Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 50

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 50

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" Ye tribes of Faction, join- Your daughters and your wives- Moll Cary's come to town To dance with Deacon Ives. .

Ye ragged throng Of Democrats, As thick as rats, Come, join the song.

"Old Deacon Bishop stands, With well-befrizzled wig, File-leader of the bands, To open with a jig ; With parrot toe, The poor old man Tries all he can To make it go."

What Mr. Goodrich, in the narrative copied, means by the expression " established order of things," needs explanation to some of our young readers. Connecticut then had no State constitution other than the old Colonial charter granted by Charles HI. Rhode Island also lived under the charter from Charles 1I., until the " Dorr Rebellion " of 1842 led to the adoption of a State constitu- tion on more liberal principles. Under the code of laws in Connecticut estab-

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...

EMIGRATING TO NEW CONNECTICUT, 1817-1818. From an engraving in Peter Parley's Recollections.

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lished on the basis of the meagre charter of the king, the Congregational church assumed especial privileges. Every person was taxed to support it unless they should declare their adhesion to some other persuasion. And all were taxed to support Yale College, a religious seminary governed by the Congregational clergy. Practically the State's government was a theocracy, a union of church and State. In 1818 the Federalists were overthrown and a State constitution adopted. The conflict, while impending, occasioned great distress among the Congregational clergy and their members. If the people were not compelled by . law to support the institutions of religion, they felt religion would perish from the earth.

Lyman Beecher, in his reminiscences, gives vent to his distressful emotions on the occasion of the success of what was termed the "Toleration Party." Years later, Lyman Beecher rejoiced with exceeding great joy on witnessing the success of the voluntary system in its support of the institutions of religion. He felt that freedom in religion was of God. At the time of the success of the Tolera- tion party there was not a Catholic church in the State, and when, from the influx of foreigners about 1834, they began to erect Catholic churches largely over the country, many looked on with horror, apprehensive of the reign of the Pope and the eventual advent of the Spanish Inquisition. Early in the century "Fox's Book of Martyrs" and other similar lugubrious books had been largely circu- lated in the rural regions at the east by perambulating book-venders going from honse to house. Lyman Beecher, on coming to Ohio, although he had survived the Toleration scare, found a fresh one in his fear of Catholic supremacy, and thundered and lightened. But he lived to modify his opinions when he saw that Catholic priests never ran away from a pestilence and the Sisters of Charity were unceasing in ministering to the sick and dying. The soul of goodness is in all Christian faiths, and the spirit of patriotism prevails in the hearts of the people, irrespective of politics.

Warren in 1846 .- Warren, the county seat, is on the Mahoning river and Ohio and Penn. canal, 161 miles northeast of Columbus and 77 from Pittsburglı. It is a well-built and very pleasant town, through which beautifully winds the Mahoning. In the centre is a handsome public square, on which stands the court-house. In June, 1846, this village was visited by a destructive fire, which destroyed a large number of buildings facing one side of the public square, since built up with beautiful stores. Warren was laid out in 1801, by Ephraim Quinby, Esq., and named from Moses Warren, of Lyme. The town plat is one mile square, with streets crossing at right angles. Warren contains I Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 Methodist and 1 Disciples' church, about 20 mercantile stores, 3 news- paper printing offices, 2 flour mills, 1 bank, 1 woollen factory and a variety of mechanical establishments ; in 1840, its population was 1,066 ; it is now estimated at 1,600. In a graveyard on the river's bank lie the remains of the Hon. Zephania Swift, author of "Swift's Digest," and once chief-justice of the State of Connecticut. He died here September 27, 1823, at the age of 64 years, while on a visit to a son and daughter .- Old Edition.

WARREN, county-seat of Trumbull, on the Mahoning river, about 145 miles northeast of Colmnbus, 52 miles southeast of Cleveland, is the centre for a fine agricultural region famous for dairying. Its railroads are N. Y. P. & O., A. & P., P. P. & F., and Mahoning Branch of N. Y. P. & O.

County Officers, 1888 : Auditor, William Wallace; Clerk, Albert B. Camp ; Commissioners, Joel Bushnell, Henry H. Pierce, Warren D. Hall; Coroner, William C. Hunt ; Infirmary Directors, Frank C. Van Wye, Job J. Holliday, William W. Griffith ; Probate Judge, David R. Gilbert ; Prosecuting Attorney, Thomas H. Gillmer ; Recorder, David J. Woodford; Sheriff, Andrew P. MeKinley ; Surveyor, Homer C. White; Treasurer, Addison Rogers. City Officers, 1888 : John L. Smith, Mayor; M. J. Sloan, Solicitor ; C. F. Diekey, Engineer ; Allen Walker, Marshall ; W. G. Watson, Street Commissioner ; E. II. 23 .

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Goodale, Sealer. Newspapers : Chronicle, Republican, William Ritezel & Co. editors and publishers ; Taxpayers' Guardian, Independent, J. S. Wrightnour editor; Tribune, I. blican, W. H. Smiley, editor and publisher; Western Reserve Democrat, Democrat, R. W. Paden, editor ; Church at Home, Evangelis tic, E. B. Wakefield, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Methodist Episcopal 1 African Methodist Episcopal, 1 German Lutheran, 1 Disciples, 1 Catholic, ] Presbyterian, 1 Baptist. Banks : First National, H. B. Perkins, president, J. H McCombs, cashier ; Second National, C. A. Harrington, president, R. W. Ratliff cashier ; Western Reserve National, Albert Wheeler, president, O. L. Walcott cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- W. Packard & Co., planing mill, 30; R. Bartholomew, building, 4 ; George T. Townsend, furniture, 12; Trumbull Milling Co., flour, etc., 5 ; The Warren Paint Co., paints, 23; Drennen & Son, carriages, etc., 8 ; Griswold Linseed Oil Co., linseed oil, etc., 20; Spangenberg, Pendleton & Co., machinery, 15; Reed's Planing Mill, planing mill, etc., 3; Warren Evaporator Works, sugar evaporators, 6; Warren Stave Works, staves, heading, etc., 45 ; S. F. Bartlett, carriages, etc., 12; James Reed & Son, stoves, 10 ; G. H. Reed & Son, machinery, 6; Warren Tube Co., iron and steel tubes, 161 ; The Winfield Manufacturing Co., tinware, 86 ; ZEtna Machine Co., machinery, 40; R. P. MeCleland, woollen mills, 4; R. MeBerty, blinds and screens, 3 .- State Report, 1887.

Population, 1880, 4,428. School census, 1888, 1,912. E. F. Moulton, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $368,500. Value of annual product, $613,000 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887. Census, 1890, 5,973.

TRAVELLING NOTES.

On my arrival at Warren I found it was a day for the rennion of the 105th Ohio. This regiment was mainly made up of farmers from the counties of Lake, Ashtabula, Geanga, Trumbull, and some miners from Mahoning. At Perrysville it lost heavily, and it was on Sherman's march to the sea. Judge Albert Tourgee (see Vol. I., p. 280) was an officer of this regiment.

Naturally one warms towards these veterans. Going up to a group in the hotel I said to one of them : "Aren't you glad you have got through your shoot- ing ?" "Hmph," he replied, " I am glad I have got through being shot at." Then he showed me his mutilated, ruined arm, and told me he had been hit five times and laid long in hospitals.

On my tour I met many of the Grand Army veterans, and they are largely wrecks.

Many of these men who look well are in angnish from their war experiences. Comparatively few are in full physical vigor. The hardships and sufferings of years of campaigning have left a majority with broken constitutions. One I met in Bellaire, on the Ohio, had been in twenty-eight battles. He had been wounded four times. He was suffering from part of his windpipe having been shot away. Back of his neck was a wound that has been a running sore since 1864.

At Ripley, also on the Ohio, I arrived in the rain and dark, and was directed by a colored porter to a little tavern under the hill where there were three appar- ently old men. They were about the only persons I saw on the premises. They were old soldiers; one the landlord. All had been sufferers; one a complete wreck. Seeing me walking about with alacrity, the contrast with his own suffer- ing condition aroused him, and he said in plaintive tones, " You move about springy and easy, and, as you say, you are seventy years old, just look at me; I tum but forty-two years old, and yet I am to-day an older man than you. The war has ruined me, I'm in constant suffering, can scarcely move about-have no health nor strength-every moment I'm in misery."

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Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

PUBLIC SQUARE, WARREN.

L. M. Rice, Photo., 1887.

VIEW ON THE PUBLIC SQUARE, WARREN.

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Yet with any of these old soldiers, who volunteered because they loved their country, you cannot get one to say they regretted their experiences. So grand is this principle of patriotism, that suffering for it but inercases devotion. I asked one who had half of his lower jaw shot away beside receiving other wounds :

"Do you regret your army experiences? If you could have foreseen them, would you have refrained from volunteering ?"

" No," he replied, with a twinkle of the eye ; " lost jaw and all."

In the many conflicts of the war, the narrow escapes from death often seemed a little less than marvellous, At Paulding, in the person of the landlord of the hotel where I tarried, was an old soldier, Mr. T. J. Saltzgaber. A piece of a shell had gone coursing through his head just under his skull. He showed me the scar where it had entered and the scar where it had come out. The distance apart was six inches, by my measure, around the back of the neck. It entered one and a half inches behind the right ear, on a level with the ear entrance, took off a piece of the base of the skull, and passing between the " leaders " and spinal column, came out three inches below the lobe of the left ear and the same distance farther back. He handed me the missile. Its weight was three ounces. I laid it on my note- book and with a pencil outlined its thickness and its other dimensions. The diagrams annexed are fac-similes of the originals in size and form.

Length and Breadth.

Thickness.

" This," he said, " was fired into me by Wheeler's artillery down in Alabama, October 25, 1864. After the war I met the artilleryman in Seguin, Texas, who fired the gun, and boarded at his hotel-a very clever fellow."

The wounds which some of them received and survived were indeed alike marvellous. Col. Charles Whittlesey relates an instance in his " War Memories " in which an apparently mortal wound through the body saved a man's life. We extract his statement, which is under the caption of " Experience of Col. Garis : "

Col. C. Garis, of Washington, Fayette county, Ohio, was a captain in the 20th Ohio. Soon after the battle of Shiloh Church he resigned on account of a large abscess in the left lung, which, it was pre- sumed, would soon terminate his life.

When the one hundred days' regiments were organized, he was appointed a colonel, and sent to Kentucky. Ifis command was stationed at Cynthiana, on the Licking river, when the place was attacked by Morgan, with a large force. J. R. Stewart, who had been a private in the 20th Ohio, and was then hospital steward, was captured in the town early in the day.

After several hours' fighting, Morgan set fire to the building occupied by Col. Garis, and sent Stewart to him with a demand to surrender. On his way back Morgan's men fired on Stewart, but Morgan told them he

was a prisoner, and they allowed him to pass.

Stewart was taken away by the Confeder- ates, but about thirty miles out he managed to escape. Col. Garis came out of the burn- ing buildings and surrendered.

He was fired upon at a few steps by five men, one shot passing through the diseased lung. He was left for dead, or more bullets would have been put into his body. What appeared to be entirely fatal wounds, proved to be a savage remedy for his lungs.

From the bullet holes a large quantity of pus was discharged, and, although not very robust, Col. Garis is still living, and a man of active business (1884). Col. Garis' state- ment here follows :

" I cheerfully contribute my mite to carry to posterity the noble deeds of the men I had the honour to command.

اهداف

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" You use the proper term when you call our treatment at Cynthiana horrid butchery. We fought for two hours, with inferior arms and a foree ten to our one, from some build- ings, which gave us some advantage ; but the people, being nearly all rebels, set fire to the buildings, which compelled us to surrender or be roasted alive. We chose the former, ex- pecting to be treated as prisoners of war ; but to the surprise of us all, as when I, at the head of my men, stepped out of the build-

ing, we were fired upon by five men, not more than ten or twelve yards from me, and I received every ball in my arm. side and shoulder, after which they ceased firing.

"While weltering in my blood they tore my sword off from ine, and robbed me of my watch. My horse had been shot from under me at the commencement of the battle. My saddles, pistols, trunk, and all we had shared the fate of my sword and purse."

Mr. Whittlesey gives also an instructive paragraph upon the last moments of the dying soldier. In speaking of the battle of Shiloh, where he was in com- mand of the 20th Ohio, he says : " On such fields there are great mental activities and agonies that must not be overlooked. Before the stupor of death comes on, there are preternatural flashes of memory, illuminating the path of life.

"The spirit of the dying soldier returns to the home he has left. Actions and thoughts that occupied many years, reappear with a rapidity comparable to nothing better than electricity. Some are silent, only a few utter groans ; others sigh and pray, only rarely there are curses.

" A later stage is that of delirium with chatter and laughter, as indescribable as it is horrible, because it is a premonition of the end. Many who anticipated death, that did not come, spoke of a spiritual elevation, such as a mind partially liberated from the body might experience."

In his time HORACE GREELEY, through the influence of his paper and his oft personal visits in lecturing, was a great educational force on the Reserve. His discussions of new questions seem to be especially adapted to the tastes of the active minded progressive people of New Connecticut. ITis very oddi- ties made him staud apart from other leaders of men : as his uncouth, careless attire, shambling, awkward gait, childlike simplicity of manner and speech. His personal presence, light pale eyes, complexion, and hair gave to him a sort of milkiness of aspect very unusual, and when he was seen in motion, wearing his old white coat and hat, he seemed, as he was, an original character who lived in his own philosophy and felt at peace with all man- kind.

I got here in Warren an original anecdote that illustrates the Johnnie Appleseed spirit of this original Horace. It is from the War- ren editor, Mr. F. M. Ritezel. "When," said he, "Greeley was lecturing over the line in Greencastle, Pa., I went thither and en- gaged him to come to Warren and give us a speech. I met him there on the street occu- pied eating a peach. As we walked along he continued eating and talking, and when he had dispatched the peach he threw the stone over into a field for its planting with the re- mark, 'There ; somebody may have the good of it.' "

This anecdote of Mr. Ritezel brought another from me. Stories are fruitful of others, and this of mine was about fruit ; the

subject was the same, Horace Greeley, only it was not about a peach, it was an apple that was concerned. At the period of the Harri- son campaign, Greeley, from a raw country youth had quickly become a power in New York city, and, indeed, in the nation. My room-mate, near that period, told me he was walking on Nassau street when, just ahead of him, his attention was arrested by the quaint person of Greeley, as usual shuffling along, oblivious to all surroundings, busy eat- ing an apple. Presently he paused on the edge of the pavement, threw his weight on his right leg, lifted the other and cast the apple-core as far behind as he could, and then, country boy like, looked behind to see what had become of it !

It is probable that this eccentric perform- anice, in a crowded street of the great metro- polis, was uuknown to the actor himself. It was an automatic performance ; his mind at the moment absorbed in thought upon some topic of public utility that was to appear as a leader in his next day's issue.

In spite of his eccentricities Greeley was a man who inspired respect from his force of intellect and high moral aims and his memory is held in honor, though in looking back upon his career in the light of our time we can see his judgments were often erroneous-a great man in some directions, but not a safe guide in a time of peril to a nation. Still every- body is glad that to help out our variety of beneficent characters that America has pro- duced a Horace Greeley.

BIOGRAPHY.

SIMON PERKINS was born in Norwich, Conn., Sept. 17, 1771. His father was an

officer in the Revolutionary army, and died in camp in 1778. The son removed to Os-

GENERAL SIMON PERKINS.

GENERAL J. D. COX.

THE PERKINS HOMESTEAD, WARREN.

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wego, N. Y., in 1795, where for three years he was occupied with large land agencies. In the spring of 1798 he went to the Western Reserve, to explore and report a plan for the sale and settlement of the lands of "The Erie Land Company." He entered Ohio July 4, and established "Perkins' Camp " on Grand River. Returning to Connecticut in October, he was given entire control of the lands of the company. For several years his summers were spent on the Reserve and the winters in Connecticut. March 18, 1804, he married Nancy Ann Bishop, of Lisbon, Conn., and with his wife settled the follow- ing July at Warren. His integrity and su- perior business judgment and capacity were highly appreciated by land proprietors. So extensive were the agencies entrusted to him, that in 1815 the State land tax paid by hin was one-seventh of the entire State revenue.

He was the first postmaster on the Western Reserve. In 1807, at the request of Post- master-General Granger, he established a line of expresses through the Indian country to Detroit. His efforts led to the granting, in a treaty held at Brownstown in 1808, the right of way to the United States for a road from the Western Reserve to the Rapids of the Maumee, the Indians ceding lands a mile in width all the way on each side of the road.

In May, 1808, he was commissioned a brigadier-general of militia. In the war of 1812, on learning of' Hull's surrender, with- out waiting to hear from his superior officers, he issued orders to his colonels to prepare their regiments for active duty. To him was assigned the duty of protecting the North- western frontier. He held his position in the field until Gen. Harrison had been reinforced by regular troops and the militia were with- drawn. Gen. Harrison highly complimented his zeal and activity, and tendered him a colonelship in the regular army, which he declined.

From 1826 to 1838, Gen. Perkins was an active member of the " Board of Canal Fund Commissioners," serving without bond or pecuniary reward, issuing and selling State bonds to the amount of $4,500,000.

November 24, 1813, he organized, and was

president for twenty-three years of the West- ern Reserve Bank, conducting its affairs, dur- ing trying financial periods, with such wise judgment and management that "As good as a Western Reserve bank bill" became a connnon saying. He died at Warren, Nov. 19, 1844. Lossing's " Field Book of the War of 1812" said of him : "Among the re- markable men who settled on the Western Reserve, Gen. Simon Perkins ever held one of the most conspicuous places, and his in- fluence in social and moral life is felt in that region to this day."

Of his six sons and two daughters only two are now living-SIMON PERKINS, of Akron, and HENRY B. PERKINS, of Warren. The former removed to Akron in 1835, and took an active part in the affairs of the county. Ile projected the Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad ; was a partner of John Brown, the Abolitionist, in the wool business. He married a sister of Gov. Tod.

JACOB PERKINS, next to the youngest son of Gen. Perkins was a man of unusual ability and industry. He was active in the promo- tion of education ; was president and princi- pal factor in the construction of the Cleve- land and Mahoning Railway, to which he de- voted so much of his energies and strength that his health gave way, and he died at the early age of thirty-eight. A short time be- fore his death he said to a friend, " If I die, you may inseribe on my tombstone, 'Died of the Mahoning Valley Railroad.'"''

HENRY B. PERKINS, the youngest son of Gen. Simon Perkins, occupies the old " Per- kins Homestead " at Warren. Ile is a very public-spirited man ; has done much to pro- mote the cause of education ; is a man whose solid weight of character and moral influence has made a strong impression npon his fel- low-men.

In 1878 he served on a commission to re- establish the boundary line between Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1879, and again in 1881, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, and has occupied other important public offices ; but in every instance the office has sought the citizen. A sketch of JOSEPH PERKINS, an- other son of Gen. Simon Perkins, is given in Cuyahoga County.

JACOB DOLSON Cox was born in Montreal, Canada, October 27, 1828. His parents were natives of the United States, and had but a temporary residence in Canada. The following year his parents removed to New York. In 1846 he entered Oberlin College, graduating in 1851, and in 1852 removed to Warren as Superintendent of the High School, which position he held for three years ; in the meanwhile he studied law ; was admitted to the bar, and began practice in 1854.

In 1859 he was elected to the Legislature, where, not only on account of his record but also his marriage in 1849 to the daughter of President Finney, of Oberlin College, he was regarded as one of the "radical" leaders of the Senate. Col. Whittlesey, in his " War Memoranda," says : "Gen. Garfield represented the Portage county district in the upper house at the same time. They were very young men for those positions, but filled them so ably that they were acknowl- edged to be the leaders. Personally they were intimate friends ; quite like college chums. Both were prominent as moralists and professors of religion, but of dif-

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ferent seets. Both were close students and persuasive speakers. While they were firm in their convictions against negro slavery, they were not offensive nor dis- posed to treat their opponents with disrespect. Undoubtedly they agreed with - Gov. Chase in regarding the rebellion as a fortunate opportunity for the legal ex- tirpation of slavery."

Gen. Cox assisted in the organization of the State militia, and was commis- sioned by President Lincoln a brigadier-general of United States Volunteers. With the assistance of Gen. Rosecrans he laid out Camp Dennison, and was in command there until July 6, 1861, when he was assigned to the command of the " Brigade of the Kanawha " in Western Virginia. He drove out the Confeder- ates under Gen. Wise, taking and repairing Gauley and other bridges which had been destroyed. He held his position ; engaged in a succession of skirmishes until August, 1862, when he was assigned to the Army of Virginia under Gen. Pope. He served in the Ninth Corps at the battle of South Mountain, and when Gen. Reno fell, succeeded to the command, and in this and the subsequent-battle of Antietam, the troops under his command so distinguished themselves that he was commissioned major-general. On April 16, 1863, Gen. Cox was placed in con- mand of the district of Ohio, also a division of the Twenty-third Army Corps. He served in the Atlanta campaign, and under Gen. Thomas in the campaigns of Franklin and Nashville. March 14, 1865, he fought the battle of Kingston, N. C., and then united his force with Gen .. Sherman's army.

He resigned from the army, after the close of the war, to accept the office of Governor of Ohio, and was inaugurated January 15, 1866.

In the controversy between President Johnson and Congress, he espoused the cause of the President.

From March, 1869, till December, 1870, he was Secretary of the Interior under President Grant, but resigned on account of disagreement with certain measures of the administration.

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Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 50

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200