A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 23

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 23

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Capt. Wilson was married in 1841, to Miss Hadassah G. Dryden. There was one son of this marriage, Spencer H. Wilson, born Sept. 13, 1842, and whom he gave to his country, as before stated. Captain Wilson's wife died March 23, 1849, and he never re-married.

Capt .. Wilson not only invested his fortune in the war securities and sent his only son and child to war, but went himself and served as long as he could. Could any one have done more?

In the summer of 1863, he was nominated by the Republicans of the seventh senatorial district of Ohio, to the State Senate without be- ing a candidate, and without his knowledge or consent he was elected. In 1865, he was re-nominated and re-elected to the same office, and

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served his constituency with great credit and satisfaction. In 1866, he was nominated by the Republicans of the Eleventh Ohio District for a member of Congress, and was re-nominated and re-elected in 1868 and in 1870: though just before his congressional service, and just after it, the district was carried by the Democracy.

When Mr. Wilson was first nominated for congress, it was not supposed that he was a speaker, or that he could canvass the district, but he made appointments for speaking all over the district, and filled them to the satisfaction of every one. He made a most effective speak- er, and moreover, the farmers all over the district believed what he said. and were justified in doing it. He was never present at a convention which nominated or renominated him for office, and never in the slightest way solicited a nomination or a re-nomination.

He was the most satisfactory congressman ever sent from his district. Every constituent who ever wrote him, got an answer in Mr. Wilson's own hand writing, which was as uniform and as plain as copperplate The letter told the constituent just what he wanted to know, and was a model of perspicuity and brevity. Those letters are now precious relics to any one who has one of them, and they are models of what letters should be.

If a constituent wrote for an office, he was sure to get an answer which would tell him whether he could get an office or not, and if Mr. Wilson told him he could get an office, and that he would as- sist him, he was sure of it. Mr. Wilson had the confidence of the Pres- ident and of all the appointing officers, and if he asked for an office inside of the district, he usually obtained it, because he made it a rule never to ask for an office unless he thought he was entitled to it, and that it would be granted him.

Mr. Wilson retired from Congress at the end of his third term with the good will of his entire district, and with the feeling that he had served to their entire satisfaction.

On March 6, 1882, he gave Adains County, Ohio, $46,667.03 to- ward the erection of a Children's Home. The gift was really $50,000, but was subject to certain reductions, which netted it as the sum first named. As the county built the Home, he issued his own checks in payment for it, until the entire gift was made. That Home is now one of the finest and best built institutions of the kind in the state. By his last will and testament, he gave to the Children's Home an en- dowment of $35,000 and $15,000 in farming lands. He also gave $5,000 toward the erection of a soldier's monument to the memory of the Adams County soldiers who had died or been killed during the Civil War This monument has been erected in the grounds of the Wilson Children's Home, and occupies a site overlooking the sur- rounding country.

Mr. Wilson made many private bequests in his will, which it is not within the scope of this article to mention; but to show his kindly

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disposition we mention that he gave $1,000 to a church in which he was reared and held his membership, and $1,000 to the church at Tranquil- ity, where he resided His house keeper, a faithful woman, he made independent for life. As a residuary bequest, he gave to the com- missioners of Adams County, $150,000 to be expended in the support of the worthy poor.

It is to the interest of the state that every citizen shall be law abid- ing ; that he shall faithfully follow some occupation and support him- self and those dependent upon him ; that he shall accumulate and hold property to guarantee his own independence and that of his family, and that he shall be able to contribute to the needs of the state.

It is also to the interest of the state that, in case of war, its citizens shall place their entire property and their personal services fully at its disposal. A citizen who performs all these obligations is said to be patriotic, and the virtues of patriotism are more admired than any , other, because what is given in that direction is given for the com- mon good of all the people of the country.

One may take the entire list of patriots, from Leonidas, the Spar- tan down to Lincoln, the great war president, or in our country, from General Warren down to the last man who fell at Appomattox, and none can be found who did more work for his own country than the Hon. John T. Wilson.

He periled his entire fortune ; he gave the life of his only son, and he freely offered his own. What more could he have done ?

Patriotism is and must be measured by the station of life which a man occupies when his opportunity comes.

If each man does all he can, and offers and gives all he can, he is as great a patriot as any one can be. Measured by the standard, Capt. John T. Wilson, filled the full measure of patriotism.

When he came to the last of earth, he not only remembered those upon whom the law would have cast his estate, but he devoted the greater part of it to public benefactions and especially to the relief of the innocent unfortunates who were not responsible for their own mis- fortunes.

In his public duties as captain of the line, as brigade quartermas- ter, and as a representative in Congress, he performed every duty ap- parent to him, honestly and conscientiously, and in the very best man- ner in which it could be done. His entire life consisted in the per- formance of each and every duty as he saw it at the time. He never did anything for effect or for show, or to be spoken of or praised by his fellow men.

In size, he was like Saul, head and shoulders above his fellows. over six feet high, but with a most kindly disposition. His features were attractive and commanding. He was willing to meet every man, to estimate him according to his manhood, and to bid him God-speed, if he deserved it.

GENERAL JOHN LUTHER VANCE.

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He never tried to do anything great, but his punctuality to every duty before him, from day to day, made him known of all men. He simply tried to do right, and this simple devotion to duty in war and peace, in public office and as a private citizen, caused his memory to be revered as a perfect patriot so long as his good deeds shall be remem- bered.

General John Luther Vance

was born in the City of Gallipolis, Ohio, July 19, 1839, the eldest child of Alexander Vance and Eliza A. Shepard, his wife. He was educated in the public schools of Gallipolis and Gallia Academy. He entered his father's printing office at eleven years of age. At seventeen years of age, he was a teacher in the public schools adjoining Gallipolis. At eighteen, he was Deputy Clerk of the Courts of Gallia County. He entered the Cincinnati Law School in the fall of 1860 and took the course that winter. In 1860, he was appointed on the staff of General Constable of the Ohio Militia. The day after he graduated from the Cincinnati Law School, in April, 1861, he was ordered to report at Gallipolis for military duty. He recruited and organized the first troops in Gallia County. On June 3, 1861, he began recruiting a

three years' company. He was mustered in as Captain of Company B, 4th Virginia Infantry, on July 5, 1861. On April 28, 1863, he was mustered as Major of the regiment, to date from March 26, 1863; on May 31, 1863, he was mustered as Lieutenant Colonel of the same regiment, to date from May 18, 1863. Through nearly all of the last year of the service of the regiment, Colonel Vance was in command of the regiment, but could not be mustered as Colonel because the regi- ment was so reduced in number as to prevent it. He was mustered out of the service November 11, 1864, at Wheeling, West Virginia. From muster in until January 1, 1863, he served in West Virginia and Kentucky. He was in the battles of Fayetteville, Cotton Hill, Loup Creek and Charleston, and a number of skirmishes. The regi- ment started south January 1, 1863, and was made part of "Sherman's Division at Young's Point, La., and later, part of the 15th Corps, Army of Tennessee. He served with that Corps until March, 1864, when the regiment, then under his command, veteranized and he came home with his regiment on 30 days leave. Upon expiration of veteran leave the regiment was reorganized and ordered to join the Army of West Virginia ; served in the Shenandoah Valley and adjoining parts of the country under Generals Hunter, Crook and Sheridan until mus- tered out. Our subject was in the battles of the Vicksburg campaign, Raymond, Champion Hills charges at Vicksburg, and seige, and in battle at Jackson, Mississippi; in battle of Mission Ridge, and in ac- tions in getting there on march from Memphis to Chattanooga, to- wit; Cherokee Station, Tuscumbia, at point near Florence, and skir- mishes ; after Mission Ridge, was with Sherman to relieve Burnside at Knoxville; and, in Virginia, was in the battle of Lynchburg and

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actions getting there and retreating therefrom : New Hope Church, Sa- lem and many smaller contests; latter, in battles at Winchester, Cedar Creek, Snicker's Ford, Berryville, Hall Town, Monocacy, Bolivar Heights. His regiment as a whole or part of it, participated in forty- seven battles and skirmishes during its service. In the last year of his service he commanded the regiment. He served on various courts martial and other details, but was not detached from his regiment. When stationed at Larkinsville, Alabama, he was Provost Marshal of the Division, but still remained with his regiment. He was tendered an appointment in the regular army at the close of his service in the volunteer army, but declined it. Colonel Vance was severely wounded in one of the charges at Vicksburg, and received five other wounds which were not regarded as serious by him. After retiring from the army, he engaged in steamboating and was blown up on the steamer Cottage on the Kanawha and was severely injured. In 1867, he began publication of the Gallipolis Bulletin, and continued in charge of it until August, 1900, when he sold out to Mr. M. F. Merriman. It

was a successful venture and always made money. In 1865, he was a candidate for Representative on the Democratic ticket in Gallia County, but was defeated. When it is stated that the vote for Govern- or in that year in that county for General Cox was 2,053 and for General Morgan was 1,038, his defeat is sufficiently explained. In

1869, he was a candidate for State Senator in the Eighth District, composed of the Counties of Gallia, Lawrence, Meigs and Vinton. The district was thoroughly Republican. His competitor, Homer C. Jones, received a vote of 8,852 and he received a vote of 6,659. In 1874, he was nominated by his party for Congress in the IIth Dis- trict, composed then of Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Scioto and Vinton Counties, and was opposed by the Hon. H. S. Bundy. The vote in his own County stood: 1,847 for Vance and 1,860 for Bundy. The vote in the District was 12,437 for Vance and 10,496 for Bundy. He was a candidate for re-election the second time in 1876 and was defeated, but at that time the vote in the District stood 14,639 for Vance and 15,213 for H. S. Neal,-a very complimentary vote for Colonel Vance.

In 1884, he was constrained to be a candidate for his party in the 14th District, composed of Perry, Morgan, Athens, Meigs and Gallia Counties. His candidacy was at the urgent request of the National and State Committees of his party. He was at that time opposed by the Hon. Charles H. Grosvenor, and the vote stood 17,008 for Gros- venor, 11,281 for Vance, 386 for Thomas Peden and 1,689 for Chris- topher Evans. In 1872, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and has represented his county in nearly every State Con- vention since the war. He was a member of the Democratic State Central and Executive Committees for years. In 1877, he was urged for Governor by members of his party and received a large vote in the

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State Convention. In 1889. Governor Campbell appointed him Quar- termaster General and Commissary General of Subsistence, with the rank of Brigadier-General. While in Congress he was appointed and served as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing, and also served on the Committee to investigate Louisiana affairs, and also was a member of the Committee to investigate the so-called de Golyer pav- ing frauds. He was one of the 18 Democrats who voted against the Electoral Commission bill. In 1889, he began the agitation of the question of erecting a Hospital in Ohio for Epileptics. He secured the passage of the bill by the Legislature and was appointed a member of the Commission to select a site and prepare plans in conformity with the provisions of the law. He was elected President of the Commis- sion when it was organized, and secured the location at Gallipolis. One of the greatest public works in which he has ever been engaged is - that of providing the Ohio river with a series of locks and dams to secure six feet of water in the channel at low water, the year around. In 1895, he was elected President of the Ohio Valley Improvement As- sociation, at its organization, and has been re-elected every year since. Since the organization of this Association, appropriations reaching twenty million dollars have been made by Congress for the Ohio and its tributaries. The continuous contract system has been adopted by Congress, locks and dams are in process of construction at many points, and it will be but a few years until a six foot stage of water will be had from Pittsburg to Cairo.

General Vance takes a great interest in everything connected with the Civil War and the G. A. R. He is a member of the G. A. R. post of Gallipolis and several times has been its Commandant. He is also a member of the Loyal Legion. While he has never practised law, he was admitted to practise in the Supreme Court of the United States and of the State of New York. He acted as Referee in a case of im- portance under an appointment from the Supreme Court of New York. For years he has been a member of the Cincinnati Chamber of Com- merce. For twelve years he served as President of the Gallipolis Board of Trade. He was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Gal- lipolis Centennial celebration in 1890, and occupied the same position at the great Soldiers' Reunion in 1888. In 1891-92 he was made Pres- ident of the Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and is a life member of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Socie- ty. He was one of the charter members of the Order of Elks at Galli- polis. He is a Knight Templar and a 32d degree Mason. He was a Di- rector of the Ohio and Northwestern Railroad Company. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Rio Grande College for seven years. He was made a member of the Board of Trustees of the Boys' Industrial Home at Lancaster by Governor Bushnell in 1896, and was re-appointed by Governor Nash, and was one of the founders of the

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Hocking and Ohio Valley Editorial Association and was for many years its President.

He was married October 4, 1866, to his first cousin, Emily Shep- ard, a daughter of the late John C. Shepard and his wife, Marie Louise Creuzet Shepard. Mrs. Vance's father was a son of Col. Luther Shepard and Margaret, his wife; and her mother, Marie Louise Creuzet, was a daughter of Charles Creuzet and Genevieve Pistor, his wife -- both born in France. By his marriage, General Vance is iden- tified with the old French of Gallipolis. Mr. Creuzet was one of the prominent merchants of Gallipolis in the early days, and later large- ly engaged in manufacturing. General Vance has three sons, as fol- lows: Creuzet, United States Immigrant Inspector at New York ; John L. Vance, jr., President of the First National Bank of Gallipolis. and Secretary and Treasurer of the Ohio Trust Company, of Co- lumbus, Ohio; and Frank R. Vance, engaged in the manufacturing business at Columbus, Ohio. No one had a more brilliant Civil War record than General Vance, and no one has a more patriotic record among his ancestors than he. As a speaker, he is always interesting and instructive, and is constantly in demand to make addresses at pub- lic functions, especially those connected with Memorial Day and with the G. A. R. He has always been very active in public matters for the benefit of the people. He is one of the most genial men, and is cour- teous to all who call on him. He is a gentleman in every sense of the word, and wherever he makes an acquaintance, he makes a friend, and a friend who remains such. He is entitled to be called a public bene- factor, for no citizen of Southern Ohio has projected or accomplished more than he for the benefit of his section of the State.

Henry S. Neal.

Henry S. Neal, of Ironton, Lawrence County, was born in Gallipolis, Ohio, August 25, 1828. He graduated from Marietta College in 1847. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1851, and soon came into an extensive practice.

He was elected to the State Senate in 1861, and was re-elected in 1863. He was appointed United States Consul to Lisbon, Portu- gal, in 1869, and became charge de'affairs upon the resignation of the American minister. In 1870 he returned to the United States. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1873.

In 1876 he was elected to the Forty-fifth congress from the Twelfth district Lawrence, Ross, Scioto, Pike and Jackson counties, and elected from the same district, in 1878, to the Forty-sixth Con- gress, and in 1880 was elected to the Forty-seventh from the Elev- enth district, Lawrence, Adams, Scioto, Gallia, Jackson and Vinton. He was a congressman of marked ability, and was a strong debater and a fluent orator. During his political career he was a Republican, but left that party in 1896 because of the money question, he fav-

HON. ALBERT C. THOMPSON.

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oring the Democratic idea of the equal coinage of both gold and sil- ver.

John W. McCormick,

of Gallipolis, represented in the forty-eighth congress, the district con- sisting of Adams, Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Scioto and Vinton coun- ties. He was born in Gallia County, Ohio, on December 20, 1831. He was brought up on a farm and educated at the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity at Delaware, Ohio, and at the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio. On leaving school, he engaged in farming, was elected delegate to the Ohio constitutional convention in 1873 and to the forty-eighth con- gress as a Republican, receiving 15.288 votes against 13,037 votes for John P. Leedom, Democrat.

Albert C. Thompson

was born in Brookville, Jefferson County, state of Pennsylvania, Jan- uary 23, 1842. He was two years at Jefferson College. Cannonsburg, Pennslyvania, his course ending with the freshman year. He was a student at law when the Civil War broke out. On April 23, 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army, and served as second sergeant of Company I of the Eighth Pennsylvania, three months troops. The regiment serv- ed in Maryland and Virginia under General Patterson. On the twenty-seventh of August, 1861, he enlisted for three years in Comp- any B. 105th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was made orderly sergeant, of the company, and in October, 1861, was promoted to second lien- tenant on the twenty-eighth of November, 1861, he was transferred to Company K, and promoted to the captaincy of that regiment. On the twenty-first of May, 1862, he was severely wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, and was again wounded on the twenty-ninth of August, 1861, at the second battle of Bull Run. The last wound was a serious one. A musket ball entered his right breast, fracturing his second and third ribs, and lodging in the lungs where it remained. He was confined to his bed by this wound for ten months. In June, 1863, he entered the invalid corps, but resigned n December, 1863, and resumed the study of law. He was admitted to practice in Pennsylvania on the thirteenth of December, 1864. In 1865 he removed to Portsmouth, Ohio. In 1869 he was elected probate judge of Scioto County, and served from February 9, 1870, to February 9, 1873, and was not a can- didate for re-election. In the fall of 1881 he was elected one of the common pleas judges of the second subdivision of the seventh judicial district of Ohio, and served until September, 1884, when he resigned to accept the nomination of his party as a candidate for congress to which he was elected and served as above stated. After he retired from congress he was appointed by Gov. Mckinley, chairman of the Ohio Tax Commission which made its report in December, 1893. He was chosen a delegate to the Republican National Convention at St.

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Louis in 1896. In January, 1897, he was appointed chairman of a commission created by congress to revise and codify the criminal and penal laws of the United States, and served as such until he was ap- pointed by President Mckinley, United States District Judge for the southern district of Ohio. He entered upon the discharge of his duties as District Judge on the twenty-second day of September, 1898. After his appointment as United States District Judge he removed to Cincin- nati, where he has resided since the first of November, 1898.

During Judge Thompson's first term in congress he was a member of the committee on private land claims of which committee he was a valuable member. In the fiftieth congress he served upon the invalid pension committee, and in the fifty-first congress upon two of the most prominent and important committees, namely, judiciary and fore- ign affairs. As a member of the first committee the judge was made chairman of the sub-committee to investigate the United States Courts in various parts of the country. The report which he submitted to congress as chairman of that sub-committee was among the most val- uable of the session. It was during the fifty-first congress that the famous Mckinley Tariff Bill was formed, and in the construction of that important measure Judge Thompson took no inconsiderable part, being frequently called into the councils of his party. Judge Thomp. son's carcer in congress was of material benefit to his adopted city, as it was through his efforts that a public building was erected in Portsmouth, costing $75,000. The bill providing for this building was vetoed by President Cleveland in the fiftieth congress, but became a law by the President's sufferance in the fifty-first congress. A dike, known as the Bonanza dike, built in the Ohio just about that time, was also provided for through the same instrumentality, at a cost of $75,000, and three ice piers built just below, were added at a cost of $7,500 apiece. The city of Portsmouth also received the boon of free mail delivery through the same source.

As a member of the Ohio Tax Commission he took a conspicuous part in its labors, and its work is now bearing fruit in the legislation of the state on this subject. The report of this committee received the highest praise from contemporaneous journals of political science.

As a lawyer Judge Thompson was well read in his profession, and was a diligent and constant student. He was painstaking, industrious. and energetic. He brought out of any case all that was in it, both of fact and law. His opponent in any case could expect to meet all the points which could be made against him, and would not be disappointed in this respect.

As a common pleas judge he gave general satisfaction to the bar and public. He was one of the ablest who ever occupied the common pleas bench in Ohio, and there was universal regret when he left the bench for Congress. As a federal judge, he has received many compli- ments, and it is believed by those who know him best, that he will

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make a reputation as such equal to any who have occupied that position in our state.

He was married December 25, 1867, to Miss Ella A. Turley, daughter of Col. John A. Turley. His eldest daughter Charl is the wife of Oscar W. Newman, who has a sketch herein. His daughters, Sara and Ruth are unmarried. His daughter Amy is the wife of Ray- mond D. York, of Portsmouth. His son, Albert Clifton, is a lieuten- ant in the United States Artillery stationed in Cuba. He has a son, Guy, attending the Franklin School in Cincinnati, but who will enter Yale College in September, 1902.

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 23

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