LORENZO DOW, FROM AN ORIGINAL PORTRAIT formerly in possession of J.W.Barber. - Engraved by AWillard. Hartford. Cam Painted by Lucius Munson in South Carolina in 1821 [So important a person was Lorenzo Dow in the religious history of Ohio and the "new countries generally that the pioneers largely named their boy babes from him. We saw him when on June 30, 1832, the drawing in the lower picture was made by our old friend, Mr. John W. Barber, and it agrees with our memory as to his swaying attitude. He was in truth a wild-looking creature.] เ threw the reins over the neck of the pony and stepped upon the log, took off his hat, his hair parted in the middle of his head, and flowing on either side to his shoulders, his beard resting on his breast. In a minute at the top of his voice he said: "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me. My subject is repentance. We sing, "While the lamp holds out to burn, the vilest sinner may return. That idea has done much harm, and should be received with many grains of allowance There are cases where it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a man to repent unto salvation. Let me illustrate. Do you suppose that the man among you who went out last fall to kill his deer and bear for winter meat, and instead killed his neighbors' hogs, salted them down, and is now living on the meat, can repent while it is unpaid for? I tell you nay. Except he restores a just compensation his attempt at repentance will On another occasion, it has been said, having been informed that the people thereabouts had suffered from the depredations of a hog thief, he took occasion to state to an assemblage whom he was addressing, that he felt certain that the thief was among them. Then stooping down he picked up a stone, and said: Now I am going to throw this stone at him," at the same time making a motion as if to throw it, whereupon an individual in the crowd dodged. That's him," exclaimed Dow, pointing to the conscience stricken individual. The people called him Crazy Dow; his wife Peggy accompanied him in his travels. He introduced camp meetings in England. BETHEL, on the line of the C. G. & P. R. R. and Ohio turnpike, in a fine It has 2 Methodist, 1 Christian, and 1 Baptist church, and in 1880 582 inhabitants. The place was settled in 1797 by Obed Denham, a Virginian, on account of his abhorrence of slavery. A Witch Story.--In the early settlement a family by the name of Hildebrand accused one of their neighbors, Nancy Evans, of being a witch. Although the statutes of Ohio made no provision for cases of this kind, they persuaded a justice of the peace to take the matter in hand. A tradition prevailed that if a witch was weighed against the Bible she would be compelled to tip the beam. A rude scale was made, and in the presence of the neighbors, with the Bible at one end and Nancy Evans at the other, she was thus adjured: Nancy Evans, thou art weighed against the Bible to try thee against witcheraftry and diabolical practices. This being done in the name of the law, and with a profound respect for the word of God, had a solemn and conclusive effect. Nancy was of course too heavy for the Bible; an excellent woman, who willingly submitted to this novel process to bring peace of mind to her ignorant, deluded neighbors, whom she pitied. SAM Bethel is noted for the number of prominent characters who have dwelt there. UEL MEDARY, from Pennsylvania, came to Bethel almost destitute; with twenty-five cents capital opened a school, and in 1828 started a newspaper, the Ohio Sun, now the Clermont County Sun, at Batavia. Medary was no printer, but he edited it, delivered it personally to the subscribers, and taught school at the same time. He eventually moved to Columbus, and as editor of the Statesman and Crisis, became the most in fluential editor of the Democratic party in the State. Late in life he was territorial governor of Kansas and Nebraska. He was genial, possessed business tact and force of character. Prof. DAVID SWING, D. D., the eminent divine, was born near the village. Two eminent Methodist divines are identified with the history of the county: Rev. Dr. RANDOLPH SWING FOSTER, who was born here, and Rev. STEPHEN M. MERRILL, who passed his youth here. The noted Gen. THOMAS L. HAMER, in 1818, came to Bethel a poor, friendless boy, and found a home in the family of Thomas Morris, with whom he studied law. JESSE R. GRANT, the father of Gen. Grant, bought a home at Bethel about 1845, where he lived ten or tweve years. While he was there the general, at that time just from the Academy at West Point, and later from the Mexican campaign, visited his father, and passed a number of months in the quiet village. The general's father carried on a tannery, and in 1852 was elected mayor. His duties were partly magisterial, and one of his first was to try some of the village roughs for fighting, on which occasion he used the finishing-room of his tannery for a court-room. The place was crowded, and the better to see some of the small boys mounted a pile of hides. The pile was totlish, and the leather slid, and one urchin landed precipitately into a tub of Father Grant's oil, which afforded as much diversion as the fight itself. In the village graveyard at Bethel is the grave of THOMAS MORRIS; a marble monument with the annexed inscription marks the spot. Said Salmon P. Chase : "Senator Morris first led me to see the character of the slave power as an aristocracy, and the need of an earnest organization to counteract its pretensions. He was far beyond the time in which he lived." In 1637, Thomas Morris, the first representative of the family, a name prominent in English history and patriotism, settled in Massachusetts. Isaac, the father of Thomas Morris, was born in Berks county, Pa., in 1740, and his mother, Ruth Henton, in 1750, being the daughter of a Virginia planter. Nine sons and three daughters were born to them. Thomas, John, and Benjamin came to Ohio, finally settling in Clermont county. Thomas was the fifth child, and was born January 3, 1776; soon after his birth his parents moved to Western Virginia, and settled near Clarksburg. The father was a faithful minister of the Baptist church, preaching without failing in a single appointment for over sixty years, never taking a dose of medicine. He died in 1830, aged ninety-one. The mother of Thomas Morris refused her inheritance of four slaves. At sixteen Thomas Morris shouldered his musket to repel the aggressions of the Indians, serving several months in Capt. Levi Morgan's rangers, stationed near Marietta. At nineteen he was employed as a clerk in the store, at Columbia, of the then famous Baptist minister, Rev. John Smith. November 19, 1797, he married Rachel Davis, daughter of Benjamin Davis, from Lancaster, Pa. In 1800 Thomas Morris and his wife removed from Columbia to Williamsburgh, where, in 1802, he commenced the study of A. E. McCall, Photo., Bethel, 1887. MONUMENT TO THOMAS MORRIS. law, without friends, pecuniary means, or a preceptor, with a growing family and but few books. After the hard labors of the day he studied at night by the light of hickory bark or from a brick-kiln which he was burning for the support of his family. With resolute purpose and iron will he succeeded in overcoming these formidable difficulties, and in two years was admitted to the bar. In 1804 he removed with his family to Bethel, and in 1806 was elected a representative from Cler mont. In the Legislature his abilities soon placed him among the most distinguished men of the State. He labored for the equal right of all, and to conform the civil government to the principles of justice and Christian morality. He opposed chartered monopolies, class legislation, and traffic in spirituous liquors, believing in a prohibitory high license. He was a warm friend of the common schools, labored earnestly for the extinction of the law of imprisonment for debt, and advocated the doctrine of making all offices elective. In 1828 he introduced a bill to allow juries before justices of the peace, and one the next year that judges should not charge juries on matters of fact. In 1812 he obtained the passage of a bill allowing the head of a family to hold twelve sheep exempt from execution for debt. In 1828 he endeavored to obtain a law taxing all chartered institutions and manufactories and exempting dwellings. He foresaw the great future of Ohio, although he alone of the public men opposed the canal system, for he deemed it impracticable, and prophesied that in twenty years Ohio would be covered with a network of railroads and canals superseded. An incident will illustrate the wonderful progress since that time. When the Legislature adjourned in March, 1827, the mud roads were about impassable and streams overflowing their banks. But Mr. Morris determined to overcome all obstacles, and with Col. Robert T. Lytle embarked in a canoe or "dug-out" with their baggage, and after a passage of some hundred miles down the Scioto from Columbus in this frail craft reached Portsmouth, where they took a steamboat, reaching home after a perilous journey of four days. This transit now by rail takes less than four hours. Thomas Morris was elected Senator in 1813, 1821, 1825, 1827, and 1831, and while occupying this position for the fifth time was elected United States Senator for the term of six years from March 4, 1833, having as colleagues from Ohio Thomas Ewing (four years) and William Allen (two years). On the opening of the United States Senatorial session in December, 1833, Mr. Morris became actively identified with the anti-slavery movements against the aggressions of the slave power. To him were addressed the memorials and petitions from all parts of the land, and in spite of the frowns and entreaties of his own party, he would introduce them all, although on all other subjects he was in full accord with it. In Thomas Morris the apostles of human freedom found their first champion. The Congress of 1887-38 saw a deep and agitated discussion of this question, and Mr. Morris replied to the arguments of John C. Calhoun, in an able and elaborate speech, which attracted the attention of the whole country by its bold and truthful utter ances. February 7, 1839, Henry Clay made a great speech, to counteract and arrest the public agitation of slavery; and two days after Thomas Morris replied to it, in the mightiest and crowning effort of his life, concluding with these prophetic words (golden in the light of subsequent events): Though our national sins are many and grievous, yet repentance, like that of ancient Nineveh, may yet divert from us that impending danger which seems to hang over our heads as by a single hair. That all may be safe, I conclude that the negro will yet be free. This noble speech startled the Senate, produced a marked sensation throughout the country, and electrified the warm hearts of humanity the world over. John G. Whittier, the poet, then a young editor, said: “Thomas Morris stands confessed the lion of the day.' Thomas Morris was far in advance of his time, and in less than a month after the delivery of his great startling speech he left the Senate and public life, a political exile, his party having refused to re-elect him to the Senate. Mr. Morris soon became identified with the "Liberty Party," and in 1844 was its candidate for Vice-President. He died suddenly December 7, 1844, aged sixty-nine years, with his intellectual powers unimpaired by age, his physical system in vigorous activity, and his heart still warm in the cause of freedom. WILLIAMSBURG has 1 Presbyterian and 1 Methodist church. Chair factory of S. D. Mount, 23 hands; C. H. Boulware & Bro., chair factory, 20; Snell & Williams, planing-mill, 12. Pork-packing, tobacco preparing, and tanning are carried on here. Population in 1840, 385; in 1880, 795. Williamsburg, as previously mentioned, was laid out in 1795-96 by Gen. William Lytle and his brother, and was originally called Lytlestown. His life was one of much incident. He was the grandfather of Gen. Robert T. Lytle, the poetsoldier, killed at the battle of Chickamauga. The following facts respecting him are from Cist's Advertiser: Gen. WILLIAM LYTLE was born in Cumberland, Pa., and in 1779 his family emigrated to Kentucky. Previous to the settlement of Ohio young Lytle was in several desperate engagements with the Indians, where his cool, heroic bravery won general admiration. Before the treaty of Greenville, while making surveys in the Virginia military district in Ohio, he was exposed to incessant dangers, suffered great privations, and was frequently attacked by the Indians. This business he followed for the greater portion of his life. In the war of 1812 he was appointed major-general of Ohio militia, and in 1829 surveyor-general of the public lands of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. In 1810 Gen. Lytle removed from Williamsburg to Cincinnati, where he died in 1831. As a citizen he was distinguished for public spirit and benevolence, and in his personal appearance and character strikingly resembled President Jack son. Beside the facts given under the head of Logan county, we have space for but a single anecdote, exhibiting his_Spartan-like conduct at Grant's defeat in Indiana. that desperate action the Kentuckians, overpowered by nearly four times their number, performed feats of bravery scarcely equalled even in early border warfare. In In this struggle Lytle, then hardly seventeen years of age, had both his arms shattered, his face powder-burnt, his hair singed to the roots, and nineteen bullets passed through his body and clothing. In this condition, a retreat being ordered, he succeeded in bringing off the field several of his friends, generously aiding the wounded and the exhausted by placing them on horses, while he himself ran forward in advance of the last remnant of the retreating party to stop the only boat on the Ohio at that time which could take them over, and save them from the overwhelming force of their savage adversaries. On reaching the river he found the boat in the act of putting off for the Kentucky shore. The men were reluctant to obey his demand for a delay until those still in the rear should come up, one of them declaring that it was better that a few should perish than that all should be sacrificed." He threw the rifle, which he still carried on his shoulder, over the root of a fallen tree, and swore he would shoot the first man who pulled an oar until his friends were aboard. In this way the boat was detained until they came up, and were safely lodged from the pursuing foe. Disdaining personally to take advantage of this result, the boat being crowded almost to dipping, he ran up the river to where some horses stood panting under the willows after their escape from the battle-field, and, mounting one of the strongest, forced him into the river, holding on to the mane by his teeth, until he was taken in the middle of the stream into the boat, bleeding and almost fainting from his wounds, by the order of his gallant captain, the lamented Stucker, who had observed his conduct with admiration throughout, and was resolved that such a spirit should not perish; for by this time the balls of the enemy were rattling like hail about their ears. THE LOST CHILD. Two sisters living in Williamsburg-Lydia Osborn, aged eleven years, and Matilda Osborn, aged seven years-started on the afternoon of July 13, 1804, to drive home the cows, following the paths which led to the "big field," about a mile from the village, where the cattle were wont to range. They were guided in their movements by the tinkling of the cow-bells, and perhaps were led off from the main path by this means and lost their way. The elder girl, Lydia, supposed the cows were going away from home, and left her little sister, Matilda, to make a detour and head them off, but without success. So she returned to where she had left her sister, but could not find her; after wandering about for a long time and crying out her name she started for home, as she supposed, but took the wrong direction, wandered on, and was lost in the wilderness. The younger sister followed the sound of the cow-bells and arrived safe at home. The following is from the touching account of the Rev. J. B. Finley, who was with the party in the search for her: Night came on, casting its darkened shadows over the forest, but she came not to greet the anxious eyes of her parents; their child was in the woods exposed to the savages and wild beasts. The neighborhood was aroused with the alarm of "lost child!" Every heart was touched, and soon in every direction torches were seen flashing their lights into the darkness of the forest. Bells were rung, horns were blown, and guns were fired, if perchance the sound might reach the ear of the lost one. The news reached the settlement where we resided, and as many as could leave home turned out to seek for the lost child. Some signs of her tracks were discovered crossing branches and miry places; all indicating, however, that she was going farther into the wilderness. On the third day Cornelius Washburn, the famous backwoodsman and hunter, arrived with about five hundred others and accompanied by his noted hunting dog. We were now deep in the wilderness and made preparations for camping out that night. At daybreak we were again ready for our search, but as the collection of people was so numerous we formed into companies taking different directions and meeting at night at a place designated. Money was collected and sent to the settlements to buy provisions. Our numbers increased so that on the seventh day there were more than a thousand persons, many from Kentucky. Washburn discovered the place where she had slept for several nights. He also saw where she had plucked and eaten foxgrapes and whortle-berries. The place she had selected was where one tree had fallen across another, which was lying down and afforded a good protection. |