USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Three > Part 32
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This dignified document, written to inform future ages of Ohio's place in history, is notable for two errors: the State was the seventeenth admitted to the Union, and not the sixteenth, and it was organized in 1803 and not in 1802.
Owing to captious objections and frivolous differ- ences growing out of local troubles, unnecessary and unwarranted feeling developed against Columbus among the members of the Legislature, and under threats and attempts at a removal of the Capital, work on the State House was suspended for six years. Indeed, so far had this spirit spread in the Legislature, that on the 10th of March, 1840, a law was passed repealing the act passed January 26, 1838, for the erection of the new Capitol. The agitation for the removal of the seat of government was carried on more earnestly than ever before. At the session of 1842-3 the whole subject of removal was referred to a committee, from which came elaborate majority and minority reports. The majority of the committee was strongly opposed to removal, and claimed that it could be done only by a breach of faith and a violation of the pledges of the State. The report of the minority recommended that a joint resolution should be passed requesting the Governor to issue his proclamation calling for pro- posals looking for a site for the permanent seat of government. These resolutions were adopted by the
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Senate, but were defeated in the House. This ended all agitation on this subject, and the question of remov- ing the State Capital from Columbus was put to rest forever.
With the laying of the corner stone of the new Capitol, Ohio may be said to have entered upon a new era. By the census of 1840 she became the third State in point of population, having 1,519,467 inhabitants, being an increase of 63 per cent. over the population of 1830. What wonderful growth that represents! In forty years she had sprung from the eighteenth State to the third on the census roll. Since her foundation she had been almost exclusively an agricultural State, but at this period under the influence of her public works, Ohio exhibited a wonderful development of manufacturing and commercial interests. The census of 1840 indicated that nearly one-third of the popula- tion were employed in manufacture and trade. The mining industries were still in their infancy as there were but 620 men so engaged at this time.
The cities, while increasing in number, were still small in size. Cincinnati had but 46,338 inhabitants, while Cleveland was a town of 6,000 and Columbus was the same. Toledo, over whose harbor the bound- ary war occurred, was a small town of 1,222 people. This decade saw the beginning of the railroad system of Ohio. The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad Company was the first company incorporated for railroad purposes in the State. This was in 1832. The purpose was to build a road from Dayton to San- dusky, but it was not completed until 1848, when it became the first through line to Lake Erie.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
The Governors of Ohio from 1803 to 1840 were all men of the pioneer type, and they all had a great part in the chief events in her history. The following table summarizes the personal and political history of the governorship during these years:
Name
Politics
County
Elected
Served
Edward Tiffin
Dem.
Ross
1803-05
1804-07
Thomas Kirker
Dem.
Adams
Acting
1807-08
Samuel Huntington
Dem.
Trumbull
I808
1809-10
Return J. Meigs, Jr.
Dem.
Washington
1810-12
18II-14
Othniel Looker
Dem.
Hamilton
Acting
1814
Thomas Worthington
Dem.
Ross
1814-16
1815-18
Ethan Allen Brown
Dem.
Hamilton
1818-20
1819-22
Allen Trimble
Fed.
Highland
Acting
1822
Jeremiah Morrow
Dem.
Warren
1822-24
1823-26
Allen Trimble
Whig
Highland
1826-28
1827-30
Duncan McArthur
Whig
Ross
1830
1831-32
Robert Lucas
Dem.
Pike
1832-34
1833-36
Joseph Vance
Whig
Champaign
1836
1837-38
Wilson Shannon
Dem.
Belmont
1838
1839-40
The biographies of these men are so entwined in the history of the State that they are a part of it. The public events prominent in the administrations of Edward Tiffin, Thomas Kirker, Samuel Huntington, Return J. Meigs, Jr., Thomas Worthington and Robert Lucas have made it necessary to give heretofore the details of their lives. It will, therefore, be proper and instructive to include herein the careers of the others concerning whom little has been written.
Othniel Looker became acting Governor when General Meigs resigned to go into Mr. Madison's Cabinet. He was born in New York, October 4, 1757; served as private in the war for independence, but his
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
revolutionary record is obscure. He came to the Ohio country in the tide of soldier emigration that followed the declaration of peace with Great Britain. He was a man of humble origin and calling. His political career commenced as a member of the House of Representatives; he afterwards entered the Senate, and became its Speaker. From this position he as- sumed the duties of Governor, which he performed for eight months. He represented Hamilton County in the Legislature from 1807 to 1817, excepting one term. At the election following the expiration of his guber- natorial term he was a candidate against Thomas Worthington, but was defeated.
On the Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound, Ethan Allen Brown, the seventh Governor of Ohio, was born, July 4, 1776. He studied law with Alexan- der Hamilton, and in 1802 was admitted to the bar. In 1804 he settled at Cincinnati, and commenced the practice of his profession. He soon made for himself the reputation and business of an able lawyer, and in 1810 was elected one of the Supreme Judges of the State by the Ohio Legislature, which position he held for eight years. In 1818 he was elected Governor. Upon assuming this position he agitated the question of constructing the canals. He was reelected Governor in 1820 over Jeremiah Morrow and General William H. Harrison. On the 13th of January, 1822, he was elected United States Senator. In 1830 he was ap- pointed Minister to Brazil by President Jackson. He remained there for four years, and upon his return to this country he was appointed Commissioner of Public
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
Lands. After two years of service, he retired to private life and died, February 24, 1852, at Indianapolis, after a long and honorable career.
The ancestors of Allen Trimble were Scotch-Irish settlers of the Valley of Virginia, in Augusta County, where he was born, November 24, 1783. In 1805, he removed to Ohio and took up his residence in Highland County. In the War of 1812 he commanded a regiment composed of troops raised in southern Ohio. His services were valuable and patriotic. In 1816 he was sent to the Ohio House of Representatives, and the next year to the State Senate. He was elected Speaker of the Senate in 1818, and held that position until January 7th, 1822 when he became acting-Governor, and served until the end of that year. He was chosen Governor in the election of 1826, and was reelected in 1828. Notwithstanding that Ohio was Democratic at the November election of that year, Governor Trimble, as a Whig, was elected by a large majority. He was a man of deep religious sentiments and a consistent professor of Christianity. While he was not endowed with remarkable talents, he possessed that rugged, honest and shrewd ability so common among our pioneers. He died, February 3, 1870, at his home in Hillsboro, Highland County, at the patri- archal age of eighty-seven years.
Jeremiah Morrow was born at Gettysburg, Penn- sylvania, October 6, 1771. He settled in Ohio in 1795 at the mouth of the Little Miami River; he soon moved up into what is now Warren County. The fertile valley of the Miami soon attracted emigration and before long it was a populous territory. In this
GOVERNOR WILSON SHANNON From a painting in the Capitol at Columbus.
Born in Belmont, Ohio, February 24, 1803; he was the first Governor native of Ohio; was a candidate for Gover- nor against Thomas Corwin in 1840 and defeated, although he had been elected in 1838; he was a candidate for the third time in 1842 when he defeated Governor Corwin; resigned the Governorship to be appointed Minister to Mexico; in 1852 he was elected to Congress; in 1857 he was appointed Governor of Kansas Territory; he died at Lawrence, Kansas, August 31, 1877.
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THE RISE AND PROGRES ИОНИАНЭ ИОгЛИ ЯРИЯЯКОВ
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od ; YTOtiiIST asansHI to TORI9VOD botrioggs asw mo and took up his residence in Highlan County. In the War of 1812 he commanded a regimen composed of troops raised in southern Ohio. H. services were valuable and patriotic. In 1816 he wel sent to the Ohio House of Representatives, and the next year to the State Senate. He was elected Speaks of the Senate in 1818, and held that position until January 7th, 1822 when he became acting-Governor, and served until the end of that year. He was chosen Governor in the election of 1826, and was reelected in 1828. Notwithstanding that Ohio was Democrati at the November election of that year, Governo Trimble, as a Whig, was elected by a large majority He was a man of deep religious sentiments and consistent professor of Christianity. While he war not endowed with remarkable talents, he possesses that rugged, honest and shrewd ability so common among our pioneers. He died, February 3, 1870, 4l his home in Hillsboro, Highland County, at the patr archal age of eighty-seven years.
Jeremiah Morrow was born at Gettysburg, Penu sylvania, October 6, 1771. He settled in Ohio h 1795 at the mouth of the Little Miami River; he soo moved up into what is now Warren County. The fertile valley of the Miami soon attracted emigratice and before long it was a populous territory. In this
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
neighborhood he was truly appreciated as a man of worth. His neighbors sent him in 1801 to the Terri- torial Legislature, then as a delegate to the first Constitutional Convention. In 1803 he went to the Ohio Senate, and in the same year he was elected as a Representative in Congress. For thirteen years- from 1801 to 1813-Ohio was entitled to but one Representative, 'and Mr. Morrow served during the last ten years while his State was so represented.
He was a member of the United States Senate from Ohio from 1813 to 1819, and served as Chairman of the Committee on Public Lands. In 1822 he was elected Governor over Allen Trimble, and was reelected at the end of his term. His administration was the period in which the construction of the Public Works of Ohio was commenced. In 1840 he was elected to Congress again. Governor Morrow was a man of solid ability and of great simplicity of character. He died, aged eighty years, March 22, 1853.
In Dutchess county, New York, on the 14th of January, 1772, Duncan McArthur was born of Scotch parentage. His disposition from his youth was for a life of adventure. In 1790 he joined General Harmar in his campaign against the Indians and served until the close. In October, 1793, he accompanied Nathaniel Massie as a chainman on his first surveying tour up the Scioto River. In 1794 he was appointed a scout for the State of Kentucky, his business being to roam along the border for the purpose of keeping the whites advised of the movements of the Indians. In the spring of 1796 he assisted Massie in surveying and laying out the town of Chillicothe. He was a brave
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
soldier in the war of 1812 and did effective service, resigning his position as a Congressman to accept the commission of brigadier general under General Harri- son. Commencing in 1804, he served his county of Ross at different times in the State Legislature, in all about twenty terms. In 1822 he was a second time elected to Congress. In 1830 he was elected Governor and declined a reëlection. He was a pioneer in every sense of the word; an active woodsman, an excellent marksman, and a bold Indian hunter. He died at "Fruit Hill," his residence near Chillicothe, April 28, 1840.
Joseph Vance was born, March 21, 1786, in Washing- ton county, Pennsylvania, of humble Scotch-Irish parentage. Two years later his father emigrated west, living first in Kentucky; in 1801 he crossed into Ohio, and built the first log cabin on the present site of Urbana. Young Vance shared all the hardships of his father's pioneer life, and though he had no educa- tional advantages, he early showed indications of that ability which carried him successfully through life. As captain of a rifle company he was several times engaged in fights with the Indians. In 1812, aided by his brother, he led Hull's army through the unbroken forest to Fort Meigs, and later, with others, under contract, furnished supplies to the army in 1812. He was elected a member of the State Legislature from Champaign county in 1812, 1813 and 1815. He served in Congress from 1821 to 1836, when he resigned to accept the Governorship of Ohio. After his term as Governor, he was a member of the State Senate and also of Congress. He was elected to the Constitu-
C
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
tional Convention of 1850, and while attending its sessions he received a paralytic stroke, from which he died at Urbana, August 24, 1852.
In Belmont county, one year after his father had emigrated from Pennsylvania, Wilson Shannon was born, February 24, 1803. He was educated at the Ohio University at Athens and the Transylvania Uni- versity at Lexington, Kentucky. Returning home, he studied law, and upon his admission to the bar, began the practice at St. Clairsville. His ability as a lawyer soon won for him rich rewards. In 1832 he was nominated for Congress on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated. Two years afterward he carried his county for state's attorney by 1200 majority, attesting his popularity. He was nominated for Governor in 1838, and was elected by over 5,700 majority, but in 1840, in the memorable "Log Cabin" campaign, he was beaten by Tom Corwin by 16,000 majority. In 1842 he was a third time nominated for Governor and defeated Corwin by nearly 2,000 ma- jority. In 1842, having resigned the Governorship, he was sent as Minister to Mexico, where he remained until Texas was admitted, when diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico were discon- tinued. Returning home, in 1852, he was sent to Con- gress. After his term in Congress, he served as Governor of Kansas fourteen months, being superseded by John M. Geary. The year following, he moved to Kansas, practicing law at Lecompton, and afterwards at Topeka, and finally at Lawrence, where he died August 31, 1877.
It is worthy of note that Wilson Shannon was the first Governor of Ohio born within the State.
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