Emilius Oviatt Randall. 117
tion from his voice--he needed no
pen--the subject-matter
being wide and comprehensive. He gave us
the benefit of his
thought and wit upon such topics as
"The Boston Tea Party,"
"Washington in the West,"
"Our First Inhabitants," "The
Original Ohio Land Company," etc.,
etc., but the crowning favor
was bestowed just one year ago, on
Washington's birthday, when
his subject was "Americanization at
Home and Abroad." We
marveled as we sat enthralled by his
eloquence how he could so
logically travel back from Mt. Sinai and
the Mosaic law and
in perfect sequence, profound thought
and delicious humor
come on down through the ages to the
present day and condi-
tions and sum it all up in "Americanization
at Home and
Abroad." It was too profound to
retain unassisted. Looking
back to that address, I appreciate Mr.
Ryan's statement at the
memorial that "in his reading he
ran the gamut of human
learning." The chapter hoped,
expected, to be able to read at
leisure his remarkable address and great
was its surprise and
disappointment to find that not one word
had been written, not
a note made; it had simply flowed forth
at command - his mind
an inexhaustible reservoir from which he
could have drawn
indefinitely.
Just one year ago!-but
"Can that man be dead
Whose spiritual influence is upon his
kind?
He lives in glory; and his speaking dust
Has more of life than half its breathing
moulds."
EMILIUS OVIATT RANDALL.
A Biographical Sketch.
BY WALTER W. SPOONER.
Emilius Oviatt Randall, son of David
Austin and Harriet
Eunice (Oviatt) Randall, was born in
Richfield, Summit County,
Ohio, October 28, 1850.
The Randall family, from which the
subject of this sketch
descended, is recorded in the Domesday
Book, prepared by com-
mand of William the Conqueror and
containing a list of English
118 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
landholders in the year 1086. John
Randall, born (1629) in
Bath, England, of which city his father,
Mathew Randall, was
mayor, was the first of the family to
emigrate to America, ar-
riving in the colonies in 1667. A
great-grandson of this colonist
was also a John Randall, a Revolutionary
soldier, enlisting
July 13, 1775, in Colonel
Huntington's eighth Connecticut regi-
ment and serving throughout the entire
war. A son of this
patriot soldier was James Randall, who
married Joanna Pember-
ton, daughter of Patrick Grant
Pemberton, a colonial volunteer
in the American Revolution, enrolled in
Lieutenant-Colonel Gal-
lup's regiment of the Connecticut
militia. The Pembertons fig-
ured conspicuously in the annals of
Scotland and England, and
Ebenezer Pemberton, grandfather of
Patrick Grant Pemberton,
was for many years a most distinguished
pastor of Old South
Church, Boston, Massachusetts.
James Randall and Joanna (Pemberton)
Randall were the
parents of David Austin Randall, born in
Colchester, Connecti-
cut, January 14, 1813. In the town of
Gorham, New York,
March 3, 1837, he was married to Mary
Ann Witter. The fol-
lowing year he was licensed to preach,
and a year later, accom-
panying his father's family, he and his
young wife removed
to Richfield, Summit County, Ohio, where
he was ordained in
the ministry on the 19th of December,
1839. His first pastorate
was at Medina, Ohio. While here he
edited the Washing-
tonian, a weekly paper devoted to the great temperance
agitation
then sweeping the country. His first
wife died in 1842, and on
June 6, 1843, he was married to Mrs.
Harriet Oviatt Bronson,
widow of Sherman Bronson, of Medina, and
daughter of Captain
Heman Oviatt, of Richfield-a native of
Goshen, Litchfield
County, Connecticut, and son of Benjamin
Oviatt, a Revolu-
tionary soldier. Heman Oviatt was one of
the Western Reserve
pioneers, being a member of the party
that in 1800 emigrated
from Connecticut under the leadership of
David Hudson and
founded the town of Hudson, Ohio. Heman
Oviatt was one of
the founders of Western Reserve College
at Hudson, since re-
moved to Cleveland and now known as
Adelbert College. In
1845 Rev. Mr. Randall removed to Columbus.
The maiden name of the mother of Emilius
was Harriet
Emilius Oviatt Randall. 119
Eunice Oviatt. She was a daughter of
Eunice Newton and
granddaughter of Isaac Newton (born in
Goshen, Connecticut,
1744), of a family with a New England
history extending back
to 1646. Isaac Newton's wife was Rebecca
Minot, a descendant
of George Minot, who emigrated from
England to the colonies in
1630.
The direct line of Minots has a most
distinguished record,
embracing in successive generations
three captains and a colonel
in the pre-Revolutionary New England
soldiery. Eunice New-
ton became the wife of Heman Oviatt, of
Goshen, Connecticut.
Their daughter, Harriet Eunice Oviatt,
was born in Hudson,
Ohio, May 26, 1808. The Oviats are found
of record in France
in the year 1000 A. D., and were seated
at Ovia, Normandy, as
"Oviatte." In 1066, the year
of the Norman conquest, a branch
located at Mendippe Hills, County
Somerset, England, and there
the line became anglicised and the name
assumed the present
form, Oviatt. Thomas Oviatt, first
emigrant to America, came
to Milford, Connecticut, in 1639. His
direct descendant, Benja-
min Oviatt (Ovit), lived at Goshen,
Connecticut, and was a
minute man in the Connecticut
revolutionary militia. His son,
Captain Heman Oviatt (Goshen,
Connecticut), came to Ohio in
1800 and settled in Hudson. His
daughter, Harriet Eunice,
married David Austin Randall, father of
Emilius.
A few weeks after his birth at
Richfield, where his mother
was temporarily staying, the boy Emilius
was taken by his
mother to Columbus, the home of his
parents -and his home
afterward through life. Being an invalid
in early youth, he was
privately instructed exclusively by his
father until his sixteenth
year, when he entered the public schools
of Columbus. In the
Central High School of that city and at
Phillips Academy, An-
dover, Massachusetts, he was prepared
for college. He early
evinced a taste and talent for literary
work. During his term
in the high school, he established and
edited a monthly publica-
tion known as the High School News, and
in association with one
of his boyhood mates he published and
edited a monthly called
the Whip-poor-will, which rapidly
attained a circulation through-
out the state. It was devoted to the
entertainment and instruc-
tion of young people. While a student at
Phillips, he was editor
of the school magazine, the Philo
Mirror.
|
|
1911. He was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon (college) and Phi Delta Phi (law school) fraternities. On the 14th of May, 1895, he was appointed, by the judges of the court, official reporter of the supreme court of Ohio. This responsible office, requiring both literary and legal qualifi- cations, he still held at the time of his death. In 1913 his duties were enlarged to embrace the reporting of the opinions of the courts of appeals of the state. As reporter he has edited and |
Emilius Oviatt Randall. 121
published forty-eight volumes of the
decisions of the supreme
court and ten volumes of the courts of
appeals. He was editor
of a volume on the Negotiable Bills
Acts of Ohio, and of a
synopsis of the Cases in Ohio Agency;
was contributor to the
Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure, and was associate editor
of the Bench and Bar of Ohio, (two
volumes, Chicago, 1897).
He served as a member of the Columbus
board of education,
1887-89; president of the Columbus Board
of Trade (now the
Chamber of Commerce), 1889, and trustee
of the Columbus
Public Library from 1887 to the time of
his death. It was chiefly
due to his efforts that the funds for
the erection of the present
public library building were secured
from Andrew Carnegie.
In February, 1893, Mr. Randall was
appointed, by Governor
McKinley, a trustee of The Ohio State
Archaeological and His-
torical Society. To that office he was
reappointed successively
by Governors Bushnell, Nash, Herrick,
Harris, Harmon, and
Cox. He was secretary of the society and
editor of its publi-
cations since 1894; edited
twenty-eight volumes issued by the
society; and in addition wrote various
published monographs for
the
society, including Blennerhassett,
The Zoar Society,
The Serpent Mound, The Ohio Mound
Builders, Ohio in the
American Revolution, etc. No one has
been more zealous
or effective in promoting the progress
of the Ohio State Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society, or in
securing the annual legis-
lative budgets for its support. He was
especially active and in-
fluential in the work of inducing the
seventy-ninth general as-
sembly to make the merited appropriation
for erecting the splen-
did edifice that now houses the library
and museum of the
society.
Politically Mr. Randall was always
actively affiliated with
the Republican party. In the two
McKinley presidential cam-
paigns he made political addresses in
all sections of the state.
He was delegate in 1904 from his
congressional district to the
Chicago national Republican convention,
which nominated Theo-
dore Roosevelt for the presidency.
In 1903 Mr. Randall was the protagonist
and director of the
Ohio centennial anniversary celebration,
held under the auspices
of the State Archaeological and
Historical Society at Chilli-
122
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
cothe, May 20 to 22. The complete report
of the proceedings of
this centennial, a volume of over seven
hundred pages, was
edited by him.
He was long prominent in the Society of
the Sons of the
American Revolution, and in 19O1-2 was
president of its Ohio
state society. In 1907 he was
president of the Ohio Valley
Historical Association, the first year
of its activities. He was
widely known as a public speaker on
literary and historical sub-
jects.
For many years Mr. Randall was a
diligent, comprehensive,
and enthusiastic student of Ohio
history. He visited most of
the historical sites within the
boundaries of the state, and col-
lected a large library of Ohioana. In
connection with the prepar-
ation of the Ohio History, which he
wrote in collaboration with
Daniel J. Ryan, he visited many of the
leading libraries of the
country. The first two volumes of this History
of Ohio are the
result of his efforts on the historical
field, especially in the pre-
historic and pioneer periods.
Mr. Randall's activity in public affairs
continued almost to
the end of his life. During the World
War he was active in
travelling over the state, delivering
patriotic addresses at the
camps, barracks and in churches. He was
appointed by Governor
Cox as a member of the Historical
Commission of Ohio, the
object of which was to collect and
preserve the historical litera-
ture relating to the participation of
Ohio in the war. Governor
Cox urged him to accept the chairmanship
of the Commission,
but press of other duties forced him to
decline. He was a mem-
ber of the Americanization Committee of
Columbus, Ohio, and
devoted considerable time to the work of
this organization. He
was also a member of the English
Speaking Union, Columbus
Post, No. 3, an association having for
its object a closer alliance
of the English-speaking nations of the
world.
In 1918 Ohio University conferred upon
him the degree of
LL. D.
As Reporter of the Supreme Court his
standing with that
dignified body may be measured by the
fact that the Court itself
has prepared and published his memorial
-the first time in the
history of the Court that this was ever
done.
Emilius Oviatt Randall. 123
For several months prior to his death
Mr. Randall con-
tributed editorials to the Columbus
Dispatch, upon historical and
other subjects.
Mr. Randall had a unique ecclesiastic
experience. His
mother was a devoted Episcopalian, his
father a prominent
Baptist clergyman. At the age of
eighteen, on a Saturday after-
noon, he was immersed by his father in
the baptistry of the
First Baptist Church of Columbus. On the
following Sunday
morning he was confirmed in the Trinity
Episcopal Church by
Bishop Mcllvain. A few years later he
withdrew from the
Episcopal Church and became a member of
the First Congrega-
tional Church, of which Dr. Washington
Gladden was for so
long the distinguished pastor.
He married, October 28, 1874, at Ithaca,
New York, Mary
A. Coy, daughter of John H. and
Catherine A. (Granger) Coy,
both of whom were natives of New
Hampshire and descendants
of colonial and revolutionary ancestors.
Mr. Randall was sur-
vived by his wife and three children:
Rita (Mrs. Robert E.
Pfeiffer), David A., and Sherman B.,
married to Bessie A.
Thompson, a daughter of Dr. W. O.
Thompson, President of
Ohio State University.
Emilius Oviatt Randall departed this
life in Columbus,
December 18, 1919. Press editorials and
tributes of those who
knew his worth bear testimony to his
character as man, citizen,
historian and servant of the state.
Emilius Oviatt Randall. 117
tion from his voice--he needed no
pen--the subject-matter
being wide and comprehensive. He gave us
the benefit of his
thought and wit upon such topics as
"The Boston Tea Party,"
"Washington in the West,"
"Our First Inhabitants," "The
Original Ohio Land Company," etc.,
etc., but the crowning favor
was bestowed just one year ago, on
Washington's birthday, when
his subject was "Americanization at
Home and Abroad." We
marveled as we sat enthralled by his
eloquence how he could so
logically travel back from Mt. Sinai and
the Mosaic law and
in perfect sequence, profound thought
and delicious humor
come on down through the ages to the
present day and condi-
tions and sum it all up in "Americanization
at Home and
Abroad." It was too profound to
retain unassisted. Looking
back to that address, I appreciate Mr.
Ryan's statement at the
memorial that "in his reading he
ran the gamut of human
learning." The chapter hoped,
expected, to be able to read at
leisure his remarkable address and great
was its surprise and
disappointment to find that not one word
had been written, not
a note made; it had simply flowed forth
at command - his mind
an inexhaustible reservoir from which he
could have drawn
indefinitely.
Just one year ago!-but
"Can that man be dead
Whose spiritual influence is upon his
kind?
He lives in glory; and his speaking dust
Has more of life than half its breathing
moulds."
EMILIUS OVIATT RANDALL.
A Biographical Sketch.
BY WALTER W. SPOONER.
Emilius Oviatt Randall, son of David
Austin and Harriet
Eunice (Oviatt) Randall, was born in
Richfield, Summit County,
Ohio, October 28, 1850.
The Randall family, from which the
subject of this sketch
descended, is recorded in the Domesday
Book, prepared by com-
mand of William the Conqueror and
containing a list of English