History of Lorain County, Ohio, Part 34

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 626

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By order of Major General F. Steele.

W. D. GREEN, Assistant Adjutant General

Col. Manter was married September 1, 1853, to Miss Elizabeth M. Redington, daughter of the late Ransom Redington. She died July 26, 1856, leaving an infant son, who is living and grown to maturity. So tenderly did Cot. Manter cherish the memory of his beloved wife that he never again entered the mar- riage relation. Their remains sleep side by side in our Elyria cemetery.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

CHARLES A. ELY.

Not long before the division amongst three broth- ers of a large estate, the youngest brother wrote as follows : "Some men are born to business, others achieve business, and some have business thrust upon them. Of this last elass am I, though I shall remain off duty as long as Heaven sends excuses ; and per- haps when Ileaven withholds, I may make some ex- ense for myself. Yet one thing is certain, when action commences, even though I may be compelled to employ one hand to keep both ends together, the other shall always be free to grasp the beautiful, lo seize the true, or to return my native town what I owe to a sense of duty."

B. A. Ely

RESIDENCE OF MRS, CHAS, ARTHUR ELY, ELYRIA, LORAIN CO., OHIO.

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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

Grandly did Charles Arthur Ely perfect the above statement in after life. Youngest son of Judge Ile- man Ely, (whose carly life, and whose connection with the carly history of Elyria are already set forth in this volume. ) and Harriet M. Salter Ely, he was born at Elyria, Ohio, May 20, 1829. Of Puritan stock was C. A. Ely, on the mother's side. William Salter, born in England in 1633, emigrated to Boston, Mass. Ile and his wife were members of the first church established in Boston, which stood on State street. As this church grew strong, from it went out Mr. Salfer and others, who founded the famous " Old South Church." OF such descent was Mrs. Harriet M. Ely, in direct line. Of New England culture, Mrs. Ely trained her son in that culture, which means so much. Brought up in habits of strict economy, never did that son in future life lose the distinction between the use and abuse of wealth to which he was born.

C. A. Ely's early years were spent in Elyria. After usual primary education, he commenced the neces- sary training for College, under the Rev. John Mon- teith, Rev. John P. Cowles and others, who were teachers in the "old high school house," or in select schools. During the year 1846 severe disease of the eyes compelled cessation from study. His charac- teristic energy allowed no idea of idleness. Various were his employments for the following two years. At the bench of Caleb Goodwin (cabinet maker, ) he improved the mechanical skill with which nature had gifted him. At the woolen manufactory of Her- rick Parker he soon became expert at the loom. Thus did he work until the fall of 1847, when he went to Cleveland, Ohio, as a clerk for Clark & Mor- gan, dry goods men. Returning to Elyria, he en- gaged in study under the Rev. C. D. B. Mills.

March 1st, 1849, " The Elyria Academical Institu- tion" gave its annual exhibition. No. 18 on the programme was a colloquy-C. A. Ely author. This ended any study so far as Elyria was concerned. In the summer of 1849 Boston was visited for treatment of ever troublesome eyes. Entering the Scientific School at Cambridge, Mass., the time was passed un- til 1851. During this year a few months' residence in Cincinnati, Ohio, gave to him a full course in book-keeping. In the latter part of the same year he went to New Grenada, South America, his gen- eral residence being at Carthagena. Returning thence April 34, 1852, after a short stay in Elyria he again visited Cambridge, where most of his time was spent until the fall of 1853. In February, 1854, on the division of his father's estate, he commenced the du- ties of life. His own words can best express his idea of such duties. "No one has more laborious posi- tion to till than the man who finds himself at matu- rity the possessor of wealth, with an earnest desire so to use it that he may in the largest sense benefit hin- self and others." With this laudable desire, active work commenced in the improvement of his property.

On June 19, 1854, taking Miss Lonise C. Foot,

daughter of the lion. John A. Foot, of Cleveland, O., as partner in the joys or sorrows of his future-leav- ing his nafive land June 24, 1854, the next five months were spent in travel over Great Britain, Bel- ginm, Germany, Switzerland and France. In these travels, a mind, already highly cultivated, gained deeper insight, greater breadth. To his artistic eye, the beautiful, as he met it in the old countries, always appealed. The old and ancient, however, to him, was only an adjunct to the now. Everything was made subservient to the one idea: "What may I here learn of farming, of science, of art, that I may make useful to my fellow men."

Again at home, in December, 1854, he received an injury, which, though long after. caused his death. The spring of 1855 found him engaged in the work that lay very near his heart, viz: the preparation of his farm; the building a large stock farm; the per- feeting arrangements he had mule for the introdue- tion of a fine herd of Devon cattle into Lorain county. December, 1855, brought to him the first attack of disease which in the end proved fatal. With indomi- table will he struggled bravely against it until waning health demanded rest and recreation. August, 1856. saw his pleasant household broken up. Some months were spent in travel. The winter of 1856 and 1857 was passed at Brattleboro, Vt. The summer and fall of the same year Elyria welcomed him as resident, with the exception of a short trip to the upper lakes.

For increasing ill health physicians advised a sea voyage. Thus advised, Mr. Ely and wife sailed from New York, February 10, 1858, for China. A pleasant voyage landed them on its shores. Visiting many of its leading cities, he entered Canton just after its re- dnetion by the combined English and French forces; varions the experience, much was learned.

Departing from Hong Kong in June, 1858, August 6th following gave to them a new home at San Fran- cisco, Cal. Mr. Ely spent nearly two years in Cali- fornia-years of great mental profit and physical pleasure, even though marred by the ever haunting presence of fatal disease. Ilere his favorite study had full scope in the great agricultural resources of that young State. The result of such studies was given to others in a series of articles written for and pub- lished in the Alta Californian.

Leaving California July, 1860, stopping at Valpa- rai o, Lima and other South American cities, October, 1860, he cheered Elyria again with his presence. Now full of happiness at the universal love and respect showered upon him by his fellow citizens, with hope- ful heart he again essayed the completion of former notions, laying the foundations of the beautiful resi- dence (since so fully finished by his widow). None envied him; all loved him, and wished for him every good. Not such his fate: fell disease made rapid inroad. Unable to carry into completion his wishes for Elyria, Elyria's benefactor died September 30, 1864, leaving not only the dear wife and only son, but all who had ever known him, to mourn his loss.

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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

" Wealth and social position do not always make the man, but the two combined give their owner wonder- ful opportunity for use or abuse." Thus wrote C. A. Ely, in 1852. It is a great pleasure for a friend to try, in some feeble way, to show how Mr. Ely, with his advantages, so used them, as to become a man. Of fine, even commanding appearance, he was, under all circumstances, the well bred man-gentleman. Knowing no distinction of class or race, he who re- spected himself, ever had C. A. Ely's respect. No one, however humble his place in life, can say, did he look upon me with haughty eye. He endeared him- self to those in his employ, by courteons treatment and unvarying kindness. The early teachings of a devotedly pious mother only enhanced his innate religious idea.

Whilst in Boston, attending and learning from the teachings of clergymen of different views, he writes as follows: "A church, whose religion shall be a pure and active humanity, is what I need. If men can only be waked upand set in motion, I care not how cecentric their orbit; whether one run off into spiritualism, another into materialism, and still another into blind creed worship, the revolution is what man needs, and then following a natural law, the orbit will eventually become the perfect circle of truth."

With such thoughts for years, he writes. May 4, 1860, to his wife, from San Francisco, saying: " My name has been propounded and voted upon for mem- bership in a church. I may see my duty in a light a little different from those I join, still I ean labor with them, and be sustained by them, just as the violet ray comes from the same sun, and through the same atmosphere as the yellow, or red ray, yet it has a dif- ferent end in the overruling providence of heaven. I shall become a member of a Congregational church, where I find professions of feelings that are expressed by deeds, prayers that live themselves ont in active charities. "

Nature endowed Mr. Ely with an intense love of the beautiful. This love did he express on the mu- sical instrument, by his pencil and brush, and by the adoroment of his home by works of art, saying: " These I may not live to enjoy, but surely they will make others happy."

As a scholar, he was wonderful in this. Ever troubled with weak eyes, it was with uncomplaining pain he studied. Devoting much attention to science, he was elected secretary of the Cambridge scientific association at Harvard University. A member of the American scientific association, its annual meetings were attended as health allowed. A personal friend and student of Prof. Agassiz, and his colleagues, pleasant were his relations with them. Writing from Cambridge, in 1849, he says: " Will it not be curious if, in the progress of science, that an electric light be brought into common use. We may soon hear the student talk of removing the oxidized carbon from the positive and negative poles of his electro-magnetic illuminator, instead of trimming the . midnight oil.""

His studies in science he made of great service to others, while in California, where he delivered a course of scientific lectures at Oakland, to the stu- dents of California college. At an earlier day, he had been prominent at home (for one so young), in build- ing up the Natural History Society, of Elyria, and also under the tutelage of Dr. E. W. Hubbard, of making one of the finest collections of Ohio shells, in the State. As a citizen, in its every sense, words will fail to do him justice.

Commencing farming operations, but forced to leave in search of health, he writes from the distant water eure: " Let my plans be carried out as far as practicable. I shall soon return. Keep the men at work, even if they dig up trees on my wood lands and plant them on the streets of Elyria." Returning to Elyria he interested himself greatly in the Lorain county agricultural society. Developing his farm he became a prominent breeder of Devon cattle, and at one time had no equal in the United States. llis herd at the Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and other State fairs, outstripping all competitors ; and finally, at the United States fair, at Lonisville, Ky., taking the highest premiums.

ILRARY.

BANK

In 1856, as a member of the school board, he worked long and hard, in seenring the present site and erection of the union school building. Again, in

Pilip

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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

1856, he used every exertion in his power to com- mence a public ibrary. His action proving of no avail, through the indifference of others who might have helped him, to him, then, it became almost a sacred duty to found such library. How grandly this duty was performed, let the " Elyria Library," lasting monument of the great heart of C. A. Ely, bear witness. Its past history and its present con- dition are already fully described in this volume. What pen, and who so wise to use it aright, as to write the future benefits that must follow this noble gift.

After the burning of the Willoughby Female Semi- nary, efforts were made to start a similar seminary at Elyria. To this enterprise Mr. Ely gave untiring work. Giving the land so beautiful, (upon which he afterwards built his residence, ) subscribing not only money but material ; laboring with others he suc- ceeded in obtaining all that was asked of Elyria, and although failing in his endeavor, he had the satisfac- tion of feeling that all that he could do was done.

As the rebellion broke out in 1861, thronged was the court house at Elyria just after the first call for troops. What should Elyria do ? Much was the talk, various the plans suggested, whereby to raise men and money. Speech followed speech. It was left for C. A. Ely, trembling with excitement, with flashing eye to warn the assembled andience that the impending struggle was to be no ephemeral affair, as others had stated ; that the situation meant men and money-money to support the families of those who answered their country's call. Mourning his feeble health that prevented actual service, he moved the appointment of a committee to raise funds for the desired purpoes. His princely subscription of $1,000 had its due effect, and many a man left that room a better man, in that he had followed, so far as he could, Mr. Ely's example.

Such are some of the salient features in the public life of this good man. Of his innumerable private kindnesses, his tender abnegation of self amongst personal friends, it were almost sacrilege to write.

Charles Arthur Ely fighting all the time against fearful odds, viz : depressing ill health ; knowing the short tenure of his life-was remarkable for his pa- tience. The writer can recall no short look, cross word, or complaint, only as it proceeded from the sadness of that so grand heart, that ever looking at death as near neighbor, yet wished so much to live for the good of his fellow man. Dying in the prime of life, his memory is so thoroughly embalmed in the hearts of his fellow townsmen, that fathers and mothers will make his life and actions an example for their children, and as those children's children visit the Elyria library, his memory will ever become more dear.

In a sermon preached at Elyria, Feb. 8th, 1852, by the Rev. D. A. Grosvenor, on the death of Hon. lleman Ely, he said as follows : "I asked Judge Ely shortly before death. " How would you wish to amend

your life were you to live it over ?" He answered, " Were I to live my life over again, I would do more in this particular : I would do more for the commu- nity and the world." Deep must these words have sunk into Charles Arthur Ely's soul, for he lived for others.

HION. PHILEMON BLISS.

The subject of this sketch illustrates, in a forcible manner, what can be accomplished by a person pos- sessing a well balanced and well cultivated mind, with increasing industry and application. For many years his life seemed to hang by a single thread, and when he went to Florida, in the fall of 1834, in the hope that its mild climate might prolong his life, his friends hardy dared hope that he would return alive.

He was born in Canton, Hartford county, Con- necticut, July 28, 1813. In the summer of 182t, he removed, with his parents, (Asabel and Lydia Bliss), to the west part of Whitestown, Oneida county, New York, where, as a boy, he worked on a farm. From fifteen to nineteen years of age, he was away at school, most of the time; principally at the Oneida institute, at Whitesboro, New York, and at Hamilton college. The want of means prevented him from graduating at the latter institution. Much of the time while at school, he worked for his board, or boarded himself in his room. In 1833, after leaving college, he en- tered the law office of Theodore Sill, (formerly Gold & Sill), of Whitesboro, where he studied the law until the fall of 1834, when, in consequence of bronchial troubles, which were becoming chronic, he went to Florida. At this time he was much emaciated, and his cough was constant and extremely harassing.

lle remained in Florida one year, without material benefit to his health, when he again returned to the north, and soon after came to Elyria, where an older brother, the Hon. A. A. Bliss, was engaged in the practice of the law. After reaching Elyria, he was disposed to give up the study of the law, on account of his health, but on its improvement, he completed his studies, and entered upon the practice in 1841.

In the winter of 1848-9, he was elected by the gen- eral assembly of Ohio presiding judge of the four- teenth judicial district, which embraced the counties of Lorain, Cuyahoga, Lake, and Geanga, which re- sponsible position he filled, to the satisfaction of the bar and the public, until the judicial offices were vacated by the adoption of the new constitution in 1851. The judges held their positions until the end of the year.

In the fall of 1854, he was elected a member of the thirty-fourth congress, and re-elected in 1856 to the thirty-fifth. He was a quiet, though an industrious, member of congress, and gained the respect and con- fidence of his fellow members, sonth as well as north. Hle made several carefully prepared arguments upon the legal aspects of slavery, in its relations to the

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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

federal government, which Mr. Sumner and other leading anti-slavery members pronounced the best upon the subject made in the house.

In 1861, he was appointed, by Mr. Lincoln, chief justice of Dakota Territory, but, after organizing the courts, and putting them in successful operation, re- signed in 1864, before the expiration of his term, and went down the river to St. Joseph, Missouri, and united with the republicans in making Missouri a free State, as that. State was not included in the pres- ident's proclamation, and it was feared that it would continue to sustain slavery. He was employed to edit the St. Joseph Daily Union, and had been down from Dakota before moving to St. Joseph, and for some months had written for the Daily Tribune, both of which were republican papers, and etticient in sustain- ing the republican policy of the State and national administrations.

In the fall of 1868. he was elected judge of the Supreme court of Missouri, and served in that capac- ity his term of four years.

In 1872, he was elected professor of law in the Missouri State university, and dean of the law faculty, and opened the law department, which position he now holds. He has published one or more law books, which are considered standard authority.

Such a record as the foregoing needs no comment. We may add that, his oldest son, William, has been, for several years, United States district attorney for the eastern district of the state of Missouri, appointed by President Grant, and has filled that difficult posi- tion to the satisfaction of the government and people. We are proud of this Elyria boy. Some of his opin- ions are said to be among the ablest in the Missouri reports.

DR. LUTHER DWIGHT GRISWOLD

was born February 2, 1809, in Bloomfield, Hartford county, Conn. Ilis father, Elijah Griswold, was a soldier of the revolution, having entered the patriot army when but sixteen years of age. His mother, Lydia Adams Griswold, was a native of Massachusetts. The subject of this sketch was the youngest of a family of eleven children. of whom five were boys and six girls. Att save one grew to maturity and became heads of families. But three of the number are now living.

Ilis father was a farmer and horticulturist. tte spent a long life in collecting and cultivating the choicest varieties of fruits of that day, and probably had at one time the best collection in the State. The doctor was raised on the farm and acquired a taste for fruit growing and the cultivation of flowers, which he has retained through life, but circumstances have prevented its gratification to any great extent. His educationat advantages were very limited. Hle at- tended the common district school summer and winter until he was ten years of age, and in the winter season until he was fifteen. At the age of sixteen he passed

an examination, and though poorly qualified, taught a country school through the winter. He had a num- ber of scholars from eighteen to twenty years of age, but had no difficulty in governing the school. At seventeen he determined to obtain better qualifica- tions as a teacher, and attended a school of a higher grade. From that time until twenty-one years of age he taught every winter. While tilling the position of a teacher he was an earnest student, and most of the limited education he obtained was acquired by the fire- side and by the light of a tallow-candle. He worked on the farm summers until twenty-one years of age, at which time, with twenty dollars in his pocket, he started for the west. He stopped at Ludlowville, Tompkins county, N. Y., to visit a brother, where he remained and taught school for one year. In Sep- tember, 1831, he came to Elyria to visit two sisters who were at that time residing in that township. During the winters of 1831-2, and 1832-3, he taught school in the yellow school-house, it being the only school in the place. In the spring of 1832 he com- menced the study of medicine with the late Doctor Samuel Strong, who was then residing in North Am- herst. Ile completed his preliminary studies under the tuition of the late Dr. Asa B. Brown. In the fall and winter of 1834-5, he attended a course of lectures at the Berkshire Medical College, located at Pittsfield, Mass,, and at the close of the term received a license from the Massachusetts Medical Society. He was married on the 25th of March, 1835, to Miss Jerusha II. Smith, a former resident of Elyria. She died at Dayton, Ohio, on the HIth of March, 1875. For almost forty years she was to him a true and faithful wife and a wise and prudent counsellor. Though a great sufferer from ill health during nearly the whole period of her married life, by her energy and force of character, she discharged the duties of a wife and foster-mother with such prudence and sound judgement as to win the love and confidence of her household and of her numerons friends and acquaint- ances, The memory of such a wife and mother is blessed. In the spring of 1835, he returned to Elyria and entered into partnership with the late Dr. R. L. Howard. Business being very dull through the sum- mer, the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent in the fall and Dr. Griswold removed to Grafton, where he continued in practice for one year. In the fall of 1836 he was elected auditor of Lorain county, and returned to Elyria. At the close of his official term, in 1838 he entered into partnership with the late Dr. Luman Tenney, and removed to Amherst where he re- mained two years. In 1840 he returned to Elyria. He continued in practice most of the time in connection with the fate Dr. Eber W. Hubbard (with the excep- tion of two years which he spent in Cleveland.) until the summer of 1862, when he entered the military service as surgeon of the one hundred and third reg- iment of Ohio volunteers. In 1844 the Cleveland Medical College conferred on him the honorary degree of M. D. In 1856 he was appointed by Governor

Photo. by Lee, Elyria, O.

L'A Griswold

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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

Salmon P. Chase, a trustee of the Northern Ohio Lu- natie Asylum. In 1860 he was re-appointed to the same office by Governor Dennison. lle held that position for the period of ten years, and became deeply interested in that as well as the other benevolent institutions of the State. He was one of the active agents in the organization of the Elyria Natural His- tory Society, as well as one of the volunteer lecturers before that institution.

In reference to his military services, the doctor, while his regiment was stationed at Frankfort, took possession of a comfortable dwelling house and eon- verted it into a regimental hospital, which was compli- mented by the medical inspector as a model institu- tion. While here an event occurred which may be worth relating. It was during the era of slavery, and the troops were ordered to drive all negroes from their eamps, which order was not very rigidly enforced. A poor fellow named Ben, who had joined the regi- ment some forty miles in the rear, was brought to the hospital by the chaplain, with the request that he should be taken care of. So the doctor set him at work. Some two weeks afterwards Ben came trem- bling into the office saying his master was after him. The surgeon placed a revolver in his breast pocket, with the handte projecting, so as to be prepared for any emergency. Soon the owner came in, accom- panied by two city marshals and a Catholic priest, and said very blandly:

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History of Lorain County, Ohio, Part 34

Author: Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia, Williams brothers Number of Pages: 626

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 626