USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati pioneer > Part 7
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THE CINCINNATI PIONEER.
The compliment of being invited to be present at the Annual Meet- ing of this Association is the more deeply prized because, by the ordinance of nature, there are not many more years in which it can be enjoyed by any of my successors, from the fact that the progenitors of our city and State will have joined their contemporaries who have already preceded them unto that bourne from which there has not been the echo of returning step. I feel, ladies and gentlemen, as Mr. Webster felt upon the Semi-centennial Anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, in 1825, when he addressed the survivors of the action as men of a former generation, and who, after alluding to many who had been immortalized after death by the honors paid them, said he was reluctant that these honors should be extended further, and who prayed God that there might be more than ordinary delay in invasion - of the lives of the small band who were then enabled to be present.
Fathers and mothers of Ohio,-I close by wishing you many and many a repetition of an anniversary which is of so absorbing interest to your children, grandchildren, and to all your descendants, as well as to the thousands from foreign lands who have found a home in that State at whose political and social organizations you were among the creators.
I should consider that I had hardly performed my duty in appear- ing before you at all, if I neglected to pay a tribute of respect to your secretary and my old-time personal friend, John D. Caldwell, Esq., who has been so indefatigable in preserving your records, and in other respects contributing to obtain and popularize every existing me- morial of Cincinnati and Ohio with which you are connected, and whose services you have recognized at so many annual elections as invaluable. 1
ADDRESS OF HON. E. D. MANSFIELD.
AFTER the interesting address of my friend, Mr. L'Hommedieu, it is hardly necessary to add any thing ; but some things he said were suggestive. He alluded to the earthquake of 1811. On the sixteenth of December, 1811, we were roused from our sleep (then living just beyond the House of Refuge) by the rattling and tumbling of every thing in the house. In fact, the chimneys had fallen down, and we rushed out of the house upon a light snow on the ground, in order, as we supposed, to save our lives. That was one of the hardest shocks ;
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but successive shocks occurred for four months. My father, in order to test the motion, hung a powder-horn as a pendulum in the window, and it never entirely ceased vibrating until the first of May! I mention this because it is .not impossible that such an earthquake may come again, and it may then be remembered that such things : have been.
Another thing mentioned was the return of the Fourth Regiment United States Infantry from the battle-field of Tippecanoe.
I remember when that regiment passed my father's house. It stopped, and the officers came in to take refreshments. They marched to Canada, afterward to Mexico, then through the Rebellion. Recently I saw, when at West Point, the bullet-cut, dirt-covered flag of the Fourth Regiment, hung among the memorials of the war, in a room of the Military Academy.
With the Fourth Regiment, and making a part of Hull's army, were two companies from Cincinnati -- one of light infantry and one of dragoons. Just before they set out, they were called into the First Presbyterian Church, corner of Main and Fourth Streets, to hear an address from Dr. Joshua L. Wilson. The text was, in substance : " Cursed be he that goeth not forth to battle, and cursed be he that keepeth back his hand from blood." The brave, earnest, patriotic Wilson never hesitated to speak his mind, and speak it freely. That noble army was surrendered without a cause ; and none who did not know those men, can know with what anguish and sorrow and indig- nation that surrender was received.
And, now, what tribute shall we pay to their memory? What is their monument? It is their works. It is the institutions they made. Who were the pioneers? More than sixty years ago, I saw the great Chief of the Miamis, Little Turtle, ride away from my father's house. In imagination, I have since thought I saw the spirit of the Indian race leaving his native land, and bidding farewell to the home of his fathers. . But who succeeded him? Who were the pioneers? When I think of those who laid the foundations of the State, I think of the first lines of a song called "Alknomak." It begins thus :
"The sun sets at night, and the stars shun the day ;
But their glory remains when their light fades away."
They were among the first people of the land, whether we judge them by their characters, their education, or their acts. The pioneers of the Muskingum were a remnant of the army of the Revolution-
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brave, intelligent, conscientious men, who gave their services and lost their fortunes, and had nowhere to look except to some such enterprise as that of settling up the new and fertile lands of the West. Such were the Putnams and Varnums, and Tappans and Sprouts, who, in some such day as this, landed at Marietta. So, too, were the settlers of the Scioto-men of education and intelligence, and who had yet some estate, but who had come to a land of freedom and light. Such were the Massies, Worthingtons, Tappans, and hosts of others on the Scioto.
So, too, of the same character, were the settlers of the Miami. The St. Clairs, Burnets, Findlays, Ganos, and others, were intelligent men. These were the men who founded Ohio -- the men who founded it on freedom, religion, and education. They have been written out in constitutions, laws, and usages, and they will live in future gener- ations, when marble monuments have decayed, and yonder beautiful fountain has fallen into ruins. The Roman poet said, "I have erected a monument more durable than brass ;" and so the pioneers have built a monument, in these institutions, which ages can not destroy.
And now, my friends, I bid you good-bye, in the words of MIs. Barbauld :
"Life-we have been long together : Bid me not good-night ; But, in some brighter clime, bid me good-morning."
HON. BELLAMY STORER.
THE remarks of this venerable gentleman were brief, but full of sympathy with the occasion, and devout thankfulness to God for the ability to be present and take part in the exercises. He told them that he had a distinct recollection of seeing the Fourth Regiment, in the East, embarking in 1811 for the Indian war ; and the way he came to remember it so well lay in the fact that his uncle was commander of the regiment. In concluding, Judge Storer expressed the hope of that eternal reunion beyond the shores of time, where the good and the blest of all ages and all nations under the sun awaited them.
The Hon. Dr. G. VOLNEY DORSEY, member of the Constitutional Convention from Miami County, was called, and delivered a brief address, which was well received.
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HON. WM. M. CORRY
WAS called upon, as the son of the first Mayor of Cincinnati, for a speech ; but he had none to make. He expected to be a listener only ; and yet he could not disregard the cordial invitation to address the pioneers.
There were repeated calls for Mr. Corry, who hesitated about speaking ; but at last he said,-
That his reluctance to speak was not from indifference to the occa- sion, but for what he thought an excellent reason. He wanted to give others a better chance, and when such was the motive, nothing could be more golden than silence. He had for many years, in pri-" vate conversations and by speeches made on invitation of the Pioneer Association, taxed the patience of the members, and probably ex- hausted all he had to say on the subject: It was a greater pleasure to him to give way to others than to speak himself; but he could very briefly treat a topic suggested by the touching protest of Mr. Storer against the hard materialism of our age and people. He would not, however, take the rostrum, as his remarks were really so unexpected that they would hardly reward attention, much less challenge it.
Mr. Corry had felt a constant interest in this Society and its annual reunions, because it brought into friendly and intimate inter- course the aged pioneers of Ohio and their youngest descendants, as well as those who, like himself, were no longer young, but mature enough to appreciate the value of the extraordinary causes and results which were manifested in our physical progress and in the condition and character of the people. He held the Pioneer Association in great honor, for that it stood almost the only organization in the world that had a purely unselfish object. That object was to do homage to the memory of men and women who had passed away during a life-struggle to establish a State which provided the greatest latitude for liberty, and the firmest barrier to despotism ; to defer to the aged survivors of both sexes, whether here assembled or elsewhere dispersed ; and to inspire the next generation with love of one another and of their great inheritance. It builds probably wiser than it knows in strengthening the weakest place in our institutions. More than any other people, we are, in the material sense, prosperous almost beyond expression ; but, like them, we are prone to vaunt ourselves over our acquisitions of property, and to regard wealth and display and per-
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sonal acquisition as the chief end of man. This Association asserts, by its principles and its organization, that there is something in civil- ization far superior to that standard. To the dead, whose claims are ordinarily forgotten, it calls attention, and gives them credit for good deeds ; to the aged still living, but beyond the period of activity, it extends its cordial greeting ; and, by precept and example, it teaches all to subordinate the selfish to the social feelings. It is a most emi- nent and powerful social institution, planted in the mighty current of extravagance, folly, and self-seeking in which society is steeped to the very lips. Whether its influence be less or greater, we claim that it is cast upon the right side. The managers of the Society invite all the pioneers of Ohio since 1815, and their descendants, to assemble, and with conversation, songs, and exchange of information, as well as by means of a simple entertainment, to unbend themselves, and to recognize the nobler qualities of human nature. They invite us, in point of fact, to the effectual effort of reformation most needed in our day and generation. It is a reformation which will put us forward in the first business of life, in the real errand of human beings -- which is to leave the world better than we found it. Inasmuch as we have hitherto followed a bad example of egotism, of money-getting, of wor- shiping pecuniary success, we are here invited to put above these things the sterling elements of individual and national character.
This small and decreasing circle of hoary-headed men and women in their active lives have not done any thing so important. Their present work is the crown of it all; it is an almost sacred halo upon their venerable heads. They are testifying to the infinite value of the social elements of our nature, and placing them in that higher scale where they belong. . Such a discipline may be humble, modest, and, for aught I know, unappreciated ; but it has borne its fruits, and will continue to bear them. Whatever tends to make us better men and women, and to sustain the proper symmetry of society, should have the hearty co-operation of all good people; and I do not know any instrumentality so unique and valuable as the Pioneer Association. It has my hearty support, and my profound respect and admiration.
Ex-Mayor SPENCER, of Cincinnati, was next invited to speak. He alluded to the life and labors of his father, whose adventures among the Indians formed such an interesting and romantic chapter in the history of the State.
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ELDER JAMES CHALLEN
WAS next called upon (an old citizen of Cincinnati), and related remi- niscences of early times in Lexington, Kentucky, where he was raised . and educated. He remembered the earthquakes of 1811, and the revival of religion following them ; and somehow or other concluded that certain forms of religion had a good deal to do with earthquakes, physical as well as moral.
. He recollected the visit of General Lafayette to Lexington in May, 1825, to which reference has been made. He was then in Transyl- vania University, under the Presidency of Dr. Holly, who gave ~ privilege to several classes in the institution to furnish original ad- dresses to the distinguished visitor. He wrote a poetical one, which was accepted, the manuscript of which he still has in his possession. In the middle of the address, Lafayette, supposing he had finished it, arose, and with both hands grasped his, and gave them a hearty shake, which, said he, came very near shaking all the poetry out of him ; but, as some was still left in his speech, and probably the most effective part of it, he made one step backward and finished it, both standing. The effect of the act, though not in the programme, was quite theat- rical. At the conclusion of the address, he again gave another hearty shake, and sat down. I refer to this incident, said the speaker, to show, in what followed, the genuine politeness and delicate consider- ation of the friend of Washington. He had not given such expression of his hearty appreciation which was due to the speaker who preceded him, and who had retired below on a seat near the platform, but gave it to every one of the speakers that followed him ; but no sooner had they all finished their addresses, than he arose and descended the steps to the first speaker, and, in the presence of the assembly, gave him the same mark of approbation he had given to the rest, amidst the thundering applause and pleasure of all present.
After these reminiscenses, Mr. Challen read the following lines, which he had written for a former occasion, and in a distant State, but now adapted to the present :
Ye remnant of a pilgrim band, Each from a different clime ; To you I stretch a friendly hand, And weave this simple rhyme.
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From old New England's rocky shore, Or from its ancient hills, You caught at first our forests hoar, And traced our sunny rills.
From Jersey's plains, or Penn's old woods, Or Knickerbocker's isle, Or where the ocean sweeps its floods, You came in rank or file.
Perchance the lands of Burke and Fox, Beyond the distant sea, Or those of Luther and of Knox Live in your memory.
The ancient elms, beneath whose shade You sat, and sung, and laughed ; The breezy lawn, the sunny glade, The spring from which you quaff'd ;
The school-house, and the humble kirk, The lowly cottage door ; The romps and plays, the daily work, The ramble on the moor ;
The song of "Auld Lang Syne," now fled, The dreams of other days ;
The memories of the sainted dead, The pleasant walks and ways, --
All these are in your hearts ; I know "Tis not an idle dream ; And while the rapid moments flow, They mingle in the stream.
And as the cheerful hours you spend In social chat and glee,
You miss, each year, some trusty friend Whose form you do not see.
'T is not in numbers, nor in name, Nor yet in added power,
That gives enchantment to the flame That consecrates this hour.
As one by one the band grows less, Or flies the passing year, The few that form the broken mess Become to you more dear,-
Like the famed sibyl leaves of yore, When torn up, shred by shred,
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Only enhanced the precious store That still was numbered.
So live, that when your journey 's o'er, You'll meet in that fair land, Where wandering feet shall bleed no more, To join the pilgrim band.
Lunch was announced, and the assembly adjourned to the base- ment, where an elegant repast was prepared, under direction of the Pioneer Executive Committee, by Mr. and Mrs. Ransley, of West Eighth Street. Over two hundred and seventy pioneers sat down at the well-spread board, and ate with a relish.
Exercises in the Afternoon.
ON returning to the main audience-room, Judge JOSEPH Cox was introduced.
ADDRESS OF JUDGE JOSEPH COX.
THE venerable gentlemen who have preceded me have given you most important and interesting recitals of events in the early history of the State, and we have listened with unflagging interest to their details of the history and struggles of the early pioneers. How full of sturdy adventure and thrilling romance! They bring before us vividly the picture drawn, by Walter Scott, of the author of many of his own immortal tales. Hearing them, we almost stand in the pres- ence of Old Mortality, with chisel and mallet, renewing the names on the tombstones of the early pioneers, while he details to the listening historian their dauntless exploits. I would willingly forego saying any thing, that I might listen to these details as they fall from the trem- bling lips of aged men who were contemporary with the history they detail. We call it history; to them it is the mere recital of what they saw, and part of what they were.
To me, however. is assigned the task of speaking, not of the early history of Ohio, but of what the State is now.
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THE CINCINNATI PIONEER.
We have met to celebrate the Eighty-sixth Anniversary of the settle- ment of Ohio by civilized white men. Ohio, as" a State, boasts no great antiquity. We do not stand before her as one does before the great Pyramid of Egypt, and with wondering admiration say, "How old art thou?" No! Her greatness is not measured by age, but by the achievements of her sons and daughters, which have crowded the greatness of bygone centuries into the annals of a few years.
Eighty-six years ago, when the first white settler came to Mari- etta, this whole State was a vast expanse of forest-much of it wild, rocky hills, and foul, unwholesome swamp; no roads to mark their path ; the compass and stars their only guide through a wilderness guarded by inhospitable savages. But our pioneer fathers were of the true stuff of which States are said to be made:
"Men, high-minded men, With powers as far above dull brutes enducd, In forest, brake, or den, As beasts excel cold rocks, and brambles rude ; Men who their duties know, But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain."
And wisely did they plan, and nobly wrought. Only forty formed the nucleus of this State, eighty-six years ago ; and now we have a population of nearly three millions, more than half a million of voters, and seven hundred thousand children in the public-schools. Not only is her own population large, but Ohio has been the mother of empires, and her children have in all these years been going out to plant other States and territories. And to-day we find them by thou- sands in every State and territory north, south, and west, building up their greatness and shaping their destiny.
They fill up the busy States of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas; and, climbing over the Rocky Mountains, are found in town, city, mining-gulch, and farming-ranch, to the shores of the Pacific; and, beyond her thousands of miles of placid waters, Ohio's sons are embassadors of our nation in China and Japan.
The strong character of her sons has made its mark in living light in every department of our country's history-in statesmanship, war, literature, arts, agriculture, and science. She has given to the nation two Presidents of the United States-General W. H. Harrison and U. S. Grant; one Vice-President-B. F. Wade; two Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court-S. P. Chase and M. R. Waite; . two Associate Justices-John M'Lean and N. H. Swayne ; three Post-
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masters-General R. J. Meigs, John M'Lean, Wm. Dennison; three Secretaries of the Treasury -- Thomas Ewing, Thomas Corwin, S. P. Chase; four Secretaries of the Interior-Caleb Smith, Thomas Corwin, J. D. Cox, Columbus Delano; two Generals of the Army-U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman ; and a host of others who have written their names in glowing colors on the national history. In the world of art, the names of Powers, Clevinger, Jones, Baker, Read, Soule, and Beard, are known wherever the delineation of the human form or the beauties of nature, as portrayed by the genius of the chisel or brush, are known and admired.
Let me state, in a few words, the material wealth of the State, as exhibited by the census of statistics in 1873. We have eighty-eight (88) counties with full organizations and public buildings, one city - with a population of a quarter of a million, one with one hundred thousand, three with over thirty thousand each, five with over ten thousand each. Our population has increased a thousand per cent in eighty years ; and in the last year over fifteen thousand dwelling-houses have been erected, worth over eight millions of dollars. There are one hundred and ninety-six thousand cultivated farms in the State, inclosing nearly twenty-six millions of acres of land, four hundred thousand acres of orchard. In 1873, there were four millions and a half of sheep raised in the State, one million eight hundred head of cattle, two million and eighty-eight thousand head of hogs, and seven hundred and twenty-four thousand horses; and the total value of taxable property was one billion four hundred and sixty-eight million dollars. + Last year we raised over a hundred million bushels of corn, twenty-eight million bushels of wheat, and our wives and daughters churned fifty million pounds of butter.
The eastern part of the State abounds in coal and iron sufficient to meet the wants and abilities of the State and manufactories for a . thousand years, and is being developed with great rapidity; and all kinds of manufacturing establishments are growing up over the State.
To convey this produce to market, we have fifty railroads, with five thousand two hundred and six miles of road in operation, con- necting with every section of the whole Union; seven hundred and ninety-six miles of canal, reaching from the lakes at the north to the · Ohio River ; Lake Erie, navigable on the whole north, and the Ohio River on the south, both filled with vessels of proper dimensions for the carrying trade; while turnpikes and public roads cross almost every section of land in the State.
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The religious and educational interests of the State have kept pace with its material prosperity. Churches of nearly all denominations are in every city, town, and township; the exact number I have not been able to ascertain. There are one thousand nine hundred public-school districts, with eleven thousand six hundred and ninety- four school-houses, valued at eighteen millions of dollars; over a million of children of the age entitled to public education, with an average daily attendance of four hundred and eight thousand, and twenty-one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine teachers, three hundred and fifty high-schools, and seventy-four colleges and uni- versities.
With all the vast array of public wealth and improvements, we have yet in the State nearly ten million acres of land uncultivated, and the mining and manufacturing interests of the State are only in their infancy.
Who shall tell what will be our future? Our State has the ca- pacity to nourish and sustain, I might safely say, a population of twenty millions of people, while the natural beauty of its scenery, the healthfulness of its climate, its accessibility to and from all parts of the world, make a home here in every respect desirable.
While many of our people, with the migratory spirit of the age, are continually seeking new homes in the West, in hopes of bettering their fortune, may we not confidently hope that a closer examination of the wealth, resources, and capabilities of our own State will not only tend to keep them here, but draw fresh supplies to our popula- tion from all those who seek to make their homes in a State where natural resources and the avenues to fortune are so great, and so bountifully spread for all?
Much interest has been manifested in regard to rearing a monu- ment to our pioneer fathers. This is well. I should be extremely glad to see it done. But, after all, is not our great, prosperous, and happy State, the grandest monument which can be reared to its founders ?
After this speech, the audience joined in singing:
"O God, our hope in ages past, Our hopes for years to come."
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GENERAL SAMUEL CĄRY
WAS introduced. He began with a statement that he did not come to the meeting to talk, but rather to listen. He could scarcely claim a right among the pioneers. He was not one himself, but his father was. He could not recollect very far back, but could remember how he used to be sent into the Fifth-street Market by his father with peaches, chickens, and turkeys, and how his stock in trade was very cheap then. Peaches sold for sixteen cents per bushel, chickens for seven cents a piece, and turkeys for ten cents. He remembered an old man who could not sell a load of peaches even at this price; and so, rather than sell them at a lower figure, he dumped them into a neighboring pig-sty.
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