Ohio History Journal

ADDRESSES BEFORE THE OHIO STATE ARCHAE-

OLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

 

 

AT MARIETTA, APRIL 5 AND 6, IN CONNECTION WITH

THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.

 

ANNUAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT F. C. SESSIONS.

 

THE invitation to hold the third annual meeting of this

Society in Marietta came with singular appropriateness.

It is certainly gratifying to those of us who have seen the

movement to celebrate this occasion properly to be permitted

to participate in these exercises.

The few remarks that I shall make in this, the opening

of the meeting, can add but little to the historic interest

which attaches to the occasion; but this I may say, that I

voice the sentiments of all the members of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, looking back to that

day in March, 1885, when a few persons gathered in the

State Library at Columbus to form the Society, that one of

its prime objects then decided upon, is now being realized.

We are not all here who met on that day; one or two of the

number are resting that "eternal rest" which another century

will bring to all of us; the end of which century another gen-

eration will celebrate.

One hundred years ago the advance guard of our present

civilization in this part of our country were slowly floating

down the river the Indians call "the beautiful." Did this

band of forty-eight men-" The Pilgrims of the North-

west"-realize what one century of time would do in this

part of their country which they were now about to occnpy?

Then the whole territory, of which our State is but one-

sixth, was practically a wilderness. Scarcely a white man's

home, save small French settlements, whose people, in the

century in which they had occupied the alluvial Illinois

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146   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

 

bottoms, were hardly civilized. Not a road, not a settlement

aside from those established by Moravian missionaries, could

be found in any part of what is now Ohio. The pioneers

found a wilderness that promised much more for their labor.

Could they appear with us in these commemorative exercises

to-day, would their expectations be realized? We can only

leave to history the answer.

To an individual one hundred years seems a long lapse of

time. To a nation it is short. It lacks but four years of four

centuries since Columbus gave to civilized mankind a new

world, whose age rivals that known in history as the Old

World. Less than two centuries after Columbus came there

landed on a "wild tempestuous shore" a band of Pilgrim

fathers, seeking in America the freedom denied them in

Catholic Europe. Again two centuries and the second band

of Pilgrims, whose coming we of to-day celebrate, landed on

our "wild Muskingum shores," and laid the foundations of a

civilization, which neither they nor their fathers of 1620, nor

those of 1492, could contemplate.

I shall not attempt to trace the historic associations gathered

here to-day. We stand, as it were, on consecrated ground.

On this soil, for the first time in the history of our country,

were planted the principles of freedom, education, civil and

religious liberty; and here was also planted the system of

land-ownership by all people, as against the feudal system that,

coming down through unnumbered years of English history,

had fastened itself on many parts of our country. I can

revert only in the most casual manner to these inestimable

blessings, planted on the ground where we now stand. Their

results are their monuments; their endurance and their

influence, their history.

I may be pardoned, however, if I refer to some of the

results obtained, as shown in the history of the century

just closed.

When this colony landed there were but thirteen States

in the Union, whose people, confined chiefly to the Atlan-

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Address of President F. C. Sessions.   147

tic coast, were confronted with the problem of building a

nation on an untried basis, and whose form of government

was yet untested. Sagacious statesmen, looking to all

parts of our national problem, saw that a colony, firmly

planted in the extreme parts (and this was then our West-

ern border), would not only be an influence to perpetuate

those principles they had fought so hard so secure, but it

would be an integral factor in cementing incongruous

elements manifesting themselves in the country. Wash-

ington, Jefferson, the Adamses, Franklin, and others, saw

in the country "westward of the mountains" something

more than a mere colony, where men could retrieve their

fallen fortunes. They saw States whose people, bound by

the strongest ties of kindred and of patriotism, would

unite with the older States in perpetuating those princi-

ples that all the world is slowly recognizing as the only

ones on which a nation can live. And so the colony

became, in a large measure, national in character, and

hence national in its influences. Many colonies had gone

out to other localities, many have gone out since, but

how many can point to influences such as led this band in

the years 1787 and 1788.   The success or failure of

this colony carried with it the final success or failure of free-

dom in America. Its success or failure decided the indi-

vidual ownership of land; the township system of govern-

ment, and the inalienable rights of man in person, speech,

property, religion, and education. Among its first acts

was the employment of teachers, both secular and relig-

ious, and before a church was built or a school house seen,

secular and religious teachings were established.

The founding of this colony was watched with greater

solicitude by public men, and was better known, than that

of any colony in our history. Its planting meant new

States in the country westward of the Alleghenies, and

new States meant an increase of population, wealth, re-

sources, and power. Hence, one is not surprised to see

it often mentioned in the correspondence of Washington

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148   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

and others, a few of whose names I have recalled. I

need not repeat their assertions here; they are familiar

to all.

I have only casually glanced at the national features con-

nected with the planting of this colony. The subject itself

is far-reaching and important, and on this point I will only

add a word to the young among us-study well this ques-

tion. Learn its bearings on our history. Plant firmly in

your minds all that relates to it, and should you be called

in after life to assume such a duty for your country, see

to it that the lofty and enduring principles that actuated

the men at the close of the last century, be your chief

guide. Such an example and such a history could have

no higher eulogy.

Aside from the national effects produced by and growing

out of this settlement, is it not equally profitable to note

the effect produced in local or State affairs? How has this

settlement and its establishment affected the State in

which it was founded? Has it left an impress that can be

shown through the first century of our history? Can we

read it on the pages of our history of to-day-the end of

the cycle?

The annals of few States in our Union present a more

striking array of names than Ohio, and few States possess

a local history more conspicuous in our country's life. A

State founded on the principles established on these shores

one hundred years ago, could not help attracting to itself

the best elements of the older States. As a consequence

we see in the history of Ohio, especially in its early

years, a strong, predominating element consisting of the

best and most progressive men of our country. A State

where the choicest blessings of civil and religious freedom

could be assured, not only to themselves, but also to their

children, was a magnet that, of its very nature, would

attract just such men.

Ohio, which, in 1788, was the home of wild beasts and

wilder men, and which ranks seventeenth in admission



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Address of President F. C. Sessions.   149

into the Union, to-day stands third in the family of Amer-

ican States in population, wealth, resources and advance-

ment. Not an American State has made greater progress,

and no part of our Union excels that set aside in that

matchless organic law-the Ordinance of 1787-to freedom

and education. One does not need to recite the facts

necessary to prove the statement; the hands of progress,

refinement, and culture can be clearly traced in all parts

of America where these principles have been made the

fundamental and the controlling influences.

I shall leave to those who speak to us at this meeting to

amplify these ideas. I have merely opened the door, and

I am glad to bid you enter and enjoy the feast of intellect-

ual good things that awaits us.

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