Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 132

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149

USA > Ohio > Butler County > Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio > Part 132

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1784 he was one of the United States commissioners at a treaty held at Fort Stan- wix. New York. His fellow commission- ers were Oliver Wolcott. of Connecticut, and Arthur Lee, of Virginia. It does not

appear that they had any particular knowl- edge of the Indian character, and the bulk of the business fell upon General Butler. New York state sent a commissioner. Peter Schuyler. to protect her interests, as the chief portion of the lands which were indis- putably in the possession of the Six Nations were within her limits, and for all west of New York a treaty some twenty years old was in existence. The United States com- missioners adopted a very high and lofty tone to the Indians, and but for the con- ciliatory policy adopted by New York in her treatment it is probable an Indian war- fare would have broken out, retarding the settlement of western New York, as, at the same time. Indian troubles did the territory northwest of the Ohio. The Indians advo- cated their side at this meeting with much ability.

General Butler subsequently attended at Fort McIntosh, and in September, 1785, left his home in Carlisle to proceed to the Miami, where it was thought desirable a treaty should be made. He kept a journal, which is full of interesting matter. From it we learn that the journey was down the river. and occupied considerable time. James Monroe, afterward President, and then a member of congress, accompanied him a considerable part of the way. Three months after starting, at the mouth of the Great Miami, a treaty was concluded be- tween the American commissioners-Gen- eral Parsons, General Butler and General Clark-and several tribes of Indians. The honors were with General Butler, who de- livered the principal address to the Indians. Tradition has imparted to this scene some startling particulars not to be found cor- roborated in history.

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In 1791 he joined the expedition of St. Clair, together with a brother, Colonel But- ler. He was appointed second in command and was charged with the arrangements necessary for the recruiting service. He es- tablished a rendezvous at Baltimore, and several points in Pennsylvania. Those en- listed east of the mountains assembled at Carlisle, where they were disciplined and prepared to march for the West. He joined the army at Fort Hamilton, on the 27th of September, and the army was set in motion on the 4th of October, being led by General Butler. They crossed the river by wading. At Fort Hamilton General St. Clair issued an order prohibiting more than two or three women for each company from proceeding with the army. This, however, was disre- garded, and when the men commenced crossing the river they also plunged into the stream, but the water being deep, their prog- ress was considerably obstructed by their clothes. Many of them got out of the wa- ter on the artillery carriages, and rode over astride of the cannon.

We have elsewhere given an account of the march to the fatal field where St. Clair's army was destroyed. General Butler had been active and vigilant, and when the at- tack came, on the 4th of November, fought bravely. He and General St. Clair were continually going up and down the lines. As one of them went up one line, the other was going down the other line. About an hour after the charge made by Major Thomas Butler's troops, General Richard Butler was mortally wounded, when pass- ing on the left of the battalion. Four sol- diers put him in a blanket, and carried him back to have his wounds dressed by a sur- geon. They placed him in a sitting posture

on the blanket leaning against a tree. He was vomiting blood at the time. Almost immediately afterward, while the surgeon was examining General Butler's wounds a single Indian, who had penetrated the ranks of the regiment, darted forward, and tomahawked and scalped the general before his attendants were aware and could inter- fere.

Such was the end of life to this brave soldier. He came of a patriotic family, three of his brothers having been in the ser- vice of the United States, fighting nobly for us. His son has caused his journal to be published; and the other descendants of the family have filled high stations in Ken- tucky and Pennsylvania.

DANIEL W. VOORHEES

was born in Liberty township, not far from the old Spring meeting-house, September 26. 1827, and was only two months old when his parents removed to Fountain county, In- diana, where they later resided. His father, Stephen Voorhees, was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, 1798, and emigrated with his parents in 1804 to Butler county, and in December. 1827. moved to the farm in Fountain county, Indiana, where he died several years ago. His grandfather, Peter Voorhees, was born in New Jersey, and soon after the close of the Revolutionary war emigrated to Kentucky. Peter Voor- hees's wife, whose maiden name was Van Arsdale, was born at Brant's Station, then a fort. , Her father, Luke Van Arsdale, fought at the battle of Blue Licks, and dis- tinguished himself there and elsewhere against the Indians under Daniel Boone. His great-grandfather, Stephen Voorhees, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and

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fought at Princeton, Monmouth, and other celebrated historic fields. His paternal an- cestors came from Holland, the original name being Van Voorhees. Mr. Voorhees's mother, Rachel Elliott, born in Maryland, of Irish ancestry, was married in 1821. Daniel W. was the third child, and was brought up on a farm about ten miles from Covington, Indiana, remaining there until 1845. In 1845 he entered Asbury Univer- sity, whence he graduated in 1849.

Soon after graduating he entered the law office of Lane & Wilson, at Crawfords- ville, and the following spring settled to practice at Covington, the county seat of Fountain county. Here E. A. Hannegan, formerly United States senator, having heard him deliver a Fourth of July oration. made proposals for a law partnership, taking effect in April, 1852. In June, 1853, Mr. Voorhees was appointed by Governor Wright prosecuting attorney of the circuit court, in which position he soon established a fine reputation as a criminal lawyer, and broke up a nest of desperadoes whose head- quarters were at Lafayette. In 1856 he was nominated by acclamation Democratic candidate for congress, but was defeated by two hundred and thirty majority in a district previously Republican by two thou- sand six hundred. In November, 1857, he removed to Terre Haute, the county seat of Vigo county, and the ensuing April, 1858, was appointed United States district at- torney for the state of Indiana, by President Buchanan, in which position he increased his reputation as an orator and lawyer. He was elected to congress in 1860 and 1862, and in 1864 was again a successful candi- date, but in this last election his majority was contested by his opponent, Henry D. was listened to by the vast audience with

Washburne, who obtained the seat. In 1866 Mr. Voorhees refused the nomination, but in 1868 he was elected, and again in 1870 .. In 1872 he was defeated by Morton C. Hunter.

As a precursor of the late war the insur- rection at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in which John Brown and others were con- cerned, and for which they were convicted and hanged in 1859, will always stand prominent in the history of the country. At that time the gifted A. P. Willard was gov- ernor of Indiana, and the chairman of the Indiana Democracy, and it was with sorrow and dismay that his friends learned that Colonel J. E. Cook, arrested with "Ossa- watomie Brown," was a brother of Gov- ernor Willard's wife. Governor Willard was not the man to turn his back upon a brother or a friend. His first thought was of "Dan" Voorhees, who was then at Vin- cennes arguing a case before Judge Michael F. Burke. Governor Willard sent a message to Vincennes, and Judge Burke continued the case while Mr. Voorhees immediately started to consult Governor Willard. Sev- eral gentlemen advised him not to undertake the defense, but he emphatically declared his resolution to defend his friend's brother re- gardless of consequences. He went and took part in that celebrated trial. The re- sult is known. John Brown was convicted of murder and treason, but Mr. Voorhees succeeded in having a Virginia jury convict Cook of murder only, thus bringing him within the pardoning power of the governor. · Governor Wise, however, refused to pardon, and Cook was executed among the others. This was, however, the beginning of Mr. Voorhees's national reputation. His speech

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rapt attention, and met with unequaled ap- probation. He was the recipient of enthu- siastic congratulations, and his speech was published all over the country and in Europe. From this time forward he oc- cupied a conspicuous place in the eyes of the public. At the bar, on the stump, and in the halls of congress, he soon became a man of mark. Mr. Voorhees's political ca- reer and principles, his power as a parlia- mentary orator and a statesman, are now a portion of the history of the nation.

From the sobriquet of "the tall Syca- more of the Wabash," so often and famil- iarly applied to Mr. Voorhees, it will be in- ferred that he was of tall stature. He stood six feet and one inch in height, and weighed over two hundred pounds.

In 1850 he married Miss Anna Har- desty, of Greencastle, Indiana, and to them were born four children.

Mr. Voorhees was appointed November 6, 1877, to succeed Governor Morton in the United States senate. The issue in the elec- tion of 1878 in Indiana was whether he should be elected by the legislature to suc- ceed his appointment. On this issue the legislature pledged to his support was elected by a majority of over thirty thousand over all opposition. He was elected to succeed himself in 1885 and again in 1891, and served continuously until March 4, 1897, a period of almost twenty years, in which he accomplished a notable work in diverting the county from the sectional issues grow- ing out of the Civil war. As a politician Voorhees ranks with Lincoln himself. As senator he was assiduous in his attentions to the public needs. He was always pres- ent, and allowed no measure of his political

opponents to pass without the severest scrutiny. With him vigilance was the price of liberty. He died soon after retiring from the senate, on April 10, 1897.

ROBERT H. BISHOP.

Robert Hamilton Bishop, D. D., first president of Miami University, was the son of William and Margaret Bishop. He was born in the parish of Whitburn, Linlithgow- shire, North Britain, on the 26th of July, 1777. Having early evinced a fondness for books, as well as a mind of more than ordi- nary vigor, he entered on a course of clas- sical study, and in November, 1794, became a member of the University of Edinburgh. After completing his course at the university he entered the Divinity Hall at Selkirk, under the Rev. George Lawson, in August, 1798. Here he passed through the pre- scribed course of theological study, and on the 28th of June, 1802, was licensed to preach the gospel by the Associate Burgher presbytery of Perth.

In the spring and summer of 1801 the Rev. (afterwards Dr. ) John M. Mason, of the city of New York, visited the Burgher synod of Scotland, as the commissioner from the Associate Reformed synod of North America, partly with a view to obtain a sup- ply of preachers for the Amercan synod. Mr. Bishop. being at that time a student under Professor Lawson, was casually in- troduced to Dr. Mason, and the brief inter- view which he had with him led, some two months after, to a partial engagement to ac- company Dr. Mason to America, provided the synod. at whose disposal he was, should so direct.

The synod met in April, 1802, and.

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under their special order, he was licensed to preach, with a view to his engaging in the contemplated mission. In September fol- lowing, he, with five other ordained min- isters, embarked with Dr. Mason at Green- nock, and arrived at New York before the close of October. Having attended a meet- ing of the Associate Reformed synod, which took place shortly after his arrival, he set out with two other clergymen for Kentucky; but, being left to supply two new congrega- tions in Adams county, Ohio, for two months, he did not arrive there until March, 1803. He had been appointed to labor in Kentucky by the casting vote of the moder- ator of the synod-what was then called the Second Congregation of New York having made application for his services. Five years afterwards the same congregation sent him a pressing invitation to return to them, which, however, he did not accept.

In the summer of 1803 he had three calls presented to him in due form; but that which he finally accepted was from Eben- ezer, in Jessamine county, which was con- nected with New Providence, in Mercer county. The two congregations united con- tained about thirty families spread over a tract of country at least fifteen miles square; and, as the Kentucky river and the Ken- tucky cliffs intervened between the two places of worship, the two churches were not expected to worship together much oftener than twice a year. About the same time a professorship in Transylvania University was offered him, and, accepting it, he com- bined the duties of that office with those of his charge.

Mr. Bishop's twenty-one years' connec- tion with the Transylvania University was marked by no serious difficulties or dis-

agreeable circumstances, so far as he was personally or officially concerned. Upwards of twenty young men, who were more or less under his special care during this period, afterwards entered the ministry, and several of them rose to eminence.

In October, 1819, Mr. Bishop, having dissolved his connection with the Associate Reformed church, joined the West Lexing- ton presbytery in connection with the gen- eral assembly. From 1820 to 1823 he of- ficiated as stated supply to the church in Lexington, which had been gathered by the labors of the Rev. James McCord; and his connection with this church he seems to have considered as highly favorable to both his comfort and usefulness.

In the autumn of 1824 he accepted the presidency of Miami University. Oxford, Ohio, and was inaugurated on the 30th of March, 1825. Here he found a few Christ- ian people who had been under the care of the Rev. James Hughes, for some years principal of the grammar school in that place : and the pupils of this he gathered and formed into a Presbyterian church, and preached to them regularly on the Sabbath in the college chapel, until the year 1831, when, as the result of a revival, in which Dr. Blackburn was the principal instrument, the church gathered so much strength that they undertook to build a place of worship and call a pastor. In 1825 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the college of New Jersey.

In the great controversy which divided the Presbyterian church in 1838 Dr. Bishop's sympathy and action were with the New School. In 1841 he resigned the presi- dency of Miami University, but held the professorship of history and political science

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until the autumn of 1844, when his connec- tion with the institution ceased. He then re- moved to Pleasant Hill, a beautiful spot in the immediate neighborhood of Cincinnati, where there was already an academy which, partly through his agency, was now en- larged into a college, under the name of the Farmers' College. Here he remained ac- tively and usefully employed to the close of life. Dr. Bishop preached regularly in the chapel to the students as long as he retained the presidency of the university, but after that had no stated charge. He preached, however. very frequently during his subse- quent years, and his last sermon was preached on the 15th of April, 1855, but two weeks before his death. As he left his house to preach this sermon he distinctly told his wife it would be his last. He heard his classes as usual on Thursday, and was just going to the college on Friday morning, when his strength failed, so that he was no longer capable of making an effort. He lingered until five o'clock Sabbath morning (April 29th), his usual hour of rising, and then died, as he had often expressed a wish to die, "in the harness."

On the 25th of August, 1802, just as he was on the eve of embarking for America, he was married to Ann Ireland, by whom he had eight children, five sons and three daughters. All his sons were graduates of Miami University. Two of them became clergymen, and one of them a professor in the university at which he graduated. Mrs. Bishop survived her husband but two weeks.

The following is a list of Dr. Bishop's publications : "Sermons on Various Sub- jects," 1808 (this was the first volume of sermons printed west of the mountains) ; "Memorials of David Rice," with an ap-

pendix, 1824; "Elements of Logic, or a Summary of the General Principles and Different Modes of Reasoning," 1833; "Sketches of the Philosophy of the Bible," 1833: "Elements of the Science of Govern- ment," 1839; "The Western Peacemaker," 1839. He published, also, several occasional sermons and addresses, among which was a sermon on the death of the Rev. James Mc- Chord, 1820, and the address at his inaugu- ration as president of Miami University in 1825. He contributed, also, liberally to sev- eral periodicals.

MICAJAH HUGHES.

Micajah Hughes, late of Liberty town- ship, formerly president of the First Nation- al Bank of Hamilton, was born in Baltimore county. Maryland, on the 25th of January. 1807. He was the son of Elijah and Sarah (Muchner) Hughes, who were both natives of the same county, and removed to Ohio, settling in Liberty township in 1815. Mr. Hughes followed the occupation of a black- smith in Maryland, but after coming to Ohio, also embarked in farming. He was born November 4, 1777, and died August 8, 1849, and his wife died September 10, 1845, being born May 5, 1780. Micajah Hughes was educated in an old log school-house in Liberty township, located in Huntsville. He soon was initiated into farming, and in 1832, in company with Daniel, his oldest brother, bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Lemon township, which they owned together until 1837. In the mean- time they had bought another farm in the county, then dividing it. Micajah took the farm on which he later lived, of one hun- dred and twenty acres, and forty acres of woodland, two miles distant. Their partner-

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ship was dissolved in 1837, when Mr. five are now living. The oldest, Mrs. Helen Hughes married. His business from that time was farming, trading in stock and loaning money.

He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank in Hamilton, in Au- gust, 1863, and became its president. The first meeting to form this bank was held on the day on which the battle of Gettysburg was fought, but the meeting at which the permanent organization took place was on the 6th of August. The capital was origi- nally fifty thousand dollars, of which Mr. Hughes owned one-tenth, but a few months after it was increased to sixty thousand dol- lars, and in January was made one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. James Beatty was the first vice-president.

The bank has been uniformly successful in its history, never having been obliged to close its doors or ask the least indulgence. Its stockholders are conservative money- lenders, who never receive favors from the bank or use its funds for their own pur- poses. Mr. Hughes, in later years, owned but one thousand dollars' worth of stock, just enough to qualify him to be president, by request of stockholders, though he for- merly owned twelve thousand five hundred dollars of stock. He paid the largest per- sonal tax in Butler county, being on upwards of eighty-seven thousand dollars, all his property being in this county, except ten lots in Louisville, Kentucky.

He was married on the 3d of March, 1837, to Miss Phebe F. Cassidy, born Sep- tember 19, 1814, in Lemon township, who was the daughter of John and Sarah Cas- sidy, farmers. Mrs. Hughes died a few years ago. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, though but

Taylor, was born May 23, 1839. Albert, born April 23, 1843; George W., born June 29, 1844; Joseph B., born November . 21, 1848; Alexander C., born January 16, 1851, and died August 14, 1867, at Minne- apolis, where he had gone for his health. He was a lawyer of Hamilton. Sarah L., born February 4, 1841, died November 9, 1871, was an accomplished scholar and writer. She possessed a high degree of literary skill, and her letters from Europe excited much attention. Alice M., born July 2. 1845, died July 1, 1853; Evelyn, born October 22, 1853, died November I, 1853; Clarence E., born March 3, 1855, died September 11, 1864.

He was always a Democrat, casting his first vote for Jackson, in 1828, and voting for the candidates of that party ever after- ward. He was frequently a delegate to the state Democratic convention. He was a di- rector of the Butler County Insurance Com- pany for ten years, and was one of its organ- izers.

DAVID MACDILL.

The Rev. David MacDill, D. D., was born in the northern district of South Caro- lina, December 27, 1790. He was of Scotch- Irish descent. His father, though quite young, served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, under Colonel Horry. The son in his youth enjoyed the advantages afforded by the churches and schools which then ex- isted among the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the South. At the age of sixteen he had studied as much mathematics as was then usually studied in college. He had a thirst for knowledge and a love of books.

In 1806 the MacDill family removed

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from South Carolina to what was then re- garded as "the far West," and settled in Preble county, Ohio. The country was al- most an unbroken forest. A section of land, consisting of six hundred and forty acres, was purchased, and the work of erect- ing a log-house and other buildings and of clearing off the timber, mostly beech, was begun. In such work as this young David MacDill spent three years-teaching school, however, for three months during each of those years. At the end of this time, being about nineteen years old, he commenced the study of languages under the Rev. Wil- liam Robertson, at Lebanon, Ohio. He fin- ished his literary course in Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. Among his classmates were the Rev. J. Finley Crowe, D. D., the founder of Hanover Col- lege, and the Rev. David Monfort, D. D., pastor for many years of the Presbyterian church in Hamilton, Ohio. In 1813 he en- tered the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in New York, then under the care of the celebrated Rev. Dr. J. M. Mason, one of the ablest pulpit orators of our country. Here he spent four annual sessions, and had as fellow-students many who afterward became leading ministers in their respective churches. He spent the summer vacations in teaching in the vicinity of New York. When he graduated, in 1817, from the seminary, he delivered by appointment the valedictory address to his class. He was licensed to preach August 6. 1817. He began to preach in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (United Presby- terian) church, in Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, in October, 1817. He was ordained and installed pastor of the congregations of Hamilton and Concord, October, 1818. He

continued in charge of these two congrega- tions for eight or ten years, and then de- mitted the Concord branch. The Concord meeting-house was about eight miles north of Hamilton, and just this side of Collins- ville. He continued pastor of the Hamilton church until. 1848, a period of more than thirty years. During the most of this time he preached three times each Sabbath- twice in his own church, and once in a school-house or unoccupied church. In ad- dition to these labors he edited the Christian Intelligencer, a monthly religious periodical. He was also for many years (about twenty- four in all) a member of the board of trus- tees of Miami University, and was always punctual in attending its meetings. His in- fluence did much to promote the prosperity of that institution.

In 1848 he removed with his family to Sparta, Randolph county, Illinois. Here he became pastor of the Union congregation, which, in a few years, became too large, in his opinion, to be cared for by one of his age. He resigned this charge, and removed to Monmouth, in order to edit the Western United Presbyterian, in 1857. He was ap- pointed to this position by the synod of Il- linois. He was now nearly seventy years of age. He continued to discharge the duties of editor until 1862, when he resigned. He died in Monmouth, Illinois, June 15, 1870, in the eightieth year of his age.

In regard to the character and talents of Dr. MacDill, the writer prefers to present the testimony of others.

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Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 132

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1149

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149