USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > Steubenville > Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, 20th > Part 48
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Shortly before young Gray finished his school education somebody, while wander. ing on the Virginin side of the river, dis- covered an Indian tomb, no doubt partly a natural hollow in the rock and consider- ably enlarged by the red men. It was closed hy a heavy rock against the entrance, which, when removed, disclosed the re- mains of warriors with their trinkets and trappings. It was n harvest for curiosity hunters who bore nway trophies of all sorts, the bones themselves being scattered finally. The empty receptacle remained visible until about three years ago when it was covered up by debris from the build- ing of a new road. Young Gray followed the crowd of curiosity hunters to the place, but his after opinion of the proceedings is given in the following poem, dated April 23, 1844: 1. Near Fort Steuben, where hraved Ohio's tide, And onk-shades danced npon its crystal sheen, A rude old rock, in solitary pride, Rose gray bard by a wide wrought slope of green None would have thought sueb place had ever bree A cemetery for a worn-out race.
Now, as it ne'er lived, save in legends true, Or hallowed Things hyena spirits trace --
So thought the Mingo chiefs when taking their last view.
There, for an nge, a hundred dark then slept, Nor dreamed one dream of love, or chase, or war; But wild flowers bloomed, and untaught ivy erept Round that and tomb hallowed by nature's care, Where death and stillness made their boly lair. No echoing whoops had urged them on to fight, An age had listened, vuinly for one song;
No dance they joined, no council fires might light,
They gathered not to muse e'en once their race's wrong.
111. But there they slept, till, in a merry hour, When civilization, in its maddened mirth,
Hal stamped Its seal of wide-spread change and power On Indian scene, and home, and all 'twas worth- A place in savage thoughts e'eu from their birth- A quarrier blithely hied him to this rock ( Led not, forsooth, by antiquary spell),
Maved from its narrow mouth a closing block,
Entered and stood aghast, where fleshless warriors d'well.
IV. And pansed on undistinguished bones and soil All thick and black, of other races' dust ; Such pause as goos before unholy toil When spot and feeling tell us that we must. And then, as stirred by some revengefn) Just, They gathered wildly round that noiseless urn,
And raked out what was left of Logan's men,
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As if no shame could in their bosom burn, Which, less 'twere thoughtless done, should burn e'en now 1 ken.
v. We schoolboys went with Virgil under arm, To see this wild and most unchristian scene, And threw at skulls for marks, not thinking harm, Nor knowing they had maids or chieftains been, Nor sort of thoughts bad housed there erst. I ween. Our books had taught us it were wrong, I own, For heathen paid their dead old Charon's fre, To rite the tombless, over earth they'd ronm;
These should have studied pagan faith, and so ought we.
VI.
Some bore off hatchet, pipe or skeleton, As trophies of this triumph o'er the dead; Some wrote their sacrilege upon the stone. As if all reverence for the grave had fled, And no one would condemn the names these spread. Whene'er I feel in a romantic mood, And wander to that rock all stripped inside,
I then reflect how reckless spirits could So violate the graveyard of that ruined tribe.
In 1873 a trio of native Steubenville mu- sicians crossed the Atlantic to pursue their studies under old world masters. They were R. Mason Jackson, pianist and organ- ist ; William H. MacDonald and Miss Lizzie Brosi, vocalists, They were accompanied, among others, by E. F. Andrews, the artist, who was making another trip abroad to further perfect himself in his profession. It was such a company as is not often col- lected from a small city. The first, Mr. Jackson, had already distinguished him- self as a performer on piano and organ, having played at Hamline and St. Paul's churches. He went to Stuttgart where an accident occurred which disabled his wrist and cut off all hope of him succeeding in his profession. As he had to make a living he accepted a clerkship in the office of the American consul, and one winter day hap- pened to protect the king of Wurtemburg, who was going about the city incognito, from some over-zealous boys who were in- tent on giving his majesty such a vigorons snowballing as was likely to inflict injury. Mr. Jackson was invited to the palace, where he met with such favor that the of- fice of "Reader" was created for him, with a good salary and a magnificent suite of rooms in the building. For several years his life was like a fairy tale. While Wur-
temburg was one of the small European kingdoms the rank of the royal family was second to none, and there was a constant round of fetes and association with the crowned heads of all Europe. The favor shown Mr. Jackson did not fail to create the usual jealousies among the courtiers against the American, but Mr. Jackson, who had become a citizen of Wurtemburg and was created a baron, held his position until the death of the king, who left him a pension. After that he returned to Amer- ica, and after a short sojourn in Steuben- ville, made his home with his sister in northwestern Ohio.
Mr. MacDonald was in his twenty-fourth year when he went abroad. He studied four years in Italy, Germany and England, mastering the different schools and perfect- ing his rich baritone voice which had suf- ficient range to take in a deep bass. On his return traveled with the famous Stra- kosch Company, and then with Hess, Ade- laide Phillips and the Emma Abbott opera troupe. About this time he married Miss Marie Stone, an accomplished vocalist, and also a member of the Abbott Company. About the year 1880 there was organized The Boston Ideal Opera Company, of which Mr. MacDonald and wife were lead- ing members. Their repertoire included a number of the principal operas in English, but their piece de resistance was De- Koven's "Robin Hood," which never failed to draw crowded houses night after night. It was practically the first organiza- tion to make opera in English a success in this country. After keeping together for a number of years as one family the death of the projector who held the copyright to the title of the organization caused its dis- solution. A new company was formed with Mr. MacDonald at the head under the title of "The Bostonians." It did excellent work, but its career was not as successful as that of the old company, and it finally dissolved. Mr. MacDonald's health had by this time begun to fail, and he died at Springfield, Mass., on March 27, 1906. His remains were brought to Steubenville for
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interment. Mrs. MacDonald is still living. While confining themselves to the larger cities, Mr. MacDonald's companies ap- peared at three performances in Steuben- ville, giving a matinee and evening rendi- tion of grand opera, and subsequently in concert for the benefit of the Stanton Mon- unent Association.
Miss Brosi, even while attending the local schools, developed a fine soprano voice, which encouraged her uncle, J. C. Butte, to give her a musical education. After completing her studies she remained abroad several years singing in grand opera in Germany, Russia and other coun- tries. She traveled with Strakosch and other companies in America until ill health compelled her retirement from the stage. She also kindly took a leading part in nn- microns local entertainments.
Henry Moody was a local musician whose favorite instrument was the key- bugle, which had extraordinary sweetness of tone when played by a skilful performer. He began playing in public about 1845, and died before 1860. Among the other musi- cians of half a century ago may be in- eluded the names of Dr. A. W. Semple, Mr. Broadhurst, Mrs. Reppard. Mrs. I. N. T. Morse, Miss Mary Chase (still living). John D. Stack, Miss Sarah Marion, Joseph Zimmerman, Captain S. F. Scull, who was also a composer, and others who would have done credit to any community.
Of the younger musicians in the instru- mental line, Henry W. Matlack has prob- ably taken the lead. He developed a re- markable talent as an organist and took a thorough course at Oberlin Conservatory. He had excellent positions in several of the larger cities and for several years was musical director at Grinnell College, lowa. He is now connected with the firm of Lyon & Healy, one of the largest musical estah- lishunents and pipe organ manufactories in the country. Space prevents oven an en- meration of the present local ninsicians who are worthily keeping up the traditions of their predecessors.
The artistic work of the Filsons, father and son, is related elsewhere.
Among others who have achieved a mu- sienl reputation, both in Europe and Amer- ica, is Miss Ella Russell, a native of Island Creek Township.
As teachers and educators the men of Jefferson County took no second place. The work of Rev. Dr. C. C. Beatty, foider of the Steubenville Seminary, is more fully noticed elsewhere. Alexander Clark, whose Little Log Schoolhouse and other works have a national reputation, enme from Brush Creek Township. Mary Edmonson, the mother of Ama Dickenson, taught school in the Short Creek meeting house in 1826. Dr. Henry C. MeCook, the noted Philadelphia divine and scientist, was at one time a teacher in the Steubenville schools, and his brothers, Rev. Dr. John Mel'ook, professor of languages in Trinity College, and whose books on Sociology are standard works, and Gen. Anson G. Me- Cook, late secretary of the United States senate, were pupils in the Steubenville schools. The Latimers, by Dr. H. H. Me- Cook, is probably the best romance of the early history of this section over produced, while his little work, Old Farm Fairies, is a delightful epitome of insect habits in this locality, perhaps a little more popular with the young folks than his more elaborate works. Professor Sloane, of Columbia College, author of the standard Life of Na- polron, is a son of J. R. W. Sloane, presi- dent of Richmond College in 1848. Prof. Woodrow Wilson, of Princeton, and the anthor of a history of the United States, is the grandson of James Wilson, the edi- tor of The Steubenville Herald for many
Prof. Eli Tappan, who was reckoned as one of the most thorough teachers in the country, a profound scholar, with the fac- ulty of imparting his knowledge to others. was a native of Steubenville, the son of Senator Tappan, whose grandchildren now teach in the Steubenville schools, while one was a professor in an eastern college. Rev.
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Mr. Huston, a Presbyterian minister of Jefferson County, is a grandson of Senator Tappan, and he also has Stanton blood in his veins, being a grandson of Stanton's sister. Prof. Eli Tappan was president of Kenyon College for a number of years, during which time he also edited the Ray series of arithmetical and algebraical text books. He was State Commissioner of Common Schools from 1887 to 1889, dying in the latter year, and his remains were brought here for interment. His daughter, Mary Tappan Wright, of Cambridge, Mass., has achieved marked success in the literary world by her books, besides being a regular contributor to St. Nicholas and other magazines. Miss Della Patterson, the first graduate of the Steubenville high school, and Miss Margaret Sutherland, an- other graduate of the same, have taken high positions as educators.
Bishop Stephen Mason Merrill was born in Mt. Pleasant, September 16, 1825, and became a traveling preacher in the M. E. church in 1864 and Bishop in 1872. Bishop Merrill is probably known in a larger circle of Methodists than any other bishop. His earliest recollections are of his days as a barefooted youngster, hunting squirrels over the hills about Mt. Pleasant. He could run faster than any boy he knew and conld jump higher than any one in the whole country. There was very little money in the family purse and it was necessary for him early in his teens to turn in and add his small earnings to those of the other members of the family. He had learned the trade of a shoemaker and worked on the bench with his book propped in front of him in a homemade rack, combining bnsi- ness with education and struggling to earn enough in spare moments to pay his way through school. His book on ecclesiastical law is the code in the Methodist church. Rev. Baseum, whose eloquence afterwards became national, was a pioneer Stenben- ville preacher in the M. E. church, who went East, and when that church divided into northern and southern sections he
went with the latter, and was made a bishop.
A marked product of the early country school was William Johnston, who was educated in the Ross Township schools, and studied law in John C. Wright's office in Steubenville. He is said to have started the first temperance society in the county on Bacon Ridge in 1833, the members signing a very strict pledge. He became prosecuting attorney of Carroll County, and represented that county in the legisla- ture in 1837. He had come to the front as an advocate of the proposition for Ohio to adopt the Pennsylvania and New York common school system, and was at last given opportunity to draft the law provid- ing for the common school system, prac- tically the same as that now existing with later amendments found by experience to be necessary. It was in support of the common school law that he made one of the most notable oratorical efforts ever made in Ohio, not only in its immediate in- fluence that resulted in the passage of the bill, but in its lasting influence. After de- scribing the difficulties encountered by himself in obtaining the rudiments of an education in the days of Henry Crabbs and Thomas Riley, he insisted that the boys and girls should have a better chance thau he had had on the banks of "Yaller Crick," as he pronounced the name of the stream in imitation of the boys reared in the wilds of Ohio. "The old Irish school master," he said, "holds forth three months in the year in a poor cabin, with greased-paper window panes. The children trudge three miles through winter's snow and mud to school. They begin at a-b, ab, and get over as far as b-oo-b-y, booby, when school gives out and they take up their spring work on the farm. The next winter, when school takes up, if it takes up so soon again, hav- ing forgotten all they had been taught pre- vionsly in the speller, they begin again at a-b, ab. but year after year never get any farther than b-oo-b-y, booby."
Judge Burnet, of Cincinnati, at the time,
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said it was the most powerful speech on education ever made in Ohio. Samuel Medary, in The Statesman, gave him the name of "Booby" Johnston in a disre- spectful spirit, but the name stuck and be- came a title of which his friends were ever prond. From this time forward Johnston's great ability was recognized and appre- eiated. He removed to Cincinnati, and his oratorical efforts in behalf of General Har- rison in his presidential campaign pro- cured for him appointment as surveyor general of the district composed of Ohio und Michigan and Indiann. He afterwards beenme judge of the Superior Court of Cin- cinnati, and was appointed by President Lincoln a member of the commission to revise the statutes of the United States. lle ranked with Corwin as an orator, and probably was his superior as a lawyer. After four years' service on the bench he was a candidate for United States senator in the triangular contest that resulted in the election of Benjamin Wade. In 1850 he was the Whig candidate for governor, but the fates were against him although he made a hard struggle as he declared, "to save his party from the wreck then pending." Judge Johnston was the an- thor of another law quite as important and far reaching as that in regard to ednea- tion. Being in Steubenville at the time of the Wells & Dickenson failure he discov- ered the honest founder of Steubenville im- prisoned for debt. The injustice of the proceeding so affected him that he then resolved that should he ever become a member of the legislature he would secure the repeal of the law. He kept his word and imprisonment for debt in Ohio, when unaccompanied by frand was abolished. While a boy on Yellow Creek he developed mechanical genins in the manufacture of spinning wheels, and at his home in Cin- cinnati his recreation was taken in a work- shop fitted with all sorts of mechanical tools, which he could handle with the skill of a master. His brother, Michael, was also a mechanical genins, and when he lived in Steubenville be kept a drug store and
manufactured clocks, the clock long in use in the Steubenville National Bank having been made by him. Judge Johnston's me- chanical skill was of great advantage to him in his practice as a patent attorney. He was long associated with Tom Corwin, the two successfully defending Governor Bebb, indicted on the charge of murder, he having shot a man, who with others, was engaged in charivari at the governor's house on the occasion of the home-coming of his son, Michael, and bride, from New England in May, 1857. Johnston's efforts in this noted case gave him wide prom- inence. He was also associated with Reverdy Johnson in a Revolutionary War claim against the United States govern- ment ; they winning in the legal contest, re- ceived a fee of $100,000. In 1887 Judge Johnston published Arguments to Courts aud Juries, an Svo. of 543 pages, consisting principally of his own arguments made in many important cases, adding greatly to his reputation as a legist. In early life William Johnston wedded Elizabeth, langhter of William Blackstone, a prom- inent Friend of Smithfield Township, two sons and two daughters resulting from the mion; the sons are dead. the dangh- ters living. His last visit to Steubenville was in 1876 when he made an address in the then Garrett hall in advocacy of the election of Mr. Hayes to the presidency.
Mr. Hunter in his Pathfinders notes that Jefferson County has done more. perhaps, than any other county in Ohio for the ad- vancement of the public school system. Aside from the efforts of William John- ston. Mordecai Bartley performed a great service, in that he was the first person to propose in congress conversion of the Sec- tion Sixteen lands into a permanent fund for support of the common schools, and Jw his influence seenred passage of law to this end. Mordeeni Bartley, thirteenth governor of Ohio, was born in Fayette County. Pennsylvania, in 1783, and in 1809 settled near Mingo. He was adjutant of the Jefferson County regiment in the War of 1812, and afterwards settled in Rich-
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land County. He served four terms in con- gress during which he procured this im- portant piece of school legislation.
While we are on the topic of education and poetry it may not be amiss to mention the venerable William A. Urquhart, now in his eighty-seventh year, who has perhaps superintended the education of more youth and written more poetry than any other man in the county. His productions would fill a large volume, but we only have space for a single specimen as showing that his work does not suffer by comparison with his contemporaries :
How soon the scenes about us change We knew so welll Just why the fields and woods look strange 'Twere hard to tell. For memory holds the pictures dear She made in youth; Yet, when we see how things appear, We doubt their truth.
Those Virginia hills we oftimes saw, In days gone by.
And which inspired our hearts with awe, Seem not so high! The noisy stream, the babbling brook We scaree recall, For when compared with memory's book They seem too small.
The river, too, whose waters deep, In silence glide, In far less grand, the banks less steep On either side! But fancy doubtless helped to create Each sketch we prize;
The change, perhaps, is not so great, As with our eyes.
For Time's deft fingers touch so light, We feel no harm; He thus impairs our sense of sight Without alarm; But not a single touch is Jost, Though gently made,
And we, like flowers exposed to front, Begin to fade.
Another local poet popular for his wit and aptness is David Hanley, of the Pan Handle Railway force. Among others who might be named have been Mary Bynon Reese, Alice May Long, Mary Tappan Wright, all of whom have attained to more than a local reputation. David Homer Bates, writer of Lincoln in the Telegraph Office, was a native of Steubenville, and
Andrew Carnegie spent some of his youth- ful days here.
Among the more recent literary produc- tions of the county is an epic poem by Dr. E. R. Giesey, of Toronto, reciting the deeds and career of Michael Myers, to whom reference is made elsewhere. It is after the style of Hiawatha and compares not unfavorably with that poem in composition and historical interest. It is entitled Stal- wart Auver, Myers having received this sobriquet from a stoppage in his speech. We have only space for the first and last cantos :
"Should you ask me whence these stories! Whence these legends and traditions!" With their rythm and running metre, With their tone of phonic Nature, With their air of noble gentry As from book on lore of olden! "I should answer, I should tell you, " From the homes of the contented, From the wigwams of the happy, From the land of Terra-Cotta, From the banks of the Ohio,
Where the warble of the songsters Cheers the gladsome hours of waking. Ant the bull frog. the chug-chug-bim, Mid the milky fog of evening. Keeps the hours with song prolife, In the land of the Torontos. . Gone forever is our hero, Gone that faithful wife and mother; Side by side the two lie sleeping, 'Neath the maples of their choosing; But their names and fame still living In the hearts of all our people, Is a source of pride and pleasure To our willing admiration. Gone forover is the cabin, And the lovely old stone homestead, leaving naught but fame and houor Anl the famous .. Limber Jinny," Which the only sou now living Keeps with pride and values highly As an heirloumn from his father.
Senator Fowler, of Tennessee, is an- other native of Jefferson County who has achieved distinction in the halls of con- gress and elsewhere.
While we have been discussing literati and educators it may be as well to glance at one or two "Captains of Industry," who have made their mark. First among these stands William Sharon, who was born at Smithfield in 1821 in the house later occu-
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pied by William A. Judkin. When a boy made large property investments in San of seventeen he started down the river in Francisco, building the Palace Hotel, at a flatboat which was wrecked at the falls of the Ohio, when he returned and studied law under Edwin M. Stanton. He prac- tieed for awhile in St. Louis, and in 1849 crossed the plains to California, where he opened a store in Sacramento. His goods were carried away by a flood, and he went to San Francisco and opened a real estate office. By 1864 he had accumulated a for- tune of $150,000, and began speculating in mining stocks, which left him in the same condition financially as when his boat struck the falls at Louisville. He was now sent by the Bank of California to Virginia City, Nev., to look after its affairs there and realizing that this was a place to make money, urged the bank to open a branch there, which was done and he was placed at its head. Having acquired a profitable business in a few years he resigned, leav- ing his friend A. J. Ralston to look after the business while he attended to his own affairs. Ralston, who was also from this part of the country, afterwards became in- volved and was understood to have drowned himself, but Sharon paid all his liabilities. Mr. Sharon undertook the con- struction of the Truckee railroad into the mining country, said to have been the crookedest road in the country up to that time. He secured a subsidy of $500,000 from the people of Washoe with which he built the road as far as this would go and then mortgaged the whole line for enough to insure its completion. Of course he ex- pected the earnings of the road to take care of the mortgage, and thus he became the owner of a railroad withont it costing him anything. He afterwards sold one- half of it. It was worth $2,500,000, and during Bonanza times brought him in $12,- 000 per day. Ilis business capacity and facilities as the head of the Bank of Cali- fornia enabled him to develop the mining industries of Nevada that was advantage. ons to the conutry and profitable to him- self, so that at one time his wealth was es- timated at seventy to eighty millions. lle
that time one of the finest in the country. He was elected United States senator from Nevada in 1874, and afterwards visited his sister Mary, the wife of Dr. Jacob Ham- mond, who then resided on upper Market Street, Steubenville, in the house now ocen- pied by Mrs. E. L. Hammond. Senator Sharon's home was in San Francisco and his country home at Belmont, a few miles ont. The estate is now managed by John Kirkpatrick, also of this section. who studied law and was admitted to the bar in Steubenville, subsequently marrying Senator Sharon's daughter.
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