Ohio History Journal

BIRTH PLACES OF THREE OHIO PRESIDENTS.

 

BY FELIX J. KOCH.

Ohio has been well-named "The Mother of Presidents,"-

and while to give the list of all the Chief Executives who were

either born, or who grew up, -for some years, at least, -

within her confines were tedious, -it is an interesting play of

the Fates, worthy the noting, that three Presidential birth-

places are so closely located, one to another, that a day's motor

jaunt out from Cincinnati permits of one visiting them all!

Grant, the warrior-President, was born at Pt. Pleasant, O.;

Benjamin Harrison, descended of another Presidential family,

was born at North Bend, and the late President, Taft, saw the

light of day at Cincinnati, - all these almost within view of

the Ohio River and the opposite Kentucky shore.

The logical sequence for such a pilgrimage, - determined

by locations, that is to say,--is to visit, first, the slumbering

river hamlet, Pt. Pleasant, in which President Grant was born.

Then, following the river to Cincinnati, on whose heights the

substantial Taft birth place still stands, to tarry; after that, fol-

lowing the 'Belle Riviere' once again, to stop at North Bend,

where old "Tippecanoe and Tyler too' had his home and where

Benjamin Harrison first saw light of day.

The entire journey is, indeed, delightful!

Much of the country 'round both Pt. Pleasant and North

Bend, or, as the hamlet there now is called, Cleves, is given

over to farms, with corn and wheat and meadows of cattle

and sheep, that have their rail fences and old orchards and

quaint well-sweeps, much as they did when Grant lived here.

Pt. Pleasant is quite as much a sleepy river hamlet as it

was at the time.

Approaching Pt. Pleasant today, for one has a long

ride through the hilly fields, you note where the timber rights

have been sold for poles the size of younger elms and the like,

(117)

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118      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. -these being cut into wagon hubs at a mill just beyond. Round- ing a curve, you find this hub factory, just next the pike, with a thresher engine, mounted in a shed near by, to run the saws. The short, round hubs for heavier wagon use are stacked out- side, their edges covered with paint. Most the work is done in the winter, when the farmers have nothing to do, and are glad to clear their $1.25 the day. The proprietor of the place is the "big man" of the Pt. Pleasant settlement: the postmaster and proprietor of the general sore.

Just beyond, there comes the village proper.  It's a wee, little village, with neat country homes, in their gardens, and plenty of trees and fences about. At its midst is the general store aforesaid, and our friend, the hub-maker, introduces you to his mother, a woman of 93 at last accounts, who was here when Grant lived in the place. You hear her recollections, then stroll on to the cross-lane to the river, where an old house, just at the stream, overlooks the boat landing where Grant's folk left, or came.

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Birthplaces of Three Ohio Presidents.       119 So small is the town, though, that you pass on, surprised, first, that a President should have come from it; and then wondering that it has never grown more. There's a schoolhouse atop a high hill just behind, this reached by a huge flight of steps to the top of the peak, then beyond, frame homes, white- painted most of them, line the street. A modern green-painted dwelling is on the site of Grant's birthplace,- the original cabin was taken away on a flatboat at one time and has never been replaced.

Pt. Pleasant's only awakening, however, came a very few years since, when, before a distinguished company, including a son of General Grant, a small cannon was unveiled in the street, just before the place where the President had been born. On beyond, an iron bridge leads across a stream flowing to the Ohio and then one is in the country once more. The birthplace of President Benjamin Harrison is per- haps better known than the other, because of the charming drive, high over the Ohio from Cincinnati, to the place. The

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120      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

old Harrison farm has long since been dismantled, but, set into

a bluff overlooking the river's huge bend is the ancient stone

tomb of the Warrior-President, grandsire of the later Chief

Executive, and his family. The top of this tomb is flat and

cemented over, it having been intended to mount a great statue

of the warrior Harrison, now in Cincinnati, out here.

The old tomb has had some strange experiences: neglect

has characterized the place for years and the iron door has rusted

and the lock been broken. Only a few years ago some boys,

playing hide and seek 'round about, had a queer experience with

the tomb. Finding the lock broken and the door open, one of

their number crept inside the tomb to hide, somehow the door

wedged and the child could not re-open it. By and by the dark,

the closeness of the air caused it to be overcome, and cease its

poundings to be free. Meanwhile the other lads played their

game, then, failing finally to find the one boy, went to their

homes, thinking him to have done the same, long before. When

night came and no little one, the parents organized a search;

but, since the tomb door was shut, no one ever thought of look-

ing in such a place as that. Desperate, the parents hunted far,

but without success. Late next evening a traveler on the road,

hearing queer sounds from the tomb, gave warning of his fears.

Saner folk went to the tomb and found the child revived a bit,

and striving to get free.

Resting beside the old tomb and looking inland, 'cross the

lots, to what was the cellar-hole of Ben. Harrison's birthplace,

or listening to the bells of the passing steamers, who toll here,

as boats do in passing the tomb of Washington, one wonders

at the neglect of a nation for the birthplace of one President

and the burial place of another. Otherwise there is just the

view to attract, unless one goes to Ft. Hill, some miles away,

to visit its prehistoric earthworks.

President Taft's birthplace, as already suggested, is still

in good condition. It is a very imposing brick residence, of a

style affected by the well-to-do in the middle of the past century;

crowning a knoll amid some tall trees, and with the lawn sloping

down to the walk and avenue.

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Birthplaces of Three Ohio Presidents.       121 Within, things are largely changed to meet the needs of its subsequent tenants. In view of the place, though, there's a great, modern public school, that's the outgrowth of the little hilltop school which President Taft had attended. Quite a few of his teachers still survive in the Queen City and, when Taft was raised to the Presidency, innumerable anecdotes of his early school days here, 'round the Mt. Auburn birthplace were told.

"Taft," one such recounts, "was a good-natured, big boy; with bones too big for him, inspiring the nickname, Lubber, which was sometimes shortened to Lub. But Lub Taft was not a slow mover, in spite of his size. He entered the fields of boyish sports with the same zest as other lads. He loved his- tory, he loved to read, but he was not a 'grind.' He merely labored at each of his lessons until he got it; but he never for- got that he was human, or how to be a boy, or how to get the joy out of life."

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122      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. Somehow we Americans aren't any too much given to senti- ment and so we fail to mark our historic sites as our European kinsmen do.   The birthplaces of the Presidents, however, possess an interest of their own, and even the most prosaic of our young folk, as well as old, cannot but wish that tablet, or other marker, be set to indicate such points as these, that we might know them as we travel by.

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