WILLIAM DAVIS GALLAGHER.
BY W. H. VENABLE.
WILLIAM DAVIS GALLAGHER, poet, editor,
and public
official, was born in Philadelphia,
August 21, 1808. His
father, Bernard Gallagher, familiarly
called " Barney," was
an Irishman, a Roman Catholic, a
participant in the rebel-
lion
that, in 1803, cost Robert Emmett his life. "Barney"
Gallagher migrated to the United States,
landing at the
city of brotherly love, where, by the
aid of John Binns,
editor of the " Shamrock," he
obtained work. Some time
afterward he became acquainted with Miss
Abigail Davis,
of Bridgeport, New Jersey, who had been
sent to Phila-
delphia by her widowed mother, to
complete, at Quaker
school, an education begun at home. "Abbey"
Davis was
the daughter of a Welsh farmer, who,
volunteering in the
Revolutionary War, lost his life under
Washington at
Valley Forge. The Irish refugee and the
Welsh patriot's
daughter were so much attracted to each
other that they
joined their lives in wedlock. Four
sons, Edward, Francis,
William and John were the issue of this
marriage. The
third was a child not eight years old
when the father died.
On his death-bed Bernard Gallagher
refused to confess to
his ministering priest the secrets of
Free Masonry, which
order he had joined, and the church not
only refused him
burial in consecrated grounds, but also
condemned his
body to be exposed to public derision in
front of his own
door; and the execution of this sentence
was prevented
by application for police interference.
This was in 1814.
Two years after her husband's death,
Mrs. Gallagher
and her four sons, joining a small
"Jersey Colony,"
removed west, crossing the mountains in
a four-horsed
and four-belled wagon of the old time, and
floating
down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to
Cincinnati in
358
William Davis Gallagher. 359
a strongly built and well-provided
flat-boat of the period.
The boy William amused himself during
the whole " river
voyage" by fishing out of the
window of the boat. "I
was sorry," said he, "when the
boat landed and put an
end to my fun."
The widow and her family located on a
farm near Mount
Healthy, now Mount Pleasant, Hamilton
county, in the
neighborhood of the Carys. Mrs.
Gallagher and the mother
of Alice and Phoebe Cary were near of
kin, and the chil-
dren of the two families were, of
course, intimate.
Young William was put to work by his
mother and his
uncle at the various tasks a country lad
is expected to do.
In winter he went to school in a log
school house. The
teacher's name was Samuel Woodworth,
whose scholars
always addressed him as "Sir"
Woodworth, such was the
law of manners and the dignity of the
preceptor's office in
those days. Under guidance of
"Sir" Woodworth, Master
Gallagher grew familiar with the
literary treasures of the
"American Reader," and the
"Columbian Orator." The
boy was fond of these books, and still
more enamored of
the rosy-cheeked girls of Mount Healthy.
Envious rivals
taunted him by calling him " girl-boy,"
and the jeer caused
fist-fights and bleeding noses. Not even
the charms of the
bare-footed maidens at spelling school
"worked with such
a spell" on "Billy" (for
that was his nickname), as did
the attractions of the woods. What so
seductive to the
natural boy as the unfenced forest? What
so much cov-
eted as freedom to ramble over the hills
and far away?
Gallagher's ruling instinct, in boyhood
and manhood,
was admiration of nature-especially love
of woodland
scenery. His young feet trod every hill
and valley about
Mount Healthy and along Mill creek,
whose remembered
banks he long after celebrated as
"Mahketewa's Flowery
Marge." Well did he know the wild
flowers and native
birds. He plucked spicy grapes, or luscious
pawpaws,
in season, and gathered hoards of
hickory nuts to crack
by the winter fire. In summer weather,
he found hidden
360
Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly.
springs, and traced wandering brooks
from source to mouth.
One day the prepossessing boy, with his
cheerful, ruddy
face, was observed by a Mrs. Graham, of
Clermont county,
Ohio, who was visiting at Mount
Healthy. Mrs. Graham
was so much pleased with
"Billy" that she begged his
mother to allow him to return to
Clermont county with
her, and live there for a time and do
"chores." "Want
my boy?" said the widow mother,
with tears of protest.
Yet, on reflection, she consented to
the proposal, and Wil-
liam went with the lady to Clermont
county, where, for
perhaps a year, he worked at
"Graham's Mill." After his
return home he resumed farm-work on the
place of David
Jessup. The toil was hard, but relief
was found in stolen
escapes to the woods; or to Cummins'
tan-yard, where
some pet bears were kept; or to Spring
Grove, where was
a herd of tame buffaloes. Sometimes he
was sent to Irv-
ing's mill, and while waiting for his
grist he would sit un-
der a certain tree, which to-day stands
within the enclosure
of Spring Grove cemetery, and read one
of his few books,
usually the "Columbian
Orator."'
The routine of the youth's drudgery was
broken by the
thoughtful interest of his oldest
brother Edward, who, vis-
iting the Jessup farm, saw that William
was working " like
a nigger," as he expressed it, and
insisted that the boy
should be put to school. A consultation
of mother, brother
and uncle was held, and it was decided
that Billy should
go to town and attend the Lancastrian
Seminary, he prom-
ising not to waste time by truancy in
the woods or along
the alluring shores of the Ohio. The
Lancastrian Semi-
nary, conducted by Edmund Harrison, was
opened in
March, 1815. George Harrison, one of
the sons of the
principal, took a kindly interest in
the ingenuous country
boy, and gave him an opportunity, while
yet a student in
the school, to learn to "set
type," in the office of a small
paper called The Remembrancer, edited
by Rev. David
Root, pastor of the Second Presbyterian
Church. The
paper was printed at a small office in
a building up "old
William Davis Gallagher. 361
post-office alley," west of Main
Street, between Third and
Fourth Streets. Here Gallagher received
his first lessons
in the printer's art and in
proof-reading. The most puz-
zling part of the work was to understand
and correct the
poetry, which seemed, to the embryo editor, absurd for the
reason that it was not written in prose.
"I wondered,"
said he, referring to this experience
after a lapse of sixty
years, "why the stupid contributors
didn't put what they
had to say plainly, instead of cutting
it up ridiculously, in
short lines, with capitals at one end
and rhymes at the
other."
In 1826 Hon. James W. Gazlay started an
agricultural
paper called The Western Tiller, and
young Gallagher was
employed as general assistant in its
management. Not
only did he attend to the mechanical
department, but
he also ventured to write, and became so
expert with the
pen that, on occasion, Gazlay left him
in charge of the
paper, jokingly declaring that
"Billy" had superseded
him as editor.
Mr. Gazlay disposed of The Tiller in
1828
to Wm. J.
Ferris, and Gallagher's services were
then engaged, for a
time, by Mr. S. J. Brown, proprietor of
the Cincinnati
Emporium, a newspaper founded in 1824. Brown was per-
sonally remarkable for his lisping, and
he often boasted
that he was "thole editor of the
Thinthinnati Emporium."
Gallagher's connection with the Emporium
was brief. His
next newspaper experience was with the Commercial
Reg-
ister, the first daily in Cincinnati. This journal, edited by
Morgan Neville and published by S. S.
Brooks, survived
only six months. While engaged on the Register,
Gal-
lagher was requested by his brother
Francis to take part in
the joint production of a new literary
periodical. With
precipitate zeal the brothers plunged
into the enterprise,
and the Western Minerva was born
almost as soon as con-
ceived. This new daughter of Jove was
named in the
classical style of the time, and after
an eastern magazine
then flourishing. The Western
Minerva, notwithstanding
362 Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
its divine name, died in about a year,
and hardly deserves
an epitaph. In the year 1824 Mr. John P.
Foote pub-
lished the Literary Gazette, for
which W. D. Gallagher
wrote his first verses. He was then only
sixteen, and the
tripping "Lines on Spring,"
which he sent through the
mail to Mr. Foote, were signed
"Julia."
On January 1, 1826, F. Burton
began to publish the
Cincinnati Saturday Evening
Chronicle, with Benjamin F.
Drake as editor. Mr. Gallagher wrote
for the Chronicle,
under the pseudonym "
Rhoderick," and his friend, Otway
Curry, contributed to it also, signing
his articles "Ab-
dallah."
In the summer of 1828, Gallagher, not
yet of age, went
to Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, to visit his
brother John, who
attended school there. A violent contest
for the governor-
ship was raging between the Whig
candidate, David Mer-
riwether, "Old Stone-Hammer,"
and the fierce Democratic
orator,W. T. Barry, one of Clay's
respected forensic rivals.
Gallagher espoused the Whig cause by
writing for a party
newspaper conducted at Mt. Sterling by
Weston F. Birch.
While meditating editorials, laudatory
of " Old Stone-
Hammer," the sojourning knight of
the goose-quill re-
ceived intelligence that his brother
Francis was lying ill
at Natchez. William bought a horse and
rode from Mount
Sterling to Louisville; thence, by
steamboat, he completed
the journey to Natchez. The horse-back
trip through
Kentucky was crowded with incident. One
evening the
traveler came to the gate of a large
house, which a black
servant told him belonged to General
James Taylor. The
General was not at home, but his wife, a
stately lady, very
hospitably invited the young stranger to
dismount and rest
awhile under her roof. The
black slave put the horse in
the stable, and the bashful rider
followed the courteous
southern matron into the big house, and
was there treated
to a glass of "Metheglin,"
mixed by her own fair hands.
Pursuing his further adventures, the
romantic "Rhod-
erick," arrived at Ashland and
announced himself as a
William Davis Gallagher. 363
"Young Whig from Ohio," who
desired to pay his respects
to Henry Clay. The distinguished "
Harry of the West"
came out and cordially greeted the
pilgrim, and asked him
to stay all night, but the honor was
gracefully declined.
Passing through Louisville he saw, where
now the finest
part of the city is built, a swampy
wildernes, populous with
beaver. The open-eyed traveler observed
everything, and
wrote from Mississippi a series of
descriptive letters for the
Chronicle. These were read by many, and their author was
talked about as a smart young fellow,
worthy to be encour-
aged. One of the first to recognize his
talents and speak
in his praise was the educator, Milo G.
Williams. Galla-
gher returned to Cincinnati to find
himself quite a local
lion. Doubtless, the people thought
still better of him
when it was known he had saved a few
dollars by self-
denial, and that he was desirous of
securing for his mother
a home of her own. He bought a ground
lot of Nicholas
Longworth, the eccentric pioneer
millionaire, but had not
the means to build a house. " See
here, Billy," suggested
Mr. Longworth, "I want you to build
a house for your
mother; now, can you raise money enough
to buy the
lumber? Get the lumber, and I will build
the house, and
you may pay me when you are able."
The offer was ac-
cepted; the house was built, and paid
for in easy pay-
ments. The house was situated on the
north side of
Fourth street, between "Western
Row," now Central
avenue, and John street, and overlooked
the sloping plain
that lay between the bluff on which it
stood and the Ohio
river, and the mouth of Mill creek; and
took in, most pic-
turesquely and charmingly, what is now
the town plot of
Covington, and the beautiful hills of
Ludlow, one of which
was crowned with the celebrated Carneal
House, or
"Egyptian Hall."
We have seen that Gallagher was an
enthusiastic Whig
and a worshipper of Clay. It is not
strange that, in 1830,
he was persuaded by some of the
prominent Whigs of Green
county to cast his fortunes on the
hazard of a "tooth-and
364 Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly.
toe-nails " campaign newspaper, at
Xenia, Ohio. Even the
mother's new house was sold to provide
an outfit for a small
printing office, and, in a short time,
the Backwoodsman
was issued, a sheet devoted generally
to hurrahing for Clay
and specially to using up Jimmy
Gardner, editor of the Jack-
son organ of Xenia. Gallagher was
elated to see his first
leader copied in the National
Journal, and to learn that Clay
himself had read it with approval.
In the course of the
campaign a banquet was given to the
Ashland hero, at Yel-
low Springs, Ohio, on which occasion
the modest editor of
the Backwoodsman was surprised
and abashed on finding
that the committee of arrangements had
trapped him into
a seat just opposite the great
statesman, who, it appears,
requested to have an opportunity of
talking with"that bright
young man from Xenia who writes so
well."
All this was pleasant enough; but the Backwoodsman
despite its cleverness, was doomed to
fail with the failing
political fortunes of its idol. The man
who " would rather
be right than be President" was
not chosen President, and
consequently Gallagher's labor of love
was lost, and with it
all his money and much of his
self-confidence.
One of the pleasant incidents of
Gallagher's life at Xenia
took place in the office of the Backwoodsman
in the sum-
mer of 1830. One day a
gentleman called and asked to see
the editor. The printer's devil ran up
stairs where Galla-
gher was at work, and gave the message:
"A man down
there wants to see you; he says his
name is Prentice." He
of the Backwoodsman, in a
flurry, would brush up and
wash his inky hands before presenting
himself to the late
editor of the New England Review, but
George shouts from
below, "Never mind black fingers!
" and the next minute
the two young journalists meet and join
hands. Prentice
was on his way to Lexington to prepare
his "Life of
Clay."
By far the most important event of Mr.
Gallagher's life
at Xenia was his marriage to Miss Emma
Adamson, a
daughter of Captain Adamson, of Boston.
William Davis Gallagher. 365
Some brilliant worldly expectations had
been built on
the assumption that Clay would be
President; and when
the campaign ended in disappointment,
the newly wedded
pair knew not which way to look for a
living. Just about
this dark time it came into the mind of
John H. Wood, a
Cincinnati book-seller, to start a
literary paper in connec-
tion with his business, and he invited
Gallagher to take
editorial charge of it at a guaranteed
salary. the offer
was accepted gladly, and, turning over
the care of the
fast-expiring Backwoodsman to
Francis, William took
stage with his pretty wife and hastened
to Cincinnati, and
presently began his first important
literary labor, the man-
agement of the Cincinnati Mirror. This
was the fourth
literary periodical published west of
the Alleghany
mountains. Its prototype, the New
York Mirror, was a
well established and influential
journal. The new paper,
a quarto, excellently printed on good
paper, and of at-
tractive appearance, was issued
semi-monthly. The first
two volumes were edited by Gallagher
solely. At the be-
ginning of the third year Gallagher
formed a partnership
with Thomas H. Shreve, and the two
became proprietors
of the publication. It was enlarged and
issued weekly un-
der the name Cincinnati Mirror and
Western Gazette of Lit-
erature. In April, 1835, the Chronicle, then owned by
Rev.
James H. Perkins, was merged in the Mirror,
and Perkins
shared the editorship of the
periodical. The concern
was sold October, 1835, to James B.
Marshall, who united
with it a publication called the Buckeye, and named it
the Buckeye and Cincinnati Mirror. Within
three months
Marshall sold out to Flash and Ryder,
book-sellers on
Third Street, who engaged Gallagher and
Shreve to
resume control of the once more plain Cincinnati
Mirror.
All now went on smoothly until
Gallagher offended Mr.
Ryder by refusing to print matter
endorsing Tom Paine's
irreligious views. A quarrel followed,
and both Gallagher
and Shreve resigned. They were
succeeded by J. Reese
Fry, who, though he had fair editorial
ability,could not
366
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
prevent the Mirror from sinking to final extinction within
two months.
The Mirror never paid its way,
though it had an ex-
tensive circulation in the Mississippi
valley. Its contents
embraced original and selected tales,
essays, poetry, bio-
graphical and historical sketches,
reviews of and extracts
from new books, and a compendium of the
news of the
day. Nearly all the leading western
writers contributed to
it. Among these were Timothy Flint, J.
A. McClung, John
B. Dillon, Harvy D. Little, Morgan
Neville, Benjamin
Drake, Mrs. Julia Dumont and Mrs. Lee
Hentz. From
the east, Mr. Whittier contributed at
least one poem-
"Lines on a Portrait."
When, in 1832, Mr. Gallagher held this
literary " Mirror"
up to nature and art on the banks of the
Ohio, Bryant was
but thirty-eight years old, Longfellow
and Whittier but
twenty-five, Poe twenty-one, and Howells
lacked five years
of being born. The backwoods editor's
comments on co-
temporary literature read curiously in
the light of present
reputations. Encouraging mention is made
of a fifty-dollar
prize story, "A New England Sketch,
by Miss Beecher, of
this city." The reviewer says the
story "is written with
great sprightliness, humor and
pathos," and that "none
but an intelligent and observant lady
could possibly have
written it." In a notice of
"Mogg Megone," Whittier is
discriminatingly heralded as a "
man whom his countrymen
will yet delight to honor. Some of his
early writings are
among the happiest juvenile productions
with which we
are acquainted." The complacent
editor mentions "Outre
Mer" favorably, saying that it was
written by Professor
Longfellow, " who is very well
known to American read-
ers," and that "it is for sale
at Josiah Drake's bookstore
on Main street."
Mr. Gallagher wrote much for the Mirror
in prose
and verse, and his editorials, sketches
and poems were
widely copied. One of his pieces, a carefully finished
short essay, entitled "The
Unbeliever," was credited to
William Davis Gallagher. 367
Dr. Chalmers, and appeared in a school
reader with that
classic divine's name attached.
While editor of the Mirror, Gallagher
made his debut
as a speaker, by delivering before the
"Lyceum," an
"Eulogium on the Life and Character
of William Wirt."
The old Enon Church, where the
"Lyceum" met, was
crowded, and the orator, when he rose to
speak, was so
frightened that he could not at first
open his mouth, but
the reassuring smile of the president, Doctor
Daniel Drake,
restored his self-command, and the
address was pronounced
satisfactorily.
The "Lyceum" was a society for
popular edification,
conducted under the auspices of the Ohio
Mechanics'
Institute. Before it, Calvin E. Stowe
delivered a course of
lectures on the "History of
Letters," and Judge James
Hall read an address on the "
Importance of Establishing
a First-Class Library in
Cincinnati."
The old Enon Church, on Walnut street,
was also the
meeting place of a club called the
" Franklin Society," the
members of which, we are told, "met
week after week,
with much benefit to all
concerned." "Many a cold and
cheerless evening," wrote the
editor of the Western Quar-
terly, "have we seen half a dozen enthusiastic youths gath-
ered about and shivering over the stove
in the corner of
the large apartment, while the
President, wrapped in dig-
nity and a large cloak, sat chattering
his teeth, apart from
the group, and member after member
stepped aside and
made speeches, many of which were
distinguished by
brilliancy and true eloquence."
A more popular debating society was the
"Inquisition,"
mentioned in Channing's "Memoir of
James H. Perkins."
The "Inquisition" was attended
by the beauty and fashion
of Cincinnati. Mr. Gallagher shone with
the young gentry
who read polite essays at Dr. Drake's
parlors, and shivered
with the talented plebeians of the
Franklin society. He
was also the very soul of a u ique
private junto numbering
but eight members, and named the Tags,
or the T. A. G.
368
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
S., these cabalistic letters being the
initials of the four who
originated the conclave, namely,
Frederic William Thomas,
Samuel York Atlee, William Davis
Gallagher and Thomas
Henry Shreve.
Still another very interesting club may
be referred to
here, though it arose somewhat later
than those mentioned.
It was called the
"Forty-Twos," from the circumstance
that, at its founding, all of its
members were over forty-
one years of age and under forty-three.
The "Forty-
Twos" met in the law office of
Salmon P. Chase, on Third
street, (the office in which Don Piatt
says the Republican
party was born.) Among its members,
besides Chase and
Gallagher, were Samuel Eels, Jordan A.
Pugh, and Charles
L. Telford. The club was larger than
that of the " Tags,"
and had more of a social nature, but it
did a great deal in
the way of developing a literary taste
in Cincinnati.
It was before the appearance of the Mirror
that W. D.
Gallagher won his first laurels for
poetical achievement.
Some verses of his called " The
Wreck of the Hornet," pub-
lished anonymously, went the rounds of
the American
press, and were ascribed to the pen of
Bryant. The suc-
cess of this fugitive piece gave its
author confidence to
produce others, and he was soon
recognized as the leading
imaginative writer of the West.
In the spring of 1835 he published a
little book of thirty-
six pages, entitled " Erato No.
I.," dedicated to Timothy
Flint. The naming of his collection
after a lyric muse
was suggested, probably, by the example
of Percival, who
a dozen years before, had put forth
" Clio No. I." and " Clio
No. II." Gallagher's maiden
venture was received with
favor; and, in August, 1835, "Erato
No. II." was issued,
and this was followed, two years later,
by " Erato No. III."
A long and laudatory review of these
three booklets ap-
peared in the Southern Literary Messenger for July,
1838. The reviewer says: " It is
to be regretted that, in
justice to the poet, these volumes were
not published in
one of the Atlantic cities, inasmuch as
it would have
William Davis Gallagher. 369
extended the reputation of the author,
and given currency
to his works, which a Western press can
not secure to
them. The Atlantic side of the
Alleghanies is sufficiently
controlled by that kind of prejudice in
relation to ultra-
montane literature, that led one, some
two thousand years
ago, to say, 'Can any good thing come
out of Nazareth?'
These prejudices should not be
neglected or despised by
Western writers. The names of Messrs.
Harper & Broth-
ers, or Carey, Lea & Blanchard, on
the title page of
many a book has often proved a better
endorsement to the
public than the author's. How natural it is to condemn
a book unread that has the imprint of a
country town.
There is the same kind of faith
extended to an unknown
book as to an unknown bank note; if it
bears city names,
and is of a city bank, it is received
with confidence, and if
it is a country bill it is taken with
hesitation and suspi-
cion." The alleged Eastern
prejudice to Western literary
outputs was met by Gallagher with
obstinate provincial
pride and defiance. To him the building
up of Western
literature was a duty which he exalted
to the rank of
patriotism and religion. He advocated
the fostering of
home genius with a fervor like that
which protectionists
manifested in discussing domestic
industries. Instead of
seeking Eastern publishers, Gallagher
did not even com-
ply with their voluntary requests to
handle his books,
though this was owing, in part, to his
careless disposition.
Under date of March, 1881, he wrote to
a friend: " I have
been solicited repeatedly by Eastern
publishers; never
but twice, that I remember, by Western
publishers." In
the same letter, alluding to the volumes
he wrote, and
magazines he edited, he says: "I
do not possess a copy
of any one of them."
Returning to the ambitious and
sentimental period of
Gallagher's career, we find that he was
admired for his
handsome looks. One of his
cotemporaries wrote: "He
has a manly figure, tall and Well
proportioned, with a
lofty and somewhat haughty carriage.
His complexion is
370 Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
very fair and ruddy; his face exhibits a
remarkably youth-
ful appearance, as if but nineteen and
not twenty-eight
years had passed over his head. In
conversation, he is
animated and energetic, evincing the man
of quick sensi-
bility, the bold thinker, the acute
critic and severe satirist.
His eyes are lively and of a piercing
blue. His forehead
is fair and open, denoting intellectual
strength, with soft-
ened outlines, and is the index of the
graceful character of
his mind." The allusion in this
description to Gallagher's
"haughty carriage," recalls
the fact that the boys in the
printing office used to call
himWilliam"Dignity"Gallagher.
Neither his handsome person, nor his
versatile talents
brought much hard cash. Deprived of the
salary which
he had received as editor of the meager Mirror,
the
poet found himself in the unpoetical
condition of a man
with a wife to support on no income
whatever. He wrote
to Otway Curry: "I must do
something to raise a little
money, for I am almost too badly clad to
appear in the
street." Grasping at an invisible
straw, he issued a pro-
spectus for a weekly paper, The
Cincinnati Spectator and
Family News-Letter, but the name was all of the paper
that ever appeared. However, in June, 1836, Messrs.
Smith and Day projected a Western
Literary Journal and
Monthly Review, and Gallagher was called to edit it.
Mark the western tone and confident air
of this passage
from
the opening number: "Let us, who are in the
enjoyment of a triune youthfulness,
being young as a
people, young in years, and young as a
literary commu-
nity, endeavor to approach the Fathers
of English Poetry.
Let us discard the affectation of parlor
prettiness, wax-
work niceties and milliner-like
conceits. Let us turn our
lady-pegasus out to pasture, and mount
coursers of speed
and mettle. Let us give over our pacing
and ambling,
and dash off with a free rein." To
these imperative appeals
the readers of the Journal were
probably insensible; at
any rate they did not pay liberally for
such exhortation,
and the starving editor's starving
periodical gave up the
William Davis Gallagher. 371
ghost, aged one year. The lively ghost
flew to Louisville
and was there re-embodied, being merged
in the Western
Monthly Magazine, which Judge Hall sold to James B.
Marshall in 1836. The combined
publication forming the
Western Monthly Magazine and Literary
Journal was to be
issued simultaneously from Cincinnati
and Louisville.
Gallagher was employed to edit it, and
he entered upon
this new labor with unflagging zeal. The
Western Acade-
mician, (think of a Western Academician in 1837,) says of
this new venture: "It is replete with good
articles."
Notwithstanding its exuberance of merit,
the journal
expired with the issue of the fifth
number, perhaps being
too good to live, and William D.
Gallagher was left once
more a man without a periodical. But now
a star of hope
appeared in the north. John M.
Gallagher, the poet's
youngest brother, had become manager of
the Ohio State
Journal, at Columbus, Ohio, and he invited William to
assist him. Such an opportunity was not
to be slighted,
and we may imagine the strong Whig, who
had begun his
journalistic labors as editor of the
Clay newspaper at
Xenia, now using the language of Leigh
Hunt:
I yield, I yield.-Once more I turn to
you,
Harsh politics! and once more bid adieu
To the soft dreaming of the Muses' bowers."
Gallagher removed with his family to
Columbus, and
entered upon editorial duties, also
writing political letters
from
the Capital for the Cincinnati Gazette under the
signature of "Probus." But his
connection with the
State Journal was of short duration. Standing by his
convictions with his usual stubbornness
he opposed, edi-
torially, the publication of the laws in
the German lan-
guage and the teaching of any foreign
language in the
public schools. Finding that his views
were unpopular
and injurious to the business interests
of the paper, he
chose to resign rather than suppress his
honest opinions.
Before withdrawing from the Journal he
projected
what proved to be his most important
enterprise in litera-
372 Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
ture, a magazine named " The
Hesperian." This was a
monthly miscellany of general
literature. The first num-
ber came out in May, 1838. Otway Curry
assisted in edit-
ing the first volume. Two volumes were
published at
Columbus,-the third and last at
Cincinnati. The senior
editor, in his opening
"Budget," confesses that his past
ten years' exertions in behalf of
literature "have been
fruitless to himself of everything but
experience," yet he
finds courage to make one more attempt,
"because he
loves the pursuit,-because he thinks he
can be useful in
it,-because he is convinced there is,
throughout the whole
West, a great demand and a growing
necessity for labor in
it,-and because he believes that under
present auspices
it can be made to yield at least a quid
pro quo."
The Hesperian was jealously
Western, as its name
sufficiently suggests, but it was by no
means narrow, shal-
low, or provincial. Its watchwords were
Freedom, Edu-
cation, Manhood, Fair Play. The
contents were wide-
ranging-geographical, historical,
biographical, political,
poetical, agricultural, theological,
romantic and fictitious.
Among its contributors, were the
Drakes, Shreve, Perkins,
Neville, Prentice, W.G. Simms, S. P.
Hildreth, C. P. Cranch,
I. A. Jewett, A. Kinmont, R. Dale Owen,
Jas. W. Ward, Mrs.
Sigourney, Mrs. Lee Hentz, Amelia B.
Welby, and many
others worthy to hold a permanent place
in literature.
Gallagher himself wrote copiously and
very ably for the
Hesperian. In its pages appeared his most ambitious
story, "The Dutchman's
Daughter," which, though crude
and ill-sustained as a whole, has
descriptive passages that
would grace the pen of Irving.
The Hesperian was transferred
from Columbus to
Cincinnati in April, 1839. The editor
procured a room
In the third story of a brick house on
Third street, east of
Main - a room ten by twelve, with a
door and a single
window. "And in this small
place," writes he gaily to
his wife, " Emma dear," on
May Day, " the renowned edi-
tor of the Hesperian is to read,
write, eat, drink, go to
William Davis
Gallagher. 373
bed, get up, and entertain his
friends." To Curry he wrote,
lugubriously quoting Mother Goose,
"I have so many
children I don't know what to do."
Again to Mrs. Galla-
gher on May 15, "I enclose
you three dollars, all the
money I have, and I hope it will last
you till I can get
and furnish you some more." This
period was the pro-
verbial darkest hour just before
daybreak. The " Probus"
letters had made a favorable
impression on Charles Ham-
mond, the chief editor of the
Cincinnati Gazette, and
induced him to offer Gallagher an
important position as
his assistant. Hammond was at that time
the most influ-
ential journalist in the country. He
was an intimate
adviser of Clay, and had been called,
by Webster, the
"greatest genius that ever wielded
the political pen."
Thomas Ewing had said of Hammond that
he used a lan-
guage as pure as that of Addison. It
was no light honor
to be called and chosen by so eminent a
man. With the
honor came also a liberal salary.
"Emma" and the "so
many children" were now well
provided for. The Hes-
perian was discontinued and the duties of the new career
were begun in the latter part of 1839,
to be continued, with
little interruption, for ten years. Mr.
Gallagher at first
attended mainly to the literary
department of the paper,
but after the death of Mr. Hammond in
1840,
he did much
political writing. He became more and
more interested
in State and national questions, and
took an active part
in party management. For many years he
was Secretary
of the Whig Committee for the First
Congressional Dis-
trict of Ohio. In 1842 he was nominated
candidate for
the State legislature, but declined to
run.
The love of literature continued to
hold sway over him.
In 1840 he planned a literary
undertaking of praiseworthy
character and generous scope, as may be
gathered from
the following letter to Otway Curry:
[To Otway Curry, Esq., Marysville,
Union County, Ohio.]
CINCINNATI, Nov. 7, 1840.
MY DEAR CURRY-I thank you for your
original contribu-
374
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
tion to the Poetical Volume, and shall
insert it as the second
selection from you, "The Goings
Forth of God" being
the first. It was not my original design
to have admitted
anything not before published, but Jones
thought he could
do better than he had yet done, and
Shreve ditto; and,
while I held their requests for the
privilege of inserting
an original, under advisement,
along came your voluntary.
This, as there was no impropriety in
deviating from the
first plan thus made, decided me.
Perkins, I think, will
have an original likewise; and, in the
forewritten verses,1
you have one of my own. I do not wish it
known, how-
ever, that the volume contains anything
specially pre-
pared for it.
I had not room in my last letter to
detail to you the
whole of my design. The volume of
"Selections from
the Poetical Literature of the
West" is but the first
feature of it. My intention is to follow this up in
regular
order by three other volumes, of
"Selections from the
Polite Literature of the West,"
" Selections from the Pulpit
Literature of the West," and "
Selections from the Polit-
ical Literature of the West." Don't wipe those old
specs
of yours so hard, now. I've been looking over the level
prairies of
these intellectual regions, and I find in them
materials enough for all I have
contemplated. The truth
is, Curry, this Transmontane world is a
most glorious one,
and I can't help trying to do something
for its literary
character, engage in whatsoever else I
may, and starve, as
I fear I must at this. I suppose these
several volumes
will come out at intervals of from five
to six months, till
the whole shall have been published.
About your "Veiled Prophet," I
feel some anxiety.
Burton's new theater, I understand, has
been open for a
number of weeks, yet I hear nothing
either of Jemmy
Thorn or from him. The first one of our
citizens whom I
find starting for Philadelphia I shall
get to call upon Bur-
ton and make personal inquiry, &c.,
with reference to it.
About that Congress of lunatics which
you suggest:
Perkins thinks well of it, Shreve thinks
well of it, Curry
thinks well of it and Gallagher thinks
well of it; and each
of these distinguished men,
doubtless,will willingly meet,
lunatic ise and go home again. What
further than this,
while the matter is so entirely a new
suggestion, can I
1 A poem entitled "Little Children," enclosed in the letter
to Curry.
William Davis Gallagher. 375
say ? Give us your plan, and if it be as
good and feasible
as I presume it is, you will find us
readily and actively
seconding your motion.
And now, my dear fellow, a word in your
ear confiden-
tially. I am very busy now-a-days, and
should not there-
fore have replied to your last so
promptly but that I want
very much to be "astonished
jist." So crack your whip,
and let us know what that "
something" is, about which
you prate so bigly. Thine as ever,
W. D. GALLAGHER.
P. S.-Write me down, if you please,
richer since day
before yesterday, by another child, and
poorer by what it
will cost to keep it. This makes the
fifth, all alive and
kicking, and able to eat mush with the
children of any
Clodhopper in the land."
That Gallagher's inclinations kept
pulling him towards
literature for some years after he
became a political editor,
is evident from a breezy letter written
to Curry in August,
1844:
"DEAR CURRY-Upon
accurate calculation, the time
of the rising of the new literary comet
of the West has
been determined. You and other benighted
people in
your region may look for a luminous
streak in the Heavens
at 9 h. 1O m. 11 sec. October 1, 1844.
After this announce-
ment, my dear fellow, can you remain
idle ? I hope not,
for the sake of the new experiment, the
credit of your
name, and the honor of your friend, who
pledged to
Messrs. Judson and Hine an article from
your pen for the
first number, and probably one for the
second, and another
for the third. The work is to be gotten
out in the hand-
somest style, and you will have the
pleasure of appearing
in good company. Lay aside your
political pen, there-
fore, shut up your law books, mount
Pegasus, or some
comely prose nag, and away to the free
fields! What do
you say? Shall I have something from you
to hand over
by the 6th to 10th prox.? Don't make it later, for the
first copy is now in hand, and they want
to be out early.
Think of the olden time-your first
love-wipe your
specks - stick in a
Havana- hum a madrigal -
and dash
into the thing pell-mell. Let me hear
from you at once."