USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 63
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He died on the 23d of October, 1873, as calmly as a child falling to sleep.
HON. SEABURY FORD.
[See page 571.]
About the year 1805, John Ford, an energetic man of Scotch descent, set out on foot from Cheshire, Connecticut, to explore the lands of the Western Reserve in Northern Ohio. It must have been a weary journey, of many hardships. But he was poor, had a growing family, and the lands of the reserve could be obtained for a small sum. He purchased a thousand acres of fertile soil, but of unbroken wilderness, within the limits of the present town of Bur- ton, in Geauga County. He put up a rude cabin, as a shelter from the weather, and set to work vigorously with his ax in felling the forest and grubbing up the bushes to prepare a field for corn. In the Winter he went back to his family in Cheshire. The next Spring he again repaired on foot to his new purchase, planted his corn-field, built a comfortable log cabin, and returned to Connecticut for his family.
In the Autumn of 1807, John Ford, with his wife and four children, com- menced their dreadful journey, through almost pathless wilds, for a distance of six hundred miles. Their equipage consisted of a huge, strong lumber wagon, without springs, drawn by four oxen. The roads were often frightfully rough and miry, and not unfrequently, for a long day's journey, not a single human residence was to be seen. Forty-two days of sunshine and of storm were occupied in this painful emigration.
The youngest child of this family was Seabury Ford, then a lad but five years of age. And yet that child, of such humble parentage, was destined to be the Governor of Ohio, when that state should have attained the position of one of the most populous, wealthy, and intelligent states in the American Union. There were no schools in that rude region. For ten years the boy was mainly employed in aiding his father in hewing out a farm from the tangled forest.
Fortunately for Seabury, his mother was a devoted Christian, and a woman of much capacity and intelligence. Amidst all the cares of her toilsome life she found time to teach her child to read and write, to inspire him with a love of learning, and above all, to instil into his mind those principles of integrity and piety which ennobled and embellished his future days. Very early the boy de- veloped unusual intellectual capacities, and eagerly read all the books he could borrow in the scattered cabins around. Both father and mother were alike in- terested in the moral culture and the intellectual improvement of their children.
When Seabury attained the age of fifteen, for two winters he was sent to a
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common school, working on the farm with his father during the Summer. When eighteen years of age, he became so anxious to obtain a collegiate education that his father, then in comparative prosperity, decided to gratify him. By this time the progress of the country had been so rapid that there: was an academy in Burton, taught by an accomplished scholar, Rev. David L. Coe. The studies of two years fitted him for college,
In the Autumn of 1821, Seabury Ford, with a young companion by the name of Dexter Witter, who subsequently became an eminent preacher of the gospel, started to enter Yale College, in New Haven, Connecticut. They took a light wagon, drawn by one horse, and with their few articles of clothing in carpet- bags, commenced their arduous journey. The distance can now, in the cars, be even luxuriously accomplished in about thirty-six hours. Then the route occu- pied more than three weeks of toilsome, painful, exhaustive journeying. Ar- riving at New Haven, they sold their horse and wagon, and entered upon their college duties.
Seabury Ford graduated in 1825, with a high reputation for honorable con- duct and for assiduity as a student. Returning to his home in Ohio, he very energetically entered upon the study of the law, and was admitted to practice in the year 1827. His character and attainments promptly secured for him ex- tended and lucrative employment.
He took a lively interest in the organization of the militia of his district, in which he attained the rank of major general, and devoted considerable time to. agricultural pursuits, of which he was very fond, but took no active part in politics until the year 1835, when he was elected by an immense majority to represent Geauga County in the State Legislature. He was chosen for six suc- cessive sessions, and in his last term was elevated to the dignity of Speaker of the House. His speeches upon finance indicated unusual ability in that diffi- cult branch of political economy, and widely extended his fame as a statesman.
In 1841, Mr. Ford, with ever increasing reputation, represented the counties of Cuyahoga and Geauga in the State Senate. He was an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, and so intensely consecrated his energies to the election of his favorite candidate to the Presidency, as seriously to injure his own health. Though Clay was defeated, the vote of Ohio was cast in his favor. In 1848, after one of the most hotly contested elections Ohio has ever witnessed, be- tween Whig and Democrat, Seabury Ford was chosen Governor by the small majority of eight hundred and seventy-one votes. The whole number of votes then cast was two hundred ninety-five thousand five hundred and eleven, indi- cating a population of nearly a million and a half.
His inaugural address commanded the respect of all parties and the admira- tion of his friends. In that day threats of dissolving the Union, unless slavery should be made national, were like snow-flakes filling the air. Boldly and elo- quently Governor Ford denounced these menaces. When he retired from the gubernatorial chair, it was the unanimous verdict of Ohio that his administra- tion had been conducted with great ability. He retired to his pleasant home- stead in Burton, with his constitution much shattered by the arduous labors of office. After a lingering sickness, he died on the 8th of March, 1855, at the age of fifty-three.
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For more than twenty years Governor Ford had been an honored and useful member of the Congregational Church in Burton. He died respected and beloved by the whole community. "As a neighbor, he was obliging and affable ; as a friend, generous, sympathetic, and faithful ; as a husband and father, kind and indulgent, while the genial warmth of his social temperament fitted him to be the life and ornament of the social circle."
HON. REUBEN WOOD. [See page 577.]
Reuben Wood, the twenty-second Governor of Ohio, was born in Middle- town, Rutland County, Vermont, in the year 1792. His father was a clergyman and chaplain in the Revolutionary army. The whole family was distinguished for its devotion to the patriotic cause. Young Reuben's intelligent father was able to confer upon his son unusual advantages for the cultivation of the mind. He obtained a good English and classical education in Upper Canada, and en- tered upon the study of the law. Hon. Marshall S. Bidwell, an eminent lawyer, who recently died in New York, was one of his classmates.
In 1812 Reuben was drafted by the Canadian authorities to serve in the war against the United States. Determined not to fight against his native flag, one dark and stormy night, with a companion, Bill Johnson, he took a birch canoe and set out to cross the ocean-like Lake Ontario, to the American shore. It was an exploit of which any knight of ancient chivalry might well be proud.
A gale of wind swept the lake. The rain fell in torrents. Pitch darkness enveloped them. They were in imminent danger of being swallowed up by the waves, when they succeeded in reaching a small island. Here the storm im- prisoned them for three days. They suffered severely for food and from exposure. As deserters from the British army, if captured, their lives would be in danger. At last, in a deplorable condition, they reached Sackett's Harbor, on the New York shore of the lake. As they entered the harbor in their frail canoe, they were arrested as spies by the patrol boats of a small American fleet there.
For four days they were held as captives on board of one of the ships. An uncle of Mr. Wood, residing in the neighborhood, hearing of his arrest, gave such assurance of the patriotism of the two young men as to secure their release. Reuben Wood returned to his native town and raised a company, of which he was chosen captain. As they were marching rapidly to repel a threatened inva- sion on the northern frontier, the battle of Lake Champlain took place, in which the British were defeated. The volunteers, consequently, returned to Woodville and were disbanded.
Mr. Wood then entered the law office of Gen. Jonas Clark, a distin- guished attorney of that day. In 1818, two years after his marriage, he emi- grated to Cleveland, Ohio, then farther from the New England States than Oregon is now. As he stepped ashore, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, he found a small hamlet of straggling, scattered huts. The clearing, opened upon the river banks scarcely encroached upon the boundless forest. But a few years before the savages alone wandered through these woods, and their birch canoes glided over these still, silent waters.
o
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
It was necessary for Mr. Wood to apply to the Supreme Court, then in session at Ravenna, for authority to practice in the Ohio courts. His finances were such that he took this journey on foot. His wife and infant daughter soon joined him at. Cleveland, taking the steamer " Walk-in-the-Water," from Buffalo. This was the first steamer on Lake Erie. A relative writes of him :
" When he thus finally made up his residence in Ohio, his worldly possessions were his wife, his daughter, and a silver quarter of a dollar."
His ability, industry and virtues, soon brought him into notice, and gave him . constantly increasing practice. In 1825 he was elected to the Senate of Ohio, and filled that office for three consecutive terms of two years each. He was soon appointed presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas of his district, and was subsequently promoted to the bench of the Supreme Court. In this position he exerted a powerful influence in shaping the judiciary of the state.
His unsullied integrity, commanding person, dignified demeanor, and kind- ness of heart, won for him both affection and esteem. One familiar with his character and career, writes of him :
" In the various official positions he filled the breath of suspicion was never lisped against him. In his long career of public life he maintained a character above reproach. Even the heat and injustice of party conflict never left its mark upon his character. His warm, personal, private friendships were never chilled by the bitterest political excitements. As a candidate for the suffrages of his fellow citizens, he was very popular with his party. His tall, erect form and com- manding mien won for him the title of the "Old Cuyahoga Chief."
Thus, when in October, 1850, he was nominated for Governor by the Demo- cratic party, though the dominant party had been Whig for a number of years, he was elected by a majority of eleven thousand. Although the canvass was a very spirited one, not a line of abuse or any blemish on his private character was even hinted at by any paper in the state. Indeed such was his personal pop- ularity that many Whigs, personal friends, were found electioneering or voting for him. He took his seat as Governor in 1851.
The passage by Congress of the odious Fugitive Slave Law had filled the country with bitterness and dissension. Governor Wood, in his inaugural, expressed his abhorrence of slavery, while at the same time he counselled obedience to the law.
"I must not," he wrote, " by any means be understood as attempting to defend the propriety and expediency of the law. It is unacceptable to a very large majority of the people of the North. It has crowded Northern feelings to its utmost tension. Public disapprobation will continue to hamper its execution and agitate its repeal.
" But with all these objections to the propriety of the law, violence is not to be thought of for a moment. There is a constitutional and legal remedy which will not overthrow that stately edifice of freedom erected by our ancestors on the ruins of colonial oppression, and which has hitherto been protected by the maj- esty and supremacy of law. The remedy is amendment or repeal."
During his administration Ohio was in a state of great prosperity, and it was generally admitted that the gubernatorial chair had never been more worthily filled. A new constitution went into effect in March, 1851, thus vacating the
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office of governor. Reuben Wood was re-nominated by the Democratic party, and re-elected by a majority of twenty-six thousand votes. This second term commenced in January, 1852.
At the assembling of the great Democratic Convention at Baltimore, in 1852, to nominate a candidate for the presidency, the division in the party was such that forty or fifty unavailing ballots were taken. The Virginia delegation then offered to the Ohio delegation to give the entire vote of Virginia to Governor Wood if Ohio would bring him forward. The hostility of one man prevented this arrangement. The same offer was then made to the New Hampshire dele- gation. It was accepted, and Franklin Pierce became President of the United States.
It is not improbable that the yielding of one man, causing the election of Governor Wood, would have saved our country from all the horrors of our awful civil war. Upon incidents apparently so trifling are the destinies of nations suspended. Governor Wood devoted himself so engrossingly to public affairs that he neglected his private interests.
Pecuniary considerations probably influenced him to accept the proffered office of the Consulate at Valparaiso, South America. This was one of the richest offices in the gift of the Government. In 1853, resigning the chair of the Chief Executive, he embarked, with his family, for that far-distant land. He addressed an affectionate letter of farewell to the people of Ohio, and thou- sands regretted his departure. Not finding the office as remunerative as he expected, he resigned, and in a year returned to his native land.
For a short time he resumed the practice of law,and then devoted the remain- der of his years to the cultivation of his splendid farm, called Evergreen Place, about eight miles out from the city. It was a beautiful home, which he had spent many years in adorning, and which was rendered doubly attractive by his generous hospitality.
He continued to watch with lively interest the progress of public affairs, and foresaw the inevitable conflict between freedom and slavery. A strong Union man, he supported with all his powers the efforts of the Government to suppress the rebellion. In October, 1864, though he had already passed his three-score years and ten, he attended a large Union meeting in Cleveland. Returning home that night he was the next morning violently attacked with colic. For thirty-six hours he suffered great pain, but retained entire consciousness. At three o'clock Saturday afternoon, October I, 1864, he died, surrounded by his weeping family. His remains now lie in Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland, sur- mounted by a shaft bearing the simple inscription :
" REUBEN WOOD."
For the above incidents the writer is indebted to a sketch admirably written by Mr. Noble H. Merwin, a grandson of Governor Wood. These pages would be enriched did our space allow us to insert the whole article.
-
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
HON. WILLIAM MEDILL.
[See page 583.]
The following sketch of Governor Medill has been furnished by a gentleman who was intimately acquainted with his character and career :
Governor Medill was born in New Castle County, State of Delaware, in the year 1801 ; graduate of Delaware College in 1825 ; studied law under Judge Black of New Castle, Delaware; removed to Lancaster, Ohio, in 1830 ; entered law office of Hon. Philemon Beecher, and was regularly admitted to practice in the supreme court and the several courts of this state in 1832. In 1835, he was elected to represent this ( Fairfield ) County in the Ohio Legislature, and served in that capacity for several years, and was twice elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, which he filled with distinguished ability. In 1838 he was elected as a representative in Congress from this district, then comprising Fairfield, Perry, Morgan and Hocking Counties ; and was re-elected in 1840, and was an active and influential member of that body. In 1845 he was ap- pointed by President Polk, Second Assistant Postmaster General, the duties of which he performed with marked ability. He was afterwards (the same year) appointed to the office of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in which his admin- istration was characterized by various long-needed reforms in that department and by a spirit of justice to the Indians whose guardianship he held. At the close of Mr. Polk's administration he returned to his home in Ohio, and resumed the practice of law.
In 1849 he was elected a member of the convention to form a new consti- tution for the State of Ohio, and was elected by that distinguished body, com- prising many of the most able men of the state, president of the convention. His selection from so many able and distinguished men as president, was but a just recognition of his abilities as a statesman and his great tact as a presiding officer. In 1851 he was elected lieutenant governor, and in 1853 was elected as the first governor under that new constitution he was so largly instrumental in forming and establishing. In 1857 he was appointed by President Buchanan first comptroller of the United States Treasury, which he held until the advent of Mr. Lincoln's administration. Upon his retirement from that office he returned to his home to end his days among the people whom he loved and had served, and who had ever honored and trusted him with undoubting con- fidence.
Governor Medill was a man of undoubted talent and of great administrative ability. His private and public life was remarkably pure and unsullied from the least stain of private or official corruption. His character will be fully portrayed by pronouncing him to be what he eminently was, a true patriot ; a citizen of spotless reputation ; a trusty and confiding friend ; an able, faithful and incorruptible public servant, and a courteous Christian gentleman.
Governor Medill died at his residence in Lancaster, Ohio, September 2, 1865.
CHAPTER XLII.
LIVES OF THE GOVERNORS - CONTINUED.
SALMON P. CHASE, WILLIAM DENNISON, DAVID TOD, JOHN BROUGH, CHARLES ANDERSON.
HON. SALMON P. CHASE.
[See page 589.]
Salmon P. Chase was born among the rough granite hills of New Hamp- shire, at Cornish, on the 13th of January, 1808. His father was a respectable farmer, and both of his parents were ennobled by superior intelligence and by devout Christian principle. They trained their child, who, unknown to them, was destined to so illustrious a career, to revere the Bible, the Sabbath, and all those institutions of religion upon which the welfare of every community so signally depends.
When Salmon was seven years of age, his father removed to Keene, New Hampshire, where his son enjoyed the advantages of a good common school. Two years after this his father died, leaving the widowed mother and her orphan children in very humble circumstances. Salmon had five uncles, who were men of liberal education and of considerable eminence. One of these, Philander Chase, was Episcopal Bishop of the diocese of Ohio. The bishop was at that time President of the Cincinnati College. He kindly offered to take his orphan nephew and educate him. Salmon was at that time fourteen years old. He went to Cincinnati and spent two years with his uncle. He then, at the age of sixteen, returned to New England and entered the junior class in Dartmouth College, where he graduated in the year 1826.
One of young Salmon's uncles was Senator in the National Congress. This probably led him to the City of Washington, where he opened a private classical school. But the school did not prove a success. Having spent all his money, and being quite discouraged, he applied to his uncle to get for him a clerkship in some one of the departments. The senator was somewhat of a stern man. He had that characteristic want of courtesy which so many New Englanders have inherited from their British forefathers. To this application he replied :
" Salmon, I will give you half a dollar with which you can buy a spade, for then you may come to something at last. But let a young man once settle down in a government office, and he never does anything more. It is the last
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you hear of him. I have ruined one or two young men in that way, and I am not going to ruin you."
Thus goaded, the energetic young man redoubled his exertions, and obtain- ing the patronage of Henry Clay, William Wirt, and Samuel L. Southard, whose sons were entrusted to his care, became moderately successful as a teacher. At the same time he studied law under William Wirt, whose forensic abilities had given him a national reputation.
In 1829, Mr. Chase having completed his legal studies, resigned his school, and was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia. Crowded with the labors of the school he had not been able to devote much time to his legal studies. It would seem that his examination was not very satisfactory to the judges, for he was told at its close that he had better read for another year. But he replied that he could not do that as he had already made arrangements to commence practice immediately in Cincinnati. The presiding judge seemed to think that any law was good enough for that wild region, for he promptly replied :
"In Cincinnati ? Oh, very well; in that case, Mr. Clerk, you may swear in Mr. Chase."
The great West was crowded with young lawyers in all its thriving settle- ments. Mr. Chase had before him weary "months of waiting. At length one client came. A poor man wanted an agreement drawn up, for which he paid half a dollar. It is surprising that that half dollar could have remained a week in Mr. Chase's pocket. But it seems that it did so, for in a week his client came and borrowed it back again.
But real ability, combined with energy and industry, will force its way in this tumultuous world. Gradually Mr. Chase gained reputation and practice. In the year 1834, being then twenty-six years of age, he was called to argue a case before the United States Court at Columbus, Ohio. It was an important case, and it was an august tribunal before which the young lawyer was to appear. No man can ever become an eloquent orator who has not intense sensibilities. The sensitive nature of young Chase was so aroused upon this occasion, that when he arose, his agitation quite overcame him. Though he had made the most careful preparation he could scarcely utter a word. He actually had to sit down, and greatly embarrassed, wait some time to collect his thoughts. He then rose again and made his plea, but not at all to his satisfaction.
As he closed, one of the judges came forward, and shaking him by the hand, said, with rare good sense :
" Mr. Chase, I congratulate you most sincerely. A person of ordinary tem- perament and abilities would have gone through his part without any such symptoms of nervousness. 'But when I see a young man break down in that way, I conceive the highest hopes of him."
Cincinnati had gathered, in its busy and thriving streets, many families from the most cultivated classes in the older states. Mr. Chase was an unusually fine looking man, of courtly bearing. He was scrupulously neat in his dress. These advantages, combined with his talents and his reputation for scholarship, at once opened to him the doors of the best society and introduced him gradually to its patronage.
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
He was indefatigable in his industry, finding time, in addition to the increas- ing labors of his office, to prepare a history of the State of Ohio, with a digest of its statutes. This important work, in three large octavo volumes, is still a standard authority in the Ohio courts. The slavery question was at this time beginning to assume the most portentious aspect. Mr. Chase was not a man of vivid and transient feelings, but of profound principles, which were not to be warped by either menaces or bribes. With all the imperturbable intensity of his nature, he espoused the cause of freedom.
A young girl was arrested on the free soil of Ohio, whom a man, crossing the river from Kentucky, claimed as his slave. The girl, friendless, penniless, seemed to have none but God to whom she could look for protection. Mr. Chase, with great moral courage, undertook her defense. By so doing, in that day, he arrayed against hin all the most powerful influences of politics and commerce. The trade of the South was deemed of great importance to the North, and both political parties were willing to make every concession by which Southern votes could be obtained.
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