MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY SOCIETY BUILDING, COLUMBUS, OHIO, SATURDAY, May 4, 1929, 10:00 A. M. The meeting was called to order by Secretary C. B. Galbreath. There were present: |
B. F. Prince, Arthur C. Johnson, Van A. Snider, Claude Meeker, E. F. Wood, Morten Carlisle, W. D. McKinney, George Florence, Rev. S. R. Martin, Mrs. Gertrude Ball, Mrs. Anna M. Kevin, Charles F. Walker, William G. Pengelly, Homer Charles, Mrs. Homer Charles, J. E. Tritsch, Harlow Lindley, Irene Cotton, Dean M. Hickson, Eugene W. Mendenhall, Fred J. Heer, H. R. McPherson, Mrs. H. R. McPherson, Roy M. King, |
George F. Bareis, William O. Thompson, Michael G. Heintz, C. B. Galbreath, Mrs. C. B. Galbreath, Mrs. Orson D. Dryer, John R. Horst, Adolphus G. Williams, William Pepperling, William McKinley, Tiffin Gilmore, W. E. Peters, James S. Hine, A. C. Spetnagel, Theodore S. Spetnagel, Harry A. Ziplinsky, J. C. Hambleton, H. B. Sebring, L. D. Kramer, H. G. Simpson, Charles W. Heiser, E. F. Greenman, Mrs. E. F. Greenman, |
(512) |
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 513
Secretary Galbreath moved that Arthur
C. Johnson,
President of the Society, be elected
Chairman of the
meeting. Carried.
Upon motion, duly seconded, C. B.
Galbreath was
elected Secretary of the meeting. Mr.
Galbreath stated
that Roy M. King would act as assistant
in reporting the
meeting.
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT
President Arthur C. Johnson spoke as
follows:
The affairs of the Society, so far as I
am acquainted with
the details, are in very excellent
condition. Progress is the key-
note of our activities and has been
during the last year and a half.
In the physical aspect you will have no
difficulty in seeing that
considerable progress has been made. We
have this beautiful
new Library wing, which is evidence that
we have had very sub-
stantial support from the people of the
state through their rep-
resentatives in the Legislature. A great
deal has been done in the
parks which are in our keeping, notably
Seip Mound, and at
Fallen Timbers where we are about to
dedicate a beautiful me-
morial and park; at Schoenbrunn where
restoration work is going
on rapidly; at Marietta where the state
has furnished a con-
siderable sum of money to complete the
memorial building which
is being erected for Campus Martius. At
the hands of generous
individuals also, we have been
particularly fortunate.
The gift of a park within the confines
of the City of Columbus
will be a part of the program this
afternoon. A few well-
intentioned and generous members of the
Society have contributed
a considerable sum of money for the
purchase of a very hand-
some black bear group, which will find a
place in the splendid new
natural history collection, which will
occupy a large room of this
building, and we have under way a
project to purchase with
private funds the Dawson bird library.
That, I think, we should
not fail to do. If a patron of the
Society and a member of its
Board of Trustees should call upon any
of you for a contribution
to that end, I hope you will feel it
will be money well spent and
contribute generously to that cause.
I want to speak very briefly, not to rob
the consolidated re-
port of any of its features, of a thing
to which I, as your presi-
dent, have looked forward for a number
of years, that is, the
educational extension work of this
Society. The best recommen-
Vol. XXXVIII--33.
514 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
dation for the work in that line which
Mr. Shetrone is doing, is
the intense interest taken by the school
children who are partici-
pating, and whose numbers are increasing
constantly. Mr. Colli-
cott, superintendent of the Columbus
schools, is particularly en-
thusiastic about it and thinks it is a
thing which the state should
some time provide the means to carry on
in a state-wide way.
The Museum and Library are taking shape
along modem
lines. The working organization and the
staff are more com-
plete and efficient, I believe, than
ever before, and that is no re-
flection upon those who had charge of
the work in the past; it is
simply the reflection of the public
interest in and public apprecia-
tion for this particular phase of the
state's activities. Generous
appropriations enable the Society to
command a large organization
and to attract better men to its staff.
I want to call particular attention to a
very friendly state ad-
ministration which I think appreciates
everything this Society is
doing or trying to do. I want to call
attention to the fine type of
men composing the last Legislature, who
had a real conception of
this work and what it means to the
people of Ohio. They had
no hesitation in giving approval to a
budget which will enable us
to carry on for the next two years.
There are just a few recommendations
which I want to make
at this time. They are merely
suggestions for your consideration.
I would like to have your approval of
the work of our new Di-
rector. I think he has applied himself
with intelligence and a
very great diligence to the task before him. He would
feel very
much encouraged to go forward with
redoubled effort if the So-
ciety saw fit to give approval to what
he has been trying to do.
Since men are engaged in this work for
no financial reward
(or they would not be in it), and since
recognitions often come
too late to be enjoyed, I want to
suggest that since our worthy
Secretary, Librarian and Editor conceived
the idea of making our
great file collection of Ohio
newspapers, secured the necessary
legislation to put the work under way
and has brought it to such
a happy and successful stage, it be
named "The Charles B. Gal-
breath Collection of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Library."
There are two other suggestions: One is
that a suitable me-
morial in some physical form be planned
and executed in memory
of Dr. Mills. The other is that an
alliance in some form be en-
tered into with one of the most virile
groups in the whole state of
Ohio. I refer to a Cleveland group of
men who are particularly
enthusiastic about what this Society is
doing. One of their lead-
ers, Mr. Clark, a corporation attorney,
a man of high standing
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 515
who, I believe, was one of those who
conceived the idea of devel-
oping that great cultural center for the
city of Cleveland, and one
of the promoters of the Metropolitan
Park project, has paid us a
number of visits and upon a recent
occasion he came to your
President's office to say that he
intended to send the entire organi-
zation of the Museum of Natural History
of Cleveland to Colum-
bus to "learn how to operate a
museum." They are more than
anxious to come in with us in some way
which will be of mutual
benefit. I feel while those men might
come in individually, and
they are all men of large means and
great influence, they can do
us more good and do the State more good,
if the two organizations
should join hands for a common object.
The matter of going forward with some
memorial to Dr.
Mills I think can safely be left to the
Board of Trustees. I take
it that that would have the unanimous
approval of the Society,
and if there are no spoken objections,
the minutes will so indi-
cate. The consolidated reports to be
made by the Director and the
Secretary will acquaint you with the
details of the past year's
activities.
Doctor W. O. Thompson stated that he
felt certain
that the members of the Society will
enthusiastically sup-
port the President's plans. He moved
that a vote of
confidence be given the Director, and
that the newspaper
collection be named the 'Charles B.
Galbreath Collec-
tion." The motion was seconded and
carried.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY
Secretary C. B. Galbreath submitted the
following
report:
After a longer interval than usual the
Society has again met
in accordance with the resolution
adopted at the meeting of the
Board of Trustees on October 8, 1927.
The change of the fiscal
year of the state by the General
Assembly at its session in 1927,
made it desirable that a corresponding
change be made in the
time of holding the annual meetings of
the Society. In order
that the financial statements of the
activities of the Society may
be included in the reports presented, it
is important that these
meetings be held after the close of the
fiscal year. The com-
pletion of the south wing of the Museum
and Library Building
and the pending of budget requests before the session
of the Leg-
516 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
lature were additional considerations
that seemed to make it ad-
visable to postpone the meeting of the Society to this
date of our
assembling. It is now possible for the
Board of Trustees to plan
future expenditures within the
limitations of the funds at their
disposal as a result of appropriations
made by the General Assem-
bly at its recent session.
The last meeting of the Society convened
on October 8,
1927. That was almost one year and seven
months ago--to be
exact, one year, six months and
twenty-seven days. In reading
the proceedings of that meeting we are
impressed with the fact
that time has wrought changes in this
comparatively brief period.
At our last meeting, Dr. William C.
Mills was with us and read
his annual report. At midnight on
January 17, 1928, after an illness
that called him for but a short time
from his office desk, he passed
to the great Beyond. The Board of
Trustees met at the call of
the President on the following day,
January 18, 1928, to take
action relative to the death of Dr.
Mills. At this meeting General
Edward Orton, Jr., offered resolutions
which were unanimously
adopted in tribute to the work and
memory of our Director.
These resolutions are included in a
sketch of the life of Dr. Mills
by the Secretary of the Society, which
was published in the
QUARTERLY for April, 1928. This tribute is now passing through
the press and before the close of
another week will appear in
separate form.
On December 10, 1927, there was a
meeting of the Board of
Trustees at the office of the Secretary
in the Museum and Library
Building to accept the custody of
newspaper files offered by the
State Library Board. At this meeting
these papers were accepted
by unanimous vote of the trustees
present.
On February 24, 1928, a meeting of the
Board of Trustees
was held in the office of President
Johnson to provide for filling
the vacancies in the Museum staff
incident to the death of Dr.
Mills. At this meeting Mr. Harry C.
Shetrone was elected Di-
rector of the Society and the vacancy
occasioned by his promotion
was filled by the election of Dr.
Emerson F. Greenman as Curator
of Archaeology.
On October 20, 1928, there was a
meeting of the Board of
Trustees in the office of the President
to consider matters relating
to Spiegel Grove State Park. At this
meeting authority was
given for a partial closing of the
Memorial Building at the Park
pending repairs in progress there.
The Board of Trustees, on October 27,
met in the office of
the President to consider budget
requests for the two years be-
ginning January 1, 1929. A preliminary
budget prepared by the
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 517
Director and Secretary was submitted and
read in detail. After
a few changes under the head of personal
service, budget requests
were approved and the Director was
requested to submit them to
the State Budget Commissioner. At this
meeting, preparatory to
the consideration of budget requests,
Director Shetrone outlined
a plan to cooperate with the schools of
the state through loan
collections and lantern slides from the
Museum.
On January 11, 1929, there
was a meeting of the Board of
Trustees in the office of the President
to accept archives offered
from the basement of the State House by
Governor Donahey and
Adjutant General Frank P. Henderson. At
this meeting the cus-
tody of these archives was unanimously
accepted.
A number of meetings were held by the
Building Extension
Committee in the year 1928. At a
meeting of the Board of Trus-
tees on January 18, 1928, General Orton
reported that the appro-
priation of $139,500 made at the last
session of the General As-
sembly had been found insufficient to
complete the south wing
of the Museum and Library Building as
originally proposed. He,
therefore, offered alternative proposals
drawn by the University
Architect. These were approved in
principle by the Board of
Trustees, and the Chairman of the
Building Extension Committee
was requested to ask the State
Controlling Board to release one
thousand dollars ($1,000) from the
appropriation of $139,500 for
"additions to Museum and Library
Building and Equipment."
Meetings of the Building Extension
Committee were held
on November 23 and December 2, 1927, and in 1928 on January
10, January 18, October 1 and December 4. The Chairman
ap-
pointed Director Shetrone to fill the
vacancy on this committee
occasioned by the death of Dr. Mills. A
full report of all the
meetings of this committee will be
included in the typewritten
record of the proceedings of the
Society.
The publication of the Diary and
Letters and the republica-
tion of the Life of President
Rutherford B. Hayes has been com-
pleted. The entire Hayes Series in seven
volumes is now avail-
able for distribution to the libraries
of the state. A questionnaire
has been sent to these libraries and
these publications will be sent
to those which have not yet received
them.
Some difficulties are still experienced
in the issue of the
QUARTERLY. The division of the work
between the public printer
and the state bindery has somewhat
increased this difficulty which
it is hoped may be overcome in the
current year. The publication
of the Museum Echoes has proven a
popular venture. It keeps
the members and friends of the Society
promptly informed of its
activities.
518 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Some important gifts have been made to
the Library of the
Society since the last meeting. These
include:
1. About
5,000 volumes from the library of former Director
Dr. William C. Mills. These relate
largely to archaeology, an-
thropology and museum
administration--subjects to which he had
given the best years of his life. This large and
valuable gift came
from Mrs. Mills and her daughter Helen
and was in accord with
the desire that Dr. Mills had expressed
by word and will.
2. Misses
Elizabeth and Jane Sullivant supplemented their
their gift, noted in our last report, by
a much larger addition of
extremely rare publications. These
include volumes collected by
Joseph Sullivant, some of which bear
autographs of distinguished
scientists. A full list will appear in
our printed report.
3. Mrs. Margaret Comly presented a
number of books and
papers from the library of her
father-in-law, General James M.
Comly. Among these were about forty
manuscript letters from
William Dean Howells and newspapers
mentioned elsewhere in
this report.
4. Mrs. William Houston presented some
interesting and
valuable souvenirs of Edwin M. Stanton
including a fine large
photograph of him which he had had taken
for his mother.
5. Especially appropriate at this time
is the gift of a painting
of General George Armstrong Custer, the
famous cavalry leader
of the Civil War, whose memory is to be
honored by the erection,
through the agency of this Society of a
memorial at New Rumley,
Harrison County, on the site of the home
in which the General
was born. This painting, now the
property of the Society, was
presented by Dr. S. O. Giffin, a
patriotic citizen of Columbus.
6. While this report was in course of
preparation the grati-
fying news came that public-spirited
citizens and members of the
Society had joined in the purchase of
the library on Ornithology,
collected by the late William L. Dawson,
author of The Birds of
Ohio, The Birds of California, The
Birds of the State of Wash-
ington, and other important contributions to natural history.
This
timely and appropriate addition to the
Library of the Society
numbers approximately 4,000
items--books, pamphlets and manu-
scripts. A number of these are valuable
volumes in bound form.
One set of these in three volumes sells
for $300.
Some rare newspaper files have also been
received. Follow-
ing are the names of some of the donors
and their gifts:
1. Miss Nellie N. Vanvorhes of
Athens; 9 volumes of the
Athens Messenger and Hocking
Valley Gazette, covering the dates
from 1856-1860.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 519
2. Mrs. Margaret Comly, the
daughter-in-law of General
James M. Comly; about 80 papers, chiefly
of Ohio publications,
covering dates from 1819-1890, a number
of them early and
rare; also some interesting Sandwich
Island papers, including a
file of the Sandwich Island Gazette August
5, 1837-July 7, 1839.
3. D. W. Roberts, publisher of the Clermont
Sun, Batavia,
Ohio: 74 volumes of that paper covering
periods from 1852-1927.
4. Frank B. McKinney, Editor of the
Marietta Times: 192
volumes of Marietta papers covering the
period from 1889-1924.
5. William A. Brown, Sr., Editor of the
Greenville Advo-
cate: files of the Greenville Democrat and Greenville News,
22
volumes, covering the period from
1869-1927.
6. Misses Jane and Elizabeth
Sullivant a very interesting
collection of early newspapers covering
a period from 1811-1817.
Among them was a copy of the Western
Intelligencer, published
at Worthington in 1811.
7. Mrs. C. B. Rohland of Springfield,
Illinois: I volume of
the Independent American and
Circleville Herald covering a
period from May 20, 1837, to April 28,
1838.
8. F. W. Bush, proprietor of the Athens Messenger:
30
volumes of that paper covering dates from
October 3, 1855, to
December 31, 1899.
9. W. E. Peters of Athens: a collection
of newspapers cov-
ering various dates from 1826 to 1893.
Most of these were pub-
lished in Athens, Ohio. He also
presented a number of volumes
of the session laws of Ohio, and three
Ohio county atlases.
10. Edward L. Taylor, Jr., and Catherine
Taylor Wood-
bury: the file of Freeman's Journal, published
in Franklinton,
1812, 1813 and 1814, the first newspaper
published within the
present limits of Columbus. This rare volume is from the
library of the late Edward L. Taylor,
Sr.
11. Professor O. C. Hooper of the Ohio State University:
a file of the Boston Chronicle, December
26, 1768--December 18,
1769.
Substantial additions to the archives of
the Society include
thousands of manuscript documents,
letters, unpublished reports
and records from the basement of the
State House. Many of
these are of historic value. Some of
them had disintegrated be-
yond restoration, but thousands can be put into
condition for per-
manent preservation and used for reference purposes.
The work
or arrangement is one of the important large problems
confronting
the Library.
A notable increase has been effected in
the publications of
the historical societies of other
states. In many instances this has
520 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
been accomplished by exchanges requiring
but small expenditure
of money. Broken sets of historical and
genealogical publica-
tions have been partially or completely
filled. Almost 2,000
volumes have been thus acquired to
complete sets and to add
other sets not previously represented in
the Library.
The increase in the number of newspaper
files in the custody
of the Society is outstanding. At the
time of our last report there
were in the Library 8,105 volumes of
these papers. Today there
are here 16,017 volumes, 13,794 of which
are Ohio publications.
Papers have been transferred to the
Library from forty of
the eighty-eight counties of the state.
Others are to follow. It is
not now necessary to go to other states
to consult Ohio news-
papers. In the near future this will be
more emphatically true.
We are building up here one of the
notable collections in the
United States and while we are building
it up we are making every
paper accessible for reference as it has
never been before.
Some one said not long ago, "You
have made a pretty good
collection of newspapers; had you not
better now direct attention
to something else?" Many years ago
archaeologists who came to
explore the mounds of Ohio made tunnels into these
earthworks
and discovered only a portion of their
treasures. Dr. Mills in-
augurated the plan of moving all the
earth of these mounds. In
other words he made the exploration
complete in order that every
relic of value might be found. It is our
purpose to apply the same
principle to the search for newspaper
files and not to quit until the
eighty-eight counties of the state have been explored.
These Ohio papers cover various dates,
extending back to the
first issued in the Northwest Territory.
This Society has in its
care the only issue of the first newspaper published
within the
limits of territorial Ohio-The Centinel of the
North-Western
Territory--launched in Cincinnati, November 9, 1793-nine years,
three months and twenty-two days before
Ohio became one of the
states of the Union. This rare and
unpretentious paper has been
reproduced in faithful facsimile and
will be distributed at the
conclusion of the afternoon session.
The most noteworthy among the purchases
for the Library
is an album containing approved photographs of William
McKin-
ley and each member of his cabinet, Theodore Roosevelt
and the
members of the Senate that served in the
McKinley administra-
tion. Each of these is autographed and all are
sumptuously bound
in the most expensive book thus far
acquired by the Society. It
is on exhibition and may be viewed by
those present who are
interested.
The gallery intended for portraits is
practically finished. It
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 521
is a fine addition to the Museum and
Library Building. Eleven
spaces are provided for portraits. These could be
advantageously
used for a large painting of each
president of the United States
born in Ohio and for William Henry
Harrison who was born in
Virginia but elected from Ohio. Three
spaces would be left which
could be properly occupied by paintings
of Edison, Brush and the
Wright Brothers, Ohio's famous
inventors.
A part of the books in the main room of
the Library have
been transferred to the stack room. This
will give additional
space for reference workers. The
Librarian hopes in the not dis-
tant future to have the Library open on
Saturday afternoon for
the accommodation of students of the
University and others who
have this half-day free from their
regular work.
The General Assembly has provided ample
means for the
conduct of the work of the Society
through the biennium which
ends with December 31, 1930. A number of
memorial projects
come to the Society through acts passed
at the recent session.
These will doubtless be undertaken at an
early date following this
meeting.
In conclusion, I wish to thank most
sincerely the trustees and
officers of the Society for their
cordial and never-failing support,
and my associates from Director to
student assistants for faithful
cooperation and kindly acts which have
been my daily portion.
None are over me, none are under me.
They are my friends.
They make this a very pleasant place in
which to live and work.
On motion the report was received and
ordered
placed on file.
At this point the Chairman appointed
Mr. W. J.
Sherman, Mr. Claude Meeker and Mr. Fred
Heer as a
committee to nominate successors to the
Trustees whose
terms expire.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR
Director H. C. Shetrone submitted the
following
report:
Despite the fact that the time which has
elapsed since the
last recent Annual Meeting has
constituted a period of inordinate
activity for the Museum and its staff,
owing to a combination of
occurrences and conditions, it is a
pleasure to be able to report
very definite progress toward
realization of our quite pretentious
522 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
program. At the 1927 Annual
Meeting, held on October 8th of
that year, Dr. William C. Mills tendered
to you what proved to be
his last Annual Report as Director of
the Museum. His passing
in the following January resulted in
temporary quiescence in the
activities of the institution and
readjustment as a result of which
the speaker assumed the post left vacant
by his death. It was with
a feeling of hesitancy that the present
incumbent took up the task
where Dr. Mills had relinquished it, but
with the fine assurance
and unstinted support which the entire
personnel of the Board
of Trustees accorded him, he has no
hesitancy in feeling that the
results of his administration will meet
with your approval.
It is not our intention to dwell
lengthily upon the past; rather
do we prefer to turn our face to the
future in anticipation of
further and fuller achievement, letting
past accomplishment speak
for itself. It is fitting, however, that
momentary attention be in-
vited to outstanding accomplishments of
the immediate past, and
this may be very brief. A matter of
major importance has been
the construction and occupancy of the
new wing to the Museum
and Library building. The Director was
fortunate in coming into
office after this project was provided
for, and with a Building
Committee headed by a Chairman of
fullest experience in such
matters, it followed that only routine
details demanded his per-
sonal attention. However, as everyone
will realize who has passed
through a building campaign, these
details have been many and
varied, and in the end have been cared
for as they presented them-
selves. The results, thanks to General
Edward Orton, Jr., and
his committee, is the charming addition
now occupied and open
for your inspection.
In addition to the building program, we
have gone through
the biennial ordeal of putting a budget
through the State Legisla-
ture. Owing to the fact that a change in
the fiscal year to accord
with the calendar year was in order, and
to the further fact that
the budget system of the Legislature was
revamped, our claim
had to be presented not less than three
separate times. The out-
come, however, has been satisfactory,
and the financial prospects
for the Society are rather gratifying.
The fact that a satisfactory
budget has been accorded the Society, by
means of which several
additional members are made available to
the staff, reflects the
added appreciation and prestige to which
the Society, through its
activities, has attained.
The high points in recent achievement to
which I wish to
refer briefly may be classified under
two headings: Museum
Projects Realized and Museum Accessions.
As to the first of
these, the launching of a program of Museum activities
with the
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 523
public schools, which constitutes a
beginning of a program of
Visual Education, is particularly
deserving of your attention.
Realizing that a museum to fulfil its
ideal destiny must render a
maximum service to the public, the
rendering of such a service to
the state at large presented itself as a
foremost need. Manifestly
it was impossible to launch such a
service full-fledged, so a means
for making a beginning was sought. This
was found in a plan
whereby the public schools of the city
of Columbus were invited to
avail themselves of the Museum as a base
from which to work;
of surplus material and study
collections for visual and tactile in-
struction in classwork, within the
Museum; and those who con-
duct the work were offered the
assistance of the Director and staff
in devising, launching and carrying out
such service.
The experiment has proved successful
beyond expectation.
The Superintendent of the Columbus
Schools readily accepted the
proposition, and assigned two eminently-fitted teachers
to come
into the Museum for full time service in
carrying out the program.
As a result, for the past five months,
some two to four classes of
school children have been coming to the
Museum each school day
and are receiving one hour's instruction
along the lines of Natural
History subjects and Prehistoric Man in
Ohio, the class-work
being supplemented in each instance by a
personally-conducted
tour of the Museum. Weekly reports are
rendered the Director
by the teacher in charge, showing the
schools in attendance, num-
ber of pupils in each class, instruction
given, and other pertinent
information.
This instruction was begun with the
grade schools, but the
demand has become so urgent that
recently it has been accorded
to the junior high schools. The idea is
to utilize this local service,
at no cost to the Society either in
money or time, to engender ap-
preciation whereby two years hence funds
and personnel may be
forthcoming from the Legislature to
extend a modest program of
service to the state at large,
particularly to the public schools.
While the accent of the Museum Service
is placed on the
juvenile element, the importance of adult education as
a phase of
Museum Extension Service is not being
overlooked. A good be-
ginning along this line has been made,
under the able direction of
Mrs. Harry Cope, Honorary Supervisor of
Museum Extension
Service.
Another realization, with which all of
you are familiar and
which needs no further comment, is Museum
Echoes, which as-
pires to carry to you each month a word
of greeting and appre-
ciation, to keep you acquainted with the activities of
the Society,
etc.
524 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The Museum within the past year has made
special exhibits
of its displays at the Ohio State Fair,
at the Ohio Industrial Expo-
sition and at the Exposition of Native
American Art at the Toledo
Museum of Art.
In keeping with the latest ideas in
museum development, the
project of erecting within the Museum a
typical Ohio log cabin
home of pioneer times presented itself.
After inspecting many
cabins throughout central Ohio, a
suitable one was located mid-
way between West Jefferson and London,
Ohio, and was pre-
sented to the Society by Mr. J. E.
Headley, the owner. This
cabin was carefully taken down, the logs
numbered and even the
handmade brick from the old fireplace
designated so that all details
might be recorded to conform to the
original. The work was
done under the expert direction of Mr.
J. S. Waite, our cabinet-
maker. We were fortunate in securing the
services of Mrs. J. E.
Clark of Columbus, an expert in period
furniture and furnishings,
who very generously has taken charge and
carried through the
task of furnishing and equipping the
cabin home, even to the
extent of supplying likewise figures of
the members of the family,
the latter being donated by the F. and
R. Lazarus Company.
Numerous other friends of the Society
have contributed furniture
and other details to this project. The
complete log cabin home
may be seen in the Pioneer Rooms in the
basement of the Museum.
In view of the marked interest at
present in the direction of
textiles and fabrics, spinning and weaving, one of the
most pre-
tentious undertakings which the Museum
has yet carried out is
now in evidence. I refer to the Pageant
of Weaving on display
in the room adjoining the auditorium
during the month of May.
Since this is an actuality, I need not
dwell further on it except to
invite you to inspect it closely. I wish
to accord the credit for
the consummation of its undertaking to
the indefatigable efforts of
Miss Jeanette Shields, Miss Margaret W.
Fisher and Mrs. Harry
Cope.
Anticipating the popular demand for
natural history, there
is under construction in the large room
immediately above the
auditorium a Natural History Complex
comprising six large con-
nected cases for mammal groups. These
are to be artificially
lighted and to be supplied with
naturalistic painted backgrounds,
carrying out the very latest procedure
in museum display. The
first of these groups is now under
preparation. The family of
black bears has been mounted by the best
taxidermists the coun-
try affords, and the realistic
background-a cave scene in the
Sugar Grove region of Ohio-is being
painted in by a skilled
artist of the Department of Fine Arts,
Ohio State University,
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 525
In this project several of our
appreciative and influential friends
are assisting by financing the outlay.
Along the same idea of up-to-date
Natural History Groups,
the Museum, through the Department of
Natural History, has
constructed a realistiC group showing
the pioneer industry of net-
ting wild pigeons. An actual pigeon net,
one of the few in exist-
ence, has been placed in the keeping of
the Museum by Dr.
Charles Mills, of Chillicothe. Fine
mounted specimens of the now
extinct passenger pigeon are in
possession of the Museum and
are shown in connection with the group.
Apropos of the Museum's activities along
archaeological lines,
the interest in Indian mounds has been
particularly noticeable.
Visitors to the Museum, particularly
teachers with their classes,
after inspecting the collections of
relics, often inquire as to where
actual mounds may be seen. A very fine
mound, located at the
western edge of the city along the
Scioto River, suggested the
project here referred to. Having in mind
the rare service ac-
corded this Society by its recent
president, the late Governor
James E. Campbell, it occurred to your Director that
two desirable
projects might be compassed in a single
undertaking-the preser-
vation of this fine old Indian mound for
the benefit of those in-
terested, by converting it into a
pleasing small park, the latter to be
a memorial to Governor Campbell. The
proposition was sub-
mitted to Mrs. Jessie Campbell Coons,
daughter of Governor
Campbell, who very graciously supplied
the funds for purchasing
the land and completing the project.
This ancient monument,
known as the Shrum Mound, has now been
secured, landscaped,
and the tract enclosed within a very
handsome rustic stone fence.
Campbell Mound Park is to be marked with
a suitable tablet and
with some sculptural features yet to be
determined upon, and is to
be dedicated on the anniversary of
Governor Campbell's birth,
July 7th. While this dedication will be
the culmination of this
project, I thought it fitting to invite
Mrs. Coons to be present
today to present the Park to the
Society. In her unavoidable ab-
sence, I take pleasure in requesting
Miss Minnie Shrum, a teacher
in the Columbus Public Schools and
erstwhile owner of the
Shrum Mound, to represent her, and to
present this photograph,
taken within the last few days, of the
Shrum Mound and the
Campbell Mound Park.
Although consummated since the last
recent Annual Meeting,
all of you are familiar with the project
of the actual reproduc-
tions of our prehistoric predecessors in
Ohio-the Mound Build-
ers-through the presentation to the
Museum by General Edward
Orton, Jr., of the now well-known figure
"The Prehistoric Sculp-
526 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
tor." You will be gratified to
learn that a companion piece to this
figure, representing a Mound-builder
woman in the act of weaving
a basket, to be known as "The
Prehistoric Basket-maker," is now
completed and ready to be unveiled. This
fine figure, the handi-
work, as is "The Prehistoric
Sculptor," of Professor Erwin F.
Frey, of the Department of Fine Arts,
Ohio State University,
has been financed and presented to the
Museum by its President,
Mr. Arthur C. Johnson.
While the usual number of appreciated
accessions have come
to the Museum during the recent period,
a few are outstanding.
Among these are two collections
presented to the Museum by one
of its Life Members, Dr. H. L. Good of Hamilton, Ohio.
One of
these is an Ethnological Collection comprising fine and
rare old
specimens of historic costumes,
beadwork, etc. Another is an
excellent Collection of Archaeological
specimens made locally in
Butler County by Dr. Good, and valued
for the reason that it is
typical of that rich section of Ohio. A
magnificent section of a
petrified log found in Coshocton County,
Ohio, was presented by
Mr. W. H. Bachert of Coshocton, who went
to the expense of
having this rare specimen polished and
of having a special case
constructed for displaying it. One of
the finest historical items
which the Museum has received in recent
years is the Galloway
Collection presented by Dr. W. A.
Galloway of Xenia, Ohio. This,
in addition to interesting relics of the
Galloway family, the first
settlers in Greene County, comprises a
rare tomahawk presented to
James Galloway, Sr., the original member
of the family in Ohio,
by the great Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh. A
guest chair, in which
Tecumseh on his frequent visits to the
Galloway home usually sat,
and the first archaeological specimens
collected by white men in
the state, are included in the
Collection.
A prized accession is that of a
pretentious Japanese Doll and
accompanying complete outfit of
accessories, placed with the
Museum by the Committee on World
Friendship Among Children
of the Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ in America,
through the Rev. B. F. Lamb of Columbus.
Recently the school
children of the United States sent to
Japan a number of American
dolls as ambassadors of good will. In
response the school chil-
dren of Japan contributed their mites
toward the purchase of
Japanese dolls, one for each state in
the Union, as a return cour-
tesy. After being exhibited in prominent
cities for some time,
the one assigned to Ohio was allocated
to this Museum, where it
is now displayed.
Mr. Ralph Beaton, a Life Member, has
financed the pur-
chase of a fine old collection of
minerals.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 527
A few words as to the activities of the
several departments
of the Museum. In the Department of
Archaeology Dr. E. F.
Greenman, Curator, during the past
summer concluded the ex-
amination of the Seip Mound, and in part
effected its restoration.
He expects to complete this restoration
the present season, and
to conduct explorations in the long-neglected Erie
region of north-
ern Ohio.
The Department of Natural History has
made excellent
progress under the direction of its able
Curator, Professor J. S.
Hine. Under the new budget, we are
fortunate in securing the
services of Dr. Harlow Lindley, as
Curator of History. We feel
assured that the rich historic heritage
which is Ohio's will receive
adequate though belated attention
from this time on. Two
projects, authorized at the previous
Annual Meeting, but which
have been held in abeyance awaiting
facilities for their realization,
will be cared for now. These are the
proposed plan for fostering
and encouraging county historical
societies, and the proposed sur-
vey of scenic, archaeological and
historical sites. With a Curator
of History, these plans may become
actualities.
The Maintenance Department, under the
able supervision of
Mr. Starling L. Eaton, has been
particularly efficient through the
trying time resulting from building
activities. In addition to
their routine duties, Mr. Eaton and his
force have taken care of
many needed repairs and improvements
both in the old building
and the new wing, the latter including
the tinting of walls and the
painting of floors and other details not
cared for in the original
contract. Two new janitors, allowed by
the Legislature, will
make the maintenance problem less
difficult for the future.
As a result of recent legislation the
Society will come into the
custodianship of several additional
state parks and properties, to
be created shortly. This will
considerably add to the burden of
caring for our existing outlying
possessions but the matter will be
simplified and for the first time
systematized through the creation
of the position of Business Agent, to be
filled by Mr. H. R. Mc-
Pherson. With his intense interest in
the parks and historic
projects, and his business ability and
energy, Mr. McPherson will
devote as much of his time as may be
needed in administering the
business of our parks and thus eliminate
the not infrequent crit-
icisms that have been in evidence in the
past. Reports from the
chairmen of most of the committees of
the several parks are at
hand. These reports will be printed,
along with any other perti-
nent information, in a forthcoming
number of the Society's
QUARTERLY. I cannot forego the pleasure,
however, of reporting
to you the completion of the fine stone
gateway at the entrance to
528 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Mound City Park, through the efficient
supervision of Mr. A. C.
Spetnagel, chairman of the committee.
Your Director has the impression that
the relationship between
the Society and its Membership is not so
close as might be desired.
It is probable that the institution
might make itself of greater in-
terest and value to its membership, and
it is certain that a closer
personal interest in the Society on the
part of Members is not
only desirable but essential to a
complete realization of our
progress. Your attention is invited to the desirability
of bringing
this about, the manner of which is a
matter for careful considera-
tion and application. A rather
successful though limited member-
ship campaign was carried out a year ago
with Mrs. O. D. Dryer,
our valued trustee, acting as chairman
of the committee. While
such campaigns are desirable, it is felt
that nothing short of a sys-
tematic and continued effort will result
in the acquisition of a
Membership such as this Society should
enjoy. It is evident that
where our Membership now is numbered in
hundreds, we might
well have thousands. Your Director will
have something more
specific to recommend in this direction
later on.
The Director wishes to express his
appreciation of the sup-
port and cooperation extended the Museum
by the Ohio State
University, and is desirous of finding
means for making the
Museum of greater use to the University.
He wishes also to ac-
knowledge the uniformly satisfactory
services of the Museum
staff, recognizing that the
accomplishments of the past year, under
his incumbency, are due in great part to
the energy and interest
which they have displayed.
Future plans, briefly stated, comprise
the development of the
Museum Service; development of the
Museum departments, par-
ticularly Natural History and History
proper; moderate con-
tinuance of archaeological explorations
and utilization of accrued
material in reconstructing the life of
our prehistoric predeces-
sors; the securing of up-to-date groups
and figures in all depart-
ments; special exhibits; more important
Museum accessions;
increased membership; development of
county historical societies;
improvement of the Society's parks; the
securing of bequests, en-
dowments and benefactions.
In conclusion, if the Society feels that
the confidence ac-
corded their Director on the occasion of
his inception to the posi-
tion has been justified, he asks a continuance
of the same for the
ensuing year.
To this report is appended a
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 529
LIST OF NAMES OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE
MUSEUM
Contributions to the Historical
collections of the Museum
have been made by the following persons
since the last report:
Mrs. H. V. Weil, New York, N. Y.;
Miss Josephine N. Parrett, Columbus,
Ohio;
Daughters of Henry Bohl;
Mr. Charles Justice, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. D. B. Johnson, Wauseon, Ohio;
Miss Clara Mark, Westerville, Ohio;
Lieut. Col. Chalmers Wilson, Columbus,
Ohio;
Mr. W. E. Peters, Athens, Ohio;
Mr. E. E. Corwin, Columbus, Ohio;
Col. Charles A. Lindbergh;
Dr. E. W. Schueller, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. Webster Clowe, Logan, Ohio;
Mr. Lane Lyle, Chicago, Ill.;
Miss Harriet Brocklehurst, Columbus,
Ohio;
Messrs. Charles M. and Lewis A. Siebert,
Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. G. R. Weaver, Columbus, Ohio;
Ohio Numismatic Society;
Mr. Hugh Fullerton, Princeton, New
Jersey;
Mrs. Mary L. Treadway, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Charles P. Harris, Columbus, Ohio;
Dr. J. M. Henderson, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Thomas R. Spencer and son, Columbus,
Ohio;
Mr. Arthur H. Watts, Zanesville, Ohio;
Major Robert Haubrich, Columbus, Ohio;
Professor Wilbur Stout, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Claude Meeker, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. C. W. Reeder, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Joseph H. Kauffman, Columbus, Ohio;
Ohio State University;
Mr. John Hare, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. J. M. Allen, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. George F. Bareis, Canal Winchester,
Ohio;
Mr. Nathan Hunt, Tuskegee Institute,
Alabama;
Mr. L. W. Scott, Mt. Sterling, Ohio;
Mr. Lincoln A. Russell, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Charles A. Brown, Toledo, Ohio;
Mr. Albert Scowden, Chesterville, Ohio;
Mrs. Sarah E. Brown, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Albert H. Kent, Columbus, Ohio;
Vol. XXXVIII-34.
530 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Mrs. William Houston, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. Almon R. Gillette, Indianapolis,
Indiana;
Miss C. A. Avery, New York, N. Y.;
Mrs. N. D. Monsarrat, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. William C. Link, Columbus, Ohio;
Miss Mame F. Browne, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. M. H. Donahue, Bexley, Ohio;
Mr. J. A. Raynor, Piqua, Ohio;
Mrs. C. B. Ostergren, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. W. H. Turner, Columbus, Ohio;
Dr. W. A. Galloway, Xenia, Ohio;
Mr. Arthur Hastings, South Berlin,
Mass.;
Winford L. Mattoon, Columbus, Ohio;
Rev. J. E. Jones, Tiffin, Ohio;
Mr. A. C. Spetnagel, Chillicothe, Ohio;
Mr. Perry C. Boyle, Pickerington, Ohio;
Mrs. Hazelton, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. T. B. Bowers, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. J. E. Headley, London, Ohio;
Mrs. John C. Curtis, Cortland, Ohio;
Mrs. Smith Comly, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. H. L. Weedon, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. C. R. Walcutt, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. W. H. Hildreth, Columbus, Ohio;
Miss Josephine Klippert, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. John C. Walton, Sycamore, Ohio;
Mrs. C. R. Cromwell, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. Sara Lowe Brown, Bridgeport, Ohio;
Mr. John Wing, Dublin, Ohio;
Miss Elizabeth Sullivant, Columbus,
Ohio;
Mr. William F. Albaugh, Columbus, Ohio;
Dr. S. O. Giffin, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. Belle H. Hunter, Lancaster, Ohio;
Mrs. Willis Sells, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Charles S. Barnes, Piketon, Ohio;
Mr. J. H. McKinley, Harrisburg, Ohio;
Dr. C. B. Coleman, Indianapolis,
Indiana;
Mrs. Adeline Webb, Lancaster, Ohio;
Mrs. F. Wolfrom, Bellevue, Ohio;
Mrs. Cunningham, Newark, Ohio;
William Deshler Warner, Columbus, Ohio;
Miss M. R. Huston, Somerset, Ohio;
Mr. Harry McCann, Columbus, Ohio;
Dr. H. Cope, Columbus, Ohio;
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 531
Mr. James Henderson;
Miss Beatrice Cooley, Sunbury, Ohio;
Miss Kate M. Litzenberg, Utica, Ohio;
Mr. William S. Dun, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. W. J. Flanders, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Charles E. Gould, Cleveland, Ohio;
Stewart Bolin, Jr., Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. J. Gardner Wilson;
Mr. John Wing, Dublin, Ohio;
Mr. Ferris W. Myrice, Harrod, Ohio;
Misses Jane D. and Elizabeth U.
Sullivant, Columbus, Ohio;
Dr. Eberley Thompson, Bethel, Ohio.
Contributions to the Archaeological collections
have been
made by the following:
Mr. W. E. Peters, Athens, Ohio;
Dr. E. W. Schueller, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Fred E. Jones, Columbus, Ohio;
Dr. H. Lee Good, Hamilton, Ohio;
Mr. Stanley P. Lamp, Newark, Ohio;
Mr. Edward Glaze, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. M. R. Sharp, Kingston, Ohio;
Mr. G. C. Masters, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. W. W. Doughty.
Contributors to the Natural History
collections:
Mr. Fred R. Price, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. Anna Keirn, Eaton, Ohio;
United States Gypsum Company, Chicago,
Ill.;
American Gypsum Company, Port Clinton,
Ohio;
Gibsonburg Lime Products Company,
Gibsonburg, Ohio;
Mr. William Parrish, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mr. H. D. Tubaugh, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. William H. Bachert, Coshocton, Ohio;
Mrs. C. M. Clark, Dayton, Ohio;
Mr. W. R. Wilson, Columbus, Ohio;
Messrs. Richard Blaum, Roswell Sautters
and George W. D.
Twyman, Waverly, Ohio;
Ayers Mineral Company, Zanesville, Ohio;
Mr. Richard T. Jones, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. M. W. Richwine, Columbus, Ohio;
Mrs. J. D. Dunham, Columbus, Ohio;
Mr. Charles D. Miller, Sylvania, Ohio;
532 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The Kelley Island and Transport Company,
Cleveland, Ohio;
Mr. Walter J. Paquett, Toledo, Ohio;
James G. Manchester;
Mrs. H. R. McPherson, Columbus, Ohio.
Contributors of Ethnological and
Anthropological material.
Miss Clara Mark, Westerville, Ohio.
Dr. E. W. Schueller, Columbus, Ohio.
Miss Emma A. Doe, Columbus, Ohio.
Professor Joseph Bradford, Ohio State
University.
Capt. Albert Wilson, Chief of Personnel Bureau,
Panama
Canal.
Mr. F. M. Kendall, Columbus, Ohio.
Miss Elizabeth Ruggles, Circleville,
Ohio.
Japanese Doll and accessories from the
Japanese school girls
of Japan.
The report was ordered received and
placed on file.
President Johnson: Your chairman is
glad he said
what he did about our Director early in
the meeting-
otherwise some live member, after
hearing this report,
would beat him to it. The next item on
the program is
a brief report of the Committee on
Parks.
COMMITTEE ON PARKS
Dr. F. C. Furniss, chairman of the
Committee on
Parks, responded as follows:
My report will necessarily be very
brief, because the work
of the Parks Committee was practically
completed before the
close of last summer, because, first,
the funds appropriated for
the development of the various parks had
been expended, and,
second, operations had to cease until
the Legislature made addi-
tional appropriations. You have been
informed that the Legisla-
ture has made an appropriation which
enables us to employ a
full time Park Manager-we certainly
appreciate that action on
the part of the Legislature. I believe
that now the Parks Com-
mittee, as established by President
Johnson, will cease to function.
While we were functioning, or trying to,
it was our desire and
purpose to bring about the greatest
improvement in the parks
possible with the funds available, and
with the time at our com-
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 533
mand to visit the parks and supervise
the work of construction
and repair.
Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of
the committee is the
construction of a roadway from the
pavilion to Lookout Point, at
Fort Ancient. This was accomplished
through the friendly co-
operation of the State Department of
Highways. In the past, au-
tomobiles have been mired in the mud of
this road, especially dur-
ing the rainy season. The roadway has
now been completed, with
gravel and stone, wide enough for
machines to pass, and a wide
space at the end provided for parking.
It was also our aim to improve sanitary
conditions at the
parks, so far as we were able to do so.
Every park now has an
adequate supply of water, new wells, and
sanitary equipment. We
regret that lack of funds prevented our
doing many things to in-
crease the comfort of visitors to the
parks.
A survey, observation and study of the
park system of other
states has convinced us that we have
paid too little attention to the
park system of the state of Ohio. I made
it my business to com-
municate with the departments of
conservation and park com-
missioners in the different states, and
to my amazement discovered
that Ohio ranks third from the bottom of
the states in the care
of its parks. We have much room for
improvement. The only
way improvements can be made in the
parks, for the benefit of
tourists and those interested in the
great outdoors and in historical
and archaeological features embraced in our system of
state parks,
is for us to unite in a concerted effort
to secure funds, and then
outline a definite program for the
future establishment and up-
building of the wonderful parks over which we have control.
The
encroachment of large industries
throughout the state is grad-
ually hemming in the broad expanse that
should be preserved and
conserved. As our population increases
these places will be more
and more and more sought, and it is high
time that we give in-
tensive study to the park system of
Ohio.
A detailed report of the accomplishments
of the Committee
will be submitted to your Director, and
you will find it in the
QUARTERLY. I do not wish to take up any
more time now. I
thank you (Applause).
President Johnson: The Society can well
be grateful
to Doctor Furniss for the time and
effort he has given
to the park properties, and in due time
satisfactory
recognition should be given him.
534 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications
REPORT OF THE TREASURER
Treasurer E. F. Wood presented the following re-
port:
REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE OHIO STATE ARCH-
AEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR THE
EIGHTEEN MONTHS' PERIOD ENDED
DECEMBER 31, 1928
RECEIPTS
Cash on hand
July 1, 1927 .................................. $1,364.90
Life Membership Dues .......................... $1,700.00
Active Membership Dues ................... .... 365.00
Interest on various Funds ........................ 2,111.52
Contributions Seip Mound Restoration ........... 609.85
Subscriptions-Battle Field of Fallen Timbers... 9,025.00
Gift of Jessie Campbell Coons ................... 2,000.00
Sale of scrap iron (Mound City Park).......... 81.84
M. Gallup Estate ............................ 58.27
Subscriptions
.................................. 26.78
Books sold .......
............................. 1,019.84
Refunds of advances made from time to time for
traveling expenses, field work, etc.......... 2,639.70 19,637.80
Total Receipts from State Treasurer on:
Appropriations: House Bill No. 517......... 3,064.81
Appropriations: House Bill No. 502........ 269,576.84
272,641.65
Total ............... ............................. $293,644.35
DISBURSEMENTS
Administrative
Building
Personal service............................ $64,045.25
Additions to Museum and Library Bldg..... 95,599.39
Books, Manuscripts and Equipment........ 3,998.27
Museum Collections
....................... 1,479.06
Material (General Plant) .................. 4,660.34
Postage .............
................. ... 827.47
Field Work and Explorations .............. 5,884.10
Natural History Field Work ............... 1,486.72
Bldg. Repairs, Furniture and Equipment.... 5,378.16
Traveling Expenses ....................... 1,801.04
Light, Heat, Power and Water ........... 1,587.96
Supplies and Sundry Expenses ............. 3,324.23
Publications ............................... 10,998.83
$201,070.80
Minutes of
the Annual Meeting 535
Division
of Spiegel Grove State Park
Personal
service............................ 14,795.43
Light, Heat,
Power and Water ............ 3,522.91
Repairs
................................... 7,168.24
Traveling
Expenses ....................... 499.70
Supplies,
Equipment and Sundry Expenses. 1,947.79
27,934.07
Division
of Fort Ancient
Personal
service ........................... 1,139.80
Repairs and
Improvements .................. 2,341.32
Telephone and
Equipment .................. 116.21
3,597.33
Division
of Campus Martius
Personal
service............................ 375.00
Repairs and
Supplies ..................... 3,160.06
3,535.06
Division
of Serpent Mound
Personal
service ............................ 360.00
Repairs,
Improvements ..................... 973.44
Supplies,
Telephone, etc ................... 126.88
1,460.32
Division
of Logan Elm
Caretaker
.............................. 75.00
Improvements
and Repairs .................. 893.60
Telephone
................................. 36.00
1,004.60
Division
of Schoenbrunn
Personal
service ........................... 691.25
Improvements-Cabin
and Grounds.......... 9,546.82
10,238.07
Division
of Battlefield of Fallen Timbers
Monument,
Fence and Entrance ............. 16,641.23
Wages
................................... 116.00
General Plant .............................. 96.62
16,854.15
Division
of Fort St. Clair
Personal
service............................ 1,575.00
Improvements
and Repairs .................. 3,028.24
4,603.24
536 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
Division of Fort
Laurens
Personal service
............................ 935.00
Landscaping and
Roadway .................. 2,497.95
General Plant .............................. 499.81
3,932.76
Division of Geo.
Rogers Clark Monument
Care of Grounds and
Improvements .......... 302.95
302.95
Division of Geo.
Rogers Clark Monument Com-
mission
Personal service,
supplies, etc.............. 790.62
790.62
Division of Fort
Amnanda Park
Caretaker ................................. 75.00
Repairs and
Improvements .................. 462.55
537.55
Division of Mound
City Park
Personal
service............................ 720.00
Repairs and
Improvements .................. 2,652.70
3,372.70
Seip Mound
Restoration ........................
233.03
233.03
Fort Hill
(Traveling Expense) ................ 32.50 32.50
Campbell Park
(Land and Improvements) ....... 1,610.19
1,610.19
Cash advanced from
time to time for Traveling
Expenses, Field Work,
etc................ 1,862.20 1,862.20
Transferred to
Permanent Fund ................ 1,700.00
1,700.00
Cash on hand December
31, 1928:
Current Fund
.............................. 2,745.37
Battlefield of Fallen
Timbers Fund.......... 5,440.52
Campbell Park Fund
....................... 399.50
Seip Mound Fund
.......................... 386.82
8,972.21
Total
............................................. $293,644.35
Permanent Fund
December 31, 1928............. $26,300.00
Respectfully
submitted,
(Signed) E. F. WOOD,
Treasurer.
Minutes
of the Annual Meeting
537
REPORT
OF THE AUDITOR
COLUMBUS,
OHIO, April 15, 1929.
MR.
C. B. GALBREATH, Secretary,
The
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society,
Columbus,
Ohio.
DEAR
SIR:
We
herewith submit the report of our audit of the books of
account
of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society
for
the eighteen months' period from July 1, 1927, to December
31,
1928, inclusive. The exhibits included herein are listed in the
following
Table of Contents:
Beginning
the period with a cash balance of ................ $1,364.90
The
Society collected from various sources (See Statement
of
Receipts)........................................... 19,637.80
T
otal ............................................. $21,002.70
There
was disbursed on account of the various projects,
amounts
as follows:
Museum
and Library ........................
$2,322.55
Spiegel Grove.............................. 6.76
Fort
Ancient ............................... 103.71
Serpent
Mound............................. 14.39
Fallen
Timbers ............................. 3,752.21
George
Rogers Clark Monument Grounds.... 217.95
George
Rogers Clark Memorial Commission.. 175.00
Fort Hill .................................. 32.50
Campbell
Park ............................. 1,610.19
Seip M ound ................................ 233.03
Expenses
Advanced (all refunded) ........... 1,862.20
Transfer
to permanent fund (life member-
ships)
.................................
1,700.00
12,030
49
Cash
Balance December 31, 1928 .................... $8,972.21
Of
State appropriations there was used out of
1926-1927
funds ....... ................. $3,064.81
And
from 1927-1928 funds .................. 269,576.84
A total
of.......................................... $272,641.65
538 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
As indicated above, the permanent fund
has been increased
during the period from $24,600.00 to
$26,300.00 by transfer of
$1,700.00, representing life membership
dues. This fund is rep-
resented by Certificate of Deposit No.
C32423 issued by The
Ohio State Savings Association and dated
January 1, 1929.
Expenditures for acquisitions and
permanent improvements
during the eighteen months' period
aggregated $158,704.34. This
amount has been added to the Permanent
Investment as shown
on the Balance Sheet herewith. Details
of the additions to the
various asset accounts are shown in the form of Journal
Entries
on subsequent pages.
During the course of our audit all
checks and vouchers were
audited and found to be properly
executed.
The balances of appropriation accounts
were verified by com-
parison with the State Auditor's
records.
Respectfully submitted,
(Signed) W. D. WALL,
Certified Public Accountant.
Doctor W. O. Thompson moved that the
selection of
a memorial to the late Doctor William C.
Mills, and the
question of cooperation with the
Cleveland Society men-
tioned in the address of the President,
be referred to the
Board of Trustees for action. The motion
was seconded
by Mr. Fred J. Heer, and unanimously
carried.
Mr. W. J. Sherman, for the Committee on
Nomina-
tions, submitted the following report:
To the President:
"Your Committee chosen to nominate
candidates for the
office of Trustee, for the terms
expiring in 1931, respectfully sub-
mit the following names, viz.:
Arthur C. Johnson,
Clarence D. Laylin,
George Florence.
Respectfully,
(Signed) W. J. SHERMAN,
CLAUDE MEEKER,
FRED J.
HEER.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 539
Mr. E. F. Wood: "I move that the
Secretary cast
the ballot of the Society for those
nominated.
President Johnson: "Any further
nominations ?"
Mr. Wood: "I amend the motion to
provide that the
nominations close, and move that the
secretary cast the
ballot of the Society for those
nominated."
The motion, as amended, was seconded
and unani-
mously carried.
The Secretary cast the ballot of the
Society for Mr.
Arthur C. Johnson, Mr. Clarence D. Laylin,
and General
George Florence, who were declared duly
elected Trus-
tees for the term ending in 1931.
At this point, the meeting recessed.
AFTERNOON MEETING
The meeting was called to order by
President John-
son, who stated that the business of
the Society was very
satisfactorily transacted, in a very
favorable manner, at
the morning session, and in due time
the reports of the
officers will be published in the QUARTERLY. "There
are
no clouds on the horizon, everything
seems to be moving
along beautifully. The real pleasure of
the day will now
begin, and two notable addresses will
be delivered. It is
embarrassing, and a somewhat lonesome
experience, to
preside over a meeting alone, so I
instructed the house-
keeper to furnish me with several
chairs on the plat-
form, that I might have company. I ask
Doctor Thomp-
son to bring one of our honored guests
and come up
here and occupy two of these chairs,
and I am going to
ask Doctor Thompson, when the time
comes, to intro-
duce the speakers of the day. I want to
explain to our
540
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
guests that if they go home and are
asked who intro-
duced them at this annual meeting and
they answer that
they were introduced by Arthur Johnson,
nobody will
know whom they are talking about; but
if they should
go to Afghanistan or Tasmania and are
asked who in-
troduced them, and they say Doctor W.
O. Thompson,
everybody will know. Anyhow, I do not
think it right
to have any kind of a dignified meeting
on the grounds
of Ohio State University at which
Doctor Thompson is
not the presiding officer.
(Applause.) I am asked
whether Doctor Cloud is in the
audience-Doctor
Thompson suggested that maybe he is the
cloud on the
horizon I talked about, and I want him
to come forward,
occupy a chair on the platform and
prove that he is not
the cloud on the horizon. I ask Mr. W.
J. Sherman, if
he is in the audience, to come to the
platform-he is in
the building, but I do not know whether
he is in this
auditorium. Mr. Sherman is doing a
notable work for
the Society, and we have few
opportunities to visit or
see him. I would ask Doctor Prince,
member emeritus
of the Board of Trustees to occupy a
place on the plat-
form were it not for the fact that I
know the difficulty
he has in getting up and down steps. I
know you all
agree with me when I say that Doctor
Prince is one of
our most beloved members-his services
were so valua-
ble that, when he desired to be
relieved of his duties as
a member of the Board of Trustees, we
unanimously
elected him a Trustee Emeritus, and he
is just as much
a Trustee as any of us, but he does not
have to do any
of the work unless he wants to. Doctor
Thompson, I
will now ask you to introduce the first
speaker."
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 541
Doctor W. O. Thompson: "One always
finds a cer-
tain pleasure in presenting speakers,
if he can find a
contact. Inasmuch as this is an
historical society, I may
reveal the fitness I have for this
particular function. It
is now forty-nine years since I became
acquainted with
the Wilson brothers, being a student of
their uncle. One
is living at Huntington, Pennsylvania,
and the other at
Glendale. The wife of Reverend Wilson
is now very ill,
but the speaker this afternoon is her
cousin. They come
from Baltimore, and they are related to
Henry Clay.
This gentleman was a student at Johns
Hopkins Uni-
versity, Baltimore. He is now at the
head of the De-
partment of History of the University
of Cincinnati.
Certain other facts about him appear on
this program,
and those of you who read it will see
that I have not told
you everything I can tell about him. He
is a professor
of history, and has rendered a very
fine service to the
University of Cincinnati. These
visitors come to us
this afternoon as our own. I am
particularly pleased
when I have an opportunity to present
to an Ohio audi-
ence one of my colleagues. We have had
some very
delightful experiences with members of
Western Re-
serve College since the World War. We
have had very
delightful experiences with men of
Marietta University,
Ohio and Miami Universities; Wittenberg
has made a
contribution to us, and Ohio Wesleyan
has been rich in
its experience in this state. Kenyon
College also, one of
the oldest although never one of the
largest. All around
the state the colleges have offered
something of the ideal-
ism of the Ohio people.
"I have often thought in my heart
that Ohio's con-
ception of Ohio progress and ideals can
be traced to our
542 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
small colleges, and that some of our
best citizenship
found its inspiration in these
institutions. All of these
colleges have had men and women of more
than usual
rank and standing in our commonwealth,
and I am proud
to recognize their contribution to Ohio
citizenship. They
have not been very exclusive in this,
because they have
always exported their best to other
colleges. We have
present Professor Beverly W. Bond, Jr.,
from the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati. He is a
southerner but camou-
flages himself as an easterner. He will
speak to you on
the subject of 'The Old Northwest
Territory in Eastern
Eyes'."
"THE OLD NORTHWEST TO EASTERN
EYES"
Dr. Bond delivered the following
address:
The rush into the fertile spaces of the
Old Northwest came
as an inevitable aftermath of the
Revolution and the removal of
the barriers set up by British
proclamations. The Revolutionary
veteran, the Yankee farmer, weary of
tilling a scanty soil, the
young man seeking his fortune, all
flocked to the promised land.
The wide range of motives that led on
this pioneer multitude is
revealed in striking fashion in the
newspapers, the almanacs and
the books of travel that circulated in
the Atlantic states at this
time. Based upon these varied sources,
this paper will be limited
to the early period, before the Land Act
of 1800 smoothed the
way for the bulk of the westward
migration. During this period
migration to the Old Northwest was
chiefly carried on under the
stimulus of stock companies and land speculators. The
Ohio
Purchase and the Western Reserve
attracted mainly emigrants
from New England, the Miami Purchase
those from New Jersey
and the Middle States, and the Virginia
Military District naturally
interested the people of the Old
Dominion. There was little, if
any, organized migration to Indiana or
Illinois before 1800.
(NOTE: This paper is founded upon an
extensive research in early
newspapers, almanacs and other
publications of the Seaboard States, chiefly
during the period 1788-1800. Most of
them were used in the Rare Book
Department of the Library of Congress.)
|
(543) |
544 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The movement to the Old Northwest during
the last two
decades of the Eighteenth Century was
but a phase of a general
migration that centered in New England,
New Jersey and Vir-
ginia. There was keen competition for
settlers with lands in
western New York and Pennsylvania, in
the blue grass region
of Kentucky and even in the fertile
valleys of distant Tennessee.
But with the aid of the land bounties
offered Revolutionary vet-
erans, and the opportunity to realize
upon the government cer-
tificates, the Old Northwest was more
than able to hold its own.
The uncertain economic situation under
the Confederation and the
distressed plight of many a
Revolutionary veteran must also be
reckoned with. An excellent
representative of the latter class
was Manasseh Cutler, pastor of the
church at Ipswich, Massa-
chusetts, and a leader in the Ohio
Company. In simple language
he pictured his situation: "I had
suffered exceedingly in ye war,
and after it was over, by paper money
and ye high price of arti-
cles of living. My salary small and
family large, for several
years I thought ye people had not done
me justice, and I med-
itated leaving them. Purchasing lands in
a new community ap-
peared to be ye only thing I could do to
secure a living to myself
and family in that unsettled state of
public affairs." It was for-
tunate indeed for the Old Northwest that
veterans of the Revo-
lution of the type of Manasseh Cutler
took so large a part in the
early settlement. At Marietta, for
example, in a list of thirty-
three of the most prominent pioneers,
twenty-three had seen active
service during the Revolution, and of
the remainder, all but four,
and one of them a clergyman, had been
too young to enlist. These
veterans in the prime of life laid well the foundation
of enduring
commonwealths.
Even before the first emigrants started
for Marietta in 1788,
glowing reports from the Western country
had actually aroused
the enthusiasm of the cold-blooded Yankees.
A typical letter in
1786 described the Muskingum region as a
veritable paradise,
and a particularly healthy one. An
enthusiastic surveyor con-
sidered this country "superior to
anything one can conceive of,"
with "the deepest and richest garden mould"
in the bottoms. As
proof he cited a remarkable cornfield
near Fort Harmar, in which
the stalks grew fourteen feet high.
Equally astounding reports
came from the early settlers at Marietta, and indeed
imagination
ran riot throughout this earliest phase
of New England settlement
in Ohio. A single family in one year, so
it was said, had raised
1,000 bushels of corn, and wintered 60
to 70 horses and cattle, an
achievement, the writer pointedly noted,
in strong contrast to the
usual experience of emigrants to
Vermont. Another Marietta
Minutes
of the Annual Meeting 545
pioneer
prophesied with poetic effusion the destiny of the new
settlement, as
not only "the glory of America, but the envy of the
world."
More to the point were the comments of a rather prac-
tical
individual who pointed out the possibilities of an extensive
trade,
as settlement increased in the Western country.
The
many travelers to the Ohio Purchase brought back re-
ports
that must have greatly stimulated emigration. Among them
was
Colonel John May of Boston, who returned from Marietta in
1788
with a diary stuffed full of information he had jotted down.
Upon a
seven-acre farm near Little Beaver, he recorded, the
owner
had raised 700 bushels of corn. Nor was Marietta wholly
lacking
in the comforts of life, and as evidence he cited a dinner
he
enjoyed with General Harmar, where there was "as elegant a
table
as any in Boston. Amongst the solids were bacon gammon,
venison,
tongues, roast and boiled lamb, barbecued and a la mode
beef,
perch and catfish, lobster and oysters. * * * For
veg-
etables:
green peas, radishes and salads. * * * For
drink:
spirits,
excellent wine, brandy and beer." Another traveler in the
West,
Thaddeus M. Harris of Dorchester, was likewise im-
pressed
with the possibilities of the Marietta colony. The full-
rigged
ships sailing down the Ohio aroused his admiration, along
with
the thrift, the neat fences, and the well-tilled farms of the
New
England settlers, which were in strong contrast to the gen-
eral
neglect on the Virginia side of the Ohio, where slave labor
was
customary.
In its
homely counsel to intending emigrants, an article en-
titled
"Advice to American Farmers" gave a vivid picture of the
privations
and the rewards that came to the settler who ventured
into
the Western country. The author advised emigrants to avoid
the
Niagara and Kentucky regions, and to choose lands that were
directly
under the control of the Federal government, avoiding
regions
especially where slavery was allowed. All luxuries they
must
eschew, but the Bible should go with them, and those of the
same
faith should settle together, "in order to secure the sooner a
minister
and a schoolmaster." This homely advice concluded with
an
alluring picture of a family, depressed by poverty, "which,
moving
into a new country, would there replace the woods with
fields,
the weeds with gardens, and the beasts of prey with domes-
tic
animals," creating new forces for independence and affluence.
The
correspondents of the New England newspapers were by
no
means unanimous in praise of the Western country, and occa-
sionally
they derisively countered the flowery statements of the
enthusiasts.
With true New England sarcasm, Robinson Crusoe
scornfully
called attention to the exaggerated accounts and the
Vol.
XXXVIII--35.
546 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
pretentious names of public improvements
at Marietta. In similar
ironic vein, a wag published "An
Ohio Story of a Vermont Pump-
kin Vine" that was of marvellous
length, with stupendous fruit.
The effect of such criticism was evident
in the more moderate tone
of the advertisements and other notices
at the beginning of the
movement to the Western Reserve, the
second notable migration
from New England. To be sure, the
speculators in these lands ex-
tolled the fertile soil and the healthy
climate of New Connecticut.
But they laid greater stress upon such
substantial facts as the in-
creasing settlements, the convenient
mills and the existence of
churches and schools. Probably too, this
change in emphasis was
largely due to the disillusionment that
must have come to so many
pioneers of the earlier migration.
In New Jersey also, there was marked
interest in the Western
country, especially in the Miami
Purchase, to which so many emi-
grants went from this state. Like the
proprietors of the Western
Reserve, Judge Symmes was quite moderate
in the circulars he
issued in 1787 and 1788, to induce the
public to come to his new
colony. Calling attention to the
excellent soil, he noted also the
abundance of navigable streams, and the
accessibility of the pro-
posed settlements to Kentucky and the
Atlantic states. He
stressed also the mildness of the
climate and the wide range of
products, including in the latter, with
considerable exaggeration,
indigo and cotton. In similarly moderate
tone, the New Jersey
newspapers called attention to the merits of farming
lands in the
Miami Purchase, one writer in particular
pointing out their great
superiority over the "broken"
country in the Muskingum Valley.
Similar in tone were the few comments in
the Virginia newspapers
upon the lands in the Virginia Military
District. One correspon-
dent ranged the Scioto Valley alongside
Kentucky as the best
land "in the world." Other articles recounted
in great detail the
extensive resources and the varied
products of the Western coun-
try, and occasionally there were touches
that were reminiscent of
the earlier exaggerations of New
England. Such was a descrip-
tion of a wonderful sycamore tree in the
Scioto Valley that was
more than sixty feet in circumference,
with a cavity so large that
it sheltered thirteen persons on
horseback, with room for two
more.
The New York and Pennsylvania newspapers
gave only oc-
casional notices of the sort that were
likely to attract immigrants
to the Western country. But the numerous
books of travel show
the keen interest taken in this region.
Nor were these publications
altogether without influence upon the
emigrant. Notable among
them was Thomas Hutchins' Map and
Topographical Description
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 547
of the "interior parts" of
North America. An advertisement in
1788 praised this work, as showing
especially the possibilities of
the Illinois country, a land where hemp
"grew spontaneously,"
and one that abounded in agricultural
products, in game, iron,
copper, lead and salt springs, "in
short, everything a reasonable
mind can desire is to be found, or may,
with little pains, be
produced there."
The beginning of the actual colonization
in the Old Northwest
naturally aroused interest in the
Eastern states. In New Eng-
land the plans of the Ohio Company had
already been received
with much enthusiasm, and the newspapers
had printed detailed
reports of its proceedings. The New
England press gave an im-
portant place to the details of the
first actual migration to the
Old Northwest, recording the departure
from Providence, early
in 1788, of a wagon loaded with artificers, tools,
etc., and attended
by a number of persons who proposed to
settle in the Ohio coun-
try. A few months later a New York paper
announced that an-
other wagon had left Providence, this
one carrying six gentlemen
destined for "that second land of
promise where Nature smiles in
all her glory, and where a most
luxuriant soil and happy climate
will abundantly reward the husbandman's
labour." About the
same time the New England papers noted
that six additional
wagons, holding about thirty women and
children, had left Wor-
cester for the Western country. An
interesting side-light upon
these evidences of migration to the
Western country was an ad-
vertisement by Stephen Bayard of
Elizabethtown on the Monon-
gahela, who built "Kentuckee Boats."
The extent of the early migration to the
Old Northwest from
Massachusetts may be gauged partially by
the sales of land in
Worcester and its vicinity at this time,
for it was from this
neighborhood that so many of the
shareholders of the Ohio Com-
pany came. In 1788 many persons in this
region offered their
farms for sale, among them Rufus Putnam,
who offered to re-
ceive in exchange the military land
warrants and the Federal cer-
tificates which could be used to
purchase Western lands. The
list of farms for sale in and around
Worcester showed a steady
increase. In 1790 eight farms and
two dwellings were adver-
tised in a single issue of the Massachusetts
Spy, fourteen in 1794
and fifteen in 1795. Often the owners of
these farms invested
the proceeds of their sales in shares of
the Ohio Company, in
order to take up land in the West. A
typical case was that of
Captain Jonathan Stone, a Revolutionary
veteran, who sold his
farm at Brookfield, Massachusetts, and
with the proceeds bought
548 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
two shares of stock in the Ohio Company
which he used to take
up land near Belpre.
Interest in the second important
Westward movement from
New England to the Western Reserve was
naturally greatest in
Connecticut. The newspapers of the state contained
frequent no-
tices of these Ohio lands, especially
after Moses Cleaveland re-
turned from his surveying expedition in
1796 with an exceed-
ingly favorable report of the fertile,
rolling land in New Connecti-
cut, and of the possibilities for trade
on Lake Erie and by the
Cuyahoga to the interior of Ohio. The
people of Connecticut
were greatly interested, too, in the
proceedings of the Connecticut
Company. The chief problem of this
organization apparently was
to divide the land among the stockholders, and
especially to collect
the large assessments that were needed
to pay the taxes and meet
other obligations. There were occasional notices, also,
of meet-
ings of the proprietors of the
Sufferers' or Firelands, west of the
Cuyahoga.
The lands of the Connecticut Company
were divided in 1795
among the shareholders, and they in turn
sold them directly, or
else through speculators, to the actual
settlers. The usual pro-
cedure of either shareholders or
speculators was to pay a part of
the purchase money owed the state, and
then to offer the lands in
exchange for salable farms in
Connecticut, or for other considera-
tions of value. Numerous advertisements
of these lands for sale
appear in the newspaper columns. Thus,
Ephraim Root of Hart-
ford, a shareholder in the Connecticut
Company, and his partner,
Uriel Holmes, advertised widely in 1801
their desirable lands in
New Connecticut, calling the attention
of all "industrious and en-
terprising" persons to the
"pleasing prospects for the future."
From the long list of Connecticut farms
they offered for sale, it
is evident that Root and Holmes were
quite successful. The firm
soon dissolved, but Ephraim Root offered
100,000 acres in New
Connecticut on his own account, in
exchange for land in the
mother state. At the same time he
advertised nine farms for sale
which he had doubtless received in
exchange for his Western
lands. His former partner, Uriel Holmes,
also appears to have
found speculation in Western lands a
profitable business. Another
large speculator in Western Reserve
lands was Lemuel Storrs of
Middletown, who in 1805 offered 110,000
acres "to the Industri-
ous Public." In payment he was
willing to accept cash, to extend
liberal credit, or else to take in
exchange "good farms" in Con-
necticut. In common with other
speculators he would take in par-
tial payment security for a large part
of the purchase money that
was still due to the State of
Connecticut. Also like other specu-
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 549
lators, Storrs had his agents in Ohio to
take care of settlers on
the spot.
Like the various New England schemes for
colonization, the
Miami Purchase attracted the greatest
attention in its home state,
New Jersey. Following a number of
similar local projects for
Western colonies, Judge Symmes' new
settlement received con-
siderable attention from the New Jersey
papers, although he him-
self depended chiefly upon hand-bills
and circulars to advertise
his lands. Another effective aid in
attracting settlers was an ex-
tensive correspondence between the early
pioneers in the Miami
Purchase and their friends at home.
Occasional advertisements
give hints of the very considerable
speculations that were carried
on in New Jersey in these lands. For
example, Benjamin Stelle
in 1789 offered 20,000 acres for sale,
and many similar advertise-
ments appeared from time to time. There
is much other evidence
in the New Jersey papers of the extent
of the local migration to
Judge Symmes' colony. Many advertisers
offered to buy the pub-
lic certificates which could be used to
pay for these lands, and
equally significant was the large number
of farms for sale. In
1789 fourteen small farms were
advertised at one time, in and
around Elizabethtown, and in 1799 a
single issue of a New Jersey
paper offered thirteen tracts of
agricultural land around Trenton,
with fourteen separate parcels in or
near New Brunswick, and
five lots in nearby Princeton. These
advertisements of lands for
sale continued, and in 1807, for example,
one paper offered a grist
and saw mill, twelve farms and several
wood-lots near Trenton.
It is reasonable to suppose that a large
percentage of the owners
of these tracts migrated to the Miami
Purchase.
Strange to say, there are few, if any,
notices of Judge Sym-
mes' lands in either the New York or the
Philadelphia papers,
although there were emigrants from both these towns to the
Miami Purchase. In the New England
papers, however, a num-
ber of notices called attention to these
lands. Even before any
settlement had been made, Thomas Stanley
published a rather
flamboyant advertisement in the Connecticut
Courant, which as-
serted that any description of this
Miami country must "fall short
of its goodness." A similarly
glowing description in a Virginia
paper showed how widespread was the
interest in Judge Symmes'
settlement.
Little attention was shown the remaining
important land
scheme of the early period, the Virginia
Military District, until
after peace with the Indians had made
settlement there possible.
Occasionally the leading Virginia papers
had noticed the lands be-
tween the Scioto and the Little Miami that had been
allotted to
550 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the state's Revolutionary veterans. But
with the interest aroused
by Wayne's campaign, and especially as
the resources of the
Scioto Valley became known, there was a
decided change, and the
Revolutionary veterans of Virginia
became anxious to realize
some returns from their land warrants.
Usually they sold these
claims to speculators, who in turn
disposed of them to actual set-
tlers who came chiefly from Kentucky.
Thus, in frequent notices
Hicks and Campbell and other Virginia
real estate dealers offered
to pay the highest price for Virginia military land
warrants, or
else to buy "military lands"
outright.
The vicissitudes of a speculator in
Virginia military lands
may be followed in the correspondence of
General Duncan Mc-
Arthur. As agent on the spot at
Chillicothe, he located many land
warrants for residents of Virginia, sold
tracts to incoming settlers,
and paid taxes for absentee landlords.
His clients were scattered
through Virginia, in Richmond, Fauquier
Courthouse (Warren-
ton), and other important towns. The
chief speculator whom he
represented was Robert Means of
Richmond. Influenced by glow-
ing reports of these Western lands,
Means plunged to the utmost
of his ability, buying up military
warrants which he sent Mc-
Arthur to be located. As taxes
accumulated on vacant holdings,
Means found it was almost impossible to
meet his obligations.
Time and again he appealed to McArthur
to send him cash for at
least a part of his holdings. But in
vain, for specie was scarce
in the Western country, and it was easy
to secure the public cer-
tificates and land warrants that could
be exchanged for public
lands. Under these circumstances cash
sales to. intending settlers
were few and far between. Means,
undaunted, even exchanged
valuable property at Richmond for land
warrants, and for a
time he seems to have enjoyed a virtual
monopoly of this business.
Soon competition appeared, prices rose,
and still it was almost im-
possible to secure cash for his lands.
The prices he paid were
still low, averaging only twenty-three
cents per acre on one lot of
warrants in 1808 for 5,349 acres, but,
like most land speculators,
Means found that his immediate returns
were far from satis-
factory.
Despite the discouraging experience of
Robert Means, the
Revolutionary veterans of Virginia
continued to find speculators
who vied with one another in offers for
land warrants to be filled
in the Virginia Military District. Among
the numerous evidences
of this widespread speculation, was an
advertisement in 1810 by
Carter Drew, who proposed to visit the
Western country, including
Ohio. There he expected to act as
general agent, exploring lands,
investigating titles and the like.
Another important figure in these
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 551
land transactions was James Taylor, who
was quite active at Rich-
mond in buying up land warrants. His
dealings were extensive,
and he even offered 20,000 acres of "valuable military land" in
Ohio to the people of New Jersey.
While such schemes for colonization
as-the Ohio Company
and Judge Symmes' project attracted the
greatest attention, the
newspapers of the East did not wholly
ignore the public lands in
the Old Northwest, which were gradually
opening up to settle-
ment. Of special significance in this
connection were the numer-
ous offers to pay cash for the United
States military warrants and
the Federal certificates that could be
used in exchange for these
public lands. Part of these military
warrants were probably used
to purchase lands in the Ohio and Miami
Purchases, but other
warrants were undoubtedly bought in
response to the frequent
notices that called attention, as early
as 1789, to the provisions to
satisfy these obligations, first in the
Military Reserve west of the
Seven Ranges, and next from lands
between the Wabash and the
Mississippi. In 1799 the Eastern
newspapers printed an official
list of all the tracts in the Old
Northwest that were then available
for settlement. After the passage of the
Land Act of 1796 they
also published notices of public sales of these lands.
The exten-
sive holdings of many residents of the
Atlantic states in these
Western lands is well illustrated by an
advertisement of two sur-
veyors, John Matthews and Zachariah
Briggs, who offered to
locate military warrants and other
claims, for a fee of one-tenth
of the land. They proposed to accumulate
warrants for smaller
tracts until they had altogether 4,000
acres, a sufficient amount to
locate an entire quarter-township. But
in all these varied notices
of the possibilities of these Western
lands there is no evidence of
any appreciable interest in or migration
to either Indiana or Iili-
nois, during this early period. The
dangers from Indians were too
great and the lands too remote; only
comparatively small areas
were open to emigrants, and settlers
evidently preferred the nearer
and safer lands of the Ohio country.
A striking testimony to the great
interest taken in the Western
country is found in the many news items
from these settlements
that were given a prominent place in the
Eastern newspapers.
Although relations with the Indians and
the different frontier
struggles took up much space, the
newspapers did not neglect the
less picturesque record of daily
happenings of importance among
the New England pioneers. Especially was
this true of New
England, where the stay-at-homes were
alert for news of their
relatives and friends who had ventured
into the Western wilder-
ness. These news items were all the more
welcome in view of the
552 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
expense and uncertainties of the postal
service from these distant
parts, although there seems to have been
constant communication
between the settlers and their former
homes in New England.
The newspapers printed frequent letters
from their correspondents
at Marietta, at Cincinnati, at
Chillicothe, and later in the Western
Reserve. Much of this news recorded the
progress of the terri-
torial government, the official actions
of St. Clair and the Judges,
and later the important measures adopted
by the state govern-
ment of Ohio. Marked attention was paid
also to the adventures
of Aaron Burr in the West.
Together with the reports of public
affairs, frequent accounts
of everyday happenings appeared in the
New England papers.
The opening of a ferry across the
Muskingum, or the launching of
an ocean-going vessel at Marietta were
typical items that were
recorded with evident enthusiasm. The
establishment of a packet
line between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh
was warmly commended
as an evidence of progress in this
"enchanting country." Another
item of a different type announced the
first ball that was held in
Marietta, in December, 1788. It was
attended, according to the
writer, by fifteen ladies, "as well
accomplished in the manners of
polite circles as any in the old
States." There was much favorable
comment also upon the superior
advantages of the Ohio coun-
try, where incidentally so many New
Englanders had settled, over
other sections in the West.
As a case in point, the Providence Journal,
cited the example
of Colonel Arthur Shreve of New Jersey.
Proposing at first to
lead a party of emigrants to New Madrid,
in Louisiana, he was
discouraged by the floods. Then as he found
the greater part of
the desirable land in Kentucky already
taken up, he finally decided
upon Marietta. The wide range of this
interest of New England
in the Western country is strikingly
illustrated by a letter that
called special attention to the amazing
growth of the Virginia
Military District and pointed out the
advantages this section of-
fered to the "middling class,"
and especially to "mechanics of
the common trades." Another proof
of the close relations between
New England and the Western country is
to be found in the
columns of the popular Massachusetts
Magazine. Many death
and marriage notices were printed from
the Ohio settlements,
along with much news of the campaigns against the
Indians. The
Domestic Chronicle, a monthly feature of
the Magazine, also
contains many articles upon interesting
features of the West, such
as descriptions of Marietta and the
outlying districts, and of the
customs and manners of the Indians. In
this connection it is in-
teresting to note that none of the New
England almanacs that
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 553
have been examined pay the slightest
attention to the Western
country, the migration there, or even
the Indian troubles. This
omission is all the more noticeable
since the annual almanac was
virtually a second Bible in the eyes of the New England
farmer.
Even though Westward migration from the
Middle States
and Maryland was so limited, there is
abundant evidence of the
lively interest in the movement in this
section of the seaboard.
In contrast to the New England almanacs,
those published in the
Middle States and Maryland contain
frequent notices of the
Western country, including detailed
descriptions of the most
usual routes there from the principal
cities. For example, Hutch-
ins' Almanack, published in New York, printed annually a table
of the roads with the distances between
intermediate points, from
Louisburg through Quebec to Presque
Isle, the Falls of the Ohio,
and the mouth of the Mississippi. In
like fashion, Father Abra-
ham's Almanack, popular in Philadelphia, gave at first only the
usual Westward route from Philadelphia,
via York, Winchester,
Staunton, and through the Wilderness to
Crab Orchard, Bard's
Town and the Falls of the Ohio. Later,
as travel down the river
became safer, this almanac gave full
details of the route to Pitts-
burgh, and then down the Ohio and the
Mississippi. The American
Museum, which occupied in Pennsylvania a position very similar
to that of the Massachusetts Magazine
in New England, also
contained many notices of political
events in the West, as well as
numerous articles on the manners and
customs of the Indians,
with especial attention to the numerous
mounds in the Muskingum
Valley.
In the newspaper files also of the
Middle States and Mary-
land, there is much news from the
Western settlements. But these
items were quite irregular and
illustrated very clearly the delays
and uncertainties of communication with
the Old Northwest. Even
in New Jersey, the state from which so
many emigrants came, the
papers seldom had regular correspondents
in the West. Aside
from occasional letters from Marietta,
the Miami Purchase, and
the Virginia Military District, the
Western news came to the Mid-
dle States and Maryland by indirect and
often irregular chan-
nels, by traders, by returning
travelers, or by expresses direct to
the government in Philadelphia or
Washington. Other news came
second-hand through Kentucky, or perhaps
from Winchester,
Pittsburgh, or even Albany. Coming
through such channels, this
information was frequently much garbled,
but the very fact it was
printed was a proof of the widespread
interest in the Western
country. Official news, and especially
the movements of the Gov-
ernor and the Judges, occupied much
space, but occasionally there
554 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
were notices of local political
controversies, as the quarrel between
Sargent and the Judges in Hamilton
County.
In the Virginia papers there were only
occasional direct com-
munications from the West. This was to be expected,
since emi-
grants from Virginia stopped on the way
in Western Virginia or
else in Kentucky, and then made their
way into the Old North-
west. Nevertheless, considerable news
from this region filtered
into the Old Dominion through Kentucky, or else from
Winches-
ter where the road to the Wilderness
crossed the one up the Po-
tomac Valley to Fort Cumberland. Much
information came to
Virginia also through Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh. In Virginia
as elsewhere, the problem of swifter
transportation to the West
was a pressing one, and news was often
weeks old before it drifted
through across the mountains. The tedium
of the usual route
from Virginia to the Ohio country, or
vice versa, was forcibly
illustrated by the plans proposed in
1792 to carry the mails between
Alexandria, Virginia, and Danville,
Kentucky. Leaving Alexan-
dria Thursday at noon, the carrier rode
through Winchester, and
arrived at Staunton the following
Wednesday. Leaving Staunton
the next morning, he would reach
Danville in Kentucky two weeks
later; that is, the regular mail
schedule between Alexandria and
Danville in either direction was three
weeks. Such a situation
amply explains the keen interest that
the people of Virginia dis-
played in the different projects to
improve the Wilderness Road,
although they seem to have had little
faith that much would
actually be accomplished. An impressive
commentary on the con-
dition of the roads to the westward ,was
the omission from the
Virginia Almanac, up to 1810, of any roads west of Sweet Springs.
When this popular almanac did give
details of a route across the
mountain, it selected one from Richmond
to Kentucky, by Staun-
ton and the Wilderness Trail.
While there was no general alarm apparent
in the Eastern
states during this early period over the
rapid growth of the
Western country, already there were
scattered evidences of the
hostile attitude that was later to
become so marked. Just upon
the eve of the migration to the Ohio
Purchase, a correspondent
of a Philadelphia paper called attention
to the superior merits of
vacant lands in Pennsylvania, where the
roads were better, the
land was more accessible to market, and
the farmer was not
obliged to sell his wheat for two
shillings per bushel, and then pay
$2.00
for a pair of shoes. Three years later,
another cor-
respondent, this one in a New York
paper, called attention to the
"rage for removing into the back
parts," and accented the ad-
vantages of a small farm, well
cultivated and convenient to mar-
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 555
kets, over large tracts of uncultivated
lands in the "back parts."
These latter, he asserted, could only be
regarded as a "provision
for posterity," awaiting "easy
transportation and nearby markets
to assure their value." Very
similar in tone was a rather long-
winded article about the same time in a
Massachusetts paper, in
which the author rejoiced over the
"subsidence" of the "mad-
ness" of emigration to the Western
country. "Old-fashioned
industry and economy," he
considered, were of more real benefit
than building castles in the air in the
region of the Genesee and
other remote uncultivated sections. But
these evidences of an-
tagonism toward the Western settlements
were rare before 1815,
and played little if any part in holding
back intending emigrants.
This brief survey of the vast mass of
early newspapers and
publications gives at least a hint of
the varying motives that
brought the stream of emigrants into the
Old Northwest from
New England, from New Jersey, and a few
from Virginia and
the Middle States. Many were induced to
go by the advantages
offered by such systematic schemes of
colonization as the Ohio
Purchase controlled by the Ohio Company,
or the Miami Purchase
under John Cleves Symmes. Others were
attracted by the in-
ducements offered by speculators of the
type of Lemuel Storrs, the
hard-headed Connecticut Yankee, who
willingly exchanged un-
cleared lands in the wilderness for the
solid values of cultivated
farms in Connecticut. Or perhaps the
settler bought his lands
from the agents of such speculators as
the visionary Robert
Means, the Virginian who staked his
entire fortune upon the
future value of Western lands. Intensely
human were the mo-
tives of these emigrants who thronged to
the Old Northwest;
the veterans of the Revolution, the
adventurers, the young men
seeking their fortunes, all of them
willing to brave the hardships
of the long journey westward, and the
subsequent life of a
pioneer community in order to follow an
intensely American urge,
and to seek a larger and better life in
a new environment. The
less adventurous stay-at-homes followed
with intense interest the
fortunes of those wandering sons, and
often the letters and other
reports from the new settlements drew
others to follow. In the
columns of the newspapers and the other
publications of the
Atlantic states were mirrored the
aspirations, and the entire
gamut of human motives that inspired
this great American trek
across the Appalachians toward the land
of the setting sun.
President Johnson: Professor Bond was a
little
alarmed, fearing perhaps his paper
might be too long,
556 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
but I am sure we are all indebted to
him for coming and
reading to us this very, very
interesting historical docu-
ment. At this time I wish to extend to
Mr. George
Smith, of Dayton, an opportunity to
make a presenta-
tion to the Society from a group he
represents:
Mr. George Smith rose and spoke as
follows:
Mr. President, Doctor Thompson,
Members and Guests: I
think most of you are familiar with what
is known as the Miamis-
burg Mound, located a mile southeast of
Miamisburg, in Mont-
gomery county, and usually referred to
as the largest of all
mounds. A question is sometimes raised
about that. At any rate,
it now stands sixty-eight feet high, the
apex having been removed
a great many years ago. The mound is
almost perfect, conical in
shape, a little over eight hundred feet
around the base, and is
rather heavily wooded with old, and some
younger, trees. The
farm upon which the mound stands was
purchased, some ten
years ago, by Mr. Charles F. Kettering,
of Dayton. Mr. Ketter-
ing is vice-president of the General
Motors Corporation, and
president of the General Motor Research
Corporation. His duties
keep him, most of the time, in Detroit,
Michigan. When Mr.
Kettering purchased this farm it was his
purpose to have the
mound cleaned up, the top made
accessible, and in some manner to
provide for its future life, we will
say--at any rate to provide for
its care and preservation. Just a short
time ago the whole tract
around the mound was cleaned up, trees
trimmed, dead trees re-
moved, and all the brush and vines
cleaned out. The old building
that marred the landscape was removed by
fire, accidentally, and
other buildings torn down. I have the
pleasure, Mr. President
and Members, of presenting to you and
the Association, a deed
from Mr. Kettering for the land, four
and twenty-eight hun-
dredths acres, containing the mound, the
title passing from him, or
rather from the corporation of which he
happens to be president.
I am the treasurer of the C. F.
Kettering, Incorporated, and I
therefore have pleasure in presenting to
this Society a warranty
deed for four and twenty-eight
hundredths acres containing the
mound known as the Miamisburg Mound,
located near the little
city of Miamisburg, Montgomery county.
(Applause.)
President Johnson: It goes without
saying, Mr.
Smith, that the Society appreciates,
beyond its power
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 557
to express, the interest that has been
manifested by
yourself and your associates of the
Dayton Group, in
the acquiring, preserving and
conditioning of the Miam-
isburg Mound, one of the finest and
most famous of all
the prehistoric monuments in the whole
Mississippi
basin. We had an intimation that this
splendid property
would some time be presented to the
Society, and we
saw fit to be very patient while the
gentlemen in Dayton
went forward with the project. The Society,
when it
performs the functions for which it was
created, will
command the respect and receive the
cooperation of in-
dividuals and groups of individuals in
securing and pre-
serving the things worth while in the
state of Ohio. We
wish to thank Mr. Smith, and through
him the gentle-
men of Dayton who have so kindly served
the best in-
terests of their state, and secondly
the interests of this
organization. While we are in the presenting busi-
ness I wish to say that a very interesting
development
has occurred right here in the City of
Columbus. A
wonderful thing has been done, a
beautiful memorial
developed. I do not wish to rob the
function or cere-
mony of presentation of any of its
force, and therefore I
will ask Mr. Shetrone, Director of the
Society, who has
the matter in charge, to make the
presentation of Camp-
bell Park.
Mr. H. C. Shetrone said:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Most of you are
aware that Ohio is the nucleus and
center of the Mound Build-
ers' activity, and, further, that this
building houses the finest
collection of Mound Builders' relics in
the world. For that rea-
son it may be said that the world at
large comes to Ohio, and to
Columbus, to study the culture of these
very interesting people,
a people we may term the first Ohioans.
558 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Those who visit this Museum to study the
relics we have
here often propound the query
"Where can we see an actual In-
dian Mound?-we should like to see one of
the mounds from
which these relics came." That
caused us to think that, to satis-
fy this very natural curiosity, and
particularly insofar as teachers
and their classes are concerned, a mound
near at hand should be
secured. It so happens that at the very
western edge of Colum-
bus, on the Scioto River, there is a
lovely Indian mound. The
problem was how to secure and preserve
this mound. In casting
about for a way, we found another idea
that correlated very nice-
ly with the proposed project.
All of us are well aware of the splendid
service rendered to
our Society by our late President,
Governor James E Campbell.
We were anxious to accord him something
in the way of a me-
morial. The two ideas were brought
together, and the matter
was presented to Jessie Campbell Coons,
a daughter of Governor
Campbell. The proposition was made to
her that the mound and
tract of land on which it stands should
be purchased and enclosed
with a suitable rustic stone fence
around the entire area, and suit-
ably marked in order that the mound
which, for many genera-
tions, has been known as the Shrum
Mound, from the name of
the owner of the land, might be
preserved for the present gen-
eration and for posterity, and that we
might thus create a suit-
able memorial to Governor Campbell. Mrs.
Coons responded and
very liberally furnished the funds for
the purchase of the prop-
erty. The park now practically
completed, is a thing of beauty,
and promises to be a joy forever. The
dedication of the Shrum
Mound and the James E. Campbell Park is
tentatively set for
July 7th, the anniversary of the birth
of Governor Campbell. On
that occasion there will be a very
elaborate, or perhaps not elab-
orate but very impressive, ceremony
which will combine archaeo-
logical interest and the interest which
attaches to a man of the
importance and standing Governor
Campbell attained. We re-
quested Mrs. Coons to come to this
meeting today and make a ten-
tative presentation of this property to
the Society, but unfortunate-
ly she had made a previous engagement,
and she requested that
someone else take over that duty. With
the thought in mind that
the preservation of the prehistoric
feature of this property is of
importance, it occurred to me to invite
Mrs. Shrum, the original
owner of the site, to be present with us
today, and while we could
not bring the mound to the museum, we
did the next best thing,
and made a colored photograph to serve
as a sort of proxy. I do
not know whether Mrs. Shrum is in the
audience. If she is, I
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 559
ask her if she will not come forward and
present this picture of
the mound to the Society.
Mrs. Shrum thereupon stepped to the
platform and
presented the photograph of the mound
to the Society,
the gift being received with applause.
President Johnson: This concludes the
presenta-
tions. I wish to thank Mr. Shetrone for
the manner in
which this presentation was made, and
to say that we
are very happy to have Mrs. Shrum here.
I was in
hopes that she might have some girlhood
story to tell
about playing around this place, but
feel that she has
made a very dignified presentation. I
thank you, Mrs.
Shrum. Mr. Galbreath, the Secretary and
Librarian
and Editor of the Society, asks for a
moment to make an
announcement.
Mr. Galbreath: Mr. Chairman, Ladies
and Gentlemen: About
twenty-five years ago I learned that a
file of the first newspaper
published in the Northwest
Territory-published while Ohio was
a part of the territory-was in
existence, and that that file con-
tained the first issue of the paper.
There is also a file of that
paper in Cincinnati, in the library of
their Historical Society, but
it does not contain the first issue. I
could not rest until this file,
containing the first issue of that paper,
became the property of
the State of Ohio. This paper was first
issued on November
9th, 1793, when there were between two
and three hundred in-
habitants in what afterwards became the
City of Cincinnati, the
town in which this paper was published.
Having secured that
original paper for the state I could not
rest until we had a repro-
duction of it made, a photograph which
is more legible than the
original itself, an exact reproduction
of this first paper of the
Northwest Territory. We now have almost
one thousand pa-
pers in Ohio, printing not only one
issue but a million issues or
more. In order that you might take away
with you something to
remember this very interesting occasion,
I have had about two
hundred and forty copies of that
photograph prepared, and they
will be distributed, as far as they will reach, when
this meeting
adjourns.
560
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
I wish also to call your attention to
the fact that near the
doorway there is the most expensive book
that this Society ever
bought-I will not tell you what the cost
of the book is. It con-
tains the approved photographs of President McKinley,
Presi-
dent Roosevelt, the Cabinet of President
McKinley, and all the
members of the United States Senate
during the McKinley ad-
ministration, with the personal
autograph of each of them. That
book was on exhibition in our Library some years ago,
and I could
not rest until it became the property of
the Society. These are
the only announcements I have to make.
President Johnson: Doctor Thompson will
present
the next speaker on the afternoon's
program.
Doctor W. O. Thompson: On this very
happy and
delightful afternoon, which we are all
enjoying, I feel
it is proper that I make an
announcement. It is just
twenty-five years ago this June that I
signed a diploma
for Mr. Charles F. Kettering; I also
signed a diploma
for my own daughter at the same time. I
have had the
pleasure of the acquaintance of Mr.
Kettering during
all of these years. I am quite sure we
have given an
expression of our gratitude to a man
who is entirely
worthy of it, and I think we are happy
in our hearts that
he is one of our boys, and that he has
made this gift to
the Archaeological Society, thus
showing his interest in
the commonwealth.
The first speaker of the afternoon
delighted us with
an easterner's view given by a southern
gentleman on
the Northwest Territory. (Laughter.)
Now, as to the man who speaks next. We
are both
ministers of the Gospel. I will not
tell you what kind
of ministers we are-that might
embarrass us both. We
met at the last General Assembly of the
Presbyterian
Church at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Why each of
us was in
such a crowd I do not know, but we were
there. He
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 561
listened to some arguments I made
there, and now he
will get even by forcing me to listen
to him. He holds
a policy in the same life insurance
company in which I
hold a policy, but I will not give the
name of the com-
pany myself, but I will say that this
man has a great
gift of getting into good company, and
I want to con-
gratulate him this afternoon on getting
into this com-
pany here. He belongs to a race that is
a hundred per
cent American, and they were here before
we were, and
some still are here. I think we all
rejoice in the fact that
we have here a representative of the
American, indeed,
a minister of the Gospel of Christ, a
fine citizen of our
commonwealth. If you will read this
little sketch of him
on the program in your hand, you will
find that you have
the pleasure of listening to a man, a
graduate of Yale,
who comes along with our American
traditions, and
stands today as a sort of linch-pin-as
we used to call it
in the old days-of a wagon, a contact
between the
things talked about and the things
present today. I
count it a privilege to present the
speaker this afternoon,
and as I said before, he was the only
Cloud on the hori-
zon, but I am sure he will have a silver
lining-Doctor
Henry Roe Cloud. (Applause.)
MYTHOLOGIES OF OUR ABORIGINES
Dr. Henry Roe Cloud then spoke as
follows on the
"Mythologies of Our Aborigines in
Relation to Pre-
historic Mound Builders in
America":
It was with the greatest reluctance
that I accepted the invi-
tation to speak before this group of
distinguished men and
women. The reasons for this hesitancy
were that there is ex-
ceedingly little that I can contribute
to a gathering of this kind.
Generous-minded persons would justify
my coming here were I
Vol. XXXVIII-36.
562 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications able to give one connecting link, however slight, to the chain of knowledge gradually being welded together between the definitely known history of man and that of the beginning of man's exist- ence on this continent. I come actuated rather by more humble motives. It is my conviction that it is in the power of just such groups of scientists as this to bring to light and to perpetuate |
|
something of the achievements, the nobility and dignity of the Red Man of America-that by the intensive and patient study of the physical remains of unrecorded history, "probing into the night of the unknown ages" that antiquity which rightfully be- longs to our American Indians and correspondingly to our infant nation, may some day be unmistakably established; that the sis- ter sciences of paleontology, geology and archaeology, which have played and are playing such an important part in the old world, will more than ever open her vast vistas of the past, revealing |
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 563
to us the character, habits and
achievements of long-forgotten
races of men. However much these statements may fail of
car-
rying conviction of my motives today, I
can at least take this op-
portunity to express the deepest
appreciation to the late Dr. Wil-
liam C. Mills and others who did so
nobly in discovering what we
now know of the past and to those of our
day who are so effec-
tively carrying on the great task. It
may not be amiss to men-
tion here the name of Professor Warren K
Moorehead, of An-
dover.
As I stood a few days ago on the summit
of the great Caho.
kia mound, situated in the center of the
American bottoms near
East St. Louis, that greatest of earthen
temples of the dead in
America and the world, I pictured to
myself a teeming popula-
tion of a race all over that alluvial
plain, stretching far out into
our interior valleys. The discovery of
mica in this and other
burial-grounds showed that the extent of
their roamings reached
to our far eastern mountains, and the
presence of obsidian arti-
facts in the mounds attests their trade
with regions of the west.
Exceedingly suggestive are the presence
of burial vases of tem-
pered clay beside the dead, and the use
of pendants or plum-
mets, red paint from hematite and water,
found in the mounds;
-and also suggestive are the symbolic
meanings of crescent, ser-
pent, animal and circular-shaped mounds.
The work of constructing the prehistoric
history of races long
vanished from the earth, by the study of
the structures, the monu-
ments and memorials left behind, is
extremely interesting to one
who, it might be said, looks at it from
the inside out of a primitive
race, rather than inward from some
outside vantage-point. One
such pauses in admiration of the
accuracy of inductive reasoning,
especially of those whose
interpretations are conservative and
tinged with true human instincts.
Much has been accomplished in the study
of the American
Indian,-more and more there is the tone
of certitude as to his
origin, migrations and the interpretive
value of his own coming
on the stage in relation to his
predecessors. It seems to me, how-
ever, that but scant notice has been
taken of his cosmogonies,
mythologies and religious lore. Is there
not some value here for
the seeker? To be sure, we hear not the
voice of the prehistoric
races and never shall, but may we not
yet hear him speaking in the
voices of our aboriginal Americans when
they speak in terms of
humanity's hopes, of self-preservation,
of fear, and in the articula-
tion of his most fundamental aspirations
? By what we find buried
in the earth we can reconstruct
something of the manner of life of
the prehistoric man, can visualize his
domestic scenes and catch the
longing for immortality in the mode of
his burial. But by con-
564 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
fining our interpretations strictly to
these remains, may we not be
overlooking some valuable contribution
from the lore of our first
Americans? For such a task one needs
only to guard against the
infiltration of modern ideas and more
than ever delve into the laws
governing the mentality of a race in
primitive settings.
"A young Indian was invited one
day," so runs the legend,
"by the ten sons of Wa-kan-jah, the
god of lightning and thunder,
to compete with them for the hand of a
beautiful Indian maiden
living in a distant place. Blessed already with a few
supernatural
powers by his devotion to sacrifices of
the gods, he sets forth with
them on his mission. Traveling with the rapidity of
lightning
they far outstripped him. But, in due time, the
narrator relates
the manner of their ignominious failure
and his success. The
mother of the maiden being outwitted and
greatly displeased, gave
chase as the young man took away his
beloved companion. At a
critical point the lover shot into a
tree two arrows. As the mother
came in hot pursuit she noticed the two
arrows. Soliloquizing,
she exclaimed,-'Years ago some hunter
drove his arrows into
this tree and just overshot his deer.
The arrows are weatherworn
and the tree is in process of decay.'
Then away she went, resum-
ing the chase. As a matter of fact, had
she pondered more, she
would have discovered that the two
arrows were that of her
daughter and the young lover. Thereafter
having released a magic
pair of moccasins to travel to the end
of the earth in an opposite
direction the lovers again betook
themselves to the distant lodges
of his own people." In this case
her very interpretation of the
arrows and the tree obscured the real
fact,-the object of her
chase. So it often has been in our
archaeological researches when
we neglect the study of the creative
functions of the spirit of
man, as given in our folk tales and
religious conceptions.
"In the beginning," runs
another legend, "the Wa-gonz-zla,
Creator, was lying flat on his back in
void and space. Something
entered into him that gave him
consciousness. He sat up, looked
about and saw nothing. His heart became
exceedingly sad for
loneliness; his tears that flowed became
the waters. Instinctively
he grasped a piece of his flesh and
stretched it out at arm's length.
That became the sun. He grasped a piece
of his flesh again and
that became the moon. A third time he
stretched out his arm and
that became the earth. But the earth
shook and fell apart. To
make it cohere he set into it trees,
and, not succeeding, he set into
it grasses and roots of every sort. Then
he weighed it down with
innumerable rocks and stones until rest
and equilibrium were
attained." This conception of
creation is characterized by sim-
plicity, straightforwardness, altogether
primitive, but we catch
the sense of its majesty, sweep and
greatness.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 565
"The Great Wa-gonz-zla, Creator,
had four sons. After the
establishment of man on the face of the earth, great
monsters were
abroad, hunters failed to return, death
stalked in the land; the race
raised one cry to the Ma-u-na,
earthmaker, for succor. He sent
his sons one by one to lead them out of
their anguish and desola-
tion. Kay-chung-gay-gah, the first son,
taught courage and built
up the society of self-control.
Wak-chung-ka-gah set up the so-
ciety of the cheerful. Wa-sjing-gay-gah
set up the society of the
reverent, the worshippers of the Great
Spirit. He alone sum-
moned all the great spirits of the
universe together in a lodge that
reached from the rising sun to the
setting sun. The poles thereof
were great snakes. The door faced the
rising sun. Wa-sjing-
gay-gah came from the rising sun
singing the song of life and of
a way back to the home of the soul, the
Great Spirit. As he en-
tered the lodge he sat in the midst of
the fire altar, but the flames
thereof failed to consume him. Four
times he circled the lodge
and they beheld him as a child, a
youth, a man and as one at the
sunset of life. At each encircling he
saluted the four ruling spirits
and sang for each." From these
major conceptions there grew up
the belief in the immortality of the
soul. Clan organization with
its comprehensive divisions, detailed
functions and practical work-
ings in war, the chase and social life
had to conform to the great
announced purpose of the major spirits
of the universe. Life
here and now must conform to the fact
of the immortality of the
soul.
From the most primitive times of our
own aborigines we
have known them to use ceremonially and
socially the red ochre.
At every death the appointed member of
the same clan as the de-
ceased must come and paint the clan
insignia on the face of the
one about to leave. This ancient
practice has been faithfully car-
ried out to insure proper recognition
upon his arrival by the mem-
bers of his clan who preceded him.
Every warrior has been
taught to paint himself with the clan
insignia immediately before
the charge upon the enemy so that in
the event of his death he
could insure to himself recognition in
the land of souls. At his
burial additional supplies of red ochre
are placed for use if occa-
sion should so demand. Moreover the
death song is sung for the
soul which he in turn is to sing upon
approaching the gathering-
place of his fathers as a means of
assuring recognition by them.
The presence of hematite in the
prehistoric burial mounds,
which produces a sort of red paint when
brought into contact with
water is exceedingly suggestive in the
light of the practices of our
original Americans.
"An Indian young man one day went
into the wilderness and,
upon hearing a great booming sound,
betook himself speedily to
566 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the source of the phenomenon. He
suddenly came upon the scene
of a gigantic struggle between the
Wa-kan-jah, the god of light-
ning and thunder, and the Wak-chay-xi,
the god of all waters.
The Wa-kan-jah was trying to take the
Wak-chay-xi up into the
skies to dash it to pieces on some
cliff. The Wak-chay-xi was
trying to take the Wa-kan-jah down into
the water to drown his
adversary. 'My brother,' said the spirit
of the skies to the Indian,
'Shoot him for me, for he has exhausted
me. If you do, long
life, success in war, the chase and all
tribal honors shall be yours.'
Thereupon the Wak-chay-xi said, 'Shoot
him for me, my nephew,
for he has exhausted me. If you don't,
you shall die the first time
you drink of my kingdom.' The water
would come with the body
of the Wak-chay-xi as he was lifted up
by the Wa-kan-jah. At
every return made towards the water this
great booming sound
would go forth."
In my most audacious moments I would
most likely shock
all my archaeological friends by saying
that the great carving of
the figure of the Piasa on high cliffs
along the Mississippi, at
Alton, Illinois, universally attributed
to the handiwork of the pre-
historic peoples, is nothing more nor less
than the Wak-chay-xi,
the dreaded god of all waters,
worshipped by our aborigines from
time immemorial.
"As you go through life you come
upon a patch of morning-
glory vines. So extensive is it that it
reaches the two ends of the
earth. Go through it, for these
represent the bad and the foolish
thinkings of the children of men. You
will encounter next
briars, thistles and thorns growing in
wild profusion. These rep-
resent all of life's human ills. Go
through it as a son worthy of
your fathers. You will then encounter a
wall of fire, representing
the burning fire of man's tongue.
However much you may suffer,
go through it. Your last encounter is a
deep chasm in the earth,
reaching to the ends of the earth. This
is the grave of man. You
must needs go through this also to
discover the dwelling-place of
the soul."
If we concede to these prehistoric
peoples a civilization, a cer-
emonial system of worship expressive of
their faith-these "wis-
dom words" just given are at least
suggestive of the type of cul-
ture they enjoyed.
"On the road to the land of the
setting sun you will come
upon a lodge with an entrance toward the
rising sun and one to-
ward the setting sun. As you enter you
will be greeted by an old
woman sitting on your right-hand side.
It is grandmother Earth,
sitting there in human form. She will
say, 'You must be very
weary. What do you wish? Make your
request known.' You
will then say, 'My Great-grandmother, as
I was leaving the face
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 567
of the earth, my people urged me to make
four requests,-First,
that the flame of their fireplace may
not sway to and fro (sick-
ness). Second, that their weapon
may be sharpened on both
sides (Success in war. Legends say that
there was once a race
that had a sharp, bony structure growing
out on both sides of their
forearms for use in war). Third, that
the number of days I left
behind me may be proportionately divided
among my relatives.
Fourth, that nuts and fruits and all growing things may abound
in plenty on the face of the
earth."
Then she will place before you a wooden
dish, containing
some wild beans. Partake only a taste of
the dish and shove it
back to her. Then she will say, 'My Great
Grandchild, you have
a wise head on young shoulders. That
dish represents the vege-
tables, nuts, fruits and all growing
things on earth. Inasmuch as
you have taken so little and left so
much in the dish, so much will
abound on the face of the earth. As for
all your other requests,
they are granted'."
Civilizations change. Some lie deep
buried in the earth. But
the longing for immortality is common to
them all. In our inner-
most longings for the continuity and
solidarity of life, we are part
and parcel of our prehistoric brethren.
The audience then proceeded to the
corridor south
of the Rotunda of the Museum and
Library Building to
witness the unveiling of the
STATUE OF THE PREHISTORIC BASKET WEAVER
President Johnson: I will ask Director
Shetrone to
explain the significance of this
sculpture.
Mr. Shetrone: Ladies and Gentlemen: You
are all
more or less familiar with the male
figure of the Mound
Builder, The Prehistoric Sculptor,
which stands in the
rotunda. The creation of that figure
was the outcome of
the sentiment developed as a result of
twenty-five years,
or more, exploration of Indian Mounds
and the conse-
quent accumulation of data and material
which caused
us to think that we might well attempt
to show some-
thing of the physical aspect of our
first Ohioans. So,
taking a typical skeleton from one of
the Ohio mounds,
568
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
and employing science to furnish the
flesh and shape,
we created the Sculptor, which was
presented to the
Museum by General Edward Orton, Jr.
As time passed on there seemed to be a
sort of un-
easiness pervading the atmosphere
around the Prehis-
toric Sculptor. For quite a while we
could not figure
out what it was; there seemed to be an
air of loneliness,
and finally the thought occurred to us
that he might be
lonely. Then our President, Mr. Johnson,
interpreting
that psychic evidence, and recalling
the old scriptural in-
junction that it is not good for men to
live alone, de-
cided that he should have a mate. The
outcome you
have here, and I am certain that they
will be very happy
together. In the natural course of
events there will be
an increase in this family, so we have
something to look
forward to and anticipate. We look
forward to the time
when a little boy will climb upon her
knee-a very good
friend of the Society, who is reticent
about having his
name mentioned, has undertaken to
provide for that. In
the course of time you will see this
little family of our
first Ohioans increasing in number, but
even then we
will not have finished, because we
aspire to something
more. I am certain that, if you give it
your close atten-
tion, you will see that human beings
resent being in glass
cases. Here is our vision-in the
balcony of one of our
exploration rooms, which will be
suitable so far as at-
mosphere is concerned, and artificially
lighted, with a
realistic background-a real habitat, so
that when you
view this happy family you will not see
them in cases
or cages. You will see them out in the
open, living the
life they lived before the white man
came. An addi-
tional outlay will be required to
provide for that setting.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 569 I wish to plant a little germ somewhere, that you may feel that we should advance this project still further, so that, when the time comes and we need additional funds to provide the home for this little family, a response will be made. I thank you. (Applause.) President Johnson: I wish to say that the figure be- fore you is from the hand of a very accomplished sculp- tor, Mr. Erwin F. Frey. The meeting will now stand adjourned. |
|
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY SOCIETY BUILDING, COLUMBUS, OHIO, SATURDAY, May 4, 1929, 10:00 A. M. The meeting was called to order by Secretary C. B. Galbreath. There were present: |
B. F. Prince, Arthur C. Johnson, Van A. Snider, Claude Meeker, E. F. Wood, Morten Carlisle, W. D. McKinney, George Florence, Rev. S. R. Martin, Mrs. Gertrude Ball, Mrs. Anna M. Kevin, Charles F. Walker, William G. Pengelly, Homer Charles, Mrs. Homer Charles, J. E. Tritsch, Harlow Lindley, Irene Cotton, Dean M. Hickson, Eugene W. Mendenhall, Fred J. Heer, H. R. McPherson, Mrs. H. R. McPherson, Roy M. King, |
George F. Bareis, William O. Thompson, Michael G. Heintz, C. B. Galbreath, Mrs. C. B. Galbreath, Mrs. Orson D. Dryer, John R. Horst, Adolphus G. Williams, William Pepperling, William McKinley, Tiffin Gilmore, W. E. Peters, James S. Hine, A. C. Spetnagel, Theodore S. Spetnagel, Harry A. Ziplinsky, J. C. Hambleton, H. B. Sebring, L. D. Kramer, H. G. Simpson, Charles W. Heiser, E. F. Greenman, Mrs. E. F. Greenman, |
(512) |