Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull and Mahoning, Part 10

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 786

USA > Ohio > Mahoning County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull and Mahoning > Part 10
USA > Ohio > Trumbull County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull and Mahoning > Part 10
USA > Ohio > Ashtabula County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull and Mahoning > Part 10

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Since his first vote had been cast in 1858 he had been a staunch Democrat, and until he was chosen Governor he always made it his duty, rain or shine, to stand at the polls and give out ballots to Democratic voters. During the first year of his term as assistant district attorney, the Democrats desired especially to carry the Board of Su- pervisors. The old Second Ward in which he lived was Republican ordinarily by 250 majority, but at the urgent request of the

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GROVER CLEVELAND.

party Grover Cleveland consented to be the Democratic candidate for Supervisor, and came within thirteen votes of an elec- tion. The three years spent in the district attorney's office were devoted to assiduous labor and the extension of his professional attainments. He then formed a law part- nership with the late Isaac V. Vanderpoel, ex-State Treasurer, under the firm name of Vanderpoel & Cleveland. Here the bulk of the work devolved on Cleveland's shoul- ders, and he soon won a good standing at the bar of Erie County. In 1869 Mr. Cleveland formed a partnership with ex- Senator A. P. Laning and ex-Assistant United States District Attorney Oscar Fol- som, under the firm name of Laning, Cleve- land & Folsom. During these years he began to earn a moderate professional in- come; but the larger portion of it was sent to his mother and sisters at Holland Patent to whose support he had contributed ever since 1860. He served as sheriff of Erie County, 1870-'4, and then resumed the practice of law, associating himself with the Hon. Lyman K. Bass and Wilson S. Bissell.

The firm was strong and popular, and soon commanded a large and lucrative practice. Ill health forced the retirement of Mr. Bass in 1879, and the firm became Cleveland & Bissell. In 1881 Mr. George J. Sicard was added to the firm.

In the autumn election of 1881 he was elected mayor of Buffalo by a majority of over 3,500-the largest majority ever given a candidate for mayor-and the Democratic city ticket was successful, although the Republicans carried Buffalo by over 1,000 majority for their State ticket. Grover Cleveland's administration as mayor fully justified the confidence reposed in him by the people of Buffalo, evidenced by the great vote he received.

The Democratic State Convention met at Syracuse, September 22, 1882, and nomi- nated Grover Cleveland for Governor on the third ballot and Cleveland was elected by 192,000 majority. In the fall of 1884 he was elected President of the United States by about 1,000 popular majority, in New York State, and he was accordingly inaugurated the 4th of March following.

120

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

BENJAMIN HARRISON.

ENJAMIN HARRISON, the twenty-third Presi- dent of the United States, 1889, was born at North Bend, Hamilton County, Ohio, in the house of his grandfather, William Hen- ry Harrison (who was the ninth President of this country), August 20th, 1833. He is a descendant of one of the historical families of this country, as also of England. The head of the family was a Major-General Harrison who was devoted to the cause of Oliver Cromwell. It became the duty of this Har- rison to participate in the trial of Charles I. and afterward to sign the death warrant of the king, which subsequently cost him his life. His enemies succeeding to power, he was condemned and executed October 13th, 1660. His descendants came to America, and the first mention made in history of the Harrison family as representative in public affairs, is that of Benjamin Harrison, great- grandfather of our present President, who was a member of the Continental Congress, 1774-5-6, and one of the original signers of

the Declaration of Independence, and three times Governor of Virginia. His son, Will- iam Henry Harrison, made a brilliant mili- tary record, was Governor of the Northwest Territory, and the ninthi President of the United States.

The subject of this sketch at an early age became a student at Farmers College, where he remained two years, at the end of which time he entered Miami University, at Ox- ford, Ohio. Upon graduation from said seat of learning he entered, as a student, the of- fice of Stover & Gwyne, a notable law firm at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he applied himself closely to the study of his chosen profession, and here laid the foundation for the honora- ble and famous career before him. He spent two years with the firm in Cincinnati, at the expiration of which time he received the only inheritance of his life, which was a lot left hin by an aunt, which he sold for $800. This sum he deemed sufficient to justify him in marrying the lady of his choice, and to whom he was then engaged, a daughter of Dr. Scott, then Principal of a female school at Oxford, Ohio.

After marriage he located at Indianapolis, Indiana, where he began the practice of law. Meeting with slight encouragement he made but little the first year, but applied himself

Bery. Hannisou

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BENJAMIN HARRISON.

closely to his business, and by perseverance, honorable dealing and an upright life, suc- ceeded in building up an extensive practice and took a leading position in the legal profession.

In 1860 he was nominated for the position of Supreme Court Reporter for the State of Indiana, and then began his experience as a stump speaker. He canvassed the State thoroughly and was elected.

In 1862 his patriotism caused him to abandon a civil office and to offer his country his services in a military capacity. He or- ganized the Seventieth Indiana Infantry and was chosen its Colonel. Although his regi- ment was composed of raw material, and he practically void of military schooling, he at once mastered military tactics and drilled his men, so that when he with his regiment was assigned to Gen. Sherman's command it was known as one of the best drilled organ- izations of the army. He was especially distinguished for bravery at the battles of Resacca and Peach Tree Creek. For his bravery and efficiency at the last named bat- tlc he was made a Brigadier-General, Gen- eral Hooker speaking of him in the most complimentary terms.

While General Harrison was actively en- gaged in the field the Supreme Court declared the office of Supreme Court Reporter vacant, and another person was elected to fill the position. From the time of leaving Indiana with his regiment for the front, until the fall of 1864, General Harrison had taken no leave of absence. But having been nominated that year for the same office that he vacated in order to serve his country where he could do the greatest good, he got a thirty-day leave of absence, and during that time canvassed the State and was elected for another term as Supreme Court Reporter. He then started to rejoin his command, then with General Sherman in the South, but was stricken down

with fever and after a very trying siege, made his way to the front, and participated in the closing scenes and incidents of the war.

In 1868 General Harrison declined a re- election as Reporter, and applied himself to the practice of his profession. Hle was a candidate for Governor of Indiana on the Republican ticket in 1876. Although de- feated, the brilliant campaign brought him to public notice and gave him a National reputation as an able and formidable debater and he was much sought in the Eastern States as a public speaker. He took an act- ive part in the Presidential campaign of 1880, and was elected to the United States Senate, where he served six years, and was known as one of the strongest debaters, as well as one of the ablest men and best law- yers. When his term expired in the Senate he resumed his law practice at Indianapolis, becoming the head of one of the strongest law firms in the State of Indiana.

Sometime prior to the opening of the Presidential campaign of 1888, the two great political parties (Republican and Democratic) drew the line of political battle on the ques- tion of tariff, which became the leading issue and the rallying watchword during the mem- orable campaign. The Republicans appealed to the people for their voice as to a tariff to protect home industries, while the Democrats wanted a tariff for revenne only. The Re- publican convention assembled in Chicago in June and selected Mr. Harrison as their standard bearer on a platform of principles, among other important clauses being that of protection, which he cordially indorsed in accepting the nomination. November 6, 1888, after a heated canvass, General Harri- son was elected, defeating Grover Cleveland, who was again the nominec of the Demo- cratie party. He was inaugurated and as- sumed the duties of his office March 4, 1889.

ASHTABULA, TRUMBULL

AND ~..

MAHONING COUNTIES.

OSHUA REED GIDDINGS, one of the eminent statesmen of America and prominent in the ante bellum anti-sla- very movement, was an honored resident of Jefferson, Ashtabula county. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born at Tioga Point, Bradford county, of Connecticut parents and of remote English ancestry. When he was six weeks old the family moved to Canandai- gna, New York, and when he was ten years of age they settled in the heart of the Con- necticut Western Reserve, in Wayne town- ship, Ashtabula county, where their life and experiences were those common to western pioneers; but the members of this family were of broader intellect and more liberal and cosmopolitan views than most of their neigh- bors.

Joshua grew up there, as a personal friend described him, "a tall, raw, shapeless boy, with pleasant face, frolicsome gray eyes and an abundance of light, curly hair that grew dark-fairish till the sun tanned him." Hav- ing great ambition and a studions and capa- cions mind, he attained that extraordinary manhood of which we so often read in the life of great men. He became great in spite of untoward circumstances,-yea, on account of them. He read everything he could get hold

of, and thoroughly digested everything he read, no matter how abstruse.

When, during the war of 1812. Detroit and all Michigan were surrendered by Gen- eral IIull to the British, Giddings, though only sixteen years of age, joined Colonel Hayes' regiment and marched to the Huron and on to the stockade, later famous under the name of Fort Stephenson. Very soon he volunteered to engage in two attacks upon hostile Indians near Sandusky Bay, in which he behaved gallantly. The Indians left the peninsula never to tronble it again. These two skirmishes were the first engagements fought in Ohio during the war of 1812, and were overlooked by all historians of the war until, in 1843, Mr. Giddings himself contrib- uted an account of them to the public. Five months after enlistment Mr. Giddings was mustered out of the service with his regi- ment and returned to his home life.

At the age of nineteen years he taught school in his neighborhood .. At the age of twenty-three he made choice of his life work, entering the law office of Elisha Whittlesey, of Canfield, Ohio, as a student. Whittlesey was a good preceptor, and Giddings made the most of this advantage. Admitted to the har in 1821, he began practice at Jefferson,

126

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

his home and the county seat, and thus con- tinned until he entered Congress in 1838, never to resume it. To all intents and pur- poses he abandoned its practice forever. No lawyer could have made better arguments in conrt than he did in Congress when discuss- ing the legal and constitutional bearings of the slavery question, nor more moving ap- peals at nisi prius than were his in behalf of the same cause from stump and rostrum; but all those efforts contributed to his reputation as a statesman more than as a lawyer. In those days the court-room was a place for the display of ready wit and eloquence far more than at the present day, and the practice he had, and the customs he observed at the bar, constituted a school to train and discipline the young man for his day in the American parliament. According to the old maxim, both himself and the times fitted each other, and to a great extent made each other. In the language of one of his biographers: " With the first collection of Ohio Statutes, known as the old ' Sheepskin Code,' and such other books as he could command, and such clients and cases as came, the young lawyer procured a horse and portmanteau, joined his few professional brethren and started with the presiding judge on the common-pleas circuit, through mud and forest, legal lance in rest, stopping at log cabins and settling grave cases in log temples of justice. Those were the days of free manners, free lives and prac- tical jokes, though the Grand River presby- tery expressed their disapproval of gathering sap on Sunday." Locally the young lawyer gained a wide fame in having won two re- markable lawsuits with all the odds appar- ently against him. Within ten years after beginning practice he seemed to be at the head of the local bar.

In 1831 he formed a law partnership with

the afterward celebrated Benjamin F. Wade, whose sketch is next given; Wade was rather too modest for the rough work of the bar, but he was excellent in the office preparation of cases, while Giddings would present them at the bar, in which work he excelled. Within the short space of five years these gentlemen made money sufficient to enable them to re- tire from practice, at least temporarily, for money was plentiful and largely invested in the thousand wild-cat enterprises of that day, which all collapsed at once, wrecking many public-spirited men. Giddings was caught in the downward whirl, and had to resort to work again, to earn a livelihood. Forming a partnership with Flavel Sutliffe, a brilliant young man, who two years afterward became insane, Mr. Giddings again prospered and made money. In 1838 he was elected to Congress. Prior to this he had had some legislative experience, as in 1826 he had served in the Ohio House of Representatives. After the close of that legislative term he ran for State Senator, but was defeated,-the only defeat he ever met at the polls.

Of necessity, in order to appreciate the services of Mr. Giddings npon his entrance into Congress, the reader must call to mind the history of the slavery question up to that time, and its status. The Missonri Compro- mise had been adopted in 1820, with the hope that that finally and forever settled the vexed slavery controversy; but the so-called "Ab- olitionists," with their leaders mostly in New England and New York, began to exert themselves. African slavery in America, like a nauseating mass in the stomach, would not remain down by any dosing. The stomach will continue its efforts at emesis until the work is complete, and thus Mr. Giddings was continually drawn into the vortex of abolition effort.

127

OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO.

On his way to and arrival at Washington, Mr. Giddings made close observation of every politician and of every event that might have a bearing upon his career at the capital. " It is a fact," said he, " which every man of ob- servation must see, by spending a few days in the Representatives' hall, that there is a vast difference in the character of the mem- bers from the North and South. During this week every person present must have .wit- nessed the high and important bearing of the Southern men; their self-important airs, their overbearing manners, while the Northern men, even on the subject of slavery, are diffident and forbearing. I have myself come to the honest conclusion that our North- ern friends are, in fact, afraid of these South- ern bullies. I have bestowed much thought upon the subject; I have made inquiry, and think we have no Northern man who dares boldly and fearlessly declare his abhorrence of slavery and the slave trade. This kind of fear I never experienced; nor shall I submit to it now. When I came here I had no thought of participating in debate at all, but particularly I intended to keep silence this winter; but since I have seen our Northern friends so backward and delicate, I have de- termined to express my own views and de- clare my own sentiments, and risk the effects. For that purpose I have drawn up a resolu- tion calling for information as to the slave trade in the District of Columbia, which, among other things, calls for a statement of the number of slaves who have murdered themselves within that district during the last five years, after being sold for foreign markets, and the number of children who have been murdered by their parents during said time, under the apprehension of immediate separation for sale at a foreign market, and the amount of revenue collected on sale of

licenses to deal in human flesh and blood." "I showed the resolutions to several friends, who advised mne not to present them, on two accounts; first, that it will enrage the South- ern members; secondly, that it will injure me at home. But I have determined to risk both; for I would rather lose my election at home rather than suffer the insolence of these Southerners here."

In his speeches before Congress on the subject of slavery he was frequently called to order by the Southern members and their Northern sympathizers, but generally his right to the floor, to continue his argument, was recognized by the Speaker. In 1839 he won a signal victory over the opposition in the advocacy of the duty of Congress to re- spectfully consider the anti-slavery petitions sent in, which made the Southern members mad and their sympathizers from the North disgusted.

The prominent defections from the Free Soil party in 1848 and the persuasions to enter a course that would elevate him to the United States senatorship, etc., were no temptation to Mr. Giddings to abandon his anti-slavery aggression, and he joined the " Free-Soilers." He had a conscience, not only with reference to the slavery question, but also in regard to the public treasury. Hence it pained him to see the servants of the people at Washington wasting their time with frivolous adjournments, etc., while press- ing and important claims received no atten- tion.

The following anecdote is taken from Mr. Giddings' journal:

" An incident occurred in my view that illustrates the difficulty of obtaining justice from the Government. A man named Nye has claimed about $6,000 from the Govern- ment for several years, and has himself per-

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

sonally pressed the matter for some sessions past. During the last session Mr. Whittle- sey, chairman of the committee on claims, reported against it. although the Senate had reported in favor of it. Mr. Whittlesey was looked upon as an infallible authority on the subject of claims. Nye was put in jail for want of money and suffered much. Nye himself wrote an able review of Whittlesey's report and pointed out its errors, but many things intervened to prevent the committee from passing on it until to-day. I agreed with two or three others that we would get together and pass upon this claim, provided that it were possible to get a quorumn to the committee room. This we effected, and agreed to report the bill giving him his whole claim. This was done as late as two o'clock P. M. When we left the room I was in front, and Nye was at the door. I told him we had agreed to report his bill for the amount claimed. He attempted to thank me, but tears choked his utterance, and I felt deeply myself, -- so much so that I found tears were running down my own cheeks, and, unwill- ing that my weakness should be discovered, I averted my face to disguise my feelings from those passing by me in front. As I turned my face my eye rested upon Mr. Chambers, our chairman, who, though a man of rough exterior, and has been through many a bloody battle, was so wrought upon by Mr. Nye's feelings that he wept profusely."

Mr. Giddings advocated the right of slaves when upon the high seas to free themselves, and he presented to Congress resolutions to the effect that it had no right to compensate the owners of such fugitives; but he was per- suaded by his friends to withdraw them. For offering such resolutions he received the cen- sure of the House, but he was not permitted to speak in his own defense. He thereupon

resigned, but was soon re-elected to Congress by a greater majority than before. He was opposed to the admission of Texas into the Union, with the constitution offered, as he regarded it as an extension of slave territory. In 1850 he had the fugitive slave law to fight, also the compromise slave measures of that year, and in 1852-'56 the Kansas-Nebraska bill of Stephen A. Douglas, etc. When Nathaniel P. Banks, an anti-slavery repre- sentative, was elected speaker of the House, February 4, 1856, after more than two months' failure to organize that branch of Congress, -- which was the first signal victory of the anti-slavery party in Congress, -Gid- dings felt rewarded for his life-long fight.

For a number of years he was the real editor of the Ashtabula Sentinel. He was a delegate to the famous Republican national convention at Chicago in 1860 which nomi- nated Lincoln for president. He endeavored, but in vain, to induce that convention to in- corporate anti-slavery resolutions in its plat- form. In 1861 he accepted a consul-gen- eralship to Canada under Lincoln, and while serving in that capacity at Montreal he died, May 27, 1864.

"Giddings, far rougher names than thine have grown Smoother than honey on the lips of men;

And thou shalt aye be honorably known As one who bravely used the tongue and pen

As best befits a freeman ;- even for those To whom our laws' unblushing front denies

A right to plead against the life-long woes Which are the negroes' glimpse of freedom's skies.

Fear nothing and hope all things, as the right Alone may do securely; every hour

The thrones of ignorance and ancient Night Lose somewhat of their long usurped power;

And freedom's slightest word can make them shiver With a base dread that clings to them forever."

-BRYANT.

129

OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO.

B ENJAMIN F. WADE, the mere utter- ance of whose name brings before the eye of the avidious student of the political history of our nation-and particu- larly of that portion which has to do with the trying hours when the country was in the throes of a desperate fratricidal war-a strongly limned image of one who towered above his fellows, a heroic, rugged, stalwart, courageous patriot, unswerving in his devo- tion to the eternal riglit, bowing not a servile head before a temporal power, and command- ing respect and gaining confidence by very reason of his character, must demand a more than cursory attention in this volume, whose province is the consideration of the life and labor of many of those who have gained place therein by reason of their residence in a locality which has gained distinction from its abstract association with the life and accom- plishments of this remarkable man.

October 27, 1800, near West Springfield (now Agawam), Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin Wade was born, being the tenth in order of the eleven children-four girls and seven boys-born to James and Mary (Up- ham) Wade, who for many years made their home in a rural parish designated as "Feed- ing Hills" and situate a few miles southerly of West Springfield, the region being a thin, sandy-soiled, rocky country, devoted to wild pasturage for the kine-herds of the more favored valleys lying contiguous.

James Wade was born July 8, 1750, at the beginning of a noisy, stirring period, being a native of Medford, Massachusetts. He grew up in the intensely patriotic atmosphere of stormy Boston during the pre-Revolutionary years, and would lack but four days of being twenty-six years of age on the declaration of independence. Young, rugged and adven- turesome, he took an active part in the war

of the Revolution, and at its close turned to peaceful pursuits, being married to Mary, tlie winsome daughter of his uncle, Rev. James Upham, January 15, 1771. After forty years of life amid the grim, sad-brown hills, the parents of our subject set bravely forth, with their children, to make for themselves a new home in the primeval forests of the Western Reserve, reaching Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1821.

Descended from a long line of distinguished ancestors, but reared under environment none too propitious, Benjamin Wade made early manifest that native power that could not be hedged in by circunstances of time or place -that power that ultimately won for him distinction and an exalted position, not sought for, but resulting in natural sequence. "Frank" Wade, as the subject of this all too meagre biography was called in his youthful days, grew up in an atmosphere of mental culture, his mother, the daughter of one of the best educated men of his day, being solicitous for the intellectual advancement of her children and rendering them that willing aid which was denied, perforce, to the off- spring of the less cultured pioneer parents. Though he pursued knowledge under diffi- culties, being self-taught save for his mother's and elder brother's assistance, he worked on alone. Such mental discipline is effective, is positive, is never misleading, and young Wade acquired a mental strength which early gave evidence of the force which it should exert in the eventtul future life, filled with "ceaseless toil and endeavor." He attended the district schools of his New England home during the winter months, and even these advantages were superior to those afforded in the later home amid the patriarchal forests of the Western Reserve.

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Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull and Mahoning, Part 10

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 786

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 786