OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
DEATH OF HONORABLE DANIEL J. RYAN
Early Friday morning, June 15, 1923,
Daniel Joseph
Ryan, Vice President of the Ohio State
Archaeological
and Historical Society, breathed his
last. He had been
in poor health for some time but the
end came unex-
pectedly. He passed without pain
"from the repose of
sleep to the repose of
death." This announcement
brings sadness to the members of the
Society and a large
circle of friends. A sketch of Mr.
Ryan's life and work
will appear in the next issue of the QUARTERLY.
SARAH ELIZABETH REYNOLDS
We regret to announce the death of Mrs.
Sarah
Elizabeth Reynolds, a life member of
the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society
and Secretary of
the Historical Society of Preble
County. At the age
of seventy-seven years she departed
this life April 5,
1923. She was the daughter of John M.
and Sarah
(Truax) Daugherty of Butler. County,
Ohio. She was
educated in the district schools of
Dickson Township,
Preble County, and married Roddie
Reynolds Novem-
ber 26, 1866. He was Secretary to
General Ben Le-
(542)
Reviews, Notes and Comments 543 Fevre, Congressman from the Eaton District. He also served in the United States Navy during the Civil War and is said to have been the youngest commander in that war. Later he was chief of division in the 6th |
|
Auditor's office, Washington, D. C., a position which he held at the time of his death in 1884. He and Mrs. Reynolds were the parents of three chil- dren, two of whom are still living, L. C. Reynolds, attor- ney, Baltimore, Maryland, and Mrs. Nellie Eastman, wife of Professor George R. East- man of Dayton, Ohio. Mrs. Reynolds was one of the widest and most favorably known women of Preble County. She was active in all public and patriotic move- ments and organizations. She was past president of the local Woman's Relief Corps; Past Worthy Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star; Staff Member of Great Pocahontas of Ohio and First Pocahontas in Eaton; member of the Daughters of the American |
Revolution; delegate to the National D. A. R. Conven- tion at Washington in 1914, and member of the Richard Arnold Chapter at Washington, one of the first in the United States. As chairman of the Ladies' National |
544 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
Naval Association she was instrumental
in establishing
the nation-wide practice of strewing
flowers upon the
waters in memory of the United States
sailors and
marines.
She was deeply interested in the
history of Fort St.
Clair and secured hundreds of
signatures to the peti-
tion presented to the General Assembly
of Ohio for the
purchase of the site of this old fort
and the scenic
grounds immediately surrounding it. In
her last hours
it was a source of great satisfaction
to her to know that
the General Assembly of Ohio had acted
favorably in
response to this petition.
She took a prominent part in the St.
Clair celebra-
tion of November 6, 1922, fully
described in this issue
of the QUARTERLY. In a letter to the
writer she ex-
pressed her great satisfaction with the
ceremonies and
declared that the day had been one of
the happiest of
her life. The portrait published with this sketch is
from the photograph of a group taken on
that occasion
just before the unveiling of the
monument.
The following resolutions, adopted by
the Preble
County Historical Society, were read by
its Vice-Presi-
dent, Major William H. Ortt, at her
funeral:
WHEREAS, The Preble County Historical Society, especially
assembled in formal session, sorrowed
and reverent because of
the death of Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth
Reynolds, Charter Member
and Secretary of said Society, and
because of desire to formulate
a heartful expression of the
appreciation and emotion of the
love and loss of said Society in the
passing of a member so
faithful, efficient and beloved and so
distinguished in life and
death,
We, the members of said Society do
hereby affectionately
and reverently resolve--
That Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Reynolds was
superlatively en-
dowed for her superior efficiency in her
said membership in that
she possessed a profound and fervent
delight in all the manifold
Reviews, Notes and Comments 545
memories, recorded and traditional
histories of the daring adven-
turers who first ventured into the then
further frontier, and of the
struggles and simplicities, comedies and
tragedies, exploits, trails,
forts, battles, woodland-clearings,
log-houses, mementoes, and
the conspicuous personalities of the
Preble primevals.
That her happy proclivities were such
that despite the in-
firmities of years she remained ever
eager and alert in her desires
and delights to obtain and retain for
Preble posterity all the
pioneer history and all objects and
mementoes and insignia il-
lustrative.
That we are pleased to record that she
was familiar with
Preble history, was highly entertaining
in her mentions of the local
love, legends and myths current among
the early settlers as
to singular omens and ghostly forms,
chief of which fantasies was
that of a headless man riding a white
horse on moonlight nights
up and down the vales near Fort St.
Clair.
Her local loyalty, knowledge of relics
and historical insigna,
and her enthusiastic inspirations were
all highly helpful and
strongly stimulative in the
organization, ambitions and attain-
ments of the Preble County Historical
Society.
She was most sincerely enthusiastic in
her admiration and
reverence for the soldiers and naval
sailors of Preble. She re-
joiced in their valor and victories and
highly prized their trophies.
She was active and influential in the
annual military memori-
al at Mound Hill Cemetery and her loving
initiative established
the special memorial in honor of our
naval heroes, one of whom
was her beloved husband, Roddie
Reynolds. This special memor-
ial was a beautiful performance of
strewing garlands and flowers
in the waters which flow between the
Eaton of living and Mound
Hill, the Eaton of the dead.
Her home contained many historical
attractions and in these
precious possessions she found great
fascination.
She was most fervent in her local, state
and national patriot-
ism and the members of this Society and
many citizens concur
that no Preble countian ever surpassed
her persistent patriotism.
She was most happy in her hopes and
forceful in her activi-
ties for the acquirement of a beautiful
picturesque tract of land
surrounding Fort St. Clair and the
sacred burial spot of the fallen
heroes, and on the delightful day of the
dedication of the monu-
ment, there recently erected, she
donated a beautiful wreath,
lovingly encircled it over the monument
and donated and unfurled
from the staff near by a very beautiful
flag which this day floats
in the gentle breeze. A few days before
her death she was most
joyous when informed that through the
liberality of the state
Vol. XXXII -- 35.
546 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
this loyal public would ever especially
enjoy the St. Clair park of
seventy-seven acres embracing the site
of Fort St. Clair, the
battle field, burial place, and the
scenic lands surrounding.
The old flag of thirteen stars and many
scars, which now
drapes the form of our darling dead, she
greatly prized on ac-
count of the hallowed remembrances
thereof to herself person-
ally relating. This old flag was her
talisman; it tenderly thrilled
her patriotic and friendly heart.
Be it resolved, That this resolution be spread upon the min-
utes of this Society and that copies
thereof be delivered to her
daughter, Mrs. Nellie Reynolds Eastman,
and her son, L. C.
Reynolds, of Baltimore, Maryland.
In her will Mrs. Reynolds left to the
Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society
her collection of
early Ohio newspapers and her decorated
chinaware
illustrative of local history, chiefly
of scenes and inci-
dents relating to Fort St. Clair.
PATRIOTIC MEETING AT THE LOGAN ELM
On the afternoon of June 13 a very
interesting meet-
ing of the Sons and Daughters of the
American Revolu-
tion was held under the spreading
branches of the Logan
Elm. The principal address was
delivered by Honorable
Simeon D. Fess, junior United States
Senator from
Ohio. In his opening remarks he
commended very
highly the work of patriotic societies
and the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society in marking
places of historic interest in Ohio. He
spoke of the
educational value of contact with the
past through the
association of place and material
things relating to men
and incidents of other years. We have a
livelier inter-
est in an achievement of the long ago
when we stand
upon the very spot that it has immortalized.
He com-
mended also in strong terms the effort
of the Society
to collect the trophies and relics of
Ohio history.
OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
DEATH OF HONORABLE DANIEL J. RYAN
Early Friday morning, June 15, 1923,
Daniel Joseph
Ryan, Vice President of the Ohio State
Archaeological
and Historical Society, breathed his
last. He had been
in poor health for some time but the
end came unex-
pectedly. He passed without pain
"from the repose of
sleep to the repose of
death." This announcement
brings sadness to the members of the
Society and a large
circle of friends. A sketch of Mr.
Ryan's life and work
will appear in the next issue of the QUARTERLY.
SARAH ELIZABETH REYNOLDS
We regret to announce the death of Mrs.
Sarah
Elizabeth Reynolds, a life member of
the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society
and Secretary of
the Historical Society of Preble
County. At the age
of seventy-seven years she departed
this life April 5,
1923. She was the daughter of John M.
and Sarah
(Truax) Daugherty of Butler. County,
Ohio. She was
educated in the district schools of
Dickson Township,
Preble County, and married Roddie
Reynolds Novem-
ber 26, 1866. He was Secretary to
General Ben Le-
(542)