OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
DR. DANIEL DRAKE'S MEMOIR OF THE MIAMI
COUNTRY, 1779-1794
The April-September number of the Quarterly
Pub-
lications of the Historical and
Philosophical Society of
Ohio prints a very interesting and historically valuable
monograph from an unpublished
manuscript in the li-
brary of the Wisconsin Historical
Society. It is edited
by Dr. Beverly W. Bond, Jr., associate
professor of his-
tory in the University of Cincinnati.
We quote briefly
from his informing explanatory note:
The occasion for writing the Memoir was
a celebration
that was planned at Cincinnati for
December 26, 1838, in honor
of the semi-centennial of the first
permanent settlement all the
present site of the city. A committee,
appointed by the city
council to make arrangements, invited
old pioneers to come as
guests of the city for the day, and
arranged an elaborate pro-
gram, including literary exercises at
the First Presbyterian
Church. Here "the most interesting
and important feature"
of the program was to be the
"historical discourse" by Doctor
Daniel Drake, and it is the manuscript
of this address which
is being published in the present
volume. To aid Doctor
Drake in securing material for his
address, the committee is-
sued a circular letter, asking for
historical facts and anecdotes
relating to the pioneer history of the
settlements in the Miami
country. The response to this appeal was
widespread, and
many of the letters that were received
have been preserved in
the Drake Papers.
(641)
Vol. XXXII--41.
642 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The celebration of the city's
semi-centennial was a huge
success. The First Presbyterian Church,
it is recorded, was
"filled to overflowing" with
an audience whose attention was
"enchained" for three hours by
Doctor Drake's address. The
other main feature of the day was the
dinner at the Pearl Street
hotel, which was prepared and served in
"superior style."
The choice of Doctor Drake as the orator
for this celebra-
tion was a happy one, for no one in
Cincinnati at that time was
better fitted than he to commemorate the
days of the pioneers.
Born in 1785 at Plainfield, New Jersey,
Daniel Drake had come
with his father and mother to Mayslick,
Kentucky, when he was
scarcely three years old. There he had
experienced the hard-
ships of the pioneer, and there too he
had learned to love the
forests and the simple democratic life
of the early West. Late
in 1800 he left the clearing in the
Kentucky forest to take up
his medical studies in Cincinnati. As
physician, as founder in
1820 of the Ohio Medical College and thus pioneer in medical
education in the Middle West, and as an
accomplished scientist
and literary man, Dr. Drake lived in
Cincinnati with brief in-
tervals until his death in 1852.
"WORTH-WHILE AMERICANS"
There has recently been added to the
library of the
Society a book entitled Worth-While
Americans, by Dr.
Edwin Erle Sparks, whose annual address
appeared
in the April QUARTERLY. We quote from
the Preface
in which the author sets forth briefly
why the book
was written:
In a meeting of public school teachers,
one who had taught
American history for many years ventured
a criticism upon
the supplementary reading matter
supplied to students in the
grades of our public schools.
"We are anxious to teach,"
said he, "that America is the
land of opportunity; that no one need
remain in the station in
which he was born, provided he has the
will power to shape
himself and an ideal to achieve. But we
lack available ex-
amples for proof. The heroes of the past
are demigods whom
no child can hope to imitate. There are
certain men and women
of the present or recent day whose
examples, properly pre-
sented, would beget high ideals and
stimulate a determination
Reviews, Notes and Comments 643
in the minds of the students to imitate
them. We lack a book
describing such people."
Whereupon some person in the audience
called out, per-
haps not without sarcasm, "Why
don't you write one?"
The challenge was accepted and the
result is here pre-
sented to the teaching public. The
choice of subjects is not
beyond criticism and the method of
treatment may not satisfy
all admirers. We are too near the
subjects for exact appraise-
ment. All are living or have only
recently passed away. All
except two are American born; all have
done their work in
America.
Among the notables sketched in the very
interesting
volume are the following: Anna Shaw,
Luther Burbank,
Thomas Edison, Frances Willard, Robert
Edwin Peary,
Henry Ford, Helen Keller, John
Wanamaker, General
John J. Pershing, Theodore Roosevelt
and Woodrow
Wilson.
Some one has deplored the juvenile mind
of the aver-
age American. Of course it is important
that the minds
of as many of our citizens as possible
may reach the
adult stage, but few of us lose
entirely the juvenile mind
and sympathy and it would be
unfortunate if we did.
The object should be not to lose this
but to add to it. That
is a fortunate book that may be read
with interest by
boys and girls from eight years of age
to eighty years.
Worth-While Americans, while intended as supplemen-
tal reading in the grades of our public
schools is very
interesting, as we can attest, to busy
persons of mature
years who enjoy brief sketches of the
notables included
in its well chosen list.
HARDING MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION
On October 8, 1923, there was filed
with Secretary
of State Thad Brown letters of
incorporation for the
Harding Memorial Association.
644 Ohio Arch.
and Hist. Society Publications
These provide --
(1) For erecting and maintaining in
perpetuity at
Marion a mausoleum wherein to place the
body of War-
ren Gamaliel Harding, late President of
the United
States, and the body of Florence Kling
Harding, his
wife, when she shall have passed to her
eternal rest; to
acquire all necessary real estate on
which to place said
mausoleum, and for roadways, places and
parks leading
thereto and for the beautification of
the place surround-
ing said mausoleum.
(2) To acquire and hold the home of the
late
Warren Gamaliel Harding on Mount Vernon
Avenue,
Marion, Ohio, and such other property
as deemed nec-
essary for the conversion into a shrine
by improving
and building a fireproof structure,
wherein shall be
placed all the personal effects, books,
speeches, me-
mentos and belongings of similar kind
of Warren Gama-
liel Harding, that it may be preserved
and handed down
as a shrine of love and understanding
where all people
may go for inspiration.
(3) To endow a Warren Gamaliel Harding
chair
of diplomacy and government in
connection with some
existing University.
(4) To hold all property, both real and
personal
coming into the possession of this
association, in trust
for the uses and purposes hereinbefore
set forth.
The names of those signing these papers
of incor-
poration are as follows: President
Coolidge, Secretary
Mellon of the treasury; Secretary
Hughes of state; Sec-
retary Weeks of war; Attorney-General
Daugherty,
Postmaster-General New, Secretary Denby
of the navy;
Secretary Work of the interior;
Secretary Wallace of
Reviews, Notes and Comments 645
agriculture; Secretary Hoover of
commerce; Secretary
Davis of labor, and fifteen residents
of Marion.
Plans have already been perfected for
raising the
funds for the Harding Memorial, and
before this issue
of the QUARTERLY reaches our readers the necessary
contributions will have been
subscribed.
DR. T. C. MENDENHALL ENTERTAINS FIRST
CLASS
TO ENTER OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Dr. T. C. Mendenhall, who delivered the
annual
address published in this issue of the QUARTERLY and
whose life sketch and contributions
appear in previous
issues, sole surviving member of the
first faculty of
the Ohio State University, entertained
surviving stu-
dents who entered at the first opening
of that institu-
tion on the occasion of his visit to
Columbus to attend
the annual meeting of the Society. The following
account of the reunion appeared in the Ohio
State
Lantern of October 3:
A reunion of the first class and members
of the faculty of
Ohio State was held on the campus
September 17. It was the
occasion of the University's
semi-centennial, and eight of the
nine living members of the initial
class, which consisted of
seventeen students, came back to revive
old memories.
The group was entertained by Dr. Thomas
C. Mendenhall,
member of the first faculty and now
president of the University
board of trustees, assisted by President
Thompson and Dr.
Edward Orton, Jr., the latter the son of
the first president of
the University.
The party gathered at University Hall on
the semi-centen-
nial day and were then taken for a tour
of the campus.
With what was in their memory and before
their eyes,
those first students passed from
building to building marveling
at what time can do. They were
entertained at the home of
Dr. Thompson by Dr. Mendenhall, and
later a reception was
given them at the Archaeological Museum.
Here was presented
646 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
to Dr. Mendenhall a bronze portrait of
himself bearing this
inscription:
"Thomas Corwin Mendenhall,
scholar-administrator-scien-
tist, sole surviving member of the
notable band of educators
who flung open the doors of Ohio State
University on Septem-
ber 17, 1873. This portrait is presented by the surviving mem-
bers of the group of seventeen students
on the fiftieth anniver-
sary of their enrollment, September 17,
1923."
The only surviving member of the class
unable to be present
was Dr. Arthur Townshend of New York
City.
Members of the class present were:
Emmor S. Bailey of
Waynesville, said to have been the
first student to, enroll in the
University; Samuel Buchannon of
Bellefontaine; Charles H.
Dietrich of Lexington, Ky.; Curtis C.
Howard, Lovett W.
Jones, Miss Harriet Townshend, and Mrs.
Alice Wing, all of
Columbus, and John F. McFadden of
Steubenville.
One of the best of its recent
acquisitions, is the pre-
sentation to the Museum by Mr. J. L.
Smith, of Dela-
ware, Ohio, of his private collection
of archaeological
specimens. Mr. Smith is a pioneer
collector, having
begun assembling his material more than
40 years ago.
The collection is purely a local one,
and is exceptionally
representative of Delaware County. It
comprises many
unusual and fine specimens in stone,
flint and slate.
Mr. H. F. Burket, of Findlay, has
placed in the
Museum his private collection of
archaeological ma-
terial, representative of Hancock
County. The Burket
collection, which was begun many years
ago by Mr.
Burket's father, the late Judge Jacob
F. Burket, is
purely local in character, and is rich
in the ceremonial
and problematic forms found in northern
central Ohio.
One of the largest and finest chipped
flint spear-points
in the state also is in the collection.
OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
DR. DANIEL DRAKE'S MEMOIR OF THE MIAMI
COUNTRY, 1779-1794
The April-September number of the Quarterly
Pub-
lications of the Historical and
Philosophical Society of
Ohio prints a very interesting and historically valuable
monograph from an unpublished
manuscript in the li-
brary of the Wisconsin Historical
Society. It is edited
by Dr. Beverly W. Bond, Jr., associate
professor of his-
tory in the University of Cincinnati.
We quote briefly
from his informing explanatory note:
The occasion for writing the Memoir was
a celebration
that was planned at Cincinnati for
December 26, 1838, in honor
of the semi-centennial of the first
permanent settlement all the
present site of the city. A committee,
appointed by the city
council to make arrangements, invited
old pioneers to come as
guests of the city for the day, and
arranged an elaborate pro-
gram, including literary exercises at
the First Presbyterian
Church. Here "the most interesting
and important feature"
of the program was to be the
"historical discourse" by Doctor
Daniel Drake, and it is the manuscript
of this address which
is being published in the present
volume. To aid Doctor
Drake in securing material for his
address, the committee is-
sued a circular letter, asking for
historical facts and anecdotes
relating to the pioneer history of the
settlements in the Miami
country. The response to this appeal was
widespread, and
many of the letters that were received
have been preserved in
the Drake Papers.
(641)
Vol. XXXII--41.