USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 1 > Part 77
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of an aet of the Legislature passed at the last previous session, for the term of ten years. Bnt before the expi- ration of the term the lease was, by joint resolution of the Legislature, extended for an additional term of ten years. The lease was, however, surrendered in June, 1878, three years before the expiration of the term, on the ground, as was alleged by the lessees, of its forfeiture on the part of the State by reason of its having authorized the cutting off and abandonment of the Hamilton Basin, The act of the Legislature authorizing the abandonment provided that the consent of the lessces should first be obtained. This, however, was not done, but the city took forcible possession by filling up the channel at its entrance to the main line of canal in the night time, so as to prevent in- junction proceedings. Thereupon the lessees, after notice, abandoned the entire works to the State. The advan- tages that were to result to the city-as predicted by the advocates of the measure -- from the filling up of the basin, even after an expenditure of near seven thousand dollars, seem not to have been realized. It was, to say the least, a measure of doubtful expediency.
In August, 1862, Mr. Martin was appointed by Pres- ident Lincoln collector of internal revenue for the third district of Ohio, comprising the counties of Montgomery, Preble, Butler, and Warren. He served in that capacity until September, 1866, when General Van Derveer suc- ceeded him, under appointment of Andrew Johnson. During his incumbency of the office of collector he re- sided in Dayton, where the principal office of the district was located. He also held a commission from Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, issued nader an act of Con- gress, passed March 3, 1863, as receiver of commutation money on account of exemption from the draft, as anthor- ized by that aet. During the pendency of the draft over 2,600 persons commuted, paying to the treasury of the nation $80,000 in the third district alone. After his re- tirement from the office of collector he, in the Spring of 1867, returned to Hamilton, taking the presidency of the Second National Bank. He remained in th t position until January, 1870. At this time, through the agency of Cincinnati parties, stimulated by the speculative activ- ities in the distilling aud wholesale liquor interests, a mia- jority of the stork of the bank changed ownership, Mr. Martin retiring, and A. C. Sands becoming president. One year thereafter, financial embarrassments having de- pressed those interests, and the large defaleation having just then occurred in the office of conuty treasurer, a re- organization of the bank was deemed necessary. Mr. Martin was urged to again take the presidency of the bank, which he declined. The stock that one year before had commanded a premium of fifteen per cent was now offered at par. The bank was, however, reorganized under the skillful and highly successful management which still continues.
In March, 1871, Mr. Martin moved to his farm, one and a half miles east of the city. Here he continued to i
reside until the death of his wife, which happened after a short illness, in April, 1873. Being left quite alone, he returned to the city, where he lived in the family of his brother-in-law, Ezra Potter. In September, 1874, he married his second wife, Mrs. Mary C. Roosa, who for many years had been a resident of Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio. He once again took up bis residence in Hamilton in August, 1875, where he now lives. ITis family consists of himself, wife, and son, Edwin C. Martin, who was born in Hamilton in February, 1850, and he now lives in Richmond, Indiana, engaged in the business of journalism. A second son, who died in infancy, Feb- ruary, 1859, was born at Middletown in September, 1858.
John Longfellow, at the time of his death, was the oldest man in Hamilton, and its oldest resident. He was born in the State of Delaware, in the county of Kent, September 12, 1794, and began living here in 1804. He was consequently eighty-seven years oldl when he died. His father's name was Elijah, and his moth- et's Elizabeth. Mr. Longfellow was three times married. By his first wife, Nancy, he had two children. Jonathan was born March 16, 1815, and Elijah August 29, 1817. His second wife, Elizabeth, had eight children. Delia was born October 11, 1820; Rebecca, October 3, 1822; Daniel, November 20, 1824; Levi, March 14, 1826; John J., May 15, 1828; James, April 3, 1834, and Jane in 1832. Rebecca, Daniel, and Levi are now dead. His third wife was Elizabeth, daughter of William L. and Rachel Kewland. Her father was in the war of 1812, and Me: Longfellow had a nephew in the last war, who died from a gunshot wound in the neck.
Robert Harper was born in County Down, Ireland, July 6, 1803. He was educated in selcet schools in Ire- land, emigrating to America in 1826 or 1827. He lauded in Baltimore, and then engaged with Galloway & Brown for three years. He came to Ohio in 1831, and located in Hamilton, engaging in the grocery and produce busi- ness, in the firm of Johnson & Harper. It was thus known for three years, when it became Harper, Hecs- tox & Co., for three or four years. They also carried on distilling and ran a line of freight boats to Cincinnati. This lasted till 1840, since which he has led a retired life. Mr. Harper married Mary, daughter of Colonel Matthew Hueston, of whom a full account is given ek-e- where. Mrs. Harper was born in Butler County, in 1811. They are the parents of six children, three of whom are living. Hannah is now the wife of Major R. E. Lawder, of Missouri; Eliza J., the wite of William P. Washburn, of Tennessee, and Kate is now Mrs. Wall- iam P. Chamberlain, of Knoxville, Tennessee. Mrs. Harper died December 15, 1879. Mr. Harper was canal collector for three years, in 1833, 1834, and 1835. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and has been a Whig and Republican. He has been a successfid and respected citizen.
In 1788, at the suggestion of John C. Synimes, Enos
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Potter purchased a seetion of land in the Symmes pur- chase, and with his wife, Rhoda Miller, left his pleasant home in New Jersey to make a new one in the wilder- ness. But, upon his arrival at Columbia, learning that the Indians were very hostile, they concluded to remain there till these dangers were over. But, after having spent ten years in their temporary home, they removed, in 1798, to their farm, near Middletowu, where they were the remainder of their lives. These early pioneers had ten-children, the youngest son of whom was Aaron, who was born in 1809. In this home he grew up under the fostering care of a more than ordinary mother, his father dying when he was only five years old. But in 1827, when he attained his eighteenth year, he left the maternal fireside, and removed to Cincinnati, where, uu- der the tuition of E. B. Potter, he learned his trade. On September 20, 1830, he married Miss Emeline Rans- dale, and in 1837 he removed his business to this city, where he remained to the day of his death, with the ex- ception of a few months, which were spent in Indiana. Ile was the first ornamental marble-cutter ever in this place.
He was baptized by Elder Gard at the age of seven- teen, and had a decided evidence that he had become a child of God. Nor was his espousal of the faith once delivered to the saints a mere form. As soon as he was settled in business here he was found in the prayer-meet- ings and Sabbath-school, anxious to do good somewhere, even if the Church of his choice did not exist in the place. For five years he prayed and wept over the fact that there was no Baptist Church here with whose members he could work for the honor of God. But when upon the 31st of December, 1841, Rev. A. Drury eame here and preached in the Presbyterian Church in Rossville, he felt that the favored time had come, and with one con- genial spirit, he resolved that separate meetings should be regularly maintained till God in his providence should warrant the organization of a Baptist Church, and just here the real character of Mr. Potter appears ir its true light, for he, with Dr. Rigdou, solemnly pledged him- self before God, to maintain the worship of God and pay the amount which might be needed to carry this deter- mination into execution. and, with the aid of a few who loved the truth, and under the guidance of such men as Drury, Bryant, Moore, and others of a kindred spirit, the little band so prospered that on the 20th of April, 1844, it was recognized as a branch of the Lockland Church. During that whole period of toil and anxiety, from the preaching of Drury's first sermon in 1841 till the organization of the first Baptist Church in 1844, we find that Messrs. Potter and Rigdon were responsible for all the expenses needed, and so deeply was Mr. Potter interested in that growing work that during most of the time he acted not only as treasurer but as sexton also, and after the organization of an independent Church of his own faith we find that its highest, interests lay near
his heart. It was the child of his own labor and toil, and to the day of his death its welfare found a place in all his prayers. In health his seat in the sanctuary was never empty.
On the first day of July, 1871, he died, in the sixty- second year of his age. He was married in 1830 to Miss Emeline Ransdale, daughter of J. Ransdale, a former well-known citizen of Cincinnati. Mrs. Potter was born in Boston, Massachusetts, July 19th, 1813. They were the parents of six children, of whom but one, Charlotte A. Shuey, now the widow of Adam C. Shuey, now survives. She was born January 9th, 1833.
LEWIS D. CAMPBELL ..
Lewis D. Campbell, once minister to Mexico, and for many years a representative in Congress, where he was chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, was born in Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, on the 9th of August, 1811. He attended school in Franklin until he was fourteen years old, when he was transferred to the farm, on which he labored until he was seventeen. From 1828 until 1831 he served an apprenticeship in the office of the Cincinnati Gazette. He began here at the lowest round of the ladder, carrying newspapers and sweeping out the office in the morning. He soon acquired much proficiency in the printer's art, and in 1831. came to Hamilton, where he published a weekly newspaper ad- vocating the election of Henry Clay to the presidency. This was the Intelligencer. In its columns he soon began to display that keenness of retort, that power of' argu- ment, and that knowledge of statistics which afterwards made him so strong in public life.
While editing and printing his journal he studied law, and in 1835 was admitted to the bar. He soon acquired a large and valuable practice, which would have been still mere profitable to him, had he abstained from polit- ical action. But this his natural temper forbade. In 1840 he was elected, as he thought, over John B. Wei- ler, the most formidable Democrat in his district, to Con- gress, but did not receive the certificate, which was awarded to Mr. Weller. Mr. Campbell, however, refused to go to Washington to eontest the seat, and expressedi his determination never to enter that city until he did so as a member of Congress. That opportunity came to him in 1848, when he was chosen by a majority over General Baldwin. He at once took a leading position. In 1850 he was elected over Judge Elijah Vance; in 1852, 1854, and 1856, over C. L. Vallandigham, after- wards the leader of the Peace Democracy in Ohio during the war, and in 1870 over Robert C. Scheuek, one of the strongest men in Congress.
Mr. Campbell found the great question in Congress, during the ten years he first spent there, was slavery. In 1850 Henry Clay introduced his celebrated con- promise measures, designed to pacify and conciliate the | South, and to cement the Union. It was then in no
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serious danger, but Mr. Clay believed that it was, and enough others joined him to pass the measures through. One of these bills was vigorously opposed by the young representative from this district. It was the iniquitous fugitive slave bill. That denied to a man accused of being a slave the right to a jury trial, which was granted to every one accused of having stolen a dollar; it raised a court to decide upon a black man's freedom, from whose decision there was practically no appeal; for if the unhappy wretch were declared a slave, he was im- mediately taken to a Southern State, where he had no standing in a court of law, and it allowed the commis- sioner sitting as judge ten dollars if he decreed slavery, five dollars if he decreed freedom. Mr. Campbell par- ticipated prominently in the debates on this and the other bills, uniformly maintaining the position that, while the Southern States should enjoy all their rights guaranteed by the Constitution, slavery should be ex- eluded from the Territories by Congressional enactment. In the Thirty-third Congress, when the great question ยท of repealing the Missouri Compromise came before the House of Representatives, he was selected in a conference of the opposition members as their leader on the floor. That struggle will long be remembered. Those opposed to the repeal, under the lead of Thomas II. Benton and Lewis D. Campbell, used every effort and exhausted every parliamentary device to defeat it. But it was not to be. Those in favor of the measure were stronger than those opposed, and after an all-night's session the bill was finally passed. Being a good parliamentarian and a ready debater, with a good voice, he discharged the duties thus assigned him, during that long and ever- memorable struggle, with eminent satisfaction to the friends of freedom, mecting in discussion the ablest men of the South. The discussion between him and Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, on the relative ad- vantages of free and slave labor, gave him rank with the ablest debaters of Congress.
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At the opening of the Thirty-fourth Congress, Mr. Campbell received the votes of a large majority of his party for the speakership, and would probably have been elected had he continued to be a candidate. But in con- sequence of pledges exacted of him, which he thought would dishonor him if made, he peremptorily withdrew his name. After a struggle, prolonged many weeks, N. P. Banks was elected. During this Congress Mr. Campbell served as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. The arduous duties thus devolving upon him were dis- charged with great ability. Among the measures re- ported by him, which became laws, was the Tariff Aet of 1857, which levied the lowest average duties on imports of any act passed within the last half century.
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It was during this Congress that Preston S. Brooks made the assault ou Charles Sumner in the old Senate- chamber. Mr. Campbell was one of the first to reach the senator after he was stricken down. On the follow-
ing day he introduced the resolution for an investigation, was chairman of the committee appointed for that pur- pose, and made a report for the expulsion of Brooks. The challenge which the latter subsequently sent Mr. Burlingame was one of the fruits of the assault on Mr. Sumner. Upon the pressing request of Mr. Burlingame Mr. Campbell took charge of the affair as his friend (General Joseph Lane, of Oregon, being the friend of Mr. Brooks). The correspondence on the part of Mr. Burlingame was wholly written by Mr. Campbell, who still retains all the original papers. It was through his skillful management that Mr. Burlingame was carried safely through without a stain upon his honor.
When the Southern rebellion commeneed Mr. Camp- bell at once ardently espoused the cause of the Union. In the Spring and Summer of 1861 he assisted in rais- ing several regiments. In the Autumn following he or- ganized the Sixty-ninth Ohio Regiment, and was commis- sioned as its colonel. In the Winter of 1861-2 he was in command of Camp Chase, where he received and kept as prisoners of war the officers taken at Fort Dou- elson and iu other battles. In April following he went under orders with his regiment to Tennessee, where he served in the Army of the Cumberland until the failure of his health, when he reluctantly retired.
This position Colonel Campbell had taken, not be- cause he thought he was the one best fitted for it, in a military sense, but because he could thus be a better support to the government of Tennessee. After the out- break of the War of Secession Andrew Johnson was the only one of the senators from the seceded States who remained. His electrical appeals for the preserva- tion of the Union gave him great popularity in the North, but of course he could not return home. as Ten- nessee was then under rebel rule. As soon, therefore, as our troops had opened the way, Mr. Johnson was re- quested to act as governor, and Colonel Campbell to aet as the military commander. Mr. Johnson required some one to help him who was thoroughly familiar with pub- lie affairs, to counsel with as occasion required, and these requisites were to be found in his associate. Be- fore Mr. Johnson went to Tennessee he made Colonel Campbell's house his home, and from this place both went out to make stirring appeals for the Union.
During the war, and after it, Colonel Campbell was frequently called upon to go to Washington. Lincola, Seward, and Johnson all possessed great confidence in his patriotism, his practical experience, and his insight into men. Seward had been in the Senate while he was in the House, and they had frequently met at each oth- er's rooms, and the New Yorker had learned to repose implicit confidence in his friend from Ohio. Lincoln held him in high favor, and Johnson desired him to take a seat in the Cabinet. This he refused, as his po- cuniary condition at the time would not permit of the sacrifice.
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But in 1866 Colonel Campbell was appointed minister to Mexico, to sueezed Thomas Corwin, who had just died, He hesitated, but finally aeeepted. In November of that year, accompanied by General Sherman, he proceeded on his mission. The French army of oeeupation and other forees of Maximilian were then in Mexico, holding the eapital and other principal cities. President Juarez and his cabinet officers had been driven to a poiut near the north-western border. Failing to reaeb the government of that republie in its migratory condition, Mr. Camp- bell was directed by Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, to make his official residenee, temporarily, in New Orleans. He remained there uutil Juue following, when, tired of that kind of service abroad, he resigned.
Taking his seat as a member of the Forty-seeond Con- gress in March, 1871, he was at ouee recognized as pos- sessing that commanding influenee which is attained ouly by long and honorable publie service. Aeting with the minority, he was not placed in such position as to take the leading part which had fallen to his lot in previous congressional service, yet his influence was very percep- tible in the promotion of salutary legislation.
In April, 1873, immediately after the elose of the Forty-second Congress, Mr. Campbell was elected a del- egate to the convention to revise and amend the eonsti- tution of the State of Ohio. After the convention as- sembled at Columbus he was elected, on the 22d of May, its vice-president by a unanimous vote.
In politics Mr. Campbell eomineneed his career in the school of Clay, Webster, and others, and was always an active member of the Whig party until its dissolution. Subsequently he was identified with the Republican party, but in 1860, believing that the leaders of that party were going too far, he voted for Bell and Everett. After the war of the Rebellion closed he left that party, believing that by its reconstruction and other aets it had abandoned the principles upon which the war had been prosecuted, and that its measures of eentralization were anti-republi- can and of imperial tendeuey. He has sinee eo-operated with the Demoeratie party, and supported Mr. Seymour for the presidency in 1868, Mr. Greeley iu 1872, and Mr. Tilden in 1876.
During the last twenty years Mr. Campbell has been engaged in agricultural pursuits on his large and fertile farm on the Great Miami River, near the city of Ham -. ilton. It has fallen to the lot of few men now living to take a more prominent and influential part in the his- tory of the country than Mr. Campbell.
Mr. Campbell's ancestors, paternal and maternal, em- igrated from the highlands of Scotland and settled in Virginia and Pennsylvania. His maternal grandfather, Andrew Small, at the age of eighteen years chlisted in the army of the American Revolution, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, on the first day of July, 1775, in the rifle regiment of Colonel Harris, and served in the severe northern campaign of that year under General
Montgomery. He served in the war most of the time until 1781.
Mr. Campbell's father, Samuel Campbell, was born in Virginia. He emigrated to the Northwest Territory in the year 1796, and settled in the Miami Valley. He was out in the War of 1812, undder General Harrison. Mr. Campbell's mother was born in Pennsylvania, March 20, 1785, and now, aged ninety-seven years, lives near Franklin, Ohio, enjoying good health, on the same traet of land on which her father settled in 1796, when the Miami Valley was an unbroken wilderness. Her father served in the war of the American Revolution ; her hus- band served in the War of 1812, and two of her sons and two of her grandsons served in the Union army in the late War of the Rebellion.
Mr. Campbell married the only daughter of John -Reily, of whom a full sketeh appears elsewhere.
When the war of the late Rebellion eomineneed, Mrs. Lewis D. Campbell had two brothers living : James Reily, the oldest, residing in Texas, and Robert, the youngest, in Ohio. Both went into the war, aud were killed in battle (eoloneis at the head of their regiments), the former in the Confederate army, at Bayou Teche, Louisiana, the latter in the Union army, in the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia.
GREENWOOD CEMETERY.
For some years previous to 1847, the citizens of the villages of Hamilton and of Rossville became impressed with the necessity of abaudoning the use of the burial grounds provided for each town, and the urgent duty of obtaining new places for the purpose of sepulture. No steps had been taken to effect the desired object until the Fall of that year, when John W. Erwin, in connec- tion with other gentlemen, determined to ascertain the views of the eitizens, and to raise, if possible, a suffi- eient amount of money for the purchase of suitable grounds for cemetery purposes. Thereupon, in the Fall of 1847, the following paper was prepared and presented to the citizens of Hamilton and vieinicy for their sul- scriptions :
"The undersigned eitizens of Hamilton and vicinity, believing it to be of the utmost importance that a rural cemetery should be established in the neighborhood of said town, do hereby associate ourselves as a joint stock company for that purpose, cach share of stock to be twenty-five dollars, and when a sufficient amount shall have been subscribed, the same to be applied for the purchase and improvement of grounds suitable for that purpose, to be laid off in walks, carriage-ways, alleys and .subdivisions, and sold in lots under the direction of the association. Stock subscribed to go in payment of lots purchased, and the balance of the proceeds, if any, to be expended from time to time in defraying expenses and improvements on the grounds," etc.
Mr. Erwin, and others, diligently sought to obtain
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subscribers to the paper. They encountered many diffi- eulties in their efforts. Some thought there was no press- ing necessity for new cemetery grounds. Some thought the enterprise ehimerical, and that a sufficient amount of money could not be raised to accomplish the objeet. Others, who sometimes and to some extent found them- selves in antagonism with movements made by Hamil- ton, were impressed with the idea that Hamilton was too unhealthy for a burying-ground. Notwithstanding the many objections urged to the undertaking and the difficulties encountered, persistent efforts were made to secure subscriptions. Finally, an amount deemed suffi- cient to justify a more complete organization and the purchase of grounds was subscribed.
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Very opportunely, just when most needed, the Legisla- ture of Ohio, on the twenty-fourth day of February, 1848, passed a general law for the organization of cemetery asso- ciations. By the passage of this act the friends of the enter- prise were greatly assisted in their undertaking. At a meeting held at the court-house in Hamilton on the 25th of February, 1848, John M. Millikin, John W. Erwin, and William Bebb were appointed a committee to personally examine several sites suggested, and on the subsequent third day of March, 1848, the committee submitted a re- port, in which they discussed the character of the subsoil best suited for a cemetery and other essential qualities, such as an undulating surface, the amount and quality of the natural growth of timber, location, etc. The committee
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