USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th > Part 12
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The first thing necessary after the passage of the act establishing the county itself, was the location of the county seat; and for this purpose special commissioners were appointed by the General Assembly. Only a short time previous to the organization of the county the town of Delaware had been laid out by Moses Byxbe and Henry Baldwin, a resident of Pittsburg. By the act which created the county, Delaware was made the temporary seat of justice, pending the choice of a permanent location: and both Delaware and Berkshire, laid out some years before, as has already been mentioned, now became contestants for the honor. Had Moses Byxbe retained the early interest which he had in Berkshire, perhaps it might have been successful, but he had now de- voted all his energies to buikling up the town of Delaware and this, together with its natural advantages, decided the matter in its favor. The inhabitants of Berkshire, however, per- sisted in their efforts for a number of years. in the hope that they might still secure the honor.
.A court house was not provided for until the year 1815, when the commissioners let a contract for the building of one at a cost of $8.000. This structure was afterwards burned and business, as well as court, was conducted
in various rooms in the town until the erection of the present structure in 1870, at a cost of $80,000. The Court House is a substantial brick building, well adapted to the require- ments of such a building. The first session of the Common Pleas Court was held in the tav- ern of Joseph Barber, already mentioned, and was conducted by Judge Belt, of Chillicothe. Owing to the diminutive character of the building, the grand jury were under the neces- sity of conducting their deliberations under a shade tree nearby, while the petit jury occu- pied similar quarters in the neighborhood, both under the espionage of constables. The first civil case was an action brought by Jacob Drake against Elias Palmer for boarding, money loaned, and other claims. The first case to be considered by the grand jury was that of the State of Ohio against Valentine Martin.
The first jail was built of logs and was lo- cated on the hill overlooking the Delaware run at the corner of Franklin and what is now Uni- versity Avenue. It was twelve by twenty-four feet and a rather crude affair. The pris- oners showed their contempt for it by securing an exit to the roof and then crowing lustily before taking their departure. There have been three other jails built since then, one in 1814 and another in 1850. The present jail, which is not without claims to architectural beauty, was erected in 1878. The contract for the building was let at $22.000, but extras were added until the total cost amounted to $25,845.35.
The original act creating Delaware County authorized the Associate Justices to divide the county into such townships as were necessary. The first division was into three townships, as follows: "All east of the eighteenth range was made the township of Berkshire; all west and north of the north line of the fourth tier of townships, and a continued line west was made the township of Radnor; all south of Radnor and west of Berkshire was made the township of Liberty. As the population in- creased, however, other divisions were found necessary. Townships were established from time to time by the commissioners until the county, at one time, contained as high as twen-
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ty-four. The names of these were: Berk- shire. Bennington, Berlin, Brown, Concord, Delaware, Genoa, Harlem, Harmony, Kings- ton, Liberty, Lincoln, Marlborough, Orange, Oxford, Peru, Porter, Radnor, Scioto, Sun- bury, Thompson, Trenton, Troy and West- field. As has already been mentioned, a num- ber of these townships have gone to form other counties, and one, Sunbury, has been entirely obliterated in the re-arrangement of township lines, though its territory still remains within the county.
We have already mentioned the towns of New Baltimore and Berkshire as having been laid out during the first years in which settlers came to the county, the former, however, never having had any existence except on paper. The next town to be platted was Norton, laid out by James Kilbourne, and the next, the present county seat, which was laid out by Henry Baldwin and Moses Byxbe, the first site having been on the east side of the Olentangy, but afterwards removed to the west side of the river. This was on March 10, 1808. We give herewith a tabular statement of the towns which have since been laid out within the county :
The following excellent review of the early political history of the county was written a number of years ago by Hon. James R. Hub- bell, a sketch of whose notable career will be found in the chapter on the "Bench and Bar":
"In the early history of Delaware County there was but little party strife. The act of the General Assembly creating the county was passed the last year of the administration of Thomas Jefferson, and the exciting events of the War of 1812, which soon followed, wiped out the old Federal party which so bitterly as- sailed Mr. Jefferson. The war measures of Mr. Madison and the Republican party in Con- gress were earnestly supported by the citizens generally throughout the county. The scram- ble for the 'loaves and fishes' of office, com- pared with a later date, was almost nothing. But few offices were sought for their emolu- ments. The most lucrative offices were filled by appointment and not by popular election. The most important offices, then as now, was that of county auditor, which was filled by appoint- ment of the county commissioners. It was not until the year 1821 that the office was made elective by the popular vote. The county treas- urer, surveyor and recorder of deeds were also
Name.
Date.
Original Proprietors.
Galena (originally called Zoar) April 20, 1816
William Carpenter.
Sunbury
November 9. 1816
William and Laurence Myers.
Delhi (now Radnor)
August 7. 1833
Edward Evans.
Bellepoint
September 16, 1835
James Kooken.
East Liberty
March 16. 1836
William Page & E. Lindenberger.
Olive Greene
May 10, 1836
C. Lindenberger and Festus Sprague.
Rome
September 2, 1836
D. Price and Amos Sarles.
Eden
September 27, 1836
D. G. Thurston and Isaac Leonard.
Williamsville
December 8, 1836
Anson Williams.
Freedon
April 23, 1841
Jesse Locke and J. G. Jones.
Centerville
March 2, 1848
Edward Hartwin and B. Roberts.
Cheshire
March 10, 1849
F. J. Adams.
Ashley (originally Oxford)
May 15, 1849
L. Walker and J. C. Avery.
Harlem
July 23, 1849
A. Washburn and James Budd.
Stratford
May 11, 1850
Hosea Williams and H. G. Andrews.
Edinburg
Leonardsburg
March 13, 1852
S. G. Caulkins.
Ostrander
March 20, 1852
James Ligget.
Orange Station
. July 29, 1852
George and H. J. Jarvis.
Lewis Center
July 30. 1852
William S. Lewis.
Tanktown (now Berlin)
April 3, 1858
. John B. Black.
Powell
. February 1, 1876
A. G. Hall.
Hyattsville
February 6, 1876
H. A. Hyatt.
Radnor
March 9, 1876.
Thomas Edwards.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
appointed by the commissioners. The prose- cuting attorney and clerk of the court were appointed by the court. . These officers were made elective by the law of 1833. In most cases the offices were filled by faithful and competent men. The appointing power con- ferred by the legislature upon the commission- ers and the court, although anti-Republican in principle, seems to be, judging from the ex- perience of the past, the best calculated to se- cure efficiency and competency in office. Ex- perience has shown that the less frequently changes are made, the better it is for the pub- lic service. The early records of the county show, under the appointing power, but few changes. From 1820 until 1830, the duties of the county auditor were faithfully discharged by Solomon Smith, an honest and competent officer, and he was succeeded by General Sid- ney Moore, who efficiently and satisfactorily performed the duties of the office during the period of another decade.
"In 1822 Thomas Reynolds succeeded his brother-in-law, the Rev. Joseph Hughes, in the office of clerk of the court, which he retained until 1838, when he voluntarily resigned. Mr. Reynolds was a man remarkable for his per- sonal attractions, and possessed qualifications for public and official duties of a high order, and his resignation of the office was a matter of universal regret with both bench and bar. as well as the public. The office of county surveyor, for about twenty years ( from 1822 to 1842) was filled by James Eaton, a skilful and accurate officer ; he was subsequently pro- moted to the office of county auditor and State senator. Of those who figured most conspicu- ously in early politics and on official stations were Joseph Eaton, Azariah Root, Solomon Smith, Elias Murray, Pardon Sprague and Sidney Moore and his brother, Emery Moore. During the eight years of the administration of James Monroe ( the fifth President). be- tween the years 1817 and 1825, there was no party politics. This period in our national his- tory has been called the "era of good feeling," and during this time Delaware County seemed peculiarly favored and exempt from political animosity and strife.
"The Presidential election of 1824 was at- tended with unusual excitement-probably the most exciting of any election that has ever taken place in the country, with the exception of the Presidential election of 1800, which re- sulted in the success of Mr. 'Jefferson over the elder Adams. At this election the Presidential candidates were General Jackson, of Tennes- see; Henry Clay, of Kentucky: John Q. AAdams, of Massachusetts, and William H. Crawford. of Georgia. Each of these dis- tinguished gentlemen had his friends, who supported their favorite candidates from per- sonal preference and not from considerations of party. At that election Mr. Clay was the choice of a majority of the voters of Delaware County, as he was of a majority of the voters of the State of Ohio, but he was not elected. In the Electoral College General Jackson led Mr. Adams by a small plurality, and Mr. Crawford was in number the third on the list of candidates and Mr. Clay was dropped from the canvass. Neither candidates having a ma- jority of the electoral vote under the constitu- tional rule, upon the House of Representatives devolved the duty of making choice of Presi- (lent, each state by its delegation in Congress casting one vote. Mr. Adams was chosen by the casting vote of the State of Kentucky. Mr. Clay was a member of the House of Represen- tatives, and its speaker, and it was doubtless owing to Ohio's great influence and popularity that the delegation from Kentucky was in- duced to cast its vote of that state for Mr. Adams, an Eastern man, in preference to Gen- eral Jackson, a Western and Southern man. By that act Mr. Clay was instrumental in or- ganizing political parties that survived the generation of people to which he belonged, and ruled in turn the destinies of the Republic for more than a quarter of a century. In the new Cabinet Mr. Clay was placed by Mr. Adams at the head of the State Department, which gave rise to the charge of 'bargain and sale' be- tween the President and his chief secretary, that threw the country into a blaze of excite- ment from center to circumference. At this time no one doubts the patriotism and honesty of Henry Clay, but the charge was so persist-
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ently made by the partisians of General Jack- son, it greatly injured Mr. Clay in the public estimation. and contributed largely to the gen- eral's success in the Presidential race of 1828. At the Presidential election following party lines were closely drawn between General Jackson and Mr. Adams, but the result of a hot and bitter contest was a small majority for the Adams electoral ticket in the county. as there was in the State. General Jackson. the hiero of New Orleans, was most trium- phantly elected both by the electoral and popu- lar vote, and on the following 4th of March the political power and official patronage of the country passed into his hands. At this time parties were known here, as elsewhere through- out the country. as the Jackson and anti-Jack- son party. Delaware was almost uniformly classed by her vote as anti-Jackson. In 1824 Governor Jeremiah Morrow, anti-Jackson, was re-elected Governor of Ohio, receiving a small majority over Allen Trimble, of the same poli- tical faith and his principal competitor. Cap- tain Elias Murray, anti-Jackson, was, at the same election, returned to the House of Rep- resentatives in the State Legislature, and re- elected in 1825. Allen Trimble was elected at the October election in 1826 to succeed Gover- nor Morrow, receiving quite a large majority in the county and State; Pardon Sprague, anti-Jackson, was chosen successor to Captain Murray in the State Legislature, and re-elected in 1827. In 1828 Governor Trimble was re- elected over Hon. John W. Campbell, the Jack- son candidate, long a distinguished member of Congress from Ohio. Governor Trimble's ma- jority was little less than three thousand in the popular vote, and a little over two thou- sand in the county. Milo D. Pettibone, anti- Jackson, at the same election, was elected MIr. Sprague's successor in the Legislature. Mr. Campbell was a member of Congress when Mr. Adams was chosen President by the House of Representatives, and was known to be opposed to Mr. Adams and for General Jackson. Im- mediately upon the accession of General Jack- son to the Presidency. Mr. Campbell was re- warded for his friendship and fidelity to the General's fortunes with the appointment of
United States District Judge for the District of Ohio. While holding a term of his court in Columbus, in the summer of 1833, he was taken suddenly ill, came to Delaware for the benefit of the sulphur spring water, and in a few days died-we believe, of cholera. At the election of 1829, Col. B. F. Allen, who was known as a friend of the Administration, was returned to the Legislature. He was succeeded by Amos Utley, of Berkshire, in 1830. The senatorial district, of which Delaware County was a part, was composed of Crawford, Mar- jon and Delaware Counties during this period. and from about the year 1828 to the year 1832, Charles Carpenter, anti-Jackson-a merchant living in Sunbury-then quite a young man, represented the district. He was from Lu- zerne County, in the Wyoming Valley, and the family connection in the eastern part of the county was quite numerous and influential in its early history. Senator Carpenter subse- quently moved West-we think to Missouri- where he held several official positions and died soon after the close of the late Civil War.
"In 1831. General Storm, who was anti- Jackson, was elected to the Legislature by a small majority, over B. F. Allen, the Jackson candidate. General Storm obtained his mili- tary title by being elected by the Legislature to the office of Major General in the Peace Establishment.' He died before the close of his legislative term, greatly lamented by his constituents and a numerous family connec- tion. He was quite young and his friends had predicted for him a successful political ca- reer.
"In the Presidential campaign of 1832 such was, or had become, the popularity of General Jackson, he swept everything before him. Colonel James W. Crawford, who was a lieutenant in the company commanded by Captain Elias Murray in the War of 1812. was elected as the Administration candidate. the successor of Senator Carpenter, and Cap- tain John Curtis, Administration candidate, was returned to the House of Representatives and re-elected in 1833. General Sidney Moore was re-elected auditor and his brother, Emery.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
re-elected sheriff. The entire anti-Administra- tion county ticket was elected, except the Whig candidate for the Legislature. At the election in 1832, Robert Lucas, the Jackson candidate, was elected governor over Darius Lyman, the candidate on the Clay ticket, by several thou- sand majority, although Delaware County cast a majority of her votes for Mr. Clay for Presi- dent and Mr. Lyman for Governor. It was about this time that the two great parties as- sumed distinctive names. The Administration party took the name of Democrat, and the op- position that of Whig. Delaware County was a Whig county. In 1834 Emery Moore was elected to the State Legislature, and General Andrew H. Patterson, then postmaster at Delaware and a Democrat, was elected sheriff as the successor of Mr. Moore. General Pat- terson was a most remarkable man in many particulars. He was a saddler by occupation and his education in early life had been neg- lected, but he had great tact and shrewdness in the management of men, and was the most successful electioneer Delaware County ever had. He was re-elected sheriff in 1836, and in 1838 was elected to the Legislature over Judge Hosea Williams, Whig, by a majority of twelve votes, and in 1839 was elected by a majority of several hundred votes over Hon. T. W. Powell, the Whig candidate. General Patterson met with pecuniary losses in late life, moved West, and it is believed he never retrieved his fortune.
"The Whigs carried the county in 1836 for General William H. Harrison for Presi- dent, and Joseph Vance, Whig, for Governor, over their opponents, by large majorities, and the entire Whig ticket was elected, except Dr. Carney, the Whig candidate for the Legisla- ture, who was defeated by Colonel B. F. Al- len, Democrat, by a majority of nine votes. The importance of one vote is to be seen in the result of this election. Upon the Legisla- ture chosen at this election devolved the duty of electing a senator in Congress to succeed the Honorable Thomas Ewing, whose term would expire the 4th of March following. Mr. Ewing was a candidate for re-election and was the favorite of his party in Ohio and the West.
Colonel Allen had known Mr. Ewing in early life and his friends claimed, or represented in all parts of the county, that he would support Mr. Ewing if he were the choice of the county. On election day printed petitions were pre- sented at every election precinct for names, asking the Representative to support Mr. Ewing for re-election. The ruse accomplished its object. Colonel Allen was elected by a mia- jority of nine votes and his vote elected the late Governor William Allen over Mr. Ewing. To what extent, if at all, Colonel Allen was a party to the fraud, it is not known. He was a man of great firmness, but he was a zealous partisan, and possibly he may have yielded to the influence and demands of his party, his conviction of duty, against his will, although ordinarily an honest man. At the following election in 1837, Dr. Carney, on the 'Ewing Fraud,' as it was called, was elected over Colonel Allen by over a hundred ; and, in 1838 Allen was elected to the State Senate. It was at this election the late William Shannon, of Lawrence, Kansas, was elected Governor of Ohio over Governor Joseph Vance, Whig, but the Whig ticket for the county offices was elected, except Judge Williams, who was de- feated by General Patterson for Representa- tive. In 1839 the entire Democratic ticket, for the first time after its organization, was elected, viz. : William W. Warner, commis- sioner; Albert Pickett, 'Jr., recorder; George W. Stark, treasurer, and Morgan Williams, assessor. The average majority for these candidates was 300. The 'hard cider' cam- paign of 1840 greatly increased the forces of the Whig party, and the Whig ticket was elected by an average majority of over 600, viz. : Emery Moore was again chosen to the State Legislature : Colonel John F. Dunlap, county auditor ; Peleg Banker, re-elected sher- iff : Horatio P. Havens, commissioner, and D. T. Fuller, prosecuting attorney. It was during the memorable campaign of 840, the 'Liberty Party' was organized, and a ticket for, Presi. dent and Vice-president nominated. For sev- eral years previous the anti-slavery agitation had been making, slowly but unmistakably, its deep impressions on the public mind, and more
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especially the minds of the religious portion of the people, but it was not until about this pe- riod that the friends of the cause of emancipa- tion proposed political action. James G. Bir- ney, a former slave-holder of Kentucky, but then a resident of Michigan, was at the head of the ticket, and Thomas Morris, of Ohio, placed second. The electoral ticket for the candidates received about one hundred votes in the county. This vote was taken principally from the Whig party. Four years later the vote of the party was largely increased. This organization was possibly premature and misguided, but no party was ever actuated by loftier and purer motives. The Anti-slavery movement was not. at that time, larger than the cloud the Hebrew prophet saw, that so rapidly spread over the whole heavens, and filled the earth with refreshing showers. At this time no one expected to live to see the institution of negro slavery in America abolished. but in less than the period allotted by Providence to a genera- tion of men, by an amendment to the Federal Constitution, slavery and involuntary servitude of every species, in all the States and terri- tories belonging to the American Union, was forever abolished.
"But nothwithstanding the drafts the All- ti-slavery party, the Temperance party and other parties from time to time, made upon the Whigs, they continued to be the dominant party until the repeal of the Missouri Com- promise in 1854, which led to the organization of the Republican party which then was, and still is, in the ascendency in Delaware County."
Vote of Delaware County for Governor beginning with the first vote after the organi- zation of the county :
1808-Republican, S. Huntington (elec- ted). 123. Republican, T. Worthington, 21. Republican, T. Kriker.
1810-Republican, R. J. Meigs, 21. Re- publican, R. J. Meigs, Jr., (elected) 17. Re- publican, Thomas Worthington, 152.
1812 - Vote for Governor, Delaware County, omitted in the Senate Journal. R. J. Meigs. Federalist. elected.
1814-Republican, Thomas Worthington (elected). 131. Federalist, O. Looker, 196.
1816-Republican, T. Worthington ( elec- ted), 300. James Dunlap, 167. Ethan A. Brown, 42.
1818-Republican, Ethan A. Brown (elected), 578. James Dunlap, 132.
1820-Democrat, Ethan A. Brown ( elec- ted), 726. Jeremiah Morrow, 34. Wm. H. Harrison, 5.
1822-Democrat, Jeremiah Morrow (elec- ted), 50. WVm. W. Irwin, 742. Federalist, Allen Trimble, 419.
1824-Democrat, Jeremiah Morrow (elec- ted), 141. National Republican, Allen Trim- ble, 950.
1826-National Republican, Allen Trim- ble (elected), 846. Democrat, John Bigger, 127. Republican, Alex. Campbell, 103.
1828-National Republican, Allen Trin- ble ( elected ). 758. Democrat, John W. Camp- bell, 379.
1830-National Republican, Duncan Mc- Arthur (elected), 769. Democrat, Robert Lu- cas, 381.
1832-Democrat, Robert Lucas (elected), 769. Whig and Anti-Mason, Darius Lyman, 841.
1834-Democrat, Robert Lucas elected), 850. Whig, James Findlay, 660.
1836-Whig. Joseph Vance (elected), I,- 357. Democrat, Eli Baldwin, 1.158.
1838-Democrat, Wilson Shannon ( elec- ted), 1,668. Whig, Joseph Vance, 1,770.
1840-Whig, Thomas Corwin (elected ). 2,386. Democrat, Wilson Shannon, 1,761.
1842-Democrat, Wilson Shannon ( elec- ted), 1,876. Whig, Thomas Corwin, 2,141. Abolitionist, Leicester King, 112.
1844-Whig, Mordecai Bartley (elected), 2,456. Democrat, David Tod, 203. Abolition- ist, Leicester King, 159.
1846-Whig, William Babb (elected), 2,- O11. Democrat, David Tod, 1,576. Aboli- tionist, Samuel Lewis, 195.
1848-Whig, Seabury Ford' (elected), 2,- 205. Democrat, 'John B. Weller, 2,006.
1850-Democrat, Reuben Wood (elected ).
2,015. Whig, William Johnston, 2.347. Aboli- tionist, Edward Smith. 150.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
1851-Democrat, Reuben Wood ( elected), 1,787. Whig, Samuel F. Vinton, 1,670. Ab- olitionist, Samuel Lewis, 158.
1853-Democrat, William Medill ( elec- ted), 1.787. Whig. Nelson Barrere, 104. Abolitionist, Samuel Lewis, 1,639.
1855-Republican, Salmon P. Chase ( elec- ted), 1.602. Democrat, W'm. Medill, 1,245. American, Allen Trimble, 259.
1857-Republican, Salmon P. Chase ( elec- ted), 2,007. Democrat, H. B. Payne, 1,576. American, P. Van Trump, 24.
1859-Republican, Wm. Dennison, Jr., (elected ) , 2,358. Democrat, Rufus P. Ranney, 1,776.
1861-Republican, David Tod (elected), 2,661. Democrat, Hugh J. Jewett, 1,437.
1863-Republican, John Brough ( elected ) , 3,173. Democrat, C. S. Vallandigham, 1,475.
1865-Republican, Jacob D. Cox (elected ) . 2,480 ( Home Army) 11-total, 2,491. Deni- ocrat, George W. Morgan, 1,668 (Home Army) I-total, 1,669.
1867-Republican, R. B. Hayes (elected), 2,727. Democrat, A. G. Thurman, 2,31I.
1869-Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes (elected ). 2,685. Democrat, George W. Pen- dleton, 2,043.
1871-Republican, Edward F. Noyes (elected ), 2,610. Democrat, George W. Mc- Cook, 2,072.
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