Ohio History Journal

CHARLES BURLEIGH GALBREATH1

 

BY JOHN F. CARLISLE

 

Charles Burleigh Galbreath was born on a farm

near Leetonia, Columbiana County, Ohio, February 25,

1858, and died February 23, 1934, just two days before

his birthday date. He was the son of Edward Paxson

Galbreath and Jane Minerva (Shaw) Galbreath, and

was a birthright member of the Society of Friends.

In the closing days of the "Civil War" he began his

elementary education. He learned to read from the

McGuffey Readers and to figure from Ray's Arithme-

tic. In 1879 he was graduated from New Lisbon High

School, and in 1882 from Mt. Union College, at Alli-

ance, Ohio, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy;

and in 1885 with the degrees of Bachelor of Commercial

Science and Bachelor of Arts. The degree of Master of

Arts was conferred upon him by his Alma Mater in

1894.

Mr. Galbreath served as superintendent of schools

of Wilmot, Ohio, 1884-1886, and of East Palestine,

1886 to 1893. During the same period he was county

school examiner of Columbiana County. In the sum-

mer of 1891 and again in the summer of 1892 he taught

in the Ohio Normal University at Ada, Ohio, now

known as Ohio Northern University. He served two

years as vice-president, 1893 to 1895, of Mt. Hope Col-

lege, Rogers, Ohio, and in 1896 became its president,

1 From memorial and tribute adopted by the Columbus McGuffey

Society, April 24, 1934.

(115)

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116      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

and while so acting he was made State Librarian of

Ohio and continued as such for fifteen years, until July

1, 1911. In 1915 he was again selected State Librarian

and served three more years. Nine years later he served

as temporary librarian to build up again the run-down

condition of the State library. This service he rendered

in 1927.

He was the special research assistant to the Joint

Legislative Committee on Administrative Reorganiza-

tion of Ohio, from July 9, 1919, until 1920.

He organized a system of traveling libraries, which

had increased to the number of 1200 in 1911, with

56,000 volumes. Ohio at the time exceeded in number

of traveling libraries that of every state in the Union.

It was during the years 1912 and 1913 that he was

secretary of the Fourth Constitutional Convention. At

the opening of our War with Spain he took a prominent

and active interest in the formation and organization of

the Columbus Branch of the Cuban League which rose

to 2000 members, the object of the League being the

freedom and independence of Cuba.

Mr. Galbreath was the author of Daniel Decatur Em-

mett, composer of "Dixie," 1904; Benjamin Russell

Hanby, author of "Darling Nellie Gray," 1905; Will L.

Thompson, author of "Gathering Shells from the Sea-

shore," 1905; Alexander Coffman Ross, author of "Tip-

pecanoe and Tyler Too," 1905; Initiative and Referen-

dum, 1911; Our National Constitution and Constitutions

of Ohio, 1911; Constitutional Conventions of Ohio,

1911; Battle of Lake Erie, in Ballad and History, 1911;

Story of Ohio, 1913; Story of the Aeroplane, 1915;

This Crimson Flower, an answer to "In Flanders'

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Charles Burleigh Galbreath         117

Fields," and other verse, 1919; Visit of Lafayette to

Ohio Valley States, 1920; Expedition of Celoron to the

Ohio Country, 1921; History of Ohio, 5 volumes here-

tofore referred to, 1925; many sketches and published

articles. He also compiled Sketches of Ohio Libraries,

1911, and Proclamations and Debates of the Fourth

Constitutional Convention of Ohio, 1912-1913, consist-

ing of two large volumes.

Mr. Galbreath was a member of the American Li-

brary Association, the American Historical Association,

the National Association of State Librarians, the Ohio

Library Association, a life member of The Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, serving it as sec-

retary, editor and librarian for the last fourteen years

of his life; an active member of the Kit-Kat Club of

our city, and an officer of the Ohio History Day Asso-

ciation of Circleville, Ohio, the aim of which is to pre-

serve the history of the region which centers around the

great old tree, popularly known as The Logan Elm. He

also was an honorary member of the Ohio Society of

New York. As librarian of The Ohio State Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society he played an important

part in building up the 25,000 volume newspaper col-

lection of the Society's library. In appreciation of his

efforts it is named and known as The Charles Burleigh

Galbreath Newspaper Library.1

In 1932, when the Bicentennial of the birth of our

First President was celebrated, Mr. Galbreath took an

outstanding active interest, investigating, studying, de-

 

1 During Mr. Galbreath's administration as Librarian, the library was

increased by fourteen outstanding collections, including the Newspaper Col-

lection, aggregating an estimated value of $250,000.--Editor.

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118      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

livering talks upon and actually traveling over the trips,

trails and camps of General George Washington to the

then so-called "Western Country," which we now know

as the Ohio River along the eastern and southeastern

boundary of our state. He has left us a record of all

this.

It had often been said, and sometimes written, that

Dr. William Holmes McGuffey left us nothing from his

pen except the Readers. Mr. Galbreath's investigations,

on the contrary, show that Dr. McGuffey did leave some

stray writings, a very important one being his lecture

delivered before "The Teacher's College" of Cincinnati,

Ohio, in the winter of 1836. This lecture, entitled "The

Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Teachers," he found

in a file of a magazine then known as The Academician,

which is preserved in the Library of Ohio State Uni-

versity. The ideas of Dr. McGuffey contained in the

lecture may be said to furnish the aims and purposes of

"The Parent-Teachers Associations" of our day. The

letters of Anna McGuffey Morrill, a niece of Dr. Wil-

liam Holmes McGuffey and daughter of Alexander

Hamilton McGuffey, appeared in a recent number of

THE QUARTERLY under the title, "A Daughter of the

McGuffeys." This is is as clever a piece of editing as

can be found anywhere. One of the many important

matters brought out was the attitude of the McGuffy

brothers towards the questions that were uppermost in

both the North and the South during the Civil War,

which attitude attracted Mr. Galbreath's attention for

many years. He discovered that the sympathies of Dr.

McGuffey, who had from 1845 to his death been a pro-

fessor in the University of Virginia, were with the

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Charles Burleigh Galbreath             119

South, while those of his brother, Alexander, were with

the North, and that when they visited each other, they

religiously avoided the subject at all times.

The lesson, "A Boy on a Farm," from the McGuffey

Readers, certainly had its appeal to Mr. Galbreath, for

he, too, as has been said, was born and reared on a farm.

It is but logical to infer that his founding of the "trav-

eling library" for rural Ohio, had its roots in this lesson.

It was his custom to be present and deliver an address

when such a library was dedicated in the rural county.

On January 1st, 1901, when the one in Van Wert County

was dedicated, Mr. Galbreath was present, and, amongst

other things, said:

The country boy stands alone, the child of nature, whose

landscape, horizon girt, limits his little world. The farm is his

gymnasium, the rural school his hall of learning, the amphitheater

of hills with overarching sky, his temple of philosophy. Meager

opportunities, but they have crowned history's page with names

illustrious, deeds heroic, and character exalted. His past is an

honored one. What of his future? He still has God's sunshine,

the pure air of heaven, and an environment that inspires liberty

and independence. Add to these gifts of nature some of the edu-

cational advantages of the city, bring the grade school within his

reach, through the medium of the traveling library introduce him

to the master minds of the ages, and he will face the world, broad

fronted and square shouldered, strong to "breast the blows of

circumstances and make by force his merit known." You offer

him the companionship of books. What better could be given?

When the long winter nights are here, when the storm is loud

without, when the snow-flakes silently fall and the frost and the

invisible finger works crystal flowers on the window pane, seated

by the fire he will forget his isolation as he follows the printed

page, and for him "the night shall be filled with music."

Colonel E. S. Wilson, a charter member of The Co-

lumbus McGuffey Society, and who for many years and

to the day of his death was editor of the Ohio State Jour-

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120       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

nal, always claimed that to be a poet one must have what

he called "The Divine Afflatus"--the gift of poesy. Mr.

Galbreath had deep in his soul this gift. While the

"World War" was on there came from the pen of Lieu-

tenant Colonel John McCrae, then actively engaged with

the Canadian forces in the north of France, the poem,

"In Flanders Fields." This poem and the spirit of it

so stirred the poetic soul of Mr. Galbreath, whose only

child and son was with the American Forces in France

then at the front engaged in bitter battle for the right,

that he brought forth "America's Answer" to "In Flan-

ders Fields"--peace with victory--and the patriotic feel-

ing of America toward the World War thereby became

understandable and concrete to all of us.

 

AMERICA'S ANSWER

In Flanders fields the cannon boom

And fitful flashes light the gloom,

While up above, like eagles, fly

The fierce destroyers of the sky;

With stains the earth wherein you lie

Is redder than the poppy bloom,

In Flanders fields.

Sleep on, ye brave. The shrieking shell,

The quaking trench, the startled yell,

The fury of the battle hell

Shall wake you not; for all is well.

Sleep peacefully; for all is well.

Your flaming torch aloft we bear,

With burning heart an oath we swear

To keep the faith, to fight it through

To crush the foe or sleep with you

In Flanders fields.

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Charles Burleigh Galbreath          121

After the Armistice (November 11, 1918), the

Muse-spirit again flamed within him and from the

depths of his soul, he sang:

The war-worn world has found release,

And in this chaste and hallowed bed

Serenely sleep the martyred dead,

While falls the benison of peace

In Flanders fields.

Sleep, victors, sleep when falls the snow,

When spring returns, when poppies blow;

Our legions heard your mute appeal,

They kept the faith through fire and steel,

And when the battle flags were furled

Your torch illumined all the world

From Flanders fields.

Mr. Galbreath was a charter and active member of

the Columbus Verse-Writers Guild. Many of the mem-

bers have given us their appreciation of him in beautiful

verse. Lack of space prevents us from incorporating

them.

Mr. Galbreath was married July 29th, 1882, to Ida

Kelley, daughter of Albert R. and Anna (Harnit) Kel-

ley, of Salem, Ohio. One son, Albert Webster Gal-

breath, was born of this union. He is now a consulting

engineer in St. Louis, Missouri.

How shall Charles Burleigh Galbreath's sincere and

magnanimous personality be recorded?  We fear we

cannot have others, who did not know him, know him

as we who lived in almost daily contact with him. He

lived so full and so large a life in all his seventy-six

years. We can be sure that his recorded works and

labors will live on for generations to come. He had a

winning and simple personality with which few are

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122       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications gifted, and which we shall all remember. His ideal was to live honorably, hurt nobody and give to every man his due. He had a largeness,--a largeness that reached be- yond the liminal--a something words cannot describe. The spiritual effulgence of his soul has not gone from among us. It will ever remain with us. His was the simple life. He was always meek--always courteous-- always a true Christian gentleman. "None knew him, but to love him, Nor named him, but to praise."

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