Ohio History Journal

Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical Association. 203

 

 

INFLUENCES OF EARLY RELIGIOUS LITERATURE IN

THE OHIO VALLEY FROM 1815 TO 1850.

MRS. IRENE D. CORNWELL, CINCINNATI.

"A song for the Early Times out West,

And our green old forest-home,

Whose pleasant memories freshly yet

Across the bosom come;

A song for the true and gladsome life

In those early days we led,

With a teeming soil beneath our feet,

And a smiling Heav'n o'erhead!

Oh, the waves of life were richly blessed

And had a joyous flow,

In the days when we were pioneers long ago."

-William Davis Gallagher.

Records of discovery, exploration, adventure and early

religious teachings abound in the Ohio Valley. The journals and

writings of those who tell of the Indian Country before it was

reclaimed for the uses of civilization "show, as it were, the dark

theatre of history, ere yet the curtain had risen on the great play

of State-making. * * * "

When we read the interesting tales of Spanish, French and

English travels in America in the years of the rivalry of Europe's

leading nations for supremacy in the New World, we seem to

realize the "beginning of the beginning." In many volumes of old

bocks we learn what manner of men and women were those who

first set foot in the western forests and dared the savages in

their fierce struggle for life.

The beginnings of culture in the West were dependent on

what was said about the country and the settlers. Many of the

first books relating to the frontier were written by outsiders, trav-

elers, whose aim was to tell the Old World what the New was

like. There was much of this primitive literature and as settle-

ment proceeded and society became organized there arose a rude

literature to which the settlers themselves contributed much in

the way of chronicle and description, and religious instruction.

The Jesuits, those heroic priests of the Christian religion,

tell the absorbing story of a half century's endeavor to plant the

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204      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

holy cross in the interior. As we read the tale, stranger than

fiction, we float with them along unknown waters and "see the

thronging savages in wigwam or woods, and smoke with them

the pipe of peace; visit rude temples of the Great Spirit, and

join with the gentle messengers of a new religion as they erect

the cross in the shadow of the forest and sing the holy mass" in

the dark wild woods.

The time was soon to come when, ascending the Ohio and

every other stream that finds its way to the Mississippi the

French would penetrate "the mystery of the interior" and bring

back authentic information of that vast region between the Ap-

palachians and the Mississippi.

We possess definite information concerning the impressions

of many who explored the Ohio and its basin. We may very

quickly give a long selected list of authors identified with the

pioneer period of the Ohio Valley history, many of whom were

preachers or religious instructors of those intensely interesting

times. Some of the best literature in the English language is

in the form of sermons and in them may be found as many

strains of eloquence, as genuine oratory, as ready wit, as strik-

ing sentiments and as rich a style as in the finest efforts of a

Shakespeare or a Swinburne.

The Lord certainly used His church and His preacher to

accomplish a work of transcendent importance in the Ohio Val-

ley. Social and religious feelings received intelligent guidance

and contributed to the social and industrial progress of the region.

The silent forces of religion are powerful and tell wonderfully

on human progress. They became the precursor of a new life for

the people of the Ohio Valley.

Even a slight study of the leading books of history of the

period under discussion reveals to us a world of suggestive

knowledge in regard, not only to the material features of the

region, but yet more concerning the inhabitants, their origin,

character, ideas, achievements and ambitions. We see the people

at work, conquering savage nature and laying the foundations of

science, literature, religion and art.

Ohio is without the advantages of two hundred years of

intellectual and religious development which contribute to the

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Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical Association. 205

 

leadership of New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Nevertheless, she ranks among the first of her sister states in

education, religion and literature.

Along all lines of professional, business and religious op-

portunity there comes trooping before us a princely host of

Ohio's efficient sons and daughters and not among the least of

these do we find the representatives from the Ohio Country.

How can we account for our goodly heritage?

A Bryce would find ample reasons for the view that the

material and political pre-eminence of Ohio, as of the nation

at large, is chiefly due to the spiritual and intellectual life of

the citizens. Dr. Bashford says that he is convinced that Ohio's

character accounts for her conquest. "As Europe was sifted to

produce the original colonists, so the colonies were sifted to

produce the Buckeyes. Thus the citizens of Ohio are Americans

of the Americans as Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews."

Puritans, Quakers, Cavaliers and Huguenots contributed

the spiritual and mental vigor which accounts, in part at least,

for the social and material, religious and moral advancement of

our commonwealth. Christian missionaries;-Catholic, Quaker,

Baptist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist-accom-

panied and often preceded the pioneers and thus the early set-

tlers of the Valley were molded by religious influences and

literature.

The first quarter of the present century in the Western

Country witnessed a general religious activity and the establish-

ment of numerous sects. Jews, Catholics, Protestants and Ag-

nostics all, sought freedom to worship in the new country and

took passage on the river craft at Pittsburgh for Kentucky, or

Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois. Charges of infidelity and heresy were

common. Thus religion was a subject ever before the minds

of the people and having a most vital part in shaping the lives

of the communities being formed.

The first printing done on the Western continent was by

Spanish priests in Mexico. Stephen Daye brought the first press

used in our country and set it up in 1638. The first printed work

of any kind done in what is now the United States of America

was the "Freeman's Oath" impressed on one side of a small

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206      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

sheet of paper in 1639. The first book printed was the "Bay

Psalm Book" dated 1640. Cornelius Vanderbilt paid $1,200 for

a copy of this book. The first newspaper established west of

the Allegheny mountains was the Pittsburgh Gazette, July 29,

1786. Very quickly following in the wake of this publication

came a long list of newspaper published in the Ohio Valley.

In 1824 the Postmaster-general reported that there were

then 598 newspapers published in the U. S. Of these Ohio had

48; Kentucky, 18; Indiana, 12; Illinois, 5, and Tennessee, 15;

a total of 98. The number at that date in New York was 137.

The obstacle to the introduction of printed books was not

the want of a printing art but the difficulty and expense of ob-

taining paper. This was at first a great drawback to the progress

of religious publication in the Ohio Valley. But the supply

finally came, for the first of numerous paper mills on the Miami

River was erected in the year 1814. The first type foundry on

the Ohio was established in 1820 in Cincinnati. The newspaper

offices were the first book publishing places in pioneer days and

it was not uncommon for the backwoods editor and publisher

to sell his publications at retail.

The first book published in the Ohio Valley appeared at

Lexington in 1798. It was entitled, "A Process in the Transyl-

vania Presbytery, etc." It grew out of a quarrel in the church

as to whether the psalms of David or the hymns of Watts should

be sung. It consisted of 98 pages in the old-fashioned nonpareil

type of the last century and was bound in leather.

Carpenter and Findley, proprietors of the "Western Spy

and Hamilton Gazette," published in that paper, under the date

of August 19, 1801, the following: "Now in press and for sale

at this office to-morrow, price 25 cents. A Book entitled, 'The

Arcanum Opened, containing the fundamentals of a pure and

most ancient theology:-containing the platform of the spiritual

tabernacle rebuilt, composed of one grand substantive and seven

excellent Topics, in opposition to spurious Christianity.' A lib-

eral deduction will be made to those who take a quantity. No

Trust." In 1823, Thos. T. Skillman of Lexington started the

"Western Luminary," a religious periodical intended to counter-

act the influences of infidelity.

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In 1824 the "Pandect," a religious periodical published by

Rev. Joshua Wilson of Cincinnati, charged Rev. Timothy Flint

with skepticism. Flint, in his reply, with dry sarcasm, questions

the sincerity of some who profess extreme orthodoxy. Both

men were able writers and contributors to these early magazines.

The periodical was a literary feature of the period and many

religious articles and discussions appeared in it. Writing for

the Western Literary Journal and Monthly Review for Novem-

ber, 1840-(published at Cincinnati)-William Davis Gallagher

says, "Here in the West our choicest thoughts flow through the

dingy channel of a newspaper column and the aspiring among

us seldom look higher than the elaborate essay for the monthly

magazine."

The world has seldom witnessed a more extraordinary series

of religious events than transpired in the Ohio Valley in the

first half of the nineteenth century but notwithstanding the dis-

sensions within old denominations and unprecedented splits and

conflicts among new sects and the utter repudiation of religion

by some, the churches grew and flourished. "The freedom to

worship God, which the Pilgrims 'sought afar,' was found in

the 'New England of the West' as Ohio was called." Religious

liberty ran riot, and was not distinguished, in some cases, from

license.

The "clash of creeds" gave origin to much discourse, oral

and printed.  Sermons and religious debates were heard by

multitudes of listeners and read by other multitudes.

Every leading sect had its "organ" or periodical. Propa-

gandists of new systems made extensive use of the press. Secu-

lar newspapers and magazines devoted many columns to news

and discussions bearing on religious matters. In a word, "religi-

ous worship, Scripture reading, hymn singing, sermon hearing,

and the perusal of controversial periodicals and tracts, attendance

at camp-meetings, revivals, theological discussions and the univer-

sal custom of reading, thinking and talking on religious subjects

had an immense influence in shaping the literature of the Ohio

Valley in its beginning.

All social progress had an historical preparation. The early

pioneers started out with strong physical energies. They were

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of a noble ancestry and, generally speaking, men of sterling char-

acter. They possessed strong moral and religious ideas. They

believed in the co-operative forces of religious principles to

build up a national life. They believed that religion had an im-

portant relation to the welfare of the people and introduced its

teachings. Conspicuous among their laws was that of civil and

religious liberty. Religious literature has been one of the great-

est moral forces in the conserving and promoting the funda-

mental principles of a Christian civilization and in contributing

to the illustrious triumphs of the state and particularly in the

Valley, where among the host of well-known names, we find

that of the renowned Peter Cartwright, the presiding elder of

Illinois-the type of Methodist pioneer minister, who had the

power to create his own language. He is said to have had the

best lexicon of western words, phrases, idioms and proverbs of

any man in the West. His descriptive powers were wonderful.

Rev. Edward Thomson, D. D., LL. D., first president of

Ohio Wesleyan University, possessed remarkable ability as an

educator, writer and preacher. Four years editor of the Chris-

tian Advocate, his high scholarship, broad sympathy, eloquence

and devotion were everywhere recognized. His published lec-

tures are faultless in style and models of strong clear thought

and beauty of expression. That interesting character, Jonathan

Chapman, was not only a preacher but as he said, a "messenger

sent into the wilderness to prepare the way for the people." He

always carried tracts and books, being zealous to plant ideas as

well as apple seeds. Dr. Peck deserves more than a passing

notice in the annals of western intellectual labor. He ranks as

one of the ablest and most worthy of the religious pioneer writ-

ers. The eccentric evangelist, Lorenzo Dow, a sort of American

Bunyan, was one of the most striking figures in religious annals.

His sermons and writings were like himself, most unique. Add

to these names the beloved Wm. H. Raper; that noted Presby-

terian, Dr. Lyman Beecher; Rev. Timothy Flint, preacher and

historian; Finney, Mcllvaine, Gunsaulus, Alexander Campbell-

and yet the list has not reached an end. With Ruskin we would

say, "Everywhere noble life leaves the fiber of it interwoven in

the work of the world."

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Each religious sect has had a goodly contribution to make

to our early religious history. Jew and Gentile, Catholic and

Protestant have vied with each other in extending throughout

the Western Country the uplifting influence of religion.

As the pageant of sects passes before us religious freedom

is emblazoned on every banner. The Church of Wesley, nur-

tured in a college, has, from the first given attention to educa-

tion and the dissemination of religious literature. Through all

the ages the complaint of God against his ancient Church has

proved true: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."

Realizing that knowledge and piety are necessary adjuncts, the

Methodists established in Cincinnati the Book Concern which

has grown to such colossal proportions.

The species of literature which is most in demand and which

is and was most widely read is that which issues from the

periodical press. In 1826 the Christian Advocate-one of the

mostly widely read religious magazines in the world was published

in New York. In 1834, the demand having become so great in

the South and West, the Western Christian Advocate of Cin-

cinnati was commenced with equal success.

Dr. Martin Ruter, the first agent of the Book Concern, was

an authority on Greek and Hebrew and one of the most cultured

scholars of his time. In the beginning all books needed by him

for the supply of the Western market were packed in New York

and sent by wagons to Pittsburgh and from that point floated

down the Ohio on steamboats or barges to Cincinnati. But the

growing importance of the West, the rapid increase of its popula-

tion, and the lack of means for easy transportation led to the

printing of religious books and publications in Cincinnati in 1821

but the retail trade in the same did not begin until 1834, in which

year the Western Christian Advocate was first issued. The

growth of this periodical has been as wonderful as that of the

Book Concern and it has been widely read by Ohio Valley Chris-

tians of all denominations.

But the Church of Wesley is only a type of religious influ-

ence on early literature in Cincinnati. St. Xavier's College on

old Sycamore Street, the Hebrew Union College on Clifton

Heights, and staunch old Lane Seminary that stronghold of

Vol. XXV-14

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Presbyterianism on Walnut Hills, have all aided to make the

Church History of the Ohio Valley the record of its civilization

and progress. And not alone in Cincinnati but throughout the

Western Country this influence was felt.

"Upon the Bible's sacred page,

The gathered beams of ages shine;

And, as it hastens, every age

But makes its brightness more divine.

More glorious still as ages roll,

New regions blessed, new powers unfurled,

Expanding with th' expanding soul,

Its radiance shall o'erflow the world."

 

 

LOCATION OF SITE OF OHIO CAPITAL.

 

BY E. O. RANDALL.

[Prepared for and read by title at the Annual Meeting of the Ohio

Valley Historical Association, Columbus, October 21, 1915.]

On the 1₃th of July, 1787, Congress, then assembled in New

York, by a unanimous vote of the eight states present and the

entire vote of the individual members, except Yates of New

York, who opposed the measure, adopted the famous "Ordinance

of 1787" establishing a government for the Northwest Territory.

On July 27, 1787,- two weeks later - Congress passed the

ordinance of purchase - authorizing the Federal Government to

sell to the Ohio Company a tract of land in the Northwest Terri-

tory by which, as Dr. Manasseh Cutler put it in his diary for

that day, "We obtained the grant of near five millions of land,

amounting to three millions and a half of dollars, one million

and a half acres for the Ohio Company and the remainder for a

private speculation, in which many of the prominent characters

of America are concerned; without connecting this speculation,

similar terms and advantages could not have been obtained for

the Ohio Company."

The designation of the boundaries of this purchase is not

pertinent to our purpose.

Pursuant to the above purchase by the Ohio Company, on

April 7th, (1788) the forty-seven - (usually stated forty-eight)

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