Glendower Historic Mansion, now a part of Warren County Historical Society, has seen a variety of residents. John Milton Williams (1807-1871) was the first, a lawyer with an illustrious political career. Beginning as a copyist in Warren County’s courthouse, he then studied to become a lawyer, and eventually he moved up in the ranks to General Assembly representative.[1] Unfortunately, by the end of his life, he was as good as destitute, losing both his home and his family. Beers’ History of Warren County notes, “He saw the extremes of life. He rose, from poverty and obscurity to wealth and distinction; he sank again to obscurity and poverty.”[2]
Glendower seems to have a history of lawyer residents as Durbin Ward (1819-1886) was a prosecuting attorney who lived in the home after Williams. Ward was an avid reader and a Civil War veteran.[3] Ward was also dedicated to his Democrat beliefs, as evidenced in an 1883 newspaper article in the Allen County Democrat, where he is quoted and seems to be referencing the current presidential campaign, “‘If there are any Democrats in any part of the State who entertain the idea that General Ward is not coming promptly to the front of the campaign, they are greatly mistaken.”[4] He started The Lebanon Patriot, served on the Ohio Senate, and served in the Civil War, so he clearly cared about the state of politics.[5]
Finally, Joseph Pryce Owens (1852-1920) lived in Glendower Mansion for a time, and he worked both in business and industry. According to the Glendower Historic Mansion Guidebook, printed by the Warren County Historical Society, Owens seems to have been well liked among his peers.[6] Overall, Glendower Mansion housed important men within the community, becoming a symbol of Lebanon’s influence within politics and society, both locally and nationally. Glendower is a Greek revival style mansion and includes aspects for any interest, from historic china, to a room dedicated to Thomas Corwin, a prominent politician in nineteenth-century Lebanon, to the library used by Durbin Ward.[7]
[1]Warren County Historical Society, “Glendower Characters: John Milton Williams,”Glendower: Historic Manson Guidebook.
[2]Josiah Morrow, The History of Warren County, Ohio (Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1892), 388.
[3]Warren County Historical Society, “Glendower Characters: Durbin Ward,” Glendower: Historic Manson Guidebook.
[4]The Allen County Democrat, Quoted from The Lebanon Patriot, 29 August 1883, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/8013/NEWS-OH-AL_CO_DE.1883_08_29_0002?pid=463238146&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D8013%26h%3D463238146%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DKMK5%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=KMK5&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true.
[5]WCHS, “Durbin Ward,” Glendower Guidebook.
[6]Warren County Historical Society, “Glendower Characters: Joseph Pryce Owens,” Glendower: Historic Manson Guidebook.
[7]Warren County Historical Society, Glendower: Historic Mansion Guidebook.
Glendower Historic Mansion, https://www.harmonmuseumohio.org/our-properties/glendower-historic-mansion-2/.
No comments:
Post a Comment