USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > Lancaster > Centennial history of Lancaster, Ohio, and Lancaster people : 1898, the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the spot where Lancaster stands > Part 8
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MARY ELIZABETH REESE
Mary Elizabeth Reese, a daughter of Charles R. Sherman and the eldest sister of the two distinguished brothers John and W. T. Sherman, was born in Lan- caster, Ohio, April 21st, 1812. Mrs. Reese has lived eighty-five years in Lancaster, save ten years she spent in Philadelphia, in the most interesting period of the world's history. Since her marriage, at the age of seventeen years, she has been a leader in society in Lancaster, known to all of its people and highly esteemed and honored. When her brother, General W. T. Sherman, broken in spirit and much distressed on account of his cruel treatment, came to Lancaster on a furlough, after he had been relieved by Secretary Cameron, on the plea that he was either drunk or crazy, she was the one to whom he came for sympathy, and it was her faith in his ability that fortified him and gave him the encouragement that induced him to return to the army. She never forgave Cameron for the injury to her brother, and at the marriage of her niece to Don Cameron, declined to be escorted by the Secretary, notwithstanding he had apologized for his treatment of her brother. An incident of her court- ship related by herself to Miss Carrie Foster, a cor-
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respondent, is of interest, associated as it is with beau- tiful Mt. Pleasant.
In the old homestead, part of which, modernized, still stands on the north side of Main Street, near the crown of the hill, and between the residences of E. B. White and Philip Rising, where her brothers and sisters were reared, Mary Elizabeth Sherman was mar- ried in her seventeenth year to William J. Reese, a wealthy young lawyer of Philadelphia, who had begun the practice of his profession in Lancaster. The courtship which led up to this union furnishes one of the pretty legends associated with historic Mt. Pleas- ant, a unique pile of rocks on the northern boundary of this city. The popular version of the story is that Miss Sherman, to test her lover's courage and affec- tion, sprang from the face of the bluff, which rises two hundred feet and more from the base, and was immediately followed by Mr. Reese. Alighting on the declivity many feet below both were saved from injury, and immediately she gave her "promise true" to the brave young fellow. Somewhat shorn of the romance, the incident, as told the writer by the heroine, is as follows:
"She had one afternoon induced some of her school girl friends to play truant, and the bevy ascended Mt. Pleasant, where they were wandering about when they chanced to run across a party of young men, among whom was Mr. Reese, then paying marked attention to Mary Elizabeth. Not wishing to meet her admirer, she started on a run to evade them, her foot slipped on the verge of the precipice and over she went, landing a few feet below on a ledge of rock, where she lay unconscious. Young Reese noticed her disappearance, and sprang after her and by the
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aid of the others lifted her back to the plain above, and she was assisted home in a semi-conscious con- dition. When medical aid was summoned it was found that the teeth of her great old-fashioned tortoise shell comb had been driven their length under the scalp and broken off, necessitating the use of the knife for their removal. The young lady was badly bruised by the fall but was otherwise uninjured. A piece of her dress, which was torn off in her descent, was picked up by her rescuer and preserved for years as a 'tender memento."
MRS. SARAH JULIAN
Philip Shartle came to Lancaster from Berks County, Penn., in 1804 and took up his residence on Columbus Street. He remained here a year or two and then moved to his farm in Clear Creek Township where he kept a tavern for twenty-five years. His daughter, Sarah, was a small girl at the time he lived here. She married John Julian, of Madison Town- ship in 1825. They were the parents of Isaac Julian, of Madison Township. Mrs. Julian is now a resident of Circleville, O. She has passed her ninety -fifth year. She is undoubtedly the oldest person living who lived in Lancaster as early as 1804.
THOMAS REED
Thomas Reed came to Lancaster from Chillicothe previous to the year 1829. He was originally from Harrisburg, Pa., and was born November 29, 1800. He was immediately employed as clerk by Henry Matthews & Company. March 18, 1830, he was ad- mitted as a partner. In the year 1832 General Reese purchased all interest in the store except that of Reed, and the business was thereafter conducted under the
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name of Thomas Reed & Company. In the Ohio Eagle of 1833 appears an elaborate advertisement by this firm. The Ohio Eagle of that year contains another interesting notice of Mr. Reed, viz., his marriage to Rebecca Arnold, June 25, Tuesday, 1833, the Rev. Jno. Wright officiating. January, 1836, Reese and Reed dissolved partnership, Reese continuing the business. Some time in the forties, Thos. Reed, in company with Asa Clarke, carried on a store in Balti- more, O. After retiring from the management of business, he clerked in various stores of the town. His last positions were with the firms of Little & Dresbach and Lyons & Son. Mr. Reed was a man of integrity, a splendid man physically, and an obliging, polite and popular merchant. He died September 29, 1860. Mr. Reed was in business on the Arnold corner as late as 1840, upon his own account.
SOME LOCAL HAPPENINGS
In 1827, June 24, Jacob D. Deitrick, General George Sanderson, George Ring, George Browning and E. B. Thompson were the managers of the Masonic cele- bration of that day. G. Steinman provided a grand dinner, and in the evening a grand ball was given at Steinman's Assembly Hall. Judge Charles R. Sher- man was one of the guests.
E. B. Thompson was sheriff of the county in 1828. He married a Virginia girl, a niece of General Samuel Effinger. In the year 1833 he was auditor of Fair- field County, O., and died soon after.
The mail facilities of this period compared with the present were very poor indeed. There was an eastern mail three times a week, a mail to Cincinnati twice each week, a mail once each week to Marietta. Co-
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lumbus was a very small town and the city of Chicago had not then been heard of. Daily papers were un- known here and the merchants and professional men were content with weekly or tri-weekly papers from Baltimore or Philadelphia. The local papers were small and contained but little news and but few local items. The Ohio Eagle did not mention the visit of Daniel Webster in 1833.
An independent fire company was organized in Lan- caster in 1833. P. Van Trump was the captain, and Samuel Herr first lieutenant, Samuel Evans second lieutenant, George Hood engineer, and second engi- neer, John C. Fall. The company was certainly well officered.
The Lancaster Mechanics' Beneficial Society was in existence in 1833. How long it had existed and how long it continued to exist we are not able to state. Daniel Sifford was president; H. F. Blaire, vice presi- dent; R. O. Claspill, secretary; and Benjamin Connell, treasurer, all good mechanics and good men. With such officers it must have been beneficial and useful to mechanics.
PUBLIC LIBRARY
In 1834 a good library was in existence in Lancas- ter. May 25th, 1834, the directors issued a call for a public meeting, which was signed by Thomas Ewing, William J. Reese, Robt. McNeill, John T. Brasee, Hocking H. Hunter, M. Z. Kreider, George Reber, P. Van Trump, Henry Stanbery, William Medill and Samuel F. Maccracken. A board of directors that we may safely challenge the State of Ohio to equal either in character or intellect. This was the beginning of the intellectual era of Lancaster, a period without a parallel in the history of the city.
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HOCKING VALLEY RAILROAD
In 1833 the citizens of Lancaster were alive to the value of railroads, new as the system was in the United States. They called a public meeting, prepared a pe- tition asking for the grant of a charter and forwarded it to the Legislature. The road was authorized by the Legislature. The proposition was for a double track road down the Hocking Valley to Parkersburg, Virginia. The idea was to make the northern ter- minus at Lancaster, connecting with the Lateral Canal soon to be completed. We cannot trace the history of this project any farther, and conclude that it was soon abandoned. Thirty-two years later the matter was revived, and the result is well known, a good rail- road down the Valley.
This proposition shows us how the people of that time valued their canal system, proposing, as they did, to make their town the terminus of a railroad because it was the terminus of a canal.
GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN
General Sherman was born in Lancaster, Ohio, February 8, 1820. He was the son of Judge Charles R. Sherman and Mary Hoyt, his wife. His father died when he was but nine years old, leaving his widow with eleven young children. Hon. Thos. Ewing proposed to adopt "Cump," as the boy was called, and the mother consented The sacrifice was not so great, as Mr. Ewing lived near by. Here he was the playmate and schoolmate of P. B. Ewing and his sister, Ellen (his future wife), and he was a member of this home until sent to West Point in 1836, at the age of sixteen years. An old subscription paper for the expenses
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of a fourth of July celebration, dated June 12, 1836, has his signature attached.
Graduating with honors, he entered the army as a lieutenant of the Third Artillery. And the year 1846 found him stationed at Ft. Moultrie, South Carolina. Robert Anderson was his captain, and Colonel Wm. Gates was commander of the post. Sherman was the junior first lieutenant of Company G.
In April of this year he was assigned to recruiting duty, first at Pittsburgh and finally at Zanesville, O. While engaged in this duty, on his way by stage coach from Cincinnati to his post in Pittsburgh, he stopped at Lancaster and attended the wedding of his school- mate, Mike Effinger. This was in the month of June, 1846. Arriving in Pittsburgh, he found an order as- signing him to Company H, Third Artillery, under orders for California. He shipped at New York for Monterey, Cal., by way of Cape Horn, where he landed January, 1847.
In January, 1850, he returned to the East with dis- patches for the War Department. He was given leave of absence for six months and on the first day of May, 1850, he was married to Ellen B. Ewing, daughter of Thomas Ewing, then Secretary of the Interior. Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Thomas H. Benton, President Taylor and Cabinet were guests. September 6, 1853, he resigned as lieutenant in the army and became a member of the banking firm of Lucas, Turner & Com- pany, he to take charge of a branch to be established in San Francisco. Thither he proceeded on the 20th day of September, reaching San Francisco October 15, 1853.
On the first of May, 1857, Lucas, Turner & Com- pany closed up their business and quit San Francisco.
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This closed Sherman's career as a banker in California. His own account of his experience as a banker is highly entertaining. July 21, 1857, he was again a partner in the banking house of Lucas, Turner & Company and stationed at the New York office. October 7th of this year Jas. H. Lucas, of St. Louis, suspended and with him went down the house of Lucas, Turner & Company. In the year 1858 he became a partner of Thomas and Hugh Ewing, attorneys at Leavenworth, Kansas, under the name of Sherman & Ewing; and about this time was by Judge Lecompte admitted to the bar.
July, 1859, he was elected Superintendent of the "Alexandria Military Academy." January 18, 1861, he resigned this position and, closing up his affairs with the State of Louisiana, he returned to Lancaster March 1, 1861. He soon visited Washington and, with his brother John, called upon Lincoln. His re- ception was so different from what he had expected that he could not conceal his sad disappointment and gave expression to what he felt in vigorous language. It has always been understood that he went to Wash- ington to tender his services to the President. He returned to Lancaster and thence to St. Louis, where he was immediately elected president of a Street Rail- road Companv. through the influence of his old friend, Major Turner.
May 8, 1861, he (by letter) tendered his services to the Secretary of War, and on the 14th of the same month was appointed colonel of the Thirteenth Regu- lar Infantry. He immediately repaired to Washington, where General Scott placed him on inspection duty.
June 30th he was assigned to the command of the Third Brigade, First Division, under General Mc-
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Dowell. With this brigade he participated in the first battle of Bull Run. Shortly after this battle he was commissioned a Brigadier General of Volunteers and assigned to Kentucky as second in command. He requested the President to make General Robert An- derson the ranking officer, which was done on August 24, 1861. October 8th General Anderson relinquished his command and General Sherman became the rank- ing officer. With this new responsibility came the crisis of his military career, and the cruel treatment received from Cameron, Secretary of War, his suspen- sion from command, and the unjust and cruel criti- cisms of the newspapers, came near wrecking him, and driving from the army the future great commander of the Army of the Tennessee. In November, 1861, General Sherman was relieved of his command and ordered to report to General Halleck at St. Louis, Mo. From the cruel effects of the charge that his judgment and mind were unbalanced, sanctioned as it had been by the Secretary of War, General Sherman says he did not recover until the following April, when the battle of Shiloh gave him an opportunity to redeem his good name.
February 12, 1862, he was ordered to Paducah, Ky., to take command of that post. Here he organized a division and on March 10th he was placed in command of it. He embarked his troops and steamed up the Tennessee River, where he joined the army of General Grant, the "Army of the Tennessee," henceforth to be forever associated with the names of Grant and Sher- man. The battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6 and 7, 1862. Soon after this event General Sherman was rewarded with the appointment of Major General of Volunteers, and placed in command of an army
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corps. He participated in the campaign against Vicksburg and was sent by Grant to succor General Rosencrans at Chattanooga. From the day that he left Paducah to join General Grant he was the confi- dent and bosom friend of that general and when the time came for Grant to assume command of all our armies, Sherman was placed in command of the army advancing upon Atlanta. By this time he had not only redeemed his good name, but was second in com- mand and second in the hearts of his countrymen everywhere.
His brilliant campaign and series of victories ended in the capture of Atlanta, and the march to the sea was begun, a march that will always be famous in his- tory. This march added greatly to Sherman's repu- tation and made him the second "Great Hero" of the war. He was made a Lieutenant General in 1866, and in 1869 General of the army. General Grant pro- nounced him the best field officer the war produced. He commanded the army in time of peace until the age for his retirement came, when he became a private citizen and moved his family to St. Louis. He did not remain long a resident of this city, preferring to live in New York, to which city he removed and where he remained to the close of his life.
General Sherman had the reputation of being a blunt, gruff man, but that grew mainly out of the fact that he disliked any ovation or personal attention. He avoided display wherever he could well do so, and sometimes offended; but in spite of himself he was the most beloved of all our generals. He was a man of impetuous temper, but with a tender heart; plain and unassuming in his manners, direct and pointed in the expression of his thoughts, frank and generous.
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His fame was not sullied by personal ambition or jealousy. He was proud of and gloried in the success and promotion of his great comrades, Grant and Sheridan. In a private talk in Lancaster he said: "If McPherson lives he will command all of us." His soldiers loved him and he could arouse them to greater enthusiasm than any other man. The march to the sea was a wonderful example of this. The troops caught the spirit of their great leader and their con- fidence in him and their enthusiasm carried them through. He had a great heart and a grand soul. He believed in God and the future.
"The century had no grander soul to surrender into eternity than frank, honest, brilliant, gallant, patriotic William T. Sherman. Simple as a child, brave as a lion, sympathetic as a woman, firm as a rock, wrathful as a tempest when aroused against wrong, lovely as a June morning among his friends."
Here in Lancaster he was born and brought up, here he married a lovely girl, and throughout his life his face was familiar to Lancaster people. It is but natural that we should have a pardonable pride in the name that has shed undying luster upon our town.
General Sherman loved the city of New York for its society. He there met old friends and many distin- guished men of national reputation. His death at the age of seventy-one years, February, 1891, was caused by a cold contracted while attending a social dinner party. He was not a slave to the pleasures of the table, for he partook sparingly of the rich viands set before him, but he enjoyed the brilliant conversation of the friends he always met upon such occasions.
He sleeps by the side of his wife and son Willie in a quiet cemetery near St. Louis, his own chosen burial
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place, and like his plain, unostentatious life, his last resting place is marked by a simple marble grave- stone, designed by himself.
He met death bravely and might have said with Bunyan's hero: "I am going to my Father's; and though with great difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get them. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who will now be my rewarder. When the day that he must go hence was come, many accompanied him to the river side, into which, as he went, he said: 'Death, where is thy sting?' And as he went down deeper he said, 'Grave, where is thy victory?' So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side."
LANCASTER AND GENERAL SHERMAN
The people of Lancaster took an especial pride in the career of General Sherman. And while in com- mand of the Army of the Tennessee and making his- tory and fame for himself and his gallant soldiers, they conceived the idea of showing their appreciation in some substantial manner.
A fund of fifteen hundred dollars was soon raised in subscriptions of from five to one hundred dollars. The list was headed by the leading and best known men of the city. It was known that Mrs. Sherman, who lived here at the time, would have been pleased if the offering had been in the form of a substantial silver service, but the admirers of fine horses turned the testimonial in that direction, and a thoroughbred
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stallion was purchased and sent to the General. This was an unfortunate selection. The horse was not broken to any saddle gait and the General never mounted him. He soon exchanged him for a carriage team that he never used.
Another notable occurrence was the elegant recep- tion given General Sherman by Thos. Ewing, his father-in-law, in the old homestead, on his return from the war. This was participated in by all of his gen- tleman friends and admirers in Lancaster. There he met old schoolmates and old time friends for the first time in many years. It was a very enjoyable occasion.
HON. JOHN SHERMAN
Mr. Sherman was born in Lancaster on the tenth day of May, 1823. He was six years of age when his father, Charles R. Sherman, died. In 1831 when eight years of age, he was taken by his father's cousin, John Sherman, to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, to reside in his family. Here he remained four years. He returned to his mother in Lancaster at the age of twelve years. Here he entered the Academy of Mark and Samuel L. Howe and in his "Autobiography" he names other boys of his age who were his schoolmates, P. B. Ewing, C. F. Garaghty, Frederick Reese, William P. Rice and William Winthrop Sifford. P. B. Embich, William Duke, Mike Effinger, and his brother Willianı Te- cumseh were schoolmates, but he does not name them. In 1837 he became a rodman for Colonel Samuel R. Curtis, engineer of the Muskingum River improve- ment. He continued with Colonel Curtis two years and devoted his leisure time to study. In 1839 on account of a change in the state administration, Col- onel Curtis and his force were relieved, and John
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Sherman returned to Lancaster, being then sixteen years of age. He was then employed temporarily by Dr. M. Z. Kreider, Clerk of the Court, at $1.50 per day. In the spring of 1840 he went to Mansfield and entered the law office of his brother, Charles Taylor Sherman, as a student. As a law student he had the advice and encouragement of his uncle, Judge Parker, a man of ability and blessed with good common sense. On his twenty-first birthday, May 10, 1844, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court at Spring- field, Ohio. He now became the partner of his brother Charles and entered upon the practice of his profession with high hopes of the future. He soon became interested in politics and attended several con- ventions as a delegate. He was a delegate to the Whig State Convention held at Columbus in 1852 where he made a brief speech that was highly complimented by the papers the next morning, and a brilliant future was predicted for the young orator. In the summer of 1854 he was nominated by his party as candidate for Congress and in October of that year was elected. He entered Congress December 1, 1855, and from that date has been continually in public life, as mem- ber of the House, United States Senator, or Cabinet Minister, a period of forty-two years. His career as a statesman has been a useful one to his country, bril- liant and honorable. He did not become president of this Republic, but his name will be honorably men- tioned in history when presidents are forgotten. The life of Senator Sherman has been a model one in all respects, pure and without reproach. The temptations and excesses incident to public life have no charms for him. In the quiet of his home with his family and books he spends his leisure hours. June the
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8th, 1892, the Philadelphia Ledger said of him, "In a conspicuous degree Senator Sherman of Ohio rep- resents the noblest principles and traditions of the Republican party. He is an astute politician; but much better than that, he is a wise, public-spirited, broad-minded statesman."
A passage from his "Autobiography" makes clear the influence that shaped and formed his character, "Of my mother I can scarcely write without emotion, though she died more than forty years ago."
JOHN BROUGH
Governor John Brough was born at Marietta, O.,. September 17, 1811. His father was an Englishman who came over with Blennerhasset. His mother was a Pennsylvania woman of fine mental qualities.
He entered a printing office when but fourteen years of age, and soon thereafter entered the Ohio Univer- sity where he studied, and set type to pay expenses. Soon after graduating he went to Petersburg, Va., where for some time he edited a paper and studied: law.
From Petersburg he returned to Marietta and be- came editor of the Republican, a Democratic paper. This was in 1831. In 1834 he removed to Lancaster and with his brother Charles purchased and edited the Ohio Eagle. He was a forcible writer and soon at- tracted attention as an editor of much more than ordi- nary ability.
In 1835 he was Clerk of the Ohio Senate and in 1838 elected to the General Assembly.
He was twice elected Auditor of the State of Ohio and made quite a reputation as an officer of ability.
In 1845 he founded the Cincinnati Enquirer, edited'
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his paper and practiced law. In 1848 he was elected president of the Madison & Indianapolis R. R. and manager of the Bee Line. He moved to Cleveland in 1861 and managed his railroads from that point. In 1863 he was elected as the Union War candidate for governor by the largest majority ever given a candidate for governor. He was the War Governor. His eloquent speeches in the dark days of the war did more to encourage the people than those of any other man. He died August 24, 1865.
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