Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 29

Author: Doyle, William B., b. 1868
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1150

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens > Part 29

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In 1836, Akron was incorporated. Im- mediately thereafter Madison H. White. of Medina, came over and established the Akron Post, the first issne appearing March 23. It was a five column weekly, and it died in No- vember of the same year. Its equipment was purchased by Constant Bryan, then a young lawyer, and later a judge, who established the Akron Journal. December 1, 1836. The Journal gave up the ghost six months later.

The Post and Journal had been Demo- cratic. Now the Whigs had an inning, when Horace K. Smith and Gideon J. Galloway brought forth the first issue of the American Balance, August 19, 1837 ; suspended August 9, 1838; age one year.

Easily the liveliest and most commendable of the early Akron newspaper ventures was that of Samuel Alanson Lane, who established the American Buzzard, in 1837, his object being to reduce the lawless young town of Akron, filled with bad men. to a state of law and order. In its stated object and in finan- cial matters the Buzzard was quite successful, and after an exceding brisk career as editor

and manager for two years, Mr. Lane dis- posed of it to Hiram Bowen, who turned it into the Summit Beacon, in 1839.

The Beacon has continued to this day, be- ing issued as a daily under the name of the Beacon Journal. It represented the Whig Party, and had a hard time of it for several years. In 1844 Mr. Bowen sold the Beacon to Richards S. Elkins, who was succeeded as editor by Lanrin Dewey in 1845. They in turn sold it to John Teesdale, of Columbus, in 1848. Mr. Teesdale was still in command when the Republican party was formed in 1855, and the Beacon became its organ. He sold ont to Beebe & Elkins in 1856, and was succeeded as editor by James, later Judge Carpenter ; A. H. Lewis, of Ravenna, succeed- ed him, and in 1861 S. A. Lane, former pro- prietor of the Buzzard, became editor. Four years later Mr. Lane and Horace G. Canfield bought an interest, and in January, 1867, the business was taken entirely out of the hands of Beebe & Elkins, the publishers' names being changed to Lane. Canfield & Company. The new proprietors believed that Akron had grown to a point where it should have a daily paper; the necessary preparations were made and the first issue of the Akron Daily Beacon made its appearance December 6, 1869. Mr. Lane was editor-in-chief, and Thomas C. Ray- nolds, was assistant editor. Mr. Ravnold- afterward piloted the Beacon's ship of des- tiny for many years.

The Beacon Publishing Company was formed in 1871. capital $25,000. Messrs. Lane and Denis A. Long retained an active inter- est : H. A. Canfield and 1. L. Paine retired and Mr. Ravnolds was made editor-in-chief. The paper grew. and the fact that its entire plant was destroyed by fire in 1872 checked its progress but little. In 1875 the property. rehabilitated, was purchased by Mr. Rav- nolds, with Frank I. Staral and John H. Auble. Later Mr. Raynolds secured control.

In 1869, the Akron Daily Beneon, the first local daily. made its appearance. It grew, and in 1891 absorbed the Akron Daily Republi- can, which had. in the meantime sprung up to dispute its right to the whole of the local

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daily field. This led to a complete reorgani- zation. The Republican was a consolidation of two papers, the Daily Telegram and the Sunday Gazette, the latter founded by Paul E. Werner in 1878.

When the Beacon took over the Republi- can, it reorganized as follows: George W. Crouse, president; K. B. Congle, vice-presi- dent, and T. C. Raynolds, business manager. The Beacon and Republican continued in that form until 1897, when it was again deemed expedient to reach out and absorb a competitor, this time the Daily Journal, founded by Charles H. Wright. When this change was made the name of the paper be- came the Beacon-Journal and as such it ap- pears today. About that time R. T. Dobson, who, with his brother, had been conducting the Times, and had disposed of his interest there, came over and acquired in interest in the Beacon-Journal. This interest grew until it controlled the industry and it was much more prosperous under the Dobson direction than it had been in years before. A few years ago, Mr. Dobson, tiring of the newspa- per business, disposed of his interest to T. J. Kirkpatrick, of Springfield, Ohio, and the latter removed to Akron and took personal charge, with C. L. Knight as business mana- ger. A year ago Major Kirkpatrick disposed of his holding and returned to Springfield where he has again engaged in the publish- ing business. Mr. Knight remains, as the manager and controller of a majority of the stock. William B. Baldwin, an Akron boy, and in newspaperdom a product of the local field, has been the editor of the Beacon-Jour- nal for years, and continues in that position. The Beacon-Journal Company occupies its own block at the corner of Quarry and Main Streets, and has a modern and complete equipment. So much for the story of what has developed into the leading Republican newspaper of the County. The Beacon-Jour- mal is a product of gradual growth, of devel- opment with the years, as the city and county have developed.

The Akron Times, Summit County's lead- ing Democratic paper. daily and weekly, has

another story to tell-a story of magnificent success in shorter time-a narrative of a struggle, which though short and successful, has been sharp.

The American Democrat, published at. Akron for the first time on August 20, 1842, was the first newspaper of that faith to make its appearance in Summit County. Its pub- lisher was the late Horace Canfield, pioneer printer, whose son, now honored and full of years, still plies the trade in the city of Akron.

The life of the American Democrat was a little above six years. Then it daunted. Mr. Canfield immediately began the publication of another paper, with indifferent success. In 1849. in partnership with the late ex-gover- nor Sidney Edgerton, Mr. Canfield as mana- ger and Mr. Edgerton as editor, he began the publication of the Akron Free Democrat. That was in July. After the fall election that year, the name of the paper was changed to the Free Democratic Standard. The paper continued for years, its name being frequently changed, however, to correspond with editorial belief or their burning issues. Its names were, successively, the Democratic Standard, the Summit Democrat and the Summit Un- ion. As the Summit Union the paper died in 1867.

But Akron and Summit County were not to be left without a Democratic newspaper, and in the same year a new newspaper ven- ture, at least more enduring than its prede- cessors, was launched and christened the Akron Times. The present Akron Times is its lineal descendant. As a weekly paper the Akron Weekly Times continued un- til 1892. During those years, though it was without competition in its own field, its for- tunes were varied and it was at no time over- opulent, conforming in that respect to the well-known small newspaper rule. But it held on, and it grew despite the fact that it was the apostle of a minority in- local political be- lief. Among its editors were E. B. Eshelman, known better as editor of the Wayne County Democrat, and Frank S. Pixley, who has since become famous as a playwright.

In 1892 fate decreed that the Times should

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emerge from its weekly newspaper chrysalis and become a daily. It happened that in that year W. B. and R. T. Dobson-then aggres- sive Democrats-decided that Akron must have a Democratic daily paper. The Akron Daily Democrat was accordingly launched by them. This was early in the year. The daily quickly occupied the field formerly taken by the weekly, and the weekly Times surren- dered, being taken over by the Brothers Doh- son.

For five years the new arrangement contin- ned, W. B. Dobson having in the meantime become postmaster of the City of Akron, and the newspaper having been taken over by his brother, Russell T. Dobson.

In 1898 the latter decided that he would dispose of the paper. In his employ at the time was an energetic youth who had gradu- ated from the printers' case to the editorial rooms and had become first a reporter and later city editor of the paper. His name was Edward S. Harter. It was his ambition, of course, to own a newspaper, and when it was made known that the Daily Democrat and Weekly Times were for sale, he wanted to buy. With a partner then-Fred W. Gayer, of Akron-Mr. Harter made the purchase, paying what was under the circumstance a large price for the property. It is a matter of local history that the seller boasted, when he completed the sale, that he would "have it back in six months." This came to the ears of Harter, the new editor. It checked his enthusiasm to a marked degree, but it also spurred him on to prevent, if possible. any other outcome of his venture than com- plete success. Mr. Dobson has not got the property back in ten years-hy default-and it is not likely that he ever will. Under the energetic direction of Mr. Harter and those associated with him then and since, the Times has grown. When purchased its press equip- ment was antiquated, type was set by hand, its office equipment was poor, its circulation small and its good will-an exceedingly important part of a newspaper-was almost nil.

Today the Times occupies its own building, a fine two-story brick structure at the corner

of Mill Street and Broadway. Below are counting-room offices and pressroom, above reportorial and composing rooms. A battery of four linotype machines prepares the type; an elevator carries the pages to a pressroom equipped to the minute with the best and new- est machinery ; a two-color sixteen-page press has just been installed, and today the Times has easily the most modern and complete newspaper plant in the county. Edward S. Harter, leaving the tripod for a business desk, is manager; Judge C. R. Grant, a large stock- holder in the enterprise, wields a pen that moulds opinions, and the Times today is in the very front rank among Summit County publications.

This paper is produced by the Akron Dem- ocrat Company, of whom the following are officers: Judge C. R. Grant, president; J. V. Welsh, vice-president; Edward S. Harter, sec- retary and manager, and M. N. Hoye, treas- urer.

For the large number of German speaking people within its borders Akron has a live German newspaper, the Germania, edited and largely owned by Louis Seybold. This paper has had a long and successful career, having been founded in 1868 by H. Gentz. Within a year after its birth, it passed into the hands of the late Prof. Karl F. Kolbe, who for more than half a century was prominently identi- fied with all that was good in German litera- ture in this community. Louis Seybold became editor in 1875. In 1887 the Germania Print- ing Company was incorporated, with Paul E. Werner, president; Louis Seybold, secre- tary, and Hans Otto Beck, business manager. Later Mr. Werner and Mr. Beck disposed of their connections, Mr. Beck returning to Ger- many and Mr. Werner going into other things But the Germania lives on, Editor Seybold at the helm and members of his family at his right hand -- a power for good in that part of the community for which it is especially in- tended. Some twenty years ago the Freie Presse was started, but the Germania quickly absorbed it.

In a work of the present scope it would be

HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY

impossible to name all the publications which have at various times catered to the local pub- lic for a time, then passed on. Deserving of special mention, however, at the present time is The People, published weekly under the direction of the Akron Central Labor Union. The People is by far the most pretentious labor publication ever attempted in the Akron field. It enjoys a wide patronage and circu-

lates among the members of the various local labor unions.

The Akron Press, an edition of the Cleve- land Press, printed and prepared in Cleveland, is also circulated considerably in Akron. It is understood that its owners at the present time contemplate the erection of a plant in this city, and the publication of the Akron Press as a bona fide Akron paper.

JOIIN BROWN

THE OLD JOHN BROWN HOME BEFORE BEING REMODELED

CHAPTER XV

GREATNESS ACHIEVED BY SUMMIT COUNTY SONS

JOHN BROWN. EDWARD ROWLAND SILL.

There are two names in the history of Sum- mit County up to the year 1907, which, in the years to come, will stand out far above all others. The name of one who lived among us will always be honored because of the memories associated with the anti-slavery struggle; the fame of the other is secure be- canse of the perfection of his art. One wrought; the other wrote. Although they are the greatest by far of all Summit County's citizens, yet neither of them was a native of the county. They were both born in Connecti- cut, and the places of their birth were but forty miles apart. Nor, was the great work which each of them did, accomplished in Summit County. Nevertheless, as a large part of the lifetime of each was spent within her borders, the county claims them both as her own sons. She views with increasing pride the added fame which the years bring to the memory of John Brown of Osawatomie, and Edward Rowland Sill, one of the worthi- est and truest of American poets.

Torrington, in Western Connecticut, is set amid all the glories of the Honsatonic Moun -. tains. Nature presents few landscapes more charming than this idyllic region. Litchfield, which means so much to the residents of Sum- mit County is only a few miles to the south- west. John Brown was born at Torrington on the 9th day of May in the year 1800. The town record supplies the date and states that he was the son of Owen and Ruth Brown. He was a direct descendant of Peter Brown, an English Puritan carpenter who was one of the Mayflower company. His ancestors, too, had been part of that remarkable colony

which founded Windsor, Connecticut. In his own words, he was born of "poor but re- spectable parents." His father was a tanner and shoemaker who was often hard put to in order to provide the bare necessaries of life for his family. His grandfather was Captain John Brown, of the Revolutionary Army. His mother was Ruth Mills and she, too, could boast of a father who had fought with great credit in the war of the Revolution. His mother was of Dutch descent, her first Ameri- can ancestor being Peter Mills who emigrated from Holland about 1700.

In 1805 Owen Brown moved with his wife and babies to Ohio. It was an emigration rather than a moving; for the way was long and toilsome and beset with many perils. They settled in Hudson, which at that time was only a clearing in an almost unbroken wilder- ness. In the story of his life John mentions that it was filled with Indians and wild beasts. During the first few years of his life in Hudson, he was accustomed to intimate association with the Indians; his early play- mates were Indians and from them he learned much woodcraft and some of their language. He mentions with much feeling the loss of a yellow marble (the first he ever had), which had been given to him by an Indian boy. Soon after settling in Hudson, his father was made a trustee of Oberlin College. This speaks volumes for the standing of the family and the character of that worthy father. In spite of the scholastic connection of his father, however, the youthful John received very scanty schooling. Dressed in his rough buck- skin clothes he preferred to tend the cattle and sheep, and roam on long trips in the for- est. When only twelve years old he made a

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trip of over a hundred miles driving alone a herd of cattle. IIe enjoyed immensely the hardest and roughest sports, and lost no op- portunity to "wrestle, snow-ball, run, jump and knock off' old seedy wool hats." Perhaps the battles in Kansas were being won on the field of those rough frontier sports in Ohio. His mother died when he was eight years old, and the poor little fellow mourned for her for

years. His father soon married again, but his heart remained lonely for his mother. At ten years he commenced reading books. It is easy to determine how that rugged charac- ter was formed by considering the sources of its inspiration. From that time on, his fav- orite books were: first and always, The Holy Bible; then Baxter's Saints' Rest; The Pil- grim's Progress; Josephus' Works, Plutarch's Lives; The Life of Oliver Cromwell; Rollin's Ancient History; Napoleon and His Mar- shals; and Henry on Meekness.

At the age of sixteen he joined the Congre- gational Church at Hudson, and remained a steadfast and bible-reading Christian all the days of his life. After he became a national character, the extent of his Bible knowledge was much marvelled at. About this time he determined to study for the ministry and entered the Hallock School, Plainfield, Massa- chusetts, and also Morris Academy in Con- necticut. Inflammation of the eyes compelled him to quit study, and he returned to his business of tanning hides in Hudson. ITe was made foreman in his father's tannery and also mastered the art of surveying. Sub- sequent surveys showed that his early sur- veys were made with great accuracy.

On June 21, 1820, he was married in Hud- son to Dianthe Lusk, of that village. Ile de- scribes her as "a remarkably plain, but net, industrions and economical girl, of excellent character, carnest piety and good, practical common-sense." He confesses that she "main- tained a most powerful and good influence over him" so long as she lived. By her, he had seven children, the first three of whom were born in Hudson, Ohio: the others in Richmond, Pennsylvania. These children were John Brown, Jr .; Jason Brown, now

living in Akron; Owen Brown; Frederick Brown; Ruth Brown, who afterward married Henry Thompson; Frederick Brown, mur- dered in the Kansas trouble by Rev. Martin White; and an infant son who died three days after birth. Jason Brown was born in Hudson, January 19, 1823. He was the most prominent of the "Sons of Hudson" who re- turned for the "Old Home Festival" in the autumn of 1907, having walked all the way from Akron to Hudson to attend it. In 1826, John Brown moved to Richmond, Crowford County, Pennsylvania, where he carried on the business of tanner until 1835. His wife died here in August, 1832, and he soon re- married. His second wife was Mary A. Day, who bore him thirteen children as follows: Sarah Brown, born May 11, 1834, at Rich- mond, Pennsylvania; Watson Brown, October 7, 1834, at Franklin Mills, Ohio, (now Kent, Ohio) ; Salmon Brown, October 2, 1836, Hud- son, Ohio; Charles Brown, November 3, 1837, Hudson, Ohio; Oliver Brown, March 9, 1839, Franklin Mills, Ohio; Peter Brown, Decem- ber 7, 1840, Hudson, Ohio; Au-tin Brown, September 14, 1842, Richfield, Summit County, Ohio; Anne Brown, December 23, 1843, Richfield, Ohio; Amelia Brown, June 22, 1845, Akron, Ohio; Sarah Brown (2d) September 11, 1846, Akron; Ellen Brown, May 20, 1848. Springfield, Massachusetts; in- fant son, April 26, 1852, Akron, died May 17, 1852, and Ellen Brown (2d), September 25, 1854, Akron.

In 1835 he moved back to Ohio; this time settling at Franklin Mills (now Kent) in Portage County. He was unfortunate in the real estate business here, and in 1840 he re- turned to Hudson and formed a partnership with Heman Oviatt, of Richfield, to engage in the wool business. In 1842 he moved across the Cuyahoga Valley to Richfield, where he lived two years. While living in Richfield four of his children died. In 1844 he moved with his family to Akron and formed a part- nership with Col. Simon Perkins, of Akron, to engage in the wool business. The firm name was Perkins & Brown and they sold large quantities of wool on commission. John

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Brown was an expert judge of wool; in fact, he had few equals. His reputation as a wool expert extended over the whole eastern part of the country. A Massachusetts friend re- lates this anecdote of him: "Give him two samples of wool, one grown in Ohio and the other in Vermont, and he would distinguish each of them in the dark. One evening, in England, one of the party wishing to play a trick on the Yankee farmer. handed him a sample and asked him what he would do with such wool as that. His eyes and fingers were then so good that he had only to touch it to know that it had not the minute hooks by which the fibers of wool are attached to each other. 'Gentlemen,' said he, 'if you have any machinery that will work up dog's hair, I would advise you to put this into it.' The jocose Briton had sheared a poodle and brought the hair in his pocket, but the laugli went against him, and Captain Brown, in spite of some peculiarities of dress and man- ner, soon won the respect of all whom he met."

Perkins & Brown was not a success. The failure was due solely to John Brown's lack of business instinct. He was not intended by Nature for a business carcer. He lacked all the fundamental requisites. He was by na- ture a dreamer, a seer, a poet, if you will. The impulses or intuitions he had at sixteen were correet; he would have made a splendid preacher. Colonel Perkins said of him: "He had little judgment, always followed his own will. and lost much money." During his residence of two years in Akron. he lived in the frame house on the top of Perkins Hill, now ocenpied by Hon. Charles E. Perkins. and which for several years was used as a club-house by The Portage Golf Club. In the spring of 1846 he went to Springfield, Massa- chusetts as the agent for certain large wool growers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1848 he went to England with 200.000 pounds of wool, which he was compelled to sell at about. half its value. His reeord as a wool factor is a series of failures. He was now reduced to poverty again.

In 1849 he fell in with Gerritt Smith's

quixotic plan to found a colony of negro set- tlers in the wild lands of the Adirondack wilderness, and moved his family there in that year, settling in North Elba, Essex County, New York. Mr. Smith gave John Brown the land and the latter started to clear it and en- deavored to show the negro how to cultivate and plant their farms in the colony. North Elba was the home of his family until the time of his death. It was a wild, cold and bleak place, and they suffered many privations while living there. From that time on John Brown's business was to fight slavery. He had been an abolitionist since the war of 1812. Ilis witnessing the ill-treatment of a little slave boy, about his own age, to whom he was much attached, brought home to him the evils of human slavery and led him to declare eter- nal war with slavery. "This brought John to refleet on the wretched, hopeless condition of fatherless and motherless slave children, for such children have neither fathers nor moth- ers to protect and provide for them. He would sometimes raise the question: 'Is God their Father?' "-Autobiographical letter to Harry Stearns. Verily, God was their Father and was even then "trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored." In 1837, while the whole family were assem- bled for prayer, John Brown made them all take a solemn oath to work with him for the freeing of the slaves, and then, kneeling, they invoked the blessing of God on their compact In Ohio and also in Massachusetts, he was active in assisting runaway slaves to es- eape.

In 1854 his sons began to emigrate to Kan- sas, intending to settle there and grow to wealth with the country. In two years five of them, John, Jr., Jason. Owen, Frederick and Salmon, had located in the new terri- tory. They built their rude huts not far from the Missouri line, and, as it later turned out, right in the center of the struggle between the Free State and Pro-Slavery forees. The Mis- souri Compromise of 1820 had prohibited slavery in the new territory; the Kansas-Ne- braska Act of 1854 repealed that prohibition and allowed the settlers in the new territory

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to decide the question for themselves. Then the Kansas war was on. The Brown broth- ers found themselves drawn into it. Perhaps they remembered their oaths of 1837. At any rate, they wrote to their father to send them arms, and finally asked him to come and help them. The father did both. September, 1855, found John Brown in Kansas fighting his first big battles for the freedom of the slaves. In March, 1856, the time for the election whether the state should be "free" or "slave," Kansas was invaded by 5,000 Missourians, who took possession of the polls and con- trolled the election. From that time the war was on in good earnest. Its record is a part of our national history, and this is not the proper place to review the stirring incidents of those times. John Brown was now a na- tional figure. He was the leader of the Free State forces. June 2, 1856, he won the "bat- tle" of Black Jack. In August he was in command of the "Kansas Cavalry." On Au- gust 30, 1856, he won the fight called the "bai- tle of Osawatomie." It was from this battle that he got that nickname which has always clung to him. On September 15, 1856, he was in command of the defenders of the town of Lawrence and successfully resisted the attack of the "Missouri Ruffians." These fights are called "battles"; in reality, they were skir- mishes in a guerrilla warfare. It was as a guerrilla leader that John Brown won his sue- cesses. By his activity he made it impossible to hold slaves in Kansas and thus the state was saved to the cause of Freedom.

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Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 29

Author: Doyle, William B., b. 1868 Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Doyle, William B., b. 1868
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1150