The Occasional Writings of Isaac Moorhead

>- THE OCCASIONAL WRITINGS OF ISAAC MOORHEAD WITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE BY A. H. C. Noil omnis moriar, —Hon. ^t-, ,1- ( »^ S^ 't^' ERIE, PENN. A. H. CAUGHEY, PUBLISHER. 1882. COPYRIGHT, 1882. By A. H. CAUGHEY. PRESS OF THE CLAREMONT MANUFACTURING CO., CLAREMONT, N. H, PREFACE. This volume has been prepared at the suggestion of friends of the late Isaac Moorhead as a Memorial of in his worth as a man and his ability as a writer, and order to preserve in this more permanent form some portion of his valuable writings. Most of the articles appeared originally in the form of Letters contributed to one or other of the newspapers of his native town. They were read at the time with a great deal of interest, and are still remembered, both on account of their literary merit, and because they are laden with many important facts of local and general history. The titles of the various pieces generally indicate suf- ficiently their character and the time when they were written. Other explanations with regard to them will " be found in the sketch of his life which precedes, or brief notes in the course of the volume. The compiler and editor, in addition to preparing the sketch just men- tioned, has done little more than arrange the order of the articles and correct manifest errors arising from over- sight or accident. No doubt literary critics may dis- cover defects here and there, not only in the editor's but work, but possibly also in the Letters themselves ; off it should be remembered that the latter were thrown by Mr. Moorhead in the midst of absorbing business IV PREFACE. engagements, and that he enjoyed no subsequent oppor- tunit}' for their revision and correction. The work is not pubHshed with an}' purpose or expec- tation of pecuniar}' advantage either to the editor and publisher or to the family of Mr. Moorhead. The edi- tion is limited to three hundred copies ; and these were nearly all sub^ribed for in advance b}' the lamented author's many warm personal friends, —the price per volume being gauged by the cost of publication. The sketch of the early history of Erie County, men- tioned on page 38, is omitted from the volume. Its length would have added considerably to the size of the book ; and it seemed proper, moreover, that when pub- Hshed—as it doubtless will be in due time—it should be in connection with the other Historical Sketches prepared at the same time under the auspices of the Historical So- ciety. The preparation of this work for the press has been a labor of love and of deep interest to the writer. He only regrets that through his constant engagement in other and often distracting duties, he was not able to devote to it that very careful attention which he was most wiUing to give, and which the great merits and value of the writings themselves demanded. A. H. Caughey. Erie, Pa., Jan'y 11, 1882. CONTENTS. '^ Isaac Moorhead, 1 / Some Things Seen on the Cars : 57 I. The Night Express East, II. Cincinnati Express, 65 75 III. The Night Express West from Buffalo, J ^ A Visit to Gettysrurg, ^^ ^ Virginia Battle-fields : ^-' I. Fredericksburg, • 103 II. Fredericksburg continued, III. Chancellorsville, ll"!^ IV. Chancellorsville continued, 127 V. Visit to Petersburgh, 135 VI. Battle of Gaines' Mill, 144 •^ Old Times in Erie : 158 I. A Boy's Walk around the Diamond, II. A Boy's Walk down Sixth Street, 166 178 III. A Boy's Walk down State Street,.... IV. Old French Street and Presque Isle Bay, 188 V. Old French Street and Presque Isle Bay continued, - 1^4 VI. A Boy's Walk down Peach Street, .... 204 VII. The Old Academy, 212 "^ Selections from the History of the Barnett Family, 225 247 V Old Hanover Church, ISAAC MOORHEAD. Possibly no active man has ever taken leave of the world and its busy affairs of whom it could be said with truth that he left not an enemy behind. There must be misunderstandings; there must be crossings of interests ; there must always be busy tongues to stir up strifes, and utter words that be- come seeds of enmity in the heart. But if ever there was one who had been a positive, straightfor- ward, active man among men for the greater part of half a century, of whom it could be said at the close of his career that he had no enemies, that man was Isaac Moorhead. And not only so, but rarely if ever has there been one, born and reared among us, and person- ally known to thousands of people, whose death has been felt as a personal grief and loss by so many. There was that in his character, his pure and upright life, his bearing towards all with whom he had to do, that made every one his friend. Fill- ing during nearly the whole period of his life a 2 ISAAC MOORHEAD. private station, and performing the laborious work of a perilous and responsible calling, and later dis- charging the duties of an important public office in a most efficient and acceptable manner, he so bore himself as to gain the admiration and confi- dence alike of those who were above him in authori- ty and of those whom he controlled, and to receive the love and kindly regard both of his intimate friends and of casual acquaintances. While Mr. Moorhead was not, in the ordinary sense of the term, a great man, he yet possessed elements of greatness. He had that within him which, on a higher plane of action, would have en- abled him to stand among the distinguished men of his time. Physical limitations, want of oppor- tunity, the absence of ambition, lack of proper self-appreciation, — one or all of these served to keep him, as they have kept many others of equal or greater ability, within a narrow circle both of development and of action. One who undertook to characterize President Lincoln once said of him, that he was a man of apparently two distinct natures. One of these showed itself in the ease with which he was able to meet men of all classes and characters on their own ground, and to enter with alacrity into the rude activity and jocose merriment of every day life. The other nature was the inner one, that of the real man, sincere, earnest, strongly intellectual, loving men, honoring God,—ready at all times to ISAAC MOOBEEAD. 3 go forward unflinchingly in the discharge of duty. Something of the same dual nature appeared in Isaac Moorhead. On one side he seemed to have all the characteristics of a man of the world. He enjoyed the business that he had chosen for his life work. He understood men—read their characters easily and accurately. He had a keen sense of the ludicrous, and was very ready in jest and repartee. Beneath this rougher exterior there were the best qualities of the most refined nature—love of purity in life and thought ; a most chivalric sense of honor and the demands of duty; a deep feeling of religi- ous obligation; a love of whatever was most ele- vated in literature, and most refined and tasteful in art; and a fondness, amounting almost to a passion, for the grand and beautiful in the various forms and developments of nature. It is the life and character of such a man that the writer, who enjoj^ed the priv- ilege of being one in his circle of intimate friends for more than thirty years, and who still keenly feels his irreparable loss, now attempts briefly to sketch. Born in Erie, Pa., January 28th, 1828, his earli- est recollections were of a town of not more than three thousand people, about one tenth of its present population. He first saw the light in a house on the north side of Sixth street, near the corner of French. This has long since disappeared—much to the grief of him who claimed it as his first home; for he had ever great attachment to places made — ^ ISAAC MOOREEAD. sacred to bim by tbe residence of his family or any of bis ancestors. His fatber, Thomas Moorbead, with jr. attached to tbe name during most of his life, to distinguish bim from his father, whose name was also Thomas, was one of tbe younger members of tbe Lnrge family of Moorbeads who established themselves near the town of Erie about tbe begin- ning of the present century, and whose descend- ants and relatives are now counted hy hundreds in this region bordering the lake. The early settlers of this name came from Lancaster count}^, Pennsyl- vania. A sturdy, upright, God-fearing race, they trace their history, and their name as lluirheadSy back among tbe Covenanters of old Scotland, and to tbe "times that tried men's souls". Tbe mother of Mr. Moorbead was Rebekah, youngest daughter of Moses Barnett. He was not so well known, either in the early or later history of tbe county, as was her brother Richard Barnett a man of sterling worth, strong-headed and big- hearted and earnest-willed, with elements in bim of tbe same Scotch ancestry from wliicb the Moor- heads were descended, but crossed with no little of the Irish wit and vivacity that attached to tbe family nature as the result apparently of their long so- journ in Ireland before emigrating to America. As a boy Isaac spent much of bis time at his Grandfather Barnett's in the country,—"Uncle Dick's" as he was accustomed to call the place in later vears.

Load more