Ohio History Journal

EDITORIALANA.

THE AVERY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. A philosophical essayist on the study of history tritely remarks that a historian should be possessed of industry, conscience and imagination.

Industry and patience to faithfully exhume the facts, conscience to truthfully and im- partially exploit them, and imagination to vividly portray the scenes and events in- volved that the reader in his mind's eye may perceive them realistically reproduced. Such is the ideal historian. Such an one to a rare degree is Mr. Elroy M. Avery, author of "A History of the United States and Its People," published by the Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, Ohio-to be completed in twelve octavo volumes. The first volume is before us. As the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the test of the book is in the reading. It has long been our notion that the history of the United States has not yet been written. To be sure, many so-called histories have been put

forth, but in the main written by eastern authors-provincial scholars, whose pens have been cramped by local pride or prejudices-a narrow range of historical vision-a vision bright and clear often till it reached the Alleghany Mountains, but beyond that lost in the vista of the great and overwhelming West. The vast and vital part played in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and beyond, in the formative period of our country, has usually been slightingly treated or practically ignored. The true his- tory of the United States must be written by a Westerner; the entire sweep of the historian's realm can only be had from the center and not from one side of our vast domain. Mr. Avery was properly born, located and educated for this work. All hail to a recital of the origin and growth of the American Republic by a Westerner-an Ohioan. Mr. Avery is a typical American. Born in Erie, Monroe County, Michigan (1844), of the best New England stock and tradition, the best blood of our fore- fathers, and the best brawn and brain of our western self-made manhood. A descendant of Puritan ancestry, a son of the American Revolution, a (216)

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Editorialana.                        217

 

country farm boy, ambitious, industrious, indefatigable in his efforts for

the development of all that was best in him, an improver of opportunities,

a student in the school of experience and the academic course, a school

teacher, a printer and newspaper writer, a brave soldier boy in the war

for our nation's unity and preservation, college graduate (Michigan, '71),

professor, litterateur, scientist, lecturer, principal of high-school, author

of many standard text-books in scientific and literary subjects, a politi-

cian of the higher order and statesman in the Ohio Senate (1894-1898).

Rare combination of natural and acquired fitness for the work which has

engaged his attention for the past twenty years.

This first volume covers the period of the geologic formation of the

land, the first Americans, paleolithic and neolithic Americans, the North-

men, voyages of the early navigators, Columbus, Da Gama, the Cabots,

Vespucius, the Spanish, English and French pioneers, the American

Indians, etc. The chapters on the first Americans, the paleolithic the

neolithic man, are especially interesting and satisfactory. They deal with

subjects fascinating because somewhat nebulous-on the border between

myth and history. Mr. Avery has been unusually happy in treating these

topics-concisely and comprehensively giving what is known and what has

been guessed by the leading knowers and chief guessers. After stating

the geologic hypothesis of the formation of surface of our land, he says:

"In the earliest archean age (Azoic), only dead matter

existed on earth. Then life appeared: first the unconscious life

of the plant, then, the conscious and intelligent life of the animal.

After almost countless ages, man appeared. Upon matter, life

had been imposed; now, mind was to crown the structure, stand-

ing upon matter and life and dominating both. 'And the even-

ing and the morning were the sixth day.' At what stage in this

scene of development did man first appear in the world that

Columbus found, and what sort of a being was he?"

He then discusses the earliest evidences of man's appearance-the

glacial man-the original "ice-man"-the paleolithic man, so-called because

of the "rudeness of the relics found in the quaternary gravels." He was

followed by the neolithic gentleman (?), also pre-historic, but of a higher

grade of intelligence and skill, residing in the stone age, but whose imple-

ments were ground or polished in a manner that set him above his paleo-

lithic predecessor in the scale of civilization. The evidences of the neo-

lithic race are very abundant and widely distributed. The third period

was called the ethnographic, lying partly before and partly within historical

times. "It began with our first knowledge of the red man, and is now

fading from the screen like a dissolving view that has been held up for

study for four hundred years." Then follow descriptions of prehistoric

monuments. The shell heaps, the bone heaps, graves, village sites, and

the innumerable and interesting remains of the cliff dwellers, mound

builders, and peoples who left their indelible and often vast and wonderful

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works but no written records or continuing traditions. Fort Ancient,

Serpent Mound and the incomparable and inscrutable earth structures

near Newark and Chillicothe are described and faithfully diagramed. The

researches and conclusions of the archaeologist and ethnologist are admir-

ably summarized. The testimony of the prehistoric remains as to the art,

mode of life and warfare of the strange and lost race is set forth, briefly

of course, but with skillful marshalling of facts and fancies.

"There are two widely held and antagonistic opinions con-

cerning the builders of these mounds. One school of archaeol-

ogists insists that the mound builders were far more cultured

than any known North American Indians, that their earthworks

were more complicated and better finished, that their arts of fash-

ioning and polishing stone and of fabricating pottery, their agri-

culture and their architecture, were more advanced, and that their

social and religious systems were of a higher order than were

those of their successors. This theory leads up to the concept of

an extinct civilization and a vanished race. The more modern

school confidently insists that 'there is nothing found in the mode

of construction of these mounds nor in the vestages of art they

contain to indicate that their builders had reached a higher cul-

ture-status than that attained by some of the Indian tribes found

occupying the country at the time of the arrival of the first

Europeans.'

"At no time in the history of any of the older nations of the

world has the whole population been removed to give place to

another altogether different. Continuity is the law of history,

and it is difficult to believe that that law has been violated here.

It is hardly conceivable that a race should come upon the stage,

act its part, and go away to give place to another company of

players with whom the first had naught to do."

The chapter on the Indians of North America deals with the "red

man" of our earliest historic knowledge. His origin, extent of his habi-

tations at time of Columbian discoveries, his racial separation into tribes

and groups of tribes.

"At the end of the nineteenth century, there were about one

hundred and fifty officially recognized tribes in the United States,

exclusive of Alaska, gathered upon more than fifty reservations,

besides others that occupied state reservations or were scattered

among the whites. We have no sufficient data for ascertaining

the aboriginal population at the time of the discovery, but, after

making all allowances for exaggeration in the early estimate,

there can be no question that it has greatly diminished. The

popular impression that the eastern tribes have simply been re-

moved to the west is true in but a few cases. In most instances

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they have been exterminated by war, disease, and failure of

accustomed food supply, consequented upon the advent of the

whites."

The simple and primitive existence and the peculiar characteristics

of these children of the forest are entertainingly depicted. This chapter

is followed by a valuable and full appendix of statistics concerning the

Indians-treaties of the United States with the tribes, the cost to the

government in the case of these aboriginal wards, the reservations, their

area, number of Indians in each, etc.

Mr. Avery's style is most felicitous. We know of no historian more

readable in manner or more elegant in rich but simple English. One

could easily be persuaded to read these pages for entertainment, no less

than for information. Mr. Avery has the true historic temperament as

well as the scholarly intellect; there is nothing mechanical, dull or com-

mon place in the pages of this recital; once entered upon the opening of

this volume, the reader is borne along with an interest as unflagging as

that imparted by the shifting scenes of some play.

The author has selected the material for his readers from an almost

limitless store-house, with exact discrimination. The work is popular in

form, it is, as the author declares, for the reader of general culture, rather

than the professional student. The latter, however, is partially provided

for by having placed at his disposal a bibliographical appendix, in which

are given for this volume alone a list of over five hundred authorities

arranged alphabetically and under topical heads, so that sources of infor-

mation on any given subject may be readily found. The work is profusely

illuminated with maps and illustrations. The mechanical execution of the

work surpasses that of any history we have seen. The publishers have

given the production of Mr. Avery's graphic and fascinating pen a setting

worthy the theme and treatment. The volumes are most perfect and

attractive specimens of the modern "art of arts." No history of the

United States has been honored with such royal encasement. It is worthy

the shelves of a sovereign.

 

 

THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.

The twentieth annual meeting of the American Historical Associa-

tion was held in Chicago, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, December

28, 29 and 30, 1904. Members were present from nearly every State in

the Union, representing nearly all the leading historical societies and the

historical departments of the leading colleges and universities. The Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society was officially represented by

the secretary, E. O. Randall, Columbus, and Mr. A. J. Baughman, Mans-

field, life member of the society and also secretary of the Richland County

Historical Society. There were also present Miss Martha J. Maltby,

Columbus, Mr. Nelson W. Evans, Portsmouth, and Dr. C. E. Slocum,

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220        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Defiance, all life members of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society.

The meetings of the association were held in the Mandel Assembly

Hall and the Reynolds Club Rooms of the University of Chicago. The

first session of the association was held Wednesday afternoon, and was

opened with a felicitous address of welcome by President William A.

Harper, of the University of Chicago. During the several sessions that

followed, various phases of historical work, both American and foreign,

were presented and discussed. Among the topics considered were meth-

ods of collection of materials, the best means of organizing historical

societies, mutual calendaring of manuscript collections, and the possibility

of co-operation among societies in the matter of publications. Also the

relation of state historical societies to the state government, the work of

American historical societies, the historical congress at St. Louis, the

material of American history in the English archives, and the teaching of

history in the elementary schools and other kindred topics.

The names of some fifty professors of history in the colleges of the

country were on the published program. Three foreign universities were

also represented. Ettore Pais, professor in the University of Naples, gave

an address on Roman History; Paul Milyoukov, professor of the Univer-

sity of Sofia, spoke on the subject of "Russian Historiography," and

Friedrich Keutgen, professor in the University of Jena, gave a very useful

and interesting talk on the necessity in America of the study of the early

history of modern European nations.

Especially interesting was the "Round Table" conference, held by the

representatives of the various state and local historical societies, at which

Mr. Reuben G. Thwaites, Secretary of the State Historical Society of Wis-

consin, presided. At this conference formal papers were read on the

following subjects: "Forms of Organization, and Relation to the State

Government," Thomas M. Owen, director of the department of archives

and history, Alabama; Warren Upham, secretary of the Minnesota His-

torical Society. "The Possibilities of Mutual Co-operation Between the

Societies, State and Local," C. M. Burton, president of the Michigan Pio-

neer and Historical Society; Benjamin H. Shambaugh, State Historical

Society of Iowa. Director McLaughlin, of the Bureau of Historical

Research, Carnegie Institute, gave an account of the indexing of manu-

scripts. W. C. Ford, chief of the division of Manuscripts, Library of Con-

gress, read a paper on "Government Archives in Our New Possessions."

Many topics and phases of historical research, collection and collation

were presented and considered. Reports show that there is a growing

interest in the history of the country, and the consensus of opinion was

that more work upon the lines indicated should be taken up by the colleges

and other institutions of learning, and to this the two hundred professors

and teachers present enthusiastically assented.

Among the social features of the meeting were a luncheon in Hutch-

inson Hall, Wednesday at 1 P. M.: a reception by the Chicago Historical

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Society Wednesday evening, and a reception Thursday afternoon by Presi-

dent and Mrs. Harper, at their residence, corner of Fifty-ninth street and

Lexington avenue. President Harper is an Ohio man, and was formerly

connected with Muskingum College, at New Concord. His wife is also

a Buckeye, and when a girl lived in Mansfield. She is the daughter of the

Rev. David Paul, who was the pastor of the Mansfield United Presbyterian

Church from 1858 until 1864, when he resigned to accept the presidency of

the Muskingum college.

The American Political Science Association and the American Eco-

nomic Association held their annual meetings at the same time, in the

halls of the Chicago University buildings.

 

 

NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING.

Apropos of the need for a building for the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society, we note with much interest and not a little envy

the announcement that the New York Historical Society is erecting a

building for its future home on Seventy-sixth Street, opposite Central

Park, New York. The site of the building was bought in June, 1891, at a

cost of $300,000. Some difficulty was experienced in raising the additional

money necessary to begin the work of the construction. Dean Hoffman,

father of the present president of the society, was the leader and director

of this undertaking. He induced several prominent New Yorkers-among

them Archer M. Huntington, Miss Matilda Wolf Bruce, J. P. Morgan,

F. Robert Schell, the late John Alsop King, Cornelius and George W.

Vanderbilt-to contribute large amounts.

The building committee was appointed in June, 1901, to receive and

report upon plans for the proposed building. This committee decided to

erect the central portion, 135 x 115 feet, on the lines of American colonial

architecture, from the plans of Messrs. York & Sawyer, at an estimated

cost of $400,000. The cornerstone was laid by ex-Mayor Seth Low,

November 17, 1903. The work has been going on with more or less inter-

ruption, but it is expected that the building will be completed as far as the

first story this spring. The building when completed will be the finest

of its kind in the country. It will be of pink Milford granite, three stories

high, affording ample shelf space for nearly 500,000 volumes and several

special rooms for exhibits of various sorts, and will contain an auditorium

on the main floor, capable of seating 400 persons, a lecture room, reception,

lounging and committee rooms. On the second floor will be a large

museum, two large lecture galleries and a reading room. The plan of this

central portion of the building is so drawn that at some future time exten-

sive wings of the same general style of architecture may be added.

The New York Historical Society was founded on November 20,

1804, on which date Egbert Benson, De Witt Clinton, Rev. Dr. William

Linn, Rev. Dr. John N. Abeel, Rev. Dr. John M. Mason, Dr. David Hoo--

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222        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

sack, Anthony Bleecker, Samuel Bayard, Peter G. Stuyvesant and John

Pintard met in the picture room of the old city hall, in Wall Street, to

organize this society, whose principal object should be to collect and pro-

tect materials relating to the natural, civil and ecclesiastical history of the

United States in general and the State of New York in particular. The

society was incorporated by an act of the legislature of February 9, 1809.

It is now one of the richest historical societies of the country in its accu-

mulation of books, pictures, manuscripts and objects of art. Its library

comprises over 100,000 books, pamphlets and manuscripts. At present the

society is housed in its own property, a small, unpretentious building,

which it has occupied for a century, which is literally packed with the

invaluable collections which the society has purchased or from time to

time have been bequeathed to it by distinguished donors.

The securing by the New York Historical Society of such worthy

quarters as it will soon possess is an object lesson which it is hoped the

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society may be able to follow at

no distant date. With a home such as the life and work of our society

now deserves it, too, would be the beneficiary of innumerable collections

of books, manuscripts and archaeological relics and endowment funds.

Provided with proper permanent quarters the Ohio State Society would

soon occupy the same relation to Ohio archaeology and history that the

New York Society now bears to the Empire State.

 

 

THE MAUMEE VALLEY PIONEER AND HISTORICAL

ASSOCIATION.

The Maumee Valley Pioneer and Historical Association held its

annual meeting at the court house, in Toledo, on February 22. The asso-

ciation is comprised of earnest pioneers and other loyal, patriotic citizens,

living along the historic Maumee. They are endeavoring to keep alive

the fires of patriotism and preserve the historic landmarks of the eventful

locality in question. There was a good attendance of gentlemen and lady

members. Mr. D. K. Hollenbeck, of Perrysburg, the president, called

the meeting to order, and the Rev. N. B. C. Love, trustee of the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society, delivered the invocation. The

report of the treasurer showed a balance of $38.96 on hand. The follow-

ing members were elected as trustees for thee years: D. K. Hollenbeck,

J. L. Pray and C. O. Bringham. A committee of three, consisting of

Julius Lamson, David Robinson, Jr., and J. Kent Hamilton, was appointed

to confer with the electric roads, with a view of their contributing toward

the fund for buying the unpurchased portion of Fort Meigs, which the

association hopes to obtain entire, and, without destroying its historic

character, transform into some sort of a public park. The association

already owns nine acres, which is about one-fourth of the entire fort tract.

The committee on Fort Miami reported that the association should no

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longer contemplate buying that property, as it had been purchased by Mr.

A. M. Woolson, who they were glad to learn proposed to preserve the

landmark, and, it was understood, would set off a portion to the Daugh-

ters of the American Revolution. There was also some discussion con-

cerning the proposition that the association acquire possession of the old

court house at Maumee, which building is located on the spot of the

famous Dudley massacre. The court house would be a most fitting build-

ing for a museum of the relics of the pioneer days.

Rev. N. B. C. Love pronounced a fitting eulogy upon Mr. J. R. Tracy,

a deceased member of the association. Upon adjournment of the associa-

tion, the board of directors held a meeting and re-elected the old officers,

as follows: President, D. K. Hollenbeck; Vice-President, William Cor-

lett; Secretary, J. L. Pray, and Treasurer, A. F. Mitchell.

 

 

TO RAISE PERRY'S FLAGSHIP "NIAGARA."

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, of late date, in announcing that a move-

ment is in contemplation of raising the Niagara from its watery grave,

in Lake Erie, says:

"Whatever may be the objections to raising the hull of the battleship

Maine from the mud of Havana harbor, none of them can hold in the case

of Commodore Perry's flagship, the Niagara, which it is now proposed to

raise from the bottom of Misery Bay, in Erie harbor, where she has

reposed for three-quarters of a century. The ship was built in Erie, and

when her day of usefulness was over was sunk out of sight, and for a

long time almost out of memory. The house committee on naval affairs

has ordered a favorable report on the bill, providing money for raising

the Niagara and turning her over to the state home for disabled soldiers

and sailors.

"The Niagara was the flagship of the man who performed off Put-

in-Bay in September, 1813, the unprecedented feat of compelling the sur-

render of an entire British squadron, and as such she should fairly share

that affection and veneration which the American people have long lav-

ished on the Constitution and one or two other historic ships, none of

which really performed such a glorious part in naval war as fell to the

share of Perry's flagship.

"This national neglect can be attributed in great part to the fact that

no gifted lyrist like the author of "Old Ironsides" has embalmed the

Niagara's achievement in deathless verse and in part, perhaps, to the

American tendency to forget the day of small things. The Niagara was

little if any larger than one of the boats which a modern 16,000-ton battle-

ship carries on her deck. In these days a 2,500-ton war vessel is not con-

sidered worthy of a place in a line of battle, and is used chiefly for sea

police duty, yet the combined tonnage of Perry's squadron did not exceed

2,500 tons. An ordinary lake freighter is larger."

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FIRST NAVIGATOR OF THE OHIO RIVER.

It is a most interesting but generally unknown fact (which we have

verified by a letter from Mr. William Loeb, secretary to the President)

that the brother of the grandfather of President Roosevelt was the first

man to navigate a steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, says

Mr. Charles C. Allen. Captain Roosevelt was a warm personal friend of

Robert Fulton, the inventor of steam craft, and soon after Fulton's suc-

cessful voyage on the Hudson conceived the idea of launching such a

vessel on the Western rivers. A good deal of doubt was expressed as to

the practicability of the undertaking, but Captain Roosevelt was enthusi-

astic, and along about 1810 made a personal survey of the Ohio and Lower

Mississippi to determine its feasibility beyond all peradventure. The

result of his survey was entirely to his satisfaction and, returning to Pitts-

burg, he began the construction of a steamboat from plans furnished him

by Fulton and Livingston. In the spring of 1811 the vessel was launched,

and, accompanied by his wife, who had the true pioneer spirit and refused

to be left behind, the President's grandfather began his voyage down the

Ohio.   He entered the Mississippi during the throes of the earthquake

which devastated so much of southeastern Missouri, but weathered the

tumult successfully and continued his trip to New Orleans, where he

arrived a short time after, the first man to build a steamboat west of the

Alleghanies and the first to navigate one on western waters.

 

 

LIFE MEMBERS.

Since the issue of the January Quarterly the following have qualified

as life members of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society:

Mr. Frank S. Brooks, Columbus, Ohio.

Hon. Ross J. Alexander, Bridgeport, Ohio.

Mr. George W. Vanhorn, Findlay, Ohio.

 

 

APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES.

On February 23, 1905, Governor Myron T. Herrick re-appointed

Professor B. F. Prince, Springfield, and Mr. E. O. Randall, Columbus, as

trustees of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society for the

term of three years ending February, 1908.

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