Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 19

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048

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The first Presbyterian Church on Walnut Hills had been founded in 1819 and had for its pastor Rev. Peter H. Kemper, a relative of Rev. James Kemper, the pioneer preacher. For many years members of the Kemper family held the pulpit. In 1879 this church was united with the Lane Seminary Presbyterian Church, which had been organized August 13, 1831, and the two com- bined churches took the name of the First Pres- byterian Church of Walnut Hills. Among other churches organized during this period was the Third Presbyterian Church, a child begotten of the revival of 1828-29, as the result of the revival labors of Rev. James Gallaher, who be- came first pastor; the Fourth Presbyterian Church, also a result of the revival, organized by Dr. Francis, which must either be identi- fied with the old Fulton Church or with the de- funct High Street Church dissolved by the Pres- bytery in 1859; the Fifth Presbyterian Church, organized March 29, 1831, by Rev. Mr. Stark, so long known as the Scotch Church and so long in occupation of the brick tabernacle at the corner of Clark and John streets, The Sixth

Presbyterian Church was organized in April, 1831, as the result of a pulpit defense of the cause of American slavery as drawn from the Bible aud a denunciation of those who agitated the subject of emancipation. In 1846 this church severed its connection with the Presbyterian Church and adopted the Congregational form of government ; taking the name of the Vine Street Congregational Church. Its original home was at the southeast corner of Sixth and Vine streets. An early church was the First Presbyterian Church of the Eastern Liberties of Cincinnati, which died and was afterwards reorganized on February 8, 1831, with the name of the First Presbyterian Church of Fulton.

The Methodist Church sent out colonies, one of which built the church known as the "Old Brick Church" at the corner of Fourth and Phun. This church was also called by some the "Brim- stone Corner." This church was built in 1822. The "Old Brick Church" eventually became too small for its congregation and in 1831 it was replaced by a mighty structure denominated as Wesley Chapel, for many years the largest con- gregation hall in the city. Here was delivered the address of John Quincy Adams and here many large societies held their reunions and in fact it was one of the centers of intellectual life.

Asbury Chapel was built at the head of Main street in the Northern Liberties, so-called, and McKendree Chapel was in Fulton, which had for many years as pastor Rev. Granville Moody. Asbury Chapel was finally consumed by fire, but a new structure was erected near its ruins on the south side of Webster street between Main and Sycamore. The "Old Brick Church" was finally succeded by an edifice on Western row between Fourth and Fifth streets. In the Directory of 1836-37, in addition to Wesley Chapel, the Fourth Street Church, Asbury Chapel and Mckendree Chapel already men- tioned, there is given the African Church, east of Broadway between Sixth and Seventh. There were also two Methodist Protestant churches, in- cluding Burke's church and that on Sixth street between Vine and Race. These churches had been formed by the cessions of 1827, at which time many influential families left the old so- ciety and united with the new. Bishop Morris, who was stationed here in 1832 and 1833, gives us an insight into what was expected of a pas-

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tor at that time. His parsonage, which was on Broadway near Fifth street, was poor and un- comfortable. His salary was $450, the last $50 being added as he was expected to entertain "comers and goers." To accommodate these eomers and goers he thought it necessary to buy a cot, which he earried home on his own shoul- ders. It broke down and he carried it back for repairs, making three trips with this bed on his back to save drayage. Both his wife and daughter were in poor health and he could not afford to hire help. He procured, therefore, a washing machine which, with saw and ax, fur- nished him with sufficient exereise. His daugh- ter was strong enough to prepare the clothes, change the water and rinse them when clean, while he turned the machine. Just at that time the water works were destroyed by fire and he was obliged to pay 25 cents a barrel for water, hauled from the river, for laundry purposes. Drinking water he earried in buckets from Spen- cer's well, a square and a half away.

In 1821 a new Enon Baptist Church was formed. In 1838 this church was called the First Baptist Church of Cincinnati. At that time it had its church on Baker street between Walnut and Vine. The other Baptist churches given in the Directory of 1836-37 are the Sixth Street Baptist Church, which had been on Sixth between Main and Walnut, but at that time was erecting a house of worship on Ninth between Vine and Race; the African Baptist Church on Western row between Second and Third, and the Campbellite Baptist Church on Sycamore between Fifth and Sixth. The First Baptist Church celebrated revivals in the year 1828, which so enlarged the society that a colony of 118 split off to form the Syeamore Street Church. This is the church which afterwards became the Campbellite Church and was later known as the Central Christian Church on Ninth street. The African Baptist Church resulted from 45 col- ored members leaving the First Church in 1835.

Christ Church ( Protestant Episcopal), which had occupied the Baptist building on Sixth street, in 1835 built a new church on the present site of the church of that name. Rev. Samuel Johnston resigned in 1828 to form a new parish of St. Paul's, where he had 55 communicants the first year as against 32 at Christ Church. At the latter church, Rev. B. P. Aydelott took charge and occupied the pulpit until 1835, when

he was succeeded by Rev. J. T. Brook of George- town, Distriet of Columbia, who remained until 1847, when he resigned to accept a professorship at Gambier. A new building, erected on the lot 100 feet front and 130 feet deep which had been bought for $9,000, was built upon the plan of the famous old Stepney Church of London. During the building the society worshiped in the Mechanics' Institute Hall.

St. Paul's parish, formed in 1828, erected its church on Fourth street where the present St. Paul Building now stands. It remained there for 50 years, at which time the property was sold for $87,000. The bishop of the diocese during the period from 1819 until 1831 was the celebrated Philander Chase, a man of indomitable perseverance and great strength of will and the most energetie and successful pioneer of the Episcopal Church in the West. He was suc- eeeded by another man of great power, Charles Pettit McIlvaine, who became Bishop of Ohio in 1832, which position he held until his death in 1873. During all these years he was "a dis- tinetive foree in his community, felt in all de- nominations and in the mass of people outside of all denominations." (Rev. D. W. Rhodes.)

The progress of the Roman Catholic Church and the building of its first cathedral has been described in the quotation from "Cincinnati in 1826." The Athenaeum, subsequently called St. Xavier College, was established in 1831. Bishop Fenwiek fell a victim to the cholera in 1832 and was succeeded by Bishop John Baptist Pur- eell, who in 1850 beeame Arehbishop of the arel- diocese, which position he retained until liis death, July 4, 1883. Bishop Edward D. Fen- wick was a native of Maryland, where he was born in 1768. He studied in Belgium and sub- sequently entered the Dominican order. After his ordination he was appointed professor and procurator of the Dominican College of Born- heim, where he had been educated. When Bel- gium ivas invaded by the French Revolutionists, he was thrown into prison and threatened with death. Proof of his American citizenship saved him and he joined a convent of his order in England. He finally came to the United States with three others of his order for the purpose of introducing that order into this country. In 1805 he traversed the entire Mississippi Valley on a tour of observation and the following year he purchased with his own private fortune a farm

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in Kentucky, where he founded the Dominican Convent of St. Rose of Lima. For some years he lived almost constantly on horseback, pene- trating the States of Ohio and Kentucky in every direction, laying the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church in the West. He had founded eight churches before building the first one in Cincinnati in 1819. In 1823 he made a trip to Europe for pecuniary aid and returned in 1826 with ample resources, with which he began the erection of a cathedral, a parochial school and convents of the Sisters of Charity and of the Dominican nuns. In 1831 he opened the Athenaeum, afterwards known as the Col- lege of St. Francis Xavier. A large part of the. rest of his life was devoted to missionary work among the Indians and it was while on one of these visitations that he was attacked with chol- cra and died in a few days.

Bishop Purcell was born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, on February 26, 1800, and came to this country in 1818. He was educated in Bal- timore and afterwards in Paris. His success as a priest of Notre Dame and afterwards professor and president of St. Mary's College brought him the nomination of Bishop of Cincinnati, to which office he was consecrated on October 13, 1833. At that time there was but one small frame Catholic Church in the city and not more than 16 in the diocese. During his incumbency he founded academies and schools, organized Ger- man congregations, built convents for the Ur- sulines and others. Ile became Archbishop in 1840 with four suffragan bishops attached to his see and received the pallium from the Pope's own hands in 1851. He thereafter founded one of the chief theological seminaries-Mount St. Mary's of the West. He held provincial coun- cils in 1851 and 1858. In 1869 he attended the Vatican Council, where he tok an active part in the deliberations, opposing the declaration of the infallibility of the Pope. He celebrated his golden jubilee in 1876. Three years later he was overwhelmed by a financial crisis, which involved both him and his brother Edward, although neither have ever been suspected of dishonesty or evil intent. The Archbishop was given a coadjutor, William H. Elder, in 1880, and he thereupon retired to Brown County, where he lived until his death. At the time of his death the number of Catholics in the diocese originally held by hint was more than a half million, the

priests 480 and the churches 500. One of the interesting episodes of his life and of Cincin- nati's history is the debate which began on Janu- ary 13, 1837, with Alexander Campbell. In 1870 he again made a public defense of Christianity. Both discussions were printed and widely circu- lated.

A Jewish society was established as early as 1822 and in 1826 occupied a frame building west of Main between Third and Fourth as a synagogue. The Congregation of the Children of Israel, Reformed, which now occupies the Mound Street Temple, was organized in 1830. In 1834 the Synagogue was located on Fourth between Sycamore and Broadway and two years later adjoined the southeast corner of Sixth and Broadway. Joseph Jonas seems to have pre- sided.

The First Congregational Church was organ- ized some time in 1829 in a meeting at the city council chamber and a charter was obtained the following year by Elisha Brigham, Jesse Smith, Nathan Guilford, George Carlisle and William Greene, January 21, 1830. Some of the prominent citizens who took an active interest in the movement were: Micajah T. Williams, Timothy Flint, James H. Perkins, Charles Stet- son, William Goodman and John C. Vaughan. The first sermons were preached by Rev. Charles Briggs of the American Unitarian Association in various churches loaned to the congregation. On May 23. 1830, a building was dedicated at the southwest corner of Fourth and Race. (The Directory of 1834 gives the Unitarian Church at the corner of Vine and Fourth streets.) The first pastor was Rev. E. B. Hall of Providence, who came in September, 1830. In 1832 he was succeeded by Ephraim Peabody, who also joined Mr. Perkins and others in the publication of the Western Messenger, a monthly magazine. He resigned and then came a succession of giants in the intellectual history of the city and country. The first was Rev. Aaron Bancroft, father of the historian, a "Minute Man" at Lexington and Bunker Hill, a graduate of Harvard and a lead- ing man in the Congregational Church through- ont his life. Hle was also president of the Amer- ican Unitarian Association. Before coming to this city he had already published a number of sermons in defense of religious liberty, a, culogy of Washington and a life of Washington, which were republished in England, and numerous vol-

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umes of sermons on other subjects. He was succeeded for a short time by an even better known man, Cyrus Augustus Bartol, who was for three-quarters of a century a leader in re- ligious thought. His successor was Samuel Os- good, also distinguished both in his church and in literature. He was for a time editor of the Western Messenger. The next in this list of great men was James Freeman Clarke, whose fame as a preacher and as a writer is not sur- passed by that of any American. Dr. Clarke also took his turn. at editing the Western Messenger. This magazine, which started in June, 1835, under the patronage of the Unitarians of the West with Ephraim Peabody as editor, removed in its second year to Louisville, but afterwards was brought back to Cincinnati so that Dr. W. H. Channing could take charge of it. It is apparent that these ministers alternated in their preaching between Cincinnati and Louisville. Dr. Clarke was succeeded by the poet-painter, Chris- topher Pearse Cranch. . Most of these gentlemen, Dr. Bartol, Dr. Clarke, Mr. Osgood and Mr. Cranch, lived to a very old age and many now living have had the pleasure of their acquaint- ance. In August, 1837, Rev. Mr. Huntoon be- came pastor for a time but resigned the follow- ing year. He was succeeded by another distin- guished elergyman, Henry Whitney Bellows, who subsequently became very prominent in church circles, in journalism, in letters, and in public life, being the chief promoter and presi- dent of the United States Sanitary Commission. Dr. Bellows survived until 1882. He resigned after a short stay and was succeeded in the winter of 1838 by William Henry Channing, the distinguished nephew of a distinguished unele. Dr. Channing resided in this city for a number of years, resigning his pastorate January, 1844; he died 40 years later.

Other churches mentioned in the Directory of 1836-37 were the two German Lutheran churches, -one on the north side of Sixth between Walnut . and Vine, of which Rev. Il. Lower was pastor, and the other north of Canal between Walnut and Vine, of which Rev. William Howser was. pastor. The first is the church which had been founded in 1814 and of which Rev. L. H. Myer was so long in charge on Third between Broad- way and Ludlow.

The Universalist Church was established some time in 1827. A Mr. Rogers was its pastor in

1836 and the church was' on the west side of Walnut between Third and Fourth.

We have several references to the cause of . religion generally in Cincinnati. In 1834 two Eastern elergyman, Rev. Dr. Reed and Rev. Dr. Mathieson, visited the eity. While admitting that religion was in a low state here they thought that, considering the rapid increase of the people and the character of the increase, it was in a remarkably advanced state. "The popu- lation has grown at about one thousand per year, and this great influx has been nearly all of a worldly and unpromising nature. Yet there are twenty-one-places of worship, and they are of good size and well attended."

Another visitor, in 1838, a elergyman named Buckingham, compares the city from a religious standpoint, as he found it, with Nottingham and found that Cincinnati, a eity not yet 50 years old, whose site had been a dense forest in the memory of many of its inhabitants, with little more than half of the population of Notting- ham, was possessed of as many ministers and churches and nearly twice the number of com- municants.

Of the ministers of that day we are told by Rev. Timothy Flint that some were men of con- siderable talent and readiness, uniform in the habit of extemporaneous preaching, which gave a certain degree of effect even to ordinary mat- ter. This is largely due to the preponderance of the Methodists and the more sensitive character of the people of the South. Discussion was not much affected. The declamatory prevailed. Their flights were elevated at times but not usually well sustained. The speaking on the whole was modeled in one form. They com- menced a paragraph in a moderate tone, gradu- ally elevating the voice with each period and elosing it with the greatest exertion and the highest pitch of the voice. The voice was then let down to the original modulation in order to run it up to the same pitch again.

An- incident of interest was the passage of a resolution by the congregation of what was then known as the Sixth Presbyterian Church, after- wards the Vine Street Congregational Church, in 1838, to the effect that no candidate applying for admission to the fellowship of the church would be received by the session who either held slaves or openly avowed his belief that the hokl- ing or using men as property was agreeable to

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God. This congregation worshiped for a time in Wing's school house, where the Gazette Building (now the Hulbert Block) after- wards stood. At other times the Bazaar, the Cincinnati College Building, the Universalist Church on Walnut street, Burke's church and the Mechanics' Institute were used as places of worship. In 1836 the Baptist property on Sixth street was bought for $8,000. The first pastor was Rev. Asa Mahan, who served from 1831 to 1835. He was succeeded by H. Norton, 1835 to 1837, Artemus Bullard for a few months in 1837 and Jonathan Blanchard, March, 1838, to 1845. This church also took a strong stand in behalf of temperance and refused the admission of persons to the church who would not adopt the principle of entire abstinence from the use of ardent spirits, except for medicine.

The agitation against temperance was one of long continuance. Dr. Lyman Beecher had made a reputation by his powerful lectures against intemperance before coming here, especially in

his lectures delivered in 1826 from his pulpit at Litchfield. The same year the American Tem- perance Society was formed and in six years there were no less than 6,000 societies contain- ing a million of members. This movement un- doubtedly had great influence on the people. There had been great abuses in the use of in- toxicants, not only in the lower classes but in „the highest ranks of society. The same condi- tion was prevalent in England as well as in America and in the East as well as the West. As a result of the long continued agitation the custom of offering liquors on all occasions to all persons gradually died out. It must be remem- bered that in those days the liquors that were barred were the so-called spirituous liquors, such as whiskey, gin and brandy. Malt liquors were not assailed. In September, 1827, the matter of temperance was considered at a public meeting of the citizens held at the Court House, of which we have an account given by Mr. Mans- field.

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE CITY TO THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL-VII.

LAWYERS, DOCTORS, THEATRES, MUSEUMS, SOCIETIES AND CLUBS.

THE LAWYERS-THE DOCTORS-THE THEATRES-THE MUSEUMS-THE SOCIAL LIFE-DRAKE'S "BUCK- EVE CLUB "- INVITATIONS -THE SEMI-COLON CLUB -THE SOCIETY FOR INVESTIGATION -- THE FRANKLIN SOCIETY -THE CINCINNATI LYCEUM -THE INQUISITION - THE COLLEGE OF TEACH- ERS - THE CINCINNATI LITERARY SOCIETY - EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS - MEDICAL SOCIE- TIES-CINCINNATI SHOOTING CLUB-CINCINNATI ANGLING CLUB. .

THE LAWYERS.

The attorneys of Cincinnati in 1819 were given in the directory as follows: William Corry, Nicholas Longworth, James W. Gazlay, Benja- min M. Piatt, David K. Este, David Wade, Stephen Sedgwick, Daniel Roe, William M. Worthington, David Shepherd, Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Q. Richardson, Nathaniel G. Pendleton, Richard S. Wheatley, Joseph S. Ben- ham, John Lee Williams, Nathan Guilford, Bel- lamy Storer, Thomas Clark, Francis A. Blake, Elisha Hotchkiss, Samuel Todd, Chauncy Whit- telsey, Thomas P. Eskridge and Hugh MeDou- gal. Six years later (Directory of 1825) the names of Blake, Clark, Eskridge, Hotchkiss, Richardson, Sedgwick, Todd, Wheatley, Whit- telsey, Williams and Worthington disappear from the list, although many of these were actually at the bar at that time. The new names are: William Brackenridge, Moses Brooks, Edward L. Drake, Samuel Findlay, Charles Fox, William Greene, E. S. Haines, Charles Hammond, Elijah Hayward, William H. Harrison, John Hender- son, Jesse Kimball, Samnel Lewis, J. S. Lytle, Jacob Madeira, Samuel R. Miller, Jacob W. Piatt, Benjamin F. Powers, Arthur St. Clair, Dan

Stone, Daniel Van Matre, Elmore W. Williams, Isaiah Wing and John G. Worthington. Some of these whose names appear for the first time in this directory, notably Arthur St. Clair ( Junior ), were residents long before the time of the ap- pearance of the carlier directory. St. Calir prac- ticed for a time at Hamilton.

A docket entry in the Court of Common Pleas of February 20, 1827, occasioned by a tax of $5 per head which had just been imposed upon attorneys includes 32 names, of whom Mr. Cist mentions but 10 as still practicing as late as 1844. In 1831, 58 names are included on the roll, of whom four were living as late as 1880,- Charles Fox, Judge Woodruff, Henry E. Spen- cer and S. Y. At Lec.

The list of attorneys in 1827 given by Mr. Cist .was as follows: David K. Este, . Bellamy Storer, Joseph S. Benham, Nathaniel Wright, David Wade, William Greene, William Corry, Charles Hammond, Samuel R. Miller, Nicholas Longworth, Thomas Hammond, Samuel Lewis, Daniel Stone, Charles Fox, Elijah Hayward, Jesse Kimball, Jolin S. Lytle, J. W. Piatt, N. G. Pendleton, E. S. Haines, J. G. Worthington, W. Il. Harrison, Jr., Samuel Findlay Moses

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Brooks, J. Madeira, Daniel Van Matre, Isaiah Wing, Nathan Guilford, Benjamin F. Powers, James W. Gazlay, D. J. Caswell and Hugh Mc- Dougal. (Cist's Miscellany, Vol. I, p. 74.)

Of this list, Samuel Miller, Thomas Ham- mond, W. H. Harrison, Jr., J. Madeira, Nathan Guilford and Hugh McDougal had disappeared by 1831. The new names of that year were Jacob and Isaac G. Burnet, B. Ames, Henry Starr, Benjamin Drake, William R. Morris, Jephtha D. Garrard, Hugh Peters, J. Southgate, B. J. Fessenden, Vachel Worthington, Thomas Longworth, James F. Conover, Thomas J. Strait, S. P. Chase, D. H. Hawes, Thomas Morehead, Robert T. Lytle, R. Hodges, N. Riddle, Harvey Hall, H. S. Kyle, S. Y. At Lee, F. W. Thomas, Talbot Jones, Stephen Fales, E. Woodruff, H. E. Spencer, H. P. Gaines and Henry Orn. To these Judge Carter adds the names of Judge . John M. Goodenow and Timothy Walker.

Nathaniel Wright began the practice of the law in 1817 and continued in it until his retire- ment in 1842. He was a graduate of Dartmouth and in his early days was a school teacher. After his arrival in Cincinnati he devoted him- self entirely to the practice of the law, not allow- ing himself to be diverted into any other pursuits. As a result he became the type of the lawyer of the old school of the finest character. After 25 years' practice he retired from the active pur- suit of his profession. He lived to enjoy a ripe old age and died in his 87th year in the year 1875. He was the father of Judge D. Thew Wright and grandfather of Judge Dan Thew Wright.

David Wade came of a family of pioneers, being the son of the pioneer David E. Wade. He was for 17 years prosecuting attorney of Hamilton County-from 1812 to 1829-and "performed the duties of that onerous and re- sponsible position faithfully and diligently. He was a good man, a good lawyer, a good public prosecutor and a useful citizen." He married Mary Mansfield, a sister of John Mansfield, who at that time was living with the family of Jared Mansfield at the Bates place. ( Mansfield's Memories, p. 42; Carter, pp. 39-50. )

Nicholas Longworth, although he continued to be a member of the bar, took no active part in practice during the years covered by this chap- ter.

Charles Fox was an active member of the bar until the time of his death in 1882, when he (lied at the age of 84 as a result of an acci- dent. Ile was an Englishman who came to Cin-

cinnati in 1818. He worked for a time as house carpenter and afterwards studicd law with Na- thaniel Wright. He was admitted to the bar in 1823. He was associated at different times with Judge Bellamy Storer, T. D. Lincoln and Ira D. French. He was judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati from 1862 to 1868. Judge Carter says of him that there was no lawyer who had had and had attained to more law business and that for a time he was always on one side or the other of every important case in court. He was regarded as a man of learning in the law and especially in points of practice and his long experience caused him to be sought frequently for advice and counsel by his fellow practitioners. (Carter, p. 88.)

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 19

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1048

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048