History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 24

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 24
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 24

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" Mr. Ford presented the resignation of the following senators : Messrs. Bar- rett, Carpenter, Crowell, Ford, Foos, Henderson, Perkins, Root, Sill, Staunton, Van Vorhes, Wade (B. F.), and Waddle."

They withdrew, and, on the next day, the speaker issued his warrant to compel their attendance, which was returned with this indorsement :

" Under existing circumstances, I cannot compel the attendance of the mem- bers upon whom I have served the warrant without an application to the gov- ernor to call out the military force.

(Signed)

" GEO. KNAPP,

" Sergeant-at- Arms of the Senate."

Governor Shannon did not call out the military, "existing circumstances" con- tinued to exist, and the members did not return. The Legislature was at an end. Five years later eighteen Democratic senators seceded to prevent the Whigs from passing an apportionment bill for the members of the State Legislature, the ob- noxious feature of which was the division of Hamilton county.

The step by each party was revolutionary, unwarranted, and in each instance was a bad party measure. Mr. Ford, with the other resigning members, was re-elected. The Democracy of that period opposed every form of paper money. David Tod would coin pot-metal for want of gold and silver. The Whigs after-

wards secured the possession of the State, constructed a new system of banking upon secure foundations, created a new scheme of taxation, placed the common schools of the State on an enlightened and liberal basis, and gave to the State the beginning of that prosperity, and the form and structure of policy under which she has continued to prosper, and from which she has never departed. It is no more than just to Mr. Ford, and no injustice to others, to say that Ohio is more indebted to him than to any other one man for the fashioning and adoption of these wise measures. The discussions which they gave rise to contain no abler or more forcible productions than the speeches delivered by him while they were under discussion,-speeches widely read, justly admired, and which largely con- tributed to the success of this policy with the people. In 1844, Mr. Ford was a conspicuous supporter of Henry Clay, of whom he was a life-long admirer.

Mr. Ford had twice been widely named as candidate for governor. At that time the Western Reserve was looked upon as a section, and one which exercised out of proportion to its population an influence in the State ; but it was the Whig strong- hold. In the Whig convention of February, 1848, its claims were admitted, and Seabury Ford was the Whig nominee for governor. That was the fatal year of General Taylor, of the Buffalo convention, the secession of the Whigs of the Reserve, and the formation of the Free-Soil party. It was mainly by the efforts of these men that Mr. Ford was nominated. They controlled the new party so far as to prevent the nomination of the Free-Soil candidate for governor. They knew and trusted General Ford. They could not prevent the insidious, ingenious, and malignant efforts of the Democrats, seconded by the old Liberty men, from harassing the candidate, and greatly compromising his prospects of success. He maintained discreet and dignified silence. He was badgered with questions to know how he should vote at the ensuing Presidential election. He replied, " By ballot." He was taunted with having his mouth padlocked, and teased and tested in a way most trying to an honorable, high-minded man, whose enemies never had to go far or look long for him. Among those brought into notice by the Free-Soil movement, as one of its recognized leaders, was a former law-student of General Ford, who secured strong commendatory letters from Mr. Giddings, Edward Wade, and other acknowledged Free-Soil leaders, published them, and devoted himself personally to secure the election of his preceptor. The election was close. John B. Weller, who offered the resolution of censure upon Mr. Giddings for his Creole resolutions in Congress, was the. Democratic nominee, came on to the Reserve, and delivered his usual bullying speeches, which had a tendency to induce the Free-Soilers to adhere to Ford, to insure Weller's defeat. The majority for Ford was less than a thousand.

On the assembling of the ensuing General Assembly, neither of the old parties had a majority. Their mutual injuries and hatreds were too deep for accommo- dation. There were between them half a score of contested seats in the House. The Democrats broke into the Hall of Representatives at an unusual hour, swore in all their claimants, and organized a House. Anarchy and confusion reigned at the State capital for the five weeks following. On an organization, and at the convention of the two Houses to canvass the vote for governor, a clerical mistake in the returns of Lorain county was discovered, which would elect Weller by nearly three hundred. On the attempt of the Whigs and Free-Soilers to correct this, the Democrats, under the lead of Senator Whitman, broke up the convention in a row, and it was quite three weeks more before the canvass was made and Governor Ford inaugurated.

His inaugural and annual messages are among the clearest and ablest of the Ohio State papers. His discharge of the duties of governor was among the most useful and honorable to the State of all the able men who have filled the position. The old constitution left but a narrow field to the executive. Every part of this was fully improved for the public good.

In 1849, the cholera made its appearance in a malignant form at the State capital, and amid the consternation and flight which ensued, Governor Ford re- mained, and devoted himself with all his individual faculties and executive powers to the arrest of the disease in the city and numerous and crowded public institu- tions of the State. His example and authority were a benefaction in that day of visitation. Indeed, it may be said that the inmates of all the State charities, as well as of the large penitentiary, were, during all the days of his public life, the special objects of his care and providence.

Upon the resignation of Thomas Corwin of his seat in the Senate, to take a place in Fillmore's cabinet, Governor Ford at once tendered it to Thomas Ewing, between whom and himself existed a warm friendship.

Mr. Ford left the office of governor with the reputation of an enlightened, firm, just, humane chief magistrate, as he had before helped to stamp on the legislation of the State the features and characteristics of a wise and sagacious law-giver. He needed rest. It came too late. More than fifteen years, the best possible of his life, of any life, unselfishly, unstintingly, at great personal sacrifice, had he given to the State. He not only needed but had earned repose. His health was more

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Reuten Hitchcock

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

seriously impaired than he or his ever-watchful wife had suspected. Soon after the expiration of his executive duties, in 1851, he was stricken with paralysis, under which he lingered till May 8, 1855, when he passed away.

Harriet Cook, wife of Seabury Ford, a daughter of John Cook, Esq., a man of wealth and position, of Burton, was born in 1807; was reared there with much care. The marriage was a pure love-match. She was scarcely fifteen when the young student went to Yale, but he carried the young maiden's fancy with him, and though in the years of his absence she matured to a tall, slender woman of much beauty and grace, greatly sought after, her maiden ear remained closed till he should come to speak the words he had not hinted, words he was not long in saying on his return. There is extant a pleasant sketch in the handwriting of Seabury, of a famous old-time excursion, of many days and miles, by Sea- bury and Harriet, when he was twenty-three and she seventeen. It was in far-off 1824, his junior vacation. He came home, and was to visit Warren, Austinburg, Harpersfield, and elsewhere, and he invited Harriet to accompany him. Her mother permitted her to go, and each well mounted, with a small portmanteau attached to the saddle, in which were the needed changes and finery, rode away. Think of that! the future first lady of the State, visiting the aristocracy of Warren, with her entire extra wardrobe in a small valise ! It was in the tender, sunny days of early September that these, unattended by maid or matron, gayly dashed off towards Parkman, through the woods of never-pleasant Southington, to Warren, which they reached that night. Miss Cook became the guest of R. P. Spalding, while the young Yale student went to the Perkinses. There they remained two nights, and had two notable parties made for them. Ah me! there was a real aristocracy in Warren in those times, with a lingering touch of the old- school gentility, flavoring and toning up the manners of the young free west. From Warren they rode in a single day to Austinburg, forty miles or more, and became the guests of the Austins. There they remained a week. The eldest of the sons was a great stage proprietor, and one day a four-horse coach bore them to the lake, and then to other resorts. After a week they mounted and turned their horses toward Burton hill, and rode through the awful swamps of Windsor, where the trail was a quaggy wallow of mud, and where the saddle of the young maiden turned, and she only failed of finding the bottom with her hands by springing from the treacherous thing, and lighting on her feet, to be drawn out, readjusted, and remounted, with blush and laughter. They reached home, and the youth went regretfully back to the " humanities" in Yale, and wrote a minute account of the excursion, but said nothing ere he went. It needed not. Though girls were then sought early and earnestly at seventeen, she waited, knowing in her maiden's heart what and whom she might trust and wait for.

She had a loyal admiration as well as true love for her husband. He always remained the one man to look up to and be ambitious for. She reared their chil- dren, kept the home bright and warm in his absence, welcomed him with ardor when he came, and sat at his side, his consort, when chief-magistrate, with just womanly pride. Since his departure she cherishes his memory in the hopeful loyalty of true and Christian widowhood.

Five sons were born to them, William R., July 5, 1829 ; died April 19, 1847, a manly youth.

Samuel M., born December 6, 1831; died March 9, 1835.

Seabury C., born September 6, 1834; now a prominent merchant of Cleveland. George Henry, born March 10, 1842 ; a lawyer by profession, a man of decided ability, who has twice, with great credit, represented his father's old county in the Legislature, and for whom one is inclined to predict a political future.

Robert Neal, born May 7, 1846. A German would predict a prosperous life for him for being born in May. He is a successful banker, associated with George H. at Burton.

The home of the Fords was a model from the first,-the centre of a large circle of intelligent, well-to-do, hearty, rather home-keeping relatives and friends, where were nurtured and kept vigorous all the homely virtues, charities, truths, and wisdoms that characterized the Puritan ancestry, planted and cherished in the warmer and freer climate of the west, to which were added the graces of refined culture. It was impossible for sons to grow up in a better atmosphere. From this home went forth nothing but wholesome and pure examples, gentle and far- reaching charities. It was a usual thing, down to the days of his chief-magis- tracy, for Governor Ford to go three or four miles to " watch" with some unfor- tunate sick man, who found no other help. The helpless here ever found a refuge and the houseless a shelter. After the great bereavement came young daughters, wives of the younger sons, with their new, fresh lives and loves, and the forms and voices of young children, to lighten up and make glad its hearth and sur- roundings.

In person, Seabury Ford was about five feet eight, deep-chested and heavy- shouldered. He had a remarkably well-formed head, brow, and eyes, with a striking, manly face; in manners unaffected and simple, a man of wide and varied

reading, especially in early American history, familiar with all current politics, well versed in the studies of finance and political economy. The characteristics of his mind were clearness and force; rather slow, but with the power to grasp and fix a subject, until its utmost secret and quality were mastered. His mind was logical, and he came to be a capital good speaker. Master of his subject, master of a terse style and nervous language, speaking from intense conviction, without a suspicion of insincerity, he never failed to command attention and respect, and never left a subject without enlightening the minds of his audience. Of warm and ardent temperament, his passions, though ardent, usually lay powerless under his will. A sincere, uncalculating friend, a good deal of a parti- san in politics, he was a most sincere and devout hater; a hater of all things mean, sinister, or indirect ; a hater of all manner of shams, with which he classed the Democracy of his day. With them, it was war, bitter, utter, interminable. He was reared an orthodox Congregationalist, and his religious sentiments par- took of the sincerity of his nature and character, finding expression in life and action rather than profession and creed.

At fifty-one, his death was untimely ; but just at the maturity of his faculties, at a time when he could be most useful, when the State was full of his name, when he had rounded a most complete and honorable career, second to none in value to the public, when he might have looked to higher fields in the broader arena of the nation, he was stricken down, leaving his sons in their unformed characters and lives, and a country which needed his head and hand. It seemed like the economy that shatters a strong, well-fashioned column just as it is com- pleted, leaving a public edifice unsupported that required its strength.

REUBEN HITCHCOCK,

lawyer, born at Burton, Geauga County, Ohio, September 2, A.D. 1806, and now (1878) living at Painesville, Lake County, Ohio, was the son of Peter Hitchcock, hereinbefore noticed, and Nabbie Cook. His parents were married in 1805, and in the following year removed to Burton from Cheshire, Connecticut, where they had both previously lived. He received his preparatory education at the Burton Academy, his preceptor being Rev. David S. Coe; and in the spring of 1823 entered Yale College, having made the journey there from Burton on horseback. In September, 1826, he graduated and returned to his home in Ohio, where, for the next three years, he had charge of the same academy where he had acquired his preparatory education. His spare time was occupied with the study of law in his father's office. In 1831 he was, by the Supreme Court of the State in Geauga County, admitted to practice in the several courts of the State, and at once removed to Painesville, where he commenced practice in part- nership with Stephen Mathews. This association continued but a short time, and after a few years he formed a copartnership with Eli T. Wilder, now of Minne- sota, which continued until the year 1841, when he was appointed by the gov- ernor president judge of the court of common pleas for that district. Having most satisfactorily performed the duties of this appointment, he resumed practice in Painesville with Mr. Wilder, and continued it until 1846, when he removed to Cleveland, and formed a partnership with H. V. Willson and Edward Wade, under the firm-name of Hitchcock, Willson & Wade. This firm ranked among the first in the State. In 1850 he was elected from Cuyahoga county to the con- stitutional convention of the State, and was an influential member of that body. He also there rendered especial service in devising a system for the liquidation of the public debt of the State. In 1851 he returned to Painesville to live, still retaining some business interests in Cleveland, and in the same year was elected judge of the court of common pleas of the district of which Lake County was part. This position he filled with acknowledged ability until Jan- uary, 1855, when he yielded to the solicitation of Governor Tod that he should take an active part in the management of the Cleveland and Mahoning railroad. Resigning his place on the bench, he became vice-president and general legal ad- viser of that company, and continued to devote his time and attention closely to its business until the road was substantially completed. Although this road proved a decided success, the company was much embarrassed during its con- struction, and his position was consequently one of much labor and anxiety. When measurably relieved from active service here, he resumed practice in Cleve- land with James Mason and E. J. Estep, under the style of Hitchcock, Mason & Estep, his time being divided between the railroad company and that firm until 1865, when he retired from general practice, but retained his connection with the railroad company, as director and general adviser. Soon after his admission to the bar he attained a high standing as a lawyer, and his practice extended throughout northern Ohio, and continued thus extensive until his retirement, as aforesaid. His familiarity with the affairs of said railroad, and with railroad management and legislation generally, led to his appointment, in 1869, as receiver

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Un. L. Perkins

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

the public debt, and the board of public works, into whose hands the revenue from that source came, were known defaulters. For years that excellent auditor and patriot, John Brough, had pressed on his party the solemn truth that the State must repudiate unless more property was got on to the duplicate and the board of public works reformed ; but every effort to that purpose had been met with the factious opposition of the Democracy. In the Legislature of 1840-41 the Whigs knew nothing could be done except to get ready and prepare the people for the political revolution which they knew was coming. The banks of the State were wholly insufficient to render it any assistance in paying the interest on its debt, or sufficient currency for the business of the people, and had repeatedly suspended, and it was important that the subject should be got fully before the people. A bill for a systematic State bank was introduced in the House and was carefully discussed, section by section, taking a broad range, embracing the whole subject of banking, largely in the charge of Mr. Perkins, steadily and ably opposed by the Democratic members; and when considered complete a caucus was held, and it was determined that on its third reading one speech only should be made, and that by Mr. Perkins, and should be published. A large amount of statistics and other material had accumulated ; it was near the close of the session, and after one hour's speaking he took unanimous leave to write out and publish his speech at his leisure to save the time of the House. It was very generally published through every part of the State, and had a large influence in the coming change and the final adoption of the " State Bank of Ohio."

In 1843 he was elected to the Senate for the senatorial district of Lake and Ashtabula, and held the position four years, at the close of which, his business demanding his attention, he refused re-election. The State finances had grown worse and worse, so much so that when the interest became due in June, 1843, Wall street refused to loan the money to pay the deficiency on the credit of the State alone, and we were only saved from the disgrace of repudiation by the private suretyship of Alfred Kelly. Full of anxiety for the honor of the State, a committee of influential gentlemen of his constituents waited on Mr. Perkins after his nomination, and demanded a pledge that he would use his influence to prootre an act to reduce the pay of all salaried officers and all fees and compensa- tions for public services in the State. He declined, but added that if they chose to give him their demand in writing, he would answer through the press. On receiving it, he made the following reply in the public papers :

" PAINESVILLE, September 18, 1843.

" GENTLEMEN,-Your favor of the 12th, making of me certain inquiries, I found on my table several days since. In my reply I answer that my views of the duties of a senator are these :

" In the first place he must support the constitution of the United States and of the State of Ohio. This he is sworn to do.

" The next and only remaining duty is truly to represent his constituents, and by every honorable means, to the utmost of his power, carry out their wishes and advance their interests and that of the State. He is not to represent a part of his district, but the whole, and in matters of difference the majority of them. Aside from the constitution, he is to have, as a member, no will or desire except the wishes of his district and the true interests of the whole commonwealth. On these principles I shall always act. Conformable with them, if the people of my district desire the measures which your inquiries indicate, those desires I deem it the duty of their senator closely, honestly, and patriotically to represent. My opinions on the matters embraced in your inquiries the people are entitled to, and I am ready to give them, either in reply to written questions, or in public before the people. Your communication does not ask for my opinions, but rather precludes them. Having reflected deeply on the subject, I feel myself obliged to declare that I can give no pledges. Some of the reasons for this conclusion I will, briefly as I can, proceed to state. Absolute instructions, to be obeyed or followed by resignation, and pledges before election, I consider inconsistent with the purity of elections and subversive of a representative government, the security of which is that it unites the advantage of popular control with the free exercise of the sound judgment and discretion of the representative. He carries with him the wishes of his constituents, which, with fidelity, he is bound to represent. He meets the representatives of the other parts of the State, who also bring the views of their constituents. Before a vote is taken the question is debated ; the wisdom of all parts of the commonwealth is mingled together, in order, from the contemplation of the whole, that the best measures for the common good may be adopted. If all come pledged there is no room for deliberation or consideration, and the State, instead of being one body politic, is a heterogeneous cluster of dis- similarities, cach striving for mastery and undue advantage over the others. I will illustrate the evil of pledges by one out of a thousand examples. At the time of the distribution of the surplus revenue the south part of the State had become factiously deranged on the subject of turnpikes, canals, and railroads at

the public expense. Under the (so called) plunder act part of the State south of the national road was traversed all over, parallel, transverse, and diagonal, with turnpikes and other public works, and northwestern members were disposed to appropriate the national funds to the same purpose. The people of the Western Reserve desired to have them used to reduce the public debt and save taxation. An attempt was made in Geauga County to get up instructions. Had it prevailed, or even had half a dozen of the members from this part of the State been pledged to the latter measure, the southern policy would have prevailed; the surplus revenue would have been appropriated to new improvements, entirely or chiefly south of the Reserve; and our State debt at this time would have been ten mil- lions more than it now is, and every honorable citizen of Ohio would now blush with shame to acknowledge his State among the repudiating ones of the south. Happily, the members from the north were able to get rid of a greater evil by submitting to a lesser. Positive instructions and pledges have always been opposed to Whig principles, both in the United States and in England. In the latter country I may instance Lord Chatham (2 Lieber's ' Political Ethics'), and Burke in his speech before the electors of Bristol, in 1780, Lord Brougham, who is decidedly opposed to pledges as subversive of the cause of liberty, and Mr. McAuly, who has greatly distinguished himself in the cause of reform (2 Lieber, 555). In the United States I may instance every prominent Whig, from Washington (1 Sparks' ' Writings of Washington,' p. 491) to General Har- rison, in his speech at Fort Meigs, who then said in substance that a system of that kind enabled the demagogue, who recklessly promised everything to every- body, to obtain office in preference to the upright citizen, who would not sell himself to so vile a purpose, and that they who were the most profuse in pledges before election were most ready to forfeit them afterwards. The true mode, said the hero, sage, and statesman, is to elect men who you know are faithful and true, and leave them, untrammeled, to carry out the wishes and best interests of the people. If they fail to do it their day of reckoning will come. In the Ohio Legislature, as often as the question has arisen the Whigs have rejected it. Con- sider again. When a member goes to the Legislature pledged, his whole influence is destroyed. Those whom he attempts to influence reply to his arguments, ' These are not your opinions; you are pledged.'

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 24

Author: Williams Brothers Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 443

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443