HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 75 legislature. It is safe to say that this was done by the friends of Henry Clay, of whom he was then a personal and political admirer. He at once took a high position in the house, to which he declined a re-election the next year. In 1828 he was a candidate for the State senate, and was defeated by Samuel Wheeler, one of his rivals at. the bar. This was the only time he ever failed before the people. Elisha Whittlesey, who represented the same people continuously from 1823 to 1839, resigned his seat during the Twenty-fifth congress. Mr. Giddings was nominated over his competitor, the late Governor Seabury Ford, by the district Whig convention, and elected for the residue of the Twenty-fifth and the Twenty-sixth congresses, and sat in the house, without interruption, till the end of the Thirty-fifth. Before taking his seat he dissolved his connection with Mr. Wade, and his career as a lawyer was substantially closed with his entrance upon his new duties, for which his previous life had been but a preparation. It is scarcely probable that he had forecast his career in the field to which he was now called—a career, beginning and ending in the house of representatives, as remarkable as that of any American statesman in that body, and fraught with as great and lasting results to his country and to mankind as has thus far attended the services of any man as a representative of the people. To a just appreciation of his labors in congress, and a proper estimate of him as a man, a representative, a patriot, and a philanthropist, a brief resume of the course and case of slavery in the national councils and administration, and the state of popular opinion when he entered the house, will be necessary. One may then estimate the attitude and resources of the enemy, whose shield he at once struck with the point of his lance, and thus defied to mortal combat. At the organization of the government under the constitution nobody attempted to justify, and few excused, the existence of slavery. The majority of' slave-owners regarded it as an evil, hung their heads, and remained silent when it was named. All viewed it as temporary. It found no name and no certain abiding-place in the constitution, and no one dreamed of its vitality or power of conquest. It secured three concessions in that instrument: Congress should not prohibit the enforced immigration of persons from Africa till 1808; the States were to return fugitive persons owing service ; and, for the purposes of representation in congress, three-fifths of these African immigrants were to be counted. The States enacted laws for the return of southern absconding debtors. It was not satisfactory, and seventeen years after the great declaration of rights, and less than four after the organization of the government under the constitution, without a shadow of warrant from that instrument, the first fugitive slave act was passed. This was the first departure, followed by an ever-widening deviation. Before that time the Quakers had emancipated their slaves, and in North Carolina the State seized and sold them again. Slaves had fled from Georgia to the Creeks, and when, to save a war, they promised to return them, the slaves fled to Florida. In 1800 the District of Columbia, already ceded to the United States, was, by act of congress, kept under the slave code. In 1803 the Indiana Territory, since the State of Indiana, asked for a suspension of the order of 1787, which was refused. The same year Louisiana was purchased,--a new slave empire. In 1804 we fought African Tripoli and Tunis to redeem white slaves, and imported black ones from the same continent to New Orleans and Charleston. In 1805, a proposition that all children born at the national capital should be free, was rejected. In 1806 we broke off commercial relations with Saint Domingo because slaves there were in arms for their freedom. In 1808 we prohibited the foreign slave-trade, made it piracy, and cherished the coastwise and interstate traffic in the same commodity, and so protected the American manufacturer of the article. In 1810 and 1811, Georgia raised an army and invaded Florida, to recapture persons owing service. The negroes and Indians combined and drove them back, and Georgia clamored for Florida. Though we were at peace with Spain, congress sat in secret session, and General Mathews, of Georgia, with an armed force, took possession of Amelia island, on the eastern coast, which became a rendezvous of African slaves and South American pirates. Spain complained, and our government disclaimed. Men began to find slavery a good thing, and the traffic in slaves at the capital became such an abomination that, in 1816, John Randolph of Roanoke pronounced a philippic against it in the house of representatives. With 1818 came the first Seminole war for the capture of runaway slaves. The negroes and Indians took refuge in Fort Nichols, built by the English during the War of 1812, a depot of their Indian agency. Hot shot were fired into the magazine, and nearly three hundred men, women, and children destroyed by the explosion. Of the survivors, two or three were delivered to our Indian allies for torture,--a costly amusement at the price of negroes. In the progress of this war General Jackson fought two bloody battles, and retired from the country with small profits and great loss. 1820 saw the Missouri compromise, followed by more slave States. The only gain to the north was the addition of a new slang word to current Ianguage,—" Dough-face,"—contributed by Mr. Randolph. In 1821, Florida was purchased, and a question arose as to what should be done with the Maroons, as the escaped slaves, their wives and children, were called ; and notwithstanding they were to be protected under the terms of the treaty with Spain, a long and interminable war was entered upon to restore such as were not killed, to the arms of bereaved masters. In 1826 occurred a great discussion of slavery in congress, on the proposition to send commissioners to the new South American republics. The south feared that slavery might suffer in Cuba and Porto Rico. In 1837 the long-pending controversy with Great Britain about the slaves deported by her ships at the end of the War of 1812 was terminated by the award of the Emperor of Russia, who decided that England should pay us one million two hundred thousand dollars. The Creek nation had long been a land of refuge for persona owing service to white men in Georgia; and that State induced the general government to retain from money due the Indians, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. After paying all claimants there remained one hundred and forty-one thousand dollars of this fund. It was an old transaction, but near the close of General Jackson's administration this was paid to the Georgians to compensate for the children the slave-mothers would have borne had they remained with their masters,—which Mr. Giddings told them of one day. John Quincy Adams took Isis seat in the house December, 1831,—a sad day for "the Peculiar." Soon after he presented fifteen petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and said that whatever might be his views of slavery, he was not in favor of abolishing it in the District. It is believed that this continued to be his view, for which he seems never to have given a satisfactory reason. Soon after followed the contest between South Carolina and the United States,—Hayne and Webster, concluded by Mr. Clay's compromise—another surrender to slavery. The Seminoles were ordered to remove to lands assigned them in the Creek country, west. They knew the Creeks would seize their blacks as slaves, and refused. They prepared for war. Major Dade, in moving from Fort Brook to Fort King with his command through the forest, guided by " Louie," a slave, was ambushed by the Maroons and every man killed but two, and the new war was opened. In its progress of six years the army captured some five hundred escaped negroes, at a cost of eighty thousand dollars each. In 1836, Thomas Morris, senator from Ohio, presented petitions for the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade at the capital. Mr. Buchanan denounced this as morally wrong. The constitution had in the clearest manner recognized the right of property in slaves. The petitions were received as similar petitions were in the house. On debate in that body, however, on motion of Pickens, of South Carolina, it was moved that all such memorials should be laid on the table without debate. Mr. Calhoun brought forward his measure to prevent the circulation of incendiary matter in the mails, which only failed through a nullification element incorporated in it. Mobs in the south executed the contemplated law on village postmasters, and their legislatures called on the legislatures of the free States to prohibit sending incendiary matter across the southern border. Maine promptly responded by resolutions, and her Senator Ruggles boasted truly that in his State s statute was unnecessary, as there was not an Abolitionist in Maine. Arkansas was admitted with a constitution prohibiting the abolition of slavery. Notwithstanding the Pickens resolution, Mr. Adams plied the house with abolition memorials with much assiduity, and while so engaged, on the 3d of February, 1837, he asked a question. He had, he said, a petition from twenty-two persons calling themselves slaves, and asked if that was within the Pickens resolution. He coolly sent it up for inspection. The house was aghast. The speaker, speechless for a moment, finally said the case was too extraordinary for him to deal with. Members, supposing that Mr. Adams had undertaken to present a petition from slaves, as he undoubtedly would if asked,—were greatly excited. Hayne, of Georgia, could only feebly express his astonishment. Lewis, of Alabama, called on the members of the slave States to punish Mr. Adams. Alford, of Georgia, hoped the petition would be committed to the flames (referred to fire). Thompson, of South Carolina, demanded that Mr. Adams be censured, and though a Whig, said Mr. Adams should be indicted for stirring up insurrection in the District of Columbia. Frank Granger, of New York, expressed his surprise. Lewis moved a resolution declaring that, for presenting a petition from slaves for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, Mr. Adams had committed an outrage on the Union, and invited the slaves of the south to insurrection. Mr. Adams arose and suggested to Mr. Lewis to amend his resolution. " The petition does not pray for the abolition of slavery. It prays that it may not be abolished in this district." Mann, of New York, expressed his astonishment. Thompson rebuked Mr. A. for his levity, amended his resolution so as to charge him with contempt of the house in offering a petition from slaves, thereby creating the impression that it was for the abolition of slavery, enabling the house to deceive itself, and that he be cen- 76 - HISTORY OF ASHTABTJLA COUNTY, OHIO. cured. Three days were spent in debating this enormity, when Mr. Cambreling, of New York, quietly told the house the whole thing was a hoax, better understood by Mr. Adams than by his enemies. Finally Mr. Adams took the floor, and replied with great power in a speech of mingled argument, sarcasm, and ridicule. Speaking of his alleged attempt to create an impression, he said his great crime was " giving color to an idea." The resolutions were rejected by an overwhelming majority. Meantime, Mexico abolished slavery. Texas would not submit, and revolted. Our army was sent across the border to defend against Indians, as the President told the Mexican minister, who thereupon called for his passports and left the country. Our coast slave-ships passing Florida were sometimes blown out to sea and wrecked with their cargoes on British islands, and the slaves liberated. Mr. Calhoun induced congress by resolutions to attempt to inject into the laws of nations that slaves were property, and must remain such. We demanded compensation for the loss, which Great Britain haughtily refused. General Jackson passed from the presidency, and Mr. Van Buren succeeded. him. With him came the Twenty-fifth congress, and there arose a protracted debate as to the best means of soothing the north, now restive under the aggressions of slavery. There was already the nebulous matter of opposition through the free States, which might condense into sentiment and inspire action. To say nothing of the earlier efforts, the American Anti-Slavery society was formed at Philadelphia in 1833, and was busy collecting and distributing facts and " incendiary matter." The Lane Theological seminary at Cincinnati had suppressed the discussion of slavery, and Theo. Weld seceded and led the insurrectionary students to Oberlin. He had also with matchless eloquence fired the northern conscience till he lost his voice in 1836, and was now in the employment of the anti-slavery society, with his pen. The Quaker, Lunday, had traveled, written, lectured, and converted many. He and Garrison established The Genius, at Baltimore, in 1829, and openly advocated emancipation. It denounced the coastwise slave-trade as piracy, and Garrison was convicted of " malignant libel" and committed to prison in 1831, when his fine and costs were paid by Arthur Tappan, and be was now publishing The Liberator. An anti-slavery convention at Clinton hall, New York, was broken up by a mob, October, 1833, and ten thousand dollars offered for Arthur Tappan. Another at Chatham street chapel, July 4, 1834, and an attempt to speak drowned with cries of treason. Mr. Tappan's house was sacked, the furniture piled up and burned in the street. Churches were broken into, and school-houses for colored children demolished. In August, 1834, a pro-slavery mob held a three-days' carnival in Philadelphia, and several colored people were put to death. In Worcester, Massachusetts, an anti-slavery lecturer was mobbed, as were several on the Western Reserve. In August, 1835, an academy was torn down in Concord, New Hampshire, because it admitted colored boys. Men were mobbed in Connecticut, in Boston, Utica, Cincinnati, and various other places, of which the above are instances. Elijah P. Lovejoy was murdered, November 8, 1836, because he would not abandon the publication of his paper in Illinois, after it had been many times mobbed and his press twice destroyed. It is thus seen that the rebellion against slave dominion was in its acute stage in the north. It might become chronic. William Slade, of Vermont, a scholarly gentleman, not a leader, had served through the Twenty-fourth congress, and early at the regular session, presented the resolutions of his legislature and other memorials for the abolition of the slave trade at the capital. He proposed to refer them to a committee, with instructions to report a bill for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. Legare solemnly entreated him to pause. Wise (Henry A.) called on the representatives from Virginia to withdraw from the house, and they went. Halsey called on the Georgians, who followed with Rhett, Gardner, and many delegations. A few southern leaders remained, when, amid great confusion, the house adjourned, one hundred and sixty-six to sixty-three. Colonel Benton, in his " Thirty Years," pronounces the opposition to an adjournment the most unfortunate feature of that sad day's work. This was the first secession. Curiously enough, the recusants had to return to secure an adjournment of the house. On the following morning they were all in their places, and offered a resolution that all petitions, memorials, and papers touching slavery, its abolition, buying or selling slaves in any State, district, or Territory, should be laid on the table without being debated, printed, read, or referred, and that no action be taken thereon. Mr. Patten, the mover, solemnly spoke of the return of the south as an effort to save the Union, which they would persevere in, provided this resolution was adopted. On this condition it was passed, and they remained for the time,—thirty-eight northern men voting with "a solid south." It should be remembered that no Whig from a free State voted for it. Another clause of the constitution was thus annulled, and slavery become the Union. Strangely enough, the north was not quieted. Mr.. Calhoun, who was a member of Mr. Monroe's cabinet, had declared—in writing—that congress had power to exclude slavery from all territory north of 36̊ 30', now produced in the senate his five resolutions, declaring that each State retains its entire power over its domestic institutions ; that the Federal government is the agent of the States to protect and support their institutions ; that slavery is an institution of the southern States ; to intermeddle with slavery in any of the States, Territories, or the District of Columbia, on the ground that it is immoral or sinful, would be a direct and dangerous attack upon the institutions of the slave States. In the debate no senator of the north denied the doctrines of these propositions, which were accepted as the voice of the senate, thirty-five to nine. On the assembling of the same congress, in December, 1838, when Mr. Giddings took his seat, Mr. Atherton presented the slavery-caucus platform, supposed to be from the brain of Calhoun, declaring, among other libelous matters, that to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, the Territories of the United States, or interfere with the removal of slaves from State to State, was unconstitutional. The last clause of the fifth resolution was, in substance, the same adopted by the last session, and became the famous twenty-first rule, known as the " Atherton gag," and which alone perpetuates the name of the mover. Mr. Atherton made his speech, moved the previous question, and they were adopted,—the last and most vile, if there could be degrees where all were worst, by one hundred and seventy-three to twenty-six. Slavery had already become the Union. It was now the constitution. The church was the first to succumb. The press rapidly followed, and, save Mr. Adams and Mr. Slade in the house, and the growing insurrection at the north, the republic was, in its length and breadth, permeated and ruled by the spirit of slavery. When it is remembered that slavery and the south were synonymous,—that politically it was nominally divided between Whig and Democratic parties, and that it could always command their united support,—it is seen that slavery could compel the two parties to compete with each other for its aid, and from that moment the course of national politics was a race of servility between them. There never was much of fundamental principle in the issues dividing them. Questions of financial policy alone were involved. These dwindied to things of mere expediency, a squabble for the mastery, a prize which slavery alone could award. Mr. Giddings took his seat during this session of congress. He was a Whig by intelligence and temperament; accepted the Whig policy and exposition of the constitution save on the question of slavery. Conversant with current politics, imbued with the principles of justice and liberty, on which the real foundations of the political fabric rested, he sympathized profoundly with the aroused anti-slavery sentiment of the northern few ; but in the sense in which the word was then used, he never became an Abolitionist. They found slavery barricaded by the constitution, protected by the Union. As was almost unavoidable in the way the organic law was warped, and the Union employed, they became odious to the lovers of justice. The enlightened Whigs construed and accepted the constitution as a pro-slavery instrument, and so the Abolitionists accepted it. The Whigs revered and sustained, the Abolitionists derided and denounced it. The Whigs declared that the Union made slavery sacred from assault or approach. The Abolitionists also saw it standing between them and their abhorred foe, and they abhorred and denounced it. For this they were not in fault. They accepted both the constitution and Union as what their worshipers declared them to be. Such were not the views of Mr. Giddings. He was now forty-four years of age, at the maturity of his remarkable faculties. Cool, wary, sagacious, with his ingenious and naturally subtle intellect rendered acute and nice in its powers of analysis and discrimination in that best of schools for that purpose, a study of the distinctions and a mastery of the reasoning and spirit of the common law. He will distinguish between what is constitution and what is institution, between slavery and the Union, and find a way to war on the great foe without injuring a fibre of the constitution, and of bringing safety to Union from the latent perils which threatened it. His head is large, his grasp tenacious. He will, with the aid of others,—mainly alone,—patiently turn over and deal with the hard problems submitted to him till they yield up their own solutions. To trace, as rapidly as clearness will permit, his career on this life mission is the labor that remains of this too brief sketch. Mr. Giddings, new in his seat, to all about him, sat with silent lips, as the hand of slavery sealed them to the utterances of freedom. Soon after his arrival at the capital he witnessed a spectacle which gave edge to his perceptions of the charms of slavery and intensified his determination to war against it. A coffle of slaves, some thirty men in the lead, in double files, each fastened by the wrist to a chain which passed between them from front to rear, followed by as many women, in the same order, unchained. A mule-wagon accompanied them, carrying the small children of the women. Gathered up in Maryland, on their way to market, headed for the southwest, that land of blood, lust, malaria, and piracy attended by the merchant on horseback, armed with pistols and knife, and flourishing the regulation whip. No man who has not experienced them can form the HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 77 faintest conceptions of the emotions of one of northern rearing who for the first time beholds such an epitome of slavery. The ooffie halted in front of the capitol, under its dome and the two flags, for the strengthening of the Union. Mr. Slade offered a fitting resolution on the subject in the house. Duncan, of Ohio, charged the Whigs with the crime of encouraging abolition. Stanley, of North Carolina, retorted, and it ran on. The squabble over this matter was the young representative's initiation. For the rest, he was placed at the head of the committee of elaims,—the old position of Mr. Whittlesey. He studied its duties, the rules of the house, made the acquaintance of his fellows, observed the lions, became intimate with Mr. Adams, whose friendship he soon acquired. Always in his seat, attentive and alert, he soon apprehended the general scope of the rules of the house, more artificial and complex than those of any other body professing to be governed by law. Few comprehend, no man ever mastered them. The resolution of Mr. Slade met the Atherton charm, and vanished in darkness and silence, as did all of a similar character. Mr. Clay was to be brought forward for the presidency. In the Kentucky legislature he had, in the ardor and imprudence of youth, breathed the aspirations of liberty, and confounded negroes with men, and an opportunity must be made to repair this crime of his early years. A petition, numerously signed by the citizens of Washington, praying for the protection of slavery and its trade at the capital, addressed to the senate, was placed in his hands. Mr. Mendenhall, a Quaker, had before that time, in the most respectful way, sent a petition to Mr. Clay to liberate his own slaves. With these in his hands, he made the unfortunate speech of his life. Mr. Calhoun thanked him. The Intelligencer praised him. Mr. Giddings wrote him a note. To this the great man replied in person. Mr. Giddings asked him what he meant. Mr. Clay quite appreciated the new representative, and hastened, with the wonderful charm of his best manner, to assure Mr. Giddings that he made the speech at the request of the northern Whigs, who desired that he should denounce the Abolitionists. Mr. Giddings discussed the whole subject with such spirit and ability as to win his respect and esteem, and he went away with the assurance that be would tone down his printed speech as much as self-respect would permit, which he did. Mr. Morris, of Ohio, replied to Mr. Clay, in the senate, won the heart and confidence of the anti-slavery men, and disappeared from public life soon after. On the 4th of February, Moore, of New York, presented in the house petitions of the people of the District of Columbia asking the exclusion of all memorials for the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade, which were received under the rules. Mr. Giddings' opportunity came soon after. On the 13th of February the house, in committee of the whole, had under consideration a bill to appropriate thirty thousand dollars to build a bridge over the Anacosta, eastern branch of the Potomac, and the boundary of Washington city. Mr. Giddings moved to strike out the enacting clause, and gave his reasons. He would oppose every appropriation for the district so long as its people sustained the slave-trade. They had just asked that the petitions of his constituents be rejected by the house. He would not repay such insults by taxing his people to build up a slave-mart. The representatives had witnessed a recent manifestation of that commerce. On their way to the house they had been compelled to give place for a herd of chained chattels going to market. This well-considered, well-delivered opening was a bolt, falling in the midst of the masters where they were most the masters. They sprang up as if in doubt of what they heard. They approached and gathered about the new tribune to see what manner of man he was as well. When recovered of their surprise, Rives, of Virginia, called him to order. Mr. Giddings said he was merely giving his reasons for his motion. A slave-holder in the chair decided he was in order. Mr. Giddings attempted to go on, was again called to order, but was permitted to proceed. He said the people of the north were anxious to beautify and adorn the capital, to build up schools and institutions that would render it worthy of a free nation., when he was again called to order. When the general disorder subsided, so that he could resume, Howard, of Maryland, would ask a question. The chair directed him to put it in writing. Howard appealed. Pending the appeal, Glasscock, of Georgia, said if such arguments were permitted the Union would perish. Mr. Giddings responded that such threats implied that the Union was based on the slave-trade. Glasscock rejoined, "You are a d—d liar!" Great commotion. Mr. Adams and Mr. Slade came forward to Mr. Giddings' side. The chair became alarmed, decided that such arguments were out of' order, and Mr. Giddings had to resume his seat. Of course, if slavery dictates measures it should also the arguments by which they might be sustained or opposed. But the motion to strike out was carried, and the bill defeated. The papers assailed Mr. Giddings the next morning, declaring that the price of real estate in the city had fallen one-half,--did sot state the effect on the price of colored personal property. Mr. Giddings was at once doomed to social ostracism at the capital, and consecrated to hatred at the south and odium at the north, and so his entrance upon his mission was signalized. Exit the Twenty-fifth congress and enter the Twenty-sixth. The characteristic of the new congress was devotion to party,—properly rendered, subserviency to alavery,—and. it was engaged in shaping the next presidency. Seth M. Gates, of Genesee, New York, was a member of this congress, of profound anti-slavery convictions, and completed the quartette,—Adams, Slade, Giddings, Gates. Many northern Whigs sympathized, but none stood by or voted with them on slavery issues. Public morals were at a low ebb. Peculation and defalcation marked the civil service as never before nor since, as we now know. Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, in 1817, proclaimed in the senate that governments were not bound by moral law. This had been reaffirmed by Calhoun, and was illustrated by the course of men in office. The Democrats charged the Whigs with affiliation with abolition, and pointed to the four gentlemen named above as of their party. To parry this, Mr. Clay, in the, senate, claimed that the leading writers in defense of slavery were Whigs, and cited a work exposing the fallacy of abolition, the review of Chancing, "Abolition a Sedition, Thoughts on Domestic Slavery," and other valuable aids to human progress. Again he received the fatal commendation of Mr. Calhoun. The Florida war lingered. The Maroons found shelter in the unconstitutional Everglades. The United States entered into alliance with the blood-hounds of Cuba, and American soldiers were led by dogs. Petitions against this mode of warfare could not penetrate the moral atmosphere of the house. They accumulated in the senate, and the Whigs scored one against Mr. Van. Buren. On June 30 the ship " Enterprise" cleared from Alexandria, District of Columbia, with a cargo of " persons owing service," for Charleston, encountered abolition winds, and took refuge in Bermuda, and the British liberated the slaves. General Jackson demanded compensation. The reply was that by entering free territory slaves become free. There could be no property in man. Mr. Calhoun, in three propositions, claimed this was a violation of the laws of nations. Mr. Morris had lost his seat, and Porter, of Michigan, was the only man in that body who opposed them. They were adopted by thirty-three to one. Mr. Rhett brought the " Enterprise" to the notice of the house, and Mr. Adams retorted a resolution of inquiry into the mental, moral, and physical status of our Cuba allies,—tbeir powers of discrimination between races, etc. In the great contest of 1840, Mr. Giddings lent most efficient aid to the Whigs. For this course he received the anathemas of the Abolitionists, who nominated J. G. Birney and Thomas Morris. The Whigs at the North, restive under the suppression of the right of petition and debate in the house, and the employment of hounds in the Florida war, successfully assailed the Democrats, and by this course gave rather the hope of a future promise than the promise itself, of resistance to slave rule, and thus for years retained in their ranks many thousands of ardent young men, and the Abolitionists justly regarded the presence of Mr. Giddings in their camp a great hindrance to their own growth. The question of slavery had not been directly involved between the two great parties, but it was generally expected at the north that the success of the Whigs would recover the lost rights of the people in the hall of their own representatives. Pending these events, the " Amistad" case had arisen, to give new aspects and interests to the question of slavery. In July, 1839, the " Amistad," with a small invoice of freshly-imported chattels, owned by Montez and Ruiz, left Havana for the south side of Cuba. Four days out, the Africans, without the least regard for the American Union, arose, killed the captain, some of the crew, and overcame the rest, with the new purchasers. The captors set the residue of the crew on shore, and ordered Montez and Ruiz to steer for Africa. The Spaniards, in the foggy weather, headed the ship north, which finally made the east end of Long Island, in the State of Connecticut. Lieutenant Gedney, of the coast survey, took possession of the " Amistad," and libeled ship and cargo for salvage, as property, in the United States courts, and Montez and fins were liberated. The Spanish minister demanded the Africans as criminals. The President favored the claim. The negroes were imprisoned by the United States marshal, and their alleged owners claimed them as property. Hitherto all captured slavers had been carried into southern ports and tried by their peers, and nobody hanged for piracy. Here was to be a trial before freemen, where the pirates were the prosecutors. Counsel were employed for the Africans, and the result looked for with intense anxiety. While the trial was in progress the President sent an armed vessel to New Haven, with orders the moment the court should decide against the Africans, as was its duty, they should be hurried on board and shipped to Cuba, ere their counsel and friends could secure an appeal. Mr. Adams offered a resolution in the house calling on the President to know why these persons, charged with no crime, were committed and held in prison? This alarmed the advocates of slavery, and it was rejected. After a patient trial the court declared the negroes free men. The libelants appealed to the supreme 78 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. court, where Mr. Adams appeared as their counsel. The judgment of the court below was sustained, on the ground that these Africans had never been legally reduced to slavery,---as if free men could undergo that transformation. Such was the state of public opinion at that time, that even this was hailed by the lovers of justice as a real triumph. And it was. Mr. Giddings was now anxious to put forth a constitutional platform for the basis of a political party that should antagonize the pro-slavery party. Mr. Gates agreed with him. Mr. Adams opposed political organization for that purpose, and Mr. Slade coincided with him. In February, 1841, a bill came up in committee of the whole to appropriate money for the Florida war, to be expended by the secretary of war for the benefit of such Seminole chiefs and warriors as would surrender and "go west." Mr. Giddings took the floor and set forth the cause of the war and objects of its con.; tinuance. He showed from the reports of the Indian agent that they refused to migrate lest the negroes and their children, long a part of the tribe, should be seized by the Creeks. That to capture and to enslave them was the sole cause of the war and the only purpose of the proposed removal. He was called to order under the twenty-first rule. The chairman, Mr. Clifford (now supreme judge), pronounced him in order, and he sustained his position by documents. Was called to order for irrelevancy, but sustained by the chair. He said he did not undertake to discuss slavery, but only to show that it caused the war, and that the United States could not wage a war in its interest. He proved that men born free had, by systematic forays from Georgia, been seized and reduced to slavery. Cooper and Black, of Georgia, became greatly excited. Mr. Giddings had made himself master of the whole subject. His exposition was thorough and exhaustive. It had a wide circulation, and contributed largely to the education of the people of the north. It is the first in the edition of his speeches published in London in 1853. Cooper and Black, also Downing, of Florida, under pretense of replying, made abusive assaults on the Abolitionists, Mr. Giddings and Mr. Adams, the States they represented, the Whig party, and President elect. Mr. Thompson, a Whig from South Carolina, rescued his party, and declared it could not be held responsible for the sayings " of the obscurest of the obscure individuals in its ranks." Mr. Giddings rejoined that it was not in the power of Mr. Thompson to assign him a place. It would be quite all he could do to choose his own. That the gentleman knew very well that neither Mr. Giddings' constituents, nor his own conscience, would permit him to seek redress for insults after the barbarous fashion of the south, and quoted the saying of a veteran in the service of his country, who, grossly insulted by another for the purpose of being challenged, as he wiped his enemy's spittle from his face, replied, " Could I as easily wipe your blood from my soul, you should not live an hour." Mr. Alford, of Georgia, rushed upon Mr. Giddings, but was arrested by Governor Briggs. Mr. Thompson, in reply, assured the house that he spoke the sentiments of Whigs north and south. Mr. Downing was so abusive that Mr. Giddings did not notice him. He had business before the committee of which Mr. Giddings was chairman, and undertook to approach him in the presence of others as is usual among gentlemen. Mr. Giddings refused to recognize him, and told him never to approach him save on official business, an injunction he was careful to observe. The President elect, that sad anachronism, was then in Washington. The occurrences in the committee were reported to him. He was greatly dissatisfied with Mr. Giddings, and said he would relieve the Whigs of the odium brought on them by Mr. Giddings' efforts in favor of free discussion. A day or two after, the representative, who had greatly contributed to his election, called to pay his respects, when he was received in a manner that precluded his calling again, while Mr. Thompson, who had deliberately insulted him, was given the mission to Mexico. In his inaugural, General Harrison had inserted a paragraph highly offensive to those by whom the right of petition was cherished. Mr. Clay was permitted to change it so that, if it meant anything, no one could tell what it was; while Mr. Webster boasted that with his own hand he put to death the seventeen Roman pro-consuls encamped within it. President Harrison called an extra session of the Twenty-seventh congress, was called away himself, and the evil days came upon his party. The Whigs began with forty majority in the house and seven in the senate. Its highest objects were a high tariff, a national bank, and the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among the States. Before the end of the first session the party split into factions, and real power departed from them. On the reassembling of the house, Mr. Wise moved the udoption of the old rules. Mr. Adams moved the exception of the twenty-first, which prevailed. A motion to reconsider led to much debate, in which Wise said Mr. Giddings, chairman of the claims committee, would never report a bill to pay a master for a slave killed in the public service. " Ask him ! ask him I" resounded from the hall, and be did. "I cannot answer for the committee," said Mr. Giddings. " I shall follow the precedents, which have been uniform from the commencement of the government." Mr. Wise was dissatisfied. " The chairman had dodged the question." When . told that a slave killed in the public service had never been paid for, he said the precedents were wrong. The feeling over the question of petitions and freedom of debate became bitter and personal, especially towards Mr. Giddings, and not a dozen southern men afterwards recognized him. This extended somewhat to Messrs. Slade and Gates. Mr. Adams was beyond their reach. A rain of petitions, ingeniously devised to avoid the twenty-first rule, were rained by the pitiless Adams on the devoted heads of the slave-masters, and gave rise to acrimonious debate. Each shower called forth expressions of increased bitterness. On the 21st of January, 1842, he presented a petition from citizens of Georgia full of admiration of his many good qualities, but declaring that he was a monomaniac, and asked for his removal from the head of the committee of foreign relations. He wished to defend himself against it. It was decided to be a question of privilege. He was soon called to order from all parts of the hall. The speaker was firm. Mr. Adams bore himself well. He could at no time utter half a dozen sentences. No such heat had before been shown. The storm finally drowned his voice. The subject was laid on the table, leaving Mr. Adams on the floor, who continued to present petitions, which went into the silent cavern of the twenty-first rule. Towards evening, with Giddings, Slade, and Gates supporting, and Wise, Gilmer, Holmes, and others confronting him, exhibiting a paper, he said, " I hold in my hand the memorial of Benjamin Emerson and forty-five citizens of Massachusetts, praying for the peaceful dissolution of the union of these States." At these words ominous silence fell on the house. He went on to state the reasons for it—a condensed indictment of the south—in courteous language, and evading the fatal rule. Amid the most intense excitement he moved its reference to a committee of nine, with instructions to answer it, showing why the petition could not be granted, and resumed his seat. Half a hundred men were on their feet, clamoring for the floor. Hopkins, of Virginia, in a rage, demanded that the paper be burnt in the presence of tho house. Wise wanted to know if a resolution of censure was in order. Mr. Adams thought that it was. A motion to adjourn. Mr. Adams said if a vote of censure was to pass it had better be done that day. Mr. Gilmer offered a resolution of censure. A question of reception was made. Mr. Adams hoped it would be received. He expected what had so long been denied—a day for brave speech on such a resolution. The house adjourned without farther action. Men with clenched fists. and knitted brows cursed the abolitionists; others exulted that Mr. Adams was now in the hands of the Democrats, as the southern Whigs would act with them. A meeting of the south and allies was held that night. An effort was made by Mr. Giddings to convene such men of the north as would stand by Mr. Adams. Seemingly the day of long-pent wrath had come. To the request to convene the northern Whigs, it was coldly replied, " That it would look like a sectional quarrel." Slade and Young, of Vermont ; Calhoun, of Massachusetts ; Henry, Lawrence, and Simonton, of Pennsylvania ; Gates and Chittenden, of New York, alone responded, and met at the room of Mr. Giddings. Dr. Leavitt and Theodore Weld were also there. Mr. Adams was sent for. So long unused to kindness and sympathy was he that the message overcame him. He indicated some points on which he wished authorities, and dismissed the committee. At the southern meeting a programme was arranged and a slave-holding Whig selected to lead the assault. The choice fell on Tom Marshall, of Kentucky, a nephew of the late chief justice. He inherited the family ability, was a brilliant speaker and emulous of the place. In the presence of the foreign attaches and privileged persons, and such a crowd as only the capitol sees, the house convened the next morning. I can but glance at the proceedings of this memorable trial. A preamble and two resolutions were moved by Mr. Marshall as a substitute for the Gilmer censure. The preamble was an elaborate eulogy of the union. The resolutions declared that Mr. Adams had offered the deepest insult to the people of the United States that was possible, which, if not punished, would degrade the country "in the eyes of the whole world." That he merited expulsion. In mercy, the house would only inflict upon him their severest censure, and turn him over to his own conscience and the indignation of all true American citizens. Surely these men never can dissolve the union. Mr. Marshall fully realized the expectations of his side. He charged the venerable man with treason. Mr. Adams arose with composed dignity, and, on being recognized, said he did not intend to address the house then. He would first learn if the house would entertain the resolution. He Called for the reading of the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. It was read down to the declaration of the right to alter, abolish, and reorganize government when it failed to secure the just ends of its creation. He then went on to point out wherein the government of the United States had failed, and the people had a right to correct the evils and ask the aid of congress in the work. He proceeded with severe distinctness to specify HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO the wrongs and injustice wrought by the government through a coalition of gave-holders and Democrats, and it was time the people by their petitions should arouse the nation, and he sat down. Everett, of Vermont, moved to print and postpone the resolutions two weeks. Wise proceeded to debate that motion, in a long-prepared speech of great severity. Mr. Adams retorted on him the Cilly duel, and turned on Marshall with a blasting, withering speech, ridiculed his law and set him apart by sarcasm. Marshall, as if in defiance, arose, and stood facing him. A hush fell on the thronged house as the old man, wrought to the highest, poured upon him his wrath, scorn, and derision.. He turned to the subject matter, then at his best. Not a breath, whisper, or rustle was heard. Reporters were charmed, slave-holders were melted to tears. When he sat down, Marshall stood transfixed, without the power to fall, and he remained till a friend recalled him to consciousness. He never fully recovered, and was reported .to have said to John Campbell, of South Carolina, that he " would rather die a thousand deaths than again encounter that old man." Mr. Giddings, and the small band of Mr. Adams' supporters, were no longer anxious, and the Whigs of the north gathered about him. Not only these, but Botts, of Virginia—who soon after behaved so badly toward Mr. Giddings—and Arnold, of Tennessee, came to his aid, though he needed none. Marshall again addressed the house, preparing the way for retreat. On the 3d of February, Mr. Gilmer proposed to Mr. Adams to withdraw the petition, and he would withdraw the resolution of censure. Mr. Adams refused, entered upon his defense, and spoke the rest of the day in review of his own career. On the next he complained, and justly, of the misreport of his remarks, and naked a delay till a competent reporter could be procured. Marshall objected, and moved the previous question. In the face of this attempt to cut him off, he resumed. Mr. Giddings secured a seat inside for Dr. Leaved, a competent reporter. The slave-holders excluded him, but he secured a place outside the bar. The southern men became greatly dissatisfied with the aspect of things under the hands of the old man, and they called him to order. The chair sustained him, and the house sustained the speaker. Mr. Adams consumed the day without concluding. As he was about resuming the next day, a Georgian wished to know how much time he would consume? He could not tell how much he might require, but he thought he might close in ninety days. This opened new views to the prosecutors. Mr. Adams had spent three days in the arraignment of slavery, and proposed to go on three months longer. Mr. Botts moved to lay the whole subject on the table, which prevailed, one hundred and six to ninety-three. Slavery, blind and unknowing, was to go on multiplying expedients for its own power and protection, which were to fail, till by its lust it should perish. The attempt to censure Mr. Adams was followed by an equally unwarrantable and more unjustly-conducted assault upon Mr. Giddings. The coast-wise slave-trade had become very extensive. It was estimated that twenty-five thousand were annually transferred from the breeding to the cotton, sugar, and rice States, where the average continuance of the slave's life was seven years. It is remembered that, by treaty with England, the two nations were solemnly bound to suppress the African slave-trader—Great Britain from philanthropy, America to aware the monopoly of the market to the doinestio producer. The " Comet" in 1830, the "Encomium" in 1834, were wrecked on the British islands, and the slaves liberated. Mr. Calhoun had tinkered up our end of international law, but England refused to pay for them. In October, 1841, the" Creole" left Hampton Roads with one hundred and thirty-four slaves for New Orleans. On the 7th of November, on the " high seas," they rose on the officers and crew, subdued them, and learning that there were not provisions to sustain a voyage to Liberia, they directed the mate to steer for Nassau, where they were landed and free. Mr. Webster, secretary of state under President Tyler, demanded a return of the "mutineers and murderers," as he called them, and also declaring that they were property by the constitution of the United States. Great Britain refused ; much controversy ensued. Great interest was felt in the matter in this country. Mindful of Mr. Calhoun's resolutions on the same subject, Mr. Giddings embodied his own views in a set of carefully-prepared propositions to be offered in the house, declaring that, prior to the adoption of the constitution, the several States had complete power over slavery within their own borders, and surrendered none of it to the Federal government by the adoption of the constitution. That they did surrender to the general government all power on the high seas. That slavery, being an abridgment of human rights, existed by force of municipal law, and confined to the jurisdiction of the State which created it. That a ship, when it leaves the waters of a State and enters upon the high seas, ceases to be under the laws of the State, but is, with the persons on board, under the laws of the United States ; and when the " Creole" left the jurisdiction of Virginia, her slave-laws ceased to be of force over the persons on board. That when such persons asserted their personal rights, they violated no law of the United States, and all attempts to re-enslave them were unwarranted by the constitution or laws of the United States and incompatible with national honor. That all attempts to place - 20 - the coast slave-trade under protection of the government were subversive of the rights of the people of the free States, injurious to their feelings, unauthorized by the constitution, and prejudicial to the national character. On the 21st of March, 1842, he offered them in the house, saying he would call them up on the next day, when resolutions were in order. They were read and re-read, on call, by the clerk. The excitement produced by them is incomprehensible at- this day. Mr. Everett, of Vermont, a leading Whig, expressed his " abhorrence of the fire-brand course of the gentleman from Ohio." Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, said " they were a British argument, an approximation to treason, on which he should vote no." After these and other expressions, Mr. Fillmore asked if it would be in order to request the mover to withdraw the resolutions. The speaker replied in the affirmative. Mr. Giddings was surprised by the excitement produced by his propositions, especially by the strong remarks of northern men. He did not wish that matters so important should be disposed of in so summary a way, under excitement and without consideration, as the house showed a disposition to do. He felt certain they would meet the approbation of the northern men of judgment when they could be considered without heat. With this reflection, he withdrew them, saying that he had now called attention to them, they would be published, and that at the next opportunity he would present them for action. He had mortally offended ; he was not so to escape. Men who would not lend themselves to the persecution of Mr. Adams had already denounced Mr. Giddings. Mr. Botts arose, saying the withdrawal did not excuse the presentation, and offered for adoption three whereaaes and one resolution, reciting that Mr. Giddings had presented resolutions touching matter under negotiation of the utmost interest, and which might involve the two nations, and perhaps the civilized world, in war. That it is the duty of every representative to discountenance divisions among the people, and not assume grounds hostile to the high functionary having in charge this delicate trust. That mutiny and murder are justified and approved (by Mr. Giddings) in terms shocking to the sense of law, order, and humanity ; therefore " Resolved, That this house holds the conduct of the said member is altogether unwarrantable, and deserving the severest condemnation of the people of this country, and of this body in particular." As Ohio and not Virginia was in order on the call, John B. Weller, a colleague of Mr. Giddings, offered the propositions as his own, and demanded the previous question, which, it was thought, would exclude Mr. Giddings froth a hearing. The slavocrats did not mean to have another defense. The speaker decided that it was a question of privilege, and the previous question would not out off the accused from his defense. It was Fillmore who appealed to the house from this decision, which reversed the speaker (one hundred and eighteen to sixty-four), and the house adjourned. Great confusion attended these proceedings, and the vote showed Mr. Giddings, what he might expect. He supposed, however, that he would be permitted a defense, and would probably be compelled to make it the next day, and spent the night in preparation. Mr. Adams, greatly depressed, assured him that he would not be allowed to speak for himself, and that the resolution would be adopted. He knew the character and instincts of slave-holders too well. Mr. Giddings expected the resolution would pass, but supposed he would be heard. In the house, the next day, in presence of a great crowd, Mr. Weller offered to withdraw the demand for the previous question if Mr. Giddings would at once proceed with his defense. Mr. Giddings, with great dignity, declined to stipulate for the purchase of a right, which the constitution awarded him. The previous question was seconded by seventy-seven to seventy, and ordered. Mr. Weller, having secured this triumph, moved a suspension of the rules to permit Mr. Giddings a hearing. The speaker declared that the house having ordered the previous question, it must be put. Mr. Adams suggested that even the previous question did not preclude a member from defending. himself. The speaker reminded him the house had decided that it did. The house was reluctant to proceed in the position to which it had reduced itself. It was proposed that Mr. Giddings be heard by common consent. As there seemed a unanimous wish to hear him, Mr. Giddings arose. " Mr. Speaker," said he, "I stand before the house in a peculiar position." Mr. Cooper, of Georgia—" I object." Mr. Giddings resumed his seat. Members gathered around Cooper and induced him to withdraw. Mr. Calhoun, of Massa, chusetts--" I renew it. I will not see a gentleman speak under these circumstances." The vote was taken on the resolution to censure. It passed, one hundred and twenty-five to sixty-nine. Of the majority, forty-six were from the free States. Of these, seven were from Ohio. Mr. Wise said he would not vote on such a question. Mr. Barnard, of New York, said the whole thing was unconstitutional, and he would take no part in it. When the vote was announced, Mr. Giddings took formal leave of the speaker, officers of the house, his personal friends, and, with a haughty bow to the house, withdrew. At the front door be was met by Mr. Clay, who congratulated him for the 4rmness with 80 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. which he had sustained himself, saying no man could doubt his right to express his views against the slave-trade, especially as the President and senate were declaring in favor of it. The memory of this magnanimous conduct of Mr. Clay tended much to strengthen the friendship and kindness of Mr. Giddings for him in the later years of that statesman's life. It may have been expected that Mr. Giddings would not resign. It is possible that many northern Whigs regretted the censure less than the prominence it would give him, conspicuous as he already was. He was now, in the early years of his career, to touch the source of life, energy, and strength,—the people, and be endued with the. might that should bear him in triumph through the fiercer conflicts which awaited him. Slavery closed his mouth and then mocked him, manacled and then buffeted him, in the face of the world. Had she known him she would have forborne. He resigned his seat and hastened to Ohio. How tardily moved the lumbering stage-coach over the five hundred intervening miles of road I On the next day the following note appeared in the National Intelligencer, in the report of the proceedings: "To THE REPORTER OF THE INTILLIGENCER "When I arose no often during the confusion of business in the house this day, and was so often called to order, tho loot time by lion. Mark A. Cooper, of Georgia, I had written out, and desired to have stated to the house, what follows : "Mr. Speaker,—I stand before the house in a peculiar position. It is proposed to pass a vote of censure upon me, substantially for the reason that I differ in opinion from a majority of the members. The rote is about to be taken without giving me an opportunity to be heard. It were idle for me to say that I am ignorant of the disposition of a majority of the members to pass the resolution of censure. I have been violently assailed in a personal manner; nor do I now ask for any favor at the hands of gentlemen; but in the name of an insulted constituency, in behalf of one of the States of this Union, in behalf of the people of these States, and of our federal constitution, I demand a hearing in the ordinary mode of proceeding. I accept no other privilege. I will receive no other oourteey. "J. R. GIDDINGS." On that day the house was dissatisfied with itself. Both Mr. Adams and Mr. Weller desired amendments of the house journal. Everett, of Vermont, wanted five thousand copies of the proceedings printed for distribution. Stanley, of North Carolina, would print twenty thousand if Mr. Giddings' resolutions could be appended. Everett agreed. Mr. Adams suggested fifty thousand. Stanley did not further urge printing the resolutions. They were published widely, and commented on at the north with valuable results. The abject state of the common mind of the north on the whole subject of slavery cannot now be comprehended. The average man believed Mr. Giddings had no right to advance his sentiments, and though no man anywhere attempted to refute them, many in elevated positions denounced him as a demagogue and a pestilent mischief-maker. But the northern mind was aroused, many able journals calmly and wisely discussed the views and conduct of Mr. Giddings, and the principles involved in the action of the house. The event had point and effect easily apprehended, and the result a powerful recoil against slavery in the popular feeling and sentiment of the free States. When Mr. Giddings reached Warren, the first large town in his district, be found the court in session. He was called on for a speech, and responded in a powerful address of three hours. At its close a young Democratic lawyer nominated him for re-election, which was accepted with acclamation. At Jefferson, Ashtabula, Painesville, Cleveland, Chardton,—everywhere where he made his appearance the popular heart was with him. Admirably-prepared sets of resolutions were adopted at several meetings, sent forward to the house, received with respect, and entered upon its journal. Governor Corwin, of Ohio, named the earliest day for the special election, and though at the last moment the Democrats put a candidate in the field, the vote for Mr. Giddings was quite unanimous. Five weeks after his censure, he announced his own re-election to the house, received the oath, the warm congratulations of Mr. Adams, Slade, Gates, and others, returned to his own seat, and met the scowling looks of his foes with a serene smile. Nothing more was heard of the " Creole" in the senate ; nor did Mr. Webster again urge it upon the British cabinet, nor did the President or his successor, Mr. Polk, revive the subject. In the long and bitter war then just taking form no single event was more fortunate or important to the advocates of freedom and justice than this incident in the life of Mr. Giddings. The proceedings of the house were republished in London and spoken of in Paris, and the name of Mr. Giddings became a familiar sound in Europe. It was known in the house that he had been instructed by his constituents to re-present his propositions to that body on the first resolution day. No one doubted his determination to do it. The majority, however, controlled the house, and for the residue of the session resolution days were devoted to other purposes. There was no call of the States. Mr. Giddings was not to be wholly foiled, and availing himself of the opportunity of the committee of the whole, he delivered his speech, sustained his position, and vindicated himself. The speech was able, brave, caustic, and listened to in respectful silence. Nobody replied to it. In his " Thirty Years" (war ?), Mr. Benton devotes a chapter to the " Creole." He abridged, as he called it, the debates of congress. Neither work mentions the censure of Mr. Giddings. It is a chapter that slavery would abridge,—erase. Substantially, the right of debate was recovered by Mr. Giddings, although the twenty-first rule grimly dominated the house for two years longer. During the recess of the Twenty-seventh congress, Mr. Giddings wrote a series of papers over the signature of " Pacificus," devoted to a careful and elaborate analysis of the relations of the people of the free States to slavery, under the constitution. His doctrines are truisms now. They struck the popular mind as novel then. It was just awakening to this subject, and heard them with avidity. The dominant ideas were those of' the " Creole" resolutions. Slavery, a wrong, could only exist by positive law, and was wholly within the power and control of the State enacting the law. That the people of the free States were in no way responsible for slavery in the slave States. Neither to uphold or destroy. Freedom was their institution ; as they were not responsible for slavery in the States, so they must be held free from the cost and infamy of it. That the Federal government could no more abolish one than the other within the States. That everywhere, outside of the States where their laws could not go, the authority of the Federal government was supreme, and that it must be used to secure the ends and promote the objects of its creation, as set forth in the document and preamble of the constitution. The articles were vigorously written and tersely expressed. Mr. Giddings always put himself well on paper. They were widely copied, collected and issued in pamphlet form, and were an efficient means of forming a correct public opinion. The Democrats were shrewd in not discussing the questions, and so no issues could be made with them. The northern Whigs, though assenting to Mr. Giddings' views, were prevented from acting upon them, and this inert sentiment was a bar to any great progress of the Liberty party, and it came to regard Mr. Giddings as its principal obstacle. Though a slave-bolder, the Whig speaker—White, of Kentucky—appointed him chairman of the committee on claims. On his resignation, a new chairman was appointed for the residue of that session. At the opening of' the 3d, the southern men demanded that Mr. Giddings should not be reappointed. Mr. Giddings and his friends remained passive. The speaker, however, with the courage of a Kentuckian, had always denounced the censure, and unhesitatingly reappointed him. By the ancient rules, the committees had the power to elect their chairmen. It had so long been the usage to select the first named by the speaker on the list, that he came to be recognized as the head, without action by the committee. Five of the claims committee voted for Mr. Giddings' censure. They conspired for his removal, and named the day. Mr. Warren, of Georgia, had the kindness to give him notice of the plot, and suggested resignation. Giddings said he was appointed for his fitness and high character. He would meet the consequences. Arnold, of Tennessee, rebelled, and was not present. Madill, of Ohio, went in pursuit of Arnold ; neither returned, and no change was attempted. Near the close of the session came a claim for slaves lost in Florida in the invasion of 1814. It had been up many times, and now, to avoid Mr. Giddings, it was sent to another committee, which reported for payment. Mr. Giddings posted many of the speaking northern Whigs to assail it, but in vain. Slade was ill, and Gates not a speaker. Mr. Giddings attacked it with such force that Mr. Adams, old and infirm, came to his aid, and the bill was lost by thirty-six majority. Another came up. It seems that General Jackson had induced Great Britain to pay seventy-five thousand dollars for the " Cornet" and " Encomium" slaves, wrecked before the West India emancipation. This money lie disbursed to claimants, all but four thousand dollars, which he handed over to Mr. Van Buren. It was not called for until after the retirement of that gentleman. He placed it in the treasury. The treasurer refused to pay it without an act of congress, and claimants went to that body. Fillmore reported a bill as required, which was placed in the hands of Stanley. Giddings explained the case to Stanley, and told him that he would not oppose a bill to replace the money in the hands of the executive, and thus escape the odium. Stanley agreed, and a new bill was substituted and passed. When it came up in the senate the original was restored, passed, and sent to the house. Mr. Giddings demanded an explanation. Mr. Stanley would give none, but said Mr. Giddings should have an opportunity to express his views on it. When it came up Mr. Stanley demanded the previous question. Mr. Giddings demanded the yeas and nays, voted for the Bill, moved a reconsideration, and thus secured the floor, spite of falsehood and slavery. He spoke under intense excitement,—he could carry any amount,—and made one of his most effective speeches. Since Mr. Adams' excoriation of it, slavery and the slave-trade had received no such flagellation. Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, replied. The bill passed, one hundred and forty to thirty-eight. Mr. Giddings' speech was not reported, nor did any synopsis of it appear in the Congressional Globe, or any paper under slavery dominion. Many of his friends long affected to deplore its utterance. Whoever HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 81 wishes to know what he said, and understand the coastwise slave-trade, can do both by turning to the thirty-second page of his speeches. During the delivery of this speech, Dawson, of Louisiana, passed near him from behind, gave him a push, uttering "Dawson," stepped by, turned and confronted him, with his hand on the handle of his knife protruding from his bosom. He was within striking distance. Giddings, '̊ Did you push me in that rude manner ?" Dawson, "Yes." Giddings, " For the purpose of insulting me ?" Dawson, " Yes." Giddings, "I turn you over to public contempt, as incapable of insulting any honorable man," and resumed his speech. Dawson was taken out by his friends, and not buried, as we shall learn. When the matter was brought to the notice of the house, several gentlemen stated what occurred. No action was taken by the house. The northern Whig journals were filled with it for some time. The expose of Mr. Giddings brought upon the house a freshet of petitions against the inter-State slave-trade. The close of the Twenty-seventh congress was signalized by the famous address of the tweuty members of congress exposing the scheme for the annexation of Texas, denouncing it, and warning the northern people in time. It was drawn by Mr. Gates, and signed by Messrs. Adams, Giddings, S. J. Andrews, Slade, Gates, and others, and widely published. It will be remembered that Mr. Cushing replied to Mr. Giddings' slave-trade speech, and denounced his " Creole" resolutions as "a British argument." He was one of the Tyler guard, rewarded with a mission to China, and the contempt. of Massachusetts. On his return home, the rough handling he received at Giddings' hands in the speech referred to damaged him so much that in the public press he declared that the speech as circulated was never made, the publication a fraud, and the charges untrue. Mr. Giddings replied with such evidence that no rejoinder was attempted. Mr. Giddings returned to his post at the beginning of the Twenty-eighth congress, to find his position more trying than ever. Messrs. Slade and Gates had retired. Mr. Adams was seventy-six, and quite infirm. He was himself the object of Democratic execration, and was now to realize what a social outlaw he had become at the capital, where society and social life are so much. A. man of fine social qualities, urbane and courtly in manners, he must keenly feel, but he proudly concealed what he felt. Men can live without the favor of their fellows. Most men grow morose in its absence. Mr. Giddings retained his cheerfuiness. He lost his place on the Claims, and was made seventh on Revolutionary pensions. He supported Mr. Adams in an attempt to revise the rules. At the end of two weeks' acrimonious debate, the old man, who had borne the brunt, was obliged to leave the work to the younger. He had hoped to see the "gag" removed. He feared he should die ere that event. The present effort failed, and it is evident from the tone of Mr. Giddings' work on the Rebellion that these were dark days to both. Many incidents in the personal history of Mr. Giddings occurring in this congress must be passed. He needs the breadth of a memoir. I am cramped to a sketch. It must shrink to a bare outline. A treaty for the annexation of Texas was hastily concluded. General Jackson, "in the twilight of" the Hermitage, signed a letter urging its ratification. The address of the twenty had done its work. It was proposed to correlate Texas with Oregon. Webster had given place to Upsbur. The explosion of a gun made another vacancy, and Mr. Calhoun stepped into it. The treaty was his work. Benton made war on it in the senate. As thus to be brought in, Texas on paper included nearly the whole of New Mexico, and large portions of Coahuila and Chihuahua. Mr. Benton killed the project. The President then sent a message to the house, asking that Texas be taken by joint resolution. This could be passed by a majority. From that day to the end of the session it was the subject of elaborate debate. Mr. Giddings' masterly speech will be found on page 98 of the collection referred to, delivered May 21, 1844. The presidential election was at hand. The two parties were tending to a division on Texas. This would help abolitionize the Whigs of the north. Giddings was still a Whig. He had not yet despaired of bringing the north wing to his views. He could not act with the Liberty party. He cordially hated the Democracy. He would, if possible, preserve au organization already opposed to it. He would oppose every candidate who would further involve the free States in the support of slavery. Mr. Van Buren wrote a letter against Texas, and was dropped. Polk was nominated, and Polk, Texas, and the (Whig) tariff of 1842 was the battle-cry. Mr. Clay made a speech at Raleigh, wrote a letter against annexation, and was nominated by the Whigs. He wrote two more Texas letters, and was beaten. Mr. Giddings supported Mr. Clay, and thus intensified the enmity of the Abolitionists. They loved while they hated him. The three-cornered war between slavery, the Abolitionists, and Mr. Giddings and his political followers—all the young Whigs of northern Ohio—in its way was a curious spectacle. A few days before the elecTOon a singular forgery was set afloat, seemingly in the interest of Mr. Clay,—a letter purporting to be written by Mr. Birney, the Liberty candidate, declaring his purpose of supporting Mr. Polk. It came out under a guise calculated to impose, and Mr. Giddings and others at first supposed it to be genuine. This intensified the feeling against him, and called from him a stinging letter to the editor of the Birney organ at Cleveland. On the reassembling of congress, joint resolutions were introduced to conclude the Texas annexation. A thorough canvass of the house showed a majority of thirty against it. Mr. Giddings had no confidence in Democrats in opposition. On Feb. 28 the vote was taken, and the senate bill passed, one hundred and thirty-two to seventy-six, and it became law. A cannon on the west terrace of the capitol thundered it to the city, which answered with bonfires, shouts, and revelry. With Texas and prospective war, the empire of the south seemed assured. Pensive with gloomy foreboding, Mr. Giddings took his way from the degraded hall, through the streets of the drunken city, to the silence and solitude of his own quarters. The recoil against slavery, following this its greatest triumph, threw out of the Democratic party Jacob Brinkerhoof, John P. Hale, Preston King, and many valuable citizens. From the mouth of congress its gag. For ten years Mr. Adams and Mr. Giddings had waged relentless, persistent war against it, and now by one hundred and eight to eighty it was cast back to the cesspool. The seeming victory was an empty show. Slavery, notwithstanding this defeat, merely changed the process. Hitherto it rejected petitions. Henceforth it so constructed committees that they were never heard from. The struggle thereafter would be for a speaker who would so construct certain committees that they would consider and report upon petitions. Southern members were often aggressive on Mr. Giddings, who replied the latest slave outrage. There were always a plenty. Early in February of this session he canceled an insult. While speaking on the Indian bill he reminded them of the money paid the Georgians for the children their runaway female slaves would have borne had they been faithful to their masters. Black, of Georgia, whom he had once excoriated, answered with vulgar, personal abuse, prompted by his associates. He said Giddings owned the team with which Torry made his last attempt at " nigger stealing." Torry was in the penitentiary. He would scud Giddings there. Giddings had franked a calico dress to his wife. Mr. Giddings made short work of Black and his backers. The excoriation was sharp. While speaking, Black approached him, and at the utterance of a particularly forcible sentence he raised a large cane, and shouted, " If you repeat those words, I will knock you down." Giddings turned fully upon him and repeated them with emphasis, and continued his speech, leaving Black petrified, with uplifted cane. Black's friends came to his relief.. At that moment his old assailant, Dawson, rushed toward Giddings, with his hand in his pocket, exclaiming, " I'll shoot him, by G—d 1" and those near him heard the click of his pistol-lock. At this moment Causine, a Maryland Whig, interposed between Giddings and Dawson, facing the latter, with his hand on a weapon in his bosom, while Slidell, of Louisiana, and Stiles, of Georgia, each with hand on weapon, took positions by Dawson. At this Kenneth Raynor, of North Carolina, armed, came to Mr. Giddings' left, Charles Hudson, of Massachusetts, quietly approached his right, and Foot, of Vermont, occupied the aisle through' which the discomfited Black was retired. Thus menaced, defended, and surrounded, Mr. Giddings, exhilarated, finished his speech in a blaze. Had he defended Milo, the presence of the Roman soldiers would not have embarrassed him, as it is said they did his advocate, Cicero. He deemed it prudent to develop the franking story, and addressed a note to Postmaster-General Wickliff to know whether anything had come to the notice of the department out of which it could be made. A few days later, that ponderous official made his appearance in the house, and after solemn consultatiOn with the Democrats, attended by Hon. E. D. Potter, of Ohio, a Democrat, he approached Mr. Giddings, and gravely informed him that he had received a letter from the Democratic postmaster of' Painesville, Ohio, stating that the package referred to was a shawl, sent by the famous McNulty, then Democratic clerk of the house, to Mrs. Potter, franked by him officially, and attested to be genuine "public documents," by the Hon. E. D. Potter. Here was a mess. The two worthies submitted it to the honor of Mr. Giddings. They assured him that Black's foolish tale could not injure a man of his character, but if known would ruin poor Potter. A Democrat knew what a good character was worth. President Polk announced to the Twenty-ninth Congress the latest Democratic programme. Notice to England to end the joint occupancy of Oregon, a seizure of the whole, and war. The Democrats were jubilant. The Whigs supine. The radical abolitionists demanded a dissolution of the Union. Mr. Adams and Mr. Giddings were left alone to meet the crisis. Mr. Calhoun had re-entered the senate. The senate resolution for notice to England came up in the house on the 5th of February, 1846, and Mr. Giddings secured the floor. He began by announcing that slavery had the control of the government, and the Democracy was its instrument, That a war with England which would add Oregon and 82 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. Canada to the free north would never occur. Such a war would be one of emancipation. The black regiments of the British West Indies would land on the southern coast, and slave insurrection, devastation, fire, and rapine would envelope the south. The south stood aghast. They sent. a howl through the land, and Mr. Giddings was denounced as inviting invasion and panting for slave insurrection. Mr. Adams followed Mr. Giddings, said that a war would empower an American general, as a means of defense, to emancipate the slaves, and he was in favor of holding the whole of Oregon. The black regiments conquered Oregon and the Democracy. Great Britain offered the forty-ninth parallel. The senate advised Mr. Polk to accept, which he made haste to do. Then followed the Mexican war. Our " army of occupation," under General Taylor, was sent across Texas, a hundred miles into Mexico, and found what it sought, a Mexican army, and fought the battles of the 8th and 9th of May, and the American congress declared that war existed by the act of Mexico. But fourteen in the house voted against it. Massachusetts and Ohio furnished each five of these. One would rather tear than rewrite this page of our history. Then came rumors of an Indian war. The Seminoles had been forced west. The Creeks seized and enslaved one hundred of them. The Cherokees would not receive them, and they plunged into the wilds of Mexico, beyond the reach of even our conquest, and disappeared from our history. The war with Mexico went on, languished, " and languishing did live." Mr. Giddings made some of his most effective speeches on this war. In March, 1847, he found in an appropriation bill fifty thousand dollars to pay for the " Amistad" Africans, placed there by the senate, which he assailed with his old bitter vigor. Mr. Adams, who had attempted no speaking for many months, was aroused by the old battle-cry. It was the bugle-call to an old warhorse, and he flashed out with the old fire. Members left their seats, reporters dropped their pens, and all gathered about him. When he closed the senate amendment was rejected almost unanimously. It was Mr. Adams' last speech. He was soon after attacked by paralysis. Mr. Giddings hurried to him. Mr. Adams supposed his end was near, and persisted in possessing Mr. Giddings with his final views and laid on him his last injunctions. He was to linger a year longer ere " the last of earth." With December, 1847, came the Thirtieth congress and the first contest for speaker under Giddings' lead. The Whigs nominated Winthrop. Palfrey was in the house. AtMr. Giddings' suggestion Palfrey wrote him a note asking if be would so arrange the committees that the petitions from the free States should be respectfully treated. No answer, and Giddings, Palfrey, and Tuck gave him no votes. Boyd, from Kentucky, fared worse; fourteen Democrats refused to vote for him,— a wonder for Democrats. Finally, Winthrop was elected. Mr. Giddings was denounced as an apostate by the Whig journals ; notably in the Cleveland Herald. To this be replied at length, and the reasons he gave for his course were such a pungent stricture of Mr. Winthrop that he felt compelled to answer through the public prints, and the end was not yet. The manner in which the new speaker made up the important committees was an ample vindication of the course of the three for not supporting him. They sustained the Mexican war with vigor, and prepared the way for General Taylor to the presidency. During this session Mr. Giddings had the satisfaction of presenting a petition by citizens of the District of Columbia for the suppression of the slave trade at the capital ; nothing came of it. Moved by a case of exceptional horror, he visited the slave-prison within view from the windows of the house, offered a resolution for a select committee to prepare a bill to expunge slavery from the District. A motion to lay it on the table failed. When slavery and its allies awoke from their amazement, after much effort, that disposition of it was secured, ninety-four to eighty-eight. The case of the eighty slaves who escaped down the Potomac in a rotten old schooner, and were captured, returned, and lodged in the Washington jail, subjected Mr. Giddings to great peril from the mobs he found at the jail and in the house. His courage finally won a savage respect, even from slave-drivers. His statement to Haskell, of Tennessee, that slaves had a moral right to leave their masters, created more astonishment than did his intrepidity. Perhaps the bravest act of his life was his vote against the otherwise unanimous house on the resolution thanking General Taylor for his gallantry in the pro-slavery war, which gained him new maledictions at the north. The month of April was signalized by a fierce and able debate on slavery. Mr. Adams had passed away; Mr. Giddings had followed his remains to his native Quincy, and, though solitary, be was not now alone. Palfrey and Tuck were with him, and his colleague, Root, one of the most effective debaters who had appeared in the house for years. The thousands of young Whigs—in name—of northern Ohio, the disciples of Mr. Giddings, who were kept from the Liberty party by its declared disunion doctrines, and kept within the Whig party by their faith in their leader, only awaited a pretext to sunder the filmy bond that attached them to it. They found this in the nomination of General Taylor. Three days after, a young man called a con vention in Geauga, which was the initiative, followed by similar conventions in all the counties of the Reserve. The elders hesitated, were swept away, and a great majority of the Whigs of that region were Whigs no more. Then came the Buffalo convention, and the nomination of Van Buren. No severer test of the sincerity of the revolted Whigs could have been devised. The Liberty party, by common consent, merged and was lost in the Free-Soil organization. Mr. Giddings was the acknowledged leader of the Ohio wing. Chase, Lewis, and Vaughan, from the south, with Root, Tilden, Briggs, and many able men from both parties, cast their fortunes with it. Eminently, it was a young men's movement, char-, acterized with the fervor and élan. of early manhood. Save one senator, holding over, it elected every member of the legislature in the Reserve counties. All young men, with one exception. All former Whigs but two. In the general assembly they commanded eleven votes, and held the balance of power between the old parties, whose warfare had reduced the State to incipient anarchy. Nothing but a lack of courage among the Democrats saved it from bloodshed. The term of Mr. Allen in the senate was about to expire. Mr. Giddings was unanimously nominated by the Free-Soilers. The place was his by every right. There were Whigs enough in the legislature to elect him. Because he was only less true to the party than to God, they refused. They preferred that the Democrats elect a man whom they detested, whom they never trusted, and whom they thwarted in his highest ambition.* The party was doomed, and then in the madness which precedes destruction, though imparted by no celestial hand. Their action worked this good,—it kept the senate open to Wade. In the presidential contest Democracy was humbled,—it lost nothing. The Whigs, triumphant, gained nothing. The Thirtieth congress reassembled. A long way is yet before me. I cannot linger over its inconsequent debates and less consequent votes. Mr. Giddings got a vote to abolish the slave-trade in the District. It was reconsidered. Then came up the case of a claim for the slave " Louis," the guide who conducted Major Dade into the ambush, in 1835. The bill was engrossed. Mr. Giddings moved a reconsideration, and attacked it again. It was declared passed by a false count. That was detected. It worried through the house, yet so battered that it was never called up in the senate. Back of all lay the ominous question of slavery in California and New Mexico. The war was long, close, bitter, doubtful, deadly. The senate would have slavery in California, the house would not. They were at a dead-lock. Mr. Giddings told the northern men that slavery would wait till the last hour of the last night, hoping to writhe and glide like a snake through house while men slept. At three of the morning of the 4th of March the thing came. The warned north was on the watch. It was strangled. California was free. The war was fought to plant slavery in California and New Mexico. Slavery had lost,—was doomed. The lowest abyss of fraud and corruption ever achieved in American politics was yet to be sounded ere this matter should pass to history. Beaten at the south, slavery would yet turn north. Having lost California, it would invade and war for Kansas. Yet it was doomed. That fatal defeat marked its decline. At the meeting of the Thirty-first congress (1849) it was seen that neither party alone could organize the house. Giddings and Root, of Ohio, Tuck, of New Hampshire, Allen, of Massachusetts, King, of New York, Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, Julian, of Indiana, Durkee, of Wisconsin, were consecrated to freedom and justice by the ballot. Winthrop and Cobb were the opposing candidates. Either could have received the eight votes by a pledge to make up the committees fairly. Neither gave it. On the final ballot, December 22, Cobb received one hundred and two, Winthrop ninety-nine, Wilmot eight. Under a resolution already adopted Cobb was declared speaker. The eight were a power that had to that time not appeared in the house. The Whigs—representatives, press, and people—denounced the Free-Soilers for the election of a slave-holder. Mr. Root set that matter right. He showed that it was the Whig and Democratic resolution which elected Cobb against the declaration of Mr. Giddings. That was a winter of petitions, memorials, and legislative resolutions, of debates upon slavery, the lights of man and States, of Mr. Clay's omnibus bill. It was memorable for the address of the southern members foreshadowing secession. It was the fugitive slave law year and fall of Mr. Webster. He assured the north that he would speak on their side; showed a skeleton of his intended speech. They went to hear it. It was that 7th of March. He was dressed with constitutional care. Constitutional freedom survived the blow he dealt it. Mr. Webster did not. He died of the bite of the presidency, fatal to many. This was the year of the Galphin swindle. Above all, of the ten million Texan corruption law. As is remembered, Texas claimed not only a part of two Mexican states, but a great share of New Mexico, including Santa Fe, the capital. Under pretense of settling this claim, and to induce her to relinquish to Mexico what we admitted was hers, and to the United States what was ours by purchase of Mexico, a bill was introduced to pay her ten* * Salmon P. Chase. HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 83 millions of dollars. There was an immense amount of Texan scrip, of little appreciable value before. There was a gathering of all the evil passions; lusts, vice; and crimes, scarcely latent at that time in official life, mostly engendered in the rotting carcass of slavery, gathered as to a festival. The bill rotted its way through both houses, and became a law. The first, and I believe the last act which ever bribed itself through Congress. Against the fugitive slave bill, the Texan bill, and the other enormities of this sad time, Mr. Giddings and his associates, and many brave and noble men of the north, exerted themselves to the utmost. To offset these evils California was finally admitted free, and the slave-trade abolished in the District of Columbia. That session must forever stand prominent on the page of history. The thread of Mr. Giddings' career hitherto has been easy to trace in the web of public affairs. He has now become one of many younger men, in some sort his political pupils, ambitious and able, come to divide, in fact, bear off the ripening fruits of the ultimate triumph of truth and justice, because they never bore any part of the odium which his labors called upon his head, an odium which survived when all men could see there never was good cause for it. I must follow him more rapidly. Abolition was at an end, slavery secured ; so declared the proclamation of the slavocrats at the end of the Thirty-first congress. The Thirty-second opened with declarations of Whig and Democrat that each was entitled to the glory of the great pacification. Henceforth the contest was to be a zealous race to protect the Union, and they elected Boyd, of Kentucky, speaker. Then began debates in both houses to define how much slavery had gained by the pacification, and so the charm was dissolved, as Giddings told them it would be. Then came the Lopez invasion of Cuba, and the Kossuth invasion of America ; came also old claims for loss of young slaves, and for numerous new losses of old slaves ; also another presidential election, with Pierce and Scott as the great rivals, while Hale led the growing hosts of Free-Soilers. With the smoke and dust of the fight disappeared the once great Whig party from the wondering eyes of men. On the reassembling of congress, Mr. Giddings was placed on the committee of territories, and reported a bill for Kansas. Howe, of Pennsylvania, demanded why it did not contain a prohibition of slavery. Giddings replied that it was north of 36̊ 30'. The bill passed, was held in the senate until the next congress, when, under Pierce, came the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the border war, and ultimately free Kansas. Those who would know what Mr. Giddings said during those portentous days, will find some of it in the volume of his speeches. There was a knot of new, brilliant, and very able men in the senate,—Seward since 1849. Sumner succeeded Webster in time to reply to his speech on the fugitive slave bill. Chase MIS there at the same time. Wade soon followed him. Pending the Kansas war, Mr. Pierce sought to acquire Cuba, and we had the Ostend manifesto, and the Sims case in Boston, which cost the United States thirty thousand dollars and one man's life, and thus the northern tendency to agitate was quieted. The Whigs disappeared, and were naturally followed by confessed Know-Nothings. They appeared in large numbers in the Thirty-fourth congress, which convened December, 1855. Some forty Know-Nothings, and Free-Soilers now numerous, under Mr. Giddings' lead, adopted a resolution to support no man for speaker who would not make up the standing committees fairly, and the select committees with majorities friendly to the measures submitted to them in accord with usage. Beyond this there was no organization. The Free-Soilers voted for Banks. Ho had said two years before that were we to extend slavery or dissolve the Union he would "let the Union slide," which was awful then. Wrangling debates, interspersed with ballots and threats by the south to dissolve the Union,—no longer treason,—ran on till the one hundred' and thirty-third ballot, when, on the 4th of February, 1856, Nathaniel P. Banks was declared elected speaker. At last the victory was won. The organs of the house must hear and answer petitions. The moral effect of two or three individuals standing for the right was seen. Then the grand figure, the hero of so many fights and now the victor, with his full locks of silvery white hair, came forward, as Father of the house, to crown with the oath of office the young speaker. The galleries recognized him, and spontaneous cheers greeted him. Standing just within the inner row of desks in the old hall, with upraised hand, and swelling voice having the trill of emotion in it, he administered the oath in the form of the Puritans. It would be but fitting if Ohio, in recognition of his services in the cause of constitutional freedom, should translate the form of the champion into marble and return it to the hall, and thus illustrate this supreme event in the advance of truth and justice, and the noblest achievement of the life of their faithful partisan at the scene of its accomplishment. The deepening contest was to have another illustration. Sumner was assaulted in May following. On the 18th of June, 1856, the Free-Soil convention assembled at Philadelphia. Mr. Giddings and Preston King were the leading spirits. It put forth a compendious platform of two resolutions, one by Mr. Giddings, the other by Mr. King, setting forth the old principles. - 21 - On it they placed Fremont and Dayton, adopted the name Republican, and the great contest of 1856 was fought. On the reassembling of congress, although Buchanan was elected, the result on the whole was disastrous to the south. In the desperation which had come upon it, slavery now resorted to the supreme court. It had never failed slavery but once. It now overbalanced the " Amistad" case. It decided that a slave woman could only give birth to slaves in free territory, and Dred Scott followed the condition of his mother. The chief justice did not say that negroes " had no rights that white men were bound to respect." He only attributed that sentiment to the authors of the old declaration. The decision only intensified the northern sentiment. The Lecompton constitution was defeated, but Kansas was still to bleed. California, New Mexico, and Kansas free, Walker was sent to revolutionize Central America. His expedition, openly fitted out, sailed with three ships. When it was supposed he was safe, Commodore Paulding was sent in pursuit; Walker had landed. The literal old commodore landed, followed, captured, and brought him back. How amazed he was when Walker was liberated and himself reprimanded I The African slave-trade was reopened, and a premium paid for African stock, freshly imported, at a South Carolina State fair. All these events quickened the northern mind and strengthened the Republican party. Conservatives and radical abolitionists stepped together on to Mr. Giddings' construction of the constitution, and found ample margin for war on the common enemy. Then came the John Brown invasion of Virginia to sharpen the convictions of many, causing a recoil of some, and thrilling the hearts of all. Mason, of Virginia, and Vallandingham hastened to the wounded hero in prison, and pretended to draw from him statements implicating Mr. Giddings in his plot. They gave this libel to the world, and a shout of triumph went up from his enemies all over the scattered Union. He pronounced it mendaciously false. In reply, ten thousand dollars was offered for him alive in Richmond, and half that sum for his head, which he continued to wear. But the Thirty-fifth congress had lapsed. I drop the sketchy thread of history here. Mr. Giddings is no longer a part of it. With the Thirty-fifth congress closed the public career of Joshua R. Giddings. Twenty-one successive years he represented the same people in the house. One of the longest known in our annals, and, nave that of his friend, John Quincy Adams, the most useful for conspicuous service in the cause of freedom and justice known to our history. In the appreciation and application of the principles of our constitution to the exigencies of politics, arising out of the great conflict of freedom and slavery, through the years of chronic strife, he excelled Mr. Adams, and stands deservedly the first of American statesmen in measure of time, and second to none in ability, value, and extent of service. His period of labor exceeded that of Mr. Adams by four years. In culture and course of life they were widely dissimilar. In mental structure, firmness of will, grasp, and tenacity of purpose, courage that arose to heroism, they were alike. Both had the same ardent love of the principles of liberty and justice, and undying hatred of oppression and wrong. For seven years had the elder maintained the deadly strife alone, when the young, strong champion from the west, like the Red Cross knight, came to his side, gave him his heart, divided his labor, shared his hope, his counsel, and won his love. The heat of a score of fierce battles welded their friendship, and years of peril and common obloquy endeared them to each other. In time the younger made the onsets, sustained by the veteran, who, falling by the wayside, left the junior to wage the war alone, till younger men, educated by their teachings, and moved by their examples, came to equalize, win the battle, and wear the crown of victory. His last conspicuous public appearance was at the Chicago convention, which nominated Lincoin. There he represented his old district for the last time. While others were managing for candidates, he was anxious and spoke only for a recognition of the grand old truths. He sought a place on the committee of resolutions. That was refused him. The platform, as reported, ignored the principles, the throbbings of which produced the revolution. He moved them as an amendment. They were rejected. Heart-sick, with a few old lovers of the " self-evident" truths he withdrew. This aroused Mr. Curtiss, of New Yo'rk, who moved them again. Under the charm of his speech they were accepted, and Mr. Giddings and his friends returned. The thunder-scars of the conflict which followed a ratification of the work of that convention still make the eyes of men wink. In the spring of 1861, Mr. Lincoin offered the consul-generalship of Canada to Mr. Giddings, which he accepted, and held at the time of his sudden death at Montreal, May 27, 1864, of heart-disease, an attack of which was once nearly fatal in the house. The volume of his speeches, of which mention has been made, is a book of over five hundred pages, and contains twenty-four speeches delivered, the last in 1852, upon the various aspects of the great question to which he dedicated his whole powers. They are the utterance of a full mental conviction, reached through study and thought, made for the sole purpose of possessing others of his views. More unambitious, unrhetorical givings out cannot 84 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. be found in the parliamentary labors of any man. Compact and vigorous in statement, logical and conclusive in argument, fervid from the depths of an earnest, intensely sincere nature, sometimes softened with emotion, often elevated with religious sentiment, they truly interpret the history of which they are a valuable portion. After leaving congress, Mr. Giddings devoted his leisure to the preparation of his " History of the Rebellion, its Authors and Causes," which appeared in'186.1. A work compiled with painstaking labor, following the track of congressional debate, legislation, executive utterance and action upon the various aspects of slavery, with occasional slight sketches of the more prominent men, references to popular opinion and action, and the course of political parties connected with it. Less a history than a most valuable aid to a history when the time comes for its production. It is full of the intense, unconscious personality of the author when he reaches the period of the subject with which he was connected, in which he fills so large a space, when it becomes for several years almost a memoir of himself, and loses none of its interest in consequence. His " Exiles of Florida," a touching and well-written historical sketch of the fortunes and fates of the escaped slaves who found refuge with the Indians in Florida, appeared in 1858. There is the charm of romance about these unfortunate beings as their history is written, appealing to the sympathy and imagination of the reader. My estimate of the personal character and qualities of Mr. Giddings, the merit of his services, and the position he earned in the history of his times, is sufficiently apparent in the preceding pages. Nature cast his person in the old, heroic mould,—lofty of stature, fine limbed, broad shouldered, compact, weighing two hundred and twenty-five without a surplus ounce, with a grand, old-fashioned, New England cast of head and face, quite out of style. Genial and cordial of manner, social and politic, he early acquired the capacity to mould opinion and lead men. Undoubteidly the long, bitter partisan warfare which he conducted, surrounded and isolated by malignant detraction, which cut him off from wide sympathy, and walled him within a narrow circle, prevented the full development of his qualities as a leader, and rendered him less fit to govern than to assail. Liberally endowed as he certainly was, mentally, he lacked imagination, and the faculty to dress up and adorn a subject. Of quick sensibilities, a touch of pathos often imparted a human interest to his labor. Not by nature fluent, he required the pressure of a great occasion, the stir of the deepest emotion, the glow of fierce encounter, the badgering of cross-questioning, to work him up to his best. Always impressive at such moments, he often arose to the heights of real and well-sustained eloquence. In him the religious sentiment was strong and active, and whatever men may say of it as an investment, for the future, it certainly is to many a source of strength and hope in the struggles of the present, and was an aid to Mr. Giddings. The history of slavery in the United States is yet to be written ; all present efforts in that direction are but collections of facts or studies of parts. At the proper time, when men and events have dwindied to their real dimensions, and distance restores perspective, it will be written. Causes will be properly understood and their effects traced. Events will be justly estimated, and men marshaled to their final positions. I think it will then be found that few men of his day exercised a deeper influence, or performed in a larger degree the work of fashioning events and imparting the force which led to the great results of our time, than Joshua Reed Giddings. EDWARD WADE.* The Wades were a tough, hardy, brave, intellectual, strong-fibred folk. One would like to know something of the genesis of the family and the course of their history. A family of nine by the same parents, of which " Frank" (B. F.) and " Ned" were the youngest, must have been remarkable. The four elder died between ages of seventy-eight and eighty. The two survivors are eighty and seventy-eight. Of the others, one died at fifty-three, one at sixty-three, and one at sixty-nine.* Thoroughly English in breed, of the average rank, impregnate with the honesty, wholesome virtues, wisdoms, and experiences of the common life, full of vigor and vitality, with a sense of the ludicrous, a germ of grim humor, and a touch of the heroic, combative and tender. The father, James, was some time a shoemaker, a stout soldier, a daring privateer, and fought as often and as bravely as the eight years' War of the Revolution permitted. The mother, Mary Upham, was the daughter of a Baptist clergyman, Edward Upham, inbred with the religious elements of the denomination, intensified by its persecutions in Massachusetts in colonial times. Edward, the youngest, was born at Feeding Hills, West Springfield, Massachusetts, November 22, 1802. He received his grandfather's name and religious nature. The family removed to * By Hon. A. G. Riddle. † Written before the death of B. F. Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio, in 1821. He early manifested an ingenious mind, with a tendency for mathematics ; and when about twenty-one composed and wrote a new arithmetic, which was burned with a brother-in-law's house, where it was deposited. He studied law with Elisha Whittlesey, and after a three years' thorough course was admitted at Jefferson in 1827 ; was elected justice of the peace in 1831; married the first time in 1832 ; elected prosecuting attorney in 1833. He resided a few years at Unionville ; removed to Toledo ; engaged in speculation ; went up in the explosion of 1837, though he afterwards paid every dollar. After the failure he removed to Cleveland, formed a partnership with Woolsey Wells, and later with H. A. Hurlbut. Subsequently he was a member of the firms of Payne, Wilson & Wade, Hitchcock, Wilson & Wade, and Wilson & Wade. He was four times elected to congress from the Cleveland district, serving from 1853 to 1861. He died at East Cleveland, Ohio, 1866. Edward Wade had but the scanty opportunity for Photo, by M. A. Loomis, Jefferson, 0. EDWARD WADE. education found by a boy of the people of his time. An eager thirst for knowledge, indomitable pluck, a strong, quick intellect, and hopeful spirit enabled to outstrip the average boys of his neighborhood. More sanguine thap his brother Frank, he induced him to enter upon the law. Few men ever more thoroughly mastered the common law. He vas the beat special pleader of his day. His success was slow,—might have discouraged a less determined spirit. His ventures in speculation were a grave hindrance. Dark and saturnine of face, which to strangers was a little forbidding, to which was added the austerities of religion, and the odium that attached to the name of Abolitionist, which he early acquired, an early lack of fluency, with his often change of residence, conspired to keep him for many years in the background. Nor was he fortunate in the associates of the two first firms of which he was a member. Persistent, indomitable, aspiring,—such a man cannot always te repressed. He laid his foundation deep in thorough learning, and his time came. He overcame the counties around Cleveland first. Lawyers who knew him had him employed in difficult cases, and the other side sometimes found themselves beaten by his better law, and they could hardly tell why. And the shrewd, hard-headed New Englanders came to know that behind the repulsive, cast-iron mask of a face there lay a charm which they saw was potent. He became a leader in Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and visited other counties on important retainers, yet he had no place at the Cleveland bar,. where he lived. Finally, Henry B. Payne, one of the ablest lawyers of the State, overworked and in failing health, wanted relief, and Payne & Wilson were sup- . plemented with Wade, and the city was astonished by the revelation which the firm made of him. With the failing health and gradual diminution of the head, the firm became a legal kangaroo. Upon the retirement of Mr. Payne, Reuben Hitchcock took his place, Mr. Wade content to stand nominally third. No man perhaps ever cared less where his name stood. Mr. Hitchcock was then at his best, and second to none as an able and laborious lawyer. Mr. Wilson did the dignity, suavity, and deportment of the firm. For several years the house ranked with any in the State. I have stated the thoroughness of Mr. Wade's legal training. On his early foundation he carefully built the ever-growing, ever- HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 85 widening and rising structure, a profound and accomplished lawyer. Master of the common law, thoroughly versed in chancery, and at home in the narrow range of the laws of crimes, there was not at the bar a more versatile man. lie was also widely read in history, biography, and politics ; kept up with the progress of the natural sciences. He excelled as nisi pries lawyer in the management and trial of cases before a jury. A master of pleading, with the rules of evidence at his command, knowing and sympathizing with the average mind, the habits of life, and mode of thought of the people of whom he came, he became one of the most formidable opponents to be met with in northern Ohio, whose bar was in no way behind that of any section of the State. With practice and perseverance he became one of the best and most successful advocates of his region. The defects and hesitancies that marred his utterance disappeared forever. He had a copious command of language, a flowing delivery, free, bold action, warmed readily, was intensely earnest, ingenious, and logical. Nature had given him a fine, strong voice of great power, with the tone of a trumpet in its higher notes. He was not without fancy, and an abundant, homely humor. He never overshot the jury. His illustrations were all drawn from common things,—the kitchen door-yard and barn-yard,—were always apt, often irresistible. He said a good many things which were repeated. With his strong, deep, intense nature, kindied to a height which he often attained, his declamation was most impressive, sometimes splendid, and justly called eloquent. He bad much of that magnetic power which seizes the blood and sympathy of an audience, adding effectiveness to an assault which shatters a position found proof against logic and argument. Combative was he, as lawyers must be, and a masterpiece of will, which is a great force. Men often carry cases because they will. Though a man of the quickest and tenderest feelings, be bad no pathos and little imagination. A most unambitious speaker, he never labored for fine effects. The good things were struck out by the collision of thought, his fire a natural product, and his humor unstudied. Edward Wade was originally a Whig,—made the canvass of 1840 for Harrison. The anti-slavery seed had quick, vigorous, and hardy growth in his deep, rich nature. He became, soon after the canvass, an avowed, unwavering political Abolitionist. Thought with him became immediate action. He was at once the leader and the spokesman of the few' despised and persecuted who had the conviction and courage to organize in political opposition to slavery. At the county-seats where he attended court, at secluded school-houses, whether the audience was few or many, a master of the subject, with labored earnestness he planted with unstinting hand the seed that was so soon to spring up and ripen. He was the Liberty party candidate for congress, against Mr. Giddings, as long as Cleveland was in the same district. He canvassed with more labor and care than after the multitude came to act with him. In 1849, in the triangular contest between the Whigs, Free-Soilers, and Democrats, he was a candidate for the Ohio senate, and defeated by a small plurality. In 1853, in a similar contest, he was elected to congress against Judge Wilson, his former partner, and William Case. His more famous brother had been four years in the senate when he took his seat in the house. Though the odium which attended the name " Abolitionist" had in a way died out in Mr. Wade's district, it had not in Washington, and was remembered against him. The time was past for partisan warfare.. He was one of many, all able and all older men in the house. He was not favored with any conspicuous place on any important committees, although he served with great credit for four congresses, and retained the undiminished love and confidence of his people to the last. His early unselfish devotion to truth bore him this endearing fruit. He made several able and telling speeches, but can hardly be said to have gained the ear of the house. On the committee of commerce he made a masterly and exhaustive report on the commerce of the Lakes,—the first upon that subject. The results which it exhibited were a revelation even to men whose lives, labors, and capital were embarked in it, and gave the author a reputation through the country which should have secured him a better recognition in the house. Those were the evil dap, the breaking up of old political organization, and of the government as well. Another, and personally to Mr. Wade and his friends a most melancholy factor, is to be taken into the account in estimating the reason why he never reached the position in the house which those who knew him best expected. He certainly did not fall below his brother in ability. He had a wider reading at that time of their lives, and much more general culture ; in manner and address more polished. He died of a softening of the brain. How early the shadow of the awfulest of fates, heralding its oncoming, had darkened the high, pure soul, and weakened the faculties of his strong, clear, practical, fervid intellect, no mortal knows. From things learned at the capital, it must have been some years before his retirement from the house. His career there, compared with the average, was not only most useful but highly honorable. It saddens me to remember that it fell short of the promise of his powers and abilities as exhibited at the bar and as a political speaker. Mr. Wade's first wife was Sarah Louise Atkins, one of the several daughters of Judge Q. F. Atkins, of whom it was said that his face, if set on Mason and Dixon's line, turned to the south, would of itself abolish slavery. The daughters were all superior women, and it was understood that it was the earnest, personal solicitation of the young lady, preceding marriage, that first effectively called the attention of her lover to the subject of religion. Mrs. Wade was quite the equal of any of her sisters, and save that the marriage was unblessed with offspring, it was one of rare felicity. Gifted and cultivated, of rich and varied charities, harmonious in life, united in effort for the various causes of human advancement, especially of the slave and temperance, their house became the asylum of the flying fugitive, as their hands were eager to relieve suffering in all forms. The cause they knew not they searched out. They adopted two children, offsprings of different parents, a son and daughter, whom they reared with the utmost care. The son was an early 'victim of the late war. The daughter is the accomplished wife of Henry P. Wade, son of B. F. Wade, a gallant young officer late of the regular army. The first Mrs. Wade died in 1852. During the early years of Mr. Wade's congressional services he contracted a second marriage with Miss Mary P. Hall, the accomplished niece of the late Dr. J. P. Kirtland, who survives him. This marriage was also childless. The religious element in the nature of this well-endowed man was large and constantly active. The tone of his mind, although he wrote an arithmetic in youth, had a tendency to the visionary, and for a time he was a believer in the Second Advent. It was remarked by his opponents, however, that during this period his cases were prepared with the same care and tried with the same consummate skill that marked his entire career at the bar. In person he was compact, well-made, with an erect carriage, and the same manly and lofty pose of head that characterized his brother Frank. These men, though the least conscious of mortals, could not help carrying themselves as full men. In repose Edward was grave and thoughtful, with an earnest, almost sad outlook from black eyes, the rather austere, dark face, framed in night-black curly hair, of silky gloss and fineness, and late in life adorned with a full whisker, was ever ready to break into smiles, which lit it up with great winningness. Of frank and pleasing manner, modest and retiring deportment, no man could be more genial and cordial, no man was ever better loved by those who came to know him,—a not difficult acquisition,--and no man had a . wider and stronger hold on the popular -heart than he finally won. A more open spirit, a tenderer, braver, purer soul, never found lodging in the frame of man. A more unselfish, devoted heart never sent warmth through the human form. A man was he in every fibre of his person, every instinct of his nature, every impulse of his heart. Brave and blameless, trusted, loved, deplored, compelled to linger above the horizon after his night had set in, the mere body breathing and feeding when the masterful spirit had departed. The sadness of this fate throws its shadow back over his life, and invests his memory with a regretful tenderness. HON. RUFUS PERCIVAL RANNEY. This gentleman was born at Blanford, Massachusetts, October 30, 1813. In 1822 he removed with his parents to Ohio. They located first at Fairport, and afterwards at Freedom, Portage county. Judge Ranney's early education was limited. He worked on his father's farm in summer and attended village school in winter. At a later day, by his own industry, he managed to attend college at Hudson for a short period. In 1836 he entered the law-office of Wade & Gidding, at Jefferson, this county, and after two years' study was admitted to practice. In 1839 he became the partner of Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, and by diligent and faithful attention to his duties rose rapidly in his profession. In 1846 and 1848 he was a candidate for congress against General John Crowell, but failed of an election, though he ran largely ahead of the Democratic State and county tickets. In 1850 he was chosen to represent the counties of Trumbull and Geauga in the constitutional convention. In the debates of that body he took a prominent part. On the 17th of March, 1851, he was chosen by the legislature a judge of the supreme court in place of Edward Avery, resigned. This was the last election of supreme judge under the old constitution. In October, 1857, Judge Ranney was re-elected by the people. He resigned in 1856, and in 1857 was appointed by President Buchanan United States district attorney for northern Ohio. This position he held two months and resigned. The same year he removed from Warren to Cleveland. In 1859, Governor Chase appointed him one of the commissioners to examine into the condition of the State treasury ; but the appointment was declined. In the fall of 1859 he was the Democratic candidate for governor against William Dennison, but failed of an election. In 1862 he was again elected judge of the supreme court, which position he resigned in 1864. From 1864 to 1868 he served upon 86 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. the Democratic national committee. Since 1864 he has held no official position, but has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Cleveland. As a lawyer and jurist Judge Ranney has no superior in the State. It is conceded, not alone Photo. by Ryder, Cleveland, O. HON. RUFUS PERCIVAL RANNEY. by his political friends, but as well by his political foes, that he stands at the very head of the bar in northern Ohio. We cannot claim him wholly for this county, but this is the place where he began the study and the practice of his profession, and he was a resident of the county for a number of years. REV. JOSEPH BADGER. No name is more prominent in connection with the early history of Ashtabula County than that of Rev. Joseph Badger. He was one of the earliest missionaries on the Western Reserve. He was the founder of the first church in what was called New Connecticut, namely, that at Austinburg. He was the first minister sustained by the Connecticut missionary society west of the Alleghenies. He was identified with the history of the churches of northern Ohio, and in fact with the history of this country for the first twenty-five years of its settlement. He was a resident of this county, and, though his biography does not belong to any local history, but rather to the whole country, yet we are happy to give a sketch of his life in this connection. It is fortunate that Fro much material has been preserved, notwithstanding the fact that his extensive diary was for the most part burned by his order just before his death. We have drawn for our information in reference to him from some unpublished portions of his journal, from the memoir which was published in 1851, but is now out of print, and from various other sources. Mr. Badger was the descendant of Giles Badger, who settled in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in the year 1635. He was of the Puritan stock, and his ancestor was identified with the early history of the New England colony. His father also was one of the first settlers of the new, uncultivated region in Berkshire county, Massachusetts. He was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. The line of descent was Giles Badger, Newburyport, Massachusetts. John Badger, son of Giles ; Nathaniel, John, Daniel, Edmond, Samuel, Mehitable, Henry, children of John. Henry Badger married Mary Langdon, and removed in 1766 to Partridge Field, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. Joseph was the son of Henry Badger. Mr. Badger spent his early days without schools or advantages, except as they were gained at the fireside. His parents were, however, professing Christians, and his mind was stored with much religious instruction. The spring after he was eighteen, which was February 28, 1775, he entered the Revolutionary army. This was about three weeks after the contest at Lexington. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was enrolled in Captain Nathan Watkins' company, ColoneL John Patterson's regiment, and at the time of the battle was posted on Cobble hill, in a line with the front of the battery, about half a mile distant. He says, " We could see the fire from the whole line, and the British break their ranks and run down the hill. On the third return to the charge they carried the works at the point of the bayonet." He was afterwards with his regiment at Litchmore's Point, where the British landed and endeavored to take off some fat cattle. " Here," he says, " I had an opportunity to try my piece nine or ten times in pretty close order. The contest was sharp and fatal to some." After the British evacuated Boston, Patterson's regiment was ordered to New York, where they remained about three weeks, and then were ordered to Canada, and in time encamped on the banks of the St. Lawrence, in sight of Montreal. A portion REV. JOSEPH BADGER. of the regiment was ordered to the defense of a small fort, and here the soldiers came in contact with the noted Indian chief, Brant, who with his Indians was attacking the fort. Mr. Badger was within hearing of this action, but his company did not take part. General Benedict Arnold reinforced this regiment, and is spoken of in the memoir. The smallpox broke out among the troops at this place. Mr. Badger was inoculated, and made himself very useful to the suffering. At one time, when there was not a dish to be found, he ordered tools, and turned wooden dishes with his own hands for the use of the sick. He was also employed in baking bread, and speaks of himself as coming in contact with Colonel Buell, in command of the post, and others. He was with General Washington on the Delaware. Here he was called upon to nurse the sick. He says, " The general hospital had for several months been stationed at Bethlehem, and under the' management of most wretched nurses. The doctors very earnestly besought me to go into the grand hospital. I finally consented. I attended them with the most constant care and labor until the 24th of February (1777), when I was taken sick with a fever and lost my reason, excepting a few lucid intervals, until the last of March, when I began to recover. I was so enfeebled and wasted that for some time I was unable to help myself. The doctors provided a convenient chamber in a private family, to which I was carried. The old lady and her husband, both Germans and Moravian, treated me with great kindness. As soon as my strength was recovered I concluded to return home. I took a discharge from the principal surgeon, as my time of service had expired." "There was soon a pressing call for men to guard the seaport towns. I again enlisted as an orderly sergeant for the remaining part of the year. I then returned to my father's, the let of January, 1778, having been absent a few days over two years." Mr. Badger, after spending a few weeks in visiting friends, returned to Connecticut and spent the winter under the instruction of the Rev. Mr. Day. He received about two hundred dollars in paper currency for his service in the army, "with the whole of which," he says, " I could not get cloth for one decent coat. This was all the compensation I received for almost three years of hard service, until in 1818, when congress began to think of the old soldier." During his time of study Mr. Badger was converted, and began to think of educating himself for the ministry. He prosecuted his studies, keeping school in the mean time, until March, 1781, when his strength gave way from too great application. Recovering from this to a degree, he went with Mr. Day to New Haven to attend commencement, and was admitted to the college. During his college-course he taught singing, kept school, and managed in various ways to support himself. He graduated ,in 1785, studied theology with the Rev. Mr. Leavenworth, of Waterbury, Connecticut, and was licensed to preach in 1786. He received invitations to preach in Northbury, Connecticut, and in Vermont, but was settled at Blanford, Massachusetts, on the 24th of October, 1787. Mr. Badger was married before he graduated from college, in October, 1784. His wife was a Miss Lois Noble. One HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 87 son, Henry I., was born in Waterbury, and his other children, Julia Anna, Lucius, Sarah, who died young. Lucia, Sarah, and Joseph were born in Blanford. Mr. Badger was dismissed from this church in 1800. He received an appointment from the Connecticut missionary society during the Same year to visit the churches in the State of New York ; but his appointment was afterwards changed, and he was requested to go to the Connecticut Western Reserve. He began his journey November 15, 1800. He took the southern mute, crossed the Hudson at Newburg, and stayed with the Rev. Mr. Carr, of Goshen, New York. He arrived at Sussex Court-House, New Jersey, and here spent the Sabbath. He was recognized as a clergyman in the congregation by Rev. Mr. Brown, and was invited to preach. From this place he passed down the Delaware, stopped with the elder of Mount Pleasant church in Pennsylvania, and here remained eight days for the sake of having the company of four young men who were going the same journey. He started with the young men on Wednesday, crossed the Allegheny mountains, where it was very cold, and on the 14th of December crossed the Monongahela about twenty miles above Pittsburgh. Here he parted with his company, and spent several days with the Rev. Mr. Ralston, forming acquaintances with several ministers of the region. He reached the Reserve late in December. This journey of six hundred miles was taken at a difficult season of the year. There was at the time but one road leading from Beaver to the Reserve, and that almost impassable. Mr. Badger took a blazed path which led to the Mahoning river ; was obliged to ford the stream where the water came oder the tops of his boots while he was on his horse; but reached the shore, crossed the State line, and arrived at the cabin of Rev. Mr. Wick about dark, and was received by the family as a familiar friend. Mr. Wick bad been settled a few weeks before in charge of three small congregations in Hopeful, Neshannoc, and Youngstown. Mr. Badger spent his first Sunday on the Reserve at Youngstown. This was the last Sunday of the year 1800. The year was spent in visiting various localities on the Reserve. His report of his journeys, until his arrival at Austinburg, is given in the history of that township. He underwent many adventures during this journey, but did much to encourage the people. He speaks of meeting George Blue Jacket, a Shawnese Indian ; also of fording the Cuyahoga after dark, and spent the night in a small cabin, lying on the floor in his wet clothes. At Cleveland he lodged at Benoni Carter's. He swam his horse across the Cuyahoga, followed an Indian path up the lake and forded the Rocky river, encamping on its banks that night: He pursued the Indian path to Huron river, and spent Sunday among the Delawares. He stayed in an Indian cabin, and was presented with a knot bowl of string beans boiled in fresh water and buttered with bear's oil. On his departure from this place he was also presented with a bread cake, baked in the embers, filled with beans, like a plum cake. He then passed, in company with an Indian boy for guide, to the Shawnee village on the Maumee. Here an Indian woman presented him with a bowl of boiled corn buttered with bear's grease, saying, "Friends, eat; it is good ; it is such as God gives Indiana." He went from thence to the French town on the river Raisin ; stayed with Captain Blue Jacket in a comfortable cabin, which was well furnished with mattress, blankets, furniture for the table, crockery, and silver spoons. He spent Sunday at Malden, Canada, and on Monday was at Detroit. Here he visited Rev. David Bacon, but says, "There was not one Christian to be found in all this region, excepting a black man who appeared pious." From this place he returned by way of the Maumee village, and arrived at Hudson the 13th of September, having been two days without anything to eat, except a few chestnuts. He organized a church at Auatinburg the 24th of October, 1801, and started, with Judge Eliphalet Austin, to return to his home in Massachusetts. The account of the removal of his family to Austinburg is given in the history of that township. Mr. Badger's situation at Austinburg was attended with some hardships, but were borne cheerfully by himself and family. He was engaged in visiting nearly all be communities on the Reserve, as he was about the only missionary in the region for two or three years. His journal at this time reveals something of the state of the different settlements. At Euclid he stopped with Mr'. Burke, who had come to this place three years before, and whose wife, he says, was obliged to spin and weave cattle's hair to make covering for her children's bed. He speaks also of Ravenna, in his unpublished manuscript, as follows : " In this place were twenty families, probably not a praying person among them. A considerable number attended meeting, but their conversation disclosed their state of heart. Reproaching one another, whisky-drinking, and fighting, with deistical sentiments, formed the prominent features of this place." He speaks of Newburg—" Infidelity, and profaning the Sabbath, are general in this place. They bid fair to grow into a hardened and corrupt society." Mr. Badger's adventures were numerous. At one time he was followed several miles by a wolf. He spent a whole night in a tree watched by a bear. Tying - 22 - himself to a limb with his large bandanna handkerchief, he remained until the morning. A heavy thunder-storm passed over him while in this position, but the heavy peals of thunder did not avail to drive off the animal. His horse was standing at the foot of the tree, in no way frightened by the bear. As he shook himself in the rain he scared the brute away, so that Mr. Badger, a little after daylight, was able to go on. He had no weapon but a horseshoe in his hand at first, and throwing this produced no alarm, and so his, only resort was to climb into the tree and wait until morning. He often forded streams even when the ice was running. At one time he found himself entangled among some trees, with the water swimming depth, and was obliged to throw his portmanteau to the shore and jump on to a log, and then make his horse jump out of the water over the log. At another time, in crossing Mosquito creek, he found a place where he could cross the flood-wood and swim his horse through. And at still another was obliged to lie on the sand of the lake and dry himself in the sun. The settlements were very scattered, the rivers without bridges, the roads mere blazed paths for miles through the forests. The missionary was frequently wet with rain, covered with snow, drenched in fording streams, and was at times obliged to camp at night in the forests alone and without shelter. He bore his hardships, however, cheerfully, and was full of the self-sacrificing spirit. His family were left alone frequently for weeks and even months at a time. They were obliged to live in a small log house, which for the first summer had a floor only half-way across its room. The poverty which he experienced was great, and even amid his most arduous labors he speaks of the anxiety which he felt for his family. The little farm which he had was conducted by his boys at home, and he spent the intervals of his sojourn at home in assisting them to make sugar, to repair the house, and to do other work on the place. The variety of employments to which Mr. Badger could give himself was remarkable. He could repair the wagon on which he was moving to his new home ; he could help his neighbors build log houses, and turn out with the other citizens to build bridges; could nurse the sick ; could prescribe successfully as a physician ; could write letters and sermons and reports ; could revise confessions of faith, attend synods, preach two or three times on the Sabbath and frequently during the week, and all the time be useful. His visits were always welcome. He frequently found a pious family who were glad to see a minister of the gospel, and even those who made no profession regarded him with great respect and esteem. The humility of the man was one of his prominent traits. No service was too lowly for him, no sacrifice too great, if he might serve his Master. Doubtless he felt the hardships of his lot, and considered that others were perhaps improving their time and gaining reputation in other respects, while he, a poor missionary, was laboring with but little compensation and amid great privations. His zeal, however, was not without its reward. He preached in most of the places throughout northern Ohio, and was well known as the pioneer missionary of those days. He was not settled as a pastor when he CaMe to Ohio, but he spent his life in laying the foundations for others to build upon. As a wise master-builder, he toiled until the Lord called him to his reward. His reward was certainly not in worldly things. He spent a large part of the little fortune he had after be went to Ashtabula to live in the support of his family. His efforts as a minister of the gospel seemed to have been very successful. There was that about his preaching—the spirit which he manifested, his zeal, his humility, and devotion, or something it was—which gave him great effect when he was addressing the people. He frequently speaks of the people being moved even to tears, and seemed to have produced by his preaching great solemnity among his hearers. He ascribed these impressions to the spirit of God, but doubtless it was that spirit working through his own humility and devotion, and imparting to others the faith which he had. It was a contagion of an earnest faith and of such self-denying zeal, and the work of God's holiness found no impediment in his pride or self-seeking. He was plain, unassuming, but kindly, and always gained the confidence and affection of the people. We picture him as going about among the settlements, which were scattered through the wilderness, with his portmanteau on his horse and his plain dress. When he arrived at a village he would alight and always find a welcome, and made it his home where he was. He generally visited all the families in the hamlet, talked with them kindly, and would most always have something to say of a religious character. He would gather even the children together and catechise them, and the effect of his influence was very great upon them. Children were frequently impressed by his preaching, and some of the most remarkable conversions were among the young. At the same time he seemed to carry conviction to older persons. Judges and lawyers were frequently impressed by his words, and many additions to the churches were of adults. Those assemblies in private houses, in which whole neighborhoods were gathered, were quite remarkable. There was a kindly way among the people which made them attractive, and the very sociability of the occasion prepared the attendance for the better feeling which worship might bring. There was the true idea of the church in 88 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. these gatherings. It was but a family, and God was the father, and the home feeling was the religion of it. Worship was at that time peaceful. The missionary, whether a pastor or not, was a shepherd and had a love for the flock. A few extracts from his journal will show something of the character of his congregations and the nature of their surroundings: " Having spent about five weeks with my family, I set out for my winter's tour. Preached at General Payne's the first Sabbath in December." " Went to Newburg and spent Sunday ; from this to Hudson, twenty miles,—a lonely tour in the cold, snow, and mud. Here I preached twice on the Sabbath and visited all the families. I visited and preached in all the neighboring settlements—Ravenna, Aurora, Mantua, and Burton—until some time in February, 1803." "At Palmyra preached a lecture; mostly Methodists. At this time a Methodist preacher bad never been on the Reserve." " From this I went on to Canfield. Preached on the Sabbath and visited all the families. I then went through all the settlements in the south and eastern part of the Reserve, preaching twice every Sabbath and one or two lectures weekly ; visiting and preaching from house to house until the forepart of April." " Having returned to my family, I continued to help them for several weeks, and visited the settlements in this part of the Reserve, preaching on the Sabbath, with frequent lectures, until the 8th of June, when I again left for another preaching tour. Rode to Vernon. Visited two sick persons and prayed with them." "Rode to Hartford. Conversed with several professing Christians on the subject of forming a church." " Rode to Vienna. Preached on the Sabbath to about sixty." " Rode to Fowler's store in Poland, the only store on the Reserve at this time. Consulted with Brother Weeks in regard to spending two Sabbaths in places where the revival was attended with extraordinary power. The next Sabbath at a place called Salem, in Pennsylvania. Preached to about five hundred people. From candle-lighting till near twelve o'clock it was made a time of extraordinary prayer and singing. I then preached a third discourse, on the doctrine of repentance, and dismissed the people. During the meeting numbers cried aloud, Oh, my hard heart ! my sinful, rebellious heart!' and soon became powerless for some hours." " Rode to Cross creek. I preached in the afternoon to about three thousand people,—the largest worshiping assembly I ever saw. In time of preaching there were many who cried out, and fell into a perfectly helpless situation." " From June 18 to July 1 I rode more than two hundred miles. July 10, preached twice in the woods ; had a shower of rain. Rode on to Warren, visiting families. Preached on Saturday, and on the Sabbath three times. Had in the afternoon a heavy shower; took a violent cold." " August 1, rode to Nelson, then to Aurora, thirty miles ; very unwell with my cold." " Rode to Hudson ; visited several families, and on the Lord's day preached twice and administered the sacrament." "Attended the funeral of an infant, and then rode to Aurora, and preached to one family,—the only one in the place,—and the next day preached in Mantua ; frequently got wet with heavy showers. Rode to Burton ; visited one woman on her dying bed. Sabbath, preached twice. Monday, rode to Mesapotamia. Wednesday, rode to Windsor ; stopped at Judge Griswold's about two hours during a heavy shower. Rode on through the woods without path or marked trees ; came to a deep ravine filled with water running rapidly, and muddy ; was met by a large bear." Here follows the record of his spending the night in the tree. " August 21, attended the funeral of Mrs. Hawley; made a prayer at the grave ; preached in Mr. Austin's barn and administered the sacrament to twenty-one communicants." " The Connecticut Missionary society sent on at this time as many books as I could carry in a large bag, to accommodate the population with means of instruction. Rode to Grand River after the books. Saturday, rode to Conneaut, twenty-five mike ; no marked roads. Sabbath, preached twice. Monday, visited a school of sixteen children ; gave primers and books. Tuesday, rode to Erie, twenty-eight miles; then to North East, fifteen miles." The presbytery met here, and Mr. Badger preached the sermon. "Rode five miles to visit a sick man who had been drinking and abusive in his family. The next day rode to Chautauqua to visit a family. The husband and father was drowned in the lake," etc. In the period of one year Mr. Badger visited forty-nine or fifty different places, and preached one or more sermons every Sunday, and frequently several times during the week. During the year he attended five funerals, married one couple, organized two churches,—the one at Hartford and the one at Warren,—and administered the sacrament nine times. He also attended two presbyteries,—one at Slippery Rock and one at North East,—and the synod at Pittsburgh. He began the year with the revival work at Cross Creek, Pennsylvania, where were such remarkable exercises, and continued through it with the same extraordinary interest attending his labors wherever he went. Mr. Badger was very faithful in his missionary work. The church at Austinburg, where he lived, made great progress, though he seemed to have been absent from it most of the time. On the 10th of June forty-one persons were added to this church, and among them some 'of the most prominent persons in the place. The church at Harpersfield also prospered. He speaks of hexing visited Ashtabula and preached to about twenty persons. He occasionally also visited Conneaut, though the path from Austinburg to that place was not even blazed. He says of this place, "Notwithstanding there are some here, as in other places, who do all they can to profane the Sabbath and promote infidelity, yet God is carrying on the redemption of souls." Mr. Badger, after laboring five or six years as a missionary in this and other counties, resigned his commission. The reason for this was that the Connecticut Missionary society had reduced the amount of the appropriations to the missionaries on the Reserve. Mr. Badger felt that, with all his labors and hardships, the society did him a great injustice. Ile says, " I felt myself and family exceedingly injured by their vote to reduce the means of my support. I had encountered indescribable hardships, with my family, in performing missionary labors, and had repeatedly written to them respectfully on the subject. The subject had also been presented to them by gentlemen who were my neighbors, and well knew that my reduced pay to six dollars per week was much below the necessary expenses of my family. But all applications on the subject were unavailing." This action of the society in reducing his salary and the consequent resignation involved a great change in the circumstances of Mr. Badger's life. He afterwards received an appointment from the Massachusetts Missionary society, and commenced labors as a missionary among the Indians at Sandusky. This change involved a removal of his family, and there were many hardships endured again in entering upon a new life. He began building a boat of three tone burden, finished and launched it, loaded it, and passed down to Austin's Mills, where he was obliged to unload and draw the boat over the dam and load again. It often stuck on the rapids, and they were obliged to get into the water and lift `hard at the boat to get it down the river. They succeeded, however, and passed up the lake to Cleveland, where they arrived on Saturday night. Here Mr. Badger preached on Sunday. During the week they made out with great hardship to reach Sandusky. He says, " My labors with the Wyandot people from upper Sandusky to a place eight miles below Detroit were very fatiguing, exposed as I was to rains and heavy dews and camping in the woods." In October, 1807, he went with his wife to Pittsburgh, and was taken unwell, and was confined five weeks with sickness. On his return quite a company went with him to Sandusky, all on horseback, camping out four nights on the way. He says in his journal, " Under many discouraging circumstances I continued to labor in the mission, visiting and preaching in their villages, more than one hundred miles apart from each other." In the year 1808 he came to the determination to move his family back to Austinburg. The missionary board thought it was best that he should take a tour to the east to solicit donations. He accordingly started with his wife on the 1st of November, on horseback, to visit friends in New England, and arrived at Blanford on the 15th. During this visit the Connecticut Missionary society became sensible that they had erred and their missionary had suffered by their means. At a meeting of the board a compensation of two hundred and twenty-four dollars was paid to him, and a donation of one hundred dollars was given to him for his mission. His labors among the Indians were very useful. His influence among them was such that intemperance was very much removed. The chief, Blue Jacket, complained bitterly of the traders, and, through Mr. Badger's advice and co-operation, those who were disposed to sell liquor were driven away from the reservation. As a missionary he adapted himself to the people. He helped them build their houses, went into their corn-fields and hoed corn with them, mended their broken plows and utensils, and assisted them in this way. Be prescribed for the sick, comforted the dying, and sympathized with them in all of their troubles. He gained a great influence over them. They generally listened to his advice, and were respectful in religious services. Occasionally there is a record of a few rude savages entering into the meetings and shouting the war-whoop, and so trying to make disturbance; but the sentiment of the chief and most of the tribe was friendly to the missionary's labors. He continued here, laboring faithfully, until the year 1809, when he received a letter from his wife that his house was burned, and almost all the clothing and furniture destroyed. This distressing circumstance made it necessary for him to leave the mission. He got home about the middle of November, and found his family without a house, depending on a neighbor for temporary lodgings, and were in great want of clothing as the cold season grew on. By the help of neighbors they soon got up a cabin, moved into it with but one chair, and without bedstead, or table, knife, fork, or spoon, but these and other necessary articles for housekeeping were soon procured. Mr. Badger spent the winter in preaching in a few settlements in Ashtabula County. In April, 1810, he moved to Ashtabula, where he preached half the time and missionated in other settlements. Having made an exchange of land with Nehemiah Hubbard, he commenced making a home. He had a good garden, raised some corn, and was comfortably situated. At this time there was no organized church in Ashtabula village, but Mr. Badger alternated in his preaching between Kingsville and this place. It is said that after the burning of the school- HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 89 house on the east side a meeting was held one Sabbath on the banks of the Ashtabula river, near where the iron bridge now stands. The preacher took for his pulpit a tree which was leaning over the water, and the people were scattered about on the grass. During Mr. Badger's stay in this place he started a bookstore, but was not successful in it, and soon sold out. During the War of 1812, Mr. Badger's services were sought for on account of his acquaintance with the country and his influence over the Indians. General Perkins was then at Huron. Several officers wrote very urgently to Mr. Badger, inviting him to visit them. He went, and found the sick and wounded badly situated; but he soon got help, and made the block-house comfortable, and provided bunks and attendants for the sick. In a few days General Harrison came. Without being consulted on the subject, he was appointed chaplain for the brigade and postmaster for the army. He was very useful even in military service. When the army moved from Huron to Sandusky, he, with a guard of twenty men and several axe-men, marked out the road, and afterwards piloted the army to Sandusky. After the building of Fort Meigs, on the Maumee, the men began to be sick. Major E. Whittlesey, afterwards congressman for this district, was taken very sick, and given up to die. Mr. Badger took him to his own tent, and took care of him day and night. By careful nursing and the skillful practice of the surgeon he was, by the blessing of God, restored to health. Mr. Badger soon resigned his position and returned home. He never quite approved of the war, and said many things against it, and so gained the epithet of "old Tory." After his return home, two of his sons were taken with the epidemic which had prevailed in the army. The youngest one died. Mr. Badger continued to preach in Ashtabula and neighboring settlements until about the last of July, 1818. At this time his wife was taken suddenly ill. She lingered a few days in painful sickness, and died on the 4th of August. Of her Mr. Badger says, "She was a discreet wife and affectionate mother ; a consistent Christian, beloved as a friend and neighbor. She bore with Christian patience and fortitude the trials we had to encounter with our young family in this uncultivated land. On her devolved almost exclusively the task of forming their youthful minds, and storing them with principles of piety and virtue, and this she performed with unwearied fidelity." At this date the autobiography ceases. Mr. Badger married again in 1819, and his second wife, Miss Abigail Ely, survived him a few months. He removed from Ashtabula to Kirtland in 1822, and preached alternately here and at Chester. At the age of sixty-five he received a call from the people of Gustavus. He organized a church here of twenty-seven members. This was April 27, 1825. In October following he was regularly installed pastor of the church by the presbytery of Grand River. Rev. Dr. Cowles preached the sermon. During his pastorate he held a protracted meeting, in which many were converted, and the church was much strengthened. He was appointed postmaster at this place. As the mail came in on the Sabbath, he sent in to the government a remonstrance, and declared his purpose to resign unless he was relieved from this secular care on the Sabbath. His remonstrance was so far successful as to secure such a change of the route as to cause the arrival of the mail at Gustavus on another day of the week. Mr. Badger resigned his pastoral relation at the end of ten years, in 1835. He was then seventy-five years old, and the infirmities of age were creeping upon him. The church, when organized, consisted of twenty-seven members. During Mr. Badger's ministry forty-eight were added, of whom twenty-eight were by profession. The veteran missionary removed to the home of his daughter, at Plain, Wood county, who had married a minister. During his residence here, which included ten years more of his life, no particular incidents occurred. It was a season of quiet retirement, though he continued to preach almost every Sunday in destitute places. He organized a church in Milton, and supplied them about a year. His last sermon was preached in Plain, on the day of the fast proclaimed by the President. He enjoyed great peace and serenity of mind. His language was uniformly that of praise, and his constant theme the goodness of God and the glories of the future state. His missionary life precluded study, but he always took an interest in literary advantages. The Social library in Ashtabula was established mainly through his efforts. During his stay in Plain, Wood county, he was able to procure a gift of books from the east, and succeeded in establishing what has since been incorporated by the name of the Badger library. His religious character was his most remarkable trait. It gave him a gentleness and patience and depth of character which are rarely possessed. His words were always full of feeling, but amid all his trials and disappointments no bitterness mingled with them. He had a submissive, quiet, and loving spirit. Few men have undergone more hardships, and yet few have been more useful. His memory is still cherished among the citizens of many communities, and the scenes of his former homes are redolent with his praise. His life was a sweet savor, and, though the blossoms of his hope were often crushed, they emitted a sweet perfume. During the last days of his life he seemed to live in the visions of the future. At one time, when he was apparently unconscious, his granddaughter put her hand upon his head, when he exclaimed, with a groan, "Oh, why did you call me back ? I thought I was in heaven !" He died as the righteous die. His path was the path of the righteous, growing brighter to the perfect day. Surely we can say of him, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, and their works do follow them." HON. HORACE WILDER, one of several sons of a farmer of limited means, was born upon a spur of the " Berkshire hills" in West Hartland, Connecticut, August 20, A.D. 1802. In 1819 he entered, and in the class of 1823 graduated, at Yale college with honor. He almost immediately entered as a law-student the office of the Hon. Elisha Phelps, of Simsbury, Connecticut, where he pursued the study of his profession until the spring of 1824, when he went to Virginia, and for about two and a half years was there employed in teaching a " family" school in the family and upon the plantation of Mrs. Morton, of Stafford county. It is believed that the Hon. James A. Seddon, secretary of war of the Confederate States, was one of his pupils. During this period he devoted his leisure hours to the study of the law, books being procured for him at an office in Fredericksburg. In January, 1826, he was " licensed" to practice in the courts of Virginia, but in the fall of that year he returned to Hartland, where he remained during the winter, and in the spring of 1827 left for Ohio, where he had determined to make his future home. His first point was Claridon, Geauga county, at which place lie had a sister (Mrs. Judge Taylor) residing. Shortly before this, Edson Wheeler, Esq., of East Ashtabula, Ashtabula County, a lawyer of character and influence, had deceased; and, after inquiry and consultation with members of the bar in the vicinity, Mr. Wilder located at that place. Never having "practiced," by the law of the State he was compelled to wait a year before admission. HON. HORACE WILDER. At the August (1828) term of the superior court in Geauga county he was duly admitted to the bar, in the mean time doing his professional business in the name of a friend. In October, 1833, he was elected prosecuting attorney of Ashtabula County, and in the fall of 1834 was elected representative to the State legislature,—the only office of a political character ever held by him. In 1837 he removed to Conneaut. In 1833 he married Phebe J. Coleman, the eldest daughter of the late Elijah Coleman, M.D., well known to all the residents of the county of the past generation. Mrs. Wilder died in 1847. He never re-married. Mr. Wilder, during the entire period of his active life, devoted himself exclusively to his books and professional duties, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, and at a comparatively early day earned for himself an enviable reputation as a sound and skillful lawyer, a safe and prudent counselor, and an honest and honorable man. In 1855 he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the third subdivision of the ninth judicial district (composed of the counties of Ashtabula, Lake, and Geauga), to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge R. Hitchcock, and in 1856 was again elected to the same position for the full term of five years. In 1862, soon after his term expired, Judge Wilder was appointed by the late Governor Tod draft commissioner for the county of Ashtabula, and as such superintended and conducted the first draft of troops made iu the county. 90 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. In the spring of 1863 he removed to Ashtabula and formed a copartnership, in the practice of the law, with E. H. Fitch, Esq., under the name of Wilder & Fitch. This business arrangement was of but brief duration, for, in December, 1863, Judge Wilder was appointed by Governor Tod a judge of the supreme court, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Gholson, and in the fall of 1864 was elected to the same position for the balance of Judge Gholson's term. In 1865, Judge Wilder resumed practice at Ashtabula. In May, 1867, he retired from active business and removed to Red Wing, Minnesota, where he has since resided with and as part of the family of his younger brother, E. T. Wilder, between whom, even for brothers, very intimate relations have always existed. In politics, Judge Wilder was a Whig so long as the Whig party existed. After it disappeared he affiliated with the Republican party until some years subsequent to the close of the war, when, dissatisfied with the policy of that party towards the south, he has since been mere nearly in harmony with the Democratic party, though not fully identified with it. In early life Judge Wilder was, in religions matters, inclined to adopt views not in all respects deemed orthodox, but in later years these opinions have been entirely changed, and he now is and for some years has been a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church. His decisions from the bench are enduring testimonials to his familiarity with the law and to the accuracy of his legal acquirements. Both his natural and acquired ability peculiarly fitted him for the duties of a judge. In scholarship thorough, in judgment sound, his knowledge of the law extensive, and its exactness unquestioned, in character irreproachable, and to business scrupulously attentive, he was a jurist who honored the position he filled. During his long residence in Ashtabula County he gained the warm friendship of a large circle of acquaintances, by whom he is still remembered with strong affection. HON. ORRAMEL H. FITCH, the subject of this sketch, was the only child of Azel and Fanny Fitch. His father was a farmer and merchant, and for many years engaged in the southern trade. During the War of 1812 he invested largely in woolen manufacturing. The peace of 1815 threw open our markets to foreign goods, and the English manufacturers flooded the country with their woolens at low prices, for the purpose of destroying the American manufactories, then in their infancy. In the crash which followed he lost nearly all of his property. The subject of this sketch was born on the 12th of January, 1803, on Goshen Hill, a beautiful spot, surrounded by a farming community, in the town of Lebanon, New London county, Connecticut. He was of English descent, and of Puritan stock, being a lineal descendant of the Rev. James Fitch, the first minister and one of the first company of settlers in Norwich, Connecticut, that township having been granted to him and his father-in-law, Major John Mason, and thirty-three associates, by Uncas, the noted hfohegan chief, for their assistance against their bitter enemies the Pequods. At a subsequent period Oweneco, the son and successor of Uncas, in acknowledgment of favors received from Mr. Fitch, granted to him a tract of land five miles in length and one mile in breadth, within the present limits of Lebanon, a portion of which, comprising the old homestead, was occupied by the family for several generations. The subject of this sketch, from his childhood until his twenty-fourth year, with the exception of four summers, when he worked upon his father's farm, was either a student or a teacher,—teaching to raise money to meet in part his expenses. Among other schools taught by him, he was for some months an assistant teacher in Masonic Hall seminary, in Richmond, Virginia ; was for a short time engaged as teacher of languages in Westfield academy, Massachusetts, and during one winter as principal of Union academy, in Windsor, Connecticut. In the spring of 1824 he commenced the study of law, in the office of Augustus Collins, Esq., in Westfield, Massachusetts, where he remained two years. He then went to Norwich, Connecticut, and entered the law-office of the Hon. Calvin Goddard, who was at that time one of the moat distinguished lawyers in the State, end continued under his instruction until March 16, 1827, when, having passed a satisfactory examination, he was admitted to the bar and licensed to practice in the courts of that State. He had decided not to settle in New England, but to seek his fortune in the west ; and in May following he bid adieu to his friends and commenced his journey in search of a future home in Ohio. He reached Cleveland on the 13th day of May; from there he went to Canton, Stark county, where, and in its vicinity, he spent nearly a year. His parents had made arrangements to come west and live with him, and wished him to .settle in the northern part of the State, where the manners and customs of the people, who were principally from New England, were similar to their own. In accordance with their wishes he sought a location near Lake Erie, and having received some favorable information respecting Ashtabula (which, however, proved partially incorrect) he selected it as his future residence. He came to Ashtabula on the 29th of March, 1828, a stranger, without a single friend or acquaintance, and took up his abode here, where he has continued to reside for the last half-century. His parents came in the fall of 1829, and resided with him during the remainder of their lives. His mother, who was a woman of true piety and exalted worth, died October 19, 1831. His father survived her for several years, and closed an active, industrious, and virtuous life September 10, 1842. Photo. by Blakeelee & Moore, Ashtabula, O. HON. ORRAMEL H. FITCII. The subject of this sketch was admitted to the bar of Ohio at Cincinnati, on the 19th day of May, 1828, and commenced the practice of law at Ashtabula, which he continued with fair success for many years. In 1838 he entered into a copartnership with M. M. Sawtell, which continued two years. In 1860 his son, Edward H. Fitch, having graduated at Williams college, read law, and been admitted to the bar, became associated with him in business, which continued until January, 1863, when, by an arrangement with Judge Horace Wilder to take his place in the firm, he retired entirely from the practice of law, and has not since been engaged in it. In the fall of 1828 he was engaged by H. Lowry to write the editorials for his paper, the Western Journal, for about two years ; but his name was not made public, and his connection with the paper was unknown, even to his friends. He was afterwards, for about five years, editor of the Ashtabula Sentinel. In 1835 he was married to Miss Catharine M. Hubbard, only daughter of William Hubbard, Esq., who had recently removed to Ashtabula from Holland Patent, New York. She died, much lamented, on the 29th of November, 1859. In 1832 he was elected justice of the peace, which, by successive elections;he held for nine years. Very few of the many decisions rendered by him during; this period were reversed by the higher courts. In 1837, and again in 1838, he was elected to represent the county in the State legislature, and at the close of his second term he declined a re-election. During the years 1841 and 1842 he was prosecuting attorney for the county. He was never an office-seeker. Residing during his youth in a community where it was neither popular nor respectable for a candidate to flaunt his claims or his fitness for office before the people, he never electioneered for himself, nor was lie ever present at a political nominating convention when he was a candidate for office. Always feeling a deep interest in the prosperity of the town, he was for many years one of the most active and efficient supporters of every measure which in his opinion was calculated to benefit its people. In 1848 he aided in the organization of the Farmer's bank of Ashtabula. He was elected a member of its first board of directors, and the following year was elected its president, which office he has held in that and its successor, the Farmer's National bank, until the present time. In 1861 he was appointed by Mr. Chase, secretary of the treasury, agent of the government for obtaining subscriptions to the national loan authorized by congress in that year. Fond of natural history and scientific research, in 1854 he became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has usually HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 91 attended its annual meetings, and is now a fellow of that society. Devoting a portion of his leisure hours to scientific pursuits, he has collected (mainly, however, by the aid of a scientific friend) a small but valuable collection of minerals, fossils, shells, and corals, which furnished him many hours of quiet enjoyment.. In politics he was an old-line Whig, and since the dissolution of that party has been an adherent of the Republican party, although for some years past ho has On not taken an active part in politics. Taught in early childhood, by a pious mother, the great truths of divine revelation, those teachings were never forgotten, and no doubt had an important influence upon his whole future life. In 1836 he united with the Presbyterian church in Ashtabula, and for many years past has been a ruling elder in that church. HON. HAMILTON BLOSS WOODBURY is the eldest of a family of six children. His parents were Ebenezer B. Woodbury, who was born in New Hampshire, and removed to Ohio in 1811, and Sylva Woodbury, born in Cazenovia, Madison county, New York, and came to Ohio in 1816. They were living in Kelloggsville, this county, when the subject of this sketch was born November 27, 1831. They, however, removed to Jefferson after a term of years, and the mother is yet a resident of that village, the father having died August 14, 1870. Judge Woodbury was educated in the common and select schools of Ashtabula County. 'When seventeen years of age he entered the law-office of his father at Kelloggsville, and began the study of the profession in which to-day he occupies a high position. In the year 1852, at the September term of the district court of Ashtabula county, he was admitted to practice. Some twelve years since, he was admitted to practice in the United States courts. In 1854 he was elected a justice of the peace for the township of Monroe, this county, and re-elected in 1857. In October of that year he removed to Jefferson, where he still resides. Has held numerous offices; among these we may mention trustee of the township and mayor of the village. In April, 1873, he was elected a delegate to the constitutional convention of Ohio. He now occupies the position of Common pleas judge of the third subdivision of the ninth judicial district of Ohio, having been elected in January, 1875, and again re-elected in October of the same year. On the 5th of September, 1863, he was by his excellency Governor David Tod commissioned as lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Militia, which position he held until the disbanding of the organization. The wife of Judge Woodbury was Mary E., daughter of Peter and Sarah W. Hervey, to whom he was united in marriage at Jefferson, Ohio, on the 12th day of October, 1854. Four children have blessed this union. They are Frederick H., born October 24, 1855; M. Jennie, born September 10, 1857 ; Hamilton B., born December 17, 1867 ; and 'titer W., whose birth occurred June 19, 1871. Politically Judge Woodbury is a Republican. As a jurist it is perhaps correct to say that no sounder one is known to the courts of northern Ohio. Conversant with the law, his decisions are rarely called in question, and he presides over the tribunals of justice with dignity and firmness. HON. W. P. HOWLAND. This gentleman is the son of Paul Howland, who traces his ancestry back to John Howland, a member of the " Mayflower" pilgrim band. In 1821, Paul came to Pierpont, Ashtabula County, and in 1829 was united in marriage with Diademia Ellis. W. Perry, the oldest child, was born in Pierpont, in 1832. His early education was not neglected, and at the age of fourteen he made an engage-meat to teach a district school, but his father's opposition was such that he could not fulfill it. However, when he was eighteen, he taught the school where hitherto he had been a pupil, his wages being twelve dollars per month. He was a very successful teacher, and his services were eagerly sought by competing school districts. Until he became twenty-one his time was spent in teaching and in attendance upon select schools, and in performing such work as his home duties demanded. At this time he entered the Kingsville academy, then a most flourishing school, and prosecuted his studies with diligence. In 1854 he became the principal of the Jefferson high school, and retained this position, the duties of which he discharged with great credit to himself and eminent satisfaction to the patrons of the school, for three successive fall and winter terms. While thus engaged his father died, and he was made the executor of the estate. It was while engaged in this important trust that he was led to the study of the law. His father had been a justice of the peace, and he had frequently listened to Wade and Giddings and other prominent attorneys in cases tried before his father, and his mind became inflamed with an earnest desire to reach a high standard as a lawyer. His leisure moments were devoted to earnest application to his favorite study, and in the - 23 - spring of 1857 he entered the office of Simonds & Cadwell as a student, and in the following spring was admitted to practice.in Carroll county, Ohio. In 1861 he began the practice of law at the county-seat of his native county, since which time his rise in the profession has been certain and rapid. He has held the position of secretary of the board of school examiners for a number of years, as well as that of justice of the peace. In the spring of 1862 he purchased a home in Jefferson, and on the 12th of May was married to Esther E. Leonard, daughter of the Hon. Anson Leonard, of Penn Line. Their children are Leonard Paul Howland, born December 5, 1865 ; William Seth Howland, born May 21, 1867 ; Anson Perry Howland, born February 3, 1869 ; and Charles Roscoe Howland, born February 16, 1871. In 1865 he was defeated for the nomination for prosecuting attorney by the Hon. E. H. Fitch, but was nominated and elected to that office in the fall of 1867, and was renominated by acclamation and re-elected in the fall of 1869. In the year 1871, Mr. Howland was chosen representative in the general assembly from Ashtabula County, in which capacity he served for six years, being re-elected in 1873 and again in 1875. At the close of his third term in the house he was unanimously supported by the delegates from that county in the nominating convention of the Twenty-fourth senatorial district, composed of Ashtabula, Lake, and Geauga counties ; was nominated and elected a senator in the Sixty-third general assembly, Which seat he now holds. Early in his legislative career his studious habits, strict attention to official duties, and unvarying fidelity to principle attracted the attention of his fellow-members, and as acquaintance grew these qualities rapidly attached to him the earnest, thinking men of either party to such an extent that he has for years held the acknowledged position of a leader in legislative halls. At the beginning of his first term, the Sixtieth general assembly, he was appointed a member of each of the committees on Federal relations, on municipal corporations, and on roads and highways, and after the session had advanced some weeks he was appointed a member of the judiciary committee. On his return to the Sixty-first general assembly he was appointed on the committees on corporations other than municipal, on the judiciary, and on finance,—the last two being recognized as the most important committees in the house. He also held a position as member of the committee on revision and codification of the laws. At the organization of the Sixty-second general assembly Mr. Howland was prominently pressed for the speakership, but refused to make a personal canvass for that distinction. In the organization of the committees he was made chairman of the committee on judiciary, a place scarcely less conspicuous and not less influential than the chair. Before the close of the session he was furnished a most flattering proof of the confidence of his fellow-members. In the contest for the Republican nomination for the United States senatorship, to succeed Hon. John Sherman, his name was brought forward as worthy to make the roll with competitors like Hon. Alphonse Taft, Samuel Shellaberger, Wm. Lawrence, and Stanley Matthews. In the face of such competition, Mr. Howland received on the first ballot the highest vote cast for any candidate and within twelve votes of a nomination, and in the final ballot his name was only second in the race, Hon. Stanley Matthews being the winner. As a legislator Mr. Howland has distinguished himself by close attention to practical matters. This is illustrated in the passage of several laws drafted by him relating to the every-day interests of the people, . Of this class is the act passed March 31, 1874, to secure payment to persona performing labor or furnishing materials in constructing railroads. The necessity for such an act was brought to the attention of the author of the bill, in the course of his practice as a lawyer, by an incident connected with the construction of a branch of the Lake Shore railroad. In that case the contractors, having obtained pay from the railway company, failed to most their obligations for labor and materials, and so left a large number without recourse. The act referred to enables sub-contractors, laborers, and material men to protect themselves from such swindling. This act, which has been sustained by the courts, fixes a liability in such eases from the railroad company to the persons doing the work or supplying the materials. The law against swindling by false pretenses was so defective as to invite adventurers and speculators to Ohio as a comparatively safe field for their operations. Mr. Howland's attention was called to this in the course of his duties as prosecuting attorney, and he framed the act of February 21, 1875, to most the case, which it is found to do most effectively. .' Of an equally practical character is the act drawn up, and its passage secured by him, to protect the consumers of mineral oils for illuminating purposes. This act not only prescribes a test of safety as to such oils, but so fixes the responsibility for the kind of article sold, as to conduce greatly to the safety of the thousands who rely upon this commodity for lighting their homes and places of business. 92 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. In the mania for railroad building, by taxation of cities, counties, and even townships, which sprang out of the ill-advised Cincinnati Southern railway project, and which spread over the State to an extent that at one time threatened nearly every locality with an oppressing burden of taxation and debt outlasting this generation, Mr. Howland was the recognized leader of a sturdy though ineffectual opposition to these ruinous schemes. Taking his stand on the hard rock of constitutional law, he firmly opposed all projects of evasion of the constitution; and, while overborne by unreasoning majorities, bent at all hazards on carrying out their projects, he none the less won the respect of thinking men when they found that his arguments on these questions were never successfully answered. His triumph came when the Bursel bill was unanimously held by the supreme court to be unconstitutional and void. As a speaker, Mr. Howland is both strong and persuasive, more, however, on account of his manifest earnestness, sincerity, and the clearness of his utterances, than from any effort to arouse the sympathies or from brilliancy of rhetoric. HON. STEPHEN A. NORTHWAY. To rank well among honorable men is an honor. Prominent among the lawyers of the county stands the name of Stephen A. Northway. In many respects he may be regarded as a product of the Western Reserve ; for, although he was born at Lafayette, Onondaga county, New York, June 19, 1833, his parents, Orange and Maria Northway, came to Ohio in July, 1840, and his subsequent life has been spent here. In his boyhood he had the usual trials and experiences of those young men whose parents settled on the heavy-timbered clay-land of Orwell. His home was two and a half miles from a school-house, but he secured a good common-school education, and after attending one term at Kingsville academy, he commenced teaching. Orwell academy was built in 1850, and he continued his studies there. For years he was one of the most successful common-school teachers, and by teaching during the winter he earned he means for prosecuting his studies. As a student and as a teacher he exhibited the same enthusiasm and tact which made him eminent as a lawyer. At the academy he labored well and wisely. He was regarded as a dangerous adversary in debate. His close and accurate methods of thought were accompanied by clear and incisive language, and these were joined to a deportment so genial and a manner so gentlemanly that he was sure to be victorious, even when he was defeated. In the spring of 1858 he began the study of law with Messrs. Chaffee & Woodbury, and in September, 1859, he was admitted to the bar. In the fall of 1861 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county, and in 1863 he was re-elected to the same office. He resigned this office in the fall of 1865, to be elected a member of the State house of representatives. After serving the county for one term he gave the whole of his attention to the practice of his chosen profession. The fact that he is retained on nearly or quite one-half of the cases on the county docket indicates the degree of confidence reposed in his ability and integrity. Possessing a wonderful adaptability of mind, a power to confine his attention to one particular question until the solution is reached, an almost intuitive perception of the " fitness of things," a happy faculty of illustration, an unbounded faith in his convictions of what is right and wrong, and an eloquence nourished by a generous heart, he is at once a technical lawyer and a powerful advocate. In January, 1862, he was married to Miss Lydia A. Dodge, of Lenox, a worthy and intellectual academic school-mate and companion. Of their two children, one, Clara L., is still living, and is eleven years of age. From early manhood Mr. Northway was a thoroughgoing anti-slavery man. Ile joined the Republican party at its first formation, and has acted with it ever since, rendering valuable aid in every State and national canvass. His mother is living with his elder brother, Frank A. Northway, at Lawrence, Kansas. His youngest sister, Mrs. Rhoda M. Sibley, is living at Bernardino, Colorado. HON. EDWARD H. FITCH. This gentleman was born at Ashtabula, Ohio, May 27, 1837, the only son of Orramel H. and Catharine M. Fitch. At the age of fourteen years he was sent to the St. Catharines grammar school, at St. Catharines, Canada, where he remained three years, and where he was a member of the family of his uncle, William F. Hubbard, then the principal of the grammar school. There he fitted for college, and in the fall of 1854 entered Williams college, at Williamstown, Massachusetts, in the class of 1858. He remained there four years and graduated with his class in the summer of 1858, receiving the degree of A.B., and in 1861 that of A.M. In college Mr. Fitch devoted himself more particularly to those branches of study which would have a tendency to aid him in the practical every-day duties of life. He was a member in college of the Delta Kappa Epsilon society, the Philologian Literary society, and the Lyceum of Natural History. He was president of the Lyceum, and was orator at the Adelphic Union exhibition in 1858, and had an appointment at commencement. On the lst day of August, 1858, he began the study of law in the office of his father, and on the 18th day of September, A.D. 1860, at the September term of the district court of Cuyahoga county, at Cleveland, was admitted to the bar. He commenced the practice of law at Ashtabula in the office of his father, and on the 1st day of January, 1862, was taken in as a partner, and did business as one of the firm of O. H. & E. H. Fitch until January 1, 1863, . when O. H. Fitch retired from the practice of law and was succeeded by Judge Horace Wilder, when the firm became Wilder & Fitch. This arrangement continued until December, 1863, when Judge Wilder was appointed a judge of the supreme court. In November, 1864, Mr. Fitch became a partner of Hon. L. S. Sherman, taking the place of' John Q. Farmer, who then removed to Minnesota, and with Mr. Sherman, under the firm-name of Sherman & Fitch, continued the practice of law until July 1, 1867, when that firm was dissolved, since which time Mr. Fitch has continued the practice alone. In 1857, at Montreal, Mr. Fitch was elected and became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is now one of the fellows of this association. On the 24th day of May, 1867, Mr. Fitch was admitted to practice in the circuit court of the United States in and for the northern district of Ohio, and on the 22d day of April, A.D. 1870, was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the United States. Was elected justice of the peace in 1863, and 1868 and 1871, and in 1865 was elected prosecuting attorney of Ashtabula County for two years from January 1, 1866. Was elected a member of the house of representatives in the Fifty-ninth general assembly of the State of Ohio in 1869, and in the sessions of that assembly served on the judiciary committee and on foreign relations, and on public buildings ; was also on the special committee on the bill to establish the Ohio soldiers' and sailors' orphans home, and the original fourth section of that act was drawn by him, and was adopted as a compromise to secure the Xenia home. On the 17th day of October, 1870, Mr. Fitch was appointed by Governor R. B. Hayes delegate to the National Capitol convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, from the Nineteenth congressional district. Mr. Fitch was also for nine years recorder and member of the council of the village of Ashtabula. On the 27th day of October, 1863, Mr. Fitch married Alta D. Winchester, daughter of Philander and Elizabeth G. Winchester. Mr. Fitch has attentively and zealously pursued the practice of his profession, and since 1873 has taken no active part in politics, believing that the rewards of an active, earnest, and faithful attention to his profession are more sure and of a more permanent nature, and afford more pleasure both to him and those dependent upon him than can be reached by an aspirant for office, however successful he may be. During all the years of his residence in Ashtabula, Mr. Fitch has been a prominent and active worker in all matters tending to promote the interests and welfare of the village, and deeply interested in its prosperity. He has spent much time, and never withheld his pecuniary aid, in laboring for the securing of its railroad facilities and manufacturing enterprises. CHARLES BOOTH, ESQ., whose portrait is shown in connection with the group of leading attorneys of Ashtabula County, was born on the 15th day of January, in the year 1814, and is the fourth son of Philo and Sophia C. Booth, who removed from Jefferson county, New York, and located in Ashtabula township, in January, 1814. The education of the gentleman under consideration is, as he expresses it, "academic only," which is considerably above the average for that day. He began the study of law prior to attaining his majority, but soon abandoned it for other duties; and it was not until 1840 that he began, in the office of Hon. 0. H. Fitch, to read law in earnest. The five years preceding this date he was engaged, first as clerk and afterwards partner, in the mercantile establishment of his father, in Ashtabula village. He was admitted to the bar August 27, 1842, and for the first two years thereafter was a partner with L. S. Sherman, since which time he has been in business for himself. He has held numerous borough offices, among which was that of mayor for two years. Politically, he began life as a Whig, and afterwards became a Republican. He is an able advocate, and is recognized as one of the leading lawyers of the county. HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 93 Photo. by Ryder, Cleveland, 0. HON. DARIUS CADWELL. Twenty miles from Lake Erie, on the east line of the State of Ohio, is situated the township of Andover. It was settled by a population entirely from the eastern States, and solely agricultural in their pursuits until quite recently. Now two railroads unite at the centre, and a thriving village is growing up around the station. But rural as were the habits of this people, they have contributed largely of their numbers to the legal profession. Among the present and former members of the bar, we notice the following as having been residents of that township at the time they commenced the study of that profession, viz. : B. F. Wade, Edward Wade, Darius Cadwell, James Cadwell, B. F. Wade (2d), D. S. Wade, E. C. Wade, Matthew Reed, David Strickland, B. B. Pickett, J. W. Brigden, J. N.'Wight, Monroe Moore, Homer Moore, and C. D. Ainger,—most of whom have occupied conspicuous positions in the county and State, and some of them in the councils of the nation. Roger Cadwell removed from Bloomfield, Hartford county, Connecticut, to Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio, in 1817. Darius, his second son, was born at Andover, April 13, 1821. The father was a large farmer, and his children were all reared to habits of industry. Darius obtained a good education, which was in part acquired at Allegheny college, at Meadville, Pennsylvania. He commenced the study of the law with the law-firm of Messrs. Wade & Ranney, at Jefferson, Ohio, iu February, 1842, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1844. In the spring of 1847 he entered into partnership in the practice of the law, at Jefferson, with Rufus P. Ranney and Charles S. Simonds. This partnership continued until 1851, when Mr. Ranney was elected a judge of the supreme court, and the partnership of Simonds & Cadwell continued until the fall of 1871. Mr. Cadwell was a diligent student, had fine literary and legal attainments, was a close reasoner and a good advocate, and soon after he commenced the practice of the law he took rank with the best members of the profession, and few cases of importance were tried in the county in which he did not participate. On the 13th of April, 1847, he was married to Ann Eliza Watrous, a daughter of John B. Watrous, of Ashtabula, by whom he had one son and one daughter, now living. In habits and morals he was correct and exemplary. He was very social, and always had a large circle of ardent friends and admirers. From the time he became a resident of Jefferson he discharged his full portion of the duties of minor offices, from village alderman upwards. He held the office of representative in the State legislature during the years 1856 and 1857, and during the years 1858 and 1859 he represented his district, composed of Ashtabula, Lake, and Geauga counties, in the senate of Ohio. Upon the organization of the provost-marshal general's department in 1863, he was appointed provost-marshal for the nineteenth district of Ohio, which office he held until the close of the war, with his headquarters at Warren, Ohio, until September, 1865, when his headquarters were transferred to Cleveland, where he was placed in charge and closed out the business of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth districts, and was himself mustered out of service December 20, 1865. In the fall of 1871 he opened a law-office in Cleveland, and immediately secured a large practice in the courts of Cuyahoga county. At the October election, 1873, he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for Cuyahoga county for the term of five years, and is now discharging the duties of that office, in which he has acquired an enviable reputation. REV. DR. GILES HOOKER COWLES.* Rev. Dr. Giles Hooker Cowles, the first settled minister of Austinburg and Morgan, and in fact of Ashtabula County, emigrated to the former town from Bristol, Connecticut, with his family, consisting of a wife, eight children, and a hired man, in the year of 1811. He was a son of Ezekiel and Martha Hooker Cowles, of Farmington, Connecticut, and was born in the place, August 26, 1766. He was descended from John Cowles, who settled in Farmington in the year of 1652, and who was one of three brothers who emigrated from England in 1635. His mother was a daughter of Major Giles Hooker, of Farmington, and a lineal descendant of the Rev. Thomas Rooker, the first clergyman who settled in Connecticut. After having prepared himself for college under the tuition of Rev. William Robinson, of Southington, Dr. Cowles entered Yale college, and graduated there with honor in the year 1789. During his studies he became hopefully pious. He pursued his theological studies with Dr. Jonathan Edwards, the younger, then of New Haven. In 1791 he was licensed to preach, and in 1792 he received a call from the Congregational church of Bristol, and was ordained and installed over that church the 17th of October of that year, Rev. Dr. Edwards preaching the ordination sermon, and the Rev. Timothy Pitkins, of Farmington, Rev. John Smalley, of New Britain, Rev. Rufus Hawley, of Avon, Rev. William Robinson, of Southington, Rev. Simon Waterman, of Plymouth, Rev. Benoni Upton, of Kensington, Rev. Jonathan Miller, of Burlington, and Rev. Israel B. Woodward, of Walcott, with their delegates, constituting the ordaining council. In February, 1793, he was married to Miss Sallie, daughter of Lebbeua White, of Stamford, Connecticut, a direct descendant of Peregrine White, the first white child born in New England, and also a descendant, on his mother's side, from a Huguenot family by the name of De Grasse, which name was subsequently changed to Weed. Mrs. Cowles was a woman of extraordinary beauty and great culture for the time she lived, of remarkable force of character, of intellectual power, and a model Christian minister's wife and mother. Although at the time of her marriage she was not a member of the church, she became one in 1795. Dr. Cowles preached in Bristol for nearly eighteen years, when he was dismissed by mutual consent, May 10, 1810. The record of the church contained this entry : "Mr. Cowles, at the close of seventeen years' and seven months' ministry in this place, on the 27th of May, 1810, preached his farewell sermon, from Hebrews xiii. 17 : ' For they watch for your souls as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you,' to a crowded assembly, who were very much affected, and appeared to regret the unhappy circumstances which rendered the trying parting scene necessary. Perhaps the instance was never known that a minister and people ever parted with so much harmony, but for wise purposes Providence has ordered it so.' " There were four seasons of awakening during Mr. Cowles' ministry. Two hundred and eighteen members were added to the church,—one hundred and eighty-one from the world entered upon their profession, and thirty-seven by letters from other churches. Sixty-seven, received in 1799, marked a year never to be forgotten.' Of the two hundred and eighteen, seventy-four were gone by deaths, removals, and excommunications. The number remaining at his dismission, one hundred and sixty-two ; of these, but seventeen. were members when he settled with them. The church parted with a truly faithful minister, whose choice was to live and die with them; but be has gone, and the church and society's duty is plain,—to endeavor to choose another who will be as faithful to the souls committed to his charge, to support him and assist him to fulfill the arduous task imposed on him." Hon. Tracy Peck, in a historical address he delivered on the occasion of the celebration, in the year 1859, of the fiftieth anniversary of the appointment of Charles G. Ives as deacon of the church in Bristol, made the following reference to Dr. Cowles : " Mr. Cowles entered upon and pursued his work here as a learned, pions, and faithful minister of the gospel. He was never a healthy, robust man, being always afflicted with an infirmity in one leg, which caused him to halt in his walk, and frequently suffered much from salt-rheum. He was agreeable and exceedingly interesting in all his intercourse with the people, and was accustomed to visit often in the families and the schools. He often examined the children and scholars in * By his grandson, Edwin Cowles, Esq. 94 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. tho shorter catechism, he talked and prayed with them, regarding all this as a part of his pastoral duties, a duty which he much loved, and his love was fully reciprocated, and was one of the links which bound him to this people, to those children and pupils, in so strong, endearing, and lasting bonds of love and affection. " Those of us here who were then children in those families or in those schools, cannot well forget those days and scenes, the remembrance of which is so sweet, so refining and elevating, nor forget the name of the Rev. Giles Hooker Cowles, so interestingly connected with them. And I have yet to learn that there has been improvement in these particulars. " Dr. Cowles was a sound and successful minister, and during the seventeen years and eight months of his stay here there were additions to this church each year, save 1804 and 1808. The whole number was two hundred and eighteen, leaving in membership at his dismission one hundred and sixty-two. At the head of the admissions I see the name of my venerated and beloved mother, to whom, for a long while, I have felt myself indebted for several of the leading features in my life and character. Yet the great and never-to-be-forgotten year in the ministry of Mr. Cowles is that of 1'199, when there was a general outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon this church, a large proportion of the community, and the hearts of the people in many places of our State and county. " How appropriate the entry made by Dr. Cowles upon the records, where he says, A YEAR NEVER TO BE FORGOTTRN " Then it was that the Bible was so generally read by the old and the young. Then it was that so many humble and penitent prayers were offered upon the bended knees, from hearts having great and alarming views of their sin and guilt, and pleading for mercy in and through a Redeemer's blood. Oh, how few are here to-day who were here in 1799, and experienced for the first time the sweets of redeeming grace! The refreshing influences of the Holy Spirit were so pure, and the scenes so awful, yet so rich, that I cannot, in this review, pass over them in silence. Dr. Cowles has placed upon the records, That the year of 1798 was one of great opposition to divine truth, and a neglect of religious and public worship seemed to increase, and but one made a public profession of religion.' Much trouble and altercation about school districts, etc. But God was pleased, in 1799, to pour out his Spirit upon the people in a remarkable manner, and produced a r"vival of religion which ought to be recorded for the information of posterity and to the glory of his glorious grace. The first appearance of this work was at a lecture about the middle of February. The Rev. Messrs. Joshua Williams, of Harwinton, and Joseph Washburn, of Farmington, were present, and gave some account of the revivals in some neighboring towns. Two sermons were delivered in the afternoon, and divine truth appeared to be attended with divine power. An unusual attention and seriousness were apparent in the congregation, and numbers seemed greatly affected and in tears. In the evening a meeting was held at a large school-house, which was thronged, and divine influence seemed more powerful than in the afternoon. Within a week nearly fifty were under conviction, and ten or twelve entertained a hope; and from the 31st of March, 1799, to May 1, 1800, one hundred were added to the church, sixty-one females and thirty-nine males. "I suppose that there are two or three persona now here who were present at these two meetings mentioned by Dr. Cowles. " The years 1798, 1799, and 1800 were years of excitement in this church and in the political movements of this State and nation. " In December, 1798, the Baptist society was organized. Early in 1799, Elder Daniel Wildman, of the Baptist church, moved into town and commenced religious services, which were mostly held in his own house. His labors seemed to have a favorable effect upon his hearers, and during that year several were baptized by immersion and added to his church, two of whom were members of this church. " The question of baptism was discussed with interest and produced great excitement. Mr. Cowles delivered two sermons in proof of the duty of infant baptism, which were enlarged and published in three sermons, together with an appendix, by Rev. Jonathan Miller, then pastor of the church in Burlington, which were circulated and read, and had a soothing and quieting influence over one of the existing elements of that day. .. . "The council met here May 24, 1810, and, agreeably to mutual consent, dismissed Mr. Cowles, and in their result they say, that they find that this church style him their beloved pastor,' and to whom the church return their thanks for the faithfuiness, ability, prudence, and zeal with which he served them in the duties of the Christian ministry for seventeen years and eight months. "I was present on that occasion, and a society meeting was holden, of which that worthy and much-respected man, Deacon Bryan Hooker, was moderator ; and, while standing in the old deacon's seat, and stating to the meeting the important transactions of the day, he became so much affected and overcome that he seemed to lose the power of speech. He stood silent for a while. The tears then flowed free and abundant. " I was then at the as of twenty-five years, and I have often thought that I never attended a meeting so deep, so solemn, and so impressive as was that. I do believe that during the remaining sixteen years of the life of Deacon Bryan Hooker, I looked upon his person and upon his private and public character and acts with more respect than I could otherwise have done ; and that his whole life and character, while he lived and since his death, have appeared to me more grand and more lovely, and have had a greater effect on me, than has almost any other transaction of his life. " Mr. Cowles and his family left this place for Austinburg, Ohio, May 21, 1811, where he was settled in the ministry, and remained until his death. His daughter, Miss Martha Hooker Cowles, of Austinburg, having heard of this movement by this church, wrote to me, and says, ' We, the younger members of the family, cannot from recollection give much information. We, of course, were always interested in Bristol as the place of our birth and associations of childhood, and the names of Lewis and Ives were household words to us.' She gives the names and ages of the children of her parents when they left Bristol. She also says ' that her parents and two of her brothers have passed away.' " She sent me the following, being copies of the inscriptions on the tombstones of her parents and brother Edward, viz. : " ' Edward died in 3823, aged twenty-one years. A very dutiful, affectionate son to his parents. Thou destroyest the hope of man. " ' This was engraven on his tombstone, as expressive of my father's feelings at the time.' "In Memory of MRS. SALLY COWLES, wife of Rev. GILES H. COWLES, D.D., Died July 23d, 1830. Aged 56 years. `The righteous shall be its everlasting remembrance.' " In Memory of REV. GILES H. COWLES, D.D., Died July 5th, 1835, Aged 69 years, and the 42d year of his Ministry. Yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labor, and their works do follow them.' "I remember the wife of Dr. Cowles. She was a woman of beauty, of superior education, and all her intercourse with others was of a high, interesting, and finished character. For a number of years I have seldom opened the present first voluMe of our church records but I have seen and readily recognized her handwriting, as she recorded and wrote much for her husband." The foregoing extracts show the estimation in which Dr. Cowles stood with his people in Bristol. He was indeed a most pious and devoted minister of religion, whose sole ambition was to serve only Him who suffered to save sinners. His piety, his conscientiousness in the performance of his duty as a minister of Christ, and amiability of character were household words among the members of the church in Bristol, which has been handed down traditionally in that place. When' a son of Dr. Cowles, Mr. William E. Cowles, visited Bristol, in 1875, for the first time since he left there a boy, he found not one living who remembered hearing or seeing his father, but he found many who knew of his father by reputation, and for the sake of the memory of that good pastor they, the descendants of those who sat under his preaching, tendered him a most hearty welcome. It will be seen by the records we have quoted from that Dr. Cowles preached in Bristol for nearly eighteen years, ending in 1810, when he dissolved his connection with the church. At this time Ashtabula County had been settled ten years. Owing to the scantiness of the population, no minister had yet settled in that county. What little there was of the gospel that had been expounded during that time was done by that good old pioneer-missionary, Father Badger, who was wont to make his semi-occasional visit in the various parts of the county, preaching in the log meeting-houses, barns, cabins, and frequently in God's temple, under His mighty blue dome, amidst the primeval forest grove. The good accomplished by this faithful servant of Christ can only be known by searching the records on high, but a truer, more self-denying, more earnest, more conscientious, and more effective worker in the cause of religion than was Father Joseph Badger never lived. He has gone to that blessed land where live the just and the righteous, to meet those whom he has brought unto the Lord, and there he will reside forever. As the sequel will prove, Dr. Cowles became a most worthy co-laborer in the vineyard of the Lord with this estimable pioneer missionary. During the spring of this year (1810), Mrs. Austin, the wife of Judge Eliphalet Austin, of Austinburg, a woman of great piety, innate strength of hind, and energy, came to the conclusion that they ought to have a settled minister ; that the field was ripe for a bountiful spiritual harvest, and she notified her husband that HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 95 she would go back to old Connecticut on horseback and hunt up a minister ! And sure enough that brave woman, with all her change of clothing in a traveling portmanteau, started alone on horseback on that long journey to Connecticut, six hundred miles away, through an unsettled country, and almost unbroken forests most of the way. She arrived safely at her destination after a ride of over thirty days. We have in our mind's eye some of her great-granddaughters who, when they made a journey taking about one-half of that time, were constrained to take along several enormous Saratoga trunks. What would they have thought of traveling on a thirty days' journey with their wardrobes concentrated into a portmanteau ? We cannot help drawing a contrast. In spite of their thorough modern education, their culture and accomplishments, and the advantages they had of living in the midst of a higher grade of civilization, they can never excel their good old grandmother in her piety, in all that made the true woman, in the amount of the sound sense she possessed, of the strength of character she had, the remarkable energy she showed, and the heart she had overflowing with kindness. Mrs. Austin went to Bristol, and was closeted with Mrs. Cowles, and there she brought up the subject of the need of a minister to preach the gospel in New Connecticut. Mrs. Cowles fell in with the idea of having her husband accept the call thus tendered by the intrepid woman who had come so far for that purpose. She saw in the then far distant Western Reserve rich and cheap land, and a chance for her boys to fight successfully their way through life. The matter was broached to her husband, and he was easily persuaded to take a trip to New Connecticut, and make a prospective examination of the field which he had been invited to cultivate. Accordingly he started on horseback, and reached Austin-burg, and the result of his examination was that he concluded to move his family there. He returned to Bristol, and in the following year, 1811, he took an affectionate leave of his old parishioners, with whom he had been associated so long. We of this fast age are in the habit of accomplishing that same journey, with the comfort and adjunct of the sleeping-car, in from twenty-four to twenty-eight hours, and can communicate with absent friends (literally in no time at all) by telegraph. The leave-taking of the pastor and his family from those whom they loved so well---the numerous and affectionate relatives, the loving parishioners, the pious and warm-hearted deacons, and the playmates of the children—was unusually sad and solemn. This can be appreciated when it is considered that the country they were emigrating to at that time was thirty to forty days' journey off, over horrible used and corduroy roads, up and down steep ungraded hills, with scarcely any hotels on the wayside, with the consciousness that the probability was very remote indeed of any ever returning again to the scenes of their childhood, and this too at a time when it took over two months for a letter to be seat and delivered and an answer received, at an expense of filly cents' postage both ways. The farewell sermon preached by Mr. Cowles on the Sunday previous to his departure was very impressive, and the congregation presented a mournful appearance; but the doctor showed a spirit of cheerful resignation to the force of circumstances. For days previous to the departure the old parsonage was thronged with callers from Bristol, Farmington, and the surrounding towns, to bid the pastor and his family tearful farewells. Dr. Cowles' family at that time consisted of himself, wife, eight children, and a hired man. His furniture was loaded on to two wagons, and he himself, wife, and the smaller children rode in a carriage. His children were Edwin, aged seventeen years ; Sally, fifteen years ; William Elbert, thirteen years; Edward, ten years; Martha, seven years; Cornelia and Lysander (twins), four years; Betsey, then an infant, aged one year. It was in this manner that the caravan of the pastor traveled on its long journey through forest and unsettled region, for the far-distant Western Reserve. After passing through the ordeals incident to such a journey, Dr. Cowles reached Austinburg in the summer of 1811. There being no " hotels" in that newly-settled region, and the houses of the settlers small, and mostly of logs, for the first few days he and his family took possession of the log church or " meeting-house," as the New Englanders called their places of worship, which was then located at the Centre, about in front of the present town-house. Soon the neighbors gathered from all around, and, wielding the axe only as pioneer axemen can, in an incredible short period of time they erected a commodious log dwelling, near the site of the present homestead, for the pastor and his family to occupy. He was installed pastor over the united church of Austinburg and Morgan in the following September, and the entire ministry of the Western Reserve assisted on that occasion. They were Rev. Joseph Badger, of Ashtabula ; Rev. J. Leslie, of Harpersfield ; Rev. Thomas Barr, of Euclid ; Rev. .J. Beers, of Springfield ; Rev. N. B. Darrow, of Vienna; and Rev. Mr. Spencer, of Fredonia, New York. The members of the Austinburg, church at that time, as furnished from mem- - 24 - ory by Mr. William Elbert Cowles, were as follows: Captain Stephen Brown and wife, Joab Austin and wife, Deacon Moses Wilcox and wife, Benjamin Sweet and wife, Mrs. Joseph B. Cowles, Samuel Ryder and wife, Colonel Roswell Austin and wife, Deacon Joseph M. Case and wife, Mrs. Lydia Case, Deacon Sterling' Mills and wife, Moses Wright and wife, Judge Eliphalet Austin and wife, John Videto and wife, Thomas Dunbar and wife, Noah Smith, Erastus Austin, Zeri Cowles, Calvin Stone, and Abigail Case. As a missionary, receiving a portion of his salary from the Connecticut missionary society, Dr. Cowles visited various portions of the Western Reserve, preaching the gospel. In 1812, the year after his arrival in Austinburg, Dr. Cowles started a movement among his people to build a frame church edifice in place of their humble log meeting-house. Judge Austin, Joab Austin, Dr. 0. K. Hawley, and Doctor Cowles led with liberal subscriptions, and the means were raised sufficient to erect and inclose the first church ornamented with a steeple on the Western Reserve, if not in Ohio. The new church was occupied in 1815, when it was in an unfinished condition, and it was not till 1820 that it was entirely completed. Until that time it was probably the finest church edifice in Ohio out of Cincinnati. The writer well remembers, when a child, traveling with his parents to visit grandpa and grandma," in 1830, the impression the appearance of that church made on his childish mind when he saw it for the first time. He had never before seen a steeple, and he gazed at the building with a feeling of admiration akin to awe. Although only four years old, the first impression on his mind of that to him magnificent church was never effaced. On the following Sunday, when he heard the church-bell,—that beautiful-toned bell, the first he had ever heard,—on that lovely June morning, standing by the side of his invalid grandmother, a few weeks before she was taken away, his feeling of astonishment was greater than he can describe, and his admiration was intense for the church with that wonderful machine with a revolving wheel in the steeple for producing that marvelous sound. When the church building was planned it was decided at first not to have a steeple on account of the expense. The women came forward and offered to assume that expense themselves, and their proposition was accepted. The late Miss Betsey M. Cowles, in her speech delivered at the three-quarter centennial celebration of the settlement of the township of Austinburg, June 5, 1875, gave a vivid account, in her pathetic style, of how the good and pious pios neer women of Austinburg went to work to raise the means with which to pay for that steeple, which we will copy : " Seventy-five years ago to-morrow night the first woman who came to this town was the wife of Sterling Mills. She and her husband and Mr. Joseph Case . were making their way to the Austins' camp.' But darkness overtook them amidst a rain-storm, and compelled them to stop in the wood, and all that long and gloomy night that brave pioneer woman sat upon her saddle on the ground, with her infant in her arms. That kind-hearted and gallant man, Deacon Joseph M. Case, the father of the orator of the day, stood through all that night by the side of that helpless mother and held an umbrella to protect her from the rain. This was but one of the many incidents of the early settlement of this region that ought to be told. We should remember the hardships and sufferings endured by the settlers in those early days, and keep alive in our hearts the memory of those bravo pioneer men and women. " There was a meeting-house commenced here in 1812 and finished a few years later, and the old subscription paper is still in existence. The men had decided to build the church without a steeple, but the women said no, they would build a steeple themselves. I will illustrate how our venerated mothers and grandmothers worked when they undertook anything. One of them, Mrs. Rebecca Whiting, subscribed ten dollars, and took in weaving to earn money to pay it. Another, Mrs. Naomi Ryder, who had a large family of children, whom she took care of well, put down her name for five dollars, which she paid by taking in sewing, snaking pants for about thirty-seven cents a pair, and coats for about seventy-five cents, and so on. We think her granddaughter, Mrs. Pierce, who is present, does exceedingly well for a modern woman, but she is not quite as smart as her good old grandmother was. " In former time it was considered impossible to raise a building without whisky, but the women declared that it was not necessary to aid the brawny muscles of the men with whisky iu order to raise the frame of the house of God, so they gathered together and made some home-made beer, flavored with sassafras, spruce, and other herbs, and gave it to the men in the place of whisky, and the discovery was made that they got along very well without intoxicating liquor while raising the frame of that church." To illustrate the spirit of religion that prevailed among the early settlers of Austinburg, we will allude to the prayer that was made by Dr. Cowles at the raising of the frame of the' church. The foundation timber, in a square form, had already been laid on the brick-work. On this the men all stood, facing in- 96 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. ward, forming a hollow square, and with bowed uncovered heads listened to the fervent prayer offered by the pastor, asking the blessing of God on the enterprise, on the erection and eventual dedication of the house of worship to the glory of Himself. The architectural design of this church was copied from a church in Norwalk, Connecticut. It had a steeple about one hundred and twenty feet in height. Its spire was surmounted by a vane in the shape of an arrow with a spear-head. The rear end of the vane spread out quarter fan-shaped into seven branches. On the end of each branch was a gilt star, and in the centre of the branches was a gilt quarter moon, which, in addition to its ornamental use, acted as a brace for the branches. This vane was a most conspicuous object on the steeple, and many of the readers will recognize it from the description we have given. The inside of the church presented a considerable amount of architectural effect. The centre of the ceiling was arched, the arch being supported by large, finely-turned wooden columns resting on the gallery, which was on three sides, and directly under these columns was another set supporting the gallery from the floor. The pulpit was a high, old-fashioned, unique affair. It was large enough to seat two beside the speaker. A portion of it was supported on two very finely-finished, fluted wooden columns. To the right of these columns was a fluted pillar-stand, three and a half feet in height, on which was placed the baptismal bowl. In front of the two columns was the communion-table. From this " tall citadel," as it was sometimes called by the irreverent, many doctrinal points have been made clear to the average mind by the great reasoning power of Dr. Cowles. From that old pulpit the infernal system of slavery has frequently been denounced in scathing language by some of the early eloquent anti-slavery orators. Some of the first sermons ever given against intemperance were preached from that pulpit, and frequently has it been graced with the venerable form of good old Father Badger. From this crude description some idea may be formed of the architectural appearance of this pioneer church,—the first ever erected on the Reserve, if not in Ohio, with a steeple. The bell was placed in the tower somewhere about 1825. It weighed about five hundred pounds. It is said that the sound of this bell drove away the wolves and other wild animals, for none had ever been seen in the township since the bell commenced ringing out its calls to attend public worship. This old church—historic church it may be called—was ruthlessly torn down about the year 1857, simply because there was no farther use for it, the majority of the congregation preferring to attend worship, as a matter of convenience, at the "North End," and nearly all the rest went to the Eagleville church, for the same reason. The church stood unoccupied and for a period neglected by the ungrateful community for which it had done so much towards its moral well-being. From this old church had evolved directly and indirectly those grand, high moral principles, which have spread over Ashtabula County and made it what it is. That landmark, with its spire towering against the sky and its conspicuous vane, which always excited the admiration of the writer during his childhood days; the church his honored grandfather helped to erect, and in which he officiated so faithfully for nearly twenty years ; the church in which his beloved parents were married, in which he and his brothers and sister were baptized, and in which the funeral services were held over the remains of both his grandparents, has disappeared forever. Nothing remains to show the former glory of that fine specimen of a pioneer church, unless it may be the bell, which had been transferred to a cheaply-built and common-looking unorthodox house of worship at the " North End." Even the bell, apparently indignant at its being used against the cause of orthodoxy, and at the treatment the old orthodox church had received, became cracked, and refused to give out its former sweet tones. Can it be wondered that the writer should have some feelings of resentment at the want of appreciation of that old pioneer church by those for whom it has done so much ? After having accomplished the work of erecting and inclosing the church edifice, Dr. Cowles set about making preparation to erect for himself, at his own expense, a parsonage,—the present homestead now occupied by his daughter, Miss Martha H. Cowles. As the first settled minister of the town, he received from the Connecticut land company eighty acres of land, and had the use of eighty acres more given by that company for a parsonage lot. He purchased in addition one hundred and sixty acres, making his farm, including the parsonage lot, three hundred and twenty acres. He located his mansion on his own lot, nearly opposite where the new church stood. In the winter of 1813-14 his hired man, Mr. Shepard, whom he brought with him from Connecticut, and his brother-in-law, Mr. Frederick Weed, got out a quantity of saw-logs, which were formed•into a raft, on Grand river, and floated down to the "Austin Mills," now known as Mechanicsville, for the purpose of being sawed into lumber for the contemplated new house. The river being high and the current above the dam very rapid, the navigation of the raft got beyond the control of Messrs. Weed and Shepard, and it went over the dam, and Mr. Shepard was drowned. Mr. Weed succeeded in escaping. This sad accident and the loss of the logs delayed the building of the mansion till the following year, 1815, when it was erected. The plan of that house was drawn in a scientific and architectural -manner by Mrs. Cowles, and the convenience of that plan excited the admiration of all who saw the inside of the house. General Simon Perkins, of Warren, copied the plan for his own house, which he built. It was considered to be a wonderfully aristocratic dwelling by the younger portion of the community, who had never been to Connecticut and seen the " big" houses there. It is still, in this age of houses with " modern improvements," a most commodious and convenient residence. That old parsonage has witnessed many cultured gatherings under its roof. Hundreds of ministers of the gospel, including Bishop Chase and others of equal prominence, lecturers, anti-slavery speakers, professors, and students, have enjoyed its hospitalities. Can it be wondered that the association with the educated and refined that were wont to assemble there should have had a beneficial effect in moulding the character of the children of Dr. Cowles? Dr. Cowles was naturally of a grave temperament and never was inclined to mirth, but his wife and children could appreciate the humors of life just as well as the rest of the world, and the big kitchen of the old homestead has witnessed many scenes of innocent jollity. As an illustration, we will copy from a letter written by the late Miss Betsey M. Cowles and published in the Ashtabula News, describing the " singing meetings" that were frequently held in Austinburg, and often in the kitchen of the homestead: " One amusement was considered safe and legitimate, to which no barrier was interposed, and that was singing meetings.' These were held first in private houses,—one week at Deacon Mills', at the South End, next week at Judge Austin's, at the North End, and the next at the parsonage, at the Centre. Neither floods nor flames, hail, rain, nor snow, light nor darkness, could keep the young folks from these meetings. Benches on which to sit were improvised, huge fires were built on the hearth, with plenty of tallow-candles to hold in the hand, which constituted the preparation for these meetings. To these they came on horseback, on sleds, on foot, a distance of one, two, three, four, and five miles.' The hour arrived for the ' opening up,' the chorister would give, the order, ' Take your places. Strike your lights. Open to Majesty.' A toot from the pitch-pipe,' with the order, Strike the pitch,' and off the tune goes, the leader in the mean time pacing the floor, with violent gesticulations, swinging both arms at full length, beating time, singing first one part as it falters and then another, like a skillful general skirmishing along the lines, strengthening the weak points. So/he runs from one part of the room to another wherever help is needed, and as a result the music fills the high domes of the room. On the different parts of the fuguing tunes' was full scope for the exercise of his generalship, as each part was led off by him, he rapidly swinging himself to each as it strikes in ; in short, bearing the entire burden of carrying the whole; and when the tune is sung, commends the performance by saying, ' You have done well ; but we'll try it once more, just to let your voices out a little louder.' Each one had exerted his vocal organs to the utmost, yet cheerfully they try again. An hour or more thus spent, then comes intermission, or visiting times,' then another hour of singing, mingled with laughs at the mistakes or witticisms of the leader ; after which all arise and sing Pilgrim's Farewell,' and then they are dismissed and homeward bound. " In the progress of human affairs a ' singing master' is hired ; he boarding around with the people, they stipulating to give him a certain sum for his services, and then open the school to all. Among the early masters was, first, Amass, Loomis, a man who sang loud and long. Following him was Deacon Grey, a quaint, gray-haired, little old man, with a nice cultivated ear for music, who greatly improved church music in this and neighboring towns. He introduced the Handel and Haydn collection of music in place of 'fuguing tunes,' and round notes in place of patent' or buckwheat' notes. On each evening he would announce that a new tune would be put mat' next week ; hence expectations were on the alert. His schools were closed by a grand singing lecture' in the meeting-house, at which time all the new tunes were sung to a large and delighted audience, which had assembled at the usual. hour for meeting, or at one o'clock P.M. As time advanced the name 'singing lecture' was changed to concert.' " The magnificent voices of four of Dr. Cowles' children must have added greatly to the power of these " singing lectures." The children, who inherited their musical gift from their mother, were Cornelia, soprano ; Betsey, alto ; Lewis, tenor ; and Martha, soprano. Lysander was a singer, but he did not rank with the sisters and brother I have named. Martha had a marvelously sweet voice, but it was never cultivated like her sisters and brother Lewis. In later years—in 1840—the choir of the church in Austinburg was probably equal to any in the State. It was under the leadership of Squire Lucretius Bissell, a half-brother of Joab Austin. He was a very capable leader indeed, he having studied music as a science. The principal singers of the choir, at the date I have named, HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 97 were Squire Bissell and his wife, Misses Cornelia and Betsey Cowles, and Lewis Cowles. It can be imagined bow Dr. Cowles must have enjoyed listening to the music of his children, especially so after the death of his wife, when he reflected that they inherited their voices from their sainted mother. Dr. Cowles was a most substantial speaker, never flowery, but solid and reason-leg in his efforts. His theological knowledge was of the highest order, and he was a most profound student. When he settled in Austinburg he brought with him from Connecticut his entire library, which at that time, and for many years afterwards, was the largest in the county. When not engaged with his professional duties he invariably retired to his study for the purpose of reading or writing, or delving into theological or religious lore. His three sermons defending infant baptism, delivered in Bristol in 1802, to which Hon. Tracy Peck referred in his address, were considered masterly efforts, and are the best monuments of his talent that remain, and could never have been produced save by a richly-endowed and disciplined mind. His power over the minds of his people can best be shown by the results of the great revivals of religion that occurred at different periods of his ministry, especially the one in 1799, in Bristol, when over one hundred joined his church,—" a year;' which he entered on the church records, " never to be forgotten." The revivals of 1816, in Austinburg, showed the influence of his power as a preacher. His piety was earnest and very deep, which has been fully set forth by Mr. Tracy in his remarks. The Hon. Charles Case, in his oration delivered at the three-quarter centennial celebration of the settlement of Austinburg, speaking of Dr. Cowles, said,— " Then again, there was the Rev. Giles H. Cowles. They used to think I was very bad when I was a boy. I know what was said then, and I have never forgotten it. But I knew that venerable man, and knew how consistent and faithful he was in all the long years when he was the settled pastor of the church in Anstiuburg." Dr. Cowles was a great friend of the cause of education. Having received a thorough education himself, he appreciated it. In 1825 he, with others, first moved in the matter of establishing the Western Reserve college. The three presbyteries of the Reserve met at Warren to decide upon the location of the proposed college. The members were as follows: from Grand River presbytery, Rev. Dr. Giles H. Cowles, Harvey Coe, A. Griswold, and Rev. Eliphalet Austin ; presbytery of Portage, Rev. Joseph Treat, John Steward, J. H. Whittlesey, and Lemuel Porter; Huron presbytery, A. H. Bette, L. B. Sullivan, Hon. Samuel Cowles, and D. Betts. It was found difficult at so early a period to fix upon the most eligible spot. At a second meeting of the board, Hudson, Portage (but now of Summit county) was decided upon as the most favorable locality. Burton, Euclid, Aurora, and Cleveland were among the moat prominent competitors for the location of this college.. The decision being made, the board proceeded to Hudson, selected the site, and drove a stake on College Hill. The trustees were chosen by the presbyteries, and a charter was obtained in 1826. He assisted in the first work of founding Grand River Institute, and it was at his house where the first meeting of the projectors of that institution of learning was held, and where it received its charter from the State of Ohio. His name appeared as one of the original incorporators. He was a congenial gentleman with all with whom be came in contact, although, as we said before, he was a grave man, and never dealt in trifling remarks. He was charitable to others in regard to their faults. On one occasion he was about starting on a journey for the purpose of assisting in the ordination of a new candidate for the ministry. It happened that this candidate wore a ruffled shirt bosom, and was otherwise quite vain and worldly in his ideas, and withal, conceited; so much so, that the good wife of the pastor was somewhat prejudiced against him, and she spoke to her husband, saying, "Mr. Cowles, you are not going to ordain that man, are you ?" He replied, " My dear, the man must be pretty far gone if it won't do to pray for him !" The mission service required men of great hardihood, firmness of principle, pure love for the cause of their Maker, and willingness to suffer privations for the sake of Him who suffered for us sinners. Such a man was Dr. Cowles. What he did in the cause of religion was not done merely because he thought it was his duty to do so, but he did it because of, his deep love for that cause. Such was the man who was selected by the providence of God to help give direction to the religious thoughts of the early settlers of Ashtabula County. Dr. Cowles remained in charge of the church as its pastor till the year of 1830, when he resigned. The following was the text from which he preached his farewell sermon at the close of his ministry : " God forbid that I should cease to pray for you !" He continued to preach occasionally, however, in neighboring churches. Rev. Henry Cowles, formerly of Colebrook, Connecticut, a graduate of Yale, succeeded Dr. Cowles as the pastor of the church, and remained in charge of it till the winter of 1836-36, when he was dismissed at his own request for the purpose of occupying a professor's chair in Oberlin college, which he filled for many years. In 1823, Dr. Cowles met with his first affliction by death in his family in the loss of his beloved son, Edward Giles Hooker, who was taken away at the age of twenty-one. He was a young man of more than ordinary business ability ; so much so, that he relieved his father of most of the care of the farm and his business matters for several years. In 1830 the doctor met with his greatest loss,—that of his beloved helpmeet, his beautiful Christian wife, the devoted mother of his nine children ; she who did so much to smooth the path over which he journeyed through life. She died at a comparatively young age—fifty-six years. The death of this model wife and mother caused a sad vacancy in the household as well as in the social circle of Ashtabula County. She was buried by the aide of her mother, Mrs. Abigail White, who had preceded her the year before. Dr. Cowles submitted to the loss of his wife with Christian resignation,—felt that the separation was only temporary, that what was his loss was her gain. For five years after her death, he lived at the homestead with five of his children,—Lysander,. Lewis, Martha, Cornelia, and Betsey. In addition it was the privilege of two others of his children to live near by,—William Elbert, who lived on his farm just a mile from the Centre, and Sally, who was married to Rev. Eliphalet Austin, a son of Judge Austin, and who lived at the North End. The eldest son, Dr. Edwin W. Cowles, was practicing his profession, that of medicine, in Detroit. The affectionate children vied with each other in ministering to the comfort of their venerable father, Cornelia especially taking it upon herself to watch over his health and guard him against exposure ; but in spite of her affectionate care, he was taken ill in the year of 1835, and after suffering from his disease for four months, which he endured with Christian fortitude, he passed away on a beautiful Sunday evening, July 5, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, and the forty-second year of his ministry. His funeral took place the following Tuesday, in the church he helped to build, and which was crowded to overflowing by a sorrowing people who felt that they had indeed lost a father in the death of their former pastor. The following clergymen assisted in the exercises : Rev. Henry Cowles, the pastor, Rev. Joseph Badger, Rev. Caleb Burbank, Dr. Perry Pratt, Rev. Lucius Foot, the evangelist, and Rev. Mr. Danforth. Rev. Mr. Badger read the introductory hymn. It was intended that he, as a brother pioneer clergyman and co-worker of Dr. Cowles, should have delivered the funeral sermon, but his voice had become too weak, and he was obliged to decline the invitation. Rev. Mr. Henry Cowles delivered the sermon, which was very impressive. The remains were interred by the side of his devoted wife and his affectionate son, in the cemetery of the church. Since the departure of Dr. Cowles to the " other side of the river" he has been joined by nearly all his children,—Lysander, in 1857 ; Edwin; in .1861 ; Lewis, in 1861 ; Cornelia, in 1869; Sally, in 1872 ; and Betsey, in 1876. Now only two of that remarkable gfoup of children are left to tell the good deeds of the pioneer pastor,—Martha and William Elbert. They are waiting patiently and willingly to join their father and mother, brothers and sisters. Mrs. Helen C. Wheeler, of Butler, Missouri, Judge Samuel Cowles, of San Francisco, Mr. Edwin Cowles, of Cleveland, and Mr. Alfred Cowles, of Chicago, children of Dr. E. W. Cowles; Mrs. Charlotte Austin Seeley, of Austinburg, only living child of Mrs. Sally B. Austin ; Mrs. Cornelia C. Fuller, only living child of Mr. William Elbert Cowles ; Messrs. Edward and Lysander and Miss Julia, children of Mr. Lewis D. Cowles, are the grandchildren of Dr. Cowles now living. EDWIN COWLES. Edwin Cowles, editor and printer, born in Austinburg, September 19, 1825. He was the son of Dr. E. W. Cowles, and grandson of the Rev. Dr. G. H. Cowles, both of whom are elsewhere noticed in this publication. He resided with his father during his boyhood days in Cleveland and Detroit, with the exception of a few years he spent in Austiuburg. In 1839 he commenced learning the trade of a printer, and served his time mostly with the late Josiah A. Harris, editor of the Cleveland Herald. He finished his education at Grand River Institute, in 1843, where he spent a short period of time. In 1845, at the age of nineteen, in partnership with T. H. Smead, he embarked in the printing business, under the name of Smead & Cowles. In 1853 he dissolved with Mr. Smead and became a member of the firm of Medill, Cowles & Co., publishers of the daily Forest City Democrat, it being the result of the consolidation of the daily True Democrat and daily Forest City, which, as losing ventures, had been published separately by John C. Vaughan and Joseph Medill. In 1854 the name of the paper was changed to The Cleveland Leader. In 1855, Messrs. Medill and Vaughan sold out to Mr. Cowles, and emigrated to Chicago and purchased the Chicago Tribune, of which his brother Alfred became the business manager, leaving him the sole proprietor of the Leculer. 98 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. During the winter of 1854-55 the movement which led to the formation of the great Republican party was first made in the Leader editorial-room, resulting in the first Republican convention ever called being held in Pittsburgh. The gentlemen who met in the editorial-room for that purpose were Mr. John C. Vaughan, Mr. Joseph Medi11, Mr. J. F. Keeler, Hon. R. C. Parsons, Hon. R. P. Spalding, and some others. This movement resulted in the consolidation of the Free-Soil, Know-Nothing, and Whig parties into one great party, the history of which is so well known. Mr. Cowles carried on the paper alone until 1866, when he organized the Cleveland Leader Printing Company, in which he retained a large controlling interest. For several years after he was connected with the Leader he acted only as business-manager, and in 1859 he assumed the chief-editorship. From this time he steadily rose to prominence as an editor because of the strength and boldness of his utterances and his progressive and decided views on popular topics, which soon made his journal one of the most powerful in the west. He spoke out defiantly against the arrest and imprisonment in 1859, under the infamous fugitive law, of the Oberlin rescuers, some thirty in number. When the terrible black cloud of secession was looming up to a fearful proportion during the dark days of the winter of 1860-61, Mr. Cowles took a firm position in favor of the government suppressing the heresy of secession with the army and navy if necessary. For doing this he was denounced as being ultra and dangerous by many of the conservative Republican and Democratic papers, who were much frightened by the appearance of the political horizon. In 1861 he was appointed postmaster of Cleveland by Mr. Lincoin, and held that office for nearly five years. Under his administration as postmaster he established and perfected the system of free delivery of mail matter by letter-carriers, and, in spite of the opposition of the city press, be succeeded in making the system so effective and popular that the returns of the office to the department showed a larger free delivery than Cincinnati, St. Louis, Baltimore, and a larger percentage in proportion to population than any other city in the country. The result was the department held ttp the Cleveland office as a model for all other postmasters to copy after. In 1861, Mr. Cowles was the first to come out in print in favor of the nomination by the Republican party of David Tod, a War Democrat, for governor, for the purpose of uniting all the loyal elements in the cause of the Union. The suggestion was adopted almost unanimously by the rest of the loyal press, and Mr. Tod was nominated and elected. That same year, immediately after the battle of Bull Run, Mr. Cowles wrote and published editorially an article headed "Now is the time to abolish Slavery !" He took the position that the south, being in a state of rebellion against the general government, had forfeited all right to property,—that the government had a right to abolish slavery as it bad to capture and destroy rebel property, burn towns, etc., as a military necessity, especially so for the purpose of weakening the resources of the Confederacy by liberating in their midst a producing class from which it mainly derived its sinews of war. For taking this advanced position, the Leader was severely denounced by the conservative and timid Republican journals, which held it up as a dangerous paper,—that it was aiding the Rebellion by creating dissatisfaction among the War Democrats of the north. One or two of these weak-kneed journals even called on the President to remove its editor from the postmastership as a peace-offering to the south for having had the impudence to doubt the immunity of slaves over all other property from interference by the Federal military authorities. In less then one year after the publication of that article, Mr. Lincoin issued his Emancipation proclamation, which embodied precisely the same views. In 1863, Mr. Cowles suggested in the Leader the name of John Brough, to succeed Governor Tod in the gubernatorial chair. It was after the name of that arch-secessionist, Vallandigham, had been taken up by the copperhead Democracy for that office, and at a period during the war previous to the surrender of Vicksburg and the battle of Gettysburg, when the Union armies had met with a series of reverses, and discouragement had commenced its work among the conservative loyal element. The nomination of Vallandigham, following the election in 1862, when the Democrats had carried Ohio by a large majority, created great alarm among the friends of the Union for fear that the discouraging military outlook would have its effect towards favoring the peace-at-any-price party. Mr. Brough, although formerly a life-long Democrat, was a firm Union man under all circumstances, and withal his reputation for great executive ability was widely known, and 'for these reasons his name was announced as a candidate for nomination for governor by the Leader. It was warmly seconded by the loyal press, and he was nominated and elected by upwards of one hundred thousand majority over Mr. Vallandigham. He, Governor Morton, and. Governor Andrews formed that famous trio of great war governors whose names will go down in history side by side with Lincoin, Grant, Stanton, and Chase. In 1871, Mr. Cowles' attention was called to the great danger that existed from the various railroad crossings in the valley of the Cuyahoga between the heights' of the East and West Sides of Cleveland. He thereupon conceived the idea of a high bridge, or viaduct as it is generally called, to span the valley, connecting the hill-top on the west side with that on the cast side, thus avoiding going up and down hill and crossing the " valley of death." He wrote an elaborate editorial favoring the city building the viaduct. His plan met with a fierce opposi-0 tion from the other city papers, it being considered by them utopian and unnecessary, but it was submitted to the popular vote, and carried by an immense majority. This great work, costing over two million dollars, will be one of the wonders of Cleveland. In 1876 he was elected a delegate to the National Republican convention at Cincinnati, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for President. He was appointed to represent Ohio on the committee on platform, and was the author of the seventh plank in that platform, favoring a constitutional amendment forbidding appropriations out of any public fund for the benefit of any institution under sectarian control. The object of this amendment was twofold : first, to forever settle the question of dividing the school fund for the benefit of the Roman Catholic church ; second, to guard the future from the encroachments of that church, that is sure to result from its extraordinary increase in numbers. He saw very plainly that at the past ratio of increase the adherents of that church will outnumber the non-Catholics in half a century from now,. when they will pursue the same course that they pursued in New York city, where over twelve million dollars had been appropriated for Romish institutions in less than fifteen years, while less than one million had been appropriated to Protestant institutions, although the latter paid nine-tenths of all the taxes. This plank was received by the convention with more vociferous applause than all the rest of the platform did, and it was the only one that was called out .for a second reading. In 1877 he was complimented by President Hayes by being appointed one of the honorary commissioners to the Paris exposition. Mr. Cowles has now been connected with journalism for over a quarter a a century. The experience of his paper has been like the history of all daily papers. It had sunk previous to his being connected with it over thirty thousand dollars. The first nine years after he had taken hold of it it sunk over forty , thousand dollars more, and at the end of that time it commenced paying expenses, eventually resulting in his being able to pay off every cent of indebtedness. Its business has increased tenfold under his administration, and it has also the largest daily circulation of any paper west of the Allegheny, with the exception of two papers in Chicago, one in St. Louis, and two in Cincinnati, and is more than double the circulation of any Cleveland paper. When he commenced his editorial career his staff consisted of himself, one associate, and one city editor. Now it is composed of himself as chief editor, one managing, two assistant editors, and an editor each in charge of the commercial, city, literary and dramatic, and telegraphic departments, also one in charge of the Washington branch office, and four reporters, twelve in all. When the Leader was first started it was printed on a hand-press, at the rate of four a minute on one side. In 1847 it was printed on an Adams steam-press, at the rate of twelve a minute on one side. In 1854 it was printed on a single-cylinder press, at the rate of thirty a minute on one side. In 1863 a double-cylinder press did its work, at the rate of fifty-six a minute. In 1874, to meet the growing circulation, an additional double-cylinder press was added. In 1877 the most wonderful printing machine the world has yet seen was added, at an expense of thirty thousand dollars, which has printed an eight page paper both sides at once, the top of the pages delivered cut, the two halves pasted in the centre, and the whole folded, all in one operation, at the rate of as high as two hundred and twenty a minute, equivalent to four hundred and forty a minute on one'sidel This was the only press in the world at the time it was set up that would do all that amount of work simultaneously, it might be said. The foregoing statistics are given for the purpose of illustrating the success achieved by Mr. Cowles as a journalist. His chief characteristic as an editor is his fearlessness in treating all questions of the day without stopping to consider " whether he will lose any subscribers" by taking this or that side, and, like most men of his decided views, he has bitter enemies, who do not hesitate to do all in their power to attack him by fair and foul means, as well as warm friends. His great ambition is to have the Leader take the lead in the work of reform, the promulgation of progressive ideas, the elevation of humanity to as high a scale as possible, and to oppose in every shape tyranny and injustice, whether of church, state, capital, corporation, or trade unions, and at the same time to make it the most influential paper in the State, if not in the west. Hence the great circulation of the Leader. His success was the more remarkable on account of his laboring under the great disadvantage of being afflicted from birth with a defect in hearing, which HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO - 99 caused a peculiar impediment of speech that no parallel case has been found on record. Until he had reached the age of manhood the cause of this impediment was not discovered. Professor Kennedy, a distinguished teacher of elocution, became interested in his case, and, after an examination, he discovered that he never heard the hissing sound of the human voice, and consequently, not knowing that such a sound was in existence, he never made it ! Many of the consonants sounded alike to him ; that is, he was obliged to be governed by the motion of the lips and the sense of the word to ascertain the sounds of " b," " p," " d," " t," " v," etc., the vowel sound of "e" being heard without any trouble, but not the governing sound, which makes the consonant. He never heard the music of the bird, and, until he reached the age of twenty-three, he had always supposed that kind of musk was a poetical fiction. He never hears the upper notes of the piano, violin, organ, or the fife in martial music, but can hear low conversation without any trouble, provided the pronunciation is distinct. He has frequently put his ear close to a cage containing a pair of canary birds, and, although he could hear them fly, not a note would reach his ear. He would get up at five o'clock in the morning in the month of June, and go out into the field and listen with all his might, endeavoring to hear the music of the birds, but with no better success, although be could hear all notes below the seventh octave. He never could distinguish the difference between the hard and soft sounds of letters, consequently he would mix those sounds to some extent. In other words, up to the time he was twenty-five, the sounds of other people's pronunciation sounded precisely the same in his ear that his own pronunciation did to them. He has been able to improve his pronunciation greatly, and has taught himself to make the hissing sound mechanically, but he never hears that sound himself. Owing to his peculiar pronunciation and deafness, he was the butt of his fellow-printers while learning his trade with Mr. Harris, during his younger days, and many a hard-fought battle did he go through to defend himself from abuse. He fought grown-up journeymen as well as apprentices of his own age, and out of all who were in the habit of abusing him on account of his physical impediments not one ever prospered, and most of them became their own enemies. Mr. Cowles was ever active in all benevolent and charitable enterprises, giving liberally to them according to his means, and devoting the influence of his journal to their support and encouragement. In 1875 he was chairman of the committee of arrangements of the great calico ball given in the immense carpet ware-room of Beckwith, Sterling & Co., for the benefit of the Relief association and the two Protestant hospitals. Seven thousand invitations were sent out, and three thousand people, consisting of the elite of Cleveland, of northern Ohio, and western Pennsylvania, were present. The net profit of this grand entertainment was over five thousand dollars, and so perfect were all the arrangements that not one out of that immense crowd lost an article of wearing apparel in the cloak-room. It was the largest ball ever given in this country with, perhaps, the exception of the Jubilee ball, in Boston, in 1872. The following year he was chairman of the committee of arrangements of the grand bazaar for the benefit of the same hospitals, resulting in raising the sum of eight thousand dollars. Mr. Cowles is wedded to his profession, and never expects to leave it for any other; in other words, he expects to die in the harness. Owing to the power of the press in controlling public sentiment, backed up as it is by the aid of wonderful lightning printing machinery, the telegraph, that great association for the collection of news, the associated press, the division of intellectual labor into different departments, and the fast railroad trains, he considers journalism, if only managed in the interest of religion, morals, humanity, and of doing the greatest good to the greatest number, the grandest of all professions. And it will be his aim to do his share in the work of elevating that profession to the highest plane possible. Mr. Cowles was married, in 1849, to Miss Elizabeth C. Hutchinson, daughter of the Hon. Mosely Hutchinson, of Cayuga, New York. He had by this union six children, the youngest of whom died in infancy. His eldest daughter married Mr. Charles W. Chase, a merchant of Cleveland. His eldest son, Eugene, is a member of the Leader editorial staff, having charge of the Washington office as correspondent. EDWIN WEED COWLES, physician, born in Bristol, Connecticut, in the year 1794, removed to Austin-burg with his father, the Rev. Dr. Cowles, in the year of 1811. His ancestors were all of Puritan descent, except one line, which traced its origin to the Huguenots. On the Cowles side he was descended from ono of three brothers who settled in the town of Farmington, Connecticut, in 1652, where his father was horn. On his mother's side, who was a Miss Abigail White, of Stamford, Connecticut, he was a direct descendant of Peregrine White, the first white child born in New England. His grandmother on the Whites' side was descended from a - 25 - Huguenot, by the name of De Grasse, which name was subsequently changed to Weed. Rev. Thomas Hooker, the first clergyman who settled in Connecticut, was one of Dr. Cowles' ancestors. He was educated in the academy, Farmington, Connecticut, and was imbued by his father and mother with the highest principles of the Christian religion and love for his fellow-beings. Ile studied medicine with the late Dr. 0. K. Hawley, of Austinburg, and after receiving his degree he practiced medicine in Mantua, Portage county, Ohio, and in 1832 he removed with his family to Cleveland. In 1834 he removed to Detroit, and practiced there till 1838, when he returned to Cleveland, where he spent the remainder of his professional life, and made himself a high reputation both as a physician and a valuable citizen. His leading traits as a physician were the exercise of benevolence and fearlessness in the performance of his professional duties. These noble qualities were thoroughly illustrated when that great scourge, the Asiatic cholera, made its first appearance in Cleveland the first year he settled there. This disease was introduced by the arrival of the steamer " Henry Clay," which sailed up to the landing at the foot of Superior street; as usual in those early days, when there were no railroads and telegraphs, the crowd assembled at the landing to hear the news and to see who had come. As the boat neared the wharf the captain appeared on the deck, and exclaimed that " the cholera had broken out among his passengers and crew; that several were dead and a number more were down with it, and for God's sake to send a doctor aboard !" This announcement created a panic in the crowd. They all scattered and fled in every direction,—many taking their horses and fleeing into the country. A messenger went hurriedly to the office of Dr. Cowles, and with a frightened expression of countenance informed him that his services were needed,—that "the boat was filled with the dead and sick." The doctor promptly started for the boat, and exerted himself immediately with all his power to alleviate the sufferings of the sick. At a meeting held previously by the citizens of the then village of Cleveland it was voted, with only two dissentient votes, that no boats having the cholera aboard should be allowed to come into port or land their passengers, for fear of contagion. The two who opposed this inhuman act were the late Thomas P. May and Dr. Cowles. Under this action of the citizens the "Henry Clay" was obliged to leave. Dr. Cowles volunteered to accompany the sick and look after them, and in spite of the remonstrances of his friends, who believed he never could get through alive, he accompanied that charnel-ship to Detroit, and remained on it until everything possible bad been done to relieve the sick and to fight down the death-dealing scourge. His predominating trait was love of justice to all—the high and low, rich and poor. This sense was strongly developed in his hatred of the system of slavery, which, as he expressed it, "violated every commandment in the decalogue, every principle of justice, all laws of human nature, and destroyed the foundation of a common humanity." He was one of the first who came out. publicly and avowed themselves " abolitionists," at a time when it was considered disgraceful to be called by that term. He was one of the oldest members of the " old Liberty Guard," and many a poor fugitive slave has he aided to freedom via the underground railroad. As a politician he was somewhat prominent. He supported the old Whig party down to the time he voted for General Harrison, in 1840. In 1841 he joined the "Liberty party," the germ of the present Republican party. In all the walks of life he was distinguished for moral rectitude, honesty, and incorruptible integrity. As a gentleman of general information he rarely, if he ever did, meet with his peer, for, like John Quincy Adams, he never forgot what he read, and it was this gift that made him the remarkable conversationalist and controversialist that he was. He was a devout and active member of the Congregational church, and one of its most valued supporters. He was married in 1815 to Miss Almira Mills Foot, a lady of great force of character, of amiable disposition, and of a most affectionate nature. She was born in Norfolk, Connecticut, in 1790, and was descended from Nathaniel Foot, the first settler of Wethersfield. She was a half-sister of the late Joseph B. Cowles, of Austinburg, and of the late Hon. Samuel Cowles, who died in Cleveland in 1837. She died in 1846. After the death of his consort Dr. Cowles spent his remaining days among his children, who vied with each other in endeavoring to promote his comfort and smooth the ways of his declining days. He died in June, 1861, at the residence of his son, Mr. Edwin Cowles, in Cleveland. Had he lived only one and a half years longer he would have witnessed the great desire of his heart, —the abolition of slavery. As it was, like Moses of old, " he died in sight of the promised land." Dr. Cowles had six children. His first child, Samuel, died when three years of age. His second, Giles Hooker, died in Cleveland, aged twenty-three years, leaving four, who are living,—Mrs. Helen C. Wheeler, of Butler, Missouri ; Judge Samuel Cowles, of San Francisco, California; Edwin Cowles, editor of the Leader, Cleveland; and Alfred Cowles, one of the publishers of the Chicago Tribune.