REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
Know Ohio: a Souvenir of the Buckeye
State
By J. L. Clifton and B. A. Aughinbaugh.
64 p.
Columbus, Ohio: 25 cents.
This is the title of a neatly printed,
attractively
bound and extensively illustrated
booklet of sixty-four
pages, each carrying eight by five
inches of printed mat-
ter. The writer has before him the
revised proof sheets
of the second printing of this work and
is impressed with
the belief that it will become very
popular with the pub-
lic schools whose present demand it
seems especially
designed to meet and with the general
public who are
now seeking as never before to become
more thoroughly
acquainted with their own state.
Its authorship is ample guaranty for
its authenticity.
Hon. J. L. Clifton, Director of
Education in Ohio, is
acquainted with the need for such a
work and a compe-
tent judge of its proper scope. Mr. B.
A. Aughinbaugh
had years of experience as teacher in
the public schools
of Ohio and the Philippine Islands before
he was called
to the Division of Visual Education in
the service of the
state. He has traveled in every county
of Ohio, in all
but four states of the Union and most
of the civilized
countries of the world, and has
collected over six hun-
dred photographs of the scenic,
historical and industrial
(660)
Reviews, Notes and Comments 661
points of interest in Ohio. From this
large collection he
has chosen with rare good judgment the
illustrations,
ninety in number, which add to the text
of the printed
page.
The subject is treated topically under
sixty-nine
questions and answers. It must not be
concluded that
the questions are answered each in a
single word or
sentence. Take, for instance, the
question:
"How did your county receive its
name?"
Five full pages are used in the answer.
The name of
each of the eighty-eight counties is
given, its origin from
authentic sources, and the date of the
county's organiza-
tion.
Almost three pages are required to
answer the fol-
lowing:
"Locate and tell something about
the principal forts
that were located in Ohio."
On a single page appear the following
questions:
"Who was the Governor when Ohio
was part of the
Northwest Territory? Who was the first
Governor
when Ohio became a state?
"When was Ohio admitted to the
Union ?
"What three cities have been
capitals of Ohio?
"Where is located the oldest house
in Ohio?
"Why does the rainbow come down in
Ohio?"
Each of these is answered and with the
answers are
given sustaining reasons. The last in
particular is of
great interest to Ohioans.
While the location of points of
interest is given, the
work is not a highway guide. Such
guides are pub-
lished by various agencies and may be
had free or at
small cost. Know Ohio, however,
is a very useful book
662
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
for tourists as it contains much more
information in re-
gard to points of interest than is
found in a highway
guide. It may be read with profit
before setting out on
a tour through any portion of the state
in order to de-
termine what are the really interesting
places to visit.
The price, only 25 cents, brings this
interesting and use-
ful publication within the reach of
all.
Simon Kenton: His Life and Period.
By Edna Kenton. 352 pp. New York:
Doubleday, Doran & Co. $3.50.
The story of the westward march of
civilization on
this continent, the triumph over
untamed nature, the
wild animal denizens of forest and
plain, and the wily,
mysterious and spectacular Indian, has
lost none of its
lure with the flight of years. It
appeals to the love of
adventure that is innate in the young
descendants of the
American forefathers who planted on the
North Ameri-
can continent a new social and political
order whose
growth and dominance have become the
wonder of the
world.
The hunter, the Indian and the Indian
fighter figure
conspicuously in the literature of the
day. J. Feni-
more Cooper had his thousands of
readers. Zane Grey
is read by the million. The characters
of pioneer history
figure prominently in the popular novel
of today, but
under the light of modern research,
sometimes a new
verification is found of the trite
assertion that "truth is
stranger that fiction." We have an
emphatic illustration
of that fact in a new biography of an
eminent pioneer
whose thrilling exploits have been an
absorbing theme
Reviews, Notes and Comments 663
at American firesides for more than a
century. The
title of this book is Simon Kenton,
His Life and Period:
1755-1836. It is written by Edna Kenton, a lineal de-
scendant of this stalwart and daring
pioneer.
A review published in a recent issue of
The New
York Times Book Review opens
with this interesting
statement:
This biography of a storied pioneer, by
one of his lineal
descendants, is all that a biography of
such a figure should be. It
is written in clear, disciplined prose,
with due attention to back-
ground and to the pioneer salt that
resides in the recorded say-
ings of frontier men and women. Miss
Kenton has not skimped
the picturesque, but she is careful to
give chapter and verse at
all points. There is no attempt to do
what romancers of the past
have done, to make a "blood
pudding" shocker out of Simon
Kenton's career. Fact is rigorously
separated from myth, for
Miss Kenton has, with great good sense,
realized that the simple
fact is romantic enough.
The author has with commendable
industry searched
all available sources for this
biography. She has read
that never failing source of the
history of the Middle
West, the Draper Manuscripts in the
library of the Wis-
consin Historical Society. These manuscripts
were col-
lected before the Civil War by Lyman C.
Draper, who
visited elderly men and women whose
memories ran
back to the early settlement of the
Ohio Valley, and
gathered from them not only written
statements, but
letters, documents, diaries, and other
manuscripts that
constitute a unique and priceless
depository of the early
history of the Northwest Territory and
the region south
of the Ohio.
This volume is of especial interest to
Ohioans, as
many of the daring adventures of Kenton
were within
portions of the territory which
afterwards became a part
664 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
of that state. His captivity and escape in the years
1778-1779 is aptly sketched by the
author as follows:
When Simon Kenton crossed the Ohio on
his spying expe-
dition to Chillicothe he entered upon an
adventure which for its
momentous succession of perils,
transitions, and hairbreadth es-
capes has not its parallel in all the
adventurous annals of West-
ern border history. For nearly two
months there was literally
no moment when his life was not
threatened, nor correspond-
ingly a moment when his life was not
miraculously "saved." He
was, it is true, never off guard; he
saved himself when he could;
he used all the cunning that Nature had
taught him; he ran as
it were on his own marvelous
instinct--nothing else served him
now. But for the most part it was as if
the Fates had drawn
a cage around him and sat at its
corners, wondering with him
how much he could endure.
Then follows a detailed account of his
captivity.
Kenton had made an effort to recover
some horses
that had been stolen from the Kentucky
settlements by
the Indians, but he was not able to
swim them from the
Ohio side across the river. After he
was captured by
the Indians they took a three-year-old
colt and tied him
to its back. "A halter was passed
about his neck and
its ends fastened to the colt's neck
and rump. Then,
all made ready, with Kenton powerless
to ward off
branches and underbrush from his face
and body, they
gave the colt a smart blow as they
released it, and as it
dashed off they roared with mirth at
the spectacle.
. . . The colt pitched, reared, and
rolled to rid it-
self of its burden; the ragged bushes
tore its rider's legs
and feet; the tree limbs raked and
scourged his face and
body."
This has gone down in history as
Kenton's "Ma-
zeppa ride," which has been
vividly portrayed by two
French artists, a reproduction from
whose painting ap-
Reviews, Notes and Comments 665
pears on the lining papers at the front
of the volume.
After the colt was exhausted and
quieted down, Kenton
was treated with all manner of abuse
and indignity as
he was conducted through the wilderness
northward
across what is now the state of Ohio. He
was forced to
run the gauntlet eight times in all
according to the au-
thor. This is about twice the number
usually recorded
but the statement seems to be well
sustained. He was
finally ransomed, taken to Detroit as a
prisoner, escaped
and returned to Kentucky.
The volume includes a number of
illustrations, one
of especial interest to the Ohio State
Archaeological and
Historical Society. This is a
reproduction of the paint-
ing that hangs on the walls of the
Museum of the Society
and was presented by Walter D. McKinney
of Colum-
bus. In regard to the portraits of
Kenton painted in
1836, the author writes as follows:
Louis Morgan, then a rising young artist
of the East, pre-
sented himself at Kenton's home on a
commission to paint his
portrait for the National Portrait
Gallery of Distinguished
Americans. This was an enterprise sponsored in Philadelphia,
the first ambitious attempt to collect
portraits of Americans
painted by American artists. Boone's
portrait had been already
painted for this collection, but Boone's
name had been a familiar
one since 1784, not only in America and
England but also in
France and Germany where translations of
Filson's so-called
Autobiography had appeared. Byron had written of him--as
he might have written of Kenton had
accident made him instead
of Boone the first autobiographed
Kentucky pioneer. As it is,
in the early Kenton sketches we often
come on references to his
wild colt ride as the theme of Byron's
"Mazeppa"! McClung's
brief sketch of him had but lately
appeared, however; had it not
been for this, it is doubtful that the
editors of the Portrait Gal-
lery would have known of his existence--this man almost un-
known outside of the two states he had
helped to found and pre-
serve, whose services were so great just
exactly because they
were so private.
666 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Judge Noah McCulloch went up from
Zanesfield with the
"Gentlemanly young man" just
arrived from Louisville to intro-
duce him to Kenton and to prepare the
old man for the ordeal.
But Mrs. Kenton was the troubled one.
Judge McCulloch says
that she was greatly concerned over her
husband's lack of proper
attire for a portrait, and was not at
all consoled by Morgan's as-
sertion that he "cared nothing for
that." Kenton himself was
pleased and interested, and the painter,
having arranged all to his
liking, settled down for a week's stay
at the Parkisons.
He was evidently charmed with his
subject, for he made not
one but three portraits. He did them all
in Kenton's character-
istic posture before the fire, with his
old staff in his hand--its
charred end can be seen. As he painted,
the old man talked, re-
told the stories of the past, and so
reanimated himself that the
painter had little work to do in
entertaining the sitter--he was
himself the entertained. This was just
three months before Ken-
ton's death.
When Morgan returned to Louisville he
sent on one of the
three portraits to James Longacre,
editor and publisher of the
Gallery. R. W. Hodson made the engraving; then the portrait
was exhibited at the Philadelphia
Academy of Fine Arts, and
was unfortunately "skyed." But
Felix Darley--old famous art
critic--saw it, approved it, had it
rehung, and it became the suc-
cess of the exhibition.
Another of the portraits passed into the
possession of the
late Colonel R. T. Durrett of Louisville
and was for years one of
the prizes in his fine collection of
early Kentucky papers and
pictures. In 1913, after his death, this
collection was purchased
by the University of Chicago.
The third had a checkered history and
rather a hard one, as
its present battered state clearly
shows. Morgan evidently hoped
to sell it to Kentucky and kept it in
his studio for some years as
he moved about from Louisville to
Frankfort to Lexington. But
no appropriation for its purchase was
made by any legislature,
and finally he turned it over to Thomas
W. Cridland, his frame
maker, in payment for some debt.
Cridland also attempted to
sell it to Kentucky but failed, and when
he left Kentucky for
Ohio, in 1852, he took the portrait with
him. In 1890 it passed
into the possession of his eldest son,
Thomas H. Cridland, who
held it until his death in 1924. Then his
nephew, Walter D.
McKinney, presented it to the Ohio State
Archaeological and
Historical Society at Columbus.
"Five generations of the Crid-
land family," he said in
presentation speech, "have looked upon
this portrait, and for many years the
face of 'Uncle Simon' hung
on the wall in my room, the first to
greet me in the morning, and
Reviews, Notes and Comments 667
the last to bid me good night. He
comforted me and guarded
me as a boy and young man, until I left my
grandfather's home."
And then he added what seems inseparable from any
reminiscence
of Kenton, what so many had said before
him in the Kenton
Papers, "Simon Kenton, however, is
something more to me than
a portrait. He was the pioneer guide and
personal friend of my
father's people."
No outline can do justice to this
attractive book. It
can be truly said that this is the
final and definitive bio-
graphy of Simon Kenton, which is
presented in an inter-
esting and lucid style and is fully up
to the best modern
standards of biographical writing. The
writer of this
review can at this time think of no
more attractive
worthwhile book to purchase as a
Christmas present in
the coming holiday season for young and
old who find
an interest in the thrilling and
truthful narratives of the
border while as yet Ohio was a part of
the Northwest
Territory and in the early formative
period when it be-
came a state. During the Revolution,
Kenton was a
scout in the interest of the American
cause. In this ca-
pacity he served later in the legion of
General Anthony
Wayne. He was a sergeant under General
Duncan Mc-
Arthur in the War of 1812. He had
accumulated a for-
tune in western lands but lost it all
before his death and
was at one time imprisoned for debt.
But he never lost
his interest in life and his loyalty to
the Republic that he
served through a long, romantic and
colorful career.
The Life of General Custer,
By Milton Ronsheim, Cadiz, Ohio:
Office of the Cadiz Republican, $1.00.
At the last session of the General
Assembly an act
was passed, as recorded in the Quarterly,
providing for
668 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the erection of a memorial to General
George Arm-
strong Custer on the site of his
birthplace at New Rum-
ley, Harrison County, Ohio, under the
auspices of the
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society.
In anticipation of the erection and
dedication of this
memorial an interesting, authoritative
and reliable
biography of General Custer, after
running through the
files of the Cadiz Republican through
the year 1929, has
been brought out in an attractive
separate publication
with many illustrations. We can
cheerfully recommend
this as the best source of information
with much local
color that is now available for those
who have expressed
a revival of interest in this valiant
and distinguished
Ohioan in anticipation of the
dedicatory services that
are less than a year distant from the
present.
The book, in pamphlet cover, opens with
a somewhat
extended statement of the genealogy of
General Custer.
The claim sometimes made that his
ancestors served as
Hessian allies of Great Britain in the
War of the Revo-
lution is completely disproved. We are
told that Ser-
geant Emanuel C., the great-grandfather
of the General,
served with the 10th Regiment, 5th Battalion,
8th Com-
pany, of the Philadelphia County
Militia; that he was
born in 1754 in Allegheny County,
Maryland, and died
at the age of 100 years; that Emanuel's
father was Paul
Custer who married Sarah Martha Ball,
cousin of the
mother of George Washington.
"So", says Mr. Rons-
heim, "the subject of these
sketches was not only from
Colonial stock, but also of the same
blood which pro-
duced the Father of the Nation."
When a young man Emanuel Custer moved
to New
Rumley where he was the only smith for
miles around.
Reviews, Notes and Comments 669
He was married twice. His second wife
was the widow
of Israel R. Kirkpatrick. They were
married April 14,
1837. George Armstrong Custer was born
two years
later on December 5, 1839.
"As a boy" continues the
narrative, "George A. Cus-
ter was sturdy and flaxen haired. He
was full of life
and frolic and always in mischief. Yet
he was of a
gentle and lovable disposition, never
quarrelsome or hot
headed."
Then follows a number of local incidents
of the
school days of Custer. Much of this
portion of the
biography is not available in other
published works and
will be read with special interest in
this year when Ohio
pays belated tribute to her illustrious
son.
The headings of the different chapters
of the book
illustrate its content. They are as
follows:
Early Days
Custer at West Point
In the Civil War
The Campaign in Texas
Seeing Action on the Plains
The Battle on the Little Big Horn
Dandy, A Story of Custer's Favorite
Horse
Reminiscences of Custer's Cousin
A Postscript
Early in his life Custer manifested a
desire to be-
come a soldier. He entered West Point
in 1857 and was
graduated in 1861 in the midst of the
opening scenes
of the Civil War. After graduation he
was immediately
sent to Washington and in July of 1861
was entrusted
by General Winfield Scott with
important despatches to
General Irwin McDowell, who was
preparing for the
first Battle of Bull Run. Having
performed this mis-
670
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
sion he joined the cavalry regiment and
took part in the
battle. From the beginning of his
military service he
won honorable mention from his superior
officers. He
rose by rapid promotion from captain to
brigadier-
general and was later brevetted
major-general of vol-
unteers. When a youth of twenty-six
years he had at-
tained not only the distinction of
promotion to the office
of major-general, but fame as one of the
most brilliant
cavalry leaders of the Civil War. He
afterwards served
in the wars against the Indians in the
West and in 1876
with all of his command, died fighting
the savages in
overwhelming numbers on the Little Big
Horn in Mon-
tana.
The three great generals that Ohio gave
to the na-
tion in the Civil War are generally
given as Grant, Sher-
man and Sheridan. Grant and Sherman
were born in
Ohio, but Sheridan was born in New
York, and came to
Ohio in his childhood. The three
eminent generals of
Ohio birth were, therefore, Grant,
Sherman and Custer.
Memorials have already been erected to
Custer at
West Point, at Monroe, Michigan, and on
the field of
his last battle on the heights
overlooking the Little Big
Horn in Montana, while the state of his
birth is now to
pay fitting tribute in a substantial
memorial.
Pictorial Ohio which has been somewhat extensively
announced in the public press has
appeared in attractive
cover and illustrations. Following its
concluding page
is a very satisfactory road map with
extensive index to
the cities and villages of Ohio. This
publication covers
forty-eight pages of text including one
hundred care-
Reviews, Nates and Comments 671
fully chosen illustrations. The
different counties of the
state are presented in alphabetical
order. Every county
has at least one illustration of scenic
or historic interest
with brief description. Other points of
interest are
named and located.
The front cover of the book contains in
color accu-
rate prints of the seal of the
Northwest Territory, the
first seal of Ohio, the seal of Ohio
authorized in 1866
by a law repealed two years later and
the present seal of
the state, together with a small
outline map of Ohio
on a Buckeye background.
This booklet, as announced on the front
cover, is
published by the Standard Oil Company
from informa-
tion furnished by the Ohio Department
of Education
and the Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society.
Arrangements have been made for its
wide distribution.
"History of Educational
Legislation in Ohio,
1851-1925"
This contribution by Dr. Nelson L. Bossing,
whick
was completed in the April 1930 issue
of the QUAR-
TERLY, has been eagerly and quite
generally read by edu-
cators since it appeared in print. It
covers in a satis-
factory way a period that has been
neglected. Some
corrections have been pointed out by
Professor R. H.
Eckelberry of the Department of
Education of the Ohio
State University.
On page 101 of the QUARTERLY,
the statement is
made that the township boards of
education were au-
thorized to employ teachers and that
the sub-district
directors "became simply
figure-heads from the stand-
672 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications point of authority." Mr. Eckelberry points out that section six of the act gives to the sub-district directors the right to employ and dismiss teachers--an authority that they exercised many years. On pages 387-388 the statement is made that the county under the system of 1914 "supplanted the town- ship as the unit of school control." The same impres- sion is conveyed on page 122. It would be more nearly correct to say that the authority was divided between the county board and the local board. It is true, how- ever, that large powers were granted to the county board and county superintendent. On page 255 the statement is made that "the next step in the [Ohio State] University program, came with the establishment of a high school building on the campus." This was authorized in the law but in fact such building was never erected. |
|
REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
Know Ohio: a Souvenir of the Buckeye
State
By J. L. Clifton and B. A. Aughinbaugh.
64 p.
Columbus, Ohio: 25 cents.
This is the title of a neatly printed,
attractively
bound and extensively illustrated
booklet of sixty-four
pages, each carrying eight by five
inches of printed mat-
ter. The writer has before him the
revised proof sheets
of the second printing of this work and
is impressed with
the belief that it will become very
popular with the pub-
lic schools whose present demand it
seems especially
designed to meet and with the general
public who are
now seeking as never before to become
more thoroughly
acquainted with their own state.
Its authorship is ample guaranty for
its authenticity.
Hon. J. L. Clifton, Director of
Education in Ohio, is
acquainted with the need for such a
work and a compe-
tent judge of its proper scope. Mr. B.
A. Aughinbaugh
had years of experience as teacher in
the public schools
of Ohio and the Philippine Islands before
he was called
to the Division of Visual Education in
the service of the
state. He has traveled in every county
of Ohio, in all
but four states of the Union and most
of the civilized
countries of the world, and has
collected over six hun-
dred photographs of the scenic,
historical and industrial
(660)