CHARLES BURLEIGH GALBREATH1
BY JOHN F. CARLISLE
Charles Burleigh Galbreath was born on
a farm
near Leetonia, Columbiana County, Ohio,
February 25,
1858, and died February 23, 1934, just
two days before
his birthday date. He was the son of
Edward Paxson
Galbreath and Jane Minerva (Shaw)
Galbreath, and
was a birthright member of the Society
of Friends.
In the closing days of the "Civil
War" he began his
elementary education. He learned to
read from the
McGuffey Readers and to figure from
Ray's Arithme-
tic. In 1879 he was graduated from New
Lisbon High
School, and in 1882 from Mt. Union
College, at Alli-
ance, Ohio, with the degree of Bachelor
of Philosophy;
and in 1885 with the degrees of
Bachelor of Commercial
Science and Bachelor of Arts. The
degree of Master of
Arts was conferred upon him by his Alma
Mater in
1894.
Mr. Galbreath served as superintendent
of schools
of Wilmot, Ohio, 1884-1886, and of East
Palestine,
1886 to 1893. During the same period he
was county
school examiner of Columbiana County.
In the sum-
mer of 1891 and again in the summer of
1892 he taught
in the Ohio Normal University at Ada,
Ohio, now
known as Ohio Northern University. He
served two
years as vice-president, 1893 to 1895,
of Mt. Hope Col-
lege, Rogers, Ohio, and in 1896 became
its president,
1 From memorial and tribute
adopted by the Columbus McGuffey
Society, April 24, 1934.
(115)
116
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
and while so acting he was made State
Librarian of
Ohio and continued as such for fifteen
years, until July
1, 1911. In 1915 he was again selected
State Librarian
and served three more years. Nine years
later he served
as temporary librarian to build up
again the run-down
condition of the State library. This
service he rendered
in 1927.
He was the special research assistant
to the Joint
Legislative Committee on Administrative
Reorganiza-
tion of Ohio, from July 9, 1919, until
1920.
He organized a system of traveling
libraries, which
had increased to the number of 1200 in
1911, with
56,000 volumes. Ohio at the time
exceeded in number
of traveling libraries that of every
state in the Union.
It was during the years 1912 and 1913
that he was
secretary of the Fourth Constitutional
Convention. At
the opening of our War with Spain he
took a prominent
and active interest in the formation
and organization of
the Columbus Branch of the Cuban League
which rose
to 2000 members, the object of the
League being the
freedom and independence of Cuba.
Mr. Galbreath was the author of Daniel
Decatur Em-
mett, composer of "Dixie,"
1904; Benjamin Russell
Hanby, author of "Darling
Nellie Gray," 1905; Will L.
Thompson, author of "Gathering
Shells from the Sea-
shore," 1905; Alexander Coffman Ross, author of "Tip-
pecanoe and Tyler Too," 1905; Initiative and Referen-
dum, 1911; Our National Constitution and Constitutions
of Ohio, 1911; Constitutional Conventions of Ohio,
1911; Battle of Lake Erie, in Ballad
and History, 1911;
Story of Ohio, 1913; Story of the Aeroplane, 1915;
This Crimson Flower, an answer to
"In Flanders'
Charles Burleigh Galbreath 117
Fields," and other verse, 1919; Visit of Lafayette to
Ohio Valley States, 1920; Expedition of Celoron to the
Ohio Country, 1921; History of Ohio, 5 volumes here-
tofore referred to, 1925; many sketches
and published
articles. He also compiled Sketches
of Ohio Libraries,
1911, and Proclamations and Debates
of the Fourth
Constitutional Convention of Ohio, 1912-1913, consist-
ing of two large volumes.
Mr. Galbreath was a member of the
American Li-
brary Association, the American
Historical Association,
the National Association of State
Librarians, the Ohio
Library Association, a life member of
The Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
serving it as sec-
retary, editor and librarian for the
last fourteen years
of his life; an active member of the
Kit-Kat Club of
our city, and an officer of the Ohio
History Day Asso-
ciation of Circleville, Ohio, the aim
of which is to pre-
serve the history of the region which
centers around the
great old tree, popularly known as The
Logan Elm. He
also was an honorary member of the Ohio
Society of
New York. As librarian of The Ohio
State Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society he
played an important
part in building up the 25,000 volume
newspaper col-
lection of the Society's library. In
appreciation of his
efforts it is named and known as The
Charles Burleigh
Galbreath Newspaper Library.1
In 1932, when the Bicentennial of the
birth of our
First President was celebrated, Mr.
Galbreath took an
outstanding active interest,
investigating, studying, de-
1 During Mr. Galbreath's administration
as Librarian, the library was
increased by fourteen outstanding
collections, including the Newspaper Col-
lection, aggregating an estimated value
of $250,000.--Editor.
118 Ohio Arch.
and Hist. Society Publications
livering talks upon and actually
traveling over the trips,
trails and camps of General George
Washington to the
then so-called "Western
Country," which we now know
as the Ohio River along the eastern and
southeastern
boundary of our state. He has left us a
record of all
this.
It had often been said, and sometimes
written, that
Dr. William Holmes McGuffey left us
nothing from his
pen except the Readers. Mr. Galbreath's
investigations,
on the contrary, show that Dr. McGuffey
did leave some
stray writings, a very important one
being his lecture
delivered before "The Teacher's
College" of Cincinnati,
Ohio, in the winter of 1836. This
lecture, entitled "The
Reciprocal Duties of Parents and
Teachers," he found
in a file of a magazine then known as The
Academician,
which is preserved in the Library of
Ohio State Uni-
versity. The ideas of Dr. McGuffey
contained in the
lecture may be said to furnish the aims
and purposes of
"The Parent-Teachers
Associations" of our day. The
letters of Anna McGuffey Morrill, a
niece of Dr. Wil-
liam Holmes McGuffey and daughter of
Alexander
Hamilton McGuffey, appeared in a recent
number of
THE QUARTERLY
under the title, "A Daughter
of the
McGuffeys." This is is as clever a
piece of editing as
can be found anywhere. One of the many
important
matters brought out was the attitude of
the McGuffy
brothers towards the questions that
were uppermost in
both the North and the South during the
Civil War,
which attitude attracted Mr.
Galbreath's attention for
many years. He discovered that the
sympathies of Dr.
McGuffey, who had from 1845 to his
death been a pro-
fessor in the University of Virginia,
were with the
Charles Burleigh Galbreath 119
South, while those of his brother,
Alexander, were with
the North, and that when they visited
each other, they
religiously avoided the subject at all
times.
The lesson, "A Boy on a
Farm," from the McGuffey
Readers, certainly had its appeal to
Mr. Galbreath, for
he, too, as has been said, was born and
reared on a farm.
It is but logical to infer that his
founding of the "trav-
eling library" for rural Ohio, had
its roots in this lesson.
It was his custom to be present and
deliver an address
when such a library was dedicated in
the rural county.
On January 1st, 1901, when the one in
Van Wert County
was dedicated, Mr. Galbreath was
present, and, amongst
other things, said:
The country boy stands alone, the child
of nature, whose
landscape, horizon girt, limits his
little world. The farm is his
gymnasium, the rural school his hall of
learning, the amphitheater
of hills with overarching sky, his
temple of philosophy. Meager
opportunities, but they have crowned
history's page with names
illustrious, deeds heroic, and character
exalted. His past is an
honored one. What of his future? He
still has God's sunshine,
the pure air of heaven, and an
environment that inspires liberty
and independence. Add to these gifts of
nature some of the edu-
cational advantages of the city, bring
the grade school within his
reach, through the medium of the
traveling library introduce him
to the master minds of the ages, and he
will face the world, broad
fronted and square shouldered, strong to
"breast the blows of
circumstances and make by force his
merit known." You offer
him the companionship of books. What
better could be given?
When the long winter nights are here,
when the storm is loud
without, when the snow-flakes silently
fall and the frost and the
invisible finger works crystal flowers
on the window pane, seated
by the fire he will forget his isolation
as he follows the printed
page, and for him "the night shall
be filled with music."
Colonel E. S. Wilson, a charter member
of The Co-
lumbus McGuffey Society, and who for
many years and
to the day of his death was editor of
the Ohio State Jour-
120 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
nal, always claimed that to be a poet one must have what
he called "The Divine
Afflatus"--the gift of poesy. Mr.
Galbreath had deep in his soul this
gift. While the
"World War" was on there came
from the pen of Lieu-
tenant Colonel John McCrae, then
actively engaged with
the Canadian forces in the north of
France, the poem,
"In Flanders Fields." This
poem and the spirit of it
so stirred the poetic soul of Mr.
Galbreath, whose only
child and son was with the American
Forces in France
then at the front engaged in bitter
battle for the right,
that he brought forth "America's
Answer" to "In Flan-
ders Fields"--peace with
victory--and the patriotic feel-
ing of America toward the World War
thereby became
understandable and concrete to all of
us.
AMERICA'S ANSWER
In Flanders fields the cannon boom
And fitful flashes light the gloom,
While up above, like eagles, fly
The fierce destroyers of the sky;
With stains the earth wherein you lie
Is redder than the poppy bloom,
In Flanders fields.
Sleep on, ye brave. The shrieking shell,
The quaking trench, the startled yell,
The fury of the battle hell
Shall wake you not; for all is well.
Sleep peacefully; for all is well.
Your flaming torch aloft we bear,
With burning heart an oath we swear
To keep the faith, to fight it through
To crush the foe or sleep with you
In Flanders fields.
Charles Burleigh Galbreath 121
After the Armistice (November 11,
1918), the
Muse-spirit again flamed within him and
from the
depths of his soul, he sang:
The war-worn world has found release,
And in this chaste and hallowed bed
Serenely sleep the martyred dead,
While falls the benison of peace
In Flanders fields.
Sleep, victors, sleep when falls the
snow,
When spring returns, when poppies blow;
Our legions heard your mute appeal,
They kept the faith through fire and
steel,
And when the battle flags were furled
Your torch illumined all the world
From Flanders fields.
Mr. Galbreath was a charter and active
member of
the Columbus Verse-Writers Guild. Many
of the mem-
bers have given us their appreciation
of him in beautiful
verse. Lack of space prevents us from
incorporating
them.
Mr. Galbreath was married July 29th,
1882, to Ida
Kelley, daughter of Albert R. and Anna
(Harnit) Kel-
ley, of Salem, Ohio. One son, Albert
Webster Gal-
breath, was born of this union. He is
now a consulting
engineer in St. Louis, Missouri.
How shall Charles Burleigh Galbreath's
sincere and
magnanimous personality be
recorded? We fear we
cannot have others, who did not know
him, know him
as we who lived in almost daily contact
with him. He
lived so full and so large a life in
all his seventy-six
years. We can be sure that his recorded
works and
labors will live on for generations to
come. He had a
winning and simple personality with
which few are
122 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications gifted, and which we shall all remember. His ideal was to live honorably, hurt nobody and give to every man his due. He had a largeness,--a largeness that reached be- yond the liminal--a something words cannot describe. The spiritual effulgence of his soul has not gone from among us. It will ever remain with us. His was the simple life. He was always meek--always courteous-- always a true Christian gentleman. "None knew him, but to love him, Nor named him, but to praise." |
|
CHARLES BURLEIGH GALBREATH1
BY JOHN F. CARLISLE
Charles Burleigh Galbreath was born on
a farm
near Leetonia, Columbiana County, Ohio,
February 25,
1858, and died February 23, 1934, just
two days before
his birthday date. He was the son of
Edward Paxson
Galbreath and Jane Minerva (Shaw)
Galbreath, and
was a birthright member of the Society
of Friends.
In the closing days of the "Civil
War" he began his
elementary education. He learned to
read from the
McGuffey Readers and to figure from
Ray's Arithme-
tic. In 1879 he was graduated from New
Lisbon High
School, and in 1882 from Mt. Union
College, at Alli-
ance, Ohio, with the degree of Bachelor
of Philosophy;
and in 1885 with the degrees of
Bachelor of Commercial
Science and Bachelor of Arts. The
degree of Master of
Arts was conferred upon him by his Alma
Mater in
1894.
Mr. Galbreath served as superintendent
of schools
of Wilmot, Ohio, 1884-1886, and of East
Palestine,
1886 to 1893. During the same period he
was county
school examiner of Columbiana County.
In the sum-
mer of 1891 and again in the summer of
1892 he taught
in the Ohio Normal University at Ada,
Ohio, now
known as Ohio Northern University. He
served two
years as vice-president, 1893 to 1895,
of Mt. Hope Col-
lege, Rogers, Ohio, and in 1896 became
its president,
1 From memorial and tribute
adopted by the Columbus McGuffey
Society, April 24, 1934.
(115)