USA > Ohio > Putnam County > A Portrait and biographical record of Allen and Putnam counties, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Ohio, pt 1 > Part 10
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governor of Ohio in 1814 and served till 1818 -having been chosen his own successor in 1816. After the expiration of his second gubernatorial term Gov. Worthington became canal commissioner, which position he held till his death. He was a public-spirited man and to him is the great commonwealth not a little indebted for much of its development and prosperity.
To Gov. Worthington belongs the unique distinction of being the only Ohio governor ever arrested and started to jail for debt. In IS15 or 1816, Gov. Worthington contracted with Judge Jarvis Pike to grub and chop the timber off the present state-house square. The governor was a non-resident of Franklin county, residing at Chillicothe. Some mis- understanding arose as to the payment of Judge Pike for his labors, whereupon he sued a capias from the court of Squire King, and had the governor arrested and marched off to jail. He was not locked up, however, the matter having been amicably adjusted. Gov. Worthington departed this life in the city of New York, June 20, 1827.
THAN ALLEN BROWN, seventh governor and the fifth elected by the people of Ohio, was born on the shores of Long Island Sound in Fair- field county, Conn., July 4, 1766, and died at Indianapolis, Ind., February 24, 1852. His father, Roger Brown, was an intelligent farmer of wealth, who, to secure the advan- tages of a liberal education for his children, employed a teacher of good ability to instruct them at home. Under such tuition Ethan's quickness of apprehension and extraordinary memory enabled him to acquire a knowledge of the Latin, Greek and French languages not inferior to that of most college graduates of the present day. Having determined to adopt
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the profession of a lawyer, he then procured the necessary books and began the study of law at home, at the same time assisting in the labors of his father's farm. After thus ac- quiring some legal knowledge he went to New York city and entered the law office of Alex- ander Hamilton, who, as a lawyer and states- man, had achieved at that time a national reputation. Here he soon won the esteem and friendship of Mr. Hamilton, while also he was brought into contact with others of the ablest men of the day, and, mingling with the most refined and cultivated society of the city, his mind was developed and stimulated and he acquired the elegance and polish of manners for which he was remarkable in after-life. Diverted from the study of law at this time, he engaged in business, by which he obtained very considerable property, but subsequently he again entered upon his neglected study, and in 1802 he was admitted to practice. Then, urged by love of adventure and a desire to see the principal portion of that state which, in that year, had qualified for admission into the Union, he, with a cousin, Capt. John Brown, started on horseback and followed the Indian trails from east to west through middle and western Pennsylvania until they reached Brownsville on the Monongahela river. Hav- ing brought a considerable sum of money with them they here purchased two flat-bottomed boats, loaded them with flour, and . placing crews upon them started for New Orleans, which city they reached in safety, but not be- ing able to sell their cargoes to advantage they shipped the flour to Liverpool, England, and took passage themselves in the same vessel. Having disposed of their flour at good prices, they returned to America, landing at Baltimore the same year. Then his father, wishing to secure a large tract of western land, eventually to make it his home, he empowered his son to select and purchase the same, which he pro-
ceeded to do, locating it near the present town of Rising Sun, Ind., that locality having attracted his attention on his flat-boat trip to New Orleans. Hither his father removed from Connecticut, in 1814, when that part of the Northwest territory which subsequently became Indiana was canvassing delegates to hold a territorial convention.
Ten years subsequently, however, and after securing the land mentioned, Ethan Allen Brown began the practice of law in Cincinnati, where he soon took a prominent position in the profession and secured a large income for his professional services. In 1810 he was chosen by the Ohio legislature a judge of the supreme court of the state, a position he held with dis- tinguished ability during the eight following years, and in 1818 was elected governor of the state. His administration is marked for the prosecution and completion of important inter- nal improvements, among the chief of which may be mentioned that important work, the "Ohio canal," and which was nicknamed "Brown's Folly." In 1820 he was re-elected, and in 1821 elected to the United States senate and served one term with distinction. In 1830 he was appointed minister to Brazil, remaining in that country four years and giving general satisfaction, when he resigned and came home. A few months later, at the urgent request of President Andrew Jackson, he accepted the position of commissioner of public lands, held the office two years, and then retired finally from public life. Gov. Brown never married, and the close of his life was spent among his relatives at Rising Sun. After reaching the age of eighty-two years, with not more than a week's sickness during all the years of his long life, lie died suddenly while attending a democratic convention at Indianapolis, and was buried at Rising Sun, near the grave of his venerated father, leaving an enduring record of a useful and well-spent life.
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A LLEN TRIMBLE, who filled out the unexpired term of Ethan Allen Brown as governor of Ohio, and also served as governor by election from 1827 to 1830, was born in Augusta county, Va., March 24, 1783. He was the son of Capt. James Trimble, who removed in 1784 to Lexington, Ky., and who died in that state about the year 1804. Later Allen Trimble came to Ohio, settling in the county of Highland, where he served in various official positions, including those of clerk of the courts and recording sec- retary, filling the last two offices for a period of about seven years. He took part in the war of 1812 as commander of a regiment of mounted troops under Gen. William Henry Harrison, and in 1816 was chosen a member of the state legislature. Subsequently, from 1817 to 1826, he served as state senator, and was also speaker of the house for several terms. In 1821 he was appointed governor, and, as already stated, was elected to the office in 1 826, and discharged the duties of the position in an eminently satisfactory manner until 1830. In 1846, Gov. Trimble was chosen president of the state board of agriculture, being the first inan honored with that office, and served as such until 1848. While governor he was untiring in promoting the cause of education in Ohio, and the present excellent public school system is indebted to him for much of its efficiency; he also encouraged manufactur- ing and did much toward improving the penal institutions of the state. Politically Gov. Trimble was a federalist; his death occurred at Hillsborough, Ohio, February 2, 1870.
J EREMIAH MORROW, sixth governor elected under the state constitution, was born in Gettysburg, Pa., October 6, 1771. In early manhood he removed to the Northwest territory and in 1802 was
chosen delegate to the convention that framed the constitution of Ohio. Politically he was an ardent democrat, and in 1803 was elected a representative in the congress of the United States, in which body he served for a period of ten years. He did much toward promoting legislation in behalf of the western section of the United States, and for some time was chairman of the committee on public lands. In 1814 he was commissioner to treat with the Indians west of the Miami river, and from 1813 till 1819 served with distinction in the United States senate. In 1822 Mr. Morrow was elected governor of Ohio and served as such until 1826, having been re-elected in 1824. From 1826 to 1828 he was state senator, later became canal commissioner, and for some time served as president of the Little Miami Railroad com- pany. In 1841 he was again elected to repre- sent his district in the national house of repre- sentatives, in which capacity he served a single term. Gov. Morrow left the impress of his character on the commonwealth and his is among the many illustrious names which have given Ohio so prominent a position among her sister states; his death occurred in the county of Warren, on the 22nd day of March, 1852.
UNCAN McARTHUR, distinguished as a soldier and statesman, and gov- ernor of Ohio from 1831 to 1832, was a native of the state of New York, born in the county of Dutchess, on the 14th day of June, 1772. When he was a mere lad his parents emigrated to the western part of Pennsylvania, and at the age of eighteen he volunteered in Gen. Harmar's expedition against the Miami Indians, in which he dis- tinguished himself by many acts of bravery. Subsequently he acted as scout in the warfare with the Indians in Ohio and Kentucky, and after the cessation of hostilities, in 1794, set-
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tled near Chillicothe, Ohio, where he became the possessor of large tracts of real estate. For some years after settling in Ohio Gov. McArthur followed the profession of civil engi- neer, later he became interested in political matters and in 1805 was elected to the lower house of the Ohio legislature. In 1808 he was appointed major-general of the territorial mili- tia, and at the beginning of the war of 1812 was commissioned colonel of the First Ohio volunteers. He was second in command at Detroit, when that ill-fated post was surren- dered to the British by Gen. Hull, and it is stated that so great was his chagrin and anger at the capitulation that he tore off his epau- lettes and broke his sword in a fit of indigna- tion. Gov. McArthur was commissioned brig- adier-general in 1813, and upon the resigna- tion of Gen. William Henry Harrison the year following, he succeeded to the command of the western army. He planned the conquest of Canada, crossed the Saint Clair river in 1814 with a strong force, and after consider- able manuvering returned to Detroit by way of Saint Thomas, and discharged his force at Sandwich the latter part of the aforesaid year. In the meantime, 1813, he had been elected by the democrats to a seat in the congress of the United States, but declined to leave the army, remaining with the command until hon- orably discharged June 15, 1815. On leaving the army Gov. McArthur was returned to the state legislature, and during the years 1816-17 served as commissioner to negotiate treaties with the Indians, by which their lands in Ohio were ceded to the general government in 1818. From 1817 to 1819 he was again a member of the lower house of the legislature, of which he was made speaker, and in 1822 was elected to congress on the democratic ticket and served as a member of that body from December 1, 1823, till March, 1825. In 1830 he was elected governor of Ohio, which position he
filled very acceptably for one term, and in 1832 was again a candidate for congress, but lost the election by a single ballot.
The record of Gov. McArthur, both mili- tary and civil, is without a blemish, and he will ever be remembered as one of the leading soldiers and officers of the great commonwealth of Ohio. While governor he suffered severe injuries from an accident, and never entirely recovered from the effects of the same. He died near Chillicothe, on the 28th day of April, 1839.
B OBERT LUCAS, the immediate suc- cessor of Duncan McArthur, was born in Shepherdstown, Va., April 1, 1781, and was a direct descendant of Will- iam Penn, the founder of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His father bore a distin- guished part in the war of the Revolution, serving thoughout that struggle as captain in the American ariny, and was a trusted friend of Gen. Washington. Robert Lucas spent his youthful years in his native state, and about the beginning of the present century removed to Ohio, where in due time he became major- general of the state militia. Subsequently he was commissioned captain in the Ninteenth United States infantry, and in February, 1813, became lieutenant-colonel of the same, serving as such until June of the same year, when he resigned. Immediately after leaving the gov- ernment service Mr. Lucas was made brigadier- general of Ohio militia, and as such served from July, 1813, till the following September, in defense of the frontier. In 1814 he was elected to the Ohio legislature, in the deliberations of which he took a prominent part, and in 1832 presided over the democratic national conven- tion which nominated Andrew Jackson for a second term. In 1832 General Lucas was elected governor of Ohio, was re-elected in
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1834, and in 1838 was made first territorial governor of Iowa, at which time the now state of that name was erected into a territory, in- cluding Minnesota and the Dakotas, and De- cember 28, 1846, as a state. He was a man of marked ability, possessing great energy, and was noted as a man of strong impulses and strict integrity. He died February 7, 1853, in Iowa City, at the advanced age of nearly sev- enty-two years.
J OSEPH VANCE, governor of Ohio for one term, 1837-38, was a native of Pennsylvania, born March 21, 1781, in the county of Washington, of Scotch- Irish descent. While quite young he was taken by his parents to Kentucky, where he grew to manhood, after which he removed to Ohio, locating at Urbana, where he became a suc- cessful merchant and married Miss Mary Lemen, of that city. Subsequently he turned his attention to farming and stock raising, in which he also met with success and financial profit, in the meantime becoming conversant with public affairs. Gov. Vance, becoming quite popular, was elected to and served in the legislature in 1812-16, and in 1822 was elected to the congress of the United States, in which he served by successive re-elections until March, 1835. Originally Gov. Vance was a democrat, and as such was elected to the aforesaid offices, but later he became a whig, which party sent him to congress in 1842. He served through two terins, during one of them as chairman of the committee on claims. In the meantime, 1836, he was elected governor, and as chief executive of the commonwealth his record will compare favorably with those of his illustrious predecessor's and successors. He was a delegate to the whig national conven- tion of 1848, and while attending the cousti- tutional convention of 1850 was stricken with
paralysis, from which he suffered extremely until his death, August 24, 1852, near the city of Urbana.
PILSON SHANNON, the eleventh governor of Ohio whom the people elected, was born February 24, 1803, in Belmont county, and was the first white child born in Mount Olivet township, that county. He was also the first governor of Ohio who was a native of the state. His parents crossed the Alleghany mountains from Pennsylvania and settled in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1802. In January of the next year the father of the future governor, whose name was George Shannon, and who had settled on a farm, upon his arrival in that county went out hunting. Late in the day, while returning home, he lost his way, became bewildered and wandered round and round, finally sitting down by a large maple tree and freezing to death. His tracks were plainly visible next morning in the deep snow that had fallen during the night.
Upon the farm his father had selected young Wilson Shannon was reared. When fifteen years old he attended the Ohio univer- sity at Athens, remaining one year, and for two years afterward was a student at the Transylvania university at Lexington, Ky. Returning home, he began the study of law in the office of Charles Hammond and David Jennings, completing his studies with them in Saint Clairsville, which town became the county seat. There he practiced for eight years. In 1832 he was the democratic nomi- nee for congress, but was defeated by a small majority. In 1834 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and was so assiduous in the performn- ance of his duties that his party elected him governor of the state in 1838 by a majority of 3,600. At the close of his first term he was
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again a candidate, but was defeated by his opponent, Thomas . Corwin, the whig candi- date, who was opposed to slavery, while Gov. Shannon, together with the entire democratic party, favored it. The most remarkable thing about this election was that the democratic candidate for president carried the state by about 25,000 majority. Gov. Shannon then returned to Belmont county to the practice of the law. In 1842 he was again elected gov- ernor of the state over Gov. Corwin, both of whom during the campaign had thoroughly canvassed the entire state, as they had done in 1840.
In the spring of 1843 President Tyler offered Gov. Shannon the appointment of minister to Mexico, which he accepted, resign- ing his governorship and going to the city of Mexico, where he remained two years, when he was compelled to return home, because Mexico, on account of difficulties between the two countries over the annexation of Texas to the Union, severed all diplomatic relations with the United States. After being then en- gaged for several years in the practice of the law, Gov. Shannon was elected to congress by a majority of 1, 300. In congress, by the man- ner in which he performed his duties, he attracted the attention of President Pierce, and was appointed territorial governor of Kansas, the most difficult position he had tried to fill. The contest on the soil of Kansas was more bitter and persistent than anywhere in the country, both pro-slavery and anti-slavery partisans being determined to carry out their own views in that state. It was therefore impossible for any man to preserve peace within her borders, especially as the weight of the administration at Washington was in favor of the pro-slavery party. Shannon, therefore, after fourteen months as governor in Kansas, was superseded by John W. Geary, who gave but little better satisfaction than had Gov.
Shannon. The following year Gov. Shannon removed his family to Lecompton, Kans., the capital, and began the practice of the law in that turbulent state. His reputation soon gained for him a very large and profitable practice, as there was much litigation under the pre-emption laws of the United States.
When Kansas was admitted to the Union, Topeka became the capital, Lecompton rap- idly declined, and Gov. Shannon removed his office and residence to Lawrence, where he resided until his death, highly regarded by all who knew him as having been a faithful public servant, and as a most conscientious man. His death occurred in September, 1877.
HOMAS CORWIN, the twelfth gov- ernor of Ohio elected by the people, was born in Bourbon county, Ky., July 29, 1794. In 1798 his father, Matthias Corwin, who subsequently became a judge, removed to what afterward became Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, and there, in a log school-house, taught by a school teacher named Dunlevy, young Corwin obtained what was then considered a thorough English edu- cation. When he was seventeen years old he drove a wagon-load of provisions for the army to the headquarters of Gen. Harrison, and this event had a potential influence upon his sub- sequent career. In 1817, after having studied law one year, he was admitted to practice, and in March, 1818, was elected prosecuting attor- ney of his county. In 1822 he was elected to the legislature, having become by this time a well-read lawyer and a fluent speaker. Re- turning to his law practice he was again elected prosecuting attorney. In 1829 he was again elected to the Ohio legislature, and the follow- ing year to congress on the whig ticket. By subsequent re-elections he was kept in congress for ten years. In 1840 he was elected gov-
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ernor of Ohio, serving one term. In 1845 he was elected to the United States senate, and discharged his duties there with great ability and faithfulness until 1850. It is on his attitude while in this body that his memory will be per- petuated to posterity, for he showed the great- est courage imaginable, and took the true ground in reference to the war with Mexico, which is now generally recognized as a wholly unnecessary and unwarranted war, begun with- out proper authority from congress, and solely for the purpose of conquest, in order that slavery might be extended into free territory. His speech against that war was bold, pa- triotic and high-toned, and it is probable that had he subsequently been consistent in the attitude he then assumed his party would have made him its candidate for the presidency in 1852, but he became an advocate of the Wil- mot proviso, which by many is believed to have sealed his political career, so far as national promotion is concerned. For his ac- tion, however, in connection with this proviso, he was appointed, by President Fillinore, sec- retary of the United States treasury, a position which he held until 1852, when he resigned, and returned to private life among the hills of Warren county. .
Not long afterward he opened a law office in Cincinnati, and was again elected to con- gress in 1858 and 1860. By President Lincoln he was appointed minister to Mexico, and on April 11, 1861, he embarked for Vera Cruz, whence he went to the city of Mexico, where he served his country efficiently until the close of the war, returning to the United States in April, 1865, opening a law office in Washington, D. C., but had no more than settled down to practice there than he was stricken with apo- plexy, and died after an illness of three days.
While he was in congress he never rose to speak unless he had something to say; hence he always commanded the attention of that
branch in which he was serving. His great ness in oratory is beyond question, his patriot isin no one ever doubted, and in his privat life, from boyhood until his death, every one recognized the integrity and purity of his char acter, which, during his whole public career took on the form of the highest sense of honor and through which he always maintained his reputation among his countrymen.
November 13, 1822, he married Miss Sarah Ross, a sister of Hon. Thomas R. Ross, who served three terms in congress. By his mar- riage he had no children, so that he left noth. ing to his country but his labor therefor and his great and his everlasting fame.
HOMAS WELLES BARTLEY, who succeeded Gov. Wilson Shannon as governor of Ohio, upon that gentle- man's resignation, as mentioned in his life above inserted, was born February 11, 1812, at the home of his parents, in Jefferson county, Ohio. His ancestry emigrated from Northumberland county, England, in 1724, and settled in Londoun county, Va., but sub- sequently removed to Fayette county, Pa., where his father, Mordecai Bartley, was born. His mother was Elizabeth Welles, and Gov. Bartley was named Thomas Welles, from her father, Thomas Welles, of Brownsville, Pa. Having received a liberal education under his father's care and guidance, and having grad- uated with the degree of bachelor of arts from Washington & Jefferson college, a Pres- byterian institution of learning located at Washington Pa., and founded in 1802, Mr. Bartley studied law in Washington, D. C., and was licensed to practice at Mansfield, Ohio, in 1834. The following year he had conferred upon him by his ahna mater the honorary degree of master of arts. Having taken a high position at the bar he was elected
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attorney-general of Ohio and served as such four years; being afterward appointed United States district attorney, he served in that po- sition also four years. Subsequently he was elected to the lower house of the general as- sembly of the state, served therein one term, and was then elected to the state senate, in which he served four years. While president of the senate of Ohio, in 1844, he became governor of the state, through the resignation of Gov. Shannon, who had been appointed, by President Tyler, minister to Mexico, and he administered the affairs of the office until he was succeeded therein by his father, Mor- decai Bartley, in December of that year.
In 1851 he was elected judge of the su- preme court of the state, served two terms in this high position, and then resumed the prac- tice of the law, in Cincinnati, continuing there, thus engaged, for several years, when, owing to the ill health of his family, he removed, in 1869, to Washington, D. C., where he followed his profession until his death.
Gov. Bartley was a sound attorney, a faith- ful public official, a wise judge and a most courteous gentleman, and his removal to the capital of the nation placed him in a field where he enjoyed full scope for the exercise of his powers, untrammeled by local politics, for in that city, where the people have no vote, politics does not enter into their business and their profession as it does elsewhere in the United States. Gov. Bartley is well remem- bered by many of the leading men of the state.
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