  to  the  conclusion  that  organic  matter  can  pass  directly  by  a 
peculiar  form   of  decomposition  into  petroleum.     Nor   is  the    art  a  lost  one  in 


mmmmt^mmmm^mma^mi^m^mtm^^^^^mmmm,^^m^m^^^m^^ki^tia 


G7U  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Nature.  Petroleum  is  forining  now;  and  the  last  geological  age  is,  in  fact,  the 
most  prolific  in  its  production  of  these  bituminous  substances  of  any  in  the  entire 
scale.  The  organic  matter  of  the  shale  passed  through  a  series  of  cbanp^es  of 
which  petroleum  was  at  least  one  of  the  products.  IIow  could  it  be  retained  and 
preserved  in  the  shale?  This  question  can  be  easil}*  answered.  Clay  has  the 
property  of  absorbing  oil.  If  the  oil,  when  generated,  had  floated  on  the  'water, 
it  wouhl  have  been  absorbetl  by  the  fine  clay  that  was  diffused  through  the 
sea  and  ivould  in  time  have  sunk  with  it  to  the  seafioor  in  the  form  that  we  find 
it  now,  viz.,  a  petroliferous  clay.  When  the  formation  rises  to  the  Hurfaee  in  the 
accidents  of  its  geological  history  this  original  stock  is  by  slow  exchaii/B^e8  with 
water  descending  from  the  surface,  brought  out  in  the  feeble  oil  springs  to  which 
reference  has  already  been  made.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  oil  or  gas 
are  forming  from  their  elements  now.  The  world  is  old  and  there  has  been  time 
enough  and  to  spare  for  the  full  operation  of  all  chemical  forces.  The  black  shale 
is  not  in  its  outcrops  an  important  source  of  eitiier  oil  or  gas  in  Ohio;  its  output  is 
always  small ;  but  in  no  division  of  our  scale  can  the  law  of  the  formation  of  these 
substances  be  studied  to  better  advantage  than  here. 

Wiffer  Suppfy.  —  As  will  be  inferred  from  statements  already  made,  the  black 
shale  is  not  a  generous  source  of  underground  water.  It  resists  the  entrance  of 
surface  water  and  no  formation  can  be  expected  to  give  what  it  does  not  contain. 
The  wells  and  springs  that  depend  on  the  shale  have  as  a  rule  a  scanty  and  highly 
mineralized  supply.  They  are  generally  rank  with  iron  and  often  reek  v^ith 
sulphurated  hydrogen.  Toward  the  base  of  the  formation  and  where  the  shale 
comes  in  contact  with  the  limestone,  outflows  are  sometimes  obtained,  but  even 
here  they  are  generally  counted  mineral  springs. 

Soils.  —  The  soils  derived  from  the  weathering  of  the  shales  are  marked  by 
peculiar  features.  Where  the  decomposition  has  gone  on  to  its  furthest  point, 
a  stubborn  blue  clay  is  the  residue;  but  generally  the  clay  is  physically  lijj^htened 
to  a  considerable  extent  by  flakes  and  fragments  of  shale  distributed  through  it. 
These  soils  are  fairly  well  adapted  to  some  varieties  of  forest  growth,  as  the  chest- 
nut, the  chestnut  oak  and  the  swamp  Spanish  oak,  and  also  to  fruit  trees  and 
vines;  but  they  do  not  produce  the  firmer  and  more  valuable  woods,  and  the  soils 
derived  from  them  are  on  the  whole  poorly  adapted  to  grass  and  grain. 

One  source  of  economic  value  in  the  shales  remains  to  be  named.  It  gives 
rise  to  clays  which,  if  not  fitted  to  become  fertile  soils,  furnish  an  excellent  basis 
for  certain  clay  manufactures.  These  clays  can  be  made  into  as  good  sewer  pipe 
as  the  State  affords,  and  this  is  the  same  as  saying  as  good  as  can  anywhere  be 
found.  They  can  also  be  burned  in  building  brick  and  paving  blocks  to  excellent 
advantage.  The  uses  of  the  clays  derived  from  the  weathering  shale  are  only  in 
their  infancy  us  yet.  These  clays  cannot  fail  to  become  of  more  economical 
importance  to  the  city  than  they  are  now  counted. 

Geoloyical  History.  —  In  concluding  this  description  of  the  shale  series  a  few 
words  may  be  devoted  to  its  geology  proper.  The  junction  or  contact  of  two 
distinct  formations  is  always  an  interesting  point  for  geological  study.  One 
chapter  of  the  record  ends  and  a  new  one  begins  at  such  lines  of  contact.      If  the 


*  Geology  and  Geography.  677 

formations  differ  in  character  to  a  marked  decree,  an  equally  marked  change  in 
the  physical  geography  of  the  two  periods  is  necessarily  inferred.  There  is  not  a 
sharper  contrast  in  the  Ohio  scale  than  that  which  the  two  great  formations  now 
described  exhibit  when  their  line  of  contact  is  found.  For  reasons  presently  to  be 
given  these  exposed  contacts  are  rare  in  the  vicinity  of  Columbus.  The  best  one 
known  is  found  six  miles  northwest  of  the  city,  near  the  mouth  of  Slate  linn  in 
Perry  Township.  The  limestone  is  here  seen  to  be  overlain  sharply  but  com- 
formably  by  shale  beds.  The  boundary  is  as  distinct  as  a  chalk  line  on  a  black- 
board. There  is  no  appearance  of  a  lost  interval,  such  as  an  eroded  surface  of  the 
limestone  would  show,  but  nevertheless  the  change  in  the  character  of  the 
deposits  is  abrupt.  On  the  boundary  the  drill  would  show  eight  hundred  feet  of 
fossiliferous  limestone  beds  with  scarcely  a  single  interruption.  These  beds 
belong  to  four  distinct  formations,  each  of  which  is  characterized  by  its  own  forms 
of  life.  In  other  words,  each  of  these  divisions  comprised  in  its  own  time  what 
we  called  a  creation,  as  orderly  and  tranquil  in  its  progress  as  our  own.  Above 
the  boundary,  occur  a  few  feet,  not  more  than  three  or  four  at  most,  of  impure 
and  flinty  limestone,  and  then  the  shale  begins  with  all  its  characteristics  fully 
shown  at  the  start.  Its  microscopic  fossils,  its  fossil  wood  and  its  concretions  are 
all  found  in  their  most  characteristic  state  within  ten  feet  of  the  base;  and  from 
this  point  upward  the  formation  rises  without  important  change  for  three  hundred 
or  three  thousand  feet,  according  to  the  locality  at  which  the  section  is  measured. 
Below  the  boundary,  the  rocks  consist  of  carbonate  of  lime  more  or  less  pure,  and 
they  contain  in  great  abundance  marine  fossils  of  all  the  usual  types  of  the  time 
which  they  represent.  Above  the' boundary,  silicious  shales,  blackened  by  organic 
matter  and  containing  a  scarely  recognizable  amount  of  carbonate  of  lime,  com- 
pose tlie  beds,  and  in  them  not  a  single  trace  of  the  life  that  swarms  below  is  found 
The  beds  of  limestone  show  many  indications  of  origin  in  shallow  water.  The 
shale  gives  no  hint  of  an  adjacent  shore  line  in  its  wide  extent. 

What  inferences  are  wo  warranted  in  drawing  from  these  facts  as  to  the  con- 
ditions under  which  the  shale  was  formed?  We  have  almost  everything  to  learn 
as  to  the  history,  but  one  or  two  points  can  be  counted  settled.  1.  The  shale  was 
formed  in  a  period  of  widespread  depression  of  seafloors  previously  shallow  and  of 
some  previously  existing  land  areas.  The  seafloor  sunk  to  the  southward  and 
south  westward  especially,  submerging  large  areas  that  had  previously  become  dry 
land.  There  w^as  also  a  deep  and  long  continued  depression  over  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania.  2.  This  deepening  sea  drowned  out  abruptly  the  abundant  life 
that  had  preceded  it  and  thus  put  an  end  to  limestone  growth  over  these  sub- 
merged areas.  3.  The  fine  sand  and  clay  that  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  formation 
were  derived  from  shores  to  the  eastward.  The  materials  grow  coarser  and 
thicker  in  that  direction.  4.  This  sea  was  covered  far  and  wide  with  an  abun- 
dant marine  vegetation,  the  fragments  and  products  of  which  supplied  the  organic 
matter  to  the  formation.  From  the  same  source  the  petroleum  that  the  shales 
contain  is  undoubtedly  derived. 

Over  the  site  of  Columbus  the  shale  originally  extended,  no  doubt,  in  its  full 
thickness  and  perhaps  several  hundred  feet  higher  than  the  present  surface  ;  but 


678  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus.  * 

it  is  easily  eroded  material,  and  atmospheric  agencies  would  be  sure  to  w^aste,  fur- 
row and  degrade  it  at  a  rapid  rate,  wherever  it  was  exposed.  In  the  course  of 
ages  it  was  largely  removed  from  all  the  central  districts  of  the  city,  but  in  the 
high  land  from  Fifth  Avenue  northward  it  is  still  found  as  an  outcropping  rock. 

Driftbeda. — The  two  formations  now  described,  viz.,  the  Devonian  limestone 
and  the  Ohio  shale,  are  the  only  two  rock  formations,  as  this  term  is  ordinarily 
used,  that  take  a  direct  part  in  the  surface  geology  of  Columbus;  but,  as  has  been 
already  shown,  neither  of  them  comes  to  the  surface  in  any  large  way.  To  assign 
to  them  onetenth  of  the  area  of  the  city  would  be  generous.  What  then  consti- 
tutes the  remaining  ninetenths  of  the  snrfacc?  Everyone  is  ready  with  an  answer. 
The  city  is  built  upon  bods  of  clay,  sand  and  gravel  variously  distributed.  Excel- 
lent sections  of  these  beds  are  shown  in  excavations  for  buildings,  for  servers,  for 
wells  and  the  like,  throughout  the  city. 

Boulder  Clay. — In  the  northeastern  quadfant  of  our  area,  as  well  as  in  many 
other  similar  districts,  a  dark  blue,  compact  and  stony  clay  forms  a  universal  man- 
tle. This  clay  is  in  a  large  way  impervious,  but  generally  the  uppermost  ten  to  fifteen 
feet  carry  a  moderate  supply  of  water.  It  becomes  yellow  by  weathering.  It 
bears  no  marks  of  having  been  originally  deposited  in  water.  It  is  unstratified 
and  without  order.  Beds  of  sand  and  gravel  are  also  distributed  irregularly 
through  it.  One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  the  clay  is  the  occurrence  in  it 
of  innumerable  boulders,  small  and  great.  The  largest  of  them  show  surfaces  of 
thirty  or  forty  square  feet  and  weigh  many  tons.  They  are  largely  granitic  in 
character  and  are  strikingly  unlike  any  rocks  that  occur  in  the  geological  scale  of 
Ohio.  The  nearest  locality  where  such  rocks  are  found  in  place  is  the  region 
north  of  the  Great  Lakes.  The  north  shore  of  Lake  Superior  is  composed  of  rock 
masses  of  precisely  the  same  character  as  the  boulders  here  described.  In  the 
central  and  eastern  parts  of  the  city,  they  are  especially  abundant.  Excavations 
for  the  foundations  of  dwellings  near  the  intersection  of  Broad  Street  and  Par- 
sons Avenue,  for  example,  are  sure  to  reveal  the  presence  of  several  largo  boulders 
to  every  square  rod  of  surface. 

These  granite  blocks  are  further  characterized,  in  many  instances,  by  peculiar 
markings.  They  bear  evidence  of  having  been  rubbed  and  scored  in  a  peculiar 
way.  They  are  often  covered  with  parallel  markings  or  striations  on  one 
or  on  several  sides.  These  markings  extend  down  even  to  the  smallest 
fragments  of  these  lost  rocks.  Most  striking  exhibitions  of  this  action  can 
be  observed  wherever  deep  excavations  are  made  in  this  formation  in  the  parts 
of  the  city  that  have  here  been  indicated.  These  beds  of  boulder  clay  constitute 
by  far  the  largest  section  of  tlie  surface  deposits  of  which  we  are  treating.  Con- 
siderable j)ortions  of  them  were  originally  swampy  in  character. 

Next  to  these  clay  deposits  in  amount  must  be  named  the  beds  of  stratified 
sand  and  gravel  which  occur,  in  particular,  in  the  central  and  western  portions  of 
the  city.  They  constitute  the  warmest  and  kindest  soils  and  the  most  desirable 
building  sites  of  the  region,  and  were  therefore  the  first  to  be  occupied  in  the  build- 
ing of  the  city.     Water  is  always  found  in  them  in  abundance  at  a  moderate  depth 


Geology  and  Geography.  679 

and  they  also  afford  effective  natural  drainage.     They  have  something  of  a  terrace- 
like  structure. 

The  river  vallej's  proper  constitute  the  remaining  section  of  these  drifl  deposits? 
but  they  require  no  special  description.  Collectively  these  several  formations  are 
known  as  the  drift,  or  they  are  sometimes  divided  into  the  glacial  drift  and  the 
modified  or  stratified  drift.  How  thick  are  these  drift  beds  within  the  city  limits? 
Unless  we  have  given  special  attention  to  the  facts,  we- are  scarcely  prepared  for 
the  answer  that  must  be  made.  The  average  depth  of  the  drifl  bed  within  the  city 
limits  is  little  if  any  less  than  one  hundred  feet.  The  drill  must  descend  on  the 
average  thus  far  to  reach  the  underlying  shale.  How  came  these  deposits  here,  or 
in  other  words,  what  is  the  history  of  the  drift?  The  answer  is  one  of  the  most 
startling  and  paradoxical  that  the  science  of  geology  is  compelled  to  make  to  any 
of  the  questions  that  come  w^ithin  its  purview.  The  drift  owes  its  origin  to  a 
descent  of  polar  ice  on  a  vast  scale  from  the  region  which  it  now  occupies,  as  far 
south  as  the  fortieth  parallel.  The  northeastern  portion  of  the  North  American 
Continent,  at  the  same  time  with  many  other  northern  regions  of  the  globe,  was 
transformed  for  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  years  into  the  condition  in 
which  Greenland  is  today.  It  was  overrun  by  an  enormous  sheet  of  ice,  a  conti- 
nental glacier,  that  has  its  nearest  counterpart  in  the  great  Greenland  glaciers  of 
the  present,  and  in  the  still  thicker  and  more  extensive  ice  sheet  under  which  the 
Antarctic  continent  lies  buried. 

Of  many  elements  in  the  history  of  the  invasion  of  northern  ice  we  can  make 
ourselves  certain.  At  the  date  of  the  glacial  epoch,  Ohio  had  been  for  a  long  series 
of  ages  a  part  of  the  dry  land  of  the  continent.  It  was  raised  from  beneath  the 
sea,  as  we  have  already  seen,  where  its  beds  were  all  originally  formed,  at  the  end 
of  the  second  great  division  of  the  earth's  history;  and  for  millions  of  years  there- 
after it  stood  exposed  to  the  abrading  agencies  of  the  atmosphere.  Rains  fell 
upon  its  weathered  and  softened  surface  for  untold  centuries  and  the  streams  that 
carried  this  falling  water  away,  wore  by  slow  degrees  their  channels  deep  into 
limestone,  shale  and  sandstone.  Each  of  the  river  systems  of  the  State  carved  its 
drainage  basin  into  a  vast  ramification  of  valleys,  shallow  and  deep,  and  the  few 
remnants  of  the  original  plain  were  left  as  the  hills  and  highlands  of  the  State. 
Over  this  deeply  buried  surface  the  northern  ice  was  gradually  extended.  It 
found  all  portions  of  this  rocky  floor  covered  with  the  products  of  its  own  weath- 
ering in  the  shape  of  soils  and  broken  rocks.  All  this  loose  material  and  much 
more  beside  was  pushed  on  by  and  beneath  the  advancing  ice.  By  this  means 
the  valleys  were  gradually  filled  and  the  entire  surface  of  the  State  that  was  thus 
overrun  was  restored  to  its  original  monotony.  The  vegetable  and  animal  life 
that  were  previously  established  here  were  necessarily  displaced  and  driven  to  the 
open  lands  to  the  southward.  Of  the  forests  that  covered  the  surface  at  this  time  we 
have  abundant  representatives  in  the  fragments  of  wood  that  are  buried  in  the 
boulder  clay.  Hundreds  of  specimens  of  this  preglacial  wood  have  been  exhumed 
in  the  various  excavations  that  have  been  made  within  the  city  limits.  The  wood 
thus  preserved  is  in  most  if  not  all  cases  red  cedar.  When  exposed  to  the  air, 
after  its  long  burial,  it  usually  falls  to  pieces;  but  if  lefl  undisturbed  in  the  clay 


rflto 


680  I{l8T()RY   OK   THE   CiTY   OF   CoLUMBUB. 

there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  it  would  not  last  for  thousands  of  years   longer 
with  but  flight  change. 

The  Rtriation  and  polishing  of  the  fragments  of  rock  contained  in  the  glacial 
drift  have  been  already  touched  up^in  in  a  preceding  paragraph.  To  this  must 
be  added  that  the  rocky  floor  of  the  country  has  itself  suffered  a  like  abrasion. 
Large  surfaces  of  the  rock  in  places  are  worn  and  polished  in  a  remarkable  way. 
These  phenomena  are  unequivocal  and  indubitable  proofs  of  the  a^ncy  of  land 
ice.  They  occur  only  under  the  advance  of  a  glacier,  and  no  more  distinctive 
markings  are  left  by  an}^  known  geological  agent  than  those  that  are  now 
described.  Furthermore,  there  is  no  portion  of  the  country  that  contains  more 
abundant  representatives  of  the  first  of  these  effects  than  Central  Ohio.  The  rock 
inscriptions  are,  however,  rarel}'  found  just  here,  largely  on  account  of  the  heavy 
covering  of  the  deposits  already  named.  The  boulder  clay,  or  till,  as  the  forma- 
tion is  called  in  Great  Britain,  is  therefore  beyond  question  a  product  and  a  proof 
of  land  ice  in  all  the  urens  in  which  it  is  found.  The  seams  of  sand  and  gravel 
that  occur  in  the  boulder  clay  in  irregular  beds  stand  for  occasional  melting  that 
went  on  in  the  glacier  and  around  it,  in  its  various  stages  of  advance  and 
recession. 

The  main  gravel,  sand  and  fine  clay  deposits  of  the  district  come,  however, 
under  another  head.  All  of  those  were  accumulated  under  water.  They  bear  the 
unmistakable  proofs  of  such  an  origin  in  the  sorting  of  the  materials  that  compose 
them  and  in  their  stratification.  The  materials  themselves  were  derived  from  the 
boulder  clay,  but  the  peculiar  features  of  this  deposit  were  mainly  obliterated  by 
the  action  of  water,  to  which  the  materials  were  here  subjected.  The  polishing  of 
the  rock  fragments  and  pebbles  was  largely  made  to  disappear,  and  the  i>eculiar 
shape  produced  by  running  water  and  the  wave  action  was  given  to  these  materials 
instead.  The  deposits  of  the  group  were  obviously  formed  at  a  later  date  than  the 
boulder  clay.  The  deposits  of  the  stratified  drift  are  exceedingly  varied  in  thick- 
ness. There  ma}'  be  but  a  foot  or  two  of  these  beds  overlying  a  heavy  deposit  of 
the  boulder  clay,  or  they  may  constitute  the  entire  section  for  twenty  five,  fifty,  or 
in  extreme  cases,  one  hundred  feet. 

The  gravel  and  small  boulders  which  the  stratifie<l  drift  contains  have  been  of 
great  service  to  the  city  and  vicinity  in  the  making  of  streets  and  roadways,  in 
the  last  few  years  we  have  been  able  to  use  better  materials,  but  in  the  first  half 
century  of  its  growth  Columbus  was  entirely  dependent  on  these  materials  for  this 
important  line  of  service.  The  countrj'  roa<ls  are  still  limited  to  the /gravel  banks 
in  the  improvements  that  the}'  undertake.  The  8an<l  of  the  formation  \h  applieii 
to  all  ordinary  uses  and  it  may  be  counted  among  the  valuable  resources  of  the 
city.  These  stratified  deposits  are  not  confined  to  tiie  river  valleys.  They  are 
found  at  the  greatest  altitu<les  of  Central  Ohio  as  well.  For  example,  the  hi;irhcst 
land  crossed  by  the  Little  Miami  Railway  between  Columbus  and  Cincinnati  lies 
three  miles  west  of  Lon<lon,  but  this  summit  is  occupied  by  a  fine  example  of 
stratified  drift  in  the  shape  of  a  gravel  bank  of  large  extent. 

The  boulder  clay  requires  for  its  explanation  a  most  unfamiliar  agent  and 
exceedingly  abnormal  climatic  condition,  conditions  which  it  overtaxes  the  imagina- 


Geology  and  Geography.  681 

tion  to  restore.  We  cannot  stop  in  the  process  until  we  have  buried  all  central 
and  western  Ohio  under  a  Greenland  glacier,  several  thousand  feet  in  thickness, 
and  moving  with  irresistible  force  over  the  entire  region  now  occupied  by  the 
boulder  clay.  A  strain  silmost  as  great  is  put  upon  us  in  finding  un  adequate 
explanation  of  the  stratified  drift.  The  sands  and  gravel  of  this  series  were  all 
laid  down  in  shallow  water.  To  account  for  them  it  is  necessary  to  cover  all 
central  and  southern  Ohio  with  a  freshwater  lake  or  series  of  lakes.  This  result 
can  be  accomplished  only  by  a  depression  of  the  continent  on  a  large  scale.  By 
such  a  depression  the  flow  of  the  rivers  would  be  arrested  and  the  water  resulting 
from  the  melting  of  the  great  bod}'  of  ice  accumulated  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
glacial  period,  would  flood  the  entire  region  covered  by  the  glacier.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  the  accumulations  of  snow  and  ice  in  the  northern  hemisphere 
temporarily  changed  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  earth,  thus  bringing  the  ocean 
to  a  higher  level  upon  the  northern  lands.  Certain  it  is  that  the  districts  named 
were  submerged  during  this  part  of  the  history.  The  amount  of  work  done  by  the 
water  in  this  portion  of  the  glacial  period  can  be  partially  measured  in  the 
enormous  accumulations  of  rounded  and  wellworn  gravel  that  occupy  the  valley's 
and  tablelands  of  the  State.  The  gravels  of  the  Scioto  Valley  furnish  a  good  illus- 
tration of  this  line  of  facts  If  measured  at  all,  the  unit  would  need  to  be  a  cubic 
mile.  Under  an}'  smaller  standard  of  measure,  the  figures  would  pass  the  limit 
of  intelligibility. 

Explanations  of  the  Drift. —  While  all  geologists  are  agreed  as  to  the  general 
line  of  events  that  has  been  briefly  sketched  in  the  preceding  pages,  viz  :  1.  The 
burial  of  a  large  part  of  the  country  under  a  continental  glacier  for  a  long  period 
of  time  and  with  many  mutations  in  the  history;  and,  2,  a  subsequent  depression 
of  the  land  under  a  freshwater  lake  or  series  of  lakes;  they  do  not  agree  in  their 
views  as  to  the  causes  that  brought  about  these  surprising  conditions.  The  sub- 
ject has  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention  during  the  last  fifty,  and  especially 
during  the  last  twentyfive  years,  and  a  large  measure  of  ability  and  learning  have 
been  expended  upon  the  problems  involved.  But  these  problems  proved  to  be 
large  and  complicated  ones  and  several  sciences  must  be  consulted  in  their  final 
settlement.  It  most  be  confessed  that,  at  the  present  time,  no  complete  and  satis- 
factory theory  as  to  the  cause  of  the  glacial  period  can  bo  presented.  Several 
more  or  less  plausible  theories  have  been  advanced  within  the  lust  half  century, 
but  none  of  them  has  been  able  to  bear  the  criticism  to  which  every  theory  in 
science  is  necessarily  subjected  before  it  can  be  counted  established. 

The  most  prominent  of  all  these  attempts  to  explain  the  anomalous  conditions 
of  the  glacial  period  is  undoubtedly  that  of  the  late  Doctor  James  Croll,  of  the 
Geological  Survey  of  Scotland.  He  diff^ered  from  most  that  had  preceded  him  in 
this  field  by  assigning  an  astronomical  cause  for  the  astonishing  reduction  of  tem- 
perature which  the  glacial  period  demands.  In  the  indirect  results  of  the  varying 
eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit^  he  found  sufficient  cause  for  the  changes  that  we 
arc  called  on  to  explain.  The  direct  effbct  of  the  e^'centricit}-  of  the  earth's  orbit 
had  been  urged  before  his  time  as  an  adequate  explanation,  hut  upon  due  examina- 
tion at  the  hands  of  the  astronomers  had  been   rejected  as  inadequate.     CrolTs 


m 


■•^^w 


G82  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

work  opened  up  an  entirely  new  line  of  inquiry,  and  one  which  at  first  seemed  cer- 
tain to  lead  to  the  solution  of  this  groat  problem  of  geology.  But  within  the  last 
ten  years  the  arguments  against  it  have  gathered  strength, and  the  prevailing  feel- 
ing at  the  present  time  among  those  best  ([ualified  to  form  an  opinion  is  that  the 
theory  is,  if  not  inadmissible,  at  least  not  established.  The  principal  objections  to 
it  come  from  the  amount  of  time  which  it  involves.  By  astronomical  calcalation 
it  is  found  that  the  last  jieriod  of  high  eecentrieity  began  about  240,000  years  ago 
and  ended  about  80,000  years  ago.  But  as  much  as  the  geologist  valaes  past  time, 
and  exorbitant  as  are  his  demands  upon  it  in  the  popular  estimation,  it  is  still  pos- 
sible to  give  him,  in  particular  stages  ot  the  histor}',  more  than  he  knows  what  to 
do  with.  The  geological  effects  that  have  been  brought  about  since  the  close  of 
the  ice  age  do  not  require  and  cannot  account  for  as  long  a  period  as  80,000  years. 
The  work  of  rivers  in  excavating  new  channels  for  themselves  in  cases  where  old 
valleys  had  been  choked  with  glacial  drifl  gives  us  a  sort  of  chronometer  that  we 
can  apply.  According  to  our  best  light  these  now  valleys,  like  those  of  the 
Niagara  River  in  the  gorge  below  the  falls,  and  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  below 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  cannot  have  required  or  used  more  than  ten  to  fifteen 
thousand  years  in  their  work.  There  are  many  other  facts  that  are  in  harmony  with 
these  conclusions,  and  inasmuch  as  CrolTs  theory  seems  to  necessarily  involve  the 
longer  period,  most  of  the  geologists  who  were  leaning  to  this  explanation,  have 
found  themselves  obliged  on  this  account  to  renounce  the  theory.  There  are  also 
some  weighty  criticisms  directed  against  it  from  the  astronomical  and  physical 
side. 

It  is  a  great  disappointment  to  be  obliged  to  abandon  so  promising  a  cluo  to 
the  interpretation  of  this  anomalous  and  complicated  history  as  Doctor  Croll 
offered  to  the  scientific  world,  the  more  especially  since  there  is  no  other  theory  of 
equal  scope  and  promise  to  be  presented  in  place  of  it.  But  this  entire  experience  is 
illuslrativeof  the  spirit  of  modern  science.  Every -explanation  of  natural  phenomena 
that  is  offered  to  the  world  is  subjected  to  the  most  rigorous  and  unsparing  tests,  with- 
out fear  orTavor.  The  love  of  the  truth  is  the  dominant  spirit  of  science,  and  argent 
as  the  demand  of  our  rational  faculties  is  for  an  explanation  of  facts  which  interest 
us,  if  the  explanation  fails  to  harmoni/.e  the  facts  in  any  important  respects  we  dismiss 
it,  confess  our  ignonince  and  wait  and  work  patiently  for  larger  knowledge  and 
clearer  light.  Some  such  attitude  as  this  is  maintained  by  most  geologists  at  the 
present  time  in  regard  to  the  glacial  period.  The  older  theories,  involving  chan<'es  in 
the  distribution  of  land  and  sea,  and  changes  in  the  altitude  of  the  land  masses,  are 
still  under  consideration,  and  many  still  hope  that  some  portion  of  CrolTs  hrilliant 
exposition  of  a  cosniical  cause  tor  the  phenomena  may  yet  be  reconciled  with  the 
facts.  But  in  default  of  a  thoroughly  comj>rehensive  and  defensible  theory  at  the 
present,  the  stu<ly  of  the  jjljenomena  is  being  carried  on  with  great  energy  and 
success.  Out  of  this  more  extensive  knowledge  a  better  theory  is  sure  sooner  or 
later  to  spring.  If  a  feeling  of  impatience  rises  at  this  confession  of  ignorance 
on  the  part  of  geology,  it  is  well  to  remember  how  short  a  time  it  is  since  we  first 
learned  to  know  that  there  had  been  in  the  world's  recent  history  such  a  thing  as 
a  glacial  period.     It  is  not  more  than  fifty  years  since  the  first  statements  as  to  a 


Geology  and  Geoorapht.  683 

groat  ice  age  began  to  obtain  currency.  The  more  formal  enunciation  of  the  facts  by 
Professor  Louis  Agassiz  in  1846  was  received  with  widespread  incredulity. 

The  glacial  period  has  done  everything  for  Columbus.  It  is  practically  the 
only  important  fact  in  its  geology.  The  topography,  soils,  water  supply  and  drain- 
age of  the  city  are  all  dependent  upon  this  great  series  of  beds.  The  influence  of 
the  underlying  rock  is  reduced  to  the  lowest  possible  terms.  It  merely  serves  as  a 
foundation  of  the  drift  which  constitutes  the  actual  surface. 

These  general  descriptions  cover  the  geology  of  Columbus  so  far  as  its  most  con- 
spicuous features  are  concerned.  There  remain  to  be  considered  the  other 
topics  named  in  the  introduction  of  the  chapter. 

GEOGRAPHY. 

Under  this  head  the  facts  pertaining  to  the  situation,  topography  and  climate 
of  Columbus  will  be  given  in  brief 

Situation. — The  latitude  and  longitude  of  Columbus  have  been  determined  by 
the  United  States  Coast  Survey.  The  observations  were  made  in  the  Statehouse 
grounds,  on  the  east  side  of  the  building,  but  the  figures  are  referred  to  the  centre 
of  the  dome.  According  to.  this  supreme  authority,  the  latitude  of  this  point 
in  Columbus  is  thirty  nine  degrees,  fiftyseven  minutes  and  forty  seconds  north. 
The  longitude  of  the  same  point  is  eightytwo  degrees,  fiftynine  minutes  and  forty 
seconds  west  (Greenwich)  making  a  difference  in  time  of  five  hours,  thirtyone 
minutes  and  fiftyeight  and  seventenths  seconds. 

Topography. — Central  Ohio  consists  of  a  slightly  undulating  plain  from  eight 
hundred  to  eleven  hundred  feet  above  sealevel.  Across  it  the  present  drainage 
channels  extend  in  shallow  valleys.  As  these  streams  descend  to  the  south- 
ward they  rapidly  cut  their  beds  deeper  and  deeper  until  the  summits  of  the 
socalled  hills  that  bound  them,  but  which  are  in  reality  fragments  of  the  original 
plain,  reach  an  elevation  of  four  hundred  or  even  five  hundred  feet  above  the 
valleys.  Columbus  is  situated  in  the  most  important  of  these  shallow  troughs  above 
described,  in  Central  Ohio,  viz.,  the  Scioto  Valley,  but  it  also  extends  to  the 
adjacent  uplands  in  considerable  portions  of  its  area.  Low  water  of  the  Scioto  in  the 
central  portion  of  the  city  is  approximately  seven  hundred  feet  above  tide.  The 
uplands  of  the  northernmost  portions  of  the  city  are  not  less  than  nine  hundred 
feet  above  tide.  For  the  following  figures  we  are  dependent  on  railway  surveys. 
The  different  surveys  do  not,  however,  exactly  agree.  Most  of  the  figures 
given  here  are  derived  from  the  reports  of  the  Columbus,  Hocking  Valley  & 
Toledo  Railwav.  The  elevation  of  the  foundation  of  the  Union  Station  is  seven 
hundred  fortysix  and  fiftyfive  hundredths  feet  above  tide.  (Bench  mark  on  water- 
table  near  door,  southwest  corner).  Another  figure  is  seven  hundred  and  forty- 
three  and  seventenths  feet  above  tide.  The  elevation  of  the  watcrtablo  of  the  Ohio 
Slate  University  building  is  above  tide.  The  United  States  Signal  Service  Station, 
corner  High  and  Broad  streets,  third  floor,  reports  an  elevation  of  eight  hundred 
and  fi\Q  feel.  The  elevation  of  the  cit}^  bench  mark  at  the  northeast  corner  of  the 
Statehouse  is  seven  hundred  eight}'    and   sixtythree  hundredths  feet  above  tide. 


6S4  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

The  feeder  of  the  canal  below  the  lock  ha»  an  altitude  of  seven  hundred  two  and 

Hixteen  handrcdths  feel. 

In  referring  ColninhiiB  to  the  Sdoto  Valle}"  this  term  is  used  in  a  general  and 
comprehensive  st^nsc.  In  addition  to  the  furrow  occupied  by  the  Seioto  proper, 
parts  of  two  other  important  valleys  are  included  here,  viz.,  those  of  the  Whet- 
stone River  and  of  Alum  Creek.  The  former  of  these  is  in  reality  a  much  more* 
conspicuous  feature  of  the  country  than  its  main  valley.  The  Scioto  has  wrought 
out  its  bed  for  a  number  of  miles  above  Columbus  in  the  Devonian  limestone.  It 
therefore  has  rock  bottom  and  rock  walls,  though  the  latter  are  of  hut  small 
height,  and  it  has  also  xery  limited  intervals.  Thepe  facts  demonstrate  that  this 
portion  of  the  valley  is  of  recent  origin.  The  Scioto  undoubtedly  has  an  older 
channel  buried  somewhere  along  or  adjacent  to  its  present  course  and  deeper  than 
the  present  vallc}*  by  at  least  one  hundred  feet.  This  channel  was  filled  with  the 
stubborn  boulder  clay  of  the  drift,  and  when,  at  the  close  of  the  glacial  period,  the 
river  resumed  its  o])erations,  it  found  it*  easier  to  cut  a  new  channel  out  of  solid 
rock  than  to  reexcavate  the  old  one.  This  older  valley  very  likely  lay  to  the  east- 
ward, as  will  be  shown  in  the  succeeding  ])aragraph. 

The  Whetstone  River,  on  the  other  hand,  lying  to  the  eastward  of  the  Scioto^ 
has  wrought  its  valley  out  of  the  shale.  It  is  also  still  flowing  within  its  pre- 
glacial  course,  unless  indeed,  it  has  tukon  possession  of  the  old  valley  of  the  Seioto 
above  referred  to.  It  nowhere  has  a  rocky  floor,  but  the  bods  of  drift  that  under- 
lie it  are  not  less  than  one  hundred  fuet  deep,  as  has  been  proved  by  repeated  tests 
in  wells  that  have  been  drilled  here.  It  is  bounded  by  abrupt  walls  on  the  east 
side  of  the  old  valley,  small  portions  of  which  still  aj)pear  as  surface  exposures  in 
the  gorges  of  North  Columbus.  The  foundations  of  the  Northwood  school  build- 
ing are  laid  in  the  bedded  shale,  and  other  portions  of  the  formation  rise  twentv 
or  more  feet  higher  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  but  at  the  rear  end  of  the  lot,  a 
I)ipe  was  driven  to  a  depth  of  ninety  feet  before  striking  the  shale.  This  shows 
the  presence  of  a  fairly  precipitous  wall  of  shale  at  least  a  hundred  feet  in  height 
on  the  eiistern  margin  of  the  old  valley,  but  the  <irifl  deposits  have  masked  and 
concealed,  for  a  great  part  of  the  district,  all  these  striking  features,  and  have 
given  us  gentle  slopes  of  limestone  gravel  in  the  place  of  barren  cliffs  of  shale. 
The  breadth  as  well  as  the  depth  of  the  Whetstone  Valley  attests  its  antiquity. 
A  beautiful  scope  of  ierlile  bottom  land,  not  less  than  a  half  mile  in  hreadth, 
constitutes  the  intervales  of  the  present  river,  while  to  the  westward  the  rather 
indefinite  boundary  of  the  vnlky  is  composed  of  driil  beds  that  occupy  to  a  great 
depth  the  decj)ly  eroded  channels  of  the  old  rivers. 

Alum  Creek  also  occupies  an  old  valley,  as  is  proved  by  a  series  of  facts  sim- 
ilar to  those  already  given.  We  thus  see  that  these  easily  eroded  shales  have  been 
removed  from  Columbus  and  the  rei^ion  south  of  it  on  a  very  largo  scale,  and  into 
the  space  trom  which  they  have  been  carried  awav  a  vast  load  of  glacial  drift  has 
been  deposited.  The  substitution,  as  already  remarked  in  another  connection,  has 
been  of  priceless  service  to  the  district  in  every  way.  The  most  barren  soil  of 
Ohio,  viz.,  that  derived  from  the  shale  series,  is  the  one  that  is  geologically  doe 
here.     In  place  of  it,  the  weathered  limestone  gravel  yields  a  soil   that  is  the  very 


Geology  and  Geographv.  6B5 

type  and  standard  of  excellence.  The  forest  growth  that  the  shale  would  have 
supported  is  decidedly  inferior  in  character,  but  in  place  of  it  we  find  the  oak,  wal- 
nut, hickory  and  other  of  our  most  valued  timber  trees.  The  natural  water  supply 
of  the  shale  is  of  the  most  unsatisfactory  sort  in  both  quantity  and  quality,  but 
th^e  same  drift  deposits  constitute  a  universal  and  inexhaustible  reservoir  from 
which  we  can  draw  all  needed  supplies  for  all  time. 

The  Scioto  River  within  and  below  the  city  limits  occupies  its  old  or  preglac- 
ial  valley,  as  is  made  evident  by  the  geographical  features  of  the  latter  and  espec- 
ially by  its  breadth  and  depth.  But  the  present  channel  is  elevated  by  at  least  one 
hundred  feet  above  the  rock  floor  which  constituted  its  original  bed. 

In  summing  up  the  general  statements  as  to  the  topography  of  Columbus  it  is 
sufficient  to  say  that  the  city  occupies  a  slightly  rolling  drift  plain  about  eight  hun- 
dred feet  above  tide,  within  which  the  several  drainage  streams  have  cut  broad 
and  shallow  valleys.  The  valleys  are  not  more  than  fifty  to  seventj^five  feet  below 
the  general  level  of  the  plane,  but  they  are  so  situated  with  respect  to  the  latter  as 
to  dispose  quite  promptly  of  even  the  heaviest  rainfalls.  The  drainage  of  a  few 
hundred  acres  in  the  eastern  central  portion  of  the  city,  forming  the  divide  be- 
tween the  Scioto  and  Alum  Creek,  was  originally  sluggish  and  the  tracts  inclined 
to  a  swampy  condition.  The  surface  consists  of  boulder  clay,  blackened  by  the 
abundant  vegetable  growth  that  has  been  incorporated  with  it.  When  provided 
with  adequate  drainage  the  tracts  referred  to  are  under  no  disadvantage  whatever 
for  occupation.  They  constitute,  indeed,  the  best  residence  portion  of  the  city  at 
the  present  time.  There  is  no  considerable  area  of  the  city  to  which  even  the 
highest  floods  bring  any  threat  of  damage.  Other  facts  pertaining  to  the  topog- 
raphy will  be  incidentally  noticed  in  connection  with  the  topics  to  be  considered 
in  the  succeeding  section. 

Climate. — A  few  words  must  be  given  to  the  climate  of  Columbus.  There  is 
little  or  nothing  to  distinguish  it  from  the  climate  of  the  rest  of  Central  Ohio.  It 
has  exactly  the  conditions  to  be  expected  from  its  altitude,  its  latitude  and  its  gen- 
eral'situation.  Under  the  lastnamed  heading  the  continental  character  of  the  cli- 
mate is  included.  It  is  marked  by  extremes.  There  is  a  difference  of  more  than 
forty  degrees  between  the  average  summer  and  the  average  winter  temperatures, 
the  latter  being  thirty  degrees  and  the  former  seventythree  degrees,  Fahrenheit. 
The  city  is  included  between  the  isotherms  of  fiftyone  and  fifty  two  degrees, 
Fahrenheit.  The  annual  range  is  not  less  than  one  hundred  degrees,  and  the 
extremes  hot  less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  summer 
heat  sometimes  shows  one  hundred  degrees  for  the  temperature  of  the  air  in  the 
shade,  while  cold  waves  occasionally  depress  the  mercury  to  thirty  degrees 
below  zero.  Extreme  changes  are  liable  to  occur  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours, 
especially  when  the  return  trades  are  violently  displaced  by  northwest  winds.  In 
such  cases  the  temperature  sometimes  falls  sixty  degrees  in  twenlyfour  hours, 
while  changes  of  twenty  to  thirty  degrees  in  twentyfour  hours  are  not  unusual 
during  the  winter  months. 

The  rainfall  averages  about  forty  inches  and  is  excellently  distributed,  as 
follows,   the   figures  designating   inches:     Spring,  10  to  12;    Summer,  10  to  14; 


fiSC  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Autumn,  8  to  10;  Winter,  7  to  10.     The  annual  range  is  considerable,  buta  serious 
detieiency  in  the  water  supply  of  the  region  has  never  yet  occurre<L      Golumbus, 
like  the  rest  of  Central  Ohio,  and  in  fact  like  most  portions  of  the  State,  in  included 
within  the  tornado  belt  of  the  country,   but  thus  far  no   destructive  storm  of  thin 
character  has  ever  rava^^ed  it.     The  depression  of  its  surface  below  the  country  to 
the  wn»8tward   of  it  is  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  feet.     Whether  this  fact  has 
any  influence  in  giving  it  the  exemption  that  it  has  hitherto  enjoyed  is  not  known, 
hut  the  excmj)tion   may   be  gratefully  recorded.     When  the  path  of  one  of  the.**e 
destructive  storms  shall  happen  to  lie,  as  some  day  it  will,  over  the  site  of  a  popul- 
ous city,  the  ruin  it  will  work  will  rise  to  frightful  proportions.     Of  the  means  of 
protection  against  such  visitations  we  have  absolutely   no  knowledge,   and  it  does 
not  seem  probable  that  man  will  ever  gain  such  knowledge. 

SANITARY  CONDITIONS  OF  COLUMBUS. 

Closel)'  connected  with  the  geological  and  geographical  features  previously 
described  are  two  subjects  that  have  an  intimate  relation  with  the  public  health, 
viz.,  the  water  supply  and  the  drainage  of  the  city.  These  subjects  will  be  con- 
sidered in  the  closing  section  of  this  chapter. 

Sanitary  science  is  an  important  application  of  modern  knowledge  to  human 
wellbeing.  It  has  taken  shape  only  within  the  last  forty  years,  but  it  has  already 
rendered  service  of  immense  importance  to  the  cities  and  towns  that  have  accepted 
its  guidance.  It  has  lowered  the  annual  death  rate  of  such  communities  by  five  or 
ten  to  the  thousand  in  some  instances;  it  has  reduced  the  burdens  of  sickness  in 
at  least  an  equal  ratio.  It  has  brought  more  or  loss  complete  exemption  from 
many  discomforts  and  annoyances.  It  bids  fair  to  become  a  powerful  factor  in  the 
elevation  and  progress  of  the  race. 

It  grew  out  of  the  discovery  made  in  England  about  forty  years  ago  that  the 
germs  of  Asiatic  cholera  were  in  many  instances  distributed  by  means  of  drinking 
water.  Attention  was  turned  to  several  other  diseases  of  similar  character,  and 
it  soon  became  apparent  that  several  of  the  most  dreaded  scourges  of  the  race  were 
largely  propagated  in  a  similar  way,  that  is,  through  the  agency  of  polluted  drink- 
ing water  and  also  by  means  of  soils  contaminated  by  the  products  of  waste.  But 
it  was  seen  that  the  water  supply  of  a  community  could  not  in  any  case  be  pro- 
tected from  dangerous  contamination  unless  provision  should  be  made  at  the  same 
time  for  the  satisfactory  disposal  of  the  various  forms  of  waste  of  the  same  com- 
munity. It  is  the  recognition  of  this  fact  that  has  led  the  cities  of  the  civilized 
world  within  the  last  forty  years  to  enter  on  very  large  undertakings,  necessitat- 
ing the  expenditure  of  vast  amounts  of  money,  in  securing  for  themselves  a  safe 
water  supply  and  an  effective  system  of  sewerage.  These  questions  have  become 
by  all  odds  the  most  urgent  and  important  that  these  cities  have  been  obliged  to 
meet  on  the  material  side  of  life.  The  urgency  of  these  questions  arises  in  part 
from  the  unprecedented  rate  of  growth  which  the  cities  of  the  entire  civilized 
world  have  attained  in  the  present  century,  and  particularly  during  its  latter 
half     During  the  same  time,  also,  man  has  eaten  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowl- 


Geology  and  Geography.  (i87 

edge  more  freely  than  ever  before,  and  his  eyes  have  been  opened  to  the  dangers 
that  surround  him. 

In  our  efforts  to  accomplish  the  twofold  object  which  we  have  set  before 
ourselves,  many  unfortunate  and  costly  mistikes  have  been  made  and  the  remedy 
has  sometimes  seemed  worse  than  tlie  evils  to  which  it  was  applied.  The  chief 
defect  has  resulted  from  the  system  that  has  generally  been  adopted  in  the 
disposal  of  sewage.  It  has  been  the  almost  universal  practice  to  conduct  the  sewage 
to  the  nearest  stream  and  discharge  it  there  without  any  attempt  to  correct  or 
purify  it.  But  it  is  from  this  same  stream  in  most  cases  that  the  water  supplies  of 
adjacent  cities  must  be  derived.  If  there  were  but  one  city  to  a  river  the  difficulty 
might  not  be  serious.  But,  as  the  case  now  stands,  each  town  in  getting  rid  of  its 
own  sewage,  endangers  or  pollutes  the  water  supply  of  all  the  towns  below  it.  The 
remedy  for  this  state  of  things  can  be  easily  pointed  out  but  it  is  costly  to  apply. 
It  requires  a  larger  measure  of  intelligence  and  fidelity  in  its  execution  than  most 
of  our  cities  have  been  able  to  command  in  their  public  work.  It  consists  in 
destroying  the  dangerous  character  of  the  sewage  before  the  water  is  returned  to 
the  general  circulation  of  the  region.  The  purification  can  bo  effected  by  chemical 
treatment  or  by  infiltration  through  the  soil.  The  soil  has  been  proved  to  have  a 
remarkable  power  in  destroying  the  poisonous  products  of  waste,  and  it  is  at  once 
possible  and  practicable  to  thoroughly  disinfect  sewage  by  the  treatment  which 
is  known  as  downward  Intermittent  filtration^  so  that  the  effluent  water  can  be  returned 
to  the  streams  without  danger  or  offense.  All  this  has  been  fully  worked  out 
in  European  cities  and  towns,  and  mainly  in  the  cities  of  Great  Britain.  The  cities 
of  the  United  States  have  scarcely  entered  upon  this  line  of  action  as  yet,  but 
its  growing  urgency  will  soon  compel  them  to  take  up  the  problems  involved. 

Water  Supply.— There  are  but  few  great  cities  in  the  United  States  that  have 
at  the  present  time  an  adequate  and  at  the  same  time  a  satisfactory  water  supply. 
The  cities  bordering  on  the  Great  Lakes  are,  on  the  whole,  best  provided  for 
in  this  regard.  It  is  possible  for  them  to  obtain  an  excellent  supply  in  unlimited 
amount.  New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis,  have  the  Father  of  Waters  to  draw  from,  and 
while  the  amount  of  their  supply  can  never  fall  short  its  quality  is  far  from 
satisfactory.  Of  the  principal  cities  of  the  Eastern  border,  there  is  not  one 
that  has  not  serious  ground  for  anxiety  as  to  the  character  or  amount,  one  or  both, 
of  its  supply.  All  of  them  are  making  strenuous  efforts  to  improve  their  respec- 
tive supplies,  and  relief  is  possible  to  most.  The  cities  that  are  at  the  greatest  dis- 
advantage are  those  situated  in  the  river  valleys  of  the  country,  except  such 
as  have  been  already  named  as  occupying  the  Mississippi  Valley.  In  many  cases 
these  cities  have  no  possible  source  of  supply  except  the  rivers,  but  these  same 
rivers  are  made  to  receive  an  ever-increasing  volume  of  sewage  and  manufacturing 
waste  from  the  growing  towns  situated  on  their  banks.  The  quality  of  the  water 
is  therefore  constantly  deteriorating  and  often  passes  the  limits  of  safety. 

Columbus  is  on  the  whole  favorably  located  for  an  inland  town  in  the  matter 
of  water  supply.  Its  river  is  by  no  means  a  great  one;  but  still  it  and  its  main 
tributaries  carry  a  large  volume  of  water  in  the  course  of  the  year.  They  have  no 
lakes  or  reservoirs  along  their  courses,  in  the  usual  significations  of  the  term,  it  is 


688  History  oir  tub  City  op  Columbus. 

true;  but  they  still  contain  a  largo  volume  of  stored  water  in  their  broad  valleys. 
The  latter  have  heen  filled,  it  will  be  remembered,  mainly  with  sand  and  gravel 
for  a  depth  of  one  hundred  feet  or  more  below  the  present  surface.  In  their 
storage  quality  these  ])()rouH  beds  constitute  the  equivalent  of  a  shallow^  lake  equal 
in  size  to  the  combined  aretis  of  the  valleys,  but  they  aro  better  ia  many 
respects  than  any  lake  could  he,  for  the  waters  that  they  contain  are  protected 
from  the  effect  of  the  sun  and  to  some  extent  from  pollution.  The  resorvoirs  pro. 
per  of  Central  Ohio  at  the  present  time  are  largely  overgrown  with  a  peculiar 
aquatic  vegetation,  the  decay  of  which  affects  unfavorably  all  of  their  supply. 
The  underground  water,  on  the  other  hand,  is  always  clear  and  cool  and  free  from 
some  sources  of  defilemont,  but  unfortunately  it  is  not  protected  against  dangerous 
contamination  of  every  sort. 

It  is  easy  to  be  seen,  in  view  of  the  facts  that  have  now  been  given,  that  most 
districts  of  Columbus  command  an  abundant  and  excellent  natural  water  supply. 
Wells  sunk  or  driven  to  a  depth  not  exceeding  thirty  feet,  and  frequently  to  not 
more  than  half  this  depth,  command  a  generous  and  unfailing  amount  of  cool  and 
well  filtered  water.  The  exceptions  to  be  noted  are  found  in  the  northern  por- 
tions of  the  city,  in  which  the  shale  beds  lie  at  or  near  the  surface,  and  in  some  of 
the  districts  in  which  the  boulder  clay  occurs  in  unusually  heavy  deposit.  In  the 
latter  case  wells  are  sometimes  driven  to  a  depth  of  one  hundred  feet  without 
meeting  any  promising  water  vein  ;  while  in  the  districts  in  which  the  shales  lie 
shallowest  they  affect  in  a  characteristic  way  the  water  reached  in  w^ells.  The 
quantity  is  small  and  the  quality  is  inferior.  But  in  ninetonths  of  our  area  the 
search  for  water  is  successful  without  the  aid  of  any  form  of  the  divining  rod, 
ancient  or  modern. 

What  is  the  character  of  this  water  supply?  The  supply,  in  a  state  of  nature, 
I  answer,  is  on  the  whole  of  high  grade.  Filtered  through  limestone  gravel,  as  it 
is,  it  carries  of  necessity  a  considerable  percentage  of  carbonate  of  lime  ;  but  there 
is,  as  a  rule,  no  excessive  amount  of  other  minerals.  It  is  clear,  cool  and  abundant 
and  it  deposits  little  or  no  sediment.  These  statements,  it  must  be  observed,  apply 
to  this  underground  water  in  a  state  of  nature.  But  when  a  city  is  in  process  of 
rapid  growth,  the  natural  conditions  are  no  longer  maintained.  The  porous  beds 
of  the  surface  that  admit  the  rainfall  so  freely,  admit  with  equal  freedom  all  the 
products  of  waste  that  human  occupation  brings  with  it.  Cesspools,  no  less  than 
wells,  are  sunk  in  the  gravel,  and  the  poisonous  products  of  many  lines  of  manu- 
facture are  returned  to  the  earth  in  place  of  the  pure  water  that  was  drawn  out  of 
it.  A  threatening  change  at  once  appears  in  the  character  of  the  water  supply. 
Proper  tests  show  the  presence  of  elements  of  danger,  and  after  a  little,  typhoid 
fever  or  some  like  disease  spreads  from  the  well  in  a  distinct  circle  of  infection. 

Sanitary  science  in  its  earliest  days  drew  a  conclusion  which  it  has  never 
been  obliged  to  retract  or  modify,  viz.,  that  water  derived  from  tcells  in  thickly  settled 
towns  is  altogether  unsafe.  WMioever  uses  it  does  so  at  his  peril.  J^o  harm  may 
come  for  a  generation  or  two,  it  is  true ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  germs  of  a 
pestilence  may  spring  from  it  at  any  hour  with  explosive  violence.  The  recogni- 
tion of  this  line  of  facts  led  Columbus  to  take  up  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  the 


Geology  and  Geography.  689 

question  of  a  public  water  supply.  From  what  source  could  it  draw  such  a 
suppl}'?  Manifestly  not  directly  from  its  river  channels.  The  turbidity  of  their 
floodstages  alone  would  render  this  altogether  impracticable.  No  other  resource 
was  available  but  the  sinking  of  large  wells  in  the  valley  gravels.  The  pumping 
station  was  located  in  the  middle  of  the  broad  valley  and  the  wells  dug  here  have 
furnished  a  supply  fairlj'  comparable  in  quality  with  the  water  derived  from  the 
best  grade  of  similar  wells  throughout  the  city.  It  is  well  filtered,  cool  and  in 
moderately  good  volume.  A  measure  of  protection  has  been  thought  to  be 
secured  for  the  water  by  sinking  into  or  through  a  local  bed  of  clay  buried  in  the 
gravel,  and  by  drawing  the  water  from  these  lower  sources.  The  city  has  taken 
great  satisfaction  in  the  belief  that  it  is  securing  a  well -protected  supply.  But  it 
is  doubtful  whether  any  efficient  protection  has  been  reached  in  this  way.  The 
turbidity  brought  about  by  even  a  slight  rise  in  the  river  can  be  promptly  recog- 
nized in  the  distributing  pipes  of  the  city.  The  truth  is,  there  is  no  universal  or 
even  general  order  of  these  drift  deposits,  and  it  is  not  safe  to  draw  conclusions  as 
to  the  particular  channels  and  reservoirs  of  these  under«;round  waters.  Sometimes 
when  long  droughts  have  prevailed  the  main  river  has  been  taken  directly  into 
the  pipes.  This  is  never  done  without  a  manifest  lowering  of  the  character  of 
the  supply.  On  several  different  occasions  durim;  the  last  few  years  the  city 
water  has  been  found  to  be  decidedly  open  to  suspicion. 

The  new  pumping  station  of  the  east  side  has  been  but  recently  put  into 
operation,  but  it  promises  to  make  a  contribution  of  great  value  to  the  health  and 
safety  of  the  city.  The  wells  are  located  in  the  Alum  Creek  valley  and  a  very 
large  volume  of  water,  originally  artesian,  has  been  found  in  them.  There  is  a 
larger  percent  of  iron  in  the  Alum  Creek  water  than  in  the  older  supply,  but  in  all 
other  respects  it  reaches  the  best  standard  of  the  natural  water  of  Central  Ohio. 

The  following  table  of  analyses  shows  the  character  of  the  Columbus  supply. 
These  analyses  were  all  made  by  Doctor  Curtis  C.  Howard,  Professor  of  Chemistry 
and  Toxicology  in  Starling  Medical  College,  and  were  kindly  furnished  by  him 
for  this  chapter.  The  examinations  go  back,  as  will  be  seen,  to  1885  and  cover 
the  water  from  both  the  western  and  the  eastern  sources.  It  would  scarcely  be 
in  keeping  with  the  character  of  this  chapter  to  discuss  the  significance  of  all  the 
elements  shown  by  these  analyses.  Those  who  are  trained  to  this  line  of  work 
will  see  that  the  table  represents  on  the  whole  excellent  water.  The  only  sub* 
stance  reported  that  is  out  of  proportion  is  the  albuminoid  ammonia.  This  stands 
for  previous  contamination,  but  there  is  no  ground  for  condemning  these  waters 
on  this  account. 


44 


W^l^ 


JUiaba 


G90 


History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 


ANALYSES  BY  PROFEaSOR  HOWARD.    PARTS  PER  100,000. 


Free 
Ammonia. 


1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
6. 


Albuminoid 
Ammonia 


.006 

.oa3 


.008 


.008  m 
.009 


.007 


Nitrous 
Acid. 


.001 


trace 


trace 
.001 
.001 
.001 


Nitric 
Acid. 


.042 
.056 


CbloriQe. 


I 


.97 
.74 
.99 
.50 
.02 
.56 


Total 
Solids.  • 


38.6 
61.6 
51.7 
5<>.2 
54.7 
52.0 


'Multiply  by  six  to  obtain  grains  per  gallon. 

1.  April  3,  1885.    Water  from  west  siile  filtering  galleries. 

2.  October  30,  1885.    Water  from  tunnel,  west  side,  showing  increased  hardness. 

3.  April  8,  1886.     Water  from  same  source. 

4.  November  22,  1888.     Water  from  well,  east  side  pumping  station. 

5.  October  24,  1890.  Water  from  hydrant  Starling  Medical  College,  showing  mixed 
supply  from  east  and  west  pumping  stations. 

6.  February  9,  1892.     Water  from  same  source. 

Drainage  and  Sewerage. — The  natural  drainage  of  Columbus,  as  has  been 
already  shown,  is  well  provided  for.  It  was  originally  sluggish  in  a  few  localities, 
but  slight  relief  in  the  way  of  open  ditches  was  all  that  such  districts  required  to 
render  them  arable.  By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  city  would  rid  itself  of  the 
heaviest  surplus  of  water  and  snow  with  all  needful  dispatch  through  numerous 
and  well  distributed  waterways,  and  particularly  through  the  porous  beds  supplied 
in  gravel  terraces  and  great  valleys.  The  city  went  on  for  many  years  without 
water  works  or  sewerage.  Each  household  derived  its  water  supply  from  its  own 
wells,  and  all  the  forms  of  waste  were  disposed  of  in  vaults  and  cesspools  sunk  in 
the  same  lot  on  which  the  well  was  located.  But  the  natural  consequences  of  this 
system  soon  began  to  manifest  themt^elv^  in  the  more  closely  built  portions  of  the 
city.  The  water  of  certain  wells  would  become  notably  bad  and  the  owners  would 
be  compelled  to  abandon  them,  but  other  wells  near  by  would  be  made  to  render 
service  in  their  place,  until  they  too  would  fall  under  deserved  condemnation.  It 
is  surprising  that  persons  of  even  ordinary  intelligence  should  fail  to  recognize  the 
danger  that  was  sure  to  result  from  this  double  use  of  the  freely  permeable  beds  upon 
which  the  city  is  built.  If  these  beds  could  bo  rendered  transparent  for  a  single 
moment  so  that  the  constant  drainage  of  vault  and  cesspool  by  well  could  be  seen 
and  traced  b}'  the  eye,  such  a  feeling  of  disgust  and  such  a  sense  of  danger  would 
be  iuHpired  that  this  use,  or  rather  abuse  of  the  soil,  would  bo  at  once  and  forever 
abandoned.  But  the  soil  is  as  good  as  transparent  to  those  who  are  able  to  observe 
the  facts  involved  and  to  reason  soundly  upon  them.  The  sheet  of  slowly  descend- 
ing  water  can  be  followed  from  the  polluted  surface  through  all  the  vile  accamula« 


Geology  and  Geography.  691 

lions  that  we  have  buried  in  the  earth,  down  to  the  springe  of  the  fountains  on 
which  wo  depend  for  a  supply  of  this  vital  element,  the  water  which  we  drink. 
If  the  soil  could  be  kept  scrupulously  free  from  all  the  agencies  of  contamination, 
we  might  continue  to  depend  upon  local  wells,  as  in  the  beginning.  But  the  soil 
cannot  be  kept  free,  under  occupation.  It  is  certain  to  be  defiled  in  various  ways 
and  some  of  these  involve  the  possibility  of  pestilence.  City  wells  are  incompatible 
with  the  public  health  and  the  public  safety,  and  must  be  everywhere  abandoned,  but 
even  if  they  are  given  up,  the  waste  of  the  city  cannot  bo  safely  entrusted  to  the 
soil  that  underlies  it.  There  are  other  dangers  besides  that  of  poisoned  water  to 
which  such  a  use  is  certain  to  lead.  A  fi Ithsodden  soil  becomes  a  prolific  source  of 
general  and  specific  disease.  It  is  a  hotbed  for  development  of  the  germs  of  diph- 
theria, typhoid  and  other  pestilences.  As  soon  iis  due  intelligence  is  directed  to  the 
facts  it  becomes  evident  that  the  removal  of  the  excretory  waste  is  one  of  the  most 
urgent  requirements  that  can  be  made  upon  a  city  in  the  interest  of  the  health  of 
its  people. 

Columbus  took  up  this  work  of  providing  itself  with  sewerage,  just  as  grow- 
ing cities  in  this  country  generally  take  it  up  ;  that  is,  by  piecemeal  and  with  an 
entire  absence  of  system  or  wise  forecast.  Small  and  shallow  sewers  were  at  first 
constructed  to  meet  the  most  urgent  necessities.  When  found  inadequate,  they 
were  replaced  by  larger  ones,  but  still  no  comprehensive  system  was  brought  into 
their  construction.  Every  sewer  was  carried  by  the  shortest  course  to  the  river. 
No  other  disposition  of  their  contents  received  the  slightest  consideration.  All  the 
firstbuilt  sewers  terminated  in  the  central  portion  of  the  valley  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
in  the  heart  of  the  city.  The  work  has  been  carried  forward  by  common  councils, 
the  constitution  of  which  undergoes  rapid  or  even  complete  change  in  the  course 
of  two  or  three  years.  Furthermore,  the  construction  has  been  carried  on  under 
the  direction  of  city  engineers  whose  terms  of  oflSce  have  been  alike  brief  and 
uncertain.  Under  such  conditions,  it  is  no  surprise  to  find  that  many  of  our  sowers 
have  been  unwisely  located.  Most  have  been  constructed  under  inadequate 
supervision  and  are  therefore  poorly  built,  and  they  have  cost  the  city  much  more 
than  they  should  have  done.  But  these  complaints  are  not  peculiar  to  Columbus, 
They  can  be  applied  without  change  to  the  experience  of  almost  all  of  our  large 
cities.  It  is  only  an  aggravation  to  set  before  ourselves  what  might  have  been 
done  under  a  wise  and  comprehensive  plan,  efficiently  and  economically  carried 
out.  It  is  also  to  be  borno  in  mind  that  our  knowledge  in  regard  to  these  subjects 
has  been  advancing  rapidly,  and  that  work  done  now  would  be  likely  to  be  plan* 
nod  and  carrier!  forward  far  more  wisely  than  work  undertaken  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  ago. 

Within  the  last  twenty  years  a  new  system  of  sewerage  has  been  introduced 
into  this  country  that  promises  relief  from  some  of  the  worst  evils  of  the  older  or 
established  system.  It  consists  of  a  separation  of  the  sewage  proper  from  the 
storm  water,  by  an  independent  system  of  pipes.  The  older  system  makes  use  of 
a  single  pipe  or  conduit  in  which  the  comparatively  small  but  fairly  regular  flow 
of  sewage  is  mingled  with  the  irregular  and  occasionally  excessive  volume  of  storm 
and  drainage  water.     To  convey  this  mingled  volume  ^requires  a  large  sewer,  for 


692  History  ok  the  City  of  Columbus. 

which,  iiinetonths  of  the  time,  there  is  notliing  like  full  use.  When  these  two 
incongruous  contributions  nre  thus  mingled,  on  the  one  hand,  storm  and  dniinage 
water,  and  one  the  other,  sewage  ja'opor,  it  is  expensive  and  often  impracticable  to 
separate  them  again.  The  storm  water,  if  not  further  polluted,  could  be  turned 
back  into  the  general  circulation  of  the  river  without  serious  offense  or  danger. 
But  the  sewage  must  be  carried  through  some  ])roeo8s  requiring  the  expenditure 
of  special  knowledge,  and  also  of  time  and  money  before  it  can  be  Bafely  intro- 
duced into  a  river  which  is  likely  to  be  used  for  water  supply  at  some  ]K>int  lower 
in  its  course.  If,  however,  the  small  volume  of  sewage  is  kept  separate  from  the 
storm  water  it  can  be  treated  or  utilized  at  comparatively  small  outlay. 

if  the  question  as  to  which  is  the  more  desirable  system  for  Columbus  could 
bo  taken  up  as  a  new  one  without  reference  to  existing  conditions  and  past  expen- 
ditures, there  is  little  doubt  as  to  the  verdict  that  would  be  rendered  by  the  best 
knowledge  of  our  time.     Unquestionably,  in  the  author's  opinion,  the    decision 
would  be  in  favor  of  the  separate  system.     But  the  question  cannot  be  approached 
in  this  way.     Columbus  is  irrevocably  committed  to  the  combined  system.      Sev- 
eral million  dollars  have  already  been  expended  in  the  construction  of  tbese  great 
lines  and  their  tributaries,  and  with  them  every  wellbuilt  house  of  tbe   city   is 
connected  ;  furthermore,  street  improvements,  aggregating  an  even  larger  ex]>endi- 
ture  than  the  sewers,  have  been  made  on  the  basis  of  complete  and  permanent 
work  in  the  matter  of  these  buried  drainage  channels.     For  bettor  or  worse,  there- 
fore, we  must  adjust  ourselves  to  the  established  system. 

What  are  the  chief  features  of  the  present  situation?     1.  In  the  first  place, 
the  old  system  of  carrying  the  sewage  by  the  shortest  course  to  the  rivers  and  dis- 
charging it  there  has  resulted  in  an  evil  of  large  proportions.     During  the  sum- 
mer, when  the  river  shrinks  to  small  volume,  the  sewago  becomes  the  overmaster. 
ing  element  in  it;  and  instead  of  the  crystal  stream  of  the  early  days,  rippling 
over  a  clean  and  gravelly  bed,  we  have  a  channel  coated  with  hateful   slime, 
through  which  a  sluggish  current  crawls,  black  as  ink  and  rank  with  all  the  offen- 
sive and  poisonous  odors  of  decomposing  animal  waste.     The  prevailing  westerly 
wind  catches  up  this  horrible  effluvium  and  wafts  it  over  the  adjacent  quarter  of 
the  city,  certainly  to  the  discomfort  and  disgust  and  probably  to  the  impairment 
of  the  health  of  thousands  of  our  people  who  have  built  here  pleasant  homes  for 
themselves.     When,  a  few  years  ago,  the  offense  seemed  unbearable,  the  city  coun- 
cil, against  the  advice  of  the  intelligent  friends  of  sanitary  science  in  the  city, 
ordered  a  dam  to  be  constructed  across  the  river  below  the  mouth  of  the  largest 
sewer,  to  receive  and  dilute  its  hateful  contents.     The  measure  resulted  as  it  was 
foreseen  it  must  result,  and  taught  anew  the  lesson  that  it  is  often  better  to  "bear 
the  ills  we  have  than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of"     The  dam  was  blown 
out  finally,  and  tho  district  was  temporarily  relieved  of  the  worst  nuisance  that 
ingenuity  could  create. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  the  city  has  found  itself  obliged  to  build  at  an  immense 
outlay  an  intercepting  sewer  to  catch  the  outflow  of  all  these  older  linos  and  trans* 
port  it  to  a  new  and  deeper  eddy  of  the  river,  two  miles  below  the  city  limits^ 
Temporary  relief  will  probably  be  secure  by  this  means ;  but  the  rapid  growth  of 


Geology  and  Geography.  693 

the  city  and  the  additional  public  water  supply  already  described  are  steadily 
augmenting  the  volume  of  our  sewage.  The  outlet  as  planned  is  sure  to  create  a 
serious  local  offense  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  and  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
the  stench  arising  from  the  sewage  will  not  return  to  plague  us,  even  within  the 
boundaries  that  we  are  seeking  to  protect.  In  any  case  we  are  inflicting,  by  the 
course  we  have  adopted  and  pursued  from  the  first,  an  irreparable  injury  on  all 
who  occupy  the  valley  bolow  us.  We  are  ruining  a  river  that  does  not  belong  to 
any  one  town  or  district,  and  that  in  reality  belongs  much  less  to  us  than  to  the 
occupants  of  the  fertile  and  beautiful  valley  that  extends  from  Columbus  to  the 
Ohio  River. 

3.  Is  there  any  relief  for  this  unfortunate  state  of  things,  or  is  this  the  price 
which  every  river  valle}'  must  pay  for  supporting  one  or  more  prosperous  cities 
within  its  limits?  Sanitary  science  has  taught  us,  and  especially  through  the 
experience  of  European  cities  and  tow^ns,  principally  in  England  but  partly  on  the 
Continent,  during  the  last  twentyfive  years,  that  these  evils,  serious  though  they 
are,  are  not  irremediable.  Various  systems  have  been  devised  for  correcting  them 
or  at  least  reducing  them  to  lower  terms.  One  system  stands  out  preeminent  in 
this  list  and  offers  us,  when  intelligently  and  efficiently  applied,  full  exemption 
from  this  Uireatening  source  of  danger  and  offense.  It  is  the  thoroughly  natural 
system  which  invokes  the  powerful  agency  of  the  soil  and  the  air.  It  is  known  as 
the  method  of  downward  intermittent  filtration.  The  sewage  is  applied  to  land  pro- 
perly prepared  for  this  purpose  by  thorough  underdraining.  The  flow  of  the 
sewage  must  be  interrupted  so  that  the  air  can  take  its  turn  in  passing  through 
the  soil.  By  this  means  a  natural  agency  of  decomposition  is  brought  into  play  by 
which  the  nitrogeitous  elements  of  waste,  which  are  the  most  harmful  of  all,  are 
broken  up  into  innocuous  compounds.  This  work  is  done  by  one  of  the  great 
swarms  of  microscopic  life  with  which  we  are  just  becoming  acquainted  and  which, 
in  this  case,  we  know  as  one  form  of  bacterium. 

The  bcwage  nourishes  and  stimulates  plant  growth  to  a  remarkable  degree.  It 
transforms  barren  sands  into  fruitful  fields.  On  land  which  is  properly  prepared 
for  it,  gardeners  and  farmers  eagerly  compete  for  the  sewage  sup])ly.  Hut  con- 
tinuous plant  growth  is  not  necessary  for  the  efficiency  of  the  process.  The  work 
can  go  on  without  the  agency  of  vegetable  growth  and  takes  place  in  the  winter 
as  well  as  in  the  summer,  the  warmth  of  the  water  preventing  freezing  even  in 
climates  much  more  severe  than  that  of  Ohio.  The  effluent  water  is  not  only  fil- 
tered but  purified.  Its  chemical  character  has  been  changed  and  it  is  now  in  all 
respects  fit  to  be  returned  to  the  river  from  which  it  was  taken,  none  the  worse  for 
the  detour  which  it  has  made  through  the  artificial  channels  that  we  have  con- 
structed for  it  and  the  all-important  office  it  has  stibserved  of  carrying  away  the 
wa.ste  of  a  great  city. 

This  is  the  step  that  remains  to  be  taken  in  the  public  improvements  of 
Columbus  A  sewage  farm  must  be  added  to  its  sanitary  equipment  before  it  can 
do  justice  either  to  its  own  people  or  to  its  neighbors.  Land  apparently  well 
adapted  to  this  purpose  is  available.  The  amount  of  land  required  cannot  be 
determined  until  the  local  conditions  are  thoroughly  understood.     European  prac- 


694  History  op  the  Citt  of  CoLmBrs. 

tice  assigns  ten  acres  to  the  thousand  of  {K>pulatioD  for  sewage  farm  from  which 
some  returns  are  sought  in  the  way  of  vegetable  growth.  When  this  laet named 
element  is  disregarded,  a  much  smaller  amount  of  land  will  suffice.  If  the  system 
were  once  put  into  operation  by  the  establishment  of  even  a  small  sewage  farm  on 
the  broad  plains  of  the  Scioto,  below  the  city,  there  seems  reasonable  ground  to 
believe  that  it  would  grow  of  itHclf  The  owners  of  adjacent  farms  would  find  it  to 
their  interest  to  prepare  their  lands  for  the  vitalizing  flood,  and  the  value  of  all 
farms  to  which  the  sewage  could  thus  be  applied  would  be  permanently  enhanced 
by  such  contiguity.  To  associate  the  vegetables  and  fruits  of  oar  dietacale  with 
the  purification  of  city  sewage  may  seem  distasteful  to  some  when  firc»t  proposed, 
but  a  closer  inspection  shows  us  that  there  is  no  ground  for  anxiety  or  even  for 
prejudice  in  such  a  relation.  The  alchemy  of  nature  is  fully  adeqaate  to  the  trans- 
formation required,  and  in  fact  it  is  only  by  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
some  system  of  return  to  the  soil  of  that  which  has  been  drawn  out  of  it,  that  the 
life  of  the  race  can  be  indefinitely  prolonged.  Shakespeare's  Hoes  may  be  para- 
phrased in  this  connection  : 

Imperial  C;i«ar,  dead  and  turned  to  clay, 
May  ripen  grain  that  keeps  gaunt  want  away ; 
Strange  that  the  dust  that  held  the  world  in  awe 
Should  find  its  place  within  a  hungry  maw. 

When  all  the  fever-breeding  wells  within  the  central  districts  of  the  city  have 
been  filled;  when  uncemented  vaults  are  no  longer  tolerated  within  its  limits; 
when  the  basins  from  which  its  water  supply  is  drawn  are  adequately  policed  and 
protected;  and  when  a  well-appointed  sewage  farm  is  added  to  its  outfit,  Colum- 
bus may  enjoy  the  satisfaction  of  having  done  its  duty  in  a  sanitary  way,  and  may 
complacently  expect  the  rewards  that  come  from  obedience  to  the  commandments 
pertaining  to  the  public  health.  These  rewards  will  consist  in  the  exemption  of 
its  people  from  many  forms  of  zymotic  disease,  and  from  the  heavy  taxes  that  such 
diseases  levy,  and  in  the  increasing  comfort  and  longer  term  of  human  life  within 
its  boundaries. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


CLIMATE   AND  HYGIENE.     I. 

In  tbcir  influence  upon  the  health  of  human  beings,  climate  and  locality, 
although  independent  agents,  are  often  confused  with  one  another.  Much  that  is 
charged  to  meteorological  conditions  which  are  beyond  the  control  of  man  is 
found,  on  closer  examination,  to  be  due  to  local  or  terrene  conditions  which  may 
and  should  be  essentially  changed.  It  has  been  said  that,  as  a  rule,  health  may 
bo  preserved  in  any  climate  by  the  exercise  of  reasonable  care,  yet  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  certain  atmospheric  influences,  acting  in  conjunction  with  those  of 
locality,  may  produce  deleterious  conditions  against  which  no  precaution  is  proof. 
The  remedy  lies  in  improving  the  influences,  not  of  the  climate,  but  of  the  locality, 
and  in  doing  this,  civilization  performs  one  of  its  principal  fdnctions.  The 
annual  deathrate  of  London  which,  two  centuries  ago,  was  as  high  as  eighty  per 
thousand,  is  now  less  than  twentythree.  Yet  the  climate  of  London  has  under- 
gone no  essential  change.  On  the  other  hand,  civilization  has  produced  immense 
chan<^es  in  the  modes  and  comforts  of  life,  and  this  is  no  less  true  of  Central  Ohio 
than  it  is  of  the  chief  city  of  Europe.  We  live  under  the  same  skies  and  are 
subject  to  the  same  atmospheric  phenomena  as  the  early  settlers,  but  with  very 
different  consequences  because  of  the  different  relations  we  bear  to  the  operations 
of  Nature. 

Climate  and  hygiene  are  therefore  associated  together,  and  here  chosen  for 
conjunctive  treatment,  not  bccaune  the  one  is  believed  necessarily  to  sway  the 
other,  but  because  the  one  may  radically  affect  the  other  by  acting  upon  condi- 
tions which  lie  mainly  if  not  entirely  within  our  own  control. 

Of  the  meteorology  of  Ohio  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the 
record  is  mostly  traditional  and  vague.  Writing  from  the  best  information  he 
could  get,  Mr.  Atwater  gives  the  following  account  of  a  series  of  winters  :  1785 
to  1790  mild;  1791  and  1792  severe;  1798  to  1795  mild;  1796  to  1800  severe. 
In  1796  the  Ohio  Eiver  was  frozen  over  in  November,  and  a  winter  followed 
which  was  remembered  for  more  than  forty  years  afterward  as  the  severest  known 
in  the  history  of  the  State.  The  mercury  sank  to  eighteen  degrees  below  zero  on 
January  8,  1797,  and  dropped  several  additional  times  below  the  zero  point  in  the 
course  of  the  season.  The  Ohio  River  remained  frozen  over  for  four  weeks  in 
succession,  and  frost  occurred  as  late  in  the  following  spring  as  May  24.' 

[695] 


696  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

According  to  Atwater,  the  winters  from  1801  to  1807,  ioclasive,  were  all 
mild,  but  tradition  speaks  of  February  13,  1807,  as  a  cold  Friday  which  do  one 
could  forget  who  ex|»erieficed  its  rigor.  On  Juno  16,  1806,  a  total  eclipse  of  the 
sun,  vi^iible  nil  over  this  and  the  Euro{>ean  continents,  took  place  at  midday. 
Twice  only  within  the  recorded  history  of  the  United  States  —  November  30,  1834, 
and  August  7,1869  —  has  Huch  a  phenomenon  occurred  which  at  all  approached 
this  one  in  grandeur.  At  thirtyseven  minutes  and  thirty  seconds  past  eleven 
oY'lock  the  sun's  surface  was  wholly  obscured,  and  the  darkness  of  Di|2^ht  super- 
vened. As  the  day  was  unclouded,  this  transition  from  the  glare  of  a  summer 
Doon  to  midnight  obscurity  was  the  more  impressive.  Cooper,  the  novelist,  who 
was  an  observer  of  the  event,  mentions  these  incidents: 

Swallows  were  dimly  seen  dropping  into  the  chimneys,  the  martins  retarned  to  their 
little  boxes,  the  pigeons  fiew  home  to  their  dovecots,  and  through  the  open  door  of  a  email 
barn  we  saw  the  fowls  going  to  roost.  ...  A  few  cows,  believing  that  night  had  overtaken 
them,  were  corning  home  from  the  wild,  open  pastures,  the  dew  was  falling  perceptibly,  and 
the  thermometer  must  have  fallen  many  degrees  from  the  great  heat  of  the  morning. 

The  duration  of  the  total  obscuration  was  about  6ve  minutes. 
Hon.  Christian  Hoyl  thun  describes  the  tremors  of  an  earthquake  w^hich  he  says 
was  felt  at  Columbus  in  1810: 

The  firHt  shock  was  in  the  night  season.  It  shook  my  bed  so  that  I  at  first  thought  that 
some  person  was  nhaking  it.  The  dogs  and  fowls  made  a  dreadful  noise  about  it.  I  got  up 
and  looked  out  of  the  window,  but  could  see  nothing  wrong.  The  rest  of  my  fauiily  slept 
below  in  the  cabin,  and  felt  nothing  of  it.  On  the  next  day,  however,  about  ten  or  eleven 
o'clock,  we  had  another  shock.  There  was  no  wind,  yet  we  could  see  the  treetops  swaying, 
and  articles  hanging  up  in  the  house  were  swinging  back  and  forth.' 

In  1811  a  notable  earthquake  took  place,  the  oscillatory  center  of  which  was 
about  thirty  miles  south  of  Now  Madrid,  in  Missouri.  The  first  shock  took  place 
during  the  night  of  December  16,  and  was  followed  by  intermittent  vibrations, 
which  continued  until  the  following  February.  Some  of  the  tremors  were  felt  as 
far  east  as  Pittsburgh,  and  even  along  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic.  These,  if  we 
may  presume  an  erroneous  ascription  of  date,  may  account  for  the  phenomeDa 
described  by  Mr.  Ileyl.  At  the  time  the  shocks  of  1811  began,  a  comet  had  for 
some  time  been  visible  in  the  heavens. 

As  to  the  early  summer  of  1814  we  find  the  following  hints  in  the  I^eemans 
Chronicle  (Franklinton)  of  June  10: 

Scarcely  one  cloudless  day  has  been  seen  in  this  part  of  the  country  during  the  last  six 
or  eight  weeks.  Vegetation  has  been  much  retarded,  and  in  some  instances  destroyed,  in 
consequence  of  the  late  excessive  and  incessant  rains.  Tlie  waters  have  been  extremely 
high,  and  the  roads,  in  some  places,  impassable. 

On  September  23,  1815,  a  terrific  and  over-memorable  gale  swept  over  New 
England,  but  the  writer  has  been  unable  to  find  any  account  of  contomporury 
storms  west  of  the  Allcghanies. 

The  year  1816  was  commonly  referred  to  for  nearly  agenoration  as  one  "with- 
out a  summer."  In  1850  the  following  account  of  it  was  given  in  the  Rochester 
(N.  Y.)  American : 


Climate  and  Hygiene.    I.  697 

• 

January  was  mild,  so  much  so  as  to  render  fires  almost  needless  in  sitting  rooms. 
December,  the  month  immediately  preceding  this,  was  very  cold.  February,  except  a  few 
days,  was  as  mild  as  January  had  been.  The  first  half  of  March  was  cold  and  boisterous,  the 
second  half  mild.  A  tremendous  freshet  on  the  Ohio  and  Kentucky  rivers  caused  great  loss 
of  property.  April  began  warm,  but  grew  colder  as  the  month  advanced,  and  ended  with 
snow  and  ice.  In  May,  buds  and  fruit  trees  were  frozen,  ice  formed  half  an  inch  thick,  and 
the  fields  were  again  and  again  replanted  until  the  planting  season  had  passed.  June  was  the 
coldest  ever  known  in  this  latitude.  Frost,  ice  and  snow  were  common.  Fruit  was  nearly  all 
destroyed.  Almost  every  green  herb  was  killed.  Snow  fell  to  the  depth  of  ten  inches  in 
Vermont,  several  inches  in  Maine,  and  three  inches  in  the  interior  of  New  York.  It  also  fell 
in  Massachusetts.  July  was  accompanied  by  frost,  and  ice  as  thick  as  common  windowglass 
was  formed  throughout  New  England,  New  York,  and  some  portions  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
Indian  corn  was  nearly  all  killed.  August  was  more  cheerless,  if  possible,  than  the  [other] 
summer  months  had  been.  Ice  half  an  inch  thick  was  formed,  and  Indian  corn  was  so  frozen 
that  the  greater  part  of  it  was  cut  down  and  dried  for  fodder.  Almost  every  green  thing  was 
destroyed,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  .  .  .  Farmers  supplied  themselves  from  the 
corn  produced  in  1815  for  seed  in  the  spring  of  1817.  It  sold  at  from  four  to  five  dollars  a 
bushel.  September  supplied  about  two  weeks  of  the  mildest  weather  of  the  season,  but  its 
latter  half  was  so  cold  and  frosty  that  ice  was  formed  half  an  inch  thick.  In  October  frost  and 
ice  were  common.  November  was  cold  and  blustering.  Snow  fell  during  that  month  suf- 
ficiently to  make  sleighing.  December  was  mild  and  comfortable.  The  remainder  of  the 
winter  was  mild. 

During  the  season  of  1816  very  little  vegetation  matured.  Throughout  the 
summer  the  sun's  rays  seemed  to  bo  destitute  of  their  usual  power,  and  all  nature 
assumed  a  somber  aspect. 

Atwater  describes  the  winters  of  1808  and  1809  as  severe,  and  thus  classifies 
those  which  followed,  down  to  the  time  he  wrote:  1810  to  1812  mild  ;  1813  cold  — 
snow  tweutyfour  inches  deep  at  Fort  Wayne;  1814  to  1828  mild;  1829  to  1831 
cold ;  1832  to  1838  mild.  According  to  the  same  authority,  heavy  rains  began 
to  pour  about  November  14,  1822,  **  and  continued  almost  daily  until  the  first  day 
of  the  ensuing  June." 

On  May  18,  1825,  a  tornado  swept  across  Licking,  Knox,  Carroll  and  Col- 
umbiana counties  and  passed  eastward  until  it  shattered  its  force  against  the 
western  breasts  of  the  Alleghanios.  "  Across  Licking  and  Knox  counties  its  width 
was  scarcely  one  mile,  but  where  it  moved  it  prostrated  every  forest  tree,  or  stripped 
it  of  its  limbs."'  The  autumn  of  this  year  was  characterized  by  unusual  mildness. 
In  October  the  temperature  of  June  prevailed,  rosetrces  bloomed,  and  vegetation 
generally  seemed  to  take  on  a  second  growth. 

The  first  half  of  January,  1826,  was  very  cold  ;  on  the  seventeenth  the  mercury 
dropped  four  degrees  below  zero.  In  March,  floods  took  place  which  caused  serious 
damage  in  Franklin  and  adjoining  counties. 

The  spring  of  1827  was  cold  and  backward.  "  In  the  winter  of  1827-8,"  says 
Atwater,  **  we  had  the  southwest  current  of  air  all  winter.  It  came  loaded  with 
water,  which  fell  in  torrents  during  that  winter,  and  on  the  eighth  of  January 
there  was  the  greatest  freshet  which  we  had  had  for  years  before.  On  the  Scioto 
we  had  no  ice  that  winter  more  than  threoei^hts  of  an  inch  in  thickness."^ 

The  winter  of  1827-8  was  open,  wet  and  boisterous.  The  rain  poured  d(»\vri 
in  sheets,  inundating  the  fiatland,  and  swelling  even  small  brooks  to  impassable 


r>9H  lllSTOKY    OK   THE    ('iTY    OF   ('0LUMBIT8. 

proportions.  Not  ice  eiiouirli  was  frozen  in  the  Scioto  Valley,  it  was  stated,  to  cool 
aglaHH  ofsoda.  The  weather  in  February,  1}^29,  was  severely  cold,  and  throughout 
the  month  ot*  March  the  temperature  of  January  prevailed.  When  springopened, 
vegetation  was  two  weeks  behiiHlhand. 

February,  1S30,  of^ened  with  extreme  coKL  relieved  by  a  heavy  snowfall  which 
produce<l  fine  sleighing.  In  the  autumn  of  this  year  a  severe  drought  prevailed, 
injuring  the  corn,  making  dusty  roa<ls  and  causing  htreams  and  wells  to  go  dry. 

In  IS.^1  February  again  began  very  cold,  the  mercury  drop])ing  ten  degrees 
below  zero.  On  August  10  of  this  year  Mr.  Isaac  Appleton  Jewott  w^rote  from 
Columbus  to  his  friend,  Samuel  Appleton,  of  Boston  : 

Torrents  of  rain  have  been  pouring  down  upon  us  the  entire  summer.  r>eucalion*8 
age  would  have  been  a  dry  time  to  thi>«.  The  heavens  are  hung  with  hlack  for  weeks. 
Indeed,  I  may  say  with  truth,  we  have  not  had  a  clear  day  this  summer. 

A  partial  eclipse  of  the  sun  took  place  February  12,  beginning  at  thirteen 
minutes  past  ten  A.  M  ,  according  to  William  Lusk's  almanac. 

In  January,  1HH2,  the  tempeniture  went  down  to  ton  degrees  below  zero.  It 
had  previously,  during  the  same  season,  gone  <lown  to  eight  degrees  below.  June 
of  this  year  was  a  cold  month,  unfavorable  to  agriculture.  A  "  weekly  meteorologi- 
cal diary  '*  began  to  be  kept  about  this  time,  and  rejmrted  to  the  press  by  H.  Wil- 
cox, of  the  "  Columbus  High  School  for  Young  Ladies."  Mr.  Wilcox  made  notes  of 
the  wind,  temperature  and  general  state  of  the  weather  for  each  day  of  the  month. 

In  both  a  hygienic  and  a  meteorologic  sense  the  3'ear  1833  is  one  of  extraor- 
dinary interest.  Besides  being  accompanied  by  the  first  notable  cholera  epidemic 
which  ever  prevailed  in  Centrnl  Ohio,  it  was  distinguished  by  some  of  the  most 
wonderful  atmospheric  phenomena  ever  witnes.scd  on  this  continent. 

The  winter  of  1832-3  was  unusually  niild.  On  February  22,  1833,  Mr.  Isaac 
A.  Jewelt  wrote;*  "The  winter  still  continues  open  and  delightful.  What  a  con- 
trast to  the  two  preceding  !  Xever  were  there  clearer  skies  nor  milder  breezes. 
The  month  of  Februar}*  has  been  one  long  May  day.  I  will  not  say  the  birds  have 
made  their  appearance,  but  I  have  certainly  seen  the  grass  green  in  the  fields.*' 
Nevertheless  iMarch  opened  with  a  slight  snowfall,  which  was  closely  follow^ed  by 
some  of  the  coldest  weather  of  the  season.  During  this  cold  interval,  four  inches 
of  snow  lay  upon  the  ground,  making  excellent  sleighing.  April  and  the  first  half 
of  May  were  uncommonly  dry,  but  June  was  a  month  of  copious  and  constant 
precipitation,  causing  high  water,  and  making  the  roads  for  a  time  almost  impass- 
able. 

liut  by  far  the  most  im])ortant  meteorological  event  of  the  year  1833,  and  per- 
haps the  most  interesting  one  of  the  present  century,  was  the  magnificent  exhibi- 
tion of  falling  meteors  which  t<)<»k  place  on  the  morning  of  November  13,  in  that 
year.  Never  in  the  world's  history  was  there  a  grander  display  of  celestial  pyro- 
technics than  this.  Beginning  about  midnight,  it  was  visible  all  over  the  American 
(continent,  and  continued  until  submerged  in  the  light  of  the  rising  sun.  A  citizen 
of  Worthington,  writing  on  November  13,  1833,  thus  describes  it: 

This  morning?,  an  hour  before  day,  our  sky  presented  a  most  lingular  display  of  luminous 
meteors.    The  api>earance,  1  am  informed,  conimence<i  at  least  as  early  as  half    past   three 


Climate  and  Htqiene.     I.  699 

o'clock,  though  it  was  an  hour  later  when  I  first  saw  it ;  and  it  continued  without  intermission 
until  the  light  of  day  rendered  it  invisible.  A  numberless  multitude  of  shooting  stars  were 
constantly  marking  the  cloudless  sky  with  long  trails  of  light.  As  seen  from  this  place,  they 
seemed  to  proceed  from  a  point  in  the  heavens  a  little  west  of  Delta,  in  the  constellation  Leo. 
This  observation  was  made  at  five  o'clock.  From  this  point  they  appeared  to  shoot  with 
great  velocity  down  the  concave  sky,  losing  themselves  in  the  dark  blue  expanse,  or  disap- 
pearing in  the  faint  and  undefined  mist  that  rested  on  the  horizon.  They  were  not  generally 
visible  in  their  course  through  a  greater  arc  than  twenty  or  twentyfive  degrees,  and  those 
which  seemed  to  approach  nearest  to  the  horizon  first  made  their  appearance  not  far  above 
it ;  while  those  that  commenced  their  course  near  the  centre  of  radiation  uniformly  dis- 
appeared before  they  reached  the  misty  part  of  the  atmosphere.  Each  meteor  in  its  course 
left  a  pale,  phosphorescent  train  of  light,  which  usually  remained  visible  for  some  minutes. 
Occasionally  one  would  seem  to  burst  into  fiames,  and  burn  with  increased  energy,  illuminat- 
ing the  face  of  terrestrial  nature  with  a  degree  of  brightness  and  splendor  inferior  only  to 
sunshine.  But  this  effect  would  be  of  merely  momentary  duration,  for  the  substance  of  the 
meteor  would  be  rapidly  consumed,  leaving  a  broad,  luminous  way  which  would  perhaps 
remain  distinctly  visible  for  twenty  minutes,  while  the  wind  or  some  other  cause,  would 
appear  to  waft  it  gently  eastward,  so  modifying  its  form  as  to  give  it  the  irregular  outline  of  a 
cloud.  ...  A  luminous  spot,  or  ring,  would  frequently  appear  for  a  moment,  near  the  point 
from  which  they  seemed  to  emanate  ;  which  was  unquestionably  occasioned  by  a  coincidence 
of  the  course  of  the  meteor  with  the  line  of  observation. 

A  Columbus  observer  wrote  : 

The  weather  was  calm  and  mild  ;  numberless  stars  twinkled  in  the  heaven;  while  the 
middle  region  of  the  air  was  irradiated  by  myriads  of  those  diminutive  meteors  usually 
denominated  falling  or  shooting  stars.  These  were  of  various  sizes,  some  emitting  little  more 
light  than  the  ordinary  firefly,  while  others  equaled  the  rocket  in  brilliancy,  and  presented 
an  appearance  nearly  similar.  One,  in  particular,  which  we  had  not  the  good  fortune  to 
behold,  has  been  represented  to  us  as  visible  for  several  minutes  — our  informant  says  not 
less  than  ten  —and  as  exceeding  in  size  and  splendor  anything  of  the  kind  ever  witnessed  by 
those  who  saw  it.  .  .  .  This  singular  spectacle  [the  appearance  of  the  meteors]  commenced 
a  little  after  twelve  o'clock,  and  was  at  its  height  between  four  and  five.  .  .  .  They  [the 
meteors]  must  have  fallen  at  the  rate  of  at  least  ten  thousand  per  hour,  presenting  an  appear- 
ance of  a  shower  of  fire  extinguished  in  midair.  They  were  seen  in  all  quarters  of  the 
heavens  at  once,  but  seemed  to  be  most  numerous  a  few  degrees  south  of  east  from  the 
zenith.' 

Ani^o  computed  that  not  less  than  240,000  meteors  were  instantaneously  visible 
above  the  horizon  of  Boston.  For  some  time  a  very  largo  one  hung  almost  station- 
ary in  the  zenith  above  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  and  ernited  in  all  directions  its 
incessant  flashes  of  light.  The  descent  of  the  fiery  shower  over  the  dark,  foam- 
ing cataract  is  described  as  an  unparalleled  spectacle.  The  movement  of  the 
meteors  was  for  the  most  part  noiseless,  but  sometimes  a  hissing  sound  was  per- 
ceived, and  the  explosions  of  the  fireballs,  it  was  said,  were  accompanied  in  some 
instances  hy  a  report  resembling  the  discharge  of  a  cannon. 

The  effect  of  the  display  upon  the  minds  of  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  was 
ver}'  curious.  In  many  districts  nearly  the  entire  population  was  panicstrickoii, 
and  ])rofoundIy  believed  that  the  end  of  the  world  had  come.  Imi>romptu  prayer 
meetings  were  held,  and  solemn  preparations  for  instant  departure  from  mundane 
scenes  were  circumstantially  made.  An  old  citizen  who  was  at  Granville  at  the 
time,  informs  the   writer  that  instances  of  this  kind  occurred  both  there  and  at 


700  History  of  the  City  of  Columbub. 

ColumbuH.  In  the  Soutlierii  StatcB  the  negro  slaves  were  terrorized  be^-ond  con- 
trol. A  planter  who  was  awakene^l  in  the  night  by  the  distressed  cries  of  his 
bondsmen  says  that  when  he  went  out  to  respond  tx)  their  inidni^lit  beseechings, 
over  one  hundred  of  them  ''lay  prostrate  on  the  ground,  some  speechless  and 
others  uttering  the  bitterest  moans,  but  with  their  hands  raised  imploring  God  to 
save  the  world  and  them." 

Thesj)ring  of  18ii4  opened  very  favorably  but  on  April  26,  a  frost  fell  which 
destroyed  the  fruit,  cut  <lown  the  wheat  and  stripped  the  trees  of  their  leaves.  At 
the  time  of  this  visitation,  ice  was  formed  half  an  inch  thick.  This  frost  'was  gen- 
eral over  Ohio,  and  prevailed  also  in  several  States  east  of  the  Alleghanies.  The 
month  of  Jul}'  next  following  was  marked  by  extreme  heat,  the  thermometer  rang- 
ing in  the  nineties  for  several  days  in  succession.  An  eclipse  of  the  sun,  total  in 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  took  place  November  30. 

The  winter  of  1S34-5,  although  quite  severe  in  the  Eastern  and  Southern 
States,  was  in  Ohio  one  of  unusual  mildness.  Up  to  January  21,  no  snow  had 
fallen  at  Columbus,  and  scarcely  a  day  had  passed  on  which  outdoor  lahor  could 
not  be  comfortably  performed. 

Of  the  seasons  of  1886  little  mention  has  been  made  in  the  current  records, 
except  that  the  month  of  March  was  one  of  excessive  changcableness,  illustrating, 
by  weather  as  bad  as  their  orthography,  the  following  lines  : 

First  it  rained,  and  then  it  blew, 
And  then  it  friz,  and  then  it  anew. 
And  then  there  was  a  shower  of  rain, 
And  then  it  friz  and  snew  again. 

The  principal  meteorological  event  of  1837  was  a  magificent  aurora  horealis 
which  appeared  in  the  heavens  during  the  evening  of  November  14.  Of  its 
observation  at  Columbus,  possibl}'^  prevented  by  cloudy  weather,  no  record  has 
been  found,  although  witnessed  at  Hudson,  Ohio,  and  at  various  other  points  from 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  As  seen  at  most  localities,  its  duration 
was  about  thrcequarters  ofan  hour;  at  St.  Louis  it  continued  throughout  the  night 
Professor  Olnistead  wrote  of  its  appearance  at  New  llaven  : 

About  six  o'clock,  wliile  the  sky  was  yet  thick  with  falling;  snow,  all  thin^  suddenly 
ai)i>eared  as  if  dye<l  in  blood.  The  entire  atmosphere,  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  trees,  the 
tops  of  theliouses,  an<l,  in  short,  the  whole  face  of  nature  were  tinged  with  the  same  scarlet 
hue.  The  alarm  of  lire  was  given,  and  the  vigilant  firemen  were  seen  parading  the  streets  in 
their  gliostly  uniform,  whicli,  assmningthe  general  tint,  seemed  in  singular  keeping  with  the 
phenomenon.  The  light  was  most  intense  in  the  northwest  and  northeast.  At  short  intervals 
it  alternately  increase<l  and  diminislied  in  brightness  until,  at  half  past  six,  only  a  slight  tinge 
of  red  remained  in  the  sky. 

Another  writer  ^ives  the  following  description  of  it  as  seen  at  New  York  : 

Innumerable  bright  arches  shot  u\)  from  the  whole  nortliern  semicircle  of  the  horizon,  and 
from  even  farther  south,  all  converging  to  the  zenith  with  great  rapidity.  Their  upper 
extrenutios  wore  of  the  most  brilliant  scarlet,  while  below  they  were  exeeedingly  white.  At 
the  formation  of  the  corona  the  appearance  of  the  columns  below^,  which  were  very  numeroos 
and  bright,  resembled  that  of  bright  cotton  of  long  fibre,  drawn  out  at  full    length.    The 


Climate  and  Hygiene.     I.  701 

intermingled  hues  afforded  each  other  a  mutual  strong  relief,  and  exhibited  the  most 
dazzling  contrasts  ever  beheld.  The  stellar  form  was  wonderfully  perfect  and  regular.  Toward 
the  west  there  was  a  sector  of  more  than  twenty  degrees  of  unmingled  scarlet,  superlatively 
beautiful. 

The  weather  of  January,  1838,  was  singularly  mild,  and  that  of  the  latter  half 
of  March  warm,  hazy  and  dr}',  causing  the  early  garden  plants  to  bloom,  and 
the  bluebirds  to  appear  at  their  usual  springtime  haunts.  During  Juno  and  July 
the  midday  temperature  ranged  in  the  eighties. 

The  sumner  of  1839  was  so  cold  as  to  bo  likened  to  that  of  1816.  A  snowfall 
heavier  than  any  of  the  preceding  winter  took  place  about  March  1,  and  made 
sleighing  for  the  first  time  during  the  winter  or  spring.  Severe  frosts  fell 
during  the  nights  of  May  3  and  5. 

March,  1840,  set  in  with  the  warmth  and  gentleness  of  Juno;  how  it  went  out 
we  are  not  informed.  One  hundred  and  fifi^'six  consecutive  days  next  anterior  to 
March  31,  1840,  were  thus  classified  :  63  fair,  34  rainy,  28  snowy,  and  31  cloudy 
without  precipitation. 

March,  1841,  was  characterized  by  heavy  snow  and  fierce  cold.  About  the 
middle  of  the  month,  the  northern  stage  came  through  from  Sandusky  to  Colum- 
bus on  runners.  July  was  accompanied  by  excessive  heat,  but  a  low  tempera- 
ture and  drought  prevailed  in  August.  The  first  autumn  frost  fell  October  1. 
During  the  latter  part  of  October  cold  rains  fell,  and  were  followed  by  snow. 

The  winter  of  1841-2  was  one  of  phenomenal  mildness.  Snow  fell  scarcely  at 
all  during  the  entire  winter  until  February  17,  when  it  was  precipitated  to  a 
depth  of  three  inches.  Very  little  ice  was  formed.  January  had  the  usual  tem- 
perature of  May.  February  was,  for  the  most  part,  equally  mild.  March  was 
ushered  in  with  thunderstorms  and  greening  fields.  On  one  day  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  month,  the  temperature  rose  to  eightythree  in  the  shade.  Most  of  the 
fruittrees  were  in  bloom  before  April  1.  In  May  the  weather  was  so  cool  as  to 
make  fires  necessary  for  household  comfort.  June  was  blessed  with  an  abundance 
of  rain.  The  weather  conditions  for  the  wheat  harvest,  which  was  one  of  great 
luxurance,  were  favorable.  The  midday  temperature  of  July  ranged  in  the 
nineties.  On  August  2  and  3  a  frost  fell,  not  at,  but  east  and  west  of  Columbus. 
In  latitude  39  and  south  of  it  a  severe  drought  prevailed  in  autumn.  Snow  fell 
November  16,  and  on  November  22  the  Scioto  above  the  State  dam  was  frozen 
firmly. 

During  the  night  of  Januar}'  4,  1843,  an  earthquake  tremor  was  felt  at 
Cincinnati,  and  also,  slightly,  through  Central  Ohio.  At  Columbus  it  was  per- 
ceptible  but  not  violent.  In  Missouri  it  was  severe,  and  in  some  portions  of  that 
State  produced  "sinkholes"  which  belched  forth  steam.  On  February  7,  1843, 
the  temperature  dropped  to  one  degree  below  zero.  The  season  had  previously 
been  mild  and  open.  From  the  fourteenth  to  the  eighteenth  the  sleighing,  it  was 
said,  was  the  finest  scon  in  Ohio  for  ten  years.  On  the  seventeenth  a  cold  wave 
swept  over  the  State,  depressing  the  temperature  in  parts  of  Northern  Ohio  to 
twenty  two  and  twentyfive  degrees  below  zero.  March  was  a  month  of  snow, 
violent  winds,  and  low  temperature  approaching  the  zero  point.     Spring  opened 


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Climate  and  Hygiene.     I.  703 

tion  became  dark,  almost  black,  contrasting  strangely  with  the  light  sky,  when  suddenly,  as  if 
upon  intelligent  summons,  there  shot  upwards  numerous  narrow-based  pyramids  until 
responding  to  the  same  grand  design,  the  southeast  and  northwest  columns  of  red  light 
slowly,  yet  perceptibly  rose  as  high,  respectively,  as  the  Pleiades  and  Ursa  Major,  near  which 
constellations  they  wavered  and  stopped.  About  nine  o^clock  the  dances  and  flashes  gave 
promise  of  a  corona,  as  in  18:^7,  and  soon  the  result  of  all  these  marshallings  appeared  in  a 
splendid  crown  around  the  magnetic  pole,  and,  to  the  eye  of  the  spectator,  a  few  degrees 
southeast  of  the  zenith. 

At  the  moment  the  columns  of  red  light  reared  their  crests  to  this  position,  they  were 
followed  by  white,  fleecy  clouds  as  far  in  the  southeast  as  Orion  where  the  deepest  glow  was 
ever  found,  while  below,  dark  purple  strongly  contrasted  with  the  scarlet  piled  upon  the 
white  bank  floating  next  above.  This  fiuecolored  column  was  separated  from  its  less  beauti- 
ful companion  of  the  opposite  point  of  the  compass  by  hundreds  of  delicate  pale  bands,  over 
which,  at  this  moment,  fitful  waves  flashed  until  one  entire  half  of  the  heavens  was  irradiated 
with  the  gathering  lines.  These,  forced  to  a  centre,  as  if  repelled  on  their  approach,  dis- 
pensed down  the  southern  sky  springing  clouds,  leaving  at  the  centre  an  opening  of  clear 
blue  a  few  degrees  in  diameter,  on  the  outside  of  which  these  streamers  radiated  downwards 
and  outwards.  Thus  a  perfect  crown  was  formed,  the  trembling  rays  of  which  seemed  to  fear 
their  unwonted  elevation,  for,  as  the  corona  was  completed,  the  piledup  masses  dropped  to  the 
horizon,  no  longer  forming  regular  supports,  but  dashing  up  and  down  alternately  as  the 
coronal  rays  themselves  fluctuated.  This  spectacle,  so  fanciful,  ever  varying,  ever  new,  lasted 
less  than  five  minutes.  ...  At  ten  the  heavens  were  as  usual,  and  the  aurora,  the  splendor 
of  which  can  be  impressed  by  no  language  upon  the  mind,  departed.  .  .  .  At  11:15  the  con- 
stellation Orion  was  again  the  seat  of  the  purple  glow,  but  though  showy,  startling,  grand, 
the  great  peculiarity  of  the  whole  display  was  the  crown,  sending  down  its  messages,  and 
welcoming  to  its  throne  of  glory  returning  currents  of  beautiful  light,  that,  wavering,  trem- 
bling, flying,  made  the  whole  complete,  while  in  confessed  subjection  to  the  glorious  master- 
piece above.** 

The  local  weather  annals  of  1849  are  meagre.  Until  the  beginning  of 
January  the  season  was  mild.  A  heavy  dnowfall  accompanied  by  freezing,  took 
place  in  the  night  of  April  17.     The  month  of  May  was  gentle  and  showery. 

The  lowest  temperature  reached  during  the  winter  of  1850  was  that  of 
February  5,  on  which  date  the  mercury  dropped  to  five  degrees  below  zero.  The 
spring  of  1850  was  very  cold  and  backward. 

A  flurry  of  snow  took  place  on  April  30,  1851,  and  was  followed,  on  Ma}''  1, 
by  a  severe  and  damaging  frost.  A  partial  eclipse  of  the  sun  was  visible  in  Central 
Ohio  on  the  morning  of  July  28.  A  very  fine  aurora  appeared  during  the  night 
of  September  10,  and  an  auroral  flush  during  the  night  of  September  29.  A  con- 
siderable snowfall  took  place  October  26. 

January,  1852,  was  a  month  of  intense  cold.  On  the  twentioth  the  mercury 
sank  at  Columbus  to  twenty  degrees  below  zero  During  twentyfive  consecutive 
days  ending  with  Januar}^  29  there  was  good  sleighing.  The  first  autumn  snow  fell 
November  15. 

Until  the  last  days  of  January,  the  winter  of  1852-3  was  uncommonly  mild. 
Very  little  snow  fell,  and  almost  no  ice  was  frozen.  The  first  considerable  freeze 
of  the  season  took  place  January  26.  The  peachtrees  were  in  bloom  April  25. 
The  June  heat  rose  to  the  nineties,  and  was  accompanied  by  severe  drought. 
The  autumn  was  mild,  and  so  dry  as  to  cause  most  of  the  wells  and  springs  to 
fail.     The  local  rainfall  for  the  3'ear  1853,  measured  in  inches,  was  only  29.79;  that 


704  History  <»p  tub  City  of  Columbus. 

for  1H52,  47.57.  A  brilliant  aurora  apfMsariMl  during  the  night  of  May  24:  in  the 
ovoning  of  Augu*«t  24  a  eorni't  began  to  be  visible.  An  earthquake  tremor  pa^^^otJ 
oviT  tlie  Stat<*  May  2,  aiul  wan  noticed  at  Columbus.  Two  or  three  distinct  vibra- 
tions were  fell.     Their  direction  waK  from  north  to  south. 

l)uring  the  night  of  April  2^,  1H54,  nnow  fell  three  or  four  inchcR  deep.  On 
the  day  folli»\ving,  the  Mtorm  was  continued.  The  first  half  of  July  i**  des»crihcd 
an  **  Htlccn  days  of  scorching  heat  anil  burning,  unclouded  sun.*'  The  mereur\-  is 
said  to  have  ascended  to  9S'  and  100**  "  in  cool  positions."  On  the  nineteenth 
it  hung  at  OIV  at  sundown.  Aller  six  weeks  of  rainless  skies  a  ''terrific  gale  ' 
of  August  3  blew  down  shade#rees  and  telegraph  poles,  and  did  other  raiKchief. 
This  phenomenon  was  frdlowed  by  more  drought,  during  w^hich  the  Scioto 
became  a  rivulet,  and  the  water  in  the  canal  was  so  diminished  as  to  pre- 
vent boats  from  approaching  the  city.  The  streets  of  Columbus,  it  was  said, 
lay  "ankle  deep  in  dust/'  pasture  lands  were  parched,  and  the  corn  withereti 
under  the  burning  rays  of  the  sun.  The  volume  of  water  in  the  bed  of  the 
Scioto,  it  was  represented,  had  not  been  so  contemptible  for  twenty  years. 
The  August  heat  continued  into  September,  during  the  early  part  of  which  the 
day  heat  was  tierce  and  that  of  the  night  stifling.  At  seven  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  September  9  the  mercury  registered  81° .  On  May  26  a  partial  eclipse  of 
the  sun  took  place,  and  was  observed  from  the  High  School  building  by  Joseph 
Sullivant,  who  states  that  the  first  contact  took  place  at  three  o'clock,  thirtj'one 
minutes  and  thirtyfive  seconds,  Columbus  time.  The  duration  of  the  phenomenon 
was  two  hours  and  nineteen  minutes.  Daring  the  evening  of  May  80  a  large 
meteor  shot  athwart  the  northern  sky  "as  if  from  the  moon.  '*  *• 

"  We  have  had  seventeen  consecutive  days  of  fine  sleighing,''  says  the  Ohio 
Statesman  of  February  8,  1855.  An  observation  in  the  same  paper  of  February 
13  reads  :  "  Although  the  first  part  of  January  was  so  springlike  that  some  farmers 
started  their  ploughs,  yet  for  the  past  three  weeks  we  have  experienced  a  uniform 
severity  of  weather  seldom  witnessed  in  this  region."  The  average  noon  temper- 
ature in  Januar}^  was  36®  ;  in  February  26°.  The  spring  was  backward,  and  no 
ploughing  was  done  up  to  March  26.  Fire  was  necessary  for  comfort  in  the  early 
part  of  June. 

The  year  1856  began  with  an  unusual  depression  of  temperature.  On  Janu- 
ary  4,  the  thermometer  registered  eight  degrees  below  zero,  and  the  Scioto  was 
covered  with  ice  from  eight  to  ten  inches  thick.  At  sunrise  on  January  8,  the 
mercury  indicated  fifteen  degrees  below  zero.  But  the  culmination  of  severity 
was  reached  on  Wednesday,  January  9.  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant  thus  recorded  his 
observations  of  this  spasm  of  arctic  rigor  : 

For  twentyfive  years  I  have  been  an  observer  of  the  temperature.  During  all  that  time 
my  thermometer  has  never  fallen  so  low  as  yesterday  morning  [January  9],  when  it  marked 
twenty  degrees  below  zero.  I  believe  yesterday  morning  at  six  o'clock  to  have  been  the 
coldeBt  ever  exi)erienced  in  this  part  of  Ohio  11 

1).  C.  Pearson,  another  observer,  said  :  **  There  is  no  question,  I  presume 
that  last  Wednesday  morning  was  the  coldest  day  ever  known  in  Ohio.  " 


/  /'     Lt/ 


kJ  '/t  </J  I-''  J-  '< 


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—  ^^^X-^^^^-'^^'*''*^ 


CC-'T'  oC 


Climate  and  Hyqiene.    I.  705 

From  observations  taken  at  the  Esther  Institute,  Professor  T.  G.  Wormley 
reported  the  mean  temperature  for  January,  1856,  at  14.55°;  for  1852,  at  24.5°. 

February  was  also  a  cold  month,  and  temperatures  ranging  from  27°  to  29°  below 
zero  were  reported.  The  spring  of  1856,  was  backward,  and  ice  and  snow  were 
frequent  until  April  21.     May  was  unseasonably  cold  throughout. 

January,  1857,  was  a  cold  month,  although  not  nearly  so  severe  as  January, 
1856.  On  the  eighth  the  thermometer  indicated  ten  degrees  below  zero.  Feb- 
ruary was  mild,  but  the  spring  was  backward.     A  comet  appeared  in  May. 

During  the  night  of  April  27,  1858,  a  severe  frost  fell,  doing  much  damage. 
Intense  heat,  approaching  100°  in  the  shade,  prevailed  in  June.  In  September, 
and  the  early  part  of  October  a  beautiful*  comet  was  visible.  The  weather  in 
December  was  mild,  the  skies  clear,  the  buds  swollen,  and  the  grass  green. 

January,  1859,  ended  with  sunshine  so  benignant  that  doors  and  windows 
were  thrown  open,  and  overcoats  dispensed  with.  The  second  snowfall  of  the 
winter  took  place  February  2.  Snow,  sleet  and  frost  fell  in  the  early  days  of 
April.  On  May  3  and  7,  the  temperature  rose  to  80°  and  90°  in  the  shade.  The 
summer  was  ushered  in  with  abundant  promise.  The  Ohio  Statesman  of  June  2, 
said  : 

No  leafy  month  of  Jane  ever  commenced  with  a  better  prospect  for  the  crops  than  that 
of  1859.  The  weather  of  May  was  as  favorable  as  could  have  been  wished,  and  the  grain 
sprung  up  under  it  immensely.  The  farmers  are  jubilantly  preparing  to  clear  away  the  old 
crops  to  make  room  for  the  expected  abundance  of  the  coming  harvest.  Corn  is  far  advanced 
and  considered  out  of  danger.  .  .  .  Wheat  may  be  injured  hereafter,  but  the  present  pros* 
pect  is  the  best  of  many  years. 

Fortyeight  hours  after  these  words  were  printed  the  bright  prospects  which 
they  described  were  utterly  blasted.  During  the  night  of  Saturday,  June  4,  1859, 
the  severest  summer  frost  fell  known  to  the  recorded  annals  of  the  State.  An 
uncommonly  low  temperature  which  had  prevailed  during  the  two  next  preceding 
days  culminated  in  this  disaster.  The  cold  and  frost  were  general,  extending  to 
northeastern  Illinois,  to  all  of  Indiana  except  the  southwestern  portion,  to  the 
greater  part  of  Ohio,  and  to  the  western  portions  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York. 
The  destruction  of  growing  crops  was  enormous,  but  by  no  means  uniform. 
Vegetables  of  the  same  kinds  were  destroyed  and  spared  within  the  same  enclos- 
ure. The  ruin  of  the  wheat  crop  was  in  some  districts  utter  and  complete,  in 
others  partial.  The  work  of  destruction  was  performed  in  belts  and  streaks.  In 
Northern  Ohio  the  wheat  was  badly  damaged,  the  green  potato  hills  were  changed 
to  black  spots,  and  the  grapevines  cut  down  to  the  old  wood.  In  Central  Ohio  the 
corn  was  cut  to  the  ground  and  small  fruits  and  vegetables  were  well  nigh  annihi- 
lated. At  West  Jefferson,  Madison  County,  ice  was  formed  one  quarter  of  an  inch 
thick,  the  Osage  orange  and  other  shurbs  were  withered,  and  the  tops  of  the 
locust  trees  were  turned  black,  as  though  singed  by  fire.  In  Northwestern  Ohio 
ice  was  formed. 

The  great  frost  was  followed  by  warm,  genial  weather,  accompanied  by  show- 
ers of  rain.  July  was  a  dry  month,  and  accompanied  by  intense  heat.  On  the 
nineteenth  the  temperature  ranged  from  100**  to  105°  in  the  shade.     On  July  29  a 

45 


TOG  History  of  tbb  Citt  of  Columbus. 

partial  eclipse  of  the  sun  was  visible  at  Colurabns,  and  during  the  ni^ht  of  Au^ast 
28  the  heavens  wore  the  flush  of  a  splendid  aurora.  Another  auroral  appearance 
took  place  during  the  night  of  September  2. 

The  year  18()0  was  one  of  unusual  atmospheric  phenomena.  A  beaatiful 
eclipsi*  of  the  moon  was  seen  from  Columbus  during  the  night  of  February  6,  and 
in  the  latter  part  of  June  the  fleecy  form  of  a  comet  hung  athwart  the  north  west- 
ern skies.  But  the  most  interesting  celestial  event  of  the  year  was  the  ocealtatioD 
of  Venus  by  the  moon  during  the  night  of  April  24.  This  charming  episode  was 
thus  fancifully  described  by  some  unknown  poet: 

The  crescent  Moon,  with  silver  horn, 

Was  riding  down  the  sky, 
As  Venus,  in  the  azure  borne, 

Came  tripping  gaily  by. 

Old  Taurus  shook  his  shaggy  mane 

The -evening  queen  to  fright. 
When,  prompt  to  rescue,  came  the  Moon 

Like  a  true  and  gallant  knight. 

But  Venus  flushed  with  deeper  glow. 

As  the  night  king  urged  his  aid, 
Lest  all  the  gossip  stars  should  know 

Their  queen  could  be  afraid. 

But  closer  to  the  Moon  she  pressed 

Until,  oh  sad  mishap ! 
She  tripped  her  foot  in  luckless  stride 

And  fell  into  his  lap ! 

At  first  the  wantons  deeply  blushed. 

But  soon  cared  not  a  feather, 
And  joyously,  with  lovelight  flushed, 

They  rode  the  sky  together. 

On  Monday  night,  April  9,  1860,  a  terrific  tornado  swept  over  Sharon,  Clinton, 
Mifflin  and  Jefferson  townships,  prostrating  trees  and  damaging  barns  and 
dwellings. 

During  the  night  of  Wednesday,  May  1,  1861,  a  frost  fell  which  did  great 
damage  to  the  fruits.  On  June  16  the  weather  was  cool  enough  to  make  over- 
coats comfortable.  A  splendid  comet  swept  through  the  skies  in  July,  August 
and  September,  1861,  and  was  still  faintly  visible  in  October.  The  earth  was 
popularly  supposed  to  have  passed  through  the  tail  of  this  comet,  the  journey 
occupying  four  hours.  The  sun's  surface  displayed  a  dozen  or  more  spots,  some 
of  them  very  large,  during  the  month  of  August. 

About  eleven  o'clock  in  the  night  of  August  4,  1862,  "a  bright  belt  of  light,  of 
uniform  width,  suddenly  spanned  the  heavens  from  horizon  to  horizon.  The 
direction  of  the  line  was  from  a  little  north  of  west  to  a  little  south  of  east."  Its 
motion  was  southward,  and  its  duration  not  over  twenty  minutes.  "Large  orowds 
collected  on  the  streets  to  witness  it,  and  many  were  the  conjectures  as  to  the 


Climate  and  Hygiene.     I.  707 

events  it  portended.  The  telegraph  was  then  telling  to  thousands  the  call  for 
300,000  men.  During  its  continuance  there  was  a  most  sublime  exhibition  of  the 
aurora  borealis  in  the  northern  celestial  hemisphere."*'  On  the  following  day,  at 
noon,  a  windstorm  took  place,  accompanied  by  huge  clouds  of  dust,  and  darkness 
so  great  as  to  make  the  lighting  of  gas  neccssarj'.  A  comet  was  seen  in  the  sky 
during  July  and  August,  and  a  second  auroral  api)earance  during  the  night  of 
October  28.  The  night  of  December  6  was  signalized  by  a  total  eclipse  of  the 
moon. 

On  January  15,  1863,  snow  fell  at  Columbus  to  the  depth  of  fourteen  inches. 
A  frost  which  occurred  on  August  29  was  so  severe  as  to  cut  many  plants  to  the 
ground. 

Among  the  weather  phenomena  of  18G4  was  the  higli  temperature  in  February, 
which  was  complained  of  on  the  twenty  third  as  "  hot,  almost  sultry."  Yet  two 
weeks  of  extreme  cold  weather  had  followed  immediately  after  New  Year's.  A  lunar 
rainbow  of  uncommon  brilliancy  was  observed  from  Camp  Chase  during  the  night  of 
May  16.  A  severe  drought  prevailed  throughout  Central  Ohio  in  June.  During 
the  night  of  Jul}'  19  beautiful  auroral  lights  "shot  up  from  a  bed  of  flame  in 
the  northern  horizon  in  broad  and  glittering  shafts  which  almost  reached  the 
zenith,  and  then  faded  away  as  swiftly  and  suddenly  as  they  had  appeared."'*  About 
two  P.  M.  on  September  18,  a  dark  cloud  which  gathered  in  the  southwest,  advanced 
slowly  until  it  rested  over  the  city,  when  suddenly,  without  the  least  preliminary 
noise,  a  terrific  explosion  took  place,  and  the  flagstaff  on  top  of  the  American  House 
was  shivered  by  a  stroke  of  lightning. 

On  January  8,  1865,  a  heavy  snow  was  precipitated,  blockading  the  railways. 
On  January  19  the  trees  and  shrubs  growing  in  and  about  the  city  were  mailed  in 
ice.  "  As  the  sun  shone  upon  it,  this  frostwork  glittered  and  sparkled  like 
burnished  silver.  The  scene  on  the  West  Front  of  the  Statehouse,  and  in  front  of 
many  private  dwellings,  was  very  fine.""  The  thermometer  marked  98**  in 
the  shade  on  June  6.  A  partial  eclipse  of  the  sun  took  place  October  19,  but 
local  observation  of  it  was  prevented  by  cloudy,  rainy  weather.  On  November  8, 
Biela's  comet  began  to  be  visible  in  the  constellation  Pegasus.  The  Ohio  Statesman 
of  December  1  thus  describes  a  phenomenon  which  took  place  on  the  day  next 
preceding: 

Night,  or  rather  twilight,  as  it  might  be  called,  came  on  very  early  yesterday  afternoon. 
It  became  quite  dark  at  about  three  o'clock,  and  continued  to  grow  darker  and  darker  until 
daylight  was  entirely  gone.  .  .  .  Lamps  were  lighted,  and  gas  set  to  burning  in  houses,  shops 
and  offices  long  before  the  hour  designated  in  the  almanac  for  the  going  down  of  the  sun. 
Tlie  gloom  and  darkness  that  hovered  around  reminded  us  of  what  we  had  read  and  heard 
in  boyhood  of  the  famous  dark  day  in  New  England. 

January  and  March,  1866,  were  each  favored  with  two  full  moons.  A  total 
eclipse  of  the  moon  occurred  March  30,  but  was  not  very  well  observed  owing  to 
the  cloudiness  of  the  atmosphere.  During  the  night  of  February  21,  the  most 
beautiful  aurora  was  seen  which  had  been  observed  for  many  years.  It  was 
especially  notable  for  the  variety  and  brilliancy  of  its  colors.  The  phenomenon 
was  repeated  during  the  night  of  the  twentysecond,  and  was  in  some  respects  still 


Jtt. 


708  History  op  the  City  of  Columhus. 

more  brilliant.  A  contemporary  disturbance  of  the  electric  currents  on  ihe 
telegraphic  wires  was  noticable.  Easter  Sunday  fell  on  April  1,  and  w^as  a  day 
of  bright  skies  and  gentle  temperature.  Severe  frosts  fell  during  the  ni^ht  of  May 
3,  and  thin  ice  was  frozen.  Shortly  before  sunset  on  one  of  the  earlier  Sundays  in 
May  a  sudden  precipitation  took  place  while  the  sun,  unobscured,  was  pouring 
floods  of  light  upon  the  city,  producing  what  was  termed  a  *' golden  shower." 
A  total  eclipse  of  the  moon  occurred  during  the  evening  of  Septennber  24.  A 
display  of  meteors  like  that  of  1833  was  expected  to  Uike  place  November  12  and 
13,  and  some  hundreds  of  "shooting  stars"  were  actually  seen,  but  no  such 
exhibition  occurred  as  had  been  anticipated.  On  December  12  the  canal  was  frozen 
over  for  the  first  time  during  the  season. 

Thr  Ohio  HUitesman  of  November  23,  186G,  says: 

Yesterday  was  a  raw,  cold  and  dreary  day,  affording  a  good  specimen  of  what  is  some- 
times called  "  squaw  winter,"  which  is  supposed  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  Indian  summer. 
The  fall  hitherto  has  generally,  with  the  exception  of  plenty  of  rainy  weather,  been  mild  and 
pleasant.  .  .  .  Yesterday,  however,  we  had  a  sample  of  the  roughest  kind  for  the  season.  It 
was  cloudy  and  dismal ;  the  wind  blew  cold  and  piercing  from  the  west ;  light  snow  fell  and 
melted  as  it  reached  terra  firma,  and  pedestrians  hurried  shivering  and  gloomily  along  the 
sidewalks. 

The  first  days  of  the  year  1867  were  accompanied  by  low  temperatures  and  a 
copious  precipitation  of  snow.  On  January  17  the  mercury  indicated  four  degrees 
below  zero.  Tuesday  night,  January  29,  was  said  to  have  been  the  coldest  since 
the  winter  of  1855-6.  On  the  morning  of  the  thirtieth  the  mercury  stood  at 
17**  below  zero  at  the  United  States  Arsenal.  A  heavy  frost  fell  during  the  night 
of  May  8.  About  six  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  May  15  the  city  was  favored  with  an 
exhibition  of  prismatic  colors  to  which  the  following  stanzas  were  descriptively 
applied : 

Far  up  the  blue  sky  a  fair  rainbow  unrolled 

Its  soft  tinted  pinions  of  purple  and  gold  ; 

*  Twas  born  in  a  moment,  yet  quick  at  its  birth 

It  had  stretched  to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth. 

And  fair  as  an  angel,  it  floated  as  free 

With  a  wing  on  the  earth,  and  a  wing  on  the  sea. 

A  lovely  aurora  was  seen  during  a  mid-July  night,  and  on  August  21  an 
eclipse  of  three  of  Jupiter's  moons  —  a  very  rare  and  curious  phenomenon  —  took 
place,  while  the  fourth  moon  was  at  the  same  time  invisibly  immersed  in  the 
shadow  of  the  planet.  The  autumn  weather  of  1867  was  particularly  delightful. 
A  very  brilliant  and  beautiful  meteor  shot  up  from  the  western  horizon  during  the 
evening  of  December  8. 

The  seventeen -year  locusts  reappeared  in  the  spring  of  1868,  and  by  the 
beginning  of  June  were  coming  out  of  the  ground  in  swarms.  The  noise  of  their 
myriad  hosts  among  the  trees  in  and  about  the  city  is  described  as  "deafening.'* 
During  a  passing  storm  on  July  6,  Christie  Chapel,  on  Cleveland  Avenue,  was 
struck  by  lightning.  A  meteoric  display  was  witnessed  on  the  morning  of  Novem- 
ber 14. 


Climate  and  Hygiene.     1.  709 

During  the  latter  part  of  January,  1869,  a  heavy  fall  of  rain  changed  suddenly 
to  snow  and  then,  as  suddenly,  to  sunshine.  The  temperature  had  fallen  mean- 
while, and  when  the  sun  reappeared  every  tree  and  shrub  was  encased  in  glitter- 
ing ice,  and  a  glorious  spectacle  was  witnessed.  A  very  interesting  eclipse  of  the 
moon  was  observed  during  the  night  of  January  27.  On  April  10  a  phenomenal 
snowfall  took  place,  unprecedented,  it  was  said,  since  1837.  The  congealed  pre- 
cipitation continued  throughout  the  day,  and  was  so  copious,  says  a  contemporary 
account,  that  *Mt  was  impossible  to  see  so  far  up  as  the  ordinary  housetops.*' 
Warm  weather  followed  immediately,  and  the  snow  vanished  as  suddenly  as  it  had 
come.  During  the  night  of  April  15  some  peculiar  electrical  phenomena  were  wit- 
nessed. On  July  8  a  tremendous  gush  of  rain  dashed  suddenly  down  upon  the 
city,  flooding  the  streets,  inundating  cellars  and  more  than  filling  the  sowers.  The 
volume  of  water  which  descended  within  a  given  time  is  said  to  have  been  greater 
than  ever  before  known.  It  was  estimated  at  four  inches.  Another  similar  cloud- 
burst took  place  July  13.  On  the  seventh  of  August  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  occurred, 
for  the  observation  of  which  elaborate  scientific  preparations  were  made  by  every 
civilized  countr}'.  In  Central  Ohio  the  event  elicited  universal  interest,  and,  at 
the  capital,  caused  throughout  its  duration  an  almost  complete  suspension  of  ordin- 
ary concerns.  The  weather  was  fortunately  clear.  Obscuration  began  at  4:33, 
reached  it  climax  at  5:28  and  ended  at  6:31  p.  m.,  local  time.  The  change  of  tem- 
perature noted  from  first  to  last  was  twentyeight  degrees.  The  darkness  was 
such  that  stars  became  visible,  night  insects  began  to  chirrup,  and  feathered  creat- 
ures sought  their  usual  lodgments  for  the  night. 

During  the  night  of  September  17,  1869,  some  interesting  auroral  phenomena 
were  noticed.  About  half  past  one  p.  m.,  November  17,  an  earthquake  tremor  was 
distinctl}'  preceived. 

The  middle  days  of  January,  1870,  were  notable  for  heavy  rainfall  and  exten- 
sive freshets.  The  latter  part  of  June  was  equally  notable  for  high  temperature, 
rising  to  92°  and  even  102°  at  Columbus.  During  a  violent  windstorm  on  August 
29,  a  brick  building  near  State  Street,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Scioto,  was  struck  by 
lightning.  From  9:30  to  10:25  P.  M.,  September  26,  the  evening  skies  were  illumi- 
nated and  tinted  by  the  flashes  of  a  magnificent  aurora. 

In  1871,  the  Tyndall  Association  took  the  initial  steps  toward  establishing  a 
bureau  for  weather  observation  at  Columbus.  Under  the  auspices  of  the  Associa- 
tion a  series  of  public  lectures  was  given,  the  proceeds  of  which  were  applied  to 
this  purpose.  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant  was  a  leading  spirit  in  this  enterprise.  A 
supply  of  instruments  was  obtained  during  the  summer,  and  in  October  the  obser- 
vations were  begun.  This  was  the  first  organized  attempt  at  scientific  meteoro- 
logical observation  ever  made  at  the  capital,  although  random  and  discrepant 
weather  notes  had  long  previously  been  taken  for  personal  information.  The 
only  additional  event  recorded  in  tlie  meteorology  of  1871,  was  the  extreme  heat 
of  early  July,  reaching,  it  was  said,  102°  and  even  104°  in  the  shade. 

On  May  22,  1872,  the  Statesman  building  was  struck  by  lightning,  and  the 
plastering  of  some  of  its  rooms  torn  off,  but  no  one  was  seriously  hurt.  A  splendid 
aurora  was  witnessed  during  the  night  of  April  10.     Another,  which  took  place 


710  History  of  the  Citt  of  Columbus. 

October  14,  had  some  remarkable  phases  which  were  thus  described  by  Hon.  John 
H.  Klippart : 

Apparently  about  midway  between  the  white  floccaient  clouds  and  the  place  where  I 
was  standing  were  some  thin  clouds  ranging  from  east  by  north  to  about  north  by  west,  and 
at  an  angle  of  say  forty  five  degrees  from  the  horizon.  .  .  .    The  aurora  display  was  seen  on 
these  interior  clouds !    The  color  ranged  from  a  deep  crimson  to  a  light  or  pale  incarnadine. 
and  the  same  cloud  which  was  a  deep  crimson  would  gradually  pale  away,  so  that  at  the  end 
of  five  minutes  the  faintest  incarnadine  was  not  visible.    Frequently  these  interior  clouds 
parted  and  the  pearly  white  fiocculent  clouds  were  seen  in  the  distance  through  the  openings 
made  by  the  parting.    To  my  great  surprise  the  clouds  so  seen  in  the  distance  were  in  no 
instance  colored  by  the  aurora,  but  on  the  contrary  preserved  the  integrity  of  the  snowy 
color  imparted  to  them  by  the  moon.  ...    Is  the  auroral  phenomenon  really  so  near  by  us, 
between  us  and  the  clouds,  say  five  miles  away  ?    At  Cleveland  no  aurora  was  visible. 

The  summers  of  1871-2  3,  were  unusually  dry,  and  the  winter  of  1872  3  was 
unusually  severe.  In  April,  1873,  Venus,  Jupiter  and  Sirius,  as  viewed  from  the 
latitude  of  Columbus,  forme<i  a  curious  triangle  which  is  thus  described  : 

Venus  takes  the  lead  as  she  hangs  like  a  golden  lamp  in  the  glowing  west  ;  Jupiter  is 
of  a  deeper  tint,  shading  toward  orange,  while  Sirius,  glittering  with  beaming  rays,  is  of  a 
softened  white,  tinged  with  a  blending  of  the  most  delicate  shade  of  green  and  blae.i^  Tlie 
vibrations  of  an  earthquake  were  felt  on  January  4.  They  were  of  sufficient  violence  to 
shake  the  windows  of  dwellings,  and  were  accompanied  by  a  deep  rumbling  sound. 

The  year  1874  is  nearly  barren  of  special  meteorological  events,  except  that  a 
comet  of  great  brilliancy  appeared  in  August.  During  a  passing  thunderstorm  in 
the  night  of  May  10  a  current  of  electricity,  communicated  from  the  clouds  to  a 
telegraph  wire,  darted  into  the  office  of  the  chief  operator,  Mr.  Ross,  near  the  cor- 
ner of  Fourth  and  Long  streets,  tore  a  hole  in  the  ceiling,  set  some  loose  articles 
on  fire,  and  created  a  general  scattorment.     No  person  was  injured. 

On  March  7,  1875,  snow  fell  to  the  depth  of  eight  inches.  During  a  thunder- 
storm on  July  4,  three  different  buildings  in  the  northern  part  of  the  city  were 
struck  by  lightning  and  several  persons  were  severally  shocked.  Central  and 
Southern  Ohio  were  visited  with  an  extraordinary  rainfall  in  July.  An  almost 
total  eclipse  of  the  moon  took  place  in  an  unclouded  sky  during  the  night  of 
October  24. 

A  heavy  snowfall  on  March  20  was  the  only  special  event  recorded  in  the 
earlier  meteorology  of  1H7G.  On  August  10  Joseph  Coleman  was  struck  by  light- 
ning and  instantly  killed  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  city.  A  remarkable 
meteor  was  seen  during  the  night  of  July  8.  Winter  began  early,  the  mercury 
sinking  to  seven  degrees  below  zero  on  the  morning  of  December  9.  A  long  cold 
term  followed,  during  which  ice  was  frozen  a  foot  thick  on  the  Scioto. 

On  June  10,  1877,  several  houses  were  struck  by  lightning,  and  two  men  were 
killed  by  a  bolt  which  descended  near  the  SUirch  Factory. 

July,  1878,  was  a  month  of  intense  heat.  Temperatures  ranging  from  90°  to 
95^  in  the  shade,  and  as  high  as  114®  in  the  sun,  are  recorded.  Many  cases  of  pros- 
tration and  sunstroke  were  reported.  A  house  on  North  Neil  Street  and  one  in 
West  Columbus  were  struck  by  lightning  July  3.  An  eclipse  of  the  sun  took  place 
July  29,  but  owing  to  rainy  weather  was  invisible  at  Columbus.     On  Aujs^ast  5  a 


Climate  and  Hygiene.     1. 


711 


washerwoman  was  struck  by  lightning  and  severally  injured  while  at  work 
in  the  open  air  on  Cherry  Alley.  Two  trees,  on  East  Long  Street,  were  struck 
August  19. 

We  have  now  reached  the  point  at  which  the  meteorological  observations  of 
the  United  States  Signal  Service  at  Columbus  be^n.  Towards  the  end  of  June, 
1878,  a  station  for  that  service  was  established  in  the  upper  story  of  the  Hunting- 
ton Bank  Building,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Broad  and  High  streets,  and  daily 
barometrical  and  thermomctrical  reports  soon  afterwards  began  to  be  officially 
communicated  to  and  published  in  the  newspapers.  In  lieu,  therefore,  of  continu- 
ing this  record,  which  is  necessarily  imperfect,  the  following  tables,  with  which 
the  author  has  been  kindly  favored  by  Mark  W.  Harrington,  Chief  of  the  Weather 
Bureau  at  Washington,  are  hereto  appended  : " 

MAXIMUM  TEMPERATURE. 


08 

• 

• 

• 

hi 

• 

YEAR. 

OB 
P 

.a 

• 

• 

** 

B 

i 

a 

a 

P 
C 
09 

& 
O 

a 

hi 
p. 

o 
p 

•-> 

p 

p 
•< 

1 

i 

s 

9> 

> 
O 

O 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

O 

1878 

56 

94 
96 

89 
91 

85 
82 

81 
86 

63 
74 

48 

1879 

56 

71 

82 

88 

93 

62 

1880 

64 

65 

67 

78 

90 

92 

97 

90 

87 

78 

63 

59 

1881 

43 

56 

58 

83 

92 

90 

103 

98 

98 

84 

72 

63 

1882 

59 

63 

69 

81 

77 

91 

88 

89 

87 

80 

72 

51 

1883 

55 

72 

68 

86 

85 

89 

94 

93 

88 

84 

72 

59 

1884 

48 

62 

67 

77 

86 

92 

89 

92 

92 

87 

65 

60 

1885 

52 

53 

64 

84 

86 

90 

97 

91 

82 

77 

69 

60 

1886 

56 

61 

73 

82 

85 

87 

93 

91 

89 

81 

68 

59 

1887 

m 

64 

68 

83 

90 

91 

100 

97 

93 

83 

74 

57 

1888 

59 

55 

70 

84 

82 

97 

91 

96 

82 

76 

73 

58 

1889 - 

56 

62 

74 

82 

91 

86 

92 

91 

91 

78 

67 

67 

1890 .. 

67 

66 

62 

75 

86 

93 

96 

94 

87 

82 

70 

53 

MEAN  TEMPERATURE. 


• 

• 

. 

1 

• 

• 

hi 

ber. 

■ 

• 

u 
at 
P 
P 

08 

08 

2 

& 

■ 

.a 

H 

a 

1^ 

• 

p. 

• 
08 

• 

a 
p 

• 

p 

p 

< 
o 

§ 
3^ 

o 

B 

1 

B 

08 
P 
S 

s 

< 

O 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

1878 

78.7 
79.1 

73.7 
71.6 

64.8 
61.5 

52.4 
61.9 

42.7 
43.9 

26.4 
36  9 

1879.. 

25.4 

29.0 

41.4 

50.5 

65.1 

71.7 

53.2 

1880- 

43.H 

38.5 

40.5 

53.7 

68.7 

72.8 

74.9 

74.0 

64.8 

51.6 

33.4 

24.9 

53.5 

1881- 

24.4 

29.2 

m.7 

46.8 

67.5 

69.9 

78.1 

75.2 

73.7 

59.7 

43.6 

39.7 

53.7 

1882- 

32.4 

41.2 

44  2 

50.3 

57.0 

68.9 

70.7 

71.1 

65.0 

58.1 

42.0 

31.4 

52.7 

1883.. 

26.6 

33.9 

35.0 

50.4 

59.5 

69.8 

73.4 

69.5 

63.1 

53.6 

43.4 

34.5 

51.1 

1884.. 

20.5 

36.4 

39.3 

49.0 

61.2 

72.7 

73.4 

72.7 

70.6 

58.1 

40.7 

31.9 

52.2 

1885.. 

22.9 

19.4 

29  6 

49.5 

60.7 

68.8 

76.3 

70.0 

63.8 

50.6 

40.9 

32.5 

48.8 

18^6.. 

23.8 

27.5 

38.6 

54.4 

62.9 

67.6 

72.4 

71.5 

65.7 

54.3 

38.9 

26.7 

50.4 

1887.. 

26.8 

36.1 

37.0 

51.2 

67.4 

71.7 

79.8 

72.5 

66.0 

51.3 

41.4 

33.0 

52.8 

1888.. 

26.6 

32.7 

353 

51.0 

60.4 

71.6 

73.2 

71.4 

61.3 

48.7 

44.1 

34.2 

50.9 

1889- 

34.2 

26.4 

42.2 

51.8 

61.4 

67.7 

74.1 

70.2 

63  8 

49.0 

41.2 

44.6 

52.2 

1890.. 

39.1 

40.6 

35.2 

52.3 

60.0 

74.6 

73.6 

70.2 

63.1 

53.8 

44.6 

31.8 

53.2 

712 


History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 


Note.— From  July,  1878,  to  July,  1888,  the  averages  were  deduced  from  tri -daily  obeenra- 
tions  made  at  hours  corresponding  to  7  a.  m.,  Sand  11  p.  m.  Washington  time.  From  Jaly, 
1888,  to  December,  1890,  the  averages  have  been  obtained  from  the  readings  of  self-registering 
maximum  and  minimum  thermometers. 


MINIMUM  TEMPERATURE. 


YEAR. 


1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1883 

1884 

1885 

1886 

1887 

1888 

1889 

1890 


—20 
15 

—  3 
11 

—  3 
—20 

—  8 
—11 

—  5 
2 

16 
9 


2 
£ 


•c 


4 

15 

11 

23 

—  2 

16 

20 

25 

10 

14 

0 

6 

—11 

1 

—  5 

10 

13 

14 

4 

6 

1 

21 

17 

7 

18 
28 
15 
23 
26 
30 
23 
23 
24 
80 
22 
28 


• 

• 

i 

♦* 

a 

• 

1 

S 

p 

• 

•< 
o 

1 

o 

o 

o 

O 

59 

53 

43 

38 

48 

61 

51 

37 

36 

53 

56 

54 

40 

42 

50 

60 

56 

50 

38 

48 

54 

52 

47 

34 

48 

54 

50 

39 

39 

55 

55 

51 

46 

35 

46 

51 

50 

39 

41 

44 

55 

51 

40 

50 

49 

61 

42 

36 

38 

45 

53 

47 

32 

36 

42 

56 

51 

38 

ST) 

53 

50 

48 

38 

s 

s 


s 

B 

o 


26 

25 

29 

39 

36 

35 

29 

29 

32 

20 

31 

29 

33 


24 
19 
-  5 
15 
22 
12 
15 
24 
18 
3 
24 
21 
24 


The  minus  sign  indicates  temperatures  below  zero. 


MAXIMUM  WIND  VELOCITY. 


MILES   PER   HOUR. 


n 


o 

—  7 
o 

-12 
17 

—  4 
12 

—  8 
1 
1 
1 

13 
20 
14 


YEAR. 

• 

a 

at 

• 

2 

Xi 

• 
0B, 

April. 

• 

• 

a 

• 

• 

s 

• 

B 
o 

1 

s 

B 

o 

December. 

1878 

42 
30 
26 
28 
24 
37 
29 
28 
34 
31 
26 
24 
28 

36 
26 
23 
26 
24 
40 
30 
27 
29 
30 
26 
40 
22 

24 
25 
32 
30 
24 
32 
28 
24 
45 
48 
46 
26 
36 

24 
36 
36 
36 
31 
36 
42 
26 
40 
32 
30 
27 
36 

27 

1879 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1883 

1884 

1885 

1886 

1887 

1888 

1889 

1890 

29 
28 
28 
46 
33 
38 
36 
34 
38 
34 
49 
44 

36 
38 
40 
44 
24 
38 
35 
32 
56 
36 
37 
30 

32 
40 
32 
54 
36 
31 
33 
32 
51 
37 
40 
38 

31 
42 
26 
44 
30 
34 
32 
28 
46 
42 
38 
52 

36 
28 
44 
24 
40 
32 
30 
28 
32 
39 
31 
42 

25 
86 
36 
30 
29 
32 
32 
22 
38 
30 
24 
52 

43 

28 

^^ 
22 

28 

28 

22 

39 

45 

36 

36 

36 

25 
39 
36 
32 
32 
43 
36 
40 
39 
40 
38 
38 

Note. — The  velocities  given  in  the  above  table  are  for  5  minute  periods,  as  indicated  by 
Robinson  anemometer.  A  correction  to  reduce  to  true  velocities  should  be  applied  if  great 
refinement  is  desired. 


Climate  and  Hygiene.    I. 


713 


PRECIPITATION. 


C 

09 
P 

•-8 

• 

o 

2 

O 

• 

o, 
< 

• 

• 

« 
a 

•-8 

• 

9 

• 

9 

3) 

s 

< 

• 

B 

p. 

2 

s 

3.17 
0.26 

• 

a 

• 

B 

• 

'3 

s 
a 
a 
< 

1878 

3.58 
3.67 

6.00 
4.64 

2.84 
2.33 

3.06 
3.52 

3.88 
4.29 

1879 

1.06 

1.43 

3.77 

0.92 

2.09 

2.68 

31.26 

1880 

4.49 

1.70 

2.42 

5.08 

3.21 

3.30 

4.86 

6.95 

1.80 

2.35 

4.54 

3.98 

44.68 

1881 

2.25 

4.44 

4.01 

2.04 

2.00 

4.02 

5.33 

2.09 

1.54 

8  64 

5.35 

5.28 

46.99 

1882 

4.69 

5.94 

4.76 

4.87 

9  59 

6.01 

2.62 

3.14 

2.91 

2.44 

2.05 

2.28 

51.30 

1883 

3.20 

6.18 

3.20 

2.85 

6.38 

4.25 

3.75 

2.54 

2.43 

6.11 

3.87 

4.12 

48.88 

1884 

2.25 

4.95 

3.59 

2.11 

3.79 

2.59 

2.16 

0.70 

3.46 

l.()6 

0.99 

2.77 

31.02 

1885 

3.75 

2.39 

0.53 

4.61 

5.83 

5.08 

3.28 

5.90 

2.84 

3.11 

3.08 

1.85 

42.25 

1886 

4.36 

1.26 

3.90 

3.57 

7.67 

2.69 

4.17 

2.44 

3  61 

1.13 

4.18 

3.41 

42.39 

1887 

2.35 

6.48 

2.56 

3.44 

2.97 

2.82 

1.45 

2  21 

1.35 

0.30 

2.45 

1.87 

30.25 

1888 

3.73 

1.30 

3.79 

1.53 

3.89 

1.62 

5.81 

4.34 

0.91 

3.77 

3.26 

1.11 

35.06 

1889 

1    3.37 

1.06 

0.66 

0.83 

3.92 

2.77 

2.94 

1.59 

3.34 

1.83 

3.83 

2.36 

2-^50 

1890 

5.73 

1 

6.12 

5.63 

4.32 

5.12 

4.95 

1.80 

2.75 

7.13 

3.02 

1.97 

2.19 

50.73 

MEAN  RELATIVE  HUMIDITY. 


• 

• 

u 
4> 

• 

• 

u 

p 
a 

•-> 

P 

hi 

• 

• 

p. 
< 

PER 

1 

• 

a 
p 

>• 

^-« 

p 

• 

3 

9 

< 

B 

2 

a 

PER 

s 

3 

B 

> 

o 

PER 

a 

I 

03 
P 
P 

a 
< 

PER 

PER 

PER 

PER 

PER 

PER 

PER 

PER 

PER 

^ER 

CENT. 

CENT. 

CENT. 

CENT. 

CENT. 

CENT. 

CENT. 

CENT 

CENT. 

CENT. 

CENT. 

CENT. 

CENT. 

1878 

70 
59 

70 
69 

74 

67 

70 
62 

69 

69 

73 

78 

1879 

65 

67 

64 

54 

54 

60 

64 

1880 

74 

66 

61 

58 

58 

64 

62 

67 

66 

67 

69 

74 

65 

1881 

76 

74 

71 

63 

61 

64 

58 

58 

65 

73 

68 

73 

67 

1882 

74 

68 

62 

6< 

69 

70 

67 

74 

71 

72 

70 

70 

69 

1883 

72 

72 

66 

63 

62 

69 

65 

63 

66 

72 

65 

71 

67 

1884 

76 

76 

68 

66 

65 

(56 

60 

60 

69 

72 

76 

82 

70 

1885 

80 

82 

75 

77 

76 

72 

72 

79 

76 

78 

80 

78 

1886 

79 

72 

76 

69 

73 

78 

80 

73 

73 

66 

70 

71 

73 

1887 

70 

74 

67 

60 

65 

65 

63 

60 

63 

61 

67 

72 

66 

1888 

71 

67 

68 

54 

62 

62 

67 

72 

72 

75 

75 

73 

68 

1889 

78 

77 

67 

61 

67 

75 

70 

64 

72 

70 

80 

74 

71 

1890 

79 

75 

73 

65 

72 

74 

65 

70 

77 

79 

73 

75 

73 

Note.—  Observations  were  made  three  times  per  day  prior  to  July,  1888.    Subsequent  to 
that  date  twice  daily  at  hours  corresponding  to  8  a.  m.  and  8  p.  m.  75th  meridian  time. 


Climate  and  Htoiene.     I.  715 


NOTES. 

1.  Atwater*8  History  of  Ohio. 

2.  Autobiography. 

3.  Atwater. 

4.  Ibid. 

5.  Columbus  letter  to  Samuel  Appleton,  Boston. 
(').  Communication  to  the  Ohio  State  Journal. 

7.  Ibid. 

8.  Ibid. 

9.  According  to  the  tables  kept  at  the  State  Library,  the  lowest  temperature  reached 
during  the  five  winters  next  preceding  that  of  1850  were  as  follows,  the  number  of  degrees 
stated  meaning,  in  each  case,  the  extent  of  depression  below  the  zero  mark :  1845,  December 
20,  (>°;  1846,  January  23,  2*»;  1847,  January  8,  2°;  1848,  January  10,  12°;  1849,  January  11.  8o. 

10.  Ohio  Statf»man. 

11.  Card  in  the  Ohio  State  JourruU, 

12.  Ohio  Slate  Journal. 

13.  Ibid. 

14.  Ohio  Statesman. 

15.  Ibid. 

16.  Ohio  State  Journal. 

17.  These  tables  cover  the  period  from  the  beginning  of  observations  at  the  Columbus 
Stations  until  December,  1890,  but  for  the  sake  of  historical  completeness  the  following 
additional  events  which  took  place  during  the  period  covered  by  these  tables  will  here  be 
mentioned : 

1880.— On  May  10  the  rods  on  the  Statehouse  were  noticeably  struck  by  lightning,  and  a 
ball  of  fire  was  perceived  on  top  of  the  cupola.  Various  buildings  were  struck  at  the  same 
time. 

1881.— Eclipse  of  the  moon  June  9.  On  June  24  a  comet  began  to  be  visible.  July  10 
said  to  have  been  the  hottest  day  ever  experienced  in  the  city. 

1882. — The  transit  of  Venus  took  place  December  7. 

1884.— Buildings  were  struck  by  lightning  as  follows:  On  May  3,  a  house  at  the  corner 
of  Third  and  Fulton  streets ;  May  30.  a  small  dwelling  near  the  Panhandle  Roundhouse  ;  June 
20,  a  house  on  Miller  Avenue.  An  earthquake  tremor  of  considerable  distinctness  passed 
over  the  State  on  the  afternoon  of  September  19. 

1885  — A  brilliant  meteor  shot  athwart  the  sky  at  midnight,  July  30-1. 

1886. —An  eclipse  of  the  sun  took  place  March  5.  A  furious  tornado  called  a  cyclone, 
but  scarcely  deserving  that  name,  passed  over  the  city  at  1:30  r.  m.,  July  30.  The  Union 
Station  building  was  unroofed,  and  numerous  others  were  damaged.  An  eartlnjuake  shock 
was  felt  throughout  the  city  during  the  night  of  August  31.  Three  distinct  vibrations  were 
perceived.    A  large  meteor  darted  across  the  western  sky  about  11:30  p.  m.,  October  24. 

1887.— Intense  heat  prevailed  in  July  ;  drought  in  August. 

1888. — A  light  precipitation  of  snow  descended  from  an  apparently  cloudless  sky  March 
11.  A  violent  gale  of  wind  swept  over  the  city  during  the  evening  of  October  1.  Several 
buildings  were  unroofed. 

In  connection  with  this  general  subject  should  be  mentioned  the  singularly  philosophi- 
cal weather  forecasts  of  Professor  George  H.  Twiss,  of  Columbus.  These  forecasts.luive  had 
the  distinction  of  being  based  upon  a  careful  study  of  meteorological  phenomena,  and  have 
justly  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention,  both  popular  and  scientific. 


ri^MMH^B^i^iHHVpil 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


CLIMATE  AND  HYGIENE.     II. 

The  bilious  fovors  and  other  climatic  disorders  to  which  the  early  settlers  of 
Central  Ohio  wore  subject  have  already  been  frequently  referred  to.  The  descrip- 
tion of  these  maladies,  and  their  ravages  given  in  the  letters  of  Mrs.  Betsy  Green 
Deshler,  quoted  in  a  previous  chapter,  leaves  little  to  be  said  concerning  them 
which  is  not  of  a  professional  character.  Their  historical  beginning,  however, 
antedates  by  nearly  twenty  years  tiie  period  covered  by  the  letters  just  referred 
to.  The  Indians  who  preceded  or  were  contemporary  with  the  first  w^hite  settlers 
were  by  no  means  exempt  from  these  maladies,  which  were  treated  by  their 
"medicinemen'*  according  to  their  own  superstitious  methods.  In  his  diary, 
which  has  elsewhere  been  reproduced.  Mr.  James  Kilbourn  mentions  the  bilious 
and  febrile  ailments  which  prevailed  in  C'entral  Ohio  when  he  arrived  in  that  part 
of  the  State  in  1S02.  "  In  the  autumn  of  ISOlJ,"  says  Atwater's  History-  of  Ohio, 
"  a  fever  of  the  remittent  type  made  its  appearance,  extending  from  the  Ohio  River 
on  the  south  to  Lake  Erie  on  the  north.*'  Of  this  disease  Mr.  Atwater  furnishes 
the  following  description  : 

Its  symptoms  were  chills  in  the  forenoon,  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock,  which  were 
succeeded  by  violent  fever  afterwards  in  an  hour  and  a  half.  The  fever  continued  to  rage 
until  about  six  o'clock  in  the  evening.  During  the  exacer})ation  great  pain  or  depression 
was  felt  in  the  brain,  liver,  spleen  or  stomach,  and  frequently  in  all  these  on^ns.  The  sweat- 
ing stage  took  place  about  midnight.  By  daylight  there  was  a  respite,  but  not  a  total  exemp- 
tion from  the  urgency  of  these  symptoms.  This  was  the  common  course  of  the  disease,  but 
there  were  occasionally  found  distinct  intenuittents,  and  a  few  cases  of  continued  fever. 

These  maladies,  continues  Atwater,  were  followed  b}^  a  **  most  annoying  and 
incorrigible  affection  of  the  skin.*'  The  socalled  ''  milksickness,"  which  was  a  con- 
temporary scourge,  is  thus  described  : 

Its  most  prominent  symptoms  were,  first,  a  sense  of  uncommon  lassitude,  and  a  listless- 
ness  and  aversion  to  muscular  motion.  A  slight  pain  about  the  ankles,  which  seemed  grad- 
ually to  ascend  the  calves  of  the  Itgs,  and,  in  a  few  houre  more,  a  dull  pain,  which  soon  term- 
inated in  a  spasm,  or  a  cramp  of  the  stomach.  Tliis  was  quickly  followed  by  violent  efforts 
to  vomit,  which  continued  for  four,  five,  six  or  seven  days,  until  death  closed  the  scene.  .  .  . 
Where  the  cattle  are  kept  from  wild  grass  this  disease  is  never  found. ^ 

A  bilious  malady  popularly  called  the  "cold  plague  "  ravaged  the  settlements, 
says   Atwater,  in    1813  and    1814.     The  editor  of  the  Freeman's    (Franklinton) 

[716] 


Climate  and  Htoiene.     II.  717 

Chronicle  of  J auuhvyy  1813,  refers  to  the  prevailing  sickneBs  of  that  season,  and 
excuses  himself  for  issuing  a  half  instead  of  a  full  sheet  of  his  paper  because  of  the 
illness  of  members  of  his  own  family. 

Governor  Ethan  A.Brown  began  his  annual  message  of  December  6,  1821, 
with  the  words  :  **A  season  unusually  sickly  has  visited  this  and  some  of  our 
sister  States  since  the  last  adjournment  of  our  legislature."  The  bilious  disorders 
seem  to  have  recurred  indeed,  almost  every  year.  Ensuing  from  a  prolonged  rain- 
fall in  the  spring  of  1823,  a  great  June  freshet,  says  the  author  of  the  Sullivant 
Memorial,  '*  overflowed  and  saturated  the  country  when  in  the  full  flush  of  a  most 
luxuriant  vegetation,  and  the  hot  sun  of  July  and  the  decaying  matters  ushered  in 
a  season  of  unparalleled  sickness  and  deadlj'  fevers."  Among  the  prominent 
citizens  who  were  carried  oft*  by  this  scourge  were  Lucas  Sullivant,  John  Kerr, 
Barzilla  Wright,  Warden  of  the  Old  Penitentiary,  and  Judge  John  A.  McDowell. 
The  fever  of  this  season,  says  Atwater,  was  of  a  remittent  type,  and  more  or  less 
affected  nineteentwentieths  of  the  people.  Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  very 
little  pulmonary  consumption  in  Ohio,  and  epilepsy  was  equally  rare.  The  dis- 
eases of  1823,  says  Martin,  '*  were  bilious  and  intermittent  fevers  of  all  types,  from 
the  common  fever  and  ague  to  the  most  malignant."  The  year  1824,  continues  the 
same  author,  "  was  also  very  sickly,  but  not  so  much  so  as  1823.  Amongst  the 
prominent  old  citizens  carried  oft'  this  year  were  Captain  Joseph  Vance,  Billingsly 
Bull,  Esq.,  James  Culbertson,  John  Starr,  Senior,  and  others."'  In  1827,  says 
Atwater,  *^the  inhabitants  of  the  river  country  were  healthful,  but  the  dwellers 
along  the  small  streams  were  affected  with  dysentery."  A  citizen  whose  memory 
extends  back  to  that  period  makes  to  the  writer  the  following  statement: 

At  first  the  physicians  treated  the  bilious  fevers  with  bleeding  and  physic,  but  not 
very  successfully.  Doctor  Turney,  a  Chillicothe  physician,  departed  from  the  coiniuon  prac- 
tice, allowed  his  patients  to  eat  all  they  wanted,  gave  them  as  much  brandy  as  they  could 
drink,  and  generally  cured  his  cases.  Within  a  day  or  two  after  a  rain,  a  green  scum 
gathered  on  all  the  ponds  about  the  village. 

During  the  winter  of  1825-6,  a  disease  called  influenza  afflicted  most  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Columbus,  including  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly  and 
other  sojourners.  Its  symptoms  are  not  described,  but  we  are  told  that  it  was 
sometimes  serious.     It  was  possibly  similar  to  the  malady  now  known  as  la  grippe, 

A  passage  in  the  Ohio  State  Journal  of  April  27,  1826,  reads : 

The  citizens  of  the  town  of  Columbus,  during  the  fall  months,  have  for  sometime  past 
been  afflicted  with  bilious  fevers.  A  great  majority  of  the  citizens  confidently  believe  that 
the  milldam  immediately  opposite  the  town  aggravates  the  diseases  with  which,  ever  since 
its  erection,  they  have  been  afflicted.  Messrs.  Jewett  &  Smith,  proprietors  of  the  luill,  were 
at  the  present  April  term  of  the  court  of  Common  Pleas  indicted  under  the  statute  which 
provides  a  remedy  to  abate  stagnant  pools  that  cause  sickness.  Messrs.  Jewett  &  Smith,  a 
few  days  before  the  appointed  time  for  trial,  left  the  county,  and  are  not  to  be  found,  conse- 
quently the  cause  must  necessarily  be  continued  until  the  August  term  of  the  court.  A 
goodly  number  of  respectable  citizens,  finding  it  impossible  to  obtain  an  immediate  abate- 
ment of  the  nuisance  by  the  process  of  law,  and  Messrs.  J.  &  S.  having  refused  to  rent  the 
mill  to  the  corporation  on  experiment  for  a  reasonable  sura,  t!iey  procee<led  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  instant  gently  and  peaceably  to  navigate  the  Scioto  River.     Finding,  as  they  antici- 


718  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

pated,  an  obBtruction  by  Jewett  &  Smith's  dam,  tbey  proceeded  to  render  the  river  navigable, 
and  to  abate  the  dam  as  a  public  nuisance. 

The  editor  proceeds  to  deplore  such  conduct  on  the  part  of  "respectable  citi- 
zens.''    Whetiicr  or  not  the  health  of  **  the  town  of  (-olumbus'*  was  inl[>rovod 
thereby  we  are  not  informed.     We  learn,  however,  from  the  same  paper  of  May 
3,  1827,  that  in  the  judgment  of  the  citizens  the  canal  dam  which  was  then  about 
to  be  erected  a  few  rods  below  the  Jewett  &  Smith  dam,  would  "not  affect    the 
health  of  this  town,"  as  the  water  would  rapidly  flow  over  this  new  obstruction 
"  during  freshets,"  would  "remain  undisturbed  by  water  wheels,"  and  would  "  be 
almost  entirely  taken  up  in  the  fall  months  by  the  current  of  the  Lateral  Canal." 

A  writer  under  date  of  December  7,  1827,  on  climate  and  health  in  the  Scioto 
Valley,  makes  these  observations  : 

This  valley,  like  all  other  rich  countries  which  are  new  and  but  partially  cultivated,  is 
sometimes  visited  by  bilious  autumnal  diseases.  They  are,  however,  mild,  and  readily  yield 
to  proper  medical  treatment,  and  will  no  doubt  become  less  and  less  frequent  as  the  country 
becomes  older  and  more  extensively  cultivated.  Chronick  diseases,  and  especially  those  of 
the  lunfi;8,  are  excedingly  rare.  Consumption  ...  is  scarcely  ever  contracted  in  this  climate, 
and  there  are  hundreds  of  examples  in  which  a  radical  cure  has  been  effected  by  the  sufferer 
having  emigrated  from  those  [eastern]  States  to  this  country.' 

The  report  of  the  Canal  Commissioners  for  1827  contains  this  passage: 

The  past  season  has  been  peculiarly  unfavorable  for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  work 
on  the  Ohio  Canal.  Much  rain  fell  in  the  spring  and  the  early  part  of  the  summer,  particu- 
larly in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  and  since  the  middle  of  October  few  days  have 
occurred  in  which  work  could  be  carried  on  to  advantage,  owing  to  the  same  cause.  The 
heavy  rains  which  fell  in  the  latter  part  of  June  and  first  of  July,  succeeded,  as  they  were, 
by  weather  extremely  warm  and  dry.  or  some  other  cause  to  us  unknown,  occasioned  the 
prevalence  of  sickness  to  an  unusual  and  alarming  extent,  especially  in  the  valley  of  the  Tus- 
carawas and  the  Muskingum. 

In  one  of  the  Jewett  letters,  from  which  various  quotations  have  already  been 
made,  occur  the  following  statements  under  date  of  August  10,  1831  :* 

The  mortality  which  has  prevailed  here  during  the  preceding  month  exceeds  that  of  any 
preceding  year.  The  average  number  of  deaths  has  been  one  per  day,  and  that  in  a  popula- 
tion of  less  than  three  thousand  souls  .  .  .  The  natives  are  reckless  to  a  proverb.  They 
wander  about  in  the  damps  at  night  without  reflecting  that  he  who  promenades  at  that  omin- 
ous hour  walks  with  the  fever  hanging  on  one  arm  and  the  ague  clinging  hold  of  the  other. 
And  then  the  mornings,  which  in  New  England  are  clear  and  refreshing,  have  been  with  us 
stupid  in  pestilential  vapors,  rolling  their  murky  volumes  about  out  habitations. 

In  a  later  letter  bearing  date  in  the  same  month  and  year,  Mr.  Jewett  writes : 

The  chills  and  damps  of  summer  are  now  succeeded  by  excessive  heat  and  consequent 
drought.  This  change  is  what  we  dreaded.  .  .  .  The  frequency  of  deaths  is  no  wise  dimin- 
ished. .  .  .  There  are  many  just  lingering  on  the  verge  of  the  grave.  Young  children  are  the 
most  usual  victims  of  the  destroying  epidemic,  which  is  something  in  the  nature  of  the 
cholera  in  miniature.    Still  our  citizens  are  as  reckless  as  ever. 

On  November  1,  1831,  Mr.  Jewett  wrote:  "The  epidemic  called  < chills  and 
fever,'  which  has  visited  us  after  an  interval  of  seven  years,  is  fast  abating,  leaving 
for  its  traces  a  most  deathlike  sallowuess  of  visage,  and  a  most  wolflike  voracity  of 
appetite." 


Climate  and  Hy<uene.     II.  719 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1832  the  cholera  began  to  appear  in  various 
parts  of  the  American  Union.  Most  of  the  towns  and  cities  along  the  Ohio  River 
were  visited  by  it  in  May,  June  and  July.  From  Wheeling,  Virginia,  it  spread 
into  Ohio,  and  visited  St.  Clairsville,  Mt.  Pleasant  an«i  other  Eastern  Ohio  towns. 
In  October  it  was  very  bad  in  Cincinnati.  Daring  the  summer  of  1833  it  became 
epidemic  in  Columbus.  The  first  case  is  said  to  have  been  that  of  a  negro  woman 
dwelling  in  a  cabin  on  the  east  side  of  Front  Street,  about  eighty  feet  south  of 
Broad.  Next  a  white  woman  was  seized  in  a  stone  house  which  stood  on  the  north- 
west corner  of  Fourth  and  Town  streets.  These  cases  occurred  about  the  middle  of 
July;  the  first  appearance  of  the  pestilence  in  the  Penitentiary  is  ascribed  to  the 
twelfth  of  that  month. 

The  filthy  condition  of  the  town  at  that  time  was  a  subject  of  remark.  The 
streets  abounded  in  ^^chuckholes,"  ponds  of  stagnant  water  stood  on  the  commons, 
primitive  swamps  remained  yet  undrained,  ashes,  shavings  and  trash  of  all  kinds 
were  tossed  promiscuously  into  the  first  alley  or  other  convenient  space,  pigs  and 
other  foul  creatures  were  permitted  to  roam  at  will,  and  the  carcasses  of  dead 
aminals  were  lefl  rotting  in  the  sun.  To  correct  these  evils  and  prepare  for 
the  approaching  emergency,  a  Board  of  Health  was  appointed  June  7,  of  which  the 
following  prominent  citizens  were  members:  Doctor  Peleg  Sisson,  Doctor 
M.  B.  Wright,  Hon.  J.  Campbell,  Joel  Buttles,  John  Patterson,  William  Minor, 
Alfred  Kelley,  P.  B.  Wilcox,  R.  Brotherton,  Christian  Heyl,  George  Jeffries  and 
John  Noble.  The  sum  of  fifty  dollars  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  this  board  by 
the  Borough  Council,  which  also  appointed  a  committee  of  three  of  its  members  to 
procure  a  suitable  place  for  a  hospital,  if  needed.  That  it  would  be  needed,  and 
that  badly,  soon  became  evident  enough.  Meanwhile  the  street  committee  was 
directed  to  drain  the  ponds,  fill  up  the  holes  containing  water,  and  have  the 
vile  street  culverts  cleaned. 

During,  the  week  ended  July  20  two  fatal  cases  occurred.  Josiah  Stagg  was 
attacked  on  Sunday  morning,  soon  after  he  had  eaten  his  breakfast,  and  died  six 
or  eight  hours  later.  Mrs.  McHenry  was  taken  ill  about  ten  o'clock  on  Monday 
morning,  and  expired  the  following  Tuesday  evening.  *  There  is  no  cause  for 
alarm,  soothingly  remarked  the  State  Journal,  but  many  people  took  the  alarm 
nevertheless,  and  fled  to  Delaware,  Mount  Vernon  and  other  neighboring  towns, 
where  several  of  the  fugitives  were  very  soon  afterwards  attacked,  some  of  them 
fatally.  The  patients  were  treated  mainly  with  calomel,  the  stock  prescription  of 
that  period,  from  the  effects  of  which  those  who  convalesced  usually  suffered  for 
a  long  time  afterwards.  The  socalled  "  steam  doctors  "  of  that  day  mostly  quitted 
the  town  with  the  fugitives.  Their  principal  remedies  were  pungent  drugs  such  as 
Cayenne  pepper,  number  six,  and  several  other  '*  numbers."  They  made  free  use 
of  lobelia  as  an  emetic  and  purgative. 

On  July  23  three  clearly  defined  cholera  deaths  occurred,  and  from  that  time 
on  until  the  end  of  September  fatal  cases  were  reported  almost  dail3\  Many  of 
the  persons  attacked  with  choleraic  symptoms  recovered.  In  the  Penitentiary, 
then  containing  203  convicts,  there  were  thirtyfive  welldefined  cases  and  eleven 
deaths  up  to  the  second  of  August.    By  the  tenth  of  that  month  the  prison  was 


I«b 


720  History  op  the  Citv  op  Columbus. 

reported  to  be  entirely  clear  of  the  pestileDce.  In  the  eoarse  of  its  dismal  mor- 
tuary reports  the  Staff  Journal  of  September  14  makes  the  cheerful  observation 
that  the  convicts  continued  to  be  entirely  exempt  from  the  cholera.  "  A  large 
detachment  of  them,"  continues  the  paper,  "are  employed  daily  on  the  new 
edifice,  and  a  heartier  set  of  men  we  have  never  seen.  Wo  understand  that  they 
are  fed  exclusively  on  bread  and  salt  meat,  but  whether  this  is  the  sole  cause  of 
their  exemption  we  are  unable  to  say/' 

On  October  12  the  State  Journal  made  this  reassuring  announeenient :  "  We 
have  the  satisfaction  to  state  that  no  case  of  cholera  has  occurred  in  this  town 
since  our  last  publication,  to  our  knowledge.  Columbus  may  now  be  considered] 
entirely  free  from  disease,  and  as  healthy  as  in  the  most  favorable  seasons."  The 
final  report  of  the  Board  of  Health,  published  November  2,  gave  the  following 
"  list  of  deaths  by  cholera  in  the  town  of  Columbus''  from  July  14  to  September 
29,  inclusive,  the  figures  indicating  the  dates  of  decease : 

July  — 14,  Josiah  Stagg;  17,  Margaret  Henry,  Sophie  Brickie;  28,  M. 
Big  wood.  Mi's.  West,  Mrs.  Mills;  25,  two  children  of  Mrs.  Hiesler,  M.  Worley : 
2G,  J.  Woods,  Mrs.   Woods;  27,  William  Johns;  29,  Henry  Jewett. 

August— 4,  child  of  H.  D.  Little;  5,  Mrs.  Wise;  6,  second  child  of  Mr.  Little; 
7,  Mrs.  Tobin,  Mr.  Morningstar ;  9,  Ann  Howard;  10,  Joseph  Bishoe;  12,  son  of 
N.  Rochester,  son  of  B.  Henley,  B.  Henley,  Mr.  Maynard;  14,  C.  Widle,  C.  Otstotf 
E.  Flagg,  N.  Rochester;  15.  H.  Howard  ;  16,  child  of  Mr.  Logue ;  17,  Mrs.  Carr^ 
18,  Mr.  Winkclpleck  ;  19,  child  of  Mrs.  Carr,  Henry  Combs ;  21,  child  of  Mr.  Logue, 
H.  Howard,  Mrs.  Vanatta;  22,  William  Waters;  25,  J.  S.  Whyte,  Mrs.  Skater; 
26,  C.  Loring,  B.  Switzer,  Mr.  Smarts;  28,  Mr.  Storrs,  William  Sterritt;  30,  Mr. 
Rammelsburg,  Mrs.  Wood,  Isaac  Wood,  Thomas  Wood. 

September — 3,  daughter  of  Jarvis  Pike;  4,  Ephraim  Sells,  C.  C.  Beard;  5, 
Mrs.  Beard,  Mrs.  Eswine,  child  of  C.  C.  Beard;  6,  P.  Sweet;  8,  Mrs.  Britton,  Mrs. 
Harding,  Miss  Harding;  9,  Mrs.  Walker,  child  of  Mr.  Schodingor;  11,  Mrs.  Ban- 
croft; 12,  child  of  Mr.  Sweet,  J.  L.Turner,  W.  T.  Martin,  Junior;  13,  Mrs.  Black- 
man,  Mrs.  Jett ;  14,  Mr.  Campston,  Mr.  Schodinger;  18,  child  of  Mrs.  Filler,  Mrs. 
Calvin;  21,  S.  Suydam ;  28,  Mrs.  Sweet;  29,  E.  Stewart 

These  names  were  exclusive  of  six  colored  persons,  eleven  convicts,  and  eight 
other  fatal  cases  within  three  miles  of  the  town,  making  in  all,  one  hundred  deaths 
attributed  to  cholera. 

During  the  summer  of  1834  the  cholera  again  visited  numerous  towns  in  Ohio. 
as  well  as  in  other  states,  but  the  Scioto  Valley  was  singularly  exempt  from  the 
pestilence.  There  is  no  record  of  any  cases  in  Columbus.  Again,  in  1835,  the 
epidemic  appeared,  particularly  in  southern  and  northern  Ohio,  but  the  capital 
was  not  visited,  and  the  general  health  of  its  citizens  was  exceptionally  good. 
Ordinances  were  passed  in  1834  and  1835  forbidding  the  sale  of  unripe  fruits,  estab- 
lishing a  Board  of  Health  and  providing  for  the  prevention  and  removal  of 
nuisances.  In  February,  1837,  some  cases  of  varioloid  gave  rise  to  alarming 
reports,  but  the  disease  seems  not  to  have  made  nuuh  headway  at  the  capital. 
The  members  of  the  Board  of  Health  at  that  time  were  S.  Parsons,  M.  B.  Wright, 
R.  Thompson,  G.  Jeffries  and  P.  B.  Wilcox.     In  the  spring  of  1842  a  great  deal  of 


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Climate  and  Hygiene.     II.  721 

sickness  prevailed,  popularly  attributed  to  the  wetness  of  the  season.  There  is  no 
account,  however,  of  any  pestilential  scourge.  In  the  summer  of  1843  the  disease 
called  influenza  reappeared,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  some  cases  of  smallpox 
were  reported.  Alarming  rumors  of  smallpox  were  current  in  January,  1847,  but 
Doctor  I.  G.Jones,  Secretary  of  the  City  Board  of  Health,  reported  that  only  four 
cases  had  occurred. 

The  appearance  of  the  Asiatic  cholera  in  New  York  in  1848  caused  so  much 
alarm  as  to  impel  the  City  Council  to  pass  an  ordinance,  in  February,  providing 
for  the  appointment  of  a  Board  of  Health  consisting  of  seven  members,  who  should 
serve  without  compensation,  each  for  one  3'ear.  The  board  was  empowered  "to 
take  the  most  prompt  and  efficient  measures  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  con- 
tagious, malignant,  dangerous  and  infectious  diseases  into  the  city,  and  for  the 
immediate  and  safe  removal  of  any  person  or  persons  who  may  be  found  therein 
infecled  with  any  such  disease."  The  members  of*  the  board,  appointed  by  the 
Council,  were  as  follows:  Doctors  Kobert  Thompson,  John  B.  Thompson,  R.  L. 
Howard,  Samuel  M.  Smith  and  S.  Z.  Seltzer,  Isaac  Cool,  John  L.  Gill,  Alexander 
E.  Glenn,  James  Cherry  and  Uriah  Stotts.  In  an  appeal  to  the  citizens  the  board 
says:  "There  is  scarcely  a  street,  lane  or  alley  in  the  city  but  needs  more  or 
less  cleaning.  Many  lots  and  grounds  attached  to  dwellings  are  in  a  filthy  con- 
dition,  and  calculated  at  all  times  to  excite  disease." 

During  the  early  days  of  January,  1849,  two  hundred  cholera  deaths  were 
reported  in  New  Orleans,  and  eleven  cases  in  Cincinnati.  Yet  the  people  of 
Columbus  seem  to  have  been  strangely  careless  of  sanitary  precautions.  The  offal 
of  slaughter  houses,  to  say  nothing  of  other  filth,  was  dumped  upon  the  surface  of 
the  ground,  and  allowed  to  lie  there  and  putrefy  until  the  inhabitants  of  the  neigh- 
boring dwellings,  to  adopt  the  language  of  a  current  newspaper  report,  were 
"greatly  incommoded."  In  the  course  of  an  editorial  admonition  to  "prepare 
for  the  cholera,"  the  Ohio  Statesman  of  April  5,  1849,  said  : 

Every  day  we  are  admonished  by  the  near  approach  of  this  fell  disease  to  prepare  for 
its  reception.  If  it  be  true  that  dirty  streets  and  alleys,  and  stagnant  pools  of  water  are  aids 
to  its  fearful  ravages,  then  there  is  most  assuredly  a  rich  harvest  awaiting  it  here.  In  stroll- 
ing around  the  city  a  few  days  since  we  were  truly  astonished  to  learn  from  ocular 
demonstration,  that  our  citizens,  notwithstanding  their  pride  of  place,  allowed  their 
streets  and  alleys  to  become  so  filthy  and  stinking  as  to  startle  one  whose  olfactory  nerves 
were  unused  to  the  stench. 

Speaking  of  the  general  vileness  of  the  alleys,  the  State  Journal  affirms  that 
just  east  of  High  Street,  the  one  between  Town  and  State  streets,  has  "piles  of 
manure,  etc.,  in  every  part  of  it."  A  contributor  signing  himself  "  South  Colum- 
bus "  writes  to  the  same  paper  of  June  27 : 

Several  thousand  dollars  have  lately  been  appropriated  to  build  a  fine  sewer  down 
Broad  Street  to  carry  the  filth  from  the  Lunatic  Asylum  [then  on  East  Broad  Street]  and 
deposit  it  in  the  river  with  that  which  comes  from  the  Neil  House,  the  American  Hotel,  and 
several  other  places  about  the  city.  This  nauseous  matter  is  lodged  at  the  foot  of  town  by 
the  Feeder  dam,  and  we  who  live  in  that  part  of  Columbus  are  almost  driven  from  our  homes 
by  the  offensive  miasma  which  rises  from  the  stagnant  matter.  Almost  every  case  of  cholera 
that  has  occurred  in  town  has  originated  in  this  neighborhood. 

46 


722  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

On  Ma}'  27,  Allen  W.  Turner,  who  had  arrived  by  stage  a  day  or  two  before 
from  Cincinnati,  died  of  cholera  contracted  in  that  city.  This  was  the  first  case  of 
the  year  1S49  in  Columbus.  The  weather  at  this  time  was  ideally  seasonuble  — 
gentle  and  sunny  during  the  day,  and  just  cool  enough  for  fire  in  the  evenini^s. 
'*  The  health  of  our  city,"  remarks  the  State  Journal  of  May  30,  "conkinaes  good. 
We  feel  warranted  in  saying  that  never,  at  any  time,  was  it  belter  than  at 
present." 

This  reassuring  statement  was  probably  intended  to  allay  manifest  apprehen- 
sions soon  to  be  verified.  On  June  21  the  pestilence  made  it«  unmistakable  advent 
in  what  was  known  as  the  Jewett  Block,  near  the  point,  says  Martin,  where  it 
originally  appeared  in  1833.  A  six-year-old  son  of  George  B.  Smith  was  claimed 
as  its  first  victim,  and  died  on  the  date  just  named.  The  next  day,  June  22,  both 
the  parents  of  this  child,  and  also  a  Mrs.  Kinney  and  a  Mrs.  Saunders,  dwelling 
in  the  same  locality,  were  carried  off.  The  whole  town  immediately  took  the 
alarm,  and  something  like  a  panic  prevailed.  The  Ohio  Stntesnujn  of  June  23 
said  : 

As  usual  in  such  cases,  the  rumors  in  the  streets  are  terrible.  Men,  women  and  child- 
ren are  attacked  with  cholera  and  killed  ofi,  and  sometimes  buried,  without  their  knowing 
it.  The  truth  is  bad  enough  without  making  it  worse.  ...  As  yet  the  disease  is  confined  to 
a  particular  section,  the  west  end  of  Rioh  Street,  in  the  buildings  owned  and  erected  by  the 
late  Colonel  Jewett.  All  the  houses  in  which  the  cholera  has  appeared  up  to  the  hour  of 
writing  (Saturday  afternoon)  are  located  on  the  same  lot.  .  .  .  Many  of  our  citizens  are  flying 
its  approach,  and  seeking  refuge  in  the  country,  or  in  neighboring  villages. 

About  this  time  a  Board  of  Health  was  thought  of,  and  was  appointed.  Its 
members  were  Isaac  Dalton,  N.  W.  Smith,  George  B.  Harvey,  W.  W.  Pollard  and 
James  Cherry.  They  were  "diligent,"  we  are  told,  in  "procuring  medical  and 
other  assistance  "  and  "  made  daily  reports."  They  doubtless  did  all  they  could; 
a  board  composed  of  stalwart  scavengers,  appointed  earlier  in  the  season,  would 
certainly  have  accomplished  more. 

Mrs.  Clark,  wife  of  the  druggist  Sumner  Clark,  and  daughter  of  Samuel  Had- 
dock, an  old  citizen,  was  the  next  victim,  and  died  June  24.  Mary  Young,  a  girl 
of  fifteen,  residing  with  Mrs.  Clark,  died  the  same  day  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Hunt- 
ington, whither  she  had  been  removed.  This  intensified  the  popular  alarm,  and 
caused  a  fresh  hegira.     The  Ohio  Statesman  of  June  27  said  : 

The  city  continues  to  be  filled  with  all  sorts  of  rumors  in  relation  to  cholera  cases.  Every 
person  attacked  with  diarrhoea  or  vomiting  is  reported  to  be  sufiering  with  cholera.  .  .  .  One 
of  our  physicians  familiar  with  the  disease  in  1832  .  .  .  informed  us  that  he  has  frequently, 
within  the  last  few  days,  been  called  upon  to  prescribe  for  cases  of  diarrhoea,  with  the  rice- 
water  discharges,  attended  by  vomiting,  and  although  several  of  these  cases,  if  not  checked  in 
the  very  first  of  the  disease,  would  have  run  into  cholera,  yet  he  has  not  yet  met  with  a 
case  which  he  would  be  willing  to  call  the  Asiatic  cholera  in  the  city. 

As  to  the  genuineness  of  the  pestilence  this  physician  probably  soon  afterwards 
changed  his  mind,  although  it  is  very  probable  that  much  of  the  alleged  cholera  was 
mere  fright.  Mrs.  May,  a  daughter  of*  Mr.  Smith,  who  was  one  of  the  first  victims, 
died  June  26.     Mrs.  Domigan,  dwelling  in  the  same  neighborhood,  "was  carried  off 


Climate  and  Hygiene,     tt.  723 

tbe  same  day,  aDd,  on  the  twentyninth,  John  E.  Thompson.  The  first  two  deaths 
in  the  Penitentiary  occurred  June  30.  The  panicky  condition  of  the  people  at  this 
time  had  some  comic  illustrations.  A  mason  dwelling  on  one  of  the  Public  Lanes 
sickened  from  an  overdose  of  whisky,  and  was  believed  by  his  neighbors  to  have 
been  seized  with  choleraic  vomiting.     Immediately,  says  a  contemporary  account, 

A  general  stampede  commenced  in  the  neighborhood.  Pots,  kettles,  beds  and  bedding, 
chairs  and  children,  bedbteads  and  babies  were  hastily  bundled  into  all  the  extemporary 
vehicles  of  the  vicinage,  and  a  general  flight  commenced.  So  frightened  was  one  poor  fellow 
—  the  father  of  the  boy  who  went  to  rally  the  medical  faculty  —  that  he  n^fused  to  check  his 
retreat  to  take  up  bis  son  in  the  street,  but  heroically  abandoned  him  to  the  underwriters, 
and  dashed  ahead  to  save  the  rest  of  his  family  from  the  contagion  which  he  believed  to  be 
at  his  heels,  in  hot  pursuit.* 

From  the  beginning  of  July  the  contagion  spread  rapidly.  Up  to  July  3, 
there  had  been  thirteen  cholera  deaths  in  the  town  ;  on  July  9,  sixteen  took  place 
in  the  Penitentiary  alone.  Doctor  Lathrop,  the  regular  prison  physician,  was 
assisted  by  Doctors  Matthews,  William  Trevitt,  John  B.  Thompson,  Eobert  Thomp- 
son  ,B.  F.  Gard,  J.  Morrison,  Gorman  Gay,  several  medical  stuients,  and  some  citi- 
zens who  volunteered  their  services  as  nurses.*  These  physicians  labored  heroically, 
and  two  of  them  fell  victims  to  the  pestilential  enemy.  Doctor  B.  F.  Gard  was 
seized  at  eleven  p.  m.  of  the  night  of  July  10  and  died  at  1:30  p.  m.,  July  11.  Doc- 
tor Horace  Lathrop,  the  Prison  Physician,  died  on  the  morning  of  July  IG,  These 
men  were  martyrs  to  their  professional  devotion,  and  should  be  forever  remem- 
bered in  the  shining  list  of  those  who  have  given  their  lives  for  the  benefit  of  their 
fellow  creatures.  Doctor  Gard  is  described  as  a  man  of  stalwart  physique  and 
usually  robust  health.  He  sacrificed,  as  did  also  Doctor  Lathrop,  all  that  a  man 
could  sacrifice  for  the  poor  prisoner  in  distress.  When  the  Columbus  of  the  future 
shall  erect  enduring  memorials  to  those  who  have  honored  the  name  of  the  capi- 
tal let  these  noble  men  not  be  forgotten. 

The  State  Journal  of  July  13,  says : 

Since  the  prevalence  of  the  epidemic  there  have  been  eighty  one  deaths  of  cholera  and 
two  of  other  diseases.  Of  those  who  have  died,  forty  suffered  in  consequence  of  relanses 
brought  on  by  their  own  imprudence.  Out  of  about  450  convicts  but  between  seventy  and 
eighty  have  escaped  an  attack.  .  .  .  While  our  unfortunate  prison  has  been  the  witness  of 
scenes  terrible  beyond  description,  there  is  reason  to  thank  God  that  it  is  no  worse. 

On  July  12  a  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  at  the  Courthouse,  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  cooperate  with  the  officers  of  the  prison  in  staying  the  epidemic. 
The  members  of  this  committee  were  Peter  Hayden,  Edgar  Gale,  John  Greiner, 
David  W.  Deshler,  K.  Larimore,  D.  Adams,  Thomas  Stockton,  A.  H.  Pinney  and 
H.  F.  Huntington.  The  members  of  another  committee  which  the  meeting 
appointed  to  confer  with  the  City  Council  as  to  sanitary  measures  were  Samuel 
Medary,  ftobert  Eiordan,  Samuel  D.  Preston,  M.  P.  Howiett  and  John  Graham. 

General  Edgar  Gale,  who  had  been  Adjutant-General  of  Ohio  under  Governor 
Shannon,  died  July  16.  To  the  legion  ol  depressing  rumors  which  flew  about  the 
town  was  added,  July  21,  a  bogus  dispatch  announcing  the  death  of  President 
Taylor,  by  cholera,  in  Washington.     Business  was  stagnant  to  the  verge  of  total 


..^.ai 


724  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Buspension.  AmuBomonts  wore  out  of  the  queBtion ;  Welch  k  Dclavan's  circus, 
whicli  arrived  in  the  city  July  30,  refrained  from  attempting  its  advertised  exhi- 
bition. One  mode  of  reh'cf  of  the  general  misery  seems  to  have  been  found  in 
criticising  the  Board  of  lEealth,  which  was  disbanded  about  the  first  of  August, 
and  reorganized  as  a  *' special  board  "  a])pointed  by  the  City  Council.  Its  mem- 
bers were  James  Cherry,  President ;  Isaac  Dalton,  Secretary ;  George  B.  Harvey, 
N.  W.  Smith  and  W.  W.  Pollard. 

One  of  the  curious  accompaniments  of  the  epidemic  was  tlie  appearance  of  no 
ends  of  4iuacks  professing  the  power  of  cure  and  prevention*  One  of  these  who 
visited  Columbus  called  himself  a  native  of  Morocco,  and  peddled  about  the  streets 
what  were  called  "highly  aromatic  amulets"  made  of  "a  berry  that  grows  uj>on 
a  tree  on  Mount  Lebanon,  and  in  :i  botanic  garden  near  Jerusalem.''  These 
amulets,  sold  at  from  one  to  four  dollars  each,  and  worn  about  the  neck,  wore  said 
to  be  almost  sure  preventives  of  "cholera,  scarlet  fever  and  contagious  diseases." 

As  in  1833,  the  epidemic  disappeared  first  from  the  Penitentiary.  By  July  20 
the  deaths  there  had  almost  ceased,  although  they  continued  to  bo  reported  in  the 
town  until  September  12,  when  the  Special  Board  of  Health  announced  that  there 
was  no  further  occasion  for  its  bulletins,  and  that  its  labors  were  ended.  The 
number  of  cholera  deaths  which  had  been  reported  since  the  outbreak  of  the 
epidemic  in  June  was  162.  *' There  wore  doubtless  some  omissions,"  says  Martin 
"and  the  true  number  may  have  been  between  that  [162]  and  200,  beside  116 
deaths  in  the  Penitentiary."'  The  highest  number  of  deaths  in  the  prison  on  one 
day  was  22,  which  occurred  on  July  10.  Among  the  prominent  citizens  carried 
off,  not  already  mentioned,  were  Samuel  Preston,  Abraham  Mettles,  William  Cook, 
Eobert  and  Mrs.  Thompson,  Doctor  Isaac  F.  Taylor,  Christian  Karst,  Joseph 
Murray,  Bernard  Berk,  Christian  Hertz  and  John  Whisker.  The  epidemic  was 
general  throughout  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  in  some  places,  as  in 
Cleveland,  assumed  the  character,  after  a  time,  of  bilious  diarrhcea.  That 
Columbus  was  not  the  only  place  where  many  people  became  panicky  on  account 
of  it  appears  from  the  following  extract  from  a  Sandusky,  Ohio,  letter  of  August  3:* 

The  week  ending  July  21  commences  the  record.  The  railroad  train  introduced  the 
first  cases.  On  Friday  its  character  became  pretty  decided.  Those  attacked  were  temi>erate 
livers,  but  of  weak  constitutional  habits ;  they  were  rapidly  disposed  of.  On  Sunday  it 
assumed  a  decided  malignant  type.  Monday  opened  darkly.  And  now  ensued  a  scene 
which  no  pen  can  describe,  nor  even  the  imagination  conceive.  A  regular  stampede  com- 
menced. .Christian  professors  seemed  to  take  the  lead.  Friends,  family,  property,  were 
alike  deserted.  On  Tuesday  there  was  a  perfect  rush  for  the  boats,  up  and  down ;  1,500 
persons,  it  is  estimated,  left  the  town  on  this  and  the  previous  evening.  By  midweek  the 
population  had  dwindled  down  to  onehalf.  Imagine  the  consternation,  the  dread!  The 
desolate  houses,  the  closed  shops,  tlie  stealthy  tread  of  those  who  ventured  abroad  unnerved 
the  strongest,  was  death  to  the  weak.  Ablebodied,  clearminded  men  have  assured  me  the 
worst  thing  they  had  to  contend  against  was  this  feeling  of  utter  desertion  by  friends  and 
associates. 

In  1850  Columbus  was  again  scourged  with  cholera,  beginning  with  the  death 
of  Mrs.  Robert  Russell  at  the  United  States  Hotel  July  8.  Mrs.  Russell  bad  just 
returned  from  Cincinnati,  where  she  probably  contracted  the  disease.     Her  death 


Climate  and  Hygiene.     IF.  725 

was  followed  a  few  hours  later  by  that  of  Mrs.  Hilliary,  on  Front  Street.  From 
this  time  on  the  epidemic  gradually  spread  over  the  city  until  it  had  become  as 
bad  or  worse  than  it  had  been  the  year  before.  The  number  of  fatal  cases  up  to 
July  16  was  seventeen.  John  Knoderer,  a  Mexican  War  veteran,  was  carried 
off  July  21.  Finally,  on  July  24,  the  City  Council  was  stirred  up  suflSciently  to 
appoint  a  Board  of  Health,  the  members  of  which  were  George  B.  Harvey,  Isaac 
Dalton,  W.  W.  Pollard  and  T.  J.  McCnmish.  Meanwhile  the  sanitary  condition 
of  the  city  appears  to  have  been  but  little  better  than  it  was  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
epidemic  in  1849.  Nests  of  reeking  filth  and  the  putrefying  carcasses  of  dead 
animals  lying  in  the  alleys  are  mentioned  in  the  newspapers.  The  miscellaneous 
deposit  of  garbage  was  habitual,  streetcleaning  was  a  spasmodic  virtue;  and  the 
drainage  of  the  town  was  villainously  bad.  The  plague  demon  was  greeted  by 
numerous  cordial  invitations  as  soon  as  it  arrived,  and  proceeded  to  make  itself  a 
familiar  guest.  Many  citizens  sought  refuge  in  the  country,  the  country  people 
refrained  from  coming  to  town,  the  market  was  almost  abandoned,  and  the  toll- 
ing of  funeral  bells  became  so  frequent  and  continuous  as  to  be  complained  of  as 
a  nuisance.  On  August  3  fourteen  died,  and  the  Ohio  Statesman  of  about  the  same 
date  said  :  "  The  cholera  report  today  is  large — double  the  worst  day  of  last  year." 
The  same  paper  of  August  19  remarked : 

The  last  few  days  have  exhibited  some  of  the  worst  features  of  the  disease.  Some  of  the 
most  temperate  and  careful  livers  have  parted  with  there  friends  in  the  evening  in  apparent 
good  health,  and  by  morning  they  were  with  the  departed. 

One  streak  of  sunlight  irradiates  the  dismal  scene;  it  was  the  announcement, 
August  12,  that  several  alleys  were  being  cleaned  up — "a  late  and  commendable  evi- 
dence of  propriety  as  well  as  good  taste,"  remarks  the  Statesman. 

From  the  time  the  Board  of  Health  was  appointed  July  24,  up  to  August  26, 
the  number  of  choleraic  deaths  reported  was  195.  Joseph  Ridgway,  Junior,  a 
prominent  citizen,  and  Mrs.  W.  S.  Sullivant  both  died  August  23,  at  Mt.  Vernon. 
Timothy  Griffith,  another  wellknown  and  highly  esteemed  citizen,  died  August  30. 
The  epidemic  had  been  steadily  waning  some  time  prior  to  this  date,  and  on  Sep- 
tember 4,  the  Board  of  Health,  in  announcing  the  suspension  of  its  bulletins 
declared  the  city  was  again  "perfectly  healthy."  In  a  population  of  17,871,  a 
total  of  209  cholera  deaths  was  reported,  and  probably  225  had  actually  occurred. 
The  penitentiary  had  this  time  been  almost  if  not  entirely  exempt  from  the  pesti- 
lence. Among  the  prominent  citizens  carried  off,  additional  to  those  already 
mentioned,  were  Elijah  Converse,  David  S.  Emanuel  and  William  Doherty,  John 
Willard  and  son,  William  G.  Alexander,  wife  and  two  or  three  children,  James  B. 
Griffith's  son  and  three  daughters,  John  Barcus,  Robert  Owen,  Doctor  James  B. 
McGill,  Henry  Wass,  Isaac  Taylor,  Hinman  Hurd,  William  Henderson,  Mrs. 
George  B.  Harvey,  Mrs.  Matthew  Gooding,  Mrs.  E.  B.  Armstrong,  and  Miss 
Fanny  Houston.* 

There  was  no  cholera  in  Columbus  in  the  year  1851,  but  it  reappeared  in  1852, 
the  first  victim  that  year  being  Philip  Link,  who  died  June  16,  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  the  city.  Among  the  other  citizens  carried  off  by  the  plague 
during  the  season  were  William  T.  Berry,  Miss  Matthews,   William  English  and 


72<>  IIlHTORV    OF   THE    CiTV    OF   C^OLUMBUS. 

wife,  Mi88  Henrietta  E.  (lule,   daughter  of  the  late  General  Gale;  John  McGaire, 
Newton  Mattoon  and  Robert  Brooks. 

In  1853  the  general  health  of  the  city  was  good,  although  mach  complaint 
was  made  of  dirty  streets,  stagnant  p<K>ls,  and  especially  of  certain  malodorous 
slaughterhouses  in  the  southeastern  quarter.  In  June,  1854,  the  cholera  again 
appeared,  first  this  time  in  the  northern  part  of  the  town,  but  it  <Hd  not  become 
epidemic.  Among  the  victims  it  claimed  were  John  Leaf,  wife  and  son,  two  chil- 
dren of  Mr.  Westwater,  Jonathan  Ream  and  Jonathan  Philips  and  daughter. '^  As 
might  be  expected,  contemporary  complaint  was  made  of  bad  sewers  and  intoler- 
able stenches  caused  by  the  imperfect  drainage. 

About  the  middle  of  April,  1855,  the  epizootic  which  had  already  been  preva- 
lent   in  Cincinnati,   appeared   among  the  stagehorses  at   Columbus,  and   proved 
fatal  in  several  cases.     "  There  is  but  one  remedy,*'  said  the  Siafesnuin^  "  and  that 
is,  bleeding  very   freely,  after  which  give  the  horse  eight  drams  of  Barbadoes 
aloes,  biding  very  careful   not  to  let  him  drink  cold  water.'*     According  to  news- 
paper accounts,  the  decaying  bodies  of  dead  animals  were  still  allowed  to  lie  in  the 
streets.     On  July  13,  1851,   we  find  this  remark  in  the  Statesman:    "  The  alley 
running  from   High  to  Third,  between   Friend  and  Mound,  seems  to  have  been 
made  a  depository  for  all  the  dead  hogs,  cats  and  fowls  found  in  that  vicinity." 

The  reappearance  of  the  cholera  in  various  parts  of  the  country  in  1865 
prompted  measures  for  the  better  drainage  of  Columbus,  which  will  be  referred  to 
when  that  subject  comes  to  be  discussed.  At  a  meeting  of  physicians  held 
November  28,  Doctor  Awl  delivered  an  address  on  the  sanitation  of  the  city  with 
a  view  to  the  prevention  of  an  outbreak  of  cholera  the  ensuing  summer,  and 
resolutions  by  Doctor  Hamilton  were  passed  urging  the  City  Council  to  adopt  at 
once  such  measures  as  would  *^  secure  the  best  possible  condition  of  the  sewerage 
and  drainage  of  the  city,  the  cleaning  of  the  streets  and  alleys,  the  thorough 
inspection  of  all  cellars  and  backyards,  make  prompt  and  systematic  provision  for 
the  removal  of  all  slops,  filth  and  garbage,  and,  in  case  of  the  appearance  of 
epidemic  cholera  among  us,  make  adequate  provision  for  the  poor,  and  especially  to 
provide  them  with  medical  attendance."  On  December  18  an  ordinance  was  passed 
appointing  the  following  Board  of  Health  :  Doctors  W.  M.  Awl,  J.  B.  Thomp- 
son, J.  ir.  Coulter,  H.  Mahlman,  C.  E.  Boyle  and  William  Trevitt,  and  Messrs. 
John  Field,  J.  B.  St.  Clair,  C.  E.  Felton,  Isaac  Dalton  and  W.  W.  Pollard.  This 
measure  'resulted,  we  are  told,  in  a  general  cleaning-up,  and  also  in  considerable 
discussion  as  to  improvement  of  the  sewerage.  During  the  spring  of  1866  the 
chaingang  was  employed  for  several  weeks  in  carting  away  filth  from  the  streets, 
and  an  additional  force  was  employed  for  the  same  purpose  until  the  appropriation 
to  ])ixy  such  a  force  was  exhausted.  In  August,  18H6,  reports  were  current  affirm- 
ing the  existence  of  cholera  in  the  city,  but  tliey  were  not  verified.  The  preven- 
tive measures  which  had  been  taken  seem  to  have  been  effectual. 

In  March,  1867,  diphtheria  and  typhoid  fever  prevailed  in  the  Institution  for 
the  Deaf  and  Dumb  to  such  an  extent  that  the  school  was  disbanded,  and  about  one- 
half  of  the  scholars  were  sent  home.  A  Board  of  Health  appointed  by  ordinance  of 
May  6  comprised  the  following  members :  Doctor  William  Trevitt,  Frederick  Fieser, 


Climate  and  Hygiene.     II.  727 

R.  Walkup,  Frank  Howard,  John  Miller  and  Louis  Hoster.  This  board  was 
authorized  to  abate  nuisances,  regulate  the  registration  of  births  and  deaths,  remove 
infected  persons,  and  "  make  all  orders  and  regulations  necessary  for  public  health 
and  the  prevention  of  disease."  In  addition  to  those  measures  a  uniformed  sani- 
tary police  force  was  appointed  (May  22)  by  the  Mayor  and  distributed,  by  dis- 
tricts, through  the  city.  This  was  done  in  pursuance  of  a  code  of  regulations 
adopted  by  the  Board  of  Health  May  16.  The  cleaning  of  streets  and  abatement 
of  nuisances  were  amon^  the  things  which  this  code  most  urgently  required. 

On  May  5,  1868,  the  Statesman  regaled  the  musicloving  population  of  the  city 
with  the  information  that  '*  the  frogs  hold  a  grand  concert  nightly  in  the  ponds." 
It  is  therefore  fair  to  infer  that  pools  of  water  still  existed  within  the  limits  of  the 
city  which  frogs  delighted  to  inhabit. 

Seven  or  eight  cases  of  smallpox  were  reported  in  December,  1871.  On  May 
7,  1872,  a  Board  of  Health  was  appointed  by  .ordinance,  and  on  May  24  it  adopted 
a  code  of  sanitary  rules.  The  board  comprised  seven  members,  w^ho  were  obliged 
to  serve  without  compensation.  Among  the  powers  conferred  upon  it  was  that  of 
appointing  a  health  officer,  a  clerk,  and  as  many  district  physicians  as  might 
be  deemed  necessary. 

The  epizootic  reappeared  in  Columbus  November  17,  1872,  shortly  after  which 
date  a  great  many  horses  were  seized  with  chills  and  coughing,  accompanied* 
in  some  cases,  by  the  discharge  of  yellowish-green  matter  from  the  nose,  and 
a  swelling  of  the  glands.  Prevention  was  attempted  by  wrapping  asafoetida 
around  the  bridlebits,  and  administering  bromi-chloralum.  Owing  to  this  con- 
tagion the  running  of  streetcars  had  to  be  suspended  November  18,  and  the  horses 
of  the  Fire  Department  all  being  affected,  volunteer  companies  of  men  to  draw 
the  engines  and  hosecarts  had  to  be  organized.  By  November  26  nearly  all 
the  horses  in  Columbus  were  more  or  less  affected,  bakers  and  grocers  were  obliged 
to  deliver  their  goods  by  footmen,  and  oxteams  for  heavy^  hauling  became  so 
numerous  on  the  streets  as  to  cease  to  be  a  curiosity.  Stages,  streetcars  and  omni- 
buses all  ceased  running,  passengers  were  obliged  to  walk  between  the  hotels  and 
the  railway  station,  and  the  country  mail  transportation  was  seriously  embarrassed. 
Many  alleged  remedies  lor  the  malady,  most  of  which  it  would  be  unprofitable 
to  reproduce,  found  their  way  into  print. 

During  the  spring  of  1873,  cholera  prevailed  extensively  in  the  Southen  States, 
and  during  the  months  of  July  and  August  of  that  year  it  existed  to  a  limited 
extent  in  Columbus.  Up  to  July  19,  fifteen  deaths  had  taken  place  in  the  Peni- 
tentiary, within  tlie  walls  of  which  the  pestilence  was  mostly  confined.  The  last 
cholera  death  mentioned  took  place  August  11. 

Fifteen  cases  of  smallpox  were  reported,  within  the  city,  in  February,  1875, 
and  on  March  15  a  health  ordinance  was  passed  by  the  City  Council.  In  Novem- 
ber of  the  same  year  ten  fatal  cases  of  smallpox  were  reported.  Humors  were 
current  at  that  time  that  the  disease  had  assumed  an  epidemic  form. 

The  epizootic  again  appeared  in  Columbus  in  October,  1875,  and  seems  to  have 
been  of  a  more  malignant  type  than  it  had  hitherto  assumed.     It  was  stated  that 


728  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

twentythree   horses   had  died  from  it  within  the  city   during  the    week    ended 
October  30. 

A  3'ellow  fever  death  occurred  on  North  Lazelle  Street  September  22,  1878. 
The  victim  had  come  to  Columbus  from  Memphis. 

During  the  autumn  of  1H81,  canes  of  typhoid  and  socalled  malarial  fevers  were 
unusally  numei*ou8.  One  physician  estimated  that  there  were  as  many  as  four 
hundred  cases  of  typhus  in  the  city  at  one  time,  in  October.  Several  cases  of  small- 
pox were  reported  in  Januarj',  1882,  and  a  pesthouse  was  built.  The  current 
rumors  as  to  the  prevalence  of  the  disease  at  that  time  were  said  to  have  been 
greatly  exaggerated.  Thirty  six  scarlet  fever  cases  occurred  during  the  latter  part 
of  November,  1882,  in  the  Asylum  for  the  Feeble  Minded. 

A  horse  disease  called  the  **  pinkeye  *'  made  its  appearance  among  the  teams 
of  the  Fire  Department  early  in  January,  1882,  and  was  for  a  time  quite  common 
in  the  stables  of  Columbus  and  vicinity. 

The  State  Sanitary  Association  convened  at  the  City  Hall,  February  14,  1884. 
A  welcoming  address  was  delivered  by  Doctor  J.  F.  Baldwin,  and   William  M. 
Beach,  of  London,  was  chosen  to  preside  at  the  sittings.     A  constitution  for  the 
Association  was  adopted,  and  the  propriety  of  establishing  a  State  Board  of  Health 
was  discusse<l.     The  AsHOftiation  again   met  in  Columbus,  February  5,  1885,  and 
was  welcomed  by  Rev.   Washington    Gladden.      Professor   Edward    Orton   was 
chosen  President,  and  valuable  papers  on  sanitary  subjects  were  read  by  Professor 
Edward  Nelson,  Doctor  E.  S.  Ricketts,  Professor  Edward  Orton  and  others.     An 
interesting  address  on  the  sanitary  condition  of  Columbus  was  delivered  by  Professor 
Orton,  April  7,  1885,  before  the  Board  of  Trade.     A  meeting  of  citizens  in  the 
interest  of  better  sanitation  of  the  city  was  held  April  16,  1885,  and  resolutions 
were  adopted  demanding  that  measures  be  taken  by  the  Board  of  Health  and  City 
Council  to  mitigate  the  filthy  condition  of  the  streets,  such  measures  being  deemed 
particularly  important  in  view  of  the  probable  outbreak  of  the  Asiatic  cholera  in 
the  United  States  during  the  ensuing  summer. 

Two  cases  of  trichina  ^ipirali8  were  reported  February  19,  1885,  on  Lazelle 
Avenue.  A  paper  on  the  Climate  and  Diseases  of  Columbus  was  read  by  Doctor 
Starling  Loving  before  the  Cliinatological  Society  of  New  York,  May  28.  The 
same  paper  was  read  before  the  State  Sanitary  Association  at  its  third  annual 
meeting  held  in  Columbus,  February  24,  1886.  William  Halley,  of  Columbus, 
read  a  valuable  paper  at  this  meeting  on  Sanitary  Plumbing.  The  Association 
elected  officers  for  the  ensuing  j'ear.  Doctor  J.  H.  Herrick,  of  Cleveland,  bein^ 
chosen  President. 

The  State  Board  of  Health,  created  by  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  began  its 
existence  in  1886,  and  held  its  first  or  preliminary  meeting  April  30.  On  April 
14,  a  special  committee  of  the  Board  of  Trade  on  Sanitary  Regulations  made  a 
report  containing  the  following  recommendations:  1.  The  general  circulation  of 
Professor  Orton's  address.  2.  Such  a  change  of  the  law  as  would  enable  the  city 
to  have  a  Board  of  Health.  Such  a  board  which  could  keep  the  city  clean,  says 
the  committee,  "  would  be  of  more  value  to  it  than  any  other  department.  The 
present  law,  which  attaches  the  duties  of  a  Board  of  Health  to  the  Police  Com- 


Climate  and  Hygiene.    II.  729 

missioners  we  think  very  anwise,  as  it  places  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of 
the  city  government — the  securing  of  the  health  of  the  people  —  under  the  con- 
trol of  a  board  organized  for  a  wholly  different  purpose."  3.  The  adoption  of 
such  measures  as  would  effect  the  complete  and  permanent  cleansing  of  the  city. 
4.  That  the  General  Assembly  be  memorialized  to  grant  the  use  of  so  much  of 
the  Columbus  Feeder  as  might  be  necessary  to  complete  the  sewerage  of  the  city. 
In  May,  1887,  a  new  Board  of  Health  was  commissioned,  in  accordance  with 
the  foregoing  recommendations,  and  in  September  of  the  same  year  a  meeting  of 
the  board  was  held  at  which  Doctor  Norton  S.  Townshend  presided,  a  code  of  san- 
itary regulations  was  adopted,  and  an  important  report  was  made  by  the  Health 
0£Scer,  Doctor  F.  Gunsaulus,  showing  that  the  municipal  districts  along  the  banks 
ot  the  river,  on  both  sides,  were  in  an  abominable  slate  of  filthiness,  and  that  the 
river  itself,  even  above  the  point  from  which  the  water  supply  of  the  city  was 
obtained,  was  being  used  as  a  depository  for  excrement,  even  to  that  of  persons  who 
were  ill  with  typhoid  fever.  The  biweekly  report  of  the  Health  Officer  at  this 
meeting  showed  that  1,137  nuisances  had  been  found  and  1,202  abated  ;  that  841 
pounds  of  meat  had  been  condemned  in  the  shops  and  markets,  that  seventeen 
slaughter  houses  and  eleven  dairies  had  been  inspected,  and  that  sev.entyeight 
milk  t«sts  had  been  made.  This  report  illustrates  the  current  work  and  usetul- 
ness  of  the  food  inspection  and  health  administration  of  the  city,  of  which,  when 
the  Municipality  shall  come  to  be  discussed,  a  more  particular  account  will  be 
given. 


NOTES. 

1.  History  of  Ohio. 

2.  History  of  Franklin  County. 

3.  Communication  to  the  Ohio  State  Journal. 

4.  Isaac  Appleton  Jewett  to  Samuel  Appleton,  of  Boston. 

5.  Ohio  Stale  journal. 

6.  Martin's  History  of  Franklin  County. 

7.  Ibid. 

8.  To  the  Ohio  StcUe  Journal. 

9.  Martin. 
10.  Ibid. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 


SOCIAL  AND  PERSONAL. 

Social  life  during  the  earlier  and  intermediate  history  of  the  capital  differed 
from  that  of  the  present  day  as  much  in  character  as  in  moral  and  material  con- 
ditions. Some  of  its  phases  have  been  depicted  in  preceding  chapters;  a  few 
others  seen  worthy  of  notice. 

The  mutually  helpful  disposition  of  the  neighbors  of  the  early  settlements 
contributed  much  to  assuage  the  hardships  of  frontier  life.  In  the  letters  of  Mrs. 
Betsy  Green  Deshler,  quoted  in  an  antecedent  chapter,  some  striking  illustrations 
are  given  of  this  neighborly  temper  among  the  people  of  the  borough  of  Columbus. 
Wellbehavcd  strangers  who  came  into  the  little  community  received  kindly  atten- 
tions from  every  side.  Painstaking  efforts  were  made  to  make  them  feel  welcome, 
and  to  help  them  over  the  difficulties  and  trials  of  establishing  a  new  home.  Even 
a  high  oflScer  of  state  lent  a  helping  hand  to  Mr.s.  Deshler  in  putting  away  her. 
pork.  The  "best  people"  were  not  above  doing  such  things  then.  As  was  one 
of  the  beautiful  customs  of  the  time,  neighbors  who  were  total  strangers  shared 
with  the  newcomers  their  little  luxuries,  and  tendered  them  such  household  con- 
veniences and  help  as  they  might  need  in  getting  settled.  Nor  were  such  attentions 
shown  to  the  newest  settlers  only.  A  helpful  spirit  was  cherished  among  the 
pioneers,  and  to  be  neighborly  was  esteemed  by  them  as  an  indispensable  social 
virtue.  If  a  barn  or  a  house  was  to  be  put  up,  nil  the  people  round  about  came  to 
help  raise  it.  The  sick  received  all  the  consolation  which  kind*  attentions  could 
offer.  The  misfortune  of  a  reputable  citizen,  however  humble  in  station  he  might 
be,  was  taken  to  heart  by  the  entire  community.  The  Firrrnayi's  Chronidv  of  July 
8,  1814,  narrates  the  following  incident,  characteristic  of  the  frontier  : 

On  Thursday  morning  the  30th  ult,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Robert  Taylor  of  Truro  Township, 
six  years  old,  got  lost  in  the  woods  while  driving  a  cow  to  a  neighboring  farm.  More  than  a 
hundred  men  continued  in  pursuit  of  her  till  Saturday  morning,  when  she  was  found  five 
miles  from  home  standing  against  a  tree  near  a  swamp.  Notwithstanding  she  had  not  taflted 
food  from  Wednesday  night  till  Saturday  morning,  and  was  exposed  to  several  severe 
rains,  she  was  in  good  health,  and  not  much  dispirited  by  fatigue  an<l  hunger. 

Such  was  the  implicit  trust  of  the  people  in  one  another,  that  for  many  years 
of  the  earlier  borough  history  the  doors  of  their  dwellings  were  seldom  locked, 
and  even  the  proverbial  latchstring  was  not  always  drawn  in  at  night. 

The  insufficiency  of  school  facilities  was  long  felt  as  a  groat  drawback  to  th*) 
cultivation  of  the  minds  and  manners  of  the  young,  and  much  juvenile  rudeness 

[730] 


Social  and  Personal.  731 

18  said  to  have  resulted  from  this  cause.  The  boys  of  Franklinton  were  in  stand- 
ing feud  with  those  of  Columbus,  and  the  belligerents  frequently  manifested  their 
mutual  dislike  by  bandying  epithets  and  throwing  stones  at  one  another  across 
the  Scioto.  A  writer  in  the  State  Journal  of  November  23,  1826,  calls  attention 
to  the  "  crowds  of  3'outh  who  nightly  infest  our  streets  with  riot  and  din,  accom- 
panied with  the  most  shocking  profanity."  Frequently,  "on  visiting  the  streets 
in  the  morning,"  this  writer  continues,  "you  witness  manifestations  of  the  most 
wanton  and  mischievous  acts.  Barrels,  boxes,  and  lumber  are  removed  from 
their  places;  fences  thrown  across  the  streets,  doors  obstructed,  etc."  In  1833  we 
find  in  the  same  paper  complaint  of  similar  disturbances,  attributed,  in  part,  to  the 
sam6  cause— want  of  schools.  Juvenile  profanity  and  inebriety  were  among  the 
things  deprecated.  "  I  do  not  moan,"  says  the  complainant,  "that  religion,  mor- 
ality' or  education  is  wholly  neglected.  On  the  contrary,  piety  an<l  morality 
seem  to  abound,  and  great  efforts  are  made  by  many  to  educate  their  children." 

The  disadvantages  of  the  frontier  were  numerous  and  subjected  people  to 
moral  and  intellectual  as  well  as  physical  hardship.  Doubtless  Columbus  fared  no 
better  and  no  worse  in  this  respect  than  other  wilderness  settlements,  but  from  the 
beginning  the  predominant  influences  which  moulded  its  society  were  exception- 
ally good.  A  largo  proportion  of  its  pioneer  business  men,  including  its  original 
proprietors,  were  not  only  very  able  and  strong  intellectually,  but  were  men  of  fine 
education.  Lncas  Sullivant,  Lyne  Starling,  John  Kerr,  James  Kilbourn,  Lincoln 
Goodale  and  many  of  their  coadjutors  would  have  achieved  prominence  and  busi- 
ness success  in  any  community.  Farsiirhtod,  shrewd,  and  resolute,  they  bodly  jnet 
and  triumphantly  vanquished  difficulties  which  would  have  appalled  men  of  ordinary 
qualities.  But  for  what  they  achieved,  Columbus  would  probably  now  be,  not  the 
capital,  but  its  rural,  easygoing  suburb. 

The  strong  wills  and  clear,  trained  intellects  of  such  men  did  much  to  give 
society  its  original  cast.  To  this  should  be  added  the  equally  important  fact  that 
a  large  proportion  of  the  borough  families  were  people  of  refinement,  who,  while 
willing  to  endure  the  privations  of  the  frontier,  wore  yet  keenly  alive  to  all 
the  amenities  of  well-developed  society  and  genteel  intercourse.  Many  of  them 
had  come  from  the  older  communities  of  the  East  and  South,  and  had  brought  with 
them  the  vosy  best  social  influences  and  traditions  of  the  time. 

An  eastern  visitor,  writing  from  Columbus  to  a  friend  in  1833,  tluis  records  his 
impressions  :* 

The  society  of  married  ladies  is  decidedly  superior  to  that  of  any  other  part  of  the  Stale 
I  have  visited.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  panegyrize  nor  even  describe ;  but  they  in  general 
possess  grace,  beauty,  and  no  small  fund  of  information.  The  younger  claims  of  females  in 
these  respects  resemble  their  mothers,  but  with  some  exceptions.  ...  Of  the  men  1  shall 
only  say,  they  are  agreeable  and  well-informed.  The  young  gentlemen  are  attentive  to 
strangers,  polite  to  the  ladies,  and  have  quite  a  literary  taste. 

To  this  picture  there  were  some  shadows.  Isaac  Appleton  Jewett,  a  man  of 
fine  education  and  rare  intelligence,  wrote  from  Columbus  on  February  22,  1833, 
to  his  friend,  the  eminent  Boston  merchant,  Samuel  Appleton  : 


Social  and  Personal.  733 

to  have  notbiDg  further  to  do  with  the  said  Maria,  and  to  pay  no  more  debts  of  her  con- 
tracting. 

Brook  BN  Lynks. 

Many  similar  notices  might  be  reproduced  from  early  newspaper  files.  That 
the  charivari  was  a  common  incident  of  early  weddings  finds  evidence  in  the 
following  card  — October  19,  1826  —  of  a  protesting  citizen  : 

Matrimony  should  ever  be  held  sacred,  and  the  greatest  respect  paid  to  the  institution. 
Every  moral  and  especially  every  married  person  of  the  community  must  feel  pained  at  the 
foolish  conduct  of  our  youth  in  this  town  whenever  there  is  a  wedding  in  the  place.  Such 
hooping  and  drumming  and  ridiculous  conduct  should  be  put  a  stop  to. 

Among  the  later  novelties  in  the  course  of  conjugal  events  we  find  the 
announcement,  of  February  7,  1840,  that  Mr.  Hilarious  Willging  had  been  wedded 
to  Mrs.  Catherine  C.  Otten.     Also  this,  which  bears  date  Augast  30,  1834 : 

In  this  City,  on  the  28th  instant,  by  W.  T.  Martin,  Esq.,  Mr.  Joseph  Mapes,  a  Revolu- 
tionary pensioner,  to  Mrs.  Eleanor  Swordon ;  each  seventyihree  years  M,  and  only  three 
months  difference  in  their  ages. 

An  almost  parallel  case  is  thus  mentioned  in  the  Ohio  Statesman  of  March  29, 
1855: 

A  couple  were  married  in  this  city  on  Wednesday  morning,  the  bride  being  seventyone 
and  the  groom  seventytbree  years  of  age.  The  old  codger  asked  the  parson  whether  it  **  was  a 
sin,'' to  which  the  parson  responded  that  he  didn't  think  it  a  sin  before  God,  but  it  was 
hardly  worth  while  for  all. the  time  it  would  last. 

The  oldtime  announcements  of  deaths  were  as  quaint  as  those  of  marriages. 
The  following  are  taken  from  the  Free/nans  Chronicle  of  dates  in  1813  and  1814: 

Died.— In  this  town  on  Wednesday  last,  after  a  distressing  ilness  of  four  weeks,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Davis,  consort  of  Mr.  Jacob  W.  Davis,  and  daughter  of  Mr.  Peter  Grubb.  She  sus- 
tained a  fair  and  worthy  character  through  life,  and  is  sincerely  lamented  by  numerous 
friends  and  acquaintances. 

Died.— On  the  7th  inst.  in  this  town,  Mies  Jane  D'Lashmutt,  a  very  respectable  and 
amiable  young  lady. 

On  the  14th,  Mr.  Abijah  Domigan,  a  useful  and  worthy  citizen. 

The  Ohio  State  Journal  of  June  4,  1829,  announced  as  follows  : 

Died. — A  few  days  since,  at  his  residence  near  Hamilton,  Butler  County,  after  a  lung 
and  painful  ilness.  Colonel  John  Cleves  Symmes,  the  ingenious  author  of  the  new  Theory  of 
the  Earth,  aged  about  fifty. 

Advertisments  of  runaway  apprentices  were  of  frequent  appearance  in  the 
early  newspapers.  Some  examples  of  these  notices  have  heretofore  been  cited. 
Runaway  children  were  also  advertised,  sometimes,  by  their  parents. 

The  Ohio  State  Journal  of  July  27,  1827,  thus  heralded  the  advent  of  the 
African  element: 

Immense  numbers  of  niulattoes  are  continually  flocking  by  tens  and  hundreds  into 
Ohio.  .  .  .  Tbis^tateof  things  calls  loudly  for  legislative  interference,  and  whilst  the  Col- 
onization Society  rids  us  of  a  few,  the  legislature  ought  to  devise  some  mode  to  prevent  the 
people  of  this  state  from  sufiering  under  nearly  all  the  inconveniences  and  deleterious  effecta 
consequent  upon  slavebolding. 


.JL. 


734  lIi8T()RY  OP  THE  City  op  Columbus. 

Alter  the  German  people  bi»^a»  to  arrive,  their  favorite  modes  of  an)u»ement 
were  practiced  at  their  places  of  resort,  and  attracted  much  attention. 

The  early  Governors  of  Ohio,  while  sojourning  in  Columbus,  usually  lo<lged 
at  the  inns.     Sometimes  they  l)rought  their  families  to  the  capital,  sometimes  not. 
Armstrongs  Tavern,  KusselTs  Tavern  and  the  National  Hotel  frequently  eiijoj'ed 
the  distinction   of  being    the   place   of  executive  residence.     Levees    an«l    dinner 
parties  given  by  the  (lovernor,  or  at  which  he  was  the  principal  guest,  were  fre- 
quent, and  contributed  much  U)  the  social  animation  of  the  capital.      One  of  the 
most  notably  amiable  and  popular  of  the  earlier  executives  in   this  respect  was 
General  McArthur,  whose  presence  in   society  seems  to  have  been  much  sought 
after  and  much  enjoyed.     When  Governor  Wilson  Shannon  was  installed  in  office 
in  1842,  a  grand  inauguration  ball  was  held  at  the  American  House,  and  inaugura- 
tion suppers  weiH)  given  at  the  Franklin  House  and  at  Oylers  City  House.     This 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  festival  of  the  kind  celebrated  on  such  an  extensive 
scale.     During   a    high    state   of  j^olitical  feeling,   social  amusements  sometimes 
assumed  a  partisan  cast,  and  we  hear  of  Polk  and  Clay  balls  in  1843. 

At  various  times  the  socalled  "art  of  sel f defense ''  has  attracted  attention, 
rather  as  a  passing  fancy,  we  may  well  believe,  than  as  an  accomplishment  made 
necessary  by  social  conditions.  Sometimes  fencing  exercises  were  taugbt,  and 
sometimes  lessons  in  pugilism,  by  transient  "professors"  in  such  crafl.  In  IS3G 
one  of  these  peregrinators  announced  that  he  had  rented  a  room  on  State  Street  "  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  private  instruction  in  the  above  manly  art  [boxing]  whereb}' 
pupils,  in  a  few  lessons,  will  be  enabled  to  protect  themselves  from  the  assault  of  the 

ruffian." 

Deferential  consideration  for  the  sex  was  esteemed  to  be  one  of  the  cardinal 
virtues  of  the  olden  time,  but  there  seem  to  have  been  some  en  roach  men  ts  upon  it8 
observance  as  the  city  grew  in  years.  For  example,  we  find  in  a  newspaper 
record  of  current  events  in  1841  this  exceptional  statement,  reference  being  made  to 
a  discourse  on  "tight  lacing"  by  one  of  the  hygienic  instructors  of  the  day: 
"We  were  pained  to  see  some  dozen  ladies  standing  in  the  crowd  during  the 
whole  of  the  lecture.  It  was  wrong,  ungallant  and  discreditable,  especially  in  a  city  so 
notorious  for  its  gallantry  and  civility  as  this." 

To  make  record  of  the  multiplied  whimsies  of  fashion  which  have  rippled  the 
surface  of  society  during  the  lifetime  of  the  city  would  occupy  more  space  than  the 
importance  of  the  subject  justifies,  but  a  few  of  these  whimsies  have  been  of  such 
exceptional  grotesqueness  as  to  deserve  passing  notice.     One  of  these    was  the 
socalled  Bloomer  style  or  "reform"  of  female  attire  which  began  to  attract  atten- 
tion about  the  year  1851.     On  July  4  of  that  year  thirtyone  young  ladies  dressed 
in  the  abbreviated  skirts  prescribed  by  the  reform  marched  in  procession  at  Battle 
Creek,   Michigan.     During  the  same  month    and   year   the   presence    of  several 
"Bloomers"  was  noticed  on  the  streets  of  Columbus.     The  merits  and  demerits  of 
the  style  boeamc  a  subject  of  animated  discussion  in  the  newspapers,  one  zealous 
a'ivocato,  evidently  a  wearer  of  trowsers,  making  this  captivating  presentation  of 
the  affirmative  side  of  the  case  : 


Social  and  Personal.  735 

We  have  heard  many  complaints  of  the  ladies  of  the  Capital  City  for  their  backwardness 
in  adopting  this  new  and  decided  improvement  in  dress ;  but  their  hesitation  is  over,  their 
false  delicacy  overcome.  Tlie  new  and  graceful  garb  has  appeared  upon  the  fair  form  of  one 
of  our  most  distinguished  and  most  intellectual  ladies ;  one  whose  natural  gifts  and  literary 
attainments  have  given  her  a  title  to  respect  and  esteem.  .  .  .  The  upper  dress  and  petticoats 
[of  the  lady  just  referred  to]  were  of  the  same  material,  we  cannot  say  exactly  what,  but  some 
rich,  lustrous  fabric  of  a  dark  and  sober  shade  of  green.  The  bodice  was  plain,  trimmed  with 
buttons,  a  la  Jenny  Lind,  the  pantaloons  were  full  and  flowing  and  fastened  at  the  ankle  with 
bands  of  velvet.  The  sleeves  were  loose  and  graceful.  ...  On  the  whole  we  cannot  for  the 
life  of  us  imagine  what  immodesty  the  most  fastioious  can  possibly  see  in  a  dress  which 
appeared  to  us  so  simple  and  so  beautiful. 

On  the  other  hand  the  opponents  of  the  reform  criticised  the  new  costume  as 
"  inconvenient,  undignified,"  and  not  consistent  with  the  "  modest  apparel  enjoin- 
ed by  tlie  Aposlles."  A  newspaper  chronicler  of  current  events  in  the  summer  of 
1851  remarks :  "  We  saw  several  samples  of  the  Bloomer  costume  in  our  streets 
yesterday  afternoon  and  evening,  some  of  which  were  decidedly  elegant  and  all 
very  neat."  This  writer  further  observes  that  ^*Home  ladies  are  trying  to  ease 
their  consciences  in  this  matter  of  duty  by  just  shortening  their  dresses  ^vo  or  six 
inches,"  but  this  abbreviation  he  thinks  hardly  comes  up  to  the  demands  of  the 
times.  Mrs.  Bloomer,  the  inventor  of  the  costume,  is  said  to  have  dwelt  for  some 
time  at  Mount  Vernon  and  to  have  there  edited  a  paper  called  The  Lily^  devoted 
to  her  reform.  Persons  who  were  acquainted  with  her  declared  that  ^he  was,  in 
every  respect,  a  most  estimable  lady.  Her  ideas  of  dress  seem  to  have  never 
made  much  headway  in  Columbus,  although  she  male  some  zealous  proselytes. 
Occasional  **  Bloomers"  were  seen  in  the  city  as  late  as  1859. 

Among  the  striking  articles  of  male  attire  worn  at  different  periods 
were  the  queues,  kneebreeches  and  buckles,  and  ruffled  shirts,  of  which  the 
Virginians  and  Kentuckians,  especially  among  the  earlier,  wealthier  and  more 
dignified  citizens  were  fond.  A  blue  dres.scoat  with  brass  buttons  completed  the 
outfit,  and  is  said  to  have  been  highly  becoming,  particularly  to  a  man  of  Lyne 
Starling's  splendid  physique  and  stately  manners.  In  the  progress  of  events  the 
queues  and  kneebreeches  were  abandoned,  and  the  shirtruffles  were  reduced  to 
lower  terms,  but  the  blue  coat  with  its  brass  buttons  lingered  into  the  forties  and 
even  fifties.  It  has  perhaps  never  been  improved  upon  as  a  keynote  in  the  har- 
mony of  apparel  for  gentlemen  of  befitting  ago,  manners  and  complexion. 

Along  in  the  fifties  woolen  shawls  came  into  vogue  as  substitutes  for  over- 
coats, particularly  those  of  young  men,  apropos  of  which  fashion  the  following 
editorial  announcement  appeared  in  the  Ohio  Statesman:  "A  few  dozen  bonnets 
and  petticoats  for  young  men's  wear,  to  correspond  with  the  shawls  worn  by  them, 
are  on  the  way  to  this  city  from  the  East."  But  in  spite  of  such  ridicule  shawls 
continued  to  hold  their  place  in  male  attire  until  about  the  time  when  tliey  began 
to  bo  exchanged  for  United  States  blankets  in  the  stirring  months  of  1861. 

In  1855,  great  hooped  skirts  wore  among  the  contrivances  adopted  by  the 
fair  sex  for  keeping  men  at  a  distance.  They  wore  not  always  effectual  in  this 
respect)  albeit  fashionable,  and  well  adapted  to  magnify  the  territorial  importance, 
if  not  the  charms,  of  their  wearers.     Af\er  having  waxed  enormously,  the  hoop* 


736  History  op  the  Citit  of  Columbus. 

skirt  gradually  waned,  until  the  opposite  extreme  was  reached  and  the  geometri- 
cal relations  of  the  sexes  again  became  normal. 

When  the  rappings  and  other  unique  performances  of  alleged  spirits  set  the 
whole  country  agog  about  fifty  years  ago,  the  capital  of  Ohio,  like  all  other  towns 
of  any  pretensions,  had  its  share  of  this  new  and  novel  sensation.  The  knockings 
were  first  heard  in  an  humble  dwelling  in  the  village  of  Hydeville,  Waj'ne  County, 
New  York,  in  the  year  1847.  The  tenant  of  the  house,  Michael  Weekman,  was  so 
annoyed  by  these  noises,  that  he  quitted  the  premises,  and  was  succeeded  in  the 
occupation  of  them  by  John  D.  Fox,  whose  two  daughters,  Kate  and  Margaret, 
aged  nine  and  twelve,  respectively,  by  a  curious  chain  of  circumstances  came  into 
communication  with  the  source  of  the  sounds  heard.  By  this  moans,  it  is  said,  the 
body  of  a  murdered  man  was  found  buried  in  the  cellar.  These  revelations  soon 
became  known  throughout  the  country,  aud  awakened  intense  interest.  Thestrange 
phenomena  also  spread,  and  were  reproduced  at  pleasure,  in  multiplied  forms,  by  the 
socalled  spiritual  mediums.  With  the  history  of  this  marvelous  episode  we  are 
concerned  only  as  it  touches  the  current  of  social  events  in  Columbus. 

The  first  pronounced  phases  of  spiritualistic  excitement  seem  to  have  been 
manifested  in  Ohio  in  1851.  In  September  of  that  year  announcement  was  made 
that  the  Misses  Pox,  the  original  mediums  of  Hydeville,  New  York,  had  arrived  in 
Columbus  and  might  be  found  at  a  private  residence  on  Third  Street,  north  of 
Broad.  Their  "  sittings"  for  spiritual  communication  were  three  per  day,  price  of 
"admission  to  the  circles"  one  dollar.  How  numerously  attended  the  sittings 
were  we  are  not  informed,  but  the  Misses  Fox  doubtless  profited  largely  from  the 
awakened  state  of  public  curiosity  as  to  their  singular  gifts.  Spiritualist  lectures, 
meetings  and  seances  were  common  in  the  city  during  the  earlier  fifties.  Various 
clairvoyants  also  made  their  appearance,  among  them  the  socalled  wonderful  child 
Tennessee  [orTennie  C]  Clafliii,  afterwards  known  as  a  companion  adventuress 
to  Mrs.  Victoria  C.  Woodhull,  of  political  and  other  notoriety.  In  October,  1854, 
these  statements  appeared  in  the  city  news  columns  of  the  Ohio  Statesman: 

The  little  knot  of  spirit  rappers  still  continue  their  orgies  near  Peters's  Run,  in  the  south 
end  of  town.  The  performances  on  Sunday  commence  at  church  time,  both  morning  and 
afternoon.     At  night,  by  way  of  variety  they  are  held  in  a  dark  room  occasionally. 

In  May,  1857,  meetings  of  the  believers  in  what  was  then  known  as  spiritualism 
were  held  on  several  successive  evenings  in  a  hall  at  the  corner  of  High  and  Kich 
streets.  To  render  the  spiritual  presence  more  assured  on  these  occasion  the  win- 
dows were  padded,  and  all  manner  of  interior  light  was  strictly  forbidden.  The 
charge  for  admission  was  twentyfive  cents,  and  the  audiences  were  said  to  have 
included  a  good  many  people  ordinarily  possessed  of  good  common  sense.  The 
editor  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal y  whose  curiosity  led  him  to  investigate  the  '*mani- 
festations,"  thus  describes  one  of  the  seances  : 

A  gentleman  was  addressing  the  audience,  and  explaining  a  panoramic  picture  on 
which  were  painted  numerous  figures,  some  of  whom  were  bathing  in  the  ''  River  of  Life  '* 
that  flowed  in  the  foreground  ;  others  were  winged  and  flew  athwart  the  heavens;  others,  with 
golden  crowns  and  coronets  of  jasper  and  precious  stont* s,  were  playing  on  golden  trumpets 
and  reposing  among  the  branches  or  within  the  shadow  of  the  *'  Tree  of  Life."  .  .  .    The 


/ 


J 


'^'4^ 


»•   «•. 


*.     •         •  * 


Social  'and  Personal.  73t 

brethren  and  sisters  opened  tlie  servrces  with  a  hymn  to  the  tune  of  **  Lily  Dale."  It  was 
sung  very  sweetly  and  when  it  was  concluded,  silence  and  thick  darkness  reif^ned  supreme. 
Several  other  hymns  were  sung,  and  yet  there  was  no  manifestation  of  spiritual  presence. 

**  Not  a  drum  was  heard,  nor  a  funeral  note." 

Presently  one  of  the  mediums  was  requested  to  play  on  his  violin,  which  it  appears  he 
had  brought  with  him.  So  he  struck  up  a  march,  then  he  changed  to  a  hornpipe,  and  finally 
struck  up  the  '*  Arkansas  Traveller."  Presently  the  drum  began  to  beat,  the  tambourine  to  be 
played,  and  this  was  kept  up  alternately  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes.  The  playing  and 
drumming  v>ere  done  by  the  sfArit*,  The  tambourine  passed  around  the  circle,  up  over  the 
heads  of  the  audience,  cutting  up  all  manner  of  shines. 

While  these  performances  were  in  full  tide,  the  editor  and  his  companions 
lit  the  candles  they  bad  brought  with  them,  when  lo,  the  whole  affiiir  was  dis- 
closed as  a  complete  and  arrant  humbug!  The  "  noise  and  confusion  "  which  fol- 
lowed were  extraordinarj'.  No  further  spiritualist  seances  seem  to  have  elicited 
popular  interest  in  Columbus. 

Equestrianism  bei^an  to  be  popular  as  a  social  recreation  early  in  the  fifties, 
and  from  that  time  on  we  often  hoar  of  merry  parties  of  cavaliers  and  their  fair 
companions  dashing  through  the  streets  and  along  the  suburban  thoroughfares. 
Cavalcades  of  twenty  and  even  fifty  couples,  Pome  going  to  the  country  and 
others  coming  from  it  to  the  city,  are  mentioned. 

May  parties,  particularly  for  children,  were  common  in  the  forties  and  fifties. 
If  the  weather  was  inclement,  as  often  happened,  they  were  held  indoors,  some- 
times  at  one  of  the  hotels.  The  May  festivals  of  the  schools  ordinarily  took  place 
at  Stewart's  Grove,  south  of  the  city. 

The  inauguration  soirees  and  balls  of  the  early  fifties  were  notable.  In  April, 
1858,  a  "legislative  festival"  was  given  by  Mr.  and  Mrs,  Kelsey,  the  host  and 
hostess  of  the  American  House.  In  1854  an  inauguration  ball  in  honor  of 
Governor  Medill  took  place  at  the  Neil  House.  The  installation  of  the  State 
Executive  was  thereafter  usually  celebrated  by  such  festivities  until  the  outbreak 
of  the  civil  war,  since  which  inauguration  balls  and  parties  have  been  occasional. 
On  a  few  rare -occasions  the  oflScers  of  State  and  members  of  the  General  Assembly 
have  been  entertained,  as  a  body,  at  private  residences;  much  more  frequently 
these  public  functionaries  have  been  the  guests  of  the  City,  or  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  since  there  has  been  a  Board  of  Trade.  Such  entertainments,  however, 
including  the  official  levees  of  the  Governor  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  per- 
formed any  very  important  part  in  the  properly-called  social  life  of  the  city. 

White  Sulphur  Springs,  in  Delaware  County,  was  a  favorite  pleasure  resort 
of  Columbus  people  daring  the  later  fifties  and  earlier  sixties,  as  the  springs 
hotel  —  now  a  part  of  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University  —  at  the  town  of  Delaware 
had  been  at  an  earlier  date.  In  1869  the  grounds  at  White  Sulphur  were  pur- 
chased by  the  State  for  an  industrial  home  for  girls. 

Among  the  more  unique  social  devices  of  the  later  period  have  been  such  as 
were  descriptively  termed  necktie,  leapyear,  surprise  and  ghost  parties,  gentlemen's 
receptions  (by  ladies),  Dickens  parties,  cooking  clubs,  dairymaids'  festivals,  pound 
socials,  trades  carnivals  and  many  others  mostly  designed  for  charitable  purposes, 

47 


738  History  op  the  Cirr  ,op  Columbus. 

and  not  of  a  purely  social  character.  The  bttlls  and  parties  of  militHry  and  fire 
companies,  secret  xocieliee  and  other  like  orffanizations,  togotlier  with  thun-li 
fairs  and  bazaars,  have  been  very  numerous,  but  for  the  most  part  have  had  a 
money  object.  The  part  which  music  has  performed  tn  the  social  lifo  of  thucity 
will  be  elsewhere  treated. 

Perhaps  the  most  notable  event  thus  far,  in  the  matrimoni&l  annals  of 
Columbus  society,  has  been  the  marriage  of- the  Prince  de  Tiynftp,  of  C-ferinaiiy,  to 
Miss  May  Parsons,  daughter  of  Hon.  George  M.  I'liraon.s,  whieh  took  phice  at 
Trinity  Church,  May  16,  1871.  The  Prinee  du  f.ynar  arrived  in  Cdumbus  some 
days  prior  to  the  wedding,  and  attended  a  peace  celebration  in  honor  of  the  eluso 
of  the  Fran  CO- Prussian  war,  then  being  held  in  the  soutliern  purt  ofthe  eity.  The 
marriage  ceremony  was  attended  by  attaches  of  the  imperial  Grerman  Legation  in 
Washington,  and  by  various  distinguished  persons.  It  was  celebrated  by  the 
Right  Reverend  Bishop  Mcllvainc. 

A  great  many  personal  events  incidental  to  ibe  history  of  the  city  have  come 
to  the  knowledge  ofthe  writer  in  the  course  of  his  studies  for  this  work.  A  largo 
number  of  these  are  properly  assignable  to  other  chapters,  and  will  there  be 
treated.  Others  not  so  assignable  may  be  here  mentioned.  We  begin  with  Mr. 
John  M.  Kerr,  who  is  more  directly  connected  with  the  origin  of  Columbus  than 
perhaps  any  other  person  now  living.  A  son  of  John  Kerr,  one  of  the  original 
proprietors  of  the  city,  his  recollection,  which  is  yet  clear,  goes  back  to  a,  very 
early  period  and  has  been  frequently  drawn  upon  in  the  course  of  this  work. 
Colonel  Abram  I.  McDowell  once  humorously  styled  Mr.  Kerr  the  "  Dauphin  of 
Columbus."  Uauphin  he  really  was,  in  one  sense,  for  ho  fell  heir  to  a  large  amount 
of  Columbus  territory.  A  sketch  of  his  romantic  career  will  bo  found  in  cum- 
Dcction  with  one  of  the  earlier  chapters  of  Volume  Two. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  and  useful  citizenti  of  Columbus  during  the  earlier 
part  of  its  intermediate  period  was  Joseph  Ridgway,  Senior.  Mr.  Ridgwaj-  was  a 
Quaker  and  a  bachelor,  and  was  popularly  known  as  "  the  plowmaker,"  one  of  the 
principal  products  of  his  Columbus  foundry,  erected  in  1822,  being  plows  of  the 
Jethro  Wood  patent,  which  ho  sold  to  the  farmers  for  fifty  miles  roundabout  on 
generous  terms  of  credit.  His  plowmaking  industry  was  a  great  benefit  to  the 
young  town  of  Columbus,  and  brought  him  an  extensive  and  furreaching  patron- 
age. In  early  life  be  failed  in  business  in  Now  York  and  beclouded  himself  with 
what  then  seemed  a  hopeless  debt  of  ten  thousand  dollars  ;  but  a  few  years  before 
his  death  he  returned  to  the  East,  hunted  up  tif  creilitors,  or  their  heirs,  and  paid 
thorn  every  cent,  with  interest.  Krom  1837  to  1843,  he  represented  the  Columbus 
District  in  Congress,  where  he  acquired  the  friendship  and  high  respect  of  Horace 
Greeley.  He  died  at  his  residence  on  East  Broad  Street,  January  31,  1861,  aged 
soventyseven.  His  nephew  and  coadjutor,  Joseph  Ridgway,  Junior,  was  also  an 
able  man,  niid  represented  Franklin  County  at  dilfBrcnt  times  in  the  General 
Assembly. 

Concerning  William  Lusk,  the  eccentricalDianac-makor  of  early  times,  Martin's 
History  contains  this  paragraph ; 


J 


Social  and  Personal.  739 

In  1817  he  published  bis  first  almanac  at  Ck)lambu8,  to  which  was  added  a  register  of 
public  officers,  etc.,  of  the  State  by  counties,  making  a  pamphlet  of  some  sixty  or  seventy 
pages,  and  entitled  it  the  Ohio  Register  and  Western  Calendar,  for  which  he  obtained  a  copy- 
right. The  Register  part  was  continued  five  or  six  years,  when  it  was  dropped,  but  the 
Almanac  was  published  annually  until  about  the  year  1852  or  1853.  Mr.  Lusk  died  at  Day- 
ton about  the  year  1854  or  1855. 

Lusk  was  a  teacher,  and  conducted  an  academy  in  Pranklinton. 

General  Joseph  Foos  is  described  as  a  man  of  stalwart  physique,  resembling 
the  late  David  Taylor,  Senior,  in  personal  appearance.  Although  he  hud  not  the 
advantages  of  education  possessed  by  some  of  his  compeers  among  the  founders  of 
Columbus,  he  was  a  man  of  strong  intellect  and  decided  originality.  The  late  W. 
S.  SuUivant  was  fond  of  telling  the  following  story  of  this  hearty  old  pioneer: 

When  General  Harrison  first  revisited  Pranklinton  after  the  War  of  1812,  a 
grand  reception  was  given  him.  The  militia  paraded  in  large  numbers,  and  their 
former  commander,  General  Joseph  Poos,  was  appointed  to  deliver  an  address. 
Poos  congratulated  Harrison  upon  his  return  to  the  scenes  of  his  military  labors, 
and  congratulated  the  militia  on  being  permitted  to  see  and  meet  once  more  their 
leader  in  the  war.  Then  he  spoke  of  his  own  efforts  in  the  struggle,  and  described 
the  material  out  of  which  he  had  been  obliged  to  organize  his  forces.  Here  the 
brave  General  began  to  lose  the  context  of  his  prepared  remarks,  and  expressed 
himself  in  a  manner  altogether  different  from  what  he  intended.  When  he  first 
took  charge  of  these  men,  he  said,  they  were  a  parcel  of  vagabonds,  scamps  and 
pests  to  society;  but  he  had  disciplined  them,  held  camp  meetings  with  them, 
trained  them.  Here  the  speaker  stammered  and  became  confused,  but  quickly 
extricated  himself  by  turning  and  remarking  to  General  Harrison  :  **  And  I'll  be 
d- d.  General,  if  they  are  not  just  as  bad  a  set  now  as  they  were  then  !  " 

Colonel  John  McElvain,  prominent  in  the  earlier  history  of  Columbus,  per- 
formed a  very  gallant  part  in  the  defense  of  Port  Erie  against  an  attack  of  the 
British  on  August  15,  1814.  He  was  twice  a  Presidential  Elector  on  the  Jackson 
ticket,  and  in  the  spring  of  1830  was  appointed  United  States  Indian  Agent,  to 
reside  at  Piqua.  At  the  time  he  received  this  appointment  he  was  serving  as 
Sheriff  of  Pranklin  County. 

A  life  which  covered  a  span  of  over  seventy  years  in  the  history  of  the 
capital  was  that  of  William  Armstrong,  who  settled  in  Columbus  in  1820,  and  died 
there  April  10,  1891,  in  his  ninetyfourth  year.  A  tailor  by  trade,  he  became  a 
merchant  tailor,  and  married  a  niece  of  Doctor  Lincoln  Goodale  who  engaged  his 
services  as  manager  of  his  great  fortune.*  He  was  appointed,  with  A.  B.  Buttles, 
an  executor  of  Doctor  Goodale's  estate,  and  with  him  the  Hon.  John  W.  Andrews 
was  named  as  advisory  executor.  Both  were  appointed  to  serve  without  bond.  A 
few  months  before  his  death  ho  said  to  the  writer :  "  Everyone  who  lived  here 
when  I  came  is  now  dead."  He  was  one  of  four  persons  who  organized  the  first 
Methodist  society  in  Columbus. 

David  W.  Deshler,  who  died  in  Columbus  during  the  latter  part  of  July,  1869, 
was  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  oldest  banker  in  Ohio.  The  banking  business 
first  engaged  his  attention  in  the  early  thirties,  and  such  was  his  success,  and  the 


740 


llisToRV  OP  THK  City  ok  CoLiiMBrs. 


confidencH'  which  he  i^njoycMl,  that  he  was  at  one  time  president  of  three  bankin< 
institiitioiiH.  An  account  of  Ids  early  Htrug^les  in  establishing  a  home  in  Colnni 
bus  has  been  given  in  the  letters  of  his  excellent  wife,  quoted  in  another  cliaptor. 

J  Ion.  John  W.  Campbell,  Judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court  for  tlu 
J)istrict  of  Ohio,  died  at  Delaware,  Septembi^r  24,  1K33,  of  bilious  fover.  ITe  was  a 
\uiiu  of  pronounced  literary  gilts  and  high  professional  standing. 

Jarvis  IMke,  who  has  been  previously  mentioned  in  various  hi»torii-:iI  connec- 
tions, died  in  Madison  Township,  September  12,  1S54,  aged  sixt3-.  The  O/nn 
Mnnifor  of  Januarj*  28,  1S3<»,  thus  referred  to  him:  "This  gentleman  held  the 
oflRce  of  Associate  Judge  in  Oneida  County  [New  York],  and  was  made  a  member 
of  the  bench  of  Common  IMeas  along  with  Daniel  D.  Tom]>kins  in  the  commence- 
ment of  that  patriot's  judicial  career." 

In  January,  1840,  the  Long  Island  Sound  steamer  Lexington,  Captain  Cbilds. 
took  fire  while  on  her  passage  from  New  York  to  Stonington,  and  was  destroye^I. 
Nearly  every  soul  on  board  perished.  Among  the  lost  was  George  Swan,  a  youth 
of  nineteen,  son  of  Jlon.  Gustavus  Swan,  of  Columbus.  Young  Swan  was  highly 
esteemed,  and  his  dreadful  death  caused  very  deep  and  general  sorrow  in  the 
community. 

John  S.  Harey,  the  celebrated  horsetamer,  was  so  well  known  in  Columbus, 
and  in  some  resjKJcts  so  nearly  identified  with  its  history,  as  to  deserve  mention 
here.  He  was  a  native  of  Groveport,  Franklin  County,  and  of  German  descent. 
His  conquest  of  the  celebrated  horse  "Cruiser,"  in  England,  attracted  attention  all 
over  Europe  and  was  followed  by  many  similar  achievements  in  European 
countries.  Before  his  death  the  fame  of  Mr.  Earey  extended  to  every  part  of  the 
civilized  world.  The  key  to  his  system  was  simply  that  kindness  which  appeals 
to  *•  the  intellect  and  affections  of  the  horse,"  and  wins  bis  confidence.  Duringone 
of  his  exhibitions  at  Niblo's  Garden,  New  York,  Mr.  Rarey  said  : 

I  have  never  had  an  accident  since  I  became  perfect  in  my  system,  and  I  don't  fear  any. 
I  have  been  among  horses  since  I  was  twelve  years  old,  and  at  first  had  a  ^I'^^t  many 
accidents.  Every  limb  has  been  broken  eicept  ray  right  arm,  but  being  young  when  these 
accidents  happened,  the  bones  fortunately  healed  strongly.  Now  I  know  a  horse^s  every 
thought,  and  can  break  any  animal,  of  whatever  age  and  habits,  in  the  world.  I  can  make 
any  animal  sensible  of  my  power—  make  him  gentle  and  even  affectionate. 

In  August,  18G2,  Mr.  Harey  gave  an  exhibition  of  his  system  at  The  Atheueum, 
in  Columbus.     A  contemporary  report  says  of  it: 

Mr.  Karey,  who  is  a  sound  patriot,  at  the  suggestion  of  certain  estimable  ladies  who  are 
steadily  toiling  for  the  good  of  our  soldit^rs,  voluntarily  tendered  his  services  for  an  evening 
exhibition  as  a  benefit  for  the  funds  of  the  Soldiers'  Aid  Society.  His  offer  was  gladly 
accepted  and  a  splendid  benefit  it  was.  The  Atheneum  was  literally  packed  with  one  of  the 
uioBt  intelligent  and  genteel  audiences  that  ever  assembled  in  our  city,  and  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  most  of  the  tickets  were  at  one  dollar  each,  the  substantialness  of  the  benefit 
may  be  inferred. 

A   considerble  proportion  of  the  stage  was  arranged  for  the  ex\ubition  by  being  well 
"fenced  in"  and  the  floor  thicky  covered  with  ground  '*Un"  an^  c^ean  straw ,    Three  speci- 
mens were  exhibited,  and  severally  practiced  upon  by  Mr.  Rare^ ^  viz;    A  spirited  but  we 
broken  horse,  a  spirited  but  unbroken  colt,  and  a  spirited  V^viX  apoSXe^  and  ^cioub  tu 


Social  and  Personal.  741 

With  the  first  Mr.  Rarey  dealt  only  to  explain  the  modes  and  reasons  for  his  system  of  training. 
This  explanation  was  in  the  highest  degree  gratifying  to  his  immense  aadience',  the  animal 
itself,  though  a  stranger  to  Mr.  Rarey,  presenting  no  special  difficulties  to  his  manipulation. 
The  colt,  a  hamlsoine  three-year-old,  as  we  would  judge,  the  property  of  Mr.  Taylor  of  this 
city,  was  next  presented.  It  had  never  been  mounted  nor  handled  except  in  halter.  It  had 
that  afternoon  been  brought  in  from  the  field  by  following  another  horse.  At  first  it  was 
timid  ;  shrank  from  Mr.  Rarey'a  touch  ;  fled  from  his  approach.  After  a  few  minutes  of  coy- 
ness and  coquetting,  the  colt  permitte<l  his  approach.  Soon  its  nose  was  fawningly  pushed 
under  his  arm  and  over  his  shoulder.  It  directly  submitted  to  all  his  gentle  caresses  and 
moved  as  he  directed.  The  straps  were  applied  and  its  terror  was  great.  It  struggled 
heroically  but  it  was  utterly  helpless  in  his  hands.  Soon  it  lay  down  flat,  prone,  subdued. 
In  this  position  Mr.  Uarey  mounted  it,  played  with  it,  petted  it,  sprang  over  it,  leaped  over 
its  head,  laid  down  upon  it,  an<l  within  his  legs,  all  without  a  start  or  a  flinch.  The  colt  ti^is 
hrokfu:  its  will  was  made  subject  to  one  whom  it  had  accepted  as  its  master.  It  was  per- 
mitted to  rihe.  Then  Mr.  Rarey  again  mounted,  dismounted  and  remounted  many  times  and 
in  many  ways,  to  all  which  the  colt  submitted  as  gently  and  quietly  as  would  a  plough  horse. 
The  experimei»t  was  a  perfect  success. 

At  this  point  in  the  exhibition  Mr.  Rarey  presented  his  specimens  of  the  "Shetland 
stock,''  which  he  has  on  his  farm  at  Groveport.  One  was  a  foal ;  the  dam  and  sire  he  brought 
from  the  Shetland  Isles,  on  his  return  from  Europe.  The  foal  was  twent}'  inches  high  and 
weighs  twentyone  pounds.  As  it  was  brought  forward  in  the  arms  of  a  boy,  it  looked  more 
like  a  shaggy  d^^'g  than  anything  of  the  gfnus  equinus^  though  it  afterward  cantered  about  the 
stage  with  much  activity  and  grace. 

Next  came  the  spirited  but  spoiled  and  vicious  brute  with  which  Mr.  Rarey  was  to  try 
conclusions.  It  was  a  compact,  powerfully- built  horse,  and  in  good  condition,  but  dangerous 
and  vicious  beyond  all  control.  Before  presenting  him,  Mr.  Rarey  read  to  the  audience  the 
following  letter  from  the  owner  of  the  horse,  wherein  he  gives  the  general  character  of  the 
animal,  and  expressing  a  very  reasonable  apprehension  for  Mr.  Rarey's  safety  in  handling 
him. 

Columbus,  August  29.  1862. 
JouN  S.  Rarey,  Esq  , 

Dear  Sir : — The  horse  I  send  you  is  a  horse  sent  here  to  be  sold  for  an  army  horse ;  he 
is  full  of  spirit  and  powerj  and  if  he  could  be  handled  perfectly,  would  be  a  valuable  animal. 
I  sold  him  once  to  a  gentleman  who  wanted  a  boat  horse,  and  did  not  care  much  how  vicious 
he  was  so  he  was  tough,  but  the  gentleman  found  the  horse  too  tough  a  customer  for  him 
and  sent  him  back  to  me.  I  have  since  tried  to  get  him  shod,  thinking  I  would  put  him  in 
for  army  purposes.  I  have  tried  several  of  the  best  smiths  in  the  town,  and  none  could  do 
anything  with  him  ;  one  of  them  came  near  getting  his  head  kicked  ofiT.  He  is  one  of  the  worst 
kickers  I  have  ever  seen,  and  like  a  mule  will  kick  you  when  standing  by  his  shoulder.  If  it 
was  not  for  the  reputation  you  have  for  handling  horses,  I  would  be  almost  sorry  to  see  you 
undertake  this  one, /or  he  is  a  very  dangerous  animal,  I  can  only  caution  you  to  be  very  careful 
of  his  heels.  I  should  be  sorry  to  see  you  get  hurt  at  your  last  exhibition  at  home,  after 
having  tamed  wild  horses  over  nearly  all  the  world. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

Georgu  W.  Shapley. 

This  horse  was  a  total  stranger  to  Mr.  Rarey  and  the  first  demonstration  that  attended 
their  acquaintance  entirely  justified  the  amiability  of  character  that  Mr.  Shapley's  letter  had 
so  honorably  certified  to,  and  which  was  manifest  by  the  gleam  of  a  pair  of  glittering  shoes 
on  the  bottom  of  his  hind  feet,  with  an  unequivocal  aim  at  Mr.  Rarey*s  personnel.  These 
exhibitions  of  the  brute's  tender  mercies  towards  Mr.  Rarey  were  rapidly  repeated,  exciting 
the  audience  as  with  a  touch  of  the  tragic.     But  the  calm  and  steady  manner  of  Mr.  Rarey  as 


742  HlBTOET   OP   THE   CiTY   OF   COLUHBCS. 

he  watched  thia  equine  perfonnance  of  the  "  Highland  fling"  speedily  diepelled  all  appre- 
bensione  for  his  safety. 

After  a  tew  minutes  spent  in  malting  acquaintance,  Mr.  Rarey  commenced  munipnla- 
tione  upon  the  animal's  face,  neck,  back  and  sides.  Thiswassoon  followed  by  agiMxlnatured, 
hearty,  familiar  slap,  at  which  the  animal  atflrst  "  flung  out"  like  a  triphammer.  This  was 
immediately  followed  by  another  slap,  the  very  audacity  of  which  seemed  to  amaze  the  hrut«i 
and  he  began  to  look  about  with  a  kind  of  astonishment  at  Bndinf;  himself  in  the  presence  of 
one  who  was  not  afraid  and  who  was  so  evidently  bent  on  familiarily.  Mr.  Rarey  tlien 
renewed  his  gentle  caresses  upon  the  horse's  neck,  eare,  face  ami  forelegB,  and  showed 
an  old  shoe  that  had  become  deeply  indented  in  the  foot  by  the  overgrowth  of  the  hoof  anA 
which  no  blacksmith  had  been  found  able  (o  remove  on  account  of  the  brute's  dangerous 
violence. 

Hr.  Rarey  now  applied  the  straps,  which  confined  his  foreleg  in  a.  fixed  position.  After 
terrible  BtniKgles  to  retain  his  upright  posture  the  horse  was  com [lel led  to  siiccnmband  came 
down  upon  hiseide  During  these  eRbrts  Mr.  Rarey  had  done  little  more  tlian  quietly  per- 
mit the  powerful  animal  to  exhaust  himself  by  his  own  exertions.  When  prostrate  and 
helpless  he  nevertheless  continued  to  signify  his  belligerent  propensities  by  sundry  kicks 
that  were  far  more  emphatic  than  agreeable.  In  a  few  minates,  however,  he  ha<)  to  "  subside," 
and  soon  Mr.  Rarey  was  seen  playing  familiarly  with  his  rebellious  heels.  The  Secesh  ele- 
ment of  the  vicious  brute  was  fully  subjugated  and  he  surrended  at  discretion.  After  toying 
and  playing  with  him  awhile,  Mr.  Rarey  loosed  him  and  let  him  go,  an<l  almost  the  first  salute 
was  a  renewal  of  his  kicking  vice.  Out  came  straps,  and  down  went  the  invHcrale  rebel 
again.  After  some  Further  manipulation  the  ugly  customer  gave  it  up  com|<let<'ly  and  Mr. 
Rarey  remained  hia  undisputed  master.    His  complete  success  elicited  great  a[iplaufl(^. 

Of  the  celebrated  horse  "  Cruiser,"  tho  taming  of  whi(;h  wiw  Mr.  Raroy's  most 
signal  acbiovemeDt,  wo  have  the  following  account: 

When  Mr.  Rarey  went  to  England,  his  system  was  thoroughly  pnt  to  the  test  by  contact 
with  Cruiser,  an  animal  that  was  so  vicions  that  he  was  closely  and  continually  confined  in 
a  stable  in  such  a  way  that  he  conldby  nopossibility  reach  anybody  either  with  his  mouth  or 
haels.  His  feed  was  delivered  to  him  through  a  sort  of  funnel,  and  be  seems  to  have  been 
kept  solely  as  an  extremely  wicked  curiosity.  His  splendid  muscle  and  activity  gave  him 
the  widest  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  incorrigibility,  and  he  is  said  to  have  kicked  si^  high 
as  to  strike  a  board  floor  fourteen  feet  above  the  floor  on  which  he  stood.  Ontinarity  il  was 
only  the  work  of  a  few  minutes  tor  Mr.  Rarey  to  tame  a  horse,  but  it  to<ik  him  three  hours  to 
subdue  the  terriflc  Cruiser. 

After  putting  Cruiser  under  control  Hr.  Rarey  purchased  him  and  brought  him  to  this 
country,  and  placed  him  on  the  Rarey  farm  at  Groveport,  in  this  county,  where  he  became 
popular  among  breeders.  He  became  so  gentle  that  the  people  about  the  Rarey  farm  could 
fondle  him  as  they  would  a  kitten,  and  his  colts  were  not«d  for  their  kind  disjiosition.  Strang- 
ers, however,  were  not  permitted  to  have  much  to  do  with  him.  This  was  to  prevent  te-acing 
and  the  revival  of  the  old  propensities 

Cruiser  died  on  the  Rarey  farm  on  Wednesday  last  [Ofiib  .Staff  Jotimnl,  July  10,  1875].  in 
the  twentythird  year  of  his  age.  His  teeth  were  worn  bo  much  that  he  could  not  eat  hay, 
and  provender  had  to  be  specially  prepared  for  him.  As  contemplated  by  the  will  of  Mr. 
Rarey,  he  received  the  kindest  care  in  his  old  age,  and  it  was  only  recently  that  he  fell  into 
a  decline. 

Mr,  Rarey  died  at  Cleveland  In  October,  1866,  and  was  buried  at  Groveport. 
His  Mineral  was  numerously  attended  from  Colnnibns. 

Hon.  Alfred  Kelley,  to  whom  occasional  reference  has  bocn  made,  died  at  bis 
residence  on  East  Broad  Street,  December  2,  1859,  at  the  age  of  seventy.     The 


Social  and  Personal.  743 

principal  events  of  bis  life  pertaining  to  the  history  of  Columbus  are  mentioned 
in  their  proper  historical  connection. 

Of  Eobert  Napper,  a  colored  citizen  of  Columbus,  wo  have  the  following  curi- 
ous account:  He  was  born  a  slave,  the  property  of  Mr.  Davis,  residing  near 
Staunton,  Virginia.  At  the  age  of  thirtyfour,  Napper,  then  married  and  the 
father  of  five  children,  proposed  to  John  Brandeburg,  a  merchant  of  Staunton,  to 
buy  bim  and  hire  bim  out,  a  certain  proportion  of  his  wages  to  be  applied  to  his 
purchase.  Brandeburg  bought  bim  for  one  thousand  dollars,  and  hired  him  out 
for  four  years,  during  which  time  he  earned  his  freedom  and  received  his  emanci- 
pation papers.  He  then  came  to  Columbus,  and  after  the  lapse  of  one  year  was 
able  to  and  did  buy  his  wife  for  $650.  In  July,  1860,  he  bought  his  youngest  boy, 
Cornelius,  aged  eleven,  who  was  forwarded  to  him  by  the  Adams  Express.  From 
his  master  Cornelius  received,  on  July  4,  a  gift  of  twentyfive  cents,  of  which  he 
spent  en  route \q\\  cents;  the  remainder  he  handed  to  his  father  before  he  lefl  the 
express  office,  with  the  request  that  it  bo  applied  to  the  purchase  of  his  little 
brother,  yet  in  slavery.  Napper  hoped  at  that  time  to  purchase  the  remainder  of 
his  family,  comprising  two  girls  aged  fifteen  and  eighteen,  and  a  boy  aged  thirteen. 
He  little  foresaw  the  great  events,  then  near  at  hand,  by  which  human  slavery 
was  about  to  be  extinguished  forever  in  the  American  Union. 

In  1855,  James  Poindexter,  a  prominent  colored  citizen  now  living,  bought 
the  freedom  of  his  motherinlaw,  then  a  slave  at  sixty  years  of  age  in  Christian 
County,  Kentucky.  Mr.  Poindexter  i)aid  for  his  aged  relative  the  sum  of  $375, 
and  brought  her  to  Columbus. 

In  this  connection  mention  may  be  made  of  a  colored  lady  commonly  known 
as  "  Aunt  Lucy,"  who  died  on  East  Cherry  Street  in  May,  1887,  at  the  age  of  one 
hundred  and  two.  Prior  to  the  Civil  War,  Aunt  Lucy  was  a  slave  to  the  Confed- 
erate General  Stonewall  Jackson.  She  was  never  married,  and  died  of  natural 
decay. 

Hanson  Johnson,  a  colored  citizen  who  died  October  15,  1877,  had  been  at 
that  time  a  continuous  resident  of  Columbus  for  fiflyfour  years.  For  thirty  nine 
years  he  kept  a  barber  shop  in  the  basement  of  the  American  House.  He  was  a 
native  of  Petersburg,  Virginia,  came  to  Columbus  in  1823,  was  one  of  the  original 
projectors  and  a  liberal  helper  of  the  Bethel  Church  on  Long  Street,  was  a  gener- 
ous and  zealous  benefactor  of  his  race,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  the  oldest 
colored  Mason  in  Ohio.  Of  the  league  of  colored  Masons  known  as  the"  National 
Compact,"  formed  at  Boston,  he  was  a  prominent  organizer.  His  son,  Solomon 
Johnson,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  of  his  race  to  receive  an  appointment  in  the 
Treasury  Department  at  Washington.  Hanson  Johnson  was  a  man  of  unblemished 
character,  and  died  universally  known  and  respected  in  the  city. 

Another  colored  citizen  wellknown  and  greatly  respected  in  Columbus  was 
David  Jenkins,  who  died  in  1876,  at  Canton,  Mississippi. 

T.  J.  Washington,  a  colored  citizen  for  thirtyfive  years  resident  in  Columbus, 
died  at  Newark,  Ohio,  April  3,  1881.  He  was  noted  for  his  benevolence  and 
amiability,  was  a  member  of  a  numerous  family,  and  was  widely  known  and  highly 
esteemed. 


744  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Colonel  Abram  I.  McDowell,  father  of  General  Irvin  McDowell  of  the  United 
States  Army,  died  at  his  residence  on  Front  Street,  Novenaber  16, 1844.  He  was 
a  descendant  of  an  ancient  Scotch  family  through  Colonel  Samuel  McDowell,  a 
prominent  officer  in  the  War  of  Independence,  who  was  a  native  of  Virginia  and 
after  the  war  settled  in  Kentucky,  near  Lexington.  Abram  I.  McDowell  emigrated 
at  an  early  day  to  Franklinton,  from  whence  he  removed  to  Columbus,  of  which 
city  he  was  at  one  time  Mayor.  For  many  years  he  served  as  clerk  of  the  courts 
sitting  at  Columbus.  In  1817,  he  married  Eliza  Selden,  daughter  of  Colonel  Lord, 
by  which  alliance  he  had  six  children.  His  son.  General  McDowell,  graduated  at 
the  West  Point  Military  Academy,  and  married  Miss  Helen  Borden,  of  Troy, 
New  York. 

Bela  Latham,  who  was  Postmaster  of  Columbus  from  1829  to  1841,  and  other- 
wise prominent,  died  in  April,  1848.  His  funeral  was  largely  attended  by  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  of  which  he  was  an  honored  member,  and  was  very  imposing. 

Isaac  Appleton  Jewett,  whose  letters  have  been  quoted  in  different  parts  of 
this  volume,  was  a  son  of  Doctor  Moses  Jewett,  of  Columbus,  by  his  marriage  with 
a  daughter  of  Samuel  Appleton,  of  Boston.  He  was  made  legatee  of  the.  sum 
of  seventyfive  thousand  dollars  by  provision  of  the  will  of  Mr.  Appleton,  with 
whom  he  was  a  great  favorite,  but  died  before  his  benefactor,  whose  legacy  he 
bequeathed  to  his  halfsister,  Mrs.  Harriet  E.  Ide,  nee  Jewett,  who  was  a  daughter 
of  Doctor  Moses  Jewett  by  a  second  marriage,  and  was  in  no  way  kindred,  in  blood, 
to  Mr.  Appleton.  The  latter,  it  was  thought,  would  under  these  circumstances  so 
change  his  will  as  to  revoke  the  Jewett  legacy,  since  it  conveyed  a  larger  sum  to  a 
stranger  than  to  any  blood  relative,  but  he  refused,  saying,  '^  the  will  must  stand  as 
it  is."  Harriet  B.  Jewett  was  married  in  the  autumn  of  1847  to  Doctor  W.  B.  Ide, 
of  Cincinnati.  Isaac  A.  Jewett  died  in  1853.  His  father,  Doctor  Jewett,  died  at  the 
end  of  August,  1847,  from  injuries  caused  by  a  fall  on  the  stone  stairway  of  the  Col- 
umbus Insurance  Company's  building. 

R.  W.  McCoy,  one  of  the  earliest,  most  honored  and  most  successful  merchants 
of  Columbus,  began  business  in  Franklinton  in  1811,  but  removed  about  the  year 
1816  to  the  capital,  where  ho  continued  in  merchantile  business  until  his  death, 
which  took  place  January  16,  1856.  He  was  a  native  of  Franklin  County,  Penn- 
sylvania. He  was  a  member  of  the  Borough  Council  from  its  beginning  and  was 
President  of  the  City  Council  from  its  first  organization  in  1834  until  he  resigned 
the  position  July  25,  1853.  A  man  of  gentle  temper  and  strict  integrity,  he  was 
universally  esteemed.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  President  of  the  City  Bank 
of  Columbus. 

John  Kerr,  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Columbus,  died  July  20, 1823. 
"  He  was  then,"  says  Martin,  "  a  member  of  the  Council,  Associate  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  President  of  the  Franklin  Bank — an  active  business 
man,  and  highly  respected." 

Hon.  William  T.  Martin,  whose  History  of  Franklin  County  has  been  fre- 
quently quoted  in  the  course  of  this  work,  was  a  native  of  Bedford  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, whence  he  came  to  Columbus  in  1814.  His  public  services,  which  were 
very  efficient  and  creditable,  have  been  elsewhere  set  forth.     His  surviving  chil- 


Social  and  Personal.  745 

dren  were  B.  F.  Martin  Esq.,  now  a  prominent  member  of  the  Columbus  bar,  and 
Mrs.  Matilda  M.  Wright,  wife  of  Smitheon  E.  Wright,  of  Cincinnati.  Judge  Mar- 
tin died  in  February,  1866. 

Mrs.  Sophia  Hayes  nee  Birchard,  mother  of  General  K.  B.  Hayes,  now 
ex-President  of  the  United  States,  died  at  the  residence  of  her  soninlaw,  William 
A.  Piatt,  in  Columbus,  October  30,  1866,  aged  seventy  four.  She  had  resided  in 
Columbus  for  some  time,  but  had  previously  been  a  resident  of  Delaware,  Ohio, 
and  was  a  native  of  Vermont. 

John  Brooks,  who  died  in  February,  1869,  at  the  age  of  eightyfour,  had  been 
in  active  mercantile  life  in  Columbus  for  sixtysix  consecutive  yeai-s.  His  father, 
Morton  Brooks,  was  a  Nova  Scotia  refugee  who  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  British  Crown.  John  Brooks  and  famil}'^  emigrated  to  Ohio  in  the  autumn  of 
1828,  and  after  a  journey  of  fortytwo  days  from  Maine,  via  New  York,  Troy;  Buf- 
falo and  Sandusky,  arrived  in  Columbus,  where  he  established  his  home. 

Doctor  Francis  Hoy  celebrated  his  one  hundredth  birthday  at  his  residence 
on  East  Friend  Street  December  8,  1871.  He  was  born  in  Wiirzburg,  Bavaria, 
December  8,  1771.  The  occasion  of  his  centenary  was  ceremoniously  honored  by 
bis  friends  and  acquaintances. 

Doctor  S.  M.  Smith,  who  came  to  Columbus  during  the  forties,  and  died  there 
November  30,  1874,  was  long  connected  as  Trustee  and  Professor  with  Starling 
Medical  College,  and  held  various  and  useful  relations  with  the  public  benevolent 
institutions  of  the  State.  His  connection  with  the  press  of  the  city  is  elsewhere 
narrated.  He  was  a  personal  friend  of  Governor  Salmon  P.  Chase,  and  was 
appointed  Surgeon -General  of  Ohio  by  Governor  Tod.  His  rare  professional 
accomplishments  were  united  with  uncommonly  amiable  qualities  and  untiring 
activity  in  works  of  charity  and  humanity. 

When  the  steamship  Schiller  was  wrecked  and  totally  lost  on  the  reefs  of  the 
Scilly  Islands  in  the  English  Channel,  May  7,  1875,  Columbus  was  represented 
among  the  victims  of  the  disaster  by  Frederick  Uhlman  and  Mrs.  Pauline 
Schreiner,  the  remains  of  both  of  whom  wore  brought  home  for  interment  during 
the  ensuing  June. 

William  Armstrong,  a  son  of  Jeremiah  Armstrong,  who  kept  the  Lion  Tavern 
of  the  Borough,  died  at  Omaha,  Nebraska,  July  9,  1875.  He  was  well  known  in 
Columbus  where  he  had  resided  for  some  years.  Himself  and  two  of  his  brothers 
were  married  on  the  same  night  to  three  sisters  named  Morrison,  and  on  the  same 
occasion  Peter  Cool  was  married  to  a  fourth  sister  of  the  Morrison  family. 

Michael  L.  Sullivant,  second  son  of  Lucas  Sullivant,  and  a  native  of  Franklin- 
ton,  inherited  a  large  body  of  land  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Columbus,  west  of 
the  city,  and  became  an  extensive  farmer  and  stockgrower.  He  was  an  originator 
and  member  of  an  organization  having  for  its  object  the  improvement  of  Ohio 
stock  by  importations,  and  was  active  in  bringing  about  the  organization  of  the 
Ohio  State  Board  of  Agriculture.  Reaping,  mowing  and  power  threshing 
machines  were  first  introduced  by  him  in  Franklin  County.  In  1H54  he  visited 
Illinois  and  personally  selected  eighty  thousand  acres  of  choice  lands,  which  he 
purchased  at  government  prices.     This  immense  farm,  known  as   Broadlands,  to 


7M  lIlSTOBT  «IP   TUB  CiTV   01*   COLCMBUS. 

uhicli  liu  rcmiivei;  from  Obio,  attraclud  widu  attention.  Owinf;  to  financial  d 
culticH  he  wu»  oMi^-d  to  hcII  lialf  of  tbc  trait,  and  retired  to  the  reniaiDinfj  fc 
thousand  atrvB,  In  which  lie  gave  the  naiiif  of  Bur  Oaks.  In  1872  be  cultivi 
L-ifrlitecn  (hiiu-'iinducruti  of  corn, anil  |iruporlionatL>  areas  of  uut9  and  bay.  Hiec* 
fields  of  li^ia  foverwl  a  breadth  of  twenty  miles.  To  hie  indomitable  and  <:barni 
wife,  nil'  Kanny  \VilU<8,  as  the  "  Lady  of  Broadlaiidx,"  Mr.  William  J.  Flagi;,  a  ] 
of  considerable  rci>utatioii,  dedic:itcd  one  of  liia  finest  effusions.  At  a  later  |>ei 
Mr.  Hullivant  a^riiin  txiamc  liiiaucially  embarrassed,  and  waif  oblij^od  to  sell 
prijporty.     He  die<l  in  Kentucky  in  IS79. 

DucUir  William  Tt-evittga  ciliKen  of  Columbus,  whose  death  otvurrod  Febru 
7,  ISftl,  was  twitv  elected  Secretary  of  State,  was  surgeon  of  the  Second  C 
Infantry  in  the  Mexican  War,  bRid  a  diplomatic  position  in  South  America  ui] 
ProHiilcnt  I'ierce,  and  was  In  other  respectH  conspicuous  in  official  and  polil 
life.  His  cuniiec'tioii  with  the  press  of  tbo  city  receives  jiroper  niciition  ur 
that  head'. 

William  H.  llawkcs  of  Colnmbus  was  tlie  ]>nipriotoruf  extoumvo  nt&i:e  I 
in  Ohio,  KutisuM  and  other  states.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  June  1,  1H88,  he 
one  of  the  weullliiest  citizens  of  the  city.  On  March  (1,  18H2,  ho  conveyed  to 
Trusties  of  the  C'ulunibun  Medical  Collogc  four  lots  in  West  Colunihiis  and  sec 
ties,  valued  at  ten  thousand  doUiirs,  for  the  cstablisliment  of  u  hoHjiital  which  i 
bears  his  name. 

or  the  inultitJdtis  of  distintfuislied  jicrsons  who  have  visited  or  sK>jouruei: 
Columbus  in  llic  lourse  of  its  history  u  gi-eat  many  receive  mention  In  other  ] 
tious  of  this  wiirif,  in  connection  with  the  events  wliich  liroufi;ht  them  to  tlio  c 
Some  others  not  i:ieliided  in  that  category  may  liere  lie  briefly  referred  to. 

Mrs.  Henry  ('lay,  one  of  whose  sons  was  in  school  at  Worthington,  vtijited 
capital  in  August,  ltJ2i;. 

Hon.  JosL'ph  Vance  was  given  a  "wine  jmrty,"  in  honor  of  his  public  servii 
on  bis  return  from  Washington,  in  March,  1^29.  The  festivities  were  held 
Browning's  Hotel.  Among  those  wlio  offered  tousts  were  P.  U.  Olmsted,  Willii 
Neil,  (JusiavuB  Swan,  John  Bailhu.-he.  William  A.  Ciimron,  Raijib  Osboi 
A.  I.  McDowell,  J.  H.  Cooke  and  J.  II.  i'atlerson. 

Tlie  distingmslicd  orator,  Kdward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  visited  t 
Itorougb  in  IW^H. 

In  June,  18:^3,  Daniel  Webster,  then  n,  route  t<>  Cincinnati  and  Kcntuck 
arrived  at  the  Nutional  Hotel,  and  received  tliere  the  attentions  of  many  prom 
neiit  eitir.cns.  During  bis  brief  sojourn  the  following  correspondence  took  piac 
Sir:  C0Lrs[Be8,JuBe  10,  \XA3. 

The  piliKens  iifColiuiibuB  having  will]  [ilcaeure  Iietiril  of  your  nrrivHl  among  tliem,  an 
deeply  impn'S8e<I  irilli  a  sentie  of  your  invftlnalile  inililio  services,  have  ile[mte<i  us  I 
invite  you  t<>  imrlake  willi  tliem  of  h  )>u1)lii^  diniiiT,  nt  eudi  lime  ss  niny  best  »uit  yoi 
convenience.         Vfry  res jiectf ally,  etc., 


Uon.  Daniel  WtbiUr, 


Social  and  Personal.  747 

Columbus,  June  10,  1833. 

Qenilemen  : 

I  have  received  your  letter  inviting  me,  in  behalf  of  the  citizens  of 

Columbus,  to  a  public  dinner.    It  cannot  but  be  cause  of  sincere  tsratitication  to  me  that  the 

citizens  of  Columbus  have  seen,  in  my  public  services,  an^'thing  to  justify  such  a  mark  of 

their  approbation.    I  claim  no  merits  connected   with  the  performance  of  those  services 

beyond  that  of  ever  having  felt  an  anxious  desire  for  the  preservation  of  the  government  of 

the  United  States,  and  for  such  administration  of  its  powers  as  should  be  beneficial  to  every 

part  of  this  widespread  Union*  and  tend  to  unite  by  ties  continually  strengthening,  the 

interests  and  the  affection  of  all  the  people.    I  cordially  thank  those  by  whom  you  are 

deputed  for  their  indulgent  estimate  of  my  efforts  in  public  life ;  and  for  the  kind  manner 

in  which  they  receive  me  on  this  my  first  visit  to  the  State.    But  the  time  I  can  have  the 

pleasure  of  staying  among  them  is  so  short  that  I  must  ask  permission  to  decline  their 

proffered  public  hospitality.    Happy  in  this  opportunity  of  seeing  many  of  them,  and  of 

witnessing  the  prosperity  enjoyed  by  them  all,  I  renew  the  expression  of  my  thanks  for 

their  kind  and  friendly  purpose,  and  tender  them  my  fervent  good  wishes. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  with  much  regard  for  yourselves  personally,  your  obliged  and  obedient 

servant, 

Dan'l  Wkbsteb. 
To  SirSf  etc. 

In  January,  1837,  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  of  Steubenville,  Ohio,  was  married  to 
Miss  Mary  M.  Lamson,  of  Columbus.  Eev.  William  Preston  conducted  the  cere- 
mony. 

General  W.  H.  Harrison's  visits  to  Columbus  wore  frequent,  up  to  the  time  of 
his  election  to  the  Presidency.  General  Winfield  Scott  visited  the  city  in  Decem- 
ber, 1838,  and  on  different  occasions  afterwards.  Hon.  John  Tyler,  subsequently 
President  of  the  United  Slates,  arrived  in  the  city  September  24,  1840,  and  was 
formally  welcomed  by  the  Mayor  in  behalf  of  the  citizens.  '*Mr.  Tyler  responded 
in  a  most  able  and  feeling  manner,  amid  the  cheers  and  shouts  of  an  admiring  and 
patriotic  people." 

Hon.  Eichard  M.  Johnson,  Vice  President,  stopped  in  Columbus,  en  route  to 
Washington  December  19,  1839,  and  gave  a  reception  at  the  American  House. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  Dickens  arrived  April  21,  1842,  and  stopped  at  the  Neil 
House. 

Hon.  Martin  Van  Buren,  of  New  York,  visited  Columbus  June  6,  1842.  He 
arrived  from  the  West,  and  was  conducted  into  the  city  by  a  military  escort,  amid 
the  firing  of  cannon.  The  procession  moved  up  Broad  Street  to  High,  and  thence 
by  that  street  to  the  City  House,  where  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  formally  welcomed 
and  responded  in  a  speech  of  twenty  minutes.  From  Columbus  he  proceeded  to 
Dayton, 

Hon.  Lewis  Cass,  spoken  of  at  the  time  as  ''our  late  Minister  to  France," 
visited  the  capital  of  Ohio  in  January,  1843,  and  was  escorted  into  the  city  by  the 
German  artillerj^  company  and  committees  on  behalf  of  the  General  Assembly  and 
citizens.  Arriving  at  the  Neil  House,  he  was  received  with  an  address  of  welcome 
by  the  Mayor,  Colonel  Abram  I.  McDowell.  The  members  of  the  citizens  com 
mittee  of  reception  were  R.  P.  Spalding,  M.  J.  Gilbert,  Gustavus  Swan,  A.  I.  Mc- 
Dowell, J.  Medary,  W.  F.  Sanderson,  L.  Goodale,  J.  P.  Bruck,  N.  M.  Miller,  Wil- 
Ham  Neil,  P.  Ambos,  T.  Griffith  and  Jacob  Hare. 


74-  Hl.HToBV   or    THE    ClTV    OF    CoLIMBIS. 

Hon.  Johri  ^^uiii^y  Adam**.  Ex-i'ri,-si»lerit  •»!"  ihr  United  .Slal*.-»,  arrive*!  ifi  the 
city  in  N^»vtfiiber.  ]^4'^,  r*,i  oanal   ami  Xiiti^nal  Road,  fr-im  Cificinnati.   wht-re  h»r 
bad  atterid«:d  tin-  frrfmony  <^»t' layintf  tlic  <-Mrn»'i>tonf  ••!"  an  ol»s*?rvat«"iry  andt-r  tbr 
au'»i#i'rr;«<  ot'ih»*  A**? ron«»'fii*;il  S'^r-ierv  or  that  ciiv.     Mr  Adnms  wa^  rt.-ceivt.-d  at  tbtr 
Kir-t  I'roHbytrrriari  rbim.-h    by  the   Mayor,  SmiihsMin  E.  Wriijht,  in    bvhalf  of  the 
<'itiz«-ri'».  and  nr?*jK»iidrd  in  an  addrc?*!!  ot  twi'nly  rniniite!«  ifi  whieh  he  eubjirized  ihc 
SlaK;  of*  Ohio,  arid  fX|in'-?*fd  nmr.-h  irnilitinif  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  be  had 
becjii  cvtTvwh »•!•(•  web'orncd  in   hi?»  vif*it  to  the  Wcm.     In  depart ioir   fr»»in  the  ciir. 
Mr.  Adnni^  wa?*   os^-orted  a-*  tar  as   FranklintiMi    bv  the  Tifrman  artillerv.   under 
direr-tion  ol'iicrneral  Storklon. 

(i«'or^e  l'e.'ibr»dy.  the  di^tin^lIi'«h(Ml  l>indon  banker,  arrived  in  Columbus  \]tr\\ 
13.  \f<'u,  and  in  thr  evmin;;  of  that  day  attended,  in  company  with  Governor 
(.'ha>o.  a  reci'ption  irivcn  t«»  the  (ieneral  Assembly  at  tlie  residence  of  DcM-tor  Lin- 
coln <toodai«' 

fuMH-ral  Za^hary  Taylor.  President-eleet.  uasexju'Cted  to  pass  throagh  Colnm- 
buH  on  bin  journey  to  Washington  in'February.  1><4S.  but  on  arriving  at  Cincinnati 
he  found  the  Ohio  Hiv»*r  yuffieionlly  clear  of  ice  to  enable  him  to  continue  hi.s  jour- 
ney Ihcnee  by  Mteamer  to  Pittsburgh. 

In  Nov4»mbcr,  1850,  a  person  called  Amin  Hey,  who  was  heralded  as  a  favorite 
of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  and  a  captain  in  the  Turkish  Navy,  arrived  in  Columbus, 
attendcri  by  two  or  three  other  alleire*!  Turks,  and  escorted  by  John  P.  Brown,  of 
Chillicr)lhe.  The  party  was  j)assed  free  over  the  Xenia  Railway,  and  alighted  at 
the  Neil  House.  On  learning  of  their  arrival,  the  City  Council  met,  and  votetl 
them  **  the  freedom  of  the  city."  They  were  escorted  b}'  Governor  Ford  and  other 
officials  to  the  public  institutions,  arid  received  much  other  conspicuous  attention. 
From  C'oiumbus  they  traveled  by  stage  to  (.'ircleville.  Some  time  later  it  wu.s 
announced  that  Amin  Bey,  the  alleged  Turkisli  envoy,  was  a  fraud. 

(iener-al  Gideon  J.  Pillow,  of  Tennessee,  halted  at  the  Neil  House,  April  2, 
1H52,  and  was  visited  by  many  of  his  fellow  soldiers  of  the  Mexican  War. 

On  Mai'ch  25,  1H54,  Fix-President  Millard  Fillmore  arrived  in  the  city  and  was 
was  escorted  to  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  where  he  received  tlie 
courtesies  of  the  State. 

While  making  a  tour  through  the  West,  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  National 
Senatr>r  from  Massachusetts,  stopped  at  the  American  House  June  5,  1855.  Dur- 
ir)g  his  brief  sojourn  he  visited  the  public  institutions  in  compan}'  with  Hon. 
Samnel  (iallowuy.  From  Columbus  he  journeyed  to  Yellow  Springs,  Ohio,  where 
ho  was  the  guest  of  his  friend  and  former  fellow  citizen,  Horace  Mann,  President 
of  Antioeli  College. 

In  December,  1855,  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  was  detained  in  Col- 
umbus by  illness,  and  remained  for  some  days  at  the  American  Hotel  where 
he  reeeivtrd  much  attention  from  political  and  j)er.sonal  friends. 

In  July,  1S50,  Hon.  Anson  Burliiigame  stopped  in  Columbus  vn  rmift^  to  alteml 
a  political  convention  held  at  Dayton  on  July  2S,  of  t\uit  year.  Shortly  before  ihi*' 
time  .Mr.  Hurlingame  had  received  and  accepted  a  cballenjre  from  Preston  S.  Brooke 
niembor  of  Congress  from  South    Carolina,   to   fight  a  duel,    the  occasion  of  the 


Social  and  pKRSOffAL.  749 

challenge  being  Mr.  Burlingame's  dennnciation  of  Brooks's  assault  upon  Senator 
Charles  Sumner.  Burlingame  named  Navy  Island,  just  above  Niagara  Falls,  as  the 
place  for  the  meeting,  and  rifles  as  the  weapons  to  be  used.  Those  terms  Mr.  Brooks 
declined. 

Ex- National  Senator  John  Bell,  Tennessee,  visited  Columbus  April  22,  1859. 
In  1860  Mr.  Bell  was  the  socalled  Union  candidate  for  the  Presidency  with 
Edward  Everett  as  the  candidate  for  Vice  President. 

In  the  correspondence  of  the  JVcw  York  Times  we  find  the  following  account  of 
the  arrival  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  at  the  capital  of  Oliio  during  his  journey  through 
the  West  in  1860  : 

The  scene  of  the  day  [October  1 ,  1860]  occurred  at  Columbus,  where  the  train  stopped 
fifteen  minutes.  As  it  neared  the  city  all  the  bells  rang.  The  (iovernor's  Guard,  which  had 
been  sent  to  the  depot  for  the  occasion  by  Governor  Dennison,  fired  a  salute,  and  Miss 
Brewer  presented  the  Prince  with  a  larere  basket  of  luscious  fruit,  and  an  exquisite  bouquet, 
on  behalf  of  the  young  ladies  of  the  Seminary.  The  Duke  of  Newcastle  was  surprised  at  the 
magnificence  of  the  Statehouse  and  the  general  appearance  of  the  city. 

England's  expectant  sovereign  could  not  himself,  however,  have  seen  much 
either  of  the  City  or  the  Capitol,  since  he  does  not  seem  to  have  quitted  his  train. 
Another  account  says: 

He  [the  Prince]  is  rather  goodlooking,  pale,  sickly  youth  of  about  nineteen  years  of  age, 
plainly  dressed  in  drab  pants  and  black  coat,  with  a  white  plug  hat.  Raron  Renfrew  and 
suite  arrived  at  the  depot  about  eleven  o'clock  a.  m.  A  crowd  of  about  fifteen  hundred 
citizens  were  on  hand  to  get  a  peep  at  the  Prince.  His  arrival  was  greeted  by  a  salute  by  the 
gun  squad,  and  the  car  in  which  he  was  seated  was  immediately  surrounded  by  the  anxious 
and  gaping  crowd.  In  a  few  moments  the  Prince,  accompanied  by  Lord  Lyons  and  the  Duke 
of  Newcastle,  made  his  appearance  at  the  afier  end  of  the  car,  a  large  covered  platform, 
in  a  position  where  he  could  easily  be  peen  by  the  whole  assembly.* 

This  account  further  states  that,  in  behalf  of  the  ladies  of  the  Horticultural 
Society,  a  basket  of  fruits,  beautifully  trimmed  with  flowers,  was  presented  to  the 
Prince  by  Henry  C.  Noble,  President  of  the  Society.  After  a  stoppage  of  a  few 
minutes  only,  the  train  bearing  the  party  sped  on,  followed  by  the  resounding 
plaudits  of  the  crowd. 

Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  made  a  brief  sojourn  in  the 
city  in  February,  1861.  In  July  of  the  same  year  John  C.  Breckonridge  and 
Henry  C.  Burnett,  of  Kentucky,  passed  through,  en  route  to  Washington,  and 
Major-General  and  Mrs.  John  C.  Fremont  took  lodgings  for  a  day  or  two  at  the 
American  House  where  they  were  visited  by  many  citizens.  In  compliance  with 
numerous  solicitations  General  Fremont  made  a  brief  address  to  a  street  crowd 
from  the  balcony  of  the  hotel.  Henry  Winter  Davis,  of  Baltimore,  was  a  sojourner 
at  the  American  House  April  17,  1863,  and  Hon.  William  Sprague,  of  Rhode 
Island,  was  a  guest  of  Columbus  friends  for  a  few  days  during  the  month  of  Octo- 
ber, 1864.  Ralph  Waldo  Enurson  arrived  in  the  city  April  11,  1856,  and  on  the 
next  day  Raphael  Semmos,  of  the  Confederate  cruiser,  Alabama,  passed  through  to 
Cincinnati.  Among  the  transient  visitors  of  May,  1866,  General  G.  T.  Beauregard 
and  Ex-Senator  Foote,  both  late  of  the  Southern  Confiederacy,  were  noted.  Con- 
federate-General Magruder  passed  through  January  29,  1867.     Hon.  B.  M.  Stan> 


750  ill^TOKT    OP    THE   ClTT   OF   CoLUMBrS. 

toil  jiii'l  ^f«-rirr:il  I'ltiliji  H.  .SlicriiJari  were  present  at  the  Denniion-Forsythe  we^i- 
'iirijr  0*:i"hi.'r  !•*.  lrt>7.  <iefieral  J.  H.  A.  liilmore  made  a  short  sojourn  in  the  city 
in  Jnni'.  ]**^»^.  'vriifral  and  Mrs.  William  T.  Sherman  vii^ite^i  C~*olannbu$  in  April, 
aii'i  '^ffrnoral  A  K.  Biirn-*i'le  in  May.  1>*>S.  Generals  Grant  and  Sherman  h-<"»th 
vi Jailed  tli«r  cifv  tran-*ieiitlv  in  Jnlv  of  that  vear.     On  Xovember  t;.  Isr;^.  General 

»  ■  «  « 

and   Mr«»,  Gror^»*  H.  Thnmas  pa>»»ed  ihrooirh.  #;i  nftt,^   to  Wj^shingtou.      fienerai 
Slierinari  ua?.  a;^ain  a  pa— 'in^  viMtor  in  November.  l'^69^  and  General  W.  S.  Rose- 
«rraiis  wa??  Upr  a  lime  a  giie-l  at  the  residence  of  his  brother,  Bishop  IkO??eerans.  in 
I>e««riiibvr  of  that  year     President  I'.  S.  Grant  arrive<J  in  a  special  car  Ao^ast  9. 
H70.  and  wa?-  honored   with   a  serenade  at  the  Union  Station.     Hf»n.  Thomas  A. 
ileiplrickr*.  of  Indiana,  received  the  attentions  of  many  citizens  during  a  brief  stay 
in  March,  1?^75.     Tht-  Iri>h  statesman,  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  passed    throu^rh, 
February  !>•.  I'^'^O,  and  was  met  at  the  Tnion  Station  bv  about  liftv  citizens.     On 
March  lil.  1*^S0.  Fcnlinand  de  Lessops,  builder  of  the  Suez  Canal,  passe«I  throuirh, 
tn  nmtr  to  San    Francisco.      Jefter.>f>n    Davis,    Ex- President   of  the    Confederate 
State-.  pa>scd  Columbu**  on  his  homeward  journey  from  Eun»pe  December  ^,  1>>'J. 
An  «*t!'orl  was  ina<le  by  some  local  representative  of  the  press  to  ''interview  "  him 
but  witiioiit  success.     General   (Jeor;^c  W.  Morgan  conversed  with  Mr.  Davis  con- 
cern in;r  their  mutual  experiences  in  the  Mexican  War. 

President  Barrios,  of  the  Republic  of  Guatemala,  passed  throu^^h  the  city,  on 
a  H]M;cial  train,  July  14,  lxH2.     He  was  accompanied  by  a  party  of  twelve  Guate- 
malan officials,  and  was  *n  route  to  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting  the 
intercession  of  tin?  United  States  Government  in  the  Mexico-Guatemala  boundary 
dispiit4;. 

Nearly  <;very  <-ity  or  town  of  considerable  size  has  had  among  its  popuIatioD 
c<;rtain  droll  characters  whom  nearly  all  their  contemporaries  knew  or  remem- 
bered.    Columbus  has  had  its  full  share.     A  few  among  many  may  be  briefly  men- 
tioned.    One  of  the  earliest  was  a  wood  sawyer  popularly  known  as  ** Judge' 
Thomas,  who  was  a  composer  of  doggerel  songs,  and  was  accustomed  to  say  that 
his  occupation  was  that  of  "  bisecting  and  rifling  wood." 

"  Aunt  Aggie  Lewis,*'  a  colored  woman  who  died  at  the  ago  of  over  one  hun- 
dre«l  years,  was  consort  to  Caleb  Lewis,  driver  of  an  oxteam,  of  whom  it  is  stated 
as  a  memorable  fact  that  ho  **  ran  the  first  dray  ever  known  in  Columbus."  The 
family  dwelt  on  Peters's  Run. 

"Granny  Sowers,''  wo  are  told,  died  in  the  County  Infirmary,  aged  over  a 
century. 

We  hear  of  an  oldtimc  gang  of"  hard  cases,"  conspicuous  among  whom  was  a 
certain  character  commonly  known  as  Black  Hawk,  who  was  the  terror  of  the 
town.  Among  the  associates  of  this  person  w^as  a  certain  Bon  Langer,  who  was  a 
remarkable  thrower  of  stones. 

Samuel  Perkins,  an  exquisite  of  African  descent,  who  wore  ruffled  shirtbosoms 
and  wristlmiids,  kept  a  bai'bershop  variously  under  the  National  Hotel  and  the 
('liiiton  Bank.  He  is  described  as  the  tallest  person  of  his  race  in  the  town- 
next  to  Lyne  Starling  in  height  —  and  of  the  complexion  of  a  moonless  raidnigbt 
During  the  Michigan  Boundary  "  War  "  he  served  as  a  valet  to   Governor  Lucas, 


Social  and  Personal.  751 

and  thereby  acquired  —  as  le|2;itimately  as  some  others  who  wear  it —  the  title  of 
"General.*'  "General"  Perkins  was  a  conspicuous  and  indispensable  figure  in 
the  service  of  refreshments  at  fashionable  balls  and  parties. 

At  one  of  the  corners  of  West  Broad  and  Front  streets,  one  of  the  curious 
characters  of  the  town  kept  a  place  at  which  fights  and  brawls  were  of  daily 
occurrence.  Having  concluded  to  put  up  a  sign  for  his  "  tavern,"  the  proprietor  of 
this  place  one  day  asked  a  prominent  citizen  what  device  he  would  suggest  for  it. 
The  reply  was:  "  A  black  eye  on  one  side  and  a  red  one  on  the  other." 

This  list  might  be  considerably  prolonged,  but  it  may  fitly  conclude  with  the 
following  pathetic  story  of'  Old  Joe  and  His  Garden."  It  is  taken  from  the  Ohio 
State  Journal  of  June  4,  1867  : 

The  death  of  Franz  Joseph  Weitgenaunt,  an  old  resident  of  Columbus,  was  announced 
May  25.  One  full  week  had  passed  before  the  citizens  comprehended  the  meaning  of  this 
announcement.  The  closed  gate  of  a  favorite  fiower  garden,  the  deserted  walks  of  a  favorite 
resort,  first  made  the  announcement  a  reality  to  the  public,  and  in  absolute  surprise,  a  week 
after  the  remains  had  been  interred  at  Green  Lawn,  people  said  to  one  another.  '*  Old  Joe  is 
dead."  Had  this  simple  announcement,  these  four  words,  appeared  in  the  city  papen*,  every 
child  and  every  adult  would  have  accepted  the  truth  at  once.  As  it  is,  you  cannot  now  con- 
vince Allie  or  Albert,  who  had  found  a  warm  place  in  Old  Joe's  mysterious  great  **  barn  of  ii 
heart/'  that  he  is  dead,  and  on  Sunday  scores  of  adults  turned  away  from  the  silent  grounds, 
scarcely  crediting  the  announcement  made  by  the  attendants  that  the  proprietor  had  been 
dead  one  week. 

Old  Joe  was  a  permanent  fixture  of  the  city  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  They  believed 
him  part  and  parcel  of  the  garden  over  which  he  presided.  His  peculiarities  caused  his  name 
to  be  always  associated  with  flowers.  People  were  used  to  his  mysterious  disappearances  into 
his  retired  haunts  as  his  fiowers  withered^  and  considered  it  a  law  of  nature,  almost,  that  he 
should  reappear  at  a  fixed  time.  The  younger  generation  found  him*liere  and  nevtT 
questioned  where  he  came  from.  Had  you  asked  a  pioneer  a  question  in  regard  to  Old  Joe 
he  would  have  turned  solemnly  to  Capitol  Square,  pointed  to  the  majestic  elms  that  are  now 
BQch  a  source  of  pride  to  the  citizens,  and  have  told  you  that  *'  thirty fonr  years  ago  Old  Joe 
planted  those  big  trees."  This  was  exhaustive.  The  old  settler  said  nothing  more.  If  this 
didn't  convey  to  the  mind  of  the  questioner  the  orthodox  respectability  of  old  Joe's  charac- 
ter, Old  Citizen  became  indignant.  Had  you  asked  a  lady  of  Colami>u8  any  time  within  the 
last  twenty  years  the  question  "  Who  is  Old  Joe  ?"  she  would  have  been  as  much  startled  as 
if  you  had  asked,  *'Whois  Abe  Lincoln?"  but  in  answering  the  question  she  would  have 
told  you  of  his  fiowers  and  nothing  of  himself.  Ask  a  little  urchin  in  the  street,  **  Do  yon 
know  Brown,  Smith  or  Muggins?"  and  he  will  answer  to  each  question,  no  *'  Who  do  yon 
know  then  ?  "  Prompt  as  the  explosion  of  gunpowder  will  come  the  quick  reply,  '*  I  know 
Old  Joe."  If  the  questioner  should  so  far  forget  himself  as  to  ask,  "  Who  is  Old  Joe  ?  "  little 
eight  year-old  will  give  him  a  pitying  glance  that  will  [make  him]  feel  as  [if  he  had  done] 
something  sacrilegious. 

What  nobody  has  ever  done  it  seems  almost  out  of  place  to  do  now.  Old  Joe  was  to  the 
people  simply  "  Old  Joe,"  mysterious  and  peculiar.  His  very  peculiarity  caused  people  to 
accept  the  situation  without  questioning,  but  this  same  peculiarity  made  him  so  much  of  an 
anomaly  in  this  com:i. unity  of  ours  that  it  seems  proper  that  some  one  should  answer  the 
question  the  asking  of  which  has  provoked  so  many  people  within  the  last  few  days. 

Franz  Joseph  Wfitjrenannt  came  to  Columbus  from  Freiburg,  Germany,  in  1833.  He 
was  for  some  time  in  the  employ  of  Mr.  Kelley  and  Mr.  Fisher,  and  under  the  direction  of 
the  former  planted  the  elms  in  Capitol  Square.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  professional 
gardeners  in  the  city  and  soon  made  himself  useful  to  the  citizens.    He  seemed  to  act 


■Ji^ 


752 


History  ok  the  Citv  of  Colvmbvi^. 


iowunl  a  tree  or  plant  as  toward  a  |H*r8on.  He  petted,  and  fondled,  and  talked  to  them,  as 
h(Mlid  to  th(M*hi1drc'n  who  ^thered  about  them  to  wat^rh  his  operations  He  examined  a 
diseased  tree  or  a  bli^dited  tlower  with  the  professional  dexterity  of  a  physician.  He  talked 
of  trees  breathing,  sweating,  chokin)^,  being  sick,  and  doctored  them  acconlingly.  You  will 
find  his  theories  impressed  still  on  the  minds  of  many  of  the  young  generation  of  Columbus. 

(^uite  early  he  establishe*!  a  ganlen  in  the  northern  part  of  the  cit3',  but  the  severe 
winter  of  thirty  years  ago  killed  all  his  flowers  and  plants,  and  be  abandoned  the  plac^e  as  a 
man   wr>u1<l   flee  from   the  seat  of  an  epidemic.    In    1842  he  established   the   garden   on 
Washington  Avenue,  and  though  unfortunate  for  a  time,  he  was  soon  permanently  located. 
The  soil   was  not  suitable  an<l   01<1  Joe's  Howers  were  not  **  healthy."    This  very  invalid 
quality,  perha))s,  attached  him  to  the  place,  and  with  assistance  from  some  of  our  German 
citizens  he  overcame  the  difficulty  and  made  his  garden  so  much  a  scene  of  beauty  that  it 
became  a  favorite  resort  and  stands  today  so  much  of  a  personification  of  his  inner  self  that 
when  the  people  say  "  Old  Joe/'  they  mean  his  garden.     Old  Joe  was  a  bachelor  and  live<l  al. 
most  entirely  alone.    Without  being  uncivil  he  conveyed  to  lady  visitors  the  impression  that  he 
was  a  disagreeable  man  and  a  woman-hater    Yet  this  man,  who  every  night  locked  himst'If 
in  his  little  eight-by-ten  room    from  all  the  worUl  apart,  was  the  confidant  of  half  of  the 
voung  men  in  the  city  on   love  matters.    He  prepared  with  exquisite  taste  the  bouquets  for 
sweethearts,  emblemed  love  of  the    most    enthusiastic    young  man  in  beautiful   clusters 
of  Huwers  that  always  told  the  story  truly,  and  entered  with  all  a  boy's  enthusiasm  into  the 
secret  maneuvers  by   which  the  lover's  bouquet  was  made  a  sweet  surprise  to  the  fair 
recipient.    lie  heard  a  thousand  and  one  love  stories  calmly  and  answered  the  many  shades 
of  the  question,  "  What  is  to  be  done?"  in  a  bouquet.    In  such  matters  he  never  made  mis- 
takes.  The  bouquet  always  suited  the  sender  and  the  receiver,  and  not  many  of  the  matrons 
of  the  city  would  be  willing  to  tell  you  the  history  of  Old  Joe's  bouquets,  now  held  as  the 
most  sacred  mementoes  of  the  happiness  of  the  past. 

Old  Joe  thus  became  an  absolute  necessity  in  the  city,  and  the  children  of  those  whose 
vows  were  said  over  and  through  his  flowers  learned  to  look  upon  him  as  had  the  parents. 
Me  was  fond  of  children  and  delighted  in  surprising  them  and  pleasing  them.  The 
little  folks  of  the  city  have  still  an  abiding  faith  that  no  one  but  Old  Joe  can  raise  flowers. 
He  was  to  them  a  sort  of  magician,  a  reformed  "  Black  Crook  "  of  a  splendid  tale  of  enchant- 
ment in  which  they  and  the  flowers  were  his  subjects,  doing  not  as  he  willed  but  as  they 
pleased.  He  was  not  sociable  but  everybody  knew  him.  His  flowers  always  spoke  his 
prettiest  speiches,  and  a  free  translation  of  his  bitterest  ones,  turning  always  the  grumble 
and  growl  into  an  unmeaning  smoothness. 

Old  Joe  originally  was  a  Catholic.  Soon  after  his  arrival  here,  however,  he  withdrew 
from  the  church,  and  from  that  day  ignored  priests  and  ministers.  The  reason  for  this  action 
he  never  explained.  He  said  nothing  against  the  recognized  churches,  but  seemed  rather 
to  obey  their  precepts.  He  was  charitable  in  the  two  senses  of  the  word.  He  gave  of  his 
means,  and  excused  the  shortcomings  of  others.  He  had  no  fear  of  death  and  had  made 
such  pro))aration  therefore  as  he  deemf d  right.  Long  before  his  death  he  purchased  a  lot 
in  Green  I^wn  Cemetery,  and  had  his  tombstone  inscribed  as  he  directed.  This  was  pecu- 
liar, but  80  was  his  every  act. 

Last  winter,  during  the  snow,  one  of  his  friends  stopped  at  bis  house  to  inquire  about 
his  health.  There  were  no  tracks  in  the  snow,  no  signs  of  life  in  the  greenhouse  or  in  his 
apartments.  An  effort  to  force  the  front  door  was  unsuccessful,  but  at  length  the  rear  door 
was  fonjed  open,  and  there  Old  Joe,  with  a  resignation  and  a  quietness  as  peculiar  as  all  of 
his  rctiona  in  life,  was  found  severely  ill  and  waiting  for  death.  Days  on  days  had  passeil, 
and  still  h^  waited,  both  doors  locked  and  curtains  down.  Ue  liad  the  same  feeling  towards 
})hy8icians  as  towanl  ministers,  and  refused  to  have  one  a\,\eu<V  h\tn.  In  spile  oi  th\*  retusal 
one  was  sent  to  him  and  a  regular  attemlant  secured.  Fr^m  tV\\8  iUnesa  be  never  recovered. 
The  attendant  remained  with  him  during  the  day,  but  aV.  tv\g^^  ^^^  ^^®  ^"^"^  ^  *^^^^'   ^ 


diii^   ^OiTTm^ 


*■ 


Social  and  Personal.  375 

his  direction,  the  man  at  eight  o'clock  locked  both  doors,  pat  the  key  in  his  pocket  and  went 
home.    This  prevented  the  possibility  of  intrusion. 

He  died  on  Friday,  May  24.  A  great  many  of  his  German  friends  had  been  present 
during  the  day,  and  his  last  wishes  were  freely  expressed  to  them.  On  Sunday  following  he 
was  interred  in  the  lot  of  his  choosing  at  Green  Lawn  Cemetery.  His  property,  amounting 
in  value  to  about  eight  thousand  dollars,  he  willed  to  the  children  of  two  sisters  who  lived  in 
some  of  the  Western  States.  This  old  man,  sixtyetght  years  of  a'j:e,  who  lived  for  twentyfive 
years  as  a  hermit  in  the  midst  of  beauty  of  his  own  creation,  though  simply  **  Old  Joe,"  with- 
out what  the  world  would  pronounce  a  lovable  or  heroic  quality,  was— puzzle  as  he  was — a 
man  who  numbered  his  legions  of  friends.  Last  week  hundreds  of  these  visited  the  garden, 
hesitating  lo  accept  the  truth  of  the  saying.  *'  he  is  dead."  No  flowers  were  allowed  to  be 
touched  and  there  was  no  desire  to  touch  them.  The  garden  drooped  in  the  absence  of  the 
guardian  magician,  and  even  the  "hermit's  cell,"  sacred  from  intrusion  for  so  many  years, 
was  open  now.  The  little  c<mch  in  the  corner,  the  oldstyle  clock  with  its  heavy  weights 
dangling  in  free  air,  the  one  chair  and  one  stool,  the  little  cooking  stove,  and  the  little  table 
tell  the  whole  story  of  the  man  who  entertains  none  but  himself.  For  twentyfive  years,  in 
this  little  room,  he  wan  cook  and  master,  and  the  world  wondered  why  a  man  who  had  such 
a  passion  for  flowers,  ^ho  had  so  fine  an  appreciation  of  sentiment  in  others,  who  loved 
children  with  the  devotedness  of  a  parent,  could  be  so  much  a  hermit. 

Old  Joe  kept  well  his  own  secrets,  as  well  as  those  of  others,  but  once  an  unexpected 
kindness  from  a  lady  of  the  city  caused  the  doors  of  the  ''  old  barn  of  a  heart,  crowded  with 
the  sultry  sheaves  of  the  past,"  to  stand  open  for  a  moment,  and  a  glimpse  was  caught  of 
this  •*  little  story :  "  Old  Joe,  when  he  was  Young  Joe,  loved  a  German  maiden.  After  the 
vows  had  been  spoken  the  lady's  family  moved  to  America,  where  Joe,  in  one  year,  was  to 
follow,  and  the  two  were  to  be  married.  The  young  gardener  came  as  he  had  promised,  but 
found  his  sweetheart  the  wife  of  another.  Disappointment  to  a  sensitive  heart  is  sometimes 
worse  than  death.    It  made  Old  Joe  half  a  hermit,  and  all  a  mystery. 

NOTES. 

1 .  Letter  published  in  the  Ohio  State  Journal. 

2.  Amounting  to  $1,200,000,  all  acquired  at  Columbus. 

3.  The  author  was  kindly  favored  with  an  inspection  of  these  letters  by  Mrs.  Deshler*8 
son,  Mr.  William  G.  Deshler,  who  justly  prizes  them  as  precious  mementoes  of  his  sainted 
mother. 

4.  Ohio  State  JoumaL 
6.    Ibid. 


48 


«.  *- 


Church  History. 


PART  I. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIl 


PRESBYTERIAN. 


BY  BSV.  WILLIAM  S.  MOORS,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


[William  £.  Moore»  D.  D.,  ^  \  D.,  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  bom  April  1|  1823.  His 
ancestors  were  of  Scotch -Irish  '  od,  came  to  America  in  1698  and  settled  in  the  Rtate  of 
Delaware.  His  father,  a  phy8i<  ,  died  when  he  was  six  years  old,  leaving  a  widow  with 
four  children,  and  the  legacy  o\  ood  name.  Doctor  Moore's  early  life  was  spent  on  a  farm 
attending  school  in  the  winter  in.  Desiring  a  liberal  education,  he  taught  school  and 
improved  his  leisure  in  prepari^^  ^r  college.  After  graduating  at  Yale  Ck)llege  in  1847,  he 
taught  for  two  years  in  theacade..  t  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  and  in  the  meantime  studied 
theology  with  Lyman  H.  Atwater,  men  pastor  of  the  church  at  Fairfield  but  afterwards  a 
professor  at  Princeton  College.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  April,  1850,  and  in  October  of  the 
same  year  was  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  West- 
chester, Pennsylvania,  where  he  remained  until  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Second  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Columbus  in  April,  1872.  During  the  twentytwo  years  of  his  residence  at 
Westchester  lie  was  instrumental  in  establishing  the  State  Normal  School  at  that  place  and 
was  the  first  president  of  its  board  of  trustees.  He  was  also  elected  as  its  Principal  but 
declined  that  position.  During  the  last  nine  years  of  his  sojourn  at  Westchester  he  was  Presi- 
dent of  its  School  Board.  During  the  Civil  War  he  was  active  in  the  work  of  the  Christian 
Commission  When  Lee's  army  invaded  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  in  1863,  he  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  a  battery  of  the  state  militia  and  was  elected  a  lieutenant,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  during  the  Gettysburg  campaign.  Accepting  the  call  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Columbus,  he  began  his  ministry  therewith  in  April,  1872.  The  degree  of  D.  D. 
was  conferred  on  him  by  Marietta  College  in  1873,  and  that  of  LL.  D.,  by  Lake  Forest  Univer- 
sity, 1890  On  September  19, 1850,  Dr.  Moore  was  married  to  Harriet  F.,  daughter  of  Rev- 
George  Foot,  of  Delaware.  They  have  six  surviving  sons,  all  college  graduates.  They  are 
Rev.  George  F.  Moore,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Hebrew  at  Andover.  Massachusetts;  Rev.  Edward 
C.  Moore,  Pastor  of  theJOentral  Church  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island  ;  Henry  M.  W.  Moore, 
M.  D.,  of  Columbus;  Charles  A.  and  Frank  G.  Moore,  Tutors  in  Yale  College,  and  Frederick 
A.  Moore,  clerk  in  the  service  of  the  C.  8.  &  H.  Railway.  Doctor  Moore  has  been  stated 
clerk  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio  since  its  organization  in  1882,  and  permanent  clerk  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  since  1884.  He  was  elected  Moderator  of  the  General 
Assembly  by  acclamation  in  1890.  He  is  President  of  the  Columbus  Medical  College  and  a 
trustee  of  Marietta  College  and  of  Lane  Theological  Seminary.  Since  1878  he  has  been 
Chaplain  of  the  Fourteenth  Regiment  of  the  Ohio  National  Guard.] 

The  Presbyterians  bore  so  large  a  part  in  the  settlement  of  Columbus  that  a 
few  words  may  be  in  place  here  as  to  the  antecedents  of  their  settlers  in  Southern 

[757] 


758  HiBTOBT  OF   THE   CiTT   OF   CoLUMBUS. 

and  Central  Ohio.     Tbej  were  chiefly  the  descendants  of  the  Scotch  and  Ulster 
men  who  fled  from  the  persecution  of  the  Stuarts,  who  sought  to  force  prelacy  upon 
all  their  8ubjects.     Some  of  them  were  of  the  Covenanters  of  Scotland.     Others, 
and  the  majority,  were  of  those  who   had   settled   in   the  English    colouies    in 
the  north  of  Ireland.     In  the  first  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century  many  thoos- 
ands  of  these  migrated  to  America.     Landing  on  the  Delaware,  after  brief  sojourn 
in  eastern  Pennsylvania,  Delaware  and  Maryland,  they  made  their  way  westward 
and  southward  across  the  Susquehanna  and  up  the  valleys  of  theSusquebaoDa,  the 
Potomac  and  the  Shenandoah,  in  search  of  homes.     After  the  peace  of  1762  which 
secured  to  England  the  regions  west  of  the  AUeghanies  hitherto  claimed  by  France, 
these  men,  who  were  chiefly  agricultural  laborers  with  no  capital,  but  brave  hearts 
and  strong  arms,   worked   their  way  over  the  watershed  to  the  streams  which 
poured  into  the  Ohio,  and  were  found  in  large  numbers  in  Western  PeoDsylvania 
and    Virginia,   and  in    Kentucky,  looking  wistfully  to  the  fertile   lands   beyond 
the  Ohio. 

These  men  were  almost  all  of  Presbyterian  proclivities.  They  bad  been 
trained  in  war  for  a  century :  as  **  rebels''  in  their  old  homes,  fighting  for  freedom  ; 
in  the  wars  with  the  Indians  and  tlicir  French  allies;  and  in  the  war  for  indepen- 
dence.  They  were  bitter  in  their  hostility  towards  monarchy  and  prelacy.  They 
had  suffered  from  both.  When  the  War  of  American  Independence  carae,  they 
were  found  to  a  man  on  the  side  of  the  colonies  and  against  the  crown.  The  Pres- 
byterian ministers,  without  exception  were,  in  the  language  of  the  day,  "  Whigs." 
They  preached  the  duty  of  resistance  to  tyranny,  whether  of  the  civil  or  the 
ecclesiastical  powers.  Many  of  them,  when  the  war  began,  raised  companies  io  their 
own  congregations  and  led  them  to  the  field.  They  suffered  the  especial  vengeance 
of  the  marauding  parties  in  common  with  their  people.  They  were  accounted  ring- 
leaders in  the  rebellion.  Presbyterianism  was  considered  prima  facie  evidence  of 
guilt  when  the  emissaries  of  the  royal  cause  were  seeking  for  "  rebels.'*  A  house 
that  had  in  it  a  largo  Bible  and  David's  Psalms  in  metre  was  considered  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course  the  home  of  enemies  of  the  crown. 

Presbyterianism  is  at  once  a  creed  and  a  polity.  It  looks  both  toward  God 
and  Man.  It  has  respect  to  the  life  that  now  is  as  well  as  that  which  is  to  come. 
It  recognizes  God  as  the  only  Supreme  Euler,  the  source  of  all  bjnding  law, 
the  only  being  in  the  universe  who  has  authority  to  bind  the  conscience.  It 
claims  for  every  man  freedom  under  law.  It  holds  civil  government  to  be 
ordained  of  God  and  to  derive  all  its  just  authority  from  Him.  It  measures 
the  duty  of  submission  to  the  *'  the  powers  that  be  "  by  the  conformity  of  their  laws 
to  the  will  of  God  as  found  in  the  Bible  or  by  necessary  consequence  inferred  from 
it.  It  is  loyal  to  government,  but  government  must  be  true  to  the  interests  of  those 
whom  it  serves ;  otherwise  it  is  right  and  a  duty  to  choose  new  rulers  and  depose 
the  old.  As  a  creed,  Presbyterianism  asserts  the  sovereign  control  of  God  over  all 
his  creatures  and  all  their  actions,  so  that  in  His  own  way  and  time  He  will 
infallibly  secure  the  fulfillment  of  His  own  eternal  purposes,  which  are  holy,  just 
and  good,  and  are  always  for  the  futherance  of  umversal  righteousness.  It  asserts 
equally  the  Godgiven  freedom  of  man  to  choose  for  himself  whether  he  will  do 


Prbsbtterian.  759 

right  or  do  wroDg ;  and  so  it  holds  every  man  responsible  for  all  his  acts  and  amen- 
able to  all  their  conseqaences.  It  holds  that  the  salvation  which  God  offers  to 
every  man  through  His  son  Jesus  Christ  is  of  His  own  free  grace ;  that  it  is  not  of 
man's  desert,  actaal  or  foreseen,  but  is  of  God's  sovereign  choice,  and  that  it  is  an 
election  unto  holiness  of  living. 

As  a  polity,  Presbyterianism  rejects  alike  monarchy  and  democracy  in  the 
government  of  the  church.  Its  ideal  is  a  republic  —  the  administration  of  govern- 
ment by  rulers  and  servants  chosen  by  all  the  members  of  the  church,  male  and 
female,  as  their  representatives,  and  having  no  other  authority  than  that  which  is 
conferred  upon  the  church  by  Christ,  who  is  the  only  lawgiver,  judge  and  king. 
Its  supreme  standard  is  the  Scripture,  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  conduct. 
Its  subordinate  standards  are  its  confession  of  faith,  form  of  government,  and 
book  of  dihcipline,  which  are  of  binding  authority  only  as  they  conform  to  the 
Scriptures.  The  necessary  corollary  of  the  polity  of  the  Church  to  men  who  find 
the  source  of  authority  for  all  that  binds  men  on  earth  in  the  word  of  God  is 
representative  or  republican  government  in  the  state.  James  I.  of  England,  who 
knew  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland  to  his  sorrow,  was  shrewd  enough  to  see,  and 
frank  enough  to  say  that  '^  God  and  the  devil  agree  as  well  as  monarchy  and  pres- 
bytery." Ho  recognized  the  determined  fight  against  prelacy  as  significant  of 
the  fate  of  autocracy.  Such  historians  as  Bancroft,  Motley  and  Froude  affirm  that 
to  the  men  of  the  reformed  faith  and  polity — Calvinists  in  faith,  Presbyterians  in 
polity  —  we  owe  our  republican  institutions,  whose  governors,  legislators  and 
administrators  of  the  laws,  are  chosen  by  the  people  over  whom  they  exercise  the 
functions  of  government. 

It  is  easy  to  see  the  prototype  of  the  form  of  government  of  the  town,  the 
county,  the  state  and  the  nation,  in  the  session,  the  presbytery,  the  synod  and  the 
general  assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  throughout  the  world.  That  the 
churches  did  not  borrow  these  forms  from  the  state  is  obvious  when  you  remem- 
ber that  the  Presbyterian  form  of  church  government  was  established  in  Scotland 
in  1560  and  the  Westminster  Assembly  sat  in  1643-1652.  A  glance  at  the  names 
of  the  men  who  framed  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  will  show  that  a  very 
large  proportion  of  them  were  men  to  whom  the  Westminster  standards  were 
most  familiar.  The  spread  of  the  polity  in  political  institutions  is  seen  in  the  fact 
that  on  this  continent  republican  forms  of  government  are  wellnigh  universal, 
while  in  the  old  world  representative  parliaments  have  restrained  everywhere  the 
power  of  the  sovereign.  Hardly  less  of  this  is  the  influence  of  the  polity  which 
Presbyterianism  holds  over  the  government  of  the  churches.  Prelacy  welcomes 
lay  representation  to  a  share  in  the  government  of  the  church  at  which  the  fathers 
would  have  stood  aghast.  Democracy  finds  in  association,  local,  state  or  national, 
the  bond  of  union  which  gives  strength  to  the  individual  churches. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America  grew  out  of  the  General  Synod  of  1788.  The  first  Presbytery  was  formed 
in  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland  and  Virginia  in  1706.  By  1717  it 
had  grown  to  be  a  synod,  and  in  1789  the  first  General  Assembly  met  in  Philadel- 
phia simultaneously   with  the  convention  which  framed  the  constitution  of  the 


760  History  op  the  City  of  CoLnHBns. 

United  Statot*.  It  was  the  first  organized  body  in  tlie  land  to  send  its  miBsionaries 
to  the  Northwest  Territory  wiiich  had  been  set  offtwo  years  before  by  the  Ordi- 
nance of  17H7.  At  its  first  sessions  in  1789,  the  Assembly  took  orders  for  sending 
ministers  to  the  frontiers  fVom  Western  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  It  was  the 
first  to  effect  an  organization  in  Central  Ohio.  The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Cincinnati  was  organized  by  the  Rev.  David  Rice,  of  Kentucky,  in  1790.  Tn  1802 
the  Rev.  James  Speer  was  at  Cbillicothe  where  he  was  succeeded  Id  1805  by  Robert 
G.  Wilson.  The  course  of  settlement  in  Central  Ohio  was  up  the  Scioto  and  the 
settlers  were  chiefly  from  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  Pranklinton  was  the  extreme 
outpost  on  the  Scioto  and  itu  branches.  It  was  laid  out  in  1797  by  Lucas  Sul- 
livant.  It  was  the  first  town  on  the  Scioto  to  be  settled  north  of  Cbillicothe. 
Columbus  was  then,  and  for  years  afterwards,  a  settlement  of  the  Wyandot 
Indians.     In   1805  the  CJcrieral  Assembly  of  the  Prosbytenan  Church,    sitting  in 


FRANKLINTUN  (JIIUKCH,  IBLl  ;  fllFT  OF  LUCAS  PULLIVAKT. 
By  PcrmlDiuD  of  H«v.  F.  E.  HkraleD. 

Philadelphia,  uppointed  James  Hogo,  a  licentiate  of  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington, 
to  serve  as  a  mis^iionary  for  nix  months  in  the  State  of  Ohio  and  the  Natchez  Dis- 
trict. This  service  Mr.  Hogo  performed  from  October,  1805,  to  April,  1806.  The 
Assembly  of  IHOfi  renewed  his  commission  for  three  months  "  as  a  missionary  in 
the  State  of  Ohio  and  the  purls  adjacent."  His  compensation  was  thirtythree  dol- 
lars a  month. 

First  Cliiiri'h.  —  iiv.  Hoge  arrived  in  Franklinton  November  19,  1805,  and 
proaclied  the  next  day  in  a  room  in  the  Iiouhc  of  John  Overdier  which  was 
occupicil  by  the  Supreme  Court.  He  remained  until  April,  1806,  when  he  was 
obliged  by  ill  health  to  return  to  his  home  in  Virginia.  On  bis  way,  near 
Lewisburgh,  Virginia,  lie  was  attacked  by  a  violent  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs. 
Ho  was  alone  anil  death  seemed  imminent.  Ho  drank  copiously  of  a  spring  by 
which  he  had  fallen.    The  cooling  draughts  refreshed  him.     He  was  discovered 


Presbyterian.  761 

by  a  woman  living  in  a  cabin  near  the  spring  who  took  him  to  her  hoase,  pro- 
cured  medical  advice  and  nursed  him  tenderly  until  he  was  able  to  resume  his 
journey.  In  the  fall  of  1806  he  resumed  his  work  in  Franklinton  and  thenceforth 
for  more  than  half  a  century  the  history  of  James  Hoge  is  identified  with  the 
growth  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  not  only  in  Franklin  County,  but  throughout 
the  State. 

James  Hoge  was  born  in  Moorfield,  Virginia,  in  1784  His  father,  Moses 
Hoge,  D.  D.,  had  served  for  a  time  previous  to  entering  the  ministry  in  the 
Revolutionary  Army.  He  was  an  eminent  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
He  was  an  accomplished  scholar  and  was  President  of  the  Hampden  Sydney 
College,  Virginia,  from  1807  until  bis  death,  July  5,  1820,  in  Philadelphia,  where 
he  had  been  in  attendance  on  the  General  Assembly.  James  Hoge  received  his 
education,  classical  and  theological,  chiefly  under  his  father.  He  was  licensed  to 
preach  the  Gospel  by  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington,  April  17,  1805.  On  his 
return  to  Ohio  in  the  fall  of  1806,  Mr.  Hoge  continued  to  preach  in  Franklinton 
in  the  private  houses  of  John  Overdier,  David  Broderick  and  Jacob  Overdier.  A 
church  had  been  organized  on  February  18,  1806,  by  the  Rev.  Robert  G.  Wilson, 
D.  D  ,  then  of  Chillicothe  and  for  many  years  the  President  of  the  Ohio  University 
at  Athens.  This  church  was  the  fir^t  of  any  denonunation  organized  in  Franklin 
County,  which  then  contiiined  an  area  of  six  hundred  square  milos  and  a  popula- 
tion of  about  two  thousand.  It  was  the  fruit  of  the  labors  of  Mr.  Hoge,  and  num- 
bered at  its  orgunization  thirteen  members.  Tiie  names  of  those  who  hocainc 
communicant  members,  or  members  of  the  congregation,  are  preserved  and  are  ol' 
interest  to  the  many  families  hero  and  elsewhere  whose  ancestors  tliey  wtjre. 
They  are  Colonel  Robert  Culbertson  and  wife,  William  Reetl  and  wife,  David 
Nelson  and  wife,  Michael  Fisher  and  wife,  Robert  Younij  and  wife,  Mrs.  Margaret 
Thompson,  Mrs!  Susan  McCoy  and  Miss  Catharine  Kessler.  Besides  these  mem- 
bers of  the  church  there  were  in  the  congregation  the  families  of  Lucas  Sullivant, 
William  Shaw,  John  Turner,  Adam  Turner,  Joseph  Hunter,  J.  Hamlin, 
S.  G.  Flenniken,  John  Dill,  J.  McGowan,  George  Skidmore,  Samuel  King, 
William  Brown,  Senior,  Joseph  Park,  David  Jamison,  Andrew  Park,  John 
Overdier,  Jacob  Overdier,  Charles  Hunter,  John  Lisle,  J.  Mcllvaino,  M.  Hess, 
M.  Thompson,  William  Domigan,  John  McCoy,  Joseph  Smart,  Isaac  Smart, 
S.  Powers,  Joseph  Dickson  and  Joseph  Cowgill.  Many  of  these  descendants 
remain  with  us  until  this  day.  The  church  when  organized  selected  as  Ruling 
Elders,  Robert  Culbertson  and  William  Reed.  The  congregation  chose  Joseph 
Dixon,  John  Dill,  Daniel  Nelson,  William  Domigan,  Joseph  Hunter  and  Lucas 
Sullivant,  Trustees.  The  "New  Courthouse"  which  stood  on  the  lot  at  the 
corner  of  Broad  and  Sandusky  Streets,  now  occupied  by  the  public  school,  was 
finished  in  1807  and  was  occupied  for  public  worship  until  1815.  On  September 
25, 1807,  the  church  extended  a  call  to  Mr.  Hoge  for  thrcefourths  of  his  time;  the 
other  onelourth  was  devoted  to  missionary  work  in  the  bounds  of  the  county  and 
"  parts  adjacent."  The  salary  promised  was  three  hundred  dollars  in  halfyearly 
payments.     Following  is  a  copy  of  the  call : 


762  HiSTOBT   OF  THl   CiTY   OP   COLUMBUR. 

The  congregatioD  of  FraDklinton  being  on  sufficient  groands  well  satisfied  of  the  minis- 
terial (jualifications  of  you,  James  Hoge,  and  having  good  hopes  from  oar  past  experience  of 
yoar  labors  that  your  ministrations  of  the  Gospel  will  be  profitable  to  oar  spiritual 
interests,  do  earnestly  call  and  desire  you  to  undertake  the  pastoral  office  in  said  congrega- 
tion, promising  you  in  the  discharge  of  your  duty  all  proper  support,  encoarasement  and  obe- 
dience in  the  Lord,  and  that  you  may  be  free  from  worldly  cares  and  avocations  we  hereby 
promise  and  oblige  ourselves  to  pay  to  you  the  sum  of  three  hundred  dollars  in  half  yearly 
payments  annually,  for  threefourths  of  your  time,  until  we  find  ourselves  able  to  give  you 
a  compensation  for  the  whole  of  your  time  in  like  proportion  during  the  time  of  yoar  being 
and  continuing  the  regular  pastor  of  this  Church. 

This  call,  which  is  in  the  handwriting  ofLac.is  Sallivant,  was  signed  on  behalf 
of  the  eongrogation  by  the  elders  and  trustees  named  above.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  best  and  most  influential  of  the  settlers  were  identifit)d  with  the  congregation. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  there  was  no  other  church  organization  ivithin  many 
miles,  and  many  Presbyterians  came  from  great  distances  to  attend  its  services, 
at  least  occasionally.  There  were  no  roads  but  bridlepaths  blazed  through  the 
dense  forests  which  covered  all  this  region. 

Mr.  Hoge  accepted  the  call  and  was  ordained  and  installed  by  the  Presbytery 
of  Washington,  June  17,  1808.  The  first  raeetinghoase  for  the  use  of  the  church 
was  erected  in  Franklinton  in  1811.  It  was  of  brick  and  was  built  chiefly  through 
the  instrumentality  of  Lucas  Sullivant.  Before  its  completion,  however,  it  was 
taken  possession  of  by  the  commissary  department  of  the  army  and  filled  with 
grain.  In  March,  1813,  it  was  so  injured  by  a  violent  storm  that  the  grain  was 
wet  and  its  swelling  burst  the  walls.  The  church  was  a  ruin  ;  the  Government, 
however,  subsequently  made  good  the  loss. 

These  years  were  times  of  pecular  trial.     Franklinton  was  a  frontier   p>06t. 
The  Indians  were  numerous  and  often  troblesome.     Society  was  in  a  turmoil   with 
wars  and  rumors  of  war  with  the  Indians  and  with  the  British.     A    man  of   less 
courage,  faith  and  hope  than   Mr.  Hoge,  enfeebled  as  he  was  with   dickness  and 
toil,  would  have  abandoned  the  field  ;  but  he  was  sustained  by  his  church  and  by 
the  community.     It  was  not  until  1815  that  another  house  for  worship  was  built. 
It  was  situated  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Scioto  near  a  wooded  island    known   as 
British  Island  from  the  fact  that  it  was  the  place  of  detention  of  British  prisoners 
of  war.     The  old  graveyard  is  there  but  is  seldom  used.     The  population  of  Colum- 
bus soon  exceeded  that  of  Franklinton.     Mr.  Hoge  preached  there  in  private  bouses 
until,  in  1814,  a  lug  cabin  25  x  30  feet  was  built  on  a  lot  owned  by  him  on  Spring 
Street  near  Third,  in  which  he  preached,  alternating  the  services  with  Frankh'nton. 
Under  date  of  May  1,  1818,  the  church  records  show  the  following: 

Whereas,  a  considerable  majority  of  the  members  of  the  First  Presbyterian  congrega- 
tion in  Franklinton,  Ohio,  reside  on  the  easterly  side  of  the  Sciota  River,  and  the  Rev.  James 
Hoge,  the  Pitstor  of  the  said  congregation,  having  his  residt^nce  also  on  the  same  side  of  the 
river,  it  was  deemed  expedient  for  the  said  congregation  that  a  meetinghouse  be  erected  in 
Columbus  for  public  worship  on  such  ground  as  might  be  selected  and  purchased  for  that 
purpose.  For  the  accomplishment  of  this  object  an  agreement  was  entered  into  dated  May  1, 
1818,  as  follows: 

We,  the  subscribers,  bind  ourselves  to  advance  to  any  person  or  persons  appointed  by 
ourselves  the  sum  of  money  annexed  to  our  names  respectively  for  the  purpose  of  building 


Presbttebian.  763 

and  preparing  for  use  a  temporary  meetinghoase  in  Columbus  for  the  Presbyterian  congre- 
gation, to  be  opened  for  public  worship  as  soon  as  said  congregation  shall,  by  the  purchase  of 
seats  or  otherwise,  remunerate  us  the  expense  by  us  incurred  in  erecting  the  house. 

To  this  paper  were  attached  the  following  subscriptions:  Samuel  Barr, 
SlOO;  Ralph  Osborn,  $100;  Joseph  Miller,  $100;  Honry  Brown,  $100;  James 
Hoge,  SlOO;  Robert  Culbertson,  $100;  John  Loughroy,  SlOO;  Lucas  Sullivant, 
$100 ;  Robert  McCoy,  $100 ;  John  Kerr,  $100.  The  proprietors  of  Columbus  gener- 
ously donated  a  lot  and  the  congregation  added  another  by  purchase  for  $300. 
These  lots  were  situated  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Front  and  Town  streets.  A 
frame  house  40x60  was  erected  on  tl>em  at  a  cost  of  $1,050.  It  contained  eighty 
pews  and  could  accommodate  about  four  hundred  people.  At  the  sale  of  the 
pews  they  netted  $1,796.60.  The  log  cabin  on  Spring  Street  was  abandoned  and 
the  congregation  worshipped  in  the  new  house.  On  June  20, 1821,  in  conformity 
with  an  **act  for  the  incorporation  of  religious  societies/'  passed  February  5, 
1819,  we  find  the  following: 

We  the  subscribers,  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Columbus  and  the  vicinity,  do  bind  our- 
selves together  as  the  First  Presbyterian  Society  of  Columbus  and  do  agree  to  bind  ourselves 
to  do  and  perform  all  those  acts  and  things  which  may  be  or  become  incumbent  on  us  as 
members  of  said  society  while  we  continue  as  such. 

The  names  of  those  forming  this  new  society  are,  N.  W.  Smith,  James  W. 
Taylor,  John  Hunter,  David  Taylor,  William  Leathern,  John  Long,  William 
McElvain,  William  Patterson,  Thomas  Adams,  Daniel  Ross,  Andrew  Culbertson, 
Robert  Lisle,  W.  W.  Shannon,  John  Thompson,  J.  M.  Strain,  Samuel  King,  John 
Kerr,  Robert  Nelson,  Gustavus  Swan,  Lincoln  Goodale,  Henry  Brown,  John  E. 
Baker,  Samuel  Parsons,  James  Dean,  Joseph  Miller,  James  Cherry,  Samuel  G, 
Flenniken,  William  Long,  John  Loughrey,  James  O'Harra,  Robert  W.  McCoy, 
James  Shannon,  Jacob  Overdier,  James  Lindsey,  W^illiam  Stewart,  John  Barr, 
Michael  Fisher  and  James  Hoge.  Among  those  we  recognize  the  ancestors  of 
many  families  resident  in  the  adjoining  townships,  as  well  as  in  the  city,  and  of 
many  who  have  removed  from  the  city  and  the  State.  We  are  not  to  consider 
this  as  the  organization  of  another  church,  though  that  issue  would  seem  to  have 
been  contemplated  in  certain  contingencies.  The  society  thus  formed  was  organ- 
ized for  business  July  1,  1821,  and  assumed  the  legal  title  of  "The  First  Presby- 
terian Congregation  of  Columbus,"  which  it  has  borne  ever  since.  On  Novem- 
ber 19,  1821,  the  Presbyterian  congregation  of  Franklinton  met  and  agreed  that 
their  name  should  be  changed  to  the  "  The  First  Presbyterian  Congregation  of 
Columbus."  The  two  were  soon  merged  in  one  under  the  same  trustees.  No 
change  was  made  in  the  organization  of  the  church.  Its  elders  at  that  time  (1821) 
were:  Michael  Fisher,  William  Stewart,  Robert  Nelson,  John  Loughroy,  William 
Patterson,  John  Long,  Samuel  G.  Flenniken,  N.  W.  Smith  and  James  Johnson. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  call  to  Mr.  Hoge  in  1807  was  for  threofourths 
of  his  time  at  Franklinton.  The  remaining  onefourtb  he  had  devoted  to  preach- 
ing in  the  vicinity,  especially  in  Hamilton  and  Truro,  where  churches  were  organ- 
ized at  a  later  date.  In  1821  Truro  requested  onefourtli  of  his  time,  which  was 
granted.     In  June,  1822,  the  congregation  in  Columbus  petitioned  the  Presbytery 


764 


HlSTOBY    OF   THE   ClTT   OF    COLtlMBUS 


to  appoint  the  Rev.  JamcB  Hogc  their  DtaUsd  supply  until  January,  1823.  Thia, 
Doctor  Hogo  says,  in  not*;  or  the  Presbytery  records,  was  for  half  hia  time  in 
Columbufl.  To  obviate  any  difficulty,  a  now  call  was  made  in  January,  1823,  in 
place  of  that  of  1H07,  It  was  for  all  h  in  time  and  promised  a  salary  of  six  handivd 
dollars  per  annum  with  the  prudent  proviso :  "  If  we  shall  be  able  to  collect  this 
amount  from  the  seatholders  and  subscribers."  This  call  Hr.  H.oge  did  not  deem 
satisfactory.  A  new  one  was  made  in  February  with  a  salary  of  SBOU,  and  prob- 
ably without  the  proviso.  This  call  was  accepted.  The  Presbytery  did  not  deem 
it  necesxary  to  inBtnl  him,  holding  the  church  to  be  that  organized  in  Pranklinton 
in  1806. 

How  long  alternate  services  continuetl  to  bo  held  in  Franlclinton  is  unknown. 
It  is  probable  they  ceased  to  be  held  regularly  after  the  completion  of  tbe  new 
church  edifice  at  State  and  Third.     The  building  on  Town  Street  having  become 


Ftom  "  After  Eighty  Yti 


v, "  by  Kev.  F.  K.  Mkiatei 


unsuitable  in  size  and  location,  in  January,  1330,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
society,  the  Hov.  James  ^oge,  Gustavus  Swan  and  David  W.  Deshler  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  select  a  suitable  location  for  a  new  house  of  worship. 
The  site  chosen  was  that  now  occupied  by  the  First  Church  at  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  Stnte  and  Third  streets.  The  problem  of  ways  and  means  to  build  was 
solved  by  a  proposition  on  March  8,  1830,  bj-  I>yne  Starling,  GustavusSwan  and 
Robert  W.  McCoy,  to  form  a  company  and  erect  a  meetinghouse  for  the  congrega- 
tion on  such  a  plan  as  the  trustees  might  direct,  and  to  furnish  the  building  and 
enclose  ihe  lot.  The  terms  of  the  ngrcement  were  that  the  pews  were  to  be  sold 
and  the  proceeds  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  principal  and  interest  of  the  cost 
of  the  huildinir.  Any  deficiency  was  In  bo  made  up  by  subscription.  The  plan 
was  sucLossfiil  in  .securing  the  speedy  erection  of  the  church,  which  was  occupied 
for  public  worship  on  the  first  Sabbath  of  December,  1830.     It  was  at  that  lime 


Presbyterian.  7d5 

the  finest  charch  edifice  in  the  city  ;  there  were  few  finer  in  the  State.  Itu  pastor 
was  at  that  time  at  the  height  of  his  popularity.  Columbus  was  on  the  great  stage 
line  from  east  to  west,  and  many  travelers  made  it  their  restingplace  over  the  Sab- 
bath. Many  members  of  the  legislature  and  officers  of  the  State  had  tiieir  families 
with  them  for  the  winter.  Once  here  they  were  mud  bound  until  spring.  Many 
of  them  attended  on  the  preaching  of  Doctor  Hoge,  and  the  new  house,  tlien  furn- 
ished with  ample  galleriers,  was  always  filled,  often  crowded. 

The  faithful  historian  of  the  period  —  Mr.  Joseph  Sullivant,  a  son  of  Lucas 
Sullivant,  and  more  than  any  other  man  the  founder  of  the  society  —  is  candid 
enough  to  tell  us  that,  as  often  happens  even  now,  the  ambition  of  the  society  was 
in  advance  of  its  means.  The  sale  of  the  pews  did  not  pay  for  the  building.  The 
subscriptions  were  insufficient.  Debt  was  the  consequence,  with  no  worae  results, 
perhaps,  than  the  waiting  of  the  generous  builders  who  were  paid  ultimately,  in 
1847,  both  principal  and  interest.  The  shadow  of  the  cloud,  "however,  may  be  seen 
in  the  prudent  proviso  annexed  to  a  resolution  of  the  society  in  1833,  "  that  the 
sam  of  one  thousand  dollars  annually  be  paid  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Hoge,.  if  that 
sum  can  be  raised  out  of  the  assessment  of  pews  and  subscriptions."  It  is  pro- 
foundly to  be  hoped  that  it  was  ''  raised  "  and  that  promptly,  for  God  had  blessed 
him  with  a  large  family  of  sons  and  daughters  to  be  fed,  clothed  and  educated,  and 
it  was  well  done.  His  sons  have  honored  liis  name.  His  daughters,  sought  for  by 
worthy  men,  have  been  or  yet  are  the  mothers  of  useful  and  prominent  men  and 
women  here  and  elsewhere.  One  of  his  daughters  was  married  to  Eobert  Neil, 
another  to  Judge  J.  W.  Baldwin  and  a  third  to  Alfred  Thomas. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  man  by  this  time  so  prominent  as  was  Doctor 
Hoge  would  be  suffered  to  remain  unsought  for  as  a  pastor  elsewhere.  We  have 
seen  that,  in  1825,  he  had  been  called  to  Chillicothe.  Other  churches  in  the  Old 
East  and  in  Virginia  sought  him,  but  he  wisely  saw  that  God  had  given  him  power 
here  for  good  in  the  capital  of  Ohio,  and  he  steadfastly  declined  every  approach. 
In  1827,  the  Synod  of  Ohio,  meeting  in  Zanesville,  resolved  to  establish  a  theolog- 
ical seminary  for  the  instruction  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  Christian 
theology.  The  seminary  was  to  be  located  in  Columbus,  and  Hev.  James  Hoge 
was  appointed  professor.  The  seminary  was  to  commence  operations  in  October, 
1828,  but  we  do  not  find  that  anything  came  of.  this  resolution.  Nevertheless  it 
shows  the  Synod's  appreciation  of  Mr.  Hoge*s  ability  as  a  theologian  and  teacher. 
We  shall  see  that  in  1850  he  was  again  called  to  the  theological  chair.  In  1834  he 
was  elected  a  professor  in  Hanover  College,  Indiana.  He  felt  himself  obliged  to 
consult  his  church  as  to  their  willingness  to  release  him  for  this  work,  for  which, 
by  his  scholarship,  he  was  eminently  fitted.  The  answer  he  got  was  the  unani'^ 
mous  resolution  *^  that  the  services,  labor  and  seal  of  our  present  pastor,  Doctor 
James  Hoge,  are  highly  satisfactory  and  useful,  and  that  this  congregation  do  not 
consent  to  this  or  an}'  other  call." 

By  1838  the  population  of  Columbus  had  gi*uwn  to  some  six  thousand.  A 
large  emigration  had  been  received  from  New  England  and  the  East.  The  original 
settlers  were  chiefly  from  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  Their  social 
habits  and  tastes  were  not  the  same  as  those  of  the  later  comers*     Questions  had 


76lf  HiBTOEV  or  THB  City  of  CoLOMBns. 

ariHeii  in  the  I'rosbytonan  Church  in  tho  United  KtAtes  which  iiiflaeaced  the 
asHuciutioriH  ol'  men  in  religious  raatterB.  There  was  also  much  agitation  concero- 
ing  tuniperancti,  xlavory  and  other  questions  of  the  day.  It  was  witb  do  feeling  ef 
hostility  to  the  First  Cliurch  or  its  }iaator,  that,  in  the  begioning  of  1839,  a  second 
cliurch  was  formed  whoso  history  will  be  given  further  on.  Meaatime  the  First 
Church  pursued  its  way,  undiminished  in  ntirobera,  power  or  influeoce.  To  keep 
pace  with  the  improvements  in  the  rapidly  growing  city  it  was  thought  best  to 
make  atieiutlons  and  repairs  of  tho  cliurch  within  and  withoat.  It  wa8,  as  built, 
severely  plain.  Tlie  trustees  rejiorted  that  the  cost  of  the  propos«<l  alterations 
would  be  about  four  thousand  dollars.  The  actual  cost  was  over  tweoty  thousand 
dollars,  but  the  rosult  was  the  beautiful  building  with  it«  };raC6ful  spire  aod  sweet- 


toned    bell  whiuh   for  forty  years  has  been  a  tribute  to  the  taste  and  the  nerre 
of  the  First  Church,  for  it  is  needless  to  say  tliat  the  cost  was  speedily  paid. 

In  1850  Doctor  Hoge  was  selected  as  a  professor  of  theology  in  the  seminary 
which  the  Old  School  side  were  seeking  to  establish  in  Cincinnati,  and  which  now, 
ai^cr  many  vicissitudes,  is  represented  by  the  .McCormlck  Theological  Seminary  of 
Chicago.  He  felt  it  his  duty  to  accept  the  trust,  which  would  demand  about  half 
his  time.  This  led  to  a  proposal  by  Doctor  Hoge  that  the  congregation  should 
assent  to  his  accepting  the  professorship.  Tlie  action  of  the  church  was; 
"  Whereas,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hoge  has  made  known  his  desire  to  he  absent  from  his 
charge  one  bait'  of  his  time,  or  more,  r()r  the  next  year,  in  connection  with  the 
theological  seminary  at  Cincinnati,  Kesolved :  That  while  we  most  sincerely 
regret  such  ubsunce,  yet  out  of  regard  to  the  general  interest  of  the  church, 
and  particularly  i?i  complying  with  his  request,  this  congregation  hereby  expresi 


Presbyterian.  767 

their  assent  to  Doctor  Hoge's  proposal."     Signed  by  P.  B.  Wilcox,  Cbairman,  and 
J.  D.  Osborn,  Secretary. 

Messrs.  R.  W.  McCoy,  Thomas  Moodie  and  Joseph  Sullivant  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  correspond  with  and  recommend  a  suitable  pastor  to  supply  Doctor 
Hoge's  place.  The  result  was  a  call  to  the  Rev.  Josiah  D.  Smith,  then  pastor  of  the 
Church  at  Truro.  Messrs.  Thomas  Moodie,  Samuel  Galloway  and  Joseph  Sullivant 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  prosecute  the  call  before  the  Presbytery.  Mr.  Smith 
was  installed  in  December,  1850,  as  colleague  pastor  with  Doctor  Hoge.  He  served 
in  that  capacity  until  Juno,  1854,  when  he  took  charge  of  the  newlyformed  West, 
minster  Church.  The  Rev.  David  Hall  was  colleague  pastor  from  February,  1856, 
to  April,  1857. 

On  February  8,  1856,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  First  Church  was 
celebrated  with  appropriate  ceremony,  of  which  we  have  a  full  and  interest- 
ing account  from  the  pen  of  Joseph  Sullivant,  which  may  be  found  in  Wilson's 
Historical  Almanac  for  1863.  The  venerable  pastor  delivered  a  historical  address 
upon  the  occasion  from  which  we  have  gathered  many  of  the  facts  narrated  above 
as  to  the  early  history  of  the  church.  In  reviewing  the  half  century  of  the 
Church's  existence  he  says:  "Of  those  who  have  been  dismissed  nearly  two  hun- 
dred were  set  off  to  form  new  churches  in  the  town  or  its  neighborhood,  so  that  it 
had  been  a  mother  of  churches.  It  speak^^  well  for  pastor  and  people  that  he  can 
say  there  has  never  been  any  serious  dissension  in  the  congregation ;  peace  and 
harmony  have  generally  prevailed.  The  cases  of  discipline  have  been  very 
few  a^'.d  have  produced  no  permanent  injury.  Perhaps  twive  as  many  persons 
have  united  with  us  as  have  gone  from  this  church  to  others."  He  Hpeaks  of  the 
revivals,  especially  that  beginning  in  1807  which  continued  during  the  great- 
est part  of  two  years,  during  which  some  fifty  or  sixty  members  were  added 
by  profession  and  the  church  was  increased  fourfold.  '*  Taking  into  view," 
be  says,  **  the  number  who  were  in  the  congregation  as  hearers  of  the  Gospel, 
this  increase  is  seldom  witnessed  in  our  day;"  and  we  may  add  that  this  leaven 
of  the  Gospel  in  the  new  community  has  been  working  for  these  fourscore  years 
and  accounts  for  much  of  which  the  Colnmbu^  of  today  is  both  proud  and  grateful 
in  the  history  of  many  of  her  families. 

The  pastoral  relation  of  Doctor  Hoge  to  the  First  Church  was,  at  his  own 
request  and  with  the  reluctant  consent  of  his  congregation,  dissolved  by  the  PreS' 
bytery  of  Columbus  on  June  30,  1857»  He  was  then  seventy  three  years  of  age 
but  his  eye  was  not  dim  nor  his  natural  force  abated.  The  stripling  who  more 
than  half  a  century  before  had  laid  him  down  by  that  Virginia  spring  to  die  of 
hemorrhage  had  survived  all  those  who  first  welcomed  him  as  their  pastor,  and 
had  seen  the  little  village  rise  to  the  dimensions  of  an  important  citj*,  while  the 
church  which  for  so  many  years  had,  like  its  Master,  no  sheltering  roof  of  its  own, 
had  the  joy  of  children  and  children's  children.  The  influence  of  Doctor  Hoge 
was  not  limited  to  his  own  church  or  city.  He  was  the  father  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Columbus  and  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio.  He  was  a  frequent  commissioner  to  the 
General  Assembly,  in  which  he  was  always  a  power  for  good.  He  was  its  Moder- 
ator  in  1832.    In  1862,  on  the  initiation  of  the  First  Church,  the  Assembly  met  in 


MMOdMBd^^sMMMMMwritabirf- 


768  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

ColumbuH,  and  by  courtesy  of  the  legislature  —  a  testimonial  of  regard  for  Doctor 
Hogo  —  its  sessions  were  held  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives  in  the  Statehouse. 
Doctor  Hoge's  influence  was  felt  as  a  leader  in  all  measures  for  the  reformation  of 
morals,  the  advancement  of  education  and  the  promotion  of  charity.  He  taoght 
in  his  own  house  the  first  Sabbathschool  in  this  part  of  Ohio.  He  was  a  pioneer 
in  the  cause  of  temperance.  In  connection  with  Governor  Trimble,  at  that  time 
a  member  of  the  legislature,  he  drew  up  a  series  of  resolutions  on  the  subject  and 
secured,  in  addition  to  their  own,  the  names  of  seventeen  of  the  nnost  respectable 
citizens  of  the  town.  This  was  among  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  of  the  move- 
ments in  the  direction  of  associated  effort  for  temperance  reform  in  the  state.  He 
was  for  many  years  a  trustee  of  the  University  of  Ohio  and  of  the  Miami  Univer- 
sity. He  ardently  supported  the  common  school  system  which  was  first  intro- 
duced in  1825. 

Doctor  Hoge  was  the  real  founder  of  the  institution  for  the  education  of  deaf 
mutes,     lie  had  learned  of  the  success  of  the  school  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in 
teaching  these  unfortunates  to  read,  and  was  anxious  that  the  State  of  Ohio  should 
establish  a  similar  institution.     lie  appealed  to  prominent  members  of  the  legisla- 
ture, but  the  most  he  could  secure  was  permission  to  experiment  as  to  the  feasi- 
bility of  such  education.     Doctor  Hoge  selected  the   late  Horatio  N.  Hubbell,  a 
member  of  the  First  Church,  as  instructor.     The  result  was  an  entire  success.    The 
first  report  was  made  to  the  legislature,  December  8,  1827,  and  the  Ohio  Institu- 
tion for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  was  organized  in  1829.     Doctor  Hoge  was  a  trustee 
and  was  Secretary  of  the  Board  from  the  beginning  until  1848,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  Henry  L.  Hitchcock.      The  blind  also  excited  his    sympathies 
and  he  made  an  appeal  to  the  legislature  for  educational  facilities  for  them.     On 
March  10,  1836,  Doctor  Hoge,  Judge  N.  H.  Swayne  and  Doctor  William  M.  Awl, 
a  member  and  afterwards  an  elder  of  the  First  Church,  were  appointed    by  the 
legislature  a  committee  to  report  on  the  possibility  of  ameliorating  the  condition  of 
the  blind.    Their  report  was  made  in  December  of  the  same  year  and  resulted  in 
the  establishment  of  the  institution  for  the  blind,  of  which  Doctor  Hoge  was  one 
of  the  first  trustees.     The  school  wUs  opened  in  the  First  Church  July  4,  1837, 
with  ^va  pupils.     In  November  it  had  eleven  pupils — four  girls  and  seven  boys. 
Doctor  Hoge  was  also  largely  instrumental  in  the  organization  of  the  first  hospital 
for  the  insane,  of  which  Doctor  William  M.  Awl  was  the  first  superintendent, 
No  man  of  any  profession  in  the  city  of  Columbus  was  more  instrumental  than  he 
in  shaping  the  charitable  and  educational  policy  of  the  state.     His  home  was 
always  open  to  the  members  of  the  legislature  during  its  sessions,  and  his  church 
was  frequented  by  them  in   large   numbers.     The  influence  of  his  church  was  a 
power  for  good  throughout  the  state. 

As  we  bave  spoken  of  the  efficiency  of  Doctor  Hoge  and  leading  men  of  the 
First  Church  in  the  works  of  charity  and  reform  in  the  city  and  state,  it  is  but 
just  to  the  women  of  this  church  to  say  that  among  them  was  found  a  lar^e  pro- 
portion of  those  who  organized  the  Columbus  Female  Benevolent  Society,  which 
for  more  than  half  a  century  has  been  a  blessing  to  the  poor  of  the  city.     Mrs.  Dr. 


^  ■! 


^.   f  t- rCL^^t^lMt^t^^CZtPUj 


PRB-SBYTEBIAS,  7«9 

Hoge  was  iU  firet  Prvitident.  ani)  among  its  offii-i;r<  have  always  Itoen  found  many 
of  the  memliers  of  the  Firnt,  Second  and  Wi-MtmiiiHtor  Ohurt-het). 

After  the  resignation  of  I><K-Ii>r  Iloge  in  lS'i7,  the  First  Church  called  the 
Rev.  Edgar  Woods,  of  Wheeling,  Virginia,  who  was  installed  June  30,  IfST,  and 
resigned  February  27,  1862.  Mr.  Woodii  was  succeeileJ  by  the  Rev.  William  0. 
Roberts,  of  Wilmington,  Delaware,  who  was  insialled  November  11,  1862,  and 
resigned  December  20,  is»i4.  Mr.  Kobert^,  afierwanls  honored  with  the  titles  of 
D.  D.  and  LL.  D.,  wat  the  Moderator  of  the  (ienenil  Asoembly  of  ilie  Presbyterian 
Church  in  1H8».  He  was  stiececdcit  by  Rev.  William  Marshall,  who  was  installed 
iu  March,  1865,  and  resigneil  in  December,  lSi!9.  The  ehureh  was  without  a 
settled  pastor  Irom   the  resignation   of  Mr.  Marshall  until   the  summer  of  1)471. 


PRKSBHT  riBST  CUUR 
By  t^rmiulon 


Meanwhile  it  was  supplied.  Sabbath  by  Subbath,  by  eminent  preachers  fVum 
abroad.  Mr.  Robert  J.  Lnidlaw  was  eulluij  to  the  vacant  pulpit  and  was  ordained 
and  installed  September  12,  1871  During  his  pa-<torate  the  cliapel  and  Sunday- 
Bcbool  rooms  of  the  First  Church  were  built.  The  cornerstone  was  laid  October 
2, 1873.  The  credit  of  the  enterprise  is  rightly  given  chiefly  to  the  ladies  of  the 
charcb. 

Mr.  ^aidlaw  resigned  in  April,  1875,  to  acoupl  a  cull  to  the  JolTerson  Avenue 
Church  at  Detroit,  Michigan.  During  the  interval  between  the  resignation 
of  Mr.  Marshall  and  for  some  time  niter  the  departure  of  Mr.  Laidlaw,  the 
choir  of  the  First  Church  was  one  of  its  principal  attractions.  Mr.  Laiillaw  was 
succeeded  by  Rev.  £.  P.  Heberton,  who  was  installed  September  5,  1875,  and 
49 


770  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

renigncd  February  21,  1877.  Rev.  Willis  Lord,  D.  D.,  who  had  recently  resigned 
the  j)reHi<lency  of  Wooster  University,  nerved  the  church  as  stated  supply  for  two 
3'ears  and  a  half,  having  declined  installation  on  account  of  his  air*-*-  Doctor 
Lord  was  succeeded  December  21,  1880,  by  Rev.  John  W.  Bailej",  D.  D.,  recently 
the  I^resident  of  Blackburn  University,  Illinois.  Doctor  Bailey  resigned  in 
April,  1883.  Aft^r  a  brief  interval  Rev.  Francis  B.  Marsten  was  called  and  was 
installed  as  pastor  October  4,  1883. 

The  growth  of  the  city  eastward  and  the  removal  of  many   families  of  the 
congregation  in  that  <lirection  led  to  missionary  efforts  in  that  quarter,  and  the 
question  of  the  removal  of  the  First  Church  to  a  new  location  was  ag'itated.     The 
proposition    to  remove   found    many   advocates   in    the  congregation,    especially 
among  those  who  had  settled  beyond   Washington  Avenue.     But  old  associations 
and  attachments  are  not  easil}'  broken.     The  e<lifice  and  the  location    were  alike 
dear  to  many.     A   numerical   majority  favored  or  would  have  acquiesced   in  the 
removal,  but  the  weight  of  the  congregation  was  opposed  to  it  although  favoring 
the  establishment  of  a  new  church.     A  colony  therefore  went  out  with  tbe  bene- 
diction of  the  church.     Mr.  Marsten  resigned  the  pastorate  of  the  Fii^st  Church  id 
Se])tember,  1887,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  charge  of  the  new  enterprise,  and  was 
dismissed  by  the  Presbytery  October  17,  1887.     The  Rev.  John    C.     Watt    was 
installed  April  16,  1889.     When  called  to  Columbus  he  was  pastor  of  the  Fifth 
Church,  in    Cincinnati.     The   present  officers   (1892)   of  the  First  Church  are: 
Pastor,  Rev.  John   C.  Watt;  Elders,  James  S.  Abbott,   Alfred  Thomas,  George 
Morton,  William  Price,  B.  F.  Milligan  and  Foster  Copeland ;  Trustees,  James  S. 
Abbott,    George   M.  Parsons,    Alfred  Thomas,  P.    W.   Huntington  and     Foster 
Copeland. 

Second  Church. — The  organization  of  the  Second  Presbyterian    Church  was 
the  natural  outcome  of  the  growth  of  the  city.     By  the  beginning  of  1839  the 
First  Church  had  a  membership  of  333  in  full  communion  and  its  stated  congrega- 
tion quite  filled  its  house  of  worship.     Many  of  its  members  were  newcomers  from 
the  East  and  had  been  subjects  of  the  great  revivals  which  had  prevailed  there 
from  1830  onward.     So  far  as  they  were  of  Presbyterian  or  Congregational  antece- 
dents, they  united  with  the  First  Church  and  were  active  in   its  Sundajschool 
and  prayer  meetings.     The  need  of  another   church  organization    soon  became 
apparent,  all  the  more  so  from  the  feeling  of  the  newcomers  that  the  First  Church 
and  its  pastor  were  not  in  full  sympathy  with  the  revival  methods  and  measures 
in  which  they  had  been  trained  and  under  which  many  of  them  had  been  con- 
verted.    All  association  which  had  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  weekly  prayer 
and  conference  meetings  from  house  to  house  soon  took  the  form  of  a  society  for 
church   extension.     Its  members,  some  twentyeight  or  thirty  in  number,  were  for 
the  most  part  members  of  the  First  Church.     They  were  mainly  young  heads  of 
families,  and  wore  naturally  drawn  to  each  other.     The  idea  of  a  new  church 
gradually  took  shape.     Before,  however,  any  steps  for  organization    WW^  takeo, 
the  chief  movers  in  the  matter  addressed  a  loiter  to  the  session  of  the  First  Church 
through  Doctor  Hoge.     A  copy  of  this  letter  is  given  here  as  throwing  light  upon 
the  origin  of  the  Second  Church  and  the  spirit  of  its  founder. 


Presbyterian.  771 

Reverend  and  Dear  Sir^ — The  undersigned  members  of  your  church,  having  prayerfully 
considered  the  subject  have  been  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  cause  of  Christ  and  of  vital 
piety  would  be  beet  promoted  by  the  establishment  in  this  city  of  either  asecond  Presbyterian 
or  a  Congregational  Church,  and  that  it  is  our  duty  to  inform  you,  and  through  you  the  Session* 
of  our  intention  at  some  future  and  not  distant  day  to  apply  for  letters  of  dismission  with  a 
view  of  becoming  members  of  such  new  church  when  regularly  organized. 

In  making  this  communication  to  you  we  should  be  doing  injustice  to  our  own  feelings 
if  we  did  not  avail  ourselves  of  the  opportunity  to  express  in  the  warmest  terms  our  affection 
for  you  as  our  pastor,  and  our  undiminished  regard  for  your  character  as  a  Christian  instructor 
and  a  faithful  minister  of  the  Wonl  of  Gotl.  We  will  also  say,  that  we  cherish  none  but  the 
kindest  feelings  for  you  and  for  the  members  of  our  church,  both  individually  and  collec- 
tively. 

But,  as  from  the  nature  of  things  it  cannot  be  expected  that  one  church  can  much  longer 
accommodate  all  our  citizens  of  like  faith,  scattered  as  they  are  and  will  be  over  the  city  and 
the  adjacent  country  ;  and  as  it  is  not  expected  that  many  members  will  withdraw  from  your 
church,  and  in  consequence  there  can  be  no  probability  of  the  contemplated  movement 
deranging  your  operations  or  hindering  your  usefulness ;  and,  as  hundreds:  if  not  thousands 
of  our  citizens  at  present  attend  upon  no  religious  instruction,  and  there  is  great  reason  to 
hope  that  if  a  new  church  were  now  formed,  a  large  portion  of  this  class  would  by  this  means 
be  favorably  reached  and  operated  upon ;  and  especially,  as  we  hope  and  believe,  it  would 
be  the  means  of  disseminating  wider  and  farther  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  and  stir 
up  to  greater  activity  many  Christians  now  comparatively  inactive  and  be  the  means  of  doing 
much  good ;  we  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  our  duty  and  privilege  to  take  now  the 
necessary  steps  to  consummate  so  desirable  an  object. 

We  hope  and  believe  that  our  course  in  this  matter  will  give  no  offense  to  any  brother 
in  Christ,  or  be  the  occasion  of  disturbing  in  any  degree  the  harmony  which  has  hitherto 
prevailed  in  our  church.  In  point  of  doctrine  we  are  not  conscious  of  differing  with  you  in 
any  particular,  and  as  regards  the  questions  which  so  unhappily  divide  some  branches  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  we  earnestly  desire  to  avoid  all  controversy.  For  this  reason,  as  well 
as  on  account  of  our  former  predilections,  the  majority  uf  ns  would  prefer  a  Congregational 
Church  and  we  desire  to  organize  in  that  form.  With  sincere  and  affectionate  regards  yours 
in  Christ. 

To  Rev.  James  Hoge,  D.  D. 

On  January  29,  1836,  a  certificate  of  dismission  was  given  in  the  foiloW' 
ing  form : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Session  of  the  Presbyterian  (  hurch,  held  January  25,  1839,  the  fol* 
lowing  persons  having  expressed  their  intention  to  withdraw  from  this  church  and  form  a 
Congregational  Society,  were,  at  their  own  request,  released  from  their  relation  to  us,  and  it 
is  certified  that  at  the  time  of  making  this  request  they  were  in  good  standing  as  members: 
Alexander  H.  Warner,  Warren  Jenkins,  Thomas  B.  Gutter,  E.  N.  Slocum,  D.  Tuttle  and  wife, 
I.  G.  Dryer,  Andrew  Lee,  T.  C.  Bulter,  Junior,  John  Jones,  Samuel  Cutler,  William  Burdell, 
H.  N.  Hubbell,  Mrs.  H.  N.  Hubbell,  Miss  M.  J  Foster,  Mrs.  H.  N.  Cutler,  Mrs.  Eliza  Dryer, 
Miss  A.  C.  Foster,  Mrs.  Marion  Jenkins. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Session  held  February  9,  1839,  the  following  persons  were  in  like 
manner  added  to  the  above:  Abiel  Foster,  Junior,  Abiel  Foster,  Senior,  Susannah  Foster, 
Pamelia  J.  Foster,  Catharine  Foster,  Melissa  Cook,  Mary  A.  Robinson,  Sarah  Foster. 

By  order  of  Session,  James  Hoge,  Moderator. 

Prior  to  this,  on  January  22,  at  a  meeting  of  those  interested  it  was  resolved 
"  to  proceed  to  take  the  necessary  steps  to  organize  in  the  city  of  Columbus  a 
Congregational  church   and   as  soon  as   possible    to  procure   stated  preaching/' 


772  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

It  was  further  resolved  "  that  wo  are  unanimous  in  the  belief   of  the    doctriiicfl 
as  set  forth  in  the  Presbyterian  Confession  of  Faith,  and  more  particularly  in  the 
Shorter    Catechism,   and    that   when    wo   form   a   c.hurcli    these    standards    shall 
form  the  basis  or  foundation  of  our  organization.'*    In  pursuance   of  this  intent 
a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Baptist  Church  January  29,  and  it  was  resolved  *'ibat  we 
now  organize  ourselves  into  a  society  to  be  called  the  First  Congregational  Soi-ietj  of 
tiie  City  of  Columbus."    Horatio  N.  Ilubbell,  Abiel  Foster,  Junior,   and   Warren 
Jenkins,  were  chosen  trustees  and  were  instructed  to  procure  an  act  of  incorpora- 
tion and  to  secure  a   room  for  public  worship.     By    the    next    Sabhath    a    room 
18x3G  feet  was  secured  in  a  onestory  frame  building  fronting  on  Uich  Street,  back 
oi  the  northeast  corner  of  Rich  and   High.     Seats  were  secured,  a   pulpit  extcm- 
])orized,   and    there,  on  the  first   Sabbath    in    February,  they    met    for    worship. 
Mr.  Stephen  Topliif,  a  licentiate,  conducted  the  services.     On  the  following  Sab- 
bath   the  Sundayschool  was   opened    with   sixteen    teachers  and    pixty    scholars. 
Abiel  Foster,  Junior,  was  its  superintendent. 

The  original  intent,   as   seen   above,   was   to  organize   as   a    Congivg'ational 
Church,  but  on  the  advice  of  Doctors  Hoge  and  Lyman  Beecher  this  purpose  was 
abandoned  an<l  it  was  decided  to  change  the  name  of  the  society  and  organize 
under  that  of  Second  Presbyterian  Society  of  the  City  of  Columbus,  and  that  the 
church    when    formed    should  bo  called  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
City  of  Columbus.      The  church  was  organized  March  3,  1839,  by  Rev.   Lyman 
Beecher,   1).  D  ,   Rev.  Charles  M.  Putnam,  of  Jersey,   Ohio,   and    Rev.    William 
Beecher,  of  Putnam,  Ohio.     In  addition  to  those  dismissed  from  the  First  Church, 
Alexander  A.  Stewart,  Horace  Lord,  Jonathan  L.  Preston  and  Sarah  Maria  Cook 
were  received  on  profession  of  their  faith,  making  thirtyone  in  all.     Four  elders 
were   chosen :     Abiel  Foster  and  T.  C.  Butler,  Junior,  to  serve  two  years,   and 
Horatio  N.  Hubbell  and  Warren  Jenkins  to  serve  one  3'ear.     The  church  at  the 
beginning  adopted  the  principle  of  **  term  service,"  electing  its  elders  and  deacons 
for  the  term  of  three  years.     In  all  cases  they  have  been  reelected  if  willing  to  serve. 

Owing  to  the  recent  division,  in  May,  1838,  of  the  Presbyterian  Charch  into 
two  assemblies  known  respectively  as  Old  School  and  New  School,  the  church 
assumed  an  independent  position.  In  its  internal  organization  it  was  thoroughly 
Presbyterian  but  owned  no  subjection  to  Presbytery,  Synod  or  General  Assembly. 
Its  affinities,  were,  however,  avowedly  with  the  New  School.  Its  pastors  were 
members  of  Presbytery  and  were  installed  or  dismissed  by  it.  It  contributed  to  all 
the  schemes  of  benevolence  of  the  New  School  Assembly.  This  disposition  as  an 
independent  Presbyterian  Church  it  maintained  until  April,  1863,  when,  at  its  own 
request,  it  was  received  under  the  care  of  the  Franklin  Presbytery.  On  March 
18,  1839,  a  charter  was  procured  from  the  legislature  by  an  act  which  passed  that 
body  "  to  incorporate  the  Second  Presbyterian  Society  of  Columbus,''  as  fol- 
lows : 

Section  1.  That  Abiel  Foster,  H.  N.  Hubbell,  A lexaiuler  H.  Warner,  Thomas  D.  Cat* 
ler,  Samuel  Cutler  Edward  N.  Slocum,  Daniel  Tuttle,  Isban  G.  Dryer,  Alexander  A.  Stew« 
wart,  T.  C.  Butler,  Junior,  Andrew  Lee,  John  Jones,  William  Burdell,  A.  Curtis  and  R. 
White  and  their  associates  and  successors  be  and  they  are  hereby  incorporated  into  a  bodf 


Presbyterian.  773 

corporate  and  politic,  tinder  the  name  and  style  of  "  The  Second  Presbyterian  Society  of 
the  City  of  Columbus/'  and  as  such  shall  enjoy  and  be  subject  to  all  and  singular  the  pro- 
visions of  an  act  entitled  an  act  in  relation  to  incorporated  religious  societies  passed  March 
5,  1836. 

Skction  2.  Ten  days  notice  shall  be  given  by  the  abovenamed  individuals  or  a  majority 
of  them,  of  their  intention  to  hold  their  first  meeting  under  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Under  this  charter  the.  society  was  organized  April  24,  1839.  Horutio  N. 
Hubbell,  Warren  Jenkins  and  Alexander  H.  Warner  were  elected  trustees  and 
directed  to  secure  a  lot  and  take  measures  for  the  erection,  of  a  church  as 
soon  as  practicable.  The  lot  selected  was  on  the  west  side  of  Third  Street,  between 
Rich  and  Friend,  now  Main.  Ground  was  broken  on  September  29,  1839,  and  on 
Christ ma.s  day  the  lecture  room  in  the  basement  was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of 
God.  The  buildint^,  afterwards  enlarged,  is  that  now  occupied  by  the  Third 
Street  Methodist  Church.  Its  cost,  including  the  lot,  was  $14,000.  A  little  more 
than  oncthird  of  the  cost  was  raised  at  the  outset.  The  final  payment  was  not 
reached  until  the  tenth  anniversary'  of  the  organization  of  the  church,  in  March, 
1849.  The  original  subscription  list,  dated  September  10,  1839,  is  here  appended 
as  containing  the  names  of  many  of  our  citizens,  most  of  whom  have  passed  away: 

We,  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed,  agree  to  pay  the  sum  set  opposite  our 
names  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Society  of  Columbus,  onefourth  in  sixty 
days,  onefourth  in  ninety  days  and  the  remaining  half  on  demand  after  the  first  day  of 
April  next ;  this  subscription  being  designed  to  aid  the  society  in  paying  for  a  lot  and  erect- 
ing a  house  for  public  worship  thereon,  and  it  being  one  of  the  conditions  thereof  that  all 
sums  subsi-ribed  and  paid  shall  entitle  the  person  paying  to  a  receipt,  which  receipt  shall 
entitle  the  holder  to  a  credit  for  the  amount  in  payment  of  any  pew  or  pews  he  may  pur- 
chase in  such  house. 

The  names  attached  to  this  pledge  were  as  follows,  the  figures  accompanying 
each  one  signifying  the  number  of  dolhirs  subscribed  : 

H.  N.  Hubbell  1.000,  Warren  Jenkins  300,  Alexander  H.  Warner  300,  E.  N.  Slqcum  250, 
Abiel  Foster,  Junior  100,  Thomas  B.  Cutler  150,  T.  C.  Butler,  Junior  150,  John  Jones  50, 1.  G. 
Dryer  150,  J.  S.  Hall  100,  J.  L.  Preston  50,  J.  K.  Swan  50,  B.  I^tham  25,  John  Greenwood  20, 
C.  Fay  2.1,  A.  P.  Stone  30.  C.  Heyl  20,  John  French  20,  Asa  Gregory  50,  H.  Baldwin  30',  John 
C.  Wirt  20,  J.  Ridgway  25,  William  Miner  50.  T.  H.  Miner  10,  P.  B.  Wilcox  250,  Isaac  Dalton 
100,  C.  Runyon  50,  E.  Case  150,  D.  C  Judd  50,  William  Burdell  100,  Samuel  Crosby  150,  Wil- 
liam ]x>ng  25,  E.  Treecott  Junior  50,  James  Cherry  25,  A.  Buttles  25,  George  Elphinstone  10, 
A.  Statts  10,  H.  F.  Huntington  10,  I.  Graham  20,  H.  Brown  50.  L.  J.  Burr  20,  Jacob  Boswell 
20.  J.  Turney  20.  Frederick  Bentz  20,  William  Amos  10,  S.  McEWain  5,  George  Krauss  10, 
John  Funston  10,  John  McElvain  25,  Amos  S.  Ramsey  100,  Charles  S.  Decker  10,  Robert  Mil- 
ton 20,  Thomas  Wood  5,  George  W.  Slocum  5,  Joseph  P.  Brooks  5,  L.  McCullough  20,  William 
L.  Casey  20.  M.  W.  Hopkins  75,  J.  C.  Achison  20,  Mr.  Kelsey  10,  Samuel  Pike  10,  J.  Hunter 
25,  cash  5,  Henry  Glover  5,  P.  Hayden  20,  Samuel  Black  2,  Horace  Lord  150,  H.  Wood  50; 
total  subscribed  $4,747. 

Less  than  three  weeks  after  the  organization  of  the  church  it  gave  a  call  to 
Rev.  Henry  L.  Hitchcock,  which  ho  declined.  Rev.  George  S.  Board  man,  of 
Rochester,  New  York,  having  leave  of  absence  from  his  church,  devoted  six 
months,  from  November  to  Maj',  to  the  work  of  building  up  the  infant  church. 
In  that  time  fifty  additions  were  made  to  its  membership  which  was  more  than 


774  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

doubled.  Meanwhile  the  church  building  had  been  completed,  and  on  April  10, 
1840,  it  was  dedicated.  A  pressing  call  to  its  pastorate  was  declined  by  Doctor 
Board  man,  whereupon  the  church  at  once  renewed  its  call  to  Mr.  Hitchcock,  who, 
on  May  10,  began  his  ministry  in  the  Second  Church.  He  was  installed  as  pastor 
by  the  Presbytery  of  Marion,  afterwards  Franklin,  November  21,  1841. 

Henry  L.  Hitchcock,  the  first  settled  pastor  of  the  Second  Church,  was  a  son 
of  Hon.  Peter  Hitchcock,  long  a  distinguished  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Ohio.     He  was  a  graduate  ^1832)  of  Yale  College  and  of  Lane  Theological  Sem- 
inary.    He  was  a  preacher  of  great  ability  and  a  most  efficient  pastor.     Through 
his  personal  influence  many  additions  to  the  congregation  were  made.     In  1850 
the  churcfh  was  enlarged  at  a  cost  of  $2,500.     By  this  time  the  population  of  the 
city  was  17,882.     The  effect  of  the  railways  then  just  being  opened,   in   drawini^ 
the  population  northward,  was  obvious  to  Mr.  Hitchcock.     He  therefore  ur^ed  the 
building  of  ii  new  church  for  a  new  congregation  north  of  Broad  Street.     The  soci- 
ety accordingly,  in  the  summer  of  1852,  built  a  frame  church  on  the  east  side  of 
Third  Street,  between  Broad  and  Gay,  on   the  lot  now  occupied  by  the  residence 
of  Robert  Smith.     It  was  agreed  that  the  congregation  should  be  divided  geo- 
graphically by  Broad  Street. 

On  September  25,  1853,  fortytwo  members  of  the  Second  Church  were  dismiss- 
ed to  form  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church.     Among  those  set  off  were  two  elders 
of  the  Second  Church  and  others  who  have  long  been  recognized  as   leaders  in 
the    Congregational    Church.      This  movement  was  purely  in   the   interests   of 
church  extension  in  the  city — "to  create  a  new  center  of  influence  from  which 
other  parts  of  the  city  might  be  reached  and  by  which  the  increased  Christian 
activity  of  a  large  number  both  in  the  old  church  and  the  new,  might  be  secured." 
The  colony  thus  sent  forth  with  the  benediction  of  the  Church  "  was  organized  in 
the  house  erected  for  its  use  by  the  Second  Presbyterian  Society,  on  Sunday  even- 
ing, September  26,  1852;  a  constitution,  confession  of  faith  and  form  of  covenant 
having  been  adopted  varying  unessentially  from  those  of  the  Second  Church.*' 
Warren  Jenkins,  M.  B.  Batcham  and  John  W.  Hamilton,  M.  D.,  were  installed  as 
ruling  elders.     Rev.  William  H.  Marble  took  charge  of  the  new  congregation  and 
was  installed   by  the  Presbytery  of  Marion,  in  1853.     In  the  fall  of  1856  this 
church  changed  its  form  of  government  and   became  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Columbus.     At  the  time  of  the  sending  forth  of  this  colony  the  mem- 
bership of  the  Second  Church  numbered  245.     The  growth  of  the  cit}"  was  rapid 
and  the  church  shared  in  that  growth.     By  1853,  after  all  deductions  of  those  dis- 
missed to  form  the  Third  Church,  and  of  those  stricken  from  the  roll  as  unknown, 
etc.,  the  number  on  the  roll  was  225.     The  year  1853  was  marked  by  great  ingath- 
ering.    Sixtyone  were  added  to  the  Second  Church,  and  sixtyfive  to  the  Third. 
Large  additions  were  made  also  to  the  First  Church. 

Early  in  1855  Mr.  Hitchcock,  on  whom  the  honorary  degree  of  D.  D.  was  con- 
ferred that  year  by  Williams  College,  was  elected  to  the  Presidency  of  the  College 
of  the  Western  Reserve.  This  call  he  accepted ;  he  was  therefore  dismissed  Sep- 
tember 4,  185.1,  after  a  pastorate  of  fifteen  years.  Doctor  Hitchcock  exerted 
during  his  ministry  here  an  influence  upon  the  community  second  only  to  that  of 


PRESBYTEaiAN.  775 

Doctor  Hoge.  He  was  greatly  blessed  in  the  number  of  influential  men  who  gath- 
ered around  him  as  elders  and  trustees.  He  died  at  Hudson,  Ohio,  July  6,  1873, 
in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age. 

In  September,  1855,  the  church  gave  a  unanimous  call  to  the  Rev.  Edward  D. 
Morris,  then  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Auburn,  New  York. 
The  call  was  accepted  and  he  began  his  work  on  the  last  Sabbath  in  September, 
1855.  Ho  was  installed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Franklin  January  2,  1856.  Mr. 
Morris  graduated  at  Yale  in  1849  and  pursued  his  theological  studies  in  Auburn, 
New  York.  The  degree  of  D.  D.  was  conferred  on  him  by  Hamilton  College  in 
1863. 

Tiie  church,  already  once  enlarged  and  depleted  by  the  formation  of  the  Third 
Church,  was  found  to  be  too  small.  The  location  also  began  to  be  unfavorable. 
The  growth  of  the  city  was  increasing  northward  and  not  southward.  It  was 
deemed  best  to  build  anew  and  in  another  location.  Daniel  T.  Woodbur}^  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  offered  as  a  free  gift,  conditioned  only  on  the  building  of  a  new 
church,  the  lot  on  South  Third  Street  on  which  the  church  now  stands.  The  lot 
was  valued  at  $4,000.  It  was  resolved  to  build.  A.  P.  Stone,  John  S.  Hall, 
Charles  Baker,  Benjamin  S.  Brown,  C.  P.  L.  Butler,  J.  M.  McCune,  Daniel  T. 
Woodbury  and  Henry  D.  Carrington  were  appointed  members  of  the  building 
committee.  The  plans  of  the  architect,  Sydney  M.  Stone,  were  approved.  The 
estimated  cost  of  the  building  was  $35,000.  A  subscription  of  $20, 000  was  secured. 
This,  with  the  sale  of  the  old  church,  it  was  estimated  would  be  sufficient.  The 
work  was  begun  April  27,  1857,  but  many  delays  occurred  through  such  contingen- 
cies as  the  breaking  of  the  canals,  hindering  the  supply  of  stone,  and  the  failure 
of  the  contractors  making  it  necessary  that  the  building  committee  should  assume 
their  responsibilities.  The  chapel  was  dedicated  April  15,  1859,  and  the  church 
July  1, 1860.  The  building  thus  erected  was,  in  all,  145  feet  in  length  by  62^  in 
width  and  76  in  height  to  the  gables.  The  height  of  the  northwest  tower,  includ- 
ing the  steeple,  was  188  feet;  that  of  the  southwest  tower  109  feet.  The  audience 
room  was  97  x  60,  and  was  fort^'oight  feet  high.  The  chapel  for  Sunday  school 
and  conference  purposes,  was  60  x  48  and  two  stories  in  height.  The  building  had 
cost  nearly  twice  the  original  estimate,  owing  in  part  to  the  change  of  material 
from  brick  to  stone,  and  in  part  to  the  causes  named  above.  The  debt  at  the  close 
of  1860  was  $35,000.  In  1861,  $20,000  of  this  was  paid  ;  by  1864,  the  quarter- 
centennial  ot  the  church,  the  debt  and  interest  amounted  still  to  $18,000,  which 
was  then  pledged  and  paid. 

Doctor  Morris's  pastorate  continued  for  twelve  years,  closing  with  the  last 
Sabbath  of  December,  1867.  It  covered  the  stormy  period  of  the  Civil  War  of 
1861-65.  But  the  church  was  of  one  mind  and  one  heart  as  to  the  issues  then 
under  the  discussion  of  the  sword.  It  enjoyed  profound  peace.  Many  of  its 
members  were  in  the  field,  and  of  these  several  laid  down  their  lives.  Its  mem- 
bers were  active  and  efficient  in  all  the  works  of  Christian  charity  which  the  sick, 
the  wounded  and  the  prisoner  demanded  of  Columbus  in  no  stinted  measure. 
Doctor  Morris  resigned  his  pastorate  in  the  Second  Church  to  accept  the  profes- 
sorship of  Ecclesiastical  History  and  Church  polity  in  Lane  Theological  Seminary 


776  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

at  Cincinnati.  He  wa8  succeeded  at  once  by  Rev.  John  F.  Kendall,  pastor  of  the 
Preftbjterian  Church  at  BaMwinsville,  New  York.  Mr.  KendaH  iv^as  a  graduate 
of  Hamilton  College  and  of  Auburn  Theolofl:ical  Seminary.  He  received  the 
degree  of  D.  D.  from  WabaHh  College  in  1870. 

I)o<-tor  Kendall's  jiastorate  extended   fnim  the  beginning  of  1868    to  April, 
1871.     It  was  a  period  of  many  changes  in  the  busineas  commonity   growing  oat 
of  adjustments  entailed  by  the  close  of  the  war  and  the  depreciation  of  an  inflated 
currency.     During  Doctor  Kendall's  ministry  the  bell  which  for  more  than  twenty 
years  had  tolled  out  the  alarm  in  case  of  fire  was  purchased  by  the  society  and 
hung  in  the  tall  northwest  steeple.     On  May  5,  1887,  during  a  violent  storm,  the 
steeple  was  blown  down,  but  the  bell,  which  was  the  chief  object  of  solicitude,  was 
found  to  be  uninjure<]  and  was  restored  af\or  a  few  months  to  its  place  in  a  belfry 
quite  as  useful  if  less  pretentious.     The  interest  of  the  firemen  in  its  restoration  is 
shown  by  a  subscription  of  $410  secured  by  them  for  that  purpose.      For  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  it  has  been  usi*d  in  sounding  the  alarms  of  fire. 

During  the  pastorate  of  Doctor  Kendall  the  reunion  of  the  Old  and  Xew 
School   Presbyterian   assemblies  took   place.      The  reconstructed    Presbytery   of 
Columbus  met  and  was  organized  in  the  Second  Church  July  11,  1870,  and  on  the 
following  day  the  Synod   of  Columbus  was  organized  in  the  same  church  ;  and  sf) 
the  breach  of  thirty  years  was   fullv  healed,  and    whatever   traces    of  distrust 
between  the  Presb\'terian  churches  may  have  lingered  was  wiped  out.     Only  the 
anomalous  position  of  two  great  churches  with  but  a  street  between  remains  to 
recall  the  sad  fact  that  there  were  days  when  ecclesiastically  "  the  Jews  had  no 
dealings  with  the  Samaritans."     The  last  traces  of  the  independency  of  the  Second 
Church  were  removed  by  the  action  of  the  church  April  2,  1870,  conforminir  its 
constitution  in  all  things  to  the  form  of  govenmeni  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States. 

Doctor  Kendall  resigned  his  ]>astorate  in  February,  1871.  The  pulpit  was 
vacant  for  a  year  —  the  only  real  vacancy  in  its  history.  On  February  22,  1872, 
it  gave  a  unanimous  call  to  Rev.  William  E.  Moore,  then  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  at  Westchester,  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Moore  was  born  in  Lancas- 
ter County,  graduate<l  at  Yale  College  in  1847,  and  received  the  degree  of  D.  I), 
from  Marietta  College  in  1873,  and  that  of  LL.  D.  from  Lake  Forest  University 
in  1891.  Doctor  Moore  entered  on  his  pastorate  in  April,  1872,  and  was  installed 
by  the  Presbytery  of  Columbus,  October  30,  of  that  year.  The  elders  of  the 
church  at  that  time  were  Kbonezor  McDonald,  Chauncey  N.  Olds,  George  L.  Smoadt 
Kaymond  Burr,  John  J.  Person,  and  Alfred  Ritson.  The  trustees  wore  Alexan- 
der Houston,  Charles  Baker,  L.  S.  Ayors,  Alfred  Ritson,  and  Nathan  B.  Marple. 
The  church  meinhershi])  was  264.  In  the  summer  of  1872.  the  audience  room  wiis 
thoroughly  renovated  and  carpeted  at  aii  expense  of  about  $6,000.  The  next  year 
the  chapel  was  similarly  treated  at  a  cost  SI, 500.  In  the  spring  of  1874,  the  house 
at  Number  122  Enst  Stale  Street  was  purchased  for  a  parsonage  at  a  cost  of 
$10,000.  Few  further  changes  were  made  in  the  church  property  until  1882, 
when  the  church  and  chapel  were  frescoed  and  changes  were  made  in  the  east 
end  of  the  church  to  provide  room  for  a  new  organ,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Caroline  M.  Fer- 


Pkbrbttbrian. 


From  "  Alter  Blgtaiy  Veani."  by  Bev.  F,  K   Mt 


778  IIlSTORV   OP   THE   CiTV   OF   CoLUMBUS. 

Bon,  asa  memorial  of  her  liaHbandf  John  J.  Person,  who  was  an  elder  of  the  Second 
Church  from  1H08  until  his  death  January  4,  1879.  The  great  palpit,  a  marvel  of 
beauty  for  its  nymmetry  of  design  and  elegance  of  workmanship,  ^ras  superseded 
by  a  platform  and  desk.  The  total  cost  of  these  improvements  was  $8,881.  The 
church  grew  steadily  in  numbers  and  in  influence. 

The  phenomenal  growth  of  the  eastern  and  northern  portions  of  the  city,  and 
the  building  of  new  churches  began,  about  1887,  to  draw  on  the  membership  of 
the  Second  Church,  as  also  of  the  First.  In  1885  many  of  the  Second  Church 
members  were  found  north  of  the  railway  tracks,  and  a  mission  vras  established 
on  High  Street,  near  Fourth  Avenue,  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a 
church  further  north  at  no  distant  day.  A  large  Sabbathschool  was  ^tbered  and 
preaching  services  held  in  the  afternoon  were  largely  attended.  In  February, 
1887,  this  mishion  wa.**  united  with  the  Hoge  Church  to  form  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church.  To  this  organization  the  Second  Church  contributed 
thirtytwo  of  its  members,  including  two  of  its  elders  and  two  deacons. 

In  September,  1887,  the  Broad  Street  Presbyterian  Church  at  the  corner  of 
Garfield  Avenue,  was  organized.    Fort\'8ix  members  of  the  Second  Church,  includ- 
ing two  of  it.s  elders  and   two  deacons,  were  dismissed  to  unite  with   this  church. 
Others   of  the   Second  Church    members    have    united    with     churches    in    their 
immediate  neighborhood.     Its  membership,  after  all  these  deductions,  is  (1892)  520. 

The  Second  Church,  like  the  First,  has  always  been  influential  in  all  matters 
of  public   concern    pertaining   to   education,    morals  and  benevolence.     Its  large 
audienceroom  has  been  the  favorite  gatheringplace  of  conventions  on  behalf  of  the 
Hible,  the  Sabbath,  temperance  and  other  moral  reforms.     The  American  Board  of 
Commissioners   for   Foreign    Missions   held    its   annual    meeting   there.      It    has 
furnished  from  its  officers  and  members  two  presidents  of  colleges,  three  professors 
in  theological  seminaries,  ten  principals  for  institutions  for  deaf  mutes,  four  prin- 
cipals  for  iristitutions  for   the  blind,  and  many  prominent  teachers  in  public  and 
private  schools.     Nino  of  its  sons  have  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.     Two  of  its  pastors  have  been  Moderators  of  the  General  Assembly  — 
Rev.  Dr.  Morris  in    1875  and  Rev.  Br.  Moore  in   1890.     The  present  officers  of 
the  Second  Church  are:      Pastor,  Rev.  William  E.  Moore,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. ;    Elders, 
David   E.   Putnam,  David  N.  Kinsman,  M.  D.,    Edgar  T.  Thompson,   J.    Wendell 
Cole,  J.  Edward  McCarty,  Z.  F.  Guerin,  M.  D.»,  William  Hughes,  John  C.  Hanna 
and  Wilson  C.  Buchanan  ;  Trustees,  Charles  Baker,  William  G.  Dunn,  S.  C.  Bailey, 
M.  D.,  John  W.  Li  I  ley  and  George  S.  Peters. 

Westminster  Church.  —The  Westminster  Church  is  a  colonv  of  the  First  Pred- 
byterian  Church.  In  the  month  of  December,  1850,  Rev.  Josiah  D.  Smith, 
who,  since  1841,  iiad  been  pastor  of  the  Churches  of  Truro  and  Hamilton,  was 
installed  as  colleague  pastor  of  the  First  Church  and  at  once  took  place  among  the 
first  as  a  pastor  and  preaelier.  The  First  Church  was  full  and  strong.  It 
had  been  greatly  strengthened  by  the  revivals  of  1853.  In  the  spring  of  1854 
it  was  thought  bi'st  to  organize  another  church  with  Mr.  Smith  as  its  pastor. 
Fiftynine  nicuibcrs  of  the  First  Church,  with  its  full  approval,  petitioned  the  Pres- 
bytery to  organize  them  into  a    church.     The  request  was  granted  and  a  com- 


I 

J 


Prebbttbrian.  779 

mittee  of  the  Presbytery  appointed  in  April,  1854,  which  reported  to  the  Pres- 
bytery July  3,  1854,  that  on  June  1  it  had  organized  "  the  Westminster  Pres- 
byterian Church."  At  that  meeting  a  call  was  presented  to  Mr.  Smith,  who 
accepted  and  was  installed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Columbus  September  7,  1854.  Its 
first  elders  were  William  Blynn  and  John  Y.  Cowhick.  The  congregation  wor- 
shipped in  the  umphilheatro  of  the  Starling  Medical  College  for  some  three  years, 
until  the  completion  of  their  house  for  worship  in  August,  1857.  Its  growth  was 
rapid.  Its  pastor  was  popular  and  its  congregation  included  many  of  the  younger 
and  most  active  families  of  the  First  Church.  Among  them  were  such  men  as 
Samuel  Galloway,  Henry  C.  Noble,  Judge  J.  W.  Baldwin,  David  Taylor  and 
Thomas  Mood3\  By  the  time  the  church  entered  on  its  new  homo  its  number  of 
communicants  was  more  than  doubled  and  its  congregation  fairly  filled  the  house, 
the  seating  capacity  of  which  is  about  five  hundred.  The  cost  of  the  building, 
exclusive  of  the  tower,  was  $16,000.  The  death  of  Doctor  Smith  on  May  29,  1863, 
was  a  great  loss  to  the  church  and  the  city.  Ho  was  in  the  fortyeighth  year  of  his 
age  and  in  the  prime  of  his  usefulness.  He  had  already  come  to  occupy  the  place 
in  his  denomination  and  in  the  city  which  had  so  long  been  accorded  to  the  vener- 
able Doctor  Hoge,  who,  six  months  later,  followed  him  in  death. 

On  November  17,  Henry  M.  McCracken  was  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor 
of  Westminster.  He  continued  in  that  office  until  July  9,  1867,  when  he  was 
released  from  his  charge  and  became  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Toledo,  Ohio.  He  is  now  (1892)  Vice  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  New  York. 
Doctor  McCracken  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Henry  M.  Robertson  who  was  installed 
October  16,  1867,  and  was  released  from  his  charge  July  14,  1870.  For  nearly  two 
years  the  church  which  had  suffered  very  greatly  from  deaths  and  removals,  was 
without  a  regular  pastor.  It  was,  however,  supplied  witii  stated  preaching  —  a 
large  part  of  the  time  by  the  late  Professor  B.  B.  Andrews,  then  a  resident  of  Co- 
lumbus. 

Mr.  Rob  Roy  McG.  McNulty  was  ordained  and  installed  November  11,  1872. 
He  resigned  October  25,  1875.  Mr.  McNulty  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Stephen 
G.  Hopkins,  who  was  installed  May  9,  1876,  and  continued  in  the  pastoral  ofiice 
until  December  9,  1879.  After  a  vacancy  of  two  years,  in  which,  however,  regular 
services  were  maintained.  Rev.  Nathan  S.  Smith,  D.  D.,  was  installed  April  20, 
1882.  Under  the  ministry  of  Doctor  Smith  the  church  has  grown  steadily.  Its 
building  has  been  thoroughly  renovated  and  handsomely  decorated.  All  indebted- 
ness has  been  removed.  Its  pastor  was  a  soldier  during  the  Civil  War  and  holds  a 
prominent  place  in  Grand  Army  circles.  Westminster  Church  has  always  been 
noted  for  the  devotion  of  its  members  to  their  church  and  to  every  good  cause  at 
home  and  abroad. 

Hoge  Church.  —  In  1868  a  mission  of  the  First  Church  was  established  on 
Park  Street  at  the  corner  of  Spruce.  A  lot  was  procured  and  a  very  comfortable 
frame  church  with  tower  and  bell  was  provided  by  the  First  Church.  At  first  it 
was  known  as  the  Hoge  Chapel  and  was  sustained  by  the  parent  church.  In 
April^  1870,  it  was  enrolled  by  the  Presbytery,  having  been  organized  on  January 
22,  with  twenty  members.     Its  elders  wore  Warren  Jenkins  and  Joseph  C.  Noycs. 


780  HlSTOBY   OF  THE    ClTY   OF   C0LCMBU8, 

Within  the  year  its  mcmberHhip  more  tlian  doubled  in  number.      The  Rev.  J.  C. 
Tidball  wan  the  chief  instraraent  in  /gathering  and  organizing  the   charch.     He 
waH  a  gocxl  man  and  ]»eculiarly  fitted  for  the  work  he  undertook.      His  health   was 
frail    and    he    died    November    10,    1870,    aged    thirtysix.     Al\er   the    death   of 
Mr.  Tidball  the    church  was  supplied  for  a  year  by  Rev.   David   Kingery.     On 
April    IS,  1872,  Mr.  John    M.   Richmond  was  ordained  and  installed    as  pastor. 
Mr.  Richmond  was  a  faithful  and  laborious  pastor,  a  good  preacher  and  popular 
with  the  j)eo])le.     Under  bin  ministry  large  additions  were  made  to  the  eomrnanion 
of  the  church.     An  addition   was  built  for  lecture  and  Sabbathschooi    purposes, 
and  the  house  was  thoroughly  renovated.     The   number  of  comniunicaDt.s    had 
increased   to  142    in    1876    when    Mr.   Richmond    was   called    to    the    charch    at 
Ypsilanti,  Michigan.     He  was  released  from  the  charge  of  Hoge  Church  October 
4,   1876.     Mr.,  afterwards    Doctor,  Richmond   was    succeeded    by  Rev.  J.    Frank 
Hamilton,  who  was  installed   May  10,  1877.     He  continued  in  the  charge  until 
April  5,  1881.     On  October  25,  1881,  a  call  was  given  to  Rev.  David  R.  Colmery. 
He    was  installed  January    10,   1882,  and   on    account   of  declining    health    was 
released  from  his  charge  September  21, 1886. 

Although  comparatively  large  additions  were  made  year  by  year,  especially 
under  the  ministry  of  Messrs.  Richmond,  Hamilton  and  Colmery,  the  net  growth 
was  small  owing  to  the  frequent  removals  of  a  shifting  population.  The  encroach- 
ment of  the  railway  yards  on  the  territory  nearest  the  church  and  the  removals 
of  many  of  its  permanent  members  northward  and  eastward,  had  made  the  loca- 
tion of  the  church  an  undesirable  one,  giving  little  promise  of  growth.  The 
question  of  removal  northward  began  to  be  agitated.  In  1885  the  Second  Church 
had  planted  a  Sundayschool  and  mission  on  High  Street  near  Fourth  Avenue, 
occupying  a  vacant  storeroom,  its  ultimate  purpose  was  to  build  a  chapel  and 
organize  a  church  further  north  on  High  Street,  but  when  the  Hoge  Church  was 
made  vacant  by  the  removal  of  Mr.  Colmery,  a  proposition  was  made  by  it  to 
unite  with  the  mission  of  the  Second  Church  and  form  a  new  organization.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  Presbytery  in  April,  1887.  the  congregation  of  the  Hoge  Church 
asked  the  Presbytery  to  change  its  name  to  the  **  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church," 
the  court  having  given  its  assent.  This  was  a  ])art  of  the  agreement  with  the 
mission  of  the  Second  Church  by  which  the  congregation  of  Hoge  Church  sold  its 
house  of  worship,  which  it  had  occupied  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  united  in  the 
purchase  of  a  lot  for  the  new  church  on  Fifth  Avenue,  west  of  High,  whence  the 
now  name.  The  elders  of  Hoge  Church  at  the  time  of  the  reorganization  were 
Z.  F.  (iuerin,  M.  1).,  Rowland  Vance  and  VVillard  B.  Carpenter,  M.  D.  Its  trustees 
were  Z.  F.  Guerin,  Willard  B.  Carpenter,  Ephraim  Harris  and  William  S.  Sackett. 

Fifth  Avrrun'.  Chnrrh  — Reference  has  been  made  under  the  history  of  the 
Hoge  Church  to  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  sale  of  its  property  on  Park 
Street  and  its  union  with  the  mission  of  the  Second  Church  with  a  view  to  organi- 
zation and  a  new  name.  In  January,  1887,  some  forty  members  of  the  Second  and 
other  churches  united  bjMetter  with  the  Iloirc  Church,  which  at  once  proceeded 
to  reorganize  under  the  name  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church.  A  new- 
Session    and  Board   of  Trustees   were   chosen.     The   Elders  were  Z.   P.   Guerin, 


j 


Presbyterian.  781 

Charles  A.  Covert,  B.  M.  Doty,  William  B.  Carpenter,  W.  H.  Hughes  and  Josiah 
R.  Smith.  On  April  1,  1887,  the  church  reported  to  the  Presbytery  180  mem- 
bers, and  a  lot  had  been  purchased  on  Fifth  Avenue,  between  High  Street  and 
Benniaon  Avenue,  on  which  a  beautiful  and  convenient  bouse  of  worship  was 
erected  at  a  cost  of  about  $9,000.  The  situation  is  central  to  the  population  of  the 
North  Side,  which  was  increasing  with  great  rapidity,  very  many  of  the  new- 
comers being  Presbyterians.  The  church  grew  steatlil}'  in  numbers  and  in 
strength.  In  1888  a  unanimous  call  was  given  to  Rev.  John  Rusk,  at  that  time 
pastor  of  the  Sixth  Preshyterian  Church  in  Cincinnati.  Mr.  Rusk  was  installed 
as  pastor  by  the  Presbytery  of  Columbus  and  yet  continues  in  office.  The 
present  elders  are  E.  M.  Doty,  Thomas  McKee,  and  James  H.  Pui»tenny.  The 
trustees  are   Messrs.  Darling,  Whipps,  Megahan,  Hotchkis^,  McKee  and  Jackson. 

The  Welsh  Church.  — The  body  to  which  the  Welsh  Presbyterian  Church  belongs 
was  formerly  known  as  the  Welsh  Calvanistic  Methodist,  but  inasmuch  as  it  was 
always  Presbyterian  in  polity  its  name  was  changed  to  the  Welsh  Presbyterian 
Church.  Its  General  Assembly,  formed  in  1870,  meets  triennially.  It  has  five 
synods  and  eighteen  presbyteries.  Its  strength  lies  chiefly  in  the  states  of  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota.  Its  services  are  clueflj'  in 
the  Welsh  language.  The  church  in  this  city  was  organized  in  1849  b}'  Rev. 
John  Williams  with  twentyeight  members.  Its  first  house  of  worship  was  built 
at  the  corner  of  Fifth  and  Long  streets,  largely  through  the  liberality  of  Richard 
Jones  and  David  Price.  For  several  years  after  its  organization  it  had  no  regular 
pastor  but  depended  upon  occasional  supplies.  In  1855  Rev.  David  Williams  was 
installed  ;  he  served  until  1858,  in  which  year  he  was  succeeded  by  Rov.  William 
Parry,  who,  with  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Davis  and  Hugh  Roberts,  served  the  church 
until  October,  1860,  when  Rev.  R.  H.  Evans  was  installed.  Mr.  Evans  continued 
in  the  pastoral  office  until  1869.  On  December  21  a  unanimous  call  was  given  to 
Rev.  David  Harries,  of  Iron  ton,  who  was  installed  March  11,  1870.  The  church 
had  at  that  time  eighty  five  members.  Their  house  of  worship  had  been  materially 
enlarged  a  little  before,  and  the  congregation  was  in  a  flourishing  condition. 

Mr.  Harries  served  the  church  about  four  years  when  he  resigned  to  accept  a 
call  in  Chicago.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Robert  V.  Griffith,  who  remained 
until  1885,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  H.  P.  Howell,  D.  D.,  the  present  pas- 
tor. In  July,  1887,  a  new  church  edifice  was  begun  on  Long  Street,  between  Sixth 
Street  and  Grant  Avenue.  When  the  walls  were  nearly  ready  for  the  roof  they 
were  blown  down  by  violent  storm.  This  accident  called  out  the  substantial  sym- 
pathy of  other  churches  and  of  individuals.  The  damage  was  speedily  repaired  and 
the  church  was  dedicated  in  September,  1888.  Its  cost,  including  the  lot,  was  about 
$25,000.     The  present  membership  of  the  church  is  about  375. 

United  Presbyterian  Church.— The  body  with  which  this  church  is  con- 
nected ^^a8  formed  May  26,  1858,  by  a  union  of  tJje  Associate  and  Associate 
Reforniod  Presbyterian  churches  which  owed  their  origin  to  Scotland.  Members 
of  the  Reformed  Preabyterian  Church,  popularly  known  as  ** Covenanters,'*  and  of 
the  Ahsociate  Presbyterian  Church,  known  more  commonly  as  "  Seceders,"  wore 
among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Pennsylvania  and  of  the  region  lying  south  of  it. 


782  Hl8TOBY    OP   THE    ClTY   OP   C0LUMBD8. 

They  and  thoir  fathors  had  been  the  victims  of  the  fierce  persecations  arising  oat  of 
the  attempt  of  the  Stuarts  in  1617,  to  impose  upon  the  Church  of  Scotland  the  cere- 
monies of  the  Church  of  England  an<l  the  headship  of  the  crown  over  the  church 
of  Christ.  In  1782,  these  two  bodies,  the  Reformed  and  the  Associate,  formed  a 
union  under  the  name  of  the  **  Associate  Reformed  Church,"  but  a  number  of  the 
Associate  ministers  and  congregations  did  not  accede  to  the  union.  There  was 
still  an  Associate  and  an  Associate  Reformed  church.  In  1858,  these  bodies  came 
together  and  formed  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America. 

Early  in  the  fillies  there  had  been  an  Associate  church  in  Col  ambus  worship- 
ing on  Sixth  Street.     It  was  probably  small  in  numbers  and  without  a  hou^e  of  its 
own.     It  had  disappeared  before  the  union  of  1858.     On  February   5,  1887,  the 
present  United  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  with  twelve  members.     Messrs. 
F.J.  McKnight  and  Robert  Livingston  were  ordained  and  installed  as  its  ruling 
elders.     Rev.  R.  R.  Patton  began  his  work  as  its  pastor  on  iScpteraber  17,  1887.     A 
site  for  a  church  edifice  was  chosen  on  Long  Street,  east  of  Washington  Avenue,  and 
a  chapel  for  Sabbathschool  and  present  church  purposes  was  erected  on  it  at  a  cost 
of  $10,200,  including  the  lot,  all  of  which  was  paid  at  once.     The  chapel  was  dedi- 
cated October  7,  1888,  and  steps  were  at  once  taken  to  accumulate  funds  to  build 
the  main  edifice.     The  church  is  in  a  prosperous  condition  and  located  in  a  por- 
tion of  the  city  where  a  church  with  its  appliances  is  greatly  needed. 

Broiul  Street  Chureh.^For  some  time  after  the  settlement  of  Rev.  Francis  E. 
Marsten  as  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  his  attention  had  been  turned  to  the  region 
lying  northeast  from  Washington  Avenue  and  Broad  streets  and  extending  to  the 
Panhandle  shops.     A  Sabbathschool    was   organized    on    Long   Street,    east    of 
Garfield  Avenue,  and  preaching  services  were  held  in  Gospel  hall.     In  a  little 
while  it  was  seen  that  the  rapid  growth  of  population    in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  city  demanded  a  church   in  that  quarter.     Many  families  of  the  First,  Second 
and  Westminster  churches  had,  within  a  few  years,  removed  east  of  the  old  city 
limits,  and  new  families  were   settling   there.     The  question  of  the  removal  of 
the  First  Church  which  was  so  largely  represented  in  the  East  End  was  earnestly 
canvassed  and  was  decided  in  the  negative  ;  but  at  the  same  time  the  old    church 
resolved  to  favor  the  organization  of  a  new  one.     A  lot  was  secured  on  the  corner 
of  Garfield  Avenue  and  Broad  Street  and  a  beautiful  and  commodious  chapel  wa.s 
erected  on  the  rear  of  the  lot  at  an  expense,  including  the  ground,  of  $31,000.    At  the 
meeting  of  the  Presbytery   of  Columbus  in   April,  1887,  the  incorporation   of  a 
society  to  build  a  Presbyterian  church  at  the  corner  of  Broad  Street  and  Garfield 
Avenue  was  reported,  and    a  committee  was  appointed  to  organize  the  church. 
This  committee  reported  to  the  next  Presbytery   that,    on  September  19,  1887, 
it  had  organized  the  Broad  Street  Presbyterian  Church  with  four  elders,  two  dea- 
cons and  105  communicants.     At  the  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  October  17,  Rev. 
Francis  E.  Marsten  was  released  from  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  First  Church  and 
a    call    from    the    newly    formed    Broad    Street    Church    was    presented    to  and 
accepted  by  him,  with  permission   to  hold  it  for  the  time  being.     Oii  October  17, 
1887,  Mr.   Marsten    was  duly   installed  by  the  Presbytery.     The  enterprise  was 
eminently  successful.     In  1891  it  reported  to  the  Presbytery  409  cK>mmunicaDt8. 


Presbyterian.  783 

It  is  now  erecting  a  church  adjoining  its  cltapcl,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  $50,- 
000.  It  will  be  composed  of  buff  stone  with  brown  stone  trimmings,  in  the  Byzan- 
tine style.  The  present  elders  are  Charles  A.  Bowe,  Albert  A.  Hall,  S.  G.  Hutch- 
inson, James  C.  Gray,  A.  B.  Adair,  William  G.  Harrington,  Edwin  F.  Johnson  and 
Frank  Frankenberg.  The  trustees  are  M.  C.  Lilley,  president;  William  H.  Jones, 
T.  J.  Duncan,  Theodore  H.  Butler  and  B.  R.  Sharp.  Rev.  Francis  E.  Marsten,  D. 
D.,  is  pastor. 

During  the  autumn  1891  Rev.  Robert  H.  Cunningham  was  entrusted  by  the 
Home  Mission  Committee  of  the  Columbus  Presbytery  with  the  mission  work  on 
the  West  Side  of  the  city  under  the  auspices  of  our  denomination.  A  Sunday- 
school  was  established,  a  prayermecting  begun  and  a  preaching  service  maintained 
at  a  meetingplaoe  hired  for  the  purpose  on  West  Broad  Street,  about  one  mile  from 
High  Street.  The  work  assumed  such  a  shape  that  at  the  spring  meeting  of  the 
Presbytery  held  at  London  in  1892  certain  petitioners  living  on  the  West  Side 
requested  the  formation  of  a  church  organization.  On  April  llj  1892,  the  Home 
Mission  Committee  met  at  the  mission  station  on  Went  Broad  Street  and  pro- 
ceeded to  organize  such  of  the  petitioners  as  were  present  into  a  Presbyterian 
church,  which  began  its  career  with  twenty'  charter  members.  Efforts  are  now 
making  to  secure  for  it  a  regular  place  of  worship  in  a  building  of  its  own.  Mr. 
Robert  Graham  was  chosen  elder  and  the  following  persons  were  named  as  trustees: 
Christopher  Ross,  Claude  K.  Seibert,  H.  M.  McLarren  and  Doctor  William  Edmis- 
ton.  Rev.  W.  B.  Dudley,  of  the  Danville  Theological  Seminary  at  Danville,  Ken- 
tucky, was  called  as  the  first  pastor.  Thus  the  nucleus  has  been  established  for 
what  will  probably  prove  to  be  a  stroi»g  church  not  far  away  from  the  spot  whore 
in  1806-7  Doctor  Hoge  first  planted  Presbyterianism  in  Columbus. 

A  plan  is  now  on  foot,  with  every  prospect  of  success,  to  make  the  mission 
now  worshiping  on  Euclid  Avenue  a  regularly  organized  church  with  an  installed 
pastor. 

Presbyterianism  is  at  present  represented  in  Columbus  by  eight  churches,  hav- 
ing an  aggregate  of  about  2,200  communicants. 


CHAPTER  XXXVllI. 


METHODIST. 


BY    REV.    JOHN   Cf)LLINS   JACKSON,    D.    D. 

[Rev.  John  CoIHns  Jackson,  D.  D.,  is  a  native  of  Fairfield  County,  Ohio.  His  father, 
Samuel  Jackson,  was  a  prominent  farmer  of  that  county;  his  mother,  Elizabeth  Collins,  was 
a  (laughter  of  John  A.  Collins,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Southern  Ohio.  AAer  a  preparatory 
course  at  the  Fairfield  Union  Academy  he  entered  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  1874,  having  supported  himself  meanwhile  by  teaching.  Having  next  served 
one  year-as  principal  of  the  ])ublic  schools  of  Lancaster,  he  entered  the  Ohio  Conference  in 
September,  1875;  was  sent  to  the  Third  Street  Church,  Columbus;  remained  with  that 
church  three  years;  was  next  assigned  to  St.  Paul's  at  Delaware,  Ohio,  where  he  also 
remained  three  years  ;  traveled  in  Europe  in  1879;  was  marrie<l  the  same  year  to  Miss  Eva  M. 
See,  of  Zanesville;  in  1881  became  pastor  of  the  Third  Avenue  Church,  Columbus,  the  new 
edifice  for  which  was  chiefly  built  under  his  ministry,  which  continued  three  years;  was  next 
stationed  for  three  years  at  Bigelow  Chapel,  in  Portsmouth,  Ohio ;  in  1886-7  traveled  through 
Egypt,  Palestine,  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  and  portions  of  Europe;  in  the  autumn  of  1887  was 
chosen  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of  Methodism,  and  was  appointed  Presiding  Elder 
of  the  Columbus  District,  which  position  he  resigned  after  four  years  to  accept  a  eecond  term 
as  pastor  of  the  Third  Avenue  Church  in  Columbus  ;  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divin- 
ity from  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University  in  1889 ;  was  again  delegate  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence in  1891.  Doctor  Jackson  has  lectured  extensively  on  his  travels  and  other  subjects,  and 
is  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  press.  He  has  declined  numerous  invitations  to  college  pres- 
idencies and  to  leading  pulpits  in  cities  outside  of  his  Conference.] 

Methodism  in  America  followed  closely  in  the  wake  of  civilization.  Some- 
times it  preceded  it,  the  itinerant  preacher  being  the  first  pioneer.  In  Columbus 
it  was  contemporary  with  the  origin  of  the  city,  with  which  it  has  maintained  a 
steady  and  uniform  growth.  Columbus  was  laid  out  in  1812,  and  became  the  seat 
of  the  State  government  in  1816,  in  which  year  also  it  was  incorporated  as  a 
borough.  Between  these  dates  Methodism  began  its  existence  in  this  city.  It 
owes  its  introduction  to  a  zealous  layman.  This  honor  belongs  to  the  memory  of 
George  McC'orniick.  IIo  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  enjoyed  the  distinction  of 
taking  part  in  erecting  the  first  Statehouse.  He  induced  Methodist  ministers  to 
come  and  preach  hero  as  early  as  the  year  1812.  Two  or  three  little  clearings  had 
by  that  time  been  made  in  the  forests  and  swamps  on  the  cast  bank  of  the  Scioto, 
one  of  these  being  near  the  foot  of  what  is  now  Rich  Street.     As  in  most  other 

[784] 


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Methodist.  785 

places,  the  first  Methodist  services  were  held  in  the  people's  homes.  Among  the 
earliest  preachers  who  visited  this  locality  was  Bev.  Samuel  West,  then  serving 
the  Delaware  Circuit,  in  1813.  The  nucleus  of  an  organization  was  formed  Decem- 
ber 20, 1813,  in  the  appointment  of  a  Board  of  Trustees,  consisting  of  George  McCor- 
mick,  Peter  and  Jacob  Grubb,  John  Brickcll  and  George  B.  Harvey.  About  the 
same  time  the  first  class  or  society  was  formed.  It  had  only  four  members,  viz  : 
George  McCormick  and  wife,  George  B.  Harvey  and  Jane  Armstrong.  Moses 
Freeman,  a  negro,  was  the  next  person  to  join  it. 

This  was  the  germ  from  which,  as  the  years  have  rolled  on,  the  many  and 
strong  societies  of  Methodism  in  the  capital  of  Ohio,  have  successively  been 
propagated.  At  first  its  growth  was  slow  and  feeble.  The  early  Methodists  of 
Columbus  were  an  humble  folk.  They  were  very  poor,  were  burdened  with  debt, 
and  did  not  hold  social  rank  with  the  Presbyterians  and  other  denominations. 
Some  person.al  notice  ot  the  members  of  this  first  class  will  bo  interesting. 

George  McCormick  was  for  years  the  pillar  of  the  rising  Methodist  temple. 
He  owned  a  little  farm  which  la}'  east  of  the  town  and  comprised  the  present  site  of 
the  Institution  for  the  Denf  and  Dumb,  and  the  adjacent  territory.  Still  west 
of  where  that  Institution  now  stands  lay  McCormick's  apple-orchard,  and  adjoin- 
ing it  a  wheatfield.  At  present  his  tract  of  land  would  be  worth  roundly  a  million 
of  dollars,  or  more.  Shortly  after  the  organization  of  this  Methodist  Society, 
George  B.  Harvey  and  Jane  Armstrong  were  married,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  the  first  marriage  solemnized  in  Columbus.  The  descendants  of  this  worthy 
couple  are  found  among  Columbus  Methodists  to  this  day.  Some  years  later  Moses 
Freeman  went  as  Missionary  to  Liberia,  Africa.  He  was  a  devout  man,  of  fair 
ability  for  his  opportunities,  and  died  in  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Christ  and  of  his 
oppressed  race  in  that  inhospitable  clime. 

Beturningto  the  history  of  this  infant  society,  it  is  worthy  of  mention  that  the 
proprietors  of  the  city,  John  Kerr,  Lyne  Starling,  Alexander  McLaughlin  and 
James  Johnston,  donated  a  lot  to  each  of  the  three  denominations  then  in  the  field, 
viz.:  the  Presbyterian,  the  Episcopal  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal.  The  lot 
was  selected  on  which  the  Public  School  Librarv  stands.  One  of  the  conditions  of 
the  donation  was  that  whenever  the  property  ceased  to  be  used  for  religious 
purposes,  the  Church  Trustees  were  to  pay  to  the  donors,  or  their  heirs,'$250for  the 
lot,  with  interest  thereon  from  date  of  conveyance  in  1814.  In  May,  1890,  the 
entire  property  was  sold  to  the  City  School  Board,  to  be  converted  into  a  library 
building,  for  $30,000,  the  congregation  reserving  the  use  of  the  lecture  room  and 
parsonage  one  year.  This  action  has  induced  John  M.  Kerr,  a  descendant  of  one  of 
the  original  grantors,  to  begin  suit  for  $41.66,  his  share  of  the  $250,  which  at  inter^ 
est  at  six  per  cent,  from  date,  amounts  to  $231.45.  Including  all  the  heirs, 
the  debt  would  be  about  $2,500.  But,  as  we  understand  it,  the  claim  is  groundless, 
the  courts  having  repeatedly  held  in  similar  cases,  that  where  property  is  thus  sold 
to  be  re-invested  in  a  new  church  by  the  same  society  it  comes  within  the  meaning 
of  the  donor  as  originally  expressed.  We  await  with  interest  the  decision  of  the 
courts  in  this  instance^ 

50 


786  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

The  first  church  building  on  thirt  site  was  an  unpretentious  stracturo  built  of 
hewed  log8.  The  records  of  the  trustees  indicate  that  the  building  cost  $157.53^. 
This  sum  had  been  raised  by  subscription  and  probably  required  as  much  effort  as 
it  would  now  to  raisin  one  Imndred  times  that  amount.  The  building  was  occupied 
as  a  place  of  worship  in  1815,  but  evidently  was  not  finished,  as  the  records  show 
that  on  September  29,  1817,  the  trustees  appointed  a  committee  '*  to  hare  the 
meetinghouse  chinked,  daubed,  and  underpinned,  and  to  appoint  a  suitable  person 
to  keep  it  in  order."  As  this  was  before  the  da^-s  of  public  schools  and  school- 
houses,  this  church  was  used  for  school  purposes  also  for  some  yeai^s,  the  little 
society  receiving  a  small  rental  from  that  source.  William  T.  Martin,  the  father 
of  our  respected  citizen,  Benjamin  F.  Martin,  was  the  teacher  in  this  humble 
institution  of  learning. 

The  population  of  the  infant  capital   was   now   700.     The    congregation    and 
society  were  also  increasing,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  on  April   14,   1818, 
measures  were  taken  for  "enlarging  the  meetinghouse.'*     This  was  done   by  cut- 
ting out  the  rear  end,  and  adding  a  frame  extension,  of  thirty  feet,    making  the 
whole  building  fifly  feet  long.     The  log  part  was  then  weather-boarded  also,  and 
the  whole  of  it  finished  inside.     In  September  of  that  year,  we  find  that  a  bill  of 
83()0  for  "  completing  the  meeting  house  "  was  allowed  by  the  trustees.     The  mem- 
bership, colored  as  well  as  white,  continued   to  increase,  and  in   1823  the  former 
had  grown  strong  enough  to  organize  independently  for  themselves,  forming  the 
society  of  what  is  now  the  St.  Paul's  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  on  Long 
Street. 

Moderate  prosperity  still  attended  the  little  flock,  and  in  1825,  Jacob  Grubb, 
Nathaniel  McLain  and  Henry  Matthews,  having  secured  a  subscription  of  $1,300, 
it  was  deemed  "  expedient  to  build  a  new  brick  church,  60  feet  long,  45  feet  wide 
and  of  sufficient  height  to  admit  of  a  gallery."     The   old    wooden    building   was 
accordingly  removed  and  a  good  brick  structure  was  erected  on  the  site,  which  was 
used  for  worship  the  following  year.     This  building  was  named  Zion  Church,  by 
which  it  was  known  until  1853.      The  society  went  beyond  its  means  in  building 
and  the  house  remained  unfinished  until  1837.     It  was  not  even  plastered  and  for 
a  long  time  its  seating  facilities  consisted  of  planks  laid  upon  squarecut  blocks  for  sup- 
port.   While  in  this  unfinished  state,  the  annual  session  of  the  Ohio  Conference  was 
held  here,  among  its  attendants  being  several  converted  Wyandot  Indians  from 
Upper  Sandusky.     In  finishing  up  the  account  of  the  various  buildings  which  this 
society  has  occupied,  we  may  add  that  in  1836  they  secured  a  lot  on  Third  Street, 
between  Rich  and  Main  streets,  and  a  few  years  later  built  a  parsonage  which  was 
exchanged  in  1849  for  a  lot  adjoining  the  hcurch,  on  the  east  side,  and  on  which 
they  built  the   present  brick   parsonage   in    1850.     The   third  church    building, 
whicli  is  the  one  recently  sold,  was  built  in  1852-3.     While  it  was  in   process  of 
erection  the  society  wns  permitted   to  hold  services  in  the  City  Hall.     This  church 
also  was  occupied  before  it  was  complete,  only  the  basement  being  used  at  first, 
an<i  even  it  remained  unplastered  for  years.     This  state  of  things  indicates  that 
though    in  numbers   there   was   substantial  increase,  yet  in    means   the  society 
remained  poor.     For  many  years  collections  were  taken  to  pay  off  the  debt  of 


Methodist.  787 

Town  Street  Church,  and  duriDg  a  part  of  that  time  the  Conference  even 
appointed  an  agent  for  that  purpose.  But  it  has  proved  in  the  end  an  immense 
investment  for  Methodism,  in  the  Conference  and  in  the  entire  State,  and  it  was 
perhaps  wiser  to  venture  as  they  did  than  to  have  waited  till  they  were  more  able, 
inasmuch  as  their  necessity  drove  them  to  greater  endeavors.  At  this  writing 
(1891)  the  society  is  pushing  to  rapid  completion  their  new  church— the  chapel 
portion — on  the  corner  of  Town  and  Eighteenth  streets.  It  will  be  a  beautiful 
and  commodious  structure  of  brick  and  stone,  costing  $17,000.  This  will  meet 
the  wants  of  the  people  for  some  years  to  come,  and  the  main  portion  of  the  build- 
ing will  be  erected  when  needed.  Among  those  especially  active  in  this  enter- 
prise are  H  C.  Lonnis,  E.  W.  Seeds,  and  George  Bellows.  The  fourth  church  will 
still  be  "Town  Street,"  so  that  the  mother  of  Columbus  Methodism  will  not 
change  her  name  though  she  does  her  location.  ^ 

Let  us  now  go  back  to  the  beginning  and  review  the  men  of  God  who  wrought 
as  spiritual  builders  in  these  material  churches.  This  society  constituted  a  part 
of  a  circuit  from  its  origin  until  1830,  when  it  became  a  station.  The  circuits  were 
so  often  changed  in  their  geographical  limits  in  those  days  that  it  is  hard  to  trace 
its  name  from  j^ear  to  jear.  At  first  it  was  on  the  Delaware  Circuit;  sometimes 
it  was  on  the  Columbus  Circuit;  again  it  was  called  the  Scioto  Circuit;  and  at 
still  other  times  it  was  known  as  the  Pickaway  Circuit.  But  the  roll  of  its  pas- 
tors is  accurately  known.  Rev.  Samuel  West  effected  its  organization  and  acted 
as  pastor  until  the  Conference  of  the  year  1814.  He  was  a  man  of  average  culture 
for  those  days,  and  was  a  popular  secondrate  preacher.  Having  a  wife  and  two 
children  to  support,  he  was  driven  to  resign  his  ministry  early  in  life,  or,  in  Meth- 
odist terminology,  to  "  locate."  He  bought  a  little  farm  near  Batavia  and  lived 
many  years  in  Cincinnati.  Isaac  Pavey  was  his  successor  as  pastor,  serving  dur- 
ing the  years  1814-5.  He  was  not  a  very  strong  preacher  but  was  a  man  of 
irreproachable  character.  Like  many  others  of  those  times,  want  of  means  caused 
him  to  locate  early  and  he  settled  near  Leesburg,  in  Highland  County,  Ohio. 
Jacob  Hooper  was  the  next  pastor  during  the  years  1815-16.  He  was  a  good  cir- 
cuit preacher,  very  diffident  yet  useful.  Years  afterward  Brother  Hooper  was  col- 
league with  Joseph  M.  Trimble  on  the  Athens  Circuit,  and  although  an  elderly 
man,  he  wanted  this  boy  preacher  to  assume  the  charge  of  the  work  because  "  he 
was  a  college  graduate."  William  Swayze  was  next  appointed  to  the  circuit  for 
two  years  in  succession.  During  1816-17,  Simon  Peter  was  his  companion  in  labors, 
and  in  1817-18,  Lemuel  Lane  was  his  colleague.  Swayze  was  a  very  popular  preacher 
and  a  great  revivalist.  The  membership  of  the  circuit  is  returned  for  these  two 
years  as  respectively,  642  and  846.  How  many  of  these  belonged  to  the  city 
appointment  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining. 

In  1818-19,  John  Tevis  and  Leroy  Swormstedt  served  the  circuit.  It  was  this 
year  that  the  first  church  was  enlarged.  Tevis  was  a  fine  preacher  whose  wife 
was  a  scholarly  lady.  He  afterwards  located  and  established  a  Female  Seminary 
at  Shelbyville,  Kentucky,  called  Science  Hill  Academy,  which  became  a  very 
popular  institution  for  many  years.  Doctor  Swormstedt,  as  he  afterward  became, 
was  twice  thereafter  returned  to  the  circuit  but  with  several  years  intervening 


788  History  of  the  City  of  Columbos. 

l)etwoon  his  pastorates.     He  had   systematic   habits  with   fine   business  qualifica- 
tions, and  WHS  an  excellent  preacher.     His  life  record  shows  that   lie  served  twelve 
years  on  circuits  and  prontinent  stations,  six  years  as  presidingr  elder  and   twenly- 
t'our  years  as  assistant  or  principal  agent  of  the  Western  Book  Concern.      He  died 
August  27,  18G3.     For  the  year  1819-20,  John  Tevis  and  Peter  Stephens  were  the 
associated  pastors.     Next  in  1820-21,  we  find  Russel  Bigelow  and   Horace  Brown, 
and  then  in  1821-22,  Russel  Bigelow  and  Thomas  McCleary.     Russel    Bigelow  was 
a  j)ririce  among  pulpit  orators.     When  nineteen  years  old  he  came  with  his  parents 
from  Vermont  to  Worthington,  Ohio.     He  joined  the  Ohio  Conference  in  1814. 
He  was  about  thirty  years  of  age  when  he  preached  in  Columbus.      In  1827  he 
went  as  a  missionary  to  the  Wyandot  Indians  at  Upper  Sandusky,  Ohio,  where 
his   labors  were  attended  with  great  success.     After  a  few  years,   however,  his 
health  failed  and  he  was  ai)pointed  chaplain  of  the  Ohio  Peuitentiary   in    18^^. 
But  he  continued  rapidly  to  decline  and  died  in  this  city  July  1,  1835,  in  his  /brty- 
third  year.     His  dust  rests  in   Green   Lawn   Cemetery,  marked   only   by  a  fallen 
marble  slab.     The  only  tribute  which  we  need  to  pay  to  his  power  and  eloquence 
is  to  quote  Bishop  Thomson  :  "  As  a  preacher  I  have  yet  to  hear  his  equal." 

In  1822-3  Charles  Waddle  and  Henry  S.  Fernandes  were  in  charge,  and  in 
1823-4  Charles  Waddle  and  Alfred  M.  Loraine.  Waddle  was  a  zealous,  revivalistic 
preacher,  but  perhaps  was  not  always  wise  in  his  judgment.  Fernandes  was 
reputed  a  man  of  solid  worth.  Lorain  had  been  a  sailor  and  published  a  volume 
of  sermons  dedicated  to  seamen.  His  illustrations  in  preaching  were  drawn 
almost  entirely  from  marine  life.  The  membership  of  the  circuit,  which  varied 
from  year  to  year,  often  as  the  circuit  itself  was  changed,  is  now  reported  at  1,178. 

In  1824-5  Leroy  Swormstedt  and  Joseph  Carper  were  the  pastors,  and  in 
1825-6  Joseph  Carper  and  John  H.  Power  were  in  charge.  Carper  was  a  man  of 
unusual  ability.  He  was  popular  with  the  people  and  very  full  of  religious  and 
business  zeal.  His  son,  the  Hon.  Homer  Carper,  of  Delaware,  Ohio,  is  still 
living,  as  is  also  his  daughter.     Power,  also,  was  an  acceptable  man. 

In  1826-7  Samuel  Hamilton  arid  Jacob  Young  served  the  work.  Jacob 
Young  was  a  man  of  great  intellectual  ability  and  was  instrumental  in  the 
conversion  of  multitudes.  He  had  great  influence  among  his  brethren,  who 
honored  him  several  times  as  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference.  He  was  con- 
nected with  an  Annual  Conference  for  more  than  fiftyfive  years,  and  died  saying, 
"  sweet  heaven,  sweet  heaven,"  September  16,  1860,  at  Columbus,  in  his  eighty- 
fifth  year.     His  dust  lies  in  Green  Lawn. 

In  1827-8  Samuel  Hamilton  and  J.  W.  Myxou  wore  the  pastors,  and  in  1828-9 
Leroy  Swormstedt  and  Gilbert  Blue.  In  1829-30  John  W.  Clarke  and  Adam  Poe 
were  in  charge.  Clarke  was  an  excellent  man.  For  many  years  he  was  a  presid- 
ing elder  and  always  commanded  universal  respect  both  by  his  ability  and  his 
integrity.     He  died  suddenly  in  Pickaway  County,  August  5,  1862. 

Adam  Poe  was  one  of  the  noted  men  of  Ohio  Methodism.  In  early  life  he 
was  a  Presbyterian,  but  doctrinal  objections  led  him  into  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  He  was  admitted  into  the  Ohio  Conference  in  1827.  He  spent  seven 
years  of  his  ministerial  life  on  circuits,  six  on  stations,  ten  as  presiding  elder,  eight 


Methodist.  789 

years  as  assistant  agent  in  the  Western  Book  Concern,  and  eight  more  as  principal. 
Seven  times  in  succession  he  was  elected  to  the  General  Conference.  He  was 
almost  the  prime  mover  in  founding  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  and  was  one 
of  its  trustees  from  the  beginning  to  his  death,  June  26,  1868.  It  was  under  the 
labors  of  Doctor  Poo  that  Doctor  William  Nast,  the  father  of  German  Methodism, 
was  converted. 

In  1830  Columbus  was  made  a  station  and  Thomas  A.  Morris  was  appointed 
to  take  charge  of  Methodism  here.  He  remained  but  one  year.  In  April  of  1831 
Joseph  M.  Trimble,  who  was  then  in  charge  of  the  Chillicothe  Circuit,  came  to 
Town  Street  Church  at  Brother  Morris's  invitation  to  assist  him  in  holding  a 
revival.  In  those  early  days  of  grace  and  power  protracted  meetings  did  not  run 
into  the  length  of  weeks  and  months  that  they  do  now.  People  wore  less  accus- 
tomed to  hearing  the  Gospel,  and  they  acted  more  promptly.  Brother  Trimble 
preached  twice  on  Sabbath,  twice  on  Monday  and  on  Tuesday,  Wednesday  and 
Thursday  nights.  On  Monday  the  descent  of  the  spirit  was  felt  in  power  and 
until  Thursday  night  the  work  of  God  was  wonderful.  Within  five  days  ninety 
persons  united  with  the  church  on  probation  and  most  of  them  were  converted. 
The  first  year  the  membei*ship  was  almost  doubled  and  the  pastor  reported  to 
Conference  320  members. 

Thomas  A.  Morris  was  a  chaste,  sincere  preacher,  who  often  grew  sublimely 
eloquent.  He  was  born  April  28,  1794,  near  Charleston,  West  Virginia.  His  early 
training  was  in  the  Baptist  Church  but  when  about  nineteen  ho  joined  the  Metho- 
dists. He  was  admitted  into  the  Ohio  Conference  in  1816,  and  served  various  cir- 
cuits, stations  and  districts  until  1834,  when  he  was  appointed  the  first  editor  of 
the  Western  Christian  Advocate.  He  was  elected  delegate  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence in  1824  and  was  honored  with  a  reelection  every  four  years  until  and  includ- 
ing 1836  when  he  was  chosen  bishop.  In  this  office  he  discharged  his  duties  faith- 
fully and  efficiently  until  he  broke  down  in  health.  He  died  at  Springfield,  Ohio, 
September  2,  1874. 

The  next  pastor  of  Town  Street  was  Hobert  O.  Spencer,  who  served  during 
the  year  1831-2.  He  w»s  a  man  of  marked  modesty,  piety  and  industry.  He  was 
the  son  of  Oliver  M.  Spencer,  a  wholesale  merchant  of  Cincinnati.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  joined  the  Ohio  Conference  and  traveled  as  an  itinerant  fifty  years. 
His  devotion  to  study  and  private  pra>  er  made  him  very  effective  in  the  ministry. 
He  conducted  the  great  revival  at  Athens,  Ohio,  in  1827,  when,  among  others. 
Bishop  Ames  and  Doctors  Joseph  M.  Trimble,  H.  J.  Clark  and  William  Herr, 
students  at  the  Ohio  University,  were  converted.  Kussel  Bigelow  was  stationed 
as  pastor  of  Town  Street  from  1832-3  to  1833-4.  His  health  failed  toward  the  close 
of  the  second  year,  and  Leonard  B.  Gurley  filled  out  the  unexpired  term.  The 
church  reported  374  members  at  the  close  of  Bigelow's  first  year.  Though  Doctor 
Gurley  served  but  a  few  months  as  pastor  it  should  be  said  in  honor  of  his  memory 
that  he  was  one  of  the  sweet,  saintly  men  of  earth.  He  was  a  prose  poet  and  a 
very  eloquent  preacher.  After  a  long  and  honored  career  he  closed  his  earthly 
labors  in  his  pleasant  home  at  Delaware,  Ohio,  in  the  year  1880.  Edward  W. 
Sehon  was  the  pastor  during  the  years  1834-5  and  1835-6,  till  about  the  middle  of 


790  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

his  second  year,  when  he  broke  down,  and  Leonidas  L.  Hamline  was  sent  to  fill  oat 
the  year.     Sehon  was  a  West  Virginian  by  birth,  educated  at  the  Ohio  University. 
He  joined  the  Ohio  Conference  in  1829.     He  was  a  man  of  fine  delivery  and  a  pop- 
ular preacher.     When  the  division  on  the  slavery  question  came  in   1844  he  went 
off  with  those  of  his  sympathies  to  the  Church  South.     Leonidas  Lent  Hamline 
was  born  in  Connecticut,  May  10,  1797.     Coming  to  Ohio  he  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Lancaster.     He  was  practicing  in  Zanesville  when  the  deat.h 
of  his  h'ttle  daughter,  in  1828,  led  to  his  conversion.     He  united  with  the  Chnroh 
and  was  received  on  trial  in  the  Ohio  Conference  in  1832.     After  filling  out  tkie 
year  at  Town  Street  he  was  appointed  assistant  editor  of  the  Western  Christian 
Advocate,  and  when  the  Ladies'  Repository  was  established  in  1841   he  was  made 
editor  of  that   magazine.     In  1844  he  was  elected  a  bishop,  filling  the  oflSce  with 
great  acceptability  till  1852,  when  he  resigned  it  because  of  poor  health,  and  was, 
at  his  own  request,  placed  on  the  list  of  superannuated  preachers  of  the  Ohio  Con- 
ference.    He  was  a  finished  pulpit  orator  and  a  writer  of  ihe  best  diction.     For 
eight  years  preceding  his  death  he  was  a  great  sufferer.     Ho  passed  away  in  peace 
at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Iowa,  February  22,  1865.     The  next  pastor  was  Joseph  Carper, 
1836-7.     He  was  followed  by  Joseph  A.  Waterman  (1837-8),  a  good  preacher  and  a 
well-informed  man.     He  was  feeble  in   body  but  his  pulpit  ministrations  were 
highly  appreciated.      He  reported  260  members  —  sixty  less  than  were  lefl  by 
Thomas  A.  Morris  in  1830. 

William  Herr  then  served  the  Church  two  years.  The  people  enjoyed 
his  ministry.  He  left  a  membership  of  278.  William  Herr  was  educated  at  the 
Ohio  University  and  was  converted  in  the  celebrated  revival  of  1827  at  Athens. 
He  is  still  living  in  a  green  old  age  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  loved  and  respected  by  all. 

Joseph  M.  Trimble  was  sent  as  pastor  to  Town  Street  in  the  fall  of  1840,  serv- 
ing it  two  years.  Under  his  labors  the  church  was  blest  with  a  most  interesting 
revival  of  religion  and  172  were  added  to  the  membership,  bringing  it  up  to  a 
total  of  450.  For  several  years  following  this  revival  the  church  continued  to 
grow.  The  society  looked  much  to  the  coming  of  Joseph  M.  Trimble  as  their 
pastor,  to  give  them  some  of  the  much  coveted  social  prestige  of  others.  Besides 
being  an  able  financier  and  a  powerful  preacher,  he  was  the  son  of  Governor 
Allen  Trimble,  who  was  converted  and  added  to  the  church  through  his  instru- 
mentality after  hearing  him  preach  his  first  sermon  years  before.  This  social 
expectation  and  requirement  of  the  people  was  embarrassing  to  young  Trimble, 
who  wisely  admonished  the  people  not  to  look  to  him  but  to  God  for  his  blessing 
and  to  themselves  for  worthy  character  which  could  not  be  spoken  against,  but 
would  adorn  the  doctrine  of  Christ  in  all  things.  Doubtless,  however,  the  presence 
and  work  in  the  city  of  this  gifted  son  of  the  honored  Governor  of  Ohio  had  much 
to  do  indirectly  in  removing  those  prejudices  which  were  unworthily  entertained 
against  the  early  Methodists  while  it  was  a  "sect  everywhere  spoken  against." 

The  eighty  third  anniversary  of  Doctor  Trimble^s  birth  was  appropriately  cel- 
ebrated on  the  evening  of  April  15, 1890,  in  the  parlorsof  the  Broad  Street  Churcb. 
The  following  incidents  in  his  life  were  narrated  on  this  occasion  by  Sev. 
J.  L.  G rover : 


Methodist.  791 

After  graduating  at  the  Ohio  University  at  Athens,  in  1828,  in  a  very  short  time  he  was 
admitted  to  the  Ohio  Annual  Conference  and  immediately  commenced  his  life  work  with  a 
degree  of  enthusiasm  that  marked  his  entire  ministry.  He  traveled  three  circuits,  involving 
a  vast  amount  of  labor  and  exposure,  with  astonishing  results.  He  spent  thirteen  years  in 
stations ;  was  presiding  elder  in  Columbus,  Chillicothe,  Zanesville,  Marietta  and  I ^n caster 
districts.  For  five  years  he  filled  a  professor's  chair  in  Augusta  College,  Kentucky.  For 
four  years  he  served  as  second  General  Conference  Missionary  Secretary  for  the  West,  doing 
a  vast  amount  of  travel  and  labor  in  the  dififerent  fields  embraced  in  his  department.  For 
thirtyone  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  General  Conference  Missionary  Society.  For 
nineteen  years  he  has  served  as  financial  agent  of  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University  at  Dela- 
ware. Much  of  the  time  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  for  years  its 
president.  In  1834  he  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  Ohio  Annual  Conference,  and  continued 
to  fill  the  position  for  the  unprecedented  period  of  thirtyone  years.  He  was  also  elected  Sec- 
retary of  the  General  Conference  for  two  consecutive  terms.  In  1844  he  was  elected  a  delegate 
to  the  General  Conference,  and  has  continued  to  be  a  delegate  to  that  body  every  consecutive 
conference  up  to  the  present  time,  a  fact  having  no  parallel  in  the  annals  of  Methodism  in 
this  or  any  other  country.  Moreover,  during  all  these  years,  winter  and  summer,  without 
intermission,  he  was  preaching  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  the  crowds  that  heard  him 
gladly. 

Dr.  Trimble  made  a  happy  response,  giving  some  account  of  his  early  life  and 
work  in  the  ministry.  He  had  received  sixtytvvo  appointments  in  the  Ohio  Con- 
ference. 

David  Whit  comb  became  pastor  of  the  church  in  the  fall  of  1842,  serving  with 
great  acceptability  one  year  and  then  taking  charge  of  the  district  as  Presiding 
Elder.  He  was  one  of  nature's  noblemen,  genial,  witty  and  wise.  Converted 
while  working  at  the  saltwells  of  Virginia,  he  studied  under  all  the  disadvantages 
of  such  a  life  and  became  an  intelligent  man.  He  delighted  in  polemics  and  as  a 
controversialist  had  few  equals.  Doctor  Trimble  said  he  was  the  best  versed 
in  Scripture  of  any  man  he  ever  knew.  Many  are  the  anecdotes  still  lingering  in 
the  minds  of  the  aged  of  Whitcomb's  ready  repartee  and  adaptation  to  emergen- 
cies. 

At  this  time  we  find  that  the  official  members  of  Town  Street  Church  were 
George  McCormick — patriarch  of  the  veteran  host — William  Armstrong,  John 
Whitsell,  C.  Crum,  Francis  Crum,  Charles  Breyfogle,  Joseph  Fitzwater  and  S. 
A.  Decker.  Among  those  added  to  the  church  in  1841  and  who  still  are 
active,  are  Michael  Halm,  Thomas  Aston  and  William  Arnold.  William  Arm- 
strong is  now  in  his  ninety  third  j-ear.  He  was  one  of  the  few  in  those  early 
days  who  had  some  financial  strength. 

The  population  of  Columbus  in  1840  was  6,487.  The  limits  of  the  town  may 
be  conceived  when  we  remember  that  the  house  now  occupied  by  Mrs.  Person  on 
East  Tov/n  Street,  then  an  Academj-  for  Ladies,  was  quite  in  the  country. 

At  the  conference  of  1843  two  men  were  appointed  to  Town  Street  with  the 
hope  of  enlargement  by  creating  a  new  society,  but  no  such  division  occurred; 
they  were  John  Miley  and  Abraham  Wambaugh.  The  latter  became  a  member 
of  the  Cincinnati  Conference  at  its  creation,  and  filled  such  charges  as  Milford, 
Eipley,  Springfield,  Cincinnati  and  Avondale.  He  died  August  14,  1873.  John 
Miley  was  reappointed  for  the  year  1844-5.     He  was,  and  is  to  this  day,  a  strong 


ti 


792  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

thinker  and  a  strong  preacher.  He  joined  the  Ohio  Conference  in  1838.  When 
the  Cincinnati  Conference  was  created,  he  fell  within  its  territorial  lines.  He 
was  transferred  to  the  New  York  East  Conference  in  1852  and  to  the  New  York 
Conference  in  1866.  He  filled  the  most  important  charges  in  tho  conferences  with 
which  he  was  connected  for  over  thirty  years,  and  in  1872  was  elected  to  the 
chair  of  Systematic  Theology  in  Drew  Seminary,  which  position  he  still  fills. 
He  is  author  of  a  work  on  The  Atonement,  and  other  books. 

Granville  Moody,  clarxim  ef  venerahile  nomen,  comes  next  on  the  list  of  Town 
Street*fl  illustrious  pastors.     He  served  it  two  years,  from  the  fall  of  1845  to  that 
of  1847.     He  had  great  success  and  reported  a  membership  of  644  the  first  year, 
and  600  the  second  year.     Encouraged    by  this  growth,  the  society  felt   strong 
enough  to  divide.     William  Neil  gave  them  a  lot  on  the  west  side  of  High  Street, 
between  Gay  and  Long  Streets,  62J   feet  front  and    187^  feet  deep,  on  which 
Wesley  Chapel  was  built.     This  location  was  then  considered  the  northern  part 
of  the  city.     A  colony  of  190  members  went  out  of  Town  Street  to  inhabit  this 
new  hive,  whose  history  will  be  duly  given.     As  an  interesting  item  in  the  value- 
growth  of  real  estate  wo  may  note  the  assessed  worth  of  Wesley  Chapel  lot  when 
it  was  given  and  its  selling  price  in  1883.     When    William   Neil  gave  the  lot 
he  said  it  was  worth  $800.     Before  his   death,  perhaps  in  tho  year  1850,  John 
F.  Bartlit  and    Isaac  Aston   persuaded  him  to  give  a  quitclaim  deed,  releasing 
the   reversionary    condition  on  which  it  was   granted.     Mr.  Neil   at  that   time 
said  :     *'  The  lot  will  be  worth  $2,500  some  day."     "  Fudge,"  replied  Mr.  Bart- 
lit,  "  it  is  too  far  up  the  Worthington  road  for  that     It  may  be  worth  $2,000 
sometime."     In  1883  it  sold  for  $62,500.     Bishop  Simpson's  objection  to  the  lot 
as  a  church  site  was  that  it  was  too  far  out  in  the  country. 

Before  pursuing  these  threads  of  histor}'  farther  we  must  give  our  concluding 
notice  of  Granville  Moody.     He  was  of  Puritan  stock,  born  in  Portland,  Maine, 
January  2,  1812.     He  was  baptized  by  Rev.  Dr.  Payson.     He  settled  in  Muskingum 
County,  Ohio,  when  eighteen  years   old,   and  engaged   in    mercantile   pursuits. 
While  teaching  in  a  Methodist  Sabbathschool  he  was  converted,  and  then  aband- 
oned his  Calvanistic  faith  for  tho  Arminian  belief     He  joined  the  Ohio  Conference 
in  1833.     At  the  organization  of  the  Cincinnati  Conference,  in  1852,  he  became  Ofie  of 
its  members,  filling  its  most  important  charges,  serving  as  presiding  elder  on  two  of 
its  districts  and  representing  it  four  times  in  the  General  Conference.     At  the  out- 
break of  the  groat  Rebellion,  Governor  Dennison  invited  him  to  take  the  command 
of  a  regiment.     He  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  Seventyfourth  Ohio  Infantry  and 
assigned   by  Secretary  Stanton  as  commandant  of  Camp  Chase,  five  miles  west  of 
this  city,  where  ^vo  thousand  Rebel  prisoners  were  confined.     Tho  Government 
complimented  him  on  his  efficiency  at  this  post,  and  when  he  went  to  tho  front  the 
prisoners  passed  the  following  resolutions :     "  Should  Colonel  Moody  at  any  time 
become  a  prisoner  of  our  Confederate  government,  we  hereby  earnestly  request  for 
him  the  highest  consideration  and  treatment,  as  a  proper  acknowledgment  of  bis 
kindness  and  care  of  us  as  prisoners  of  war,  having  given  us  every  comfort,  liberty 
and  indulgence  at  all  consistent  with  our  position  and  with  his  obligation  as  com- 
mandant of  this  military  post." 


Methodist.  793 

ColoDol  Moody  was  actively  engaged  in  the  Stone  River  and  other  battles  and  in 
the  pursuit  of  John  Morgan.  He  preached  regularly  every  Sabbath  to  hie  soldiers 
when  circumstances  permitted.  He  was  compelled  by  physical  disability  to  accept 
an  honorable  diHchargo  in  the  summer  of  1863  and  received  high  testimonials 
from  Generals  Rosecrans,  Thomas  and  otliers.  He  did  much  on  his  return  by  his 
war  speeches  to  secure  recruits  for  the  government.  He  was  a  fine  orator  and  as 
bold  as  a  lion.  The  soldiers  loved  and  idolized  him.  Ho  re-entered  the  pastorate 
and  closed  his  long,  honorable  and  remarkable  career  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa, 
June  4,  1887. 

After  the  division  of  Town  Street  and  the  organization  of  Wesley  Chapeb 
Cyrus  Brooks  was  appointed  pastor  of  the  former,  in  the  fall  of  1847,  serving  two 
years.  He  reported  360  members  the  first  year  and  387  the  second.  He  was  a 
faithful  sliepherd  to  whom  the  flock  which  he  served  was  greatly  attached.  Town 
Street,  or  Old  Zion,  as  it  was  still  called,  now  began  to  agitate  the  matter  of  build- 
ing a  new  and  more  commodious  church.  A  large  and  more  slightly  structure 
was  felt  to  be  a  necessit}^  but  the  means  were  not  in  sight.  The  hope,  however, 
was  not  abandoned,  but  only  deferred.  David  Warnock  was  next  appointed  pas- 
tor, by  Conference  of  1849,  remaining  two  years.  He  reported  345  members  at  the 
close  of  his  first  year  and  405  the  second.  Clinton  W.  Sears,  an  active,  zealous 
young  man,  was  appointed  pastor  for  the  year  1851-2.  He  left  a  membership 
of  365. 

J.  Asbury  Bruner  was  his  successor,  serving  two  years.  He  also  was  young, 
zealous  and  deeply  pious.  Though  but  a  moderate  preacher,  he  always  had  revi- 
vals in  his  work.  During  his  first  year  the  long  talked  of  church  building  enter- 
prise began  to  assume  definite  shape.  Old  ^^  Zion  "  was  torn  away  and  a  new 
church — the  present  one  (1891) — was  erected  in  its  stead.  But  like  its  two 
predecessors  it  had  to  remain  unfinished  because  the  necessary  funds  could  not  be 
raised.  Only  the  ceiling  of  the  lecture  room  whs  plastered,  the  walls  remaining 
bare.  The  auditorium  was  not  occupied  at  all.  The  society  worshiped  in  the  City 
Hall  while  the  church  was  being  built.  During  this  3'ear,  also,  a  few  members 
withdrew  from  Town  Street  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  new  society  farther 
south  in  the  city,  which  will  be  duly  described  as  Bigelow  Chapel. 

John  W.  While  was  next  pastor  of  Town  Street,  serving  two  years.  No 
special  effort  was  made  to  complete  the  church.  The  socielj'  rtmained  deej)ly  in 
debt,  but  much  good  was  done.  White  was  a  man  of  pathos  and  fine  imagination. 
Always  hopeful  and  buoyant,  he  was  lor  many  years  a  popular  pastor  and  presid- 
ing elder  in  the  Ohio  Conference.  When  he  became  superannuated  he  made  his 
home  in  Worthington,  and  afterwards  at  Delaware,  where  he  died.  May  1,  1886. 
Mrs.  Ann  White,  his  widow,  still  resides  in  that  city,  while  their  son,  John,  is  Pro- 
fessor of  Greek  in  Harvard  University.  James  M.  Jameson  next  served  Town 
Street  for  two  years,  being  appointed  at  the  Conference  of  1856.  Ho  raised  the 
necessary  means  and  had  the  audienceroom  finished  and  occupied.  But  the  pro- 
verbial "Town  Street  debt  "  still  hun^ir  over  them.  The  society  applied  to  Con- 
ference for  an  a^^cnt  !o  travel  through  the  Conference  territory,  and,  if  possible, 
raise  sufficient  money  to  pay  their  debts  and  finish  the  lectureroom  also.     Rev. 


794  Hl8TOHY   OF  THE   CiTY    OF   C0LUMBC8. 

Uriah  Heath  was  selected  for  this  work,  but  he  was  not  saccessfai  in  raising  the 
necessary  amount,  and  the  financial  embarrassment  continued  to  dra^  its  weary 
length  along.  Doctor  Jameson  is  a  man  of  excellent  parts  and  sw^eet  spirit.  He 
has  served  the  church  to  its  great  profit  and  his  own  credit  in  many  varied  fields. 
He  \n  now  living  in  honorable  superannuation  at  Los  Angeles,  California. 

At  the  Conference  of  1858,  Barzillai  N.  Spahr  was  appointed  pastor,  eontinu. 
ing  two  years.  He  left  371  members  and  reduced  the  indebtedness  somewhat. 
Brother  Spahr  died  June  4,  1890,  from  the  results  of  a  surgical  operation  per- 
formed at  the  Hawkes  hospital  two  da3'8  before. 

In  the  fall  of  1860  Joseph  M.  Trimble  was  again  put  in  charge  of  Town  Street, 
remaining  two  years,  lie  found  a  debt  of  13,500,  but  by  heroic  and  persistent 
efforts  during  his  term  he  had  the  class  and  lecturerooms  finished  and  paid 
for  and  reduced  the  standing  debt  to  $1,000.  He  reported  435  members  at  the 
close  of  his  first  year  and  395  the  second,  having  contributed  some  raembers 
toward  establishing  Christie  Chapel,  a  mission  charge  on  Eighth  Street.  This 
church  proved  to  be  poorly  located.  It  had  a  struggling  existence  for  a  few  years, 
but  after  the  organization  of  Broad  Street  Church  Christie  Chapel  was  sold  and  its 
membership  distributed  to  other  charges. 

In  1862  D.  D.  Mather  was  made  pastor  of  Town  Street.     He  remained  two 
3'ear8,  rendering  acceptable  Pcrvices,  and,  following  out  the  plan  left  by  Doctor 
Trimble,  the  church  was  at  last  freed  from  its  incubus  of  debt.     During  these  dark 
years  of  the  sixties  Town  Street,  like  every  other  Methodist  Church,  furnished 
many  t^oldiers  for  her  country  who  were  also  soldiers  of  the  Cross.     Doctor  Mather 
is  yet  living,  spending  his  closing  years  in  Delaware,  Ohio.     Carmi  A.  Vananda 
served  Town  Street  from  1864  to  1867,  rendering  three  years  of  good  service.     Dur- 
ing his  last  pastorate  the  church  was  improved  interiorly  and  the  rented  pew  sys- 
tem adopted.     The  plan  did  not  prove  successful  and  a  debt  was  again  incurred. 
Doctor  Vananda  was  greatly  beloved  by  his  people.     He  has  since  leaving  the 
Ohio  Conference  filled  many  fine  charges,  being  at  present  the  pastor  of  Roberts 
Park  Church,  Indianapolis.     His  successor  at  Town  Street  was  W.  fl.  Scott,  who 
served  two  years,  leaving  a  membership  375.     Doctor  Scott  was  for  many  years 
President  of  the  Ohio  University  at  Athens  and  for  the  last  eight  yeai*s  has  filled  the 
same  position  in  the  Ohio  State  University  and  Agricultural  College  at  Columbus, 
with  honor  to  himself  and  to  the  prosperity  of  the  institution.     During  his  pastor- 
ate Town  Street  returned  to    tlie  free   pew   sj'stem,  and  her  temporary  trial  of 
rented  pews  was  the  only  instance  of  the  kind,  so  far  as  the  writer  knows  of,  in  the 
history   of  Columbus   Methodism.       President   Scott  was   followed   in    1869  by 
Earl  Cranston  as  pastorof  Town  Street.     The  failure  of  his  wife's  health  occasioned 
his  resigning  his  pastorate  before  the  close  of  the  year,  and  going  to  Minnesota. 
Doctor  Cranston  filled  various  important  charges  throughout  the  West,  and  in  1884 
was  elected  by  the  General  Conference  as  the  head  agent  of  the  Western  Methodist 
Book    Concern,  at    Cincinnati,    which    position    he  continues   to  fill    with   great 
efficienc}'.     In    1870  B.  N.  Spahr  was  the  second  time  appointed  pastor  of  Town 
Street,  remaining  one  3'car   and    then    becoming   presiding  elder  of  the  Colum- 
bus District      In  1871,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  charge,  Doctor  Vananda  was 


Methodist.  795 

retarned  to  them  as  pastor,  remaining  until  November,  1873,  when  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  St.  Lonis.  Bishop  Ames  appointed  Doctor  Trimble  to  take  charge  until  a 
permanent  supply  conld  be  obtained,  and  then  in  April  following  transferred  James 
Hill  from  Indiana  as  pastor  of  Town  Street  Church.  He  remained  two  years  more. 
During  his  first  year  the  celebrated  holiness  evangelists,  Reverends  J.  L.  Inskip  and 
William  McDonald,  held  a  tendays  meeting  in  Town  Street,  beginning  January 
18.  These  services  attracted  wide  attention  and  doubtless  did  good.  Doctor  Hill's 
last  year  was  also  marked  with  a  great  revival,  conducted  by  himself  After  fill- 
ing various  other  charges  in  the  Ohio  Conference  he  again  joined  the  Indiana  Con- 
ference in  1887.  The  next  pastor  of  the  Town  Street  Church  was  Isaac  F.  King, 
who  was  appointed  in  1876  and  remained  throe  j-ears.  During  his  term  the  church 
was  beautifully  repaired  and  all  debts  were  paid  off.  He  left  484  members* 
Brother  King  remains  a  member  of  the  Ohio  Conference,  held  in  highest  esteem. 
In  1879  Charles  M.  Bethauser  was  appointed  pastor.  He  served  two  years  and 
then  retired  from  the  active  ministry  to  enter  upon  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
Columbus,  where  he  still  resides  In  1881  A.  C.  Hirst,  at  the  end  of  his  third  year 
as  pastor  of  Wesley  Chapel,  was  appointed  to  Town  Street.  He  was  an  eloquent 
and  attractive  preacher  and  at  the  end  of  his  second  year  was  transferred  to 
Christ  Church,  Pittsburgh.  Doctor  Hirst  reported  a  membership  of  611.  He  now 
fills  the  presidency  of  the  Pacific  University,  California.  W.  M.  Mullenix  was  the 
next  pastor  of  Town  Street,  having  charge  from  1883  lo  1886.  He  reported  a  mem- 
bership of  650.  W.  D.  Clierington  was  appointed  pastor  in  1886,  remaining 
one  year,  and  then  taking  charge  of  Second  Street,  Zanesville,  which,  after  another 
year,  he  was  called  to  leave  to  succeed  Doctor  McConnell,  of  Third  Avenue,  Col- 
umbus, where  he  is  now  closing  his  third  successful  year.  The  next  pastor  of  Town 
Street  was  S.  D.  Hutsinpiller,  who  remained  one  year,  and,  like  his  predecessor,  was 
then  stationed  at  Second  Street,  Zanesville,  one  year,  at  the  close  of  which  he  was 
transferred  to  Toledo.  In  1888  W.  H.  Lewis  was  appointed  to  Town  Street,  where 
he  is  now  filling  his  third  year  with  efficiency.  The  membership  of  this  church  is 
now  over  500,  many  of  whom  will  be  too  remote  from  the  location  of  the  new  church 
to  remain  with  it,  but  their  vacancies  will  be  filled  by  others  who  await  its  coming  to 
their  vicinity. 

Thus  we  have  followed  the  history  of  the  parent  church  of  Columbus  Methodism 
through  its  life  of  seven tyeight  years.  Few,  if  any,  charges  of  Methodism  have  had 
a  nobler  or  more  illustrious  lino  of  pastors,  and  we  pray  that  its  future  may  continue 
to  increase  in  honor  and  usefulness  as  the  years  roll  on.  We  now  turn  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  other  charges  of  Methodism,  which  must  necessarily  be  less  in  detail. 

Wesley  Chapel. — Wesley  Chapel  was  organized  as  a  society,  and  its  first  church 
edifice  was  built,  in  1845-6,  while  Granville  Moody  was  pastor  of  Town  Street. 
The  cost  of  the  church  was  from  seven  to  eight  thousand  dollars.  Robert  Rari- 
dan,  William  Armstrong  and  Ezra  Booth  were  the  building  co;nmittoo.  Francis 
Minor  was  the  contractor.  The  lot  was  given  by  William  and  Hannah  Neil 
under  circumstances  narrated  elsewhere  in  this  history.  When  completed  the 
church  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  E.  S.  Janes,  in  Sejjtember,  1847.  Its  first  Quar- 
terly Conference  was  held  October  30,  1847,  when  appear  the  names  of  Abram 


796 

Wambnui;!)  and  1 


HlST(>&r   OF  THE   CiTT   OP  CnLt'MBUS. 

■vett  Tiifl  aa  cxliortors,  both  of  whom  afterward  lK*came  minis- 


TliB  rti;ordH  of  this  (icriod  mivin  to  be  losi  nod  many  tliinf^i^  wbifli  we  woold 
like  to  know  are  for  tbat  reuHOii  inacceHsible.  The  society  seemn  to  have  starled 
out  wiih  nn  unusually  strong  force — aI)Out  197  memborB.  Of  theee  a  few  aiv 
Htill  living  in  thin  city,  among  litem  being  Isuac  Anton,  William  Arnold,  Kutb 
Bartletl,  William   Hartun,  Ezra   Booth,  Henry   Booth,  Jane  A.   Harvey,  Truman 


Hillyep,  Richard  Jones,  ChcBler  Mattoon,  Thomas  Aston,  Mrs.  George  M.  Peters 
and  Matilda  RuUietll. 

Hov.  Geor;;e  C.  Crum,  the  first  paslor,  was  appointed  in  the  fall  of  1847  and 
remained  two  yenrs.  Ho  was  a  BUjicrior  preacher.  Among  his  accessions  was 
WiJlinm  Neil.  The  Sundayscliool  i-ecordw  date  back  to  December  14,  1843.  At 
this  time  wo  find  M.  Goo^ling  suporintcndcnt.  Lovctt  Taft  as^islant  and  iRiiae 
Aslon  socrotary.  In  addition  to  most  of  those  whoso  names  have  ali-eady  been 
given,  we  find  as  signers  of  the  constitution,  Braiiiard,  Dickinson,  Daniel  Miner, 


Methodist.  797 

Luthor  Hillery,  Julia  Creed,  Mrs.  E.  B.  AmiBlrong  and  Hannah  Neil.     At  the 
close  of  his  second  year  Hcv.  Mr.  Crnm  reported  to  Conference  214  mcmhers. 

Rev.  J.  W.  Clarke,  the  presiding  elder  during  these  years,  was  a  man  of  abil- 
ity and  good  report.  The  next  pastor,  Rev.  William  H.  Lawder,  appointed  in  the 
fall  of  1849,  had  been  an  associate  of  Doctor  G.  C.  Crum  in  their  boyhood  dnys. 
Failing  health  prevented  his  return  the  following  year,  and  Rov.  John  W.  Weakly 
was  appointed  pastor.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Augusta  College,  Kentucky,  and 
reported  at  the  close  of  his  year  250  members. 

We  find  the  Sundayschool  of  this  church  wrestling  with  difficulties  which  we 
are  apt  to  imagine  are  peculiar  to  ourselves  and  from  which  it  is  supposed  the 
earlier  years  of  city  Methodism  were  exempt.  Again  and  again  efforts  are  made 
to  establish  and  maintain  a  teachers'  meeting;  committees  are  appointed  for 
recruiting  the  school.  From  all  of  which  it  appears  that  people  were  inclined  to 
neglect  important  matters  then  as  well  as  now,  and  that  children  were  not  more 
religiously  inclined  than  at  present.  The  former  times  wore  not  bettor  than 
these.  The  treasurer's  annual  report  for  1851,  shows  that  the  school  that  year 
raised  $31.55  and  expended  $29.35  for  books. 

Rev.  John  W.  Leavitt  became  pastor  in  1851.  He  was  a  son  of  Judge  Leavitt, 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  served  the  people  with  accepUibility  for  two  years. 
Rev.  Uriah  Heath,  one  of  the  eminent,  earnest  an  J  saintly  ministers  of  early  Ohio 
Methodism,  w^s  now  presiding  elder. 

In  the  fall  of  1853,  Rev.  James  L.  Grovor  became  pastor,  remaining  two  years 
to  the  great  pleasure  and  profit  of  the  people.  These  were  the  days  when  the  sub- 
ject of  promiscuous  sittings  agitated  the  church.  The  custom  hnd  hitherto  been 
for  the  family  to  separate  by  sexes  on  entering  the  church  door  and  the  mother 
and  daughters  to  go  to  the  woman's  side  while  the  father  and  sons  walked  in 
orderly  array  to  the  men's  side.  But  the  reform  in  this  matter  came  in  due  time 
to  Wesley  Chapel,  and  after  the  usual  amount  of  discussion  and  division  of  opinion, 
promiscuous  sittings  finally  prevailed.  The  State  Journal  of  October  18,  1854, 
states  as  a  news  item  that  *^  a  new  rule  has  been  adopted  at  Wesley  Chapel  allow* 
ing  all  male  and  female  members  of  a  family  to  sit  together  in  the  same  pew." 
Also  at  this  time  there  was  great  opposition  to  the  use  of  even  a  cabinet  organ  in 
the  church,  and  it  was  some  years  before  choirs  wore  admitted.  But  the  progres- 
sive spirit  was  irresistible,  and  choirs  and  a  pipe  organ  finally  came  to  occupy  a 
permanent  place  in  worship  here  as  eli*e where. 

In  1855,  Rev.  John  Frazier  became  pastor,  serving  two  years.  He  was  a 
**  transfer  "  to  Columbus  from  the  Troy  Conference,  and  was  a  popular  minister. 
Rev.  Zachariah  Council,  an  able  and  influential  man  of  his  day,  was  now  the  pre- 
siding elder  of  this  dibtrict.  Rev.  William  Porter  became  pastor  in  1857.  He 
was  a  devout  man,  and  served  the  charge  two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he 
reported  167  nienibfrH,  which  shows  I  hat  outside  of  a  few  pillars  of  the  church 
the  rank  and  file  uere  fluctuating.  Rev.  George  W.  Brush  became  pastor  in  1869, 
and  served  the  full  time  —  two  years.  He  was  a  man  of  celebrated  eloquence  and 
power,  but  in  after  years,  during  a  fit  of  temporary  aberration  of  mind,  he  ended 
his  own   life   while   the  popular  pastor   of  St.   Paul's,  Delaware.     His  memory 


798  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

always  awakens  admiration  and  sadness  among  those  who  knew  him.  Hev. 
J.  M.  Jameson  was  now  the  presiding  elder.  He  still  lives  in  California,  and  at 
the  ripe  age  of  88  years  preaches  yet  occasionally  to  admiring  auditors.  Doctor 
Jameson  still  has  hosts  of  friends  in  Columbus.  In  the  fall  of  1861  Rev.  David  D. 
Mather  became  pastor,  remaining  one  year,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  was 
exchanged  by  the  Conference  powers  for  Rev.  J.  M.  Trimble,  D,  D.,  who  had 
just  closed  his  two  years  at  Town  Street.  Doctor  Mather  was  an  effective  and 
popular  preacher.     He  yet  lives,  making  his  home  in  Delaware,  Ohio. 

Under  Doctor  Trimble's  pastorate  the  membership  increased  in  two  years 
from  185  to  225.  The  Sundayschool  records  of  these  years  are  exceedingly 
meager,  and  we  find  no  church  records  whatever.  Prom  Doctor  Trimble's  pri- 
vate records  we  find  that  the  official  members  now  wore,  J.  F.  Bartlett,  Jas.  F. 
Kelley,  Matthew  Gooding,  Ezra  and  Henry  Booth,  B.  Huff,  G.  W.  Monypenny, 
Thomas  Walker,  A.  Gardner  and  Chester  Mattoon.  I.  C.  Aston  was  Sundayschool 
superintendent  and  the  school  was  flourishing.  From  the  same  source  we  learn 
that  when  Doctor  Trimble  entered  Wesley  Chapel  for  the  first  time  as  pastor,  he 
was  greeted  by  an  audience  which  intimidated  him.  On  the  platform  sat 
Governor  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Governor  William  Dennison,  and  others  who  had  never 
been  identified  with  Methodism,  but  who  undoubtedly  came  to  tender  their 
respect  to  the  son  of  Governor  Trimble,  whom  they  had  known.  His  pastorate 
was  one  of  popularit}^  and  power,  but  of  course  these  notable  auditors  were  not 
constant  attendants. 

Rev,  Cyrus  E.  Felton  was  the  next  pastor,  coming  in  the  fall  of  1764,  after 
the  General  Conferonoe  had  extended  the  pastoral  term  to  three  years,  and 
remaining  the  full  period.  Doctor  Felton  had  here,  as  uniformly,  a  very  popular 
pastorate.  Under  his  labors  the  church  was  remodeled  and  enlarged,  its  front 
extended  and  its  towers  added  to,  at  an  expense  of  $30,000.  The  reopening  took 
place  under  the  sermon  of  Bishop  Charles  Kingsley.  At  the  close  of  this  pastorate 
the  membership  was  reported  at  286.  Some  had  now  left  Wesley  to  organize 
Christie  Chapel.  Doctor  Felton,  in  after 'years,  served  our  best  churches  in 
St.  Louis,  Pittsburgh  and  other  cities,  returning  to  some  of  them  as  often  as  three 
times.  His  health  failed  him  a  few  years  ago  and  he  now  lives  in  retirement  in 
Florida,  engaged  in  orange  culture.  Rev.  C.  A.  Vananda  was  at  this  lime  the 
presiding  elder,  of  whose  pastoral  labors  in  this  city  and  his  acceptable  abilities 
we  have  already  given  extended  notice. 

Rev.  Isaac  Crook  became  pastor  of  Wesley  Chapel  in  1867  and  remained  three 
years.  An  absence  of  church  records  prevents  any  notes  of  importance  during 
this  period.  Doctor  Crook  reported  316  members  his  third  year.  In  after  years 
he  served  Broad  Street  Church  and  is  now  the  President  of  the  Pacific  University. 
In  the  Sundayschool  we  find  growing  in  prominence  from  year  to  year  the  name 
of  one  who  afterwards  became,  and  is  now,  a  successful  minister  of  the  Ohio  Con- 
ference, viz:  John  £.  Rudisill.  We  also  find  the  school  manifesting  its  apprecia^ 
tionofthe  Superintendent,  Isaac  Aston,  in  a  recorded  motion  to  *^make  him  a 
present  costing  from  $40  to  $50.  and  Brothers  Ezra  Booth,  Trimble  and  Crook  to 
be  a  committee  to  make  the  presentation  with  a  speech/' 


Methodist.  799 

In   1870    Rev.    David  H.  Moore  became  the  pastor,  remaining  two  years.     He 
reported  384  members  the  first  year  and  462  ihe  second.     Doctor  Moore  filled  other 
important  palpits  in  the  Ohio  Conference  and  then  was  transferred  to  Cincinnati, 
filling  its  best  stations,  after  which  he  became  the  President  of  the   Wesleyan 
Female  College  of  Cincinnati,  and  still  later  the  Ciiancellor  of  the  University  at 
Denver.     After  the  death  of  Doctor  J.  H.  Bayliss,  he  was  elected  editor  of  the 
Western  Christian  Advocate^  which  position  ho  continues  to  fill  with  great  efficiency 
and  acceptability.     Rev.  B.  !N.  Spahr  was  the  popular  presiding  elder  during  these 
years.     Rev.  Samuel  A.  Keen  became  pastor  in  1872,  remaining  three  years.     He 
reported  543  members  his  second  year  and  408  his  third  year,  a  strong  colony 
having  gone  off  for  the  organization  of  Broad  Street.     Dr.  Keen's  further  ministe- 
rial record  in  this  city  is  given  in  connection  with  Third  Avenue.     In  1875,  Rev. 
Thomas  R.  Taylor  was  appointed  to  Wesley  Chapel  and  served  as  pastor  three 
years.     He  left  518  members.     He  afterwards  served  four  years  as  the  presiding 
elder  of  the  Columbus  District,  and  then  filled  various  other  important  stations  of 
the  Conference.     In  1890  he  was  made  presiding  elder  of  the  Chillicothe  District, 
which  position  he  still  fills.     Rev.  Andrew  B.  See  became  presiding  elder  of  the 
Columbus  District  in  1876  and  served  four  years.     He  has  been  mentioned  as  a 
pastor  of  Third  Street  Church,  and  is  remembered  as  a  man  of  unusual  urbanity 
of  temperament,  and  excellent  judgment,  as  well  as  an  able  preacher.     In  1878 
Rev.  Augustine  C.  Hirst  became  pastor  of  Wesley   Chapel,  remaining  three  years 
and  leaving  a  membership  of  762.     His  next  appointment  was  to  Town  Street 
Church  and  his  abilities  and  further  record  are  noted  in  that  connection.     In  the 
fall  of  1891  Doctor  Hirst  retired  from  college  work  and  reentered  the  pastorate. 

In  1881  Rev.  Hiram  C.  Sexton  was  transferred  from  the  Troy  Conference  and 
appointed  pastor  of  Wesley  Chapel.  During  his  second  year  the  church  was 
burned.  On  the  morning  of  May  13,  1883,  while  the  Sabbath  congregation  was 
assembling  for  worship  the  church  was  discovered  to  be  on  fire.  In  a  few  minutes 
the  fiames  gained  such  headway  that  the  fire  department  was  unable  to  save  more 
than  the  walls  and  the  floor  of  the  auditorium.  The  fire  seemed  to  originate  from 
a  defective  flue  connected  with  the  north  tower.  The  destruction  of  this  church, 
which  had  held  so  prominent  a  location  and  had  been  so  thronged  with  public 
attendance  for  many  years,  was  witnessed  by  thousands  of  spectators  and  brought 
tears  to  hundreds  of  eyes  to  whom  it  was  endeared  through  its  sacred  associations. 
But  notwithstanding  it  was  attended  with  great  temporary  inconvenience  and  loss, 
it  was  proved  in  the  providential  outcome  that  "the  Lord  was  in  the  fire."  The 
encroachments  of  business  upon  this  part  of  the  city  and  the  consequent  migration 
northward  and  eastward  of  Wesley's  resident  membership,  had  caused  the  thought 
of  a  change  of  location  to  be  discussed  for  some  years.  The  fire  precipitated  a 
decision.  There  was  an  insurance  of  $13,000  upon  the  church,  and  twentyfive 
hundred  upon  the  parsonage  which  stood  on  the  lot  adjoining  in  the  rear  but  was 
lefl  uninjured.  The  insurance  was  promptly  paid  and  the  lot  was  sold  in  Decem* 
ber  following  for  $62,500,  the  privilege  being  reserved  (»f  occupying  the  church 
until  May  1,  1885.  The  trustees  took  prompt  measures  for  repairing  the  basement 
for  temporary  occupancy  until  they  could  build  elsewhere.    This  was  done  at  a 


800  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

cost  of  $2,100.  Several  churches,  among  them  the  First  Congregational  and  First 
Presbyterian,  fraternally  tendered  their  rooms  to  the  congregation  until  they 
should  again  be  housed  in  their  own  apartmentti,  but  the  trustees  decided  on 
renting  Lyndon  Hall,  at  the  corner  of  Long  and  Fourth  streets. 

Within  two  weeks  an  option  was  taken  on  the  lot  at  the  corner  of  Broad  and 
Fourth  streets,  at  %iV2,000,  for  sixty  days.  The  committee  on  location  consisted  of 
Colonel  Charles  Parrott,  James  Neil,  Eichard  Jones  and  Frederick  Weadon. 
After  stu<lying  all  the  proposed  sites  this  one  was  finally  selected,  not  without 
strong  disapproval  on  the  part  of  many  leading  Methodists  of  the  city.  It  was  not 
until  the  following  spring,  April  12,  1884,  that  this  lot,  128  feet  on  Broad  Street  by 
187  feet  on  Fourth  Street,  was  purchased  by  the  trustees  for  $32,000  cash,  from 
Peter  Haj'den  and  wife.  On  the  following  day  the  work  of  excavation  began. 
The  building  committee  consisted  of  George  M.  Peters,  Emory  Huff  and  Frederick 
Weadon.  Seldom  was  a  societ}'  in  better  condition  to  build,  and  wisely  did  they 
use  their  means.  They  received  for  their  old  property  $62,500,  for  their  insurance 
$10,500,  from  subscriptions  $21,500,  and  from  the  Ladies'  Aid  Society  $1,900,  mak- 
ing a  total  of  $9G,400.  After  repairing  the  old  church,  purchasing  the  lot  and 
meeting  other  necessary  expenses,  they  still  had  $59,600.  The  total  cost  from  first 
to  last  of  the  present  grand  church  edifice  was  $59,600.48.  The  corner  stone  was 
laid  August  6,  1884,  and  the  Sundayschool  room  was  read}'  for  oc!Cupanc\*  in  Ma}' 
following.  July  26,  1885,  the  entire  edifice  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Randolph  S. 
Foster.  The  memorial  tablet  of  Hannah  ^eil  was  transferred  from  the  old  church 
to  its  present  position  in  the  entrance  way  of  the  new  one. 

Returning  to  the  pastors.  Rev.  H.  C.  Sexton  diligently  pushed  the  work  of 
building  anew  and  raised  most  of  the  subscriptions  for  the  same,  but  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1884  he  resigned  his  pastorate  and  returned  by  transfer  to  his  native  Con- 
ference. He  left  a  membership  at  Wesley  Chapel  of  760.  Rev.  James  S.  Bitler, 
who  had  been  doing  evangelistic  work,  was  appointed  by  presiding  older,  J.  T. 
Miller,  to  fill  out  the  year.  His  labors  were  satisfactory,  and  the  congregation  not 
feeling  like  calling  a  new  pastor  into  the  old  church,  Rev.  Mr.  Bitler  was  appoint- 
ed at  the  session  of  the  next  Conference  to  serve  another  year,  which  he  did 
accepted ly.  Since  that  time  he  has  acted  as  an  evangelist,  in  which  vocation  he 
has  been  very  successful.  Rev.  Mr.  Sexton  remained  in  the  Troy  Conference  for 
two  years  and  was  then  transferred  to  the  Ohio  Conference  and  was  appointed  to 
Walnut  Street,  Chillicothe.  After  serving  three  3'ear8  there,  and  threo  more  at 
Circleville,  he  was  made  presiding  elder  of  the  Columbus  District  in  1891,  which 
position  he  is  now  filling  most  efficiently. 

The  first  pastor  of  the  new  Wesley  Chapel  was  Rev.  A.  N.  Craft,  D.  D.,  who 
was  transferred  from  the  Erie  Conference  in  1885.  He  remained  three  years. 
Doctor  Craft  is  a  very  fine  sermonizer  and  scholar.  At  the  end  of  his  pastorate 
here  he  was  transferred  out  of  the  Conference  and  has  since  been  filling  very 
important  pulpits  elscwiiero.  The  next  and  present  pastor  is  Rev.  H.  W.  Bennett, 
D.  D.,  who  is  serving  his  filth  year.  He  was  transferred  to  the  Ohio  Conference 
from  Bloomington,  Illinois.  Doctor  Bennett  read  and  practiced  law  before  enter- 
ing the  ministry.     He  has  filled  a  fine  line  of  appointments  and  has  had  remark- 


Methodist. 


801 


able  success  at  Wesley  Gliapel.  He  is  a  ntroDg  preiichor  and  well  iJuveloped  in  all 
the  requirements  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel. 

Prom  IBG'i  to  18S5  the  Uissionury  coDtributloKS  of  Wei-luy  Chapel  averaged 
11,000  per  year.  It  is  at  this  time  a  well  organized,  harmonious  Church,  furnish- 
ing Gospel  privileges  to  thoiisaods. 

Thin/  Street  Church.  —  Originally  Big.-low  Chapul,  this  was  the  second  offshoot 
of  Town  Street  Church.  In  the  spring  i.f  185:1,  at  Town  Streets  third  Quiirlerly 
Conference,  M.  Halm  moved  that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  tu  select 
a  KUttable  location  in  the  soiithoast  part  of  the  city  for  opening  ii  Mission  Sabbath- 
school  and  as  a  preaching  place  for  the  local  ministers.     There  was  much  opposition 


to  the  motion  on  the  ground  that  such  a  movement  would  militate  against  the  build- 
ing of  Town  Street's  now  church  and  lead  eventually  to  organising  a  new  society 
to  the  weakening  of  its  membership.  But  the  motion  finally  prevailed  and  the 
presiding  elder,  Rev.  Uriah  Heath,  appointed  J.  Q.  Lakin,  M.  Halm  and  John  Fell 
as  the  committee  on  location.  They  selected  the  rooms  above  William  F.  Knoderer's 
wagonshop,  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Fourth  and  Friencl  etreols.  By  removing 
the  plastered  partition  between  two  rooms  they  had  a  hall  38  feet  in  length  by  20 
feet  in  width,  accommodating  150  persons.  The  first  session  of  the  new  school  was 
held  May  8,  1853,  fortyfive  being  present.  On  the  Wednesday  evening  follow- 
ing Joseph  FitEwater  was  elected  superintendent,  M.  Halm  assistant  superintendent, 
51 


802  History  op  the  Citt  op  Columbus. 

JamcH  Jonea  socretar}-  and  E.  H.  Link  librarian.  Town  Street  Charch  aHsigned 
nli  the  territory  east  of  Fourth  Street  and  south  of  Rich  Street  to  this  Mission 
School. 

Owing  to  the  heavy  labors  of  Joseph  A.  Bruner  as  a  pastor  of  Town  Street, 
increased  by  the  project  of  building,  the  officiary  decided  to  secure  as  an  assistaot 
a  zoaU)U8  young  preacher  who  had  just  come  from  the  South,  by  name  of  Bdward 
Maybee.  He  wiis  employed  for  the  remainder  of  the  year,  the  expense  being 
h'ghtened  b}'  the  preacher  ^*  boarding  around/'  as  he  was  a  single  man.  Regular 
preaching  was  maintained  in  the  new  Sundaysehool  room  from  this  time  on, 
Brothers  May  bee  and  Bruner  frequently  exchanging  places.  Town  Street's  fourth 
Quarterly  Conference  for  this  year  resolved  to  ask  the  approaching  Annual 
Conference  to  establish  this  new  opening  as  a  mission  and  appropriate  one  half  of 
a  single  man's  support  to  it,  the  church  obligating  itself  to  pay  the  remainder. 
The  Conference  at  its  next  meeting,  in  Lancaster,  complied  with  this  request 
and  Edward  Maybee  was  appointed  to  the  '^Columbus  City  Mission.*'  But  at  the 
first  Quarterly  Conference  of  Town  Street  for  this  year,  the  presiding  elder 
decided  that  a  selfsupporting  charge,  as  Town  Street  was,  could  not  receive  a 
missionary  appropriation,  and  that  therefore  this  mission  would  have  to  be 
organized  as  a  separate  charge  and  rest  upon  its  own  resources.  This  decision 
caused  a  good  deal  of  apprehension  and  feeling.  The  new  Town  Street  Church  was 
now  begun.  All  had  subscribed  to  its  building,  and  for  a  portion  of  the  member- 
ship now  to  be  diverted  to  the  organization  of  a  new  society  seemed  a  most 
untimely  fulfillment  of  the  prediction  of  the  "  I-told-you-so's." 

But  this  was  what  was  done,  and  doubtless  more  good  was  accomplished  in 
the  end  by  having  it  thus.  Presiding  Elder  Heath  called  these  new  workers 
together  and  organized  them  into  a  society  consisting  of  about  thirtyfive  members, 
nearly  all  of  whom  were  from  Town  Street.  The  "  Missionary "  pastor, 
Mr.  Maybee,  appointed  the  following  persons  as  its  first  board  of  trustees: 
Absalom  Cooper,  Michael  Halm,  John  Fell,  Newton  Gibbon,  Elijah  Glover, 
Benjamin  Barnes  and  John  Whitzell.  This  infant  society,  thrust  thus  unex- 
pectedly into  existence,  was  very  zealous  in  Gospel  work  from  the  first.  Of  a 
.meeting  held  November  1,  1853,  we  find  the  following  minute:  '^The  Missionary 
reported  that  there  are  now  three  classes  containing  in  all  46  members  and 
probationers,  and  that  it  is  desirable  to  have  stewards  appointed  for  the  Mission, 
that  they  may  secure  the  amount  necessary  for  the  boarding  of  the  missionary 
the  present  year."  The  **  Missionary "  was  also  requested  by  this  meeting  to 
preach  Sabbath  afternoons  on  the  banks  of  the  Canal,  at  some  place  selected  by 
J.  Fitzwater,  as  a  committee  for  that  purpose.  Another  committee  was 
appointed  to  look  out  places  in  which  to  hold  prayer  meetings,  and  still  another 
to  secure  if  practicable  a  larger  room  for  their  worship,  as  the  present  place  was 
becoming  too  small.  The  society  unanimously  requested  that  they  be  given  a 
uepurate  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  this  was  held  in  January  following  in  the 
Gorman  Methodist  church.  On  February  1,  1854,  a  subscription  was  started  for 
the  building  of  a  church,  onethird  of  the  money  subscribed  to  be  paid  April  1, 
another   third  June  1,  and  the  last  third  August  1.     A  lot  Mas  selected  on  the 


i 


Methodist.  803 

north  side  of  Friend  Street,  between  Third  and  Foarth  streets,  at  the  corner  of 
Friend  and  Lazelle  streets,  and  it  was  decided  to  erect  a  frame  bailding  58  feet 
by  40  feet  in  dimensions.  These  energetic  measures  were  actively  put  in  opera- 
tion by  the  earnest  pastor  of  the  charge,  assisted  by  his  presiding  elder,  and  they 
soon  secured  a  subscription  which  warranted  the  trustees  in  proceeding  to  build- 
Accordingly,  at  a  meeting  held  February  27,  1854,  M.  Halm,  J.  Q.  Lakin  and 
John  Fell  were  appointed  a  building  committee.  The  work  was  in  due  time 
begun  and  carried  to  a  successful  conclusion,  Henry  Doremus  being  the  builder. 
The  new  church  ^^as  dedicated  July  15,  1854,  by  Bishop  Thomas  A.  Morris,  and 
named  Bigelow  Chapel,  in  honor  of  Russel  Bigelow.  The  society  met  with  some 
disheartening  misfortunes.  The  church  had  cost  them  $2,200,  besides  its  furnace, 
which  cost  9109  more.  But  the  latter  proved  defective,  and  they  had  to  put  in 
another  at  a  cost  of  $110.  Their  experience  with  their  lot  was  still  worse. 
After  bargaining  for  it  at  $1,500,  the}'^  sold  off  fifty  feet  of  the  west  side  for  $800. 
But  the  title  was  not  good,  and  it  went  to  sale  in  petition  for  partition,  the  church 
owning  but  onethird  interest  in  addition  to  the  widow's  dower.  They  were 
therefore  obliged  to  buy  it  again  or  lose  their  building,  and  so  they  bid  it  in  a 
second  time  at  $1,470,  but  had  not  a  dollar  to  secure  it  with.  There  were  many  to 
sympathize  but  few  to  help.  By  making  a  small  payment,  however,  they  secured 
an  extension  of  time,  and  through  a  loan  of  $850,  procured  by  Kev.  Thomas  Lee, 
in  Covington,  Kentucky,  where  he  had  gone  to  wait  on  his  dying  brother,  the 
title  was  this  time  made  good  and  a  part  of  the  lot  was  afterward  sold  off  to  meet 
the  loan.  Edward  May  bee  left  114  members,  and  was  at  the  next  Conference 
appointed  to  Spencer  Chapel,  Portsmouth,  where  in  July  following  he  was  sud- 
denly seized  with  cholera  and  died  in  triumph,  exclaiming,  '*  Though  God  slay  me 
yet  will  I  trust  in  him.'' 

We  may  remark  here  th:(t  J.  Q.  Lakin,  who  ut  this  time  was  proprietor  of  a 
cabinetshop  in  Columbus',  afterward  entered  the  mini8try  and  was  for  many  years 
a  member  of  the  Ohio  Conference.  The  second  pastor  of  Bigelow  Chapel  was 
Joseph  H.  Creighton.  He  was  a  man  of  unusual  pulpit  power  and  came  from  a 
remarkably  successful  pastorate  at  Ironton.  But  at  Bigelow  he  found  :i  hard  field, 
a  small  and  poor  membership,  a  heavy  debt,  and  one  of  the  hardest  times  in  the 
history  of  the  State  for  raising  money.  A  few  persons  were  converted.  His 
allowance  was  small  and  only  partially  paid.  Some  of  his  reminiscences  may  be 
properly  admitted  here.  He  says:  '^Michael  Halm  was  then  in  his  prime.  As  a 
classleader  I  never  knew  his  equal.  He  would  sing  lustily  und  speak  and  weep 
and  always  make  the  class  interesting  and  profitable.  His  class  was  so  popular 
that  strangers  would  sometimes  unduly  crowd  the  room.  He  was  not  only  a  good 
leader,  but  good  all  around.  If  ever  a  man  could  be  called  a  pillar  in  a  church, 
M.  Halm  was  one.  Mathew  Westervelt  joined  us  later  in  the  year,  und  what  is 
uncommon,  he  joined  us  because  we  were  weak  and  needed  help  He  came  right 
past  the  strong  churches  to  our  little  church,  a  rare  occurrence.  Though  my 
congregation  was  made  up  chiefly  of  the  poor  and  uneducated,  yet  I  frequently 
had  one  hearer  who  was  a  noted  man — James  Kussell,  who  built  the  greatest 
orrery  ever  constructed,  far  surpassing  the  one  by  Kittenhouse  in  England,      ftus- 


804  History  op  the  City  of  CoiIumbus. 

sell  was  a  genius  in  astronomy  and  inochanics.  He  built  two  planetaria  ins,  both 
destroyed  by  fire.  The  last  one  was  sold  for  $10,000.  Mr.  Creighton  leA  80  mem- 
bers at  the  close  of  his  year. 

Thomas  Lee  was  pastor  during  the  years   1856  and  1857.     He  did  very  suc- 
cessful work  in  reducing  the  church  debt.     At  the  close  of  his  second   yenr  he  left 
a  remnant  ot  but  $350  out  of  a  debt  which   he  found  of  over  $2,000.      During  hi.s 
pastorate   the   society  average«l  over  $10  per  member  each  year  in  their  contribu- 
tions to  all  purposes.     Mr.  Lee  left  114  members.     He  was  ardently'   loved   by  his 
people.     He  afierwarvl  belonged  to  the  Cincinnati  Conference  and  tor  many  years 
had  charge  of  the  Cincinnati  Union  Bethel.     He  died  March  10,  1891.      In  the  fall 
of  1857  Lovett  Taft  was   appointed  pastor,  remaining  two  years.     Tlie  nieinber>hip 
which  until  this  time  had  never  gotten  beyond  its  original   number,   now  grew  to 
178.     During  his  first  year  the  debt  with  which  the  church  had  so  long  and  so 
heroically'  struggled  was  at  last  entirely  liquidated.     During  his  second  year,  after 
much    deliberation    on  the  part  of  the  trustees,  the  society  traded    their  church 
property    for    that    of    the    Secon  1    Presbyterians   on    Third    Street,     near    the 
corner  of  Friend,  giving  them  $5,000  besides,  payable  onethird  October  1,  1859, 
and  onethird  annually  thereafter.     The  Presbyterians  went  from  this  church  into 
their  new  stone  building  on  Third  Street,   near  State  Street,  and  our  congregation 
moved  into  their  old  church  which  became  the  new  Bigelow  Chapel.      We  find  that 
they  vot«dSej)tember  21,1859,  to  put  $250  in  repairs  on  thebasementand  auditorium. 
Brother  Taft,  with  his  devoted  wife,   was  one  of  the  pastors  who  was  destined  to 
leave  a  bright  and  lasting  name  among  Columbus   Methodists.     His    work  will 
appear  in  this  history  in  connection   with  various  other  charges,  as  organizer  and 
pastor.     He  was  an  earnest,  winsome  man  of  God,  assisted  by  a  wife  in  every  way 
worthy  of  filling  her  position.     Thomas  H.  Phillips  became  pastor  in  October, 
1859.     An  interesting  item   from  the  Trustees'  records  of  October  11,  this  year, 
til  rows  light  upon  sundry  matters :  "  Resolved  that  we  give  $100  per  annum  for  a 
sexton  to  take  charge  of  cleaning,  warming  and  lighting  the  church,  waiting  on 
and  seating  the  congregation,  cutting  all  the  wood  and  doing  all  other  duties  per- 
taining to  the  sextonship."     The  sexton  lived  in  three  rooms  in  the  basement,  for 
which  he  paid  $6U  per  year.     The  Bigelow  society  took  possession  of  the  church 
on  Third  Street  in  November,  1859.     Mr.  Phillips   was  a   talented    and    popular 
preacher,  but  a  somewhat  indiscreet  man.     He  left  a  membership  of  261. 

The  allowance  to  pastoral  support  was  not  large  in  those  days;  tbat  of  Rev. 
L.  Taft  is  reported  at  "260  for  table  and  fuel  expenses:  total  amount  $500." 
Rev.  Mr.  Phillips  was  allowed  $360  for  table  and  fuel  expenses;  what  the  total 
was  is  not  stateii.  For  his  second  year  there  are  no  specifications  in  bis  salary, 
but  the  allowance  in  bulk  by  the  estimating  committee  was  $700,  wbich  ho 
generously  moved  to  be  amended  to  $650,  and  this  was  adopted  by  tbe  Quar- 
terly Confennce.  The  presiding  elder's  alio. vance  was  $28  from  tbis  charge. 
Districts  were  then  larger  than  now,  and  he  was  not  expected  to  give  every  charge 
a  Sabbath  quarterly  meeting,  but  they  were  held  on  weekdays  as  well.  Small  as 
the  salaries  were,  there  were  often  deficiencies  in  them,  as  is  incidentally  revealed. 
In  the  Quarterly  Conference  minutes  we  find  an  invitation  from  the  Harrisburg 


Methodist.  805 

Circuit  to  this  church  "  to  tittend  their  Camp  Meeting  at  Union."  The  invitation 
was  accepted,  and  "  Stacey  Taylor  was  appointed  a  committee  of  one  to  cooperate 
with  them  in  (lie  arrangementn/'  And  now  Brother  Absalom  Cooper  moves  that 
"  the  committoc  bo  instructed  to  use  his  influence  to  prevent  collections  at  Camp 
Meetings  for  preachers'  deficiencies,  if  possible."  The  spirit  of  this  motion  prob- 
ably was :  '*  We  pay  our  pastor  in  full,  and  when  we  go  to  Camp  Meeting  we 
don't  want  to  be  dunned  for  yours." 

Andrew  B.  See  was  the  ne^  pastor,  being  appointed  in  the  fall  of  1861,  and 
serving  two  years.  These  were  the  dark  days  of  the  Civil  War,  and  Columbus 
was  a  central  recruiting  station.  Mr.  See  was  a  diffident  but  able  man  and  of  very 
pronounced  patriotic  sentiments.  His  church  was  attended  by  many  soldiers  and 
here  many  of  then:  also  joined  the  army  of  the  Lord.  This  charge  was  now  in 
the  long  continued  toils  of  debtpaying  again,  caused  by  their  change  in  property, 
but  we  cannot  help  admiring  their  faith  and  heroism  in  confronting  such  an  under- 
taking. Money  was  scarce  and  times  were  hard,  yet,  in  18^2,  they  actuall}"^ 
reduced  thfir  debt  from  $3,323.37  to  $1,298  27.  The  pastor^s  salary  was  this  year 
$600,  the  contribution  to  missions,  $80.51.  Number  in  Sundayschool,  220.  The 
next  pastor  was  Albert  G.  Byers,  serving  from  October,  1863,  one  year,  and,  after 
being  reappointed  for  his  second  year  in  1864,  resigning  to  accept  tlie  appointment 
of  Chaplain  of  the  Ohio  Penitentiary.  This  was  his  beginning  of  a  long  and  use- 
ful career  in  connection  with  penal  and  benevolent  institutions  He  was  a  path- 
etic and  gifted  speaker  and  died  at  his  post  in  the  fall  of  1890.  The  presiding 
elder,  Rfv.  George  W.  Brush,  appointed  David  H.  Moore  to  fill  the  vacancy  occa- 
sioned by  the  resignation  of  Doctor  Byers.  He  bad  just  returned  from  the  army. 
In  this  talented  young  man  the  church  had  a  pastor  who  attracted  attention  afar 
as  well  aM  near.  He  was  as  spiritual  as  he  was  poetic.  He  left  a  membership  of 
402.  His  salary  was  $900,  and  the  missionary  contribution  of  the  church  $280. 
Doctor  Moore  afterwards  became  pastor  of  Wesley  Chapel,  this  city,  and  filled 
various  other  leading  pulpits  of  the  State. 

In  the  fall  of  1865  John  T.  Miller  was  sent  as  pastor  to  Big.elow,  remaining  one 
year.  This  was  a  year  of  unfortunate  division  in  the  church,  over  the  introduc- 
tion of  an  organ  or  melodeon  into  the  Sundaj'school.  The  pastor's  influence  was 
largely  impaire  I  by  the  dissension,  nevertheless  he  had  a  year  of  prosperity  as  is 
indicated  b}'  reporting  438  members  and  $430  for  missions.  Mr.  Miller  is  noted 
for  his  ready  utterance  as  a  speaker.  He  afterward  served  the  Columbus  District 
as  presiding  ehler,  and  is  at  present  the  incumbent  of  the  Zanesville  District. 
Daniel  Horlocker  was  appointed  to  Bigelow  Chapel  in  October,  1866,  remaining  two 
years.  He  was  both  faitliful  and  acceptable  and  his  work,  as  will  appear  in  con- 
nection with  various  other  charges  of  this  cit}',  alwaj'S  to  his  praise.  His  first 
year's  pastorate  at  Bigelow  was  a  sort  of  golden  age  for  that  church.  The  church 
was  at  last  paid  for  again  and  valued  at  $15,000.  The  pastor's  salary  was  $1,100 
and  $310  for  houserent.  They  paid  $133  for  support  of  the  poor,  gave  $300  for 
church  extension,  $200  for  education,  and  $600  for  missions.  All  the  benevolences, 
the  current  expenses,  and  payment  on  church  debt  amounted  to  about  $4,100  raised 
this  year.     Yet  the  membership  is  reported  as  one  hundred  less  than  the  year 


806  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

before.  His  neeond  year  the  salary  was  91,200,  as  high  as  the  church  has  ever 
paid,  but  the  membership  was  sealed  down  to  279.  For  several  years  a  desire  had 
been  manifested  to  procure  a  parsonage,  but  the  time  seemed  not  to  have  arrived 
till  now.  The  trustees  bouglit  the  parsonage  lot  in  October,  1867.  After  par 
tially  paying  for  it,  a  subscription  was  started  for  building  a  parsonage.  This 
was  reported  July,  1869,  to  be  $2,785.  A  month  later  Michael  Halm  subscribed 
$2,000  more  to  this  sum,  making  the  amount  sufficient  to  finish  paying  for  the 
lot  and  to  erect  the  house  entire  and  make  some  A^anges  in  the  church  steps  as 
part  of  the  stipulation  on  which  it  was  given.  The  work  was  then  begun  and 
carried  to  a  rapid  completion. 

It  was  during  the  first  year  of  John  W.  White's  pastorate  that  the  subscription 
was  secured.  He  was  the  first  pastor  to  occupy  the  parsonage,  moving  into  it  in 
the  spring  of  his  second  year.  The  work  was  just  about  completed  and  paid  for 
when  a  great  calamity  befell  the  society.  At  about  three  o'clock  Monday  n»orn- 
ing,  November  15,  1869,  the  church  was  discovered  to  be  on  fire.  The  flames  had 
already  gained  such  headway  in  the  tall  wooden  spire  and  under  the  metallic  roof 
that  it  was  impossible  to  save  the  building.  Only  the  walls  were  left  standing; 
all  the  contents  of  the  church  perished  with  it.  A  heavy  snow  had  fallen  a  few 
nights  before  which  prevented  other  buildings  from  being  burned.  The  spire  fell 
just  over  the  northwest  corner  of  the  new  parsonage,  causing  small  damage.  The 
entire  loss  was  estimated  at  $15,000,  on  which  there  was  $6,000  insurance.  The 
fire  doubtless  originated  from  a  defective  flue  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  church 
where  a  fire  broke  out  nineteen  years  before.  It  was  precisely  ten  years,  to  the 
month,  since  this  society  had  taken  possession  of  their  church  until  they  were 
called  to  mourn  its  loss.  But  this  people  had  come  through  too  many  hard  strug- 
gles to  quail  before  any  reverse  now.  They  went  right  on  with  their  worship  in 
the  lectureroom  of  the  Town  Street  Church,  and  took  immediate  steps  for  rebuild- 
ing. The  first  church  did  not  extend  to  the  pavement  by  quite  a  distance.  Its 
audienceroom  was  reached  by  a  broad  flight  of  stairs  ft*om  the  pavement  to  the 
door,  leading  through  a  portico  within  four  pillars.  To  rebuild  on  their  former 
dimensions  would  cost  $5,200;  by  remodeling  and  extending  the  front,  $10,200. 
Brick  at  this  time  cost  $10.20  per  thousand.  They  resolved  to  adopt  the  latter 
plan.  M.  Halm  was  put  in  charge  of  the  work.  He  gave  it  his  attention  by  day 
and  night.  The  ceiling  of  the  lectureroom  had  been  too  low  for  comfort;  it  was 
elevated  in  the  rebuilding.  With  such  energy  was  the  work  pushed  that  by  Feb- 
ruary the  congregation  were  occupying  the  basement  agaip.  The  entire  building 
was  finished  by  December,  1870,  and  on  the  eighteenth  was  dedicated  by  Doctor 
J.  M.  Keed,  of  Chicago.  The  reconstructed  edifice  cost  nearly  $13,000.  George 
Bellows  was  the  supervising  architect.  Once  more  this  heroic  society  was  on  its 
feet,  but  with  another  heavy  financial  load  to  carry.  John  W.  Whit«  continued 
as  pastor,  being  the  first  to  serve  the  extended  term  of  three  years.  He  was  a 
man  of  fine  imagination  and  was  popular  with  the  people. 

James  H.  Gardner  was  appointed  to  the  charge  in  the  fisill  of  1871,  cootinaing 
three  years.  The  salary  was  restored  to  $1,200  and  the  debt  reduced  to  about 
$3,000.     Mr.  Gardner  is  a  devout  and  sympathetic  preacher,  still  doing  ef&deai 


Methodist.  807 

work.  He  was  followed  in  the  fall  of  1874  by  James  Kendall,  who  had  been  trans- 
ferred from  the  Cincinnati  Conference.  For  six  years  past  the  membership  had 
ranged  from  206  to  270.  A  financial  depression  was  upon  the  country,  and  the 
church  in  general  felt  it,  as  well  as  this  society  in  particular.  In  their  straits 
there  was  quite  a  spirit  in  favor  of  sellin<^  the  parsonage  property  to  liquidate  their 
indebtedness.  But  wiser  counsels  prevailed  and  relief  gradually  came.  It  was  this 
year  that  the  name  of  the  church  was  changed  to  "Third  Street."  Mr.  Kendall 
remained  but  one  3'ear.  He  was  a  bachelor  of  advanced  3*ears  but  an  extraordin- 
ary preacher. 

In  the  fall  of  1875  John  Collins  Jackson,  Junior,  was  appointed  to  Third  Street 
Church.  There  were  two  cousins  of  identically  this  same  name,  differing  but  a  few 
years  in  age,  who  were  now  members  of  the  Ohio  Conference,  and  they  were  dis- 
tinguished by  the  younger  assuming  the  **  junior"  suffix.  This  was  his  first  charge 
and  a  great  responsibility  for  one  but  twentyfive  years  of  age.  He  continued  three 
years,  leaving  a  membership  of  368.  In  the  fall  of  1878  Simeon  D.  Hutsinpiller 
was  appointed  pastor.  He  remained  one  year.  After  filling  various  other  charges, 
two  of  which  were  in  this  city,  Mr.  Hutsinpiller  was  transferred  to  the  Central 
Ohio  Conference,  and  is  at  this  writing  pastor  of  St.  PauKs,  Toledo.  George 
W.  Burns  was  the  next  pastor  of  Third  Street,  serving  one  year.  He  remains  one 
of  the  valuable  men  of  this  Conference.  In  the  fall  of  1880  Joseph  H.  Creighton 
became  pastor  the  second  time  of  this  charge.  He  was  followed  a  year  later 
by  Albert  C.  Rikor  who  had  three  prosperous  years.  He  reported  560  members. 
Mr.  Hiker  is  verj'  zealous  and  aggressive.  In  the  fall  of  1887  he  was  transferred  to 
Chattanooga  where  he  is  serving  his  fourth  year.  He  is  the  son  of  the  vener- 
able Rev  Samuel  C.  Hiker  who  has  a  clear  record  in  this  Conference.  In  the  fall 
of  1884  T.  Gilford  Dickenson  became  pastor.  He  had  three  successful  years.  The 
church  auditorium  was  beautifully  repaired,  and  he  left  470  members.  Mr.  Dicken- 
son is  one  of  the  progressive  ministers  of  the  Conference.  Arthur  E.  Johnson 
became  pastor  in  1887,  remaining  two  years.  In  May  1888,  the  basement  was 
remodeled  and  enlarged  for  the  Sundayschool.  The  floor  was  lowered  and  the 
room  extended  by  removing  the  brick  partition  at  the  west  end,  taking  in  the 
adjacent  room,  and  a  neat  one  story  room  was  built  on  the  south  side  for  the 
primary'  department,  connected  by  folding  doors.  The  whole  was  newly  sealed, 
carpeted,  seated  with  chairs  and  otherwise  beautified.  The  entire  cost  was  over 
$2,500.  Mr.  Johnson  has  fine  abilities  and  is  one  of  the  rising  young  men  in  this 
Conference.  He  was  followed  in  the  fall  of  1889  by  Franklin  McBlfresh,  who 
is  now  serving  his  second  year  with  marked  success.  He  is  a  son  of  Rev.  Ben- 
jamin F.  McElfresh  of  the  Ohio  Conference  and  is  a  very  scholarly  young  man. 
The  church  has  now  a  membership  of  450.  Its  only  indebtedness,  mostly  covered 
by  good  subscriptions,  is  about  $1,500  incurred  two  years  ago  in  the  remodeling  of 
the  lectureroom.  The  society  is  harmonious  and  retains  an  unusual  amount  of  the 
oldtime  Methodist  fervor.  It  is  still  a  people's  church  and  is  doing,  as  it  always  has 
done,  great  good  in  this  city.  Reviewing  its  record  we  cannot  conclude  otherwise 
than  that  the  establishment  of  this  church,  though  opposed  at  the  time,  was  of  God. 
There  are  more  Christians  on  earth  and  more  saints  in  heaven  than  there  would 


808  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

have  been  had  Bigelow  or  Third  Street  not  have  been  organized.  With  the 
removal  now  of  Town  Street  to  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  an  enlarged  field  of  use- 
fulness will  fall  to  Third  Street. 

Gift  Street  Chitrch. — The  origin  of  the  first  Methodist  Society  in  Franklinton, 
which  afterward  became  Franklinton  Mission,  then  Heath  Chapel,  and  is  now  Gifl 
Street  Church,  is  enveloped  in  some  obscurity.  If  any  records  were  kept  they  are 
pow  unknown,  but  tradition  to  some  degree  supplies  their  place.  As  far  back  as 
1840,  and  possibly  earlier,  there  was  a  Methodist  class  in  this  part  of  the  city. 
They  first  met  in  a  small  house  owned  by  Jacob  Grub,  on  Green  Street.  After- 
ward the  old  Courthouse  which  stood  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Broad  and  San- 
dusky streets,  and  which  lia<Lthen  been  converted  into  a  schoolhouse,  wan  used  as 
a  place  of  worship  until  the  erection  of  Heath  Chapel.  One  person,  Charity  John- 
son,  who  was  a  member  as  far  back  as  1845,  still  lives.  From  1840  to  1850,  this 
society  belonged  to  the  Franklinton  Circuit,  and  was  served  as  follows.  1840, 
William  Sutton  and  James  Gilruth  ;  1841,  Joseph  A.  Rceder  and  William  Sutton; 
1842,  James  Armstrong  and  John  W.  Kaiia^^a;  1843,  James  Armstrong  and  Joseph 
W.Smith;  1844,  Stephen  F.  Conrey  and  J.  W.  Smith;  1845,  S.  F.  Conrey  and 
James  T.  Donahoo;  184(>,  Philip  A.  Muchner  and  J.  T.  Donahoo ;  1847,  P.  A 
Muchner  and  Thomas  M.  Gossard ;  1848,  Alexander  Nelson  and  John  W.  Steele 
1849,  James  Armstrong  and  James  B.  Austin.  In  1850  it  was  attached  to  some  cir 
cuit  where  it  cannot  now  be  identified.  In  1851  and  on  to  1856  it  was  in  the  Dub 
lin  Circuit  and  was  served  as  follows:  1851,  Samuel  C.  Riker  and  Andrew  B 
See;  1852,  Archibald  Fleming  and  a  supply;  1853,  A.  Fleming  and  Jacob  Martin 
1854,  William  Z.  Ross  and  Levi  Hall;  1855,  W.  Z.  Ross  and  William  Sutton  ;  in 
1856  it  became  the  Franklin  Mission  and  was  served  by  James  Hooper. 

July  11,  1855,  Michael  L.  and  Fannie  Sullivant  deeded  a  lot  60  by  185  feet  in 
what  was  then  a  cornfield  on  the  National  Road,  but  is  now  the  southeast  cor- 
ner of  Broad  and  Mill  streets,  to  the  Trustees  of  Heath  Chapel,  viz :  John  F. 
Bartlit,  Ira  M.  Gordon,  C.  L.  Mattoon,  Gamaliel  Scott,  Isaac  C.  Aston,  Philip 
Sommers,  Ephraim  Johnson.  James  O'Kane  and  Henry  F.  Booth.  By  mistake^ 
when  it  came  to  building,  the  church  was  placed  on  the  lot  adjoining  on  the  east 
the  one  donated  us.  After  holding  that  lot  by  possession  for  twentytwo  years, 
and  the  corner  one  adjacent  by  deed  the  same  length  of  time,  Rev.  S.  C  Framp- 
ton,  the  pastor,  succeeded  in  February,  1877,  in  bringing  about  an  exchange  in 
the  title,  thus  securing  a  quitclaim  deed  to  the  lot  on  which  Heath  Chapel 
stood. 

Heath  Chapel  was  built  in  1856,  under  the  efforts  of  James  Hooper,  the  pastor 
of  Franklinton  Mission.  It  was  named  after  Uriah  Heath,  the  presiding  elder, 
who  aided  the  enterprise  with  his  great  energy  and  ta«t.  It  was  an  unsightly, 
twostory  brick  structure,  27  by  45  feet,  the  lower  room  partly  underground,  with 
an  unfinished  tower.  The  society  always  had  a  hard  struggle  for  existence  and 
the  appearance  of  this  little  coop  of  a  church  did  not  aid  in  attracting  supporters 
to  it.  Yet  many  souls  were  converted  there  from  first  to  last,  and  it  served 
ils  day  and  generation,  doing  much  good.  For  many  years  it  was  connected  with 
a  circuit,  much  of  the  time  being  thus  served   by  two  pastors.     James  Hooper, 


Methodist.  809 

with  whom  the  history  of  this  society  proper  now  begins,  was  in  better  circum- 
stances financially  than  the  majority  of  Methodist  ministers.  His  family  usually 
resided  on  his  farm,  about  thirty  miles  east  of  the  city,  while  he  gave  much  of  his 
time  to  the  church,  «;enerally  receiving  a  small  salary.  He  had  the  enviable  reputa- 
tion of  giving  away  within  the  bounds  of  his  charge  more  money  than  he  received 
from  it.  Ho  closed  his  useful  career  in  New  Salem,  Ohio,  November  23,  1865. 
After  the  church  was  built  the  following  men  were  appointed  to  it  in  the  order 
named:  1857,  J.  D.  Hathaway  and  Richard  Pitzer;  1858,  J.  D.  Hathaway  and 
Jacob  Martin ;  1859,  Richard  Doughty  and  R.  B.  Bennett;  1860,  Richard  Doughty 
and  Bradford  Crook  ;  1861,  George  G.  West  and  B.  Cook;  1862,  G.  G.  West  and 
H.  L.  Whitehead;  1863,  Samuel  Tippott  and  H.  L.  Whitehead;  1864,  S.  Tippett 
and  W.  H.  Gibbons;  1865,  Isaac  F.  King;  1866,  E.  H.  Heagler;  1867  and  1868, 
supplied  by  J.  F.  Harris. 

The  remodeling  of  the  circuits  left  Heath  Chapel  as  a  station  in  1865.  It  did 
not  acquire  sufficient  strength  to  support  it  and  was  abandoned  after  two  years  to 
a  supply.  In  1869  it  was  reopened  as  a  station  and  Howard  B.  Westervelt  was 
appointed  regularly  as  its  pastor.  He  remained  but  one  year,  reporting  eightysix 
members.  Mr.  Westervelt  has  since  served  as  a  presiding  elder  in  the  Ohio  Con- 
ference and  is  at  present  on  his  third  year  as  pastor  of  our  church  at  Athens.  In 
1870  Samuel  Pippett  again  became  pastor,  but  before  the  year  expired  resigned 
his  charge  and  at  the  session  of  the  next  Conference  took  a  supernumerary  rela- 
tion. He  was  a  man  of  unusual  abilit}',  and  had  he  remained  in  the  regular  work 
would  doubtless  have  attained  to  the  first  rank  in  his  conference.  In  business  he 
was  not  successful,  but  commanded  the  confidence  of  the  public,  as  well  as  the 
esteem  of  his  brethren,  to  the  last.  After  over  two  years  of  decrepitude  he  fell 
asleep  at  his  home  on  Franklin  Avenue,  Columbus,  December  24,  1888.  His  unex- 
pired year  at  Heath  Chapel  was  filled  out  by  W.  B.  Chadwick.  In  1871  Daniel 
Horlockor  became  pastor,  reporting  at  the  end  of  his  year  scvent}'  members. 
Thomas  G.  Wakefield  was  sent  to  Heath  Chapel  in  the  fall  of  1872.  He  left 
ninetyeiglit  members.  Mr.  Wakefield  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  circuit  preach- 
ers of  this  Conference  and  a  fine  theologian.  David  Y.  Murdock  was  appointed  to 
this  charge  in  1873  and  remained  three  years,  reporting  successively  fiftythree, 
seventy  nine  and  sixtjeight  members.  The  varying  membership  reveals  the  trans- 
ient character  of  the  population  in  this  part  of  the  city  and  the  difficulty  of  secur- 
ing a  hold  timong  its  permanent  resident^.  Methodists  of  means  who  located 
thure  chose  to  go  to  the  stronger  churches  over  the  river  rather  than  assume 
the  heavier  responsibilities  in  this  weak  charge.  This  is  always  the  case  under 
like  circumstances  and  it  indicates  that  there  is  a  selfish  remnant  remaining 
in  the  heart  of  converted  people. 

During  these  years  this  charge  and  some  others  received  a  missionary  allow- 
ence  from  the  parent  Missionary  Society,  but  in  1876,  the  Missionar}'  Coinniitite 
wisely,  we  think,  cut  off"  all  appropriations  to  the  Ohio  and  other  Conferences.  In 
some  years  following,  however,  a  number  of  the  stronujor  Columbus  churches, 
lifter  raising  their  regular  assessment,  would  a])propriate  a  specified  portion  of 
their  surplus  to  the  support  of  our  pastors  in  these  weaker  charges.     Mr.  Mur- 


810  HiSTORT   OF   THE   CiTT   OF   COLUMBUS. 

dock,  iU  (iret  threejeaw  pastor,  has  for  many  years  been  the  Secretary  of  the  Ohio 
Conference,  and  is  now  the  stationed  pastor  at  Jackson  Courthouse.  He  was  fol- 
lowed in  1876  by  Stephen  C.  Frampton,  who  served  Heath  Chapel  two  years  in 
connection  with  a  country  appointment  some  miles  west,  known  as  Skidmore's 
School  House.  Mr.  Frampton  is  a  sound  and  profound  theologian,  and  also 
possesHcs  a  fine  legal  mind  and  knowledge,  being  a  regular  member  of  the  bar. 
He  was  superannuated  in  1889  and  settled  in  Pickerington,  where  lie  had  lived 
for  two  years  preceding  while  serving  us  pastor  of  Reynoldsburg  Circuit.  He  is 
engaged  in  the  pructiee  of  law,  preaches  frequenti}',  and  exerts  an  extensive  influ- 
ence for  good  b^*  his  godi}'  life  and  conversation.  In  1878  Joseph  MeCuskey  was 
appointed  to  Heath  Chapel  and  Neil  Chapel  jointly.  The  two  following  years  he 
served  Heath  Chapel  only,  leaving  it  with  104  members.  He  was  an  alumnus  of 
the  Ohio  Weslcyan  University,  but  a  sufferer  from  disease  contracted  while  a 
soldier  for  his  country,  from  which  he  was  carried  away  prematurely,  September 
9,  1884. 

During  1881   Heath  Chapel  was  supplied  by  Doctor  C.  M.  Bethauser,  J.   B. 
Joyce  and  D.  Horloeker.     At  the  end  of  the  year  it  had  sevent}'  members.     In 
1882  Jacob  P.  Bishop  was  appointed  pastor.     Mr.  Bishop  was  afterward   trans- 
ferred to  the  Cincinnati  Conference  and  thence  to  the  Far  West.     He  was  one  of 
the  boyi  who  had  worked  his  way  through  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  and 
deserved  great  credit  for  the  attainments  ho  reached.     During  his  year   in  this 
charge  the  church  was  disastrously  invaded  by  a  flood  from  the  Scioto.     Elias  N. 
Nichols  became   pastor   in    1883,  serving  Heath   in   connection   with   a   country 
appointment.     Mr.  Nichols  was  for  man}*  3'cars  one  of  the  most  devoted  and  dili- 
gent pastors  of  the  Ohio  Conference.     James  T.  Minchart  was  appointed  to  Healh 
in  1884,  but  resigned  in  the  spring,  and  the  charge  was  supplied  for  the  remainder 
of  the  year  by  James  Haig.     Mr.  Minehart  was  for  a  number  of  years  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Columbus.     He  was  a  young 
man  of  much  promise  and,  after  leaving  Ohio,  for  a  few  j'cars  did  good  work  in 
the  Nebraska  Conference;  but  while  pastor  of  Grace  Church,  Lincoln,  Nebraska, 
ho  drifted  off  into  faith-healing  and  like  vagaries,  and  went  to  such  extremes  that 
ho  finally  severed  all  connection  with  Methodism.     Aionzo  B.  Shaw  was  the  next 
pastor,  aj)pointed  in  1885,  and  remained  one  year.     In   1886  James  Haig  became 
pastor  by  Conference  appointment,  and  was  reappointed   in   1887.     By  the  death 
of  his  mother  in   the  winter  of  1888,  her  business  developed  upon  him  for  settle- 
ment or  continuation,  and  Mr.  Haig  resigned  his  charge  oti  that  account,  being 
only  a  probationer  in  the  Conference.     Mr.  Haig  is  a  devout  and  zealous  man,  and 
a  local  preacher.     After  retiring  from  the  itinerant  ministry  he  began  missionarj 
work  among  the  most  neglected  and  depraved  classes  of  the  bad,  in  the  South 
Seventh  Street  region   of  the  cit}*.     He  carries  on  several  Mission  Sabbat hsciiool.s 
and  has  opened  a  Rescue  Home  lor  fallen  women.     The  presiding  elder,  J.  C.  Jack- 
son, filled  the  vacancy  at  Heath  Chapel  by  appointment  to  that  charge  of  William 
C.  Holliday,  who  had  resigned  his  circuit  work  a  short  time  before      In  the  fall  of 
1888  Mr.  Holliday  was  reappointed  by  the  Conference. 


i 


Methodist.  811 

It  was  now  evident  to  everybody  that  if  Beath  Chapel  was  ever  to  become 
anything  more  than  it  had  been  there  woald  have  to  be  a  better  church  built. 
According!}',  at  the  instigation  of  the  presiding  elder,  Mr.  Holliday  called  a  meet- 
ing in  November,  1888,  of  the  members  and  friends  of  the  society,  and  was  success- 
ful in  getting  a  number  of  citizens  interested  in  the  project  of  a  new  church  which 
should  be  a  credit  to  that  part  of  the  city.  The  presiding  elder,  Mr.  Jackson, 
addressed  the  meeting  and  then  solicited  s.ubscriptions.  The  small  audience 
responded  well  and  almost  $1,000  was  subscribed  tiiat  night,  including  the  sub- 
scriptions of  the  pastor  and  presiding  elden  Mr.  Holliday  continued  to  solicit 
west  of  the  river  until  he  got  over  (3,000  subscribed  in  the  work,  material  and 
mono}',  the  latter  payable  in  three  annual  installments.  In  the  spring  of  1889  it 
was  decided  to  change  the  location  to  a  fine  lot  on  th^  corner  of  Gift  and  Shepherd 
streets.  This  was  advantageous  in  ever}*  wa)'.  It  ibsured  good  light  for  all  time 
to  come ;  it  escaped  the  noise  and  expensive  paveraeiU  of  Broad  Street  and  at  the 
same  time  retained  the  benefit  of  tKe  street  cars.  The  lot  is  79  by  100  feet  and 
was  ))urchased  from  F.  Waterman  for  $2,200.  The  first  payment  of  $550  was  col- 
lected in  a  few  days  by  the  presiding  elder  from  friends  east  of  the  river.  The 
society  was  now  incorporated  under  the  name  of  Gift  Street  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  with  the  following  as  trustees:  Doctor  S.  H.Stewart,  O.  T.Fleming, 
James  Donley,  J.  F.  Lerch,  A.  A.  Shipley,  George  W.  Davidson,  George  M. 
Peters,  Captain  N.  B.  Abbott  and  E.  W.  Seeds.  The  last  three  are  members, 
respectively,  of  Wesley  Chapel,  Broad  Street  and  Town  Street  churches.  The  old 
church  was  in  the  fall  of  1888  torn  down  and  the  material  prepared  for  use  in  the 
new  building.  A  temporary  tabernacle,  35  by  48  feet,  was  constructed  on  the 
corner  of  Broad  and  Mill  streets,  on  a  lot  which  David  O.  Mull  granted  free  of 
charge. 

With  the  opening  of  spring  the  p:ist<jr,  together  with  Messrs.  Abbott,  Peters 
and  Seeds,  pushed  the  work  on  vigorously,  and  the  excavation  and  foundation^ 
costing  together  about  $1,200,  were  completed  in  July.  On  the  eleventh  da}' of 
that  month,  1889,  exactly  thirtyfour  years  aflor  the  original  lot  was  deeded  to  the 
society  hy  the  Sullivan  is,  the  cornerstone  of  tlie  new  church  was  lain  by  the 
venerable  Doctor  J.  M.  Trimble,  assisted  by  Doctor  J.  C.  Jackson.  Appropriate 
services  were  held  in  the  Market  House  Hall,  where  the  meeting  was  addressed  by 
several  of  the  old  pastors  and  old  time  Methodists  of  the  cit}'.  The  impetus  given 
to  this  society  by  the  prospect  of  a  new  church  so  increased  its  Sundav  school  and 
congregations  that  the  little  tabernacle  erected  in  the  fall  preceding  could  illy 
accommodate  them  now,  and  the  city  authorities  generously  tendered  them  the 
use  of  the  City  Hall  for  Sabbath  services.  In  October  the  foundation  was  covered 
up  and  the  work  allowed  to  rest  till  the  next  spring.  But  the  workers  did  not 
rest.  Pastor  Holliday  was  untiring  in  his  efforts  and  devices  for  securing  money 
to  complete  the  building  and  was  warmly  aided  bj-  Doctor  Trimble,  who  gave  very 
liberally  to  the  enterprise;  and  by  the  presiding  elder,  and  Captain  Abbott,  who, 
from  the  first  to  the  last,  gave  nearly  $1,000  him^4elf  to  this  church. 

Throui^h  the  petition  of  the  Ohio  Conference  and  the  personal  labors  of  Doc- 
tor Trimble,  the  Church  Extension  Society  was  induced  to  give  $1,800  in  cash  to 


812  History  op  the  Citt  of  Columbus. 

this  enterprise,  the  first  help  ever  received  from  the  Society  by  the  Colombns  Dis- 
trict. The  exii^encies  of  the  case  justified  this  donation.  Here  was  a  population 
west  of  the  river  of  nearly  ei^ht  thousand  souls,  practically  a  city  standing  alone, 
and  not  a  Protestant  place  of  worship  in  it.  The  wealthy  Methodists  of  Colunibns 
had  bci'n  giving  their  hundreds,  and  sometimes  thousands, for  years  to  the  Church 
Extension  Society  and  had  never  until  now  asked  for  a  cent  in  return.  Doctor 
Trimble  now  pledged  that  society  $250  a  year  for  four  successive  years  if  they 
would  make  this  donation,  and  the  presiding  elder  promised  them  every  dollar  of 
it  hack  from  this  district  alone  in  the  next  annual  collection  —  a  pledge  more  than 
fulfilled  by  including  Doctor  Trimble's  individual  gift.  The  membership  of  this 
charge  was  but  l'J5  when  the  work  of  building  was  undertaken.  If  left  to  itself, 
no  effort  could  have  been  more  hopeless.  By  the  assistance  of  others  success  was 
not  only  assured  but  an  inspiration  was  given  toother  Protestant  denominations,  and 
within  the  year  both  the  Baptists  and  the  Episcopalians  received  large  donations 
which  enabled  them  to  establish  churches.  A  new  era  of  prosperity  opened  for 
ihe  West  Side  also  at  this  time.  Several  fine  cily  additions  were  put  on  the  market 
and  an  cleciric  railwa}-  was  established  on  West  Broad  Street.  Events  proved 
that,  under  Providence,  the  building  of  this  church  was  taken  at  that  tide  in  the 
affairs  of  men  which  leads  on  to  fortune.  In  the  spring  of  1890  the  work  of  build- 
ing was  resumed.  More  mono}'  was  needed,  however,  than  was  available.  The 
City  Church  Extension  Society  this  spring  enlarged  its  scope  so  as  to  include  the 
rebuilding  of  old  churches  in  its  work.  It  promised  to  aid  Gift  Street.  But,  as 
the  money  nuis  not  yet  subscribed,  its  Building  Committee,  consisting  of  Colonel 
A.  G.  Patton,  George  M.  Peters  and  H.  C.  Lonnis,  generously  advanced  the  money  on 
their  personal  notes,  as  they  have  done  on  several  other  occasions.  Thus  started 
again,  the  work  was  pushed  rapidly  on,  and  on  Sabbath,  July  27, 1890,  the  Sunday 
schoofrooni  was  formally  opened.  Rev.  W.  D.  Cherington  preached  the  sermon. 
Doctor  Trimble  than  asked  lor  $1,200  to  assist  in  completing  the  auditorium. 
Chaplain  DeBruin,  1).  Iforlocker,  James  Haig  and  W.  D.  Cherington  worked  in 
the  audience,  and  $947  was  subscribed.  At  night  Doctor  J.  C.  Jackson,  afler 
preaching  made  another  appeal  and  $167  more  were  secured. 

Work   was  now  resumed  in   the  auditorium.     Ten  of  our  generous  laymen 
advanced  $200  each,   until   the  old   lot  could  be  sold  for  $2,000  cash,    which  was 
done  in   the  fall.     November  30,  1890,  Rev.  D.    H.  Moore,  D.   D.,  preached  the 
dedicatory   sermon,  after  which  he  called  for  $7U0,  most  of  which  was  secured. 
Doctor  Trimble,  assisted  by  the  presiding  elder,  then  dedicated  the  church  to  the 
worship  of  Almighty  God.     At  night  Rev.  J.  C.  Jackson,  D.  D.,  preached,  and 
the    remainder   (»f  the  $700,  with  a  good  margin,  was  subscribed.     The  cost  of 
the   entire  building  was  about  $10,000,  all    of  which   he  paid  but  about  $1,200 
amply   covered    by   subscription.      The    church    was  planned    by    Doctor   S.  H. 
Steward,  and  the  building  superintended  by  J.   W.  Yost,  architect.     The  society 
has  now  a  membership  of  about  two  hundred,  with  a  bright  future   before  it 
W.  C.  Holliday,  to  w^hose  careful  and  wise  management  much  of  the  succass  in 
building  was  due,  is  now  serving  his  fourth  year  as  pastor  of  the  charge. 


Mrthodist.  813 

Neil  ChapeL  —  Neil  Chapel,  located  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Michigan 
Avenue  and  Collins  Street,  was  the  seventh  Methodist  Episcopal  church  of 
Columbus.  At  the  Conference  of  1870  Rev.  Daniel  Horlocker  was  appointed  to 
serve  Heath  Chapel,  and  under  the  patronage  of  John  F.  Bartlit,  to  organize  a 
new  church  in  this  then  extreme  northwestern  part  of  the  city.  Tliere  was  a 
small  but  growing  community  here,  composed  mainly  of  employes  of  the  factories 
built  on  the  banks  of  the  Olentangy  at  this  point.  Mr.  Horlocker  held  his  first 
services  in  the  house  of  Joseph  Walker,  with  an  audience  of  seven  persons.  His 
first  five  members  consisted  of  J.  W.  Walker  and  wife,  their  son  Joseph  Walker 
and  his  wife,  and  Ephraim  Webb.  At  the  end  of  six  months  he  felt  justified  in 
leaving  Heath  Chapel  to  be  served  by  supplies  for  the  remainder  of  the  year  while 
he  gave  his  entire  time  and  labor  to  this  new  field.  With  his  characteristic  devo- 
tion and  industry  Mr.  Horlocker  secured  means  for  building.  Robert  E.  Neil,  a 
son  of  Hannah  Neil,  of  precious  memory,  gave  a  lot  on  condition  of  its  reverting 
to  the  donor  in  case  the  church  should  ever  be  moved  off.  The  work  of  building 
was  begun  and  in  December,  1872,  the  lecture  room  was  finished  and  dedicated 
by  Doctors  Trimble  and  Byers.  Building  mateiial  and  labor  were  high,  and  the 
church  which  had  then  cost  97,000  was  left  with  the  auditorium  unfinished.  At 
the  close  of  Mr.  Horlocker^s  second  year  ho  left  a  membership  of  thirty  persons, 
and  the  next  year,  1873,  he  reported  one  hundred  and  ten.  Lovett  Tafl  was  the 
second  pastor,  serving  one  year.  J.  E.  Rudisill  came  next,  remaining  three 
years,  until  1877.  Although  his  work  was  blessed  with  extensive  revivals,  such 
was  the  transient  character  of  the  surrounding  population,  that  he  reported  each 
year  one  hundred  meuibers  only.  Joseph  McCnskey  was  appointed  pastor  in  1878, 
serving  it  one  year  in  connection  with  Heath  Chapel.  He  reported  but  seventy 
members.  In  1879  D.  Horlocker  again  took  charge,  remaining  three  years;  the 
second  year  he  reported  101  members,  but  his  last  year  onlj^  seventy-eight. 
J.  W.  Wait  was  sent  as  pastor  in  1882,  remaining  one  year.  He  was  a  college 
graduate  and  a  man  of  great  devotion  and  much  ability.  He  this  year  instituted  a 
journal  in  the  interests  of  promoting  holiness,  called  The  Beulah  Land,  Hedis- 
playeil  much  editorial  ability,  and  his  magazine  had  a  growing  circulation.  But 
gradually  he  wandered  off  into  the  extreme  of  faith -healin«r,  and  at  the  close  of 
his  ^'oar  at  Neil  Chapel  left  the  ministry,  and  opened  a  *' faith  home"  in  this 
cit3'.  He  left  a  membership  at  Neil  Chapel  of  seventyfive.  C.  F.  Prior  was 
appointed  pastor  in  1883,  serving  one  year,  and  leaving  one  hundred  members. 
In  1884  (he  charge  was  left  to  be  supplied,  and  was  served  by  James  T.  Minehart 
in  connection  with  Heath  Chapel.  In  1885  D.  Horlocker  was  sent  the  third  time 
as  its  pastor.  During  this  year  he  raised,  by  indefatigable  industry,  money 
enough  to  finish  and  furnish  the  auditorium,  which  was  opened  for  use  for  the  first 
time  in  December,  1886.  The  year  was  also  one  of  great  revival,  and  Brother 
Horlocker  reported  to  Conference  223  members. 

Ln  1886  Jainos  Mitchell  was  the  pastor,  doing  good  work.  This  is  one  of  the 
saintly  names  of  the  Ohio  Conference  Ministry;  its  bearer  still  live>i  in  Delaware, 
Ohio.  In  1887,  W.  V.  Dick  served  Neil  Chapel.  There  was  much  agitation  this 
year  in  favor  of  rebuilding  in  a  new  location^  but  all  efforts  ended  in  only  distract- 


814  UlSTORT   OP   THE   CiTT   OF   CJOLUMBUB. 

ing  the  membersbip  and  Deotrulising  tho  pastor's  work.  In  1888  J.  M.  Adams 
took  charge.  A  valuable  portion  of  the  members  had  withdrawn  to  other 
churches  at  the  close  of  his  predecessor's  year,  but  tlie  result  was  to  spar  up  those 
who  had  hitherto  been  derelict,  and,  inconsequence,  the  year  eventuated  unusually 
well.  Charles  V.  Pleukharp  became  pastor  in  1889.  His  &ther  and  mother  bad 
been  among  the  most  liberal  supporters  of  this  church  in  former  years,  and  their 
names  remained  in  honored  memory  upon  its  windows.  The  chorch  was  now 
sadly  in  need  of  repairs,  in  roof,  walls  and  basement  floors.  Its  location,  which 
at  first  seemed  a  wise  one,  had  now  become  fatally  out  of  place  by  reason  of  tho 
city  growing  wholly  away  from  it.  These  facts  led  its  energetic  young  pastor  to 
push  for  a  new  church  in  a  more  eligible  location.  C.  D.  Firestone,  A.  G.  Patton 
and  other  members  of  the  local  Church  Extension  Society,  were  enlisted  in  favor 
of  this  project.  At  a  special  meeting  held  in  the  spring  of  1890,  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  writer,  who  was  presiding  elder  of  the  district,  the  society  resolved 
unanimously  to  do  all  they  could  toward  securing  a  new  church.  The  pastor 
worked  zealously,  and  also  subscribed  liberally,  although  it  was  now  evident  to 
him  that  he  would  have  to  seek  another  climate  for  his  health. 

Mr.  H.  Neil  now  agreed  to  give  a  quitclaim  deed  to  this  property  provided  the 
church  would  buy  another  in  his  addition,  which  they  did,  on  the  corner  of 
Goodale  Street  and  Neil  Avenue,  for  93,000.  The  Church  Extension  Society  now 
took  hold  of  the  project  in  earnest,  and  a  beautiful  chapel,  costing  about  $6,000  and 
accommodating  about  500  auditors,  was  built  and  ready  for  dedication  by  Decem- 
ber 21,  1890.  President  J.  W.  Bashford  preached  the  sermon,  and  Doctor 
J.  M.  Trimble,  assisted  by  Doctor  J.  G.  Jackson,  dedicated  the  building.  About 
92,000  was  raised  on  that  day  ;  the  Church  Extension  Society  of  this  city  furnished 
a  large  portion  of  tho  total  cost,  without  which  the  society  could  have  done  nothing 
for  themselves.  In  the  preceding  July,  Rev.  C.  7.  Pleukharp,  for  reasons  already 
stated,  took  charge  of  our  church  in  Raton,  New  Mexico,  and  Rev.  J.  M.  Rife,  who 
had  for  one  year  been  pastor  there,  was  appointed  by  the  presiding  elder  to  fill  out 
the  unexpired  year  at  Neil  Chapel.  At  the  Conference  of  1890  he  was  reappointed 
pastor  of  this  charge,  which  he  serves  at  this  writing.  Tho  name  of  the  church  was 
this  year  changed  to  Neil  Avenue.  It  now  has  a  bright  future  before  it.  lu 
membership  has  already  greatly  increased  and  is  rapidly  growing.  The  day  of  its 
fluctuations  and  reverses  is  happily  passed.  We  expect  it  (o  report  a  membership 
of  300  this  year. 

Broad  Street  Church.  —  Broad  Street,  Columbus  Methodism*s  finest  church 
structure  and  wealthiest  congregation,  is  the  child  of  Wesley  Chapel.  The  growth 
of  the  city  eastward,  and  the  consequent  emigration  of  many  of  Wesley's  members 
in  that  direction,  led  to  the  desire  on  their  part  of  a  church  home  nearer  their  own 
doors  and  to  meet  the  wants  of  that  part  of  the  city.  John  P.  Bartlit  and  David 
S.  Gray  owned  a  fine,  largo  lot  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Broad  Street  and  Wash- 
ington Avenue,  on  which  they  had  paid  over  $3,000,  or  about  onehalf  its  value  at  that 
time.  This  lot  they  generously  offered  to  donate  if  the  people  of  that  community 
would  build  a  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  upon  it  and  assume  the  deferred  pay- 
ment of  93,000.     The  offer  was  accepted,  and  at  the  fourth  Quarterly  Conference  of 


Weslej'  Chapel,  lield  in  Septumber,  1874,  tlio  following  board  of  lrtiHt«os  for 
tho  proposed  chiirfh  uaHelected:  Jolin  P.  Bnrllit,  Duvid  S.  Gray,  JesM  W.  Danti. 
William  It.  Walker,  Thomas  VauRC,  William  Duvi«  and  Homer  C.  Lewis.     In  the 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


Bprinfiof  187.T  itwafdrcidcd  to  build  at  onco,  and  J.  W.  Dann,  Thoii.ua  Walker  and 
Thomaa  Vause  were  appointed  a  building  com  mil  toe.  Afruinucburcli  on  the  rear  of 
thti  lot,  aod  facing  Washington  AveDue,  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  S3,000.     On  tb« 


816  History  op  thb  City  op  Columbus. 

oiglitecnth  of  July  it  was  dedieuted  by  Rev.  D.  H.  Mooro,  D.  D.,  and  on  the  follow- 
ing Sabbath  the  new  charge  was  organized  with  Rev.  Joseph  M.  Trimble,  D.  I)., 
as  its  pastor,  being  appointed  by  the  presiding  eider,  Rev.  B  N.  Spahr.  Ninety 
persons,  mainly  from  Wesley  Chapel,  that  day  presented  their  named  for  member- 
ship in  this  new  charge,  which  was  born  an  infant  Hercules.  At  its  first 
(Quarterly  Conference,  held  August  26, 1875,  a  board  of  stewards,  a  board  of  trustees 
and  a  Sundayschool  superintendent  were  elected.  As  temporary  pastor  for 
this  year  Dr.  Trimble  was  assisted  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Grover. 

The  Ohio  Conference  at  its  next  session,  held  in  Portsmouth  in  October, 
appointed  Robert  W.  Manly  as  the  first  regular  pastor  of  this  charge.  He  served 
it  with  great  acceptability  the  full  term  of  three  years,  leaving  it  with  270  members. 
Doctor  Manly  was  a  rare  and  deep  thinker,  with  quaint  wit,  but  of  despondent 
temperament.  He  was  ardently  loved  by  his  parishioners  and  admired  by  his 
brethren  in  the  ministry.  He  was  transferred  to  Colorado  and  died  suddenly 
while  a  pastor  in  Denver.  In  1878  Davis  W.  Clark  was  transferred  by  Bishop 
Harris  from  the  Cincinnati  Conference,  and  appointed  to  Broad  Street,  which  ho 
served  two  years,  after  which  ho  was  transferred  back  to  his  former  Conference.  Mr. 
Clark  is  a  son  of  Bishop  Clark.  He  is  a  fine  spirit  and  a  chaste,  classic  writer.  He  is 
still  a  member  of  the  Cincinnati  Conference,  where  he  fills  the  best  appointments. 
J.  C.Jackson,  Senior,  was  the  next  pastor,  taking  charge  in  October,  1880.  He 
attracted  largo  audiences  by  his  cultured  and  profound  sermons.  He  remained  three 
years  and  reported  a  membership  of  370.  After  leaving  the  Ohio  Conference  Mr.  Jack- 
son was  stationed  at  Appleton,  Wisconsin,  and  Paterson,  New  Jersey.  Isaac  Cmok 
was  in  September,  1888,  transferred  from  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  and  appointed  to 
Broad  Street.  He  had  served  Wesley  Chapel  in  other  years  and  remained  at  Broad 
Street  three  years.  Doctor  Crook  is  a  polished  writer  and  preacher,  at  present  the 
pastor  of  our  church  in  Louisville,  Kentucky.  During  all  of  these  years  the  nieraber- 
'  ship  had  been  steadily  growing  with  accessions  of  the  most  substantial  kind,  mainly 
added  by  certificate  from  other  charges.  It  was  felt  that  the  time  had  now  come  to 
build  the  new  and  permanent  church.  The  people  were  ready.  Mr.  D.  S.  Gray^ 
Colonel  A.  G.  Patton  and  Robert  M.  Rownd  were  appointed  by  the  Quarterly  Con- 
fcrence  as  a  building  committee.  The  same  gentlemen,  with  Colonel  Patton  as 
chairman,  also  constituted  its  finance  committee.  Ground  was  broken  in  April, 
1884,  for  the  foundation,  and  on  Easter  Sunday,  one  year  later,  the  chapel  of  the 
new  structure  was  occupied  for  all  services.  The  auditorium  was  then  pushed  to  a 
rapid  completion,  and  on  Sunday,  July  5,  1885,  lacking  but  three  weeks  of  ten  years 
after  the  first  chapel  was  dedicated,  this  beautiful  and  noble  church  buildino^  was 
dedicated  by  Bishop  Randolph  S.  Foster.  The  cost  of  the  building,  exclusive  of 
the  lot,  was  $68,000,  all  of  which  was  provided  for  previous  to  the  day  of  de<lica- 
tion.  It  is  but  just  to  the  building  committee,  to  say  that,  in  addition  to  the  time, 
labor  and  care  which  they  all  bestowed  so  advantageously  upon  the  enterprise, 
Messrs.  Gray  and  Patton  spared  nothing  from  their  bountiful  personal  resources  to 
make  this  church  structure  the  rare  and  elegant  building  which  it  is.  The  next 
l)astor  was  Simon  McChesney  who  was  transferred  from  Topeka,  Kansas,  iu 
October,  1886.     Doctor  McChesney  remained  three  years.     He  was  a  man  of  giant 


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Methodist.  817 

intellectual  efforts  and  Htruck  some  blows  at  sin  which  jarred  things  to  the  center. 
He  wont  from  Columbus  to  Trinity  pulpit,  New  Haven.  Wilbur  G.  Williams,  the 
present  pastor  of  Broad  Street,  took  charge  in  September,  1889,  coming  from 
Meadville,  Pennsylvania.  He  is  filling  the  demands  of  his  pulpit  and  parish  with 
marked  acceptability.  Broad  Street  now  has  a  membership  of  almost  eight  hun- 
dred. It  is  noted  for  its  princely  contributions  to  home  missionary  and  church 
extension  efforts,  as  well  as  to  all  the  regular  benevolences  of  the  church.  Its  Sun- 
dayschool  superintendents  have  been  as  follows:  W.  R.  Walker,  J.  M.  God- 
man,  W.  G.  Miles,  A.  N.  Ozias,  W.  R.  Ogier,  W.  R.  Walker  (again),  D.  E.  Stevens 
and  Z.  L.  White.  Tlie  church  this  year  built  a  most  commodious  and  convenient 
"study  "  on  the  south  side  of  the  main  edifice  on  the  same  lot.  Its  parsonage  is  at 
Number  44,  South  Washington  Avenue. 

King  Avenue  Church.  —  This  church  began  as  a  mission  Sundayschool  started 
by  the  local  Church  Extension  Society,  in  Hermann  Street  Hall,  a  plain  room 
over  a  bakery,  in  the  fall  of  1888.  The  building  committee,  consisting  of 
Colonel  A.  G.  Patton,  George  M.  Peters,  and  H.  C.  Lonnis,  rented  and  furnished 
this  room  for  the  purpose.  Among  the  prominent  organizers  of  the  Sunday- 
school  were  S.  A.  Cooper,  E.  J.  Pocock  and  John  Trac}'.  In  the  summer  follow- 
ing the  persons  attending  here  who  were  members  of  other  j[ii»urches  brought 
their  letters  and  were  organized  into  a  society  by  Presiding  Elder  Jackson,  who 
also  appointed  Rev.  J.  S.  Ricketts  temporary  pastor.  They  began  with  seventeen 
members.  The  Church  Extension  Society  had  secured  two  fine  lots  at  the  corner 
of  Neil  and  King  avetiues,  costing  $3,500,  and  had  contracted  in  July  for  the 
building  of  a  church  on  the  same,  to  be  completed  before  January  1,  1890.  The 
energetic  building  committee  above  named  pushed  the  work,  and  the  little 
nucleus  of  a  membership  was  thereby  encouraged  to  ask  the  presiding  elder  to 
secure  them  a  preacher  from  the  Conference,  pledging  to  pay  him  a  salary  of  eight 
hundred  dollars.  Accordingly,  the  Rev.  Byron  Palmer,  who  had  already  served 
one  or  two  charges  of  the  Conference  with  marked  acceptability  for  a  young 
man,  and  who  had  now  completed  bis  studies  at  Boston,  was  appointed  as  the  first 
regular  pastor  of  King  Avenue.  The  society  was  built  up  rapidly  under  his 
zealous  labors.  The  church,  when  completed,  was  dedicated  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Payne, 
LL.  D.,  Sabbath,  December  22,  1889.  A  very  successful  "convocation  "  of  all  the 
Methodist  churches  of  the  city  was  held  two  nights  in  December,  at  the  Park  Rink^ 
by  which  about  $700  was  realized,  and  devoted  to  furnishing  this  church.  The 
remainder  of  the  indebtedness,  amounting  to  about  $3,500,  was  provided  for  on 
the  day  of  dedication.  An  interesting  incident  connected  with  the  dedication  was 
the  reception  of  a  beautiful  bouquet  from  Mrs.  President  Harrison.  A  very  large 
number  of  persons  joined  that  day  by  letter  from  other  churches,  and  with  those 
who  afterward  came  in  closed  the  year  with  144  members.  Colonel  E.  J.  Pocock 
was  the  Sundayschool  superintendent  this  year.  The  entire  cost  of  the  church 
was  about  $5,800,  besides  the  lots.  Its  seating  capacity  is  730.  It  is  built  on  the 
rear  of  the  lots  to  allow  the  main  building  to  front  on  Neil  Avenue  in  the  future. 
The  original  owner  of  the  lots,  Mrs.  Ex-Governor  Dennison,  did  not  look  with 

52 


818  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

favor  at  first  upon  tl^e  building  of  this  church,  and  was  sorry  when  the  lots  passed 
out  of  the  bandrt  of  the  Caudy  Brothers,  to  whom  she.  had  sold  them,  to  the 
Wesley  Chapel  Trustees,  to  be  held  in  trust  for  this  purpose.  But  afterward, 
through  the  meditation  of  her  agent,  J.  M.  Loren,  Esq.,  and  the  persistent  efforts 
of  the  presiding  elder,  she  changed  her  mind,  and  in  February,  1891,  she  made  a 
donation  on  the  lots  of  $500,  by  releasing  her  notes  held  against  them  to  that 
amount.  Mrs.  Dennison  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  which  she 
generously  supports,  and  a  daughter  of  the  honored  Hannah  Neil  of  precious 
memory  in  Methodism. 

Rev.  Mr.  Palmer  was  returned  to  King  Avenue  the  second  year  as  ]>a8tor,  and 
continued  to  labor  very  successfully,  his  salary  being  $900.  lie  engaged 
llev.  C.  n.  Morrison,  the  Kentucky  evangelist,  to  assist  him  a  month  in  his  revi- 
val n^eetings,  in  December,  1890,  which  were  attended  with  some  good  results. 
He  closed  liis  second  year  with  a  membership  of  225,  and  at  the  Conference 
following  was  transferred  to  the  East  Ohio  Confei'ence,  and  is  now  stationed  at 
Ashtabula.  Rev.  Martin  W.  Acton  was  appointed  to  King  Avenue  in  September, 
1801,  and  is  now  serving  as  ])astor  with  acceptability  and  popularity.  Ho  has  for 
years  been  one  of  the  Ohio  (Conference  pastors.  Among  the  prominent  officials  of 
King  Avenue  at  this  time  are  Judge  I).  F.  Pugh,  Professor  A.  N.  Ozias, 
Doctor  S.  H.  .Steward,  J.  H.  Rogers,  Esq.,  J.  A.  Kight,  Esq.,  and  W.  F.  Janeway. 

Afilttr  Arrtnn'  Church. — This  church  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  union  Sundayschool 
organization  which  was  started  there  about  1880.  Members  of  various  denomina- 
tions who  were  too  remote  from  their  own  churches,  met  together  for  bible  study 
with  the  children.  Mr.  J.  J.  Nelson,  a  member  of  Town  Street,  was  prominent  iu 
the  movement  from  the  first.  A  lot  was  donated  by  himself  and  others,  and  a 
neat  frame  church  seating  about  two  hundred  persons  was  erected  upon  it.  The 
trustees  then  deeded  the  property  conditionally  to  the  Evangelical  Church,  hot 
that  organization  not  being  able  to  hold  it,  their  trustees  next  deeded  it  to  the  trus- 
tees of  Town  Street  Church  for  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  on  their  paying 
certain  debts.  The  pastor  of  Town  Street  then  had  it  supplied  with  Methodist 
preaching,  and  in  due  time  it  seemed  to  have  a  prospect  of  supporting  a  pastor  of 
its  own.  The  property  was  now  valued  at  about  $2,000,  and  being  in  a  growing 
part  of  the  city  the  outlook  was  encouraging.  Afler  the  property  was  deeded  to 
the  Methodists  the  Ohio  Conference,  at  its  session  in  1887,  appointed  Rev.  Charles 
T.  King  as  the  first  pastor  of  this  church.  On  coming  into  the  field  he  was  assisted 
by  the  new  presiding  elder,  Rev.  J.  C.  Jackson,  and  together  they  canvassed  that 
part  of  the  city,  securing  almost  immediately  about  seventyfive  members,  most  of 
whom  came  from  Town  Street,  by  letter.  Brother  King,  being  a  single  man,  was 
allowed  $500  salary.  He  was  a  very  earnest,  conscientious,  faithful  worker,  and 
the  society  grew  steadily  under  his  zealous  labors.  About  the  middle  of  April  fol- 
lowing he  was  taken  down  with  typhoid  fever,  and  after  ten  days  of  great  suffer- 
ing, in  a  spell  of  delirium  he  took  his  own  life.  This  terrible  event  fell  with  crush- 
ing force  on  his  people  who  loved  him  dearly,  as  well  as  upon  the  church  gen- 
erally and  the  entire  city.  It  was  so  contrary  to  brother  King's  gentle,  submis- 
sive disi)osition  that  everybody  felt  instinctively  that  it  was  the  result  of  insanity 


i 


Methodist.  819 

for  which  he  was  utterly  irresponsible.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Ohio  Wesleyan 
University,  and  had  he  lived  would  have  proved  a  very  valuable  minister  of  the 
Gospel. 

The  presiding  elder  shortly  afterwards  appointed  Rev.  Charles  C.  Bison,  of 
the  senior  class  at  Delaware,  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  year.  This  proved  an 
appointment  most  happily  adapted  to  cause  the  people  to  forget  their  great  shock 
and  sorrow,  as  well  as  to  advance  the  growth  of  the  infant  church.  At  the  next 
Conference  Rev.  Mr.  Elson,  being  received  into  its  membership,  was  reappointed 
to  Miller  Avenue.  lie  also  was  a  single  man  and  received  a  salary  of  8600.  The 
membership  had  now  grown  to  about  175.  So  popular  were  Brother  Elson's 
labors,  both  without  as  well  as  within  the  church,  that  the  people,  in  order  to  keep 
him  another  year,  at  the  close  of  his  first  full  year  promised  to  raise  $800  for  him 
for  the  next  year,  of  which  the  sum  of  two  hundred  was  to  come  from  outside 
sources.  He  was  returned  and  his  labors  continued  as  acceptable  as  ever;  but  the 
financial  effort  was  too  much  for  so  young  a  charge,  and  at  the  close  of  his  second 
full  year  he  was  appointed  to  South  Street  Church,  Zanesville,  and  the  Rev. 
Charles  H.  Sowers  became  his  successor.  The  membership  was  by  this  time  168. 
Brother  Sowers  also  came  as  a  single  man,  but  married  during  the  year.  His 
labors  were  successful,  and  he  was  invited  to  return,  but  at  the  next  Conference 
(1891)  he  was  appointed  to  New  Straitsville,  and  Rev.  W.  C.  Holliday,  who  had 
been  pastor  of  Gift  Street,  became  his  successor. 

For  more  than  a  year  the  people  of  this  charge  had  felt  the  need  of  an 
enlarged  building  to  meet  their  wants.  Not  being  able  to  build  anew,  the3'  asked 
and  received  from  the  local  Church  Extension  Society  6200,  to  which  they  agreed 
to  add  two  hundred  dollars  of  their  own  for  enlarging  the  church,  and  this  work 
was  done  in  the  fall  of  1891,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr.  Holliday,  assisted  by 
the  local  Church  Extension  Society's  building  committee. 

Among  the  Sundayschool  superintendents  of  Miller  Avenue  may  be  mentioned 
Judge  David  F.  Pugh,  H.  J.  Maynard  and  J.  W.  Christy. 

The  present  site  is  felt  to  be  not  the  proper  one  for  a  permanent  location  of 
the  church.  With  a  few  years  more  of  growth  it  is  hoped  that  the  society  may  he 
able  to  build  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  Oak  Street  and  Woodland  Avenue. 

Third  Avenue  Church. —  The  Third  Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  an 
illustration  of  great  results  growing  out  of  small  beginnings.  In  the  winter  of 
1866-7  E.  S.  Walker,  Esq.,  organized  a  Sundayschool  in  the  vicinity  of  Mt.  Pleas- 
ant, which  is  now  East  Second  Avenue.  It  was  composed  of  children  who  did  not 
go  elsewhere,  and  as  their  number  was  small  the  school  did  not  long  continue  ;  but  it 
prepared  the  way  for  another  effort.  June  twentj'fourth  of  the  same  year,  R. 
P.  Woodruff,  Esq.,  started  a  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission  Sundayschool  in  the 
same  place.  A  class  meeting  also  was  shortly  after  organized  there;  Luther 
Hillery  and  wife,  Ann  Matthews,  R.  P.  Woodruff,  E.  S.  Walker,  Eleanor  Say  and 
Francis  Harris  were  its  members.  This  germ  incited  the  City  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  to  call  a  meeting  of  all  the  Methodists  in  the 
vicinity  of  Mt.  Pleasant  for  November  7, 1867.  At  that  meeting,  the  Mt.  Pleasant 
Mission  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church   of  Columbus,   Ohio,   was  formally 


s20  History  of  the  City  of  Columiuts. 

Dr^aui/A'd.  The  t'ollowini^  pei'soiiH  were  clc<'to<l  iruHtees  :  M.  W.  BIIns,  M.  Halm. 
H.  V\  Booth,  J.  \l.  Hu^iicH,  li.  Hillery  and  Horiry  O'Kaiie.  Rev.  A.  (i.  Hycrs, 
then  Chaphiiii  of  tlie  Ohio  PeiiileDliary,  was  appointed  pastor  of  tlio  Mission. 
Sinnhi^'scliool  was  hehl  in  the  afternoon,  and  Doctor  Bj'ers  pre:ielicd  to  tlie  people 
at  th<»  elc^se  of  its  session. 

Thrre  was  a  ijrowin/L^  interest  and  also  some  increase  in  numbers  from  the 
first.  A  ye:ir  hiler,  in  ()<-tol>er,  ISIJS,  Kev.  Lovett  TixiX  was  appointed  by  the 
(>hi<»  ('onference  as  pastor  of  tliis  Mission.  Ho  brought  to  its  service  piety 
an<l  zeal,  and  fruits  became  more  abundant.  The  Fourth  <inarterly  (/onfercnce 
of  the  year  following  clianged  tlie  name  of  the  Mt.  Pleasant  Mission  to  Third 
Avenue  Methodist  Flpiscopal  Church.  The  lociition  also  had  been  changed.  The 
lot  on  wiiicli  the  present  bnihling  stands  was  purchased  November  11,  18(17,  by  the 
Board  of  Trustees.  It  is  11^0  feet  front  on  High  Street  by  110  feet  deep  on  Third 
Avenue,  and  tiie  purchase  j)rice  was  81,2tJ0.  Tlie  Board  of  Trustees  appointe*!  J. 
\l,  Hughes,  John  Short  and  H.  F.  Booth  as  a  luiilding  committee,  November  11, 
lsr>S,  with  instructions  to  erect  a  church  costing  not  more  than  S3,000.  This  was 
about  a  month  after  Rev.  L.  Taft  became  tiie  pastor.  He  went  to  work  zealously 
to  raise  subscriptions  from  tiie  Metliodist  cliurches  of  the  city  and  the  citizens  of 
that  vicinity.  He  met  with  excellent  success.  His  heart  was  in  his  work.  Aris- 
ing early  one  morning,  he  measured  off  the  ground  for  the  new  church,  and  then 
kneeling  down  dedicated  the  site  to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  and  invoked 
the  blessing  of  (iod  upon  the  new  enterprise.  A  neat  frame  building,  thirtyonc 
by  fifty  feet,  was  then  erected  and  dedicated  to  God  the  first  Sunday  in  January, 
18«)9.  Rev.  C.  A.  Vananda  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon;  Doctor  Byers  asked 
the  congregation  for  $500,  which  w^as  still  unprovided  for,  and  that  amount  was 
soon  subscribed ;  Doctor  J.  M.  Trimble  then  performed  the  dedicatory  rites. 

At  the  close  of  his  first  year,  Pastor  Tafl  reported  to  Conference  70  mem- 
bers, 100  Sabbathschool  attendants,  salary  $670,  house  rent  8150,  benevolent  col- 
lections $52,  value  of  church  $4,000.  At  the  close  of  bis  second  year,  1870,  the 
membership  was  80,  salary  $1,100,  of  which  a  large  portion  was  missionary 
allowance,  benevolences  $116,  church  property  $5,000.  The  life  labors  of  Rev. 
Lovett  Taft  in  other  charges  in  this  city  are  spoken  of  elsewhere  in  this 
history.  After  his  death  his  devoted  wife  continued  to  be  a  zealous  worker  in 
the  church  and  in  missionary  efforts,  until  called  to  her  reward,  on  March 
24,  1884. 

The  next  pastor  was  Kev.  Isaac  B.  Bradrick,  who  served  one  year,  leaving 
80  members,  and  raising  $274  for  benevolences.  Rev.  Mr.  Bradrick  has  served 
important  charges  of  the  Ohio  Conference,  was  six  years  presiding  elder  of  the 
Chillicothe  District,  and  is  still  preaching  with  vigor  and  acceptability. 

In  the  fall  of  1871,  Rev.  H.  K.  Foster  became  pastor.  He  was  a  man  of 
unusual  ability,  who  had  come  to  us  from  another  denomination.  He  resigned 
his  charge  for  cause  January  20,  1872,  and  Rev.  J.  L.  Grover,  by  appointment  of 
Presiding  Elder  Spahr,  filled  out  the  unexpired  year  with  great  acceptability. 
During  the  latter  part  of  this  year  an  additional  room  was  built  upon  the  north 
end  of  the  church,  16x24  feet,  for  the  primary  department  of  the  Sabbathsebooi. 


i 


Methodist.  821 

0 

Rev.  Dr.  Grover  is  at  present  the  honored  City  Librarian,  a  position  which  he  has 
occupied  for  many  years.  He  is""  held  in  highest  esteem  by  the  public,  and  is 
ardently  loved  by  his  brethren  of  the  church.  Kev.  Eobert  H.  Wallace  became 
pastor  in  the  fall  of  1872,  remaining  two  years.  He  left  160  members,  and  170 
persons  in  the  Sabbathschool,  and  church  property  valued  at  $8,000.  Rev.  Mr. 
Wallace  was  a  preacher  of  many  strong  points.  He  left  the  ministry  some  years 
later,  and  has  since  devoted  himself  to  life  insurance. 

Rev.  William  D.  Cherington  became  pastor  in  the  fall  of  1874,  remaining  one 
year.  At  the  close  of  this  year  the  church  ceased  to  be  a  beneficiary  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Soeiet}'.  The  eighth  year  of  its  history  opened  with  Rev.  E.  I.  Jones  as 
pastor,  who  remained  three  years.  He  reported  for  his  first  year  190  members; 
the  second  j'ear,  223 ;  the  third,  251 ;  Sabbathschool  attendants  200 ;  benevolent 
collections,  8300  ;  value  of  church  property,  $10,000.  Though  now  entirely  self- 
supporting  the  church  paid  a  salary  of  $1,100.  At  the  close  of  this  pastorate  Rev. 
Mr.  Jones  withdrew  honorably  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  organ- 
ized a  Congregational  church  in  Newark,  Ohio,  where  he  had  once  served  as  a 
Methodist  pastor.  He  has  built  up  a  good  congregation  there,  and  remains  a  con- 
secrated, zealous  worker  for  Christ. 

Rev.  Samuel  A.  Keen  became  pastor  in  the  fall  of  1878,  and  remained  three 
years.  He  threw  into  the  work  his  wonderful  zeal  and  extraordinary  abilities.  At 
the  close  of  his  first  year  the  seating  capacity  of  the  church  was  increased  by  an 
enlargement  which  accommodated  170  persons.  The  two  rooms  were  connected 
by  an  archway  closed  by  a  falling  curtain.  The  committee  on  improvement  con- 
sisted of  Messrs.  C.  D.  Firestone,  G.  A.  Frambes  and  James  Pleukharp,  with 
N.  I).  Perry  to  superintend  the  work.  The  entire  cost  was  $926.  The  year  closed 
with  325  members,  275  in  the  Sabbathschool,  and  $519  for  benevolences.  The 
second  year  Pastor  Keen  reported  380  members,  and  the  third  year,  436.  Doctor 
Keen  has  been  spoken  of  in  connection  with  Wesley  Chapel.  After  some  j'ears  of 
phenomenal  success  as  a  revivalist  and  pastor  in  the  Ohio  Conference  ho  was 
transferred  to  Indianapolis  where  he  served  Roberts  Park  Church  two  years,  and 
then  was  transferred  to  Cincinnati  and  became  pastor  of  Walnut  Hills  two  years. 
In  the  fall  of  1891  he  left  the  pastorate  to  enter  into  evangelistic  work,  for  which 
he  had  unsurpassed,  if  not  unequaled,  qualifications. 

In  October,  1881,  Kev.  John  C.  Jackson,  Junior,  was  appointed  to  Third 
Avenue,  remaining  three  years.  Rev.  Thomas  R.  Taylor  was  on  his  third  year  as 
presiding  elder  of  the  Columbus  District.  Pastor  Jackson  reporte<l  a  net  increase 
of  forty  members  the  first  year  and  a  total  of  $1,505  for  benevolences ;  second  year, 
521  members  and  400  Sundayschool  members;  third  year,  620  members,  after 
fifly  names  had  been  removed  as  unworthy.  The  church  this  year  increased  the 
pastor's  salar}'  from  $1,200  and  house,  to  $1,500  and  $350  for  house  rent.  At  the 
opening  of  his  second  year  the  pastor  began  an  agitation  for  a  new  church  to 
meet  the  wants  of  the  rapidly  growing  congregation.  All  of  the  ofiicial  members 
at  first  thought  the  effbrt  premature  except  one,  who  generously  offered  to  pay 
one  twentieth  of  whatever  it  would  cost.  Some  months  later  the  consensus  of 
opinion  turned  almost  unanimously   in  favor  of  the  proposition,  and  after  the 


822  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

winter  revival  of  the  third  year  the  pastor  opened  a  subseription  for  this  purpoj^e 
and  in  a  few  weeks  succeeded  in  raising  about  824,000  toward  building.  A  build- 
ing comniiltee  was  appointed,  consistin^^  of  C.  I).  Firestone,  J.  li,  Hughes  and 
James  Pleukharp,  who  also  were  the  largest  subscribers  to  the  enterprise.  In  the 
latter  part  of  June,  1884,  work  was  be«^un  and  by  autumn  the  new  structure  uas 
under  roof  Tlie  old  frame  church  was  movetl  around  to  the  north  side  of  the  lot 
and  made  to  face  High  Street,  instead  of  Third  Avenue  as  formerly-.  Work  on  so 
fine  a  church  as  the  new  one  necessarily  proceeded  slowly,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  first  Sunday  of  July,  1885,  that  the  Sundayschool  room  was  formally  opened. 
The  remainder  of  the  building  was  then  completed,  and  the  entire  church  was  dedi- 
cated by  Bishop  Edward  G.  Andrews  on  Easter  Sabbath,  188().  The  entire  cost, 
including  the  organ,  was  838,072.75. 

The  completion  of  the  church  was  un<ler  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  S.  D.  Hul- 
sinpiller,  who  was  appointed  in  October,  1884,  and  served  three  years.  Rev.  John 
T.  Miller  was  at  that  time  presiding  elder.  At  the  close  of  his  pa.storate  here, 
Rev.  Mr.  Hutsinpiller  was  appointed  to  Town  Street,  where  he  remained  one  year. 
He  is  now  serving  St.  Paul,  Toledo,  with  deserved  popularity,  being  an  unusually 
suave  public  speaker  as  well  as  a  successful  pastor.  Rev.  Israel  II.  McConnell, 
D.  D.,  was  transferred  from  Indianapolis  and  stationed  at  Third  Avenue  in  the  fall 
of  1887,  remaining  one  year.  His  labors  were  attended  with  a  great  ingathering. 
Doctor  McConnell  was  frail  in  physique  but  a  powerful  preacher.  At  the  close  of 
his  year  he  was  transferred  to  Massachusetts,  and  about  eighteen  months  later 
fell  victim  to  a  fatal  attack  of  pneumonia. 

Rev.  W.  D.  Cherington  was  reappointed  as  pastor  of  Third  Avenue  in  the  fall 
of  1888,  remaining  three  years,  with  Rev.  J.  C.  Jackson,  D.  D.,  as  presiding  elder. 
His  labors  were  attended  with  fine  success  in  systematizing  a  somewhat  disor- 
dered state  of  affairs,  in  organizing  the  membership  and  in  greatly  reducing  the 
church  indebtedness  which  had  been  for  years  neglected.  At  the  Conference  of 
1891,  Rev.  Mr.  Cherington  was  appointed  pastor  at  Circleville,  while  Rev.  J.  C. 
Jackson,  D.  D.,  having  resigned  the  district  at  the  close" of  his  fourth  year,  was 
appointed  pastor  of  Third  Avenue  the  second  time  at  the  unanimous  invitation  of 
its  oflSciary,  and  Rev.  11.  C.  Sexton,  of  Circleville,  became  presiding  elder  of  the 
Columbus  District. 

At  the  close  of  Rev.  Mr.  Chgrington's  pastorate  the  church  reported  a  mem- 
bership of  about  1,100,  in  addition  to  almost  one  hundred  more  belonging  to  Shoe- 
maker Chapel,  which  is  under  the  auspices  of  Third  Avenue,  and  after  contribut- 
ing eighty  members  by  letter  to  King  Avenue  since  its  organization.  The  com- 
manding location  of  this  church  gives  it  a  wide  influence  and  patronage.  Its 
present  pastor  receives  a  salary  of  $1,800  and  $400  additional  for  house  rent  as  his 
allowance  for  the  first  year.  There  remains  upon  the  church  a  debt  of  about 
$5,000,  mainly  covered  by  subscription,  which  it  is  hoped  will  soon  be  liquidated. 
The  Sundayschool  has  an  attendance  of  seven  hundred  at  its  maximum,  and  the 
church  contributes  about  $1,500  a  year  to  the  support  of  missions.  Mr.  0.  II. 
Perry  is  the  newly  elected  Sundayschool  superintendent,  having  resumed  that 
position  with  the  return  of  the  present  pastor  after  having  retired  with  him  seven 


i 


Methodist.  823 

years  a^o.  The  board  of  trustees  comprises  at  present  the  following  members: 
J.  R.  Hughes,  President ;  J.  H.  Sells,  Secretary;  S.  S.  McDowell,  Treasurer ;  J. 
Crattj',  Juraes  Pleukharp,  Frederick  Weadon,  A.  E.  Domoney,  O.  H.  Perry  and  J. 
C.  Fenimore.  The  stewards  are  :  N.  D.  Perry,  Hugh  Nesbitt,  J.  B.  Hamilton,  A. 
B.  Ebright,  W.  E.  Hoyer,  L.  L.  Rankin,  Esq.,  Eugene  Lane,  Esq.,  W.  T.  Price,  C. 
R.  McLaughlin,  J.  T.  Hillery  and  Doctor  J.  B.  Kirk. 

The  following  ministerial  brethren  are  members  of  the  Quarterly  Conference  : 
Rev.  C.  D.  Battello,  Rev.  A:  B.  Castle,  M.  D.,  Rev.  L  H.  DeBruin,  Rev.  Daniel 
Horlocker,  Rev,  F.  J.  Merriss,  Rev.  Samuel  Rankin,  Rev.  J.  S.  Ricketts,  Rev.  W. 
H.  Sayer,  Rev.  W.  H.  Scott,  LL.  D.,  Rev.  C.  D.  Williamson  and  Rev.  S.  M.  Dick. 

Shoemaker  Chapel. — This  little  brick  church  is  situated  on  the  Harbor  Road, 
near  the  crossing  of  the  Shawnee  and  Hocking  Railway.  It  began  under  the 
missionary  labors  of  Rev.  Daniel  Horlocker.  In  November  of  1887,  he  organized 
a  Sundayschool  in  the  District  Schoolhouse  of  that  neighborhood,  beginning  with 
sixty  five  persons  the  first  Sabbath.  About  a  month  later  the  number  had  grown 
to  125  and  elected  Doctor  J.  B.  Kirk  their  superintendent,  who,  with  his  wife,  has 
zealously  labored  in  the  school  from  that  date  till  the  present  time.  In  January, 
Rev.  Mr.  Horlocker  held  a  series  of  meetings  in  the  schoolhouse,  and  a  number 
professed  conversion.  Mrs.  Sarah  Shoemaker,  a  devout  member  of  Third  Avenue 
Church  living  in  that  neighborhood,  became  so  anxious  to  have  a  church  organ- 
ized there  that  she  offered  to  donate  a  lot  for  that  purpose.  The  proposition  was 
reported  to  the  local  Church  Extension  Society,  and  that  body  senta  proposition  to 
Mrs.  Shoemaker  that  as  soon  as  she  conveyed  the  lot  to  the  Trustees  of  Third  Avenue 
Church  the  society  would  take  steps  to  build  upon  it.  Thereupon  she  deeded  to 
said  trustees  a  halfacre  corner  lot  worth  fully  $800.  Rev.  D.  Horlocker  and  Presiding 
Elder  Jackson  then  canvassed  the  community  and  got  brick  enough  donated  to 
build  a  church,  36  by  50  feet,  and  also  cash  subscriptions  in  and  about  the  cit}'^  of 
$500  more.  The  local  Church  Extension  Society  agreed  to  appropriate  $1,000 
and  this  year  raised  $3,000  for  this  purpose  and  the  building  of  Donaldson  Street 
Church  for  the  colored  people. 

Colonel  A.  G.  Patton,  George  M.  Peters  and  H.  C.  Lonnis  were  api>ointed  a 
building  committee,  and  they  rapidly  pushed  the  Shoemaker  Chapel  to  comple- 
tion. In  April,  1889,  Rev.  Mr.  Horlocker  organized  a  church  class  of  eight  menu 
bers  by  letter  and  twenty  on  probation,  which  was  put  under  the  superintendence 
of  Third  Avenue  Church. 

Preaching  services  were  provided  for  by  Rev.  Mr.  Horlocker  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  presiding  elder  and  the  Third  Avenue  Quarterly  Conference  until 
November,  1891,  when  the  Third  Avenue  Church  requested  the  Shoemaker  Chapel 
membership  to  provide  for  themselves  and  allow  the  entire  services  of  Rev.  D. 
Horlocker  to  be  employed  by  Third  Avenue  in  looking  afler  its  finances,  benevo- 
lences and  otherwise  assisting  the  pastor.  The  Shoemaker  Chapel  people  then 
employed  Mr.  E.  D.  Bancroft,  a  young  student  member  of  Third  Avenue,  to  serve 
them  the  coming  year.  Their  membership  was  now  about  seventy  five,  with 
eighteen  probationers. 


824  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

North  Columbus.  ^Tho  North  Columbus  Methodist  Episcopal  Churcli  was  sue- 
cessor  to  the  Cliutonvillo  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  us  part  of  the  Clintonvillo 
Circuit.  Tlio  latter  was  a  very  old  society.  The  change  came  under  i he  ener- 
getic labors  of  Rev.  Tell  A.  Turner.  The  members  who  lived  south  of  Clint<mville 
and  within  the  corporation  of  Columbus  felt,  as  did  their  pastor,  that  the  church 
ought  to  be  within  the  city  limits,  thus  bringing  it  into  contact  with  the  |>eople. 
But  there  was  much  opposition  to  the  movement  from  very  influential  raember?*. 
Perhaps  an  older  man  would  have  beeu  more  cautious  than  was  Brother  Turner. 
He  earnestly  pushed  the  project  to  a  consummation  during  his  pastorate  in 
1879-81. 

His  first  class  at  the  present  site  consihted  of  but  seven  members.  A  few  of 
the  best  families  refused  to  move  witli  the  location  but  brought  their  membership 
down  into  the  city,  driving  .])a8t  the  new  church  fully  two  miles,  in  all  these  suc- 
ceeding 3'ears ;  so  strong  is  the  attachment  for  old  places  and  the  prejudice  against 
new  movements.  Rev.  Mr.  Turner  succeeded,  however,  in  raising  monc}*  to  build 
and  the  church  was  dedicated  in  January,  1881.  Larger  congregations  were  at 
once  secured  and  there  seems  to  be  no  question  that  the  move  was  a  wi.se  one  in 
the  end,  however  much  it  may  have  seemed  otherwise  at  first  to  those  who  opposed 
it.  The  name  of  the  Clintonville  Circuit  was  changed  to  North  Columbus  Circuit 
after  tlie  church  was  moved.  Rev.  Mr.  Turner  is  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
oratorical  powers  and  has  been  a  successful  pastor.  For  the  last  few  years  he  has 
filled  the  pulpit  of  Logan  with  great  popularit}-.  At  the  conference  of  1891,  he 
"  took  a  location"  with  the  view  of  being  transferred  to  the  West. 

At  the  Conference  of  1889  the  North  Columbus  Church  asked  to  be  set  off 
from  the  circuit  of  that  name,   to  be  made  a  station  and  to  be  transferred  to  the 
Columbus  Di^trict.     This  request  was  granted,  and   Rev.  Louis  F.  Postle  became 
its  first  stationed  pastor.     They  courageouslj''   undertook   to  pay  him  a  salary  of 
$800,  besides  8150  house  rent.     Having  but  170  members,  imd  most  of  these  being 
people  in  ver}-  moderate  circumstances,  this  looked  like  a  forni'dable  obligation  to 
assume.     But  Pastor  Postle  proved  a  perfect  fit,  and  the  people  entered  with  zo^t 
upon  their  new  era  of  church  life.     Theirs  had  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  weaker 
points  of  the  four  societies  on  the  circuit  the  year  before,  which  unitedly  had  pai«l 
lest  than  8900,  all  told,  to  ministerial  support.     But  now,   with  new  zeal  and  hoj>e 
and  increased  service,  they  not  only  met  all  of  the  salary  allowed,  but  bought  an 
organ,  paid  some  old  debts,  and  in  all  aggregated  81,500,  which  they  aloiio  raised 
this  year.     It  is  a  striking  illustration  of  what  a  weak   people  can  do  when  they 
are  united  and  aroused.     During  Rev.  Mr.  Postle's  second  year  they  enlarged  the 
church  by  putting  an  addition  at  the  rear  end  and  also  remodeled   the  interior  in 
seating  arrangement  and  gallery,  making  a  very  great  improvement  at  the  cost  of 
8300,  all  of  which  they  promptly  paid.     They  have  a  valuable  church  lot,  but  it  is 
not  eligiblj'  located  for  the  parish,  and  they  contemplate  a  change  of  site  so  soon 
as  they   can    sell  at  a   profitable  price.     Pastor  Postle  was  at  the  last  Conference 
appointed  for  his  third  3'^ear,  and  continues  to  serve  the  people  with  undiminished 
acceptability.     At  the  last  (Quarterly  Conference,  in  1891,  the  nime  of  this  charge 
was  changed  to  High  Street  Church. 


Methodist.  825 

Christie  Chapel. — This  is  the  name  of  about  the  only  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  ever  in  Columbus  which  began  to  be,  and  is  not.  It  was  named  after  the 
renowned  Bev.  William  B.  Christie,  one  of  the  most  gifled  and  eloquent  preachers 
of  early  Methodism  in  Ohio.  Few  pulpit  orators  of  any  denomination  sur- 
passed him. 

The  Town  Street  Church  asked  the  Ohio  Conference,  at  its  session  in  1860,  to 
appoint  a  minister  to  do  missionary  work  in  the  northeast  part  of  the  city.  Rev. 
Eli  Kirkham  was  selected  for  the  work.  lie  began  by  organizing  a  Sabbath- 
school  and  preaching  in  a  schoolhouse.  The  ladies  of  the  various  Methodist 
churches  were  organized  into  a  sort  of  Home  Missionar}^  Society,  and  rai8e<i 
money  by  various  means  sufficient  to  pay  the  preacher.  A  lot  was  purchased  on 
North  Eighteenth  Street,  and  a  church  erected.  Rev.  Mr.  Kirkham  left  a  mem- 
bership of  forty  persons.  In  1861  Rev.  T.  W.  Stanley  was  appointed  as  the  mis 
sionary  to  this  charge,  and  remained  two  years.  lie  left  but  fortytwo  members 
which  proves  that  the  field  was  a  hard  one,  for  the  Ohio  Conference  has  had  but 
few  more  zealous  and  successful  pastors  than  was  Rev.  Mr.  Stanley.  He  after- 
wards filled  some  of  the  better  stations,  and  died  in  the  midst  of  his  work  and  in 
the  prime  of  life,  while  pastor  of  St.  Paul's,  Delaware,  in  1883. 

Rev.  Ancel  Brooks  served  the  mission  in  1863  and  1864.  He  reported  seven- 
tyfour  members.  All  of  these  men  were  supported  largely  by  appropriations  from 
the  General  Missionary  Society  of  Methodism.  In  1865  Rev.  Isaac  King  became 
the  pastor,  serving  one  year,  and  leaving  sevent3'Heven  members.  In  1866  Rev. 
E.  H.  Heagler  was  sent  to  this  charge;  he  served  it  three  years.  Rev.  James  M. 
Jameson,  D.  D.,  whose  labors  in  Columbus  are  also  noted  elsewhere,  served 
Christie  Chapel  from  1869  to  1870,  inclusive.  He  reported  144  members.  Rev. 
George  W.  Burns,  later  a  pastor  of  Third  Street  Church,  had  charge  of  this  mission 
two  years,  reporting  165  members  in  1872.  Rev.  John  E.  Sowers  became  pastor 
in  1873,  leaving  124  members.  Rev.  Daniel  Horlocker  served  it  two  3*ears,  begin- 
ning in  1874,  and  reporting  162  members.  The  next  and  last  pastor  was  Rev. 
Albert  J.  Nast,  who  was  appointed  in  1876,  and  served  one  year,  reporting  152 
members.  He  is  a  very  scholarly  and  devout  man,  the  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Nast,  with  whom  he  has  been  associated  in  editorial  work  for  several  years  past. 

The  following  year  Christie  Chapel  was  lefl  without  a  pastor  and  put  under 
the  charge  of  Town  Street  (Quarterly  Conference.  The  location  of  a  church  par- 
ticularly in  a  growing  city,  is  a  most  important  and  often  difficult  matter.  It  is 
not  always  possible  to  foresee  the  direction  the  cit}'  growth  will  take.  Several 
denominations  in  Columbus  have  made  mistakes  in  this  respect.  The  Roman 
Catholics  wisely  submit  these  matters  to  a  board  of  most  experienced  and  impar- 
tial men,  and  the  favorable  results  are  plainly  manifest.  Christie  Chapel  never 
had  a  flattering  prospect,  and  the  organization  of  Broad  Street  in  1875,  effectually 
cut  off  its  last  hope.  The  property  was  finallj'  sold,  and  that  which  remaine<l  over 
after  debts  were  paid,  was  mostly  reinvested  in  Mt.  Vernon  Avenue  Church.  The 
old  building  is  now  the  Shiloh  Baptist  Church,  occupied  by  the  colored  people. 
Perhaps,  afler  all,  its  life  was  not  a  failure.     Many  received  (rospel  privileges  in  it 


826  HiSTOBY   OF   THE    ClTY   OP    CoLUMBUS. 

while  it  lived  as  a  Methodist  Cliurch,  and  its  spirit,  like  that  of  John  Brown,  yet 
goes  **  marching  on  "  in  the  church  home  of  the  colored  people. 

Mi.  Vernon  Avemw. — This  church  owes  its  origin  to  a  godly  woman.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1882,  Mrs.  John  Sugdon  canvassed  what  was  known  as  the  Mt.  Airy 
neighborhood,  for  Sundayschool  scholars,  and  gathered  together  from  twentyfivc 
to  sixty,  who  met  every  Sunday  in  her  own  home,  at  2:30  p.  m.  Her  husband 
aided  her  in  the  work  ot  teaching  them.  The  next  summer  the}'  repeated  this 
effort,  but  having  determined  to  move  fi'om  the  city  shortly,  they  could  not  endure 
the  thought  of  this  work  subsiding  into  nonentity.  There  was  no  church  within 
reach  of  this  then  sparsely -settled  community.  Seeking  to  turn  the  school  over 
into  responsible  hands,  Mrs.  Sugdon  was  directed  to  Rev.  Thomas  R.  Ta3lor,  pre- 
siding elder  of  the  Columbus  District.  After  full  investigations  the  Mt.  Airy,  or 
Twentieth  Street  brick  schoolhouse,  was  rented  for  the  use  of  this  Sundavschool. 
Presiding  Elder  Taylor  then  secured  the  almost  gratuitous  services  of  Rev.  Noble 
L.  Rockey,  a  young  local  preacher,  who  was  at  that  time  a  student  at  the  Ohio 
Wesleyan  University  but  spending  his  summer  vacation  at  the  home  of  his  father, 
Daniel  R.  Rockey,  in  Columbus.  On  July  22  Mr.  Sugdon  held  his  lust  session  of 
the  school  with  twentyfivc  present,  he  being  the  only  adult  among  them. 

Rev.  N.  L.  Rockey  was  appointed  July  24  and  at  once  began  visiting  the  peo- 
ple of  that  neighborhood  and  announcing  his  work.  On  Sunday,  July  29,  he  had 
a  congregation  of  forty — 34  children  and  G  adults  -and  a  collection  of  53  cents. 
Four  classes  were  organized  ;  the  children  were  quite  small,  and  there  wore  but 
seven  boys  among  them  on  the  first  Sabbath.  Mr.  Rockey  also  jiroached  regu- 
larly to  the  j)eople  every  Sabbath,  lie  devoted  himself  earnestly  to  the  work,  ami 
although  in  the  most  unfavorable  season  of  the  year,  ho  gathered  an  attendance 
of  53  scholars  and  purchased  and  paid  for  a  cheap  organ.  After  September  16,  be 
was  obliged  to  leave  the  field  to  return  to  college,  but  the  local  workers  now  car- 
ried it  on.  The  first  communion  service  held  for  this  congregation  was  admin- 
istered by  Rev.  W.  W.  Cherington,  who  was  living  here  in  superannuation.  Rev. 
F.  A.  Spencer,  at  that  time  a  member  of  Broad  Street  Church,  became  a  very 
earnest  and  valuable  worker  in  this  field.  Robert  Rusk  and  wife  were  among 
the  first  Methodists  to  encourage  this  incipient  congregation  by  their  presence 
and  labors,  although  holding  their  membership  at  Town  Street. 

After  Conference  in  1883,  Rev.  C.  F.  Prior,  who  had  been  appointed  pastor  of 
Neil   Chapel,  gave   much   of  his  time  and  labor  to  this  missionary  field.     During 
the  year  he  organized  the  gathered  members  into  a  society,  under  the  supervision 
of  Rev.  John  T.  Miller,  as  presiding  elder.     They  numbered  thirtysix,  eighteen  of 
whom,  however,  soon  afterwards  moved  away.     The  first  member  to  join  by  let- 
ter was  Naomi  Staggs.     The  first  trustees  were,  F.  A.  Spencer,  L.  D.  Patton,  M.  C. 
Bukey,  li.  S.  Schull,  Charles  Flonley,  L.  T.  Burris,  Robert  Rusk,  Sextus  Scott  an<I 
Thomas  Hammond,  the  last  three  not  then  being  members.     The  first  class  leaders 
were  G.  W.  Burris,  Robert  Rusk,  L.  T.  Burris  and  F.  A.  Spencer.     Articles  of  incor- 
poration were  filed  April  19, 1884.     A  building  committee  was  appointed  April  21, 
1884,  consisting  of  Rev.  C.  F.  Prior,  the  acting  pastor,  Sextus  Scott,  L.  T.  BurriM, 
L.  D.  Patton  and  M.  C.  Bukey.     On  May  1,  1884,  they  awarded  the  contract  for 


Methodist.  827 

a  frame  church,  forty  by  Hixty  feet,  to  Wallace  PeUicord,  to  bo  erected  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Mt.  Vernon  Avenue  and  Eighteenth  Street,  which  site  was  Helected  by  a 
committee  consistini^  of  George  M.  Peters,  II.  O'Kano,  M.  Halm,  Rev.  D.  Hor- 
locker,  Doctor  J.  M.  Trimble  and  M.  W.  Bliss. 

Some  hundreds  of  dollars  were  awarded  to  the  enter])rise  from  the  sale  of  the 
old  Christie  Chapel  property.  The  Broad  Street  trustees,  after  building  their  new 
church,  also  donated  their  old  chapel  building  to  the  Mount  Vernon  Avenue 
Society.  The  material  of  this  frame  structure  entered  into  the  new  Mt.  Vernon 
Avenue  Church,  but  it  lost  its  identit}'  as  a  building  in  being  taken  entirel}'^  apart. 
The  church,  after  completion,  was  dedicated  September  14,  1884,  by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  II. 
Bayliss,  in  the  aflernoon  of  that  Sabbath.  Doctor  Trimble  had  charge  of  the 
morning  services  and  presiding  elder  Miller  conducted  the  evening  meeting.  This 
society  never  received  any  missionary  support,  but  was  self-sustaining  from  the 
beginning.  The  first  yaav  it  paid  $S20  salary  and  $180  house  rent,  with  $75  for 
benevolences. 

Rev.  William  D.  Gray  was  the  first  Conference  appointee  as  pastor  of  Mt. 
Vernon  Avenue  Church.  He  came  to  it  in  the  fall  of  18S4,  and  remained  three 
years.  He  began  with  about  40  members  and  left  840  njembers.  He  was  young,^ 
zealous  and  successful.  The  membership  rapidly  grew  and  became  marked  for  spirit- 
uality, in  keeping  with  oldtime  Methodism.  Rev.  Mr.  Gray's  next  appointment 
was  to  Athens,  Ohio,  but  before  the  year  closed  he  was  transferred  to  Sedalia, 
Missouri. 

Rev.  J.  M.  Rife  was  sent  next  as  pastor  by  the  Conference  of  1887,  and 
remained  two  years.  His  efforts  were  attended  with  much  revival  influence  and 
continued  additions  to  the  membership.  He  had  been  a  captain  in  the  Union 
Army  during  the  great  Rebellion  and  has  ever  since  been  prominently  identified 
with  its  Grand  Army  reunions  and  organizations.  At  the  close  of  his  second  year 
he  was  appointed  to  the  Raton  Mission  Church,  in  New  Mexico,  but  the  climate 
not  agreeing  with  his  health,  he  returned  after  a  year  and  was  apjiointed  to  Neil 
Avenue,  where  he  is  now  serving  his  second  year.  Rev.  J.  C  Arbuckle  was  sent 
as  pastor  to  Mt.  Vernon  Avenue  in  the  fall  of  18SI)  luid  remained  two  years.  Ho 
had  just  closed  his  fourth  year  as  presiding  elder  of  the  Gallipolis  district.  His 
pastorate  in  this  city  was  signalized  by  its  popularity  with  his  people.  During 
his  first  year  the  charge  paid  off  a  long-standing  indebtedness  of  $600,  which,  with 
their  salary  of  $1,000,  and  house  rent,  made  a  very  heavy  burden  for  them.  The 
second  year  they  rallied  with  heroic  effort,  and  to  retain  their  pastor  paid  him 
$1,400  and  house  rent.  The  society  numbers  over  500  members,  but  it  is  another 
case  in  which  the  church  gives  evidence  of  doing  the  work  of  Christ  by  the  poor 
having  the  Gospel  preached  to  them.  This  societ}'  is  greatly  in  need  of  a  larger, 
new  church,  with  better  accommodations  for  its  multitude  of  people.  Rev.  Mr. 
Arbuckle  was  sent  next  to  Second  Street  Church,  Zanesville,  and  Rev.  J.  H.  (iard- 
ner  became  his  successor  at  Mt  Vernon  Avenue.  The  latter  has  been  spoken  of 
in  this  history  in  connection  with  his  successful  ])astonite  of  Third  Street  Church. 
He  has  been  filling  the  better  grade  of  appointments  in  the  Conference  and  is 
very  acceptable  in  his  present  charge. 


828  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

FiM  Gcnnnn. — The  Fii*st  German  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  organized 
by  Rev.  John  Barth  in  1843.  Its  trustees  were  Michael  Decker,  Daniel  AVeir, 
Valentine  Emrieh,  Philip  Amos  and  Charles  Wootring.  For  one  year  the  society 
worshiped  in  an  engiiiehouse  on  Mound  Street,  near  the  Courthouse.  Then  they 
bought  a  lot  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Third  Street  and  Livingston  Avenue  for 
8450.  Here  they  built  a  brick  church  which  answered  their  purposes  till  1871. 
In  April  of  this  year  they  began  a  new  church,  costing  $16,000.  It  was  finished 
in  1872  and  dedicated  September  8  b}'  Rev.  Dr.  Pershing,  President  of  the  Pitts- 
burgh Femnle  College,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  William  Nast,  D.  D.,  editor  of  the 
Apologt'ffy  and  the  Rev.  Doctor  Lobenstein,  of  Berea  College,  Ohio.  The  church  is 
75  feet  by  45  feet  in  dimensions.  The  building  committee  consisted  of  J.  W.  Laut 
erbach,  Henry  Schneider,  C.  Eilber,  Charles  Frank  and  John  Peauerle.  In  Sept- 
ember, 18GC),  the  church  bought  ground  for  a  parsonage  at  number  438  South 
Third  Street,  where  they  erected  a  fine  brick  residence  at  a  cost  of  S5,000. 

The  following  is  thought  to  bo  a  correct  list  of  the  pastors  to  date  :  John  H. 
Barth,  1843-45;  William  McLain,  1845  6;  William  Hoffer,  1846-7;  Peter  Wifkins, 
1847-8;  L.  Nippert,  1848-9;  Rev.  Mr.  Gahn,  1849-50;  Rev.  Mr.  Braumiller,  1850-52; 
•Rev.  Mr.  Fry,  1852  53;  Hugo  Rehm,  1853-4;  G.  Nachtrieb,  1854-56;  Paul  Brodbeck, 
185G-58;  H.  Vogel,  1858-60;  H.  Fuss,  186062;  C.  C.  Helwig,  1862-65;  C.  Bozen- 
hardt,  1865  67;  II.  Herzer,  1867-70;  Z.  Allinger,  1870-73;  George  Schwinn, 
1873-76;  Augustus  Gerlach,  1876-79;  John  S.  Schneider,  1879-81  ;  John  C.  Egly, 
1881-84;  Jacob  Rothweiler,  1884-86;  John  H.  Horst,  1886-91. 

The  present  pastor  is  Rev.  Mr.  Treuschell.  The  German  Methodists  are  a 
very  earnest,  reliable,  sincere  and  generous  class  of  Christians.  Their  founder 
in  America  is  the  venerable  William  Nast,  of  whom  it  is  fitting  that  w^e  here  give 
some  extended  notice.     The  following  is  taken  from  the   Cyclopedia  of  Metkodkm: 

William  Nast,  1).  D.,  was  born  at  Stuttgart,  in  Wiirtemberg,  in  1807,  and  entered  when 
fourteen  years  of  age  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Blaubeuren,  and  later  was  a  fellow- 
student  with  David  Strauss.  He  abandoned  the  study  of  theology  for  that  of  philosophy, 
and  emigrated  in  1K2H  to  the  United  States  Here  he  became  a  private  teacher  on  Duncan's 
Island.  In  18:jl-32  lie  taught  German  at  the  Military  Academy  of  West  Point.  Throu^'li 
Law's  Call  to  the  Ujicmivrrted  and  Taylor's  Ifotj/  Living.  Nast  became  interested  in  Methodism. 
He  heard  Homer  preach,  became  a  teacher  of  modern  languages  at  the  Gettysburg  (Lutheran) 
Seminary,  and  then  Professor  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  at  Kenyon  College,  Ohio.  In  1.S*>.5  be 
became  a  local  preacher,  and  joined  the  Ohio  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Since  January,  lS8t),  he  has  been  the  editor  of  the  ChristlicJie  AjHtlogeiey  of  which,  as  well  as  of 
the  Sundayschool  lUil  he  was  the  founder.  Doctor  Nast  was  not  only  the  first  German 
Methodist  Episcopal  missionary,  but  also  the  founder  of  German  Methodist  literature  ami 
compilations. 

Besides  many  translations  of  books,  he  has  given  the  church  a  commentary  on  Mattbewt 
Mark  and  Luke,  and  his  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament  has  been  adopte<l  into  the 
course  of  study  for  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  In  1857  he  was  a  dele, 
gate  to  the  Evangelical  Alliance  held  at  Berlin,  and  in  1873  in  New  York.  He  read  in  is.'>7a 
paper  on  Methodism,  and  one  in  1873  on  the  Doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection.  He  was? « 
member  of  every  General  Conference  from  1848  to  1870,  to  the  latter  of  which  he  was  piected 
a  reserve  delegate. 


i 


Methodist.  821) 

Donaldson  Church. — The  Donaldson  Methodist  Church,  for  colored  people, 
was  built  in  the  summer  of  1888,  and  was  located  in  the  midst  of  a  \nr^Ci  settle- 
ment of  people  of  African  descent  having  no  Gospel  privileges.  Bishop  Mnllalieu 
appointed  a  colored  minister,  Rev.  Gabriel  White,  to  organize  a  society  among 
them.  He  went  to  work  in  earnest  and  the  local  Church  Extension  society  of 
Columbus  Methodism  took  hold  to  help  him.  By  their  united  labors  a  lot  was 
purchased  for  J481,  and  a  frame  chapel  costing  about  $1,200  was  built.  This 
pro])erty  was  deeded  to  the  trustees  of  the  Broad  Street  Church  to  hold  in  trust 
for  the  society  until  it  should  become  sclfsustaining.  The  building  committee 
consisted  of  A.  G.  Patton,  George  M.  Peters  and  H.  C.  Lonnis.  Presiding  Rider 
Jackson  and  Rev.  D.  Ilorlocker  were  appointed  to  raise  the  money  for  this  pro- 
ject and  were  succe.s8ful  in  so  doing.  Rev.  William  Johnson  is  the  present  pastor. 
He  is  an  earnest,  hardworking  and  welldeserving  servant  of  God.  The  societ}' 
now  has  a  membership  of  sixty  five  and  a  Sundayschool  attended  by  about  the 
same  number.     A  salary  of  $400  is  allowed,  but   unfortunately  is  not  paid  in  full. 

The  number  of  Metl.odists  fn  Columbus  at  the  end  of  each  of  the  last  six 
decades  has  been  as  follows:  278  in  1840;  609  in  1850;  730  in  1860;  1,200  in 
1870;  2,495  in  1880;  5,000  in  1890.  In  1860  Methodism  had  555  Sundayschool 
scholars  in  the  city;  the  number  was  1,259  in  1870;  2,197  in  1880,  and  4,585  in  1890. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 


CONGREGATIONAL. 


BY  REV.  BENJAMIN  TALBOT. 

[Benjamin  Talbot  is  a  native  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  born  May  22,  1827.  At  tbe  age  of 
six  years  he  was  removed  to  the  home  of  his  mother  at  Colchester,  Connecticut,  where  he 
was  brought  up  on  a  small  farm  adjoining  the  village.  He  was  a  bright  boy  with  good 
memory  and  was  especially  quick  in  mental  arithmetic.  He  was  educated  at  Bacon 
Academy,  a  free  school  in  Colchester.  He  began  his  Latin  studies  at  nine  years  of  age  and 
was  ready  for  college  at  thirteen.  In  18-19,  he  graduated  at  Yale  College,  fifth  in  a  class  of 
ninetyfour.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  taught  a  district  school.  He  was  a  student  in  the 
Yale  Theological  Seminary  in  1850-3  ;  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1852;  was  a  classical  teacher 
in  Williston  Seminary  at  Easthampton,  Massachusetts,  in  1853-4  ;  was  a  teacher  at  the  Ohio 
Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  from  1851  to  18G3  ;  was  superintendent  of  a  similar  insti- 
tution at  Iowa  City  from  1803  to  1870,  and  of  one  at  Council  Bluffs  from  1870  to  1878  ;  was 
ordained  as  an  evangelist  September  7,  18(i4,  and  has  since  1880  been  a  teacher  in  the  Ohio 
Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  of  which  he  was  acting  Superintendent  for  three  months 
in  1881,  and  for  ten  months  in  1882-3.  Many  interesting  and  able  papers  on  subjects  per- 
taining to  the  education  of  the  deaf  have  emanated  from  his  pen.] 

The  growth  of  Congregational  churches  in  and  around  Columbus  has  been 
comparatively  recent.  It  would  naturally  bo  supposed  that  those  of  New  England 
birth,  in  moving  west,  would  seek  to  preserve  the  traditions  and  follow  the  faith 
of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  But  Central  Ohio  was  not  largely  settled  by  Now  Bng- 
landers,  and  fur  many  years  Cougregationalists  who  came  from  the  East  joined 
the  Pre8b3'terian8  in  preference  to  establishing  churches  of  their  own  order. 

The  first  Congregational  church  formed  in  Ohio  was  the  one  at  Marietta, 
organized  December  6,  1796.  What  is  now  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Granville, 
Licking  County,  was  organized  as  a  Congregational  church,  in  Gninville,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  the  spring  of  1805,  before  the  colony  started  for  its  new  homo,  but  it 
did  not  join  Presbytery  until  1869.  Two  yoiivH  later,  1807,  a  Congregational 
church  was  formed  at  Springfield,  afterwards  called  Putnam,  now  the  western 
part  of  the  city  of  Zanesville.  This  little  church  was  absorbed  by  the  Presby- 
terian church  of  Zanesville  in  tl^c  fall  of  1809.  The  church  at  Hartford,  Croton 
Post  Office,  in  Licking  County,  organized  in  1818,  is  the  oldest  Congregational 
church  in  this  vicinity  which  has  continued  such  to  the  present  time. 

[830] 


CONQREGATIONAL.  831 

No  Congragational  churches  seom  to  have  been  established  in  this  region  for 
fifteen  years  after  the  organization  of  the  Hartford  church.  Then,  the  great  anti- 
slavery  agitation  which  led  to  the  founding  of  Oberlin,  with  its  church  and  college, 
stirred  the  churches  of  Northern  Ohio  to  their  very  foundations,  and  the  ground- 
swell  caused  by  this  upheaval  was  felt  deeply  in  many  religious  communities  in 
the  central  portions  of  the  state.  Burning  opposition  to  slavery  and  radical  views 
on  temperance  made  many  earnest  Christians  restive  in  their  connection  with  the 
more  conservative  element  in  the  churches;  and  this  general  uneasiness,  with  a 
growing  distaste  for  the  extreme  views  of  Hyper-Calvinists,  led  to  the  formation 
of  many  new  churches  on  a  more  liberal  basis,  some  as  Congregational,  and  some 
as  Free  Presbyterian.  In  this  way  arose  the  Congregational  churches  at  Lock, 
Licking  County,  and  at  Mount  Vernon,  organized  in  1834,  and  the  one  at  Mans- 
field, formed  in  1835.  The  church  at  Mar^^sville  followed  soon  after,  in  1839,  and 
was  long  known  as  the  Second  Presbyterin  church,  but,  after  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, became  Congregational.  In  this  decade  many  of  the  Welsh  Congregational 
churches  in  Central  Ohio  also  came  into  existence,  among  which  was  the  Welsh 
church  in  Columbus,  established  in  1837. 

The  growing  hostility  to  slavery  which  culminated  in  the  triumph  of  the 
Republican  party  and  led  to  the  Civil  War  deepened  the  conscientious  convictions 
of  many,  and  strengthened  their  scruples  against  the  least  complicity  with  the 
monstrous  iniquity  of  the  nation.  Little  Congregational  churches  sprang  up  here 
and  there,  or  came  over  from  the  Presbyterian  connection,  composed  of  warm- 
hearted, earnest  Christians,  full  of  sympathy  for  the  downtrodden  and  the  oppres- 
sed, and  ready  for  every  good  word  and  work.  In  some  places  they  aroused 
bitter  opposition  and  even  persecution,  as  was  experienced  by  the  little  church 
at  Paint  Valley,  in  Holmes  County,  whose  meetinghouse  went  up  in  the  flames 
kindled  by  Copperheads  during  the  Civil  War.  Elsewhere  they  crystallized 
around  themselves  the  patriotism  and  loyalty  of  the  community,  as  in  New 
Albany,  Franklin  County,  where  pastor  and  people  to  a  man  enlisted  in  the  Union 
Army. 

Made  up  of  such  material,  and  often  ostracized  at  home  because  of  their  sym- 
pathy with  the  lowly  and  oppressed,  these  churches  naturally  sought  a  union  with 
kindred  spirits;  and  this  desire  led  to  the  tormation  of  the  Congregational  Asso- 
ciation of  Central  Ohio,  now  known  as  the  Central  Ohio  Conference  of  Congrega- 
tional Churches.  This  body  was  organized  August  13,  1861,  at  Columbia  Center, 
in  Licking  County,  a  preliminary  meeting  having  been  held  at  New  Albany,  on 
the  third  of  July.  The  First  Congregational  Church  in  Columbus  took  an  active 
part  in  the  formation  of  the  association.  Messrs.  M.  B.  Bateham  and  L.  L.  Rice, 
with  Rev.  Lysander  Kelsey,  represented  the  church  at  New  Alban}',  and  the  two 
latter,  with  Pastor  Goodwin,  participated  in  the  meeting  at  Columbia  Center. 
The  Congregational  ministers  of  Columbus  have  done  their  full  share  in  the  work 
of  the  Conference  at  its  semiannual  sessions. 

The  first  Congregational  organization  in  Columbus  was  the  Welsh  Church 
mentioned  above,  which  began  in  1837.  In  1839,  a  colony  left  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  with  the  purpose  of  forming  a  Congregational  organization,  but,  in 


832  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

delVrouee  to  counsel  from  al)i'oa(l,  notably  from  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  then  at 
the  head  of  the  liane  Seminary,  in  Cincinnati,  tliey  became  the  Secoiul  Presbyte- 
rian Cluirch.  A  coU>ny  from  tliin  Second  Cliurcli,  organized  in  1852  as  the  Third 
Presbj'terian  Church,  t<M)k  the  name  in  1S56  of  the  F'irst  Congrei^.itional  Church. 
They  built  a  ni'W  house  of  worship  on  Broad  Street  in  1857. 

In  1S72,  the  Higli  Street  ('ongregational  Cluirch  was  forme<l  an<l  erecteci  its 
first  meetingliouse  just  north  of  West  Ilussell  Street.  In  tlie  same  3' ear  a  few 
menil)ers  from  the  First  and  tlie  High  Street  churches  projected  the  formation  of 
the  Third  ('ongrt^gational  Church,  worsliiping  in  a  frame  chapel  on  Goodale  Street, 
but  the  enterprise  })roved  to  be  premature  an<i  soon  fell  through. 

The  (congregational  Church  of  North  Columbus  was  formed  in  July,  1875, 
having  completed  a  modest  building  the  previous  month.  This  church  consisted 
largely  of  persons  who  had  been  Methodists. 

Kastwood  Chapel  was  erected  in  1S7G,  and  enlarged  in  1879.  The  church 
organization  was  ctfected  in  1HS2.  The  year  1H81  witne.s.sed  the  completion  and 
dedication  of  the  High  Street  Corjgregational  Church.  The  reconstruction  of  the 
First  (congregational  (church  building  occupied  the  larger  part  of  the  year  1BS7. 
and  the  next  year  Mayflower  Chapel  was  built.  It  was  first  occupied  in  February, 
1889.     The  organization  of  Mayflower  Church  followed  in  Juno. 

In  December,  1H89,  the  Congregational  Club  of  Central  Ohio  was  formed  to 
promote  the  fellowship  of  the  Congregational  churches  in  this  part  of  the  state. 
It  meets  at  intervals  of  about  two  months,  during  the  colder  part  of  the  year,  for 
social  purposes  and  the  discussion  of  topics  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  the 
churches  and  of  society  at  large.  The  members  are  mostly  residents  of  Colum- 
bus; though  all  gentlemen  of  Congregational  affiliations  living  within  convenient 
disUmce  are  welcome  to  membership.  Mr.  F.  C.  Sessions  was  its  president  the 
first  year,  and  has  been  succeeded  by  Mr.  E.  O.  Randall,  of  the  Ma3'flower  Church, 
and  Mr.  George  H.  Twiss,  of  Eastwood.  During  the  year  1890,  one  new  church, 
the  South  Congregational,  was  formed,  and  three  new  houses  of  worship  were 
erected.  The  Welsh  Congregational  Church  completed  and  occupied  its  new 
house  at  the  corner  of  Washington  Avenue  and  Gay  Street,  and  two  frame  chapels 
were  built,  one  on  St.  Clair  Avenue  and  another  at  the  corner  of  High  Street  and 
Stewart  Avenue,  for  the  South  Church.  The  Eastwood  people  laid  the  foundation 
for  their  new  meetinghouse,  and  the  First  Church  spent  some  88,000  in  remodel- 
ing its  chapel  so  as  to  accommodate  a  larger  number  in  its  Sundayschools,  at  the 
same  time  refitting  and  beautifying  the  whole  structure. 

The  entire  resident  membership  of  the  seven  Congregational  churches  of 
Columbus  is  now  (January,  1892,)  about  1,750.  They  are  well  officered,  having 
faithful,  energetic,  wideawake  pastors,  fully  abreast  of  the  times  and  equal  to  the 
needs  of  the  community;  and  as  the  people  also  have  a  mind  to  work,  these 
churches  will,  wMth  God's  help,  prove  more  and  more  a  power  for  good. 

To  increase  their  efficiency,  and  secure  a  wiser  expenditure  of  their  united 
strength,  the  Congregational  Union  of  Columbus  was  formed  March  30,  1891; 
composed  of  the  pastors  and  one  laydelegate  for  every  hundred  members  in  the 
several  churches,  to  be  chosen  annually.    This  union  will  hold  in  watchful  survey 


iii 


•   •, 


CoNGREaATlONAL.  833 

the  whole  field,  and  advise  and  assist  in  whatever  new  enterprise  may  be  projected 
for  church  work  by  the  Congregational  churches  of  the  city.  It  was  incorporated 
in  June,  1891,  with  Mr.  F.  C.  Sessions  as  president.  Its  officers  for  1892  are  W. 
A.  Mahony,  president;  James  T.  Jones,  vice  president ;  E.  J.  Converse,  secretary  ; 
and  VV.  D.  Park,  treasurer.  These  gentlemen  with  L.  H.  Bulkeley,  B.  O.  Randall 
and  W.  B.  Davis  constitute  the  executive  committee  of  the  Union. 

First  Congregational  Church. —  Just  after  the  middle  of  the  decade  preceding 
the  Civil  War,  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Columbus  took  on  its  present 
form.  It  originated  in  an  offshoot  from  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  then 
worshiping  on  Third  Street,  south  of  Rich,  and  was  designed  to  occupy  the 
field  lying  north  of  Broad  Street.  At  two  preliminary  meetings  held  on  the  third 
and  the  tenth  of  March,  1852,  it  was  decided  to  purchase  a  lot  on  the  north- 
east corner  of  Third  Street  and  Lynn  Alley,  and  to  erect  a  frame  chapel  to 
cost  about  $1,000  for  a  new  congregation  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Rev.  William 
H.  Marble,  who  had  been  employed  since  the  first  of  January  in  the  interest  of  the 
new  entepriso.  The  chapel  was  dedicated  July  11,  and  on  the  twentyninth  of 
Sepleinbor  a  meeting  was  held  to  organize  the  church,  with  Mr.  L.  L.  Rice  presid- 
ing, afid  Mr.  Warren  Jenkins,  secretarj".  The  original  number  was  forty  two, 
bearing  letters  of  dismission  from  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church.  Five  of  the 
fortj'two  are  still  living  in  connection  with  the  church.  They  elected  as  trustees 
Thomas  S.  Baldwin,  Lewis  L.  Rico  and  Francis  C.  Sessions.  The  first  elders  were 
M.  B.  Bateham,  Doctor  J.  W.  Hamilton  and  Warren  Jenkins.  Charles  H,  Goss 
was  chosen  clerk.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  S.  B.  Stanton  was  elected  treasurer, 
but  seems  never  to  have  filled  the  office.  A  formal  call  was  given  to  Rev.  Mr.  Marble 
to  become  the  settled  pastor. 

[William  Honuie  Marble  was  born  in  Winchester,  New  Hampshire,  February  13,  1822; 
educated  at  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  New  York  City;  ordained  Septembers,  1S.>0; 
and  preached  for  two  years  in  Chesterfield,  New  Hampshire.  From  Columbus  he  went  to 
Oshkosh,  Wisconsin,  where  he  preached  six  years,  and  became  chaplain  for  six  months  in  a 
regiment  of  Wisconsin  volunteer  infantry.  Since  leaving  the  army  his  ministerial  service  has 
been  two  years  at  Waupun,  Wisconsin,  three  at  Waterloo,  Iowa,  fifteen  in  evangelistic  ser- 
vice, one  at  Boulder,  Colorado,  two  at  Newfane,  Vermont,  and  one  at  Enfield,  New  Hamp- 
shire.    His  present  settlement  is  at  Wallace,  Kansas.] 

The  church,  thoui^h  Presbyterian  in  name  and  in  its  form  of  government, 
and  under  the  pastoral  care  of  a  Pre8b3''terian  minister,  was  never  connected  with 
a  presbytery,  following  in  this  respect  the  example  of  the  mother  church,  and 
showing  at  the  start  a  leaning  towards  the  Congregational  order.  Many  of  Its 
members,  indeed,  would  have  preferred  a  Congregational  organization,  but  this 
did  not  seem  expedient  at  the  time. 

The  new  church  prospered,  both  financially  and  spirituall}',  under  Mr.  Marble. 
There  were  large  accessions  of  new  converts  during  1853,  sixtytwo  being  admitted 
by  profession  in  March  as  the  result  of  evangelistic  work  the  preceding  winter. 
The  minister's  salary  was  materially  increased,  and,  early  in  1854,  the  vigorous 
young  church  began  to  take  steps  for  building  a  new  meetinghouse.  On  March 
63  :  : 


>  '    *  I 


8:u  History  of  the  City  of  C^iLimBCs. 

2*.>,  1854,  a  plan  waH  adopted,  involving  the  expenditure  of  8ome  $12,<HMI.  Tht' 
tniMloeH  and  three  other  energetic  workern  were  made  a  building  com mitteo,  and 
active  nieaxiires  were  taken  to  forward  the  enterprise.  The  raising  of  the  iieee.-t- 
sary  funds  proviMJ  a  heavy  task,  and  at  times  it  seeme^l  as  if  the  work  must  fall 
through.  Meanwhile,  in  January,  isfM],  the  pastor  resigned.  One  hundre<l  and 
fifty  had  been  added  to  the  chreh  under  his  ministry,  fiflyeight  by  letter  and 
niiictytwo  by  jirofession. 

hisappointment  in  the  effort  to  secure  another  minister,  the  need  of  repairs  on 
the  chapel  and  the  burden  of  securing  means  for  the  new  building  were  great 
drawbacks,  threatening  serious  weakness  and  even  an  entire  abandonment  of  the 
enterprise.  With  these  obstacles  the  little  church  wrestled  heroically  during  the 
spring  and  summer  of  lH5(i.  Its  resident  membership  was  then  105.  Faith  and 
prayer  nerved  them  with  courage  to  persevere  in  their  good  work,  and  it  was  unani- 
mously resolved,  August  6, 185(5,  to  continue  the  organization.  Rev.  Anson  Smyth, 
the  State  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools,  preached  with  great  acceptance  for 
seven  or  eight  months,  during  the  interval  in  the  pastorate.  In  the  month  of 
Se|)teniber,  Rev.  J.  M.  Steele,  of  Stratham,  New  Hampshire,  spent  two  or  three 
weeks  with  the  church,  and  received  a  unanimous  call  to  become  their  pastor. 
On  the  third  of  November,  after  careful  deliberation  and  a  full  interchange  of 
opinion,  the  church  decided  unanimously  to  assume  the  name  and  form  of  a  Con- 
gregational church.  The  fii*st  officers  of  the  reconstructed  church  were:  M.  B. 
Bateham,J.  W.  Hamilton,  L.  L.  Rice  and  S.  B.Stanton,  deacons;  Li  L.  Rice  clerk; 
and  T.  S.  Baldwin,  treasurer.  The  first  board  of  trustees  consisted  of  Doctor  R.  J. 
Patterson,  T.  S.  Baldwin  and  F.  C.  Sessions. 

[John  McClary  Steele  was  born  at  Epson,  New  Hampshire,  in  1822;  graduated  at  Dart- 
mouth College  in  1844,  and  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  1847 ;  was  first  settled  at 
South  Woburn,  Massachusetts,  where  he  was  ordained  August  10,  1848;  was  disqiissed  Feb- 
ruary II,  1852,  and  settled  as  pastor  at  Stratham,  New  Hampshire,  November  30,  1853,  where 
he  remained  until  called  to  Columbus.] 

The  pastorelect,  Mr.  Steel,  arrived  in  Columbus  November  6,  and  was  installed 
the  next  day  by  a  council  of  churches,  the  services  being  held  in  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  the  sermon  being  preached  by  the  Rev.  Richard  S.  Storrs, 
I).  D.,  of  Brooklj^n,  New  York.  Mr.  Steele  labored  happily  and  acceptably  during 
the  winter,  gaining  the  effection  and  esteem  of  the  people,  and  giving  hopeful 
promise  of  a  useful  and  successful  pastorate.  An  important  business  meeting  was 
held  February  25,  1857,  when  it  was  decided  to  proceed  at  once  with  the  erection 
of  the  new  church  on  Broad  Street,  facing  the  Capitol  Square,  at  an  estimated 
cost  of  $7,000.  To  secure  material  aid  the  pastor  shortly  after  went  oast,  where  he 
unfortunately  contracted  the  smallpox,  and  died  in  Now  York  City,  within  five 
months  of  his  installation,  April  5,  1857.  Though  grievously  distressed  by  this 
great  loss,  the  church  went  bravely  forward  with  its  building  enterprise.  The 
money  that  had  been  contributed  by  members  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church 
towards  the  erection  of  the  chapel  was  repaid,  and  the  work  on  the  new  church 
was  pushed  with  such  energy  that  it  was  finished  before  the  end  of  the  year,  and 


J 


Congregational.  835 

was  dedicated  December  23,  1S57.  It  stood  on  the  site  still  occapiod,  measuring 
externally  120x63  feet,  the  audienceroom  of  73  feet  by  59  being  on  the  rear  of 
the  lot,  and  the  front  affording  two  goodsized  social  rooms  with  a  spacious  hall 
between  them  and  a  Snndayschool  room  above.  The  entrance  was  through  a  tower 
projecting  from  the  middle  of  the  front,  with  a  pastor  s  study  in  the  second  story. 
The  new  lot  cost  $6,500  and  the  cost  of  the  edifice  was  a  little  over  $10,000. 

While  the  building  was  in  progress,  the  church  was  looking  for  a  pastor,  Rev. 
Mr.  Smyth  again  supplying  the  pulpit  meanvrhile  and  rendering  such  further  ser- 
vice as  he  could  without  neglectin<^  the  duties  of  his  public  office.  The  Rev. 
Nathaniel  A.  Hyde  began  to  supply  the  pulpit  December  6,  1857.  He  remained 
six  months,  during  which  time  the  church  received  thirtyfour  members.  In  June, 
1858,  just  before  Mr.  Hyde  left,  the  Ohio  State  Conference  of  Congregational 
churches  and  ministers  was  entertained  by  the  church,  which  had  joined  the  Con- 
ference the  year  before. 

[Nathaniel  Alden  Hyde  was  born  in  Stafford,  Con  noetic  at,  Miiy  10,  1827.  He  Kniduated 
from  Yale  College  in  1847.  and  from  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  1S51 ;  preached  a  few 
months  in  Central  Village,  Connecticut,  in  1851-2,  and  in  the  Second  Church  of  RockvHle, 
Connecticut,  in  1852-3;  and  served  hs  assistant  secretary  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society  in 
New  York,  1854-6.  He  was  ordained  in  Columbus,  December  23,  1857.  On  leaving  Columbus 
he  preached  for  a  few  months  in  the  Seventh  Street  Church  in  Cincinnati,  during  their  jws- 
tor's  absence,  and  in  the  fall  of  1858  became  pastor  of  Plymouth  Congregationsl  Church  in 
Indianapolis.  At  the  end  of  ten  years  he  was  appointed  Superintendent  of  Home  Missions 
for  Indiana,  and  five  years  later  accepted  the  pastorate  of  Mayflower  Church  in  Indiannpolisi 
In  May,  1088,  he  resigned  his  active  duties,  and  was  made  pastor  emeritus.  He  has  pub- 
lished sundry  sermons,  memorials  and  papers  on  special  topics  ] 

The  next  settled  minister  was  Rev.  H.  B.  Elliott,  from  Stamford,  Connecticut, 
who  was  installed  November  7,  1858,  and  was  dismissed  in  AugUHt,  IStJO.  The 
church  grew  but  slowly  under  his  ministrations,  the  a<lditions  in  the  two  years 
numbering  only  ihirtyseven.  Financial  disasters  and  the  removal  of  some  lead- 
ing members,  coupled  with  a  general  business  depression,  seem  to  have  led  to  Mr. 
Elliott's  resignation,  which  was  tendered  in  May,  18(»0. 

A  call  was  extended  in  June  to  a  talented  young  minister,  Rev.  Kdward  P. 
Groodwin,  who  was  laboring  as  a  homo  missionary  in  Burke,  Vermont;  com- 
menced his  ministrations  here  in  October,  and  was  installed  in  Fcbruury,  1801. 
His  pastorate  lasted  over  seven  years,  until  his  dismission  by  council,  December 
24,  1867.  The  church  grew  steadily  under  his  leadership,  notwithstanding  the 
obloquy  it  encountered  as  an  antislavery  church  and  other  adverse  circumstances, 
Two  hundred  and  twentyfour  joined  it  during  the  seven  years,  125  of  them  on 
profession.  The  largest  additions  were  made  in  IHtXJ,  during  which  year 
seventyone  new  converts  were  received  into  the  church.  The  benevolent  con- 
tributions of  the  church  rose  handsomely,  having  nearly  doubled  in  18H3,  and 
more  than  doubled  in  1864.  Doctor  Goodwin's  pastorate  is  still  remembered  as 
a  very  successful  one.  The  church  reluctantly  consented  to  his  departure  to  a 
larger  field  of  usefulness  in  Chicago. 


.^3G  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

[Mr.  Goodwin  was  borne  in  Rome,  New  York  ;  graduated  in  Amherst  College  in  1856 
and  at  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  1859,  and  preached  as  a  home  mipsionary  in  Burke, 
Vermont,  for  about  a  year  and  a  half.  He  was  ordained  in  1859.  His  only  pastorates  have 
been  in  Columbus  and  in  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  Chicago.  Several  cif  his  ser- 
mons have  been  printed,  and  two  valuable  pamplets  — on  Supernatural  Healing,  and  a  Reply 
to  Mr.  Ingersoli  on  Thomas  Paine.] 

The  Jlev.  (ieorge  W.  Piiillips,  of  Haydonville,  Maf^sachuaetts,  succecilod 
Doctor  (ioodwin.  He  was  inslalled'Maj'  12,  18(>8,  and  resigned  September  24, 
1871.  Jle  was  dismissed  by  vote  of  the  church  without  theaction  of  a  council.  In 
his  three  years  of  service  the  church  received  137  additions,  with  a  net  increase 
of  about  seventy. 

[Georyre  W.  Phillips  was  born  at  Hubbardston,  Massachusetts,  and  received  his  college 
education  at  Amherst,  and  his  theological  training  at  Andover,  Massachusetts.  He  was 
ordained  in  1H<)4,  and  settled  as  a  minister  at  Haydenville,  Massachunetts.  From 
Columbus  he  went  to  Plymouth  Church  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  and  from  there  to  the 
church  in  Rutland,  Vermont,  in  188(5.] 

Before  Mr.  Phillips  lefY  a  growing  demand  for  more  room,  both  f(»r  the 
preaching  services  and  for  the  Suudayschool,  led  to  an  effort  atenlargement  of  the 
church.  This  was  j)rojected  in  the  summer  of  1870,  but  was  not  fully  carried  out 
until  1S72.  An  additional  strip  of  ground  west  of  the  church  was  purchased,  and 
a  large  commodious  building  put  up  on  the  rjear  of  the  new  lot,  cornering  on  the 
main  audienccroom.  The  lower  story  was  devoted  to  the  Sundayschool  and  to 
contercnce  meetings,  and  the  upper  part  was  used  for  social  rooms  and  the 
|)astor's  study.  By  the  transfer  of  the  Sundayschool  rooms  the  auditorium  was 
enlarged  to  occupy  the  whole  of  the  original  structure.  The  change  involved 
extensive  and  costly  improvements,  the  entire  expense  of  which  was  reported  by 
the  committee  in  charge  as  amounting  to  $22,000. 

After  Mr.  Phillips's  departure  the  pulpit  was  supplied  for  a  few  months, 
beginning  in  December,  1871,  b}^  Rev.  S.  M.  Merrill,  who  afterwards  became  the 
first  minister  of  the  High  Street  Congregational  Church,  formed  largely  by  mem- 
bers of  the  First  Church. 

In  the  summer  of  1872  the  hearts  of  the  people  were  turned  towards  the 
Rev.  R.  G.  Hutchins,  of  Brooklyn,  1^1  ow  York,  who  received  a  unanimous  call  to 
the  pastorate,  on  the  twentj'eighth  of  August.  Accepting  September  19,  he  imme- 
diately commenced  his  labors,  which  continued  for  nearly  ten  years.  Doctor 
Hutchins  was  an  eloquent  and  effective  preacher,  and  a  most  energetic  w^orkor. 
The  church  made  a  large  and  healthy  growth  under  his  ministrations,  both  in 
numbers  and  efficiency.  He  was  privileged  to  receive  384  members,  172  of  whom 
entered  on  profession.  The  largest  increase  was  during  his  first  year  of  service, 
being  fortyeight,  though  the  additions  by  profession  were  most  numerous  in  1876, 
when  forty  new  converts  were  admitted. 

In  January,  1882,  twentyfour  members  were  dismissed  to  assist  in  forming  the 
Eastwood  Church,  an  enterprise  which  had  grown  up  under  the  fostering  care  and 
generous  help  of  the  First  Church  and  its  pastor. 


Congregational.  837 

May  21,  1882,  to  the  great  surprise  and  deep  regret  of  his  people, 
Doctor  Uutchins  offered  his  resignation,  that  he  might  accept  a  call  to  Plymouth 
Church,  Minneapolis.  The  call  seemed  so  plainly  providential  that  the  church 
could  offer  no  valid  objection  to  the  dissolution  of  the  pastorate,  which  was 
consummated  by  advice  of  council,  and  took  effect  on  the  first  of  June. 

[Robert  G.  Hutchins  was  bom  at  West  Killingly,  Connecticut,  April  25, 1838;  {graduated 
at  Williams  College  in  1861,  and  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  1864.  He  was  ordained 
June  13,  1866,  over  the  Bedford  Congregational  Church,  Brooklyn,  New  York,  which  he 
served  until  his  removal  to  Columbus.  His  subsequent  settlements  have  been  at  Minneapo- 
lis, Minnesota,  Oberlin,  Ohio,  and  Los  Angeles,  California.] 

The  pulpit  was  supplied  during  the  summer  and  fall  of  1882  by  a  Kcv.  Dr. 
Walter  Q.  Scott,  President  of  the  Ohio  State  University,  while  the  church  was 
making  careful  search  for  a  successor  to  Doctor  Uutchins.  At  last  Rov.  Washing- 
ton Gladden,  of  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  was  invited  to  fill  the  vacancy.  lie 
accepted  the  call  November  15,  and  began  his  work  hero  December  24,  1882.  His 
installation  took  place  March  22,  1883. 

[Washington  Gladden  was  born  of  New  Kngland  stock,  at  Pott's  Grove,  Northumberland 
County.  Pennsylvania.  His  youth  was  spent  in  Owego,  New  York.  He  graduated  from  Wil- 
liams College  in  1859,  and  after  teaching  one  year  was  ordained  November  15, 1860,  as  pastor  of 
the  State  Street  Congregational  Church  in  Brooklyn,  New  York.  He  spent  one  year  with 
this  church,  five  years  with  the  church  in  Morrisania,  New  York;  five  years  with  that  in 
North  Adams,  Massachusetts ;  four  years  on  the  staff  of  Th^  Indfpendenl,  and  about  eight 
years  as  pastor  of  the  NorUi  Church  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts.  Doctor  Gladden  is  a 
vigorous  and  independent  thinker,  and  is  always  busy  with  his  pen.  Be8i<les  many  con- 
tributions to  our  current  periodical  literature  he  has  published  the  following  volumes: 
Plain  Thoughts  on  the  Art  of  Living;  From  the  Hub  to  the  Hudson  ;  Workingmen  and  Their 
Employers ;  Being  a  Christian  —  translated  into  the  Japanese  ;  The  Christian  Way  ;The  Lord's 
Prayer;  Things  Old  and  New ;  Young  Men  and  the  Churches  ;  Applied  Christianity  ;  Parish 
Problems;  Burning  Questions;  and  Who  Wrote  the  Bible?] 

Under  the  guidance  of  this  now  leader  the  church  has  gone  forward  with  fresh 
zeal,  growing  stronger  numerically,  financially  and  spiritually.  To  its  roll  540  new 
names  have  been  added  during  the  past  nine  years,  310  of  them  representing  per- 
sons joining  on  confession.  The  number  on  the  rolls  January  1,  1892,  is  S14,  of 
whom  about  700  are  resident  members.  Only  two  or  three  Congregational 
churclios  in  the  State  have  a  larger  membershij).  ^  The  financial  strength  of  the 
society  is  shown  in  its  liberal  support  of  the  public  services  of  the  sanctuary',  and 
in  the  recent  improvement  in  the  church  buil'Mng.  In  June,  1886,  it  was  voted  to 
improve  and  refurnish  the  church.  This  movement  led  to  a  thorough  remodeling 
of  the  audienceroom.  A  recess  for  the  pulpit  and  choir  was  built  in  the  space 
west  of  the  church  ;  an  entire  new  stone  front  was  constructed,  the  gift  of  a  single 
member;  the  roof  was  opened  and  the  ceiling  lighted  from  above;  large  windows 
of  cathedral  glass  were  set  in  the  north  and  south  ends;  a  rising  floor  was  laid, 
and  the  whole  interior  was  reseated  amphitheatrically  and  decorated  anew.  The 
entire  cost  of  this  improvement,  including  organ,  carpets  and  furniture,  with  pav- 


*>  *  I 


838  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

ing,  was  about  834,000.  The  old  auditorium  was  vacated  in  September,  1886,  and 
the  Sabbath  services  were  held  during  the  fall  and  winter  in  the  Grand  Opera 
House  until  its  destruirtion  by  fire,  when  the  cluirch  accepted  the  generous  invita- 
tion of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  to  unite  with  them  in  joint  services  in 
their  house  of  worship.  The  new  audienceroom  was  first  occupied  on  Easter  Sun- 
day, 1887,  and  the  completed  church  was  redcdicated  December  17,  1887,  ^vq  years 
after  the  commencement  of  Doctor  Gladden's  labors  in  Columbus. 

The  development  of  the  Christian  activities  of  the  church  is  no  less  gratifying 
than  its  material  prosperity  and  its  numerical  strength.  The  midweek  service 
and  the  Sundayscliool  are  well  sustained  and  the  church  has  reaci.ed  out  vig- 
orously to  help  those  destitute  of  spiritual  privileges.  In  February,  1889,  the  pas- 
tor called  upon  the  members  to  organize  a  new  Sundayschool  for  persons  not  con- 
nected with  any  other  school.  The  people  responded  nobly.  The  district  contig- 
uous to  the  church  was  thoroughly  canvassed  by  forty  volunteers  who  went  forth, 
two  by  two,  into  all  the  alleys  and  tenements  between  Fourth  Street  and  the  river, 
and  between  Broad  Street  and  the  Union  Station.  The  work  of  canvassing  was 
completed  in  one  week  and  on  Sunday  afternoon,  March  17,  the  school  was 
opened  with  an  attendance  of  199  and  a  full  corj)8  of  officers  and  teachers,  none  of 
whom  were  engaged  in  the  morning  school.  So  crowded  did  this  Bethel  school 
soon  become  that  more  room  was  imperatively  demanded.  This  want  was  sup- 
plied the  following  year  by  the  construction  of  a  gallery  with  classrooms  on  the 
north  and  east  sides  of  the  chapel. 

In  November,  1888,  the  church  and  society  voted  to  employ  an  assistant  pas- 
tor so  soon  as  a  suitable  person  could  be  found.  Rev.  Henry  Stauffer  came  at  the 
com])letion  of  his  studies  in  Yale  Divinity  School,  and  took  up  the  work  in  May, 
1889.  The  next  month  twentyono  members  were  dismissed  to  form  the  Maj'flower 
Church.  Mr.  Staufter  continued  to  act  as  assistant  pastor  until  the  fall  of  1890. 
The  assistant  in  1891  was  Rev.  William  B.  Marsh. 

The  officers  of  the  church  for  1892  are  Rev.  Washington  Gladden,  D.  D.,  ]»astor; 
F.  C.  Eaton,  B.  D.  Hills,  O.  A.  B.  Senter,  P.  V.  Burington,  John  W.  E.still  and 
Eichard  A.  Hayes,  deacons ;  and  R.  H.  Bratton,  clerk  and  treasurer.  The  officers 
of  the  society  are  J.  S.  Morton,  W.  A.  Mahony,  E.  A.  Cole,  E.  B.  Robbins  and  G. 
W.  Bright,  trustees;  B.  1).  Hills,  clerk,  and  W.  H.Martin,  treasurer.  Abram 
Brown  is  superintendent  of  the  regular  Sundayschool  and  Walter  A.  Mahony  of 
the  Bethel  school.  Twentysix  different  persons  have  acted  as  trustees  and  forty 
have  held  the  office  of  deacon.'* 

The  following  persons  have  entered  the  ministry  from  the  membership  of  this 
church  :  1.  Warren  Jenkins,  born  in  Lee,  Massachusetts,  A|)ril  12,  1804.  Licensed 
to  preach,  1855.  Ordained  by  Presbytery  September  5,  1855.  Preached  at  Hang- 
ing Rock  and  Genoa,  Ohio.  Was  chaplain  in  the  Ohio  Penitentiary.  Died  May 
11,  1866.  2.  James  Lawrence  Patton,  born  in  Warren  County,  Ohio,  October  14, 
1827.  Graduated  from  Oberl in  College  1859,  Oberlin  Seminary  1862.  Ordaineci 
at  Clarksfield,  Ohio,  October,  1862.  Preached  at  Clarksfield  and  Bronson,  1862-4. 
In  the  United  States  Army,  1864-5.  Chaplain  Fifth  United  States  Colored  Troops. 
Pastor   at   Greenville,    Michigan,   from    1866    until    hi»    death,    April    19,    1890. 


i 


Congregational.  839 

3.  Josinh  H.  Jenkins,  born  in  Buffalo,  Now  York,  February  23,  1836.     Graduated 
at  Miirictla  College,  1862,  Lane  Seminary,  1865.    Ordained  at  Lebanon,  Ohio,  1865. 
Preached  at  Lebanon,  Coolville,  Harmar  and  Toledo,  Ohio,  Leavenworth,  Kansas, 
Mount  Dora  and  Tangerine,  Florida,  Greenwich,  Ohio,  and  San  Bernardino,  Cali- 
fornia, where  he  is  now  settled.    4.  William  Holdon  Rice,  born  in  Painesviile,  Ohio, 
Januarj^   4,  1841.     Graduated,  Oberlin    College    1862,    Oberlin    Seminary   1865. 
Ordained  at  Geneseo,  IllinoiH,  November,  1869.    Preached  at  Brooklyn,  Ohio,  Mount 
Carroll,  Illinois,    Washington,  D.  C,   Vernon  and  Addison,  New  York.     Late  in 
1890  he  was  called  to  Benton  Harbor,   Michigan,    where  he  is  now  preaching.     5. 
Frank  D.  Kelse}',  born  in  New  Washington,  Clark  County,  Indiana,  February  15, 
1849.     Graduated  at  Marietta  College  1870,  Andover  Seminary  1874.     Ordained  at 
Marblehead,  Massachusetts*,  July  7,  1874.     Preached  at  Marblehead  and  Attleboro 
Falls,  Massachusetts,   New  Gloucester,  Maine,  and  Helena,  Montana,  his  present 
settlement.     6.  D.  F.  Harris,  born  at  Medina,  New  York,  October  18, 1851.    Studied 
theology  in  Chicago  Seminary  and  at  Oberlin,  graduating  in  1876.     Ordained  pas- 
tor of  the  Columbia  Church,  in  Cincinnati,  December  13,  1876.     Pastor  of  the  Dan- 
forth  Church  in  Syracuse,  New  York,   1884-7.     Has   been  settled  since  October, 
1887,  in  Harmar,  Ohio.     Has  published   a  book  entitled  **  Calvinism  Contrary  to 
God's  Word  and  Man's  Moral  Nature."     7.  Reuben  A.  Beard,  born  in  Marysville, 
Ohio,  August  30,  1851.    Graduated  at  Oberlin  Seminary  in  1879,    Ordained  Septem- 
ber 10,  1879,  at  Brainerd,  Minnesota.     Preached  there  untilJunuary  1,  1883,  then 
at  Fargo,  North  Dakota,  until  August  1,  1888.     Superintendent  of  Home  Missions 
in  Washington  for  three  years.     Became  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Spokane 
Falls,  Washington,  in  August,  1891,  but  resigned  about  six  months  later  on  account 
of  ill  health.     8.  Henry  Fay  Tyler,  born  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  November  26,  ^848. 
Graduated  at  Oberlin  Seminary  1880.     Ordained  at  Millville,  New  York,  October 
12,  1880.     Also  pastor  in    Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  and  Allegan,  Michigan.     His 
present  settlement  is  at  St.  Joseph,  Michigan.      9.    Edward  Duncan  Kelsey,   born 
at  Wheelersburg,  Ohio,  January   16,   1853.     Graduated   at   Marietta  College  1874, 
and  Yale  Seminary  1881.     Ordained  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  April  21,  1881. 
Preached  in   Almont,  Michigan  ;  was  assistant  pastor  of  Seventh   Presbyterian 
Church,  New  York  City,  and  was  pastor  at  Cutchogue,  New  York.     Returned  to 
Ohio  in  1889,  and   is   now   preaching  at  Prospect.     10.    William  I.  Chamberlain, 
born  in  Sharon,  Connecticut.     Graduated  at  Western  Reserve  College,  1859.     Was 
engaged  in  teaching  and  farming  until  1880.     Secretary  of  the  SUite  Board  of  Agri- 
culture, at  Columbus,  Ohio,  until  1886.     Elected  President  of  Iowa  State  Agricul- 
tural College  in  May,  1886,  and  held  that  position  until  November,  1890.    Ordained 
at  Coluntbus,  November  30,  1886.     Present  residence,   Hudson,  Ohio.     11.    Jesse 
Levi  Bright,  born  in  Westerville,  Ohio,  May  28,   1859.     Academical   education  at 
Oberlin,  and  theological   at   Yale  Divinity  School,  where  he  graduated  in    1890. 
Ordained  November  24,   1890,  as   pastor  of  the  South   Congregational  Church  of 
Columbus. 

The  church  is  also  represented  in  the  foreign  missionary  work  in  the  person 
of  Mrs.  Ament,  at  Pekin,  China.  Mary  Alice  Penfield  was  born  in  Oberlin,  Ohio, 
July  4, 1756,  and  graduated  from  Oberlin   College  in  1875.     Taught  two  years  in 


840  History  of  the  City  ok  Columbus. 

the    Ohio  Irmtitution   for  tho    Feeble    Minded.     Married   Hev.  William  S.  Anient, 
August  23,  1877,  and  sailed  sfKin  after  for  their  missionary  home  in  North  China. 

One  other  rnen»l»er  of  the  church  deser\'es  mention  here,  from  the  sjK*cial  rela- 
tion which  he  sustained  to  the  Congregational  churches  of  Ohio.  Lysander  Kelsey 
was  born  in  Vermont.  October  30,  1817.  Graduated  at  Middlebury  Collcij^e  in  1><4m, 
and  at  Lane  Theological  Seminary  in  1845.  Ordained  1846.  Preached  forsevcnil 
years  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  his  longest  settlement,  eight  years,  being  in  Wheelers- 
burg,  Ohio.  In  185IJ,  he  became  agent  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
for  Southern  and  Western  Ohio,  and  later  for  the  whole  State  and  part  of  Indi- 
ana, serving  in  this  capacity  nearly  eighteen  years.  Was  Reirister  of  the  General 
Association  of  Ohio  1866-71.  Served  the  churches  of  Eansom  and  Praltville, 
Michigan,  1871^  and  1880;  Majibee  and  Raisinviile  1881-3;  Augusta  1884:  and 
Plain,  Ohio,  1885.  In  1886  he  removed  to  Oreg(»n,  where  he  preached  to  the 
church  at  Beaverton  one  year,  and  later  to  Mount  Zion  Church  in  Portland.  Hi> 
devoted  an<l  useful  life  came  to  its  close  in  Portland,  May  17,  1889.  Uis  burial 
took  place  a  few  days  later  in  Columbus,  Ohio. 

Plymouth  Church. — On  January  18,  1872,  eleven  persons,  mostly  members  of 
tho  First  Congregational  Church,  met  at  the  salesroom  of  Charles  H.  Walker,  144 
South  High  Street,  and  took  the  first  steps  toward  forming  another  church  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  city.  At  a  second  meeting  a  month  later,  a  committee  of 
ways  and  means  was  appointed,  and  also  one  on  the  location  and  erection  of  a 
church  building.  On  tho  last  day  of  February  at  the  residence  of  Mr.  David 
Price,  791  IJorth  High  Street,  fifteen  persons  signed  a  paper  agreeing  to  withdraw 
immediately  from  the  First  Church.  They  received  letters  for  that  purpose,  with 
others,  on  the  sixth  of  March.  Tho  new  organization  was  effoctA>d  March  9,  1872, 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Price,  where,  on  the  proposition  of  Rev.  LysantJer  Kelsey, 
thirtysix  persons  (all  but  eight  from  the  First  Church)  covenanted  together  to 
form  a  church  under  the  name  of  the  High  Street  Congregational  Church,  adopt- 
ing a  constitution  and  appointing  a  committee  to  prepare  articles  of  faith  and  a 
church  manual.  Edwin  C.  Beach  was  elected  clerk  and  David  Price,  S.  E.  Samuel 
and  W.  A.  Hershiser  wore  chosen  trustees.  One  week  later  the  organization  was 
perfected  by  the  adoption  of  the  creed  and  manual,  and  tho  election  of  W.  A. 
Hershiser,  treasurer,  and  Warren  Jenkins,  Charles  H,  Walker  and  Samuel  M. 
Hotchkiss,  deacons.  An  additional  deacon  was  soon  afterwards  chosen,  viz.,  Luntan 
P.  Rose.  The  first  prayer  and  conference  meeting  was  held  at  Mr.  Price's,  March 
27,  at  which  time  it  was  voted  to  employ  Rev.  S.  M.  Merrill  as  pastor  for  one  year. 
The  now  church  worshiped  temporarily  in  the  Baptist  chapel  on  Russell  Street, 
but  proceeded  with  marvelous  energy  to  erect  a  temporary  chapel  of  its  own  on 
High  Street,  near  the  lot  purchased  for  the  church.  This  chapel  was  completed 
in  time  for  the  first  communion  services  on  the  first  Sabbath  in  May. 

Early  in  May  tho  enterprising   little  church   adopted  plans  for  its  house  of 
worship  on  a  liberal  scale  and  wont  forward  with  enthusiasm  and  energy  to  secure 
its  erection.     The  cornerstone  was  laid  September  9,  1872,  and  the  building  so  far 
advance  that  tho  first  service  was  held  in  tho  basement  Decomiier  25.     This  build- 
ing entorprise  taxed  the  financial  strength  of  the  little  band  very  heavily  and 


Congregational.  841 

probably  retarded  its  growth.  The  additions  undpr  the  first  pastor  wore  very 
few  and  he  resigned  on  the  ninth  of  Octoher.  The  church  then  made  a  bold  effort 
to  secure  a  minister  equal  to  the  demands  of  their  work  and  of  the  possibilities  of 
their  situation.  They  reasoned  that  the  growing  population  in  that  section  of  the 
city  needed  a  vigorous  church  and  an  able  minister,  and  so  they  were  ready  to 
devise  libernl  things,  even  beyond  their  means.  Rev.  A.  Hastings  Ross  was  unan- 
imously called  to  the  pastorate  and  commenced  his  labors  January  26,  1873,  hav- 
ing preached  the  first  sermon  in  the  new  church  the  previous  month.  Mr.  Rosh 
was  installed  Juno  19,1873.  But  the  growth  of  the  church  was  still  small,  the 
financial  burden  was  exceedingly  heavy,  and  after  two  years  service  the  pastor 
resigned,  being  dismissed  Jaunary  25,  1875. 

[A.  Hastings  Ross  was  l)ornin  Winchc»ndon.  Massachusetts,  April  18.  1831.  Ciraduated 
from  Oberlin  College  in  1857,  and  from  Andover  Seminary  in  1800.  Was  ordained  in  lH(il, 
and  settled  first  at  Boylston,  Massachusetts,  1861-6;  second  at  Springfield,  Ohio,  1866-73; 
third  Columbus,  Ohio,  1873-5;  fourth  at  Port  Huron,  Michigan,  1876  to  the  present  time. 
Has  been  lecturer  on  Church  Polity  in  Oberlin  Seminary  since  1872.  He  has  published  :  1, 
The  Church  of  God ;  A  Catechism  ;  2,  A  Pocket  Manual  of  Congregationalism;  3.  Sermons 
for  Children  ;  4,  The  Chureh  Kingdom  ;  5,  Lectures  on  Congregationalism  ;  and  some  twenty 
articles  in  difierent  Congregational  reviews.] 

Quite  discouraged,  and  feeling  hardly  equal  to  the  bunden  they  were  bearing, 
the  church,  afler  Mr.  Ross's  resigTiation,  discussed  with  much  seriousness  a  plan 
for  uniting  with  the  Iloge  Presbyterian  Church  occupying  the  same  part  of  the 
city,  but  as  neither  organization  was  willing  to  be  absorbed  by  the  other,  the  pro- 
ject soon  fell  through.  On  April  7,  1875,  it  was  voted  to  engai^e  Kev.  H.  C.  Has- 
kell for  one  year,  and  the  engagement  was  renewed  at  the  annual  meeting  a  year 
later.  During  the  month  of  March,  1870,  a  scries  of  meetings  was  held  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Third  Avenue  Methodist  Ej)iscopal  Church  and  Neil  Chapel,  con- 
ducted by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frame,  two  Quaker  or  Friends  evangelists.  These  meelings 
brought  over  forty  into  the  (church  by  profession,  this  being  the  first  considerable 
^addition  in  its  history  and  making  the  whole  number  of  its  members  102. 

[Rev.  Henry  C.  Haskell  was  born  in  Anson,  Massachusetts,  December  28,  18:>8.  Gradu- 
ated from  Williams  College  and  Andover  Seminary.  Received  ordination  in  1862,  and  was  a 
missionary  in  Turkey  1862-72.  Preached  in  Huntington,  Ohio.  1873;  Columbus,  Ohio* 
1875-7  ;  Nortli  Amherst,  Ohio,  1877-80;  Harmar,  Ohio.  1881-6;  and  returned  to  missionary 
work  in  1887.     He  is  now  living  at  i^amokov,  Bulgaria.] 

In  1877  the  church  was  still  wrestling  with  the  financial  problem.  A  few  of 
the  ladies  took  up  the  needed  work  and  their  energy  and  perseverance  were 
crowned  with  success.  In  January,  1878,  it  was  reported  that  the  heavy  debt  of 
over  $11,000  was  provided  for.  Meanwhile  Rev.  E.  K.  Squier  had  been  called 
to  the  pastorate  in  Aucrust,  1877,  and  served  the  church  until  the  end  of  Jul}',  1879. 
No  material  advancement  was  made  during  this  period.  During  the  following 
November  a  call  was  voted  to  Rev.  Sanfurd  MartjMi,  who  commenced  his  labors 
December  3,  but  resigned  the  following  summer,  after  serving  seven  months. 


842  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

[Sanford  Smith  Martyn  was  born  in  Haverhill,  Massarhusette,  July  28, 1839.  Graduated  at 
Yale  College  in  lS<;r>  and  at  Yale  Seminary  in  1868.  Ordained  in  isfiS  at  Newington.  Con- 
necticut, where  he  preached  two  years.  1/ater  settlements:  New  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
1870-2;  Nashua,  New  Hampshire,  1874-5;  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  187r);  Peachani,  Vermont, 
18«2-();  Windsor,  Vermont,  1SS7  to  the  present  time.] 

The  next  ]>astor  was  IJov.  F.  W.  Guneaulus,  called  away  from  a  new  enter- 
prise in  another  part  of  the  city.  Uo  began  his  work  with  this  church  August  1, 
1880,  and  was  installed  September  15.  Under  his  vigorous  and  attractive  preach- 
ing the  churcli  was  greatly  encouraged  and  was  infused  with  new  activity.  With 
the  oi)ening  of  1881  the  trustees  were  empowered  to  finish  and  furnish  the  church 
building.  The  work  was  jjushed  with  energy;  a  loan  of  seven  thousand  dol- 
lars was  authorized  ;  and  in  October  the  completed  church  was  <lodicated.  Largo 
congregations  attended  the  services  of  the  talented  preacher  during  this  and  the 
following  year;  considerable  accessions  were  gained  to  the  membership  and  every- 
thing promised  a  successful  and  fruitful  pastorate,  when,  in  the  fall  of  1882, 
the  pastor's  health  gave  way  entirely  and  he  was  compelled  to  ask  a  release 
from  his  charge.  His  request  was  presented  January  10, 1883,  asking  for  a  council 
for  his  dismission.  A  week  later  it  was  reported  to  the  church  that  Mr.  Gunsaulu.s 
was  too  sick  even  to  attend  a  council,  and  his  resignation  was  unanimously 
accepted  with  the  most  tender  expressions  of  sympathy  for  his  shattered  condition 
and  the  deej)est  regret  at  the  termination  of  their  union.  The  pastor's  communicii- 
tion,  on  t!ie  other  hand,  expressed  the  warmest  affection  for  his  peoj»le  and  com- 
mended in  the  highest  terms  the  heroism  and  devotion  of  the  men  and  the 
unexampled  effort  and  conspicuous  self-sacrifice  of  the  women. 

[Frank  \V.  Gunsaulus  was  born  at  Chesterville,  Morrow  County,  Ohio,  January  1,  1856. 
Received  his  collegiate  education  at  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  Delaware.  His  theologi- 
cal education  was  private.  Preached  for  Methodist  churches  in  Grove  City,  Worthington  and 
Chillicothe,  Ohio.  Came  to  Columbus  in  1870  and  was  ordained  in  1880.  His  later  settlements 
have  been  in  Newton ville,  Massachusetts,  1883  4,  and  Baltimore,  Maryland,  1885-G.  Was 
installed  pastor  of  Plymouth  Church,  Chicago,  June  27,  1887.  Has  sent  to  the  press: 
Metamorphoses  of  a  Creed,  November  at  Eastwood,  The  Transfiguration  of  Christ,  Monk 
and  Knight,  and  Phidias  and  other  Poems.] 

Kev.  Edward  Anderson,  then  ministering  to  a  Presbyterian  church  in  Toledo, 
next  roceive<l  a  call,  in  May,  1883,  and  assumed  his  duties  September  1.  He 
resigtietl  November  1,  1884.  During  his  short  stay  the  inembershij)  was  consider- 
ably increased,  mostly,  however,  by  letter.  ** 

[Kdward  Anderson  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  November  19,  lS:r,.  His 
academic  and  theological  instruction  was  received  privately  at  home.  Ordaine*!  in  1S.VS. 
During  the  war  was  chaplain  of  the  Thirtyseventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry  ;  in  command 
of  the  Northern  Military  District  of  Indiana;  Colonel  of  the  Twelfth  Indiana  Cavalry,  and  iu 
command  of  a  cavalry  brigade.  Since  the  war  he  has  preached  to  Congregational  Chunlifs 
in  East  Cleveland,  Ohio,  18r>r>-7 ;  Ashtabula,  Ohio,  18H8-9;  Jamestown,  New  York.  IS7(V2: 
OIney,  Illinois,  187IJ;  Quincy,  Illinois,  1874-8n;  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  1884-8.  He  is  dow 
(April,  181K))  settled  at  Dan ielson ville,  Connecticut.] 


Congregational.  843 

In  April,  1885,  a  call  was  voted  unanimously  to  Caspar  W.  Hiatt,  then  a 
student  in  Obcrlin  Seminary,  a  native  of  Westfield,  Indiana,  and  a  graduate  of 
Wheaton  College,  Illinois.  He  began  bis  labors  July  1,  and  was  ordained  pastor 
September  10.  He  was  eminently  successful  in  building  up  the  church.  At  the 
annual  meeting  in  April,  1886,  a  net  increase  of  fortysix  in  the  membership  was 
reported  ;  and  each  succeeding  year  witnessed  numerous  additions.  Not  far  from 
180  were  added  to  the  church  by  profession  during  the  four  years  of  this  pastor- 
ate, nearly  or  quite  trebling  the  active  membership.  Mr.  Hiatt  resigned  in  April, 
1889,  to  become  District  Secretary  of  the  American  Missionary  Association.  The 
council  which  approved  his  dismission  testified  to  his  zeal  and  efficiency  in  his 
work  and  the  abundant  fruilfulness  of  his  labors.  Mr.  Hiait  has  been  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  since  April  3,  1892. 

The  vacanc}'  in  the  pastorate  was  soon  filled  by  the  choice  of  Mr.  Alexander 
Milne,  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  Divinity  School,  who  was 
ordained  and  installed  June  19,  1889. 

The  present  number  of  members  is  398.  Ten  of  the  original  members  are  still 
living  in  Columbus  and  connected  with  this  church,  which  now  sustains  a  large 
and  flourishing  Sundayschool  in  the  home  church  and  mans  another  in  the  chapel 
on  Goodale  Street.  Two  ministers  have  gone  out  from  the  church,  viz.,  Revs. 
Luman  P.  Eose  and  William  R.  M.  Denny.  Mr.  Rose  was  ordained  in  August, 
1874,  and  was  pastor  in  Orland,  Indiana,  for  four  years.  He  was  Superintendent 
of  Home  Missions  for  ten  years,  beginning  in  1878,  having  his  headquarters  in 
Indianapolis.  He  now  resides  in  Hastings,  Nebraska.  Mr.  Denny  was  ordained 
July  15,  1887.  He  has  been  engaged  in  missionary  work  as  an  agent  of  the 
American  Bible  Society.  Another  member  of  this  church,  Miss  Anna  B.  Mulligan, 
was  married  July  1,  1890,  to  Rev.  William  II.  Hannum,  a  Presbyterian  minister, 
who  is  a  graduate  of  the  Ohio  State  University.  They  have  gone  to  Kolapur, 
India,  as  foreign  missionaries. 

Twentythrce  gentlemen  have  held  the  office  of  trustee,  and  eighteen  have 
served  as  deacons.  The  present  officers  are.  Rev.  A.  Milne,  pastor;  W.  A.  Hers- 
hiser,  E.  C.  Beach,  J.  W.  Bradley  and  L.  N.  Conard,  deacons;  T.  Jeffreys,  W.  A 
Ilershiser,  J.  Q.  Judkins,  E.  J.  Converse,  J.  N.  McDowell  and  Henry  DierdorfT, 
trustees;  David  Singleton,  clerk,  and  J.  R.  Sh rum,  treasurer.  Mr.  F.  W.  Wallis 
is  superintendent  of  the  Sundayschool.  In  the  spring  of  1891  the  church  voted  to 
change  its  name  and  its  location.  Henceforth  it  will  be  known  as  Plymouth 
Church.  The  property  on  High  Street  was  sold  and  a  lot  purchased  on  the  south 
side  of  West  Fourth  Avenue.  A  brick  chapel  was  commenced  during  the  sum- 
mer, to  be  completed  before  the  end  of  the  year.  This  will  grow  into  a  large, 
commodious  church,  as  the  needs  of  the  congregation  may  require.  The  last  ser- 
vice in  the  old  church  was  held  October  11,  and  the  first  in  the  new  chapel, 
November  22.     The  formal  dedication  took  ])lace  January  24,  1892. 

Third  Church.  —  This  church  was  organized  in  the  summer  of  1872,  with 
Joseph  J.  Davis  as  deacon,  William  Davis  as  clerk,  and  J.  J.  Davis,  F.  C.  Ses- 
sions and  J.  Bardtnore  as  trustees.  It  grew  out  of  a  union  Sundayschool 
which  began  June  3,  186(),  in  the  shoj)s  of  the  Piqua  railway.      In  the  spring 


844  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

of  1807,  a  frame  chapel  was  j)ut  up  on  the  back  part  of  a  lot  on  West  Goodale 
Street,  which  was  given  by  Robert  Neil.  The  building  was  ready  for  U8e  in 
July  and  was  dedicated  in  September,  the  dedicatory  sermon  being  preached  by 
Uev.  E.  P.  Goodwill.  Preaching  services  were  held  in  it  whenever  a  minister 
could  be  secured.  At  first  the  undertaking  was  actually  a  union  eifort,  but  in  a 
few  years  it  came  to  be  recognized  as  a  Congregational  enterprise.  As  the 
poj)uIation  in  that  quarter  of  the  city  increased,  there  seemed  to  be  a  call  for  reg- 
ular preaching  and  the  establishment  of  another  church,  which  w^as  effected  in 
the  summer  of  1872,  largely  through  the  efforts  of  Rev.  Lysander  Kelsey  and  hiji 
son,  Frank  1).  Kelsey,  then  preparing  for  the  ministry. 

The  enterj)rise  proved  to  be  premature,  and  the  church  was  at  no  time  very 
largo;  the  only  published  report  of  its  membership  in  the  denominational  statis- 
tics showing  only  nine,  January  1,  1873.  Its  chance  for  growth  and  strength 
depended  on  large  manufacturing  establishments  in  the  neighborhood,  and  wdicn 
these  were  suspetided  most  of  the  members  moved  away.  The  church  wa.s 
not,  however,  formally  disbanded  until  the  summer  of  1887,  when  Deacon  Davis 
voted  himself  a  letter  of  dismission  to  the  High  Street  Congregational  Church,  of 
which  he  had  previously  been  a  member.  The  Sundayschool  has  been  kept  up, 
year  in  and  year  out,  to  the  jiresent  time  and  is  in  a  flourishing  condition,  with  a 
regular  attendance  I'caching  nearly  one  hundred.  Mr.  Davis  has  been  its  super, 
intendent  for  over  twentj^one  years.  Most  of  the  teachers  come  from  the  High 
Street  Church.  The  pro|»erty  has  recently  been  put  into  the  hands  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church  in  trust. 

Xnrf/i  Colufhhfts  (Jhiirrh. —  The  Congregaiioiuil  Church  of  North  Columbus  hud 
its  beginning  in  187()  or  1S71,  in  a  little  Sundayschool  organized  and  led  by  Rev. 
Joseph  Harris,  a  local  preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  This  Sunday- 
school  was  hehl  first  in  a  public  school  building.  After  a  time  the  school  author- 
ities declined  to  allow  the  further  use  of  the  sclioolhouse  and  steps  were 
immediately  taken  to  erect  a  church.  As  first  projected  the  church  wouhl  have 
been  Methodist,  but  the  presiding  elder  refused  his  consent  to  the  location  of  a 
new  chui"ch  so  near  the  one  at  Clintonville.  Desirous  of  church  accommodations 
nearer  to  their  homes,  the  8Uj)porter8  of  the  school  sought  other  help,  which  was 
promised  them  by  friends  in  the  First  Congregational  Church.  Thus  encouraged, 
they  met  on  the  tenth  of  December,  1874,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  John  Sherman; 
made  Rev.  Mr.  Harris  chairman,  and  J,  J.  Fogle  secretary;  adopted  the  name  of 
the  Congregatiotial  Church  of  North  Columbus;  and  appointed  seven  trustees,  viz. , 
Joseph  Harris,  John  J.  Fogle,  John  Sherman,  Joseph  Guitner,  James  McClintock, 
II.  Milton  Grimm  and  Richard  Brown,  Senior. 

A  building  committee  of  five  gentlemen  was  also  appointed.  A  lot  \vas  pur- 
chased on  High  Street  for  the  church  building  and  the  cornerstone  was  laid 
December  13,  1874.  The  exercises  were,  a  prayer  by  Professor  John  M.  Ellis,  of 
Oberlin;  a  historical  sketch  by  S.  H.  Vanderhcef,  and  addresses  by  Revs.  R.  (i. 
Ilutchins,  A.  H.  Ross  and  D.  Horlocker.  The  singing  was  b}'  the  Sundayschool, 
which  then  had  an  enrollment  of  165.  The  church  was  dedicated  June  13,  1S75, 
with    a   sermon  by  Rev.   R.  G.  Hutchins   and   a  prayer  by  Rev.  C.  N.  Ransom. 


Congregational.  845 

About  a  month  later  a  church  of  twentyfour  members  was  formally  recognized  by 
a  council  of  Congregational  churches,  with  Rev.  Joseph  Harris  as  actinir  pastor. 
The  sermon  was  preached  by  Kev.  Samuel  Wolcott,  D.  D.,  of  Cleveland,  and  the 
prayer  of  recognition  and  consecration  was  offered  by  Rev.  R.  G.  Hutchins  of  the 
First  Congregational  Church.  On  the  fifteenth  of  September  the  organization  was 
perfected  by  the  election  of  Watson  C.  Tripp  and  Tilman  Grimm  as  deacons,  and 
Mrs.  M.  E.  Harris,  Mrs.  W.  C.  Tripp  and  Mrs.  J.  Emmel  as  deaconesses. 

Some  thirty  members  were  added  by  profession  in  January  and  February, 
1877,  and  the  prospects  seemed  good  for  a  flourishing  and  useful  church.  In 
August,  1878,  the  pastor  tendered  his  resignation,  which  was  unanimously 
declined!  Mr.  Harris,  however,  did  not  deem  it  wise  to  continue  his  services,  and 
preached  his  farewell  sermon  the  first  Sabbath  in  October.  Rev.  John  Jones,  was 
next  invited  to  act  as  pastor  and  labored  for  about  a  year  and  a  half,  beginning 
December  1,  1878.  After  him  a  Rev.  Mr.  Sands  preached  for  a  while,  beginning 
September  1,  1880;  and  in  the  latter  part  of  April,  1881,  the  church  placed  itself 
under  the  ])astoral  care  of  Rev.  F.  W.  (lunsaulus,  the  nearest  congregational 
minister.  In  September  of  the  same  year.  Rev.  I.  W.  Metcalf  accepted  the  charge 
of  the  church,  preaching  there  Sunday  evenings  for  several  months. 

In  the  fall  of  1881  a  new  Methodist  society  was  organized  on  the  same  limited 
field,  still  further  weakening  the  little  church,  which  had  been  for  some  time  in  a 
languishing  condition.  But  a  few  faithful  ones  persevered,  in  spite  of  all  dis- 
couragements, and  called  Rev.  George  S.  J.  Browne,  of  Westervillc,  who  began 
his  ministrations  December  1,  1882.  Mr.  Browne  was  followed  by  Rev.  Erastus 
H.  Scott,  who  served  as  pastor  and  superintendent  of  the  Sundaysi-hool  from 
May,  1883,  to  March,  1887,  when  he  removed  to  Chicago.  Encouraged  by  the 
promise  of  liberal  aid  from  the  First  Con.t^regational  Church  the  litlle  band  next 
called  Rev.  Homer  Thrall,  who  came  to  the  church  in  November,  1S87,  returning 
to  Ohio,  from  Garden  Cit}*,  Kansas.  During  his  brief  pastorate  of  fifteen  months 
fifteen  were  added  to  the  church  by  profession,  and  its  strength  was  decidedly 
increased. 

On  accepting  his  resignation  the  church,  with  unanimous  consent,  called 
Mr.  James  Porter  Milligan,  a  graduate  of  the  Ohio  State  University  and  a  student 
in  the  Oberlin  Theological  Seminary.  Rev.  H.  L.  Whitehead,  a  resident 
Methodist  preacher,  officiated  as  minister  until  the  pastorelect  completed  his 
studies.  Mr.  Milligan  was  well  and  favorably  known  to  the  people,  having 
preached  to  them  frequently  during  his  summer  vacations.  He  began  his  labors 
June  1,  1889,  under  most  favorable  auspices  and  was  ordained  on  the  twentythird 
of  July.  With  the  new  pastor  the  church  took  on  fresh  growth.  The  attendance 
at  the  Sundayschool  and  the  preaching  services  increased  greatly,  and  evident 
signs  of  coming  prosperity  became  apparent.  The  officers  chosen  at  the  last 
annual  meeting  were  Richard  T.  Brown,  Senior,  and  J.  W.  Brewer,  deacons; 
Miss  May  Grimm,  clerk  ;  J.  H.  Davis,  treasurer,  and  L.  H.  Bulkeley,  R.  T.  Brown, 
Senior,  J.  H.  Davis,  Peter  Ramlow  and  Milton  W.  Strait,  trustees.  Mr.  J.  H.  Davis 
is  superintendent  of  the  Sundayschool. 


840  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

The  resident  momberHliip  of  this  church  at  the  close  of  1H91  wa8  ninetyei^ht. 
Thoui^h  coinpanitively  few  in  number  the}'  are  active  and  zealous,  courageous  and 
hopeful,  and  are  laying  wise  and  liberal  plans  for  future  work.  They  have  lately 
purchased  the  premises  just  north  of  the  church,  and  propose  to  use  them  as  a 
parish  house.  Two  rooms  in  the  house  have  been  furnished  free  of  rent  to  the 
Norvvoo<i  Club,  lately  organized  in  North  Columbus  for  literarj'  and  social  pur- 
poses.    Some  twenty  five  young  men  have  become  active  members  of  the  club. 

Efisfwooil  Cliurrh. — Eastwood  Chapel,  a  small  brick  structure  on  Twentyfirst 
Street,  was  commenced  in  the  summer  of  1876,  on  land  given  by  Mr.  P.  V.  N. 
Myers,  a  large  holder  of  real  estate  in  that  neighborhood,  and  a  liberal  giver  to 
the  cost  of  the  building.  There  were  but  few  houses  in  the  immediate  vicinity, 
some  persons  sa}'  only  five  ;  but  the  builders  had  sufficient  faith  and  foresight  to 
assure  them  that  the  city  would  soon  grow  rapidly  in  that  direction ;  moreover, 
they  knew  that  a  church  would  add  to  the  value  of  the  homes  around  it. 

The  completed  chapel  was  dedicated  on  Sunday  afternoon,  October  15,  1876, 
Ilev.  R.  (t.  Hutch  ins  preaching  an  appropriate  sermon  and  Rev.  David  C.  Perry 
offering  the  dedicatory  prayer.  The  next  Sabbath,  October  22,  a  Sundayschool 
was  organized  with  Mr.  J.  M.  Tibbetts  as  superintendent,  Mr.  J.  S.  Batterson  as  leader 
of  the  singing  and  Miss  Mary  K.  Foos  as  organist.  This  was  a  union  school,  hav- 
among  its  teachers  Baptists,  Methodists,  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists, 
working  harmoniously  together.  It  was  also  independent  and  selfsupporting, 
alwaj's  paying  its  own  expenses,  without  being  in  any  sense  a  mission  school. 
So  well  was  it  sustained  and  so  fully  was  it  attended,  that  an  addition  was  built 
in  1877  for  the  infantclass  room,  the  expense  of  which  was  paid  mostly  by  mem- 
bers of  the  school.  Mr.  Tibbetts  was  followed  in  the  superintendoncy  by  Messrs. 
G.  U.  Twiss,  A,  N.  Ozias  and  J.  H.  Brenneman,  successively.  A'single  incident 
during  the  administration  of  the  lastnamed  gentleman  will  show  the  persistency 
of  the  school.  As  many  of  the  teachers  were  persons  employed  in  the  public 
schools,  there  was  frequently  a  lack  of  teachers  during  the  summer  vacation.  On 
one  occasion  there  was  not  a  single  teacher  present  and  the  only  officers  present 
were  the  superintendent  and  the  organist.  They  agreed  that  as  long  as  scholars 
came  they  would  hold  the  school,  and  so  they  did.  The  school  has  never  missed 
a  single  session. 

Preaching  services,  maintained  pretty  regularly  in  the  chapel,  were  con- 
ducted by  different  pastors  and  laymen  from  the  other  churches  in  the  city.  The 
fii'st  regular  stated  preacher  was  Rev.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus,  a  young  Methodist  minister 
from  Chillicotlie,  who  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  the  congregation  in  June, 
1879,  and  held  regular  services,  both  on  Sundays  and  in  a  midweek  prayer-meet- 
ing, for  about  a  year.  In  the  fall  of  1879  the  worshipers  enlarged  the  capacity 
of  the  chapel  by  building  a  large  addition  on  the  north  side,  fronting  on  Long 
Street.  The  business  affiiirs  of  the  congregation  were  managed  by  four  trustees, 
viz.,  Messrs.  D.  D.  Bolenbaugh,  J.  H.  Brenneman,  P.  J.  Lofland  and  G.  H.  Twiss, 
but  the  property  was  held  in  trust  by  the  trustees  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church. 


CONUREOATIONAL.  847 

For  more  than  a  year  after  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Gunsaulus,  no  rfgalar 
prcachiiii^  services  were  held,  although  ministers  residing  in  the  city  occasionally 
preached  in  the  chapel  and  the  Sundayschool  was  kept  up,  summer  and  winter,  with 
no  thought  or  desire  of  vacation.  In  Juno,  1881,  Mr.  Irving  W.  Metcalf,  a  senior 
in  the  Oberlin  Theological  Seminary,  vinited  Kastwood  and  preached  two  Sundays. 
An  agreement  was  then  made  that  on  the  com))letion  of  his  studies  he  should 
preach  and  j)orform  pastoral  work  among  the  people  with  a  view  to  forming  a 
church.  His  labors,  which  began  the  first  Sunday  in  September,  soon  developed 
a  readiness  for  a  church  organization.  About  sixty  y)ersons  attended  a  prelimin- 
ary meeting,  December  22,  1881,  at  which  several  committees  were  appointed  to 
report  a  constitution,  confession  of  faith  and  c«)venant,  all  of  which  were  adopted 
January  12,  1882. 

An  ecclesiastical  council  met  on  the  last  daj'  of  January,  1882,  at  which  the 
organization  of  the  church  was  approved  and  Mr.  Metcalf  was  ordained  as  a  min- 
ister and  installed  as  pastor.  The  church  began  its  organized  existence  with  forty- 
nine  members,  of  whom  twenty-four  came  from  the  First  Congregational  Church, 
five  from  other  churches  in  Columbus,  seventeen  with  letters  from  other  places, 
and  three  wMio  united  on  confession  of  failh.  The  first  officers  were:  Rev.  I.  W. 
Metcalf,  pastor  and  superintendent  of  the  Sun«layschool  ;  J.  H.  Brenneman,  G.  H. 
Twiss  and  E.  F.  Church,  deacons;  P.  J.  Lofland,  D.  D.  Bolenbaugh,  A.  B.  Adams, 
C.  Atcheson  and  S.  B.  Porter,  trustees;  J.  P.  Naylor,  secretary,  and  W.  D.  Park, 
treasurer.  The  church  had  a  steady,  healthy*  growth  from  the  start.  The  first 
large  increase  was  in  the  year  1886,  when  fortysix  were  admitted  on  profession  at 
the  March  communion,  as  the  result  of  union  meetings  with  the  Mount  Vernon 
Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Hildreth  Chapel,  Baptist.  The  net 
increase  reported  at  the  next  annual  meeting  was  sixtysix,  making  a  total  mem- 
bership in  October,  1886,  of  207.  This  gain  was  repeated  and  even  exceeded  in 
1887,  when  the  number  of  active  members  rose  to  282. 

Beginning  with  the  new  year,  1887,  a  lady  missionary  was  employed  to  work 
among  the  poorer  and  more  neglected  people  of  the  city,  which  benevolent  work 
is  still  kept  up  though  in  a  different  form.  In  November,  1887,  the  pastor  was 
temporarily  laid  aside  by  the  loss  of  his  voice,  but  he  returned  to  his  duties  in  full 
strength  after  a  winter  in  California.  His  place  was  supplied  by  Rev.  E.  C.  Bar- 
nard, then  residing  in  Oberlin. 

The  Christian  principle  and  spirit  of  the  church  were  tested  early  in  1889,  by 
the  application  for  admission  of  a  worthy  colored  gentleman  with  a  letter  from  an 
eastern  churcii.  Though  objection  was  made  to  his  reception  the  members  as  a  body 
stood  nobly  for  the  right  and  by  an  overwhelming  majority  voted  the  admission  of 
the  gentleman,  giving  no  countenance  to  the  spirit  of  caste. 

About  the  middle  of  March,  1889,  Mr.  Metcalf  resigned  his  charge,  to  take 
effect  the  first  Sabbath  in  the  following  May.  A  council  held  April  23,  appoved 
the  dissolution  of  the  pastoral  relation,  with  fitting  testimony  to  the  fidelity,  devo- 
tion and  efficiency  of  the  retiring  minister.  Mr.  Metcalf  had  been  on  the  ground 
for  over  seven  and  a  half  years,  during  which  time  375  had  joined  the  church,  307 
of  whom  were  members  when  he  lofl.     When  the  church  was  organized  in  1882, 


848  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

the  only  other  religious  organization  in  that  section  of  tlie  city  was  a  small 
Friends  society  with  a  meeting  house  on  Ohio  Avenue.  In  1889,  there  were  on 
the  same  territory  twelve  churches  of  seven  dilferent  denominations. 

[Irvinjr  Wight  Metcalf  was  horn  in  Bangor,  Maine,  November  27,  1855.  Graduated  at 
Oberlin  College  in  1S7S,  and  from  its  Theological  department  in  1881,  having  spent  one  year 
in  tlie  Seminary  at  Andover,  MaHsacliusetts.  Was  ordained  January  31,  1882.  In  188<»,  he 
]>reached  a  few  months  for  a  n(;w  organization  in  Dayton,  Ohio.  He  is  now  pastor  of  Hongh 
Avenue  Church,  in  Cleveland.] 

During  the  interval  between  Mr.  Metcalf  V  resignation  and  his  dei»arture  the 
church  had  agreed  upon  and  called  a  new  minister,  Rev.  Robert  S.  [-.iinlsay,  who 
entered  his  <lutieH  immediately,  and  was  installed  July  2,  1889.  Mr.  Lindsay  was 
born  in  Montrose,  Scotland,  Juno  12,  1852.  He  graduated  at  Oberlin  College  in 
ISSI,  and  from  its  Seminary  in  1S84.  .\fter  his  ordination  June  12,  1884,  he  min- 
istered to  the  Congregational  ('hurch  in  Ironton,  Ohio,  three  years,  and  to  that  in 
York,  Nel)raska,  two  years. 

Eastwood  Church  has  been  from  the  first  a  working  church,  giving  liberally 
to  the  benevolent  causes  supported  by  (^ongregationalists  generally.  It  has  been 
especially  forward  in  the  promotion  of  tenjperance  and  of  city  missions.  It  sub. 
tains  a  vigorous  Young  Peo|)lo's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  and  aSundayschool 
with  an  average  attendance  of  23(1  The  membership,  January  1,  1891,  wivs  322. 
The  officers  are  Rev.  R.  S.  Lindsay,  j)astor;  W.  D  Park,  W.  N.  Cott,  J.  C.  Dilley, 
(leorge  T.  Scott  and  James  II.  Parker,  deacons;  J.  P.  Carlisle,  D.  D.  Bolcnbaugh, 
V.  C.  Ward,  G.  II.  Twiss  and  B.  M.  Brooke,  trustees;  E.  C.  Wagner,  clerk;  and 
H.  A.  Williams,  treasurer.  C.  II.  Houseman  is  superintendent  of  the  Sunday- 
school.  Eligible  lots  were  purchased  on  Twentyfirst  Street,  near  Broad,  in  1890, 
and  the  foundation  for  a  new  house  of  worship  was  laid  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
year,  (contracts  for  the  erection  of  the  chapel  portion  of  the  building  were 
rep(»rted  at  the  annual  meeting  in  October,  1891,  the  work  to  be  done  in  1892. 
When  the  whole  building  is  completed  according  to  the  plans  Eastwood  Church 
will  have  for  its  home  one  of  the  largest  and  most  commodious  church  edifices  in 
the  city. 

Mtiyffowrr  (■/n/rrh.—The  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  Church,  while  cast- 
ing about  for  an  unoccupied  field  of  labor  in  the  southern  part  of  the  city,  fell  upon 
a  section  lying  on  East  Main  Street  which  seemed  to  be  full  of  promise.  It  was 
quite  remote  from  any  Protestant  church  and  was  rapidly  filling  up  with  a  good 
po])ulution.  A  thorough  canvass  of  the  neighborhood  by  ladies  of  the  church 
brought  in  a  large  list  of  children  who  might  be  gathered  into  a  Sundaj'school. 
Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  1886,  a  vacant  storeroom  was  rented  and  on  Sunday, 
May  23,  a  school  was  opened  which,  by  a  happy  combination  of  the  season  of  the 
year  and  of  Congregational  memories,  was  named  the  Mayflower  Sundayschool. 
There  was  an  attendance  on  the  first  day  of  99,  including  teachers,  scholars  and 
visiting  friends.  Of  course  the  regular  number  was  for  a  time  somewhat  loss,  but 
the  school  grew  thrivingly  and  soon  became  a  gratifying  success.  The  first  super- 
intendent was  Mr.  F.  T.  Cole,  who  was  succeeded  later  in  the  year  by  Mr.  Amasa 


Congregational.  849 

Pratt.     The  next  superintendent  was  Mr.  E.  F.  Wood  who  has  continued  to  the 
present  time,  being  now  in  his  fourth  year  of  service. 

The  school  remained  nearly  three  years  in  its  first  hired  rooms,  at  898  East 
Main  Street,  which  were  often  so  crowded  that  larger  accommodations  became  an 
evident  and  pressing  necessity.  Accordingly,  in  1888,  a  lot  was  purchased  by  the 
trustees  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  at  the  corner  of  Main  Street  and  Ohio 
Avenue,  and  the  adjoining  lot  was  donated  by  Mr.  F.  C.  Sessions.  A  building 
committee  was  appointed  consisting  of  Walter  A.  Mahony,  L.  W.  Rose  and  B.  F. 
Wood,  with  power  to  raise  funds  and  contract  for  the  erection  of  a  chapel  on  the 
rear  of  the  lots.  Mr.  W.  E.  Cherry  undertook  the  contract  at  an  agreed  price  of 
$8,427.40,  and  began  work  in  October.  The  chapel  was  completed  before  the  end 
of  winter,  and,  in  the  afternoon  pf  February  24,  1889,  was  occupied  for  the  first 
time  with  special  services  of  the  Sundayschool,  followed  b}'  a  dedication  service 
conducted  by  Doctor  Gladden.  The  average  attendance  of  the  school  for  1889  was 
144,  which  has  since  V)ecn  largely  increased. 

After  the  completion  of  the  chapel,  Doctor  Gladden  preached  there  every 
Sunday  afternoon  for  nearly  three  months.  On  April  22,  1889,  about  fifty  persons 
met  to  consider  the  advisability  of  forming  a  new  church.  The  meeting  voted 
that  it  was  expedient  to  proceed  to  the  formation  of  a  Congregational  Church  in 
connection  with  the  Mayflower  Chapel.  They  appointed  a  committee  of  seven  to 
arrange  plans  of  organization,  canvass  for  members  and  prepare  a  constitution 
and  form  of  admission.  A  second  meeting  was  held  May  27,  when  the  constitu* 
tion  and  rules  were  adopted  for  both  church  and  society  and  the  following  persons 
were  elected  as  the  first  officers:  Samuel  Chamberlain,  E.  O.  Eandall,  Lyman  W. 
Rose,  R.  B.  Smith  and  Nelson  floyt,  trustees;  Frank  T.  Cole,  clerk;  J.  Knox  Liv- 
ingston, treasurer;  Eugene  S.  Peck,  Edwin  F.  Wood  and  Frank  T.  Cole,  deacons; 
and  Miss  Mary  B.  Rose,  clerk  and  treasurer.  The  Mayflower  Congregational 
Society  was  duly  incorporated  June  10,  1889. 

The  church  was  formally  recognized  by  a  council  on  June  18  and  then  con- 
sisted of  thirty  nine  members,  of  whom  twentyone  were  from  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church,  five  from  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  three  from  the  Eastwood 
Church,  three  from  churches  outside  of  the  city,  and  seven  united  by  profession. 
Soon  after  its  organization  the  church  put  itself  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Doctor 
Gladden  and  his  assistant,  Rev.  Henry  Staufl^er.  In  their  division  of  duties  Mr. 
Stauffer  was  more  especially  responsible  for  the  Mayflower  Church.  He  entered 
on  the  work  May  19,  1889,  preaching  once  a  week  during  the  summer  and 
early  fall,  and  after  November  1  holding  two  services  each  Sabbath. 

The  evangelical  pastors  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  made  a  careful  canvass 
of  the  district  east  of  Eighteenth  Street,  between  Broad  Street  and  Livingston 
Avenue  in  the  fall  of  1889,  and  found  150  families  without  church  connection.  Of 
these  more  than  one  third  are  accessible  to  Mayflower  Church  and  may  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  its  field.  With  its  flourishing  Sundayschool  and  an 
active  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  there  is  every  reason  to 
expect  a  vigorous  growth  of  this  young  church.  The  present  officers  are,  Rev, 
64 


S50  History  of  the  ('ity  of  Columbus. 

Henry  Stiiuffer,  pastor;  Samuel  Chamberlain,  Lyman  W.  Rose,  A.  Houpt,  Richani 
riinimor  and  W.  G.  Lockhart,  trustees;  Eugene S.  Peck,  clerk  ;  S.  H.  Kcrins,  treas- 
urer; Nelson  Hoyt,  D.  L.  Agler  and  R.  M.  Sayor,  deacons;  and  Miss  Mary  H. 
Rose,  clerk  and  treasurer.  The  total  membership  at  the  close  of  1S91  was  ninety- 
iivt}.     Mr.  Stauffer  was  installed  as  pastor  November  25,  1890. 

The  latest  forward  movement  ol*  this  vigorous  young  church  is  the  erection, 
in  the  closing  months  of  1891,  of  a  building  to  be  used  as  a  readiiigroom  and 
gymnasium  for  the  young  men  and  boys  in  that  part  of  the  city.  It  was  opened 
for  use  the  eighteenth  of  December,  and  is  successfully  accomplishing  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  projected. 

nV/s/i  Cluii'rk. — The  Welsh  Congregational  Church  of  Columbus  wa**  organ- 
ized late  in  December,  1837,  with  twelve  members,  of  whom  only  three  were  men. 
Following  the  custom  then  prevalent  in  some  parts  of  Wales,  David  Davis  was 
made  elder,  and  William  Jones  deacon.  For  many  3'ears  its  members  were  few 
and  its  strength  small,  and  in  its  weakness  it  affiliated  itself  in  a  measure  with  the 
First  l*resbyterian  Church,  on  whose  pastor,  Rev.  James  Hoge.  J).  !>.,  it  le.meiifor 
counsel  an<l  help.  This  is  doubtless  one  reason  why  it  was,  by  a  misnomer,  oUen 
called  and  known  as  the  Welsh  Presbyterian  Church.  Owing  in  part  to  its  weak- 
ness, there  were  frequent  changes  in  its  ministry  and  several  interruptions.  The 
minister  serving  regularly  was  Rev.  llugh  Price,  who  for  two  years  divided  his 
time  between  this  church  and  one  in  Dublin,  lie  was  foUow^ed  by  Rev.  Seth 
Howell,  w^ho  served  four  years;  Rev.  James  Price  for  one  and  a  half  years;  and, 
after  quite  an  interval.  Rev.  B.  Evans,  who  preached  nearly  two  years. 

The  strength  of  the  church  was  seriously  reduced  in  1849,  by  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodists,  now  known  as  the  Welsh  Presbyterian 
Church.  In  this  same  year  Rev.  Rees  Powell  began  preaching  here  ;  he  continued 
for  live  years.  After  him  Rev.  John  H.  Jones  preached  four  years;  then  Mr. 
Powell  returned  and  served  the  church  ten  years  longer,  finally  leaving  in  18tI9. 
His  successors  were  Rev.  John  Jones,  for  two  years  ;  Rev.  Isaac  C.  Hughes,  a  year 
and  a  half;  Rev.  R.  D.  Thomas,  about  two  years;  Rev.  John  Jones,  again,  four 
years,  and  Rev.  John  Cadwallader,  three  years.  The  present  pastor,  Rev.  Grif- 
tiths  Jones,  began  his  ministry  in  (.'olumbus  in  October,  1885. 

During  the  first  seven  years  of  its  existence  the  church  worshiped  in  several 
different  j)laces,  the  first  of  whieh  seems  to  have  been  a  schoolhouse  standi [ig  on 
the  alley  between  High  and  Front  streets  and  north  of  Broad  Street.  After  that 
they  held  services  lor  a  time  in  the  Baptist  Church,  still  standing  in  1892 — a 
quaint  relic  of  a  past  generation — at  338  South  Front  Street,  a  little  north  of 
Mound.  They  next  occupied  a  schoolhouse,  the  location  of  which  cannot  now  he 
<leterniined  ;  after  that  they  worshij)ed  at  the  residence  of  David  Davis,  and  still 
later  in  a  schoolhou.se  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Fourth  and  Oak  streets.  In  1845, 
they  built  a  frame  meetinghouse,  33  x  2(3  feet,  on  the  north  side  of  Town  Street, 
between  Fifth  and  Sixth.  For  several  years  the  title  to  this  property  was  in  lit- 
igation, it  being  claimed  as  resting  in  the  Welsh  Presbyterian  Church.  After  a 
tedious  and  expensive  suit,  it  was  decided  that  the  deed  in  favor  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  was  given  by  a  misnomer,  and  that  the  equitable  ownership  wad 


i 


CONQREGATIONAL.  851 

with  the  Welsh  Congregational  Churcli,  as  the  actual  possession  had  always  been. 
On  the  strength  of  this  decision  the  society  sold  its  property  on  Town  Street  and 
purchased  a  lot  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Gay  Street  and  Washington  Avennei 
where  it  erected  in  1890  a  new  church  at  an  expense  of  about  913,000,  which  was 
dedicated,  free  of  debt,  May  10,  1891. 

The  church  has  had  a  legal  existence  since  April  10,  1872,  when  it  was  incor- 
porated under  the  title  of  the  Welsh  Congregational  Church,  with  David  Price, 
John  Davies,  John  Bain,  Eichard  Brown  and  Jonathan  Stephens  as  trustees.  The 
present  officials  are  Kev.  Griffiths  Jones, pastor;  Thomas  Baxter,  Jolin  T.  Griffiths, 
James  T.  Jones,  Evan  Walter  and  John  D.  Evans,  deacons  ;  D.  D.  Phillips,  William 
R.  Evans,  Ezekiel  Hughs,  Evan  Davis  and  Evan  Walter  trustees.  James  T.  Jones 
is  superintendent  of  the  Sundayschool,  which  numbers  from  eighty  to  one  hundred 
in  regular  attendance,  a  majority  being  young  people  just  coming  to  maturity) 
although  the  proportion  of  children  is  increasing  since  the  occupancy  of  the  new 
meetinghouse. 

The  membership  of  the  church,  January  1,  1892,  was  140.  One  of  their  num- 
ber is  studying  at  Oberlin,  in  preparation  for  the  ministry.  The  worship  is 
always  conducted  in  the  Welsh  language  as  being  more  acceptable  to  the  older 
members  and  to  newcomers  from  the  old  country  and  from  the  mining  regions  of 
our  own  state.  From  the  indications  under  present  plans  this  practice  will  be 
continued,  and  the  Welsh  Congregational  Church  will  always  stand  as  a  Christian 
home  for  those  who  cherish  the  Welsh  as  their  native  tongue  and  the  Congrega- 
tional order  as  the  one  best  befitting  their  sturdy  independence  and  love  of  freedom. 

South  Church. — In  the  summer  of  1890,  Mr.  Jesse  L.  Bright,  a  recent  graduate 
of  Yale  Theological  Seminary,  made  a  house  to  house  visitation  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  city,  where  there  seemed  to  be  need  of  a  new  church.  So  favorably 
was  he  received  that  steps  were  taken  early  in  September  to  build  immediately 
a  small  frame  chapel  on  South  High  Street  as  the  rallying  place  of  a  new  Congre- 
gational church.  The  work  was  pushed  by  the  zealous  energy  of  Mr.  William  B. 
Davis  so  that  the  room  was  made  ready  in  less  th^n  three  weeks.  On  Friday, 
September  26,  a  meeting  was  held  to  organize  a  Sundayschool,  which  met  under  the 
superintendency  of  Mr.  Bright  in  the  afternoon  of  the  following  Sabbath.  Mr. 
Bright  preached  in  the  same  place  on  Sunday  evening  and  these  services  have  been 
regularly  sustained  ever  since. 

About  three  weeks  later  a  society  was  organized  and  elected  five  trustees, 
which  number  was  afterwards  increased  to  seven.  The  trustees  were  authorized 
to  purchase  lots  and  erect  a  permanent  chapel.  Ground  was  bought  at  the  corner 
of  High  Street  and  Stewart  Avenue  and  the  sum  of  $3,500  was  speedily  raised 
towards  the  building.  A  council  of  churches,  called  for  the  purpose,  met  on 
November  24,  to  recognize  the  infant  church  and  ordain  its  young  minister. 
Fortynine  persons  were  reported  as  ready  to  join  in  the  new  organization,  three- 
fourths  of  them  on  confession  of  their  faith.  They  had  selected  for  deacons  Messrs. 
R  B.  Adams  and  H.  E.  Reider,  and  for  clerk  Miss  Lorana  Stimel.  The  council 
examined  and  approved  the  candidates  for  membership,  and,  after  examining  Mr. 
Bright,  recommended  that  he  be  ordained  to  the  ministry.     Public  SjBrvices  were 


852  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

accordingly  held  in  the  evening  for  the  recognition  of  the  church  and  the  ordina- 
tion of  the  pastor.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  Gladden  and  thepniyer 
of  ordination  was  offered  by  Jlev.  Sidney  Strong,  of  Mount  Vernon. 

This  little  plant  in  the  southern  part  of  the  city  has  taken  good  root  and  bids 
fair  soon  to  become  a  vigorous  churcii.  The  Sundayschool  numbers  over  two  hun- 
dred in  regular  attendance,  and  has  literally  packed  the  little  chapel  full  almost 
from  the  start.  The  evening  audiences  have  also  been  large,  and  thus  at  both 
services  there  has  been  an  earnest  pressure  for  the  immediate  erection  of  the  now 
building.  Pastor  and  people  have  bent  all  their  energies  to  this  work,  which  has 
been  so  far  completed  that  service  was  held  in  it  the  last  Sunday  evening  in  Juno, 
1891.  The  trustees  of  the  society,  which  is  duly  incorporated,  are  Messi-s.  J.  L. 
Stelzig,  W.  B.  Davis,  H.  M.  Munk,  R.  B.  Adams  and  Mr.  Mitchell.  Frank  Strat- 
ton  is  clerk,  and  Mrs.  A.  Davis  treasurer.  The  number  of  members  (»n  the  church 
roll  January  1,  1892,  was  eighty  six.  'f  he  deacons  are  five :  R.  B.  Adams,  J.  H. 
S.  Ferguson,  H.  B.  Reiser,  John  Brownlee  and  J.  L.  Decker.  G.  Lindeman  is 
clerk  of  the  church. 

St.  Clair  Avenue  Chapel. —  Late  in  the  summer  of  1890,  through  the  exertions 
of  Mr.  George  W.  Bright  and  other  members  of  the  First  Congregational  Church, 
a  neat  frame  chapel  was  erected  on  lots  purchased  the  previous  year  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  St.  Clair  and  Hoover  avenues.  It  was  dedicated  in  the  afti^rnoon 
of  Sunday,  September  21,  with  a  sermon  by  Rev.  Doctor  Gladden.  The  dedica- 
tion service  was  followed  by  the  first  meeting  at  this  place  of  a  Sundayschool 
transferred  from  a  room  on  Twentieth  Street.  This  school  was  for  some  time 
under  the  superintendency  of  Mr.  C.  H.  Houseman,  a  member  of  Eastwood  Church 
which  furnished  most  of  the  teachers. 

Sunday  evening  services  were  held  regularly  during  the  fall,  and  in  December 
Rev.  W.  B.  Marsh,  assistant  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  took  charge  of  the  work. 
In  the  spring  of  1891  Mr.  Charles  E.  Albright  became  superintendent  of  the 
school,  which  has  made  good  progress  and  has  sometimes  numbered  over  one  hun- 
dred. Rev.  George  P.  Bethel  joined  this  enterprise  in  March,  1892,  holding 
preaching  services  Sunday  evenings,  and  a  weekly  prayermeeting.  No  church 
has  been  organized  as  yet  in  connection  with  this  chapel,  but  it  is  expected  that 
one  will  in  due  time  grow  out  of  this  work. 


Biographical. 


CHAPTER  XL. 


REPRESENTATIVE    CITIZENS 


ALLEN  G.  THURMAN 
[Portrait  oppoflite  page  16.] 

Was  born  at  Lynchbur/i:,  Virginia,  on  November  13,  1813.  His  father  was  the 
Rev.  P.  Thurman,  and  his  mother,  the  only  daughter  of  Colonel  Nathaniel  Allen 
of  North  Carolina,  the  nephew  and  adopted  son  of  Joseph  Hewes,  one  of  the  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independont-e.  In  1819,  his  parents  removed  to  Chillicothe, 
Ohio,  and  he  resided  there  until  1853,  when  he  removed  to  Columbus,  his  present 
residence.  He  was  educated  at  the  Chillicothe  Academy  and  by  the  private 
instructions  of  his  mother.  He  studied  law  with  his  uncle,  William  Allen,  after- 
ward United  States  Senator  and  later  Governoi  of  Ohio,  and  with  Noah  H.  Swayne, 
afterward  Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1835  and  practiced  his  profession  until  elected  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Ohio  in  1851.  From  1854  to  1856  he  was  Chief  Justice.  Previous  to  his  election 
as  Judge  he  had  served  in  the  House  of  Representatives  for  the  Twent3''ninth 
Congress,  having  been  elected  a  member  of  that  body  in  1844.  In  1867,  he  was  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  of  Ohio  and  was  beaten  less  than  3,000  votes, 
although  the  Republican  majority  the  year  before  was  43,000.  In  January,  1868,  he 
was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  and  took  his  seat  on  March  4,  1869.  In 
January,  1874,  he  was  reelected.  After  retiring  from  the  Supreme  Bench  he 
resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Columbus,  and  was  engaged  as  counsel 
in  the  Supreme  Court  in  many  of  the  leading  cases  from  all  over  the  State.  The 
Ohio  Reports  containing  his  decisions  during  the  four  years  of  his  service  as  Judge 
had  given  him  a  great  reputation  as  a  sound  lawyer  and  jurist,  and  his  opinions  on 
legal  questions  were  much  sought.after  and  relied  upon  by  attorneys  practicing  in 
the  Supreme  Court;  hence  he  was  retained  as  co-counsel  in  most  of  the  important 
cases.  He  has  always  been  a  laborious  student  and  indefatigable  in  the  through 
preparation  of  his  cases,  and  a  forcible,  direct  speaker,  who  wasted  no  time  on 
immaterial  points. 

Mr.  Thurman  has  always  been  a  Democrat  of  the  straightest  sect  and  not 
inclined  to  run  after  temporary  expedients  in  politics.  While  serving  in  the 
twentyninth  Congress,  he,  with  many  other  Northern  Democrats,  voted  for  the 

[855] 


856  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

Wilmot  proviso,  oxtonding  the  anti-slavery  provisions  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787 
to  our  newly  acquired  Mexican  territory.  He  was  opposed  to  the  repeal  of  tlie 
Missouri  Comj)romi8e,  because  he  belived  it  a  fair  settlement  of  controverted  ques- 
tions, the  reopening  of  which  would  cause  the  sectional  struggle  which  has  since 
deluged  the  country  with  blood.  On  all  the  exciting  questions  of  that  era,  he  took 
a  bold  and  manly  stand,  npeaking  out  his  opinions  unhesitatingly  and  doing  his 
best  to  secure  their  tiettlement  in  the  interest  of  the  national  welfare.  He  has 
always  been  opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  nullification  and  secession,  as  the  plat- 
forms of  his  party  in  Ohio,  in  many  cases  drawn  by  him,  have  repeatedly  attested. 
The  gubernatorial  contest  in  18()7,  wherein  the  negro  suffrage  question  was 
an  issue,  brought  him  ])romincntly  before  the  people  as  arising  national  man  In 
that  canvass  he  spent  over  four  months  on  the  stump,  carried  the  Legislature  in 
both  ils  branches  for  his  party  and  defeated  negro  suffrage  by  over  50,000  votes 
in  one  of  the  strongest  Republician  states  in  the  Union.  On  the  meeting  of  iho 
Jjegi>lature,  he  wns  nominated  by  the  Democratic  caucus  for  United  States 
Senator  over  Vallandigham  by  a  vote  of  two  U)  one.  After  his  election  t*  the 
Senate  no  man  rose  more  rapidly  in  the  public  estimation.  Though  in  a  minorty 
of  scarcely  onefiflh  in  the  Senate,  he  exercised  groat  influence  and  obtained  amoii^^ 
reflecting  people  of  all  parties  the  character  of  a  pure  an<l  honest  politician  and 
sUitesman,  who  would  expose  fraud  an<l  corruption,  no  matter  whom  the  exp')sure 
might  hit.  Until  recent  years  he  has  taken  an  active  part  in  stumping  the  State 
and  planning  the  canipaigns  of  his  party.  In  1873,  he  succeeded  in  carrying  the 
Legislature,  which  secured  his  reelection  to  the  Senate,  thoui^h  the  Slate  the  year 
before  had  given  General  Grant  nearly  40,000  majority  for  President  Ex-Sen- 
ator Allen,  his  uncle,  was  elected  Governor,  though  the  rest  of  the  Republican 
ticket  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  less  than  one  thousand  votes.  He  was 
appointed  by  Garfield  one  of  three  commissioners  to  represent  the  United  States 
at  the  International  Monetary  Congress  in  1881,  at  Paris.  Shortly  afler  this  he 
was  selected  with  Chief  Justice  Thomas  M.  Cooley  of  Michigan,  and  Washburne 
of  Illinois,  to  serve  upon  an  advisory  commission  in  the  troubles  as  to  differential 
rates  between  the  trunk  railroads  leading  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  to  the  West. 
In  1888,  much  against  his  inclination  he  was  nominated  by  his  party  as  Vice 
President  and  entered  into  the  campaign  with  a  vigor  that  surprised  both  friends 
and  enemies.  Since  that  campaign  he  has  been  living  in  the  quiet  an  I  retirement 
of  his  home  on  liich  Street. 

SAMUEL  GALLOWAY 

[Portrait  opposite  page  32.] 

Was  born  on  March  20,  1811,  at  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania.  His  youth  w:i,s  spent 
in  his  native  village,  and  just  before  his  majorit}',  and  very  soon  after  the  death  of 
his  father,  he  removed  to  Ohio  to  make  his  home  among  relatives  in  Highland  County. 
He  graduated  from  Miami  University  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  in  1833,  and  at  once  entered 
upon  the  study  of  law  at  Hillsboro,  Ohio.  In  the  midst  of  his  studies  he  became 
deepl}"  impressed  with  the  obligations  of  religion  and  promptl}'  abandoning  his 
law  studies,  he  was  entered  as  a  student  of  theology  at  Princeton.     At  the  end  of  a 


i 


Eepresentative  Citizens.  857 

year  he  became  convinced  that  the  profession  of  law  and  not  the  ministry  was  his 
true  vocation.  He  did  not  at  once,  however,  assume  his  legal  studies,  but  accepted 
for  a  term  the  chair  of  Greek  in  his  Alma  Mater,  Miami  University,  and  went  from 
thore  to  South  Hanover,  Indiana,  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  Professor  of  Langua- 
ges. He  soon  renewed  and  completed  his  preparations  for  the  bar  and  began  the 
practice  of  law,  associated  with  Nathaniel  Massie,  in  Chillicotho,  in  1843.  The  fol- 
lowing winter  he  was  elected  Secretary  of  State,  and  removed  to  Columbus  in  1844 
to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  that  office,  and  was  a  continuous  resident  of  Columbus 
until  the  day  of  his  death.  By  virtue  of  his  office  as  Secretary  of  State  he  became 
also  an  ex-offirio  Commissioner  of  Common  Schools,  and  by  his  zeal  and  indefatig- 
able efforts  did  much  to  advance  po])ular  education  and  promote  the  common 
school  system  in  Ohio. 

In  the  great  contest  that  was  finally  terminated  in  the  obliteration  of  slavery 
in  the  Ilepublic,  Mr.  Galloway  took  a  prominent  part,  and  as  early  as  1832  was  found 
on  the  antislavery  side,  and  although  he  continued  to  be  allied  with  the  Whig 
party  for  many  years,  he  finally  became  a  member  of  the  Republican  party.  Mr. 
Galloway  was  not  only  an  ardent  admirer  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  but  was  his  clo.se  per- 
sonal friend,  and  spent  many  pleasant  hours  in  his  company.  In  1854-5  he 
represented  his  district  in  Congress,  at  which  time  his  party  was  largely  in 
the  minority.  As  an  orator  his  reputation  was  national;  his  speech  on  the  Kan- 
sas contested  election  was  considered  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  effective  ever 
delivered  in  Congress.  Mr.  Galloway  was  of  a  deeply  religious  disposition, 
but  was  not  an  active  member  of  any  denomination.       ^ 

In  1843  he  was  married  to  Joan  Wallen,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio.     Mr.  Galloway 
died  at  his  home  in  Columbus  on  April  5,  1872. 

JOEL  BUTTLES 

[Portrait  opiK)site  pagi'  66.] 

Was  the  oldest  son  of  Levi  Buttolph  and  Sarah  Phelps  Buttolph,  and  was 
horn  in  Granby.  Connecticut,  Februnry  1,  1787.  The  name  Buttolph,  or  a.s  it 
appears  in  the  earlier  English  records  Botolph  and  Butolph,  is  the  true  surname 
and  appears  on  all  the  family  tombstones  at  Granby,  and  in  the  family  deeds  and 
papers,  and  in  the  early  records  of  the  town  of  Rutland,  Massachusetts,  where  the 
name  of  Captain  John  Buttolph,  who  was  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  town,  fre- 
quently occurs.  By  a  corruption  of  pronunciation  the  name  gradually  changed 
to  Buttol,  Buttels,  and  finally  Buttles,  until  it  was  accepted  by  the  family.  Levi 
Buttolph  became,  in  1802,  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Scioto  Company,  among 
whom  were  Alexander  Morrison,  David  Bristol,  James  Kilbourne,  Levi  Buttles^ 
Job  Case  and  others,  James  Kilbourne  being  the  agent.  Sixteen  thousand  acres  of 
land  had  been  bought  at  Worthington,  Ohio,  to  which  plac^e  Levi  Buttles,  having 
sold  his  farm  and  homestead  in  Granby,  moved  with  his  family  in  the  autumn  of 
1804.  A  few  years  before  this  emigration  Joel  Buttles  had  been  educated  with 
the  idea  of  entering  some  profession.  He  was  given  the  choice  to  remain  and  con- 
tinue his  stu<iies,  or  go  with  the  family;  he  chose  the  latter,  and  made  the  long 
fatiguing  journey,  arriving  on  the  eighth  of  December,  in   the  midst  of  a   hard 


858  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus.  . 

snow  Htorm.  lie  has  graphically  described  in  his  journal  their  arrival  at  the  little 
settlenierit  in  the  wilderness  after  the  toilsome  journey  ;  the  life  in  a  little  cuh'iu  lu 
the  woods,  until  a  more  commodious  house  could  be  built,  an<l  the  appearance  of  the 
town.  *'The  public  square  was  then  pretty  much  all  the  opening  there  Wiis  about 
there,  and  had  been  covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of  forest  timber,  which  had 
been  cut  down  only,  the  trees  lying  across  each  other  as  they  had  fallen,  n»aking 
it  difficult  to  get  about  among  them,  and  going  from  bouse  to  house.  At  that 
time  there  were  uo  other  buildings  in  Worthington  than  log  cabins, except  a  frame 
storehouse  built  by  Nathaniel  Little  on^he  north  side  of  the  public  square.  On 
the  east  side  was  the  double  cabin  of  Ezra  Griswold,  w^ho  kept  a  tavern,  the  only 
one  there,  and  a  large  cabin  built  for  public  purposes,  and  used  on  the  Sabbath 
day  as  a  church  ;  Major  Kilbourne  officiating  as  a  deacon  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 
On  the  south  side  of  the  square,  the  only  house  was  that  of  Maj.  Kilbourne,  and  on 
the  west  one  occupied  by  Isaac  Case. 

"  North  of  Worthington  at  this  time,  there  were  no  white  people  living  except 
some  four  or  five  families,  in  what  for  a  long  time  was  called  Carpenter's  settle- 
ment, which  was  on  the  Whetstone  River  about  fifteen  miles  north.  On  the  east 
there  were  some  thirty  families  about  thirty  miles  away.  In  the  southeast  direc- 
tion about  ten  miles,  Reed,  Nelson  and  Shaw,  and  perhaps  one  other  family,  had 
made  a  beginning  on  the  bottom  land  of  Alum  Creek.  Following  down  the 
Whetstone  south,  before  coming  to  Franklinton,  nine  miles  from  Worthington,  a 
few  families  had  lately  settled,  mostly  from  Pennsylvania.  These  were  the  Hen- 
dersons, Lysles,  Fultons  and  Hunters."  The  settlement  at  Franklinton,  made  in 
1797,  was  the  principal  town  north  of  Clullicothe  and  was  the  county  seat.  At 
this  time  Chillicolhe  was  the  most  important  town  near  Worthington,  and  con- 
tained a  mill  built  by  General  Worthington ;  and  to  this  mill  forty  miles  away 
they  had  to  go  for  flour,  until,  in  1805,  Major  Kilbourne  built  the  first  good  mill 
near  Worthington. 

Levi  Buttles  died  in  June  following  the  arrival  of  the  family  in  Ohio,  from  the 
effects  of  exposure  during  a  visit  to  lands  at  Granville,  for  which  he  was  the  agent 
of  a  company  from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Joel  Buttles  was  then  hardly 
eighteen  and  had  been  employeci  in  teaching  school  for  some  time.  Afler  three  or 
four  years  had  passed,  he  bought  the  printing  oflSce  of  Colonel  James  Kilbourne, 
who  had  established  it  for  the  publication  of  a  weekly  newspaper,  and  became 
editor  as  well  as  printer;  the  excitements  and  dangers  incident  to  the  war  with 
England  at  that  time,  and  the  defensive  preparations  against  that  power,  making 
a  newspaper  welcome  and  remunerative.  It  was  about  this  time,  when  the  State 
was  threatened  w'ith  invasions  of  the  British  and  Indians  from  Canada,  that  he 
entered  the  service  of  the  militia  for  several  weeks.  In  1812  he  sold  out  the  print- 
ing office  and  entered  into  special  partnership  with  the  Worthington  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  and  on  the  twentyeighth  of  November,  1813,  removed  the  store  to 
Columbus,  which  then  contained  about  three  hundred  inhabitants.  The  country 
about  it  was  almost  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  the  deer  used  to  come  into  what  is 
now  the  Statehouse  Square,  to  browse  upon  the  tops  of  trees  which  had  been  felled 
for  clearing.     Much  jealousy  existed  between  the  older  town  of  Franklinton  and 


J 


Representative  Citizens,  SiV> 

its  new  rival  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river;  but  Cohnnbus  grew  rapidly  and 
abnorbed  the  business  of  that  part  of  the  countrv>  and  tinallv  boennio  the  eountv 
seat. 

On  Se]>tenil)er  11,  1.S14,  he  was  married  to  Lauretta  Barnes,  daui^hter  of 
Doctor  Samuel  Barnes,  of  Massachusetts,  deceased,  and  Cynthia  (JoodaK*  Barnes, 
then  wife  of  Colonel  James  Kilbourne,  and  soon  after  this  entered  into  partnership 
with  Dr.  Lincoln  Goodale.  In  the  year  1S14  he  received  the  appointment  of  piJst- 
master  of  Columbus,  which  office  he  held  until  the  election  of  (Jeneral  Jackson  as 
President  of  the  United  States  in  1829;  when,  being  a  staunch  Whig,  he  was 
obliged  to  retire  before  the  then  new  principle  that  "  to  the  victor  belong  the 
spoils."  From  this  time  he  identified  himself  with  the  life  and  prosperity  of  the 
city,  and  was  one  of  its  most  enlightened  and  public  spirited  citir.ens.  lie  hehl 
many  offices  of  trust,  was  several  years  before  his  death  President  of  the  Viiy 
Bank,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  and  most  liberal  sup])ortors  of  the  Protestant 
ISpiseopai  Church  in  Ohio.  The  original  subscription  paper  for  Trinitj*  Chui*ch, 
Columbus,  was  drawn  by  him.  The  busy  years  of  his  life  were  crowded  with 
deeds  of  generosity  to  the  needy,  of  sympathy  for  the  Huffering,  and  of  helpful 
interest  for  all  whose  wants  and  needs  came  within  his  knowledge,  llis  death 
took  place  at  Urbana,  Ohio,  August,  1850,  in  the  sixtythird  year  of  his  age. 

NORTON  STRA.NGE  TOWNSHEND 

[Portrait  opposite  page  80.] 

Was  born  at  Clay  Coaton,  Northamptonshire,  England,  on  December  25,  1815. 
His  parents  came  to  this  country  and  settled  upon  a  farm  in  Avon,  Lorain 
County,  Ohio,  in  the  spring  of  1830.  Busy  with  farm  work  he  found  no  time  to 
attend  school,  but  made  good  use  of  his  father's  small  library,  lie  early  took  an 
active  part  in  the  temperance  and  antislavery  reforms,  and  for  some  time  was 
superintendent  of  a  Sundayschool  in  his  neighborhood.  In  XH'M)  he  taught  a 
district  school,  and  in  1837  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  with  Doctor  K.  L. 
Howard,  of  Elyria.  The  winter  of  the  same  year  he  Hj)cnt  in  attending  a  courne 
of  lectures  at  Cincinnati  Medical  College.  Returning  to  Klyria  he  applied  hln>self 
to  medical  studies  with  Doctor  Howard,  and  to  Latin,  (rreok  and  French  with 
other  teachers.  In  1839  he  was  a  student  at  the  (^)llego  of  IMiyHJcianH  and 
Surgeons  of  New  York,  spending  what  time  he  could  command  as  voluntary 
assistant  in  the  chemical  laboratory  of  Profensor  John  Torrey.  In  March,  1H40, 
he  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  from  the  University  of  N(»w  York,  of  which  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  was  then  a  department.  PropoHing  to 
spend  a  year  or  two  in  visiting  the  hospitals  and  medical  HchoolM  of  Kurope,  the 
temperance  society  of  the  College  of  Physiciann  and  SurgeouH  requcHled  hirn  to 
carry  the  greeting  of  that  body  to  sinular  H<)(^ieties  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic;  this  afforded  him  an  opjmrtunity  to  make  the  acqiiuintance  of  many 
wellknown  temperance  men.  The  Antislavery  Society  of  the  State  of  Ohio  also 
made  him  its  delegate  to  the  World's  Antislavery  (yonvention  of  June,  1840,  at 
London,  England,  where  he  saw  and  heard  distinguished  ariliHlavery  men  fr(;m 
different   countrien.     lie   then    visited    Paris   and    remained    there    through    the 


860  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

summer  and  autumn,  seeing  practice  in  the  hospitals  and  taking  private  lessons  in 
operative  surgery,  auscultation  and  other  branches.  The  next  winter  was  passed 
in  Edinburg,  an(i  the  spring  following  in  Dublin.  In  1841  he  returned  to  Ohio 
and  began  the  practice  of  mecficine,  first  at  Avon  and  afterwards  in  Elj^ria.  In 
1843  he  was  married  to  Harriet  N.  Wood,  who  lived  only  ten  years  after  their 
marriage.  In  1848  he  was  elected  to  the  General  Assembly  by  the  antislavery 
men  of  Lorain  County,  and  took  an  active  part  in  securing  the  repeal  of  the 
"  Black  Laws"  of  Ohio,  and  in  the  election  of  Salmon  P.  Chase  to  the  United 
States  Senate.  In  1850  Doctor  Townshend  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  Ohio,  and  in  the  same  year  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Thirtysecond  Congress.  In  1853  he  was  elected  to  the  Ohio  Senate,  where  he  pre- 
sented a  memorial  in  favor  of  the  establishment  of  a  State  institution  for  the  train- 
ing  of  imbeciles.  At  the  next  session  this  measure  was  carried,  and  Doctor  Town- 
shend was  appointed  one  of  three  trustees  to  carry  the  plan  into  effect,  a  position  he 
held  by  subsequent  appointments  for  twentyone  yeai*s.  While  in  political  life  Doctor 
Townshend  relinquished  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  with  his  family  returned 
to  the  farm  in  Avon.  In  October,  1854,  he  was  married  to  Margaret  A.  Bailey. 
The  same  j'ear  he  united  with  Professors  James  H.  Fairchild  and  James  Dascomh, 
of  Oberlin,  and  Doctor  John  S.  Newberry,  of  Cleveland,  in  an  attempt  to  establish 
an  Agricultural  College.  Winter  courses  of  lectures  were  given  on  the  branches  of 
science  most  intimately  related  to  agriculture  for  three  successive  winters,  twice 
at  Oberlin,  and  once  at  Cleveland.  This  effort  perhaps  had  some  effect  in  attract- 
ing public  attention  to  the  importance  of  special  education  for  the  young  farmer- 
In  1858,  Doctor  Townshend  was  chosen  member  of  the  Slate  Board  of  Agriculture 
in  which  body  he  continued  to  serve  for  six  yeai*s.  He  also  served  in  the  same 
capacity  in  1868-(>9.  Early  in  1863  he  received  the  appointment  of  Medical 
Inspector  in  the  United  States  Army,  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  This 
he  held  to  the  end  of  the  war.  In  1867  he  was  appointed  one  of  a  committee  to 
examine  the  woolappraiser's  department  of  New  York  and  other  customhouses,  to 
ajscertain  how  correctly  wools  were  classified.  The  report  of  this  committee  is 
supposed  to  have  aided  in  securing  the  wool  tariff  of  that  3'ear.  Near  the  same 
period  he  was  appointed,  with  Professor  Henry,  of  Washington,  and  Professor 
Torrey,  of  New  York,  to  visit  the  United  States  Mint  at  Philadelj)hia,  and  deter- 
mine by  chemical  analysis  the  uniformity  and  standard  purity  of  the  government 
coinage.  In  18(19  he  was  appointed  professor  of  agriculture  in  the  Iowa  Agricul- 
tural College,  where  he  renuiined  for  one  year.  In  1870,  the  law  having  passed 
to  establish  an  agricultural  and  mechanical  college  in  Ohio,  he  was  one  of  the 
trustees  charged  with  the  duty  of  carrying  the  law  into  effect.  In  1873  he 
resigned  the  place  of  trustee  and  was  immediately  appointed  Professor  of  Agri- 
culture. During  the  vacation  of  1 884  he  visited  the  agricultural  and  veterinary 
schools  and  botanic  gardens  of  Great  liritain  and  Ireland,  and  attendeii  the 
English  national  fair  at  Shrewsbury,  that  of  Scotland  at  Edinburg,  and  that  of 
Ireland  at  Dublin.  Doctor  Townshend  has  been  for  eighteen  years  Professor  of 
Agriculture  in  what  was  the  Ohio  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  now  the 
Ohio  State  University.     He   has  been  prominent  in  the  work  of  agricultural  edu- 


KEPRE8BNTATIVE    CITIZENS.  861 

cation  of  late  years,  not  only  in  connection  with  the  University,  but  as  a  lecturer 
at  Farmers'  Institutes. 

JAMES  EDWARD   WRIGHT 

[Portrait  opposite  page  101. 1 

Was  born  on  September  29,  1829,  at  his  fatlier's  farm  homestead,  near  the  village 
of  Dublin,  in  Franklin  (younty,  Ohio.  His  father,  Daniel  Wright,  a  native  of  New 
York  State,  emigrated  from  Westchester  County  of  that  State  to  the  State  of  Ohio, 
and  was,  for  his  day,  a  man  of  superior  mental  endowments  and  culture— a  groat 
reader  and  a  clear  thinker.  The  mother  of  James  E.  Wright,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Margaret  Christie,  was  a  native  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  and  was  endowed 
with  rare  mental  qualities.  She  was  a  sister  of  the  distinguished  Rev.  William 
Christie,  one  of  the  pioneer  preachers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  noted 
for  his  great  eloquence  and  earnest  zeal.  Even  in  his  childhood  James  B.  Wright 
displayed  great  mental  brightness  and  fairly  devoured  all  tlie  books  he  could 
obtain.  It  is  related  of  him  that  before  he  was  twelve  years  old  he  had  studied 
and  mastered,  with  little  assistance,  thirteen  different  arithmetics.  This  love  of 
mathematics  he  developed  and  cultivated,  in  all  branches  of  the  science,  in  after 
life.  After  he  had  availed  himself  of  all  the  benefits  offered  by  the  local  schools  of 
his  neighborhood,^  he  continued  his  studies  at  Central  College,  near  Columbus, 
Wittemburg  College  at  Springfield,  and  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University  at  Dela- 
ware, and  finally,  in  the  year  1845,  he  entered  Princeton  College  and  there  grad- 
uated in  1848.  The  Master's  degree  was  afterwards  conferred  upon  him  by  that 
noted  institution.  While  at  college  he  cultivated  general  literature  and  indulged 
in  authorship  both  from  taste  and  to  help  defray  his  expenses.  The  productions 
of  his  pen  appeared  in  Putnam  s  Magazine,  a  leading  periodical  of  that  day,  and 
attracted  the  favorable  criticism  of  Washington  Irving  and  other  eminent  authors 
for  their  literary  merit  and  promise.  These  contributions  consisted  mainly  of 
stories  of  Indian  life  and  tales  of  quiet  rural  life  which  were  remarkably  simple, 
touching  and  beautiful. 

Owing  to  his  constant  application  to  study  at  college,  Mr.  Wright's  eyes  were 
seriously  affected,  and  after  graduation,  being  quite  unable  to  use  them  in  reading, 
he  gave  up  his  studies  and  spent  several  years  with  his  uncle,  James  Wright,  in 
Alabama,  on  an  extensive  plantation,  enjoying  the  recreation  such  a  life  afforded. 
On  his  return  from  the  South,  he  entered  the  office  of  Samuel  Gullowaj',  then  a 
prominent  lawyer  of  Columbus,  for  the  purpose  of  studying  law.  Although  he 
was  much  hampered  in  his  study  by  his  impaired  eyesight,  which  ma(je  it  neces- 
sary for  his  father  and  mother  to  read  the  text-books  to  him,  he  was  well  equipped 
for  the  responsible  and  difficult  duties  of  his  profession  on  his  admission  to  the  bar 
in  January,  1853.  The  first  fift;een  years  after  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  resided 
in  Dublin,  and  practiced  law  chiefly  in  Franklin,  Madison,  Delaware  and  Union 
counties.  Before  entering  upon  the  practice  of  law,  he  had  acquired  a  high 
degree  of  skill  as  a  civil  engineer,  and  he  brought  to  his  aid,  with  great  force,  in 
contested  eases  involving  the  principles  of  mechanics,  his  superior  learning  in  that 
science.     Shortly  '*^^r  the  Ashtabula  railway  bridge  disaster,  he  contributed  a 


862  History  of  toe  City  op  Columbus. 

number  of  articles  to  the  press,  which  were  largely  instrumental  in  arousing  and 
developing  public  sentiment  in  the  matter  of  the  safe  construction  and  j>ro])cr 
ins])ection  of  raili'oad  bridges. 

Although  Mr.  Wright  seldom  took  an  active  part  in  political  affairs,  and  was 
never  ambitious  for  public  office,  j)referring  his  chosen  profession  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  general  literature,  still  he  was  on  more  than  one  occasion  made  the  recipi- 
ent of  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  fellow  citizens,  llis  first  countj"  office  was 
that  of  County  Treasurer,  to  which  he  was  appointed  on  August  3,  1869,  by  the 
County  Commissioners  in  tlie  j)lace  of  A.  C.  Headly.  On  July  26,  1870,  he  was  a 
second  time  appointed  to  that  office,  filling  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  J.  H. 
Stauring,  treasurer-elect,  lie  was  subsequently  elected  to  the  same  office  in  1872, 
and  again  in  1874. 

In  1869,  Mr.  Wright  removed  to  Worthington,  where  he  resided  until  the 
time  of  his  death,  Noveniber  17,  1890.  During  his  residence  in  Columbus  he 
took  great  j)ride  in  building  up  the  public  schools. 

lie  was  married  in  1855  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Davis,  of  Dublin.  To  them  was 
born  a  family  of  five  daughters  and  three  sons :  namely,  Annie,  wife  of  Rev.  Way- 
land  D.  Ball,  of  Baltimore,  Marj'land  ;  Edith,  wife  of  Mr.  George  B.  Goodrich,  of 
Kansas ;  Daniel  W.  who  is  married  to  Miss  Grace  Gilbert  ;  Mattie,  Carrie,  Nellie 
Moses  and  Paul. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Wright  was  not  only  broadly  and  solidly  grounded  in  the 
principles  of  law  as  a  science,  but  was  also  an  expert  in  the  law  as  an  art.  Of 
an  analytic  turn  of  mind  and  intent  on  getting  at  the  ultimate  reason,  he 
endeavored  to  solve  legal  questions  by  the  application  of  principles  rather  than  by 
adjudications — testing  the  latter  by  the  touchstone  of  principle.  In  the  ethics  of 
the  profession  he  was  a  very  martinet.  His  standard  of  the  ideal  lawyer  was 
high.  The  esprit  de  corps  of  iha  profession  in  him  was  strong.  In  his  estimation 
the  profession  was  a  high  calling,  and  not  merely  a  money-making  art  and  system 
of  arts  and  tricks.  He  detested  the  commercial  idea  and  the  drummer  methods  of 
recent  times.  While  not  deficient  in  any  department  of  law,  he  preferred  and 
therefore  became  most  proficient  in  equity  jurisprudence.  In  his  thought,  as  in 
its  best  definition,  equity  is  the  soul  and  spirit  of  the  law,  and  in  its  natural  jus- 
tice, humanity  and  honesty,  equity  was  more  in  harmony  with  the  just,  humane 
and  liberal  tendencies  of  his  mind,  than  were  the  rigid  rules  of  the  common  law. 
To  the  aid*of  a  clear  legal  mind,  he  brought  indefatigable  industry  and  exhaustive 
investigation.  He  kept  well  up  with  the  learning  of  the  profession  and  the  best 
developments  of  etjuity  jurisprudence,  and  to  that  end  spared  no  expense  for  the 
best  books  as  they  came  from  the  press.  His  cases  were  always  well  prepared  for 
hearing.  His  arguments  were  clear  and  concise.  He  was  an  able  lawj'cr  in  ever}' 
respect.  His  briefs  were  always  scholarly,  and  finishe<l  and  exhaustive,  and  in 
every  paragraph  could  be  seen  the  skilled  hand  of  an  accomplished  master.  His 
mind  was  wonderfully  quick  in  its  operations  and  his  memory  was  exceedingly 
accurate  and  retentive. 

He  had  mingled  much  with  the  great  men  of  the  nation  ;  with  its  lawyers, 
theologians  and  statesmen — a  circumstance  which  made  his  conversation  remark- 


Eepressntative  Citizens.  865 

acres  of  land  around  this  residence  gave  scope  for  horticultunil  recreation,  and  for 
roaiiy  years,  wlule  his  health  was  strong  and  the  scantiermarketsof  that  tin\e  were 
an  incentive  to  private  gardening  for  the  supply  of  one's  own  table,  Mr.  Piatt  took 
great  pleasure  and  pride  in  producing  on  that  three  acres,  and  sharing  with 
his  neighbors,  the  very  finest  fruits  and  vegetables  of  all  sorts,  large  and  small.  The 
newest  varieties  of  grapes,  strawberries,  pears,  melons  and  the  more  prosaic  potato, 
were  there,  and  flowers,  especially  roses,  in  profusion.  Another  characteristic  was 
fondness  for  all  the  animal  kind,  especially  horses,  and  they  seemed,  as  is  often 
the  case,  to  recognize  in  him  their  especial  friend  and  master,  becoming  attached 
to  him  and  subject  to  his  will  in  an  unusual  degree. 

He  married  Fanny  A.  Hayes,  of  Delaware,  Ohio,  September  2,  1839.  She  died 
July  16,  1856,  leaving  a  son  and  three  daughters.  Prior  to  this  bereavement  Mr. 
Piatt,  with  his  wife,  entered  fully  into  the  social  life  of  Columbus,  and  freely  shared 
in  the  maintenance  of  its  wide  hospitality.  He  was  alwaj^s  a  kind  and  genial 
neighbor,  and  generous,  considerate  host.  Even  after  his  increasing  deafness  and 
the  bereavement  of  life  had  caused  his  gradual  withdrawal  from  society  entertain- 
ments, he  was  cordially  observant  of  ail  hospitable  rites,  and  always  showed  a  fine 
courtesy,  which  was  the  natural  expression  of  his  considerateness  for  others. 
In  1863  he  was  married  to  vSarah  Follett  of  Sandusky,  Ohio,  by  whom  he  had  three 
daughters. 

Mr.  Piatt  died  on  August  8,  1882,  after  an  illness  of  several  months,  borne 
with  characteristic  fortitude. 

HON.  JAMES  KILBOURN 

[Portrait  opposite  page  184.] 

One  of  the  most  widely  known  of  the  pioneers  of  Franklin  County,  was  born  in 
New  Britain,  Connecticut,  October  19,  1770.  He  died  in  Worth ington,  Ohio,  April 
9,  1850.  Until  the  age  of  fifteen  he  worked  with  his  father,  a  farmer  in  moderate 
circumstances,  and  enjoyed  but  few  opportunities  for  instruction.  At  that  time, 
his  father  having  met  with  reverses,  compelling  him  to  part  with  his  farm,  he  lefl 
his  home  and  apprenticed  himself  to  a  clothier.  Seven  months  of  each  year  he 
devoted  to  his  master,  his  only  compensation  being  his  board  and  instruction  in 
his  trade;  the  remaining  five  months  he  hired  himself  to  farmers  to  procure 
means  to  meet  his  other  expenses.  During  the  first  three  summers  of  his  appren- 
ticeship he  was  principally  employed  by  Mr.  Griswold,  father  of  Bishop  Griswold 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  The  future  Bishop  became  his  warm  friend, 
and  with  his  assistance  he  acquired  a  considerable  knowledge  of  the  classics  and 
mathematics.  About  the  commencement  of  the  fourth  year  of  his  apprenticeship, 
his  master  relinquished  all  claims  to  his  serving  as  an  apprentice,  and 
gave  to  him  the  entire  charge  of  the  establishment.  November  8,  1789,  he 
was  married  to  Lucy  Fitch,  daughter  of  John  Fitch,  of  Philadelphia,  the  inventor 
and  builder  of  the  first  steamboat  in  the  world.  During  the  next  few  years  he 
was  extensively  engaged  in  merchandising  and  manufacturing,  meeting  with  large 
saccess,  and  early  acquiring  a  competence.     During  this  time  he  continued  to  pros* 

55 


Ki;t;  IIisTORv  OF  THE  City  op  CouiMBrs. 

cMuti'  liiH  Ktudios,  aii<l  also  devotod  much  time  to  various  objects  ol'  |>iil)Hc  utility. 
11(5  had  early  iti  life  heeonie  a  nuMiiber  of  the  Trotestant  E|dsi-o])al  (.'hureh  and 
ol'len  olficiated  as  la>  reader.  About  tlie  year  ISOO,  he  presented  himseiras  a  can- 
didate tor  orders  in  the  church,  and  was  ordained  bj'  Bishop  Jarvis,  of  Conneeti- 
<iit.  He  decline<l  several  advant^i^eous  calls  to  vacant  parishes,  havinix  f<»rnie<l  a 
project  of  emigration  to  Oliio,  theu  regarded  as  the  '*  F'ar  West."  Tn  the  winter 
of  1S(H-*J,  he  succee(led  in  ohtainini^  seven  associates,  who  <iesired  tiini  to  explore 
the  country,  and  if  he  thou«^ht  expedient,  purchase  land  enou/L^li  for  Jortj'  families. 
A<cordin«r|y,  in  the  sj)ring  of  1802,  he  started  on  his  first  expedition  to  Ohio.  He 
traveled  the  first  three  lnnMlre<l  miles  by  stai^e  to  Shippensburg,  Pennsylvai»i.i. 
near  the  loot  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  thence,  carrying  a  heavy  jiack.  he 
walked  over  the  mountains  to  Pittsburgh,  150  miles;  thence  continued  traveling  on 
foot  more  than  a  thousand  miles  through  the  eastern  part  of  the  t<irritory.  After 
a  careful  surve}'  of  the  country,  he  fixed  upon  a  desirable  location,  and  returning 
home  comjdeted  the  association  of  forty  members,  know  as  the  "  Scioto  Company,'" 
and  closed  the  contract  for  a  townshij*  of  1G,000  acres  he  had  previousl}'  selected. 
In  the  spring  of  180H,  he  again  started  for  the  VV^cst,  on  horseback,  followed 
by  a  millwright,  blacksmith,  with  other  laborers  and  a  family  in  two  wagons. 
At  Pittsburgh  he  purchased  millstores,  irons,  and  other  supplies,  which  were  sent 
down  the  Ohio  River  to  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  and  thou  taken  in  a  keolboat  to 
the  new  purchase  — now  Worthington.  Mr.  Kilbourn  arrived  at  the  point  of  des- 
tination some  weeks  in  advance  of  the  others,  and  on  May  5,  1803,  he  cut  the  first 
tree  on  the  purchase.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  l)arty,  they  at  once  proceeded  to 
clear  land  and  put  in  seed  for  potatoes,  corn,  turnips,  etc.  The  also  erected  a 
blacksmith  shop,  school  building,  place  of  public  worship  and  twelve  cabins,  and 
commenced  a  dam  across  the  Scioto  River  and  laid  out  the  town.  Mr.  Kilbourn 
then  returned  to  Connecticut  and  conducted  his  own  and  ten  other  families 
to  Worthington.  The  entire  colony  now  numbered  one  hundred  persons.  Nearly 
all  of  the  adult  members  united  with  the  Episcopal  Society  and  were  constituted 
a  church  under  the  name  of  St.  John's  Parish,  of  which  Mr.  Kilbourn  was 
appointed  Hector.  Ever  active  and  efficient,  ho  visited  the  neighboring  settle- 
ments, and  other  parts  of  the  SUite,  preaching  and  organizing  societies,  many  of 
which  became  and  remained  permanent  churches.  Man}'  and  arduous  duties  had 
already  devolved  upon  him  aside  from  those  pertaining  to  his  }>rofession.  He 
superintended  all  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  and  the  calls  upon  his  time  for  the 
transaction  of  public  business  rapidly  increased.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  never 
entertained  the  thought  of  leaving  his  clerical  office,  but  his  fellow  citizens  began 
to  urge  upon  him  the  importance  of  his  taking  the  lead  in  their  civil  affairs,  and 
having  procured  the  establishment  of  a  western  diocese  by  the  General  Conven- 
tion of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  he  retired  from  the  ministry,  in  1804. 
Upon  the  organization  of  the  Stale  Government  of  Ohio,  he  was  appointed  a  civil 
magistrate  and  an  officer  of  militia  on  the  Northwestern  frontiers.  In  the  spring 
of  1805,  ho  explored  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Erie  and  selected  tho  site  of  San- 
dusky City.  About  this  time  he  recoivod,  unasked  for,  the  appointment  of  United 
States  Surveyor  of  a  largo  portion  of  tho  public  lands.     In  1806,  he  was  appointed 


i 


Representative  Citizens.  867 

one  of  the  first  trustees  of  the  Ohio  CoUei^o  at  Athens.  In  1808,  he  was  elected 
one  of  three  commissioners  to  locate  the  seat  of  Miami  University.  About  this 
time  he  was  elected  major  of  the  Frontier  Regiment,  and  soon  afterwards  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, and  then  colonel.  This  last  office  he  declined,  and  also  resigned 
his  former  commission. 

On  the  organization  of  Worthinglon  College  in  1812  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  corporation.     During  the  sanic  3'ear  he  was  aj)pointed  by  the  president  of 
the  United  States  a  commissioner  to  settle  the  boundary  between  the  public  lands 
and    tlie  Great  Virginia  Reservation.     Immediately  after  the  completion  of  this 
servico,  which  was  performed  under  circumstances  of  much  peril,  he  was  elected 
to  Congress.     On  his  return  home  at  the  close  of  the  second  session,  he  was  unani- 
mously reelected  colonel,  and  was  prevailed  upon  to  accept.     In  the  fall  of  1814 
he    was   again   placed  in    nomination   for  Congress,  his  opponent  being  General 
Philemon    Beechcr,    previously    Speaker   of  the   House.     Colonel    Kilbourn   was 
elected  by  a  vote  of  more  than  two  to  one.     At  the  end  of  the  Fourteenth  Con- 
gress, he  declined  a  renomination.     While  in  Congress  the  interests  of  the  Great 
West  were  the  objects  of  his  special  care.     He  was  the  first  to  propose  donation 
of  land  to  actual  settlers  in  the  Northwestern  Territory,  and  as  chairman  of  a 
select  committee,  he  drew  up  and  presented  a  bill  for  that  purpose.     About  the 
commencement  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  it  being  extensively  known  that 
he  had  a  knowledge  of  manufacturing  and  some  spare  capital,  he  was  requested 
by  friends  in  New  York,  and  urged  by  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  and  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  to  embark  in  the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods  for  clothing  the 
army  and  navy.     Although  remembering  the  ruin  of  all  engaged  in  similar  enter- 
prises during  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  he  was  induced  to  join  a  company  for 
that  purpose,  in  which  he  invested  all  his  ready  capital  and  incurred  liabilities  to 
a' large  amount. 

On  the  declaration  of  peace,  there  being  no  further  demand  for  army  woolens, 
the  company  met  with  great  loss.  He  sustained  the  whole  establishment  until 
1820,  when  the  factories  at  Worth ington  and  Steuben vi lie  were  obliged  to  close. 
He  now  found  himself  at  the  age  of  fifty  j'cars,  with  a  large  family,  most  of  them 
young,  deprived  of  everything  he  had  accumulated  in  his  long  and  busy  life. 
With  his  customary  energy  and  spirit,  he  took  up  his  surveying  apparatus  again 
and  went  into  the  woods.  For  more  than  twent}^  years  he  was  much  of  the  time 
busily  engaged  in  this  calling,  and  it  is  safe  to  tmy  that  he  has  surveyed  more  town* 
ships,  highways,  turnpikes,  railroads  and  boundary  lines  than  any  three  other  men 
in  the  State.  By  the  practice  of  his  wonted  industry  and  enterprise  he  in  a  short  time 
acquired  a  good  degree  of  independence.  In  1823  he  was  elected  to  the  Ohio 
legislature,  and  served  with  distinction  in  that  body.  Soon  after  this  he  was 
appointed  by  the  Governor  of  Ohio  to  select  the  lands  granted  by  Congress 
towards  the  Ohio  Canal.  In  1838  9  he  was  again  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly.  He  was  the  presiding  officer  at  the  great  State  Convention  at 
Columbus,  July  4,  1839,  for  laying  the  corner  stone  of  the  Capitol  of  Ohio ;  also  at 
the  noted  Whig  Convention  February  22,  1840.  It  may  be  added  that,  after 
arriving  at  the  age  of  seventy  he  was  called  to  preside  at  more  than  half  of  all 


8(>S  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

the  cohveiitioiiK  and  meetings  of  every  kind  whieli  he  attended.  Colonial 
Kilbourn  dettlinori  all  public  offices,  except  that  of  assessor  of  real  and  perstmal 
j)roperly  for  the  County  of  Franklin,  tlje  duties  of  which  office  he  performed  uiilil 
1X45.  when  he  resigned.  Hut  although  retired  from  active  public  life,  be  still  felt  a 
great  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  during  the  six  j'cars  ending  with  ISiS^  he 
delivered  more  than  one  hundred  addresses  on  state  and  national  policy.  He  died 
at  his  residence  in  Worthington,  April,  1850,  agecJ  eight}'  years.  He  was  twice 
marric<i.  His  first  wife  died  soon  after  his  removal  to  Ohio,  and  in  1808  he  was 
married  in  Worthington  to  C^'nthia  Goodale,  sister  of  Doctor  L.  Goodah^ 

JOHN  OTSTOT 
[Portivit  opposite  paf^e  200.] 

Was  born  in  Columbia,  Jjancastor  County,  Pennsylvania,  September  7,  1804. 
His  father,  Adam  Otstot,  had  come  to  Pennsylvania  wMth  his  parents  from 
Germany  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  issued.  His  mother  was 
born  in  York  County,  Pennsylvania.  John  attended  the  district  school  for  two 
years  and  a  half,  and  this  comprised  all  his  schooling.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he 
started  in  to  learn  the  trade  of  wagonmaker.  When  twentyone  3'eai's  of  age,  he 
decided  to  come  west,  and  finally  located  in  Columbus  in  December,  1824.  Ho 
walked  the  whole  distance  of  500  miles,  aided  by  nothing  but  a  stout  staff,  and 
carrying  his  knapsack,  which  weighed  fifteen  pounds.  This  feat  ho  performed  in 
the  remarkably  short  time  of  ten  days.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Columbus  he 
engaged  in  wagonmaking  with  Mathias  Kinney.  At  the  end  of  two  years 
Mr.  Kinney  died  and  Mr.  Otstot  bought  his  shop.  He  remained  in  this  business 
for  thirty  seven  years,  finally  retiring  from  business  in  1863  to  look  after  bis  resil 
estate,  of  which  ho  had  acquired  considerable.  In  1885  he  was  appointed  Street 
Commissioner  to  superintend  the  improvement  of  the  streets,  and  in  connection 
with  his  appointment  occurred  an  incident  which  shows  the  high  esteem  in  which 
he  was  held  by  his  fellow  citizens.  The  City  Council,  with  which  the  apjmintment 
rested,  was  a  Democratic  body,  yet  they  unanimously  appointed  Mr.  Otstot,  who 
was  and  is  a  Republican.  Under  his  careful  superin tendency  a  large  saving  took 
place  and  economical  ways  were  injected  into  the  methods  of  the  commission. 
The  steadiness  and  constancy  of  his  character  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  from  the 
time  he  first  came  to  Columbus  to  the  present  day,  a  period  of  sixtysix  years,  he 
has  always  lived  upon  the  same  lot.  For  forty  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
First  Presb^'terian  Church,  and  for  forty  five  years  a  member  of  the  Odd 
Fellows,  having  joined  Columbus  Lodge,  Number  9,  in  1845.  He  has  passed 
through  all  the  chairs  of  the  order,  and  was  treasurer  for  fifteen  years.  He  was 
also  trustee  of  the  same  lodge  for  a  period  of  thirtyone  years.  He  also  belongs  to 
Camp  6,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  is  now  colorbearer  of  the  Canton  Number  1,  I.  O.  O.  F. 
He  is  one  of  the  oldest  living  members  of  the  Old  Pioneer  Association.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Mechanics'  Beneficial  Society  from  its  beginning  in  1825  to  its 
ending  about  1880.  For  thirtyone  years  he  was  its  trustee.  It  owned  the  build- 
ing now  known  as  the  Eagle  Drug  Store,  southeast  corner  of  High  and  Rich 
streets. 


i 


Eepresentative  Citizens.  869 

Mr.  Otstot  was  married  on  August  5,  1829,  to  Eleanor  Van  Vorst,  who  had 
eoitie  to  Columbus  fronri  the  State  of  New  York.  They  had  thirteen  children, 
namely,  Catherine,  afterwards  Mrs.  Henry  Deahl ;  John  ;  Elizabeth  A.,  afterwards 
Mrs.  Henry  Behmer  ;  Amanda,  afterwards  Mrs.  William  Smith;  Adelia,  afterwards 
Mrs.  Samuel  W.  Williams;  Charles,  Lucy,  Oliver,  Woodberry,  Charlotte,  after- 
wards Mrs.  Philip  Lukop ;  Edward,  Frank  A.  and  Albert. 

Mrs.  Otstot  died  in  1861.  In  October,  1864,  Mr.  Otstot  married  Mrs. 
Matilda  Wofford,  nee  Webb. 

CHRISTIAN  FREDERICK  JAEGER 
[Portrait  opposite  page  S94.] 

Was  born  in  Heilinrode,  in  Hesse  Cassel,  Germany,  on  August  11,  1795.  His  par- 
ents were  Kev.  John  J.  Jaeger,  a  minister  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  and 
Maria  Jaeger.  When  Christian  was  four  years  old  his  father  died,  and  his 
mother  moved  with  her  children  to  Hesse  Cassel,  where  they  were  educated.  In 
1811  he  was  admitted  to  the  Westphalian  Artillery  School,  where  he  pursued  his 
military  studies  under  able  instructors  until  1812  or  1813,  when  the  French  were 
driven  out  of  the  city  by  General  Zernicheif  and  the  Russian  army.  After  the 
battle  of  Leipzig,  j'oung  Jaeger  joined  the  allied  forces  of  his  native  land.  He 
entered  the  Kur-Hessian  army,  which  formed  part  of  the  North  German  allied 
army,  and  was  commissioned  second  lieutenant.  The  Germans  pursued  the  enemy 
into  French  territory,  but  the  corps  to  which  Mr.  Jaeger  belonged  took  no  part  in 
any  severe  battles.  After  the  treaty  of  Paris,  he  returned  to  Germany,  where  he 
continued  in  service  as  an  officer  of  the  Kur-Hessian  army.  He  was  successively 
promoted  to  first  lieutenant  and  captain,  and  made  commandant  of  the  flying 
artillery  corps,  in  which  he  served  until  1832,  when  he  was  relieved  from  further 
service  by  his  own  request. 

He  was  married  in  1821  to  Johanna  Henrietta  Brauer,  who  was  born  on  Jan- 
uary 28,  1799,  and  died  in  Columbus  on  February  10,  1868.  They  emigrated  to 
America  with  their  children  in  1834,  leaving  Germany  in  A5)ril  and  arriving  in 
New  York  in  July.  Intending  to  go  to  Missouri  they  took  steamer  on  the  Hudson 
to  Albany,  then  traveled  on  the  first  horse  railway  built  in  America  to  Schenec- 
tady, from  Schenectady  by  canal  to  Buffalo,  then  by  steamer  on  Lake  Erie  to 
Cleveland,  where  again  they  embarked  on  a  canal  boat.  On  arriving  at  Lock- 
bourne,  they  found  the  feeder  of  the  canal  broken  and  the  boats  could  not  come  up 
to  Columbus.  The  children  and  baggage  were  therefore  conveyed  in  a  large 
wagon,  while  the  rcHt  walked  to  Columbus.  As  the  cholera  was  raging  with  great 
violence,  they  decided  to  remain  in  Columbus  Several  months  after  his  arrival, 
Mr.  Jaeger  bought  140  acres  of  land  on  South  High  Street,  where  he  continued  to 
reside  up  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

Mr.  Jaeger's  family  consisted  of  eleven  children,  seven  of  whom  were  born  in 
Germany.  Those  who  grew  to  maturity  were  Dorothea,  Herman  W.,  Henry, 
who  died  in  1846,  Maria,  Joanna,  Edward,  who  died  in  1876,  Frederick, 
Matilda  and  Emma.  Mr.  Jaeger  took  an  active  interest  in  politics,  but  never  held 
any  office. 


-i-ZfiJ 


R70  IIlSTORV    OF   THE    ClTY    OF    CoLUMBUS 

MII.BURY   MILLER   GREENE 
[Portrait  opposite  page  240.] 

Wtt8  born  in  Lewiston  FalU,  Maine,  on  May  11,  1830.  His  father,  David  Greene, 
who  was  of  New  Ilampt^hire  family,  was  one  of  the  first  to  engage  in  the  mauu- 
facturin*^  of  boots  and  shoes  by  organized  lal)Or,  a  bu^iness  which  has  developed 
into  such  immense  proportions  in  tiio  East.  In  the  fall  of  1889,  he  founded  tl.e 
first  factory  at  Auburn,  Maine.  On  his  return  home  from  Pittsburgh,  where  he 
had  gone  lo  introduce  his  goo  is,  ho  was  detained  in  the  Alleghany  Mountains  for 
over  a  week  by  the  fury  of  a  snow  storm,  then  raging.  This  delay  caused  him  to 
reach  New  York  in  lime  to  take  the  illfated  steamer  Lexington^  which  was  burned 
on  FiOng  Island  Sound,  and  he  was  among  the  lost.  His  body  was  afterwards 
found  in  a  boat  firml}-  wedged  beneath  the  ice.  His  wile,  Lymtha (Miller)  Greene, 
was  born  in  Kennebunk  Port,  Maine,  and  died  in  Athens,  Ohio,  November  5, 18?^4. 
at  the  age  of  eighty  six. 

Young  Milbury  Greene  attended  school  at  Lewiston  Falls  Academy,  which 
be  left  at  the  Jige  of  sixteen  in  order  to  care  for  his  mother.  After  leaving  school 
he  was  in  the  emj)loy  of  Joseph  D.  Davis  &  Co.  While  there  he  formed  an 
acquaintance  with  Walter  H.  French,  from  New  Hampshire,  who  was  a  railroad 
contractor  and  at  that  time  engaged  in  building  a  part  of  the  Maine  Central  Rail- 
way through  the  town  of  Greene,  adjacent  to  Lewiston  Falls.  Mr.  French  hav- 
ing taken  a  contract  on  the  Vermont  Central,  at  the  town  of  Bolton,  midway 
between  Montpelier  and  Burlington,  he  was  desirous  that  young  Greene  should 
accept  a  position  with  him,  which  he  accordingly  did,  and  spent  a  portion  of  the 
years  1849  and  1850  on  this  road.  In  September,  1851,  Mr.  French  offered  to  Uike 
him  as  a  partner  in  any  work  that  might  be  secured.  Having  received  an  invita- 
tion from  Captain  Kenned}',  formerly  an  engineer  on  the  Vermont  Central,  and 
then  chief  engineer  of  the  Marietta  &  Cincinnati  Railroad,  which  was  partially 
under  construction  from  Cincinnati  to  Marietta,  Mr.  French  decided  to  go  west 
with  Mr.  Greene  and  bid  for  the  work,  the  contract  for  which  was  to  be  let  that 
fall.  They  started  from  Manchester,  New  Hampshire,  on  September  7,  1851.  On 
Tucsda}',  September  1(>,  the}'  reached  Chillicothe.  Here  they  met  members  of  the 
firm  of  Cushing,  Wood  &  Co.,  who  contracted  for  the  building  of  the  Marietta!^ 
Cincinnati  road  between  Blanchoster  and  Chillicothe.  Upon  tUoh-  invitation,  Mr. 
(ireene  and  Mr.  F'rench  investigated  various  parts  of  the  work  and  soon  became 
satisfied  that,  though  they  were  thoroughly  conversant  with  New  England  work, 
railroad  construction  in  Ohio  was  of  such  a  diflxjrent  character  that  before  they 
could  successfully  compete  with  Western  builders  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of 
its  details  would  have  to  be  acquired.  They,  however,  made  an  estimate  on 
twenty  miles  of  the  road,  which  only  served  to  confirm  their  former  conclusion. 
Mr.  French  was  obliged  to  return  to  Manchester.  Mr.  Greene  determined  to 
remain  and  master  the  difficulty.  For  this  purpose  he  engaged  to  act  as  paymaster 
for  the  firm  of  Cushing,  W^ood  &  Company,  and  to  take  charge  of  their  books- 
Here  he  remained  for  eleven  months,  during  which  time  he  made  himself  thorough 
ly  familiar  with  the  details  of  Ohio  railroad  building.  He  was  now  i-eady  tor 
business.     A    partnership   was  formed   under  the  firm  name  of  French,  Dodge  (t 


Representative  Citizens.  871 

Company,  composed  of  Walter  H.  French,  of  Manchester,  New  Hampshire,  J.  B. 
French,  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  Arthur  Latham,  of  White  River,  Vermont, 
Frederick  Dodge,  of  Lynne,  New  Hampshire,  and  M.  M.  Greene.  On  September 
10,  1852,  they  made  a  bid  for  the  heavy  work  to  the  Ohio  River  at  Belpre  and 
Marietta,  which  amounted  to  $4,000,000.  The  bid  was  accepted  on  the  following 
day.  Mr.  Greene  made  the  estimates.  On  October  8,  he  returned  from  the  East 
with  men  and  supplies. 

After  the  completion  of  this  contract  he  bought  a  salt  works  property  in 
Southern  Ohio,  which  business  he  engaged  in  for  a  time.  Here  he  first  conceived 
the  idea  of  building  the  Hocking  Valley  Railway,  which  was  commenced  in  1865. 
He  entered  enthusiastically  into  the  work  of  promoting  the  enterprise,  devoting 
much  of  his  own  time  and  private  means  to  the  preliminary  surveys  and  to  the 
securing  of  local  subscriptions.  Finding  inadequate  encouragement  at  home  and 
along  the  line  of  the  proposed  railwa}',  he  visited  Columbus,  a  comparative  stran- 
ger, and  entered  upon  the  task  of  awakening  the  interests  of  its  substantial 
citizens  to  the  importance  of  the  railway  to  the  material  prosperity  of  the  city. 
At  first  he  met  with  but  little  encouragement,  but  finally  at  his  earnest  soli- 
citation, a  meeting  was  called,  at  which  some  half  a  dozen  public  spirited  citizens 
were  present.  At  this  small  gathering,  so  able  was  his  presentation  and  advocacj'^ 
of  the  merits  of  his  proposed  enterprise  and  its  future  value  to  the  city  of 
Columbus,  he  secured  the  promises  of  cooperation  of  these  few  citizens.  He 
emphasized  his  own  faith  by  offering  personally  to  repay  all  money  subscribed  for 
making  further  surveys  should  it  be  found  that  his  representations  were  not  true. 
The  immediate  result  of  the  meeting  was  a  subscription  of  $1,150  by  the  few^  gentle- 
men then  present,  to  make  a  survey.  An  engineer  was  employed  to  make  the 
survey,  whoso  report  indicated  a  better  line  than  Mr.  Greene  had  represented. 
Steps  were  than  taken  to  secure  stock  subscriptions,  the  name  being  changed 
from  that  of  Mineral  to  that  of  Columbus  &  Hocking  Valley  Railroad  Comj)any. 
Mr.  Greene  personally  soliciting  subscriptions  at  Columbus  and  along  the  line, 
obtained  in  a  few  weeks  $750,000,  and  the  Columbus  organization  was  thereupon 
perfected.  Contracts  were  made  for  the  construction  of  the  road  and  the  equip- 
ment, additional  stock  subscriptions  meantime  being  secured.  In  a  comparatively 
few  months,  the  first  train  of  Hocking  coal  was  brought  to  Columbus.  From  this 
small  beginning  has  developed  the  present  Columbus,  Hocking  Valley  &  Toledo 
railway  system,  to  which  more  than  any  other  enterprise  does  Columbus  owe  its 
fii-st  onward  and  upward  impulse,  demonstrating  its  peculiar  advantages  as  a 
manufacturing  and  commercial  city.  His  was  the  leading,  guiding  and  directing 
mind  in  the  operation  and  policy  of  the  road  from  its  inception  until  its  sale  by 
the  stockholders.  Afler  completing  the  Columbus  &  Hocking  Valley  road,  Mr. 
Greene,  as  president,  built  the  Columbus  &  Toledo,  and  the  Ohio  &  West  Virginia 
lines.  In  1881  these  roads  were  consolidated  under  the  name  of  Columbus,  Ilock. 
ing  Valley  &  Toledo  Railway  Company,  of  which  Mr.  Greene  was  president.  His 
career  as  a  railroad  man  was  continuous  from  1848  to  June  30,  1886,  when,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  board  of  directors,  he  resigned  the  presidency  on  account  of  ill 
health  and  need  of  rest. 


872  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

In  December,  1886,  be  organized  the  Clinton  National  Bank  of  Columbus  and 
was  elected  its  president,  which  position  he  occupied  at  the  time  of  bis  death, 
which  occurred  on  June  26,  1887.  Mr.  Greene's  entire  business  career  was  marked 
by  sound  judgment,  great  energy,  sagacity  and  probity. 

In  1853  he  was  married  to  Martha  K.Gould,  of  Portland,  Maine,  whose  death 
occurred  October  29,  1891.  Ilis  family  consisted  of  three  daughters  and 
two  sons. 

EDWARD  LEROY  HINMAN 

[Portrait  opposite  page  956.] 

Son  of  Daniel  and  Harriett  Wood  worth  Hinnian,  was  born  in  Southbury,  New 
Haven  County,  Connecticut,  on  October  25,  1825.  He  was  the  eldest  of  three 
children.  His  brother,  Charles  W.,  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1851,  studied  law 
and  was  adnjitted  to  the  bar  in  1853.  Preferring  books  and  literary  employment 
to  his  profession  he  entered  the  service  of  the  government  as  an  assistant  in  the 
Congressional  Library,  where  he  remained  until  the  time  of  his  denth,  whicli 
occurred  in  1864.  Marietta  E.,  a  sister,  was  married  in  1854  to  George  E.  Clark 
of  South  Carolina. 

Edward  1^.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  educated,  in  part,  at  home  by  his 
father,  who  was  an  adept  in  nmthematics;  and  in  part  at  the  Southbury  Academy. 
In  1849,  at\er  the  completion  of  his  school  life,  he  entered  a  mercantile  house  in 
New  Haven,  with  a  view  to  acquiring  a  thorough  business  training.  Seven  years 
later  he  became  financially  interested  in  a  farm  implement  manufacturing  com- 
pany at  Naugatuck,  Cc)nnecticut,  but  took  up  his  residence  in  New  York  City, 
where  he  opened  an  office  for  the  sale  of  his  goods.  In  1859  he  removed  to  Colum- 
bus and  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Hall,  Brown  &  Co.,  which,  in  18C5,  was 
succeeded  by  Brown,  Hinnian  &  Co.,  and  this  in  1888  by  the  Brown,  H  in  man  & 
Huntington  Manufacturing  Company.  These  several  firms,  or  perhaps  it  would  be 
more  accurate  to  say  this  one  firm  under  its  several  names,  has  for  thirty  years 
been  the  largest  manufacturer  of  a  certain  class  of  agricultural  implements  in 
Ohio,  and  probably  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world.  Mr.  Hi n man  has  now  for 
twenty  years  been  the  vice  ])resident  of  the  Citizen's  Savings  ]5ank  of  Columbus; 
for  twelve  3'ears  has  served  as  the  ]»rcsident  of  the  Columbus  Savings  Bank  Com- 
pany. He  is  also  a  director  of  the  Franklin  Insurance  Company,  and  is  mort?  or 
less  interested,  in  this  and  other  cities,  in  many  other  enterprises  and  industries 
with  which  his  name  is  not  so  prominently  associated  as  with  the  corporations 
named. 

In  1872  Mr.  Hinman  was  elected  to  the  City  Council  of  Columbus,  and 
assigned  to  its  finance  committee,  of  which,  on  his  reelection  two  yearn  lat<.*r,  ho 
became  chairman.  This  position  he  continued  to  hold  through  his  third  term.  In 
1878  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Bishop  a  trustee  of  the  State*,  Asylum  for  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb.  In  1880  he  was  elected  by  the  voters  of  Franklin  and  Pickaway 
counties  to  the  State  Board  of  Equalization,  and  of  this  body  he  was  unanimously 
chosen  president.  W^hen  the  Tax  Commission  was  created,  he  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  that  board  and  he  is  at   the  present  time  a   member.      In    1890  he   was 


i 


Representative  Citizens.  873 

appointed  by  Mayor  Bruck  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works  for  the  City 
of  Columbus. 

Mr.  Hinman  was  married  to  Isabella  G.,  daughter  of  Doctor  William  L.  Simers, 
of  New  York  City,  in  1855.  This  most  accomplished  and  estimable  lady  died  in 
the  fortynineth  year  of  their  married  life.  They  had  two  children,  Colonel 
Charles  D.  Hinman,  now  Secretary  of  the  Columbus  Savings  Bank  Company,  and 
Miss  Flora  B.  Hinman. 

JOHN   R.  HUGHES 

[Portrait  opposite  page  'J64.J 

Was  born  at  Felmpueleston,  near  Wrexham,  Denbighshire,  North  Wales,  on  April 
13,  1827,  and  is  the  son  of  John  and  Catherine  (Davis)  Hughes.  His  schooling 
was  embraced  in  the  three  years  that  he  attended  the  local  school  of  his  birth- 
place.  He  came  to  America  in  1848,  and  arrived  at  Granville,  Ohio,  in  May  of 
that  year.  Ho  worked  there  for  three  months  on  a  farm  for  twelve  dollars  per 
month.  After  that  he  came  to  Columbus  and  went  to  work  at  the  Buckeye  House, 
which  then  stood  where  the  Board  of  Trade  Building  now  stands,  and  was  kept 
by  Mr.  Bush,  formerly  of  Granville.  At  the  end  of  nine  months  he  went  into  the 
employ  of  Mr.  George  Peters,  who  was  engaged  in  the  business  of  trunkmaking  on 
Long  Street,  opposite  the  Long  Street  School  Building.  He  remained  with  Mr. 
Peters  for  three  j-ears,  learning  the  trunkmaker's  trade.  On  the  death  of  Mr.  Peters 
ho  ran  the  business  for  bis  widow  for  one  3'ear  and  then  bought  her  out.  He 
has  been  engaged  in  the  business  of  trunkmaking  ever  since.  He  was  one  of 
throe  persons  who  started  the  Buckeye  Buggy  Company,  which  has  become  one 
of  the  most  extensive  manufactories  of  buggies  in  Ohio;  is  a  stockholder  in  four 
railways  centering  at  Columbus,  and  is  a  director  oi'  the  Citizens'  Savings  Bank 
and  vice  president  of  the  Columbus  vSavings  Bank. 

He  was  married  on  October  7,  1853,  to  Brady  E.  Evans,  who  resided  near 
Granville,  in  Harrison  Township.  They  have  had  one  son  and  two  daughters : 
Frank  L.,  Kate  V.,  now  Mrs.  Hislop,  and  Minnie  L  ,  now  Mrs.  Wilson. 

Mr.  Hughes  is  a  Republican,  but  has  been  too  deeply  engaged  in  business 
to  give  much  attention  to  politics.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed 
to  superintend  the  construction  of  North  High  Street,  and  has  done  much  to 
advance  the  growth   of  the  city  by  the  many  fine  buildings  which  he  has  erected. 

CARL  T.    PFAFF 

[Portrait  opposite  page  272.] 

Was  born  November  20,  1887,  in  H()ns(heidt,  province  of  Waldeck,  Germany. 
When  nineteen  years  of  age  he  emigrated  to  the  United  Status  and  arrived  in  the 
City  of  New  York  in  the  middle  of  August,  lS5tJ.  After  remaining  in  New  York 
but  a  short  time  he  went  to  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  lived  until  March 
13,  1860.  Thence  he  went  to  Columbus,  Ohio,  where,  up  to  the  present  time,  he 
has  always  resided,  and,  as  he  himself  says,  always  intends  to  reside.  Since  com- 
ing to  Columbus  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  glass  and  chinawnre  business,  and 
he  now  controls  the  largest  trade  in  that  line  in  ('olumhus. 


874  History  op  thk  City  of  Columbus. 

In  1863,  lie  inarricd  Mary  A.  Hruck,  daughter  of  J.  P.  Bruck,  Esq.  They 
have  seven  children,  five  daughters  and  two  sons,  named,  Flora,  Carl,  Anna,  Matilda, 
Walter,  Paulina  and  Mary.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  German  Indei»endeiit 
Protestant  Church  since  he  came  to  Columbus.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Columbus  Miinnerchor,  the  Turner  Society,  the  Odd  Fellows,  the  Free  Masoos 
and  the  Humboldt  Society.  He  is  treasurer  of  different  building  associations  and 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  Mr.  Pfaif  served  a  term  as  trustee  of  the  Colum- 
bus Waterworks  and  is  largcl}'  interested  in  and  a  direci/Or  of  the  Columbus  Edison 
Electric  Light  Company  and  the  Columbus  Watch  Company. 

Starting  in  with  but  small  means,  Mr.  Pfaff  has,  by  economical  methods  and 
shrewd  business  foresight,  raised  himself  to  a  ])rominent  position  among  the  busi- 
ness men  of  Columbus.  He  is  thoroughly  democratic  in  his  waj's  and  has  a  large 
number  of  friends  who  have  been  drawn  to  him  by  his  genial,  kindly  disix>sition. 
In  politics  he  affiliates  with  the  Republican  party. 

JOHN   MURPHY   PUGH 
I  Portrait  opposite  page  888.] 

Was  born  on  JSovember  7,  1823,  in  Truro  Township,  Franklin  County,  Ohio.  His 
father,  David  Pugh,  was  a  native  of  Kadnorshire,  Wales,  and  his  mother,  Jane 
(Murphy)  Pugh,  a  native  of  Franklin  County,  Pennsylvania.  His  father  came 
from  Wales  to  Baltimore.  Maryland,  where  he  lived  for  a  year.  He  then  moved  to 
Ohio  and  founded  the  Welsh  settlement  of  Radnor,  in  Delaware  County.  The 
place  was  at  that  time  a  perfect  wilderness  and  the  first  white  child  born  in 
the  settlement  was  his  nephew  who  died  recently  at  the  age  of  87.  In  1814, 
the  family  moved  to  Truro  Township,  where  the  mother  of  John  M.  Pugh  died  in 
March,  1858,  and  his  father  in  October  of  the  same  year. 

Mr.  Pugh  was  educated  in  the  log  schoolhouse  of  pioneer  days.  He  also  attended 
Central  Colh^ge  lor  a  short  time.  When  about  twent3*one  3'ears  of  age  he  began 
teaching  school  on  the  Black  Lick  east  of.Columbus,  for  which  services  he  received 
eight  dollars  per  month  with  the  privilege  of  boarding  around  at  the  homes  of  his 
pupils.  On  September  4,  1348,  from  which  date  he  has  lived  in  Columbus,  he 
began  the  study  of  law  with  Major  Samuel  Brush,  a  leading  lawyer  of  his  day.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  November,  1851,  and  was  sworn  in  by  Peter  Hitchcock, 
of  the  Suj^renje  Court,  in  the  old  United  States  Courthouse.  He  clerked  for 
two  years  in  the  County  Auditor's  office,  and  two  more  in  the  office  of  the  County 
Treasurer  before  and  after  his  admission  to  the  bar.  The  first  political  office 
held  by  Mr.  Pugh,  was  that  of  township  clerk,  to  which  he  was  elected  by 
150  majority,  as  a  Democrat,  in  a  Whig  townsliip  which  had  a  party  majority 
of  (100.  He  was  chosen  to  the  office  of  County  Auditor  in  1853  and  served  in  it  for 
four  years.  He  then  retired  to  practice  law  with  Mr.  Brush,  WMth  whom  he 
remained  until  that  gentleman's  removal  to  New  York  in  1858.  He  next  j)racticed 
with  Hon.  L.  J.  (/ritchfield  until  1SG3,  in  which  year  he  was  elected  Judge  of 
the  Probate  Court.  He  held  office  fifteen  years,  until  1879,  and  then  resumed  his 
l»ractice.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  for  six  years,  during 
two  of  which  he  acted  as  president.     He  was  treasurer  eleven  years  and  president 


J 

1 


Eepresentative  Citizens.  875 

three  years  of  the  Franklin  County  Agricultural  Society,  and  served  for  five  years 
as  trustee  of  the  State  Beform  School  for  Boys,  near  Lancaster,  being  appointed  by 
Governor  Allen,  and  reappointed  by  Governors  Hayes  and  Bishop.  The  whole 
board  was  remodeled  by  a  legislative  act  during  Mr.  Pugh's  last  term  and  a 
new  set  of  trustees  appointed.  For  two  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Intermedi- 
ate Pcnitentary  Board.  It  was  greatly  through  Mr.  Pugh's  efforts,  whilst  a  mem- 
ber of  the  County  Agricultural  Society,  that  the  present  Franklin  Park  was 
bought  for  county  fair  purposes;  and  also  to  Mr.  Pugh,  as  a  member  of  the 
State  Board  of  Agriculture,  is  due  the  credit  of  securing  the  permanent  location  of 
the  State  Fair  at  Columbus. 

Mr.  Pugh  was  married  on  Christmas  Eve,  1851,  to  Martlm  F.  Cook.  They 
had  eight  children,  namely:  Martha  F.,  now  Mrs.  James  P.  Curry;  William  D., 
John  C.  L.,  Serene  E.,  Sarah,  Adda  E.,  James  and  Lovell.  His  wife  died  on 
November  16,  1881.  llis  second  marriage  was  on  July  22,  1885,  to  Elizabeth 
M.  Bradley  of  Steubenville,  Ohio.     They  have  one  child,  Helen  C. 

Mr.  Pugh  has  passed  through  all  the  chairs  of  the  Odd  Fellows,  belongs  to  the 
Jackson  Club,  is  a  staunch  Democrat,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

RICHARD  JONES, 
[Portrait  opposite  pa^e  304.] 

Born  December  4,  1810,  in  Montgomeryshire,  North  Wales,  is  a  son  of  Thomas 
and  Elizabeth  (Brees)  Jones.  His  ancestors  on  his  father's  side  were  farmers.  His 
mother's  ancestors  were  landed  proprietors  and  carried  on  extensive  dyeworks 
and  fulling  mills.  Richard  Jones,  the  subject  of  this  sketcli,  started  at  the  age  of 
nine  years  to  make  his  own  living,  working  in  his  uncle's  fulling  mills,  in  North 
Wales.  He  continued  at  this  employment  until  twcntyone  j'ears  of  age,  when  he 
sailed  for  America,  coming  immediately  to  Ohio.  He  attended  school  for  six 
weeks  in  a  log  schoolhouse  at  Radnor,  Ohio,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  was 
apprenticed  to  a  painter.  When  he  had  learned  his  trade  he  opened  a  shop  for 
himself  and  continued  in  the  painting  business  until  his  retirement  from  active 
pursuits.  He  was  married  in  October,  1887,  to  Nancy  Matilda  Jones,  daughter  of 
David  Jonep,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Slate,  who  came  here  in  1810,  and  was  one 
of  the  first  settlers  in  Columbus  Mr.  Jones  was  married  a  second  time  to  Mary 
Jones,  of  Utica,  New  York.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  four  children  —  Mary  A. 
Hirst,  Elizabeth  Ohlen,  now  deceased,  David  Jones,  and  Julia  A.  Felton.  By  his 
second  wife  he  had  one  child,  Emma  Jones.       His  second  wife  died  in  1884. 

As  Mr.  Jones  was  fiftyone  years  of  age  when  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  he  did 
not  participate  in  that  great  struggle.  Although  originally  a  Whig  in  politics,  he 
has  been  a  Rei)ublican  since  the  forination  of  that  party.  He  has  served  several 
terms  as  a  member  of  the  City  Council  and  in  other  local  offices,  but  has  alwa^'s 
been  too  busy  to  give  much  attention  to  political  affairs.  He  has  been  connected 
with  the  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  for  fifty  years,  ai  d  is  one  of  the  oldest  members  of 
that  order  in  Columbus.  He  exercised  good  business  ju<lgment  in  the  investment 
of  his  earnings  and  has  large  interests  in  stocks,  buildings  and  lands.  Mr.  Jones  is 
now  living  quietly  in  retirement  at  his  house  on  North  High  Street. 


876  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

THEODORE   LEONARD, 

[Portrait  opi>osite  pape  296.1 

Son  of  Louis  Leonard,  a  llirifty  Canadian  farmer,  and  his  wife,  Angelique 
LaVallio,  was  horn  at  La  Prairie,  Quebec,  on  October  2n,  1820.  Of  bis  ancestry 
little  is  known  prior  to  bis  grandfather,  Captain  John  Leonard,  an  officer  in  the 
Eni^lisli  army.  The  latter  was  married  to  a  French  lady  of  Bordeaux,  France, 
by  the  name  of  La  Planche.  At  the  close  of  the  American  Revolution,  Captain 
Leonard  settled  in  Canada.  He  had  five  sons,  viz.,  Jacob,  Peter,  Simon,  John 
and  Louis.  The  family  of  the  latter  consisted  of  four  sons  and  four  daugthers,  of 
whom  Theodore,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  the  second  son  and  third  child. 
His  mother  died  when  he  was  about  twelve  years  of  age,  and  soon  after  his  father 
again  married.  Theodore,  on  account  of  his  dislike  for  his  stepmother,  left  the 
paternal  roof  and  engaged  himself  to  labor  for  a  neighboring  farmer  for  food, 
clothing,  and  tifty  cents  a  month.  His  schooling  was  acquired  in  the  earlier 3'ears 
of  his  liCe  and  was  limited  to  reading  and  writing  in  the  French  language.  Later 
he  obtained  a  rudimentary  knowledge  of  English,  by  attending  night  school.  In 
1840,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he  came  to  Columbus.  On  reaching  the  city,  his  sole 
possessions  were  an  extra  suit  of  clothes  and  ^?iy  cents  in  money.  He  engaged 
as  a  laborer  in  Windsor  Atchison's  brickyard  and  soon  learned  the  brick  moulder's 
trade.  He  continued  in  Mr.  Atchison's  service  for  some  time,  when  that  gentle- 
man, noting  the  young  Frenchman's  industry  and  energ}",  made  him  his  partner 
in  business.  In  1843,  young  Leonard  returned  to  his  native  town  in  Canada,  to 
marry  Catherine  Mnlboeuf  de  Beau  Soleil,  the  daughter  of  a  well-to-do  farmer. 
After  twelve  3'ear8  of  married  life,  Mrs.  Leonard  died  in  1855,  at  the  age  of  thirt}'- 
four.  Seven  children  resulted  from  this  union,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  The 
surviving  children  are  Sister  Mary  Dolores  and  Sister  Gertrude,  both  Dominican 
nuns  at  St.  Marys  of  the  Springs  of  this  city  ;  Matilda,  Mrs.  Olive  Roberts  and 
Theodore.  In  LS5G,  Mr.  Leonard  married  Mrs.  Hannah  M.  Eoberts,  nee  Brent- 
well,  an  English  lady  of  rare  traits  of  character.  She  bore  him  four  chiMi^en, 
Mrs.  Rose  liyrne,  Josepha,  Albert,  who  died  in  early  boyhood,  and  Robert.  G.  E. 
Roberts,  a  son  of  Mrs.  Leonard,  by  her  first  marriage,  was  married  to  Mr.  Leon- 
ard's fourth  daughter,  Olive,  in  1875. 

About  the  year  1850,  Mr.  Leonard,  having  acquired  some  means,  dissolved 
]mrtnershij»  with  Mr.  Atchison,  bought  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  at 
the  junction  of  Montgomery,  Clinton  and  Mifiin  townships,  two  miles  northeast  of 
Columbus,  and  there  engaged  in  farming  and  brickmaking.  He  steadily  invested 
his  earnings  in  farm  ]>roj>erty  and  in  a  short  time  became  one  of  the  largest  land- 
owners about  Columbus.  He  also  engaged  somewhat  in  building  and  supervised 
the  erection  of  many  residences  in  Columbus  and  vicinity.  He  realized  hand- 
some |>rotits  fro!n  his  various  enterprises,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  posse.ssed 
consideiable  wealth.  He  made  generous  use  of  his  fortune  and  gave  lil)eral  con- 
tri])Utions  to  the  various  Catholic  institutions  of  the  city,  of  which  faith  he  wjis  a 
sincere  and  consistent  member.  He  dotuited  l.irgely  to  the  building  fund  of  St. 
Josephs  Cathedral,  of  this  city,  of  which  congregation  he  was  a  member,  and  left 
a  living  monument  of  his  generosity  in  the  Academy  of  St.  Mary's  of  the  Springs, 


J 


Representative   Citizens.  H77 

to  which  inHtitution  he  not  only  donated  thirty-three  iicreH  of  land,  hut  generouHly 
Bupimrted  its  buihling  lunds.  He  also  ^ave  liberall}'  to  other  charitahle  institu- 
tions of  Cohimbns. 

Mr.  Leonard  was  a  lon^  and  /j^reat  sufferer  from  rheumatism,  and  during  the 
last  three  years  of  his  life,  Bright's  disease  did  its  fatal  vvork.  lie  travele<l  eon- 
siderabiy  in  the  hope  that  a  <-hange  of  climate  mii^ht  benefit  his  health,  hut  to  no 
avail.  He  spent  most  of  the  winter  of  18Stj-7,  in  ('uba,  FIori«la  and  Mexico, 
returning  home  two  months  before  his  death,  which  occurred  on  July  (»,  1SS7,  at 
the  age  of  sixtyseven.  His  remains  were  interred  in  Calvary  Cemeter}'  from  St. 
Joseph's  Cathedral. 

JACOB   REINHARD 

[Portrait  opposite  page  3*28] 

Was  born  on  A]>ril  28,  1815,  at  Neidenberg,  Kingdom  of  Bavaria,  Germany,  and 
is  the  son  of  Michael  and  Barbara  (Geis)  Reinhard.  His  father  emigrated  to 
America  in  1833,  and  died  on  June  12,  1879.  Jacob  received  his  education  in  Ger- 
many and  also  attended  for  a  time  a  private  school  where  he  took  a  thorough 
course  in  the  study  of  the  English  language.  When  not  at  school,  he  worked  on 
his  father's  farm.  At  the  age  of  twentyone  he  took  a  number  of  contracts  for 
furnishing  broken  stone  for  macadamizing  the  National  Koad,  east  of  ('olumbus. 
On  their  completion  he  was  appointed  assistant  engineer,  which  position  ho  held 
until  1843.     During  his  leisure  hours  he  read  law  with  Herman  A.  Mooi*e. 

After  leaving  the  employ  of  the  State,  Mr.  Reinhard,  in  1843,  in  company  with 
Frederick  Fieser,  started  Jhr  WeMhote,  a  weekly  Democratic  newspaper,  printed 
in  German.  They  also  started  the  wellknown  bank  of  Reinhard  &  Co.,  in  which 
Mr.  Reinhard  is  still  activelv  interested.  In  1852,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
City  Council,  to  which  body  he  was  continuously  reelected  for  twenty  years,  until 
he  refused  longer  to  be  a  candidate..'--**^fcSve  years  he  was  president  of  the  Coun- 
cil and  when  not  president  hj,"  ^^^^3uer  or  chairman  of  the  finance  commit- 
tee. For  many  years  he^^'^'^^^^ilfftJer  of  the  Democratic  State  Executive  Com- 
mittee, and  its  treasurer.  ^^lUffwo  different  occasions  he  was  nominated  by  his 
party  for  Secretary  of  State.  In  1857,  despite  the  large  Republican  majority,  he 
was  only  defeated  by  1,107  votes.  He  was  married  on  July  12,  1841,  to  Catherine 
Hainan.  Six  children  still  survive:  John  G.,  Henry  A.,  Jacob  Junior,  Frank  J., 
Mary  and  Matilda. 

LINCOLN    KILBOURN 

[Portrait  opposite  page  3H6.J 

Was  born  at  Worthington,  Ohio,  October  19,  1810.  His  father  was  Colonel  James 
Kilbourn,  an  eminent  pioneer  from  Connecticut,  who,  as  clergyman,  soldier,  con- 
gressman, editor  and  public-spirited  citizen,  was  conspicuous  in  the  early  history 
of  Ohio.  His  mother  wjis  Cynthia  Goodale  Kilbourn,  sister  of  Doctor  Lincoln 
Goodale,  prominent  in  the  early  history  of  Columbus,  who  gave  to  the  city 
the  park  known  by  his  name.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Major  Nathan  Goodale, 
an  officer  in  the  American  army  during  the  Revolutionary  War  (afterwards  taken 


87S  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

prisoner  by  the  Inditins  near  Belpre,  Ohio,  in  1793,  <iying  in  captivity).  She  was 
the  rtrHt  white  I'onjale  child  to  8ct  foot  on  the  soil  of  Ohio.  The  family,  with 
several  others  from  Massachusetts,  had  descended  the  Ohio  River  from  Wheeling  on 
a  flathoat  in  17S8.  A  landing  was  made  near  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  River, 
aiul  there  was  a  strife  anions;  the  ladies  and  3'oung  girls  as  to  which  one  of  them 
should  he  first  on  shore.  The  captain,  who  had  taken  a  fancy  to  little  C^'nthia 
fioodale,  lifted  her  up  as  the}'  neared  the  land  and  put  her  down  in  the  shallow 
water  and  she  ran  ashore. 

Lincoln  Kilhourn  was  a  student  at  the  Worthington  Academy  until  his  fif- 
teenth year.  He  then  came  toColuml)us  and  entered  the  store  of  his  uncle,  Doctor 
Lincoln  (ioodale,  as  a  clerk,  and  hecame  a  partner  with  him  in  1885.  Upon  the 
retirement  of  Doctor  (lOodale,  Mr.  Kilhourn  formed  a  partnership  with  his  hrother- 
inlaw,  Mr.  Cyrus  Fay,  under  the  firm  name  of  Fay  &  Kilhourn,  doing  a  general 
merchandise  business.  Afler  a  few  ^^ears  this  partnei'ship  was  dissolved,  Mr.  Fay 
taking  the  dry  goods  department  and  removing  to  the  corner  of  High  and  Chapel 
streets;  Mr.  Kilhourn  taking  the  hardware  department  and  retaining  the  original 
storebuilding,  the  side  walls  of  which,  still  standing  at  this  time,  contjiin  the  old- 
est brick  in  any  building  in  Columbus.  The  firm  was  reorganized  under  the 
name  of  Kilhourn,  Kuhns  &  Co.,  which  continued  until  1868,  when  the  firm  of 
Kilhourn,  Jones  &  Co.  was  formed,  at  the  head  of  which  Mr.  Kilhourn  remained 
until  his  death.  He  was  in  mercantile  pursuits  in  Columbus  over  sixtysix  ^'ears, 
and  all  that  time  in  the  same  building — changed  and  enlarged  from  time  to 
time  —  in  which  he  began  his  business  life,  a  boy  of  fifteen  years.  In  all  these 
yeai*H  he  scarcely  missed  a  day  from  his  place  of  business,  where  he  was  engaged 
the  day  before  his  death.  His  business  abilit}'  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  during 
the  sixtysix  years  that  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  affairs,  notwithstanding  the 
great  fluctuations  in  business  that  took  place  during  that  long  period,  neither  he 
nor  an}^  firm  with  which  he  was  connected,  ever  failed  in  the  payment  of  their  obli- 
gations when  presented. 

Mr.  Kilhourn  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Kilhourn  &  Jacobs  Manu- 
facturing Company,  and  a  director  of  the  company  from  its  organization  to  the 
time  of  its  death.  He  was  one  of  the  executoi^s  and  for  many  years  solo  trustee  of 
the  Doctor  Goodale  estate,  and  was  one  of  the  six  honorary  members  of  the  Colum- 
bus Board  of  Trade.  In  politics,  in  early  life  a  Whig,  he  has  been  a  Republican 
from  the  organization  of  that  party.  He  always  took  an  active  interest  in  political 
matters,  but  never  held  or  sought  office,  nor  did  he  ever  belong  to  any  societies, 
fraternal  or  political.  While  his  age  incapacitated  him  from  service  in  the  army 
during  the  ('ivil  War,  he  was  conspicuous  in  all  measures  taken  by  citizens  of 
Columbus  for  the  support  of  the  army  and  the  Government,  devoting  to  this  pur- 
pose and  to  the  assistance  of  dependent  families  of  soldiers  in  the  field,  the  greater 
part  of  the  profits  of  his  business  during  the  continuance  of  the  war. 

Mr.  Goodale  married  Jane  Evans  at  Gambler,  Ohio,  on  June  13,  1837.  He 
was  the  father  of  five  children:  Alice  Grant,  wife  of  Brigadier-General  Joseph 
Haydn  Potter,  U.  S.  A.;  Colonel  James  Kilhourn,  of  Columbus,  Ohio;  Captain 
Charles  Evans  Kilhourn,  U.  S.  A. ;  Fay  Kilbourn,  who  died   in  childhood,  and 


Representative  (^iTrzENs.  879 

Lincoln  (ioodalc  Kilbourn,  of  Columbiia,  Ohio.  Bir.  Kilbourii  died  in  (/olimibiis 
on  Febraary  13,  1801,  in  the  ci^iity first  year  of  Ins  aj^e. 

WILLIAM  NEIL. 

(Portrait  opposite  page  344.] 

One  of  the  first  ]>ionoerrt  of  ColunibuH  and  most  energetic  of  her  citizens,  came  to 
the  infant  capital  in  1818,  from  what  is  now  Urbana,  where  he  had  located  upon 
his  arrival  from  Kentucky  in  1815.  lie  stopped  on  what  is  now  the  State  Univer- 
sity farm,  then  owned  by  Captain  Vance.  While  there  he  met  a  Mr.  Simpkin,  an 
Eastern  gentleman,  and  the  two  formed  a  ])artnership  to  deal  in  flour.  They  con- 
structed a  keelboat  from  timber  ]>rocurcd  on  the  farm  and  floated  their  cargo  down 
the  Whetstone  into  the  Scioto,  and  on  down  to  Now  Orleans.  This,  however,  was 
an  unlucky  venture  and  the  two  gentlemen  returned  to  Columbus  80,000  in  debt. 
Mr.  Neil's  outfit  when  he  came  from  Kentucky  was  a  horse,  saddle  and  bridle,  the 
usual  fortune  of  a  young  man  starting  out  in  life.  He  had  taken  a  fancy  to  the 
Vance  (now  University)  farm  and  resolved  to  own  it.  After  his  disastrous  specu- 
lation in  flour  he  bought  forty  acres  and  a  log  cabin  near  Urbana  and  engaged  in 
farmer. 

In  1818,  there  was  trouble  of  some  nature  in  the  ol*l  Franklin  Bank  of  Colum- 
bus, and  Mr.  Neil  was  sent  for  to  assume  the  position  of  cashier.  Shortly  after  this 
he  bought  the  first  stage  line,  with  a  Mr.  Zinn,  the  line  running  from  this  city  to 
Granville.  This  was  the  beginning  of  staging  operations  that  eventually  led  to  the 
construction  of  several  railroads.  Mr.  Noil  bought  other  lines;  one  to  Wheeling, 
one  to  Cleveland,  and  from  Cleveland  to  Buffalo,  one  to  Sandusky  through  Dela- 
ware and  Marion,  one  to  Marietta,  on  to  Portsmouth  through  Chillicothe,  and 
on  through  to  Maysville,  Kentucky;  one  to  Cincinnati  and  one  west  towards 
Indianapolis,  many  branches  being  established  as  the  necessities  required.  One  of 
Mr.  Neil's  partners  was  Mr.  Jarvis  Pike,  who  was  a  pioneer  on  West  Broad  Street, 
between  High  and  Front.  The  firm  name  was  once  Neil,  Moore  &  Co.  Subse- 
quently the  business  was  merged  into  what  was  known  as  the  Ohio  Stage  Company, 
with  David  W.  Deshler,  William  Suliivant  and  others  who  have  made  Columbus 
history,  as  partners  with  Mr.  Neil.  This  company  started  the  first  railway  to 
Cincinnati,  or  rather  to  Xenia,  where  it  tapped  theM:id  River  road.  This  was  in 
1850,  and  as  the  old  constitution  required  that  a  certain  amount  of  stock  had  to  be 
subscribed  before  a  company  could  organize,  the  Ohio  Stage  Company  had  to  take 
nearly  all  the  stock.  Shortly  after  this  road  was  started  the  same  company  began 
the  operation  of  the  Columbus  &  Cleveland  line,  and  then  the  old  Central  Ohio, 
and  the  Columbus,  Piqua  &  Indiana,  now  the  Pan  Eandle  West. 

Mr.  William  Neil  bought  the  Vance  farm  in  1828  and  moved  upon  it.  There 
were  about  300  acres  in  the  piece,  and  the  old  house  stood  about  where  the  lawn 
tennis  ground  is  now  located.  The  house  burned  in  1863,  when  William  Neil, 
Junior,  lived  there.  Mr.  Neil  bought  on  south  to  Columbus  all  the  land  west  of 
High  Street,  except  the  twentyfive  acre  Fisher  tract  and  the  Starr  farm,  as  far  west 
as  the  waterworks  and  south  to  a  point  opposite  the  city  prison,  from  Lyue  Star- 
ling for  five  dollars  an  aci;e.     Nearly  all  this  land  was  a  forest  of  finest  walnut, 


880  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

from  which  the  fii'Ht  tirnhur  in  tho  old  Neil  HotiBO  was  cut.  Mr.  Neil  owned  also 
nearly  H,(MM>  acres  west  of  Jligh  Street,  twentyei/^ht  acres  of  Indianola  Vieiii;^  part  of 
the  (iri^inal  tract,  which  ran  to  the  Harbor  Hoad,  nearl}'  to  the  Mock  Road,  and 
south  to  Tenth  Avenue.  It  emhraced  also  the  present  State  Fair  grounds.  Part 
of  this  was  afterwards  owned  by  Theodore  Leonard  and  Windsor  Atcheson,  and 
part  originally  belonged  to  the  Stephenson  heirs.  The  first  house  that  Mr.  Neil 
built  was  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Gay  and  Front  streets.  Ho  also  resided 
between  Broad  and  («ay,  on  Front.  To  narrate  in  detail  Mr.  Neil's  career  would 
be  to  reproduce  the  history  of  early  Columbus  and  to  re])eat  many  facts  that  appear 
in  the  body  of  the  history. 

Mr.  Neil's  family  consisted  of  six  children,  all  of  whom  are  living  excej^t  the 
first  born,  a  son,  who  died  in  infancy.  The  children  are  Robert  E.  Neil,  Mrs. 
(ioverr)or  Dennison,  Mrs.  (ieneral  McMillon,  William  A.  Neil,  John  G.  Neil  and 
Colonel  Henry  M.  Neil. 

DAVH)  TAYU)R 
(I'ortrait  opponite  pa^e  160.] 

Was  born  in  the  Province  of  Nova  Scotia,  July  24,  1801.  His  ancestors  were 
I'uritans.  Mathew  Taylor,  his  great  grandfather,  emigrated  from  near  London- 
derry, now  Derry,  New  iram])shire,  in  1722.  The  emigrants  who  settled  that 
town,  of  whom  Mathew  Taylor  was  one,  were  Prosbj'^terians  of  the  John  Knox 
school,  and  were  called  Scotch-Irish,  being  tho  (lescendants  of  a  colony  which 
migrated  from  Argyleshire  in  Scotland,  and  settled  in  the  Province  of  Ulster,  in 
the  north  of  Ireland,  about  the  year  1012.  Mathew  Taylor  was  the  father  of  six 
sons  and  two  daughters.  His  second  son  Mathew  was  born  in  Londonderry, 
New  Hampshire,  October  30,  1727.  He  married  Miss  Archibald,  of  Londonderry, 
and  had  six  sons  and  tw^o  daughters  born  to  that  marriage,  the  birth  of  Robert, 
the  fourth  son,  taking  place  October  11,  1759.  Soon  after  the  old  French  war  and 
the  evacuation  of  the  Province  of  Nova  Scotia  by  the  French  about  the  year 
1763,  Mathew  Taylor,  with  a  number  of  other  families,  moved  from  New 
Hampshire  to  Nova  Scotia  and  settled  in  the  town  of  Truro,  at  the  head  of  the 
l^ay  of  Fund}'.  At  this  time  Robert  was  in  his  infancy.  On  December  li,  1781^ 
he  was  married  to  Mehitabel  Wilson.  Four  sons  and  several  daughters  were  born 
to  that  marriage;  the  oldest  son,  Abiather  Vinton,  March  25,  1783;  the  second  son, 
Mathew,  June  18,  1785;  the  third  son,  James,  November  25,  1795,  and  the  fourth 
son,  David,  July  24,  1801. 

In  the  autumn  of  ISOtJ  Robert  Taylor  came  to  Ohio,  with  his  family,  and 
settled  in  Chillicothe.  Prior  to  leaving  Nova  Scotia  he  had  purchased  some  lands 
in  what  is  now  Truro  Township,  Frartklin  County,  and  in  the  summer  of  1808, 
while  living  in  Chillicothe,  he  determined  to  remove  to  these  lands.  Accordingly, 
in  that  year,  he  built  thereon  the  first  frame  house  ever  erected  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  county.  David,  then  seven  yoai^s  of  age,  assisted  the  workmen  in  the 
construction  of  the  house  and  lived  with  them  in  a  camp  while  the  work  was 
going  on.  In  the  spring  of  1809  Robert  Taylor  removed  his  family  into  his  new 
house,  where  he  resided  until  March  28,  1828,  when  he  died.     The  house,  which 


Eepresentative  Citizens.  881 

was  built  in  1808,  is  still  standing  and  in  a  good  state  of  preservation.  There  were 
at  the  time  it  wns  built  but  three  other  houses,  and  these  all  cabins,  in  what  is 
now  Truro  Township,  and  they  have  all  long  since  entirely  disappeared.  The 
exact  locations  of  these  first  cabins  were  known  only  to  David  Taylor  at  the  time 
of  his  death;  all  others  who  had  any  exact  knowledge  of  them  had  long  since 
passed  away;  and  but  for  a  written  memorandum  which  he  has  left,  all  accurate 
knowledge  concerning  them  would  now  be  gone.  One  of  these  cabins  was  on 
Black  Lick,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  north  from  where  the  village  of  Reynolds- 
burg  now  stands.  It  was  built  and  occupied  by  John  Edgar  and  his  family. 
Another  was  on  the  south  bank  of  a  spring  run  onehalf  mile  east  of  Walnut  Creek 
and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  the  National  Road.  This  was  built  by  Benjamin 
Cornell,  who  occupied  it  with  his  family.  An  unmarried  brother,  William  Cornell, 
also  lived  there  at  that  time.  The  third  house  stood  about  half  a  mile  southeast 
from  Cornell's  and  immediately  at  the  north  end  of  what  is  known  as  Sprague 
Hill.  The  flooring  and  weatherboarding  for  the  Taylor  house  was  gotten  out  on 
the  spot  by  the  old  whipsaw  process.  The  nails  used  in  the  building  were  brought 
through  the  wilderness  from  Chillicothe  in  sacks  on  packhorses.  There  was  an 
Indian  hut  standing  immediately  south  and  in  front  of  the  new  house,  and  this 
was  occupied  by  the  workmen  while  constructing  the  building.  David  had  been 
brought  along  to  serve  as  a  kind  of  errand  boy,  and  lived  with  the  men  in  this  old 
Indian  wigwam  for  several  months  while  the  house  was  being  constructed. 

It  requires  a  strong  eflfbrt  of  the  imagination  on  the  part  of  most  persons  now 
living  to  picture  to  the  mind  the  condition  of  this  country  as  it  was  at  that  time. 
Not  only  Franklin  County  but  the  entire  Stale  of  Ohio  was  little  less  than  a 
wilderness.  There  was  a  small  settlement  at  Franklinton  and  another  at 
Worthington,  and  outside  of  these  there  were  not  a  score  of  houses  in  the  county. 
There  was  not  a  sign  of  civilization  where  Columbus  now  stands.  The  few 
families  then  here  had  settled  along  the  streams,  where  they  found  abundant 
springs,  and  by  these  they  located  their  cabins.  In  the  wide  stretches  between  the 
Scioto  and  the  Darbys  on  the  west  and  Alum  creek  on  the  east  there  were  no 
houses.  So  also  between  Alum  Creek  and  Walnut  and  between  Walnut  and 
Black  Lick,  the  wilderness  was  unbroken  and  uninhabited.  This -was  true  of  all 
the  country  lying  between  the  Miamison  the  west  and  the  Muskingum  on  the  east. 

The  Indians  then  and  for  years  afterwards  maintained  their  annual  hunting- 
camps  along  the  banks  of  Walnut  Creek  and  other  streams  in  this  county.  One 
Wyandot  hunter,  known  to  the  white  settlors  as  "Billy,"  had  his  camp  every 
fall  until  1817  at  a  spring  on  the  west  bank  of  Walnut  Creek  in  the  first  ravine 
north  from  where  the  National  road  crosses  that  stream.  He  and  the  other 
Indians  with  him  were  friendly  with  the  whites,  and  particularly  with  the  Taylor 
family.  It  was  some  years  after  the  Taylor  family  settled  in  this  county  that 
Leatherlips,  a  chief  of  the  Wyandots,  was  executed  by  the  orders  of  Tecumseh 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Scioto,  near  the  town  of  Dublin.  This  was  then  the  very 
frontier  of  civilization.  From  all  this  country  the  Indian  and  the  forest  have  long 
since  vanished,  and  cities  and   towns  and  villages  and  splendid  farms  and  com- 

56 


8S2  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

fortable  homes  have  everywhere  appeared.     The  most  sanguine  person  of  that  day 
could  not  have  anticipated  this  wonderful  transformation. 

There  were,  of  course,  no  schools  at  that  time,  and  the  education  of  the 
younger  children  of  the  family  depended  u])on  the  parents.  The  parents  of  David 
Taylor  were  both  possessed  of  good  education,  and  they  did  the  best  the}'  could 
under  the  hard  circumstanccH  of  frontier  life  to  educate  their  children,  but  the 
best  education  they  could  receive  under  the  circumstances  was  necessaril}'  limited. 

Before  David  arrived  at  lawful  age  he  began  business  for  himself.  His  fir.st 
ventures  were  in  stock.  Between  the  years  1808  and  1820  the  country'  had  settled 
rapidly  and  the  raising  of  stock  had  greatly  increased.  Almost  every  settler  had 
some  stock,  but  none  of  them  a  great  deal.  A  new  field  of  enterprise  was  opened 
u])  in  gathering  these  small  lots  together  and  getting  them  out  of  the  woods  into 
the  markets.  Into  this  he  entered  in  1820,  and  continued  it  for  several  years. 
Between  1820  and  1827  he  collected  many  large  herds  and  drove  them  on  foot  to 
Eastern  markets.  During  this  period  he  went  "over  the  mountains,"  as  it  was 
then  called,  with  stock  eighteen  times,  and  was  successful  in  almost  evory  venture. 
In  the  meantime  he  invested  the  gains  of  his  enterprise  in  lands,  which  were 
brought  into  cultivation  as  fast  as  practicable. 

He  was  possessed  of  an  unusually  large  and  powerful  frame,  and  was  singu- 
larly indifferent  to  hunger  or  fatigue.  He  ate  when  it  was  convenient,  and  rested 
when  the  work  in  hand  was  finished.  There  wasscarcely  a  limit  to  hisendunmce. 
On  one  occasion  of  great  emergency  he  rode  on  horseback  from  Cleveland  to 
Columbus  in  mid  winter,  without  stop])ing  except  to  feed  and  char»ge  horses.  He 
was  continuously  in  the  saddle  two  nights  and  one  day,  and  made  the  distance  of 
about  140  miles  over  winter  roads  without  sleep  or  rest. 

In  November,  1822,  he  was  shipwrecked  on  Lake  Erie.  The  vessel  was 
disabled  in  a  storm,  and  after  drifting  for  some  days  it  went  ashore  in  the  night 
about  half  way  between  Detroit  and  where  Toledo  now  is,  at  a  point  near  the 
mouth  oi'  the  Kiver  Raisin.  The  captain  of  the  vessel  and  himself  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  shore,  but  could  not  tell  where  the}*  were.  Heavy  snow  had  fallen 
and  winter  ha<l  set  in,  and  it  looked  as  if  they  must  j)erish  in  the  —  to  them  — 
unknown  wilderness.  Fortunately  they  discovered  the  smoke  of  a  hut,  but  when 
they  reached  it  there  was  no  one  there  except  a  French  woman,  who  could  speak 
no  Knglish.  They,  however,  maile  her  partly  understand  the  situation,  and  she 
showed  them  the  blazed  marks  on  the  trees,  and  indicated  by  signs  and  motions 
that  it  was  a  long  way  to  the  settlement.  The  captain  was  discouraged  and 
refused  to  start,  and  so  alone  and  withcmt  food  or  guide  other  than  the  blazed 
marks  upt»n  the  trees,  he  started  on  his  journey.  The  snow  wjis  very  deep  and 
entirely  obscured  any  trail  there  might  have  been.  The  situation  was  desperate 
and  he  was  compelled  to  push  forward  with  all  possible  speed.  Much  of  the  time 
he  ran  as  b<*st  he  could,  and  at  all  times  hurried  to  his  uttermost.  Hundreds  of 
times  he  fell  down  in  the  snow,  but  persistently  held  on  his  way.  Just  at  night  he 
reached  Fort  Meigs  on  the  Maumee,  where  Perrysburg  now  stands,  and  then  for 
the  first  time  learned  where  ho  was,  and  also  that  ho  had  covered  a  distance  of 


I 


Eepresentative  Citizens.  883 

more   than  forty    miles.     This   performance  greatly   surprised   even   the   hardy 
frontiersmen  then  about  Fort  Meigs. 

From  Fort  Meigs  ho  continued  his  journey  through  the  "  black  swamp," 
following  the  Indian  trails  until  he  reached  the  Wyandot  village,  where  Upper 
Sandusky  now  stands,  and  thence  on  to  Columbus. 

From  the  Eaisin  Kiver  in  Michigan  to  a  point  near  where  the  town  of  TiflSn, 
in  Wyandot  County,  now  stands,  he  broke  the  trail  through  the  deep  snpw  a  dis- 
tance of  more  than  one  hundred  miles.  He  always  considered  the  hardships  and 
hazards  of  this  trip  greater  than  any  he  was  ever  called  on  to  endure. 

Early  in  life  he  became  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  even  after 
retained  that  relation,  and  in  that  faith  he  has  passed  away.  He  came  from  the 
old  Puritans,  and  the  Presbyterian  faith  was  his  natural  inheritance.  For  sixty 
years  he  was  an  elder  in  that  church,  and  was  always  a  liberal  supporter  of  the 
cause  of  religion. 

He  has  always  taken  an  active  part  in  the  development  of  the  agricultural 
interests  of  the  state,  and  was  for  many  years  officially  connected  with  both  the 
state  and  county  agricultural  societies. 

In  early  life  he  was  an  active  member  of  the  famous  mounted  military  com- 
pany called  the  Franklin  Dragoons.  This  company  had  served  through  the  war 
of  1812,  under  Captain  Joseph  Vance,  and  for  many  years  after  that  war  the 
organization  was  kept  up.  It  was  commanded  successively  by  Abram  McDowell, 
Eobert  Brotherton,  Joseph  Mcllvain,  Philo  H.  Olmsted  and  David  Taylor.  The 
latter  was  captain  from  1824  to  1828.  He  was  present  with  his  company  as  an 
escort  of  honor  to  Governor  DeWitt  Clinton  of  New  York,  and  Governor  Morrow, 
of  Ohio,  when  the  great  celebration  took  place  near  Newark,  Ohio,  of  sinking  the 
first  spade  for  the  excavation  of  the  Ohio  canal. 

The  late  Alexander  Mooborry,  was  the  next  captain  of  this  company,  and 
served  in  that  capacity  for  several  years.  The  company  consisted  of  sixty  men, 
each  of  whom  had  to  be  voted  in  by  the  other  members.  Each  one  was  required 
to  keep  a  good  horse  and  uniform,  and  any  one  failing  in  this  could  be  voted  out. 
This  was  perhaps  the  most  noted  military  organization  in  the  State  for  a  period 
of  more  than  twenty  years. 

When  Truro  Township  was  organized  in  1810,  its  name  was  given  to  it  by  the 
Taylor  family,  who  called  it  after  the  town  of  Truro,  in  Nova  Scotia,  from  which 
they  came. 

David  Taylor  was  first  married  in  September,  1826,  to  Nancy  T.  Nelson,  and 
two  children  had  been  born  of  that  marriage  when  she  died.  In  July,  1831,  Mr. 
Taylor  was  married  to  Margaret  Shannon,  who  died  soon  thereafter.  In  May, 
1836,  he  was  married  to  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  the  late  Judge  Edward 
Livingston,  who  came  from  New  York  State  and  settled  on  the  west  bank  of 
Alum  Creek,  in  1804.  The  exact  location  of  tins  settlement  was  about  two  hun- 
dred yards  south  of  the  line  of  Livingston  Avenue.  Judge  Livingston's  father 
was  Colonel  James  Livingston,  of  the  Revolutionary  Army,  and  was  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  oflScers  of  his  rank  in  the  War  of  Independence.  He  was  with 
General   Richard   Montgomery  when  that  officer  fell  in  storming  the  heights  of 


8S4  History  op  the  City  op  Columbur. 

(iiiobec.  Allerwards,  when  Hcrvin^^  with  Uxh  rogimont  on  the  Hudson,  he,  more 
thiir)  almost  anv  other  officer,  contributed  to  the  defeat  of  the  treasonable  schemes 
of  Benedict  Arnold.  After  the  war,  Congress  voted  him  one  thousand  acres  of 
land  on  Alum  (/reek,  in  what  waw  originally  Montgomery  Township.  It  was  to 
look  after  tlicHe  and  other  lands  that  his  son  FMward  came  U)  this  count}-.  ]t 
was  Judge  Kdward  Livingston  who  gave  to  Montgomery  Township  its  name. 
This  he  did  in  re<'ognition  of  his  old  general,  who  was  his  relative  b}*  marriage. 

l)avid  Taylor  came  of  a  large  and  powerful  ra«-e  of  men,  full  of  courage  and 
endurance.  In  person  he  was  tall  and  well  formed,  being  six  feet  and  four 
inches  in  height  and  having  a  giant'H  build  and  strength,  lie  was  of  maje^^tie 
presence  and  had  unusual  dignity  of  manner.  He  was  devoid  of  personal  vanity 
but  had  a  thorough  respect  for  himself  and  so  commanded  respect  in  others.  To 
carefully  regard  the  rights  of  others  w^as  a  cardinal  princi]>le  of  his  life.  In 
January,  1SS7,  he  fell  upon  the  ice  and  so  injured  his  hip  that  he  could  not  thereaf- 
ter walk.  He  died  July  20,  1HH9,  surrounded  by  his  family,  all  of  whom  yet  sur- 
vive him. 

ROBERT  E.    NEIL 

[Portrait  0[»pa8itc  piigc  852. ] 

Was  born  in  Colunibus,  on  May  12,  1819,  and  is  the  son  of  William  and  Hannah 
^Jeil.  He  w^as  educated  at  Konyon  College  Ohio,  and  at  Georgetown  College,  Dis- 
trict ot  Columbia.  At  the  age  of  twentyone  he  commenced  farming.  He  gave 
this  up  and  entered  upon  commercial  pursuits  He  is  interested  in  various  manu- 
facturing enterprises,  but  his  chief  business  is  dealing  in  real  estate.  In  politics, 
he  is  a  Republican,  but  has  never  held  any  public  office.  Mr.  Neil  was  married  on 
May  80,  1843,  to  Jane  M.  Sullivant,  daughter  of  William  Sullivant.  They  have 
but  one  daughter  living. 

CHARLES  HARRISON  FRISBIE 

[Portrait  oppo6ite  i>age  368.] 

Was  born  at  Worthington,  Ohio.  His  father's  name  was  Israel  W.  Frisbie  and  his 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Sarah  D.  Camp.  They  were  married  on  July  14,  1819. 
His  childhood  days  were  spent  in  the  City  of  New  York  with  his  parents.  His 
school  education  was  confined  to  that  received  at  Johnstown,  Ohio,  to  which  place 
his  parents  had  removed  from  New  York.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  went  to  work 
for  Mr.  Alpheus  Reed,  devoting  his  spare  moments  to  study  and  improvement 
while  in  the  hitter's  employ.  After  working  in  Mr.  Reed's  drygoods  house  for 
some  years,  he  came  to  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  started  in  the  grocery  business  under 
the  firm  name  of  Stage  &  Frisbie.  This  was  the  commencement  of  a  long  and 
successful  career.  He  was  always  quick,  yet  discreet  in  his  business  operations, 
and  in  addition  to  his  business  :it  his  own  place  he  was  a  silent  partner  in  the  firm 
of  George  McDonald  &  Co.  These  interests  he  retained  until  ho  retired  from 
active  business  pursuits  in  1874.  From  that  time  he  carried  on  a  private  money 
lending  business,  in  which  he  continued  until  the  time  of  his  death. 


r 


Rkpresbntativb  Citizens.  885 

Mr.  Frisbie  was  a  member  of  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  took  all  its 
degrees.  •  His  wife  was  Mary  L.  Reed,  to  whom  he  was  married  November  16, 
1852..  They  had  ten  children :  Alraira  Heed,  Adelaide  Maria,  Henrietta  Sarah, 
Annie  Allen,  Charles  H.,  Lilian  B  ,  Charles  Eeed,  Helen  Reed,  William  Martin  and 
George  McDonald. 

Mr.  Frisbie  died  February  23, 1885. 

ABEL  HILDRETH, 
[Portrait  opposite  i>age  876.] 

Whose  connection  with  the  lumber  business  dates  further  back  than  that  of  any 
other  man  now  in  that  branch  of  trade,  was  born  in  Bangor,  Maine,  January  15, 
1819.  His  parents  were  Simeon  and  Susan  [BabbidgeJ  Hildreth,  both  of  whom 
were  of  English  descent,  the  emigration  to  America  in  both  families  being  then 
several  generations  remote.  The  first  seven  years  of  Abel's  life  were  spent  on  a 
farm  about  twenty  miles  from  Bangor,  to  which  the  family  had  moved  soon  after 
his  birth.  In  1826,  Simeon  and  his  family  moved  back  to  Bangor,  where  he  opened 
a  coopershop  and  worked  at  his  trade.  Abel  was  sent  to  the  common  school  in 
Bangor,  and  gained  such  book  education  as  it  afforded,  but  he  early  began  to  assist 
his  father  in  the  coopershop,  and  became  such  a  necessity  that  his  time  at  school 
was  shortened.  When  he  was  fifteen,  he  opened  a  general  store  in  Bangor,  which 
he  conducted  until  1838,  when  the  family,  consisting  of  Simeon  and  his  wife,  two 
sons  —  Abel  and  Isaac  —  and  a  daughter,  Louisa,  came  to  Ohio.  Their^first  stop- 
ping place  was  Granville,  Licking  County,  from  which  place  Abel,  his  father  and 
brother,  set  out  on  a  prospecting  tour  in  search  of  a  farm  home,  their  choice  finally 
falling  on  a  farm  of  sixty  acres  in  St.  Albans  Township,  about  two  miles  north  of 
Alexandria.  For  the  next  nine  years  of  his  life,  Abel  worked  on  the  farm,  not 
starting  out  in  business  for  himself  until  1847,  when  he  rented  a  flouringmill  three 
miles  east  of  Newark  and  established  himself  in  the  flouring  business.  The  fol 
lowing  year  he  built  a  mill,  which  still  stands  on  the  canal  a  short  distance  north 
of  Newark,  and  moved  his  business  thither.  This  enterprise  thrived  for  a  time, 
but  a  drop  in  wheat  at  a  time  when  be  had  a  large  stock,  and  bad  partner- 
ships, conspired  against  it,  and  in  1852  Mr.  ITildreth  sold  out  to  his  j)artner  and 
came  to  Columbus  in  the  hope  of  settling  here.  He  had  little  money  and  was 
somewhat  disheartened  by  the  outcome  of  his  business  venture.  Two  years  before 
he  had  married  Elizabeth  Williams,  daughter  of  Watk ins  W.  and  Elizabeth  Reese 
Williams,  of  this  city,  and  in  this  trying  hour,  as  in  subsequent  critical  jieriods 
until  her  death  in  1889,  she  proved  a  faithful  companion,  encouraging  him,  sharing 
in  his  labors  and  helping  him  in  every  way  to  business  prosperity.  Mr.  Hildreth's 
efforts  to  establish  himself  in  business  here  failed  and  he  went  to  Somerset  in 
1853,  where  he  succeeded  in  interesting  a  number  of  people  in  a  project  to  build  a 
mill.  From  these  he  borrowed  86,000  at  8  per  cent.,  built  a  steam  flouringmill, 
and  successfully  operated  it  for  two  years.  In  1855,  he  sold  out  and  bought  a 
Perry  County  farm  with  a  sawmill  on  it,  turning  his  attention  chiefly  to  the  pre- 
paration of  hardwood  lumber  for  the  market,  thus  entering  on  his  successful  career 
as  a  lumber  dealer.     In  the  operation  of  this  sawmill  and  two  others  in  Athens 


i 


8SG  IIlSTOllY    OF   TIFE    CiTV    OF    CoLUMllUS. 

County,  he  was  engaged  tor  the  next  four  years  until  1859,  when  he  sold  out, 
reserving  the  niachiner}-  of  one  mill,  which  he  brought  with  him  to  th^s  county 
and  set  up  in  Jackson  Townshijj.  lie  established  a  lumberyard  on  High  Street  at 
the  corner  of  Noble  Alle}',  and  for  a  time  parti}'  8upj)lied  it  with  hardwood  lumber 
from  his  Jackson  Township  sawmill.  In  1860,  he  added  pine  lumber  to  his  stock. 
In  18()2,  he  bought  a  lot  at  the  corner  of  Third  Street  and  Chapel  Alley  and 
moved  his  yard  lo  that  site.  This  lot  he  sold  twentyone  years  later  to  the  gov- 
ernment, and  it  is  now  a  ])art  of  the  postoffice  site.  The  lumber  business  which 
he  established  in  1859  has  been  prosecuted  successfully  and  continuously  ever 
since,  by  him  alone,  until  18G4,  when  Joseph  F.  Martin  became  a  partner,  and  by 
them  until  the  organization  of  the  Hildreth-Martin  Lumher  Company^,  of  which 
Mr.  llildreth  is  president  and  the  largest  stockholder,  in  1884. 

In  1864,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hildreth  united  with  the  First  Baptist  Church,  of  this 
cit}'  and  were  for  years  among  its  active  and  substantial  members.  Mr.  Hildreth 
served  for  many  consecutive  years  as  trustee,  and  Mrs.  Hildreth  was  very  active 
in  the  church  mission  efforts.  The  denomination  is  indebted  to  them  for  many 
benefactions,  two  of  the  Baptist  churches  of  the  cit}'  owing  almost  their  existence 
to  them — the  Hildreth  Baptist  Church  on  Twentieth  Street,  and  the  Memorial 
Baj)tist  Church  on  San<Iusky  Street,  both  houses  of  worshi])  having  been  prcsenled 
by  Mr.  Hildreth  to  the  denomination,  the  latter  in  memory  of  his  deceased 
wife. 

The  6i>ory  of  Mr.  Hildreth's  life  fully  justifies  the  statement  that  he  is  a  self- 
made  man.  His  education  is  that  of  experience  in  dealing  with  men,  rather  than 
that  which  is  obtained  from  books.  He  has  a  native  talent  for  business,  which, 
exercised  untiringl}^  and  with  wisdom,  has  brought  him  prosperity  and  wealth. 
His  enterprise  is  manifest  not  only  in  the  growth  of  his  legitimate  business,  but 
also  in  the  development  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  city,  where  he  has  made  an 
addition  and  built  a  great  many  houses  and  one  business  block. 

In  1883,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hildreth  went  to  Florida  to  spend  the  winter  and 
located  on  the  Indian  River,  at  a  place  which  was  afterwards,  at  Mrs.  Hildreth's 
suggestion,  called  Indlanola.  Other  Northern  people  located  near  them,  and  now 
there  is  a  thriving  little  town  on  the  8ite,a  prominent  feature  of  which  is  a  Baptist 
church,  which  they  were  largely  instrumental  in  building.  Here  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hildreth  spent  their  winters,  and  here  Mrs.  Hildreth  died  in  April,  1889.  Mr. 
Hildreth  continues  to  spend  the  winter  months  in  Florida,  and  he  has  built  a 
steamboat  which  he  plies  up  and  down  the  Indian  River  for  the  pleasure  and 
recreation  of  himself  and  friends. 

LOUIS  LINDEMAN 
[Portrait  opposite  page  884  ] 

Is  one  of  the  oldest  German  citizens  of  Columbus.  He  is  a  native  of  Zweibriicken? 
in  the  Rheinkreis  of  Bavaria,  w^here  he  was  born  on  August  14,  1818.  Ho  is 
the  son  of  Louis  and  Jacohine  (Lang;  Lindeman.  After  receiving  an  elementary 
education  in  the  Bavarian  public  schools,  he  entered  the  employ  of  his  father,  who 
conducted  a  grocery  business  at  Zweibri'icken.    When  eighteen  years  old,  his  cousin, 


Representative  Citizens.  887 

Mr.  Peter  Am  bos,  who  had  returned  on  a  visit  to  his  native  land,  induced  him 
to  come  to  America  with  him,  and  in  the  fall  of  1837  he  arrived  in  Columbus.  Ho 
next  served  as  an  apprentice  for  four  ^'ears  with  Mr.  Ambos,  who  was  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  confectionery.  At  the  end  of  the  four  years,  he  became  a  part- 
ner. On  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Ambos,  Mr.  Lindeman  took  in  as  a  partner, 
Mr.  ilitze  Glock,  under  the  firm  style  of  Lindeman  &  Company.  Sometime  after- 
ward, he  became  connected  with  a  Mr.  Stevenson  in  the  same  business  at  55  and 
57  South  High  Street,  just  opposite  the  Statehouse.  In  1872  he  finally  retired 
from  business  and  has  since  given  his  attention  to  the  management  of  his 
large  estate  and  the  care  of  his  beautiful  home  and  grounds  on  South  High  Street? 
where  he  resided  with  a  married  sister,  Mrs.  Magdalene  Klie.  Since  her  death,  which 
occurred  a  few  years  ago,  he  has  lived  alone.  He  has  never  married,  never  sought 
or  held  any  public  office  or  joined  any  benefit  or  other  societies  except  the 
Independent  Protestant  ((lerman)  Church,  of  which  he  is-yet  a  member. 

Mr.  Lindeman  has  been  and  is  yet  connected  with  many  large  business  enter- 
prises of  Columbus.  He  is  a  stockholder  and  director  of  the  Columbus  Machine 
Company,  of  the  First  National  Bank,  of  the  Columbus  Watch  Company,  and  of  the 
Electric  iiight  Company,  and  held  the  same  connection  with  the  Columbus  Gas 
Light  and  Coke  Com[)any  until  it  was  bought  out  by  a  syndicate. 

WILLIAM   POWELL 

[Portrait  opposite  page  992.] 

Was  born  at  Vennington,  Shropeshiro,  England,  on  September  2, 1822.  His  father, 
William  Powell,  was  born  on  January  12,  1793,  in  Shropeshire,  on  a  farm  called 
"  The  Hazels,"  and  his  mother,  Harriet  Dickens,  was  also  a  native  of  Shropeshire, 
being  born  at  a  small  village  called  Worthin.  After  their  marriage  they  con- 
tinued to  live  on  the  old  farm  for  some  time,  but  meeting  with  financial  reverses, 
caused  by  the  burning  of  their  dwelling  and  barns,  they  concluded  to  make  a  fresh 
start  in  America.  He,  with  his  wife  and  family,  arrived  in  New  York,  on  Novem- 
ber 9,  1841.  From  New  York,  they  proceeded  by  the  way  of  the  lake  to  Cleve- 
land and  thence  by  canal  to  Columbus,  where  they  arrived  the  same  year.  After 
settling  in  Columbus,  he  followed  farming,  and  later,  contracting,  until  his  death 
in  1850.  William  Powell,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  but  nineteen  when  he 
came  to  Columbus,  and,  like  all  pioneers,  had  to  work  at  anything  he  could 
get  to  do.  His  first  start  was  in  the  grocer}'  business  in  the  old  Deshler  building, 
then  on  High  Street,  near  the  corner  of  Broad.  Continuing  in  this  for  three  years 
he  sold  out  in  1849,  and  bought  the  land  on  which  the  Powell  House  stands,  and 
built  what  was  then  known  as  the  Exchange  Hotel,  which  he  conducted  up  to 
1862,  and  again  from  1872  to  1874.  After  selling  out  in  1862,  he  engaged  in  the 
wholesale  cigar  and  liquor  business  on  East  State  Street,  and  for  a  number  of  years 
did  a  very  extensive  business.  In  1878,  he  with  others  purchased  the  North  High 
Street  Railway,  which  then  had  its  south  terminus  at  the  depot.  Through  his 
efforts  the  chariot  line  was  introduced  to  furnish  transportation  to  the  center  of 
the  city,  and  did  much  to  develop  the  North  Side,  where  he  always  resided.  In 
1888,  he  retired  from  active  business  pursuits  on  account  of  failing  health.     He 


888  IIisTORY  OF  THE  City  of  Columbus. 

was  inarrieci  in  1851,  to  Mary  A.  Huggett,  daughter  of 'Squire  James  Uuggett,  of 
Brown  Township.  His  surviving  family  consiftts  of  his  wife  and  the  well  known 
lumber  merchant,  Frank  K.  Powell.  In  politics  he  was  a  Democrat,  but  never 
held  any  office.  By  irood  business  methods,  he  had  acquired  large  wealth  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  wiiich  occurred  on  Jul}'  18,  1890. 

DOCTOR  JOHN    ANDREWS 

[Portrait  oppo(>itc  page  400.] 

Was  born  at  Steubcnvillo,  Ohio,  April  12,  1805.  The  following  sketch  of  his  life 
is  taken  from  a  memorial  address  to  the  Board  of  Control  of  the  State  Bank  of 
Ohio,  delivered  b}'  Mr.  J()sej)h  Jluteheson,  who  was  his  successor  as  ]>residont  of 
that  institution  : 

''  He  [Doctor  Andrews]  was  educated  at  Bethany,  Virginia,  taking  a  regular 
cour.se  of  study  at  what  was  then  known  as  the  Butfalo  Seminary,  under  the  man- 
agement of  that  man  of  wonderful  genius  and  acquirements,  Alexander  Campbell. 
He  then  studied  medicine,  availing  himself  of  the  a<Ivant:ige8  of  the  celebrated 
medical  schools  of  the  cit}'  of  Philadelphia  to  complete  his  education.  Ho  then 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  his  native  place,  which  he  pursued 
in  Jefferson  an<l  the  a<ljoining  counties  for  about  twenty  years.  He  had  during 
this  time  a  large  practice,  an<l  was  distinguished  as  a  surgeon  as  well  as  a  physi- 
cian. His  health  becoming  impaired,  he  abandoned  his  profession  an<i  became 
actively  engaged  in  farming  and  mercantile  pursuits,  continuing  also  his  connec- 
tion with  banking  o])erations,  in  the  management  of  which  he  had  been  long 
and  succcssfull}'  engaged.  He  afterwards  became  a  principal  stockholder  in  and 
was  President  of  the  Jefferson  Branch  of  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio.  As  the  repre- 
sentative of  this  Bank  he  was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  this  Board. 

"  In  the  Board  his  superior  business  qualities  soon  manifested  themselves,  and 
upon  the  resignation  of  the  presidency  b}^  Judge  Swan,  in  the  year  1855,  the  mem- 
bers instinctively  turned  to  him  as  a  fitting  successor.  The  eminent  ability  with 
which  his  administration  has  been  marked  is  sufficient  proof  that  this  confidence 
was  not  misplaced.  He  sacrificed  his  private  interests  to  accept  the  trust,  and 
devoted  himself  from  that  time  until  the  day  of  his  death  with  peculiar  interests 
to  its  duties.  It  was  one  of  his  fondest  hopes  that  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio  should 
be  carried  through  its  career  with  honor,  to  a  successful  i.ssue,  and  we  may  all 
rejoice  that  he  lived  to  see  this  hope  realized;  and  every  member  of  this  Board 
will,  I  doubt  not,  readily  acknowledge  that  much  of  this  remarkable  success  is  due 
to  the  wise  counsels  of  President  Andrews. 

"  Doctor  Andrews  was  a  man  in  whom  were  combined  rare  qualities  of  head  and 
heart.  His  mind  was  enriched  with  varied  learning  and  observation.  His 
researches  were  not  confined  to  his  profession.  He  was  a  careful  student  besides, 
of  history,  politics  and  finance,  and  was  especially  fond  of  philosophical  investiga- 
tions. As  a  business  man  he  had  few  superiors.  In  his  dealings  he  was  guided 
by  high  moral  principle.  He  avoided  all  hazardous  speculations,  and  confined  his 
operations  to  what  was  safe  and  legitimate,  and  by  this  course  he  was  eminently 
successful  in  his  private  affairs.     Prompt,  exact,  just,  scrupulously  honest,  he  ever 


/i 


Representative  Citizens.  889 

maintained  a  character  of  spotless  integrity.  In  iiis  social  relations  he  was  kind, 
genial  and  agreeable;  always  willing  to  listen  to  others,  and  ever  ready  to  com- 
municate and  edify  from  the  rich  stores  of  his  knowledge.  In  his  feelings  be  was 
a  domestic  man.  The  chief  sphere  of  his  happiness  was  in  his  home,  surrounded 
by  his  family,  by  whom  he  was  revered  and  loved.  There  he  ruled  with  gentle- 
ness, wisdom  and  love.  In  short,  Doctor  Andrews  was  a  scholar,  a  gentleman 
and  a  Christian.     While  we  hallow  his  memory,  let  us  profit  by  his  example." 

Extract  from  the  last  Message  of  President  Andrews  to  the  Board  of  Control^  May, 
1866:  "  We  ma}'  now  feel  like  the  manner  who  has  brought  his  ship  safely  into 
port  after  a  long  and  anxious  vo3''age.  Sometimes  with  prosperous  gales  and  fair 
sailing;  sometimes  threatened  with  appaling  dangers,  in  the  midst  of  an  ocean 
covered  with  wrecks  and  ruins  of  other  vessels.  Still  our  noble  ship — the  State 
Bank  of  Ohio — has  always  proved  herself  equal  to  the  trials  which  she  has  been 
called  to  meet;  and  especially  in  the  great  storm  of  1857,  stood  firm  amidst  the 
ruins  around  her.  Our  twenty  years'  voyage  has  been  a  success.  The  business 
men  of  Ohio  have  had  their  business  interests  with  the  bank  satisfactorily  done; 
the  people  have  been  supplied  with  a  sound  circulating  medium,  which  com- 
manded their  perfect  confidence,  and  by  the  use  of  which  no  one  has  ever  lost  a 
dollar ;  and  the  stockholders  have  received  larger  profits  than  any  other  system 
of  banking  ever  realized  in  this  or,  perhaps,  in  any  other  country,  as  the  results  of 
legitimate  business. 

"  Of  the  friends  and  companions  who  started  with  us  on  the  voyage,  some  have 
ended  the  great  journey  of  life  before  reaching  the  terminus  of  our  charter.  Of 
the  first  executive  committee,  consisting  of  Swan,  Kclley,  Kilgour  of  Cincinnati, 
Hubbard  and  Williams,  the  last  only  remains,  and  is  a  member  of  the  same  com- 
mittee this  day.  With  these  we  naturally  associate  the  much  respected  names  of 
Kilgore  of  Cadiz,  Grimes  of  Dayton,  and  Judge  Young  of  Piqua,  among  the  oarlj' 
members  of  the  Board  ;  and  the  first  two  of  whom  were  named  in  the  act  of  incor- 
poration as  commissioners  for  the  organization  of  the  bank.  I  have  often  heard 
the  remark  made,  and  have  verified  it  in  my  own  observations,  that  the  first 
founders  of  a  town  or  city  impress  their  characters  on  the  community,  and  give 
tone  to  its  society,  for  good  or  evfl,  for  a  long  period  of  time,  and  which  adheres 
to  it  through  many  generations.  If  this  be  true  also  of  a  corporation  like  ours, 
may  we  not  conclude  that  the  business  habits  and  character  of  the  State  Bank  of 
Ohio  were  impressed  upon  it  by  the  men  who  organized  and  started  it?  for  the 
State  of  Ohio  has  never  had  on  the  roll  of  her  citizens,  men  who  stood  higher,  as 
men  of  business  capacit}^,  integrity,  prudence  and  sound  judgment,  or  who  com- 
manded in  a  higher  degree  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  Ohio,  than  the  men 
who  were  first  connected  with  and  organized  this  Board.  It  is  our  duty,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  will  be  our  pride  and  pleasure,  to  close  its  businesH  on  the  same 
principle  on  which  they  started  it. 

"Other  members  of  the  Board,  some  of  whom  from  their  age  and  apparent 
strength  of  constitution,  we  might  have  naturally  ex])ectcd  to  he  with  us  at  this 
time,  have  also  j)ai(l  the  great  debt  of  nature.  Among  these  arc  Brooks,  Ranney, 
Massie,  all  in  the  prime  of  life,  beloved  and  respected  in  the  communities  where 


890  llisToav  OF  THE  Citv  op  Columbuh. 

tliey  lived.  TIk*  riiemor^'  of  all  these  will  ever  be  cherished  by  the  members  of 
this  J^oard.  For  inyself,  I  will  only  add,  that  1  will  ever  retain  a  grateful  sense 
of  the  honor  which  this  Board  has  so  often  conferred  upon  me  in  unauimoasly 
electin/^  nie  its  President  annually,  for  a  period  of  twelve  years,  and  tender  my 
sincere  thanks  for  the  kindness,  courtesy  and  indulgence  with  which  I  have  been 
uniformly  treated  by  every  member." 

WILLIAM   BLACKSTONE   HUBBARD, 

[Portrait  oppo-site  page  416.] 

Lawyer,  statesman  and  financier,  was  born  in  Utica,  New  York,  August  26,  1795. 
He  was  the  son  ol  Bcia  and  Naomi  llub])ard.  His  ancestors  sprang  from  the  be«t 
Anglo-Saxon  stock.  Mr.  Hubbard  was  a  descendant  of  the  Stow  family,  of  which 
the  first  American  progenitor  came  to  this  country  as  early  as  1640,  only  twenty 
years  later  than  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims.  The  Stow  family  settled  in  Connecti- 
cut, where  it  has  beer)  distinguished  for  many  generations.  After  receiving  a 
thorough  classical  collegiate  education,  Mr.  Hubbar<l  rea<l  law  with  his  maternal 
uncle,  Silas  Stow,  who  was  an  accomplished  lawyer  and  the  father  of  the  late  Chief 
Justice  Stow,  of  Wisconsin.  With  this  excellent  equipment  for  his  ])rofe88ion, 
Mr.  llubbai'd,  after  being  admitted  to  the  New  York  bar,  removed  to  St.  Clairs- 
ville,  Belmont  County,  Ohio,  where  he  began  the  practice  of  law  in  1816.  He  rap- 
idly rose  to  eminence  in  his  ]>rofession  and  for  years  stood  at  the  head  of  the  bar, 
being  contemporaneous  with  such  renowned  jurists  as  John  C.  Wright,  Charlejj 
Hammond,  Benjamin  Tappan,  John  M.  Goodenow,  Philip  Doddri<ige  and  Judges 
Hallock  and  licavitt.  Mr.  IFubbard  served  for  several  years  as  State's  Attorney 
for  Belmont  County.  His  great  abilit3*  and  enviable  success  were  acknowledged 
b}^  his  election  fron^  Belmont  County  to  the  Ohio  State  Senate  of  the  Twentysixth 
and  Twentyseventh  (ieneral  Assembly  from  1827  to  1829.  During  his  term  as 
Senator,  Mr.  Hubbard  entertained  the  idea  of  a  railway,  and  on  the  twenty  third 
of  Februar}',  1830,  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  legislature  which  had  been  drafted  by 
him,  entitled,  "An  Act  to  incorporate  the  Ohio  Canal  and  Steuben ville  Railroad 
Com|)any.  '  To  this  interesting  and  important  act.  General  George  B.  Wright,  in 
one  of  his  reports  as  Commissioner  of  Railroads#for  Ohio,  alludes  as  follows : 

'*This  is  the  first  legislation  by  the  State  relating  to  railroads.  Is  provisions 
indicate  how  crude  and  unique  were  the  ideas  of  railroad  management  at 
that  time.  For  example,  it  contemj)lated  the  use  of  the  railroad  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  canals.  Whoever  owned  a  locomotive  and  cxirs,  could  run  them,  upon 
the  payment  of  tolls.  The  section  in  regard  to  tolls  and  the  use  of  the  road,  reads 
as  follows:  '  The  said  corporation  may  demand  and  receive  from  all  persons  using 
or  traveling  upon  the  Faid  railroad  the  following  rates  of  toll,  towit,  for  every 
pleasure  carriage  used  for  the  conveyance  of  passengers,  three  cents  per  mile,  in 
addition  to  the  toll  by  weight  upon  the  lading.  All  persons  paying  the  toll 
aforesaid,  may,  with  suitable  and  proper  carriages,  use  and  travel  upon  the  said 
railroad,  subject  to  such  rules  and  regulations  as  the  said  corporation  is  authorized 
to  make.'  This  charter  was  granted  before  a  single  railroad  designed  to  be  used 
by  steam  power  was  operated  in  the  world,  and  only  about  four  months  after  the 


i 


Representative  Citizens.  891 

great  prize  trial  of  motive  power  in  England,  in  which  George  Stephenson's  loco- 
motive, tlie  Rocket^  won  the  prize  of  $2,500  offered  by  the  Liverpool  k  Manchester 
Company  for  a  locomotive  engine  which  would  run  at  least  ten  miles  an  hour 
drawing  three  times  its  own  weight.  This  illustrates  the  promptness  of  our 
American  people  to  seize  upon  and  utilize  any  new  and  useful  invention,  and  to  an 
Ohio  citizen  is  due  the  credit  of  first  seizing  upon  the  idea  of  a  railroad  and 
endeavoring  to  apply  it  practically." 

Mr.  Hubbard  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Thirtieth 
Ohio  General  Assembly  in  1831,  and  his  fellow  members  in  that  body  chose  him 
for  their  Speaker.  He  presided  over  the  deliberations  of  that  body  with  distin- 
guished dignity  and  capability.  In  the  fields  of  law  and  politics  Mr.  Hubbard 
thus  early  won  distinction  and  honor,  and  had  his  ambition  so  aimed,  he  might 
easily  have  attained  the  highest  political  preferment,  but  from  choice  he  gradually 
identified  himself  with  financial  and  business  affairs,  and  there  also  he  exhibited 
the  same  unusual  talent  and  achieved  eminent  success.  He  was  president  of  the 
local  bank  of  St.  Clairsville,  when  in  1839,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  the  city  of 
Columbus,  which  city  would  afford  a  wider  field  for  his  untiring  energies.  He 
became  at  once  a  leader  in  many  of  the  enterprises  that  advanced  the  growth  and 
prosperity  of  Ohio's  Capital.  He  was  made  president  of  the  Exchange  Bank  of 
Columbus,  and  later  organized  and  was  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Columbus,  the  first  bank  in  the  city  to  be  incorporated  and  established  under  tije 
national  banking  system  He  was  president  of  the  Columbus  &  Xenia  Railroad 
Company,  and  was  director  or  official  of  many  other  railway  projects.  He  assisted 
in  the  location  of  the  Green  Lawn  Cemetery,  was  first  president  of  the  Green  Lawn 
Cemetery  Association,  and  delivered  a  beautiful  address  upon  the  dedication  of  the 
grounds.  Largely  through  his  influence  the  United  States  Arsenal  was  located  at 
Columbus.  He  was  president  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society.  From 
1834  to  1865  he  was  trustee  of  the  Ohio  University  at  Athens,  which  institution 
recognized  his  rare  scholarship  by  bestowing  upon  him  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  In 
politics  Mr.  Hubbard  was  first  a  Whig  and  afterwards  a  Republican.  During  the 
Civil  War  he  was  a  staunch  and  uncompromising  Union  man,  and  used  all  the 
influence  at  his  command  in  behalf  of  the  Union  cause.  He  was  selected  by  the 
citizens  of  Columbus  to  preside  at  a  banquet  given  on  the  evening  of  December  8, 
1864,  in  honor  of  the  Lincoln  Electors  for  the  Slate  of  Ohio  He  took  a  deep 
interest  in  State  and  National  affairs,  particularly  those  of  a  financial  nature.  Ho 
was  instrumental  in  the  legislation  resulting  in  the  establishment  of  the  State 
Banking  system.  The  Honorable  Salmon  P.  Chase,  while  governor  of  Ohio  and 
afterwards  as  Secretary  of  Treasurj-  of  the  United  States,  frequently  consulted 
Mr.  Hubbard  upon  financial  questions  and  held  his  opinion  in  high  estimation. 

Mr.  Hubbard  was  moreover  an  entliusiastic  and  eminent  member  of  the 
Masonic  Order.  He  served  as  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ohio  in 
1847,  and  was  elected  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Encampment  of  the  United 
States,  being  the  only  Ohio  man  ever  elevated  to  this  resj)onsible  and  exalted  posi- 
tion. This  office,  the  highest  in  the  gift  of  the  order,  he  filled  for  twelve  consecu- 
tive years,  discharging  the  great  labors  and  important  duties  with  marked  ability 


892  History  of  the  City  op  Columbi's. 

and  wise  judgment.  His  opinions  and  decisions,  innumerable  in  number,  were 
characterized  for  wisdom  and  justice,  and  are  retained  by  the  Masonic  Order  with 
great  regard  and  reverence.  Few  men  were  so  well  versed  in  science,  literature) 
philosoph}'  and  the  arts.  In  tlio  midst  of  a  most  busy  life,  crowded  with  cares  and 
official  trusts,  Mr.  Hubbard  still  found  time  to  indulge  his  taste  and  talent  for 
learning  and  culture.  Ho  possessed  a  remarkable  memory,  and  was  a  great  reader 
of  the  choicest  literature,  old  and  new.  His  mind  retained  a  perennial  vigor  and 
brightness.  lie  never  lost  his  love  for  the  classics,  and  in  bis  last  years  he  could 
converse  readily  with  ])rofessional  scholars  in  Latin.  He  acquired  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  works  of  Shakespeare  and  was  ever  ready  with  an  apt  quo- 
tation from  the  ]>hiys  of  the  great  bard.  Endowed  with  rare  conversational  pow- 
ers, his  speech  sparkled  with  gems  of  wit  and  humor.  In  his  intercourse  with  bis 
fellowmen,  he  was  sociable  and  affable,  a  most  entertaining  companion,  a  wise 
counsellor,  a  firm  and  fearless  advocate  of  justice  and  truth  ;  and  a  stranger  would 
at  arjy  time  have  marked  him  for  what  he  really  was,  an  intellectual,  dignified, 
cultured  gentleman,  with  a  sincerity  of  purpose  and  an  unswerving  integrity  in 
all  his  business  relations.  As  an  eminent  lawyer,  as  a  legislator  and  as  a  finan- 
cier, ho  was  intimately  connected  with  the  history  of  Columbus. 

Mr.  Hubbard  died  in  Columbus,  January  5,  18G6,  having  lived  the  allotted 
Scriptural  span  of  three  score  years  and  ten.  He  was  married  January  2,  1817  to 
Margaret  Johnston,  of  St.  Clairsville,  who  survived  him  mau}'^  years,  and  was 
noted  for  her  loveliness  of  character  and  the  important  part  she  took  in  promoting 
and  assisting  the  many  charities  of  the  city.  To  her  and  her  husband  nine  chil- 
dren were  born,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  five  were  living,  as  follows  :  Hermon 
M.,  George,  Sterlirjg  J.,  Mary  N.  Bliss,  and  Margaret  Helen  Hutchinson. 

FKEDERICK   FIESER 
[Portrait  opposite  page  493.] 

Was  born  October  14,  1814,  at  Wolfenbiittel,  Duch}'  of  Braunschweig,  Germany, 
and  is  the  son  of  John  Jacob  and  Augusta  Fieser.  His  education  was  obtained  at 
the  gymnasium  of  J5raunschweig,  supplemented  by  his  own  private  reading  and 
by  his  contact  with  the  world  and  practical  affairs.  He  launched  out  for  himself 
in  183<),  by  coming  to  America,  where  ho  found  emplo3'mont  at  various  pursuits. 
In  184;{,  he  started  Ihr  IVrsthotrj  a  German  Democratic  weekly  paper,  in  company 
with  Jacob  Keinhard,  and  from  that  time  dates  the  beginning  of  a  long  and  highly 
prosperous  |)iirtnership  between  Mr.  Fieser  and  Mr.  Ueinhard.  In  1S()8,  they  opened 
a  bank  under  the  firm  name  of  lieinhard  &  Co.,  and  banking  was  the  business  in 
which  Mr.  Fieser  was  principally  engaged  up  t<^)  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was 
united  in  mairiageto  Louisa  Schede,  in  1845.  They  had  two  children,  Bertha, 
now  Mrs.  George  C  Krnuss,  and  Louis  F.  Fieser.  Mr.  Fieser  was  an  ardent 
Democrat  an<i  a  staunch  supporter  of  that  party.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Education  for  a  number  of  years,  but  was  too  busy  with  his  business  affairs  to 
accept  any  other  office.  To  attem])t  to  give  a  detailed  account  of  Mr.  Fieser's 
career  would,  as  in  the  case  of  his  lifelong  partner,  Mr.  Keinhart,  be  to  write  the 
history  of  the  progress  and  dcvelopement  of  Columbus,  for  he  has  been  closely 


j 


Representative  Citizens.  8!Kl 

identified  with  its  interests  and  has  given  hearty  support  to  every  inovoment  that 
tended  to  increase  its  prosperity,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  frequent  mention  ol'  his 
name  in  the  pages  of  this  history.  A  sketch  of  his  long,  conspicuous  and  very 
creditable  service  as  a  journalist  will  be  found  in  the  chapters  on  the  Press.  Mr. 
Fieser  died  on  May  8,  1891. 

SAMUEL  SULLIVAN   COX 
[Portrait  opposite  pa^o  448.] 

Was  born  in  Zanesville,  Ohio,  September  30,  1824,  and  died  in  the  city  of  New 
York  on  September  10,  1889.  From  a  long  line  of  American  ancestors  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Celtic  stock,  he  inherited  qualities  of  mind  and  personal  charms  and 
characteristics  which  made  him  not  only  distinguished  and  respected  in  his  public 
career,  but  loved  by  all  men  who  came  within  the  circle  of  his  private  life.  One 
of  his  ancestors,  Thomas  Cox,  was  one  of  the  twentyfour  original  j)roprietors  of 
the  province  of  East  New  Jersey.  He,  with  his  wife,  Elizabeth  HIashford,  came 
from  the  North  of  England  and  settled  in  LJpjier  Freehold  Township  in  1G70. 
James  Cox,  their  son,  was  born  in  1()72  and  died  in  1750.  Anne,  the  wife  of 
James  Cox,  was  born  in  1670  and  died  in  1747.  Joseph  Cox,  the  son  of  James 
and  Anne  Cox,  was  born  in  1713  and  died  in  1801.  lie  was  a  farmer  in  easy  cir- 
cumstances, and  a  man  of  strong  mind  and  unblemished  character.  Mary,  his 
wife,  was  noted  for  her  beauty.  In  their  later  years,  this  venerable  couple  lived 
in  one  end  of  their  large  old  house  in  Upper  Freehold,  while  James  Cox,  their 
ninth  child,  with  his  numerous  family,  occupied  the  other  part.  General  James 
Cox,  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary  Cox,  and  grandfather  of  Samuel  Sullivan  Cox,  was 
born  in  1753  and  died  in  1810,  He  was  an  officer  in  the  Revolution,  speaker  of 
the  New  Jersey  Assembly,  and  a  member  of  Congress  from  that  Stale  at  the  time 
of  his  death.  His  conversation  is  spoken  of  as  having  been  extremely  instructive, 
abounding  in  striking  anecdotes  with  a  rich  spice  of  wit  and  humor.  Anne,  the 
wife  of  General  James  Cox  and  grandmother  of  Samuel  Sullivan  Cox,  was  a 
daughter  of  Amy,  the  youngest  child  of  Joseph  Borden,  the  founder  of  Borden- 
town,  New  Jersey.  She  came  of  pioneer  stock  on  both  sides,  being  the  great 
granddaughter  of  Thomas  Potts,  who,  with  his  wife  and  children,  came  to  this 
country  in  1678  in  the  Shield,  the  tirst  ship  that  ever  dropped  anchor  before  Bur- 
lington, New  Jersey.  Ezekiol  Ta3'lor  Cox,  the  father  of  Samuel  Sullivan  Cox, 
was  one  of  thirteen  children.  He  was  born  in  1795  and  died  in  1873.  He  moved 
from  New  Jersey  to  Zanesville  early  in  the  century.  His  wife,  Maria  Matilda, 
who  was  born  on  March  16,  1801,  and  died  on  April  3,  1885,  was  the  daughter  of 
Judge  Samuel  Sullivan,  of  Zanesville.  From  this  union  also  sprang  thirteen  chil- 
dren, Samuel  Sullivan  Cox  being  the  second  son.  Ezekiei  Taylor  Cox  became 
editor  and  publisher  of  the  Muskingum  Messenger  in  1818.  Later  he  and  his  son 
Alexander  became  editors  and  proprietors  of  the  Zanesville  Gazette.  For  ten  years 
he  was  Recorder  of  the  county,  and  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Samuel  SuJIivan 
Cox  was  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  afterwards  held  the  position  of  State 
Senator. 


894  History  of  the  Citv  of  Columbus. 

Siiinuel  Sullivan  Cox  received  bis  earl}'  training  at  the  best  schools  of  Zanes- 
ville.  lie  also  atteiided  Athens  College,  Ohio,  for  two  j^ears,  under  the  presidency 
of  Professor  McGuffey,  and  al'terwards  Brown  University,  at  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  under  President  \Va,\land,  where  he  graduated  in  1846.  While  at  Brown 
the  de«^rees  conferred  on  him  in  course  were  Bachek)r  of  Arts  in  1846,  and  Master 
of  Arts  in  1S41).  The  honorary  LL.  D.  was  conferred  on  him  hy  the  same  Uni- 
versity ill  1SS5.  Adopting  law  as  his  profession  he  returned  to  his  native  city 
and  entered  the  office  of  Goddard  &  Convers  as  a  student.  Afterwards  removing 
to  Cincinnati,  lie  completed  his  studies  with  the  Hon.  Vachel  Worthington  and 
practiced  there  a  few  years.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  met  Rev.  Thomas  H. 
Stockton,  the  eminent  Methodist  divine.  Mr.  Cox  admired  his  talent,  and  it  was 
under  his  persuasive  influence  that  Mr.  Cox  was  led  to  unite  himself  with  the 
F'irst  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cincinnati.  Mr.  Cox  was  a  devoted  student  of  the 
Bible,  and  remained  a  true  believer  to  the  end  of  his  life. 

Returning  to  Zanesville,  Mr.  Cox  was  married  in  that  city  on  October  11, 
1849,  to  Miss  Julia  A.  Buckingham,  a  daughter  of  Alvah  Buckingham,  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  Ohio.  Shortly  after  his  marriage,  he  in  company  with  his  wife  visited 
the  Old  World,  remaining  abroad  nearly  a  year.  Upon  their  return  Mr.  Cox  pub- 
lished an  account  of  their  ramblings  under  the  title  of  "A  Buckeye  Abroad."  The 
success  of  this  book  turned  his  attention  to  journalism,  although  he  did  not  wholly 
give  up  the  law,  of  which  he  was  very  fond.  By  the  advice  of  friends  he  bought 
a  controlling  interest  in  the  (^ohnnhtt^i  Sfdtrsmafi.  It  was  the  Democratic  organ  at 
the  capital.  Mr.  Cox  developed  sterling  (qualities  as  an  editorial  writer,  and  dis- 
played great  aptitude  in  treating  existing  issues,  and  as  an  originator  of  strong 
ideas.  It  was  while  he  was  e<litor  of  the  Sfdtr.wnni  that  Mr.  Cox  wrote  the 
article  which  gave  him  the  appellation  of  "Sunset."  The  article,  which  was 
entitled  A  (irmt  Obi  Sunsrf^  was  published  on  May  19,  1853,  and  appears  in  full 
in  this  work  in  the  chapter  on  the  Press. 

As  the  editor  of  a  leading  Democratic  paper,  Mr.  Cox  entered  the  field  of 
politics.  In  1858,  he  succeeded  W^ashington  McLean  as  chairman  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic State  Central  Committee,  and  conducted  the  camj)aign  of  that  year,  which 
resulted  in  the  election  of  a  Democratic  Governor.  In  1855,  he  was  offered  the 
Secretaryship  of  the  Legation  at  London,  but  declined  it.  He  accepted  an  offer 
to  act  in  a  similar  capacit}^  at  Lima,  Peru,  but  arriving  at  Aspinwall  he  was 
attacked  with  the  Chagres  fever  and  ordered  home  by  his  phj'sician.  Recovering, 
he  resumed  the  practice  of  law  until  1856,  when  ho  was  elected  to  Congress  a«  a 
re]>resentative  of  the  Columbus  district.  He  began  his  Congressional  career  by 
antagonizing  his  party's  administration.  In  the  great  fight  between  Stephen  A, 
Douglas  and  President  Buchanan,  Mr.  Cox  was  an  able  lieutenant  of  Judge 
Douglas.  His  maiden  speech,  which  was  the  first  speech  delivered  in  the  present 
Chamber  of  Representatives,  was  an  able  attack  on  the  Lecompton  constitution 
under  which  it  was  sought  to  admit  Kansas  to  the  Union  as  a  slave  state.  He 
served  continously  for  eight  years,  from  December,  1857,  to  March,  1865.  During 
throe  of  his  early  terms  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  Revolutionary 
Claims,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  Charleston,  Chicago,  New  York  and  St.  Louis 


i 

i 


Representative  Citizens.  895 

conventions  in  1860,  1864,  1868  and  1876.  During  the  war,  be  sustained  the  Gov- 
ernment by  voting  men  and  supplies.  It  was  principally  through  Mr.  Cox's 
eflPorts  aiding,  the  delegation  sent  on  for  the  purpose,  that  the  United  States 
Arsenal  was  located  at  Columbus —  an  act  for  which  proper  credit  is  awarded  him 
in  one  of  the  chapters  of  this  work.  While  serving  as  a  member  from  Ohio,  he 
practiced  most  successfully  before  the  New  Grenadan  Commission  held  in  Wash- 
ington. All  questions  of  international  law  and  comity,  were  with  him  studies  of 
greatest  interest. 

In  1865  Mr.  Cox  took  up  his  residence  in  New  York  City  and  there  resumed 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  elected  to  Congress  from  that  city  in  1868, 
and  reelected  as  metropolitan  member  to  the  ten  succeeding  Congresses.  During 
these  terms,  be  served  on  several  committees,*  among  them  the  committees  on 
Foreign  Affairs,  Banking,  Library,  the  Centennial  Exposition,  ilules,  Naval 
Affairs,  and  the  Census.  He  was  also  on  the  committees  which  investigated  the 
KuKlux  troubles,  the  doings  of  Black  Friday,  National  elections  in  cities  and 
the  New  York  Postoffice.  In  the  Forty  fourth  Congress  he  was  appointed  Speaker 
pro  tempore^  and  presided  the  greater  part  of  that  session  during  the  sickness  of 
Speaker  Kerr.  He  was  again  elected  Speaker  ^>/*o  tiiapore  in  June,  1876.  At  the 
opening  of  the  first  session  of  the  Fortyfifth  Congress,  in  1887,  he  was  a  candidate 
for  the  speakership,  and  though    not  elected    frequently    presided    pro    tempore. 

In  that  session,  by  a  special  resolution  of  his  own,  he  took  upon  himself  the 
work  of  the  new  census  law,  as  he  had  also  done  in  respect  to  the  preceding  law 
which  produced  the  marvelous  tomes  of  the  Tenth  Census  reports.  He  was  the 
author  of  the  plan  of  apportionment  of  Representatives  adopted  by  the  House. 
The  tariff  was  an  old  theme  with  him  and  reciprocity'  of  trade  and  commerce  his 
constant  effort  and  ambition.  As  a  political  economist  he  was  alwa;;  s  a  leader  of 
his  party.  In  recognition  of  his  attainments  in  that  abstruse  science,  the  Cobden 
Club  of  England  bestowed  upon  him  an  honorary  membership.  The  |)ersecution 
of  the  Jews  abroad  was  also  one  of  the  subjects  of  his  earnest  and  philanthropic 
protests,  personal  and  legislative,  and  his  sympathy  went  out  to  all  lands  where 
men  were  oppressed  and  striving  for  civil  and  religious  liberty.  He  introduced 
and  championed  for  many  years  the  bill  concerning  tlie  lifesaving  service  and 
finally  witnessed  its  passage.  Mr.  Cox's  work  in  Congress  also  included  the  rais- 
ing of  salaries  of  the  letter-carriers,  shortening  their  hours  of  labor  and  granting 
them  an  annual  vacation  without  loss  of  pay.  For  many  years  he  was  a  regent 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  and  took  great  interest  in  its  work.  In  1868-69  he 
visited  Europe  and  Algiers. 

In  1872,  Mr.  Cox  was  defeated  as  a  candidate  for  congressman-at-large  upon 
the  State  ticket,  but  the  death  of  Hon.  James  Brooks,  Representative  of  a 
New  York  City  district,  necessitated  another  election,  and  Mr.  Cox  was  returned 
to  the  same  Congress  for  which  he  had  once  been  defeated.  Among  his  last 
great  works  as  a  Congressman  was  his  eloquent  and  able  advocac}-  of  the  admis- 
sion of  the  four  new  States  of  Washington,  Montana,  North  and  South  Dakota. 
This  he  achieved  the  last  year  of  his  life,  demonstrating  a  statesmanship  which 
soared  above  partisanship,  seeing  only  the  advancement  and  honor  of  the  whole 


S9r»  History  of  the  City  op  C^)LUmbits. 

eouiitr}'.  In  1885,  wliile  a  mornber  of  the  F'ortyninth  Congress,  he  was  appointed 
hy  President  (Meveljind  Minister  Plenipotentijiry  to  Turkey.  He  resi<^ned  this 
position  witli  regret  at  tlie  end  of  eighteen  months,  after  having  arrange<i,  as  far 
as  tlio  Sublime  Portia  was  concernecl,  the  treaty  sti])ulations  wliicb  had  been 
initiated  years  before  by  our  government.  It  was  alleged  that  State  reasons  pre- 
vented its  boing  prc^sented  to  or  aeted  upon  by  the  United  States  Senate.  Within 
two  montiis  after  his  return,  Mr.  Cox  was  elected  to  Congress  to  fill  a  vacancy 
created  by  the  resignation  of  Hon.  Joseph  Pulitzer,  being  thus  a  second  time 
elected  to  a  ('ongress  from  which  he  had  once  resigned.  Shortly  after  Mr.  Cox's 
resignation  and  return  froni  Turkey,  he  received  the  decoration  of  the  Order  of 
the  Mejidieh  from  His  Imperial  Majesty,  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  II.,  the  decoration 
of  the  Order  of  the  Shefakat  having  already  been  bestowed  upon  the  minister's 
wife  in  Turkey. 

In  addition  to  his  first  book,  ^'A  Huckej'^c  Abroad,"  Mr.  Cox  published  iu 
IHGfi  a  volume  of  exp(^riences  while  in  C'Ongress  from  Ohio,  viz.,  "Eight  Years  in 
Congress."  His  next  hooks  were  "  A  Search  lor  Winter  Sunbeams  in  Corsica, 
Algiers  and  Spain,"  in  1869  ;  '*  Why  We  Laugh  "  in  1876;  and  in  1882  two  volumes 
after  a  summer  tour  in  Northern  and  Eastern  Europe  entitled  "  Arctic  Sunbeams'' 
and  "Orient  Sunbeams."  He  also  published  a  little  h  ror  hit  re  Hiy\od  "  Free  Land 
and  Free  Trade,"  which  is  an  ej)itome  of  the  j)rinciples  of  Tariff  Refornj.  His 
latest  political  work  entitled,  "Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation,'*  was  pub- 
lished in  18S().  Al\er  his  return  from  Turkey  he  wrote,  in  1887,  a  small  volume 
called  *^  Prinkipo,  or  Isle  of  the  Prin(!es,"  and  a  larger  volume  called  "  Diversions  of 
a  Diplomat."  Mr.  Cox  was  a  polished  writer.  His  books  of  travel  give  vivid 
accounts  of  the  countries  and  the  peoples  of  which  he  writes,  and  in  his  pen- 
pictures,  the  humorous  side  of  human  nature  is  never  forgotten.  Whenever  it 
came  under  the  flash  of  his  eye  it  came  under  the  point  of  his  pen,  and  in  present, 
ing  it  he  had  the  happy  faculty  of  holding  the  mirror  up  to  nature.  All  of  his 
productions,  whether  in  book  form,  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  or  on  the  platform, 
were  of  classic  finish  and  were  characterized  b}^  thorough  scholarship.  Proofs  of 
the  unforgetting  gratitude  of  those  in  whose  behalf  he  wrought  so  manfully  dur- 
ing his  public  career  may  be  seen  in  the  statue  erected  to  his  memory,  by  the 
letter  carriers,  in  the  city  of  New  York ;  in  the  exquisite  memorial  vase  in  massive 
silver,  a  gift  to  Mrs.  Cox,  by  the  Life  Saving  Service;  in  the  beautifully  engrossed 
sets  of  resolutions  presented  to  her  by  the  railway  postal  clerks,  and  by  various 
civic  organizations;  and  in  numberless  other  testimonials  of  love  and  gratitude 
which  have  come  to  her  from  different  parts  of  our  country. 

DAVID  SMITH 

[Portrait  opposite  page  456.] 

Was  born  at  Francistown,  New  Hampshire,  October  18,  1785.  A  sketch  of  his 
career  as  journalist  has  been  given  in  the  history"  of  the  Press,  to  which  reference 
is  here  made.  Owing  to  the  participation  of  his  ancestors  in  the  siege  of  London- 
derry, in  King  William's  time,  their  lands  were  exempt  from  taxation,  and  bis 
grandfather's  farm  in  New  Hampshire  was  one  of  those  known  as  "  Free  Lands." 


j 


Representative  Citizens.  897 

David  Smith  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1811.  Ho  had  as  fellow-students, 
if  not  classmates,  Levi  Woodbury,  afterwards  United  States  Senator  and  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury;  Amos  Kendall,  the  famous  editor  and  Postmaster-General  under 
President  Jackson,  and  Isaac  Hill,  editor  of  the  New  Hampshire  Patriot^  and  Gov- 
ernor, with  whom  he  always  sustained  friendly  and  oven  intimate  relations.  He 
was  also  a  distant  relative  of  Franklin  Pierce,  with  whom,  however,  he  did  not 
agree  politicall}',  and  especially  on  the  shivery  question,  being  as  strongly  in  favor 
of  abolition  as  Pierce  was  opposed  to  it.  This  led  him  to  decline  an  important  con- 
sular appointment  tendered  to  him  during  Mr.  Pierce's  administration. 

Mr.  Smith  was  admitted  to  the  bar  before  or  soon  after  leaving  school,  but  did 
not  enter  on  the  practice  of  law  in  his  native  town.  In  August,  1814,  he  was 
married  to  Rhoda  Susan  Mitchell,  born  at  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  and  a 
daughter  or  descendant  of  Captain  John  Mitchell,  somewhat  famous  for  his  brav- 
ery and  military  skill  in  the  annals  of  that  rebellious  and  troublesome  colony.  The 
newly  married  couple  moved  to  Columbus,  which  had  two  years  before  been  fixed 
upon  as  the  permanent  capital  of  Ohio.  Here  he  was  among  the  first,  if  not  the 
first,  lawyer  to  become  a  permanent  resident,  and  thus  came  to  be  commonly 
known  as  **  Judge"  Smith,  a  title  which  he  afterwards  earned. 

In  181G,  in  connection  with  Ezra  Griswold,  of  Worthington,  he  began  the 
publication  in  Columbus  of  a  small  newspaper  bearing  the  long  title,  Ohio  Monitor 
and  Fatron  of  Husbandry.  It  was  not  strictly  speaking  an  agricultural  journal, 
though  part  of  its  name  was  aflerw'ards  adopted  as  the  name  of  a  powerful  farm- 
ers organization.  The  paper  continued  for  some  time  under  this  burdensome 
title,  but  was  throughout  the  greater  part  of  its  useful  career  simply  Ohio 
Monitor^  a  name  not  inappropriate,  for  it  abounded  in  good  advice  and  timely 
warning,  like  the  village  clock,  and  most  other  papers  of  its  period.  As  the  pub- 
lication of  this  paper  began  at  the  outset  of  the  "era  of  good  feeling"  under 
President  Monroe,  the  Monitor  had  no  distinctive  party  affiliations  during  the  first 
six  or  eight  years  of  its  existence.  Still,  it  was  always  an  ardent  advocate  of  protec- 
tion to  American  manufacturers.  In  the  campaign  of  1824  the  paper  supported 
John  Quincy  Adams  for  President  with  much  vigor.  After  the  famous  coalition 
of  the  friends  of  Adams  and  Clay,  resulting  in  the  election  of  Adams  to  the  Presi- 
dency and  the  appointment  of  Clay  as  Secretary  of  State,  Judge  Smith,  whose 
hatred  of  slavery  had  caused  him  to  be  bitterly  and  almost  malignantly  hostile  to 
Clay  because  of  his  inventing  and  carrying  through  Congress  the  famous  Missouri 
compromise,  was  so  incensed  that  he  became  vehemently  opposed  to  the  "admin- 
istration party,*'  as  the  supporters  of  Adams  were  called,  and  before  the  campaign 
of  1828  began,  the  Monitor  had  become,  and  during  that  campaign  was  an  ardent 
supporter  of  General  Jackson  fur  the  presidency.  It  was  ever  after  an  independ^ 
ent,  influential  and  much  quoted  Democratic  paper.  It  was  still  for  protection 
and  until  its  sale  remained  fervent  in  that  faith.  Soon  after  the  Presidential  elec- 
tion of  1836,  the  Monitor  was  sold  to  Jacob  Medary,  a  brother  of  the  famous 
Samuel  Medary,  and  it  became  one  of  the  component  parts  of  the  Ohio  Statesman^ 
in  which  its  power  and  influence  were  long  continued. 

67 


898  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

Judge  Smith  was  elected  to  the  Oliio  House  of  Representatives  from  FraDklin 
County  and  was  here  a  strenuous  opponent  of  the  "Black  Laws,'*  which  caused 
him  to  hecome  very  unpopular  witii  the  dominant  wing  of  his  part}'.  He  was 
again  a  candidate  for  iiepresentative  in  1827,  but  was  defeated  by  General  Tliomas 
C.  Flouriioy.  He  was  elected  State  Printer  by  the  Legislature,  December  29, 
1830,  over  John  Bailache,  editor  of  the  Jounuil^  on  tlie  day  of  the  election  of 
Thomas  Ewing  as  Uriited  States  Senator;  Moses  \l.  Kirby  as  Secretary  of  State 
and  Hyram  Leonard  as  '*  Keeper'  of  the  Ohio  Penitentiary.  Judge  Smith 
always  regarded  it  a  great  compliment  that  he  should  have  been  elected  to  this 
position  by  a  [):irty  to  which  he  was  o))poscd,  the  Legislature  then  being  in  con- 
trol of  the  Whigs.  He  had  [)reviously  been  elected  an  Associate  Judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas  Court  of  Franklin  County  by  the  legislature  elected  in  1824,  and 
held  the  office  for  several  years.  Soon  after  the  Presidential  election  of  1836,  he 
went  to  Washington  to  accept  a  position  in  the  Postoffice  Department  under  Presi- 
dent Jackson.  He  held  this  office  until  1845,  first  year  Polk's  administration, 
when  he  was  relieved  as  he  believed,  because  of  his  ultra  views  in  favor  of  the 
abolition  of  slavery. 

Never  of  very  robust  constitution,  his  health  had  been  very  much  impaired 
by  department  work  at  Washington.  So,  his  remaining  years  were  spent  princi- 
pally in  retirement  at  the  homes  of  his  children.  Two  of  these  lived  at  Wheeling, 
West  Virginia,  and  two  in  Adams  County,  Ohjo.  The  former  were  his  daughter, 
Rhoda,  who  married  John  W.  Gill,  a  prominent  manufacturer,  and  David  J.,  his 
youngest  son,  then  in  the  mercantile  business  in  Wheeling.  Mr.  Gill  subsequently 
removed  to  Springfield,  Hlinois,  where  he  died  in  1873.  His  widow  is  still  living 
near  that  city.  David  J.  Smith  is  also  living  and  is  a  prominent  business  man  of 
Bellair,  Ohio.  His  daughter  Elizabeth  married  Joseph  W.  McCormick,  who  was 
Attorney-General  of  Ohio  under  Governor  Wood.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCormick 
are  now  dead.  Judge  David  Smith's  oldest  son.  Judge  John  M.  Smith,  was  then 
and  for  many  years  after  editor  of  the  Adams  County  Democrat,  published  at  West 
Union,  where  he  still  resides.  He  is  probably  the  best  known  and  is  among  the 
oldest  and  ablest  lawyers  of  that  count}'.  The  newspaper  instinct  and  ability  of 
David  Smith  have  been  transmitted  to  the  second  generation,  where  they  are  now 
re|)rosented  in  Mr.  Joseph  P.  Smith,  wellknown  lor  his  recent  connections  with 
the  Cltrmont  Courier  and  Urbana  Citizen^  since  editor  of  the  Toledo  Commercial  SLXid 
now  State  Librarian. 

Judge  David  Smith  died  at  Manchester,  Ohio,  February  5,  1865.  His  remains 
were  brought  to  this  city  and  interred  in  the  Old  Graveyard,  near  where  the 
Union  Station  now  stands,  hut  were  subsequently  removed  to  Green  Lawn  Cem- 
etery. He  was  a  man  of  force  of  character  and  his  memory  is  still  treasured  by  a 
number  of  the  older  citizens  of  this  city.  In  the  growth  and  progress  of  the  city, 
to  which  he,  in  some  mensure  contributed,  he  always  took  the  greatest  pride. 
The  greatest  solicitude  he  felt  during  the  lasty  ears  of  his  life  was  for  the  complete 
triumjjh  of  the  Union  cause,  and  no  event  in  the  history  of  his  country  gave  him 
more  pleasure  than  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  by  President  Lincoln,  in 
1863. 


i 


Beprbsentative  Citizens.  899 

WILLIAM  HOOKER  SLADE 
[Portrait  opposite  page  406.] 

Was  born  February  23, 1823,  at  Cornwall,  Addison  County,  Vermont.  His  father's 
name  was  Norman  B.  Slade,  by  occupation  a  farmer.  His  mother's  maiden  name 
was  Clarissa  Alvord.  His  paternal  grandfather,  William  Slade,  was  a  soldier  in 
the  War  of  Independence,  having  enlisted  from  Connecticut.  He  was  taken  pris- 
oner at  Fort  Washington,  on  the  Hudson  Eiver,  and  was  confined  on  board  a 
prison-ship  in  New  York  harbor.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  settled  in  Cornwall, 
Vermont,  where  he  lived  as  a  farmer  until  his  death  in  1827.  Mr.  Slade's  pater- 
nal grandmother's  maiden  name  was  Mercy  Bronson.  She  died  in  1830,  His 
maternal  grandfather,  John  Alvord,  was  also  a  Kevolutionary  soldier.  His  grand- 
mother's maiden  name  was  Olive  Cogswell.  His  uncle,  William  Slade, represented 
his  native  State  in  Congress  for  six  successive  terms,  from  1830  to  1842,  and  was 
afterwards  elected  Governor  of  Vermont. 

The  only  schooling  that  Mr.  Slade  received  was  obtained  at  the  district 
schools  of  his  native  State.  He  lived  on  a  farm  until  twentyone  years  of  age, 
when  he  was  compelled  by  failing  health  to  seek  some  lighter  employment.  He 
entered  the  drygoods  store  of  Gordon  Searl,  in  Bridport,  Vermont,  and  remained 
there  for  two  years,  excepting  four  months  in  the  winter  of  the  last  3'ear,  during 
which  time  he  taught  the  district  school  of  that  town.  He  then  entered  the  dry- 
goods  store  of  Zachariah  Beckwith,  in  Middlebury,  Vermont,  for  whom  he  worked 
two  years,  until  1848,  when  he  came  to  Columbus.  He  found  employment  in  the 
drygoods  store  of  William  Richards  as  clerk  and  bookkeeper,  and  continued  to 
serve  in  that  capacity  for  three  years,  until  1851,  when  he  entered  into  partner- 
ship with  Mr,  Richards.  This  partnership  continued  until  1855,  when  it  was  dis- 
solved by  mutual  consent.  He  next  went  to  Burlington,  Iowa,  where  he  remained 
until  1858,  in  the  wholesale  notion  business.  In  1858,  he  returned  to  Columbus, 
and  became  bookkeeper  for  Eberly  &  Shedd,  wholesale  grocers.  In  November, 
1861,  Mr.  Slade  joined  the  Fiftyseventh  Ohio  Infantry  to  manage  the  sutler  busi- 
ness of  that  regiment  for  Eberly  &  Shedd.  He  was  compelled  to  give  this  up  in 
1863,  on  account  of  poor  health.  In  1865,  he  entered  into  a  partnership  with 
J.  &  W.  B.  Brooks,  wholesale  grocers.  From  this  partnership  he  withdrew  in 
1870,  when  he  formed  one  with  Mr.  John  Field,  to  carry  on  a  lumber  business. 
In  1873,  Mr.  B.  Kelton  bought  Mr.  Field's  interest,  since  which  time  the  business 
has  been  carried  on  in  the  name  of  Slade  &  Kelton. 

Mr.  Slade  was  married  at  Columbus,  in  1851,  to  Marion  Elizabeth  Bell,  niece 
of  Mr.  John  Field,  of  Columbus.  Nine  children  have  been  born  to  them,  six  girls 
and  three  boys,  namely:  Elizabeth  Undine,  William  H.  Junior,  Marion  Bell, 
Frank  Norman,  Clara  Alvord,  Olive,  Alice  Carey,  John  Field,  and  Abby  Field. 
Mr.  Slade  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Fraternity,  of  the  Knights  Templar  and  of 
Royal  Masonic  Rite  95*^.  He  is  a  Republican,  and  during  1883-4,  served  on  the 
School  Board  of  Columbus. 


900  HlHTORY    OF   THE    CiTV   OP    COLITMBUS. 

ALFRED   EMORY   LEE 

[Portrait  opposite  pa^eSM.J 

Was  born  at  Barncsvillc,  Bohnont  County,  Ohio,  February  17,  LS88,  and  spent 
most  of  the  first  twenty  years  of  In's  life  on  a  farm  a<ljacent  to  the  OhJ  National 
Road,  four  miles  west  of  St.  ('hiirsville.  His  education,  be^^un  in  a  primitive  lo^ 
schoolhouse,  was  further  pursued  at  an  academy  founded  by  his  uncle,  B.  F*.  Lee, 
at  Poland,  Mahoninp^  ('Ount3\  and  was  comj)leted  at  the  Ohio  Wesle^'an  Univer- 
sity, at  Delaware,  from  which  he  graduated  under  President  (afterwards  Bishop) 
Thomson,  in  1859.  Alter  another  summer  spent  on  the  farm,  he  attended  the 
Ohio  State  and  Union  Law  School,  at  Oleveland,  of  which  Judge  C.  Hay  den,  an 
eminent  New  York  jurist,  was  president  and  General  M  I).  Leggett,  for  a  time,  a 
professor.  From  this  institution,  which  was  also  originally  founded  by  his  uncle, 
he  graduated  just  after  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  in  IHiU,  Returning  to  the 
farm  to  help  gather  the  harvest,  he  was  at  work  in  the  field  when  he  received  a 
newspaper  from  Wheeling  announcing  the  appalling  defeat  of  the  National  Army 
at  Bull  Run.  He  soon  after  engaged  in  the  recruiting  service,  and  on  November 
4,  18()1,  was  mustered  in  at  Delaw^are,  Ohio,  as  a  private  soldier  of  the  Eighty- 
second  Ohio  Infantry,  a  regiment  then  being  organized  under  (^Jolonel  James 
(/antwell,  of  Kenton.  About  one  month  later  the  company,  in  which  lie  was  one 
of  the  first  to  enlist,  was  conducted,  nearly  ninety  strong,  to  the  rendezvous  of  the 
regiment  at  Camp  Simon  Kenton,  near  Kenton.  Its  leader  was  George  H.  Purdy, 
a  talented  3'oung  lawyer  of  Delaware,  who  was  afterwards  killed  at  Chancellors- 
ville.  By^  unanimous  vote  of  this  company,  at  the  organization  of  the  regiment, 
Mr.  Purdy  was  chosen  its  captain  and  Mr.  Lee  its  first  lieutenant.  Its  second 
lieutenant,  also  chosen  by  the  company,  was  Harvey  M.  Litzenberg,  of  Delaware 
County,  who  was  afterwards  killed  in  battle  at  G-roveton. 

Under  Colonel  Cantwell,  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  War,  also  destined  to  fall 
at  Groveton,  the  Eightj'second  took  the  field  early  in  1862,  and  from  that  time 
forward  remained  in  active  service  at  the  front  until  the  war  closed.  Its  total 
enrollment  was  1,721 ;  its  total  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  524.  Fox's  Regimental 
Losses  says:  "The  Eightysecond  lost  the  most  officers  in  battle  of  any  Ohio 
regiment."  Of  twentytwo  officers  engaged  with  it  at  Gettysburg  it  lost  twenty, 
all  but  two  of  whom  were  killed  or  wounded.  Its  loss  of  enlisted  men  in  that 
battle  was  161  out  of  a  total  engaged  of  236.  After  serving  eighteen  months 
in  Virginia  it  was  transferred  with  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  array  corps,  under 
Hooker,  to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  Mr.  Lee  served  with  it,  except  when 
detached  on  .stafl'  duty,  until  its  musterout  in  July,  1866,  and  participated  in  the 
following  buttles  and  campaigns:  Bull  Pasture  Mountain,  Cross  Keys,  Cedar 
Mountain,  Ciroveton  (otherwise  called  Manassas),  Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg, 
Wauhatchie,  Misjsionary  Ridge,  Relief  of  Knoxville,  Resaca,  New  Hope  Church, 
Culj)'s  Farm,  Peach  Tree  Creek,  Atlanta,  Sandcrsville,  Monteilh  Swamp,  Savannah, 
Averysboro  and  Benton ville.  After  the  battle  of  Cedar  Mountain,  Lieutenant 
Lee  was,  very  unexpectedly  to  himself,  promoted  to  a  captaincy.  At  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg  he  was  severely  wounded,  captured  and  reported  killed.  By  the 
kindness  of  a  mounted  orderly  attached  to  the  staff  of  the  Confederate  General 


j 


Eepresentative  Citizens.  901 

Ewell,  ho  was  conveyed  to  the  Crawford  House,  then  the  headquarters  of  that 
oflBcer,  and  was  cared  for  by  Mrs.  Smith,  a  member  of  the  Crawford  household. 
Among  his  fellow  captives  there  was  General  Francis  C.  Barlow,  of  New  York. 
From  the  Crawford  House  he  was  conveyed  after  the  battle  to  the  Eleventh  Corps 
Field  Hospital  at  the  Spangler  Barn,  in  and  about  which  were  lying,  at  the  time, 
about  1500  Union  and  Confederate  wounded.  Among  the  Confederates  was  the 
famous  General  Armistead,  who  fell  in  Pickett's  charge,  and  died  in  a  shed  a  few. 
yards  from  the  haymow  in  which  Captain  Lee,  with  the  other  wounded,  were 
placed. 

As  soon  as  his  wound  had  suifficientl}'  healed  to  enable  him  to  walk,  Captain 
Lee  rejoined  his  regiment  at  Bridgeport,  Alabama.  A  few  days  later  he  took 
part  ill  the  midnight  repulse  of  Longs treet,  the  old  Virginia  antagonist  of  his 
corps,  in  Lookout  Valley,  and  with  a  detachment  of  four  companies,  of  which  he 
was  placed  in  command,  drove  the  enemy  from  a  steep  timbered  height,  afterwards 
known  (from  the  commander  of  his  brigade)  as  the  TyndaleHill.  From  this  hill, 
at  a  later  period  in  the  campaign.  General  Hooker  directed  the  attack  on  Lookout 
Mountain. 

By  the  Lookout  Valley  battle,  known  as  Wauhatchie,  the  direct  supply  route 
of  the  Arm)^  of  the  Cumberland,  then  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  was  opened. 
For  some  days  and  nights  ensuing,  Hooker's  troops,  while  constantly  shelled  in 
daytime  from  the  batteries  on  Lookout  Mountain,  were  engaged  in  fortifying 
their  position  in  expectation  of  another  attack.  While  thus  engaged,  with  his 
company,  at  midnight.  Captain  Lee  was  visited,  on  a  round  of  inspection,  by  his 
brigade  commander.  General  Hector  Tyndale,  of  Philadelphia,  with  whom  he  then, 
for  the  first  time,  made  a  personal  acquaintance.  A  few  days  later  General 
Tyndale  appointed  him  Adjutant-General  of  the  brigade,  a  position  in  which  he 
continued  to  serve,  in  the  field,  until  the  close  of  the  war.  A  few  months  after  he 
had  been  called  to  the  staflP,  the  command  of  the  brigade  devolved  upon  the  late 
General  James  S.  Kobinson,  original  Major  of  the  Eightysecond  Ohio,  the  effects 
of  a  severe  wound  having  compelled  General  Tyndale  to  withdraw  from  active 
service.^  During  the  March  to  the  Sea,  Adjutant-General  Lee,  at  the  head  of  an 
infantry  detachment  from  his  brigade,  leading  the  Twentieth  Corps,  drove 
Wheeler's  Confederate  cavalry  some  miles  on  the  road  near  Sandersville,  Georgia. 
For  this  service  ho  received  the  compliment  of  personal  mention  by  General 
Robinson  to  General  Slocum. 

During  his  army  service  Mr.  Leo  wrote  a  series  of  "  knapsack  letters,"  which 
were  published  over  the  signature  "  A.  T.  Sechand  " — an  imitation  of  "  Eighty- 
second,"  the  number  of  his  regiment — in  the  Delaware,  Oliio,  Gazette.  He  also 
wrote  occasionally  for  the  Cincinnati  Conunercidl,  the  Arrny  and  Navy  Journnlj  and 
other  periodicals.  While  in  the  field  he  was  a  diligent  student  of  military  science, 
and  when  the  war  closed  received  from  Secretary  Stanton  an  appointment  as 
Second-Lieutenant  in  the  Thirtythird  United  States  Infantry  (Colonel  De 
Trobriand),  but  declined  the  position.  He  was  mustered  out  of  service  at  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  July  24,  1865,  while  serving  as  Adjutant-General  of  a  Provisional 
Division.     Returning  to  Delaware,  Ohio,  he  began   the  practice  of  law  there,  but 


902  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

soon  afterward  drifted  into  the  profession  of  journalism,  as  narrated  in  the  chap- 
ter on  The  Press. 

In  1868  Mr.  Lee  was  elected  to  represent  Delaware  County  in  the  General 
Asrifembly,  in  which  he  moved  the  appointment  of  a  special  committee,  of  which 
he  was  made  chairman,  to  consider  and  report  upon  the  recommendations  of  Gov- 
ernor Hayes  for  a  Geological  Survey  of  the  State.  He  prepared  the  report  of  that 
committee  and  also  its  accompanying  bill,  which  passed  witliout  amendment 
through  both  houses,  and  became  the  law,  in  pursuance  of  which,  and  supplemen- 
tar}*  acts  since  passed,  the  Geological  Survej'  of  Ohio  has  been  executed.  He  also 
assisted  actively  in  securing  the  establishment  of  the  State  Industrial  Home  for 
Girls,  and  its  location  in  Delaware  County.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Republican 
State  Central  Committee  in  18G8-9;  was  a  delegate  to  the  Republican  State  Con- 
vention which  first  nominated  Rutherford  B.  Haj^es  for  Governor ;  was  collector 
of  Internal  Revenue  lor  the  Eighth  District  of  Ohio  in  1871 — a  position  which  he 
found  incompatible  with  his  professional  duties,  and  resigned;  was  appointed  Pri- 
vate Secretary  to  Governor  Hayes  in  1876  ;  was  appointed  by  President  Hayes  to  be 
Consul  General  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  as  successor  to  the  deceased  General 
William  P.  Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  in  1877;  was  Secretary  of  the  Gettysburg 
Memorial  Commission  of  Ohio  in  1886-7;  was  Secretarj'  of  the  General  Council 
which  had  cliarge  of  the  local  management  of  the  National  Encampment  of  the 
Grand  Arra}^  of  the  Republic,  at  Columbus,  in  1888,  in  recognition  of  which  serv- 
ice he  was  electeii  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trade;  and  in  April,  1890,  was 
appointed  by  Goveriior  Campbell  as  a  Trustee  of  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailoi^s'  Orphans' 
Home  at  Xenia,  from  which  position  he  resigned  in  August,  1891.  A  statement  of 
his  experiences  in  the  profession  of  journalism  appears  in  the  chapters  on  The 
Press.  He  is  the  author  of  a  volume  of  historical  and  travel  sketches  entitled 
"European  Daj's  and  Ways,"  and  has  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  current 
magazine  literature. 

^NoTE  BY  A.  E.  L. — General  Tyndale  was  a  cousin  to  the  celebrated  English 
scientist,  Professor  John  Tyndall,  of  London.  At  the  battle  of  Antieiam  he 
received  a  desperate  wound,  which  obliged  him,  at  length,  to  abandon  active  serv- 
ice, and  from  the  effects  of  which  he  finally  died.  He  was  a  brave  man,  of  rare 
intellectual  ability  and  accomplishments.  His  successor,  General  Robinson,  in 
like  manner  grcatlv  suffered  and  finally  died  from  tlie  effects  of  his  terrible 
wound  received  at  Gettysburg.  He  was  a  true  patriot,  a  brave  soldier  and  a  noble- 
hearted  man. 

LEANDER  J.   CRITCHFIELD 
[Portrait  opposite  page  584.] 

Was  born  at  Danville,  Knox  County,  Ohio,  on  January  13,  1827.  At  the  age 
of  eight  years,  he  removed  with  his  parents  to  Millersburgh,  Holmes  County,  Ohio, 
where  he  spent  his  early  life  receiving  such  scholastic  training  as  was  afforded  in 
the  public  schools  of  that  place.  When  fifteen  years  old,  he  obtained  employment 
in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  Holmes  County.    He  remained  there  two  years,  becora- 


Representative  Citizens.  903 

ing  faniiliur  with  the  varioas  legal  forms  which  came  under  his  observatioD  and 
finding  tliat  the  training  thus  acquired  was  especially  useful  in  the  practice  of  law. 
With  a  view  to  a  professional  career  at  the  bar,  and  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
a  broader  culture  than  that  afforded  by  public  schools,  he  entered  tlie  Ohio 
Wesleyan  University,  from  which  he  graduated  in  regular  course  and  subsequently 
completed  the  study  of  the  law,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Ohio  in  1849.  He  immediately  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Delaware.  The  follow- 
ing year  he  was  elected  prosecuting-attorney  for  Delaware  County  and  subsequently 
ret'lected,  serving  four  years.  In  December,  1856,  he  was  appointed  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Ohio  reporter  of  its  decisions,  in  which  office  he  continued  to  serve,  by 
reappointment,  for  five  consecutive  terms  of  three  years  each.  During  this  time 
he  prepared  and  published  seventeen  volumes,  from  five  to  twontyone  inclusive, 
of  the  Ohio  State  Reports.  At  the  close  of  that  service  a  reappointment  was 
offered  him,  but  he  declined  it  in  order  to  devote  his  entire  time  and  energies  to 
the  requirements  of  his  profession.  In  1858,  at  the  request  of  Judge  Joseph 
R.  Swan,  Mr.  Critchfield  joined  that  distinguished  jurist  in  the  preparation  of  Swan 
and  Critch field's  Revised  Statutes  of  Ohio,  with  notes  of  the  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  The  work  was  completed  and  published  in  1860  and  was  received 
with  great  favor  by  the  bench  and  bar  throughout  the  State.  These  statutes  con- 
tinued in  use  until  1880,  when  they  were  superseded  by  the  Revised  Statutes  of 
Ohio,  prepared  by  the  State  Codifying  Commission.  Governor  Haj^es  tendered 
Mr.  Critchfield  a  position  on  this  commission,  but  he  was  obliged  to  decline  it 
on  account  of  the  press  of  his  business. 

Mr.  Critchfield  has  never  held  any  political  office  not  in  the  line  of  his 
profession,  although  his  advice  and  cooperation  in  matters  of  political  concern  have 
oflen  been  sought  and  freely  given.  During  the  presidential  canvass  of  1877 
he  took  a  quiet  but  useful  part,  and  when  the  controversy  arose  as  to  the  electoral 
count  in  1877  and  1878,  he  wrote  letters  to  Senator  Sherman  and  other  prominent 
men  in  Washington  offering  suggestions,  which  were  substantially  adopted,  con- 
cerning the  course  to  be  pursued  in  obtaining  such  an  adjustment  of  the  difficulty 
as  would  be  accepted  by  the  country  and  avert  a  national  crisis.  Since  locating 
in  Columbus  he  has  maintained  strict  fidelity  to  his  profession  in  all  its  details. 
He  was  a  partner  with  Hon.. Noah  H.  Swayne  at  the  time  that  gentleman  was 
appointed  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  but  since  that  time 
he  has  pursued  his  practice  alone. 

RICHARD  A.  HARRISON 

[Portrait  opposite  page  600.] 

Was  born  April  8,  1824,  in  the  city  of  Thirsk,  County  of  Yorkshire,  England.  He 
came  to  the  United  States  with  his  parents,  who  settled  in  Warren  County,  Ohio, 
in  1832,  and  a  few  years  afterward  removed  to  Springfield,  Ohio.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools,  the  printing  office  and  the  noted  Springfield  High 
School,  of  which  Rev.  Chandler  Robbins  was  the  principal.  Thrown  upon  his  own 
resources  when  twelve  years  of  age,  he  obtained  employment  in  the  office  of  the 
Springfield  Republic^  where  he  remained  until  the  year  1844.     Upon  the  suggestion 


904  History  op  the  City  of  Columbus. 

of  William  A.  Hogei's,  a  <iistin<(ui8l«ed  lawyer  of  Springfield,  he  entered  his  office 
as  a  sludeiit  of  the  law.  The  late  eminent  Judge  White  and  W.  A.  Harrison  were 
fellow  students  with  him  in  the  High  School  and  Judge  Rogers's  law  oflSce.  Mr. 
Harrison  gra<iuated  from  the  Cincinnati  Law  School  in  April,  1846,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  i>y  the  Supreme  Court  on  the  eighth  of  that  month.  He 
entered  upon  the  practlr-e  of  the  law  at  London,  Madison  County,  and  soon  had  a 
good  local  buKinesK.  On  the  twentyfifth  of  December,  1847,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Maria  Louise  Warner,  a  daughter  of  Henry  Warner,  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
tliat  county.  A  few  years  afterward  Mr.  Harrison  began  to  "travel  the  circuit," 
and  had  a  good  ])racti<e  in  Southern  Ohio.  His  progress  was  rapid  and  his  rise 
steady  an<l  permanent.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Ohio  House  of  Represen- 
tatives from  Madison  County  in  1857,  and  in  1S59  he  was  elected  to  the  State 
Senate  from  the  district  composed  of  Clark,  Champaign  and  Madison  counties. 

Among  Mr.  Harrison's  colleagues  in  the  House,  were  such  men  as  Judge  J. 
A.  Ambler,  of  Columbiatia,  Judge  W.  H.  West,  of  Logan,  Judge  R.  M.  Briggs,  <>f 
Fayette,  James  Monroe,  of  Lorain,  Judge  Collins,  of  Cincinnati,  and  William  B. 
Woods,  afterward  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  Messrs. 
Harrison,  Ambler,  Rankin  and  Collins  were  members  of  the  Committee  on  Judici- 
ary. Here  Mr.  Harrison's  legal  learning,  sound  judgment  and  conservative  prin- 
ciples were  recognized.  He  introduced  many  important  bills  which  were  enacted 
into  laws;  among  these  was  a  bill  to  relieve  the  district  courts,  a  bill  concerning 
the  relation  of  guardian  and  ward,  and  a  bill  providing  for  the  semiannual  pay- 
ment of  taxes.  Towards  the  close  of  the  second  session  he  especially  distinguished 
himself  by  his  eloquent  discussion  of  the  report  of  the  commission  appointed  at  the 
preceding  session  to  investigate  the  State  Treasury  defalcation.  By  this  report  it 
was  sought  to  implicate  and  besmirch  the  character  of  Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  was 
then  Governor.  In  his  special  message  communicating  the  report  to  the  House, 
the  Governor  called  attention  to  its  invidious  criticisms  To  rebuke  him  it  was 
moved  to  print  the  report  without  the  message  On  this  motion  Mr.  Harris<»n 
obtained  the  floor  and  by  reason  of  his  conclusive  argument  the  message  went 
forth  shorn  of  its  partisan  significance.  During  the  delivery  of  his  speech  he  was 
attacked  b}-  a  severe  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs  ;  his  friends  insisted  that  he  should 
not  then  attempt  to  proceed  with  his  argument,  but  despite  their  importunities, 
after  a  brief  respite  he  continued  until  he  had  finished  his  speech. 

Mr.  Harrison  was  elected  President  7)ro  tempore  of  the  Senate  and  was  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  Associated  with  him  in  the  Senate  were 
James  A.  Garfield,  afterwards  President  of  the  United  States;  Governor  J.  D.  Cox, 
Judge  Thomas  C.  Jones,  Judge  Thomas  M.  Key,  E.  A.  Ferguson,  Professor  James 
Monroe,  and  many  other  able  and  brilliant  men.  The  session  of  ISGl  will  be  ever 
memorable  in  the  history  of  Ohio.  During  that  session  questions  of  the  greatest 
national  importance  and  delicacy  were  acted  upon.  Mr.  Harrison  was  the  author  of 
the  Joint  Resolution  which  pledged  the  resources  of  Ohio  to  aid  in  the  maintenance 
of  the  authority  of  the  National  Government.  Among  the  measures  which  were 
passed  shortly  afterwards  by  the  General  Assembly  was  an  "act  to  strengthen  the 
public  credit;"  an  **act  to  raise  and  equip  troops,"  and  an  act  to  "provide  ways 


Kepresbntative  Citizens.  905 

and  means  for  the  common  defense  and  the  maintenance  of  the  Union."  To  these 
measures  Mr.  Harrison  gave  cflScient  and  zealous  support.  Before  the  Rebellion 
was  actually  set  on  foot,  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  avoid  the  storm  of  war,  and  at 
his  special  request  the  venerable  Thomas  Ewing,  statesman  and  jurist,  was 
appointed  by  the  Governor  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to  represent  Ohio  in 
response  to  the  invitation  of  Virginia  for  a  congress  of  the  States  to  consider  the 
impending  crisis.  Shortl}'  after  the  legislature  adjourned,  Mr.  Harrison  was  chosen 
to  the  seat  in  Congress  made  vacant  by  the  resignation  of  Ex-Governor  Thomas 
Corwin,  in  1861.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  special  session  which  opened  July  4, 
1861.  By  the  reappointment  of  members  of  Congress  in  1862,  Madison  County 
was  attached  to  the  Franklin  district  and  Mr.  Harrison  was  succeeded  by  S.  S.  Cox. 
In  1870,  he  was  nominated  for  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  but  with  the  rest  of 
his  colleagues  on  the  ticket  was  defeated.  In  1875  he  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Hayes,  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  as  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  Commis- 
sion of  Ohio,  but  he  declined  the  position.  In  1873,  he  removed  to  Columbus, 
where  his  high  legal  attainments  were  speedily  recognized,  and  for  many  years  he 
was  associated  with  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Marsh,  and  Judge  Olds,  in  a  very  .success- 
ful practice  under  the  firm  name  of  Harrison,  Olds  &  Marsh.  The  firm  was  reor- 
ganized in  1873,  and  is  now  the  firm  of  Harrison,  Olds  &  Henderson.  Mr.  Harri- 
son is  regarded  as  the  leader  of  the  Columbus  bar,  and  is  one  of  the  most  eminent 
lawyers  of  Ohio.  He  has  always  been  especially  fond  of  studying  questions  of 
constitutional  law,  and  the  reports  of  the  decisions  of  the  Supremo  Court  show 
that  he  has  argued  many  causes  involving  such  questions. 

JOHN  E.   SATEK 
[Portrait  opposite  page  616.] 

Was  born  on  a  farm  near  New  Haven,  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  on  January  16, 
1854,  and  is  the  sou  of  John  J.  and  Nancy  Satcr.  He  was  left  an  orphan  at  the 
age  often,  and  largely  dependent  on  his  own  exertions.  He  attended  the  district 
school  for  a  short  time  during  the  winters,  but  was  obliged  to  work  during  the 
rest  of  the  year  to  support  himself  At  the  age  of  sixteen  ho  began  teaching,  and 
at  seventeen  entered  Miami  University.  When  the  doors  of  that  school  closed  in 
1873,  he  entered  Marietta  College,  graduating  from  the  classical  course  in   1875 

« 

with  honor,  though  compelled  to  be  absent  half  of  his  senior  year  to  obtain  means 
to  complete  his  education. 

Mr.  Sater  was  elected  Superintendent  of  Schools  at  Wauseon,  Fulton  County, 
Ohio,  the  same  week  that  he  graduated.  He  was  soon  thereafter  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  County  School  P^xaminers,  and  as  such  rendered  important 
service  in  the  reorganization  and  improvement  of  the  schools  of  that  county. 
Under  his  management  the  schools  of  Wauseon  were  as  prosperous,  at  least,  as  at 
any  time  in  their  history.  He  resigned  his  superin tendency  in  April,  18S1,  to 
accept  the  position  of  chief  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  State  School  Commissioner, 
Hon.  D.  F.  DeWolf,  and  removed  to  Columbus,  where  ho  has  since  resided.  He 
retired  from   the  office  in  1884  and  was  afterwards  elected  three  times  without 


900  HisToKY  OK  TUB  City  op  Columbus. 

opposition  to  tlie  Columbus  Ikmrd  of  Edueatiou,  and  was  twice  elected  its 
President. 

Soon  aller  removing  U)  Columbus  he  began  reading  law  with  J.  II.  Collins, 
attorney  for  thi'  Haltimore  <!t  Ohio  llailroad,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  June. 
1SS4.  lie  innne<liately  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  j)rofe.ssion.  In  December  of 
the  same  year  he  entered  the  law  office  of  G.  G.  Collins,  and,  after  the  latter's 
death  in  the  May  following,  closed  up  his  unfinishe<l  business.  He  soon  became 
attorney  for  several  important  estates,  and  has  had  from  the  first  a  desirable  and 
mcrensing  court  practice.  Although  engaging  in  the  general  practice,  Mr.  Sater's 
j)rofessional  services  are  perhaps  more  largely  in  demand  in  cases  involving 
questions  of  ])roperty  rights,  and  in  the  examination  of  land  titles  with  reference 
to  invcistments.  His  clientage  is  one  (»f  the  wealthiest  in  the  city.  In  February, 
ISIM),  he  was  (diosen  attorney  for  the  Citizens  Savings  Bank  and  the  Columbus 
Savings  Hank  Company.  Among  his  clients  are  also  K.  E.  Neil,  Peter  &  Lewis 
Sells,  K.  L.  Hi n man,  John  Beatty,  the  Wassail  Fire  Clay  Company,  the  (Jolumbus 
Coffin  Company,  the  Pleukharp  Barrel  Machine  (/Ompany,  The  Central  Building, 
Loan  (fc  Savings  Company,  The  Park  Building,  Loan  &  Savings  Company,  and 
the  Order  of  United  Commercial  Travelers.  He  has  also  been  connected  with  the 
important  Masonic  litigation  of  recent  years. 

Mr.  Sater  was  married  in  1889  to  Miss  Ma}'  Lyon  of  Wauseon,  Ohio,  who 
graduated  from  the  High  School  of  tliat  place  and  afterwards  from  Oberlin 
College.  He  is  a  member  of  both  the  York  and  Scottish  Rite  branches  of  Free 
Masonr}',  and  is  ali-o  a  member  of  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows.  Mr.  Sater  was  born 
and  reared  a  Democrat,  but  in  1875  identified  himself  with  the  Republican  party, 
with  which  he  still  continues  to  act. 

KDWARD  ORTON,   LL.    D., 

(Portrait  opposite  page  6TJ.J 

Was  born  in  Deposit,  Delaware  County,  New  York,  March  9,  1829,  and  is  the  son 
of  Rev.  Samuel  G.  and  Clara  (Gregory)  Orton.  The  Ortons  were  first  known  in 
New  England  about  1(140,  the  name  appearing  in  that  year  in  the  records  of 
Charleston,  Massachusetts.  Thomas  Orton  catno  to  Windsor,  Connecticut,  in  1641 
or  1()42.  From  Windsor  certain  members  of  the  familj'  emigrated  in  the  year 
1700,  or  thereabouts,  to  the  new  settlement  of  Litchfield,  which  was  then  on  the 
edge  of  the  wilderness.  There  were  thus  two  branches  of  the  family  —  the  one  at 
Windsor  and  the  one  at  Litchtield.  The  Litchfield  Ortons  lived  for  more  than  a 
century  on  what  was  known  as  Orton  Hill,  South  Farms,  now  Morris,  Connecti- 
cut. The  family  was  well  represented  in  the  War  for  lndei)endenco,  but  beyond 
this  do  not  appear  to  have  taken  part  in  public  life. 

Miles  Orton,  the  father  of  Rev.  Samuel  G.  Orton,  was  a  soldier  in  the  W^ar  of 
1812,  and  died  soon  after  that  war.  Samuel  G.  was  born  at  Litchfield  and  brought 
up  on  a  farm  until  twenty  years  old,  when,  under  the  ministry  of  Doctor  Lyman 
Beecher,  he  was  encouraged  to  seek  a  liberal  education,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
support  himself  by  his  own  labor,  both  while  j)reparing  for  college  and  during  his 
college  course.     Graduating  from  Hamilton  College  in   1822,   he  studied  theology 


Bkprbsentative  Citizens.  907 

at  New  Haven  and  was  an  honored   minister  in   the  Preshj^terian  Church  for 
nearl}'^  fifty  years,  most  of  the  time  in  Western  New  York. 

Edward  Orton,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  yjassed  liis  boyhood  in  his  father's 
country  home  at  Ripley,  Chautauqua  County,  New  York,  lie  acquired  there  a 
knowledge  of  and  a  life-long  interest  in  country  life,  often  working  with  neighbor- 
ing farmers  for  weeks,  and  even  months,  at  a  time.  He  was  fitted  for  college 
mainly  bj^  his  father,  but  spent  one  year  at  Westfield  Academy  and  another  at 
Fredonia  Academy.  He  entered  Hamilton  College  in  1S45  as  a  sophomore  and 
graduated  in  1848.  After  graduation  he  taught  for  a  year  in  the  Academy  of  Erie, 
Pennsylvania,  and  then,  in  1849,  entered  Lane  Theological  Seminary  at  Cincin- 
nati and  was  under  the  instructions  of  Doctor  L3*man  Beecher.  He  withdrew 
from  the  seminary  on  account  of  a  temporary  failure  of  his  eyes,  but  after  a  year 
or  two  spent  on  the  farm  and  in  travel  he  resumed  the  work  of  teaching  and 
became  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  the  Delaware  Institute  at  Franklin,  Delaware 
County,  New  York.  In  college,  his  chief  interest  had  been  in  classical  and  liter- 
ary^  studies,  but  in  the  institute  he  was  appointed  to  teach  the  natural  sciences* 
and  a  latent  taste  for  these  studies  was  soon  developed.  He  pursued  the  study  of 
chemistry  and  the  natural  history  branches  with  special  interest  and  to  y)re- 
pare  himself  for  teaching  them,  in  1852  took  a  six  months'  course  in  the  Lawrence 
Scientific  School  of  Harvard  University  where  he  studied  under  Ilorsford,  Cook 
and  Gray.  Finding  his  theological  creed  giving  away  betbre  his  later  studies,  he 
sought  to  avert  the  change  b}'  a  more  thorough  investigation  in  this  department, 
and  entered  Andover  Seminary  to  attend  for  a  j-ear  Professor  Park's  lectures  on 
theology.  The  experiment  was  successful  to  the  extent  of  arresting  the  change 
in  his  views,  but  after  a  few  yeai*s  the  process  was  resumed  and  ended  in  the 
replacement  of  the  Calvinistic  creed,  in  which  he  had  been  brought  up,  by  the 
shorter  statements  of  Unitarianism. 

In  1856  Doctor  Orton  was  called  to  the  chair  of  Natural  Science  in  the  State 
Normal  School  of  New  York,  at  Albany.  He  held  this  position  for  several  years, 
after  which  he  resigned  it  to  take  charge  of  Chester  Academy,  Orange  Countyj 
New  York.  After  spending  six  years  in  this  position  he  was  called  to  Antioch 
College,  at  Yellow  Springs,  Ohio.  First  acting  as  principal  of  the  preparatory 
department  of  that  institution,  he  next  became  its  professor  of  natural  sciences, 
and  finally,  in  1872,  its  president,  which  position  he  held  for  one  year,  then 
resigned  to  accept  the  presidency  of  the  Ohio  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege, now  the  Ohio  State  University,  at  Columbus,  in  which  institution  he  at  the 
same  time  occupied  the  chair  of  Geology.  He  held  the  presidency  for  eight  years 
and  after  resigning  it  retained  the  professorship  of  Geology. 

During  his  residence  in  Yellow  Springs  the  Slate  Geological  Survey  was 
organized  under  Doctor  J.  S.  Newberry.  In  1869  Professor  Orton  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Geological  Corps,  to  which  he  was  appointed  and  reappointed  by  Gov- 
ernor H.  B.  Hayes.  After  Doctor  Newberry's  withdrawal  from  the  corps,  Doctor 
Orton  was  api)ointed  State  Geologist  by  Governor  Foster  and  later  by  Governors 
Hoadly  and  Foraker.  This  position  he  now  holds,  in  conjunction  with  the  pro- 
fessorship of  Geology  at  the  State  University.     In  addition  to  his  geological  work 


908  History  op  the  City  op  Columbus. 

proper,  Professor  Orton  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  a2)pIieation  of  geology 
to  agriculture  and  sanitary  science,  and  especially  to  the  question  of  water  supply 
and  sewerage  of  the  towns  of  Ohio.  In  1855  he  was  married  to  Mary  M.Jen- 
nings, of  Franklin,  New  York,  who  died  in  1873.  He  was  again  married  in  1875 
to  Anna  Davenport  Torroy,  of  Milbury,  Massachusetts. 

WILLIAM   SHEPARD,   M.   1)., 

I  Portrait  opposite  page  704.] 

Was  born  Novcnihcr  25,  1825.  Although  Canandaigua,  New  York,  is  his  birth- 
place, he  comes  from  Massac hu.^^etts  stock.  His  father,  Charles  Shepard,  moved 
to  New  York  from  Chester  Factories,  Massachusetts,  and  was  a  farmer.  His  great 
gran<lfather,  William  Shepard,  fought  in  the  French-Indian  War  as  second 
lieutenant,  l)cing  commissioned  by  Thomas  Pownall,  who  was  then  Captain- 
General  and  (lOvernor-in-Chief  In  the  Revolution  he  was  commissioned  colonel 
by  Congress  and  afterw^ards  became  general.  He  also  participated  in  Shay's 
Kcbellion,  hii#ing  conjmand  of  a  part  of  the  troo[)s  under  General  Lincoln.  He 
w^as  afterwar<ls  a  member  of  Congress  and  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

Doctor  She|)ard  was  raised  on  a  farm  and  finished  his  education  at  the 
Canandaigua  Academy.  He  studied  medicine  at  Rochester  and  Cincinnati,  and 
received  his  diploma  as  doctor  from  the  Eclectic  Medical  College  at  Cincinnati  in 
1858.  The  same  >  ear  he  established  Shepard's  Sanitarium,  east  of  Columbus. 
From  a  modest  beginning  this  has  grown  to  beoneof  the  largestand  most  thoroughly 
eqnij)ped  institutions  of  its  kind  in  Central  Ohio,  and  thousands  of  patients  have 
received  treatment  within  its  walls.  In  1885  he  was  elected  by  1,300  majority  to 
the  Ohio  (ieneral  Assembly  as  representative  from  Franklin  Count}'',  he  and  his 
colleague,  II.  C  Taylor,  being  the  first  to  be  thus  honored  in  the  county  for 
twentyfive  years.  At  the  succeeding  election  he  was  the  congressional  candidate 
of  his  party  against  J,  II.  Outhwaite,  and  though  defeated,  he  cut  the  latter's 
majority  down  1,200.     He  was  also  trustee  for  the  Children's  Home  for  four  years. 

Doctor  Shepard  is  largely  interested  in  the  Alum  Creek  Ice  Conii)any,  the 
flouring  mills  at  Gahanna,  in  the  grocery  business,  in  real  estate,  and  in  other 
enterprises.  He  is  a  Mason,  as  was  his  grandfather  before  him,  and  has  been 
through  all  ihe  degrees^,  including  the  thirtytliird.  He  has  still  in  his  j)088es.sion 
the  Masonic  aj)ron  worn  by  his  grandfather,  and  prizes  it  very  highly  as  a  relic  of 
f<»rmer  days,  lieccntly  he  provided  the  community  at  Gahanna  with  a  good 
public  libi'ary  and  reading  room,  including  all  the  adjuncts  for  such  an  institution. 
This  he  has  endowed  so  that  it  can  be  a  source  of  good  for  coming  generations. 
This  is  one  of  several  charities  in  which  he  is  interested.  In  tho.se  and  other 
instances,  he  has  shown  his  liberality  and  large  public  spirit.  In  1852  he  was 
married  to  Charlotte  E.  Hose,  daughter  of  Helen  Rose,  of  Granville.  His  wife  was 
of  Puritan  stock,  her  father  being  one  of  the  original  comj»any  that  came  from 
(iranville,  Massachusetts,  and  settled  and  founded  Granville,  Ohio.  Mrs.  Shepard 
died  in  1887. 


Representative  Citizens.  909 

WILLIAM   BRYANT  CARPENTER,   M.   0., 

[Portrait  opposite  page  720.] 

Was  born  February  19,  1856,  in  Kingston,  Ross  County,  Ohio,  and  is  the  oldest 
child  of  Rev.  George  and  Matilda  (».  Carpenter.  His  father  was  the  son  of  Nathan 
and  Electa  Car])enter,  of  Worthington,  Franklin  Count}',  Ohio.  His  mother  was 
the  daughter  of  Rev.  James  and  Mary  Gilruth,  who,  after  a  long  residence  in  Ohio, 
removed  to  Davenport,  Iowa.  Rev.  Mr.  Gilruth  was  well  known  through  Northern 
and  Central  Ohio,  as  one  of  the  strongest,  mentall}-  and  physically,  of  the  j)ioneer 
preachers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Rev.  (leorge  Carpenter  was  the 
pastor  of  the  Presb3*terian  Church  at  Kingston,  from  1855  to  18(57,  and  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Washington  Courthouse,  Ohio,  from  1807  to  1885,  since 
which  time  the  family  has  resided  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio.  Of  a  family  of  seven 
children  only  three  are  living:  Doctor  W.  B.  Carpenter,  of  Columbus;  George  H. 
Carpenter,  of  Philadel])hia,  and  Charles  K.  Carpenter  of  the  editorial  staff  of  the 
New  York  Tribune.  Doctor  Carpenter,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  educated  at 
Mount  Pleasant  Academy  of  Kingston,  and  the  High  School  of  Washington 
Courthouse.  For  some  years  after  graduating  from  the  high  school  he  worked 
in  the  First  National  Bank  and  postoffice  at  Washington  in  order  to  obtain  funds 
to  pursue  his  university  and  medical  course.  In  1876,  he  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Wooster,  and  in  1879,  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  was  conferred 
upon  him  by  that  institution.  After  reading  medicine  with  Doctor  S.  S.  Salisbury, 
a  Homoeopathic  physician  of  Washington  Courthouse,  he  graduated  in  March, 
1879^  from  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania.  He 
also  spent  several  months  with  Doctor  J.  H.  Salisbury  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  the 
special  study  of  the  microscope  and  its  relation  to  diagnosis.  In  July,  1879,  he 
opened  an  office  at  657  North  High  Street,  and  began  the  practice  of  medicine. 
Doctor  Carpenter  is  a  member  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  and  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  being  connected  with  Dennison  Lodge,  741, 
Ridgely  Encampment  189,  and  Canton  Columbus  65.  He  was  married  on  Septem- 
ber 29,  1880,  to  Carrie  L.  May,  daughter  of  James  and  Eliza  T.  May,  of  Kingston, 
Ross  County,  Ohio. 

PATRICK    A.  EG  AN, 

[Portrait  opposite  page  786.] 

Son  of  John  and  Margaret  Egan,  was  born  in  Clonmel,  Tipperary  County,  Ireland, 
September  14,  1830.  He,  together  with  his  two  sisters,  came  to  America  in  March, 
1850.  He  arrived  in  this  country  io  an  almost  penniless  condition,  having  but  a 
few  dollars  in  his  pocket.  He  soon  secured  work  and  with  unswerving  persever- 
ance and  industry,  slowly  but  surely  achieved  a  most  gratifying  success.  After 
working  for  a  short  time  in  a  foundr}'  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  he  came  to  Col- 
umbus in  1852,  and  obtained  employment  with  Huntington  Fitch.  He  next  held 
a  position  at  the  Central  Insane  Asylum,  until  the  spring  of  1855,  when  ho  went 
to  California.  In  1859  he  returned  to  Columbus  where  he  resided  until  his  death, 
in  October,  1890.  On  his  return  from  California  he  established  an  undertaking 
and  livery  business,  which    steadily  increased  until  it  became  the  largest  in  the 


910  LIlSTORY   OF   THE    ClTV    OF    COLUMBUS. 

citv.  At  the  time  of  his  death  bo  was  the  oldest  official  in  continuous  service  in 
Franklin  County,  having  held  the  position  of  coroner  for  ten  consecutive  terms, 
lie  was  first  elected  to  that  office  in  October,  1869,  on  the  Democratic  ticket. 

Mr.  Egan  was  united  in  marriage  to  Mary,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Timothy 
and  Nancy  A.  Ryan,  on  October  21,  1861.  Mrs.  Egan  died  October  21, 1879. 
Their  family  consisted  of  seven  children:  Ilannab,  Mary,  Margaret,  John  P., 
Joseph  A.,  Alice  and  Kathorine.  The  oldest  son,  John  P.,  was  appointed  by  the 
County  Commissioners  to  fill  out  the  remainder  of  his  father's  unexpired  term. 

LUTHEU    HILLERY, 

[Portrait  opposite  page  816  ] 

Son  of  John  and  Margaret  (Boise)  Hillery,  was  born  August  12,  1799,  at  Marlowe, 
^ew  Hampshire.  He  was  the  last  of  a  family  of  twelve  children,  some  of  whom 
lived  to  very  advanced  age.  His  father  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier  and  par- 
ticipated in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Two  of  his  brothers  fought  in  the  War  of 
1812.  In  1804,  his  parents  removed  to  Barrc,  Vermont,  where  his  childhood  was 
spent.  His  education  was  obtained  in  the  District  school  at  Barro.  In  1815  he  came 
to  Ohio  with  a  number  of  his  relatives.  The  party  located  at  Worthington  where  for 
two  years  he  labored  at  farming.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was  apprenticed  to  a 
carpenter  to  learn  that  trade.  He  removed  to  Shattucksburg  and  for  ten  or 
twelve  years  was  mainly  occupied  in  making  shingles.  In  1832  he  removed 
to  Columbus,  where  he  purchased  a  lot  and  built  a  house  on  the  northwest  corner 
of  Front  and  Long  streets;  in  this  house  he  dwelt  for  twenty  years.  In  1853  he 
bought  the  property  on  the  corner  of  First  Avenue  and  Summit  Street,  and  erected 
a  residence  in  which  he  resided  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  assisted  in 
constructing  many  of  the  oldest  buildings  in  the  city,  including  the  old  asylums 
and  the  old  Broad  Street  bridge  over  the  Scioto  River. 

Mr.  Hillery  was  married  to  Lydia  Jewett,  daughter  of  Elam  and  Lucy  Jewett, 
March  14,  1822.  They  had  ten  children,  three  of  Whom  lived  to  adult  age.  His 
wife  died  January  4,  184(5.  On  May  29,  1846,  he  was  married  to  Jane  Rickey, 
daughter  of  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  They  had  three  children.  His  second  wife 
died  December  24,  1S65.  On  May  17,  1866,  he  was  married  to  Adaline  E.  Royce, 
daughter  of  Daniel  and  Amanda  Royce.     Mrs.  Hillery  died  December   19,   1886. 

In  politics  Mr.  Hillery  was  a  Whig,  and  later  a  Republican  from  the  organ- 
ization of  that  party.  He  held  the  office  of  city  councilman  during  1835-36  and 
'37,  and  at  the  age  of  89  years  joined  the  Tippecanoe  Veteran  Club.  Mr.  Hillery 
was  identiliod  with  the  temperance  organizations  and  religious  enterprises  of  his 
day.  He  was  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  the  city  and 
belonged  to  the  ol<l  Town  Street  (-hurch.  From  there  he,  with  others,  went  to 
organize  the  Wesley  Chapel,  where  for  years  he  was  an  official  member  and  cla.ss- 
leader.  In  1867  he  helped  to  establish  Mt.  Pleasant  Mission,  now  Third  Avenue 
Church,  where  he  also  served  as  official  member  and  classleader.  Mr.  Hillery 
lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  ninety  two  years,  his  death  occurring  on  July  23,  1891. 
Three  childitjn  survive  him  ;  they  are  Mrs.  James  B.  Berry,  Mrs.  Alfred  Phipps 
and  J.  Truman  Hillery. 


J 


Eepresentative  Citizens.  911 

HANNAH   NEIL. 

[Portrait  opposite  page  784.] 

I  am  asked  to  write  a  brief  sketch  of  my  beloved  grandmother's  life,  but  feel 
myself  entirely  unequal  to  the  task,  so  many  are  the  thoughts  which  press  for 
utterance.  How  shall  I  do  justice  to  such  a  true  and  noble  woman?  Where 
shall  I  begin?  What  is  the  most  important  thing  to  say  ?  A  life  so  full  of  Chris- 
tian charity  and  benevolence  has  made  her  name  a  household  word,  not  only  in 
her  own  family,  but  in  many  a  poor  and  humble  home,  where  so  much  of  her  time 
was  passed  in  doing  good  and  relieving  the  suffering.  I  can  give  very  little  of 
her  history — only  state  a  few  facts  that  1  remember  from  childhood. 

Hannah  Schwing  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1794.  She  went  from  there 
to  Louisville,  Kentucky,  when  six  years  old.  At  the  age  of  twenty  two,  she 
married  William  Neil,  who  was  born  in  Clark  County,  Kentucky.  In  1816  they 
moved  to  Urbana,  Ohio,  then  to  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  1818,  when  Mr.  Neil  was  made 
cashier  of  the  Franklin  Bank.  My  grandfather  was  also  known  as  the  "  Old  Stage 
King."  He  owned  the  first  line  of  stages  that  ran  from  Wheeling,  Virginia,  to  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio.  The  old  homestead,  where  the  Agricultural  College  now  stands,  ever 
stood  with  wideopen  doors  in  true  Kentucky  hospitable  fashion.  I  often  have  heard 
my  grandmother  tell  of  the  many  sleighing  parties  of  young  people  that  would  come 
out  unexpectedly,  and  the  guy  times  they  had,  but  it  was  among  the  poor  that  her 
life  was  passed,  and  that  she  is  remembered  and  thought  of  I  remember  the  old 
house  with  its  wide  halls,  large  open  wood  fireplaces,  high  brass  fenders,  and 
heavy  old  mahogany  furniture,  and  it  seems  a  pity  that  it  should  have  been  its 
fate  to  be  destroyed  by  fire,  thus  removing  one  of  the  old  landmarks.  My  grand- 
parents had  seven  children,  all  of  whom,  but  one,  are  living.  They  are  my 
father,  Robert  B.  Neil;  Mrs.  Dennison,  wife  of  Governor  William  Dennison  ;  Mrs. 
McMillen,  John  G.  Neil,  William  A.  Neil  and  Henry  M.  Neil. 

My  grandmother  gave  the  lot  on  High  Street  to  the  Methodist  Church,  which 
was  sold  after  the  church  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  that  amount  went  towards 
building  the  new  church,  known  as  Wesley  Chapel,  on  the  corner  of  Broad  and 
Fourth  streets,  where  there  is  a  basrelief  of  her  on  the  church  wall.  The 
*^ Hannah  Neil  Mission,"  named  after  her,  is  a  home  for  friendless  w^omcn  and 
children,  to  whom  her  heart  was  alwa3's  open.  She  was  one  of  the  original  found- 
ers of  the  Female  Benevolent  Society.  I  remember  seeing  my  grandmother  giv- 
ing away  every  dress,  but  the  one  black  silk  in  the  wardrobe,  and  of  protesting 
with  her  one  cold  day,  for  even  taking  off  a  heavy  quilted  skirt  which  she  had  on 
and  parting  witli  her  feather  bed  to  give  to  some  poor  woman.  Yory  often  in  the 
fall  she  would  lay  in  large  supplies  of  provisions,  and  have  pork  and  sausages  and 
hams  packed  in  barrels,  to  distribute  among  the  poor  in  winter,  ller  old  horse, 
"  Billy,"  was  much  the  most  at  home  among  the  "  bywuya  and  hedges,"  and 
always  wanted  to  turn  down  an  alley  where  he  spent  eo  much  time,  whilst  my 
dear  grandmother,  like  a  ministering  angel,  was  in  the  home  of  some  poor  person, 
always  cheerful  and  making  every  one  happy  around  her.  Her  true  Christian 
spirit  always  shown  in  her  sweet  face,  and  I  almost  used  to  imagine  sometimes,  as  I 
looked  at  her,  that  I  could  see  a  shining  light  around  it.  Her  whole  life  was  given 


912  History  of  the  (-ity  of  Columbus. 

up  to  doing  good,  and  working  among  the  poor,  and  in  her  church.  Here  was  truly  a 
life  '*  hid  in  Christ.  '  Jlcr  name  is  still  loved  and  cherished  by  those  who  knew 
her;  lor  her  unseltish  and  perfect  Christian  life  and  constant  acts  of  benevolence 
have  raised  a  nioruunent  to  her  memory  more  lasting  than  granite  or  marble. 
She  died  March  K5,  ISilS,  of  j>neunionia.  She  passed  quietly  away  and  looked  as 
if  she  had  fallen  into  a  sweet  and  peacH3ful  sleep.  As  the  funeral  j)roce88ion  lefl 
the  church,  I  remember  the  crowds  of  poor  j)eople  who,  with  tearstained  faces,  and 
lining  the  streets  on  cither  side  (since  the  church  could  not  hold  them  all),  had 
come  lo  |)ay  the  last  tribute  of  love  and  re8])ect  to  one  who  had  been  a  dear  and 
true  friend  to  them.  We  cannot  but  feel  that  rich  in<leed  has  been  the  reward  of 
one  who  fulfilled  so  comjjU'lely  her  Masters  bidding,  and  followed  so  closely  in  the 
footstej)s  of  her  Savior. 

By  her  loving  and  devoted  grandchild, 

Lucy  Neil  Williams. 

FRANCIS  CHARLES  SESSIONS, 
I  Portrait  opposite  page  h8^.] 

Of  Columbus,  Ohio,  was  born  on  February  27,  1820,  at  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts, 
and  is  the  son  of  F'rancis  and  Sophronia  (Metcalf )  Sessions.  He  is  of  English 
descent,  and  the  first  of  his  ancestors  that  came  to  America  was  Alexander  Sessions, 
who,  in  the  capacity'  of  overseer  for  the  estates  of  Thomas  Dudley,  deputy  gover- 
nor of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colon}',  accompained  the  latter  to  America  in  1630. 
About  sixteen  years  after  he  helped  to  lay  out  the  present  town  of  Andover,  and 
having  become  a  landowner  is  mentioned  in  the  town  records  as  a  "Freeman  of 
Andover,  Massachusetts,  1G47." 

On  April  24,  1674,  Alexander  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Spoiford.  They  had 
seven  sons,  of  whom  Nathaniel  was  in  after  years  the  most  prominent.  He  was 
born  in  1680.  In  1704  he  went  to  Pomfret,  Connecticut,  where  he  lived  to  the 
great  age  of  four  score  and  eleven  years,  retaining  his  mental  and  bodily  vigor 
until  almost  the  last.  Among  his  children  was  Robert,  his  fiflh  son,  born  March 
15,  1752,  who,  when  he  attainecj  his  majority,  went  to  Boston.  This  was  in  the 
summer  of  1773,  the  year  of  the  famous  "  Boston  Tea  Party."  Owing  to  the 
prominent  part  that  Robert  took  in  that  historical  affair,  he  was  obliged  to  leave 
Boston.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of  hostilities  between  England  and  the  Colonies, 
Robert  enlisted,  rose  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  and  served  with  ability  through 
that  memorable  conflict.  He  was  married  on  April  16,  1788,  to  Anna  Ruggles, 
whose  brother,  Benjamin,  was  afterwards  well  known  to  Ohio  i)eople  as  United 
States  Senator  for  eighteen  years.  Shortly*  after  the  birth  of  their  lirst  child  in 
May,  1779,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sessions  removed  to  South  Wilbraham  —  now  Hampden 
— Massachusetts,  where  the}'  afterwards  lived.  Robert  Sessions  became  a  promi- 
nent man  in  his  community  and  w^as  often  called  upon  to  fill  important  local  and 
legislative  oflices  of  trust.     He  died  in  1836  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  eightyfour. 

The  seventh  child  of  this  family,  Francis,  was  born  in  South  Wilbraham,  Mas- 
sachusetts, on  August  27,  1792.     In  1818  or  1819  he  was  united  in  marriage  with 


Represent  ATI  VE  Citizens.  913 

Sophronia  Metcalf,  graDddaugbter  of  Peleg  Thomas,  who  was  a  prominent  figure 
in  the  early  history  of  the  New  England  colonies. 

The  only  child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sessions,  Francis  Charles,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  the  fruit  of  this  union.  When  but  two  years  of  age  his  father  died, 
and  Francis  removed  to  th9  home  of  his  uncle,  Robert  Sessions,  near  South  Wil- 
braham,  with  whom  he  lived  during  his  boyhood.  Like  all  New  England  boys, 
he  labored  on  the  farm  during  the  summer  and  attended  the  district  school  during 
the  winter  months.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  graduated  from  the  academy  at 
Monson.  Two  years  after  his  graduation,  he  left  bis  eastern  home,  and  after  a 
weary  journey  by  the  methods  then  in  vogue  he  arrived  at  Columbus  in  October, 
1840.  He  soon  obtained  a  situation  in  the  store  of  A.  P.  Stone  &  Co.,  dealers  in 
dry  goods,  in  the  old  Commercial  Block  on  South  High  Street.  Three  years  later* 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  Thomas  Ellis,  and  under  the  name  of  Ellis,  Sessions 
k  Co.,  a  dry  goods  store  was  opened  on  the  west  side  of  High  Street,  a  few  doors 
south  of  State  Street. 

In  1847  Mr.  Sessions  was  married  to  Mary  Johnson,  the  only  child  of  Orange 
Johnson,  then  a  resident  of  Worthington.  Mr.  Johnson,  who  was  a  man  of  great 
executive  ability  and  enterprise,  settled  in  Worthington  in  1813.  He  began  the 
manufacture  of  combs  on  an  humble  scale,  but  his  business  rapidly  increased. 
Later  he  engaged  in  the  construction  of  turnpike  roads,  and  on  the  introduction  of 
steam  locomotion  was  the  projector  of  one  of  the  first  railroads  in  Ohio,  namely, 
the  route  from  Columbus  to  Xenia,  there  to  connect  with  a  road  from  Cincinnati 
to  Dayton.  In  1862  he  removed  to  Columbus,  where  he  had  acquired  considerable 
property,  and  resided  here  until  his  death  in  1876. 

Nine  years  after  his  marriage  Mr.  Sessions  sold  his  store,  ceased  the  life  of  a 
merchant  and  began  dealing  in  wool.  Four  years  later,  at  the  breaking  out  of 
the  Civil  War,  he  was  elected  secretary  of  the  Columbus  branch  of  the  United 
Slates  Sanitary  Commission  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  volunteers  who  took  the 
field  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  the  sick  and  sufi\3ring  in* the  army.  He  accom- 
panied the  Commission  on  the  Allen  Collier^  on  its  memorable  trip  to  Fort  Donel- 
Bon,  and  immediately  after  the  battle  went  to  Pittsburgh  Lauding,  where  he  was 
QTigVLged  in  caring  for  the  sick  and  wounded  during  the  spring  and  summer  of 
1862.  Mainly  through  the  efibrts  of  Mr.  Sessions  a  soldiers'  home  was  established 
at  Columbus,  which  rendered  great  service  to  sick  and  destitute  soldiers.  At  the 
close  of  the  war  he  reentered  business  life,  and  in  1869,  when  the  Commercial 
National  Bank  of  Columbus  was  organized,  he  was  elected  its  president,  a  posi< 
tion  he  held  until  his  death. 

In  addition  to  the  cares  of  his  own  business  life,  Mr.  Sessions  has  been  associ* 
ated  with  many  other  enterprises,  not  only  secular  but  educational  and  religious. 
He  has  been  one  of  the  chief  supporters  of  his  own  denomination — the  Congrega* 
tional — in  the  city  and  in  its  various  public  enterprises,  and  in  addition  has  done 
very  much  for  the  churches  of  the  city  when  in  a  feeble  condition.  He  has  held 
the  office  of  trustee  in  Marietta,  Oberlin  and  Columbus  Medical  Colleges,  and  of 
the  State  institutions  for  the  education  of  the  blind,  and  of  the  deaf  and  dumb ; 

58 


914  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

proHident  of  tho  Humane  Society  and  ])resident  of  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Home 
of  the  Friendless,  president  of  the  Public  Library,  etc.  Through  his  influence  the 
Sanitary  Commission  donated  the  soldiers'  home  and  all  its  appurtenances  to  the 
latter  societ}'. 

Mr.  ScHsions  has  been  a  generous  patron  of  art  in  Columbus,  an<l  when  the 
Columbus  School  of  Art  was  started,  its  ])rojectors  found  liim  a  ready  supporter, 
not  only  in  encouragement  but  in  practical  aid.  He  has  traveled  extensively 
throughout  the  <*ivili7x»d  world,  and  being  a  close  and  judicious  observer,  he 
accpiired  a  large  fund  of  useful  information  upon  the  manners,  customs  and  con- 
ditions of  the  various  j»eoples  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  While  traveling  in 
Kuro})(?  in  ISTH,  he  contributed  a  series  of  very  entertaining  letters  to  the  Ohio 
*SV//^- .A>//r/<'//,  of  Columbus,  which  afterwards  appeared  in  book  form  under  the 
engaging  title  of  "On  the  Wing  through  Euro}>e."  He  was  also  author  of  the  fol- 
lowing books:  <*  In  the  Western  Levant;'  **  From  the  Yellowstone  Park  to 
Alaska;"  "The  Country  of  the  Midnight  Sun  to  Volga;"  "A  History  of  the 
Sessions  Family,"  and  **  Ohio  in  Art." 

Mr.  Sessions  died  March  Ii5,  1S02,  while  sojourning  in  North  Carolina.  By 
the  terms  of  his  will  a  large  part  of  his  fortune  was  provisionally  devoted  to  the 
establishment  of  a  gallerj^  and  academy  of  art  in  Columbus. 

LOUIS  ZETTLER 
[Portrait  opposite  page  640.] 

Was  born  in  Monsheim,  a  suburb  of  the  city  of  Mayence,  on  the  river  Rhine, 
Germany,  in  February,  1832,  and  is  tho  son  of  Jacob  and  Cornelia  (Spindler) 
Zettler.  His  father,  while  in  Germany,  was  an  extensive  dealer  in  wines,  and 
also  had  large  milling  interests,  but  meeting  with  business  reverses  in  1835-6,  he 
emigrated  from  Germany  to  America,  in  which  country  he  landed  in  August,  1837, 
a  poor  man  with  a  family  of  nine  children,  of  whom  five  were  boys,  viz.:  John, 
Jacob,  Matthew,  Peter  and  Louis;  and  four  girls,  Magdalene,  Ann  Maria,  Mary  Ann 
and  Susan.  Louis  Zettler,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  educated  at  a  private 
school  in  Columbus,  and  in  May,  1844,  started  in  the  retail  grocery  business  in  com- 
pany with  his  brother,  Jacob.  In  1856  they  went  into  porkpacking  and  tho  grain 
trade.  They  conducted  all  three  of  those  branches  of  business  until  1861,  when 
they  quit  porkpacking,  but  still  carried  on  the  trade  in  grain,  and  also  a  whole- 
sale and  retail  grocery  business.  In  1868  Mr.  Zettler  dissolved  partnership  with 
his  brother  and  went  out  of  business.  In  1870  he  again  resumed  tho  grocery  busi- 
ness in  company  with  his  brother-in-law,  James  Ryan.  This  firm  continued  until 
the  death  of  Mr.  Ryan,  in  1875.  After  the  latter  event  Mr.  Zettler  still  continued 
in  the  grocery  business,  to  which  he  admitted  bis  son,  J.  Bernard,  as  partner, 
in  1885,  and  his  son,  Edmund,  two  years  later.  At  present,  Mr.  Zettler  is  engaged 
in  the  wholesale  and  retail  grocery,  the  wholesale  and  retail  hardware  and  the 
retail  chinaware  business,  with  his  five  sons  as  partners. 

In  politics,  he  is  now  and  always  has  been  a  Democrat,  and  during  the  late 
Rebellion  was  known  as  a  War  Democrat.  He  was  a  member  of  the  City  Council 
from  the  old  Fourth  Ward  and  also  a  Police  Commissioner,  both  in  the  seventies. 


Representative  Citizens.  915 

On  Jane  21,  I860,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Catherine  Rose,  a  native  of  Aachen 
(Aix-La-Chapelle),  Prussia.  Ten  children— nine  boys  and  one  girl — were  born  to 
them,  viz.:  J.  Bernard,  Edmund,  Louis,  Albert,  Frederick,  Raymond,  Robert? 
Hubert,  Harry  and  Marie  Antoinette. 

Mr.  Zettler  has  always  been  a  prominent  member  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  Columbus,  and  has  contributed  generously  to  every  religious  and  charit- 
able undertaking.  His  subscriptions  to  the  Holy  Cross  Church  show  such  fig- 
ures as  $1,000  at  one  time.  When  the  St.  Vincent's  Orphan  Asj'lum,  on  East 
Main  Street,  was  founded  by  Right  Reverend  Bishop  Rosecrans,  in  Mr.  Zettler's 
old  homestead,  he  donated  immediately  $10,000  towards  this  noble  institution. 

LOUIS  HOSTER. 
[Portrait  opposite  page  709.] 

The  city  of  Columbus  lost  an  influential  and  wealthy  citizen  in  the  sudden 
death  of  Mr.  Louis  Hoster,  at  Deer  Park,  Maryland,  in  the  early  morning  of  July 
4,  1892.  Mr.  Hoster  had  gone  to  Deer  Park  for  rest  and  recreation,  and  up  to 
eleven  o'clock  of  July  3,  was  in  his  accustomed  health.  He  was  suddenly  taken 
ill,  and  died  at  1:30  o'clock  on  the  following  morning.  His  body  was  brought  to 
Columbus,  and  on  July  6  was  interred  at  Green  Lawn  Cemetery,  with  Masonic 
honors. 

Louis  Hoster  was  one  of  the  pioneer  businessmen  of  Columbus..  His  life 
began  in  September,  1807,  in  the  Province  of  Rheinpfalz,  Southern  Germany.  In 
1833  he  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  settling  first  in  Brown  County,  Ohio. 
On  his  way  thither,  however,  he  stopped  over  in  Columbus,  on  July  4.  At  the 
same  hotel  whore  he  stopped,  the  Governor  and  state  officials  were  celebrating 
Independence  Day  with  orations  and  other  exercises,  and  Mr.  Hoster  became  so 
favorably  imi>rcssed  with  Columbus  that  in  the  following  year  he  returned  to  this 
city  and  made  it  his  permanent  home.  In  1836  he  established  the  browing  plant 
on  South  Front  street  that  has  since  grown  to  such  great  proportions.  At  the 
beginning  Mr.  Iloflter  did  his  own  brewing,  attended  personally  to  the  delivery  of 
goods  and  kept  his  own  books.  The  product  of  the  brewery  in  those  early  days 
was  only  a  few  hundred  barrels  in  a  year,  whereas,  for  the  last  fiscal  year  the 
report  of  the  Internal  Revenue  officer  shows  the  output  to  have  been  over  one 
hundred  thousand  barrels.  Associated  with  Mr.  Hoster  in  these  earlier  years 
were  Messrs.  G.  M.  Ilerancourt  and  Jacob  Silbernagle.  Mr.  Hoster  subsequently 
bought  out  both  of  these  partners. 

Mr.  Hoster  was  married  in  1838  to  Miss  Philopena  Ambos,  sister  of  the  late 
Peter  and  Charles  Ambos,  well-known  Columbus  citizens.  The  married  life  of 
this  couple  covered  a  period  of  fiftyone years,  Mrs.  Hoster  dying  three  years  before 
her  husband.  To  them  were  born  five  children  of  whom  three  are  still  living: 
Louis  P.,  George  J.  and  Lena.  All  reside  in  the  vicinity  of  Front  street  and  Liv- 
ingston Avenue. 

Mr.  Hoster's  life  was  an  active  one.  He  was  at  his  office  desk  every  day  until 
his  departure  for  Deer  Park,  and   was  reported  to  be  the  oldest  brewer  in  the 


916  History  of  the  City  op  Columbus. 

United  States  in  active  service  on  the  original  brewery  site.  He  had  dwelt  in  the 
homestead  on  West  Livingston  Avenue  since  1839. 

During  the  civil  war  Mr.  Hoster  was  active  in  all  measures  to  raise  funds  for 
the  aid  of  the  Union  forces.  He  did  not  hold  many  public  offices.  Ho  was  a 
valued  member  of  the  City  Council  from  1846  to  1855,  and  also  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Education  from  1869  to  1873.  He  was  one  of  the  original  directors  of 
the  Columbus  Machine  Company  in  1854,  and  he  continued  to  hold  this  office  until 
his  death. 

A  gentleman  long  associated  with  Mr.  Hoster  says  of  him  :  "I  never  knew  a 
more  perfectly  honorable  man  or  a  more  perfect  gentleman.  He  was  quiet  and 
unobtrusive,  always  attending  carefully  to  his  own  business  affairs  but  never  med- 
dling in  those  ot  others.  He  made  every  cent  of  his  largo  fortune  honestly,  and 
he  was  a  model  citizen  in  every  way.** 

ANDREW   WILSON. 

[Portrait  opposite  page  168.] 

Andrew  Wilson,  a  venerable  farmer,  residing  a  quarter  of  a  mile  north  of 
North  Columbus,  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest  native  born  resident  of 
Franklin  County,  now  living  in  the  county.  His  father,  John  Wilson,  was  born  in 
Mifflin  Count}',  Pennsylvania,  in  September,  1768.  His  wife,  Rachel  Criswell, 
whom  he  mrrried  in  1797,  was  born  in  the  same  county  in  October,  1771.  This 
couple  came  to  Ohio  at  the  very  dawn  of  the  present  century.  They  loaded  their 
few  world I3'  possessions  on  two  horses  and  traveled  to  the  Ohio  River  at  Pitts- 
burgh, where  they  took  passage  on  a  flat-boat,  following  the  river  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Scioto,  at  Portsmouth.  Thence  they  traveled  on  horseback  north  fifty  miles 
to  Chillicothe,  remaining  in  that  locality  until  1804,  when  they  came  to  Columbus. 
Mr.  Wilson  bought  171  acres  of  United  States  military  land,  where  his  son  now 
resides,  along  the  line  of  the  Clintonville  Electric  Railway,  for  two  dollars  and  a 
half  an  acre.  Owing  to  the  wonderful  growth  of  Columbus,  and  the  consequent 
advance  in  real  estate,  this  land  in  now  worth  two  thousand  dollars  an  acre,  and 
only  a  portion  of  it  for  sale  at  that  figure.  John  Wilson  died  in  September,  1849, 
and  his  wife  in  the  same  month,  1852. 

Andrew  Wilson  was  born  on  this  farm,  where  he  has  since  resided,  on  Feb- 
ruary IG,  1806.  He  was  married  October  27,  1842,  to  Chloe  Bull,  who  was  born 
and  raised  on  the  farm  adjoining  the  Wilson  place  on  the  north.  Mrs.  Wilson 
died  in  January,  1888.  She  bore  Mr.  Wilson  two  children  :  John  Morris  Wil- 
son, on  January-  2,  1844,  and  Mary  D.  Wilson,  on  February  14, 1851.  Both  are 
unmarried  and  live  with  their  father.  Mr.  Wilson  is  still  quite  well,  except  a 
slight  touch  of  the  rheumatism,  although  he  was  six  years  old  when  the  city  of 
Columbus  was  laid  out.  From  the  same  house  where  he  now  lives,  he  has  seen 
large  bands  of  Indians  pitch  their  camp  on  that  portion  of  his  farm  lying  west  of 
the  Whetstone,  and  looked  out  upon  the  primeval  wilderness,  unbroken  by  a  sin- 
gle wagon  road  or  clearing.  He  has  lived  to  see  one  of  the  finest  cities  on  the 
continent  spring  up  in  the  place  of  this  ancient  forest,  and  to  hear  the  whirr  and 
rattle  of  the  electric  car  where  once  resounded  the  shouts  of  the  wily  and  treach- 
erous redskin. 


Hepressntative  Citizens.  917 

HORATIO  WRIGHT. 

[Portrait  opposite  page  193.] 

Horatio  Wright  is  one  of  the  oldest,  most  prominent  and  highly  respected 
citizens  of  Worthington,  this  coanty.  He  was  born  in  that  village  early  in  the 
present  century,  having  turned  his  seven tysecond  birthday  in  December,  1891. 
His  father,  Potter  Wright,  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Franklin  County,  hav- 
ing come  to  Worthiugton  from  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  in  1815,  in  charge  of 
some  machinery  for  a  cotton  mill.  Potter  Wright  engaged  subsequently  in  the 
manufacture  of  machinery  for  carding  and  spinning.  He  died  in  1855.  He  and 
his  wife,  Louisa,  were  the  parents  of  eight  children,  of  whom  Horatio,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  the  oldest.  Horatio  has  resided  in  the  village  of  Worthington 
all  his  life,  owning  a  good  farm  east  of  the  village  and  passing  his  life  in  agricul- 
tural pursuits.  He  was  twice  married,  his  first  wife,  Harriet  Thompson,  hnving 
died  over  twenty  years  ago.  By  his  first  marriage  Mr.  Wright  became  the  father 
of  three  children,  Wilmer  and  Robert,  who  reside  in  Chicago,  and  Sarah,  who  is 
living  at  home  unmarried.  Mr.  Wright*s  second  wife  was  Laura,  the  daughter  of 
Rufus  Spencer,  an  Eastern  man,  and  she  is  yet  living.  No  children  were  born  of 
the  second  union. 

Horatio  Wright  is  one  of  Worthington's  most  valued  citizens.  For  a  full 
quarter  of  a  century  he  was  a  member  of  the  village  council,  and  for  many  years 
he  was  a  member  of  che  village  school  board,  his  connection  with  the  latter  ceas- 
ing in  1886.  In  this  year,  also,  Mr.  Wright  retired  from  the  office  of  treasurer  of 
Sharon  Township,  which  he  had  long  and  honorably  held.  He  is  known  as  an 
upright,  conscientious  man,  and  it  is  believed,  has  not  an  enemy  in  the  world.  He 
has  been  in  very  feeble  health  during  the  summer  of  1892,  and  recognizes  that  his 
departure  is  not  far  distant. 

JAMES  C.  KROESEN 

[Portrait  opposite  page  7^.1 

Was  born  in  Allegheny,  Pennsylvania,  on  January  1,  1844.  His  father  was  born  in 
Virginia,  the  Kroesen  family  having  lived  in  that  State  for  several  generations. 
His  mother  was  born  in  Scotland,  and  came  to  this  country  when  fifteen  years  of 
age.  James  C,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  the  second  son  of  these  parents,  is 
practically  a  self-educated  man,  having  at  the  early  age  of  seventeen  years 
devoted  the  following  years  of  his  ripening  youth  and  early  manhood  to  the  ser- 
vice of  his  beloved  country  in  the  civil  war  which  summoned  so  many  thousands 
of  the  young  men  to  the  forefront  of  battle.  Thus  the  years  usually  devoted  to 
the  courses  of  study  necessary  to  active,  and  especially  professional  life,  were,  in 
the  spirit  of  patriotism  and  selfsacrifice,  devoted  to  other,  and  for  the  moment,  to 
the  more  serious  afiairsof  war,  and  its  attending  hardships,  exposures  and  dangers. 
When  the  news  was  flashed  over  the  wires,  in  April,  1861,  that  Fort  Sumter 
had  been  fired  upon,  James  was  at  Rochester,  twentyfive  miles  below  Pittsburgh, 
on  the  Ohio  River.     That  same  evening  he  took  passage  on  a  steamer  for  Pitts- 


9 

918  History  of  the  Citt  of  Columbus. 

burgh,  and  the  next  day  his  name  was  enrolled  as  a  member  of  the  "  Firemen's 
Legion,"  a  military  organization  which  was  mustered  into  the  United  States  ser- 
vice, for  threemonths  service  under  the  first  call  of  the  President  for  75,000  men. 
Thus,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  ho  was  enlisted  as  a  soldier. 

At  the  expiration  of  this  term  of  enlistment  he  was  regularly  discharged,  bat 
in  the  following  month  he  reentered  the  army  in  a  regiment  of  Zouaves,  known 
as  the  Twentythird  Pennsylvania  Volunteers.  With  this  regiment  he  took  part 
in  the  Peninsula  campaign.  At  the  battle  of  Williamsburg,  he  served  with  his 
company  on  the  skirmish  line,  and  on  the  following  morning,  at  dawn,  they  were 
the  first  to  advance  and  enter  Port  Magruder,  and  pursue  the  retreating  enemy 
until  relieved  by  Stoneman's  Cavalry. 

His  regiment,  with  a  detachment  of  cavalry,  were  the  first  to  cross  the 
Chickahominy  River  in  the  advance  on  Eichmond.  At  the  battle  of  Seven  PineSf 
or  Fair  Oaks,  which  occurred  shortly  after,  his  regiment  was  posted  at  the  Seven 
Pines,  where,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Confederate  soldiers,  occurred  the 
hardest  fighting  and  most  obstinate  resistance  on  that  bloody  day.  The  whole 
Rebel  army,  during  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  of  battle,  was  pitted  against  two 
of  McCloUan's  divisions,  and  in  the  struggles  around  the  Pines  Kroesen  was  shot 
through  the  left  side  and  in  the  left  leg,  and  for  awhile  lay  between  the  fire  of  the 
opposing  armies.  He  was  present  during  the  Seven  Days  battles  which  occurred 
when  the  Union  Army  changed  its  base  and  moved  to  the  James  River;  his  regi- 
ment participating  with  Couch's  Division  in  the  signal  defeat  of  the  Rebel  army 
at  Malvern  Hill.  His  regiment  formed  the  rearguard  of  McClellan's  army  when 
it  left  the  Peninsula  to  aid  General  Pope  at  the  second  Manassas,  and  was  in  line 
of  battle  within  a  short  distance  of  the  spot  where  the  lamented  Kearney  was 
killed.  He  participated  in  the  South  Mountain  and  Antietam  campaigns,  and 
made  the  midnight  march  through  the  wilderness  with  General  Meade,  in  his 
Mine  Run  campaign,  in  which  fight  he  was  wounded  twice  in  the  left  arm.  Before 
he  recovered  from  these  wounds  his  threeyears  term  of  enlistment  had  expired. 
As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  use  his  arm,  he  reentered  the  service  as  an  officer  of 
artillery,  serving  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  On  the  musterout  of  the  artillery  regi- 
ment, he  was  attached  to  the  infantry  arm  of  the  service,  and  closed  his  military 
career  by  two  years  of  campaigning  against  the  Apache  Indians  in  the  West. 

On  leaving  the  army,  he  resumed  his  medical  studies,  which  had  been  broken 
off"  by  the  fortunes  of  war.  In  1871  he  graduated  and  received  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine  from  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York.  In  1873  he 
located  in  Columbus,  and  began  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he  has  con- 
tinued without  interruption  to  the  present  time.  He  held  the  position  of  City 
Physician  for  two  terms.  He  was  also  honored  with  the  appointment  of  the 
Governor  of  Ohio  to  represent  the  State  in  the  Convention  of  National  Charities, 
held  at  Boston,  Massachusetts.  He  is  at  present  the  local  Surgeon  of  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railway,  and  also  of  the  Travellers'  Accident  Company.  He 
has  taken  a  lively  and  efieetual  interest  in  the  afiairs  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic;  is  a  member  of  J.   C.  McCoy  Post,  Number  1,  Department  of  Ohio; 


Bepresentativb  Citizens.  919 

bas  presided  over  the  Post  as  its  Commander ;  has  been  twice  honored  by  the 
Post  as  Delegate  to  the  Department  Encampment,  and  was  elected  a  Delegate  of 
the  Department  of  Ohio,  to  represent  it  in  the  National  Encampment,  which  met 
in  the  City  of  Washington  in  1892,  and  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  Staff  of  the 
National  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Grand  Army. 

Doctor  Kroesen  has  been  for  many  years  affiliated  with  many  of  the  society 
organizations  which  are  well  known  in  all  communities.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Bed  Men  ;  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows;  of 
the  Order  of  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  and  of  the  Ancient  and 
Accepted  Scottish  Rite,  of  the  Supreme  Council  for  the  United  States  of  America, 
their  Territories  and  Dependencies,  of  which  Supreme  Council  he  is  an  active 
member,  of  the  Thirtythird  and  last  degree.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Masonic  Rite,  in  which  he  has  attained  the  ninetyfifth  degree. 

In  all  the  relations  of  life  Doctor  Kroesen  maintains  an  upright  walk  and 
conversation.  He  carries  along  with  him,  in  all  his  affairs,  the  same  zeal  and 
devotion  to  the  right  and  the  true,  as  he  conceives  them,  which  characterized  his 
early  devotion  of  himself  to  the  cause  of  his  beloved  country.  He  is  genuine, 
reliable  and  faithful ;  an  exemplary  citizen ;  a  successful  and* beloved  physician,  a 
generous,  affectionate  and  devoted  friend.  A  life  of  usefulness  and  honor,  so 
intelligently  and  devotedly  entered  upon  in  youth  and  maintained  to  the  present, 
still  opens  before  him,  more  widely  and  welcoming  than  ever,  the  prosperities  and 
the  rewards  which,  when  truly  earned,  are  faithfully  awarded. 

OSCAR  G.  PETERS 

[Portrait  opposite  page  153,  Volame  II.] 

Was  born  in  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  April  6, 1842.  When  he  was  three  years  of  age  the 
family  moved  to  Columbus  and  lived  for  several  years  on  South  High  Street,  in  the 
old  family  homestead  near  Fulton  Street.  While  he  was  still  quite  young  a  house 
was  bought  on  the  corner  of  Long  and  Front  streets,  "  away  out  in  the  country." 
Here  the  mishaps  of  boyhood  were  encountered,  and  here  the  developments  of  a 
shrewd  business  career  began  to  manifest  themselves.  His  inclination  to  earn 
money  led  him  when  about  twelve  years  of  age.  while  still  attending  school,  to 
seek  employment  as  an  errandboy  mornings  and  evenings  and  Saturdays,  his 
first  engagement  being  with  A.  H.  Sells,  next  with  Henry  Plimpton,  both  in  the 
millinery  business. 

During  the  Fremont  presidential  campaign,  1856,  he  earned  money  selling 
peanuts  and  apples,  and  probably  was  the  first  newsboy  in  Columbus,  as  he  sold  on 
the  street  daily  and  weekly  papers  and  monthly  magazines,  thus  early  showing 
a  natural  tendency  to  a  business  career.  Grammar  and  High  School  studies  were 
mastered  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  wont  to  work  in  his  stepfather's  tan  yard 
breaking  bark  for  the  mills.  Three  weeks  sufficed  to  satisfy  his  mind  that  there 
were  better  avocations  for  him,  and  he  decided  to  take  a  course  in  the  Commer- 
cial College,  and  improved  rapidly  in  double  entry  bookkeeping,  graduating  in  six 
months.     Anxious  to  practice  his  newly  acquired  knowledge,  he  accepted  the  first 


920  History  of  the  City  of  Columbus. 

position  tendered  him  in  the  tinware  bouse  of  P.  B.  Doddridge,  on  High  near 
Town  Street.  Instead  of  bookkeeping,  his  energies  were  utilized  for  doing  chore.*» 
and  working  at  the  bench.  This  was  so  foreign  to  his  tastes  that  he  left  the  place 
after  nine  weeks  of  humiliation  and  discouragement,  and  soon  after  went  into  the 
grocery  store  of  Godfrey  M.  Robinson,  who  treated  him  with  respect  and  con- 
sideration, and  permitted  him  to  keep  books,  to  the  complete  satisfaction  of  both 
the  employer  and  employe. 

A  little  more  than  a  year  sufficed  to  enable  the  young  man  to  outgrow  the 
business,  and  he  found  a  larger  field  in  the  Brotherlin,  Halm  &  Company's  furni- 
ture manufacturing  business  as  bookkeeper.  Eighteen  months  later  he  was  ten- 
dered the  position  of  clerk  with  his  uncle,  Nathaniel  Merion.  who  was  Commissary 
of  Subsistence  in  the  United  States  Army  (volunteer  service),  (^n  the  resigna- 
tion of  Captain  Merion,  eight  months  afterwards,  Mr.  Peters  closed  the  accounts 
without  the  loss  of  one  dollar.  Ho  took  the  same  position  under  Captain  George 
Evans,  remaining  one  year.  At  this  time,  at  the  age  of  twentyone,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Alice  E.  Heckler.  Two  children  were  born  of  this  union,  the  daughter 
died  in  infancy,  and  the  son  is  now  attending  the  University  of  Michigan.  He 
then  accompanied  Captain  William  A.  Murfey  to  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  as 
chief  clerk,  under  whose  administration  he  commanded  the  highest  salary  that 
was  then  paid  to  a  government  accountant  in  the  Commissary  Department.  This 
post  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  depots  for  subsistence  supplies  in 
the  country. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  after  four  years*  service,  Mr.  Peters  returned  to 
Columbus,  and  became  bookkeeper  for  the  wholesale  firm  of  Kelton,  Bancroft  & 
Company.  Several  months  later  he  opened  a  retail  grocery  store.  His  success 
was  marked,  and  he  was  obliged  to  move  into  larger  quarters  on  the  corner  of 
High  and  Chestnut  streets.  Eight  years  of  close  application  made  him  a  small 
competency,  which  wan  merged  into  the  Peters'  Dash  &  Columbus  Buggy  Com- 
pany, where  his  ability  as  a  business  man  and  expert  accountant  proved  invalu- 
able in  helping  to  build  up  the  largest  manufacturing  plant  for  light  vehicles  in 
the  world. 

CLINTON  D.  FIRESTONE. 

[Portrait  opposite  page  160.] 

Mr.  Firestone's  father,  a  pioneer  of  Ohio,  settled  near  Canton,  Stark  County, 
and  by  his  toil  and  energy  became  the  possessor  of  an  excellent  farm.  Here  on 
November  twelfth,  1848,  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  born  and  spent  his  early 
life— following  in  due  time  the  usual  custom  of  getting  instruction  from  the  coun- 
try school  in  winter,  and  in  the  summer  working  upon  the  farm.  His  surround- 
ings were  such  as  to  develop  that  intelligent  and  untiring  energy  which  forms  the 
basis  of  success.  Working  upon  the  farm  and  attending  to  the  stock,  the  boy  was, 
true  to  the  old  adage,  the  father  of  the  man. 

In  May,  1861,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  entered  the  Union  Army  and  served 
until   the  close  of  the   war.     After   leaving  the  army  he  spent  several  years  in 


BVPRESENTATIVE   CITIZENS.  921 

school  at  the  Boaver  Academy,  Beaver,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Allegheny  College, 
Meadville,  Pennsylvania. 

Believing  that  there  were  more  openings  for  young  men  of  pluck  and  energy 
in  the  West,  he  located  at  Cedar  Eapids,  Iowa,  accepting  a  position  as  time- 
keeper of  the  Burlington,  Cedar  Hapids  &  Northern  Kailroad,  then  being  con- 
structed, and  soon  rose  to  be  chief  clerk  of  the  engineering  corps,  and  general 
accountant  of  the  Construction  Company, 

In  1870  he  returned  to  Columbus,  and  became  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
vehicles,  which  industry  at  that  time  was  in  its  infancy.  In  1876,  he,  with  his 
associates  organized  the  Columbus  Buggy  Company,  and  with  energy  and  push 
tbey  have  made  this  Company  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world,  and  the  name 
*'  Columbus  Bjjggy  Company"  is  a  household  word  throughout  the  civilized 
world. 

Mr.  Firestone  might  well  find  sufficient  ground  for  pride  in  a  business  to  the 
success  and  greatness  of  which  he  has  so  largely  contributed  by  his  energy  and 
perseverance.  Ilis  activities,  however,  cover  a  much  wider  field  than  this,  while 
his  high  character  as  a  citizen  is  attested  by  the  honors  that  have  been  heaped 
upon  him. 

In  1884  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Eepublican  National  Convention  that  nomi- 
nated Hon.  James  G.  Blaine  as  the  candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  same  year  he  represented  the  Ohio  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  General  Conference  that  was  held  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  Columbus  Board  of  Trade  in  1889,  and  the  same  year  was  one  of 
the  Commissioners  who  represented  the  State  of  Ohio  at  the  Washington  Centen- 
nial held  in  New  York  City  April  29. 

He  is  at  the  present  time  a  Trustee  of  the  Chautauqua  University,  and  a 
Director  of  the  Commercial  National  Bank,  The  Columbus  Gas  Light  &  Coke 
Company,  The  Columbus  Natural  Gas  Company,  and  the  Columbus  Street  Rail- 
road Company. 


ERRATA. 

Pai^  III,  Contents,  fifth  line,  read  "Algonquins''  for  ''Aglonqains.'' 

Page  VIII,  list  of  illustrations,  read  »'  796"  for  "792,"  opposite  to  "  Wesley  Chapel." 

Page  53,  twelfth  line,  read  "  land  "  for  "  lands." 

Page  40.5,  eighth  line  from  bottom,  read  "  Jarvis  "  for  "  Javis." 

Page  406,  twentyfirst  line,  omit  *'  per  annam.'' 

Page  407,  fifth  line,  read  "  Sullivant "  for  "  Sallivan." 

Page  410.  last  line,  insert  **  no  "  after  "  will." 

Page  582,  fifteenth  line,  read  "  prove."  for  proves." 

Page  604,  nineteenth  line,  read  •'  Josiah  Scott,"  for  "  Joseph  Scott." 

Page  618,  seventh  line,  instead  of  "  those  valleys  "  read  "  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  the 

Mississippi." 
Page  622,  fifth  line  from  bottom,  instead  of  '*  was"  read  "  were." 
Page  628,  eleventh  line  fron  bottom,  after  "  states  "  insert  a  comma. 
Page  629,  twelfth  line  from  bottom,  instead  of   "  pecular "  read  "  pecaliar,"  and    in  sixth 

line  from  bottom,  instead  of  "  and  "  read  "  than." 
Page  630,  sixth  line  from  bottom,  instead  of  "  to  the  east  and  south  "  read  "  to  the  lands  east 

and  south." 
Page  636,  instead  of  "  Cozeau  "  read  "Cazeau." 

Page  638,  seventeenth  line,  instead  of  "  by  him  "  read  "by  his  heirs." 
Page  641,  seventh  line,  instead  of  "  the  sale  of  Starling  "  rea<l  *'  the  sale  to  Starling ; "  in  the 

ninth  line,  instead  of  "and  in  the  United  States  Court,"  read  "and  another  in  the 

United  States  Court ; ''  in  the  eleventh  line  from  the  bottom,  instead  of  "  Strawbridge 

to  McDowell,"  read  "  Strawbi^idge  by  McDowell ;  "  in  ninth  line  from  bottom,  instead 

of  "  John  Strawbridge  "  read  "  James  Strawbridge." 
Page  643,  tenth  line,  after  "  seven  and  a  half  acres,"  insert  a  comma. 
Page  644,  fifth  line  from  the  bottom,  instead  of  "  1881,"  read  "  1861." 
Page  647,  twentyfirst  line,  instead  of  "  north  western"  read  "  north  eastern." 
Page  650,  twentythird  line,  instead  of  "  1804  "  read  "  1824 ; "  in  twentyfourth  line,  instead 

of  "orginial,"  read  "original." 
Page  655,  ninth  line,  instead  of  "  from  and  to  "  read  "  from  "  and  *'  to." 
Page  656,  fourteenth  line,  instead  of  "1836"  read   "1830;"  in  twentysecond   line,   after 

"  maintained  "  insert  a  comma ;  in  tbirtythird  line,  omit  the  word  ''  adverse." 
Page  657,  last  line,  instead  of  "commensurate  with  "  read  "  sufficient  for." 
Page  658,  tenth  line,  instead  of  "  reality,"  read  "  realty ; "  in  the  fifteenth  line  instead  of 

"  twenty  five  hundred,"  read   "twentyfive  hundred  dollars;"  in  seventeenth   line, 

instead  of  "  siztyfour  hundred  "  read  "  sixtyfour  hundred  dollars." 
Page  753,  read  folio  as  "753"  instead  of  "375." 
Page  899,  second  line  read  "opposite  page  480"  instead  of  "408." 
Page  901,  eighth  line  read  "  was  "  for  "  were." 


\ 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 
GRADUATE  UBRARY 


DATE  DUE 


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