Ohio History Journal

Executive Mansion.                 271

such recommendation into effect had been taken or attempted by

the general assembly.

On February 16, 1917 a resolution was adopted authorizing

the appointment of a committee to "investigate the cost of pur-

chasing a residence already erected and also the cost of pur-

chasing a site and causing a proper residence to be erected there-

on" in Columbus "to be used as a home for future governors of

the state". (107 0. L. 760.)

On March 30, 1917 the governor approved an act authoriz-

ing an Executive Mansion Board and appropriating one hundred

and twenty-five thousand dollars to purchase a site and erect there-

on "a building for use as a home for the future governors of the

state".

Under the provisions of this act a site was purchased. It

later appeared desirable to acquire a different site with a building

already erected. Accordingly on February 26, 1919 the gov-

ernor approved an act amending the act of March 30, 1917 and

authorizing the board

"To purchase a dwelling in the city of Columbus, with the

grounds pertaining thereto, for use as a home for the governors

of this state; to purchase other grounds adjacent to such dwell-

ing; to remove any of the buildings thereon; to alter or repair

said dwelling; to further improve and embellish said grounds;

to fully furnish and equip said dwelling for residence purposes;

to make expenditures for any other purposes which the Board

shall find necessary or proper in furtherance of the end in view;

and to exchange the present site intended for an Executive Man-

sion (heretofore purchased by said Board) in part payment for

the dwelling above stated".

On the Executive Mansion Board were appointed three

former governors of Ohio: James E. Campbell, Chairman;

Myron T. Herrick and Judson Harmon. The building and

spacious grounds have been acquired within the original appro-

priation.

A BUCKEYE TREE FOR THE LAWN OF THE EXECUTIVE

MANSION.

When the property for the Governor's mansion was acquired

by the state it was promptly fitted and equipped for occupancy.

Rare furniture was purchased, some of it of early date and

Executive Mansion.                 278

historical association. The grounds were put in order and the

landscape gardener gave the lawn the final artistic setting.

One matter was overlooked, however. In the spacious yard

of the mansion for the buckeye Governor there was no buckeye

tree. Attention was drawn to this by Ireland of the Columbus

Dispatch in the "Passing Show".

This notice caught the eye of young Jack Price, son of At-

torney General and Mrs. John G. Price, and he at once recalled

that he had in possession just what was needed to make the man-

sion and grounds a strictly Ohio institution. He had a young

buckeye tree which he presented to Governor Cox. This tree

has a history. It grew from a buckeye seed planted at the

Joseph Royer homestead on East South St., Massillon, Ohio,

where Jack's mother, who was Miss Salome C. Royer, was born.

The buckeye, when but a small bush, was removed from Massil-

lon to the Price home at 1356 Neil Ave., Columbus, in the year

1915, where it had grown to a tree about ten feet in height when

it was transplanted on the lawn of the Governor's mansion on

May 20, 1920.

The planting of this young buckeye tree was widely noted

through the press of the state. The Massillon Independent

of May 22, 1920, contains the following editorial under the cap-

tion "Made in Massillon, Shade for the Governor's Lawn":

"A 14-year old grandson of Massillon Thursday strengthened

Massillon's claim to a place in the hall of fame.

"Master Jack Price, son of John Price, attorney general of

Ohio, and Mrs. Salome Royer Price, the latter a native daughter

of Massillon, Thursday went out with Governor Cox on the lawn

of the governor's mansion at Columbus and there planted a

buckeye tree, the only one of its kind within the confines of the

official property, and a tree which, as a tiny sprig, first saw the

light of day in the lot of the former residence of Mrs. Price, in

East South street, Massillon.

"The simple ceremony, in which the governor and Master

Jack were the chief participants, followed the discovery of the

fact that the lawn of the governor's mansion bore not a single

buckeye, the beautiful tree which has given the state its familiar

name. Master Jack remembered the little tree which he had

tenderly transported from Massillon and then a flourishing oc-

Vol. XXIX-18

274      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

cupant of his own back yard. He offered it to the governor,

and the governor not only accepted, but agreed to help plant it.

So Thursday the ceremony was performed and henceforth a

Massillon-made shade producer will assist in keeping cool the

establishment of the governor in summer, and by winter enhance

the beauty of an otherwise barren landscape.

"But aside from the scenic effects created by the presence

of the Massillon buckeye on the governor's lawn, there will be

those who will claim for it other virtues. Many years ago peo-

ple were wont to carry in their pockets buckeyes to keep

away illness and evil spirits. The secret of this mysterious power

of the horse chestnut over the enemies of the human body and

mind was never explained. It was claimed to exist and that

was all that was necessary. Many who did not believe in the

efficacy of the buckeye carried one just to be on the safe side and

give the alleged protector the benefit of the doubt.

"Those early believers and their latter-day followers very

likely will feel much safer now that a buckeye tree is flourishing

on the lawn of the official mansion of the chief executive of the

state of Ohio, for they will argue that, if a single buckeye is

capable of preserving the health of the mind and body of an in-

dividual, a whole tree surely will do as much for a governor.

"What power for good the buckeye possesses in political life

will be seen at San Francisco next month."

The Canton Repository of May 20, 1920, contains a news

item from which the following is an extract:

"'Jack' Price, 14, son of Attorney General John G. Price,

formerly of Canton, presented to Governor Cox today a young

buckeye tree which was grown from a Buckeye planted ten years

ago on the homestead of the young man's mother, formerly Miss

Salome C. Royer, of Massillon. Young Price took the tree to

Columbus, transplanted it at his home on Neil Ave. and has care-

fully nurtured it for several years.

"When attention was called to the fact in a Columbus news-

paper last week that there were no buckeye trees in the yard at

the governor's mansion, Jack Price decided to offer the tree to

the governor. The gift was accepted and the governor personally

assisted young Price today in planting the tree."

THE OHIO BUCKEYE.

In a pamphlet entitled "Ohio Emblems and Monuments"

compiled by the editor of the QUARTERLY in 1906 is an account

of the Ohio Buckeye which is here reproduced in adapted form.

It is somewhat singular, but true nevertheless, that the

average Ohioan is not able to point out with certainty the tree

whose name is the soubriquet of his state. In the popular de-

scriptions, fact and fancy, science and oratory are so promis-

cuously blended that there is nothing remarkable in the resulting

confusion.

F. Andrew Michaux, the eminent French botanist who

visited this country in 1807, was somewhat unfortunate in his

description of the Ohio Buckeye, or pavia Ohioensis. He says:

"This species of the horse chestnut, which is mentioned by

no author that has hitherto treated of the trees and plants of

North America, is unknown in the Atlantic parts of the United

States. I have found it only beyond the mountains, and par-

ticularly on the banks of the Ohio for an interval of about 100

miles, between Pittsburgh and Marietta, where it is extremely

common. It is called "buckeye" by the inhabitants, but as this

name has been given to the pavia lutea, I have denominated it

"Ohio buckeye" because it is most abundant on the banks of this

river, and have prefixed the synonym of "American horse chest-

nut" because it proved to be a proper horse chestnut by its fruit,

which is prickly like that of the Asiatic species instead of that

of the paviae.

"The ordinary stature of the American horse chestnut is ten

or twelve feet, but it sometimes equals thirty or thirty-five feet

in height and twelve or fifteen inches in diameter. The leaves are

palmated and consist of five leaflets parting from a common

center, unequal in size, oval-acuminate and irregularly toothed.

The entire length of the leaf is nine or ten inches, and its breadth

six or eight inches.

"The bloom of this tree is brilliant. Its flowers appear early

in the spring and are collected in numerous white bunches. The

fruit is one of the same color with that of the common horse

chestnut and of the large buckeye, and of about half the size.

It is contained in fleshy, prickly capsules, and is ripe in the be-

ginning of autumn.

(275)

278       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

"On the trunk of the largest trees the bark is blackish and

the cellular integument is impregnated with a venomous and dis-

agreeable odor. The wood is white, soft and wholly useless."

The Ohio buckeye tree reaches an average height of con-

siderably more than twelve feet, but the greatest error of the

French botanist is in the description of the bloom. This is far

from "brilliant." The flowers are inconspicuous, never white,

always a yellowish green. Michaux makes amends in part for

his mistake by inserting a plate of a cluster of flowers which are

not white, as stated in the text, but yellowish green as seen in

nature. For ornamental purposes the tree has nothing to make

it preferred to the horse chestnut.

As the two trees are frequently confused in the popular

mind the following points of difference may help the casual ob-

server to readily distinguish them: the leaf of the horse chestnut

is said to be seven fingered, it divides into seven leaflets; the leaf

of the buckeye is five fingered, it divides into five leaflets. There

are variations from this rule. Sometimes the divisions of the

horse chestnut leaf are fewer than seven leaflets, but seven is the

prevailing number. The buckeye rarely has a leaf of six leaflets

and more frequently of fewer than five, but the prevailing num-

ber is five. The leaflets of the horse chestnut are larger and

broader near the point than those of the buckeye.

The flowers of the horse chestnut are cone shaped and

showy, almost white in color with slight markings of pink and

brown. The flower of the buckeye is much smaller, light green

in color and so nearly the shade of the fresh leaves that they are

inconspicuous, blending in the general light green of the foliage.

The horse chestnut, as a rule, blooms later than the buckeye.

The two cuts published herewith show very distinctly the con-

trast in form of the leaves. They were taken from sprays of

the horse chestnut and the buckeye cut from Columbus trees

on the same day. It will be noticed that the flowers of the buck-

eye are gone and the fruit has started development while the

horse chestnut is in full bloom.

How the buckeye got its name is quite obvious. "When the

shell cracks and exposes to view the rich brown nut with the

pale brown scar, the resemblance to the half-opened eye of a

Executive Mansion.                 279

deer is not fancied but real. From this resemblance came the

name buckeye."

How it happened that Ohio was called the Buckeye State is

not so certainly known. Dr. S. P. Hildreth, the pioneer historian

of Marietta, in describing the ceremonies attending the opening

of the first court of the Northwest Territory, September 2, 1788,

mentions the presence of a large body of Indians, representing

some of the most powerful tribes of the northwest, who had come

for the purpose of making a treaty. These sons of the forest

were much impressed with the ceremonials. They especially ad-

mired the bearing of the high sheriff, Col. Ebenezer Sproat, a

man of splendid physique, who with drawn sword, led the pro-

cession, and called him "Hetuck," which in our language signi-

fied "big buckeye." This expression of admiration was after-

ward frequently applied to Col. Sproat, "and became a sort of

nickname by which he was familiarly known among his asso-

ciates."

"That," says the historian, "was certainly the first known

application to an individual in the sense now used, but there is

no evidence that the name continued to be so used and applied

from that time forward, or that it became a fixed and accepted

soubriquet of the state and people until more than half a cen-

tury afterwards; during all of which time the buckeye continued

to be an object of more or less interest, and as immigration made

its way across the state, and the settlements extended into the

rich valleys where it was found by travellers and explorers, and

was by them carried back to the east and shown as a rare

curiosity from what was then known as the 'far west,' possessing

certain medical properties for which it was rarely prized. But

the name never became fully crystallized until 1840, when in the

crucible of what is known as the 'bitterest, longest and most

extraordinary political contest ever waged in the United States,'

the name Buckeye became a fixed soubriquet of the State of Ohio

and its people, known and understood wherever either is spoken

of, and likely to continue as long as either shall be remembered

or the English language endures."

The Ohio campaign opened at Columbus, February 22, 1840.

Among the striking devices to attract attention was a log cabin

280       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

from Union county, "built of buckeye logs, upon a wagon drawn

in the procession by horses." Within the cabin and on the roof

the jolly campaigners sang a song composed by Otway Curry

for the occasion, the words of which were in part as follows:

"⁰ where, tell me where

Was your buckeye cabin made?

*     *    *    *     *    *     *

"'Twas built among the merry boys

Who wield the plough and spade,

Where the log-cabins stand,

In the bonnie buckeye shade.

"Oh what, tell me what, is to be your cabin's fate?

*     *         *     *    *     *

We'll wheel it to the capital and place it there elate,

For a token and a sign of the bonnie Buckeye State."

While this remarkable campaign did much to fix the appel-

lation and gave it wide currency, there is evidence that its sig-

nificance was generally well understood at a much earlier date.

Cyrus P. Bradley, while in Ohio in the summer of 1835, made

this entry in his journal:

"We were shown many specimens of the buckeye, the shrub

or tree from which the inhabitants of Ohio derive their national

soubriquet. It bears a round nut, which is covered with an outer

rind or shell, and on whose surface appears a white circular

spot like the pupil of the eye."

This shows conclusively that the emblematic significance of

the buckeye was known at least five years before the Tippecanoe

campaign. Just when it was first applied to the state of Ohio

and its citizenship, is a problem for the local historians of the

future. Here is an opportunity for some industrious student

who will faithfully consult the literature of Ohio from, 1788 to

1835. The newspapers published from 1793 to the latter date,

almost continuous files of which are now available in Ohio and

other libraries, would probably throw light upon this interest-

ing subject.

In the light of the foregoing statements, we must not take

too literally many of the fanciful things that have been said and

Executive Mansion.                 281

written of the buckeye. It is true, as Dr. Drake observes, that

"it is not merely a native of the West, but peculiar to it; has

received from the botanist the specific name of Ohioensis, from

its abundance in our beautiful valley; and is the only tree of our

whole forest that does not grow elsewhere." It was never ex-

tensively used, however, for many of the other qualities that he

enumerates in his entertaining and inspiring address at a ban-

quet given in Cincinnati, on the occasion of the forty-fourth an-

niversary of the admission of Ohio into the Union. The wood,

which is light, soft and strong, has been used for bowls and

artificial limbs. The bark has certain medicinal qualities. The

fruit, though not edible, is beautiful to look upon. Though in-

ferior in its foliage to the horse chestnut and the sugar maple,

it can be trained into an attractive shade tree. All things con-

sidered, the name of no other tree of our primeval forest, per-

haps, could more appropriately have been chosen as the soubriquet

of Ohio.

For interesting and very appreciative descriptions of the

buckeye, see the following:

Howe's "Historical Collections," Vol. 1, pages 210-17. In

these pages will be found a description by William M. Farrar,

including the address by Dr. Drake.

The Ohio Magazine for August, 1906. Here will be found

under the caption "Ohio Tree Family," a fine article by Lena

Kline Reed, appropriately illustrated, in which is told the story

of the Ohio Buckeye tree.

Vol. X, of the New International Encyclopaedia, opposite

page 232, contains fine illustrations of the Ohio buckeye and the

horse chestnut. The modern botanical name of the former is

aesculus glabra; of the latter, aesculus hippocastanum.