CHARLES DICKENS IN
OHIO IN 1842.
BY HEWSON L. PEEKE.
In his work "Charles Dickens in
America" by W. Glyde
Wilkins the author says:
"Dickens' opinion of the American
newspapers was fully expressed
in one of his letters to Forster in
which he wrote: 'of course I can do
nothing but in some shape or other it
gets into the newspapers. All
manner of lies get there and
occasionally a truth so twisted or distorted
that it has as much resemblance to the
real fact as Quilp's leg to Tag-
lioni's.' This was hardly true of the
papers of Cincinnati, as they pub-
lished nothing of his doings except the
bare fact of his arrival, as shown
by the following-
"Mr. Dickens and his lady have, we
are informed, arrived in the
city."-Daily Chronicle, April 4th, 1842.
"'Mr. Dickens and lady arrived in
our city yesterday morning and
have taken rooms at the Broadway Hotel.
We understand they will be
at home today from 11 o'clock until
three o'clock'-Daily Republican,
April 5th, 1842.
"'Charles Dickens. This gentleman
reached our city yesterday and
took lodgings at the Broadway Hotel.'-Cincinnati
Gazette, April 5th,
1842.
"There were certainly no lies in
these three items, and a careful
search of succeeding issues of these
newspapers fails to show that they
even made any mention of his doings in
the city, or of his leaving the
city on the following Wednesday morning."-Charles
Dickens in America,
by W. Glyde Wilkins, Page 206.
Nor when he made the return trip to
Cincinnati arriving
April 21st, 1842, did the newspapers
make any mention of the
fact.
There are two letters from Cincinnati in
Forster's life of
Dickens. In the first dated April 4th,
1842, he thus describes
the city:
"I have walked to the window since
I turned this page to see what
aspect the town wears. We are in a wide
street: paved in the way with
(72)
Charles Dickens in Ohio in 1842.
73
small white stones, and in the foot way
with small red tiles. The houses
are for the most part one story high;
some are of wood, others are of a
clean white brick. Nearly all have green
white blinds out side every
window. The principal shops over the way
are, according to the in-
scriptions over them, a large bread
bakery; a book bindery; a dry goods
store; and a carriage repository; the
last named looking like an ex-
ceedingly small retail coal shed. On the
pavement under our window
a black man is chopping wood and another
black man is talking (con-
fidentially) to a pig. The public table
at this hotel and the hotel opposite
has just now finished dinner. The diners
are collected on the pavement
on both sides of the way, picking their
teeth and talking. The day being
warm some of them have brought chairs
into the street. Some are on
three chairs, some on two, and some, in
defiance of all known laws of
gravity are sitting quite comfortably on
one: with three of the chair's
legs and their own two high up in the
air. The loungers, underneath our
window are talking of a great Temperance
convention which comes off
here tomorrow. Others about me. Others
about England."
In a letter dated April 15, 1842,
Dickens thus described
Cincinnati.
"Cincinnati is only fifty years
old, but is a very beautiful city; I
think the prettiest place I have ever
seen here, except Boston. It has
risen out of the forest like an
Arabian-Night city; is well laid out;
ornamented in the suburbs with pretty
villas; and above all, for this is a
very rare feature in America, has smooth
turf plots and well kept gar-
dens. There happened to be a great
temperance festival; and the pro-
cession mustered under and passed our
windows early in the morning.
I suppose they were twenty thousand
strong, at least. Some of the ban-
ners were quaint and odd enough. The
ship carpenters, for instance,
displayed on one side of their flag the
good ship Temperance in full
sail; on the other the steamer Alcohol
blowing up sky high. The Irish-
men had a portrait of Father Matthew,
you may be sure. And Wash-
ington's broad lower jaw (by-the-way,
Washington had not a pleasant
face) figured in all parts of the ranks.
In a kind of square at one out-
skirt of the city they divided into
bodies, and were addressed by different
speakers. Drier speaking I never heard.
I own that I felt quite un-
comfortable to think-they could take the
taste out of their mouths with
nothing better than water.
"In the evening we went to a party
at Judge Walker's, and were
introduced to at least one hundred and
fifty first rate bores, separately
and singly. I was required to sit down
by the greater part of them,
and talk.
"A young lady's account of this
party, written next morning, and
quoted in one of the American memoirs of
Dickens, enables us to con-
74 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
template his suffering from the point of
view of those who inflicted it.
........ I went last evening to a party
at Judge Walker's, given to the
hero of the day......... When we reached
the house Mr. Dickens had
left the crowded rooms, and was in the
hall with his wife, about taking
his departure when we entered the door.
We were introduced to him in
our wrapping; and in the flurry and
embarrassment of the meeting, one
of the party dropped a parcel,
containing shoes, gloves, etc. Mr. Dickens
stooping, gathered them up and restored
them with a laughing remark,
and we bounded upstairs to get our
things off. Hastening down again,
we found him with Mrs. Dickens seated
upon a sofa, surrounded by a
group of ladies; Judge Walker having
requested him to delay his de-
parture for a few moments, for the
gratification of some tardy friends
who had just arrived, ourselves among
the number. Declining to re-
enter the rooms where he had already
taken leave of the guests, he had
seated himself in the hall. He is young
and handsome, has a mellow,
beautiful eye, fine brow, and abundant
hair. His mouth is large and his
smile so bright it seemed to shed light
and happiness all about him.
His manner is easy, negligent, but not
elegant. His dress was foppish;
in fact, he was over dressed yet his
garments were worn so easily they
appeared to be a necessary part of him.
He had a dark coat with lighter
pantaloons; a black waistcoat
embroidered with colored flowers, and
about his neck covering his shirt front
was a black neck cloth, also em-
broidered in colors, in which were
placed two large diamond pins con-
nected by a chain. A gold watch chain
and a large red rose in his but-
ton hole completed his toilet. He
appeared a little weary, but answered
the remarks made to him-for he
originated none-in an agreeable man-
ner. Mr. Beard's portrait of Fagan was
so placed in the room that he
could see it from where we stood
surrounding him. One of the ladies
asked him if it was his idea of a Jew.
He replied 'Very nearly.' An-
other laughingly. requested that he
would give her the rose he wore, as
a memento. He shook his head and said
'That will not do; he could
not give it to one; the others would be
jealous.' A half dozen then in-
sisted on having it, where upon he
proposed to divide the leaves among
them. In taking the rose from his coat,
either by design or accident,
the leaves loosened and fell upon the
floor, and amid considerable
laughter the ladies stooped and gathered
them. He remained some
twenty minutes, perhaps, in the hall,
and then took his leave. I must con-
fess to considerable disappointment in
the personal of my idol. I felt
that his throne was shaken, although it
never could be destroyed."
He arrived at Columbus Thursday evening,
April 21st, 1842,
and was given a reception at the Neil
House that evening. Co-
lumbus at that time had one daily paper
the Ohio State Journal
and a semi-weekly the Ohio
Statesman. Under the head of
Charles Dickens in Ohio in 1842. 75
"Strangers" the Ohio State
Journal contained the following an-
nouncement in the issue of Thursday,
April 21st, 1842:
"Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dickens
arrived in this city today, and are
at the Neil House. They leave tomorrow,
we understand, for Sandusky
City, Buffalo and New York. They have
been to St. Louis."
The Ohio Statesman made no
mention of the visit of Dick-
ens to Columbus.
In a letter dated April 24, 1842, from
Sandusky, found in
Forster's Life of Dickens, Vol. I, page
396, Dickens further de-
scribes his journey,-
"We remained at Cincinnati all
Tuesday, the nineteenth, and all that
night. At eight o'clock on Wednesday
morning, the twentieth, we left
in the mail stage for Columbus; Anne,
Kate and Mr. Q. inside; I on the
box. The distance is one hundred and
twenty miles; the road macadam-
ized; and, for an American road, very
good. We were three and twenty
hours performing the journey. We
traveled all night; reached Colum-
bus at seven in the morning;
breakfasted; and went to bed until dinner
time. At night we held a levee for half
an hour, and the people poured
in as they always do; each gentleman
with a lady on each arm, exactly
like the Chorus to God Save the Queen. I
wish you could see them,
that you might know what a splendid
comparison this is. They wear
their clothes precisely as the chorus
people do; and stand; supposing
Kate and me to be in the center of the
stage, with our backs to the foot-
lights-just as the company would, on the
first night of the season.
They shake hands exactly after the
manner of the guests at a ball at
the Adelphi or the Haymarket; receive
any facetiousness on my part as
if there were a stage direction 'all
laugh;' and have rather more difficulty
in 'getting off' than the last
gentleman, in white pantaloons, polished
boots and berlins, usually display,
under the most trying circumstances.
"Next morning, that is to say, on Friday,
the 22nd, at seven o'clock
exactly, we resumed our journey. The
stage from Columbus to this
place only running thrice a week, and
not on that day, I bargained for an
"exclusive extra" with four
horses, for which I paid forty dollars, or
eight pounds English; the horses
changing, as they would if it were the
regular stage. To insure our getting on
properly, the proprietors sent an
agent on the box. And with no other
company but him and a hamper
full of eatables and drinkables, we went
upon our way. It is impossible
to convey an adequate idea to you of the
kind of road over which we
traveled. I can only say that it was, at
the best, but a track through a
wild forest, and among the swamps, bogs,
and morasses of the withered
bush. A great portion of it was what is
called a 'corduroy road:' which
76 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
is made by throwing round logs or whole
trees into a swamp, and leav-
ing them to settle there. Good Heavens!
if you only felt one of the
least of the jolts with which the coach
falls from log to log! It is
like nothing but going up a steep flight
of stairs in an omnibus. Now
the coach flung us in a heap on the
floor, and now crushed our heads
against its roof. Now one side of it was
deep in the mire, and we were
holding to the other. Now it was lying
on the horses' tails, and now
again upon its back. But it never, never
was in any position, attitude
or kind of motion, to which we were
accustomed in coaches; or made the
smallest approach to our experience of
the proceedings of any sort of
vehicle that goes on wheels. Still, the
day was beautiful, the air delicious,
and we were alone; with no
tobacco-spittle, or eternal prosy conversation
about dollars and politics (the only two
subjects they were converse
about, or can converse upon) to bore us.
We really enjoyed it; made
a joke of being knocked about; and were
quite merry. At two o'clock we
stopped in the wood to open our hamper
and dine; and we drank to our
darlings and all friends at home. Then
we started again and went on
until ten o'clock at night; when we
reached a place called Lower San-
dusky, sixty-two miles from our starting
point. The last three hours of
the journey were not very pleasant; for
it lightened awfully; every flash
very vivid, very blue, and very long;
and, the wood being so dense that
the branches on either side of the track
rattled and broke against the
coach, it was rather a dangerous
neighborhood for a thunderstorm.
"The inn at which we halted was a
rough log house. The people
were all abed, and we had to knock them
up. We had the queerest
sleeping room, with two doors, one
opposite the other; both opening
directly on the wild black country, and
neither having any lock or bolt.
The effect of these opposite doors was,
that one was always blowing the
other open; an ingenuity in the art of
building, which I don't remember to
have met with before. You should have
seen me, in my shirt blockading
them with portmanteous, desperately endeavoring
to make the room
tidy. But the blockading was really
needful, for in my dessing case I have
about 250 1. in gold; and for the amount
of the middle figure in that
scarce metal there are not a few men in
the west who would murder
their fathers. Apropos of this golden
store, consider at your leisure
the strange state of things in this
country. It has no money; really no
money
The bank-paper won't pass; the newspapers are full of adver-
tisements from tradesmen who sell by
barter; and American gold is
not to be had or purchased. I bought
sovereigns, English sovereigns, at
first; but as I could get none of them
in Cincinnati, to this day I have
had to purchase French gold; 20 franc
pieces; with which I am traveling
as if I were in Paris.
"But let's go back to Lower
Sandusky. Mr. Q. went to bed up in
the roof of the log house somewhere, but
was so beset by bugs that he
got up after an hour and lay in the
coach ...... where he was obliged
Charles Dickens in Ohio in 1842. 77
to wait until breakfast time. We breakfasted, driver and all in one
common room. It was papered with
newspapers, and was as rough a place
as need be. At half past seven we
started again, and we reached San-
dusky at six o'clock yesterday
afternoon. It is on Lake Erie, twenty-
four hours journey by steamboat from
Buffalo. We found no boat here,
nor has there been one since. We are
waiting, with everything packed
up ready to start on the shortest
notice; and are anxiously looking out
for smoke in the distance.
"There was an old gentleman in the
log inn at Lower Sandusky
who treats with the Indians on the part
of the American government,
and has just concluded a treaty with the
Wyandot Indians at that place
to remove next year to some land
provided for them west of the Missis-
sippi, a little beyond St. Louis. He
described his negotiations to me, and
their reluctance to go, exceedingly
well. They are a fine people, but
degraded and broken down. If you could
see any of their men and
women on a race-course in England, you
would not know them from
gipsies."
This letter contains a curious mistake
in calling Upper San-
dusky by the name of Lower Sandusky.
That it is a mistake
is shown by internal evidence, First
Upper Sandusky is about
sixty-two miles from Columbus. Second
The Wyandot In-
dians were removed from Upper Sandusky
and not Lower San-
dusky. The mistake is also shown by the
fact that Dickens him-
self corrects it in his American Notes.
On page 96 of the chapter "Arrow
points in Seneca County
History" in a book called Ohio
Early State and Local History
is found the following paragraph,
"John Staub, a pioneer hotel
keeper, at one time entertained Charles
Dickens. Just where he was keeping hotel
at the time is not known.
Dickens came by stage coach from Upper
Sandusky, then to Lower
Sandusky (Fremont). He remained but a
few hours in Tiffin, yet must
have visited several places. Verbal
history from several people tells us
he visited the Holt house in Fort Ball,
at the residence of Richard
Sneath on Market Street (where
Loschert's grocery now stands) and at
the Western Exchange (formerly built for
a hotel by Calvin Bradley
at Number 215 South Washington Street).
He evidently made good use
of his time while here."
In the History of Sandusky County by
Hon. Basil Meek he
relates an episode of travel on the old
Mad River Road as told
him by his brother-in-law Joseph B.
Higbee of Bellevue who was
78 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
among the first conductors of the road.
The road was not then
completed beyond Tiffin when one day a
messenger connected
with the road told Mr. Higbee that he
must get ready a car
for a passenger for Sandusky. When the
messenger was asked
who the passenger was he said he did not
know but they called
him "Boz."
Mr. Higbee described Dickens as a
pleasant appearing
"Roast Beef eating" Englishman
and felt honored in having
charge a passenger of such distinction.
In the same letter Dickens thus
describes his visit to San-
dusky:
"At two o'clock we took the
railroad from Tiffin; the traveling on
which was very slow, its construction
being very indifferent, and the
ground wet and marshy; and arrived at
Sandusky in time to dine that
evening. We put up at a comfortable
little hotel on the brink of Lake
Erie, lay there that night, and had no
choice but to lay there the next
day, until a steamboat bound for Buffalo
appeared. The town which
was sluggish and uninteresting enoungh,
was something like the back
of an English watering place out of
season.
"Our host who was very attentive
and anxious to make us com-
fortable, was a handsome middleaged man,
who had come into this town
from New England, in which part of the
country he was 'raised.' When
I say he walked in and out of the room
with his hat on; and stopped to
converse in the same free and easy
state; and lay down on our sofa
and pulled his newspaper out of his
pocket and read it at his ease; I
merely mention these traits as
characteristic of the country; not at all
as being matter of complaint or
disagreeable to me. I should undoubtedly
be offended by such things at home,
because they are not our custom;
and where they are not they would be
impertinences; but in America the
only desire of a goodnatured fellow of
this kind, is to treat his guests
hospitably and well; and I had no more
right, and I can truly say no
more disposition to measure his conduct
by our English rule and standard,
than I had to quarrel with him for not
being of the exact stature which
would qualify him for admission into the
Queen's Grenadier Guards.
As little inclination had I to find
fault with a funny old lady who was
an upper domestic in this establishment,
and when she came to wait
upon us at any meal, sat herself down
comfortably in the most con-
venient chair, and producing a large pin
to pick her teeth with, remained
performing that ceremony, and
steadfastly regarding us meanwhile with
much gravity and composure (now and then
pressing us to eat a little
more) until it was time to clear away.
It was enough for us, that what-
ever we wished done was done with great
civility and readiness, and a
Charles Dickens in Ohio in 1842. 79
desire to oblige, not only here but
everywhere else; and that all our
wants were in general, zealously
anticipated.
"We were taling an early dinner at
this house, on the day after
our arrival which was Sunday, when a
steamboat hove in sight, and
presently touched at the wharf. As she
proved to be on her way to
Buffalo, we hurried on board with all
speed and soon left Sandusky
far behind us."
The files of the Sandusky paper for the year
1842 were
destroyed by fire in the early sixties
so that it is no longer pos-
sible to state the comments of the Sandusky
Clarion on the visit
of Dickens to that city.
The hotel still standing, at which
Charles Dickens stopped
at his visit here in 1842 was the old
Wayne hotel at the South-
west corner of Wayne and Water streets
which was then called
Colt's Exchange and its proprietor was
Col. R. E. Colt an East-
ern man, Dickens occupied the second
floor parlor bedroom on
the Northwest corner and a cherry table
then in the room is now
in the possession of L. D. Anthony of
Sandusky. William T.
West used to tell the story that Dickens
accepted an invitation
to a banquet given by Sandusky admirers
and at the proper time
did not come down but sent his valet in
his place.
Forster's Life of Dickens contains a
letter written from
Sandusky April 24th, 1842, in which
Dickens says:
"We reached Sandusky at six o'clock
yesterday afternoon. It is
on Lake Erie, 24 hours journey by
Steamboat from Buffalo. We found
no boat here nor has there been one
since. We are waiting with every-
thing packed up ready to start on the
shortest notice......... We are
in a small house here but a very
comfortable one, and the people are
exceedingly obliging. Their demeanor in these country parts is in-
variably morose, sullen, clownish and
repulsive. I should think there
is not on the face of the earth a people
so entirely destitute of humor,
vivacity or the capacity of enjoyment.
It is most remarkable. Lounging
listlessly about bar-rooms, smoking,
spitting and lolling on the pavement
in rocking chairs outside the shop
doors, are the only recreations. Our
landlord is from the East. He is a
handsome obliging civil fellow. He
comes into the room with his hat on,
spits in the fire place when he
talks, sits down on the sofa with his
hat on, pulls out his newspaper and
reads, but to all that I am accustomed.
He is anxious to please and
that's enough."
80 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
The housekeeper described by Dickens was
probably the
wife of Col. Colt as the Sandusky
Mirror of December 25th,
1854, speaks of her as the chef of the
hotel.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer in
1915 says of Dickens' visit:
"I have read in Forster's Life of
Charles Dickens this letter of
the great novelist: 'Tuesday, April 26,
1842; We lay all Sunday night
at a town (and a beautiful town, too)
called Cleveland, on Lake Erie.
The people poured on board in crowds by
six on Monday morning to
see me, and a party of gentlemen
actually planted themselves before our
little cabin and stared in at the doors
and windows while I was washing
and Kate lay in bed. I was incensed at
this and at a certain news-
paper published in that town which I had
accidentally seen in Sandusky,
advocating war with England to the
death, saying that Britain must be
whipped again, and promising all true
Americans that within the year
they should sing "Yankee
Doodle" within Hyde Park and "Hail Colum-
bia" in the courts of Westminster,
that when the Mayor came on board
to present himself to me according to
custom, I refused to see him and
bade M. Q. tell him why and wherefore.
His honor took it very coolly,
and retired to the top of the wharf with
a big stick and a whittling knife,
with which he worked so lustily (staring
at the closed door of our
cabin all the time) that long before the
boat left the big stick was no
bigger than a cribbage peg.'"
The Mayor of Cleveland at the time
mentioned in the Dick-
ens letter was Dr. Joshua Mills, a
practicing physician and a
partner of Dr. J. M. Ackley who was
looked upon as the head
of his profession in the young city. It
was Dr. Mills' second
term
in the mayor's office. He had
been chosen to succeed
George W. Willey, and after the
administrations of Nicholas
Dockstadert and John W. Allen, had been
chosen again, a strong
proof of the confidence of the public in
his integrity and fitness
for the office.
It is quite possible that Dickens, who
seems on that famous
tour to have persisted in regarding
everything American with a
jaundiced eye entirely misunderstood the
mayor's well meant at-
tentions, and with his inborn love of
caricature exaggerated all
the details of the incident. The
attention he received in the little
city of 6,000 souls, a city just
emerging from the wilderness,
should have gratified the young author.
The fact that his fame
as a writer - a fame largely based at
that time on the "Pickwick
Charles Dickens in Ohio in 1842. 81
Papers" should have penetrated to
the remote settlement on the
Cuyahoga, might have been expected to
gratify him. On the
contrary, he saw in the attentions given
him--awkward per-
haps, and yet flattering - nothing
except the grotesque side.
When Dickens came back to Cleveland
twenty-five years
later, the little group on the steamboat
dock had grown to an
audience that overcrowded the city's
largest hall.
The newspaper referred to by our
correspondent was the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, published by A. N. & J. W. Gray, then
entering on its second year. It was a
common thing at that
time for Democratic editors to twist the
British lion's tail. The
Democrats charged that the Whigs were in
full sympathy with
the British leaders, and attacks on the
allies of the Whig was a
part of the bitter partisan campaign.
Gray excelled in satire and
anathema and his favorite editorial
pastime was badgering the
Whigs. No doubt the article that
incensed the British author
was designedly a piece of sublimated
buncombe.
The Plain Dealer of April 27th,
1842, contained the follow-
ing editorial from Gray's pen in which
he wafted the Ohio fare-
well to the English author:
"The Dickens was to pay here on
Monday morning, when Boz was
announced to be among us, "taking
notes" we suppose. He came in on
the Steamboat Constitution from
Sandusky, took a hasty stroll through
our streets accompanied by a Boston
friend, and returned to his state-
room on board, and shut himself up from
the vulgar gaze. His lady,
however, showed her plump round English
face to as many as wished
to look, which quite compensated the
gaping crowd, as she and her
modest lord are one, according to the
English law."
As far as the Ohio newspapers were
concerned Mr. Dickens
does not seem to have had much ground of
complaint.
Vol. XXVIII -6.
CHARLES DICKENS IN
OHIO IN 1842.
BY HEWSON L. PEEKE.
In his work "Charles Dickens in
America" by W. Glyde
Wilkins the author says:
"Dickens' opinion of the American
newspapers was fully expressed
in one of his letters to Forster in
which he wrote: 'of course I can do
nothing but in some shape or other it
gets into the newspapers. All
manner of lies get there and
occasionally a truth so twisted or distorted
that it has as much resemblance to the
real fact as Quilp's leg to Tag-
lioni's.' This was hardly true of the
papers of Cincinnati, as they pub-
lished nothing of his doings except the
bare fact of his arrival, as shown
by the following-
"Mr. Dickens and his lady have, we
are informed, arrived in the
city."-Daily Chronicle, April 4th, 1842.
"'Mr. Dickens and lady arrived in
our city yesterday morning and
have taken rooms at the Broadway Hotel.
We understand they will be
at home today from 11 o'clock until
three o'clock'-Daily Republican,
April 5th, 1842.
"'Charles Dickens. This gentleman
reached our city yesterday and
took lodgings at the Broadway Hotel.'-Cincinnati
Gazette, April 5th,
1842.
"There were certainly no lies in
these three items, and a careful
search of succeeding issues of these
newspapers fails to show that they
even made any mention of his doings in
the city, or of his leaving the
city on the following Wednesday morning."-Charles
Dickens in America,
by W. Glyde Wilkins, Page 206.
Nor when he made the return trip to
Cincinnati arriving
April 21st, 1842, did the newspapers
make any mention of the
fact.
There are two letters from Cincinnati in
Forster's life of
Dickens. In the first dated April 4th,
1842, he thus describes
the city:
"I have walked to the window since
I turned this page to see what
aspect the town wears. We are in a wide
street: paved in the way with
(72)