Ohio History Journal

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY   SOCIETY BUILDING, COLUMBUS, OHIO, SATURDAY, May 4, 1929, 10:00 A. M. The meeting was called to order by Secretary C. B. Galbreath. There were present:

B. F. Prince, Arthur C. Johnson, Van A. Snider, Claude Meeker, E. F. Wood, Morten Carlisle, W. D. McKinney, George Florence, Rev. S. R. Martin, Mrs. Gertrude Ball, Mrs. Anna M. Kevin, Charles F. Walker, William G. Pengelly, Homer Charles, Mrs. Homer Charles, J. E. Tritsch, Harlow Lindley, Irene Cotton, Dean M. Hickson, Eugene W. Mendenhall, Fred J. Heer, H. R. McPherson, Mrs. H. R. McPherson, Roy M. King,

George F. Bareis, William O. Thompson, Michael G. Heintz, C. B. Galbreath, Mrs. C. B. Galbreath, Mrs. Orson D. Dryer, John R. Horst, Adolphus G. Williams, William Pepperling, William McKinley, Tiffin Gilmore, W. E. Peters, James S. Hine, A. C. Spetnagel, Theodore S. Spetnagel, Harry A. Ziplinsky, J. C. Hambleton, H. B. Sebring, L. D. Kramer, H. G. Simpson, Charles W. Heiser, E. F. Greenman, Mrs. E. F. Greenman,

(512)

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting          513

Secretary Galbreath moved that Arthur C. Johnson,

President of the Society, be elected Chairman of the

meeting. Carried.

Upon motion, duly seconded, C. B. Galbreath was

elected Secretary of the meeting. Mr. Galbreath stated

that Roy M. King would act as assistant in reporting the

meeting.

ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT

President Arthur C. Johnson spoke as follows:

The affairs of the Society, so far as I am acquainted with

the details, are in very excellent condition. Progress is the key-

note of our activities and has been during the last year and a half.

In the physical aspect you will have no difficulty in seeing that

considerable progress has been made. We have this beautiful

new Library wing, which is evidence that we have had very sub-

stantial support from the people of the state through their rep-

resentatives in the Legislature. A great deal has been done in the

parks which are in our keeping, notably Seip Mound, and at

Fallen Timbers where we are about to dedicate a beautiful me-

morial and park; at Schoenbrunn where restoration work is going

on rapidly; at Marietta where the state has furnished a con-

siderable sum of money to complete the memorial building which

is being erected for Campus Martius. At the hands of generous

individuals also, we have been particularly fortunate.

The gift of a park within the confines of the City of Columbus

will be a part of the program this afternoon. A few well-

intentioned and generous members of the Society have contributed

a considerable sum of money for the purchase of a very hand-

some black bear group, which will find a place in the splendid new

natural history collection, which will occupy a large room of this

building, and we have under way a project to purchase with

private funds the Dawson bird library. That, I think, we should

not fail to do. If a patron of the Society and a member of its

Board of Trustees should call upon any of you for a contribution

to that end, I hope you will feel it will be money well spent and

contribute generously to that cause.

I want to speak very briefly, not to rob the consolidated re-

port of any of its features, of a thing to which I, as your presi-

dent, have looked forward for a number of years, that is, the

educational extension work of this Society. The best recommen-

Vol. XXXVIII--33.

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514       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

dation for the work in that line which Mr. Shetrone is doing, is

the intense interest taken by the school children who are partici-

pating, and whose numbers are increasing constantly. Mr. Colli-

cott, superintendent of the Columbus schools, is particularly en-

thusiastic about it and thinks it is a thing which the state should

some time provide the means to carry on in a state-wide way.

The Museum and Library are taking shape along modem

lines. The working organization and the staff are more com-

plete and efficient, I believe, than ever before, and that is no re-

flection upon those who had charge of the work in the past; it is

simply the reflection of the public interest in and public apprecia-

tion for this particular phase of the state's activities. Generous

appropriations enable the Society to command a large organization

and to attract better men to its staff.

I want to call particular attention to a very friendly state ad-

ministration which I think appreciates everything this Society is

doing or trying to do. I want to call attention to the fine type of

men composing the last Legislature, who had a real conception of

this work and what it means to the people of Ohio. They had

no hesitation in giving approval to a budget which will enable us

to carry on for the next two years.

There are just a few recommendations which I want to make

at this time. They are merely suggestions for your consideration.

I would like to have your approval of the work of our new Di-

rector. I think he has applied himself with intelligence and a

very great diligence to the task before him. He would feel very

much encouraged to go forward with redoubled effort if the So-

ciety saw fit to give approval to what he has been trying to do.

Since men are engaged in this work for no financial reward

(or they would not be in it), and since recognitions often come

too late to be enjoyed, I want to suggest that since our worthy

Secretary, Librarian and Editor conceived the idea of making our

great file collection of Ohio newspapers, secured the necessary

legislation to put the work under way and has brought it to such

a happy and successful stage, it be named "The Charles B. Gal-

breath Collection of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Library."

There are two other suggestions: One is that a suitable me-

morial in some physical form be planned and executed in memory

of Dr. Mills. The other is that an alliance in some form be en-

tered into with one of the most virile groups in the whole state of

Ohio. I refer to a Cleveland group of men who are particularly

enthusiastic about what this Society is doing. One of their lead-

ers, Mr. Clark, a corporation attorney, a man of high standing

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting           515

 

who, I believe, was one of those who conceived the idea of devel-

oping that great cultural center for the city of Cleveland, and one

of the promoters of the Metropolitan Park project, has paid us a

number of visits and upon a recent occasion he came to your

President's office to say that he intended to send the entire organi-

zation of the Museum of Natural History of Cleveland to Colum-

bus to "learn how to operate a museum." They are more than

anxious to come in with us in some way which will be of mutual

benefit. I feel while those men might come in individually, and

they are all men of large means and great influence, they can do

us more good and do the State more good, if the two organizations

should join hands for a common object.

The matter of going forward with some memorial to Dr.

Mills I think can safely be left to the Board of Trustees. I take

it that that would have the unanimous approval of the Society,

and if there are no spoken objections, the minutes will so indi-

cate. The consolidated reports to be made by the Director and the

Secretary will acquaint you with the details of the past year's

activities.

Doctor W. O. Thompson stated that he felt certain

that the members of the Society will enthusiastically sup-

port the President's plans. He moved that a vote of

confidence be given the Director, and that the newspaper

collection be named the 'Charles B. Galbreath Collec-

tion." The motion was seconded and carried.

 

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY

Secretary C. B. Galbreath submitted the following

report:

After a longer interval than usual the Society has again met

in accordance with the resolution adopted at the meeting of the

Board of Trustees on October 8, 1927. The change of the fiscal

year of the state by the General Assembly at its session in 1927,

made it desirable that a corresponding change be made in the

time of holding the annual meetings of the Society. In order

that the financial statements of the activities of the Society may

be included in the reports presented, it is important that these

meetings be held after the close of the fiscal year. The com-

pletion of the south wing of the Museum and Library Building

and the pending of budget requests before the session of the Leg-

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516       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

lature were additional considerations that seemed to make it ad-

visable to postpone the meeting of the Society to this date of our

assembling. It is now possible for the Board of Trustees to plan

future expenditures within the limitations of the funds at their

disposal as a result of appropriations made by the General Assem-

bly at its recent session.

The last meeting of the Society convened on October 8,

1927. That was almost one year and seven months ago--to be

exact, one year, six months and twenty-seven days. In reading

the proceedings of that meeting we are impressed with the fact

that time has wrought changes in this comparatively brief period.

At our last meeting, Dr. William C. Mills was with us and read

his annual report. At midnight on January 17, 1928, after an illness

that called him for but a short time from his office desk, he passed

to the great Beyond. The Board of Trustees met at the call of

the President on the following day, January 18, 1928, to take

action relative to the death of Dr. Mills. At this meeting General

Edward Orton, Jr., offered resolutions which were unanimously

adopted in tribute to the work and memory of our Director.

These resolutions are included in a sketch of the life of Dr. Mills

by the Secretary of the Society, which was published in the

QUARTERLY for April, 1928. This tribute is now passing through

the press and before the close of another week will appear in

separate form.

On December 10, 1927, there was a meeting of the Board of

Trustees at the office of the Secretary in the Museum and Library

Building to accept the custody of newspaper files offered by the

State Library Board. At this meeting these papers were accepted

by unanimous vote of the trustees present.

On February 24, 1928, a meeting of the Board of Trustees

was held in the office of President Johnson to provide for filling

the vacancies in the Museum staff incident to the death of Dr.

Mills. At this meeting Mr. Harry C. Shetrone was elected Di-

rector of the Society and the vacancy occasioned by his promotion

was filled by the election of Dr. Emerson F. Greenman as Curator

of Archaeology.

On October 20, 1928, there was a meeting of the Board of

Trustees in the office of the President to consider matters relating

to Spiegel Grove State Park. At this meeting authority was

given for a partial closing of the Memorial Building at the Park

pending repairs in progress there.

The Board of Trustees, on October 27, met in the office of

the President to consider budget requests for the two years be-

ginning January 1, 1929. A preliminary budget prepared by the

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting          517

Director and Secretary was submitted and read in detail. After

a few changes under the head of personal service, budget requests

were approved and the Director was requested to submit them to

the State Budget Commissioner. At this meeting, preparatory to

the consideration of budget requests, Director Shetrone outlined

a plan to cooperate with the schools of the state through loan

collections and lantern slides from the Museum.

On January 11, 1929, there was a meeting of the Board of

Trustees in the office of the President to accept archives offered

from the basement of the State House by Governor Donahey and

Adjutant General Frank P. Henderson. At this meeting the cus-

tody of these archives was unanimously accepted.

A number of meetings were held by the Building Extension

Committee in the year 1928. At a meeting of the Board of Trus-

tees on January 18, 1928, General Orton reported that the appro-

priation of $139,500 made at the last session of the General As-

sembly had been found insufficient to complete the south wing

of the Museum and Library Building as originally proposed. He,

therefore, offered alternative proposals drawn by the University

Architect. These were approved in principle by the Board of

Trustees, and the Chairman of the Building Extension Committee

was requested to ask the State Controlling Board to release one

thousand dollars ($1,000) from the appropriation of $139,500 for

"additions to Museum and Library Building and Equipment."

Meetings of the Building Extension Committee were held

on November 23 and December 2, 1927, and in 1928 on January

10, January 18, October 1 and December 4. The Chairman ap-

pointed Director Shetrone to fill the vacancy on this committee

occasioned by the death of Dr. Mills. A full report of all the

meetings of this committee will be included in the typewritten

record of the proceedings of the Society.

The publication of the Diary and Letters and the republica-

tion of the Life of President Rutherford B. Hayes has been com-

pleted. The entire Hayes Series in seven volumes is now avail-

able for distribution to the libraries of the state. A questionnaire

has been sent to these libraries and these publications will be sent

to those which have not yet received them.

Some difficulties are still experienced in the issue of the

QUARTERLY. The division of the work between the public printer

and the state bindery has somewhat increased this difficulty which

it is hoped may be overcome in the current year. The publication

of the Museum Echoes has proven a popular venture. It keeps

the members and friends of the Society promptly informed of its

activities.

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518       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Some important gifts have been made to the Library of the

Society since the last meeting. These include:

1. About 5,000 volumes from the library of former Director

Dr. William C. Mills. These relate largely to archaeology, an-

thropology and museum administration--subjects to which he had

given the best years of his life. This large and valuable gift came

from Mrs. Mills and her daughter Helen and was in accord with

the desire that Dr. Mills had expressed by word and will.

2. Misses Elizabeth and Jane Sullivant supplemented their

their gift, noted in our last report, by a much larger addition of

extremely rare publications. These include volumes collected by

Joseph Sullivant, some of which bear autographs of distinguished

scientists. A full list will appear in our printed report.

3. Mrs. Margaret Comly presented a number of books and

papers from the library of her father-in-law, General James M.

Comly. Among these were about forty manuscript letters from

William Dean Howells and newspapers mentioned elsewhere in

this report.

4. Mrs. William Houston presented some interesting and

valuable souvenirs of Edwin M. Stanton including a fine large

photograph of him which he had had taken for his mother.

5. Especially appropriate at this time is the gift of a painting

of General George Armstrong Custer, the famous cavalry leader

of the Civil War, whose memory is to be honored by the erection,

through the agency of this Society of a memorial at New Rumley,

Harrison County, on the site of the home in which the General

was born. This painting, now the property of the Society, was

presented by Dr. S. O. Giffin, a patriotic citizen of Columbus.

6. While this report was in course of preparation the grati-

fying news came that public-spirited citizens and members of the

Society had joined in the purchase of the library on Ornithology,

collected by the late William L. Dawson, author of The Birds of

Ohio, The Birds of California, The Birds of the State of Wash-

ington, and other important contributions to natural history. This

timely and appropriate addition to the Library of the Society

numbers approximately 4,000 items--books, pamphlets and manu-

scripts. A number of these are valuable volumes in bound form.

One set of these in three volumes sells for $300.

Some rare newspaper files have also been received. Follow-

ing are the names of some of the donors and their gifts:

1. Miss Nellie N. Vanvorhes of Athens; 9 volumes of the

Athens Messenger and Hocking Valley Gazette, covering the dates

from 1856-1860.

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting           519

 

2. Mrs. Margaret Comly, the daughter-in-law of General

James M. Comly; about 80 papers, chiefly of Ohio publications,

covering dates from 1819-1890, a number of them early and

rare; also some interesting Sandwich Island papers, including a

file of the Sandwich Island Gazette August 5, 1837-July 7, 1839.

3. D. W. Roberts, publisher of the Clermont Sun, Batavia,

Ohio: 74 volumes of that paper covering periods from 1852-1927.

4. Frank B. McKinney, Editor of the Marietta Times: 192

volumes of Marietta papers covering the period from 1889-1924.

5. William A. Brown, Sr., Editor of the Greenville Advo-

cate: files of the Greenville Democrat and Greenville News, 22

volumes, covering the period from 1869-1927.

6. Misses Jane and Elizabeth Sullivant  a very interesting

collection of early newspapers covering a period from 1811-1817.

Among them was a copy of the Western Intelligencer, published

at Worthington in 1811.

7. Mrs. C. B. Rohland of Springfield, Illinois: I volume of

the Independent American and Circleville Herald covering a

period from May 20, 1837, to April 28, 1838.

8. F. W. Bush, proprietor of the Athens Messenger: 30

volumes of that paper covering dates from October 3, 1855, to

December 31, 1899.

9. W. E. Peters of Athens: a collection of newspapers cov-

ering various dates from 1826 to 1893. Most of these were pub-

lished in Athens, Ohio. He also presented a number of volumes

of the session laws of Ohio, and three Ohio county atlases.

10. Edward L. Taylor, Jr., and Catherine Taylor Wood-

bury: the file of Freeman's Journal, published in Franklinton,

1812, 1813 and 1814, the first newspaper published within the

present limits of Columbus.  This rare volume is from   the

library of the late Edward L. Taylor, Sr.

11. Professor O. C. Hooper of the Ohio State University:

a file of the Boston Chronicle, December 26, 1768--December 18,

1769.

Substantial additions to the archives of the Society include

thousands of manuscript documents, letters, unpublished reports

and records from the basement of the State House. Many of

these are of historic value. Some of them had disintegrated be-

yond restoration, but thousands can be put into condition for per-

manent preservation and used for reference purposes. The work

or arrangement is one of the important large problems confronting

the Library.

A notable increase has been effected in the publications of

the historical societies of other states. In many instances this has

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520       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

been accomplished by exchanges requiring but small expenditure

of money. Broken sets of historical and genealogical publica-

tions have been partially or completely filled. Almost 2,000

volumes have been thus acquired to complete sets and to add

other sets not previously represented in the Library.

The increase in the number of newspaper files in the custody

of the Society is outstanding. At the time of our last report there

were in the Library 8,105 volumes of these papers. Today there

are here 16,017 volumes, 13,794 of which are Ohio publications.

Papers have been transferred to the Library from forty of

the eighty-eight counties of the state. Others are to follow. It is

not now necessary to go to other states to consult Ohio news-

papers. In the near future this will be more emphatically true.

We are building up here one of the notable collections in the

United States and while we are building it up we are making every

paper accessible for reference as it has never been before.

Some one said not long ago, "You have made a pretty good

collection of newspapers; had you not better now direct attention

to something else?" Many years ago archaeologists who came to

explore the mounds of Ohio made tunnels into these earthworks

and discovered only a portion of their treasures. Dr. Mills in-

augurated the plan of moving all the earth of these mounds. In

other words he made the exploration complete in order that every

relic of value might be found. It is our purpose to apply the same

principle to the search for newspaper files and not to quit until the

eighty-eight counties of the state have been explored.

These Ohio papers cover various dates, extending back to the

first issued in the Northwest Territory. This Society has in its

care the only issue of the first newspaper published within the

limits of territorial Ohio-The Centinel of the North-Western

Territory--launched in Cincinnati, November 9, 1793-nine years,

three months and twenty-two days before Ohio became one of the

states of the Union. This rare and unpretentious paper has been

reproduced in faithful facsimile and will be distributed at the

conclusion of the afternoon session.

The most noteworthy among the purchases for the Library

is an album containing approved photographs of William McKin-

ley and each member of his cabinet, Theodore Roosevelt and the

members of the Senate that served in the McKinley administra-

tion. Each of these is autographed and all are sumptuously bound

in the most expensive book thus far acquired by the Society. It

is on exhibition and may be viewed by those present who are

interested.

The gallery intended for portraits is practically finished. It

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting            521

 

is a fine addition to the Museum and Library Building. Eleven

spaces are provided for portraits. These could be advantageously

used for a large painting of each president of the United States

born in Ohio and for William Henry Harrison who was born in

Virginia but elected from Ohio. Three spaces would be left which

could be properly occupied by paintings of Edison, Brush and the

Wright Brothers, Ohio's famous inventors.

A part of the books in the main room of the Library have

been transferred to the stack room. This will give additional

space for reference workers. The Librarian hopes in the not dis-

tant future to have the Library open on Saturday afternoon for

the accommodation of students of the University and others who

have this half-day free from their regular work.

The General Assembly has provided ample means for the

conduct of the work of the Society through the biennium which

ends with December 31, 1930. A number of memorial projects

come to the Society through acts passed at the recent session.

These will doubtless be undertaken at an early date following this

meeting.

In conclusion, I wish to thank most sincerely the trustees and

officers of the Society for their cordial and never-failing support,

and my associates from Director to student assistants for faithful

cooperation and kindly acts which have been my daily portion.

None are over me, none are under me. They are my friends.

They make this a very pleasant place in which to live and work.

On motion the report was received and ordered

placed on file.

At this point the Chairman appointed Mr. W. J.

Sherman, Mr. Claude Meeker and Mr. Fred Heer as a

committee to nominate successors to the Trustees whose

terms expire.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR

Director H. C. Shetrone submitted the following

report:

Despite the fact that the time which has elapsed since the

last recent Annual Meeting has constituted a period of inordinate

activity for the Museum and its staff, owing to a combination of

occurrences and conditions, it is a pleasure to be able to report

very definite progress toward realization of our quite pretentious

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522       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

program. At the 1927 Annual Meeting, held on October 8th of

that year, Dr. William C. Mills tendered to you what proved to be

his last Annual Report as Director of the Museum. His passing

in the following January resulted in temporary quiescence in the

activities of the institution and readjustment as a result of which

the speaker assumed the post left vacant by his death. It was with

a feeling of hesitancy that the present incumbent took up the task

where Dr. Mills had relinquished it, but with the fine assurance

and unstinted support which the entire personnel of the Board

of Trustees accorded him, he has no hesitancy in feeling that the

results of his administration will meet with your approval.

It is not our intention to dwell lengthily upon the past; rather

do we prefer to turn our face to the future in anticipation of

further and fuller achievement, letting past accomplishment speak

for itself. It is fitting, however, that momentary attention be in-

vited to outstanding accomplishments of the immediate past, and

this may be very brief. A matter of major importance has been

the construction and occupancy of the new wing to the Museum

and Library building. The Director was fortunate in coming into

office after this project was provided for, and with a Building

Committee headed by a Chairman of fullest experience in such

matters, it followed that only routine details demanded his per-

sonal attention. However, as everyone will realize who has passed

through a building campaign, these details have been many and

varied, and in the end have been cared for as they presented them-

selves. The results, thanks to General Edward Orton, Jr., and

his committee, is the charming addition now occupied and open

for your inspection.

In addition to the building program, we have gone through

the biennial ordeal of putting a budget through the State Legisla-

ture. Owing to the fact that a change in the fiscal year to accord

with the calendar year was in order, and to the further fact that

the budget system of the Legislature was revamped, our claim

had to be presented not less than three separate times. The out-

come, however, has been satisfactory, and the financial prospects

for the Society are rather gratifying. The fact that a satisfactory

budget has been accorded the Society, by means of which several

additional members are made available to the staff, reflects the

added appreciation and prestige to which the Society, through its

activities, has attained.

The high points in recent achievement to which I wish to

refer briefly may be classified under two headings: Museum

Projects Realized and Museum Accessions. As to the first of

these, the launching of a program of Museum activities with the

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting          523

 

public schools, which constitutes a beginning of a program of

Visual Education, is particularly deserving of your attention.

Realizing that a museum to fulfil its ideal destiny must render a

maximum service to the public, the rendering of such a service to

the state at large presented itself as a foremost need. Manifestly

it was impossible to launch such a service full-fledged, so a means

for making a beginning was sought. This was found in a plan

whereby the public schools of the city of Columbus were invited to

avail themselves of the Museum as a base from which to work;

of surplus material and study collections for visual and tactile in-

struction in classwork, within the Museum; and those who con-

duct the work were offered the assistance of the Director and staff

in devising, launching and carrying out such service.

The experiment has proved successful beyond expectation.

The Superintendent of the Columbus Schools readily accepted the

proposition, and assigned two eminently-fitted teachers to come

into the Museum for full time service in carrying out the program.

As a result, for the past five months, some two to four classes of

school children have been coming to the Museum each school day

and are receiving one hour's instruction along the lines of Natural

History subjects and Prehistoric Man in Ohio, the class-work

being supplemented in each instance by a personally-conducted

tour of the Museum. Weekly reports are rendered the Director

by the teacher in charge, showing the schools in attendance, num-

ber of pupils in each class, instruction given, and other pertinent

information.

This instruction was begun with the grade schools, but the

demand has become so urgent that recently it has been accorded

to the junior high schools. The idea is to utilize this local service,

at no cost to the Society either in money or time, to engender ap-

preciation whereby two years hence funds and personnel may be

forthcoming from the Legislature to extend a modest program of

service to the state at large, particularly to the public schools.

While the accent of the Museum Service is placed on the

juvenile element, the importance of adult education as a phase of

Museum Extension Service is not being overlooked. A good be-

ginning along this line has been made, under the able direction of

Mrs. Harry Cope, Honorary Supervisor of Museum Extension

Service.

Another realization, with which all of you are familiar and

which needs no further comment, is Museum Echoes, which as-

pires to carry to you each month a word of greeting and appre-

ciation, to keep you acquainted with the activities of the Society,

etc.

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The Museum within the past year has made special exhibits

of its displays at the Ohio State Fair, at the Ohio Industrial Expo-

sition and at the Exposition of Native American Art at the Toledo

Museum of Art.

In keeping with the latest ideas in museum development, the

project of erecting within the Museum a typical Ohio log cabin

home of pioneer times presented itself. After inspecting many

cabins throughout central Ohio, a suitable one was located mid-

way between West Jefferson and London, Ohio, and was pre-

sented to the Society by Mr. J. E. Headley, the owner. This

cabin was carefully taken down, the logs numbered and even the

handmade brick from the old fireplace designated so that all details

might be recorded to conform to the original. The work was

done under the expert direction of Mr. J. S. Waite, our cabinet-

maker. We were fortunate in securing the services of Mrs. J. E.

Clark of Columbus, an expert in period furniture and furnishings,

who very generously has taken charge and carried through the

task of furnishing and equipping the cabin home, even to the

extent of supplying likewise figures of the members of the family,

the latter being donated by the F. and R. Lazarus Company.

Numerous other friends of the Society have contributed furniture

and other details to this project. The complete log cabin home

may be seen in the Pioneer Rooms in the basement of the Museum.

In view of the marked interest at present in the direction of

textiles and fabrics, spinning and weaving, one of the most pre-

tentious undertakings which the Museum has yet carried out is

now in evidence. I refer to the Pageant of Weaving on display

in the room adjoining the auditorium during the month of May.

Since this is an actuality, I need not dwell further on it except to

invite you to inspect it closely. I wish to accord the credit for

the consummation of its undertaking to the indefatigable efforts of

Miss Jeanette Shields, Miss Margaret W. Fisher and Mrs. Harry

Cope.

Anticipating the popular demand for natural history, there

is under construction in the large room immediately above the

auditorium a Natural History Complex comprising six large con-

nected cases for mammal groups. These are to be artificially

lighted and to be supplied with naturalistic painted backgrounds,

carrying out the very latest procedure in museum display. The

first of these groups is now under preparation. The family of

black bears has been mounted by the best taxidermists the coun-

try affords, and the realistic background-a cave scene in the

Sugar Grove region of Ohio-is being painted in by a skilled

artist of the Department of Fine Arts, Ohio State University,

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In this project several of our appreciative and influential friends

are assisting by financing the outlay.

Along the same idea of up-to-date Natural History Groups,

the Museum, through the Department of Natural History, has

constructed a realistiC group showing the pioneer industry of net-

ting wild pigeons. An actual pigeon net, one of the few in exist-

ence, has been placed in the keeping of the Museum by Dr.

Charles Mills, of Chillicothe. Fine mounted specimens of the now

extinct passenger pigeon are in possession of the Museum and

are shown in connection with the group.

Apropos of the Museum's activities along archaeological lines,

the interest in Indian mounds has been particularly noticeable.

Visitors to the Museum, particularly teachers with their classes,

after inspecting the collections of relics, often inquire as to where

actual mounds may be seen. A very fine mound, located at the

western edge of the city along the Scioto River, suggested the

project here referred to. Having in mind the rare service ac-

corded this Society by its recent president, the late Governor

James E. Campbell, it occurred to your Director that two desirable

projects might be compassed in a single undertaking-the preser-

vation of this fine old Indian mound for the benefit of those in-

terested, by converting it into a pleasing small park, the latter to be

a memorial to Governor Campbell. The proposition was sub-

mitted to Mrs. Jessie Campbell Coons, daughter of Governor

Campbell, who very graciously supplied the funds for purchasing

the land and completing the project. This ancient monument,

known as the Shrum Mound, has now been secured, landscaped,

and the tract enclosed within a very handsome rustic stone fence.

Campbell Mound Park is to be marked with a suitable tablet and

with some sculptural features yet to be determined upon, and is to

be dedicated on the anniversary of Governor Campbell's birth,

July 7th. While this dedication will be the culmination of this

project, I thought it fitting to invite Mrs. Coons to be present

today to present the Park to the Society. In her unavoidable ab-

sence, I take pleasure in requesting Miss Minnie Shrum, a teacher

in the Columbus Public Schools and erstwhile owner of the

Shrum Mound, to represent her, and to present this photograph,

taken within the last few days, of the Shrum Mound and the

Campbell Mound Park.

Although consummated since the last recent Annual Meeting,

all of you are familiar with the project of the actual reproduc-

tions of our prehistoric predecessors in Ohio-the Mound Build-

ers-through the presentation to the Museum by General Edward

Orton, Jr., of the now well-known figure "The Prehistoric Sculp-

• 14
 

526       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

tor." You will be gratified to learn that a companion piece to this

figure, representing a Mound-builder woman in the act of weaving

a basket, to be known as "The Prehistoric Basket-maker," is now

completed and ready to be unveiled. This fine figure, the handi-

work, as is "The Prehistoric Sculptor," of Professor Erwin F.

Frey, of the Department of Fine Arts, Ohio State University,

has been financed and presented to the Museum by its President,

Mr. Arthur C. Johnson.

While the usual number of appreciated accessions have come

to the Museum during the recent period, a few are outstanding.

Among these are two collections presented to the Museum by one

of its Life Members, Dr. H. L. Good of Hamilton, Ohio. One of

these is an Ethnological Collection comprising fine and rare old

specimens of historic costumes, beadwork, etc. Another is an

excellent Collection of Archaeological specimens made locally in

Butler County by Dr. Good, and valued for the reason that it is

typical of that rich section of Ohio. A magnificent section of a

petrified log found in Coshocton County, Ohio, was presented by

Mr. W. H. Bachert of Coshocton, who went to the expense of

having this rare specimen polished and of having a special case

constructed for displaying it. One of the finest historical items

which the Museum has received in recent years is the Galloway

Collection presented by Dr. W. A. Galloway of Xenia, Ohio. This,

in addition to interesting relics of the Galloway family, the first

settlers in Greene County, comprises a rare tomahawk presented to

James Galloway, Sr., the original member of the family in Ohio,

by the great Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh. A guest chair, in which

Tecumseh on his frequent visits to the Galloway home usually sat,

and the first archaeological specimens collected by white men in

the state, are included in the Collection.

A prized accession is that of a pretentious Japanese Doll and

accompanying complete outfit of accessories, placed with the

Museum by the Committee on World Friendship Among Children

of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America,

through the Rev. B. F. Lamb of Columbus. Recently the school

children of the United States sent to Japan a number of American

dolls as ambassadors of good will. In response the school chil-

dren of Japan contributed their mites toward the purchase of

Japanese dolls, one for each state in the Union, as a return cour-

tesy. After being exhibited in prominent cities for some time,

the one assigned to Ohio was allocated to this Museum, where it

is now displayed.

Mr. Ralph Beaton, a Life Member, has financed the pur-

chase of a fine old collection of minerals.

• 15
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting           527

 

A few words as to the activities of the several departments

of the Museum. In the Department of Archaeology Dr. E. F.

Greenman, Curator, during the past summer concluded the ex-

amination of the Seip Mound, and in part effected its restoration.

He expects to complete this restoration the present season, and

to conduct explorations in the long-neglected Erie region of north-

ern Ohio.

The Department of Natural History has made excellent

progress under the direction of its able Curator, Professor J. S.

Hine. Under the new budget, we are fortunate in securing the

services of Dr. Harlow Lindley, as Curator of History. We feel

assured that the rich historic heritage which is Ohio's will receive

adequate though belated attention from  this time on.  Two

projects, authorized at the previous Annual Meeting, but which

have been held in abeyance awaiting facilities for their realization,

will be cared for now. These are the proposed plan for fostering

and encouraging county historical societies, and the proposed sur-

vey of scenic, archaeological and historical sites. With a Curator

of History, these plans may become actualities.

The Maintenance Department, under the able supervision of

Mr. Starling L. Eaton, has been particularly efficient through the

trying time resulting from building activities. In addition to

their routine duties, Mr. Eaton and his force have taken care of

many needed repairs and improvements both in the old building

and the new wing, the latter including the tinting of walls and the

painting of floors and other details not cared for in the original

contract. Two new janitors, allowed by the Legislature, will

make the maintenance problem less difficult for the future.

As a result of recent legislation the Society will come into the

custodianship of several additional state parks and properties, to

be created shortly. This will considerably add to the burden of

caring for our existing outlying possessions but the matter will be

simplified and for the first time systematized through the creation

of the position of Business Agent, to be filled by Mr. H. R. Mc-

Pherson. With his intense interest in the parks and historic

projects, and his business ability and energy, Mr. McPherson will

devote as much of his time as may be needed in administering the

business of our parks and thus eliminate the not infrequent crit-

icisms that have been in evidence in the past. Reports from the

chairmen of most of the committees of the several parks are at

hand. These reports will be printed, along with any other perti-

nent information, in a forthcoming number of the Society's

QUARTERLY. I cannot forego the pleasure, however, of reporting

to you the completion of the fine stone gateway at the entrance to

• 16
 

528       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Mound City Park, through the efficient supervision of Mr. A. C.

Spetnagel, chairman of the committee.

Your Director has the impression that the relationship between

the Society and its Membership is not so close as might be desired.

It is probable that the institution might make itself of greater in-

terest and value to its membership, and it is certain that a closer

personal interest in the Society on the part of Members is not

only desirable but essential to a complete realization of our

progress. Your attention is invited to the desirability of bringing

this about, the manner of which is a matter for careful considera-

tion and application. A rather successful though limited member-

ship campaign was carried out a year ago with Mrs. O. D. Dryer,

our valued trustee, acting as chairman of the committee. While

such campaigns are desirable, it is felt that nothing short of a sys-

tematic and continued effort will result in the acquisition of a

Membership such as this Society should enjoy. It is evident that

where our Membership now is numbered in hundreds, we might

well have thousands. Your Director will have something more

specific to recommend in this direction later on.

The Director wishes to express his appreciation of the sup-

port and cooperation extended the Museum by the Ohio State

University, and is desirous of finding means for making the

Museum of greater use to the University. He wishes also to ac-

knowledge the uniformly satisfactory services of the Museum

staff, recognizing that the accomplishments of the past year, under

his incumbency, are due in great part to the energy and interest

which they have displayed.

Future plans, briefly stated, comprise the development of the

Museum Service; development of the Museum departments, par-

ticularly Natural History and History proper; moderate con-

tinuance of archaeological explorations and utilization of accrued

material in reconstructing the life of our prehistoric predeces-

sors; the securing of up-to-date groups and figures in all depart-

ments; special exhibits; more important Museum accessions;

increased membership; development of county historical societies;

improvement of the Society's parks; the securing of bequests, en-

dowments and benefactions.

In conclusion, if the Society feels that the confidence ac-

corded their Director on the occasion of his inception to the posi-

tion has been justified, he asks a continuance of the same for the

ensuing year.

To this report is appended a

• 17
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting             529

 

 

 

LIST OF NAMES OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE MUSEUM

Contributions to the Historical collections of the Museum

have been made by the following persons since the last report:

Mrs. H. V. Weil, New York, N. Y.;

Miss Josephine N. Parrett, Columbus, Ohio;

Daughters of Henry Bohl;

Mr. Charles Justice, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. D. B. Johnson, Wauseon, Ohio;

Miss Clara Mark, Westerville, Ohio;

Lieut. Col. Chalmers Wilson, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. W. E. Peters, Athens, Ohio;

Mr. E. E. Corwin, Columbus, Ohio;

Col. Charles A. Lindbergh;

Dr. E. W. Schueller, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. Webster Clowe, Logan, Ohio;

Mr. Lane Lyle, Chicago, Ill.;

Miss Harriet Brocklehurst, Columbus, Ohio;

Messrs. Charles M. and Lewis A. Siebert, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. G. R. Weaver, Columbus, Ohio;

Ohio Numismatic Society;

Mr. Hugh Fullerton, Princeton, New Jersey;

Mrs. Mary L. Treadway, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Charles P. Harris, Columbus, Ohio;

Dr. J. M. Henderson, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Thomas R. Spencer and son, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Arthur H. Watts, Zanesville, Ohio;

Major Robert Haubrich, Columbus, Ohio;

Professor Wilbur Stout, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Claude Meeker, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. C. W. Reeder, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Joseph H. Kauffman, Columbus, Ohio;

Ohio State University;

Mr. John Hare, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. J. M. Allen, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. George F. Bareis, Canal Winchester, Ohio;

Mr. Nathan Hunt, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama;

Mr. L. W. Scott, Mt. Sterling, Ohio;

Mr. Lincoln A. Russell, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Charles A. Brown, Toledo, Ohio;

Mr. Albert Scowden, Chesterville, Ohio;

Mrs. Sarah E. Brown, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Albert H. Kent, Columbus, Ohio;

Vol. XXXVIII-34.

• 18
 

530       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Mrs. William Houston, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. Almon R. Gillette, Indianapolis, Indiana;

Miss C. A. Avery, New York, N. Y.;

Mrs. N. D. Monsarrat, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. William C. Link, Columbus, Ohio;

Miss Mame F. Browne, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. M. H. Donahue, Bexley, Ohio;

Mr. J. A. Raynor, Piqua, Ohio;

Mrs. C. B. Ostergren, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. W. H. Turner, Columbus, Ohio;

Dr. W. A. Galloway, Xenia, Ohio;

Mr. Arthur Hastings, South Berlin, Mass.;

Winford L. Mattoon, Columbus, Ohio;

Rev. J. E. Jones, Tiffin, Ohio;

Mr. A. C. Spetnagel, Chillicothe, Ohio;

Mr. Perry C. Boyle, Pickerington, Ohio;

Mrs. Hazelton, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. T. B. Bowers, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. J. E. Headley, London, Ohio;

Mrs. John C. Curtis, Cortland, Ohio;

Mrs. Smith Comly, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. H. L. Weedon, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. C. R. Walcutt, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. W. H. Hildreth, Columbus, Ohio;

Miss Josephine Klippert, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. John C. Walton, Sycamore, Ohio;

Mrs. C. R. Cromwell, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. Sara Lowe Brown, Bridgeport, Ohio;

Mr. John Wing, Dublin, Ohio;

Miss Elizabeth Sullivant, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. William F. Albaugh, Columbus, Ohio;

Dr. S. O. Giffin, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. Belle H. Hunter, Lancaster, Ohio;

Mrs. Willis Sells, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Charles S. Barnes, Piketon, Ohio;

Mr. J. H. McKinley, Harrisburg, Ohio;

Dr. C. B. Coleman, Indianapolis, Indiana;

Mrs. Adeline Webb, Lancaster, Ohio;

Mrs. F. Wolfrom, Bellevue, Ohio;

Mrs. Cunningham, Newark, Ohio;

William Deshler Warner, Columbus, Ohio;

Miss M. R. Huston, Somerset, Ohio;

Mr. Harry McCann, Columbus, Ohio;

Dr. H. Cope, Columbus, Ohio;

• 19
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting           531

Mr. James Henderson;

Miss Beatrice Cooley, Sunbury, Ohio;

Miss Kate M. Litzenberg, Utica, Ohio;

Mr. William S. Dun, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. W. J. Flanders, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Charles E. Gould, Cleveland, Ohio;

Stewart Bolin, Jr., Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. J. Gardner Wilson;

Mr. John Wing, Dublin, Ohio;

Mr. Ferris W. Myrice, Harrod, Ohio;

Misses Jane D. and Elizabeth U. Sullivant, Columbus, Ohio;

Dr. Eberley Thompson, Bethel, Ohio.

Contributions to the Archaeological collections have been

made by the following:

Mr. W. E. Peters, Athens, Ohio;

Dr. E. W. Schueller, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Fred E. Jones, Columbus, Ohio;

Dr. H. Lee Good, Hamilton, Ohio;

Mr. Stanley P. Lamp, Newark, Ohio;

Mr. Edward Glaze, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. M. R. Sharp, Kingston, Ohio;

Mr. G. C. Masters, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. W. W. Doughty.

Contributors to the Natural History collections:

Mr. Fred R. Price, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. Anna Keirn, Eaton, Ohio;

United States Gypsum Company, Chicago, Ill.;

American Gypsum Company, Port Clinton, Ohio;

Gibsonburg Lime Products Company, Gibsonburg, Ohio;

Mr. William Parrish, Philadelphia, Pa.

Mr. H. D. Tubaugh, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. William H. Bachert, Coshocton, Ohio;

Mrs. C. M. Clark, Dayton, Ohio;

Mr. W. R. Wilson, Columbus, Ohio;

Messrs. Richard Blaum, Roswell Sautters and George W. D.

Twyman, Waverly, Ohio;

Ayers Mineral Company, Zanesville, Ohio;

Mr. Richard T. Jones, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. M. W. Richwine, Columbus, Ohio;

Mrs. J. D. Dunham, Columbus, Ohio;

Mr. Charles D. Miller, Sylvania, Ohio;

• 20
 

532       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

The Kelley Island and Transport Company, Cleveland, Ohio;

Mr. Walter J. Paquett, Toledo, Ohio;

James G. Manchester;

Mrs. H. R. McPherson, Columbus, Ohio.

Contributors of Ethnological and Anthropological material.

Miss Clara Mark, Westerville, Ohio.

Dr. E. W. Schueller, Columbus, Ohio.

Miss Emma A. Doe, Columbus, Ohio.

Professor Joseph Bradford, Ohio State University.

Capt. Albert Wilson, Chief of Personnel Bureau, Panama

Canal.

Mr. F. M. Kendall, Columbus, Ohio.

Miss Elizabeth Ruggles, Circleville, Ohio.

Japanese Doll and accessories from the Japanese school girls

of Japan.

The report was ordered received and placed on file.

President Johnson: Your chairman is glad he said

what he did about our Director early in the meeting-

otherwise some live member, after hearing this report,

would beat him to it. The next item on the program is

a brief report of the Committee on Parks.

 

COMMITTEE ON PARKS

Dr. F. C. Furniss, chairman of the Committee on

Parks, responded as follows:

My report will necessarily be very brief, because the work

of the Parks Committee was practically completed before the

close of last summer, because, first, the funds appropriated for

the development of the various parks had been expended, and,

second, operations had to cease until the Legislature made addi-

tional appropriations. You have been informed that the Legisla-

ture has made an appropriation which enables us to employ a

full time Park Manager-we certainly appreciate that action on

the part of the Legislature. I believe that now the Parks Com-

mittee, as established by President Johnson, will cease to function.

While we were functioning, or trying to, it was our desire and

purpose to bring about the greatest improvement in the parks

possible with the funds available, and with the time at our com-

• 21
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting          533

 

mand to visit the parks and supervise the work of construction

and repair.

Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the committee is the

construction of a roadway from the pavilion to Lookout Point, at

Fort Ancient. This was accomplished through the friendly co-

operation of the State Department of Highways. In the past, au-

tomobiles have been mired in the mud of this road, especially dur-

ing the rainy season. The roadway has now been completed, with

gravel and stone, wide enough for machines to pass, and a wide

space at the end provided for parking.

It was also our aim to improve sanitary conditions at the

parks, so far as we were able to do so. Every park now has an

adequate supply of water, new wells, and sanitary equipment. We

regret that lack of funds prevented our doing many things to in-

crease the comfort of visitors to the parks.

A survey, observation and study of the park system of other

states has convinced us that we have paid too little attention to the

park system of the state of Ohio. I made it my business to com-

municate with the departments of conservation and park com-

missioners in the different states, and to my amazement discovered

that Ohio ranks third from the bottom of the states in the care

of its parks. We have much room for improvement. The only

way improvements can be made in the parks, for the benefit of

tourists and those interested in the great outdoors and in historical

and archaeological features embraced in our system of state parks,

is for us to unite in a concerted effort to secure funds, and then

outline a definite program for the future establishment and up-

building of the wonderful parks over which we have control. The

encroachment of large industries throughout the state is grad-

ually hemming in the broad expanse that should be preserved and

conserved. As our population increases these places will be more

and more and more sought, and it is high time that we give in-

tensive study to the park system of Ohio.

A detailed report of the accomplishments of the Committee

will be submitted to your Director, and you will find it in the

QUARTERLY. I do not wish to take up any more time now. I

thank you (Applause).

President Johnson: The Society can well be grateful

to Doctor Furniss for the time and effort he has given

to the park properties, and in due time satisfactory

recognition should be given him.

• 22
 

534         Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

REPORT OF THE TREASURER

Treasurer E. F. Wood presented the following re-

port:

REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE OHIO STATE ARCH-

AEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR THE

EIGHTEEN MONTHS' PERIOD ENDED

DECEMBER 31, 1928

RECEIPTS

Cash     on  hand  July        1,  1927 ..................................  $1,364.90

Life       Membership           Dues ..........................                                                    $1,700.00

Active Membership Dues ................... ....                                                                        365.00

Interest on various Funds ........................                                                                2,111.52

Contributions Seip Mound Restoration ...........                                                          609.85

Subscriptions-Battle Field of Fallen Timbers...                                                  9,025.00

Gift of Jessie Campbell Coons ...................                                                             2,000.00

Sale of scrap iron (Mound City Park)..........                                                                  81.84

M. Gallup Estate ............................                                                                                    58.27

Subscriptions  ..................................                                                                                   26.78

Books   sold ....... .............................                                                                           1,019.84

Refunds of advances made from time to time for

traveling expenses, field work, etc..........  2,639.70   19,637.80

Total Receipts from State Treasurer on:

Appropriations: House Bill No. 517.........    3,064.81

Appropriations: House Bill No. 502........ 269,576.84

272,641.65

Total  ............... .............................  $293,644.35

 

 

DISBURSEMENTS

Administrative Building

Personal service............................ $64,045.25

Additions to Museum and Library Bldg.....                                              95,599.39

Books, Manuscripts and Equipment........                                                   3,998.27

Museum   Collections .......................                                                              1,479.06

Material (General Plant) ..................                                                              4,660.34

Postage  ............. ................. ...                                                                                   827.47

Field Work and Explorations ..............                                                         5,884.10

Natural History Field Work ...............                                                          1,486.72

Bldg. Repairs, Furniture and Equipment....                     5,378.16

Traveling Expenses .......................                               1,801.04

Light, Heat, Power and Water ...........                                                          1,587.96

Supplies and Sundry Expenses .............                                                      3,324.23

Publications ...............................                                                                      10,998.83

$201,070.80

• 23
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting                     535

 

Division of Spiegel Grove State Park

Personal service............................                                14,795.43

Light, Heat, Power and Water       ............                   3,522.91

Repairs ...................................                                     7,168.24

Traveling Expenses .......................                                    499.70

Supplies, Equipment and Sundry Expenses.                   1,947.79

27,934.07

Division of Fort Ancient

Personal service ...........................                               1,139.80

Repairs and Improvements ..................                        2,341.32

Telephone and Equipment ..................                              116.21

3,597.33

Division of Campus Martius

Personal service............................                                     375.00

Repairs and Supplies .....................                               3,160.06

3,535.06

 

Division of Serpent Mound

Personal service ............................                                        360.00

Repairs, Improvements .....................                                        973.44

Supplies, Telephone, etc ...................                                126.88

1,460.32

Division of Logan Elm

Caretaker ..............................                                            75.00

Improvements and Repairs ..................                             893.60

Telephone .................................                                       36.00

1,004.60

Division of Schoenbrunn

Personal service ...........................                                    691.25

Improvements-Cabin and Grounds..........                      9,546.82

10,238.07

Division of Battlefield of Fallen Timbers

Monument, Fence and Entrance .............                     16,641.23

Wages ...................................                                            116.00

General  Plant ..............................                                     96.62

16,854.15

Division of Fort St. Clair

Personal service............................                               1,575.00

Improvements and Repairs ..................                        3,028.24

4,603.24

• 24
 

536         Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Division of Fort Laurens

Personal service ............................                                 935.00

Landscaping and Roadway ..................                            2,497.95

General  Plant ..............................                                  499.81

3,932.76

Division of Geo. Rogers Clark Monument

Care of Grounds and Improvements ..........      302.95

302.95

Division of Geo. Rogers Clark Monument Com-

mission

Personal service, supplies, etc..............    790.62

790.62

Division of Fort Amnanda Park

Caretaker  .................................                                    75.00

Repairs and Improvements ..................                          462.55

537.55

Division of Mound City Park

Personal service............................                                 720.00

Repairs and Improvements ..................                          2,652.70

3,372.70

Seip Mound Restoration ........................      233.03

233.03

Fort Hill (Traveling Expense) ................                               32.50       32.50

Campbell Park (Land and Improvements) .......                    1,610.19

1,610.19

Cash advanced from time to time for Traveling

Expenses, Field Work, etc................                              1,862.20    1,862.20

Transferred to Permanent Fund ................                           1,700.00

1,700.00

Cash on hand December 31, 1928:

Current Fund ..............................                                   2,745.37

Battlefield of Fallen Timbers Fund..........                        5,440.52

Campbell Park Fund .......................                               399.50

Seip Mound Fund ..........................                                 386.82

8,972.21

 

Total  .............................................  $293,644.35

Permanent Fund December 31, 1928............. $26,300.00

Respectfully submitted,

(Signed)    E. F. WOOD,

Treasurer.

• 25
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting                     537

 

REPORT OF THE AUDITOR

COLUMBUS, OHIO, April 15, 1929.

MR. C. B. GALBREATH, Secretary,

The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society,

Columbus, Ohio.

DEAR SIR:

We herewith submit the report of our audit of the books of

account of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society

for the eighteen months' period from July 1, 1927, to December

31, 1928, inclusive. The exhibits included herein are listed in the

following Table of Contents:

Beginning the period with a cash balance of ................   $1,364.90

The Society collected from various sources (See Statement

of  Receipts)...........................................                                                             19,637.80

 

T otal  .............................................                                                          $21,002.70

There was disbursed on account of the various projects,

amounts as follows:

Museum and Library ........................    $2,322.55

Spiegel  Grove..............................                                                                            6.76

Fort Ancient ...............................                                                                              103.71

Serpent Mound.............................                                                                            14.39

Fallen Timbers .............................                                                                     3,752.21

George Rogers Clark Monument Grounds....                                                    217.95

George Rogers Clark Memorial Commission..                                                  175.00

Fort  Hill ..................................                                                                                  32.50

Campbell Park .............................                                                                     1,610.19

Seip   M ound ................................                                                                            233.03

Expenses Advanced (all refunded) ...........                                                  1,862.20

Transfer to permanent fund (life member-

ships) .................................    1,700.00

12,030 49

 

Cash Balance December 31, 1928 ....................    $8,972.21

Of State appropriations there was used out of

1926-1927 funds ....... .................                                                         $3,064.81

And from 1927-1928 funds ..................                                                         269,576.84

 

A    total  of..........................................  $272,641.65

• 26
 

538       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

As indicated above, the permanent fund has been increased

during the period from $24,600.00 to $26,300.00 by transfer of

$1,700.00, representing life membership dues. This fund is rep-

resented by Certificate of Deposit No. C32423 issued by The

Ohio State Savings Association and dated January 1, 1929.

Expenditures for acquisitions and permanent improvements

during the eighteen months' period aggregated $158,704.34. This

amount has been added to the Permanent Investment as shown

on the Balance Sheet herewith. Details of the additions to the

various asset accounts are shown in the form of Journal Entries

on subsequent pages.

During the course of our audit all checks and vouchers were

audited and found to be properly executed.

The balances of appropriation accounts were verified by com-

parison with the State Auditor's records.

Respectfully submitted,

(Signed)    W. D. WALL,

Certified Public Accountant.

Doctor W. O. Thompson moved that the selection of

a memorial to the late Doctor William C. Mills, and the

question of cooperation with the Cleveland Society men-

tioned in the address of the President, be referred to the

Board of Trustees for action. The motion was seconded

by Mr. Fred J. Heer, and unanimously carried.

Mr. W. J. Sherman, for the Committee on Nomina-

tions, submitted the following report:

To the President:

"Your Committee chosen to nominate candidates for the

office of Trustee, for the terms expiring in 1931, respectfully sub-

mit the following names, viz.:

Arthur C. Johnson,

Clarence D. Laylin,

George Florence.

Respectfully,

(Signed)    W. J. SHERMAN,

CLAUDE MEEKER,

FRED J. HEER.

• 27
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting     539

Mr. E. F. Wood: "I move that the Secretary cast

the ballot of the Society for those nominated.

President Johnson: "Any further nominations ?"

Mr. Wood: "I amend the motion to provide that the

nominations close, and move that the secretary cast the

ballot of the Society for those nominated."

The motion, as amended, was seconded and unani-

mously carried.

The Secretary cast the ballot of the Society for Mr.

Arthur C. Johnson, Mr. Clarence D. Laylin, and General

George Florence, who were declared duly elected Trus-

tees for the term ending in 1931.

At this point, the meeting recessed.

 

AFTERNOON MEETING

The meeting was called to order by President John-

son, who stated that the business of the Society was very

satisfactorily transacted, in a very favorable manner, at

the morning session, and in due time the reports of the

officers will be published in the QUARTERLY. "There are

no clouds on the horizon, everything seems to be moving

along beautifully. The real pleasure of the day will now

begin, and two notable addresses will be delivered. It is

embarrassing, and a somewhat lonesome experience, to

preside over a meeting alone, so I instructed the house-

keeper to furnish me with several chairs on the plat-

form, that I might have company. I ask Doctor Thomp-

son to bring one of our honored guests and come up

here and occupy two of these chairs, and I am going to

ask Doctor Thompson, when the time comes, to intro-

duce the speakers of the day. I want to explain to our

• 28
 

540     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

guests that if they go home and are asked who intro-

duced them at this annual meeting and they answer that

they were introduced by Arthur Johnson, nobody will

know whom they are talking about; but if they should

go to Afghanistan or Tasmania and are asked who in-

troduced them, and they say Doctor W. O. Thompson,

everybody will know. Anyhow, I do not think it right

to have any kind of a dignified meeting on the grounds

of Ohio State University at which Doctor Thompson is

not the presiding officer. (Applause.)  I am asked

whether Doctor Cloud is in the audience-Doctor

Thompson suggested that maybe he is the cloud on the

horizon I talked about, and I want him to come forward,

occupy a chair on the platform and prove that he is not

the cloud on the horizon. I ask Mr. W. J. Sherman, if

he is in the audience, to come to the platform-he is in

the building, but I do not know whether he is in this

auditorium. Mr. Sherman is doing a notable work for

the Society, and we have few opportunities to visit or

see him. I would ask Doctor Prince, member emeritus

of the Board of Trustees to occupy a place on the plat-

form were it not for the fact that I know the difficulty

he has in getting up and down steps. I know you all

agree with me when I say that Doctor Prince is one of

our most beloved members-his services were so valua-

ble that, when he desired to be relieved of his duties as

a member of the Board of Trustees, we unanimously

elected him a Trustee Emeritus, and he is just as much

a Trustee as any of us, but he does not have to do any

of the work unless he wants to. Doctor Thompson, I

will now ask you to introduce the first speaker."

• 29
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting     541

Doctor W. O. Thompson: "One always finds a cer-

tain pleasure in presenting speakers, if he can find a

contact. Inasmuch as this is an historical society, I may

reveal the fitness I have for this particular function. It

is now forty-nine years since I became acquainted with

the Wilson brothers, being a student of their uncle. One

is living at Huntington, Pennsylvania, and the other at

Glendale. The wife of Reverend Wilson is now very ill,

but the speaker this afternoon is her cousin. They come

from Baltimore, and they are related to Henry Clay.

This gentleman was a student at Johns Hopkins Uni-

versity, Baltimore. He is now at the head of the De-

partment of History of the University of Cincinnati.

Certain other facts about him appear on this program,

and those of you who read it will see that I have not told

you everything I can tell about him. He is a professor

of history, and has rendered a very fine service to the

University of Cincinnati. These visitors come to us

this afternoon as our own. I am particularly pleased

when I have an opportunity to present to an Ohio audi-

ence one of my colleagues. We have had some very

delightful experiences with members of Western Re-

serve College since the World War. We have had very

delightful experiences with men of Marietta University,

Ohio and Miami Universities; Wittenberg has made a

contribution to us, and Ohio Wesleyan has been rich in

its experience in this state. Kenyon College also, one of

the oldest although never one of the largest. All around

the state the colleges have offered something of the ideal-

ism of the Ohio people.

"I have often thought in my heart that Ohio's con-

ception of Ohio progress and ideals can be traced to our

• 30
 

542       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

small colleges, and that some of our best citizenship

found its inspiration in these institutions. All of these

colleges have had men and women of more than usual

rank and standing in our commonwealth, and I am proud

to recognize their contribution to Ohio citizenship. They

have not been very exclusive in this, because they have

always exported their best to other colleges. We have

present Professor Beverly W. Bond, Jr., from the Uni-

versity of Cincinnati. He is a southerner but camou-

flages himself as an easterner. He will speak to you on

the subject of 'The Old Northwest Territory in Eastern

Eyes'."

 

"THE OLD NORTHWEST TO EASTERN EYES"

Dr. Bond delivered the following address:

The rush into the fertile spaces of the Old Northwest came

as an inevitable aftermath of the Revolution and the removal of

the barriers set up by British proclamations. The Revolutionary

veteran, the Yankee farmer, weary of tilling a scanty soil, the

young man seeking his fortune, all flocked to the promised land.

The wide range of motives that led on this pioneer multitude is

revealed in striking fashion in the newspapers, the almanacs and

the books of travel that circulated in the Atlantic states at this

time. Based upon these varied sources, this paper will be limited

to the early period, before the Land Act of 1800 smoothed the

way for the bulk of the westward migration. During this period

migration to the Old Northwest was chiefly carried on under the

stimulus of stock companies and land speculators. The Ohio

Purchase and the Western Reserve attracted mainly emigrants

from New England, the Miami Purchase those from New Jersey

and the Middle States, and the Virginia Military District naturally

interested the people of the Old Dominion. There was little, if

any, organized migration to Indiana or Illinois before 1800.

 

(NOTE: This paper is founded upon an extensive research in early

newspapers, almanacs and other publications of the Seaboard States, chiefly

during the period 1788-1800. Most of them were used in the Rare Book

Department of the Library of Congress.)

• 31
 

(543)

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544       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

The movement to the Old Northwest during the last two

decades of the Eighteenth Century was but a phase of a general

migration that centered in New England, New Jersey and Vir-

ginia. There was keen competition for settlers with lands in

western New York and Pennsylvania, in the blue grass region

of Kentucky and even in the fertile valleys of distant Tennessee.

But with the aid of the land bounties offered Revolutionary vet-

erans, and the opportunity to realize upon the government cer-

tificates, the Old Northwest was more than able to hold its own.

The uncertain economic situation under the Confederation and the

distressed plight of many a Revolutionary veteran must also be

reckoned with. An excellent representative of the latter class

was Manasseh Cutler, pastor of the church at Ipswich, Massa-

chusetts, and a leader in the Ohio Company. In simple language

he pictured his situation: "I had suffered exceedingly in ye war,

and after it was over, by paper money and ye high price of arti-

cles of living. My salary small and family large, for several

years I thought ye people had not done me justice, and I med-

itated leaving them. Purchasing lands in a new community ap-

peared to be ye only thing I could do to secure a living to myself

and family in that unsettled state of public affairs." It was for-

tunate indeed for the Old Northwest that veterans of the Revo-

lution of the type of Manasseh Cutler took so large a part in the

early settlement. At Marietta, for example, in a list of thirty-

three of the most prominent pioneers, twenty-three had seen active

service during the Revolution, and of the remainder, all but four,

and one of them a clergyman, had been too young to enlist. These

veterans in the prime of life laid well the foundation of enduring

commonwealths.

Even before the first emigrants started for Marietta in 1788,

glowing reports from the Western country had actually aroused

the enthusiasm of the cold-blooded Yankees. A typical letter in

1786 described the Muskingum region as a veritable paradise,

and a particularly healthy one. An enthusiastic surveyor con-

sidered this country "superior to anything one can conceive of,"

with "the deepest and richest garden mould" in the bottoms. As

proof he cited a remarkable cornfield near Fort Harmar, in which

the stalks grew fourteen feet high. Equally astounding reports

came from the early settlers at Marietta, and indeed imagination

ran riot throughout this earliest phase of New England settlement

in Ohio. A single family in one year, so it was said, had raised

1,000 bushels of corn, and wintered 60 to 70 horses and cattle, an

achievement, the writer pointedly noted, in strong contrast to the

usual experience of emigrants to Vermont. Another Marietta

• 33
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting           545

 

pioneer prophesied with poetic effusion the destiny of the new

settlement, as not only "the glory of America, but the envy of the

world." More to the point were the comments of a rather prac-

tical individual who pointed out the possibilities of an extensive

trade, as settlement increased in the Western country.

The many travelers to the Ohio Purchase brought back re-

ports that must have greatly stimulated emigration. Among them

was Colonel John May of Boston, who returned from Marietta in

1788 with a diary stuffed full of information he had jotted down.

Upon a seven-acre farm near Little Beaver, he recorded, the

owner had raised 700 bushels of corn. Nor was Marietta wholly

lacking in the comforts of life, and as evidence he cited a dinner

he enjoyed with General Harmar, where there was "as elegant a

table as any in Boston. Amongst the solids were bacon gammon,

venison, tongues, roast and boiled lamb, barbecued and a la mode

beef, perch and catfish, lobster and oysters. *                     *     *       For veg-

etables: green peas, radishes and salads. *                            *              *                                For drink:

spirits, excellent wine, brandy and beer." Another traveler in the

West, Thaddeus M. Harris of Dorchester, was likewise im-

pressed with the possibilities of the Marietta colony. The full-

rigged ships sailing down the Ohio aroused his admiration, along

with the thrift, the neat fences, and the well-tilled farms of the

New England settlers, which were in strong contrast to the gen-

eral neglect on the Virginia side of the Ohio, where slave labor

was customary.

In its homely counsel to intending emigrants, an article en-

titled "Advice to American Farmers" gave a vivid picture of the

privations and the rewards that came to the settler who ventured

into the Western country. The author advised emigrants to avoid

the Niagara and Kentucky regions, and to choose lands that were

directly under the control of the Federal government, avoiding

regions especially where slavery was allowed. All luxuries they

must eschew, but the Bible should go with them, and those of the

same faith should settle together, "in order to secure the sooner a

minister and a schoolmaster." This homely advice concluded with

an alluring picture of a family, depressed by poverty, "which,

moving into a new country, would there replace the woods with

fields, the weeds with gardens, and the beasts of prey with domes-

tic animals," creating new forces for independence and affluence.

The correspondents of the New England newspapers were by

no means unanimous in praise of the Western country, and occa-

sionally they derisively countered the flowery statements of the

enthusiasts. With true New England sarcasm, Robinson Crusoe

scornfully called attention to the exaggerated accounts and the

Vol. XXXVIII--35.

• 34
 

546       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

pretentious names of public improvements at Marietta. In similar

ironic vein, a wag published "An Ohio Story of a Vermont Pump-

kin Vine" that was of marvellous length, with stupendous fruit.

The effect of such criticism was evident in the more moderate tone

of the advertisements and other notices at the beginning of the

movement to the Western Reserve, the second notable migration

from New England. To be sure, the speculators in these lands ex-

tolled the fertile soil and the healthy climate of New Connecticut.

But they laid greater stress upon such substantial facts as the in-

creasing settlements, the convenient mills and the existence of

churches and schools. Probably too, this change in emphasis was

largely due to the disillusionment that must have come to so many

pioneers of the earlier migration.

In New Jersey also, there was marked interest in the Western

country, especially in the Miami Purchase, to which so many emi-

grants went from this state. Like the proprietors of the Western

Reserve, Judge Symmes was quite moderate in the circulars he

issued in 1787 and 1788, to induce the public to come to his new

colony. Calling attention to the excellent soil, he noted also the

abundance of navigable streams, and the accessibility of the pro-

posed settlements to Kentucky and the Atlantic states.  He

stressed also the mildness of the climate and the wide range of

products, including in the latter, with considerable exaggeration,

indigo and cotton. In similarly moderate tone, the New Jersey

newspapers called attention to the merits of farming lands in the

Miami Purchase, one writer in particular pointing out their great

superiority over the "broken" country in the Muskingum Valley.

Similar in tone were the few comments in the Virginia newspapers

upon the lands in the Virginia Military District. One correspon-

dent ranged the Scioto Valley alongside Kentucky as the best

land "in the world." Other articles recounted in great detail the

extensive resources and the varied products of the Western coun-

try, and occasionally there were touches that were reminiscent of

the earlier exaggerations of New England. Such was a descrip-

tion of a wonderful sycamore tree in the Scioto Valley that was

more than sixty feet in circumference, with a cavity so large that

it sheltered thirteen persons on horseback, with room for two

more.

The New York and Pennsylvania newspapers gave only oc-

casional notices of the sort that were likely to attract immigrants

to the Western country. But the numerous books of travel show

the keen interest taken in this region. Nor were these publications

altogether without influence upon the emigrant. Notable among

them was Thomas Hutchins' Map and Topographical Description

• 35
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting           547

of the "interior parts" of North America. An advertisement in

1788 praised this work, as showing especially the possibilities of

the Illinois country, a land where hemp "grew spontaneously,"

and one that abounded in agricultural products, in game, iron,

copper, lead and salt springs, "in short, everything a reasonable

mind can desire is to be found, or may, with little pains, be

produced there."

The beginning of the actual colonization in the Old Northwest

naturally aroused interest in the Eastern states. In New Eng-

land the plans of the Ohio Company had already been received

with much enthusiasm, and the newspapers had printed detailed

reports of its proceedings. The New England press gave an im-

portant place to the details of the first actual migration to the

Old Northwest, recording the departure from Providence, early

in 1788, of a wagon loaded with artificers, tools, etc., and attended

by a number of persons who proposed to settle in the Ohio coun-

try. A few months later a New York paper announced that an-

other wagon had left Providence, this one carrying six gentlemen

destined for "that second land of promise where Nature smiles in

all her glory, and where a most luxuriant soil and happy climate

will abundantly reward the husbandman's labour." About the

same time the New England papers noted that six additional

wagons, holding about thirty women and children, had left Wor-

cester for the Western country. An interesting side-light upon

these evidences of migration to the Western country was an ad-

vertisement by Stephen Bayard of Elizabethtown on the Monon-

gahela, who built "Kentuckee Boats."

The extent of the early migration to the Old Northwest from

Massachusetts may be gauged partially by the sales of land in

Worcester and its vicinity at this time, for it was from this

neighborhood that so many of the shareholders of the Ohio Com-

pany came. In 1788 many persons in this region offered their

farms for sale, among them Rufus Putnam, who offered to re-

ceive in exchange the military land warrants and the Federal cer-

tificates which could be used to purchase Western lands. The

list of farms for sale in and around Worcester showed a steady

increase. In 1790 eight farms and two dwellings were adver-

tised in a single issue of the Massachusetts Spy, fourteen in 1794

and fifteen in 1795. Often the owners of these farms invested

the proceeds of their sales in shares of the Ohio Company, in

order to take up land in the West. A typical case was that of

Captain Jonathan Stone, a Revolutionary veteran, who sold his

farm at Brookfield, Massachusetts, and with the proceeds bought

• 36
 

548       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

two shares of stock in the Ohio Company which he used to take

up land near Belpre.

Interest in the second important Westward movement from

New England to the Western Reserve was naturally greatest in

Connecticut. The newspapers of the state contained frequent no-

tices of these Ohio lands, especially after Moses Cleaveland re-

turned from his surveying expedition in 1796 with an exceed-

ingly favorable report of the fertile, rolling land in New Connecti-

cut, and of the possibilities for trade on Lake Erie and by the

Cuyahoga to the interior of Ohio. The people of Connecticut

were greatly interested, too, in the proceedings of the Connecticut

Company. The chief problem of this organization apparently was

to divide the land among the stockholders, and especially to collect

the large assessments that were needed to pay the taxes and meet

other obligations. There were occasional notices, also, of meet-

ings of the proprietors of the Sufferers' or Firelands, west of the

Cuyahoga.

The lands of the Connecticut Company were divided in 1795

among the shareholders, and they in turn sold them directly, or

else through speculators, to the actual settlers. The usual pro-

cedure of either shareholders or speculators was to pay a part of

the purchase money owed the state, and then to offer the lands in

exchange for salable farms in Connecticut, or for other considera-

tions of value. Numerous advertisements of these lands for sale

appear in the newspaper columns. Thus, Ephraim Root of Hart-

ford, a shareholder in the Connecticut Company, and his partner,

Uriel Holmes, advertised widely in 1801 their desirable lands in

New Connecticut, calling the attention of all "industrious and en-

terprising" persons to the "pleasing prospects for the future."

From the long list of Connecticut farms they offered for sale, it

is evident that Root and Holmes were quite successful. The firm

soon dissolved, but Ephraim Root offered 100,000 acres in New

Connecticut on his own account, in exchange for land in the

mother state. At the same time he advertised nine farms for sale

which he had doubtless received in exchange for his Western

lands. His former partner, Uriel Holmes, also appears to have

found speculation in Western lands a profitable business. Another

large speculator in Western Reserve lands was Lemuel Storrs of

Middletown, who in 1805 offered 110,000 acres "to the Industri-

ous Public." In payment he was willing to accept cash, to extend

liberal credit, or else to take in exchange "good farms" in Con-

necticut. In common with other speculators he would take in par-

tial payment security for a large part of the purchase money that

was still due to the State of Connecticut. Also like other specu-

• 37
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting           549

 

lators, Storrs had his agents in Ohio to take care of settlers on

the spot.

Like the various New England schemes for colonization, the

Miami Purchase attracted the greatest attention in its home state,

New Jersey. Following a number of similar local projects for

Western colonies, Judge Symmes' new settlement received con-

siderable attention from the New Jersey papers, although he him-

self depended chiefly upon hand-bills and circulars to advertise

his lands. Another effective aid in attracting settlers was an ex-

tensive correspondence between the early pioneers in the Miami

Purchase and their friends at home. Occasional advertisements

give hints of the very considerable speculations that were carried

on in New Jersey in these lands. For example, Benjamin Stelle

in 1789 offered 20,000 acres for sale, and many similar advertise-

ments appeared from time to time. There is much other evidence

in the New Jersey papers of the extent of the local migration to

Judge Symmes' colony. Many advertisers offered to buy the pub-

lic certificates which could be used to pay for these lands, and

equally significant was the large number of farms for sale. In

1789 fourteen small farms were advertised at one time, in and

around Elizabethtown, and in 1799 a single issue of a New Jersey

paper offered thirteen tracts of agricultural land around Trenton,

with fourteen separate parcels in or near New Brunswick, and

five lots in nearby Princeton. These advertisements of lands for

sale continued, and in 1807, for example, one paper offered a grist

and saw mill, twelve farms and several wood-lots near Trenton.

It is reasonable to suppose that a large percentage of the owners

of these tracts migrated to the Miami Purchase.

Strange to say, there are few, if any, notices of Judge Sym-

mes' lands in either the New York or the Philadelphia papers,

although there were emigrants from  both these towns to the

Miami Purchase. In the New England papers, however, a num-

ber of notices called attention to these lands. Even before any

settlement had been made, Thomas Stanley published a rather

flamboyant advertisement in the Connecticut Courant, which as-

serted that any description of this Miami country must "fall short

of its goodness." A similarly glowing description in a Virginia

paper showed how widespread was the interest in Judge Symmes'

settlement.

Little attention was shown the remaining important land

scheme of the early period, the Virginia Military District, until

after peace with the Indians had made settlement there possible.

Occasionally the leading Virginia papers had noticed the lands be-

tween the Scioto and the Little Miami that had been allotted to

• 38
 

550       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

the state's Revolutionary veterans. But with the interest aroused

by Wayne's campaign, and especially as the resources of the

Scioto Valley became known, there was a decided change, and the

Revolutionary veterans of Virginia became anxious to realize

some returns from their land warrants. Usually they sold these

claims to speculators, who in turn disposed of them to actual set-

tlers who came chiefly from Kentucky. Thus, in frequent notices

Hicks and Campbell and other Virginia real estate dealers offered

to pay the highest price for Virginia military land warrants, or

else to buy "military lands" outright.

The vicissitudes of a speculator in Virginia military lands

may be followed in the correspondence of General Duncan Mc-

Arthur. As agent on the spot at Chillicothe, he located many land

warrants for residents of Virginia, sold tracts to incoming settlers,

and paid taxes for absentee landlords. His clients were scattered

through Virginia, in Richmond, Fauquier Courthouse (Warren-

ton), and other important towns. The chief speculator whom he

represented was Robert Means of Richmond. Influenced by glow-

ing reports of these Western lands, Means plunged to the utmost

of his ability, buying up military warrants which he sent Mc-

Arthur to be located. As taxes accumulated on vacant holdings,

Means found it was almost impossible to meet his obligations.

Time and again he appealed to McArthur to send him cash for at

least a part of his holdings. But in vain, for specie was scarce

in the Western country, and it was easy to secure the public cer-

tificates and land warrants that could be exchanged for public

lands. Under these circumstances cash sales to. intending settlers

were few and far between. Means, undaunted, even exchanged

valuable property at Richmond for land warrants, and for a

time he seems to have enjoyed a virtual monopoly of this business.

Soon competition appeared, prices rose, and still it was almost im-

possible to secure cash for his lands. The prices he paid were

still low, averaging only twenty-three cents per acre on one lot of

warrants in 1808 for 5,349 acres, but, like most land speculators,

Means found that his immediate returns were far from satis-

factory.

Despite the discouraging experience of Robert Means, the

Revolutionary veterans of Virginia continued to find speculators

who vied with one another in offers for land warrants to be filled

in the Virginia Military District. Among the numerous evidences

of this widespread speculation, was an advertisement in 1810 by

Carter Drew, who proposed to visit the Western country, including

Ohio. There he expected to act as general agent, exploring lands,

investigating titles and the like. Another important figure in these

• 39
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting           551

 

land transactions was James Taylor, who was quite active at Rich-

mond in buying up land warrants. His dealings were extensive,

and he even offered 20,000 acres of "valuable military land" in

Ohio to the people of New Jersey.

While such schemes for colonization as-the Ohio Company

and Judge Symmes' project attracted the greatest attention, the

newspapers of the East did not wholly ignore the public lands in

the Old Northwest, which were gradually opening up to settle-

ment. Of special significance in this connection were the numer-

ous offers to pay cash for the United States military warrants and

the Federal certificates that could be used in exchange for these

public lands. Part of these military warrants were probably used

to purchase lands in the Ohio and Miami Purchases, but other

warrants were undoubtedly bought in response to the frequent

notices that called attention, as early as 1789, to the provisions to

satisfy these obligations, first in the Military Reserve west of the

Seven Ranges, and next from lands between the Wabash and the

Mississippi. In 1799 the Eastern newspapers printed an official

list of all the tracts in the Old Northwest that were then available

for settlement. After the passage of the Land Act of 1796 they

also published notices of public sales of these lands. The exten-

sive holdings of many residents of the Atlantic states in these

Western lands is well illustrated by an advertisement of two sur-

veyors, John Matthews and Zachariah Briggs, who offered to

locate military warrants and other claims, for a fee of one-tenth

of the land. They proposed to accumulate warrants for smaller

tracts until they had altogether 4,000 acres, a sufficient amount to

locate an entire quarter-township. But in all these varied notices

of the possibilities of these Western lands there is no evidence of

any appreciable interest in or migration to either Indiana or Iili-

nois, during this early period. The dangers from Indians were too

great and the lands too remote; only comparatively small areas

were open to emigrants, and settlers evidently preferred the nearer

and safer lands of the Ohio country.

A striking testimony to the great interest taken in the Western

country is found in the many news items from these settlements

that were given a prominent place in the Eastern newspapers.

Although relations with the Indians and the different frontier

struggles took up much space, the newspapers did not neglect the

less picturesque record of daily happenings of importance among

the New England pioneers. Especially was this true of New

England, where the stay-at-homes were alert for news of their

relatives and friends who had ventured into the Western wilder-

ness. These news items were all the more welcome in view of the

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552       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

expense and uncertainties of the postal service from these distant

parts, although there seems to have been constant communication

between the settlers and their former homes in New England.

The newspapers printed frequent letters from their correspondents

at Marietta, at Cincinnati, at Chillicothe, and later in the Western

Reserve. Much of this news recorded the progress of the terri-

torial government, the official actions of St. Clair and the Judges,

and later the important measures adopted by the state govern-

ment of Ohio. Marked attention was paid also to the adventures

of Aaron Burr in the West.

Together with the reports of public affairs, frequent accounts

of everyday happenings appeared in the New England papers.

The opening of a ferry across the Muskingum, or the launching of

an ocean-going vessel at Marietta were typical items that were

recorded with evident enthusiasm. The establishment of a packet

line between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh was warmly commended

as an evidence of progress in this "enchanting country." Another

item of a different type announced the first ball that was held in

Marietta, in December, 1788. It was attended, according to the

writer, by fifteen ladies, "as well accomplished in the manners of

polite circles as any in the old States." There was much favorable

comment also upon the superior advantages of the Ohio coun-

try, where incidentally so many New Englanders had settled, over

other sections in the West.

As a case in point, the Providence Journal, cited the example

of Colonel Arthur Shreve of New Jersey. Proposing at first to

lead a party of emigrants to New Madrid, in Louisiana, he was

discouraged by the floods. Then as he found the greater part of

the desirable land in Kentucky already taken up, he finally decided

upon Marietta. The wide range of this interest of New England

in the Western country is strikingly illustrated by a letter that

called special attention to the amazing growth of the Virginia

Military District and pointed out the advantages this section of-

fered to the "middling class," and especially to "mechanics of

the common trades." Another proof of the close relations between

New England and the Western country is to be found in the

columns of the popular Massachusetts Magazine. Many death

and marriage notices were printed from the Ohio settlements,

along with much news of the campaigns against the Indians. The

Domestic Chronicle, a monthly feature of the Magazine, also

contains many articles upon interesting features of the West, such

as descriptions of Marietta and the outlying districts, and of the

customs and manners of the Indians. In this connection it is in-

teresting to note that none of the New England almanacs that

• 41
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting          553

 

have been examined pay the slightest attention to the Western

country, the migration there, or even the Indian troubles. This

omission is all the more noticeable since the annual almanac was

virtually a second Bible in the eyes of the New England farmer.

Even though Westward migration from the Middle States

and Maryland was so limited, there is abundant evidence of the

lively interest in the movement in this section of the seaboard.

In contrast to the New England almanacs, those published in the

Middle States and Maryland contain frequent notices of the

Western country, including detailed descriptions of the most

usual routes there from the principal cities. For example, Hutch-

ins' Almanack, published in New York, printed annually a table

of the roads with the distances between intermediate points, from

Louisburg through Quebec to Presque Isle, the Falls of the Ohio,

and the mouth of the Mississippi. In like fashion, Father Abra-

ham's Almanack, popular in Philadelphia, gave at first only the

usual Westward route from Philadelphia, via York, Winchester,

Staunton, and through the Wilderness to Crab Orchard, Bard's

Town and the Falls of the Ohio. Later, as travel down the river

became safer, this almanac gave full details of the route to Pitts-

burgh, and then down the Ohio and the Mississippi. The American

Museum, which occupied in Pennsylvania a position very similar

to that of the Massachusetts Magazine in New England, also

contained many notices of political events in the West, as well as

numerous articles on the manners and customs of the Indians,

with especial attention to the numerous mounds in the Muskingum

Valley.

In the newspaper files also of the Middle States and Mary-

land, there is much news from the Western settlements. But these

items were quite irregular and illustrated very clearly the delays

and uncertainties of communication with the Old Northwest. Even

in New Jersey, the state from which so many emigrants came, the

papers seldom had regular correspondents in the West. Aside

from occasional letters from Marietta, the Miami Purchase, and

the Virginia Military District, the Western news came to the Mid-

dle States and Maryland by indirect and often irregular chan-

nels, by traders, by returning travelers, or by expresses direct to

the government in Philadelphia or Washington. Other news came

second-hand through Kentucky, or perhaps from Winchester,

Pittsburgh, or even Albany. Coming through such channels, this

information was frequently much garbled, but the very fact it was

printed was a proof of the widespread interest in the Western

country. Official news, and especially the movements of the Gov-

ernor and the Judges, occupied much space, but occasionally there

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554       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

were notices of local political controversies, as the quarrel between

Sargent and the Judges in Hamilton County.

In the Virginia papers there were only occasional direct com-

munications from the West. This was to be expected, since emi-

grants from Virginia stopped on the way in Western Virginia or

else in Kentucky, and then made their way into the Old North-

west. Nevertheless, considerable news from this region filtered

into the Old Dominion through Kentucky, or else from Winches-

ter where the road to the Wilderness crossed the one up the Po-

tomac Valley to Fort Cumberland. Much information came to

Virginia also through Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In Virginia

as elsewhere, the problem of swifter transportation to the West

was a pressing one, and news was often weeks old before it drifted

through across the mountains. The tedium of the usual route

from Virginia to the Ohio country, or vice versa, was forcibly

illustrated by the plans proposed in 1792 to carry the mails between

Alexandria, Virginia, and Danville, Kentucky. Leaving Alexan-

dria Thursday at noon, the carrier rode through Winchester, and

arrived at Staunton the following Wednesday. Leaving Staunton

the next morning, he would reach Danville in Kentucky two weeks

later; that is, the regular mail schedule between Alexandria and

Danville in either direction was three weeks. Such a situation

amply explains the keen interest that the people of Virginia dis-

played in the different projects to improve the Wilderness Road,

although they seem to have had little faith that much would

actually be accomplished. An impressive commentary on the con-

dition of the roads to the westward ,was the omission from the

Virginia Almanac, up to 1810, of any roads west of Sweet Springs.

When this popular almanac did give details of a route across the

mountain, it selected one from Richmond to Kentucky, by Staun-

ton and the Wilderness Trail.

While there was no general alarm apparent in the Eastern

states during this early period over the rapid growth of the

Western country, already there were scattered evidences of the

hostile attitude that was later to become so marked. Just upon

the eve of the migration to the Ohio Purchase, a correspondent

of a Philadelphia paper called attention to the superior merits of

vacant lands in Pennsylvania, where the roads were better, the

land was more accessible to market, and the farmer was not

obliged to sell his wheat for two shillings per bushel, and then pay

$2.00 for a pair of shoes. Three years later, another cor-

respondent, this one in a New York paper, called attention to the

"rage for removing into the back parts," and accented the ad-

vantages of a small farm, well cultivated and convenient to mar-

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting          555

kets, over large tracts of uncultivated lands in the "back parts."

These latter, he asserted, could only be regarded as a "provision

for posterity," awaiting "easy transportation and nearby markets

to assure their value." Very similar in tone was a rather long-

winded article about the same time in a Massachusetts paper, in

which the author rejoiced over the "subsidence" of the "mad-

ness" of emigration to the Western country. "Old-fashioned

industry and economy," he considered, were of more real benefit

than building castles in the air in the region of the Genesee and

other remote uncultivated sections. But these evidences of an-

tagonism toward the Western settlements were rare before 1815,

and played little if any part in holding back intending emigrants.

This brief survey of the vast mass of early newspapers and

publications gives at least a hint of the varying motives that

brought the stream of emigrants into the Old Northwest from

New England, from New Jersey, and a few from Virginia and

the Middle States. Many were induced to go by the advantages

offered by such systematic schemes of colonization as the Ohio

Purchase controlled by the Ohio Company, or the Miami Purchase

under John Cleves Symmes. Others were attracted by the in-

ducements offered by speculators of the type of Lemuel Storrs, the

hard-headed Connecticut Yankee, who willingly exchanged un-

cleared lands in the wilderness for the solid values of cultivated

farms in Connecticut. Or perhaps the settler bought his lands

from the agents of such speculators as the visionary Robert

Means, the Virginian who staked his entire fortune upon the

future value of Western lands. Intensely human were the mo-

tives of these emigrants who thronged to the Old Northwest;

the veterans of the Revolution, the adventurers, the young men

seeking their fortunes, all of them willing to brave the hardships

of the long journey westward, and the subsequent life of a

pioneer community in order to follow an intensely American urge,

and to seek a larger and better life in a new environment. The

less adventurous stay-at-homes followed with intense interest the

fortunes of those wandering sons, and often the letters and other

reports from the new settlements drew others to follow. In the

columns of the newspapers and the other publications of the

Atlantic states were mirrored the aspirations, and the entire

gamut of human motives that inspired this great American trek

across the Appalachians toward the land of the setting sun.

President Johnson: Professor Bond was a little

alarmed, fearing perhaps his paper might be too long,

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556       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

but I am sure we are all indebted to him for coming and

reading to us this very, very interesting historical docu-

ment. At this time I wish to extend to Mr. George

Smith, of Dayton, an opportunity to make a presenta-

tion to the Society from a group he represents:

Mr. George Smith rose and spoke as follows:

Mr. President, Doctor Thompson, Members and Guests: I

think most of you are familiar with what is known as the Miamis-

burg Mound, located a mile southeast of Miamisburg, in Mont-

gomery county, and usually referred to as the largest of all

mounds. A question is sometimes raised about that. At any rate,

it now stands sixty-eight feet high, the apex having been removed

a great many years ago. The mound is almost perfect, conical in

shape, a little over eight hundred feet around the base, and is

rather heavily wooded with old, and some younger, trees. The

farm upon which the mound stands was purchased, some ten

years ago, by Mr. Charles F. Kettering, of Dayton. Mr. Ketter-

ing is vice-president of the General Motors Corporation, and

president of the General Motor Research Corporation. His duties

keep him, most of the time, in Detroit, Michigan. When Mr.

Kettering purchased this farm it was his purpose to have the

mound cleaned up, the top made accessible, and in some manner to

provide for its future life, we will say--at any rate to provide for

its care and preservation. Just a short time ago the whole tract

around the mound was cleaned up, trees trimmed, dead trees re-

moved, and all the brush and vines cleaned out. The old building

that marred the landscape was removed by fire, accidentally, and

other buildings torn down. I have the pleasure, Mr. President

and Members, of presenting to you and the Association, a deed

from Mr. Kettering for the land, four and twenty-eight hun-

dredths acres, containing the mound, the title passing from him, or

rather from the corporation of which he happens to be president.

I am the treasurer of the C. F. Kettering, Incorporated, and I

therefore have pleasure in presenting to this Society a warranty

deed for four and twenty-eight hundredths acres containing the

mound known as the Miamisburg Mound, located near the little

city of Miamisburg, Montgomery county. (Applause.)

President Johnson: It goes without saying, Mr.

Smith, that the Society appreciates, beyond its power

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting       557

to express, the interest that has been manifested by

yourself and your associates of the Dayton Group, in

the acquiring, preserving and conditioning of the Miam-

isburg Mound, one of the finest and most famous of all

the prehistoric monuments in the whole Mississippi

basin. We had an intimation that this splendid property

would some time be presented to the Society, and we

saw fit to be very patient while the gentlemen in Dayton

went forward with the project. The Society, when it

performs the functions for which it was created, will

command the respect and receive the cooperation of in-

dividuals and groups of individuals in securing and pre-

serving the things worth while in the state of Ohio. We

wish to thank Mr. Smith, and through him the gentle-

men of Dayton who have so kindly served the best in-

terests of their state, and secondly the interests of this

organization.   While we are in the presenting busi-

ness I wish to say that a very interesting development

has occurred right here in the City of Columbus. A

wonderful thing has been done, a beautiful memorial

developed. I do not wish to rob the function or cere-

mony of presentation of any of its force, and therefore I

will ask Mr. Shetrone, Director of the Society, who has

the matter in charge, to make the presentation of Camp-

bell Park.

Mr. H. C. Shetrone said:

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Most of you are

aware that Ohio is the nucleus and center of the Mound Build-

ers' activity, and, further, that this building houses the finest

collection of Mound Builders' relics in the world. For that rea-

son it may be said that the world at large comes to Ohio, and to

Columbus, to study the culture of these very interesting people,

a people we may term the first Ohioans.

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558       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

Those who visit this Museum to study the relics we have

here often propound the query "Where can we see an actual In-

dian Mound?-we should like to see one of the mounds from

which these relics came." That caused us to think that, to satis-

fy this very natural curiosity, and particularly insofar as teachers

and their classes are concerned, a mound near at hand should be

secured. It so happens that at the very western edge of Colum-

bus, on the Scioto River, there is a lovely Indian mound. The

problem was how to secure and preserve this mound. In casting

about for a way, we found another idea that correlated very nice-

ly with the proposed project.

All of us are well aware of the splendid service rendered to

our Society by our late President, Governor James E Campbell.

We were anxious to accord him something in the way of a me-

morial. The two ideas were brought together, and the matter

was presented to Jessie Campbell Coons, a daughter of Governor

Campbell. The proposition was made to her that the mound and

tract of land on which it stands should be purchased and enclosed

with a suitable rustic stone fence around the entire area, and suit-

ably marked in order that the mound which, for many genera-

tions, has been known as the Shrum Mound, from the name of

the owner of the land, might be preserved for the present gen-

eration and for posterity, and that we might thus create a suit-

able memorial to Governor Campbell. Mrs. Coons responded and

very liberally furnished the funds for the purchase of the prop-

erty. The park now practically completed, is a thing of beauty,

and promises to be a joy forever. The dedication of the Shrum

Mound and the James E. Campbell Park is tentatively set for

July 7th, the anniversary of the birth of Governor Campbell. On

that occasion there will be a very elaborate, or perhaps not elab-

orate but very impressive, ceremony which will combine archaeo-

logical interest and the interest which attaches to a man of the

importance and standing Governor Campbell attained. We re-

quested Mrs. Coons to come to this meeting today and make a ten-

tative presentation of this property to the Society, but unfortunate-

ly she had made a previous engagement, and she requested that

someone else take over that duty. With the thought in mind that

the preservation of the prehistoric feature of this property is of

importance, it occurred to me to invite Mrs. Shrum, the original

owner of the site, to be present with us today, and while we could

not bring the mound to the museum, we did the next best thing,

and made a colored photograph to serve as a sort of proxy. I do

not know whether Mrs. Shrum is in the audience. If she is, I

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting           559

 

ask her if she will not come forward and present this picture of

the mound to the Society.

Mrs. Shrum thereupon stepped to the platform and

presented the photograph of the mound to the Society,

the gift being received with applause.

President Johnson: This concludes the presenta-

tions. I wish to thank Mr. Shetrone for the manner in

which this presentation was made, and to say that we

are very happy to have Mrs. Shrum here. I was in

hopes that she might have some girlhood story to tell

about playing around this place, but feel that she has

made a very dignified presentation. I thank you, Mrs.

Shrum. Mr. Galbreath, the Secretary and Librarian

and Editor of the Society, asks for a moment to make an

announcement.

Mr. Galbreath: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: About

twenty-five years ago I learned that a file of the first newspaper

published in the Northwest Territory-published while Ohio was

a part of the territory-was in existence, and that that file con-

tained the first issue of the paper. There is also a file of that

paper in Cincinnati, in the library of their Historical Society, but

it does not contain the first issue. I could not rest until this file,

containing the first issue of that paper, became the property of

the State of Ohio. This paper was first issued on November

9th, 1793, when there were between two and three hundred in-

habitants in what afterwards became the City of Cincinnati, the

town in which this paper was published. Having secured that

original paper for the state I could not rest until we had a repro-

duction of it made, a photograph which is more legible than the

original itself, an exact reproduction of this first paper of the

Northwest Territory. We now have almost one thousand pa-

pers in Ohio, printing not only one issue but a million issues or

more. In order that you might take away with you something to

remember this very interesting occasion, I have had about two

hundred and forty copies of that photograph prepared, and they

will be distributed, as far as they will reach, when this meeting

adjourns.

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560      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

I wish also to call your attention to the fact that near the

doorway there is the most expensive book that this Society ever

bought-I will not tell you what the cost of the book is. It con-

tains the approved photographs of President McKinley, Presi-

dent Roosevelt, the Cabinet of President McKinley, and all the

members of the United States Senate during the McKinley ad-

ministration, with the personal autograph of each of them. That

book was on exhibition in our Library some years ago, and I could

not rest until it became the property of the Society. These are

the only announcements I have to make.

President Johnson: Doctor Thompson will present

the next speaker on the afternoon's program.

Doctor W. O. Thompson: On this very happy and

delightful afternoon, which we are all enjoying, I feel

it is proper that I make an announcement. It is just

twenty-five years ago this June that I signed a diploma

for Mr. Charles F. Kettering; I also signed a diploma

for my own daughter at the same time. I have had the

pleasure of the acquaintance of Mr. Kettering during

all of these years. I am quite sure we have given an

expression of our gratitude to a man who is entirely

worthy of it, and I think we are happy in our hearts that

he is one of our boys, and that he has made this gift to

the Archaeological Society, thus showing his interest in

the commonwealth.

The first speaker of the afternoon delighted us with

an easterner's view given by a southern gentleman on

the Northwest Territory. (Laughter.)

Now, as to the man who speaks next. We are both

ministers of the Gospel. I will not tell you what kind

of ministers we are-that might embarrass us both. We

met at the last General Assembly of the Presbyterian

Church at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Why each of us was in

such a crowd I do not know, but we were there. He

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting      561

listened to some arguments I made there, and now he

will get even by forcing me to listen to him. He holds

a policy in the same life insurance company in which I

hold a policy, but I will not give the name of the com-

pany myself, but I will say that this man has a great

gift of getting into good company, and I want to con-

gratulate him this afternoon on getting into this com-

pany here. He belongs to a race that is a hundred per

cent American, and they were here before we were, and

some still are here. I think we all rejoice in the fact that

we have here a representative of the American, indeed,

a minister of the Gospel of Christ, a fine citizen of our

commonwealth. If you will read this little sketch of him

on the program in your hand, you will find that you have

the pleasure of listening to a man, a graduate of Yale,

who comes along with our American traditions, and

stands today as a sort of linch-pin-as we used to call it

in the old days-of a wagon, a contact between the

things talked about and the things present today. I

count it a privilege to present the speaker this afternoon,

and as I said before, he was the only Cloud on the hori-

zon, but I am sure he will have a silver lining-Doctor

Henry Roe Cloud. (Applause.)

 

MYTHOLOGIES OF OUR ABORIGINES

Dr. Henry Roe Cloud then spoke as follows on the

"Mythologies of Our Aborigines in Relation to Pre-

historic Mound Builders in America":

It was with the greatest reluctance that I accepted the invi-

tation to speak before this group of distinguished men and

women. The reasons for this hesitancy were that there is ex-

ceedingly little that I can contribute to a gathering of this kind.

Generous-minded persons would justify my coming here were I

Vol. XXXVIII-36.

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562       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications able to give one connecting link, however slight, to the chain of knowledge gradually being welded together between the definitely known history of man and that of the beginning of man's exist- ence on this continent. I come actuated rather by more humble motives. It is my conviction that it is in the power of just such groups of scientists as this to bring to light and to perpetuate

something of the achievements, the nobility and dignity of the Red Man of America-that by the intensive and patient study of the physical remains of unrecorded history, "probing into the night of the unknown ages" that antiquity which rightfully be- longs to our American Indians and correspondingly to our infant nation, may some day be unmistakably established; that the sis- ter sciences of paleontology, geology and archaeology, which have played and are playing such an important part in the old world, will more than ever open her vast vistas of the past, revealing

• 51
 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting           563

 

to us the character, habits and achievements of long-forgotten

races of men. However much these statements may fail of car-

rying conviction of my motives today, I can at least take this op-

portunity to express the deepest appreciation to the late Dr. Wil-

liam C. Mills and others who did so nobly in discovering what we

now know of the past and to those of our day who are so effec-

tively carrying on the great task. It may not be amiss to men-

tion here the name of Professor Warren K Moorehead, of An-

dover.

As I stood a few days ago on the summit of the great Caho.

kia mound, situated in the center of the American bottoms near

East St. Louis, that greatest of earthen temples of the dead in

America and the world, I pictured to myself a teeming popula-

tion of a race all over that alluvial plain, stretching far out into

our interior valleys. The discovery of mica in this and other

burial-grounds showed that the extent of their roamings reached

to our far eastern mountains, and the presence of obsidian arti-

facts in the mounds attests their trade with regions of the west.

Exceedingly suggestive are the presence of burial vases of tem-

pered clay beside the dead, and the use of pendants or plum-

mets, red paint from hematite and water, found in the mounds;

-and also suggestive are the symbolic meanings of crescent, ser-

pent, animal and circular-shaped mounds.

The work of constructing the prehistoric history of races long

vanished from the earth, by the study of the structures, the monu-

ments and memorials left behind, is extremely interesting to one

who, it might be said, looks at it from the inside out of a primitive

race, rather than inward from some outside vantage-point. One

such pauses in admiration of the accuracy of inductive reasoning,

especially of those whose interpretations are conservative and

tinged with true human instincts.

Much has been accomplished in the study of the American

Indian,-more and more there is the tone of certitude as to his

origin, migrations and the interpretive value of his own coming

on the stage in relation to his predecessors. It seems to me, how-

ever, that but scant notice has been taken of his cosmogonies,

mythologies and religious lore. Is there not some value here for

the seeker? To be sure, we hear not the voice of the prehistoric

races and never shall, but may we not yet hear him speaking in the

voices of our aboriginal Americans when they speak in terms of

humanity's hopes, of self-preservation, of fear, and in the articula-

tion of his most fundamental aspirations ? By what we find buried

in the earth we can reconstruct something of the manner of life of

the prehistoric man, can visualize his domestic scenes and catch the

longing for immortality in the mode of his burial. But by con-

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564       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

fining our interpretations strictly to these remains, may we not be

overlooking some valuable contribution from the lore of our first

Americans? For such a task one needs only to guard against the

infiltration of modern ideas and more than ever delve into the laws

governing the mentality of a race in primitive settings.

"A young Indian was invited one day," so runs the legend,

"by the ten sons of Wa-kan-jah, the god of lightning and thunder,

to compete with them for the hand of a beautiful Indian maiden

living in a distant place. Blessed already with a few supernatural

powers by his devotion to sacrifices of the gods, he sets forth with

them on his mission. Traveling with the rapidity of lightning

they far outstripped him. But, in due time, the narrator relates

the manner of their ignominious failure and his success. The

mother of the maiden being outwitted and greatly displeased, gave

chase as the young man took away his beloved companion. At a

critical point the lover shot into a tree two arrows. As the mother

came in hot pursuit she noticed the two arrows. Soliloquizing,

she exclaimed,-'Years ago some hunter drove his arrows into

this tree and just overshot his deer. The arrows are weatherworn

and the tree is in process of decay.' Then away she went, resum-

ing the chase. As a matter of fact, had she pondered more, she

would have discovered that the two arrows were that of her

daughter and the young lover. Thereafter having released a magic

pair of moccasins to travel to the end of the earth in an opposite

direction the lovers again betook themselves to the distant lodges

of his own people." In this case her very interpretation of the

arrows and the tree obscured the real fact,-the object of her

chase. So it often has been in our archaeological researches when

we neglect the study of the creative functions of the spirit of

man, as given in our folk tales and religious conceptions.

"In the beginning," runs another legend, "the Wa-gonz-zla,

Creator, was lying flat on his back in void and space. Something

entered into him that gave him consciousness. He sat up, looked

about and saw nothing. His heart became exceedingly sad for

loneliness; his tears that flowed became the waters. Instinctively

he grasped a piece of his flesh and stretched it out at arm's length.

That became the sun. He grasped a piece of his flesh again and

that became the moon. A third time he stretched out his arm and

that became the earth. But the earth shook and fell apart. To

make it cohere he set into it trees, and, not succeeding, he set into

it grasses and roots of every sort. Then he weighed it down with

innumerable rocks and stones until rest and equilibrium were

attained." This conception of creation is characterized by sim-

plicity, straightforwardness, altogether primitive, but we catch

the sense of its majesty, sweep and greatness.

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting          565

 

"The Great Wa-gonz-zla, Creator, had four sons. After the

establishment of man on the face of the earth, great monsters were

abroad, hunters failed to return, death stalked in the land; the race

raised one cry to the Ma-u-na, earthmaker, for succor. He sent

his sons one by one to lead them out of their anguish and desola-

tion. Kay-chung-gay-gah, the first son, taught courage and built

up the society of self-control. Wak-chung-ka-gah set up the so-

ciety of the cheerful. Wa-sjing-gay-gah set up the society of the

reverent, the worshippers of the Great Spirit. He alone sum-

moned all the great spirits of the universe together in a lodge that

reached from the rising sun to the setting sun. The poles thereof

were great snakes. The door faced the rising sun. Wa-sjing-

gay-gah came from the rising sun singing the song of life and of

a way back to the home of the soul, the Great Spirit. As he en-

tered the lodge he sat in the midst of the fire altar, but the flames

thereof failed to consume him. Four times he circled the lodge

and they beheld him as a child, a youth, a man and as one at the

sunset of life. At each encircling he saluted the four ruling spirits

and sang for each." From these major conceptions there grew up

the belief in the immortality of the soul. Clan organization with

its comprehensive divisions, detailed functions and practical work-

ings in war, the chase and social life had to conform to the great

announced purpose of the major spirits of the universe. Life

here and now must conform to the fact of the immortality of the

soul.

From the most primitive times of our own aborigines we

have known them to use ceremonially and socially the red ochre.

At every death the appointed member of the same clan as the de-

ceased must come and paint the clan insignia on the face of the

one about to leave. This ancient practice has been faithfully car-

ried out to insure proper recognition upon his arrival by the mem-

bers of his clan who preceded him. Every warrior has been

taught to paint himself with the clan insignia immediately before

the charge upon the enemy so that in the event of his death he

could insure to himself recognition in the land of souls. At his

burial additional supplies of red ochre are placed for use if occa-

sion should so demand. Moreover the death song is sung for the

soul which he in turn is to sing upon approaching the gathering-

place of his fathers as a means of assuring recognition by them.

The presence of hematite in the prehistoric burial mounds,

which produces a sort of red paint when brought into contact with

water is exceedingly suggestive in the light of the practices of our

original Americans.

"An Indian young man one day went into the wilderness and,

upon hearing a great booming sound, betook himself speedily to

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566       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

the source of the phenomenon. He suddenly came upon the scene

of a gigantic struggle between the Wa-kan-jah, the god of light-

ning and thunder, and the Wak-chay-xi, the god of all waters.

The Wa-kan-jah was trying to take the Wak-chay-xi up into the

skies to dash it to pieces on some cliff. The Wak-chay-xi was

trying to take the Wa-kan-jah down into the water to drown his

adversary. 'My brother,' said the spirit of the skies to the Indian,

'Shoot him for me, for he has exhausted me. If you do, long

life, success in war, the chase and all tribal honors shall be yours.'

Thereupon the Wak-chay-xi said, 'Shoot him for me, my nephew,

for he has exhausted me. If you don't, you shall die the first time

you drink of my kingdom.' The water would come with the body

of the Wak-chay-xi as he was lifted up by the Wa-kan-jah. At

every return made towards the water this great booming sound

would go forth."

In my most audacious moments I would most likely shock

all my archaeological friends by saying that the great carving of

the figure of the Piasa on high cliffs along the Mississippi, at

Alton, Illinois, universally attributed to the handiwork of the pre-

historic peoples, is nothing more nor less than the Wak-chay-xi,

the dreaded god of all waters, worshipped by our aborigines from

time immemorial.

"As you go through life you come upon a patch of morning-

glory vines. So extensive is it that it reaches the two ends of the

earth. Go through it, for these represent the bad and the foolish

thinkings of the children of men. You will encounter next

briars, thistles and thorns growing in wild profusion. These rep-

resent all of life's human ills. Go through it as a son worthy of

your fathers. You will then encounter a wall of fire, representing

the burning fire of man's tongue. However much you may suffer,

go through it. Your last encounter is a deep chasm in the earth,

reaching to the ends of the earth. This is the grave of man. You

must needs go through this also to discover the dwelling-place of

the soul."

If we concede to these prehistoric peoples a civilization, a cer-

emonial system of worship expressive of their faith-these "wis-

dom words" just given are at least suggestive of the type of cul-

ture they enjoyed.

"On the road to the land of the setting sun you will come

upon a lodge with an entrance toward the rising sun and one to-

ward the setting sun. As you enter you will be greeted by an old

woman sitting on your right-hand side. It is grandmother Earth,

sitting there in human form. She will say, 'You must be very

weary. What do you wish? Make your request known.' You

will then say, 'My Great-grandmother, as I was leaving the face

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting          567

 

of the earth, my people urged me to make four requests,-First,

that the flame of their fireplace may not sway to and fro (sick-

ness). Second, that their weapon may be sharpened on both

sides (Success in war. Legends say that there was once a race

that had a sharp, bony structure growing out on both sides of their

forearms for use in war). Third, that the number of days I left

behind me may be proportionately divided among my relatives.

Fourth, that nuts and fruits and all growing things may abound

in plenty on the face of the earth."

Then she will place before you a wooden dish, containing

some wild beans. Partake only a taste of the dish and shove it

back to her. Then she will say, 'My Great Grandchild, you have

a wise head on young shoulders. That dish represents the vege-

tables, nuts, fruits and all growing things on earth. Inasmuch as

you have taken so little and left so much in the dish, so much will

abound on the face of the earth. As for all your other requests,

they are granted'."

Civilizations change. Some lie deep buried in the earth. But

the longing for immortality is common to them all. In our inner-

most longings for the continuity and solidarity of life, we are part

and parcel of our prehistoric brethren.

The audience then proceeded to the corridor south

of the Rotunda of the Museum and Library Building to

witness the unveiling of the

STATUE OF THE PREHISTORIC BASKET WEAVER

President Johnson: I will ask Director Shetrone to

explain the significance of this sculpture.

Mr. Shetrone: Ladies and Gentlemen: You are all

more or less familiar with the male figure of the Mound

Builder, The Prehistoric Sculptor, which stands in the

rotunda. The creation of that figure was the outcome of

the sentiment developed as a result of twenty-five years,

or more, exploration of Indian Mounds and the conse-

quent accumulation of data and material which caused

us to think that we might well attempt to show some-

thing of the physical aspect of our first Ohioans. So,

taking a typical skeleton from one of the Ohio mounds,

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568     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

and employing science to furnish the flesh and shape,

we created the Sculptor, which was presented to the

Museum by General Edward Orton, Jr.

As time passed on there seemed to be a sort of un-

easiness pervading the atmosphere around the Prehis-

toric Sculptor. For quite a while we could not figure

out what it was; there seemed to be an air of loneliness,

and finally the thought occurred to us that he might be

lonely. Then our President, Mr. Johnson, interpreting

that psychic evidence, and recalling the old scriptural in-

junction that it is not good for men to live alone, de-

cided that he should have a mate. The outcome you

have here, and I am certain that they will be very happy

together. In the natural course of events there will be

an increase in this family, so we have something to look

forward to and anticipate. We look forward to the time

when a little boy will climb upon her knee-a very good

friend of the Society, who is reticent about having his

name mentioned, has undertaken to provide for that. In

the course of time you will see this little family of our

first Ohioans increasing in number, but even then we

will not have finished, because we aspire to something

more. I am certain that, if you give it your close atten-

tion, you will see that human beings resent being in glass

cases. Here is our vision-in the balcony of one of our

exploration rooms, which will be suitable so far as at-

mosphere is concerned, and artificially lighted, with a

realistic background-a real habitat, so that when you

view this happy family you will not see them in cases

or cages. You will see them out in the open, living the

life they lived before the white man came. An addi-

tional outlay will be required to provide for that setting.

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting     569 I wish to plant a little germ somewhere, that you may feel that we should advance this project still further, so that, when the time comes and we need additional funds to provide the home for this little family, a response will be made. I thank you. (Applause.) President Johnson: I wish to say that the figure be- fore you is from the hand of a very accomplished sculp- tor, Mr. Erwin F. Frey. The meeting will now stand adjourned.

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