KNOX COUNTY

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

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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

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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

 

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Charles Petit McLlvaine.

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. 

Columbus Delano.

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. 

 

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Gen. G. W. MorganHe 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,

 

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$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.

 

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