Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 116

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II > Part 116

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REMINISCENSES .- The above sketch of Achilles Pugh is from a lady friend. His family home was in Waynesville, his business point Cincinnati, where I knew him for many years and greatly valued him for his sound sense, integrity and social spirit. I believe he was married into Quakerdom, and not born into it. No Friends would naturally christen a son "Achilles."

He once said to me it was impossible to realize the trying position of the old- time anti-slavery people. To walk the streets and feel as you passed along that you were hated by many in the throngs you met, looked upon as a sort of moral fire- brand sowing dissension between the North and South, was by no means a com- fortable position for any man ; and the natural effect upon the recipient was to engender in return a bitter, defiant spirit.

To live under the ban of public opinion, even for a righteous cause, requires a strength of moral heroism rarely possessed, so withering is it to the spirits. King David wrote, "In my haste I said all men are liars ; " he might have said with equal pungency, and been in no especial hurry about the saying, " All men are moral cowards."

Mr. Pugh was a high-spirited, sensitive gentleman, and would not tamely submit to a wrong. On an occasion he was harshly at- tacked by a newspaper managed by an asso- eiation of printers for the manner in which he conducted his own office. He brought suit for libel, and was adjudged $500 damages. On being asked why he did not call for the

money, he replied, "I don't want their money. My object was to establish a princi- ple."

This, by a sort of indirect association, re- minded me of an anecdote of John Van Buren, son of Martin Van Buren. They called him "Prince John." He was a bril- liant, waggish young lawyer, with no great

WILLIAM HENRY VENABLE.

THE OLD STYLE WARREN COUNTY SCHOOLHOUSE In "the Forties."

772

WARREN COUNTY.

weight of moral purpose, and when his father was nominated the Freesoil candidate for President in 1848 he took the stump in ad- vocacy of the "old gentleman's" cause. The prince told the people he had now got hold of a moral principle-FREE SOIL ; it was the first time in his life he had got hold of such a thing. It was to him a novel sensa- tion, quite refreshing, and he was going to work that moral principle for all it was worth.

In the sketch of Mr. Pugh is told how he scared two wild Indians of the plains who were threatening his life by taking out his set of false teeth, moving them in both hands slowly toward them, at the same time scowl- ing ferociously. In telling me of the incident he laughingly said, "Soon as I did that they spurred up their ponies, and were out of sight in a twinkling. I suppose they thought the next thing to happen was I would take off my head and throw it at them."

"How came you to think of it ?" I inquired.

" I felt as though something must be done at once. We were in great peril, unarmed, totally defenceless, and from an incident of a few evenings previous it flashed upon me to try my false teeth. We three Friends com- missioners were in a tepee in an Indian village preparing to retire for the night. The place was crowded with squaws and their children gazing in wonder when one of us took out his teeth to clean, whereupon the whole crowd grunted 'ugh ! ugh !' and rushed out panic- stricken."

It is the unknown that especially frightens savages, which has a further illustration in an anecdote told of a party of English circus men in Asia Minor, who, discerning a body of wild Arabs riding down upon them with hos- tile intent, their long spears at charge, com- menced turning summersaults from the backs of their horses, and then looking at them from under and between their legs, when the Arabs turned and fled.

About three miles southwest of Waynesville, near the Little Miami, stood, on April 29, 1836, a small log-house, and on that day joy was under its roof, for there a boy babe was born. The father was a Quaker, an Abolitionist ; had be- gun as a surveyor, then a teacher, and finally a farmer. This new comer was to grow, and finally, when the Quaker father had passed away, to thus write of him as-

"His eye in pity's tears Would often saintly swim ; He did to others as he would' That they should do to him.

" At rural toils, he strove ; In beauty, joy he sought. His solace was in children's words, And wise men's pondered thought."

Of the mother he also wrote, " She was of Scottish descent, a practical, energetic lady, and handsome." Of course she was. To every dutiful lad his mother's face is handsome. Such were the parents of WILLIAM HENRY VENABLE, LL.D., sometimes called the Teacher Poet. He was born early enough to have a part in the Harrison campaign of 1840. His father, an old-time Whig, who had named him, after Gen. Harrison, William Henry, took him to a mass-meeting in a grove near Lebanon, aud introduced him to the general, who patted him on the head, and though but four years old he remembers that interview, for long after that memorable day he wore a Tippecanoe medal with a portrait of Harrison, and on the other side a log-cabin, and the other boys called him "Tip," much to his disgust.

When the Mexican war broke out he was ten years old, and the air was satu- rated with anecdotes of Tom Corwin, and even the small boys of Warren county could feel the force of that great orator's eloquence, and enjoy the ludicrous comi- cality of his grotesque faces. The universal talk caused by Corwin's great speech against the Mexican war infused even the children of that period, for it was, Venable writes, "very violent talk." He says : "I was going to school at Ridgeville, and I remember some of the boys stained their hands and faces blood-red with poke- berry juice, and then cried out, 'If I were a M xican, as I am an American, ! would welcome the American soldiers with bloody hands to hospitable graves. Several of the big boys of the Ridgeville school, Lew Staley, Amos Kelsey anc Joe Githens, enlisted and went to Mexico in 1846. One day some of us 'little shavers' fancied we heard ominous booming sounds of a cannon far away, and having vagne ideas of distances we fancied that a battle was going on at Monterey, and wondered whether Joe Githens would be killed."

773

WARREN COUNTY.

When a lad of but seven, although of very delicate constitution, he was active in body and alert in mind. It was his delight to ramble along "Newman's Run" and the "Big Woods," hunting squirrels, fishing, and gathering wild flowers and May berries ; or in winter, tracking rabbits or sliding over the "Old Swimming Hole." Inheriting from his father a love for books, he soon learned to read. The first that attracted him were those of travel and adventure, as "Robbins' Journal," "Lewis & Clark's Journal " and " Bruce's Travels." Although the school duties were irksome he was a faithful scholar, and " decidedly enjoyed the company of the pretty girls, with one or an- other of whom he was forever in love." Thus early with him began, as some one has called it, "the most wisely ordained, inspir- ing humbug of life."

At the age of seventeen he became a school- teacher to earn money to continue his educa- tion, and began, Nov., 1854, in a little, mis- erable old school-house at Sugar Grove, near Waynesville ; compensation. sixty cents a day. Then for several years he was a teacher and student in Alfred Holbrook's noted Nor- mal Academy at Lebanon. From 1862 to 1886, twenty-four years, he was a professor of natural science in Chickering's famous in- stitute in Cincinnati, and on the death of the latter remained for five additional years its principal and proprietor.

Mr. Venable's educational and literary career began early, and he has achieved a fine repu- tation as a teacher, writer and lecturer. His quick eye for character, his delicious humor and swift imagination, and his dramatic in- stinct of scene and situation make him an interesting story-teller, whether in speaking or in writing, as witness his "Thomas Tad- more," a narrative lecture of the humor and pathos of boy life, with which he has de- lighted hundreds of audiences. A late writer Says of him :

Possessing decided executive ability, he organized in Cincinnati the Society for Politi- cal Education, of which he was the first president. In the winter of 1882-3 he formed and led a model afternoon "School in Popular Science and History," in which fifteen emi- nent lecturers took part, and which was pa- tronized by many ladies and gentlemen. In 1881 Mr. Venable was elected a member of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science. In June, 1886, the Chio University bestowed upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.

Prof. Venable is the author of a "History of the United States," pronounced by The Nation " the best of its class ; " and of two volumes of poems, "June on the Miami," and "Melodies of the Heart." The poem by which he first became generally known, "The Teacher's Dream," has been praised by Longfellow, Holmes, Garfield and other noted men, and is popular with teachers everywhere. It is far surpassed in poetical merit by many of the author's later pieces. A New England critic writes of his recent

volume : "It seems to me I have never yet read a book of verses which satisfied me more, and I am sure I have read from no minor poet on either side of the ocean so many sat- isfactory strains. Such equal strength in love, patriotism, religion and humor is rarely fonnd."

Another says his " Melodies of the Heart " is as a little open chest, "filled with sim- plicity, beauty, melody, purity, pathos and humor, the whole perfumed with love."

Mr. Venable has just issned from the press of Robert Clarke & Co. "Beginning of Lit- erary Culture in the Ohio Valley," a work of singular value and interest.

The "Teacher Poet" is happily married to a woman in every way worthy of him. The marriage was a love-match not without its romance. A very pleasant glimpse of the Venable home at Mount Tusculum is given by the Hon. Coates Kinney, the author of the far-famed lyric, "Rain on the Roof:"

"Mr. Venable has a poet's home and a poet's wife-a talented woman who appreci- ates him and inspires him with her loving admiration. Just east of Cincinnati, on the Little Miami Railroad, there is a picturesque suburb named (by some admirers of Cicero) Tusenlum. Leaving the station, climbing the up-hill street of the town, turning into the wood, passing down through a glen, winding about, and again climbing by stone steps up gentle slopes, across rustic plank bridges, under overhanging trees, and you come to the poet's home-a commodious country house almost on top of the hill. look- ing down over all the landscape of slopes, and glens, and ravines, and woods that you have just come through.

"This is the poet's home ; and a delight- ful home it is, full of love and poetry and children. Venable is, in the city, a man of business and bustle in the daytime, but a dreamer here on the hills at night. An evening with him there in his cozy library, overlooking the brown ravine, is a rest and refreshment not soon to be forgotten."

THE TEACHER'S DREAM.

The weary teacher sat alone While twilight gathered on ; And not a sound was heard around ; The boys and girls were gone.

The weary teacher sat alone, Unnerved and pale was he ; Bowed 'neath a yoke of care, he spoke In sad soliloquy :

" Another round, another round Of labor thrown away, Another chain of toil and pain Dragged through a tedious day.

"Of no avail is constant zeal, Love's sacrifice is loss, The hopes of morn, so golden, turn Each evening into dross.

774

WARREN COUNTY.

" I squander on a barren field My strength, my life, my all ; The seeds I sow will never grow, They perish where they fall."

He sighed, and low upon his hands His aching brow he pressed ; And o'er his frame ere long there came A soothing sense of rest.

And then he lifted up his face, But started back aghast- The room by strange and sudden change Assumed proportions vast.

It seemed a senate hall, and one Addressed a listening throng ; Each burning word all bosoms stirred, Applause rose loud and long.

The 'wildered teacher thought he knew The speaker's voice and look,

"And for his name," said he, "the same Is in my record book."

The stately senate hall dissolved, A church rose in its place, Wherein there stood a man of God, Dispensing words of grace.

And though he heard the solemn voice, And saw the beard of gray,

The teacher's thought was strangely wrought, " My yearning heart to-day

" Wept for this youth, whose wayward will Against persuasion strove, Compelling force, love's last resource, To stablish laws of love."

The church, a phantasm, vanished soon : What saw the teacher then ? In classic gloom of alcoved room An author plied his pen.

"My idlest lad," the teacher said, Filled with a new surprise- "Shall I behold his name enrolled Among the great and wise ?"

The vision of a cottage home The teacher now descried ; A mother's face illumed the place Her influence sanctified.

"A miracle ! a miracle ! This matron well I know Was but a wild and careless child Not half an hour ago.

"And when she to her children speaks Of duty's golden rule,

Her lips repeat, in accents sweet, My words to her at school."

The scene was changed again, and, lo ! The school-house rude and old ; Upon the wall did darkness fall ; The evening air was cold.

"A dream," the sleeper, waking, said, Then paced along the floor, And, whistling low and soft and slow, He locked the school-house door.

And, walking home, his heart was full Of peace and trust and love and praise, And, singing slow and soft and low, He murmured, "After many days."

LET'S SHAKE.

You thought you would take me, you say, by surprise !

You rascal ! I knew you the moment my eyes Lighted on your old back, Bill, I couldn't mistake

Your voice nor your motions. Let's shake !

How are you ?

You are a friend that sticks to his friend, Living or dying, world without end ; Through flood and through fire I'd go for your sake. Give us your hand here, old fellow, Let's shake !

Don't it beat all ? Now why did you wire Me not to expect you, you measureless liar ? Come up to my den, and by jolly, we'll make A night of it talking of old times- Let's shake !

How have you been ? Let me look in your face ; Have you won, have you lost, in life's dusty race ?

Have you knocked the persimmons and taken the cake ? No? Here is my wallet-we'll share it- Let's shake !

Here is my heart-it is truer than gold ; Hotter it grows as the world waxes cold ; Come, tell me your troubles, and let me par- take Your inmost perplexities, William- Let's shake!

Tell me your sorrows, and talk of your joys ; Don't you remember the days we were boys ? What has become of Sam, Tom, Joe and Jake? Shake to their memory, brother, Let's shake!

Say, are you married, or are you in love ? Speak out, for you know we are like hand and glove ;

I used to think you and Belle Esmond would wed.

Yes, yes, as I wrote you, the baby is dead; I thought for a while that my wife's heart must break ; Your hand, dear old comrade-don't mind me, Let's shake !

God bless you ! I'm awfully glad you are here.

775

WARREN COUNTY.

You must not make fun of this womanish tear ;

'Twas only a baby, scarce two Aprils old,

But, Billy, I tell you, they do get a hold Of the heart-strings, these babies, and since ours went,

Why, somehow or other, we're not quite content

With this planet ; but when all the worry and strife

Are over, I hope we may strike a new life Up yonder, where hearts never hunger nor ache,

You'll give me the grip there, old fellow, We'll shake !

WAYNESVILLE is nine miles northeast of Lebanon, on the Little Miami river, and a measured half mile from Corwin Station on the P. C. & St. L. R. R. Newspapers : Miami Gazette, neutral, T. J. Brown, editor and publisher ; News, Republican, Drew Sweet, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Methodist Epis- copal ; 1 Episcopal ; 1 Christian ; 2 Friends' meeting houses. Banks : (T. H. Harris) J. J. Mosher, cashier ; Waynesville National, S. S. Haines, president ; W. H. Allen, cashier. Population, 1880, 793. School census, 1888, 237. Wm. M. Harford, school superintendent.

Waynesville was laid out in February, 1796, by Samuel Highway, an emi- grant from England, and Dr. Evan Banes. More than a year later Highway hired two wagons, a guide and three or four woodmen to cut a road from Colum- bia to the projected town, there to make the first settlement. The wagons were three or four days on the journey, arriving at the site of the new town March 8, 1797. Francis Baily, a young Englishman, was with the party, and gives an interesting account of the founding of Waynesville in his "Journal of a Tour in the Unsettled Parts of North America in 1796 and 1797." While the sound of the axe was heard felling the trees for the first residences, Baily and Dr. Banes went hunting and killed one bear and two or three deer, and saw a great number of wild turkeys. Francis Baily later became a celebrated astronomer, and Presi- dent of the " Royal Astronomical Society."

Rev. James Smith visited Waynesville October 11, 1797, and found fourteen families settled there. He says : " We lodged with a Mr. Highway, an emigrant from England, who with a number of his country people suffered inconceivable hardships in getting to this country. It was curious to see their elegant furniture and silver plate glittering in a small, smoky cabin." A large number of the early settlers in this vicinity were Friends.

MORROW is ten miles southeast of Lebanon, on the Little Miami river, at the junction of the Little Miami and the C. & M. V. divisions of the P. C. & St. L. R. R.

Morrow was laid out by Wm. H. Clement and others when the Little Miami R. R. was completed to the mouth of Todd's Fork in 1844, and was named in honor of Gov. Morrow, then president of the railroad.

Churches : 1 Catholic; 1 Methodist ; 1 Presbyterian. Bank : Morrow (A. N. & Theo. Couden), E. C. Dunham, cashier. Population, 1880, 946. School census, 1888, 385 ; O. W. Martin, superintendent schools.

HARVEYSBURG is twelve miles northeast of Lebanon. It was laid out by William Harvey in 1828. Near the town are " the fifty springs" of mineral waters.

Churches : 1 United Brethren ; 1 Methodist Episcopal ; 1 Colored Methodist Episcopal ; 1 Baptist ; 1 Orthodox Friends ; 1 Hicksite Friends. Population, 1880, 539. School census, 1888, 196.

SPRINGBORO is eight miles north of Lebanon. Population, 1880, 553. School census, 1888, 188.

Springboro was laid out by Jonathan Wright in 1815, and took its name from one of the finest springs in the State, the water of which has been utilized iu running a flouriug-mill and woollen factory.

RIDGEVILLE was laid out in 1815 by Fergus McLean, father of Justice John McLean, and is situated on one of the most elevated ridges on the line of the L. & N. R. R., in the north part of the county.

776

WARREN COUNTY.

BUTLERVILLE was laid out by Abram B. Butler in 1838.

MURDOCH was named from the distinguished actor and reader, who resided there about twenty-five years. It is on the line of the L. M. R. R., in the southeast corner of the county.

MASON is eight miles southwest of Lebanon, on the C. L. & N. R. R. Popu- lation, 1880, 431. School census, 1888, 178. It was laid out in 1815 by Major William Mason, and first called Palmyra.

MAINEVILLE is nine miles south of Lebanon. Population, 1880, 324. School census, 1888, 132. It was first called Yankeetown, being founded by emigrants from Maine, the first of whom, Dr. John Cottle, came in 1818.

FOSTER'S CROSSINGS is ten miles southeast of Lebanon, on the L. M. R. R., and long famous as a point for the raising of sweet potatoes of a superior qual- ity ; and

KINGS MILLS, near it, also on the railroad and river, where gunpowder is largely manufactured.

777

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

WASHINGTON.

WASHINGTON COUNTY was formed July 26, 1788, by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, being the FIRST COUNTY formed within the limits of Ohio.

The surface is generally hilly and broken, excepting the broad strips of alluvial land on the Ohio and Muskingum. In the middle and western part are extensive tracts of fertile land. The uplands near the large streams are commonly broken, but well adapted to pasturage. The principal products are corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, dairy produce, fruit and wool.

Its original boundaries were as follows : "Beginning on the bank of the Ohio river, where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie; thence along the southern shore of said lake to the mouth of Cuyahoga river ; thence up the said river to the portage between it and the Tusca- rawas branch of the Muskingum ; thence down that branch to the forks, at the cross- ing place above Fort Laurens ; thence with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage on that branch of the Big Miami on which the fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawnese town to Sandusky ; thence south to the Scioto river, and thence with that river to the mouth, and thence up the Ohio river to the place of beginning." This area comprised more than the eastern half of the now State of Ohio.

Area about 650 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 106,805; in pasture, 137,758 ; woodland, 81,026 ; lying waste, 10,562; produced in wheat, 322,846 bushels; rye, 3,415; buckwheat, 643; oats, 216,603; corn, 564,769; broom-corn, 8,475 lbs. brush ; meadow hay, 19,776 tons; clover hay, 3,599; potatoes, 120,664 bushels; tobacco, 314,475 lbs .; butter, 681,224 ; cheese, 4,815 ; sorghum, 14,032 gallons; maple sugar, 1,043 lbs .; honey, 6,837 ; eggs, 916,793 dozen ; grapes, 22,040 lbs. ; wine, 882 gallons ; sweet potatoes, 26,439 bushels ; apples, 9,726 ; peaches, 3,946 ; pears, 926 ; wool, 445,771 lbs. ; milch cows owned, 7,825. Ohio Mining Statistics, 1888 : Coal, 2,432 tons, employ- ing 15 miners. School census, 1888, 14,140 ; teachers, 394. Miles of railroad track, 88.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

Adams,

791

1,856

Ludlow,

539

1,375

Aurelius,

886

999

Marietta,

2,689

8,830

Barlow,

880

1,200

Muskingum,

Belpre,

1,296

2,636

Newport,

1,678

2,548

Decatur,

439

1,504

Palmer,

591

Dunham,

900

Roxbury,

1,225

Fairfield,

731

Salem,

881

1,638

Fearing,

1,019

1,275

Union,

888

Grand View,

514

2,663

Warren,

931

1,903

Independence,

335

1,792

Waterford,

1,166

2,128

Jolly,

582

Watertown,

1,128

1,894

Lawrence,

571

2,335

Wesley,

991

1,482

Liberty,

515

1,614

Population of Washington in 1820 was 10,425 ; 1830, 11,731 ; 1840, 20,694 ; 1860, 36,268 ; 1880, 43,244: of whom 35,103 were born in Ohio; 1,549, Pennsylvania ; 1,115, Virginia ; 319, New York ; 100, Indiana ; 75, Kentucky ; 2,002, German Empire; 515, Ireland ; 216, England and Wales; 177, Scot- land; 36 British America; 31, France; and 5, Norway and Sweden. Census, 1890, 42,380.

778

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

This county was the first settled in Ohio and under the auspices of the New England Ohio Company. Its earliest settlers were from New England, the descendants of whom constitute the largest part of its present population.

THE ERECTION OF FORT HARMAR.

In the autumn of 1785 a detachment of United States troops, under the com- mand of Maj. John Doughty, commenced the erection, and the next year com- pleted Fort Harmar, on the right bank of the Muskingum, at its junction with the Ohio. It was named in honor of Col. Josiah Harmar, to whose regiment Maj. Donghty was attached. It was the first military post erected by Americans within the limits of Ohio, excepting Fort Laurens, built in 1778, near the

FORT HARMAR.

present Bolivar, Tuscarawas county. The outlines of the fort formed a regular pentagon, embracing within the area about three-quarters of an acre. Its walls were formed of large horizontal timbers, and the bastions of large upright timbers, of about fourteen feet in height, fastened to each other by strips of timber tree-nailed into each picket. In its rear Maj. Donghty laid ont fine gardens. It continued to be occupied by United States troops until September, 1790, when they were ordered to Cincinnati. A company under Captain Haskell continued to make the fort their head-quarters during the Indian war, sending out oc- casionally small detachments to assist the colonists at Marietta, Belpre and Waterford, in guarding their garrisons against the Indians. The barracks and houses not needed for the accommodation of the troops were occupied by the inhabitants living at Marietta, on the opposite side of the Muskingum.

In the autumn of 1787 the directors of the Ohio Company organized in New England, preparatory to a settlement. Upon the 23d of November they made arrangements for a party of 47 men to set forward under the superintendence of Gen. Rufus Putnam ; and not long after, in the course of the winter, they started on their toilsome journey. Some of these, as well as most of those who followed them to the. colony, had served in the war of the revolution, either as officers or soldiers, being men who had spent the prime of their lives in the struggle for liberty.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 116

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 916

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916