UNION COUNTY
Page 704
UNION COUNTY was formed April 1, 1820, from Delaware, Franklin, Madison and Logan, together with a part of old Indian territory. The surface is generally level, and most of the soil clayey. The southwestern part is prairie land, and the north and eastern woodland of great fertility when cleared. In the eastern part are valuable limestone quarries.
Area about 420 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 124,261; in pasture, 53,807; woodland, 37,046; lying waste, 1,364; produced in wheat, 276,985 bushels; rye, 785; buckwheat, 362; oats, 180,250; barley, 79; corn, 1,111,352 broom corn, 800 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 28,045 tons; clover hay, 4,639; flax, 8,000 lbs. fibre; potatoes, 21,075 bushels; butter, 383,982 lbs.; cheese, 11,500; sorghum, 1,934 gallons; maple sugar, 26,092 lbs.; honey, 2,814; eggs, 551,631. dozen; grapes, 6,340 lbs.; wine, 35 gallons; sweet potatoes, 142 bushels; apples, 5,288; peaches, 200; pears, 770; wool, 354,274 lbs.; milch cows owned, 4,880. School census, 1888, 7,301; teachers, 247. Miles of railroad track, 63.
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
Allen, |
714 |
1,333 |
Liberty, |
922 |
1,389 |
Claiborne, |
497 |
2,758 |
Mill Creek, |
524 |
867 |
Darby, |
736 |
1,171 |
Paris, |
1,151 |
3,718 |
Dover, |
457 |
1,006 |
Taylor, |
|
1,367 |
Jackson, |
352 |
1,454 |
Union, |
894 |
1,535 |
Jerome, |
868 |
1,503 |
Washington, |
154 |
1,164 |
Leesburg, |
720 |
1,552 |
York, |
439 |
1,549 |
Population of Union in 1830, 3,192; 1840, 8,443; 1860, 16,507; 1880, 22,375; of whom 19,218 were born in Ohio; 618, Pennsylvania; 591, Virginia; 232, New York; 104, Indiana; 42, Kentucky; 379, German Empire; 222, Ireland; 131, England and Wales; 39, British America; 12, Scotland; 8, France, and 2, Norway and Sweden. Census, 1890, 22,860.
The first white men who ever made a settlement within the county were James EWING and his brother Joshua. They purchased land and settled on Darby creek, in what is now Jerome township, in the year 1798. The next year came Samuel MITCHELL, David MITCHELL, Samuel MITCHELL, Jr., Samuel KIRKPATRICK, and Samuel McCULLOUGH; and in 1800, George REED, Samuel REED, Robert SNODGRASS and Paul HOUSTON.
James EWING’S farm was the site of an ancient and noted Mingo town, which was deserted at the time the Mingo towns, in what is now Logan county, were destroyed by Gen. Logan, of Kentucky, in 1786. When Mr. EWING took possession of it, the houses were still remaining, and, among others, the remains of a blacksmith’s shop, with coal, cinders, iron-dross, etc. Jonathan ALDER, formerly a prisoner among the Indians, says the shop was carried on by a renegade white man named BUTLER, who lived among the Mingoes. Extensive fields had formerly been cultivated in the immediate vicinity of the town.
The county was erected through the exertions of COL. JAMES CURRY, who was then a member of the State legislature. He resided within the present boundaries of the county from the year 1811 until his death, which took place in the year 1834. He served as an officer in the Virginia continental line during the chief part of the revolutionary war. He was taken prisoner when the American army surrendered at Charleston, S. C. In early youth he was with the Virginia forces at Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Kenawha, and took part in the battle with the Indians at that place. His account of that battle
Page 705
differed, in one respect, from some of the accounts of it which we have read. His recollection was perfectly distinct that, when the alarm was given in the camp, upon the approach of the Indians in the morning, a limited number of men from each company were called for, and sent out with the expectation that they would have a fine frolic in the pursuit of what they supposed to be a mere scouting party of Indians. After the party thus detached had been gone a few minutes, a few scattering reports of rifles began to be heard. Momently, however, the firing became more rapid, until it became apparent that the Indians were in force. The whole available force of the whites then left the camp. During the forenoon Mr. C. received a wound from a rifle-ball which passed directly through the elbow of his right arm, which disabled him for the remainder of the day.
During his residence in Ohio he was extensively known, and had many warm friends among the leading men of the State. He was one of the electors by whom he vote of the State was given to James Monroe for President of the United States. The last of many public trusts which he held was that of associate judge for this county.—Old Edition.
Marysville in 1846.—Marysville, the county-seat, so named from a daughter of the original proprietor, is thirty miles northwest of Columbus, on Mill creek, a tributary of the Scioto. It contains 1 Presbyterian and 1 Methodist church, an academy, 1 newspaper printing office, 3 mercantile stores, and had, in 1843, 360 inhabitants; it is now estimated to contain about 600.
MARYSVILLE, county-seat of Union, twenty-five miles northwest of Columbus, is surrounded by a rich farming district, and is on the C. C. C. & I. R. R. County Officers, 1888: Auditor, George M. McPECK; Clerk, Robert McCRORY; Commissioners, Thomas M. BRANNEN, David H. HDNDERSON, Berry HANNAWALT; Coroner, Robert H. GRAHAM; Infirmary Directors, John E. HARRIMAN, William M. WINGET, David R. WHITE; Probate Judge, Leonidas PIPER; Prosecuting Attorney: Edward W. PORTER; Recorder, Jefferson G. TURNER; Sheriff, Thomas MARTIN; Surveyor, Robert L. PLOTNER; Treasurer, Robert SMITH. City Officers, 1888: W. M. WINGET, Mayor; John C. GUTHRIE, Clerk; John H. WOOD, Treasurer; Moses COOLEDGE, Marshal: Antone VANDERAU, Street Commissioner. Newspapers: Tribune, Republican, J. H. SHEARER, editor; Union Co. Journal, Democratic, A. .J. HARE, editor and publisher. Churches: 1 Methodist, 1 Catholic, 1 Presbyterian, l Congregational, 1 Lutheran, 1 African Methodist Episcopal. Banks: Farmers’, J. M. SOUTHARD, president, Chas. W. SOUTHARD, cashier; Bank of Marysville (Fullington & Phellis), R. M. HENDERSON, cashier; People’s, A. J. WHITNEY, president, C. S. CHAPMAN, cashier.
Manufactures
and Employees.—Robinson, Curry &
Co., doors, sash, etc., 15; Half,
furniture, 42; C. F. Lentz, butter tubs, etc., 28; S. A. Cherry, lumber, Flack & CHAPMAN, doors,
sash, etc., l0; A.
S. Turner, carriages and Spargue
& Perfect,
flour, etc., 5; J. Z. Rodgers, machine repair shop.—State Reports, 1888
Population 1880, 1,061. School census, 1888, 928; W. H. COLE, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $78,700. Value of annual product, $159,600.—Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887. Census, 1890, 2,832.
Marysville is sometimes called “the Shaded City,” because its streets are so well maples. The county is remarkable for its excellent macadamized roads extending in the aggregate 550 miles and made at a cost of a million and two hundred thousand dollars. The county court-house is a handsome substantial structure of Berea sandstone and pressed brick, and built in 1883 at a cost of $150,000. It is the fourth county court-house. Its predecessor is shown in the old view of Marysville.
The Magnetic Springs recently opened at Marysville are said to be very similar to those of Saratoga in medicinal properties. They have a daily flow of 238,000
Page 706
Top
Picture
Drawn
By Henry Howe
in 1846.
CENTRAL VIEW IN MARYSVILLE.
Bottom
Picture
W. O.
SHEARER, Photo,
1890.
Each
picture was taken from the same standpoint.
Pages 707, 708, 709
gallons. A fine large bath-house has been erected and other preparations made for visitor.
The memorable
“LOG-CABIN
CAMPAIGN,” during
which the word “Buckeye”
became the fixed sobriquet of Ohio, was intimately connected with the
history
of Union county, for here the first log-cabin was built.
The building of the log-cabin and
its introduction
into the campaign was brought about by a scurrilous newspaper article,
describing Gen. Harrison’s home life, and representing him as
living in a log-cabin, drinking hard cider, and without ambition or
ability to fill the highest
office in the land. The people of Ohio were at this time just emerging
from the
log-cabin era; all the early associations and sentiment of their lives
were
identified with the log-cabin, where they had lived while they and
their
parents had fought the daily battle of privation and hardship in the
wresting
of the wilderness from barbarianism. The contemptuous reflection on
this life
they resented with great indignation, and enthusiastically supported
Gen.
Harrison.
At the Whig State Convention held
in Columbus,
February 22, 1840, every county determined to be well represented. They
taxed
their ingenuity to devise curious insignia of their party. Songs were
written
without number and sung to such an extent that the campaign also became
known
as “The Song
Campaign.” Two of these
songs became
famous throughout the length and
breadth of the land for their exceeding aptness,
sentiment and tuneful rhymes: these were “Tippecanoe
and Tyler Too,” by
A. C. Ross, of Zanesville, and the “Log-Cabin
Song,” by Otway
CURRY, of Marysville.
The idea of constructing a
log-cabin to be taken to
the State Convention first occurred to the Union county delegates.
Under the
supervision of Levi PHELPS,
William W.
STEELE, A. C. JENNINGS, James W. EVANS; Stephen
McLAIN and
Mains WASON the cabin was constructed.
Jackson G. SPARGUE (living in
Bloomfield, ILL., in
1889) built the cabin of buckeye logs, cut for the purpose from the
forest in
the vicinity of Marysville. It was built on the wagon which was
intended to
carry it in the procession to Columbus. (The
Convention being a mass convention, each county was represented by
hundreds of
delegates.) Before the
completion of the
cabin, Mr. CURRY was waited
upon by a
delegation of citizens and requested to compose a suitable song for the dedication ceremonies. Mr. Curry complied with the request
and composed the “Log-Cabin Song” and
played an accompaniment on the
flute the first time it was sung.
On the morning
of
February 21 at the log-cabin on a wagon drawn by four
horses and
accompanied by a large procession started for Columbus. The neat
morning on
nearing Columbus the procession was augmented in numbers by a large
delegation
from Clarke county. A
band of singers had been placed
in the cabin, and on it printed copies of the song had been
distributed, so
that when the procession entered Columbus and moved through the city
every
person had learned the song, and the tuneful air rang out loud above
the cheers
that greeted the delegation on every side.
In a very short time every
delegation had procured
copies of the song, which was printed by the Columbus papers, and when
these
delegations returned to their homes the refrain was taken up and spread
throughout the country with marvellous
rapidity until
the whole country was resounding
with the air. Its
effect in rousing the spirit of the people throughout the nation cannot
be
estimated.
LOG-CABIN
SONG TUNE—Highland Laddie. Oh, Where, tell me where, was your
Buckeye Cabin made?
Where the Log-Cabins stand in the bonnie Buckeye
shade. Oh, what, tell me what, is to be
your cabin’s fate? Oh, why, tell me why, does you Buckeye Cabin go? Oh, who fell before him in
battle—tell me who ? By whom, tell me who, will the
battle next be won ? Oh, what, tell me what, then will
little Martin do ? |
The “Song” incited the
production of many similar songs, but none of these
shared its popularity except.” Tippecanoe
and Tyler, too.”
This was written by A. C. Ross, of Zanesville, on his return from the
State
Convention. Ross was a member
of the
Zanesville Tippecanoe Glee Club and was asked to write an original song for them. A friend suggested “Little Pigs”
as
an air that would furnish a chorus well adapted for public meetings. “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too”
was composed
and first sung at a meeting of the Glee Club.
It
was received with great enthusiasm, but did not spread much beyond
the Buckeye
State until September. In that month at a political meeting held in Lafayette Hall, New York city, Mr. Ross was pesent having gone east to
purchase
goods. goods. The
speakers, Prentiss of Mississippi, Talmadge
of New York, and Otis of Massachusetts, were late
in reaching the hall. Several songs were sung to hold the crowd, but
the stock
was soon exhausted and chairman Delevan requested any one present who
could
sing to come forward and entertain the
people.
Ross said, “If I could get on the stand I would
sing a song,” and
hardly had the words out before he found himself passing over the beads
of the
crowd to be landed on the platform. Questions of
“Who are you?”
“What’s your name?” came from every hand. “I
am a Buckeye from the Buckeye State,”
was the answer.” Three cheers for the
Buckeye State! “cried
out the president and they
were given with a will. Ross requested
the meeting to keep quiet till
he had sung three or four
verses, and it
did. But the enthusiasm
swelled up to an
uncontrollable pitch, and at last the whole meeting joined in the
chorus with a vim and a
vigor indescribable. The song was encored and
sung again and again, but the same verses were not repeated, as he had
many in
mind and could make them to suit the occasion. While he was singing in
response
to the third encore, the speakers, Otis and Talmadge,
arrived and Ross imporvised—
“We’ll now stop
singing, for Talmadge is |
He took his seat amid thundering
applause and three
times three for the Buckeye State. After the meeting was over the
crowds in the
streets, in the saloons, everywhere, were singing “Tippecanoe
and Tyler, too.”
Oh, what has caused this great
commotion,
See the Loco’s
standard tottering, tottering,
Now you hear the Vanjocks talking, talking,
|
The authorship of
“Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” has been
erroneously attributed to John Greiner, of Columbus, who wrote a large
number
of popular campaign songs.
Soon after the nomination of David Tod
for governor by the Democrats in January, 1844, Samuel Medary,
through the columns of his paper (Ohio
Statesman), called “for a song from
Greiner,” The following unique lines
were the result of that call:
GOVERNOR
TOD. Air:
Rosin the Bow. Soon after the great nomination His mother, good pious old lady, His sisters, each other remarking, The little Tods,
building play houses, “Be
quiet each little young sappy, So, now, if the people are hardened, |
A Nght of Suffering and Peril of
Two Soldiers of the War of 1812.—The following account of the
terrible suffering of two
of the early residents of Union county is abridged from the
“County History.”
It illustrates one of the many perils common to all pioneer settlements.
In the latter part of December,
1813, David MITCHELL and James
MATHER, soldiers of the war of
1812, who had been honorably
discharged at Fort Meigs,
were on their way to their
homes at the “Mitchell Settlement”
on Big
Darby creek, when they were overtaken
by a heavy snow storm,
accompanied by severe
cold. Their path lay through an uninhabited region, with not even a
blazed tree
to guide them. To cross Mill
creek, they had felled a tree
for a foot bridge. The
exertion had produced profuse
perspiration. The tree did not quite reach the opposite bank, so that
in
crossing they were wet to the knees. When
the opposite bank was
reached MITCHELL, who was in
feeble health, was seized with a fit of
sickness and
vomiting, as a result of the
chill caused
by the wetting. Some
six miles
from “Mitchell’s Settlement” he became
too weak to proceed, and sank to the
ground exhausted; believing that he could not survive; he besought MATHER to leave him
to his fate and seek his own safety.
This MATHER
refused to do,
but went courageously to work to do what he could for his companion. Gathering some dry leaves, he made a
bed of
them at the roots of a large tree, and, with brush, limbs and bark,
constructed
a rude shelter, to which he carried MITCHELL.
By rubbing his feet and legs he endeavored to get up a reaction through
the
circulation of the blood; then taking a pair of stockings from his own
knapsack
he put them on MITCHELL’s
feet. In the meanwhile, night closed in, and,
although the snow ceased falling,
the cold
increased in severity. Throughout
the
long, dreary night, MATHER
kept up his
efforts to restore his comrade, but apparently without avail. When at last dawn began to break,
although
still alive, MITCHELL was
rapidly
sinking, and again by words and signs besought die MATHER
to seek safety and leave him to die alone. MATHER again
refused to do this, but as soon as sufficiently light started on a
swift run to
the settlement, and when nearing Judge MITCHELL’s house
he met three brothers of
MITCHELL, to whom he
communicated the
condition of affairs. They immediately
procured
blankets and restoratives
and hastened on
horseback to the rescue, though scarcely expecting to find their
brother alive.
Mitchell was still alive when
found, was hastily
conveyed to his father’s house; medical aid was summoned, and
by careful
nursing he was restored to health, although he never recovered from the
effects
of his terrible experience. His feet and legs having been frozen, he
was
crippled to some extent. MATHER
suffered
no permanent injury from the exposure.
Protection
to a Slave.—In a
biographical sketch of Captain Horatio Cox
HAMILTON,
Page 710
given in the “Union
County History,”
is related an account of his refusal to turn over to a jailer a slave
that had
sought protection from the Union army. It involves a question which was
at the
time a national one, and a subject for consideration in the cabinet of
President Lincoln.
Capt. HAMILTON was born in Irville,
Muakingum county, O., September 24, 1830. When a boy of eight years he
removed
with his father’s family to Richwood, Union county. He worked
on his father’s
farm, spent two years in college at Delaware, taught school; married,
June 3,
1856, Edmonia DAWSON, daughter of Dr. Nelson DAWSON, of Putnam, O.;
commenced
farming in Black Hawk county, Ia., in 1857; returned to his
father’s farm in
1861; July 22, 1862, was appointed by Gov. Tod to raise Union
county’s quota of
volunteers; Aug. 7, 1862, was elected captain in the 96th O. V. I. The
regiment
was assigned to the command of Brig.-Gen. S. C. Burbridge, and the
brigade was
attached to Maj.-Gen. A. J. Smith’s division of the
Thirteenth Army Corps.
Capt. HANILTON resigned from the
army
Aug. 9, 1863, on account of disease contracted in the service. His wife
died
Jan. 29, 1877, and in 1879 he married Miss Molly KENDALL, and they now
live
together in the village of Richwood. Capt. HAMILTON has partially
regained his
health.
The account of Capt.
HAMILTON’s
refusal to return the fugitive slave is here quoted from the
“County History:
“The 96th O. V. I.
reached Kentucky
on the 1st day of September, 1862. It will be remembered that at this
time
there was a sentiment among the new recruits that slaves and slave
property
were being wrongfully protected by the army, and that it was no part of
a
soldier’s duty to protect rebel property, and catch and
return slaves to their
masters. It began to be noticed that negroes were turned out of our
lines with
an ever-increasing degree of reluctance; also that Capt. HAMILTON was
the
friend of the oppressed, and that he did not always obey an order to do
so
inhuman a thing as to turn a fellowman over to his rebel master even in
obedience to a positive command of a senior officer. Finally a boy,
some
fourteen years of age, came into the camp of the 96th Ohio, at
Nicholasville,
Ky., calling himself William CLAY, and reporting that his master was a
rebel,
and that he had thrown an axe at him (Billy), and that he wanted
protection. He
found a friend in Capt. HAMILTON, and remained with him, as a servant,
for some
time, until the army was ordered to move to Louisville. On the way, and
as it
passed through Versailles, a person dressed in the uniform of a Union
soldier
came, representing himself as being on Maj.-Gen. A. J.
Smith’s staff, and that
as such he ordered Capt. HAMILTON to deliver the boy Billy to him to be
turned
over to the jailer as an escaped slave. This he refused to do unless
the order
came in writing from Gen. Smith in the ordinary way, being
countersigned by
Gen. Burbridge and Col. I. W. Vance, of the 96th O. V. I. This the
fellow
refused to get, but notified him that he would be back in fifteen
minutes “with
a detachment of soldiers, and that he would take the boy by force. Upon
this
the captain turned to his company, and told them that if it was going
to be a
question of force, that they might load their guns and prepare for the
affray.
That order the company made haste
to
execute, and as they did so one company after another did the same,
until, as
far as one could see, the road seemed to glisten with the light of the
sun as
it was reflected by the several thousand ramrods which were being used
to send
home the ball that was intended to perforate the hide of any man who
would
attempt to take Billy by force. The effect of his preparation was that
the
staff officer gave upon his notion of taking the boy by force at at
time, but
notified the captain that the affair would be deferred until evening,
at which
time the boy would be taken by force, and the captain put under arrest
for
disobedience of orders. This kept the matter brewing in the minds of
the
soldiers. As soon as the army was encamped for the night, the soldiers
held an
impromptu meeting, at which speeches were made and resolutions passed
approving
the course of Capt. HAMILTON, and resolving that they would stand by
him to the
death A committee was appointed to inform him of their purpose, and he
was soon
waited on by a soldier who made known their action to him, and
requested that,
if any move should be made to take the boy by force, immediate notice
should be
given to the officers and soldiers whose names were found on a card
which was
handed to the captain. This uprising of the soldiers, cocasioned by the
refusal
of Capt. HAMILTON to give up the boy Billy, had the effect to stop all
effort
in the Army of Kentucky to arrest or return slaves to their masters.
On reaching Louisville, the army
was
ordered to go to Memphis and Vicksburg. The boy could not be taken, and
the
only thing that could be done was either, to let him loose in Kentucky,
to be
seized upon, and returned to slavery, or to send him home to Ohio. The
latter
the captain chose to do, but had to force his way across the river for
fear of
arrest; but he finally reached New Albany, Ind., and bought a railroad
ticket
to Marysville for the boy, paying for it all the money he had and going
$1.25
in debt. When the boy reached Richwood, it set everything in commotion.
Some
approved of the course pursued by the captain, others condemned. The
party m
opposition called a meeting, and resolved that the
“nigger” should not be
permitted to stay, and that they would return him to his master, etc.
They also
resolved that Capt. HAMILTON should not be permitted to return to
Richwood. The
matter got into all the papers of the State, and of other States as
well.
Letters came to the captain from every quarter, some approving and some
disapproving his course. One
man, who
was given to understanding the force of what he said, wrote him that it
was
supposed that an effort would be made to
Page 711
take the bop by force and send him
back to Kentucky,
but he said that the captain need not be alarmed, for that many
thousands of
men were armed and ready for any move that might be made to return the
boy.
Billy CLAY
and
H. C. HAMILTON both live in
Richwood at
this time, and this story would not have been told if it had not been
for the
fact of its having had so important a part in the war in overthrowing
the slave
power, and in developing liberal and Christian sentiment at
home.”
The name of OTWAY CURRY stood high
among the people in
the olden time as that of a man of
singular purity and dignity of character, and a poet whose verses
illustrated
the thoughts and emotions of a devout and reverent spirit.
He was born on what is now the site
of Greenfield, Highland
county, March 26, 1804, and when a lad of seven years came with his
father,
Col. James CURRY, into what is
now Union
county. His father the next year, 1812, was summoned to Chillicothe as
a member
of the legislature; an older brother went into the army to do battle
for his
country, and the rest of the family remained on the farm with their
prudent and
patriotic mother. Alone in the wilderness, surrounded by savages, they
were
never molested, though often
alarmed. On one occasion
their horses showed every
indication of fear; their dogs barked furiously, now rushing into the
cornfield
and then retreating with bristling hair as
if driven. The family
thinking that the
Indians were near, decided to fight as well as pray.
The mother, in marshalling her forces,
stationed young Otway
and his brother Stephenson on guard, Otway
at the
house corner and Stephenson at the bars with loaded guns at rest and
ordered
them to take aim and fire as soon as they saw an Indian. Fortunately
none
appeared.
Otway learned the carpenter’s
trade at Lebanon, and
followed that occupation for several years, part of the time in the
lower
Mississippi country. At this period he began writing verses anonymously
for the
newspapers, as “My
Mother,” and “Kingdom Come;”
these gained popular favor and won the life-long
friendship of William D. Gallagher.
He married
Miss Mary NOTEMAN, and eventually settled on a farm in Union county,
where he
courted the muses in the intervals of agricultural labor. In 1836 he
was
elected to the legislature; again in 1837 and
1842. For a while he edited the Xenia
Torch Light,
and was associated with Gallagher in
Columbus in the publication of the Hesperian,
a monthly magazine of a high
order, and therefore naturally of a short life.
In
these years he studied the law, and though
entering the profession late evinced
marked capacity. In 1850 he was elected a member of the second Ohio
Constitutional Convention. In 1853 he purchased the Scioto Gazette and removed to Chillicothe, where
he edited it for a year,
and health failing,
returned to Marysville and resumed the
practice
of the law. In 1854 he was president of the Ohio
Editorial Convention,
and died February 15, 1855. He
was one of
the choice spirits of the Methodist church.
The
late Bishop Thomson wrote of him “as a man without, a spot in
his character, of
strong domestic nature, whose home to him was
a
paradise: a man
of fervent piety,
and his poetry as the song of a religious soul: a faith that brings
heaven near
to earth and man into fellowship with angels.”
Mr. Curry was tall and well
proportioned, with a
broad, lofty brow, and an open countenance. He was strikingly neat in
his
personal appearance, and careful and cautious in his speech and
writings as
though the eye of the Master was ever upon him in all his words and
acts.
Annexed is one of his poems, which has been a comfort to many devout
souls:
THE
GREAT HEREAFTER. ‘Tis
sweet to think when struggling When through the nameless ages Along its brimming bosom There is the long blue distance, And far beyond the island, Until the Great Hereafter— And in the far-off haven, |
The manager of “the Associated Press,” Mr. WM. HENRY SMITH, journalist is from Union county. He was brought here in 1836 by his parents when a child, three years of age, from Columbia county, New York, when he was born
Page 712
December 1, 1838. Francis F. Browne, author and editor of the Dial, thus outlines his career in “Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography:”
Mr. SMITH
had
the best educational advantages that the
State
then afforded. He was tutor in a western college, and then
assistant
editor of a weekly paper in Cincinnati, of
which, at the age of twenty-two, he became editor, doing also literary
work on
the Literary
Review. At the opening of the civil war he was on the editorial staff of the Cincinnati Gazette,
and during the war he took an
active part in raising troops and
forwarding
sanitary supplies, and in political work for
strengthening the
government.
He was largely instrumental in
bringing Gov. John Brough
to the front as the candidate of the United
Republicans and War Democrats; and at Brough’s election, in
1863, he became the latter’s private
secretary. The neat year he was elected secretary of the
State of Ohio, and was re-elected
in 1866. He retired from public office to establish the Evening
Chronicle at Cincinnati but, his health giving
way, he was forced to withdraw from all
active work. In 1870 he took charge of the affairs of the Western Associated
Press, with headquarters at Chicago. in
1877 he was appointed by
President Hayes collector of the port at that city, and was
instrumental in
bringing about important reforms in customs
methods in harmony with the civil service policy of the
administration.
In January, 1883, he effected
the union of the New York Associated Press with the Western Associated Press, and became general manager of the consolidated
association.
Mr. SMITH
is a
student of historical subjects. He is author of “The St. Clair Papers” (2 vols., Cincinnati,
1882), a biography of Charles Hammond, and
many
contributions
to American periodicals. He has partly
completed (1888) a “Political
History of
the United States.” By his investigations in the
British Museum he has
brought to light many unpublished letters of Washington to Col. Henry
Bouquet,
and has shown that those that were published by Jared Sparks were not
correctly
given.
Mr. SMITH
is of
Scotch-Dutch descent, through both the male and female line. His
father,
William DeForest SMITH,
was a native
of Litchfield county,
Connecticut, where his family had settled about 1639. Mr. SMITH’s
mother was Almira
GOTT, daughter of Deacon Story GOTT, a lieutenant in the Revolutionary
army,
who was a descendant of Daniel GOTT, who
emigrated from Scotland and settled in the Connecticut
Valley before the
year 1690. After the close of
the
Revolutionary war Lieutenant GOTT removed to Columbia county,
N. Y.
At the northwest corner of Broadway and Dey streets, New York, stands the first of the tall buildings erected in that great metropolis. Here are the headquarters of the Western Union Telegraph Company and of the Associated Press. From this building radiate the business nerves of the whole world. Mr. SMITH’s office is on the fifth floor, but the editorial and operating rooms are on the eighth floor, and it was here that I found that gentleman surrounded by the men whose business it is to disseminate intelligence. Perhaps nowhere else in the world is such a striking contrast presented between the past and the present as in this place: for here are to be been in practical operation the wonderful products of electrical science which bring into close relations all nations. I invited the executive head to put aside the contemplation of war rumors from St. Petersburg, Berlin and Paris, and of the acts of “a strictly business administration” at Washington for a chat about himself and his recollections of Union county, and here follows the substance of the interview:
RECOLLECTIONS
OF EARLY DAYS IN UNION COUNTY.
“Both branches of my family are of the oldest of the Connecticut settlers, and mingle freely, Dutch, Scotch and English blood. There are intermarriages with JOHNSONS, STODDARDS, DeFORESTS, GOTTS, WILCOXES, etc. The DeFORESTS are descended from Isaac De le Forest, who came to New Amsterdam about 1635. The ‘History of Ancient Woodbury’ records many good old-fashioned names, but none more so than of my father’s family. Thus, William DeFOREST, son of Lyman and Elizabeth DeFOREST SMITH, born 1805; Lyman, son of Bethel and Deliverance SMITH, born December 17, 1780; Bethel, son of Thomas and Patience SMITH, baptized March 2,1755, etc., until the founder is reached.
“My earliest recollections? I plucked a bunch of fox grapes in the garden of James C. MILLER, in Union township, in 1836. It was in that hospitable family
Page 713
Top
Picture Left:
WM
HENRY SMITH,
Journalist
and Manager of
Associated Press
Top
Picture Right:
OTTWAY
CURRY,
Journalist
and Poet.
Bottom
Picture
THE UNION
COUNTY COURT-HOUSE, MARYSVILLE.
Page 714
that we, the new emigrants from the East, were made welcome until a house could be provided for us. Compared with others, our people could hardly be called pioneers. My uncle, Dr. Benjamin DAVENPORT, had induced my father to leave the Housatonic Valley for the fertile plains of the West, and he naturally sought a neighborhood where friends had previously located. The COLVERS, MILLERS and DAVENPORTS were of kin, and by courtesy we were recognized as ‘cousins’ of these pioneer families. Our people had travelled in a Conestoga wagon, procured at Wilkesbarre, Pa., over the mountains to Pittsburg, thence by boat to Marietta, thence up the Muskingum to Zanesville, and thence across country in the wagon to the Darby Plains in the southern part of Marion county. We became citizens of the village of Homer, which was then an active and intelligent centre, much frequented by the citizens of the contiguous parts of Madison and Champaign counties. Then Homer had a saw mill, one large general store, a woollen and carding mill, with a spinning jenny, an extensive furniture manufactory and various other industrial shops. To these my father added a wagon and carriage manufactory, the first in the county, or, indeed, in that section of the State, for the manufacture of fine buggies and carriages. Later a second store and a large cheese factory were added. Cincinnati was the principal market for the cheese, which was transported in wagons and exchanged for merchandise. But time and a new civilization have obliterated all this activity, as there is not a trace left, and town lots have been merged into the adjoining farms.
“Pennsylvania and Virginia had the honor of supplying the first of the pioneers for the southern part of Union county. The Darby Plains—originally a prairie country—was a favorite Indian hunting-ground. Along the banks of the Little Darby were found great quantities of arrow heads, stone hatchets and other Indian relies; while along the Big Darby were burial grounds, some of which I explored when a boy. The first settlers in 1808 found the plains dotted with small patches of timber, chiefly bun-oak, jack-oak and hickory, plum thickets, etc., surrounded by a rank growth of tall grass. This was not changed much in 1836, as the amount of cultivated land was small. The number of inhabitants then in Union township did not probably exceed five hundred, and half of these resided in Milford Centre, which I believe was the first village to be laid out in the county. Here was located the post-office, to which the denizens of Homer repaired for their mail, and the mill which supplied the flour for bread. Not unfrequently in the spring of the year, when the black prairie roads were bottomless, the citizens of the southern part of the county found both mental and physical food run unpleasantly low. In the same section now are to be found free gravelled turnpikes equal to the best in any country. I have a personal satisfaction in this, inasmuch as the free turnpike law under which these roads were made received legislative sanction, after vigorous opposition, at my earnest solicitation when I was Secretary of State. But to return to our subject: MITCHELL, EWING, CURRY, REED, SNODGRASS, GABRIEL, WOODS, IRWIN, STOKES, PORTER, ROBINSON, WITTER, WINGET, and McDOWELL were names connected with the beginning of civilization in that part of the county. Later New England and New York sent a larger number whose influence was controlling in social life—SABINE, BIGLOW, KEYS, FAIRBANKS, COLVER, MILLER, COOLDIGE, HOWARD, BURNHAM, HATHAWAY, REYNOLDS were representative names of this second immigration; and thenceforth the increase was from the East.
“The citizens of Union county were amongst the most intelligent in the State. The land they cultivated was very rich and productive, and although they were deprived of many luxuries, they lived comfortably and enjoyed life. I am speaking of the 30s and 40s. Farm wages were low, 37½ to 50 cents a day being the ruling rates; and yet there was prosperity. Of course there was exchange or barter, which rendered a liberal supply of currency less necessary. Cattle-raising was carried on extensively, and vast droves were annually taken across the mountains for the Eastern markets by FULLINGTON, STOKES and others. This business secured for our section a better supply of money than was possible in other sec-
Page 715
tions that depended upon grain-raising. There was less suffering on account of the mad tampering with banks during the 30s than in many other sections. We had schools, public and select, that ranked deservedly high, and in the promotion of these John F. SABINE, James C. MILLER, my father, and a few other public spirited gentlemen were active and enterprising. And, in order to keep up intellectual activity, we had also a society at whose weekly meetings were discussed questions of public interest. I recall the names of three or four who displayed a good deal of ability in these forensic contests: Samuel and Hiram COLVER, sons of the early pioneer Samuel, young lawyers; Dr. DAVENPORT, William GABRIEL, Dr. HATHAWAY, Dr. MANN and Bushrod Washington CONVERSE. The latter was a Vermonter, a Harvard graduate, with many rare natural gifts, including a most fascinating style of oratory. He was the head of our ‘select school’ at Homer; but so wide was his fame he was invited to meet divines and politicians in other counties, in church and on the stump, in defence of religion and Whig politics. These public meetings were a striking feature of the civilization of that day, and an important influence in the education of the people. They would frequently last for days, and the arguments advanced by the speakers would be rehearsed and criticised in the family circle for weeks afterward. The intellectual activity in that country in those days was quite as great and of as, high an order as that prevailing in the cities, where the advantages were greater. But the leaders in the Darby Plains country, living neighbors in Union, Champaign and Madison counties, were no ordinary men. They came of the best American blood. Let me recall a few names as types: John F. SABINE came of one of the most widely-known New England families, and must have been born about the beginning of the century. He was a most charming gentleman, popular and influential. At his home were refinement, intelligent conversation, and the manifestation of a deep interest in everything that concerned the welfare of society. He was a model citizen, who was frequently called on to fill positions of trust. His two sons, Hylas and Andrew, have followed in his footsteps. The former has been a member of the Legislature and State Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs; and the latter had a distinguished career as surgeon and medical director during the war of the rebellion. William B. IRWIN, another popular and useful citizen, was a native of Virginia, and was born while Washington was still President. He was an ingenious man, and as surveyor ran the lines in a large part of the Virginia military district. The families of Col. James CURRY, Judge MITCHELL and John W. ROBINSON were conspicuous in Jerome and Darby townships. Otway CURRY, son of Col. James CURRY, was associated with W. D. Gallagher in the publication of The Hesperian, and was a fellow-poet whose verse is still repeated. Col. W. L. CURRY, a grandson of the Col. CURRY of Revolutionary days, was a gallant soldier during the rebellion, and is a leading citizen of the county to-day. So, too, is James W. ROBINSON, a descendant of John W., whose career at the bar, as member of the Legislature and of Congress, has been an honorable one. There has been a pretty wide scattering of the descendants of these early families. They have helped to build up new States or to develop others. The COLVERS, COLLEDGES and DAVENPORTS went to Oregon and Washington. My brother, Chas. Warren SMITH, resides in Chicago, and is one of the railroad magnates of our new, civilization. For thirty-four years he has been conspicuous in that field of enterprise, and has had under his control at one time as many as eight thousand miles of railroad. His administrative ability is of a high order. L. M. FAIRBANKS, son of Luther FAIRBANKS the pioneer, and most of his sons, are in Illinois. His son, Charles W. FAIRBANKS, a graduate of Wesleyan University of Delaware, married a daughter of Judge P. B. COLE, of Marysville, and resides at Indianapolis. He is an able member of the bar, and has accumulated a large fortune.
“You observe that my personal references have been chiefly to the settlers of the southern part of Union county. The northern part developed much more slowly, and the intercourse between the two parts was slight. As Marysville, the
Page 716
county-seat, increased in population and the
machinery
of county government was more extensively employed, there was a greater
degree
of homogeneity. The most conspicuous family in the northern part was
that of
the Rev. William HAMILTON, a Virginian, who settled in Claibourne
township, and
was a father in the Methodist Church. There were a good many sons born
to this
worthy man, some of whom have reached distinction. Dr. John W.
HAMILTON, the
head of Columbus Medical College, and an eminent surgeon, I believe, is
the
oldest son. I. N. HAMILTON and another son adopted the profession of
medicine.
But the ‘flower of the flock’ was Cornelius S.
HAMILTON, who possessed great
intellectual and moral endowments. His energy, self-reliance and moral
courage
would have made him a leader in any community, albeit his lack of tact
insured
him a vigorous opposition. I remember him with warm feelings of
friendship, as,
while he was editing the Marysville Tribune,
he encouraged me to write, and thus influenced my choice of a career.
That was
when I was fourteen years of age, and the friendship then formed
continued
during his life. His tragic death in 1867 cut short what promised to be
a
brilliant and useful public career. He was the first citizen of Union
county to
represent that district in Congress. Another able man who has reflected
honor
on Union county is Judge Philander B. COLE, who has often been called
to high
stations, and who commands the respect of all who know him.
“Our county was not free from eccentric
people, but
their eccentricity took on the character of religious fanaticism. These
were
the Farnhamites (also called ‘The Creepers’),
followers of Douglas FARNHAM; and
later there were Millerites, who were always expecting the second
coming. I
could tell you many anecdotes of the Farnhamites, if we had the leisure
and it
were profitable. One will do as illustrating this phase of the times.
The
leaders taught the birth to sin, and salvation only through public
confession and
walking humbly and contritely before the world. The fanaticism
consisted in the
absurd acts which were inspired and performed. Sackcloth and ashes and
creeping
in the dirt were not the most objectionable. An estimable young lady
was
converted, and told that it was necessary to display the corrupt nature
of her
heart. She conceived this novel plan. One night she rode several miles
to the
farm of a well-known citizen, visited his corn-crib, filled a bag with
corn,
which she carried home. The next day, in the light of the sun, this bag
of corn
was placed upon the back of a horse, and upon that the young lady rode
to the
farmer’s, to whom she confessed the theft in contrite words
and with many
tears. This fanaticism soon disappeared and left no evil effects, as it
touched
only a handful in the community.
“The controlling politics was National
Republican and
then Whig. But opposition to slavery found early supporters amongst us,
and a
branch of Levi Coffin’s ‘Underground
Railroad’ passed through the southern part
of Union county, the adjoining part of Champaign county, and thence to
Canada.
The residences of Dr. DAVENPORT and Anson HOWARD, in Rush township,
Champaign
county, were places of concealment for the poor fugitives, and from
them was
conducted an active missionary campaign which made sad inroads in the
ranks of
the Whigs.
There were hot debates at our house. My father was
a
conservative Whig, a devoted follower of Henry Clay and Thomas Corwin;
and when
the Abolitionists defeated the former for President, in 1844, he was
heart-broken. But the PIATT slave case, in which William LAWRENCE, a
brilliant
lawyer of Marysville, volunteered to defend the slave, who had been
captured
after an exciting chase in the vicinity of Milford Centre, did more to
create
an anti-slavery sentiment in that part of the country than all other
influences.”
Page 717
TRAVELLING NOTES.
On visiting Marysville the second time I was warmly welcomed by an old friend in the person of John H. SHEARER, editor of the Tribune. When I saw him in the olden time he was conducting a newspaper in Somerset, and Phil. SHERIDAN was a keen, nimble boy in a store hard by. Across the street was the Perry County Court-House, where over the door stood, and I believe yet stands, a proclamation carved in stone, from which the reader is led to infer that the dispensation of justice in Perry county was conditioned upon the heavens falling. (See Perry County.)
After I had left, Mr. SHEARER supplied me by mail with a list of the first settlers of the county, “as far as recollected,” ending with “John Lashley,” and quite a number of dittos. Whether the Dittos were but a continuation of the Lashleys, I was undecided; but on reflecting that a wrong omission was safer than a wrong commission, I then cut off those people of repeating names, but now restore them in this edition. (See Perry County.)
Mr. SHEARER, at the date of my writing out these notes, Dec. 20, 1890, is ten days beyond his seventy-fourth year of life. He was born in the then wilderness of Perry county, Dec. 10, 1816, and is of that solid stock that early crossed the Pennsylvania border, and by their numbers and strength of character largely formed the backbone of Ohio.
In the spring of 1836 Mr. SHEARER was apprenticed to the printing business, and is now probably the oldest in service of any Ohio-born editor. He is the oldest representative in the Ohio Legislature, and may well be called the “Father of the House.” In the winding up of his interesting autobiography in the “County History,” he gives some melancholy words. “It may be,” he says, “well enough to make an open acknowledgment as life is at best but a struggle to those who start out without assistance or even friendly advice. It matters little, however, in the end what the struggle may have been so it has been made honestly. The question after all that concerns us most is the one that has been asked tens of thousands of times along the earthly journey—if a man die, shall he live again?’ ”
The question of Job, which Father
SHEARER quotes,
comes with pressing force upon those of advanced years, for
“the young may die
and the old must.” Reason
alone may thus
answer.
It is too appalling for belief that
such a being as
man, with so much of the spiritual in his nature, so well adapted for
immortality,
should but endure for this brief flash-like life, then
be annihilated in eternal nothingness to
become as though he never had been.
If so, the yearnings of the pure,
the good and the
true; the prayers and tears of the forsaken
and
the helpless; the nobility and intellectuality of man; and
the loveliness and devotion of woman;
the innocence
and trustfulness of childhood; the sweet
strains
of music; the glory of the day
and the
sublimity of the night; indeed, all moral and all material
beauty have
been and are as a fleeting phantasmagoria of deceit, so monstrous that
one
shudders in view of its atrocity. And bad as man may be, if he had the
power he
would not create but to destroy; would not present such hopes; unfold
such
beauty; elevate by such strains; lift such a delicious cup to the lips,
then
dash it in fragments forever
JUSTICE
is eternal !
Justice can but demand immortality.
Therefore MAN is immortal, and LOVE
is
over
all.
It is pleasant to know that the
greatest of intellects
of antiquity, as Plato, Socrates, Cicero, etc.; had the assurance of
immortality from their inner consciousness alone. Cicero, who was born
a hundred years before Christ, said:
“When I
consider the faculties with which the human mind is endowed, I have a
conscious
conviction that the active, comprehensive
principle cannot be of a mortal nature.
I am so well convinced that my
dear, departed friends
are so far from having ceased to live, that the state they now enjoy can alone with propriety be called
life. . . .
I am far from regretting that this life was bestowed upon
me, and I have the satisfaction
of
thinking I have employed it in such a manner as not to have lived in
vain. . .
. In short, I consider this world as a place which nature never
intended for my
permanent abode; and I look upon my departure from it, not as being
driven from
my habitation, but as simply leaving an inn.”
Page 718
He spake,
when light from darkness flashed ; |
And that power man can trust, and as his |
MAGNETIC
SPRINGS is a small village eleven miles northeast of Marysville, on Bokes’ creek. In
1879, in sinking an artesian well, the waters which gushed forth
unexpectedly
proved highly medicinal. As a
result, the
place has become quite a
favorite resort
for invalids. It has a large
bath-house
and several hotels for their
accommodation. The water
possesses high
magnetic properties, and it is said that a knife blade, held in it for
a few
moments, becomes so highly charged that
a
nail may be lifted by it. Several
other
medicinal springs have been discovered having distinct mineral
ingredients, one
a sulphur spring, about
a mile distant from the
village.
RICHWOOD is fifteen miles northeast of Marysville, on the N. Y. P. & O. R. R. It is situated in the centre of a rich agricultural region, made up of thrifty small landowners as in New England. Newspapers: Gazette, Independent, W. H. STOUTT, editor and publisher; Leader, Democratic, YOUNG & WOODRUFF, editors and publishers; Octographic Review, Disciples, W. B. F. TREAT and L. F. BITTLE, editors; Educational Sun, educational, H. V. SPICER, editor. Churches: 1 Methodist Episcopal; 1 Presbyterian; 1 Methodist Protestant; 1 Baptist; 2 Disciples; 1 Adventist, and 1 African Baptist. Bank of Richwood: James CUTLER, president; B. L. TALMAGE, cashier. Richwood Deposit: W. H. CONKRIGHT, president; H. E. CONKRIGHT, cashier. Population in 1880, 1,317. School census, 1888, 469; S. L. BOYERS, Jr., superintendent.
MILFORD CENTRE 16 five miles southwest of Marysville, at the crossing of the C. C. C. & I. and C. St. L. & P. Railroads. It has 4 churches. Newspapers: Ohioan, Republican, W. L. McCAMPBELL, editor and publisher. Bank (Fullington & Phellis), F. G. REYNOLDS, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees.—C. Michaels, drain tile, 5 hands; A. J. Rigdom, lumber, 4; Elliott & Moore, flour, etc., 3; C. Erb. & Bro., carriages and buggies, 6.—State Report, 1888.
Population
in
1880, 490.Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $18,000.
Value
of annual product, $49,000.—Ohio
Labor Statistics, 1888
BROADWAY is nine miles northwest of Marysville, on the N. Y. P. & O. R. R. Newspapers: Enterprise, Independent, C. F. MONROE, editor and publisher. Population, 300.
UNIONVILLE is eight miles southeast of Marysville, on the C. St. L. & P. R. R. Population in 1880, 200.
YORK is on Bokes creek, in the northwest part of the county. By the census of 1890 it had 1498 inhabitants; Richwood, 1415; Marysville, 2832; Milford Centre, 718.