Gen. James Findlay
The name of General James Findlay is inseparably interwoven with the early history of Cincinnati, where his labors constituted an element in growth and progress and in shaping the public policy. A man of irreproachable integrity in public as well as in private affairs, he did much to stimulate interest in this section of the country and to introduce into the early system of government such methods and measures as would work, not only for immediate benefit, but took account of future exigencies and possibilities. In all of his public service he was actuated by an interest in the general welfare that none questioned.
A native of Pennsylvania, General Findlay was born in Franklin county, October 28, 1770, and was one of a family of seven sons--John, William, James, Samuel, Jonathan, Thomas and Nathan--whose parents were Samuel and Jean (Smith) Findlay. With the exception of Samuel Findlay, Jr, who died in early life, all of the sons reached adult age and became prominent, especially in connection with political interests. They were supporters of democratic principles and held leading offices, John Findlay serving as a member of congress from the Chambersburg district of Pennsylvania, while William represented his district in the national halls of legislation from 1803 until 1817, and was governor of Pennsylvania from 1817 until 1820. The following year he was chosen to represent his district in the United States senate, of which he was a member for six years. Thus he was connected with congress in the lower and upper houses altogether for twenty years.
James Findlay, of this review, spent his youthful days in the Keystone state, there acquired his education and, while still a resident of Pennsylvania, was married. Accompanied by his wife, Mrs. June (Irwin) Findlay, he left Pennsylvania in 1793 and, traveling on horseback by way of Virginia and Kentucky, at length reached Cincinnati, which was then a tiny village on the western frontier. This was not only long before the era of railroad building, but long before the national road was built across the mountains to the west, furnishing a highway of travel, so that most of those who sought to penetrate into the interior of the country made the journey down the Ohio river, and the arrival of a boat was always a matter of deep interest to the early citizens, bringing them the news from the old and more thickly settled east.
General Findlay was a lawyer by profession, and for a number of years after his arrival held the position of receiver of public moneys in the land office. In 1802 he was made marshal of the district of Ohio, his commission being signed by Thomas Jefferson and Charles Madison. In 1805-6 he served as mayor of Cincinnati, and that his fellow townsmen appreciated the worth and value of his service during that term is indicated in the fact that he was reelected and again served in 1810-11. The following year saw the country again involved in war with England and, with military ardor, General Findlay responded to the country's call and served as colonel of a regiment, which was present with the American forces at Detroit at the time of Hull's surrender. The family correspondence includes a letter from Uncle Nathan to Aunt Findlay, reading in part as follows: "They wanted James to put Hull in irons but he would not, as he said there is no precedent for it." For his meritorious conduct in war General Findlay was shortly promoted to the rank of brigadier general of the Ohio State Militia, with which he served for a long term, taking part in those military movements which were so necessary during the early period of our country's development as civilization was extended westward and the settlers needed the protection of military companies against the marauding and hostile bands of Indians. While connected with the state militia General Findlay erected Fort Findlay, from which the town of Findlay in Hancock County, Ohio, derives its name.
General Findlay continued throughout his life a prominent factor in public connections. From 1819 until 1821 he was representative of the Cincinnati district of Ohio at Washington, and again served in that capacity from 1825 until 1828. His brothers, Governor William Findlay and Colonel John Findlay were also in congress at that time, "presenting the unusual spectacle of three brothers sitting in the congress of the United States at one time--a spectacle only once paralleled in the history of the government, namely: the Washburn brothers." General Findlay was one of the proprietors of Liberty Hall and the Cincinnati Gazette. He was a man of fine presence and "looked as one born to command."
Jane F. Torrence Sargent has written as follows: "He was very generous in his religious ideas. At that time no Roman Catholic could buy land in Cincinnati. Uncle Findlay bought and gave the first piece of land owned by the Roman Catholics in Cincinnati. This was told me by an old Miss Perry, who once a year until she died made a pilgrimage to his grave and prayed for his soul. Another story tells of General Findlay and Nicholas Longworth. The latter owned the house of poor tenants who had made all but one payment and begged for more time. Foreclosing was old Nick's long suit. The General listened and finally said: 'May it please your Honor, a gentleman would not do this, a humane man would not, and I'll be damned if a rascal shall.' The General then paid the money and gave the tenants their land."
From an earlier history of Hamilton county we quote as follows: "The public territory immediately west of the great Miami was surveyed in 1799 and 1800 and the first sales under the act of congress, putting it into the market were held at the newly established land office in Cincinnati under the direction of the receiver, General James Findlay, beginning the first Monday in April 1801, by public vendue." Colonel Israel Ludlow was the first register and General James Findlay the first receiver. In 1819 the latter had his office in the hotel at No. 30 North Front Street. From the same history we quote the following: "Early in the spring of 1812 the president made a requisition upon the state of Ohio for twelve hundred militia. . . . Another Cincinnati soldier, James Findlay, although a general in the militia, consented to take a colonel's place. . . . General Meigs formerly surrendered the command of the Ohio to a disgraceful surrender at Detroit. . . . The entire regiment commanded by General Findlay was from Miami county. . . . Joseph Longworth, in an after-dinner speech on the occasion of the forty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of Cincinnati and the Miami country, which was celebrated on the 26th of December, 1833, by the natives of Ohio, said: 'It is unnecessary for me to speak of the military services of my long-tried and valued friend immediately on my right--General Findlay. It is well known that at the head of a gallant regiment of volunteers disciplined by himself, he served in the first northwestern campaign of the late war. It is equally well known that if his advice and that of his gallant compeers had been adopted, the campaign would have had a different result and the honor of our arms would not have been tarnished by an inglorious surrender." The first members of a legislative council in 1799 included Jacob Burnet, James Findlay, Henry Vandenburgh, Robert Oliver, David Vance and Dr. Tiffin, the last named being speaker of the house.
A historian of an earlier day says of General Findlay: "Naturally reserved in manner, he presented to strangers and air of austerity, but to those who knew him he was the soul of kindness and geniality. He possessed great decision of character, was just in all his dealings with men and maintained through life an unsullied reputation. It was such men who established Cincinnati upon the substantial foundation upon which it rests and thus, unconsciously yet surely, wrote their names indelibly upon the pages of history.
From Cincinnati, The Queen City, Volume III, by Rev. Charles Frederic Goss, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912