A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 21

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > Ohio > Scioto County > A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record > Part 21

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John Bureau his son, died when quite young. Mrs. Dahlgren is now deceased. She has a daughter, Mrs. Pierce, now residing in Washington, D. C. Mr. Vinton was of a slight frame, but of great dignity of presence. He had a mild clear blue eye, and his thin com- pressed lips showed the determination of his character. His manner was composed, but sweet and gentle, scarcely indicating his great firm- ness. Thomas Ewing, the elder, said of him, on being informed of his death, that "for ten or fifteen years he had more influence in Congress than any man in it. He was a wise, sagacious statesman, almost unerring in his perception of right, bold in pursuing and skillful in sustaining his opinions. He had always a large control over the minds of those with whom he acted. Within the range of my ac- quaintance, he has hardly left a peer behind him."

At his own request, he was interred in the Cemetery at Gallipolis, beside his wife, who died in 1831.

William Allen of Ross County.

William Allen was born in Edenton, N. C. in 1806. He emigrated to Ross County, Ohio, in 1823, and studied law. In 1827, although a minor, he was admitted to the practice of law. In 1832, he was elect- ed a representative as a Jackson Democrat, by a single vote over Gen- eral Duncan McArthur, Clay Democrat, serving from Dec. 2nd, 1833, to March 3rd, 1835. In 1837. he was elected to the United States Senate in place of Thomas Ewing, Whig; in 1843, he was re-elected to the same position. In 1873, he was elected Governor of Ohio over General Edward F. Noyes, receiving 214,654 votes while his compet- otor received 213,837. In 1875, he was defeated for governor by Gen- eral Rutherford Hayes, who received 297,817, while 292,273, were cast for Allen. In 1876, he was candidate for the presidential nomination before the Democratic National convention at St. Louis, which nomin-

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ated Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. He died at Fruit Hill, his man- orial residence, near Chillicothe, in 1879.

His parents died in his infancy, and he became the ward of his aunt, Mrs. Thurman, the mother of Judge Allen G. Thurman, who resided in Virginia. In 1821, the parents of the latter gentleman emi- grated from Virginia to Chillicothe. Young Allen was at that time a student in the Lynchburg, Va. academy, where he remained for two years, and then joined the Thurmans in their new home.

His education was finished in a private school in Chillicothe, after which he began the study of law with Thomas Scott, the eminent jurist, who after a long series of years graced the supreme bench of Ohio, being the chief justice of that court during a considerable portion of his judicial services.

In 1827. he was admitted to practice, while still below the legal age, through a special rule, and in recognition of his ability and erudition. He entered at once into partnership with Colonel Edward King, under whose tuition he completed his legal studies. His career in his profession was brilliant and successful.

He entered politics in 1832, rather against his natural bent and inclinations, and was elected to the national house of representatives by a single vote over General Duncan McArthur, whose daughter, Mrs. Effie McArthur Coons, he married in 1845. Mrs. Allen inherited Fruit Hill from her father, and there the distinguished senator and future governor resided during the remainder of his life.

Just preceding the meeting of the legislature in 1837, which chose a successor to Thomas Ewing in the United States Senate, Mr. Allen was the orator of the day at a Democrat banquet at Columbus, and delivered a speech so pregnant with eloquence and so pertinent to the great and exciting issues of the hour, that it won him the support of his friends and the members of his party in the legislature in the close and exciting contest which followed.

The election took place on the 18th of January, 1837, and 13 bal- lots were taken, 108 votes being cast, and 55 were necessary to elect. On the thirteenth ballot he received the required 55, Thomas Ewing receiv- ing 52, one marked scattering and one not voting, so that he reached the senatorship by a single vote. In 1843 he was re-elected by 63 votes to 44 for Mr. Ewing and one blank.

In the Senate he distinguished himself for his great forensic ability no less than for his strong and aggressive views on all great questions. During the Oregon boundary dispute the American claim extended to 54 degrees 40 minutes of north latitude, which was disput- ed by the English diplomates and statesmen. In a speech in the senate when this question was under consideration Allen said: "I am here to declare for 54 40 or fight." In the presidential campaign of 1844. this expression became the Democratic battle cry throughout the country. During his whole senatorial career he was the champion of a

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vigorous foreign policy and the unrelenting foe of the Bank of the United States.

An intense Democrat he took an active part in all the political campaigns from 1832 to 1845. Of gigantic frame and mold, and a voice like Stentor's, he gained the sobriquet of "The Fog Horn", after he had drowned the noise of a steam whistle which was being blown in the vicinity of a Democratic mass meeting to prevent his auditors from hearing him.

In 1845, he retired from public life, and devoted himself to the graces of literature and scientific research. He became an expert in botany and geology, was an enthusiastic patron of art and literature. and nothing so delighted him as to have his friends, old and young, throng his stately mansion and talk with him on his favorite topics.

Many and strenuous efforts were made by his friends to recall him to public life, but he put them all aside until 1873, almost forty years after his retiracy, and then re-entered public life under the most pecu- liar circumstances.

In that year the leaders of the Democratic party were anxiously scanning the horizon for some one who could retrieve the disastrous defeats of nearly a score of fruitless campaigns. Many distinguished names were canvassed, but Allen's was not on the list because of his many declinations. Then it was that Mr. Murat Halstead, the bril- liant editor of the chief Republican Journal in the State, "The Cincin- nati Commercial," paraphrazed an ancient popular melody as follows. indicative of the sore straits of the Ohio Democracy :

"Come, rise up, William Allen, And go along with me, And I will make you governor Of Ohio's fair countree."

A copy of the Commercial containing this ditty was shown to Senator Allen, by Colonel John A. Cockrill, the afterward renowned journalist, then a young man representing the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The clear, grey blue eye of the sage of Fruit Hill twinkled with merriment as he listened to the jingle of the lines. He stretched him- self to his full height, walked to and fro on the broad veranda for a few moments, and then stopping in front of his young friend said :

"John, you will do me the kindness to say in the Enquirer in the morning that I cannot resist Mr. Halstead's kind invitation, and that I will accept the Democratic nomination if it is tendered to me, and more than that I will be elected governor by the people."

That message, when it appeared in the press of the state the next day in a much more elaborate form, electrified the party in the state. and when the Democratic state convention met, it unanimously nomin- ated the Sage of Fruit Hill, in the midst of the wildest enthusiasm. He took the stump with all the ardor of youth, and although the Re- publican committee, scenting the danger, covered the state with the abl-

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HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

est orators from all parts of the Union, he was elected by a plurality of 817. The remainder of the Democratic state ticket was defeated by pluralities ranging from 176 to 633. President Grant had carried the state on the Republican ticket at the preceding election by over 37, 000.

The marble statue of William Allen adorns the rotunda of the National Capital as one of the Ohioans of the nineteenth century (leemed worthy of that honor by the general assembly of the state.

William Key Bond

was born in 1792, in St. Mary's, Maryland. He received his education at Litchfield, Connecticut. He went to Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1812, and was admitted to the bar there. He was a partner with William Creigh- ton from 1813 to 18441. He was a Colonel in the Militia. He served in the 24th, 25th and 26th Congresses. He left Chillicothe in 1841, and located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was appointed Surveyor of that port, by President Fillmore, which office he held for several years. He was also interested in Railways, from 1850 to 1860. He was a business man above all things. Colonel Bond was an active partisan in politics, upon the Whig side. In those days there was as potent a "Virginia Ring" as there is now ; but then the Virginians and immedi- ate descendants of Virginians were nearly all Whigs; and it was only when the issues growing out of slavery caused the dissolution of the Whig party, and the organization of the Republican party, that num- crous and influential class of our people went over to the Democracy, and the "ring" was transferred. Bond was the favorite of that ring ; and it was because neither he nor they would tolerate the election of a born Yankee to Congress, that the nomination of Douglas for that office was nullified, in 1831. Colonel Bond occupied a prominent part in the debates and business in the House of Representatives. "Bond's eight day speech", so styled because its delivery occupied one hour of eight consecutive days, was much commented upon by the political papers of forty years ago. Bond's opponents insisted on calling him an aristocrat and swearing that he wore silk stockings. Yet, with all his suavity, he could and would resent insult with promptitude and spirit. The writer, (Col. W. E. Gilmore,) witnessed an instance of this. Colonel Brush was adversely engaged to Bond in the trial of a cause, and repeatedly interrupted the latter's argument, though re- repeatedly requested to desist. Finally, a fourth interruption, accompan- ied by some offensive ennuendo, overcame Bond's self-control and re- spect for the court. He rushed across the room, seized with his thumb and forefinger the very prominent nose of the offender and wrung it until blood flowed, then spat in Brush's face. Having inflicted this punishment upon the offender, Bond walked back to his place and re- sumed his argument. He was not further interrupted. But after the conclusion of the case, he was fined fifteen dollars for contempt of court and no more serious result followed, although some anticipated

HON. WILLIAM RUSSELL.

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a bloody result from Brush. In 1844, he was severely, almost fatally hurt, by being struck when going aboard a steamboat, by a timber of a hoisting derrick, employed in loading the vessel. This injury, per- haps, and the death of his wife, afterwards, certainly hastened his dis- solution. He died greatly respected, as it was proper such a man should be, on February 17th, 1864.

William Russell

was born in Ireland, in 1782. He was left an orphan at an early age. He came to the United States alone, in 1796, at the age of four- teen. He remained a short time in Philadelphia, and while there began to learn a trade, that of a hatter. He went from Philadelphia to Mays- ville, Kentucky, took up hat making and followed it. While there he married Sarah Tribbey. They had one child but she and it died shortly after it was born. He moved to Adams County, Ohio, in 1802. He represented Adams county in the first legislature of the new state which sat at Chillicothe, Ohio, March I, to April 16, 1803. Thomas Kirker and Joseph Lucas were his colleagues. He was the first clerk of the courts of Scioto County, having been appointed De- cember 1803. It seems that the office did not suit his tastes and he resigned in June, 1804. In the eighth legislative session, December 4, 1809, to February 22, 1810, he was a member from Adams county at the munificent salary of two dollars per day. He had Dr. Alexander Campbell afterwards United States senator as a colleague. On the fifteenth day of February 1810, he was appointed an associate judge for Scioto County, Ohio. This office did not suit his tastes and he re- signed it in 1812.

At the tenth legislative session. December 10, 1811, to February 21, 1812, he was a member of the house from Adams county, with John Ellison as a colleague. This legislature sat at Zanesville, Ohio. The house impeached John Thompson, a president judge of the com- mon pleas, but on trial in the senate, he was acquitted. At this ses- sion Columbus was made the capital of the state, and the legislature provided for the military equipment of the Ohio militia. It also in- corporated a number of libraries in the state. At the eleventh leg- islative session, December 7th, 1812, to February 9th, 1813, William Russell was a member from Adams county with John Ellison as a col- league. This legislature provided for the care of women who had been abandoned by their husbands (an epidemic in those days), and made the property of the absconder liable for the wife's maintenance. Strong measures were adopted to require every able bodied man to re- spond to the call to arms, but the legislature, by special resolution, ex- cused Jacob Woodring, of Scioto County, from military duty, because his father was blind, lame, absolutely helpless and had two blind chil- dren. No one else was excused. From 1813 to 1819, he.dropped out of the legislature, but not out of public employment.

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HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

At the eighteenth legislative session from December 5th, 1819, to February 26th, 1820, he was a member of the Senate from Adams County. The House amused itself by impeaching two judges on the grounds of deciding an election contest contrary to the evidence, but the Senate unanimously acquitted them. The Senate spent a great deal of time in discussing the Missouri Compromise and the question of slavery.

At the nineteenth legislative session, December 4. 1820, to Feb- ruary 23, 1821, William Russell again represented Adams County in the Senate. The question of a canal system occupied much attention ; also that of attacking branches of the United States bank. This legis- . lature placed the United States Bank without the pale of Ohio laws and forbade the officers of the courts to recognize it in any way. Jus- tices and judges were forbidden to entertain any case for it ; sheriffs to arrest any one at its instance, or notaries to protest notes for it, or take any acknowledgement for it. Justices and judges were to be fined $500.00 if they entertained a suit for it, and sheriffs $200.00 for put- ting any one in jail at its instance. From this time, 1812 to 1829, William Russell was out of public employment. In the fall of 1826, he was elected to Congress as a Democrat, and re-elected for two succeeding terms. During all this time he was a resident of Adams County and a merchant at West Union. After his third term in con- gress expired, March 4, 1833, he removed to near Rushtown, Ohio, in Scioto County and engaged in forging bar iron. In this enterprise he was unsuccessful and is said to have lost $30,000. He was elected to the twenty-seventh Congress in 1841 as a Whig and served one term. At the end of his first term, March 4, 1843, he returned to his farm on Scioto Brush Creek, where he continued to reside until his death, September 28, 1845, at the age of 63. When at Portsmouth in 1803. he was a Presbyterian, but returning to West Union, he became a Methodist. In 1809 to 1820, he was one of the trustees of the Meth- odist Episcopal church in West Union, Ohio, and aided in the erection of the first church there, and all his life after, he was a faithful, devot- ed and devout Methodist. He was a student and self educated. He was a fluent and pleasant speaker and had extensive conversational powers. He was liked and respected by all who knew him. He had a remarkable popularity, largely owing to his even temper. As a mer- chant he was strict and honorable in all his dealings, and maintained the highest credit.

His public career began at the age of twenty-one, when elected to the first legislature of Ohio. He was a legislator, clerk of court, state senator and congressman and filled each and every office with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents. In private life he was a successful merchant, an honored member of the Methodist church and an upright citizen. In this case the office sought the man. How many men have crowded into the space of forty years so many

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activities? Comparing him to the men of his time, we find he held office in two counties, and all he lacked was that he was not made a militia general. Every legislator of prominence, under the constitu- tion of 1802, was either made an associate judge or a major-general of militia. William Russell obtained the judgeship but missed the generalship. However, his career in congress gave him more distinc- tion than the military title could have done.

In 1802, he married Nancy Wood and had seven children, six sons and a daughter. One of the sons lived near Rushtown during his life. Another, Wm. B. married Rebecca Lucas and became the father of six children, three sons and three daughters. A grandson, James Russell, resides near Lucasville, Ohio, and another, George Russell, in Portsmouth, Ohio.

John L. Taylor.

General John L. Taylor, a prominent citizen of Ross County, ivas elected four times to congress. He was first elected in 1864 from the eighth district, composed of Ross, Pike, Jackson and Scioto Coun- ties ; was re-elected to the Thirty-first in 1848; and in 1850 to the Thir- ty-second in the same district. In 1852 he was elected to the Thirty- third congress from the tenth district, embracing Ross, Scioto, Law- rence, Pike and Jackson.

He was born in Stafford County, Virginia, March 7th, 1805, and came to Chllicothe in 1825, and was for many years a major-general of militia. After his service in congress he was given an important position in the department of interior. He died in Washington, D. C., September 6, 1870.

Colonel Oscar Fitzallen Moore

was born January. 27th, 1815, near Steubenville, Ohio, the son of James H. Moore and his wife, Sarah Stull. His maternal grandfath- er, Daniel Stull was a Captain in the Revolutionary war. He grad- uated at Washington College, Pennsylvania, in the class of 1836. Di- rectly after he began the study of law under D. L. Collier then May- or of Steubenville. He attended one session of the Cincinnati law school and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court in session at Steubenville, in October, 1838. In April, 1839, he located at Ports- mouth, Ohio, and remained there the remainder of his life. From that date until 1852, there was a law that lawyers should pay taxes on their incomes to the State. They made no returns of income and the Assessor guessed them off.

If he guessed under, as was usually the case, no complaints were made. If he guessed over, it was a good advertisement for the law- yer, worth all the tax as an advertisement and no complaints were made. This is the way the Assessors guessed off Col. Moore, 1839, $100: 1842, $300; 1843, $500; 1845, $800; 1847. $1,000; 1849, $1,500.

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In the fall of 1839, he announced himself as a candidate for Prose -- cuting Attorney against Samuel M. Tracy, but before the election, he withdrew, and Mr. Tracy was elected unanimously.

In 1840, July 4, he delivered the oration at a celebration of the day by the Franklin Institute of which he was a member, and of which he was the Vice-President in 1842. The Franklin Institute had a cele- bration of its own that day, there being another public one in the town.

In 1843, on September 19, he was married at Chillicothe, Ohio, to Martha B. Scott, daughter of Judge Thomas Scott, of Chillicothe, Ohio, who was the first prosecuting attorney for Scioto County and the father of fifteen children. Three of Judge Scott's daughters were married in Portsmouth, one to Howells, a merchant, one to Col. T. J. Graham and one to Col. O. F. Moore.

Col. Moore was a most ardent and enthusiastic Whig. He was consequently a great admirer of Henry Clay, and when his first child was born, he hoped it would be a boy so he might name it for Henry Clay, whom it might be said he worshiped. The first born proved to be a girl and he named her Clay. She is now the wife of Mr. George O. Newman and a grandmother. His second daughter is Mrs. Kate Newman, the wife of Hon. James W. Newman.

In 1844, he was a candidate for Mayor of Portsmouth and to the lasting disgrace of the town, was defeated. The vote stood Moore, 146; Richard H. Tomlin, 177. Before the term was out, council was trying to rid itself of Tomlin, because of inefficiency. In the same year Mr. Moore served on the Whig Central Committee.

From 1853 to 1855, he was City Solicitor at a salary of $100.00 per year. In 1850, he was elected to the House of Representatives of the State as a Whig, for Scioto and Lawrence Counties. He had 1,326 votes and his opponent Johnston had 430, majority 839. In 1851, he was elected to the State Senate over Francis Cleveland, Demo- crat. The vote stood in Scioto County, Moore 1,309, Cleveland 888, Moore's majority 421.

In 1854, he was a candidate for Congress and carried the Coun- ty by 1,200 majority. In1855, he was a delegate to the Republican State Convention. In 1856, he ran for Congressman on the American ticket. R. C. Hoffman ran on the Republican ticket and Joseph Miller on the Democrat ; Miller was elected. The vote of Scioto County was Moore, 1,343; Miller, 1,309; Hoffman, 532. In the whole District the vote stood Joseph Miller, Democratic, 7,403; Richard C. Hoffman, Re- publican, 5,633 ; Oscar F. Moore, American, 4,325.

In 1859, in the Spring, he declared he believed he was a Demo- crat, but in the campaign, he addressed Republican meetings. He professed himself pleased with the nomination of Lincoln for Presi- dent in 1860, and determined to vote for him, but on July 7th, 1860, he declared himself for Bell and Everett.

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On July 31st, 1861, he entered the 33rd O. V. I. as its Lieutenant Colonel. The original Colonel was Joshua Sill and he was promoted to Brigadier-General. Moore was made Colonel July 16, 1862.

At the battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8, 1862, he was se- verely wounded, captured and paroled by the enemy. He was not ex- changed till February, 1863. He was really unfit for duty after his wound, but he still remained in the service. He commanded his regi- ment at the two days battle at Chickamauga, where it lost so heavily in killed and wounded. He served in Court Martials at Nashville Term in 1863 and 1864. July 20th, 1864, he resigned and came home.

In 1864, he supported McClellan for the Presidency and from that date continued to be a Democrat.

In 1866, he was the Democratic nominee for Congress and was defeated. The vote in the District composed of Adams, Gallia, Jack- son, Lawrence, Scioto and Vinton was Wilson, 12,783: O. F. Moore, 9,945. In Scioto County the vote was Wilson, 2,621 ; Moore, 2, 120. While he was always at the service of his party for campaign speeches, he was not again a candidate before the people until 1881, when he was a candidate for Common Pleas Judge on the Democratic ticket. The majorities in the District were Moore, 797, A. C. Thompson 2,407, net majority for Thompson, 1,620. In the County the vote stood Thompson, 2,407 ; Moore, 2,113. Thompson's majority, 284. This was the lowest majority on the ticket, the highest being 1,252. This closed Colonel Moore's political career. He died June 24th, 1885, at Waverly, Ohio, while in attendance on the court there. He practiced law from 1839 until 1885, a period of forty-six years. He acquired great eminence in his profession and was employed in all important suits in his own County and many in the surrounding Counties. He was not a member of any Church, but was a constant attendant on the services of the First Presbyterian Church, at Portsmouth. He had been such a devoted Whig that when that party was dissolved, he knew not where to turn. He was zealous in his support of the American party while it lasted, but his education and training as a Whig, and his conservatism prevented him from being at home in the Republi- can party. He had never been anti-slavery and believed in the guar- antees of the Constitution as to slavery and when such rank abolition- ists, as Milton Kennedy, Joseph Ashton and F. C. Searl were in the front ranks of the Republican party, he felt that he was not at home there. He had many warm friends-more of them out of his party than in it. He was liberal in his views and extremely charitable. His ability as a lawyer, whether with the Court or jury was the very high- est. He was a great student in his profession and always came out strongest in a close case. As a politician, he was a failure, because of his extreme conservatism, due to his legal training. No great lawyer ever made a successful politician ; and Col. Moore was no exception to the rule. His Republican friends thought if, when the Republican

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 21

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913 Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612