Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 131

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

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He was the life-long friend of General Har- rison, and as a delegate to the Harrisburg Convention secured his nomination for Pres- ident. He influenced Congress to relieve the settlers of the West and Southwest from much of the indebtedness for their lands, which otherwise would have involved the great mass in irretrievable ruin. Mr. Burnet possessed great public spirit and was eminent for solid integrity and acuteness of intellect. Mansfield says such was the construction of his mind that "it was impossible for Burnet not to have been a partisan." His likes and dislikes were held with great tenacity. When Aaron Burr was in Cincinnati he was peremp- torily refused an interview by Judge Burnet, who sent him word that he would never shake hands with the murderer of his own and his father's friend.

Originally a Federalist, he became a strong Whig, and in the United States Senate came up to the level of its great leaders, Webster and Clay. He died in 1853, a firm believer in the inspiration of the Bible, a Presbyte- rian in faith, but was far removed from sec- tarian bigotry

NICHOLAS LONGWORTH was born in New- ark, N. J., in 1782, was for a time a clerk in his brother's store in South Carolina, came to Cincinnati in 1803 and died in 1863, leav- ing an estate of many millions from early in- vestments in Cincinnati land. He studied law and practised for a while, and in 1828 began the cultivation of the Catawba grape, and from it manufactured wine of a high marketable value. He had 200 acres of vineyards, a large wine-house, and was favor- ably known by his experiments on the straw- berry. The Catawba grape was cultivated with great success for a number of years, producing about 500 gallons of wine per an- num ; then it gradually failed. It is thought that the clearing of the forest has changed the climate of Southern Ohio, which is now afflicted with what is regarded as destructive to the grape culture, that is-heavy fogs, wet atmosphere, changes from warm to cold with- out wind-a condition from which the islands and shore of Lake Erie are free, and where the grape culture is so successful.

Mr. Longworth lived in a huge stone cot-

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tage mansion, in the centre of a three or four- mere lot, at the east end of Fourth street, originally built by Martin Baum, now the resi- dence of David Sinton. Forty years ago the spot was known as Longworth's Garden, and was one of the chief attractions of the city from its display of flowers and fruits, notably grapes. "He was very shrewd, quick witted ; with great common sense and acquisitiveness. He had little dignity or learning, but had a quiet good humor and a readiness at repartee which made him very popular." He was a friend to artists and kindly to the poor, and very eccentric. He was short in person and careless in his dress. As was often his wont, he had shown a stranger through his grounds, when the latter, mistaking this man of mil- lions for a serving man, on leaving him at the gate dropped a dime in his hand, which

will help the devil's poor; the miserable drunken dog that nobody else will do any- thing for but despise and kick." And he did. He used to talk of himself in the sec- ond person, as once we heard him say, "There's Longworth; it takes $30,000 to pay his taxes, and it keeps him poor to raise the money." This was true ; he owned much earth, but had little cash. His son Joseph and grandson Nicholas were noted as patrons of art, as is his granddaughter, Mrs. Maria Longworth Storer. The entire family is un- usually popular from its beneficence and public spirit, especially in the fostering the things of beauty that give to life its efflores- cence and fragrance.

The first banker west of the Alleghenies, a successful merchant and most enterprising citizen, was JOHN H. PIATT. He did so much

NICHOLAS LONGWORTH.

Mr. Longworth accepted with thanks and put in his pocket. Every Monday for a term of years he had at his house a free gift dis- tribution to the poor. At the appointed hour strings of old ladies, German and Irish, would be seen, flocking there with baskets to re- ceive at their option a loaf of bread or a peck of corn meal or a dime. When he started out in the morning to make calls upon his numerous tenants or otherwise, he would have the business of each call written on a separate slip of paper and pinned on his coat- sleeve. These would be pinned on in the order of his calls and torn off in rotation.

He had continuous appeals for charity, and he was wont to say in certain cases, "Ha! a poor widow, is she ? Got a struggling family of little ones ? I won't give her a cent. She is the Lord's poor-plenty to help such. I

JOHN H. PIATT.

for Cincinnati in developing its resources that President William H. Harrison, in his last speech at home before going to his inaugura- tion, gave most of it to an eulogy of Mr. Piatt, saying among other things that a statue should be erected on the river landing to the memory of the man who had done so much for the city. That he has no monument and now scarcely a memory, that the one strect named for him had its name changed, does not speak well for Cincinnati.

From Mr. Henry B. Teetor's "Past and Present of Mill Creek Valley," we quote : "Mr. Piatt entered with great energy and intrepidity indeed upon business enterprises. He was among the foremost in starting insti- tutions, foundries, banks, launching steam- boats, building houses and imparting a spirit of progress to the young city. He founded in

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1817 the first bank west of the mountains. One of the bills of this bank is in the hands of Mr. George H. Schoenberger, and greatly prized by him. His prosperity and success were unequaled-evidenced by the possession of a large estate and a commanding position as a banker and a merchant. His name had gone out over the Northwest Territory. He knew its leading men and was familiar with its resources when the war of 1812 came on.

"In an evil hour for Mr. Piatt he con- tracted with the government to furnish pro- visions to the Northwest army, then under Harrison. Congress adjourned without mak- ing appropriations for a continuance of the war. The consequences to the country at JACOB WYKOFF PIATT .- This noted citi- large were disastrous, to John H. Piatt fatal. . zen of Cincinnati was born in Kentucky in Rations that he agreed to furnish at twenty 1801. Brought to Cincinnati when quite young, he grew to man's estate in the home cents rose through a depreciated currency to forty-five cents. After six months he had drawn on the government for $210,000, the drafts for which had gone to protest for non- payment.

'During this time about $46,000 had come into Mr. Piatt's hands as a commissariat fund, resulting from the sales as commissary of the army. He applied this sum to the payment of dehts incurred for supplies. This was treated by the department as a violation of law. This was the state of his offending. This condition obtained on the 26th of De- cember, 1814, when Gen. McArthur made a requisition on him for 800,000 rations to be delivered in thirty days which at existing rates would have cost $360,000 more.

"Unable to meet this requisition and un- willing that the public should suffer Piatt immediately repaired to Washington to lay the matter before the Department, accom- panied by the Hon. Justice McLean, then his representative in Congress. They found the war minister of the United States sitting in the ashes of the burned capital, in an agony of despair over a bleeding country and an empty treasury.

" The Secretary appealed to Mr. Piatt's pa- triotism for help, and gave him verhal assur- ances, that if he could furnish the supplies called for he should be remunerated and allowed the market price for the rations re- y adless of the original contract.

"Upon these assurances John H. Piatt re- urned home, and put his entire fortune and redit in the service of his country.

" When the final settlement came the gov- ernment refused to allow him the difference between the first contract price of rations and the market value of supplies purchased under the assurances of Secretary Monroe.

"We have not the space to follow in detail the heart-breaking struggle of this great patriot for justice at the hands of a govern- ment he had so nobly served. For years he haunted in vain the ante-chamber of a de- partment that had once only been too glad to welcome him. Once thrown into prison by the department for his technical violation of law, he was released only to have his creditors imprison him again.

'At last, heart-broken and bankrupt, he

died a prisoner, without enough money to give him a decent burial.

"Sixty years after the Supreme Court of the United States adjudicated the claim and allowed the principal. But to this day the government has not paid the interest."

The PIATTS are all descended from John Piatt, a French Huguenot, who settled in New Jersey about 1740. Four of his five sons were soldiers of the American revolu- tion. One, Captain William Piatt, was killed at St. Clair's defeat ; two others emigrated with Judge Symmes to North Bend. The family were numerous and of high intellectual reputation.

JACOB WYKOFF PIATT.

of his father, Benjamin M. Piatt, elder brother of the more famous John H. Piatt.

Jacob Wykoff became a successful lawyer, and accumulated quite a fortune in his prac- tice, and successful operations in real estate.

The one event in his life was his success in establishing a paid fire department, that is now known in every city of the civilized world. The old volunteer fire system, once the pride of the citizens, had fallen into dis- repute.

The better class had either neglected the companies to which they belonged, or had been shouldered out by the worse elements of a prosperous town. This evil was not confined to Cincinnati. Every city in the Union suffered from the same cause. The Mose of New York, the brazen-cheeked, red-shirted ruffian was duplicated in every

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municipality that possessed a fire department. Mr. Piatt returned to the city council at a time when the most reputable citizens con- sidered it an honor to be a councilman, opened war on the volunteers, by introducing an or- dinance providing for the selection of, and paying the firemen for their services.

There was scarcely a member of council that did not privately admit the necessity for such a reform, and yet when the vote was taken, in a chamber crowded by roughs, whose noisy demonstrations left no doubt as to their opposition, hut one man was found brave enough to vote with Mr. Piatt in favor of this measure. This gentleman was Judge Timothy Walker, the well-known author and jurist.

Nothing daunted Mr. Piatt continued his efforts. At every assembly of a new council, his ordinance was offered to be again voted down. But the minority grew slowly in spite of the brutal opposition. Mr. Piatt was wont to defy the crowd in the debate that pre- ceded defeat, and the feeling got so intense, that it was dangerous for the bold reformer to go to and from the chamber. As it was a volunteer guard of Irish constituents accom- panied their representative. One night after a heated debate a mob assembled in front of Mr. Piatt's residence and amid groans, hisses, howls and yells, he was burned in effigy.

This contest continued for years. A happy event, however, came to end it. This was the invention and building of the Latta fire- engine. After being tested by a commission of experts, the engine was accepted. What to do with it was the question. turn it over to the volunteers was to insure its imme- diate destruction. It was resolved, at length, to organize a paid company to use and pro- tect the machine. A committee was appointed having on it Messrs. Piatt, Walker, Kessler and Loder to organize a company. To the amusement of his associates Mr. Piatt nom- inated Miles Greenwood as the captain of the new company. Judge Walker remonstrated. It was, he said, putting the new engine in the hands of the enemy, for Miles Greenwood was the pet of the volunteers, and had been loud in his denunciation of what he called the degradation of the paid system. Mr. Piatt persisted and asserted that Greenwood was the only man in the city who would make the new machine a success.

"Well, try him," was the response, "he wont accept."

Greenwood was sent for. He was startled at the offer but immediately accepted, pro- vided that he could select the men.

"The machine will be attacked at the first fire, and I want to know whom I am to rely on."

The first alarm of fire that brought ont the new engine proved the correctness of Green- wood's prophecy. The fire was a serious one on Sycamore street above Fourth. The gen- cral alarm brought all the engines to the fire and among the rest the new steam machine. Drawn by huge horses at a gallop, driven by Miles himself, a noble figure in his brass hel- met, red shirt and speaking trumpet swung

to his side, the impression made on the swiftly gathering crowds was impressive. Miles had about him the newly made firemen in their splendid uniforms. He had in ad- dition all the men of his great foundry and workshops; and hurrying to the front of his first and only fight came Jacob Wykoff Piatt, followed by two hundred and fifty bold Irish- men from the old Thirteenth.

The volunteers were prompt to a redemp- tion of their word. They attacked the new fire company. The fight was fierce, bloody and brief. Miles Greenwood led the van. His tall figure, bright helmet and trumpet- toned voice, made him a leader to follow and a man to fear. The engagement lasted about thirty minutes. A few bloody heads, and damaged countenances, and the tumult ended in the volunteer companies striving to put the steam "squirt," as they called the new en- gine, out of public favor, through their own superior management and work.

It was all in vain. The new device won, and in less than a month all the fire com- panies were clamoring for the new invention, organization and pay.

We write with unusual gratification the name of MILES GREENWOOD, who died in 1885. He was one of the strongest, most useful, public-spirited men in the annals of Ohio. He was of a large, strong physique, a great worker, labored incessantly in his own business and in many public enterprises. He was of Massachusetts stock, but was born in Jersey City, March 19, 1807 ; mingling in his veins were English, Huguenot French and German blood. In 1831 with ten hands he started iron founding in this city and event- ually had an immense establishment.

In 1861 he turned it into a United States Arsenal for the manufacture of implements of war. Upward of 700 hands were employed, and among the goods turned out were over 200 bronze cannon, the first ever made in the West, hundreds of caissons and gun carriages, also a sea-going monitor ; and forty thousand Springfield muskets were turned into rifles and supplied with percussion locks-a very effective weapon with tremendous "kicking qualities," so the soldiers who used it laugh- ingly said.

To Mr. Greenwood the Cincinnati Fire De- partment was greatly indebted for its efficient organization.

Having been a leading spirit in the old volunteer fire department, he was induced by Jacob Wykoff Piatt to assume the leadership of the paid steam fire department. Once enlisted in behalf of the paid system, he quickly perceived the possibilities of vastly increased efficiency, and with iron will and never shrinking bravery determinedly fought and overcame all opposition. At one time the City Council failed to appropriate money to pay the men, and during this time Mr. Greenwood advanced for this purpose $15,- 000, to keep the men together by paying them regularily.

Night and day he was constantly engaged in fighting the opposition to the organization.

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He had no time to attend to his own business, but paid a man $1,500 to attend to it for him. Of this sum the city subscquently re- imbursed him $1,000, which he at once paid into the funds of the Mechanics' Institute. Eventually every difficulty was overcome, and to-day such a thing as a volunteer fire depart- ment is unknown in any city of the first class in Europe or America.

The first steam fire-engine ever built that

MILES GREENWOOD.

was used at a fire was constructed at Green- wood's establishment by Messrs. Shawk & Latta, and was first used on a Sunday morn- ing in May, 1852. It was named the Uncle Joe Ross. It initiated a moral reform, as under the old system the engine houses had been the nurseries where the youth of the city were trained in vice, vulgarity and de- bauchery.

DR. DANIEL DRAK" was born in Plainfield, N. J., in 1785, and died in Cincinnati in 1852. He was a man of genius and did more to ad- vance the intellectual life of Cincinnati than any one who had lived there. His family first emigrated to Mayslick, Ky., where they dwelt in a log-cabin. When a lad of 16 he came to Cincinnati to study medicine, and then finished his course at the University of Pennsylvania. He was at one time a medical Professor in the Transylvania University of Kentucky, and at another in that of the Uni- versity of Louisville. In 1835 he organized the medical department of the Cincinnati College. In this city was past most of his life. An eloquent summary of the qualities of this distinguished man was given by Dr. Comegys before a medical convention in Cin- cinnati, wherein he said in conclusion :

"Nothing seemed to escape him for the adornment of the city and the comfort of the people. The line of elm trecs on the south side of Washington Park were planted under his own direction over sixty years ago.

"He was a voluminous writer on profes- sional and general topics, but the work with which he crowned his life's labor was his 'Systematic Treatise on the Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America,' to which he devoted more than twenty years of travel throughout the vast Mississippi Valley. It was, co to speak, 'dug out of the very ele- ments of the continent and society of Amer- ica.' It is a great work of absolutely orig- inal research in medical topography, and will always remain a monument to his fame that has no parallel in the science and liter- ature of medicine.

DR. DANIEL DRAKE.

"Though Drake has long been dead, yet all of his great undertakings remain and are flourishing. The Cincinnati College is the large Law School of the Ohio Valley ; the Medical College of Ohio, now a Medical Department of the University of Cincinnati, was never so prosperous ; the Clinical and Pathological School of the Hospital is attended by four hundred students. It has a large and grow- ing library and museum, and is now under- taking to establish a pathological laboratory for original research. The beautiful elm trees are now as verdant as ever.

"The wonderful activity of Drake's mind, which led him to undertake the most severe professional labors and throw himself besides into every struggle for the advancement of the interest of society, is readily explained when we consider the philosophic spirit which

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animated his mind ; for he was possessed of that gift of genius which sees beyond all the apparent disparity of phenomena ; that severe unity, after which all true philosophy is continually aspiring.

"To him the universe was not a summa- tion of material phenomena conveying sen- suous impressions merely, but a revelation. His was a reverent and devout soul. He felt like Von Barden, who declares that 'he who seeks in nature nature only and not reason ; he who seeks in reason reason only and not God; he who seeks God out of and apart from reason, or reason out of and apart from God, will find neither nature nor reason nor God, but will assuredly lose them all.'

"All the institutions he planted exhibit his

great powers of mina and will always pre serve his memory fresh and venerated in the great Western Valley. In the medical firma- ment bending over the world, reaching from the past and stretching indefinitely away, amidst all the glittering galaxy and burning orbs that represent the immortal dead, the orb of Drake will shine as a star of light for- evermore. "

BENJAMIN DRAKE, a brother of the above, who died in 1841, was the author of several works of value on Cincinnati, Lives of Te. cumseh, Gen. Harrison, etc. Another brother, CHARLES, born in Cincinnati in 1811, repre- sented Missouri in 1867 in the U. S. Senate, and later became Chief Justice of the Court of Claims in Washington."

EARLY INTELLECTUAL LIFE IN CINCINNATI.

As mentioned, no one so stimulated the intellectual life of Cincinnati as Dr. Drake. A great factor was his SOCIAL and LITERARY REUNIONS. And what a galaxy of characters he brought together under his roof! Mr. Mansfield, in his " Personal Memories," has described them, and also "THE COLLEGE OF TEACHERS," from which we quote in an abridged form :

In 1833 my friend and relative, Dr. Daniel Drake, instituted a social and literary reunion at his house, which possessed all the charms of information, wit, and kindness. They were really formed for his daughters, then just growing into womanhood. They were small enough to meet in his parlor and con- versational, thus avoiding the rigidity of a mere literary party. We met at half-past seven, when the Doctor called attention by ringing a little bell, which brought them to the topic of the evening, which might be one appointed beforehand and sometimes then selected. Some evcnings essays were read ; on others nothing. Occasionally a piece of poetry or a story came in to relieve the con- versation. These, however, were interludes rather than parts of the general plan, whose main object was the discussion of interesting questions belonging to society, literature, and religion.

The subjects discussed were always of a suggestive and problematical kind; so that the ideas were fresh, the debates animated, and the utterance of opinion frank and spon- taneous. There, in that little circle of ladies. I have heard many of the questions which have since occupied the public mind, talked over with an ability and fulness of informa- tion which is seldom possessed by larger and more authoritative bodies. These were per- sons of such minds whose influence spreads over a whole country. They were of such character and talent as seldom meet in one place, and who, going out into the world, have signalized their names in the annals of letters, science, and benevolence.

Dr. DANIEL DRAKE was himself the head of the circle and a man of great genius, whose suggestive mind furnished topics for others, and was ever ready to revive a flag- ging conversation. He studied medicine with

Dr. Goforth, the pioneer physician of Cin- cinnati, and for thirty years a leader in medi- cal science and education.

Gen. EDWARD KING, another member, was, in spirit, manners, and education, a su- perior man. He was a son of the eminent statesman and senator from Massachusetts, Rufus King, and father of Rufus King, to- day eminent lawyer of Cincinnati, and author of "Ohio," in the American Commonwealth series of State Histories. Gen. King mar- ried Sarah, a daughter of Gov. Worthington, at Chillicothe, practised law, became speaker of the Ohio legislature and, in 1831, removed to Cincinnati. He was both witty and enter- taining. He died in 1836. His wife, later known as Mrs. SARAH PETER (having eight years later married Mr. Peter, the British Consul at Philadelphia), was a most instruc- tive member of the circle. Mr. Peter died in 1853, and then again, until her decease, Cincinnati was her home.

Her life has recently been published by Robert Clarke & Co., and illustrates the truth of the statement made by Mr. Mans- field, viz., that "The activity, energy, and benevolence of her mind accomplished in the next forty years probably more of real work for the benefit of society than any one person, and that work has made her widely known at home and abroad." Not any Ohio-horn woman has probably done so much.

She was one of the founders of the Cincin- nati Orphan Asylum, which has cared for thousands of orphan children the last fifty years. She was also active in church and Sunday-school work, in improving church music, and relieving the poor. In Philadel- phia she was prominent in founding "The Rosina Home for Magdalens," which still continues its noble work. She devoted a room in her house to a school of design for

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women, and engaged a teacher to conduct it. From this germ sprang the Philadelphia School of Design, which now has over 200 pupils, and an institution of great utility. She also founded an institution there for the protection of poor sewing women.

Her accounts of her several journeys to Europe and the Holy Land are among the best books of travel. When in Europe, Mrs. Peter urged the art-loving people of Cincin- nati to secure good copies of painting and sculpture. In this and other regards she made a broad mark upon its art-history.

"It was in 1852, while visiting Jerusalem, that Mrs. Peter found herself tending toward

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 131

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006