USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 63
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were two thousand four hundred regular troops. They lost six hundred killed and wounded, while the Americans had four hundred and fifty killed and wounded, with eight hun- dred missing. The Britishi also captured several cannon. They claimed the victory, but had no such decided prepon- derance that they could afford to wait and gather the fruits, and a few days later began to retreat, closely pursued by General Greene. Camden was the next battle. It was a severe and hard-fought contest, in which Greene received the worst of it. He consequently withdrew, but Cornwallis was not in sufficient spirits to follow. Shortly after, he burned his works at Camden, and retreated to the North. Soon after this, the American army invested the town of Ninety-six, which had been strongly fortified. Learning that Lord Rawdon was approaching, Greene determined to carry the works by assault, and made tlie attempt; but it failed, after much slaughter. The last affair of consequence in which Mr. Reily was engaged, was the battle of Eutaw Springs, in South Carolina, on the 8th of September. The Americans attacked the British with great spirit, early in the morning, which was met with courage and determination. After a long hand-to-hand conflict, Lee, who had turned the British left flank, charged them in the rear. They yielded, and their line was completely broken. The company to which Mr. Reily belonged, heated with patriotic fire, pursued them so vigorously that they were divided from their own troops, so that they had to make a wide circuit. The day was so distressingly hot that when the company came to a brook, on their way back, they rushed into the stream up to their knees, and dipped the water with their hands, to as- suage their thirst. There was a large number engaged on each side-about two thousand. This engagement termi- nated the active efforts of the British in that portion of the country, and practically was the end of the Southern cam- paign. The army soon after was dissolved, and Mr. Reily, after eighteen months of service, was discharged, with a cer- tificate of honorable service, signed by George Washington himself. He returned to his home in Virginia, where he re- mained about two years. Then, becoming excited by the favorable accounts of the West, which was just then getting settled, he left his father's home in Virginia, and went out to Kentucky. He had not yet reached twenty-one years of age. His sister lived at that time in Danville, Lincoln County, and at her house he remained for five or six years, making it his home. He labored on the farm each summer and winter, excepting when he was employed as a carpenter, although he had never regularly learned that trade. He also made plows, harrows, and other agricultural implements for the use of the settlers, and during the last year of his residence in Kentucky he taught an English school. The settlement of Ohio was then just commencing, and Mr. Reily concluded to cast in his lot with those who were begin- ning the new commonwealth. He came to Columbia, now the eastern part of Cincinnati, on the 18th of December, 1789. That place was begun by Major Benjamin Stites. There was little provision in the neighborhood, and the colo- nists were obliged to gather roots and bear grass for food. The roots of the latter were pounded up into a kind of flour, which served as a substitute in making bread. An attack being made on Dunlap's Station, now Colerain, on the 10th of January, 1791, the patriotic citizens of Columbia turned out in their defense, and among them was Mr. Reily. They armed themselves with rifles, and, mounted on the best
horses that could be procured, set out for the relief of the set- tlement. Mr. Reily and Thomas Moore were directed to proceed a short distance in advance, as pickets, to give notice if the enemy should appear. On reaching the fort, they found that the siege had been abandoned, and that the gar- rison had sustained but little injury. There had been a vig- orous effort to take the place by assault, but the attack had been frustrated. On the 21st of June, 1790, Mr. Reily opened an English school at Columbia, which was the first one taught in the place (or, indeed, in the whole Miami country), which he continued as long as he resided there. In 1791, Francis Dunlevy, who was afterwards the first judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Butler Coumty, joined Mr. Reily at Columbia, and took part in the conduct of his school. This they continued for some time, but it was finally aban- doned, when Mr. Reilly found other and more active occu- pations. After St. Clair's defeat, General Wilkinson issued a call for volunteers to accompany an expedition he was about to send out for the purpose of burying the dead. A company was formed at Columbia, under command of Captain John S. Gano, of which Mr. Reily was a member. They were joined by two other companies at Fort Washington, and by two hundred regular soldiers. In one of these companies William Henry Harrison, afterwards President, was an en- sign. They started on the 25th of January, General James Wilkinson commanding. There was a very heavy snow on the ground, which obliged them to take sleds along, to carry their provisions and baggage. The first night they encamped near the present site of the college at College Hill, seven miles from the city. The next morning they arrived at Fort Hamilton, where they remained a couple of days. John S. Gano acted as Major. On the 28th they crossed the river, with their horses and baggage on the ice, about where the Junction Railroad now bridges the river. They took the old trace opened up by General St. Clair, and that night encamped at Seven-mile Creek. The next day they reached Fort Jeffer- son, which was under the charge of Captain Shaylor. The next day they continued their march, and encamped within eight miles of their destination. On the ensuing day at eleven o'clock, they arrived at the field of the disastrous de- feat, and encamped where St. Clair's artillery had stood, with a view of beating down the snow to facilitate their finding the object of their search-cannon and corpses. On their last day's march, when within four miles of the field of battle, where the pursuit had ceased, the scene, even though covered with snow, was most melancholy. The bodies of the slain lay strewed along the road and in the woods on each side. Many of them had been dragged from under the snow and mutilated by wild beasts. One of the party counted seventy- eight bodies between the point where the pursuit terminated and the battle-field. No doubt there were many more who, finding themselves disabled, crawled to a distance, out of sight of the road, and there perished. The great body of the slain were within an area of forty acres. The snow being deep, the bodies could be discovered only by the elevation of the snow where they lay. They had been scalped and stripped of all their clothing that was of any value. Scarcely any could be identified, as their bodies were blackened by frost and exposure, although there were few signs of decay, the winter having been unusually early and severe. Hav- ing dug a large pit-a work of much labor, as they were poorly supplied with spades and other implements-they proceeded to collect and bury the frozen bodies. Probably
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not more than one-half, however, were interred, as they worked at it only on the day of their arrival. They were so numerous, however, that when all were piled together and covered with earth, it raised a considerable mound. Here, in the silent gloom of the beech woods, reposes many a heart which once beat warm to every impulse of honor and noble feeling which elevates our race. They found that the artil- lery, with the exception of one six-pounder, had been dis- mounted and carried off or secreted, and some of the carriages had been burned. After encamping on the ground nearly two days and two nights, the party returned to Cin- cinnati, taking with them the field-piece above mentioned, two uninjured gun-carriages, the irons of the carriages that were burnt, and a few muskets. Many of the volunteers were badly frost-bitten on the march. In 1791 Mr. Reily had purchased a tract of land, about seven miles from Cincinnati, in the same quarter-section on a part of which the town of Carthage has since been laid out. In 1793 he gave up his interest in the school at Columbia to his friend Mr. Dunlevy, and associated with himself Mr. Prior, the two owning land near each other, and prosecuting their improvements jointly. All did not go well with them, however. Their horses were soon stolen, and they suffered other injuries from the Indians. They had not been long at this new business when Mr. Prior undertook to make a trip from Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton, in company with others. On their way the men were attacked by the Indians, and Mr. Prior was killed. Mr. Reily was left alone, and concluded to abandon farming. He returned to Columbia, and resumed teaching, which he continued until April, 1794, when he went to Cincinnati, and was employed in the office of General John S. Gano, then clerk of the Court of Hamilton County. Here he remained until 1799, acting as deputy, and conducting a large portion of the business of the office. In this situation he received high encomiums from the attorneys and others who had busi- ness with the court, for the neatness and accuracy with which his books were kept. The people of the Territory held their first election for Representatives to the General Assembly in 1799, and those elected began their sessions at Cincinnati on the 16th of September. John Reily was elected clerk, and served as such until their adjournment, on the 19th of De- cember following. He acted in the like capacity for the next two sessions and was heartily esteemed by those with whom he was associated. He devoted his entire time to the duties of his office, filling them with ability and discretion. When Cincinnati had a charter granted to it, John Reily was made one of the town trustees, and at the first meeting he was elected the clerk and collector. He became one of the stock- holders of the first public library in the Northwest, and, sixty years after, was the next to the last survivor. He was made one of the receivers of money for the United States, arising out of the claims of persons residing on Symmes's purchase for relief, and, with William Goforth, was appointed a board to hear and determine such claims. Mr. Reily acted as clerk of this board, made a map of the country where the claims lay, prepared the report on the claims adjudicated, and en- tered those allowed on the map and the record. The next year he was renewed in the same office. In 1802 the Con- gress of the United States passed "an act to enable the peo- ple of the Eastern Division of the territory northwest of the Ohio to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal foot- ing with the original States, and for other purposes," which
was approved the 30th of April. The law fixed the bounda- ries of the State, and authorized the citizens within its limits to elect representatives to a convention to form a constitution. The election was held on the second Tuesday of October fol- lowing, and the convention met in Chillicothe on the first Monday of November. Mr. Reily was elected one of the representatives of Hamilton County, which then embraced Butler. That body continued in session twenty-nine days, and formed the first Constitution of the State. It met with the approbation of the people, and they lived under it many years. Mr. Reily moved to Hamilton in 1803, being the agent of the proprietors of Rossville, and resided there until the time of his death. Some of the buildings of the old fort were yet standing, and many of the pickets which had made the inclosure were still to be seen. The inhabitants of the town were few in number, and had been soldiers of the vari- ous armies. After the erection of the County of Butler, Mr. Reily acted as the Clerk of the Court. He held the office under successive re-appointments until the 14th of May, 1840, a period of nearly thirty-seven years, when he declined fur- ther service. He was also Clerk of the Supreme Court of Butler County from the IIth of October, 1803, until the 3d of May, 1842, when he resigned. The only lawyer residing in Hamilton at that time was William Corry, whose office was in the same room in which Mr. Reilly kept his. Mr. Reily was appointed the first Recorder of Butler County, in 1803, and held the position until May, 1811, when he was succeeded by James Heaton, who had been the first County Surveyor. Mr. Reily was also clerk of the Board of County Commissioners from 1803 to 1819, when he resigned. His sterling qualities and thorough practical knowledge of the routine of the office gave him a great influence with the suc- cessive boards. In fact, during the time he held the position he had the chief management and control of the finances of the county, and conducted them with great prudence. In 1804, under the administration of Thomas Jefferson, a post- office was established in Hamilton, of which Mr. Reily was appointed postmaster. His commission was signed by Gid- eon Granger, Postmaster-general, and bears date August 2d, 1804. He held this position until July, 1832, when he re- signed. In 1809, when Oxford University was founded, Mr. Reily was made a trustee, and served in that capacity for many years. He was its president until the organization of the college, in 1824, when by law the president of the college, by virtue of his office, became president of the board of trus- tees. He was always a warm friend of this institution, attend- ing the meetings of the board with regularity. For years his name appears in the newspapers as secretary. He resigned his trusteeship in 1840, on account of advanced age and the inconvenience of being so often absent from home. Mr. Reily was a man of the utmost regularity of habits. He came to his room at a certain hour, and departed from it at a certain hour. His papers were all methodically filed away, and he could at any time refer to any paper with which he had any thing to do, although it might have been a quarter of a century before. He trusted nothing to another person which it was possible himself to do. He held office many years, and during the whole course of his life his in- tegrity and veracity were never questioned. His judgment was excellent, his memory good, his patriotism of the high- est. He took part in the Revolution while still a mere boy; he was an actor in the scenes of pioneer life when in early manhood, and he discharged important trusts to his fellow-
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men when he had reached the maturity of his powers. He was frequently a trustee of estates or guardian of children, and occupied other fiduciary positions. He was educated in the Presbyterian faith, and liberally contributed to the sup- port of that denomination. He also gave largely to other Churches. His death occurred in Hamilton on the 7th of June, 1850. He was then eighty-seven years of age. He had enjoyed good health nearly all his life, and his death was not preceded by any long sickness. The decease was announced to the Court of Common Pleas, which was then in session, by Governor Bebb, who paid a feeling tribute to his memory. Resolutions were adopted by the bar, which were ordered to be entered upon the journal of the court, and adjournment then took place. He died on Friday. On Sunday a discourse was pronounced by the Rev. William Davidson, of the United Presbyterian Church, and the body was conveyed to its last resting place in Greenwood Cem- etery, which had been opened only a short time before. The attendance at the funeral was vast. People came from every township in the county, as well as from over the bor- der and from Indiana. The solemnities were rendered more impressive by the presence of many old men who had been associated with him in the foundation of the commonwealth.
BRADSTREET, STEPHEN INGALLS, was born in Greenfield, New Hampshire, in 1794, and was a descendant of Governor Simon Bradstreet, of colonial fame. He spent his youth on his father's farm till, in his twentieth year, he became a very earnest Christian, and determined to devote his life to God's service alone. To do so the better, he fitted himself for and entered Dartmouth College, at his own ex- pense, and worked his way through, graduating in 1819, and from Andover Seminary in 1822. During all this time he was foremost in Christian work everywhere. Forbidden by delicate health to become a foreign missionary, he devoted himself to like labors at home, and went as a mission- ary to the valley of Virginia, and for over a year preached from place to place between Staunton and Lynchburg many times per week, and with great effect. But craving a more destitute field, he crossed the Alleghanies in 1823, traversed Ohio northwardly to the lake shore, preaching as he went, and finally selected Cleveland for his home. It was then a small village, but gave promise of its future greatness. Already there was established an Episcopal and a Presbyterian church, and with the latter he cast his lot, holding services in the old St. Clair Street Academy. The community was in need of moral and religious teaching, and for such a field he was in search. His preaching was aggressive and eloquent, and soon produced a decided effect. In 1824 he married Anna Dana Smith, of Amherst, New Hampshire, a person of such rare gifts, beauty, and virtues, as caused loving hands to cut on her tombstone the expressive words, "Useful, loved, lamented." Identifying himself at once with the Cleveland people, he strove to arouse them to a higher and better life, and to check the tide of wickedness that threatened to sweep all before it. Nor were his labors and example in vain, or confined to the young city; the surrounding towns also felt his influence. In 1825 he was put on a committee of his Presbytery to raise money to build Western Reserve College, and contributed largely to the successful establishment of that excellent institution, and delivered an impressive oration at the laying of its corner stone in May, 1826. The autumn of 1827 saw the opening of the Ohio and Erie canal at Cleveland, by
De Witt Clinton-a great event to the growing city, but causing at first a fearful amount of chills and fever of a deadly kind. In this ordeal, Mr. Bradstreet and his devoted wife so faith- fully ministered to the temporal and spiritual wants of the sufferers as to endear them more than ever to the hearts of the survivors. In 1830 he resigned, to become a missionary in the towns along the lake west of Cleveland, for three years. In 1834 he became one of the founders, and the editor of the Ohio Observer, the first religious paper west of the moun- tains. His articles on Sunday observance were very widely read, and his wife was a valuable contributor, also. In 1835 he settled in Perrysburg, then promising to become what Toledo now is, there organized a church, and worked hard and very successfully until the unhealthy climate broke him down completely, and compelled his removal in 1836. In- vited by his old friends to Cleveland again, he hoped to still wield his able pen, and prepared to become editor of a new religious paper there. But his constitution was broken under the tremendous strain upon it, and before he had produced a single number of the proposed paper, he was cut down in the midst of his usefulness, June 8th, 1837, lamented by all, but especially by those whom he had led to a better life. He was buried in the Cleveland cemetery, and his bereaved widow followed him the next year. He was a man well adapted to the times and conditions in which he lived. To a clear and strong mind were added great knowl- edge, tireless energy, and courage to always maintain the right. But the real secret of his power was his wonderful earnestness, and unbounded faith in the truth and reality of what he taught. The wealth and honors of life were nothing to him, and with characteristic devotion to his sacred calling, he refused the gift of a building lot in Cleveland, lest it should tend to wean him from the one great object of his life. Like Henry Martyn and Francis Xavier, his greatest joy and his only ambition were to teach the Christian religion to those who knew it not, and this not for pay, but from love of God and his fellow-men. Of his four children, two died in child- hood -Henry Martyn, of great promise, died in 1858 in California, and the only survivor is Edward P.,
L'HOMMEDIEU, STEPHEN S., of Cincinnati, edi- tor and railroad president, was born January 5th, 1806, at Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, and died at West Point, New York, May 25th, 1875. He was a son of Cap- tain Charles L'Hommedieu, who was of Huguenot descent, a paternal ancestor having fled from France after the siege of La Rochelle, and crossed the ocean to America. In 1810, Captain L'Hommedieu removed West and settled in Cin- cinnati, at that time a small village of a few hundred inhab- itants. Stephen, then about four years of age, accompanied his father, who engaged in business and manufacturing for about three years, and died in 1813, leaving a family of five children. Previous to his death, Captain L'Hommedieu had purchased the land now bounded by Central avenue, Mound, George, and Seventh streets, for pasturage and building pur- poses. This spot was then somewhat remote from the vil- lage, but is now the center of a great city. The property, at his death, was divided between the five children. At twelve years of age, he was placed in a store with his uncle, John C. Avery, and three years after (1821), we find him learning the art of printing at the Library Hall office, where the Cin- cinnati Gazette was then published. When he became of age, he was received as a partner in the Gazette. The paper
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was at that period a semi-weekly, and dependent upon gov- ernment patronage, and, moreover, was "federal" in poli- tics. In 1828, General Andrew Jackson was elected Presi- dent of the United States, and the publishers of the paper, having consulted with Charles Hammond, its editor, deter- mined to make the Gazette an independent paper, believing that that course would bring a better reward than the pa- tronage of the government. The result showed their wisdom. In 1829, the firm of L'Hommedieu, Morgan & Fisher issued the Gazette as a daily paper. It was the first daily paper published west of the Alleghany mountains, or in the great valley of the Ohio and Mississippi, with the exception of a small sheet, issued for a few weeks, the year previous, in Cincinnati, by S. S. Brooks. The reputation of the Gazette from 1827 to 1840, under the very able editorial management of Charles Hammond, is well known. Mr. L'Hommedieu closed his connection with the paper in 1848, after twenty- seven years of service, and was shortly after elected presi- dent of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad Com- pany. This corporation had been chartered in 1846, with a capital of only $500,000. Mr. L'Hommedieu in a short time, by his personal influence, succeeded in raising about $750,000 in Cincinnati alone, and about one-third of that amount in the city of New York. In one year from the time the contractors were enabled to commence work upon it, the road was completed to Dayton, and was regularly opened for business September 22d, 1851. Mr. L'Hommedieu re- mained as the executive head of the company for a period of twenty-two years, when he resigned his position July 4th, 1871. A few days after, he sailcd for Europe, accompanied by his wife, and made an extensive tour. After his retire- ment from the Cincinnati Gazette, he kept aloof from poli- tics, and never sought an office of any description. After the dissolution of the whig party, he acted with the republi- cans, and was ever zealous in maintaining the integrity of the union. His life was one of ceaseless activity and use- fulness. The period during which he achieved his greatest success was marked with unparalleled progress. The changes that had taken place during his recollection were wonderful to contemplate, and he had, with his newspaper, contributed largely to the building up of Cincinnati, from the little village of a few hundred inhabitants to the present great city of over three hundred thousand souls.
PAIGE, DAVID R., merchant and capitalist, was born in Rutland, Vermont, September, 1806, and died in 1877, at Painesville, Ohio. He left Vermont in 1832, and removed to Ohio, settling in Madison, Lake county, where he commenced selling goods, and continued in business for thirty years, amassing a good property. In 1838, he was appointed asso- ciate judge of the common pleas, holding the position seven years. In 1863 he removed to Painesville, retiring from active business, and in 1873 visited Europe, with his wife, and spent one year in making the usual tour. Throughout life he took an active interest in enterprises calculated to benefit the locality in which he resided. He was one of those concerned in originating and carrying to a successful issue the project of the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad, which afterward developed into the Lake Shore and Michigan South- ern Railroad. Of this organization he was an original direc- tor, and contributed the first money for the prosecution of the enterprise. He was one of the trustees of the Painesville Seminary, and active in its support until his death. In the
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