History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 96

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202

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SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.

We have heard many complaints of the ladies of the Capital City for their backwardness in adopting this new and decided improvement in dress ; but their hesitation is over, their false delicacy overcome. The new and graceful garb has appeared upon the fair form of one of our most distinguished and most intellectual ladies ; one whose natural gifts and literary attainments have given her a title to respect and esteem. . . . The upper dress and petticoats [of the lady just referred to] were of the same material, we cannot say exactly what, but some rich, lustrous fabric of a dark and sober shade of green. The bodice was plain, trimmed with buttons, a la Jenny Lind, the pantaloons were full and flowing and fastened at the ankle with bands of velvet. The sleeves were loose and graceful. ... On the whole we cannot for the life of ns imagine what immodesty the most fastidious can possibly see in a dress which appeared to us so simple and so beautiful.

On the other hand the opponents of the reform criticised the new costume as " inconvenient, undignified," and not consistent with the "modest apparel enjoin- ed by the Apostles." A newspaper chronicler of current events in the summer of 1851 remarks: " We saw several samples of the Bloomer costume in our streets yesterday afternoon and evening, some of which were decidedly elegant and all very neat." This writer further observes that " some ladies are trying to ease their consciences in this matter of duty by just shortening their dresses five or six inches," but this abbreviation he thinks hardly comes up to the demands of the times. Mrs. Bloomer, the inventor of the costume, is said to have dwelt for some time at Mount Vernon and to have there edited a paper called The Lily, devoted to her reform. Persons who were acquainted with her declared that she was, in every respect, a most estimable lady. Her ideas of dress seem to have never made much headway in Columbus, although she made some zealous proselytes. Occasional " Bloomers " were seen in the city as late as 1859.

Among the striking articles of male attire worn at different periods were the queues, kneebreeches and buckles, and ruffled shirts, of which the Virginians and Kentuckians, especially among the earlier, wealthier and more dignified citizens were fond. A blue dresscoat with brass buttons completed the outfit, and is said to have been highly becoming, particularly to a man of Lyne Starling's splendid physique and stately manners. In the progress of events the queues and kneebreeches were abandoned, and the shirtruffles were reduced to lower terms, but the blue coat with its brass buttons lingered into the forties and even fifties. It has perhaps never been improved upon as a keynote in the har- mony of apparel for gentlemen of befitting age, manners and complexion.

Along in the fifties woolen shawls came into vogue as substitutes for over- coats, particularly those of young men, apropos of which fashion the following editorial announcement appeared in the Ohio Statesman : " A few dozen bonnets and petticoats for young men's wear, to correspond with the shawls worn by them, are on the way to this city from the East." But in spite of such ridicule shawls continued to hold their place in male attire until about the time when they began to be exchanged for United States blankets in the stirring months of 1861.

In 1855, great hooped skirts were among the contrivances adopted by the fair sex for keeping men at a distance. They were not always effectual in this respect, albeit fashionable, and well adapted to magnify the territorial importance, if not the charms, of their wearers. After having waxed enormously, the hoop-

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skirt gradually waned, until the opposite extreme was reached and the geometri- cal relations of the sexes again became normal.

When the rappings and other unique performances of alleged spirits set the whole conntry agog about fifty years ago, the capital of Ohio, like all other towns of any pretensions, had its share of this new and novel sensation. The knockings were first heard in an humble dwelling in the village of Hydeville, Wayne County, New York, in the year 1847. The tenant of the house, Michael Weekman, was so annoyed by these noises, that he quitted the premises, and was succeeded in the ocenpation of them by John D. Fox, whose two daughters, Kate and Margaret, aged nine and twelve, respectively, by a curious chain of circumstances came into communication with the source of the sounds heard. By this means, it is said, the body of a murdered man was found buried in the cellar. These revelations soon became known throughout the country, and awakened intense interest. Thestrange phenomena also spread, and were reproduced at pleasure, in multiplied forms, by the socalled spiritual mediums. With the history of this marvelous episode we are concerned only as it touches the current of social events in Columbus.

The first pronounced phases of spiritualistic excitement seem to have been manifested in Ohio in 1851. In September of that year announcement was made that the Misses Fox, the original mediums of Hydeville, New York, had arrived in Columbus and might be found at a private residence on Third Street, north of Broad. Their " sittings " for spiritual communication were three per day, price of "admission to the circles" one dollar. How numerously attended the sittings were we are not informed, but the Misses Fox doubtless profited largely from the awakened state of publie curiosity as to their singular gifts. Spiritualist lectures, meetings and seances were common in the city during the earlier fifties. Various clairvoyants also made their appearance, among them the socalled wonderful child Tennessee [or Tennie C.] Claflin, afterwards known as a companion adventuress to Mrs. Victoria C. Woodhull, of political and other notoriety. In October, 1854, these statements appeared in the city news columns of the Ohio Statesman:

The little knot of spirit rappers still continue their orgies near Peters's Run, in the south end of town. The performances on Sunday commence at ehureh time, both morning and afternoon. At night, by way of variety they are held in a dark room occasionally.

In May, 1857, meetings of the believers in what was then known as spiritnalism were held on several successive evenings in a hall at the corner of High and Rich streets. To render the spiritual presence more assured on these occasion the win- dows were padded, and all manner of interior light was strictly forbidden. The charge for admission was twentyfive cents, and the audiences were said to have included a good many people ordinarily possessed of good common sense. The editor of the Ohio State Journal, whose curiosity led him to investigate the "mani- festations," thus describes one of the seances :

A gentleman was addressing the audience, and explaining a panoramic pieture on which were painted numerous figures, some of whom were bathing in the " River of Life " that flowed in the foreground ; others were winged and flew athwart the heavens; others, with golden erowns and coronets of jasper and precious stones, were playing on golden trumpets and reposing among the branches or within the shadow of the " Tree of Life." ... The

D'A Egan

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brethren and sisters opened the services with a hyum to the tune of " Lily Dale." It was sung very sweetly and when it was concluded, silence and thick darkness reigned supreme. Several other hymns were sung, and yet there was no manifestation of spiritual presence.

"Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note."

Presently one of the mediums was requested to play on his violin, which it appears he had brought with him. So he struck up a march, then he changed to a hornpipe, and finally struck up the "Arkansas Traveller." Presently the drum began to beat, the tambourine to be played, and this was kept up alternately for fifteen or twenty minutes. The playing and drumming were done by the spirits. The tambourine passed around the circle, up over the heads of the audience, cutting up all manner of shines.

While these performances were in full tide, the editor and his companions lit the candles they had brought with them, when lo, the whole affair was dis- closed as a complete and arrant humbug! The " noise and confusion " which fol- lowed were extraordinary. No further spiritualist seances seem to have elicited popular interest in Columbus.

Equestrianism began to be popular as a social recreation early in the fifties, and from that time on we often hear of merry parties of cavaliers and their fair companions dashing through the streets and along the suburban thoroughfares. Cavalcades of twenty and even fifty couples, some going to the country and others coming from it to the city, are mentioned.

May parties, particularly for children, were common in the forties and fifties. If the weather was inclement, as often happened, they were held indoors, some- times at one of the hotels. The May festivals of the schools ordinarily took place at Stewart's Grove, south of the city.

The inauguration soirées and balls of the early fifties were notable. In April, 1858, a " legislative festival" was given by Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey, the host and hostess of the American House. In 1854 an inauguration ball in honor of Governor Medill took place at the Neil House. The installation of the State Exeentive was thereafter usually celebrated by such festivities until the outbreak of the civil war, since which inauguration balls and parties have been occasional. On a few rare occasions the officers of State and members of the General Assembly have been entertained, as a body, at private residences; much more frequently these public functionaries have been the guests of the City, or of the Board of Trade, since there has been a Board of Trade. Snch entertainments, however, including the official levees of the Governor can scarcely be said to have per- formed any very important part in the properly-called social life of the city.

White Sulphur Springs, in Delaware County, was a favorite pleasure resort of Columbus people during the later fifties and earlier sixties, as the springs hotel - now a part of the Ohio Wesleyan University - at the town of Delaware had been at an earlier date. In 1869 the grounds at White Sulphur were pur- chased by the State for an industrial bome for girls.

Among the more unique social devices of the later period have been such as were descriptively termed necktie, leapyear, surprise and ghost parties, gentlemen's receptions (by ladies), Dickens parties, cooking clubs, dairymaids' festivals, pound socials, trades carnivals and many others mostly designed for charitable purposes,

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and not of a purely social character. The balls and parties of military and fire companies, secret societies and other like organizations, together with church fairs and bazaars, have been very numerous, but for the most part have had a money object. The part which music has performed in the social life of the city will be elsewhere treated.

Perhaps the most notable event thus far, in the matrimonial annals of Columbus society, has been the marriage of the Prince de Lynar, of Germany, to Miss May Parsons, daughter of Hon. George M. Parsons, which took place at Trinity Church, May 16, 1871. The Prince de Lynar arrived in Columbus some days prior to the wedding, and attended a peace celebration in honor of the close of the Franco-Prussian war, then being held in the southern part of the city. The marriage ceremony was attended by attachés of the imperial German Legation in Washington, and by various distinguished persons. It was celebrated by the Right Reverend Bishop McIlvaine.

A great many personal events incidental to the history of the city have come to the knowledge of the writer in the course of his studies for this work. A large number of these are properly assignable to other chapters, and will there be treated. Others not so assignable may be here mentioned. We begin with Mr. John M. Kerr, who is more directly connected with the origin of Columbus than perhaps any other person now living. A son of John Kerr, one of the original proprietors of the city, his recollection, which is yet clear, goes back to a very early period and has been frequently drawn upon in the course of this work. Colonel Abram I. McDowell once humorously styled Mr. Kerr the " Dauphin of Columbus." Dauphin he really was, in one sense, for he fell heir to a large amount of Columbus territory. A sketch of his romantic career will be found in con- nection with one of the earlier chapters of Volume Two.

One of the most prominent and useful citizens of Columbus during the earlier part of its intermediate period was Joseph Ridgway, Senior. Mr. Ridgway was a Quaker and a bachelor, and was popularly known as " the plowmaker," one of the principal products of his Columbus foundry, erected in 1822, being plows of the Jethro Wood patent, which he sold to the farmers for fifty miles roundabout on generous terms of credit. His plowmaking industry was a great benefit to the young town of Columbus, and brought him an extensive and farreaching patron- age. In early life he failed in business in New York and beclouded himself with what then seemed a hopeless debt of ten thousand dollars ; but a few years before his death he returned to the East, hunted up his creditors, or their heirs, and paid them every cent, with interest. From 1837 to 1843, he represented the Columbus District in Congress, where he acquired the friendship and high respect of Horace Greeley. He died at his residence on East Broad Street, January 31, 1861, aged seventyseven. His nephew and coadjutor, Joseph Ridgway, Junior, was also an able man, and represented Franklin County at different times in the General Assembly.

Concerning William Lusk, the eccentric almanac-maker of early times, Martin's History contains this paragraph :

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In 1817 he published his first almanae at Columbus, to which was added a register of public officers, ete., of the State by counties, making a pamphlet of some sixty or seventy pages, and entitled it the Ohio Register and Western Calendar, for which he obtained a copy- right. The Register part was continued five or six years, when it was dropped, but the Almanac was published annually until about the year 1852 or 1853. Mr. Lusk died at Day- ton about the year 1854 or 1855.

Lusk was a teacher, and conducted an academy in Franklinton.

General Joseph Foos is described as a man of stalwart physique, resembling the late David Taylor, Senior, in personal appearance. Although he had not the advantages of education possessed by some of his compeers among the founders of Columbus, he was a man of strong intellect and decided originality. The late W. S. Sullivant was fond of telling the following story of this hearty old pioneer :

When General Harrison first revisited Franklinton after the War of 1812, a grand reception was given him. The militia paraded in large numbers, and their former commander, General Joseph Foos, was appointed to deliver an address. Foos congratulated Harrison upon his return to the scenes of his military labors, and congratulated the militia on being permitted to see and meet once more their leader in the war. Then he spoke of his own efforts in the struggle, and described the material out of which he had been obliged to organize his forces. Here the brave General began to lose the context of his prepared remarks, and expressed himself in a manner altogether different from what he intended. When he first took charge of these men, he said, they were a parcel of vagabonds, scamps and pests to society ; but he had disciplined them, held camp meetings with them, trained them. Here the speaker stammered and became confused, but quickly extricated himself by turning and remarking to General Harrison : " And I'll bo d-d, General, if they are not just as bad a set now as they were then !"

Colonel John McElvain, prominent in the earlier history of Columbus, per- formed a very gallant part in the defense of Fort Erie against an attack of the British on August 15, 1814. He was twice a Presidential Elector on the Jackson ticket, and in the spring of 1830 was appointed United States Indian Agent, to reside at Piqua. At the time he received this appointment he was serving as Sheriff of Franklin County.

A life which covered a span of over seventy years in the history of the capital was that of William Armstrong, who settled in Columbus in 1820, and died there April 10, 1891, in his ninetyfourth year. A tailor by trade, he became a merchant tailor, and married a niece of Doctor Lincoln Goodale who engaged his services as manager of his great fortune .? He was appointed, with A. B. Buttles, an executor of Doctor Goodale's estate, and with him the Hon. John W. Andrews was named as advisory executor. Both were appointed to serve without bond. A few months before his death he said to the writer: "Everyone who lived here when I came is now dead." He was one of four persons who organized the first Methodist society in Columbus.

David W. Deshler, who died in Columbus during the latter part of July, 1869, was at the time of his death the oldest banker in Ohio. The banking business first engaged his attention in the carly thirties, and such was his success, and the

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confidenee which he enjoyed, that he was at one time president of three banking institutions. An account of his early struggles in establishing a home in Colum- bus has been given in the letters of his excellent wife, quoted in another chapter.3

Hon. John W. Campbell, Judge of the United States District Court for the Distriet of Ohio, died at Delaware, September 24, 1833, of bilions fover. Ile was a man of pronounced literary gifts and high professional standing.

Jarvis Pike, who has been previously mentioned in various historical connec- tions, died in Madison Township, September 12, 1854, aged sixty. The Ohio Monitor of January 28, 1836, thus referred to him: "This gentleman held the office of Associate Judge in Oneida County [New York], and was made a member of the bench of Common Pleas along with Daniel D. Tompkins in the commence- ment of that patriot's judicial career."

In January, 1840, the Long Island Sound steamer Lexington, Captain Childs, took fire while on her passage from New York to Stonington, and was destroyed. Nearly every sonl on board perished. Among the lost was George Swan, a youth of nineteen, son of Hon. Gustavus Swan, of Columbus. Young Swan was highly esteemed, and his dreadful death caused very deep and general sorrow in the community.

John S. Rarey, the celebrated horsetamer, was so well known in Columbus, and in some respects so nearly identified with its history, as to deserve mention here. He was a native of Groveport, Franklin County, and of German descent. His conquest of the celebrated horse " Cruiser," in England, attracted attention all over Europe and was followed by many similar achievements in European countries. Before his death the fame of Mr. Rarey extended to every part of the civilized world. The key to his system was simply that kindness which appeals to " the intellect and affections of the horse," and wins his confidence. During one of his exhibitions at Niblo's Garden, New York, Mr. Rarey said :

I have never had an accident since I became perfect in my system, and I don't fear any. I have been among horses since I was twelve years old, and at first had a great many accidents. Every limb has been broken except my right arm, but being young when these accidents happened, the bones fortunately healed strongly. Now I know a horse's every thought, and can break any animal, of whatever age and habits, in the world. I can make any animal sensible of my power - make him gentle and even affectionate.

In August, 1862, Mr. Rarey gave an exhibition of his system at The Atheneum, in Columbus. A contemporary report says of it :

Mr. Rarey, who is a sound patriot, at the suggestion of certain estimable ladies who are steadily toiling for the good of our soldiers, voluntarily tendered his services for an evening exhibition as a benefit for the funds of the Soldiers' Aid Society. His offer was gladly accepted and a splendid benefit it was. The Atheneum was literally packed with one of the most intelligent and genteel audiences that ever assembled in our city, and when it is con- sidered that most of the tickets were at one dollar each, the substantialness of the benefit may be inferred.

A considerble proportion of the stage was arranged for the exhibition by being well "fenced in " and the floor thicky covered with ground "tan " and clean straw. Three speci- mens were exhibited, and severally practiced upon by Mr. Rarey, viz: A spirited but well- broken horse, a spirited but unbroken colt, and a spirited but spoiled and vicious brute.

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With the first Mr. Rarey dealt only to explain the modes and reasons for his system of training. This explanation was in the highest degree gratifying to his immense audience, the animal itself, though a stranger to Mr. Rarey, presenting no special difficulties to his manipulation. The colt, a handsome three-year-old, as we would judge, the property of Mr. Taylor of this city, was next presented. It had never been mounted nor handled except in halter. It had that afternoon been brought in from the field by following another horse. At first it was timid ; shrank from Mr. Rarey's touch ; fled from his approach. After a few minutes of coy. ness and coquetting, the colt permitted his approach. Soon its nose was fawningly pushed under his arm and over his shoulder. It directly submitted to all his gentle caresses and moved as he directed. The straps were applied and its terror was great. It struggled heroically but it was utterly helpless in his hands. Soon it lay down flat, prone, subdued. In this position Mr. Rarey mounted it, played with it, petted it, sprang over it, leaped over its head, laid down upon it, and within his legs, all withont a start or a flinch. The colt was broken : its will was made subject to one whom it had accepted as its master. It was per- mitted to rise. Then Mr. Rarey again mounted, dismounted and remounted many times and in many ways, to all which the colt submitted as gently and quietly as would a ploughhorse. The experiment was a perfect success.

At this point in the exhibition Mr. Rarey presented his specimens of the "Shetland stock," which he has on his farm at Groveport. One was a foal ; the dam and sire he brought from the Shetland Isles, on his return from Europe. The foal was twenty inches high and weighs twentyone pounds. As it was brought forward in the arms of a boy, it looked more like a shaggy deg than anything of the genus equinus, though it afterward cantered about the stage with much activity and grace.

Next came the spirited but spoiled and vicious brute with which Mr. Rarey was to try conclusions. It was a compact, powerfully-built horse, and in good condition, but dangerous and vicious beyond all control. Before presenting him, Mr. Rarey read to the audience the following letter from the owner of the horse, wherein he gives the general character of the animal, and expressing a very reasonable apprehension for Mr. Rarey's safety in handling him.

COLUMBUS, August 29. 1862.

JOHN S. RAREY, ESQ ,

Dear Sir :- The horse I send you is a horse sent here to be sold for an army horse; he is full of spirit and power, and if he could be handled perfectly, would be a valuable animal. I soid him once to a gentleman who wanted a boat horse, and did not care much how vicious he was so he was tough. but the gentleman found the horse too tough a customer for him and sent him back to me. I have since tried to get him shod, thinking I would put him in for army purposes. I have tried several of the best smiths in the town, and none could do anything with him ; one of them came near getting his head kicked off. . He is one of the worst kickers I hare ever seen, and like a mule will kiek you when standing by his shoulder. If it was not for the reputation you have for handling horses, I would be almost sorry to see you undertake this one, for he is a very dangerous animal. I can only caution you to be very careful of his heels. I should be sorry to see you get hurt at your last exhibition at home, after having tamed wild horses over nearly all the world.

Very respectfully yours,

GEORGE W. SHAPLEY.

This horse was a total stranger to Mr. Rarey and the first demonstration that attended their acquaintance entirely justified the amiability of character that Mr. Shapley's letter had so honorably certified to, and which was manifest by the gleam of a pair of glittering shoes on the bottom of his hind feet, with an unequivocal aim at Mr. Rarey's personnel. These exhibitions of the brute's tender mercies towards Mr. Rarey were rapidly repeated, exciting the audience as with a touch of the tragic. But the calm and steady manner of Mr. Rarev as

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 96

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1202

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202