USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 24
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MORROW, JEREMIAH, the sixth governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born at Gettysburg, Orleans
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d. D. Clare
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county, Pennsylvania, October 6th, 1771, and died at his | homestead in Warren county, Ohio, March 22d, 1853. He was of Scotch-lrish descent, and the early days of his life were passed in cultivating his father's farm. He thus worked diligently during the summer months, and in the winter attended a private school which the inhabitants of the then little hamlet of Gettysburg had established. A bright boy, he made rapid progress, particularly in his favorite branches of mathematics and surveying. In 1795, being then twenty- four years of age, he left the paternal roof for the then bound- less field of labor for young men, the Northwestern territory. He floated down the river on one of the then usual style of craft, a flat boat, and first landed at the cluster of cabins built below the mouth of the Little Miami river, where six years before a few emigrants had settled and called the place Columbia, six miles east of Cincinnati. It was believed it would be the city eventually, rather than the neighborhood of what was then known as Fort Washington, from the fort of that name being there erected, and around which the owners of the land had laid it out in building lots. At Col- umbia, the young man Jeremiah Morrow did such jobs as his hands found to do, in teaching school, surveying, or working on farms. At length having saved a little money, and those wild lands, over which the savages were roaming, being very cheap, he ascended the Little Miami river about twenty miles into what is now Warren county, and there purchased a large farm, on it erected his log house, and having in the spring of 1799 married Miss Mary Packhill, an amiable young woman of the village of Columbia, he began the life of a young and vigorous pioneer farmer. The land on either bank of the Little Miami river being deep and rich with high ground, always available for building, above the miasma of the low or bottom land, emigration set freely thither, and the intelligence and moral worth of Jeremiah Morrow were soon recognized by the rapidly increasing community. In 1801 he was elected to the territorial legislature that convened at Chillicothe, and during which arrangements were made to call, the following year, a constitutional convention to or- ganize the State of Ohio. Mr. Morrow was also chosen a delegate to this convention, and attended the same until its close in 1802. In 1803 he was elected to the senate of Ohio, and in June of the same year he was chosen the first repre- sentative to the United States Congress from the new State. Ohio then and for the ten subsequent years was entitled to but one member in the United States house of representatives, and during that period of five terms Mr. Morrow worthily represented the State. Though making not the slightest claim to oratorical display, his sound common sense ever secured for his remarks the attention of the house. During this period as chairman of the committee on public lands he rendered valuable service, not only to Ohio but to the coun- try at large. The cause of the war of 1812 roused his indig- nation, and he cordially sustained the government in its declaration of that war. In 1813, Mr. Morrow was elected to the United States Senate, and in that body he was also ap- pointed chairman of the committee on public lands. From his long service on this committee in House and Senate, he acquired the reputation of knowing more about the public lands than any other man in those legislative bodies, and most of the laws for the survey of the public domain were drawn by him. Henry Clay, in one of his eloquent speeches in the Senate, on one occasion said, alluding to Mr. Morrow: "A few artless but sensible words, pronounced in his plain
Scotch lrish dialect, were always sufficient to secure the pass- age of any bill or resolution he reported." While yet a member of the Senate in 1814, Mr. Morrow was appointed Indian commissioner to treat with the tribes west of the Miami, and which, from the great provocation they received from vagabond white men, were very restless. In this capacity he discharged his difficult duties to the perfect satis- faction of the government. Having on the completion of his term of service in the Senate again retired to private life, he devoted himself to the cultivation of his farm in manner as earnestly as if unfit for any other occupation, and surprised visitors by his plainness of living and dress. In his early youth he had become a member of the United Presbyterian church, and through his whole life continued to take an active interest in its welfare, while ever ready to contribute of his time and money to promote the religious and intellectual interests of the community. He had no ambition to accum- ulate property or seek posts of honor; and it is men of his stamp, all too few, whom the people leave not undisturbed in their retreats. In 1822 their almost unanimous voice made him governor, and in 1824 he was reelected. Some notice- able events occurred during his administration, among which may be mentioned the visit of the father of the United States canal system, DeWitt Clinton, while governor of New York, who was invited to be present at the commencement of the work upon the Ohio canal, and to deliver an address upon the occasion; and, during the same year, the visit of General Lafayette, as the guest of the nation, to Ohio. On this latter occasion the enthusiasm of the people generally was aroused to confer honor upon the distinguished Frenchman, who had so freely drawn his sword in behalf of American independ- ence. At Cincinnati the whole population, with thousands from the surrounding country, flocked to welcome their great benefactor. He was met at the wharf by Governor Morrow, who, in a few touching unaffected words, assured him that the united heart of a grateful people greeted him with love and homage. On the 4th July, 1839, he then being in his sixty- eighth year, Governor Morrow was, as the most appropriate person, selected to lay the corner-stone of the new State cap- itol at Columbus, and to deliver an address on the occasion. He acquitted himself in his usual happy unassuming manner to the gratification of all present. In 1840 he was again found in the national house of representatives; first filling the vacancy created by the resignation of the Hon. Thomas Corwin, and subsequently chosen for the full succeeding term. Of a family of six children his eldest son only sur- vived him. Proverbially generous and hospitable, Governor Morrow laid up his treasures not on earth. Socially he was a delightful companion, a deep thinker, and blessed with a very retentive memory, boundless kindness of heart, and endowed with much vivacity and cheerfulness of spirit.
CLARE, JAMES DAVID, iron man, Portsmouth, Ohio, was born in Washington City, District of Columbia, Novem- ber 13th, 1822. His parents were James Clare, of Calvert county, Maryland, and Ruth Smedley, of Jefferson county, Virginia. His father, in the early part of his life, carried on a mercantile business in Washington City and in Alexandria. In 1833 he came to Ohio, and for some three years was en- gaged in farming, near Springfield. In December, 1836, he removed to Lawrence county, Ohio, and was employed for two years at Vesuvius and La Grange furnaces; and in March, 1838, he located in Jackson county, Ohio, where he
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resided on a farm until his death, in October, 1851. He was an ardent Henry Clay whig, politically, and a devoted mem- ber of the Methodist Church. James D. Clare is the only son of six children, three of his sisters only now (1882) living, and residing in Jackson county, Ohio. He received his education in Alexandria, District of Columbia, and in Jackson county, Ohio, most of his minority being passed in farming and in furnace work. Fortune seemed to locate him unfavorably for obtaining a literary education. School- houses were remote, and schools were only carried on for three months in the year, in winter ; and in one instance the school-house had the bare earth for a floor, the entire end of the building being a fireplace. Light was admitted only through greased paper, covering an opening between two logs of the building. He could not embrace even these meager advantages but occasionally, when the weather was bad, as his labor was in constant demand on the farm in preparing lands for the ensuing year's crop. The necessity of doing this was imperative, as it was necessary to provide sustenance from rented lands for his invalid parents and five sisters. These demands were such that at times, when his farm work would permit, he would walk some forty miles to an iron fur- nace, where by hard labor at very low wages he could earn money enough to make both ends meet. Thus he continued to work his way along even after he had, by dint of perse- verance, obtained sufficient education to secure a certif- icate of qualification to teach common-schools, in which vocation he found employment for his winter months at a compensation of from ten to fifteen dollars per month. On August IIth, 1846, he was united in marriage to Sarah J. Ross, of Jackson, daughter of Robert Ross, and grand- daughter of Judge Ross, of Gallia county, the fruits of this union being six children. The oldest daughter, Josephine R., is the wife of F. H. Miller, of Columbus, Ohio; Hortense V. is the wife of Rev. T. L. Hughes, of Jackson, Ohio ; and Rachel A. is the wife of Mr. Linn Bentley, of Portsmouth, Ohio. The sons are James Robert, secretary and treasurer of the Ohio Stove Company, Portsmouth, Ohio; Eugene Herbert; and Earl Stanton. In the fall of 1847 he engaged in teaching at Ohio Furnace, Scioto county, where he spent two years in giving instruction and clerking in a store. In 1849 he located himself on a farm in Jackson county, con- tinuing in that occupation, with teaching in the winter season, till the fall of 1852. When just thirty years of age he com- menced merchandising at Cross Roads station, on what is now the Portsmouth branch of the Marietta and Cincinnati Rail- road, to which he added the sawmill business in 1854, and a saw and grist mill in 1859. In June, 1865, he, with others, established a private bank in Jackson, Ohio, under the firm name of Kinney, Bundy & Co., afterward Chapman, Clare & Co., and since the First National Bank of Jackson, of which he is now the vice-president. In 1868 he formed one of a number who purchased the Madison Furnace, now conducted in the name of Clare, Duduit & Co .; in 1872, helped establish the Ohio Stove Company, of Portsmouth, Ohio, of which he is now president; and in 1874 he, with others, built the Huron Furnace, of Jackson, in which he is a director. In 1879 he purchased the Bloom Furnace, Scioto county, now run in the name of Clare, Amos & Co. Since November, 1873, he has lived in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he has in his office a telephone, connecting him with his foundry in the city, one furnace twenty miles away, and another forty miles- the wires passing directly along the way he used to trudge
when a youth, seeking employment at thirteen dollars per month. A Methodist in religious belief, he has held various official positions in that body, and is now a member of Big- elow Methodist Episcopal Church, of Portsmouth. Politically, he was formerly a whig, and now a republican. To supple- ment his early meager privileges for learning, he read and studied much in private, and was not only a teacher for many years, but has always been an ardent friend to all educational progress, and while residing at Cross Roads station was a member of the school board; and to all of his children he has given the advantages of a liberal education. Mr. Clare's early life was a most praiseworthy example of filial regard and devotion. For quite a number of years in his early manhood he was the only support, not only of his parents, but also of five sisters. He now refers to this portion of his life as furnishing a severe but wholesome discipline, by which he learned the virtues of self-denial, industry, and frugality, and also that which so few young men learn until too late,- the worth of a dollar; and to this experience he now attrib- utes his financial success in after life. His record in this respect forms a highly commendable example for imitation by all young men. To fine business abilities and excellent social qualities Mr. Clare superadds the elements of a thor- ough Christian gentleman.
BURR, REV. ERASTUS, D. D., former rector of All-Saints Protestant Episcopal Church, of Portsmouth, Ohio, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, April 15th, 1805. His parents were Ozias and Elizabeth Nash (née Couch), both natives of Fairfield county, Connecticut. The Fairfield branch of the Burr family are the descendants of John Burr, who came from England in Winthrop's fleet, 1630. After a few years' residence at Boston he, with several others, founded the town of Fairfield, in 1645. The subject of this biograph- ical sketch is of the seventh generation in direct descent from this original founder of the family in America, many of whom have distinguished themselves as professional and busi- ness men. His mother was the oldest daughter of Simon Couch, of Redding, Fairfield county, Connecticut. At the age of thirteen years, 1818, he removed with his parents to Worthington, Franklin county, Ohio, where he resided until sent from home for the completion of his education. He obtained his preliminary education in the common schools of his native place, afterwards in several select schools at Worthington. In 1820, Bishop Chase established at Worth- ington a classical school of a high order, conducted by sev- eral eminent instructors. Here he was prepared for college, and was a classmate of the late Chief-justice S. P. Chase. Two years of his college life were passed at Kenyon College, then temporarily located at Worthington, and his junior and senior years at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, where, in 1830, he was graduated. At Hartford he attended two courses of law lectures delivered by Governor Wm. W. Ells- worth. Although he afterward engaged in theological study, with a view to the ministry, he has always highly appreciated the benefits which he derived from these lectures in the way of mental discipline and a knowledge, however small, of the fundamental principles of law. He early developed a de- cided taste for reading and study. Books were, at that day, scarce, especially in the West ; but when he was about four- teen years of age his mother inherited from a brother, Judge Couch, of the Supreme Court of Ohio, a very good library for those primitive days. In this he found the histories of
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England and of Rome, by Goldsmith ; the history of Charles the Fifth, by Robertson ; Plutarch's Lives ; Marshall's Life of Washington, and several other important works, which he read with avidity, and, by their example, found the world open to him. This strong disposition to study and investigation naturally led him to aspire to a collegiate education and a pro- fessional life. This desire grew stronger as years went on and was at length attained. When his college course was com- pleted, he was impelled by a strong sense of duty and the feelings of his mind and heart, to study for the sacred min- istry. This he did, spending three years in the needful prepara- tion, and was then ordained to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church, by the Right Reverend B. B. Smith, at Lexington, Kentucky, January 6th, 1833, and was the first minister ordained by Bishop Smith after his elevation to the episcopate. His first parish was that of St. John's, Worthing- ton, Ohio, where he officiated five years. His second and only other one was that of All-Saints, Portsmouth, Ohio, which he held thirty-five years, and which he resigned on account of increasing infirmities. Since that period he has had no reg- ular charge, but has continued to officiate as health and op- portunity permitted. Dr. Burr has represented his diocese almost continuously in the General Convention of the Pro- testant Episcopal Church since 1845. He has been a trustee of Kenyon College since 1840, and has filled many other offices of responsibility and trust. He has always taken a deep interest in the cause of education, and especially has devoted much time to the interests of common schools. He has served on the board of examiners of Scioto County con- tinuously since 1839. He has also served as grand chaplain and grand orator in the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Ohio. Dr. Burr was married at Worthington, Ohio, February 7th, 1833, to Harriet Griswold, a daughter of Ezra Griswold, Esq., who emigrated from Hartford county, Connecticut, in 1803, to Worthington, Ohio, and was one of the proprietors of that place and of Sharon township, in which it is situated. His wife is still living and active, as she always has been, in promoting good works, and co-operating steadily and earnestly with her husband in his parochial labors. Dr. Burr is pre-eminently a scholar ; a fact which is indicated in his every-day life, by his public service, and in all the matters of scholarship. His manner in the pul- pit is dignified and serious, while socially he is a delightful com- panion. He is a deep thinker, and is blessed with a very retentive memory, which, combined with vivacity and cheer- fulness of spirit, makes him a very agreeable and useful mem- ber of society. He is endowed with peculiar gifts for his call- ing, and while he has achieved great success in his ministerial work he would probably have succeeded equally as well as a lawyer, a jurist, or a statesman. He has been solicited twice to allow his name to be used before the convention of the dio- cese of Ohio as an available candidate for the position of bishop of his diocese, but both times he positively declined, although it was almost an assured fact that he would be elected. Religion is in him the underlying and controlling element and great success has attended his labors in Ports- mouth. Although now seventy-seven years of age, he is a remarkably well-preserved man in mind and body, and bids fair to live many years of usefulness yet. He is greatly be- loved by his own parishioners and the people of Portsmouth generally, and wherever known his career as a minister of the gospel and as a sincere Christian gentleman places him among the ablest and most devoted men of the Church.
SYMMES, JOHN CLEVES, jurist, and agent for the Miami Purchase, was born at Riverhead, on Long Island, New York, July 21st, 1742, and died at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 26th, 1814. After receiving a good English educa- tion, he was early in life employed in land surveying and also in teaching school. He served in the war of the Revolu- tion, and was in the battle of Saratoga, whether as an officer or private soldier we have no record. After the war he re- moved to New Jersey and became a judge of the supreme court, and also chief justice of that State, which he repre- sented in the old Congress of 1785 and 1786. He was ap- pointed judge of the Northwestern Territory in 1788. As early as 1787 he made application to Congress, in the name of himself and associates, for the purchase of a large tract of land, afterwards known as the "Miami Purchase," lying between the Little and Great Miami rivers, and including the site of the present city of Cincinnati. His associates were principally composed of the officers of the New Jersey line, who had served in the war of the Revolution. The original purchase was for one million acres at sixty-six cents an acre, to be paid in United States military land warrants and certificates of debt due from the United States to individuals. The payments were divided into six annual installments. The first contract was made in October, 1788, but, owing to the difficulties of making the payments and the embarass- ments growing out of the Indian war, this contract was not fulfilled, and a new one was made for two hundred and forty- eight thousand acres in May, 1794, a patent for which was issued to Judge Symmes and his associates in September following. He made vigorous efforts for the settlement of this large purchase. He disposed of smaller tracts to private individuals and companies, that he might encourage colonies along the banks of the Ohio as far down as North Bend, twenty-three miles below the mouth of the Little Miami. He was a man of great energy of character who endeavored earnestly to carry into effect the above objects, and, in the latter part of January, 1789, set out from New Jersey, with a large party of emigrants for the far-off Miami country. Judge Symmes with his colony, arrived in the spring of 1789 at North Bend, and, having used his influence with General Harmar, the latter sent forty-eight soldiers to protect the settlers in the Miami country. Judge Symmes laid out a city, and called it Symmes City, after his own name. His city, however, was never built, and was soon forgotten in the growing importance of the settlement which had been made fifteen miles above, where Fort Washington was established, at a point regarded as a better site for a city, and where Cincinnati now stands. The residence of Judge Symmes stood about a mile northwest of the present railway station house at North Bend, at the foot of the hill dividing the Ohio from the Great Miami river. It was destroyed by fire March, 1811, during the owner's temporary absence, when all of his valua- ble papers were burnt. The fire was supposed to have been the work of an individual out of revenge for Judge Symmes' refusal to vote for him as a justice of the peace. An inci- dent connected with General Wayne's treaty with the Indians, at Greenville, speaks loudly in praise of Judge Symmes' benevolence of character. It is related that the Indians told him, while present at the treaty, that in the war just ended they had frequently lifted their rifles to shoot him, but, rec- ognizing him, they had refrained from pulling the trigger in consequence of his previous kindness to them. Judge Symmes married a daughter of Governor William Living-
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ston, of New Jersey, and his daughter became the wife of General William Henry Harrison, ninth president of the United States. About thirty rods westward from the tomb of President Harrison, at North Bend, in a graveyard known as. "Congress Green," so-called by Judge Symmes in the plat of his proposed city, is the pioneer judge's grave. It is covered with a horizontal tablet of stone, upon which, with dates of his birth and death, is the incription : "Here rest the remains of John Cleves Symmes, who, at the foot of these hills, made the first settlement between the two Miami rivers." A nephew of Judge Symmes, Captain John Cleves Symmes, and author of what is known as the "Symmes Theory," which is, that the earth is hollow and habitable within, and open at the poles for the admission of light, con- taining within it six or seven hollow concentric spheres, also open at the poles, was born in New Jersey, about the year 1780, and died, at Hamilton, Ohio, on the 19th of May, 1829. Having entered the army as an ensign in the First Infantry, March 26th, 1802, he was a captain in the war of 1812, and was distinguished at the battle of Niagara Falls, as well as at the sortie from Fort Erie. He afterwards resided at Newport, Kentucky, promulgated his theory in 1818, wrote and lec- tured in its behalf, and petitioned Congress to fit out an ex- pedition to test it. His project was met with ridicule, and he died in great embarrassment. A book, explaining and ad- vocating his theory, was published at Cincinnati in 1826.
KENNON, WILLIAM, LL. D., jurist and statesman, was born near Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, May 15th, 1798, and died at St. Clairsville, Ohio, November 2d, 1881. He removed with his parents to Ohio, about 1804, locating on a farm near Barnesville, Ohio. He employed to his advantage the limited educational facilities afforded by the neighborhood, which, supplemented by the acquirements of private study, constituted a good preliminary preparation for the law. He accordingly commenced his preparation for the bar in the office of W. B. Hubbard, of St. Clairsville, who was at that time probably the ablest practitioner at the St. Clairsville bar. He was admitted at Chillicothe, in 1824. He afterward formed a law partnership with his preceptor, and entered into an active and lucrative practice. He early in- dicated marked adaptation to his profession, and grew rap- idly in the estimation of the people, and this estimation was given practical expression by the Democratic party in 1828, by nominating and electing him to the United States Con- gress. He served three successive terms as a Member of the House of Representatives, and took an active part in the dis- cussion of the great issues of the day. In the spring of 1850 he was elected delegate at large to the Constitutional Conven- tion of Ohio. He was assigned the important position of Chairman of the Judiciary Department, and had for his associates such distinguished jurists as Judge Swan, Henry M. Stanbery, ex-United States Attorney-general, W. S. Groes- beck, of Cincinnati, Rufus P. Ranney, of Cleveland, and S. J. Kirkwood, ex-Secretary of the Interior. His name is in- separably associated with the deliberations of that body, as the author of the Code of Civil Procedure. The Committee on the Code, besides himself, were William S. Groesbeck and Levi P. Morton. In 1854 he was appointed by Governor William Medill a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, to fill the unexpired term of William B. Caldwell, which position he filled for one year. His judicial opinions are contained in 4th and 5th Ohio State Reports. Judge Kennon's public
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