USA > Ohio > Ross County > Chillicothe > Ohio centennial anniversary celebration at Chillicothe, May 20-21, 1903 : under the auspices of the Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society : complete proceedings > Part 50
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Ohio early became the bureau of civilization for the West and even now her influence directs the course of hundreds of the best citizens of the Pacific slope. Over-praised the state may be but this is recognized by alien as by native born that for the
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West Ohio has been the great civilizing center. Now into this: fabric of state weave the text from the Sage of Concord, "Civ- ilization? it is the power of good women." Is the design more clear? Are the colors more illuminating? Is the cloth stronger ? If Ohio is typical of civilization at its best and civilization is "the power of good women," then must Ohio owe more to the character of its women than many of its citizens have ever recognized.
We talk about our great men From Washington to now; We raise on high our heroes And ask all men to bow; We speak much of our victors And count the glorious host, And shout aloud our pleasure In prideful, frenzied boast ! We celebrate the birthdays Of those we most respect, And on our list of statesmen We all with pride reflect ; But in speaking of the heroes To place among the others, Why don't we have more places For the statues of our mothers? They guided all our great men, And steered the ship of state
From the time when, in the cradle, They TAUGHT men to be great. Their influence has ever Been wielded for the best, And in the line of duty They never stop to rest. A toast, then, to the mother Who gave to us her care ! In giving out the laurels See that she gets her share.
O, pioneer mothers, departed but unforgotten ! Would that we might weave you a new garment of Praise, radiant as your bravery, enduring as your deeds, strong as your faith, ample as your mind, and all sufficient as your affections; would that we might weave you a chaplet of Praise and adorn it with jewels as
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imperishable as our gratitude. Would that we might build you a white palace of Praise, wherein, outshining the garment, the chaplet and the walls, your names should be each of them written. We have not forgotten that a hundred years ago Briton, Spaniard and Frenchman were hammering at our gates; that Indians stormed our wooden stockades and that wolves drummed with their nails at our cabin doors, snapping teeth like traps of steel, as they were of death, while within, the mother hushed her spin- ning wheel and in terror gathered her children to her breast; but do we remember that these same women were not passive actors only, but single-handed braved Indians at these cabin doors in defence of their children and homes, endured hideous captivity without a tear, moulded bullets, felled trees, saved garrisons of soldiers, saying, as Elizabeth Zane, "I am only a woman - we need every man to defend the fort - open the gates - I will go out to the blockhouse and return with the powder." Bullets, arrows and tomahawks played about her girlish form but she ran the fearful gauntlet and returning with the powder, saved the fort.
The journey of Ann Bailey needs its narrator only to make it as immortal as that of the man who carried "the message to Garcia." This eccentric and heroic woman was connected with the early history of Gallipolis and West Virginia. Marauding parties of fierce warriors had been seen in the valley of the Kanawha, resolved on driving the white men from their favorite hunting ground. The inhabitants were gathered into the fort when the terrible fact was discovered that the ammunition was nearly exhausted. Few men could be spared and none were will- ing with a small party to face the perils of the hundred mile journey through the trackless forests. Ann Bailey instantly offered to go - and alone. Her acquaintance with the country, perseverance, horsemanship, and fearless spirit were well known, and the commander yielded to her request. She set her face toward Camp Union, now Lewisburg. She overcame every ob- stacle in the rugged, fearful way. Through forests, across moun- tains, swimming rivers, undaunted she took her way; exposed to the perils of wild beasts and straggling parties of Indians. Reaching Camp Union she was supplied with another horse fully
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laden, began the journey back and arriving just in time with the supply of ammunition, she saved the fort.
Our early history abounds with instances of women's hero- ism from the Revolutionary War forward. Familiar to all readers are the names of Rebecca Williams, Mrs. Andrew Lake, Bathsheba Rouse, Sarah Sibley, Ann Bailey, Elizabeth Harper and her daughter; Mrs. Carter and the gentle unfortunate Eliza- beth Kenton. These were women of uncommon sense though they were not of the type who request the removal of the word "obey" from the marriage ceremony. They were probably fear- less enough to trust. They were wise, wifely, compassionate and greatly respected. Do these present times produce their equals? Touches of grace are given the hardness of the times by the stately steps of the wives of the early governors ; Mrs. Tiffin, Mrs. Worthington, Rachel Woodrow Trimble, Mrs. McArthur and others; while Ohio women gracing the White House have left indelible memories in the minds of all Americans, Their names are easily recalled; Lucy Webb Hayes, Lucretia Rudolph Gar- field, Caroline Scott Harrison, Ida Saxton Mckinley.
The military history of this commonwealth keeps forever green the memory of its soldier dead and here and there, thickly as flowers dotting forest glades in spring, appear the names of the women of the Civil War, who at home and as nurses in the field, heads of Relief Corps and in hundreds of helpful ways also assisted to resist invasion, to preserve the Union and to raise up and protect a loyal state upon our border, for Ohio sent into the strife a vast army of her own; more than half of her adult popu- lation ; half again larger than the greatest army Great Britain ever put into the field and one-ninth of the entire Federal force - 340,000 men! Consider the mothers of these, the daughters of many, the wives and sisters.
Multitudes of names could be called from this roll of honor if there were but time. It is to be hoped however that their ser- vice still so recent, needs no mention here to bring it to grateful remembrance. In the New York home of an Ohio woman on Murray Hill the first relief organization of the war was effected, its object being to send clothing, medicine and supplies to the front, and from Ohio, conspicuous for her loyal service was Mrs.
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Mary. A. Bickerdyke, the famous army nurse. No argument is. necessary to prove it since no one denies, that of our women at home, as of our men in the field, it may be said, they also served.
To-day the Woman's Relief Corps of the state of Ohio with Mrs. Hannah M. Gahagan at its head, stands for all loyal service, not only being a friend of the widow and orphan, but holding out well-filled hands to the needy soldier of the war himself. Mrs. Rebecca A. Rowse, of Cleveland, Mrs. Frances A. Harrison, of Columbus, and Mrs. George. Hoadly of Cincinnati, are names notably associated with the work of the Sanitary Commission as heads of auxiliary societies in their respective cities, while the name of Hannah A. Maxon, nurse in the hospital at Gallipolis, is gratefully recalled by many; and later, eminent for her philan- thropic work was Mrs. Kate Brownlee Sherwood, of Toledo.
Who shall adequately measure the service to history of the ministration of Mrs. Herman J. Groesbeck, the Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the American Revolution ? Under the ad- ministration of Mrs. Herman G. Groesbeck, the Colonial Dames in the state of Ohio have purchased the old land-office at Marietta where interesting memorials of the labors of General Rufus Put- nam are preserved. This purchase will insure the protection and permanency of this old building, the office of the memorable original survey of the lands of the Northwest Territory.
In the archives of Marietta College are the letters of Rufus. Putnam. These have been preserved with the greatest care, but lack of funds for this purpose has prevented the college from putting these valuable memoirs into the more permanent form of a book. This the Colonial Dames will do; Miss Rowena Buell, of Marietta, has been secured as compiler and the contract with Messrs. Houghton and Mifflin as publishers, signed. No more important service to the state, historically, has ever been rendered than this.
The recent erection of the commemorative tablet on this spot is but a slight ensample of the work of the D. A. R. This state is dotted with tablets, bronzes, stones, recalling to the forgetful that on these spots great deeds were done, or, for us, history began or was made further glorious. Historic homes are preserved by them that our generation visiting them may be reminded of
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what stuff our men were made and live again those hours when souls "built statelier mansions." The regent of this band in Ohio is Mrs. Virginia Shedd Hodge. The whole order numbers 135,000; thirty chapters of which are in this state while the presi- dent general of the national society, Mrs. Charles H. Fairbanks, and the vice-president general for Ohio, Mrs. John A. Murphy, are both Ohioans.
The "Little Red School House" has been battered by blows of convulsive oratory, has had each separate brick taken down by preacher, poet, artist and politician, and numbered; has fairly been swept from its foundation by floods of eloquence. It is affirmed that it is the source of our greatness, the RAISON D'ETRE of our strength in state and nation. Well! who chiefly presides in the "little red school house?" The first school teacher in Ohio was a woman, Bathsheba Rouse, who was appointed to her work at Belpre in 1789, and the women of this state are the instructors, in the main, of the children of the state. They are also the librarians. They outnumber three to one the men en- gaged in these callings. They teach in our colleges, they teach our blind, our deaf, our dumb, and even the imbecile child awakens to new life under their inspiring tutelage. Following Miss Rouse came Elizabeth Harper at Harpersfield in 1802. The founder of the Sunday-school was also a woman - Mrs. Andrew Lake, of Marietta. A vast army of students of the Bible all over the globe reverence the name of this gentle resolute woman, the founder of the only organization which steadily resists the inva- sion of unbelief, stands for the sacredness of the Bible and its energizing, uplifting force in daily life.
To American literature Ohio women have probably contrib- uted more than their quota. The first in a chronological sense, was Delia Salter Bacon born at Talmadge in 1811, the original exponent of the Baconian theory of the authorship of the works of "one William Shakespeare."
Julia Dumont, the "Hannah More of the west," a daughter of one of the original settlers of Marietta, was the preceptress of Dr. Edward Eggleston, whose grateful pen has honored her with merited praise.
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In "The Poetical Literature of the West," 1841, we read of Mrs. R. S. Nichols, and of the thirty-seven, written of therein, seven were women.
A very womanly woman was Frances Dana Gage, the most popular writer of keen, practical prose and didactic verse of her time in the West and familiar to us all as "Aunt Fannie." Amelia Welby was a poetess well liked. The editors of "Moore's West- ern Lady Book," an early Ohio periodical of much vitality, were A. and Mrs. A. G. Moore. Ohio in poetry and fiction would be represented by a few names only were it not for our literary women: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mary Hartwell Catherwood, educated at Granville, Sarah C. Woolsey, "Susan Coolidge," Sarah Knowles Bolton, Constance Fenimore Woolson, Kate Brownlee Sherwood, Mary A. Livermore and most classic of all our singers, Edith Thomas, Sarah Piatt, Alice and Phoebe Cary. A fine strain of French blood is represented in the literary ele- gance of Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren. Other writers are Gene- veive Farnell, Caroline Park, Anne Virginia Culbertson, Virginia B. Ellard, Helen Smith and Helen Hay, Maria Mitchel, Gertrude Clark, Pauline B. Mackie, Mary D. Steele, Eva Best, Catherine Beecher, Electra E. Doren, Charlotte Reeve Conover, Dr. Alice B. Stockton, Dr. Mary Wood Allen, Elizabeth Chapney, Helen Watterson Moody, Lydia Hoyt Farmer, Lydia S. McPherson and Clara Morris, while all Ohioans thrill at the reading of Alice Williams Brotherton's sweet verses -
The Rose and the Thistle, the Shamrock green And the Leek are the flowers of Britain ; The Fleur de lys on the flag of France In a brand of blood was written; But what shall we claim for our own fair land, What flower for our own true token?
The golden-rod, or the lily, or the corn? For each, has its own bard spoken.
Oh! the tasseled corn for the whole broad land, For the Union none could sever ;
But the Buckeye bloom for the Buckeye state The token be forever.
In the field of journalism, the pioneer among our women, was Miss Lillian Darst, of Chillicothe. At the state capitol the
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first woman assigned to regular local work was Miss Georgia Hopley. She has ever since, both in foreign correspondence and at home represented that school, small in number alas, unin- fluenced by the tidal waves of yellow journalism which lower the standard of American newspaper work, making this calling, for women, a doubtful vocation in the average newspaper office. Yet, to these women we look for a cleaner administration. Will they, like our men, be submerged by the present alleged de- mands of the public or will they raise the standard and teach us that the American newspaper is a leader of the best thought of the community, and not a caterer to the lowest? Brilliant, and almost alone in her field, is Miss Rowena Hewit Landon, of Columbus, whose cultivated mind is reflected in her work, which, though a diversion for leisure moments, is so faithfully and finely wrought. Of a similar type is Miss Katherine Pope whose "Letters of a Happy Poor Woman" show so fine a spirit of optimism.
In the seventies there came to the women of Cincinnati an impulse toward the study of decorative art. The foremost of these was Miss Louise Mclaughlin, the product of whose kiln, and whose book on the subject, are known all over the country. She has a pottery of her own where she makes china of fine quality, decorating the pieces for the most part with the varied colors of copper glaze. One of our painters named at the Salon and now in Paris, is Miss Elizabeth Nourse, of Cincinnati. The wife of the noted scientist, F. C. Wormly, was born in Columbus, where his analyses of poison crystals were illustrated by draw- ings made by her, "no one else being able to reproduce their ex- quisite delicacy and precision." "Her achievements in this art were hardly less than her husband's in science."
Mrs. Mary McArthur Tuttle has served her state well both as writer and as artist. Her articles on color, her portraits and charming volume, "The Mother of an Emperor," entitle her to the place she holds in the esteem of art-loving people. To all such, the names of Caroline Ransom, Caroline Brooks, Marion Foster, Christine and Isabel Sullivan, Caroline Lord, Mary Spencer, Alice Cordelia Moore, Louise Lawton and Cornelia Davis are more or less familiar. But the most renowned of America's art products
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is the Rookwood Pottery, founded also by an Ohio woman, Mrs. Bellamy Storer, wife of our present ambassador to Austria. No finer pottery is anywhere made. Fine in quality, beautiful in decorative value, its fame is world-wide. Mrs. Storer invented the peculiar glaze effect which marks its distinction from all other pottery in the world. It was she who, for years, did the actual work and to her wonderful taste, energy and spirit is due a pro- duct which is admired by all connoisseurs and which alone, would have given America a place in the world of art.
In the field of geology and botany we have Laura Linton for whom lintonite, a variety of Lake Superior sandstone, is named, and Mary Emilee Holmes, first woman member of the Geological Society of America.
In the realm of the drama and of music, among the many who might be named are Julia Marlowe and Clara Morris, Ella May Smith, songwriter; pianists: Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler and Julia Reeve King; vocalists: Corinne Moore Lawson, Ge- nevra Johnston Bishop, Marie Decca and Dora Hennings.
And now a singular event claims attention. "Its history is as thrilling as anything written by Sir Walter Scott of the crusades of the middle ages and stirs one like the stories of Napoleon's Old Guard." The great temperance crusade had its origin in Hills- boro. The first president was Mrs. Thompson, the only daugh- ter of old Governor Trimble; a worthy daughter of her father is she. What memories are hers at eighty-seven, and what those of that other grand old woman, lovingly known as Mother Stew- art, who is still older. The history and result of the crusade is known to the whole world, the society of over 300,000 women known as the Christian Temperance Union, tracing its origin to this praying band of which Mrs. Annie W. Clark, of Columbus, is the head in Ohio. It is now a world's union with Lady Henry Somerset of England at its head. One catches inspiration from the very faces of these women, and leaders in humanitarianism richly appreciate their work. When some impulse to bravery is one's great need, the annals of the life of Frances E. Willard seem pages inspired. As writer and speaker she is known to the ends of the earth and her life was more eloquent than book or
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spoken word. She was born at Oberlin, Ohio. Here also lived Catherine Coffin, wife of the president of the "underground rail- way," and his chief assistant.
It has been said that "Mothers are the only goddesses in whom the whole world believes." Much good should therefore result from a Congress of Mothers such as has been recently organized in this state. The Ohio congress owes its organiza- tion largely to the interest of Mrs. Edgar M. Hatton and is now under the leadership of Mrs, J. A. Jeffrey of Columbus.
The Ohio Woman Suffrage Association has had something to do with the history and development of the state - and would like to have more to do with it! Its affairs are wisely adminis- tered by Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton.
Last, and in some ways, strongest of all the organized activ- ities of women in Ohio is the Federation of Women's Clubs now in its tenth year. Mrs. Edward L. Buchwalter, member from Ohio, and first vice president of the board of lady managers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, was one of its founders. It numbers more than eleven thousand members and has a larger number of such clubs than any other state or territory.
An enumeration of contributions to the public good from individual clubs would be absolutely impossible here. Thousands of dollars have been contributed to libraries, for the decoration of school interiors, the founding of vacation and manual training schools, in the erection of public drinking fountains, in work with humane societies, war relief and other organizations, art exhibits and sanitary measures. The school savings bank system in almost every case has been introduced at their instance. Their chief con- cern however is for the institution we call home. They believe this the natural ambition, the inborn pride, the happiest sphere toward which a woman ever turns and all those things which are its safeguards : education, religion, good food, cleanliness, the abolition of child labor, the encouragement of patriotism, the circulation of good books, receive their hearty support. But more valuable than all they do is the atmosphere which the considera- tion of such subjects by great numbers of persons gives us - atmosphere which to breathe, makes sounder moral lungs, clearer
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heads and consciences. Intelligent service has been rendered the state by the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs as attested by the state librarian. Representatives of the Federation were the first to ask for a law giving Ohio free traveling libraries. Their in- fluence was a large factor. The bill was framed and passed and Ohio now leads the Union in the number of free libraries cir- culated. The commissioner of schools bears testimony to the quiet, unremitting work carried on for nearly five years in behalf of a state normal school, saying that the passage of the Seese bill resulted largely from the sentiment created by the Federation. Ohio has now, as a result, two training schools for teachers, hav- ing stepped out of the class with Delaware and Arkansas, now the only states in the Union offering no training of this charac- ter. The Federation has, at the present time, four petitions before the legislature, all of which are likely to result in laws certainly beneficial to the state. They are: A petition for the establishment of a juvenile court in the city of Columbus; for the adoption of the Federal plan in the proposed new school code for Ohio, and for a minority representation of good women on all boards whose functions are distinctly educational, especially public library and state normal school boards; to raise the age limit of girls placed in industrial schools to eighteen, instead of sixteen years, as the period for discharge, the same as now pre- vails for boys; and for the appointment of at least one woman factory inspector on the list of the fourteen employed. The able president of the Federation is Mrs. Samuel B. Sneath, of Tiffin.
The first club ever organized had as its president an Ohio woman. We have thus chronicled five world movements having their source in Ohio and all originated by women; the Sabbath School, by Mrs. Lake, of Marietta; the woman's club movement, Alice Cary, president of the first club organized ; theory of au- thorship of Shakespeare's works, by Delia S. Bacon; the world's temperance union, Mrs. Thompson, and Mrs. Stewart; the Rook- wood Pottery, Mrs. Bellamy Storer ; while the first school teacher in the state, whose school system at Cleveland is acknowledged the peer of any in the world, was a woman.
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These facts fire the imagination, yet it is with no feeling of exultation, but with profound thankfulness that we contem- plate the results of the past. What shall be our future destiny? With such men, with such women what may Ohio not become if we are faithful as well as fervent, wise as well as fearless, not desiring to "command the applause of the hour, but the judgment of posterity." O women of Ohio! why may it not be that in this western world prophecy shall in you be fulfilled and hope reach its full fruition ! O men of Ohio! that union of high achievement and pure minds, which it seemeth God has here enjoined, let not man put asunder, then shall your feet be set upon the head of the enemy. Regnant Ohio! not a dream, not a dream, but the most sober, inevitable reality. The Voice of the People, a har- mony like the fabled astral bell; the State, a vision glorious like that seen by John on the Island of Patmos; O most dear priv- ilege, O sweet opportunity, for thee, alma mater Ohio, to rise and
With one awakening smile
Bid the serpent's trail no more thy beauteous realms defile.
THE PRESS OF OHIO.
S. S. KNABENSHUE.
The Ordinance of 1787, for the government of the North- west Territory, declared: "Religion, morality and knowl- edge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, and the means of education, shall forever be en- couraged." The importance of the press, not only as a factor of popular education, but as the conservator of freedom of speech was evidently realized by the men who settled Ohio, the first-born of the states into which the Northwest was divided; for with- in four years after its settlement at Marietta, the first newspaper within its boundaries was set up.
This was the Centinel of the North- western Territory, first issued No- vember 9, 1793, by William Max- S. S. KNABENSHUE. well, postmaster of Cincinnti. It was printed on a half sheet, 10 by 13 inches in size, and hence resembled a handbill. In those days, newspapers were very partial to mottoes, and the Centinel displayed this : "Open to all parties - influenced by none." In 1796 Edward Freeman bought the paper, changed the name to Freeman's Journal, published it until the beginning of 1800, when he removed to Chillicothe. It would appear that he continued the publication there; for in the records of the ter- ritorial court at Chillicothe is found an order that an adver- tisement for contracts to build the old court house there, after- wards Ohio's first state house, should advertise in "Freeman's paper." The 'Scioto Gazette was then in existence. Freeman
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