Portrait and biographical record of Marion and Hardin counties, Ohio, Part 2

Author: Chapman publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 952

USA > Ohio > Hardin County > Portrait and biographical record of Marion and Hardin counties, Ohio > Part 2
USA > Ohio > Marion County > Portrait and biographical record of Marion and Hardin counties, Ohio > Part 2

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

On the 2d of July the disease under which he was laboring left him, but in such a reduced state that his medical attendants entertained no hope of his recovery. From this time he was

· perfectly sensible that his last hour was at hand. On the next day, which was Monday, he asked of those around hint the day of the month, and on being told it was the 3d of July, he ex- pressed the earnest wish that he might be per- mitted to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniver- sary. His prayer was heard-that day whose dawn was hailed with such rapture through our land burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed forever. And what a noble consummation of a noble life! To die on that day-the birth- day of a nation -- the day which his own name and his own act had rendered glorious, to die amidst the rejoicings and festivities of a whole nation, who looked up to him as the author, un- der God, of their greatest blessings, was all that was wanting to fill up the record of his life.

Alinost at the same hour of his death, the kin- dred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to bear him company, left the scene of his earthly honors. Hand in hand they had stcod forth, the cham- pions of freedom; hand in hand, during the dark and desperate struggle of the Revolution, they had cheered and animated their desponding coun- trymen; for half a century they had labored to- gether for the good of the country, and now hand in hand they departed. In their lives they had been united in the same great cause of liberty, and in their deaths they were not divided.

In1 person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rather above six feet in height, but well formed; his eyes were light, his hair, originally red, in after life be- came white and silvery, his complexion was fair, his forehead broad, and his whole countenance intelligent and thoughtful. He possessed great fortitude of mind as well as personal courage, and his command of temper was such that his oldest and most intimate friends never recollected to have seen him in a passion. His manners, though dignified, were simple and unaffected, and his hospitality was so unbounded that all found at his house a ready welcome. In conversation he was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic, and his language was remarkably pure and correct. He was a finished classical scholar, and in his writ- ings is discernible the care with which he formed his style upon the best models of antiquity.

...........

JAMES MADISON.

AMES MADISON, "Father of the Consti- tution," and fourth President of the United States, was born March 16, 1757, and died at his home in Virginia June 28, 1836. The name of James Madison is inseparably connected with most of the important events in that heroic period of our country during which the founda- tions of this great republic were laid. He was the last of the founders of the Constitution of the United States to be called to his eternal reward.

The Madison family were among the early emi- grants to the New World, landing upon the shores of the Chesapeake but fifteen years after the settle- ment of Jamestown. The father of James Madison was an opulent planter, residing upon a very fine estate called Montpelier, in Orange County, Va. It was but twenty-five miles from the home of Jef- ferson at Monticello, and the closest personal and political attachment existed between these illustri- ous men from their early youth until death.

The early education of Mr. Madison was con- ducted mostly at home under a private tutor. At the age of eighteen he was sent to Princeton Col- lege, in New Jersey. Here he applied himself to study with the most imprudent zeal, allowing him- self for months but three hours' sleep out of the twenty-four. His health thus became so seriously impaired that he never recovered any vigor of constitution. He graduated in 1771, with a feeble body, but with a character of utmost purity, and a mind highly disciplined and richly stored with learning, which embellished and gave efficiency to his subsequent career.

Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study of law and a course of extensive and systematic reading. This educational course, the spirit of the times in which he lived, and the society with which he associated, all combined to inspire him with a strong love of liberty, and to train him for his life-work as a statesman.

In the spring of 1776, when twenty-six years of

age, he was elected a member of the Virginia Con- vention to frame the constitution of the State. The next year (1777), he was a candidate for the Gen- eral Assembly. He refused to treat the whisky-lov- ing voters, and consequently lost his election; but those who had witnessed the talent, energy and public spirit of the modest young man enlisted themselves in his behalf, and he was appointed to the Executive Council.

Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison re- mained member of the Council, and their apprecia- tion of his intellectual, social and moral worth contributed not a little to his subsequent eminence. In the year 1780 he was elected a member of the Continental Congress. Here he met the most il- lustrious men in our land, and he was immediately assigned to one of the most conspicuous positions among them. For three years he continued in Con- gress, one of its most active and influential mem- bers. In 1784, his term having expired, he was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature.

No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no national government, and no power to form trea- ties which would be binding, or to enforce law. There was not any State more prominent than Virginia in the declaration that an efficient na- tional government must be formed. In January, 1786, Mr. Madison carried a resolution through the General Assembly of Virginia, inviting the other States to appoint commissioners to meet in convention at Annapolis to discuss this subject. Five States only were represented. The conven- tion, however, issued another call, drawn up by Mr. Madison, urging all the States to send their delegates to Philadelphia in May, 1787, to draft a Constitution for the United States, to take the place of the Confederate League. The delegates met at the time appointed. Every State but Rhode Island was represented. George Washing-

JAMES MADISON.

ton was chosen president of the convention, and the present Constitution of. the United States was then and there formed. There was, perhaps, no mind and no.pen more active in framing this immortal document than the mind and the pen of James Madison.

The Constitution, adopted by a vote of eighty-one to seventy-nine, was to be presented to the several States for acceptance. But grave solicitude was felt. Should it be rejected, we should be left but a conglomeration of independent States, with but little power at home and little respect abroad. Mr. Madison was elected by the convention to draw up an address to the people of the United States, ex- pounding the principles of the Constitution, and urging its adoption. There was great opposition to it at first, but at length it triumphed over all, and went into effect in 1789.

Mr, Madison was elected to the House of Repre- sentatives in the first Congress, and soon became the avowed leader of the Republican party. While in New York attending Congress, he met Mrs. Todd, a young widow of remarkable power of fas- cination, whom he married. She was in person and character queenly, and probaby no lady has thus far occupied so prominent a position in the very peculiar society which has constituted our republican court as did Mis. Madison.

Mr. Madison served as Secretary of State under Jefferson, and at the close of his administration was chosen President. At this time the encroach- ments of England had brought us to the verge of war. British orders in council destroyed our com- merce, and our flag was exposed to constant insult. Mr. Madison was a man of peace. Scholarly in his taste, retiring in his disposition, war had no charms for him. But the meekest spirit can be roused. It makes one's blood boil, even now, to think of an American ship brought to upon the ocean by the guns of an English cruiser. A young lieutenant steps on board and orders the crew to be paraded before him. With great non- chalance he selects any number whom he may please to designate as British subjects, orders them down the ship's side into his boat, and places them on the gundeck of his man-of-war, to fight, by compulsion, the battles of England. This right

of search and impressment no efforts of our Gov- eniment could induce the British cabinet to re- linquish.

On the 18th of June, 1812, President Madison gave his approval to an act of Congress declaring war against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the bitter hostility of the Federal party to the war, the country in general approved; and Mr. Madison, on the 4th of March, 1813, was re-elected by a large majority, and entered upon his second term of office. This is not the place to describe the various adventures of this war on the land and on the water. Our infant navy then laid the found- ations of its renown in grappling with the most formidable power which ever swept the seas. The contest commenced in earnest by the appearance of a British fleet, early in February, 1813, in Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole coast of the United States under blockade.

The Emperor of Russia offered liis services as mediator. America accepted; England refused. A British force of five thousand men landed on the banks of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into Chesapeake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of Bladensburg, upon Washington.

The straggling little city of Washington was thrown into consternation. The cannon of the brief conflict at Bladensburg echoed through the streets of the metropolis. The whole population fled from the city. The President, leaving Mrs. Madison in the White House, with her carriage drawn up at the door to await his speedy return, hurried to meet tlie officers in a council of war. He inet our troops utterly routed, and he could not go back without danger of being captured. But few hours elapsed ere the Presidential Mansion, the Capitol, and all the public buildings in Wash- ington were in flames.

The war closed after two years of fighting, and on February 13, 1815, the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. On the 4th of March, 1817, his second term of office expired, and he resigned the Presidential chair to his friend, James Monroe. He retired to liis beautiful home at Montpelier, and there passed the remainder of his days. On June 28, 1836, at the age of eighty-five years, he fell asleep in death. Mrs. Madison died July 12, 1849.

JAMES MONROE.

1648492

JAMES MONROE.

AMES MONROE, the fifth President of the United States, was born in Westmoreland County, Va., April 28, 1758. His early life was passed at the place of his nativity. His an- cestors had for many years resided in the province in which he was born. . When he was seventeen years old, and in process of completing his educa- tion at William and Mary College, the Colonial Congress, assembled at Philadelphia to deliberate upon the unjust and manifold oppressions of Great Britain, declared the separation of the Colonies, and promulgated the Declaration of Independence. Had he been born ten years before, it is highly probable that he would have been one of the sigtiers of that celebrated instrument. At this time he left school and enlisted among the pa- triots.

He joined the army when everything looked hopeless and gloomy. The number of deserters increased from day to day. The invading armies came pouring in, and the Tories not only favored the cause of the mother country, but disheartened the new recruits, who were sufficiently terrified at the prospect of contending with an enemy whom they had been taught to deem invincible. To such brave spirits as James Monroe, who went right onward undismayed through difficulty and danger, the United States owe their political emancipation. The young cadet joined the ranks and espoused the cause of his injured country, with a firm determination to live or die in her strife for liberty. Firmly, yet sadly, he shared in the melancholy retreat from Harleni Heights and White Plains, and accompanied tlie dispirited army as it fled before its foes through New Jersey. In four months after the Declaration of Inde- pendence, the patriots had been beaten in seven battles. At the battle of Trenton he led the van- guard, and in the act of clrarging upon the enemy he received a wound in the left shoulder.

. As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was promoted to be captain of infantry, and, having re- covered front his wounds, he rejoined the army. He, however, receded from the line of promotion by becoming an officer on the staff of Lord Ster- ling. During the campaigns of 1777 and 1778, in the actions of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, he continued aide-de-camp; but be- coming desirous to regain his position in the army, he exerted himself to collect a regiment for the Virginia line. This scheme failed, owing to the exhausted condition of the State. Upon this failure lie entered tlie office of Mr. Jefferson, at that period Governor, and pursued with consid- erable ardor the study of common law. He did not, however, entirely lay aside the knapsack for the green bag, but on the invasion of the enemy served as a volunteer during the two years of his legal pursuits. .

In 1782 he was elected from King George County a member of the Legislature of Virginia, and by tliat body he was elevated to a seat in the Executive Council. He was thus honored with the confidence of his fellow-citizens at twenty- three years of age, and having at this early period displayed some of that ability and aptitude foi legislation which were afterward employed with unremitting energy for the public good, he was in the succeeding year chosen a member of the Congress of the United States.

Deeply as Mr. Monroe felt the imperfections of the old Confederacy, he was opposed to the new Constitution, thinking, with many others of the Republican party, that it gave too inucli power to the Central Government, and not enough to the individual States. Still lie retained the esteem of lris friends who were its warm supporters, and who, notwithstanding his opposition, secured its adoption. Il1 1789 he became a member of the United States Senate, which office he held for

JAMES MONROE.

four years. Every month the line of distinction between the two great parties which divided the nation, the Federal and the Republican, was growing more distinct. The differences which now separated them lay in the fact that the Repub- lican party was in sympathy with France, and also in favor of such a strict construction of the Constitution as to give the Central Government as little power, and the State Governments as much power, as the Constitution would warrant; while the Federalists sympathized with England, and were in favor of a liberal construction of the Con- stitution, which would give as much power to the Central Government as that document could pos- sibly authorize.

Washington was then President. England had espoused the cause of the Bourbons against the principles of the French Revolution. All Europe was drawn into the conflict. We were feeble and far away. Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality between these contending powers. France had helped us in the struggles for our liberties. All the despotisms of Europe were now combined to prevent the French from escaping from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse than that which we had endured. Col. Monroe, more mag- nanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in their extremity. It was the impulse of a gener- ous and noble nature, and Washington, who could appreciate such a character, showed his calm, se- rene, almost divine, greatness, by appointing that very James Monroe who was denouncing the pol- icy of the Government, as the minister of that Government to the Republic of France. Mr. Monroe was welcomed by the National Conven- tion in France with the most enthusiastic dem- onstration.

Shortly after his return to this country, Mr. Monroe was elected Governor of Virginia, and held the office for three years. He was again sent to France to co-operate with Chancellor Liv- ingston in obtaining the vast territory then known as the province of Louisiana, which France had but shortly before obtained from Spain. Their united efforts were successful. For the compara- tively small sum of fifteen millions of dollars, the

entire territory of Orleans and district of Loui- siana were added to the United States. This was probably the largest transfer of real estate which was ever made in all the history of the world.

From France Mr. Monroe went to England to obtain from that country some recognition of our rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate against those odious impressments of our seamen. But England was unrelenting. He again returned to England on the same mission, but could receive no redress. He returned to his home and was again chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon resigned to accept the position of Secretary of State under Madison. While in this office war with England was declared, the Secretary of War resigned, and during these trying times the duties of the War Department were also put upon him. He was truly the armor-bearer of President Madison, and the most efficient business inan in his cabinet. Upon the return of peace he re- signed the Department of War, but continued in the office of Secretary of State until the expira- tion of Mr. Madison's administration. At the election held the previous autuinn, Mr. Monroe himself had been chosen President with but little opposition, and upon March 4, 1817, he was in- augurated. Four years later he was elected for a second term.

Among the important measures of his Presi- dency were the cession of Florida to the United States, the Missouri Compromise, and the famous "Monroe doctrine." This doctrine was enun- ciated by him in 1823, and was as follows: "That we should consider any attempt on the part of European powers to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety," and that " we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing or controlling American governments or provinces in any other light than as a manifestation by European powers of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States."

At the end of his second term, Mr. Monroe re- tired to his home in Virginia, where he lived un- til 1830, when he went to New York to live with 'his son-in-law. In that city he died, on the 4th of July, 1831.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

OHN QUINCY ADAMS, the sixth President of the United States, was born in the rural home of his honored father, John Adanis, in Quincy, Mass., on the itth of July, 1767. His inother, a woman of exalted worth, watched over his childhood during the almost constant ab- sence of his father. When but eight years of age, he stood with his mother on an eminence, listening to the booming of the great battle on Bunker's Hill, and gazing out upon the smoke and flames billowing up from the conflagration of Charlestown.

When but eleven years old he took a tearful adieu of his mother, to sail with his father for Eu- rope, through a fleet of hostile British cruisers. The bright, animated boy spent a year and a-half in Paris, where his fatlier was associated with Franklin and Lee as Minister Plenipotentiary. His intelligence attracted the notice of these dis- tinguished men, and he received from them flat- tering marks of attention.

John Adams had scarcely returned to this country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. Again John Quincy accompanied his father. At Paris he applied himself to study with great dil- igence for six months, and then accompanied his father to Holland, where he entered first a school in Amsterdam, then the University at Leyden. About a year from this time, in 1781, when the manly boy was but fourteen years of age, he was selected by Mr. Dana, our Minister to the Rus- sian court, as his private secretary.

In this school of incessant labor and of ennobl- ing culture he spent fourteen months, and then returned to Holland, through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and Bremen. This long journey he took alone in the winter, when in his sixteenth year. Again he resumed his studies, under a pri- vate tutor, at The Hague. Then, in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father to Paris, travel- ing leisurely, and forming acquaintances with the most distinguished men on the continent, examin- |

ing architectural remains, galleries of paintings, and all renowned works of art. At Paris hte again became associated with the most illustrious mien of all lands in the contemplation of the loftiest temporal themes which can engross the human mind. After a short visit to England he returned to Paris, and consecrated all liis energies to study until May, 1785, when he returned to America to finish liis education.

Upon leaving Harvard College at the age of twenty, he studied law for three years. In June, 1794, being then but twenty-seven years of age, he was appointed by Washington Resident Min- ister at the Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in July, he reached London in October, where he was immediately admitted to the deliberations of Messrs. Jay & Pinckney, assisting them in nego- tiating a commercial treaty witli Great Britain. After thus spending a fortnight in London, he proceeded to The Hague.

In July, 1797, he left The Hague to go to Por- tugal as Minister Plenipotentiary. On his way to Portugal, upon arriving in London, he met with despatches directing him to the court of Berlin, but requesting him to remain in London until he should receive his instructions. While waiting he was married to an American lady, to whom he had been previously engaged-Miss Louisa Cath- erine Johnson, a daughter of Joshua Johnson, American Consul in London, and a lady en- dowed with that beauty and those accomplish- ments which eminently fitted her to move in the elevated spliere for which she was destined. He reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797, where he remained until July, 1799, when, hav- ing fulfilled all the purposes of his mission, he so licited his recall.

Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen to the Senate of Massachusetts from Boston, and then was elected Senator of the United States for six years, from the 4th of March, 1804. His rep- utation, his ability and his experience placed

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

him immediately among the most prominent and influential members of that body. .

In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the Presidential chair, and he immediately nominated John Quincy Adams Minister to St. Petersburgh. Resigning his professorship in Harvard Col- lege, he embarked at Boston in August, 1809.

While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense student. He devoted his attention to the lan- guage and history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; to the European system of weights, measures and coins; to the climate and astronomical observa- tions; while he kept up a familiar acquaintance with the Greek and Latin classics. In all the universities of Europe, a more accomplished scholar could scarcely be found. All through life the Bible constituted an important part of his studies. It was his rule to read five chapters every day.

On the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. Monroe took the Presidential chair, and immediately appointed Mr. Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of his numerous friends in public and private life in Europe, he sailed in June, 1819, for the United States. On the 18th of August, he again crossed the threshold of his home in Quincy. During the eight years of Mr. Monroe's administration, Mr. Adams continued Secretary of State.

Some time before the close of Mr. Monroe's second term of office, new candidates began to be presented for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. Adams brought forward his name. It was an exciting campaign, and party spirit was never more bitter. Two hundred and sixty electoral votes were cast. Andrew Jackson received ninety- nine; John Quincy Adams eighty-four; William H. Crawford forty-one; and Henry Clay thirty- seven. As there was no choice by the people, the question went to the House of Representa- tives. Mr. Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to Mr. Adams, and he was elected.

The friends of all the disappointed candidates now combined in a venomous and persistent as- sault upon Mr. Adams. There is nothing more disgraceful in the past history of our country than the abuse which was poured in one uninterrupted stream upon this high-minded, upright and pa-

triotic man. There never was an administration more pure in principles, more conscientiously de- voted to the best interests of the country, than that of John Quincy Adams; and never, perhaps, was there an administration more unscrupulously and outrageously assailed.

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Portrait and biographical record of Marion and Hardin counties, Ohio, Part 2

Author: Chapman publishing co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 952

Author: Chapman publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 952