Licking Township (part 1 of 42)

Licking Township

THE Mound Builders' works are found in various parts of Licking township, the stone mound about a mile south of Jacksontown being of the greatest magnitude. It was of gigantic proportions, measuring one hundred and eightythree feet in diameter at its base, and when found by the pioneer settlers, was between thirty and forty feet in height. Many hundred wagon loads of stone were removed from it, and used in the construction of the reservoir, in the cellar walls in the neighborhood, and in the villages along the National road, so that at present it will not probably average more than eight feet in height A tolerably well preserved coffin, containing a skeleton, was found in it some years ago, with a quantity of beads and other trinkets. Other but less authenticated relics are often named in connection with this mound. The "decalogue stone" with some others require verification. This mound is situated on high ground, and was built of unhammered stone of tolerably uniform size and very large. Hon. Isaac Smucker, who is well informed on the subject, says it was the largest stone mound of which he has any knowledge. It

The earth mound on the plank road between Newark and Jacksontown, on the farm of Mr. Taylor, is one of good size, and much interest attaches to it on account of the very careful and scientific examination given it, a few years ago, by Professor Marsh, of Yale college, and who gave it a very extensive notoriety through "Silliman's Journal," as well as in a carefully prepared pamphlet publication. He found in it ashes, charcoal, flint, a broken pipe made of soft limestone, pieces of a tube of the same material, a string of over one hundred native copper beads, strung on a twisted cord of coarse vegetable fibre; also shell beads, human skeletons, decayed layers of reddish brown powder, layers of burned clay, white chaff, implements of various kinds, lance and arrowheads, six hand axes made of hematite and greenstone, a hatchet, a flint chisel, a flint scraper, many bone implements, five needles or bodkins from three to six inches in length, made of the -bones of. the deer, an implement for moulding pottery, numerous peculiar implements made from the antlers of the deer and elk, a whistle made from the tooth of a young black bear, spoons made of shells, a vessel of coarse pottery, fragments of a vase, various animal bones, such as the elk, deer, rabbit, wolf, woodchuck and river mussel, and various other things, including seventeen human skeletons, in whole or in part. No bones of domestic animals were found. The exploration of the mound was more perfect and thorough than that of any other within the limits of the county, and its yield of archaeological treasure was generous. Mr. G. P. Russell, of Harvard college, with a number of gentlemen of Newark, assisted in this examination, and retained possession of some of those valuable mound deposits. This is but a single instance of the richness of this county, archaeologically considered, and shows what treasures are yet in reach of those who would give these mounds a thorough examination.

There are also several mounds on the lands of Mr. Parr, in the vicinity of the great stone mound already described; 'and one west of the plank road, on the farm of Mr. J. R. Moore, about two miles south of Newark; also, one nearly a half mile east of the cemetery, a mile north of Jacksontown. These are not remarkable for size, nor pc culiar in any respect; but one on the farm of the late William Bussey, at Fairmount, is remarks for size, it being one hundred and fifteen feet i: diameter at its base, with an altitude, at present of twenty-five feet. There is also near the banks cs the South fork, two miles from Newark, on wiu: is called Cochran's hill, a work or fortification ctf the Mound Builders.

A few acres are enclosed, perhaps between foe and ten, by a bank several feet high, which appears to have been thrown from the inside, the ditch beiru: within the enclosure. Fronting the creek, where the banks are very steep, there is no ditch for a number of rods. So far as the work was cofr structed, it is an accurate circle.

There is also an earth enclosure of low banks, and small extent, on the farm of Mr. Ronan. hit' a mile south of the foregoing, covering about one acre. It has a good sized mound standing in the ditch and bank, thirty feet in diameter and twehc feet high.

There is also, on the farm of Mr. J. Sutton, near the northern boundary of the township j small mound of earth, and also a fort or enclosure of an oblong square, enclosing half an acre or more, whose banks have been plowed over anc almost obliterated. It is situated near "Fort Spring."

The Indians, it is known, had a camp on the farm owned by Mr. J. R. Moore; and there was also an Indian encampment in a large sugar grove near Hog run, since the property of Mr. Jacob Brownfield, where the Indians often made sugar. "Big swamp," or "Two lakes," sometimes, also, called by the Indians "Big lake.' and "Little lake," or what is now called the Reser voir, was resorted to by the Indians, in consider able numbers, for the purpose of fishing. There was an Indian trail through this township, and along the Reservoir, leading from the mouth of the Wakatomika (near Dresden), crossing the Licking river at or below the mouth of the Bo* ling Green run, to King Beaverstown, near Pickerington or Lithopolis, in Fairfield county, about the head-waters of the Hock-Hocking. That the In* dians often camped along this trail, in Licking township, is most probable ; and it seems also to be a well authenticated fact that the Wyandots , Delaivares and perhaps Shawnees , had more permanent homes here than the foregoing remarks indicate. Little that is entirely reliable, however, in relation to Indian history, anterior to the settlement of the county by the whites, is known to a certainty.

The trail above mentioned is doubtless the one followed by Christopher Gist and Andrew Montour in 1751. Gist was, probably, the first white man to pass through what is now Licking township. His expedition is referred to in another chapter.

A strip of land, two and a half miles wide across the southern part of this .township, once belonged to what was known as the "Refugee lands," and the remainder to the United States military or army lands. This division and designation is explained in another chapter. The military lands, of which about two thirds of this township is comprised, were surveyed pursuant to authority granted by act of Congress, passed June 1, 1796. This township, except what belongs to the Refugee tract, on the original survey, was in the tier of townships numbered one, in range twelve.

The township was originally well timbered, abounding in the usual variety and extent of forest trees, the oak, walnut, hickory, and sugar being the principal. It is agreeably, and about in equal proportions, diversified with hill and valley; onethird being low, level or flat land of superior fertility ; another third being gently undulating and the remainder made up of more abrupt and less productive elevations or hills.

The South fork of Licking, which forms the western boundary of this township; Hog run and its tributaries; Swamp run and Dutch fork, are its principal streams. The bottom lands along these streams are among the best in the county, the soil being deep, rich, enduring and exceedingly productive.

The township was organized in 1801, as one of the townships of Fairfield county, and then embraced the whole of the territory (except the Refugee tract,) which now constitutes the county of Licking, and perhaps a portion also of what is now Knox county. Thus it continued until 1807, when it was reduced to half the limits of Licking county, by the formation of the township of Granville. Subsequently, by the formation of Union township on the west, and of Bowling Green on the east, both in 1808; and of Newark on the north in 1810, and Franklin on the east in 1812, it was reduced to its present dimensions. The county lines of Fairfield and Perry, which run through the Reservoir, form its southern boundary.

The pioneers of this township were Phillip Sutton, Job Rathbone, John and George Gillespie, who arrived in 1801; Benjamin Green, Richard Pitzer and John Stadden, in 1802; Major Anthony Pitzer, Jacob Swisher, Stephen Robinson and perhaps others, in 1803.

Judge Brumback contributes to the pioneer papers an interesting article on Hog run and the early settlers along that stream. It is freely quoted from. *

Probably about 1804, the hogs of one John Ward, of Granville township, running at large, in the fall of the year, strayed across the South fork of Licking, and wintered on or near the land since owned by Jeremiah Grove, and along the little creek just south of it. The animals found in the abundant mast ample food. In the ensuing spring the owner discovered his stock, numerically increased and in good condition, and immediately, it is said, named the stream "Hog run." Richard Green thus accounts for the name. He also states that the settlers often thereafter called Mr. Ward "Hog Ward."

Authority, perhaps equally good, exists for saying, that about the same time the hogs of Isaac Stadden, then residing below Newark, near the Bowling Green, having strayed away were found on the same stream, and that it received its name from that circumstance. This opinion was entertained by Mrs. Stadden, widow ot Isaac Stadden, who died July 3, 1870, in the ninety-first year of her age.

Others account for the name on the theory that some one else's hogs multiplied and fattened along the stream, and their owner, with an early settler's natural gratitude for an abundant stock of pork, gave it the same, suggestive if not elegant, name. Certain it is (and perhaps little else regarding the name is certain) that soon after the whites began to settle in the county, the stream received this name. Doubtless the abundance of beech-nuts and acorns, found in the valley at that time, made it a good place for hogs at large. This circumstance alone might have suggested the name to several persons at the same time.

The first settlers on Hog run, according to the recollection of Mr. Richard Green, were Phillip Sutton and John Rathbone, who settled on the tributary reaching toward Jacksontown, in the vicinity of Harvey T. Black's residence and lower down. They must have settled in 1800, or not later than 1801. Rathbone settled on land afterward owned by Mr. Black, and Sutton on land afterward owned by James Davis. Of these persons there is little known except the single fact that they came from Pennsylvania.

The records show that during the year 1800 and 1801, a number of conveyances of land were made. Early in 1801, George and John Gillespie settled on the same tributary, and September 21, 1801, George executed a conveyance of two hundred acres in the southwest corner of the fourth quarter, part of which was afterward owned by James Davis. The Gillespies remained in this vicinity but a few months.

In 1799, Benjamin Green and family, consisting of a wife and ten children, all the latter unmarried; and Richard Pitzer, son-in-law of Mr. Green, with his family, came to Marietta from Maryland. In the spring of 1800, they started for the Licking valley. The women and children under charge of Mr. Pitzer, with eight pack-horses, came up by land, along a trail. They drove through with them several head of cattle. Benjamin Green and his son Richard, with a hired hand, a Mr. John Kelley, manned a large canoe, or barge, in which they conveyed their household goods and other freight by water to the mouth of the Licking, present site of Zanesville. Among this freight were flour from fifteen bushels of wheat, and the running gears of a wagon, probably the first one brought into the county. In August of the same year Isaac Stadden brought in a wagon, probably the second one. With it he moved his family from Northumberland county, Pennsylvania.

of the party. From Zanesville to Shawnee run they cut their own road. When they arrived at Bowling Green they found the families of Hughes. Ratliff and that of a man named John Carpenter. Mr. Green thinks these were all the families then within the limits of Licking county. If Jone>, Benjamin and the Fords came, as some think, during this year, it was probably at a later period. Messrs. Green and Pitzer located first on Shawnee run, on lands afterwards owned by Rev. P. N O'Banon, where they resided two years.

February 25, 1802, Benjamin Green acquired lands on Hog run, and soon after he and Mr. Pitzer occupied these lands. The land where Green settled was afterward owned by James Davis; and Pitzer located a little lower down, between him and the run on what was afterward knowrn as the low'er Beard farm. They were the first settlers on that part of Hog run, after Rathbone, Sutton and the Gillespies. Green bought one hundred and fifty acres for three hundred and fifty dollars, and in two years sold it to Stephen Robinson for nine hundred dollars. He had cleared off thirty' acres

After this sale he contracted with Samuel Dick a large proprietor, who had two thousand eight hundred acres of land lying on both sides of Hog run, and west of the road from Newark to Jacksontown. He located at the spring, on this land, on that part afterward owned by Jesse R. and Joseph J. Moore, near w'here a small, old brick house now stands, north of the residence of John Bruni back. This spring, or rather collection of springs, forming a little swamp, was well known. Richard Green says that he, on different occasions after 1804, saw Shawnee Indians encamped in the tint ber near to and south of the springs, and between these and the house of John Brumback. At one time he saw' thirty encamped there, w'ho came from Raccoon tow n, near Johnstown.

The Greens must have settled here before 1805, and here Benjamin Green lived until the death 01 his wife in 1822, when he went to reside with hi=> son, Daniel Green, near Moscow', Licking county. In 1823 he married Mrs. Martha I^ewis, daughter of Theophilus Rees, and widow' of David Lewi*, and died in 1835, aged seventy-six years. He had a family of fourteen children, some of whom afterward became prominent in the affairs of the coun- ty. Richard, one of the sons, lived in this county seventy-two years, dying April 16, 1872, aged eighty-seven years. Mr. Pitzer died in 1819, on Hog run. In 1802, soon after Green settled on Hog run, Jacob Swisher, a settler from Hardy county, Virginia, located on a one hundred acre tract, now part of the homestead of Mr. Benjamin Green. He had expended all his means in reaching the country, and, without money or assistance, undertook to open up and pay for his purchase. He erected a "pole cabin" near the present residence of Mr. Green. The forest afforded him abundance of game, and the stream a good supply of fish. In after years he used to claim to his wife and daughters, that he was a better cook than they, for while he kept house in his cabin, his corn bread and mush never adhered to the skillet, but came out smooth and unbroken. They in defense always urged that this circumstance was not attributable to the superiority of his cooking, but rather to the fact that he cooked and roasted much fat bear meat and venison, and then made mush or baked pone without washing the skillet thoroughly enough to get off all the grease.

In this solitary way, Mr. Swisher lived several years, when he erected a second cabia of round logs, in dimensions, fourteen by sixteen feet. Into this establishment of tw'o rooms, he, in 1804, installed his new' wife, Phebe, the daughter of his old neighbor, Benjamin Green. Mr. Swisher earned part, if not all, the price of his one hundred acres of land (one hundred and seventy-five dollars), by packing salt on horseback from the Scioto salt works, in the vicinity of Chillicothe to his neighborhood. This was before any road had been cut out. One man took two horses, and followed the trail through the woods. Each horse carried four bushels of salt, which cost at the works one dollar and fifty cents per bushel, and sold here at four dollars per bushel. It took five or six days to make the round trip. Several years afterward, or about 1809, the settlers thought themselves fortunate in being able to exchange wheat for salt at Zanesville, bushel for bushel.

prices for produce during those early years. Mr. Green says that during the first two or three years, corn sold for fifty cents per bushel, and pork seven dollars per hundredweight. Wheat was not much raised at first, but when produced in quantities exceeding the wants of the neighborhood, often sold as low as tw'enty-five cents a bushel The first two calico dresses Mrs. Swisher purchased, cost her one dollar per yard, but they lasted her many years, even until her daughters grew into womanhood.

Mr. Alexander Holden was also an early settler in Licking township. He was a man of more than ordinary capacity and intelligence. He was a justice of the peace several years; commissioner of the county from 1817 to 1820, and from 1824 to 1827, and was also elected to the legislature in 1808. He was a man of meritorious character, generally esteemed, and of much decision and firmness. He died nearly fifty years ago.

Major Anthony Pitzer was also an early settler, and rendered valuable military services during the war of 1812. In 1816 he was elected to the office of associate judge, in which capacity he served several years; and in i8i8and 1819, was a member of the legislature. He was a man of much force and many excellent qualities, but of limited scholarship and attainments. He w*as a native of Virginia, and came to Ohio from Allegheny county, Maryland, in 1803, settling on Hog run, wffiere he died May May 14, 1852, aged eighty-six years.

Samuel Patterson who was elected to the Ohio senate in 1848, and Nicholas Shaver who collected the taxes of Licking township from 1820 to 1822, were also pioneers of this township.

In 1803 Rev. Asa Shinn, then a very young but promising minister of the Methodist church, was appointed to the Hock-Hocking circuit, then just organized, and which turned out to be one which took him four weeks to travel over. It led him into what are now the counties of Fairfield, Licking, Muskingum, Coshocton, Knox, Delaware and Franklin. There was upon it but one regular appointment in this county, and that was at the house - a good sized double-cabin - of Mr. Benjamin

Green, in the valley of Hog run. Mr. Shinn's appointment before reaching this one, was on the Hock-Hocking river, at or near Lancaster; and the next one after it, was at, or near the mouth of the Wakatomika, or a few miles beyond it, at the house of a Mr. Wamsly.

Mr. Shinn continued his labors a year, beginning late in 1803, and ending in the autumn of 1804. This organization at the house of Mr. Green was, doubtless, the pioneer religious society of Licking county.

Mr. Green was a Baptist, and until near the close of his life, occasionally exercised the functions of a minister of that denomination, and might properly be ranked with the pioneer preachers of Licking county. He was tolerant of all religions, and as his wife and children were disposed to cherish the Methodist faith, he gave support and encouragement to Mr. Shinn's enterprise.

The following are some, and perhaps nearly all, the church members, and those who became such during Mr. Shinn's ministry: Richard Pitzer, Mrs. Pitzer, Jocob Swisher, Mrs. Swisher, John Stadden, Mrs. Stadden, Sarah Green and Mrs. Green, wife of Benjamin Green. It was rather a family church, the male members being sons-in-law of Mr. Green, and the female members his wife and daughters.

The great promise of Mr. Shinn's early career as a pioneer preacher in the west was fully realized on reaching the full maturity of his intellect, for he became eminent as an author, no less than as a divine. Hon. Isaac Smucker gives it as his judgment that no man of better intellect or of a higher order of pulpit talent, ever exercised the functions of a minister of the gospel in this county. He was born in New Jersey, May 3, 1771. His parents were Quakers, and the boy did not enjoy any educational privileges. He had natural ability, however, and while yet in his "teens" attracted attention as an exhorter.

Without making any application for a license to preach, he was urged to this calling by a presiding elder of the Methodist church, who procured for him a license, and before he was twenty-one years of age was employed as a traveling preacher. He received his first appointment in 1801, and continued in the itinerancy of the Methodist Episcopal church more than twenty-seven years.

His parents moved to the vicinity of Clarbburgh, Virginia, when he was yet young, when schools or institutions of learning of any kind were scarce, and educational matters almost wholly neglected. The little education he possesed was obtained from reading and from his association with men of improved minds.

He became a great favorite, at one time, wii the people of Baltimore, and his residence there enabled him to improve his mind and complete a literary work upon which he was engaged, called the "Plan of Salvation." The work evinced 2 great deal of thought and discrimination, but ga*e him trouble with his brethren, on account of some peculiar views therein expressed, which some thought sounded like heresy. He afterward published a work on the rectitude of the "Supreme Being."

Rev. John Bums spent two years with Mr. Shinn at Allegheny City station, commencing ir 1840. He had ample opportunity to know him. and his decided convictions were that he was the best man he ever knew. He was social and companionable, and in all his intercourse governed by unaffected, natural simplicity of manners. A hearer at a camp meeting at Baltimore, in 1815, thus describes him :

"There he stood, with a rather youthful appearance, pt*>. calm and self possessed, with a round, full, mellow voice, ea-d) reaching the most distant hearer. He seemed an angel in human flesh, come from a higher region on that great occasion to instruct mankind in their highest interests. He was strong r argument, apt and clear in illustration, fervent and imprcssm in his manner, and the latter half of his discourse was overwhelmingly eloquent. He had very little power of imaginaiicc - massive thought made him eloquent."

He preached in Newark, when on a preaching tour to the west, one or two sermons, as late as 1833. He died January n, 1853, aud was buried in the beautiful cemetery near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thus passed away the pioneer preacher 0: Licking county.

The little pioneer church organized by Mr. Shinn on Hog run, in 1804, has maintained its existence to the present day, a period of seventy-six years. The society erected a log church in 1818, oraye3r later, near where Mr. Shinn organized it. This was afterward moved to the farm of Rev. Benjamin Green, north of where it stood originally, and was.

twenty-seven years ago, succeeded by a frame building, which stands on the farm of Mr. Anthony Pitzer, about two miles from where the original church was erected. The pulpit of the church has been occupied with a good degree of regularity ever since its organization; but its membership is, at present, rather limited. The following are the names of the preachers who succeeded Mr. Shinn until the year 1810, as shown by the conference minutes: Revs. James Quinn and John Meeks, from 1804 to 1805; James Quinn and Joseph Williams, from 1805 to 1806; John Meeks and James Axley, from 1806 to 1807; Joseph Hays and James King, from 1807 to 1808; Ralph Lotspeitch and Isaac Quinn, from 1808 to 1809; Benjamin Lakin, John Manly and John Johnson, from 1809 to 1810.

More than sixty years ago the Revs. James B. Finley and C. Springer, the latter of whom is authority for this statement, held a quarterly meeting in this church. They reached it from the Muskingum region, by way of a blind bridle-path, which led them mostly through the woods, a little south of Flint ridge. It is probable that this meeting was held at the time of the dedication of the first church edifice, though not certain. Revs. Noah Fidler, Jesse Stoneman, and Levi Shinn, brother of Asa, were also pioneer preachers here.

The Christian Union church, a few years ago, organized a society within the bounds of this pioneer Methodist church, whose members were, for the most part, formerly Methodists, and members of the Hog Run church. The two societies occupy, jointly, the church edifice, and are of nearly equal strength in membership, neither, probably, numbering more than a score, or thereabouts.

The Friendship, or, as it is commonly called, "The Hog Rjin Baptist church" (Old School) is one of the pioneer churches of Licking township, and of the county. It has had a career of more than sixty-nine years, and has always exerted a degree of influence second to but few churches in the county. Its positive creed, the free, full, outspoken profession of its doctrines, and the unreserved declaration of their belief by its adherents, their readiness to defend the faith they cherish, and the avowal and prompt support by arguments of their somewhat peculiar views as to faith and ecclesiastical usages, have all tended to attract public attention. The foregoing considerations, together with the wealth they represent, their numbers, their long history and identification with pioneer times, and other causes, have contributed to make this church a power - a church vigorous, widely known, and of considerable influence. The membership of this church has generally been considerable, and crowds usually attend/its ministrations. In 1818, sixty-two years ago, they erected a church which they continued to occupy forty-two years. It was of hewed logs, with a gallery running around three sides of it, and more than a third of a century ago Rev. George Debolt occupied its pulpit. In i860 it was superceded by a good frame building, which is yet occupied. It is of good size and stands on or near the site of the original one, near Van Burenton, where the plank road crosses the northeasterly branch of Hog run. Rev. John W. Patterson was the first preacher in this church. The membership is now half a hundred or more.

The Friendship church was organized February 20, 1811, by Rev. Thomas Powell and Rev. John W. Patterson. The following persons were the original members: Samuel Meredith, John Simpson, Sarah Patterson, Elizabeth Meredith, Mary Sutton, John W. Patterson, Thomas Deweese, Ann Simpson, and Thomas Powell. Rev. Mr. Patterson was pastor of this church about a dozen years or more after its organization, and was succeeded by Rev. Eli Ashbrook, Elder Hill, Rev. George Debolt, Rev. Christopher Coffman, Rev. Joshua Breese, Rev. John Parker, Rev. Matthew Brown, Rev. S. Meredith, Rev. C. McClellan, Rev. Zachariah Thomas, and Rev. Benjamin Lampton. This society also own a church near Linnville, erected in 1848.

The denominations known as the Methodists and United Brethren, have each a frame church at Jacksontown. They are not large, but may be regarded as prosperous. Each of them is a preaching appointment on a circuit, and its pulpit is mainly supplied by "itinerants," according to the usages of these denominations respectively.

The edifice occupied by the Methodist society is neat in appearance and respectable in proportions, and was erected forty years ago or more. That of the United Brethren was originally built by another denomination, and purchased and repaired by its present owners. The membership of the Methodist church is sixty or more, with a Sabbath-school of nearly a hundred pupils.

The number of members of the United Brethren church is not large, but the Sabbath-school is strong in numbers and in a flourishing condition.

The Fairmount Presbyterian church was organized March 24, 1834, by Rev. Jonathan Cable, assisted by Rev. W. Wylie and Rev. Jacob Little. The original members were Harvey R. Gilmore, Dr. Joseph Mathers, Samuel Dobbins, Charles Wallace, Mrs. Wallace, James Hamilton, Mrs. Hamilton, Sarah Smith, Harriet Smith, William Bounds, Rebecca Cunningham and Lucy Gilmore. Rev. Jonathan Cable was the first pastor, and served from 1834 to 1838. Their ministers were Rev. Ebenezer Buckingham, from 1838 to 1839; C. N. Ransom, 1840 to 1846; N. C. Coffin, 1846 to 1851; N. C. McBride, 1851 to 1856; D. H. Coyner, 1856 to 1857; N. C. McBride, 1857 to 1869.

The membership is more tKan half a hundred, and a large and active Sabbath-school is connected with the church. The original elders were Dr. Mather, A. D. Caldwell, Charles Wallace and H. R. Gilmore.

The church building is of fair proportions, and was erected in 1835. It occupies a beautiful elevation (Fairmount,) on the eastern borders of the township, in full view of the National road, near Amsterdam, and in the vicinity of a large mound and numerous other works of the Mound Builders.

Mr. Richard Green, whose residence in this township dates back to 1802, is authority for the information that a Mr. Taylor taught the first school in the township, in the Green settlement, about the year 1806. Educational interests have continued to receive a fair share of patronage and fostering care of the people of the township, which is now divided into eight districts, most of them being provided with a good school-house.

The Ohio canal, along the western boundary of the township, and the National road, running through it from east to west, both constructed about fifty years ago, the former by the State, and the latter by the general Government, very largely contributed to the convenience of the people of this township, and greatly promoted their maters prosperity. The National road runs througr Licking township from east to west The work a its survey, location, grubbing, grading and ma a: amizing was accomplished during the interval be tween the years 1825 and 1835.

In one of the earlier years of this period, M* Thomas Harris, as proprietor of the land, laid or. the village of Jacksontown and named it after General Jackson, the hero of New Orleans, was the successful candidate in 1828, as well as n 1832, for the presidency. Mr. Harris was a zeal ous Jacksonian, especially in the campaign o4' 1828. His town started off at a lively pace, an*: soon became a post town of fair promise, but :: never attained to a population much greater thar at present - something less than three hundred

Avondale is merely a railroad station on the Ref ervoir, the only building being the "Avonda't house." It is a pleasure resort for Newark peop>. and others in this vicinity, who go there to fir during the fishing and boating season. It is a ct lightful place for a day's rest and recreation.

Isaac Stadden was the first justice of the peace in this township, while it was yet a part of Fairfield county. He was elected in January, 1802, ai ar election held at the cabin of Elias Hughes, on the Bowling Green, Hughes being at the same tin* and place elected captain of militia. John War den became justice of the peace a year or twolatr and Abraham Wright was next in order, and wa> in office in 1806, and probably some years earlitf Alexander Holden was among the early rnag^f trates, and was frequently re-elected. Samcrl Hupp, Elijah Sutton, John Green, Matthe* Black, Herman Cafifry, Eldad Cooley, Richard Stadden, John Brumback, Samuel Patterson, Isa*' Green, James Pitzer, Thomas Ewing, James Ste* art, Jesse R. Moore, B. D. Sanford, Martin fttfmore, Thomas Germain, John T. Armstrong, John Woolard, Elias Padgett, F. M. Layton, and Oli^ Davis were also among the justices of this to*fr ship, serving pretty nearly in the order in which they are named.

Derrick Crusen, Samuel Meredith and others. Samuel Musselman, one of the pioneers of this township, is yet (1880) living, at the age of ninetyfive.

Source changes here: from Memorial Record of Licking County, Ohio, Containing Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens of the County, by Record Publishing Company, Chicag, Pub. [from Old Catalog], published 1894; 264,944 words in this source stream.

Record Publishing Company

JHE greatest of English historians, Macaulay, and one of the most brilliant writers ot the present century, has said : "The history of a country is best told in a record of the lives of its people." In conformity with this idea the Portrait and Memorial Keiorii of this county has *:oen prepared. Instead of going to musty records, and taking therefrom dry statistical matter that can be appreciated by but few, our corps of writers have gone to the people, the men and women who have, by then enterprise and industry, brought the county to rank second to none among those comprising this great and noble State, and from their lips have the story of their life struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelligent public. In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy the imitation of coming generations. It tells how some, commencing life in poverty, by industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited advantages for securing an education, have become learned men and women, with an 1; influence extending throughout the length and breadth of the land. It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and whose names have become famous. It tells of those in every walk in life who have striven to succeed, and records how that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of many, very many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued "the even tenor of their way," content to have it said of them as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy - "they have done what they could." It tells how that many in the pride and strength of young manhood left the plow and the anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's call went forth valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the Union was restored and peace once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man and of every woman is a lesson that should not be lost upon those who follow after.

Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a sacred treasure, from the fact that it contains so much that would never find its way into public records, and which would otherwise be inaccessible. Great care has been taken in the compilation of the work and every opportunity possible given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and the publishers flatter themselves that they give to their readers a work with few errors of consequence. In addition to the biograpb ical sketches, portraits of a number of representative citizens are given.

The faces of some, and biographical sketches of many, will be missed in this volume. For this the publishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give the information necessary to compile a sketch, while others were indifferent. Occasionally some member of the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of the interested one would be withheld. In a few instances men could never be found, though repeated calls were made at their residence or place of business.

George Washington

y HE Father of our Country was born in Westf C moreland County, Va., February 22, 1732. \2) His parents were Augustine and Mary (Ballj Washington. The family to which he belonged has not been satisfactorily traced in England. His great-grandfather, John Washington, emigrated to Virginia about 1657, and became a prosperous planter. He had two sons, Lawrence and John. The former married Mildred Warner, and had three children, John, Augustine and Mildred. Augustine, the father of George, first married Jane Butler, who bore him four children, two of whom, Lawrence and Augustine, reached maturity. Of six children by his second marriage, George was the eldest, the others being Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles and Mildred.

Augustine Washington, the father of George, died in 1743, leaving a large landed property. To his eldest son, Lawrence, he bequeathed an estate on the Potomac, afterwards known as Mt. Vernon, and to George he left the parental residence. George received only such education as the neighborhood schools afforded, save for a short time after he left school, when he received private instruction in mathematics. His spelling was rather defective. Remarkable stories are told of his great physical strength and development at an early age. He was an acknowledged leader among his companions, and was early noted for that nobleness of character, fairness and veracity which characterized his whole life.

When George was fourteen years old he had a desire to go to sea, and a midshipman's warrant was secured for him, but through the opposition of his mother the idea was abandoned. Two years later he was appointed surveyor to the immense estate of Lord Fairfax. In this business he spent three years in a rough frontier life, gaining experience which afterwards proved very essential to him. In 1751, though only nineteen years of age, he was appointed Adjutant, with the rank of Major, in the Virginia militia, then being trained for active service against the French and Indians. Soon after this he sailed to the West Indies with his brother Lawrence, who went there to restore his health. They soon returned, and in the summer of 1752 Lawrence died, leaving a large fortune to an infant daughter, who did not long survive him. On her demise the estate of Mt. Vernon was given to George.

Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddie as Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia was reorganized, and the province divided into four military districts, of which the northern was assigned to Washington as Adjutant-General. Shortly after this a very' perilous mission, which others had refused, was assigned him and accepted. This was to proceed to the French post near Lake Erie, in northwestern Pennsylvania. The distance to be traversed was about six hundred miles. Winter was at hand, and the journey was to be made without military escort, through a territory occupied by Indians. The trip was a perilous one, and several times he nearly lost his life, but he returned in safety and furnished a full and useful report of his expedition. A regiment of three hundred men was raised in Virginia and put in command of Col. Joshua Fry, and Maj. Washington was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel. Active war was then begun against the French and Indians, in which Washington took a most important part. In the memorable event of July 9, 1755, known as "Braddoek's defeat," Washington was almost the only officer of distinction who escaped from the calamities of the day with life and honor.

Having been for five years in the military service, and having vainly sought promotion in the royal army, he took advantage of the fall of Ft. Duquesne and the expulsion of the French from the valley of the Ohio to resign his commission. Soon after he entered the Legislature, where, although not a leader, he took an active and important part. January 17, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha (Dandridge) Custis, the wealthy widow of John Parke Custis.

When the British Parliament had closed the port of Boston, the cry went up throughout the provinces, ' ' The cause ot Boston is the cause of us all! " It was then, at the suggestion of Virginia, that a congress of all the colonies was called to meet at Philadelphia September 5, 1774, to secure their common liberties, peaceably if possible. To this congress Col. Washington was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the congress re-assembled, when the hostile intentions of England were plainly apparent. The battles of Concord and Lexington had been fought, and among the first acts of this congress was the election of a commander-in-chief of the Colonial forces. This high and responsible office was conferred upon Washington, who was still a member of the congress. He accepted it on June 19, but upon the express condition that he receive no salary. He would keep an exact account of expenses, and expect congress to pay them and nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch to trace the military acts of Washington, to whom the fortunes and liberties of the people of this country were so long confided. The war was conducted by him under every possible disadvantage; and while his forces often met with reverses, yet he overcame every obstacle, and after seven years of heroic devotion and matchless skill he gained liberty for the greatest nation of earth. On December 23, 1783, Washington, in a parting address of surpassing beauty, resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the army to the

Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. He retired immediately to Mt. Vernon and resumed his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning all connection with public life.

In February, 1789, Washington was unanimously elected President, and at the expiration of his first term he was unanimously re-elected. At the end of this term many were anxious that he be re-elected, but he absolutely refused a third nomination. On March 4, 1797, at the expiration of his second term as President, he returned to his home, hoping to pass there his few remaining years free from the annoyances of public life. Later in the year, however, his repose seemed likely to be interrupted by war with France. At the prospect of such a war he was again urged to take command of the army, but he chose his subordinate officers and left them the charge of matters in the field, which he superintended from his home. In accepting the command, he made the reservation that he was not to be in the field until it was necessary. In the midst of these preparations his life was suddenly cut off. December 1 2 he took a severe cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling in his throat, produced inflammation, and terminated fatally on the night of the 14th. On the 1 8th his body was borne with military honors to its final resting-place, and interred in the family vault at Mt. Vernon.

Of the character of Washington it is impossible to speak but in terms of the highest respect and admiration. The more we see of the operations of our government, and the more deeply we feel the difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common interest, the more highly we must estimate the force of his talent and character, which have been able to challenge the reverence of all parties, and principles, and nations, and to win a fame as extended as the limits of the globe, and which we cannot but believe will be as lasting as the existence of man.

In person, Washington was unusually tall, erect and well proportioned, and his muscular strength was great. His features were of a beausiful symmetry. He commanded respect without any appearance of haughtiness, and was ever serious without being dull.

John Adams

(JOHN ADAMS, the second President and the I first Vice-President of the United States, was V2/ born in Braintree (now Quincy) Mass., and about ten miles from Boston, October 19, 1735. His great-grandfather, Henry Adams, emigrated from England about 1640, with a family of eight sons, and settled at Braintree. The parents of John were John and Susannah (Boylston) Adams. His father, who was a farmer of limited means, also engaged in the business of shoemaking. He gave his eldest son, John, a classical education at Harvard College. John graduated in 1755, and at once took charge of the school at Worcester, Mass. This he found but a ' ' school of affliction," from which he endeavored to gain relief by devoting himself, in addition, to the study of law. For this purpose he placed himself under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. He had thought seriously of the clerical profession, but seems to have been turned from this by what he termed ' ' the frightful engines of ecclesiastical councils, of diabolical malice, and Calvinistic good nature, ' ' of the operations of which he had been a witness in his native town. He was well fitted for the legal profession, possessing a clear, sonorous voice, being ready and fluent of speech, and having quick perceptive powers. He gradually gained a practice, and in 1764 married Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, and a lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his marriage, in 1765, the attempt at parliamentary taxation turned him from law to politics. He took initial steps toward holding a town meeting, and the resolutions he offered on the subject became very popular throughout the province, and were adopted word for word by over forty different towns. He moved to Boston in 1768, and became one of the most courageous and prominent advocates of the popular cause, and was chosen a member of the General Court (the Legislature) in 1770.

Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first delegates from Massachusetts to the first Continental Congress, which met in 1774. Here he distinguished himself by his capacity for business and for debate, and advocated the movement for independence against the majority of the members. In May, 1776, he moved and carried a resolution in Congress that the Colonies should assume the duties of self-government. He was a prominent member of the committee of five appointed June 1 1 to prepare a declaration of independence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, but on Adams devolved the task of battling it through Congress in a three-days debate.

On the day after the Declaration of Independence was passed, while his soul was yet warm with the glow of excited feeling, he wrote a letter to his wife, which, as we read it now, seems to have been dictated by the spirit of prophecy. " Yesterday," he says, "the greatest question was decided that ever was debated in America; and greater, perhaps, never was or will be decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, 'that these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.' The day is passed. The Fourth of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this declaration and support and defend these States; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means, and that posterity will triumph,

In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a delegate to France, and to co-operate with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then in Paris, in the endeavor to obtain assistance in arms and money from the French government. This was a severe trial to his patriotism, as it separated him from his home, compelled him to cross the ocean in winter, and exposed him to great peril of capture by the British cruisers, who were seeking him. He left France June 17, 1779. In September of the same year he was again chosen to go to Paris, and there hold himself in readiness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of commerce with Great Britain, as soon as the British cabinet might be found willing to listen to such proposals. He sailed for France in November, and from there he went to Holland, where he negotiated important loans and formed important commercial treaties.

Finally, a treaty of peace with England was signed, January 21, 1783. The re-action from the excitement, toil and anxiety through which Mr. Adams had passed threw him into a fever. After suffering from a continued fever and becoming feeble and emaciated, he was advised to go to England to drink the waters of Bath. While in England, still drooping and desponding, he received dispatches from his own government urging the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health was delicate, yet he immediately set out, and through storm, on sea, on horseback and foot, he made the trip.

February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. Adams envoy to the Court of St. James. Here he met face to face the King of England, who had so long regarded him as a traitor. As England did not condescend to appoint a minister to the United States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accomplishing but little, he sought permission to return to his own country, where he arrived in June, 1788.

President. Again, at the second election of Washington as President, Adams was chosen Vice- President. In 1796, Washington retired from public life, and Mr. Adams was elected President, though not without much opposition. Serving in this office four years, he was succeeded by Mr. Jefferson, his opponent in politics.

While Mr. Adams was Vice-President the great French Revolution shook the continent of Europe, and it was upon this point that he was at issue with the majority of his countrymen, led by Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French people in their struggle, for he had no confidence in their power of self-government, and he utterly abhorred the class of atheist philosophers who, he claimed, caused it. On the other hand, Jefferson's sympathies were strongly enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence originated the alienation between these distintinguished men, and the two powerful parties were thus soon organized, with Adams at the head of the one whose sympathies were with England, and Jefferson leading the other in sympathy with France.

The Fourth of July, 1826, which completed the half-century since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, arrived, and there were but three of the signers of that immortal instrument left upon the earth to hail its morning light. And, as it is well known, on that day two of these finished their earthly pilgrimage, a coincidence so remarkable as to seem miraculous. For a few days before Mr. Adams had been rapidly failing, and on the morning of the Fourth he found himself too weak to rise from his bed. On being requested to name a toast for the customary celebration of the day, he exclaimed "Independence forever!" When the day was ushered in by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons, he was asked by one of his attendants if he knew what day it was ? He replied, "O yes, it is the glorious Fourth of July - God bless it - God bless you all!" In the course of the day he said, "It is a great and glorious day." The last words he uttered were, "Jefferson survives." But he had, at one o'clock, resigned his spirit into the hands of his God.

Thomas Jefferson

^"HOMAS JEFFERSON was born April 2, I C 1743, at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Va. vJ/ His parents were Peter and Jane (Randolph) Jefferson, the former a native of Wales, and the latter born in Eondon. To them were born six daughters and two sons, of whom Thomas was the elder. When fourteen years of age his father died. He received a most liberal education, having been kept diligently at school from the time he was five years of age. In 1760 he entered William and Mary College. Williamsburg was then the seat of the Colonial court, and it was the abode of fashion and splendor. Young Jefferson, who was then seventeen years old, lived somewhat expensively, keeping fine horses, and going much into gay society; yet he was earnestly devoted to his studies, and irreproachable in his morals. In the second year of his college course, moved by some unexplained impulse, he discarded his old companions and pursuits, and often devoted fifteen hours a day to hard study. He thus attained very high intellectual culture, and a like excellence in philosophy and the languages.

Immediately upon leaving college he began the study of law. For the short time he continued in the practice of his profession he rose rapidly, and distinguished himself by his energy and acuteness as a lawyer. But the times called for greater action. The policy of England had awakened the spirit of resistance in the American Colonies, and the enlarged views which Jefferson had ever entertained soon led him into active political life. In 1 769 he was chosen a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1772 he married Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beautiful, wealthy, and highly accomplished young widow.

In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress, where, though a silent member, his abilities as a writer and a reason er soon become known, and he was placed upon a number of important committees, and was chairman of the one appointed for the drawing up of a declaration of independence. This committee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, as chairman, was appointed to draw up the paper. Franklin and Adams suggested a few verbal changes before it was submitted to Congress. On June 28, a few slight changes were made in it by Congress, and it was passed and signed July 4, 1776.

In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to Patrick Henry as Governor of Virginia. At one time the British officer Tarleton sent a secret expedition to Monticello to capture the Governor. Scarcely five minutes elapsed after the hurried escape of Mr. Jefferson and his family ere his mansion was in possession of the British troops. His wife's health, never very good, was much injured by this excitement, and in the summer of 1782 she died.

Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. Two years later he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to France. Returning to the United States in September, 1789, he became Secretary of State in Washington's cabinet. This position he resigned January 1, 1794. In 1797, he was chosen Vice-President, and four years later was elected President over Mr. Adams, with Aaron

The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second administration was disturbed by an event which threatened the tranquillity and peace of the Union; this was the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election to the Vice-Presidency, and led on by an unprincipled ambition, this extraordinary man formed the plan of a military expedition into the Spanish territories on our southwestern frontier, for the purpose of forming there a new republic. This was generally supposed to have been a mere pretext; and although it has not been generally known what his real plans were, there is no doubt that they were of a far more dangerous character.

In 1809, at the expiration of the second term for which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he determined to retire from political life. For a period of nearly forty years he had been continually before the public, and all that time had been employed in offices of the greatest trust and responsibility. Having thus devoted the best part of his life to the service of his country, he now felt desirous of that rest which his declining years required, and upon the organization of the new administration, in March, 1809, he bade farewell forwer to public life and retired to Monticello, his famous country home, which, next to Mt. Vernon, was the most distinguished residence in the land.

The Fourth of July, 1826, being the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence, great preparations were made in every part of the Union for its celebration as the nation's jubilee, and the citizens of Washington, to add to the solemnity of the occasion, invited Mr. Jefferson, as the framer and one of the few surviving signers of the Declaration, to participate in their festivities. But an illness, which had been of several weeks' duration and had been continually increasing, compelled him to decline the invitation.

On the 2d of July the disease under which he was laboring left him, but in such a reduced state that his medical attendants entertained no hope of his recovery. From this time he was perfectly sensible that his last hour was at hand. On the next day, which was Monday, he asked of those around him the day of the month, and on being told it was the 3d of July, he expressed the earnest wish that he might be permitted to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniversary. His prayer was heard - that day whose dawn was hailed with such rapture through our land burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed forever. And what a noble consummation of a noble life! To die on that day - the birthday of a nation - the day which his own name and his own act had rendered glorious, to die amidst the rejoicings and festivities of a whole nation, who looked up to him as the author, under God, of their greatest blessings, was all that was wanting to fill up the record of his life.

Almost at the same hour of his death, the kindred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to bear him company, left the sceneof his earthly honors. Hand in hand they had stood forth, the champions of freedom ; hand in hand, during the dark and desperate struggle of the Revolution, they had cheered and animated their desponding countrymen; for half a century they had labored together for the good of the country, and now hand in hand they departed. In their lives they had been united in the same great cause of liberty, and in their deaths they were not divided.

In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rather above six feet in height, but well formed; his eyes were light, his hair, originally red, in after life became white and silvery, his complexion was fair, his forehead broad, and his whole countenance intelligent and thoughtful. He possessed great fortitude of mind as well as personal courage, and his command of temper was such that his oldest and most intimate friends never recollected to have seen him in a passion. His manners, though dignified, were simple and unaffected, and his hospitality was so unbounded that all found at his house a ready welcome. In conversation he was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic, and his language was remarkably pure and correct. He was a finished classical scholar, and in hi.tf writings is discernible the care with which lie lormed his style upon the best models of antiquity.

James Madison

I tution," and fourth President of the United G/ States, was born March 16, 1757, and died at his home in Virginia June 28, 1836. The name of James Madison is inseparably connected with most of the important events in that heroic period of our country during which the foundations of this great republic were laid. He was the last of the founders of the Constitution of the United States to be called to his eternal reward.

The Madison family were among the early emigrants to the New World, landing upon the shores of the Chesapeake but fifteen years after the settlement of Jamestown. The father of James Madison was an opulent planter, residing upon a very fine estate called Montpelier, in Orange County, Va. It was but twenty-five miles fr »m the home of Jefferson at Monticello, and the closest personal and political attachment existed between these illustrious men from their early youth until death.

The early education of Mr. Madison was conducted mostly at home under a private tutor. At the age of eighteen he was sent to Princeton College, in New Jersey. Here he applied himself to study with the most imprudent zeal, allowing himself for months but three hours' sleep out of the twenty-four. His health thus became so seriously impaired that he never recovered any vigor of constitution. He graduated in 1 77 1 , with a feeble body, but with a character of utmost purity, and a mind highly disciplined and richly stored with learning, which embellished and gave efficiency to his subsequent career.

Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study of law and a course of extensive and systematic reading. This educational course, the spirit of the times in which he lived, and the society with which he associated, all combined to inspire him with a strong love of liberty, and to train hiin for his life-work as a statesman.

age, he was elected a member of the Virginia Convention to frame the constitution of the State. The next year (1777), he was a candidate for the General Assembly. He refused to treat the whisky -loving voters, and consequently lost his election; but those who had witnessed the talent, energy and public spirit of the modest young man enlisted themselves in his behalf, and he was appointed to the Executive Council.

Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison remained member of the Council, and their appreciation of his intellectual, social and moral worth contributed not a little to his subsequent eminence. In the year 1780 he was elected a member of the Continental Congress. Here he met the most illustrious men in our land, and he was immediately assigned to one of the most conspicuous positions among them. For three years he continued in Congress, one of its most active and influential members. In 1784, his term having expired, he was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature.

No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no national government, and no power to form treaties which would be binding, or to enforce law. There was not any State more prominent than Virginia in the declaration that an efficient national government must be formed. In January, 1786, Mr. Madison carried a resolution through the General Assembly of Virginia, inviting the other States to appoint commissioners to meet in convention at Annapolis to discuss this subject. Five States only were represented. The convention, however, issued another call, drawn up by Mr. Madison, urging all the States to send their delegates to Philadelphia in May, 1787, to draft a Constitution for the United States, to take the place of the Confederate League. The delegates met at the time appointed. Every Stale but Rhode Island was represented. George Washing- ton was chosen president of the convention, and the present Constitution of the United States was then and there formed. There was, perhaps, no mind and no pen more active in framing this immortal document than the mind and the pen of James Madison. The Constitution, adopted by a vote of eighty-one to seventy-nine, was to be presented to the several States for acceptance. But grave solicitude was felt. Should it be rejected, we should be left but a conglomeration of independent States, with but little power at home and little respect abroad. Mr. Madison was elected by the convention to draw up an address to the people of the United States, expounding the principles of the Constitution, and urging its adoption. There was great opposition to it at first, but at length it triumphed over all, and went into effect in 1789.

Mr. Madison was elected to the House of Representatives in the first Congress, and soon became the avowed leader of the Republican party. While in New York attending Congress, he met Mrs. Todd, a young widow of remarkable power of fascination, whom he married. She was in person and character queenly, and probaby no lady has thus far occupied so prominent a position in the very peculiar society which has constituted our republican court as did Mrs. Madison.

Mr. Madison served as Secretary of State under Jefferson, and at the close of his administration was chosen President. At this time the encroachments of England had brought us to the verge of war. British orders in council destroyed our commerce, and our flag was exposed to constant insult. Mr. Madison was a man of peace. Scholarly in his taste, retiring in his disposition, war had no charms for him. But the meekest spirit can be roused. It makes one's blood boil, even now, to think of an American ship brought to upon the ocean by the guns of an English cruiser. A young lieutenant steps on board and orders the crew to be paraded before him. With great nonchalance he selects any number whom he may please to designate as British subjects, orders them down the ship's side into his boat, and places them on the gundeck of his man-of-war, to fight, by compulsion, the battles of England. This right

On the 18th of June, 1812, President Madison gave his approval to an act of Congress declaring war against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the bitter hostility of the Federal party to the war, the country in general approved; and Mr. Madison, on the 4th of March, 18 13, was re-elected by a large majority, and entered upon his second term of office. This is not the place to describe the various adventures of this war on the land and on the water. Our infant navy then laid the foundations of its renown in grappling with the most formidable power which ever swept the seas. The contest commenced in earnest by the appearance of. a British fleet, early in February, 18 13, in Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole coast of the United States under blockade.

The Emperor of Russia offered his services as mediator. America accepted; England refused. A British force of five thousand men landed on the banks of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into Chesapeake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of Bladensburg, upon Washington.

The straggling little city of Washington was thrown into consternation. The cannon of the brief conflict at Bladensburg echoed through the streets of the metropolis. The whole population fled from the city. The President, leaving Mrs. Madison in the White House, with her carriage drawn up at the door to await his speedy return, hurried to meet the officers in a council of war. He met our troops utterly routed, and he could not go back without danger of being captured. But few hours elapsed ere the Presidential Mansion, the Capitol, and all the public buildings in Washington were in flames.

The war closed after two years of fighting, and on February 13, 18 15, the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. On the 4th of March, 18 17, his second term of office expired, and he resigned the Presidential chair to his friend, James Monroe. He retired to his beautiful home at Montpelier, and there passed the remainder of his days. On June 28, 1836, at the age of eighty-five years, he fell asleep in death. Mrs Madison died July 12, 1849.

James Monroe

(TAMES MONROE, the fifth President of the I United States, was born in Westmoreland G) County, Va., April 28, 1758. His early life was passed at the place of his nativity. His ancestors had for many years resided in the province in which he was born. When he was seventeen years old, and in process of completing his education at William and Mary College, the Colonial Congress, assembled at Philadelphia to deliberate upon the unjust and manifold oppressions of Great Britain, declared the separation of the Colonies, and promulgated the Declaration of Independence. Had he been born ten years before, it is highly probable that he would have been one of the signers of that celebrated instrument. At this time he left school and enlisted among the patriots.

He joined the army when everything looked hopeless and gloomy. The number of deserters increased from day to day. The invading armies came pouring in, and the Tories not only favored the cause of the mother country, but disheartened the new recruits, who were sufficiently terrified at the prospect of contending with an enemy whom they had been taught to deem invincible. To such brave spirits as James Monroe, who went right onward undismayed through difficulty and danger, the United States owe their political emancipation. The young cadet joined the ranks and espoused the cause of his injured country, with a firm determination to live or die in her strife for liberty. Firmly, yet sadly, he shared in the melancholy retreat from Harlem Heights and White Plains, and accompanied the dispirited army as it fled before its foes through New Jersey. In four months after the Declaration of Independence, the patriots had been beaten in seven battles. At the battle of Trenton he led the vanguard, and in the act of charging upon the enemy he received a wound in the left shoulder.

As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was promoted to be captain of infantry, and, having recovered from his wounds, he rejoined the army. He, however, receded from the line of promotion by becoming an officer on the staff of Lord Sterling. During the campaigns of 1777 and 1778, in the actions of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, he continued aide-de-camp; but becoming desirous to regain his position in the army, he exerted himself to collect a regiment for the Virginia line. This scheme failed, owing to the exhausted condition of the State. Upon this failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at that period Governor, and pursued with considerable ardor the study of common law. He did not, however, entirely lay aside the knapsack for the green bag, but on the invasion of the enemy served as a volunteer during the two years of his legal pursuits.

In 1782 he was elected from King George County a member of the Legislature of Virginia, and by that body he was elevated to a seat in the Executive Council. He was thus honored with the confidence of his fellow-citizens at twentythree years of age, and having at this early period displayed some of that ability and aptitude foi legislation which were afterward employed with unremitting energy for the public good, he was in the succeeding year chosen a member of the Congress of the United States.

Deeply as Mr. Monroe felt the imperfections of the old Confederacy, he was opposed to the new Constitution, thinking, with many others of the Republican party, that it gave too much power to the Central Government, and not enough to the individual States. Still he retained the esteem of his friends who were its warm supporters, and who, notwithstanding his opposition, secured its adoption. In 1789 he became a member of the United States Senate, which office he held for four years. Every month the line of distinction between the two great parties which divided the nation, the Federal and the Republican, was growing more distinct. The differences which now separated them lay in the fact that the Republican party was in sympathy with France, and also in favor of such a strict construction of the Constitution as to give the Central Government as little power, and the State Governments as much power, as the Constitution would warrant; while the Federalists sympathized with England, and were in favor of a liberal construction of the Constitution, which would give as much power to the Central Government as that document could possibly authorize.

Washington was then President. England had espoused the cause of the Bourbons against the principles of the French Revolution. All Europe was drawn into the conflict. We were feeble and far away. Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality between these contending powers. France had helped us in the struggles for our liberties. All the despotisms of Europe were now combined to prevent the French from escaping from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse than that which we had endured. Col. Monroe, more magnanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in their extremity. It was the impulse of a generous and noble nature, and Washington, who could appreciate such a character, showed his calm, serene, almost divine, greatness, by appointing that very James Monroe who was denouncing the policy of the Government, as the minister of that Government to the Republic of France. Mr. Monroe was welcomed by the National Convention in France with the most enthusiastic demonstration.

Shortly after his return to this country, Mr. Monroe was elected Governor of Virginia, and held the office for three years. He was again sent to France to co-operate with Chancellor Livingston in obtaining the vast territory then known as the province of Louisiana, which France had but shortly before obtained from Spain. Their united efforts were successful. For the comparatively small sum of fifteen millions of dollars, the entire territory of Orleans and district of Louisiana were added to the United States. This was probably the largest transfer of real estate which was ever made in all the history of the world.

From France Mr. Monroe went to England to obtain from that country some recognition of our rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate against those odious impressments of our seamen. But England was unrelenting. He again returned to England on the same mission, but could receive no redress. He returned to his home and was again chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon resigned to accept the position of Secretary of State under Madison. While in this office war with England was declared, the Secretary of War resigned, and during these trying times the duties of the War Department were also put upon him. He was truly the armor-bearer of President Madison, and the most efficient business man in his cabinet. Upon the return of peace he resigned the Department of War, but continued in the office of Secretary of State until the expiration of Mr. Madison's administration. At the election held the previous autumn, Mr. Monroe himself had been chosen President with but little opposition, and upon March 4, 1817, he was inaugurated. Four years later he was elected for a second term.

Among the important measures of his Presidency were the cession of Florida to the United States, the Missouri Compromise, and the famous " Monroe doctrine." This doctrine was enunciated by him in 1823, and was as follows: ' ' That we should consider any attempt on the part of European powers to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety," and that " we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing or controlling American governments or provinces in any other light than as a manifestation by European powers of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States."

At the end of his second term, Mr. Monroe retired to his home in Virginia, where he lived until 1830, when he went to New York to live with his son-in-law. In that city he died, on the 4th of July, 1831.

John Quincy Adams

I of the United States, was born in the rural (2) home of his honored father, John Adams, in Quincy, Mass., on the nth of July, 1767. His mother, a woman of exalted worth, watched over his childhood during the almost .constant absence of his father. When but eight years of age, he stood with his mother on an eminence, listening to the booming of the great battle on Bunker's Hill, and gazing out upon the smoke and flames billowing up from the conflagration of Charlestown.

When but eleven years old he took a tearful adieu of his mother, to sail with his father for Europe, through a fleet of hostile British cruisers. The bright, animated boy spent a year and a-half in Paris, where his father was associated with Franklin and "Lee as Minister Plenipotentiary. His intelligence attracted the notice of these distinguished men, and he received from them flattering marks of attention.

John Adams had scarcely returned to this country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. Again John Quincy accompanied his father. At Paris he applied himself to study with great diligence for six months, and then accompanied his father to Holland, where he entered first a school in Amsterdam, then the University at Leyden. About a year from this time, in 1781, when the manly boy was but fourteen years of age, he was selected by Mr. Dana, our Minister to the Russian court, as his private secretary.

In this school of incessant labor and of ennobling culture he spent fourteen months, and then returned to Holland, through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and Bremen. This long journey he took alone in the winter, when in his sixteenth year. Again he resumed his studies, under a private tutor, at The Hague. Then, in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father to Paris, traveling leisurely, and forming acquaintances with the most distinguished men on the continent, examining architectural remains, galleries of paintings, and all renowned works of art. At Paris he again became associated with the most illustrious men of all lands in the contemplation of the loftiest temporal themes which can engross the human mind. After a short visit to England he returned to Paris, and consecrated all his energies to study until May, 1785, when he returned to America to finish his education.

Upon leaving Harvard College at the age of twenty, he studied law for three years. In June, 1794, being then but twenty-seven years of age, he was appointed by Washington Resident Minister at the Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in July, he reached London in October, where he was immediately admitted to the deliberations of Messrs. Jay & Pinckney, assisting them in negotiating a commercial treaty with Great Britain. After thus spending a fortnight in London, he proceeded to The Hague.

In July, 1797, he left The Hague to go to Portugal as Minister Plenipotentiary. On his way to Portugal, upon arriving in London, he met with despatches directing him to the court of Berlin, but requesting him to remain in London until he should receive his instructions. While waiting he was married to an American lady, to whom he had been previously engaged - Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, a daughter of Joshua Johnson, American Consul in London, and a lady endowed with that beauty and those accomplishments which eminently fitted her to move in the elevated sphere for which she was destined. He reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797, where he remained until July, 1799, when, having fulfilled all the purposes of his mission, he solicited his recall.

Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen to the Senate of Massachusetts from Boston , and then was elected Senator of the United States for six years, from the 4th of March, 1S04. His reputation, his ability and his experience placed

In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the Presidential chair, and he immediately nominated John Quincy Adams Minister to St. Petersburgh. Resigning his professorship in Harvard College, he embarked at Boston in August, 1809.

While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense student. He devoted his attention to the language and history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; to the European system of weights, measures and coins; to the climate and astronomical observations; while he kept up a familiar acquaintance with the Greek and L,atin classics. In all the universities of Europe, a more accomplished scholar could scarcely be found. All through life the Bible constituted an important part of his studies. It was his rule to read five chapters every day.

On the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. Monroe took the Presidential chair, and immediately appointed Mr. Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of his numerous friends in public and private life in Europe, he sailed in June, 18 19, for the United States. On the 18th of August, he again crossed the threshold of his home in Quincy. During the eight years of Mr. Monroe's administration, Mr. Adams continued Secretary of State.

Some time before the close of Mr. Monroe's second term of office, new candidates began to be presented for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. Adams brought forward his name. It was an exciting campaign, and party spirit was never more bitter. Two hundred and sixty electoral votes were cast. Andrew Jackson received ninetynine; John Quincy Adams eighty-four; William . H. Crawford forty-one; and Henry Clay thirty - seven. As there was no choice by the people, the question went to the House of Representatives. Mr. Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to Mr. Adams, and he was elected.

The friends of all the disappointed candidates now combined in a venomous and persistent assault upon Mr. Adams. There is nothing more disgraceful in the past history of our country than the abuse which was poured in one uninterrupted stream upon this high-minded, upright and patriotic man. There never was an administration more pure in principles, more conscientiously devoted to the best interests of the country, than that of John Quincy Adams; and never, perhaps, was there an administration more unscrupulously and outrageously assailed.

On the 4th of .March, 1829, Mr. Adams retired from the Presidency, and was succeeded by Andrew Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected Vice-President. The slavery question now began to assume portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams returned to Quincy and to his studies, which he pursued with unabated zeal. But he was not long permitted to remain in retirement. In November, 1830, he was elected Representative in Congress. For seventeen years, or until his death, he occupied the post as Representative, towering above all his peers, ever ready to do brave battle for freedom, and winning the title of "the Old Man Eloquent." Upon taking his seat in the House, he announced that he should hold himself bound to no party. Probably there never was a member more devoted to his duties. He was usually the first in his place in the morning, and the last to leave his seat in the evening. Not a measure could be brought forward and escape his scrutiny. The battle which Mr. Adams fought, almost singly, against the pro-slavery party in the Government was sublime in its moral daring and heroism. For persisting in presenting petitions for the abolition of slavery, he was threatened with indictment by the grand jury, with expulsion from the House, with assassination; but no threats could intimidate him, and his final triumph was complete.

On the 21st of February, 1848, he rose on the floor of Congress with a paper in his hand, to address the speaker. Suddenly he fell, again stricken by paralysis, and was caught in the arms of those around him. For a time he was senseless, as he was conveyed to the sofa in the rotunda. With reviving consciousness, he opened his eyes, looked calmly around and said "This is the end of earth;" then after a moment's pause he added, " I am content." These were the last words of the grand ' ' Old Man Eloquent. ' '

Andrew Jackson

(31 NDREW JACKSON, the seventh President J 1 of the United States, was born in Waxhaw / I settlement, N. C, March 15, 1767, a few days after his father's death. His parents were poor emigrants from Ireland, and took up their abode in Waxhaw settlement, where they lived in deepest poverty.

Andrew, or Andy, as he was universally called, grew up a very rough, rude, turbulent boy. His features were coarse, his form ungainly, and there was but very little in his character made visible which was attractive.

When only thirteen years old he joined the volunteers of Carolina against the British invasion. In 1 78 1, he and his brother Robert were captured and imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British officer ordered him to brush his mud-spattered boots. "lam a prisoner of war, not your servant, ' ' was the reply of the dauntless boy.

Andrew supported himself in various ways, such as working at the saddler's trade, teaching school, and clerking in a general store, until 1784, when he entered a law office at Salisbury, N. C. He, however, gave more attention to the wild amusements of the times than to his studies. In 1788, he was appointed solicitor for the Western District of North Carolina, of which Tennessee was then a part. This involved many long journeys amid dangers of every kind, but Andrew Jackson never knew fear, and the Indians had no desire to repeat a skirmish with "Sharp Knife."

In 1 791, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman who supposed herself divorced from her former husband. Great was the surprise of both parties, two years later, to find that the conditions of the divorce had just been definitely settled by the first husband. The marriage ceremony was performed a second time, but the occurrence was often used by his enemies to bring Mr. Jackson into disfavor.

In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee then containing nearly eighty thousand inhabitants, the people met in convention at Kuoxville to frame a constitution. Five were sent from each of the eleven counties. Andrew Jackson was one of the delegates. The new State was entitled to but one member in the National House of Representatives. Andrew Jackson was chosen that member. Mounting his horse, he rode to Philadelphia, where Congress then held its sessions, a distance of about eight hundred miles.

Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Democratic party, and Jefferson was his idol. He admired Bonaparte, loved France, and hated England. As Mr. Jackson took his seat, Gen. Washington, whose second term of office was then expiring, delivered his last speech to Congress. A committee drew up a complimentary address in reply. Andrew Jackson did not approve of the address, and was one of the twelve who voted against it. He was not willing to say that Gen. Washington's administration had been "wise, firm and patriotic. ' '

Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned home. Soon after he was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court of his State, which position he held for six years.

When the War of 1812 with Great Britain commenced, Madison occupied the Presidential chair. Aaron Burr sent word to the President that there was an unknown man in the West, Andrew Jackson, who would do credit to a commission if one were conferred upon him. Just at that time Gen. Jackson offered his sen-ices and those of twentyfive hundred volunteers. His offer was accepted, and the troops were assembled at Nashville.

seem! the river with fifteen hundred troops to aid Wilkinson. The expedition reached Natchez, and after a delay of several weeks there without accomplishing anything, the men were ordered back to their homes. But the energy Gen. Jackson had displayed, and his entire devotion to the comfort of his soldiers, won for him golden opinions, and he became the most popular man in the State. It was in this expedition that his toughness gave him the nickname of "Old Hickory."

Soon after this, while attempting to horsewhip Col. Thomas Benton for a remark that gentleman made about his taking part as second in a duel in which a younger brother of Benton's was engaged, he received two severe pistol wounds. While he was lingering upon a bed of suffering, news came that the Indians, who had combined under Tecurnseh from Florida to the Lakes to exterminate the white settlers, were committing the most awful ravages. Decisive action became necessary. Gen. Jackson, with his fractured bone just beginning to heal, his arm in a sling, and unable to mount his horse without assistance, gave his amazing energies to the raising of an army to rendezvous at Fayettesville, Ala.

The Creek Indians had established a strong fort on one of the bends of the Tallapoosa River, near the center of Alabama, about fifty miles below Ft. Strother. With an army of two thousand men, Gen. Jackson traversed the pathless wilderness in a march of eleven days. He reached their fort, called Tohopeka or Horse-shoe, on the 27th of March, 18 14. The bend of the river enclosed nearly one hundred acres of tangled forest and wild ravine. Across the narrow neck the Indians had constructed a formidable breastwork of logs and brush. Here nine hundred warriors, with an ample supply of arms, were assembled.

The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly desperate. Not an Indian would accept quarter. When bleeding and dying, they would fight those who endeavored to spare their lives. From ten in the morning until dark the battle raged. The carnage was awful and revolting. Some threw themselves into the river; but the unerring bullets struck their heads as they swam. Nearly every one of the nine hundred warriors was

This closing of the Creek War enabled us to concentrate all our militia upon the British, who were the allies of the Indians. No man of less resolute will than Gen. Jackson could have conducted this Indian campaign to so successful an issue. Immediately he was appointed Major- General.

Late in August, with an army of two thousand men on a rushing march, Gen. Jackson went to Mobile. A British fleet went from Pensacola, landed a force upon the beach, anchored near the little fort, and from both ship and shore commenced a furious assault. The battle was long and doubtful. At length one of the ships was blown up and the rest retired.

Garrisoning Mobile, where he had taken his little army, he moved his troops to New Orleans, and the battle of New Orleans, which soon ensued, was in reality a very arduous campaign. This won for Gen. Jackson an imperishable name. Here his troops, which numbered about four thousand men, won a signal victory over the British army of about nine thousand. His loss was but thirteen, while the loss of the British was twenty-six hundred.

The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to be mentioned in connection with the Presidency, but in 1824 he was defeated by Mr. Adams. He was, however, successful in the election oi 1828, and was re-elected for a second term in 1832. In 1829, just before he assumed the reins of government, he met with the most terrible affliction of his life in the death of his wife, whom he had loved with a devotion which has perhaps never been surpassed. From the shock of her death he never recovered.

His administration was one of the most memorable in the annals of our country - applauded by one party, condemned by the other. No man had more bitter enemies or warmer friends. At the expiration of his two terms of office he retired to the Hermitage, where he died JuneS, 1845. The last years of Mr. Jackson's life were those of a devoted Christian man.

Martin Van Buren

IV A ARTIN VAN BUREN, the eighth Presi- I Y dent of the United States, was born at Kin- Iti derhook, N. Y., December 5, 1782. He died at the same place, July 24, 1862. His body rests in the cemetery at Kinderhook. Above it is a plain granite shaft, fifteen feet high, bearing a simple inscription about half-way up on one face. The lot is unfenced, uubordered or unbounded by shrub or flower.

There is but little in the life of Martin Van Buren of romantic interest. He fought no battles, engaged in no wild adventures. Though his life was stormy in political and intellectual conflicts, and he gained many signal victories, his days passed uneventful in those incidents which give zest to biography. His ancestors, as his name indicates, were of Dutch origin, and were among the earliest emigrants from Holland to the banks of the Hudson. His father was a farmer, residing in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, also of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intelligence and exemplary piety.

He was decidedly a precocious boy, developing unusual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At the age of fourteen, he had finished his academic studies in his native village, and commenced the study of law. As he had not a collegiate education, seven years of study in a law-office were required of him before he could be admitted to the Bar. Inspired with a lofty ambition, and conscious of his powers, he pursued his studies with indefatigable industry. After spending six years in an office in his native village, he went to the city of New York, and prosecuted his studies for the seventh year.

of age, commenced the practice of law in his native village. The great conflict between the Federal and Republican parties was then at its height. Mr. Van Buren was from the beginning a politician. He had, perhaps, imbibed that spirit while listening to the many discussions which had been carried on in his father' s hotel. He was in cordial sympathy with Jefferson, and earnestly and eloquently espoused the cause of State Rights, though at that time the Federal party held the supremacy both in his town and State.

His success and increasing reputation led him after six years of practice to remove to Hudson, the county seat of his county. Here he spent seven years, constantly gaining strength by contending in the courts with some of the ablest men who have adorned the Bar of his State.

Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, Mr. Van Buren married a lady alike distinguished for beauty and accomplishments. After twelve short years she sank into the grave, a victim of consumption, leaving her husband and four sons to weep over her loss. For twenty-five years, Mr. Van Buren was an earnest, successful, assiduous lawyer. The record of those years is barren in items of public interest. In 1812, when thirty years of age, he was chosen to the State Senate, and gave his strenuous support to Mr. Madison's administration. In 18 15, he was appointed Attorney-General, and the next year moved to Albany, the capital of the State.