KNOX COUNTY was
named for Gen. Henry KNOX, a native of Boston, General in the war of the
Revolution, and Secretary of War in Washington’s administration. It was formed from Fairfield, March 1,
1808. The north and east parts are hilly; the central, west and south
parts, undulating or level. The bottom lands of the streams are very rich, particularly
those of Vernon River, which stream affords abundance of water-power.
Area about 540
square miles. In 1887 the acres
cultivated were 1,141,915; in pasture, 19,622; woodland, 55,262; lying waste,
714; produced in wheat, 452,889 bushels; broom-corn, 4,425 pounds brush; meadow
hay, 33,228 tons; clover-seed, 5,291 bushels; flax-seed, 5,321; potatoes,
59,562; tobacco, 475 pounds; butter, 503,720; cheese, 200; sorghum, 436
gallons; maple syrup, 14,832; honey, 3,463 pounds; eggs, 550,061 dozen; grapes,
19,620 pounds; wine, 57 gallons; sweet potatoes, 76 bushels; apples, 9,915;
peaches, 13,479; pears, 685; wool, 772,829 pounds; milch cows owned,
5,831. School census, 1888, 7,897;
teachers, 283. Miles of railroad rack, 73.
Township And Census |
1840. |
1880. |
|
Township And Census |
1840. |
1880. |
Berlin, |
1,100 |
910 |
|
Jefferson, |
994 |
967 |
Bloomfield, |
1,252 |
|
|
Liberty, |
1,205 |
1,034 |
Brown, |
1,204 |
1,152 |
|
Middlebury, |
1,002 |
911 |
Butler, |
647 |
788 |
|
Milford, |
1,157 |
876 |
Chester, |
1,297 |
|
|
Miller, |
977 |
826 |
Clay, |
1,304 |
926 |
|
Monroe, |
1,258 |
1,031 |
Clinton, |
920 |
6,213 |
|
Morgan, |
912 |
728 |
College, |
|
895 |
|
Morris, |
1,077 |
833 |
Franklin, |
1,343 |
|
|
Pike, |
1,216 |
1,307 |
Harrison, |
833 |
723 |
|
Pleasant, |
888 |
1,032 |
Hilliar, |
1,012 |
1,141 |
|
Union, |
1,098 |
1,728 |
Howard, |
999 |
983 |
|
Wayne, |
|
1,621 |
Jackson, |
994 |
806 |
|
|
|
|
Population of Knox
in 1820 was 8,326; 1830, 17,125; 1840, 19,584; 1860, 27,735; 1880, 27,431; of
whom 22,437 were born in Ohio, 1,581 in Pennsylvania, 438 in Virginia, 404 in
New York, 123 in Indiana, 32 in Kentucky, 467 in England and Wales, 378 in
Ireland, 182 in German Empire, 44 in British America, 24 in Scotland, and 19 in
France. Censes, 1890, 27,600
The early settlers of the county were mainly
from the Middle States, with some of New England origin. In 1805 Mount Vernon
was laid out and named by the proprietors of the soil, who were Joseph WALKER,
Thomas B. PATERSON and Benjamin BUTLER, from the seat of Washington. At this
time the county was
Page 982
thinly settled. Two years after,
the principal settlers were, as far as their names are recollected, the RILEYs,
DARLINGs, Shriplins, BUTLERs,
KRITCHFIELDs, WALKERs, DIALs, LOGUEs, and DeWITTs, on Vernon river. In other
parts of the county, the HURDs, BEAMs, HUNT and DIMMICK, KERR, AYREs,
DALRYMPLE, HOUCK, HILLIARD, the YOUNGs, MITCHELLs, BRYANTs, KNIGHTs and
WALKERs. In the spring of 1807 there were only three families living on the
plat of Mount Vernon, viz.: Benjamin BUTLER, tavern keeper, from Pennsylvania,
Peter COYLE and James CRAIG. The
early settlers of the village were, besides those named, Joseph and James
WALKER, Michael CLICK, David and William PETTIGRUE, Samuel KRATZER, Gilman
BRYANT, and Rev. James SMITH, who came in 1808, and was the First Methodist
clergyman
When the settlers
first came, there were two wells, only a few rods apart, on the south bank of
Vernon river, on the edge of the town, the origin of which remains
unknown. They were built of neatly
hammered stone, laid in regular masonry, and had the appearance of being
overgrown with moss. Nearby was a
salt lick, at which the Indians had been accustomed to encamp. Almost
immediately after the first settlement, all traces of the wells were
obliterated, as was supposed, by the Indians. A similar well was later brought to
light, a mile and a half distant, by the plow of Philip COSNER, while plowing
in a newly cleared piece of forest land.
It was covered with poles and earth, and was about thirty feet deep.
In the spring of
1807 Gilman Bryant opened the first store in Mount Vernon, in a small sycamore
cabin, in the western part of the town.
A hewed-log and shingle-roofed building stood on the northeast corner of
Wood and Main streets; it was the first tavern, and was kept by Benjamin
BUTLER. The first frame building
was put up in 1809, and is now (1846) standing on lot 138 Main street. The old court-house, erected about 1810,
opposite the present court-house, on the public square, was the first brick
building; it was two stories high and thirty-six feet square. The first brick building was erected in
the spring of 1815, by Gilman BRYANT, now standing next to and south of his
present residence. The first
church, the Old-School Presbyterian (now down), was built about 1817. It was of brick, forty feet square, and
one story high; the first pastor was the Rev. James SCOTT. The first licensed preacher in the
county was the Rev. William THRIFT, a Baptist, from Loudon County, Va., who
came in 1807, and traveled about from house to house. The first crops raised in the county
were corn and potatoes. They were
grown on the bottom lands, which were the first cleared; those lands were too
rich for wheat, making sick wheat, so
termed, because when made into bread, it had the effect of an emetic, and
produced feelings similar to seasickness
At an early day
the Indians, in great numbers, came to Mount Vernon to trade. They encamped on the riverbank and
brought large quantities of furs and cranberries to dispose of for goods. The whites of the present day might take
some beneficial hints from their method of trading at the store in this
place. They walked in deliberately
and seated themselves, upon which the merchant presented each with a small piece
of tobacco. Having lighted their
pipes, they returned the residue to their pouches. These were made of a whole mink-skin,
dressed with the hair on, with a slit cut in the throat as an opening. In it they kept, also, some kinnickinnick bark, or sumach, which they always smoked with
their tobacco, in the proportion of about three of the former to one of the
latter. After smoking and talking a
while together, one only at a time arose, went to the counter, and taking up a
yardstick, pointed to the first article he desired, and inquired the
price. The questions were in this
manner: “How many bucks-skins for a shirt-pattern?” or “cloth
for leggings?” etc.; according to their skin currency.
A muskrat
skin was equal to a quarter of a dollar; a raccoon-skin, a third of a dollar; a
doe-skin, half a dollar, and a buck-skin, “the almighty
dollar.” The Indian, learning
the price of an article, paid for it by picking out and handing over the skins,
proceeding
Page 983
to
purchase the second , when he repeated the process, and so on through the
whole, paying for everything as he went on, and never waiting for that purpose
until he had finished. While the
first Indian was trading, the others looked uninterruptedly on, and when he was
through, another took his place, and so on, in rotation, until all had
traded. No one desired to trade
before his turn, and all observed a proper decorum, and never attempted to
“beat down,” but, if dissatisfied with the price, passed on to the
next article. They were cautious
not to trade while intoxicated; but usually preserved some of their skins to
buy liquor, and ended their visit with a frolic.
The early settlers in the town all felt as one
family. If one got a piece of fresh
meat, he shared it with his neighbors, and when a person was sick, all
sympathized. At night, they met in
each other’s cabins, to talk, dance, and take a social glass. There was no distinction of party, for
it was a social democracy. At their
weddings, a puncheon table, formed like a bench, without a cloth, was covered
with refreshments. These were plain
and simple: wild turkeys that had been gobbling about in the woods, were stewed
and eaten with a relish; corn, that had grown on the river flats, made into “pone” served as wedding
cake; while metheglin and whiskey, the only articles probably not indigenous,
were the beverages that washed them down.
The plates were either of wood or pewter, perhaps both, and no two
alike; their knives frequently butcher knives, and their forks often of
wood. A dance was the finale of
their festivities. They made merry
on the puncheon floor to the music of the fiddle. Cotillions were unknown, while jigs,
fore-handed reels, the double shuffle and breakdown “were all
rage.”
After Mount Vernon was laid out, the settlers from the
region roundabout were unaccustomed to come into town on Saturdays, to clear
the stumps out of the streets.
Early in the afternoon they quit work, and grew jolly over a large
kettle of “stew.” This was made as follows: first, a huge
kettle of gallons’ capacity, was placed upon the ground, resting upon
three stones, and a fire kindled under it.
In it was put two or three buckets of water, a few pounds of maple
sugar, a few ounces of allspice, which had been pounded in a rag, a pound of
butter, and, finally, two or three gallons of whiskey. When boiled, the stew was taken off, a
circle was formed around, and the men helped themselves liberally, with tin
cups, to the liquor, told hunting stories, wrestled, ran, hopped and jumped,
engaged in foot races, shot at mark for goods or tobacco purchased at the
store, and occasionally enlivened the scene by a fight.
Upon the organization of the county, there was a
spirit of rivalry as to which should be the county seat, Mount Vernon or
Clinton, a town laid out a mile and a half north, by Samuel Smith - than a
place of the most population, now among the “things that were.” The
commissioners appointed to locate the seat of justice first entered Mount
Vernon, and were received with the best cheer, at the log tavern of Mr.
BUTLER. To impress them with an
idea of the public spirit of the place, the people were very busy at the moment
of their entrance and during their stay, at work, all with their coats off,
grubbing the streets. As they left
for Clinton, all quitted their labor, not “of love;” and some
rowdies, who dwelt in cabins scattered round about in the woods, away from the
town, left the crowd, and stealing ahead of the commissioners, all arrived at
Clinton first. On the arrival of
the others at that place, these fellows pretended to be in a state not
conformable to temperance principles, ran against the commissioners, and by
their rude and boisterous conduct, so disgusted the worthy officials as to the
apparent morals of the inhabitants of Clinton, that that they returned and made
known their determination that Mount Vernon should be the favorite spot. That
night there were great rejoicings in town.
Bonfires were kindled, stew made and drank, and live trees split with
gunpowder.
The first settler north of Mount Vernon was Nathaniel
M. YOUNG, from Pennsylvania, who, in 1803, built a cabin on the South fork of
Vernon river, three miles west of Fredericktown. Mr. YOUNG and his neighbors being much
troubled with wolves, got together and made a written agreement to give nine
bushels of corn for every wolf’s scalp. In the winter of 1805-6, Mr. YOUNG, John
LEWIS and James BRYANT caught forty-one wolves, in steel traps and pens. Wolf-pens were about six feet long, four
wide and three high, formed like a huge square box, of small logs, and floored
with puncheons. The lid, also of
puncheons, was very heavy, and moved by an axle at one end, made of a small,
round stick. The trap was set by a
figure four, with any kind of meat except that of wolf’s, the animals
being fonder of any other than their own.
On gnawing the meat, the lid fell and enclosed the unamiable
native. Often to have sport for the
dogs, they pulled out the legs of a wolf through the crevices of the logs,
hamstrung, and then let him loose, upon which the dogs sprang upon him, while
he, crippled by the operation, made but an ineffectual resistance. In the adjoining county of Delaware, a
man, somewhat advanced in years, went into a wolf trap to render the adjustment
of the spring more delicate, when the trap sprung upon him, and, knocking him
flat on his face, securely caught him as was ever any of wolf species. He was unable to lift up the lid, and
several miles from any house. There
he lay all one day and night, and would have perished had not a passing hunter
heard his groans and relieved him from his peril.
Mount Vernon in 1846. - Mount Vernon,
the county seat, is forty-five miles
Top Picture
Drawn by
Henry Howe in 1846.
PUBLIC SQUARE, MOUNT VERNON.
Bottom Picture
F. S.
Crowell, Photo, Mount Vernon, 1887.
PUBLIC SQUARE, MOUNT VERNON.
Page 985
northeast of Columbus. It is beautifully situated on ground up
slightly ascending from Vernon river.
The town is compactly and substantially built, and some of the dwellings
elegant. Main, the principal
business street, is about a mile in length, on which are many brick blocks,
three stories in height. The view
was taken in this street at the southern extremity of the public square,
looking north. On the left is shown
the market and courthouse; on the right the Episcopal Church, an elegant stone
edifice, and in the center the lower of the Old-School Presbyterian Church and
the jail. This flourishing town contains two Presbyterian, two Methodist, one
Baptist, one Lutheran, one Catholic and one Episcopal church; twenty dry-goods,
six grocery, two hardware, three apothecary and two book-stores; one fulling,
four grist and five saw-mills; three newspaper printing-offices, and had, in
1840, 2,363 inhabitants, and has now over 3,000. The railroad, constructing from Sandusky
City to Columbus, will connect this place with those. – Old Edition.
Mount Vernon, county-seat of Knox, is
forty miles northeast of Columbus, on the Kokosing river, the C. A. & C.
and S. M. & N. Railroads. The
Magnetic Spring, a noted health resort, is about two miles north of the
city. County Officers: Auditor,
Curtis W. McKEE; Clerk, Hugh NEAL; Commissioners, Steven CRAIG, Samuel T.
VANNATTA, W. D. FOOTE; Coroner, Samuel R. STOFER; Infirmary Directors, James O.
McARTOR, William H. WRIGHT, John C. HAMMOND; Probate Judge, John M.
CRITCHFIELD; Prosecuting Attorney, William L. McELROY; Recorder, Dwight E.
SAPP; Sheriff, John G. STEVENSON; Surveyor, John McCRORY; Treasurer, William H.
RALSTON. City Officers: Mayor, DW.
B. BROWN; Clerk, P. B. CHASE; Solicitor, C A MERRIMAN; Engineer, D. C. LEWIS;
Treasurer, W. B. DUNBAR; Street Commissioner, W. B. HENDERSON; Marshall, Robert
BLYTHE; Clerk Board of Health, M. M. MURPHY. Newspapers: Tribune, Republican, John W. CRITCHFIELD, editor; Democratic Banner, Democratic, L.
HARPER, editor and proprietor; Republican,
Republican, C. F. and W. F. BALDWIN, editors; Knox County Democrat, Democratic, William K. SILCOTT,
proprietor. Churches: one
Congregational, one Methodist, one Methodist Protestant, one Presbyterian, one
Catholic, one Episcopalian, one Methodist Episcopal, one colored Methodist
Episcopal, one Baptist and one colored Baptist. Banks: First National, C. DELANO, president,
Fred D. STURGES, cashier; Knox County Savings, G. A. JONES, president, Samuel
H. ISRAEL, cashier; Knox National, Henry L. CURTIS, president, John M. EWALT,
cashier
Manufacturers and Employees. – C.
A. & C. R. R. Shops, railroad repairs, 125 hands; E. L. BLACK, piles and
castings, 4; the Cooper Manufacturing Co., engines and saw-mills, 45; Mount
Vernon Bridge Co., iron bridges, 100; Kokosing Flour Mills, flour, etc., 20;
Eagle Mills, flour; S. H. JACKSON, carriages and buggies; Mount Vernon Linseed
Oil Co.; C. & G. COOPER, saw-mills, etc., 190; Mount Vernon steam laundry,
laundrying, 10. – State Report,
1888. Population, 1880,
5,249. School census, 1888, 1,100;
J. A. SHAWAN, school superintendent (and from 1883 to 1889, when he was given
the same position in Columbus).
Capital invested in industrial establishments, $1,009,150; the value of
annual product, $1,326,700. – Ohio
Labor Statistics, 1887. Census,
1890, 6,027.
The first jury
trial in Knox County was in May, 1808; it was that of the State of Ohio vs.
William HEDRICK; William WILSON, of Licking county, presiding. Judgment was rendered against the
prisoner on four charges of theft.
Besides fines and imprisonment, it was ordered that the “prisoner
be whipped on his naked back.”
This was one of the few instances in the history of Ohio in which this
barbarous mode of punishment was legally inflicted. Its degrading and brutalizing effect,
both on the victim and the public, is apparent in the following account from
NORTON’S spicy “History of Knox County.”
The judgment
of castigation was executed upon the public square of Mount Vernon, shortly
after the adjournment of court, in presence of all the people. Silas BROWN
PAGE 986
was
the sheriff, and it fell to his lot as such to serve the “legal
process” upon the body of William HEDRICK. There was a small, leaning, hickory tree
upon the east side of the public square, between the present Norton building
(now occupied by Dr. Israel GREEN, druggist) and High street, and a little
south of where the jail was afterwards built, and this tree bent in such a way
that a man could walk around under it.
To this delectable spot the culprit was taken, and his hands stretched
up over his head and tied to the tree, and the stripes were applied by the
sheriff to his naked back. He was
struck forty times with a heavy rawhide whip.
The first few blows with the rawhide were across the
kidneys. Mr. BRYANT, one of the
bystanders, at once called out to the sheriff to whip him elsewhere; that was
no place to whip a man; he should strike higher up; and the rest of the lashes
were applied across the shoulders.
The criminal sobbed and cried piteously, and when
released went off weeping and groaning.
In many places the skin was cut and broken, and the blood oozed out,
making a pitiable spectacle. And
yet, such was the feeling against him, but few seemed to sympathize with the
scourged. As he started off he said
to the spectators: “You should not blame me for this, for it was not my
fault.” Bob WALKER replied:
“No, you wouldn’t have stood up and been whipped that way, if you
could have helped it.” At
this prompt retort to HEDRICKS’ explanation or apology, the crowd laughed
uproariously.
Gambier in 1846. -Five miles
east of Mount Vernon, on a beautiful, healthy, and elevated ridge, encompassed
on three sides by the Vernon River, is the village of Gambier, so named from
Lord GAMBIER, and widely known as the seat of Kenyon College. This town, exclusive of the college,
contains about 200 inhabitants. It
was laid out under the auspices of the venerable Bishop Chase, in July, 1826, in the center of a 4000-acre tract,
belonging to Kenyon College. This institution was then founded, with funds
obtained by Bishop Chase in
England, and named after Lord KENYON, one of its principal benefactors. It was first chartered as a theological
seminary. It is richly endowed,
having 8,000 acres of land and its property is valued at $100,000. The college proper has about 50
students; the theological seminary about twenty; the senior grammar school
about twenty, and Milnor Hall, an institute for boys, about twenty-five. In the various libraries are near 10,000
volumes.
The main college building is romantically
situated. You enter a gate into a
large area: in the foreground is a large, grassy, cleared plat of several
acres, on the right of which stands Rosse Chapel, an elegant Grecian structure;
on the left and below, is the beautiful Vernon Valley, bounded by forest-clad
hills, over which the eye passes in the perspective for miles and miles, until
the blue of distant hills and sky meet and blend in one. Through the center of the grassy plat
passes a footpath, which, at a distance of 200 yards, continues its straight
line in a narrow opening through a forest, and terminates at the college, about
one-third of a mile distant, the spire of which rises partly above the green
foliage, like that of an ancient abbey, while the main building is mostly
concealed. The whole scene, the
graceful, cheerful architecture of the chapel, on the right, the valley on the
left, the pleasant, grassy green in front, the forest beyond, with the somber,
half-concealed building in the distance, give an ever-enduring impression. Standing at the gate, with the back to
the college, the scene changes: a broad avenue terminates at the distance of a
half a mile, at the head of which, in a commanding position, faces Bexley Hall,
a building appropriated to the theological seminary. It is a large, elegant, and highly
ornamented Gothic structure, of a light color, with battlements and turrets,
standing boldly relieved against the blue sky, except its lower portion, where
it is concealed by the shrubbery of the spacious yard in front. To the left, and near the hall, an
imposing residence, late occupied by Bishop McIlvaine, faces the avenue. Away off to the right, among the trees,
is Milnor Hall, and scattered about in various directions, near and far,
private dwellings, offices and various structures, some plain and others
adorned, some in full view and others partly hidden by the undulations of the
ground, trees and shrubbery. - Old Edition.
The Career of Kenyon.
Since the foregoing was published, important
changes have taken place at Gambier.
Now it has railroad facilities by the C. A. & C. Railroad; new and
beautiful buildings have been erected, and now connected with it are Kenyon
Military Academy and "Harcourt Place Seminary for Young Ladies and
Girls." Kenyon has many warm
friends among her distinguished alumni.
Ex-president
Top Picture
KENYON COLLEGE.
1846
Bottom Picture
BISHOP CHASE
AND WIFE.
Page 988
HAYES wrote that, with the exception of the four years spent in the Union
Army, no other period of his life, in cherished recollections, could be
compared with it. Edwin M. STANTON,
the great War Secretary, was accustomed to say: "If I am anything, I owe
it to Gambier College."
When Bishop
McILVAINE succeeded Bishop CHASE in the presidency of Kenyon College, the
affairs of the institution were in a critical condition, owing to the
accumulation of debt, and his timely aid and able government, in which he was
assisted by Dr. William SPARROW, the first vice-president, were invaluable.
Bishop McILVAINE's
duties were divided between the college in his diocese; but Dr. SPARROW gave to
Kenyon his full and undivided strength.
Under these two strong men the institution flourished and its
educational influence was widespread.
"The expenses
of living in Gambier in early days were very small. The annual charges were: for
instruction, $30; for board at the college table, $40; room rent in a room with
a stove, $4; room rent in a room with fireplace, $6. For theological students and sons of
clergymen the total charge was $50."
The college formed a
large landed estate, and kept a hotel and shops, mills and stores. One looks
curiously today at its inventory of goods - pots, pans, pails, tubs, saucers,
spoons, white dimity bed-curtains, mixed all up with oxen, cows and
vinegar.
An early college
publication advertises, "Cash will be given at the seminary store for hats
and old shoes suitable for making coffee." It also chronicles an "Awful
Catastrophe. - Died, very suddenly, on Wednesday last, seventeen interesting
hogs, of sore throat, endeared to the students by their unassuming manners,
gentlemanly deportment, and a life devoted to the public service. The funeral of each of them will be
attended every day until the end, in the dining hall."
Those were the days
when the boys were required "to sweep their own rooms, make their own beds
and fires, bring their own water, black their own shoes - if they ever were
black - and take an occasional turn at grubbing in the fields or working on the
roads." The discipline was somewhat strict and the toil perhaps severe,
but the few pleasures that were allowed were thoroughly enjoyed. We read of a sophomore who was commanded
to the room of a professor, and severely beaten with a rod. For the first time in his life a
Mississippi freshmen received a bodily chastisement, and even Dr. SPARROW, the
vice-president, took care to see that it was well laid on.
In 1840 Bishop
McILVAINE was succeeded in the presidency of Kenyon by Major D. B. DOUGLASS,
LL. D., but remained at the head of the theological seminary. Succeeding Major DOUGLASS in the
presidency came Rev. Dr. H. A. BRONSON; later came Lorin ANDREWS, LL. D., the
first Ohio volunteer to the Union Army (see vol. i., page 253). His successors were Charles SHORT, LL.
D. (1863-67), James Kent STONE, A. M.(1867-68), Eli T. TAPPAN, LL. D.
(1868-75), William B. BODINE, D. D. present
incumbent.
Gambier is greatly indebted
to Bishop G. T. BEDELL, ex-president of the theological seminary, who, by his
ardent and faithful endeavors, secured contributions amounting in all to nearly
$200,000.
For her present
measure of prosperity, if not, indeed, for her very existence, the one man to
whom - after Bishop CHASE - Kenyon College is most indebted is the Rev. M. T.
C. WING, D. D. For a third of a
century, in addition to the duties of his professorship, he carried on his
strong shoulders the financial burdens of the college. He struggled through deep waters, but he
bravely triumphed. Bishop McILVAINE
testified "to his eminent faithfulness, wisdom, self-devotion, the
patience and constancy in most trying circumstances."
In all prerequisites
for admission, and in the course of study, Kenyon does not materially differ
from the leading colleges of the eastern states. She aims to give a thorough liberal
education, and believes in the value of hard mental discipline. She also believes in right religious
influences, and labors to afford them, pursuing steadily "the truth, the
beautiful, the good."
Among the most
eminent of the sons of Kenyon are ex-President R. B. HAYES, Edwin M. STANTON,
David DAVIS, Henry Winter DAVIS, Stanley MATTHEWS, David TURPIE, M. M. GRANGER,
Frank H. HURD, R. E. TROWBRIDGE and Wm G. LeDUC.
The "Church of
the Holy Spirit," the college chapel at Kenyon, is said to be "The
most beautiful church in this country." The funds for its erection were
given by members of the Church of the Ascension, New York, as a tribute of
appreciation for their former rector, Bishop BEDELL.
Mr. Geo. A.
BENEDICT, editor of the Cleveland Herald,
has written of it: "The crowning glory of the Church of the Holy Spirit is
its teachings in every window, in all its carvings, in its illuminated
wall-text, in its ceilings, and in it's everything. That church is a biblical study. It is cheerful; there is nothing of the
least gloomy about it, and the most irreverent intuitively would take off his
hat when he entered it, for it is the beauty of holiness."
Biography.
Philander Chase was born in
Cornish, N. H., December 14, 1775; died
at Jubilee College, Ill., September 20, 1852. Graduated at Dartmouth in 1795. Ordained a priest in the Episcopal
church, November 10, 1799. Was
occupied in missionary labor in western New York and later at New Orleans,
being
Page 989
the first Protestant minister in the state
of Louisiana.
In 1811 became
rector of Christ Church, Hartford, Conn., and in 1817 went to Ohio, where
"he began a work for the church in Ohio, and in truth of the whole West,
such as no other man then living would have attempted, or probably would have
accomplished."
He took charge of
the academy at Worthington, organized several parishes, three of which he assumed
the rectorship of himself. He was
elected bishop and consecrated at Philadelphia, February 11, 1819. It was about this time that Salmon P.
CHASE, his nephew, became a member of his family.
He began his work
with rare earnestness. For several
years it was necessary for him to gain his support as a tiller of the soil, as
his ministrations did not yield pecuniary return sufficient to pay his
postage. The need of helpers in his
work, who should be Western men inured to hardships, turned his mind toward the
founding of a college for the training of such helpers. He went to England to raise the funds to
endow such an institution. Great
opposition and many obstacles were overcome by him both in America and
England.
An anecdote
describes his first experience in London: One day Dr. DOW, of New Orleans,
called on Mr. BUTTERWORTH, Wilberforce's particular friend, when in the course
of conversation the latter said: "So you are from America. Dr. Dow? Were you acquainted with Bishop
CHASE?" "Yes; he was my pastor in New Orleans, and I his physician
and friend." "Tell me about him; there must be something singular in
him or he would not be neglected as he is in England." "Singular! I
never knew anything singular in him but his emancipating his yellow slave, and
that, I should suppose, would not injure him here in England."
This story made
Butterworth Bishop CHASE's friend, and through him he became the hero of the
hour; subscriptions poured in upon him until $30,000 were realized. Lord Gambier, Lord Kenyon, Sir Thomas
Ackland, Lady Rosse, and Hannah More helped him.
Returning to Ohio,
he purchased 8,000 acres in Knox county and founded Kenyon College and Gambier
Theological seminary. He was
determined that the school should be located in the country. "Put your seminary," he said,
"on your own domain; be owners of the soil on which you do well, and let
the tenure of every lease and deed depend on the express condition that nothing
detrimental to the morals and studies of youth be allowed on the
premises."
Bishop CHASE
occupied the office of president of the college, performing a prodigious amount
of labor, making every obstacle give way before his indomitable will and
persistent industry. In all his
labors he was ably seconded by his efficient wife and helpmate. "Mrs. Chase entered with her whole
soul into her husband's plans. She
was a lady perfectly at home in all the arts and minutia of housewifery; as
happy in darning stockings for the boys as in entertaining visitors in the
parlor, in making a bargain with a farmer in his rough boots and hunting blouse
as in completing a purchase from an intelligent and accomplished merchant, and
as a perfectly at home doing business with the world about her, in keeping the
multifarious accounts of her increasing household as in presiding at her dinner
table, or dispensing courtesy in her drawing room."
September 9, 1831,
Bishop Chase resigned the presidency of the college and the episcopate of Ohio,
on account of differences that had arisen between himself and his clergy. He entered upon missionary work in
Michigan, and in 1835 was chosen Bishop of Illinois, when he again visited
England, raised $10,000, and in 1838 found it Jubilee College at Robin's Nest,
Ill. A friend described him as
follows; "In height he was 6 ft. and over; the span of his chest was
nearly, if not quite, equal to his height, and with that noble trunk his limbs
were in full and admirable proportion.
In a crowd his giant figure, in front or back, excited, wherever he
moved, universal attention. Large
and heavy in stature as he was, he was remarkably light and graceful in his
movements, and, when not ruffled with the opposition or displeasure,
exceedingly agreeable, polished and finished in his manner. Toward those who betrayed hauteur in their
deportment with him, or whom he suspected as actuated by such a spirit, or who
positively differed with him as to his policy, and especially toward those whom
he looked upon as his enemies, he was generally distant and overbearing, and
sometimes, when offended, perhaps morose.
In his bearing toward them his noble countenance was always heavy and
lowering, and his deportment frigid and unmistakably repulsive; but in his
general intercourse, and always with his particular and intimate friends, his
address and social qualities were polished, delightful and captivating; his
countenance was sunlight, his manner warm and genial as balmy May, and his
deportment winning to a degree rare among even remarkably commanding and
popular men."
His published works
were, "A Plea for the West" (1826); "The Start in the West, or
Kenyon College" (1828); "Defense of Kenyon College" (1831); and
"Reminiscences: An Autobiography, comprising a History of the Principal Events
in the Author's Life to 1847" (2 vols., New York, 1848).
Charles Pettit McIlvaine, a
son of Joseph McILVAINE, U. S. Senator from New Jersey, was born in Burlington,
N. J., January 18, 1799; graduated at Princeton in 1816; was made a priest in
the Episcopal Church, March 20, 1821.
He was five years rector of Christ Church, Georgetown, D. C. In 1825 was appointed chaplain and
professor of ethics at West Point.
Settled over St. Anne's Church, Brooklyn, in 1827; four years later was
chosen professor in the University of the City of New York. Was elected a bishop of Ohio
Page 990
and consecrated in New York, October 31,
1832. Before settling in Ohio
Bishop McILVAINE raised among his friends in Eastern cities nearly $30,000 for
Kenyon College and the theological seminary at Gambier, of which institutions
he became president.
He received the degrees of D.D. from
Princeton and Brown in 1832, D. C. L. from Oxford in 1853, and LL. D. from
Cambridge in 1858.
During the war he was a member of the
Sanitary Commission and on a visit to England at this period he was of great
service to the United States government in creating favorable sentiment for the
Union. As Bishop of Ohio and
President of Kenyon College he was a great power in the development of
religion, morals and education.
"Born in the same year in which
George Washington died, he bore a close resemblance to the Father of his
Country, both in appearance and character.
He looked a king among men; he was great, also, as a thinker and
orator."
The first by-law
under his administration at Kenyon is characteristic: "It shall be the
duty of every student of the college and grammar-school on meeting or passing
the president or vice-president, any professor, or other officer of the
institution, to salute him by touching the hat, or uncovering the head, and it
is equally required of each officer to return the salutation."
Bishop McILVAINE
died in Florence, Italy, March 13, 1873, while abroad for his health. He was the author of many valuable
religious works. His "Lectures
on the Evidences of Christianity" (New York, 1832) has had very extensive
circulation.
The Hon. Columbus DELANO was born in Shoreham,
Vt., June 5, 1809; removed to Mount Vernon in 1817; was admitted to the bar in
1831. He was eminently successful
as an advocate and criminal lawyer.
In 1847 he lacked but two votes for nomination for governor; was a
delegate to the convention that nominated Lincoln and Hamlin in 1860; also
chairman of the Ohio delegation in the Baltimore Convention that nominated
Lincoln and Johnson in 1864. He was
appointed State Commissary-General of Ohio in 1861, and filled the office with
great acceptance. He was a member
of the Ohio House of Representatives in 1863, and a member of Congress in 1844,
1864 and 1866. In March, 1869, he was
appointed by President Grant Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and vary greatly
improved the organization of that bureau.
Here in 1870 he succeeded Jacob D. Cox as Secretary of the Interior, and
resigned in 1875. The honorary
degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Kenyon College, and he was one of the
trustees of that institution, in connection with which he endowed a grammar
school called Delano Hall.
He has been
prominently identified with the agricultural and wool interests of Ohio; is
President of the National Wool-Growers Association, and is an able and
indefatigable advocate for the protection of domestic wool from foreign
competition.
George Washington Morgan was born in Washington
County, Pa., September 20, 1820. In
1836 he left college to enlist in the regular Texan army, from which he retired
with rank of captain, and in 1841 entered the United States Military
Academy. In 1843 he removed to
Mount Vernon, and began the practice of law there in 1845.
Page 991
He was a
colonel in the Mexican War and brevetted brigadier-general for gallantry at
Contreras and Churubusco. While in
Mexico, several of his command were murdered by guerrillas, and in one case two
young soldiers were killed, and their hearts and other parts of their person
hung upon bushes by the roadside.
Colonel MORGAN and thereupon caused to be seized and held as hostages a
number of wealthy Mexican citizens, and gave notice that for every American
soldier killed, otherwise than in fair fight, he would hang one of these
Mexicans. No more murders
occurred.
In 1856 MORGAN was appointed United States
Consul to Marseille, and in 1858 Minister to Portugal; returning to the United
States in 1861 to enter the army as brigadier-general of volunteers, under
General Don Carlos Buell.
In March, 1862, he was assigned command of
the Seventh Division of the Army of Ohio.
He was afterwards assigned to the 13th Army Corps, and commanded at the
capture of Fort Hindman, Ark. He
resigned from the army in 1863, owing to failing health.
In 1865 he was the
defeated Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio; was elected to Congress in
1866, but supplanted in 1868 by Columbus Delano, who contested his seat. He was the Democratic candidate for speaker
when Blaine was first elected to that office. He was again elected to Congress in
1869, serving till 1873; was a delegate-at-large to the National Democratic
Convention at St. Louis in 1876.
Lecky
Harper was born in Ireland, 1815. His parents emigrated to the United
States in 1820, and settled in Washington, D. C. , where his father shortly
died, and the self-sacrificing mother exerted all her faculties to the rearing
and education of for four children, with whom she moved to Ohio in 1826.
Mr. Harper early entered into journalism,
at Steubenville. In 1837 he edited
the American Union. Later he studied law and was admitted to
the Pittsburgh bar while editing the Pittsburger. He removed to Cadiz, O., and then
returned to Pittsburg, where, as editor of the Post, his vigorous support of the ten-hour labor law brought him
prominently into notice as a supporter of the rights of humanity. In 1853 he removed it to Mount Vernon
and purchased the Democratic Banner,
which he has since ably conducted and edited.
Mr. HARPER served as
president of the Ohio Editorial Association, and was elected as a Democrat to
the State Senate in 1879. He is one
of the oldest editors in the State, still in the harness, with force and vigor.
William
Windom was born in Belmont County, of
Quaker heritage. His parents
removed to Middlebury township, and his boyhood days were spent on a farm. Apprenticed to a tailor, he was a
failure in that trade, and then made a success at law in the office of Judge R.
C. HURD, of Mount Vernon. While
studying law, he sometimes lectured on temperance, and on one occasion he was
threatened by a mob if he attempted to speak. He went to the hall, laid a pistol on
the speaker's stand, and delivered a lecture without interference. In 1855 he removed to Winona, Minn., and
from there was sent to the United States Senate.
Frank
Hunt Hurd was born in Mount Vernon,
</SPANDecember 25, 1841; graduated at Kenyon College in 1858. He studied law, was elected Prosecuting
Attorney in 1863, and State Senator in 1866. In 1867 he removed to Toledo, and was
elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1874; served one term and was defeated for
reelection in 1876; was reelected in 1878 and 1882, but defeated in 1880 and
1886. Mr. Hurd is widely known as an earnest advocate of free-trade
doctrines. He is the author of
"Ohio Criminal Code of Procedure," and other law works.
Fredericktown,
laid out in 1807 by John KERR seven miles northwest of Mount Vernon, on the B.
& O. Railroad. Newspaper: Free Press, independent, W. E. EDWARDS,
M. D., editor. Churches: one
Presbyterian, one Methodist, one Baptist. Bank: Daniel STRUBLE. Industries are creamery, bell-foundry,
plain-mill and sealing-wax factory of CUNNING & HOSACK, and carriage
factory of STEPHENS & HAGERTY.
Population in 1880, 850.
School census, 1888, 266; C. W. DURBAN, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial
establishments,
Page 992
$56,200; value of annual product, $67,600. - Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.
Vernon River, on which it is situated, furnishes considerable
water-power. On the middle branch
of that stream, near the village, are some ancient fortifications and
mounds.
Centreburg
is fourteen miles southwest of Mount Vernon, at the crossing of the C. A. &
C. and T. & O. C. Railraods.
Newspaper: Gazette,
independent, E. N. GUNSAULUS, editor.
Churches: one Methodist Episcopal, one Cumberland Presbyterian, one
Christian, one Free-Will Baptist.
Bank: Centreburg (Daniel PAUL).
It is an important point for the shipment of grain, and here are the
extensive tile-works of T. E. LANDRUM & Co. Population, 1880, 400. School census, 1888, 185. Capital invested in industrial
establishments, $69,100; value of annual product, $70,800. - Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887.
Martinsburg
is eleven miles southeast of Mount Vernon.
Churches: one Presbyterian, one Baptist, one Methodist, one
Disciples. School census, 1888,
124.
Gambier,
the seat of Kenyon College, is five miles east of Mount Vernon, on the C. A.
& C. Railroad. Population,
1880, 576.
Danville
is 15 mi. northeast of Mount Vernon, on the C. A. & C. Railroad. Newspaper: Knox County Independent, independent, W. M. KINSLEY, editor and
publisher. Bank: Danville (WOLFE
& Sons), Albert J. WOLFE, cashier.
School census, 1888, 210.