USA > Ohio > Ashtabula County > History of Ashtabula County, Ohio > Part 39
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After having accomplished the work of erecting and inclosing the church edifice, Dr. Cowles set about making preparation to erect for himself, at his own expense, a parsonage,-the present homestead now occupied by his daughter, Miss Martha H. Cowles. As the first settled minister of the town, he received from the Connecticut land company eighty acres of land, and had the use of eighty acres more given by that company for a parsonage lot. He purchased in addition one hundred and sixty acres, making his farm, including the parsonage lot, three hundred and twenty acres. He located his mansion on his own lot, nearly opposite where the new church stood. In the winter of 1813-14 his hired man, Mr. Shepard. whom he brought with him from Connecticut, and his brother-in-law, Mr. Frederick Weed, got out a quantity of saw-logs, which were formed into a raft, on Grand river, and floated down to the " Austin Mills," now known as Mechanicsville, for the purpose of being sawed into lumber for the con- templated new house. The river being high and the current above the dam very rapid, the navigation of the raft got beyond the control of Messrs. Weed and Shepard, and it went over the dam, and Mr. Shepard was drowned. Mr. Weed succeeded in escaping. This sad accident and the loss of the logs delayed
the building of the mansion till the following year, 1815, when it was erected. The plan of that house was drawn in a scientific and architectural manner by Mrs. Cowles, and the convenience of that plan excited the admiration of all who saw the inside of the house. General Simon Perkins, of Warren, copied the plan for his own house, which he built. It was considered to be a wonderfully aristocratic dwelling by the younger portion of the community, who had never been to Connecticut and seen the " big" houses there. It is still, in this age of houses with " modern improvements," a most commodious and convenient resi- dence. That old parsonage has witnessed many cultured gatherings under its roof. Hundreds of ministers of the gospel, including Bishop Chase and others of equal prominence, lecturers, anti-slavery speakers, professors, and students, have enjoyed its hospitalities. Can it be wondered that the association with the educated and refined that were wout to assemble there should have had a beneficial effect in moulding the character of the children of Dr. Cowles ?
Dr. Cowles was naturally of a grave temperament and never was inclined to mirth, but his wife and children could appreciate the humors of life just as well as the rest of the world, and the big kitchen of the old homestead has witnessed many scenes of innocent jollity. As an illustration, we will copy from a letter written by the late Miss Betsey M. Cowles and published in the Ashtabula News, describing the " singing meetings" that were frequently held in Austinburg, and often in the kitchen of the homestead :
" One amusement was considered safe and legitimate, to which no barrier was interposed, and that was 'singing meetings.' These were held first in private houses,-one week at Deacon Mills', at the South Eud, next week at Judge Aus- tin's, at the North End, and the next at the parsonage, at the Centre. Neither floods nor flames, hail, rain, nor snow, light nor darkness, could keep the young folks from these meetings. Benches on which to sit were improvised, huge fires were built on the hearth, with plenty of tallow-candles to hold in the hand, which constituted the preparation for these meetings. To these they came on horseback, on sleds, on foot, a distance of one, two, three, four, and five miles. The hour arrived for the 'opening up,' the chorister would give the order, 'Take your places. Strike your lights. Open to Majesty.' A toot from the ‘ pitch-pipe,' with the order, 'Strike the pitch,' and off the tune goes, the leader in the mean time pacing the floor, with violent gesticulations, swinging both arms at full length, beating time, singing first one part as it falters and then another, like a skillful general skirmishing along the lines, strengthening the weak points. So he runs from one part of the room to another wherever help is needed, and as a result the music fills the high domes of the room. On the different parts of the ' fuguing tunes' was full scope for the exercise of his generalship, as each part was led off by him, he rapidly swinging himself to each as it strikes in ; in short, bearing the entire burden of carrying the whole; and when the tune is sung, commends the performance by saying, ' You have done well ; but we'll try it once more, just to let your voices out a little louder.' Each one had exerted his vocal organs to the utmost, yet cheerfully they try again. An hour or more thus spent, then comes intermission, or 'visiting times,' then another hour of singing, mingled with laughs at the mistakes or witticisms of the leader ; after which all arise and sing ' Pilgrim's Farewell,' and then they are dismissed and homeward bound.
. " In the progress of human affairs a ' singing master' is hired ; he boarding around with the people, they stipulating to give him a certain sum for his ser- vices, and then open the school to all. Among the early masters was, first, Amasa Loomis, a man who sang loud and long. Following him was Deacon Grey, a quaint, gray-haired, little old man, with a nice cultivated ear for music, who greatly improved church music in this and neighboring towns. He introduced the Handel and Haydn collection of music in place of ' fuguing tunes,' and round notes in place of ' patent' or 'buckwheat' notes. On each evening he would announce that a new tune would be ' put out' next week ; hence expecta- tions were on the alert. His schools were closed by a grand ' singing lecture' in the meeting-house, at which time all the new tunes were sung to a large and delighted audience, which had assembled at the usual hour for meeting, or at oue o'clock P.M. As time advanced the name ' singing lecture' was changed to . 'concert.' "
The magnificent voices of four of Dr. Cowles' children must have added greatly to the power of these " singing lectures." The children, who inherited their musical gift from their mother, were Cornelia, soprano; Betsey, alto; Lewis, tenor ; and Martha, soprano. Lysander was a singer, but he did not rank with the sisters and brother I have named. Martha had a marvelously sweet voice, but it was never cultivated like her sisters and brother Lewis. In later years- in 1840-the choir of the church in Austinburg was probably equal to any in the State. It was under the leadership of Squire Lucretius Bissell, a half- brother of Joab Austin. He was a very capable leader indeed, he having studied music as a science. The principal singers of the choir, at the date I have named,
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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
were Squire Bissell and his wife, Misscs Cornelia and Betsey Cowles, and Lewis Cowles. It can be imagined how Dr. Cowles must have enjoyed listening to the music of his children, especially so after the death of his wife, when he reflected that they inherited their voices from their sainted mother.
Dr. Cowles was a most substantial speaker, never flowery, but solid and reason- ing in his efforts. His theological knowledge was of the highest order, and he was a most profound student. When he settled in Austinburg he brought with him from Connecticut his entire library, which at that time, and for many years afterwards, was the largest in the county. When not engaged with his pro- fessional duties he invariably retired to his study for the purpose of reading or writing, or delving into theological or religious lore. His three sermons defend- ing infant baptism, delivered in Bristol in 1802, to which Hon. Tracy Peck referred in his address, were considered masterly efforts, and are the best monu- ments of his talent that remain, and could never have been produced save by a richly-endowed and disciplined mind. His power over the minds of his people can best be shown by the results of the great revivals of religion that occurred at different periods of his ministry, especially the one iu 1799, in Bristol, when over one hundred joined his church,-" a year," which he entered on the church records, " never to be forgotten." The revivals of 1816, in Austinburg, showed the influence of his power as a preacher. His piety was earnest and very deep, which has been fully set forth by Mr. Tracy in his remarks. The Hon. Charles Casc, in his oration delivered at the three-quarter centennial celebration of the settlement of Austinburg, speaking of Dr. Cowles, said,-
" Then again, there was the Rev. Giles H. Cowles. They used to think I was very bad when I was a boy. I know what was said then, and I have never for- gotten it. But I knew that venerable man, and knew how consistent and faith- ful he was in all the long years when he was the settled pastor of the church in Austinburg."
Dr. Cowles was a great friend of the cause of education. Having received a thorough education himself, he appreciated it. In 1825 he, with others, first moved in the matter of establishing the Western Reserve college. The three pres- byteries of the Reserve met at Warren to decide upon the location of the proposed college. The members were as follows : from Grand River presbytery, Rev. Dr. Giles H. Cowles, Harvey Coe, A. Griswold, and Rev. Eliphalet Austin ; presby- tery of Portage, Rev. Joseph Treat, John Steward, J H. Whittlesey, and Lemuel Porter ; Huron presbytery, A. H. Betts, L. B. Sullivan, Hon. Samuel Cowles, and D. Betts. It was found difficult at so early a period to fix upon the most eligible spot. At a second meeting of the board, Hudson, Portage (but now of Summit county) was deeided upon as the most favorable locality. Burton, Euclid, Aurora, and Cleveland were among the most prominent competitors for the loea- tion of this college. The decision being made, the board proceeded to Hudson, selected the site, and drove a stake on College Hill. The trustces were chosen by the presbyteries, and a charter was obtained in 1826.
He assisted in the first work of founding Grand River Institute, and it was at his house where the first meeting of the projectors of that institution of learning was held, and where it received its eharter from the State of Ohio. His name appeared as one of the original ineorporators.
He was a congenial gentleman with all with whom he came in contact, although, as we said before, he was a grave man, and never dealt in trifling remarks. He was charitable to others in regard to their faults. On one occasion he was about starting ou a journey for the purpose of assisting in the ordination of a new ean- didate for the ministry. It happened that this candidate wore a ruffled shirt bosom, and was otherwise quite vain and worldly in his ideas, and withal, con- ceited; so much so, that the good wife of the pastor was somewhat prejudiced against him, and she spoke to her husband, saying, " Mr. Cowles, you are not going to ordain that man, are you ?" He replied, " My dear, the man must be pretty far gone if it won't do to pray for him !"
The mission service required men of great hardihood, firmness of principle, pure love for the cause of their Maker, and willingness to suffer privations for the sake of Him who suffered for us sinners. Such a man was Dr. Cowles. What he did in the cause of religion was not done mercly because he thought it was his duty to do so, but he did it because of his deep love for that eause. Such was the man who was selected by the providenee of God to help give direc- tion to the religious thoughts of the early settlers of Ashtabula County.
Dr. Cowles remained in charge of the church as its pastor till the year of 1830, when he resigned. The following was the text from which he preached his fare- well sermon at the close of his ministry : " God forbid that I should cease to pray for you !" He continued to preach occasionally, however, in neighboring churches. Rev. Henry Cowles, formerly of Colebrook, Connecticut, a graduate of Yale, sue- ceeded Dr. Cowles as the pastor of the church, and remained in charge of it till the winter of 1835-36, when he was dismissed at his own request for the purpose of occupying a professor's chair in Oberlin college, which he filled for many years.
In 1823, Dr. Cowles met with his first affliction by death in his family in the loss of his beloved son, Edward Giles Hooker, who was taken away at the age of twenty-one. He was a young man of more than ordinary business ability ; so much so, that he relieved his father of most of the eare of the farm and his bus- iness matters for several years.
In 1830 the doctor met with his greatest loss,-that of his beloved helpmeet, his beautiful Christian wife, the devoted motlier of his nine children ; she who did so much to smooth the path over which he journeyed through life. She died at a comparatively young age-fifty-six years. The death of this model wife and mother caused a sad vacancy in the household as well as in the social circle of Ashtabula County. She was buried by the side of her mother, Mrs. Abigail White, who had preceded her the year before. Dr. Cowles submitted to the loss of his wife with Christian resignation,-felt that the separation was only temporary, that what was his loss was her gain. For five years after her death, he lived at the homestead with five of his children,-Lysander, Lewis, Martha, Cornelia, and Betsey. In addition it was the privilege of two others of his chil- dren to live near by,-William Elbert, who lived on his farm just a mile from the Centre, and Sally, who was married to Rev. Eliphalet Austin, a son of Judge Austin, and who lived at the North End. The eldest son, Dr. Edwin W. Cowles, was practicing his profession, that of medicine, in Detroit. The affectionate chil- dren vied with each other in ministering to the comfort of their venerable father, Cornelia especially taking it upon herself to watch over his health and guard him against exposure ; but in spite of her affectionate care, he was taken ill in the year of 1835, and after suffering from his disease for four months, which he en- dured with Christian fortitude, he passed away on a beautiful Sunday evening, July 5, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, and the forty-second year of his min- istry. His funeral took place the following Tuesday, in the church he helped to build, and which was crowded to overflowing by a sorrowing people who felt that they had indeed lost a father in the death of their former pastor. The following clergymen assisted in the exercises : Rev. Henry Cowles, the pastor, Rev. Joseph Badger, Rev. Caleb Burbank, Dr. Perry Pratt, Rev. Lucius Foot, the evangelist, and Rev. Mr. Danforth. Rev. Mr. Badger read the introductory hymn. It was intended that he, as a brother pioneer clergyman and co-worker of Dr. Cowles, should have delivered the funeral sermon, but his voiee had become too wcak, and he was obliged to decline the invitation. Rev. Mr. Henry Cowles de- livered the sermon, which was very impressive. The remains were interred by the side of his devoted wife and his affectionate son, in the ceuretery of the church.
Since the departure of Dr. Cowles to the "other side of the river" he has been joined by nearly all his children,-Lysander, in 1857; Edwin, in 1861 ; Lewis, iu 1861; Cornelia, in 1869 ; Sally, in 1872; and Betsey, in 1876. Now only two of that remarkable group of children are left to tell the good deeds of the pioneer pastor,-Martha and William Elbert. They are waiting patiently and willingly to join their father and mother, brothers and sisters.
Mrs. Helen C. Wheeler, of Butler, Missouri, Judge Samuel Cowles, of San Franeisco, Mr. Edwin Cowles, of Cleveland, and Mr. Alfred Cowles, of Chicago, children of Dr. E. W. Cowles; Mrs. Charlotte Austin Seeley, of Austinburg, only living ehild of Mrs. Sally B. Austin ; Mrs. Cornelia C. Fuller, ouly living ehild of Mr. William Elbert Cowles; Messrs. Edward and Lysander and Miss Julia, children of Mr. Lewis D. Cowles, are the grandchildren of Dr. Cowles uow living.
EDWIN COWLES.
Edwin Cowles, editor and printer, born in Austinburg, September 19, 1825. He was the son of Dr. E. W. Cowles, and grandson of the Rev. Dr. G. H. Cowles, both of whom are elsewhere noticed in this publication. He resided with his father during his boyhood days in Cleveland and Detroit, with the exception of a few years he spent in Austinburg. In 1839 he commenced learning the trade of a printer, and served his time mostly with the late Josiah A. Harris, editor of the Cleveland Herald. He finished his education at Grand River Institute, in 1843, where he spent a short period of time. In 1845, at the age of nineteen, in partnership with T. H. Smead, he embarked in the printing business, under the name of Smead & Cowles. In 1853 he dissolved with Mr. Smead and became a member of the firm of Medill, Cowles & Co., publishers of the daily Forest City Democrat, it being the result of the consolidation of the daily True Democrat and daily Forest City, which, as losing ventures, had been published separately by John C. Vaughan and Joseph Medill. In 1854 the name of the paper was changed to The Cleveland Leader. In 1855, Messrs. Medill and Vaughan sold out to Mr. Cowles, and emigrated to Chicago and purchased the Chicago Tribune, of which his brother Alfred became the business manager, leaving him the sole proprietor of the Leader.
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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
During the winter of 1854-55 the movement which led to the formation of the great Republican party was first made in the Leader editorial-room, resulting in the first Republican convention ever called being held in Pittsburgh. The gentlemen who met in the editorial-room for that purpose were Mr. John C. Vanghan, Mr. Joseph Medill, Mr. J. F. Keeler, Hon. R. C. Parsons, Hon. R. P. Spalding, and some others. This movement resulted in the consolidation of the Frec-Soil. Know-Nothing, and Whig parties into one great party, the history of which is so well known.
Mr. Cowles carried on the paper alone until 1866, when he organized the Cleveland Leader Printing Company, in which he retained a large controlling interest. For several years after he was connected with the Leader he acted only as business-manager, and in 1859 he assumed the chief-editorship. From this time he steadily rose to prominence as an editor because of the strength and boldness of his utterances and his progressive and decided views on popular topics, which soon made his journal one of the most powerful in the west. He spoke out defiantly against the arrest and imprisonment in 1859, under the infamous fugitive law, of the Oberlin rescuers, some thirty in number. When the terrible black cloud of secession was looming up to a fearful proportion during the dark days of the winter of 1860-61, Mr. Cowles took a firm position in favor of the government suppressing the heresy of secession with the army and navy if necessary. For doing this he was denounced as being ultra and dangerous by many of the conservative Republican and Democratic papers, who were mnch frightened by the appearance of the political horizon. In 1861 he was appointed postmaster of Cleveland by Mr. Lincoln, and held that office for nearly five years. Under his administration as postmaster he established and perfected the system of free delivery of mail matter by letter-carriers, and, in spite of the opposition of the city press, he succeeded in making the system so ef- fective and popular that the returns of the office to the department showed a larger free delivery than Cincinnati, St. Lonis, Baltimore, and a larger percentage in proportion to population than any other city in the country. The result was the department held up the Cleveland office as a model for all other postmasters to copy after.
In 1861, Mr. Cowles was the first to come ont in print in favor of the nomina- tion by the Republican party of David Tod, a War Democrat, for governor, for the purpose of uniting all the loyal elements in the cause of the Union. The sugges- tion was adopted almost nnanimously by the rest of the loyal press, and Mr. Tod was nominated and clected. That same year, immediately after the battle of Bull Rnn, Mr. Cowles wrote and published editorially an article headed " Now is the time to abolish Slavery !" He took the position that the sonth, being in a state of rebellion against the general government, had forfeited all right to property,- that the government had a right to abolish slavery as it had to capture and destroy rebel property, bnrn towns, etc., as a military necessity, especially so for the purpose of weakening the resources of the Confederacy by liberating in their midst a producing class from which it mainly derived its sinews of war. For taking this advanced position, the Leader was severely denounced by the conser- vative and timid Republican journals, which held it up as a dangerons paper,- that it was aiding the Rebellion by creating dissatisfaction among the War Democrats of the north. One or two of these weak-kneed journals even called on the President to remove its editor from the postmastership as a peace-offering to the south for having had the impudence to donbt the immunity of slaves over all other property from interference by the Federal military authorities. In less than one year after the publication of that article, Mr. Lincoln issued his Eman- cipation proclamation, which embodied precisely the same views.
In 1863, Mr. Cowles suggested in the Leader the name of John Brough, to succeed Governor Tod in the gubernatorial chair. It was after the name of that arch-secessionist, Vallandigham, had been taken np by the copperhead Democ- racy for that office, and at a period during the war previous to the surrender of Vicksburg and the battle of Gettysburg, when the Union armies had met with a series of reverses, and disconragement had commenced its work among the con- servative loyal element. The nomination of Vallandigham, following the elee- tion in 1862, when the Democrats had carried Ohio by a large majority, created great alarm among the friends of the Union for fear that the discouraging military outlook would have its effect towards favoring the peace-at-any-price party. Mr. Brongh, although formerly a life-long Democrat, was a firm Union man under all circumstances, and withal his reputation for great executive ability was widely known, and for these reasons his name was announced as a candidate for nomination for governor by the Leader. It was warmly seconded by the loyal press, and he was nominated and elected by upwards of one hundred thousand majority over Mr. Vallandigham. He, Governor Morton, and Governor Andrews formed that famons trio of great war governors whose names will go down in history side by side with Lincoln, Grant, Stanton, and Clase.
In 1871, Mr. Cowles' attention was called to the great danger that existed from the various railroad crossings in the valley of the Cuyahoga between the heights of the East and West Sides of Cleveland. He thereupon conceived the idea of a high bridge, or viaduct as it is generally called, to span the valley, connecting the hill-top on the west side with that on the east side, thus avoiding going up and down hill and crossing the " valley of death." He wrote an elaborate edito- rial favoring the city building the viaduct. His plan met with a fierce opposi- tion from the other city papers, it being considered by them utopian and un- necessary, but it was submitted to the popular vote. and carried by an immense majority. This great work, costing over two million dollars, will be one of the wonders of Cleveland. In 1876 he was elected a delegate to the National Repub- lican convention at Cincinnati, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for Presi- dent. He was appointed to represent Ohio on the committee on platform, and was the anthor of the seventh plank in that platform, favoring a constitutional amendment forbidding appropriations out of any publie fund for the benefit of any institution under sectarian control. The object of this amendment was two- fold : first, to forever settle the question of dividing the school fund for the ben- efit of the Roman Catholic church; second, to gnard the future from the en- croachments of that church, that is sure to result from its extraordinary increase in numbers. He saw very plainly that at the past ratio of increase the adherents of that church will outnumber the non-Catholics in half a century from now, when they will porsne the same course that they pursued in New York city, where over twelve million dollars had been appropriated for Romish institutions in less than fifteen years, while less than one million had been appropriated to Protestant institutions, although the latter paid nine-tenths of all the taxes. This plank was received by the convention with more vociferous applanse than all the rest of the platform did, and it was the only one that was called out for a second reading.
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