Hamilton City (part 5 of 12)

sonian ordinance of 1787, in opposition to southern politicians and northern doughfaces, would be held at the court-house, in Hamilton, Ohio, Saturday, July 29, 1848, to appoint delegates to the Buffalo convention, which would meet in Buffalo, New York, on the 9th of August, following, to nominate candidates for President and Vice-president of the United States, who would pledge themselves to carry out the principles of the Wilmot Proviso as applied to the free Territories lately acquired from Mexico. The friends of these measures were respectfully asked to participate in the proceedings. Some of the best publie speakers in Ohio had been invited to attend.

Valentine Chase, who little foresaw the bloody end of his own life, when a member of the Ohio Legislature introduced a bill on the subject of the immigration of colored persons, which we reproduce as showing that the prejudices of a century ago were still in existence thirty years since. The editor of the Telegraph approved the proposed enactment, and thought that there were enough negroes in Ohio. ''If the black race continues to increase among us as it has done for the past few years, there will hardly be room for us."

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that from and after the passage of this act, it shall not be lawful for any black or mulatto person to come into this State for the purpose of residing or remaining therein, and if any such black or mulatto shall hereafter, in violation of the provisions of this act, come into this State and remain or reside therein, he or she shall, so long as he or she shall so remain in the State, be incapable of acquiring or holding any property, real or personal, therein; and shall, moreover, upon satisfactory proof thereof being made before any justice of the peace of the proper county, as hereinafter provided, be removed and taken out of this State upon the warrant of the said justice of the peace, which warrant it is hereby made the duty of said justice to issue ; and it is hereby further made the duty of any constable to whom such warrant may be directed to serve and return the same according to the. command thereof.

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty-of every constable within this State, as soon as it shall come to his knowledge that any black or mulatto person has, contrary to the provisions of the first section of this act, come into this State, and is residing therein, forthwith to give notice thereof to some justice of the peace of his county, and the said justice of the peace shall cause notice of such information or complaint to be given to such black or mulatto person, and if said black or mulatto shall not, within ten days from the service of the said notice, either remove out of this State, or appear before the said justice of the peace, and by his own oath or otherwise satisfy the said justice that he or she is not remaining in this State in violation of the provisions of the first section of this act, the said justice shall cause the said black or mulatto person to be proceeded against according to the provisions of the first section of this act. Provided, that nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any black or mulatto person from coming into this State for temporary purposes merely, and not with the intention of remaining therein.

Sec. 3. The said justice shall subpoena such witnesses as the party may require, and if upon hearing the testimony the said justice shall be of opinion that the said black or mulatto person is remaining within this State contrary to the intent and meaning of this act, he shall so adjudge, and shall issue his warrant as directed by the first section of this

Src. 5. If any justice of the peace or constable shall willfully neglect or refuse to perform any duty required by this act, he shall, on conviction thereof by indictment, be fined in any sum not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars, and shall, moreover, forfeit his office.

In a notice of the Miami Paper Mill, in 1849, it was said that this establishment was built upon the Hamilton and Rossville Hydraulic, in the northern part of the town, and spoke volumes in favor of the industry and enterprise of its proprietors, Messrs. Beckett, Martins & Rigdon. The main building was seventy feet by forty, and two and a half stories high, above the basement - in which were four rag engines, and rag cutting and dressing machinery, driven by a water-wheel thirteen feet in diameter, with twenty feet buckets. The paper machine and finishing rooms were in a wing ninety-four by thirtyeight feet, and one story high. The paper machine was of Fourdrinier's pattern, built by Messrs. Goddard & Rice, of Worcester, Massachusetts. It combined all the modern improvements in paper-making, and was a fine piece of mechanism. The mill was capable of turning out from one thousand seven hundred to two thousand pounds per day. The buildings were sufficient for another machine and four additional engines.

John L. Martin

John L. Martin, a native of Chittenden County, Vermont, emigrated to Ohio in 1837, and located at Hamilton, Butler County, in the Spring of 1846. He descends, on his father's side, from a Scotch family, who emigrated to Vermont - then disputed territory as between New York and New Hampshire - about the year 1770. His father, James Martin, born in 1772, was a captain in the Vermont volunteers at the battle of Plattsbure, September Ids 1814s Tie Vermonters, on that occasion, were, strictly speaking, volunteers, for the then governor of the State, Martin Chittenden, was such a determined Federalist that he refused to issue his executive proclamation ordering out the State militia. But the hardy sons of Vermont, despite the governor's opposition, shouldered their muskets, crossed the lake in sloops and batteaux to the scene of conflict, and were largely instrumental in achieving the victory which practically settled the controversy as to the supremacy of Lake Champlain. His mother was from a Connecticut family of the name of Campbell, somewhat conspicuous in Revolutionary annals. The head of the family was one of the three hundred defenders of '' Fort Forty," at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, nearly all of whom were massacred by Tories and Indians, under the Tory leader, Colonel John Butler, in FITS:

The subject of this sketch was born at Burlington Falls, now Winooski City, January 4, 1814. He enjoyed the usual educational advantages furnished by the district schools of that day, until after having served an apprenticeship at millwrighting he entered a school of mathematics and civil engineering at Burlington, under the tuition of John Johnson, Esq., then the surveyorgeneral of the State of Vermont. Here he remained one year. At the expiration of that time - the Spring of 1837 - Edwin F. Johnson, son of the above, who then held the office of chief engineer of the State of New York, organized a corps of engineers for the survey of the New York and Erie Railroad, which, even at that early day, had been projected and State aid voted by the Legislature. Young Martin was to have had a subordinate place in that corps, but before the surveys were actually commenced the financial embarrassments of that memorable period came suddenly upon the country, resulting in universal bank suspensions, and paralyzing every public enterprise. But the growing West was an inviting field of adventure, and thither he went.

After a stay of a few months at Cleveland, he engaged in the service of the State on the Ohio Canal south of Columbus. From 1839 until he came to Hamilton, in 1846, he was engaged in building flouring-mills through the central portion of the State, from Toledo to Portsmouth. His first engagement here was the rebuilding of the Erwin, Hunter & Erwin Mill, after its partial destruction by fire, in the Spring of that year. In the Fall following he went to Wisconsin to locate a hydraulic improvement on the Milwaukee River, north of that city. Returning from Wisconsin, he engineered the repairs to the old toll-bridge, which was well-nigh swept away by the great flood in the Miami, January 1, 1847. "The old bridge" was one of the earliest public improvements in Butler County, and was finally washed away by the great flood of 1866. In the Fall of 1847 he contracted for the building and equipment of a steam flouring-mill in the city of New Orleans, of the capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels per day. The engines and cast-iron machinery for the mill were built in Cincinnati; the wood and timber, ready-worked and in readiness to be set up in the large warehouse for which they were designed, were prepared at Hamilton, the whole outfit loaded on barges at Cincinnati and towed to New Orleans. Within ten weeks from the time of reaching its destination the 'mill was in complete and successful operation, and the skilled workmen employed in its construction were homeward bound. In the Winter of 1848-9 Mr. Martin con- tracted with Calvin Riley to build and equip - furnishing all machinery and materials - the paper-mill now owned and operated by Messrs. Beckett & Laurie. Mr. Riley had previously had some experience in the manufacture of paper at Cuyahoga Falls: While the mill was being built, under that contract, Riley engaged in produce speculations, in the northern part of the State, which were attended with heavy losses, consequent on the declining markets in the Spring of 1859, and he was thereby compelled to abandon the enterprise. Meantime the contractor had gone forward with the work, incurring an expenditure of over six thousand dollars, no part of it having been advanced by Riley. All he could do was to transfer his interest in the property. Thereupon the firm of Beckett, Martin & Rigdon was instituted, and the mill carried forward to an early completion. Shortly after the mill went into operation a disastrous flood swept away the hydraulic head-gates and long lines of embankment. More than two months' time was expended in repairing the works, during which time all the mills were idle. The following Summer Mr. Martin sold his interest in the mill to his partner, William Beckett. In January, 1849, he was married to Sarah Ann Potter, youngest daughter, and only child of a second marriage, of Samuel M. Potter, a well-known and _ highly respected citizen, who resided in the vicinity of Trenton, Butler County, from about the year 1805 until the time of his death, in 1842.

In the Spring of 1852 the Middletown Hydraulic was projected. The State had just then contracted for the building of a new feeder dam at the old site, two miles north of the village. This, together with the rights reserved to Abner Enoch, the original proprietor, as far back as 1826, when the canal was located - which rights the Hydraulic Company secured by purchase - rendered the creation of valuable water power at that point at once practicable. Mr. Martin became at once identified with the development of the works. In the Spring of 1853 he formed a partnership with Joseph Sutphin. Thereupon they secured a lease of power from the Hydraulic Company with the exclusive privilege, for a term of years, of erecting a flouring-mill at that point. The firm continued in the joint ownership of the mill till 1873. They were also engaged in the manufacture of paper with the Messrs. Wrenns, now Sutphin & Wrenn. The flouring-mill firm is now Joseph Sutphin & Son.

In. 1858 Mr. Martin received the Republican nomination for the State Board of Public Works. He was elected to that office in October of that year, and his term of office expired in February, 1862. The division of the public works assigned specially to his charge was the Miami and Erie Canal, and, for a part of his term, the National Road, or that portion of it in Ohio which many years before had been ceded by the general government to the State. In June, 1861, the entire public works of the State were leased to a private company by iuthority of an act of the Legislature passed at the last previous session, for the term of ten years. But before the expiration of the term the lease was, by joint resolution of the Legislature, extended for an additional term of ten years. The lease was, however, surrendered in June, 1878, three years before the expiration of the term, on the ground, as was alleged by the lessees, of its forfeiture on the part of the State by reason of its having authorized the cutting off and abandonment of the Hamilton Basin. The act of the Legislature authorizing the abandonment provided that the consent of the lessees should first be obtained. This, however, was not done, but the city took forcible possession by filling up the channel at its entrance to the main line of canal in the night time, so as to prevent injunction proceedings. Thereupon the lessees, after notice, abandoned the entire works to the State. The advantages that were to result to the city - as predicted by the advocates of the measure - from the filling up of the basin, even after an expenditure of near seven thousand dollars, seem not to have been realized. It was, to say the least, a measure of doubtful expediency.

In August, 1862, Mr. Martin was appointed by President Lincoln collector of internal revenue for the third district of Ohio, comprising the counties of Montgomery, Preble, Butler, and Warren. He served in that capacity until September, 1866, when General Van Derveer succeeded him, under appointment of Andrew Johnson. During his incumbency of the office of collector he resided in Dayton, where the principal office of the district was located. He also held a commission from Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, issued under an act of Congress, passed March 3, 1863, as receiver of commutation money on account of exemption from the draft, as authorized by that act. During the pendency of the draft over 2,600 persons commuted, paying to the treasury of the nation $80,000 in the third district alone. After his retirement from the office of collector he, in the Spring of 1867, returned to Hamilton, taking the presidency of the Second National Bank. He remained in that position until January, 1870. At this time, through the ageney of Cincinnati parties, stimulated by the speculative activities in the distilling and wholesale liquor interests, a majority of the stock of the bank changed ownership, Mr. Martin retiring, and A. ©, Sands becoming president. One year thereafter, financial embarrassments having depressed those interests, and the large defaleation having necessary. Mr, the presidency of the The stock.that one year before had commanded a premium of fifteen per cent was now offered at par. The bank was, however, reorganized under the skillful and highly successful management which still continues.

reside until the death of his wife, which happened after a short illness, in April, 1873. Being left quite alone, he returned to the city, where he lived in the family of his brother-in-law, Ezra Potter. In September, 1874, he married his second wife, Mrs. Mary C. Roosa, who for many years had been a resident of Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio. He once again took up his residence in Hamilton in August, 1875, where he now lives. His family consists of himself, wife, and son, Edwin C. Martin, who was born in Hamilton in February, 1850, and he now lives in Richmond, Indiana, engaged in the business of journalism. A second son, who died in infancy, February, 1859, was born at Middletown in September, 1858.

John Longfellow, at the time of his death, was the oldest man in Hamilton, and its oldest resident. He was born in the State of Delaware, in the county of Kent, September 12, 1794, and began living here in 1804. He was consequently eighty-seven years old when he died. His father's name was Elijah, and his mother's Elizabeth. Mr. Longfellow was three times married. By his first wife, Nancy, he had two children. Jonathan was born March 16, 1815, and Elijah August 29, 1817. His second wife, Elizabeth, had eight children. Delia was born October 11, 1820; Rebecca, October 3, 1822; Daniel, November 20, 1824; Levi, March 14, 1826; John J., May 15, 1828; James, April 3, 1834, and Jane in 1832. Rebecca, Daniel, and Levi are now dead. His third wife was Elizabeth, daughter of William L. and Rachel Rowland. Her father was in the war of 1812, and Mr. Longfellow had a nephew in the last war, who died from a gun-shot wound in the neck.

Robert Harper -was born in County Down, Ireland, July 6, 1808. He was educated in select schools in Ireland, emigrating to America in 1826 or 1827. He landed in Baltimore, and then engaged with Galloway & Brown for three years. He came to Ohio in 1831, and located in Hamilton, engaging in the grocery and produce business, in the firm of Johnson & Harper. It was thus known for three years, when it became Harper, Hueston & Co., for three or four years. They also carried on distilling and ran a line of freight boats to Cincinnati. This lasted till 1840, since which he has led a retired life. Mr. Harper married Mary, daughter of Colonel Matthew Hueston, of whom a full account is given else- Where. Mrs. Harper was born in Butler County, in 1811. They are the parents of six children, three of Whom are living. . Hannah is now the wife of Major R. E. Lawder, of Missouri; Eliza J ., the wife of William P. Washburn, of Tennessee, and Kate is now Mrs. William P. Chamberlain, of Knoxville, Tennessee. Mrs. Harper died December 15, 1879. Mr. Harper was canal collector for three years, in 1833, 1834, and 1835. He is a member of' the Presbyterian Church, and has been a Whig and Republican. He has been a successful and. respected citizen. ;

Potter purchased a section of land in the Symmes purchase, and with his wife, Rhoda Miller, left his pleasant home in New Jersey to make a new one in the wilderness. But, upon his arrival at Columbia, learning that 'the Indians were very hostile, they concluded to remain there till these dangers were over. But, after having spent ten years in their temporary home, they removed, in 1798, to their farm, near Middletown, where they were the remainder of their lives. These early pioneers had ten children, the youngest son of whom was Aaron, who was born in 1809. In this home he grew up under the fostering care of a more than ordinary mother, his father dying when he was only five years old. But in 1827, when he attained his eighteenth year, he left the maternal fireside, and removed to Cincinnati, where, under the tuition of E. B. Potter, he learned his trade. On September 20, 1830, he married Miss Emeline Ransdale, and in 1837 he removed his business to this city, where he remained to the day of his death, with the exception of a few months, which were spent in Indiana. He was the first ornamental marble-cutter ever in this place.

He was baptized by Elder Gard at the age of seventeen, and had a decided evidence that he had become a child of God. Nor was his espousal of the faith once delivered to the saints a mere form. As soon as he was settled in business here he was found in the prayer-meetings and Sabbath-school, anxious to do good somewhere, even if the Church of his choice did not exist in the place. For five years he prayed and wept over the fact that there was no Baptist Church here with whose members he could work for the honor of God. But when upon the 31st of December, 1841, Rev. A. Drury came here and preached in the Presbyterian Church in Rossville, he felt that the favored time had come, and with one congenial spirit, he resolved that separate meetings should be regularly maintained till God in his providence should warrant the organization of a Baptist Church, and just here the real character of Mr. Potter appears in its true light, for he, with Dr. Rigdon, solemnly pledged himself before God, to maintain the worship of God and pay the amount which might be needed to carry this determination into execution, and, with the aid of a few who | loved the truth, and under the guidance of such men as Drury, Bryant, Moore, and others of a kindred spirit, the little band so prospered that on the 20th of April, 1844, it was recognized as a branch of the Lockland Church. During that whole period of toil and anxiety, from the preaching of Drury's first sermon in 1841 till the organization of the first Baptist Church in 1844, we find that Messrs. Potter and Rigdon were responsible for al the expenses needed, and so deeply was Mr. Potter interested in that growing work that during most of the time he acted not only as treasurer but as sexton also, and after the organization of an independent Church of his own faith we find that its highest interests lay near his heart. It was the child of his own labor and toil, and to the day of his death its welfare found a place in all his prayers. In health his seat in the sanctuary was never empty.

On the first day of July, 1871, he died, in the sixtysecond year of his age. He was married in 1830 to Miss Emeline Ransdale, daughter of J. Ransdale, a former well-known citizen of Cincinnati. Mrs. Potter was born in Boston, Massachusetts, July 19th, 1818. They were the parents of six children, of whom but one, Charlotte A. Shuey, now the widow of Adam C. Shuey, now survives. She was born January 9th, 1833.

Lewis D. Campbell

Lewis D. Campbell, once minister to Mexico, and for many years a representative in Congress, where he was chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, was born in Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, on the 9th of August, 1811. He attended school in Franklin until he was fourteen years old, when he was transferred to the farm, on which he labored until he was seventeen. From 1828 until 1831 he served an apprenticeship in the office of the Cincinnati Gazette. He began here at the lowest round of the ladder, carrying newspapers and sweeping out the office in the morning. He soon acquired much proficiency in the printer's art, and in 1831 came to Hamilton, where he published a weekly newspaper advocating the election of Henry Clay to the presidency. This was the Intelligencer. In its columns he soon began to display that keenness of retort, that power of argument, and that knowledge of statistics which afterwards made him so strong in public life.

While editing and printing his journal he studied law, and in 1835 was admitted to the bar. He soon acquired a large and valuable practice, which would have been still more profitable to him, had he abstained from political action. But this his natural temper forbade. In 1840 he was elected, as he thought, over John B. Weller, the most formidable Democrat in his district, to Congress, but did not receive the certificate, which was awarded to Mr. Weller. Mr. Campbell, however, refused to go to Washington to contest the seat, and expressed his determination never to enter that city until he did so as a member of Congress. That opportunity came to him in 1848, when he was chosen by a majority over General Baldwin. He at once took a leading position. In 1850 he was elected over Judge Elijah Vance; in 1852, 1854, and 1856, over C. L. Vallandigham, afterwards the leader of the Peace Democracy in Ohio during the war, and in 1870 over Robert C. Schenck, one of the strongest men in Congress.

Mr. Campbell found the great question in Congress, during the ten years he first spent there, was slavery. In 1850 Henry Clay introduced his celebrated compromise measures, designed to pacify and conciliate the serious danger, but Mr. Clay believed that it was, and enough others joined him to pass the measures through. One of these bills was vigorously opposed by the young representative from this district. It was the iniquitous fugitive slave bill. That denied to a man accused of being a slave the right to a jury trial, which was granted to every one accused of having stolen a dollar; it raised a court to decide upon a black man's freedom, from whose decision there was practically no appeal; for if the unhappy wretch were declared a slave, he was immediately taken to a Southern State, where he had no standing in a court of law, and it allowed the commissioner sitting as judge ten dollars if he decreed slavery, five dollars if he decreed freedom. Mr. Campbell participated prominently in the debates on this and the other bills, uniformly maintaining the position that, while the Southern States should enjoy all their rights guaranteed by the Constitution, slavery should be excluded from the Territories by Congressional enactment. In the Thirty-third Congress, when the great question of repealing the Missouri Compromise came before the House of Representatives, he was selected in a conference of the opposition members as their leader on the floor. That struggle will long be remembered. Those opposed to the repeal, under the lead of Thomas H. Benton and Lewis D. Campbell, used every effort and exhausted every parliamentary device to defeat it. But it was not to be. Those in favor of the measure were stronger than those opposed, and after an all-night's session the bill was finally passed. Being a good parliamentarian and a ready debater, with a good voice, he discharged the duties thus assigned him, during that long and evermemorable struggle, with eminent satisfaction to the friends of freedom, meeting in discussion the ablest men of the South. The discussion between him and Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, on the relative advantages of free and slave labor, gave him rank with the ablest debaters of Congress.

At the opening of the Thirty-fourth Congress, Mr. Campbell received the votes of a large majority of his party for the speakership, and would probably have been elected had he continued to be a candidate. But in consequence of pledges exacted of him, which he thought would dishonor him if made, he peremptorily withdrew his name. After a struggle, prolonged many weeks, N. P. Banks was elected. During this Congress Mr. Campbell served as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. The arduous duties thus devolving upon him were discharged with great ability. Among the measures reported by him, which became laws, was the Tariff Act of 1857, which levied the lowest average duties of any act passed within the last half that Preston §. Brooks Sumner in the old Senate- Mr. Campbell was one of the first to reach the senator after he was stricken down. On the follow- ing day he introduced the resolution for an investigation, was chairman of the committee appointed for that purpose, and made a report for the expulsion of Brooks. The challenge which the latter subsequently sent Mr. Burlingame was one of the fruits of the assault on Mr. Sumner. Upon the pressing request of Mr. Burlingame Mr. Campbell took charge of the affair as his friend (General Joseph Lane, of Oregon, being the friend of Mr. Brooks). The correspondence on the part of Mr. Burlingame was wholly written by Mr. Campbell, who still retains all the original papers. It was through his skillful management that Mr. Burlingame was carried safely through without a stain upon his honor.

When the Southern rebellion commenced Mr. Campbell at once ardently espoused the cause of the Union. In the Spring and Summer of 1861 he assisted in raising several regiments. In the Autumn following he organized the Sixty-ninth Ohio Regiment, and was commissioned as its colonel. In the Winter of 1861-2 he was in command of Camp Chase, where he received and kept as prisoners of war the officers taken at Fort Donelson and in other battles. In April following he went under orders with his regiment to Tennessee, where he served in the Army of the Cumberland until the failure of his health, when he reluctantly retired.

This position Colonel Campbell had taken, not because he thought he was the one best fitted for it, in a military sense, but because he could thus be a better support to the government of Tennessee. After the outbreak of the War of Secession Andrew Johnson was the only one of the senators from the seceded States who remained. His electrical appeals for the preservation of the Union gave him great popularity in the North, but of course he could not return home, as Tennessee was then under rebel rule. As soon, therefore, as our troops had opened the way, Mr. Johnson was requested to act as governor, and Colonel Campbell to act as the military commander. Mr. Johnson required some one to help him who was thoroughly familiar with public affairs, to counsel with as occasion required, and these requisites were to be found in his associate. Before Mr. Johnson went to Tennessee he made Colonel Campbell's house his home, and from this place both went out to make stirring appeals for the Union.

During the war, and after it, Colonel Campbell was frequently called upon to go to Washington. Lincoln, Seward, and Johnson all possessed great confidence in his patriotism, his practical experience, and his insight into men. Seward had been in the Senate while he was in the House, and they had frequently met at each other's rooms, and the New Yorker had learned to repose implicit confidence in his friend from Ohio. Lincoln held him in high favor, and Johnson desired him to take a seat in the Cabinet. This he refused, as his pecunlary condition at the time would not permit of the sacrifice.

But in 1866 Colonel Campbell was appointed minister to Mexico, to sueceed Thomas Corwin, who had just died, He hesitated, but finally accepted. In November of that year, accompanied by General Sherman, he proceeded on his mission. 'The French army of occupation and other forces of Maximilian were then in Mexico, holding the capital and other principal cities. President Juarez and his cabinet officers had beem driven to a point near the north-western border. Failing to reach the government of that republic in its migratory condition, Mr. Campbell was directed by Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, to make his official residence, temporarily, in New Orleans. He remained there until June following, when, tired of that kind of service abroad, he resigned.

Taking his seat as a member of the Forty-second Congress in March, 1871, he was at once recognized as possessing that commanding influence which is attained only by long and honorable. public service. Acting with the minority, he was not placed in such position as to take the leading part which had fallen to his lot in previous congressional service, yet his influence was very perceptible in the promotion of salutary legislation.

In April, 1873, immediately after the close of the Forty-second Congress, Mr. Campbell was elected a delegate to the convention to revise and amend the constitution of the State of Ohio. After the convention assembled at Columbus he was elected, on the 22d of May, its vice-president by a unanimous vote.

In politics Mr. Campbell commenced his career in the school of Clay, Webster, and others, and was always an active member of the Whig party until its dissolution. Subsequently he was identified with the Republican party, but in 1860, believing that the leaders of that party were going too far, he voted for Bell and Everett. After the war of the Rebellion closed he left that party, believing that by its reconstruction and other acts it had abandoned the principles upon which the war had been prosecuted, and that its measures of centralization were anti-republican and of imperial tendency. He has since co-operated with the Democratic party, and supported Mr. Seymour for the presidency in 1868, Mr. Greeley in 1872, and Mr. Tilden in 1876.

During the last twenty years Mr. Campbell has been engaged in agricultural pursuits on his large and fertile farm on the Great Miami River, near the city of Hamilton. It has fallen to- the lot of few men now living to take a more prominent and influential part in the history of the country than Mr. Campbell.

Mr. Campbell's ancestors, paternal and maternal, emigrated from the highlands of Scotland and settled in Virginia and Pennsylvania. His maternal grandfather, Andrew Small, at the age of eighteen. years enlisted in the army of the American Revolution, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, on the first day of July, 1775, in the rifle regiment of Colonel Harris, and served in the severe northern campaign of that year under General

Mr. Campbell's father, Samuel Campbell, was born in Virginia. He emigrated to the Northwest Territory in the year 1796, and settled in the Miami Valley. He was out in the War of 1812, under General Harrison. Mr. Campbell's mother was born in Pennsylvania, March 20, 1785, and now, aged ninety-seven years, lives near Franklin, Ohio, enjoying good health, on the same tract of land on which her father settled in 1796, when the Miami Valley was an unbroken wilderness. Her father served in the war of the American Revolution; her husband served in the War of 1812, and two of her sons and two of her grandsons served in the Union army in the late War of the Rebellion.

When the war of the late Rebellion commenced, Mrs. Lewis D. Campbell had two brothers living: James Reily, the oldest, residing in Texas, and Robert, the youngest, in Ohio. Both went into the war, and were killed in battle (colonels at the head of their regiments), the former in the Confederate army, at Bayou Teche, Louisiana, the latter in the Union army, in the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia.

Greenwood Cemetery

For some years previous to 1847, the citizens of the villages of Hamilton and of Rossville became impressed with the necessity of abandoning the use of the burial grounds provided for each town, and the urgent duty of obtaining new places for the purpose of sepulture. No steps had been taken to effect the desired object until the Fall of that year, when John W. Erwin, in connection with other gentlemen, determined to ascertain the views of the citizens, and to raise, if possible, a suffcient amount of money for the purchase of suitable grounds for cemetery purposes. Thereupon, in the Fall of 1847, the following paper was prepared and presented to the citizens of Hamilton and vicinity for their subscriptions :

'"'The undersigned citizens of Hamilton and vicinity, believing it to be of the utmost importance that a rural cemetery should be established in the neighborhood of said town, do hereby associate ourselves as a joint stock company for that purpose, each share of stock to be twenty-five dollars, and when a sufficient amount. shall have been subscribed, the same to be applied for the purchase and improvement of grounds suitable for that purpose, to be laid off in walks, carriage-ways, alleys and subdivisions, and sold in lots under the direction of the association. Stock subscribed to go in payment of lots purchased, and the balance of the proceeds, if any, to be expended from time to time in defraying expenses and improvements on the grounds," ete.

subscribers to the paper. They encountered many difficulties in their efforts. Some thought there was no pressing necessity for new cemetery grounds. Some thought the enterprise chimerical, and that a sufficient amount of money could not be raised to accomplish the object. Others, who sometimes and to some extent found themselves in antagonism with movements made by Hamilton, were impressed with the idea that Hamilton was too unhealthy for a burying-ground. Notwithstanding the many objections urged to the undertaking and the difficulties encountered, persistent efforts were made to secure subscriptions. Finally, an amount deemed sufficient to justify a more complete organization and the purchase of grounds was subscribed.

Very opportunely, just when most needed, the Legislature of Ohio, on the twenty-fourth day of February, 1848, passed a general law for the organization of cemetery associations. By the passage of this act the friends of the enterprise were greatly assisted in their undertaking. At a meeting held at the court-house in Hamilton on the 25th of February, 1848, John M. Millikin, John W. Erwin, and William Bebb were appointed a committee to personally examine several sites suggested, and on the subsequent third day of March, 1848, the committee submitted a report, in which they discussed the character of the subsoil best suited for a-cemetery and other essential qualities, such as an undulating surface, the amount and quality of the natural growth of timber, location, etc. The committee reported fully on the merits and demerits of the several tracts offered, and concluded by recommending the purchase of the grounds offered for sale by the executors of Daniel Bigham, deceased, supposed to contain twenty-four acres, at one hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre. The subject was fully considered by the stockholders present, who voted by a large majority for its purchase. William Bebb, John M. Millikin, and L. D. Campbell were appointed a committee to conclude a contract with the executors for its purchase.

On the sixteenth day of March following Governor William Bebb presented to the meeting then held a certified copy of the act passed upon the subject of organizing cemetery associations, and the following resolutions were adopted:

"' Resolved, That we accept the act passed February 24, 1848, entitled, 'An Act Making Provisions for the Incorporation of Cemetery Associations,' and hereby organize ourselves into a cemetery association.

'* Resolved, That we will meet on the fifteenth day of April next, at two o'clock P. M., at the court-house in Hamilton, for the purpose of electing seven trustees and one clerk for the association."

In obedience to the second resolution, due notice of an election was given. The result was the choice of the following persons as trustees: William Hunter, Henry 8. Earhart, William Wilson, William Bebb, Lewis D. Campbell, John W. Erwin, and John M. Millikin. At the same time John H. Shuey was elected clerk. The committee appointed for that purpose reported that Hey had concluded a contract with the executors of David Bigham for the purchase of the tract of land offered, which was found to contain 217%% acres. At a meeting held by the stock-holders on the 18th of May, for the purpose of choosing a name, several tyes! suggested. iisae: c four votes were cast for the adoption of '' Greenwood" as the name of the cemetery association, and seventeen votes for "Hamilton." The result was the choice of the former name. On the 20th of May, 1848, the trustees held their first meeting, John H. Shuey, the elected clerk, being present. John M. Millikin was chosen president, and William Wilson, treasurer. Upon due consideration it was speedily determined that the purchase heretofore made of 217c5 acres was altogether insufficient, and an additional strip of ground adjoining the former purchase, containing 5y'5 acres, was purchased. This strip of ground, lying on the east, was very desirable, - indeed, it was deemed indispensable, and the board of trustees did not hesitate in making the purchase from Mr. James Bigham, at one hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre. The addition enlarged the cemetery to 2675 acres.

The trustees found that they had onerous duties to perform, which demanded immediate attention. The purchased grounds had to be paid for; prompt collection of stock subscribed was required; the grounds were to be cleaned up, laid out in walks, avenues, drives, and. subdivided into lots, and then properly inclosed. The trustees, in their early work, were without experience or information in the performance of their duties. There were no landscape engineers or gardeners to employ or consult; and no cemeteries in South-western Ohio that had been laid out and improved in accordance with" cultivated taste and artistic skill. The magic hand, guided by the experience and intuitive good taste of Mr. Strauch, the superintendent of Spring Grove Cemetery, had not then metamorphosed that unsurpassed rural cemetery.

Notwithstanding the difficulties in their way the trustees did not hesitate. They proceeded to clear off the grounds by the removal of such timber as was deemed unsuited to the place, and to cause the ground to be inclosed. Preliminary to the subdivision of the ground into lots, was the duty of locating and marking out the drives and avenues. How many should be made and where located, were the perplexing questions. As the services of experienced, competent men, familiar with such work, could not be obtained, Henry S. Earhart and John M. Millikin determined to see what progress they could make in such an undertaking. They fixed upon the present entrance gate-as the commencing point of the main avenue. That point being determined upon, they indicated by throwing aside the leaves the center of the several drives and avenues, and Mr. Ear- hart carefully measured and staked off the several drives and avenues, and also proceeded to subdivide the grounds into lots eighteen by thirty-six feet. There were many fractional lots, and some fractions which were included in adjoining lots. These drives and avenues as thus laid out were approved by the board, and have remained without any material modification to the present day. The survey having been completed, the stockholders met in the cemetery on the 19th of March, 1849, for the purpose of selecting their lots. The names of stockholders were placed in a box, and were drawn out by tellers, and each stockholder selected his lot in the order the names were drawn. This mode of selection gave entire satisfaction to all interested.

The citizens of Hamilton and vicinity soon began to take an unusually lively interest in the cemetery. Those who had not favored the enterprise soon became satisfied that it deserved their support and approval. The success of the undertaking and the interest manifested by the public will be seen in the following statement: Between March, 1849, and January 1, 1851, there had been sold two hundred and fifty lots, for the sum of $6,068.36. During the same time one hundred and eighteen original interments had been made, and the remains of one hundred and ninety-nine persons had been removed from other places of sepulture. Thoroughly assured of the complete success of the undertaking, and of the necessity of enlarging the cemetery grounds, the board of trustees, on the 24th of March, 1856, purchased of William Beckett sixteen acres of ground adjoining, on the east side of the cemetery, for the sum of three thousand dollars. This purchase was not only very important but opportune. It was important, because the more desirable locations in the original Jaid-out grounds would in a few

~decades be taken up. The purchase was opportune, because other parties would soon have purchased the tract for like sepulture purposes, and the Hamilton Cemetery board would have been prevented from extending their possessions. This same sixteen acres of ground had previously been proffered to the city of Hamilton as a donation for a public park, by the Hon. John Woods. The offer was coupled with a requirement that the city should appropriate annually a small sum of money for its improvement. Fortunately for the Cemetery Association, the exceedingly liberal offer of Mr. Woods was rejected.

This sixteen acres of ground made a most desirable addition to the cemetery, and enabled the board of trustees to secure another piece of ground adjoining on the east. This last purchase was made, not in view of the present wants of the association, but because of what the board anticipated would be the requirements of the city and neighborhood in generations to come. Therefore, on the 4th of April, 1872, the board of trustees contracted with William H. H. Campbell to pay him $9,100 for 22,73, acres of land. This last purchase of land makes a total

- F561 4 of 657'c acres of good ground now belonging to Greenwood Association, for which the association has paid, exclusive of interest, the gross sum of $15,443.75. The cemetery association now owns a body of ground in every way well suited for cemetery purposes, amply sufficient for the wants of Hamilton and vicinity for the next century, possibly for two centuries.

The association has been managed with singular suecess. Vigilant care and strict economy in the transactions of its business have been rigidly observed. There has been no peculations, no embezzlements, no defalcations. Every dollar received for lots sold, for interment fees and for property sold, has been faithfully accounted for. The association has commenced the foundation of a sinking fund, to which annual sums will be added. The object of the board is to secure a permanent fund, amply sufficient to meet the wants of the association in the remote future. The number of lots sold up to the Ist of January, 1882, were 1,013; number of lot holders, or grantees to the Ist of January, 1882, were 1,318. a

The number of interments from the organization of the cemetery to the Ist of January, 1882, is as follows: Original interments, 5,028; removals from other burial grounds, 1,039; total, 6,059.

The officers of the association for 1882 are as follows: President - John M. Millikin. Trustees - John M. Millikin, C. Falconer, James Giffen, Isaac Robertson, John W. Erwin, Joseph Curtis, James E. Campbell. Treasurer - Joseph Curtis. Clerk - N. G. Curtis. Superintendent - A. J. Goshorn.

Henry L. Morey

Henry Lee Morey, representative in Congress from this district, was born in Milford Township, in. this county, on the 8th of April, 1841. He is the son of William and Derexa Morey, neither of whom are now living. The ancestors of William Morey came to America, from England, in the early part of the seventeenth century, and are supposed to have settled in the colony of Massachusetts. From thence, in time, their descendants scattered to various parts of the country, the branch to which William Morey traces his origin settling in Connecticut. His grandfather served in the Revolutionary War as a commissioned officer. After the close of that struggle, and when the lands of Western New York were offered for sale, he removed to that State and settled in Steuben County.

His father, William Morey, in turn, emigrated in 1814 to the new State of Ohio, bringing with him his young family, among them William, a lad of thirteen, and locating in the Seven-Mile Valley, near the site of the present village of Collinsville, where he died on the 16th of August, 1815, in the forty-second year of his age, leaving Anda Morey, his widow, and seven children, four sons and three daughters. He was buried in the old cemetery near that town, but sixty-two years afterward his remains were removed by his grandchildren to Green wood Cemetery, where they now rest beside those of his wife, who survived him thirty years. William Morey, his son, and the father of Henry Lee Morey, was the third child of the family. He was united in marriage with Derexa Whitcomb on the 6th of May, 1824, in Yankeetown, now Somerville, in this county.

Derexa Morey, whose maiden name was Whitcomb, was descended from Puritan stock. Her ancestors came to this country from England about 1630, and are supposed to have come from Dorsetshire, in the ship Mary and John, which sailed from Plymouth, in England, and landed in what is now Boston Harbor, on the 30th of May of 1630, after a voyage of seventy days. One of their descendants, Colonel Asa Whitcomb, was a revenue officer in colonial times, and others of the family have won distinction in the various walks of life. One branch of this stock removed from Massachusetts to Vermont, from which is descended Anthony Whitcomb, the father of Derexa Whitcomb. A brother of Anthony was the father of James Whitcomb, at one time commissioner of the land office, twice elected governor of the State of Indiana, and later a United States senator from that State.

Anthony Whitcomb came to Ohio from the State of Vermont about the year 1815, and settled in Hamilton County, near Cincinnati, then a small town, where he soon after died, leaving Lucy Whitcomb, his widow, and six children, two sons and four daughters. Lucy Whitcomb afterwards married again, and moyed to Preble County, in this State, taking her family with her, where she died on the 5th of October, 1821, in the forty-eighth year of her age. Derexa here met William Morey, with whom she was united in marriage on the 6th of May, 1824. They were the parents of fourteen children, ten of whom survive, seven sons and three daughters. During the war of the Rebellion four of their sons served in the Union army.

William Morey died on the 8th of June, 1872, in the seventy-first year of his age. In early life he learned and carried on the business of a hatter, but afterwards embraced mercantile pursuits, and later turned his attention to agriculture, which he followed for the remainder of his life. While engaged in the hatting business he visited the city of New Orleans to purchase a stock of furs, and there first became acquainted with the institution of slavery, and saw its practical workings. His strong sense of right revolted at its enormities, and made him look with abhorrence upon the system. He returned to his home a radical abolitionist, which he continued openly to be until the day of his death. During the period of fierce agitation of the slavery question he lived upon one of: the lines of the underground railroad, and was known as friend of the black man.

In early life he united with the Universalist Church, of which he continued a faithful member until his death. He was the strong friend of temperance, his voice bein always against the liquor traffic, as also against the use of tobacco. His wife survived him five years, dying on the third day of July, 1877, in the seventy-sixth year of her age. She was buried in Greenwood Cemetery by the side of her husband and children. In her early womanhood she united with the Universalist Church, in which faith she continued throughout life. She was a woman of bright intellect, thoughtful, patient, and self-denying, always ready to relieve the wants of the needy. On the 12th of July, 1879, Matella Morey Druley, the youngest child of William and Derexa Morey, died in the thirtyfirst year of her age, being the first death among their children for more than thirty years.

Henry Lee Morey attended the common schools of Butler and Preble Counties until 1856, when he was sent to the Morning Sun Academy to prepare for college. Two years later he entered Miami University. The war breaking out, he enlisted in the University Rifles, at Oxford, on the day after the fall of Fort Sumpter. This company was united with the Twentieth Ohio Volunteers, and was active in the campaign of Western Virginia. At the expiration of this service, he enlisted in the Seventy-fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, and helped to recruit and organize that regiment at Camp McLean, near Lockland, Hamilton County. On the completion of the organization, he was elected a second lieutenant, and served with his regiment to the close of the war, being successively promoted to the positions of first lieutenant and captain, being senior captain of his regiment at the close of its term. His regiment went from Camp McLean, in January, 1862, into Western Virginia, and in its campaigns marched over all the ranges of mountains into Eastern Virginia. He took part in the battles of Monterey, Franklin, Shaw's Ridge, McDowell, Strausburgh, Cross Keys, Cedar Mountain, Freeman's Ford, Sulphur Springs, Waterloo Bridge, second Bull Run, Aldie, and Chancellorsville in Virginia ; Fort Wagner, Morris Island, Fort Gregg, and in the siege of Fort Sumpter (under General Quincy A. Gilmore), in South Carolina; and Camp Baldwin and Gainesville, Florida. He commanded his company in every action after Monterey. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Chancellorsville, and confined in Libby Prison, in Richmond, and was exchanged with the last lot of officers previous to the suspension of the cartel.

After the war he studied law, graduating at the Indianapolis Law College, and 'settling in Hamilton in the Spring of 1867, where he has ever since remained. He is a Mason, having become a Past Master, and has advanced through the council and chapter degrees. He has lately become a Knight Templar. He is also an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, and member of the Royal Arcanum. He has always affiliated with the Universalist Church, and for ten years has been superintendent of its Sunday-school in Hamilton.

M. Campbell, who died July 1, 1867. February 26, 1873, he married Ella R. Campbell, sister of his first wife, and daughter of William H. Campbell, late State senator, and granddaughter of Mrs. Mary Campbell, who is still living in Franklin, Warren County, in her ninety-seventh year.

He was admitted to the bar in 1867, and has remained in the active practice of his profession in the city of Hamilton ever since, until the last session of Congress, during which time he grew in popular favor, until he attained a leading place at the bar, and rapidly developed those elements so essential to a good lawyer. Of sterling integrity, fearless in his professional duties, of correct judgment, quick and decisive, keen and discriminating, energetic and persistent, clear and comprehensive, he is true and fair to his client, honest with the court, and candid with the jury. As a counselor, he is frank and safe; as a pleader, terse and concise; as a jurist, logical and forcible, and as an advocate, eloquent and persuasive.

In his political career Mr. Morey has been remarkably successful. He is a Republican, devoted to his party, proud of its history, and thoroughly believing in its principles, but always courteous to his political opponents. In 1871 he was elected solicitor of the city of Hamilton, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge Vance, and was shortly afterwards re-elected for a full term. In the same year he was elected prosecuting attorney of Butler County largely by his personal popularity, defeating his Democratic competitor, whose party was over two thousand in the majority.

In 1875 he was a candidate for State senator in the district composed of Butler and Warren Counties, and although running largely ahead of his ticket, was defeated. In 1880 he was nominated for Congress in this district by the Republicans. He received the nomination on July 28th, at the convention in Morrow, upon the three hundred and sixty-seventh ballot, after a protracted and close contest. He was triumphantly elected, receiving one thousand and twenty-eight majority over General Durbin Ward, the Democratic nominee. His career during the first session of that Congress was so highly satisfactory to his constituents, that on July 13, 1882, by his party at its convention in Lebanon, Ohio, he was renominated by acclamation. ;

In his official acts he keeps in line with the Republicans on party questions, but in his relation with his constituents and in his zealous and devoted care of their interests he makes no distinction, treating all alike. He is affable and genial, courteous and kind, attentive and industrious, with wonderful capacity for details, efficient, of broad views, and patriotic. In his capacity as a private citizen, he is generous, sympathetic, neighborly and obliging, active and enterprising, successful and influential; and has done much for the growth and development of the city of Hamilton and Butler County,

James Ellwood Morey was born in Milford Township, Butler County, Ohio, on the third day of April, 1845. He is the son of William and Derexa Morey, and is the thirteenth child in a family of fourteen children, of whom nine were sons and five daughters. His childhood and youth were spent in the ordinary duties and pursuits of a farmer's son, and in attendance upon the public school of his district, and as he grew older the Morning Sun Academy, until he reached his seventeenth year, when, on the 7th of August, 1862, he enlisted in the Ninety-third Regiment Ohio Volunteers in response to President Lincoln's second call for 300,000 men. In the Fall of the same year he was taken prisoner, but was soon exchanged and again took his place in the ranks. He continued in the service until the 14th of June, 1865, when he was mustered out and honorably discharged, the rebellion being subdued and peace declared. His regiment formed part of the Army of the Cumberland. He took part in the battles of Chickamauga, Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain, Rocky Face, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Lovejoy Station, Columbia, Nashville, and numerous skirmishes and minor engagements.

Returning home at the close of the war, he entered Miami University in 1865, from which he was graduated in 1867, and in the same year began the study of law in the Indianapolis Law College. He received his diploma in March, 1868; was admitted to the bar the following August, and at once commenced the practice of law at Hamilton, in which place he has since resided.

On the thirty-first day of January, 1870, he was elected secretary of the Hamilton Insurance Company, and from that time gave his attention to the insurance business, until August, 1878, when he returned to the active practice of law, to which he has since exclusively given his time. On the 18th of October, 1880, he entered into partnership with his brother, Henry Lee Morey, and Allen Andrews, under the firm name of Morey, Andrews & Morey. He was brought up in the Universalist faith, and is a member of that Chureh. He is a charter-member of Lone Star Lodge, No. 39, Knights of Pythias, Hamilton, Ohio. On the 16th of April, 1873, he was married to Winona Chadwick, daughter of Clinton and Ellen Chadwick, of Camden, Preble County, Ohio.

Mr. Morey is a man of excellent health, strong mind, and good morals. He is kind, sympathetic, obliging, and greatly attached to his home, family, and friends. In business he is careful, industrious, and enterprising, and has been very successful. As a citizen he is publicspirited, influential, and deeply interested in the improvement of his city and county. As a lawyer he is zealous in his profession, cautious in counsel, and careful of' his clients' interest; and, in the trial of any cause, strong and tenacious. To the court he states his propositions with force and clearness, and before a jury he is eandid, earnest, and effective. In politics he is a firm Republican.

Micajah Hughes

Micajah Hughes, of Liberty Township, president of the First National Bank of Hamilton, was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, on the 25th of January, 1807. He is the son of Elijah and Sarah (Muchner) Hughes, who were both natives of the same county, and removed to Ohio, settling in Liberty Township, in 1815. Mr. Hughes followed the occupation of a blacksmith in Maryland, but after coming to Ohio, also embarked in farming. He was born November 4, 1777, and died August 8, 1849, and his wife died September 10, 1845, being born May 5, 1780. Micajah Hughes was educated in an old log school-house, in Liberty Township, located in Huntsville. He soon was initiated into farming, and in 1832, in company with Daniel, his oldest brother, bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Lemon Township, which they owned together until 1837. In the meantime they had bought another farm in the county, then dividing it. Micajah took the farm on which he now lives, of one hundred and _ twenty acres, and forty acres of woodland, two miles distant. Their partnership was dissolved in 1837, when Mr. Hughes married. His business from that time on has been to farm, trade in stock, and loan money:

He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank in Hamilton, in August, 1863, and has ever since been its president. The first meeting to form this bank was held on the day on which the battle of Gettysburg was fought, but the meeting at which the permanent organization took place was on the 6th of August. The capital was originally $50,000, of which Mr. Hughes owned one-tenth, but a few months after it was increased to $60,000, and in January was made $100,000, its present capital. Mr. James Beatty was the first vicepresident. The average dividend of the bank since its beginning has been sixteen and two-thirds per cent; the highest dividend, twenty-four per cent, and the lowest, ten. The deposits now are over $700,000, mostly received from farmers.

The bank has been uniformly successful in its history, never having been obliged to close its doors or ask the least indulgence. Its stockholders are conservative moneylenders, who never receive favors from the bank or use its funds for their own purposes. In proportion to its capital it has the largest deposits of any bank in the State, except one in Cleveland and one in Cincinnati. Mr. Hughes now owns but one thousand dollars' worth of stock, just enough to qualify him to be president, by request of stockholders, though he formerly owned twelve thousand five hundred dollars of stock. He pays the largest personal tax in Butler County, being on upwards

He was married on the 3d of March, 1837, to Miss Phebe F. Cassidy, born September 19, 1814, of Lemon Township, who was the daughter of John and Sarah Cassidy, farmers. Mrs. Hughes is still living, at the age of sixty-six. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, though but five are now living. The oldest, Mrs. Helen Taylor, was born May 23, 1839; Albert, born April 23, 1843; George W., born June 29, 1844; Joseph B., born November 21, 1848; Alexander C., born January 16, 1851, and died August 14, 1867, at Minneapolis, where he had gone for his health. He was a lawyer of Hamilton. Sarah L., born February 4, 1841, died November 9, 1871, was an accomplished scholar and writer. She possessed a high degree of literary skill, and her letters from Europe excited much attention. Alice M., born July 2, 1845, died July 1, 1861; Evelyn, born October 22, 1853, died November 1, 1853; Clarence E., born March 3, 1855, died September 11, 1864.

He has always been a Democrat, casting his first vote for Jackson, in 1828, and voting for the candidates of that party ever since. He has frequently been a delegate to the State Democratic Convention. He was a director of the Butler County Insurance Company for ten years, and was one of its organizers.

Universalist Church

As nearly as we can ascertain, the history of Universalism in Butler County dates back to 1838, when occasional preaching services were held in the city of Hamilton, and at various other places in this county.

James McBride estimated the attendance upon the various Churches in Hamilton, in 1842, as follows: '* Methodist, 800; Presbyterians, 200; Associate Reformed, 200; Episcopal, 50; Reformed Presbyterians, 100; Baptists (Old School), 30; Universalists, 100. Total population of Hamilton and Rossville, 2,552; of age to attend Church, 2,089. Total attendance, including 200 Catholics, 1,030; non-attendants, 1,059."

In one of our old county papers we find the following announcement: 'Rey. D. R. Biddlecome, Universalist, will preach at Jacksonburg, at 3 P. M., and in Hamilton in the evening." About this time there was an occasional sermon by some Cincinnati missionary Universulist minister, who preached at Oxford, Bunker Hill, and other places. Rev. Henry Gifford, Rev. Abel C. Thomas, Rey. John Gurley, Rey. George Rogers, Rev. EK. M. Pingrey, Rev. W. W. Curry, Rev. Ben. F. Foster, Rev. J. C. Petrat, Rev. N. M. Gaylord (brotherin-law of General Van Derveer), Rev. Mr. Davis, and Rev. Mr. W. S. Bacon were the early occasional expounders of this faith 'once delivered to the saints."

Among the old-time attendants upon the Universalist Church services we find the following names: Jacob Matthias, Isaae Matthias, John W. Yrwin, John K. Wil- son, Perry G. Smith, John O, Brown, Peter Jacobs, Thomas Reed, Richard Easton, and Isaac Warwick. At this time these friends of liberal thought met in the lower rooms of the court-house, which were ordinarily well filled, and the religious services were always characterized by most excellent music. Their present church was erected in 1851 and cost about $9,000. Besides other generous contributions, John W: Erwin donated the church bell, which was a premium bell, and cost five hundred dollars cash. Christopher Hughes, Ludwick and Jane Betz, and Jasper Johnson were now attendants upon public worship with this congregation.

The Rev. Jonathan Kidwell, a most able controversialist, and other prominent Universalist divines, occasionally held public debates with the ministers of opposing faiths at various places in Butler County. Churches have been built at Oxford and Bunker Hill, which have for many years had preaching about every alternate Sunday. Rev. C. H. Dutton, Rev. William Tucker, Rev. J. P. MacLean, and Rey. C. L. Haskell, in the order named, have been the more recent pastors of the Hamilton society. It has an interesting Sunday-school, with about eighty names enrolled, and an average attendance of probably fifty-five.

Unfortunately the church property of this society has become involved in litigation, which for final adjudication has been appealed to the Supreme Court. H. L. Morey, J. E. Morey, B. F. Thomas, John W. Erwin, R. N. Andrews, Dr. 8. H. Potter, S. O. Peacock, and various influential citizens of Butler County attend this church. Should the Supreme Court finally decide adversely to this society, it proposes at once to build a new and beautiful modern church edifice; otherwise, to entirely renovate its present house of worship.

James E. Campbell

James Edwin Campbell, lawyer, of this city, is a native of Middletown, where he was born on the 7th of July, 1843. He is the son of Dr. Andrew Campbell, of whom a full account will be found elsewhere in this work, and Laura P. Reynolds, daughter of John P. Reynolds, once a publisher in New York State, and afterwards a leading and influential citizen of Middletown. Mr. Campbell's father was of Scotch extraction, and his mother of English. The family of Mr. Reynolds was originally settled in Devonshire, Jonathan Reynolds emigrating from Plympton Earl, in that county, in 1645, and on his arrival in America, taking up his dwelling near Plympton, in the Plymouth colony, now a part of Massachusetts. Mr. Campbell is sixth in descent from Jonathan Reynolds. The family, after settling in Massachusetts, extended to Rhode Island and New York, and are now numerous in these two latter States, having many members who have filled important positions in the State and national councils. By another branch of his maternal family, he is descended from John Parker, who commanded the American troops at the heroic struggle at Lexington, which began the Revolutionary War. His paternal great-grandfather, Andrew Small, at the age of eighteen, went with Montgomery on the fatal expedition to Quebec, suffering untold miseries on his return through Canada. Both of his grandfathers were soldiers in the War of 1812.

James E. Campbell was educated in the free schools of his native town, and in later years received instruction from the Rev. John B. Morton, an early and successful teacher of that place, and for many years the pastor of the Presbyterian Church. When approaching maturity he began the reading of law, and taught school for a short time.

In the Summer of 1868, after the navy had become thoroughly organized in all its departments, and had won some of its most glorious victories, he became a master's mate on the gunboats Elk and Naiad, serving on the' Mississippi and Red River flotillas, and taking part in several engagements. But the unhealthiness of the climate soon affected him, and after a year, being surveyed by a board of surgeons, he was discharged, returning home a mere skeleton. As soon as he had sufficiently recovered his health he resumed the study of law, and during the Winter of 1864 and 1865 he became a student in the office of Doty & Gunckel, Middletown, being admitted to the bar in 1865.

In the Spring of 1867 he began the practice of his profession in this city. During the interval he was bookkeeper of the First National Bank at Middletown, and was also a deputy collector in the Internal Revenue service of the Third District for about eight months in Hamilton, under General Ferdinand Van Derveer, Collector. He was elected prosecuting attorney of the county in 1875 and 1877, holding that position for four years and filling the duties of his office most acceptably. From 1867 to 1869 he was United States commissioner. In 1879 he made a very close race for the Ohio State Senate, being defeated by only twelve votes. During the war he was a Republican, and remained so until the Greeley campaign, when, in common with thousands of others, he cast off the party yoke, and voted for Greeley and Brown. Since that time he has acted with the Democrats.

In addition to his business as a lawyer, he has paid much attention to insurance, and has gradually gained a large and valuable business in this line, and has been charged with many important receiverships and other trusts. Mr. Campbell isa Knight Templar, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and the Grand Army of the Republic. He was married to Miss Libbie Owens, daughter of Job E. Owens and Mary A. Price, on the 4th of January, 1870. Her father was a native of Wales, and her mother of Welsh descent. They have three children. Mr. Campbell is a hard worker, and can accomplish more in one day in his business than the

He is systematic in all his efforts, and his offices are models of neatness. Socially no man stands higher. He is courteous in manner, thorough in his acquisition of detail, and of the highest integrity of character. Asa lawyer he has few superiors at his age, possessing great skill in ascertaining the true points of a case. He is a good, clear, logical speaker, and well informed on all questions of law. No young man in Hamilton has a better or more honorable record, and no one is deserving of greater credit than he.

At the Democratic Convention held at Lebanon, August 16, 1882, he was nominated unanimously for the position of Congressman, and is now making a most gallant campaign in behalf of his party.

Captain Israel Gregg

Captain Israel Gregg, for many years a prominent steamboat man, was for a long time a resident of Hamilton. He was born on the 20th of February, 1775, in Virginia, but his parents, who were adventurous pioneers, removed to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, shortly after, where, on attaining a sufficient age, he was taught the art of a silversmith, and on reaching his majority set up for himself. Two years after, or on the 12th of July, 1798, he married Elizabeth Hough, one of the younger children of a Quaker family, and sister of Joseph Hough, for twenty years the leading merchant of Hamilton. Another brother, Benjamin, was auditor of the State of Ohio from 1808 to 1815.

Mr. Gregg afterwards became interested in steamboating, and in 1814 was in command of the steamboat Enterprise, built at Brownsville by Daniel French, on his patent, and owned by a company at that place. It was a boat of forty-five tons. It made two voyages to Louisville in the Summer of 1814. In December she took in a cargo of ordnance stores at Pittsburgh, and sailed for New Orleans, argving at that port on the 14th of the same month. She was then dispatched up the river in search of two keel-boats, laden with small arms, which had been delayed on the river. She had reached twelve miles above Natchez when she met the boats, took their masters and cargoes on board, and returned to New Orleans, having been out six and a half days, in which time she ran two hundred and sixty-four miles. She was then for some time actively employed in transporting troops, etc. She made one voyage to the Gulf of Mexico, as a cartel, and one voyage to the rapids of Red River with troops, and nine voyages to Natchez. She set out for Pittsburg on the 6th of May, and ar- 'ne " epee g = 30th, twenty-four days out, Soi New atta Pe A = ass e a a h Jrieans. She then proceeded to Pittsburg, from the sea by the means of steam had been successfully accomplished for the first time. Captain Gregg afterwards commanded the Dispatch, a small boat of twenty-five tons, built at Brownsville, which was wrecked near New Orleans in 1819, and he continued as a commander in the river service for several years after.

He then became an inhabitant of Hamilton, where he dwelt the remainder of his days. He was elected sheriff of Butler County in 1835, and served four years, also holding other offices of trust and responsibility. By his first wife he had eleven children, who are now all dead. Upon her decease he married Mrs. Phebe Kelley, of Rossville, an aunt of William D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, on Thursday, the 5th of December, 1822, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. H. Baker. By this marriage he had two children: Jane H., now the wife of J. C. Skinner, and Sarah, widow of Samuel Cary. He died on the 20th of June, 1847, aged seventythree years. He was a man of great uprightness and benevolence, and his memory is still cherished by those who knew him. A

Joseph B. Hughes

Joseph Barcalow Hughes, auditor of Butler County, was born November 12, 1848, on his father's farm in Liberty Township, in this county. He is the son of Micajah Hughes, president of the First National Bank, and grandson of Elijah Hughes, a native of Baltimore County, Maryland. The family emigrated to this county from Maryland about the close of the War of 1812, and settled in their present neighborhood, in which they have ever since resided. They are noted for their good, practical common sense, industry, sobriety and sterling honesty, and, as a consequence, have accumulated large estates, and are considered among the first families of Butler County.

Micajah Hughes was married more than fifty years ago to Phebe Freeman Cassidy, a native of the county, a lady whose good sense and good judgment have contributed in no small degree to her husband's prosperity. This long and happy union has been blessed by ten children, of whom Joseph is the sixth.

Reared upon a farm, he grew up with all the advantages of out-door life and physical exercise; attending district school until he had attained such proficiency that an advanced school became necessary to develop the intellect which nature bestowed so profusely upon him. For this purpose he attended the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, and afterwards, to acquire a business education, he went to a commercial college at Dayton, Ohio, at both which seats of learning he showed himself a young man of excellent memory, quick perception, good judgment, and sound understanding.

He was married November 12, 1868, to Miss Mary Davis, daughter of Almon Davis, a wealthy farmer- of Liberty Township. Mrs. Hughes was born in April, 1848. She isalady of culture and refinement, and is one in every way fitted to make home attractive and happy. One child, Gordon Taylor, a bright, intelligent boy now twelve years old, has been given them to bless their union. Mr. Hughes engaged in farming with fair success until 1875, when desiring to furnish his boy with better facilities for education, and being himself of an enterprising commercial and manufacturing disposition which farming did not gratify, he moved to Hamilton and engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1881, when he sold out to his brothers. While engaged in business his attention was directed to the subject of manufacturing the beautiful ware known as Wedgewood, large quantities of which are imported from England and sold in this country, and he became impressed with the belief, after investigation, that it could successfully be manufactured in America.

Acting upon this belief, he with others organized the * Royal Pottery Company, of which he was elected president, about three years ago, for the manufacture of this ware. The necessary buildings and machinery were constructed, skilled workmen were brought direct from England to start the enterprise, and the problem was successfully solved by turning out goods equal to the best imported from Europe, thus demonstrating what American enterprise and skill can accomplish when led by intelligence and good judgment. Since Mr. Hughes's election to his present position, he has disposed of all his interest in the company, as well as other outside business, that he may devote his whole time and attention to the duties of the office to which the people have elected him; but as a manufacturer and a merchant, his good judgment, thorough methods, and fair dealings procured him a fair share of success, and the respect of all with whom he dealt.

From his earliest youth he has taken an earnest interest in politics, allying himself with the Democratic party, being a true disciple of the teachings of Jefferson, Jackson, Madison, and the other great founders of that party. He is thoroughly democratic in his principles, is opposed to all monopolies and to all legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, or to any thing tending towards monarchy, absolutism, or aristocracy.

For years he has been a hard worker in the ranks of his party, acting as committeeman in his township, attending conventions, and helping worthy friends to public positions, but not until the Hancock campaign in 1880 was he put forward as a leader by his admirers, who began about that time to estimate the man at his true value.

At the Morrow convention in 1880, which nominated General Ward for Congress, he was selected by the delegation from his county to second the nomination, which he did in a neat and appropriate speech, being the first time he had attempted the difficult task of speaking in public. During the political campaign of that year he spoke at various points in the county, discussing the political questions of the day in a manner that showed a thorough knowledge of the subject, to the gratification and, we may add, surprise of his friends, and with credit to himself.

In the campaign of 1881 he contributed greatly to the success of his party by his writings to the Daily Democrat, in a manner that shows him to be a good writer as, well as a good: speaker, and his abilities as a political strategist are recognized by his being made chairman of the county executive committee of this county. As a speaker he is thoroughly honest and sincere in his utterances, and therefore impresses himself upon his hearers; his sentences go direct to the point, and convince by their directness rather than by their eloquence. As a writer he is forcible, fair, and direct; but if occasion require, he can be pungent and sarcastic, covering the object of his attack with ridicule, in which respect he is, much more effective as a writer than speaker.

It is reasonable to suppose that the public would look to such a man as one well calculated to fill a public office with credit to himself and with honor to them, and therefore when he was nominated by his party by an overwhelming majority, and triumphantly elected to the office of auditor of this county, in the Fall of 1881, it was no more than was to be expected in recognition of his abilities and reward for political services.

He entered upon the discharge of the duties of his responsible position in November, 1881, to serve for three years. In the discharge of those duties it is safe to predict, from the integrity displayed by him in the past, that the interests of the public will be properly guarded, and that the laws governing his official acts will be honestly and faithfully executed. He is a man of incorruptible honesty and unflinching honor, possessing that conscientious regard for the sanctity of an oath that insures its faithful observance. He isa Knight Templar, is a past Chancellor Commander in the Knights of Pythias, and a valued member of other orders with which he is associated. With his natural shrewdness, industry, and ambition, we predict for him a future that will place him in the front ranks as a citizen, a politician, an officer, and a thoroughly cultured, upright gentleman.

Thomas V. Howell

Thomas V. Howell, the leading dry-goods merchant of Hamilton, was born in this city, in what is now the First Ward, September 28, 1826. He is the son of Hezekiah and Sarah A. (Virgin) Howell. Mrs. Howell was the daughter of Thomas Virgin, an early settler in Liberty Township, and afterward in the War of 1812. He was killed by Indians, on the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Howell received a limited education in the common schools, and when, from ten to twelve years of age entered the employment of George P. Bell, a prominent merchant, and continued with him some ten years, when he went to Cincinnati, with the firm of Reilly & Woods. He returned to Hamilton, and entered the employment of Brown & Leigh, remaining there until March, 1849, when, in company with D. G. Leigh, they purchased the business of William B. Van Hook, and began the firm of Leigh & Howell, under which title they traded for two and a half years. Mr. Leigh then sold out to John Dye, sand the new firm of Howell & Dye was formed.

About 1854 Mr. Howell purchased the interest of his partner and carried on business by himself for twelve years. On beginning in 1849, his trade was not limited exclusively to dry goods, but embraced all that is commonly sold in country stores, including at one time a large stock of boots and shoes, and afterwards of millinery. In 1870 he admitted his son, David Leigh Howell, as a partner, under the firm name of T. V. Howell & Son. In 1875 they built the store since occupied by the firm, a handsome three story building, and admirably adapted to its present use. Their former store had been on the corner of Third and High, in the place now occupied by Hughes Brothers. The firm also carries on an extensive concern in Middletown, and are large dealers in all lines. Much of their goods is imported directly by themselves.

Mr. Howell was married October 20, 1849, to Miss Sarah A. Conner, daughter of David Conner, a former well-known resident of this place. They are the parents of one daughter and one son, the former being Kate C. Howell, and the latter David L. Howell. Mrs. Howell and daughter are members of the United Presbyterian Church. He is a self-made man, and had no early advantanges. He is a member of the Masonic order, and contributed liberally of his means and influence in sustaining the government during the last war.

William B. Van Hook

William B. Van Hook was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, on the twenty-sixth day of October, 1795. His parents were Dr. Benjamin F. Van Hook and Catherine Van Hook, who were Hollanders, and who had emigrated from New Jersey to the North-west Territory at a very early period. Mr. Van Hook remained in Cincinnati until the last war with Great Britain, when he enlisted as a private in Captain David Oliver's company, and served as a soldier until peace was declared. He moved from Cincinnati to Hamilton in the year 1818, where he continued to reside until his death, which took place in 1871.

He was by trade a carpenter, which he followed for many years. mechanic and builder. About 1818 he and the 'late James B. Thomas went from Hamilton to New Orleans on a flat-boat, where they remained for several months, working together at the carpenter business. Mr. Van Hook and the late Colonel Ball, of Trenton, walked all the way back to Hamilton through the then Indian coun-

In early life Mr. Van Hook exhibited quite a taste for the theater, and, as an amateur, played with and assisted the since eminent tragedian, Edwin Forrest. The circumstances are related elsewhere. Mr. Forrest never forgot his old friend, and never visited Cincinnati afterwards without sending for him.

Mr. Van Hook was a man of more than ordinary merit, and filled with ability offices of public trust. For several years he was a member of the Ohio Legislature; was speaker of the House of Representatives, and was warden of the Ohio penitentiary. He was at various times a member and president of the city council of Hamilton. During the late rebellion he was deputy provost marshal of the Third Congressional District. In politics he was always an unwavering and ardent Democrat, but during the war of the Rebellion acted with the Union party. For more than half a century he was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. He died at his home in Hamilton, Ohio. At the time of his death he was probably the oldest citizen of this place. He was a highly respected, useful, and honored citizen.

John F. Neilan

John F. Neilan, the prosecuting attorney of this county, isa native of Ireland. He was born in Roscommon County November 18, 1845. His parents, Thomas Neilan and Sarah Dwyer, emigrated to this country in 1848, being forced to that step by the misgovernment of the English. Mr. Neilan's family is one of the oldest and wealthiest in the west of Ireland, whose patrimony was confiscated by the British Government. John F. Neilan was but three years old when his parents came to the United States, locating in New Haven, Connecticut, and as soon as he grew old enough was sent to school, where he received the rudiments of education.

In 1857 his parents came to the West, that boundless field for industry and thrift, and settled in Fayette County, in this State. There, with indomitable industry, they proceeded to clear off the virgin forests, and get the ground ready for cultivation. From 1857 to 1866 he led the usual life of a farmer's boy, but with few of the advantages commonly to be found in that position. His parents were very poor, and he received no school education after he was twelve years of age, with the exception of six or eight months in all, obtained a couple of months each Winter, when the weather was so bad that no work could be done on the farm.

He was, however, an incessant reader. He read every thing he could lay his hands on - books, magazines, and newspapers. History, biography, and travels were his favorites, and so industriously did he pursue his reading that he was known by all to besa well-informed young man at the age of twenty. His love for his adopted country and his hatred of British rule led him to pay particular attention to the history of the United States and the Revolutionary struggle. He sat up night after night, reading the story of the blockade at Boston, the conflict at Lexington, the disastrous defeat at Brooklyn, the retreat across the Jerseys, the Winter at Valley Forge, the great victories at Saratoga and Yorktown, the brilliant campaign of Greene in the South, and the thousand and one other facts that make up the history of our war for self-government, with no light but that of a log-fire, and alone.

In 1868 he began teaching school, for which he had qualified himself by study. This position enabled him to keep up his reading, and to find new books in each neighborhood. In this county, to which he came on the 16th of March, 1866, from Clark County, he taught for six years. While teaching he studied law, a part of the 'time in the office of Judge Crane, and was admitted to practice in all courts of record on the 13th of April, 1874. In that year he became the editor of the Hamilton Examiner, a Democratic newspaper. He was married on the 2d of June, 1874, to Miss Jane W. Kincaid, daughter of Jackson Kincaid, who was born in Virginia, and Isabella Hill, a native of Butler County. Her birth was in December, 1849. Mrs. Neilan has proved an estimable, loving wife, and their home has been a happy one. They have had three children, Thomas K., Mary E., and John F., Jr. Thomas, who was born December 4, 1875, was killed by the kick of a horse, on the 19th of July, 1881. This was their first sorrow. Mary E. was born September 28, 1878. John F. Neilan, Jr., was born December 28, 1881.

Mr. Neilan was elected city solicitor of Hamilton in April, 1877, retaining the position till April, 1881. In 1879, while holding that place, he was nominated for prosecuting attorney by the Democratic convention. Always an ardent, fearless, and successful political strategist, he was made the especial target of the opposition party. All the corrupting influences possible in political warfare were brought to bear against him, but he was triumphantly elected and served the people for two years, and for his honorable course and ability as a shrewd, quickwitted criminal lawyer, he was given the nomination for a second term without opposition, and his election followed.

Mr. Neilan ranks to-day with the first lawyers in our courts. His ability as an attorney and counselor, and reputation as a speaker, gained in many a hard fought political battle, have made him a reputation extending far beyond the confines of his county. He is a man of great will-power and determination, and always ready to give his opinion on all questions, and to conceal nothing. He is faithful and impartial in the discharge of public duties, and serves the people with honesty and ability. His intention is to resume the practice of law at the expiration of his term of office, and devote his whole attention to his chosen profession.

Hamilton And Rossville Hydraulic Company

For several years an idea had been entertained by some of the citizens of Hamilton of the practicability of taking the water out of the Miami River, at a bend about four miles above, conveying it by a race to the town, and thereby creating a water-power which would be advantageous to the place. In the Summer of 1840 John W. Erwin, an experienced and skillful engineer, surveyed and leveled the route, and made a map and estimate of the expense of the work. This estimate and map were forwarded to the succeeding Legislature, with a petition praying the incorporation of a company to effect the object contemplated. On the presentation of this the Legislature, on the twenty-fifth day of March, 1841, passed an act incorporating a company by the name of 'The Hamilton and Rossville Hydraulic Company," and gave them power to erect a dam across the Miami River at any point between the head of New River and Allen's mill, and to construct a canal or race thence to the town of Hamilton, for the purpose of creating a water-power for propelling mills and other machinery.

The assent of the owners was required to be obtained over whose lands the water should be conducted or works erected. The capital stock of the company was limited to one hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of fifty dollars each. On twenty thousand dollars being subscribed they were authorized to elect a board of directors and proceed with the object of the undertaking.

At the next session of the Legislature a law was passed modifying the provisions of the original act so that the business of the company should be conducted by nine directors, instead of seven as provided by the first act, and prohibiting the directors from involving the company in debt to a greater amount than the stock subscribed, unless authorized by two-thirds of the stockholders. The assent of owners of land to the right of way being required by the act of incorporation, in the Spring of the year 1841 John W. Erwin obtained a release of the right of way from John Mitchel, George R. Bigham, William Bigham, James Bigham, and David Bigham, on the condition that the Hydraulic Company should build each of these persons a good bridge on their land, for the passing of wagons and cattle over the company's canal.

A difference of opinion existed between the citizens of Hamilton and Rossville as to the point where the waterpower should be erected, and on which side of the river the water should be brought. The act of incorporation appointed Samuel Forrer, of Dayton, a civil engineer, to survey and estimate the route on each side of the river, and to establish it on the best and most practicable route. On being notified by the company, Mr. Forrer attended at Hamilton, in October, examined the different routes, and after making an estimate of the expense, on the 26th of October, 1841, made a report deciding in favor of the one on the Hamilton side. Books for the subscription of stock were opened on Wednesday the first day

An election was held at the office of Lewis D. Campbell, secretary, on the first day of January, 1842, at which John Woods, William Bebb, Loammi Rigdon, Jacob Hittel, Andrew McCleary, Lewis D. Campbell, and Jacob Matthias were elected directors. Bebb was chosen president, and Lewis D. Campbell, secretary. Henry S. Earhart was afterwards appointed

The canal for hydraulic purposes is taken out of the Miami River about four miles above Hamilton, at a place where formerly stood Moody Davis's mill. A tight dam is here constructed across the river. The water is taken from the pool formed by the dam, and conducted down a bayou which had supplied the mill with water, about one hundred and twenty-four poles to up on the west side to the east end of the dam across the river. This serves to raise the water to the same height as the water in the pools.