Ohio History Journal

COLONEL JAMES KILBOURNE

 

BY C. B. GALBREATH

 

Colonel James Kilbourne, one of the founders of

Bucyrus, was a prominent pioneer of Ohio. He was

born at New Britain, Connecticut, October 19, 1770. He

was descended from an ancient Scottish family, but his

ancestors for many years had lived in England before

emigrating to America. His father, who was a farmer,

encouraged his son to make his home with Mr. Griswold,

the father of Bishop Griswold, of the Protestant Epis-

copal Church, in order that he might study Greek, Latin

and other of the higher branches of learning. He must

have devoted some attention to applied mathematics and

theology, as he afterwards became an expert surveyor

and was ordained to the ministry. While pursuing his

studies, he spent his evenings in the establishment of a

clothier and thus acquired a practical business education

that had much to do with enterprises undertaken by him

in subsequent years.

At the age of nineteen years, he married Miss Lucy

Fitch, daughter of John Fitch, the builder of the first

steam boat - a model of the engine of which, through

the interest of Colonel Kilbourne's descendants, is now

in the possession of the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society. After the death of his first wife he

married Cynthia, the sister of Dr. Lincoln Goodall.

At the age of thirty his attention was attracted to

the opportunities afforded by emigration to what was

then the far West. He became active in the organiza-

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Colonel James Kilbourne        23

tion of emigrant companies and was planning a settle-

ment in the Northwest Territory as soon as it should

be determined that the state of Ohio, recently formed,

should be admitted into the Union without slavery. At

the head of the Scioto Company of forty members, he

set out for Worthington, the site of which he had chosen

the previous year. He made the journey by way of

Pittsburgh, where he purchased "mill-stones, iron and

other supplies which he sent down the Ohio to the mouth

of the Scioto River," from which point they were after-

wards transported by boat to their destination. He him-

self proceeded overland with a blacksmith, a millwright

and a few laborers to the site of his purchase on the

Scioto. By the end of the year the new settlement had

grown to one hundred persons.

A church was at once organized with Colonel Kil-

bourne as rector. He entered upon his ministerial duties

with enthusiasm, serving not only the little congregation

at Worthington, but preaching in other settlements and

laying the foundations of what afterwards became per-

manent church organizations. In 1804 he retired from

the ministry, but for many years afterward delivered

occasional sermons.

In 1804 he became a captain of the frontier militia.

The following year he surveyed the southern shore of

Lake Erie from Erie County to the Maumee Rapids and

laid out the town of Sandusky, believing that it would

become the great port on the southern border of the

Lake.

He continued his activity in the organization of

other companies for settlement in Ohio. From Gran-

ville, Massachusetts, he brought the colony which settled

at Granville, Ohio.

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24      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

He was, in 1806, made trustee of the Ohio Univer-

sity at Athens. His interest in the educational and

moral progress of the communities that he did so much

to found was further recognized by his election, in 1807,

to the presidency of St. James Episcopal Church and

Worthington Academy, both of Worthington, and his

appointment in the year following as one of the com-

missioners to select a site for Miami University.

He was appointed United States government sur-

veyor of public lands in 1805, a position which he held

nine years. In 1812 he was appointed by President

Madison as one of the three commissioners to establish

the boundary line between the Virginia Northwestern

Reservation and the United States public lands. He was

later elected a member of Congress and, after serving a

term of two years, was re-elected. He subsequently

served two terms in the General Assembly of Ohio, one

in 1824 and the other fourteen years later.

He was famous as a surveyor in the early history

of the state. It is said that he surveyed and laid out

fourteen town sites in Ohio. It is rather remarkable

that none of the biographies that have come to our

attention, with the exception of the one published in the

History of Crawford County, makes prominent mention

of him as one of the founders of Bucyrus.

At the outbreak of the War of 1812, yielding to the

urgent request of the United States government, he

undertook to manufacture clothing to supply the

Western Army. He reminded the President of the

United States, cabinet officers, members of Congress

and others who urged him to venture upon this enter-

prise that men who had undertaken to supply the sol-

diers in the Revolution by similar investments of capital

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Colonel James Kilbourne             25

 

were ruined in the undertaking, because of the failure

of the government to keep its promises. He was assured

that the result of his effort would be very different and

that the government would continue a high protective

tariff on his manufactured goods after the close of the

war.   According to his own statement, he invested

$10,000 and incurred additional liabilities amounting to

more than $57,000. The result of his venture is thus

recorded in his own language:

"Peace came in 1815--no protection to woolens until

1824-5. I sustained the whole concern, as did Mr. Wells at

Steubenville, amid enormous losses by those who owed us and

otherwise, until 1820, when all hope from government failing,

Steubenville and Worthington factories were crushed; and your

friend at fifty years of age, with a family of eight daughters

and four sons, half of them still small and unprovided for, was

stripped of the last cent he had accumulated, with tremendous

sacrifices, by the vigorous coercion of creditors."

While Colonel Kilbourne lost his fortune in the

manufacturing business, he did not despair. In his

effort to accumulate a competence for advancing age,

in his fifty-first year he selected the site of the city of

Bucyrus and urged Samuel Norton to join him in laying

out the new town to which he gave the name whose

origin, even to this day, has puzzled the etymologist and

historian.

The articles of agreement between Colonel Kil-

bourne and Samuel Norton for laying out the town of

Bucyrus bear date of October 4, 1821. They are pub-

lished in full in the History of Crawford County, 1881,

in the very satisfactory chapter on Bucyrus, contributed

by Thomas P. Hopley. These articles of agreement,

with supplements bearing date of December 15, 1821,

and February 12, 1822, describe briefly but clearly the

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26       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

extent of the town and the obligations of the founders.

Incidentally they show that sometime between October

6 and December 15, 1821, the town acquired the name

of Bucyrus.

Colonel Kilbourne was a man of varied accomplish-

ments for his day. He was soldier, minister, educator,

congressman and, we are told, a musician whose songs

delighted companions and audiences. Someone has said,

half in jest, half in earnest:  "Poetry is lies; and it

follows that poets are liars." We have ample evidence

that Colonel Kilbourne was something of a poet, but the

famous poem with which he celebrated Bucyrus, its ad-

vantages and prospects, cannot be thus criticised. Fol-

lowing is the text of the poem:

 

BUCYRUS SONG

Ye men of spirit, ardent souls,

Whose hearts are firm and hands are strong,

Whom generous enterprise controls,

Attend! and truth shall guide my song.

I'll tell you how Bucyrus, now

Just rising, like the star of morn,

Surrounded stands by fertile lands,

On clear Sandusky's rural bourn.

In these wide regions, known to fame,

Which freedom proudly calls her own;

Where free-born men the heathen tame,

And spurning kings-despise a throne.

No lands more blest, in all the West,

Are seen whichever way you turn,

Than those around Bucyrus, found

On clear Sandusky's rural bourn.

 

The river valley, rich and green,

Far as the power of sight extends,

Presents a splendid rural scene,

Which not the distant landscape ends.

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Colonel James Kilbourne              27

 

The bordering plain spreads like the main,

Where native fruits its sides adorn,

And nearly join the margin line

Along Sandusky's rural bourn.

First, Norton and the Beadles came,

With friends (an enterprising band);

Young and McMichael, men of fame,

Soon joined the others, hand in hand;

By various plans t' improve the lands,

They early rise with every morn,

Near where the town Bucyrus sands,

All on Sandusky's rural bourn.

There teams of oxen move with pride,

Obedient to their driver's word;

There the strong yeomen firmly guide

The ploughs which cleave and turn the sward,

The dales around, with herds abound,

The fields luxuriant are with corn,

Near where the town Bucyrus stands,

All on Sandusky's rural bourn.

Rich meadows there, extending far,

By nature for the scythe prepared,

And boundless pasture everywhere,

Is free for all and ev'ry herd.

The deep'ning mold, some hundred fold,

Rewards with flax and wheat and corn,

Those who with toil excite the soil,

Along Sandusky's rural bourn.

In seasons mild their forests wild,

Through hills and valleys widely spread,

The streamlets glide from ev'ry side,

Concent'ring to their common bed;

Thence, fed by springs which nature brings,

O'erhung by plum-tree, elm and thorn,

Winds on the stream, with dazzling gleam,

Along Sandusky's rural bourn.

When gath'ring vapors dim the sky,

And clouds condensed, their treasures pour;

When show'rs descend, and lightnings rend

The heavens above, and thunders roar;

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28       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

When growing rills the valley fills;

When gentle brooks to rivers turn;

Then moves with pride, the swelling tide,

Along Sandusky's rural bourn.

There youths and maids along the glades,

Are often seen in walks around,

Where flowers in prime, in vernal time,

And where, in Autumn, fruits are found,

With manly face, with dimpling grace,

Give, and receive kind words in turn -

In roseate bowers, where fragrant flowers,

O'erspread Sandusky's rural bourn.

Then, here, my friend, your search may end,

For here's a country to your mind,

And here's a town your hopes may crown,

As those who try it soon shall find.

Here fountains flow, mild zephyrs blow,

While health and pleasure smile each morn

For all, around Bucyrus found,

On fair Sandusky's rural bourn.

Colonel Kilbourne knew how to make his poetry

subserve practical business purposes. When he had

platted the town and offered the lots for sale at public

auction he read this song. Some say he sang it, which is

more than probable. The poem is a complete refutation

of the charge that all poets are prevaricators; for what-

ever else may be said of the old ballad, it does include

much truthful description of Bucyrus and the surround-

ing country. After the rendition of the song, we are

told, the sale of lots was lively. Here we certainly have

a unique instance of the use of poetry in the promotion

of real estate enterprise.

Colonel Kilbourne's relation to the founding of

Bucyrus was an altogether fortunate and happy one.

No disagreements are reported between him and his

partner, Samuel Norton.      His business transactions

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Colonel James Kilbourne        29

were honorable and satisfactory in every way, and he

managed, partly through this enterprise, to regain a

modest fortune. While he did not make his permanent

home in the new town, he was a frequent visitor there

while he lived and was always greeted with manifesta-

tions of appreciation.

Many of Colonel Kilbourne's descendants are living

in Ohio, and through the past century they have fully

sustained the high reputation of this pioneer ancestor.

They have attained prominence in civic and industrial

affairs and in all our wars have followed the flag of the

Republic.

Perhaps the most prominently known of his de-

scendants was his grandson and namesake, Colonel

James Kilbourne, a graduate from Kenyon College, who

served with distinction through the Civil War, after-

ward graduating from the law school of Harvard Uni-

versity and later founding the Kilbourne and Jacobs

Manufacturing Company, one of the largest concerns

of its kind in the entire country and at present one of the

chief industrial establishments of our capital city. Since

his death his son, James R. Kilbourne, has directed the

affairs of this company.

Colonel Kilbourne, the founder of Worthington and

joint founder of Bucyrus, when he reached manhood's

estate became an ardent Whig and was identified with

that party until the time of his death. In 1840, at

Columbus, he presided over the famous Whig conven-

tion which nominated William Henry Harrison for the

presidency.

Colonel Kilbourne had hoped that Worthington

might be chosen as the seat of government for Ohio.

He worked industriously to accomplish this desire but

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30      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications was disappointed, the Legislature deciding by a single vote in favor of Columbus. He was also disappointed, as we have seen, in the failure of the government to extend to his manufacturing interests the protection that had been assured him when, at great sacrifice he manufactured clothing for the Western Army in the War of 1812. These disappointments, however, did not chill the fervor of his attachment to the state and nation. In spite of financial reverses he regained a respectable fortune, lived to see a number of the towns that he had platted develop with the growth of the state and died full of honors and respected by all who knew him, April 9, 1850.

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