USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 21
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in Pickaway County who recall George K. Nash as their schoolmaster, who even at that time cherished the high ambition to be Governor of Ohio. But the prospect for such an honor was not an alluring one, although the phantom of Hope beckoned him on. Through the kindness of a friend, Judge Warden, he was given the privilege of using the latter's law books, as his exchequer would not permit him to purchase his own, and in 1867 he was admitted to practice law in this State. Then came the struggle to get on until he could establish himself in business, and it was a long, weary one, beset with many difficulties, but George K. Nash triumphed at last.
In 1870 young Nash was selected by the Republicans of Franklin County to make the race for Prosecuting Attorney. The county was opposed to him, politically, but he was elected, nevertheless. Giving the people the utmost satisfaction during his first term, he was re-elected to a second term. In 1876 he was a candidate for Congress from the Columbus district, but suffered defeat by Thomas Ewing, who-opposed him on the Democratic ticket. The Republican State Convention which assembled in Cleveland on the Ist of August, 1877, and nominated W. H. West, of Logan County, for Governor, placed George K. Nash on the State ticket for Attorney General. In the Republican slump that year the whole ticket went down to defeat. Two years later, on the 28th of May, 1879, the Republicans held their State convention in Cincinnati, and George K. Nash was again nominated for Attorney Gen- eral. This time he was successful, being elected by a majority of 19,000, in round numbers,
over Isaiah Pillars, who had defeated him in 1877. In 1881, Attorney General Nash was renominated for a second term by the Republican State Convention, that met on the 8th of June, in Cleveland, and this time he was elected by a majority of over 28,000. In 1883 Gov- ernor Foster, who, being Chief Executive during Attorney General Nash's two terms, had been his warm friend and supporter, appointed him a member of the Supreme Court Com- mission, which body was created to aid the Supreme Court in clearing up the congested docket. The commission continued for two years, and afterwards George K. Nash was known as "Judge Nash." In 1880, when Charles Townsend was elected Secretary of State, Judge Nash was Chairman of the Republican State Committee; in 1881, when Governor Foster was a candidate for re-election and Nash himself was up for a second term as Attor- ney General, he occupied a similar position. In 1897, having been defeated for the nomina- tion for Governor by Hon. Asa S. Bushnell two years before at the Zanesville convention, he took charge of Bushnell's contest and pushed it to a glorious victory. As a campaign man- ager Judge Nash was among the best the party ever had in Ohio. He was always safe, and devoid of bluster; work, intelligent and far-seeing, was his forte, with a capacity of sizing up a result not easily excelled.
Judge Nash had long cherished an ambition to become Governor. It is known that when serving as Attorney General some of his friends insisted that he should become a candidate to succeed Governor Foster, but he declined to consider the matter then. In 1895 he was a candidate for Governor at the Zanesville convention, when Asa S. Bushnell was nominated. Two years later, when Governor Bushnell was renominated Judge Nash was made Chairman of the State Executive Committee. In 1899 Judge Nash was again a candidate for Governor, and it was plainly to be seen that the hour of his triumph was at hand. The convention met at Columbus that year, and his principal opponent was Hon. H. M. Daugherty, of Fayette County. Judge Nash received the nomination, being successful in securing 461 votes out of a total of 820 cast. The Democrats nominated John R. McLean as his opponent, but Nash had a plurality of 49,000 votes. Two years later Governor Nash was nominated for a second term, with Colonel James Kilbourne as his opponent. He was again successful, this time by a plurality of 67.567.
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In April, 1882, Judge Nash was married to Mrs. William J. Deshler, who died in Octo- ber, 1886, leaving one daughter, Mary Nash, who died in February, 1896. The death of his wife and daughter almost crushed Governor Nash, and it was one of the sad memories of the first and second inaugurations that before he took the oath of office on either occasion, he drove in a carriage to Greenlawn Cemetery, where they sleep, and bowing before the mounds that hold all that was near and dear to him, engaged in silent prayer and laid flowers on their graves. Upon the expiration of his second term of office, Governor Nash resumed the practice of his profession at Columbus. But his days were numbered. For a long time he had been in poor health, suffering from heart trouble, his condition at times such that dur- ing his administration the physicians occasionally despaired of his recovery, but after leaving the cares and responsibilities of his high office behind him, it seemed that his condition improved rapidly. It was, therefore, a great shock to the people of Ohio, when they, in October, 1904, suddenly received the sad news of the death of their beloved ex-Governor. An apoplectic stroke had ended his earthly career. But his memory will live forever, as one of the best Chief Executives the State of Ohio ever had.
Governor Nash's successor in the office of the Chief Executive was Myron T. Herrick, of Cuyahoga County, who was elected in November. 1903. by a tremendous majority of over 114.000 votes, defeating Tom L. Johnson, Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
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THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
By E. O. Randall
HE Buckeye State presents peculiar attractions and opportunities for the stu- dent in Archaeology and History. No other State is so rich in the remains of the Indian Tribes and the evidences of the aboriginal people or prehistoric races. The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society is the out- growth of the enthusiastic efforts of many of the leading professional scholars and amateur students of Ohio lore and legend. To General Roeliff Brink- erhoff is due the honor of being the founder of this society. As he states in his interesting "Recollections of a Life Time,"is study in pioneer history naturally led him into the investigation of all that could be learned concerning the races that ante-dated the Indians and whose existence is manifested all over the State of Ohio, by mounds, earth-works and instruments of stone and metal. General Brinkerhoff resolved that the Archaelogical So- ciety should be established. In this determination he was greatly encouraged and assisted by the Rev. S. D. Peet, Ph.D., who was then deeply interested in archaeological research, and has since become one of the most distinguished archaeologists of this country, the author of several standard works on this subject, and the editor of the American Anti- quarian. These gentlemen agreed that something ought to be done to secure the systematic examination of the prehistoric remains of Ohio, with a view to their preservation, and to make proper records of their existence. They issued a call for a State convention of Archae- ologists, which met at Mansfield on September 1, 1875. There was an attendance of some fifty, among whom were many of the leading scholars of the State in archaeology and history. This conference continued for two days and resulted in the organization of "The State Archaeological Association of Ohio." General Brinkerhoff was elected President, and Pro- fessor John T. Short, of the Ohio State University, was chosen Secretary.
In 1876 an appropriation of $2,500 was given by the Legislature to the Association for the purpose of making an archaeological exhibit at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and in this exhibition Ohio eclipsed all other States, and was second only to the collection of the Smithsonian Institute. Subsequently, for several years, annual meetings of the Asso- ciation were held at various places in the State, where prehistoric remains could be exam- ined and a permanent interest could be aroused. Upon the untimely death of Profesor Short, November 11, 1883, the Association became practically inoperative.
Governor George Hoadly took an active interest in all matters pertaining to the archaeology and history of the State, and upon his accession to office in 1884 he conferred with Mr. A. A. Graham, of Columbus, and suggested the revival and reorganization of the old society. A meeting for the purpose of carrying into effect this suggestion was called to convene at the office of the Secretary of State, February 12, 1885. A number of prominent gentlemen, including leading citizens, scholars and professors, from various parts of the State, responded to this call, and after deliberate consultation decided to extend to all per- sons in the State, interested in the formation of such a society, an invitation to meet on the 12th day of March following, at Columbus, Ohio. In response to the circular sent out some sixty gentlemen, representing all parts of Ohio and various departments of scholarship, con- vened on the day specified in the State Library Room in the Capitol. This convention contin- ued in session for two days and resulted in the organization known as the "Ohio State Arch- acological and Historical Society," which was duly incorporated on the 13th day of March, 1885. The Honorable Allen G. Thurman was elected President and Mr. A. A. Graham, Sec-
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retary. The articles of incorporation succinctiy set forth the purpose and aim of the Society to promote a knowledge of archaeology and history, especially of Ohio, by establishing and maintaining a library of books, manuscripts, maps, charts, etc .. properly pertaining thereto ; a museum of prehistoric relics and natural or other curiosities or specimens of art or nature promotive of the objects of the Association-said library and museum to be open to the public on reasonable terms-and by courses of lectures and publication of books, papers and documents touching the subjects so specified, with power to receive and hold gifts and devices of real and personal estate for the benefit of such society, and generally to exercise all the powers legally and properly pertaining thereto.
Honorable Francis C. Sessions was the second President and Honorable Rutherford B. Hayes was the third. Upon the death of the latter General Roeliff Brinkerhoff was, in Feb- ruary, 1893, elected as President, and has annualy been re-elected since that time.
Mr. A. A. Graham occupied the office of Secretary until December, 1893, when ill health compelled him to remove West. He died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in February, 1896.
The society made exhibits, more or less complete, of its archaeological and historical collections at the New Orleans Exposition in 1885. and the Centennial Expositions held in Cincinnati and in Columbus in 1888, and also made one of the most extensive exhibits and interesting displays of any of the States at the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in the summer of 1893; the Pan-American Exposition held in Buffalo, 1901, and the Louisiana Pur- chase Exposition held in St. Louis, 1904.
The membership of the society consists of four classes, designated as Life Members, Active Members, Corresponding Members and Honorary Members. Over two hundred Life Members have been received into the society.
The government of the Society is vested in a Board of twenty-one Trustees, fifteen of whom are elected by ballot by the Society at its annual meetings, five only being elected each year to serve for three years. The other six trustees necessary to complete the number of twenty-one are appointed by the Governor of Ohio, without confirmation by the Senate, as provided by the legislative enactment of April 16, 1891, two to be appointed each year to serve for the period of three years. It will thus be seen that while the Society has the legal status of an independent incorporated institution, it is, semi-officially, at least, one of the departments of the State Government, owing to the appointment by the Governor of a portion of its trustees. Moreover, the General Assembly each year appropriates funds for the carrying on of its various lines of work.
The Board of Trustees elects the officers, consisting of the President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer, Secretary and the Librarian. The Board of Trustees also chooses, at its annual meeting, an Executive Committee, which meets once a month at Columbus, and has full power to conduct and administer the affairs of the Society.
For twenty years the Society has faithfully and energetically pursued the lines of study and investigation for which it was formed. It has held regular annual meetings in Colum- bus, at which meetings papers have been read and addresses been delivered on various themes pertinent to the purpose of the organization. Public meetings are occasionally held at Columbus and other parts of the State for lectures or examination of localities of his- torical or archaeological interest. One of the main features of the work of the Society is the exploration and study of the mounds, earthworks and sites of prehistoric races. The Legislature each year makes a specific appropriation for this field work, and each summer the Society sends out a corps of explorers. This work has resulted in exceedingly valuable and rich finds. The Society has accumulated a vast collection of Indian and prehistoric relics and antiquities, now consisting of some 50,000 specimens., mostly archaeological in char-
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acter, which are carefully classified and catalogued in the Society's Museum in Page Hall, Ohio State University. This department has been in charge of competent and experienced curators, such as Warren K. Morehead, Clarence Loveberry and the present successful incumbent, Professor W. C. Mills, who was appointed in June, 1898. The Society has also had the scholarly service in this department of Professor G. Frederick Wright and the late Doctor Edward Orton.
The Society is the custodian of the famous Ft. Ancient, near Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio. This property consists of some 300 acres, including the prehistoric fort or earthwork enclosure, which is the largest and best preserved and most interesting remains of its character now extinct. Models of this fort are in many of the museums of Europe, and it is constantly visited and studied by distinguished scholars, not only of other States, but of foreign countries. The Society is also the possessor of that unique relic of the Mound Builders, known as the Serpent Mound, situated near Peebles, Adams County, Ohio. The Serpent Mound and Park comprise some sixty acres of land, and was originally pur- chased by the ladies of Boston and presented to the Peabody Museum of Harvard Univer- sity, which latter institution, through the influence of the distinguished archaeologist, Pro- fessor F. W. Putnam, transferred it to the Ohio Society.
The Society has in course of preparation an archaeological map, which will designate the location of all important mounds, monuments, graves, village sites, etc., of the prehistoric period within Ohio. It has been estimated that these places of interest, worthy of note, number not less than fifteen thousand.
The Library of the Society, which numbers many rare volumes, and is being constantly augmented by exchanges and otherwise, occupies an excellent room in Page Building. The students of the Ohio State University have free use of the museum and library.
Probably no archaeological society of any State has done so much in the way of publica- tion and dissemination of valuable historical information as has the Ohio Society. It issues annually, in quarterly form, a volume of material concerning the history, archaeology and biography of the State. This material is nearly all originally prepared by specialists exclu- sively for publication by the Society. It has published thirteen volumes, averaging some 500 pages to the volume. These books are now in great demand, not only by similar societies and by scholars and libraries throughout the United States, but also by the govern- ments and leading libraries of the Old World. Many editions of each volume have been published. The State each year provides by appropriation for the publication of these works. They do not, however, come within the category of State documents for gratui- tous distribution. Their circulation is limited to the members of the Society and the libraries and societies which receive them in exchange for similar publications, except in some instances, when the General Assembly has made special provision for their publica- tion and distribution to the members of the Legislature.
In addition to its regular annual publication, the Society has published an elaborate and extensive "Archaeological History of Ohio." This work describes and illustrates all the leading archaelogic remains in the State, with accounts of many that have disappeared. It also embraces practically all that is known concerning the Indian and prehistoric races in Ohio-the customs, methods of living and religious ceremonies of these people, whose civil- ization, such as it was, has long since passed entirely out of existence. This book also pre- sents a complete bibliography of all the works and authorities upon the subjects of which it treats. Probably no work of its character of greater value has ever been published. It was pre- pared and edited by the well-known archaeologist, Mr. Gerard Fowke. The Society has also published a valuable volume containing the entire proceedings of the Centennial Celebration
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of the organization of the State of Ohio, which organization occurred on March 1, 1803, and the celebration of which was held at Chillicothe May 20. and 21., 1903. At this anniver- sary addresses were made by many of the most distinguished speakers of Ohio, covering the topics of the progress of Ohio in all its departments, literature, education, civil govern- ment, industrial resources, military and naval affairs, etc.
The annual publications and quarterlies of the Society are edited and published under the supervision of Mr. E. O. Randall, who has been the Secretary of the Society since December, 1893.
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OHIO'S JUDICIARY
How the Courts were Created
Territorial Courts .- The Judiciary under the First Constitution .- Supreme and Common Pleas Courts .- The Duties of the Judges .- Enlargement of the Judicial System under the Constitution of 1851 .- Courts Created by the Legislature.
INCE that breezy day in April, 1788, shortly after the arrival of the first settlers on the soil of the Northwestern Territory, when Colonel Return J. Meigs, Sr., drafted the first laws governing the first settlements of Ohio, up to the present time, the citizens of Ohio have had every reason to be proud of their courts. The word of Governor Joseph Vance, in his inaugural address on the 13th of December, 1836, stands good today: "I have again and again whilst on business in the Eastern cities, heard our judiciary spoken of in terms that make me proud that I was a citizen of Ohio. 'No collusion or fraud, sir,' says an eminent merchant of one of our Eastern cities, 'can stand before your judiciary.' This is the character, gentlemen, that causes capital to seek employment here. This is the character that gives security to our rights, and value to our property ; and to these com- bined courses are to be attributed a large portion of the flowing prosperity that is felt throughout every portion of our commonwealth."
The government for the Northwestern Territory was created by Congress in October, 1787, and in April of the following year the first settlers began to arrive in the newly opened country. Their arrival marked the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the United States. With the founding of the present city of Marietta, Ohio, a new empire was born. In the absence of the Governor and Judges, who were to form the law-giving power, and until their arrival, Colonel Return J. Meigs furnished the necessary laws for the new settlement. He drafted a code of regulations on common foolscap, which he tacked to the blazed trunk of a large oak tree, where it was read and indorsed by all the settlers. His- tory does not record a single infraction of those rules. The Governor, with a majority of the court, arrived at Marietta two months later, and from that moment the official govern- ment of the territory was effective. The ordinance of 1787, which created the "Territory northwest of the river Ohio," provides that there should be appointed a court to consist of three Judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common law jurisdiction, and reside in the district, and have therein a freehold estate, in five hundred acres of land, while in the exercise of their offices; and their commission shall continue in force during "good behavior." These Judges, together with the Governor, were to select from the civil and criminal laws of the original States such laws as they deemed suitable for the territory, and were given the power to promulgate such laws, and to enforce them, until they should be amended or repealed by a General Assembly, to be later organized according to the provisions of the ordinance under which they were appointed.
In accordance with the provisions of this ordinance Congress did, on the 16th of October, 1787, elect as Judges for. the Northwestern Territory, Samuel Holden Parsons, John Armstrong and James Mitchell Varnum. In the place of Mr. Armstrong, who declined the appointment, Congress appointed, on the 19th of February, 1788, Mr. John Cleves Symmes. The first Territorial Judges (in 1787-1788) were, therefore, Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum and John Cleves Symmes. The salaries of the Judges were fixed by Congress, in an act bearing the date of October 8, 1787, at $800 per annum. President George Washington, in a message to the Senate of the United States, bearing the date of New York, August 18, 1789, nominated as Judges of the Northwest Territory, "in accordance with the law re-establishing the government of the Northwest
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Territory." Samuel Holden Parsons. John Cleves Symmes and William Barton. Mr. Bar- ton, who was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Varnum, the month previous, himself declined the appointment, and on the 8th of September, the Senate com- pleted the reorganization of the court by confirming the nomination of George Turner as Associate Justice. The court thus constituted in 1789, and acting under the Constitution of the United States, consisted of Judges Samuel Holden Parsons, John Cleves Symmes and George Turner. Judge Parsons, then Chief Justice, was drowned in November, 1789, while returning home after completing a treaty with the Indians of the Western Reserve, and the President nominated as his successor on the bench Rufus Putnam, of Marietta, whose nomination was promptly confirmed by the Senate. The court as thus organized served from 1790 to 1796. when Judge Putnam left the bench, being appointed to the office of Surveyor General by President Washington, who. in the same message to the Senate, nom- inated Joseph Gilman to the Judgeship. Two years later, in 1798, Judge Turner resigned.
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HAMILTON COUNTY COURT HOUSE CINCINNATI, OHIO
He was succeeded by Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr. These Judges continued to serve until the admission of the State of Ohio into the Union, in 1803, and until the organization of the Supreme Court of Ohio.
The courts of Ohio may be classified into five groups: First, the Supreme Court of Ohio; second, the Circuit Courts; third, the Courts of Common Pleas; fourth, the Probate Courts, and, fifth, the courts of the Justices of the Peace. The Supreme Court, Court of Common Pleas and the Court of the Justices of the Peace were created by the first Constitu- tion of Ohio, which was framed by the Constitutional Convention in Chillicothe in November, 1802, shortly before the admission of the State into the Union, while the Circuit Courts were brought into existence by provisions of the second Constitution of 1851, under which the courts now operate. Under the Constitution of 1802 the number of Judges of the Supreme Court was the same as under the territorial form of government, three. with the power vested
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in the General Assembly to authorize the selection of an additional Judge, at the discretion of that body. These Judges were to be elected by the Legislature for terms of seven years, "if they so long behaved well." This expression was not used in any sense as a reflec- tion upon the possible members of the first judiciary of Ohio, but rather as a precaution against the possibilities of the future. It simply illustrates the earnestness of purpose and the conscientious efforts of the framers of the Constitution to conserve the public welfare.
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