Ohio History Journal

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but it has been customary to present these memorials at the time

of the Annual Meeting as well. This committee, with Dr. George

W. Rightmire, as chairman, assisted by Mr. Freeman T. Eagle-

son, prepared the following memorial:

IN MEMORIAM:

LOWRY FRANCIS SATER,

TRUSTEE OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND

HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Lowry Francis Sater was born on June 15, 1867, near what is now

New Baltimore, Butler County, Ohio. His early years were those of the

normal boy on the farm and in the country schools of Butler County; then

in the rather usual way of the self-made man, he combined school teaching

with attendance at college, first at Marietta College and later at Ohio State

University, from which latter he was graduated in 1895, and two years later

received his law degree.  Shortly thereafter, he became associated with

the firm of his uncle, John E. Sater, in the practice of the law in Columbus,

Ohio, and continued as a member of that firm throughout his professional

life. He was the senior member at the time of his death on August 18, 1935.

As his energetic life passes in review, it is seen that the elements in

him were so variously mixed that the product was a notable man

His buoyancy was contagious; his generous han shake, his ringing

greeting admitted one to the inner circle of friendship and inspired an instant

response of camaraderie and fellow interests and enthusiasms.  Vexations

or grievances which infest the material nature faded at his touch and there

was spontaneous outlet of the spiritual and sympathetic influences which

alone promote the good of which man is capable. To meet and to be

buoyantly greeted by him was to experience a release of those forces which

stimulate mental alertness and social appreciation.

If one can be said to have an affection for a subject of study, he may

be said to have had that feeling for history. The biographical, the near

contemporary, the personal element in moving events--these held him cap-

tive--these gave his mind expansive holiday. His memory was stored with

the names of places where epoch-making events had occurred, and he spoke

familiarly of the characters that had dominated them. He possessed crea-

tive imagination so moving that these places and characters assumed immi-

nent reality.  He had all the sensibilities and conceptions required to give

to history a vibrant personality.

In foreign travel, the contemporaneous, the current material and spiri-

tual conditions and institutions deeply interested him, but he lost himself

completely in contemplating the monuments, the tombs, the places significant

of the great events, the great characters, which at a critical juncture domi-

nated conditions and gave to the stream of history a new direction. This

"interest" capacity was exercised in many places on the European continent,

to an absorbing degree in England, where college study and mature reading

at once made the whole countryside familiar ground.

But it was particularly in the United States that his historic percep-

tions and reactions manifested their maximum sensitiveness and potency.

The course of Colonial growth in New England, in Virginia, the non-

English pioneering in Florida and Louisiana; the slow development of

national consciousness; the masterly influence of a few great characters in

creating these United States--Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison,

Hamilton--the alignment of parties in the governmental scene; the con-

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tinuity of certain principles which undergird democracy and indicate it as

the ultimate in human self-government--all these conceptions vibrated in him

as the string to the touch of the master.

On his office walls hung portraits and documents which gave him peren-

nial reminder of our national beginnings and the developmental direction

and expansion of the national scene. A land warrant--to most a dry legal

document--signed by Jefferson, President, and Madison, secretary of state,

presented to him--not a land title--but the Father of the Declaration of

Independence and the Democratic party, in the one--and the Father of the

Constitution in the other. Our whole national growth with its motivating

and regulating influences flashed before him, and before another could

finish puzzling out some of the terms and the chirography, his active imagi-

nation had carried him through the great periods commencing in 1775 and

extending into the confusion of our own day.

Various contemporaries in whom there was courage and an honest

fundamental ruggedness of character were warmly acknowledged as benefi-

cent and potent influences. He greatly admired these characteristics of

Grover Cleveland; he enjoyed an intimate and sympathetic acquaintance

with James E. Campbell and was led into a beautifully ordered and exhila-

rating study of his character and career.  His friendship for William

Oxley Thompson was warm and of mutual appreciation. Almost a half

century of association with William H. Scott brought a progressively

deepening reverence for that beacon personality.  His later experiences

with Dr. Scott were of frequent comment in conversation with friends.

His happiest moments seemed those in which he could dwell upon the

characteristics of some men he knew quite intimately who deserved and

received from their fellows the front rank as men of large human apprecia-

tion and striking social and civic accomplishment.

His love of country and great interest in the biography of its leading

citizens marked his intellectual pursuits. Second nature with him was his

enthusiastic knowledge of the essential contributions to American life and

political welfare of the "Founding Fathers," of Jackson, the central figure

of the Democratic revival, and of Lincoln, the preserver.

Public affairs on the international--even the national--scale can fur-

nish a consuming interest, but yet it may exhaust itself objectively and in

Utopian fashion. The panorama is vast enough to absorb the student in

intellectual or worshipful contemplation with little or no active participation.

The moving elements seem remote-the citizen is prone to "wishful think-

ing." But in municipal or community affairs one is in the middle of the

scene; the happenings affect his daily business, his personal relations, his

center of life.  One cannot be objective about community welfare and

simultaneously register as a good citizen. He is an active participant

somewhere in the local social and civic scene or he accepts society's benefits

without compensating return. Mr. Sater understood this, and he also had

the innate urge to share in the community life--its burdens, its hazards, its

joys   He never held public office, but he had a high estimate of the

essential qualities for such service and insisted upon rugged honesty and

rigid integrity in a public servant.  The educational agencies, the civic

forum, the institutions for aesthetic and cultural preservation and promotion,

the centers of liberal religious influence, the general community welfare--

all these were to him on the daily program of the good citizen, an integral

part of the democratic way of life.  Such requirements as are here con-

noted he met in an exceptional way.

If he may be said to have had a predominating interest, it was the

Ohio State University. Himself a graduate, he married Katharine Eliza-

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beth Morhart, also a graduate, outstanding among the women students of

her time, just as he was in the forefront of most of the worthwhile student

activities of his day. He carried through life a remarkable devotion to its

welfare and growth, and a high conception of the proper public service and

social contribution which an institution of higher learning on a public

foundation must unfailingly nourish. To him it was the acme of idealistic

democracy. He mingled intimately with its faculty, was a guiding spirit

in its alumni organization, and was an intimate counselor and friend of

three of its presidents.  One of the last acts of his life was a series of

conferences on the public understanding and support of the institution which

was never absent from, his affectionate consideration.

The legal profession naturally attracted him and gave ample oppor-

tunity for his large native endowment and unresting energy. He realized

that, as a profession, the law has always offered opportunities to those

gifted with talent and industry; that as a field of study it touches human

interests universally and presents a liberal education to its devotees; and

that, as an arena of practice, it opens to the lawyer the office conference with

clients and lawyers where personal interests are emphatically advanced, are

meticulously weighed and measured by legal principles and enactments

and psychological concepts.  He believed that the understanding and the

integrity of the lawyer are distinctly on trial in such conferences, and

that supreme candor must mark the relations with clients, and that intel-

ligent, alert and courteous self-reliance should feature the dealings among

lawyers.  He conceived that the court room requires sound knowledge of

the relevant law, and gives place for convincing reason, persuasive oratory,

the sharp thrust of wit or sarcasm, and the mental vigilance which con-

stantly gives reliable definition to the issue. He was admirably equipped

to fill the difficult role of the modern lawyer. He regarded the possibilities

of the profession of law as almost infinite--demanding rigorous training,

character, patience, human sympathy, the capacity for righteous indignation,

and an unswerving moral sense.

Among lawyers he was trusted and honored; his delightful personality,

ready wit, thorough preparation in facts and law, and his unfailing courtesy

deserved and held the respect of the courts.

He welcomed membership on the Board of Trustees of the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society; its purposes, its program, and

its expected accomplishments in the social, civic and intellectual life of

the commonwealth held for him a fervent appeal. The people of one

generation must be translated to future generations that orderly develop-

ment and sympathetic understanding of the body politic may feature the life

of the state and render its progress integral and continuous. The Society

with its widely distributed membership, its discriminatingly collected museum

exhibits, its wealth of newspaper files, books and correspondence, its studies

and publications, is a vital element in the social and civic advancement of

the people, and as a great agency for the more complete understanding and

sensitive appreciation of the related past, it called forth his lively enthusiasm.

In this office he could become a builder, a constructive citizen, contributing

to the public welfare by maintaining the wholeness of the web of human

experience, generated by the unbroken flow of events in the waning stream

of yesterday, the bracing and buoyant current of today, and the full tide of

tomorrow.

The Society here records its high esteem for Lowry Francis Sater, the

lawyer, the trustee, the citizen, the man.

Presented by the Committee,

FREEMAN T. EAGLESON,

January 21st, 1936.                     GEORGE W. RIGHTMIRE.

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MR. STOUT: To honor Mr. Sater I think it would be very

fitting that these resolutions become a part of the Minutes of our

Society.  Will someone make a motion to that effect?

A motion was made by Mr. Spetnagel and seconded by Mr.

Roof that these resolutions be made a part of the Minutes of the

Society. The motion was unanimously carried.

Mr. Spetnagel, chairman of the Nominating Committee, then

made the following report: "Speaking for your Nominating

Committee, I wish to propose for trustees for the ensuing term of

three years the following names: Dr. Carl Wittke, head of the

Department of History in Ohio State University, Chief Justice

Carl V. Weygandt, and, lastly, the reelection of our very efficient

treasurer, Mr. Oscar F. Miller."

By motion the secretary was instructed to cast a unanimous

ballot of the Society approving the report of the committee,

which was done.

Before adjournment, announcements concerning the after-

noon program were made and the attention of those present was

called to the loan exhibit now on display in the Museum building

which was made by WPA to illustrate the value of farm and

market roads; also to the original desk of Benjamin Hanby upon

which he wrote a number of his poems. This is of especial in-

terest just now since the Society has, during the year, acquired

the Hanby home in Westerville as a State historical monument.

The meeting then adjourned to reconvene at two o'clock.

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF

TRUSTEES OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL

AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, HELD APRIL 21, 1936.

The regular annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society convened in the Trustees' Room

of the Ohio State Museum at one P. M., Tuesday, April 21, 1936.

In the absence of the president and first vice-president of the Board,

Mr. Wilber Stout, second vice-president, called the meeting to order.

Members present were: Messrs. Stout, Miller, Rightmire, Spetnagel,

Wolfe and Florence. Governor Davey was officially represented by Con-

servation Commissioner Larry Wooddell. Director Shetrone and Secre-

tary Lindley were also present.

The Minutes of the adjourned meeting of April 9, 1936, were read

and approved.

The committee appointed to consider the possibility of ways and means

for securing the Bimeler property at Zoar for a State historical monument

and museum reported that they had continued their investigations and, after

having advised with the attorney general, approved of a plan providing for

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