A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 2

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio > Part 2

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For several years after the arrival of our subject with his father in Colum- bus he labored and worked for the benefit of the family in the clearing of land, the raising of crops and in such other ways as were of benefit and service to the household interests until about the year 1811, when he received from Colonel James Kilbourne an offer of employment in connection with a news- paper, the Western Intelligencer, which was then published at Worthington, twelve miles north of Columbus. The name of this paper was afterward changed to the Ohio State Journal and transferred to Columbus, where it has ever since continued under the same name.

Mr. Olmsted was married, in 1817, to Miss Sarah Phillips, of Mercers- burg, Pennsylvania. Twelve children were born of this union, all of whom excepting one are now deceased.

Colonel Olmsted was many times honored by his fellow citizens with testimonials of their confidence and respect, and in all his official relations maintained a character of scrupulous probity and uprightness. He was a member of the city council from 1819 to 1822 and from 1831 to 1834. Dur- ing his last term in the council he was elected mayor of the city and served for one year. He was elected mayor of Columbus in 1837 to fill the unex- pired term of Warren Jenkins, and was re-elected in 1838. The latter years of his life, relieved of the anxieties and perplexities of business, were passed in the enjoyment of his family awaiting the slow but sure advance of a fell malady which had already marked him for its own. He died at Columbus February 20, 1870, where he had lived for more than half a century, loved and respected by the community in which he had lived so long, and to whom he had endeared himself by the disclosure of a multitude of virtues which adorns the character of a pious Christian and noble, conscientious fellow citizen.

Charles H. Olmsted, of Columbus, is a son of the preceding subject, being the fifth child and the last of his line in a family of twelve. He was born in the year 1825, and is by continuous residence the oldest citizen of Colum- bus, with but a solitary exception. He has lived in the city all of his life, now covering a period of seventy-six years. He was, as he informed the writer, present at the laying of the corner-stone of the state-house in the year 1839, and was also present at the laying of the corner-stone of the recent addition to the state-house in 1899, the interval covering a period of just three-score years. He is still sprightly in step and lithe in motion, with every prospect of living another score of years.

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Lyne Starling was born in Mechlenburg county, Virginia, in 1784, removed to Kentucky in 1794, and came to Franklinton in the year 1806. Shortly after his arrival he was employed in the county clerk's office, receiving a position the duties of which he was eminently qualified to perform by reason of his superior qualifications proceeding from fine educational accomplish- ments previously acquired. Subsequently to this he was appointed clerk of the circuit and district courts of the United States and also of the supreme and common-pleas courts of Franklin county.

Mr. Starling is said to have been the first of the pioneers of Franklinton and its neighborhood to engage in the flatboat traffic down the Scicto (then a navigable stream for crafts of this character) to the Ohio, thence south to New Orleans. The venture proving successful and remunerative, it was engaged in by others quite extensively, but in some instances attended by disastrous results. He was a large contractor with the government during the war of 1812 and furnished great quantities of supplies to the army under General Harrison which assembled at Franklinton and Urbana during that year. Mr. Starling was a shrewd, sagacious business man and was one of the original proprietors of the city of Columbus. A large part of the city of to-day is located upon grounds originally owned by him and embraces most likely the purchase made by him shortly after his arrival here from Kentucky.

He seems not to have possessed much fondness or taste for politics, and did not aspire to any political office. His great wealth, and the exclusion to some extent which usually accompanies it, no doubt contributed to inspire a feeling of envy and perhaps jealousy on the part of the sovereigns of that early day who were so potent at the counting of the ballots. Some time previous to his death he donated quite a large sum of money to the endowment and construction of a medical college in Columbus which bears his name and is still in successful operation. At the halls of this institution many of the eminent men in the line of their profession throughout the state of Ohio are said to have been graduated. Some of them have attained a high degree of professional perfection which is highly complimentary and creditable to their alma mater. Mr. Starling was a joint donor with John Kerr in the presenta- tion to the city of Columbus of the beautiful plat of ground embracing about ten acres on which the state-house stands. He died in 1848, in the sixty- fourth year of his age, and was by his special direction buried in the old grave- yard at Franklinton : but, when in after years the beautiful Green Lawn ceme- tery was laid out and established, his remains were removed to it, where the ashes of one of the early pioneers of Columbus now repose in peace.

Samuel S. Cox was born in Zanesville, Ohio, September 24, 1824. He was a man remarkable in many distinctive features of character. In point of personal charm and social characteristics he possessed attractions which endeared him to his friends and commanded the respect and admiration of all who came in contact with him. He was a descendant of a long and noble line of Anglo-Saxon Celtic ancestry. His grandfather, General James Cox,

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was an officer in the Revolutionary war, and afterward a member of congress from the state of New Jersey.

Ezekiel T. Cox, the father of Samuel S., was a native of New Jersey and moved from that state to Zanesville, Ohio, in the beginning of the last century. The mother of our subject was a daughter of Judge Samuel Sulli- van, of Zanesville, whose marriage to Ezekiel Cox was productive of thirteen children, Samuel S., our subject, being the second child from this union. His early education was acquired in the common schools at Zanesville. He after- ward attended college at Athens, and still later was a student at Brown Uni- versity, at Providence, Rhode Island, where, with the highest honors, he grad- uated in 1846, with the degree of Bachelor and Master of Arts. Many years afterward the same institution complimented him with the honorary degree of LL. D. Having adopted the law as a profession, he went to Cincinnati, where he continued its practice for several years.

In 1846 he was married to Miss Buckingham, of Zanesville, and shortly thereafter made a tour of Europe, where he remained a few years. Upon his return he published a history of his trip containing an account of his travels and observations abroad which is said to have first turned his serious thought in the direction of journalism. He was for a time the editor and part owner of the Columbus Statesman, a Democratic paper, in the conduct and publica- tion of which he disclosed marked efficiency as an editorial writer. It was during this period of his journalistic experience that he wrote the article which gave him the soubriquet of "Sun Set."

Mr. Cox was elected to congress from the Columbus district in 1856 and was continuously re-elected and returned to congress from this district until 1865. During this interval he was honored by membership on several import- ant committees. In 1865 he removed to New York and commenced the prac- tice of law. After a residence there of three years he was elected to congress from the city, and for a number of congresses thereafter successively re-elected and returned as a metropolitan member. As a scholar and a writer Sunset Cox occupied a high and enviable reputation. He is said to have used and spoken the English language more correctly and more in accordance with syntax and grammatical accuracy than any other congressman of his day.

Lucas Sullivant was perhaps the earliest well known pioneer of Frank- linton and Franklin county. He was a native of Mechlenburg county, Vir- ginia, and the commencement of his life, on account of the oddities and peculi- arities associated with it, was no doubt the reason of the comparison which has often been made between him and the great Washington. At a very early age, indeed, when he was but a boy, he joined an expedition raised in Virginia to repel an invasion of a hostile tribe of Indians upon the western frontier of the state. It was during the progress of this expedition that his bravery and intrepidity was disclosed to an extent which commended him to the special attention and admiration of his commanding officer. Having lost his parents at an early age, he appropriated his scanty means to the procurement of an

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education, special attention being given to the mastery of mathematics, as he had previously determined to make surveying his profession. The wild, uncultivated lands of Kentucky, then a timbered appendage to the old com- monwealth of Virginia, offering a peculiar advantage for the gratification of his desires in this particular, he, while yet scarcely merged into manhood, took himself thither, and as a reward for the sacrifices he had made and priva- tions endured soon found himself in a situation where his professional serv- ices were in almost constant demand. When but twenty-two years of age he received an appointment as deputy surveyor from Colonel AAnderson, surveyor general of the Virginia military land district and a distinguished officer in the Revolutionary war. Thus appointed to a position which had been the fondest hope of his early life and now gratified beyond expression by its actual possession, he pitches with all the ardor and energy of his soul into the unbroken and untrodden forest of southern Ohio and materially assists in opening up one of the richest portions of the state to the advancing wave of settlement and civilization. Baffled in the initial attempt to penetrate the wooded wilderness by the wily savages who infested the forest, he organizes a stronger force at Limestone (now Maysville, Kentucky, ) and with them begins anew the journey through the wilderness. In due time he finds him- self upon the banks of the Scioto and within the present borders of Franklin county. Ten years subsequently to this Mr. Sullivant, having acquired dur- ing the interval the ownership of large tracts of land, laid out the town of Franklinton, which, from its numerous features of marked advantage, he dis- covered in its locality, position and nearness to the geographical center of the state, he probably foresaw or concluded it would become its future capital. Here about the beginning of the century he built the first brick house in Frank- linton, in which he lived the remainder of his life. Our limited space does not admit of a more extended notice of the subject, nor indeed does his illus- trious, useful and eventful life demand or require it. Suffice it to say, how- ever, that he was a remarkable man in the early settlement of the county and did as much as any other one man who was cotemporary with him, and per- laps more in framing the policy and shaping the destiny of the community in which he lived. His name is inseparably connected with the foundation and formation of Franklin county. His early life was employed in a sturdy effort to advance and promote the best interests and material prosperity of Franklin county and the city of Columbus. The citizens of both will assur- edly see that his name and his service are appropriately and gratefully cher- ished in the memory of his fellow men.

One of the earliest and most interesting of personal histories in the pio- neer days of Columbus and Franklin county was that of Joseph Foos, who was a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, born in the year 1767. He moved with his family quite early in life to Tennessee, and several years after- ward went to Kentucky, where, in 1797, he was married to Miss Nelson. Remaining in Kentucky but a few months, he came with his family to Frank-

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linton, Ohio. Upon his arrival at his new home he established a ferry across the Scioto river, which he operated for some years and from which he is said to have derived considerable revenue during the time of its operation. Another enterprise which he inaugurated was the building of the first hotel in the town, which he successfully conducted for some length of time. His early oppor- tunities for acquiring an education were quite limited; but, chance or good fortune bringing him unexpectedly in contact with a school teacher who inci- dentally became a guest of his hotel, he availed himself of the opportunity which the incident afforded and concluded a bargain with the teacher for a certain amount of rudimentary tuition, in consideration for so much board. He was zealous in his application to study and improved his opportunities to good account.

Shortly after this he conceived a lively interest for politics and public affairs, corresponding extensively with noted politicians of the day concerning matters of public interest. He was one of the first members of the Ohio leg- islature, of which he remained in continuous membership for many years. He became an accomplished speaker and efficient writer. During the prev- alent excitement attending the location of the capital of the state he wielded a marked influence with both tongue and pen in securing the adoption of Columbus as the site for its location. As a testimonial of appreciation on the part of the citizens of the new capital for the services thus rendered he was presented by the proprietors with a block of ground in a desirable part of the city. He served in the war of 1812 and during his service was promoted for gallantry and meritorious conduct to the rank of brigadier general. Mr. Foos was liberal, generous and convivial, and with the opportunities which his surroundings afforded him he enjoyed the company and conviviality of his political friends to the highest degree. Later in life he became a can- didate for congress, but in the contest for the office his opponent was elected. Shortly after this he moved to Madison county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming, in which he continued until his death, in 1832.

Early in life he manifested great interest on the subject of the canal sys- tem in the state of Ohio. From the interest here first awakened on the subject he is said to have conceived and suggested the feasibility of a ship canal across the isthmus of Darien, a conception at that time regarded as wild and chimerical, but which to the latter day and more modern speculators and promoters for profitable investment would not perhaps be considered so extravagant or impossible. It has been recently remarked that a pamphlet embodying the views of Mr. Foos on this subject, which was complimentarily styled "Foos' Folly," may in the not distant future demonstrate the fact that such a conception was nobody's "folly." Stranger things have happened ; others may yet transpire.

One of the most widely known of the early pioneers of Franklin county was James. Kilbourne, born in New Britain, Connecticut, October 19, 1770. During his boyhood days he labored with his father on the farm and enjoyed

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but limited opportunities of acquiring an education. In the spring of 1802 he came to Ohio as the agent of an eastern company for the purpose of explor- ing the country, and, if in his judgment deemed desirable, to purchase for them extensive tracts of land. In the execution of this trust he selected a location and completed the purchase of a township embracing sixteen thou- sand acres. In the following year he returned to Ohio with the party for whom he had made the negotiation a year previously and established his resi- dence at the new purchase, now Worthington. Arrangements were at once made for the settlement and location of a town, commencing with the erection of a school building, blacksmith shop, church, a number of cabins and the building of a dam across the Scioto river. Here for a number of years he worked and planned and executed for the general good of the new settle- ment which he had formed and which was now so largely dependent upon his judgment and experience for its future welfare and success: and right well he acquitted himself of the trust which was reposed in him.

In 1805 he explored the south shore of Lake Erie 'and selected the site of Sandusky city. About this time he received, unsolicited on his part, the appointment of United States surveyor for a large portion of the public lands. In 1806 he was appointed one of the first trustees of the Ohio College at Athens. He was elected president of the Worthington College in 1812, and in the same year was appointed commissioner to settle the boundary between the public lands and the Virginia reservation. In the year 1814 he was a candidate for congress and was elected by a vote of two to one over his competitor. Colonel Kilbourn was the first member of congress to advocate the donation of public land to actual settlers in the Northwest Territory, and, on behalf of the committee having the subject in charge, prepared and pre- sented to congress a bill for that purpose. He was elected to the Ohio legis- lature in 1823 and served with ability and distinction. About this time he was commissioned by the governor of Ohio to make selection of the lands granted by congress to the Ohio canal. He was the president of the state convention at Columbus, July 4, 1839, for laying the corner-stone of the capitol of Ohio, also at the noted Whig convention of February 22, 1840.

Colonel Kilbourne has left the impress of his example upon the state of Ohio-particularly central Ohio-to a marked and notable extent. He was the instigator, advocate and promoter of more enterprises, industries and agencies which in long and continuous years of development and expansion have grown and become potent and effective, than almost any other citizen of central Ohio.

Joel Buttles was among the early settlers descended from New England ancestral stock who came and pitched their camp in the wilds of Ohio near the central portion of the state. His father, Levi Buttles, was one of the original proprietors of the Scioto company, organized in the year 1802 and composed of a sturdy band of members who were destined in after years to figure so prominently in the material advancement of the best interests of

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the state. James Kilbourn, mentioned elsewhere in this work, was the agent of this company and one of its most prominent, influential and active members. It was through his active agency and personal negotiation that sixteen thou- sand acres of land at Worthington was purchased and immediate operations commenced for the location and settlement of a town on the lands so acquired. To this new settlement Levi Buttles, the father of our subject, came in the year 1804, having previously disposed of his farm and possessions at Granby, Connecticut, of which place he was a native, where he was born in February, 1787. Under the arrangements made for the removal of the family to the west Joel was permitted to make choice of remaining in the east and devoting himself to the pursuit of a profession, or of casting his fortune with the fate of the family in their future home in the western country. He chose the latter, and after a long and tedious journey for the most part in the midst of storm and snow he arrived in safety at the settlement in the wilderness.

In less than a year after their arrival Levi, the father, died, when Joel was but eighteen years old. For several years subsequent to the death of his father our subject found employment in teaching a school. In 1814 he was united in marriage to Miss Lauretta Barnes, a daughter of Dr. Samuel Barnes, of Massachusetts, and shortly thereafter removed to Columbus and formed a partnership with Dr. Lincoln Goodale. Soon after this he was appointed to the office of postmaster at Columbus, which position he held con- tinuously until the election of General Jackson to the presidency, in 1828, when, as usual in accordance with political precedent and custom, he yielded to the clamor of the victors for the usufruct of the spoils. From this period he was closely identified with the municipal history and business prosperity of Columbus, and was one of its most public-spirited and enlightened citizens. He held many positions of public trust, was for several years the president of the city bank, and was as well one of the founders and zealous supporters of the Protestant Episcopal church in the state of Ohio. The successful and busy years of his later life are said to have been devoted to deeds of generosity to the needy, of sympathy for the suffering and afflicted and of helpful assistance to those whose wants and necessities came to his knowledge. He died at Urbana, Ohio, in August, 1850.

Measured by the standard which establishes the excellence of a man by the character and extent of the good which he accomplishes in life, Joel Buttles should be placed high upon the roll of citizenship in Franklin county.

John Kerr, one of the original proprietors of Columbus, was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, about the year 1778. He enjoyed the advantages of a good education in his native county, including attendance at the Dublin University. He came to the United States in 1810 and settled that year in Franklin county, Ohio. He was a member of the first board of councilmen elected in 1816 for the borough of Columbus. From the information obtain- able at this time concerning his intelligence and business qualifications it would seem that his attainments in this respect compared favorably with those of

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any of his cotemporaries. He, like many others of that early period, seemed to look to an appreciation in the price of real estate as the readiest and surest means of acquiring a fortune. As a speculator or dealer in land his invest- ments and ventures were probably more numerous and extensive than those of almost any other individual in the county. It is believed by some who are yet living, and whose advanced age enable them to remember him with tolerable distinctness, that he was at one time the largest land-owner in the city of Columbus. But whether this be true or not, or to what extent this impression may be founded upon fact, it is certain that he was an energetic, active business man, and, like a number of his associates of the same period, was ever willing and ready to unite his effort with others in any enterprise or industry which foreshadowed benefit or advantage to the community, and responded with promptness and alacrity to any movement compassing this object. Mr. Kerr always entertained a high and sanguine faith in the future of Columbus, and in his expressions of interest and attachment to its material welfare was equally ardent. His sincerity in respect of the latter profession was conclusively demonstrated by his joint donation with Lyne Starling of the beautiful square of ground in Columbus on which the state-house stands. He died in the year 1823 and was buried in what is known as the old north graveyard, but as the result of neglect or from other cause the headstone placed over his grave has been removed or was destroyed, so that the exact spot of his last resting place cannot now be determined with any degree of certainty.

John M. Kerr, a son of the preceding, died in Columbus a year ago from the effects of injuries received in a street-car accident, at the advanced age of ninety years.

David Smith was born at Francistown, New Hampshire, in October, 1785, attended school at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in the year 1811. Mr. Smith was a kinsman of Franklin Pierce, and on account of the relationship existing between them was by the president offered the appointment to a counsulship abroad, but the offer was declined. He was violently opposed to slavery and to those who were its advocates, hence would not accept office under his distinguished relative. He was married, in 1814. to Miss Mitchell, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and the newly mar- ried couple moved to Columbus two years after it had been made the permanent capital of the state. Mr. Smith was the first lawyer to become a permanent resident and regular practitioner in Columbus, and thus acquired the title of judge. He was elected to the Ohio house of representatives from Franklin county and was a strong opponent of what was known as the black laws, which operated prejudicially to his influence with and interest in his party. He was appointed to a position in the postoffice department at Washington in 1836 under General Jackson, and held it until 1845, when he was removed, presumably on account of his hostility to slavery. Judge Smith died at Man- chester, Ohio, in February, 1865. His remains were brought to Columbus

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A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 2

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156