Whitewater Township (part 10 of 17)

William Haines Lytle was a Cincinnatian by birth. His grandfather, Gen. William Lytle, was one of the pioneers of the West. His father, Robert T. Lytle, was among the brilliant men of his day. Tradition speaks of his powers of oratory, although the fame of forensic eloquence is but ephemeral. The mantle fell upon his son, and even in his schoolboy days he was an elegant and effective public speaker. The older citizens of Cincinnati will remember the days when the academic department of Cincinnati College was in the full tide of success. Lytle was a prominent member of one of the literary societies of the institution. At a college exhibition when but sixteen years old he delivered an address upon " Law aud the Legal Profession.'' One who heard it, after a lapse of fifty years, speaks of it with admiration, as a production singularly mature in its train of thought, delivered with an ease, elegance and impressiveness that was astonishing in a mere boy. Even at this time of life his nervous force and impetuous disposition made him a leader among his schoolmates. There was a high tone and chivalrous bearing about him that was fascinating, not only in those early days, but it was a marked feature of his character, through all his life. Although he entered upon the practice of law, its drudgery was not suited to his tastes,which were more toward belles-lettres. He had a predilection for military life, and served during the Mexican war. He was a lieutenant of the Montgomery Guards, a local company, whose captain died on the route from Vera Cruz to the capital, and Lytle was promoted to the command. In 1850, after the close of the war, he was a member of the State Legislature. He was a major-general of the State military, and when the Rebellion broke out he was chosen colonel of the Tenth Obio Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at Carnifex Ferry. This was one of the earliest affairs of the war, and, in view of the many bloody battles that followed in the next four years, it was not upon any large scale. Perhaps it would have been, but the rebel general, Floyd, ex-Secretary of War of the United States, did not stay long enough to make it interesting. He went away, as was the case subsequently at Fort Donelson; when the hard fighting began Floyd had important business elsewhere. The regiment that Lytle commanded was leading the column, when he unexpectedly came upon the enemy's works. The first greeting was a shower of grape and canister from a battery of twelve guns which swept the road. He ordered his colors to the front to assault the battery. The color bearers were shot down. At the head of a portion of three companies he led the way. He was struck from his horse, which, with a fatal wound, cleared the parapet, falling dead within the rebel lines. Lytle was carried to a log hut, where he was laid upon the ground, while shot and shell crashed through the frail tenement over him. With that modesty which characterizes true and chivalrous bravery, he says of his own part in the battle: 'About this time I received a wound in the leg, the ball passing through and killing my horse." This is what the enemy said of him: 'At the first crack of our rifles the gallant colonel, who led in front of his men on a splendid black charger, fell to the earth, while the head of his column recoiled in utter confusion. The colonel's horse, as if unconscious of the fall of his rider, dashed up to our embankment and into our camp, and from the inscriptions on the mountings of his pistols proved to be Col. William H. Lytle of Cincinnati. I saw the daring young officer fall from his horse, and he was certainly one of the bravest of the brave."

At Carnifex Ferry, for the first time under fire, were Col. William H. Lytle, Col. Robert L. McCook and Maj. Rutherford B. Hayes, all of the Hamilton County Bar.

When, in the thickest of the fight, Col. Lytle was again wounded at Perryville, he thought it was fatal. One of his sergeants lifted him in his arms to bear him from the field. With thoughts of higher duties than self, he said: '' You may do some good work yet, I can do no more; let me die here.' He was left there, and fell into the hands of the enemy; but he was subsequently paroled and sent to Cincinnati, to restore health. To one at the side of his sick bed, he was recounting the incidents of the fight; as he laid upon that bloody field with the roar of battle around him, and the missiles of death hurtling over him, he thought his last hour had come. He said: ''It was a glorious day, and I turned to see the last sun go down in his magnificent setting. I felt that I had done my duty, and that I could put my armor off, as one lying down to pleasant dreams."'

Nearly thirty years after the battle of Chickamauga, Gen. Rosecrans and a number of Union and Confederate officers met upon the battlefield, to locate the positions of that dreadful contest, in furtherance of the object of establishing a National Park. There were many who had not seen each other since they stood in arms together upon those two fatal days. They were mostly old men, and gray hairs had given place to the vigorous youth of a quarter of a century ago. Thescene, its surroundings, the personnel, led to reminiscences of events that happened during the Civil war. An aid of Gen. Lytle's was present and related an incident showing his couruge and determination. His troops were to make a hard march, toward Huntsville, Alabama, and to relieve their wagons they were ordered to carry their knapsacks. Company A, of the Tenth Ohio, refused to obey. The captain reported to the Lieutenant Colonel, who dispatched a messenger for Col. Lytle. He mounted his horse, and, accompanied by his staff, rode upon the ground. He explained to his soldiers the necessity for hisorder. They stood, sullen and silent. He waited a few minutes. The trial had come. It was game against physical strength. He drew out his watch with one hand, his revolver with the other. He cocked his weapon, laid its muzzle upon the face of the dial: 'I will give you five minutes to obey orders."' The count began: ' One! two!! three!!!;'' the line wavered and shook. '' Four!'"' The count was never finished. The men slung tbeir knapsacks.

In the course of his examination of this, his most distinguished battlefield, Gen. Rosecrans stopped at a certain spot, and as the company gathered round, he said: '*T was standing here with my staff, when Lytle came up at the head of his brigade. He saluted, as he rode by, and in less than fifteen minutes his horse came galloping back without a rider." The spot where he fell was found. Longstreet's veterans had struck his moving column. Lytle brought it into line of battle, but before effectual resistance could be made he received his death wound. He was borne to the foot of a tree, and laid upon the ground. He gave his sword to an orderly, and motioned him to the rear.

Even in that supreme moment, the Spirit of Chivalry shone forth, in the flickering light that was so swiftly fading. Excalibar should not become a trophy of the foe!

For him, indeed, nothing more of earth remained, but it was still possible for them to save themselves. And so, brave, generous, chivalrous in his life, illustrious in the opportunity of his death, he gave to his country all that the soldier could give. Under the open sky, the fierce din of the conflict ringing in his ears, he illustrated, in his own fate, the words of his song written years before:

No nobler offering has the Republic made to the Moloch of War. After his wound at Carnifex Ferry, his impatience to return to duty was so great that when he reported to the proper authorities, it was apparent that be was not fit to go to the front, and he was placed in command of the camp at Bardstown, Ky., where he wrote the following lines which bear the date of February, 1862.

Upon the occasion of his visit to Canada, Mr. Webster was present at the morning parade of the British garrison. in Quebec. The roll of the drums suggested to him, as illustrative of the power of England, the idea which he subsequently made famous in the Senate of the United States. 'A power which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts, whose morning drum-beat, following the sun and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England."

Among Lytle's old papers, apparently cast aside as trifling waifs, were found many scraps of poetry. Many beautiful selections, which like the foregoing have never seen the light of print, might be made, but we only give the following:

Faded Flowers

William Martin Dickson, lawyer and jurist, was bornin Scott county, Indiana, September 19, 1827, of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock. His grandfather presided over one parish near Dumfries, Scotland, for over fifty years. He was united on his mother's side with the oldest families of Virginia, descendants of the North of Ireland, among whom being the Campbells, Ochiltrees and Lowrys.

He was a lineal descendant of Sir Charles Richardson, the African explorer. His father, a second son, having visited the Euglish Colonies in an official position, drifted to America, met and married Rachel Lowry, near Madison, Ind., and settled in Scott county. Two boys were the issue of this union. In 1837 his father died, leaving a widow, John J., aged thirteen years, and William M., aged eleven, who moved to Hanover, Ind., where there was at that time a good school. The death of the father and the panic at that time had reduced this family to want. The elder brother volunteered to learn a trade. so that his brother, William, the weaker and younger, could attend school. William first attended college at Hanover, which being moved to Madison compelled him to leave home. For the first two years he walked to Madison each Monday morning, carrying on his back the food for the week. By working during vacation, and tutoring, he managed to get enough money to attend college at Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio. Here, by also teaching and tutoring in the summer time, he managed to make enough money to graduate from Old Miami in 1846.

While teaching school in vacation, in Kentucky, he studied law; was admitted to practice at Lexington. In 1848 he attended law school at Harvard College. While there, Chief Justice Parker, of New Hampshire, at that time one of the instructors at Harvard, was his preceptor. Justice Parker selected him from a large number of students as an uousually bright, honest young man, and made him one of his own household; treated him as one of his own children. He graduated at Harvard in 1850.

Afterward, without money, without a friend, alone, with only a letter of introduction from Justice Parker to the late Nathaniel Wright, Dickson came to Cincinnati. Judge Dickson presented this letter to Mrs. Wright who immediately invited him, on account of his past friendship to Judge D. Thew Wright, at Cambridge, to come and live at her house. By tutoring in Judge Wright's family, teaching elsewhere, and by reporting as a space reporter on the old Cincinnati 7imes, he made a living. While teaching in Kentucky, he had met Annie Maria Parker, and had fallen in love with her; but poverty and the struggle for life had prevented him from asking her to marry him. About this time, Dr. Parker with this daughter, Annie Maria, visited Cincinnati to hear Jenny Lind. Mr. Dickson had bought five tickets on speculation, had sold two for enough to pay for the five, and invited Dr. Parker wit his daughter to join him. This daughter, Annie, was a great granddaughter of Gen. Benjamin Logan, of pioneer memory; granddaughter of Col. John Allen, who fell in command of the Kentuckians at River Raisin in 1812; was the own cousin of Mary Todd, the wife of Abraham Lincoln, and cousin of Governor Porter, of Pennsylvania, Justice Marshall, of Pennsylvania, Governor Crittenden, of Missouri, Governor Murray, of Utah, and Logan Murray, of New York.

In 1852 Judge Dickson was married to Annie Maria Parker, and they immediately came to Cincinnati, both almost strangers at this time, and he ran on the Independent ticket for prosecuting attorney of the Police Court. To the surprise of all he was elected. He was the first prosecuting attorney of this Court, which during its infancy had many struggles to maintain its jurisdiction. It was Dickson who made this Court its success to-day. During his term of office occurred the famous Bedini riots, and the cry of 'Down with the Dutch.'' Snelbaker was mayor. Dickson, with Frederick Hassaurek and Judge Stallo as advisers, brought about harmony, and, by his uniform just conduct toward the unfortunate Germans, endeared himself to them. After leaving the Police Court, he rapidly rose to the foremost rank among our lawyers. His arguments under the Fugitive Slave Law, -and in the celebrated Blind Tom case, were well known.

In 1859, he was appointed by Governor Salmon P. Chase as judge of. the Common Pleas Court of Hamilton county, and on February 12 he was sworn into office, succeeding Judge Oliver who had resigned. He was judge of this Court until November 7, 1859, being succeeded by Judge Collins. On account of his extreme youth and younger looks, his appointment as judge was objected to by the older lawyers; but by hard work, uuiform just treatment to all, just and fearless decisions, he left the Bench to renew the practice, beloved and respected by all who had come in contact with him.

During the war, his sympathetic nature made him espouse the cause of the colored man. He took the stump for universal amnesty, liberty and the Union. He partook in his love for the Union of the spirit of Webster, in his love for Abolition, the uncompromising spirit of Sumuer. In 1860, he was elected presidential elector for Abraham Lincolu. He refused the position of assistant judge advocate general, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel onthe staff of Gen. George B. McClellan. He organized the first colored regiment during the war, holding that the colored man was a fit subject to fight for the Union and his own liberty. During the war he was the confidential friend of Lincoln, Stanton and Chase; spent much of his time at Washington, and had much to do in framing the Emancipation Proclamation at the close of the war. His ready pen and active brain were ever employed in the service of his party and his country. His contributions to the Press, and his pamphlets at this time, attracted universal attention. He first secured by law, to the negro, the right to ride in the Cincinnati street cars.

In 1866, at the early age of thirty-nine, his health failed him, and travel abroad brought no relief. Notwithstanding his physical suffering, the last twenty-five years of his life were spent in study and writing on public topics. He was a hard student, and particularly loved biography and history. He was a constant writer during these twenty-five years for the magazines of the country, for the daily Press of this and other States, always upon political and social subjects, and always under the initials ''W. M.D." His style of writing was peculiarly concise, terse and perspicuons. In all of his writings, that which most impresses one is that he could say more in the fewest words of almost any other writer. In his attacks on monopolies, jobbery and public trickery, public dishonesty, office seeking for the mere office, he was never misunderstood. Public dishonesty he could not brook, but for private misfortunes or private wrong, he always had the kindly word, "forgive.'' Among his correspondents were John and George Carlisle of Scotland, Jobn Bright, Max Miller, Gladstone, John Stuart Mills, Disraeli, William Curtis, Seth Lowe, ete. He was for some years before his death president of the trustees of the Ohio Medical College. His greatest public love was the formation and success of the Republican party. George William Curtis, in Harper's Weekly of November 2, 1889, among other things, says this of Judge Dickson: '' Judge Dickson was a man of that union of deep convictions, cultivated intelligence and intellectual ability, upright character, political courage and independence, which is peculiarly American. His sudden and lamentable death is a distinct loss to the force of the best American citizenship. His name will not pass into our history, but it is such qualities as his that make it."'

Mrs. Dickson died March 6, 1885. Judge Dickson was killed October 15, 1889, by an accident on the Mount Auburn Inclined Plane railway, leaving surviving him three children: Parker, William L. (both lawyers of Cincinnati), and one daughter, Jennie.

Jacob Wykoff Piatt was born in Boone county, Ky., in 1801, and died in 1857. He was of French descent. Mr. Piatt received a liberal education, as such matters were measured at that time in the West. He studied law, and began the practice in Cincinnati. As a lawyer he was able and aggressive, his clients never losing anything by reason of his lack of zeal and industry, and as a speaker he was fluent, forcible and witty. He was the embodiment of industry, pursuing his practice and his other business in an indefatigable manner, which necessarily brought success and prosperity in the accumulation of property. As a lawyer and politician he was particularly popular with his Irish fellow citizens. His sharp style of trying a case, his fluent tongue and his biting sarcasm had an especial charm for the impulsive people of that nationality. This particular following, added to his ability as a speaker, gave Mr. Piatt very considerable influence in the politics of the State. He was an ardent Democrat, fighting for his party with the same zeal he displayed in behalf of his clients. This peculiar intensity of purpose and action he carried into religious matters. He became a Roman Catholic, and for years fought the battles of that Church, when to do so was to incur obloquy.

Mr. Piatt was for several years clerk of the Court of Common Pleas; and also a member of the city council. In the council he was celebrated for his attention to the finances of the city, and for his early and persistent advocacy of a paid fire department. The old volunteer firemen were a political contingent of marked influence, aud of rowdy tendency. When Mr. Piatt attacked their organization, he became the object of their dislike, and narrowly escaped their violence. His house was mobbed, and his effigy burned; but his Irish admirers rallied to his defense and dispersed the crowd. The only member of the council who at first had the pluck to stand by Mr. Piatt was Judge Timothy Walker; but in time the new plan was adopted. At the first fire, after the organization of the paid department, the toughs of the old organization appeared in force, to destroy the machine; but Mr. Piatt was on hand with his following of the gentlemen from Cork, and a vigorous application of the shillalah soon settled the conflict for all time. From that day to th's there has not been a riot among the firemen, and Cincinnati now has an organization which is the admiration of the world. She owes this necessarily to the ability and pluck of Wykoff Piatt. In this connection, a pen picture by the late Judge Dickson, in 1885, in the Commercial Gazette, well describes the man and his services to the city.

'Thirty-two years ago, then a very young man, I was prosecuting attorney of the Police Court, and, in connection with my official duties, had often to attend the meetings of council. The figure that arises before me as I recall those meetings is that of a rather tall, slim, erect man, high forehead, long gray hair, gracefully with an alert, keen, penetrating eye, a twinkle in it when lit up by a sarcasm, altogether an imposing, dignified figure - Wykoff Piatt. There he stood with unguailing courage, the censor of the body, his extended arm, with index finger upon his victim, whom his clear, ringing, military voice was cutting as with a Damascus. blade. That victim was always some fraud. His field was the dissection of appropriation bills. Nothing here was too small for his attention, nor did the larger steals intimidate him. Yet his service was not so much in exposing actual steals, as his presence forbade their attempt.''

Mr. Piatt was for years the victim of disease, and his almost constant suffering had much to do with that irritability of temper, and often harshness of expression, which provoked enmity. Whilst quick to anger, he was equally ready to forgive and be forgiven. The sunny side of his nature was turned toward his family, in which he was a devoted son, a protecting brother and a most affectionate and tender husband and father.

William Johnston was born at Shippensburgh, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1804. His parents were Scotch-Irish. They came to Ohio in 1808, and settled on Yellow creek, Jefferson county, where their son was reared to manhood amid the toils, privations and dangers of the backwoods. There were practically no facilities for education; but a far-reaching intellect and an honorable ambition would not permit the pioneer boy to be content with the condition of his surroundings. By the blazing: fire or the dim tallow dip, he persistently sought knowledge in such books as his limited means enabled him to purchase. Extra work earned him a few dollars each year, which he walked sixteen miles to Steubenville to invest, returning laden with such books as he was able to buy. The Bible, Shakespeare, and other British classics stored his mind, and eminently fitted him for his future career.

He read law at Steubenville, and, when admitted to the Bar, settled at Carrollton, Carroll county, where he soon came to be retained on one side or the other of all important litigation. He was elected prosecuting attorney, and, in 1836, to the State House of Representatives. He took a prominent part in the Legislature, and was specially effective in advocacy of a common-school law, and of the abolition of imprisonment for debt. In 1839 he removed to Cincinnati, and during nearly the whole of i840 was on the stump for Gen. Harrison, making a reputation as an orator scarcely equaled by that of any of the celebrated speakers of that wonderful campaign.

In 1841 he was appointed United States Surveyor-General, and held the position until 1845. Soon after he was elected judge of the old Superior Court of Cineinnati, which office he filled with marked ability and growing reputation, until he was nominated as the Whig candidate for governor in 1850. His campaign was brilliant but unsuccessful. In the fall of 1850 Judge Johnston resumed the practice, and for ten years thereafter became widely celebrated as a sound lawyer and as an advocate of uusurpassed ability. He had that peculiar power which enabled him to impress himself upon an audience. No person could listen to him and ever forget his clearness of logic, his simplicity, and force of style, his vivid flashes of wit, his mirth-provoking humor, his moving elocution. Physically tall and powerful, he possessed a musical and far-reaching voice, a bright blue eye, responding to every motion, and a mobile and expressive face. His chief effort was to convince the intellects of his auditors, but he, at the same time, interested and amused them. He abounded in pertinent anecdote, which he used not only to enliven debate but to illustrate arguments. His occasional sarcasm was scorching, whilst his ready wit scintillated throughout his speeches. Though a very large and generally a slow-moving man, with a deliberate manner, he yet was ever on the alert, and never failed to find and reach the weaker point in his opponent's armor. His blows were with broadswords, but his thrusts were with a sharp rapier, and both were equally hard to parry.

Judge Johnston was a man who paid but little regard to dress or personal appearance, and was usually considered somewhat eccentric. He certainly was not common-place, but was eminently original in style, in appearance, in method of treating a subject, and in delivery. He had a marked personality - so much so that there was an element of the picturesque in his appearance and in his oratory so pronounced as to attract attention and excite remark. But when he addressed an audience, he soon made them forget his peculiarities, and accept his arguments.

In the preparation and trial of cases Judge Johnston was remarkably painstaking, not trusting to genius but depending on labor for success. His style was simple, and his English such as the most ignorant could understand. He was never obscure, always forcible and often strikingly brilliant.

In 1861 he removed to Washington, where he practiced in the Court of Claims and the Supreme Court. He was appointed by President Lincoln on the commission to revise the statutes of the United States, where he served with ability, during a term of three years. This was his last public employment. He retired with a modest competence at seventy, and lived the life of a student until he was nearly eighty-eight years of age, bright of intellect until the last.

Alphonso Taft was born November 5, 1810, in the town of Townshend, Windham Co., Vt., the only son of Peter Rawson and Sylvia Howard Taft. The parents both of his father and of his mother had come to Vermont from the town of

Uxbridge, Worcester Co., Mass. Rhoda Rawson, the mother of Peter Rawson Taft, was a descendant of Edward Rawson, who came from England to New England in 1636, and was for thirty-five years secretary of the Colony of Massachusetts. Aaron Taft, the father of Peter Rawson Taft, was educated at Princeton College. Meeting with severe losses in Massachusetts, he took his family to Vermont. Peter Rawson Taft was reared a farmer with but a common-school education. He was a man of intellectual tastes and capacity, and educated himself after leaving school, so that he subsequently was admitted to Bar, and practiced law. He served many years in the Vermont Legislature, and was judge of the Probate and County Courts of Windbam county, in that State. SRY

Alphonso Taft was also brought up on a farm, and until his sixteenth year attended the neighboring county schools. He then went to Amherst Academy at Amherst, Mass., paying the expenses of his tuition by teaching school at his home in Vermont during the winter. His experience at Amherst Academy made him ambitious for an education at a larger institution, and in his nineteenth year he entered Yale College. His summer vacations he spent in working upon the farm of his father. To save traveling expenses he walked from New Haven to Townshend and back. By close economy he was able to support himself through college, and was graduated with high honor among the first half dozen of his class in 1833. Prof, James Dana, the great geologist, was a member of his class, and he and Mr. Taft remained warm friends through life. For two years after graduation Mr. Taft taught in the high school at Ellington, Conn. While there he became interested in St. John Eldridge, one of his pupils. Eldridge's father had been in easy circumstances, but, while his son was at Ellington, suddenly lost his entire fortune. Mr. Taft's affection and admiration for Eldridge, as a manly boy and scholar, led him to pay Eldridge's expenses through Yale College, where Eldridge was graduated as the first scholar of his class. It was Mr. Taft's purpose to associate Eldridge with him in the practice of the law, but Eldridge died very shortly after his graduation from Yale. Mr. Taft served as a tutor at Yale for two years after leaving Ellington, and at the same time attended the Yale Law School, was graduated there and was admitted to the Bar of Connecticut in 1838. After visiting several of the cities of the West, Mr. Taft finally settled in Cincinnati in 1839. He had been, earlier in the same year, admitted to the Bar of Ohio, at Zanesville. His diligence, earnestness, education, and ability soon brought him a lucrative practice. He had associated with him as partners at different times in his career of thirtyfour years at the Bar, Thomas M. Key, William M. Dickson, Patrick Mallon, Aaron F. Perry, George R. Sage, his sons Charles P. and Peter R. Taft, and H. P. Lloyd. Mr. Key first entered Mr. Taft's office as a law student in 1842; Mr. Perry had been his class-mate in the Yale Law School. The partnership with Maj. H. P. Lloyd began in 1877, after Mr. Taft returned from Washington, and continued until April, 1882, when he went abroad. During a practice of over thirty-five years Judge Taft was engaged in many important cases. He was retained by the executors under the will of Charles McMicken, to defend the validity of the devise by Mr. McMicken of more than a half million of dollars to the city of Cincinnati, to found a university for the free education of the youth of the city. The case was argued before Mr. Justice McLean in the Circuit Court, and the devise was sustained. The case was then carried on appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States where Thomas Ewing appeared in behalf of the contestants. The case was not unlike in some respects the famous Girard College will case, in which Mr. Binney and Mr. Webster had appeared. The learning and ability, displayed by Mr. Taft in the preparation of the brief and the argument in this case, which involved a laborious examination of the subject of religious and eleemosynary trusts under the statute of the 43d Elizabeth, called forth from the Bench expressions of high appreciation. The opinion of the Court sustained the validity of the gift of

Mr. McMicken. Another important case in which Mr. Taft appeared as counsel, in the later years of his practice, was the suit brought to test the constitutionality of the bill authorizing the issuance by the city of Cincinnati of two million dollars of bonds for the completion of the Cincinnati Southern railroad. Mr. Taft was retained by the trustees of the Southern road to test the constitutionality of the bill. The case was heard first in the general term of the Superior Court of Cincinnati, where the constitutionality of the act was sustained, and this judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Ohio.

In 1864 Judge Taft was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Superior Cofirt of Cincinnati, and declined the appointment. In 1865 Judge George Hoadly resigned from the Superior Court, and Mr. Taft was again invited by Governor Cox to a seat upon the Bench. This appointment he accepted. At the next spring election he was elected to serve until 1869, when he was re-elected, having the honor, at that time rare, of receiving the unanimous vote of both political parties. In 1873 Judge Taft resigned, and entered the practice with his two sons, Charles and Peter. Many important cases were decided by him while on the Bench. He brought to the discharge of his duties the most unwearied industry and the greatest care. He announced the decision at the general term of the Superior Court in the case involving the constitutionality of the original Southern Railroad bill under which ten million dollars of bonds were issued to constrnet the road which has done so much to develop the trade and increase the business growth of Cincinnati. Another, and perhaps the best known of the causes which came before the Superior Court while Judge Taft was on the Bench, was what was called the Bible case. It was a suit brought to enjoin the School Board of Cincinnati from amending the rules which governed the public schools by striking out the clause providing that the Bible should be read at the opening exercises of each school. The Superior Court in general term then consisted of Judge Bellamy Storer, Judge Taft and Judge Hagans. The majority of the court, Judges Storer and Hagans, held that the school board had no power to amend the rules as proposed, and granted the injunction. Judge Taft delivered a dissenting opinion in which be decided: - First, that the school] board had the power to amend the rules and strike out the clause proposed; and, Second, that the constitution of the State did not recognize the Christian religion any more than it recognized the religion of any of the other citizens of the.State, not Christians; that it was proper that the clause proposed should be stricken out because the King James version of the Bible was not accepted by the large Roman Catholic population as the true Bible, and because the New Testament taught doctrines not believed in by the Jewish part of the population. The Supreme Court of Ohio unanimously reversed the decree of the court below, and sustained Judge Taft in his dissenting opinion by following substantially his course of reasoning therein.

Mr. Taft was long interested in politics, having been an earnest member of the Whig party from the time of the campaign of '' Tippecanoe and Tyler too,'' in 1840. He was a strong friend, great admirer and frequent correspondent of Mr. Webster, and voted for Mr. Webster as candidate for the Presidency in the National Convention of the Whig party. In 1856 he was a member of the National Convention which nominated John C. Fremont for President, and thus was present at the birth of the Republican party. In the same year he became a candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket in the First Ohio District against George H. Pendleton, by whom he was defeated. In 1875 Judge Taft was a candidate before the Ohio Republican Convention for governor of Ohio. He was defeated in the contest by Hon. Rutherford B. Hayes, who subsequently became President. In 1879 Judge Taft was again a candidate for the governorship against Hon. Charles Foster, and was defeated by seven votes. In each of these contests, the position of Judge Taft upon the question of the reading of the Bible in the public schools was the chief argument against his nomination. It was said by his opponents that though the decision had been confirmed unanimously by the Supreme Court, it would nevertheless cost the Republican party many votes to nominate him. On the 7th of March, 1876, Judge Taft was appointed, by President Grant, Secretary of War. He remained in the War office until May of the same year, when he was appointed Attorney-General to succeed Judge Edwards Pierpont. He remained in the latter position (one much more suited to his tastes than that of Secretary of War) until the close of President Grant's administration. In April, 1882, Judge Taft was appointed, by President Arthur, Minister of the United States to Austria. He resided at Vienua until the summer of 1884, when he was tendered the appointment as minister to Russia, which appointment he accepted. He remained in Russia until the fall of 1885, and then returned to Cincinnati.

Judge Taft was a man of the greatest public spirit, and throughout his life was constantly engaged in helping works of public benefit. He and his first wife were very active in the founding and construction of the House of Refuge of Cincinnati, and he delivered the opening address upon the opening of that institution which has since saved so many waifs from sin and misery for useful lives.

Very early in his Cincinnati life, he served as a member of the city council. He was the champion of the annexation party, so-called, which advocated the extension of the city limits north of Liberty street one mile to what is now known as McMillan street. The proposition was defeated in one council of which he was a member, and the Whig party refused to nominate him to succeed himself. He thereupon ran on an independent ticket, and was elected, and in the succeeding council the annexation ordinance was passed. He was, while in council, very active in advancing the interests of the city by the building of railroads. He was for many years a director in the Little Miami railroad, representing, as such, the interests of the city, which was a stockholder in the road. In 1850 he delivered to the Mercantile Library Association a lecture entitled '' Cincinnati and her railroads,''? in which he demonstrated the great importance to the city of having as many railroads as possible radiating from it as a center in every direction. The prophecies of that lecture have all been fulfilled. He was one of the prominent incorporators -of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad, and acted as its counsel for many years. He was amember of the first Board of Directors of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, and spent much time and labor in carrying through that enterprise in spite of many obstructions.

Judge Taft was also an earnest supporter of the proposition that the city should build the Cincinnati Southern railway. He took part as a member of the Superior Court of Cincinnati in the appointment of the first board of trustees of the Southern road, and upon his retirement from the Bench he was himself appointed a trustee of the road in 1875, a position which he resigned when called into the cabinet of President Grant. He was one of the projectors and the first. president of the Mt. Auburn Street railroad, the first street railroad to connect the beautiful hill suburbs with the city of Cincinnati itself. This was the railroad from which sprung the incline plane system, and the extensive net work of suburban street railways which is such a prominent feature of the city's life to-day.

Any sketch of Judge Taft's long and useful life would be quite defective which did not contain an allusion to his interest in, and devotion to, the cause of education in the city of his adoption and the country at large. He was one of the trustees of the original Woodward fund, and was for more than twenty years an active and useful member of the Union Board of High Schools of the city of Cincinnati. As already stated, as counsel he defended the McMicken bequest to found the University of Cincinnati, and he was thereafter appointed a trustee of the university by the city council; participated in the organization of the institution, and was for several years the president of the board. As already stated, he was a graduate at Yale of 1833, and of the Yale Law School. His five sons were graduated from the same university - the eldest in 1864 and the youngest in 1883. Judge Taft himself received the degree of LL.D. from Yale in 1867. In the year 1878, when by the law of Connecticut it was provided that six members of the corporation of Yale College should be chosen from the Alumni of the college by vote, Judge Taft was elected to a seat in the corporation which he held for three years, aud was then re-elected for a subsequent term of six years. He declined the second re-election because he was then going abroad.

While in Russia Judge Taft contracted the disease of typhoid pneumonia, and for weeks his life was despaired of. His strong constitution, however, enabled him to partially recover his strength. In 1886 he returned to his home considerably shattered in health. He remained in Cincinnati until 1890, enjoying his leisure time in classical and other studies. In the winter of 1889-90 his health became so poor that upon the advice of his physician he went to San Diego, Cal. There he was able to live for about two years longer. He died May 30, 1891, in the eighty-tirst year of his age.

Judge Taft was a member of the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati. In the schism which occurred in that church during the ministry of Rev. Moncure D. Conway, Judge Taft was of those who supported Mr. Conway. A man of studious habits and wide reading, he retained his familiarity with the classics throughout his busy career. He was a man of singularly sweet and gentle nature, but he united with this a firmness of purpose and a courage of his convictions which, with his ability, learning, and power of application, made him one of the foremost men in the State and country.

Judge Taft married his first wife, Miss Fannie Phelps, of Townshend, Vt., in 1841; she died in 1852 leaving two sons, Charles Phelps and Peter Rawson. In 1854 he married Miss Louise M. Torrey, of Millbury, Mass., who survives him. By her he had four children: William H., Henry W., Horace D. and Fannie Louise. Charles Phelps Taft was admitted to the Bar, and practiced with his father, but subsequently became and is now the managing editor and proprietor of the Cincinnati Times-Star. Peter Rawson Taft, the second son, was a member of the Bar for a number of years, and died in June, 1889. The third son, William H., also became a member of the Bar, and is now one of the United States circuit judges for the Sixth Circuit. The fourth son, Henry W. Taft, is a practicing lawyer in the city of New York. Horace D. Taft, the fifth and youngest son, studied law and was admitted to the Bar, but subsequently became a tutor in Yale College, and is now proprietor and head of a preparatory school for boys at Watertown, Conn. Fannie Louise, the only daughter, was married, during Judge Taft's residence in San Diego, to Dr. William A. Edwards, of that city, where she now resides.

Stanley Matthews was born July 21, 1824, in Cincinnati. His parents were Thomas J. Matthews (a native of Leesburg, Va., who came to Cincinnati in 1818) and Isabella Matthews, the daughter of Col. William Brown, a pioneer who came from Connecticut and settled in Columbia in 1788. His early boyhood was passed in Lexington, Ky., where his father was professor of mathematics in Transylvania University. In 1832, however, his parents took up their residence again in Cincinnati, and from that time until 1839 he attended Woodward High School, of which his father was president. At the latter date he entered Kenyon College, from which institution he was graduated with honors in 1840. He especially excelled in classics. To his study of these he largely owed the power of clear and terse expression for which he became noted at the Bar and upon the Bench. For two years after graduation from college he prosecuted his legal studies in Cincinnati. From 1842 to 1844 he resided in Maury county, Tenn., teaching school. During his residence there he married the daughter of James Black, Esq., of that county, and commenced the practice of the law. He also edited while there a weekly newspaper called the Tennessee Democrat.

law here. His first employment at the Bar was as assistant prosecuting attorney of Hamilton county. In November, 1846, he became the principal editor of the Cincinnati Morning Herald,a newspaper devoted to the peaceful and constitutional extinction of slavery. He continued to edit this paper for about a year and until its publication was suspended. He was elected clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives at the session of 1848-49, during which Salmon P. Chase was elected United States Senator. In 1850 he resumed the practice of the law at Cincinnati, and in 1851 was elected one of the three common pleas judges of this county. He remained upon the Bench unti] January 1, 1853, when he resigned, and for seven or eight years practiced law as the junior member of the firm of Worthington & Matthews. In 1855, he was elected to the Senate of Obio from this county, and served one term. From 1858 until 1861 he served as United States district attorney, by appointment of President Buchanan. Upon the breaking out of the Civil war he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-third Regiment, O. V. I. In October, 1861, he became colonel of the Fifty-first Regiment O. V. I., and served with his regiment as a part of the army of the Cumberland in Kentucky and Tennessee. In April, 1863, while in camp, he was elected judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. This judicial office he filled until July, 1865, when he resigned to resume the practice of the law. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that he at once took a leading position at the' Bar. He represented many of tbe most important corporations in the county. In 1872 he was a member of the Liberal Republican Convention, a body of men who, actuated by the purest and most patriotic motives, succeeded in making themselves absolutely ridiculous, when they nominated, for President, Horace Greeley, upon a free-trade platform. There can be no doubt but that that galling iniquity hurried the philosopher of the New York 77ibune to his untimely grave. :'

Judge Matthews was temporary chairman of that wonderful convention, a convention that contained more incongruous elements than were ever assembled since the Tower of Babel. The noise, confusion, and disorder that prevailed, was such as might have been expected from a collection of several hundred politicians, all of whom prided themselves upon the fact that they were men of independent thought and action, and no two of whom could agree upon any proposition under the sun. The temporary chairman was driven almost to distraction by the universal and belligerent uproar of the occasion. Mr. Lyman Trumbull, of the Illinois delegation, was making a speech upon one side of the House, and upon the other Col. Alexander McClure, of the Pennsylvania delegation, arose and frantically exclaimed: " Mr. President, we can't hear a word the gentleman is saying." In stentorian tones the temporary chairman shouted back: "It is not important that you should.'' The laugh that followed quelled the disorder. Judge Matthews did not support Mr. Greeley in the ensuing canvass, but threw his great influence in favor of Gen. Grant. Judge Matthews, before the Electoral Commission, was counsel for Gen. Hayes. Thereafter he was senator from Ohio, as successor to John Sherman. In May, 1881, President Garfield nominated him to the position of associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a position which he held until bis death, March 22, 1889.

The Bar of Hamilton county has, without doubt, produced many, very many, distinguished men. Judge Timothy Walker was one. He was a man plain of speech, and his statement of a case was so simple that one was unconsciously led to accept his conclusions. He was effective as a speaker because he made no display of language, or of rhetoric. He was, by appointment, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, where his term of service gave him increased reputation. His book on "American Law" should be read by every student; as an introductory work, there is no other like it.

He was a young man of brilliant qualities. He inherited his father's clear, powerful intellect. Like all men of genius, ability or intelligence, he participated in the war of the Rebellion. Upon July 22, 1864, he was wounded, desperately wounded, in front of Atlanta. He was at one time city solicitor, and was one of those of whom it may be said, he held an important municipal position without reproach. He was able in the trial of a case, and could try it with all the power there was in him, and yet not derogate from the character of a gentleman.

Henry Stanberry was a lawyer of eminent ability. He was from the celebrated Lancaster Bar, which numbered among its members such men as Thomas Ewing, Hocking H. Hunter, Philadelphia Van Trump, Samuel F. Vinton, John L. Brazee, and others who were distinguished in the profession. Mr. Stanberry was a member of the Constitutioual convention that formed the Constitution of 1851. He was Attorney-General under Andrew Jobnson, and was the main-stay of the defense in the impeachment of the President. He was not an actor in political life, but devoted himself almost exclusively to his profession.

Charles Fox was at one time a judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. He was originally a carpenter by trade, and came to this city about 1820. He probably practiced law for a longer period of time than any man who has been a member of this Bar, and at one time did an immense business. His name appeared upon the docket, upon one side or the other, of most of the cases that were tried in court.

As an astute jury lawyer, and for success in the trial of cases, few men have equaled Isaac M. Jordan. Bold, ready, with a quickness of perception that saw everything in a flash, a poise that was never thrown off its balance, he was a terrible adversary. He and his brother, Jackson M. Jordan, were a leading firm at the Bar.

Piatt was always a celebrated name in Hamilton county. The brothers John H. and Ben. M. Piatt were early settlers in the West, and identified with its history in every stage of progress. Donn Piatt was one of the early judges of the Court of Common Pleas under the new constitution. The practice of law, however, was not congenial to his tastes. He first distinguished himself as a journalist. He was a correspondent of leading newspapers, and his pen became famous. Wit, humor, sarcasm, invective, there was no phase of style that was not his own. He: was secretary of legation at Paris, and spent some time abroad. During the war he was Gen. Schenck's chief of staff. Those who were familiar with Donn Piatt's. keen sense of a joke will easily understand whence originated the idea which. prompted Gen. Schenck's brilliant stroke of strategy in Baltimore. Butler had made himself famous by his woman's order, in New Orleans; Gen. Schenck encountered the same difficulty, when in command at Baltimore, but he treated it in a different way. In Baltimore as in New Orleans the soldiers could resent insults from the men, but with the women rebels it was different. To knock them down was hardly in accord with the highest notions of etiquette, and so the gentler sex flashed their secession flags, and spit in the officers' faces to such an extent that it verged upon the unpleasant. At last they got to wearing rebel colors, and promenading the streets in costume. Gen. Schenck employed a number of the most notedswomen of the town, hiring them to array themselves with elegance, and to parade the streets, with the rebel colors conspicuously displayed. Whenever they met with one of the ladies of Baltimore wearing similar badges, they saluted her effusively,, embracing her with emotion as a ''Sister in the Holy Cause." The women of Baltimore were effectually suppressed.

Nicholas Longworth was judge of the Court of Common Pleas of this county from 1876 until 1881, when he was elected judge of the Supreme Court. He graduated at Harvard in 1866 with high honors, and was admitted to the Cincinnati Bar in 1869. He retired from the Supreme Bench in 1888. He was a man of brilliant abilities and accomplished in many directions. He was a classical scholar, | and his translation of Electra, while it preserves the pith of the original, makes

Greek poetry readable, even in the English language. His love of poetry was a passion, and the standard authors he seemed to know by heart. He was a skilled mechanic, had cultivated music with success. At the Bar, besides being a wellequipped lawyer, be had that aggressive audacity that made him a formidable antagonist, even as against older and more experienced men. In social life he was a charming companion, always generous to a fault. He died in 1890 at the early age of forty-six.

The Hamilton County Bar, during the trying times of the Civil war, were true to their duties as American citizens. The lawyers did not hesitate to answer the call that summoned them to the field. Of these were Col. N. C. McLean, of the Ninety-fifth O. V. 1; E. Basset Langdon, lieutenant-colonel of the First O. V. L; Col. Donn Piatt; Theophlus Gaines, Fifth O. V. I.; Col. F. W. Moore, now judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati; Capt. John F. Hoy; Lieut. Edgar M. Johnson, and Everett S. Thomas. Charles Loomis and Channing Richards were members of the Sixth Ohio. Richards was afterward captain of the Twenty-second Ohio, of which C. J. Wright was colonel.

Col. Fred L. Jones was first appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-first O. V. I., and subsequently was transferred to the Twenty-fourth. He was in Buell's advance upon the fateful field of Shiloh. They were ferried over the river under the lead of the impetuous Nelson as the first day's fight was nearing its disastrous close, and stayed the rush of the exultant Rebels. Col. Jones was soon after promoted for gallantry on the field. At the battle of Stone River, in a charge upon the enemy, he was fatally shot, and died December 31, 1862. Those who knew him well remember what a bright, gallant, dashing young fellow he was.

James Warnock was captain in the Second Ohio. He entered the service in Cincinnati, was promoted, and followed the fortunes of Buell's army. He was wounded in Chattanooga, in Hooker's battle above the clouds. He was in the service until October, 1864, when he was mustered out.

Henry B. Banning entered the service April 20, 1861, as captain in the Fourth Ohio, three-months' men. On June 6 he became captain for three years, and June 25, 1862, was appointed colonel of the Highty-first Ohio. Afterward he was made lieutenant-colonel of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment, and transferred to the One Hundred and Twenty-first, as colonel. He was made brevet brigadiergeneral for gallant services during the Atlanta campaign. After the war he was a member of the State Legislature, and then member of Congress from this county.

Robert L. McCook went into the war as colonel of the Ninth Ohio, a German regiment from Cincinnati. He was with Buell in Kentucky; at Pittsburgh Landing, Corinth, and throughout Tennessee. He rose to the rank of brigadier-general. The tragedy of his death in August, 1862, is familiar. His energy and ability were such that, had he lived through the war, he would doubtless have added lustre to a family name already distinguished for zeal in the Nation's cause.

Stephen J. MeGroarty and William M. Ward were members of the Tenth, or Lytle, Regiment. McGroarty was afterward colonel of the Sixty-first. Elthan Courtland Williams enlisted in the gunboat service upon the Western waters, while still a minor, but served during the war. John Coffee and John W. Warrington were privates. Irwin B. Wright was captain. Col. James F. Meline had retired from active practice before the war broke out. He served during the war as aid to to Major-Gen. John Pope. Was in the Western campaigns of that distinguished officer, and at the battle of Second Bull Run.

Rutherford B. Hayes entered the service as major of the Twenty-third Ohio. It can not be necessary to speak here in detail of the life of a President of the United States. There is no American who is not familiar with it. 'There were also Oliver P. Brown, captain in the Thirty-ninth; Peter J. Sullivan, colonel of the Fortyeighth; William H. Baldwin, leutenant-colonel of the Eighty-third; Benton Hal-

Joseph B. Foraker, Thomas T. Heath, William Disney, L. H. Pummill, Gustavus Tafel and Thomas L. Young, Gen. Henry M. Cist, Col. Nathan Lord, Sixth Vermont, all members of the Cincinnati Bar, were in the service, in various capacities, and it has never been said that the legal fraternity failed in the duties they were called upon to perform. It is quite possible that the names of all those who were in the army have not been here preserved, but such records as were available have been examined with the purpose of making the list complete, and if omissions have occurred, it is not because labor has been spared.

Chap Ler

O branch of historical research presents more difficulties than that of the religious development of acommunity. The external signs of growth or decay are easily marked. The comparison of churches, colleges, schools, hospitals at different epochs is not difficult. The amount of money given, and of members registered, may be accurately noted, but the real history of religion is the history of the spirit which animates and energizes these forms and institutions; and the careful historian may often indicate to his readers that the epochs which seem most barren, and where there seems to be a steady loss of power, are the very ones where religion is found to be doing its most powerful work. Never was Protestant religion so much of a power in the Netherlands as in the days of Philip II, when, to the mere statistician, churches were everywhere decreasing and church membership falling steadily year by year, and never was Latin Christianity more aggressive than in the middle of the sixteenth century, when she had been shorn of half her equipments.

But in addition to this difficulty of portraying adequately the spiritual power of religion, of depicting the hidden influences which make for honesty, integrity, purity, good citizenship, faith and patriotism, there is another difficulty which oppresses the historian of religion in a community like Hamilton county. At whatever epoch he directs his attention, he sees a steady efflux of Christian workers toward western communities. He sees the churches of every denomination painfully gathering and educating and Christianizing men, who disappear from his gaze at the next epoch, not by death, not by lapse into irreligion, but by emigration. They are lost from the ranks of the loca] bodies, and the records make the loss apparent and disheartening, but they are still answering to the roll call of the great army, and are the fruit of faithful work done here, fruit which has ''its seed in itself.'' Many powerful churches by the Missouri, or the Platte, or still farther west ''where the Oregon raves ceaselessly," are the developments of the seed sown by Lyman Beecher, or Bishop MclIlvaine, or Bishop Fenwick, or the fervent Methodist meeting of four-score years ago. That process of ''swarming," as it may be called, which is plainly marked at all times in the history of Cincinnati, is even more pronounced in the closing decade of the century. Every local church is drained of its strength, and is constantly dismissing to other places its best and most energetic members. Some, having acquired wealth, are moving east, into the older cities, to enjoy it: More are feeling the pressure of competition in crowded cities and moving far west, to make their fortunes, their homes and their graves. This enormous loss, by noe means offset by gains of the same nature, must be taken into account in any rational view of the religious progress of a hundred years. But it must not be thought that these preliminary words are made necessary because of the failure of the churches to keep pace with the progress of the city and county.

The subsequent pages will show how remarkable has been the continually expanding growth of organized religion, far in excess of other branches of civil culture and refinement. To that growth, when it has been fully described and understood, the reflecting reader will add a large percentage which justly belongs to it but is necessarily listed in other communities.

Such a chapter as this can deal only with the organizations which have risen and fallen, those bodies through which the Spirit of Religion has breathed. The great and small churches of Protestant Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Jewish Synagogue have all been active, and must all be studied for a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of their subject. The reader may not find it uninteresting, and will not find it unprofitable, to take these denominations in their order and follow their development in a rapid, but accurate survey.

Presbyterian Church

While the first church organized in Hamilton county seems to have been a Baptist Church at Columbia, there can be no doubt that the great mass of the early settlers were desirous of worshiping God after the form of the Presbyterian Church, and the early history of religious life is the history of Presbyterianism. Indeed, it has been this church that has furnished the striking incidents of religious history during the century. The controversies of Dr. Rice, the brilliant career of the Stowes, the trial of Lyman Beecher, the revivals under Joshua Wilson, the foundation and growth of Lane Seminary, and the trial of Prof. Henry Preserved Smith, are the causes celebres of our ecclesiastical history. That precedence she had here in time, which was but an accident, the great Presbyterian Church has crowned by a precedence in activity and zeal. The fierceness of her debates has not been greater than the volume of her liberality, and the wonderful multiplication of her missions and churches at the present time is enough to convince the world that great intellectual ferment and doctrinal disturbance, however painful they may be, are only possible in organizations in which there is an intense earnestness and power of conviction.

The lofty spire of the First Presbyterian church rises over the ground first set apart in Cincinnati for religious uses. The south half of the square, between Fourth and Fifth and between Walnut and Main streets, was dedicated in the plat and survey of the village for a religious house, a burial ground and a school, and there, after the lapse of a century, are still found the First church and the Cincinnati College (now the Law School), while the quiet resting place in which the forefathers of the hamlet slept has been covered with great buildings and made noisy with myriad-voiced trade. On this ground, so set apart, Rev. James Kemper, still honored by those who bear his name in Cincinnati, began his labors as the first settled pastor in 1791. The church was still unorganized because of the scarcity of male members, but eight individuals formed the nucleus of the body. In September, 1798, there being nineteen adult male members, an organization was effected by the election of five ruling elders and two deacons. In the meantime preparations had been made for a church building, and subscriptions had been secured. In the long list of those who contributed to this pioneer church may be found the name of nearly

'every male settler in the village, and of many of the officers of the garrison. With the $100 contributed, and the labor and material which were given instead of money, the modest little frame building rose, facing Main street about a hundred feet north of Fourth street, and of course not immediately upon the site of the present church. This little nursery of the churches was about thirty feet by forty, being of one story and of one room, and when occupied in October, 1792, it had neither lath nor plaster, nor ceiling nor floor. The bare earth was beneath the worshipers. Judge Burnet describes the house, and says in addition that the ''seats were constructed of boatplank supported by blocks of wood. They were, of course, without backs, and here our forefather pioneers worshiped with their trusty rifles between their knees. On one side of the house a breastwork of unplaned cherry boards was constructed, which was styled the pulpit, behind which the preacher stocd on a piece of boat-plank supported by two blocks of wood.''

In the very month of the completion of this building, it witnessed three remarkable events: The first trial and conviction for murder, the first installation of a pastor, and the first meeting of a Presbytery were within its walls. It was the courthouse, the assembly room, the church of the community. As quietness came to the settlement, and Wayne's victory decreased the fears of Indian outbreaks, advances toward a better and more comfortable building were made. Floor and ceiling and fence were provided, and in the list of subscribers for this additional expense many new names appear which still adorn the roll of Cincinnati's best families. From the organization of this First church in 1793 until the installation of Rev. Joshua L. Wilson in 1808, there were three pastors, and several intervals, one as long as three years, when there was no pastor. When Mr. Wilson came, he came to stay, and his long and eventful ministry will never be forgotten among the formative elements of our civic life. When he was laid to rest in Spring Grove in 1846, he had been for thirty-eight years a powerful and positive force in the community. When we read the story of his life it seems impossible that only half a century separates him from us. He had the ruggedness and severity of doctrinal conviction that impress while they dismay us in Hawthorne's pictures of Puritan New England. He prosecuted the trial of Lyman Beecher, his brother pastor, and pressed it to the conclusion, animated by the same spirit that was in Prym and Prynne, in Mather and Eliot. The voice of Niceea was not more binding upon Athanasius and Leo, than was the truth as he had been taught it upon Dr. Wilson, and no man ever spoke with less uncertain sound upon the principles of the faith. His long career deserves a more extended notice, but of the man himself we must be content with the eulogy of his friend E. D. Mansfield, who knew him throughout his pastorate.

The city he found a village of one thousand inhabitants, and left it at his death with one hundred thousand. In this period Dr. Wilson maintained, throughout, the 'same uniform character and the same inflexible firmness in principle. He was a man of ardent temperament, with great energy and decision of character. The prin- 'ciples he once adopted he held with indomitable courage and unyielding tenacity. He was not only a Presbyterian, but one of the strictest sect. It is not strange, therefore, that he contended with earnestness for what he thought the faith once delivered to the saints, and that in this he sometimes appeared as much of the soldier as the saint. In consequence of these characteristics many persons supposed him a harsh or bigoted man. But this was a mistake, unless to be in earnest is harshness, and to maintain one's principles bigotry. On the contrary Dr. Wilson was kind, charitable, and, in those things he thought right, liberal. During his pastorate, the little frame church gave place to the "two-horned'' church, so called from its two cupolas. This was in 1815, when the number of communicants had risen to 160. The large subscription to this building ($16,745) indicates the increasing wealth and prosperity of the community, and the capacity of the structure, which accommodated over two thousand people, shows the large increase in the community itself. The third building, which is the present one, was erected in 1853. Rev. Hugh Gilchrist is the pastor, and among his predecessors were Rev. George Beecher and Rev. Frank Monfort. The spacious rooms in the basement of this church are the meeting place for the Evangelical Alliance, and in the church itself took place the trial of Dr. H. P. Smith in November, 1892, and here the General Assembly of 1888 held its session.

The Second Presbyterian Church was an off-shoot from the pioneer church, whose history we have followed with more detail than will be possible with the history of others.

The record of the Second church begins in 1816, and the church edifice was first occupied in 1818. This was a small building on the northeast corner of Fifth and Walnut streets, where the great government building now stands. In 1829 the Society was incorporated, and soon after moved into a larger and better building on Fourth street, where the McAlpin Company are now doing business; from thence they moved in 1872 to the present handsome cburch on EKighth and Elm streets. The most distinguished pastorate of this church was that of Lyman Beecher from 1831 to 1842. Both as president of Lane Seminary and pastor of the Second church he exerted a vast influence upon the entire country, and is the largest figure in the first century of the religious life of Cincinnati. Gradually the Second church began to take a leading position, and is still the most powerful and wealthy congregation of the Presbyterians in the city. Among the prominent pastors have been Dr. M. L. P. Thompson; Dr. Thomas H. Skinner; Dr. George P. Hays, and Dr. Eells. At this time Dr. W. S. Plumer Bryan is the pastor. The missionary activity of the Church has been phenomenal. From it directly or indirectly have come the means and energy to establish the Seventh Street church, the Poplar Street church, the Mohawk Mission, the fine church on Price Hill with the Westminster school, over which active work Dr. Harley J. Stewart, is pastor, and it has also sent the largest part of the early colonists to the most flourishing churches in the suburbs. The Sunday-school, which has been the favorite work of Peter Rudolph Neff, has been an enormous power, not equaled by any other in the Ohio Valley.

The great organization on Walnut Hills, known popularly as the Lane Seminary Church, was organized in 1831, and in 1879 an earlier organization, known as the First Presbyterian Church of Walnut Hills, was united with it and gave its name to the single church. Here there are at present time 800 communicants under the pastoral charge of Rev. Dr. William McKibben. The lay work of Hon. Thomas Me- Dougall has been very effective, and in addition to his other labors of teaching and acting as an elder he has recently built and given a beautiful chapel on Shillito street for a new congregation.

The new Mt. Auburn Church was organized in 1867, and after a prosperous career of twenty-five years has just entered into a magnificent new church, erected at a cost of $100,000. What Mr. McDougall bas been on Walnut Hills, Mr. Matthew Addy has been to this church. A most efficient Bible teacher for many years, be has recently built a beautiful chapel in memory of his son, called Clifford Chapel, for a mission congregation in Corryville. Dr. Henry Melville Curtis is pastor of this church, and has over four hundred and fifty communicants, and a Sunday-school of nearly seven hundred under his administration.

Space will not permit more than the mention of the strong Avondale church over which Dr. Lowe has been pastor for the last four years, of Wyoming and College Hill, where Dr. Taylor and Dr. Walker are settled, of the Seventh church on Walnut Hills, over which Dr. A. B. Riggs presides, and of many others scattered through the county and doing most efficient work. If a disproportionate amount of space in this article is given to the Presbyterian Church, the faithful historian can only say that considering its priority of organization, its brilliant and varied career, where sparks are constantly thrown off from its energetic wheels, and its present activity in missionary work, it can not be adequately described in smaller space.

The Third Presbyterian Church, on Seventh street, was organized January 22, 1829, with fifty-nine members, and has enrolled over 5,000 members.

The Fifth Presbyterian Church, on John and Clark streets, was organized May 29, 1831, with ten members, and has enrolled over 1,800 members.

Central Presbyterian Church, on Mound and Barr streets, was organized April 23, 1844, with thirty-three members, and has enrolled over 1,797 members.

Seventh Presbyterian Church, on Madisonville avenue, was organized December 8, 1849, with ninety-seven members, and has enrolled over 1,200 members.

Westminster Presbyterian Church, on Grand avenue, was organized November 1, 1883, with twenty-two members, and has enrolled over 291 members.

Presbyterian Reformed

The First Reformed Presbyterian Church, located on Plum street between Highth and Ninth, with Rev. David McKinney as pastor, is in a flourishing condition. The present magnificent church edifice was erected in 1867. The Second Reformed Presbyterian Church (Covenanter) is located on Clinton street. The First United Presbyterian Church is located at the northwest corner of Seventh and Walnut streets, and the congregation is in a prosperous condition.

Methodism came riding into Cincinnati on horseback in the person of Rev. John Kobler in 1798, and Mr. Kobler has this to say of his visit: "About four o'clock

*Rey. D. J. Starr, of the East Pear] Street Methodist Episcopal Church. furnished most of this article and statistics for the individual churches in this sketch of Methodism. - D. W. R.

in the afternoon I came to an old garrison called Fort Washington, which bore very much the appearance of a declining, time-stricken, God-forsaken place. Here I wished very much to preach, but could find no opening or reception of any kind whatever." The next Methodist preachers who came to Cincinnati were Revs. Lewis Hunt and Elisha Bowman, who preached occasionally and went their way. Meanwhile Rev. Francis McCormick, who is regarded as the founder of Methodism in Ohio, had preached and organized a Society near Columbia in 1801. In 1804 Rey. John Collins came to the town to buy provisions, and finding the storekeeper, Mr. Carter, a Methodist, was so overjoyed that he fell on his neck and wept. That night Mr. Collins preached to twelve persons in an 'upper room'' in Mr. Carter's house. Soon Rev. Jon Sale, the regular minister of Miami circuit, preached in the house on Main street, between First and Second streets, to a congregation of thirty-five persons, and formed the first Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Cincinnati. There were eight members, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Carter, their son and daughter; Mr. and Mrs. Gibson and Mr. and Mrs. St. Clair. The families of Mr. Richardson, Mr. Lyons and Mr. Nelson and Mr. Hall were soon added, and the meetings wese held in the ''schoolhouse below the hill and near the Fort.'' From this beginning Methodism entered upon its career of great prosperity.

In 1815, when Cincinnati had a population of 6,498, there were 264 Methodists. In 1830, with a population of 24,831, there were 1,035 Methodists. In 1860, with a population of 161,044, there were 4,085 Methodists. In 1890, with a population of 296.908, there were 6,000 Methodists. But these figures do not show the full growth of Methodism, as many Methodist families have removed to the suburbs.

As in our historical sketch we trace the organization of the Methodist congregations chronologically we find that Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church is the representative of the first Methodist church building, which was erected in 1805-6 on Fifth street, near Broadway, and was long known as tbe "Stone chureh."" In 1812, Cincinnati having a membership of 226, was constituted a separate charge. This charge was favored with the ministerial services of pastors of great ability, amongst whom were Rev. James B. Findlay, Bishop R. S. Foster, Rev. John Collins, Dr. Joseph M. Trimble, Dr. Joseph M. Mathews, Rev. T. F. Sargent, Dr. George C. Crum and Dr. Asbury Lowry. The present pastor is the Rev. James W. Magruder, who is carrying forward aggressive church work, sustained by a membership of 400, having a Sabbath-school of over 250 attendants, and a church and parsonage property valued at $90,000. The present church edifice for two generations has served its purpose well, being commodious, substantial and well lighted. Among its church officers are the venerable Thomas McLean, P. O. Connell, W. G. Roberts, J. G. Rutter, S. M. Martin, I. F. Tunison, Charles R. Martin, C. C. Startzman, James Neblett, E. EK. Chambers.and F. E. Clemons.

St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church is the living representative of the second congregation which was formed, and which built what was long known as the " brick church'' at the corner of Fourth and Plum streets in 1819. This congregation subsequently removed to Central avenue, near Fourth street, and built a commodious edifice which was named '' Morris Chapel,'' and which was occupied until 1870, when it was sold, and the congregation removed to the present handsome St. Paul, which was built of stone at a cost of $175,000 on the southwest corner of Seventh and Smith streets. This congregation has been favored with the ministry of men of national reputation: Rev. Wiliam Herr, D. D., Dr. William Young, Rev. Dr. Granville Moody, Rev. John W. Weakley, D. D., Rev. C. W. Ketcham, D. D., Rev. Bishop Ninde, D. D., Rev. R. M. Hatfield, D. D., Rev. H. B. Ridgeway, D.D., and Rev. Bishop Isaac W. Joyce, D. D., have filled its pastorate. The present pastor, Rev. George K. Morris, D. D., is widely known as an able pulpit orator. In 1835 this church had a membership of 700, but several colonies have gone out from it, and it now has a membership of about 600, a Sunday-school of 390, and a church and parsonage property valued at $135,000. Among its official laity are Dr. C. G. Comegys, Hon. George W. Boyce, J. F. Wiltsee, Richard Dymond, W. G. Doering, H. E. Holtzinger, W. F. Boyd, Dr. J. M. Withrow, W. E. Brooks, J. P. Epply, W. F. Thorne and J. Cochnower; Harvey DeCamp, Joseph Rust, William Hart, William Glenn and John M. Phillips were amongst the charter members of this enterprise.

McKendree Methodist Episcopal Church is the representative of the third Society, and which was first known as Fulton. It is located in a substantial and commodious brick edifice at No. 465 Eastern avenue, with Rev. Edward McHugh as present pastor. Its membership has grown from 190 in 1835 to 330, with a Sunday-school of 240, and a property valued at $16,000. Dr. G. W. Prugh, L. W. Ross, Joseph Bailey, M. M. Garrett, G. W. Bryan, W. A. Crumme, R. Hammersley and J. L. Bliss are officers of the church.

Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church appears as a new organization in 1840, with a membership of 280. It is located on Webster avenue, between Main and Sycamore, and has a present membership of 260, a Sabbath-school of 440, and church property valued at $19,500; Rey. Charles W. Rishell, Ph. D., is the present pastor; John W. Dale, Prof. G. W. Harper, Dr. P. M. Bigney, Dr. Z. B. Vanzant, William Box, C. G. Vanzant, Jacob Schmidt, James Earley, Henry Dickens and Charles Ireland are church officers.

Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, then called '' Ninth street," situated on the north side of Ninth street, midway between Race and Elm streets, was the fifth. Society organized, and appears in 1845 with a membership of 400, made up mainly of persons who had been communicants in Morris and Wesley. Amongst its projectors were Hiram DeCamp, Adam Riddle, Moses Brooks, Rev. James P. Kilbreth, John S. Perkins, Judge M. B. Hagans, Edward Sargent, John Simpkinson and Alfred Simpkinson. Thirty-five years ago the commodious brick structure was displaced by an elegant edifice with a freestone front, and the name was changed to Trinity. Amongst the distinguished ministers who have filled its pulpit are Bishop Ninde, Rey. T. S. Studley, Dr. J. F. Chalfant, Dr. D. H. Moore, Bishop Joyce, Dr. Earl Cranston and Dr. Howard Henderson. The present pastor is Rev. Dr. E. S. Lewis. Amongst its present officers are Louis W. Wolff, Judge M. B. Hagans, George W. Coleman, A. R. Lafferty, Albert Stabler, A. O. Evans, Dr. M. T. Carey, Luke Kent and C. H. Blackburn, Esq. Other men who have been eminent laymen in this congregation are Charles H. Wolff, C. W. Rowland, Dr. John Davis and Dr. William B. Davis. After the removal of many prominent families to the suburbs Trinity has at present a membership of 400, with 300 in its Sabbath-school, and a church property valued at $75,000.

Christie Methodist Episcopal Church, the successor of " Ebenezer,'' was organized as a charge in 1846, with a membership of 250. It is located at the corner of Court. and Wesley avenue, and has at present a membership of 325, a Sabbathschool of 250, and church property valued at $33,000. Rev. Charles Ferguson, Rev. Dr. W. H. Sutherland, Bishop Ninde, Rev. William Runyan, D. D., Dr. William S. Robinson and Rev. M. LeSourd have been amongst its eminent ministers. Rev. C. L. Conger is the present pastor. The late James Gamble, John Pfaff, John Dubois and John T. Johnson have been amongst its useful laymen. Thomas H. Currey, J. M. Robinson, J. H. McGowan, J. H. Davis, W. H. Frillman, M. D. Joyce and F. A. Smith are present officers of the church.

East Pearl Street Methodist Episcopal Church was organized under the name of "Bethel" in 1846, with a membership of 116. The present building is on Pearl street, between Lawrence and Pike streets. Its representative families have generally removed to the suburbs, leaving it with a present membership of 150, a Sabbath-school of 100, and achurch property valued at $15,000. Amongst its influential official members past and present are James McDonald, James A. Darby, Thomas Dodsworth, James Neblett, E. T. Harman, Thomas MclIlvain, Julian Walker, John

H. Dickerson, Frank W. Ball, James McDonald, Jr., W. H. Reed, William Badger, Nelson A. Walker. The pulpit has been supplied by Rev. J. W. Weakley, D. D., Rev. Adam Bowers, D. D.. Rev. James Perregrine, Rey. J. B. Porter, Rev. D. L. Aultman, Rev. Dr. J. F. Loyd, Rev. C T. Crum and others. The present pastor is Rev. D. J. Starr, D. D.

York Street Methodist Episcopal Church was organized as a charge, under the name of '' Maley Chapel," in 1848, with a memberskip of forty. Twenty-five years later the present substantial edifice at the corner of York and Baymiller streets was erected. This church has been served in its pulpit by Bishop J. M. Walden, Dr. W. W. Ramsey, Dr. D. J. Starr, Rev. A. N. Spahr, Dr. J. T. Bail, Dr. W. I. Fee, Dr. E. S. Lewis, Rev. Frank Mitchel] and other men'of note. The present pastor is Rev. A. Austin. Amongst its useful laymen have been Dr. B. P. Good, E. 8. Emerson, A. S. Butterfield, Zerah Getchell, P. J. Welsh, Henry Roever, A. 4. Curme, Silas Snodgrass, Henry Daganar, C. G. Strabley, J. E. Q. Maddox, R. F. Enyart, William A. Megrue, E. O. Green, Timothy Davis, T. N. Lupton, H. T. Lippert, John L. Coulter and Dr. E. E. Stevens. At present York street has a membership of 300, a Sabbath-school of 300, and church property valued at $16,000.

In 1848 there was also organized the Raper Church Congregation, which erected a good edifice on Elin street near Findlay, with a membership of eighty-three persons, and which sustained a large Sunday-school and an efficient church work for many years, but which by changes in the population was transferred to the German Methodist, and subsequently passed into the possession of the Protestant Episcopal Church, by which the good work is still carried on. Rev. J. F. Forbus, William Snodgrass, S. L. Snodgrass, Thomas Fox, George Fox, and Rev. Daniel Harper were the founders of Raper Church.

St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church, then called '' Park street,' was organized in 1850 with a membership of 184 persons. Dr. David Lee Starr, A. Webb, James DeCamp, Hastings Utley, and J. W. Asher were charter members of this congregation. St. John's now has a membership of ninety, a Sunday-school of 115, and a church property valued at $15,000, located at the corner of Carlisle and Park streets. Rev. E. 5S. Gaddis is the pastor, and H. B. Patterson, J. W. Ashen, A. R. Pugh, Samnel Holden and A. W. Ninall are the church officers.

Finley Methodist Episcopal Church, on Clinton street, near Cutter street, was organized in 1852 with a membership of 100. For several years it maintained one of the largest and most prosperous congregations and Sabbath-schools in Cincinnati, under the superintendency of Charles H. Wolff and C. E. Brooks, but by removals its members have been reduced to a present membership of 160 and a Sabbathschool of 3800. Its church property is valued at $13,000. Rev. G. Roughton is the present pastor.

Mount Auburn Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1852 with a membership of forty-nine. The leading spirits in the enterprise were John L. Whetstone, Moses Brooks, Rev. Erwin House, and Rev. John F. Wright. For forty years it occupied an eligible site at the corner of McMillan and Auburn avenue, but in 1893 this property was transferred to the German Methodist, and a handsome stone edifice of modern architectural design and appointments was erected on Maple avenue. This church has a present membership of 130, a Sunday-school of 115, and a church property valued at $30,000. Rev. R. H. Rust, D. D., is the present pastor, J. L. Whetstone, James M. De Camp, Samuel Wells, Oliver Kinsey, C. W. Cole, H. P. Mann, D. Hildreth, N. B. Mullen, Dr. W. H. De Mitt, Dr. A. R. Walker, Dr. George Good, Vincent Klick, and Herman Nippert are church officers, with Dr. J. M. Leonard and Prof. G. M. Hammell, local preachers. In 1853, an independent Methodist Church was organized under the name of '" Union Chapel," which for about twenty years maintained a successful organization, but at length disbanded, its members going mostly to the St. Paul congregation.

Walnut Hills Methodist Episcopal Church became an independent pastoral charge in 1854, with a membership of forty. For many years it worshiped in a small frame structure on McMillan street, but now occupies a beautiful and commodious property on the corner of McMillan street and Ashland avenue. It has also two successful Mission stations. Its pulpit has been occupied by distinguished men, amongst whom are Rev. James Stephenson, Dr. H. B. Ridgeway, Dr. A. B. Leonard, Dr. J. J. Reed, Dr. William N. Brodbeck, Rev. Thomas Harris, Dr. A. S. Keen and the late Dr. J. H. Bayliss. Rev. Dr. Simon McChesney is the present pastor. The present membership is 550, with a Sabbath-school of 300, and a church property valued at $75.000. J. S. Perkins, John Simpkinson, Alfred Simpkinson, Edward Sargent, Dr. I. D. Jones, Augustus Wessell, T. Pickering, J. W. Cotteral, George H. Thompson. J. H. Clemmer, Samuel Ellis, W. B. Ebersole, Dr. John E. Jones, William T. Perkins, J. E. Q. Maddox, J. B. Martin, Dr. R. L. Thomas, and Gen. B. R. Cowan are amongst its official members.

Columbia Methodist Episcopal Church, having occupied a site for abont twenty years on Eastern avenue, in 1893 completed a beautiful new edifice on Columbia avenue, and removed into it with a membership of 160 and a Sabbath-school of 250. The church property is valued at $5,000. Rev. S. G. Pollard is pastor, and Charles Crapsey, E. W. Pettit, Dr. John T. Booth, C. W. Short, Walter Tasker, J. H. Rogers, E. F. Rardon, W. E. Mears and Thomas Dressel are church officers.

Pendleton Methodist Episcopal Church, at Delta and Columbia avenues, has a brick edifice valued at $12,000, a membership of 170, and a Sabbath-school of 200. Rev. Henry Hersha is pastor.

Fairmount Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1861, and has a present membership of 180. a Sabbath-school of 220, and a church property valued at $10.000. Rey. W. H. Sutherland,.D.D., is the pastor. A small society also exists at North Fairmount, of which Rey. W. M. Brown, D. D., is pastor.

Camp Washington Methodist Episcopal Church has a present membersbip of 180, a Sabbath-school of 250, and church property valued at $6,000. Rey. William P. MeVey is the present pastor.

Cumminsville Methodist Episcopal Church, formerly Wright Chapel, has a membership of 270, a Sabbath-school of 260, and a fine new stone church edifice valued at $20,000. Rev. Creighton Wones is pastor, and William Gosling, C. L. Doughty, . R. M. Brasher, J. C. Heywood, Joseph Tarrant, Dr. A. A. Corbett, and C. F. Rapp are church officers.

Clifton Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1892, and has built a tasteful and costly stone edifice. Its first pastor is Rev. Heber D. Ketcham. Amongst its church officers are W. B. Mellish, Edward Mulliken, O. J. Wilson, A. M. Dolph. Dr. William B. Davis, to whom the inauguration and success of this new enterprise was much indebted, passed away soon after the dedication of the church, leaving it as a monument of his usefulness. This church has a membership of forty, a Sabbath-school of forty, and property valued at $40,000.

Mount Lookout Methodist Episcopal Church, located on a beautiful corner at Observatory and Church streets, of which Rev. J. H. Lease, D. D., is pastor, has a membership of 190 with 200 in its Sabbath-school, and a church property valued at $7,500. Hon. C. W. Rowland, Prof. J. E. Sherwood, Prof. J. S. Highland, Isaac Stevens, E. B. Bevitt, Wesley Leeds, J. C. Hall, D. W. Morton, C. C. Isham, S. A. Leeds, W. L. Perkins, George H. Persons, and George W. Bennett are church officers.

Price Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, on Considine and Phillips avenues, of which Rev. A. C. Turrell is pastor, has a membership of seventy-two, a Sabbathschool of 115, and property valued at $14,000. P. J. Welsh, J. C. Harper, Z. Getchell, C. E. Jones, F. E. Kugler and A. G. Allen are church officers.

Avondale Methodist Episcopal Church, formerly Grace Church, of which Rev. J. W. Peters, D. D., is pastor, has a membership of 184, a Sabbath-school of 225, and church property valued at $30,000. Dr. Jacob Ebersole, William A. Gamble, Dr. E. W. Mitchell, Archer Brown, Jesse R. Clarke, L. A. Ault, W. C. Herron, H. W. Crawford, F. M. Joyce, Joseph G. Ebersole, James O' Kane, E. E. Shipley, W. L. Granger, H. T. Ambrose and D. D. Woodmansee are church officers.

Ivanhoe Methodist Episcopal Church, organized in 1885, has a membership of 100, a Sabbath-school of 175, and church property valued at $4,000. Rev. D. W. Washburn is the pastor.

Fifty years ago the work of Methodism amongst the Germans of the United States began in this city. There are now six congregations of German Methodist Episcopal Churches:

Methodism early began city mission work in Cincinnati. In 1842 it had a mission of forty members. In 1864 the Ladies Home Mission Society had 154 members and over one thousand Sunday-school children in its missions. This work is now carried on in the name of the Cincinnati Methodist Extension Society, of which Jesse R. Clark, is president, and Rev. M. Swadener is superintendent, having 175 members, 600 Sunday-school scholars, and two churches valued at $7,000.

No history of Methodism in Cincinnati would be complete which did not: give prominence to that monument of its '' Christian charity '' which is embodied in the Elizabeth Gamble Deaconess Home and Christ's Hospital, situated on a commanding eminence in the midst of a spacious campus constituting a salubrious retreat on Mt. Auburn. James N. Gamble, and other members of the family of the late James Gamble, purchased and fitted up this property in admirable style for its benevolent uses in 1873 at a cost of $75,000, and consecrated it to Methodism. In honor of their sainted mother it bears her name, and is sustained in its work by the contributions of Methodists. Rey. H. C. Weakley is corresponding secretary and field agent of this noble institution, which has a superior medical staff, and probably the best surgeons' operating room and outfit in Cincinnati.

The Western Methodist Book Concern, located at 190 West Fourth street, Cincinnati, is one of the great publishing houses of the world, and is a monument to the reading tastes and business enterprises of the denomination. This book business was begun for the church in Cincinnati, in 1820, by Rev. Dr. Martin Ruter, in a small room 15x20 feet, on Elm and Fifth streets. Subsequently the business was . removed to George street, then to Main street near Sixth street, then to Main and Eighth streets, and in 1878 to its present and permanent quarters, where the agents have constructed an immense edifice eight stories in height and fronting on Fourth, Plum and Home streets. The entire property is valued at $450,000. The local advisory book committee consists of J. N. Gamble, R. A. W. Buelil, and R. Dymond, who have rendered valuable services. The publishing agents of the church are Rev. Earl Cranston, D. D., and Rev. Lewis Curts, D. D., under whose management the business of the concern, with its branches at Chicago and St. Louis, amounted during 1893 to $1,046,298.30, and its profits to $138,853.60, all of which belongs to the Church and is used for denominational purposes. Rev. David H. Moore, D. D., is the editor of its leading periodicals, the Western Christian Advocate having a weekly circulation of 31,000. The sale of German publications and periodicals of the Western Book Concern amounted to $110,207.63, in 1893.

Other Methodist Churches

Methodist Protestant Churches. - Grace, Kenyon avenue. - Methodist (Colored) - Allen Temple A. M. H., Broadway and Sixth streets; Allen A. M. E., Colerain avenue; Brown's Chapel A. M. E., Park avenue, Walnut Hills; Little Zion A. M. E., Foraker avenue; Little Bethany Mission A. M. E., Columbia avenue; Mount Zion A. M. E., Spring Grove avenue; People A. M. E., George street; Union Chapel, Seventh street.

New Jerusalem Church

This church, over which the Rey. John Goddard has been minister for about thirty years, worships in the comfortable building on Fourth and John streets. The early work was done by Rev. Adam Hurdus, who founded their Society of the followers of Emmanuel Swedenborg in 1811. While there has been no great increase: in the number of Societies, Glendale alone having had such an organization in addition to the city congregation, yet the membership has steadily grown, and numbers some of the best and most highly respected families in the city. The long pastorate of Dr. Goddard has been most influential.

The Friends

In 1808 the Miami Monthly Meeting was established at Waynesville, Ohio, by settlers from Virginia and the South. From this center a wave of influence went. out.

The original meeting-house in Cincinnati was built for a dwelling by Payton Short, of Kentucky, in the year 1800. It was a wonder at the time '' why he built those two nice hewn-log houses away out in the woods there.'' [One stood where Thoms Hall stood - now Havlin's Theatre.] These were idle for many months, when John Arnot rented the west one, and '"'cut wood on the lot, and with a cart and two oxen hauled the wood away down town,'' then Main street, Front, Broadway and Third streets.