USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 70
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
.
273
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
His force was very small and not well furnished, and when the muskets provided by the United States were at length re- ceived, they could not be used for want of flints. General Wadsworth joined him at Camp Avery, on Huron river, and fully approved of all his actions and proceedings. His ac- counts were always kept with great system and accuracy, so that after a period of forty-eight years, when duplicates of official papers were presented to the accounting officers of the government for settlement, payments were repeatedly proved by the claimants' receipts. If the same measures had been pursued by all in command, millions would have been saved to the treasury. General Wadsworth retired from the service November 29th, 1812, and on the Ist December, General Perkins, in an order to his command, said: "In obtaining the object for which you have taken up arms, it is expected that every officer and soldier will encounter the fatigues of the campaign with that patience that becometh free citizens who are protecting their own rights. It is confidently ex- pected that every man will consider his exertions necessary for the common benefit of the country, and cheerfully render them. If you wish this campaign to terminate your fears of an invading enemy, industry and contentment must be substituted for idleness and murmuring." That campaign is a matter of history. When the term of service for the militia had expired, and General Harrison had been reinforced by troops in sufficient numbers to maintain his position, General Perkins retired from the service; and in the last official com- munication to him, dated Fort Meigs, February 26th, 1813, General Harrison said: "In this my last official communi- cation to you, I cannot avoid expressing my high sense of the zeal and ability with which you have performed your duty since you have been under my orders; and I beg you to believe that upon all occasions, and in every situation, I shall be, with great truth, your friend, WILLIAM H. HARRISON." He was strongly solicited by General Harrison and others of his army associates, to accept the commission of colonel in the regular army, tendered him by President Madison; but duty to his family, his increasing private business, and his extensive trusts for others, constrained him to decline the office, although he cherished a fondness for military life. He organized, and was president of the Western Reserve bank from its organization, November 24th, 1813, until failing health induced him to resign, April 5th, 1836. During the twenty-three years of his presidency, he had the unanimous support of the directors and stockholders of the bank; and the careful and conservative policy for which it was distin- guished, carried the bank safely thorough the various and severe financial storms which bore down all the other banks of the State that entered the field before or with it. "As good as a Western Reserve bank bill," became a common saying of the times. He was one of the men to whom was, committed that extensive system of canals which was adopted and entered upon by the State of Ohio, mainly under the in- fluence of the success of similar works in New York. State credit had been little tried since the disastrous days of the Revolution, and western State credit not at all. The State credit of Ohio was entrusted to the "canal fund commission- ers," almost without restraint. With authority to create and sell in a foreign or domestic market the bonds of the State, and to supply funds by temporary loans also, as they deemed most expedient, they were under no bonds, and had no pecuniary compensation except actual expenses. During a period of about seven years, they issued and sold State bonds
to the amount of $4,500,000, and at an average premium of nearly six per cent. Their first sale, in 1825, was at two and one-half per cent. discount, but, with almost constantly in- creasing premiums, the last sale under his administration, in 1832, was made for a premium of twenty-four per cent. He was appointed a member of the board of canal fund com- missioners, February 7th, 1826, by the legislature, and reäp- pointed, from time to time, irrespective of party, until the legislature passed the act to loan the credit of the State to railroads, turnpikes and other corporations. He viewed these acts as injudicious, and tending to increase the public debt far beyond corresponding benefits; and on the 13th Febru- ary, 1838, he tendered to the governor his resignation as canal fund commissioner. The vast increase of the State debt (over $2,000,000 during the year 1838), and the disas- trous results of the policy of the law, fully justified his fears and objections regarding it. He was a constant attendant upon public worship on the Sabbath, and at all times and on all occasions he inculcated sound morality and the great principles of the Christian religion, and with his sister, Mrs. Kinsman, endowed a professorship in Western Reserve Col- lege, at Hudson. There were remarkable men among the early settlers of the Western Reserve, and eminent among them Simon Perkins was known for the high and varied qualifications essential to command the confidence and es- teem of men, to insure prosperity, to elevate society and pro- mote order and love of country. On the 18th March, 1804, he married Miss Nancy Bishop, of Lisbon, Connecticut. Of his family, four sons-Simon, Joseph, Jacob and H. B. Per- kins-survived him. Simon, his namesake and eldest son, was one of the most enterprising and prominent citizens of Summit county. He was born in Trumbull county in 1805, where he was educated. In 1835 he removed to Akron, where his sterling qualities and abilities were soon employed in leading the affairs of the county. He projected the Cleve- land, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad, and invested his fortune in it, but after manfully struggling against repeated disaster, the crash of 1837 compelled him to succumb, sink- ing his entire fortune. He was also a large wool-dealer, and a partner in that business with John Brown of abolition fame. By many he was called the noble Roman of Summit county, on account of his great influence and superior bearing. He married a sister of Governor Tod, and had eleven children, one of whom, Colonel George T., president of the Akron bank, being an officer who served his country with credit in the war of Secession.
EWING, THOMAS, the elder, lawyer and statesman, was born in West Virginia, in what is now Ohio county, De- cember 28th, 1789. His father, Lieutenant Thomas Ewing, a native of New Jersey, served in the patriot army during the Revolutionary war, and, after its conclusion, removed to that part of Virginia mentioned. Subsequently he removed with his family to Ames township, Athens county, Ohio, where he lived until 1818, when he once more removed, this time to Perry county, Indiana, where he died in 1830. His son, our subject, was thus reared among the rude experiences of pio- neer life, and had but few educational advantages, but such as he had he made the most of. Fond of reading, and hav- ing but few books to select from, he read everything he could obtain access to. With an intellect vigorous as his constitu- tion, he soon became known as a youth of unusual hardihood and intelligence. Knowing how little opportunity or ability the
-
274
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
field hands employed by his father had to read, he would in the fields read to them, and in this way he interested the people of the neighborhood so much in the subject that they sub- scribed and made up the sum of $100 to purchase a small library, and to this Thomas contributed his share in the shape of ten coon-skins. Sixty books were purchased, and in the estimation of Thomas, the library.of the Vatican could not compare with this union library, and most assuredly the for- mer was never so well read. Through those and the school- books he obtained so great an extent of knowledge that the elders thereabout truthfully predicted that he would become a man of learning and importance. But indisposed to stop at the door, he resolved to enter and obtain a collegiate educa- tion, and in the pursuit of this resolution he, at the age of nineteen, hired as a boatman on the Ohio river, and thus ac- quired money enough to pay for his attendance during three months in the Athens Academy, and then he went to work in the salt-works of the Kanawha, and in three years had savcd enough of his wages to enable him enter upon a regular course of study that ended in 1815, when he regarded him- self "a pretty good, though not a regular, scholar." In July of that year he went to Lancaster, there entered the law office of General Beech, as a student, and after one year's most la- borious application, was examined and admitted to practice in August, 1816. His first speech as an advocate was made at Circleville soon after, and the next at Lancaster, where he defended Mr. Sherman, whose son, now General Sherman, subsequently became a member of Mr. Ewing's family, and eventually his son-in-law. Some time afterward, the means of our subject being much reduced and he anxiously can- vassing his prospects of making a living by law, he was of- fered a small fee to go to Marietta to take the defense in a charge of larceny, and eagerly accepting it, found it the turn- ing point in his career; for, as he said, in speaking of this episode in his life trials, "I have had fees of $10,000 and up- ward since, but never one of which I felt the value, or one, in truth, as valuable to me as was this." Successful in this case, he soon found himself fully employed in criminal prac- tice, and in a few years one of the leaders of the Ohio bar. Appointed, shortly after the case mentioned was decided, prosecuting attorney for Athens county, he held the office sev- eral years, during which his fame had grown so wide that he became the whig candidate for the United States Senate, and was elected to that position in 1830. He served one term, during which he made a national reputation as a legal rea- soner, and in 1840 took an active part in the Harrison cam- paign. So prominent did he appear in it that, when success was the result, he was at once invited to the cabinet as Secre- tary of the Treasury. In 1844 he again took an active part as a strong Clay whig, and in 1848 earnestly advocated the claims of General Taylor. On the election of the latter he was again invited to a seat in the cabinet, and took that of Secretary of the Interior, then called the Home Department. But by the sudden death of General Taylor, complications en- sued which caused the resignation of Mr. Ewing, and he was soon after elected again to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired term of Governor Corwin, who had been called by President Fillmore to a place in his cabinet. After serving out the term, Mr. Ewing resigned, and returned to his law practice at Lancaster. In 1861, being a staunch unionist, he was appointed by Governor Dennison a member of the peace commission, so-called, that sat in Washington City. He there practiced law during the continuance of the war, his
unwavering loyalty and fealty to the Union cause affording President Lincoln the greatest satisfaction, and exciting in him admiration akin to reverence. During the latter years of his life, his conservatism alienated him from the adminis- tration of President Grant, and caused him to act with the opposite party, He died at his home in Lancaster, October 26th, 1871, peacefully, and surrounded by his children and grand-children. As a representative self-made man, he was among the most distinguished men of Ohio.
WHITFIELD, SMITH A., postmaster of Cincinnati, Ohio, was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, March 24th, 1844. Though still a young man, he has had a very event- ful and somewhat romantic life. He is descended from dis- tinguished ancestry. His father, Nathaniel Whitfield, a native of Maine, now living at the age of seventy-two, was of the family whence came the great preacher and orator-White- field, whose name was pronounced according to the present orthography; and his mother, Jane Whitfield (whose maiden name was Kemp), was a daughter of one of the most noted old New England families. Colonel Whitfield was educated at the academies of Francestown, Mount Vernon, and Hancock, New Hampshire, At the latter place he fitted for college, but the breaking out of the war prevented him from finishing his studies. - Fired with patriotic enthusiasm he tossed aside his Cicero and Virgil, and, although but a lad of seventeen, enlisted on the 19th of April, 1861, at the first call of Presi- dent Lincoln, for three months' service. He was commis- sioncd a lieutenant, but upon the change of the policy of the government in declining to receive the three months' men, he resigned his commission, and entered the ranks as a private, thus displaying a self-sacrificing spirit and patriotic resolve that have ever been characteristic of the man. At the battle of Williamsburg he displayed great bravery, and was severely wounded in the head. General Hooker, hear- ing of young Whitfield's courage and bravery, at once pro- moted him to a lieutcnancy for his gallant conduct, and soon after to a captaincy, and next as major of his regiment. At the battle of Antietam he was badly wounded twice, and his gallant conduct in that terrible carnage was the subject of favorable comment in the general orders. When convales- cent, he was placed in command of the distribution camp at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, and for a time commanded the military post there. Reports of his soldierly bearing and sterling worth had reached the ears of Secretary Stanton, who for some time kept his eye on the rising young man, and in September, 1863, rewarded him with a commission as lieutenant-colonel (though then but nineteen years of age), and gave him charge of the organization of the colored reg- iments of Kentucky. This duty was both arduous and har- rassing, yet Colonel Whitfield discharged it with an ability and devotion remarkable for one of his years. He was next detailed for general court-martial duty, and was president of the court at Louisville during the trial of a number of noted guerrillas. The war ended, and he was mustered out as lieutenant-colonel, in October, 1865. In October, 1866, Col- onel Whitfield was appointed United States internal revenue gauger, and held this position until his promotion to the office of internal revenue agent, in April, 1877. In the discharge of his duties as revenue agent he was engaged in suppress- ing illicit distilleries in the mountainous regions of Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The wild and dangerous experi- ences he encountered with the "moonshiners " form an in-
Western Bingi. Pub Cc
2 75
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
teresting chapter in the gallant colonel's career. From boy- hood he inclined to literary pursuits, and his education was accordingly directed with special reference to following a profession later in life. Though occupied with his official duties, he resolved to engage in the law, and in 1867 he began its study under the direction of Mr. Porter, then a young lawyer in the office of Mr. Scarborough, in Cincinnati. After the death of Mr. Porter, Colonel Whitfield entered the office of Moulton & Johnson, lawyers, of Cincinnati, where he read law for two years, and after the usual preparatory course entered the Law School of Cincinnati University in 1875, and graduated in 1877. Encouraged to continue in public service, however, he never entered upon the practice of law. In April, 1880, he resigned his office as revenue agent, to accept the assistant postmastership of Cincinnati. Patriotism, faithfulness, efficiency, integrity, and unblemished character and citizenship were soon to be rewarded. In February, 1882, Colonel Whitfield was made postmaster of Cincinnati, and has thus far acquitted himself with great credit in the discharge of the duties of his responsible posi- tion. From the time he entered the army, in 1861, he has signalized himself as a man equal to each and every position he has assumed. In politics Colonel Whitfield has always been a Republican, and ever since the war has taken an active interest in political contests. He is a prominent mem- ber of the Lincoln and Elm Street political Clubs of Cincin- nati. He is a Knight Templar, a member of Cincinnati Com- mandery, a 32° Mason, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. He is also a member of George H. Thomas Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and also of the Society of ex-Army and Navy Officers. On the 7th of October, 1882, Colonel Whitfield married Florence, daughter of Mr. James C. and Mrs. Lydia Morrison. Her father is an old resident of Cincinnati, and a direct descendant, on the mother's side, of General Campbell, of Virginia, a soldier distinguished in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Whitfield is a sister of Lieutenant J. Campbell Morrison, of the United States Ar- tillery, deceased, and of Lieutenant C. C. Morrison, of the Ordnance Corps, United States Army, both graduates of West Point Military Academy. Colonel Whitfield is a gentle- man of the highest type, both by nature and education, and possesses those qualities of mind and speech found only in the higher orders of intellect. He is by nature a leader of men, and in all his offices he has shown superior executive abilities. His work is characterized by system, accuracy, and thoroughness in every detail, and there is no young man in Cincinnati who enjoys to a greater degree the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. The recommendations pre- sented by Colonel Whitfield for the office of postmaster were among the most remarkable ever forwarded to Washington, and they bear unmistakable testimony to the high esteem in which he is held as a citizen, and to his capacity as a business man and manager. While assistant-postmaster at Cincin- nati, he was much of the time in charge of the affairs of the office, owing to the inability of the postmaster, from sickness, to attend to its duties. One hundred and forty of the largest firms of the city wrote separate letters, indorsing him, and urging his appointment. Over two hundred additional firms signed petitions in his favor, and two hundred ex-officers and soldiers, representing more than a hundred different military organizations, signed a letter to the President, earnestly ask- ing for his appointment. In addition to these, were letters from the chairman of the State Central Committee of the
Republican party, and nearly every member of the County Executive Committee. While the President was considering the recommendations of the different applicants, telegrams in behalf of Colonel Whitfield were sent from more than three hundred firms. The indexing and arranging of all these testimonial letters were pronounced by the Postal De- partment at Washington to be superior to any others ever filed there. President Arthur, earnestly desiring to make his appointments acceptable to the people, gave the preference to Colonel Whitfield ; and the universal approval of the pub- lic press of the city, and of the citizens generally, which fol- lowed the appointment, fully justify the President's choice. It was fitting that a business man should have charge of an office through which a large part of the business interests of the city and vicinity is conducted, and with which business men have constantly direct and personal contact.
ST. CLAIR, ARTHUR, soldier and military governor of the Northwestern Territory, was born at Edinburgh, Scot- land, in the year 1735, and died near Greensburgh, Pennsyl- vania, August 31st, 1818, After receiving a university education and studying medicine in Edinburgh, he became a surgeon in the British army, was subsequently attached to a body of troops which crossed the Atlantic, and served as a lieutenant under General Wolfe in his memorable campaign against Quebec. Having exhibited military ability, he was placed, at the close of the war between France and England, in command of Fort Ligonier, Pennsylvania, where a large track of land was granted to him. Here, growing weary of garrison life, he turned his attention to agriculture, and held several civil offices. At the breaking out of the Revolution- ary war, he adopted the colonial cause, and received a com- mission as colonel in the Continental army, when he dis- played great energy and success in recruiting troops-having in six days raised and prepared a regiment for immediate service in the field. In August, 1776, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, and took part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. The next year he was made a major general, and placed in command of Fort Ticonderoga, which, though garrisoned by two thousand men, he aban- doned on the approach of Burgoyne. For this action he was charged with incapacity and cowardice, but after a thorough investigation of the circumstances by a court martial, he was honorably acquitted, and Congress by a unanimous vote en- dorsed the decision-his action, however unpopular, being justified as a wise one, since an attempt to hold the works must have resulted in defeat, with a useless sacrifice of men whose services were needed elsewhere. After the sur- render of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, where he was pres- ent, General St. Clair retired to his farm at Ligonier. In 1785, however, he was elected a delegate to, and soon after became President of the Continental Congress. After the passage of the ordinance of 1787, he was appointed military governor of the Northwestern Territory, coming to Cincin- nati (then Fort Washington) and organizing the county of Hamilton in 1790; and in 1791 commanded an expedition against the Northwestern Indians, which resulted in the great disaster known in Western history as "St. Clair's defeat." On the 4th November, the Indians surprised and routed his whole force of about 1,400 regulars and militia-on one of the tributaries of the Wabash, near the Indiana line, in what is now Darke county, Ohio,-killing over 900 men, and cap- turing his artillery and camp equipage. This loss greatly
35
+
276
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
exasperated the whole country, and General St. Clair was severely censured. He certainly failed to take sufficient precautions against surprise, but the character of a large por- tion of his troops, raw, undisciplined militia, will account for the panic which caused the utter rout, and the terrible loss attending it. General St. Clair himself, although suffering at the time with a painful disease, acted with great bravery, eight balls, it is said, passing through his clothes and hat during the fight; and doubtless did his utmost, first to repel the enemy, and afterward to save the remnant of his little army. In commenting upon his honorable acquittal of all blame for the disaster, by a committee of Congress appointed to investigate its causes, Marshall, in his "Life of Washing- ton," remarks: "More satisfactory testimony in favor of St. Clair is furnished by the circumstance that he still retained the undiminished esteem and good opinion of President Washington." General St. Clair held the office of territorial governor until 1802-the year after the transference of the capital from Cincinnati to Chillicothe -when he was removed by President Jefferson. The reason of his removal is stated by Judge Burnet to have been dissatisfaction caused by his seeming disposition to enlarge his own powers and restrict those of the territorial legislature, which was manifested in his veto of nineteen out of thirty bills passed at its first session. Judge Burnet, in his favor, adds : "He not only believed that the power he claimed belonged legitimately to the exec- utive, but was convinced that the manner in which he exer- cised it was imposed on him as a duty, by the ordinance, and was calculated to advance the best interests of the territory." While in the public service, General St. Clair had neglected his private interests, and at the close of his official career he returned to Ligonier, in Pennsylvania, poor, aged, and infirm. The State of Pennsylvania granted him an annuity, however, some years afterward, which comfortably supported him dur- ing the remainder of his life. He was a man of superior ability, fair scholarship, and of unquestionable patriotism and integrity. He is described as having been, while in public life, plain and simple in his dress and equipage, open and frank in his manners, and accessible to persons in every rank. His family consisted of one son and three daughters. Arthur St. Clair, the son, was many years ago a prominent lawyer in Cincinnati.
McCOOK, ROBERT L., the fourth son of Major Dan- iel McCook, was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, Decem- ber 28th, 1827. A strong and healthy child, he was, on arriving at suitable age sent to school until he was fifteen years old, and then taken into his father's office as deputy clerk of Carroll county court, and found to be fully compe- tent for the position. Grave in manner, even as a lad, he was sober beyond his years, judicious in conduct, and devo- ted to work. Practice in the office familiarized him with forms of law, and led him to desire to study for that profession. Hon. Ephraim R. Eckley consented to direct his studies, and did so for some time, but the family removing to Steuben- ville, he there completed his legal course in the office of the notable firm of Messrs. Stanton & McCook, and began prac- tice under their auspices. In a short time he was admitted to practice before the supreme court of the United States, and came eventually to be known as one of the hard-working and rising lawyers of the State. After removing to Colum- bus and practicing his profession there for a time, he finally settled in Cincinnati, where his standing enabled him to form
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.