A portrait and biographical record of Delaware and Randolph counties, Ind., containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana, Part 8

Author:
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1474

USA > Indiana > Randolph County > A portrait and biographical record of Delaware and Randolph counties, Ind., containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 8
USA > Indiana > Delaware County > A portrait and biographical record of Delaware and Randolph counties, Ind., containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to con- gress, from the Second Ohio district, which had long been democratic. He was not pres- ent during the campaign, and after his elec- tion was importuned to resign his commission in the army; but he finally declared, "I shall never come to Washington until I can come by the way of Richmond." He was re-elected in 1866.

In 1867, Gen. Hayes was elected governor of Ohio, over Hon. Allen G. Thurman. a popu- lar democrat. In 1869 was re-elected over George H. Pendleton. He was elected gov- ernor for the third term in 1875.

In 1876 he was the standard bearer of the republican party in the presidential contest, and after a hard, long contest was chosen president, and was inaugarated Monday, March 5, 1875.

He served one full term of four years, then retired to his peaceful home, where he expired January 17, 1893.

J. A. GARFIELD.

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PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

J AMES A. GARFIELD, twentieth pres- ident of the United States, was born November 19, 1831, in the woods of Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio. His parents were Abram and Eliza (Ballou) Gar- field, both of New England ancestry and from families well known in the early history of that section of our country, but had moved to the Western Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settle- ment.

The house in which James A. was born was about 20x30 feet, built of logs, with the spaces between the logs filled with clay. His father was a hard working farmer, and he soon had his fields cleared, an orchard planted, and a log barn built. The household comprised the father and mother and their four children- Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and James. In May, 1823, the father, from a cold contracted in helping to put out a forest fire, died. At this time James was about eighteen months old, and Thomas about ten years old. He now lives in Michigan, and the two sisters live in Solon, Ohio, near their birthplace.

The early educational advantages young Garfield enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the most of them. He labored at farm work for others, did capenter work, chopped wood, or did anything that would bring in a few dollars. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever ashamed of his orign, and he never forgot the friends of his struggling childhood, youth and manhood, neither did they ever forget him. When in the highest seats of honor, the humblest friend of his boyhood was as kindly greeted as ever.

The highest ambition of young Garfield until he was about sixteen years old was to be a captain of a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious to go aboard a vessel, which his mother strongly opposed. She finally con- sented to his going to Cleveland, with the understanding, however, that he should try to

obtain some other kind of employment. He walked all the way to Cleveland. After making many applications for work, and try- ing to get aboard a lake vessel, and not meet- ing with success, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos Letcher, on the Ohio & Penn- sylvania canal. He remained at this work but a short time when he went home, and attended the seminary at Chester for about three years, when he entered Hiram and the Eclectic institute, teaching a few terms of school in the meantime, and doing other work. This school was started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850, of which church he was then a member. He became janitor and bell-ringer in order to help pay his way. He then be- came both teacher and pupil. In the fall of 1854, he entered Williams college, from which he graduated in 1856, taking one of the high- est honors of his class. He afterwards re- turned to Hiram college as its president. Dr. Noah Porter, president of Yale college, says of him in reference to his religion:

'President Garfield was more than a man of strong moral and religious convictions. His whole history, from boyhood to the last, shows that duty to man and to God, and de- votion to Christ and life and faith and spiritual commission were controlling springs of his being, and to a more than usual degree."

Mr. Garfield was united in marriage with Miss Lucretia Rudolph, November 11, 1858, who proved herself worthy as the wife of one whom all the world loved and mourned. To them were born seven children, five of whom are still living, four boys and one girl.

Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in 1856, in Hiram and the neighbor- ing villages, and three years later he began to speak at county mass meetings, and became the favorite speaker wherever he was. Dur- ing this year he was elected to the Ohio senate. 1 He also began to study law at Cleve-

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land, and in 1861 was admitted to the bar. The great rebellion broke out in the early part of this year, and Mr. Garfield at once resolved to fight as he had talked, and enlisted to de- fend the old flag. He received his commission as lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-second reg- iment of Ohio volunteer infantry, August 14, 1861, He was immediately put into active service, and before he had ever seen a gun fired in action, was placed in command of four regiments of infantry and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the work of driving out of his native state the officer (Humphrey Mar- shall) reputed to be the ablest of those, not educated to war, whom Kentucky had given to the rebellion. This work was bravely and speedily accomplished, although against great odds. President Lincoln, on his success com- missioned him brigadier-general, January 10, 1862; and as "he had been the youngest man in the Ohio senate two years before, so now he was the youngest general in the army." He was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh, in its operations around Corinth and its march through Alabama. He was then detailed as a member of the general court-martial for the trial of Fitz-John Porter. He was then ordered to report to Gen. Rosecrans, and was assigned to the chief of staff. The military history of Gen. Garfield closed with his brill- iant services at Chickamauga, where he won the stars of the major-general.

Without an effort on his part Gen. Garfield was elected to congress in the fall of 1862 from the Nineteenth district of Ohio. This section of Ohio had been represented in con- gress for sixty years mainly by two men -- Elisha Whittlesey and Joshua R. Giddings. It was not without a struggle that he resigned his place in the army. At the time he entered congress he was the youngest member in that body. There he remained by successive re- elections until he was elected president in 1880.

Of his labors in congress Senator Hoar says: "Since the year 1864 you cannot think of a question which has been debated in congress, or discussed before a tribunal of the American people, in regard to which you will not find, if you wish instruction, the argument on one side stated, in almost every instance, better than by anybody else, in some speech made in the house of representatives or on the hustings by Mr. Garfield."

Upon January 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elected to the United States senate, and on the 8th of June, of the same year, was nom- inated as the candidate of his party for presi- dent at the great Chicago convention. He was elected in the following November, and on March 4, 1881, was inaugurated. Probably no administration ever opened its existence under brighter auspices than that of President Garfield, and every day it grew in favor with the people, and by the first of July he had completed all the initiatory and preliminary work of his administration and was preparing to leave the city to meet his friends at Will- iams college. While on his way and at the depot, in company with Secretary Blaine, a man stepped behind him, drew a revolver, and fired directly at his back. The president tottered and fell, and as he did so the assassin fired a second shot, the bullet cutting the left coat sleeve of his victim, but inflicting no further injury. For eighty days, all during the hot months of July and August, he lingered and suffered. He, however, remained master of himself till the last, and by his magnificent bearing was teaching the country and the world the noblest of human lessons-how to live grandly in the very clutch of death. He passed serenely away September 19, 1883, at Elberon, N. J., on the seashore, where he had been taken shortly previous. The murderer was tried, found guilty and executed, in one year after he committed the foul deed.

C. A. ARTHUR.

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a HESTER A. ARTHUR, twenty-first president of the United States, was born in Franklin county, Vermont, on the 5th of October, 1830, and is the oldest of a family of two sons and five daughters. His father was the Rev. Dr. William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, who emigrated to this country from the county Antrim, Ireland, in his eighteenth year, and died in 1875, in Newtonville, near Albany, N. Y., after a long and successful ministry.

Young Arthur was educated at Union col- lege, Schenectady, N. Y., where he excelled in all his studies. After his graduation, he taught school in Vermont for two years, and at the expiration of that time went to New York, with $500 in his pocket, and entered the office of ex-Judge E. D. Culver as student. After being admitted to the bar he formed a partnership with his intimate friend and room- mate, Henry D. Gardiner, with the intention of practicidg in the west, and for three months they roamed about in the western states in search of an eligible site, but in the end re- turned to New York, where they entered upon a successful career almost from the start. Gen. Arthur soon afterward married the daugh- ter of Lieut. Herndon, of the United States navy, who was lost at sea. Congress voted a gold medal to his widow in recognition of the bravery he displayed on. that occasion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's nomi- nation to the vice presidency, leaving two children.

Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celebrity in his first great case, the famous Lemmon suit, brought to recover possession of eight slaves who had been declared free by Judge Paine, of the superior court of New York city. It was in 1852 that Jonathan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to New York with his slaves, intending to ship them to Texas, when they were discovered and freed. The

judge decided that they could not be held by the owner under the Fugitive Slave law. A howl of rage went up from the south, and the Virginia legislature authorized the attorney general of that state to assist in an appeal. William M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed to represent the people, and they won their case, which then went to the supreme court of the United States. Charles O'Conor here espoused the cause of the slave holders, but he too, was beaten by Messrs. Evarts and Arthur, and a long step was taken toward the emancipation of the black race.

Another great service was rendered by Gen. Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Liz- zie Jennings, a respectable colored woman, was put off a Fourth avenue car with violence after she had paid her fare. Gen. Arthur sued on her behalf, and secured a verdict of $500 damages. The next day the company issued an order to admit colored persons to ride on their cars, and the other car companies quickly followed their example. Before that the Sixth . avenue company ran a few special cars for col- ored persons and the other lines refused to let them ride at all.

Gen. Arthur was a delegate to the conven- tion at Saratoga that founded the republican party. Previous to the war he was judge-ad- vocate of the Second brigade of the state of New York, and Governor Morgan, of that state, appointed him engineer-in-chief of his staff. In 1861, he was made inspector gen- eral, and soon afterward became quartermas- ter-general. In each of these offices he ren- dered great service to the government during the war. At the end of Gov. Morgan's term he resumed the practice of the law, forming a partnership with Mr. Ransom, and then Mr. Phelps, the district attorney of New York, was added to the firm. The legal practice of this well known firm was very large and lucra- tive; each of the gentlemen composing it was

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an able lawyer, and possessed a splendid local reputation, if not indeed one of national extent.

Arthur was appointed collector of the port of New York by President Grant, November 21, 1872, to succeed Thomas Murphy, and held the office until July 20, 1878, when he was succeeded by Collector Merritt. Mr. Arthur was nominated on the presidential ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the famous national republican convention held at Chicago in June, 1880. This was perhaps the greatest political convention that ever assem- bled on the continent. It was composed of the leading politicians of the republican party, all able men, and all stood firm and fought vigorously and with signal tenacity for their respective candidates that were before the convention for the nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield received the nomination for president and Gen. Arthur for vice-president. The campaign which followed was one of the most animated known in the history of our country. Gen. Hancock, the standard-bearer of the democratic party, was a popular man, and his party made a valiant fight for his election.

Finally the election came and the coun- try's choice was Garfield and Arthur. They were inaugurated March 4, 1881, as president and vice-president. A few months only had passed ere the newly chosen president was the victim of the assassin's bullet. The remarka- ble patience that Garfield manifested during those hours and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible suffering man has often been called upon to endure, was seemingly more than human. It was certainly God-like. During all this period of deepest anxiety Mr. Arthur's every move was watched, and be it said to his credit, that his every action dis- played only an earnest desire that the suffer- ing Garfield might recover, to serve the re- mainder of the term he had so auspiciously

begun. Not a selfish feeling was manifested in deed or look of this man, even though the most honored position in the world was at any moment likely to fall to him.

At last God in his mercy relieved President Garfield from further suffering. Then it be- came the duty of the vice president to assume the responsibilities of the high office, and he took the oath in New York, September 20, 1881. The position was an embarrassing one to him, made doubly so from the facts that all eyes were on him, anxious to know what he would do, what policy he would pursue, and whom he would select as advisers. The duties of the office had been greatly neglected during the president's long illness, and many import- ant measures were to be immediately decided by him; and still farther to embarrass him he did not fail to realize under what circumstances he became president, and knew the feelings of many on this point. Under these trying cir- cumstances President Arthur took the reins of the government in his own hands; and, as em- barrassing as was the condition of affairs, he happily surprised the nation, acting so wisely that but few criticised his administration. He served until the close of his administration, March 4, 1885, and was a popular candidate before his party for a second term. His name was ably presented before the convention at Chicago, and was received with great favor, and doubtless but for the personal popularity of one of the opposing candidates, he would have been selected as the standard-bearer of his party for another campaign. He retired to private life carrying with him the best wishes of the American people, whom he had served in a manner satisfactory to them and with credit to himself. Although not a man of the transcendent ability possessed by the lamented Garfield, Mr. Arthur was able for the emergency he was so unexpectedly called to fill, and was a worthy successor to his chief.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

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PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

S TEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND, the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president of the United States, was born in 1837, in the obscure town of Caldwell, Essex county, N. J., and in a little two-and-a-half story white house which is still standing, characteristically to mark the hum- ble birth-place of one of America's great men in striking contrast with the old world, where all men high in office must be high in origin and born in the cradle of wealth. When three years of age, his father, who was a Presbyte- rian minister with a large family and a small salary, moved by way of the Hudson river and Erie canal to Fayetteville in search of an in- creased income and a larger field of work. Fayetteville was then the most straggling of country villages, about five miles from Pompey Hill, where Gov. Seymour was born. At the last mentioned place young Grover commenced going to school in the "good old-fashioned way," and presumably distinguished himself after the manner of all village boys in doing the things he ought not to do. Such is the distinguishing trait of all village geniuses and independent thinkers When he arrived at the age of fourteen years he had outgrown the capacity of the village school and expressed a most emphatic desire to be sent to an acad- emy. To this his father decidedly objected. Academies in those days cost money; besides, his father wanted him to become self-support- ing by the quickest possible means, and this at that time in Fayetteville seemed to be a position in a country store, where his father with the large family on his hands had consid- erable influence. Grover was to be paid $50 for his services the first year, and if he proved trustworthy he was to receive $100 the second year. Here the lad commenced his career as salesman, and in two years he had earned so good a reputation for trustworthiness that his employers desired to retain him longer.

But instead of remaining with this firm in Fayetteville, he went with the family in their removal to Clinton, where he had an oppor- tunity of attending a high school. Here he industriously pursued his studies until the family removed with him to a point on Black river known as the Holland Patent, a village of 500 or 600 people, fifteen miles north of Utica, N. Y. At this place his father died, after preaching but three Sundays. This event broke up the family, and Grover set out for New York city to accept, at a small salary, the position of "under-teacher" in an asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully for two years, and although he obtained a good repu- tation in this capacity, he concluded that teaching was not his calling for life, and, re- versing the traditional order, he left the city to seek his fortune, instead of going to a city. He first thought of going to Cleveland, Ohio, as there was some charm in that name for him; but before proceeding to that place he went to Buffalo to ask the advice of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted stock breeder of that place. After a long consultation, his uncle offered him a place temporarily as assistant herdkeeper at $50 a year, while he could "look around." One day afterwards he boldly walked into the office of Rogers, Bowers & Rogers of Buffalo, and told them what he wanted A number of young men were already engaged in the office, but Grover's persistency won, and he was fin- ally permitted to come as an office boy and have the use of the law library for the nomi- nal sum of $3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for his board and washing. The walk to and from his uncle's was a long and rugged one; and, although the first winter was a memorably severe one, yet he was neverthe- less prompt and regular. On the first day of his service there, his senior employer threw down a copy of Blackstone before him with a bang that made the dust fly, saying, "That's

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where they all begin." A titter ran around the little circle of clerks and students, as they thought that was enough to scare young Gro- ver out of his plans; but in due time he mas- tered that cumbersome volume. Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleveland exhib- ited a talent for executiveness rather than for chasing principles through all their metaphysi- cal possibilities. "Let us quit talking and go and do it," was practically his motto.

The first public office to which Mr. Cleve- land was elected was that of sheriff of Erie county, N. Y., in which Buffalo is situated; and in such capacity it fell to his duty to in- flict capital punishment upon two criminals. In 1881 he was elected mayor of the city of Buffalo on the democratic ticket, with especial reference to the bringing about certain reforms in the administration of the municipal affairs of that city. In this office, as well as that of sheriff, his performance of duty has generally been considered fair, with possibly a few ex- ceptions, which were ferreted out and magni- fied during the last presidential campaign. As a specimen of his plain language in a veto message, we quote from one vetoing an iniqui- tous street. cleaning contract: "This is a time for plain speech, and my objection to your action shall be plainly stated. I regard it as the culmination of a most bare-faced, impu- dent and shameless scheme to betray the in- terests of the people and to worse than squan- der the people's money." The New York Sun afterward very highly commended Mr. Cleve- land's administration as mayor of Buffalo, and thereupon recommended him for governor of the Empire state. To the latter office he was elected in 1882, and his administration of the affairs of state was generally satisfactory. The mistakes he made, if any, were made very public throughout the nation after he was nomi- nated for president of the United States. For this high office he was nominated July 11,

1884, by the national democratic convention at Chicago, when other competitors were Thomas F. Bayard, Roswell P. Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, Benjamin F. Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc .; and he was elected by the people by a majority of about a thousand over the brilliant and long-tried James G. Blaine. President Cleveland resigned his office as gov- ernor of New York in January, 1885, in order to prepare for his duties as the chief executive of the United States, in which capacity his term commenced at noon on the 4th of March, 1885. For his cabinet officers he selected the follow- ing gentlemen: For secretary of state, Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware; secretary of the treasury, Daniel Manning, of New York; sec- retary of war, William C. Endicott, of Massa- chusetts; secretary of the navy, William C. Whitney, of New York; secretary of the inte- rior, L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi; post- master-general, Wm. F. Vilas, of Wisconsin; attorney-general, A. H. Garland, of Arkansas.

In November, 1892, Mr. Cleveland was re- elected to the presidency by the democratic party, the candidate of the republican party being their ex-chief, Benjamin Harrison, a sketch of whom follows this. The popular vote on this occasion stood: Cleveland, 5. 556, - 562; Harrison, 5, 162,874; the electoral vote was 277 for Cleveland, and 145 for Harrison. During the early part of his first administra- tion, Mr. Cleveland was married to Miss Frances Folsom of Buffalo, N. Y., and in Oc- tober, 1891, a daughter, Ruth, came to bless the union, and later a second daughter was born. The first act of Mr. Cleveland, on tak- ing his seat for his second term, was to convene congress in extra session for the purpose of re- pealing the Sherman silver bill, and accordingly that body met September 4, 1893, and both houses being democratic, the bill, in accord- ance with the recommendation of the presi- dent, was unconditionally repealed.

B. HARRISON.

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ENJAMIN HARRISON, the twenty- third president, is the descendant of one of the historical families of this country. The head of the family was a Major General Harrison, one of Oliver Cromwell's trusted followers and fighters. In · the zenith of Croinwell's power it became the duty of this Harrison to participate in the trial of Charles I, and afterward to sign the death warrant of the king. He subsequently paid for this with his life, being hung October 13, 1660. His descendants came to America, and the next of the family that appears in his- tory is Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and after whom he was named. Benjamin Har- rison was a member of the continental con- gress during the years 1774-5-6, and was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was three times elected governor of Virginia.

Gen. William Henry Harrison, the son of the distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a successful career as a soldier during the war of 1812, and with a clean record as gov- ernor of the Northwestern territory, was elected president of the United States in 1840. His career was cut short by death in one month after his inauguration.

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A portrait and biographical record of Delaware and Randolph counties, Ind., containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana, Part 8

Author: Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Chicago, A. W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1474

Author:
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1474