USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 6
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In 1824, Henry Clay received three hundred and forty-six votes, Andrew Jackson, two hundred and forty-five votes, and John Quincy Adams, fifteen votes for President of the United States, in the thinly settled county of Guern- sey.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1840.
The campaign of 1840 was the first in which the two opposing parties were united in their choice of partisan candidates. This campaign will be handed down as the traditional one in the political history of this nation. The first Whig national convention at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was held in December, 1839. Before this convention were presented as candidates Gen. William Henry Harrison, Gen. Winfield Scott and Hon. Henry Clay. After a session of three days, General Harrison was chosen as the candidate. Gen- eral Scott and Henry Clay pledged themselves to give earnest support to the candidates nominated. This great uprising of the people at once began to shape the course of events that were to give to the country a campaign un- equaled for monster meetings, doggerel verse and carnival pomp. Webster said in his great speech before the convention, "Every breeze says change." The Democrats charged Harrison with having been born in a log cabin, living on corn bread and hard cider, and being an "old granny." The Whigs made use of all these charges to stir up the people. Harrison became the log-cabin candidate and the cider-barrel, the coon skin and the cabin door latch-string and cabins adorned every procession, and the songs of "Tippecanoe and Tyler
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Too" were heard throughout the length and breadth of the land. The great ball rolled on, getting bigger and bigger, with the chorus:
" "Tis the ball a rolling on, For Tippecanoe and Tyler too, With them we'll beat little Van."
The Whig central committee stirred up the woods of old Guernsey as never before nor since, making the great mass meeting at Cambridge on the 12th of September, 1840, the largest ever gathered by any party, taking into consideration the country population at that time. They came from east and west, north and south, and returned to their homes singing :
"What has caused this great commotion, Motion, motion, our country through ? It is the ball a rolling on, for Tippecanoe and Tyler too."
We copy from the Guernsey Times, of January 4, 1840, the following as a part of the proceedings, issued under a call of the central committee, for the organization of a county "Tippecanoe club." The meeting was organized by calling Naphtali Luccock to the chair, and appointing Richard Hatton and Lambert Thomas secretaries. This meeting was held on the first day of January, 1840, at which delegates were appointed to the Whig convention, to be held in Columbus, Ohio, February 22, 1840.
Naphtali Luccock, who is second on the list of the Whig central com- mittee of 1840, was born in England, and received an education at Cambridge College, and was apprenticed to John Blacket, grocer and iron monger, Cheap- side, London. After serving out his apprenticeship he emigrated to America in 1821, stopping for a time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the commission business. In 1824 he joined the moving tide that was pressing out into the new west, and settled in Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, and later at Coshocton and Plainfield, where he opened a general country store. In 1830 he removed to Liberty, Guernsey county, where he continued as a country merchant and farmer until he turned his large business over to his two sons, Thomas S. and Samuel W., in 1860. Naphtali Luccock was a typical Englishman, of good family, and had rubbed against the squalor and slum in Cheapside and other marts of the city of London, so that as a natural- ized citizen of this republic, he was active in all that tended to advance the people in morals, religion and politics. During his long business life at Lib- erty, he stood before the public as a model business man, honored and re-
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spected by all. He was twelve years a justice of the peace, and the first post- master at Kimbolton. When the office was established, Liberty was proposed as the name for the postoffice, but the department ordered that another name be chosen, there being at the time too many Libertys in Ohio. Mr. Luccock gave it the name of Kimbolton, after his ancestral home in Huntingdonshire, England. He took a first and active part in the formation of the Methodist Episcopal church at Liberty, which was an off-shoot from the Cambridge church, through the labors of Christian Wyrick and Hamilton Robb, local preachers. Naphtali Luccock was the first class leader and continued a leading member throughout his life. Two of his grandsons are preachers of the Methodist Episcopal church and one a preacher of the Presbyterian church, and his son, Hon. T. S. Luccock, is a retired minister of the Methodist Epis- copal church. In the family there is a copy of Fox's "Book of Martyrs," handed down from 1537. This is evidence of their religious training.
Naphtali Luccock was the Whig candidate for representative in 1849 and was defeated by Matthew Gaston, Democrat. This was the year of the new county craze which passed over Ohio, defacing the heretofore county bound- aries that were made with some little regard to symmetry and parallel lines. into the present zig-zags of many counties; notably among these are Guern- sey, Monroe, Morgan and Washington, sliced up and sawed up to form that monstrosity of a county that was to be called Noble. In this craze, Guernsey was to be fleeced on every side, and every little town, north, south, east and west, wanted to be the county seat of a new county. There was Cumberland county on the east, with Fairview as the county seat. On the strength of this new county, a paper was started at Fairview by the late John Morton, Esq. On the south, Hon. Isaac Parrish wanted Orange, with Sharon as the county seat. On the west, New Concord was to be the county seat of a new county, and Bloomfield and Otsego vied with each other as to which should unfurl the flag of shirehood. On the north, old Senator William Scott wanted a county of Chester. And "On, Stanley, on! Charge, Chester, charge!" went this battle of new counties. This was the time of "roorbacks." "Look out for roorbacks!" was the cry in every paper. Charges were made in one sec- tion, and counter-charges in another, but there seemed to be nothing at issue except new counties. Mr. Luccock, too honest to be an intriguer, making no pledges to either quarter, was defeated. The county at that time was very close. Another question came into this campaign that had its effect in the defeat of Mr. Luccock, the slavery question. The Sheppard family, with which Mr. Luccock was connected as a relative, had removed from England to South Carolina, and became the owners of slaves. Upon this question he
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was known as a very conservative man. In 1848, General Taylor, in his celebrated Captain Allison letter, had said: "I am a Whig, but not an ultra Whig!" So Mr. Luccock was a conservative Whig, and had at one time ex- pressed himself, that if he were in the South, he would be the owner of slaves. This, no doubt, came from the relationship existing between himself and the Sheppard family in South Carolina, and was drawn, perhaps, from their paint- ing the beauties of slavery.
This came to the ear of John B. Mitchell, of Liberty township, then a leading free-soiler and a man of veracity, who published the statement over his own signature, and the Free-soilers and Democrats used it with great effect against Mr. Luccock, who would not or did not deny the statement. Tom Corwin had but a few years before made the mistake of his life, when he said, "Were I a Mexican," etc. So this, from a Northern standpoint, was a mis- take. But who among us can say that if born and reared under the influences of slavery, that we would not have been its zealous advocates? Naphtali Luccock died in 1868.
ORIGIN OF TERM "HARD CIDER AND LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN."
In 1840, the Baltimore Republican, a prominent Van Buren paper, speak- ing sneeringly of Gen. William Henry Harrison, said: "Give him a barrel of hard cider, and settle a pension of two thousand a year, and our word for it, he will sit the remainder of his days contented in a log cabin." Hence has come the much-used and well-known term "Log Cabin and Hard Cider Cam- paign of 1840."
NOTES ON THE CAMPAIGN OF 1844.
The following, written by the author in 1894, in the Jeffersonian, is con- sidered good history in this connection :
After the result of the election in 1844 was known to be Democratic in the election of James K. Polk, President, the Democratic leaders in Cambridge fixed a day for a general demonstration of joy over the victory of Polk and Dallas. The headquarters were still at the United States Hotel, kept by John A. Scott. There were at that time an old six-pound cannon, that had been used during the militia muster days by an artillery company at Cambridge. This cannon was common property, and was used on public occasions of re- joicing by the citizens. At a jollification by the Democrats in 1842, over the election of Wilson Shannon as governor, some Whig succeeded during the excitement in spiking the cannon, which stopped that part of the program.
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This spike, a rat-tail file, was afterward drilled out by A. W. Beatty, Esq., who claimed that a war with England was in the air, and that the cannon must be made ready for the defense of our frontier from northern invasion. At the demonstration in 1844, the cannon had been kept under guard for several days by the Democrats, for fear the Whigs would play the 1842 game again. It was hauled into the field, now Gaston addition, and unlimbered and made ready for use. Its boom, reverberating up and down Wills creek, announced the Democratic victory. As the firing went on, the enthusiastic cannoneer became more jubilant, and kept increasing the charges as the num- ber of Democratic states were one by one counted in the victor's boom. When it came the time to give the boom for Tennessee, the home of the President- elect, the cannoneer put in an extra heavy charge, ramming it down well with wads of dog fennel. Just before the match was to be applied, a cry of "fight" was heard, and the crowd hurried to the fight, leaving the cannoneer in charge. The match was applied, and the old cannon gave its last boom. The frag- ments of the cannon and carriage filled the air, flying in every direction. Alvin Maxfield, the cannoneer, reaching over one of the wheels to apply the torch, was unhurt, although the wheels were torn to splinters and the tire thrown hundreds of feet away. The fight drew the crowd away from the cannon, and no doubt saved many from being killed or wounded. The fight was not a political one, although the parties were a Whig and a Democrat. Walter Carr and John Clark were the belligerents. Carr was a shoemaker, and Clark charged him with taking some of his leather he had left at his shop. The fight was one of advance and retreat, chasing each other up and down the alley, consuming a good deal of time and creating a good deal of fun for the onlookers, but there was no blood drawn, or blows struck, except beating the air. It was a war of words and feints.
OLD-TIME FLAG POLES.
The author published in the Cambridge Times in 1896, the following concerning early flag-poles in this county, and the same will be here repro- duced :
The first political flag pole raised within the memory of the writer was in 1838 by the Democratic party. From the top of this pole floated to the breeze a banner inscribed, "Wilson Shannon and Bank Reform." This pole was a hickory, and the top branches were left on it. It was perhaps fifty or sixty feet high. It was located in the public square, east of the present Shaffner block. The pole raising was fixed for Saturday, and a general call
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was issued for the Democrats of the county to be present and give a lift for Democracy and "sound money." After the pole was raised the crowd was addressed by the Hon. Isaac Parrish, candidate for Congress, and Doctor Drake, an Irish stump orator from Zanesville, Ohio. He was known as the progressive Democrat, as one of his chosen sentences in all his speeches was, "Democracy is Progressin'." Somebody had attempted to paint on the flag an eagle in flight. The Whigs pronounced it a turkey buzzard, the carrion bird, fit to represent the rottenness of Wilson Shannon and "Bank Reform." These were the days of bitter political battles, and neither party was very choice in words. When the Democrats of Cambridge arose on Sunday morn- ing. expecting to see their proud banner of reform floating on the quiet zephyrs of the day of rest, their dismay was unbounded when they beheld their pole bored down, and their banner trailing against the side of the Shaffner house opposite. Some Whigs in stealth and darkness, beyond the "wee sma' hours ayont the twath," had laid low the buzzard and reform.
The next pole raising was by the Whigs in 1840. A large poplar pole, more than one hundred feet high, was prepared, and a call issued for the Whigs of the county to assemble at Cambridge, Ohio, on the day fixed, to give a "lift at the Tippecanoe pole raising." The place selected was in front of the old court house. The hole in which the pole was to be planted was dug the night before by Alfred H. Tingle, father of Alfred H., the Mckinley Club chairman of Cambridge. This hole was guarded through the night for fear some Democrats would fill it up, and the pole was under like guard for fear the Democrats would cut it up. When morning came, load after load of Whigs came in, singing the old rally song of the 22d of February .con- vention :
"We marched through the streets of Columbus, And bravely we trod the mud through, But none of us cared for the weather, True soldiers of Tippecanoe."
At the appointed hour the pole began to rise. A block and tackle was made secure to a strong beam across the north door, and another was secured to the south door, to carry the rope when the latter was properly adjusted to the pole, the slack being to the south. At the word of command, given by Gen. James M. Bell, the hundreds of stalwart Whigs, arranged two and two along the rope, moved toward the south, and with the aid of pike poles, forks and guy ropes, the pole soon stood erect. With pulleys and cord, the banner, with the names of Harrison and Tyler, was soon flapping to the breeze, and
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above all, from a long streamer made out of American silk, floated, "Protec- tion to American Manufacturers." Speeches were made by General Bell, Major Evans, Samuel and John Lindsey, William Lindsey, Sr., Moses Sar- chet, Colonel Lofland, Matthew Thompson, and others sang :
"What has caused this great commotion,
Motion our country through? Is it the ball a rolling on For Tippecanoe and Tyler too? And with them we'll beat little Van, Van, Van, is a used up man."
John Lindsey had charge of the flag, and on nice days the flag was flung to the breeze. And when September came, and Vermont voted, the banner went up. When "Maine went h-1 bent for Governor Kent," the banner went up. But there came a time before the November election when the banner didn't go up. Some Democrats, in retaliation on the Whigs of 1838, cut the flag rope and stole it away. And "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" went up no more. But Harrison and protection triumphed at the election just the same.
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD.
The political complexion in Guernsey during the Civil war period is best told by the following Republican majorities :
In 1862, the state ticket of this party was carried by 156 majority; in 1863, by 597; in 1864, by 706; in 1865, by 650, and in 1866, by a majority of 790.
In 1859, the vote on governor in Guernsey county stood: Rufus P. Ranney (Democratic candidate), 1,663; William Dennison (Republican), 2,103 ; total, 3.766.
In 1861, David Tod (Republican) was the recipient of 2,262 votes as against Hugh J. Jewett, 1,968.
In 1863, C. L. Vallandigham (Democratic) was the defeated in this county by more than one thousand votes, John Brough being the Republican nominee. In 1865, Jacob D. Cox (Republican) received 2,503 votes, as against George W. Morgan (Democratic nominee for governor), 1,853.
In 1867, Allen G. Thurman (Democrat) received 2,052 votes, while Rutherford Hayes (Republican) received 2,549 votes.
In 1868, U. S. Grant received 2.743 votes as against 1,949 for Horatio Seymour for President, Grant being elected.
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GUERNSEY COUNTY, OHIO.
A VISIT TO M'KINLEY.
The following is extracted from the Cambridge Times of August 6, 1896:
Friday, July 31, 1896, was the day set by the Grand Army of the Repub- lic post of Cambridge to pay a visit to ex-Governor Mckinley at his home in Canton. The day dawned bright and clear, and about two hundred and twenty-five ladies and gentlemen boarded the train, and others joined them throughout the county. The visitors were met at the depot by a reception committee, a squad of Canton troops, members of George D. Harter and Can- ton Posts, and the Mckinley Drum Corps, and were escorted to the McKin- ley home. After well-rendered selections by the United Order of American Musicians, Band of Cambridge, H. S. Moses, commander of George D. Har- ter Post of Canton, introduced Col. J. D. Taylor to Major Mckinley as the spokesman for the delegation.
After an appropriate and stirring speech by Colonel Taylor, Rev. W. H. McFarland, chaplain of the Ninety-seventh Regiment Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, spoke briefly. There was vociferous and hearty cheering as Mr. Mc- Kinley rose and spoke as follows :
"Col. Taylor, Doctor McFarland, My Comrades and Fellow Citizens : It gives me great gratification to receive this call from my old friends and neighbors and fellow citizens of Guernsey county. I have made many visits to your county in years gone by, and know most of you personally. I know something of the quality of your population. I know something of the spirit of your people. I know something of your loyalty and devotion to the Union in war, and I know much of your loyalty and devotion to patriotism and good government in peace [cheers] and knowing you as well as I do know you, I am certain that neither flood nor fire would stop you from doing what you proposed to do. [Laughter and applause.]
"I am glad to meet the representatives of labor who are assembled here this morning. I congratulate them upon the advance that has been made in the tin-plate industry, to which Colonel Taylor has referred. I am glad to know that Republican legislation gave to this country an industry that gives work and wages to American workingmen, and brings happiness to American homes. [Great cheers and applause.]
"I am glad, my fellow-citizens, to meet my old comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic [applause], my comrades of thirty-five years ago, for the war commenced thirty-five years ago, and it is nearly thirty-two years since its close. It seems not so long, nor so far away, but as I look into the
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faces of the old soldiers before me today, I see that age is stamping its lines of care upon them. Their step is no longer as firm and as steady as it was thirty-five years ago, but their hearts are just as loyal to the old flag of the Union. [Tremendous cheering.] And they are just as loyal to national honor today, as they were loyal to national unity then. [Applause.] When the war closed, there were two great debts resting upon this government. One was the debt due to the men who had loaned the government money with which to carry on its military operations. The other debt was due to the men who had willingly offered their lives for the preservation of the American union. [Cheers.] The old soldiers waited on their pensions until this great debt of the government was well out of the way. They waited patiently until the government of the United States had reduced nearly two-thirds of that great money debt. The old soldiers were never in favor of repudiating that debt. [Applause.] They wanted every dollar of the debt paid in the best coin known to the commercial world [great applause] and every dollar of that debt up to this hour has been paid in gold or its equivalent, the best recog- nized money in the world [cheers], and every dollar of that debt, my com- rades, yet to be paid, will be paid in the same unquestioned coin. [Tremen- dous cheering.] Most of that debt is out of the way. The great debt of this government now is to the surviving soldiers of the republic. [Applause.] There are nine hundred and seventy thousand pensioners on the honored pen- sion roll of this government today, and the government pays out of its public treasury in pensions over one hundred and forty million dollars every year to the soldiers and sailors, their widows and their orphans. Every dollar of that debt must be paid in the best currency and coin of the world. [Great cheers, and cries of "The Republican party will see to that."] There is nobody more interested in maintaining a sound and stable currency than the old soldiers of the Republic [applause, and cries of "You are right, Major"], their widows and their orphans. Your old commander, General Grant [applause], whose memory is cherished by all of you, performed two great and conspicuous acts while President of the United States, one vetoing the inflation bill, that would have cast us upon a sea of depreciated currency, and the other was the sign- ing of the act for the resumption of specie payments that placed every dollar of money upon the sound foundation of financial honor and unquestioned na- tional honesty."
The applause following these remarks was overpowering. Imbued with emotion, his hearers cheered lustily, and broke into cries of "You are right, you are right!"
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In conclusion, Mr. Mckinley said :
"I thank you, my fellow-citizens, for this call, so expressive of your good will and congratulations, and assure you that it will afford me much pleasure to meet each one of you personally." [Applause and cheers. ]
The train arrived in Cambridge at 8.30 P. M., every one delighted with the pleasant visit.
DIFFERENT VOTES ON PROHIBITION.
With the passing of the decades, the voters of Guernsey county have fre- quently been called upon to express their views at the polls regarding the question of selling or allowing the sale of intoxicating liquors within the county. Among such elections may be named the following: In 1851, a vote was taken to determine whether a state constitutional amendment should be added, prohibiting the sale of liquors. In Guernsey county the vote was, for license, one thousand two hundred and ninety-eight; against license, one thousand seven hundred and twelve. The majority in all the townships was one hundred and nineteen for license; five hundred and thirty-three against license. Temperance was not popular then.
In 1883 the sentiment had materially changed and there was a total vote of four thousand two hundred and three for prohibition in the county. In 1894 there were four hundred and sixteen votes cast for the temperance candi- date for President of the United States, out of a grand total of six thousand votes cast in the county.
The issue was up again throughout the state in 1908, when Guernsey county voted "dry" by a vote in October that year, of two thousand one hun- dred and forty-five to one thousand three hundred seventy-five "wet," since which time the county has been practically saloonless.
Ohio has furnished her share of Presidents of the United States. From this commonwealth have come the following men who were born here and finally elected to the highest office within the gift of the people: William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison (grandson), William Mckinley, Jr., Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield and General U. S. Grant. All but Grant and Harrison were citizens of Ohio at the time they were elected.
Of the delegates who helped frame the various state constitutions of Ohio, William Lawrence and Robert Leech came from Guernsey county and assisted in the making of the 1850-51 constitution, while Hon. Charles J. Al- bright was a delegate to the convention forming the third Ohio constitution of 1872.
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PRESIDENTIAL VOTE.
1832-Andrew Jackson 1,356
Henry Clay 1,295 William Wirt, Anti-
Mason 22
1836-William H. Harrison. . . 2,074
Martin Van Buren.
.1,652
1840-Martin Van Buren ... 2,186 William H. Harrison. . . 2,606 J. G. Birney (Abol.) ... I3
1844-(No vote found) 1848-(No vote found)
1852-(No vote found)
1856-(No vote found)
1860-(No vote found)
1864-(No vote found)
1868-U. S. Grant (R) ...... 2,743 Horatio Seymour (D) . . 1,949
1872-U. S. Grant (R) ... . 2,629
1876-R. B. Hayes (R) .... . . 3,106 Samuel J. Tilden (D) . . 2,460 1880-James A. Garfield (R) . . 3,118 W. S. Hancock (D) ... 2,568 J. B. Weaver (Gbk.) ... 26
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