ROSS COUNTY—Continued

 

 

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W. Va. (afterward governor of Ohio). In 1790 Dr. TIFFIN united with the Methodist church, was ordained deacon by Bishop Asbury, and all throughout his subsequent career continued to preach with much fervor and power.

 

In 1796 he manumitted his slaves, and accompanied by his brother-in-law and Robert Lucas (all three subsequently became governors of Ohio), removed to Chillicothe. Dr. TIFFIN was of genial temperament, of high professional and general culture, and above all of high moral purpose and character. It is small wonder that such a man became immensely popular. Gen. Washington, in a letter to Gov. St. Clair, speaks of “Dr. TIFFIN’S fairness of character in private and public life, together with knowledge of law, resulting from close application for a considerable time.” In 1799 he was chosen to the Territorial Legislature and unanimously elected Speaker, which position he held until Ohio became a State.

 

In 1802 he was chosen president of the first Constitutional Convention, and his superior ability and acquirements so impressed his fellow-delegates that at its conclusion the convention made him its candidate for governor, to which office he was elected in January, 1803, without opposition. Two years later he was re-elected, again without opposition, and the office was tendered him a third time, but declined.

 

The new State of Ohio was fortunate in having as its first chief executive a man of such extraordinary and versatile talents and acquirements. The formative condition of affairs gave opportunity for the display of Gov. TIFFIN’S genius, and his able administration was of inestimable value in developing and advancing the interests of the young Commonwealth. The moat notable incident of his administration was the suppression of the Burr-Blennerbassett expedition. In his message of January 22, 1807,  President Jefferson highly compliments Gov. TIFFIN for his prompt and efficient action in this affair.  At the close of his second term Gov. TIFFIN was elected to the United States Senate, and performed valuable services for Ohio by securing appropriations for the improvement of the Ohio river, the mail service, and the survey of public lands.

 

In 1809 the death of his much-beloved wife was a serious blow to Senator TIFFIN; he resigned his seat in the Senate, and determined to retire from public life; but in the following year he was elected to the State legislature, and was made Speaker of the house, serving for several terms.

 

He married a second wife, Miss Mary PORTER, of Delaware. Like his first wife, she was a woman of much beauty of person and character.

 

Upon Madison’s election to the Presidency he appointed Senator TIFFIN to organize the land office. When Washington was burned by the British, in 1814, Dr. TIFFIN was so prompt and espeditious in removing the records of his office to a place of safety, that his was the only department whose books and papers were unharmed. Wishing to return to Ohio, he, with the consent of the President and Senate, exchanged offices with Josiah MEIGS, Surveyor-General of the West. He held this latter office until within a few months of his death, when he was removed by President Jackson. Dr. TIFFIN died August 9, 1829, his widow survived him until 1837; three of their daughters were living in 1889. Their only son, who had studied his father’s profession, was killed in a rail-road accident while returning home from Paris, where he had been attending medical lectures.

 

 

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846

ADENA.

 

Two or three miles northwest of Chillicothe, on a beautiful elevation commanding a magnificent view of the fertile valley of the Scioto and it bounding hills,

 

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is Adena, the seat of the late Gov. WORTHINGTON. The mansion itself is of stone, is embosomed in shrubbery, and has attached a fine garden. It was erected in 1806, at which time it was the most elegant mansion in this part of the West, and crowds came to view it, in whose estimation the name of the place, “Adena,” which signifies “Paradise,” did not perhaps appear hyperbolical. The large panes of glass and the novelty of papered walls appeared especially to attract attention. Its architect was the elder Latrobe, of Washington city, from which place the workmen also were. Nearly all the manufactured articles used in its construction, as the nails, door-knobs, hinges, glass, etc., were from east of the mountains. The glass was made at the works of Albert Gallatin and Mr. Nicholson, at Geneva, Pa. The fire-place fronts were of Philadelphia marble, which cost $7 per hundred for transportation. The whole edifice probably cost double what it would have done if erected at the present day. It is now the residence of the widow of the late governor, of whom we annex a brief notice.—Old Edition.

 

THOMAS WORTHINGTON, one of the earliest and most distinguished pioneers of Ohio, was born in Jefferson county, Va., about the year 1769, and settled in Ross county in 1798. He brought from Virginia a large number of slaves, whom he emancipated, and some of their descendants yet remain in Chillicothe. A man of ardent temperament, of energy of mind and correct habits or life, he soon became distinguished both in business and in political stations. He was a member of the convention of 1803, to form a State constitution, in which he was both able and active. Soon after that he became a senator in Congress from the new State, and was a participant in the most important measures of the administrations of Jefferson and Madison. At the close of his career in Congress, he was elected governor of the State, in which capacity he was the friend and aid of all the liberal and wise measures of policy which were the foundation of the great prosperity of Ohio. After his retirement from the gubernatorial chair he was appointed a member of the first board of canal commissioners, in which capacity he served till his death. A large landholder, engaged in various and extensive business, and for thirty years in public stations, no man in Ohio did more to form its character and promote its prosperity. He died in 1827.

 

The pioneer author of the Scioto valley, Col. John McDONALD, should be gratefully remembered. He was of Scotch (Highland) stock; was born in Northumberland county, Pa., January 28, 1775. In the spring of 1792 he joined Gen. Massie’s settlement at Manchester. He was a boatman, hunter, surveyor, Indian fighter, and, under Massie, took a prominent part in all the expeditions leading to the settlement of the Scioto valley. He was a colonel in the war of 1812, and held various civil offices. He died on his farm at Poplar Ridge, Ross county, September 11, 1853. He was a modest, valuable man. His little book, now out of print, “McDonald’s Sketches,” details the woful experiences of the early explorers of the valley with lifelike truthfulness and simplicity. The sketches of Worthington, Massie, and McArthur, herein given, are abridged mainly from his “Sketches.”

 

NATHANIEL MASSIE was born in Goochland county, Virginia, Dec. 28, 1763. His father, a farmer in easy circumstances, and of plain good sense, educated his sons for the practical business of life. In 1780 Nathaniel, then being seventeen years of age, was for a short time in the revolutionary army. After his return he studied surveying, and in 1783 left to seek his, fortunes in Kentucky. He first acted as a surveyor, but soon joined with it the locating of lands.

 

His Characteristics.—Young MASSIE soon became an expert surveyor, and it was a matter of astonishment (as he was raised in the dense population east of the mountains) how soon he acquired the science and habits of the backwoodsmen. Although he never practised the art of hunting, he was admitted by all who knew his qualifications as a woodsman, to be of the first order. He could steer his course truly in clear or cloudy weather, and compute distances more correctly than most of the old hunters. He could endure fatigue and hunger with more composure than the most of those persons who were inured to want on the frontier. He could live upon meat without bread, and bread without meat, and was perfectly cheerful and contented with his fare. In all the perilous situations in which he was placed, he was always conspicuous for his good feeling and the happy temperament of his mind. His courage was of a cool and dispassionate character, which, added to great circumspection in times of danger, gave him a complete ascendancy over his companions, who were always willing to follow when MASSIE led the way.”

 

Surveys Land.He also soon became in-

 

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GEN. DUNCAN McARTHUR,           THOMAS WORTHINGTON,                       WILLIAM ALLEN,

         Governor of Ohio, 1830-1832.              Governor of Ohio 1814-1818                  Governor of Ohio 1874-1876

 

 

 

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terested with Gen. James Wilkinson in speculations in salt, then an article of great scarcity in the West—with what pecuniary success, however, is unknown. He was employed as a surveyor by Col. R. C. Anderson, principal surveyor of the Virginia military lands, and for a time was engaged in writing in the office of Col. Anderson, who had the control of the land warrants, placed in his hands by his brother officers and soldiers.

 

“A very large amount of these, so soon as the act of Congress of August, 1790, removed all further obstruction, he placed in the hands of MASSIE, to enter and survey on such terms as he could obtain from the holders of them. As the risk of making entries was great, and as it was desirable to possess the beat land, the owners of warrants, in most cases, made liberal contracts with the surveyors. One-fourth, one-third, and sometimes as much as one-half acquired by the entry of good lands, were given by the proprietors to the surveyors.             If the owners preferred paying money, the usual terms were ten pounds, Virginia currency, for each thousand acres entered and surveyed, exclusive of chainmen’s expenses. These terms cannot appear extravagant, when we consider that at that time the danger encountered was great, the exposure during the winter severe, and that the price of first-rate land in the West was low, and an immense quantity in market.

 

“The locations of land-warrants in the Virginia military district between the Scioto and the Little Miami, prior to 1790, were made by stealth. Every creek which was explored, every line that was run, was at the risk of life from the savage Indians, whose courage and perseverance was only equalled by the perseverance of the whites to push forward their settlements.”

 

Founds Manchester.—In 1791 MASSIE made the first settlement within the Virginia military district at Manchester. During the winter of ‘92-’93, he continued to locate and survey the best land within a reasonable distance of the station of Manchester. “In the fall of the year 1793 MASSIE determined to attempt a surveying tour on the Scioto river. This, at this time, was a very dangerous undertaking; yet no danger, unless very imminent, could A deter him from making the attempt. For that purpose he employed about thirty men, of whom he chose three as asaistant surveyors. These were John BEASLEY, Nathaniel BEASLEY, and Peter LEE. It was in this expedition MASSIE employed, for, the first time, Duncan McARTHUR as a chainman or marker.”

 

Explores the Scioto Valley.—”In the month of October some canoes were procured, and Masaie and his party set off by water. They procedded up the Ohio to the mouth of the Scioto thence up the Scioto to the mouth of Paint creek. While meandering the Scioto, they made some surveys on the bottoms. After reaching the mouth of Paint creek, the surveyors went to work. Many surveys were made on the Scioto, as far up as Westfall. Some were made on Main, and others on the north fork of Paint creek, and the greatest parts of Rose and Pickaway counties in the district were well explored and partly surveyed. MASSIE finished his intended work without meeting with any disturbance from the Indians. But one Indian was seen during the excursion, and to him they gave a hard chase. He, however, escaped. The party returned home delighted with the rich country of the Scioto valley which they had explored.

 

“During the winter of 1793-4 MASSIE, in the midst of the most appalling dangers, explored the different branches to their sources, which run into the Little Miami river, and thence passed in a northeastern direction to the heads of Paint and Clear creeks, and the branches that form those streams. By these expeditions he had formed, from personal observation, a correct knowledge of the geographical situation of the country composing the Virginia military district.”

 

Hardships.—”During the winter of 1794-5 MASSIE prepared a party to enter largely into the surveying business. Nathaniel BEASLEY, John BEASLEY, and Peter Lee were again employed as the assistant surveyors. The party set off from Manchester, well equipped, to prosecute their business, or, should occasion offer, give battle to the Indians. They took the route of Logan’s trace, and proceeded to a place called the deserted camp, on Tod’s fork of the Little Miami. At this point they commenced surveying, and surveyed large portions of land on Tod’s fork, and up the Miami to the Chillicothe town (now in Clark county), thence up MASSIE’S creek and Caesar’s creek nearly to their heads. By the time the party had progressed thus far winter had set in. The ground was covered with a sheet of snow from six to ten inches deep. During the tour, which continued upwards of thirty days, the party had no bread. For the first two weeks a pint of flour was distributed to each mesa once a day, to mix with the soup in which meat had been boiled. When night came, four fires were made for cooking, that is, one for each mess. Around these fires, till sleeping-time arrived, the company spent their time in the most social glee, singing songs and telling stories. When danger was not apparent or immediate, they were as merry a set of men as ever assembled. Resting-time arriving, MASSIE always gave the signal, and the whole party would then leave their comfortable fires, carrying with them their blankets, their firearms, and their little baggage, walking in perfect silence two or three hundred yards from their fires. They would then scrape away the snow and huddle down together for the night. Each mess formed one bed; they would spread down on the ground one-half of the blankets, reserving the other half for covering. The covering blankets were fastened together by skewers, to prevent them from slipping apart. Thus prepared, the whole party crouched down together with their rifles in their arms, and their pouches under their heads for pillows I lying spoon-fashion, with three heads

 

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one way and four the other, their feet extending to about the middle of their bodies. When one turned the whole mass turned, or else the close range would be broken and the cold let in. In this way they lay till broad daylight, no noise and scarce a whisper being uttered during the night. When it was perfectly light, MASSIE would call up two of the men in whom he had most confidence, and send them to reconnoitre and make a circuit around the fires, lest an ambuscade might be formed by the Indians to destroy the party as they returned to the fires. This was an invariable custom in every variety of weather. Self-preservation required this circumspection. Some time after this, while surveying on Caesar’s creek, his men attacked a party of Indians, and they broke and fled.

 

After the defeat of the Indians by Wayne, the surveyors were not interrupted by the Indians; but on one of their excursions, still remembered as “the starving tour,” the whole party, consisting of twenty-eight men, suffered extremely in a driving snow-storm for about four days. They were in a wilderness, exposed to this severe storm, without hut, tent, or covering, and what was still more appalling, without provision and without any road or even track to retreat on, and were nearly 100 miles from any place of shelter. On the third day of the storm, they luckily killed two wild turkeys, which were boiled and divided into twenty-eight parts, and devoured with great avidity, heads, feet, entrails and all.

 

Founds Chillicothe.—In 1796 MASSIE laid the foundation of the settlement of the Scioto valley, by laying out on his own land the now large and beautiful town of Chillicothe. The progress of the settlements brought large quantities of his land into market.

 

MASSIE was high in the confidence of St. Clair; and having received the appointment of colonel, it was through him that the militia of this region were first organized. Colonel MASSIE was an efficient member of the convention which formed the State constitution. He was afterwards elected senator from Ross, and at the first session of the State legislature was chosen speaker. He was elected the first major-general of the second division of the Ohio militia under the new constitution.

 

Elected Governor and Refuses the Office.—MASSIE was at this time one of the largest landholders in Ohio, and selected a residence at the falls of Paint creek, in this county, where he had a large body of excellent land. “In the year 1807 Gen. MASSIE and Col. Return J. MEIGS were competitors for the office of governor of Ohio. They were the most popular men in the State. Col. MEIGS received a small majority of votes. The election was contested by MASSIE on the ground that Col. MEIGS was ineligible by the constitution, in consequence of his absence from the State, and had not since his return lived in the State a sufficient length of time to regain his citizenship. The contest was carried to the General Assembly, who, after hearing the testimony, decided that Col. MEIGS was ineligible to the office, and that Gen. MASSIE MASSIE was duly elected governor of the State of Ohio. MASSIE, however desirous he might have been to hold the office, was too magnanimous to accept it when his competitor had a majority of votes. After the decision in his favor he immediately resigned.”

 

After this, he, as often as his leisure would permit, represented Ross county in the legislature. He died Nov. 3, 1813, and was buried on his farm. “His character was well suited for the settlement of a new country, distinguished as it was by an uncommon degree of energy and activity in the business in which he was engaged. His disposition was ever marked with liberality and kindness.”

 

DUNCAN M’ARTHUR, who was of Scotch parentage, was born in Dutchess county, New York, in 1772, and when eight years of age, his father removed to the frontiers of Peunsylvania. His father was in indigent circumstances, and DUNCAN, when of sufficient age, hired out as a laborer. At the age of eighteen years, he was a volunteer in Harmar’s campaign. In 1792, he was a private in the company of Capt. Wm. Enoch, and acted with so much intrepidity in the battle of Captina, as to render him very popular with the frontier men. After this, he was for a while a laborer at some salt-works near Maysville, Ky., and in the spring of 1793, engaged as a chain-bearer to Gen. Nathaniel MASSIE, and penetrated with him and others into the Scioto Valley to make surveys, at a time when such an enterprise was full of danger from the Indians. He was afterwards employed as a spy against the Indians on the Ohio, and had some adventures with them, elsewhere detailed in this volume. He was again in the employment of Gen. MASSIE, and after the treaty of Greenville, studied surveying, became an assistant surveyor to Gen MASSSIE, and aided him to lay out Chillicothe. He, in the course of this business, became engaged in the purchase and sale of lands, by which he acquired great landed wealth.

 

In 1805 he was member of the Legislature from Ross; in 1806 elected colonel, and in 1808, major-general of the State militia.  In May, 1812, he was commissioned colonel

 

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in the Ohio volunteers, afterwards marched to Detroit, and himself and regiment were included in Hull’s surrender. He was second in command on this unfortunate expedition; but such was the energy he displayed, that, notwithstanding, after his return as a prisoner of war on parole, the Democratic party, in the fall of 1812, elected him to Congress by an overwhelming majority. In March, 1813, he was commissioned a brigadier-general in the army, and having been regularly exchanged as prisoner of war, soon after resigned his seat in Congress to engage in active service.

 

Military Services.—About the time the enemy were preparing to attack Fort Stephenson, the frontiers were in great danger, and Harrison sent an express to M’ARTHUR to hurry on to the scene of action with all the force he could muster. Upon this, he ordered the second division to march in mass. “This march of the militia was named the ‘general call.’ As soon as Governor Meigs was advised of the call made by General M’ARTHUR, he went forward and assumed in person the command of the militia now under arms. General M’ARTHUR went forward to the scene of action, and the militia followed in thousands. So promptly were his orders obeyed, that in a few days the Sanduaky plains were covered with nearly eight thousand men, mostly from Scioto valley. This rush of militia to defend the exposed frontier of our country, bore honorable testimony that the patriotism of the Scioto valley did not consist of noisy professions, but of practical service in defence of their country. This general turn-out of the militia proves that General MASSIE, and the few pioneers who followed him into the wilderness, and assisted him in making the first settlements in the fertile valley of the Scioto river, had infused their own daring and enterprising spirit into the mass of the community. Among these eight thousand militia were found in the ranks as private soldiers, judges, merchants, lawyers, preachers, doctors, mechanics, farmers and laborers of every description; all anxious to repulse the ruthless invaders of our soil. Indeed, the Scioto country was so stripped of its male population on this occasion, that the women in their absence were compelled to carry their grain to mill, or let their children suffer for want.” These troops having arrived at Upper Sandusky, formed what was called the “grand camp of Ohio militia.” Gen. M’ARTHUR was detailed to the command of Fort Meigs. The victory of Perry, on the 10th of September, gave a fresh impetus to the army, and Harrison concentrated his troops at Portage river, where, on the 20th, the brigade of M’ARTHUR, from Fort Meigs, joined him. On the 27th, the army embarked in boats and crossed over to Malden, and a few days after, Gen. M’ARTHUR, with the greater part of the troops, was charged with the defence of Detroit. After the resignation of Harrison, in the spring of 1814, M’ARTHUR, being the senior brigadier-general, the command of the N. W. army devolved on him. As the enemy had retired discomfited from the upper end of Lake Erie, and most of the Indians were suing for peace, the greater part of the regular troops  under his command were ordered to the Niagara frontier. M’ARTHUR had a number of small forts to garrison along the frontier, while he kept his main force at Detroit and Malden, to overawe the Canadians and the scattering Indians still in the British interest. The dull monotony of going from post to post was not the most agreeable service to his energetic mind. He projected an expedition into Canada, on which he was absent about a fortnight from Detroit, with 650 troops and 70 Indians. At or near Malcolm’s mill, the detachment had an action with the force of about 500 Canadian militia, in which they defeated them with a loss of 27 killed and wounded, and made 111 prisoners; while the American loss was only 1 killed and 6 wounded. In this excursion, the valuable mills of the enemy in the vicinity of Grand river were destroyed, and their resources in that quarter essentially impaired. After returning from this successful expedition, the war languished in the northwest. General M’ARTHUR continued in service and was at Detroit when peece was declared.

 

The U. S. Bank Contest.—In the fall of 1815 he was again elected to the Legislature. In 1816 he was appointed commissioner to negotiate a treaty with the Indians at Springwell, near Detroit; he acted in the same capacity at the treaty of Fort Meigs, in September, 1817, and also at the treaty at St. Mary’s in the succeeding year. In 1817, upon being elected to the Legislature, he was a competitor with the late Charles Hammond Esq., for the Speaker’s chair, and triumphed by a small majority. The neat summer, the party strife on the United States bank question, which had commenced the previous session, was violent. M’ARTHUR defended the right of that institution to place branches wherever it chose in the State, and on this issue was again a candidate for the Legislature and was defeated. “A considerable majority of members elected this year were opposed to the United States bank. Mr. Hammond was again elected a member of the assembly, and by his talents and readiness in wielding his pen, together with his strong and confident manner of speaking, was able to dictate law to this assembly. A law was passed at this session of the Legislature, taxing each branch of the United States bank, located in the State of Ohio, fifty thousand dollars. When the time arrived for collecting this tax, the branch banks refused to pay. Mr. Hammond had provided in the law for a case of this kind: the collector was authorized, in case the bank refused to pay the tag, to employ armed force and enter the banking house and seize on the money, and this was actually done; the collector, with an armed force, entered the branch bank in the town of Chillicothe and took what money he thought proper.

 

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“The bank brought suit in the United States circuit court against all the State officers concerned in this forcible collection. Mr. Hammond, a distinguished lawyer, with other eminent counsel, was employed by the State of Ohio to defend this important cause. The district court decided the law of Ohio, levying the tag, unconstitutional, and, of course null and void; and made a decree, directing the State to refund to the bank the money thus forcibly taken. The cause was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Hammond defended the suit in all its stages. The Su Supreme Court decided this cause against the State of Ohio. Thus was settled this knotty and vexatious question, which, for a time, threatened the peace of the Union.”

 

Political Honor.—In 1819 M’ARTHUR was again elected to the Legislature. In 1822 he was again chosen to Congress, and became an undeviating supporter of what is called the American system.While General M’ARTHUR remained a member of Congress, he had considerable influence in that body. His persevering industry, his energetic mind, his sound judgment, and practical business habits, rendered him a very efficient member. He would sometimes make short, pithy remarks on the business before the house but made no attempts at those flourishes of eloquence which tickle the fancy and please the ear. After having served two sessions in Congress, he declined a re-election, being determined to devote all his efforts to arrange his domestic concerns. He left the field of politics to others, and engaged with an unremitted attention to settle his land business. In 1830, M’ARTHUR was elected governor of Ohio by the anti-Jackson party, and on the expiration of his term of office was a candidate for Congress, and lost his election, which terminated his political career. By an unfortunate accident in June, 1830, M’ARTHUR was horribly bruised and maimed: From this severe misfortune his bodily and mental powers constantly declined, until death, several years after, closed his career.

 

Duncan M’ARTHUR was a strong-minded, energetic man and possessed an iron will. He was hospitable, close in business, and had many bitter and severe enemies.

 

TRAVELLING NOTES.

 

Upland Cemetery, at Chillicothe, is an especially interesting spot, both historically and pictorially. In it lie the remains of four governors of the State: Edward TIFFIN, the first governor, 1803-1807; Thomas WORTHINGTON, 1814-1818; Duncan McARTHUR, 1830-1832, and William ALLEN, 1874-1876. The cemetery contains about 100 acres of woodland, partly old forest trees; largely intermingled are evergreens, as Irish juniper, Norway spruce, white and Austin pine. Among the interesting monuments is that to the memory of Gen. Joshua W. SILL, a very promising young officer, one of the earliest of the sacrifices of the war. He was a graduate of West Point, but at the outbreak of hostilities was in civil life. He fell at Stone river, December 31, 1862, universally lamented.

 

The cemetery is about a mile south of the city, on the western hills. There, on the most northerly point, at an elevation of 170 feet, overlooking the beautiful city which he founded, is the monument and tomb of Nathaniel MASSIE. The view is singularly, beautiful and commanding, embracing the city, the windings of the Scioto, with Mount Logan in the distance. The shaft of the monument is of Scotch granite, about thirty feet high, and on its face is this inscription:

 

 

Gen. Nathaniel Massie,

 

Founder of

 

C H I L L I C O T H E.

 

Born in

 

Goochland county, Virginia

 

Dec. 28, 1763

 

Died,

 

Nov. 3, 1813

 

 

 

 

 

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Top Picture

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

THE FIRST OHIO STATE-HOUSE

 

Bottom Picture

THE COUNTY BUILDINGS, CHILLICOTHE.

These occupy the site of the old State-House

 

 

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Mr. MASSIE was originally buried on his farm. In June, 1870, the remains, with those of his wife, were removed here. Near the MASSIE monument is the Soldiers’ monument, an imposing structure. It is of marble, about twenty-five feet high; consists of two cubes on a pedestal; on them are bronze tablets, with inscriptions, and figures in basso-rilievo. The whole is surmounted by the figure of a soldier in bronze, at rest, in graceful attitude, leaning on his musket.

 

The Old State Capitol, shown in the engraving, was destroyed in 1852. The old building stood on the site of the present court-house, exactly where is now the court-room of the latter. The small building on the right was used by the treasurer and auditor. The building partly shown in the rear was the stone jail. The church in the rear is yet standing. In the year I made the sketch, March 6, 1846, a noted burglar and murderer, Henry THOMAS. was hanged on a gallows erected before the front door. It was the second criminal execution in the county since its organization. He was hanged for the murder of Fred. EDWARDS, storekeeper at Bourneville. THOMAS sold his body to Dr. HULL, of that place, who preserved the skeleton.

 

The Ohio Eagle.Chillicothe Library has about 9,000 volumes. I went in to see the “Ohio Eagle,” the identical eagle that for nearly half a century had stood perched on the summit of the cupola of the Old State House and glinted in the first rays of the morning sun as it came up from behind Mount Logan. It had been placed there as a relic. It was made of four pieces of sheet-brass, rivited, two feet and six inches high, two feet broad, and black as a stove-its gilt long since gone. It never was much of an eagle, but served for the beginning of Ohio, and should be duly honored.

 

The Old Librarian.—About as great a curiosity as the eagle was the librarian himself, Mr. Henry WATTERSON, who was within two years as old as that bird. He thus gave me his, record, extraordinary for the genus homo: Was born in Albany, N. Y., March 25, 1804; therefore, then 82 years old. Came to Chillicothe in 1841; is an omnivorous reader, but reads no fiction except Scott’s novels; walks six miles daily; height, 5 feet, inches; chest measurement, 32 inches; weight, one hundred and four pounds; had one leg broken; one arm broken once and another broken three times, and the last time it was broken it was broken in three places; had six attacks of fever—in one of them was so far gone that his mother made his shroud; recovering, she changed it into a shirt; it went on duty as a shirt until it was worn out as a shirt. To have eighty-two years of history thus personified, and so much broken, too, and once so near dead, withal, and yet nimbly mount a step-ladder and bring down from a top shelf some of the gathered wisdom of the ages for one’s edification, was a marvel indeed.

 

The Old Constitution Table.—In the recorder’s office stands the table on which was signed the old constitution of Ohio, adopted November 29, 1802; and that table has been in constant use from that day to this. It stands on its old legs, save one. The top is of black walnut and the legs cherry; its height, 2 feet 4 inches; its form, oval 6 feet long and 3 feet 8 inches wide. On this table once stood Hon. Thomas Scott and made a speech to his fellow-citizens, congratulating them on the adoption of the constitution. He had been secretary of the convention. In 1846 he was one of its five surviving members, two of whom were Joseph DARLINGTON and Israel DONALSON of Adams county; the other two names not recollected by me, if then known. It was from the manuscript of Judge Scott that I obtained the items respecting the first settlement of the county.

 

CHILLICOTHE has changed but little since that olden time of 1846. The best residences are scattered. The houses, with rare exceptions, are the old-style square houses, sometimes, called “box-houses.” They are largely of brick, with large rooms, some two and a few only one-story high with ample yards and gardens.No fanciful architecture, with ostentatioue, sky-climbing towers, no pepper-box-shaped pinnacles greet the eye. Money was largely put inside for comfort and convenience and having “a good time generally all around,” and the old-style people got it.

 

The town was great in character, having had so many strong first-class men as its leading citizens. It was the admiration of strangers in its bale halcyon days and among these was Daniel Webster. He went into the country and I believe ascended Mount Logan, and had an eye-feast as he looked over the valleys of the Scioto and Paintcreek. The beauty and fertility, the immense fields of corn and wheat, the fat luscious cattle and the vast domains of single owners, filled him with the sense of agricultural magnificence new in his experience. Ever after, when any Scioto valley people called upon him, he was strong in his praises, which made them feel good, though on one or two occasions this was marred by his blunder, when alluding to the beauty of Paint creek, by his calling it Pain creek.

 

A most useful and valued acquaintance made in my first sojourn in the “Ancient Metropolis” in 1846, was Seneca W. ELY, probably the oldest editor and printer now in the harness in Ohio. He had then been editor and principal proprietor of the Scioto Gazette—a leading Whig journal, founded in 1800, and still in existence-since 1835, and was known and respected throughout the State as an influential writer and politician. Mr. ELY was born in eastern Pennsylvania, learned the trade of, a printer at Rochester among the

 

 

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New York “Yankees,” perfecting his knowledge of “the art preservative of all arts” in Philadelphia. He was an active participator with the older politicians, Ewing, Bond, Stanbery, Creighton, Thrall and a host of others, in forwarding the principles and fortunes of the “grandest old party ever formed,” as he used to express it—the party of Clay, Webster and compatriots.

 

In the 1840’s Mr. ELY was one of the first subscribers to the construction fund of a rail-road—the third in the State—from Marietta to the Little Miami at Loveland. He was made one of the officers of the road, but the enterprise exhausted the comfortable little fortune he had acquired, and he accepted the treasurership of the first street railroad it Cincinnati. During the civil war he was employed in sanitary services, especially at St Louis. From 1870 to 1874 he edited the leading Republican paper of Miami county and for eighteen months a paper in Circleville, and then returned to Cincinnati as one of Portrait of Seneca W. Ely.the editorial staff of the Gazette. When the Gazette and Commercial coalesced his services were accepted on the joint enterprise and he continues yet an active member of the editorial corps of that leading journal. Like Greeley, he has passed a “busy life,” am though, like the same renowned editor, he, may not have

 

 

“Gathered gear from every wile,

That’s justified by honor,”

 

We believe it may truly be said for him—

 

“Although your way of life

Is fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf,

You’ve that which should accompany old age;

As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends.”

 

 

 

EPHRAIM GEORGE SQUIER and Dr. EDWIN HAMILTON DAVIS, the archaeologist, in 1846 were engaged in making their explorations and surveys, and Mr., ELY introduced me to them. Mr. DAVIS was a native of Chillicothe, and was then about 35 years of age. He was a reserved and somewhat diffident gentleman, and of the highest character. ‘The latter part of his life was passed in New York, pursuing archaeological studies. Mr. SQUIRE was an entirely different man. He had come from the East to assist in editing the Scioto Gazette. He was then about 26 years of age, blonde, small and boyish in figure, but one of the most audacious, incisive spirits I have known. In coming to Columbus with Mr. ELY, just prior to the opening of the legislature, SQUIRE said to him that he was going to get the clerkship of the house. Surprised, the other replied, “Why, SQUIRE, you can’t do that; you ve just come to the State; you are not even a citizen.”I don’t care, I shall do it.” And he did. He had a talent for management, and notwithstanding his insignificant presence could make his way everywhere, with no fear of power, station, nor weight of intellect and character.

 

One day he was riding out with ELY, when they came in sight of some ancient earthworks. He thereupon inquired about them. The latter told him, upon which he became greatly interested, and said that would be his field of work—he did not care about politics. In the course of conversation SQUIRE asked if there was anybody in Chillicothe interested in archæology. “Yes, there is Mr. DAVIS, who ten years ago assisted Charles Whittlesey in his explorations and surveys of the Newark antiquities, and is still gathering relics.” The result was, he united with DAVIS, who furnished the funds, and they worked together.

 

The publication of their work by the Smithsonian Institution set SQUIRE upon a pedestal. John L. Stephens’ work upon the “Antiquities of Central America, issued in 1841, created a great sensation, showing that that country was a rich field for archaeological research. SQUIRE, the publication of their work, applied for and obtained the position of special chargé d’affaires to Central America, his object being to investigate archaeology and kindred topics. Both he and Mr. Davis died in 1887.

 

In my last visit to Chillicothe I had the pleasure of meeting Col. WILLIAM E. GILMORE, on of the city’s venerables and its postmaster, holding over from Mr. Arthur’s administration.  A military man, were he a Boston instead of a Scioto valley production, he doubtless to-day would be enrolled in its “Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company,” a high private, marching in its ranks, touching elbows with Gen. Banks.

He has a higher honor.  He delivered the last speech uttered by mortal man.


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