Warren County
Local History by Dallas Bogan |
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Dallas Bogan on 13 August 2004 |
Source: |
original article by Dallas Bogan |
Return to Index to see a list of other articles by Dallas Bogan |
Our story this week will focus on one of the founders of Morrow, William
Henry Clement. The settlement of the town, in 1844, centered around
Mr. Clement's direct involvement with the Little Miami Railroad.
Prior to his residency in the county, Mr. Clement had been
engaged in several different engineering projects.
A sketch of Mr. Clement states that he attended the village
school in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., his birthplace, and afterwards entered the
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy.
During school vacation of 1834, he joined the engineering corps of William
C. Young, and then engaged in surveys on the Saratoga and Whitehall
Railroad.
His graduation at Troy, in 1835, he was identified with the engineering party
supervising the construction of the Utica and Schenectady Railroad. He was appointed
superintendent of track laying and finalized the project at Little Falls in
1836. (He was but 21 years of age at this time.)
He next traveled to Canada, where he devoted several months to the construction
of railroads.
The year 1837 finds Clement in Ohio where he was engaged for
a brief time on a line south of Sandusky, the Mad River Railroad.
The next year, he became engaged with the Little Miami Railroad, in which he
took great interest. He was brought along by one of the supervisors of the former
line and made chief engineer. By the time the line had been completed to Springfield,
he had been appointed general superintendent, a position he held until 1857.
Clement was known to rule with an "iron hand." One
writer says that work under him "was like military service; he developed
the character of his men by strict discipline so that they felt the pressure
of his reliance on them to properly discharge their duties."
During the coal shortage of the severe winter of 1856, the Little Miami was
about the only railroad in Ohio with access to the mines. Work continued day
and night to restore operations, but, despite this, "no man left his post."
His positions on the Little Miami Railroad included that of engineer, superintendent
and president. At the time of his death he was a director. Under his guidance,
the railroad was known as the best-managed and safest railroad in the United
States.
Clement's contributions to the village of Morrow included the
donation of a lot to the first church in Morrow. It was known as a Union Church
and built previous to 1847, by private subscription.
He also donated a lot in 1848 for the construction of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. The congregation commenced building soon after their organization, and,
until it was completed, held their services in the Union Church.
He was attracted by the layout of the land surrounding the present site of Morrow
and purchased a tract of land and erected a house known today as Oak Hill.
From 1857 to 1860 he was vice-president and general manager of the Ohio and
Mississippi Railroad, a long trunk line running through Southern Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois to St. Louis.
At first the Little Miami officials refused to release him, but buckled under
after a couple of months. He spent three years in St. Louis as president and
general manager of the Union Depot and roads connecting there.
From 1877 to 1882 he was president and general manager of the Cincinnati Southern
Railroad, which ran directly through Kentucky and Tennessee for a distance of
336 miles.
Although his time in his later years was spent in the West, his leisure time
was devoted to his farms near Morrow, on one of which he lived for a period
of forty-five years.
Clement was the eldest child of Joel and Aurelia
Putnam Clement of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He was born July 30, 1815,
and died on January 17, 1887.
He was married twice, first to Elizabeth Steiner, which bore
him two children, Henry S. and John B. Clement.
His second wife was Mrs. Caroline Smith, by which he also had
two children, Mrs. Caroline Watson Soteldo and Miss
Florence Putnam Clement.
Clement retired in 1882. While wintering in Florida in 1885,
he fell and sustained a severe knee injury. He never fully recovered. A visit
from his son, Col. H.S. Clement, on January 8, 1887, found
him in poor health. On January 17 of that year, he passed away.
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This page created 13 August 2004 and last updated
28 September, 2008
© 2004 Arne H Trelvik
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