History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 86

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

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our provisions, though good, are principally of the salt kind, and not having constantly a supply of good fresh water at hand; and in consequence of the reasons here assigned, we have many times drank more than was really good for us, and to remedy this we have made the preceding request. If it meet your ap- probation, we think the expense will be repaid the institution ten fold; if not, we shall await your command, and abide the consequences with due respect. We have the honor to be yours very respectfully, [Names signed. ]"

This petition was sent to the writer when in his log cabin all alone. He read it, and was considering its unhappy conse- quences, when a voice struck his ear from behind him. "Mr. H. wants an answer," said the little boy, who had waited on the hands. "Tell Mr. H. to please get the hands together un- der the shady trees near the timber, and I will come and talk with them about the matter.

As he approached the place where the hands were seated, there were signs of great unanimity-significant nods and bold looks; none spoke, and the suppressed, yet half-uttered laugh, indicated their expected speedy triumph.

The writer now took his seat on an elevated piece of timber, with a view to say something, yet found himself unable to utter a word, and for a considerable period there was nothing said; and when he did begin to say a word or two, it was not in lan- guage of reproach of their conduct, nor in any way an attempt to display his own oratory. Something different was now re- quired. Their affections were to be won, their minds enlight- ened, and their will persuaded. In short, he saw it was neces- sary to speak to them as members of the human family, and make them friends to himself, to their own selves, and to the true interests of the institution. To this end he told them his own history, and in so doing gained their sympathy, and en- listed their affections in his hehalf. Many of them were in tears, and all arose and went to work without a drop of whiskey.

The following history of the college is from the versatile pen of President Bodine, who has guided the college so successfully several years past. It is well worth a place in these pages and is given entire :

The traveller in central Ohio, journeying by the new railroad from Columbus to Cleveland, by way of Mt. Vernon, finds him- self, for several miles of his course, skirting the banks of a sparkling stream, to which the old Indians gave the euphonious name "Kokosing." The valley through which the river flows is a charming one, and the ride delightful, for new beanties greet the eye at almost every turn, and rocks and hills and ven- erable woods utter together their voice of praise. At one of the sudden turns of this winding stream, a few miles beyond Mt. Vernon, upon a hill beautiful for situation, rises the village of Gambier, the seat of Kenyon College.

" Kokosing ! loveliest streamlet of the west, Where Nature stands in beauteous garments dre-t, How oft along thy winding banks I've strayed, Enchanted by the song thy murmurings made. Thy sloping shores are decked with verdant meads, And proud majestic hills that lift their heads With foliage and waving forests crowned ; Here Nature sits enthroned, while all around, Above, below, presents a charming view, Lovely as Eden, glittering with the dew Beneath a morning sun."

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HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY.

Half a century ago there was probably no institution of learn- ing in our land more talked about than Kenyon college, for it was one of the first literary ventures of the west, and its needs and expectations were heralded far and near. There is a cer- tain charm about infancy which we do not recognize in man- hood. This, doubtless, is one of the reasons why Kenyon has recently occupied a less prominent place before the public than in her early days. Besides, her development has not altogether been in the line anticipated. She has failed where success was dreamed of; she has won honor in ways that were not contem- plated.

The corner-stone of Kenyon college was laid in the month of June, 1827, so that Gambier has just begun her second half cen- tury of earnest life. By a happy coincidence, the fiftieth year marked the elevation of one of Kenyon's sons to the Presidency of the United States. One of the trustees of Kenyon college, Hon. Morrison R. Waite, is now the highest judicial officer of the country. Kenyon's sons, also, are found in the halls of Con- gress, so that she has links binding her to every department of the Government-legistative, judicial, executive.

The list of the alumni at Kenyon has already grown to fair proportions. From the beginning her standard has been high, and many of those who have studied in Gambier have left before completing the course; but five hundred have been graduated. A large number of Kenyon's sons have become men of mark in church and state, and five of them had attained to a wide na- tional reputation. Henry Winter Davis, that "prince of par- liamentary orators," in his early days practiced economy, and wrought with brain and muscle at Kenyon. Edwin M. Stan- ton, the great War Secretary, came in the spring-time of his life to Gambier. His college experience proved to be a turning- point, so that afterward he was accustomed to say: "If I am anything, I owe it to Kenyon college." David Davis, late Jus- tice of the United States, now senator from Illinois, was an as- sociate of Stanton in college days. Stanley Matthews, also, an eminent lawyer of Cincinnati, who won great distinction by his arguments before the Electoral commission, and who has lately retired from the Senate of the United States, was at Kenyon a friend and companion of President Hayes. Not unnaturally Kenyon is proud of her alumni roll.

The founder of Kenyon college was Philander Chase, the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal church in Ohio. A friend writes thus concerning him:

"In height he was six feet and over; the span of his chest was nearly, if not quite, equal to his height, and with that no- ble trunk his limbs were in full and admirable proportion. In a crowd his giant figure, in front or back, excited, wherever he moved, universal attention. Large and heavy in stature as he was, he was remarkably light and graceful in his movements, and when not ruffled with opposition or displeasure, exceedingly agreeable, polished and finished in his manner. Toward those who betrayed hauteur in their deportment with him, or whom he suspected as actuated by such a spirit, or who positively differed with him as to his policy, and especially toward those whom he looked upon as his enemies, he was generally distant and overbearing, and sometimes, when offended, herhaps mo- rose. In his bearing toward them his noble countenance was always heavy and lowering, and his deportment frigid and unmistakably repulsive; but in his general intercourse, and always with his particular and intimate friends, his address and social qualities were polished, delightful and captivating; his countenance was sunlight, his minner warm and genial as

balmy May, and his deportment winning to a degree rare among even remarkably commanding and popular men."

Bishop Chase came of a sturdy New England stock. He was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, where he spent the days of his youth. When manhood came, however, he could not content himself with such quiet and settled surroundings, for, of him, as afterward of his nephew, the Secretary, ambition was a most marked characteristic. He was first a missionary in western New York, and then he was stationed in Poughkeep- sie, but soon afterward removed to New Orleans. He was the first Protestant minister in the State of Louisiana. After five years of hard and successful labor, he removed again to the north, and for six years was a minister in Hartford, Connecti- cut. But Philander Chase was a man too restless, too ambi- tious, too great, to remain long contented in any quiet and peaceful nook. He craved the contests and the storms of life. So, early in the spring of the year 1817, resolved "not to build upon another man's foundations," he started for what was then the far west-the newly admitted State of Ohio. He was consecrated bishop in February, 1819.

He began his work with rare earnestness. No pecuniary support had been provided. Indeed, for several years all that he received for his public ministrations was not enough to pay his postage; so, to gain his daily bread, he had to become a tiller of the soil.

He soon became convinced that he must have assistance in his work. In four years his list of three clergymen had grown to six, but what could six men do in so vast a field? Moreover, he became convinced that for western work the best laborers were western men, more accustomed than others to the hard- ships of the new civilization, and more likely to be contented with the labor and its returns. So his mind began to be filled with a dream of a "school of the prophets," which, before long, took definite shape in his mind. Happily, the bishop's son sug- gested that favorable mention had been made in a prominent English journal of the new missionary work in far-off Ohio. The bishop immediately determined that the ocean must be crossed, and the mother church asked to help. He first ap- pointed his son for this service; but his son's failing health re- quired a journey to a southern clime, so the resolute bishop de- termined to go himself.

At once he made his plans known to his brethren. Some of them approved, while others disapproved, and one went so far as to violently oppose him.

Bishop White, the father of the American church, made ob- jection firmly, but gently, as was consistent with his saintly character. He thought it undesirable that application should be made to a foreign source for aid, because of the probable ef- fect upon the church at home. What countenance, it was said, will be given to the odium, which some would fain cast upon our church, as in a state of dependence on another church, in- corporated with a foreign State. The lessening of the respec- tability of the church was also insisted upon; the American church should not stoop to be a suppliant for the bounty of another.

Bishop Chase, however, was resolute. He thought he knew the needs of his own field of labor, and determined to provide for them as best he could.

He bade his son good-bye in New York, the last good-bye he was ever to say to him. His son, he knew, was appointed to die, and it would have been a privilege to minister to him in his last moments. The claims of nature, however, must yield to

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the higher claims of God's cause on earth. The parting was sad and heroic.

A month upon the ocean followed, for those were days when steamships were unknown. From Liverpool, Bishop Chase went to Manchester, and so on to London.

He met at once with a most formidable obstacle in the oppo- sition of the bishop of New York. He was publicly attacked in the British Critic, and for months his hands were tied; he could do nothing.

But after a while the tide turned. It so happened that the British parliament was then divided on the question of the emancipation of West India slaves. The subject was being everywhere discussed with intense feeling. As a consequence, any one who was known to have made sacrifices for the negro was sure to find friends.

Wilberforce's particular friend, Butterworth, who was also a member of parliament, lived near to the house where Bishop Chase had taken lodgings. One day a Dr. Dow, from New Orleans, called on Mr. Butterworth, when, in the course of con- versation, something like this was said :

"So you are from America, Dr. Dow! Were you acquainted with Bishop Chase?"

"Yes; he was my pastor in New York, and I his physician and friend."

"Tell me about him; there must be something singular in him, or he would not be neglected as he is in England."

"Singular! I never knew anything singular in him but his emancipating his yellow slave, and that, I should suppose, would not injure him here in England."

The story was then told of his emancipation. A negro named Jack had belonged to Philander Chase while was living in New Orleans. Jack absconded. Years afterwards, when Philander Chase had become bishop of Ohio, Jack was caught and put in prison, where he was kept, awaiting an order from his master for his sale. Bishop Chase thought the matter over, and wrote his southern friends to let Jack go free.

The story made Butterworth Bishop Chase's friend. He invited him to his house, introduced him to great and good men, and soon the Ohio cause grew and waxed strong. Subscrip- tions were received from hundreds of sources. There was a genuine, almost an enthusiastic, outflow of British beneficence. Wealthy friends were gathered, and the pioneer bishop was the hero of the hour, delighting all with his thrilling sketches of frontier hardships, and with his glowing prophecies of magnifi- cent triumphs sure to be achieved. Lord Gambier helped him greatly, Lord Kenyon, also, and Sir Thomas Ackland, and Lady Rosse, and Hannah Moore. The total result of this first appeal was more than five thousand pounds.

The largest single donor was Lady Rosse. We give the story of the way in which Bishop Chase became acquainted with her, inasmuch as it shows very clearly how mysteriously the links of the chain of life are bound together by the good providence of God.

In the winter of 1819-20 Bishop Chase had a letter from his friend, Dr. Jarvis, of Boston, making inquiry as to the manner of his support. The letter came at a time when the good bish- op's burthens were more than ordinarily heavy. He was car- ing as well as he could for the scattered sheep of Christ ; besides, he was providing for his family by his own manual labor. He had no money to hire others ; he was, therefore, obliged to haul and cut his own wood, to make his own fires, and to feed his own domestic animals.

Bishop Chase replied to Dr. Jarvis's letter frankly, drawing an accurate picture of a frontier bishop's life. The letter thus written, upon bad paper, with bad ink, and with fingers stiff- ened by labor, was sent by Dr. Jarvis to a Scottish bishop, who was desirous to know something about western life and work. The thought of this letter had entirely faded from Bishop Chase's mind. Judge therefore, of his surprise, when it was shown to him one day in London, and he learned that, in consequence of it, a bequest of money had been made to him by an English citizen. Nor was this all. . The Scotch bishop's daughter became his friend, told his story to Lady Rosse, secured his interest, and gained thereby for his cause some thousands of dollars.

Bishop Chase returned to his home a poor rich man. For those days, in Ohio, thirty thousand dollars was a very large sum of money, and so, doubtless, Bishop Chase would have considered it when he started to go abroad. Meanwhile, how- ever, his ideas had grown. At one time a theological school would have contented him ; but now larger and more dazzling ideas took possession of his brain.

His school was first established upon his farm near Worth- ington, where before, he had taught, amongst others, his neph- ew, afterwards Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. This, how- ever, was but a temporary arrangement. A permanent location had to be selected.

Aout this time Bishop Chase's attention was called to a tract of land, consisting of eight thousand acres, in Knox county. He at once came to Mount Vernon, the county seat, upon a tour of observation, rode with friends across the country, and followed for a while the valley of the Kokosing, until he came to the hill where the college at present stands. It was sug- gested that, possibly, at the top of this hill there might be found a good site for building. The general reply was, "No." The bishop said, "Let us see." He scrambled upon the hill-side with a single companion. Once at the top, he climbed upon a fallen log, and as his eye stretched hither and thither, taking in the splendid sweep of the country round about, he exclaimed with satisfaction, " This will do." In that instant the location of the new institution was practically fixed.

The assent of the diocesan convention had to be secured. It was not certain that this could easily be done, for there was hardly a town in the State that had not fixed its covetous eye upon the infant college. More than seven cities contended for the boon, not one of which carried off the prize, for Bishop Chase was a man of will, and his will was that the school should be located in the country. "Put your seminary," said he, "on your own domain ; be owners of the soil on which you dwell, and let the tenure of every lease and deed depend on the ex- press condition that nothing detrimental to the morals and studies of youth be allowed on the premises."

A still broader question, also, must needs be settled. What would be the nature of the new institution? Should it be simply a school for the education of clergymen? or should it open its doors to all classes of citizens? Some said, have noth- ing but a theological seminary. Mr. Charles Hammond, a trustee, and a very influential citizen of Ohio, said this most earnestly, and indeed went so far as to prepare and carry through the legislature a bill for the incorporation of " The Theo- logical Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Ohio," and so fixed the legal title of the new institution.

But Bishop Chase was equally strenuous the other way. His first thought had been to provide ministers for the waste places

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of the church-his second and greater thought now was "to be of service to his country, without regard to denomination or religion." "But two courses," said he, in his address before the convention, "are before us-either to confine our seminary to theological candidates only; or, if we receive students in general science, to lay a foundation sufficiently strong and large to sustain the magnitude of the college, which must be reared to do those students justice. In the former case, nothing more is necessary than to turn your attention to the deed of gift of my own estate in Worthington. In the latter case, the only thing presented worthy of your attention is the proposed lands in Knox county. Here is a foundation on which to erect an edifice worthy of the kind expectations of our esteemed bene- factors. On this we can build, and justly expect the patronage of our civil Government. Anything less than this would be to degrade, not to improve, our present blessings. There will be no college for ull professions if the Knox county plan fail. No other can give any adequate encouragement."

A most favorable report was received from the committee of the convention to whom this matter was referred, declaring that " the lands in Knox county afforded an eligible site for the seminary and college, and combined advantages of greater magnitude than any offer that had been made." So it was de- cided that the Theological seminary of the diocese of Ohio, and Kenyon college, should be forever established upon these lands, and the broad plan was adopted of laboring to build up, not only a school of theology, but a college as well. The English funds were to be appropriated sacredly to the purpose for which they were given. The college endowment, it was hoped, might, in some other way, be secured.

This choice of a location amid well-nigh untrodden forests involved, as a matter of course, heavy sacrifices and large out- lays of labor. It was necessary to begin with the very elements of civilization. Workmen must be gathered, land made ready for tilling, crops raised and harvested, and cabins built for shelter. In fact, for some years, farming, milling and merchan- dising were carried on in the name of the college, and the institution came to be possessed of a store, a hotel, a printing- office, a saw-mill, a grist-mill, a carpenter and a shoemaker's shop, with houses for the miller, the dairymen and the work- men to dwell in. So ere long the funds contributed by English friends were spent, and the resources of the pioneer bishop were quite exhausted.

It was needful, therefore, to make additional appeals for aid, and very naturally the " public crib" was thought of as a ready source of succor. So in December, A. D. 1827, Bishop Chase went to Columbus, addressed the legislature, and received from that body an endorsement of an appeal to Congress for a dona- tion from the public lands. Soon after, a bill was introduced into the U. S. Senate making a grant of a township of land. The bill was advocated by prominent Senators (among others by Thomas H. Benton and William Henry Harrison), but in the House of Representatives party spirit was roaring like a food, and drowned the voice of the infant college. The bill failed in committee, and, amid the rush of other business, was pushed aside.

The good bishop was keenly disappointed, but not in despair. Renewed effort was his refuge. So at once he scattered broad- cast a public appeal entitled " The Star in the West, or Kenyon College in the year of our Lord 1828."

" Never before," he wrote, "on any other plan have the ex- pense s of a public education been brought within the compass

of seventy dollars a year; never before has the light of science beamed thus on the cottages of the poor. Who, then, would not give his mite to expedite the completion of a college erected in the woods at great personal sacrifice, and for such benevolent purposes? A small sum only is asked of every friend, of every name and class. In this way numbers will make amends for deficiency in quantity, and in this way the wound occasioned by the late disappointment in Congress will be healed by the hand of individual beneficence. In this way the commenced build- ings may be finished, and the great work accomplished. Who- ever reads this is, therefore, most respectfully and earnestly en- treated immediately to enclose one dollar, in aid of the present struggles of Kenyon college, in a letter addressed to P. Chase, P. M., Gambier, Ohio."

This method of begging has since had ample following, but then it had the charm of novely, and so succeeded. The dol- lars, it is said, came to Gambier as the leaves fall in autumn. Larger subscriptions were not neglected. John Quincy Adams, then President of the United States, gave a hundred dollars. " Kenyon Circles" were formed in towns near and distant, and thousands of ladies were busy sewing for Kenyon college. In all, some twenty-five thousand dollars were received through this appeal.

Meanwhile a goodly number of students had assembled at Gambier, and the work of the college went bravely on. Bishop Chase nominally occupied the office of president. He really filled most efficiently the post of general manager and superin- tendent. Every morning the "head men " had to be directed by him as to their daily work; every evening they were gathered to give accounts of labor. There was the tilling of the thou- sands of broad acres to be looked after, the quarrying of stone, the erection of buildings, the industries of the village, and all this in addition to the wants, bodily, mental and spiritual, of the student community. Besides, there was the keeping of de- tailed accounts, and the maintenance of a most extensive corre- spondence. The burden was altogether a very heavy one; but Bishop Chases' broad shoulders were well fitted to bear it, par- ticularly as he had a most efficient helpmate in his noble wife. "Mrs. Chase entered with her whole soul into her husband's plans. She was a lady perfectly at home in all the arts and min- utiæ of housewifery; as happy in darning stockings for the boys as in entertaining her visitors in the parlor; in making a bargain with a farmer in his rough boots and hunting blouse, as in com- pleting a purchase from an intelligent and accomplished mer- chant, and as perfectly at home in doing business with the world about her, and in keeping the multifarious accounts of her in- creasing household, as in presiding at her dinner table, or dis- pensing courtesy in her drawing-room."

Through her efficiency and wisdom, and her husband's untir- ing and marvelous activity, Kenyon's affairs were for a time prosperous. A corps of able professors was gathered; there were more students than could be well accommodated, while the building known as Old Kenyon, with walls four feet in thickness, rose solidly as though it were intended to stand forever.

The salaries paid to professors were, all things considered, quite ample, for the purchasing power of money in Ohio was then very great.

The president received eight hundred dollars per annum, and each professor five hundred dollars; and in addition, the profes- sors were supplied from the farms with everything they needed to sustain life, groceries only being excepted. The larger the family, therefore, the larger was the pay in butter, eggs and

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HISTORY OF KNOX-COUNTY

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 86

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096