History of Ohio United States of America

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Local History Notes:

OHIO, one of the Western States, is bounded on the N. by Michigan and Lake Erie, E. by Pennsylvania and Virginia, S. by Virginia and Kentucky, and W. by Indiana. The Ohio river forms the entire boundary between Kentucky and Virginia. It lies between 38° 32' and 42° N. lat., and between 80° 35' and 84° 40' W. lon., being about 200 miles in its greatest length from N. to S., and about 195 in extreme width, covering an area of about 39,964 square miles, or 25,576,960 acres, of which 9,851,493 were improved in 1850.

Population: This state, now the third in point of population and wealth of the members of the American confederacy, had no white settlements till five years after the close of the American Revolution. In 1800 it numbered only 45,365 inhabitants; 230,760 in 1810; 581,434 in 1820; 937,903 in 1830; 1,519,467 in 1840, and 1,980,427 in 1850, of whom 1,004,095 were white males; 951,013 white females, 12,715 colored males, 12,604 colored females--forming altogether 348,523 families, occupying 336,098 dwellings. Of the residents of Ohio, 1,219,432 were born in the state, 538,124 in other states of the confederacy, 25,660 in England, 51,562 in Ireland, 11,081 in Scotland and Wales, 5889 in British America, 111,257 in Germany, 7375 in France, and 5697 in other countries, and 4393 whose places of birth were unknown, making about 11 per cent. of foreign birth. In the year ending June, 1850, 28,949 deaths occurred, or about 15 in every one thousand persons. During the same period 2513 paupers received aid, of whom 609 were foreigners, at an expense of about $38 for each pauper. Of the entire population, 947 were deaf and dumb, of whom 8 were colored persons; 665 blind, of whom 12 were colored persons; 1352 insane, of whom 17 were colored, and 1399 idiotic, of whom 19 were colored persons.

Counties: There are in Ohio 88 counties, viz. Adams, Allen, Ashland, Ashtabula, Athens, Auglaize, Belmont, Brown, Butler, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Columbiana, Coshocton, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Darke, Defiance, Delaware, Erie, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Gallia, Geauga, Greene, Guernsey, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Harrison, Henry, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Logan, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Mahoning, Marion, Medina, Meigs, Mercer, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Noble, Ottawa, Paulding, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Preble, Putnam, Richland, Ross, Sandusky, Scioto, Seneca, Shelby, Stark, Summit, Trumbull Tuscarswas, Union, Van Wert, Viaton, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Williams, Wood, and Wyandott.

Cities and Towns: Ohio surpasses all the states of the Mississippi valley in the number and populousness of its towns. Cincinnati, called the Queen of the West, is, with the exception of New Orleans, the largest town W. of the Alleghany mountains; and if we include its suburbs in Kentucky, we probably need not make that exception. Its population in 1850 was 115,436. A local census in 1853 gave a population of 160,186. The other most important towns are Cleveland, population, 17,304, (including Ohio City, its suburb, 20,000, ) more than 30,000 in 1853; Columbus, population, 17,883; Dayton, 10,977; Zanesville, 7929; Chilicothe, 7100; Steubenville, 6139; Springfield, 5108; Sandusky City, 5087, and Portsmouth, 4011; Toledo, Mount Vernon, Newark, Mansfield, Xenia, Circleville, Piqua, Akron, Tiffin, Wooster, Marietta, Delaware, Lancaster, Youngstown, Urbana, Gallipolis, and Lebanon, had each, in 1850, populations varying from 2000 to 4000.

Face of the Country: Though Ohio has no mountains, the centre of the state is elevated about 1000 feet above the level of the sea, and there are other portions from 600 to 800 feet. A ridge of highlands, north of the middle of the state, separates the rivers flowing N. into Lake Erie from those running S. into the Ohio river. The tributaries of the Ohio have a much longer course and much greater volume of water than those flowing into Lake Erie. The Ohio slope is interrupted by a second ridge, about the middle of the state, south of which the surface is diversified by hills and valleys. The summits of the abrupt hills, several hundred feet high, which border the Ohio, (and the rivers of the Mississippi valley generally,) are nearly on a level with the surrounding country, through which the rivers have excavated their channels in the lapse of ages. The middle portion of the state is generally an elevated plain, with occasional marshes, which become more frequent and extensive farther north; but it is remarkable that these are on the high grounds, while the banks of the rivers are comparatively firm land. In the N.W. is an extensive tract of great fertility, called the Black Swamp, much of which is yet covered with forest. In the centre and N.W. are some prairies, though the state was originally well timbered. The plains of Ohio, as well as those of other Western States, are covered with large stones (almost rocks) called boulders, which appear to have been carried by the icebergs of an early sea, and dropped at random as the ice melted. The great coalfield of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky enters the S.E. of the state, and occupies an extensive district E. of the Scioto river.

Geology: The great bituminous coalfield from Pennsylvania enters this state, occupying the eastern and S.E. portions of Ohio from the N. angle of Trumbull county to near Portsmouth, on the Ohio river. The N.W. boundary of this great coal deposite runs near the villages of Wooster, Newark, and Lancaster, forming a slight curve. This is succeeded by a very narrow belt of the underlying coal conglomerate, which forms a rim round the coalbed. The great Chemung and Portage groups (the former composed of thin bedded sandstones or flagstones, with intervening shales, and frequently beds of limestone rendered impure by organic remains; and the latter of shale, and flagstones, and towards the upper part some thick bedded sandstone) enter the state from New York and Pennsylvania, and fill up the whole breadth between the coalbed (and the rim of conglomerate spoken of above) and Lake Erie to the mouth of the Huron river, where they turn almost directly S. and strike the Ohio river in the S.E. of Adams county. This is followed by a very narrow belt of the Hamilton group, (composed of dull olive or bluish-gray calcareous shales, sometimes changed by the atmosphere to an ashen, and at others to a brown tint,) which passes under Lake Erie from south of Buffalo, New York, and reissues in Ohio, W. of Huron river. All the state W. of this is occupied by the Helderberg limestone group, (which includes some grits and sandstones,) except in the S.W., in Warren, Butler, Hamilton, Clermont, and parts of Brown, Highland, Clinton, Greene, Montgomery, and Preble counties, which are covered with a bed of Blackriver, Bird's-eye, and Trenton limestone, surrounded by a rim of the conglomerate coal formation.

Minerals: The variety of minerals in Ohio is not great, but she possesses in great abundance those most important ones, coal and iron. There were sent to market in 1850-51, 6,489,299 tons of bituminous coal; but this is very imperfect evidence of the abundance of this mineral, in a state where wood as a fuel is still so cheap. This valuable mineral is found in 20 counties, and is at present mostly mined in Meigs, Athens, and Summit counties. The coal region commences at the Ohio river, and extends in a belt between the Scioto and Muskingum rivers, inclining a little E. of N. to near Lake Erie. Professor Mather computes the quantity embowelled beneath the soil in Tuscarawas county alone, at 80,000,000,000 bushels. The iron, which is found running through Lawrence, Gallia, Jackson, Meigs, Viaton, Athens, and Hocking counties, in a bed 100 miles long by 12 wide, is said to be superior to any other in the United States for the finer castings. In 1850 there were shipped by canal 16,179,227 pounds of iron from different points in the state. The coal underlies the same region as the iron, as well as in other localities. Salt springs are frequent, and marble and lime abound.

Rivers, Lakes, &c: As has been already stated, the Ohio river coasts the entire southern and S.E. border of the state, opening to it, by its connection with the Mississippi river, the commerce of the great Mississippi valley. The Ohio comes abreast of the state to which it gives its name about 50 miles below Pittsburg, where the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers pour together their united tribute to form that beautiful and majestic stream; to whose volume the State of Ohio adds the waters of the Muskingum, Scioto, and Miami, besides several smaller streams. Each of these rivers has a course of from 150 to 200 miles. The Ohio river is navigable during half the year by steamboats of the first class, to its head, at Pittsburg, and at all seasons, with short exceptions, for boats of lighter draught. The Muskingum river is navigable, by means of dams and locks, to Zanesville, 80 miles from its mouth, and at times of highwater, 30 miles farther to Coshocton. The Scioto river is navigable for boats 130 miles, and the great Miami river, 75 miles. The three rivers last mentioned enter the Ohio in the order named, (descending from Pittsburg,) and drain the centre and S. W. of the state. The chief rivers of the northern slope, beginning at the N. W., are the Maumee, the Sandusky, Huron, and Cuyahoga, all emptying into Lake Erie, and all (with the exception of the Maumee river, which rises in Indiana) having their entire course within the state. The Maumee river is navigable 18 miles for lake steamers, and still farther for small boats. The other rivers have rapid courses, and are chiefly valuable for mill sites. Lake Erie coasts the state for about 150 miles on the N. E. and N., affording several harbors. At the W. end of the lake are Maumee and Sandusky bays, the principal on the Ohio shore. Sandusky bay extends about 20 miles inland. There are several small islands in the W. end of the lake, belonging to Ohio.

Objects of Interest to Tourists: Though not lacking in picturesque beauty, Ohio has no striking natural phenomena within its limits, and is rather interesting for its economical resources than for its physical wonders. The shores of the Ohio river have been much admired by travellers for their gracefully rounded and lofty hills, and the interior streams have some pleasant cascades, which will be noticed in describing their respective localities. There are, however, some earth-works in the neighborhood of Circleville, (to which they give name,) which have claimed the attention of antiquarians for half a century or more. Works of a similar character, of greater or less extent, are scattered over the state. Among the most remarkable is a mound near Marietta, 30 feet high, enclosed by an elliptical wall 230 by 215 feet; Fort Ancient, in Warren county, has nearly 4 miles of embankment from 13 to 20 feet high; Clark's Works, in Ross county, in form of a parallelogram 2800 feet by 1800 feet, enclosing several smaller works and mounds, which altogether make 3,000,000 cubic feet of embankment, &c.; and many others which the nature of this work will not allow us to describe.

Climate, Soil and Productions: It is under this heading that Ohio will exhibit the sources to which she owes a rise, (unexampled in the history of the world except in the United States,) in a little more than half a century, from a mere wilderness to rank among the first of the states of the American confederacy, and to equal some of the kingdoms of Europe in wealth and populousness. Ohio is possessed of that happy medium of soil and climate, which, while not so luxurious as to tempt to indolence and inertness, is yet sufficient to call forth and richly reward energy and industry. The climate in the S. part of the state is mild, and snow seldom lies long enough to make good sleighing, but in the N. the temperature is as rigorous as in the same latitude near the Atlantic. Ohio has sometimes suffered from great droughts, but perhaps not to a greater degree on the whole than the neighboring states.

There is very little of this state that is not available for agricultural purposes; so that it stands among the first in the products of the soil; the very first in wool and Indian corn; only second in wheat, barley, cheese, and live stock; and third in oats, Irish potatoes, buckwheat, orchard products, butter, hay, maple sugar, and grass-seeds. The soil may be generally characterized as fertile, and much of it highly so, especially on the river bottoms. Besides the products named, tobacco and oats are staple articles; barley, rye, peas, beans, buckwheat, fruits, grass-seeds, hops, molasses, beeswax, and honey are produced in large quantities, and sweet potatoes, wine, hemp, and silk to some extent. In 1850 there were in Ohio 143,887 farms, comprising 9,851,493 acres of cultivated land, producing 14,487,351 bushels of wheat; 59,078,695 of Indian corn; 13,472,743 of oats; 5,057,769 of Irish potatoes; 638,064 of buckwheat; 10,454,449 pounds of tobacco 10,196,371 of wool; 446,932 of flax; 4,588,209 of maple sugar; 804,275 of beeswax and honey; 34,449,379 of butter; 20,819,542 of cheese, and 1,443,142 tons of hay. Value of live stock, $44,121,741; orchard products, $695,921; market products, $214,004; slaughtered animals, $7,439,243.

Forest Trees: The forest trees of Ohio are several varieties of oak, hickory, sugar and other maples, beech, poplar, ash, sycamore, pawpaw, buckeye, (which gives its soubri-quet to the state,) dogwood, cherry, elm, hornbeam, and some cypress, though evergreens generally do not flourish in the state. Ginseng, (latterly an article of export to China, as a substitute for opium,) valerian, columbo, snake, and blood roots are medicinal plants indigenous to the state.

Manufactures: Ohio has now attained that degree of advancement that enables a state to cultivate other than its agricultural resources. Though her manufactures are necessarily in their infancy, yet in 1850 there were 10,550 establishments in the state, producing each $500 and upwards annually; 8 of these were engaged in the manufacture of cotton, employing a capital of $297,000, and 2191 male and 2534 female hands, consuming raw material worth $237,060, and producing 280,000 yards of stuff, and 433,000 pounds of yarn, valued at $394,700; 130 in the manufacture of wool, employing a capital of $870,220, and 903 male, and 298 female hands, consuming raw material worth $578,423, and producing 1,374,087 yards of stuffs, and 65,000 pounds of yarn, valued at $1,111,027; 229 in the manufacture of iron, employing a capital of $4,187,450, and 5881 male hands, consuming raw material worth $2,434,320, and producing 104,473 tons of wrought, cast, and pig iron valued at $.5,401,392. There was at the same time $1,262,974 invested in the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors, consuming 330,950 bushels of barley; 3,588,140 of Indian corn; 281,750 of rye; 19,510 of oats, and 178 tons of hops, employing 1033 hands, and producing 96,943 barrels of ale, &c., and 11,865,150 gallons of whiskey, wines, &c.; there were 706 tanneries, employing $1,340,380 capital, consuming raw material worth $1,118,080, and producing manufactured leather valued at $1,964,591. Homemade manufactures valued at $1,712,196 were produced in 1850.

Internal Improvements: In respect to opening ways of internal communication, Ohio has shown a spirit of enterprise worthy her New England origin. In January, 1853, there were in the state 1385 miles of railway completed, and 1755 in course of construction, being the greatest amount of any state in the Union, except New York. A complete line of canal connects the Ohio river at Portsmouth with Cleveland, on Lake Erie, following the Scioto river nearly to Columbus, then crossing to the Muskingum, which it coasts (including the Tuscarawas, one of its sources) for perhaps 50 miles, when it crosses to the Cuyahoga, which it follows to Cleveland; thus opening an inland water communication between the commercial metropolis of the Union and the principal city of Ohio. About 100 miles of the canal connecting Toledo with Terre Haute, in Indiana, runs near the Maumee in the N.W. of this state. Another canal connects Cincinnati, through Dayton with the Wabash and Erie canal. Altogether there are 596 miles of canal in this youthful state. Continuous lines of railway connect Cincinnati, viâ Cleveland, Erie, and Dunkirk, with New York city, and with Philadelphia viâ the Crestline and Pittsburg railway; and perhaps ere these sheets leave the press Cincinnati will be directly connected with Pittsburg and with Baltimore viâ Wheeling; and in a short time viâ Parkersburg, still lower on the Ohio. Cleveland also communicates entirely by railway with Chicago, through Toledo, S. Michigan, and N. Indiana. Cincinnati is indirectly united to Terre Haute, on the western border of Indiana, by lines of railway, intersecting with each other. So rapid is the course of improvement in this state, that any table of its railways one year would be antedated by that of the next. Besides the railways mentioned, one crosses the state from Cincinnati to Sandusky city, and various inter-connecting lines unite the more important towns of the state. For full particulars, see Table of Railways and Canals, APPENDIX. In 1850 there were shipped by the Ohio canals 34,563,156 pounds of merchandise.

Commerce: The lake and river trade of Ohio is immense. According to Mr. Andrew's estimates, Ohio exported of domestic produce in 1851, wheat and flour equivalent to 3,000,000 barrels; corn, 5,000,000 bushels small grains, 300,000; wool, 7,000,000 pounds; pork, 300,000 barrels; lard and lard oil, 130,000 barrels; beef, 50,000 barrels 10,000,000 pounds of cheese, 8,000,000 of butter, 1,500,000 of candles, 300,000 of soap; whiskey, 300,000 barrels; to which if we add smaller articles and manufactures, we make a total amount of about $40,000,000. The aggregate trade of all the ports of Ohio he computes at $120,000,000. This is probably much too low for 1853, as the trade of the Sandusky district alone for 1853 has been given at $65,099,487, an amount nearly treble that of 1851. The foreign exports of 1852 amounted to $353,514; imports to $914,826; tonnage entered, 37,703; cleared, 26,066 owned, 60,338 14/95; and 77 vessels (52 of which were steamers) with an aggregate tonnage of 18,329 36/95. For details see CINCINNATI, CLEVELAND, SANDUSKY, TOLEDO, &c.

Education: A very active and healthy feeling pervaded Ohio till recently on the great question of public education; but sectarian jealousies have crept in, which, it is feared, may at least for a time retard the advancement of this cause, so necessary to the preservation of our republican institutions. Ohio has a school fund of $1,754,322, made up of certain trust funds, the interest of the sale of the salt-land, the balance of the surplus revenue fund, the interest of the same paid to counties, taxes on pedlers' and auction licenses, taxes on lawyers, physicians, banks, &c. The annual amount distributed by the state is about $300,000. The number of common schools in January, 1853, was 9916, attended by 437,412 children only, out of the 838,669 in the state. Volumes belonging to the school libraries in 1850, only 1595; paid to teachers in 1853, $771,145. There . were 11 colleges in the state in 1852, with an aggregate of 677 students, and 69,450 volumes in their libraries; 7 theological schools, with 104, 1 law school with 25, and 4 medical schools with 518 students: See Table of Colleges, APPENDIX.

Religious Denominations: Of the 3890 places of worship in Ohio in 1850, the regular Baptists owned 384; Free-will Baptists, 22; Disciples, (Baptists,) 130; Church of God, (Baptists,) 9; the Methodists, 1520; Presbyterians, 659; Lutherans, 259; Mornvians, 158; Roman Catholics, 130; Congregationalists, 100; Friends, 94; Christians, 90; Episcopalians, 79; German Reformed, 71; Universalists, 53, and Unionists, 48. The other churches were divided among the African, Associate, Bethel, Bible Christians, Comeouters, Dutch Reformed, Evangelical, Evangelists, Emanuel, Free, German United Protestant, German Evangelist, German Protestant, Independent, "Israel George, of Brotherly Love," Jewish, Mennonite, Mormon, Meinese, Mission, New Light, Reformed Protestant, River Brethren, Second Advent, Shakers, Swedenborgian, "Separatists of Zoar," Tunker, Unitarian, and Zion sects--giving 1 church to every 509 inhabitants. Value of church property, $5,765,149.

Public Institutions: Ohio has a state lunatic asylum, at Columbus, which had 318 inmates, (170 males, and 148 females,) in November, 1850--discharged during the year, 300, of whom 163 were cured, and 46 improved--actual expenses of the year, $31,721.82; a deaf and dumb asylum, at Columbus, which has received 499 pupils in the 22 years of its existence; an institution for the blind, also at Columbus, which had 69 pupils in 1851, educated at an expense of $11,202; and a penitentiary, also at the state capital, which had 469 inmates, November 30, 1851--the receipts exceeded the expenditures by $3856.54. There is a library of 8000 volumes for the use of the convicts. In 1850 there were 48 public libraries in the state, with an aggregate of 104,634 volumes.

Government, Finances, Banks, &c: The governor and lieutenant-governor of Ohio are elected by the people for two years, the former receiving $1800 per annum, and the latter, who is ex officio president of the senate, $5 per diem during the session of the legislature. The senate consists of 35, and the house of representatives of 100 members, elected for two years by the people. A board of public works, consisting of three members, is elected for three years, in such a manner that one new member comes in annually. The state cannot contract any debt for internal improvement, nor even for deficits in the revenue, or any other purposes, beyond $750,000; except to repel invasion, or to redeem the present outstanding debt. The secretary of state is also superintendent of public schools. The judiciary consists--1. Of a supreme court, composed of 5 judges, elected by the people for 5 years, one judge being elected each year. The judges receive $1700 per annum. 2. Of courts of common pleas, divided into nine districts, each of which is subdivided into three, presided over by one judge, elected by the inhabitants of his particular division for 5 years. 3. Of district courts, composed of the judges of the court of common pleas of the respective districts, and of the judges of the supreme court; any three of whom may hold a court in each county at least once a year. 4. Of a probate court in each county, held by one judge, chosen by the people for three years. Every white male citizen of the United States, 21 years of age, resident in the state one year next preceding an election, and in the county town or ward in which he lives such time as the law may prescribe, may be a voter. The assessed value of property in the state in 1850, was $433,872,632, and estimated value, $504,726,120, or $255 to each person. The public debt in 1852 was $17,339,216.88; the school fund, $1,754,322; productive property, $18,000,000; ordinary expenses, exclusive of debt and schools, $200,000, and income of state canals for 1851, $856,929.56. There were also, in January, 1852, 61 banking establishments, with an aggregate capital of $7,866,376; a circulation of $11,635,000, and $2,800,000 in coin. Ohio sends 21 members to the national house of representatives, and casts 23 electoral votes for president.

History: Ohio fully bears out the adage, that prosperous communities have but few materials of history. The settlement of this state commencing subsequently to the Revolution, she had little to do but to subdue the forest, and develop her resources. In 1788, five years after the close of the Revolution, a company of New-Englanders made the first white settlement in Ohio, at Marietta, April 7th, 1788. A territorial government had been established in 1781 over this region, called the territory north-west of the Ohio river; from which, in 1802, the present sovereign State of Ohio was separated. The inhabitants were much annoyed by incursions of the Indians, who had successively defeated General Harmar and General St. Clair, the latter with great slaughter of his troops, leaving scarcely one-fourth,) in 1791 and 1792, but were themselves in turn utterly routed by General Wayne, in August, 1794. Fort Sandusky in this state, in the war of 1812, was successfully defended by Major Croghan, a youth of 21 years, with 160 men, against an attack of General Proctor at the head of 500 regulars and as many Indians.

Biographies:

Benjamin Sprague Cowen, representative, was born in Washington county, N.Y., Sept. 27. 1793; son of Joseph (a Revolutionary soldier) and Phoebe (Sprague) Cowen, and brother of Judge Esek Cowen (1787-1844). He was a teacher, a soldier in the war of 1812, and a medical student and practitioner. He removed to Moorfield, Ohio, in 1820, and was admitted to the bar in 1829. He became editor of the Belmont Chronicle, St. Clairsrills, Ohio, in 1839, and was succeeded as editor in 1848 by his son, Benjamin Rush Cowen. He was a delegate to the Whig national convention of 1839; a representative in the 27th congress, 1841-43; in the Ohio legislature, 1845-46; and president judge of the court of common pleas, 1847-52. In congress, on the expulsion of Joshua R. Giddings, he succeeded him as chairman of the committee on claims. He opposed the extension of slavery, favored the tariff of 1842, and supported Van Buren for the presidency in 1848. During the civil war he served on the commission to examine and report upon political prisoners. He was married in 1820 to Anne (1794-1865), daughter of David Wood of Washington county, N.Y., and their son, Daniel Duane Tompkins Cowen (1826-1884), was a lawyer, lieutenant-colonel of volunteers in the civil war, and judge of common pleas in 1865. Benjamin S. Cowen died in St. Clairsville, Ohio, Sept. 27, 1869.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Thomas Ewing, representative, was born in Lancaster, Ohio, Aug. 7, 1829; son of the Hon. Thomas and Maria Wills (Boyle) Ewing; grandson of George and Rachel (Harris) Ewing and of Hugh and Eleanor (Gillespie) Boyle; and a descendant of Thomas Ewing, who emigrated from Londonderry and settled in Greenwich, N.J., in 1715. Thomas was educated at Brown university, leaving college to act as private secretary to President Taylor, 1849-50. He then studied law and practised in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1852-56. He was married. Jan. 18, 1856, to Ellen Ewing, daughter of the Rev. William Cox of Piqua, Ohio. He removed to Leavenworth, Kan., in 1856, was a member of the Leavenworth constitutional convention of 1858, and was elected chief justice of the state in 1861. He was a delegate to the peace congress of 1860, and resigned his judgeship in 1862 to recruit the 11th Kansas volunteers of which he was elected colonel, and with his regiment fought in the battles of Fort Wayne, Cane Hill and Prairie Grove. For gallantry at Prairie Grove he was made brigadier-general, March 13, 1863. He checked the invasion of Missouri by General Price in September-October, 1864, by holding Fort Davidson, at Pilot Knob, Mo., with a force of 1000 men, against the repeated attacks of the Confederate army, and successfully retreating to Rolla, Mo. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers in 1865 for his services during the war. He practised law in Washington, D.C., 1865-71, and at Lancaster, Ohio, 1871-81. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1873-74 and represented his district in the 45th and 46th congresses, 1877-81. He prepared the bill establishing a bureau of labor statistics, opposed the presence of U.S. soldiers at polling places, and favored the remonetization of silver and the continuation of the use of greenback currency. He was an unsuccessful candidate of the Democratic party for governor of Ohio in 1879, and at the close of his term as representative in congress, March 3, 1881, he resumed his law practice, making his office and residence in New York city. He was founder and first president of the Ohio Society of New York; a trustee of Ohio soldiers' and sailors' orphans' home, 1874-78; of the Ohio university, 1878-83, and acted as vice-president of the Cincinnati law college in 1881. He made a notable address before the Marietta centennial convention of 1887, and one before the Kansas state bar association in 1890. He also contributed to the Cosmopolitan in May, 1894, "The Struggle for Freedom in Kansas." Brown university, by special vote, in 1894, gave him the degree of A.M. in 1860 with the class of 1856, and Georgetown college, D.C., gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1870. He died in New York city, Jan. 21, 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Samuel Herrick, representative, was born in Dutchess county, N.Y., April 14, 1779; eldest son of Capt. Samuel and Margaret (Per-Lee) Herrick; grandson of Col. Rufus Herrick, an officer in the Revolutionary war; great grandson of Edward and Mary (Dennison) Herrick; great2 grandson of Stephen and Elizabeth (Trask) Herrick, and great3 grandson of Ephraim Herrick of Beverly, Mass. He had few advantages of education and before the age of twenty-one he conducted a mercantile enterprise at Quebec, Canada, and others on the Pennsylvania frontier. In June, 1803, he began the study of law, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar June 5, 1805, and started at once for the west. He was married, Feb, 6, 1804, to Margaret, daughter of James and Mary (Howard) Davidson, of Cecil county, Md., and settled in Zanesville, Ohio. He was elected by the legislature, collector of taxes in February, 1810; was appointed by President Madison U.S. district attorney Dec. 19, 1810; and on Dec. 28, 1810, he was appointed by Governor Meigs aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief of the state forces. In July, 1812, be was appointed by President Madison a commissioner to survey and mark the boundary line of Virginia military lands for the state of Ohio. In the fall of 1812 he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county of Muskihgum, succeeding Lewis Cuss. In 1814 he was appointed to the same position for Licking county, succeeding his brother Edward. In May, 1814, he was commissioned brigadier-general to command the 4th brigade, 3d division, Ohio state militia. In October, 1816, he has elected a representative in the 15th congress, but as congress did not meet until December, 1817, he did not resign the office of U.S. district attorney until Nov. 19, 1817. On this ground his scat was contested, but he was declared elected, and was re-elected to the 16th congress, serving 1817-21. He was a Jackson elector in 1828, and in May, 1829, was again appointed U.S. district attorney for Ohio. He resigned in June, 1830, retired to his farm near Zanesville, and devoted the rest of his life to charity. He died near Zanesville, Ohio, June 4, 1852.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Governor of Ohio, formerly a member of the United States Senate and a Representative in Congress, was born in Chowan, North Carolina. His father, Nathaniel Allen, was a descendant from an ancestor of the same name who came from England with William Penn, being of the Society of Friends, and settled in Philadelphia. One of the sons of the first Nathaniel Allen, whose name was William, was the first judge of Pennsylvania. The branch of the family from which Governor Allen descended removed to the South, and separating themselves from the Society of Friends, engaged in the Revolutionary struggle, the father of Governor Allen accepting a commission in the Continental army, which he held till the close of the war. He was also a member of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention which accepted the Federal Constitution by which the government of the United States was formed. His uncle, Joseph Hewes, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Both his parents dying within a year of his birth, the care of Governor Allen's childhood devolved on his only sister, who married soon after the death of her parents and removed to Lynchburg, Virginia, taking her brother with her. To this excellent woman--Mrs. Pleasant Thurman, mother of the Hon. Allen G. Thurman, United States Senator from Ohio--Governor Allen is indebted for an education as good as the institutions of the country afforded in his day. His father left some means; but though they were not ample, under his sister's careful management they were made to do the utmost toward his education. Removing to Ohio, she left him for some time in Lynchburg, where he attended a private school; but at the age of sixteen he joined his sister at Chillicothe, and made his home with her while he finished his education at the Chillicothe Academy, an institution of learning then second to none in the State, and at which he obtained the ordinary knowledge of Latin and Greek imparted at such preparatory institutions. At the age of eighteen he began the study of law in the office of Edward King, of Chillicothe, son of Hon. Rufus King, of New York, and was admitted to the bar when he was but twenty years of age. He at once began the practice of his profession with his old preceptor, Mr. King, and owing to the felicitous circumstances of his start, as well as his great native powers as an advocate, he at once acquired an extended and lucrative practice. In 1832 the Democrats of his district induced him to stand for the office of Congressional Representative, and though the district had been strongly Whig, and he was opposed by Governor Duncan MacArthur, who declined renomination to the executive office in order to stand for Congress, the magic of a young face and a fresh, impassioned oratory broke down the opposition and secured his election by the sufficient but remarkable majority of one vote. The position which he gained in the House of Representatives by the law of intellectual gravitation marked him as a rising man, and in 1837 he was chosen by the Legislature of Ohio to succeed the venerable Thomas Ewing in the United States Senate. He remained in the Senate twelve years, the associate of the brightest minds that have ever illuminated the history of the great republic. By such contemporaries as Seward and Webster and Clay and Calhoun he was surrounded but not overshadowed. From among them and by them he was chosen Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, a position of delicate responsibility, one bringing him into the closest relations with the administration, and which has ever been considered the most important and honorable in Congress. Henry Clay was a member of the committee at the same time that Mr. Allen occupied the chair. His party being in the minority in the Legislature in 1849, he was succeeded in the Senate by the late Chief-Justice Chase, and retired completely from public life. May 5th, 1845, he had married Mrs. Effie Coons, the daughter of Governor Duncan MacArthur, his first political opponent. She is remembered as a woman of great personal attractions and a highly cultivated mind. She died in Washington in March, 1847, leaving an infant daughter. Overwhelmed by this great affliction, which was rendered unusually poignant by the singularly tender attachment in which he held his wife, Mr. Allen willingly withdrew from public life to a fine estate of fourteen hundred acres called Fruit Hill, in the valley of the Sciota, near Chillicothe, a part of which had been acquired with his wife, and was formerly the home of her father, Governor MacArthur. Here for a period of twenty-four years he enjoyed uninterrupted the pleasures of an elegant rural home, dividing his attention between the education of his child, the cultivation of his farm, and the prosecution of philosophical and scientific studies, to which he has ever been devoted. In 1873, feeling that he owed it to the party that had raised him to such early fame, he consented to have his name placed on the Democratic ticket for the office of Governor, and with the singular felicity which has ever attended his political career, the farmer of the Sciota was elected, though all the rest of the State ticket sustained defeat. He was nominated in 1875 for a second term, but was defeated on the financial issue. The career of Governor Allen cannot be discussed at great length in a work of this nature; but fortunately a life so singularly marked discloses its importance by the simple statement of events, without the comment of the historian. He is emphatically a gentleman of the old regime--a solitary survivor of that grand old galaxy of statesmen whose central star was Daniel Webster, and whose history it is their country's glory to remember. Governor Allen has been much spoken of by the Democratic press of the country as a candidate for the Presidency in 1876. He was mentioned for the same place in 1847.

From: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH, USA: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1876.

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