USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 13
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"He was always at his best in the recitation- room, especially in the classics. His rendering of the most difficult Latin, that of Tacitus, for instance, was delightfully smooth and easy, ow- ing to his fine command of language and the am- ple vocabulary he acquired by wide acquaintance with the best authors. At the quarter-century reunion of his class at Washington College in 1888, a sketch of himn was read by the class his- torian, Rev. John Henry Sharp, of Philadelphia, a classmate, from which I make the following extracts : 'In Henry S. Walker, lawyer, editor, politician, and gentleman farmer, we recognize our former honor man and the class valedic- torian. Remembering his short, slight, but not ungraceful figure, his lame limb, and his sway- ing, almost painful, locomotion, he was a fine instance of triumph of mind over body. His strong, well-shaped, and finely moulded head, his clear-cut features, and above all his full dark eyes, betokened a nervous endowment that would have adorned the physique of far ampler proportions. Not only in scholarship was he easily first, but his general reading had been multifarious. He had a phenomenal memory and yet a well-balanced judgment and superior literary instinct and style. His oratorical powers also were of a high order, in spite of his unim- pressive figure. His eye was always his great instrument of power, and he used it with much effect. The verdict that gave him the first honor was unquestioned on the part of any.'"
The reference to Mr. Walker's physical de- velopment applies to him as a youth only; his body was finely proportioned and he had greatly outgrown this weakness. In conclusion Mr. Bassell adds :
"Among the brilliant men that Clarksburg has produced, it can be justly said that Henry S. Walker will stand in the front rank. That he had faults goes without saying, and his faults were rendered more conspicuous by reason of the commanding ability of the man. 'But give us our deserts and who shall escape a whipping?' is the reminder of our great tragic poet, and we trust that whatever faults he possessed will be forgotten in the remembrance of his superior mental gifts, and that there will only be regret that he should have been cut off at a time when
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he was still capable of so much useful service to his friends and his State."
Mr. Walker's personal friend and political as- sociate, Hon. E. Willis Wilson, who, while Gov- ernor of West Virginia, appointed him to be Secretary of State, contributed the following eulogium to his memory in the Charleston Daily Gazette. Speaking of his literary and oratorical accomplishments, Mr. Wilson says:
" We catch a glimpse of that wonderful imag- ination and penetrative thought which charac- terized the writings of Mr. Walker and held his audiences spell-bound with delight when, in- tensified with a magnetic presence, splendid elocution, and a clear, ringing, musical voice, he delivered his addresses from the public plat- form. Collegiately educated, he never ceased to be a student; and with a memory which never released its grasp, the whole domain of literature seemed ready to respond to the slight- est command of his towering intellect. He had many acquirements which received the touch of a master's hand; but as an orator, we knew him best and honor him most. His diction was original and purely his own. With pathos, humor, irony, sarcasm, ridicule, and invective, he played upon the sentiments and the passions at will, while he addressed the reason in such pleasing speech that his hearers never tired to listen. His name attracted audiences as no other could; and the never-failing applause told how surely his imperial flights of eloquence reached and sounded the depths of the public heart. Of the generation whose memory ex- tends back to twenty years ago, when the bit- terness and prejudice of internecine strife had resulted in the disfranchisement of twenty thou- sand of our citizens, and the great political con- test was being waged for the victory of right and the enthronement of justice, who of us knowing of the great work, the enkindled en- thusiasm, the inspired determination, and the achievement of the glorious result, can ever fail to honor the name and memory of Henry S. Walker! In the prime of intellectual and phys- ical manhood, when hope seemed brightest for the fulfilment of his highest aspirations, he has been cut down. Kind hands have already paid tribute to his worth and memory and expressed the sorrow of our community for the great afflic- tion.
Mr. Walker's oratory was after no particular model, but may be said to have been peculiar to himself; he had the oracle by gift of nature, and if he resembled any other man of eloquence in ornate perfection, it was perhaps Sargent S. Prentiss, of Mississippi, who was much like him in personal appearance, and with whose speeches
he was en rapport. He was also an admirer of George D. Prentice, of Louisville, Ky., whose writings and addresses likewise bear considera- ble resemblance to his own. His spontaneity of diction and his flow of words were ever at command; at the same time he generally thought out very carefully his line of argument, and his most ornate and effective sentences were written out and committed to memory. He was indif- ferent, however, to the effect of his political speeches beyond the immediate occasions for their use, and was even careless of his abilities in that he would change from the most agreea- ble theme and attractive utterance to indulge in a rap at a political abuse or a glaring fault of the opposite party or candidate, and do it with no effort of skill more than to say the thing and say it bluntly. On the other hand, few men could equal Mr. Walker in the discussion of educational topics, and he was frequently called on to make addresses at literary societies, an- niversaries, and kindred meetings, that were models of their kind; and if he had been a Sen- ator of the United States, as he came near being, no man of his day could have spoken as a Sen- ator with greater dignity and polish. He was Democratic to an intense degree and sympa- thized with the common people as few men could; hence his speeches being largely of a political complexion and his reputation as an orator based almost exclusively upon such efforts, his style and force are best estimated therefrom, and are manifest in his speech deliv- ered at Gallipolis, Ohio, at the grand Demo- cratic meeting held during the campaign of 1875, when Hon. William Allen ran for Governor. This speech is versatile and many-sided, is full of opposition and rebuke to the Republican party and administration, yet breathes the fin- est sentiments and most noble wisdom. Man- ufacturing and commercial depression weighed heavily over the country at the time of this campaign, and not a single topic or issue escaped Mr. Walker's attention. The Force Bill of that day, foreign trade, Credit Mobilier, Pacific Mail subsidy, the Salary Bill, contraction of the currency, resumption of specie payments, Jay Cooke's failure, the "moneyed aristocracy," and two leading New York newspapers all came under his scathing and able review. Speaking on the money question, he said :
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"I know it is claimed that so much of the contest in Ohio as involves the financial issues is peculiar to this State, that it elicits no sym- pathy and excites no interest elsewhere. I claim that no more erroneous statement could be made. The making of this issue here and its eliciting interest elsewhere is a necessary result of the times that are upon us. It does excite interest wherever the question has been fairly examined and its bearings upon the material interests of the land fully considered and under- stood."
Referring to the financial stringency and ad- vocating more currency "as a means of bringing relief to the people and restoring prosperity to the country," he said :
" The Ohio Democracy are fighting Virginia's fight, the fight of toil and poverty wherever it may sweat and suffer, and in this magnificent contest they esteem it not only a duty, but a high and holy privilege, to stand by the side of the champions of the people, to cheer them with their voices and aid them with their arms."
Here is a beautiful paragraph all in one sen- tence :
" With a fertile soil bearing but a tithe of its capacity, with magnificent rivers flowing almost unburdened on their way, with mines of wealth slumbering untouched in the silent earth, with wonderful forests undisturbed by the woodman's axe, labor without employment or reward, busi- ness universally prostrated, distress everywhere present, and the future overshadowing woes that are upon us, with the thick darkness of the woes that are yet to come-Virginia could do no less than assure you that in this contest, the strug- gle of the oppressed against the oppressor, in- volving the material welfare of this republic and commanding the attention of two conti- nents, 'our hopes, our prayers, our hearts, our tears, our faith triumphant o'er our fears, are all with thee, are all with thee.' The question as formulated by the Democratic party of the State of Ohio is this: Shall the men who own the money rule and ruin the country? We read that in another age the Saviour cast the money- changers out of the temple. In this age they have taken full possession from altar to vesti- bule, deifying the dollar, and now they bid the people fall down and worship it. Boston and the East take credit for the overthrow of the slaveocracy. They have established in its stead a more grinding monopoly, a moneyed aristoc- racy, to whose support all that you eat and wear and own and earn pay daily tribute. Slavery was a crying national evil. It went down amid the thunder of cannon and the blaze of burning cities. It sprang to life again in another form. Its shackles are upon white limbs; its stripes
are laid upon the shoulders of toil; its burdens are placed upon production. Its auction blocks are set up in Wall Street and State Street and the counters of the money-changers. It drinks in the tears of these suffering people. It re- quires you to sow that others may reap. It requires you to make bricks without straw, as was required in the days of Egyptian bondage; and as in those days great plagues fell upon the oppressor until there was a great cry heard throughout the land, for there was not a house where there was not one dead, so in our day may national calamity prove the means of re- laxing the rule of the oppressor. In the wrath of an outraged people shall be heard a voice scarcely less terrible than that which fell upon the ears of the startled Pharaoh, 'Thus saith the Lord, God of the Hebrews, Let my people go.'"
Mr. Walker in this speech made a glowing tribute to Vallandigham and excoriated the Democratic National Executive Committee and its Chairman for undertaking to read him out of the party, and for offering to help West Vir- ginia to rid herself of the test-oath affliction provided she would support the New York can- didate for President :
"The proposition was declined. West Vir- ginia adhered to her first love, George H. Pen- dleton, of Ohio. The Democratic party of West Virginia worked out their own salvation in fear and trembling. The Democratic party of Ohio, having entered into this struggle of the op- pressed against the oppressor, have no compro- mise to make with mammon or the upstart agents of European usury. No, sir; I say that the people of this country have no sympathy with the fears of capital that a volume of cur- rency equal to the wants of trade and commerce will bring about another financial relapse. They have compared 1865 and 1875, and they see that it was heedless and needless contraction that brought ruin upon the country and scattered so much distress among the people. They see that after two years of steady effort contraction has failed to restore confidence, to repair its own mischief, to renew and revive the spirit and the life of business. . . . If the property of this country and the labor of the people are not of sufficient value to give us a safe and ample currency in this crisis, in this the hour of our need, then your boasted national wealth is a delusion and a snare. Your specie-producing territory will never prove adequate to give you a gold and silver currency; for what the foreign creditor does not demand for interest on his bonds, a people who have no confidence in the honor and faith of their government will cer- tainly withdraw from circulation and hide from the gaze of man."
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After referring to misrule in the Southern States, Mr. Walker concludes in a patriotic cli- max in which the orator rises to his true plane of popular eloquence :
"The Republic is closing the first century of her existence. Let not the centennial dawn upon States under the ban of public distrust, or wearing the badge of servitude in the land of their birth. We have here but one life to live, one country to love, one government to pre- serve, one destiny to achieve. Let us, in walk- ing the ways appointed for us in the providence of God, endeavor to live and act as one people, one in our desire for the public good, one in our respect for individuals. As Boston and Charles- ton, clasping hands within the shadow of Bunker Hill, cast ancient enmity to the winds and re- newed their forefathers' faith amid the scenes and over the ashes of Revolutionary heroism, so will the people of the respective sections, banishing all prejudice and all uncharitableness, gather in the happiness of national jubilee around the altars of reconciliation and peace, and plight there each to the other that troth of confidence and love which shall fill the land with the merriment of marriage bells, binding prosperity with its influences, and enduring through the centuries to bless and perpetuate the Republic. I thank you, my friends, for your attention."
The following is from an address delivered Memorial Day, 1889, at Charleston, W. Va. :
" To-day through all this bright and beauteous Southland, her girlhood and her womanhood, her boyhood and her manhood, are alike seek- ing out the sanctuaries of the honored dead and laying there, in all the freshness and purity of their floral beauty, the votive offerings of loving, grateful hearts. Where Potomac waters murmur to the dead of Antietam the mysterious music they have borne from their birthplaces in far-away Alleghany fountains, where the shin- ing Shenandoah sings mournfully and forever to the heroes who won their wreaths of fame at Winchester, at Kernstown, at Cross Keys, and at Port Republic, within the shadow of Cedar Mountain and upon the immortal plains of Manassas, where the silence of the Wilderness is yet vocal with the renown of the men who glor- ified the generalship of Robert E. Lee, where the historic capital of the Confederacy looks out from her high-hilled throne of beauty upon the countless graves of those who perished in her defence, where Tennessee and Georgia moun- tains sentinel the tombs of soldiers whose dying eyes looked upon the closing scenes of the Con- federacy, in happy villages of the plain, in cities smiling by the sea, in mountain hamlets, in every locality, the sweet and solemn observance
of a sacred ceremony attests the devotion of millions of Southern hearts to the memory of the silent soldier of the fallen Confederacy."
The following is from an address delivered before Richmond College, June, 1887 :
" Who can estimate the value of that wonder- ful system of common schools, peculiar in the grandeur of its purpose and the beneficence of its results, to its American home-which here tenders its kindly presence and advantages as an unconditional, universal privilege, enabling the struggling children of poverty to aspire to unbought patents of nobility admitting to fel- lowship with the immortals and the lustrous peerage of the sky? Daily there pass across the threshold of these public school-house doors, daily there play and prattle and shout upon the bright greensward that carpets the vestibules to these modest intellectual temples, daily there stray beside the laughing waters of the prattling brook or wander homeward near the close of day when tasks and books are done, the bright young army of the country's intellectual repub- lic, more than ten millions strong, the hope and stay of the nation's future, destined to stand throughout all coming time as the guardians of her honor, the exemplars of her civilization, the arbiters of her fate. The wise policy to which is due our educational facilities imposes its ob- ligations as it confers its blessings. The re- sponsibilities of those who are its beneficiaries are commensurate with the advantages they enjoy and the privileges of which they partake. By what manner and measure of service shall the educated young men of the country fitly respond to the duties arising out of the obliga- tions thus resting upon them?"
JOHN T. COTTON.
JOHN T. COTTON, M.D., a distinguished physician of Charleston, now the oldest living practitioner of the city, and a highly esteemed representative citizen, is descended from an ancient and honored English family-one branch of which has for many years been settled at Combermere Abbey, Cheshire, England, and is now represented by Lord Combermere. To an- other branch belongs Charles Cotton, who will long be remembered as the associate and inti- mate personal friend of good old Isaac Walton, of piscatorial fame. Another branch was rep- resented by the Rev. John Cotton, twenty years vicar of St. Botolph in Boston, England, and afterward first preacher of the First Church in
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Boston, Mass. ; the famous Puritan divine whom Cotton Mather in his "Magnolia" calls the Father and Glory of Boston. In his honor, in 1857, a monumental tablet, with Latin inscrip- tion by Edward Everett, was erected in St. Botolph's Church, England. Dr. John Cotton, a grandson of this Rev. John Cotton, married Miss Susan Buckminster, of Framingham, Mass., and in 1815 removed to and settled in Marietta, Ohio, one of the early centres of civilization and culture in the West. Dr. Cotton being a gen- tleman of fine natural capacity and thorough education-a graduate of Harvard College-very naturally took a high position in the new set- tlement on the Ohio, and was an important factor in the development and progress of that region. He represented his county in the State Legislature, was a leader of the Whig party, and at one time President of the State Central Committee. He was for many years an associ- ate Judge of the County Court, was a prominent Mason, and an elder and deacon in the Congre- gational Church. He was the leading physi- cian of his town and one of the founders of Marietta College. After a long, active, and use- ful career, with the consciousness of a life well spent and ripe with honors, he was gathered to his fathers in 1847. His wife survived until 1861. They left three sons, Josiah D., David B., and John T., each of whom chose the pro- fession of his father for his vocation in life. Dr. D. B. Cotton settled in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he has long been and still is one of the most successful and esteemed practitioners of the city. Dr. J. D. Cotton succeeded his father in the practice of medicine at Marietta, where he still continues. Dr. John T. Cotton, the sub- ject of this sketch, was born in Marietta, Ohio, August 4, 1819. He was educated in the schools of Marietta, under the supervision of his father, graduating from Marietta College in 1838 as one of the first alumni of that now venerable and honored institution. In 1839-40 he taught Latin and Greek in the High School at New Orleans. Returning to Marietta, he commenced the study of medicine under his father, and finished his course at the Ohio Medical College at Cincin- nati; after which he located and commenced practice in Ravenswood, Va., now West Vir- ginia, in 1842. While living at Ravenswood, in the month of May, 1845, he married Sarah Ash-
ton Fitzhugh, daughter of Henry Fitzhugh, Esq., and a grandniece of General Washington. He finally decided to leave Ravenswood and seek a broader field for the practice of his profession, and selected Charleston as a progressive and promising place. He came here in 1845, form- ing a copartnership with the late Dr. Spicer Patrick, the then most eminent practitioner in the valley. During the late war he was in charge of a Confederate hospital in this city. When Dr. Patrick had practically and afterward fully withdrawn from practice on account of his advanced age, he (Dr. Cotton) was for many years esteemed the foremost physician of the city, enjoying the largest and most lucrative practice, until, by reason of his own increasing years and the desire for rest, he in turn has largely withdrawn from professional work. The Doctor is an active and zealous member of St. John's Episcopal Church, of which he has been a vestryman and lay reader for many years. His deep interest in the Episcopacy of West Virginia is manifested by his counsel, his per- sonal service, and financial aid. In politics he is a conservative Democrat, voting at elections, but taking no part or lot in political discussions or the manipulations of the party measures or party votes. He is not a member of any secret society. He is public-spirited and has always contributed liberally to meritorious objects re- lating to the development and improvement of the city. In 1872 he, with two other gentle- men, built a handsome block on Capitol Street, providing within it a large public hall for theat- rical purposes, lectures, concerts, etc. It was named for him "The Cotton Opera House." Since then he has erected and is the owner of two or three other large buildings, for stores, offices, etc., which are creditable to the city. Dr. Cotton is a member of the State Medical Society, and at its session of 1887 contributed the following paper published in its report: " Medicine as Taught at the School of Salerno in the Eleventh Century." Several of the most distinguished physicians in West Virginia and bordering States were students in Dr. Cotton's office during his many years of active practice. Mrs. Cotton, his companion of forty years, died on the 27th day of July, 1883. She had borne him seven children, as follows : Henrietta Susan, August 20, 1847; Anna Buckminster, June 27,
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1849; John, September 2, 1851 ; Henry Fitzhugh, February 23, 1854; Nannie Maria, April 6, 1856; Sallie Ashton, July 12, 1858; Burdette Nicholas, November 11, 1860. Of these the eldest, Hen- rietta, married Hon. E. W. Wilson (now ex- Governor of West Virginia). Anna died in 1853. John married Nannie Bibby in 1890. Henry, a promising young man, who had graduated in medicine and commenced practice with his father, died in 1878. Nannie married Mr. Frank Woodman in 1884. Sallie married Mr. William Donnally in 1882. Burdette died in 1861. The living all reside in the city. In personal appear- ance Dr. Cotton is of rather slender physique, being about five feet nine inches in height and weighing about one hundred and thirty pounds. In manner he is modest and pleasant, with the bearing of a gentleman of education and cul- ture. He is well informed in the Latin and Greek and is a diligent reader of classical works. Dr. Cotton's benevolent disposition and exem- plary life mark him as a model in all that goes to make a good man, and it is needless to add that he enjoys the confidence and esteem of every citizen in Charleston. The New England Magazine of February, 1887, has an opening article by William Gray Brooks, who tells about " The Father of Boston," the Rev. John Cotton. A portrait of this eminent man, truly English in style and expression and resembling very much a Lord High Chancellor, or a scholar, or a poet, as much, indeed, as he does a minister of ye olden times, adorns the front page and is an at- tractive picture-the wig, the white scarf, and the black gown becoming well a remarkably expressive and benevolent countenance, "with a sort of majesty which commanded reverence from all that approached him." A picture is given of St. Botolph's Church, with its massive gothic tower. This interesting chapter of Bos- ton history is taken up with the life and family of this good man, who was of the highest uni- versity education, a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he remained as a teacher of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew for fifteen years. The author states that "in 1612 he was called by the Mayor and Council of Boston to become the Vicar of the noble and venerable church dedicated to St. Botolph, the parish church of Boston, in Lincolnshire, of which church he was Vicar from 1612 to 1632, a period of twenty-one
years. The church of St. Botolph was erected A. D. 1309, and is the largest without aisles in the realm of England, and the largest without tran- septs in all Europe, its length being 291 feet and its breadth 99 feet. The tower is 291 feet in height, resembling that of the great Cathe- dral at Antwerp, and forms a landmark for a distance of forty miles. The extreme length of the building corresponds with the extreme height, 291 feet. The tower has 365 steps, the windows number 52, the pillars (in the interior) are 12-corresponding with the days, weeks, and months of the year. . . . It was a figurative saying of some of the Pilgrims who settled this Boston (Mass.) that the lamp in the lantern of St. Botolph's ceased to burn when Cotton left that church to become a shining light in the wilderness of New England, and to preach in the low hovel with its mud walls and roof cov- ered with thatch, of the first house of worship in Boston." The author begins his article by stat- ing that "in December, 1885, occurred the ter- centenary of the birth of Rev. John Cotton, the 'Father of Boston,' as he is called, who, with John Winthrop, first Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, laid deep and strong the foundation upon which has been built the great and powerful Commonwealth of Massachusetts." The Boston of England was perpetuated in the New World, through the good Vicar of its an- cient church. Mr. Brooks continues : " The name of Boston was given to the embryo metropolis of New England in honor of Rev. John Cotton, and to induce him to become the religious teacher of the people." Want of space prevents more quotations at length from this fascinating story of early New England settlement. The consecration of Bishop Phillips Brooks, of the Diocese of Massachusetts, in October, 1891, called forth another reference to Rev. John Cot- ton in a letter from Boston published in the New York Critic, in which the writer refers to the Bishop and his brothers, also ministers, in the following language, specifically claiming for them descent from this worthy old Puritan: "On their father's side these three brothers are descendants of the eminent Rev. John Cotton; and one, as his name shows, was named in honor of this 'patriarch of New England,' as he was called, who presided over the first church in Boston two and a half centuries ago."
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