Description: This image shows a covered bridge near Chester, Ohio, where John Morgan made his escape. John Hunt Morgan was a prominent Confederate cavalry officer in the American Civil War. The Northern soldiers took Morgan and most of his captured men to Columbus after an attempted raid into Ohio. The enlisted men were confined in the Camp Chase Confederate prison camp. Morgan and several of his officers were held at the Ohio Penitentiary. Morgan arrived there on October 1. He and several of his men immediately made plans to escape. They tunneled out of a cell into an airshaft on November 13, 1863. They remained in their cells until November 27, when Morgan and six of his soldiers used the airshaft to reach the prison yard. They then fashioned a rope from their prison uniforms and scaled the wall. Utilizing some of the one thousand dollars that his sister had smuggled into the prison inside a Bible, Morgan purchased a train ticket to Cincinnati. He then made his escape across the Ohio River into Kentucky. After his escape, Morgan returned to the Confederate army. He led cavalry forces in Tennessee and Kentucky. On September 4, 1864, Northern soldiers surrounded a farmhouse near Greenville, Tennessee, where Morgan was staying. The Confederate general attempted to escape from the house, but was shot by the Union soldiers. Morgan died from his wounds. General John Hunt Morgan is buried in Lexington, Kentucky. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06520
Subjects: Bridges--Ohio River; Civil War--Prisoners and prisons; Civil War 1861-1865
Places: Chester (Ohio); Meigs County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph from the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus is of 57-year-old Chester Gregg of . His formal attire suggests that the photograph was taken during his trial or sentencing. Gregg, convicted of killing his estranged wife, was the 288th individual to be executed via the electric chair in Ohio. The caption at the bottom reads: “288 -- Chester B. Gregg of Hardin County, Ohio, Legally Electrocuted July 11, 1952, for the Murder of Loraine Gregg.” In 1885 the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio, became the location for all executions, which previously took place in the various county seats. In 1896 the Ohio General Assembly mandated that electrocution replace hanging as the form of capital punishment. The Ohio Penitentiary regularly offered tours as well as souvenir photographs and postcards of the building and prisoners on death row. A total of 315 prisoners, both men and women, were executed in the electric chair known as “Old Sparky” between 1897 and 1963. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08340
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Capital punishment--Ohio--History; Death row; Electrocution; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections; Ohio Penitentiary (Columbus, Ohio); Prisons--Ohio; Portrait photography
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Hardin County (Ohio); Kenton (Ohio)
 

Description: The east annex of the Ohio Penitentiary, where death row and the execution chamber were located, displayed photographs of hundreds of prisoners who were condemned to death throughout the state’s history. This portrait of 25-year-old Chester Probaski is one of them. Probaski, one of twelve prisoners who attempted to escape the Ohio State Reformatory in 1932, was convicted for fatally beating Correctional Officer Frank Hanger with an iron bar during the event. The caption at the bottom of the photograph reads: “No. 177, Chester Probaski of Richland County, electrocuted November 24, 1933, for the Murder of Guard Frank D. Hanger.” Altogether there were 315 people who were electrocuted in the state of Ohio between 1897 and 1963. Chester Probaski was the 177th prisoner to be executed in this manner. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08236
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections; Capital punishment--Ohio--History; Electrocution; Death row; Ohio Penitentiary (Columbus, Ohio); Ohio State Reformatory (Mansfield, Ohio); Portrait photography
Places: Richland County (Ohio); Mansfield (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Columbus (Ohio)
 

Description: Residents of Chester Hill, Ohio collecting scrap metal to support military production during World War II, ca. 1942-1945. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01060
Subjects: Recycling (Waste, etc.); Ohio History--Military Ohio; World War II
Places: Chesterhill (Ohio)
 

Description: Carte de visite portrait of Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, wife of United State President James A. Garfield, ca. 1881-1885. She became First Lady of the United States in 1881. Born in Hiram, Ohio, in 1832, she met the future president Garfield while they were students at Geauga Seminary in Chester, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07884
Subjects: Garfield, Lucretia Rudolph, 1832-1918; Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881; Presidents' spouses--United States
Places: Hiram (Ohio); Portage County (Ohio)
 

Description: Lithograph portrait of Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, wife of United State President James A. Garfield. She became First Lady of the United States in 1881. Born in Hiram, Ohio, in 1832, she met the future president Garfield while they were students at Geauga Seminary in Chester, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07885
Subjects: Garfield, Lucretia Rudolph, 1832-1918; Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881; Presidents' spouses--United States
Places: Hiram (Ohio); Portage County (Ohio)
 

Description: A black and white photographic print on textured paper features the image of the Abraham Lincoln statue housed in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The white marble statue of Lincoln depicts him seated in an armchair with his feet on a footrest and arms rested on the chair. The statue was designed by sculptor Daniel Chester French. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV83_B01F05_015
Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Pictorial works
Places: Washington, D.C.
 

Description: H. B. Penelton of Richland County was executed March 17, 1961 for the murder of Chester A. Chalfant. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03750
Subjects: Capital punishment--Ohio; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: C.T. American Art colored postcard of Chester Bridge and Thompson Pottery connecting Chester, West Virginia to East Liverpool, Ohio. Built in 1897 and spanning the Ohio River, this bridge was part of the Lincoln Highway from 1928-1969. Postcard ca. 1935-1943. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F17_028
Subjects: Bridges--Ohio River; East Liverpool (Ohio); Lincoln Highway.
Places: East Liverpool (Ohio); Columbiana County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing Jack Chester Jr. posing next to a horse at the River Ridge Riding and Polo Club. The photograph was originally preserved in the scrapbook of Ruth Herndon. The caption beneath the photograph reads: "Jack Chester Jr." The caption at the top of the page reads: "Scenes At The Polo Matches-1930." Ruth Weinman Herndon (1907-2002) was a life-long resident of Columbus, Ohio. Born September 6, 1907, she was the daughter of Henrietta Heinmiller Weinman (1869-1957) and William Nelson Weinman (1868-1950), owner of the Weinman Pump Manufacturing Company. The Weinmans were a prominent German-American family in central Ohio throughout the twentieth century. Ruth lived with her parents at 380 King Avenue in Columbus until 1914, when her parents hired Columbus architect Frank Packard to build a home at 1445 Roxbury Road in Marble Cliff. After graduating from Columbus School for Girls in 1925, Ruth studied sociology at Ohio State University, graduating in 1929. She married L. Kermit Herndon. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS1344AV_B03_BOOK01_018
Subjects: Men; Horseback riding; Horses--Training; Societies and clubs; Cultural Ohio--Ohio Sports; Animals;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Zebulon Thomas kept fugitive slaves in his home, pictured here, which later became the public library in Downington, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03195
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Ohio History
Places: Downington (Pennsylvania); Chester County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: This image is a photographic reproduction of an engraved portrait of Manasseh Cutler (1742-1823). The artist portrays Cutler in his mature years: a clean-shaven man with slightly wavy hair and a serene expression. He wears a clergyman's collar with Geneva bands. The engraving includes Cutler's signature and a notation by the engraver: "Eng'd by J. C. [John Chester] Buttre, N.Y." Cutler was a major figure in the settling of Ohio in the years following the American Revolution. Born in Connecticut, he was descended from a long line of clergymen but entered Yale to become an attorney, thus breaking with family tradition. He graduated in 1765 but worked as a schoolteacher and store clerk before becoming an attorney. However, disenchanted by his current life, Cutler eventually pursued the clergy as his career choice. He became the minister of the Congregational Church in Ispwich, Massachusetts, in 1771 and held that post until his death. Although Cutler finally had settled on a career, he still pursued many outside interests. During the American Revolution, he was a committed patriot and served as a chaplain for several military units. The war caused serious economic problems in Massachusetts, and Cutler's parishioners faced great difficulty in paying their minister's salary. To supplement his income, Cutler studied medicine. When a smallpox epidemic struck Massachusetts in 1779, Cutler cared for as many as forty patients at a time. He also studied astronomy and was especially fond of determining the distance between the Earth and certain stars with a telescope and sextant. In a different field of study, he provided the first detailed account of plant life in New England, identifying roughly 350 different species. Because of these scientific endeavors, he was selected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He continued with his scientific interests until his death. In 1786, Cutler joined several other Revolutionary War veterans, including Rufus Putnam and Winthrop Sargent, in forming the Ohio Company of Associates. They hoped to secure from the Confederation Congress the right to develop land in the Ohio Country. After company representative Samuel Parsons failed to secure the land grant, Cutler entered negotiations with the Congress on behalf of the Ohio Company. Present while the Congress debated the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Cutler played a vital role in that document's eventual adoption. Some scholars claim that Cutler was responsible for this document's anti-slavery provisions. He also secured from the Congress the Ohio Company's right to purchase up to 1.5 million acres of land in Ohio for roughly eight cents an acre. In December 1787, Putnam led the first group of settlers to Ohio. In April 1788, where the Muskingum River flows into the Ohio River, the Ohio Company established Marietta. Cutler visited the settlement later that year and actively investigated the area. His primary interest was in earth mounds that he believed had been created centuries earlier by a Native American civilization. He returned to Massachusetts in 1789 and played an active role in Massachusetts's government for the next two decades. In 1795, President George Washington offered him a position as judge in the Northwest Territory, but Cutler refused. He did not return to Ohio after his trip in 1788. He died in Hamilton, Massachusetts, on July 28, 1823. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07015
Subjects: Cutler, Manasseh, 1742-1823; Clergy; Ohio Company (1786-1795); Portraits; United States. Ordinance of 1787; Northwest Territory--History