EDITORIALANA. |
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TRUSTEE MEETING AT SPIEGEL GROVE. On Thursday, June 30th, the Trustees of the Ohio State Archaeo- logical and Historical Society held a regular meeting at the residence of Colonel Webb C. Hayes, Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio. It was a most |
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Miss Lucy E. Keeler-all members of G. A. R. Hon. J. C. Wonders, Chief of the Ohio State Highway Commission, was also the guest of Colonel Hayes. The entire party were comfortably bestowed in automobiles and whisked over the country roads, to the site of Fort Seneca, within the present precincts of the village of Old Fort, romantically located on the banks of the Sandusky River. Here the party traced the lines of the old fort, under the guidance of some of the elder inhabitants, one a genial well-preserved gentlemen, upwards of four score years of age, Mr. Hiram Risden, "born and raised on the spot," and who as a boy saw the fort picket walls and blockhouse defenses still standing. Mr. Risden's father -Joel Risden-located here, coming from Vermont in 1810. This was 319 |
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.
322 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
and the other the officers of the American fleet of Commodore Perry and the British fleet of Captain Barclay. The day's outing was delightfully closed by a steam-yacht trip from Port Clinton to Put-in-Bay, where a short stop was made and a glimpse taken of the proposed site of the monument to be erected in September, 1912, commemorative of Perry's encounter on Lake Erie.
EDWARD LIVINGSTON TAYLOR. An innumerable host of admiring acquaintances heard with regret; and a wide circle of intimate friends learned with sincere sorrow of the sudden death of Edward Livingston Taylor, who unexpectedly passed to the great beyond on the evening of Sunday, May 29th (1910.) His was no ordinary character; his abilities were of an unusual order; his qualities of sociability and friendship bound him in the closest |
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the frame house then constructed for their home, still stands, one of the oldest landmarks of early settlement in the state, and it is still in the possession and occupancy of the Taylor family. This Truro township is historic, for it lies in the "Refugee Tract," a strip of land four and one-half miles wide from north to south and about fifty miles from east to west, extending from the east bank of the Scioto River to near the |
Editorialana. 323
Muskingum River, and comprising 136,000
acres. This "refugee" strip
was so called because set aside by
Congress of the United States in
1801 to remunerate those residents of
Canada who at the time of the
American Revolution espoused the
colonial cause and who sacrificing all
property and interests at home, crossed
the border and joined the Amer-
ican army. One of the most conspicuous
of these refugees was Colonel
James Livingston, who with two brothers
fled Canada and cast his lot
with the loyalists of New York. James
Livingston was made colonel
of a regiment, serving at first under
General Schuyler and later under
General Montgomery. Colonel Livingston
did valiant service the entire
seven years of the Revolution, in
recognition of which the United
States government assigned him 1,200
acres of the aforesaid refugee
land, on which a portion of the city of
Columbus now stands. The
patents for this land were turned
over by the father (James) to his
son, Edward C. Livingston, who soon
thereafter (1804) took possession
thereof and settled thereon. The
daughter of this Edward Livingston,
-
and his wife Martha Nelson,-was Margaret Livingston, who
married David Taylor, May 16, 1836. Of
this union-strong in blood,
brawn and brain-was born, March 20,
1839, Edward Livingston
Taylor.
He was educated in the district schools and at Hanover
College, Indiana, and Miami University,
Oxford, Ohio, from which
latter he graduated in 1860. He at once
began the study of law at
Columbus, in the office of Chauncey N.
Olds, then one of the fore-
most leaders of the Franklin county bar.
But the Civil War appealed to
the patriotism of the law student and
during June and July, 1861, Ed-
ward served as a private in a volunteer
company. He then returned to
his law books until July, 1862, when he
again responded to his country's
call and was commissioned captain of
Company D in the Ninety-fifth
Ohio Volunteers. He was wounded and
taken prisoner at the battle
of Richmond, Ky., August 30, 1862. In a
short time he was paroled and
exchanged and resuming his place at the
front served thereafter in the
Army of the Tennessee, until the close
of the siege of Vicksburg, July
4, 1863. The failure of his
health compelled his retirement from the
army. His law studies were completed and
being admitted to the bar
in November, 1862, he began the practice
of his profession in which for
forty years he was most successful-an
untiring student, a clear and
vigorous thinker, a ready and strong
speaker, a fearless combatant, ever
observant of the rules and the
courtesies of his profession, in short, an
honorable, upright, gentlemanly, but
persistent and aggressive practitioner.
He singularly combined in his manner and
method the urbanity and
dignity of the old school with the
technical knowledge and uncompro-
mising tenacity and keen alertness of
the modern advocate. In his at-
tainments and his tastes he was a
striking example of the well rounded
man.
He intensely enjoyed the out-door life, its invigorating and in-
spiring freedom. He knew the fields and
the forests and delighted in
324 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
every form of nature. But he also knew
books, he had the literary
instinct and the library was his
dukedom. Especially was he given to
history, that of his own nation, state
and locality. His own family rec-
ords, of which he was justly proud,
stimulated him to a wider range of
research, until he was recognized as an
authority on "the brave days of
old" when the Ohio forests echoed
to the stroke of the pioneer's axe
and the war-whoop of the Indian
occupant. The red man appealed to
his human sympathy and his historic
predilections. He read profusely
the annals of the aborigine, and wrote
many monographs thereon. Of
Mr. Taylor's knowledge, scholarship and
graceful facility with the pen,
the volumes of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society
amply testify. He was painstaking in his
statements, critically judicious
in the presentation of his
subject-matter, terse and vigorous in style and
always entertaining. Only a few months
before his decease he gathered
many of his essays, historic,
reminiscent and otherwise, and published
them in a volume of some three hundred
and fifty pages, entitled, "Ohio
Indians." It was at Mr. Taylor's
suggestion that the monument was
erected to the memory of Leatherlips, a
Wyandot chief, executed June
1, 1810, by members of his own tribe, at
the supposed instigation of
Tenskwantawaw, the Prophet, brother of
Tecumseh, who then had his
headquarters at Tippecanoe. Leatherlips was charged with being in
alliance with the whites in the race war
then raging. This monument,
one of the first ever erected to an
Indian, and the only one in Ohio,
was dedicated September 18, 1887. The
monument is a Scotch granite
monolith, sarcophagus in design;
imposing and properly inscribed, it
rests on an elevation on the east bank
of the Scioto River, not far from
the present town of Dublin. Mr. Taylor
was deeply versed in the Indian
history and lore of Ohio, he seemed to
know history at first hand, and
would delight to descant upon the deeds
of Pontiac, Tecumseh, Corn-
stalk, Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, Black
Hawk and the.many other chiefs
that made the early annals of the
western red men so romantic. Mr.
Taylor had an exalted and ideal regard
for women, ribaldry had no
place in his presence; he ever spoke in
sanctified terms of his wife,
Katherine Noble Myers, whom he married
in 1864 and who died thirty
years later. Few men so enthusiastically
enjoyed the comradeship of
congenial friends. Extremely democratic
in temperament and in man-
ner, he was intellectually artistocratic
and in the choice of his friends
and associates gave cold welcome to
those who had little else to offer
than pretense, shallowness and
ignorance. A fascinating conversational-
ist, he possessed that rare concomitant,
the patience of a good listener.
He had gleaned in all the fields of the
richest literature, and the harvest
was at his ready command. Fortunate
indeed were those who were
privileged to gather at his
entertainments and one departed hence with
the feeling, not that he had been at
"the frivolous work of polished
idleness," but rather had been the
guest of one upon whom nature had
Editorialana. 325
lavished her rarest gifts of talent and temperament to which had been added the strength of a noble character and the accomplishments of the scholar and the gentleman. Mr. Taylor, early in its history, became a life member of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, to the publications of which he contributed so much of incomparable value and in the progress of which he took an active interest. As a sympathetic friend has noted, perhaps no more appropriate tribute, in epitome, could be paid to the tastes and acquirements of Colonel Taylor in the studies of antiquity than that expressed by his appreciative friend General John Beatty, who dedicated one of the later of his most interesting works, "The Alco- huans," in the following words: "This volume is respectively dedicated to Edward Livingston Taylor, a lover of the great forests and prairies, as they come ever fresh from the hands of the Creator, and to whom the ancient mounds, squares, octagons and circles of the Ohio Valley are not only in themselves objects of curious interest, but incentives as well to pleasant conjecture with respect to the people who built them."
AVERY'S UNITED STATES. The Burrows Brothers, Cleveland, Ohio, have issued the Seventh Volume of their unequalled History of the United States-we say |
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said in his scholarly address before the University of Oxford (on June 7), speaking of the recording of history: "We must of course cordially agree that accuracy in recording facts and appreciation of their relative worth and inter-relationship are just as necessary in |
326 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
historical study as in any other kind of
study; the fact that a book
though interesting, is untrue, of
course, removes it at once from the
category of history; however much it may
still deserve to retain a
place in the always desirable group of
volumes which deal with enter-
taining fiction; but the converse also
holds, at least to the extent
of permitting us to insist upon what
would be the elementary fact
that a book which is written to be read
should be readable." An
unquestioned truth, but written history,
until the present generation of
historians arose, was so exclusively a
dry, didactic production that the
ordinary reader fled from its perusal.
The public today demands first
of all that the history "be
readable," otherwise the public will have none
of it. Mr. Avery's history is
readable-no history of the United States
more so-nor is this characteristic ever
employed at the sacrifice of
accuracy. But to the history itself.
The Seventh Volume deals with the
inauguration of the Federal
Government and the terms of Washington's
presidency. The treatment
of the contents of this volume is, to
our mind, therefore a greater test
of the writer's qualifications as an
historian than the preceding volumes.
Those dealt with the romance of
discovery, of the picturesqueness of
colonial settlement, and the dramatic
acts of the Revolution. All these
appeal to the imagination of the writer
and stimulate his powers of
artistic description. To deal with the
initiative and trial period of our
government, requires the calmness,
impartiality and philosophical discern-
ment of the thorough scholar. Mr. Avery
has amply and attractively met
these requirements. The Constitutional
Convention, has completed its
labors and the proposed organic charter
of the new Republic is submitted
to the Congress of the Confederation.
Thence it was transmitted to the
several legislatures in order to be
passed upon by a Convention of Dele-
gates in each state by the people
thereof. For nearly a year the consti-
tution ran the gauntlet of the
Federalists and Anti-Federalists in their
representative states. Bitter was the
contest and close the result in many
instances, especially in Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, Virginia and New
York. On July 2, 1788, nine states, the
required two-thirds, had ratified
and Congress proceeded to set in motion
the machinery for the new
government. Washington was unanimously
chosen President by the sixty-
nine electors, and April 30, 1789,
"six days before the meeting of the
States-General at Versailles," he
was, in New York City, inaugurated
President, an office he was to fill with
marvelous ability and success until
March 4, 1797. The recital of these
eight years by Mr. Avery is neces-
sarily too brief and condensed for the
exacting student of the constructive
period of our government; but the
narration is sufficient for, and well
adapted to, the wants and desires of the
ordinary reader, the clientele
for which this history is written. The
chapter on "British Diplomacy and
the Northwest" is of especial
interest to the Ohio readers. The Revolu-
tion, as to New England, closed at the
surrender of Yorktown. But in
Editorialana. 327
the Northwest Territory and particularly
that portion later to constitute
Ohio, the contest between England and
the New Republic was continued,
with varying force and magnitude until
the respective treaties on the
part of the United States and by Jay
with England in 1794, and Wayne
with the Ohio Indians, at Greenville in
the following year. On the
ground that the United States had not
lived up to the terms of the treaty,
following the war, as to the British
debts and Tories' claims, Great Britain
continued to hold some of the posts she
had agreed to surrender, these
were, as mentioned by Avery, Dutchman's
Point on Lake Champlain,
Oswegotchie (Ogdenburg) on the Saint
Lawrence, Oswego, Niagara, Erie.
Detroit and Michilimackinac. He might
also have mentioned, the less
important post at the mouth of the
Maumee River.
"Meanwhile," says Mr. Avery,
"the presence of the British at the
Northwest posts had intensified a
troublesome situation in that region.
The treaty of peace had not brought
peace along the far-flung line of
the western advance. This was due in
part to the irrepressible conflict
between civilization and barbarism, but
Spanish intrigues in the South-
west and British intrigues in the
Northwest were also partly responsible.
To what extent the British had fomented
Indian hostilities is a matter
of some doubt. It appears that they did
not desire a general war that
would diminish the supply of furs, but
hostilities that would impede
settlement and keep the Americans out of
the region would work to
their advantage 'a dangerous policy and likely to get
beyond control'.
The British home government was probably
guiltless of any direct insti-
gation and, until 1794, the same may be
said of the higher Canadian
authorities. With their subordinates in
the Northwest the case was differ-
ent. British traders and officials
listened to stories of Indian wrongs
with sympathetic ears and furnished the
red then with provisions and
arms, while renegade Tories, like Simon
Girty, and some of the French
Canadians from Detroit actually
accompanied the war parties on forays.
The British claimed that the presents
and supplies were only those that
they were accustomed to give in times of
peace; but the Indians did not
use them peaceably. In the words of
Professor Bassett, 'the assistance
the savages were wont to receive in an
unofficial way from the officials
of Canada was little short of the aid
given ordinarily to an open ally'."
Then follows the expeditions of the
United States against the Ohio
Indians, - expeditions commanded
respectively by Generals Arthur St.
Clair, Josiah Harmar and Anthony Wayne.
The first two were terribly
disastrous; the third victorious and the
culmination of the Indian power
in the Ohio country. The recitals of
these campaigns are necessarily
brief but are made doubly clear and
valuable by the accompanying maps
and battle diagrams. St. Clair's defeat
at Fort Recovery was one of the
worst blows to Washington's
administration. Says Mr. Avery:
"The tidings of disaster did not
reach Philadelphia until the even-
ing of the 19th of December. Washington
heard the news while at din-
328 Ohio.
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
ner. He restrained himself until the
guests were gone, but then 'his
pent-up wrath broke forth in one of
those fits of volcanic fury which
sometimes shattered his iron outward
calm.' He told how he had bidden
Saint Clair above all else to beware of
surprise. 'He went off with that
solemn warning thrown into his ears, and
yet to suffer that army to
be cut to pieces, hacked, butchered,
tomahawked, by a surprise, the very
thing I guarded him against! O God, 0
God, he's worse than a mur-
derer! How can he answer it to his
countrymen!' Then, calming
himself with difficulty, he added:
'General Saint Clair shall have jus-
tice * * * he shall have full justice.'
The unfortunate general hur-
ried east to meet any charges that might
be brought against him. He
asked for a court-martial, but there
were not enough officers of suitable
rank in the army to form the court. At
Washington's request he resigned
his commission as comander-in-chief of
the army, but he retained his
governorship ten years longer. Beyond
this, he was never punished for
the disaster. This was perhaps just.
Saint Clair was unquestionably
incompetent, but he was courageous and
honorable, and the administra-
tion itself was not free from blame.
With the kind of army that had been
given him, only a military genius could
have avoided failure if not
disaster."
The chapter on Jay's Treaty discusses
that important episode in
a most complete and satisfactory manner.
Treaties are usually dry sub-
jects for the historian and
uninteresting ones for the popular reader,
but Mr. Avery handles the features and
results of Jay's negotiations with
the British authorities so that the
attention of the reader does not flag.
Then follows the "Alien and
Sedition Acts," and the "Fall of the
Federalists." The chapter on "Jeffersonian
Simplicity" gives us the
democratic contrast to the Washington
splendor and rather regal regime.
To our minds one of the most romantic
incidents in our early national
history is the "Purchase of
Louisiana," with its Spanish and French
background, the cosmopolitan mixture of
races, the Indian, the negro, the
Spaniard, the Frenchman, the Briton and
the American, each having
a part in the play of this territorial
acquisition which so worried Jeffer-
son and stirred up the constitutional
debaters in Congress, and roused
the party politicians of the East, West
and South.
And through it all ran the long-headed
schemes of "the subtle but
unprincipled Talleyrand" and the
cunning, fine Italian, or shall we say
Corsican, hand of the invincible
Napoleon.
Volume Seven of Avery's United States
shows no diminution in
the qualities of its authorship or the
unsurpassed mastership in the typo-
graphical style of its production by
Burrows Brothers, the publishers,
Cleveland, Ohio.
Editorialana. 329
MIAMI UNIVERSITY ALUMNI CATALOGUE.
Mr. B. S. Bartlow, life member of the
Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society and former member
of the Ohio House of Rep-
resentatives, and later Sergeant-at-Arms
of the Ohio Senate, has edited
a "General Catalogue of the
Graduates and Students of Miami Univer-
sity," including the Trustees and
members of the faculty. Miami Uni-
versity claims an existence from 1809,
when on February 17, it was
"formally instituted and named by
Act of the Legislature of Ohio." One
year later the site of the college was
established at the village of Oxford,
in the township set apart for
educational revenues. "There was con-
siderable delay until sufficient funds
should accumulate to justify the in-
auguration of actual collegiate
instruction. In the meantime a temporary
building was erected, in which was
maintained a 'Select School' for the
young people of the new community, James
Maxwell Dorsey being the
teacher. This continued from 1811 to
1818, when the Reverend James
Hughes was employed by the Trustees to
conduct the Grammar School of
Miami University. By 1824 an adequate
building had been constructed
for college purposes and there was a respectable
balance left for run-
ning expenses. Accordingly, the Board
employed the Reverend Robert
Hamilton Bishop as the first president,
and announced the opening of
the University for November of that
year." Mr. Bartlow, himself an
alumnus of the University, has performed
his task, a most arduous one,
in an unquestionably satisfactory
manner. The volume consists of some
four hundred and thirty pages and
embraces perhaps five thousand names,
the alumni and matriculates, and
teachers connected with this famous
institution for a century. Of both the
alumni and former students, not
only the names but residences and brief
facts of career, are given. A
glance through this rostrum reveals the
unusual number of distinguished
men who obtained their
"larnin" at Miami. Few colleges in the country
can boast so great an output of students
who in subsequent life became
illustrious. Mr. Bartlow is to be
congratulated upon accomplishing so
valuable a service for the University
and its clientele. But Mr. Bartlow
is no novice in book making; he is the
author of an extensive history
of Butler county and has contributed
many articles to the press and
local historical publications.
NEW HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
County histories as a general class do
not take high rank in the
historic literature of a state or
nation, for the reason that in most cases
the "history" part is
subordinate, if not a hasty prepared apology, for
the accompanying biographies of the
contemporary county residents, who
with pardonable pride wish to have their
lives and modest achievements
recorded in permanent form. "The
Twentieth Century History of San-
330 Ohio.
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
dusky County, Ohio, and Representative
Citizens," recently published, in
admirable form, by a Chicago house,
possesses an historical "feature"
however deserving of attention and
unequivocal commendation. for its
author is Mr. Basil Meek, of Fremont,
Ohio, who has been a welcome
contributor to the pages of the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society Quarterly and who is
recognized as a diligent, painstaking and
enthusiastic student of local history.
He has an unusually fertile field in
the county of which he has been a
resident for nearly half a century.
The historical part for which Mr. Meek
seems to be responsible, is nearly
half of the immense volume consisting of
950 quarto pages. Mr. Meek
has indeed produced a history, valuable
and readable. The first chap-
ter on the geology of the county is from
the pen of Prof. G. Frederick
Wright, President of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Society. Mr. Meek then takes up the
works of the Mound Builders,
whom he thinks have been identified by
the tradition of the Wyandots,
to the effect that their ancestors, the
Huron-Iroquois, joined with the
ancestors of the Leni-Lenape, or
Delawares, vanquished the Allegwi, be-
lieved to have been the mysterious Mound
Builders; the Indian con-
querors drove the Allegwi southward and
down the Mississippi. Mr.
Meek does not tell us that the Allegwi
were a more ancient tribe of
Indians, which fact would connect the
Mound Builders with the his-
toric red men. This is of course a
greatly disputed topic. If the ances-
tors of the Indians did build the
mounds, those earth architects were
much farther back than the Allegwi. But
it doesn't matter, for con-
cerning the identity of the Mound
Builders, one man's opinion is about
as good as another's "for nobody
knows;" we know that for we have
tried to find out ourselves. Of the red
men and early settlers Mr. Meek
speaks with accredited authority. His
chapter on the "Coming of the
White Man and Passing of the Red"
is an excellent summary of an in-
tensely interesting period of central
Ohio history. The evidence is un-
disputed that Sandusky county lies in
the territory wherein were scenes
in the great contest between the
terrible Iroquois and Eries or Cat
Nation, dwelling on the southern shores
of Lake Erie. The "Cats"
were exterminated, or if any escaped
they fled far west. This "war" is
the earliest recorded event in Ohio
history and can be verified by the
Jesuit Relations. Sandusky county was a
most important and excit-
ing center during the War of 1812, and
Fremont is the site of Fort
Stephenson, which in August, 1813, was
so marvelously defended, by
Major George Grogan and one hundred and
sixty men, against the
army of Proctor's British regulars and
the countless host of savages
under Tecumseh. There is no event in
American history comparable
to this in picturesque or dramatic mise-en-scene,
in the display of patriot-
ism and dauntless bravery. This incident
alone makes the history of
Sandusky county great. Mr. Meek gives a
most pleasing description of
Spiegel Grove, the famous and historic
residence of Rutherford B
Editorialana. 331
Hayes. Spiegel Grove is indeed the Mount
Vernon of Ohio. It is this
magnificent estate and home that the
present owner, Colonel Webb C.
Hayes, is transferring to the State of
Ohio for the Ohio State Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society, to be by
the latter preserved intact for
historic and educational purposes.
After reading Mr. Meek's production one
might think that San-
dusky county had a monopoly on Ohio
history. It certainly is rich in the
"lore of the brave days of
old."
SAMUEL SULLIVAN COX.
His FAMOUS WORD PICTURE.
S. S. Cox, during his latter days known
as Sunset Cox, was a
Buckeye of most illustrious fame. Born
in Zanesville in 1824 he became
a lawyer of brilliant promise but
deserted that profession in 1853 to
become the editor of The Ohio
Statesman in Columbus. For one year
he was secretary of legation in Peru. He
represented Ohio in Congress
for eight years (1857-65), and New York,
whither he removed in 1866,
for seventeen years, (1869-73, 1875-85,
and 1886-89). In 1885-86 he was
minister to Turkey. He was popularly
known as the letter-carriers' friend
in reference to legislation proposed by
him for increase in their salary
and the concessions to them of a
vacation with pay. A statue of him
was erected by the letter-carriers in
New York City. Mr. Cox wrote
and lectured a great deal, some of his
works being: Eight Years in
Congress; The Buckeye Abroad, and Why We Laugh.
The editor of the Quarterly remembers
seeing Mr. Cox and hearing
him speak during his residence in
Columbus. Mr. Cox was a polished
gentleman, a magnetic personality, with
most engaging manners, and
possessed of a style of oratory like
that of classic speakers of old. He
was erudite, humorous and witty, with
wonderful powers of logic and
persuasion. He was a mixture of the
Garfield and Galloway type of
public speakers, for he combined
information with entertainment in an
unsurpassed facility.
The description of the Ohio sunset that
today is one of the imperish-
ables of American literature, and which
brought recognition to Samuel
S. Cox as a master word painter, was
found at the close of a busy day.
Here it is:
"What a peculiar sunset was that of
last night! How glorious the
storm and how splendid the setting of
the sun! We do not remember
ever to have seen the like on our round
globe. The scene opened in
the West with a whole horizon full of
golden interpenetrating luster which
colored the foliage and brightened every
object into its own dyes. The
color grew deeper and richer, until the
golden luster was transfused into
a storm cloud, full of finest lightning,
which leaped in dazzling zigzags
332 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
all over and around the city. The wind
arose with fury, the slender
shrubs and giant trees made obeisance to
its majesty. Some even snapped
before its force. The strawberry beds
and grass plats 'turned up their
whites' to see Zephyrus march by. As the
rain came and the pools and
the gutters hurried away, thunder roared
grandly, and the fire bells
caught the excitement and rang with
heavy choruses. The South and
East received the copious showers, and
the West all at once brightened
up in a long, polished belt of azure,
worthy of a Sicilian sky.
"Presently a cloud appeared in the
azure belt in the form of a con-
stellated city. It became more vivid,
revealing strange forms of peerless
fanes and alabaster temples and glories
rare and grand in this mundane
sphere. It reminded us of Wordsworth's
splendid verse in his 'Excursion':
The appearance instantaneously disclosed
Was of a mighty city, boldly say
A wilderness of building sinking far
And self-withdrawn into a wondrous
depth,
Far sinking into splendor without end.
"But the city vanished only to give
place to another isle where the
most beautiful forms of foliage
appeared, imaging a paradise in the dis-
tant and purified air. The sun, wearied
of the elemental commotion,
sank behind the green plains of the
West. The 'great eve in heaven,'
however, went not down without a dark
brow hanging over its departing
light. The rich flush of unearthly light
had passed and the rain had
ceased, when the solemn church bells
pealed, the laughter of children
rang out joyous, after the storm is
heard, with the carol of birds, while
the dark and purple weapon of the skies
still darted illumination around
the startling college, trying to rival
its angles and leap into its dark
windows."
EDITORIALANA. |
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TRUSTEE MEETING AT SPIEGEL GROVE. On Thursday, June 30th, the Trustees of the Ohio State Archaeo- logical and Historical Society held a regular meeting at the residence of Colonel Webb C. Hayes, Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio. It was a most |
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Miss Lucy E. Keeler-all members of G. A. R. Hon. J. C. Wonders, Chief of the Ohio State Highway Commission, was also the guest of Colonel Hayes. The entire party were comfortably bestowed in automobiles and whisked over the country roads, to the site of Fort Seneca, within the present precincts of the village of Old Fort, romantically located on the banks of the Sandusky River. Here the party traced the lines of the old fort, under the guidance of some of the elder inhabitants, one a genial well-preserved gentlemen, upwards of four score years of age, Mr. Hiram Risden, "born and raised on the spot," and who as a boy saw the fort picket walls and blockhouse defenses still standing. Mr. Risden's father -Joel Risden-located here, coming from Vermont in 1810. This was 319 |