Ohio History Journal

GENERAL EDWARD ORTON, JR.

 

In 1865 Dr. Edward Orton and his family came to

Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he had accepted the posi-

tion of Professor of Natural History in Antioch Col-

lege. From that date until the year 1932, a period of

sixty-seven years, the name Edward Orton has become

widely known in Ohio and has stood for worthy effort

and eminent achievement. None has continuously and

longer held a more honorable place in the public esteem

and in the educational, scientific and moral progress of

the State.

Edward Orton, Sr., was the son of Reverend Samuel

Gibbs Orton, D. D., and Clara (Gregory) Orton. Both

parents were of English ancestry and long resident in

this country. The father was a clergyman of the Pres-

byterian denomination and spent the years of his min-

istry in Western New York. Here Edward Orton, Sr.,

spent most of his youth and prepared for college. In

1845 he entered Hamilton College and was graduated

in 1848. In 1849-1850 he was a student at the Lane

Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio. He afterward

taught in different institutions and attended the Law-

rence Scientific School of Harvard University. He also

spent a year in the Andover Theological Seminary. In

1856 he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry.

From 1859-1865 he was principal of an academy at

Chester, Orange County, New York. In 1865 he was

elected Professor of Natural History in Antioch Col-

Vol. XLI--22.        (337)

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338      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications lege, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Hither he brought his family, including Edward Orton, Jr., who was then a lad of two years.

Edward Orton, Jr., was born at Chester, New York, October 8, 1863. He was the son of Dr. Edward and Mary (Jennings) Orton. He received his preliminary education in the public schools of Columbus, Ohio, and

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General Edward Orton, Jr.       339

after attending Wetherell's Business College entered the

preparatory department of the Ohio State University in

1877. He was graduated from the University in 1884

with the degree of M. E.

Previous to graduation he was employed in mineral

and geological work of the Tenth Census of the United

States and for the Ohio Geological Survey. His first

commission was to take charge of the geological exhibit

of Ohio's resources at the World's Fair in New Or-

leans, 1884-1885. He then accepted a position on the

engineer corps of the Columbus and Hocking Coal and

Iron Company, and in the summer of 1886 became

chemist of the Columbus Steel Company, in which ca-

pacity he served until the fall of 1887. His next com-

mission was to undertake the manufacture of ferro-

silicon or high silicon pig iron, a product that had never

been regularly produced before in the United States.

He was first the chemist and later the superintendent at

Bessie Furnace, New Straitsville, Ohio. He was super-

intendent of the Victoria Iron Furnace during the sum-

mer of 1889; was employed in the open hearth depart-

ment of the Homestead Steel Works of Carnegie, Phipps

& Company in 1890; was superintendent of the paving

brick factory of the Ohio Paving Company at Columbus

until 1893; after that date he held a similar position with

the Acme Vitrified Brick Company of Louisville, Ken-

tucky.

In 1893 he conceived the idea of a school for the tech-

nical education of clay workers and began an agitation

which resulted in the passage of a law by the Ohio Legis-

lature creating a department in the State University for

instruction in clay working and ceramics, including

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340      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

cement and glass. He was placed at the head of this

school in 1894, a position which he held until 1916. This

was the first school of its kind in the United States. On

the death of his father in 1899 he succeeded him as State

Geologist of Ohio, a position which he held until 1906.

In 1896 he began the manufacture of pyrometric cones

for regulating firing process of ceramic products and

other wares burned in kilns; developed laboratory and

testing station for study of clay and ceramic products

in 1900. He wrote two monographs on the subject

which were published in Volumes 5 and 7 of Economic

Geology of Ohio, 1883 and 1893, respectively. The first

of these was entitled "The Clays of Ohio and the Indus-

tries Established Upon Them"; the second, "The Clay

Working Industries of Ohio." He wrote also numerous

technical articles and reports.

Immediately prior to the outbreak of the World War

he began to take an active interest in military affairs.

He was commissioned Major in the Ohio Reserve Corps

January 5, 1917; called into active service in Motors Di-

vision; Quartermaster Corps May 9, 1917; commis-

sioned Lieutenant-Colonel Motor Transport Corps Sep-

tember 6, 1918; awarded D. S. M. June 2, 1917; com-

missioned Colonel Quartermaster Ohio Reserve Corps

September 25, 1919; Brigadier-General Quartermaster

Ohio Reserve Corps September 27, 1923; re-commis-

sioned Brigadier-General September 27, 1928. He was

President of the Reserve Officers Association of Ohio

since 1922.

Rutgers College conferred upon him the degree of

D. Sc. in 1922. He was secretary of the American

Ceramic Society, 1899-1917; fellow of the American

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General Edward Orton, Jr.        341

Association for the Advancement of Science; member

of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Edu-

cation; of the American Society for Testing Materials;

of the National Brick Manufacturers Association; of

the Society of Automotive Engineers; president of the

Chamber of Commerce, 1921-1923.

The preceding sketch indicates a part only of the

attainment of General Orton's highly useful and honor-

able career. Of especial interest to the readers of the

Quarterly has been his service as a Life Member and

officer of The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society. In recent years he has been second vice-presi-

dent of the Society, and as chairman of the Memorial

Building Committee he has performed a distinctive serv-

ice. To his good judgment and general activity are due

in very large measure the dignified and attractive form

of the memorial wing to the Museum and Library Build-

ing of the Society. Every detail of the construction and

equipment of this addition, including the artistic fea-

ures in bronze, bears the impress of his tactful and never

lagging enthusiasm. He actively aided in securing a

creditable allotment of World War trophies for the Mu-

seum and under his leadership the library of the old

Northwest Genealogical and Historical Society was

transferred by Messrs. George Spahr and Theodore

Glenn to the custody of The Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society.

General Orton was chairman of the Building Ex-

tension Committee of the Society and directed the plan-

ning and erection of the south wing of the Library

Building. This was a much needed improvement and

provided room for additional stacking for the large col-

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342      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

lection of newspapers that has been gathered together in

the years of his vice-presidency of the Society.

In his later years General Orton freely devoted his

time to the public service. In this he followed the foot-

steps of the former president of the Society, Governor

James E. Campbell. General Orton was a dynamic

force in the progress of the community in which he lived.

The capital city of Ohio will not be quite the same since

he is gone, but the memory of his devoted service will

long remain to inspire those who come after.

It was a source of great comfort to General Orton to

found and provide for the Edward Orton Memorial Li-

brary of Geology in memory of his father. This is one

of the outstanding collections in the United States. It

was dedicated in 1920.

He was twice married, his first wife, Mary Anderson

Orton, dying in 1927. In 1928 he was married to Mina

Althea Orton of Pulaski, N. Y., who survives him.

Other survivors are two sisters, Mrs. Oliver P. Watts

of Madison, Wis., and Mrs. Francis C. Caldwell of Co-

lumbus, Ohio, and one brother, Dr. Samuel T. Orton,

of New York City.

General Orton's funeral was conducted at 2 o'clock

on February 13, 1932, from the First Congregational

Church, Dr. M. H. Lichliter officiating. A tribute was

paid by Dr. W. O. Thompson which is found in full on

the following pages.

General Orton was buried with military honors. His

funeral was in charge of officers at Fort Hayes, Reserve

Officers and the American Legion.

Dr. W. O. Thompson, President Emeritus of Ohio

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General Edward Orton, Jr.              343

State University, paid the following tribute to General

Orton:

This gathering of university colleagues, fellow-citizens and

personal friends with the family bears testimony to the high es-

teem and affection we have had for years for Edward Orton, Jr.

No word is necessary here in proof of this statement or to assure

anyone of the sense of loss that has come upon the city of Co-

lumbus by reason of his passing from us.

Enough notice has been taken of this event in the daily press

to render it unnecessary to repeat at this time the conventional

chronology or professional statement concerning the activities

through which our friend passed in the years of a very busy life.

The occasion would seem to justify a somewhat intimate, personal

statement supplementary to the public notices and accounts of the

very active career spent entirely in this community.

It was my good fortune to know the first Edward Orton who

for a generation lived among us and imbedded himself in the

esteem and affection of practically every public school teacher

in the commonwealth. He was an economic geologist of more

than local fame whose reports to this day are cited as authority

on the geological questions under discussion. He was, how-

ever, more than a geologist. He was a great teacher who has

left his impression upon hundreds of students, many of whom

have passed from among us.

He was the first president of the university, but never

found himself altogether happy in administrative work as con-

trasted with his keener pleasures of teaching. Notwithstanding

this personal preference the wisdom of his counsel, in the early

days has left permanent and beneficent influence on the funda-

mental principles for which the university has always stood.

The university in itself is a complete defense of the wisdom and

standing of its first president.

Edward Orton, jr., grew up in a family marked by the

quality so much desired among us.

He was a rugged, vigorous boy who took to his educational

and other experiences in a most wholesome way. His humorous

description of many of his experiences was the finest testimony

to his own attitude toward his boyhood opportunities.

Eventually he became a mining engineer.   He spent his

early career in the Hocking Valley and in the areas where the

ceramic industry eventually occupied his entire interest. During

these years his association with the metallurgist, Prof. N. W.

Lord, with the civil engineer, the late C. Newton Brown, with

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344        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

his colleague Prof. Frank Ray, had much to do with his general

activity. These were men whose place was well recognized.

At one time Columbia university said, "There was but one

metallurgist in the country and his name was Nathaniel W. Lord

of Ohio State university." Here was a superb teacher in metal-

lurgy to freshmen. He was equally at home with the owners

and operators of every mining industry in Ohio, West Virginia

and portions of adjacent territory. In these earlier days these

men related their work to the industries of the territory in

which the university has been located.

It was the mission of Edward Orton, Jr., to open the way

for the ceramic industry, in a large way. He is responsible

personally for having drafted the existing law concerning cera-

mics. In his own mind the entire plan was clear before he pre-

sented it to the legislature.  In subsequent years it was my

privilege to be intimately associated with him in a few important

constructive activities.

One was the legislative provision for co-operative activity

between the federal government and the university in the field

of research in ceramics. At another time we worked together

with the advice of Dean Hitchcock on the provision for the es-

tablishment and maintenance of the engineering experiment sta-

tion. The detailed provisions of that bill were subjected to

scores of interviews on the campus in which we discussed to a

conclusion the issues involved in engineering.

The rights and privileges of the industry as well as the

rights and privileges of the university are drawn with great care.

Not a line of that legislation escaped the thoughtful consideration

of Edward Orton, Jr. It was passed in the legislature without a

single amendment or suggestion.

In a somewhat similar way he came into the National De-

fense Act. Mr. Ralph B. Mershon, a university graduate and

engineer of distinction, Col. George L. Converse, Edward Orton

and myself were the four men who prepared the National Defense

Act and urged its passage by congress. It is fair to say that

notwithstanding the advice from the other three members, Ed-

ward Orton is more responsible than any other one person for

the present National Defense Act.

The intimacy of our personal relations permitted a pretty

vigorous debate between us when Professor Orton, recognized

as the first man in the United States in the field of ceramics

gave consideration to the deanship of the college of engineering.

When I tried to persuade him that he was stepping from an emi-

nence in an important science and industry to the routine of

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General Edward Orton, Jr.              345

administration, which could be done only at a great sacrifice

and tried to urge the importance of his place in the field that

up to that moment was altogether his own, his modest reply

was, after naming three or four men, that he had educated his

ceramic students beyond his own achievements. He felt per-

fectly safe, therefore, in turning over to these men the future

of ceramics in the field of education.

His connection, however, was not entirely broken. Within

the past two years he has been given international recognition

for his place in this area of applied science.

For some years he gave himself heartily to the development

of the Godman Guild. Those of us who remember the savory

reputation of Fly-town are prepared to appreciate the radical

change and improvement that has occurred on Goodale street,

largely due to the Godman Guild. The time came, however, when

he felt as he did with other enterprises, that the important basis

of his work had been completed.

The important technical manufacturing establishment now

located on Summit street laid the basis for a good portion of

Professor Orton's personal fortune. This opened the way for

his entrance into the general field of philanthropy and of public

service. In the Chamber of Commerce and in the Community

Fund he took important and influential positions.

I am citing these, not for the purpose of discussing them,

but of directing attention to the fact that Edward Orton laid hold

of a good many opportunities any one of which would ordinarily

be considered as worthy of a man's life. He developed these

enterprises until certain definite results had been reached. He

then transferred his interest and activity to some new enterprise.

This explains why his enthusiasm could center around the

Art Gallery on Broad street where he has made some important

contributions. In his own work at the university his collection

was a fine laboratory in the four principle fields comprised in

ceramics, namely, the clay products, the cement products, includ-

ing brick and glass. These form a very definite period of his

active interest.

At another time the opportunity to become state geologist

presented itself. We discussed that matter for some time. The

leave of absence so far as necessary was granted and the work

undertaken with the distinct understanding on his part that a

survey of the state in the interest of the clay industry should be

made. His reports will reveal the story. When that was com-

pleted he left the office just as he had left a good many other

places when he felt that his specific task was complete. He was a

successor to his father in that field.

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346        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

As a tribute to his father's service he spent something more

than twenty-five thousand dollars in the refurnishing and reor-

ganization of Orton hall, making it one of the best equipped

libraries and laboratories for the study of geology to be found

anywhere in the middle west. He brought that task to com-

pleteness as he did many others.

I mention only one more of his side interests. It happened

to be my personal privilege to know of his interest in the glacier

movements. He came to Colorado where I had lived. His con-

tact with some of my personal friends, among them a photogra-

pher, opened up the way for a good many experiences which I

will not now narrate save to say that Edward Orton seemed to

have great pleasure in telling the story of being lost in the neigh-

borhood of Estes Park and having spent an entire night until the

day dawned and enabled him to see the way back to camp. All

alone through the night and the day he could describe in later

years with great zeal the enthusiasm he had over a very limited and

frugal meal of concentrated food.

In a brief moment I should like to say that Edward Orton's

life appears to me to have had three distinct features.

First, the period of his fundamental education shot through

with the ambitions of young manhood. These were entirely ap-

propriate and gave expression in a very vigorous way to the de-

velopment of a rugged, vigorous man who was also a constructive

mining engineer.

His second period was filled with the realization of these am-

bitions through the completeness of his work in the several enter-

prises to which he gave his hand and heart. It has always seemed

to me that Edward Orton left from year to year more well finished

tasks than any man I knew. Now that his career has been closed

I review his experiences with a supreme satisfaction that so many

of his tasks stand as completed pieces of work ready for an in-

definite service. He looked well to the future in the completeness

of these tasks. We shall hear more of this later on.

The third period of his life was the period of interest in

philanthropy, civic improvement, the Community Fund and, in

general, the interests of good citizenship. The career by which he

passed from the vigorous physical student, through the war period

on to his brigadier generalship is the steady progress and the

rapid change from one field of activity to another. The complete-

ness of these services in themselves make us think of so many

units of his life.

As a concluding observation I desire to bear my testimony to

more than thirty years of constant and somewhat intimate com-

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General Edward Orton, Jr.              347

 

radeship. It may have been a mere accident that the first men to

greet me in 1899 were N. W. Lord, Edward Orton and George W.

Knight. These three men occupied their places with honor and

distinction, each rejoicing in the success of the other.

Through these years Edward Orton has steadily grown to

maturity, revealing a refinement of mind and heart, a culture in

his life and a social point of view that seems to me to be the maxi-

mum development of an American citizen. He matured and at

the same time became increasingly human, refined, cultured and

in every way a citizen of distinction worthy of our confidence,

our esteem and our affection.

It always interested me to note the steady development of a

sense of humor and the increasing hold upon him due to human

affection. General Orton genuinely loved his fellow citizens and

colleagues with whom he came into closest contact. His career

is an open book. It was largely the result of his own native

ability plus the kindly co-operation of men of similar tastes. His

devotion was unquestionably to science pure and applied and later

to the social application of science as a remedial agent for the

solution of economic and social situations.

We bid him farewell with full recognition of the importance

of his service to science, to education, to his community and to his

country. He was a clear-minded, tolerant citizen who steadily

grew in his capacity for service and in the esteem and affection of

his colleagues. His life is an unanswerable argument for the hope

of immortality which cheers us on our way.

Dr. Lichliter spoke in part as follows:

There is a poem by William Wordsworth which has been

called a "manual of greatness." It is too long to be recited. It

lends itself to quiet reading because of the almost Roman majesty

of its simple but weighty speech. May I urge you to turn to

Wordsworth's poems--in the quiet of Sunday afternoon--and

read carefully "The Character of the Happy Warrior."

"Who, if he rise to station of command,

Rises by open means; and there will stand

On honorable terms, or else retire

And in himself possess his own desire;

Who comprehends his trust, and to the same

Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim,

And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait

For wealth, or honors, or for worldly state."

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348        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

It is a vignette portrait of General Orton. Let me sum up

the message of the poem in a single sentence--as I mention the

specific characteristics of a man who has a right to be called the

Happy Warrior: High aims, the cultivation of the intellect, moral

rectitude, the power to educe good from evil, tenderness, plac-

ability, purity, fortitude, obedience to the law of reason, the choice

of right means as well as right ends, fidelity, joy in domestic

pleasures, heroism in the great crises of life.

I ask those who have known this man through the years--

Is there a single quality which may not be applied to him?

* * *

Today our thought is focussed upon the character and spirit

of the man. Dr. Thompson has spoken of the units of constructive

service which General Orton has rendered--and of the impres-

sions which have grown out of years of personal contact. It will

be our temptation--as we think of him--to dwell upon our unique

sense of loss. We find ourselves wondering how we can ever get

along without him in this city. General Orton would have been

the first to insist that no man is indispensable--and, of course,

that is true--but it is equally true that no man among us has been

so unselfishly useful.

May I dwell upon the unselfish spirit of the man. So many

men in public life seek something for themselves--office, financial

remuneration, the sense of power. One reason why General

Orton meant so much to every cause he served--was the obvious

fact that he had no ax to grind--that he asked no reward--that

he thought of himself only as a useful means to a common end.

* * *

May I ask you to recall his intellectual integrity and his ab-

solute honesty. He would not permit himself to affirm what he

did not sincerely believe. He was so independent in his thinking

that he could not allow himself to be put in any false light. He

honored me several times in these last eight years by talking un-

reservedly concerning his attitudes toward religion and the church.

He used to say that if he could join any church it would be this

church because it officially grants to every man a right to his own

individual interpretation of religion and asks no acceptance of

any formal creed or code.

Without betraying any confidence--I may say that in the

matter of specific doctrines--we marched together in almost

everything except where a certain mystic attitude entered the dis-

cussion. His scientific training made it impossible for him to go

beyond the analysis of facts, although he himself lived a rich, full,

satisfying subjective life. He hated sham, pretense, dogmatism,

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General Edward Orton, Jr.             349

 

intolerance. He loved the challenge to service, the imperious de-

mands for purity of life, the essential supremacy of absolute

business and intellectual and spiritual integrity.

A re-birth of intellectual honesty, a fearless, scientific search

for facts, a willingness to speak the truth as God gives a man to

see the truth, an unselfish devotion to his family--and to the pub-

lic good--a deep, instinctive sympathy with the oppressed, the

neglected, and the needy classes--these are the marks of this

happy warrior--who being dead yet speaketh.

 

DR. RIGHTMIRE'S TRIBUTE

President Rightmire's tribute to General Orton fol-

lows:

He thoroughly realized the grade and varieties of ability and

understood that these factors must determine the appropriate type

and degree of education in individual cases. He believed that

education of the individual results from the unwearying continu-

ation of the process of learning through life and that this process

can go forward effectively only when ordered on principles of

sympathy, liberality, recognition of individual capacities and good-

natured co-operation. He, himself, was a living embodiment of

the principles which he believed.

He was a highly practical engineer and his thinking and his

action in that field rested upon well-assured scientific principles

and the engineering problems to which he turned his attention

were always adequately solved on this basis. He was an apt stu-

dent of the application of fundamental scientific principles, and

through his studies and experimentation made possible great ex-

pansion in the ceramic industry. As an administrator he mani-

fested the vigor and vision which led to eminent success.

 

FOR BETTER LIVING

He had a high conception of our social order and the forces

therein which make for progress or for distintegration. He was

keenly devoted to the betterment of conditions of living, of labor,

of social enjoyment, and of self-realization. Honesty of thinking,

of opinion and of conduct shone from his countenance and all per-

sons who met him were at once impressed with his engaging per-

sonality and dealt with him on the basis of entire confidence.

He filled a very important place in the educational, the in-

dustrial and the social life of the community and had the highest

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350       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

conception of his privileges and his obligations as a citizen. He

never spared himself in advancing any of the causes in which he

was interested, devoting his time and money unstintingly to the

betterment of the community.

ALWAYS A STUDENT

He was a gentleman of refinement and culture, a student,

and also a successful industrialist; he mingled with the most se-

lect society and also went understandingly and sympathetically

among the toilers and the plain people who enjoy the more com-

mon pleasures of life; he never ceased self-education in the sci-

ences and the arts, and was also devoted to practical affairs; he

was the highest type of reserved, self-dependent and resourceful

person and at the same time a philanthropist, an apostle of the

equal opportunity and always a moving spirit in civic affairs.

Columbus Dispatch,

February II, 1932.

 

EDITORIAL TRIBUTE

DR. EDWARD ORTON, JR.

Probably no other person contributed more to the develop-

ment of the remarkable clay resources of Ohio than Dr. Edward

Orton, Jr. Within the compass of his active years the state has

been converted from a condition in which its contributions of

ceramic products were negligible, to that of the leading state of

the Union in that regard. In fact, with the exception of terra

cotta, the Ohio clay products now pour into the commerce of the

nation in a large and rapidly increasing volume.

Following his distinguished father, the late Dr. Edward Or-

ton, Sr., who was professor of geology in the State university and

state geologist, Edward Orton, Jr., became interested in geology

in his student days, and then and later worked on the geological

reports, and became specially interested in this way in economical

geology, which led to his investigation of the clays of the state.

The Ortons, father and son, were pioneers in industrial and eco-

nomic geology, and much that has been accomplished here in the

development of oil, gas, coal and clays was due to their efforts.

Under his direction the department of ceramic engineering

was established and conducted with remarkable success--the first

of its kind in this country, if not in the world. Under the tute-

lage of Dr. Orton, Jr., and his successors in that department,

trained engineers have been sent out to take charge of ceramic

industries in all parts of the world. It would be hard to over-

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General Edward Orton, Jr.             351 estimate the importance of the contribution of the department in this way to the clay working industries everywhere. The owners of these concerns placed their faith in his knowledge and judg- ment and practically all the pyrometric cones used in such plants come from his laboratory here in Columbus, now housed in a fine building on Summit street, which he erected a few years ago as a memorial to his father. When the World War came on, Dr. Orton volunteered his services and reported for intensive training at the Plattsburg, N. Y., camp, and was commissioned a major in the quartermaster corps; later a colonel in the motor transport corps and finally pro- moted to the rank of brigadier general in the 0. R. C. In 1923 he was president of the 0. R. C. association of Ohio. Busy with his technical work, he was for seven years the state geologist of Ohio, and found time to do outstanding work that came to him as a citizen. He served two terms as president of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, and directed the work of filling the Community chest two years ago. He maintained in- terest in politics and in 1928 he was one of the delegates to the Republican national convention at Kansas City. It is hardly too much to say of him that he was Columbus' first citizen. His last public service was rendered when, at the urgent re- quest of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, he accompanied a committee to Washington to present the merits of the city as the site of the proposed new federal hospital. Though ill at the time, he presented the matter as few others could have done.-- Columbus Dispatch, February 11, 1932.

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