OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 38 *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 38 Today's Topics: #1 Fw: Abbott's History of Ohio - Cha ["Maggie Stewart" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <1ade01bf6e83$2ae22ca0$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: Fw: Abbott's History of Ohio - Chapter 40 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: Kay L. Mason Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 9:57 AM Chapter XL Lives of Governors - Continued Hon. Duncan McArthur Duncan McArthur, who was Governor of Ohio from 1830 to 1832, was like many others of our most successful men of Scottish descent. He was born of poor parents in the year 1772, in Dutchess County, New York. When eight years of age, his parents moved to an humble log cabin in the solemn wilderness of Western Pennsylvania. Duncan was a stout lad and was hired out at day's work and month's work on the adjacent clearings. Nothing can be more cheerless in aspect than the commencement of clearings in the gloomy forest. The dead, girdled trees, with their leafless, skeleton branches deforming the sky; the blackened stumps; the decaying trunks of gigantic trees, uprooted by the wind; the rough and broken soil; the rank weeds, and the comfortless looking, windowless hut of logs, all combine to present a picture which to the eye of taste is revolting. Amid such scenes, a day laborer, coarsely clad and coarsely fed, Duncan McArthur was reared. Little could he then have supposed that he was to become one of the most wealthy men in the nation, that he was to occupy the highest posts of honor, and take his stand as the acknowledged equal of the most distinguished men. He contrived, by occasionally spending a few weeks in school, to pick up a little learning, so that he could read and write. Having naturally a strong and inquisitive mind, he was ever gaining additional education and rising in mental culture. Like most of the young men of his day, who had energy of character and their fortunes to make, he decided to emigrate to the West. With that object in view, and having no money, when about eighteen years of age he enlisted under General Harmar, for his campaign against the Indians north of the Ohio River. In a previous part of this volume we have given an account of that disastrous expedition. Barely surviving the perils and hardships of this terrible campaign, in 1792 he again enlisted as a private in that terrible war with the savages, which for so many years desolated our western frontiers with smouldering ruins and blood. At the battle of Captina, which was foung in May, 1792, young McArthur took a conspicuous part. The conflict took place in May, 1792, in what is now Belmont County, Ohio. The American troops, a small band, were attacked by an overwhelming force of savages. We find the following statement in reference to this event: "The commanding officer was shot early in the action. McArthur, although the youngest man in the company, was chosen in its command. His conduct on this occasion was such as to elicit the hearty applause of his associates. Young McArthur showed the best of judgment, and fought in such a manner as to protect his men from the fire of their enemies as much as possible. When the order for retreat was finally given, Captain McArthur, with a gallant little band of troops, covered the retreat and ordered the wounded to be sent in advance. This fight made him the general favorite of the frontiersmen." Returning from this campaign, Captain McArthus, still a young man, but twenty years of age, hired himself out for a few months to work at some salt springs in Maysville, Kentucky. Looking for jobs wherever he could find them, he ere long engaged as chair-bearer to assist General Massey in surveying the Scioto Valley. There again he was employed as a scout to watch the proceedings of the Indians and to give warning of their approach. This was one of the most difficult and perilous of enterprises. It required the greatest sagacity, coolness and bravery. The scouts, two only together, had to paddle up the lonely river and penetrate the forests to great distances. They were ever in danger of encountering bands of hundreds of Indian warriors. If captured, death, by the most awful torture, was their inevitable doom. Several of his adventures we have already described. In the Spring of the year 1793, four of these heroic scouts were employed continually to explore the Kentucky bank of the river, a distance of about 150 miles from Maysville east, to the mouth of the Big Sandy. Bands of Indian warriors, more ferocious than wolves, were continually crossing the river from the northern wilds, carrying woe and death to the humble homes of Kentucky. The object of these scouts was to keep a vigilant eye upon the river, and give the immediate alarm when the savages appeared. The names of the four young men who quite signalized themselves in this service were Duncan McArthur, Samuel Davis, Nathaniel Beasley and Samuel McDowell. These heroes went in pairs, through the pathless, uninhabited wilderness, two leaving each extremity of the route each week, and meeting nearly opposite the mouth of the Scioto. The vigilance of the howling savages was such that it was dangerous to fire a gun at game, or to build a fire, lest the smoke by day or the gleam by night should bring the moccasined foe, with his soft tread, upon them. Occasionally the four would unite in exploring some solitary stream. Two would, as noiselessly as possible, screening themselves beneath the overhanging foliage, paddle the birch canoe, while the other two would advance on foot, through the dense forest, about a mile in advance, keeping a sharp lookout. After spending several months in these perilous labors, Captain McArthur again engaged in the service of General Massey, as assistant surveyor. In this employment he was occupied for several years. He assisted in laying out several towns, and among others, Chilicothe, where he finally took up his residence. It was in this service that he laid the foundation of his large fortune, for thus he became acquainted with the richest lands in Ohio, and was enabled to make investments which afterwards brought him in perhaps an hundred fold. With increasing wealth and reputation, and ever growing confidence in his own abilities, he began to feel ambitious of political distinction. There were, however, other men in his county of equal ambition, and men of far higher intellectual acquirements. Captain McArthur had formidable rivals to contend against. In the year 1805 he was elected to the State Legislature. His round-about common sense and his industry enabled him to take, from the beginning, a very respectable position in that body. His services as a soldier influenced him to take a deep interest in the military organization of the state, and he rose in office until he attained the rank of major general. In the war of 1812, he marched, as colonel of one of the Ohio regiments, to Detroit with General Hull. In this unfortunate expedition Colonel McArthur was second in command. Upon the surrender he became a prisoner of war to the English, and being released on his parole, returned to Ohio, deeply mortified and exasperated. Much as General Hull's military character suffered from this expedition, the reputation of Colonel McArthur remained unblemished. Soon after this he was elected a member of the Congressional Legislature on the Jeffersonian, or Democratic, ticket. He succeeded Hon. Jeremiah Morrow, and was elected by an unprecedented majority. Being released from his parole by exchange, he immediately resigned his seat in Congress and re-entered the army as brigadier general, under General Harrison. In 1814 he succeeded General Harrison in command of the Northwestern army. He proved an able and a gallant officer. At the battle of Malcolm's Mills he defeated the British with great loss on their side. Upon the declaration of peace, General McArthur again retired to his farm. But he was immediately sent to the Legislature, and soon after was appointed Commissioner to the Indians at Detroit, Fort Meigs and St. Marys. For three years he was employed in these arduous duties, by appointment of the President of the United States. After filling several state offices, he was again, in 1822, sent a representative to Congress from the Chilicothe district. Having served one term very acceptably, he declined a re-election, and devoted his energies to his long neglected private affairs. He was now a man of large wealth, and his business was widely extended, in furnaces, mills, and real estate. In 1830 he was chosen Governor of Ohio. The two years of his administration passed tranquility in the ordinary routine of business. Weary of public life, he retired to his beautiful residence, called "Fruit Hill," near Chilicothe. Here he spent the evening of his days until his death, which occurred in 1840, in the 68th year of his age. About ten years before an accident befel him at Columbus by which he was dreadfully mangled, and which caused him the most excruciating pain. This accident was the ultimate cause of his death. Governor McArthur was emphatically the architect of his own fortune. He died, leaving his children the legacy of a good name and a large estate. Hon. Robert Lucas The romance of frontier life, with all its hardships, has peculiar charms for the imagination. The log house in the primitive forest, crowded with game of every variety; the crystal streams flowing by the door; the boundless prairie, at one time a perfect wilderness of bloom, with its flowers of gorgeous hues, again blazing in sublime configuration, and again covered with deer and buffaloes, whose numbers are to be counted by thousands; the Indian canoe, floating like a bubble upon the sea; the bands of savage hunters and warriors in their picturesque costume, all these combine to give attractions to men of imaginative mood. Amid essentially such scenes Governor Lucas passed his early days. He was born at Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, Virginia, on the 1st of April, 1781. His father was a descendent of William Penn. His mother was of Scotch extraction. Dissatisfied with slavery, Mr. Lucas freed every one of his adult slaves and made humane provision for all. He then removed to the soil of the Northwestern Territory, north of the Ohio, which was consecrated to freedom. He took up his abode in the beautiful but solitary village of the Scioto at the commencement of the present century. Ohio had not then been admitted into the Union, and there were but few settlers scattered over its vast expanse. Robert was then about nineteen years of age. We infer that his father was a man of considerable means, since he was able to give his son a good practical education. A Scotch schoolmaster taught him mathematics and surveying. As a skillful surveyor he found renumerative employment immediately in the new and unexplored territory. In 1810 he married Miss Elizabeth Brown, who died two years after, leaving an infant daughter. In 1816 he married Miss Sumner, a young lady from Vermont, who had accompanied her parents in their emigrants from the rugged hills of New England to the fertile prairies of the West. When young Lucas was but twenty-three years of age he was appointed County Surveyor of Scioto County. The standing of the family is evidenced by the fact that his elder brother, Joseph, was at that time associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas. When twenty-five years of age, he received a commission as justice of the peace for Union Township, Scioto County. In those days every able-bodied man was bound to be a soldier. Robert Lucas passed through all the military grades to that of major general of the Ohio militia. In the war of 1812, when the military science of Great Britain was united with the ferocity of savage warriors, all the energies of Mr. Lucas were called into requisition. He sent twelve hundred of his brigade to march to Detroit. Placing himself at the head of a small company of picked men he advanced through the forest to Greenville to watch the movements of the Indians. The volunteering his services in the dangerous capacity of a scout, he passed through adventures of peril, of hardships, of hair-breadth escapes, the detail of which would fill a volume. Governor Lucas accompanied Hull's army in crossing the Detroit River and invading Canada. He took so active a part in all the movements there that many, dissatisfied with General Hull, and inspired with confidence in the military ability of young Lucas, indiscreetly urged him to take the commmand, which, of course, he refused to do. Hull's army, defeated and humiliated, retreated across the river, and Detroit was surrendered to the enemy. From this surrender, Mr. Lucas made his escape by putting his sword into his brother's trunk, exchanging his uniform for a citizen's dress, and walking into the town before the British. After taking notes of all that was transpiring, he embarked on board a small vessel and reached Cleveland in safety. He was this year commissioned as captain in the regular army, and rose to the rank of colonel in that service, when other duties called for his resignation. In 1816 he became a member of the Ohio Legislature, and for nineteen consecutive years served as one of the Presidential Electors of Ohio. In 1832 he was elevated to the distinguished honor of chairman of the Democratic National Convention, in Baltimore, which nominated General Jackson for his second term of service. Robert Lucas had thus become one of the most prominent men of Ohio. His name was known throughout the state. In 1832 he was elected governor of Ohio, and re-elected in 1834. He declined a third nomination. It was during his administration that the perplexing question rose respecting the boundary line between Ohio and Michigan. We have already described the nature of this controversy and its results. Governor Lucas removed from Portsmouth, in Scioto County, to Piketon, in Pike County. Here he resided twenty-two years. He was then appointed by President Van Buren Governor of the Territory of Iowa. To this office was joined the great responsibility of Superintendent of Indian Affairs. A journey from the interior of Ohio through the pathless wilderness to the banks of the Upper Mississippi was then a great undertaking. It occupied weeks, and exposed one to great hardships and not a few perils. We have not access to any record of the incidents of this journey. The governor set out from home, leaving his family behind him, on the 25th of July, and did not reach Burlington, then the temporary seat of the territorial government, until the middle of August. He was accompanied by Mr. Jessie Williams, as clerk of the Indian Department, and by Mr. Theodore S. Parvin, as his private secretary. It was not until the next year that his family joined him. His subsequent history was troubled and eventful, as he was called to encounter many very serious political difficulties, and to struggle against the most formidable opposition. But this portion of his career is connected with the annals of Iowa rather then with those of Ohio. God preserved his life through more than the allotted three-score-years and ten. He died on the 7th of February, 1853, at the age of seventy-two. It is said that all the members of the family save one were gathered around the dying bed of the affectionate husband and the tender father. His remains now repose in the cemetery adjoining Iowa City. Iowa is much indebted for her prosperity to the impulse given by her first governor. He zealously advocated the common school system, now one of the crowning glories of the state. No gambler or drunkard could receive an appointment from him. Through his influence probably Iowa was, it is said, the first of the states to enact by the popular voice a prohibitory liquor law. The marble shaft which marks his grave bears the inscription, Robert Lucas Died February 7th, 1853. Aged 71 years, 19 months and 6 days. He served his country in the war of 1812; was elected twice Governor of Ohio, and was the organic Governor of Iowa Territory. "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." Hon. Joseph Vance Joseph Vance was Governor of Ohio from 1836 to 1838. He was born on the 21st of March, 1786, in Washington County, Pennslyvania. The blood of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians circulated in his veins. In 1788 his father, a poor man, with his small family, emigrated to the Northwestern Territory. Joseph was a toddling babe two years old. The family floated down the river on a raft, and for a time resided in solitude and silence of the wilderness of the southern or Kentucky shore of the river. These were the dreadful days of Indian warfare, of war-whoops and tomahawks and scalping-knives. The savages were numerous, and were led at that time by a renowned Indian called Captain Pipe, and by the renegade white man, Simon Girty. Mr. Vance built him a strong block-house, where his neighbors could join him for defense, in case of alarm. Their home was in the region to which we have alluded as traversed by McArthur's scouts. Here young Joseph became acquainted with McArthur, and a friendship was formed which lasted through life. In the year 1801, when Joseph was fifteen years of age, his father crossed the river into Ohio. After moving from place to place he reared the first cabin erected in what is now Urbana, Ohio, and became a permanent resident there. Under these circumstances the educational advantages of Joseph Vance were very limited. He had no instruction save the little teaching which his father could give him, and six months' schooling from an itinerant Irish schoolmaster. Young Joe, as he was familiarly called, commenced life as a plow-boy and a wood-chopper, ready to turn his hand to any job which might present itself. He was a stout, energetic boy, never afraid of hard work, and remarkably skilled in swinging the ax. After working very industriously one season he laid up sufficient money to purchase a yoke of oxen. With this team, having purchased several barrels of salt, he traveled through all the distant and scattered settlements of Kentucky, peddling out his load at the log cabins. This shows certainly very remarkable force of character in a boy of fifteen. The cattle moved at a snail's pace. The roads were often horrible, with bogs to wade through and rivers to ford. The gloomy forest was to be traversed, the path being often obstructed by gigantic trees blown down by the wind. Often for weary leagues he would find no cabin. At night, all alone, he would camp out, building a large fire to keep off the howling wolves and panthers, and standing guard through the night, rifle in hand, to protect his oxen from these ferocious beasts of prey. The chivalry of this world is not all to be found on the field of battle. The arduous enterprises of peaceful life often call into requisition all the noblest and most heroic traits of human character. Young Vance continued this business for several years, finding it very profitable. He often suffered severely from hunger, thirst and exposure. Not infrequently he would find a stream so swollen by the rain that it was necessary for him to wait several days in the tangled forest on its banks for the water to subside so that he could cross the ford. Sometimes he would find a swamp so wet and soft that it became necessary to unload the team and drive the cattle over first, and then roll each barrel over by strength of hand. At twenty-one years of age Joseph Vance married Miss Mary Lemen, of Urbana. Two years after that he was elected captain of a rifle company, which was several times called out to fight the Indians in the murderous excursions upon which the savages entered just before the war of 1812. As a rendezvous for his company on its expeditions, he built a strong block-house on the edge of a prairie, a few miles north of Urbana, which the wary savages could not approach unseen. With his brother John, in 1812, he piloted Hull's army through the pathless forest to Fort Meigs, now Perrysburg. It was extremely difficult at that day to transport goods to those distant wilds. They were carried through the dark and dense forest, across the country to Fort Findlay, on the upper water of Blanchard's Fork. There they were paddled or poled in canoes down the shallow and winding stream to the Auglaize. Thence they pushed down that stream, full of whirling eddies and shallows, upon which their boat not unfrequently grounded. Upon reaching the Maumee they had good boat navigation to Fort Meigs. The remarkable fact is stated that on one occasion, when hopelessly stranded on the Auglaize, having unavailing used every effort again to get afloat, a friendly Indian chief appeared upon the bank and shouted out to them in broken English: "Get heap brush; make big fire; heap smoke; make cloud; get rain." This indicates, it has been said, that the theory of M. Espy, the Storm King, was not original with him. The industry of Joseph Vance was untiring. Whatever he undertook prospered. In the midst of all these accumulated labors he was in 1812 elected to the State Legislature, and continued a member of that body for four succeeding years. Increasing in wealth, he, with two others, in 1820, purchased a large tract of land upon the upper waters of Blanchard's Fork and founded the town of Findlay. At the same time he was elected Representative in Congress, and for fifteen years, until 1836, continued a member of that body. He was always at his post, and though seldom attempting to speak, was highly regarded for his sound judgment. Politically, he was a Whig, and a warm admirer of Henry Clay. In the year 1836 he was elected Governor of Ohio. Nothing in interest occurred during his term of office. From the gubernatorial chair he retired to his farm near Urbana, intending to spend the remainder of his days free from the agitations of office. But the voice of the people soon called upon him again to the State Senate; and in 1842 he was re-elected to Congress. In 1850, while attending a constitutional convention, he was struck with paralysis, and died at Urbana on the 24th of August, 1852. Governor Vance had left behind him a high reputation for industry, ability and enlightened patriotism. To his tireless energies the state is much indebted for its prosperity. Hon. Wilson Shannon In the year 1802 Mr. Shannon, father of Wilson Shannon, emigrated from Pennsyvania, and took up his residence in Belmont County, Ohio. One year after Mr. Shannon had reared his humble home in these solitudes, through which Indian bands were ever roving, his son Wilson was born, on the 24th of February, 1803. In this deep seclusion and silence of the wilderness Wilson remained, assisting his father in the varied duties of the farm, until he was very limited. In 1818 he was sent to school, for one year, at what was called the Ohio University, at Athens. With such preparation, at the close of the year he entered Transylvania University, at Lexington, Kentucky. In this school he remained two years, and then returned to his native county, to commence the study of law. Having completed these studies, he opened a office in the little struggling village of St. Clairsville, which had become the shire town of Belmont County. Here, for eight years, Mr. Shannon continued engaged in the various pursuits of a country lawyer, ever rising in reputation as a man of ability and integrity. In the year 1832 his neighbors indicated their estimate of his worth by nominating him as the Democratic candidate for a seat in Congress. But Whig principles then ruled the state, and Mr. Shannon, as expected, lost the election. Two years after this, in 1834, he was nominated for the office of district attorney of the country. His appreciation by his neighbors is evidenced in the fact that he was chosen by a majority of twelve hundred votes. The duties of this office he discharged with such ability that his reputation was greatly extended. In 1838, the Democrats of Ohio, in looking over the state in search of the most popular man they could find as their candidate for the gubernatorial chair, selecteed Wilson Shannon. He was nominated by the convention, and after a very closely contested election was chosen by about thirty-six hundred majority. At the close of the term he was re-nominated by acclamation. Hon. Thomas Corwin, one of the most popular and eloquent of men, was the Whig candidate. Party politics then ran very high throughout the whole nation. The slavery question was becoming one of absorbing interest. Martin Van Buren and William Henry Harrison were rival candidates for the Presidency. Governor Shannon addressed the people in nearly every county in the state. Mr. Corwin did the same. In this conflict "Greek met Greek." "Tom Corwin," as he was familiarly called, possessed unrivaled powers to move the masses. The day of election came. "Tom" was chosen by a majority of fifteen thousand votes. The personal popularity of Governor Shannon was manifest from the fact that the state went against Van Buren, the Democratic candidate for the Presidency, by a majority of twenty-five thousand. Governor Shannon, retiring from office, returned to the practice of law in Belmont County. Two years after this, in 1842, the Democratic Convention again, with entire unanimity, nominated Governor Shannon for the chair of the chief executive. Governor Corwin was again the Whig candidate. Both men canvassed the state. Governor Shannon won by about four thousand majority. In the Spring of 1843, the National Government tendered to Governor Shannon the office of Minister to Mexico. In June he repaired to the "Halls of the Montezumas," and discharged the then exceedingly difficult and delicate duties of ambassadore at the Mexican Court for two years. Upon the annexation of Texas, when the Mexican authorities renounced all diplomatic intercourse with the United States, Governor Shannon returned home and again resumed the practice of law. In the discharge of these peaceful labors he continued for seven years. In 1852 he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Congress from the Belmont district, and was chosen by a majority of thirteen hundred votes. His action in Congress gave such satisfaction to his party, then in power, that he was appointed by the President Governor of the Territory of Kansas. The direful conflict which soon culmination in civil war was even then beginning to develop its energies upon those far-distant plains. It was the great struggle between freedom and slavery with soon deluged our land in one of the most sanguinary wars this war-scathed globe has ever witnesses. Of Governor Shannon's administration in Kansas we know but little. No mortal man could then satisfy the antagonistic parties. After holding the office about fourteen months, in 1856 he was superseded by John W. Geary. In 1857 Governor Shannon removed his family to Kansas, and opened a law office in Lecompton, then the capital of the territory. His reputation was such that he immediately entered upon a very extensive practice. An immense amount of litigation grew out of contested land claims, under the preemption laws of the United States. Upon the admission of Kansas as a state of the Union the capital was removed to Topeka. Governor Shannon then removed to the City of Lawrence, where he still resides, in the year 1874, revered and beloved by all who know him. He has already passed his three-score years an ten. May a kind Providence lead him serenely through the evening of his days, till his laborious and useful earthly life shall terminate in translation to a better land. Hon. Thomas Corwin In the year 1793, when the present State of Ohio was an almost unbroken wilderness, Matthias Corwin - a man of some note in his day - took up his residence in what is now called Warren County, Ohio. Though one of the most respectable and honored men in the state, his children in their wide seclusion and log cabin could enjoy but a few advantages of education. His son Thomas was a bright boy, who was sure to triumph over all adverse circumstances. The first school the boy entered was held in a log shed which his father and some neighbors, who were anxious for the education of their children, had constructed by the labor of a few hours. It stood upon the right bank of a little stream called Turtle Creek, about a mile from the thriving town of Lebanon. A young man by the name of Dunlevy, who subsequently attained some distinction, taught the school. It was however in operation only one or two months in the year. In 1803, eight years after Mr. Corwin's removal to that region, the growing settlement numbered about fifty families, mostly dwelling in log houses and quite scattered in the cultivation of their farms. A continuous school was established. Still Thomas could attend only during the winter months. His services during the summer were required in the labors of the farm. He was, however, an earnest student, eager to learn, and endowed with unusual natural abilities. His leisure hours he improved, and thus laid the foundation of his future fame and fortune. Thomas was about fifteen years of age when, in 1812, our country became involved in the second war with Great Britain. Our unnatural enemies were stimulating the savages all along our northern frontier to kill, burn and destroy. General Hull had made his disastrous surrender of Detroit. All the plans of the War Department in the Northwest were thus deranged. Our soldiers, unsupplied with food, were in danger of starving. In this emergence Judge Corwin, the father of Thomas, determined to send a team to the extreme frontier loaded with supplies for the suffering troops. Young Thomas drove the team. This is almost the only exciting adventure during his life. He was a politician, a statesman, an orator. His great efforts and his great triumphs were in addressing popular assemblies and in legislative halls, And yet this apparently trivial incident probably exerted a powerful influence in promoting his future success in life. The backwoodsmen in former years were very fond of striking titles. Strange as it may seem, there were thousands who in those days of comparative ignorance deemed a man better qualified to fill the highest office in the state because when a boy he had driven a wagon through an almost pathless wilderness. And played in youthful years will doubtless be developed in mature life. When in 1840 Thomas Corwin was candidate for Governor of Ohio, the rallying cry of the campaign was "Tom Corwin, the Wagoner Boy." A vast assemblage of his supporters wwas congregate at Columbus. One of the speakers roused the enthusiasm of the masses by the following words: "When the brave Harrison and his gallant army were exposed to the dangers and hardships of the Northwestern frontier, separated from the interior, on which they were dependent for their supplies, by the brushwood and swamps of St. Mary's country, through which there was no road, where each wagoner had to make his way wherever he could find a passable place, leaving traces and routes which are still visible for a space of several days' journey in length, there was one team managed by a little, dark-complexioned, hardy-looking lad, apparently about fifteen or sixteen years old, who was familiarly called Tom Corwin. Through all the that service he proved himself a good whip and an excellent reinsman. And in the situation in which we are about to place him he will be found equally skillful." A popular song aided in exciting the enthusiasm of the masses during this successful canvass. The first verse, which we give, will show the character of the whole: "Success to you, Tom Corwin! Tom Corwin, our true hearts love you! Ohio has no nobler son, In worth there's none above you. And she will soon bestow On you her highest honor; And then our state will proudly show Without a stain upon her." In this mysterious life of ours we seldom know what are blessings and what are calamities. Thomas returning from the frontier, resumed his labor upon the farm. One day he seriously injured his knee, which so crippled him that for some time he was incapable of performing any physical labor. During tedious months of confinement his only resource and his delightful resource, was books. He thus enlarged and disciplined his mind, laid up valuable stores of knowledge, and acquired that command of language which made him one of the most effective extempore speakers our country has ever known. The scholarly tastes and habits he thus acquired led him to engage in the study of law. He was a hard student, and acquired the reputation of an accomplished scholar. In 1817 he was admitted to the bar, and at once took a commanding position. He was not only a well-read lawyer, but he was a sound reasoner and an eloquent speaker. The reputation of the young lawyer rapidly increased. In 1822 he was elected to the General Assembly of Ohio. He served but a short time, and very wisely retiring from the Assembly, devoted all his energies to his profession. His practice became very extensive and lucrative. In 1829 partisan politics ran very high to the digust of all sober men. Mr. Corwin, much against his will consented to be the candidate of the intelligent portion of the community, who wished to rebuke the demagogism of the times. The popularity of Mr. Corwin was such that he was elected by a large majority of votes. In 1830 he represented his district in the Congress of the United States, where he continued, by successive elections, for ten years. In 1840, as we have mentioned, he was nominated for governor at a great mass convention, held at Columbus. He was quite triumphantly elected. He served but one term, from 1840 to 1842. The fluctuation of politics gave a rival candidate a plurality of votes. The office of governor, with the limited powers which, under the constitution, he then possessed, had few attractions for Mr. Corwin. Facetiously he remarked: "The principal duties of the governor are to appoint notaries public and pardon convicts in the penitentiary." A generous and humane spirit characterized the administration of Governor Corwin. He made special inquiry into the conduct of those in the state's prison. If there was anyone whose deportment had been good during his confinement, and who gave promise of reformation, the governor would sign a pardon a few days before the expiration of his term, that he might be saved the disgrace of lifelong exclusion from all political franchises. His two annual meetings were greatly admired for the sound doctrine advocated, and for the eloquence with which his ideas were expressed. In 1845 Mr. Corwin was elected to the honorable and responsible post of United States Senator. He discharged the duties of this office with distinction, until 1850, when President Fillmore appointed him Secretary of the Treasury. In 1852 he returned from public life to his home among his old neighbors and friends in Lebanon. He had now a national reputation, and though regarding Lebanon as his home, he opened a law office in Cincinnati. But it is seldom that one who has occupied a responsible position amidst the excitements of Washington, can long be contented with the tranquil scenes of private life. He consented again to stand as a candidate for the Thirty-sixth Congress, and was triumphantly elected. He never rose to speak unless he had something important to say. The consequence was that whenever he appeared upon the floor he commanded the undivided attention of the house. There were occasions when he exhibited powers of eloquence which were rarely excelled. No man was more quick of discern the weakness of an adversary's position. In wielding the weapons of sarcasm and ridicule he was almost unrivaled. These dangerous powers were so under the control of his amiable and gentle disposition, that he rarely excited the animosity of his opponents. The unquestioned sincerity which pervaded every word he uttered, gave great persuasive power to all he said. In March, 1861, President Lincoln appointed Governor Corwin Minister to Mexico, for which post he sailed the following month. He remained in Mexico until May, 1864, when he returned to the United States, and opened a law office in the City of Washington. Mr. Corwin continued here in the practice of his profession until his death on the 18th of December, 1865. While in attendance at a party given to members of Congress and other prominent persons from Ohio, at the residence of Mr. Wetmore, on the evening of December 16, he was suddenly stricken down by an attack of apoplexy. In two hours he became unconscious, and remained in this condition till death relieved him. His remains were conducted to his old home in Lebanon, Ohio, by a committee of Congressmen and other prominent citizens of Ohio. Governor Corwin, in his conversational eloquence, ever drew social groups around him. Though not a man of collegiate culture, he was highly educated man, far surpassing in his mental furniture thousands of those who have spent listless years in collegiate halls. From boyhood he had exhibited, in private life, the utmost integrity and purity of character. In his profession career, a high sense of honor distinguished him. He was a diligent student through his whole life, ever enlarging and strengthening his mental facilities. And when, at a good old age, he was summoned from the scenes of his useful and active earthly career the whole nation mourned the loss of one of the most illustrious of her sons. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V00 Issue #38 ******************************************