USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912, Volume II > Part 62
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"Buds, Blossoms and Leaves," was the title of a volume of verses issued in Cincinnati in 1854 by Mrs. Mary E. Fee Shannon. She was born in Clermont county.
Mrs. Celia M. Burr, who wrote for city papers under the name of "Celia," came from Albany in 1844 with her first husband, C. B. Kellum. She was literary editor of The Great West in 1849. After that publication merged with the Weekly Columbian, she severed connection with it. She became then a correspondent for the New York Tribune, writing also for eastern magazines.
Austin T. Earle, in 1843-44, was one of the editors of The Western Rambler and was the author of numerous poems.
TIMES STAR BUILDING, SIXTH AND WALNUT STREETS
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A painter, Horace S. Minor, was, about 1845, also a frequent writer for local papers. He also was a writer on a weekly paper called The Shooting Star.
Benjamin St. James Fry was a Methodist minister and a teacher. He aided Earle in establishing The Western Rambler. He wrote also for the Ladies' Repository and the Methodist Quarterly Review. He wrote several books.
William W. Fosdick, born in Cincinnati in 1825, produced a drama called "Tecumseh." Julia Drake, a well known actress in her day, was his mother. Fosdick published a novel in 1851 called "Malmiztic, the Toltec, and the Cavaliers of the Cross." He issued "Ariel and Other Poems" in 1855. He was the author of other works, and was at the time often called the "Poet Laureate of Cincinnati."
About 1855, Peter Fishe Reed followed the occupation of a house and sign painter, but also wrote under the name "Viva Mona," attractive verses for the Columbian. He also wrote several romances and treated art topics.
William Penn Brannan, born in Cincinnati in 1825, was both painter and poet.
Benjamin T. Cushing studied law in 1847-48 with Salmon P. Chase, and was the author of "The Christiad," a long religious poem.
About 1850, Obed J. Wilson was a teacher in this city and did much writing for the local press. He was literary critic for the publishing house of Van Antwerp, Bragg and Company.
Alfred Burnett was born in England, but came to this city in boyhood. He wrote much in prose and verse, and had considerable reputation as a lecturer and reader.
In 1856, Mrs. Helen Truesdell, then living in Newport, published through E. Morgan & Sons, a volume of poems. She had been for several years a con- tributor to the Parlor Magasinc.
"Flowers of the West," was a volume of poems, issued in 1851 in Philadel- phia, by Mrs. Anna S. Richey Roberts. She lived in this city until her marriage in 1852.
Mrs. Frances Sprengle Locke, married in 1854 to Josiah Locke, a writer on the Cincinnati press, contributed poems to the magazines and newspapers.
The only connection of William Dean Howells with Cincinnati was that in the fifties he was for a time one of the editors of the Daily Gazette.
William H. Lytle, soldier, poet and lawyer, author of "Antony and Cleo- patra." belonged to one of the oldest families of Cincinnati. While many others of his writings have been much admired, his literary fame rests upon one re- markable and widely popular poem.
James Pummill, born in Cincinnati, a printer by trade, was a frequent con- tributor to the magazines, and published in 1852 "Fugitive Poems." "Fruits of Leisure" was the title of another volume of his verse, the latter having been privately printed.
John T. Swartz was brought by his parents to Cincinnati in 1841. He be- came a teacher, and was also author of the verses "There are no Tears in Heaven," and other poems.
John James Piatt is one of the best known writers Cincinnati has produced, and still lives honored and respected by multitudes. In conjunction with W. D.
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Howells, he published in 1860, in Columbus, "Poems of Two Friends." He has published "Poems of House and Home," "Western Windows and Other Poems," "The Lost Farm," "Landmarks and Other Poems," "Penciled Fly- leaves : A Book of Essays in Town and Country," "The Nests at Washington," "Poems in Sunshine and Firelight," "Lyrics of the Ohio Valley," "The Ghost's Entry and Other Poems." He edited The Union of American Poetry and Art, and The Hesperian Tree. He lives at North Bend.
Mrs. Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt, wife of J. J. Piatt, is a woman of genius and a successful poet. A London critic says her work "is not easy to equal, much less to surpass, on either side of the Atlantic." She is the author of "A Woman's Poems," "A Voyage to the Fortunate Isles," "That New World," "Poems in Company with Children," "Dramatic Persons and Moods," "An Irish Garland," "In Primrose Time," "Child's World Ballads," "The Witch in the Glass," "An Enchanted Castle." Her "Complete Poems," two volumes, were published in 1894, by Longmans, Green & Co.
Thomas Buchanan Read wrote his famous poem, "Sheridan's Ride," in the house on Seventh street, in which he then lived. The house is now marked with a bronze tablet, stating this fact.
Miss Floria Parker, born in Philadelphia, lived in Cincinnati in the late sixties. She contributed poems to local papers and magazines.
Mrs. Cornelia E. Laws was born in College Hill. Upon her marriage in 1857, she removed to Richmond, Indiana. She composed "The Empty Chair," "Behind the Post," and other poems.
William Henry Venable is one of the best known literary men of Cincinnati. He has, for many years, been prominent in the educational world also. A long list of valuable books is associated with his name. He has written history, essay and verse. Among his best known works are "Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley," "The Last Flight," poetry, "Cincinnati, a Civic Ode," "A Dream of Empire," a novel, "Tom-Tad," a novel of boy life.
Eugene Frederick Bliss, born in the state of New York, lives in this city. He is the translator and editor of the "Diary of David Zeisburger," author of "In Memory of Elizabeth Haven Appleton," and was contributor and editor of "Tales for a Stormy Night."
Alice Williams Brotherton, born in Indiana, lives in this city, and is author of "Beyond the Veil," "The Sailing of King Olaf," "What the Wind Told to the Treetops," and is a contributor to magazines.
Nathan Gallizier, a native of Germany, now living in this city, is author of "Ignis Fatuus, a Dream of the Rococo" (in German), "Castel Del Monte," "The Sorceress of Rome," "Lucretia Borgia."
John Uri Lloyd is a Kentuckian by birth and a pharmacist by profession. He is best known to the people as the author of the very remarkable and suc- cessful tale, "Stringtown on the Pike." He is also the author of "Chemistry of Medicines," "Drugs and Medicines of North America," "Elixirs, Their History and Preparation," "Etidorpha, The End of the Earth," "The Right Side of the Car," "Warwick of the Knobs," "Red Head," "Scroggins."
Philip Van Ness Myers was born in New York state but has lived for many years in Cincinnati. He is author of "Life and Nature Under the Tropics,"
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"Remains of Lost Empires," "Ancient History," "Mediaval and Modern His- tory," "General History," "Eastern Nations and Greece," "History of Rome," "History of Greece," "Rome, Its Rise and Fall," "The Middle Ages," "The Modern Age." Professor Myers ranks very high and his books are all standard.
Michael Myers Shoemaker, born in Covington, has been a great traveler and is author of "Eastward, to the Land of the Morning," "Kingdom of the White Woman," "Sealed Provinces of the Tsar," "Island of the Southern Seas," "Quaint Corners of Ancient Empires," "Palaces and Prisons of Mary Queen of Scots," "The Great Siberian Railway," "Heart of the Orient," "Winged Wheels in France," "Wanderings in Ireland."
Frank Bestow Wiborg is author of "Travels of an Unofficial Attache," and "A Commercial Traveler in South America."
George Randolph Chester, whose short stories and volumes of stories have latterly made him one of the best known short story writers in the country, lived for a number of years in Cincinnati. It was while living in this city. that he became famous and his "Wallingford Tales" obtained their vast vogue.
Mrs. Mary S. Watt's of this city, has made an extensive fame by her power- ful books "Nathan Burke" and "The Legacy." The opinion of critics seems to be that she is a writer to be reckoned among the very strongest and best of the time.
Among the writers of today living in Cincinnati are Dean Harry, of the university, whose new translation of the "Antigone" of Sophocles, recently issued, by the Robert Clarke Company, has attracted the favorable attention of critics. Of it the literary critic of the Times-Star wrote:
"There have been numerous translations into English of the dramas of Sophocles, that cheerful old scholar who wrote most uncheerful tragedies. There will doubtless be more, for the Anglo-Saxon is experimentative-and always desirious of trying his hand again. The translation of Greek into English may be likened to the turning of a beautiful, singing brook into a harsh millrace for utilitarian purposes, yet generation after generation of scholars will probably continue to do it, each improving in some particular on what had gone before.
"The latest scholar to add to the bookshelf in this respect is Joseph E. Harry, professor of Greek in the University of Cincinnati. He has made into an acting-play the 'Antigone' of Sophocles-and has done it well. Preserving the general traditions that surround such a translation, and approaching it in the spirit of Hegel, who looked upon the 'Antigone' as the 'most perfect of all dramas,' he has injected, not a note of modernity, but a certain red-blooded strength that is curiously effective. If one reads, without looking at the dates, the various translations of this drama, he will hardly mistake Prof. Harry's for Whitelaw's or Plumptree's. The phraseology is none the less dignified, but it breathes a gentle atmosphere of present-day handling.
"In addition to the drama itself, Prof. Harry has presented an analysis and translation of many of the scenes from 'King Oedipus,' which he considers the 'best gate to the Antigone' and which will be of value to the reader who desires to avoid consulting encyclopedias to get the beginning of the drama.
As a whole, this translation of the wonderful old play will take rank with the best that have preceded it. In some ways it will prove more likeable for he
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has infused into the characters an indefinable spirit of life-as if they were, in fact, living personages, with the hopes, fears and ambitions of human beings, not mere shadows from a mythical past. The publishers have given the volume a pleasing and dignified setting."
As is well known, the famous and brilliant Lafcadio Hearn was identified with Cincinnati for a number of years, in the early part of his literary career.
Among other important writers are Dr. G. J. Bartholomew; Dr. J. M. Craw- ford, who translated "Kalevala ;" W. C. Cochran, who compiled a Law Lexicon ; Wm. Norman Guthrie, poet, essayist and critic; Elias Longley, author of a series of books on "Phonography ;" Thomas C. Minor, author of "Medicine in the Middle Ages," and other works; Dr. J. D. Buck, writer on "Psychology and Medicine ;" Judge Moses F. Wilson, writer of law books; Edward L. Ander- son, author of "Horsemanship," a book adopted by the German army.
The Hon. J. H. Barret, wrote a notable biography of Lincoln; Dr. James A. Henshall is an authority on Piscatorial subjects; Miss M. Louise Mclaughlin wrote on "China Painting ;" Rabbi David Philipson is the author of "The Jew in English Fiction" and other works; Emerson Venable compiled "Poets of Ohio."
While living in Cincinnati, James E. Murdoch wrote "The Stage or Recollec- tions of Acting," and four books on the voice.
J. Ralston Skinner is the author of "Key to the Egyptian Mystery in the Source of Measures." Donn Piatt was author of "The Life of General Thomas," "Works," in three volumes, poems, essays, plays etc.
The Rev. Francis James Finn, S. J., is the author of notable books for boys. Dr. Frederick Forchheimer is the author of a famous and most successful book on the stomach. Col. John W. Hill, of Wyoming, is an authority on water- works, supplies, etc.
Parker H. Fillmore is one of the most successful of recent writers of short stories, finding demand in the big magazines for all he can produce. His books of short stories, "The Hickory Limb," "The Young Idea," etc., are very popular.
Margaret Tuttle, Mrs. Frederick Tuttle, is one of the most eminent short story writers of today. Bobbs-Merrill Company is just issuing a volume of her work.
Daniel W. Kittredge is the author of "Memoirs of a Failure," which has been widely commented on. The New York Times Saturday Review declared it remarkable and original and one of the notable books of the year in which it appeared. He is also a contributor of essays and editorials of various magazines and papers.
Miss Mary McMillan is a successful writer of magazine stories.
Dr. Otto Juettner is author of "History of Medicine in Cincinnati" and is editor of a medical magazine.
Jack Appleton is a successful and brilliant writer of stories and articles.
Miss Sara Haughton is author of three Christmas booklets, "The Christ Child," "The World Doth not Forget," and "Yet Hath the Starry Night Its Bells." She was for several years editor of the Children's Record of the Chil- dren's Home, and has been a contributor to several magazines devoted to childrens interests and to several papers.
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Miss Mary E. Thalheimer, secretary of the Young Women's Christian As- sociation and officer of the Woman's Press Club, is the author of a "Manual of Ancient History," a "Manual of Ancient and Mediaeval History," a "History of England" that was used for years in the public schools, an eclectic history of the United States, and outlines of general history. During a year spent in Europe, she was a regular contributor to a Boston paper and four New York papers.
Miss Florence Wilson was in 1911 in Japan collaborating with Mme. Sugi- moto in writing stories of the Japanese and their customs. She writes Japanese articles for American syndicates that sell to one hundred newspapers. In Amer- ica she lectures on Japan, and in Japan she lectures on America. She also writes poems.
Mrs. Amoretta Fitch is a versatile writer of poems, essays, lectures and character sketches, feature stories and motto cards.
Miss Pearl Carpenter conducts the children's page in a magazine and tells stories at clubs and kindergartens. She is president of the Story Tellers League and an officer of the National Story Tellers League.
Mrs. Gail Donham Sampson writes successful children's stories. Miss Alice A. Folger has published a volume of poems. Miss Anna Rossiter edits a trade journal. Miss Clara Jordan is author of a text book on the study of Latin, that is the standard now in use in Cincinnati schools. Mrs. James C. Ernst writes articles and recently made her debut as a monologist with success.
Miss Alma S. Fick writes ethical and historical articles and is an authority on literature. Mrs. Frances Gibson writes poems in Scottish as well as in English. Miss Berta Harper is a poet as well as editor of a Sunday School paper. Miss Catherine Winspeare Moss has written "The Thousand Ledgers" as well as many poems. Miss Margaret Nye is an able German translator. Miss Martha Allen writes and plays interpretations of the most classical music. Miss Alice Hallam writes on music.
Miss Julie C. O'Hara writes of the unique and unusual things she sees while abroad for newspapers ; Miss Emma Parry shines as a brilliant lecturer on classi- cal subjects ; Mrs. Elizabeth Seat is a writer of stories and also a lecturer ; Mrs. Warren Ritchie is also a lecturer; Mrs. Florence Goff Schwartz writes in a hu- morous vein for a New York magazine; Mrs. Laura Turpin is a superb illus- trator and writer; Miss Julia . Walsh writes poems; Mrs. Eve Brown is another poetess of note; Mrs. Wulff is an essayist.
Mrs. Lura Cobb is valued for her special articles; Miss Harriet Baldwin is the editor of The B. & O. S. W. Magazine; Miss Edith Niles has a department in a Cincinnati magazine, while Miss Rachel Butler is a playwright and also writes poems.
Miss Helen Kendrick is an authority on English literature and is also a ver- satile writer.
Several years ago one of the best known magazines of the country published a Christmas poem, "The Dream," signed by Susie M. Best. The name was unknown to the magazine's readers, some of whom, struck with the beauty of the poem, wrote to inquire of its author. Susie Best, it transpired, was a Cin- cinnati school teacher, who had been teaching literature and history in the public Vol. II-32
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schools for ten years or more. Miss Best is still a teacher, but her work now takes the form of expert story-telling and critical instruction in literary work. Her poems are to be found in many of the best magazines.
Another woman poet is Mrs. Alice Williams Brotherton, whose verses have appeared in recent issues of several standard magazines. Mrs. Brotherton was selected to write an ode in commemoration of the biennial meeting of the Fed- eration of Women's clubs, held in Cincinnati in 1910.
About ten years ago Mrs. Kate Trimble Woolsey, prominent member of a number of Cincinnati women's clubs, came into the limelight of publicity with a book on suffrage, entitled, "Republics versus Women." The book was read widely and commented on because of the radical nature of the views expressed.
Mrs. Martha McClellan Brown won distinction as a writer twenty years ago through articles contributed to leading literary and scientific publications. Her name is among the few Cincinnati women mentioned in the current issue of "Who's Who." ...
Mrs. Virginia Ellard and Miss Celia Doerner are other Cincinnati women writers who have achieved more than local distinction.
While Harriet Beecher Stowe did not write "Uncle Tom's Cabin" during her residence in Cincinnati it was here that she gathered the materials and received the inspiration for the most noted story ever written in America and one of the most influential tales ever told by a pen. Cincinnati can, however, claim in addition that Mrs. Stowe during her years spent here was a part of the literary life of the community and that here she did produce other writings of importance and brilliancy.
The beginnings of journalism here were naturally very small. William Max- well, who was the second postmaster of Cincinnati, established in the autumn of 1793 a little printing office at the corner of Front and Sycamore streets. There he printed November 9, 1793 the first number of The Centinel of the North- Western Territory. The motto of the paper was "Open to all parties, but in- fluenced by none." The early issues were of four pages eight and a half inches by ten and a half inches. Increase in size was made in July 1794, and again in September 1795. The Gazette of Lexington had preceded this paper in the west by several years.
. Maxwell sold the Centinel to Edmund Freeman in the summer of 1796, who changed the name of the paper to Freeman's Journal. Freeman published the journal until 1800, when he removed to Chillicothe.
The contents of this paper are of curious interest to us who are accustomed to have the news of the whole world served up to us daily. The foreign in- telligence, chiefly from France, was many months old. There was some corres- pondence from the east about American conditions. A few items concerned Cincinnati. A striking part of the paper was the advertisements, such as re- wards for deserters from the army, notices of runaway wives whose debts hus- bands declared they were not responsible for, notices of runaway slaves, re- wards for lost or stolen property, advertisements for sale of lots and land, be- sides of course advertisements of stores and shops. There were frequent news items concerning Indians, their doings and depredations.
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The first issue of The Western Spy and Hamilton Gazcite was on May 28, 1799. The editor was Joseph Carpenter who came from Massachusetts to Cin- cinnati. He held several public offices here, served in the War of 1812 under W. H. Harrison, died from exposure in the army and was buried in this city with military honors. The news service had begun to improve, and news from France was served up only two months and a half old, that from London was about the same age, while news from New York was aged about twenty days and that from Washington about a week old. President Jefferson's message to congress sent December 15, 1802, was printed in the Spy January 5, 1803. April 26, 1802, Andrew Jackson of Tennessee advertised a reward of fifty dollars for the re- covery of his negro slave George, escaped from the plantation on the Cumber- land river.
Jonathan Findlay was for a time associated with Carpenter on the Spy, which afterward was continued by Joseph Carpenter and Son. In 1808 the Spy was purchased by a man named Carney, who changed its name to the Whig. After fifty-eight numbers had been issued Carney sold the paper to Francis Menessier who changed the name to The Advertiser, and continued it under that name un- til 1811, September, 1810, Joseph Carpenter, with Ephraim Morgan, began a reissue of the Western Spy.
December 9, 1804, the Rev. John W. Browne issued the first number of Li- berty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury, from the loft of a log cabin at the southeast corner of Sycamore and Third streets. April 12, 1809, Samuel J. Browne, with his father and James H. Looker, formed the firm of Browne and Company.
July 15, 1815, there was issued by Thomas Palmer & Company the first num- ber of the Cincinnati Gazette. December IIth of the same year Liberty Hall was consolidated with the Gazette, which for a time was called Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette.
In 1814, The Spirit of the West began to be published but only forty-four numbers appeared.
June 1818 the Western Spy appeared as an enlarged sheet, and the 9th of the following January it was issued under the name of the Western Spy and General Advertiser.
June 23, 1818 appeared the Inquisitor and Cincinnati Advertiser.
November 1819, Joseph Buchanan began the issue of a weekly paper called The Literary Cadet. After twenty three numbers had appeared it assumed the title of The Western Spy and Literary Cadet. This paper was of a literary character rather than a newspaper and the amateur writers of the city made it the medium for the printing of poems and essays.
In January 1823, the owners of the Western Spy changed the name to the National Republican and Ohio Political Register. With new type and printed on an enlarged scale, this semi-weekly was declared to be the best specimen of the printers' art issued in Southern Ohio.
The Independent Press and Freeman's Advocate, under the management of Sol Smith, a brilliant and eccentric genius, was issued for sixteen months and was sold in November, 1823 to the Republican.
In 1822, Liberty Hall and the Cincinnati Gazette was issued weekly and semi- weekly. The publishers were Morgan, Lodge and Company, Isaac G. Burnet
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was the editor for several years. He was succeeded in 1822 by Benjamin Powers, and he in turn in 1825 by Charles Hammond.
James M. Mason had purchased the Inquisitor, and later this paper assumed the name of the Advertiser. It became a radical political paper.
Party divisions among the local papers became distinct about 1825. The Gazette was Whig in sympathies. The Advertiser and Republican belonged to the Anti-Federal party. The Gazette, edited by Hammond, and the Advertiser, edited by the noted Moses Dawson, were in bitter opposition for many years.
The Emporium was printed weekly in 1824 by Samuel J. Browne. The Na- tional Crisis was started in 1824 and was soon consolidated with the Emporium and the Independent Press. The Crisis had for its business editor Thomas Palmer, who took over the paper in default of payment of salary and sold it to Anson Deming, who took John Wood as his partner. Wood in 1825 sold his interest to Hooper Warren, who merged it with the Emporium.
In 1826 there were nine newspapers in this city. These were Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette, National Republican and Ohio Political Register, Cin- cinnati Advertiser, National Crisis and Cincinnati Emporium, semi-weeklies. The Parthenon, Western Tiller and Saturday Evening Chronicle were weeklies. The Cincinnati Commercial Register was a daily. The Ohio Chronicle was a German weekly.
The Commercial Register was the first daily issued west of Pennsylvania. This paper lived six months, was discontinued, and was then revived for three months in 1828.
When the Commercial Register had been suspended, a number of citizens urged the owners of Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette to establish a daily newspaper. The Daily Gazette issued its first number Monday, June 25, 1827. It started with one hundred and sixty-four subscribers. The publishers were . Morgan, Lodge and Fisher. Charles Hammond was the editor and so con- tinued until his death, April 3, 1840.
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