The life of Preston B. Plumb, 1837-1891, United States Senator from Kansas for the fourteen years from 1877 to 1891, "a pioneer of the progressive movement in America"

Preface

The object of this book is to present in a direct and simple way the leading events in the life of Preston B. Plumb. It has, however, a higher purpose than the mere exaltation of any name. A book which does not render service to society is worse than useless. Interwoven there will be found something here of pioneer life, the founding of a great State, the passing of the old order, a change in the destiny of the Republic, the coming of a new era, and the influence of these on our industrial and political life. There will appear visions of the sword shaken over the land, and we shall see marches over the red roads of the Ozarks, on the prairies, through, the rolling woodlands of Missouri, across the Great Plains, and in the Rocky Mountains. There will arise to view the shock of battle, the dead and dying on bloody fields, the crime and glory of war — an iridescent phantasmagoria of the baseness and sublimity of human passions and human actions.

These are some of the reasons for this book. It is hoped that others will appear in its reading.

Of Senator Plumb it must be said that he was a peculiar man. He was emotional and sympathetic — capable of friendship.

Pioneer influences shaped Plumb's life and developed his intellect. He was an intense and independent American, and neither usage, precedent, nor party bound him. He was the apostle of the West, and Kansas was his inspiration. For in her rise she had rendered substantial service to the nation. Her course destroyed slavery. Her struggles produced liberal, vi PREFACE

freedom-loving, and patriotic people. One of her Senators, Plumb's fellow-soldier and friend, saved the Union when revolutionists had decreed its subserviency to the Republican party and impeached the President. Plumb, knowing that the Civil War had caused inconceivable misery and suffering could not approve the course of his party in reconstruction; but supported Greeley, and became the friend of the South. In the efforts of his party to withhold (if not destroy) industrial liberty, he stood for the people, and became in a sense the forerunner of the present movement toward democracy in America.

As to his adopted State there seemed to rest always on Plumb a sense of responsibility for the material progress of Kansas. This burden he could never escape. It was a personal matter, a feeling of individual moral obligation which he never could shake off. He seemed not to realize that his portion of the work of developing the natural resources of Kansas and providing for the population which was to spread to her utmost bounds, was, in fact, no greater than that of any other citizen except as he had greater opportunities for achievement. He made the interest of Kansas and her people, present and prospective, his concern from the time he left his printing office in Ohio until the day of his death. And this was not wholly by design, nor was it to obtain favor or political preferment. It was inherent in him, a part, of him, a spontaneous and involuntary manifestation of the soul.

Through all bis mistakes which, as he was but mortal, were many — through all his lapses and faults which, as he was but human, were serious indeed — Plumb's life was an effort to acquit himself conscientiously of the weight and pressure of the unseen hand laid on him by the Infinite.

William E. Connelley.

Contents

Preface v

CHAPTEB l'AQE

I The Plumb Family 3

Chapter I The Plumb Family

The Plumb family is of Norman origin, and came into Britain with William the Conqueror. The progenitor of the family was Robertus Plumme, who, something more than a century after Hastings, appears on the Great Roll of Normandy for the year 1180 ; and on the same roll for 1195 his name stands as Robert Plome. The record is complete and the succession unbroken to the Plumbs of this day. 1

Migrations strengthen races. It would be interesting to note how the people of Southern Scandinavia from their low-lying ocean shores, their mud-banks and sounds and bays, their swamp-forests and salt-marshes, took to the sea and beat about the bounds of the known world. They fastened upon Britain, they became the scourge of the Mediterranean coasts, they seized northern Europe and founded the Russian Monarchy, and their battle-axes rang on the iron gates of Constantinople. Their brethren to the south destroyed the Roman Empire. These ruthless Northmen overran some i The authority from which the facts concerning the Plumb family were drawn is The Plumb Genealogy, by H. B. Plumb, Peeley, Luzerne County, Pa., Second Edition, 1893. It begins with Robertus Plumme, on the Great Roll of Normandy, 1180, and traces his descendants down to the present day.

principalities of France and there became Frenchmen — the Normans. In course of the development of the countries taken and held by these barbarians who turned the world upside down, the Normans formulated a claim to England, and William led his hosts over-sea and conquered and held it. In the mailed ranks of those adventurous hordes were the first Plumbs known to us, the forbears of all of that name now living in England and America. Beyond that they are hidden by that veil of obscurity which time hangs between us and the ancient days.

John Plume was the progenitor of the Plumbs in America. He sold Ridgewell Hall, Essex, England, and came, in 1G35, in his own ship, to Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he was one of the first settlers and proprietors.

Ichabod Plumb, a descendant of John Plume, was born at Middletown, Connecticut, March 11, 1777. From Middletown he moved to Hartford. In the fall of 1804 he moved from Hartford to Worthington, Ohio, where he lived tw r o years, then moved to Berkshire, Delaware County. On the main street of the village he built his shop. There he was a blacksmith, and he manufactured wagons. He tilled a considerable farm, and he built and operated a mill for carding wool. He was an Episcopalian, and he was the principal member of the Episcopal Church which he had caused to be established at Berkshire. He was a Major in the Ohio State Militia, and he bore that rank in the War of 1812, though an account of his services has not been preserved.

Of the sons of Ichabod Plumb one was David Plumb, no was born at Berkshire, Ohio, July 9, 1812, and w r as bred to the trade of wagon-maker, though he did not become a blacksmith. He remained strong in his attachment to the Episcopal Church; and he supported himself and family by working at his trade. 2

a At Marysville, Ohio, David Plumb entered into partnership with

THE PLUMB FAMILY 5

At Berkshire, December 14, 183C, David Plumb was married to Miss Hannah Maria Bierce. The Bierce family is one of the oldest in New England, having come into Massachusetts in the days of Governor Winslow. Members of the family settled in Connecticut at an early day, and in the general westward trend their descendants passed into New York. Immediately after the Revolution Hugh White, of Middletown, Connecticut, together with others, secured a patent to land in Oneida County, New York. In 1784 they moved there and made a settlement which later became Whitesborough. These were the first white settlers in the State west of the Germans living then on the Mohawk. Whitesborough was on the Indian trail leading to the Great Lakes at what is now the city of Buffalo. Many Connecticut people followed the White colony and settled at Whitesborough, Utica, and other towns in Oneida County, which remains to this day a community with marked New England characteristics. 3

Winslow Bierce was one of the pioneers who went with Hugh White into the wilderness of Central New York. He was born in Connecticut in 1774, and his family furnished many western pioneers. Lucius V. Bierce moved from Cornwall, Connecticut, to Nelson, Portage County, Ohio, in 1816, where he died Nov. 11, 1S7G, aged seventy-five. 4

Winslow Bierce lived at Utica, New York, where he kept a hotel and dealt in horses. He was forceful and energetic, and a successful business man. In 1817 he moved to Berkshire.

Hannah Maria Bierce was four years old when her

one Thomas Turner for the purpose of manufacturing an improved plow for breaking land. This plow had a steel mold-board, which was made by Turner, and all the woodwork was made by Plumb. They patented this implement and made and sold it quite extensively.

3 For an account of this settlement see Historical Collections of New York by Barber and Hotce. 1842, p. 382.

* See Tracts, Western Reserve Historical Society, Vol. II, p. 4.

6 TUE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB

father moved from "York State" to Berkshire, where she grew to womanhood. She was ambitious and of a sanguine temperament. Perseverance and persistence were her strongest traits. She was possessed of a glowing enthusiasm. Failure of plans did not discourage her. Her energy was inexhaustible, and her industry was tireless. And we shall see that with these qualities she endowed her children. 8

Bin speaking of his mother George rinmb said: "My mother was very active and my father just as quiet as men ever are. He read a great deal but never said much ; he had a good memory. My mother was a great talker, a small woman and very energetic. She was ambitious and always had great plans for her children."

Chapter II

PRESTON B. PLUMB

The birth of him of whom this biography is written, was October 12, 1837, at Berkshire, Delaware County, Ohio. He was the first-born of David and Hannah Maria (Bierce) Plumb. He was called Preston.

At Berkshire the schoolmaster boarded at the house of David Plumb, and wished to take Preston to school when he was in his fourth year. The parents feared he would only make trouble there, but when the teacher insisted, they permitted him to go. Once at school, he fell to work just as he saw the other pupils doing, and he made good progress. Whatever was put into his hands he mastered. He was overflowing with energy, and this made him adventurous, resourceful, and daring. He was of a practical turn and was never idle. While he enjoyed the sports and amusements of the boys of his own age and engaged in them with all his might, he never wandered about the streets and lanes. As soon as he was strong enough to do so he wished to work at something. What he saw others do he attempted, and he was elated and sometimes excited when he had succeeded in his efforts. 1 i When he was six years old a serious accident resulted from his fervor, as his sister remembered : " It was when we lived in Berlin Township, after we left Berkshire. Mother rode up to Berkshire and left Preston and me with father. He was husy in his shop and did not pay much attention to us. Preston came running to me. much elated, and said. ' Ellen, come out here, I can chop wood.' I went out, not knowing the danger. He picked up a heavy axe and began to chop. I was near him and the axe slipped and came down on my foot."

s THE LIFE OF PKESTON B. PLUMB

When about ten years old he went with others to a \\i»od to celebrate the Fourth of July. Near this wood was a barn iu which were chained two pet bears. Swings for the children were erected in this barn. Preston was helping swing the girls, when he slipped and fell within reach of one of the bears, which immediately seized him. The children ran. The growling of the bear which had him, with the scent of blood, maddened the other bear, and while they were fighting he rolled himself out of their reach. His wounds were found to be serious. The weather was extremely hot, and it was not believed he could survive his injuries. But he recovered, though he carried to the grave scars from tooth and claw. While he was in bed he read Merle d'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, getting then his first knowledge of the life and character of Martin Luther.

Intimate friends of Plumb will remember that in his youth he was called "Bony" by his companions. He received the name from this circumstance: Near the old country schoolhouse where he went to school, in the long winters of Ohio, there was a considerable pond. Skating on the ice in this pond was one of the amusements of the pupils. One spring when the ice had melted soinewhat and was broken into blocks the boys made it the means of showing their reckless spirit, crossing the pond by jumping from one piece of ice to another. It was finally decided that the pond could nof be again crossed in that way. Plumb declared that he could cross it once more. The boys said he could not do it — thai no one could do it. He ran swiftly to the pond, and, by bounding lightly and quickly from block to block, crossed it. In the old McOuffey Third Keader, iu use in flic schools of that day, there is a picture of Bonaparte crossing the Alps to illustrate a lesson from Scott's Life of Napoleon. When Plumb sprang to the bank on iho other side of the pond they exclaimed,

CHILDHOOD 9

" Bonaparte has crossed the Alps ! " From that time they called him " Bony," and he carried that name even to Kansas. 2

Of the influence of the mother in this family it may be said that she was always planning great things for her children to accomplish in life. She had perfect faith in the ability of her children to carry out the plans she made for them, and she was singularly successful in imparting this feelings She inculcated the expectation of success ; and she taught that failure and discouragement should but move them to greater exertions, and that a thing begun must be completed. All this was impressed more by attitude and example than by precept, more by the feeling existing in the home than by discourse. She did not minimize the misfortunes of disease, or death, or those dispensations of Providence which render futile all efforts of the most industrious, but where success was possible even under the most adverse conditions, she believed it should be attained.

It was the desire of David Plumb that none of his sons should follow the family trade of wagon-maker. Preston sometimes worked in the shop beside his father, doing that which his strength and skill would permit him to undertake. But for a boy of his ability, directed by the ambition and solicitude of a mother such as his, the business of a wagon-maker did not promise a satisfactory future.

Mature character reflects largely the influences which

2 No middle name was given him and he never adopted one, but he did add the letter B for a middle initial, as he believed it improved the form of his signature and made his name more easily used in conversation, the habit of addressing one by the initials being much in vogue at that time. In recent years there has been some newspaper discussion as to what this initial stood for. Among numerous conjectures the one most in favor was that it was for Bicrce, the family name of his mother. It was suggested by the name " Bony," but he did not adopt that name. He invariably wrote his name, P. B. Plumb.

predominate in the environment of the childhood home. The virtues of thrift, work, reliance on self, ingenuity and perseverance were found in the homes of the pioneers of Ohio. These, in addition to those referred to herein, were found in use and practice in the home of David Plumb.

Chapter III Kenyon College

In the spring of 1843 David Plumb moved from Berkshire to a farm in Berlin Township, where he remained until the spring of 1840, when he settled at Marysville, county-seat of Union County, Ohio. There he opened a shop and followed his trade. His children attended the schools of the town. By the year 1849 his son Preston had made all the progress possible in the schools at Marysville. He was anxious to continue his studies, but his father was not able to bear the expense of sending him to college. It w r as necessary for him to strike out for himself, and he determined to do it.

Bishop Philander Chase, a native of New Hampshire, settled at Worthington, Ohio, in 1817, and established the Worthington Female Seminary. There, in 1818, he was made the first Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Ohio. In 1826 he founded Kenyon College at Gambier, Ohio. This college was first chartered as a theological seminary, and through the efforts of Bishop Chase was endowed with land, of which it had some eight thousand acres of the best in the State. Later it was made a general school with various departments, the one to which boys were admitted being called Milnor Hall. 1 The college, in 1849, maintained a church paper, The

i " Away off to the right, among the trees, Is Milnor Hall, and scattered about In various directions near and far, private dwellings, offices and various structures, some plain and others adorned, some in full view and others partly hid by the undulations of the ground, trees and shrubbery." — Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, edition of 1847, under Knox County.

12 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. TLUMB

Western Episcopalian, a publication issued largely in its own interest. In the office of this paper were printed i he catalogues and such other documents as it was necessary for the college to publish. The Plumbs, then living ;it Berkshire in an adjoining county, knew Bishop Chase and were familiar with his work in Ohio. Arrangements were made for Preston to go to Kenyon College, where he was to work in the printing office to pay his way at Milnor Hall. He went there in the summer of 1849, when he was not quite twelve years old.

The expenses of living at Kenyon College w T ere what we should consider small at this time. The annual charges were:

For instruction, $30.00.

For board at the college table, $40.00.

Room rent in a room with a stove, $4.00. Room rent in a room with a fire-place, $6.00. 2

As to regulations we are told that the boys had " to sweep their own rooms, make their own beds and fires, bring their own water, black their own boots, if they were blacked, and take an occasional turn at grubbing in the fields or working on the roads." And, it is added " the discipline was somewhat strict and the toil perhaps severe, but the few pleasures that were allowed were t borough ly enjoyed. A sophomore was commanded to the room of a professor, and severely beaten with a rod. For the first time in his life a Mississippi freshman received bodily chastisement, and even Mr. Spooner, the vice-president, took care to see that it was well laid on.'' 3

- Howe's Historical Collections, edition of 1800, Vol. 1, p. 988, says:

' The college formed a large landed estate, and kept a hotel and

shops, mills and stores. One looks enriously to-day at its inventory

curtains, mixed all up with oxen, cows and vinegar."

■ This strict discipline and severe toil seems to have produced good results, few schools having to its credit men who rose to higher sta-

KENYON COLLEGE 13

Just how long Plumb remained at Kenyon College is not known. He did not remain long enough to take a degree. Nor do we know the proportion of his time spent in the printing office. In many of the sketches of his life published in the Kansas papers when he was first elected United States Senator it is stated that he was three years in the printing office in which he was apprenticed to learn his trade, and some of them indirectly mentioned Kenyon College, the Emporia News giving the name of the college publication. There is good reason to believe that he was there about three years. lie returned to Marysville to work as compositor on the Tribune of that town. C. S. Hamilton was then both editor and proprietor of that paper. Early in 1852 an issue of the paper was so poorly printed that it could not be read, and J. W. Dumble, then foreman in a printing office at Mt. Gilead, Ohio, criticised its appearance. Hamilton rode horseback the forty miles to Mt. Gilead to induce Dumble to go to Marysville and take charge of the Tribune office. Dumble had not long been in charge of that office when Plumb was taken on tions in life. Some of them were R. B. Hayes, President of the United States ; Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War under President Lincoln ; David Davis, Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, United States Senator from Illinois and acting Vice-president 1881-83 ; Henry Winter Davis, the statesman and author ; David Turpie, United States Senator from Indiana ; and many others. Secretary Stanton often said, " If I am anything, I owe it to Kenyon College." President Hayes wrote, "That, with the exception of the four years spent in the Union army, no other period of my life, in cherished recollections, could be compared with the time I spent at Kenyon College." That eminent statesman and jurist, Salmon P. Chase, was a student at Kenyon College ; he was Governor of Ohio and United States Senator from that State, and he was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Another noted son of Kenyon College was William Walker, chief of the Wyandot Indians at Upper Sandusky and principal man of the tribe after its migration to Kansas in 1843 ; he made the first effort to organize a Territory west of Missouri and was Provisional Governor of Nebraska Territory. This is a brilliant roll, not surpassed perhaps by that of any other school west of the Alleghanies.

the force, "as an apprentice," as Dumble says. This was his first work as a printer outside the Western Episcopalian office, and, as he was young and boyish in appearance, he may have been regarded as an apprentice. Concerning Plumb's work, Dumble adds: "He manifested a wonderful tact at the labor of typesetting, and soon became an expert."

It is the recollection of his brother George that Plumb did not work continuously in the Tribune office — that at times there was not enough work to keep all the force employed. Josephus Plumb took his first lesson in typesctting in the office under the eye of his brother and rapidly acquired proficiency in the art. No doubt he was entered there as an apprentice, a circumstance which might have confused Dumble when in after years he came to write what he could recall of the youth of Preston B. Plumb, who at Marysville, perfected himself in his craft.

Some months after Plumb went to work in the Tribune office another paper was started in Marysville. The proprietor was Joseph Cassell, and his paper was intended to be a rival of the Tribune. The office was an extensive one, and it was the design of Cassell to do book-printing and binding, to manufacture blank-books, and to do general commercial printing, as well as to publish his paper. Cassell failed, and the press stood idle in the closed office. Plumb proposed to Dumble thai they buy the plant of the defunct journal. They discussed the matter from every point of view, carrying it finally to the proprietor of the Tribune. He had nothing of encouragement to offer, of course, for it was to his advantage to have the rival paper remain dead. But notwithstanding the attitude of Mr. Hamilton, which was to have been expected, they persisted in their inclination to buy the office and revive the paper. Seeing thai they were disposed to go on with their plans, Hamilton sought to defeat them, knowing that the new

KEN YON COLLEGE 15

proprietors would have many claims to public favor which the old management had not been able to command. He proposed that the office be moved to some other town. He offered to give the boys one hundred dollars toward the purchase price if they would take the plant, out of the county.

Plumb had no money, and Dumble must have had little or none. Plumb appealed to his parents. He was sure of his ability to revive the paper and put it on a paying basis. His mother entered heartily into his plans. The home was mortgaged and the office purchased mainly with the proceeds. Where to take it was the next question, and Xenia was selected — why, we do not know. The office was taken there and the Xenia News established. The first issue of the paper was the 24th of February, 1854. It was a six column folio — columns of the old measurement, wider than is usual at this time. The paper was neatly printed and almost devoid of typographical errors, giving it a fine appearance. Plumb seemed to have managed the business. At the time of the first issue of his paper he was but four months past his sixteenth birthday.

Chapter IV The Xenia News

The principal difference between the two great political parties prior to 1850 was one of interpretation of tlit' Federal Constitution. The Democratic party had contended for a strict construction, counting the constitution a compact between sovereign States, insisting that the government formed under it was limited to those functions explicitly authorized by its terms. The Whigs believed that by the adoption of the constitution the Suites were merged into a nation with the right to do any and all tilings necessary for its growth and maintenance whether directly specified in that instrument or not. They were known as loose constructionists, and were favorable to protective tariffs, internal improvements, and national bank currency, and they came finally to insist that the Federal Government could and should control slavery in the Territories. They were the successors of the Federalists, from whom they inherited their principles and tendencies, which had been formulated chiefly by Alexander TTamilton.

Neither of these parties was sectional, and up to 1850 the Whigs did not constitute an anti-slavery party, nor the Democrats a pro-slavery party. In 1848, for President the Whigs nominated Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, ;i slave-holder, and did not adopt a platform. The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass, of Michigan, on a Btrid construction platform. The Whigs were successful, Imi in 1850, Henry Clay, their leader, proposed a compromise of (he conflicting claims growing out of

THE XENIA NEWS 17

slavery and related questions. The principles of this compromise were enacted into laws, that having the greatest influence on the future of the country being the Fugitive Slave Law, which was muck more stringent than any former statute on the subject. Fugitive slaves were to be by Federal officials restored, wherever found, to their owners without trial by jury, and all citizens were expected to aid in such restoration. The people of the North objected to being set to slave hunting for Southern masters, and some States enacted what was known as personal liberty laws, designed to protect free negroes and fugitive slaves ; and the Underground Railroad, over which fugitive slaves were assisted to reach Canada, became a well-organized and efficient institution.

The Fugitive Slave Law killed the Whig party. Its dissolution furnished the material for numerous small groups, none of them of enough importance to be called a national party. The Northern Whigs called themselves Anti-Nebraska Men, as they opposed the first attempts to organize a Nebraska Territory west of Missouri and Iowa. The Barnburners became the Free- Soil Democrats. All shades of political opinion were represented by groups, down to Hunkers and Know- Nothings. As the slavery conflict developed there came a gradual realignment of parties, most of these minority groups going over to the Anti-Nebraska Men, who, in 1855, had called themselves the Republican party, and in 1856 a National Republican party was organized. The new party was in fact successor to the Federalist and Whig parties, and it inherited their loose construction principles, the policies of protective tariff, internal improvements, national bank currency, and it added the burning issue of opposition to the extension of slavery.

The Democratic party became a pro-slavery party, and the institution of slavery entered on a contest for unlimited extension. Political excitement stirred the country, and fires of strife were lighted which burned down to the field of Appomattox. With the pioneers from New England there came into Ohio an efficient system of public education, and the common intelligence was high throughout the State. Where the sons of New England had settled there was marked opposition to the Democratic policy of slavery-extension. To Canada, Through Ohio, was the shortest route to freedom for the fugitive slave, and there the Underground Railroad reached its highest efficiency. Political contests were heated and campaigns were bitter, and while the Democratic party was strong in Ohio, the State settled certainly and surely to the Republican column.

It was in the murky days of those times that Plumb founded the Xcnia News. The Plumbs were strong Anti-slavery people from the time the slavery question became the absorbing question of national politics. What their political affiliation had been up to that time is not known, but, like other families, they probably were divided. Preston B. Plumb had decided convictions and felt deeply on the engrossing events of the time, and it is known that he spoke through his paper in no uncertain terms, though no files of the News for the first two years are extant.