A History and Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio
Pages 155 - 160

Leaders of The Half Century

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DAVID MACDILL.

The Rev. David MACDILL, D. D., was born in the Northern District of South Carolina, December 27, 1790. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, though quite young, served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, under Colonel Horry. The son in his youth enjoyed the advantages afforded by the Churches and schools which then existed among Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the South. At the age of sixteen he had studied as much mathematics as was then usually studied in college. He had a thirst for knowledge and a love of books. 1. In 1806 the MACDILL family removed from South Carolina to what was then regarded as "the far West," and settled in Preble County, Ohio. The country was almost an unbroken forest. A section of land, consisting of six hundred and forty acres, was purchased, and the work of erecting a log-house and other buildings and of clearing off the timber, mostly beech, was begun. In such work as this young David MACDILL spent three years-teaching school, however, for three months during each of those years. At the end of this time, being about nineteen years old, he commenced the study of languages under the Rev. William ROBERTSON, at Lebanon, Ohio. He finished his literary course in Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. Among his classmates were the Rev. J. Finley CROWE, D. D., the founder of Hanover College, and the Rev. David MONFORT, D. D., pastors for many years of the Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ohio. In 1813 he entered the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in New York, then under the care of the celebrated Re. Dr. J. M. MASON, one of the ablest pulpit orators of our country. Here he spent four annual sessions, and had as fellow-students many who afterward became leading ministers in their respective Churches. He spent the Summer vacations in teaching in the vicinity of New York. When he graduated, in 1817, from the Seminary, he delivered by appointment the valedictory address to his class. He was licensed to preach August 6, 1817. He began to preach in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (United Presbyterian) Church, in Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio, in October,1817. He was ordained and installed pastor of the congregations of Hamilton and Concord, October, 1818. He continued in charge of these two congregations for eight to ten years, and then demitted the Concord branch. The Concord meeting-house was about eight miles north of Hamilton, and just this side of Collinsville. He continued pastor of the Hamilton Church until 1848, a period of more than thirty years. During the most of this time he preached three times each Sabbath-twice in his own church, and once in a school-house or unoccupied church. In addition to these labors he edited the "Christian Intelligencer, a monthly religious periodical. He was also for many years (about twenty-four in all) a member of the board of trustees of Miami University, and was always punctual in attending its meetings. His influence did much to promote the prosperity of that institution.

In 1848, he removed his family to Sparta, Randolph County, Illinois. Here he became pastor of the Union congregation, which, in a few years, became too large, in his opinion, to be cared for by one of his age. He resigned this charge, and removed to Monmouth, in order to edit the "Western United Presbyterian", in 1857. He was appointed to this position by the synod of Illinois. He was now nearly seventy years of age. He continued to discharge the duties of editor until 1862, when he resigned. He died in Monmouth, Illinois, June 15, 1870, in the eightieth year of his age.

In regard to the character and talents of Dr. MACDILL, the writer prefers to present the testimony of others.

Professor MORRISON, his biography, says: The fruit of his untiring labors in and about Hamilton is not all seen in the congregation he there collected, or the number of person brought into that branch of the Church of which he was a member�The influence of Dr. MACDILL was felt all over the country� There was perhaps no man in Butler County who did more to mold public opinion for good than Dr. MACDILL. He was ever on the lookout for opportunities of doing good to men and advancing the glory of God." (Pp. 18-20.)

The following testimony of a contemporary editor is also given: "As a writer he had few superiors. He was a skillful and cultivated logician, a profound and vigorous thinker, a general and accurate scholar, and a courteous and attractive Christian gentleman." The same writer speaks of Dr. MACDILL's editorials as being "among the liveliest and best specimens of thought and style anywhere to be found." (Page 33.) Dr. J. B. SCOULLER, in the United Presbyterian Manual, says of him: "He wrote more for the periodical press than any man in the Church, having written very frequently during forty years for all the papers. The style of his articles was always clear, pointed, and terse, and the matter seasonable and judicious. The same qualities characterized his preaching, while his manner was quiet and subdued. He was reverent and devout in the pulpit, and yet frequently indulged in sarcasm, of which he was a thorough master."

Dr. J. G. MONFORT, editor of the Herald and Presbyter, speaks of him as follows: Dr. MACDILL was one of the ablest and best ministers this country has ever produced. His delivery was slow, and not impressive; but his sermons were models of rich, pure, accurate, and sound thought. For fifteen years, from 1820, we heard him preach almost every other Sabbath in Hamilton, Ohio, and no other minister has so excited our higher affections and veneration. His reputation where he lived and labored is a sweet perfume."

Of course, such a thinker and writer would be an opponent of injustice and the advocate of true moral progress. Dr. MACDILL was among the earliest advocates of temperance and anti-slavery views. It was for the special purpose of advocating anti-slavery principles that the Christian Intelligencer, of which he was the editor, was established in 1825. At that time it required some courage to be an anti-slavery man.

JOHN WOODS.

Alexander WOODS, father of John WOODS, was a native of Ireland, born in the county of Tyrone, in 1768. In 1790 he left his native land and came to the United States, and resided for some years in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. He afterwards came to the West, first to Kentucky, and afterwards to Warren County, Ohio; where he purchased a farm a few miles east of the town of Franklin, which he improved, and on which he resided until the time of his decease. He died on the ninth day of January, 1848. He was married in 1793 in Pennsylvania, to Mary ROBINSON, who was born in 1762, and who died on the 16th of August, 1828, having become a mother of eight children. John WOODS, the oldest son, and the subject of this sketch, was born in Jonestown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of October, 1794. When Alexander WOODS settled upon his land, in what is now Warren County, in the year 1797, the country was a primitive wilderness; the lofty trees had to be prostrated, and the dense forest cleared by hard labor, before the land could be brought to a fit condition for cultivation. His son John, then in almost infancy, was reared in a log cabin, and as soon as his strength would admit, had to participate in the labors of the farm. He received such an education as the common schools of the country at that time afforded, which, by severe study at nights and such times as he could spare from hard labor on the farm, he improved, much to his advantage in after-life. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812. He was included in the last draft of the Ohio militia which was made in 1814, and was in the garrison at Fort Meigs when peace with Great Britain was proclaimed. On his return from the army he opened an English school in the neighborhood of Springborough, which he continued for one or two years.

From boyhood Mr. WOODS had formed the resolution of acquiring an education and finally becoming a lawyer; and for the purpose of enabling him to carry out his design he contracted, for a certain compensation, to clear a piece of ground adjacent to where his father lived, as a means of support. He built a hut or camp on his clearing, and after chopping and mauling the heavy timber all day, at night he often read and studied law in his rude cabin while others slept. He pursued his course of reading under the direction of Hon. John MCLEAN, who had been a member of Congress, and was afterwards one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. WOODS prosecuted his studies in this manner for some time, and went regularly once a week to Lebanon, where Judge MCLEAN then resided, to recite to him and receive instructions. He afterwards devoted his time more exclusively to the study of law. Having qualified himself for admission to the bar, and having undergone an examination touching his legal knowledge and abilities, he made application to the Supreme Court of the State, sitting at Dayton, in Montgomery County, at their June term, 1819, and was admitted to practice as an attorney and solicitor-at-law to practice in the courts of the United States.

In August, 1819, he established himself in Hamilton, and, opening an office on the 19th of that month, commenced the practice of his profession. The courts of Hamilton were then attended by some of the old and able lawyers from Cincinnati and Lebanon, with whom Mr. WOODS had to come in competition. At his first attempts at the bar Mr. WOODS said that he sometimes felt himself in rather an awkward predicament, with a confusion of ideas; but, reflecting that but few of a large audience could immediately perceive what was sound sense or the reverse, that those who were capable of thus discriminating were probably the most generous and indulgent to youthful orators, and that it is was necessary, at all events, to succeed in his profession, he made it a positive rule never to sit down or to hesitate or halt, but to talk on and go ahead. And he did go ahead. In 1820 he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county of Butler, in which office he served till 1825, at which time his services as member of Congress commenced, when he resigned.

On the 20th of June, 1820, John WOODS was married to Miss Sarah Ann LYNCH, of Springborough, Warren County. She was a native of South Carolina, born on the 29th of December, 1801. They forthwith commenced housekeeping in Hamilton. At the general election in October, 1824, he was elected a representative in Congress from the Second Congressional District, composed of the counties of Butler and Warren, over Thomas R. ROSS, of Lebanon, who had been the former representative. His term of service commenced on the 4th of March, 1825, but he was not required to take his seat until the first Monday of December following.

On the 18th of October, 1824, Mr. WOODS formed a partnership with Michael B. SARGENT in the practice of the law. Mr. SARGENT was a fine classical and literary scholar, as well as a thorough lawyer. His qualifications and strict attention to business in superintending the affairs of the office, while Mr. WOODS was absent attending Congress, were of great advantage to Mr. WOODS. Mr. SARGENT died suddenly on the 19th of May, 1830.

When Mr. WOOD'S first term in Congress expired he was again elected for a second term, so that he served four years from the 4th of March 1825, until the 4th of March, 1929. While there he was distinguished for his industry and attention to business. On the 18th of January, 1828, Mr. WOODS, from the Committee on Roads and Canals, made a report accompanied by a bill "to aid the State of Ohio in extending the Miami Canal from Dayton to Lake Eire." The bill was twice read and committed, and finally passed, and became a law on the 4th of May following. By this law there were granted to the State of Ohio a quantity of land equal to the one-half of five sections in width, on each side of that canal between Dayton and the Maumee River, at the mouth of the Auglaize. The same law also granted to the state of Ohio the further quantity of five hundred thousand acres of land for the purpose of aiding the State in the payment of the debts which had been or might thereafter be contracted in the construction of her canals. Mr. WOODS was a warm friend of internal improvements, and while in Congress advocated these measures with all his energy. At the session just referred to, the subjects of the tariff, internal improvement, Indian appropriations, and Indian affairs were largely debated, in all of which he took a prominent part. He was decided and ardent in politics as he was in every thing else. He warmly opposed the election of General Jackson to the presidency. This threw him in the minority in Butler County, which was ten about three-fourths in favor of Jackson. The consequence was that, at the end of his second term, he was defeated by the election of James SHIELDS.

After Mr. WOODS retired from Congress he became the proprietor, publisher, and editor of the Hamilton "Intelligencer", which he conducted with great ability for three years, a portion of the latter part of the time in connection with Lewis D. CAMPBELL, who assumed the business management of the concern. Although Mr. WOODS was engaged in editing a newspaper and attending to various other kinds of business, he did not relinquish the practice of his profession as a lawyer, but prosecuted it vigorously until the year 1845.

On the 30th of January, 1945, the Legislature of the State of Ohio elected him auditor of state for the term of three years from the 15th of March ensuing, at which time he went to Columbus and entered on the duties of his office. At that the State of Ohio had been running in debt from year to year, borrowing money to pay the interest on the State debt, and thus compounding it, until the public obligations loomed up in fearful magnitude. John BROUGH, the former auditor, had vainly endeavored to accomplish a reform in taxation; fear brooded over the members of the Legislature, and none dared to touch the dreaded subject. It was necessary that something should be done. Mr. WOODS represented the condition of affairs to the Legislature, and strongly urged upon them to take measures to remedy the evil; and it was mainly through his instrumentality, and his courage, industry, and perseverance that the State was saved from repudiation, bankruptcy, and ruin. By virtue of his office, Mr. WOODS was one of the board of fund commissioners who contracted the loans on behalf of the State, and had the control of the public debt. When he went into office there was not to be found in any of the offices at Columbus a book in which was entered an account by which the condition of the State debt could be clearly seen. Mr. WOODS procured a set of books, and from the loose papers found in the office of the fund commissioners and in the auditor's office he had a set of accounts opened, showing the amount of each description of public debt and the balance remaining standing. He also introduced important reforms in the mode of keeping some of the accounts in the office, by which they were simplified and rendered more intelligible. As auditor he left indelible marks on the policy and history of the State. He had determined to relinquish his office at the expiration of his first term of three years, but through the persuasion of a number of his influential friends throughout the State, he was induced to serve for another term, and accordingly was re-elected, and remained until March, 1851, when he returned to Hamilton.

His habits of industry and restless energy would not, however, permit him to remain idle. He became president of the Eaton and Hamilton Railroad Company, and brought his strong powers to bear on the prosecution and completion of that work. Previous to the second election, after Mr. WOODS became president.

A proposition was agitated and advocated by many for the construction of a branch road from Eaton to Piqua by the Eaton and Hamilton Company. This Mr. WOODS strongly opposed, and, in consequence, was defeated at the second election. Subsequent events have proved the correctness of his judgment on this subject. With some difficulty and trouble the Eaton and Hamilton Railroad Company have since released from their obligation to construct that branch road. Immediately after retiring from the Eaton and Hamilton Road, Mr. WOODS was appointed and accepted the office of president of the Junction Railroad, leading from Hamilton to Oxford, Connersville, and thence to Indianapolis; to the prosecution of which work he brought his energy to bear, and faithfully attended to the business of the office, with honor to himself and to the advantage of the company.

Until the time of his death Mr. WOODS was indefatigable and persevering in every thing he undertook. His energy was untiring, and his firmness indomitable. His early course of life had rendered is constitution hardy and capable of great endurance. At the bar his conduct was a model for imitation, despising all low and illiberal practice. To the junior members of the bar he was ever prompt to extend his friendship and patronage; and as an adviser to young men beginning life he won many friends among rising men by his generous treatment and sympathy. To the judges of the court he was polite and respectful; and to witnesses he was considerate and candid, never attempting to puzzle or embarrass them, except when there were strong signs of falsehood or corruption. No one, it is believed, every discharged his trusts as a lawyer with more scrupulous fidelity and spotless integrity. The strong mind and energy of Mr. WOODS have left their impression on almost very public improvement in and about Hamilton. He was a liberal contributor to every thing which had for its object the promotion of the happiness of man. Many years ago he took a leading part in founding and establishing the Hamilton and Rossville Female Academy. He was active in the construction of the Cincinnati and Hamilton Turnpike Road, of which he was director. He was president of the Darrtown and Fairhaven Pike. He was one of the leading spirits in projecting and constructing the Hamilton and Rossville Hydraulic Works. He spent considerable time in procuring subscriptions for the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad, in which he was largely interested, and of which he was a director during his life. Indeed, far more of the energy displayed in carrying forward the great work came from Mr. WOODS than from any other man.

In his temperament he was decidedly amiable, and of a most kind and forgiving disposition. His walk through life was without any deviation from the paths of honor and rectitude. In his dealings and business relations he was prompt, honorable, and expert, and a pattern of integrity. Law and order had in him an undeviating advocate. He was always found on the moral side of every public question. He was a regular attendant at the house of worship of the Associate Reformed Church, of which he was a consistent member. The purity of his private morals has never been questioned.

In the early part of the month of July, 1855, Mr. WOODS was attacked with inflammation of the lungs, so severe as to cause strong apprehensions of its fatal termination. However, he became better, and hopes were entertained that his system would rally, but the disease finally terminated in typhoid fever with ulceration of the bowels, which ended his existence on Monday, the thirtieth day of the month, in the sixty-first year of his age. His funeral took place at five o'clock P. M., on Tuesday, the thirty-first. The services on the occasion were by the Rev William DAVIDSON, of the Associate Reformed Church, of which Mr. WOODS was a member; after which the corpse was conveyed to Greenwood Cemetery, followed by one of the largest concourses of citizens ever assembled in Hamilton on a similar occasion. His remains were consigned to the tomb amid the regrets of numerous friends, and with the respect due to a life of integrity and useful public services.

Mr. WOODS left a widow, who survived until 1881, and several children. They had born to them six daughters and two sons.

Mary WOODS was born June 3, 1821. She married Dr. Cyrus FALCONER, and died September 18, 1870. Sarah WOODS was born January 18, 1823, and died Friday, February 21, 1823. Martha WOODS who married William BECKETT, was born February 24, 1824. Sarah WOODS (second) was born October 10, 1827, and died July 23, 1840.

Rebecca WOODS was born February 17, 1831. She married William H. MILLER, a lawyer of Hamilton, who went out as lieutenant in the Twelfth Ohio Regiment of infantry, and fell in the Western Virginia campaign under General Rosecrans, in August, 1861. His remains were interred in Greenwood Cemetery.

Rachel WOODS was born April 6, 1835, and was married on the 13th of September, 1855, to Samuel WORTHINGTON, a commission merchant of Buffalo, New York.

Cyrus Falconer WOODS was born December 8, 1840 and died November 24, 1844. John WOODS, the youngest, was born on the 19th of June, 1838. He graduated at Miami University in 1860, subsequently studied theology at Alleghany and Princeton seminaries, and was ordained to the ministry in the Old School Presbyterian Church by the presbytery of Oxford.

GEORGE JUNKIN.

George JUNKIN, president of the Miami University was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of November, 1790. He was the son of Joseph JUNKIN and Eleanor COCHRAN, both descended from Scotch covenanters who had settled in Ireland. Nowhere, probably, have religious duties been more strenuously attended to than among those of this descent; and the JUNKIN family were no exceptions to the rule. In his eleventh year he became impressed religiously, but made no public acknowledgment of his conversion until his nineteenth year, when he united with the Church.

George JUNKIN was a boy of exceeding diligence, and as a man he fulfilled in this respect the promise of his youth. There was nothing to help him in his efforts to obtain an education; but, by dint of industry, he qualified himself to enter Jefferson College in 1809. In 1813 he graduated, although not having been the whole term at college. For the sake of lessening his expenses he had been much of the time at home, studying, and keeping pace with his classes.

He had early entertained the idea of becoming a minister, and immediately after graduation entered the Theological Seminary of the Associate Reformed Church, then under the supervision of the illustrious John M. MASON, the great pulpit orator. In this place he stayed the customary three years, and was then licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Monogahela of the Associate Reformed Church, in September, 1816. He was immediately sent to the presbyteries of New York and Saratoga, preaching in various places in 1816, and afterwards laboring in the same way in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In June, 1818, he was ordained at Gettysburg, and was soon invited to take charge of the united congregations of Milton and Pennell, a call which he accepted.

He preached to these flocks about eleven years, but in 1824 changed from the Associate Reformed Church to the Presbyterian Church. In 1830 he resigned this charge, accepting the position of principal of the Manual Labor Academy at Germantown, near Philadelphia. Two years of successful labor followed. Easton offered him, however, inducements to remove his students to that place, and taking advantage of the opportunity, a charter was procured from the Legislature of Pennsylvania granting the institution the title of a college, named after the illustrious Lafayette, who had shortly before been in this country on his last visit. The new institution was successful, and it has since performed a great work. Mr. JUNKIN toiled assiduously. He gave regular instruction in the college, and, besides, preached on the Sabbath. In 1833 he was made a doctor of divinity by Jefferson College.

In 1841 he came out to Ohio and entered upon the residency of the Miami University of Oxford. He can not be said to have been very successful in this place. He was a man naturally of an autocratic disposition, and he found in the free West difficulties in maintaining the same discipline that was to be enforced in the East. Many friends of the institution considered him as the choice of a cabal which had ousted Dr. BISHOP and the other professors who were not meek-minded, and he was offensive also to some patrons who were not Presbyterians. This was a State institution, and yet entirely controlled by one sect. There was still another grievance which was felt, although not in the university. Dr. JUNKIN had imbibed a strong friendship for the "peculiar institution," or at least for its friends, and his politics were tinctured by the Jeffersonian school of State rights. The anti-slavery discussion had then begun, and was not to be stopped. Dr. JUNKIN became involved in a controversy with the Rev. Thomas E. THOMAS, of Rossville, one of the most eloquent preachers of the day, in which these questions were brought up. The discussion was oral, but was afterwards published in a very large volume. No decision, of course, was reached satisfactory to the minds of the public. Each party thought as before. Finally Dr. JUNKIN concluded to resign and give up his unquiet seat. He did so, and went back to his former place at Easton.

There he continued till the Autumn of 1848, when he accepted an invitation to become president of Washington College, Lexington, Virginia, to which he was followed by twenty-six of his former pupils, who thus indicated their high appreciation of his merits. He continued in this place until May, 1861, when he was admonished that it was time to withdraw. The clouds and portents of disunion were thickening fast, and he felt that he could no longer remain in this college, which was a hot-bed of secession, or even occupy an equivocal position. His love for the Union was strong and ardent, and he foresaw the certain ruin that would follow to the inhabitants of the Southern States if they took up arms against the United States. He went from there to Philadelphia, where, for the remainder of his life, he found a home in the family of his son, George JUNKIN, an eminent lawyer. He did no desist from labor. He preached earnestly and often. To the soldiers he was a friend; their encampments were visited, their wants inquired into, and their souls' prosperity solicitously regarded. He visited the Southern prisoners at Point Lookout and Fort Delaware, and looked after the unhappy wounded made at the battle of Gettysburg. He also wrote much. For a long time he contributed articles to the newspapers on the proper observance of the Sabbath. He published a "Treatise on Sanctification," a "Treatise on the Ancient Tabernacle of the Hebrews," and some smaller works; and he left behind him in manuscript a full commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews.

He was married in June, 1819, to Julia Rush MILLER, of Philadelphia, and by her had five sons and three daughters. One of his daughters married General JACKSON ("Stonewall"), of the Confederate army. Mrs. JUNKIN died in February, 1854.

Dr. JUNKIN was a man of great general ability. Impatient of contradiction or procrastination, he had an excellent insight into the ways of remedying difficulties. Church matters were thoroughly understood by him, and he was at home in a Church trial. He knew instinctively the measures to be taken. He was well liked by those with whom he was brought into contact unofficially, and his memory will long be cherished by those who had the honor to know him. He died May 20, 1868.

JOHN B. WELLER

JOHN B. WELLER, who filled more important public stations than anyone else who ever lived in this county, was born in the village of Montgomery, Hamilton County, on the 22nd of February, 1812. He was of German descent, his ancestors originally settling in New York. From that state his parents removed to Ohio some few years before his birth. He was educated at the Miami University, but did not graduate. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law in the office of Jesse CORWIN, in Hamilton. Lewis D. CAMPBELL, his principal competitor in the politics of this county, came here at the same time, and the two young men slept together in the same bed. They were then of the same politics. Before attaining his majority young WELLER was admitted to the bar, and soon after was nominated by the Democrats for the office of prosecuting attorney, his opponet being JESSE CORWIN , his old tutor, whom he defeated by a handsom majority.

In 1838, when barely legal age, he was elected to represent the Second Congressional District in the lower house of Congress,consisting of the counties of Butler, Preble, and Darke. He held his seat for three terms, twicw defeating the Hon. Lewis D. CAMPBELL. Mr. WELLER, though very young, early took a leading part in all debates before the House, and proved himself a ready and powerful speaker.

At the end of six years service he declined a nomination for a fourth term, and returned to the practice of his profession.

Mr. WELLER, at an early age, had married Miss RYAN, daughter of one of the leading merchants of Hamilton; but this lady lived but a short time. Early in his congressional carrer he married Miss BRYAN, whose father, the Hon. JOHN A. BRYAN, was auditor of the State at that time. His second wife lived but for two years. In 1845 he married Miss. TAYLOR, a niece of Thomas H. BENTON, senator from Missouri. She lived three years.

Mr. WELLER was not allowed to practice his profession for any length of time; for on the breaking out of the war with Mexico he volunteered as a private, but was elected captain of his company, which became part of the Second Ohio Regiment, of which he was elected lieutenant colonel. He fought all through the war, and led his regiment in the charge through the streets of Monterey, when the gallant Colonel MITCHELL was wounded.

After peace was declared, Colonel WELLER returned to his home in Hamilton, and took up his profession, but was called on by the Democrats of Ohio to lead them in the great gubernatorial fight of 1848. His opponet, the Whig candidate, was Seabury FORD, and the campaign was the fiercest and most bitter ever known in this State. This was virtually a fight to decide the presidential question as far as Ohio was concerned; for it was conceded that if WELLER carried the State, CASS would get Ohio's vote. After a canvas carried on in all parts of the state, in which Colonel WELLER spoke in seventyeight counties, and after weeks of doubt as to the final result- for it took the official vote to decide- it was found that weller had been defeated by a majority of three hundred and forty-five votes out of an aggregate of almost three hundred thousand. In one county over four hundred votes were cast for JOHN WELLER, which were thrown out. But the great point was won, after all; for Ohio went for CASS.

In January, 1849, President POLK tendered to Colonel WELLER the appointment of commissioner under the treaty of GAUDALOUPE HIDALGO, to settle the boundry line between California and Mexico. On President TAYLOR'S accession to the office, Colonel WELLER was relieved, and proceeded to San Francisco, where he pursued his profession. In 1852 he was elected United States Senator in the place of John C. FREMONT, for the long term ending in 1857. Upon his return to California in that year he was elected govenor of the State by a large majority. At the termination of his career as govenor of the State by a large majority. At the termination of his career as governor he settled in Alameda County, near Oakland, but was sent by President BUCHANAN as minister to Mexico in the fall of 1860. When President LINCOLN came into office, Colonel WELLER was succeeded by his old Ohio friend, Tom CORWIN. In 1867 Governor WELLER removed to New Orleans, where he was appointed master in chancery for all of the Gaines cases. Here he lived until his death, on the 17th day of August, 1875.

Govenor WELLER left two children, John B. WELLER, JR., whose mother was Miss TAYLOR, and Charles L. WELLER, JR., who was the only child by his marriage with Mrs. G. W. STAUNTON in 1854 - still living.