USA > Ohio > Representative citizens of Ohio : memorial-genealogical > Part 9
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"First. That the people of Ohio, believing that the preserva- tion of the unity of government that constitutes the American people one people is essential to the support of their tranquility at home, of their peace abroad, of their safety, of their prosperity, and of that very liberty which they so highly prize, are firmly and ardently attached to the national constitution and the union of the States.
"Second. That the general government cannot permit the secession of any State without violating the obligations by which it is bound under the compact to the other States and to every citizen of the United States.
"Third. That whilst the constitutional rights of every State in the Union should be preserved inviolate, the powers and au- thority of the National Government must be maintained, and the laws of Congress faithfully enforced, in every State and territory until repealed by Congress, or adjudged to be unconstitutional by the proper judicial tribunal; and that all attempts by State authorities to nullify the constitution of the United States, or the laws of the Federal Government, or to resist the execution thereof, are revolutionary in their character and tend to the disruption of the best and wisest system of government in the world.
"Fourth. That the people of Ohio are inflexibly opposed to intermeddling with the internal affairs and domestic relations of other States of the Union, in the same manner and to the same extent as they are opposed to any interference by the people of other States in their domestic affairs.
"Fifth. That it is the will and purpose of the people of Ohio to fulfill in good faith all their obligations under the consti- tution of the United States, according to the spirit and intent
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thereof, and they demand the faithful discharge of the same duty by every State in the Union; and thus, as far as may be, to insure tranquility between the State of Ohio and other States.
"Sixth. That it is incumbent upon any State having enact- ments on their statute books conflicting with or rendering less efficient the constitution or laws of the United States, to repeal them; and it is equally incumbent upon the general government, and the several States, to secure to every citizen of the Union his rights in every State, under that provision of the constitution which guarantees to the citizens of each State all the privileges and immunities of the citizens of several States; and thus inspire and restore confidence and a spirit of fraternal feeling between the different States of the Union.
"Seventh. That the Union-loving citizens of those States who have labored and still labor, with devotional courage and patriotism, to withhold their States from the vortex of secession, are entitled to the gratitude and admiration of the whole American people.
"Eighth. That we hail with joy the recent firm, dignified, and patriotic special message of the President of the United States, and that the entire power and resources of Ohio are here- by pledged, whenever necessary and demanded for the mainte- nance, under strict subordination to the civil authority, of the constitution and laws of the general government by whomsoever administered.
"Ninth. That the governor be requested to forward, forth- with, copies of the foregoing resolutions to the President of the nation, and the governors of all the States of the Union and to each of the senators and representatives in Congress from this State, to be by them presented to each branch of the national legislature."
It was said by a distinguished contemporary that those reso- lutions merit for Mr. Harrison a just immortality. They passed the senate with but one dissenting voice and received but two op- posing votes in the house. When, in the following February, Abraham Lincoln, on his way to Washington to be inaugurated, was the guest of Governor Denison at Columbus, on being intro- duced to Mr. Harrison, asked if he was the author of the patriotic and timely resolutions and expressed his great pleasure at meet- ing him who had penned those lines.
In the lower house of Congress, where Mr. Harrison served during the momentous extra session of 1861, he left the impress of his individuality upon the work of that body, none questioning his lofty patriotism or the wisdom of his actions.
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As to the estimate of Mr. Harrison as a lawyer, no words could be penned that would delineate his character as clearly as did the memorial adopted by the Franklin County Bar Association after his death, and from that splendid paper we take the liberty of quoting:
"The law was Mr. Harrison's supreme mistress. To him the law was a science; he reveled in its philosophy; it was never a trade, nor a mere art. There were slight avocations, but in truth, the law maker was still in the practice of one of its loftiest branches. Between it and his home and the members of his family, each of whom was always affectionately and indulgently remembered and cared for by him, he swung like a pendulum, until he stopped and trembled to the final stillness, among his own, in that ideal lawyer's home.
"No man ever questioned or had just ground to question his fealty to clients, or their causes, or interests, or his fairness to adversaries, or his integrity, when measured by the finest rules of professional ethics. If the heat of argument, or contention, in a cause, led him to say or do what his cooler judgment disap- proved, the amende honorable was made at once, and not grudg- ingly, nor in doubtful or ambiguous phrases. He grew, in moral stature, while he generously corrected such an error. They were very rarely made. He was slow to believe ill of his neighbor and always, everywhere, strove to observe the golden rule.
"His was by nature and culture a well balanced, conservative, acute, and powerful mind, having quickness of perception, great susceptibility to suggestions, impressions and ideas, with a ca- pacity, possessed by few men, for their instant and proper classi- fication, assimilation and effective expression and use in presenta- tion and demonstration, whether to courts or juries, or the larger assemblies of men and women; whether in the domain of facts, in the technical or philosophical fields of jurisprudence, or in the wider fields of literature and general learning, all of which, by reading, and study, he cultivated, with exceptional success, for more than sixty years of ceaseless labor."
"When he once undertook a cause, his zeal in it was charac- terized by the same earnestness, labor, and sacrifice, whether he saw at its close full compensation for every hour's labor and all the skill devoted to it, or had volunteered, without reward, or the hope thereof, to defend the honor of professional brethren, or right a wrong for the weak, the stranger or the oppressed. In the conduct of prosecution or defense, civil or criminal, he made the causes of clients his own,
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"His diction was of the purest. His knowledge and use of good English was most effective. When Mr. Harrison had fin- ished a sentence, or paragraph, or argument, or literary address, oral or in writing, there was no mistaking his meaning."
"He was a logician par excellence. Admit his premises and his conclusion would bind, ninety-nine cases in a hundred, like bands of steel.
"He had the poise, deliberation and delivery of the finished orator, which occasionally, not often, became the effective back- ground of a torrent of invective, sarcasm, or ridicule against the wrong-doer, or the oppressor, who crossed his professional path- way. His courage was of the highest order, not lacking in any quality when challenged to action.
"The manly ways, the gentle manners, the even temper, the self-respect, the generous aid, the predominant justice of mind and spirit, the charming social gifts and qualities of the man, all tended to fix and hold the esteem of those who were professional associates."
Mr. Harrison enjoyed a national reputation as a constitu- tional lawyer, his preëminence in this connection being estab- lished by his success in the noted Boesel railroad cases, and from that time on he appeared before the supreme court for either the prosecution or the defense in the leading contests concerning the validity of legislative enactments. He ever regarded public office as a public trust and likewise believed that the practice of law was one of the highest callings to which a man could devote his talents and his energies.
On December 31, 1847, Richard A. Harrison was united in marriage with Maria Louisa Warner, whose father, Henry Warner, was a prominent early resident of Madison County, Ohio. At his death Mr. Harrison was survived by his widow and four children, namely: Catherine, widow of the late Samuel F. Marsh; Louise H., the wife of Hon. David K. Watson; Richard A., Jr., and Warner, of Columbus. Three children preceded him to the silent land, namely: William R. died on February 12, 1854, in infancy; Robert H., on October 1, 1868, at the age of fourteen years, and Mrs. Hattie Briggs Robinson, of Coalburg, West Virginia, on May 22, 1891, at the age of twenty-eight years.
Mrs. Harrison was born in Madison County, Ohio, on June 30, 1827, and was there reared to womanhood, receiving a good education in the Madison County Academy. During the long life partnership of more than sixty years, she was to him a true helpmate in the broadest sense of the term. Despite her ad- vanced years, Mrs. Harrison has to a remarkable degree her men-
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tal and bodily strength and has indeed "grown old sweetly." She comes of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Her great-grandfather, Robert Warner, was a native of Virginia. He was a soldier in the Revo- lutionary War and lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and four years. His son William, Mrs. Harrison's grandfather, was reared at Fairfax Court House, Virginia, and became a farmer by vocation. He was married in Virginia, and, in the year 1810, he and his family started on their long, tiresome, and dangerous journey over the mountains towards the setting sun, and, after sojourning for a time in the northern part of Ohio, they settled in London, Madison County, Ohio; many other members of the family also locating in that neighborhood. There William Warner and his wife lived to old age and were counted among the best people of their community. They were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he was a stanch Whig in his political faith. Of their seven children, five sons and two daughters, Henry Warner, the father of Mrs. Harrison, was the second in order of birth. ] The mother of these children died in Virginia, and the father afterwards married, by which union he had six sons and one daughter. These children of both mothers remained residents of Madison County, becoming prominent in the early life of that section.
Henry Warner was reared to the life of a farmer and received a good practical education. He became a surveyor by vocation and had much to do with the surveying of Madison County. He was also elected to the responsible office of county treasurer, re- maining the incumbent of that office for about twenty-five years, retiring from the office on account of failing health. He was a prominent Republican and took an active part in local politics. He died at the age of eighty-four years, though suffering from ill health for many years. In his religious belief he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he was an earnest worker and to which he gave liberally. He married, in Madison County, Katurah Gosslee, who was a native of Madison County, and who died there at the age of ninety years. She was the daughter of Richard Gosslee, a native of Maryland, but who be- came an early settler of Ross County, Ohio, a few years later re- moving to Madison County and settling eight miles from London, where his death occurred in middle life, being survived a number of years by his widow. They also were faithful members of the Methodist Church, and were people of the highest personal char- acter. Mrr. Harrison is one of eleven children, several of whom attained to considerable prominence in various walks in life. General D. B. Warner, a veteran of the Civil War, who went
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to the front as major of the One Hundred and Thirteenth Regi- ment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, lost an arm in battle and at the end of the war left the service with the rank of brigadier-general. After the war he was appointed by President Johnson consul to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, and has since made his home there. Another member of the family, Captain James B. Warner, was a soldier of the Civil War, being a member of the Twenty- sixth Ohio Regiment. He enlisted as a private, but by meritori- ous services he was successively promoted until at his discharge he was a captain. He is now retired and makes his home in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Harrison's living sisters are: Eliza, the wife of Judge Frank Baker, of Chicago, and they have two daughters; Mary, who lives in Chicago, is unmarried; Ara is the wife of Edmund J. Myer, of Seattle, Washington.
Mrs. Harrison is a member and liberal supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which she has maintained a close affiliation nearly all her life. Mr. Harrison, though not a member, was an attendant and supporter of that church.
In closing this review no better words could be chosen than those uttered at the memorial meeting of the Franklin County Bar Association by Mr. J. F. Rogers and Mr. George D. Jones.
Mr. Rogers: "The greatness of a man's life lives after he is gone, and is shown by the impression left upon those with whom he came in contact or have felt his influence. All who have been with Mr. Harrison in his home, in his office, or in the court room, have felt the power of his strong personality, the unfailing strength of his well-balanced nature, the force of his logic, the soundness of his principles, the energy that shirked no amount of research, and the candor with which he expressed himself. It is a great privilege to have lived so near a man who has left a legacy to us all-an example and influence that will long be felt by the members of our bar."
Mr. Jones: "He lived, as we know, to a ripe age. He has run his race, he has done his work, and there is none who would say he has not done it well. His taking off is a distinct loss to the bar of Ohio, but his career and reputation is a heritage of which the profession may feel proud. He honored his profession and in turn his profession honored him. The jurisprudence of Ohio is better for his services as a lawyer. The community is better for his having lived among us. Human character is stronger and nobler for his influence and example."
Cominson Carhart
GRICULTURE has been a true source of man's dominion on earth ever since the primal existence of labor, and has been the pivotal industry that has controlled for the most part all the fields of action to which his intel- ligence and energy have been devoted. In a civilized community no calling is so certain of yielding a compensatory return as that which is culled from a kindly soil, albeit the husbandman at times is sorely taxed in coaxing from mother earth all he desires or even expects. Yet she is a kind mother and seldom chastens with disappointment the person whose diligence and frugality she deems it but just should be rewarded. One of those who found a benefactress in mother earth during a past generation in cen- tral Ohio, was the late Edminson Earhart, who never found al- lurements for any kind of work outside of the realm of nature, and, having been a close student of the soils, the climate, the crops and all the phases of husbandry, he profited beyond the average farmer by his observations and was fully abreast of the times in his vocation. He was among the sturdy element in Franklin County whose labors profited alike themselves and the community in general. He was a scion of one of the pioneer families of this section of the Buckeye State, and all will agree that the early settlers in any community have ever contributed much to interest and entertain us. There is something romantic about the rug- gedness of their lives, and the uncertainties they had to face, which holds a fascination for us to-day. The hard-working lives of the Earhart family in this locality when it was still practically a wilderness were much more eventful, but withal perhaps more satisfactory and happy than the life of the average farmer of the present generation.
Edminson Earhart was born in Hamilton Township, Frank- lin County, Ohio, February 13, 1829, and there he was reared to manhood and received his early education in the neighboring schools, and there he spent his life engaged in general farming and stock raising, his farm being a part of the land owned by his father, who came to this section of Ohio from Pennsylvania in the early twenties, making a settlement on unimproved ground, entering wild land from the government. This he gradually cleared and improved and eventually became one of the leading
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farmers of his county. However, he purchased another farm in Marion Township, Franklin County, which he removed to and there he and his wife spent the rest of their days, having there a pleasant home, the father dying when scarcely past middle life, but the mother of the subject survived until she reached the age of eighty-three years. They were both stanch Methodists, and honest, hospitable, pioneer people. They became the parents of nine children, of whom Edminson Earhart, of this memoir, was the youngest. Nearly all of them grew to maturity, and all mar- ried but two and had families of their own. Most of them were successful in their vocations and some of them became prominent; one, Maxwell Earhart, became justice of the peace of Groveport, Franklin County, and was widely known by virtue of this office; George Earhart was sheriff of Franklin County, Ohio; John Ear- hart was superintendent of the county infirmary for many years, and died a bachelor; Irwin Earhart founded the town of Irwin, Iowa, and was a leading citizen there many years; Hattie married a Mr. White and their daughter, Lillie White, married Charles Schaff, president of the Big Four Railroad Company; the other daughters also married well and all were quite well known locally.
Edminson Earhart, of this review, remained on the home farm where he assisted with the general work until he was of age, then began farming for himself, purchasing forty acres at first, when he was married, and later increasing his holdings to one hundred acres of valuable and productive land which he kept well improved and under a high state of cultivation and on which he made a pronounced success as a general farmer and stock raiser. A part of this land is still owned by his widow, who, since 1888, has been residing in her cozy home in Columbus. Mr. Earhart remained on his farm in Marion Township, Franklin County, until his death, on December 13, 1884.
Mr. Earhart was married on November 15, 1864, to Anna Lesquereux, who was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, December 6, 1845. She is the daughter of Prof. Leo C. Lesquereux, a com- plete and extensive sketch of whom appears on other pages of this volume; however, owing to his prominence in the world of science during the past century some phases of his life will be touched on here also. In his early youth he was a great student and later became an eminent professor, an instructor in the royal German family, in fact, having been a college graduate in the old country and especially fluent in French and German. While an instructor in the royal family he married one of his students, Bar- oness Sophia von Wolfskael. When a youth he went into the mountains in search of geological specimens and fell down a
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precipice, his injuries finally resulting in deafness later in life, which compelled him to give up teaching. He was at one time commissioned by the king of Prussia to investigate and advise him on the peat bogs of that country. In 1848, when the revolu- tion broke out in the empire, he decided to come to the United States, on the advice of the eminent Professor Agassiz, of Boston, and he finally reached our shores after a tedious voyage in a sail- ing vessel over tempestuous seas, which kept the wife and mother seasick all the way, the trip lasting sixty days. The family lo- cated in Boston, but remained there only a short time, when Pro- fessor Lesquereux was induced by Professor William Sullivant to come to Columbus, Ohio, and in this vicinity he became active in various lines of scientific investigation, such as the study of flowers, mosses, etc., becoming both a botanist and geologist of wide notoriety. He was in the government employ for years as a government geologist, giving the utmost satisfaction to the de- partment. He was a noted author, and his name went over the world attached to many valuable scientific works. He was as- sisted much during his later years by his two granddaughters, Ida and Aimee Earhart. The death of the eminent professor occurred on October 29, 1889, at an advanced age, he having been born on November 18, 1806. His wife was born in 1812, and her death occurred on October 3, 1882. They celebrated their golden wedding on July 30, 1880. They were the parents of five children, namely: Ferdinand, a sketch of whom appears in this work. Frederick married Julia VanHorn, and to this union one daugh- ter was born; he finally went to Mexico, and died there; he was a linguist and acted as interpreter for President Maxmillian, of Mexico. ] Henry Lesquereux became a manufacturer in New York City, where he died; he married Bessie Reynold. Leo M., who married Mary Rickly, was a jeweler in Columbus all his active life, and died in that city. Anna became the wife of Edmin- son Earhart, of this review.
Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Earhart, named as follows: (1) Irwin and (2) Herbert, both died young, (3) Ida married Rev. E. A. Young, a Lutheran minister, and they live at Lancaster, Ohio; they have one son, Professor William Young, of Hebron, Nebraska, and a daughter, Isabell. (4) Leona Earhart married John Eichner, a garden farmer near Columbus, Ohio; they have ten children; Carl Eichner, who is employed at the State library; Elmer, of the U. C. T .; Maxwell, who is with his father; Aimee is at home; Gurtrie was next in order of birth; Es- tella, Irene, Clarence, Harold, and Helen are at home and in school. (5) Aimee Julia Earhart was educated in the cityt
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schools, was formerly assistant to her grandfather, Professor Leo Lesquereux, but is now a bookkeeper for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company in Columbus. (6) Leo Earhart, who is in the butcher business, married Ida Wagner, and they have one son, Howard W. (7) J. Edminson Earhart, who lives at home, is unmarried, and is foreman at the Kilbourne-Jacobs Manufactur- ing Company's plant. (8) Ferdinand Earhart, who is a lithog- rapher of Columbus, married Emma Link and they have one child, Robert William. (9) Hugh L. Earhart is a commercial salesman for a Columbus house, and he has remained unmarried. The Earhart family are worthy members of the German Lutheran Church and are liberal supporters of the same. They all stand high in whatever circles they choose to move in.
Fag by 5 G Wihams 3.B. MY
G. Frederick Wright ."
Frederick Talright
HE men most influential in promoting the advancement of society and in giving character to the times in which they live are of two classes-the men of study and the men of action. Whether we are more indebted for the improvement of the age to the one class or the other is a question of honest difference of opinion; neither class can be spared and both should be encouraged to occupy their several spheres of labor and influence, zealously and without mutual dis- trust. In the following paragraphs are briefly outlined the lead- ing facts and characteristics in the career of a gentleman who combines in his makeup the elements of the scholar and the energy of the public-spirited man of affairs. Devoted to the noble and humane work of teaching, G. Frederick Wright has made his influ- ence felt in the school life of the State of Ohio, and is not unknown to the wider educational circles of the nation, occupying as he does a prominent place in his profession and standing high in the esteem of educators in other than his own particular field of en- deavor, especially that of literature.
Professor Wright was born in Whitehall, New York, January 22, 1838, a scion of a sterling old family of the Empire State, being the son of Walter and Mary Peabody (Colburn) Wright. After finishing the usual elementary courses in the schools of his native town, young Wright entered Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, where he made a brilliant record and from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1859, the same college conferring on him the degree of Master of Arts in 1862, in which year he was graduated from the Oberlin Theolog- ical Seminary. He was further honored in 1887 by Brown Uni- versity conferring upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity; also Drury College in 1887 conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was made a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1890.
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