Ohio History Journal

PROCEEDINGS

 

 

OF THE

CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY

 

 

 

OF THE CITY OF

 

GALLOPOLIS, OHIO.

 

 

 

 

October 16, 17, 18 and 19, 1890.

 

 

 

 

 

PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS.

 

As early as April, 1890, the citizens of Gallipolis, through

their Board of Trade, took action to secure a proper celebration

of the approaching centennial of the city's settlement. On April

22, 1890, at a meeting of the Board of Trade, the following

named gentlemen were elected an Executive Committee of

arrangements:

John L. Vance, Chairman; C. Fred Henking, W. B. Shober,

H. R. Bradbury, Joseph Mullineux, J. A. McClurg, Geo. House,

J. C. Hutsinpiller, C. W. Henking, Dr. J. Eakins, B. F. Bar-

low, P. A. Sanns, J. C. Priestley, B. T. Enos, E. L. Menager,

C. D. Kerr, J. M. Kerr, S. A. Dunbar, A. W. Kerns, W. Kling,

A. Ufermann, Charles Regnier.

The organization of the Committee was completed by the

selection of the following named gentlemen to the positions

stated:

Vice-Chairman -B. F. Barlow.

Secretary- H. R. Bradbury.

Treasurer -C. W. Henking.

Vol. III--1

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2         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 3

 

The meetings of the Committee were held at the Audi-

tor's office, the use of which was tendered by A. W. Kerns.

The Committee at its first meeting, tendered an invitation to

the General Assembly of Ohio to be present at the Centennial,

which invitation was presented to the House of Representatives

by Hon. J. Eakins, a member of the House from Gallia County.

The invitation was accepted by the General Assembly, and

arrangements made by the members of that body to attend.

On the evening of April 28th the Executive Committee met

and appointed a Sub-Committee to confer with the Ohio Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society in regard to the Centennial celebra-

tion: Hon. J. Eakins, Wm. B. Shober, C. F. Henking, J. A.

McClurg, H. R. Bradbury, Jos. Mullineux, and John L. Vance.

Messrs. B. F. Barlow, William Kling, A. W. Kerns, J. M.

Kerr and B. T. Enos were also appointed a committee to suggest

names and duties of sub-committees.

The first named committee went to Columbus, May 12th,

and the next day met the Executive Committee of the Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society, and after a conference, a com-

mittee consisting of H. R. Bradbury, Jon. L. Vance, C. F. Hen-

king, F. C. Sessions, and A. A. Graham was appointed to pre-

pare a programme for the Centennial. This committee met in

Gallipolis, Saturday, June 7th, and arranged a provisional pro-

gramme, and assigned to John L. Vance and A. A. Graham the

duty to arrange the details necessary to its completion, and

authorized them to make such alterations and additions as might

be necessary for the final programme.

Steps were now taken by the Society and the Gallipolis

committee to secure in permanent form the papers, addresses and

proceedings of the Centennial in volume third of the Historical

Society's publications. The Secretary of the Society was au-

thorized to prepare a circular setting forth the proposed contents

of the volume, and to secure a subscription thereto from the peo-

ple of Gallipolis. In pursuance of this action, the following

circular was prepared and submitted to a meeting of the Board

of Trade of Gallipolis the evening of Friday, June 20th, and a

subscription of 150 copies of the publication secured. The cir-

cular is as follows:

• 2
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.     3

 

 

 

THE OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY.       CIR-

CULAR OF INFORMATION NO. 2, 1890.     THE

PUBLICATIONS FOR 1890.

 

The Centennial of the Settlement of Gallipolis, Ohio, will

occur October 19th, next. It will then be one hundred years

since the colony of French emigrants landed on the northern

bank of "La Belle River."

This settlement, the only one of its kind in Ohio, bears no

little impress on our history, and merits more than merely a Cen-

tennial celebration. Its history contains not only the location of

the colony, and the founding of a town, but also carries with it

many questions of national interest. Made about the opening

of the French Revolution, when the attention of all Europe was

drawn to the questions of civil and religious liberty; and when

the minds of men were easily turned to any solution of the prob-

lems then agitating mankind, there clusters about this settlement

many interesting and instructive questions in our early annals.

The scheme of locating a foreign colony upon land in an Ameri-

can wilderness, obtained from the Government through organized

land companies was watched by many, not only in Europe, but

also in America. It was not merely local interest; the attention

of nations was drawn thither.

The history of this colony, the formation of the Ohio and

Scioto Land Companies, both more or less interested in its suc-

cess, and the relation each bore to the other, with a concise his-

tory of their transactions so far as they relate to this colony, will

appear in this volume. Original maps, plats, drawings and docu-

ments will be used to illustrate the text. The " French Grant"

will be carefully and fully described, and such plats and maps, as

will elucidate the text, will be used.

The story of the French emigrants will be faithfully given,

and as far as possible a complete list of the first settlers will be

printed. Plats and plans, views and portraits, as far as can be

obtained, will be used to illustrate the work.

The volume will therefore not be merely an account of the

exercises commemorative of the Centennial. It will be a history

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4         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

of the colony, and a careful digest of the questions pertinent

thereto.

The work when published will be somewhat similar to that

issued in 1888, i. e., "The Marietta Centennial of April 7th,^"

save that this will be a bound volume, and will be the Society's

publication for 1890. Like all publications of the Society, the

volume is not for general circulation. Members of the Society

will be supplied, and additional copies will be printed only for

exchanges, societies, and for those who request them.

Several thousand copies of this circular were issued and sent

liberally to all parts of the country, and through the Board of

Trade at Gallipolis, were freely distributed there.

On August 19th, the Board of Trade appointed the follow-

ing committees on detail work:

 

ADVERTISING.

P. T. Wall, Chairman; I. F. Chapman, Theo. N. Wilson,

Chas. D. Kerr, S. A. McClurg.

 

AMUSEMENTS.

Thos. R. Hayward, Chairman; J. Will Clendinen, N. R.

Canaday, P. T. Wall, A. L. Roadarmour, C. B. Hanson, Geo. D.

McIntyre, C. H. Small, H. C. Johnston, Jas. W. Gardner.

 

ATHLETICS.

Arthur Williams, Chairman; Henry Neal, Fred Kling.

 

BADGES.

Ralph C. Jones, Chairman; C. C. Olmstead, Frank Moore.

 

DECORATIONS.

O. M. Henking, Chairman; Chas. W. Uhrig, C. H. McCor-

mick, Dr. F. A. Cromley, Ed. W. Vanden, Ross Williams, A.

R. Weaver, Frank Ulsamer, W. B. Fuller, B. Frank Barlow, A.

A. Lyon, J. C. Staats, C. F. Hudlin, C. A. Smith, C. M. Adams,

Samuel T. Cook, S. D. Cowden, J. Will Clendinen, Chas.

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The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.    5

 

Gentry, Jas. H. Sanns, S. A. Rathburn, Charles Johnston,

Aaron Frank.

DRINKING WATER.

C. W. Ernsting, Chairman; E. T. Moore, J. H. Frank,

Fred H. Kerr, E. Lincoln Neal, John Pepple, B. L. Gardner, A.

Moch, J. M. Smith, Frank Bell, Jos. Ziegler, G. W. Cox, Paul

Dober, Dr. J. R. Safford, Geo. W. Alexander, E. L. Menager,

J. C. Shepard, C. J. Schreck, J. S. Billups, Henry House, Chas.

F. Jenny, Alvin Brown.

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT.

John C. Hutsinpiller, 'Chairman; J. H. Schaaf, Charles

Stuart, S. F. Crane, C. H. D. Summer, Henry Gilman, W. G.

Fuller, A. J. Greene, Dr. John Sanns, Henry.R. Bell, Henry

Beall.

FIREWORKS.

E. E. Gatewood, Chairman; Thomas R. Hayward, J. A.

Blazer, A. B. Williams, C. Fred Henking, Geo. N. Bolles, M.

S. Hern.

GROUNDS AND SUPPLIES.

Geo. House, Chairman; Jos. F. Martin, A. F. Lasley, John

Lupton, James H. McClurg, W. H. Billings, W. R. White.

 

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

W. C. Hayward, Chairman; James G. Priestley, Frank

Hutsinpiller, Geo. Wetherholt, Charles C. Baker.

 

HOTELS, BOARDING HOUSES, ETC.

W. H. Hutchinson, Chairman; J. C. Morris, Creuzet

Vance, Frank Ulsamer, J. W. Gardner, J. L. Hayward, Chas.

Jenny, John C. Graham, Amos Troth, A. A. Lyon, Ed. Gills,

Chris. C. Mack.

INTELLIGENCE.

John C. Vanden, Chairman; A. F. Moore, Chas. Mack, C.

W. Bird, Frank J. Donnally.

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6         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

 

LIGHT.

Jas. A. McClurg, Chairman; C. W. Henking, C. D. Kerr,

B. T. Enos, F. W. Dages, S. Witham, Chas. Stockhoff.

 

MUSIC -INSTRUMENTAL.

James H. Sanns, Chairman; Geo. D. McBride, L. B. Shaw.

 

MUSIC-VOCAL.

Jas. M. Neal, Chairman; D. W. Jones, Gus Mack, Dr. Jas.

T. Hanson, J. E. Matthews, John R. McCormick, E. S. Ale-

shire, G. A. Roedell, F. O. Fowler, Wm. Mullinuex, T.P. Wil-

liams, F. M. Snead.

MILITARY DISPLAY.

C. H. McCormick, Chairman; Silas Pritchett, E. S. Aleshire,

A. G. Beall, D. W. Jones, Geo. D. McBride, H. R. Bradbury,

Chas. Weihe.

PRESS.

William Nash, Chairman; D. W. Jones, John L. Vance, jr.

H. LeClercq Ford, J. E. Robinson, J. D. Olmsted.

 

PROGRAMME.

F. C. Sessions, Chairman; A. A. Graham, John L. Vance,

H. R. Bradbury, Jehu Eakins.

 

RAILROAD AND RIVER TRANSPORTATION.

W. B. Shober, Chairman; John R. McCormick, H. W. Ellis,

S. M. Cherrington, P. A. Sanns, John Nevius, Miles H. Brown,

W. A. Barrows, S. Silverman, F. J. Donnally, Geo. W. Bay.

 

RECEPTION.

John M. Alexander, Chairman; Geo. House, James Mul-

lineux, W. H. McCormick, C. D. Maxon, P. A. Sanns, W. C.

Hayward, James Harper, A. Ufermann, Dr. E. W. Parker, G.

B. Little, Dr. H. C. Brown, D. B. Hebard, Frank Cromley,

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The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.    7

 

James Gatewood, Alexander Vance, Wm. C. Miller, M. C. Bar-

low, John L. Kuhn, R. D. Neal, D. S. Ford, H. N. Ford, C.

Doepping, H. H. McGonagle, Joseph Mullineux, S. R. Bush, C.

A. Clendinen, Charles Mack, Dr. P. Gardner, Albert Mossman,

Daniel Calohan, Eliza Smith, E. Betz, C. C. Welbert, C. D.

Bailey, John Dages, James Vanden.

 

SABBATH PROGRAMME.

Rev. P. A. Baker, Chairman; Rev. John Moncure, Rev. C.

A.. McManis, Rev. R. H. Coulter, Rev. Father Oeink, W. L.

Robinson, H. N. Ford, A. J. Greene, W. G. Bradley, Jos. F.

Hund.

SANITARY.

William Kling, Chairman; A. Henking, J. C. Priestley, Dr.

James Johnson, C. A. Hill.

 

SCHOOLS.

T. W. Karr, Chairman; D. B. Hebard, Dr. John Sanns, Dr.

E. G, Alcorn, A. L. Roadarmour.

 

STEAMBOAT EXCURSION.

S. A. Dunbar, Chairman; R. L. Hamilton, John W. Hol-

loway, Chas. Regnier, John Damron, M. V. Nelson.

 

TENTS AND AMPHITHEATRE.

A. W. Kerns, Chairman; Jas. Mullineux, Jr., S. F. Neal,

P. B, Pritchett.

 

TO FORM TOWNSHIP COMMITTEES.

I. F. Chapman, Chairman; W. T. Minturn, A. W. Kerns,

V. H. SWitzer. W. R. White.

 

LADIES' RECEPTION COMMITTEE.

The following ladies were appointed a Committee to prepare

a suitable reception for the Governors, their Staff officers, State

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8         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

officers, members of the Legislature, and other distinguished

guests:

Mrs. C. Fred. Henking,                       Mrs. J. E. Robinson,

Mrs. H. R. Bradbury,                          Mrs. W. B. Shober,

Mrs. B. F. Barlow,                              Mrs. P. A. Sanns,

Mrs. W. G. Brading,                            Mrs. Sam'l Silverman,

Mrs. Josephine Cadot,                        Mrs. J. H. Sanns,

Mrs. F. A. Cromley,                           Mrs. J. C. Shephard,

Mrs. S. A. Dunbar,                             Mrs. J. M. Smith,

Mrs. B. T. Enos,                                 Mrs. John L. Vance,

Mrs. W. B. Fuller,                               Mrs. Mary A. Wood,

Mrs. J. C. Hutsinpiller,                       Mrs. A. Uhrig,

Mrs. E. S. Aleshire,                             Mrs. H. N. Ford,

Mrs. O. M. Henking,                          Miss Mary Aleshire,

Mrs. W. H. Hutchinson,                     Miss Hattie Beard,

Mrs. John T. Halliday,                       Miss Belle Coffman,

Mrs. James Johnson,                          Miss Blanche Cadot,

Mrs. D. W. Jones,                               Miss Callie Deletombe,

Mrs. C. D. Kerr,                                   Miss Mary Graham,

Mrs. Genevieve Maxon,                      Miss Kate McClurg,

Mrs. John Moncure,                           Miss Kate McIntyre,

Mrs. J. C. Morris,                               Miss Ida Nevius,

Mrs. Geo. D. McIntyre,                     Miss Alice Pitrat,

Mrs. C. W. Ernsting,                           Miss Annie Uhrig,

Mrs. A. W. Kerns,                              Miss Marie Drouillard.

Each committee arranged all details necessary and by the

middle of October everything was in readiness.

The Committee on Tents arranged for a large tent for the

Auditorium  with a seating capacity of 2,000.  A stage was

built in it on the parquet order with a seating capacity of 400.

Near it were arranged a dozen tents for Committees' head-

quarters. The main tent was erected in the center of the Park

next the river, where the reunion tent was spread in 1888. This

gave a fine view up and down the river and was convenient to

every one. The main tent was well lighted and comfortably

seated.

Early in October, John L. Vance and A. A. Graham ar-

• 8
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.      9

 

ranged the following programme, which, in the main, was

carried out:

 

 

1790                                    1890

PROGRAMME

 

 

OF THE

CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY

 

 

OF THE

 

SETTLEMENT OF THE CITY

 

 

OF

GALLIPOLIS, OHIO,

 

 

BY THE

 

French, October 19, 1790.

 

 

October 16, 17, 18 and 19,

 

1890.

The following account of the reason of the settlement of

this locality by the French emigrants was printed in the pro-

gramme:

" On October 19, 1790, a party of French emigrants landed

at the site of the present city of Gallipolis, Ohio. These emi-

grants were part of a number who had purchased land in the

Ohio country from the Society of the Scioto in Paris. This

Society had acquired the right of purchase in this part of

America from Joel Barlow, agent of the Scioto Associates in

America. They had contracted to buy from the United States a

large tract of land in the Northwest Territory. Through the

failure of the Society of the Scioto to meet its payments the

Scioto Associates were unable to fulfill their obligations and the

lands continued in possession of the American government. To

satisfy the claims of the emigrants to whom the Society of the

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10         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 3

 

Scioto had given deeds for lands in the 18 ranges of townships -

but which, upon the map furnished by Mr. Barlow, were located

at and adjacent to the site of Gallipolis-the Scioto Associates

contracted to buy from the Ohio Company the land represented

by its shares, which had been forfeited for non-payment-about

200,000 acres. This land they were permitted to locate in the

fourteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth ranges of townships, in-

cluding the site of Gallipolis. Owing to the failure of the prin-

cipal men among the Scioto Associates in the financial panic of

1792, they were unable to pay for this tract. This left the

French without titles to any of their purchases. The Ohio

Company was unable to complete the tract it had originally con-

tracted for, but, by its settlement with Congress in 1792, it

acquired the title to the land in the 14 and 15 ranges of town-

ships, including Gallipolis. In 1795, through the efforts of Jean

Gabriel Gewase, seconded by the leading men in the Ohio Com-

pany, a grant of 24,000 acres of land, in what is now Scioto

county, was made to the French emigrants. In the same

year the Ohio Company sold to them two fractional sections,

about 900 acres of land, including the town site of Gallipolis, at

$1.25 per acre. It also offered to each French settler at Galli-

polis,' one hundred acres of land from the donation tract granted

to it by Congress to be given to actual settlers.

 

FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 17, IN THE AUDITORIUM.

 

MUSIC.

Address ..... ........... .... HON. H. R. BRADBURY, Mayor of Gallipolis

Address .........................PROF. N. J. MORRISON, of Marietta

On behalf of Ohio Historical Society - "A Century and Its Lessons."

 

MUSIC.

 

 

FRIDAY, 2 P. M.-AUDITORIUM.

 

MUSIC.

Address............... ..........................HON. D. K. WATSON

"The Early Bar of the Ohio Valley."

 

SHORT ADDRESSES.

 

MUSIC.

• 10
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.         11

 

FRIDAY EVENING--7:30 O'CLOCK.

MUSIC.

Address ................. HON. JAMES E. CAMPBELL, Governor of Ohio

Address ............... A. A. GRAHAM, Secretary Ohio Historical Society

"French Exploration and Occupation in America."

(Illustrated by the Stereopticon.)

This address was, by request of the audience, repeated Sat-

urday evening. It was of such a nature it could not be pre-

pared for publication.

SATURDAY, 10 A. M.- AUDITORIUM.

MUSIC.

Address  .................................. .... ... . COL. JOHN  L. VANCE

"The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis."

Owing to other duties this address could not be given, but it

is printed in this volume. Short addresses were made by Rev.

H. A. Thompson, Prof. J. M. Davis, Mr. R. D. Marshall, Mr.

R. D. Jones, Judge R. A. Safford, Gen. C. H. Grosvenor, and

others.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON-2:00 O'CLOCK.

Excursion by Steamboats to points of interest on the Ohio and the

Kanawha.

SATURDAY EVENING - 7:30 O'CLOCK.

MUSIC.

Address ..................................... ... HON. DANIEL  J. RYAN

"The Scioto Company and the French Grant."

CENTENNIAL DAY.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1890.

10:00 A. M.- Services in all the Churches under charge of the City Pastors'

Association; appropriate exercises.

In each church an historical sermon was given by the pas-

tor, or by some one selected by him. A synopsis of these

addresses appears in this volume.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 2: 00 O'CLOCK - AUDITORIUM.

MUSIC BY AUDIENCE.

Historical Discourse ................ REV. WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D. D.

MUSIC.

SUNDAY EVENING- 7:30 O'CLOCK.

Closing services in the Churches.

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12        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

The programme at first provided for opening exercises

Thursday evening, the sixteenth; but that day being very wet

and disagreeable, and owing to an extra session of the General

Assembly being called, but few persons could leave Columbus

with the members of the Archaeological and Historical Society.

The train bearing the party was late, and did not reach Gallipo-

lis till after nine o'clock in the evening. The opening exercises

were, therefore, deferred until Friday morning, and the pro-

gramme arranged accordingly. Members of the Assembly in-

vited to take part, were detained at Columbus, and their places

filled by others.  The citizens of Gallipolis had made ample

preparations, and when the guests arrived everything was in

readiness. The following from the Gallipolis Bulletin of Octo-

ber ²1st, is a very good account of the celebration:

Friday morning opened clear and beautiful. The clouds

and rain had disappeared and the sun shone out, diffusing

warmth and beauty. By 10 A. M. the large tent was filled. The

meeting was called to order by Hon. H. R. Bradbury, City

Mayor, who in the opening address extended a hearty welcome

to all who came. At the close of his address and after music by

the band, Rev. N. J. Morrison was introduced, and for an hour

spoke on the topic assigned to Mr. Sessions. Mr. Sessions, the

President of the Society, to whom had been assigned this address,

was absent, in New York, on account of illness, and had secured

Dr. Morrison to fill his place. The address was scholarly,

eloquent, and filled with information. It was a timely and most

excellent resume of the century just closed.

Following Dr. Morrison, Rev. J. M. Davis, President of

Rio Grande College, gave a brief history of the educational

institutions in Gallia County, especially of the college at Rio

Grande.

Rev. H. A. Thompson, one of the Trustees of the State

Historical Society, and for many years President of the Wester-

ville College, spoke on the value of education, especially that

given in the small colleges of the country, and in the academies.

The afternoon exercises were varied in character. Owing

to the late arrival of the Governor's train, no attempt was made

to gather the people until near 4 o'clock. Col. R. D. Marshall,

• 12
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.   13

 

of Dayton, was introduced by Secretary Graham, and about half

an hour spoke on the general theme of the Centennials and the

value of their influences on American life.

Following this address came a civic parade, in which

Governors Campbell, of Ohio, and Fleming, of West Virginia,

and their staffs, took part; also many civic societies. At the

close of the parade the people gathered at the tent.

The audience was called to order by Col. John L. Vance,

who introduced Hon. D. K. Watson, Attorney General of Ohio,

who delivered an address on the "Early Bar of the Ohio

Valley." At the conclusion of his address, Governor Fleming,

of West Virginia, was introduced and spoke on the relation of

Virginia to the Ohio Valley.  Governor Campbell was then

introduced.  As it was getting late the Governor spoke but

a few moments, deferring his speech until evening.

Assembling again in the evening, Governor Campbell

resumed his remarks. They were largely relative to the

value of proper centennial celebrations as educational in

character and as agencies in impressing on the minds of the

young the value of American institutions.

Mr. Graham was then introduced, and for an hour spoke on

the "Early Exploration and Occupation of the French in

America."  The address was illustrated by a series of stere-

opticon views, showing the routes of the early explorers by

sea and by land, also the various posts, stations and forts built

in the Western valleys. Maps showing the possessions and

territory claimed by the English and French in North America,

especially in the Valleys of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi

Rivers and their tributaries, were shown, and at the close of the

address a series of pictures were shown illustrating life on the

Ohio a century ago.   These included pictures of Marietta,

Belpre, Fort Harmar, the "floating mill" used in grinding

grain, and views of Gallipolis as it appeared when the French

landed, October 19, 1790, and also views of the city as it appears

to-day.  At its close, numerous requests were made for the

repetition of the address the next evening. After music by the

Parkins quartet the meeting adjourned to a reception in the

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14        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 3

 

Elks' Hall, tendered the Governors, their staffs, and the visitors

in the city.

Saturday morning the audience assembled at 10 o'clock and

were addressed by Mr. J. V. Jones, of Fostoria, a resident of

Gallipolis in 1832. His address related to the city as it was at

that time and the people residing here.

He was followed by Judge W. H. Safford, of Chillicothe, a

lineal descendant of Col. Robert Safford, one of the original

party who, under Maj. Burnham and employed by the Ohio

Company, cleared the ground and erected the cabins on the

Square for the occupation of the French settlers.

Following this address, the visitors and guests in the city

were taken on an excursion up the Ohio River on the steamer

Bostona a short distance above Point Pleasant. In the after-

noon a second excursion was taken on the same steamer, thereby

accommodating those who could not go in the forenoon.

At 2 o'clock the meeting was called to order by Mayor Brad-

bury, who introduced Gen. Charles H. Grosvenor, who spoke

on the Virginia claims to the Northwest Territory and on the

capture of the British posts by Gen. George Rogers Clark, in

1788. At his request, Mr. Graham explained in detail the part

taken by Gen. Clark and his men, and narrated the history of

Clark's expedition.

Following this, Judge Safford gave an account of the find-

ing of one of the lead plates buried at the mouth of the

Kanawha by direction of the French commandant in Canada,

as one of the means of'establishing the claims of France to this

territory. He also gave an account of the capture of Richard

Garner and others for assisting runaway slaves in 1848. The

case was ably argued by Samuel H. Vinton on the part of Ohio.

The people gathered in great numbers in the evening to

witness a fine display of fireworks on the river's bank. After

that, the tent was quickly filled and Mr. Graham repeated that

portion of his illustrated address relating to the French settle-

ments, posts and exploration in the Northwest Territory.

After this, Hon. Daniel J. Ryan, Secretary of State, deliv-

ered a timely address on the "Scioto Company and the French

Grant," reviewing the entire history of the land transactions

• 14
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.     15

 

relative to this settlement by the French. This done, the Par-

kins quartet, which had furnished the music of the evening,

sang a selection and the audience dispersed.

 

THE CENTENNIAL DAY.

Sunday was distinctively the Centennial Day, it being on

the nineteenth day of October, 1790, when the French emigrants

arrived on the site of where Gallipolis now stands. The city

was full of visitors, as during the other days of the celebration,

and there was a deep interest manifested to hear the subject of

the happenings of a hundred years considered from religious

standpoints, which is the most beautiful and significant of any.

Centennial services were conducted in most of the city

churches. The programmes which had been arranged for the

occasion by the Pastors' Union were of the most attractive char-

acter, and will be long remembered by the appreciative congre-

gations. A brief synopsis of these services is appended;

 

BAPTIST CHURCH.

The congregation was given a treat here which was much

appreciated. Rev. Mr. McMannis, the pastor, had secured the

services of Rev. Dr Lasher, editor of the Journal and Messen-

ger, the organ of the Baptist church in Ohio, and published in

Cincinnati. His sermon, like all the others, was on the practical

lessons of the century, looking at the matter particularly in ref-

erence to the denomination to which he belonged.

 

METHODIST CHURCH.

An elaborate musical programme was most ably rendered,

the Parkins Brothers being among the singers. The bass solo

by Mr. Matthews was also one of the enjoyable characteristics

of the service. Rev. David Moore, D. D., editor of the Western

Christian Advocate, preached the sermon. The historical feat-

ures were directed to the consideration of the history of Method-

ism, and the wonders which it has accomplished, as a medium

for making the country better.

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16        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [Vol. 3

 

 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

 

The music was under the supervision of Professor J. M.

Neal. Rev. Sylvester Scovill, the President of Wooster College,

was the preacher, and the wisdom of selecting him was clearly

demonstrated by the excellent address of more than an hour to

which the large congregation listened. Presbyterianism in its

different stages in Ohio, during the century, was the instructive

and useful topic of his discourse, and the feeling of gratitude

was no doubt paramount in the minds of his hearers, for the

blessings which it has given our country in the way of a

preached Gospel and a Godly example.

 

 

EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

 

In the services here the rector was assisted by Rev. D. I.

Edwards, of the diocese of Newark, N. J. The music was of

an appropriate character, Mrs. Moncure presiding at the organ,

and a solo, by Miss Nora Kerr, gladdening the hearts of the

congregation. The sermon, by the rector, Rev. Moncure, was

like the others, on the teachings of the century. These were

briefly considered from a secular standpoint, and more elabor-

ately from that of the church, particularly the Protestant Epis-

copal church, the organization, difficulties and success of which

were recounted, as they applied to the Nation, State and City,

and the mercies of God, as illustrated by His blessings upon its

endeavors gratefully mentioned.

 

 

ST. LOUIS CHURCH.

 

The day was appropriately observed by the Roman Catholic

churchmen. First mass was celebrated at 7:30 A. M. and High

mass at 10 A. M. Bishop Watterson, of the Diocese of Colum-

bus, was present at both services. In the afternoon he con-

firmed a large class. The Centennial services were held in the

evening, when the Bishop preached an interesting and instruc-

tive sermon on the events of the past century. The musical

part of the services was good.

• 16
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.    17

 

 

OPERA HOUSE SERVICES.

In the afternoon service was held at Betz Opera House,

when the Rev. Washington Gladden, D. D., of Columbus, de-

livered the Centennial address. A large audience was in attend-

ance, and many members of the Legislature, with their ladies,

occupied seats upon the stage. The following is the order of

service observed:

Music by the choir.

Prayer by President Davis, of Rio Grande College.

Music by Parkins' Quartet.

Sermon by Dr. Gladden.

Music by the choir.

Benediction by Rev. Dr. Moore.

Dr. Gladden's sermon was closely listened to, and will long

be remembered by those present. His text was: "By faith

Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he

should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out

not knowing whither he went."-Hebrews, xi.-8. The sermon

is riven in full in this volume.

Sunday evening the visiting clergy, who filled the pulpits in

the morning, preached to appreciative congregations, and thus

closed the exercises commemorative of the settlement of this

city.

 

 

THE GRAND PARADE.

The delay in the arrival of trains, made a corresponding

delay in the formation and start of the parade.

It was fully three o'clock before the formation was com-

pleted by Chairman McCormick and Marshal W. P. Small. The

organization was as follows:

1. Gates Second Regiment Band, West Virginia N. G.

2. Governor Fleming and Staff--General Oxley, Colonels

MacCorkle, Hagan, Bowyer, Gallaher and White.

3. Governor Campbell and Staff- Generals Hawkins,

Vance, Groesbeck and Hart; Colonels Courtright, McKinney,

Denver, Wilkins, Dill, Hinman, Spangler, Kinnane, Bresler,

Vol. III-2

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18        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

with Sergeant Fred Steube, carrying the banner, and Chairman

Hayward in advance.

4. Porter Band.

5. Grand Army Posts and other veterans.

6. Company Ohio National Guard from Middleport.

7. Ben Hur Division, U. R. K. P., of Gallipolis.

8. Patriarchs Militant Band, of Columbus.

9. Grand Canton Ohio, No. 1, of Columbus.

10. Canton Fidelity, No. 1, of Huntington, W. Va.

11. Canton Sanns, of Gallipolis.

12. Canda Hose Company, of Huntington.

13. Gallipolis Fire Department.

14. Citizens in carriages.

The parade formed on Third and Court streets, with right

resting on Second, and the line of march was up Second to Olive;

Olive to Third; Third to Grape; Grape to Second; Second to

State, where the parade was dismissed.

The pupils of the Union Schools were drawn up in line on

Third street, between State and Locust, and reviewed the parade

amid. great enthusiasm. At Court, the Governors and their

Staffs left the procession and took up a position on Second, just

above Court, and the parade passed in review before them.

While this was being done the schools marched down Second.

They were headed by President Alcorn, Supt. Mohler and Prof.

Karr, and each school accompanied by its teacher. When Court

street was reached a halt was made and the pupils faced Second

street, and sang "America" with profound effect. At the con-

clusion of the song, three rousing cheers were given for Gov-

ernors Campbell and Fleming.

 

THE RECEPTION.

 

The Reception, at the Elks' Hall on Friday evening was con-

tinued until a very late hour, and was a brilliant affair. Mrs.

Jas. E. Robinson, the Chairman, and the ladies of the Com-

mittee having the matter in charge, are to be congratulated upon

the great success that attended their efforts. The refreshments

were elegantly prepared and served with skill. The music was

• 18
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.  19   furnished by the Logan Orchestra. Governor Campbell and Staff, Governor Fleming and Staff, Governor Marquis, Mr. C. C. Waite, Colonel R. D. Marshall, General D. K. Watson, and many others of our distinguished visitors were present, together with the ladies accompanying them. During the progress of the banquet, in answer to calls, short responses were made by Governor Campbell, Governor Fleming, Mr. Waite, Governor Marquis, Colonel R. D. Marshall, General D. K. Watson, and General Morton L. Hawkins.     A CENTENNIAL RELIC ROOM.   The Committee in charge of the display of relics, secured a room in which were arranged all articles illustrating the life of the century. The following shows the list of those who fur- nished articles and the articles displayed, as given in the Bulletin :

S. C. Maguet, dish and plate used for 60 years; salt cellar used for 64 years; brass candlestick brought with the first French settlers. Wm. Waddell, shoe hammer given to grandfather in 1796; ginseng hoe over 100 years old; leather wallet, once the property of Nathan Wad- dell; small spinning wheel 150 years old. Mrs. Lewis Maguet, quilt made during the Revolutionary War from clothing worn at that time; chair, 70 years old, used by Major J. P. R. Bureau, Dr. E. Naret and Hon. S. F. Vinton; saddlebags, 70 years old, used by Hon. S. F. Vinton. Mrs. J. E. Robinson, tea-cups and saucers, 85 years old; stew-pots 75 years old; picture of husband taken when he was 3 years old, by Thomas Wilkinson; picture of J. C. Robin- son, Principal of Gallia Academy in '43-4, taken 1833; picture of Mrs. Elizabeth Dickerson, the first col-

ored female child born in Gallipolis, now 67 years old. Mrs. Guthrie, brass badge of Tip- pecanoe; towel, woven and spun by herself and 75 years old. Mrs. Mary Coulson, tin plate 150 years old, used by the sixth genera- tion. Mrs. Mary J. Hebard, old Cincin- nati papers, of date of 1822-5. Mrs. R. C. Smithers, shawl belong- ing to her mother, 70 years old, and prayer-book printed in 1782. Wm. Preston, trunk brought from France, over 100 years old; tea-ket- tle and pot, same. Miss Titia Jones, Cadmus, book printed in 1702. Miss Maggie Northup, large col- lection of books, among the first printed. A. A. Wade, Gallipolis Journals of the early part of the present cen- tury. Dr. J. R. Safford, beautiful crayon

• 19
 

20         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

picture of his grandfather, Col. Robt. Safford, who cut down the first tree on the present site of Gallipolis, executed by Miss Lily Calohan from an old daguerreotye; the Colonel's horse-pistol, candlestick, powder horn, sword, sleeve-buttons worn by him and 150 years old; pair of can- dle snuffers. Gus Vollborn, tablecloth 267 years old. Hon. H. R. Howard, Pt. Pleasant, 2 bound books of newspapers (daily) subscribed for by the Sebrill family in 1800 and 1807. A. C. Safford, wolf trap presented to Col. Robt. Safford by Daniel Boone, his bosom friend; holster, shaving - case, old papers, books, gun, pistol, histories, bullet-pouch, horn, and silver watch owned by Col. Safford. Lydia Safford, tea-pot, water urn, tallow pot, candle moulds, candle- sticks, owned by Col. Robt. Safford. M. L. Muzio, marble mortar, 100 years old; Italian flag and coins (1/2 cent U. S. 1826 and silver piece of 1773, and French coin of 1810.) Jas. Moats, spurs worn during the Revolutionary War; block of wood out of Libby Prison building. Reuben Aleshire, jr., canteen picked up at battle of Point Pleas- ant during the late war; R. Ale- shire, sr.'s flatboat pilot license; Luther Shepard's commission as Major of battalion, signed by Jos. McLain, Secretary of War. Mrs. J. C. Cadot, vinegar bottle over 100 years old, candlestick 95 years old. C. M. Whitmer, collection of rare Indian relics, 50 spears, pipe, medal, and 10 old coins.

John Irion, Bible owned by the celebrated Ann Bailey, and used 135 years. Mrs. R. T. Carter, old Gallia Free Press of 1825. Mrs. E. J. Miles, fruit dish 100 years old. Lena Wood, Bible of 1828, excel- lent state of preservation. Frank Donnally, snuff box, warm- ing pan and fire tongs about 100 years old, brought from France by Jos. W. Devacht's father; saw, chest of silversmith's tools, etc., trunk of French books, 11 account books, among first kept in the city. Capt. Polsley, pieces of wood caught in the river after the Johns- town flood. Mrs. John Atkinson, Japanese broom; silver spoons 85 years old. Mrs. M. Reynolds, sugar bowl brought from France 200 years ago. Mrs. A. W. Buskirk, Portsmouth, cane carried by Jos. Devacht, sr., 100 years old; parasol carried by Mrs. Devacht, sr., 100 years old. Jas. Beall, an interesting case of Indian relics. Mrs. O. M. Henking, cradle 80 years old. Mrs. M. L. Shepard, piece of log- wood used in old times; picture of Marie Louise LeClercq, the first white child born in Gallipolis; candlesticks 100 years old. W. C. Hayard, Bible over 100 years old; marriage certificate and license of Henry Whitman and Sophie Tilley, his mother's sister; a letter written to Elijah Hayward, jr., by Solomon Hayward, dated Alex- andria, Va., Oct. 11, 1806, while on his way here from Massachusetts. Miss S. E. Rodgers, spoon 60



• 20
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.           2l

years old kettle 85 years old; hand- kerchief 50 years old. Mrs. John S. Mills, reel 99 years old. Miss Lily Calohan, pitcher, over 50 years old; waffle irons 60 years old; picture 77 years old. Mrs. L. A. Hern, plate, book and saucer 100 years old; sugar bowl brought from Scotland, over 100 years old; calico 53 years old. Dr. John Sanns, song and music written by Calvin Shephard in 1800; the contract for the building of the first Methodist Church, with signers; the muster and pay roll of Brig. Gen. Tupper; account book of 1805. Lilian Stewart, vest, coverlet, veil, box, and cuff buttons, bowl, steel- yards of great age. Ella B. Smeltzer, andirons 100 years old. J. H. Hannan, Colonial and Bra- zilian money. C. H. McCormick, kettle made by his grandfather in 1801; his hunt- ing bag, flax hackle, rocking chair 90 years old; bread oven, tea kettle and iron kettle over 65 years old. Mrs. Frank Barlow, pitcher from Switzerland, plate, linen sheets made in 1804; flax hackle, waffle irons, wood cards, skillet, andirons and crane of centennial years. H. W. McGath, cuff buttons 250 years old; spectacles of 1800; clasp and book of 100 years. Mrs. Scheneberger, ink-stand over 100 years old; book over 200 years old; nut cracker and cup from Paris 75 years old. Miss Jennie Myers, a table of 100 years old made from one of the first trees cut on the square in Gallipo-

lis (poplar and maple); basket over 100 years old. T. R. Hayward, spinning wheel 75 years old; sample of fancy work over 100 years old. Ernest Shober, papers over 100 years old. W. T. Minturn, Third Year of Commonwealth; picture of Burke, and one of Washington; the Indian Chief Cornstalk's pipe. P. T. Wall, axe used by Col. Saf- ford to cut down the first tree. H. U. Maxon, dress skirt from Scotland in 1870. Mrs. A. H. Alexander, bread bag 75 years old, knit bag 75 years old. Mrs. Cavin, picture and ink stand from France. Mrs. Chas. Hern, old picture. Allen Reifsnyder, moccasins 100 years old. Miss M. J. Rodgers, book of 1678 and 1646. Claude Parker, gun brought from England in 1789. Mrs. H. N. Ford, two pictures in brass frames brought from France; the Lord's prayer in French; picture of Mary Bobin Menager; Sabots, be- longing to A. LeClercq; two cut glass tumblers belonging to R. Le- Clercq and to R. Doszedardski; box of chips with which the French set- tlers played the game of Boston; old commissions in frames; old papers of the Scioto Co.'s land deeds; Post- master's commission; certificate of naturalization of Frances LeClercq; appointment of treasurer in Gallia county in 1804; deed for land signed by President James Monroe; certi- ficate of first commission of Rosalie LeClercq; needle book of Marie C.

• 21
 

22         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 3

Marret; scent bottle of same; sugar bowl decorated by one of the first colonists in Gallipolis; candle snuf- fers and tray; spelling book of 1817; almanac of 1829; book of French poems belonging to Dr. Doszedard- ski. Mrs. Julius Pitrat, picture of Peter Menager, born Oct. 22d, 1793; first Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine brought to Gallipolis, bought by Mr. Menager in 1845, a great curios- ity, turns with a crank; picture of Christ, by Claude Miller in 1636. Jas. W. Gardner, three pictures of Public Square, Second and Front streets, during the war; records; tax duplicate of Gallia county in 1804; original specifications of Gallia county court house, Dec. 29, 1806, Commissioners of county being Orasha Strong, Chas. Buck, Chas. Mills; assessors return of personal property in Harrison township in 1820, Vernon Northup, lister; com- missioners journal from July, 1804, to July, 1807. E. Deletombe, family relics brought from France in 1820; pair of silver candlesticks, brass candle- sticks, cut glass tumbler, cut glass vinaigrette, pair gold ear-rings, 100 years old; diamond ring in box of straw; Mosaic, dating back five generations; meerschaum pipe 125 years old; ivory dominoes over 100 years old; pen portrait of Voltaire; lady's portrait, painted on ivory; amber beads; embroidered fichu; white shawls; Tambour embroidery; Tambour working cotton and stil- letto; silver bodkins and knitting sheath; sandal wood needle case set with turquoise; ivory needle case; fine clocked hose; mouseline-delaine

shawl in colors; velvet reticule; beaded purse; porcelain pen stand; cut glass ink bottle and blotting sand; E. Deletombe's miscellaneous family relics-souvenirs of the Mexi- can war of 1847; lady's fan-kid- fancy painting steel sticks; child's toy cupboard made of glass; pack of Mexican playing cards; cannon ball from Mexican battlefield; pair of painted china vases; shell jewel box from Cologne, Germany; silk jewel box with mirror from Germany; cut glass vinaigrette over 50 years old; lady's shell comb 65 years old; toy chair over 50 years old; paper weights of agate from Turkey; of onyx from Mexico; of marble from the Hartz mountains; glass stylo- graphic pen 50 years old; sea biscuit brought to America in 1810 by Mrs. Deletombe's father, G. Steinman; pack of playing cards made for use during the rebellion with flags, shields, etc., to replace the original designs; California flowers pressed in 1849; sandal wood from the Sand- wich Islands; horn of buffalo killed on the Public Sqnare; tomahawk found on Gallipolis Island in 1879; amber beads used 60 years; silver spoon used 85 years; incense 68 years, old; lava and ornaments made of it, from Mt. Vesuvius; spun glass from Vienna, Austria; a leaf of the silver fir from the Southern coast of Africa; pieces of the flag staff erected after the defeat of St. Clair at Ft. Re- covery; amethyst from the Black Hills; button worn in the war of 1812; Harrison badge of 1840; fac simile of a $1,000 bill, the first ever owned by E. Deletombe, and exe- cuted by the late Chas. Henking with a pen; picture of the Star

• 22
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.       23

House of Hiram Fisher on Public Square built in 1844, and from which Dr. Maxon fell and killed himself in 1851; bottle of vinegar, over 40 years old, made by Francois E. Dele- tombe's father; portrait of Dr. Sau- grain, one of the first settlers; of Mrs. Elise Marie Kennesly, living in St. Louis, 91 years old; photo of the old Deletombe house that stood 77 years at the corner of Fourth and Court streets, and built in 1810; picture on parchment presented with a medal to August Loyn (uncle of E. Deletombe) for his faithful serv- ices in the Bureau of Correspond- ence of the National Guard of Paris, dated Jan. 4. 1817; deed of land in the French Grant to one J. Pignolet, one of the first settlers; marriage certificate of Francois Deletombe and Natalie Loyn, dated Oct. 19, 1808, parents of E. Deletombe; baptismal certificates of Francois Deletombe and other members of his family, the earliest of which is dated Jan. 2, 1804; carrier's address of the Lancaster Gazette and En- quirer, printed on white satin, and dated 1838; apron and shoes 80 years old; dress brought from Mex- ico in 1847. Mrs. Elise M. Kennesly, St. Louis, a sketch in pamphlet form in 1827 of her father, Dr. Saugrain, a photo of the monument of Dr. Saugrain's great-grandfatder standing in the cemetery of Pere-la-Chaise, Paris. J. L. Hayward, Gen. E. W. Lup- per's sash; his own bady cap at 4 months; wedding coat of Leonard Beck, 60 years old, made by the father of J. L. Hayward; gourd bot- tle made in 1820. Mrs. Priestly, dish 65 years old.

Mrs. Ella Gordon, a smoothing iron 120 years old, and a tea pot 147 years old. Mrs. H. N. Hayward, lace shawl about 100 years old; winding-sheet, brought from Scotland in 1802, it is 18 feet long and 6 feet wide; a baby dress in which herself and three sisters were christened; a beautiful fan belonging to Miss Isabel Rodg- ers, 70 years old; a coverlet brought from Scotland in 1802. John Lupton, bottle of wine made by Rosina LcClercq in 1830. Mrs. Fannie Miles, platter and tablecloth 50 years old, woven by Mrs. Rodgers. Malbry Hern, a Masonic apron framed by Solomon Hayward over 70 years ago, and which is 125 years old. G. D. McBride, a French picture with translation of great age, and of Rio College. Mrs. E. Westlake, plate 250 years old. Robt. Gates, picture of Gen. Geo. House. Mrs. H. H. Jones, wooden tray 120 years old, and glass dish 112 years old. Henry House, sword captured at Kickapoo Bottom. Henry Beall, a silver spoon used in the Revolutionary War, and a paper trunk of valuable papers, be- longing to Col. Strickler. Mrs. Sam Silverman, a Jewish Bible picture of great age; knife and fork 200 years old; a Hebrew Bible printed in 1840; cup made in 1713; sheet 300 years old. Thos. Arrington, a cane 63 years old, used by his father. John Alexander, bottle of stream

• 23
 

24        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

tin and lot of quartz from Black Hills; saber captured by himself in deadly conflict at Blacksburg, Va., and given to Capt. Alexander by special order of Col. Turley. Mrs. Judge Thomas, a platter 100 years old. James Mullineaux, Sen., Bible printed in 1772. James H. Sanns, a bottle of water taken from the center of the Park in flood of 1884. Mrs. G. S. Stevenson, a sugar bowl 200 years old; tin sugar bucket over 100 years old. Capt. W. V. Martin, a book that is Centennial on border warfare. Mrs. S. Rodgers, a silk bag 125 years old; needle book 100 years old; great-grandmother's belt worn at her wedding in one of the Block Houses at Harmar, and nearly 200 years old. Mr. Ed Gills and Miss Clara Hea- ton, old relics, consisting of key to first Gallipolis Jail, belonging to Claude Pritchett; pair scissors 111 years old, belonging to Mrs. Marie McConnell; petrified russet apple 125 years old, belonging to Miss Heaton; gold key with heart, be- longing to Mrs. Adelaide Magnet, one of the original settlers, who died in 1889, eighteen days short of 100 years old, her picture, and many other relics, belonging to the fam- ily. Mrs. S. F. Neal, copy of the Ulster County (N. V.) Gazelle, containing complete account of circumstances, death and obituary address of Presi- dent George Washington, dated Jan- uary 4th, 1800; also a Postal Guide, showing the number of Postoffices in the U. S. in 1811, to be only 2400.

F. E. Duduit, Portsmouth, razors, solid silver spoons, brought from Paris by his father. Marion Beall, Indian relics, fine collection. Picture of Mrs. Adelaide Magnet, who came here when 5 years old, and died just short of 100 years. Miss Mary Johnson, skillet 100 years old. A. E. Jones, plate, 95 years old. Mrs. L. A. Stanley, teapot, glass cane, box specimens, the teapot made in England and 70 years old. Mrs. Sallie Smith, kettle belong- ing to Extra Billy Smith, of great age. A. J. Green, whip made of hoof and horn of deer in 1848. Jonas McCarty, flat iron used in the Revolutionary War. Alex Beatty, Portsmouth, candle- stick brought to America in 1790. Jos. Walter, cartridge box used in battle of Waterloo; tomahawk 100 years old, and Indian relics. David Irwin, newspaper of 1828. L. M. Shepard, cane belonging to Col. Robert Safford; scissors pre- sented to Col. Safford by Col. Tup- per in 1795; bellows from Quebec by Col. Robert Safford. Mrs. Hudson Maddy, cup and sau- cer 100 years old. Miss Blanche Cadot, marriage cer- tificate of her great-grandmother; lock that was on first fort in Galli- polis. Jas. Thomas, Charity, O., cash box 273 years old. Ralph C. Jones, cane carried by Col. Safford and made from first tree cut on the site of Gallipolis. H. U. Maxon, waiter of dishes 75 years old; bag very old.

• 24
 

The Centennial Celebration at Gallipolis.        25

Mrs. Lalla Moncure, bottle of water from River Jordan. John Morrison, Indian relics and used at Andersonville. John Nealon, apron 100 years old. Jas. L. Clark, sabre of the Revolu- tionary war. Jos. Walter, five-dollar bill of the old Gallipolis bank. Mrs. S. Brosius, samples embroid- ery (2 pieces), painting in velvet, very old, no date. Bevery Grant, pewter spoons, and novels of 1780. C. H. D. Summers, male and female buffalo horns, captured in Montana by Harry and Fred Sum- mers. Mrs. C. Knapp, beads 100 years old. Mrs. A. McCormick, bellows, sea- weed, French letter, handkerchief, picture. All these things belonged to the Warth family and are very old. Ellis Swisher, wolf-trap over 100 years old. Mack Sprague, sign, auction, 200 years old; mortar, made in England in 1725; books, 1828. Mrs. C. C. Row, Portsmouth, silver snuff box made in France, and brought fom there 100 years ago. Mrs. F. M. Womeldorff, hackle and flax made and brought from Ireland over 86 years ago by her grandmother. Mrs. Isabel Rodgers, copper kettle 70 years old, and old papers. Mrs. Alex Vance, pan and andirons belonging to General E. W. Tupper, and Bible 139 years old.

Mrs. Madeline Langley, John Peter Roman Bureau's wedding tie of white satin, cigar case, beads, French  picture (Virgin Mary), handsome snuff box with the Con- stitution of the United States on lid, pearl needle case, shell box, coin, spoon and various articles of age belonging to Madeline Fran- cis Charlotte Bureau; watch-seal, breastpin and cane belonging to J. P. R. Bureau; needle case and ret- icule belonging to Margaret Hughes Bureau. Mrs. Mary Johnson, skillet 100 years old. Ella Olmstead, steelyards 150 years old, and clock made of different materials. J. L. W. Evans, tomahawk, about 200 years old. Mrs. Emma Lang, German and English Bible and table-cloth, all 100 years old. Miss Lily Heisner, sand-box, needle-book and turquoise necklace used during the Revolutionary War; night-cap 58 years old, owned by Mrs. Charles Creuzet. J. M. Davis, Nehemiah and Par- melia Atwood's pictures, the found- ers and endowers of Rio Grande College. Flora Jackson, book of poetry of 1810: Wm. Diamond, author, beau- tiful book. Hattie Miles, Chinese idols from Foo-Chin, China. S. R. Davis, ancient coin found in West Virginia.

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26        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

 

OPENING ADDRESS BY HON. HORACE R. BRADBURY, MAYOR OF

GALIPOLIS.

 

Fellow-Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen.

As the official head of this city, representing the people of

Gallipolis, in their behalf and in behalf of the Executive Com-

mittee, by whom this Centennial celebration has been projected

and managed thus far, and while welcoming other distinguished

guests, it becomes my pleasant duty to extend an especial wel-

come to the members of the Historical Society of this State.

Gentlemen and ladies of the State Historical Society, I

therefore extend to you the sincere and cordial greetings of the

citizens of Gallipolis, and I assure you that our people are united

in extending this welcome, and we, one and all, hope that your

stay among us may be pleasant and your labors profitable.

When, one hundred years ago, a handful of settlers, voyag-

ing down the beautiful river which flows at our feet, rounded-to

their primitive vessels and landed at this spot, no such welcome

as this was extended to them. The place whereon we stand was

a part of the wilderness extending northwardly to the great

lakes, and the only welcome they received was that extended by

the savage wild beasts and still more savage wild men who

roamed therein unchallenged.

These pioneers left civilization and its comforts and con-

veniences behind them; they found before them untamed natives,

requiring infinite and exhausting labor to subdue. What hopes

animated, what fears and doubts depressed them?

But it is no part of my duty to recount the trials of these

men-how they succeeded or where they failed-this is the duty

of other and abler minds. They will tell you how the wilderness

was subdued, how the forests gave way before the sturdy blows

of the pioneers, and how cities and towns arose and flourished,

and smiling farms made glad the waste places; how our beloved

State arose from humble beginnings, her destinies guided by the

worthy sons of noble sires, to shine the bright particular stars,

in the glorious galaxy of States evolved from the great North-

west Territory; all this and much more will pertain, to the duties

• 26
 

The Century and Its Lessons.             27

 

of the distinguished gentlemen whom we have assembled here

to greet.

This city of ours has in time sent forth her sons and daugh-

ters, who, with willing hands and strong hearts, have engaged in

founding other cities and States, thus following the noble ex-

ample set by their ancestors. Many of these sons and daughters

have returned in response to invitations cordially extended; and

I desire to say to them, as well as the strangers within our gates,

we extend a thousand hearty, cordial welcomes to you all.

This gavel, which I hold in my hand, and with which this

assembly was called to order, is of some historic interest; the

wood of which it is made is a portion of a log taken from one of

the first cabins built for the French emigrants at Gallipolis.

This wood is emblematical of the trials, suffering and hardships

endured by our forefathers in making possible the great advance

in the arts and sciences made by their descendants, this advance

being fully represented by the beautiful silver binding of the

gavel and the inscription thereon.

Again, I bid you all thrice welcome.

At the conclusion of this address, a selection of music was

given by the band, after which Mayor Bradbury introduced Dr.

N. J. Morrison, of Marietta College, who spoke on the topic "A

Century and its Lessons."

 

 

THE CENTURY AND ITS LESSONS.

 

Each century of human history is marked by a train of

peculiar events, characterized by its own peculiar spirit, gives

birth to its own family offspring of ideas, and bequeaths to after-

ages a heritage of peculiar and instructive lessons.

Thus the philosophic historian characterizes one century as

an age of intellectual and political decadence and another as an

age of intellectual and political renaisance; this century as a

period of Augustan brilliancy in Letters and that as a period of

Invention and Discovery.

And so we call the Eleventh Century of our era the " Age

of the Crusades," when a wave of religious and martial fanatic-

ism swept from West to East over all Europe and culminated in

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overwhelming the Moslem power in the Land of the Cross, and

crowning Baldwin, Count of Flanders, as Christian King of Jeru-

salem, just as the Clock of Time was striking the morning hour

of the year 1100.

The Thirteenth Century is distinguished in European his-

tory from all precedent and subsequent ages, by the develop-

ment and perfection of that matchless form of Christian Archi-

tecture, known as the Gothic Cathedral. York Minster, West-

minster Abbey and Salisbury Cathedral in England; the Notre

Dame of Paris, and the Cathedral of Rheims in France, and the

Cathedrals of Strasbourg and Cologne in Germany, each a speci-

men of " poetry crystalized into stone," are illustrious examples

of the almost inspired skill of the church-builders of the Thir-

teenth Century.

The Sixteenth Century, introduced in 1492-98 by the Colum-

bian discovery of the New World, is marked throughout by the

influence of the most tremendous intellectual awakening and

intellectual commotion which the world has yet experienced.

This was the period of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Galileo in

Astronomy, and of the resulting revolution in men's ideas about

the system of the universe. Then also the Art of Painting

reached its perfection in the works of the three great masters,

Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Ranzio. It was the

Elizabethan era of Literature and Philosophy in England. It

was also the era of Luther, Calvin, Knox and Loyola, and the

great religious revolutions and counter-revolutions, which these

historic names signify.

This Nineteenth Century has its stream of- characteristic

events, moved by its own forces, along its own channels, toward

its own predetermined end. We call this the " Age of the Peo-

ple,"-meaning that mankind have at last reached that stage in

their toilsome progress, when the bonds of hereditary authority

and prescriptive privilege are broken, and men are moving for-

ward into the full enjoyment of an equality in personal liberty,

equality in civil rights, and equality in opportunity.

Properly regarded, the present century begins with the last

ten years of the Eighteenth Century. In that decade, events of

such momentous importance took place in one quarter of the

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The Century and Its Lessons.           29

 

world, as to give permanent impulse, character and direction to

the course of civilization since. It was then that Democracy

burst its Mediaeval fetters and marched forth from the prison-

house of ages, as a strong man armed, upon the stage of human

affairs to rule the world.

The French Revolution of 1789 set in motion political and

social forces which have dominated and given character to the

course of human events during the century since. It will aid us

in estimating the influence of these forces and in rightly inter-

preting the "Lessons of the Century," if we briefly recapitulate

the causes of the Revolution. These are commonly ascribed by

historians to the tyranny and reckless extravagance of the reign-

ing Bourbon monarchy; the iniquitous privileges and corruption

of the nobility and clergy; the unspeakable misery of the mass

of the people; and the revolutionary spirit of contemporary

French philosophy and literature.

The French king held in his own despotic power the pro-

perty, liberty and life of every subject, enacting the spirit of

that arrogant phrase of Louis XIV, "I am the State." He

imprisoned without trial and without preferring charges; gov-

erned without cabinet or legislature, -the royal edicts were

laws; imposed taxes according to the royal whim, or at the beck

of a corrupt courtier, that were spoliation and confiscation on the

property of the hapless people;--and the revenues thus obtained

were squandered in extravagances and debaucheries that would

shame a Turkish Sultan. One writer declares that "Louis XV

probably spent more money on his harem than on any depart-

ment of the French Government."

In 1790 the nobility of France comprised one quarter million

of souls in a population of 25,000,000 in the nation. They were

mainly the "Rubbish of Medieval Feudalism," living in idleness

and dissipation at the Court, and pensioners on the royal bounty.

Though numerically scarcely one one-hundreth part of the

French people, they monopolized more than one-fifth of all the

land. They were the "absentee" landlords of the time, exact-

ing exorbitant rents from the poor tenants of their estates with

remorseless rigor. And yet, though thus supported from the

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public revenue and holding vast territories of the richest land,

they were practically exempt from the burden of public taxation.

The French clergy constituted a decayed feudal hierarchy,

enormously wealthy; the higher stations, filled with scions from

the nobility, "Patrician Prelates," often of the most dissolute

morals, of whom the famous Talleyrand, at once secular Prince

and Primate of the Gallican Church, is an instructive example;

the clergy holding title to one-third of all the lands of France,

and receiving stipends from the public exchequer, yet privileged

with exemption from the public burthens.

On the other hand, the "plain, common people," the mass

of the French nation, oppressed and despoiled through many

generations by King and Court and Clergy, were reduced to a

condition of suffering penury. As the great Fenelon wrote in

an appeal to the King, " France is simply a great hospital, full

of woe and empty of bread." They were helots,-without in-

fluence in the State, without power or hope of redress for their

wrongs, their only " Use to the State to pay feudal duties to the

lords, tithes to the priest and imposts to the king."

To these primary causes of the impending catastrophe of

the kingdom of Louis XVI, must be added the great influence

on the opinions of Frenchmen, during the last half of the

Eighteenth Century, of the philosophical writings of Voltaire,

Rousseau and the Encyclopaedists generally. Their philosophy

was sceptical, iconoclastic, subversive of the existing order.

They assailed with undiscriminating ardor the abuses which had

barnacled on existing institutions and the institutions them-

selves. Religion, the State, society itself, in their view, needed

not reformation merely but an overturning.  To restore the lost

purity and happiness of mankind, society must return to the

state of nature. They entered upon a crusade for the recovery

of Human Rights.

By the winter of 1787, the financial disorders of the king-

dom reached a crisis,-there was a deficiency of 140,000,000

francs. The King called an assembly of the Notables, who had

not been previously summoned since the days of Henry of

Navarre, in the Sixteenth Century.  But, unwilling to tax

themselves, or to surrender for the general good any of their

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The Century and Its Lessons.           31

 

immunities and prerogatives, they adjourned without accom-

plishing anything. As a last resort, Louis XVIth resolved to

convoke the States General, comprising representatives of the

three orders of the State, the Nobility, the Clergy and the Com-

mons. This body, representing the French Nation at large, had

not before been invited to take part in the government for 175

years. During all this period the King and his Court had gov-

erned France alone.

The States General met at the Palace in Versailles, May

5th, 1789, and consisted of 1200 members, of whom a majority

were from the commons, the lesser half being divided about

equally between the nobility and the clergy. The King had

consented that the "Third Estate," as the commons were called,

should outnumber the aristocratic deputies, presuming on the

continuance of the ancient usage of the States General, accord-

ing to which voting was by the orders. But the Third Estate,

perceiving that they would be outvoted and powerless, and feel-

ing that they were backed by the public sentiment of the nation,

demanded that individuals, and not orders, should be counted in

the deliberations and decisions of the States General.

For five weeks the contest went on between the orders in

the States General when finally the Third Estate declared them-

selves the National Assembly, and invited the two orders to join

them in their deliberations, giving them clearly to understand

that if they declined, the commons would proceed to transact

public business without them.

The King, in anger at this revolutionary proceeding,

promptly prorogued the Assembly and closed the doors of the

Palace against the deputies. Undismayed, the Commons met in

tennis court of the Palace, and there bound themselves by

a solemn oath never to separate until they had given a constitu-

tion to France. Shut out from the Palace the deputies found

places of meeting in the churches, where they were soon joined

by a great part of the clerical deputies, and a little later by

many nobles. On the 17th day of June, 1789, the States Gen-

eral became in reality the National Assembly, its President, in

welcoming the adhesion of the other orders, exclaiming, "This

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day will be illustrious in our annals; it renders the family com-

plete."

Meanwhile events of startling moment are maturing. The

King masses troops around Versailles to overawe the National

Assembly. The rumor reaches Paris that he intends to disperse

the assembly by force of arms. The capital is in a ferment.

Leading men from the various wards of the city come together

and constitute themselves a Provisional Committee to protect the

city's interest and direct its government,-thereby creating the

germ, out of which speedily grew the Paris Commune of such

portentous power and tendency. The National Guard, so famous

in the after wars of the Republic and the Empire, is organized

and, with Lafayette at its head, placed under the direction of the

Commune. Rumor flies among the people that the guns of the

old Bastile, that grim mediaeval prison-house of tyranny, are

being trained on the city. "To the Bastile!" wildly shout the

excited multitude. And quickly a vast, armed, infuriated mob

have surrounded the fortress, battered in the doors, slain the

defenders, liberated the imprisoned, razed its towers and walls to

the ground. The fourteenth of July, 1789, has sounded. Paris

is in the hands of an armed mob.

When the report of this outbreak in the Capital reaches the

King, he cries out: "What, a rebellion?"  "No, Sire," "but

revolution."

When the news of this great event reaches the National

Assembly a scene transpires, the like of which the world has

never witnessed in any deliberative body. The privileged orders

realize that it is all over with their exclusive privileges. Rising in

the tribune, prominent members of the nobility declare their

willingness to renounce all exemptions. A contagious enthusi-

asm of generosity seizes the members. Nobles and prelates

crowd to the tribune to emulate this patriotic example. Every-

body is eager to make sacrifices for the common good. The

members embrace each other in transports of joy, and sing

the Te Deum in celebration of the advent among men of peace,

equality and good-will.

The revolution moves on with quickening pace. The

Parisian mob, led by frenzied Amazons, stream out of the city to

• 32
 

The Century and Its Lessons.              33

 

Versailles, encamp about the Royal Palace for the night, and in

the morning assault and sack the Palace, and compel the King,

the Royal Family and the National Assembly to march back with

them to Paris. And thus is made "the joyous entry of October

6th, 1789," famous in the annals of the Revolution.

From this time the Paris Commune controls in public

affairs, holding the King hostage in the Tuilleries, and dictating

legislation to the National Assembly. The Assembly votes to

curtail the Royal prerogative, to confiscate the accumulated

wealth of the Church, to abolish the religious orders, and to give

universal suffrage to the people, meanwhile busying itself with

the task of framing a free Constitution for France.

Presently the Constitution, providing for the continuance of

the Monarchy, limited by a National Legislature, for an inde-

pendent judiciary, for local self-government throughout the

realm, for the election of all civil officers by the people, for the

abolition of rank and privilege and the installation of equality

among citizens, for a free press and absolute freedom of religion,

is offered to the Nation for solemn ratification. On the 14th day

of July, 1790, in the Champs de Mars, "in the presence of half

a million Frenchmen," the Abbe Talleyrand as representative of

the National Church; Lafayette as Commander of the National

Guard, the President of the National Assembly, and the King,

in succession take oath to maintain this Constitution; the Queen

also holding up the infant Crown Prince before the eyes of the

people, and pledging his future fidelity to that instrument.

Such solemn approval of the new civil institutions of France

by the several national powers, seemed, at first, to mark the

inauguration of a millenial era of political freedom and brother-

hood; the spirit of the transcendant motto of the Revolution,

"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," seemed about to be realized.

But the King, tiring of his confinement in the Tuilleries,

secretly leaves Paris and attempts to fly from France; is caught

at the frontier, brought back, incarcerated, cited to trial as

a conspirator against the public safety, condemned, beheaded.

The Republic is proclaimed; the massacres of the "Bloody

Reign of Terror" follow. The hapless Mary Antoinette is

brought to the guillotine, pathetically crying out to the tribunal

Vol. III-3

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which had condemned her: " I was a Queen, but you took away

my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and

you robbed me of my children; my blood alone remains-take

it, but do not make me suffer long!"

The historical sequel is familiar-the Directory, the Consul-

ate the Empire, the prolonged struggle with embattled Europe,

until Waterloo, and then the restored Bourbons under Louis

XVIII.

I have tarried thus long in the presence of these great

events, because they have so largely dominated and shaped the

course of human affairs since. The motto of the Revolution,

"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," embodies the political ideal of

humanity, and toward the attainment of that ideal have the

struggles of humanity since been directed. The political

progress of the century is but the progressive realization in

society of this ideal.

Thus the Revolution gave the coup de grace to feudalism in

all its forms; ecclesiastical, vassal and lord, military service, land

tenure and prerogative by inheritance.

The "divine right of kings" received mortal hurt by the

same stroke that slew its twin offspring of the Middle Ages--

Feudalism.  Monarchy has never recovered from the rude shock

given it by the fall of Louis XVI. Throughout Christendom-

save Russia-wherever sceptered monarchy still lags "super-

fluous" on the world's stage, kings have learned that they reign,

if at all, only as "citizen" kings deriving authority from the

consent of the governed. Since the days when the holy alliance

of Austria, Russia and Prussia was formed on the downfall of

Napoleon, to prop up the tottering thrones of Europe, half the

nations of the world have thrown off the trammels of monarchy

and become republics; and the other half only await favorable

opportunity to follow their example.

The nineteenth century is an era of revolution. Not a

country of Europe or America has, since the day of Waterloo,

remained unshaken. Scarcely had the holy alliance replaced the

expelled Bourbons on their forfeited thrones, when the people

of Italy, of Spain and Spanish America rose in revolt. In 1830

another revolutionary wave swept over Europe, lifting the

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The Century and Its Lessons.            35

 

"citizen" king to the throne of France and inaugurating a new

kingdom in Belgium of the most liberal tendencies. In 1848

again all Europe trembled in the throes of civil convulsions.

The boundaries of States were changed, kindred peoples arbi-

trarily separated coalesced, and political institutions were gener-

ally liberalized. Hungary sought national autonomy, and gained

political equipoise with her rival and late enemy in the dual

Empire of Austria-Hungary.

Many of the uprisings of the people during this period have

indeed aborted and been suppressed in blood; and yet, plainly

the aggregate result of all these revolutions and revolts of

nearly a century is the vindication of human rights and the ad-

vancement of human freedom.

The hundred years that expire to-day have been a century

of emancipation. At its dawning, the echo of the Marseillaise,

sung by the conquering legions of Republican France, heard

across the seas, roused the black slaves in the French West

Indies to strike for freedom. The eloquent pleadings of Gran-

ville Sharp, Wilberforce and Brougham in Parliament, finally im-

pelled the British government, in 1833, to break the shackles of

every slave on British soil, decreeing England's eternal reproba-

tion of the "wild and guilty phantasy that man can hold prop-

erty in man." In 1861 Alexander of Russia put his seal to a

state paper of transcendent human importance, by which 46,-

000,000 Russian serfs, slaves of the soil, have attained to free-

dom. By the fortunate issue of our own terrible civil war, in-

voked by human selfishness to perpetuate American slavery,

4,000,000 human chattels on our soil have been transformed into

free men, endowed with full citizenship. And lately, by the

great act of the enlightened ruler of Brazil, African slavery

in that country has ceased to exist, and vanished, finally, from

the soil of the American continent.

The present century has been made illustrious by the re-

naissance and rehabilitation of ancient nationalities. In the

third decade, the public life and literature of England and

America thrilled with the heroic story of the Greeks striking for

freedom from Turkish despotism, and for the restoration of the

commonwealth of Pericles and Epaminondas. Italy, since the

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days of Charlemagne, the victim of internal dissensions and the

sport of Transalpine greed, combining her previously dissevered

members into one body, has again become a nation, under one

political constitution, from the Alps to Sicily-independent,

free, progressive. And the historic people of the German

States, boasting one language and one noble literature, but

for centuries broken into an unstable chaos of political frag-

ments, feeble, discordant, often belligerent, and always the easy

prey of harpy nations around, led by the "Man of Blood and

Iron," have recently coalesced in the gigantic Military Empire

of revived and united Germany.

No feature of the Nineteenth Century is more striking than

the development of Parliamentary government. When the Great

Revolution opened Parliamentary rule existed only among Eng-

lish-speaking peoples in Great Britain and America. The irre-

sponsible despots of France had not consulted the people in

legislation for two hundred years. But now, at a century from

the storming of the Bastile, Russia, alone, of all Christian pow-

ers, is ruled without the intervention of a legislature chosen by

the people and for the people.

And as the people have thus, by their representatives, ac-

quired authority and the functions of government, in like pro-

portion has legislation been ameliorated and fitted to conserve

the rights and the interests of the people. Formerly laws were

promulgated by the classes for themselves; now the masses con-

trol in statute-making, or are coming to control. In America

and in Western Europe men are now substantially equal before

the law. A century ago the judges of England concurred in

this dictum of one of them -" There is no regenerating a felon

in this life; and for his sake, as well as for the sake of society, I

think it better to hang!" They did "hang" for nearly every

offense known to English law. Contrast the spirit of this hor-

rible maxim of jurists then with the humane spirit of the laws

and the humane practice of the Courts of England and America

to-day.

The present is par excellence the age of discovery in science

and of invention in the useful arts. The eloquent panegyric of

Macaulay on Science, as applied to the arts in promoting human

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The Century and Its Lessons.             37

 

welfare, is justified, and more than justified by the facts about

us: " Science has lengthened life; it has mitigated pain; it has

extinguished diseases; it has increased the fertility of the soil;

it has given new securities to the mariner; it has furnished new

arms to the warrior; it has spanned great rivers and estuaries

with bridges of form unknown to our fathers; it has guided the

thunderbolt innocuously from heaven to earth; it has lighted up

the night with the splendor of the day; it has extended the range

of the human vision; it has multiplied the power of the human

muscles; it has annihilated distance; it has facilitated intercourse,

correspondence, all friendly offices, all dispatch of business; it

has enabled man to descend to the depths of the sea, to soar into

the air, to penetrate securely into the noxious recesses of the

earth, to traverse the land in cars which whirl along without

horses, to cross the ocean in ships which run ten knots an hour

against the wind." And all these achievements of science, and

others since Macaulay still more wonderful, have accrued to the

benefit and glory of mankind since the Great Revolution.

Consider a few familiar contrasts between then and now:

There were then no locomotives, no railroads, no steam ships, no

telegraphs, telephones, or phonographs; no power printing press,

no stereotype, no electrotype; no hard rubber with its ten thou-

sand admirable utilities; no known utility of the then tameless

power of frictional electricity, which now swiftly draws our car-

riages by day, and lights up with the splendor of the sun our

streets and houses by night; no photography; no spectroscope

to analyze the beams of the sun and the far off twinkle of the

fixed stars, and no microscope to reveal to human ken the infini-

tude of organized beings which float unseen by us in the air we

breathe and swim in the water that we drink; no agricultural

machines for the farm. It took Washington eight days to journey

from Mt. Vernon to New York to be inaugurated First President.

Our present Chief Magistrate makes the same journey to cele-

brate the Centennial of Washington's inauguration in less than

eight hours. The French immigrants, whom we honor to-day,

were longer in making their toilsome journey from Alexandria

to this place, than Miss Bisland lately required to travel round

the globe.

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I should seem wanting in due honor for the profession to

whose service I have given my life, if, in this hasty resume of

some of "the lessons of the century," I should accord no place

to the progress of education.

In the year 1809, when, by the Peace of Tilsit between Na-

poleon and Alexander with his allies, Prussia was left dismem-

bered, stripped of half her territory, her military power broken,

her exchequer bankrupt, her people beggared by devastating war

and disheartened, two of her statesmen, William Von Humboldt

and Baron Stein, set themselves to the great task of national re-

generation and recovery; and they began their work of rebuild-

ing Prussia at the point where skillful architects of States must

always base the foundations of their edifices-in the education

of the people. They founded the University of Berlin, at the

moment of the lowest ebb in the life of the nation, which has

now grown into the dignity of the most powerful University

known to history. They reorganized the whole system of public

instruction and provided that every Prussian child not only might

but actually should attain to a fair education. And to their plan

instituted in the crisis of Prussia, publicists tell us Prussiaowes,

her remarkable advance among modern nations, her invincible

military prowess, her primacy in founding and directing the

destiny of the German Empire.

The liberalizing of the political institutions of Western

Europe has been accompanied with widespread revival in public

education. Provision for the education of all the children of

the State is now an accepted maxim of government in all en-

lightened nations. And in America how the galaxy of colleges,

starting with Harvard, has spread as a zone of living light

across the broad firmament of the continent. And how the in-

stitution of the common schools, offspring of Puritan parentage,

at first slowly following the New England emigrant in his march

to the Pacific, has lately, by the overthrow of its deadly enemy,

slavery, hastened southward and captured the country. And

to-day every State, from ocean to ocean, and from the lakes to

the gulf, wills that every child within its bounds shall enjoy the

blessings of education.

And with this progress of the nations during the last hun-

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The Century and Its Lessons.            39

 

dred years in respect to larger freedom, better legislation, more

general and improved education, in discovery in science, in in-

vention, in the arts, what advancement in national and indi-

vidual wealth! The Golden Era has dawned, if by that is

meant an age of accumulated and accumulating wealth. How

the comforts and elegancies of life have multiplied, and how

widely are they distributed. Men generally live far more ration-

ally, as if endowed with a more than animal nature, than ever

before. This is a grand age--a privilege to live in and be a

part of it.  We may not produce statues that can rival the

work of Phidias; we may have no painter that can limn like

Raphael; the age builds no gothic cathedrals to vie with Milan

and Cologne. We do better than all this-we dedicate our

highest powers to the production of agencies by which the

higher well-being of the average man may be promoted. Our

works of art are the cotton gin, the locomotive, the power press,

bridges for commerce across the straits of the seas, tunnels

under the Alps, canals to connect oceans, great laboratories and

museums of science, and school houses for the people.

The motto which inspired whatever good inhered in the

Revolution, and which has so far moulded human thought and

action since, " Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," approaches its

full realization in human society. The average man has all the

freedom he needs. On the whole the equality of men is pretty

fairly attained, certainly before the law, and largely in respect to

opportunity. Much progress also is making in the attainment

of the spirit of fraternity among men. To the full realization

of the spirit of brotherhood, and so of applied Christianity in

the world, is the summons for to-day-is the task of the coming

age.

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40        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

 

MAJOR JOHN BURNHAM AND HIS COMPANY.

Mr. Barlow had written Colonel Duer early in December,

1789, that huts must be built on land opposite the mouth of the

Great Kanawha to accommodate at least one hundred persons.

The cost of these huts was to be paid by the agent of the immi-

grants upon their arrival. In March, 1790, General Rufus Put-

nam, as agent for the Trustees for the Scioto Associates, em-

ployed John Burnham of Essex, Massachusetts, to enlist in New

England a company of fifty young men who were expert wood-

men and who would submit to military discipline. They were

to be employed for six months and were to build the huts on the

site selected for the city of Gallipolis, to assist in clearing the

lands adjacent, to act as hunters when required and to keep such

guard as might be necessary. There was peace along the border,

but it was an "Indian peace," and the frontier was infested by

marauders, white, red and black. No better leader for such a

party than John Burnham could have been found. He had

served as an officer of the line through the war of the Revolu-

tion and was present at every important battle from Bunker Hill

to Yorktown. The company he commanded in the eighth Mas-

sachusetts regimiment was, in 1782, complimented in general

orders by General Washington himself for its "soldier-like and

military appearance." He quickly enlisted the company and on

the twenty-ninth of May, 1790, reported to Gen. Putnam at

Wellsburg, on the Ohio river with thirty-six men. Of the fifty

whose services had been engaged ten had not yot joined and four

had deserted. The following is the roll, omitting the names of

the deserters:



• 40
 

Major John Burnham and His Company.         41   "SUBSISTENCE ROLL FOR A COMPANY OF MEN ENGAGED IN THE SERVICE OF THE SCIOTO COMPANY TO MAKE A NEW SETTLEMENT ON THE BANKS OF OHIO FROM THE TIME THEY LEFT THEIR SEV- ERAL HOMES 'TILL THEY ARRIVED AT YOUHIOGY.

• 41
 

42        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3   "WELLS BURG, May 29, 1790. "I hereby certifie that the within Subsistance roll is just and true and that the moneys paid to Deserters, sick, left sick on the way or not joined I will endevor to recover, and if recovered or any part thereof I will repay the same to. Rufus Putnam or his ordor. JOHN BURNHAM."

From Wellsburg the party proceeded by water to Marietta, where General Putnam gave to Major Burnham the following letter of instructions: "MARIETTA, June 4th, 1790. "Dear Sir: "You will please to proceed with the people engaged in the service of the trustees of the Scioto proprietors, in consequence of my letters to you of the-  day of March last, to a place on the Ohio [river] next Chickamaga creek, which will be marked out and shown to you by Col. [R. J.] Meigs, [Sr.,] where you will begin your operations and prosecute the business

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Major John Burnham and His Company.         43

 

in the best manner you can for the interest of your employers

and safety to yourself and people. The object is to erect four

block [houses] and a number of low huts, agreeably to the plan

which you will have with you, and clear the lands. Your own

knowledge of hut building, the block house of round logs which

you have will have an opportunity to observe at Belleprie,

together with the plan so clearly explained, renders it unneces-

sary to be very particular; however, you will remember that I

don't expect you will lay any floors except for your own con-

venience, nor put in any sleeper or joyce for the lower floors;

plank for the doors must be split and hewed and the doors hung

with wooden hinges; as I don't expect you will obtain any stone

for the backs of your chimneys, they must be made of clay first,

moulded into tile and dried in manner you will be shown an

example at Belleprie.

When Col. Meigs has assigned the spot and set the stakes

for the center of the four block houses, you will first clear a spot

(which will be pointed out) and throw up a work, which must

be as near the place marked on the plan as you can find a con-

venient or the best landing, where you will erect a temporary or

stone house and a cover to keep you men dry till the block

houses are completed, which should be your next object and

after that proceed to building huts. In clearing the lands, what-

ever timber is useful for your building, should be cut and select-

ed for the purpose as you go along and the rest cleared and

burned entirely off. Your clearing must be in one continued

body and extended up and down the river equally from your

work as well as from the river. Supply yourself and party with

whatever you find necessary and reasonable and take care that

the provisions are used with economy. I wish you to inform

yourself with respect to a supply of beef at Kanawha and let me

know by Col. Meigs what may be depended on that I may, if

necessary, send you beef from some other quarter.

You will pay no wages to the carpenters, Smith Brown and

son, nor to John Gardiner, as the carpenters will be paid by

myself or Col. Meigs and I am bound for Gardiner for more

than three months full pay. The pay of your men must com-

mence on their arrival at Youghioganee, deducting four days for

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44        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3   their passage to Muskingum. If anything more should occur which it may be necessary to communicate to you, I will endeavor to inform you by letter. Wishing you a prosperous voyage and successful campaign, I am, with the most perfect sentiment of esteem, Your humble servant, RUFUS PUTNAM." The party reached its destination on the 8th of June. In November, at the expiration of the six months' term for which the men were engaged, most of them re-entered the service of the Scioto Associates, under Captain Isaac Guion, who had suc- ceeded General Putnam in charge of their affairs in the West. Two, Isaac Choate and Asa Bullard, joined the party that estab- lished the settlement at Big Bottom. In the attack by the In- dians upon that post, on the second of January 1791, Choate was captured and Bullard escaped. Major Burnham returned to his home in New England, after a long delay in securing a set- tlement of his accounts. The total cost to the Scioto Associates of Burnham's party during his command of it was $3,243.02. E. C. DAWES.

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  45

 

 

THE FRENCH SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS OF GALLIPOLIS.

Preceding addresses and other papers have given the story

of the Scioto Company, under whose auspices the French set-

tlers came to America. I shall not attempt to repeat any part

of this history, but begin my narrative with the sailing of the

first party of emigrants to their new homes in the unknown

West, which had been described to them in such glowing terms

by those who had induced them to come. In February, 1790,

six hundred emigrants set sail from Havre de Grace. Five

ships had been chartered to take them to Alexandria, Va., prob-

ably the nearest port to their new homes. Their experiences

then were inauspicious as an omen in regard to the future. In

these days of rapid transit, when a voyage across the ocean rep-

resents a not unpleasant journey of a few days' duration, we

cannot imagine what it must have been when, on account of

stormyseas and contrary winds, the traveler was compelled to

spend weeks, and even months, on the great deep. Yet such

experiences as the latter were common once, and they were felt

by the Franch emigrants. A desolate feeling must have been

theirs then. Behind them was stormy France, its peace that

was, having been swept from it, with little hope of its return in

the near future; about them the stormy waves of old ocean

threatening to engulf them, and thus violently end their new-

born hopes. Before them-what? A fair land they believed,

but an uncertainty; they had only man's representation upon

which to base their hopes, and man is more than liable to mis-

represent facts when he has a purpose to gain thereby. The

future only could reveal that which they so ardently desired to

know, and they awaited its developments, which, with their

characteristic, sunny disposition, we believe they did as content-

edly as was possible with men. At length, after a voyage of

about three months' duration, they arrived at the town of Alex-

andria, about seventy-five miles up the river Potomac. Here

they encountered circumstances which both cheered and de-

pressed them. They were gladdened by a cordial reception on

the part of the people to whom a Frenchman was a welcome

visitor in view of the recent benefits conferred upon the country

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46        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 3   by the assistance of the French Government in the war with the British. The emigrant, no doubt, felt as if his fond hopes were about to be realized, as, with his land titles in his pocket, he landed on these hospitable shores. But he was destined to be bitterly disappointed, for it was not long before he knew that difficulties had arisen, which threatened the complete frustration of his plans. The Scioto Company, from which he had made his purchase, had forfeited its title to the lands, having failed to make the payments according to contract with the government, and consequently their dealings with it were null and void. Furthermore, the lands which they thought they had purchased, had been purchased from the government by another corporation, known as the Ohio Company, and contrary to representation, their prospective homes were far away in the Western land, in a wilderness infested by hostile bands of Indians. A pitiable con- dition, truly, and one which called forth the sympathy of their new-made friends. They were literally strangers in a strange land, and their own country, for which they would naturally yearn under such circumstances, unsafe as a retreat from the dangers which there presented themselves. Their sad condition soon became noised abroad, and reached the ears of those in authority, and ere long a movement was inaugurated, in which President Washington was interested, to compel the Scioto Company to reimburse them the money of which they had been defrauded. As might have been expected, these negotiations occupied much time, and sorely tried the patience of the forlorn emigrants, insomuch that some gave up in despair, and sought other homes, some going to New York and Philadelphia, some settling in Alexandria, and a few return- ing to France. At length an agreement was entered into with Colonel Duer, the Company's agent at New York, whereby, as far as the means under his control would permit, the emigrants should be transported to the West, and established on the Ohio River at a point opposite the mouth of the Big Kanawha, where they expected their town to be located, erect suitable block houses for defence against the attacks of Indians, and survey and lay out a town to be divided among them in proportion to cash paid in Paris by each individual on their lands. A written

• 46
 

The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  47

 

agreement to this effect was made, and with such a compromise,

which was more perhaps than they had dared to hope for, the

emigrants abandoned all claims upon the lands for which they

held deeds. The second stage journey was now about to begin.

Wagons and supplies were obtained, and the travelers departed.

This journey was far more perilous, no doubt, than the long and

stormy passage across the Atlantic. The dangers by the way-

side consisted of attacks from the Indians, sickness and fatigue.

In addition to these, progress was slow in consequence of the

almost impassable condition of the roads, and the insufficiency

of the supplies provided for their maintenance. Their route was

through the Valley of Virginia, near the town of Winchester;

thence in a north-westerly direction via Brownsville, Pennsyl-

vania, and to the Ohio. The traveler of the present day, when

he speeds through this section of the country, and views it from

the window of his Pullman car, can form but little idea of the

trials and privations of that long jonrney. Think of a number

people, including women and little children, finding a way over

those high mountains, and across swollen streams, meagerly

supplied with food, and harassed at all times by fear of the ever-

vigilant savage, and you may fancy the experience of these emi-

grants. The Scioto Company had contracted with General

Rufus Putnam to erect buildings and furnish the settlers with

provisions for a year, and he sent Major Burnham down from

Fort Harmar on the Muskingum River with forty men for that

purpose. The first town, under the name of Fair Haven, had

been laid out by the Company opposite the mouth of the Kana-

wha, was intended as the point for the location of the French

settlers, but as the ground was considered low there, and

liable to overflow, Major Burnham and his party wisely pro-

ceeded to a point four miles below, where the high banks could

well withstand the rising waters, as has been since proved to the

satisfaction of the residents. The locating party arrived here

June 8th, 1790, and immediately began the work of preparation

for the settlers, who would make a home here in the wilderness.

This was no doubt a most arduous undertaking, but determined

energy made itself felt, and soon there were evidences that order

would emerge from chaos. Trees, brush, and other debris made

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48         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

way for the houses, which formed the new town. On what is

now the Public Square were erected eighty log cabins, twenty

in a row. At each of the corners were block-houses two stories

in height. In front of the cabins, close by the river bank, was

a small log breast-work. Above the cabins, on the square, were

two other parallel rows of cabins, which, with a high stockade

fence, and block-houses at each of the upper corners, formed a

sufficient fortification in times of danger. These upper cabins

were a story and a half in height, built of hewn logs, and

furnished in better style than those below, being intended for

the wealthier class, and those appointed to manage and superin-

tend the interests of the colony. Such was the home which the

emigrant found for his reception, when, weary and travel-worn,

he at length reached his final destination. He had journeyed

far by sea and land, and dreamed bright dreams, and was it all

for this? A few log cabins with a background of forest, in

which was the home of the sworn enemy of the white race.

France is a country no larger in extent than one of the

average-sized states of the Union, and at this time its popula-

tion was about twenty-five millions. Think of five hundred

people from this thickly populated place, and composed entirely

of those ignorant of what would be required of them in a new

land-physicians, lawyers, jewelers and other artisans, a few

mechanics, servants to the exiled nobility, and many with no

trade or profession-suddenly placed in a wilderness of this

kind, and infested by wild beasts and murderous bands of

Indians. They were as inexperienced in pioneer life as children.

The hardy natures of such rugged characters as Daniel Boone,

or any one of those who preceded the march of progress, could

readily combat the difficulties which were likely to present them-

selves. They knew what to expect in frontier life, and it was

even with a sense of enjoyment perhaps, that they engaged in

the work of preparing the way for the settler. Our French

emigrants, however, could not view    the prospects without

consternation and conjecture as to the many difficulties which

would arise in their work of making the best of a bad bargain.

The solution of the problem was with them, and as subsequent

events proved, many of them rose bravely to the occasion.

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  49

 

There are some people whose strength and grandeur of character

would never be known save by means of severe tests. Heart

trials most frequently prove to be blessings in disguise, on

account of the way in which they represent the true worth of a

man's character. The pure metal cannot be obtained save

through the medium of the smelting furnace. Thus it was with

the French settlers at Gallipolis, for they not only determined to

remain, but made a success of what appeared a hopeless cause.

At an early meeting of the settlers, the town was named Galli-

polis (City of the Gauls-French). The work of making their

new home attractive was long and arduous, this latter being the

natural result of the inexperience of the settlers. Everything

that they did had to be learned, and with as many hard knocks

as a school-boy experiences with his Latin verbs, but indomitable

perseverance gave its usual testimony, in that the lesson was

learned. Quoting the words of one who has written on this sub-

ject: "A description of early attempts to adapt themselves

to circumstances, would be amusing, but doubtless was no joke

to them."

A number were seriously wounded, and some lost their lives

in learning to fell trees. Having no knowledge of the use of

the axe, some two or three would tackle a monster of the

forest, girdling the tree, and giving the death blow at the heart;

as can readily be seen, the tree would oftentimes slip from the

stump upon the workmen, or more frequently they (or the

admiring group who were watching the process) not being able

to tell the direction in which the tree would fall, would be

crushed to the ground under the heavy branches. A short

experience of this kind sharpened their wits, and by placing

strong men at the ends of the two ropes, the other end being

fastened to the tree, they found that they could guide it in its

fall, and this operation thereafter became less dangerous.

It will be seen from such incidents as this that, although the

settlers were enterprising, courageous, and willing to work, and

mainly very intelligent, as a class, they were obliged to suffer by

practical experience before they were able to adapt themselves

to the new mode of living, or make much substantial progress in

rendering their situation comfortable, as we must all suffer, when

Vol. III-4

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50        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

we are learning a new principle in life. We must always learn

effectually, by means of experience, but experience is quite

frequently a stern and merciless teacher.

An account of this settlement, by an eye witness, will

not, we believe, be uninteresting here. The letter of Mon-

sieur Mentelle to the American Pioneer, a magazine published

in Cincinnati, in the April number, 1843, among other matters

contains the following:                 "I did not arrive till nearly all the

colonists were there.                    I descended the river in 1791, in flat

boats loaded with troops, commanded by General St. Clair,

destined for an expedition against the Indians. Some of my

countrymen joined that expedition, among others was Count

Malartie, a captain of the French Guard of Louis XVI."  Con-

cerning the settlement at Gallipolis, he said among other things:

"Notwithstanding the great difficulties, the difference of tem-

pers, education and professions, the inhabitants lived in har-

mony. The Americans and hunters employed by the Company,

performed the first labors of clearing the township which was

divided into lots. Although the French were willing to work,

yet the clearing of the American wilderness and its heavy tim-

ber was far more than they could perform. To migrate from

the eastern States to the 'far west' is painful enough now-a-days,

but how much more so must it be for a citizen of a large Eu-

ropean town! Even the farmer of the old countries would find

it very hard, if not impossible, to clear land in the wilderness."

The hunters, who supplied the colonists with fresh meat, " were

paid by the colonists, to prepare their garden ground, which was

to receive seeds brought from France; few of the colonists

knew how to make a garden, but they were guided by books on

that subject, likewise brought from France. The colony began

to improve in its appearance and comfort. The fresh provisions

were supplied by the Company's hunters, the others came from

the magazines." These represented some of the bright features

of the early life of the colonists, and all seemed working well,

and no doubt lively hopes were excited in their breasts that the

difficulties of their hitherto trying position were lessening, but

again they were called upon to face disappointment. At this

time it became apparent that the Scioto Company could not

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  51

 

obtain for them any further remuneration for the impositions

that had been practiced upon them. The Company had fulfilled

nearly all their engagements for the first six months, after which

they ceased their supply of provisions to the colonists, and it

was given as a reason, that one or two of their agents who had

received the funds in France for the purchased land, had run off

with the money to England, and the Company were defrauded

of the whole, without having purchased or gained title to any

of the tract which they had sold to the deceived colonists.

An unusually severe winter had set in, and the rigor of

climate was added to other trials and difficulties. The Ohio had

frozen over, so that flat boats could not come down with flour

from above; the hunters no longer had meat to sell. The peo-

ple were destitute of almost everything except a scanty supply

of vegetables, and almost a famine was produced in the settle-

ment. The money and clothes they had brought with them

were nearly gone; they knew not to whom to go to get their

lands (for they did not even own their homes), and their con-

dition became such as to excite despair. Looking back upon

them through the lapse of years, our minds are filled with sym-

pathetic thoughts, and the fact that these difficulties were suc-

cessfully combated kindles within us a feeling of admiration and

pride. The Pilgrim Fathers, who landed "on wild New Eng-

gland's shore," and whose hardihood and determination have

sounded their praises down the ages, deserve little less laudation

in the pages of history than the settlers of our town, who have

left, as a rich heritage, to those who have lived after them, the

testimony of the unconquerable nature of brave perseverance.

Following this condition of affairs, the fear of the Indians dis-

turbed their peace of mind. "When," says Mentelle (speaking

of some months previous of the expeditions of Generals St.

Clair and Wayne), "many of the troops stopped at Gallipolis,

the Indians who, no doubt, came there in the night, at last saw

the regulars going morning and evening round the town in order

to ascertain if there were any Indian traces, attacked them, kill-

ing and wounding several- a soldier, besides other wounds, was

tomahawked, but recovered. A French colonist, who had tried

to raise cane some distance from town, seeing an Indian rising

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52        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 3

 

from behind some brushwood against a tree, shot him in the

shoulder.  The Indian, hearing an American patrol, must

have thought that the Frenchman made a part of it, and

sometime afterward a Frenchman was killed, and a man

and woman made prisoners as they were going to collect

ashes to make soap, at some distance from town. After

this, although the Indians committed depredations on the

Americans on both sides of the river, the French had suf-

fered only by the loss of some cattle carried away, until

the murder of the man referred to. As the severe winter ad-

vanced, "the dangers from the Indians augmented every day.

Kanawha had been visited by one of these sad events, that few

of the present generation can realize, otherwise than by compar-

ing it to a romantic tale with ghosts. A Captain Vonbever had

gone to make sugar at a little distance from and opposite to

Kanawha. He had his negro man with him, intending to make

sugar and raise corn, but staid to make sugar only. The camp

was fronting the river and in sight of Kanawha. They had not

been there long when the negro saw an Indian running after

him. He warned his master, who was not far from the house,

and they both entered it at the same time and secured the door.

The Indian, thinking they had no arms, and whose intention it

was to carry off the negro, turned back as soon as he saw them

in the house, and was shot by the negro with a gun that was

loaded with buck-shot. The alarm spread to Kanawha; the in-

habitants came in their canoes, thinking that there might be

more Indians, but on their landing they saw only the body of a

single one, which, after having stripped of what he had, they

threw into the river; the corpse floated down and was carried by

the stream on the shore of Gallipolis the next day, as if to con-

firm the rumor which they had heard that morning, and as a

warning to themselves. Captain Vonbever had let his beard

grow, and had sworn to leave it so until he should have taken a

complete revenge of the Indians, who had killed one of his

children.

The expedition against the Indians by General St. Clair

having met with signal defeat, the Indians were encouraged to

greater depredations in the Western land, but fortunately for our

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  53

 

colonists they were directed principally against Americans. The

hostile tribes imagined that the French settlers were from

Canada, and with the French at that place they were on terms

of friendship.  Immediately after St. Clair's defeat, Colonel

Sproat, of Marietta, appointed four spies for Gallipolis, one of

whom was Mousieur Mentelle from whom we quoted a moment

ago. These were released after the treaty of Greenville in 1795.

Honorable Rufus Putnam, at Marietta, was the acknowledged

head of all the settlements in Washington county, which then

embraced a territory now covered by nearly forty counties, and

to him an application was made and steps were taken to organize

a defensive force. By his orders, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat ap-

pointed Captain Dr. Francis Hebecourt, a man of distinguished

qualifications, to take command. A Frenchman named Malden

was appointed Lieutenant, and C. R. Menager, Ensign. A com-

pany of ninety colonists offered their services, who were divided

into squads of ten, and on each succeeding day one squad, or

patrol company, was to start out in the morning to act in con-

junction with the scouts or spies, whose duty it was to return

every night and report the presence or absence of Indians. In

this way a defense was kept up until General Wayne defeated

the Indians at the battle of " Fallen Timbers," on the Maumee

Rapids, five miles above Perrysburg, Ohio, August 20th, 1794,

and made the treaty of peace at Greenville in 1795 with all the

Western tribes. After peace was declared, a free intercourse

took place between them and the colonists from Massachusetts

and other New England states at Marietta and Belpre, and with

settlements at Point Pleasant and Charleston, Virginia. Thus,

in an alternate atmosphere of hopes and fears, the colonists

passed the first years of their lives in the New World. They

were, perhaps, becoming accustomed to the changed conditions

of their existence. Even in the far away western wilderness,

they were recognizing home ties, and pleasant associations were

being formed which endeared this wild country to them. France,

with its attractions, had passed out of their lives; such repre-

sented but features of the past, and would be to them but fond

recollections of what had been. There was one great difficulty

which had to be surmounted, however, before they could reso-

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54        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

lutely face life in this country. The titles to their homes had

never been perfected; indeed, there was every reason to suppose

that they were living on land which belonged to other people.

Although it had been sold to them by the Scioto Company,

which had transported them thither, the fact remained that the

Ohio Company still held the titles to it, inasmuch as that corpora-

tion had bought and paid for it, and there had been no just or

legal transfer of it to other parties, it was but rational that the

owners should be demanding their rights. This dilemma which

they had known that they must face, when it reached its climax,

brought with it its disheartening influences; indeed, so great

must have been the discouragements that the disruption of all

the new ties must have been threatened. A letter from Mr.

B. J. D. Le Ture, a Gallipolis merchant, who had removed to

Cincinnati for business purposes, and which is now in the

possession of Maj. E. C. Dawes, of Cincinnati, throws some

light on the situation at this time. It is written under date of

July 6th, 1792, and is addressed to Mr. John Matthews at

Gallipolis. Mr. Le Ture says: "The situation of the colony

alarms me much. I cannot think so many people will be sacri-

ficed to a few speculators. Should anything turn up that would

oblige me to go to the settlement, I believe it will be in my

power to advise them on the methods they are to take in order

to have justice done them." Some of the colonists became dis-

heartened and went off and settled elsewhere with the means

that remained to them, and resumed their trades in more popu-

lous parts of the country. Others led a half savage life, com-

mon among pioneers, as hunters for skins; and affairs, for a

time, wore a gloomy aspect. The more determined ones, how-

ever, who appear to have represented the rank and file of the

colony resolved upon a course of action, which, if successful,

would give them homes which they so ardently craved. Six

years had now passed since they had sailed from Havre de

Grace, and an enumeration showed that but three hundred of

them were left. These, in general assembly, resolved to make a

memorial of their grievances and send it to Congress. The

memorial claimed no right from that body, but was a detail of

their wrongs and sufferings, together with an appeal to the

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  55

 

generosity of the government, and they did not appeal in vain.

Monsieur Jean G. Gervais started with the petition, and at

Philadelphia met with a lawyer, M. Duponceau, through whose

aid he obtained from Congress a grant of twenty-four thousand

acres of land, known as the " French Grant," and located oppo-

site the Little Sandy, for the people who still remained in Galli-

polis. The act annexed the condition of settling on the lands

for three years before the deed of gift would be given. M.

Gervais received four thousand acres of this land for his serv-

ices in the matter, according to previous agreement. Each in-

habitant had thus a tract of two hundred and seventeen and a

half acres of land; but before the surveys and other arrange-

ments could be made, some time was necessary during which

those who had reclaimed the wilderness and improved Gallipolis,

being reluctant to lose all their labor, and finding that a com-

pany, owning the lands at Marietta, had met to divide lands,

which they had purchased in a common stock, the colonists sent

a deputation with a proposal to sell to them the tract where

Gallipolis is situated, and to be paid in proportion to what was

improved, which was accepted. When at last the distribution

of the French grant was achieved, some sold their share, others

went to settle on it, while many sent tenants, and either re-

mained at Gallipolis or went elsewhere. Colonel Robert Safford,

so familiarly known as one of the number of Major Burnham's

band, who felled the first tree on the site of what was afterward

Gallipolis, was present at the drawing of these lots, and has

thus related the circumstances: "General Putnam appointed

Mr. Martin to survey the grant, and after this was done and the

lots numbered, Messrs. Manmey, Putnam and Talmadge ap-

pointed a day when all who were to get land were to meet in the

public square. The day came and all assembled. The names

of those having an interest were written upon square pieces of

paper, and as many like pieces were numbered. The papers

were placed in two small boxes, two clerks were appointed and

two disinterested men were selected, to each of whom one of

the boxes was given. When all was ready, the boxes were

shaken and then opened. Colonel Safford was selected to draw

out the papers which were numbered. As he drew out one and

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announced the number the clerk took it down, then from the

other box a name was drawn which, being announced, was

taken down as the owner of the number just drawn. They pro-

ceeded thus until the whole number were distributed."

After a long time, as it appeared to the settler, some of the

hopes which had encouraged him, were realized, in that the

French grant had been obtained and Gallipolis had become the

property of its citizens. True, there were not many left, com-

paratively speaking, to enjoy the homes which had been won in

so laborious and perilous a manner, but there was deep satisfac-

tion, no doubt, in realizing, that although the fierce battle had

been fought, the victory was won.

Now, having described the inauguration and accomplish-

ment of this enterprise of establishing a colony and build-

ing a town on the banks of the Ohio, we will turn our

attention, for a brief period, to the topography of Galli-

polis, in the first stages of its growth.  We have before us

a map of the town and surrounding country as they were in

earlier days. It represents the plan of the lots drawn by the

inhabitants of Gallipolis January 20, 1791, and the outlines of

the city are very accurate, and easily recognized by those

acquainted with it now. A more interesting document than this,

and which we have been fortunate enough to secure, is a list of

the town lots of Gallipolis with their original disposition. The

original of this was probably made in Paris, when the anti-

cipative colonist was about to depart to his new home, or it may

have been made after the first stages of his long and weary

journey had been completed, when, after having been tortured

by apprehension, the order had come for him to move on to

possess the land, just before he left Alexandria, Virginia. We

append this list, thinking it peculiarly interesting in this connec-

tion.

A numeral list of the town lots of Gallipolis, with their

original disposition:

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.      57

Claude Morrell................                                          1 Jean B. Laurent............                                              2 Charles Vaux Maret ...........                                      3 Maguet, son ..............                                      4 Colinet ...................                                          5 Etienne Chandivert ...........                                      6 Mad. Clavet ................                                               7 Jean B. Cherrin .............                                            8 Pierre A. L. Huillier...........                                      9 Francis Picard  .................                                         10 Minguey, father ............... 11 Pierre Louis LeClerc.........                                      12 Claude Bana ...................                                            13 Claude J. Naudet. ............                                          14 Marchand  .....................                                              15 Winant Devacht ..............                                         16 Jean M. Hammer .............. 17 Jean Buzenet ......... .....     18 Nicholas Vissinier ............. 19 Sald ..................                                                 20 Grouet ..................                                            21 Humbert Pamar ..............                                           22 Guillaume Duduit............ 23 Jean G. Vallot ................  24 Louis Victor Vonschritz ....... 25 Michaud  ...... ..........                                         26 Jean  B. Ancil......   ...........                                         27 Michel Cranzat ...............                                           28 Pierre Chandivert ............. 29 Nicholas Thevenin .......... 30 D'Hebecourt ...............                                               31 Retained 30th Dec ..........                                         32 "    "    ~..........                                         33 33 "        "           ...........   34 Saugrain                ..............      35 "   ........ . ...... . ... 36 Pierre Magnier ................ 37 D'Hebecourt ................                                              38 Jos.Dazet............. ...  ...                                                39 Frederick Bergeret ............ 40 Jacques Petit Jean ...........   41 Jean G. Petit .     ........... . 42 Francis Darveux ............. 43 Alexander Roussell ...........                                       44 Jean B. Quetee ...............                                             45

Jean B. Parmentier ............ 46 Francis Valten ...............                                          47 Laurent Bergnen ..........                                            48 Jean B. Duchallard ........... 49 Nicholas Petit ..............    50 Antoine Porquier ........... 51 Etienne Willermy ..........                                          52 Francis Quartel .............                                            53 Benjamin Armand ............. 54 Jean M. Guillot .   .......  ..  55 Charles Soudry .............. 56 Catherine Avelin ..............  57 Matthieu Berthelot ........... 58 Peter Lecke ...................  59 Jacques Renouard ............. 60 Antoine Vibert ............... 61 Jean B. Ginat .......... ....    62 Sigisbert Chevraux........... 63 Pierre Lafellard .   .............                                        64 Gervais  ...................                                         65 Lemoyne, younger ........ 66 Jean  C. Belliere  ..........   ....                                       67 Droz......................                                             68 Joseph Dupont    .   ........ .                          69 Jean Louis Vonschritz ........                                   70 Francis Dutiel ............... 71 Alexander Frere ............... 72 Claude DuBois ........... ...                                         73 Jean  B. Ferard ..... ..........                                           74 Jean P. Laperouse ...........                                         75 Nicholas Hedouin..... ....... 76 Michel Mazure ...............    77 Pierre M. Richards ............ 78 Colat  ........... .........                                            79 Petit ............. ........                                            80 Coupin .................                                             81 "   ...................                                          82 Laforge retained ............)                                          83 84 Jean Louis Imbert .. ........                                          85 Jean Courtier ................                                              86 Pierre Matry .................                                              87 Joseph Goiyon ............:...                                         88 Alex. Chevalier .    ..........                                           89 Claude Dupligny ..............                                       90

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58        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

Jean Louis Colat .............   91 Minguey, son ............ 92 Louis DelaBouye ............ 93 Cesar Maufelit ................ 94 Pierre Chabot ................ 95 Taillem  ...................  96 Pierre L. Guibert ............ 97 Pierre A. Laforge.......... .. 98 Claude Berthelot.... ......... 99 Antoine Duc................ 100 Jean F. Grand Jean.    ........ 101 Michel Chanterelle ........... 102 Jean Pellison  .................  103 Jean B. Anthiaume........... 104 Lemonye, elder ........... 105 Louis Roublot ............ 106 Antoine Saugrain ............. 107 Thoncy Dehafosse ............ 108 Marin Dupont ................ 109 Petit Jean ...................  110 Antoine Prieur ............... 111 Augustin LeClerc ............                                     112 Leclere and .................                                             113 Genet .................                                            114 Petit Jean ................ 115 Gervais...................  116 Sigismund D'llmee .......... 117 Jean L. Violette. ............. 118 Madam LaCaisse...    ......... 119 D. Petit ........... .......  120 Jean Pierre Ginet............. 121 Louis P. LeClerc .............. 122 Francis L'Anguette ............ 123 Pierre Serre ...... ..... ......  124 Louis A. Viment ............ 125 Jean Autran  ................. 126 Pierre Duteil ......... ........  127 Maximin Lefort ............. 128 Minguet DeViguement ........ 129 Francois Bourgougnat ........ 130 Louis Berthe ..................  131 Louis Maldant ................ 132 Antrox Noel .................. 133 Nicholas Quelet ............... 134 Valton  ............... ...  135

Philip Aug. Pithon ............ 136 John Rowe ................... 137 Mennessier ...............138 DeHibecour ............                                      139 do    .............. 140 Firmin Bremiere .............. 141 Brice DuCloz ...........   ... 142 Valton  ....................  143 Claude Coupin ......... .... 144 Pierre Maguet ............... 145 Jean Desnoyers ............... 146 Pierre Bidon .................. 147 Claude Cadot.................. 148 Pierre Thomas ................ 149 Malcher ............... 150 Remy Cuif ................... 151 Claude Menager .............. 152 De Hibecour           ............ 153 do                   . ...........                          154 do                   .. ...........                         155 do                   ..............                         156 Menager.....             ............                           157 Bastede ......             ·.... . ......                         158 LeClar................... 159 Etienne Allrien ............. 160 Jacques Auger .............. 161 Pierre Ferard ................ 162 Marie Dallier .............. 163 Michel Chillard ............... 164 Menager ..................  165 do .........   ....... . 166 Doctor Petit ..................  167 Berthelot Senior ............... 168 Gervais .................. 169 DeLaBaume ............... 170 do                   .............                          171 Louis Vialett ...                ..............                         172 Francois P. Malcher ...........173 Francois Durand ............. 174 I. Guion Caille ................175 Antoine Jacquemin ...........176 Francois Patin ................177 Joseph Damervalle .......... 178 Antoine Charpentier .......... 179 Jean Louis Devanne.......... 180

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.    59

Jean Rouilly. ................ 181 Julien Pradel   ............... 182 Simen Batterelle............. 183 Jean Aug. Pingard ........... 184 Mouvel     .   ............. 185 George Chalot ................. 186 Jean Regnier ................ 187 Antoine Rouby    ............ 188 Cesar Baredot ............... 189 Jacquemin              ................                         190 Eloy Frere .                     ............. 191 Abel Sarazin .                 ............ 192

Jean A. Foulon .............. 193 Hullier ................... 194 do ...................    195 DeHebecourt ............. 196 Rouby ........     ....... 197 Emille Lefeve ................. 198 Nicholas Hingston ............ 199 Pierre F. Perot ............... 200 Francois Valot ................ 235 Francois Carteron ............. 236 Prioux Aiglemont ............. 234

Whether this plan was followed, we are unable to say, but are inclined to the opinion that it was not, in view of the com- plications arising from subsequent events. We have access also to the account of the price and distribution of the lots of Galli- polis, which were written about five years after the settlers landed here. This also we think is right to give in full: "Gal- lipolis, this the 14th day of December, 1795. P. Bureau and J. M. Berthelot have published and given notice, that Monday next they will render account to the French inhabitants of their mis- sion as agents to treat with the Ohio Company. To-day, Mon- day, the assembled inhabitants, after having agreed to purchase the land of the Ohio Company, have proceeded to choose by secret ballot, commissioners to examine the rights of pre-emp- tion of the inhabitants to the city lots, and of four acres of cul- tivated land, and also to fix the price of city lots and of the four acres according to what they were worth before they were occu- pied. Whereupon the inhabitants have unanimously named for commissioners: Marin Duport, Mathieu Berthelot, Jean Par- mentier, Christopher Etienne, Francis DeVacht, Jean Baptiste, Le Tailleur, Jean Pierre, Roman Bureau. To-day, Monday, 6 o'clock P. M. The commissioners have unanimously appointed Marin Duport moderator, and Christopher Etienne secretary, of the committee. It has also been resolved that Anselm Tupper, surveyor, be chosen for any operations of surveying that may be found necessary. Resolved, That Mr. Tupper, accompanied by Mr. Bureau, shall go to examine the line which separates the lands proposed to be bought from the reserved lands, and from

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those belonging to the Ohio Company, in order to proceed im-

mediately to such operations as they shall judge to be proper.

[These reserved lands were those set apart for educational and

religious purposes, being sections 16 and 29.] It has been re-

solved that the public be warned by notices to repair to the

house of Messrs. Saugrain and Bureau, in order to make known

their rights and claims to the property of Gallipolis. Signed Le

Tailleur, Parmentier, M. Berthelot, J. G.. DeVacht, M. Duport,

P. Bureau

December 16. The committee, after having been occupied

the entire day in receiving the claims of proprietors, have re-

solved to give new notice to those who have not yet presented

their claims to come to-morrow, in order to finish the work.

December 16. Resolved, That this plan shall hereafter be

placed before the eyes of the people as the only one which ap-

pears proper, in order to conciliate the different interests of the

proprietors considering the position of the different pieces of

land, in order that those persons who have few lots, and of

which the situation is not advantageous, be not overcharged.

 

 

PLAN.

The banks of the river and the commons not having been

surveyed, and never having been regarded as property, we have

thought it right that they be placed at a price proportioned to

their importance by reason of their position. Lots on the bank

of the river and of the square (Public Square), being a source

of wealth by reason of their position, we have thought that they

should be placed at a price higher than the others. The lots on

the banks of the river more remote have been placed at a price

lower than, the preceding, but higher than those which are re-

mote from the river. The lands which remain to be divided,

being for the greater part mountainous or hilly, have been, in

consequence, placed at a low price. Then follows the designa-

tion of the lots, and prices attached, after which the following

resolutions:

Resolved, For the public good, and for the interests of the

inhabitants, the streets and Public Square shall remain free,

without being closed on the bank of the river by any building,

or being sold.

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62        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

Resolved, That the public be notified to meet to-morrow to

receive the report of the work of the committee.

Resolved, That the banks of the river shall remain open,

facing each street, that lines shall be drawn in the direction of

the streets, without trespassing thereon.

Plans accepted, Etienne, sec.

December 17, Resolved, That the secretary be ordered by the

committee to go the house of DHebercourt, to request him to

declare if it is his intention to join himself with us for the ac-

quisition of our property, as his partner Dr. Petit has done; and

to say to him that the execution of the plan adopted by the in-

habitants requires a positive answer.  Etienne, sec.  Mr.

DHebercourt has replied that he is disposed to agree to the ac-

quisition of the lands of Gallipolis, paying for his property seven

shillings, six-pence per acre, and that he will not conform to the

plan adopted until he has taken such steps as he believes his

interests require. Etienne, sec.

Resolved, That Messrs. Berthelot and Duport, whom we

have appointed collectors, go to the houses of the inhabitants to

receive the sums set down on the list made between us, accord-

ing to the plan agreed on by the inhabitants, December 17th,

1795.

Resolved, That Mr. Duport is by us appointed cashier, and

in this capacity the money remain in his hands until the time of

payment for the lands.

December 19, 1795. According to the resolutions of the

committee on the 16th of this month, agreed to by the assembled

inhabitants, reserved lots near the square, divided into eighteen

equal portions, have been drawn by lot, in the presence of the

assembled inhabitants, and fell to Messrs. Vandenbemben,

Chandiver father, Chandiver son, Vonschriltz, Gervais, Ferrare,

jr., La Cour, Davoux, Villerain, Muqui, Quarleron, Michau,

Brunier, Bureau, Lafillard, child of Vonschriltz, sr., Francis

Valodin, and Pierre Richou.

Dec. 22d. By virtue of the resolution of the committee of

the 18th, Messrs. Marin, Duport and Mathieu Berthelot have en-

gaged in receiving the sums to be given by each proprietor,

which sums have amounted to £194 5s. 6d. in money, and orders

to Mr. Sproat for the appointment of spies, of which sum the

money amounted to £91 ³s. 2d.    Bills on different persons,

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  63

 

£203.  Orders of spies on current appointment, £553, which

sums form a total of £1042 2s. 8d.

Resolved, That Messrs. Mathieu, Berthelot, Roman Bu-

reau, and Marin   Duport, De Vacht, and Jean Le Tail-

leur, go to Marietta in the name of the committee of the

inhabitants of Gallipolis, to conclude with the Ohio Com-

pany the acquisition of the two squares (of land) indicated in

the plan which has been given us by the agents of the Ohio

Company.                              ETIENNE, Sec.

PARMENTIER.

Of the manner of life of the early settlers in Gallipolis, our

sources of information are meagre, but sufficient to give us a

tolerably accurate idea of the state of affairs. The French, like

other nations of Southern Europe, possess a cheerful disposi-

tion, but being also excitable, this is characterized very often by

extreme degrees of elation or depression. They have winning

manners and are warmly hospitable, and are remarkable for their

thrift and ingenuity. That these traits were marked among the

early settlers we think is proved by what has already been

said, as well as what we have learned from the early historian.

Quite a flood of light is thrown upon this branch of our

subject by the account given by John Heckewelder of his visit

to Gallipolis, in company with General Putnam, when making a

journey from the upper waters of the Ohio to the Wabash

River in the interest of the government in Indian affairs, in the

year 1792. He says: "We rode to the French settlement of

Gallipolis, situated on the north bank of the Ohio, between

three and four miles from the Kanawha. Here we spent the

whole of the following day in visiting the skilled workmen and

the gardens laid out in European style. The most interesting

shops of the workmen were those of goldsmiths and watch-

makers. They showed us work on watches, compasses and sun-

dials finer than any I had ever beheld. Next in interest were

the sculptors and stonecutters. These latter had two finished

mantels, most artistically carved. General Putnam at once pur-

chased one of them for twelve guineas, the other was intended

for a rich Dutch gentleman who has built a two-story house

here, fifty feet long. The upper part of a mantel was lying

there, ordered by a Spanish gentleman in New Orleans, which,

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because of the fine workmanship upon it, was to cost twenty or

twenty-two guineas. The worker in glass seemed to be a born

artist. He made us a thermometer, a barometer, a glass tobacco

pipe, a small bottle (which would contain about a thimble full),

and a most diminutive stopper, and a number of works of art

besides. He also manufactured precious medicine, nitric acid,

etc. As we were on a journey, and were in daily need of light

and fire, he presented us with a glass full of dry stuff, which

burns as soon as a match is applied. This stuff, he told us, was

manufactured from bones. Concerning the fine gardens, I must

add the following: that in them were to be found the most beau-

tiful flowers, artichokes, and almond trees, and besides many

vineyards and some rice fields. At a distance of about one hun-

dred steps from the Ohio, there is a round hill, which probably

dates its origin from the former inhabitants of this land, as also

the remarkable fortifications and buildings to be found in this

country. The hill, about thirty feet high, has been improved as

a beautiful pleasure garden, with a pretty summer house on top.

The town of Gallipolis consists of one hundred and fifty dwell-

ings. The inhabitants number between three and four hun-

dred. A detachment of from fifty to sixty men of the regular

army is stationed here for protection. Besides a few Virginia

spies or scouts are kept and paid by the government. The

militia are also willing to serve for remuneration. The Chicke-

mage Creek flows back of the town, and below it empties into

the Ohio. Fine boats are also manufactured in this town; our

vessel is one of them. At noon we dined with the most promi-

nent French gentleman of the place, at the home of the judge

and doctor, Mr. Petit."

On his return from Vincennes, on the Wabash, Mr. Hecke-

welder speaks of again stopping at Gallipolis, and alludes feel-

ingly to the troubles through which the people were passing,

owing to the complications in the matter of their land titles, a

very clear but concise account of which he gives, together with

the whole transaction with the agents of the Scioto Company.

From this it will be seen that our settlers were not people who

would remain inactive or slothful even when surrounded by

many and great difficulties, but worked faithfully to make their

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  65

 

new homes attractive, and their works have, through the years

which have since elapsed, borne testimony to their earnestness

of purpose.

A much fuller account of life among our settlers is given in

a work entitled "Recollections of Persons and Places in the

West," by H. M. Brackenridge. Mr. Brackenridge was born

at the village of Fort Pitt, on the site of what is now the

city of Pittsburg. At a very early age he was sent by

his father to the village of St. Genevieve in Louisiana for

the purpose of making him acquainted with the French lan-

guage. This distance of fifteen hundred miles, which lay be-

tween him and his home, was traveled by means of a flat boat.

After spending several years at the village of St. Genevieve, and

acquiring the language, he departed in company with a gentle-

man sent for him to return to Fort Pitt. On account of the in-

clemency of the weather to which he was exposed, owing to the

scanty accommodations afforded by the flat boat, as well perhaps

as climatic causes, he was taken quite sick with fever and ague

shortly after the arrival at Louisville, where, it seems that a stop

of some days was made. After the journey had been further

prosecuted, he grew no better, and on the arrival at Gallipolis

he was taken to a house in the village and left there. The

exact date of this is not given, but from the dates previously

mentioned it appears to have been some time previous to 1795.

The account of his sojourn here can best be given in his own

words:

"Behold me once more in port, and domiciliated at the

house or inn of Monsieur, or rather Doctor, Saugrain, a cheer-

ful, sprightly little Frenchman, four feet six, English measure,

and a chemist, natural philosopher, and physician, both in the

English and French signification of the word. I was delighted

with my present liberation from the irksome thralldom of the

canoe, and with the possession of the free use of my limbs.

After wrapping my blanket round me, which was my only bed-

ding, I threw myself into a corner for a couple of hours, during

the continuance of the fever and ague, and then rose up re-

freshed, with the lightness of spirits which I possessed in an

unusual degree. I ran out of the house and along the bank,

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where I met a boy about my own size. I laid hold of him in

mirth, but he, mistaking my vivacity, gave me a sound beating.

The next day the doctor tried his skill upon me, or rather upon

my ague, and pretty much on the plan of another celebrated

physician, whether on the principle of the solviente universal, I

do not so well know, but certain it is, he repeated the very

words recorded by Gil Bias: 'Bebe agua, hijo mio, bebe agua in

abundancia'- drink water, my son, drink plenty of water. But

the ague was not to be shaken off so easily; it still continued to

visit me daily, as usual, all that winter and part of the next

spring. I was but poorly clad, and was without hat or shoes,

but gradually became accustomed to do without them; like the

Indian, I might in time have become all face. My guardian left

no money, perhaps he had none to leave; Mr. Saugrain had none

to spare; besides as this was the period when the French Revo-

lution was at its height, sans culottism was popular with those

who favored the breaking up of social economy. Dr. Saugrain,

however, and many others in Gallipolis were not of that party;

they were royalists, who bitterly lamented the condition of their

native country. Gallipolis, with the exception of a few strag-

gling log houses, of which that of Dr. S. was one, consisted of

two long rows of barracks built of logs, and partitioned off into

rooms of sixteen or twenty feet wide, with what is called a cabin

roof and wooden chimneys. At one end there was a larger

room than the rest, which served as a council chamber and ball

room. This singular village was settled by people from Paris

and Lyons, chiefly artisans and artists, peculiarly unfitted to sit

down in the wilderness and clear away forests. Their former

employments had only been calculated to administer to the

luxury of high polished and wealthy societies. There were

carvers and guilders to the King, coach-makers, frizeurs and

peruke-makers, and a variety of others, who might have found

employment in our larger towns, but who were entirely out of

their place in the wilds of Ohio. Their means by this time had

been exhausted, and they were beginning to suffer from the

want of the comforts and even the necessaries of life. The

country back from the river was still a wilderness, and the Galli-

politans did not pretend to cultivate anything more than small

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  67

 

garden spots, depending for their supply of provisions on the

boats, which now began to descend the river; but they had to

pay in cash, and that was become scarce. They still assembled

at the ball room twice a week; it was evident, however, that

they felt disappointment, and were no longer happy. The pre-

dilections of the best of them being on the side of the Bourbons,

the horrors of the Revolution, even in their remote position,

mingled with their private misfortunes, which had, at this time,

nearly reached their acme, in consequence of the discovery that

they had no title to their lands, having been cruelly de-

ceived by those from   whom   they had purchased.   It is

well known that Congress generously made them a grant

of twenty thousand acres, from which, however, but few of

them derived any advantage. As the Ohio was now more fre-

quented, the house was occasionally resorted to, and especially

by persons looking out for land to purchase. The doctor had a

small apartment, which contained his chemical apparatus, and I

used to sit by him, as often as I could, watching the curious

operations of his blow-pipe and crucible. I loved the cheerful

little man, and he became very fond of me in turn. Many of

my countrymen used to come and stare at his doings, which

they were half inclined to think had too near a resemblance to

the black art. The doctor's little phosphoric matches ignited

spontaneously when the glass tube was broken, and from which

he derived some emolument, was thought by some to be rather

beyond mere human power. His barometers, and thermome-

ters, with the scale neatly painted with the pen, and the frames

richly carved, were objects of wonder, and some of them are

probably still extant in the West. But what astonished some of

our visitors was a large peach in a glass bottle, the neck of

which could only admit a common cork. This was accomplished

by tying the bottle to the limb of the tree, with the peach when

young inserted into it. His swans, which swam round basins

of water, amused me more than any of the wonders exhibited

by the wonderful man. The doctor was a great favorite with

the Americans, as well for his vivacity and sweetness of temper

which nothing could sour, as on account of a circumstance

which gave him high claims to the esteem of the backwoods-

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men. He had shown himself, notwithstanding his small stature

and great good nature, a very hero in combat with the Indians.

He had descended the Ohio, in company with two French phil-

osophers, who were believers in the primitive innocence of and

goodness of the children of the forest. They could not be per-

suaded that any danger was to be apprehended from the Indians;

as they had no intention to injure that people, they supposed,

of course, that no harm could be meditated on their part. Dr.

Saugrain was not altogether so well convinced of their good in-

tentions, and accordingly kept his pistols loaded. Near the

mouth of Big Sandy, a canoe with a party of warriors ap-

proached the boat; the philosophers invited them on board by

signs, when they came rather too willingly. The first thing

they did on entering the boat was to salute the two philosophers

with the tomahawk; and they would have treated the doctor in

the same way, but that he used his pistols with good effect;

killed two of the savages and then leaped into the water, diving

like a dipper at the flash of the guns of the others, and suc-

ceeded in swimming to the shore, with several severe wounds,

whose scars were conspicuous.

"The doctor was married to an amiable young woman, but

not possessing as much vivacity as himself. As Madame Sau-

grain had no maid to assist in household work, her brother, a

boy of my age, and myself, were her principal helps in the

kitchen. I used to go in the morning about two miles for a

little milk, sometimes on the frozen ground, barefoot. I tried a

pair of sabots, or wooden shoes, but was unable to make any

use of them, although they had been made by the carver to the

king."

Speaking of his other occupations, Mr. Brackenridge says:

"In the spring and summer a good deal of my time was passed

in the garden weeding the beds. It was while thus engaged

that he formed an association which is interesting, as it bears

somewhat on the future history of Gallipolis. He formed the

acquaintance," he says, "of a young lady of eighteen or twenty,

on the other side of the palings," who was often occupied as he

was. "Our friendship," says he, "which was purely Platonic,

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The French Settlement aud Settlers of Gallipolis.  69

 

commenced with the story of Blue Beard, recounted by her, and

with the novelty and pathos of which I was much interested.

"Connected with this young lady there is an incident which

I feel pleasure in relating. One day while standing alone on the

bank of the river, I saw a man who had gone in to bathe and had

got beyond his depth without being able to swim. He began to

struggle for life, and in a few seconds would have sunk to rise

no more. I shot down the bank like an arrow, leaped into a

canoe, which, fortunately, happened to be close by, pushed the

end of it to him, and as he rose, perhaps for the last time, he

seized it with a deadly, convulsive grasp, and held so firmly that

the skin afterward came off the parts of his arms which pressed

against the wood. I screamed for help; several persons came

and took him out perfectly insensible.  He afterward mar-

ried the young lady, and they raised a numerous and re-

spectable family. One of his daughters married a young law-

yer, who now represents that district in Congress. Thus at

eight years of age I earned the civic crown by saving the life of a

human being. I say this incident is interesting, and you will

agree with me when I tell you the young lawyer referred to was

Hon. Samuel F. Vinton, whom we recognize as one of the

prominent figures, both in our State and Nation.

"Continuing his narrative in reference to the life in Galli-

polis at that time, Mr. Brackenridge says that toward the latter

part of the summer, the inhabitants suffered severely from sick-

ness and want of provisions. The situation was truly wretched.

The swamps in the rear, now exposed by the clearing between it

and the river, became the cause of a frightful epidemic from

which few escaped, and many became its victims. He, himself,

had recovered from the ague, and was among the few exempted

from the disease; but the family with whom he lived, as well as

the rest, suffered much from absolute hunger. To show the

extremity of the distress, he says that on one occasion, the

brother of Madame Saugrain and himself pushed a light canoe

to an island above the town where they pulled some corn and

took it to a flouring mill, and excepting some of the raw grains,

they had had nothing to eat since the day before, until they

carried home the mela and made some bread, but had neither

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milk nor meat. "I have learned," said he, "to be thankful

when I had a sufficiency of wholesome food, however plain, and

was blessed with health; and I could put up with humble fare

without a murmur, although accustomed to luxuries, when

I have seen those, who had never experienced absolute starva-

tion, turn up their noses at that which was very little worse-

than the best they have ever known, such are the uses of

adversity?"

It has not been our privilege to learn the internal state

of affairs in the colony during the years which immediately

succeeded this interesting narrative, but from what can be

learned through old inhabitants, some of whom were acquainted

with the early colonists, and most of whom have gone to their

reward, we feel assured that the thrift and enterprise of these-

early days was but an index of what was to come after. After

the colonists had been safely established in their new homes, and

knew that in the future they would be free from the harassing.

influence of litigation in consequence of defective land titles,

and had learned some of the secrets of border life, insomuch

that the prospective attacks from the Indians lost much of their

terror, being better acquainted as they were with the modes of

defence, their minds being less harassed, they were the better

able to enter heartily in the work which was before them, of

making the wilderness blossom as the rose.

We are persuaded that these years, which represented the

lull after the storm, were years of peace and contentment, and

consequently could, in after years, be regarded by those who

passed through them with pleasant remembrance. We are often

told that the good works which live after the performers have

gone, are the most powerful witnesses as to their faithfulness,

inasmuch as they not only benefit their day and generation, but

bespeak the earnestness of purpose, as well the kindly dispo-

position of the performers.

There are not many institutions among us which were

identified with the far off time indicated by our subject, but

there are those which indirectly sprung from the efforts of that

time and in which the characters and desires of the citizens are

so clearly portrayed, that we are forced to acknowledge that they

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  71

 

being dead yet speak. The influence of the French settlers has

been felt through the many intervening years, and though our

town has changed its population to a great degree, and American

blood is flowing in the veins of many of our people, we cannot

but think that the happy disposition of La Belle France is ever

cropping out, and the pleasure-loving hearts of long ago are

calling to us across the ages, and that the name Gallipolis is still

appropriate when applied to our town, for in love, sympathy,

and gratitude, as well as by the nearer ties of blood, we are the

inhabitants of the city of the French.

Among the institutions which bring us into a close relation-

ship with the earlier years of our town's history, there is

one which we feel illustrates, to a certain degree, what has

been said in regard to the works of its early inhabitants.

A time honored and much appreciated institution we con-

sider in the Gallia Academy. True it is, that this was not

founded until about twenty years after the settlers arrived

here, but the names of those who inaugurated it as an

Educational medium are to be found among those who braved

the difficulties identified with the settlement. This is among

the oldest institutions of learning in the State, and at it

"not only nearly all of the older residents of Gallipolis

and Gallia county received their education, but many who

afterward became men of great prominence, throughout the

country, here took the first step in learning which led them on

to fame."

A short account of its organization may not be inappro-

priate in this connection. A meeting was held February 8,

1810, for the purpose of taking into consideration the ex-

pediency of erecting in Gallipolis, an institution to be appro-

priated to the instruction of the youth, and such other purposes

as may be deemed of public utility. Robert Saffort was chosen

chairman and Nathaniel Gates secretary. A series of resolu-

tions, embodying these principles, was passed at this meeting,

and a subscription started which was circulated with satisfactory

results. Among the subscribers are to be noted the names of

some of the oldest and most honored citizens, many of whom

are to be seen among the lot holders of Gallipolis of colonial

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days. In due time, a lot was purchased, and a commodious

building erected thereon, and the work of refining the mind, by

means of education, received an impetus which showed that the

builders of the Gallia Academy had done wisely and well.

From its portals have passed many who, as we say, have won

for themselves fame in after years; men whom the country de-

lighted to honor, as well as those, who, in the more quiet walks

of life, have met the requirements of good and upright citizen-

ship, and who were representatives of that class which compose

the rank and file of those who labored for the sure and steady

advancement of our country, and which has made it the grand-

est the sun shines upon. This venerable institution, could it

speak, could bear greater testimony to the admirable traits of

our forefathers than any ever yet recorded by the pen of the

historian.

As we pause in the spirit of meditation over the shifting

scenes which rise before us in a consideration of the early ages

of the French colony here, as well as the intervening years

which separate us from that distant date, we can find food for

much instructive thought, and we draw our lessons principally

from those who witnessed the early dawn of civilization in this

then far away Western wilderness.

The first trait of character which claims our admiration

was the earnestness of purpose which marked the lives of the

pioneers.  'Tis true, as we have shown, everything seemed

bright and promising when, in accordance with the representa-

tions of the land agents, they resolved to cast their lots in the

new and attractive land across the seas, but when subsequent

events changed the rosy dreams to a dark reality, and they

realized that they must face life in its most responsible and for-

bidding aspects, it required the strongest natures to remain un-

moved. No wonder it is that our record tells us that some of

them were not equal to the emergency, and went to seek satis-

faction in life in more congenial atmospheres, some finding it in

the populous sections of our own country; and some, acknowl-

edging themselves completely defeated, returned to France.

With the principal part of them, however, it was otherwise.

They had not left home and old associations, and come to this

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The French Settlers and Settlement of Gallipolis.  73

 

distant land to fail. Although they had been grievously disap-

pointed, they would accomplish that which they came to per-

form, a home where they would be unmolested by political

storms or persecution. The mountains were high, the valleys

deep, and the distance great which separated them from the

homes of their adoption, but nothing was impossible in the face

of that earnestness, which marked their progress. This disposi-

tion is the material of which heroes are made. The biographies

of the good, the true, and the powerful tell us of exactly the

same spirit as this, and which was the medium by which success

crowned their efforts, and the world greatly was blessed.

Every inventor has to face the difficulties arising from an

incredulous world. Every discoverer has to encounter opposi-

tion which would make those who are less determined quail and

desist. Every person who embarks upon an undertaking which

has as its object the upbuilding of truth has to run the gauntlet,

so to speak, of the furious opposition such as the powers of

darkness only can command. Yet all of these workers, as their

titles indicate, have been successful, nothing has baffled them,

because they made up their minds to succeed, and succeed they

did, not merely to their own satisfaction but to that of their fel-

low beings, who have been benefited by their efforts.

It was no idle sentiment which prompted them to action,

but an inborn determination founded upon a deep-set principle

that " whatever is worth doing is worth doing well." Whenever

such a spirit animates man, we know that there is no such word

as failure in his vocabulary. This feature in man's character

has made him the truly wonderful being that he has proved him-

self, and were it omitted, the history of the human race, instead

of being as it is now, one of the most absorbingly interesting

subjects which could claim the attention of the thinking mind,

would not be worth the reading, and man who was made as the

Bible tells us, but little lower than the angels, and crowned with

glory and " honor," would long since have fallen from his high

estate, and his life be as devoid of interest as that of the

beasts that perish. This is but reasonable, for it indicates that

when man is in earnest in what he does, his heart is given to his

work. How marked is this, we say, among the great ones of

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our world. Think of such a man as Napoleon Bonaparte, when

he was entering upon a great campaign, which would involve

the destinies of Europe. Could the thoughtful one have been

able to read his mind at such a momentous time, what mighty

plans and calculations would be these; what wonderful lines of

battle, what anticipative thoughts when through the mists of the

future he could see success and glory; or take one nearer home,

General Washington, so appropriately known as the Father of

his Country. Think what daring plans he must have formulated,

by which he expected to be borne to success. He, who, with a

small army of half-fed and half-clothed men, dared to stand up

before the mightiest nation of the world and defy it. We might,

if we were privileged to read his thoughts, see some such words

as these: " My country must and shall be free, and my hand

shall be the instrument to give her great assistance."  The

horrors of cold winter and starvation were not sufficient to cause

him to desist in what many of his contemporaries, no doubt,

considered a mad venture, for he made up his mind to succeed,

and saw no such probability as defeat in his pathway.

We might take examples from other departments of work,

and read the thoughts of a great writer, who, by his pen, has

resolved to make the world better, and as his after- works testify

they bear the stamp of earnestness, yes and such earnestness as

will unquestionably bear the stamp of Divine approval. The

great feature of this earnestness, is the utter absence from the

mind of anything which savors of failure. That is not antici-

pated as a possible contingency, and it rarely comes. Do you

think that any of those just mentioned anticipated failure when

they gave their hearts to the work? Not only are we convinced

to the contrary, but it is our firm conviction that if such had

been the case the downfalls of most of them would now be

among the many wrecks which strew the sands of time. Look-

ing, therefore, at our French colonists in this light, we see them

in their true grandeur of character as we perhaps have never

viewed them before.  Instead of the weary and disheartened

band, worn out with the cares and discouragements of the hour,

and ready to faint by the way-side, we see the fire of determina-

tion kindled by deep-set earnestness flash from their eyes. The

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  75

 

little rows of rough cabins in the forest, the back-ground of

seemingly impenetrable wilds, and before them the winding

river, which, to many, would, seem to be murmuring the fare-

wells to departed hopes, but represent to them the life which is

before them, and the grand medium through which they shall

attain success, so that at the conclusion of their mortal exist-

ence, it shall be said of them what we emphatically say to-day:

"They lived not in vain."

The early history of our country is ever presenting scenes

such as these, and how often are we constrained to go back

through the past years and sympathize with our forefathers, and

consider that our lines have, as compared with theirs, "fallen

in pleasant places;" but yet there are other thoughts in this con-

nection that should fill the mind. In consideration of the work

which was given these and its mighty significance, as it bore

upon the events of the future, and the earnestness of purpose

with which it was prosecuted, and its great aim accomplished,

were not their blessings which arise from the fact that they were

the promoters of such a mighty work, as great, yes far greater

than those benefits which accrue to many now-a-days? It were

a privilege, indeed, to live as they lived, and to be moved as they

to do with all their might that which their hands found to do, in

laying the foundation for future success in a great land.

Another trait of character which was the natural out-

come of that just considered, and which shone brightly

among our colonists, was bravery.   As we have remarked

they had much to tax their patience, and many things from

which human nature would shrink in fear and trembling, but

if fear entered their hearts it was promptly banished. The

blood which flowed in their veins was near akin to that which

flowed in the veins of those heroes, whose warlike valor, soon

after our town was settled, filled the minds of the all-great peo-

ple with wonder and admiration. These people showed by their

lives that there was a strong bond of union between them and

such men as the great Napoleon, the hero of France, and of

those fearless and determined men who followed him through

the smoke and carnage of his many battles to victory and re-

nown. We know how invaluable this virtue of bravery is as an

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element of character. Faint hearts and wavering actions are

not such as characterize true men, and only the true man is the

successful man. We have not with the meagre resources at our

command, been able to recount many of their deeds which bear

upon this point, but, from those recited and personal associations

with their descendants, we feel at liberty to pay them this trib-

ute, and after the lapse of a hundred years, such convictions of

their true worth, in this respect, come to us as to make their

memory grateful to us, who are reaping the fruits of what they

planted.

There is one trait of character, however, which we feel con-

strained to emphasize, and which was peculiarly apparent among

them. This bears a close relationship, in its turn, to those just

considered. It was the love of country that actuated them,

whether that country was in the sunny fields and populous cities

of beautiful France, or among the wilds of Ohio. Wherever

their home was, there was also their heart. This love of coun-

try, too, is a virtue indispensable with true people. There is no

more unfavorable sign in an individual or community of people

than that of a rebellious spirit toward their government, unless,

of course, such is thoroughly corrupt, and deserves the censure

they are so willing to bestow. When in our reading we see his-

tories of those, who cheerfully left all the dearest objects of life,

to take up arms in defense of the land they love, our hearts are

filled in a manner inexpressible by the grandeur of character

manifested. In the fierce battle which was waged in the siege

of Quebec, the world witnessed a double tragedy, and yet scenes

of grandeur in the deaths of the two leaders of the opposing

forces. General Wolfe, the English general, being mortally

wounded, as his eyes were about to close upon this world for-

ever, being told that victory had perched upon his country's

banner, said: "I die happy." The Marquis De Montcalm,

who commanded the French defensive force, and who was also

wounded unto death, expressed himself as glad to die in that he

would not be obliged to see Quebec surrendered. Those were

brave expressions, and-the men who uttered them were great

men; gallant sons of worthy lands, for a land must be worthy

which has such representatives. The love of country is a fixed

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The French Settlers and Settlement of Gallipolis.  77

 

principle in the minds of those who love great things, and to the

true man his country can make no unreasonable request when

she calls upon him to defend her from her enemies, and make

her name to be glorious in this great world.

There is an old and familiar Latin maxim, which stirs within

us those feelings which are of an ennobling character; it is dulce

et decorum est pro patria mori- it is sweet and honorable to die

for one's country. There is also a great principle embodied in

another somewhat similar to it, and which is: 'tis sweet and

honorable to live for one's country. To die for a principle, indi-

cates that having been brought to a stop, as it were, in the dis-

charge of our duties for it, on account of the difficulties which

would impede our progress in our careers of duty, we give our

lives to the cause of surmounting those difficulties. It is there-

fore the bright ending of a conscientious course; an ending pro-

duced because it is beyond our power to do more. To live for

one's native land, or the land of one's adoption, however, indi-

cates a determination to use every opportunity for its advance-

ment; to face the future with that bravery characteristic of a

noble nature, and acknowledge no difficulty of sufficient moment

to baffle you in what you know to be right.

In the case of dying for one's country, the work is finished,

and, like the bright sunset, the grand life closes in this world.

When we live for our country, the work is about us, the oppor-

tunities thicken around us; our hands are the instruments that

can do it, and the responsibilities of our position are great.

One point in this connection needs to be emphasized, that

unless we live for our country, the chances are not very favor-

able for our dying for it. There are, perhaps, instances in which

men died for the love of country without having given their

lives to the same cause, but such instances are extremely rare.

Now, we love the memory of our early settlers, because they

both lived and died for this, the home of their adoption. We

would dwell particularly on the former of these, as we believe

you will think it meet and proper in view of the life of privation

which marked the first years of the history of Gallipolis, and to

which we have called your attention.

'Tis not natural to suppose that when they came from their

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far-away habitations, and met with the discouraging reception in

America, that they should love the latter place; and the idea that

it was to furnish them their future homes, must at first have been

even repugnant to them, but after having cast their lots here,

and witnessed the returns of their self-denying labors, they began

to love this rough land, and as the years passed away, and home

ties were formed, that love increased and strengthened, until they

became thoroughly domiciled, and then the hearts, which had

once yearned for the beauties and attractions of La Belle France,

awakened, as it were, to the consciousness that their France was

with them.

It is home where the heart is, and their hearts were not

across the seas, but here on the banks of the beautiful river.

They lived, I say, for this home; all of their refined tastes were

called into requisition to make it beautiful. A reference to this

fact, we have already seen in the interesting narrative of Mr.

Heckewelder. In after years, however, we have cause to know

that what he saw in those pioneer days was but an indication of

what would be. The expression, "the wilderness blossoms like

the rose," which we have used, was most appropriate, concerning

the results of their labors, for the wild bluff on the river side be-

came in due time the site of a fair town, inhabited by useful and

contented people.

The town was honored by visits of two distinguished visitors

in its early days. In 1824, General Lafayette, who had assisted

our land so materially in former years, made Gallipolis a visit,

and we cannot but believe that when he left, he was convinced

that his countrymen had proved true to their nature in upholding

the interest of their homes and governments wherever they

might be. Louis Philippe, (then the exiled Duke of Orleans),

stopped here once on his way to New Orleans, and his homeless

feeling and longing after the joys of native land must have been

intensified when he witnessed the thrifty contentment of these,

his brothers, in the home of their choice.

Thus they lived, and thus they died, and when we consider

that death was the culmination of lives given to their country,

we feel additional gratitude for their memory, and should be in-

spired to renewed endeavors in furthering the interests of our

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town and county. We would do honor to their memory, we

would in sacred thought, traverse the years which separate us

from them, and we would thank them for this example which

they have bequeathed to us and the many others who have and

will come after them, being filled with the conviction that the

love of home and country, such as was exemplified in them is one

of the great secrets of a successful community.

Another instructive point presents itself for consideration as

a closing thought, in connection with the work which they did,

and should commend itself to us, as do all of the others hitherto

mentioned: The thorough character of the undertaking upon

which they engaged and which they perfected. There is only

one way in which a thing can be done right, and that is by

beginning at the very root of the matter. We must find a good

foundation upon which to build, and then make our edifice of

the strong and abiding materials. The Bible tells of two men

who built houses, one with a good foundation and one with an

indifferent one.  The rain descended and the floods came, and

the winds blew, and beat upon the former and it fell not, for it

was founded upon a rock," while the same forces acting upon

the latter caused its ruin.  "It fell, and great was the fall

thereof."  The same principle applies in every undertaking,

whether it is great or seemingly insignificant, and we feel certain,

from what history tells of the past, and what we see about us,

that our settlers were moved by it in the performance of their

duties here. the reasons why we feel certain of this are to be

seen in the development of our town during the years which

made up the century, and the result of the works of the hundred

years. The improvements at first were not rapid, as might natur-

ally be supposed in view of the difficulties of the settler, but the

flying years brought wonderful changes.

Let us hear what Mr. Brackenridge has to say in regard to

the town as he saw it in after years: "As we passed Point Pleas-

ant, and the little island below it, Gallipolis, which I looked for

with anxious feelings, hove in sight. I thought of the French

inhabitants-I thought of my friend Saugrain, and I recalled in

the liveliest colors the incidents of that portion of my life which

was passed here. A year is a long period of time; every day is

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crowded with new and striking events. I hastened to the spot

where I expected to find the abode (of Dr. Saugrain), the little

log house, tavern, laboratory and garden of the Doctor-but

they had vanished like the palace of Aladdin. I took a hasty

glance at the new town as I returned to the boat. I saw brick

houses, painted frames, fanciful enclosures, ornamental trees!

Even the pond, which had carried away a third of the French

population by its malaria, had disappeared, and a pretty green

had usurped its place, with a neat brick Court House in the

midst of it."

Looking at the place to-day, we see a substantial and pros-

perous town. True, there are many in our great State which

are much larger, and regarded by outsiders as far more im-

portant; but the basis upon which we stand as a town, is a firm

and solid one, which showed that its beginning was marked by

faithful efforts. We would remark, however, and we do so with

sadness of heart, that the French population of Gallipolis de-

creased with rapidity during the years which marked its early

history, and it was American hands which prosecuted the work

here for many years, and made our town more successful, as was

evidenced by its different stages of prosperous development.

Mr. Brackenridge, in his description of the second visit to Galli-

polis, expresses great disappointment that the French were

nearly all gone. We cannot forget, however, that it was the

French hands that laid the foundation, and the French mind

which planned the building in its earliest stages, so that to the

French rather than to the American is due the prosperity of

after years.

Memories of the past are freighted with their lessons, and

filled with joys and sorrows. It is pleasant to recall the events

which have passed away, on account of the many pleasant char-

acters with which they bring us into close association. The very

difficulties which were encountered by the pioneers have a

charm for us, as we view them by the light of a hundred years.

When soldiers have passed through the wars successfully, or

sailors have endured the perils of the sea, it is a peculiar joy to

them to sit by some bright fireside and go over their perilous

adventures with one another, and the greater the dangers that

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The French Settlement and Settlers of Gallipolis.  81   once were, and the more trying the sufferings, the greater pleas- ure they appear to derive from their naratives. Thus when our town looks back over her history and beholds what she was, and what she might have been but for the brave and determined efforts of her faithful inhabitants, there is a peculiar charm at- tached even to her hardships, inasmuch as she knows that they were successfully faced. Thankful are we for the works done for us by those of the century gone, and we can utter no more fervent wish than that our memory may be as sacred to those who shall stand upon this ground, when the morning of another hundred years shall dawn upon Gallipolis. JOHN L. VANCE.

Vol. III-6

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CONTEMPORARY DESCRIPTION OF OHIO IN 1788.

 

In 1888, Mr. John H. James, of Urbana, Ohio, whose col-

lection of historical works is hardly excelled, published a trans-

lation of a French pamphlet used by Mr. Barlow and his asso-

ciates in Paris, when engaged in the sale of lands in the Ohio coun-

try.  "The pamphlet," says Mr. James, in his introduction,

" was published in French and English; the French copy being

a translation of the English copy, first published in Salem,

Massachusetts, in 1787. The French edition was published in

Paris in 1789, the year of the breaking out of the French Revo-

lution. It was one of the means employed by Joel Barlow and

the agents of the Scioto Company to promote the emigration

from France, which resulted in the settlement of the French at

Gallipolis in 1790."

"The French copy from which I make the translation,"

continued Mr. James, "is dingy with age, and formerly be-

longed to one of the early settlers at Gallipolis, whose name,

with the date, 1805, is inscribed on the cover."

The title page of the pamphlet is as follows:

" A Description of the Soil, Productions, etc., of that Por-

tion of the United States Situated between Pennsylvania and

the Rivers Ohio and Scioto and Lake Erie."

Mr. James, in his introduction, says of the authorship of

the pamphlet, that "it was published anonymously, but was

written by Mr. Manasseh Cutler," and "that while its tints are

sufficiently couleur de rose, and some of its statements * * *

appear extravagant in the light of our present knowledge, yet it

must be remembered that one hundred years ago Ohio was a

comparatively unknown region, concerning which all intending

settlers were enthusiastic; and a comparison with other con-

temporary authorities shows that it represents very fairly the

state of information existing concerning the Western country."

The extravagant statements in the pamphlet, it will be

noticed, are acceded to by Mr. Thomas Hutchins, the geographer

of the United States, and by others who had visited the country.

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Description of the Soil, etc.          83

 

The following is Mr. James' translation of the French

edition of the pamphlet, with foot notes added by him:

 

 

MR. JAMES' TRANSLATION OF THE FRENCH EDITION OF OHIO.

The great river Ohio is formed by the confluence of the

Monongahela and the Allegheny in Pennsylvania. It flows

from about 290 miles west of the city of Philadelphia, and

about 20 miles west of the western boundry of Pennsylvania.

In following the ordinary route the 290 miles are increased to

320, and the windings of the Ohio increase the 20 miles to

about 42.

These two sources of the Ohio are both great navigable

rivers; the first flows from the southeast, and there is, between

it and the navigable waters of the Potomac, in Virginia, a por-

tage of only about 30 miles;1 the latter opens a passage to the

northeast, and rises not far from the source of the Susquehanna.

The State of Pennsylvania has already adopted the plan of

opening a navigation from the Allegheny River to Philadelphia

by way of the Susquehanna and the Delaware. In following

this route there will be only a transit by land, or portage of 24

miles.²

At the junction of these two rivers, or at the source of the

Ohio, we find Fort Pitt, which gives its name to the city of

Pittsburgh, a flourishing settlement in the vicinity of the

fortress. From this city the Ohio pursues its way to the south-

west for 1188 miles (including the windings of the river) and

empties into the Mississippi, after traversing for this prodigious

distance a most fertile and agreeable country, and having in-

creased its waters by those of several other navigable rivers:

the Muskingum, the Hockhocking, the Scioto, the Miami, and

the Wabash from the northwest; the Kanawha, the Kentucky, the

Buffaloe,³ the Shawnee,⁴ and the Cherokee⁵ from the southwest;

all these rivers, navigable for a distance of from 100 to 900

miles, fall into the Ohio, and it is this river that furnishes a

great part of those united waters which flow into the ocean

through the bed of the Mississippi.

The Ohio, from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi, sepa-

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rates the State of Virginia from   other domains of the

United States, or in other words from the territory not

comprised within the limits of any particular State.  This

territory extends westward to the Mississippi, and north

to the frontiers of the United States. Commencing at the

meridian which forms the western boundary of Pennsylvania

they have laid off a space sufficient for seven ranges⁶ of munici-

palities (townships). As a north and south line extends along

the Ohio in a very oblique direction, the western boundary of

the seventh range strikes the Ohio nine miles above the

Muskingum, which is the first large river which empties into the

Ohio. Their junction is 172 miles below Fort Pitt, following the

winding of Ohio, but in a straight line little more than 90 miles.

The Muskingum is a river which flows slowly, and has

banks high enough to prevent all inundation. It is 250 yards

wide at the place where it enters the Ohio, and is navigable for

large vessels and bateaux as far as Tree Legs, and for small boats

to the lake at its source. From thence by means of a transit by

land of about one mile,⁷ communication is opened with Lake

Erie by means of the Cuyahoga, which is a river of great value,

navigable through its whole length, without any cataracts to

obstruct its course. The passage from Lake Erie to the Hudson,

through the State of New York, is well known. The longest

transit by land on this route is that which is caused by the falls

of Niagara, which interrupts the communication between Lakes

Erie and Ontario. After that, one passes by the River Oswego,

Oneida Lake, Woods Creek (the bay of the woods), and by

means of a short portage, enters the Mohawk; another portage

occasioned by the cataract near the confluence of the Mohawk,

and the Hudson brings the voyager to Albany.

The Hockhocking is somewhat like the Muskingum, but not

so large. It is navigable for large vessels for about seventy

miles, and much further for small ones. On the banks of this

much frequented river are inexhaustible quarries of building

stone, great beds of iron ore, and some rich mines of lead. We

find also, very frequently in the neighborhood of this river, coal

mines and salt springs, which abound in this Western country.

The salt which is obtained from these springs furnishes a never-

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Description of the Soil, etc.            85

 

failing abundance of this article of prime necessity.⁸ Beds of

clay, both white and blue, of an excellent quality, are met with

also throughout this region. This clay is adapted for the manu-

facture of glass, of pottery, and all kinds of brick. Armenian⁹

clay, and several other useful deposits, have also been discovered

along the different branches of this river.

The Scioto is a river longer than either of those of which we

have thus far spoken, and furnishes a navigation much more con-

siderable. For an extent of two hundred miles large vessels can

navigate it. Then there is a passage to be made by land of

four miles only to the Sandusky, a river also navigable, which

enters into Lake Erie.¹⁰ It is by the Sandusky and Scioto that

they pass generally in going from Canada to the Mississippi. This

route is one of the most considerable and most frequented found

in any country. By it are united some of the most extensive

territories, and when we consider the rapidity with which

settlements are made in the Western part of Canada, upon Lake

Erie, and in Kentucky, we may predict that there will be an

immense commerce between these people.ll It is certain that the

lands which border upon, and which lie near these rivers, will be

of the greatest value from their situation alone, and quite apart

from their natural fertility. There can be no doubt that the

flour, wheat, hemp, etc., exported from the extensive regions

surrounding Lakes Huron and Ontario would have an easier

transit by means of Lake Erie and the neighboring rivers than

by any other route. The merchant who shall in future inhabit

the banks of the Ohio will be able to pay more for these com-

modities than the merchant of Quebec, by reason of these

advantages, because they can be transported from the former

of these countries to Florida and the West India Islands with

much less expense and risk, and at a much lower rate of insur-

ance than from the latter. In fact, the transportation of these

productions of the soil, the expenses upon the Ohio included,

would not amount to a fourth part of what it would cost from

Quebec, and it will be still cheaper than it is by way of Lake

Oneida.

The Scioto has a gentle current, which is interrupted by no

cataracts. Sometimes in the spring it overflows its banks, which

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are covered by vast fields of rice, which nature here produces

spontaneously.¹² For the rest, we find in abundance in the

country which borders upon this river, salt springs, coal mines,

deposits of white and blue clay and of free stone.

The general expressions of admiration which are com-

monly made use of in speaking of the natural fertility of

the countries watered by these western rivers of the United

States render difficult the description one would wish to make,

unless one takes particular pains to mark on the map the places

which merit especial attention, or unless he gives an exact

description of the territory in general without regard to the risk

he runs of being charged with exaggeration. But upon this

point we are able to say that we have with us the unanimous

opinion of geographers, of surveyors and of all those travelers

who have collected precise information concerning the character-

istics of the country, and who have observed with the most scru-

pulous exactitude all the remarkable objects which nature there

displays. They all agree that no part of the territory belonging

to the United States combines in itself so many advantages,

whether of salubrity, fertility or variety of productions, as that

which extends from the Muskingum to the Scioto and the Great

Miami.¹³

a Colonel Gordon speaking of his travels through a country

much more extensive in which this is included and of which it

is indubitably the most beautiful part, makes the following obser-

vations: " The country along the Ohio is extremely agreeable,

filled with great plains of the richest soil and exceedingly salubri-

ous. One remark of this kind suffices for all that region bounded

by the western slope of the Allegheny Mountains and extending

to the southwest a distance of five hundred miles down the Ohio,

thence to the north as far as the source of the rivers that empty

into the Ohio, and thence eastward along the hills which sepa-

rate the lakes from the river Ohio as far as French creek. I

can, from the perfect knowledge which I have of it, affirm that

the country which I have just described is the most salubrious,

 

a. An English Engineer during the war of 1755-63.

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Description of the Soil, etc.           87

 

the most agreeable, the most advantageous, the most fertile land

which is known to any people of Europe, whatsoever."

The lands which are watered by the different rivers empty-

ing into the Ohio, of which we have just spoken, are, since the

time of Col. Gordon, better known, and can be described with

more precision and in a manner which ought to inspire confi-

dence.

They are remarkable for their variety of soil from which

results everything which can contribute to the advantages due to

their local position and which promise the success and the riches

which ought to burst forth among every agricultural and manu-

facturing people.

The great level plains which one meets with here and which

form natural prairies, have a circumference of from twenty to

fifty miles, they are found interspersed almost everywhere along

the rivers. These plains have a soil as rich as can be imagined

and which with very little labor can be devoted to any species of

cultivation which one wishes to give it. They say that in many

of these prairies one can cultivate an acre of land per day and

prepare it for the plough. There is no undergrowth on them and

the trees which grow very high and become very largea only

need to be deprived of their bark in order to become fit for use.

The kinds of timber fit for the purposes of the joiner which

grow most abundantly in this country and the most useful of

trees which are found here are the sugar-maple, the sycamore,

black and white mulberry, and black and white walnut, the

chestnut, oaks of every kind, the cherry tree, beech tree, the

elm, the cucumber tree, ironwood, the ash tree, the aspen, the

sassafras, the wild apple tree, and a great number of other trees

of which it is impossible to express the names in French.

General Parsons has measured a black walnut near the Mus-

kingum, of which the circumference, five feet above the ground,

was twenty-two feet. A sycamore measured in the same way

had a circumference of forty-four feet. One finds on the heights

white and black oaks as well as the chestnut, and nearly all the

trees we have just named, which grow there, very large and to a

 

a. Large and high trees are an indication of rich soil.

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proportionate height. One finds both on the hills and on the

plains a great quantity of grapes growing wild, and of which the

inhabitants make a red wine, which suffices for their own con-

sumption. They have tried the experiment of pressing these

grapes at the settlement of Saint Vincent,¹⁴ and the result is a

wine which, by keeping a little while, becomes preferable to the

many wines of Europe. Cotton of an excellent quality is also a

product of the country.

The sugar-maple is of great value to a region situated as

this is in the interior of the country. It furnishes enough sugar

for the use of a large number of people, and for this purpose a

small number of trees are usually kept by each family. A

maple tree will produce about ten pounds of sugar per year, and

it is produced with little difficulty. The sap of the tree flows in

the months of February and March; it becomes crystalized after

being boiled, and the sugar is equal in flavor and whiteness to

the best Muscavado.

All parts of this country are abundantly supplied with ex-

cellent springs, and one finds everywhere both small and large

creeks, on which mills may be established.l⁵ These brooks, use-

ful for so many purposes, have the appearance of being disposed

by the hand of art in such a manner as to contribute toward pro-

curing every advantage which can make life desirable.

There is a very little bad land in this territory, and no

marsh. There are plenty of hills; their position is agreeable,

and they are not high enough to interfere with their cultivation.

Their soil is deep, rich, covered with trees of good growth, and

adapted to the cultivation of wheat, rye, indigo, tobacco, etc.

The communication between this territory and the ocean is

principally by the four following routes:

First: The route by the Scioto and Muskingum to Lake

Erie, and thence by the River Hudson we have already de-

scribed.

Second: The passage by the Ohio and Monongahela to the

transit by land already mentioned, which leads to navigable

 

b. A French settlement made some fifty years ago on the Wabash

river to the westward of the Scioto.

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Description of the Soil, etc.          89

 

waters of the Potomac. This land transit is about thirty miles,

but it will very probably be diminished in a little while, by

means of the plan which is actually in contemplation for opening

a communication between these rivers.

Third: The Great Kanawha, which empties into the Ohio

toward the confines of Virginia, between the Hocking and

Scioto, affords a very ready navigation toward the Southeast,

and requires but a short portage to reach the navigable waters

of the James River in Virginia. This communication, useful to

the settlements between the Muskingum and Scioto, will very

probably be the most frequented for the exports of the manu-

factures of the country,¹⁶ and still more for the importation of

foreign goods, because they can be carried more cheaply from

the Chesapeake to the Ohio, than they now are from Philadel-

phia to Carlisle and the other counties situated in the lower parts

of Pennsylvania.

Fourth: But above all, it is upon the Ohio and Mississippi

that there can be transported a great number of things necessary

for the markets of Florida and the West Indies, such as wheat,

flour, beef, bacon, timber for joinery and ship-building, etc, that

they will be more frequented than any river upon the earth.

The distance from the Scioto to the Mississippi is eight hundred

miles, thence to the ocean nine hundred; all this journey can be

easily made in fifteen days, and the voyage in reascending these

rivers is not so difficult as one would suppose. Experience has

demonstrated that one can make great use of sails on the Ohio.l⁷

Here again is a fortunate circumstance: it is that the Ohio

Company a is on the point of establishing its settlements, and it

is making them in a manner alike, systematic and judicious. Its

operations will serve as a useful model for all the settlements

which will be found in the future in the United States. Add to

this that this new colony is established so near the western

boundary of Pennsylvania as to appear to be only a continuation

of the older settlements, by reason of which there will no longer

be reason to fear that these unsettled regions may be occupied

 

a. At this moment the establishments of this company are com-

menced and are very flourishing.

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by the savages, as has too frequently happened in situations very

far removed from the seat of government.18

The intention of Congress, and that of the inhabitants, is

that these settlements shall be made in a regular manner; that

they shall follow the course of the Ohio, and that they shall

commence by occupying the northern part of the country toward

Lake Erie.¹⁹ And it is hoped that not many years will probably

elapse until the whole country above the Miami will be raised in

value to such a point that the advantages which travelers have

celebrated will be seen in their true light, and it will be admitted

that they spoke nothing but the truth when they called this

country the garden of the universe, the center of wealth, a place

destined to be the heart of a great Empire.

The following reflections will not escape either the philoso-

pher or the statesman, who shall see this delightful part of the

United States settled upon a wise system and in a well ordered

manner:

1. The labor of the agriculturists will here be rewarded by

productions as useful as, and more varied than in any part of

America; the advantages which are generally found divided in

any other climate are here united; and all the advantages which

other parts of the United States present, are here combined in

the highest perfection. In all parts the soil is deep, rich, pro-

ducing in abundance wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, barley, oats,

flax, hemp, tobacco, indigo, the tree that furnishes the food for

the silk worm, the grape-vine, cotton. The tobacco is of a

quality much superior to that of Virginia, and the crops of wheat

are much more abundant here than in any other part of America.

The ordinary crop of corn is from sixty to eighty English

bushels per acre. a The bottom lands are especially adapted to

the production of all the commodities we have just enumerated.

There where the vast plains, which are met with in this terri-

tory, are intersected with little brooks, the land is suitable for

 

a. General Parsons, one of the Commissioners for negotiating the

Treaty of 1786 with the Indians, reports that Mr. Dawson, who has lived in

this country ten years, has raised from eighty to one hundred bushels per

acre. Last year he cultivated seven acres, on which his crop was six hun-

dred bushels.

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Description of the Soil, etc.          91

 

the culture of rice, and it grows here abundantly. Hops also

are produced spontaneously in this territory, and there are also

the same peaches, plums, pears, melons, and in general all the

fruits which are produced in the temperate zone.

There is no country more abounding in game than this.

The stag, fallow deer, elk, buffalo and bears fill the woods and

are nourished on these great and beautiful plains, which are en-

countered in all parts of these countries, an unanswerable proof

of the fertility of the soil; wild turkeys, geese, ducks, swans,

teal, pheasants, partridges, and so forth, are here found in

greater abundance than our domestic fowls in all the older settle-

ments of America. The rivers are well stocked with fish of

different kinds, and several of these fish are of an exquisite

quality. In general they are large, the cat-fish (poisson-chat)

has an excellent flavor and weighs from twenty to eighty pounds.

One will find here provisions for several years, and the

borders of each one of these rivers will serve for a long time in

place of a market. When inhabitants shall come here from all

parts of the world nature will have provided for them, at least

for one year, all they need, without the necessity of making any

purchases.

2. There is no place more suitable from its situation and

productions for the establishment of manufactures than this.

The necessaries of life are abundant and cheap.   The raw

material for all things necessary for clothing and personal adorn-

ment are here found in quantities. Silk, flax and cotton bring a

good price here; but these articles, being manufactured and be-

ing adapted for the different purposes of use and luxury, would

still be cheap here by reason of the small amount of freight

necessary to pay for their transportation. The United States,20

and perhaps other countries besides, will be replaced, or super-

seded in the market, by the competition of the inhabitants of

the interior parts of America.

The construction of vessels will be one of the most consider-

able branches of business on the Ohio River and its tributaries.²¹

In the lowest stage of water in the Ohio we find a depth of four

fathoms from the mouth of the Muskingum to its junction with

the Mississippi. In only one part is it very rapid, and there the

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navigation is interrupted for about one mile. Elsewhere through-

out its whole extent the fall is not more than fifteen feet, and

the bed of the river, which has a breadth of two hundred and

fifty rods, has never less than five feet of water. In winter it

increases to thirty feet. The river can be ascended not only by

means of oars, but they readily surmont the current by means

of sails only.  Geographers and others who have seen the

locality are of the opinion that if a canal²² were dug at a little

less than half a mile south of the river, at a point where a low

prairie is found, the current could be avoided and navigation

thus be without interruption the whole year round.

Hemp, iron and ship timber are abundant and of good

quality here. During the highest stage of water, which is from

February to April, and frequently in October and November,

vessels can easily pass the rapids with their cargoes to the sea

even in the present condition of the river.

An English engineer, who has made a thorough examina-

tion of the western country, has communicated the following

observations to Lord Hillsborough in 1770. This nobleman

was the Secretary of State for the Department of America at

the time when we were colonists of Great Britain, and when our

country was regarded solely, as it could be made available for a

market for English fabrics:23

"No part of North America has less need of encourage-

ment in order to furnish rigging for ships, and the raw material

destined to Europe, and to furnish to the West India Islands

building material, provisions, etc., than the Ohio country, and

that for the following reasons:

"1. The country is excellent, climate temperate; grapes

grow without cultivation; silk worms and mulberry trees abound

everywhere; hemp, hops and rice²⁴ grow wild in the valleys and

low lands; lead and iron abound in the hills; salt springs are

innumerable; and there is no country better adapted to the cul-

ture of tobacco, flax and cotton than that of the Ohio.

"2. The country is well watered by several navigable

rivers, which communicate with each other, and by means of

which, with a very short transport by land, the productions of

the Valley of the Ohio can even at this moment25 be conveyed at

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Description of the Soil, etc.         93

 

a much lower price to the seaport of Alexandria²⁶ on the River

Potomac, where General Braddock landed his troops, than mer-

chandise can be carried from Northampton to London.

"3. The Ohio river is navigable at all seasons of the year

for large boats,27 and during the months of February, March and

April it is possible to construct large vessels upon it and send

them to the ocean loaded with hemp, iron, flax, silk, tobacco,

cotton, potash, etc.

"4. Flour, wheat, beef, planks for ship-building and other

things not less useful can descend the Ohio to Western Florida

and go thence to the West India Islands more cheaply and in bet-

ter condition than the same merchandise can be sent from New

York or Philadelphia to the same islands.

"5. Hemp, tobacco, iron and similar bulky articles, can

descend the Ohio to the ocean at least 50 per cent. cheaper than

the same articles have ever been transported by land in Pennsyl-

vania over a distance no greater than sixty miles, although the

expense of carriage there is less than in any part of North

America.

"6. The freight for transporting goods manufactured in

Europe from the sea-board to the Ohio, will not be so consider-

able as it now is, and always will be, to a great part of the coun-

ties of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland. When the farm-

ers or merchants who dwell upon the Ohio set about providing

for transportation they will build vessels of all kinds suited for

commerce with the West India Islands and Europe, or, as they

will have black walnut, cherry, oak, etc., sawed ready for for-

eign commerce, they will make of them rafts in the same man-

ner as is practiced by those who live about the headwaters of

the Delaware in Pennsylvania, on which they will put their

hemp, their iron, their tobacco, etc., and with which they will

go to New Orleans.

"The following observations should not be omitted: They

manufacture a great quantity of flour in the region situated in

the west of Pennsylvania, and they send it by land to Philadel-

phia, which costs a great deal, and thence they send it by sea to

South Carolina and Eastern and Western Florida, where they

grow little or no grain. One may say that nature herself has

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designed the Ohio to be the river by which the two Floridas may

be supplied with flour, and that not only for the consumption of

these two provinces, but still more for a considerable commerce

which they carry on in that article with Jamaica and the Spanish

settlements of Mexico. Quantities of mill-stones may be pro-

cured from the hills which border the Ohio, and the country

everywhere abounds with water-courses suited to the construc-

tion of mills of every kind. The passage from Philadelphia to

Pensacola is rarely made in less than a month, and they ordi-

narily pay fifty shillings a ton freight (a ton consists of sixteen

barrels) for transportation that far. Boats carrying from 500 to

1000 barrels of flour go in nearly the same time from Pittsburgh

to Pensacola as from Philadelphia to Pensacola, and at half the

expense. Merchants on the Ohio can furnish flour on better

terms than Philadelphia, and without running the risk of dam-

age by sea or the delays of transportation on that element; and

besides, without paying insurance, advantages which can not be

enjoyed in the case of goods shipped from Philadelphia to Pen-

sacola. And let no one imagine that this is a supposition

merely; it is the constant experience.  About the year 1746

there was a scarcity in New Orleans, and the French settle-

ments on the banks of the Illinois, feeble in number as

they were, sent thither in one winter alone 800,000 weight

of flour."²⁸ So that, in place of furnishing other nations with

raw materials, some company of manufacturers might be intro-

duced and established in the countries, so attractive their situation,

under the direction of men thoroughly competent to the task.

Such an establishment would produce a considerable augmenta-

tion of population and wealth to these new settlements and would

set a useful example to other parts of the United States.

3. The measures which have been taken by the act of

Congress, providing for the disposition of the lands west of the

Ohio as far down as the Scioto for the establishment and main-

tenance of schools, and of a University29 shed an especial lustre

on these settlements and inspire the hope that by the particular

attention which has been given to education, the fields of science

will be extended, and that the means of acquiring useful knowl-

edge will be placed on a more respectful footing in this country

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Description of the Soil, etc.           95

 

than in any other part of the world. Without speaking of the

advantages of discovering in this new country species hitherto

unknown in natural history, botany and medical science, it can-

not be questioned that in no other part of the habitable globe

can there be found a spot where, in order to begin well, there

will not be found much evil to extirpate, bad customs to combat,

and ancient systems to reform. Here there is no rubbish to clear

away before laying foundations. The first commencement of

this settlement will be undertaken by persons inspired with the

noblest settlements, versed in the most necessary branches of

knowledge, acquainted with the world and with affairs,30 as well

as with every branch of science. If they shall be so fortunate

as to have at first the means of founding on an advantageous

plan these schools and this University, and of sustaining them

in such a manner that the professors may be able to commence

without delay the different labors to which they may be called,

they will, in the infancy of the colony, have secured to them-

selves advantages which will be found nowhere else.

4. In the ordinance of Congress for the government of the

territory northwest of the Ohio it is provided that when the

territory shall have acquired a certain amount of population it

may be divided into several States. The most eastern of these³¹

(this is already provided for) is bounded by the Great Miami on

the west, and by Pennsylvania on the east. The center of this

State will be between the Scioto and the Hockhocking. The

seat of government of one of these States will very probably be

at the mouth of one of these two rivers. And if we may be

permitted to forecast the future, we may imagine that when the

United States of America, composed of an intelligent and re-

nowned people, shall have greatly extended the boundaries of

their dominions the general government will establish itself

upon the banks of the Ohio. This country is at the centre of

the whole Nation, it is a place the most convenient for all, the

most agreeable and probably the most healthy.

It is undoubtedly of the greatest importance that the Con-

gress shall soon fix the place of its residence; nevertheless, in

the present state of the country it is possible, some may think it

not expedient to fix it immovably. Take the chain of the

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Allegheny Mountains from north to south, it is probable that

twenty years will not elapse before there will be more of the in-

habitants of the United States living on the banks of the West-

ern than on the Eastern rivers. The Western people ought

now to understand that the government is disposed to favor

them as much as their brethren who inhabit the Eastern part

of the country. It is even necessary that they should have this

feeling in order that they may not cherish dreams of inde-

pendence, that they may not seek for other alliances, and that

they may not take steps with especial view to their own welfare.³²

As it is indisputable that it ought to be the principal object of

the Legislature, and the one dearest to its heart to unite as great

a number of people as possible, and render them happy under

one government, every step which Congress may take toward

this new constitution will have this object in view; and, we will

hope, will promote the success of the plan, and cause it to be

regarded as inviolably established. There is no doubt, what-

ever, that sooner or later the government will either reserve to

itself or purchase a suitable site on which to build the city of the

confederation,³³ which will be at the center of the whole coun-

try; and that it will make known its intentions in this regard as

soon as circumstances, such as an equal population in the new

State, etc., will permit.

Such a determination, taken in advance, will give the older

States the power of carrying it into execution without causing

any disturbance or dissatisfaction to any person, whilst it would

inspire the new States with the hope of some day seeing the

plan realized.

Extracts from letters of an American farmer, by M. S'John

de Crevecoeur, French Consul to America. Second edition, Vol.

3, page 394.

The Ohio is the grand artery of that portion of America

which lies beyond the mountains; it is the center in which meet

all the waters which flow on one side from the Allegheny Moun-

tains, and which descend on the other from the high lands in the

vicinity of Lakes Erie and Michigan. It has been calculated

that the region watered by all these streams, and comprised be-

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Description of the Soil, etc.              97

 

tween Pittsburg and the Mississippi, contains a territory of at

least 260 miles square, or 166,980,000* acres. It is, without

doubt, the most fertile country, with the most varied soil, the

best watered, and that which offers to agriculture and commerce

the most abundant and ready resources of all those which Eu-

ropeans have ever discovered and peopled.

It was on the tenth of April, at eight o'clock in the morn-

ing, that we abandoned ourselves to the current of the Ohio.

* *   *  *  This pleasant and tranquil navigation appeared to

me like a delightful dream; each moment presented to me new

perspectives, which were incessantly varied by the appearance

of islands, points and bends of the river, constantly changing

with the singular variety of shore, more or less wooded, from

which the eye would, from time to time, wander to survey the

great natural prairies which intersect them; constantly embel-

lished by promontories of different heights, which seemed to

disappear for a moment, and then gradually develop to the eye

of the navigator bays and coves, of greater or less extent,

formed by the creeks (little navigable rivers) and the brooks

which fall into the Ohio. What majesty in the mouths of the

great rivers before which we passed. Their waters seemed as

vast and as deep as those of the river on which we were

voyaging.

Never before had I felt so disposed to meditation and revery;

involuntarily my imagination darted into the future, the remote-

ness of which gave me no trouble, because it appeared to be

near. I saw in fancy these beautiful shores ornamented with

handsome houses, covered with crops, the fields well cultivated;

on the declivities of the hills exposed to the north I saw orchards

planted, on the others vineyards, plantations of mulberries,

acacias, etc. I saw also on the low lands the cotton plant and

the sugar-maple, the sap of which has become an article of com-

merce. I grant indeed that all the shores did not appear to me

equally adapted to cultivation, but the different masses of trees

with which they will necessarily remain covered will add still

more to the beauty and the variety of the landscape of the

 

* Evidently an erroneous calculation.

Vol. III-7

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future. What an immense chain of plantations! What a great

career of activity, of industry, of culture and commerce is

offered to the Americans. I consider therefore the settlement

of the country watered by this great river as one of the greatest

enterprises ever presented to man. It will be the more glorious

because it will be legally acquired with the consent of the an-

cient proprietors and without the shedding of a drop of blood.³⁴

It is destined to become the foundation of the power, wealth and

future glory of the United States.

Toward noon of the third day we cast anchor at the mouth

of the Muskingum, in two fathoms and a half of water. To

give you a faint idea of what I may call the anatomy of the

Ohio, I wish to tell you about this river to make you understand

the utility of all its branches.35

It empties into the Ohio 172 miles from Pittsburg and has a

width of 120 toises,³⁶ it is deep and navigable for large boats for

147 miles into the interior. Its freshets are moderate and it

never overflows its banks, which are elevated, without being

steep. One of its branches approaches at the same time the

principal of the sources of the Scioto, called the Seccaium and

the Sandusky River. This last falls, you are aware, into the

great bay of the same name at the farther end of Lake Erie. It

is near one of the principal branches of the Muskingum that the

great Indian village of Tuscarawas is built, whence a portage of

two miles only leads to the Cuyahoga River, deep and but

slightly rapid, the mouth of which on Lake Erie forms an ex-

cellent harbor for vessels of 200 tons. This place seems de-

signed for the site of a city, and several persons of my acquaint-

ance have already thought so.37 All the voyagers and hunters

have spoken with admiration of the fertility of the hills and

valleys watered by the Muskingum,38 as well as the excellent

springs, the salt wells, the mines of coal, particularly that of

Lamenchicola, of the free-stone, fullers-earth, etc., which they

find everywhere.

The next morning at day break we weighed anchor, and

after three days of quiet and pleasant navigation we came to

anchor opposite the Scioto, 218 miles from the Muskingum and

390 miles from Pittsburgh, for the purpose of receiving on board

• 98
 

Description of the Soil, etc.            99

 

Gen. Butler, who came to conclude some negotiations with the

Shawnees. It is from him that I had the following details con-

cerning this fine river, upon the banks of which he resided dur-

ing the last five years of the war: The Scioto is almost as wide

as the Ohio; its current is navigable for boats of medium size as

far as the village of Seccaium, 111 miles from its mouth; it is at

this village that the great portage to the Sandusky begins, which

is but four miles. Judge of the importance of this communica-

tion, always much frequented by whites and Indians; the latter

who have horses and wagons, transport merchandise at so much

per hundred. This river waters a most extensive and fertile

country, but rather flat. These vast plains, so well known as

the Scioto bottoms, commence a few miles above the river Hus-

kinkus and continue almost to Seccaium. They are watered by

the fine creeks, Alaman,³⁹ Deer, Kispoks, etc., and by a great

number of considerable brooks.    Several of these plains are

from twenty-five to thirty miles in circumference, and as if Na-

ture had wished to render them still more useful to men, she has

sprinkled them with hills and isolated mounds, on which she

had planted the most beautiful trees. These plains are never

overflowed, and their fertility is wonderful. If a poor man, who

had nothing but his hands, should ask me, "Where shall I go

to establish myself in order to live with the most ease, without

the help of horses or oxen?" I would say -to him, "Go to the

banks of one of the creeks in the Scioto bottoms; all that you

will have to do will be first to obtain permission from the In-

dians from the neighboring village (this permission is no longer

necessary since the treaty with them); second, scratch the sur-

face of the earth and deposit there your wheat, your corn, your

potatoes, your beans, your cabbage, your tobacco, etc., and

leave the rest to nature. In the meantime amuse yourself with

fishing and the chase."

Every spring a prodigious number of storks come to visit

these plains; they are at least six feet high, and more than seven

feet from tip to tip of wings. I have never seen them come to

feed that they were not surrounded by sentinels, who watch

around them to announce the approach of enemies. Sometimes

before their departure they assemble in great flocks, and the day

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being fixed, all rise, turning slowly, and preserving always the

same order, they describe long spirals until they are out of sight.

Finally, on the tenth day after our departure from Pitts-

burgh, we cast anchor in front of Louisville, having made 750

miles in 22½ hours of navigation.

 

 

 

CERTIFICATE.

Having read, attentively, the pamphlet in which is given a

description of the Western Territory of the Untied States, I, the

undersigned, certify that the facts therein contained concerning

the fertility of the soil, abundant productions and other advan-

tages for the husbandman, are true and reliable, and that they

correspond perfectly with the observations I have made during

ten years which I have spent in that country.

[SIGNED]                       THOMAS HUTCHINS,

Geographer of U. S.

 

 

 

 

NOTES.

 

NoTE 1.-All the produce of the settlements about Fort Pitt can be

brought to Alexandria, by the Youghiogany, in three hundred and four

miles, whereof only thirty-one are land transportation; and by the Monon-

gahela and Cheat Rivers in three hundred and sixty miles, twenty of

which only are land carriage.-Gen. Washington to Gov. Harrison, Oct.

10, 1784.

NoTE 2.-Pennsylvania--although the Susquehanna is an unfriendly

water, much impeded, it is said, with rock and rapids, and nowhere com-

municating with those which lead to her capital,-has it in contemplation

to open a communication between Toby's Creek, which empties into the

Allegheny River 95 miles above Fort Pit , and the west branch of the

Susquehanna, and to cut a canal between t e waters of the latter and the

Schuylkill, the expense of which is easier to be conceived than estimated

or described by me. A people, however, who are possessed of the spirit of

commerce, who see and who will perceive its advantages, may achieve

almost anything. In the meantime, and the uncertainty of these under-

takings, they are smoothing the road and paving the ways for the trade of

the western world.-Gen. Washington to Gov. Harrison, Oct. 10, 1784.

NoTE 3.-The Buffalo-Apparently the Green River.

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Description of the Soil, etc.              101

 

NoTE 4.-The Shawnee-The Cumberland River was so called until it

was given its present name by Dr. Walker, in 1747, in honor of the Duke

of Cumberland.

NOTE 5.-The Cherokee-The Tennessee was formerly so-called.

NoTE 6.-Seven Ranges.

NOTE 7.-This old Indian portage, between the head waters of the

Muskingum and those of the Cuyahoga, is within the present limits of

Portage county, from which the county derives its name.

NoTE 8.- Salt Springs-"We have found several salt-licks within our

surveys, and we are assured there is a salt spring about forty miles up the

Muskingum, from which a quantity of salt for the supply of the country

may be made. Some gentlemen at Fort Harmar doubt this information,

and think a supply may be made at a spring on the branch of the Scioto."

-Pioneer History.

So great was the scarcity and value of salt during the first ten years of

the settlement-not less than six or eight dollars a bushel-that the Ohio

Company, in their final division of their lands, passed the following

resolution:

" WHEREAS, It is believed that the great 'salt springs' of the Scioto

lie within the present purchase of the Ohio Company; therefore,

" Resolved, That the division of land to the proprietors is made upon

the express condition and reserve that every salt spring now known, or

that shall hereafter be found, within the lands that shall fall to the lot of

any proprietor, be and are hereby reserved to the use of the company, with

such quantity of land about them as the agents and proprietors shall think

proper to assume for general purposes, not exceeding three thousand

acres; the person on whose land they are found, to receive other lands of

equal value." It so happened that the Scioto springs were situated a few

miles west of the purchase and on the lands belonging to the United

States. When Ohio became a State, these noted springs, with those on Salt

Creek, in Muskingum county and at Delaware, were reserved by Congress

for the use of the State, with large tracts of land adjoining to furnish fuel

for boiling the salt water. For many years these springs were leased to

individuals, and became a source of revenue to Ohio.

NoTE 9.-Armenian Clay--A sort of Ochre.

NoTE 10.-The routes of navigation and portage referred to in the

text, between the lakes and the Ohio River, by way of the Sandusky and

Scioto, and of the Cuyahoga and Muskingum Rivers, and also that from

Presqu' Isle (Erie, Pennsylvania,) by way of French Creek to the Ohio,

seemed to have been discovered and used by the French at a subsequent

period.

General Washington, in a letter written October 10, 1784, to Benjamin

Harrison, then Governor of Virginia (Writings of Washington, Vol. IX,

p. 58), in which he discusses at length the best mode of communication

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between the tide water region of Virginia and the Northwestern territory,

by means of the Potomac and James Rivers, says: "It has long been my

decided opinion that the shortest, easiest and least expensive communica-

tion with the invaluable and extensive country back of us would be by one

or both of the rivers of this State, which have their sources in the

Apalachian Mountians. Nor am I singular in this opinion. Evans, in his

map and analysis of the Middle Colonies, which, considering the early

period at which they were given to the public, are done with amazing

exactness, and Hutchins* since, in his Typographical Description of the

Western Country, a good part of which is from actual surveys, are decidedly

of the same sentiments."

"The navigation of the Ohio," he continues, " being well known, they

will have less to do in the examination of it; but, nevertheless, let the

courses and distances be taken to the mouth of the Muskingum, and up

that river (notwithstanding it is in the ceded lands) to the carrying place

to the Cuyahoga; down the Cuyahoga to Lake Erie, and thence to Detroit.

Let them do the same with Big Beaver Creek, although part of it is in the

State of Pennsylvania; and also with the Scioto. In a word, let the waters

east and west of the Ohio, which invite our notice by their proximity, and

by the ease with which land transportation may be had between them and

the lakes on one side, and the Rivers Potomac and James on the other, be

explored, accurately delineated, and a correct and connected map of the

whole be presented to the public."

He estimated that if the improvements here indicated should be con-

structed, the distance from Detroit, " by which all the trade of the North-

western part of the United Territory must pass " to the tide- waters of Vir-

ginia, could be made 176 miles less than to those of the Hudson at Albany.

"Upon the whole, the object in my estimation is of vast commercial and

political importance." * * * " I consider Rumsey's discovery for work-

ing boats against the stream by mechanical powers principally as not

only a very fortunate invention for these States in general, but as one

of those circumstances which have combined to render the present time

favorable above all others for fixing, if we are disposed to avail our-

selves of them, a large portion of the trade of the Western country in

the bosom of his State irrevocably." (Gov. Harrison replied to this letter

that he had submitted it to the Assembly, which would probably take

favorable action. The James River Improvement enterprise, in which, if I

mistake not, Washington was a large stockholder, was doubtless the-

result.)

It must be remembered that ideas to what constitutes a navigable

stream have greatly changed in the course of a century. When transpor-

tation and travel were carried on upon our western waters by means of

flat-boats, broad-horns, keel-boats, and even bark canoes, which drew

 

* The Geographer of the United States.

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Description of the Soil, etc.              103

 

only a few inches of water, and pushed their way up the rivers and their

tributary creeks and bayous, and " wherever the ground was a little moist,"

many a stream figured as a navigable river which in these days of steam-

boats would hardly be regarded as a reliable mill stream.

NoTE 11.-General Washington, in speaking of this country in 1784,

says that it will, so soon as matters are settled with the Indians, and the

terms by which Congress means to dispose of the land found to be favor-

able are announced, be settled faster than any other ever was, or anyone

would imagine."- Writings, IX, p. 62.

NOTE 12.- A plant called wild rice, on which numerous wild fowl feed,

is found in the marshes bordering Lake Erie. A similar growth on the low

bottoms of the rivers may have been mistaken by the early explorers for

the rice of commerce.

NoTE 13.- "By the advice of Thomas Hutchins, Esq., Geographer of

the United States, this tract (the Ohio Company's purchase) was located on

the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, he considered it the best part of the

whole western country, and he had visited it from Pennsylvania to

Illinois."

NoTE 14.-St. Vincents, or Post St. Vincents, or Post Vincennes, as it

is variously called, on the site of Vincennes, Ind., was one of the early

French settlements in the Valley of the Mississippi.

NOTE 15.-" The other mill I saw in the year 1797 on the Scioto River.

It was built on two large dug-outs or canoes, with a wheel placed between

them. This mill, after being moved up or down as the settlers at different

stations needed its assistance in grinding corn, was tied to a tree in a rapid

current, which, running against the wheel between the canoes, turned the

stones above under a kind of umbrella made of bark. At a distance it had

the appearance of a crane flying up the river. It made a sound, for want

of grease, like the creaking of a wooden cart."-American Pioneer, Vol.

I, p. 59.

NOTE 16.-" For my own part, I think it highly probable that upon

the strictest scrutiny, if the falls of the Great Kanawha can be made navi-

gable, or a short portage be had there, it will be found of equal importance

and convenience to improve the navigation of both the James and the Po-

tomac. The latter, I am fully persuaded, affords the nearest communica-

tion with the lakes; but the James River may be more convenient for all

the settlers below the mouth of the Great Kanawha, and for some distance

perhaps above and west of it."- Washington to General Harrison, October

10, 1784.

NoTE 17.-The reader of to-day who is whirled over the distance sep-

arating Cincinnati and Pittsburgh between breakfast and supper, will be

interested in the following advertisement of a line of packet boats running

up and down the Ohio between those places one hundred years ago, mak-

ing the round trip in four weeks, and which were doubtless regarded as

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attaining the very acme of speed and safety in traveling. The advertise-

ment is taken from the " Centinel of the North Western Territory," pub-

lished at Cincinnati in 1793, five years after the first settlement of Ohio,

and the first paper established north of the river:

OHIO

PACKET BOATS.

Two boats for the present will set out from Cincinnati for Pittsburgh

and return to Cincinnati in the following manner, viz.:

First boat will leave Cincinnati this morning at 8 o'clock, and return

to Cincinnati so as to be ready to sail again in four weeks from this date.

Second boat will leave Cincinnati on Saturday, the 30th inst., and re-

turn to Cincinnati in four weeks, as above.

And so regularly, each boat performing the voyage to and from Cin-

cinnati to Pittsburgh once in every four weeks.

Two boats, in addition to the above, will shortly be completed and reg-

ulated in such a manner that one boat of the four will set out weekly from

Cincinnati to Pittsburgh and return in like manner.

The proprietors of these boats having maturely considered the many

inconveniences and dangers incident to the common method hitherto

adopted of navigating the Ohio, and being influenced by a love of philan-

thropy and desire of being serviceable to the public, has taken great pains

to render the accommodations on board the boats as agreeable and con-

venient as they could possibly be made.

No danger need be apprehended from the enemy, as every person on

board will be under cover, made proof against rifle or musquet balls, and

convenient port-holes for firing out of. Each of the boats are armed with

six pieces, carrying a pound ball; also a number of good muskets and

amply supplied with plenty of ammunition, strongly manned with choice

hands, and the masters of approved knowledge.

A separate cabin from that designed for the men is partitioned off in

each boat for accommodating ladies on their passage. * *

Passengers will be supplied with provisions and liquors of all kinds,

of the first quality, at the most reasonable rates possible. *  *  *

NOTE 18.-One of the controlling considerations in the selection of a

site for the settlement by the Ohio Company at the mouth of the Muskin-

gum was that it might be under the protection of Fort Harmar.

NOTE 19.-The plan originally proposed by Congress for the survey

and sale of the first seven ranges west of Pennsylvania contemplated that

the ranges should extend northward to Lake Erie, but the subsequent

arrangements with the State of Connecticut recognized her claim to the

soil (but not the jurisdiction which was reserved to the United States) all

in that portion of Ohio north of the 41st parallel of latitude, and east of a

north and south line drawn at a distance of 120 miles west of the Pennsyl-

vania line, and forming what is known as the Connecticut Western

Reserve.

NOTE 20.- The expression " United States " seems to be used as refer-

ring to the older settled states of the Atlantic sea-board.

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Description of the Soil, etc.              105

 

NoTE 21.-Ships on the Ohio-In 1799, Louis Anastasius Tarascon, a

French merchant of Philadelphia, sent two of his clerks, Charles Brugiere

and James Berthond, to examine the course of the Ohio and Mississippi

Rivers from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, and ascertain the practicability of

sending ships ready rigged to the West Indies and Europe. They reported

favorably, and Mr. Tarascon, associating them and his brother with him as

partners, immediately established in Pittsburgh a large wholesale and

retail store and warehouse, a ship yard, a rigging and sail loft, an anchor-

smith's shop, a block manufactory, and, in short, everything necessary to

complete vessels for sea. The first year, 1801, they built the schooner

Amity, of 120 tons, and the ship Pittsburgh, of 250, and sent the former,

loaded with flour, to St. Thomas, and the other, also with flour, to Phila-

delphia, from whence they sent them to Bordeaux, and brought back wine,

brandy and other French goods, part of which they sent to Pittsburgh in

wagons, at a carriage of from six to eight cents per pound. In 1802 they

built the brig Nanino, of 250 tons; in 1803, the ship Louisiana, of 300 tons,

and in 1804, the ship Western Trader, of 400 tons."-American Pioneer,

Vol. I., p. 307.

"As soon as ship-building commenced at Marietta, in 1800, the farmers

along the borders of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers turned their atten-

tion to the cultivation of hemp in addition to their other crops. In a few

years sufficient was raised not only to furnish cordage to the ships of the

West, but large quantities were worked up in the various rope walks and

sent as freight in the vessels to the Atlantic cities.

"By the year 1805 no less than two ships, seven brigs and three schoon-

ers had been built and rigged by the citizens of Marietta. Captain Jona-

than Devoll ranked amongst the earliest of Ohio shipwrights. After the

Indian war he settled on a farm five miles above Marietta, on the fertile

bottoms of the Muskingum. Here he built a 'floating mill' for making

flour, and in 1801 a ship of 230 tons, called the Muskingum, and the brig

Eliza Greene, of 150 tons."-Ibid, Vol. I, p. 90^.

NoTE 22.-A plan since carried out by the construction of the Louis-

ville and Portland canal.

NoTE 23.-Since preparing the translation of the report to Lord Hills-

borough, I have met with the original document in English. It will be

found in Volume II, page 6, of the " Olden Times," a periodical published

at Pittsburgh in 1846 and 1847.

This report to Lord Hillsborough appears to have been made when he

was considering the petitions of Thomas Walpole and others to the king

for the privilege of making a purchase of land and founding a colony on

the south side of the Ohio River, which petition had been referred to the

Board of Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, of which he was presi-

dent, for report. See a very interesting article by Professor Hinsdale on

the western land policy of the British Government, in the Ohio Archaeo-

logical and Historical Quarterly for December, 1887.

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NoTE 24.--The English version has "rye" where the French has

"riz "- rice.

NoTE 25.-In the English original are here inserted the words "in

the year 1772."

NOTE 26.-" The new settlement at the mouth of the Muskingum

attracted the attention of the House of Burgesses in Virginia, and an ap-

propriation of money was made to survey a route for a road from Alexan-

dria on the Potomac to the Ohio River opposite Marietta. The commis-

sioners found a very feasible course, and the estimated distance only three

hundred miles. A road was cut out, and for many years before the build-

ing of the National Turnpike from the Cumberland to the Ohio, merchan-

dise was brought in wagons to the stores in Marietta from the Port of

Alexandria."-Pioneer History, p. 245.

NOTE 27.-The English version here says, "like the west country

barges, rowed by only four or five men."

NoTE 28.-The settlements in Illinois were the earliest made by the

French in the Mississippi Valley; that at Kaskaskia dating back to the

seventeenth century.

Vivier, writing from Illinois, in 1750, says: "We have here whites,

negroes and Indians, to say nothing of cross-breeds. There are five French

villages, and three villages of the natives, within a space of twenty-one

leagues, situated between the Mississippi and another river called the Kar-

kadiad (Kaskaskia). In the five French villages are perhaps eleven hun-

dred whites, three hundred blacks, and some sixty red slaves, or savages.

The three Illinois towns do not contain more than eight hundred souls all

told. Most of the French till the soil; they raise wheat, cattle, pigs and

horses, and live like princes. Three times as much is produced as can

be consumed, and great quantities of grain and flour are sent to New

Orleans."

Twenty years later one man is said to have furnished the king's stores

from his crop 86,000 pounds of flour.

NoTE 29.- At the time of the sale by Congress of public lands to the

Ohio Company, two townships of land (each six miles square) were re-

served for the benefit of a university, and section number 16 (being a lot

a mile square and containing 640 acres) in each township sold, was at the

same time reserved for the support of the schools in said townships.

Another section (number 29), was in the same manner reserved for the

support of religion.

Note 30.-"The colony at Marietta, like those of some of the ancient

Greeks, enrolled many men of highly cultivated minds and exalted intel-

lects; several of them claimed the halls of old Cambridge as their alma

mater. The army of the Revolution furnished a number of officers who

had distinguished themselves for their good conduct, as well as for their

bravery."-American Pioneer, Vol. I, p. 85.

• 106
 

Description of the Soil, etc.               107

 

NoTE 31.-Ohio.

NoTE 32.- The apprehensions here expressed were not wholly ground-

less. The ties of Union among the states were probably at their weakest

in 1787. The articles of confederation which, under the stress of a com-

mon danger had carried the State through the war, had since its close

proved wholly insufficient to reconcile their conflicting interests and serve

the purpose of a Federal Government.

NOTE 33.-This was written in 1787. At that time the Continental

Congress was sitting in New York, and a convention which framed the

Constitution of the United States was in session in Philadelphia. As the

result of the convention's labors was not published until the autumn of

1787, it is probable that the clause of the Constitution giving Congress

exclusive jurisdiction over such districts not exceeding ten miles square,

as may by cession of particular States and the acceptance of Congress be-

come the seat of Government of the United States, was not known to the

writer of the pamphlet. At all events the site of the future Capital was

wholly undetermined.

NoTE 34.- The Ordinance of 1787 provided that, "the utmost good

faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property

shall never be taken from them without their consent, and in their prop-

erty, rights and liberty they never shall be invaded or disturbed, unless in

just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice

and humanity shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being

done to them and for preserving peace and friendship with them."

NOTE 35. The valley of the Muskingum and of its chief tributary,

the Tuscarawas, (both of which at that day were known as the Mus-

kingum,) was not only the scene of the Christian Mission in Ohio - that

of the Moravian Brethren. Fifteen years before the settlement of Marietta

these Christians had penetrated the wilderness as far as the Tuscarawas,

and within the next few years had established upon its banks several

villages of Indian converts- Schoenbrun, Gnadenhutten and Salem.

Schoenbrun had two streets, laid out in the form of a T. On the trans-

verse street, about the middle of it and opposite the main street, which

ran from east to west, and was both long and broad, stood the church.

* * *    * At the northwest corner of the main street was the school

house. The bottom, from the foot of the bluff to the river, was converted

into cornfields. The town contained more than sixty houses of squared

timber, besides huts and lodges.--Life of Zeisberger -page 380.

NoTE 36.-Toise - An old French measure equal to about six feet, in

use, so far as I know, only in Detroit. Long since superseded in France, I

found it a few years ago surviving in that ancient and conservative city, in

daily business transactions.

NOTE 37.- The site of the present city of Cleveland. " From an early

day the leading Virginia statesmen regarded the mouth of the Cuyahoga

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as an important commercial position. George Washington in his journey

to the French forts, Venango and Le Boeuf, in 1753, obtained information

which led him to consider it as the point of divergence of the future com-

merce of the lakes meeting the ocean; Virginia being then regarded as

the State through which this trade must pass to the Atlantic. Mr. Jeffer-

son, in his " Notes " upon that State, points out the channel through which

it will move to the ocean. He considers the Cuyahoga and Mahoning as

navigable, and separated only by a short portage to be overcome by a canal.

Once in the Ohio, produce, in his opinion, might ascend its branches and

descend the Potomac to the sea."- Charles Whittlesey in American

Pioneer, Vol. 2, p. 24.

NOTE 38.--THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSKINGUM VALLEY

IN ITS PRIMEVAL CONDITION IS FROM THE LIFE OF ZEISBERGER.

He (Zeisberger) was now in the valley which was to be the scene of

his greatest works and severest trials. Blooming like the rose, with its

farms, its rich meadows and gorgeous orchards, it was in his day, although

a wilderness, no less a land of plenty, and abounded in everything that

makes the hunting grounds of the Indians attractive. It extended a dis-

tance of nearly eighty miles, enclosed on both sides by hills, at the foot

of which lay wide plains, terminating abruptly in bluffs, or sloping gently

to the lower bottoms through which the river flowed. These plains, that

now form the fruitful fields of the "second bottoms," as they are called,

were then wooded with the oak and hickory, the ash, the chestnut, and the

maple, which interlocked their branches, but stood comparatively free

from the undergrowth of other forests. The river bottoms were far

wilder. Here grew walnut trees and gigantic sycamores, whose colossal

trunks even now astonish the traveler; bushy cedars, luxuriant horse-

chestnut and honey-locusts, cased in their armor of thorns. Between

these, clustered laurel bushes, with their rich tribute of flowers, or were

coiled the thick mazes of the vine, from which more fragrant tendrils

twined themselves into the nearest boughs, while here and there a lofty

spruce tree lifted its evergreen crown high above the groves. These forests

were generous to their children. They gave them the elm bark to make

canoes, the rind of the birch for medicine, and every variety of game for

food. The soil was even more liberal. It produced strawberries, black-

berries, raspberries, gooseberries, black currants and cranberries; nour-

ished the plum, the cherry, the mulberry, the papaw and the crabtree, and

yielded wild potatoes, parsnips and beans, Nor was the river chary of its

gifts, but teemed with fish of unusual size and excellent flavor.

NOTE 39.--Alaman--Paint Creek.

 

[The pamphlet from which the foregoing description and

notes is taken is now out of print and quite rare. A few copies

may yet be had of A. H. Smythe, the publisher, Columbus, 0.]

• 108
 

The Scioto Company and its Purchase.       109

 

 

THE SCIOTO COMPANY AND ITS PURCHASE.

The history of the founding of Gallipolis, now turning in

its career into its second century, is one of the most interesting

and at the same time one of the saddest studies in American

annals.  It is the story of a disappointing and impracticable

scheme; and were it not for the fact that the blood of its found-

ers, mingling with the American stock of their day and genera-

tion, has given strength, versatility and industry to the people

of Southern Ohio, the influence of the early settlers of Galli-

polis would be scarcely noticeable in the history of the State.

Understand me, that I do not underrate the probity or the gen-

ius of your fathers, but their influence by reason of the histori-

cal failure of the settlement, has been in the lines of private and

domestic life, rather than in shaping public affairs or influencing

the destiny of the State. A careful study of the elements

which made up the emigration from France one hundred years

ago and which resulted in the settlement whose centennial we

now celebrate, will readily develop the fact that it was an en-

tirely different stock from that which landed at Marietta or

which settled in the Western Reserve or which located in Cin-

cinnati and its surrounding settlements. The hardihood of the

pioneers who came into the territory of the Northwest from

New England, Pennsylvania and Virginia, was a capital stock in

all their enterprises which the more delicate and impractical

French never possessed. The men and women who came from

Paris and Lyons in 1790, under the flattering representations

presented to them by the leaders of American emigration in

France, were of good families, well educated and brilliant, and

adapted by their previous occupations, methods of living and

their surroundings to any other life then possible in the world,

rather than that of pioneers on the banks of the Ohio. But I

do not propose at this time to go into any discussion in relation

to the social conditions of the French settlers of Gallipolis until

we arrive at a better understanding of how and under what circum-

stances the emigration was accomplished, and to what end I de-

sire to set forth, as clearly and as extensively as is necessary in

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an historical address of this nature, the different events leading

up to the foundation of Gallipolis. Under what circumstances

and by what authority were these people brought from a foreign

land, and, under a system of emigration entirely foreign to

American ways at that time, made one of the foundation stones

in the structure of the great commonwealth of Ohio? In the

settlement of the territory of the Northwest, this instance of

Gallipolis is the only one where the pioneers were brought from

an alien clime. How this was done, why, and the results of

this interesting historical event in our State are worthy indeed

of remembrance, and deserve the careful investigation of the

student of history; and if to-day I go into historical details I

justify it on the ground that we are here for truth and facts

rather than rhetoric or eloquence. The evolution of the settle-

ment of the great territory of the Northwest, and the opening

out to emigration of the great broad acres of the Ohio Valley,

were not only required to attain development of the country for

the future, but it was absolutely necessary for the maintenance

of the government at that time. For a better understanding of

the Centennial which we to-day celebrate, let me review as con-

cisely as I can the methodsl [see Appendix No. 1] and the re-

sults of the distribution of the public lands here one hundred

years ago.

The close of the War of the Revolution left an army of

men, the defenders of the country, impoverished. They had

given their best blood to establish a nation in which they could

live as freemen, but that country could not repay them for their

services. Its wealth lay not in gold or silver or precious stones,

but in an unknown quantity-its western lands.

The formation of the Confederacy of the States was the first

step toward a government, but that confederation, built almost

entirely on the doctrine of state sovereignty, did not, and could

not, long survive. It could enlist an army, but it could not pay

it save by consent of the States. No national coin was then

issued and a national treasury was then practically unknown.

The soldiers, looking in vain to a helpless government, re-

membered the promises made them by the "Resolves of Con-

gress," which had, in the beginning of the struggle, in August

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The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.        111

 

and September, 1776, promised to each soldier a bounty in

lands, an acre of which it did not then actually possess.

With the close of conflict came the settlement of these

questions. Conservative opinions prevailed and by the cessions

of the various States holding claims to the territory northwest

of the Ohio river, beginning with New York in 1781, Congress

became peacefully and quietly possessed of a vast domain of

land, more than enough to supply all claims.

The derivation of a national revenue from the sales of pub-

lic lands had long been a favorite idea with Congress. In fact, the

idea prevailed long before an American government was antici-

pated. As early as February 2d, 1774, the Governor of the

New York colony was instructed by Earl Dartmouth regarding

"land sales" in the colony. Other colonial records show similar

action regarding the disposition of the lands for the benefit of

those holding title under kingly grants and charters, or for the

benefit of the Crown. July 31st, 1782, the Congress of the

Confederation took steps for the survey and disposition of the

vacant lands, the "back country," for the "common benefit"

and for support to the "public credit." A committee, repre-

senting every State, to whom the whole affair was referred, made

report September 5th of the same year, "that it is their opinion

that the western lands, if ceded to the United States, might

contribute toward a fund for paying the debts of the States."

On motion of Mr. Witherspoon the proposition was amended to

read, "it would be an important fund for the discharge of the

National debt."

Two years after, on April 5th, 1784, another grand com-

mittee reported that " Congress still considers vacant territory as

a capital resource."

The subject came up in one form or another until settled by

the cession by the States of all claims to the "back lands"-the

western country. Immediately following the cessions made by

Virginia, March 1st, 1784, and not awaiting final action by all

the States claiming possessions in the territory (the cessions were

New York, March 1st, 1781; Virginia, March 1st, 1784; Massa-

chusetts, April 18th, 1785; Connecticut, September 14th, 1786),

Congress on May 29th, 1785, passed an act providing for the

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survey and sale of the lands therein. Its main provisions were

that a surveyor should be appointed from each State by Congress,

or a committee of the States, who shall serve under the Geo-

grapher of the United States. Under his direction these sur-

veyors were to proceed to the territory and divide the same into

townships of six miles square by meridian and parallel lines

running due north and south. The first lines were to be estab-

lished by the geographer to begin at a point on the north bank

of the Ohio river "which shall be found to be due north from

the western boundary of Pennsylvania, and from thence west-

ward across the territory: and also a line to run north and south

from the same point;" the geographer to designate the "town-

ships or fractional parts of townships by numbers progressing

from south to north, always beginning each range with number

one; the ranges to be numbered from east to west, the first range

extending from the Ohio river to Lake Erie to be numbered

one."

The townships were to be divided into lots one mile square,

six hundred and forty acres, each in the same direction as the

the external lines and numbered from one to thirty-six, beginning

at the south-east corner of the section, running northwardly;

each succeeding range of lots to begin with the number next to

that with which the preceding one concluded. As soon as seven

ranges should be surveyed, plats were to be sent to the Board of

Treasury, and so on with each seven ranges of townships

throughout the territory. The Secretary of War was author-

ized to take by lot one-seventh part of the surveyed ranges for

the Continental army until all bounties could be satisfied. The

remainder was to be drawn for by the thirteen States according

to the quotas in the last preceding requisition on all States. The

Board of the Treasury was then to transmit to the commissioners

of the loan in the States plats of the quota of each State, which

States could then proceed to sell the allotments. It was also

ordered in the act that the sale should be in the following

manner: "The township or fractional part of a township, No. 1,

in the first range shall be sold entire; and No. 2, in the same

range, shall be sold by lots, and thus, in alternate order, through

the whole of the first range. Township No. 1 in the second



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The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.       113

 

range shall be sold by lots; and No. 2 in the same range, entire;

and so, in alternate order through the entire range," each

succeeding range alternating in townships and ranges as in the

first two ranges.

There was also reserved to the government lots 9, 11, 26 and

29, and for the use of schools lot No. 16. In addition to these

reservations others for various bounties, refugees etc., were also

set aside by this same act of Congress for various objects speci-

fied in the act.

The method of surveys of public lands into well de-

fined districts or townships on the meridian and parallel lines

is worthy of note here. It is the New England idea as against

the Southern or Virginia plan of "indiscriminate locations."

Under this plan a small quit-rent, as it were, of two cents per

acre was demanded of the crown or the proprietor, and anyone

could lay out and survey a tract, suiting himself as to location

and boundary, simply taking care not to overlap other claims

made in like manner. As care was not always exercised in this

particular, conflicting claims constantly arose, the disputes often

extending to several generations. The Virginia Military District

in Ohio is a good example of "indiscriminate locations," and it

is worthy of remark that more litigation over land titles and

boundaries has arisen in that section of Ohio than in all the

remainder of the State.

The township system originated undoubtedly in New Eng-

land. As early as June 17, 1732, the General Court of Massa-

chusetts granted six miles square for a township to be laid out in

a regular form by a surveyor and chainman under oath.

When the first "ordinance for disposing of the western

lands" was reported, it required the townships to be ten miles

square, each mile to be 6086 feet in length, thus dividing the

township into one hundred lots of 850 acres each. This ordi-

nance was not agreed to, and the next report, made April 26,

1785, proposed townships seven miles square, with sections of

640 acres each, forty-nine in a township. In this ordinance, one

section, 16, was set aside for school purposes, and one, 29, for

the support of religion. This latter provision was stricken out

by seventeen votes against, to six for, the measure; the vote

Vol. III-8

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being by states. The question was argued further in Congress

until May 20th, when the ordinance previously outlined was

agreed upon and adopted. Under this act titles could be ob-

tained only by entry in a government office of a tract surveyed

and entered for sale. This method is substantially the New

England idea, and for a system of distribution and ownership of

lands, has no equal. It is now the system of the National Gov-

ernment in all public land surveys.

Western lands being now open to entry and settlement, the

soldiers began again to press their claims on the attention of

Congress. A petition signed by two hundred and twenty-eight

officers in the Continental army was presented to that body.

This petition set forth:

"That, by an solution of the Honorable Congress passed

September 20th, 1776, and other subsequent resolves, the officers

and soldiers engaged for the war * * * * * are entitled

to receive certain grants of lands, according to their respective

grades, to be procured for them at the expense of the United

States.

"That your petitioners are informed that that tract of coun-

try bounded north on Lake Erie, east on Pennsylvania, south on

the river Ohio, west on a line beginning at that part of the Ohio

which lies twenty-four miles west of the river Scioto, thence

running north on a meridian line till it intersects with the river

Miami (Maumee) which falls into Lake Erie, thence down the

middle of that river to the lake, is a tract of country not claimed

as the property of, or in the jurisdiction of, any particular state

in the Union.

"That this country is of sufficient extent, the land of such

quality and situation, as may induce Congress to assign and

mark it out as a tract of territory suitable to form a distinct gov-

ernment (or colony of the United States) in time to be admitted

one of the Confederated States of the Union."

Shortly after this, General Rufus Putnam, in a letter to

General Washington, dated June 16th, 1783, emphasizes the

claims of the soldiers and urges upon the Commander-in-Chief

the importance of their petition. The General forcibly points

out the wisdom of planting such a colony in the western coun-

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The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.       115

 

try. He adduces many weighty reasons for such a step, and

solicits the aid of his superior officers and companions in arms.

This aid is freely and earnestly given, "but at this time," writes

General Washington in reply, " little can be expected until the

conflicting claims of the states to the territory be quieted."

This was done through the cessions by the states already men-

tioned and by the land ordinance of May 20th, 1785; they were,

as fast as surveyed, thrown open to settlement. The claim of

Connecticut comprised a large part of the tract of country in

the boundaries outlined in the officers' petition to Congress, and,

when the cession of that state was made, an extensive tract of

country known as the "Connecticut Western Reserve" was set

aside and the claims of the soldiers were satisfied elsewhere.

By the failure of Congress to satisfy the petition of the

soldiers the idea of settlement in a colony in the western

country was delayed, but not abandoned. A company, well

known in history as the "Ohio Company of Associates, was or-

ganized March 3rd, 1786, to buy of Congress land in the "Ohio

country," as it was commonly called. Payment was to be made

in Continental specie certificates, worth then less one-fifth their

face value. This company was organized by, and composed

mainly of, the officers who had before petitioned Congress for

lands to satisfy their claims. Gen. Rufus Putnam was the chief

promoter of the enterprise. Generals Samuel Parsons and Ben-

jamin Tupper, Rev. Manasseh Cutler, Winthrop Sargent, John

Mills and others, were among those who subscribed to the shares

of this company and became residents of the then western

country.

Gen. Parsons was sent to New York to secure from Con-

gress a tract of lands on the Ohio. He did not succeed, and Dr.

Cutler was appointed by the directors of the company to nego-

tiate for the proposed purchase. He reached New York early in

July, 1787, and at once began negotiations for a purchase. The

scheme was not entirely new and many members were opposed

to any such measure. The State that had sent them owned

large tracts of land which they were placing on the market, and

any plan of such magnitude as proposed by the Ohio Company

was, in the opinion of many delegates, detrimental to the pros-

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pects of those States disposing of their lands. Still the scheme

presented a solution to the serious problem of raising money,

not only to redeem the country's promises to its defenders, but

also a revenue for future needs.  This idea of a National

revenue from the sale of National lands had long engaged the

attention of Congress, and, when Dr. Cutler presented the plan

of the associates, though it met with some neglect and opposi-

tion, yet the time was opportune, and many friends came to its

support.

The intention of the Company was to purchase as much

land as one million dollars in continental certificates would buy.

Dr. Cutler on July 21st informed the members of the Congress

that if his offer was accepted he would extend the purchase to

the tenth township of the seventh range from the Ohio and to

the Scioto river inclusively, by which purchase some four mil-

lion dollars of the public debt could be extinguished. This, and

the prospect of a compact organized settlement, able to defend

itself and containing within itself the germs of a new State,

gave impetus to the plan.

The offer of Dr. Cutler had a marked effect on the tardy

members in Congress. Two days after, July 23d, a resolution

was adopted which authorized the Board of Treasury [see

Appendix No. 2] to contract with any person or persons for a

grant of a tract of land bounded east by the seven ranges; south

by the Ohio; and north by a line drawn from the northwest cor-

ner of the tenth township in the seventh range due west to the

Scioto river; the same tract which Dr. Cutler proposed to pur-

chase. In all, it contains about six million acres-more than

four times as much as the Ohio Company of Associates had pro-

posed to purchase.

Coupled with the Ohio Company's offer was the require-

ment that a law should be passed for the government of the

territory. Certain principles were presented which the associates

desired incorporated and without which they did not care to

purchase. The act, which was secured largely through the

efforts of Dr. Cutler, is known in history as the "Ordinance of

1787." It became the fundamental law of the territory. Its

cardinal principles were, lst.-The exclusion of slavery from

• 116
 

Map showing the proposed purchase of Manassah Cutler and Associ- ates. The east boundary is the seven ranges, the south, the Ohio River; the west, the Scioto; the north, the north line of the tenth township from the Ohio River in the seven ranges.   (117)

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the territory forever; 2nd.--Provision for universal education;

3rd.-Freedom  in religious worship and opinion; 4th.-The

equal distribution of estates; and, 5th.-Protection in civil

liberty. These points were made in the form of a compact,

irrevocable save by consent of both Congress and the States

that might be formed in the territory. This phase of the

negotiation should be borne in mind; without the ordinance, the

associates would not have purchased the land; without the pur-

chase, the ordinance could not have been passed. With it,

settlers were assured of a stable government under which they

could live in security, and which, in itself, would be an induce-

ment for others to come. Three days after the resolution author-

izing the sale of land in the Ohio country, the Ohio Company

of Associates addressed a letter to the Board of Treasury offer-

ing to buy the entire tract. [See Appendix No. 3.]

During Dr. Cutler's negotiations with the Continental Con-

gress, he made the acquaintance of Colonel William Duer, a

wealthy citizen of New York, (secretary of the Board of Treas-

ury), a man much interested in the proposed settlement.

While matters were in doubt and when the Doctor had

about concluded to abandon negotiations with Congress and buy

of some one of the States, several of which offered lands on

generous conditions, "Colonel Duer," Dr. Cutler writes in his

journal, "came to me with proposals from a number of the

principal characters in the city to extend our contract and take

in another company, but that it should be kept a profound

secret. He explained the plan they had concerted, and offered

me generous conditions if I would accomplish the business for

them. The plan struck me agreeably. Sargent insisted on my

undertaking it, and both urged me not to think of giving the

matter up so soon. I was convinced it was best for me to hold

up the idea of giving up a contract with Congress and making a

contract with some of the States, which I did in the strongest

terms, and represented to the committee and to Duer and Sar-

gent, the difficulties in the way and the improbability of closing

a bargain when we were so far apart; and told them I conceived

it not worth while to say anything further on the subject. This

appeared to have the effect I wished. The committee were mor-

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The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.      119

 

tified and did not seem to know what to say, but still urged an-

other attempt. I left them in this state, but afterward explained

my views to Duer and Sargent, who fully approved my plan.

Promised Duer to consider his proposals."

After noting incidents of an excursion in which many prom-

inent actors in these affairs took part, the Doctor narrates further

in his diary that " * * * I spent the evening closeted with

Colonel Duer, and agreed to purchase more land if terms can be

obtained for another company, which will probably forward the

negotiations."

Several members of Congress called on the Doctor early the

next day and expressed much anxiety about the contract, and

assured him that Congress was more favorably inclined. Dr.

Cutler was indifferent, and intimated he intended to abandon his

efforts and leave. "At length," he says, " I told them that if

Congress would accede to the terms I had proposed I would ex-

tend the purchase to the tenth township from the Ohio, and to

the Scioto inclusively, by which Congress could pay near four

millions of the national debt."

After further work on the part of Dr. Cutler and his

associates, Congress passed an ordinance acceptable to the

associates. The Doctor, under date of Friday, July 27th,

writes, "  *  *  *  At half past three I was informed that

Congress had passed an ordinance on the terms stated in our

letter (of Tuesday, the 24th) without the least variation, and

that the Board of Treasury was directed to close the contract.

*   *  *   By this ordinance we obtained the grant of near five

million acres of land, amounting to three million and a half of

dollars, one million and a half of acres for the Ohio Company,

and the remainder for a private speculation, in which many of

the prominet characters in America are concerned; without con-

necting this speculation, similar terms and advantages could not

have been obtained for the Ohio company."

By the terms of this purchase, the Ohio Company's boundary

was fixed by the seven ranges on the east, the Ohio river on the

south, the west line of the seventeenth range (when surveyed)

on the west, and on the north by a line drawn from that range

to the seventh range, so as to include the required number of

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acres, allowances being made for the reservations (the sixteenth

section in every township for schools, two townships for a Uni-

versity, salt springs, etc., and bad lands, estimated to be per-

haps one-third of the whole). Had this been actually carried

out, the north line of the Ohio Company's purchase would have

been from near the north boundary of the fourth township in

the seventh range westward to the Scioto river. Surrounding

this on the west and north was the " private speculation" referred

to in Dr. Cutler's journal. He states that some five million

acres were obtained. In fact it was nearer six million. The

"private speculation" lay between the north and west lines of

the Ohio Company's purchase, and the north line of the tenth

township of the seventh range, and the west line of the seven-

teenth range and the Scioto river,--in all about four million

five hundred thousand acres.

The same day that Dr. Cutler and Winthrop Sargent con-

tracted with the Board of Treasury for the Ohio Company's

lands, they conveyed to Col. Duer one-half interest in this pur-

chase, and also gave him full power to negotiate a loan or sale in

Europe of the lands. Col. Duer advanced to the Ohio Company

$143,000 in public securities to apply on its contracts in its first

payments to Congress. The payments on the associates' pur-

chase were to be half a million dollars when the contracts were

executed, the remainder one month after the exterior line of the

contracts had been surveyed by the Geographer or other proper

officer of the United States.  The payments in the "private

speculation "- the remainder of the tract--were to be two-

thirds of a dollar per acre in public securities in four semi-annual

installments, the first falling due six months after the exterior

line of the tract had been surveyed by the government.

Shortly after this transaction, Cutler and Sargent conveyed

a little over three-fourths of their interest in about equal propor-

tions to General Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Samuel

H. Parsons, Colonel Richard Platt, Royal.Flint and Joel Barlow.

A company was at once formed for the disposal of these

lands. It was named the Scioto Company; the President was

Col. Duer; Richard Platt was Treasurer. The contract of sale

between Cutler and Sargent for the Ohio Company and Col. Duer

• 120
 

The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.           121   for the Scioto Company recites that "--     This day," October 29, 1787, "it is agreed between the said Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent for themselves and others, their associates, William Duer for himself and others, his associates, their heirs

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and assigns, one equal moiety of the tract last described"

(i. e. that part bounded by the Scioto river on the west, the

north line of the tenth township in the seven ranges on the

north, and the Ohio Company's purchase and the Ohio river on

the south). Each party was equally interested in the disposal of

the lands, "either in Europe or America," and each was to share

equally in the profits or losses which "may accrue in attempting

to negotiate the sale or rentage of the same and in paying the

purchase money due to the United States.

"And it is further agreed upon and understood by the parties,

that . . . the tract be divided into thirty (30) equal shares or parts,

of which thirteen (13) shares are the property of William Duer

in which he may admit such associates as he may judge proper,

and (13) shares in like manner the property of the said Manasseh

Cutler and Winthrop Sargent. That the other four shares may

be disposed of in Europe at the discretion of an agent to be sent

there for the purpose of negotiating a sale or loan as above

mentioned, and if not so disposed of, to be equally divided among

the parties to this writing."

The contract further authorizes Col. Duer to negotiate a

loan upon or sell the lands in " Holland or such other parts of

Europe as may be found expedient, with power of appointing an

agent under him."

Looking about for the proper person to send abroad as their

agent, their choice fell upon Joel Barlow, a patriot and poet of

the Revolution. He had just published his famous poem, " The

Vision of Columbus," and was in the height of his literary

career. His capacity and education furnished sufficient passport

for his duties abroad. He had the confidence of his countrymen

at home, and his associates felt that he would be of great

advantage in representing their landed interests in France.

A modern historian has sneered at Barlow and his talents, and

has reflected upon the honesty of purpose of the originators of

the Scioto land purchase. The sneer and reflection are not

warranted by a close investigation of history. In May, 1788,

Barlow set out for France. He was a part owner by an assign-

ment from Colonel Duer of an interest in the Scioto contract,

and held at the same time the power of attorney from his

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The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.      123

 

associates, to make the proper transfer of the title to purchasers.

He was not successful at first. France was agitated by political

dissensions, and it was nearly a year before the results of his

efforts began to assume shape. In the summer of 1789, through

the association and assistance of one William Playfair, an Eng-

lishman, he organized a society in Paris, known as the "Society

of the Scioto," to which Mr. Barlow, acting for his associates

and principals, sold three millions of acres of land lying west of

the well-known Seventeenth Range of townships. This transfer

of three millions of acres was made in November, 1789. It was

provided that the payments were to begin in November, 1790,

and to end April 30, 1794. The purchase price was $1.14 per

acre. Associating with this company, and one of its members,

was M. Jean Antoine Chais De Soisson.

The Society of the Scioto immediately proceeded to business.

Mr. Barlow opened a land office at Paris and offered for sale the

three million acres at a French crown per acre. The tract of

land offered by Barlow fronted on the Ohio river. Its western

boundary was the Scioto; its eastern, a line running North of

the outlet of the Kanawha. On the plan of the tract a town was

laid out and called Gallipolis, nearly opposite the mouth of the

Kanawha. Maps of the surrounding country and of the Ohio

were prepared and made ready for the inspection of the pur-

chasers. The maps representing the country North of the Ohio

river, the Ohio country, were highly colored and gave in outline

the boundary of the Ohio company as well as the boundaries of

the Scioto company and a plat of three million acres sold to

Playfair and his associates in the Society of the Scioto.

The principal members of the Society or Company of the

Scioto were M. Gouy de Arsy, M. Barond, St. Didier, Maheas,

Guibert, Conquelon, Playfair, Barlow and Soisson. To this

company Barlow contracted to transfer the rights of his princi-

pals to the entire Scioto tract save that part directly north of the

Ohio Company's purchase, save so much of this part of the tract

as might be necessary to complete the three million acres. The

company was to make the deeds. In making this contract Bar-

low exhibited his powers of attorney, etc., thus apprising his

associates in the Scioto Company fully of his authority. They

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• 124
 

The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.      125

 

could not claim ignorance of what authority they could hold

under Barlow. The lands were to be located in equal tracts

west of the seventeenth range, which was then supposed to be

beyond the western boundary of the Ohio Company's purchase,

hence no conflict of location could, it was presumed, occur. An

agreement was drawn and properly signed, thus setting before

all parties a full understanding of the rights and authority of

each.

The Society appointed as attorneys to sell the lands, Play-

fair, Barlow and Soisson, and delegated to them "powers to re-

sell all or part of 3,000,000 acres at the best price, terms or con-

ditions of receiving the price thereof, or to assign it all or in

part, and to discharge the Society with respect to the Suer Bar-

low, to give for this purpose every acquittance, consent, subro-

gation, and to disseize the Society of its rights of property over

the objects of sale in favor of their purchasers, and generally to

do for the ease and accomplishment of the said sale." * * *

Mr. Barlow agreed to put the Society in possession of

the land in tracts less than the value of $500,000 each, there-

by exceeding his authority from his principals in word, but

had the money or securities been paid to the Treasury of

the United States, nothing would have been amiss. As the

French Society had examined fully Barlow's powers, and

knew  his authority, they could not plead ignorance, and

acting with full knowledge, must be held accountable. Mr.

Barlow did not send his principals a copy of the contract

he had made, as he should have done, but he wrote to

Colonel Duer, giving the fact of the sale, the price and

terms and times of payments. He also urged that the west

line of the seventeenth range be ascertained, and that the

consent of the United States be obtained to the sale of

the land in small tracts. Reference to the maps will show

that the idea held by Barlow and his associates, was, that

the west line of the seventeenth range would be at the mouth

of the Kanawha, and on this supposition he made his sales, and

he and his associates laid out a town-Gallipolis-ignorant of

the fact that they were selling the lands of the Ohio Company,

as the surveys, when made, showed their error, the seventeeth

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126       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 3

 

range being further west than their supposition placed it. Sales

were rapidly made, some purchasers paying in full, some pare

tially, securing the rest by mortgage. Some made contracts for

lands, to be paid for at a future time. The deeds were usually

signed by William Playfair and Jean Antoine Chais, "agents

and attorneys for the Society of the Scioto." To some, Barlow

added his approval. One of these deeds is yet preserved in Gal-

lipolis, and, as the last connecting link in the chain from the

government to the emigrant, is herewith given in full, the trans-

lation being made by Judge S. N. Owen, lately of the Ohio

Supreme Court.

This deed is from "William Playfair, engineer, Englishman,

and M. de Soissons, an attorney, Member of Parliament," to one

of the purchasers of an hundred acre tract of the land of the

Scioto Company:

" Before the undersigned, the King's Counsellors, notaries

of the 'Chatelet de Paris,' appeared M. William Playfair, engi-

neer, Englishman,  *  *  *   and M. Jean Antoise Chais de

Soissons, attorney, Member of Parliament, * * * both cov-

enanting by these presents by virtue of the authority of the

Society organized under the name of the Scioto Company,

according to a title deed executed before M. Rameau and his

colleague, Notaries of Paris, August 3, 1789, for the purchase

made and evidenced by that deed by the said Society, of three

millions of English acres of land situated in North America be-

tween the Ohio and Scioto Rivers and more particularly desig-

nated by their boundaries, indicated in blue colors, by an en-

graved plat of the said three million acre tract of land, and

which was annexed to a memorandum of their purchase, re-

ceived by M. Farmain, one of the undersigned Notaries, and his

colleague, November 3, 1789, containing the powers aforesaid;

who by virtue of the said powers have by these presents sold,

and promised to guaranty from every kind of eviction and

molestation, to M. Jean Baptiste Parmantier, citizen of Paris,

residing at number 359 St. Martin Street, Parish of St. Laurent,

purchaser, the entire depth and surface of one hundred contigu-

ous English acres of land, to be taken in a square form and by

straight lines from the above mentioned three million acres, in

the fourth municipality of the eighteenth rank of the said

municipalities or (at the choice of said purchaser) in the fifth

municipality of the same rank of the said municipalities; the

survey of which one hundred acre tract shall be made at the ex-

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The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.       127

 

pense of the said Scioto Company, and along whichsoever shore

it shall please the said purchaser to select the said one hundred

acres, saving, however, such portions as may have been taken

by virtue of anterior sales by said Scioto Company, and also sav-

ing such portions as may be destined by the American Congress

for public buildings or public highways.

"Comprised in the present sale are the trees of every species

growing upon the tract of land by these presents sold.

" Wherefore the said Sirs Playfair and Chais hereby confer

upon the said purchaser, and subrogate to him, all the rights of

ownership, titles, claims, and rights of action of the said Soci-

ety in and to the tract of land by these presents sold, yielding it

unto the profit of the said purchaser with all the rights therein

of said Society to the extent of the said quantity sold, and con-

senting that he place himself in full and peaceable possession

thereof when and as it shall seem to him good.

"The said purchaser and his successors to the ownership of

the land-the subject of this contract-shall enjoy the right to

transport each year to Europe or to the Islands of America, all

the big timber and the crops produced from the said land, pay-

ing only the freight and 'general average' according to the cus-

tom of, and as it shall be regulated by, the Captain 'bearer of

orders'--(le Capitaine porteur d'orders)-of the Scioto Com-

pany. The price of this sale and grant of right is agreed and

fixted at sixty pence per acre, which makes for the whole num-

ber of acres hereby sold a sum total of six thousand pence, upon

and in deduction of which sum the said purchaser has paid,

cash down, in legal tender, to M. Playfair, one of the said grant-

ors, who acknowledges it, three thousand pence for which this is

his receipt; and as to the residue of said purchase price, the

said purchaser binds himself to pay it to the said Scioto Com-

pany in two years from this day without interest, in guaranty of

which sum the land hereby sold shall remain, at the privilege of

said Company, expressly reserved, appropriated, obligated and

mortgaged, and without any appropriation derogatory thereto,

the said purchaser hereby thereunto appropriates, obligates and

mortgages all his property present and future.

" And in order the better to facilitate and secure the pay-

ment of the said sum of three thousand pence, the said pur-

chaser has signed for the benefit of the said Scioto Company,

delivered the same to M. Playfair, who acknowledges the same,

his promissory note for said last named sum, payable also in two

years from this day, which promissory note once discharged

shall consequently acquit and discharge what remains due upon

the present contract; which said note shall be the only requisite

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128       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

evidence of such payment by the said purchaser, who hereby

acknowledges that the said Playfair and Chaise have communi-

cated and remitted to him the substance of the deeds and powers

which vested in them the right to make the present sale, for the

execution of which the parties hereto have chosen their domicile

in the establishment wherein are the offices of the said Scioto

Company, Ninth Street of Petits champs, No. 162, which place,

however, we have chosen for the purpose of promising, contract-

ing, obligating, relinquishing, etc.

Done and executed at Paris at the residence of M. W. Play-

fair, the 19th of January, 1790, P. M., and have signed this

memorandum of contract.

Farmain, one of the undersigned Notaries,

(Not Legible.)                FARMAIN. [SEAL]"

[SEAL]

(Waxen Notarial Seal not Legible.)

These deeds were accepted without question by many. The

desire for a change, the unsettled condition of France, the

brilliant prospects held out to the emigrant, all combined to

make the sales, once begun, an easy matter, and with little

thought of the future, many prepared to go.

On the 8th of December, 1789, Mr. Barlow wrote Col. Duer

that "everything was progressing well." On the 29th, that he

expected to make the first payment, so that Col. Duer could pay

Congress $500,000 when the first payment came due, and also

that 500,000 acres would be concluded in January. The same

date he authorized a draft on himself of 200,000 livres, "to be

used in defraying the expenses of the first settlers." January

25th, 1790, he authorized another draft of 100,000 livres. "Don't

fail," he wrote, " to put the people in possession of their lands.

I pledge the faith of an honest man for the payment. If neces-

sary, draw on me for a second 100,000 livres, at sight." By the

middle of February, 1790, over 100,000 acres had been sold, and

several hundred emigrants had sailed. Their first landing place,

Alexandria, on the Potomac.

An examination of Barlow's letters discloses no reason for

the failure to make the payment promised December 31, 1789,

and the authority to draw for additional sums was evidence to

Col. Duer, that if Barlow had not the money he had the

securities.

• 128
 

The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.       129

 

Mr. Barlow's letter to Col. Duer showed that he had ex-

ceeded his authority by permitting the Society to give deeds,

and that he erred in his calculations made from Thomas Hutchin's

map in locating the western boundary of the seventeenth range

as intersecting the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Big

Kanawha. The survey, when made, located the line farther

west, and hence the lands sold by Barlow and his associates were

in the Ohio Company's purchase. This defect might have been

remedied had Barlow met the drafts he authorized, as the Ohio

Company was anxious not only to settle its own lands, but it

was interested in the success of the Society of the Scioto, and

was willing to do all it could to advance its interests. The con-

nection between the Ohio Company and Col. Duer's control of

the Scioto Company, caused some criticisms; but the prompt

return of Dr. Cutler and his associates, and their concise state-

ments regarding all the transaction, gave general satisfaction.

To meet the unexpected condition of affairs, Col. Duer,

Royal Flint and Andrew Cragie united as "Trustees for the

Scioto Associates."  It was still supposed that Barlow held

securities for all his sales, and as Dr. Cutler, neither for himself

or for any of the Ohio Associates, was able to advance any

money, they surrendered part of their interest, for which a

power of attorney was given Col. Duer; the remainder to be

exempt from assessments and to be indemnified from loss.

The Secretary of the United States Treasury had, in Jan-

uary, 1790, recommended to Congress a reduction in the price

per acre of public lands, payable in certificates of indebtedness

or in lawful money of a coin value. It became evident, how-

ever, that no action would be taken then. "On the 23d of

April, Gen. Rufus Putnam and Manasseh Cutler, as directors of

the Ohio Company and with its approval, made a contract of

sale to Duer, Flint and Cragie, trustees for the proprietors

of the Scioto lands, of the lands represented by the 148 for-

feited shares to the Ohio Company for the non-payment, and

located in a compact body, 196,544 acres fronting on the Ohio

River between a point opposite the mouth of the Big Kanawha

and the true line of the seventeenth range, the western boundary

of the Ohio Company's purchase. The Scioto Associates also

Vol. III-9

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130        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

released to the Ohio Company the right of pre-emption or pur-

chase of that part of their lands lying immediately north of its

purchase. The contract was of great value to both companies.

It gave the Scioto Company control of every acre sold in France,

and enabled it to proceed upon a basis that, at that time, gave

assurance of solving the difficulties about its transactions.

Under instructions from Col. Duer, Gen. Putnam employed

Maj. John Burnham to enlist in New England a company of

men to build huts for the French emigrants, now ready to cross

the mountains. It is necessary to touch upon this part of the

history. It is fully told elsewhere, and gives in detail the work

of Maj. Burnham and his men. Neither is it necessary to re-

count here the history of these emigrants, nor to detail how

they found on reaching Alexandria that the deeds they held were

valueless, the country filled with Indians, and that there were

lands in plenty in Virginia. All these facts are told by Col.

Vance in his address and repetition is not necessary here. The

result of all this was that Col. Duer and his associates learned

through the misguided and wronged emigrants, more fully of the

methods of the French Society in Paris and of their loose

methods of business. On the third of March, Mr. Barlow

wrote to Col. Duer that he had surrendered his contract with the

French Society, and was making the sales himself, though

under its name. M, Bourogne, Count De Barth's son, one of

the principal men in the colony of emigrants, and who had been

instrumental in securing a settlement with Col. Duer and asso-

ciates satisfactory to the emigrants, and who had learned, when

in New York, of the efforts to secure a reduction in the price of

public lands, sailed for France in July, and there made a con-

tract with Barlow, on behalf of himself, his father, M. Coquet,

Playfair and General Duvalette. This association was to assume

all obligations of the former French Company. It was to make

no payments until three month's after the sale of each 300,000

acres; no limitations were to be made in location of lands. It

agreed to pay Barlow 50,000 livres for the American proprietors,

and authorized him to borrow on its credit 100,000 livres, also to

be advanced to the American proprietors. The whole trans-

action was a sharp move on the part of the new Company,

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The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.        131

 

assuring itself a handsome profit, at the same time free from

any risk. Mr. Barlow again appears to have implicitly trusted

those with whom he dealt, despite the fact he had not been able

to fulfill any of his promises to Col. Duer, made "upon the

promise of an honest man." Thus his final transaction only

complicated matters more, and emphasized the fact that as a

business man he was no success, and no match for the sharp and

unscrupulous Englishman and his French associates. Had he

followed his instructions, secured into his own hands the pro-

ceeds of all sales, and promptly remitted them to the Scioto

associates in America, all would have been well, and this melan-

choly chapter in Ohio's early annals would have never been

written.

As soon as Col. Duer learned of this new contract, he sent

Col. Benjamin Walker to France with "full powers of attorney

to displace Barlow or to act as joint agent with him; directed

him to refuse ratification of this last contract; examine fully

into the accounts; obtain proceeds of sales; take entire charge

of affairs if he deemed advisable, and endeavor to sell the con-

tract as originally designed. Col. Duer wrote to Barlow that he,

alone, was responsible to the French people to whom he had

given or permitted to be given deals for the lands, and to the

Scioto Associates, whose interests he had so shamefully mis-

managed; upbraiding him in the severest terms for the manner

in which he had conducted this business; for failure to give his

principals definite information; and for permitting bills drawn

on him that he had authorized, to be dishonored. Col. Duer

was in a most embarrassing position by the non-payment of these

drafts. He reminded Barlow of the pledges he had made on

the faith of an honest man' for their payment, and urged him to

make good the amount and save him (Duer) from ruin."*

When Colonel Walker reached France he found, as he sus-

pected, that Playfair held the proceeds of all sales, and from him

nothing, save a long letter of explanation; could be obtained.

Finding nothing could be gained by persuasion, he placed the

affairs of the Society in the hands of Colonel Rochefontaine,

* Life of Manasseh Cutler, page 516.

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132       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL 3

 

gave public notice that no sales from Playfair would be valid,

and returned to America in April, 1791.

In the meantime, in October, 1790, one hundred years ago

the first attachment of emigrants reached the new settlement

prepared for them on the banks of the Ohio, and began their

untried life on an American frontier. Colonel Duer, who now

had the contract to supply the troops in the territory, opened a

store in Gallipolis, placed Mr. John Matthews in charge, accept-

ing in payment for the necessities of life whatever the colonists

could give, even to deeds for their lots. By the next spring,

however, they began to cultivate crops, chiefly the grape, and

ere long Mr. Matthews was able to write Colonel Duer that a

brighter prospect appeared.

But in April a financial panic came in New York. Colonel

Duer failed, and was imprisoned for debt. Flint and Cragie also

failed, and the notes given for the 148 forfeited shares of the

Ohio Company were surrendered; the contract of sale conceded,

and with it the only title the French emigrant could have. Col.

Platt, Treasurer of the Ohio Company, went down in the general

ruin, heavily indebted to the Company. On the 21st of April,

1792, Congress passed an act confirming the "Ohio Company's

title to 750,000 acres extending along the Ohio River from the

west line of the seventh range to the west boundary of the fif-

teenth, including therein the site of Gallipolis. An additional

grant of 214,285 acres was made to be paid for in bounty rights,

and 100,000 acres were granted on the north to be held in trust

to be deeded in tracts of 100 acres each to actual settlers. Both

these grants were to adjoin the original 750,000 acre tract. The

bill, as passed, made it impossible to give to the French settlers

tracts of land at or near Gallipolis.

The failure of Colonel Duer and his associates threw the

French settlers wholly upon their own resources. Mr. Peter S.

Duponceau, a lawyer and Frenchman of eminence residing in

Philadelphia, and who came to America in 1777, became inter-

ested in the fate of his countrymen, prepared a petition and pre-

sented it to Congress in 1794, asking the relief of the settlers.

Some attempts were made to settle the matter, but nothing was,

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The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.        133

 

at that time, accomplished. In January, 1795, the donation

tract of the Ohio Company was thrown open to settlers, and the

French emigrants were invited to participate in its benefits. Not

many did so; the majority who remained seeming to prefer to

cling to the original settlement at Gallipolis in the hope that

their titles would yet be perfected to them. Mr. Duponceau

again pressed his petition to the attention of Congress, and in

March, 1795, that body made a grant of 24,000 acres of land on

the bank of the Ohio River, not far from the outlet of the

Scioto, and each settler in Gallipolis, on November 1st, of that

year, and over eighteen years of age, was entitled to a share in

the distribution. Four thousand acres were given to M. Ger-

vais, who had been instrumental in securing the services of Mr.

Duponceau, and to whom much credit is due for the settlement

of the problem. The remainder, 20,000 acres, was divided by

General Rufus Putnam, appointed by the Secretary of the

Treasury for that purpose, among ninety-two persons, each re-

ceiving 217 2-5 acres, settlement to be made on the land within

five years. The tract was then and is still known as the " French

Grant."

The directors of the Ohio Company met in December, 1795,

to make a final disposition of their lands. The status of the

French settlers in and about Gallipolis, and their condition, was

fully and carefully considered. A committee of the Gallipolis

settlers appeared before the meeting with a request that the

French settlers be given the town site of Gallipolis. This the

Ohio Company felt it could not do, but signified that an applica-

tion to purchase at a nominal price would be acceptable, and

after full consideration, agreed to sell to these settlers the two

fractional sections on which Gallipolis was situated, containing

900 acres, with the improved land surrounding the town at the

price of government land--one dollar and twenty-five cents per

acre. This was donating all the improvements made by Major

Burnham and his men, each received his land and a log cabin in

which to live. This was all they could do, and was, all in all,

a just solution of the long, difficult and unfortunate problem.

The principal actors soon disappeared from view, lost in the ab-

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134       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

sorbing events connected with the early settlements, the Indian

wars, and the unsettled condition of the country at large.

DANIEL J. RYAN.

Note.--I am indebted largely to Maj. E. C. Dawes, of Cin-

cinnati, who, in the life of Mannasseh Cutler, and in the Maga-

zine of American History, has given exhaustive studies of this

question. He generously placed his material at my disposal.

I have also examined many private works, letters, documents,

etc., and have aimed to give only a concise and simple narrative.

D. J. R.

 

Appendix No. I.--(Ordinance of May 20th, 1785, I. v.

L. U. S. p. 563.)

" The surveyors, as they are respectively qualified, shall pro-

ceed to divide the said territory into townships of six miles

square, by lines running due north and south, and others cross-

ing these at right angles, as near as may be, unless where the

boundaries of the late Indian purchases may render the same

impracticable, and then they shall depart from this rule no far-

ther than such particular circumstances may require. And each

surveyor shall be allowed and paid at the rate of two dollars for

every mile in length he shall run, including the wages of chain

carriers, markers, and every other expense attending the same.

"The first line running north and south as aforesaid, shall

begin on the river Ohio, at a point that shall be found to be due

north from the western termination of a line which has been run

as the southern boundary of the State of Pennsylvania, and the

first line running east and west shall begin at the same point,

and shall extend throughout the whole territory: Provided, That

nothing herein shall be construed as fixing the western boundary

of the State of Pennsylvania. The Geographer shall designate

the townships or fractional parts of townships by numbers, pro-

gressively, from south to north; always beginning each range

with No. 1; and the ranges shall be distinguished by their pro-

gressive numbers to the westward. The first range, extending

from the Ohio to the Lake Erie, being marked No. 1. The

geographer shall personally attend to the running of the first

• 134
 

The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.        135

 

east and west line; and shall take the latitude of the extremes

of the first north and south line, and of the mouths of the prin-

cipal rivers.

" the lines shall be measured with a chain; shall be plainly

marked by chops on the trees, and exactly described on a plat;

whereon shall be noted by the surveyor, at their proper distances,

all mines, salt springs, salt licks, and mill seats that shall come

to his knowledge; and all water courses, mountains, and other

remarkable and permanent things, over or near which such lines

shall pass, and also the quality of the lands.

" The plats of the townships, respectively, shall be marked,

by subdivisions, into lots of one mile square, or 640 acres, in the

same direction as the external lines, and numbered from one to

thirty-six; always beginning the succeeding range of the lots

with the number next to that with which the preceding one con-

cluded. And where, from the causes before mentioned, only a

fractional part of a township shall be surveyed, the lots pro-

tracted thereon shall bear the same numbers as if the township

had been entire. And the surveyors, in running the external

lines of the townships, shall, at the internal of every mile, mark

corners for the lots which are adjacent, always designating the

same in a different manner from those of the townships.

"The board of treasury shall transmit a copy of the original

plats, previously rioting thereon the townships and fractional

parts of townships, which shall have fallen to the several States,

by the distribution aforesaid, to the commissioners of the loan

office of the several states, who, after giving notice of not less

than two nor more than six months, by causing advertisements

to be posted up at the court houses or other noted places in

every county, and to be inserted in one newspaper published in

the States of their residenee, respectively, shall proceed to sell

the townships or fractional parts of townships at public vendue,

in the following manner, viz: The township or fractional part of

a township No. 1, in the first range, shall be sold entire; and

No. 2 in the same range, by lots; and thus in alternate order

through the whole of the first range. The township or fractional

part of a township No. 1, in the second range, shall be sold by

lots; and No. 2 in the same range, entire; and so, in alternate

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136       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

order, through the whole of the second range; and the third

range shall be sold in the same manner as the first, and the

fourth in the same manner as the second; and thus, alternately,

throughout all the ranges: Provided, That none of the lands

within the said territory to be sold under the price of one dollar

per acre, to be paid in specie or loan office certificates, reduced

to specie value by the scale of depreciation, or certificates of

liquidated debts of the United States, including interest, besides

the expense of the survey and other charges thereon, which are

hereby rated at thirty-six dollars the township, in specie or cer-

tificates as aforesaid, and so, in the same proportion, for a frac-

tional part of a township or of a lot, to be paid at the time of

sales, on failure of which payment the said lands shall again be

offered for sale.

"There shall be reserved for the United States out of every

township, the four lots, being numbered 8, 11, 26, 29, and out

of every fractional part of a township, so many lots of the same

numbers as shall be found thereon, for future sale. There shall

be reserved the lot No. 16, of every township, for the main-

tenance of public schools within the said township; also, one-

third part of all gold, silver, lead, and copper mines, to be sold,

or otherwise disposed of, as Congress shall hereafter direct."

 

 

 

Appendix No. 2.-(In Congress, July 23rd, 1787, I. v. L. U.

S. 573.)

The report of a committee, consisting of Mr. Carrington,

Mr. King, Mr. Dane, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Benson amended to

read as follows, viz:

"That the board of treasury be authorized and empowered

to contract with any person or persons for a grant of a tract of

land which shall be bounded by the Ohio, from the mouth of

Scioto to the intersection of the western boundary of the seventh

range of townships now surveying; thence, by the said boundary

to the northern boundary of the tenth township from the Ohio;

thence, by a due west line to Scioto; thence, by the Scioto to the

beginning, upon the following terms, viz: The tract to be sur-



• 136
 

The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.        137

 

veyed, and its contests ascertained, by the geographer or some

other officer of the United States, who shall plainly mark the

said east and west line, and shall render one complete plat to the

board of treasury, and another to the purchaser or purchasers.

The purchaser or purchasers, within seven years from the

completion of this work, to lay off the whole tract, at their own

expense, into townships and fractional parts of townships, and

to divide the same into lots, according to the land ordinance of

the 20th of May, 1785; complete returns whereof to be made to

the treasury board. The lot No. 16, in each township or frac-

tional part of a township, to be given perpetually for the pur-

poses contained in the said ordinance. The lot No. 29, in each

township or fractional part of a township, to be given perpetu-

ually for the purposes of religion. The lots Nos. 8, 11, and

26, in each township, or fractional part of a township, to be

reserved for the future disposition of Congress. Not more than

two complete townships to be given perpetually for the purposes

off a University, to be laid of by the purchaser or purchasers, as

near the center as may be, so that the same shall be of good land,

to be applied to the intended object by the legislature of the

State. The price to be not less than one dollar per acre for the

contents of the said tract, excepting the reservations and gifts

aforesaid, payable in specie, loan office certificates reduced to

specie value, or certificates of liquidated debts of the United

States, liable to a reduction by an allowance for bad land, and

all incidental charges and circumstances whatever: Provided,

That such allowance shall not exceed, in the whole, one-third of

a dollar per acre. And in making payment the principal only of

the said certificates shall be admitted, and the board of treasury,

for such interst as may be due on the certificate rendered

in payment as aforesaid, prior to January 1, 1786, shall issue

indents for interest to the possessors, which shall be receiv-

able in payment as other indents for interests of the existing

requisitions of Congress; and for such interest as may be due on

the said certificates between that period and the period of pay-

ment, the said board shall issue indents, the payment of which

to be provided for in future requisitions, or otherwise. Such of

the purchasers as may possess rights for bounties of land to the

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138       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

late army, to be permitted to render the same in discharge of the

contract, acre for acre: Provided, That the aggregate of such

right shall not exceed one-seventh part of the land to be paid

for: And provided also, That there shall be no future claim

against the United States on account of the said rights. Not less

than 500,000 dollars of the purchase money to be paid down upon

closing of the contract, and the remainder upon the completion

of the work to be performed by the geographer or other officer

on the part of the United States. Good and sufficient security

to be given by the purchaser or purchasers for the completion of

the contract on his or their part. The grant to be made upon the

full payment of the consideration money, and a right of entry and

occupancy to be acquired immediately for so much of the tract

as shall be agreed upon between the treasury and the purchasers.

"Ordered, That the above be referred to the board of treas-

ury to take order."

 

 

Appendix No. 3.-The following is the letter referred to,

of Cutler and Sargent, to the board of treasury, dated New

York, July 26, 1787:

"We observe by the act of the 23d instant, that your honor-

able board is authorized to enter into a contract for the sale of a

tract of land therein described, on certain conditions expressed

in the act. As we suppose this measure has been adopted in

consequence of proposals made by us in behalf of ourselves

and associates, to a committee of Congress, we beg leave to in-

form you that we are ready to enter into a contract for the pur-

chase of lands described in the act, provided you conceive your-

self authorized to admit of the following conditions, which, in

some degree, vary from the report of the committee, viz:

"The subordinate surveys shall be completed as mentioned

in the act, unless the frequency of Indian irruptions may render

the same impracticable without a heavy expense to the company.

"The mode of payment we propose is, half a million of

dollars when the contract is executed; another half a million

when the tract, as described, is surveyed by the proper officer of

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The Scioto Company and Its Purchase.        139

 

the United States, and the remainder in six equal payments,

computed from the date of the first payment.

" The lands assigned for the establishment of a University

to be nearly as possible in the center of the first million and a

half of acres we shall pay for; for, to fix it in the center of the

proposed purchase, might too long defer the establishment.

"When the second payment is made, the purchasers shall

receive a deed for as great a quantity of land as a million dollars

will pay for, at the price agreed on; after which we will agree

not to receive any further deeds for any of the lands purchased,

only at such periods, and on such conditions, as may be agreed

on betwixt the board and the purchasers.

"As to the security, which the act says shall be good and

sufficient, we are unable to determine what those terms may

mean, in the contemplation of Congress, or of your honorable

board; we shall, therefore, only observe that our private for-

tunes, and that of most of our associates, being embarked in the

support of the purchase, it is not possible for us to offer any

adequate security but that of the land itself, as is usual in great

land purchases.

"We will agree so to regulate the contract that we shall

never be entitled to a right of entry or occupancy, but on lands

actually paid for, nor receive any deeds till our payments amount

to a million of dollars, and then only in proportion to such pay-

ment. The advance we shall always be under, without any for-

mal deed, together with the improvements made on the lands,

will, we presume, be ample security, even if it was not the in-

terest as well as the disposition of the company to lay the foun-

dation of their establishment on a sacred regard to the rights of

property.

"If these terms are admitted, we shall be ready to conclude

the contract."

By a resolution of 27th of July, 1787, it was "Ordered that

the above letter from Manh. Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, to

the board of treasury, containing proposals for the purchase of

a tract of land described in the act of Congress of the 23d in-

stant, be referred to the board of treasury to take order: Pro-

vided, That after the date of the second payment therein pro-

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140       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 3   posed to be made, the residue shall be paid in six equal and half yearly installments, until the whole thereof shall be completed, and that the purchasers stipulate to pay interest on the sums due from the completion of the survey to be performed by the geographer."

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The Early Judiciary of Ohio.          141

 

 

THE   EARLY    JUDICIARY, EARLY LAWS AND BAR

OF OHIO.

 

A proper study of the early judicial system and early laws

of our State carries us to a period when, as a part of the great

Northwest Territory, we were under control of the Federal

Government.

On the 13th day of July, 1787, the Congress of the United

States passed the ordinance for "The Government of the Terri-

tory of the United States, Northwest of the River Ohio."

Relative to the judiciary, the ordinance provided, "There shall

be appointed a Court to consist of three Judges, any two of

whom to form a Court, who shall have a common law jurisdic-

tion, and reside in the district, and have each therein a freehold

estate in five hundred acres of land, while in the exercise of

their offices, and their commissions shall continue in force dur-

ing good behavior. The Governor and Judges, or a majority of

them, shall adopt and publish in the district, such laws of the

original States, criminal and civil, as may be necessary, and best

suited to the circumstances of the district, and report them to

Congress, from time to time, which laws shall be in force in the

district until the organization of the General Assembly therein

unless disapproved of by Congress; but afterward, the Legisla-

ture shall have authority to alter them as they shall see fit."

The ordinance conferred no authority on the Governor and

Judges to make laws, but only to adopt and publish such of

those in force in the original States, as might be necessary and

suitable to the circumstances of the district. Acting under the

provisions of the ordinance, Congress on the 16th day of Octo-

ber, 1787, just one hundred and three years ago yesterday, ap-

pointed Samuel H. Parsons, John Armstrong and James M.

Varnum, Judges for the new territory. Judge Parsons was a

native of Connecticut, and a graduate of Harvard University.

He was admitted to the bar in 1759, and afterward served many

years as a member of the Connecticut Legislature. His bi-

ography credits him with the distinction of having "originated

the plan of forming the first Congress," which was the forerun-

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ner of the Continental Congress. He was a conspicuous figure

in the Revolutionary war, attaining the rank of Major-General.

He was also one of the military court which tried Major Andre

on the charge of being a spy. At the close of the war he re-

sumed the practice of his profession. In 1785 he was appointed

by Congress a Commissioner to treat with the Miami Indians,

and two years later, was appointed one of the Judges of the

new territory.

Judge Armstrong resigned after a few months' service on

the bench. He was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and at the

beginning of the Revolutionary war was a student at Princeton

College, which he left to join the American Army. It is

charged that while he was in the army he wrote the celebrated

Newburg letters for the purpose of increasing the discontent

already existing among the officers, andwhich had grown to

such proportions that it required the personal efforts of General

Washington to quell it. After resigning his judicial position,

he retired to his farm, and for many years devoted himself to

the pursuit of agriculture. He was subsequently United States

Senator and Minister to France, and the author of several

standard works.

Perhaps the most able and brilliant of the three Judges,

who first presided over the courts of the Northwest Territory,

was Judge Varnum. He was a native of Massachusetts and a

graduate of Brown University, and like his associates on the

bench, was a soldier of the Revolution. At the close of the

war he resumed the practice of his profession and became the

leading lawyer of his State. He was a member of the Conti-

nental Congress, and was recognized by that body as "a man of

uncommon talents and most brilliant eloquence." There is a

published oration which he delivered at Marietta on the 4th day

July, 1788, while a member of the Territorial Court, which

fully sustains his reputation as an orator, and shows him to have

been of scholarly and historical attainments. No fact concern-

ing the judicial history of the Northwest Territory is more

clearly established, than that the Judges who constituted its first

court, were men of classical education and recognized ability as

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The Early Judiciary of Ohio.           143

 

lawyers, and thoroughly equipped for the discharge of their

judicial duties.

Upon the resignation of Judge Armstrong, Congress ap-

pointed John Cleves Symmes his successor. He was a native

of New York, served as a delegate in the Continental Congress,

and was a distinguished Judge in New Jersey at the time of his

appointment on the territorial bench.  As the appointments

which had been made by Congress, under the Articles of Con-

federation, expired upon the election of a president, Washing-

ton, after his election to that position, reappointed those persons

who had previously been appointed by Congress. Consequently,

Judges Parsons and Symmes were reappointed Territorial

Judges. At the same time William Barton was appointed to

the position made vacant by the death of Judge Varnum. Judge

Barton declined the position, and George Turner was appointed

to take his place. Shortly thereafter, Judge Parsons died, and

Rufus Putnam, so well known in American history as General

Rufus Putnam, was appointed his successor. He held the posi-

tion for several years, and then resigned to accept the office of

Surveyor General. He was succeeded on the bench by Joseph

Gillman. In 1798, Judge Turner resigned and Return Jonathan

Meigs was appointed his successor. He was a native of Con-

necticut, and a graduate of Yale College. His career was the

most brilliant and eventful in the cluster of names which adorn

the history of the Northwest territory. He afterward became a

Supreme Judge of Ohio, Governor of the State, United States

Judge in Michigan, a General in the war of 1812, a United States

Senator and a member of the Cabinet of Presidents Madison and

Monroe.

The Territorial Court, as organized under the provisions of

the ordinance of 1787, lasted till 1799. While some of the acts

adopted during this period were designed to meet the peculiar

demands of those early times, many of them embodied the prin-

ciples of a permanent and enduring judicial system.

The first law was passed by Governor St. Clair and Judges

Parsons and Varnum, and was entitled, "A law for regulating

and establishing the militia in the Territory of the United

States, Northwest of the River Ohio, published at the City of

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Marietta on the 25th day of July, in the Thirteenth year of the

Independence of the United States, and of our Lord, 1788, by

His Excellency, Arthur St. Clair, Esquire, Governor and Com-

mander-in-Chief, and by the Honorable Samuel Holden Parsons

and James Mitchel Varnum, Esquire, as Judges."

A difference of opinion arose between the Governor and

Judges concerning the extent of their powers in adopting laws,

the Governor maintaining that they could only adopt such laws

as were in force in some State; but the Judges out-voted the

Governor and the matter was subsequently referred to Congress,

which sustained the Governor's opinion. The second law which

was passed, provided for establishing county courts of Common

Pleas, and the power of single Judges to hear and determine

upon small debts and contracts, and for establishing the office of

Sheriff; and that there should be created in each county a Court

styled the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, which was to

be held four times a year in each county. The act also provided

that a number of suitable persons, not exceeding five nor less

than three, should be appointed in each county and commis-

sioned by the Governor under the seal of the territory, to hold

and keep a court of record, to be styled the County Court of

Common Pleas, and that said court should be held at two fixed

periods in each county in every year and at the same places

where the general courts of Quarter Sessions were held. This

law was promulgated on the 23rd of August, 1788, and the first

court in the Northwest territory was the Court of Common

Pleas, which commenced on the first Tuesday of September of

the same year. The following interesting account of the open-

ing of this court, purports to have been given by one who wit-

nessed the ceremony:

"On that memorable first Tuesday of September, the citi-

zens, Governor St. Clair and other Territorial Officers and Mili-

tary from Fort Harmar being assembled at the Point, a proces-

sion was formed, and, as became the occasion, with Colonel

Ebenezer Sproat, Sheriff, with drawn sword and wand of office

at the head, marched up a path which had been cut through the

forest, to the hall in the Northwest Block House of Campus

Martius, where the whole counter-marched, and the Judges,

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The Early Judiciary of Ohio.           145

 

Putnam and Tupper, took their seats on the high bench.

Prayer was fittingly offered by our friend, the Reverend Manas-

seh Cutler, who was on a visit to the new colony, after which

the commissions of the judges, clerk and sheriff were read, and

the opening proclaimed in deep tones byColonel Sproat, in these

words: '0, yes! a court is opened for the administration of

even-handed justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and

the innocent, without respect of persons; none to be punished

without trial by their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws

and evidence in the case.' This was the opening of the Court

of Common Pleas. The Indian Chiefs, who had been invited by

Governor St. Clair to attend the convention, were curious wit-

nesses of this impressive scene."

On the second Tuesday of the same month was held the

first session of the Court of Quarter Sessions, of which Hildreth

says: " Court was held in the Southeast Block House occupied

by Colonel E. Batelle. It was opened with the usual proclama-

tion of the sheriff, but not until the commission of the judges

had been read by the clerk. General Rufus Putnam and General

B. Tucker were appointed justices of the quorum, and Isaac

Pearce, Thomas Lord, R. G. Meigs, assistant justices. Meigs

was clerk. Paul Fearing was admitted as an attorney to plead

in all the courts in Washington county, being the first lawyer

ever admitted to practice in the Northwest Territory. He was

also appointed by the Court attorney for the United States in

Washington county. The Grand Jury consisted of the follow-

ing person: William Stacy, Nathaniel Cushing, Nathaniel Good-

ale, Charles Knowles, Aselm Tupper, Jonathan Stone, Oliver

Rice, Ezra Lunt, John Matthews, George Ingersol, Jonathan

Devol, Samuel Stebbins, Jethro Putnam and Jabez True. Wil-

liam Stacy was made foreman. The charge to the jury was

given "with much dignity and propriety by Judge Putnam."

At one o'clock the Grand Jury retired and the Court adjourned

for thirty minutes. At half past one the Court again opened,

when the jurors entered and presented a written address to the

Court, which, after being read, was ordered to be kept on file.

Judge Putnam made a reply to the address. There being no

 

Vol. III-10

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146       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3

 

suits before the Court, it was adjourned without day. This

closed the first Court of Quarter Sessions in the new territory."

One week after the publication of the law creating the Court

of Quarter Sessions, the act establishing a Probate Court was

promulgated. On the 6th of September, 1788, there was pub-

lished " a law respecting crimes and punishments." It defined

and provided the punishment for treason, murder, manslaughter,

arson, burglary with theft, burglary with personal violence,

burglary with homicide, robbery, riots and unlawful assemblies,

perjury, subornation of perjury, punishment for obstructing

authority, receiving stolen goods, larceny, forgery, usurpation,

assault and battery, and drunkenness, the penalty for the last

offense being a fine in the sum of five dimes for the first offense,

and for every succeeding offense the sum of one dollar, and " in

either case upon the offender's neglecting or refusing to pay the

fine, he was set in the stocks for the space of one hour."

The act also contained the following provisions concerning

the use of improper and profane language:

"WHEREAS, Idle, vain and obscene conversation, profane

cursing and swearing, and more especially the irreverently men-

tioning, calling upon or invoking the sacred and Supreme Being,

by any of the divine characters in which He hath graciously

consented to reveal His infinitely beneficent purposes to man-

kind, are repugnant to every moral sentiment, subversive of

every civil obligation, inconsistent with the ornaments of pol-

ished life, and abhorrent to the principles of the most benevolent

religion. It is expected, therefore, if crimes of this kind should

exist, they will find no encouragement, countenance or approba-

tion in this territory. It is strictly enjoined upon all officers and

ministers of justice, upon parents and other heads of families,

and upon others of every description, that they abstain from

practices so vile and irrational; and that by example and pre-

cept, to the utmost of their power, they prevent the necessity

of adopting and publishing laws, with penalties, upon this head.

And it is hereby declared that government will consider as un-

worthy its confidence all those who may obstinately violate these

injunctions."

And the following relative to the religious observance of the

Sabbath:

"WHEREAS, Mankind in every stage of informed society,

have consecrated certain portions of time to the particular culti-

• 146
 

The Early Judiciary of Ohio.           147

 

vation of the social virtues, and the public adoration and wor-

ship of the common-parent of the universe; and whereas, a

practice so rational in itself, and conformable to the divine pre-

cepts is greatly conducive to civilization and piety; and whereas,

for the advancement of such important and interesting pur-

poses, most of the Christian world have set apart the first day

of the week as a day of rest from common labor and pursuits, it

is, therefore, enjoined that all servile labor, works of, necessity

and charity only excepted, be wholly abstained from on that

day.

Among other important acts which were adopted was one

directing the building and establishing of a court house, county

jail, pillory, whipping-post and stocks in every county.

Another, subjecting real estate to execution for debt. In

Chase's Statutes appears this foot note:  "These laws from

Chapter 37 to Chapter 74, inclusive, have been commonly known

to the profession as the 'Maxwell Code.' They were adopted

and published in Cincinnati in 1795 by Governor St. Clair and

Judges Symmes and Turner."

Another was a law to prevent unnecessary delays in causes

after issue joined. Still another, limiting the time of com-

mencing civil actions and instituting criminal prosecutions, was

passed December 28, 1788. "This law," says Chase, "was dis-

approved by Congress, May 8, 1792." Another law on the same

subject was adopted in 1795, which was repealed by the terri-

torial legislature as unconstitutional. No law on this subject

was afterward enacted until 1803, when the state legislature

passed an act of limitation.

An act of special interest to the legal profession of the

present day regulated the fees of the officers of the court, in-

cluding attorneys. It allowed a judge in the general court, for

allowing a writ of error, sixty-two and one-half cents; for every

supersedeas, thirty-seven and one-half cents; the same for taking

bail; for taking an affidavit, twelve and one-half cents; admit-

ting a counselor-at-law, or attorney, one dollar and twenty-five

cents; licensing a counselor-at-law, or attorney, three dollars and

seventy-five cents.

The following were some of the fees allowed the Attorney-

General: Entering every cessal processus or nolle prosequi for

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each defendant, sixty-two and one-half cents; every indictment

per sheet, eighteen cents; fee on trial, three dollars; for trial of

every capital cause where life was concerned, eight dollars.

To attorneys in a general court, it allowed for a retainer fee,

three dollars and fifty cents, but where several suits were

brought upon one note or bond, no more than one retainer fee

was allowed; drawing warrant of attorney, twenty-eight cents;

drawing of processus and returns, twelve and one-half cents; for

argument on special motion, one dollar and twenty-five cents,

while to attorneys in the Court of Common Pleas, it allowed the

following: Drawing warrant of attorney, twelve and one-half

cents; every motion, twenty-five cents; drawing a declaration

and other pleadings, per sheet, containing seventy-two words,

twelve and one-half cents, and every copy thereof, six cents per

sheet.

This act distinguished between counselors-at-law and at-

torneys-at-law, and between the practitioner at the General

Court and the Common Pleas Court. By the year 1790, the

business of the courts had grown to such an extent that an act

was passed increasing the number of terms of the Common

Pleas Court in each year from two to four, and the number of

Common Pleas judges to not less than three or more than seven.

Other important acts were adopted, such as the act regulat-

ing marriage, a law for the partition of lands, a law respecting

divorce, a law authorizing the judges to subdivide the counties

into townships; and here we find for the first time in our judicial

history a recognition of those small political subdivisions.

The ordinance of 1787 provided, that as soon as it was

proven that there were five thousand free male inhabitants of

lawful age in the district, they should be authorized to elect rep-

resentatives to the general assembly. How the proof was to

be made does not appear, but in 1798, Governor St. Clair issued

his proclamation that the territory contained the requisite num-

ber of free male inhabitants, and called upon the people to elect

representatives, the proportion of representatives being one to

every five hundred voters; but no one could be a representative

unless he had been a citizen of the United States for three years

and a resident of the district, or unless he had resided in the

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The Early Judiciary of Ohio.         149

 

district for three years, and in either case he must own in fee

simple two hundred acres of land within his district.

The general assembly consisted of the Governor, a legisla-

tive council, and a House of Representatives. The council con-

sisted of five members, who held their office for five years, unless

sooner removed. They were selected in the following manner:

The representatives who were elected by the people met at the

time and place designated by the Governor, and nominated ten

persons, each of whom were required to be a resident of the

district and possess a freehold estate in five hundred acres of

land, and the names of these ten persons were sent by the repre-

sentatives to Congress, and Congress selected five out of the ten

and appointed them to serve as members of the council. The

members of the council and house of representatives met at Cin-

cinnati on the 16th of September, 1799, and organized the first

general assembly of the Northwest territory, at which time the

authority of the Governor and judges to adopt and promulgate

laws ceased, and the territory was thereafter governed by laws

passed by the territorial general assembly. Edwin Tiffin was

elected Speaker of the House of Representatives and Henry

Vanderberg was elected President of the Council.

In commenting upon the character, ability and general

worth of the men who constituted this general assembly, Judge

Burnett, in his notes on the Northwest Territory, says: "In

choosing members to the first territorial legislature, the people

in almost every instance selected the strongest and best men in

their respective counties. Party influence was scarcely felt, and

it may be said with confidence, that no legislature has been

chosen under the State government which contained a larger

proportion of aged intelligent men, than were found in that

body. Many of them, it is true, were acquainted with the forms

and practical duties of legislation, but they were strong-minded,

sensible men, acquainted with the condition and want of the

country, and could form correct opinions of the operation of any

measure proposed for their consideration.

One of the most important duties which devolved upon the

assembly was to elect a representative of the territory to the

National Congress. William Henry Harrison and Arthur St.

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Clair, junior, were the candidates. The former received twelve

votes, while the latter received ten. Mr. Harrison was accord-

ingly declared elected.

The first act passed at this session of the general assembly,

was one approving and declaring to be in force, certain acts

which had previously been adopted by the Judges and the Gov-

ernor.

The second act passed-which was on the 29th of October,

1799-was one regulating the admission and practice of attor-

neys and counselors-at-law, the first section of which provided

for the applicant obtaining a license to practice, from the Gov-

ernor of the territory, which admitted him to practice as an

attorney-at-law according to the laws and customs of said terri-

tory, during his good behavior, and authorized him to receive

such fees as might be established; and required all judges, jus-

tices, and others concerned to respect him accordingly; but he

could not receive such license from the Governor until he had

obtained a certificate signed by two or more of the judges of the

general court, setting forth that he had been regularly examined;

but before he could be examined, he was required to produce a

certificate that he had regularly and attentively studied law

under the direction of a practicing attorney, residing within the

territory for the period of four years. This act, like the one

adopted by the Governor and Judges, retained the distinction

between counselor and attorney-at-law, and their admission to

practice at the general term and Court of Common Pleas. It

gave the judges of the General court, and of the several Com-

mon Pleas courts, power to punish in a summary way, according

to the rules of law and the usages of the courts, any and every

attorney or counselor-at-law who should be guilty of any con-

tempt in the execution of his office, and every attorney or coun-

selor-at-law who received money for the use of his client and re-

fused to pay the same when demanded, could be proceeded

against in a summary way, on motion.

On November 3, 1800, the second session of the first gen-

eral assembly met at Chillicothe and adjourned on the 9th of De-

cember following.

The second general assembly held its first session at Chilli-

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The Early Judiciary of Ohio.          151

 

cothe, commencing on the 23rd of November, 1801, and ending

on the 23rd of January, 1802. Edward Tiffin was again elected

Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Robert Oliver

was elected President of the Council.  Notwithstanding the

assembly adjourned to meet in November following, a second

session was never held, for the reason that soon after the

adjournment of the first session, a census was taken of the

population of the Eastern Division of the territory, and it was

found that it exceeded forty-five thousand persons. Thereupon,

an appeal was made to Congress, that the inhabitants of the

Eastern Division be authorized to call a convention and form a

constitution with the view of establishing a State government.

Congress passed an act authorizing the convention to be held,

and as the result, a constitution was adopted and a State formed,

and admitted into the Federal Union.

The convention which framed the first Constitution of our

State met at Chillicothe on the first Monday of November, 1802.

It was expeditious in its work, for on the 29th of the same

month it adjourned, having adopted a Constitution without sub-

mitting it to the people for ratification. Concerning the judiciary

it contained the following clause: "The judicial power of the

State, both as to matters of law and equity, shall be vested in a

Supreme Court, Court of Common Pleas for each county, in

Justices of the Peace, and in such other courts as the Legislature

may, from time to time, establish.

It further provided, that the Supreme Court should consist

of three judges, auy two of whom should be a quorum; that

they should be appointed by a joint ballot of both Houses of the

General Assembly, and should hold their office for the term of

seven years, if so long they behaved well.

The first General Assembly of the State of Ohio convened

at Chillicothe on Tuesday, March 1st, 1803.  On the 15th of

April following, it passed a general act providing for the organi-

zation of "Judicial Courts," and abolished all courts which had

been established during the existence of the Territorial Govern-

ment. During the session, the convention elected the following

State officers: William Creighton, jr., Secretary of State;

Thomas Gibson, Auditor; William McFarland, Treasurer, while

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Return Jonathan Meigs, jr., Samuel Huntington and William

Sprigg were elected Judges of the Supreme Court, and Francis

Dunlavey, Wyllys Sillman and Calvin Pease, Judges of the Dis-

trict Courts.

The second General Assembly met on December 5th, 1803.

On February 18, 1804, it amended the act of the first General

Assembly providing for the organization of the courts. On the

same day it passed an act " regulating the duties of Justices of

the Peace and Constables, in criminal and civil cases," making

their jurisdiction co-extensive with their counties in criminal

matters, and with their townships in civil causes, which is still

the provision of our statutes. It also prescribed the forms which

should be used by the Justices in their practice, and with little,

if any change, they are still used.

The third General Assembly began its session on December

3, 1804. The first act which it passed related to crimes and pun-

ishments. On the 12th of February, 1805, a general act was

passed defining the duties of Justices of the Peace and Con-

stables, and repealing all former laws in force on that subject.

Among other things, this act provided that Justices should have

jurisdiction in civil cases to the amount of fifty dollars without

the right of jury trial.  Subsequently, Judges Huntington

and Todd of the Supreme Court, and Pease of the Common

Pleas Court, who afterward was on the Supreme Bench, held

this provision of the law to be in conflict with that section of the

Federal Constitution, which provides that " in suits at common

law when the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars,

the right of trial by jury shall be preserved." The court also

held the act to be in conflict with that clause of the State Con-

stitution providing that "the right of trial by jury shall be in-

violate." Out of this decision arose a most interesting and ex-

citing proceeding.  The indignation of the public toward the

Judges who rendered the decision, was violent and almost unre-

strained. It was asserted that the judicial branch of the gov-

ernment was invading the domain of the legislature, and assum-

ing legislative powers, and such conduct was not to be tolerated

even from the Supreme Court. In consequence of the bitter

feeling among the members of the General Assembly, that body

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The Early Judiciary of Ohio.          153

 

undertook to impeach the Judges who had rendered the decision.

The records of the proceedings show that on December 24, 1808,

the following message was sent from the House of Repre-

sentatives:

"The House of Representatives having instructed the man-

agers appointed to conduct the impeachment against Calvin

Pease, Esquire, President of the Third Circuit of the Court of

Common Pleas of this State, to proceed to the bar of the Senate

with the articles of impeachment against the said Calvin Pease,

Esquire, and there demanded that the said Calvin Pease, Es-

quire, be put to answer the said articles of impeachment ex-

hibited against him." Committees were then appointed to pre-

pare and report the method of proceeding in the conduct of

the trial. On December 27, the Managers on the part of the

House, took seats assigned them  within the bar, and the

Sergeant-at-Arms made proclamation of the trial in the follow-

ing words: "0, yes! 0, yes! 0, yes! all persons are commanded

to keep silence under pain of imprisonment, while the grand

inquest of the State is exhibiting to the Senate of Ohio, articles

of impeachment against Calvin Pease, President of the Courts

of Common Pleas of the Third Circuit." The articles were then

read. In the course of the trial, the Sergeant-at-Arms was

directed by the Speaker to call Calvin Pease, Esquire, three

several times in the following manner, to appear and answer:

"Hear ye, Hear ye, Hear ye, Calvin Pease, President of the

Court of Common Pleas of the Third Circuit, come forward and

answer the articles of impeachment exhibited against you by the

House of Representatives." Articles were drawn up against

each of the Judges. The one against Pease contained three

distinct charges, while that against Todd contained but one.

Judge Harrington in the meantime had been elected Governor,

and for that reason the charges against him were not pressed.

The accused were each furnished copies of the charges and then

filed their answers. Several days were spent in the trial. In the

Senate Journal of 1808-9 appears this short, but interesting

record: "High Court of Impeachment, Monday, February 6th.

The State of Ohio vs. Calvin Pease." The court was opened

by proclamation. Ordered, that the Clerk notify the House

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of Representatives that the Senate is in their public chamber

and ready to proceed farther with the trial of impeachment of

Calvin Pease, President of the Courts of Common Pleas of the

Third Circuit of this State. The Managers accompanied by the

House of Representatives, attended. The respondent with his

counsel also attended on the first article of impeachment.

The clerk took the opinion of the members of the court,

respectively, in the form following: Mr. -, how say you,

is the respondent, Calvin Pease, guilty or not guilty, of the

high crime or misdemeanor as charged in the first article of

impeachment?" The respondent was unanimously acquitted on

the first charge. The Clerk then took the opinion in the same

way of each member on the second article of impeachment.

Fifteen members voted "guilty " and nine "not guilty". Where-

upon, the Speaker declared that "Calvin Pease, President of the

Courts of Common Pleas of the Third Circuit of this State, is

acquitted of all the charges contained in the articles of impeach-

ment exhibited against him by the House of Representatives,"

and the court adjourned without day. The proceedings against

Judge Tod were then commenced and lasted several days, the

vote standing as it did in the case of Judge Pease.

The business of the courts kept pace with the rapid com-

mercial developments of the new State and the increase in its

population. The members of the Supreme Court were required

to travel the circuit, and as there were no carriages or railroads,

they were compelled to go on horseback, and in the absence of

the modern turn-pike or even the old corduroy road, the journey

was undesirable and frequently hazardous.

For many years the annual salary of a Supreme Judge was

only eight hundred dollars, but neither the corduroy roads nor

the small salary were permitted to stifle the social side of the

court, and there is abundant evidence that the good nature of

the dignified judges sometimes manifested itself in ways that

were calculated to develop social amenities at the expense of ju-

dicial gravity. I am indebted to Senator Sherman for the follow-

ing incident, who recently related it to me and authorized its use

in this connection. Judge Hitchcock had often said that circum-

stantial evidence was stronger than direct evidence, for the rea-

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The Early Juniciary of Ohio.          155

 

son that " witnesses will lie and you can not prevent it, but cir-

cumstantial evidence never lies." It was one of the Judge's

peculiarities that he was greatly averse to card playing. Once

when the Judges were holding court in Columbus, they all occu-

pied one room at the hotel. One evening after Judge Hitchcock

had retired, several members of the bar called, and "old sledge"

and "whiskey poker" were indulged in until a late hour. When

the callers had departed, one of the judges opened Judge Hitch-

cock's valise, and taking out a soiled garment wrapped it around

a well-worn pack of cards, and then replaced it in the valise.

The next day the judges went to their homes, when Mrs. Hitch-

cock (as the Judge afterward told the other members of the

court) opened his valise for the purpose of getting his wash, and

was horrified at discovering the pack. She was convinced that

the Judge had learned to "play," and in great distress went to

him and said: " Peter, Peter, what have you been doing? It is

too bad, and I never would have thought it of you; see what I

have found in your shirt!" At the same time exhibiting the

cards. Judge Hitchcock told it to the other judges as a joke,

when one of them remarked that it might have been a joke, but

the circumstantial evidence seemed complete. The judge saw

the point and thereafter had less to say about the weight of such

testimony.

In the preface to Wright's Reports is the following state-

ment made by that excellent judge, relative to the labors of the

Supreme Court at that time: " The Supreme Court of Ohio is

now composed of four judges, the largest number the Constitu-

tion permits. The Constitution requires a court to be holden

once a year in each county, and makes any two of the judges a

quorum. A legislative act imposes upon the judges the duty of

holding every year a court in bane at the seat of government.

* * * The principal result of this organization of the court

is, that the Supreme Court is generally held in the several coun-

ties by two judges only. The judges relieve one another to suit

their own convenience, so dividing their labor that each may per-

form one-half of the circuit duty. The duties imposed on this

Court are so great as to make this relief necessary, for it would

be difficult to find men of sufficient physical ability to partici-

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pate in all of them. These judges now hold court in seventy-

two counties each year, requiring 2250 miles travel. The num-

ber of cases on their trial dockets in 1834 was 1459. The judges

are occupied in bane from three to four weeks annually. If that

time and Sundays are deducted from the year and the usual

allowance is made for travel, the Court, to clear its docket,

would be under the necessity of deciding on an average, about

seven cases a day for each remaining day of the year."

To relieve the pressure upon the courts it became necessary

to increase the number of Supreme Judges and to create new

Courts of Common Pleas. There were thirty Judges of the

Supreme Court under the old Constitution, which covered a

period of forty-nine years. The decisions of the Court were not

published by legislative authority and in permanent form until

1823, when the first volume of the Ohio Reports was issued.

The earlier judges who graced our Supreme bench were

Huntington, Meigs, Sprigg, Todd, Symmes, Scott, Morris,

Irwin, Brown and Pease, two of whom, Huntington and Meigs,

were afterward Governor of the State. Following these were

McLean, afterward a Cabinet officer and a Justice of the

Supreme Court of the United States; then Couch, and Burnett,

who was afterward a United States Senator; and Hitchcock, who

occupied the position for twenty-eight years-longer than any

man before or since his time. Then came Sherman, the father

of the General and Senator, who died while on the bench, at the

early age of forty-one. Then Gustavus Swan, the uncle of Jos-

eph R. Swan, who was on the same bench under the new Con-

stitution; then Hayward, Goodenow, Brush, Wood and Wright.

They were followed by Collet, Lane, Grimke, Birchard, Read,

Avery, Spalding, Caldwell and Ranney. These were all able

judges, but some of them were especially eminent, and their

opinions made the Court distinguished throughout the entire

country. But the reputation of the bar was equal to that of the

bench, and many of the greatest lawyers of our State practiced

under the old Constitution. Among the earlier names which be-

came illustrious was that of William Creighton, of Chillicothe.

He was educated at Dickinson College; where he was a fellow-

student of the great Tanney, afterward Chief Justice of the

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The Early Judiciary of Ohio.          157

 

United States. He was especially distinguished as a jury law-

yer. He served many years in Congress, and was an intimate

friend of Daniel Webster. I have heard it said that if Mr. Web-

ster had reached the Presidency, Mr. Creighton would have been

a member of his Cabinet.

Another great member of the Chillicothe bar was Benjamin

F. Leonard. He was a man of profound learning in the law and

all kindred subjects. Then came a cluster of names which will

forever remain unsurpassed for their learning, eloquence and

wit, every element, in fact, which enters into consideration in

the make-up of a great lawyer. Among them was Samuel F.

Vinton. Like others who helped to make our State illustrious,

he was born in New England. He graduated at Williams Col-

lege and settled in Gallipolis in 1816. He was elected a Repre-

sentative in Congress in 1823 and served for fourteen years. He

was again elected in 1843 and served eight years, in all a period

of twenty-two years. His greatest legal effort was his argument

in the case of the commonwealth against Garner and others, be-

fore the Supreme Court of Virginia, in 1845. Peter M. Garner,

Mordecai Thomas and Graydon J. Loraine were citizens of the

State of Ohio, while John H. Harwood resided in Wood county,

Virginia, and was the owner of slaves. On the 9th of July,

1845, some slaves, intending to escape from Harwood, crossed

over the Ohio River in a canoe to the Ohio shore, where said

Garner, Thomas and Loraine met them and were in the act of

assisting them from the canoe and up the river bank, when they

were all arrested, taken to Virginia, imprisoned, and subse-

quently indicted. As the arrest was made on the Ohio side

of the river, the only question in the case was, what was the

extent of Virginia's jurisdiction over the rivers.  The case

attracted national attention. Mr. Vinton, in his argument,

claimed that the jurisdiction of Virginia did not extend on the

north side of the river beyond low water mark. He asserted

that Virginia never had an ownership in the Northwest Terri-

tory, first, because the charter which King James granted in

1609, and which was claimed as the source of Virginia's title,

did not include land which lay beyond the Ohio, or west of the

Allegheny Mountains; and, second, if the grant was originally

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broad enough to embrace the land lying within the Northwest

Territory, the charter which the King granted to Virginia had

been revoked by the Court of King's Bench in 1824, " when a

judgment was rendered against the corporation, canceling the

patent and ordering the franchises of the charter resumed by

the crown."

The argument of Mr. Vinton in this case will always be

classed among the greatest arguments of the greatest American

lawyers. As an historical production it was overwhelming, and

absolutely unanswerable. It was delivered to twelve judges,

and by a majority of one, the decision was in his favor. Simeon

Nash of Gallipolis was also a distinguished lawyer and judge,

but his reputation chiefly rests upon being the author of Nash's

Pleadings. William Allen of Chillicothe was another man who

won his way to distinction at the bar. He afterward was United

States Senator and Governor of Ohio.

Greatest, perhaps, of all, were Ewing, Stanbury and Corwin.

Whether their fame rests wholly upon their distinction at the bar

or not, it is certain they fill the largest horizon and occupy the

greatest places in history of any lawyers which our State has

produced. Each rose from humble birth to a place in the Na-

tion's cabinet; and great as they all were, each was without a

peer in his especial field.

Ewing's intellect was strong and rugged. He would have

been a great natural lawyer had he never seen a law book, a

great logician had he never seen a work on logic. Nature made

him to be an expounder of the law. If his arguments were

somewhat devoid of ornament, it was because they needed no

ornament; they were too great to be ornate.

Mr. Stanbury was a broader scholar than Mr. Ewing. Mr.

Ewing was master of the rough logic of nature, while Mr. Stan-

bury was always equipped in the armor of the books. He was

a thorough student of the law, and always knew the decisions

of the courts. Strong as he was in this particular, another ele-

ment of his strength was his unrivaled eloquence and the purity

of his diction.

Mr. Corwin was not the equal of either Mr. Ewing or Mr.

Stanbury as a lawyer in the strict sense of that word. Neither

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The Early Judiciary of Ohio.           159

 

were either of them his equal in his special adaptation. It is

questionable if he ever had a superior as an advocate before a

jury. The burning eloquence and impassioned oratory with

which he swayed a popular audience - at one time making his

hearers weep, in the next convulsing them with laughter, and

then in an instant filling them with awe at the grandeur and

sublimity of his rhetoric-was always at his command in the

trial of a jury cause.

Among the many members of the legal profession who came

in an early day to our young State and made it their future home

and afterward became famous lawyers, Salmon P. Chase was the

most conspicuous. His edition of the Revised Statutes of Ohio

was an invaluable compilation, and could not have been prepared

by any but the most careful and thorough lawyer. It contains a

preliminary history of Ohio which is the best ever written. The

career of this great man fully sustained the promise of his early

life. He was a member of President Lincoln's Cabinet, and for

many years was a conspicuous figure in the Republic, and died

as the Chief Justice of its Supreme Court, the peer of his illus-

trious predecessors.

It would be interesting to mention the great judges who

have adorned our Supreme Bench under the present Constitu-

tion, among whom Ranney and Thurman would be entitled to

special notice; and also interesting to dwell at length on the

many lawyers who have risen to eminence and fame since the

adoption of that instrument; among whom are Stanton, Waite,

Swayne, Matthews, Groesbeck, Perry, Hoadly, Pugh, Hunter,

Taft, Harrison, Boynton, Shellebarger, Hutchins, West, Ambler

and others; but my theme relates to our early judiciary and early

bar, and precludes me from coming beyond the adoption of the

present Constitution. Much as Ohio has to be proud of, and

great as her position is in the National Union, nothing has con-

tributed more to her greatness and the permanency of her insti-

tutions, than her early judiciary and early bar.

DAVID K. WATSON.

• 159
 

160       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3   Following Mr. Watson's address, several short speeches were made, after which Mr. Graham repeated somewhat briefly his illustrated address on the " French Discoveries and Claims in America." This done, a reception was held, and the exercises for the day closed. The next day, the Sabbath, the Centennial day, was properly and fittingly observed in all the churches. In the afternoon, in the opera house, Rev. Washington Gladden preached the anniversary sermon. This sermon, as well as ab- stracts of those preached in the pulpits of the city churches, conclude this part of the volume.

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Remarks of Gov. James E. Campbell.        161

 

 

REMARKS OF GOVERNOR JAMES E. CAMPBELL.

It was a long-deferred pleasure one year ago, on the 19th of

October, to make my first visit here. I learned after arriving

that it was an auspicious day, being the ninety-ninth anniversary

of the landing upon the banks of yonder river of the little band

of French settlers who founded this handsome and flourishing

city. During an address to the people, who gathered on that

occasion to hear the political discussion of the then existing

campaign, I said, in a half-jocular way, that I would return in a

year as Governor of the State to celebrate the city's centennial.

In response to that promise, and your subsequent courteous in-

vitation, my military staff and myself have come to participate

in these interesting ceremonies. We are here rather to be seen

than heard.

The programme announces that I am to deliver an address,

but the unexpected and overwhelming labors of the last fort-

night have absorbed my time to the exclusion of anything but

official work, and I am, therefore, obliged to confess that I have

no address-that the little I am to say must be without prepara-

tion. I am simply a gleaner in the field that has been harvested

so well by those who have preceded me.

The French settlers who came here a century ago were, as

we all know, not the first French settlers in the Ohio valley, for

the lilies of France had floated to the breeze, both on the Ohio

and the Mississippi, a hundred years before. They were found

north of the great lakes, and around the southern bayous.

Parkham has happily described it by saying that "French Amer-

ica had two heads; one among the snows f Canada, the other

among the cane-brakes of Louisiana!" Northern Ohio was

occupied by French fur traders as early as 1680. They were

scattered along the lake from the Maumee to the Cuyahoga.

Forty years before the settlement of Gallipolis the English

settlers were warned out of Ohio by the French commander,

and formal possession taken in the name of Louis Fifteenth by

burying leaden plates along the Ohio river, engraved with ap-

propriate inscriptions. The bloody and picturesque drama of

Vol. III-11

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frontier settlement was participated in by French officers of vari-

ous dates.

But the French who came here a century ago, did not come

under the auspices of the French Government. They expatrat-

ed themselves, and left their allegiance and friends behind them.

They came not for conquest, nor for glory, but were in a sense

refugees from the bloody wars then raging in their own country.

They sought quiet homes, peaceful pleasures, and frugal but

contented lives. They and their careers have been accurately

and graphically depicted by your fellow townsman who ad-

dressed himself to that part of the subject yesterday. He has

told in elaborate detail of the fraudulent titles and false pictures

of pioneer life that brought them here; of their departure full

of the enthusiasm that characterizes the mercurial and versatile

Gaul; their shipwreck at sea; their landing at Alexandria, then

one of the most important points of the infant republic; of

their troubles after landing; their correspondence with Washing-

ton about the titles to their lands; of their western trip, and

their landing here in the beautiful autumn season; of their in-

aptitude, by reason of their former habits and customs, for the

hardships and struggles of their new home. All this has been

recited, and to repeat it now would be but a work of supereroga-

tion.

The history of Gallipolis and the surrounding country from

that day to this has doubtless been well told here under the title

of "A Century and its Lesson," by a distinguished citizen of

the oldest city in Ohio. The history of your people for the cen-

tury is the history of all the people of Ohio. In the beginning

there were the dangers from savages; from fever and ague, and

the climatic diseases of a new country. They lived in the same

log huts, with the same puncheon floors; were clothed in the

same deer-skin garments; used the same hewn furniture; ate the

same hoe-cake, fish and game; indulged in the same shooting

matches, bear-hunts and militia musters, as all the other pioneers

in the other counties of the State. The men were of sturdy

stock, and the women were fit mothers for the generations that

were to follow.

As they lived here upon the banks of the river they saw

• 162
 

Remarks of Governor James E. Campbell.      163

 

many changes. They saw the first steamboat, the "Orleans,"

pass down in 1811. Some thought it was a comet, and some

that the British had come; and to all it was a wonder, a marvel.

In 1812 (a year later), they went with McArthur's regiment to

fight the British. From that day to this the citizens of Galli-

polis have done their part as Americans and Buckeyes, adding to

the glory and greatness of their State and country in peace and

in war. Some of them went to Mexico and helped to bring the

"Lone Star" and the "Golden Gate" into the sisterhood of the

republic. Hundreds of them, during the last war, did their full

share in restoring their country to its integrity, and were a

glorious part of the three hundred and twenty thousand names

which Ohio wrote upon the muster roll of the Union. Your

people have taken their part in the field of statesmanship and

letters. They have been guided by lofty patriotism and high in-

telligence; and as they gather here to-day by the thousands,

with all the evidences of culture and wealth-the product of

American school houses and churches-they fitly represent the

free institutions which have arisen from the hopes, ambitions,

and successes of the pioneers who gathered here one hundred

years ago.

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RIO GRANDE COLLEGE-REV. J. M. DAVIS,

PRESIDENT.

When asked but a few hours ago to take part in the exercises

of this forenoon, I gladly consented; for, in my opinion, no inter-

est that has been developed in Gallia county in the first century

of its settlement is more worthy of being brought to remem-

brance and notice than its educational interests, and my connec-

tion for a number of years with Rio Grande college enables me

to set forth briefly its history and present condition. Other

gentlemen, who have given much time and research to the task,

have given an account of the public and other schools of this

city and of the county in general. I will confine my remarks to

the institution just named.

Shortly after the war of 1812, Nehemiah Atwood, a native

of Shenandoah county, Virginia, a man who had done honorable

service as an officer in the American army, settled in this county.

In 1819 he was married to Permelia Ridgeway, daughter of David

Ridgeway, who had come to Gallia county from South Carolina

in 1803. Mr. Atwood and his wife settled upon a farm near

where the present village of Rio Grande stands, and the remain-

der of their long and active lives was spent in the same neighbor-

hood. Without children, with good health, industry, economy,

and more than ordinary business qualifications, they accumulated

in about thirty years an estate of one hundred thousand dollars.

About 1850 a new personal force began to make itself felt

in the vicinity of their home, and we are called to notice a man

who afterward became one of the most useful and honored

citizens that this county has ever had. Rev. I. Z. Haning,

a native of Athens county, and a student of the Ohio University,

came as an evangelist into Huntington and Raccoon townships,

and under his divinely blessed labors a profound and extended

religious reformation took place, the good results of which are

yet visible in many forms.

Mr. and Mrs. Atwood listened to his teaching, were con-

verted to Christ, and from that day forth lived a new life. They

became studious and constant workers in their church and



• 164
 

Rio Grande College.                165

 

Sunday-school. They contributed largely to the building of

a meeting house near their home, and gave two thousand dollars

as an endowment fund to aid in the support of regular preaching

at this church for all time. They gave financial assistance

to the organized charities of the church to which they belonged,

and to a school at Albany, Ohio, called after that the Atwood

Institute.

As a result of their growing conceptions of Christian benevo-

lence, and influenced by the advice of Mr. Haning, they finally

decided to give their estate for the founding and endowment of

a college in the place where they had spent the most of their

lives and accumulated their fortune. Mr. Atwood died in 1869,

before any steps had been taken toward carrying out this plan.

At the invitation of his widow, Mr. Haning soon afterward

removed to Rio Grande, and action was taken toward the erection

and opening of the college. The college building costing, $17,000,

and the boarding hall, costing $13,000, were erected, and the

college opened in September, 1876.

A few weeks before its opening, the founder executed her

will, bequeathing her entire estate for its endowment. This

estate, which came into the possession of the college trustees

upon her death in 1885, now amounts to about $66,000.

The college has been in continued and successful operation

since its opening; and at the present, with its fine buildings and

grounds, its income equal to the economical but vigorous man-

ner in which it is carried on, its established character for thorough

work and for the inculcation of those principles which are the

prime essentials in all the true manhood and womanhood, and

with a warm place in a large and growing portion of our people, is

one of the things that, as citizens of Gallia county, we can look

upon with the deepest gratification as we recount the progress

of a century and take account of the things that make the com-

ing years bright and hopeful.

It is our privilege to rejoice in the fact that our city and

county are sharing richly in all the elements of welfare to be

found in a highly developed social condition. We have left the

pioneer days behind us.

The clearing of the forest, the opening of roads, the bridg-

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ing of streams, the building of comfortable places for residence,

business, instruction, and worship have been accomplished.

Already, we are not only in the possession of schools and

churches, but have entered upon the day of orphanages, hos-

pitals and asylums.

All that a complex Christian society can do for the pleasure

and improvement of adults, for the culture of the young, for the

relief of the suffering and for the care of the unfortunate, has

its foundation already laid in this county. In matters pertaining

to higher education, we have not been entirely outside the great

movements of thought and beneficence that have done so much

for the advancement of learning in our country in the last thirty

years.

What great and happy things of this kind we can recount.

The wise and munificent benefactions of George Peabody have

shed a lustre on his name that is only surpassed by the richness

of the benefits they have produced. The John F. Slater fund,

in the management and disbursement of which one of the best

citizens of our State, ex-president Hayes, is doing himself addi-

tional honor and his fellow-citizens additional service, is one of

the greatest and best gifts of this kind. A citizen of New York,

in the building of Cornell University, has reared a noble monu--

ment to his name.

The Johns Hopkins University, at Baltimore, has leaped into

vigorous being and is doing a great work toward that which its

own president has pointed out as the true office of all higher in-

stitutions, the work of "bestowing upon society continual acces-

sions of highly-trained and liberally-educated young people,

capable of contributing to human welfare not only in the tradi-

tional professions but in all the complex affairs of modern life

which require the application of intellectual force to difficult and

often unexpected problems."

On our Pacific coast a United States Senator now has it in

mind and hand to establish, upon a financial basis of twenty

million dollars, an institution in which any person may pursue

any line of profitable study possible to the human mind.

To these larger and more noticeable gifts are to be added

the numerous smaller but not less praiseworthy and useful gifts.

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Rio Grande College.                167

 

all over the country that of late years have enlarged the resources

of existing institutions and founded a multitude of new ones,

thus bringing the facilities for learning to almost every door in

the land.

I repeat, it is something that may well move our gratitude

to-day, that among all its other elements of progress and pros-

perity, Gallia county has also had a share in those gifts and

works that look toward the highest intellectual and moral possi-

bilities of its sons and daughters. We may well rejoice that

among our many worthy citizens in the past there have been

some who labored and planned for these things; that out of the

abundant wealth created by honorable toil from the material re-

sources of this county, every acre of which except the little spot

where these meetings are held was an undeveloped wilderness a

century ago, one goodly portion of one hundred thousand dollars

has been sacredly set apart for the work of higher Christian edu-

cation. Looking at this fact, taking into consideration the his-

tory and work of the other schools of the county, to be pre-

sented to you by others, and firmly believing that these institu-

tions will be fostered and enlarged by the wisdom and benevolence

of our citizens in all coming days, the only feelings possible to

my mind as I join with you in this centennial celebration are

gratitude for the past and high hopes and purposes for the future.

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"THE EDUCATIONAL LESSONS OF THIS HOUR."

REV. H. A. THOMPSON.

I appreciate the high honor done me by your Chairman in

the invitation which he has extended me to speak for a few

moments. I must tell you in advance that I am not on the pro-

gram for the day; that I have no speech prepared for your lis-

tening ears. I am here as a member of the Ohio Historical

Society, whose members are the guests of your committee. I

am here for the first time in your beautiful little city to rejoice

with you in the good fortune which has come to it, and to you,

in being able this day to celebrate its one hundreth anniversary.

Such occasions are fraught with interest and profit to us all. In

the olden time the Jews were annually required to go to Jerusa-

lem, the capital city, to keep the feast of the passover. As the

children of the household saw the preparation made for this re-

markable feast they would naturally inquire what it all meant.

The sacred historian instructed the master of the household how

to answer:  "When thy son asketh thee in time to come saying

what mean the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments

which the Lord, our God, hath commanded you, then shalt thou

say unto thy son, we were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and

the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the

Lord showed signs and wonders great and sore upon Egypt,

upon Pharaoh and upon all his house before our eyes; and he

brought us from thence that he might bring us in to give us the

land which he swear unto our fathers; and the Lord commanded

us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord, our God, for our

good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is this day.

And it shall be righteousness unto us if we observe to do all

this commandment before the Lord, our God, as he hath com-

manded us."-Deut. VI., 20.

So as your children sit with you to-day on these seats, lis-

tening to the addresses made and witnessing the parades and

displays, they shall want to know what it all means; and then

you can interest them in the history of the nation as they have

never been interested before. It will be your work to recount

• 168
 

The Educational Lessons of this Hour.    169

 

to them the deeds of your ancestors, the sufferings endured, the

privations undergone, to help build up this glorious republic,

where every man can work out his own destiny untrammeled by

the customs and traditions of the old world; a land in which

above all other lands we recognize the truth uttered by Scot-

land's humble, though illustrious singer:

"What though on hamely faer we dine,

Wear hoddin, gray and a' that;

Gye fools their silks and knaves their wine

A man's a man for a' that."

 

And not only will the young people thus be taught to love

their country, and to make themselves more worthy of the her-

itage which it is theirs to enjoy, but those of us who are older

and who can better appreciate our advantages, may well in this

sacred spot, made sacred not only by the presence of those who

came here one hundred years ago, but later still by those noble

patriots who fought to save this nation from dismemberment,

consecrate ourselves anew to our country's good, and to be citi-

zens worthy of such illustrious ancestors.

I have listened, as you no doubt have also, with intense

pleasure to the distinguished gentleman who has discoursed to

us so eloquently of the "Lessons of the Century," as well as to

the gentleman who followed him in his interesting sketch of the

college you have planted in your midst. I think it is Cotton

Mather, the New England historian, who says that one of the

first things our Puritan fathers thought of after their settlement

in the American wilderness was the founding of a college, that

their children might not grow up in ignorance, nor their churches

be without pastors, and that the cause of religion and education

might be advanced among them. Your ancestors looked to your

welfare in planting a college in your county and you will prove

yourselves degenerate sons of worthy sires if you do not rally

about it and make it a place whither your sons and daughters

may go to receive that training which shall fit them for the

duties and responsibilities of this life and the enjoyments of the

life to come. By the help which you can give it, it will revolu-

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tionize your county and give you a citizenship excelled by none

in the land.

As I listened to the lessons of the century I tried to look

forward to see what they taught us as to the destiny of our own

fair land. Surely the reign of bloodshed and of cruel war in

which the nations of the olden time indulged must now be over.

The sword must no longer be the arbitrament of nations, since

the "Prince of Peace" has come proclaiming peace on earth

and good will to all men. We have outgrown our infancy and

are now marching forward to a grander and richer civilization.

We have made such a conquest of matter as men never saw be-

fore; the forces of nature have been harnessed as in no other

age to do our bidding. The masses have broken through the

debris that has kept them down; they have burst asunder the

trammels that bound them and the reign of the common people

has commenced. Never have the possibilities of manhood been

greater and never has there been such a field for the manifesta-

tion of man's noblest powers as in this land whose citizenship

we honor to-day. Never before has it meant so much to live.

The very air is thick with questions that teem with interest, and

that demand a solution at our hands. While men never lived

with greater possibilities they never rested under greater re-

sponsibilities. We cannot rest satisfied with the fact that we are

growing in wealth; that our forests have been subdued, our

lands tilled and our population enlarged. To whom much is

given of these shall much be required. The problems of civil

government have not all been solved. We are to show the

nations of the earth such an example of enlightened citizenship

as they have not yet seen. We are to be a beacon light to those

that sit in darkness showing them the way out of their disabili-

ties into the coming light. We are to show them that a govern-

ment of the people, for the people, and by the people is to be

the most permanent as it is the freest form of civil government.

Let us see to it that we make of this people a nation whose God

is the Lord. Not only our own destiny but the destiny of other

peoples is in our hands. Let us see to it that we are worthy of

the high trust which God and our fathers have committed to us.

When our descendants shall come one hundred years hence to

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The Educational Lessons of this Hour.     171   celebrate this anniversary may they find a great nation without a peer; whose rulers rule in righteousness, a terror to evil doers and a praise to them that do well; a people true to their highest convictions of duty and yielding rightful homage to Him who is the King of kings and the source of all human government.

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REMARKS OF R. D. MARSHALL, ESQ.

Your presiding officer has called on me, owing to some de-

lay in the arrival of trains, which has delayed the forming and

moving of the procession, to address you for a few minutes, and

has charged me with being a speaker of some note, and as he

has placed me on trial before you on that charge, I feel pretty

certain that when you have heard me, you will promptly acquit

me of the charge, as it was not my expectation to address the

people here, for I came to see and hear, and not to talk.

This is my first visit to your city, and those of you who

know the place so well, with its beautiful surroundings, no

doubt think that my traveling in this respect has been sadly

neglected.

One hundred years ago! What a change! When the 600

pioneers, or thereabouts, landed here one hundred years ago, if

this city as it is now could have then met their gaze as they

floated down the Ohio river, how different would have been their

feelings from what they were under the circumstamces at that

time? In place of the log cabins, uninhabited, that then met

their gaze on their first visit to this place, I, on my first visit,

look upon a beautiful city of more than 12,000 inhabitants.

We are now, I am told, holding this meeting on the grounds

where stood the log cabins that met the gaze of your ancestors

when they arrived here, but instead of log cabins, you now have

this beautiful park; the Ohio river sweeps on the south side

of it just as it did one hundred years ago, but, on the bosom of

that river now float the magnificent steamers that we see at your

wharfs, instead of an occasional flat-boat; and in place of the

thick forest that then covered these grounds, you now have this

fine park, your level streets, miles in length, built up on either

side with fine business blocks, or beautiful residences. What a

change! But all this had a beginning, and that beginning was

one hundred years ago to-day, and under circumstances that

would have appalled a less heroic people.

Among the pioneers that landed here, most, if not all of

them, knew but little about such hardships, as were to stare

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Remarks of R. D. Marshall, Esq.          173

 

them in the face, and had but little idea how to contend with, or

overcome the same. Again, they had been deceived as well as

defrauded. But, among these, your pioneers, there were heroes

and heroines, there were brave men and brave women, and they

have left their footprints here which we are looking at now, ad-

miring and honoring, for

 

"Lives of great men all remind us,

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us,

Footprints on the sands of time."

 

You men will pardon me, if I should give even more credit

to the women than to the men, for whilst under trying circum-

stances men are frequently so courageous as to make them great,

women under similar circumstances become not only great, but

almost reach sublimity with their greatness.

Said a great thinker, "The greatest and grandest words

known to anyone, are mother, home, and heaven." This is a

sentiment that I fully endorse, and may farther add, the one you

all have, or have had, and it would be better that a mill stone

were tied to your neck, and that you were planted in the bottom

of the Ohio river, than that you should at any time, by any act

or word, bring shame or dishonor upon that name. The second,

every one should strive to have and secure, if he can honorably

do so. And the third, we are assured by Him, who makes no

promise that He can not and will not fulfill, that we can finally

reach if we are worthy of it.

Your respected townsman, Colonel Vance, has requested me

to speak of the Miami Valley, and its early history. Such a task

ought not to be attempted without a preparation commensurate

with the subject. And again it seems to me that there is but

one person that I know of in Ohio, who can do the Miami Val-

ley and its early pioneers justice, and that person is Judge Joseph

Cox, of Cincinnati; he knows its history, and knows it as fully

and correctly as if he had grown up with its every movement

since its first discovery by the white man, and its history,

growth and progress should be written by him, and not by a

novice like myself. It is true that there are some things that I

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know about that great valley. A wag once said of it: "It is

God's country, for if it were otherwise, he never would have

made it so rich, so beautiful and so productive."

Will it be considered too facetious for me at this time to say

that this valley produces larger corn, and a greater abundance

thereof, than did Egypt at the time Joseph garnered it there in

anticipation of the many years of famine; and in its early his-

tory it had its pioneers, its heroes and heroines, and yet at this

day it is not without its noted men. As you are aware, the Gov-

ernor of this great State of Ohio, who is with us to-day, was

born and reared in this valley, and his ancestors lived there long

prior to his birth. And the Lieutenant Governor, who is also

with us, comes from   Logan County; the head-waters of the

river from which the valley takes its name, are located in this

county. To this county my maternal ancestors moved at an

early date, and endured the trials and hardships of pioneer life.

In this county my grandmother, with gun in hand, took com-

mand of the fort and stockade built near the Miami river, about

eight miles west of Bellefontaine, and in which fort were placed

the pioneer women and children of that day, whilst her husband,

with other men along that valley, rushed to the front, after

Hull's surrender; and it is said of her, being surrounded by In-

dians as they were, that her courage, coolness and heroism under

these trying circumstances were so noted, that she was afterward

spoken of as " Heroic Betsy."    But it is not my purpose to

speak of anything that would come so near personal, and I only

refer to this as one of the matters that is spoken of by one of

the pioneer writers of Ohio.

But I notice that the Governor of Ohio, with his staff, and

the Governor of West Virginia, with his staff, are already

mounted, and the band begins to play, and the procession is be-

ginning to move, and you, like myself, will want to witness the

grand display of the moving thousands in this procession.

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Remarks of J. V. Jones.            175

 

 

REMARKS OF J. V. JONES, ESQ.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:- It would hardly be proper for

me to say " fellow-citizens," for the reason of having been absent

from your county for nearly fifty-eight years. During that time

many changes have been wrought in the city of Gallipolis and

Gallia county. Eighty-one years ago a young married couple

might have been seen slowly wending their way on horseback

down the slopes of the Blue Ridge and foot-hills of the Allegheny

Mountains of Virginia toward the beautiful Ohio River as it swept

majestically past the town of Gallipolis, or the "City of the

French." These young people brought all their worldly goods

with them on horseback and settled north of this city, some-

where near what is now known as "Kerr Station," on the river

division of the Columbus, Hocking Valley and Toledo Railroad.

The names of these young adventurers were James Jones and

Priscilla Jones, nee Blagg. After remaining in old Gallia county

for about twenty-three years they, with a family of nine children,

of whom your speaker was one, removed northward to the great

valley lying between the Sandusky and Maumee Rivers, and

bounded on the north by the beautiful Lake Erie. This great

forest valley was the hunting grounds of Indian tribes, known

as the "Senecas" and "Wyandotts." Our evening serenades in

the grand old forests were not the handsomely-uniformed bands

of music you have here on this Centennial occasion, but were

the whooping of the hunting bands of Indians, the hooting of

the night owl and the howling of the wolves. There we lived in

the rude log cabin, and lived one corn bread and the wild game of

the grand old forests. It was there that we received a common

school education in round log school houses, daubed with mud

and with greased paper for window lights and rude benches made

from split logs. But your speaker, one of the descendants of

that family, has lived to see the wilderness and the solitary

places be made glad and the desert places to rejoice and blossom

as the rose.

The Indians have gone to their happy hunting grounds, the

bear and the wild-cat have fled from advancing civilization, the

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forests have given way to countless thousands of beautiful and

productive farms, the log cabins have disappeared and their

places filled with beautiful farm houses. And in place of the

log school houses and churches we now have beautiful wood,

brick and stone structures with their spires pointing heaven-

ward. Then the Sandusky and Maumee rivers and the beautiful

Lake Erie were dotted only by the Indian's canoe and the

trader's small craft. Now they carry the commerce of the great

Northwest, assisted by the railroads, to the markets of the East--

the cities of New York, Baltimore, Boston, and from there to the

markets of the old world. In the great valley of the Northwest

we slumbered for more than fifty years over mines of wealth in

what was once known as the great "Black Swamp." Natural

gas and pools of oil lay buried beneath us in vast quantities,

which have lately been developed into sources of luxury and

great wealth. Natural gas is now used as fuel in thousands and

millions of homes and manufactories, bringing wealth and pros-

perity to many persons who were formerly in poverty and mod-

erate circumstances.

And now, my friends, after an absence of nearly fifty-eight

years, I have returned to join with you in celebrating the one

hundredth anniversary of the first settlement of the city of

Gallipolis in 1790. My return, after an absence of so many

years, is almost like coming back from the grave. In that period

time has wrought wonderful changes, and I see but one old land-

mark in this large audience that I recognize, and that one is the

venerable old pioneer and patriot, William Waddell, who in the

early days of his manhood was a dear friend of my departed

father, and who will soon join him in a more beautiful land than

this in the country far away.

In returning to the grand old county of Gallia and the his-

toric city of Gallipolis to participate in this grand and beautiful

display and celebration, I feel like one treading the streets of an

historic city, as a stranger in a strange land. Yet I am mindful

of the fact that behind me rolls the majestic Ohio River, its

waters bathing the shores of Ohio and West Virginia; before me

are the grand old hills of Gallia, my native heath; under this

pavillion is assembled youth, beauty and old age, while I am like

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Remarks of J. V. Jones.              177

 

one who stands alone in some banquet hall deserted, and, like

the soldier on the hill, I turn to take a last fond look at the

scenes of my childhood, the beautiful Ohio River, the grand old

hills, the valley and the country church, and the remains of the

old cottage by the brook.

Joy and sadness are strangely mingled on this occasion.

Here I recall the sweet reminiscences of the child-life, which

illumined the past, and touched the hours with golden light.

Memory lingers upon the solemn bridge beyond which in my

childhood I played, and in which I still see little faces flushed

with laughter and childish sports; their little voices prattling in

melodious heavenly music. I thank you, my friends, for invit-

ing me to address you on this occasion, and for your attentive

listening. I will remember it as one of the pleasant scenes of

my life, and in memory of which I will often think of the good

people of this city and surrounding country and the beautiful

hills of Gallia, the place of my childhood.

Thanking you again, my friends, for this compliment and

your close attention, I bid you good-bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vol. III-12

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MIGRATIONS AND THEIR LESSONS.

 

SERMON PREACHED IN THE OPERA HOUSE, SUNDAY, BY WASHINGTON

GLADDEN, OF COLUMBUS.

By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place

which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing

whither he went.-Heb. ix, 8.

This is the first notice in ancient records of that great

movement westward which occupies so many chapters of the

history of the human race. From that unknown country named

Ur of the Chaldees, Terah, the father of Abraham, had already

journeyed westward, bringing his household to Haran; here

they tarried for a little, and here it was that Abraham heard the

divine call and went forth to the land of Canaan. A mighty

river, the Euphrates, rolled between him and his destination;

two days' journey brought him to its banks. Nothing daunted,

he made his way across, perhaps at that point where the great

river is still forded; and when he had gained the other shore he

had won his cognomen of "Hebrew"-the man who had

crossed. Weary days of desert journeying were yet before him,

but the divine voice was still calling him, and he pushed steadily

forward, halting for a little in the bright valley of Damascus,

but resting not till his tent was pitched at Bethel, and he looked

abroad from the hill tops upon the fertile plains and smiling val-

leys of the land that was to be his inheritance, and where that

great nation which should spring from his loins was to have its

seat.

Abraham's migration was undertaken for a different reason

and with a higher purpose than that of many of his contempor-

aries and successors; nevertheless he was moved with the cur-

rent. Where that Semitic race to which he belonged had its

origin may not be clearly known. We find it first in the lower

valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris, whence, moving north-

westward and southwestward, it populated Babylonia, Syria,

Phoenicia and the rest of Canaan. Even the ancient Egyptians

were not an autochthonic race. Their features, their languages

link them with Asia rather than with Africa. They, too, were a

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Migrations and Their Lessons.            179

 

people who had come in the early dawn of prehistoric times

from the East.

Those successive migrations of our own Aryan tribes from

their nest in Asia westward over Europe I need only stop to

mention. From the remotest antiquity we see these people

moving in vast masses toward the setting sun, one column fol-

lowing another at intervals of time which no monuments or

memorials seem to mark; the Hellenic and the Latin groups

flooding the Mediterranean peninsulas, and pausing before the

mighty barrier of the Alps; the Kelts, the Teutons, the Slavs,

moving northwestward in their order, expelling the Aborigines,

and, in time, subjugating one another. It would seem that the

configuration of the northern temperate zone of the Eastern

Continent was favorable to such movements; for the vast cen-

tral plains of Eastern Asia are prolonged westward through

Russia, Northern Germany and Holland; and a man can walk,

says one authority, from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, across

Asia and Europe, without encountering any elevation of more

than a few hundred feet, or any stream which it is difficult to

ford. But when these Aryan peoples had poured their floods

for uncounted centuries over Europe, which was their Promised

Land; when they had overspread its plains and possessed them-

selves of its substance, they found themselves standing on the

shores of a trackless ocean, whose billows, breaking at their feet

in endless mockery, flung back to the rushing tide of humanity

their challenge: " Thus far shalt thou come and no farther, and

here shall thy proud waves be stayed."

For many centuries this watery barrier restrained them.

From the Cantabrian mountain tops, from the low-lying shores

of Brittany, from the rocky coast of Cornwall, or the green hills

of Ireland, they looked away to the westward wondering and

longing. What lands might lie beneath that misty horizon?

Was it true, indeed, that

 

"Sweet fields beyond this swelling flood

[Stood] drest in living green?"

Who should dare to sail forth unto that No Man's Land and

ravish its secret from the unchartered ocean? It was well that

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they waited. Art had time to germinate and fructify, civilization

had room to expand and ripen; in all these European lands,

races were in training for the task of subduing another continent.

In the fullness of time, the word that Abraham heard was

spoken again, and the brave Genoese sailor turned the prows of

his little ships toward the setting sun, and sailed away, not

knowing whither he went, but greatly hoping to find beyond the

sea a land which he should receive for an inheritance. How

steadily, during the four centuries that have elapsed since Colum-

bus landed on our western coast, the tide of migration has

flowed hitherward, I need not spend any time in showing. There

may be, at this time, one hundred of millions of people upon

this Western Continent, in North and South America; of these,

probably not more than ten millions are natives of the soil; ninety

millions are the dsscendants of men who came across the sea.

Of these ninety millions, eight or nine millions are the offspring

of those who came, much against their will, in the holds of

slave ships, victims of the cruelty and cupidity of the stronger

race; and there are a few hundred thousand Semites, the

descendants of Abraham whose Promised Land, far away in the

heart of the other continent, was the first stage of this secular

progress; but the great mass of these inhabitants of the New

World belong to that Aryan race, whose teeming millions have

been hurrying westward ever since the dawn of time. From

the mountain slopes and broad plateaus of Central Asia-from

the cradle of the human race-these eager, adventurous throngs

have come. Past the snowy heights of the Himalayas, over the

ridge of the Ural Mountains, across the steppes of Tartary, and

along the shores of the Caspian and the Black Seas, they have

thronged into Germany and France and Spain and England and

Scandinavia; here, dividing into tribes, each with a tongue of

its own (though all these tongues are kindred), here tilling fields,

sinking mines, building cities, and hence, on the wings of the

wind and the vapor, flying over the sea to this Western Conti-

nent, to rear on this fresh soil, as we hope and trust, a nobler

fabric of social order than any they have left behind.

And here, too, the power that brought them still compels

them. The Pilgrims were scarcely landed on the New England

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Migrations and Their Lessons.          181

 

coast when they began to push their way out westward into the

interior. Within twenty years after the Mayflower anchored in

Plymouth harbor, there were several prosperous settlements on

the Connecticut river, a hundred miles inland, though the

savages resisted the advance at every step, and every town was

stockaded for defense against the midnight foe. And ever since

that day the tide of emigration has been flowing steadily west-

ward-westward-over the Appalachian range, down the valley

of the Ohio, along the borders of the Great Lakes, across the

teeming prairies, over the Rockies and the Sierras to the western

shore. That mighty movement of the people westward, west-

ward, which began long before Abraham took up his journey

from Haran toward Canaan, has been going on ever since; all

the greatest nations of the earth have taken part in it; in the

path of this movement have arisen all the splendid monuments

of civilization; our own highways are trembling yet with the

tread of its triumphant host.

Is not this phenomenon worth looking at, soberly, for a little

while this afternoon ? May we not safely infer that a process of

this nature, stretching through untold centuries, covering two

continents, spanning one stormy ocean, enlisting more or less

directly all the great nations of modern history, is a process with

which Providence has something to do? One need not be a very

strong Calvinist to believe that such vast on - goings as these are

provided for in the plans of an omniscient Ruler.

What are the causes of this great movement of the peoples?

They are many and various. The forces which impel families

and tribes to go forth from their country and their kindred unto

lands more or less dimly shown them in prophetic vision are of

many kinds, and operate in diverse ways. Not seldom the great

law of population operates to produce these movements of the

people.  Population, according to the Malthusian statement,

always tends to increase more rapidly than subsistence; hunger

drives forth hordes of men to seek a livelihood in fresh fields and

pastures new. This law operates even where the population is

sparse and the resources of nature not at all developed.  The

southward movements of the Gothic tribes upon the cultivated

lands of Southern Europe may have been due in part to this

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cause. The lands they left behind were by no means exhausted

by cultivation, but they depended mainly on pasturage, and

therefore needed far more land than modern agricultural people.

Many of the movements of the Aborigines upon our own soil

may have been produced by this cause. When the game had

disappeared from its territory the tribe must move on to unoccu-

pied lands. Indeed, the less civilized the people, the greater the

need of frequent migration. Two or three acres will support a

skillful farmer or gardener; the primeval hunter and fisherman

cannot live on less than two or three thousand acres. And we

may well suppose that the population on the central steppes of

Asia, growing faster than their subsistence grew, were thrust out

of their nests, in larger and smaller numbers, and started on their

westward journeyings. The pressure of population upon sub-

sistence being relieved by each exodus, the tribes left behind

multiplied faster than ever, and soon a new swarm was ready to

go forth from the hive.

In our own time, great movements of population have been

due to the failure of the means of subsistence. The Irish famine

of 1846-7 started a tidal wave of emigration to this country, and

the current thus set in motion has been kept flowing by other

causes. And while the great emigrations of modern years toward

this hemisphere have not generally been due to famine or starva-

tion in the old countries, they have resulted in considerable part

from the over-crowdings of those countries, and from the expec-

tation, on the part of the emigrants, of finding larger wages,

ampler opportunities and better prospects for themselves and

their children in this land than in the homeland.

Other causes have constantly been operating. Wars of con-

quest and ambition, and the burdens caused by war, drive many

of the sons of peace forth from their homes to seek residence in

more pacific countries. The militarism of Germany explains

the presence on our soil of hundreds of thousands of the German

people. Political oppression, the domination of privileged classes,

the tyranny of priests and hierarchs hasten the departure from

lands that they love of those to whom liberty is dear. The Pil-

grims of Plymouth, the Roman Catholics of Baltimore were fugi-

tives from ecclesiastical persecutions.  Sometimes these emi-

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Migrations and Their Lessons.            183

 

grants have been social or political idealists with plans for the

reorganization of society to which their native land was not hos-

pitable; and they have sought upon virgin soil a free area for the

development of their ideas. Cabet and his Icarians, Owen and

his New Harmonists, were the leaders of colonies in the interest

of new social schemes.

To all these forces of propulsion by which men have been

driven from their ancestral seats must be added those forces of

attraction by which they have been drawn toward the new coun-

tries. Discoveries of mines of the precious metals, of soils of

phenomenal fertility, of climates serene and delectable, have been

reported to them, and they have been tempted by the prospects

of unwonted gains and enjoyments to separate themselves from

kindred and companions to set up their habitations in distant

lands.

Nor will the external motives-whether of propulsion or of

attraction-account for all these movements. There are powers

within their own breasts that start men upon these journeys.

A native restlessness, a love of novelty, a passion for adventure,

account for many of them. There are men who never could

be quiet long in Paradise; it would take a battalion of angels

with flaming swords to keep them within its bright enclosures.

There are men to whom the order and restraint of civilized

society are irksome; they would rather rove through forests

than travel in highways; they prefer the freedom of the woods

which is the barrenest and poorest sort of freedom, to the free-

dom of the city, which, when its laws are most firmly enforced,

is the completest and most perfect liberty. Such unbridled

spirits are always found in the frontier lines of emigration.

Thus we see how many and varied are the ascertained

forces by which these great tides of population are controlled,

but I think we must add to these another and far more subtle

force-that divine impulse by which all the greater movements

of history must be explained. For while it is true that hunger

and fear, and the love of life, and the love of liberty, and the

love of change, and the impatience of restraint and the greed

of gold, and the ambition to found new empires, and a thousand

other motives have acted upon the minds of men urging them

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into these currents of emigration, yet all over these conflicting

motives, harmonizing them all and bringing order out of them,

is the plan of the all-wise Ruler of the world, who makes the

wrath and the folly and the greed of man to praise him, and

restrains the remainder thereof.

The greatest fact in all these world movements is that they

are fulfilling a design that is more comprehensive and farther-

reaching than wisdom of man could conceive. Those Aryan

peoples, when they started on their journeys from Eastern

Asia, had no more conception of the splendid European and

American civilizations which they were going forth to build,

than the iron ore in the mountain has of the mighty genie

of fire and steam, fashioned from its substance, which will soon

be ploughing the Atlantic main; any more than the spring at the

farthest sources of the Amazon has of the majestic river into

which its tiny fount will grow. This movement westward, ever

westward, was all unconscious. They had some small and dim

purpose of their own, but the great purpose of God they knew

nothing about. There was an instinct, partly human, that

impelled them; but of the divine leadings they were wholly

oblivious. They went forth, not knowing very well whither

they went, not knowing at all why they went. It would have

been very difficult for any careful student of human welfare,

contemplating the whole problem with such light as he could

get, to justify their going. In these later years the case is

greatly altered; a large share of the immigrants who cross from

the old world to the new speedily better their condition; but in

the earlier years this was not the rule. Most of those who then

went forth in search of new homes received, during their life-

time, no adequate reward for their risks and their labors. If you

had measured what they lost and what they suffered against

what they gained and what they enjoyed, the balance, so far as

worldly comfort is concerned, would have been on the wrong

side. They sought, no doubt, to escape from penury and dis-

comfort, and restraint; but they encountered hardships, labors,

miseries, worse than those from which they fled. Half of the

Pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock in December were in

their graves before the violets ever bloomed again upon that

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Migrations and Their Lessons.            185

 

sterile coast. The case with the majority of our early emigrants

and pioneers was not much better. Of one hundred and five

colonists in Virginia in June, 1607, sixty-seven had died before

the next year was ten days old. The winter of 1609 began with

four hundred and ninety persons in that colony and ended with

sixty. Surely this was not a profitable speculation, from the

point of view of individual interest. If it is the highest wisdom

of a man to look out for his own individual interest, these men

were not wise. If they acted upon a calculation of personal

gains and losses, it was a bad calculation. Europe and America

would have been peopled and developed by the Aryan races far

less slowly than they were, if these movements of population

had been guided by prudential and economical considerations.

No! these movements of population were very largely in-

stinctive rather than rational; spontaneous rather than delib-

erate; prophetic more than economic. Sometimes, no doubt,

the chances were calculated and miscalculated owing to defective

knowledge of the facts. The reports which reached the old

countries were not always accurate. Travelers were sometimes

enthusiastic; land speculators were sometimes unscrupulous;

men were beguiled into enterprises which they would never have

undertaken if they had known what perils and what toils were

before them. But most often they were only too eager to believe

the glowing tales that were told them; they were more than half

to blame for the deceit which was practiced on them; they took

but little pains to find out the facts before they set out. The

movement was not rational. It was instinctive.   It was the

fruit of that world-compelling plan by which nations and tribes

and peoples are driven forward in the ways of destiny.

Do we mean, then, to say that Providence decreed all the

sufferings and losses and discomforts of these westward-moving

hosts? That Providence impelled them to enter paths that led

to hardship and famine and disaster? No, I do not dogmatize

about the designs of Providence; how much suffering He has

decreed I will not undertake to say; but it is evident that He

has appointed for men a destiny from which suffering is never

absent, and that the paths which conduct to His most glorious

gifts are paths which lead through toil and trial. The Captain

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of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, and where

the Captain leads His followers must go. And I think that we

can discover, as we study these world-movements, some of those

deep things of God concerning whose meaning it is not wise to

be too confident, but whose manifestations, so far as they come

within the range of our own understanding, are full of stimu-

lating suggestion.

It is evident, to begin with, that these migrations of the

nations furnish a field for the culture of all the more robust vir-

tues. I do not mean to assert that pioneers and emigrants, as a

class, are in these days, or ever were, in all respects exemplary.

They are often persons of coarse fiber and reckless temper; they

are for a time, in the earlier period, beyond the restraint of laws

and social conventions; sometimes they become lawless and

vicious in the extreme. Nevertheless it is certain that many of

those groups who came to America in the last two centuries

brought their moral standards and their social conscience with

them, and established upon these shores a purer type of society

than they had left behind. But all these, whether they be stiff

Puritans or free-living Cavaliers, have need of cultivating and

manifesting the great virtues of courage, of endurance, of self-

sacrifice; to face danger calmly, to bear hardships quietly, to

meet death serenely--these are indispensable qualities in the

pioneer. No such opportunities of heroism come to us. There

are chances enough even for us to be heroic, but they are not

like these. These hand-to-hand encounters with savages and

wild beasts; these fights with frost and flood and pale-faced

famine; these measurings and weighings of the hoarded ears of

maize to make them last till harvest; these lonely marches and

bivouacs in the primeval forest; these persistent struggles with

the fierce wilderness to subjugate its soil - all these are the very

alphabet of heroism for future generations.

Close akin to the pioneer's courage is his faith in the future.

It takes a high order of faith to discern the beauty and bounty of

the ages to come and to be willing to live for them and die with-

out seeing them.   I do not mean to assert that all these pio-

neers have possessed this heroic faith, but that it has lived in the

breasts of many of them their own words bear witness. In the

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Migrations and Their Lessons.          187

 

ancient records of the Plymouth Pilgrims we read that one rea-

son, and not the least reason, of their removal to America was

"a great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good

foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto, for the

propagating and advancement of the Gospel of the Kingdom of

Christ in those remote parts of the world, yea, although they

should be but as stepping stones unto others for the performance

of so great a work." Very few, indeed, of the great army of

pioneers have had any reasonable expectation of enjoying in

their own lifetime the fruits of their own labors. Abraham went

out from Haran to Canaan in hope that the land would some day

belong to his descendants; yet, as Stephen in his speech before the

Sanhedrim so strongly said, "God gave him none inheritance in it;

no, not so much as to set his foot on, and He promised to give it

to him in possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he

had no child; but God spake on this wise, that his seed should

sojourn in a strange land, and that they should bring them unto

bondage and entreat them evil four hundred years; but the na-

tion to which they shall be in bondage will I judge, saith God;

after that shall they come forth and serve me in this place."

After the call to Abraham, in Haran, and the migration of Abra-

ham to Canaan, there were to be hundreds of weary years-

years of nomadic life in Palestine, years of famine, of bondage,

of wandering in the wilderness-before his descendants should

gain full possession of the promised land; but there was the

promise, and Abraham believed the promise and imparted his

own great faith to his children and his children's children, and

this faith never failed them; it upheld them under all the hard-

ships of the Egyptian slavery, and it brought them back, cen-

turies later, to the land which had been promised to their father,

Abraham. This is, no doubt, the most striking instance in his-

tory of the faith of a pioneer and of its influence upon the life

of generations following; but something not unlike it is wit-

nessed in the conduct of many of those who have laid the foun-

dations of great States in toil and tears, hoping that those who

should come after them would reap the fruit of their sowing,

and through their sacrifices enter into security and peace.

And this brings us to one more great motive which the

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migration of nations emphasizes and reveals-the motive which

springs from the solidarity of races; which leads a man to feel

that he is a partner, not only with his coevals, but with his fore-

bears and his posterity; that much of the best part of his gains

and his joys comes from the labors of those who have gone be-

fore him, and much of his most fruitful work must be done for

the benefit of those who shall come after him.

It is when man rises to this height of vision, and sees the

generations all linked together for weal or woe, helpers of one

another's welfare, sharers of one another's misfortune, that he

becomes worthy of that word which defines him as a being of

large discourse, looking before and after. All the greater

motives of our work spring from the realization of these sublime

facts; from our sense of gratitude to those who have gone before

us, and our sense of obligation to those who are coming after us.

These are the truths which are brought home with power to our

minds as we look back upon the lives of our forerunners, and

which, beyond a doubt, were present in the minds of many of

them as they laid the foundations whereon to-day we build.

Such, then, are some of the gains that spring from these

great migrations; they furnish a field for the development of the

robust virtues, they provide a discipline for faith, they strengthen

the bond that binds together the generation.

The connection of these thoughts with this occasion is not,

I trust, obscure. I have not thought it any part of my duty at

this time to undertake the recital of the annals of the colony

that landed on this spot one hundred years ago. That task has

been entrusted to other and more capable hands. It seemed

more fitting that I should rather attempt to connect the found-

ing of this colony with the great historic movement of which it

was a part, that we might discern something of the sweep and

significance of that movement. With how many of these great

purposes of Providence which we have been studying these

colonists consciously connected themselves I do not know;

certain it is that they had a great opportunity of illustrating

upon this soil the robust virtues; and I doubt not their faith and

courage are living here in the lines of their descendants. It was

a stormy time in history when they took their departure from

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Migrations and Their Lessons.          189

 

their native land. On July 14, 1789, the Bastile had fallen, the

first resounding success of the French revolution, the signal of

the destruction of feudal France, and of the coming of a new

regime.

This was more than a political upheaval; it was a social and

economic crisis. France had been cursed and impoverished for

centuries by the most burdensome tyranny; the people were

loaded with debt; agriculture was crushed, trade was crippled,

all industries were paralyzed. The people were striking about

them madly and blindly, caring little who was smitten or what

went down before their wrath, resolute only to make an end of

the existing order. The Bastile was the object of their fury,

but dramatic as its downfall was, it brought no relief from the

present misery. Still the dead hand lay on all the industries of

the nation; still work was scarce and bread was dear though

harvests were abundant, and famine in the midst of plenty

stared the multitude in the face.

"Fair prophesies are spoken," writes Carlyle, "but they

are not fulfilled.  There have been Notables, Assemblages,

turnings-out and comings-in. Intriguing and maneuvering, Par-

limentary eloquence and arguing, Greek meeting Greek, in high

places, has long gone on, yet still bread comes not. The har-

vest is reaped and garnered, yet still we have no bread. Urged

by despair and by hope, what can Drudgery do but rise as pre-

dicted, and produce the General Overturn. Fancy, then, some

Five full-grown millions of such gaunt figures with their hag-

gard faces, in woollen jupes, with copper-studded, leather girths,

and high sabots, starting out to ask, after long unreviewed cen-

turies, virtually this question: How have ye treated us? How

have ye taught us, fed us, and led us, while we toiled for you?

The answer can be read in flames over the nightly summer sky.

This is the feeding and leading we have had of you; EMPTINESS

of pocket, of stomach, of head and of heart. Behold there is

nothing in us; nothing but what Nature gives her wild children

of the desert; Ferocity and Appetite; Strength grounded on

Hunger. Did ye mark among your rights of men that man was

not to die of starvation while there was bread reaped by him?

It is among the Mights of man."

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All over the land, castles are flaming, bands of smugglers

wander unrestrained; "the barriers of towns are burnt, toll

gatherers, tax gatherers, official persons put to flight." And

from all over France hordes of these half-civilized, half-starved,

half-infuriated people are pouring into Paris. Such is the situa-

tion during the Summer and early Autumn of 1789. The

foundations of the great deep of Feudalism are broken up; the

Deluge is at hand. As for the king there is no help for him; he

is too weak a man to deal with such an insurrection. He dallies

with the revolution, tries to ride upon the crest of its advancing

wave, but it skills not; his queen and his court are sullen and

revengeful; there is a banquet at Versailles one night, while

thousands in the great city are starving; and the king's officers

trample under their feet the national cockade, while the queen

looks on applauding, and the people see that the court despises

them and plots to treat their newly gained liberties as it has

treated their emblem. And now the strangest, the most hysteri-

cal of all historic episodes takes place: ten thousand women lead

a howling mob to Versailles, a dozen miles away, followed by

the national guard, with Lafayette at its head, and they capture

the king and queen and bring them to Paris, making them pris-

oners in fact, in their own royal palace of the Tuilleries, and

stamping out the counter revolution with two hundred thousand

hob-nailed shoes. It was an anxious day for Paris; who could

tell what might be coming next? Obviously the reign of the

mob was well begun; those who had everything to lose might as

well convert it into portable securities and silently steal away.

It was on the 6th of October that the king was escorted to Paris

by the shrieking Amazons; before this month had ended tens of

thousands of Frenchmen had bidden good-bye to France. This

was the time of what is known as the second migration-" most

extensive," says Carlyle, "among commons, deputies, noblesse,

clergy, so that to Switzerland alone there go sixty thousand.

One emigration follows another, grounded on reasonable fear,

unreasonable hope, largely, also, on childish pet. The high-

flyers have gone first, now the lower flyers, and even the lower

will go, down to the crawlers."

What has all this to do with our colonists of Gallipolis? I

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Migrations and Their Lessons.          191

 

hardly know how much it has to do with them; but putting this

and that together, it might signify something. For it was right

in the midst of all this panic and terror that there appeared

upon the scene the agents of the Scioto Company, the Yankee,

Joel Barlow, and the Englishman, William Playfair-with their

maps and their prospectuses, and their glowing promises, telling

of a country where the climate was semi-tropical, where the

rivers abound with enormous fish, and the forests with venison;

where the trees exuded sweetmeats, and candles grew on trees;

where there were no taxes to pay and no conscriptions to dread.

Is it any wonder that such a manifesto strongly appealed to the

excited and apprehensive Parisians? Less than a month after

Louis was brought to Paris, and while the alarmed citizens were

flying from France by thousands, Barlow formed his company

of the Scioto, and the emigrants came flocking to his headquar-

ters; five thousand of them were ready to set forth in the early

spring in quest of their Utopia.

It is a pitiful and painful story; I will not dwell upon it.

We can see how several of the motives which we have traced in

our study may have operated to set in motion this migration;

how pinching want, and political oppression, and the horrors of

civil war and social strife made these Frenchmen willing to leave

their native land: and we can see, also, how grievously they were

deceived by the representations made to them, and how great was

their need of courage and faith and patience, and all the heroic

qualities of the pioneer, when they landed on the bluff and took

possession of the log huts that awaited their occupation.

I will not undertake to tell how bravely they met the perils

that surrounded them, nor with how much steadfastness and

fortitude they wrought out their difficult problem. I know that

our hearts go out to them to-day in compassion for their suffer-

ings, and in gratitude for their toils and self-denials; for it is to

them, and to all the noble army of pioneers in whose rank they

marched, and in whose battle with the wilderness they fought

and fell, that we owe the fertile fields, the beautiful homes, the

teeming cities, the wealth and the culture and the power of our

great commonwealth, of our Native Land.

And now, fellow citizens, there remains but one question

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more: What admonition, what incitement comes to us from

this glance across the centuries? We have seen this mighty

march of the peaceful armies of industry around the world,

from east to west; we have counted, as they could not, the cost

of their enterprises; we have learned how much we owe to

them. Can they teach us any thing that we need to know? Do

they summon us to any work which we are prone to neglect?

We honor and applaud their heroism; have we any call to

imitate it? For the physical courage which they displayed there

is not much demand in these piping times of peace; but of the

courage which fears not to confront the enemies of the State,

and the destroyers of our youth, this generation still has need.

It is not with wolves and painted savages that we are called to

fight; but with foes far more dangerous: with robbers of rev-

enues; with pilferers of public funds; with men who make a

trade of politics and are ready always to subordinate the public

welfare to their own ambition; with banditti whose dens are in

the lobbies, and sometimes in the offices of court houses and

city halls, and capitols; yea, with all the purveyors of vice and

crime, with hyenas in human form who get their living by help-

ing their fellow-men on the road to ruin, and whose property in-

creases just in proportion as their neighbors are impoverished

and degraded. To confront such foes takes a different kind of

courage from that which the pioneers exhibited; a courage less

dramatic, less spectacular, less impressive to crude minds; but no

less genuine, or less noble. And there is always room for self-

sacrifice in our encounters with these foes. It generally costs

something, in this world, to secure good government; it costs

something to establish it; it costs something to maintain it.

Hardships, losses, privations untold were endured by those who

laid the foundations of the State, and the State will not be kept

from overthrow unless we are ready to suffer some hardships

and losses in its defense. To challenge and resist the enemies

of the State-to keep its councils pure and its honor stainless-

will require of you and me some sacrifices. We must be will-

ing to face opposition, contempt, contumely; to be called all

manner of hard names; to be stigmatized as cranks, feather-

heads, doctrinaries, dudes; nay, we must even be willing to lose

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Migrations and Their Lessons.           193

 

customers, to see our income reduced, and our prospect of pro-

motion cut off; to suffer the loss of many things rather than be

false to our convictions of duty. Unless this spirit abides in us,

we are unworthy of the liberties which were purchased for us at

so great a cost, and we shall not long retain them.

The faith of the pioneers must also animate our souls.

Unless we believe as they did, that there are better days to

come, our heartless labor will be utterly in vain. If they did

not despair of the future nation, when they held the forlorn

hope here in the wilderness; when half and more than half

their number perished in a single winter; when trackless forests

encircled them, and stubborn soils defied them, and bloody foes

lurked everywhere in ambush for them, surely we should not

despair of the Republic now, when so many fields have been

won, and the forces of intelligence and virtue are so many and

so mighty.

"Amid the storms they sang,

And the stars heard, and the sea,

And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang

With the anthems of the free."

 

Unless we, their children, in the midst of the foes that be-

league us, can lift up our voices in the same triumphant strain,

we are recreant to the charge they have given us to keep.

Above all, there is need that we should grasp with new con-

viction the great truth of the solidarity of the generations; that

while we confess our obligations to those who lived before us,

we should feel, as we never yet have felt, our duty to those who

will live after us. This is the one clear and strong impression

which such an occasion as this should stamp upon our thought.

To see to it that the treasures of just law and large liberty which

we have inherited shall receive no detriment at our hands, but

shall be handed on unimpaired, unpolluted, undiminished to our

children, this is our supreme obligation. With a great sum have

we obtained this freedom; but the price was not paid by us; we

are the beneficiaries of past generations. We have no right to

waste our patrimony. What cost our fathers such an outlay of

pain and privation we ought to cherish with reverent devotion.

Vol. 111-13

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It is worth all it cost, all and infinitely more, and it must be

transmitted without loss to our successors.

Every thoughtful man admits that the people of one gener-

ation have no right to exhaust the soil from which their suste-

nance is derived, passing it on to their posterity poorer than it

was when they received it. Such wasteful or careless use of

natural resources is criminal. The land, the forests, the mines,

the fish of the streams, all the bounty of nature, are here not

for us alone, but for our children and our children's children for

ages to come. In all our use of these things we must keep them

in mind. Their numbers will increase; the productive energies

of the earth must not be reduced, but reinforced and reinvigor-

ated for their benefit. It is a stupid crime, it is treason against

humanity to impoverish by our greed the soil on which millions

must dwell after we are gone.

If such is our responsibility for the careful and productive

use of natural resources, what shall we say respecting those

higher and more precious portions of our inheritance-the mun-

iments of law, the safeguards of liberty, the wholesome cus-

toms, the sound sentiments, the reverence for God, the respect

for man, the true equality, the genuine fraternity-without

which government is anarchy and society is pandemonium?

Must not these be preserved in their integrity, and transmitted

to those who come after us? These are the talents which the

Lord of the earth entrusts to the people of each generation, and

which they are to deliver up to their successors multiplied and

improved by God's own law of increase. The world that we re-

sign to those who come after us must be a better world than that

which we received from our fathers-a more productive world,

a healthier, happier, safer, purer, freer, nobler world; if we fail

in this, our material gains will only hasten our national decay;

the mighty forces of nature that we have harnessed will but

drag us to destruction; the swift-flying steeds of fire and light-

ning coursing over our land and churning our seas to foam will

speed us to our doom.

Fellow countrymen, fellow Christians, those great currents

of migration from east to west, whose course across the conti-

nent we have followed, are stayed upon our western shore and

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Migrations and Their Lessons.          195

 

can no farther go. For numberless centuries they have been

flowing westward; and the slow tides of time have brought

them to the final barrier. At the Golden Gate, on the snowy

summits of the Cascade Mountains, the pilgrims stand and gaze

afar to that Asian continent from which in the dim twilight of

history their father set forth-to countries crowded with a de-

cadent civilization. The circuit of the earth is completed;

migration has come to its term; here, upon these plains, the

problems of history are to be solved; here, if anywhere, is to

rise that city of God, the New Jerusalem, whose glories are to

fill the earth. 0, let us not forget what foundations we are lay-

ing, what empires are to stand upon them; and in the fear of

God and the love of man let us build here a city in whose light

the nations of the earth shall walk; whereinto kings may bring

their glory and honor; into which there shall enter nothing

that worketh abomination or maketh a lie.

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The following is an abstract of the discourse delivered to

the Methodists of Gallipolis by the Rev. David H. Moore, D. D.,

of Cincinnati, Editor of the Western Christian Advocate.

 

THEME -PHILOSOPHY OF METHODIST SUCCESS; WITH SPECIAL,

REFERENCE TO THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led

thee.-Deut. viii. 2.

It is worthy of note that the successful peopling of North

America was providentially delayed until the Pilgrim Fathers

were ready to plant Christianity in the colonies settling the new

world. But the Pilgrim Fathers were only one remove from

bitter persecutions, and schooled in enforced obedience naturally

became themselves dogmatic and arbitrary. A freer polity and a

more genial faith were needed for the expanding populations of

the colonies; one whose reactions upon the various forms

of Puritanism should be liberalizing and quickening. This new

religious factor--coeval with the political birth of the United

States and ordained to far reaching influence upon its develop-

ment and destiny--was that form of belief and life known as

Methodism. It was unique in its absolute separation from the

arm of flesh, its constant dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and

its single aim of spreading Scriptural holiness throughout the

lands. It was little thoughtful of numbers, no stickler for form;

it feared God, honored the King, and believed in the equal par-

ticipation of all men in the benefits of the atonement through

Christ. It was conceived in Epworth rectory, born in Oxford

University, and reached the strength and beauty of maturity in

free America.

We who sometimes despair of the cause of God amid the

Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, sensuality, worldliness and in-

fidelity of the day, need only look at the origin of Methodism

to be assured that our fears are idle. The reign of George II

seems to have had swept down into it from the corrupt court of

Charles the accumulated frivolity, coarseness, libertinism, and

unbelief of all the past. True, some lights were unquenched,

but they were rush-lights disputing with midnight gloom. Over-

whelming wickedness rolled over the land.

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Philosophy of Methodist Success.       197

 

Says Tyerman: "Never has a century risen on Christian

England so void of soul and faith as that which opened with

Queen Anne, and which reached its misty noon beneath the

second George-a dewless night, succeeded by a sunless dawn.

There was no freshness in the past and no promise in the future.

The Puritans were buried and the Methodists were not born.

The philosopher of the age was Bolingbroke; the moralist was

Addison; the minstrel was Pope; and the preacher was Atter-

bury. The world had the idle, discontented look of the morn-

ing after some mad holiday, and, like rocket-sticks and the

singed paper from last night's squibs, the spent jokes of Charles

and Rochester lay all about, and people yawned to look at them.

The reign of buffoonery was past, but the reign of faith and

earnestness had not commenced."

In 1756, every sixth house in London was a licensed grog-

shop; and sign-boards advertised to make a man drunk and

furnish him straw to lie on to sleep off his drunken stupor -- for

a penny. High and low were corrupt. Dissenters lamented the

worldliness of their ministers, and of the candidates for orders

in the established church, Bishop Burnet--1713 said: "The

much greater part are ignorant to a degree not to be apprehended

by those who are not obliged to know it."

Toplady declares that "a converted minister was as great a

wonder as a comet." Even in the University, such was the

prevalence of aggressive infidelity that the Vice Chancellor was

constrained to issue an edict pointing out this deplorable condi-

tion, and directing the tutors to use diligence in counteracting it.

But the Dean of Christ College, where Wesley was preparing for

his mission, was so maddened by infidelity that-he forbade the

posting of the edict in his hall.

Existing forces were inadequate. The crisis was extreme.

It was indeed man's extremity become God's opportunity; and

He led Charles and John Wesley, Robert Kirkham and Wm.

Morgan, to form the "Holy Club" and lay the foundation of

world-wide Methodism.

The persecution they suffered, the self-denial they prac-

ticed, the emergencies they met, the experiences they gained,

were providential preparations for the perils in the wilderness of

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the New World. Mind you, Wesley and his co-laborers were

not adventurers, seeking cheap notoriety in this enterprise be-

cause excluded by their inferior genius from the more attractive

fields open to talent and learning. Lord Macaulay thus estimates

Wesley's ability: " He was a man whose eloquence and logical

acuteness might have rendered him eminent in literature; whose

genius for government was not inferior to that of Richelieu; and

who devoted all his powers in defiance of obloquy and derision,

to what he sincerely considered the highest good of his species."

Yet their name was cast out as evil. All manner of con-

tempt was heaped upon them. Fogg's Journal, one of the most

literary and respectable papers, held them up to scorn. "Among

their own party," says the writer, "they pass for religious per-

sons and men of extraordinary parts; but they have the misfor-

tune to be taken by all who have ever been in their company for

madmen and fools." They were forbidden the churches and

prosecuted for preaching in the open air. They were dragged

before magistrates, hooted by mobs, pelted with filth and bruised

with stones, tumbled into lime-pits and then into water. But in

the midst of this burning furnace of trial, the Spirit taught

Wesley to sing:

 

" Ye mountains and vales, in praises abound;

Ye hills and ye dales, continue the sound;

Break forth into singing, ye trees of the wood,

For Jesus is bringing lost sinners to God!"

 

Every moment was precious, for some perishing soul might

be saved. So he calculated for every minute. Lying awake in

the middle of the night, he set his alarm for seven, but his wake-

fulness continued; then for six, with the same result; then for

five, and no change; then for four, and there was no more wake-

fulness; and thereafter he arose at that early hour.

So of money. God needed it for His poor and for His work.

And so Wesley practiced and preached that it was the duty of

each one to give away every year all he had after providing for

his own necessities.  Thus when he received £30 a year, he

lived on £28 and gave away 40 shillings; when he received £60,

he lived on £28 and gave away £32; £90, still £28 sufficient for

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Philosophy of Methodist Success.       199

 

his living, and he gave away £62; when he received £120, he

still lived on £28 and gave away all the rest.

Consider the character of his preaching. Like the great

French evangelist he knew but three things - a ruined world, a

mighty Savior, brought together by an earnest ministry. Every

sermon brings out-man's damning guilt, his almighty Savior,

and a witnessed salvation.

And with this thrilling Gospel he went where sinners most

abounded. A prelate of the Established Church sneeringly

called the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster

"Archbishop of the slums." "Exactly," was the noble reply,

"that is just what I am. I am an archbishop of the slums;

that is my business; that is what I desire to be. My ministry is

among the hordes and the garrets and the slums; yours, I admit,

is something very different."

Such was Wesley's spirit. This high-bred gentleman, this

profound scholar, this man "whose eloquence and logical acute-

ness might have rendered him eminent in literature; whose

genius for government was not inferior to that of Richelieu;"

whose earlier devotion to the establishment was such that he

would have thought the saving of a soul "a sin almost if it had

not been done in a church"-turned from all his past and from

all his churchly future, with quenchless zeal for souls, counting

all things loss that stood between him and their salvation through

his instrumentality.

"His frame of adamant and soul of fire" were taxed to the

utmost. Says a biographer: "He exposed himself with the

utmost indifference to every change of season and inclemency of

weather; snow and hail, storm and tempest, had no effect on his

iron body. He frequently lay down on the ground and slept all

night with his hair frozen to the earth; he would swim over

rivers with his clothes on and travel till they were dry, and all

this without any apparent injury to his health."

Even a Catholic historian is constrained to say of him and

his co-laborers: "They taught moral doctrines which we all

accept in common, but they did not teach them after the old and

barren way of the plodding, mechanical instructor. They thun-

dered them into the opening ears of thousands who had never

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been roused to moral sentiment before. They inspired the souls

of poor and common-place creatures with all the zealot's fire and

all the martyr's endurance. They brought tears to penitent eyes

which had never been moistened before by any but the selfish

sense of personal pain or grief. They pierced through the dull,

vulgar, contaminated hideousness of low and vicious life, and

sent streaming in upon it the light of a higher world and a

better law."

Wesley had but one aim-to save men-and counted every

man called of God to do what he could to this end. Hence,

pressed by the teeming work and sadly needing workmen, he

called into service lay preachers, applying only the simple test

of "gifts, grace and usefulness." Thus he advanced with every

arm of the gospel service against the foe; and his line of battle

resting its right on the schools and its left on "the slums," with

Christ in the center, leaped forward unto victory.

Beloved, little need were there to rehearse things you know

so well, if history were all we sought. It is not history, but the

philosophy of history we seek-the philosophy of our wonder-

ful Methodist history. I seek to show you in these things why

Methodism has triumphed so gloriously. Sprung from Wesley's

loins it could not be otherwise. He projected himself upon

America. His ministers here caught his courage, zeal, enerey,

self-denial. He multiplied himself by every preacher who bore

the double standard of Christ and Methodism over the moun-

tains, through the savannahs and into the forests of North

America.

So, I repeat, Wesley was God's providence for America.

For consider -here were wildernesses, infested by savages, and

thinly settled by desperate men; here was a new world, with

men's thoughts absorbed in its conquest; here were colonies,

drunk with the first long draught of civil liberty, the plains yet

soaking with the blood of the Revolution. Here were no funds

to be drawn upon for church extension or domestic missions; no

meeting houses; no salaries; nothing in sight but trials, losses,

dangers, suffering, death. Only men of the most heroic mould

could be equal to tasks like these. Such men were the product

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Philosophy of Methodist Success.         201

 

of the great Wesleyan movement, this the second Reformation

that sprang from Luther's first. Time will not allow us many

examples to show that the Wesley spirit is the secret of our suc-

cess. One suffices: Asbury was the American Wesley, and his

signature attested the appointment of the noble men who first

broke the solitude of the Northwestern Territory with the songs

and words of life.

Asbury ! name heroic and inspiring,

 

"He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,

Or Jove for his power to thunder."

Facing maddened mobs, traveling trackless forests, braving

hostile savages, enduring want and weariness and poverty ex-

treme, he reflected at once the strength and gentleness of Christ.

His salary was $30 a year! Yet he murmured not. "What

matters it where I go or what comes upon me if God is with

me," he writes in his Journal, "or where I live or where I die,

if holy and ready."

Again he writes: "My present mode of conduct is as fol-

lows: to read about one hundred pages a day; usually to pray

in public five times a day; to preach in the open air every other

day, and to lecture in prayer meeting every evening. And if it

were in my power, I would do a thousand times as much for

such a gracious and blessed Master. But in the midst of all my

little employments, I feel myself as nothing and Christ to me is

all in all."

This was our FRANCIS ASBURY, who spent forty-five years

in the American ministry, traveled 270,000 miles-6,00 a year;

preached 16,500 sermons, at least one a day; presided at not

less than 224 annual conferences and ordained more than 4,000

preachers.

Bascom, and Finley, and Cartwright, and Young, and Mor-

ris, followed by Trimble, and Moody, and Ferree, and Dillon,

and Brown, and they by those now in our midst; these consti-

tute our unbroken apostolic succession. Gallipolis traces its

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descent from pastor Baker back through this magnificent ances-

try to Asbury and Wesley.*

So does every other church in Methodism. And only the

reflection which these centennial occasions promote is needed to

make us give thanks that the lines have fallen to us in such

pleasant places and that ours is so goodly a heritage.

You ask me to glance at the development of our church in

the Northwest Territory, and a glance is all my time will admit.

More than fifty volumes, chiefly biographical, have been

written upon it. The same adventurous spirit that led our

fathers into Kentucky and into the Ohio wilderness, led them

also into Indiana and Illinois, into Michigan and Wisconsin; and

substantially the same hardships and dangers were encountered

and the same prejudices met and overcome. Each conference

has its heroes; and no legacy is so precious as the memory of its

pioneers. Such hero worship is inspiring and ennobling.

Says Carlyle: "We cannot look, however imperfectly, upon

a great man without gaining something by him. He is the living

light-fountain, which it is good and pleasant to be near; the light

which enlightens, which has enlighted, the darkness of the

world; and this not as a kindled lamp only, but rather as a

natural luminary shining by the gift of Heaven, a flowing light-

fountain, as I say, of native original insight, of manhood and

heroic nobleness, in whose radiance all souls feel that it is well

with them."

An unpublished Mss. by Prof. S. W. Williams, book editor

of the Western Methodist Book Concern, and probably unsur-

passed in Methodist antiquities, gives valuable facts concerning

"the introduction of Methodism into Southwestern Ohio."

[Copious extracts were read, which are necessarily omitted here.]

Up to the organization of the Northwestern Territory in 1787,

the only white residents on this side of the Ohio were a few

transient traders, perhaps a half-dozen Moravian missionaries,

and a score or two of straggling squatters.

When this was opened to settlement the emigrants began to

*The history of Gallipolis M. E. Church, prepared by Rev. P. A.

Baker, is appended, as an essential part of this Centennial Record.-

D. H. M.

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Philosophy of Methodist Success.       203

 

push in, braving the hostility of the cruel and treacherous red

men. In 1788-89 they settled at Marietta, at the mouth of the

Little Miami, and where Cincinnati now stands, and when

Wayne's victorious campaign in 1794 brought peace the settlers

crowded into the interior and founded Hamilton, Franklin, Day-

ton and Chillicothe. Before 1800 there was a chain of settle-

ments in Southern Ohio up the Miami valleys as far north as

Dayton and Xenia and up the Scioto to Franklinton.

As nearly as I can determine, the first Methodist preacher

who visited this section of Ohio was Wm. Burke, a remarkable

man of the Asbury-Wesley stamp. He was appointed by Bishop

Asbury, October 2, 1803, to cross the Ohio and form a new dis-

trict in the wilderness. He says; "I entered upon my work

about the last of October, 1803. * * The Miami circuit in-

cluded all the settlements between the Miamis and as far north,

including the settlements of Mad river, as high up as the neigh-

borhood where Urbana now stands, and east of the Little Miami

as high up as the settlements on Bullskin, and all the settlements

on the East Fork of the Little Miami and a few settlements in

Campbell county, Ky." This was a six weeks' circuit. "The

most easterly appointment was at Brother Boggs's, on the Little

Miami, a few miles from the Yellow Springs. From that point

we generally started at daylight for the settlements on the Scioto,

having between 40 and 50 miles, without a house, to the first

inhabitants at old Chillicothe.

"Scioto circuit included all that tract of country inhabited

on Paint creek out to New Market, Brush creek, Eagle creek,

and Ohio Brush creek, and up the Ohio to the mouth of the

Scioto, and then up the Scioto to the Pickaway Plains, including

Chillicothe and the settlements on White's creek, a four weeks'

circuit.

"From thence one day's ride to the settlements in the Hock-

ing Valley, which was called Hocking circuit, which laid princi-

pally on that river and its tributaries, and a few settlements on

Walnut creek. From Lancaster we generally took two days and

a half to reach the bounds of West Wheeling circuit, near where

St. Clairsville is now located. This was a four weeks' circuit,

including the settlements on the Ohio river and extending back

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to the frontier settlements on the West Wheeling and Short

creeks, etc.

"From this point we returned by the same route to New

Lancaster, and then down the Hocking to Sunday creek and

Monday creek, and then over to Marietta circuit.

"This circuit was up and down the Ohio from Marietta, as

low down as the settlements were formed, and up the Muskingum

as far as Clover Bottom and Wolf Creek, and so down to the

neighborhood of Marietta, and over to Virginia on the waters of

Little Kanawha. This was called the Muskingum and Little

Kanawha circuits. It was but a three weeks' circuit and had

one preacher.

"From the neighborhood of Marietta we started down the

Ohio, by way of Graham's Station, to the mouth of the Great

Kanawha and down to Green Bottom--Brother Spurdock's -

which was the first appointment on Guyandotte circuit.

" This circuit contained all the territory south and west of

the Great Kanawha, and down to the mouth of Big Sandy and

the settlements back from the Ohio river. This field required

about eleven weeks and many privations. The Methodists were,

in those days, like angels' visits, few and far between, and we

were half our time obliged to put up at taverns and places of

entertainment, subject to the disorder and abuse of the un-

principled and half-civilized inmates, suffering with hunger and

cold, and sleeping in open cabins on the floor sometimes without

bed or covering, and but little prospect of any support from the

people among whom we labored, and none from any other

source; for there was no provision in those days for mission-

aries. But, notwithstanding all the privations and sufferings

that we endured, we had the consolation that our labor was not

in vain in the Lord. We were gratified in having souls for our

hire, and rejoiced to see the wilderness blossom as the rose.

New societies sprang up, circuits were enlarged, immigration in-

creased, the forest was subdued, and comforts multiplied."

-Finley's Sketches of Western Methodism.

In 1798, John Kobler was the only Methodist preacher in

the Northwest Territory and the total membership numbered

ninety-nine. Now there are in

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Philosophy of Methodist Success.         205

 

Con-                                                                           S. S.                             Church

ferences Preachers Members    Scholars                 Property.

Ohio  .............             5             1,063       231,492         214,889           $8,865,481

Indiana..........               4                             659                148,904           124,725 4,014,318

Illinois ...........             4                             991                146,344           143,868 8,010,891

Michigan.........            2             670          79,553           94,418             3,756,245

Wisconsin ........ 2        337         32,599     28,849           1,794,829

N. W. Territory... 17   3,120      638,892   606,749         $26,441,764

In 1790, John Dickins, on $600 borrowed capital, was be-

ginning the Methodist Book Concern, the secret of our marvel-

ous doctrinal unity; a concern that in its New York and Cincin-

nati branches represents a net capital above all liabilities of $2,-

957,331.47; has published 3000 various books and 1300 different

tracts and Sunday-school requisites; and has a yearly circulation

of 3,133,666 periodicals. The Cincinnati house, the Western

Methodist Book Concern, beginning in 1820, in a room 15x²⁰,

corner Fifth and Elm, has now a net capital of $1,020,515.52,

spacious buildings in Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis, with

every appliance for a great publishing house. In the Northwest

Territory it publishes four great newspapers, the Western Chris-

tian Advocate, the Christian Apologist, the Northwestern Chris-

tian Advocate, and the Central Christian Advocate. "From the

three centers, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis (the two last as

depositories), trains loaded with solid Methodist literature are

sent forth every week into every part of the West and North-

west."

The Ohio Wesleyan University, the DePauw University,

the Northwestern University, the Garrett Biblical Institute, and

a score of other institutions in the same boundaries illustrate

Methodism's devotion to higher learning.

What it is in the Northwest Territory it is throughout the

United States and Canada.

And no marvel; for its inception in England and its expan-

sion in newest America has proven its adaptation alike to the

ripest and to the crudest civilization; that is to say, to all con-

ditions and to all times. Other denominations have caught its

spirit and adopted its methods. Hoary creeds have been modi-

fied so as to conform more nearly to its standards; and the pul-

pits of Christendom have kindled with its evangelical fervor.

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But still its mission is to the regions beyond; its position in the

advancing columns is on the front line. Its business is to find

and drive the enemy, leaving to the slower-moving forces the

work of fortifying and garrisoning the conquered provinces.

Its muster roll begins with those of Caesar's household and ends

not until it includes the faithful Onesimus. Quenchless zeal for

souls is and must forever be its characteristic; a simple and full

salvation its message; and its reward not human applause, but

the well-done of its Lord.

 

 

 

METHODISM IN GALLIPOLIS.

The Rev. Henry Baker preached the first Methodist sermon

in Gallipolis sometime during the year 1817, at the residence of

Ahaz S. Morehouse, a log house located at the mouth of Mill

creek. The Methodist itinerant was not then received with as

cordial a welcome as others have been since. "The rowdies

were so troublesome," the minister stated, "that Mr. More-

house could not have services there any longer, and unless some-

one else would open a house he would not come again." Calvin

Shepard, who may justly be entitled the "father of Gallipolis

Methodism," was present, though not then a member, and

cheerfully offered his house as a place of worship, and from that

time they continued to hold regular services. Shortly afterward,

Brother Shepard, while on a visit to some friends near Cincin-

nati, sought and found the Savior. A class was then formed

consisting of the following persons: Calvin Shepard, Mahala

Shepard, his wife, John Knapp and wife, Christopher Randall

and wife, Stephen Sisson, Mary Varian and her two daughters,

Abigail and Matilda. The society was soon strengthened by the

addition of James Hanson, Sarah Dranillard and David Smithers,

and many others. In 1820, under the labors of John P. and

William Kent, there was a very successful revival in which

about thirty more were added to the society. About this time,

says the Rev. T. J. N. Simmons, in Calvin Shepard's obituary,

written October 10th, 1856, "They met with much opposition,

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Philosophy of Methodist Success.       207

 

and from a source that would dispose us now to throw over it

the mantle of charity. Having been denied the court house and

school house for public worship, they continued to meet in

father Shepard's house and barn until able to erect a church for

themselves." Says a later writer in speaking of these persecu-

tions: "The perpetrators were not all rowdies; Satan himself

seemed to control public sentiment from those high in religious,

as well as in civil authority, down to the lowest in society

against the despised Methodists. It was considered fatal to

every good person to become a Methodist, and these opinions

were enforced by stones and eggs and filth. Vehicles were

thrown over the river bank, harness and saddles were cut and

smeared, and persons passing to and from the meetings were

subjected to every annoyance." The circuit, of which this was

but one appointment, extended from Letart Falls, thirty-six

miles above us, to Wheelersburg, eighty miles below, embracing

large territory on both sides of the river. The first Methodist

church was built in Gallipolis in 1821, and stood where the par-

sonage now stands. The deed for the lot dates from May 7th,

1793, from George Washington (by Thos. Jefferson), to Rufus

Putnam, Rev. Manasseh Cutler, Robt. Oliver and Griffin Green,

for Ohio company. Rufus Putnam and others to Return

Jonathan Meigs, in trust for French inhabitants. December 26,

1796, Fearing and Meigs to Lewis LeClercq. July 30, 1811,

Lewis LeClercq and wife to Anthony Maguet. June 2, 1821,

Anthony Maguet and wife to trustees of M. E. church, viz.:

Calvin Shepard, Daniel Combs, Christopher Randall, Moses

Brown and John Knapp, for which was paid the sum of $150 in

specie."

This church built in 1821, was 44x⁵0 feet-one story brick,

and ceiling twelve feet high. This served as a place of worship

until 1849, when a new church was built at a cost of about

$1,675.00. This building was of brick, 40x60 feet, two stories

high; basement nine feet high; upper story sixteen feet, vesti-

bule 8 feet wide; four class rooms twelve feet square; lecture

room 23x40 feet. The pastor was Rev. W. T. Hand. The

society worshiped and prospered here for twenty-six years, when

it became necessary to "tear down and build greater." Accord-

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ingly in the year 1875, under the pastorate of the Rev. C. D.

Battelle, the present beautiful and commodious building was

erected, at a cost of $20,000. This church is 70x86 feet, with a

lecture room 45x50 feet. There are six class rooms and a vesti-

bule below. The upper room is equal to about seventy feet

square, a comfortable seating capacity for 700, with a gallery

seating 150. The building committee was D. V. Smithers, John

T. Holliday and J. W. Gardener; architect, T. S. Ford. The

church was dedicated June 25, 1876, by Bishop R. S. Foster.

The vine that was planted here, though under much perse-

cution, early in the century, has been a very prosperous one.

The secret of its prosperity here, as it is of Methodism every-

where, is in her revivals, and as long as she clings to her revival

methods, no weapon that is formed against her will prosper.

The first record, made by the first legally constituted Board

of Trustoes, contains a list of all the members and adherents of

the Methodist church, January 18, 1821. The list contains fifty-

one names. There are now on the church record 612 names of

members in good standing. The Sunday-school enrolls over 400

scholars and has a library containing 600 volumes.

*The following is a list of the ministers that have served

the charge from 1817 to 1890.

 

LETART FALLS CIRCUIT.

1817-William Cunningham. (To January, 1818.)

1818--Abner Bowman.

1819-Henry Baker and John P. Kent.

1820-William Kent and James Gilruth.

1821-Ebenezer Webster.

1822- Edward Taylor.

1823-James Gilruth.

1824-John P. Kent.

1825-26---Francis Wilson.

1827-Henry and Stephen Rathburn.

*In 1885, a mission chapel, known as "Domron Chapel," was built in

the upper end of the city, with a seating capacity for two hundred. Sunday-

school, class and prayer-meetings are held there weekly.

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Philosophy of Methodist Success.       209

 

1828-Jacob Delay.

(Gallipolis circuit was then formed.)

1829 -Jacob Delay and Ebenezer Webster.

1830-John Ulen and James Callahan.

1831-William Herr.

1832-James Armstrong.

1832-David Whitcomb. (From February to June.)

1833-Elijah Field and Adam Miller, Benj. Ellis and Abra-

ham Miller.

1834-Charles R. Baldwin.

1835-Jas. Parcells an Benj. D. Jefferson.

1836-Wm. P. Stricklen and Jacob Martin.

1837-Jacob Delay and Elijah Pilcher.

(In March, 1837, Gallipolis city became a station.)

1837-Elijah Pilcher.

1838-39-W. P. Strickland.

1840-A. M. Alexander.

1841-42--E. V. Bing.

1843-44-E. M. Baring.

1844-A. I. Lida.

1846-C. C. Lybrand.

1847-48-W. T. Hand.

1849-50-Samuel Baleman.

1851-52-Andrew Correll.

1853-54-E. V. Bing.

1855-56-T. J. N. Simmons.

1857-58-H. Z. Adams.

1859-60-E. P. Hall.

1861-62-J. T. Miller.

1863-64-65-Joseph F. Williams, under whose pastorate

the present parsonage was built, valued at $2,500.

1866-67--Levi Cunningham.

1868-Wm. Glenn.

1869-70-F. S. Davis.

1871-72-73-J. E. Moore.

1874-75-C. D. Battelle.

1876--E. H. Heglar.

1877-78-J. W. Dillon.

Vol. III-14

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1879-T. M. Leslie.

1880-81-82-C. F. Creighton.

1883-84-85-W. H. Lewis.

1886-87-Benj. A. Stubbins.

1888-M. V. B. Evans.

1889-90-P. A. Baker.

 

NAMES OF PRESIDING ELDERS FROM 1816 TO 1890:

1816 to 1822-Jacob Young.

1822 to 1824--John Witterman.

1824 to 1829-Zachariah Connell.

1829 to ¹⁸³3-Isaac C. Hunter.

1833 to 1835-Robt. O. Spencer.

1835 to 1837-John Ferree.

1837 to 1841-Samuel Hamilton.

1841 to 1842-Isaac C. Hunter. (Died June 18, 1842.)

1842 to 1845-John Ferree. (Died 1845.)

1845 to 1846--J. M. Jamison.

1846 to 1850-John Stewart.

1850 to 1853-Robt. O. Spencer.

1853 to 1854-Andrew Correll.

1854 to 1856-N. Westerman.

1856 to 1860-John Stewart.

1860 to 1864-A. M. Alexander.

1864 to 1868-H. Z. Adams.

1868 to 1871-J. T. Miller.

1871 to 1875--John Dillon.

1875 to 1877-John W. Dillon.

1877 to 1881-T. H. Monroe.

1881 to 1885-Z. W. Fagan.

1885 to 1889--J. C. Arbuckle.

1889-M. V. B. Evans.

I have been greatly aided in preparing the above by a his-

torical memoir of the society, prepared by the Rev. C. F.

Creighton, J. G. Domron, J. W. Gardener and M. Malahan.

Gallipolis, O., Dec. 4, 1890.       P. A. BAKER.

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The Presbyterians of Ohio.            211

 

 

ABSTRACT     OF   THE    SERMON     ON  "THE     PRESBY-

TERIANS OF OHIO."

 

BY REV. SYLVESTER F. SCOVEL, PRESIDENT OF WOOSTER UNIVERSITY,

WOOSTER, OHIO, PREACHED IN THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The Christian is a cosmopolitan. Every land is his father-

land since God is his father. So every Christian is brother to all

other Christians. Yet we may have a just concern which shall

be special for our country and our church.

We have a century of Presbyterian experience behind us,

and each one of the Centennial occasions which have been oc-

curring since 1776 (and all have been useful in many ways), in-

vites us to consider the facts and lessons of that experience.

The Centennial record of any religious body cannot be repre-

sented by processions and pageantry however elaborate. Not to

the eye but to the heart must we appeal. We go deeper even

than the references to ancient places of worship or their for-

gotten customs. We must find the teacher and the truth, the

communicant and his conduct, the home life and the school of

the Sabbath and of the week day. We must linger beside the

couch of the sick and beside the open tomb and the shadowed

homes. We must go out from these centers to the sure but often

silent influences which have told upon manners, and standard of

conduct and social life, and upon law and order, and even upon

legislation and administration. We must trace footfalls that are

not heard primarily on the hurried streets, and search out the

hidden causes in thought and feeling of much that we admire

externally.

The motives for Centennial review are potent and dignified.

The present reaps the fruit of the past, and is the product of

the past to be understood fully only in its procuring causes. The

noble men of other days were the friends of many, the kindred

of some.   The heritage of Christian life and character which

any long record brings to view is the Church's true glory, the

proof of the presence and power of Christ, her divine head, and

of the spirit her divine heart. Moreover, the complex elements

of our life of to - day need to look steadily at the simpler life of

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the past, the condition of its heroic virtues. In such records we

honor God by noting what he has wrought.

And while we concentrate for a little our attention upon our

predecessors in this commonwealth, we must remember what

and who preceded them. Away in the dim distance and across

the seas we discover names whose influence lived in our pioneers

and still survives. These may be names not often mentioned,

but they came bringing the principles we revere into the life of

their own age, disturbing the apparently external uniformity

of the Papacy.

Then well known conflicts show us the head of the emerg-

ing column, compacted and partly createdby these conflicts

themselves. At and in and after the Reformation we hear

stronger voices and see more guiding rods in the hands of leaders.

Presently the column crosses to our own shores and buries itself

in the din and battle of our own Revolution, and then is seen

later in the nearer coasts of our neighboring States, and finally

reaches our own streams and forests.

We cannot possibly isolate any band of Presbyterians. Our

church in our locality is surrounded by concentric circles and

becomes our church in our commonwealth, in our country, in

the world, and in the church universal and militant, which is it-

self encircled again by the white-robed throngs of the church

invisible and triumphant. It is a blessed thing that we cannot

localize too much. The vista and outlook must be kept clear.

This is what intensifies and expands at the same time. It en-

larges both intent and content, contrary to the rules of formal

logic. The genesis of each Christian goes back to the forces

which build and sustain the universal church. All the way

down the chain is vital in its continuity. If we put a finger

upon any one link of the chain for some special purpose, we are

never to detach it. Looking upon our church in our common-

wealth we stand half way between our universal and our local

attachments. Such distinction for thought or study will not put

us out of touch with any others who love our common Master,

but the contrary. Other churches and other countries shall be-

come dearer to us by the privileges of our own.

If we ask for the influences which prepared the Presby-

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The Presbyterians of Ohio.            213

 

terians who came to Ohio, we must turn our faces to the past.

We must hover over the advancing column and mark its consti-

tution and character. It is a long column and a noble one. Its

ranks are starred with heroes. Truth floats from all its banners.

Its inscriptions are condensed principles of almost Omnipotent

force. Its uniform is often dyed like His from Bozrah, for with

Him and for Him they suffered. It is grand review even for a

glance of the eye.  Mark the Bible, held up aloft as Beza's

statue bears it up over the borders of the lovely Lake Neuchatel.

See the broken fetters lifted ready to strike tyrants! See the

compact organization which proves that an integument is neces-

sary to a vigorous body, from the enclosure of a blood-corpuscle

to the retaining walls of a vast civilization! See the step they

keep in the witness against a false individualism, and even

against an independent and disintegrating ecclesiasticism! See

the rugged faces and the fair ones - Coligny side by side awhile

with Margaret d'Angouleme. Break up the picture, study any

of its divisions, and each will be found to have contributed

something of permanent value to the whole Presbyterian tone

and temper, and something important to our common Christianity

and our advancing civilization. As we pass from Continental to

Scotch Presbyterianism the truth becomes clearer, the tread

firmer, and the struggles terminate more decisively in victory.

As we pass over into the New World little seems to remain but

the legitimate sequences of (1) dissolution of the bond between

Church and State; (2) the office of securing American liberties;

(3) the consolidation and organization of the scattered churches,

and (4) the great revivals. These came in their turn, and the

church of our fathers was fully ready for the newer and yet

larger work on our frontiers and beyond, until the advancing in-

fluence reached the western limit of this great land. And there

it was ready again to make a league with the modern giant,

steam, and pass onward with the Gospel into the far East just in

time to reach its hitherto immobile masses as they began to be

stirred with the breath of a new life.

[After this introduction the speaker traced some of the lines

by which Presbyterians came into Ohio.]

Like other immigrants they came rather drawn than either

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drifting or driven. The Ohio Land Company, formed by King

in 1750-51, proved attractive. The codfish brought many a

Puritan to our shores, and good soil brought many a Presbyterian

to Ohio. The movement into Ohio was part of the greater

Western movement. Some went farther North and some away

to the South. The centre of population began soon to go West,

and certainly it grew up with the country. Great trade-winds

blew over the lands with steadiness, and any vessel could go by

them from a shallop to a frigate. So Presbyterians came into

Ohio. Nor had they far to be blown. The drift into western

Pennsylvania had been equally mercenary, but equally moral in

its outcome. Those who came were just in time to settle the

question as to France and Roman Catholicism, or England and

Protestanism. The drift into Virginia thought about tobacco

lands probably; but its constituents were just in time to help

settle the question of State and Church, and that of freedom to

preach the gospel and build churches unmolested. It was now

time that the Pilgrims should move on into our borders, in order

to help in settling the northwest for liberty, and to carry out the

true spirit of the Declaration, that "morality, religion and

knowledge being necessary to good government, schools and the

means for education shall forever be encouraged." Here, too,

they came just in time.

The immigration had a moral end as well as a material im-

pulse; and it surely had a magnificent opportunity. The ques-

tion whence they came who entered Ohio as Presbyterians a num-

ber of years ago, must bring our glass down to the distant hori-

zon half around the circle of the compass. Waldensian bravery,

Huguenot skill, Holland simplicity and heroic patience, Scotch

valor and stubborness, all mingled with German fervor and con-

viction. Some of these stumbling one over the other in Penn-

sylvania, reached Ohio; but most of all there and here the mark

of the Scotch- Irish immigrant is most plainly discerned. Some

of their best and noblest leaders set sail in 1636 to form a colony

in New England. Driven back by the sea, they returned and

fought in Scotland. Two-thirds of a century later, after 1720,

the emigrants left in swarms, penetrating New England, New

York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas. Lord Montjoy

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The Presbyterians of Ohio.           215

 

said: " America was lost by Irish emigration," What mark they

left on the Revolutionary time, I need not indicate; nor that

they came from John Calvin, so cordially hated by the Romanists,

or from John Knox, the rush of whose impetuous speech for the

crown-rights of Jesus brought tears and trembling to the schem-

ing Queen. Rugged was he as his own mountain, but fair as

the shining of an eternal, because supernal, light upon the sum-

mit of his fame. There were great men all along the line:

Makemie in Maryland, Davies in Virginia, McMillen and his

coadjutors in Western Pennsylvania, Rice in Kentucky, and

hundreds of others.

Presbyterians came from New England, and our heritage in

Puritan blood must not be forgotten. They came from Eastern

Pennsylvania, they came from Kentucky. Kentucky's churches

are daughters of Virginia; but Virginia had been largely peopled

by Scotch-Irish. "In obscurity and neglect Presbyterianism, in

spite of Virginia laws, planted itself unmolested west of the

Blue Ridge. Frederick county was leavened, Augusta county

was nearly filled; McDowells, Alexanders, Lyles, Stuarts, and

even the Campbells kept coming, and Moore came and Brown,

and the list closes with the Makemie as it began." (Gillett, Vol.

I.) As late as 1794 the Synod of Virginia included the Presby-

teries of Red Stone and Ohio; and as early as 1791, the General

Assembly approved and commended the plans of the Synod of

Virginia "for the multitudes who are ready to perish on the

frontiers."

Currents drew into Ohio from all around the horizon. Mary-

land had been singularly prepared to feed Ohio. But most

came, of course, from Western Pennsylvania. In 1831 the

Synod of Pittsburgh calls for appreciation of the task " now

opening in the great Western Valley." Pittsburg is pronounced

" the commercial center of more than eight thousand miles of

steamboat navigation." God in His providence, says the Synod,

"seems almost to have annihilated distance. The member of

this Synod is still living who first sounded the silver trumpet of

the gospel and broke the first loaf of the Bread of Life (with a

handful convened in a log barn) west of the Ohio. Population

has more than doubled every ten years; at this rate there will be

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a population west of the Alleghany Mountains in twenty-five

years of twenty millions. Can we close our eyes? Brethren,

keep the sacred fire ever burning upon our altars, and send

down this immense valley one thousand torch-bearers."

But I cannot stay for further particulars. Though many of

the world's people misunderstood, or doubted, or denied, the

work went steadily forward. The most intimate sympathy has

always existed between the Presbyterianism of Ohio and that of

Western Pennsylvania. The larger religious movements made

visible in the Pittsburgh conventions of 1842 and 1857, were

shared alike. And many of the baptisms and gracious revivals

were alike pervasive. The movement was of the kind to pro-

duce this. It was not en masse nor by colonies; it was by fami-

lies and by ministers. It was by transfusion rather than deport-

ation and immigration.

Enough has been said to show what mingling of currents

from the far Northeast, the East and South, came in upon Ohio.

Conflicts of jurisdiction were brought to a close. Those who

were entering saw eye to eye, and flowed together. Everything

seemed favorable to the inclusion of the best possible elements

in the stimulative immigration.

Moreover, it was a singularly important time-a blossoming

for which there were long preparations. Yet we must remember

the discouragements and difficulties through which they must

yet pass; the stubborn character of the many foes they met and

the exacting conditions under which they labored. The work

was only begun, though well begun. We may turn from any

study of its details to ask for the main influences by which these

who came from so many of the four winds of heaven had been

trained for all they were to do and suffer.

I. The first influence was, definiteness of conviction. This

appeared in their estimate of the Bible as the only rule of faith

and practice, in accurate expressions of their faith by formulae,

and in their developed and systematic schemes of church order.

In all these things, they were staunch and firm. They, like

Francis Makemie, when arraigned by the High Church govern-

ment in New York in 1707, were able to say: "As to our doc-

trines, we have our Confession of Faith, which is known to the

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The Presbyterians of Ohio.            217

 

Christian world." No one can over-estimate the values of the

positiveness of Presbyterianism in shaping the religious life of

our State. " Presbyterianism did not come into the New World

passive and plastic, to be determined in its character and history

by force of circumstances or by the accident of its environment,

but came with positive opinion, deep and strong convictions of

truth and duty, with clear conceptions of its mission to mold

and determine the character of the New World. An acorn

planted at the foot of the Alleghanies, is not in doubt as to the

form it is to assume. In Druidical groves and in American for-

ests, oaks grow according to inner life. The seed of Presbyter-

ianism here was the same as in Geneva and Edinburg. Indefi-

niteness is reduced to a minimun in Presbyterianism. The in-

definite man is evasive and deliquescing and evaporative. The

definite man will be a rallying point in the community. Such

was the first influence, and this became characteristic. Presby-

terians came to be known in Ohio as being able to say not only,

" I know whom I have believed," but also to add, " I know what

I believe, and can give a Scriptural reason why."

II. The second characteristic discloses independence of

man and love of liberty. This especially fitted Ohio Presby-

terians to live under and carry out the spirit of the great Ordi-

nance of 1787. Nothing could be finer than the exact adjust-

ment of that ordinance, which recognized nothing but free men,

and the inner spirit of Presbyterianism as it had come to be de-

veloped by the Assembly, 1788-9.

Presbyterian love of liberty is founded on an appreciation

of man as man. Upon that recognition of the soul in man

which makes a "Common," a great middle class, self-respecting

and attracting the respect of others. Presbyterian love of

liberty grows out of the Kingship, the Priesthood, and the

Prophetic commission of all believers.

III. But an equally strong influence was exerted upon the

Presbyterians who settled Ohio, and through them, in the con-

servative direction. They always believed in good and strong

government, and were ready to say with Washington, "In-

fluence, sir, is not government." They strongly held govern-

ment to be from God, and therefore held the Government to

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God. Conscience was for them the source of power in securing

obedience to law. Law and order and the limitations of liberty

were their household words. They were inclined to this direc-

tion both by doctrine and order. Publicists, like Gladstone, dis-

cerned this trait. Our faith has some very persevering saints.

It can stand by the difficult and the old, and even the in-

explicable (when that is divine), with only a patient smile for all

gain-sayers; and after awhile the gain-saying ceases, and the

admiration of what the world calls "Staying qualities" begins.

This conservatism it was which fitted them for the following

change of correspondence with the father of his country. "We

shall consider ourselves doing an acceptable service to God in

our profession, when we contribute to render men sober, honest,

and industrious citizens and the obedient subjects of a lawful

government." To which, George Washington replied that,

"The general prevalence of philanthrophy, honesty, industry

and economy, seems in the ordinary course of human affairs

particularly necessary for advancing and confirming the happi-

ness of our country." Calvinism's sense of accountability is a

friend to st.ong government. Presbyterianism gives a rational

conservatism. It is not fatalistic. Presbyterians went about

arranging for government as naturally as they began felling trees

and planting crops. They had no hesitation and no squeamish-

ness, either in theory or practice. They had little use either for

vigilance committees or white caps.

The speaker then simply enumerated other characteristics

of which time forbade the discussion:

IV. The Intellectual.

V. The Ethical.

VI. The Evangelical.

VII. The Catholic.

VIII. The Disciplinary.

Some of the closing words were as follows:

Here, then, we rest the case. The decision and convincing

and definite element fulfilled the first condition and adaption to

the work before them.

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The Presbyterians of Ohio.           219

 

The liberating element brought freedom for movement,

with all the sacred passion of patriotism and all its honorable

record, growing more distinguished as the years go on.

The conservative element established as other work pro-

gressed.

The intellectual element quickened all the faculties of all

with whom they came in contact, and by press and school and

fireside and pulpit they kindled such general ardor for mental

power and furniture as has made Ohio a new mother of Presi-

dents.

The ethical element aided to break the dominion of border

savagism, and cleft the way for sound morals in law and prac-

ticc, in society and business.

The evangelical and spiritual element kept descending the

dews of the Holy Spirit's presence, and kept ever visible the

radiant face of the Savior of men, and kept ever open the shin-

ing way to the celestial city - how many thousands have already

trod it?

The Catholic element came on, in its own time, like the

color on perfect and mellow fruit.

And ever and always to awaken and help us stands the dis-

ciplinary element in this great preparation.

What a series of marvelous combinations might be here en-

larged upon. Stability and freedom; adaptation to common

people, yet demanding the highest intelligence; doctrinal strict-

ness, and yet liberality in the matter of non-official membership

and in co-operation with other churches; devotional fervor, yet

joined with marked ethical force; independence of the state,

yet demand for state allegiance to God, intense conservatism and

rapid progress.

But I forbear. I will not even attempt to voice the appeal

which so noble an ancestry awakens; nor will I ask whether we

who have known and enjoyed will prove as heroic in transmit-

ting the sacred content of our blessings to those who come after

us. It is certainly our duty to maintain, to restrain, to educate,

to evangelize. When the churches had "rest" at the beginning,

then they were "edified." Then also they walked "in the fear

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220       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3   of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and were multiplied." What better can we do with our exemptions and advantages than to imitate them by growth in grace, and unsparing efforts to multiply the number of the saved? What deep gratitude should characterize the tone and temper of the Presbyterian hosts at every review of the century. In His name who gave us such a cloud of witnesses, we set up our banners. Let confi- dence, born of our past, and willingness, born of our gratitude, and hope, born of the promises, and energy, born of love and loyalty, be enough to compact us and drive us forward, as the sandblast drives its granite atoms into the hard, crystal surface.

• 220
 

Sermon by Rev. John Moncure.           221

 

 

SERMON BY REV. JOHN MONCURE, RECTOR OF ST.

PETER'S CHURCH.

 

TEXT-"Remember the days of old, consider the years of many

generations."- Deuteronomy 32, 7.

A hundred years in the history of a place affords a fruitful

subject for study. When we gaze through the vistas of past

events, and consider the whys and the wherefores, and when we

thus are brought into realization of the fact that the things

which once appeared to men as "through a glass, darkly," by

the light of a century, are brought "face to face" with us, we

are more than impressed, particularly if our meditations are of

that devotional nature which enables us to glean the "truth, as

it is in Jesus," from the passing years. Matters once considered

comparatively unimportant, when viewed in their places as links

in the great chain of events, which unites our time with past

ages, are not only important as eras in history, but as stages of

development of the plan which our Father devised for our good

and His glory.

To-day we stand at the finishing point of a century in the

history of Gallipolis. The words of Moses to the children of

Israel, when the work of journeying from Egypt to Canaan was

nearing completion, and a new life was opening before them,

will form the basis of our thoughts in this sermon. He enjoined

them to "remember the days of old," and to "consider the

years of many generations," in order that they might be con-,

vinced of God's wisdom and mercy. We view the history of

His dealings with our forefathers, and with us, in the same

spirit. The happenings of a hundred years, considered from a

national and local standpoint, have been impressed upon your

minds by the exercises of the past few days, and we need not

dwell upon them here. * * * The subject which we would

emphasize in connection with the history of our nation, state

and city, is that which is so dear to every true heart, the Church

of God. When we say that its growth has been great, we ex-

press God's favor and loving kindness in no slight degree. The

church was the comforting medium in America one hundred

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years ago, as it has been in all others of the world's ages, and as

it will be until "time shall be no more." The good and the true

became better and stronger at the foot of the Cross, and the

"weary and heavy laden" there found rest with Him who died

for them, as they do now. One point not to be lost sight of in

this connection is that the cause of true religion has kept pace

with the march of progress; indeed, men cannot but realize that

it has been the cause of all enlightenment of the ages. While

our country has extended her field of active operations, she has

also assisted in the extension of the Church of the Living God,

for which fact, 'tis needless to say, that the good and true are

devoutly thankful. Our interest is centered upon the progress

of that branch of the church to which we belong, the Protestant

Episcopal Church. The history of this body in the United

States during the hundred years has been a history of triumph.

Our separation from the mother church of England, and the

establishment as a separate organization in this land dates back

to but a very few years previous to the founding of this town.

In the " Handbook of the General Convention of the United

States," by Bishop Perry, of Iowa, appears these words concern-

ing the first meeting for organization of the church in America,

which occurred May 11, 1784: "A single sheet of foolscap,

faded and yellow with age, contains the records of the prelimi-

nary gathering of clergy and laity, out of which grew the inde-

pendent organization of the American Church." The work be-

fore the then very small body of workers was no easy one, for

in addition to the efforts necessary to push forward the organiza-

tion, there was a deep-set prejudice in the minds of the people

against the English Church, growing out of the animosities inci-

dent to the revolution, and which it was necessary to overcome.

God was with the noble band, however, and as His cause could

not fail, our numbers gathered in strength.

He indeed raised up His power and came among us, and

with great might succored us, and the efforts of the faithful for

His glory were fruitful. Our grand and comforting Book of

Common Prayer, modified from the English book by our

"fathers in God," and which was put into the hands of the

people, has been an inestimable comfort in matters of worship,

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Sermon by Rev. John Moncure.           223

 

and has rendered valuable assistance in our devotions, thus add-

ing one to the many proofs that God's word, in whatever form it

may be presented, is not bound. As a result of the work of a

hundred years, our church presents a record of which we are not

only proud and grateful, but which will serve to inspire us to

even mightier efforts under the leadership of God. The

days of old, and the years of past generations are thus the

mediums of assurance of God's favor and protection, and

hence of strengthening the faith of the workers in the gospel

field. Our influence as a church is making itself felt all over

this mighty country, and beyond the seas men " take knowledge

of us, that we have been with Jesus." As the preached gospel

carries its comfort to the weak and needy, we thank God that

our church is among the foremost of its workers, and of the

thousands who yearly seek refuge from the storms of life in the

ark of safety, our numbers are great, and our prayers fervent,

that it may please God to defend these, His children, with His

Heavenly grace, that they may be His forever, and daily increase

in His Holy Spirit more and more, until they come to His ever-

lasting kingdom.

We refrain from detailed statistics in regard to our growth,

but will say that only a few thousand communicants of a hun-

dred years ago have grown into nearly half a million, and prob-

ably a hundred clergy to nearly four thousand, and from no one

in the Episcopate, to sixty-six Bishops, actively at work in a cor-

responding number of dioceses and missionary jurisdictions. In

the State of Ohio, the progress of the church has been very

gratifying. The Diocese of Ohio was not organized until some

time in 1819, when that great and good man, Rev. Philander

Chase, was consecrated its first Bishop.

As the population of the State increased and cities and

towns multiplied, the church became stronger, being presided

over by the holy man just named, and his successors, Rt. Rev.

Charles P. McIlvaine, D. D.; Rt. Rev. Gregory T. Bedell, D. D.,

and Rt. Rev. Wm. Leonard, D. D., the present incumbent. In

1875, the diocese having grown to great strength, a division be-

came necessary, and the Diocese of Southern Ohio was organ-

ized, with Rt. Rev. Thomas A. Jaggar, D. D., as its Bishop. In

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this part of the field our lot is cast, and, under God's blessing,

we have received strength and consolation. Our Bishop having

been incapacitated from work by very bad health, in October,

1888, an Assistant Bishop was elected in the person of Rev.

Boyd Vincent, whose efficient work among us is greatly redound-

ing to God's glory. Lastly, but particularly, we turn our eyes

to the church in Gallipolis. Our meditations, while savoring of

humility here, are not unmingled with a sense of gratitude.

Work in the interest of the Episcopal Church was begun in our

town in the year 1840, when occasional services were held by

Rev. James B. Goodwin, a clergyman engaged in mission work

in the Diocese of Virginia. There being no church building,

these were held in the court house. The parish organization

was completed in December, 1841, when a vestry, composed of

leading citizens, was chosen. The first minister engaged was

Mr. Goodwin, and his work among the people is even now grate-

fully remembered. January 13, 1843, a committee appointed by

the vestry to secure a lot for a church building, obtained one on

lower Second street, on which a church was begun but never

completed, owing to a defective title to the property. Business

complications having arisen in consequence of this, a compro-

mise was effected and the building surrendered. In May, 1858,

the vestry purchased of the board of education the lot on which

the church now stands, and subsequently the present building

was erected and opened for divine service the first time on the

19th of December, 1858, the Rev. G. B. Sturgess being rector at

the time. On the 12th of April, 1859, the church was conse-

crated with the name of St. Peter's, Rt. Rev. Charles P. McIl-

vaine, D. D., officiating. During the years which have inter-

vened since that time, the parish has been served by eleven rec-

tors, whose efforts for the glory of God and the salvation of

souls we feel have not been in vain. There have been periods

of clouds as well as of sunshine; at times the condition of affairs

was very promising, and again, there have been discouragements

which required the strongest faith to face bravely. Looking

over our records, however, we find sufficient testimony as to the

fidelity of the workers in St. Peter's Parish, to encourage us,

and cause us to devoutly thank God. The names of some of

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Sermon by Rev. John Moncure.            225

 

the most honored citizens of our town appear on our commun-

ion list, and the numbers who have confessed God by baptism

and confirmation assures us that the love of souls has not been

lacking among the churchmen of Gallipolis. Many of them

have gone to their reward, and hence the memory of what has

been done among us is doubly sacred, in that we have our rep-

resentatives in that land where all is righteous.

To recall by name the ministers who have served our people

here would be but to emphasize what has been said in regard to

the work. This building should be held in sacred memory by

our people. At this chancel rail have your children been given

to God in baptism. Here the vows of God have been taken by

which many of you have enlisted in the armies of righteousness.

Up these aisles have swept the bridal trains, and from this sacred

place have fair and loving brides and happy bridegrooms gone

forth to fight together life's great battle. Before this chancel

have reposed for the last time the forms of those we loved, who

have answered the summons of death's angel, and from that

door been called home to their last resting places. Hallowed,

indeed, is the place, being the " House of God; " to many it has

been the "gate of Heaven." The effect of these meditations

should be of a strengthening character. We should, by the

light of past blessings see the glories of future success. Re-

membering the days of old, and considering the years of past

generations, we gladly believe that St. Peter's Parish is recorded

in the Everlasting Book as one of the mediums by which men

have learned the truth which has made them free. May this

parish continue its work of usefulness even unto the far distant

future, and by it may every year bring into the fold of safety

many such as shall be saved. God is true to His people, and is

a " rewarder of those who diligently seek Him," and the bless-

ings of the life which is gone are indications of that which is to

come to " the faithful in Christ Jesus," for He "will never leave

us nor forsake us."

"The flood of years," which has borne our city so far upon

the stream of time, is bearing us onward. As we assemble here

to-day to consider the lives of those of the past, whose places we

now fill, others will, ere long, have our lives to think of, when

Vol. III-l5

• 225
 

226       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 3   we shall have gone hence to join the unnumbered hosts 'of that other living, called run with patience life's race, or will we be as warnings of the dead." Will our example be such as to inspire them to the consequences of unfaithful lives? These are thoughts which suggest themselves in connection with what has been said, and their consideration rests with each individual, for "all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ."

• 226
 

Rejoicing in Divine Workmanship.         227

 

 

REJOICING IN DIVINE WORKMANSHIP.

Abstract of a sermon preached by the Rev. George W.

Lasher, D. D., editor of the Journal and Messenger, Cincinnati,

Ohio, in the First Baptist Church. Text: Psalm CXLIX, 2.

"Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him; let the children of

Zion be joyful in their King."

There are two ways of writing history; the one to refer

every event to some over-ruling power superior to man and to

human agency; the other to find the spring of every event in

some other antecedent event. Israel was taught to understand

that, whatever the instrumentalities used, it is God who works

in and through and by means of the instrument, so that, in the

last analysis, it is Jehovah who casts down or raises up, creates

or destroys. This was the idea in the mind of the author of the

psalm and of the text. And the principle which underlies the

history of the ancient Israel also underlies the history of the

modern "Israel," the people of God, to-day.

In attempting to direct the thought of the Baptists of Galli-

polis, on this centenary occasion, this principle must not be for-

gotten nor overlooked. We must take into account the divine

guidance, the evidence of a divine purpose, the development

from small beginnings, the evolutions and the retrogressions, the

renewed impulses and the recurring relapses which have charac-

terized the history of the Baptists; we should mark well, and

with peculiar joy, the onward march, the increasing influence

and the present dominance of the great principles which give

occasion to cite the language of the psalmist.

Let us try to answer three questions:

1. Who are the Baptists?

2. Whence are the Baptists?

3. Whose workmanship are the Baptists?

1. Who are the Baptists? We answer, They are a peculiar

people. They stand before the world as exponents and advocates

of truths and principles which it is liable to forget; which, in-

deed, have been overlooked again and again, and which would

now be lost sight of but for those who are called by our name.

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Baptists stand for what is known as "a converted (regen-

erated) church membership." With all their faults and with all

their failures to conform their practice to their theory, Baptists

have never forgotten the fundamental principle of their historic

faith, viz.: that the visible Church of Christ should be made up

of those, and those only, who give evidence of having been born

of God, whose hope of eternal life rests upon the atonement of

Christ, in which the professor of religion has come to have a

personal interest. We do not deny that some of our neighbors

seem to themselves to be doing the same things. But the differ-

ence between them and us is in this-that they sprinkle water,

in the name of the Trinity, upon the faces of their children, and

call them members of the church, "members of the body of

Christ;" or they tell us that, having been born of parents who

are church members, the infants are church members, and are,

therefore, entitled to receive recognition as such; or, they tell

us that baptism is intended and appointed of God to be the

means or instrument for the perfecting of the work of the word

in the heart, so that, while repentance and faith may be present,

it is needful that baptism be received, in order that sin may be

remitted. It is readily seen, therefore, that Baptists are a

peculiar people. They stand for the great principle which they

find inwrought in the word of God, and which was the founda-

tion of the Apostolic church. For its vindication they point to

the New Testament and to the history of the Apostolic age.

2. Baptists stand for an entire separation between Church

and State. Jealous as they are for the gospel; anxious as they

are that all the nations may come to a knowledge of the truth;

untiring as they are in efforts to carry the gospel to the ends of

the earth: pioneers in modern missions, they yet ask nothing of

the State. They delight in quoting that saying of the Master,

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God

the things that are God's." They are not willing that those who

have no interest in the God of the Bible, who profess no allegi-

ance to the Christ of Calvary, shall be taxed to maintain the in-

stitutions of Christianity. They do not believe that Christianity

can be best and permanently promoted by legal enactments, nor

that human governments have anything to do with the religious

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life of the people. They ask simply that they be free to exer-

cise their own faith, and to practice according to their own con-

victions; that they have opportunity to make known their views

and exemplify their practice before the world, with none to in-

terfere, either to aid or hinder. Baptists are not politicians.

They say to legislators, "Gentlemen, hands off. Let religion

alone. We ask nothing of you, except that you unbind and

loose." The first amendment to the constitution of the United

States was secured by Baptists-that section which says: "Con-

gress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Baptists have labored,

and others have entered into their labors, not knowing whence

came the blessings in which they often rejoice.

3. Baptists stand for a faithful obedience to the commands

of the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not profess to be above

criticism. They are too painfully aware that they do not, in all

things, come up to the divine requirements. They often quote

to themselves that caution of their Lord against straining out

the gnat and swallowing the camel. But they do not wilfully

minimize, nor obscure, nor change a commandment of their

Master. They understand that the Lord Jesus gave a command-

ment to "disciple" the nations and to baptize the believing-the

discipled-and no others, in the name of the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Ghost. They dare not alter the terms of that

commandment. They believe that baptism is given to be an

emblematic testimony to faith in the Christ, because of His death

as an atonement for sin and His resurrection to a new and glori-

fied life. They believe that, in order to show forth these great

ideas and to perpetuate them before the world, it is requisite that

the believer be buried with Christ, "in the likeness of his death,"

and be raised again "in the likeness of his resurrection." They

therefore repudiate all else that is called by the name of baptism,

and practice only that which they have received from the Lord

by example and precept.

For these reasons Baptists do not shrink from the penalty

of being called "a peculiar people."

2. Whence are the Baptists? Their own answer is, Of

Christ and his Apostles.

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1. They refuse to regard as authoritative anything that

originated this side of the New Testament. It matters little to

them what "the Fathers" of the second century taught, or what

the Church of that century practiced. Those things may be of

historical importance and interest; but whatever the Church

of the second century taught, as distinguished from the teach-

ings of the Church of the first century, that is to be distrusted

and rejected. They find that views cherished by them were

held by individuals and small communities, during all the ages

by John Wycklif, John Huss, and others; but they care little for

these, except so far as they bore witness to the truth.

2. They find that, at the time of the great religious awaken-

ing in Europe, in the sixteenth century, not only Martin Luther,

Staupitz, Cajetan, Bullinger, Melancthon and their associates

were thinking and reading the word of God, but that others, a

mighty host, were thinking and searching the scriptures,

" whether those things were so." They find that among these

were such men as Simon Stumpf, Conrad Grebel, Felix Mantz,

Balthazar Hubmeier, George Blaurock, and a host of others,

men of learning, priests of the Church of Rome, who had come

to doubt the correctness of her teaching and practice; earnest

students of the Bible, both in the Hebrew and the Greek; and

that these men, with their associates, became convinced of the

error of infant baptism, requiring of each member of their order

a personal profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and bap-

tism on the ground of such profession. They find that these

men refused to have their children sprinkled, and for this reason

many of them suffered death by fire and water, or by the sword.

These were the Swiss "Anabaptists," from whom we date the

rise of the Baptists of England and America.

As to the sword, these men said: "It is not to be used to

defend either the gospel or those who receive it." As to baptism,

they said: " From the scriptures we learn that baptism signifies

that by faith in the blood of Christ our sins have been washed

away and we have died to sin and walk in newness of life."

Concerning infant baptism, they said: "We balieve the Scrip-

tures teach that all children who have not arrived at the knowl-

edge of good and evil are saved by the sufferings of Christ."

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The doctrines of these men passed down the Rhine to Hol-

land, and thence across the Channel to England, where, in the

next century (the seventeenth), they were cherished by such

men as William Kiffin, Benjamin Keach, John Bunyan, and

others. The Westminster Assembly met in 1642, and it was not

till 1647 that the Confession was adopted and published; but in

1643, "seven congregations" of Baptists in the city of London,

agreed upon a Confession which challenges admiration to-day,

and which there has been but little occasion to alter.

In 1631 (twelve years before the formulation of the Con-

fession above named) Roger Williams, a graduate of Pembroke

College, Oxford, and a minister of the Church of England,

arrived in Massachusetts. He was an inquirer after truth, little

regardful what others might think or do. He became pastor of

a Congregational Church in Salem, Massachusetts, but soon be-

gan to put forth ideas for which the colonists around him were

not prepared. In 1635, he was banished from the colony, and

in January, 1636, he landed at Wheet Cheer rock, in Rhode

Island. In March, 1639, he was baptized by Ezekiel Holliman,

and having in turn baptized Holliman and ten others, formed a

Church which is held to still exist and to be the oldest Baptist

Church on the American Continent-the first Baptist Church of

Providence, Rhode Island. In 1638 (three years after the

arrival of Williams and one year before his baptism), Hanserd

Knollys, likewise a minister of the Church of England, who had

become dissatisfied with the practices of that Church, arrived in

Massachusetts, having come to escape the persecution to which

he was subjected in his own country. He became pastor of a

Congregational, or Puritan Church, in Dover, New Hampshire,

and in the course of three years, had made such progress in the

direction of the truth that, with a portion of his congregation,

he became a Baptist. Soon after, he was recalled to England by

his enfeebled father and there became one of the leading Baptists

of his age; but the portion of his Dover Church which accepted

his teachings removed, first to Long Island, New York, and

and thence to New Jersey, where they formed the Baptist

Church Piscataway, which still exists. About the same time

other men of similar views arrived in the country from England,

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and settled, some in Rhode Island, others in Pennsylvania, and

others in Delaware. They all came to hold the same views of

Bible doctrine and to practice according to the same rule.

3. Whose workmanship are the Baptists? They are frank

to say that they did not make themselves. They have, at all

times, regarded the Omnipotent God as both the author and the

finisher of their faith. No people has more frequently or more

sincerely quoted that scripture, "Not by might nor by power,

but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." They have not been a

worldly-wise people. They have never depended upon kings

and governors for the advancement of their principles.  For,

though they have been among the most loyal and patriotic of

citizens, their rulers have regarded their lives as of but little

account, and have been willing to see them exterminated. Such

were the pains and penalties imposed upon them during the first

two hundred years of their history that their growth in num-

bers was very slow, and they came to almost regard it a crime

(as the State regarded it, and as it is now regarded in Russia)

for one to proselyte, or put forth efforts to win others to a

knowledge of the truth. In Switzerland, Zwingle (who looked

with favor upon the views of Grebel and Blaurock, until he saw

that they involved the principles of a pure church) became their

most bitter enemy. Hubmeier was burned; Mantz was drowned;

Blaurock was whipped and banished; Hetzer was beheaded;

Grebel, Hottinger and innumerable others were imprisoned,

while the rest of them fled the country. In England, the Dutch

and Flemish "anabaptists" were the peculiar horror of Henry

VIII, when he was wresting his subjects out of the hands of the

Pope. When the wilderness of the New World began to attract

attention as an asylum for the oppressed-especially for those

whose religious convictions rendered them obnoxious to home

laws-it was found that not only Puritans of the Cotton Mather

stripe, but those of more radical convictions, were ready to

brave the sea and the land of the savage that they might enjoy

what they could not have in their native land.

And here again the growth of the Baptists was slow, at

first, and their churches were sporadic. But when the revolu-

tion of 1776 had been accomplished, and the first amendment of

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Rejoicing in Divine Workmanship.         233

 

the Constitution had been adopted (in 1789), immediately they

began to increase in numbers and to put on the strength of their

Maker, God. At the time of the adoption of the amendment to

the Constitution (that which placed them upon an equality with

any other religious denominations) the Baptists of the United

States numbered less than 65,000, or about one to every 56 of

the population. In 1812, less than twenty years after, they

were as one to thirty-eight; in 1832, as one to thirty-three; in

1852, as one to thirty; in 1872, as one to twenty-five, and in

1889, as one to twenty-one. And all this has been achieved

without a hierarchy, without a bishropic, with no great court to

which difficulties can be referred, and notwithstanding it is re-

quired of every person proposing to unite with the Baptist

Church that he give to the brotherhood "a reason for the hope

that is within him," and that he receive the unpopular rite, a

baptism beneath the surface of the water in the name of the

Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These things are marvel-

ous in our eyes. For the growth of the past century we can

give no adequate reason, except that God is in it.

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