Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 155

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

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I > Part 155

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The Stanton family were from North Car- olina, and originally Quakers. They fell under the influence of the itinerating Meth- odists, and their house became a favorite stopping-place for itinerants. Edwin was of an emotional nature, and, when a lad, was converted and joined them ; eventually he "backslid," but always had a great respect for religion. We went to school together, he nine years younger. He was somewhat lax in getting his lessons, especially in arith- metic, which he disliked, and often came to me for assistance. He was an enterprising lad, and established a circulating library, a nice collection, the only one in town, and it was well patronized. I drew from his library Plutarch's "Lives," Akenside's "Pleasures of the Imagination," Campbell's "Poems," and other old-style books of that day.

Edwin went as a clerk at about the age of thirteen with Mr. James Turnbull, who kept books for sale, and was with him for several years. Mr. Turnbull is now living here at the age of ninety-two, and is the only sur- vivor of the war of 1812 in this region of Ohio. Edwin was reading so constantly that he somewhat neglected his duties as a sales- man ; he was a great reader, and largely self- taught. Turnbull thought highly of him as a boy.

In his early career as a lawyer the people, more especially us old Whigs, regarded him as unscrupulous. The family were Whigs, and he was brought up in that faith, but he

joined the Democrats, they being especially strong in this county. This was under the influence, I believe, of old Ben Tappan. This change we thought was not from polit- ical ambition, but for the legal business the association would bring him. He was a grand talker ; not as logical as some, but his forte was his perfect self-poise and his indomitable bulldog courage and tenacity. Though the heavens fell, he would never let up; it was push through or die. His mind acted as a flash, and he never lost his balance, never flinched at a surprise ; but with a bound would make a forward spring with a point for the emergency sharp as a bayonet ; all his knowledge was always at hand.

On looking at Stanton's war record, the gigantic strength of character he exhibited, the value of his labors, and his absorbing de- votion to his country, which finally broke him down and put him into his grave, I can- not but feel a great respect for his memory. He left the office poor and broken down. When he died, as a reward for his herculean labors and great services to his country, Con- gress voted his widow a year's salary as judge. The friends of Stanton think, and justly think, that Grant in his Memoirs failed to do him justice. He was naturally of a kindly nature, fond of children, and exceedingly generous to his poor relations ; indeed, to ali who had any claim upon him.

I knew THOMAS COLE, the celebrated land- scape painter, well. He was born in Eng land, and was regarded as a bright, intelligent young man. There was quite a colony of English and Germans, who came here to work in the paper-mill and woollen factory, which were established here in the war pe- riod. Among the English were the Cole family ; Dr. Ackerly, afterwards the noted New York surgeon; Wm. Watkins, a wool stapler, who soon returned to England and gained distinction as a miniature painter ; painted a portrait of Queen Victoria on ivory. He had taken lessons from Cole. Then there was old Joe Howells, grandfather of Howells, the novelist. Cole's father had charge of the manufacture of the wall-paper, and Tom 'worked at it, stamping the colors with diagram blocks. Tom came here about 1820 ; did not stay very long, but went to Zanesville and elsewhere, and engaged in painting portraits. His skill displayed in painting scenery for theatres first brought Cole into notice in New York. The paper- mill was established about 1812-1813. It stood on the river-bank, on the site of the present Hartje paper-mill. The paper was all made by hand in the olden style. The pulp was water-soaked in vats, dipped out with sieves, and spread out on blocks on felt,

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in alternate sheets of felt and pulp. The sheets were generally foolseap size. The sheets were then hung up to dry in a large drying-house, with open-air slats. It sold for twenty-five cents a quire of twenty-four sheets, but for a single sheet the price was one eent. A bright boy one day went into Mr. Turnbull's store and said, "I want twenty-four sheets of paper," and he sup- plied him at that rate, whereby the boy saved a cent.

Copperas Works .- About the year 1820 copperas works were established here by Bezaliel Wells, and was for a time a thriving industry. The material was obtained from the coal banks, and manufactured in a rude way by a process of washing, boiling, and crystallizing. The industry, at first lucrative, became overdone, from the abundance of the stock. Copperas is now manufactured dif- ferently ; but for some purposes the old kind is the best. The works were on top of the hill, at the Red House farm, back of the town. Wells' chemist was a North Prus-

sian, by the name of Kolb. He rigged up a huge grindstone for some purpose, but was a better chemist than mechanic ; couldn't make things work ; got mad, and started the grind- stone a rolling down hill ; and it didn't stop until he got it to the bottom. Then he had to pay Christian Bougher a dollar to get it bac ...

Thespian Society .- These Germans and English working-people established a Thes- pian Society, and gave theatrical entertain- ments in an old brick stable for a theatre, and Tom Cole painted the scenery. Kolb was active, and so was another German, Christian Orth, a blue-dyer in the factory. One evening, in the midst of a play wherein a thunder-storm was represented, a vivid flash of lightning lit up the scene, where- upon the audience were convulsed with laugh- ter, by the voice of Kolb from behind the scenes calling out, in his rough German ac- eent, "Now, Orth, hurry up mit yer thun- der !" which, by the way, was produced by rolling cannon balls on the floor.

The photographer is one of our best modern acquisitions. He is generally poor in his purse, but then he is, personally, a rich blessing. We should thank the Lord for him. While our daily bread feeds our bodies, his labors feed the soul ; help preserve memories of the precious now dead or far away. His business got a great start in the war era, when the soldier boys, in marching away, proudly clad in the panoply of Uncle Sam's warriors, largely left their portraits behind, and carried away those of their loves to the camp and the battle-field.

Steubenville rejoices in the possession of one photographer, who has been tak- ing the faces of the people here for thirty years, until he has grown gray in the service. He has lived to picture babes in the arms of parents, whose pictures he had made when they themselves began life's march in the ranks of the light in- fantry. This gentleman lives in rooms adjoining his gallery, and his son and daughter work with him; and there, for a pet, is Pearly, a French poodle, with white curly hair, soft as lamb's wool, who is ever ready to sneeze, " by request." He has an honored pedigree. His name is Davison Filson, a descendant of the Davison Filson whose son, John Filson, a surveyor, was the very man, an hun- dred years ago, who laid out the city of Cincinnati and named it Losantiville.

This John was a pedagogue, and author of a history of Kentucky. One day, shortly after his survey, he set out alone to explore the solitudes of the Miami woods, and that was the last ever known of him. His fate is yet a mystery. It is supposed he was killed by the Indians. One verse of Venable's simple ballad, "John Filson," tells all that anybody knows :

"Deep in the wild and solemn woods, Unknown to white man's track,

John Filson went one autumn day, But never more came back."

The Six Hundred Dead .- Upon the walls of Mr. Filson's gallery, in a large frame, 36 × 30 inches, is a picture consisting of 600 photographs of prominent citizens of the town, all of whom, with but few exceptions, were taken by him, and all of whom are now dead. The sight of this vast concourse of

adults-men and women from early manhood and womanhood to extreme old age, most of them looking upon you as in life-affects one with solemn sensations akin to those which we could imagine if they should collectively rise from their graves and appear as in life. The faces are largely those of mature and thoughtful people, upon whom the cares and duties of human life, with its solemn respon- sibilities, have left their weighty impress. One can but feel awed in their presence, and the mind goes instinctively beyond the por- tals of the grave to the unknown world to which each of that mighty concourse has vanished from sight forever.

Among these are the faces of people whose history is imperishable. The central head is that of EDWIN M. STANTON, the last por- trait of him, taken but a few months before his death. It is a massive head of great power, and the expression of the face is one of sadness and suffering. It shows he was

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worn out with labors and anxieties. In a lower corner is the head of BEZALIEL WELLS, founder of the town, and that of his wife. They are from oil paintings, and are fine faces of marked character. The head of JAMES HUNTER, the first child born on the soil, appears as a very old man with a strong face and long gray locks, combed behind his ears. Near the portrait of Stanton is the beautiful face and head of Colonel GEORGE McCook (see Vol. I., p. 365), as he was in his prime ; also the heads of Major-General DANIEL McCOOK, killed at Peach Tree Or- chard, and General ROBERT L. McCook, murdered by guerillas. On the extreme right is the head of Judge HUMPHREY HOWE LEAVITT, once a citizen of this town, later a citizen of Cincinnati, where, on the bench, in his capacity of District Judge of the United States Supreme Court, he sat on the case of Clement L. Vallandigham. He was long an honored citizen of Cincinnati, and an old neighbor and a personal friend, and it did me good to look upon his kindly, benignant face among the six hundred. He was an old-style gentleman, a Presbyterian in faith, . very modest and quiet, and simple in speech and manner ; had but a few words; was a godly, dignified man. We had marked time together in a company of the Home Guards, called the "Silver Grays"-because all the members were over forty-five years of age- when Cincinnati was threatened by Kirby Smith. I missed his presence when we crossed the river to meet the foe. Like my- self, I suppose, he did not ache to kill any- body.

Here are the heads of Benjamin Tappan, Thomas L. Jewett, Rev. C. C. Beatty, Rev. George Buchanan-who here preached for forty years in the United Presbyterian Church -with numerous other local celebrities. Among these, on his couch of suffering, is the recumbent form of little Bennie Shaw, the only portrait where more than the head and bust are shown. Heads of manly vigor and womanly virtue look down upon you as when among these earthly scenes, and they all preach to you-these six hundred dead. I felt it with inexpressible awe, for only a few hours before, while in an abstracted state of mind, a train of cars was slowly, silently backing through a narrow alley upon me, and I only escaped by the fraction of a sec- ond from being crushed under the remorseless wheels.

From the grave to the gay is the story of life. The sun carries the morning on her wings and night flees at her coming.

An Easy Talker .- As I sat gazing upon the faces of those six hundred dead, im- pressed by their, as I felt, living presence, an old gentleman, large, fleshy, with rotund visage, rosy cheeks and smiling eyes, came in by invitation of Mr. Filson to tell me of the olden time ; and this he did with an ease and deliberation of speech that was charming. With him every sentence, as a printer would say, was wide-spaced, as if with em-quadrats, and every word the exact word for the place

it was put ; and there were no "doublets" nor "outs" anywhere in his speech. This was FRANCIS ASBURY WELLS, son of Beza- liel Wells, who laid out the town. As his name indicates, his parents were Methodists, and so named him after the renowned Bishop Asbury.

"From an old book," said he, "I find it was August 25, 1797, that my father, after laying out the town, sold the first lots. They were 60 X 180 feet, and sold for from $60 to $180 per lot. About the year 1819 the first steamboat was built here, and named from him 'Bezaliel Wells'-the boys called it ' Beelzebub.' It had brick chimneys, and they were built by Ambrose Shaw ; they were not finished when she started on her first trip, which was for Pittsburg. Mr. Shaw finished them between here and Brown's island, seven miles north.

"My father, with others, in 1814 built the first woollen factory, I believe, west of the mountains. I have here [showing it to me] a silver medal presented in 1824 to Wells & Co. by the Franklin Institute of Phila- delphia, as a 'reward of skill and ingenuity.' This was in consequence of their having sent a piece of broadcloth to them on exhibition."

Memento of the Harrison Campaign .- Mr. Wells showed to me a memento of the Har- rison campaign of 1840. It was a brass button, with a plough in front, a log-cabin in the centre, and a barrel of hard cider in one corner. "During that campaign," said he, "I wore a Kentucky jeans suit buttoned with these buttons, and with my brother and others I manufactured a kind called Tippe- canoe jeans-a sort of gray mixed. We sent suits both to General Harrison and Henry Clay."

When Lafayette visited this country, in 1825, he came up the Ohio from Cincinnati, and it was expected would stop here. My father got his woollen factory in order, in- tending to show it to him and give him a big reception here. He was sadly disap- pointed, for, owing to the low stage of water, Lafayette could get no farther than Wheel- ing, twenty-two miles below, and so went by stage to Pittsburg, where father went to see him.

On meeting Lafayette he conversed with him upon the subject of raising wool in Jefferson county, and the trouble they had of raising sheep owing to the depredations of dogs. Lafayette told him that in France they had a breed of shepherd-dogs, very large, of great sagacity, which were used in driving and pro- tecting their flocks. "Old a country as France is, and strange as you may think it," said Lafayette, "our mountains are infested with wolves which commit depredations upon our sheep. I will send you a pair for breed- ing." In due time they came, and were quite prolific. They were a noble species, white with generally golden-hued spots ; re- sembled the English mastiff, and were found extremely useful, but in time run out by mongrel associates.

One of them one day followed my brother

SALMON P. CHASE.

EDWIN M. STANTON.

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Alexander to market when a large, ferocious bull-dog, encouraged by his master, attacked him. The butchers formed a ring around them expecting the bull-dog to conquer. He had seized the shepherd dog by the throat. The skin there was tough, and so loose that the other was enabled to twist his head around and grasp the bull's head, and soon

the bones were heard to crack. The master of the bull then interfered. " No," said the others, "we formed a ring to see fair play ; you set him on and now we will see it out.' And they did. The shepherd-dog had got his spunk up, and they heard the crunching of the bones, and quickly the bull-dog yielded up the ghost.

I conclude these notes with some more reminiscences of the early days of Edwin Stanton, from Mr. John McCracken. Nothing is too small to narrate that illustrates the characteristics of that great man.

I was a schoolmate with the Stanton boys, Edwin and his younger brother, Darwin, and lived opposite. The boys had for pets, which they kept in their house, some black and garter-snakes. They would bring the snakes out, sit on their doorstep and let them crawl over them. I joined them and let them crawl over me. I was then about thirteen, Darwin the same and Edwin sixteen.

The Stanton homestead was on the west side of Third street, between Market and Washington streets. Opposite their house was Isaac Jenkinsou's hotel, the principal hotel of the town. In the rear was a noble grove. There under the trees I have seen General Jackson and Henry Clay take dinner.

I was very intimate with Stanton. A most famous case in which he was engaged was

wherein the firm of Gano, Thomas & Talbot, pork dealers, was sued on a claim involving an immense sum. Stanton travelled all over the country, east and west, for evidence. He argued the case from early morning until evening ; looked fairly black in the face ; was so tired. In the evening the case was given to the jury. I was sitting on the steps when Stanton came out and called to me. He wanted me to walk with him : said his mind was so excited he could not sleep, and I walked the streets until about six in the morning. When the jury came in the verdict was for Stanton. Stanton studied law with D. L. Collier. I remember on the day he was admitted to the bar hearing Collier say he was as capable of practising as he or any other member of the bar. Stanton was a very hard student and very muscular.

STEUBENVILLE, the county-seat of Jefferson, is situated on the right bank of the Ohio river, 68 miles below Pittsburg and 400 miles above Cincin- nati. The average altitude of the city is a little over 700 feet above tide water, surrounded by hills rising several hundred feet higher. The city lies well above the river with a general slope toward it, giving a fine natural drainage. It is 433 miles west of Pittsburg and 150 miles east of Columbus, on the P. C. & St. L. R. R., which crosses the Ohio river at this point. It is also on the C. & P. R. R. The surrounding country abounds in coal and natural gas, with which the city is supplied for manufacturing and other purposes. County Officers :

Auditor, William F. Simeral ; Clerk, Andrew S. Buckingham ; Commissioners, John Underwood, David Simpson, Jacob P. Markle; Coroner, James M. Starr ; Infirmary Directors, Eli Fetrow, Thomas Nixon, Charles Barrett; Probate Judge, Jolın A. Mausfield ; Prosecuting Attorney, Henry Gregg; Recorder, Jacob Hull ; Sheriff, John G. Burns; Surveyor, Samuel Huston ; Treasurer, Hugh S. Coble. City Officers : Henry Opperman, Mayor; James Reynolds, Clerk ; Wm. McD. Miller, Solicitor ; James Beans, Street Commissioner ; Wm. M. Scott, Marshal. Newspapers : Gazette, Democrat, McFadden & Hunter, editors and publishers ; Germania, German Independent, Max Gescheider, editor and publisher ; Herald, Republican, P. B. Coon, editor and publisher ; Sunday Life, Independent, A. W. Beach, editor and publisher ; Ohio Press, Independent Republican, W. R. Allison, editor ; Saturday News, Independent, Frank Stokes, editor and publisher. Churches: 1 Congregational, 1 Methodist Protestant, 1 Christian, 1 American Methodist Episcopal, 2 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Episcopal, 2 Catholic, 1 Baptist, 1 Presbyterian and 2 Lutheran. Banks : Commercial, Sherrard, Mooney & Co. ; Miners & Mechanics, Jno. H. Hawkins, president, J. W. Cookson, cashier ; Steubenville National, R. L. Brownlee, president, Charles Gallagher, cashier ; Union Deposit, Wm. A. Walden, president, Horatio G. Garrett, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- Hartje Brothers, glazed wrapping paper, 25

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hands ; Ohio Valley Clay Co., glass melting pots, 38; Jefferson Iron Works, iron and nails, 540; Pearl Mills, flour and feed, 6; Sumner Glass Co., bottles, 140 ; Gill Brothers & Co., lamp chimneys, cte., 470; Riverside Iron Works, pig-iron, 95 ; James Means & Co., foundry work, etc., 30 ; H. J. Betty & Sons, table glassware, 670; Steubenville Steam Laundry, laundrying, 10; Electric Light and Power Co., electric light, 4; Humphry Glass Co., glass novelties, 30; Steubenville Pottery Co., decorated ware, etc., 175; Cyrus Massie, doors, sash, etc., 9; Caswell & Pearec, furniture, 35; W. L. Sharp & Son, stoves, mantles, etc., 55 ; Robinson, Irwin & Co., machinery, 5; Robert Hyde, doors, sash, etc., 6; L. Anderson & Sons, doors, sash, ete., 15; William McDowell, stairs and stair railings, 4 .- State Report, 1888. l'opulation in 1880, 12,092. School census, 1888, 4,382; Henry N. Mertz, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $2,215,600. Value of annual product, $3,007,000. Census, 1890, 13,363.

BIOGRAPHY.

EDWIN MCMASTERS STANTON was born in Steubenville, December 19, 1814. His boyhood home, of which we give a picture, is yet standing ou Third street. This was not his birthplace. By the records his father bought this house when Edwin was three years old, and moved into it. Through Mrs. Wolcott, a sister now living, we learn he was born on Market street, in a house of which only the rear is now standing. It was in the house shown that when a boy he had a museum of butterflies, bugs and other curiosities he had collected.

His father, a physician, died in Edwin's boyhood. He entered Kenyon College in 1831, but left two years later to study law, and was admitted to the bar in 1836, beginning practice in Cadiz. He returned to Steubenville in 1839, was Supreme Court Reporter in 1842-5, preparing vols. XI., XII. and XIII. of the Ohio Reports. Removed to Pittsburg in 1848, and in 1857 to Washington. He was engaged by the government in many important land cases. December 20, 1860, he was appointed Attorney-General by President Buchanan to fill the unexpired term of Jeremiah S. Black, who had been appointed Secretary of State. He was called to the head of the War Department by President Lincoln on the retire- ment of Simon Cameron, January 15, 1862.

Mr. Stanton was originally a Democrat of the Jackson school, and until Van Buren's defeat in the Baltimore Convention in 1844 took an active part in political affairs in his locality. He favored the Wilmot proviso to exclude slavery from territory acquired by the war with Mexico, and sympathized with the Free Soil movement headed by Martin Van Buren. He was an anti-slavery man, but his opposition to that institution was qualified by his views of the qualifications imposed by the Federal Constitution.

While a member of Mr. Buchanan's Cab- inet he took a firm stand for the Union, and at a Cabinet meeting, when John B. Floyd, then Secretary of War, demanded the with- drawal of the United States from the forts in Charleston harbor, he indignantly declared that the surrender of Fort Sumter would, in his opinion, be a crime equal in atrocity to that of Arnold, and that all who participated should be hung like Andre.

After the assassination of President Lin- coln Secretary Stanton took sides against the new President, Andrew Johnson, in the con- troversy between him and the Republican party. Johnson demanded his resignation, which he refused ; the President then sus- pended him, but he was restored to office by the Senate. The President then informed the Senate that he had removed Secretary Stan- ton, but the Senate denied his authority to

do this, and Stanton refused to surrender the office.

After Mr. Stanton's retirement from office he resumed the practice of law. President Grant appointed him a Justice of the Supreme Court on December 20, 1869, and he was con- firmned by the Senate, but died four days later, worn out by his herculean labors for his coun- try. Of Stanton it has been well said : " He was the GIANT of the great war, who more than any other trampled out the rebellion-that more and more as the ages run will history de- velop this fact." President Lincoln was a politician, statesman and philanthropist, and Gen. Grant was embodied military business, but the mighty public will was concentrated in Stanton, and he brushed aside the failures and pretenders, and the speculators and senti- mentalists, and not only gave Grant, Sher- man and Sheridan, and those who came to

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the front when the deadly work was done, a chance, but thrust into their hands the re- sources of the country, and more than or- ganized victory.

He cared nothing for men, everything for the cause of the Union. That he should have made swarms of enemies was of course inevitable ; as inevitable as that his full merits should be but slowly recognized. For Stanton was a patriot of so firm and indomi- table a character that his purity and single- mindedness belittled and humiliated the crowd of greedy egotists who pushed to the doors of the treasury, and the same qualities . a soul which could afford to disregard the even obscured the greatness of all but the greatest of his contemporaries. When the

names of Lincoln and Grant have been written there is no other that deserves to be linked with that of Stanton. He was a heaven-sent minister, if ever there was one. Carnot, the organizer of battles, was less to France in the crisis of the Revolution than our War Secretary was to the salvation of the Union. So just, so pure, so incorrup- tible, so patriotic was he that it seems almost a work of supererogation to attempt the defence of his memory against the base aspersions of his enemies who "with his darkness durst affront this light." His was spite of men, having taken for its standard from the beginning the judgment of God."

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 155

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