USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > The history of Erie County, Pennsylvania, from its first settlement > Part 35
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Yours truly, Artemias Martin.
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Artemas Martin, M.A., Ph.D., LL.D., the subject of this sketch, was born August 3, 1835, in Steuben County, New York. He is the only son of James Madison Martin and Orenda Knight (Bradley) Martin.
In 1837 his parents removed to Pennsylvania, and for many years resided near Franklin, Venango County.
He had no schooling in his early boyhood except a little pri- mary instruction while very young, and from that time until in his fourteenth year he was never in a schoolroom as a pupil, but had learned reading, writing, and geography at home, but knew nothing of arithmetic. In his fifteenth year he com- menced the study of arithmetic in Dr. Daniel Adams' Scholar's Arithmetic, but did not master the four rules of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division the first winter. He attended district schools three winters, com- mencing the study of algebra the last winter. When seven- teen years of age he attended a select school in Franklin for six months, studying algebra, geometry, natural philosophy, and chemistry, walking two and one half miles night and morning. Three years afterwards he attended the Franklin Academy about two months and a half, studying algebra and trigonometry. This, at the age of twenty, finished his schooling. He taught district schools four winters in Ve- nango County. In summer he usually worked at farming, and studied mathematics during his spare moments-evenings and rainy days. He also worked in the oil regions at drilling oil wells-mostly in the winter.
Early in 1869 Mr. Martin removed with his parents to Erie County, Pennsylvania, and resided near Erie and in that city until he went to Washington, D. C., in October, 1885.
He began his mathematical career when in his eighteenth year by contributing solutions of problems to the Pittsburg Almanac, and soon afterward contributed problems to the "Riddler Column" of the Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post, and was one of its principal contributors for about twenty years. In the summer of 1864 he commenced con- tributing problems and solutions to Clark's School Visitor, afterwards Our Schoolday Visitor, published in Philadelphia. In June, 1870, he took charge of the "Stairway Department"
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as editor, the mathematical part of which he had in fact con- ducted for some years before. He continued in charge as mathematical editor till the magazine was sold to Scribner & Ço. in the spring of 1875 and merged into St. Nicholas.
In September, 1875, Mr. Martin was chosen editor of a de- partment of higher mathematics in the Normal Monthly, published at Millersville, Pennsylvania, by Prof. Edward Brooks, and held the position until the Monthly was discon- tinued in August, 1876. He published in the Normal Monthly a series of sixteen articles on the Diophantine Analysis, the most extensive that had been published in this country.
In the spring of 1877 he issued the first number of his Mathematical Visitor, which he still publishes at irregular intervals. In January, 1882, he issued the first number of his Mathematical Magazine, which he continues to publish.
Although he had never served an hour as apprentice in a printing office to learn the "art preservative," he has done all the type-setting for his publications except for the first three numbers of the Visitor and part of the last page of Vol. I., No. 2, of the Magazine, and has printed several numbers of the Visitor and one of the Magazine on a self-inking lever press, only 6} by 10 inches inside of chase. The numbers he has printed are considered by competent judges to rank among the finest specimens of mathematical printing ever executed.
In June, 1881, he was elected professor of mathematics in the Normal School at Warrensburg, Missouri, but did not accept the position.
His ability and achievements in the science of mathematics have been recognized by three colleges which have conferred on him honorary degrees ; Yale College giving him the degree of M.A. in 1877 ; Rutgers College, Ph.D., in 1882 ; and Hills- dale College, LL.D., in 1885.
In 1878 he was chosen a member of the London Mathemati- cal Society ; in 1884, member of the Société Mathematique de France ; in 1885, member of the Edinburgh Mathematical So- ciety ; in 1886, member of the Philosophical Society of Wash- ington ; in 1889, member, and in 1890, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and in 1891, member of the New York Mathematical Society.
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In November, 1885, through the influence of Hon. William L. Scott, Dr. Martin was appointed to a position in the office of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and has since resided in Washington, D. C.
Dr. Martin has contributed mathematical problems, solu- tions, and papers, to the Analyst, published at Des Moines, Iowa ; to the Annals of Mathematics (successor to the Analyist) ; to the Illinois Teacher (1865-1867) ; to the Iowa In- structor (1865-1867) ; to the National Educator; to the Yates County Chronicle; to Barnes' Educational Monthly ; to Edu- cational Notes and Queries; to the Wittenberger (1876-1880) ; to the Maine Farmers' Almanac; and to the Mathematical Monthly, published over thirty years ago. He contributed to the Wittenberger (1877-1879) a series of thirteen articles on " Average," believed to be the first articles on that subject published in this country.
Dr. Martin has also contributed to the following English mathematical periodicals : The Lady's and Gentleman's Diary (1868-1871) ; the Messenger of Mathematics ; the Educational Times and its Reprints (1868-) ; and the Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics. The Reprint contains a large number of his solutions of difficult "average " and " probability " problems.
Outside of the time devoted to editing and printing his magazines, Dr. Martin devoted himself for some years to culti- vating vegetables and conducting a market-garden near Erie, Pa., and was a regular attendant at the Erie market. He was careful to plant only the best varieties, and prized his skill and reputation as a gardener as highly as he did his fame as a mathematician.
Dr. Martin is not a graduate of any institution of learning, and is almost wholly self-taught. He has a large and valuable mathematical library containing rare and interesting works. His collection of American arithmetics and algebras is one of the largest private collections in the country.
He has also a large miscellaneous library, including many early and scarce school books, among which is a large collec- tion of English grammars.
Rev. G. W. Chamberlain, D.D., was born in Waterford, Pa.,
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in 1839. He was educated at Delaware College, and afterwards at Princeton, but was obliged to give up study on account of a difficulty with his eyes. He went to Brazil in 1862, not intend- ing to enter missionary work, but the condition of the ignorant people so appealed to him, he has remained, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Rio. He is a missionary of the Presby- terian Board, and has organized many schools and churches at Sao Paulo, Bahia and Rio Janeiro, and has been remarkably successful in his field of labor. He is also an able and interest- ing contributor to our missionary magazines. A sister also went with him in 1876, purposing to teach, but her health failed after two or three years and she returned. His oldest daughter has lately joined the mission under appointment of the Board. The Rev. Pierce Chamberlain, long pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Waterford, was his father.
The author of "One Little Injun," Miss Margaret Emma Ditto, of Wellesley, Massachusetts, was born in Nunda, Livingston County, N. Y., about the time the Genesee Valley Canal had its inception. Her father had the contract for building that canal, and moved his family from New York City into the then far west of the State, where they resided some years. In 1861 Miss Ditto graduated at Mt. Holyoke Seminary (now college), and came to teach in Erie Academy about 1866, where she remained nine years. In her own words, "Hundreds of Erie boys and girls passed through my hands, and I hope are none the worse for it. I remember them all." We can say we do not doubt but they all remem- ber her with the greatest affection. Since that time her chief interest has been in writing for the press, and she is best known as a writer of short stories for boys. These have ap- peared in the Youth's Companion, The Independent, and The Congregationalist. At one time she wrote quite regularly for Harper's Young People, and some for the Bazaar and the Weekly. She says : "I have also done some humerous writ- ing, besides my Indian tracts and Bible studies. I prefer the Bible studies, and I feel that to make known the facts and principles of the Bible is the only permanent use to which literary talent can be put. Life seems a very deep reality to me, and those things which do not make for eternal life do
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not seem to nie worth living for. I have studied the Bible a good deal, and I find that it is a scheme of truth in which if we abide the world and all its doings become belittled almost to extinction. I have a deep conviction that the end of the age is near at hand when our Lord will return in glory to reign, and this truth drives out others, and I cannot write on common themes with zest." Of her humerous writings she says : "They were like foam on the water-a sparkle and gone. They were in the papers under a good many different signatures ; as during some years I wrote not under my own name. But Harper used to advertise or notice them as hum- erous, and I believe had the idea to bring me out in that line. But I hardly think I shall write any more such."
Mr. William C. Kelso, deceased in April, 1892. As a life- long resident of Erie, the senior member of the bar and the oldest communicant of St. Paul's Episcopal church, his form was well known and his name a household word. As the youngest and sole surviving member of the historic family of Gen. Kelso, whose coming to Erie County was almost identical with its settlement, there was an added interest, especially as his own life had almost bridged the century and his career had been cotemporary with three generations. He was the youngest of seven children of Gen. John and Sarah (Carson) Kelso, and born in Erie about seventy-nine years ago. Gen. Kelso came with his family from Cumberland County in 1798, and to the town of Erie in 1806. He made his home in the square west of State and north of Second Street, where his house and grounds were long a conspicuous landmark, especially as they were adorned by choice vines and shrubs for the first time introduced by them when the family came to Erie. Gen. Kelso was a large landowner and conspicuous, patriotic citizen. He was Associate Judge, Prothonotary, Recorder, and Commissioner of Sales. In the War of 1812 he was brigadier general in active command in charge of the place in repelling invasion and guarding the frontier, espe- cially during the construction of Perry's fleet. He died in 1819, and his widow in 1842. On the 10th of May, 1839, W. C. Kelso was admitted to the bar, after studying with his brother-in-law, Mr. Babbitt. Subsequently he formed a part-
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nership with that renowned lawyer, by which firm a large practice was successfully conducted. In 1862 he was ap- pointed an assistant United States Assessor of the nineteenth collection district of Pennsylvania, and rendered efficient and conscientious service in that important office. After the close of his official duties he never resumed active practice to much extent. He was for probably half a century assidu- ous and untiring in the discharge of his church duties. These were his life work. As warden, vestryman, and secretary of St. Paul's Episcopal church he was conspicuous. The two latter positions he occupied till his death, Not only was he the oldest member of the church, but as regular in attendance on Sunday and at the week-day services as the rector himself.
Ernest Ingersoll, the naturalist and author, is the son of Dr. Timothy Dwight Ingersoll, of Erie, but was born at Monroe, Mich., March 13, 1852. His taste for natural history was apparent when a lad, and caused him to pursue the study, in spite of obstacles. After a desultory course at Oberlin, he became by his own exertions a student in the Musuem of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, where he made a special study of birds, and supplemented this with a season's work at Prof. Agassiz's seaside school on Penikese Island. After Prof. Agassiz's death in 1874, Mr. Ingersoll was appointed to a position on the United States Geological Survey as naturalist and collector, exploring the remotest parts of the southern Rocky Mountains, This appointment was received through the influence of his friend, Prof. S. T. Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute. His work in popular science is, per- haps, best known through his collected essays, "Friends Worth Knowing," and "Country Cousins," and the two volumes, " Old Ocean," and "Birds Nesting," "The Ice Queen " and "Silver Caves" are bright examples of success in the difficult rôle of story telling for young people. He has written also a
number of excellent guidebooks ; one on the Canadian West is worthy of a more dignified classification, as it embodies large study and experience which he acquired while in charge of the advertising business of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1887 and 1888. He has delivered many lectures, been for
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many years correspondent of the London Field, and has done a large amount of unsigned work. Mr. Ingersoll lives in New York City, and is at present one of the editors of the "Stan- dard Dictionary," attending to the department of Zoology, and having charge of the illustration of that great work. He is assisted by his daughter Helen, who excels as a botanist and an artist.
Dr. Timothy Dwight Ingersoll was born in Lee, Mass., July 4, 1817, but removed with his parents to northern Ohio. His father, Theo. Ingersoll, was a leading citizen and abolition- ist, and one of the founders of Oberlin College. His mother, Lydia B. Ingersoll, died at her home in Berea, O., July 25, 1893, at the advanced age of one hundred years and nine months. Dr. Ingersoll is a direct descendant (being in the fifth generation) of the celebrated divine and metaphysician, Dr. Johathan Edwards, who was born in Windsor County, Connecticut, in 1703. He entered the dental profession in 1850, married Miss Eliza Parkinson, and returned to Erie in 1876. Dr. and Mrs. Ingersoll, Prof. G. F. Guttenberg, and Mr. J. Miller founded the Erie "Natural History Society," which has been a nucleus of thought and inspiration here for several years. Dr. T. D. Ingersoll's essays and frequent newspaper articles on scientific subjects and descriptions of scenery in our locality, some of which are found in this work, have awakened much interest. His skill as a dentist has not only been recog- nized at home, but has a wider reputation through his articles in the dental journals.
The Rev. William M. Blackburn, D.D., author of several in- teresting works, now President of Pierre College, Dakota, was the first settled pastor of Park church.
Rev. Kemper Fullerton has been appointed provisional in- structor in Hebrew and Greek in Lane Theological Seminary at Cincinnati, O., and becomes the successor of Prof. Henry Preserved Smith, D.D. He is the second Erie boy to attain such a position among the instructors of the Presbyterian church, Rev. Augustus S. Carrier having for two or three years filled the like professorship of Hebrew in McCormick Theological Seminary at Chicago, after a like high grade of scholarship at Union Seminary, and a like post-graduate period of study
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in Europe. Erie may justly be proud of two who have at- tained such honorable positions. Both are sons of former well beloved Erie pastors, Rev. A. H. Carrier, D.D., having been pastor of the First Presbyterian church, and Rev. Thomas Fullerton, D.D., of the Park church.
" ERIE, Pa , May 11, 1893.
"To the Editor of the Dispatch.
"I find in the May number of the Literary Northwest, pub- lished simultaneously at St. Paul, Minneapolis and New York, several poetic contributions from W. R. Perkins, son of R. L. Perkins of this city. They are entitled 'Song of the Lily,' 'Song of the Rose,' and 'Song,' each beautiful in thought and tender and smooth in expression. Indeed, they evince true poetic feeling, serving to show on the part of Mr. Perkins rich gifts in this direction.
"Mrs. Mary J. Reid gives in the same number of the Liter- ary Northwest a finely rendered criticism upon Mr. Perkins as a poet of true genius and growing reputation. 'Eleusis and Lesser Herns' of Mr. Perkins, issued in the form of a modern volume, are critically and eulogistically reviewed, and the author awarded distinction, not as a magazine writer of verses to catch the multitudes with rhymes that touch simply upon passing events, but a poet who has for years studied his art with a high and lofty aim.
"It may be added that William L. Perkins was born in Erie in 1847 ; was graduated in 1868 at Western Reserve Col- lege, Ohio, teaching thereafter in his alma mater, and devoting his spare hours to the study of law. In 1879 he was appointed assistant professor at Cornell University, N. Y., where he re- mained six years. At the expiration of that period he went to Europe, where he attended the Universities of Berlin and Bonn. Upon his return. he was called to the chair of history in the State University of Iowa, Iowa City, a position he still holds. In 1888 he was elected delegate of the Eighth Cente- nary of the University of Bologna, Italy, thus visiting Europe a second time."
" The several narratives of the resurrection of Christ as con- fined to the day on which he rose from the dead, in which some have supposed discrepancies to exist, and used them to
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discredit the truthfulness of the testimony, and to bring in question the inerrant inspiration of the gospels, have been clearly harmonized by a little work, the mechanical execution of which is equal to the beauty of the literary style, written by Rufus Lord Perkins, an elder in the Park church at Erie, Pa. The closing pages of this book contain some forcible thoughts specially adapted to the present, when the plenary in- spiration of the Scripture is denied by some within the pale of the Christian church, and the authority of the Bible is put on a level with fallible reason and a fallible church, leaving no solid footing for a soul that turns an anxious gaze toward the solemn future."-New York Correspondence.
Samuel Gustine Thompson, appointed by Gov. Pattison to fill the vacancy on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court bench caused by the resignation of Chief Justice Paxson, has been a prominent member of the Philadelphia bar for thirty years, being a superior corporative lawyer. He was born in Frank- lin, in 1837, his father being judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Venango County. Judge James Thompson was elected to the Supreme bench in 1858 where he officiated for fifteen years, the last six as Chief Justice. The family re- moved to Philadelphia upon the election of the father to the Supreme Court, and there the son, who had graduated at the Erie Academy, and made himself proficient in several modern languages, took a partial course at the University of Pennsyl- vania, studied law and was admitted to practice in 1861. He is a director of the Philadelphia & Erie Railway Company. Judge James Thompson died suddenly in 1874, while making an argument before the Supreme Court .- Condensed from American Press Association.
A Dispatch reporter was told recently by a resident of Erie that in the summer of 1845 he met Rev. Nathaniel and Mrs. Snowden, grandparents of Col. J. Ross Thompson. Mr. Snowden then stated that he heard the old bell ring on the 4th of July, 1776, as independence was proclaimed from Independence Hall, Philadelphia, At the same interview he learned that Mrs. Snowden was among those who escaped- as a child in her mother's arms-at the Wyoming massacre a little later.
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Mr. and Mrs. Snowden were then visiting the family of their daughter, Mrs. Judge Thompson, at the corner of Ninth and State streets. The aged minister and the genial old lady were clear in their recollection and positive and entertaining in their statements of the thrilling events each had witnessed. Their memories bridged a longer period than the nation's life. Each survived for some years and witnessed not only the mar- velous advance of the State but the leading positions taken by various members of their family in both judicial and legisla- tive, in the federal and State service. Judge Samuel G. Thompson, of the Supreme Court, and A. Loudon Snowden, minister to Greece, are also grandsons of the same persons. Judge Thompson was Chief Justice of Pennsylvania and J. Ross Snowden Treasurer and Director of the United States mint.
Erie has been visited by nine Presidents of the United States, viz : William H. Harrison in 1813, as General of the Western Army, in company with Com. Perry, immediately after the battle of Lake Erie; James Buchanan in 1840, to speak at a political convention ; Ex-President John Q. Adams being on a steamer, tarried from 7 o'clock to 9, and was welcomed by Hon. T. H. Sill in the name of the citizens ; President Zach- ary Taylor making a journey for recreation on the lakes, be- came too ill to proceed farther, and remained ten days at the residence of Dr. W. M. Wood, of the U. S. Navy ; Vice-Presi- dent Fillmore, whose home was in Buffalo, came up to meet him and remained for a day ; Gov. Johnson, of Pennsylvania, Surgeon Ward, and Col. Bliss of the army accompanied him in his travels, which he was obliged to abandon and return to Washington, where he died in less than a year. Stephen A. Douglass visited Erie when he was a candidate and made a speech in the West Park. President Lincoln passed through Erie on his way to Washington and made a few remarks from the balcony of the depot just before his inauguration. His remains passed over the Lake Shore road in 1865. Erie was favored by a speech from President Johnson, who was ac- companied by Gen. Grant and W. H. Seward ; the latter also spoke. Horace Greeley during the campaign of 1872 made a lengthy address to his former townsmen from a window of the
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depot. Gen. Garfield made frequent visits to Erie, and during the canvass of 1878 made an address at the courthouse, and in 1880 was a few minutes at the depot, and Benjamin Harrison accompanied him. Father Mathew, the apostle of temperance discoursed in the Pro-Cathedral of St. Patrick's on East Fourth Street.
Hon. William L. Scott was born in Virginia, July 2, 1828, being the son of Maj. R. L. Scott, U. S. A. In 1848 he came to Erie through the influence of Gen. C. M. Reed, and after- wards was in partnership with Messrs. M. B. Lowry and John Hearn in the coal and shipping trade. He contracted to build the Pittsburg & Erie Railroad, was the principal owner and the president during his life. He also built the coal docks and established the coal depot at the mouth of Cascade Run. During the war Mr. Scott gave liberally to the Union cause, and aided in the enlistment of troops, and was widely known as a wealthy and energetic citizen. He made also liberal dona- tions to orphan asylums and churches. In 1866 and 1871 he was elected Mayor, and in 1866 and 1876 was member of Congress. In 1876 and 1880 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Conventions. Mr. Scott married Mary Matilda, daughter of J. A. Tracy, Esq., and granddaughter of Capt. Daniel Dobbins. He died at Newport, September 19, 1891. Prominent as a politician and a citizen of great wealth, his funeral obsequies were fitting and more notable than those of any that had pre- ceded him. We copy from the newspapers of the day in another part of this work. Rev. James Scott, of the Church of England (but being of Scotch descent), was his great-grand- father who graduated at Aberdeen University, was ordained and licensed to preach in Virginia by the Lord Bishop of Lon- don in 1735. His grandfather, Gustavus Scott, was educated at Kings College, Aberdeen, and studied law in London, at No. 4 Essex Court, Temple Bar, having entered in 1767 and com- pleted his studies in 1771. Returning to America he settled in Maryland residing in Annapolis and Baltimore. He was a member of the Continental Congress and held many offices of distinction in Maryland. In 1794 he went to Washington as president of the commissioners for laying out the city of Washington. He built and occupied the fine residence
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"Kalorama," and died there. The father of Hon. W. L. Scott was also born there. This elegant residence in Presi- dent Madison's day is now within the city limits and being rapidly built up.
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