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 9
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Gen. William Henry Harrison, the son of the distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a successsul 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.
President Benjamin Harrison was born at North Bend, Hamilton county, Ohio, August 20, 1833. His life up to the time of his grad- uation by the Miami university, at Oxford, Ohic, was the uneventful one of a country lad of a family of small means. His father was able to give him a good education, and nothing more. He became engaged while at college to the daughter of Dr. Scott, principal of a female school at Oxford. After graduating, he determined to enter upon the study of the law. He went to Cincinnati and there read law for two years. At the expiration of that time young Harrison received the only inher- itance of his life; his aunt, dying, left him a lot valued at $800. He regarded this legacy as a fortune, and decided to get married at once, take this money and go to some eastern town and begin the practice of law. He sold his lot, and with the money in his pocket, he started out with his young wife to fight for a place in the world. He decided to go to Indianapolis, which was even at that time a town of promise. He met with slight encour- agement at first, making scarcely anything the first year. He worked diligently, applying himself closely to his calling, built up an ex- tensive practice and took a leading rank in the legal profession. He is the father of two children.
In 1860 Mr. Harrison was nominated for the position of supreme court reporter, and then began his experience as a stump speaker. He canvassed the state thoroughly, and was elected by a handsome majority. In 1862 he raised the Seventeenth Indiana infantry,. and was chosen its colonel. His regiment was composed of the rawest of material, but Col. Harrison employed all his time at first master- ing military tactics and drilling his men; when he therefore came to move toward the east
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with Sherman his regiment was one of the best drilled and organized in the army. At Resaca he especially distinguished himself, and for his bravery at Peachtree Creek he was made a brigadier general, Gen. Hooker speak- ing of him in the most complimentary terms.
During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the field the supreme court declared the office of the supreme court reporter vacant, and another person was elected to the position. From the time of leaving Indiana with his regiment until the fall of 1864 he had taken no leave of absence, but having been nomi- nated that year for the same office, he got a thirty-day leave of absence, and during that time made a brilliant canvass of the state, and was elected for another term. He then started to rejoin Sherman, but on the way was stricken down with scarlet fever, and after a most trying siege made his way to the front in time to participate in the closing incidents of the war.
In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined a re-elec- tion as reporter, and resumed the practice of law. In 1876 he was a candidate for governor. Although defeated, the brilliant campaign he made won for him a national reputation, and he was much sought, especially in the east, to make speeches. In 1880, as usual, he took an active part in the campaign, and was elected to the United States senate. Here he served six years, and was known as one of the ablest men, best lawyers and strongest debaters in that body. With the expiration of his sena- torial term he returned to the practice of his profession, becoming the head of one of the strongest firms in the state of Indiana.
The political campaign of 1888 was one of the most memorable in the history of our coun- try. The convention, which assembled in Chicago in June and named Mr. Harrison as the chief standard bearer of the republican party, was great in every particular, and on
this account, and the attitude it assumed upon the vital questions of the day, chief among which was the tariff, awoke a deep interest in the campaign throughout the nation. Shortly after the nomination delegations began to visit Mr. Harrison at Indianapolis, his home. This movement became popular, and from all sec- tions of the country societies, clubs and dele- gations journeyed thither to pay their respects to the distinguished statesman. The popu- larity of these was greatly increased on ac- count of the remarkable speeches made by Mr. Harrison. He spoke daily all through the summer and autumn to these visiting delega- tions, and so varied, masterly and eloquent were his speeches that they at once placed him in the foremost rank of American orators and statesmen. On account of his eloquence as a speaker and his power as a debater, he was called upon at an uncommonly early age to take part in the discussion of the great questions that then began to agitate the coun- try. He was an uncompromising anti-slavery man, and was matched against some of the most eminent democratic speakers of his state. No man who felt the touch of his blade de- sired to be pitted with him again. With all his eloquence as an orator he never spoke for oratorical effect, but his words always went like bullets to the mark. He is purely Ameri- can in his ideas and is a splendid type of the American statesman. Gifted with quick per- ception, a logical mind and a ready tongue, he is one of the most distinguished impromptu speakers in the nation. Original in thought, precise in logic, terse in statement, yet withal faultless in eloquence, he is recognized as the sound statesman and brilliant orator of the day. His term of office as president of the United States expired on March 4, 1893, when he surrendered the high position to Stephen Grover Cleveland, allusion to which fact is inade on a preceding page.
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RTHUR ST. CLAIR, one of the most noted characters of our early colonial days, was a native of Scotland, being born at Edinburg in 1735. Becom- ing a surgeon in the British army, he subse- quently crossed the Atlantic with his regiment and thenceforward was identified with the history of this country until the day of his deatlı. Serving as a lieutenant with Wolfe in the memorable campaign against Quebec, St. Clair won sufficient reputation to obtain ap- pointment as commander of Fort Ligonier, Pa., where a large tract of land was granted to him. During the Revolutionary war he espoused the colonial cause, and before its close had risen to the rank of major-general. In 1875 he was elected a delegate to the Continental congress and afterward became its president. After the passage of the ordinance of 1787, St. Clair was appointed first military governor of the Northwest territory, which then embraced the territory now comprised within the boundaries of the present state of Ohio, with headquarters at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati. In 1791 he undertook an expedition against the north- western Indians, which resulted in the great disaster known in western history as "St Clair's defeat. " On November 4 the Indians surprised and routed his whole force of about 1,400 regulars and militia, in what is now
Darke county, Ohio, killing over 900 men and capturing his artillery and camp equipage. Gen. St. Clair held the office of territorial governor until 1802, when he was removed by President Jefferson. He returned to Ligonier, Pa., poor, aged and infirm. The state granted him an annuity which enabled him to pass the last years of his life in comfort. He died near Greensburgh, Pa., August 31, 1818, leaving a family of one son and three daughters.
HARLES WILLING BYRD, who was secretary of the Northwest territory, and who succeeded Gov, St. Clair as governor, on the removal of the latter from office, was born in Virginia, received a liberal education and settled in Ohio. While it is not practicable to find fully authentic material for a full biography of Gov. Byrd, it may be of interest to recite briefly the rea- sons for the removal of Gov. St. Clair, which are of course the reasons for Mr. Byrd becom- ing governor of the territory. St. Clair's gov- erment was very unpopular, and when the people became desirous of forming a state gov- erment in 1801, and found themselves unable to secure a majority of the legislature, they sent Thomas Worthington to congress to ob- tain if possible a law under which a conven-
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tion could be called to consider the expediency . of forming a state, and framing a constitution therefor. This convention met in Chillicothe in November, 1802, voted to form a state gov- erminent and adopted a constitution, all this notwithstanding the fact that the territory did not then contain the 60,000 inhabitants re- quired at that time.
But this was a small difficulty compared with the prohibition in the ordinance of 1787 against slavery in the territory of the north- west. This clause tended to prevent immigra- tion to Ohio from Virginia and other southern states; and the attempt was made to so frame a constitution for the new state that slavery in a somewhat modified form could be established. When this clause was proposed it was discov- ered by the opponents of slavery that on the morrow there would be a majority of one in its favor, and thus, if it were adopted, the curse of slavery would be fixed upon the state. Judge Ephraim Cutler, of Washington county, a delegate to the convention, and a son of one of the principal framers of the ordinance of 1787, was lying sick in bed, when this situ- ation was revealed, and Gen. Putnam, hasten- ing to his bedside, urged him to reach the con- vention hall at the earliest practicable moment the next morning. Judge Cutler having next day reached the hall, made an impassioned appeal to the delegates in opposition to the proposed action of the convention, and won over the one delegate necessary to save the state from the blighting curse of slavery.
Gov. St. Clair and his friends looked upon the convention as little short of revolutionary, the governor taking strong grounds against the formation of a state government, before the convention began the labors of the day. Their utter disregard of this advice filled him with irritation, and in the bitterness of his heart he declared, in the hearing of unfriendly listeners, that he no longer had confidence in republican
institutions, and that in his opinion, without some stronger form of government, anarchy seemed inevitable. These remarks were quickly reported to President Thomas Jefferson, who immediately removed St. Clair from his office, and the secretary of the territory, Charles W. Byrd, became acting governor, serving until the state government was formed under the constitution, which, as framed by the conven- tion, was declared by that convention, without having been submitted to the people for their ratification, to be the fundamental law of the land. After the expiration of his brief terin as governor of the Northwest territory, Gov. Byrd was appointed by President Jefferson United States judge for the district of Ohio.
DWARD TIFFIN, first governor of Ohio upon the organization of the state, in 1803, was a native of Eng- land, born in the city of Carlisle on the 19th day of June, 1766. After coming to the United States he studied medicine, located at Charlestown, W. Va., in 1784, and in 1789 received his degree from the university of l'enn- sylvania. In the year last named he was united in marriage with Mary Worthington, sister of Gov. Thomas Worthington, and in 1790 united with the Methodist church, of which he soon afterward became a local preacher. In 1796 Mr. Tiffin settled at Chilli- cothe, Ohio, where he preached and practiced medicine, and was instrumental in organizing a number of local congregations in that part of the state. The same year he was elected to the legislature of the Northwest territory, became speaker of that body, and in 1802 was chosen president of the convention that formed the state constitution. He proved to be a potential factor in political affairs, and in 1803 was elected first governor of the state under the constitution. He was re-elected in 1805, and
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proved a most capable chief executive, but re- signed in 1807 to become United States sena- tor, having been elected to the latter body as successor to his brother-in-law, Hon. Thomas Worthington. Gov. Tiffin's senatorial career was cut short on account of the death of his wife, by reason of which he resigned in March, ISog, and for a time lived a retired life. Sub- sequently he married again, and afterward was elected to the lower house of the state legis- lature, in which he served two termins as speaker.
At the expiration of his legislative experi- ence, Gov. Tiffin resumed the practice of medi- cine at Chillicothe, and in 1812 was appointed by President Madison commissioner of the general land office, having been the first person to fill that position. On assuming his official functions he removed to the national capital and organized the system that has obtained in the land office until the present time; in 1814 he was instrumental in having the papers of his office removed to Virginia, thus saving them from destruction when the public build- ings in Washington were burned by the British. Becoming dissatisfied with residing in Wash- ington and wishing to return west, Gov. Tiffin succeeded in exchanging his position for that of surveyor of public lands northwest of the Ohio river, held by Josiah Meigs, the change being sanctioned by the president and senate, and he discharged the duties of the latter position until July, 1829, receiving while on his death- bed an order from President Jackson to deliver the office to a successor. During his long period of public service, Gov. Tiffin maintained most scrupulously his ministerial relations, and preached the gospel whenever occasion would admit. He was on familiar terms with Gen. Washington, who always spoke of him in terms of praise, and he will always be remembered as one of the leading spirits in the formative period of Ohio's history. His death occurred at Chillicothe on the 9th day of August, 1829.
HOMAS KIRKER, who succeeded Edward Tiffin as governor of Ohio, Is one of the few governors of the state of whom but little can be learned. In 1807 there was a remarkable contest for the governorship of the state. The two oppos- ing candidates were Return Jonathan Meigs and Nathaniel Massie. The former received a majority of the votes, and therefore, so far as the people were concerned, was elected gov- ernor of the state. The general assembly, how- ever, declared him to be ineligible to the office, on the ground that he was not a resi- dent of the state, and as Mr. Massie had not received a sufficient number of votes, he had not been elected governor, and the election was therefore entirely void. Hon. Thomas Kirker bing then speaker of the state senate, became acting governor by virtue of his office as speaker, when Gov. Edward Tiffin resigned his office in order to take his seat in the United States senate. Gov. Kirker remained in the office of governor until after the election, in 1808, of Samuel Huntington, who had been elected by the people. At the time of serving as governor he was a resident of Adams county, and he served in the general assembly of the state for twenty-five years.
S AMUEL HUNTINGTON, the second governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born at Norwich, Conn., in 1765, and graduated at Yale col- lege in 1785. He adopted the profession of law, in 1795 married a lady of his own name, and attended strictly to the duties of his pro- fession in the town of his birth until the year 1800, when he resolved to visit that western country which was then attracting to it so many residents of the New England states. First stopping at Youngstown, Ohio, he from there went to Marietta, where he spent the
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summer, and in the fall of that year returned to Norwich. The following spring, taking his wife and children in an Ohio wagon (then so called), they arrived, after weeks of toilsome travel, at Cleveland, then a settlement of doubtful name as a healthy abode, as they found that many who had preceded them had vacated the cabins they had first built and had removed to the higher ground back of the town to escape the sickness so prevalent near the lake. He erected a strongly-built house, as attacks by drunken and riotous Indians were not uncommon. Mr. Huntington soon entered upon public life. Gen. Saint Clair appointed him second in command of a regiment of Trumbull county militia, and he was shortly afterward elevated to the position of presiding judge in the first court in that part of the ter- ritory. In 1802 he was a member of the con- stitutional convention, and by that body ap- pointed state senator from Trumbull county, the name then borne by the territory now known as the northeastern portion of the state and which at present is divided into six coun- ties. For some time he was speaker or presi- dent of the state senate, and by the legislature elected to a seat on the supreme bench. When Michigan was organized as a territory Judge Huntington was offered the position of judge of the district court of that territory, but this he declined, as well as other important offices which were pressed upon him. The prevailing unhealthiness of Cleveland finally induced him to remove his residence to Newburg, where he erected a grist-milll, then a very important construction and advantageous to the settlers. In 1809 he purchased a mill, located on the eastern shore of Grand river, between Paines- ville and the lake, and erected a mansion- commodious, and, for those days, rather im- posing in its style of architecture. This house remains to attest by its position the good taste of liim who built it. A conflict of authority
arose between the legislative and judicial de- partments of the state while Judge Huntington was on the supreme bench. The legislature passed a law conferring certain rights upon justices of the peace which the judges of the supreme court declared to be unconstitutional. Thereupon the whole house filed articles of impeachment against the judges, but in the inidst of this confusion the people of Ohio had elected Judge Huntington governor of the state. He, having resigned, was therefore not brought to trial, and it being impossible to obtain two- thirds of the legislative vote against the other two judges, they consequently escaped convic- tion. Nothing of particular moment occurred the term he held office, but his prominence prevented his retiring to private life. In 1812 he was, during the second war with Great Britain, a member of the Ohio legislature. The destruction of life and property by the Indians during that year was such that Gov. Huntington, having with Gen. Cass visited Washington to represent to the authorities there the condition of affairs in Ohio, was ap- pointed district paymaster, with the rank of colonel, and returned to the camp of Gen. Harrison with a supply of funds in the shape of government drafts. He remained for many months in the army and until peace was de- clared, when he returned to his home, where he subsequently lived peacefully until 1817, during which year he died a comparatively young man, being but fifty-two years old. His character for strict integrity, great executive ability and accomplished scholarship was sec- ond to that of no other governor.
B ETURN JONATHAN MEIGS, who succeeded Samuel Huntington in the gubernatorial chair, was born in Mid- dletown, Conn., in March, 1765, the son of Return J. Meigs, a distinguished Ameri-
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can soldier, whose name is inseparably con- nected with the war of American independence. Gov. Meigs was graduated from Yale college in 1785, after which he studied law and began the practice of the same at Marietta, Ohio, at which place his father had previously settled. He entered the army at the breaking out of the Indian war, and was sent on a commission to the British commander at Detroit, by Gen. St. Clair, in 1790, and later took part in a number of battles with the savages. He rose rapidly in his profession and in 1803-4 was chief justice of the Ohio supreme court; later he had charge of the Saint Charles circuit in Louisiana until 1806, with the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel in the United States army, being also judge of the supreme court of said district during the years of 1805 and 1806. Mr. Meigs was further honored, in 1807, by being appointed judge of the United States district court of Michigan, in which capacity he continued until 1808, when he was elected to the United States senate from Ohio. The honorable distinction acquired by Mr. Meigs as a jurist was not dimmed by his senatorial experience, and his record in the national legis- lature is replete with duty ably and conscien- tiously performed. He served in the senate from January, 1809, till May, 1810.
In October, 1807, Mr. Meigs was the dem- ocratic candidate for governor of Ohio, and after the election, which went in his favor by a decided majority, his competitor, Nathaniel Massie, contested the same on the ground that Meigs had not been a resident of the state for the four years next preceding the election, as provided by the constitution. The general assembly, in joint convention, decided that Meigs was not entitled to the office, but it does not appear that his competitor was allowed to assume the same; Thomas Kirker, acting gov- ernor, continued to discharge the duties of the office until December, 1808, when Samuel
Huntington was inaugurated as his immediate successor.
In 1810 Mr. Meigs was again a candidate for governor, and at the ensuing election was victorious, defeating his competitor by a large majority. He was triumphantly re- elected in 1812 and filled the office with dis- tinguished ability during the trying years of the last war with England, his services in be- half of the national government throughout that struggle being far greater than those of any other governor, and of such a patriotic character as to elicit the warmest praise from the president and others high in authority. He assisted in the organization of the state militia, garrisoned the forts on the border, thus securing safety to the exposed settlements, and did umch toward strengthening the army under Gen. Harrison. Near the expiration of his gubernatorial term, in 1814, Gov. Meigs resigned to accept the appointment of post- master-general in the cabinet of President Madison, to fill the place made vacant by the death of Gideon Granger; he continued in office under President Monroe until 1823, in December of which year he retired from active life and spent the remainder of his days at his home in Marietta, dying March 29, 1825.
O THNIEL LOOKER, the fourth gov- ernor of Ohio, was born in the state of New York in 1757. He was a private soldier in the Revolutionary war, go- ing into the army from his native state, and serv- ing through the war. He was a man of humble origin and a farmer most of his life. In 1784, having received a land warrant for his services during the war of the Revolution, he crossed the Alleghany mountains, and located his land in what was then the wilderness of the territory northwest of the Ohio river. within the limits of the future state of the same name. Upon this
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grant he erected his cabin and began the labor of clearing his farm, as did other pioneers of his day. Upon the organization of the state he was elected a member of the lower house of the general assembly, and by increasing his knowledge and acquaintanceship with the peo- ple of the new state, he so rose in popular favor and esteem as to be elected to the senate. Of this body he eventually became president, and by virtue of holding this office, when Gov. Return J. Meigs resigned, in 1814, to accept the position of postmaster-general in the cabi- net of President Madison, became governor of Ohio. He served eight months, and afterward was a candidate before the people for election to the office of govenor, but was defeated by his opponent, Thomas Worthington. Mr. Looker afterward returned to his farm, where he lived respected by all for his unusual intelli- gence, his clear logical mind, and his pleasing disposition. But little else is known of Gov. Looker, except that he died unmarried.
HOMAS WORTHINGTON, fourth elected governor of Ohio, was born near Charlestown, Va., July 16, 1773. He received a liberal education, but when a young man went to sea and continued before the mast for three years-from 1790 to 1793. In 1797 he became a resident of Ross county, Ohio, served as a member of the ter- ritorial legislature in 1799-1801, and was chosen delegate to the state constitutional convention in the year 1802. He was elected to the United States senate as a democrat immediately after the adoption of the state constitution and served in that body from October 17, 1803, till March 7, 1807; was again chosen to fill the unexpired terin caused by the resignation of Return J. Meigs, Jr., and served from January 8, 1811, until his resigna- tion in 1814. Mr. Worthington was elected
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