Ohio History Journal

EDITORIALANA.

EXHIBIT AT ST. LOUIS. Few exhibits in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis attract more interest than that of the Ohio State Archaeological and His- torical Society, excellently located in the Anthropological Building. The Society is certainly to be congratulated upon the success of its exhibit and the commendations it has received from archaeological students and scholars who visit it and give it patient attention. There is no presenta- tion of the remains of the Mound Builders and pre-historic men at the Ex- position more complete or admirably displayed, and leading archaeologists from all parts of the world who have seen it pay high compliment to Mr. Mills, the curator, for the work he has done and the skillful and artistic manner in which he has arranged the exhibit.  We quote from one of the St. Louis papers of late date a readable interview by the re- porter with Professor Mills.  It is as follows:   PREHISTORIC SCULPTURE. "Now that," declared William C. Mills, "is a great work of art." Since George Williamson held the same opinion, and since the one gentle- man is a leading archaeologist of Ohio and the other of a similar position in Louisiana, the matter is worth pondering. "That," is a small clay effigy which rests serenely upon its back, the principal treasure in the large archaeological or anthropological collection of Ohio in the Anthropology building.  It was dug out of an Ohio mound and was modeled by some mound-builder countless centuries ago. The image is about 8 inches long, dirty brown in color, speckled with black spots. The arms parallel the body, the legs are extremely conven- tional, while the attitude would be very uncomfortable if attempted, being that of a man trying to rest his weight upon shoulder blades, the groin and heels, with the head, held up stiffly from the ground. The features are grotesque and the expression at the lips approaches an absurd grin. You remark that, whatever of scientific interest the relic may pos- sess, it does not appeal to you as a work of art. "But, undoubtedly it is," declared Mr. Mills, with some heat. "It should rank with the finest sculpture to be found in the Palace of Fine Arts. Representing the art endeavor of a prehistoric people, it is as much art, and more so than the grotesqueries of medieval times. To the people who made it, it was so wonderful that they doubtless worshiped it. 395

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396         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

"It is a faithful picure, too-a picture carrying with it many sugges-

tions of the antiquity of the human race, and a constant reminder of the

strange people who lived on this continent before even the American

Indian."

Under the spell of such argument one becomes more and more at-

tracted by the effigy's grinning countenance. You lean over the case

and look upon it until the inane features are so impressed upon you that

they continue to stare you in the face long after leaving. The fact is that

this most extraordinary phiz so pursues you that likely enough it will be-

come a decorative incident in your dreams.

A stay in these archaeological precincts introduces one to countless

stone arrowheads, axes, spears, awls, beads, shell ornaments, bones and

bone implements, and potteries. What use or instructive value has it

all to the average citizen, whose capacities are exhausted with affairs of

the day? Messrs. Mills and Williamson both seem to regard such a

query as proper to a kind of antediluvian intelligence, akin to the stone

age, but they answered exhaustively.

"You have heard," began Mr. Mills, "that the 'proper study of

mankind is man?'"

"Certainly," you reply, "but I contest the proposition. I hold that

the proper study of mankind is woman."

"You do indicate one tremendous enigma," put in Mr. Williamson,

"possibly of considerable study. But, then, seriously, our old relics, dug

up at much expense of time and money, really are worth something to

the casual visitor who may stray in here. They are suggestive of many

ideas concerning the development of the human race from the primitive

state, and, in the simple fact of their crudeness, these old tools aid toward

forming conceptions of life and progress. To see them enriches the mind."

"Yes, yes," you reply, "but does not practically everybody realize

anyhow that at one time there was a stone age and primitive peoples?"

"Vaguely, perhaps," continued Mr. Mills, "but is it not worth while

to know things just for the pleasure of knowing them. You might as

well say that knowing of George Washington is no use because he's a long

time dead. It becomes at least mightily interesting when, at prehistoric

times, intercourse is proved between Ohio and the Atlantic Coast, Ohio

and the copper mines of Michigan, between Louisiana and Missouri and

between Ohio and Louisiana and Missouri and the advanced race which

populated and left such amazing architectural remains in Mexico.

"All of this and much more is told by this collection made by the

Ohio Historical Society. These copper articles did not come out of Ohio;

these shells are from the seacoast. And these bones; they are of a domes-

ticated dog, and by the bones of this dog, we trace a movement from the

North and Northeast toward the South and Southeast. So we begin to

follow a people and learn something of their habits and character who

lived long before written records became a fact."

The expression, "Indian corn," has gone into the books as descrip-

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Editorialana.                       397

 

tive of the cereal native to the American Continent. But one of the most

interesting of the displays brought here by Mr. Mills clearly proves that

these mound builders, a race very different from the Indian, grew this

corn before the Indian drove them South.

"It had been a question," said the Ohio man, "whether the mound

builders were agriculturists. Now, see these charred remains of grain.

They were dug from an old village site adjacent to one of the principal

Ohio mounds.

"Exploration of this site discovered that its original people lived as

clans, each family or clan residing in a distinct portion of the village.

Each year they prepared a storehouse, which was nothing more than a

hole in the ground, lined at the bottom with stones and straw. Here

they placed their grain, their winter food supply, in the fall. Evidently

fire must have gotten into the pit where we found the burned grain. The

pit must then have been abandoned. The grain then smoldered until the

blaze finally went out. The hole was covered up and remained undis-

turbed until we came along with our spades-goodness only knows how

many years after.

"They probably dug a new storehouse or food pit every year, for

the indications are that in the spring the hole was used for refuse. We

even find the bones of infants in them, which would tend to prove that

these primitive parents did not attach consequences enough to the dead

child to accord it a formal burial. With these human remains are many

skeletons of the dogs I mentioned, and of the bones of wild animals, which

probably had been killed and eaten during the winter months.

"In that connection, the bones of the Virginia deer are most numer-

ous, which shows that they had means of killing the animal and had the

good taste which loves a venison steak."

 

 

 

ANNUAL MEETING OHIO STATE SOCIETY S. A. R.

On April 19, date of the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, the

Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution held its annual

meeting at the Great Southern Hotel, Columbus. There was a goodly

representation of membership from various parts of the state. At the

formal meeting in the afternoon, the annual address was delivered by

the retiring President, Col. James Kilbourne, and reports were heard from

the various officers. The report of Col. W. L. Curry, Registrar of the

Society, showed a total membership in the Ohio Society of 707, being an

increase of forty-two during the past year, while the deaths in the Society

were twelve. The officers elected for the ensuing year were as follow:

President, Isaac F. Mack, Sandusky, Vice-President, Wm. H. Hunter,

Chillicothe. Secretary William A. Taylor, Columbus. Registrar, Wil-

liam L. Curry, Columbus. Treasurer, Stimpson G. Bar    Toledo. His-

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398         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

torian, George H. Twiss, Columbus. Chaplain, Julius W. Atwood, Co-

lumbus. Vice-Presidents ex-officio: Orlando J. Hodge, President West-

ern Reserve Chapter, Cleveland; Dr. E. D. Gardner, President Anthony

Wayne Chapter, Toledo; E. P. Whallon, President Cincinnati Chapter,

Cincinnati; Wm. A. Taylor, President Benjamin Franklin Chapter, Co-

lumbus; Chas. C. Shearer, President Nathaniel Greene Chapter Xenia;

Robert M. Davidson, President George Washington Chapter, Newark;

Disney Rogers, President Nathan Hale Chapter, Youngstown.    Board

of Management: O. W. Aldrich, Columbus; James H. Anderson, Colum-

bus; Charles O. Probst, Columbus; Thomas M. Anderson, Sandusky;

John W. Harper, Cincinnati; Moulton Houk, Toledo; James H. Hayward,

Columbus; and the officers of the Society ex-officio.

Delegates to the National meeting to be held in St. Louis were

elected as follows: Emilius O. Randall, delegate at large, Columbus;

James H. Anderson, Columbus; Charles M. Beer, Ashland; Allen Briggs

Clemens, Columbus; Mozart Gallup, Sandusky; William H. Hunter, Chil-

licothe; John W. Harper, Cincinnati; Moulton Houk, Toledo; James

Kilbourne, Columbus; Isaac F. Mack, Sandusky; Daniel S. Miller, Upper

Sandusky; Disney Rogers, Youngstown; William A. Taylor, Columbus. Al-

ternates: Julius W. Atwood, Columbus; John J. Chester, Columbus;

Samuel Craig, Wapakoneta; Robert M. Davidson, Newark; Joseph B.

Foraker, Jr., Cincinnati; Dr. E. D. Gardner, Toledo; Orlando J. Hodge,

Cleveland; Rev. Clement C. Martin, Fostoria; Wm. Rombo, Brownsville,

Pa.; Charles C. Shearer, Xenia; Geo. A. Thayer, Cincinnati; Rev. E. P.

Whallon, Cincinnati.

Following the business meeting of the afternoon there was held

in the evening at the Columbus Club, an elaborate banquet, at which Col.

W. A. Taylor presided as toastmaster. The following toasts were re-

sponded to:

"Welcome," Col. James Kilbourne, retiring President.

"Response," by Hon. Isaac F. Mack, incoming President.

"The Flag Undesecrated," Col. James W. Harper.

"Our Country's Past," Col. Moulton Houk.

"Our Country's Future," Judge M. A. Norris.

Perhaps the most enjoyable feature of the program was the reading

of an original poem entitled "My Ohio Home," by Colonel James Piatt,

of Cincinnati. Appropriate music was rendered by the Columbus Apollo

Quartet.

 

 

"OLD NORTHWEST" GENEALOGICAL QUARTERLY.

The "Old Northwest" Genealogical Quarterly for July is an unusu-

ally interesting number, the leading article being the biography and gene-

alogy of the ancestry and life of ex-Governor Asa Smith Bushnell,

by George Wells Knight, Historian of The Old Northwest Genealogical

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Editorialana.                       399

 

Society. The article is most complete and satisfactory, written with the

customary scholarly accuracy characteristic of Professor Knight. Judge

James H. Anderson, the President of The Old Northwest Genealogical

Society, has an interesting, and, of course, sympathetic article upon his

son, James Thomas Anderson, Lieutenant U. S. A., who died in Colorado

Springs, March 13, 1904, and was buried on the 17th of March, at Marion,

Ohio. There is also an article by the late William Trimble McClintick,

of Chillicothe, Ohio, upon Hugh Williamson; also Reminiscences of

early Green Bay, Wisconsin, contributed by Stephen B. Feet, the historian

and archaeologist of Chicago.

The Old Northwest Genealogical Society is to be congratulated upon

the results it is accomplishing under the guidance of its President, Judge

James H. Anderson, and its Secretary, Frank T. Cole. It is doing a

valuable and permanent work and merits the unqualifying success which

is rewarding its efforts.

 

 

NATIONAL MEETING S. A. R.

The annual National Convention of the Sons of the American Rev-

olution was held in St. Louis June 15 and 16. The attendance was large,

nearly every state of the Union being represented, the total number of

delegates being in the neighborhood of four hundred. Ohio was unusually

well represented by thirteen delegates as follows: E. O. Randall, delegate

at large, Columbus; Isaac F. Mack, Sandusky; William A. Tay-

lor, Columbus; Daniel S. Miller, Upper Sandusky; James H.

Anderson, Columbus; Mozart Gallup, Sandusky; Allen Briggs Clem-

ens, Columbus; Moulton Houk, Toledo; Charles M. Beer, Ashland; Clem-

ent C. Martin, Fostoria; George A. Thayer, Cincinnati; E. P. Whallon,

Cincinnati; and William Rombo, Brownsville, Pa.

The interest and success of the convention, however, was somewhat

marred by the attempt to hold the meetings on the grounds of the Louisi-

ana Purchase Exposition. Headquarters were established at the Inside

Inn, which proved totally unable to accommodate either the meeting of the

convention or the individual delegates. As a result the several sessions

were held in different quarters-the Pennsylvania Building, Music Hall,

and elsewhere, making it exceedingly inconvenient for the delegates,

indeed, quite difficult for them to keep posted as to where the meetings

were to be held. The attendance at the meetings was thereby much de-

pleted. Another destructor in the equation was the counter attraction

of the Exposition and its show features. The cold fact was that the enter-

tainments of the Pike were too alluring for many of the degenerate scions

of noble sires who fought, bled and died in the American Revolution.

Three sessions of the Convention were held, at the last of which the fol-

lowing officers were elected for the ensuing year:  President General,

James Denton Hancock, Franklin, Pa. Vice-Presidents General: George

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400         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.   H. Shields, 616 Rialto Building, St. Louis, Mo.; John Paul Earnest, 323 John Marshall Place, Washington, D. C.; Col. A. D. Cutler, 134 Market St., San Francisco, Cal.; Edward Payson Cone, 100 Broadway, N. Y.; Charles Kingsley Miller, 544 N. State St., Chicago, Ill. Secretary General and Registrar General, A. Howard Clark, Smithsonian Institution, Wash- ington, D. C. Treasurer General, Isaac W. Birdseye, Bridgeport, Conn. Historian General, George Williams Bates, 32 Buhl Building, Detroit, Mich. Chaplain General, Rev. Julius W. Atwood, Columbus, Ohio. Gen- eral Board of Managers, the General Officers and the Presidents of the State Societies.

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