History of Canton, (Stark County) Ohio United States of America

WILLIAM McKinley, twenty-fifth President of the United States, was born in Niles, Ohio, Jan. 29, 1843; son of William (1807-1892) and Nancy Campbell (Allison) McKinley; grandson of James (born 1783) and Mary ("Polly") (Rose) McKinley, and of Abner and Ann (Campbell) Allison; great-grandson of David (1755-1840) and Hannah C. (Rose) (1757-1840) McKinley and of Andrew Rose, an ironmaster of Bucks county, Pa., who was sent home from the Revolutionary army to make cannon and bullets; great-great-grand-son of John (1728-1779) and Margaret McKinley; and great-great-great-grandson of David and Esther McKinley, who came from Dervock House, county Antrim, Ireland, to New Castle, Del., in 1743, with their three sons, John, David, and Stephen, and one daughter, Mary (who married Samuel Gordon), and settled on 316 acres of land in what be came Chanceford township, York county, Pa. David, the immigrant, a weaver by trade, died in 1759. His eldest son, John, was a wagonmaster for the committee of safety, and died on his estate (the homestead purchased from the heirs), Feb. 18, 1779, and his widow married Thomas McCulloch and died in the winter of 1781. John's only son David was born on the homestead, May 16, 1755. He enlisted in Captain Reed's company of ferrymen in the war of the Revolution and was drafted several times for active service, and after the close of the war became an ironmaster in Westmoreland county. He married Hannah C. Rose, who was born in 1757 and died in Chatfield, Crawford county, Ohio, in 1840. He purchased a farm in Crawford conuty, Ohio, in 1814, and died there in 1840. David's son James, born Sept. 19, 1788, married Mary ("Polly") Rose, of Pine township, Mercer county, Pa., about 1805, and removed to Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio. His son William was born in Pine township, Nov. 15, 1807, was married in 1829 to Nancy Campbell Allison (who died at Canton, Ohio, Dec. 12, 1897) and was an ironmaster at New Wilmington, Ohio, and at Niles, Ohio, where William, the President, was born, the seventh of a family of nine children. He attended Union seminary, Poland, Ohio, until 1860, when he entered the junior class of Allegheny college, Meadville, Pa., but before closing Iris class year was obliged to leave on account of a severe illness. He then taught a district school and was clerk in the Poland post-office. On June 11, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company E, 23d Ohio volunteer infantry, Rutherford B. Hayes being lieutenant-colonel of the realment. He was inspected and mustered in by Gen. John C. Fr?mont, served in western Virginia, and saw his first battle at Carnifex Ferry, Sept. 10, 1861. On April 15, 1862, He was promoted commissary sergeant while in camp at Fayetteviile, western Virginia, and He served in the battle of Antietam with such conspicuous gallantry as to win for him promotion, Sept. 23, 1862, to the rank of 2d lieutenant of Company D. On Feb. 7, 1863, he was made 1st lieutenant of Company E, and on July 25, 1864, was raised to the rank of captain of Company O for gallantry at the battle of Kernstown, July 24, 1864. He served successively on the staffs of Generals Hayes, Crook, and Hancock, and his engagements after Carnifex Ferry were: Clarke's Hollow, May 1, 1862; Princeton, W. Va., May 16, 1862; Soath Mountain, Md., Sept. 14, 1862; Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862; Buffington Island, O., in Morgan's raid, July 19, 1863; Cloyd's Mountain, W. Va., May 9, 1864; New River Bridge, Va., May 9, 1864; Buffalo Gap, Va., June 6, 1864; Lexington, Va., June 10, 1864; Buchanan, Va.; June 14, 1864; Otter Creek, Va., June 16, 1864; Buford's Gap, Va., July 21, 1864; Kernstewn, Va., July 24, 1864; Berryville, Va., Sept. 8, 1864; Winchester, Va., Sept. 19, 1864; Fisher's Hill, Va., Sept. 22, 1864, and Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19. 1864. He was brevetted major, March 13, 1865, for gallantry at Opequon, Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill, and was serving as acting assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. Samuel S. Carroll, commanding the veteran reserve corps (lst division, first army corps) at Washington, D.C., when he was mustered out with his regiment, July 26, 1865. He returned home and studied law at Youngstown, Ohio, and at the Albany Law school, 1866-67, and was admitted to the Ohio bar at Warren in March, 1867, and settled in practice in Canton, Ohio, through the advice of an eider sister, then teaching school in that place. He was elected by the Republicans of Stark county prosecuting attorney, and served 1870-71, but was defeated for re-election. He was married, Jan. 25, 1871, to Ida, daughter of James A. and Catherine (Dewalt) Saxton of Canton, Ohio. He was a representative from the seventeenth district of Ohio in the 45th congress (1877-79), defeating Leslie L. Lanborn; from the sixteenth district in the 46th congress (1879-81), defeating Gen. Aquila Wiley, and from the seventeenth district in the 47th congress (1881-83), defeating Leroy D. Thoman. His party claimed that he was elected from the eighteenth district to the 48th congress in 1882 by a majority of eight votes, and he was given the certificate of election, but his scat was successfully contested by Jonathan H. Wallace, of Columbiana county, Who was seated in June, 1884. Mr. McKinley was elected in 1884 a representative from the twentieth district to the 49th congress (1885-87), defeating David R. Paige, and in 1886 and 1888 was elected from the eighteenth district to the 50th and 51st congresses, defeating Wallace H. Phelps and George P. Ikert, respectively, serving 1887-91, but was defeated in the sixteenth district for representative in the 52d congress in 1890 by John G. Warwick, of Massillon, Democrat, by 302 votes. The changes in the congressional districts were due to political expedients used by [p.170] the Democratic legislature, and Mr. McKinley, while always a resident of Stark county, was in this way obliged to meet the conditions caused by the combinations of contiguous counties in the efforts of the opposition to defeat him. He was appointed by Speaker Randall in 1877 to a place on the judiciary committee, and he succeeded Representative James A. Garfield on the ways and means committee in December, 1880. In the 45th congress he was appointed on the house committee of visitors to the U.S. Military academy, and in 1881 he was chairman of the committee having in charge the Garfield memorial exercises in the house. In congress he suppored a high protective tariff, making a notable speech on the subject; April 6, 1882; and his speech on the Morrison tariff bill, April 30, 1884, was said to be the most effective argument made against it. On April 16, 1890, as chairman of the committee on Ways and mesas, as successor to Judge Kelly, he introduced the general tariff measure afterward known by his name, and his speech before the house, May 7, 1890, fully established his reputation as a statesman and an orator. The bill passed the house May 21; and the senate after a protracted debate, September 11, and became a law Oct. 6, 1890. Among his notable congressional speeches not already mentioned, are: "Arbitration as a Solution of Labor Troubles," April 2, 1886; his reply, May 18, 1888, to Representative Samuel J. Randall's argument in favor of the Mills tariff bill, of which millions of copies were circulated by the manufacturing interests of the country; his speech of Dec. 17, 1889, introducing the customs administration bill to simplify the laws relating to the collection of revenue, and his forceful address sustaining the civil-service laws, April 24, 1890. On the organization of the 51st congress, Dec. 3, 1889, he was a candidate for speaker, but was defeated in the Republican caucus on the third ballot by Thomas B. Reed. In 1880 he was chairman of the Republican state convention and was chosen by the Republican national convention at Chicago in June, 1880, as the Ohio member of the Republican national committee. In this capacity, during the canvass of Garfield and Arthur, he spoke with General Garfield in the principal northern and western states. He was delegate-at-large from Ohio to the Republican national convention that met at Chicago, June 3, 1884, was a member of the committee on resolutions, read the platform to the convention and supported the candidacy of James G. Blaine. During the canvass of that year He spoke with the Republican candidate on his celebrated western tour and afterward in West Virginia and New York. In the Republican national convention that met at Chicago, June 19, 1888, he was again a delegate-at-large from Ohio, and as chairman of the committee on resolutions again reported the platform to the convention, and he supported the candidacy of John Sherman, although there was a strong effort to have him consent to the use of his own name as a candidate. In the Republican national convention that met at Minneapolis, June 7, 1892, he was for the third time a delegate-at-large from Ohio, and was elected permanent chaairman of the convention. He advocated the renomination President Harrison; received 182 votes for the presidential nomination, but refused to consider the action of his friends, left the chair, and moved that the nomination of President Harrison be made unanimous, and was chairman of the committee to notify the President of his renomination. He took an active part in the dentist campaign, travelling over 16,000 miles and averaging seven speeches per day for a period of over eight weeks, during which time it was estimated that he addressed over 2,000,000 voters. He was governor of Ohio, 1892-96, receiving 21,511 plurality in 1891 over Gov. James E. Campbell, who sought re-election, and 80,995 in 1893 over Lawrence T. Neal, Democrat, issues of the canvass being entirely national. governor his sympathies were with the men in their contests with capitalists, and recommended to the legislature additional pro tection to the employees of railroads. During second administration of the state He was obliged to call out 3000 members of the national guard to suppress threatened labor riots, and he was able to prevent what s to be inevitable mob violence attended by lynching. He also personally supervised the distribution of funds and provisions to the starving miners in the Hocking valley. When the Republican national convention met at St. Louis, June 16, 1896, his name was again before the convention, and on the first ballot made, June 18, he received 661 1/2 votes to 84 1/2 for Thomas B. Reed of Maine, 60 1/2 for Matthew S. Quay of Pennsylvania 58 for Levi P. Morton of New York, and 35 1/2 for William B. Allison of Iowa. During the Presidential[p.171] canvass of 1896 he remained in Canton and received between June 19 and November 2 over 750,000 visitors, who journeyed from all parts of the Union to make his acquaintance and listen to informal speeches delivered from his piazza, Mr. McKinley speaking in this way over 300 different times. He was elected President of the United States, Nov. 3, 1896, the McKinley and Hobart electors receiving 7,106,199 votes to 6,502,685 for the Bryan and Sewall electors, and the electors of the minority candidates, Levering and Johnson, Prohibition, receiving 132,000 votes; Palmer and Bucknet, National Democrat, 138,148 votes; Matchett and Maguire, Social Labor, 36,274 votes, and Bentley and Southgate, Nationalist, 13,969 votes. William McKinley was formally announced by the electoral college as the choice of that body for President of the United States by a vote of 271 to 176 for W. J. Bryan, and he was inaugurated March 4, 1897, Chief-Justice Fuller administering the oath of office. He at once announced his cabinet as follows: John Sherman of Ohio, secretary of state; Lyman J. Gage of Illinois, secretary of the treasury; Russell A. Alger of Michigan, secretary of war; Cornelius N. Bliss of New York, secretary of the interior; John D. Long of Massachusetts, secretary of the navy; James Wilson of Iowa, secretary of agriculture; James A. Gary of Maryland, postmaster-ganeral, and Joseph McKenna of California, attorney-general. On Dec. 17, 1897, Attorney-General McKenna resigned to accept the position of associate justice of the U.S. supreme court and President McKinley appointed John W. Griggs of New Jersey attorney-general, Jan. 21, 1898. The administration was represented at foreign courts as follows: ambassador to Great Britain, John Hay of Ohio, succeeded in 1899 by Joseph H. Choate of New York; to France, Horace Porter of New York; to Austria and Austria-Hungary, Charlemagne Tower of Pennsylvania, succeeded in 1899 by Addison C. Harris of Indiana; U.S. minister to Russia, Ethan A. Hitchcock of Missouri, raised to ambassador in 1898 and succeeded in 1899 by Charlemagne Tower; ambassador to Germany, Andrew D. White of New York; ambassador to Italy, William F, Draper of Massachusetts, succeeded in 1901 by George von L. Meyer of Massachusetts; ambassador to Spain, Stewart L. Woodford of New York, who served till official relations were broken off, April, 1898, and in April, 1899, He was succeeded by Bellamy Storer of Ohio. The changes in President McKinley's cabinet were the resignation of John Sherman from the stain department, April 27, 1898, and the promotion of William R. Day, assistant secretary of state, who resigned Sept. 16, 1898, and was succeeded by John Hay, recalled from the court of St. James; the resignation of Gen. Russell A. Alger from the war department, Aug. 1, 1899, and the appointment of Elihu Root of New York as his successor; the resignation of Cornelius N. Bliss from the interior department. Dec. 22, 1898, to be succeeded by Ethan A. Hitchcock, recalled from St. Petersburg; the resignation of James A. Gary from the post-office department, April 21, 1898, and the appointment of Charles Emery Smith of Pennsylvania to that office, and the resignation of John W. Griggs from the office of attorney-general in March, 1901, to be succeeded by Philander Chase Knox of Psunsylvania. The President called an extra session of congress to assemble March 15, 1897, and the Dingley tariff bill was passed and became a law by receiving his signature July 24, 1897. On May 17 he sent to congress a special message asking for an appropriation for the aid of suffering American citizens in Cuba anal secured $50,000 for that purpose. The treatment of the Cuban patriots then struggling for freedom aroused the sympathies of the people of the United States and the demands of the U.S. minister at Madrid for more humane treatment were disregarded. The destruction of the U.S. cruiser Maine in Havana harbor, Feb. 15, 1898, resulting in the death of 264 U.S. officers and men and in the wounding of 60 others, aggravated the condition of affairs and on March 8-9, 1898, congress authorized the raising of two new regiments of artillery; voted $50,000,000 for national defence, placing the amount in the hands of the President for disposal at his discretion, and authorized the contingent increase of the army to 100,000 men. On March 23, 1898, the President sent his ultimatum to Spain respecting the treatment of the Cubans, and on March 28 he officially reported to congress the destruction of the U.S. battleship Maine. He advised congress on April 11 not to recognize the Cuban government, but advocated intervention to put a stop to Spanish cruelty. On April 13, 1898, congress gave the President full authority to act in the matter of the difficulties with Spain, and on April 16 passed a resolution acknowledging Cuban independence. The President [p.172] signed the joint resolutions of congress declaring the people of Cuba free and directing the President to use the land and naval forces of the United States to compel Spain to withdraw from the island. On April 23 a call for 125,000 volunteers was issued by the President. On April 24 Spain also declared war against the United States and the next day the President recommended a formal declaration of war by congress and issued a call for 75,000 more volunteers. On April 30 congress authorized an issue of $500,000,000 in bonds, which issue was speedily taken up by prominent financiers. In his proclamation of April 26, 1898, the President adopted the essential principles as laid down by the Declaration of Paris of 1856, as to fights of neutrals in naval warfare, although neither the United States nor Spain was a party to that agreement between the nations. The victory of the U.S. navy in destroying the Spanish fleet at Manila on May 1, 1898, followed by the still more decisive victory over the Spanish fleet at Santiago, July 3, 1898, marked the beginning and end of the war, the other incidents of the campaign of historic import being the battle of El Caney and San Juan, where on July 1-2, 1898, the U.S. army lost 230 killed, 1,284 wounded and 79 missing, and gained a decisive victory over .the Spanish troops. On July 26 the French minister at Washington made known the desire of Spain to negotiate for peace and President McKinley named the conditions that the United States would insist upon as a basis of negotiations. These included the evacuation of Cuba, the ceding of Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies, and that the city, bay and harbor of Manila should be continued in the possession of the United States pending the conclusion of the treaty. These terms were accepted by Spain, Aug. 9, 1898, the peace protocol was signed on August 12 by Secretary Day and the French ambassador Cambon, and the Cuban blockade was raised, October 1 following being named as the time for the meeting to arrange the details of settlement. On August 26 the President appointed William R. Day, Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye, Whitelaw Reid and Edward D. White, peace commissioners, and on September 9 George Oray was substituted for Mr. Justice White. They met in Paris, Oct. 1, and adjourned Dec. 10, 1898. The treaty, signed on the latter date, provided the relinquishment by Spain of all claims of sovereignty over and title to Cuba, the surrender of all other of the West India islands held by Spain, and of the island of Guam in the Ladrone group, and the cession of the Philippines to the United States. The United States agreed to pay to Spain for the islands $20,000,000, to repatriate all Spanish soldiers at its expense, and to various minor provisions. On Jan. 4, 1899, the President transmitted the treaty to the senate, which body referred it to the committee on foreign affairs and it was ratified Feb. 6, 1899. Meantime hostilities had broken out in the Philippine islands between the natives and the U.S, troops, and the President appointed Admiral George Dewey, Gen. Elwell S. Otis, President J. G. Shurman, of Cornell university, Dean C. Worcester of the faculty of the University of Michigan, and Charles Denby, former U.S. minister to China, a commission to study the situation there and advise as to the best method for governing the newly acquired territory. The President approved the joint resolution of congress providing for the annexation of Hawaii, July 7, 1898, and in the same year He appointed a delegation to represent the United States at the peace-conference called by the Czar of Russia in 1898, to meet at The Hague in May, 1899. The delegation was as follows: Andrew D. White, U.S. ambassador to Germany; Stanford Newel, U.S. minister to the Netherlands; Seth Low, president of Columbia university; Capt. A. T. Mahan, U.S.N. (retired), and Capt. Willlam Crozier, U.S.A.; with Frederick W. Holls as secretary and counsel. On March 4, 1900, the President signed the gold standard, currency act. In 1897-98, when the whole commercial world was watching the Russian and German governments, locking for relief from industrial depression through some excuse to invade northern China, and thus prepare the way for unlimited expansion, President McKinley saw the danger that threatened American commerce should the integrity of the Chinese empire be endangered, and in 1900 He promptly met the condition that was presented by the acts of the Chinese themselves in allowing the uprising of the Boxers, and adopted what proved to be the only plan of action possible for the United States to preserve its commercial interests. He did not hesitate to assume the responsibility thrust upon him, and by ordering an advance on Pekin without waiting to learn if He would have the co-operation of the other powers, he solved the problem of preserving peace by acting as an ally of the Chinese government and preventing other nations, led by Germany, from carrying out their purpose of partition. The action of the United States relieved the legations before the German marshal arrived, and the President took the next step in diplomacy by removing the army of occupation and leaving the nations opposed to his policy unsupported. The Republican national convention which met at Philadelphia, June 25, 1900, gave President McKinley every one of the 930 votes of the delegates for renomination as the party [p.173] candidate for President, and Theodore Roosevelt of New York received 929 votes for the candidacy for Vice-President, the single vote missing being the delegate vote of Theodore Roosevelt. In the election of Nov. 6, 1900, President McKinley was re-elected by the largest popular majority ever given to any presidential candidate, the Republican electors receiving 7,206,677 popular votes to 6,374,397 for the Bryan and Stevenson electors, and the popular votes for the minority candidates standing as follows: Woolley and Metcalf, Prohibition, 208,555; Barker and Donholly, Anti-Fusion People's, 50,337; Debs and Harriman, Social Democrat, 84,003; Mahoney and Remmel, Social Labor, 39,537; Leonard and Woolley, United Christian, 1,060, and Ellis and Nicholas, Union Reform, 5,698. The electoral vote stood 292 for McKinley and Roosevelt and 155 for Bryan and Stevenson. The successful Republican candidates were inaugurated March 4, 1901, and the President made no changes in his cabinet. He visited California with his wife and members of his cabinet in the spring of 1901, making numerous speeches and receiving enthusiastic welcome from the citizens of the southern and southwestern states through which he passed, and he intended to make the tour extend to the principal cities of the northwest, but the serious illness of Mrs. McKinley forced him to return to Washington after reaching San Francisco. The management of the Pan-American exposition at Buffalo, N.Y., invited the President to visit that city, which He did, accompanied by Mrs. McKinley and his official family, including part of his cabinet. On September 6, while in the midst of a throng of expectant citizens assembled in the Temple of Music anxious to familiarly greet their President, he took the hand of one of the men in line in friendly confidence, when with the other hand the assassin, who proved to be an avowed anarchist of foreign birth, shot the President twice, producing a mortal wound. He was conveyed to the home of John G. Milburn, president of the exposition, whose guests Mr. and Mrs McKinley were, and lingered till the early morning of Sept. 14, 1901, when at 2:15 he died. Shortly before his death he said, "Good-bye, all; good-bye. It is God's way. His will be done, not ours." His last words, spoken to his wife, were "' Nearer, my God, to Thee, e'en though it be a cross,' has been my constant prayer." He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union Veteran Legion, and other military organizations. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Western Reserve university and McKendree college in 1897, from the University of Chicago and Yale university in 1898; from Smith college in 1899 (being the second person and the first man to receive an honorary degree from that institution) and from the University of California in 1901; and that of D.C.L. from Mr. Holyoke in 1899. He was invited to visit Harvard university in June, 1901, and the corporation voted him the honorary degree of LL.D., to be bestowed on the occasion, but the serious illness of Mrs. McKinley prevented his presence. The notable speeches delivered by Mr. McKinley and not already mentioned include: the address in Canton, Ohio, before the Ohio state grange Dec. 13, 1887, on "The American Farmer," in which he opposed the holding of American lands by aliens, and urged the farmers to be true to the principles of protection; the address at the Home Market club in Boston, Feb. 9, 1898, in which he persuaded the New England representatives to abandon the policy of allowing the introduction of raw material duty free; the speech at the Lincoln banquet in Toledo, Ohio, Feb. 12, 1891, in which he answered President Cleveland's address on "American Citizenship," delivered on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the birthday Of Allen G. Thurman at Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 13, 1890; the oration delivered on Feb. 22, 1894, before the Union League club, Chicago, Ill., on the life and public services of George Washington, and his last speech, at the Pan American exposition, Buffalo, Sept. 5, 1901, the day before his assassination, in which He outlined the policy of the administration in its efforts to give greater security to the commercial and industrial life of the republic, in the following words: "Our capacity to produce has developed so enormously and our products have so multiplied that the problem of more markets requires our urgent and immediate attention. Only a broad and enlightened policy will keep what we have. No other policy will get more. In these times of marvellous business energy and gain we ought to be looking to the future, strengthening the weak places in our industrial [p.174] and commercial systems, that we may be ready for any storm or strain. By sensible trade arrangements which will not interrupt our home production, we shall extend the outlets from our increasing surplus. A system which provides a mutual exchange of commodities is manifestly essential to the continued and healthful growth of our export trade. We must not repose in fancied security that we can forever sell everything and buy little or nothing. If such a thing were possible it would not be best for us or those with whom we deal. We should take from our customers such of their products as we can use without harm to our industries and labor. Reciprocity is the natural outgrowth of our wonderful industrial development under the domestic policy now firmly established. What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have a vent abroad. The excess must be relieved through a foreign outlet, and we should sell anywhere we can and buy wherever the buying will enlarge our sales and productions and thereby make a greater demand for home labor. The period of exclusiveness is past. The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable. A policy of good will and friendly trade relations will prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times; measures of retaliation are not. If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed for revenue or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad ?... Next in advantage to having the thing to sell is to have the convenience to carry it to the buyer. We must encourage our merchant marine. We must have more ships. They must be under the American flag, built and manned and owned by Americans. These will not only be profitable in a commercial sense; they will be messengers of peace and amity wherever they go. We must build the, Isthmian canal, which will unite the two oceans and give a straight line of water communication with the western coasts of Central and South America and Mexico.?Lot us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not conflict, and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war.?Our prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of the earth." By a special proclamation, the day of the funeral, September 19, was ? made a day of mourning and prayer throughout the United States, all business being suspended and memorial services being generally held. In foreign countries the recognition of the President's death was unprecedented? By command of King Edward VII. a memorial service was held in Westminster Abbey and was attended by between 2000 and 3000 persons, including many distinguished Americans, Edward VII., being represented by Lord Pembroke. As a further mark of respect all the exchanges in the kingdom were closed, the government buildings had their flags at half-mast and many stores were draped in black. A memorial service attended by six thousand people, and conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dean Gregory and fourteen other clergymen was held in St. paul's Cathedral, London. Unusual honors were paid the President's memory in all the foreign capitals and impressive memorial services were held in St. Petersburg, Brussels, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, Paris, Constantinople, Pekin, Bombay, and elsewhere, attended by high dignitaries. At the service in Berlin all the imperial and Prussian cabinet ministers were present except Chancellor von B?low, who was absent from the city; and all the foreign ambassadors and ministers in the city were also in attendance. Emperor Willlam ordered the flags to be half masted throughout the navy. The public manifestations of grief that followed the death of President McKinley were unprecedented in the history of the world. The scenes in Buffalo; en route to Wnshington; in the East room of the White House; on the passage of the funeral cortege from the President's house through Pennsylvania avenue; around the body resting in state for one day in the rotunda of the Capitol; at the state funeral attended by accredited representatives from all the governments of the world; on its last journey to Canton attended by President Roosevelt and his cabinet; in his home and home church, where the solemn rites of religion were pronounced, previous to final sepulture, are a part of history. When the time arrived for the body to be committed to the grave in Westlawn Cemetery, Canton, Ohio, the whole country was for a few moments undisturbed by motion created by the hand of man. The hum of industry was hushed, transportation was brought to a halt, and a nation stood with uncovered heads, bowed in grief. t The President died in Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 14, 1901.

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

Michael Daniel Harther, representative, was born in Canton, Ohio, April 6, 1846; son of Isaac and Amanda (Moore) Harter; and grandson of the Hon. Robert Moore of Pennsylvania, representative in the 15th and 16th congresses, 1817-21. His paternal grandfather, a German emigrant, was an early settler of Ohio. He was educated in the public schools and engaged in manufacturing and milling, first in Canton and then in Mausfield. Ohio, 1869-92. He was a Democratic representative in the 52d and 53d congresses, 1891-95. In the 52d congress he led the first opposition to the Bland free silver bill and his successful leadership in favor of a single gold standard gave him a national reputation. He favored low tariff, an income tax, the suppression of trusts and a conservative national bank measure. He died in Fostoria, Ohio, Feb. 22, 1896.

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

Ida Saxton McKinley, wife of President McKinley, was born in Canton, Ohio, in June, 1847; daughter of James Asbury and Catherine (Dewalt) Saxton, and granddaughter of John Saxton, founder in 1815 and for fifty-five years proprietor of the Ohio Repository, published at Canton. Both the Saxtons and the Dewalts were among the earliest settlers of Canton. Ida Saxton was educated at schools in Cleveland and at Brook Hall seminary, Media, Pa. She visited Europa for six months in 1869, and soon after her return became cashier in her father's bank in Canton. She was a member of the Presbyterian church of Canton and was married from that church to Maj. William McKinley, Jan. 25, 1871, receiving from her father as a wedding gift a handsome house in Canton. Their first child, Ida, born Dec. 25, 1871, lived to the age of four, and their second child, Catherine, died in infancy. The shock attending the death of her children and that of her mother, which occurred soon after, resulted in a nervous disease which left Mrs. McKinley an invalid for life and able to walk only with the aid of a supporting arm. She was a resident of Washington during her husband's service as representative in congress, 1877-91, and during his gubernatorial terms she resided at Columbus. As mistress of the White House during his administration of national affairs, notwithstanding her physical illness, she successfully dispensed the hospitality demanded from her position. Mr. and Mrs. McKinley both became members of the First Methodist church in Canton, and while in Washington attended the Foundry church. While on a visit to California in 1901 she was suddenly prostrated and the contemplated trip was consequently abandoned in San Francisco. She was taken to her home in Canton where she so far regained her accustomed health as to be able to return to the White House and in September, 1901, to accompany her husband to the Pan-American exposition at Buffalo, N.Y., where she was his companion and the chief object of his solicitude in his dying hour. As the widow of the martyr President she returned with his body to Canton, Sept. 18, 1901.

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

History of Canton, (Stark County) Ohio

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