JEFFERSON COUNTY
Page 959
Jefferson
County, named from President Jefferson, was the fifth county established in
Ohio. It was created by
proclamation of Governor St. Clair, July 29, 1797; its original limits included
the country west of Pennsylvania and Ohio; and east and north of a line from
the mouth of the Cuyahoga; southwardly to the Muskingum and east to the
Ohio. Within those boundaries are
Cleveland, Canton, Steubenville, Warren, and many other large towns and populous
counties. The surface is hilly and
the soil fertile. It is one of the
greatest manufacturing counties in the State, and abounds in excellent coal. Area about 440 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were
76,976; in pasture, 86,680; woodland, 39,543; lying waste, 3,474; produced in
wheat, 219,812 bushels; rye, 1,320; buckwheat, 168; oats, 309,089; barley,
2,511; corn, 517,398; broom-corn, 3,800 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 36,157 tons;
clover hay, 4,201; flaxseed, 39 bushels; potatoes, 74,795; butter, 472,913
lbs.; cheese, 600; sorghum, 1,740 gallons; maple syrup, 5,146; honey, 4,938
lbs.; eggs, 443,652 dozen; grapes, 9,820 lbs.; wine, 540 gallons; sweet
potatoes, 10 bushels; apples, 29,121; peaches, 785; pears, 1,644; wool, 566,680
lbs.; milch cows owned, 5,284.
School census, 1888, 11,905; teachers, 250. Miles of railroad track, 83. Coal mined, 243,178 tons, employing 347
miners and 80 outside employees; fire-clay, 144,090 tons.—Ohio Mining Statistics, 1888.
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
|
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
Brush Creek |
757 |
623 |
|
Saline |
963 |
1,480 |
Cross Creek |
1,702 |
1,711 |
|
Smithfield |
2,095 |
1,887 |
Island Creek |
1,867 |
2,029 |
|
Springfield |
1,077 |
817 |
Knox |
1,529 |
2,011 |
|
Steubenville |
5,203 |
13,150 |
Mount Pleasant |
1,676 |
1,582 |
|
Warren |
1,945 |
1,923 |
Ross |
927 |
741 |
|
Wayne |
1,746 |
1,751 |
Salem |
2,044 |
1,907 |
|
Wells |
1,492 |
1,406 |
Population
in Jefferson in 1820 was 18,531; in 1830, 22,489; 1840, 25,031; 1860, 26,115;
1880, 33,018, of whom 24,761 were born in Ohio; 2,578 in Pennsylvania; 930 in
Virginia; 158 in New York; 61 in Kentucky; 40 in Indiana; 1,179 in Ireland; 739
in England and Wales; 592 in German Empire; 188 in Scotland; 60 in British
America; 9 in France, and 29 in Sweden and Norway. Census, 1890, 39,415.
EARLY
HISTORY
The
old Mingo town, three miles below Steubenville, now (1846) the site of the
farms of Jeremiah H. HALLOCK, Esq., and Mr. Daniel POTTER, was a place of note
prior to the settlement of the country.
It was the point where the troops of Colonel Williamson rendezvoused in
the infamous Moravian campaign, and those of Colonel Crawford, in his
unfortunate expedition against the Sandusky Indians. It was also at one time the residence of
LOGAN, the celebrated Mingo chief, whose form was striking and manly and whose
magnanimity and eloquence have seldom
Page 960
been equalled. He was a son of the Cuyaga chief
Skikellimus, who dwelt at Shamokin, Pa., in 1742 and was converted to
Christianity under the preaching of the Moravian missionaries. Skikellimus highly esteemed James LOGAN,
the secretary of the province, named his son from him, and probably had him
baptized by the missionaries.
In early life, LOGAN for a while dwelt in
Pennsylvania and in Day’s Historical Collections of that State is a view
in Mifflin county of Logan’s Spring, which which will long remain a
memorial of this distinguished chief.
The letter below gives an incident which occurred there that speaks in
praise of LOGAN. It was written by
the Hon. R. P. MACLAY, a member of the State Senate, and son of the gentleman
alluded to in the anedote, and published in the Pittsburg Daily American:
SENATE CHAMBER, March 21, 1842
TO GEORGE DARSIE, ESQ., of the Senate of Pennsylvania:
DEAR
SIR—Allow me to correct a few inaccuracies as to place and names, in the
anecdote of LOGAN, the celebrated Mingo chief, as published in the Pittsburg Daily American of March 17, 1842, to
which you called my attention. The
person surprised at the spring, now called the Big Spring, and about six (four)
miles west of Logan’s Spring, was William BROWN—the first actual
settler in Kishacoquillas valley, and one of the associate Judges in Mifflin
county, from its organization till his death, at the age of ninety-one or
two—and not Samuel MACLAY, as stated by Dr. Hildreth. I will give you the anecdote as I heard
it related by Judge BROWN himself, while on a visit to my brother, who then
owned and occupied the Big Spring farm, four miles west of Reedville:
“The first time I ever saw that spring,”
said the old gentleman, “my brother, James REED and myself, had wandered
out of the valley in search of land, and finding it very good, we were looking
about for springs. About a mile
from this we started a bear, and separated to get a shot at him. I was travelling along, looking about on
the rising ground for the bear, when I came suddenly upon the spring; and being
dry, and more rejoiced to find so fine a spring than to have killed a dozen
bears, I set my rifle against a bush and rushed down to the bank and laid down
to drink. Upon putting my
head-down, I saw reflected in the water, on the opposite side, the shadow of a
tall Indian. I sprang to my rifle,
when the Indian gave a yell, whether for peace or war I was not just then
sufficiently master of my faculties to determine, but upon my seizing my rifle,
and facing him, he knocked up the pan of his gun, threw out the priming, and
extended his open palm toward me in token of friendship. After putting down our guns, we again
met at the spring, and shook hands.
This was LOGAN—the best specimen of humanity I ever met with
either white or red. He could speak a little English, and
told me there was another white hunter a little way down the stream, and
offered to guide me to his camp.
There I first met your father.
We remained together in the valley a week, looking for springs and
selecting lands, and laid the foundation of a friendship which never has had
the slightest interruption.
“We
visited LOGAN at his camp, at Logan’s Spring, and your father and he shot
at a mark for a dollar a shot.
LOGAN lost four or five rounds and acknowledged himself beaten. When we were about to leave him, he went
into his hut, and brought out as many deer skins as he had lost dollars, and
handed them to Mr. MACLAY—who refused to take them, alleging that we had
been his guests, and did not come to rob him—that the shooting had been
only a trial of skill, and the bet merely nominal. LOGAN drew himself up with great
dignity, and said, ‘Me bet to make you shoot your best—me
gentleman, and me take your dollar if me beat,’ So he was obliged to take the skins, or
affront our friend, whose nice sense of honor would not permit him to receive
even a horn of powder in return.
“The
next year,” said the old gentleman, “I brought my wife up and
camped under a big walnut tree, on the bank of Tea creek, until I had built a
cabin near where the mill now stands, and have lived in the valley ever
since. Poor LOGAN” (and the
big tears coursed each other down his cheeks) “soon after went into the
Allegheny, and I never saw him again.
“Yours, R. P.
MACLAY.”
Mrs.
NORRIS, who lives near the site of Logan’s Spring, is a daughter of Judge
BROWN; she confirmed the above, and gave Mr. Day the following additional
incidents, highly characteristic of the benevolent chief, which we take from
that gentleman’s work:
LOGAN
supported his family by killing deer, dressing the skins, and selling them to
the whites. He had sold quite a
parcel to one De YONG, a tailor, who lived in Ferguson’s valley, below
the gap. Tailors in those days
dealt extensively in buckskin breeches.
LOGAN received his pay, according to stipulation, in wheat. The wheat, on being taken to the mill,
was found so worthless that the miller refused to grind it. LOGAN was much cha-
Page 961
grined, and attempted in vain to obtain redress from
the tailor. He then took the matter
before his friend BROWN, then a magistrate; and on the judge’s
questioning him as to the character of the wheat, and what was in it, LOGAN sought
in vain to find words to express the precise nature of the article with which
the wheat was adulterated, but said that it resembled in appearance the wheat
itself. “It must have been cheat,” said the judge. “Yeh!” said LOGAN,
“that very good name for him.”
A decision was awarded in LOGAN’S favor, and a writ given to LOGAN
to hand to the constable, which, he was told, would bring him the money for his
skins. But the untutored
Indian—too uncivilized to be dishonest—could not comprehend by what
magic this little paper would force the tailor, against his will, to pay for
the skins. The judge took down his
own commission, with the arms of the king upon it, and explained to him the
first principles and operations of civil law. “Law good,” said LOGAN;
“make rogues pay.” But
how much more simple and efficient was the law which the Great Spirit had
impressed upon his heart—to do as
he would be done by!
When
a sister of Mrs. NORRIS (afterwards Mrs. Gen. POTTER) was just beginning to
learn to walk, her mother happened to express her regret that she could not get
a pair of shoes to give more firmness to her little step. LOGAN stood by, but said nothing. He soon after asked Mrs. BROWN to let
the little girl go up and spend the day at his cabin. The cautious heart of the mother was
alarmed at such a proposition; but she knew the delicacy of an Indian’s
feelings—and she knew LOGAN, too—and with secret reluctance, but
apparent cheerfulness, she complied with his request. The hours of the day wore very slowly
away, and it was nearly night, when her little one had not returned. But just as the sun was going down, the
trusty chief was seen coming down the path with his charge; and in a moment
more the little one trotted into her mother’s arms, proudly exhibiting a
beautiful pair of moccasons on her little feet—the product of
LOGAN’S skill.
LOGAN
took no part in the old French war, which ended in 1760, except that of a
peace-maker, and was always the friend of the white people until the base
murder of his family, to which has been attributed the origin of
Dunmore’s war. This event
took place near the mouth of Yellow creek, in this county, about seventeen
miles above Steubenville. The
circumstances have been variously related.
We annex them as given by Henry Jolly, Esq., who was for a number of
years an associate judge on the bench of Washington county, in this State. The facts are very valuable, as coming
from the pen of one who saw the party the day after the murder; was personally
acquainted with some of the individuals, and familiar with that spot and the
surrounding region.* He says:
I was about sixteen years of age, but I very well
recollect what I then saw, and the information that I have since obtained was
derived from (I believe) good authority.
In the spring of the year 1774, a party of Indians encamped on the
northwest of the Ohio near the mouth of the Yellow creek. A party of whites, called
“Greathouse’s party,” lay on the opposite side of the
river. The Indians came over to the
white party, consisting, I think, of five men and one woman, with an
infant. The whites gave them rum,
which three of them drank, and in a short time they became very drunk. The other two men and the woman refused
to drink. The sober Indians were
challenged to shoot at a mark, to which they agreed; and as soon as they had
emptied their guns, the whites shot them down. The woman attempted to escape by flight,
but was also shot down; she lived long enough, however, to beg mercy for her
babe, telling them that it was akin to themselves. The whites had a man in the cabin,
prepared with a tomahawk, for the purpose of killing the three drunken Indians,
which was immediately done. The party
of men then moved off for the interior settlements, and came to “Catfish
Camp” on the evening of the next day, where they tarried until the day
following. I very well recollect my
mother feeding and dressing the babe; chirruping to the little innocent, and it
smiling. However, they took it
away, and talked of sending it to its supposed father, Col. George Gibson, of
Carlisle, Pa., “who was then, and had been for many years, a trader among
the Indians.” The remainder
of the party at the mouth of Yellow creek, finding that their friends on the
opposite side of the river were massacred, attempted to escape by descending
the Ohio; and in order to prevent being discovered by the whites, passed on the
west side of Wheeling island, and landed at Pipe creek, a small stream that
empties into the Ohio a few miles below Grave creek, where they were overtaken
by Cresap, with a party of men from Wheeling.† They took one Indian scalp, and had one
white man
____________________________
*This statement was written for Dr. S. P. Hildreth, by
Mr. Jolly, and published in Sillaman’s
Journal, for 1836.
†Cresap
did not live at Wheeling, but happened to be there at that time with a party of
men, who had, with himself, just returned from an exploring expedition down the
Ohio, for the purpose of selecting and appropriating lands (called in the West,
locating lands) along the river in choice situations; a practice at that early
day very common, when Virginia claimed both sides of the stream, including what
is now the State of Ohio.—S. P.
Hildreth.
962
(Big Tarrener) badly wounded. They, I believe, carried him in a litter
from Wheeling to Redstone. I saw
the party on their return from their victorious campaign. The Indians had, for some time before
these events, thought themselves intruded upon by the “Long Knife,”
as they at that time called the Virginians, and many of them were for war. However, they called a council, in which
LOGAN acted a conspicuous part. He
admitted their grounds of complaint, but at the same time reminded them of some
aggressions on the part of the Indians, and that by a war they could but harass
and distress the frontier settlements for a short time; that “the Long
Knife” would come like the trees in the woods, and that ultimately they
should be driven from the good lands which they now possessed. He therefore strongly recommended
peace. To him they all agreed;
grounded the hatchet, and everything wore a tranquil appearance; when behold,
the fugitives arrived from Yellow creek, and reported that LOGAN’S
father, brother, and sister were murdered!
Three of the nearest and dearest relations of LOGAN had been massacred
by white men. The consequence was,
that this same LOGAN, who a few days before was so pacific raised the hatchet,
with a declaration that he would not ground it until he had taken ten for one; which I believe he completely fulfilled, by taking thirty scalps and prisoners in the
summer of 1774. The above has often
been related to me by several persons who were at the Indian towns at the time
of the council alluded to, and also when the remains of the party came in from
Yellow creek. Thomas Nicholson, in
particular, has told me the above and much more. Another person (whose name I cannot
recollect) informed me that he was at the towns when the Yellow creek Indians
came in and that there was great lamentations by all the Indians of that
place. Some friendly Indian advised
him to leave the Indian settlements, which he did. Could any rational person believe for a
moment that the Indians came to Yellow creek with hostile intentions, or that
they had any suspicion of similar intentions, on the part of the whites,
against them? Would five men have
crossed the river, three of them become in a short time dead drunk, while the
other two discharged their guns, and thus put themselves entirely at the mercy
of the whites; or would they have brought over a squaw with an infant pappoose,
if they had not reposed the utmost confidence in the friendship of the
whites? Every person who is at all
acquainted with Indians knows better; and it was the belief of the inhabitants
who were capable of reasoning on the subject, that all the depredations
committed on the frontiers, by LOGAN and his party in 1774, were as a
retaliation for the murder of LOGAN’S friends at Yellow creek. It
was well known that Michael Cresap had no hand in the massacre at Yellow creek.*
During the war which followed, LOGAN
frequently showed his magnanimity towards prisoners who fell into his
hands. Among them was Maj. Wm.
ROBINSON, of Clarksburg, Va., from whose declaration given in “Jefferson’s
Notes,” and information orally communicated by his son, Col. James
ROBINSON, now living near Coshocton, these facts are derived.
On
the 12th of July, 1774, Major ROBINSON, then a resident on the west
fork of the Monongahela river, was in the field with Mr. Colburn BROWN and Mr.
HELEN, pulling flax, when they were surprised and fired upon by a party of
eight Indians led by LOGAN. Mr.
BROWN was killed and the other two made prisoners. On the first alarm Mr. ROBINSON started
and ran. When he had got about
fifty yards, LOGAN called out in English: “Stop, I won’t hurt
you!” “Yes, you
will,” replied ROBINSON, in tones of fear. “No, I won’t,”
rejoined LOGAN, “but if you don’t stop, by --- I’ll shoot
you.” ROBINSON still
continued his race, but, stumbling over a log, fell and was made captive by a
fleet savage in pursuit. LOGAN
immediately made himself known to Mr. ROBINSON and manifested a friendly
disposition to him, told him that he must be of good heart and go with him to
his town, where he would probably be adopted in some of their families. When near the Indian village, on the
site of Dresden, Muskingum county, LOGAN informed him that he must run the
gauntlet, and gave him such directions that he reached the council-house
without the slightest harm. He was
then tied to a stake for the purpose of being burnt, when LOGAN arose and
addressed the assembled council of chiefs in his behalf. He spoke long and with great energy
_________________________
*A
brother of Capt. Daniel Greathouse, said to have been present at the massacre,
was killed by the Indians the 24th March, 1791, between the mouth of
the Scioto and Limestone, while emigrating to Kentucky in a flat-boat, with his
family. He seems to have made
little or no resistance to the Indians, who attacked him in canoes. They probably knew who he was, and
remembered the slaughter of LOGAN’S family, as he was taken on shore,
tied to a tree, and whipped to death with rods.—S. P. Hildreth.
Page 963
until the saliva foamed from the sides of his
mouth. This was followed by other
chiefs in opposition and rejoinders from LOGAN. Three separate times was he tied to the
stake to be burnt, the counsels of the hostile chiefs prevailing, and as often
untied by LOGAN and a belt of wampum placed around him as a mark of
adoption. His life appeared to be
hanging on a balance; but the eloquence of LOGAN prevailed, and when the belt
of wampum was at last put on him by LOGAN he introduced a young Indian to him,
saying: “This is your cousin; you are to go home with him, and he will
take care of you.”
From
this place Mr. ROBINSON accompanied the Indians up the Muskingum, through two
or three Indian villages, until they arrived at one of their towns on the site
of New Comerstown, in Tuscarawas county.
About the 21st of July LOGAN came to ROBINSON and brought a
piece of paper, saying that he must write a letter for him, which he meant to
carry and leave in some house, which he should attack. Mr. ROBINSON wrote a note with ink which
he manufactured from gunpowder. He
made three separate attempts before he could get the language, which LOGAN
dictated, sufficiently strong to satisfy that chief. This note was addressed to Col. Cresap,
whom LOGAN supposed was the murderer of his family. It was afterwards found, tied to a war
club, in the cabin of a settler who lived on or near the north fork of Holston
river. It was doubtless left by
LOGAN after murdering the family. A
copy of it is given below, which, on comparison with his celebrated speech,
shows a striking similarity of style.
CAPTAIN CRESAP:
What
did you kill my people on Yellow creek for? The white people killed my kin, at
Conestoga, a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin again on Yellow
creek and took my cousin prisoner.
Then I thought I must kill, too.
I have been three times to war since then; but the Indians are not
angry; only myself.
July
21, 1774
CAPTAIN
JOHN LOGAN.
Major
ROBINSON after remaining with the Indians about four months returned to his
home in Virginia. In 1801 he
removed to Coshocton county and settled on a section of military land, on the
Muskingum, a few miles below Coshocton, where he died in 1815, aged seventy-two
years. His son resides on the same
farm.
Dunmore’s
war was of short duration. It was
terminated in November of the same year, within the present limits of Pickaway
county, in this State, under which head will be found a copy of the speech
which has rendered immortal the name of LOGAN.
The
heroic adventure of the two JOHNSON boys, who killed two Indians in this
county, has often and erroneously been published. One of these, Henry, the youngest, is
yet living in Monroe county, in this State, where we made his acquaintance in
the spring of 1846. He is a fine
specimen of the fast vanishing race of Indian hunters, tall and erect, with the
bearing of a genuine backwoodsman.
His narrative will be found in Monroe county.
The
last blood shed in battle between the whites and Indians in this part of the
Ohio country was in Jefferson county, in August, 1793. This action, known as
“Buskirk’s battle,” took place on the farm of Mr. John Adams,
on what was then known as Indian Cross creek, now as Battle-Ground run. The incidents given below were published
in a Steubenville paper a few years since.
A
party of twenty-eight Indians having committed depredations on this side of the
river, a force of thirty-eight Virginians, all of them veteran Indian fighters,
under Capt. Buskirk, crossed the river to give them battle. And, although they knew they were in the
vicinity of the enemy, they marched into an ambuscade, and but for a most
singular circumstance would have been mowed down like pigeons. The whites marched in Indian file with
their captain, Buskirk, at their head.
The ambush quartered on their flank, and they were totally unsuspicious
of it. The plan of the Indians was
to permit the whites to advance in numbers along the line before firing upon
them. This was done, but instead of
each selecting his man every gun was directed at the captain, who fell with
Page 964
thirteen holes in his body. The whites and Indians instantly treed,
and the contest lasted more than an hour.
The Indians, however, were defeated and retreated towards the Muskingum
with the loss of several killed, while the Virginians, with the exception of
their captain, had none killed and but three wounded.
STEUBENVILLE
IN 1846—Steubenville is on the Ohio river, 22 miles above Wheeling, 36
below Pittsburg and 147 east by north from Columbus. It derives its name from a fort, called
Fort Steuben, erected on its site as early as 1789. It stood on High street, near the site
of the female seminary. It was
built of block houses connected by palisade fences, and was dismantled at the
time of Wayne’s victory, previous to which it had been garrisoned by
United States infantry, under the command of Col. BEATTY, father of the Rev.
Dr. BEATTY, of Steubenville. On the
opposite side of the river then stood a blockhouse.
The
town was laid out in 1798, by Bezeleel WELLS and the Hon. James ROSS, of
Pennsylvania, from whom Ross county, in this State, derived its name. Mr. ROSS, who has attained high honor,
is yet living; but Mr. WELLS died poor, after having been at one time
considered the most wealthy person in Eastern Ohio. On the 14th of February,
1805, the town was incorporated and the following officers appointed: David HULL, president; John WARD,
recorder; David HOG, Zacheus A. BEATTY, Benj. HOUGH, Thos. VINCENTS, John
ENGLAND, Martin ANDREWS and Abm. CAZIER, trustees; Samuel HUNTER, treasurer;
Matthew ADAMS, assessor; Charles MAXWELL, collector, and Anthony BECK, town
marshal.
Steubenville
is situated upon a handsome and elevated plain, in the midst of beautiful
scenery. The country adjacent is
rich and highly cultivated, affording the finest soil for wheat and sheep. Messrs. Bezaleel WELLS and DICKERSON
introduced the merino sheep at an early day, and established in the town, in
1814, a woollen manufactory, which laid the foundation for the extensive
manufactures of the place.
Steubenville contains about 30 mercantile stores, 2 printing offices (1
daily newspaper), 1 Episcopal, 2 Presbyterian, 3 Methodist, 1 Catholic, 1
Baptist, 1 Associate Reformed, 1 New Jerusalem and 1 church for persons of
color, 1 bank, 5 woollen, 1 paper, 1 cotton and 2 glass manufactories, 1 iron
foundry and numerous other manufacturing and mechanical establishments. In the vicinity are 7 copperas
manufactories. From 800 to 1,000
hands are employed in these various establishments, and over a million bushels
of coal annually consumed which is obtained from inexhaustible coal-beds in the
vicinity at 3 cents per bushel. The
town is very thriving and rapidly increasing. Its population in 1810 was 800; in 1820,
2,479; in 1830, 2,964; in 1840, 4,247, and in 1847 about 7,000.
Much
attention is given to the cause of education in Steubenville. There are five public and four select
schools, a male academy and a female seminary. The male institution, called
“Grove academy,” is flourishing. It is under the charge of the Rev. John
W. SCOTT, has three teachers and eighty scholars. The female seminary is pleasantly
situated on the bank of the Ohio, commanding an extensive view of the river and
the surrounding hills. It is under
the charge of the Rev. Charles C. BEATTY, D. D., superintendent, and Mrs. Hetty
E. BEATTY, principal. It was first
established in the spring of 1829, and now receives only scholars over twelve
years of age. It is in a very high
degree flourishing, having a widely extended reputation. The establishment cost nearly $40,000,
employs from ten to twelve teachers and usually has 150 pupils, the full number
which it can accommodate.—Old
Edition.
The
Steubenville Seminary, which the year of its foundation had but seven pupils,
and at the time of the issue of our first edition 150, had gone on increasing
its educational facilities, so that it has since had 250 pupils in one year,
has graduated over 4,500, and at a reunion, held in 1873, more than 700 alumni
were present.
In
1856 Dr. and Mrs. A. M. REID succeeded Dr. and Mrs. BEATTY, and in
Page 965
Top Picture
Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846
MARKET STREET, STEUBENVILLE.
Bottom Picture
Davison Fillson, Photo., Steubenville, 1886
STEUBENVILLE FROM THE WEST
VIRGINIA SHORE.
Page 966
1863 they in turn were succeeded by Dr. and
Mrs. J. W. WIGHTMAN, the present principals.
This
school is remarkable for its age, its widespread educational, moral and
religious influence. It has sent
missionaries to all quarters of the globe, many of whom are still engaged in
the good work.
The
coal mines at Stuebenville are among the deepest in the State, Rush Run Shaft
being 261 feet; Mingo Shaft 250 feet, and the Market street shaft 225 feet.
The Perils of the Coal Miner, who works
down deep in the bowels of the earth, are such that those engaged in
coal-mining become imbued with a spirit of heroism and self-sacrifice that
finds strong expression in times of danger. The greatest peril of the miner is that
caused by the explosion of fire-damp, a highly combustible and explosive gas
generated by the coal.
Notwithstanding the precautions taken to avoid them, these explosions
are constantly occurring in mining regions, with more or less loss of life,
under the most horrifying conditions.
Thus
it was at the rolling mill shaft at Steubenville, about 7 o’clock on the
morning of June 5, 1865, when the surrounding neighborhood was startled by a
loud rumbling noise, the rattling of windows and the visible shaking of the
ground.
The
miners were on a strike at the time, and but nine men were in the mine; of
these Thomas SWEENY and Patrick BURKE escaped with but slight injury; Frederick
HAZELER was seriously injured but recovered. Wm. COWAN was fatally burned and a few
days later died of his injuries; John DOUGLAS, James RILEY, James COWAN, Wm.
MILLHIZER and LYNCH were killed.
On
the morning of the 23rd of February, 1868, the large building known as
Wallace factory, located near the shaft of the “High Shaft” mine at
Steubenville, was discovered on fire.
It became a question of great moment if it were possible to save the
building over the coal-mine from destruction. There were at this time about one
hundred men and boys in the mine who must be got out ere the building burned or
be lost. Some of them were not only
225 feet underground, but three-quarters of a mile away from the bottom of the
shaft. Under the direction of
Superintendent James H. BLINN, volunteers fought heroically to save the
building, while others entered the mine to warn the miners of the danger. Wm. DIXON and Hugh SUTHERIN, track
layers in the mine, did noble service at imminent risk of losing their
lives. The hoisting cages were kept
running at their highest speed until all the miners were at last safe about
ground. An instance of filial
devotion displayed on this occasion is related by Mr. Wm. SMITHWAITE, from
whose writings this article is abridged.
A
miner, John STEWART, who was crippled by an accident in a mine in Scotland many
years before, was working with his son William in one of the farthest workings
of the mine, when they received notice of the danger. They immediately started for the shaft,
but their progress was so slow, that prospect of their arriving there in time
was very discouraging. The son
assisted the father’s feeble steps, being passed on the way by men and
boys hurrying to escape, who urged them to hasten, telling them again and again
of their danger. This increased
their excitement, hindering rather than assisting them; the poor old crippled
father, losing all courage, sank down by the way, giving up all hope and
resigning himself to his fate urged his son to leave him and seek is own
safety. “I am auld an
crippled, Willie, and of nae account in the warl; nae worth ony sacrifice; gang
away an save yoursel or we’ll baith perish. You are young and strang an may have
many years tae live; gang away, Willie, an save yoursel; I canna
coom.” “I wanna le you,
fayther. Coom, I’ll help you
alang, and we’ll baith get out,” was the reply.
After
repeated efforts the old man was induced to try again, but again sank down in
despair, and in most piteous accents in his broad Scotch dialect urged his son
to leave him and seek his own safety.
Paying no attention to the old man’s importunities, William would
again with encouraging words and earnest pleadings get the old man up and make
a little more progress towards the shaft.
Finally, after much toil and persistence, they both
reached the shaft and were hoisted out in safety.
REMINISCENCES OF
EARLY MANUFACTURES OF SOUTHEASTERN OHIO.
The
following very valuable article was written for this work by the venerable
WILLIAM C. HOWELLS, father of WM. DEAN HOWELLS, the author. It was written and sent under the date
of Jefferson, Ohio, December, 1887, when he was eighty years of age. In an accompanying letter, he wrote us:
“I have endeavored to say enough to give the proper information, and to
avoid saying anything
Page 967
of which I did not feel reasonably certain; yet it is
hardly to be expected that, after a lapse of seventy years, many errors will
not have occurred.”
Quaker
Enterprise.—My father emigrated
from Brecknockshire in South Wales, in 1808, landing at Boston. I was then just one year old. He had acquired a thorough knowledge of
the manufacture of woollen goods.
In 1812 he was at Waterford, Loudon county, Va., having made his way to
that point from Boston, when he made the acquaintance of a Quaker, Joseph
STEER, who had a large flouring-mill and water-power on Short creek, about
eighteen miles from Steubenville and four from Mount Pleasant. This was a Quaker settlement of
considerable importance, and the wealth and influence of that locality were chiefly
in their hands; and they were not excelled by any in all useful enterprises
that tended to improve the then new and growing country. Along the little river of Short creek
they had built flouring mills, salt-works, and a paper-mill of no mean capacity.
Joseph
STEER sought to supply a needed woollen manufactory, and he engaged my father
to put it in operation.
Passengers Transported by the Pound.—In
the spring of 1813, as soon as the roads were in proper condition, my father engaged
with one of the “Waggoners of the Alleghenies,” for our passage
from Waterford to Brownsville, Pa., which was the usual place of changing
shipments from wagons to boats, on the way to Ohio. The wagons used in the transportation of
goods on that route were large and heavy, drawn by teams of four, five, or six
horses. They would hold and carry
5,000 to 9,000 pounds, and movers took passage in them as they would in boats
for themselves and household effects.
The wagon in which we travelled was one of the five-horse class, owned
and driven by one Thomas, not Mr. BIRCHARD, who did not drink whisky or swear
at his horses, which my mother regarded as virtuous of high esteem. At this time he had loaded nearly full
at Alexandria, and took us on to complete the cargo. I very well remember that mother, my
sister, brother, and myself, were weighed at the time our goods were loaded on,
and all charged for at so much per pound, though I forget at what price, if I
ever knew. My father had a pony,
which he rode in company with the two wagons that travelled together, for
mutual help over bad places and steep hills, when they joined teams. The trip was necessarily a slow one, as
twenty miles was a long day’s drive.
Keel Boat Travel.—Arriving at
Brownsville, we gladly stopped to rest and wait for a boat. We happened upon a new flat boat, which
was being floated to Pittsburg, in which we found unbounded room, after the
cramped journey in the wagon. At
Pittsburg we changed to what was then called a keel boat; a kind of barge about
the size of a canal boat. In it we
soon floated the eighty miles to Warrenton, at the mouth of Short creek, then a
thriving village, and an important point for building flat boats and loading
them with flour and other produce for the New Orleans market. Three miles up the creek brought us to
our destination, and we took our position as Ohioans seventy-five years ago.
Difficulties of New Manufacturing
Enterprises.—The destruction of Mr. STEER’S flouring-mill
deranged his plans as to manufacturing; and the woollen mill was limited to
machinery adapted to country custom, carding and spinning machine,
fulling-mill, etc., in a small way.
Though a child, I very well remember that this new business was started
under very great difficulties. Many
of the parts of the machines had to be made by local mechanics. For the spinning “jenny,” a
blacksmith forged the spindles, and finished them with grindstone and files;
while a tinsmith, a cabinetmaker, a turner, and one or two ingenious general
workers made the other parts. My
father superintended the job; made the drawings, etc., and in due time, before
winter set in, the little factory was in operation.
Early Manufactures of Southeastern Ohio.—My
father moved his family into Steubenville in 1816, when I had just entered upon
my tenth year. I was a rather
forward boy, and especially interested in manufacturing and mechanical work, of
which I had a good conception for one of my years, so that now I have a good
recollection of what I then saw. When
recurring to that time—say August, 1818, and onward for a few
years—I am rather surprised at the variety, as well as extent, of
manufactures in which the people of Southeastern Ohio and the adjacent parts of
Virginia and Pennsylvania were engaged.
The town of Steubenville, whose inhabitants then numbered about 2,000,
was a centre of these operations that was typical in its way of the whole. The chief manufacture of the place was
woollen cloths, carried on by a company, formed about 1812, on a more extensive
scale than any in the State, or west of the Allegheny mountains, at that time.
An Enterprising Pioneer.—The
leading man in this enterprise was Hon. Bezaleel WELLS, who was the original
proprietor of the town, which was laid out in 1797, and who represented the
county in the first Constitutional Convention in 1802, and who really spent his
life and fortune in developing that part of the State. Mr. WELLS associated with him in this
undertaking several men of capital and enterprise, among whom were James ROSS,
of Pittsburg; William DICKERSON, of Steubenville; and a Mr. PATTERSON, of whom
tradition said that, after great anxiety to see this factory in operation, he
died simultaneously with the starting of the engine. My father having been engaged as wool-grader
in the concern till 1826, I had an opportunity
Page 968
of
observing, and was familiar with its general work.
Losses Through Improvements in Machinery.—About
1818 another firm was organized, of which the late Judge and Senator Tappan was
a member, that was known as B. Wells & Co., which continued until about
1827, when the business passed into other hands. It was for a time managed by Mr.
WOLCOTT, of Akron, the father of the late Judge WOLCUTT, who changed the style
of the product to a less expensive kind, and made it pay its way for a time.
It
was successful in the manufacture of great quantities of good cloth, and
cheapening the cost to consumers, who were largely the people of the State, and
making a market for good wool; besides introducing greatly improved brands of
sheep. As a profit to those who
invested money, it must have been one of the worst of failures. The original cost was necessarily very
great; while the introduction of new machinery and new styles of working every
year absorbed a great part of the profits.
I well remember, when very young, being impressed with the terrible
losses that were evident to me, in the discarded machinery that filled every
vacant spot of the ground and buildings—the result of changes that came
in constant succession from year to year.
This was not the result of dishonesty or very bad management. It seemed to have come of the crowding
growth of improvements, which often made it economy to cast aside a machine of
real value. To this may be added
successive fires, panics, and money depressions following the war of 1812. This factor and its various buildings
occupied about ten acres, near the west end of Main street, a little east of
the two factories afterwards built by James and Ebenezer WALLACE.
The
establishment of Messrs. WALLACE, started under better auspices and in better
times, succeeded, and has done well.
The WALLACES, availing themselves of a valuable vein of coal underlying
the town, some twenty-five years ago sunk a shaft to it, which not only
supplied them with fuel but became a source of material profit.
Cotton Cloth Factories.—About the
time of the commencement of the old
woollen factory, another company put in operation a steam flouring-mill
and cotton factory in a small way, both in adjoining buildings and propelled by
the same engine, on the bank of the river at the foot of Main street. The cotton department was confined to
carding and spinning only, producing yards used in home-made linseys, carpets,
and satinette warps, etc. It was
discontinued about 1821. Soon after
this date two cotton mills, on quite an extensive scale, were built; both of
which prospered permanently in the manufacture of yarns and unbleached cotton
cloths.
Early Paper Mills.—At an early day
the manufacture of paper was commenced in many places in the State, that seemed
to do well, and made a full supply for the wants of the country with the
various kinds then in use. There
were mills at or near Cincinnati, Lebanon, Hamilton, Chillicothe, Columbus,
Zanesville, Mount Pleasant, and Steubenville. Of course, they all made paper by the
old hand-process, that had been in use from time immemorial, and was good
enough for the world until the Fourdrinier process was introduced; and these
Western mills made a great deal of superior, fine paper. In 1816 the Mount Pleasant mill made the
paper for the notes of the Bank of Mount Pleasant. The Steubenville mill, as I remember,
had two rag-engines and three or four moulding vats, and employed forty or
fifty men and women—many more than are now employed in the mill with its
ten-times increased power of production.
This mill was propelled by a large low pressure engine, as were the
flour and cotton mills and the woollen factory. The business was carried on by John B.
Bayless & Co., who sold their paper at prices not much higher than it was
sold thirty or forty years ago. I
judge from the price of foolscap writing paper, that we used at school, which
cost twenty-five cents a quire for a good article, not ruled. This mill was on the river bank, near
where the Pen Handle Railroad crosses.
On
the river bank, a short distance below, there was an iron foundry, operated by
Martin PHILLIPS. Connected with
this, Adam WISE had a machine shop, where much of the machinery of the factory
and mills of the vicinity was made or repaired. Mr. WISE also made the first plows of
the country with iron mould-boards.
Extinct Trades.—On Main street,
near Third, James WATT did a lively business as wheelwright, which meant the
making of hand-spinning wheels for wool and flax, reels, etc., which trade is
now extinct, and the wheels and tools that were to be found in every
farmer’s house in nearly constant use, are now retired to garrets or
collections of bric-a-brac.
Another
extinct trade was carried on by Daniel KILGOUR, at the corner of Main and
Fourth streets, which was the making of cutnails by hand, but gave way to
nail-making machines about 1825.
Next
door to this was the watch and clock-making shop of Alexander PAXTON, where he
repaired watches and made brass eight-day clocks to order.
Measured for a “Roaram.”—At
the time I speak of, hats were made in shops as shoe-making and tailoring were
done. The, if a man or boy wanted a
hat, it was bespoken, always two weeks in advance. As old boys well remember, the hatter
measured his head and fitted him accordingly. The hats were made of wool or fur, or
both mixed—the body of wool with the nap of fur, called a
“roaram.” A name well suited to the appearance of the hat. Fine hats were made with fur bodies and
a nap of beaver or otter. These
were really nice hats and were worth the six to ten dollars they cost. Wool hats cost about a dollar, and a
“roaram” $2.50 or $3.
In that day the stiffening of hats
Page
969
with gum-shellac was not in use, glue being used
instead of water-proof gum; and when overtaken with rain the hats would weaken
down and bring the wearer to a “due scuse of his unworthiness,” for
they would become flabby and the nap stick to them till they shone like a junk
bottle after they became dry, besides “going to seed,” as it was
called. This made the hat an object
of tender care, and led the wearer to carry in reserve an oiled silk or gingham
covering, to be put on as required.
There were three hatters in town—Messrs. Hall, ODBERT and
HOAGLAND, each of whom helped me to a crown, as needed.
Mr.
McFETRIDGE, whose trade is now also obsolete, made weavers’ reeds, of
reed-cane, to supply the many looms that were to be found in the farmers’
houses all through the country.
Of
general trades, there were the usual variety. I remember one earthenware pottery,
three tanneries, carried on by Brice VIERS, Samuel WILLIAMS and Hans WILSON;
six or seven shoe-shops and a like number of tailors, and one gunsmith, James
LEAF.
An
old paper that I have fixes the number of merchants’ stores at
twenty-seven, and of taverns at sixteen.
Early Schools and Churches.—In the
winter of 1816-17 there were two schools of the same order as our common
schools, maintained by private subscription, all schools then were, at $2.50 a
scholar per quarter. One of these
schools, at which I was a pupil, was taught by Rev. James B. FINLEY, and
continued until it was overshadowed by the well-known school of Rev. Dr.
BEATTY.
At
the beginning of 1817 there were three places of religious worship, where
services were regularly held every Sunday: one Presbyterian, with Rev. Mr.
HAGLAND as pastor; one United Presbyterian, Rev. Mr. BUCHANAN as paster, and a
Methodist Episcopal Church, forming a part of the Steubenville Circuit, with
Rev. James B. FINLEY as presiding elder for the quarterly meeting district, the
extent of which would astonish many of his brethren of this day. He lived in Steubenville, whence he made
his four journeys on horseback, each year visiting, as extreme points,
Zanesville, Norwalk, Cleveland and Warren, Ohio; Beaver and Erie, Pa.; and
Fredonia, N.Y.
TRAVELLING NOTES.
Steubenville
was named in a spirit of patriotism, from Baron von de Steuben, the drill
master of the soldiers of the Revolution.
He taught them to bring their muskets to the order by three motions in
the slow style of the tactics of that day.
He lies buried alone in the depths of a forest in Oneida county, New
York, and in 1840 I walked twenty miles for the sole purpose of sketching his
grave.
Steubenville
is well situated, the best river town, steamboat men say, of any town on the
Ohio, and because on the second plateau, and thus above the highest
floods. The scenery around is
impressive. In its rear high hills
rise rounding in majestic curves.
Opposite, close up to the West Virginia shore, is a steep wooded bluff,
some 600 or more feet in height, its upper part an overhanging precipitous
cliff. Down the river the view is
expansive with bounding hills and never-returning waters. One may well term this as the gateway to
the charming scenery of the Upper Ohio.
A Sort of Lubberland.—The city has
an old time look—little or no ornate architecture—but there is
comfort everywhere. It is similar
in its social aspects and appearance to Marietta and Chillicothe. The country around laughs in its
fatness—nobody starves. Going
into a restaurant for dinner, there was placed before me on a side table some
nineteen dishes—1. Roast
beef, very tender, Ohio grown.
2. Excellent coffee. 3 and 4. Cucumbers and onions. 5.
Corn. 6. Asparagus in milk. 7.
String beans. 8. Cabbage, boiled. 9.
Tomatoes, stewed with toast.
10. Rhubarb. 11.
Potatoes warmed in milk.
12. Cold bread, butter. 13.
Warm biscuit. 14 and
15. Rhubarb and cherry pie. 16.
Ice cream. 17, 18, and
19. Vanilla and chocolate, with
strawberries—and for all this but twenty-five cents charge. On my tour over Ohio forty years ago no
such variety was anywhere seen, and not once a napkin at a meal, and eatable
butter almost never—but no charge for smelling. In no one thing has there been a greater
improvement than in food.
Lubberland seems to be heaving in sight for this people, and yet they
don’t all seem happy.
The
track of the Cincinnati & Pittsburg Railroad runs on the river bank in
front of Steubenville. The first
person I met on my arrival to welcome me was Mr. J. J. ROBINSON, the station
agent, at whose residence I called on an errand. His house stands with its rear to the
rail track and river, near by the station.
His home lot is 120 feet broad and 180 deep. The house, on an elevation fifteen feet
above the lawn, occupies the farther end and fronts on a street. A line of Lombardy poplars, 120 feet in
length and twelve feet apart, stands as sentinels on the river front of the
lot. They were set out in 1878,
being then saplings but two inches in diameter and ten feet high; yet in 1884
they had attained a height of sixty feet, which he cut off
Page 970
Top Picture
Davison Fillson, Photo.
BOYHOOD HOME OF STANTION.
Bottom Picture
From the old edition of 1846.
FEMALE SEMINARY, STEUBENVILLE.
Page 971
twenty feet from the top. Now (1886) they are forty-five feet in
height, in luxurious foliage. On
V.I.P. 321 I speak on the subject of the poplar more fully. Around some of the home lots in the
upper part of the town are very long lines of poplars hundreds of feet in
height, making a very imposing appearance. I know nothing of the kind equalling
it. The easy swaying of the top of
the poplars in the wind and the glinting lights on their branches are pleasing. But it is a solemn tree—does for
graveyards and melancholy blue states of the mind.
A Lesson in Ornithology.—Mr.
ROBINSON’S house has a veranda eighty feet in length on the second story
facing the river. As he took me
from the sentinel poplars across the lawn, through the shrubbery, grape vines
and blooming roses to the veranda he said: “Come; I want you to see my
birds.” At that moment a
peacock spread his tail at my feet and gave an infernal
screech—“Look! admire my tail!: “That,” said he, “is
better than any watch dog or policeman that can be got. Nothing can enter my yard at night but
he sounds the alarm. He is ever
faithful. Unlike a watchman, never
falls asleep on his post, and, unlike a dog, can never be seduced from duty.”
Taking
me on to the veranda, there in fifteen cages were nineteen birds chirping their
joy. Among them English
black-birds, golden oriole, canaries, mocking bird, Irish lark, Irish thrush,
cat-bird and red-bird—nearly all foreign birds. The Irish lark has a voice of a peculiar
rollicking nature. “Soars up
in the air,” said Mrs. ROBINSON, a black-eyed lady, with a merry laugh.
One
canary was sitting on its nest. It
was her third brood. I got within a
foot of the little creature as she was sitting there so happy and comfortable. She cocked up her little eye, as much as
to say; “Oh, you get out. You
are nothing but a man. You can know
nothing of a mother’s joy.”
Mrs. R. told me that the canary lays from four to five eggs, and that
fourteen days after the laying of the first egg a bird is hatched, and then
after that one daily. If it is a
male bird it is surely a singer and will sing fourteen days from its
birth. Canaries are weaned in from
fifteen to twenty-one days.
Just
at that moment a train went thundering by, when the peacock gave a
screech. He always does, and the
pass every half hour; yells at every child’s laugh and spreads his tail ad libitum. At night he perches on a flat board
nailed on top of a post, close by the back door, and performs sentinel duty, at
every noise sending forth a screech.
Suffering Bennie Shaw.—While here
I sketched a cottage, the once home of the long suffering but happy Bennie
SHAW, who was deaf and dumb, very near-sighted and paralyzed. It stands in a nook between two other
buildings on a business street in Steubenville. I called there and had an interview with
his mother, a sad-appearing woman, to learn the history of her boy. When he was eleven years of age he was
taken sick, and, becoming paralyzed, lay on his back until he died, at the age
of thirty-seven, November 2, 1884.
During that entire period only his head and chest grew, his body below
remaining as in childhood. The
cottage in which he lived and the room in which he was confined were very
small, the latter with only one window which looked upon a little garden
wherein grew flowers. He was very
near-sighted, could use but one arm, could not lift himself in bed nor turn his
head, and yet on the wall were numerous pictures in watercolors of flowers,
birds and other objects which he painted mostly from copies and quite
handsomely. And how he was enabled
to do them at all seemed almost incredible. His mother thus described it to me,
first showing me a board ten by twelve inches: “We,” said she,
“tacked the paper on this board.
He laid on his back in his cot by the window, the board resting on his
chest. He held the top of the board
with his two little fingers. With
the other three fingers he painted.
Owing to his near-sightedness he was obliged to bring the board within
four inches of his face. He could
not paint all over the board except by turning it around, so it was often wrong
side up. As he could not turn his
head, he had a mirror, which magnified and reflected the flowers in the garden
which he studied and painted. It
was always a wonder to me how he was able to paint, and so beautifully, and
when I asked him how he did it his answer always was, and with a smile,
‘God helps me. He loves
me.’” His little room
was a holy spot. His presence made
it an atmosphere of love, and when any strangers came in he always wanted to
know if they loved Go and enjoyed him as he did.
Several
days passed in Steubenville enabled me to gather from some old gentlemen some
amusing reminiscences upon its historical characters, as Edwin STANTON, Senator
TAPPAN, Thomas COLE, etc. One of
these was Mr. James GALLAGHER, a tall, wiry gentleman, with some hesitation in
his speech but none in his brains, who came here, in 1816, from Philadelphia,
when a lad of ten years. He said.
Anecdotes of Ben Tappan.—I knew
Ben Tappan well. He was very
sharp. He had a large house-dog,
which one day strolled into the shop of one Peters, a butcher, and seizing a
nice roast of beef made off with it.
Peters, on discovering whose dog it was, called upon Tappan, and put the
question to him: “If a
neighbor’s dog enters my shop and steals meat, is he not legally held in
payment?” “Certainly he
is,” rejoined Tappan.
“Your dog,” continued Peters, “has this very
Page 972
morning stolen seventy-five cents worth of
meat from me, and I have come for the money.” “Not so fast, Mr. Peters,”
replied Tappan; “I don’t give legal advice without
compensation. As you are a
neighbor, I won’t be hard upon you.
My charge to you in this case is $2.00. You must therefore pay me the
difference, $1.25, and we will call it square.
Ben Tappan was a most audacious man, and I have no
doubt his example had much to do with the formation of the character of Edwin
STANTON when he, a youth, became his partner. In olden times our Common Pleas court
consisted of a president judge for each judicial district, and three associate
justices for each county in which the court was held. The presence of three constituted a
quorum. At a court held here a Mr.
Anderson, a very worthy man, was one of the judges. He lived three miles out of town, and
was wont to come to court on horseback with his saddle-bags, with his own
dinner in one bag and oats for his horse in the other. After a certain noon recess Anderson
failed to appear in time. Tappan,
who was naturally impatient, arose to address the court, when Judge HALLOCK
interrupted him: “Brother Tappan, there is not a quorum; you will have to
wait for Judge ANDERSON,”
“Are his saddle-bags under the bench?” “Yes.” “Then,” rejoined Tappan,
“I’ll go on with my plea; they will do just as well.” And he did. Soon Anderson came in, and heard the
balance of the plea. It is to be
inferred its opening was in due time communicated to him by the saddle-bags.
The Stanton family were from North
Carolina, and originally Quakers.
They fell under the influence of the itinerating Methodists, and their
house became a favorite stopping-place for itinerants. Edwin was of an emotional nature, and,
when a lad, was converted and joined them; eventually he “backslid,”
but always had a great respect for religion. We went to school together, he nine
years younger. He was somewhat lax
in getting his lessons, especially in arithmetic, which he disliked, and often
came to me for assistance. He was
an enterprising lad, and established a circulating library, a nice collection,
the only one in town, and it was well patronized. I drew from his library Plutarch’s
“Lives,” Akenside’s “Pleasures of the
Imagination,”” Campbell’s “Poems,” and other
old-style books of that day.
Edwin
went as a clerk at about the age of thirteen with Mr. James TURNBULL, who kept
books for sale, and was with him for several years. Mr. TURNBULL is now living here at the
age of ninety-two, and is the only survivor of the war of 1812 in this region
of Ohio. Edwin was reading so
constantly that he somewhat neglected his duties as a salesman; he was a great
reader and largely self-taught.
Turnbull thought highly of him as a boy.
In
his early career as a lawyer the people, more especially us old Whigs, regarded
him as unscrupulous. The family
were Whigs, and he was brought up in that faith, but he joined the Democrats,
they being especially strong in this county. This was under the influence, I believe,
of old Ben Tappan. This change we
thought was not from political ambition, but for the legal business the
association would bring him. He was
a grand talker; not as logical as some, but his forte was his perfect
self-poise and his indomitable bulldog courage and tenacity. Though the heavens fell, he would never
let up; it was push through or die.
His mind acted as a flash, and he never lost his balance, never flinched
at a surprise; but with a bound would make a forward spring with a point for
the emergency sharp as a bayonet; all his knowledge was always at hand.
On
looking at Stanton’s war record, the gigantic strength of character he
exhibited, the value of his labors, and his absorbing devotion to his country,
which finally broke him down and put him into his grave. I cannot but feel a great respect for
his memory. He left the office poor
and broken down. When he died, as a
reward for his herculean labors and great services to his country, Congress
voted his widow a year’s salary as judge. The friends of Stanton think, and justly
think, that Grant in his Memoirs failed to do him justice. He was naturally of a kindly nature,
fond of children, and exceedingly generous to his poor relations; indeed, to
all who had any claim upon him.
I
knew Thomas COLE, the celebrated landscape painter well. He was born in England, and was regarded
as a bright, intelligent young man.
There was quite a colony of English and Germans, who came here to work
in the paper-mill and woollen factory, which were established here in the war
period. Among the English were the
Cole family, Dr. ACKERLY, afterwards the noted New York surgeon; Wm. WATKINS a
wool stapler, who soon returned to England and gained distinction as a
miniature painter; painted a portrait of Queen Victoria on ivory. He had taken lessons from Cole. Then there was old Joe HOWELLS, grandfather
of Howells, the novelist.
Cole’s father had charge of the manufacture of the wall-paper, and
Tom worked at it, stamping the colors with diagram blocks. Tom came here about 1820; did not stay
very long, but went to Zanesville and elsewhere, and engaged in painting
portraits. His skill displayed in
painting scenery for theatres first brought Cole into notice in New York. The paper-mill was established about
1812-1813. It stood on the
river-bank, on the site of the present Hartje paper-mill. The paper was all made by hand in the
olden style. The pulp was
water-soaked in vats, dipped out with sieves, and spread out on blocks on felt,
Page 973
in alternate sheets of felt and pulp. The sheets were generally foolscap
size. The sheets were then hung up
to dry in a large drying-house, with open-air slats. It sold for twenty-five cents a quire of
twenty-four sheets, but for a single sheet the price was one cent. A bright boy one day went into Mr.
TURNBULLS’S store and said, “I want twenty-four sheets of
paper,” and he supplied him that rate, whereby the boy saved a cent.
Coppererus Works.—About the year
1820 copperas works were established here by Bezaliel WELLS, and was for a time
a thriving industry. The material
was obtained from the coal banks, and manufactured in a rude way by a process
of washing, boiling, and crystallizing.
The industry, at first lucrative, became overdone, from the abundance of
the stock. Copperas is now
manufactured differently; but for some purposes the old kind is the best. The works were on top of the hill, at
the Red House farm, back of the town.
Wells’ chemist was North Prussian, by the name of Kolb. He rigged up a huge grindstone for some
purpose, but was a better chemist than mechanic; couldn’t make things
work; got mad, and started the grindstone a rolling down hill; and it
didn’t stop until he got it to the bottom. Then he had to pay Christian BOUGHER a
dollar to get it back.
Thespian Society.—These Germans
and English working people established a Thespian
Society, and gave theatrical entertainments in an old brick stable for a
theatre, and Tom COLE painted the scenery.
Kolb was active, and so was another German, Christian Orth, a blue-dyer
in the factory. One evening, in the
midst of a play wherein a thunder-storm was represented, a vivid flash of
lightning lit up the scene, whereupon the audience were convulsed with
laughter, by the voice of KOLB from behind the scenes calling out, in his rough
German accent, “Now, Orth, hurry up mit yer thunder!” which, by the
way, was produced by rolling cannon balls on the floor.
The
photographer is one of our best
modern acquisitions. He is
generally poor in his purse, but then he is, personally, a rich blessing. We should thank the Lord for him. While our daily bread feeds our bodies,
his labors feed the soul; help preserve memories of the precious now dead or
far away. His business got a great
start in the war era, when the soldier boys, in marching away, proudly clad in
the panoply of Uncle Sam’s warriors, largely left their portraits behind,
and carried away those of their loves to the camp and the battle-field.
Steubenville
rejoices in the possession of one photographer, who has been taking the faces
of the people here for thirty years, until he has grown gray in the
service. He has lived to picture
babes in the arms of parents, whose pictures he had made when they themselves
began life’s march in the ranks of the light infantry. This gentleman lives in rooms adjoining
his gallery, and his son and daughter work with him; and there, for a pet, is
Pearly, a French poodle, with white curly hair, soft as lamb’s wool, who
is ever ready to sneeze, “by request.” He has an honored pedigree. His name is Davison FILSON, a descendant
of the Davison FILSON whose son, John FILSON, a surveyor, was the very man, an
hundred years ago, who laid out the city of Cincinnati and named it Losantiville.
This
John was a pedagogue, and author of a history of Kentucky. One day, shortly after his survey, he
set out alone to explore the solitudes of the Miami woods, and that was the
last ever known of him. His fate is
yet a mystery. It is supposed he
was killed by the Indians. One
verse of Venable’s simple ballad, “John Filson,” tells all
about anybody knows:
“Deep
in the wild and solemn woods,
Unknown
to white man’s track,
John
Filson went one autumn day,
But
never more came back.”
The Six Hundred Dead.—Upon the
walls of Mr. Filson’s gallery, in a large frame, 36 x 30 inches, is a
picture consisting of 600 photographs of prominent citizens of the town, all of
whom, with but few exceptions, were taken by him, and all of whom are now
dead. The sight of this vast
concourse of adults—men and women from early manhood and womanhood to
extreme old age, most of them looking upon you as in life—affects one
with solemn scusations akin to those which we could imagine if they should
collectively rise from their graves and appear as in life. The faces are largely those of mature
and thoughtful people, upon whom the cares and duties of human life, with its
solemn responsibilities, have left their weighty impress. One can but feel awed in their presence,
and the mind goes instinctively beyond the portals of the grave to the unknown
world to which each of that might concourse has vanished from sight forever.
Among
these are the faces of people whose history is imperishable. The central head is that of EDWIN M.
STANTON, the last portrait of him, taken but a few months before his death. It is a massive head of great power, and
the expression of the face is one of sadness and suffering. It shows he was
Page 974
worn our with labors and anxieties. In a lower corner is the had of BEZALIEL WELLS, founder of the town, and
that of his wife. They are from oil
paintings, and are fine faces of marked character. The head of JAMES HUNTER, the first
child born on the soil, appears as a very old man with a strong face and long
gray locks, combed behind his ears.
Near the portrait of Stanton is the beautiful face and head of Colonel
GEORGE McCOOK (see Vol. I, p. 365), as he was in his prime; also the heads of
Major General DANIEL McCOOK, killed at Peach Tree Orchard, and General ROBERT
L. McCOOK, murdered by guerillas.
On the extreme right is the head of Judge HUMPHREY HOWE LEAVITT, once a
citizen of this town, later a citizen of Cincinnati, where, on the bench, in
his capacity of District Judge of the United States Supreme Court, he sat on
the case of Clement L. Vallandigham.
He was long an honored citizen of Cincinnati, and an old neighbor and a
personal friend and it did me good to look upon his kindly, benignant face
among the six hundred. He was an
old-style gentleman, a Presbyterian in faith, very modest and quiet, and simple
in speech and manner; had but a few words; was a godly, dignified man. We had marked time together in a company
of the Home Guards, called the “Silver Grays”—because all the
members were over forty-five years of age—when Cincinnati was threatened
by Kirby Smith. I missed his
presence when we crossed the river to meet the foe. Like myself, I suppose, he did not ache
to kill anybody.
Here
are the heads of Benjamin TAPPAN, Thomas L. JEWETT, Rev. C. C. BEATTY, Rev.
George BUCHANAN—who here preached for forty years in the United
Presbyterian Church—with numerous other local celebrities. Among these, on his couch of suffering,
is the recumbent form of little Bennie SHAW, the only portrait where more than
the head and bust are shown. Heads
of manly vigor and womanly virtue look down upon you as when among these early
scenes, and they all preach to you—these six hundred dead. I felt it with inexpressible awe, for
only a few hours before, while in an abstracted state of mind, a train of cards
was slowly, silently looking through a narrow alley upon me, and I only escaped
by the fraction of a second from being crushed under the remorseless wheels.
From
the grave to the gay is the story of life.
The sun carries the morning on her wings and night flees at her coming.
An Easy Talker.—As I sat gazing upon
the faces of those six hundred dead, impressed by their, as I felt, living
presence, an old gentleman, large, fleshy, with rotund visage, rosy cheeks and
smiling eyes, came in by invitation of Mr. FILSON to tell me of the olden time;
and this he did with an ease and deliberation of speech that was charming. With him every sentence, as a printer
would say, was wide-spaced, as if with em-quadrats, and every word the exact
word for the place it was put; and there were no “doublets” for
“outs” anywhere in his speech.
This was FRANCIS ASBURY WELLS, son of Bezaliel Wells, who laid out the
town. As his name indicates, his
parents were Methodists, and so named him after the renowned Bishop ASBURY.
“From
an old book,” said he, “I find it was August 25, 1797, that my
father, after laying out the town, sold the first lots. They were 60 x 180 feet, and sold for
from $60 to $180 per lot. About the
year 1819 the first steamboat was built here, and named from him
‘Bezaliel WELLS’—the boys called it
‘Beelzebub.’ It had
brick chimneys, and they were built by Ambrose SHAW; they were not finished
when she started on her first trip, which was for Pittsburg. Mr. SHAW finished them between here and
BROWN’S island, seven miles north.
“My
father, with others, in 1814 built the first woollen factory, I believe, west
of the mountains. I have here
(showing it to me) a silver medal presented in 1824 to Wells & Co. by the
Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, as a ‘reward of skill and
ingenuity.’ This was in
consequence of their having sent a piece of broadcloth to them on
exhibition.”
Memento of the Harrison Campaign.—Mr.
WELLS showed to me a memento of the Harrison campaign of 1840. It was a brass button, with a plough in
front, a log cabin in the centre, and a barrel of hard cider in one
corner. “During the
campaign,” said he, “I wore a Kentucky jeans suit buttoned with
these buttons, and with my brother and others I manufactured a kind called
Tippecanoe jeans—a sort of gray mixed. We sent suits both to General Harrison
and Henry Clay.”
When Lafayette visited this country, in 1825, he came
up the Ohio from Cincinnati, and it was expected would stop here. My father got his woollen factory in
order, intending to show it to him and give him a big reception here. He was sadly disappointed, for, owing to
the low stage of water, Lafayette could get no farther than Wheeling,
twenty-two miles below, and so went by stage to Pittsburg, where father went to
see him.
On
meeting Lafayette he conversed with him upon the subject of raising wool in
Jefferson county, and the trouble they had of raising sheep owing to the
depredations of dogs. Lafayette
told him that in France they had a breed of shepherd-dogs, very large, of great
sagacity, which were used in driving and protecting their flocs. “Old a country as France is, and
strange as you may think it,” said Lafayette, “our mountains are
infested with wolves which commit depredations upon our sheep. I will send you a pair for
breeding.” In due time they
came, and were quite prolific. They
were a noble species, white with generally golden-hued spots; resembled the
English mastiff, and were found extremely useful, but in time run out by
mongrel associates.
One
of them one day followed my brother
Page 975
SALMON P. CHASE.
EDWIN M. STANTON.
Page 976
Alexander to market when a large, ferocious bull-dog,
encouraged by his master, attacked him.
The butchers formed a ring around them expecting the bull-dog to
conquer. He had seized the
shepherd-dog by the throat. The
skin there was tough, and so loose that the other was enabled to twist his head
around and grasp the bull’s head, and soon the bones were heard to
crack. The master of the bull then
interfered. “No,” said
the others, “we formed a ring to see fair play; you set him on and now we
will see it out.” And they
did. The shepherd-dog had got his
spunk up, and they heard the crunching of the bones, and quickly the bull-dog
yielded up the ghost.
I
conclude these notes with some reminiscences of the early days of Edwin
STANTON, from Mr. John McCRACKEN.
Nothing is too small to narrate that illustrates the characteristics of
that great man.
I was a schoolmate with the STANTON boys, Edwin and
his younger brother, Darwin, and lived opposite. The boys had for pets, which they kept
in their house, some black and garter-snakes. They would bring the snakes out, sit on
their doorstep and let them crawl over them. I joined them and let them crawl over
me. I was then about thirteen,
Darwin the same and Edwin sixteen.
The
Stanton homestead was on the west side of Third street, between Market and
Washington streets. Opposite their
house was Isaac JENKINSON’S hotel, the principal hotel of the town. In the rear was a noble grove. There under the trees I have seen
General Jackson and Henry Clay take dinner.
I
was very intimate with Stanton. A
most famous case in which he was engaged was wherein the firm of Gano, Thomas
& Talbot, pork dealers, was sued on a claim involving an immense sum. STANTON travelled all over the country,
east and west, for evidence. He
argued the case from early morning until evening; looked fairly black in the
face; was so tired. In the evening
the case was given to the jury. I
was sitting on the steps when STANTON came out and called to me. He wanted me to walk with him; said his
mind was so excited he could not sleep, and I walked the streets until abut six
in the morning. When the jury came
in the verdict was for STANTON.
Stanton studied law with D. L. COLLIER. I remember on the day he was admitted to
the bar hearing COLLIER say he was as capable of practising as he or any other
member of the bar. Stanton was a
very hard student and very muscular.
STEUBENVILLE,
the county-seat of Jefferson, is situated on the right bank of the Ohio river,
68 miles below Pittsburg and 400 miles above Cincinnati. The average altitude of the city is a
little over 700 feet above tide water, surrounded by hills rising several
hundred feet higher. The city lies
well above the river with a general slope toward it, giving a fine natural
drainage. It is 41½ miles
west of Pittsburg and 150 miles east of Columbus, on the P. C. & St. L. R.
R., which crosses the Ohio river at this point. It is also on the C. & P. R. R. The surrounding country abounds in coal
and natural gas, with which the city is supplied for manufacturing and other
purposes. County Officers: Auditor,
William F. SIMERAL; Clerk, Andrew S. BUCKINGHAM; Commissioners, John UNDERWOOD,
David SIMPSOM, Jacob P. MARKLE; Coroner, James M. STARR; Infirmary Directors,
Eli FETROW, Thomas NIXON, Charles BARRETT; Probate Judge, John A. MANSFIELD;
Prosecuting Attorney, Henry GREGG; Recorder, Jacob HULL; Sheriff, John G.
BURNS; Surveyor, Samuel HUSTON; Treasurer, Hugh S. COBLE. City Officers: Henry OPPERMAN, Mayor;
James REYNOLDS, Clerk; Wm. McD. MILLER, solicitor; James BEANS, Street
Commissioner; Wm. M. SCOTT, Marshal.
Newspapers: Gazette, Democrat,
McFADDEN & HUNTER, editors and publishers; Germania, German Independent, Max GESCHEIDER, editor and publisher;
Herald, Republican, P. B. COON,
editor and publisher; Sunday Life,
Independent, A. W. BEACH, editor and publisher; Ohio Press, Independent Republican, W. R. ALLISON, editor; Saturday News, Independent, Frank
STOKES, editor and publisher.
Churches: 1 Congregational, 1 Methodist Protestant, 1 Christian, 1
American Methodist Episcopal, 2 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Episcopal, 2 Catholic, 1
Baptist, 1 Presbyterian and 2 Lutheran.
Banks: Commercial, Sherrard, Mooney & Co.; Miners & Mechanics,
Jno. H. HAWKINS, president, J. W. COOKSON, cashier; Steubenville National, R.
L. BROWNLEE, president, Charles GALLAGHER, cashier; Union Deposit, Wm. A.
WALDEN, president, Horatio G. GARRETT, cashier.
Manufactures
and Employees.—Hartje
Brothers, glazed wrapping paper, 25
Page 977
hands; Ohio Valley Clay Co., glass melting
pots, 38; Jefferson Iron Works, iron and nails, 540; Pearl Mills, flour and feed,
6; Sumner Glass Co., bottles, 140; Gill Brothers & Co., lamp chimneys,
etc., 470; Riverside Iron Works, pig-iron, 95; James Means & Co., foundry
work, etc., 30; H. J. Betty & sons, table glassware, 670; Steubenville
Steam Laundry, laundrying, 10; Electric Light and Power Co., electric light, 4;
Humphry Glass Co., glass novelties, 30;
Steubenville Pottery Co., decorated ware, etc., 175; Cyrus Massie,
doors, sash, etc., 9; Caswell & Pearce, furniture, 35; W. L. Sharp &
Son, stoves, mantles, etc., 55; Robinson, Irwin & Co., machinery, 5; Robert
Hyde, doors, sash, etc., 6; L. Anderson & Sons, doors, sash, etc., 15;
William McDowell, stairs and stair railings, 4.—State Report, 1888.
Population in 1880, 12,092.
School census, 1888, 4,382; Henry N. Mertz, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial
establishments, $2,215,600. Value
of annual product, $3,007,000. Census,
1890, 13,363.
BIOGRAPHY.
EDWIN
McMASTERS STANTON was born in Steubenville, December 19, 1814. His boyhood home, of which we give a
picture, is yet standing on Third street.
This was not his birthplace.
By the records his father bought this house when Edwin was three years
old, and moved into it. Through
Mrs. WOLCOTT, a sister now living, we learn he was born on Market street, in a
house of which only the rear is now standing. It was in the house shown that when a
boy he had a museum of butterflies, bugs and other curiosities he had
collected.
His
father, a physician, died in Edwin’s boyhood. He entered Kenyon College in 1831, but
left two years later to study law, and was admitted to the bar in 1836,
beginning practice in Cadiz. He
returned to Steubenville in 1839, was Supreme Court Reporter in 1842-5,
preparing vols. XI., XII. and XIII. of the Ohio Reports. Removed to Pittsburg in 1848, and in
1857 to Washington. He was engaged
by the government in many important land cases. December 20, 1860, he was appointed
Attorney-General by President Buchanan to fill the unexpired term of Jeremiah
S. Black, who had been appointed Secretary of State. He was called to the head of the War
Department by President Lincoln on the retirement of Simon Cameron, January 15,
1862.
Mr.
Stanton was originally a Democrat of the Jackson school, and until Van
Buren’s defeat in the Baltimore Convention in 1844 took an active part in
political affairs in his locality.
He favored the Wilmot proviso to exclude slavery from territory acquired
by the war with Mexico, and sympathized with the Free Soil movement headed by
Martin Van Buren. He was an
anti-slavery man, but his opposition to that institution was qualified by his
views of the qualifications imposed by the Federal Constitution.
While
a member of Mr. Buchanan’s Cabinet he took a firm stand for the Union,
and at a Cabinet meeting, when John B. Floyd, then Secretary of War, demanded
the withdrawal of the United States from the forts in Charleston harbor, he
indignantly declared that the surrender of Fort Sumter would, in his opinion,
be a crime equal in atrocity to that of Arnold, and that all who participated
should be hung like Andre.
After
the assassination of President Lincoln Secretary Stanton took sides against the
new President, Andrew Jackson, in the controversy between him and the
Republican party. Johnson demanded
his resignation, which he refused; the President then suspended him, but he was
restored to office by the Senate.
The President then informed the Senate that he had removed Secretary
Stanton, but the Senate denied his authority to do this, and Stanton refused to
surrender the office.
After
Mr. Stanton’s retirement from office he resumed the practice of law. President Grant appointed him a Justice
of the Supreme Court on December 20, 1869, and he was confirmed by the Senate,
but died four days later, worn out by his herculean labors for his
country. Of Stanton it has been
well said: “He was the GIANT of the great war, who more than any other trampled out the rebellion—that
more and more as the ages run will history develop this fact.” President Lincoln was a politician,
statesman and philanthropist, and Gen. Grant was embodied military business,
but the mighty public will was concentrated in Stanton, and he brushed aside
the failures and pretenders, and the speculators and sentimentalists, and not
only gave Grant, Sherman and Sheridan, and those who came to
Page 978
the front when the deadly work was done, a chance, but
thrust into their hands the resources of the country, and more than organized
victory.
He
cared nothing for men, everything for the cause of the Union. That he should have made swarms of
enemies was of course inevitable; as inevitable as that his full merits should
be but slowly recognized. For
Stanton was a patriot of so firm and indomitable a character that his purity
and single-mindedness belittled and humiliated the crowd of greedy egotists who
pushed to the doors of the treasury, and the same qualities even obscured the
greatness of all but the greatest of his contemporaries. When the names of Lincoln and Grant have
been written there is no other that deserves to be linked with that of
Stanton. He was a heaven sent
minister, if ever there was one.
Carnot, the organizer of battles, was less to France in the crisis of
the Revolution than our War Secretary was to the salvation of the Union. So just, so pure, so incorruptible, so
patriotic was he that it seems almost a work of supercrogation to attempt the
defence of his memory against the base aspersions of his enemies who
“with his darkness durst affront this light.” His was a soul which could afford to
disregard the spite of men having taken for its standard from the beginning the
judgment of God.”
BENJAMIN
TAPPAN was born in Northampton, Mass., May 25, 1773, and died in Steubenville,
April 12, 1857. He was the son of
Benjamin TAPPAN, a Congregational pastor, and Sarah HOLMES, the great-niece of
Benjamin Franklin. The original
family name was TOPHAM. The Tappans
were largely clergymen and educated men.
Benjamin Tappan received a public-school education, and was apprenticed
to learn copper-plate engraving and printing. Subsequently he studied law and was
admitted to the bar, and began practice in 1799 in Steubenville; was elected to
the Legislature in 1803; aide to Gen William Wadsworth in the war of 1812;
after which he served for seven years as President Judge of the Fifth Ohio
Circuit. President Jackson
appointed him Judge for the District of Ohio in 1833. From December, 1839, to March, 1845, he
served in the United States Senate, as a Democrat. He was an active leader of his party, but
afterward joined in the Free-Soil movement at its inception. Judge Tappan published “Cases
Decided in the Court of Common Pleas,” with an appendix (Steubenville,
1831).
His
brother, Arthur Tappan, was the distinguished Abolitionist and philanthropist,
President of the American Anti-Slavery Society, founder of the American Tract
Society and Oberlin College. A son
of Benjamin, Eli T. Tappan, LL.D., was from 1868 to 1875 President of
Gambier. Later he received the
appointment, under Gov. Foraker, of School Commissioner of Ohio, and died in
office 1889, much lamented; he was a man of superior ability and usefulness.
Judge Tappan was widely known for his
drollery and with and anti-slavery sentiments.
HUMPHREY
HOWE LEAVITT was born in Suffield, Conn., June 18, 1796, and died in
Springfield, Ohio, in March, 1873.
His father removed to Ohio in 1800.
He was admitted to the bar in 1816, and settled in Cadiz, but later
removed to Steubenville, where he was prosecuting attorney, and successively
representative and senator in the Ohio Legislature in 1825-6-7. He was elected as a Jackson Democrat to
Congress in 1830, and resigned in 1834 to accept the appointment of President
Jackson as Judge of the United States Court for the District of Ohio,
Page 979
which office he held for nearly forty
years. Before the war, in 1858, in
a charge to a jury in a fugitive slave case, he said: “Christian charity
was not the meaning or intent of the fugitive slave law, and it would not
therefore answer as a defence for violating the law.” He was an authority on patent laws, and
during the civil war decided the Vallandigham case, which Mr. Lincoln said was
worth three victories. He was a
greatly influential member of the Presbyterian Church, and sat as a delegate
during eleven sessions of the General Assembly.
In
his manners he was simple, unostentatious and with that quiet dignity and
modesty that is every weighty. We
never heard him laugh aloud, but his smile was a carrying power. As our neighbor in Cincinnati, we felt
as though he was one of those characters that adorned humanity, a much
venerated person. He once told us
that it was one of the enigmas of his life, how it was that he was given for a
middle name the name of “Howe.” We were sorry we could not aid him to
its solution, but glad that such a man had it to help give it respect.
JAMES
COLLIER was, we believe, a native of Connecticut, born in 1789; an officer at
the battle of Queenstown in the war of 1812, after which he settled in
Steubenville; became eminent as a lawyer; was, with Thomas Ewing and John
Brough, of the High Commission on the part of Ohio that settled the disputed
boundary line between Ohio and Virginia; in 1849 was appointed United States
Collector for California, and went overland, escorted by a small company of
dragoons, fighting his way through hostile Indians. On his arrival, being the only
government officer there, he for some time acted as Military Governor. He died at Steubenville, February 2,
1873, aged 84 years. He was a
contributor of valuable facts for our first edition.
Judge
JOHN C. WRIGHT was, we think, at one period a partner with COLLIER; at any
rate, was contemporaneous with him in the practice of law here. In about 1848 he edited the Cincinnati Gazette.
Col. JOHN MILLER, an eminent officer of the war of
1812, was from Steubenville. He
commanded the gallant sortie from Fort Meigs, May 5, 1813, driving the British
from their batteries. He edited the
Western Herald at Steubenville, both
before and after the war. He
eventually removed to Missouri, of which he was elected Governor. From 1837 to 1843 he represented it in
Congress. He died at Florissant,
Mo., March 18, 1846.
(“Western Reserve Historical Society Tracts,” No. 19.)
THOMAS L. JEWETT was born in Maryland about 1810, and
was a lawyer in Steubenville—at one time a judge. When he became interested in the
construction of the Pan Handle Railroad was elected its president, and
eventually became a conspicuous railroad manager. As Virginia was unwilling to grant a
charter for a connecting line across her territory for the Penn. Central
Railroad, Judge Jewett sought the interposition of the General Government. He died in 1875.
HUGH
J. JEWETT, of Zanesville, the eminent railroad president and politician, was a
younger brother.
THOMAS
COLE was born in England in 1801.
His father emigrated to Steubenville, where the son resided until 1825,
when he removed to New York city.
He became famous as one of the best American landscape painters,
particularly of autumn scenes. He
was a warm friend of the poet Bryant, who delivered a memorial address in New
York city after his death, which occurred at Catskill, N. Y., February 11,
1848. (See page 463.)
JAMES ALEXANDER WILSON McDONALD was born in
Steubenville, August 25, 1824. In
1844 he removed to St. Louis and while employed in business during the day
studied art at night. His first
production in marble was a bust of John H. Benton in 1854. Eleven years later he settled in New
York city, where several of his works adorn the public parks. He also paints portraits and landscapes
in oils, lectures on art and science and writes criticisms on art and artists.
STEPHEN
MASON MERRILL was born in Jefferson county, September 16, 1825. In 1864 he was a travelling preacher in
the Methodist Episcopal Church, four years later became editor of the Western Christian Advocate, and in 1872
was consecrated bishop. He received
the degrees of D.D. and LL.D., and has published a number of valuable religious
works.
WILLIAM PITTENGER was born in Knoxville, Jefferson
county, January 31, 1840; is the historian and one of the participants in that
daring enterprise of the civil war known as Andrew’s raid. After the war he became a clergyman in
the Methodist Episcopal Church and since 1878 he has been a professor in the
National School of Elocution and Oratory in Philadelphia. He is also the author of “Oratory,
Sacred and Secular” (Phila., 1881), and “Extempore Speech”
(1882).
A
few miles north of the Jefferson county line, Near Hanoverton, in Columbiana
county, was born, October 4, 1841, the eminent scientist, Prof.
THOMAS CORWIN MENDENHALL. From childhood he showed a fondness for
the study of mathematics and natural philosophy and acquired by himself a
knowledge of those branches of physics in which he has since excelled. He has been twice a Professor in the
Ohio State University, resided a number of years in Japan as professor of
physics in the University of Tokio; in 1884 became Professor in the United
States Signal Service; in 1886 President of Rose Polytechnic Institute, Terre
Haute, Ind. He gave the first
public
Page 980
lectures on science in Japan to popular
audiences. In 1889 was appointed by
President Harrison Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey. Beside many scientific
papers he has published A Century of
Electricity.
A Scientist’s Witticism.—We
once heard in Pike’s Opera House, Cincinnati, Proctor, the famous
lecturer on astronomy, to illustrate the distance of the sun from us, quote
this witticism of Mendenhall’s which naturally brought down the house.
Professor
Mendenhall, of the Ohio State University, said he, has stated that if an infant
to-day, attracted by the brightness of the sun, should attempt to reach it by
thrusting forth its hand and it should travel toward it at the rate of a
thousand miles an hour and thus finally reach it and burn its fingers, that
young one would then have been dead more than a hundred years!
TORONTO
is on the Ohio river and the C. & P. R. R., eight miles north of
Steubenville. It is located in the
centre of the great fire-clay industry of Eastern Ohio, there being in this
section a half dozen large manufactories engaged in making sewer-pile, a total
of nearly a thousand men being thus employed. Newspaper: Tribune,
Independent Republican, Frank STOKES, editor and publisher. Churches: 1 Presbyterian, 1 United
Presbyterian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Methodist Protestant, and 1 Catholic.
Manufactures and Employees.—Franey’s
Sons & Co., sewer pipe, etc., 55; Great Western Fire Clay Co., sewer pipe,
etc., 75; Pennsylvania Manufacturing, Mining and Supply Co., sewer pipe, etc.,
55; Bowers & Custer, flour and feed, 3; Myers & McFerren, doors, sash,
etc., 8; Medcalf, Cooper & Goodlin, doors, sash, etc., 12.—Ohio State Report, 1888. Population about 2,000. Capital invested in manufacturing
establishments, $98,000. Value of
annual product, $110,000.—Ohio
Labor Statistics, 1888.
RICHMOND
is 11 miles west of Steubenville, on the proposed line of the Lake Erie,
Alliance and Southern Railroad. It
is surrounded by an agricultural region and noted for fruits, especially fine
plums. A skirmish between United
States forces and John Morgan’s raiders took place near Two Ridge Church,
three miles east of here. This is
the seat of Richmond College, Rev. S. C. FARIS, president. Newspaper: Radiator, Independent, J. B. SPRAGUE, editor. Churches: 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1
Presbyterian and 1 United Presbyterian.
Population, 1880, 491.
ELLIOTTSVILLE
(P. O. Calumet) is on the Ohio river and C. & P. R. R., 11 miles north of
Steubenville, where are situated the extensive sewer-pipe works of E. CONNOR
and the Calumet Fire Clay Company.
MT.
PLEASANT is 20 miles southwest of Steubenville. Churches: 1 Baptist, 1 Methodist
Protestant, 1 Friends, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian. Bank: First National, R. W. CHAMBERS,
president, I. K. RATCLIFF, cashier.
Population, 1880, 693.
School census, 1888, 281; Wm. M. WHITE, school superintendent.
IRONDALE,
9 miles southwest of Steubenville, on the P. C. & St. L. R. R. Churches: 1 Methodist Episcopal and 1
Presbyterian. Population in 1880,
399.
SMITHFIELD
is 14 miles southwest of Steubenville.
Newspaper: Times, Independent,
Herbert Harrison, editor and publisher.
Bank: First National, C. D. KAMINSKY, president, Wm. VERMILLION,
cashier. Population, 1880, 559. School census, 1888, 196.
BRILLANT,
P. O. LaGrange, is 7 miles south of Steubenville, on the C. & P. R. R. and
Ohio river. Population about 1,000.
NEW
ALEXANDRIA is 4 miles southwest of Steubenville. Population in 1880, 175.
BLOOMFIELD,
P. O. Bloomingdale, is 18 miles west of Steubenville, on the P. C. & St. L.
R. R. Population, 1880, 175. School census, 1888, 67. Newspaper: Bloomfield Correspondent, Independent, C. T. ATHEARN, editor and
publisher
Page 981
MINGO
JUNCTION is on the Ohio river, 3 miles below Steubenville, at the crossing of
the P. C. & St. L. and C. & P. R. R. It is a famed historical point. It has some manufacturing
establishments, one Methodist church and a population of about 700.