USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 33
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Walcutt, and he. regards it with more pride than any battle in which he ever engaged. After the battle of July 22d, in which the brave McPherson fell, he was raised to the full rank of brigadier-general. He participated in all the engagements of the Atlanta campaign, and, after the destruction of the city, fought the only battle-that of Griswoldsville-which occurred during the famous march to the sea. In this en- gagement, isolated from the main body of the army, and with his command reduced to thirteen hundred men, he sustained an attack by a body of Confederate troops over seven thou- sand strong, under General Cobb. He not only bore up against that overwhelming force, but finally routed it with such complete success that the number of the enemy left dead and wounded on the field exceeded that of the whole force with which he had entered the engagement. For the notable gallantry displayed on this field he was breveted major-general, and again distinguished by a very laudatory notice in the report of General Sherman. He had then re- ceived, however, a severe shell wound in the leg, which dis- abled him for several months, and he was unable to resume his command until the army entered North Carolina, when he was assigned to the command of the Ist division of the 14th army corps, and a few months later passed with the victorious troops in grand review before the President at Washington. He then took his command to Louisville, where it was mustered out in August, 1865. He personally, however, served in the Western Department until January, 1866, at which date he was mustered out, and accepted the wardenship of the Ohio penitentiary. While in this position he accepted also the appointment of a lieutenant-colonelcy in the United States regular cavalry service, and reported to General Hancock, at St. Louis. But three months later, finding that no imperative duty called him to the life of a sol- dier in time of peace, he handed in his resignation, and returned to the pursuits of civil life, resuming his position as warden in the penitentiary. That office was held by him for three years, and he was the first man under whose manage- ment the institution returned a revenue to the State treasury. In 1869 he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the seventh district of Ohio, and still holds that position. He has always taken a zealous interest in public affairs, and in the cause of education in Columbus. He has displayed rare fidelity to his responsible and important trust, and by his energetic and able administration of affairs has elicited enco- miums from those even who were opposed to his appoint- ment. In the conduct of the onerous and perplexing duties devolving upon him, his executive talents mark him as a thoroughly capable man, while the luster of his past record can not but be heightened by his unvarying attitude as a trustworthy and upright officer.
HUNTINGTON, SAMUEL, the third governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1765, and graduated at Yale College in 1785. He adopted the profession of law, in 1793 married a lady of his own name, and attended strictly to the duties of his profession in the town of his birth until the year 1800, when he resolved to visit that western country that was then attracting to it so many residents of the New England States. First stopping at Youngstown, he from there went to Marietta, where he spent the summer, and in the fall of that year returned to Norwich. The following spring taking his wife and children in an Ohio wagon, then so-called, after weeks of toilsome
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travel they arrived at Cleveland, then a settlement of doubt- ful name as a healthy abode, as they found that many who preceded them had vacated the cabins they had first built, and had removed to the higher ground back of the town to escape the sickness so prevalent near the lake. Here he erected a strongly-built house, as attacks by drunken and riotous Indians were not uncommon. Mr. Huntington soon entered upon public life. General St. Clair appointed him second in command of a regiment of Trumbull county militia, and he was shortly afterward elevated to the position of pre- siding judge in the first court in that part of the territory. In 1802 he was a member of the Constitutional convention, and by that body was appointed State senator for Trumbull county, the name then borne by the territory now known as the northeastern portion of the State, and which at present is divided into six counties. For some time he was speaker or president of the State senate, and by the legislature elected to a seat on the supreme bench. When Michigan was organ- ized as a territory, Judge Huntington was offered the position of judge of the district court of that territory, but this he declined, as well as other important offices which were pressed upon him. The prevailing unhealthiness of Cleve- land finally induced him to remove his residence to New- burgh, where he erected a grist mill, then a very important construction, and advantageous to the settlers. In 1809 he purchased a finely located farm on the eastern shore of Grand river, between Painesville and the lake, and erected a man- sion commodious, and, for those days, rather imposing in its style of architecture. This house remains to attest by its position the good taste of him who built it. A conflict of au- thority arose between the legislative and judicial departments of the State while Judge Huntington was on the Supreme court bench. The legislature passed a law conferring certain rights upon justices of the peace, which the judges of the Supreme court declared to be unconstitutional. Thereupon the lower house filed articles of impeachment against the judges, but in the midst of this confusion the people of Ohio had elected Judge Huntington governor of the State. He, having resigned, was therefore not brought to trial, and it being impossible to obtain two-thirds of the legislative vote against the other two judges, they consequently escaped con- viction. Nothing of particular moment occurred during the term he held office, but his prominence prevented him re- tiring to private life. In 1812 he was, during the second war with Great Britain, a member of the Ohio legislature. The destruction of life and property by the Indians during that year was such that Governor Huntington, having with Gen- eral Cass visited Washington to represent to the authorities there the condition of affairs in Ohio, was appointed dis- trict paymaster with the rank of colonel, and returned to the camp of General Harrison with a supply of funds in the shape of government drafts. He remained for many months with the army, and until peace was declared, when he returned to his home, where he subsequently lived peacefully until 1817, when he died while comparatively a young man, being but fifty-two years old. His character for strict integrity, great executive ability and accomplished scholarship, was second to that of no incumbent of the executive office.
POTTER, EMERY D., lawyer and legislator, of To- ledo, was born in Providence county, Rhode Island. When two years old he was taken by his parents to Otsego county, New York. He studied law in the office of Hon. John A.
Dix and Abner Cook, Jr., at Cooperstown, and was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the State. Two years af- terward, in 1835, he removed to Toledo. In 1836 he was ap- pointed postmaster-the second who had held that position in Toledo-and retained the place until 1839, when he was made presiding judge of the 13th judicial circuit, and con- tinued in that office five years. His circuit covered the whole of the northwest and least settled part of the State, necessi- tating long and sometimes perilous journeys on horseback. In 1843 he was, although a democrat and the district strongly whig, elected to Congress by a handsome majority. He re- mained through that Congress, closely attentive to his duties, and speedily making himself a leader. He was a member of the select committee charged with the duty of devising a plan to carry into effect the will of Mr. Smithson, and he joined with Mr. Adams in the report which formed the basis of all the subsequent legislation out of which grew the Smith- sonian Institute. In 1845, at the close of his congressional term, he was elected mayor of Toledo, and held the position for three successive terms. In 1847, against his wishes, he was elected a member of the Ohio house of representatives, at a time when the best men of both parties were placed in nomination. He became leader of the democratic side of the house, and attended so strictly to his duties that not a single question was put to the house upon which he did not vote. In August, 1848, he was a second time nominated for Congress, although himself earnestly laboring for the nomi- nation of another. On taking his seat, in the contest over the selection of a presiding officer for the Thirty-first Con- gress, he received seventy-eight votes for that position in many of the sixty-two trials before a choice was effected, al- though he had served but a single term previously, and that many years before. He was appointed to the responsible po- sition of chairman of the committee on post-offices and post- roads, where he soon made himself valuable to the country. He labored diligently and effectively in devising and perfect- ing a plan for the cheap postage of that time. The bill was reported to the house, and at his instance was made a special order. He conducted it safely through the house, and con- tinued his care for it until it had passed the Senate also. He devised the silver three-cent coin, designed to give the people of the South a small currency, of which they stood in need. Having had some of the pieces coined, he sent specimens to all the members, and pushed the measure until it was adopted. In addition to holding the offices already mentioned, he was for many years a member of the Toledo city council, and also of the board of education, in which bodies he held a prominent place. He was collector of the port for one term. For many years he took no part in politics, but in 1873, whilst away from home, he was nominated, without his knowledge, to the State senate, and elected by over eight hundred ma- jority, although the district was heavily republican. In the legislature of which he formed part he framed and endeav- ored to have passed what became widely known as the " Pot- ter bill," the object of which was to reduce the number of city councilmen and simplify municipal management. It passed both houses, but was reconsidered and lost by one vote. He secured the passage in the senate, against strong opposition, of the law governing the condemnation of lands for railroad purposes, which abolished special privileges to the great rail- road companies in the acquirement of lands. He introduced and procured the passage of the bill appropriating ten thou- sand dollars for fish-hatching purposes in Ohio, and creating
To N Pudleton
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a board of fish commissioners. He framed and carried through the law for the protection of game in Ohio, in spite of strong opposition. He was chairman of the geological committee, and procured the appropriation for the publica- tion of the second volume of State geological reports. Al- though a strong partisan in politics, he was singularly free from party bias in his official acts. During the rebellion he was a war democrat, and gave profusely of time and money to aid the government in maintaining the Union. From his youth he was a great lover of field sports, a famous hunter, and was said to have killed more deer than any other man of his time in the State. In 1875 he had retired from active po- litical life, and among other things was engaged in his scien- tific hobby, pisciculture. He was married twice: first, in 1843, to Miss Mary A. Card, of Willoughby, Ohio, who died three years after, leaving one son, Emery D., jr., member of the firm of Haines & Potter, Toledo. In 1856 he married Miss Anna B. Milliken, of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania.
PENDLETON, GEORGE HUNT, lawyer and states- man, was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, July 19th, 1825, and living there April 9th, 1879, and was the oldest son of Nathaniel Greene Pendleton. At eight years of age he was sent to the Woodward High School, but two years later he was trans- ferred to the school of the late O. M. Mitchel, afterward General Mitchel; and when the Cincinnati College was or- ganized, with Dr. W. H. McGuffey as president, and Mr. Mitchel professor of mathematics, young Pendleton became one of its students, and began the study of languages and the higher branches of mathematics. He remained at this institution, where he acquired a high reputation as a scholar, until 1841, from which time until 1844 he pursued his classical studies under the tuition of able teachers at his father's house. In 1844 he sailed for Europe, and during the two years fol- lowing completed such an extended tour throughout Europe and the East as few Americans of that day had accomplished. He first visited France, Belgium, and Switzerland, spending the winter in Naples, Rome, and Florence. On the opening of spring, he journeyed to Vienna, by way of Bologna, Fer- rara, and Venice. From Vienna he went by way of Prague to Berlin, and thence to Holland, by way of Hanover. After visiting Amsterdam, the Hague, and Leyden, he crossed the sea to London, in order to observe the English Parliament, then in session, and hear the speeches of Sir Robert Peel, . Lords Brougham and Russell, and other British statesmen of the time. Returning to Germany, he spent some time as a student at the University of Heidelberg, whence, in company with a party of German students, he presently set out on a pedestrian tour through Southern Germany and Switzerland. He also visited and explored afoot many points of interest in Northern Italy, and then sailed from Trieste for Greece, visit- ing the Ionia Isles on the voyage. Taking a guide at Patras, he traversed on horseback the Morean Peninsula, passing over the sites of Sparta and Messenia, Corinth and Argos. After visiting Athens and the places of classic fame in its vicinity, he rode over the plain of Marathon, and passing northwardly, sought the site of Thebes, and the battle-fields of Cheronea and Thermopyla. Thence he passed across Mount Parnassus to the shrines of the Delphic oracle. Re- turning to Athens, he took ship for Constantinople, whence he sailed for Beyrout, stopping on the way at Smyrna, Rhodes and Cyprus. From Beyrout he journeyed to Baalbec and Damascus, thence to Jerusalem, taking in the way Nazareth
and the mountains of the blessing and the curse. From these scenes of sacred history he set out by way of Gaza to cross the desert, by camel conveyance, to Cairo. This journey across the desert occupied twenty days. After ex- amining the relics of Egyptian antiquity, and observing the modern condition of the country, Mr. Pendleton embarked at Alexandria for Trieste, and thence returned to Heidelberg, which, after a brief stay, he left for Paris. Thence he visited England, Scotland, and Ireland, before embarking for home. He now began the study of law at Cincinnati, in the office of Stephen Fales, and in 1847 was admitted to the bar. Soon after he formed a partnership with the late George E. Pugh, which was continued until the latter's election to the office of attorney-general of Ohio in 1852. In 1853 Mr. Pendleton was nominated by the democratic party for State senator from Hamilton county, and was elected by a very large majority. During the ensuing session of the legislature, upon which de- volved the duty of adapting the laws of the State to the new Constitution, he showed such energy and ability, and took so prominent a position, although the youngest member of the senate, that in 1854, before his term was ended, his friends put him forward as a candidate for Congress in the first Ohio district, and he was nominated over David T. Disney, who had for six years previously been the democratic representa- tive. The fusion and know-nothing candidates, however, were so successful in this campaign that only about twenty democrats were elected to the National House of Representa- tives from the whole North, and Mr. Pendleton was among those defeated. But in 1856, the know-nothing agitation having subsided, and the anti-Nebraska fusion having lost force, Mr. Pendleton, unanimously nominated, was trium- phantly elected, and took his seat in Congress in December, 1857. During the contest between Mr. Buchanan's admin- istration and the South, on the one side, and the mass of the Northern democracy; headed by Stephen A. Douglas, on the other, upon the question of the admission of Kansas, Mr. Pendleton acted with the friends of Mr. Douglas in opposing the administration under the Lecompton Constitution, on the ground of fraud and illegality in its adoption. In 1858, Mr. Pendleton was again nominated for Congress, his opponent this time being T. C. Day, who in 1854 had defeated him. The campaign, a sharply contested one, was generally un- fortunate for the democracy, Mr. Pendleton being the only one on the ticket who was elected, and by a small majority. In 1860, at the time of the division of the democratic party at the Charleston convention, he warmly supported Mr. Douglas, and in October of that year was renominated for representative, his competitor then being Judge Oliver M. Spencer. On sectional questions, which at this period had been brought to bloody issue, Mr. Pendleton was always moderate and conservative, avoiding equally both the North- ern and Southern extremes of expression. He believed that the war could have been averted, was in favor of the Crit- tenden compromise, and did all he could to prevent Secession and preserve the government by the equitable settlement of sectional differences. If dissolution were inevitable, he pre- ferred it should be a peaceful one; if war were to be waged, he warned Congress to "prepare to wage it to the last ex- tremity," and the sincerity of this injunction was subsequently attested by his action in voting for all measures required to enable the government to maintain its honor and dignity. In the fall of 1862 there seemed to be but little prospect of Mr. Pendleton's reelection, as in the October campaign of
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the previous year the democrats were beaten in Ohio, the ' republicans having been largely triumphant in his own dis- trict. But he was again nominated, and, after a heated cam- paign, the opposing candidate being Colonel John Groesbeck, he was elected by a majority of thirteen hundred. In the Thirty-seventh Congress Mr. Pendleton served as a demo- cratic member of the committee of ways and means, the most important committee of the House. He had previously been upon the judiciary committee, to which he was trans- ferred from the committee on military affairs. As member of the committee of ways and means, he enjoyed in a marked degree the confidence of his political opponents. This con- fidence they had previously manifested in 1861 by selecting him as one of the committee of managers to impeach Judge Humphreys, of Tennessee, for disloyalty. In the national democratic convention at Chicago in 1864, when General McClellan was nominated for president, the Ohio democracy -many of whom had been warmly in favor of placing Mr. Pendleton's name at the head of the ticket-presented him as a candidate for vice-president. On the first ballot, James Guthrie of Kentucky and several others led Mr. Pendleton, but on the second ballot the latter received the necessary two-thirds vote and was nominated. The issue of the elec- tion was adverse to the democracy, but three States-New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky-giving their votes for Mc- Clellan and Pendleton. On the 4th of March, 1865, Mr. Pendleton retired from Congress, after a service of eight years. In August, 1866, however, he was once more nom- inated for membership, and accepted the nomination, al- though the odds were strongly against him-since at the Congressional election in 1864, when he ran for vice-presi- dent, the republican candidate in his district, Benjamin Eggleston, had a majority of 2,500 votes. Mr. Pendleton ran ahead of his ticket, but was defeated. He became a prominent candidate for the presidency before the national democratic convention at New York in July, 1868. The Ohio delegation had been instructed to vote for him, as had also been the delegates of various other States; his name went into the convention with an assured vote larger than that of any other candidate. He received in fact nearly as many votes as all the other candidates, and but for the rule re- quiring two-thirds to make a nomination he would undoubt- edly have obtained it. After a protracted ballot, however, his name was withdrawn, and Horatio Seymour of New York became the nominee. Mr. Pendleton, in 1869, was the dem- ocratic candidate for governor of Ohio, but was defeated by General R. B. Hayes, the republican candidate, by about 8,000 majority. In 1871 he was president of the convention in which the democratic party of Ohio declared their acquies- cence in the amendments to the national Constitution con- sequent upon the result of the war of Secession. Mr. Pen- dleton's speeches and public addresses were marked by logical strength, historical research, and by excellence of style. Naturally endowed with a fine and vigorous intellect, he has constantly improved it by studious efforts. He made a second visit to Europe in 1872. In 1878 he was by the legis- lature of Ohio, elected United States senator to succeed Hon. Stanley Matthews, elected in 1877 as the successor of Hon. John Sherman. He married, in 1846, Miss Alice Key, of Baltimore, daughter of Francis Scott Key, author of our national song, "The Star Spangled Banner," and a niece of the late chief-justice Roger B. Taney. Mr. Pendleton's children are a son and two daughters. In social and private
life he is much admired and beloved. The hospitalities of his home became famous in the land, as did his qualities as a host and entertainer. He wears the graces of the gentleman with dignified ease well fitted to a commanding presence and lofty courtesy. His charities have been generous, and unos- tentatiously bestowed. An Episcopalian in religious faith, he is a consistent and liberal supporter of church and charitable institutions.
SALISBURY, JAMES HENRY, B. N. S., A. M., M. D., was born at "Evergreen Terrace," Scott, Cortland county, New York, October 13th, 1823, and was the second son of Nathan Salisbury and Lucretia A. Babcock, who were married June 2Ist, 1818. Nathan was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, October 10th, 1793, and Lucretia, his wife, in Blandford, Mas- sachusetts, September 30th, 1792. Nathan is still living at "Evergreen Terrace" (November 28th, 1881), in his eighty- ninth year, and is yet vigorous mentally and physically. His wife died in her eighty-ninth year from an injury. Nathan Salisbury was the son of Nathan Salisbury, who was born December Ist, 1751, and married May 16th, 1771, Abigail Stone (born October 16th, 1753), only daughter of Deacon Joseph Stone, of Cranston, Rhode Island, a descendant of Hugh Stone, "the stolen boy." Abigail Stone's mother's maiden name was Brown. She was a near relative of John Brown, the founder of Rhode Island College, after- wards Brown University. Nathan Salisbury was lieuten- ant of the company under Captain Burgess that from Warwick Neck fired into and captured the British frigate " Gaspée" a short time before the Revolutionary War. The earliest appearance of the family in this country was in about 1644. At this time, for political reasons and to avoid the confiscation of property, etc., during the contest between the parliament and the unfortunate Charles I, John Salisbury and Edward Salisbury, his brother, sons of Henry Salisbury, Esq., and younger brothers of Sir Thomas Salisbury, quietly got themselves away from Denbigh and emigrated to this country. The former settled at Swansea, Massachusetts, and the latter near Mount Hope, in Bristol, Rhode Island. Thomas Salisbury of Llanrust, Denbigh county, either came with them or followed soon after, and settled in Cranston. From family records and traditions, Thomas was supposed to be a brother of John and Edward, but it appears from Eng- lish records that he was probably not a brother, but cousin. John and Edward derived from Henry Salisbury, second son of John Salisbury, who became heir of Lleweni by reason of the death of his elder brother Thomas, who suffered death September 20th, 1586, for endeavoring to deliver Mary, Queen of Scots, from imprisonment. Thomas derived from Robert Salisbury, fourth son of Thomas Salisbury, heir of Lleweni. The branch of the family to which the subject of this sketch belongs derives from Thomas Salisbury, who settled in Cran- ston. "The Salisbury family took its rise in Germany, and long before the conquest of England, its head resided in Ba- varia. The original name of the family was Guelph, and its leading member, Henry Guelph, was in the year 1024 made Duke of Bavaria, by the emperor Conrad the Second. The first duke had several sons, the youngest of whom, Prince Adam, came over to England in the train of William of Nor- mandy, in the year 1066. This young prince did not, how- ever, come with William as a subject of his Norman duke- dom, for he owed him no allegiance; but he came in the character of a soldier of fortune, and in that character took
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