YEARS 1870-71 1871-72 1872-73 1873-74 1874-75 1875-76 1876-77 1877-78

SENIORS 7 10 16 31 26 26 35 34

JUNIORS 14 19 31 37 36 41 38 42

SOPHOMORES 20 20 35 55 42 45 43 34

FRESHMEN. 20 28 57 47 50 54 49 75

PREPARATORY 0 0 35 53 79 I01 121 130

TOTAL. 6, 77 174 223 233 267 286 315

REV. A. A. E. TAYLOR, D. D. + President Taylor was born in Springfield, Clarke county, Ohio, in 1834. His father, Dr. Edward Taylor, of Cleveland, Ohio, was also born in this State. His grandfather and great-grandfather came together from New Jersey to Ohio in the year of Wayne's Treaty with the Indians, and settled in Ross county, naming the town in which they located Bainbridge, in honor of Commodore *Estimated in part. + Selected. 520 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO Bainbridge, a brother-in-law of the latter. His remoter ancestors came from England in 1692, and settled in Garret's Hill, Monmouth county, New Jersey, where many of their descendants still reside. His great-grandfather upon the mother's side was Colonel James Gordon, of Virginia, a part of whose diary is published in Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia. Colonel Gordon was a Scotchman, and an elder in the Presbyterian church of which Rev. Samuel Davies was pastor ; and Rev. James Waddell, D. D., the "blind preacher," whose eloquence was celebrated by William Wirt, married Colonel Gordon's daughter, the sister of Dr. Taylor's grandfather. The eldest daughter of Dr. Waddell, who was first cousin to Dr. Taylor's mother, was married to Rev. Archibald Alexander, D. D., the distinguished Princeton Professor for whom Dr. Taylor was named. Drs. J. W. and J. A. Alexander were therefore second cousins to Dr. Taylor. Dr. Taylor was a student from early life, and graduated at Princeton College at the age of nineteen, 1854. He studied theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, and was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Cincinnati in 1857. He was shortly afterward ordained, and settled as pastor over the Presbyterian church of Portland, Kentucky, where he remained two years. Thence he was called to the charge of the First Presbyterian church of Dubuque, Iowa, in which he labored successfully for six years. During this period he became a regular correspondent of the Presbyterian, of Philadelphia, over the signature of "Hawkeye," the familiar sobriquet of the people of Iowa. At the close of the war, in 1865, he was called to the Bridge Street Presbyterian church of Georgetown, D. C. From this field he was called in 1869 to the pastorate of the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian church of Cincinnati, Ohio, a new and promising organization. After a four years' pastorate, during which the membership of the church increased to over 200, Dr. Taylor was unanimously elected, in June, 1873, by the Board of Trustees, as successor to Rev. Willis Lord, D. D., as President of the Synodical University of Wooster. Having been a member of that Board for several years, and greatly interested in the success of this young University, after having contributed freely for the purpose of putting the endowment in a good condition, he accepted this position and entered upon its onerous duties in September, 1873. WOOSTER—SKETCHES - 521 Dr. Taylor has been a member of the Boards of Education and of Church Extension of the General Assembly. He has also been a member of the Boards of Directors of the North western Theoplogical Seminary, at Chicago, Ill., and of the Western Theological Seminary, of Allegheny, Pa. He was a member of the General Assembly at which the reunion of the two branches of the Presbyterian church was consummated in 1869. The 'degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by the Wooster University in 1872. Dr. Taylor is a man of medium size and kindly aspect, of fine talent and impressive address, of unusually genial temperament, and well adapted to win the affections of students, and interest all with whom he meets in the University, to the building up of which he has devoted himself with all his energies. The first year of his incumbency, though the position was new and very difficult to fill, was crowned with great success in securing the entire confidence of all connected with the institution, in the increasing number of students, and in the enjoyment of a powerful work of grace by which a large proportion of the inmates of the College were hopefully converted. Some of these have already turned their faces toward the Gospel ministry. LEANDER FIRESTONE, M. D. The uttered part of a man's life, let us always repeat, bears to the unuttered, unconscious part a small, unknown proportion ; he himself never knows it, much less do others. There are certain proprieties which, in obedience to a code of necessity, are uniform, will prevail and have prevailed for all time. It is proper that we should have astronomers to keep track of the planets and discover new ones ; philosophers to dogmatize upon truth and discuss " the science of realities ; " geologists to rake the ashes of the past, creep into the fissures of rocks, exhume mummies, ransack catacombs and announce the infancy of time ; masters in the realm of ethics ; discoverers in the empire of mechanics and mind, to aid muscular energy, economize time, produce wealth, reconcile fact with principle, earth with sky, creation with Creator, and elevate and ameliorate the moral and physical condition of the world. And since all men can not be discoverers, philosophers, inventors, etc., it is refreshing to know that the world has produced a 522 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO few. The trees of the forest attain not to the same Night, yet the smaller ones and the undergrowth have each their specific use and sphere. Nature was conscious of her eternal policies when she pronounced or decreed her discriminations with mankind. To each was assigned his weight of talent ; to each his sphere of exercise and employment. To this primal arrangement of things she has set her fixed and endless adaptations. Every life, when properly lived out, is supposed to have filled the measure of its possible and prescribed activities, and every trade and profession has its several departments requiring separate and peculiar talents. One man may excel in a given branch of a profession and be wholly inefficient in another. In medicine there are but few men who combine all the traits indispensable to the true physician. This fact seems to be much better understood with Europeans than in America, where the various branches of medicine are divided into separate and distinct professions. A man may practice skillfully in the materia medica and be but an indifferent surgeon, or he may excel in the science of compounding and be ill-suited to preside over the education of others. Moreover every profession has its literature and morale, and he may wield a pen with elegance, power and point who would prove but a blunderer in the dissecting-room. Dr. Firestone has not only vindicated his claim to an exalted rank in surgery, but in every department of the occult mysteries of medicine. He wields a strong and trenchant pen, talks with the freedom of the gushing brook, and presides over the studies of others with eminent success, and to the fame he has achieved with the scalpel he adds the luster of the teacher. He was born in Saltcreek township, Wayne county, Ohio, in the year 1819. After he attained his fourteenth year his time was spent in performing such service, during the summer, as a boy of that age was competent of doing upon the farm, while during the winter he had the occasional opportunity of attending the country school. He now went to Columbiana county, near Salem, where he had some sprightly jostling with the world, and where he obtained some scant instruction in a district school from a Mr. Kingsbury and a Mr. Mills. From there he went to Portage county, Ohio, where for three months he indulged in the health-inspiring, muscle-expanding, chest-enlarging, lung-invigorating occupation of chopping cord-wood, and that for three shillings per cord, and hard beech at that. WOOSTER-SKETCHES - 523 Whether the Doctor was so successful as to acquire distinction as a cord-wood carpenter and champion of the wedge and maul, we are not at liberty to tell, but fancy, however, that with all his preconceived conceits of the dignity of labor that he did not desire to extend his knowledge of his occupation beyond an exact rudiment- ary limit. Adopting the Westonic method of locomotion, he then proceeded to Chester township, Wayne county, making his home with his uncle, John Firestone, two miles north of New Pittsburg, with whom he remained until he was eighteen years of age. On the farm of his uncle he found " ample room and verge enough" for his developing and powerful muscular forces—felling grand old trees, rolling and tumbling logs, plowing among stumps and stubborn roots, an occupation sufficient indeed to test the patience and manly fortitude, not only of the youthful Firestone, but of the sternest Calvinist of the faith of Brown or good old Ebenezer Erskine. In the fields and woods the summer was spent ; in the dingy school-room the winter. He taught his first term in what is now Perry township, Ashland county, then in Wayne county, in what was called the Heiman district, receiving for his services twelve dollars per month, and boarding himself. By appropriating the intervals between labor and sleep to hard study, he obtained his education, and laid the marble on which is built the superstructure of his professional name. If he did not, like Pope, teach himself to write by copying printed books, he managed to acquire the art by other equally novel methods. He wrung the secrets from Kirkham and the Calculator by the blaze of burning brush-heaps. During this time he made weekly recitations to Rev. Thomas Beer. In addition to such studies that directly qualified him for teaching, he devoted himself to botany, philosophy, chemistry and other branches of natural science. He had no collegiate education. The farm was his academia and university ; the teeming fields and valleys, the trees and brooks his tutors. Life was his school, where " the clink of mind against mind" strikes out those brighter intellectual sparks which shine forever, and reflect light in endless irradiations. He studied hard, and had a clear understanding of what he read. Industry and perseverance are stout levers when fulcrumed upon a resolute will. Possunt quia posse videntur is a maxim full of pith as in any time past. There is a marvel in earnest study. He 524 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. adopted the idea of Bacon : "Read to weigh and consider "—not too many books but all good ones well. For "some books," adds he, "are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed and digested." Under difficult and adverse conditions he studied and struggled, "unfolding himself out of nothing into something." Or as Carlyle would say, he drew continually toward himself in continual succession and variation the materials of his structure, nay his very plan of it, from the whole realm of accident, you may say, from the whole realm of free-will building his life together, a guess and a problem as yet not to others only but to himself. On the 26th of August, 1838, he was married to Susan Firestone, and the next year, then but 20 years old, began the study of medicine with Dr. S. F. Day, an eminent practicing physician of the county at that time, and for whose great and consummate skill as a practitioner, to this day, he entertains a profound regard. With him he remained for nearly three years, during which time he took a course of lectures at the Medical College of Philadelphia. On the 28th of March, 1841, he located at Congress village, Congress township, where he began his first floatings on the abysmal sea of professional life. His residence and office were in the first house north of the hotel, then kept by James Huston and known as the Homer Stanley property. Here he continued for 13 years, where he had an extensive and lucrative practice and acquired a signal local reputation during which more than a decade, he graduated from the medical department of the Western Reserve College, then located at Cleveland, Ohio. We have said he had now attained to a local celebrity. More than that. He had not only impressed the community that embraced his circumference of visitation of his superior ability and where he had been saving " Some wrecks of life from aches and ails," But the noise of his skill and the echo of his professional exploits had reached the ear of the broader and more scientific public. The college, from which he had but recently graduated, was in need of an occupant for one of its professional chairs, and in its survey for a suitable man to fill it, the abilities of Dr. Firestone were recognized, and in 1847 he was made Demonstrator of Anatomy in that institution. This position he held until 1853, where his reputation as an anatomist and dissecting-room instruc- WOOSTER—SKETCHES - 525 tor was established, and when it became evident that honorable distinction awaited him. He next was appointed Superintendent of the Northern Ohio Lunatic Asylum, located at Newburg, which position he filled with conspicuous fitness until August 6, 1856, when he removed to Wooster, where he has lived ever since, and engaged in a successful and sweeping practice. In 1858 he was elected President of the State Medical Society, then holding its sessions at Columbus. In the winter of 1864 he was made Professor of Obstetrics and the Diseases of Women in Charity Hospital Medical College at Cleveland, which position he has continuously held ever since, excepting two years, during which he occupied the Chair of Surgery in the same college. In the summer of 1870 this institution was constituted the Medical Department of Wooster University, in which he continues Professor of Obstetrics and the Medical and Surgical Diseases of Women, and Class Lecturer on Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene to the University students at Wooster. The title of LL.D. was conferred upon Dr. Firestone by the University of Ohio, at Athens, June 24, 1874. This honor was bestowed, not simply in appreciation of his brilliant attainments in the medical profession, but for his distinguished and pre-eminent achievements in the departments of science and literature, and the literature of science. He has had eight children—three girls and five boys—all of whom are dead, save his two sons, W. W. Firestone, M. D., and M. O. Firestone, M. D. Dr. L. Firestone is now at the very zenith of his powers—standing on the mainlands of professional eminence. Being yet in the prime, the noon of his years, and considering his past progressive elevations, we have not the courage to forecast his future. We see what he has, but know not what he might have accomplished. He stands over six feet high, is massively built and solid as a forest oak. He is fleshy, but not corpulent, stout-limbed, broad- chested, and altogether well proportioned. His face is classic, his forehead is symmetrical, oval and dome-like. Causality, comparison, ideality, are as perceptible as the snow-summits of the Sierras. His countenance is expressive of thought, benignity, reflection, repose. Time has made reprisals upon his hair and what has not been plundered is slightly brushed with gray. He is accessible, sociable and communicative, yet he has the secret of secretiveness. He does nothing by proxy, not even his own thinking ; has faith 526 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. in himself, in his ability to decide for himself. All men do not know his thoughts ; he cages them like canaries, and when he lets them out, like carrier pigeons, they perform an errand. He understands himself, and is a skillful tactician. He has perfect control of himself and never does anything in haste. Hurry, rush and run are not in his dictionary. He is cool, imperturbable, self-poised and stands solid on his feet. With him there is time enough for all things. He will amputate your arm in less time than a barber will shave you, and do it with as little concern. He has an exuberance of animal spirits and may well feel discouraged over the prospect of dying of hypochondria. He is as full of mirth as a spring rivulet is of water, and his sense of the ludicrous is as keen as Halliburton's. He can tell a story with the same ease that Tallyrand could turn a coffee mill or a kingdom. He believes with Sterne that " laughter, like true Shandeeism, think what you will against it, opens the heart and lungs." He is fond of music and will never die with all of it in him. "He has a strong hand at one end of his arm and a strong head at the other." He is a mechanic in his profession as he would have been out of it. He would have made a better lawyer than nineteen-twentieths of those already at the bar. In the pulpit he would have a fire-kindler and segregator of sin, preaching from inspiration, and as all ministers should, without manuscript. His voice is susceptible of immense slides and modulations--is smooth enough for the evening party, strong and bellowing enough for anniversary pageant. He has many friends who are warmly attached to him. His enemies we imagine are few and he will get the best of them in the end. As a public lecturer he is popular, His addresses are eloquent and masterly productions, replete with pathos and sentiment, and chaste and sublime in imagery. His descriptive power is terse and brilliant ; his analyzations methodical and thorough ; the feeling, of the higher key and reflective. In this field he excels—shines, for the same reason that the sun gives light. As a professional instructor few aspire even to be his equal. He is indeed a born surgeon, enjoying peculiar adaptation to this branch of his profession. He possesses firmness and dexterity of hand, a calm, cool brain, a quick perceiving eye, a stout nerve, physical endurance and tenacity of will. In his operations he is resolute and decided, and in case of unforeseen complications he is ever guarded against surprises. Like Dr. Mott, his motto is, "Recognize the advance of science with the growth of the world," WOOSTER—SKETCHES - 327 and hence Dr. Firestone welcomes all valuable discoveries in medicine and surgery. We may imagine, with his strong and composite elements of character and hardy vigor of intellect, how he has attained to professional distinction and honor. Every power and faculty of mind and brain were subjected and made tributary to his ambition and will. He willed to succeed, and success crowned him. Laborious toil and indefatigable industry are the Doric and Corinthian pillars of the edifice he has built. Day was a host, a besetting legion, in the splendor of his manhood, but on his pupil of 3o years ago has fallen, not only his mantle, but a wider name and a richer munificence of honors. W. W. FIRESTONE, M. D. W. W. Firestone, M. D., was born in Congress village, Congress township, Wayne county, Ohio, February 25, 1842. A member of the family of Dr. Leander Firestone and wife, it would be superfluous to add that the home-culture and government to which he was subjected would be of the kind and character both to develop and discipline the boy. The education that underlies and is the sub-stratum of human character, upon which its possessor builds in after life, and which is the brightest spot in the long, green fields of memory, is that which is imparted by those two natural and God-commissioned instructors of the youthful mind—the father and mother ! In this respect we are justified in the inference that W. W. Firestone received assiduous and requisite attention. His other opportunities of education were promptly supplied by an open passage to the public schools of the city of Wooster, and to select and graduated teachers, under whose tutelage he completed his desired course of study. He attended the Mt. Union College for three years. In the year 1861 he began reading medicine with his father, Dr. Leander Firestone, when a term of four years was spent in study, in professional assistance of his father, and attendance on lecture courses, at the expiration of which period he had graduated from Charity Hospital Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio, now the Medical department of the University of Wooster. Since 1865 he has devoted himself wholly to the profession of his selection, and soon found himself partner in the office of L. Firestone, M. D. 528 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. He was married, July 6, 1862, to Miss Sarah A. H. Webster, daughter of W. C. Webster, a musical artist and accomplished lady, by which marriage they had five children, three of whom are living, W. L., Alice M. and F. Sylvia Firestone. W. W. Firestone, though one among the younger of the medical practitioners in our midst, has rapidly risen to success and popularity in his profession. Having barely attained the meridian of life, he has a future of great assurance and promise before him. As a physician he has secured the confidence of the people, and if the standard of professional eminence is to be measured by success, he has fought his way to the summit, and is justly entitled to the colors he has won. Constant, watchful, sympathetic, and possessed of good judgment and quick insight and comprehension, he possesses the normal elements of successful practice. Society, jealous and critical though it may be of its members, may worthily include him and his family in its better circles. As a man and citizen he is genial, hospitable and generous, alive to enterprise and ready to perform an honorable part in the promotion of the common good. Honesty and integrity constitute the parallels between which he moves. With him, all the domestic " nerve-centers " are concentrated in home. In this "charmed circle" are to be found his attachments, for surely here all the sweet atmospheres of this world are breathed. MARTIN WELKER. Martin Welker was born in Knox county, Ohio, April 21, 1818. His father, who was of German descent, was an early settler in Ohio, and having but little means to educate a large family, the subject of this sketch was obliged to rely almost exclusively upon his own resources, which did not consist of money, influence or friends. His educational advantages in youth were necessarily limited to a few years winter instruction in the log cabin schoolhouses of the West. This primeval educational structure—this old-time, antiquated and vanished predecessor of the modern university-we will not more faithfully or succinctly undertake to describe than Mr. Welker has himself, in a speech delivered by him at the dedication of the Wooster High School, October, 1870. From this speech we extract the following : WOOSTER—SKETCHES - 529 We may well be proud of our Common School System. Now no youth of scholastic age need be deprived of the benefit of public instruction in the endowments of education at public expense, so that, poor or rich, all are equally provided for within the borders of our State. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The scene before me to-day recalls to me days of other years, far back in the history of common schools of our State. I shall never forget the first school in which I entered and the house in which it was held. On a cold December morning I walked through a heavy snow, three miles, to the school-house, on the banks, of Owl creek, in Knox county. I there found a little log cabin, sixteen feet square, with puncheon floor, clap-board door and roof, greased paper in the windows, the whole end of the house one wide fire-place, with a chimney made of clay and sticks, built on the outside, and a blazing log fire in the ample fire-place. The benches or seats were split logs, with the flat side uppermost, with round sticks for legs, on which we sat, with our feet dangling above the rude floor. The " Master," as the teacher was then called, had the only desk, and that was a flat board, with four legs, standing in one corner. The " writing-tables" consisted of wide split slabs along one side of the room, supported by pins driven in the logs of the house. In this public building—and it is a fair representative of its day—we were provided a school for three months in the year, the winter season only. It was under such circumstances and possessed of such meager facilities of education, that Martin Welker was to receive the mental training that was to prepare him for the discharge of duties that an active public life was to impose. At an early age he developed a powerful inclination for books and the acquisition of knowledge, and such was his assiduity and habit of application that he very soon achieved familiarity with the English branches taught at that time in the schools. At the age of thirteen he abandoned his father's farm, and obtained a situation as clerk in a store in a neighboring village, where he remained five years, in the meantime appropriating much of his leisure time to the investigation of the higher branches of an English education. When a clerk in the store an event occurred which, no doubt, largely influenced, and, to an eminent degree, imparted purpose and determination to his career in life. He was called as a witness before a grand jury at Mt. Vernon. He had heard of Courts and Judges, but this was his first opportunity of witnessing either. The Hon. Ezra Dean was then the Presiding Judge, and a man of commanding appearance and dignified deportment and manner. This single but extraordinary circumstance so wonderfully impressed the then plastic mind of the young witness, for the first time in court, that he then and there resolved to be a lawyer, and if possible to be worthy, and to attain to that higher and nobler 34 530 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. distinction of the Judge—the position so well and admirably being filled by Deane This resolution ripened into a firm and settled purpose. His boyhood associates heard his declaration, and many of them lived to see it verified. He never lost sight of this young ambition, and how earnestly, zealously and indefatigably he has labored to accomplish and vindicate it, his remarkable Judicial record most eloquently explains. At the end of twenty years' hard and unremittent labor, and of many changes of fortune, he was elected Judge of the District over the same Judge Dean, who was his competitor, and actually occupied the same chair in the same old Court House at Mt. Vernon. This was the position he had declared to an associate that he would aspire to attain, and on its attainment his youthful friend, but now an eminent physician, warmly congratulated him upon the fulfillment of his boyish dream, the realization of his early and most laudable ambition. At the age of eighteen, having made considerable progress in a general education he entered a lawyer's office and commenced the study of a profession, in the multitudinous and complex intricacies of which he has acquired a national reputation. While engaged in the study of the law he occupied a portion of the time in probing the roots and exploring the beauties of the Latin tongue. Nor did he omit to carefully peruse the pages of ancient and modern history, and thus lay deep the foundation for the superstructure of his future eminence. In the literary societies with which he was identified he soon acquired reputation as a cogent reasoner, an apt and skillful debater, as well as an accomplished and vigorous writer. In the political campaign of 184o he took a very active part for one so young and inexperienced. The editorial department of the paper published in the county in which he resided received many keen and valuable contributions from his pen. In 1846 he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Holmes county, for a term of seven years, serving but five, when he resigned and resumed the practice of law. At the age of twenty-one he was admitted to the bar, and rapidly rose in distinction as a jurist and advocate. Since then we might almost say of him, as Phillips said of Bonaparte, his path has been " a plane of continued elevations." After he had been practicing ten years he was nominated and elected District Judge of the Sixth District of Ohio, which then included Wayne county, WOOSTER-SKETCHES - 531 and served the constitutional term of five years. At the close of this period he was unanimously re-nominated, but on account of much political excitement at the time, growing out of the Presidential contest of 1856, and being a Whig in politics, and the district largely Democratic, he lost a re-election, though running largely ahead of his ticket. In the fall of 1857 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio at the same time that Chief Justice S. P. Chase was made Governor. In this position he served one term, but declined a re-election. At the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion he was appointed a Major on the staff of General J. D. Cox, afterwards Governor of Ohio and Secretary of the Interior, and served out the term for which the first soldiers were enlisted. H e was then appointed Aid-de camp to the Governor, and assigned to the duties of Judge Advocate General of the State, and acted as such until the expiration of the term of office of Governor Dennison. His business qualifications in this position contributed valuable service in calling out and organizing the Ohio troops. In 1862 he was appointed Assistant Adjutant General of the State of Ohio, and was the State Superintendent of the draft for that year. While in discharge of that duty he was nominated for Congress by the Republican party of the Fourteenth Ohio District, but was defeated, as were many others in that disastrous campaign, by a majority of only thirty-six. In 1864 he was again nominated, and was elected to the 39th Congress by a large majority. In 1866 he was re-elected to the 40th Congress, serving on the Joint Comm ittee on Retrenchment and on the Committee for the District of Columbia. In 1868 he was elected again to the 41st Congress, where he served as Chairman of the Committee on Retrenchment of the House, on the Committee of the District of Columbia, and the Committee on Private Land Claims, of which latter he was the acting Chairman during the last session of that Congress. In the summer of 1869 the Congressional Retrenchment Committee crossed the continent to California, with a view of visiting and investigating the Custom House of San Francisco. Mr. Welker was Chairman of the House Committee, and Patterson, of New Jersey, Chairman of the Senate Committee. Whilst on the Pacific coast they were most hospitably received, and were the recipients of much attention and many favors by the citizens. They 532 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. visited the Geysers, Yosemite and the Cliff House ; crossed the beautiful bay, and were saluted by cannon from Alcatraz. In December, 1873, he was appointed by President Grant, vice Charles Sherman, resigned, District Judge of the United States for the Northern District of the State of Ohio, and was immediately confirmed by the Senate. This is a life appointment, and is the key-stone in the handsome and enviable arch which so symmetrically crowns the reputation of Martin Welker. He brings to the performance of its duties the mature products of a life of toil, the solid experiences of professional manhood, an enlightened and discriminating mind in the highest condition of culture, a sound judgment and keen and lucid comprehension of the law. The office honors him no more than he honors it. Judge Martin Welker was married on the 4th of March, on the day of President Harrison's inauguration, to Miss Maria Armor, of Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio, sister of Professor S. G. Armor, of Brooklyn Medical College. She is a lady of great refinement, sweetness of disposition and excellent culture, and was highly esteemed by her many friends and acquaintances in Washington City. At the close of his term of Judgeship of the Court of Common Pleas, and in the spring of 1859 he removed to Wooster, where he has permanently resided ever since, though his judicial duties demand his presence in Cleveland and Toledo. In recognition of his abilities, the University of Wooster has conferred upon him the title of LL. D. He has been, in the loftiest sense and most comprehensive meaning of the term, a public man, and among a galaxy of distinguished citizens of Ohio, has exerted a great influence in the development of his native State, and in his quiet, unobtrusive, but effective way, has contributed largely in shaping her political destiny. JAMES D. ROBISON, M. D. James D. Robison was born April 23, 182o, on the corner of Buckeye and North streets, Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio. His early years were spent with his father, Thomas Robison, Esq., during which time he attended the village schools, procuring such education as the limited opportunities of that day admitted. At the age of seventeen he hired as a clerk to Robison & McCune, where he remained until he was twenty, at which time, and in accordance with an intention previously resolved upon, he com- WOOSTER-SKETCHES - 533 menced the study of medicine. He entered the office of Dr. Samuel Norton Bissell, in February, 1840, continuing with him until October, 1841, when, during the fall, he proceeded to Philadelphia, that winter availing himself of a course of lectures at the Jefferson Medical College of that city, soon thereafter taking advantage of a course of clinical instruction at the Brooklyn Hospital. The summer of 1842 he spent in Cincinnati, in pursuit of his professional work, in the office of Dr. William Wood, simultaneously attending lectures at the Medical College of Ohio and a clinical course at the Commercial Hospital of Cincinnati. In the fall of 1842 he returned to Philadelphia, where he graduated, and received his diploma in March, 1843. He returned to Wooster and remained there during the summer, the same autumn, however, removing to the Queen City, locating there and actively engaging in the practice of his chosen profession. Here he met with signal success in his profession, and here he continued until the 3d of July, 1846, and until the breaking out of the Mexican war. At the solicitation of S. R. Curtis, Colonel of the 3d 0. V. I., he was made Surgeon of said regiment, leaving Cincinnati that day (July 3) for Mexico. Arriving at New Orleans on the 9th, he spent a day or two in the city, when he proceeded to Brazos de Santiago, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, arriving August 6 at " Camp Curtis," opposite the old city of Matamoros. On the 9th of December he was assigned by General Patterson as Surgeon to the 3d Illinois regiment, commanded by Ferris Foreman, which being ordered by General Zachary Taylor to Victoria, arrived there January 4, 1847. January 15 Patterson's Division, of which his (Robison's) regiment was a part, was ordered to join General Winfield Scott at Tampico, and on March 8 they were ordered to sail for Vera Cruz, whither they arrived on the 15th, the Mexican forces surrendering seventeen days thereafter, the United States soldiers taking possession of the city. On the 10th of April, 1847, on account of sickness, Dr. Robison resigned his commission and returned to Wooster, and in October of the same year formed a partnership with J. P. Coulter, M. D., for the practice of medicine, which continued to the fall of 1853. Here he intermitted his professional labors for about a year, meantime going to New York and visiting the hospitals and medical institutions there with a view to keeping abreast with the progress and discoveries of the profession. He again returned to Wooster 534 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. in the autumn of 1854, opening an office and engaging in the practice until 1861, when the war of the Rebellion was inaugurated. He immediately offered his professional services to the government, which were as promptly accepted, being assigned to the 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he was identified throughout the three months' service. He was in the battle of Phillippi, one of the earliest collisions of the Rebellion, and had the honor of amputating the frrst leg of the war, that of a Confederate soldier. He was promoted to the rank of Brigade Surgeon in July, 1861, and assigned to the command of General Rosecranz. After the battle of Carnifex Ferry he was ordered to locate and organize hospitals along the Kanawha, and assume charge of the one situated at Galipolis. He was with General Lander at Paw-paw Tunnel, who died the second day after his arrival. He accompanied the army of General James Shields down the Valley of the Shenandoah and participated in the first battle of Winchester, Virginia, March 23, 1862, which resulted in the discomfiture of the forces of Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson. He next assumed supervision of hospitals, and continued to act in that capacity until General N. P. Banks was driven from the Valley. He was afterwards sent to the Peninsula with the forces under General G. B. McClellan, being attached to the 6th army corps, commanded by General Franklin, as an inspecting surgeon, retaining said position until after the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862. He was next ordered to Washington City to take charge of the Patent Office Hospital, where he remained until he was compelled to resign on account of the illness of his wife. On his return home he was appointed Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment for this district, which position he held during the war. Since then he has been engaged in practice. Dr. J. D. Robison has been twice married. A retrospect of the life of Dr. Robison shows it to have been an intensely active, zealous and positive one. From the very outset in 1840 it has been a vigorous battle, not a long skirmish line, with here and there a faculty employed, but a compact and concentrated movement against the opposing forces of the world. Diligence and speculative research were characteristic of him in his rudimentary professional years. He was practical and observant from the very outstart of his studies. He is one of the able and popular physicians in the county, and is seen every day with the harness on. He is not an idler, WOOSTER-SKETCHES - 535 and even if he were so inclined, his professional duties would give him no time for recreation. There has always been a fascination in his chosen science. He toils in it because it delights him. Its duties may be depressing and discouraging at times, but then they have their rewards. It may be the ministry of pain; but it is likewise the ministry of blessing and love. At the bed of sickness he is non-excitable, candid and undeceiving, full of encouragement and expectation. He is naturally of a cheery, spring-like and hopeful disposition. He believes, with one of the old poets, that we should hope for everything that is good, because there is nothing which may not be hoped for, and nothing but what the gods are able to give us. Surely it is a cardinal and robust virtue in man. It imparts habitual serenity and good-humor. It is a kind of vital heat in the soul that cheers and gladdens it. It makes pain easy and labor pleasant. As a skillful practitioner he takes high rank, having an experience possessed by few of his rivals—active professional service during two wars. As a patriot all that can be said of Dr. Robison must be expressed in the language of eulogy. In the Mexican campaign he was one of the most popular of the surgeons and won a reputation as an eminent and successful practitioner. In politics he is a Republican, but has made it a life-rule to avoid its tumults and strifes. Had he ventured upon this field he could not well have been kept out of Congress. In this direction he had special qualifications. He prefers to look at the sunlight to the twilight side of human nature. He is a man of marked mental and physical equilibrium—calm and self-possessed. He is genteel, plain and unaffected. In the social circle he is at home and causes all to feel the same way. He is a fluent talker, the gravity of his conversation at times being often enlivened with wit and humor. In fact, he is such a man and his demeanor such as to be equally distant from constraint and negligence, and he will command your respect while he lays seige to your heart. The Doctor, though slightly past his fiftieth year is yet hale and stout, having the prospect of years of usefulness and enjoyment. He still sparkles with his youthful vivacity ; is as full of fun as a spring rivulet is of water. If his hair is snowy, it covers a warm head, for "where the snow-flakes fall thickest there's nothing can freeze." 536 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF WOOSTER. The people of Wooster, intelligent themselves, have always taken an interest and pride in making their children intelligent. In the years 1853 and 1854, each of the four wards of the city built a school-house of its own, and for a few years thereafter each had a school conducted independently of the others. They were finally united under one management, and Mr. John Brinkerhoff was appointed general Superintendent, a position he held until 187o. The school accommodations becoming insufficient, in 1867 the citizens voluntarily taxed themselves to build the best school-house in the State. It was completed in 1870, the building, with grounds, furniture, etc,, having cost $113,000. It is located on West Bowman street. While its great size renders it the most conspicuous building in the city, its architectural beauty fascinates the eye of every beholder. Beauty in architecture is a great educator of popular taste. The Greeks and Romans were better aware of this fact than many of our money-getting generation. On each floor of the High School building there is one large study room, having a seating capacity for two hundred and forty pupils. Four recitation rooms are attached to each of these. The Principal gives her undivided attention to discipline and the supervision of the studying, while the Assistants hear all the recitations. This plan secures a highly advantageous division of labor. All the rooms are tastefully finished and ornamented to some extent with pictures, plants, etc., to give them a pleasant, homelike air. High commendation is due to those who have not overlooked the fact that children have an aesthetic nature that should be gratified and cultivated. It would be a cruel economy that would place refined teachers and impressible children in dingy, unattractive rooms. A keen sense of beauty, harmony and order are as essential to happiness and usefulness in life as a knowledge of arithmetic and grammar. Moreover, pleasant surroundings make dispositions pleasant, and thereby render discipline easy. There is a library of three hundred volumes, a geological cabinet and eight hundred dollars worth of philosophical and chemical apparatus. These aid greatly in the work of instruction. The school is divided into three departments, viz: Primary, Grammar, High School. There are four grades in each department, all the pupils of a grade having the same studies. It requires WOOSTER—PUBLIC SCHOOLS - 537 one year to complete the work of a grade, and promotions are made regularly from one to another every June. In 1874, vocal music was introduced as a regular branch of study in all the grades. The results obtained have exceeded the fondest expectations of its most ardent advocates. In September, 1877, drawing was given a place in the course of study, and a special teacher was appointed for that branch. These are indications of progress in the right direction. Since education is the due and harmonious development of all the powers of man, educate the heart and the hand as well as the head. The Superintendent holds a meeting for all the teachers once a month. After his suggestions and instructions have been given, one or two of the teachers present carefully written papers on subjects relating to their work in the school-room. The thoughts presented are then discussed by the teachers. In the intervals, frequent grade meetings are held for special instruction in the methods of conducting the work of each particular grade. That the present Superintendent and teachers are zealous and progressive is indicated by the fact that they have, at their own expense, furnished a reading-room and supplied it with the best educational and scientific periodicals. The public schools of Wooster now rank among the best in the State. The course of study is thorough and complete ; the best methods of instruction and discipline are in use ; and a competent corps of teachers is employed. A large number of non-resident pupils are now in attendance, which shows that the schools are popular. The School Trustees are performing their duties zealously and intelligently. The following is the present organization of the schools : BOARD OF EDUCATION. John Zimmerman, Jacob Frick and J. W. Baughman. SUPERINTENDENT OF INSTRUCTION. W. S. Eversole, A. M. BOARD OF EXAMINERS. Superintendent, W. S. Eversole ; Professor S. J. Kirkwood and Colonel Ben. Eason. TEACHERS. High School.—Principal, Jennie A. Boyd; Assistants, Mary E. Parsons and Susan Given. A and B Grammar School.—Principal, William L. Brothers ; Assistants, Ada Given, Maria E. Abbott and Carrie V. Kramer. 538 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. C and D Grammar School.—Principal, Flora Miller ; Assistants, Mila Barrett, Ella J. Milligan, Loretta S. McMonigal and Mary E. Gordon. First Ward.—Principal, Ettie E. Jackson ; Assistants, Ella J. Eckenroth and Eunice Clark. Second Ward.—Principal, Kate L. Barnes; Assistants, Frankie J. Clark and Nettie M. Gasche. Third Ward.—Principal, Emma E. Weirich ; Assistants, Emma Flattery and Ella F. Mark. Fourth Ward.—Principal, Amelia Kemmerlein ; Assistant, Ella D. Shively. Teacher of Music, N. L. Glover. Teacher of Drawing, S. G. Steele. JOHN ZIMMERMAN. John Zimmerman immigrated to America in the year 1845, having been born in Richen, Grand Duchy of Baden, now under the Prussian Government, April 11, 1829. His father, Paul Zimmerman, was a farmer, in moderate circumstances, a representative of the middle class, with whom the possession of large farms or estates was a very unusual affair. He had ten children—nine boys and one girl—his son John being the youngest of the family. His mother died when he was seven years old. Having an older brother living near Canal Dover, and having heard of the rare opportunities of money-getting in the United States, he resolved to make them a visit, which he did, reaching New York, June 25, 1845. His steps were immediately directed to Canal Dover, where he found his brother living on a small tract of land about a mile from said village. His name was Frederick Zimmerman, and now lives in Bloomville, Seneca county, Ohio. With Frederick he remained six weeks, when he proceeded to Canton, Ohio, going into the drug store of C. C. A. Wittings as a clerk, with whom he remained two years, employed chiefly in the laboratory and experimenting with chemicals. In 1847 he went to Massillon, was employed two years as clerk in a drug and book concern, returning to Canton in 1849, and entering the drug store of Dr. R. H. McCall. In 1850 the doctor went to California, leaving Mr. Zimmerman in charge of his business, during which year he was married to Miss Barbara Held, of Massillon, Ohio. Dr. McCall returned from California in 1852, Mr. Zimmerman still in possession of the store. Forming a partnership now, on the 5th of July of this year, he came to Wooster and rented a room in the east end of the old Exchange Hotel, where he engaged in the sale of drugs, books, etc. This part- WOOSTER—SKETCHES - 539 nership continued until the fall of 1855, when Mr. Zimmerman purchased the interest of his partner. Continuing business here for three years, he next rented the room now occupied by Messrs. Roller & Wilson, where he conducted trade for ten years. In February, 1867, he bought 42x180 feet of the Exchange Block, removed the old building immediately, and proceeded at once to erect a new one, which was completed about the middle of March, 1868. That spring he assumed possession of it, taking into partnership with him for a term of five years Lewis P. Ohliger, an active and reliable young man who had been in his employ for over ten years. His building is a superb brick, three stories high, fronting on West Liberty street, with a depth of 175 feet. His business occupies the whole length of it, the wholesale department being to the rear. A commodious cellar underlies the whole building. On the second floor are the rooms of the Wayne County Democrat office, besides two of the best public offices in the city. On the third floor is a fine hall, 58x26. Mr. Zimmerman has been frequently promoted to offices of public trust since he came into the county, having been elected County Treasurer in 1857 and re-elected in 1859, besides holding several of the most important municipal offices of Wooster. He is a special champion of education, subscribing liberally to the University, and particularly devoting his energies to the advancement of the public schools of the city, he being at the present time President of the Board of Education. In every respect Mr. Zimmerman has shown himself to be a very valuable citizen, having the welfare of the city and county at heart, as is manifest at all times by his zeal in every department of public enterprise. REV. BENJAMIN POPE. Rev. Benjamin Pope was born near Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, May 6, 1815, and was the youngest of seven children. He was educated at the Seminary of the Joint Synod of Ohio, under the charge of Professor Schmidt, of Columbus, now called Capital University. After entering upon the ministry he located near Steubenville, Jefferson county, Ohio, continuing in the service of the profession until enfeebled and incapacitated by affliction. He died June, 8, 1864. Elizabeth M. Hippee, to whom Rev, Pope was married Sep- 540 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. tember 14, 1843, i a native of Canton, Stark county, Ohio, where she was born September 14, 1823. Having qualified herself for the duties of teaching, at an early age she engaged in the profession, teaching at Delaware, Ohio, for two years, and until her health seemed to be failing. In the spring of 1849 she became the successor of Mrs. McKee—wife of the Seceder minister of the long-gone-by—she transferring to Mrs. Pope her pupils, numbering five or six, whom she instructed about two months. In October she opened the session, assisted by Miss Sarah Hippee, with between thirty and forty pupils upon the roll. This term was taught in the house now owned and occupied by 0. F. Jones, Esq. In the spring of 1853 she took possession of the old Academy building, and continued her labors as Principal of the institution until 1865, establishing for herself and her school a reputation that made the name of " Mrs. Pope's Seminary at Wooster" popular throughout Wayne and neighboring counties. CAPTAIN GEORGE U. HARN. " Whether on the scaffold high, Or in the battle's van, The noblest place for man to die, Is when he dies for man." George Upton Ham was born in the city of Baltimore, July 30, 1820. He was the son of John and Charlotte Harn, and was the oldest of a family of fourteen children. In his journal he says, "I have but little to say about my parentage, for I am unapprized of anything worthy of notice except it be, that my genealogy on both father's and mother's side could not be impeached with anything short of common honesty, so far as I am acquainted." His great-great-grandfather was the first of the name in America, and he came from London, and was of Cymbro or Welsh descent. He spent the first two years of his life in Baltimore with his mother, while his father was in Frederick county working at his trade, which was that of house-joiner. After this the family moved to this county and purchased a plantation. When he was ten years old his father took him to Baltimore to attend school, and placed him in charge of his grandmother. He remained in the city but a few months, when he returned home. After this he was sent to a subscription school in the neighbor WOOSTER—SKETCHES - 541 hood, and it was here and at the debating society where he first acquired a taste for study and his disposition for public speaking first manifested itself. In the year 1838, being then eighteen years of age, he made a profession of religion. In August, 1839, he was immersed, and on the same Sunday announced that on the following Sunday he would preach. His father declared his opposition to this movement, but notwithstanding this, on the appointed day he delivered his first sermon, taking for his text portions of the first chapter of James. He obtained permission of his father to attend a camp-meeting at Big Pipe creek, near Tawnytown, about sixteen miles from his home, which was to commence on the 4th of September, but when the time came his father refused to let him go. Mr. Harn remonstrated and said he had promised to go and that he must go, when he was met with the answer that if he did he should never enter the family mansion again. The next morning was Sunday, and he again asked leave to go, and was once more refused. There being now no chance of getting a horse to ride he started afoot through a storm of rain. He left home at 9 A. M. and arrived at his destination at 3 P. M., making the distance of sixteen miles in this time, traveling bare-footed occasionally to save his shoes that he was fearful might give out before he got there. Arriving at the camp-meeting he found himself in the midst of entire strangers, but soon found plenty of friends, afterwards returning home, notwithstanding the uttered prohibition of his father. In 1841 the Pennsylvania Eldership of the churches assembled at Mt. Joy, Lancaster county, licensed him as a regular minister, and immediately appointed him to a circuit. When he was twenty- four years old he turned his attention to Greek, not, however, being assisted by an instructor. Combined with his good English education, he attained proficiency as a German, Latin, Greek and Hebrew scholar, having made considerable progress in the study of French. In 1846 he published a small work entitled " A Sermon on the Ordinance of Feet Washing," which was issued from the Church Advocate office, the organ of the Church of God in the United States. This book elicited a sarcastic review from a contributor of the Methodist Protestant, published in Baltimore. The article, however, was firmly met with a caustic reply, by Rev. Harn, as might well be expected, for the lion of his nature could howl through his pen. 542 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. In the summer of 1847, becoming restless, he made an exodus for the then far west, going down the Ohio and up the Mississippi, above St. Louis, when he left the river, and traveled on foot preaching along the road wherever he could find suitable places' and in his course visiting Mt. Carroll, Freeport, Dixon, Galena, etc., in Illinois. During the winter of 1847-48 he taught school and preached in Mt. Carroll and neighboring places. In the spring of 1848 he returned east, by the way of Chicago, and by Lake Erie, to Cleveland, and thence by stage to Wooster. Here he was hospitably entertained by Rev. Archibald Megrew, who was then pastor in charge of the Church of God in Wooster, and here, on the 30th of April, 1848, he preached his first sermon in Wooster. His stay in Wooster, this time, was brief, it being only a visit, and on the lath of this month he started eastward. In the latter part of 1848 he began preaching in Philadelphia, and in June, 1850, he followed "the course of Empire" west again, accompanied by Elder John Winebrenner, and arrived in Wooster on the 8th of this month, the same evening preaching in the Baptist church. This trip was continued on to Iowa, when he returned to Pennsylvania, and thence back to Wooster, where he arrived about April 12, 185 I , this time to take charge of the church, where he remained but a year, having been appointed to the pastorate of the church at Lancaster, Pa., in May, 1852, where he remained two years. He next took charge of the church at Shippensburg, in that State, where he remained until April, 1855, when he once more retraced his steps to Wooster, becoming pastor of the church for several years. During 1854-55 he took an active part in the temperance reform movement in Pennsylvania. In 1856 he took an active part in local and national politics, and established the reputation of being a powerful orator and debater. From April 1, 1857, to April 1, 1858, he traveled over 5,000 miles, 3,000 of which by private conveyance, and spoke over 200 times, principally upon temperance, slavery and Hebrew servitude. On the 12th of July, in company with General Spink, Hon. William M. Orr, Hon. Eugene Pardee and Hon. Martin Welker, he attended the State convention, as a delegate from Wayne county. In 1858 he was a candidate for Congress before the nominating convention, where he demonstrated great strength and popularity. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago convention, which nominated A. Lincoln. During all these years he was a constant correspondent WOOSTER-SKETCHES - 543 of the Church Advocate, many of his contributions being masterly and heroic assaults upon slavery. He wrote upon a great variety of topics, such as Baptism by Immersion, Infant Baptism, etc., and in the possession of his family are valuable MSS. upon these and other subjects intended for publication. He was married March 27, 1851, to Mary A. Bricker, of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. His oldest son, George U. Harn, is at the present time one of the editors and proprietors of the Mansfield, Ohio, Herald. He was an acute, logical and profound thinker, a fluent and powerful debater, fearless of antagonists, and carrying his challenge in his hand. He had the pluck of Murat, the courage of Turenne. Fear to him was a meaningless term. If he resolved to go forward he would do so " though hell should gape and bid him hold his peace." He faced danger with the courage of conscience and intellect. The man who dared to utter such a sentiment—" Not that I seek death, but if such a sacrfice must be offered, let me be one who shall do his duty in the decisive hour," and who, when the decisive hour came, did die like a hero, has made an appeal for earthly immortality. WOODHULL AND CLAFLIN. The higher liberty of the soul ! At " the other end of the avenue," freedom from all restraint! Free love is libertinism, libertinism is tragedy. Vary the key-note ; introduce the charming variations ; make use of the minor, or the major scale, the strain finally modulates into the melancholy finale, tragedy. Helen elopes from her husband to be mistress of Priam's son. Troy in ashes. Mark Antony dallied in amorous liaison with Cleopatra ; upon his own sword, that " quartered the world," he fell, while the poison of a deadly asp froze her blood. Before Lucretia Borgia her admirers bowed in adoration, and promiscuously enjoyed her charms. What fates awaited them ! Notorious in history is the royal libertine of all the Russias ; and who can tell the dark doom that fell upon the favorites of Catherine ? But the quarries of history need not be explored for illustration to make sure our proposition. A pale girl in the corridor of the Treasury building at Washington City, with fiery eyes, presents herself with outstretched 544 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. hand, and in it a loaded pistol ; a puff of smoke is seen, and a bullet tears through a young man's heart ; free love, with its license of libertinism, closes in tragedy. A pocket handkerchief flaunts in the air ; a wild crowd jams the street-the revolver has done its work ; a mangled body bleeds upon the curb-stone, and this is General Sickles' protest against free-loveism, and this is tragedy. The Sheridan of dashing journalists allows the strange fatalism to possess him ; it insinuates with its delightful exterior the social circle, and in its firm and silky folds is caught a brilliant summer fly, ready to abjure most sacred vows ; another pistol shot, a deathbed marriage, a bride of an hour. A briber of Legislatures seeking to make lawlessness law, and judges pronounce injustice just, who sneered at prisons and penalties, at promises and pledges, at honesty and honor, whose immense commercial genius exhausted itself in thefts and frauds and cheats, who rioted and feasted and fattened upon stolen substance, who enjoyed beyond men, the higher liberty of the soul, and pranced wildly in the enchanting pastures of license, whose life was an amour and for whom Fate wove her webs from the eye-beams and voluptuous charms of a lovely woman, suddenly closes a rapid, wonderful life, On the stairway of a fashionable metropolitan hotel, the condemning bullet avenges the libertinism of free love. The end is tragedy. These are but prominent illustrations. How many suicides, the causes of which are mysterious, might be but the discordant strains in this doleful finale, of which the introduction and theme are the voluptuous melodies of free love! If free-lovism prevails will not the tragedy be universal ? " Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all." A question arising whether these transcendentalists ever lived in Wooster we took the liberty of writing the following letter: WOOSTER, OHIO, February 20, 1874. VICTORIA WOODHULL, New York—Madam: With parties interested in the matter, there is now suspended in the chancery of opinion a question as to the fact of you and your sister Tennie C. Claflin having, at any time, been residents of our city. I will be gratitied to have your statement relative to the subject in dispute. If it be true that you formerly lived in Wooster, when was it, and how long? You will greatly oblige me by answering this letter. Permit me to subscribe myself, very cordially, BEN DOUGLASS. WOOSTER—SKETCHES - 545 The following was received in reply: BEN DOUGLASS, ESQ.—Dear Sir: Both Tennie and I lived in Wooster, Ohio, during my tenth and eleventh years. A Dr. ____ _____, if still living, can tell you something of us. Yours, etc., VICTORIA C. WOODHULL. We entertain no feeling or sentiment of pride in presenting to our readers the fact that these two grossest and subtlest of all the advocates of the monstrous social crime of the age once lived in our county, but it fell under the range of our work and we sought the information. They have a continent-wide fame as the exponents of their peculiar views, by which, if the civil, domestic and religious world were governed, there would be presented a disorganized mass that ultimately would bring on the age of unbridled license and its natural consequence, universal anarchy and uproar. MAJOR ENOCH TOTTEN. Enoch Totten, son of Michael and Susan Totten, of Wooster, was born in Wayne county, March 23, 1836. He was educated at Franklin College, Harrison county, Ohio, and afterwards removing to Wisconsin, began reading law with Judge Joseph Hawkins, of Waukesha. After the conclusion of his elementary studies, he began practice in the city of Milwaukee, in that State, where he continued until the breaking out of the war in 1861. He enlisted in the Fifth Wisconsin Regiment of Infantry, April 23, 1861, and in May was commissioned First Lieutenant. He entered the Peninsular campaign as a Captain, and was in the battles of Williamsburg, Garnet Hill, Malvern Hill, the "Seven Days' Battle " before Richmond, the second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Rappahannock, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, etc. In the Wilderness, on the 5th of May, 1864, he was wounded in the foot and had his horse shot, and at Spottsylvania, May 10, 1864, he was struck four times, a minie-ball passing through his Tight hand. He was at the head of his regiment, and while waving his sword and leading his men in a charge upon the enemy's third line of earth-works, in the darkness of the night, the unerring bullet struck his sword, wrenched it from his grasp, and tore violently 545 - HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO. through the hand that bravely held it. The wound being a most painful one and totally disqualifying him for further present service, he retired from the field and returned to Wooster, where he remained for a period with his parents, having served from the time of his enlistment three years and seventeen days. Concerning Mr. Totten's courage and skill as an officer, we quote : On Thursday, May 5, 1864, Major Totten was ordered by General Russell, in the middle of the forenoon, to take command of the third company of his regiment, and repel an assault of the enemy on the right of our line. Major Totten fought his men with the utmost gallantry and skill during the greater part of the day, though with himself and horse severely wounded at the opening of the fight, capturing a stand of colors and 266 prisoners. The prisoners outnumbered the effective strength of the whole of the Fifth Wisconsin Regiment. Major Totten refused to leave his post, and distinguished himself in the fighting on each of the subsequent days, until, in an assault upon the enemy's breast-works, he was wounded and forever disabled. He had won a Brigadiership." Major General Upton, of the United States Army, urged his promotion, assuring General Schofield of his cool courage and gallantry, and calling attention to the fact " that Major Totten's services have not as yet been properly rewarded." He is now located in Washington City, D. C., engaged in the practice of his chosen profession. He was married October 4, 1867, to Mary E. Howe, daughter of United States Senator Howe, of the State of Wisconsin. Major Totten is another Wayne county boy that has made his mark. He spent his earlier years upon the farm, acquired a thorough education at Franklin College, gravitated West, entered the legal profession, and soon rose to eminence at the bar. After Sumpter was fired he went into the military service of the Government, and at