Ohio History Journal

interesting and memorable occasion. Col- onel Hayes had invited the Trustees to be his guests the day named above and day before, and on Wednesday noon, the the 29th, several of the Trustees, upon their arrival at Bellevue, enroute to Fre- mont, were met by Colonel Hayes, Sen- ator T. A. Dean and other prominent citizens of Fremont, also a delegation of the Daughters of the American Revo- lution, viz: Mrs. C. R. Truesdall, State Regent, D. A. R.; Mrs. John T. Mack, Committee Chairman State Historic sites, D. A. R.; Mrs. L. A. Dickinson, Regent George Croghan Chapter, D. A. R.; Mrs. F. H. Dorr, Mrs. S. Brinkerhoff, Mrs. A. Little, Mrs. H. G. Edgerton, Mrs. B. Dudrow, Mrs. Otto Davis, Mrs. C. R. Lester (Detroit), Miss Julia Haynes and

320       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

the headquarters of General Harrison, during an important period of

the 1812 war. The defense known as Fort Seneca was erected early in

July, 1813, and contained within its enclosure about one and one-half

acres of land. The position of the fort was both a picturesque and

a practical one, being situated upon the bank about forty feet above the

bed of the Sandusky river.

On the return to Fremont, the party made a stop at the location

of Ball's Battlefield, where Colonel Ball with a detachment of troops,

on their way to the Maumee, a day or two before the assault on Fort

Stephenson, met a band of Tecumseh's Indians. The encounter was

somewhat unique in as much as the mounted soldiers with drawn sabres

charged into the Indian ranks and cut them to pieces before the savages

could get their flint lock guns into working order. The site of Ball's

battle is to be appropriately "monumented" by the Daughters of the

American Revolution, who have already placed in position an immense

bowlder, upon which suitable descriptive tablets will be attached.

The Trustees were most hospitably entertained at Spiegle Grove the

evening and night of the 29th. At 8:30 a. m., Thursday, the Board meeting

was held in the spacious parlors of the Hayes residence, so interestingly

and inspiringly stored with relics of the wars of '76, 1812 and '61 to

'65. Like knights of the historic Round Table the Trustees gathered

in this room, where have been received at various times so many dis-

tinguished members of the official, civil and military circles of our nation.

The splendid features of Rutherford B. Hayes, at one time President

of our Society, and always its ardent advocate, seemed to gaze ap-

provingly upon the proceedings of the meeting. The Trustees present

were: M. R. Andrews, G. F. Bareis, A. J. Baughman, H. E. Buck, R.

E. Hills, J. W. Harper, B. F. Prince, L. P. Schaus, H. A. Thompson,

W. C. Mills, G. F. Wright and E. O. Randall. The main business in

hand was the acceptance of the deeds from Colonel Hayes, completing

in prospect the transfer of the entire Spiegel Grove property, of some

twenty-five acres, to the State of Ohio, for the benefit and the cus-

todianship of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

One year ago Colonel Hayes made over ten acres of the property, em-

bracing the Harrison Trail. The two deeds now submitted and accepted

by the Society, transfer the additional ten acre strip facing on Hayes

and Wilson avenues, and a separate deed for the remaining five acres,

including the famous and magnificent Hayes residence, with its price-

less treasure of relics and books.  Conditions of this princely and

patriotic gift are, that the State or the Historical Society shall properly

maintain the property and home, allowing the lineal descendants of the

late President Hayes to occupy the residence when they choose and

that the State or Society shall erect a fireproof library building to con-

tain the library, which in Americana is perhaps the richest private collec-

tion in this country.

Editorialana.                        321

 

Mr. Birchard A. Hayes of Toledo, Ohio, and Mrs. Fanny Hayes

Smith of Annapolis, Md., oldest son and only daughter respectively of

the late President Rutherford B. Hayes, were elected life members of

the Society.

At the adjournment of the meeting, under the chaperonage of

Colonel Hayes, the party again resorted to automobiles, and accompanied

by several other guests including many of the Daughters of the Ameri-

can Revolution, who were in the party of the previous day, all proceeded

to Port Clinton, where dinner was served at the hotel. An inspection

was then made of the historic carrying-place, leading from the mouth

of the Portage River on Lake Erie across the projecting neck of land

to Sandusky Bay.

It is proposed to mark the northern portion of this old Sandusky-

Scioto land trail--leading from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, along the

west bank of the Sandusky-Scioto watercourse,-by erecting two simple

bowlder monuments on what is called the De Lery portage of 1754, ex-

tending from Lake Erie across the Marblehead peninsula to Sandusky

Bay, opposite the mouth of the Sandusky River. This portage is ap-

proximately represented by Fulton Street of the city of Port Clinton

with its extension north, an ordinary country road, from the city limits

south to Sandusky Bay.

Old Fort Sandusky, built in 1745, was near the southern end of this

portage and General Harrison's army embarked for the Canadian cam-

paign, terminating in the Battle of the Thames, from the northern end

of this portage, at which point his troops also were embarked on

Commodore Perry's ships soon after the battle of Lake Erie. The citi-

zens of Port Clinton propose to erect a split bowlder monument on

the shores of Sandusky Bay at the south end of the De Lery portage,

at the site of Old Fort Sandusky. And the Ohio Society of Colonial

Dames of America have secured a fund for the construction of an

historical tablet to be placed on one of the faces of the monument. It

is agreed that the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society

place on this monument a tablet of similar size, descriptive of the events

happening on this site, and also two small tablets, one containing the

roster of the officers of the French expedition of 1754 and the other

the roster of the first British expedition of 1760, when America was

taken over by Great Britain from France.

At the northern end of the portage a similar monument will be

erected by citizens of Port Clinton, on which the Ohio Society, Daugh-

ters of the American Revolution, will place a tablet for which a sum

has been provided, and it is decided that a tablet of similar size also

descriptive of the battle of Lake Erie, be erected by the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, and also two smaller tablets, one

containing a roster of the officers of Major General Harrison's army

Vol. XIX-21.

ties to those who enjoyed the priviledge of his companionship. Mr. Taylor descended from a li ne a g e distinguished for pioneer achievement, for sur- passing energy, unyielding in- tegrity and unswerving devotion to truth and country. He was the son of David Taylor and Margaret Livingston, respective- ly, of English and Scotch origin, whose families through widely different channels of experience came together in Franklin county, Ohio, more than a hundred years ago. David Taylor, father of our subject, was born in Nova Scotia, in 1801, and with his father (Robert), and brothers and sisters moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, then the capital of the new state, in 1806. Two years later the family moved to Truro township, Franklin county, and