John Y. Glessner
Mansfield has been the home of many eminent men in politics and war, who have attracted much attention to the capitol of old Richland, but few, if any, were better known to the press of Ohio in the days gone by than Mr. John Y. Glessner, the veteran editor of the SHIELD. Mr. Glessner was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, in 1805. After obtaining a common school education he attended the Somerset Academy. Most young people, when they leave an academy or college, consider their education completed, but Mr. Glessner considered his only begun when he quit the higher schools. William Elder and Joseph Pritts, the famous writers, were his classmates, and in early life Mr. Glessner was intimately acquainted with Judge Jeremiah Black. Mr. Glessner early in life went to work at a compositor's case, mastered the printing trade, and launched out as an editor, for which capacity his education and careful reading eminently fitted him. He and a younger brother, Jacob Glessner, now of Zanesville, obtained possession of and published the Democratic paper of Somerset, Pennsylvania, for a few years, when they disposed of that paper and removed to Ohio, settling at St. Clairsville, where they in 1833 assumed control of the St. Clairsville Gazette. Several years later they sold the Gazette and John Y. Glessner moved to Columbus, where he secured a position in the business department of the old Ohio Statesman, one of the best journals of its day, but, feeling that his executive abilities entitled him to more freedom of action than was accorded an employee, he resigned his position in '41 and removed to this city and purchased the SHIELD AND BANNER, which he published and edited up to the time of his death, September 18, 1882. Jacob Glessner located at Zanesville, where he was engaged in the newspaper business form many years, and where he still lives an honored citizen, but for several years past retired from active business. It was in this city that John Y. Glessner achieved the success of his life. He was of that forbearing yet independent and unswerving Democratic disposition that won friends for both himself and the SHIELD and soon made him one of the foremost editors of the state and gave the SHIELD a wide reputation. Under his guidance the SHIELD, as now, was a fearless exponent of all wrong-doing wherever it was found, and an ardent supporter of the cause of the oppressed and the people at large, and long before his death he had the pleasure of knowing that the SHIELD AND BANNER stood in the foremost ranks of journalism and he was considered the nestor of the Ohio press. Mr. Glessner was a successful man in every sense of the world. While not wealthy in material things, he was well-to-do. He counted his wealth in intellectual accomplishments and by friendships gained by an upright life and a steadfast adherence to the principles of right and justice. He had lived such a life that at the time of his decease a paper in this section said of him: "John Y. Glessner was one of the noblest of men. His whole life was a constant devotion to everything that was good and true and virtuous and upright. Few men enjoyed to a higher degree the respect, honor and esteem of his political adversaries during the half century he was engaged in political strife." It is said of him that as his remains were taken to their last resting place he left not an enemy behind. Mr. Glessner never sought political preferment, although at one time while Richland County was in a Democratic district he was waited upon by a committee and requested to make a canvass for the congressional nomination, after he had received letters from various parts of the district pledging him support. He preferred to remain at home and do what he could for the cause of Democracy through the columns of the SHIELD AND BANNER. The Ohio Biographical Cyclopedia and Portrait Gallery says of Mr. Glessner: "Industry, application and energy were ever inseparable companions of Mr. Glessner all through his long life. Faithfulness to friends and devotion to the party of his choice were leading principles in his character. As a friend he was always constant, as a neighbor kind, as a citizen enterprising, as a partisan sleepless and vigilant. They entertained for him the most profound regard and respect, and one who knew him well declared it as his conviction that 'there was not a man whom Mr. Glessner would not befriend, nor lives there one who was his personal enemy.' " During Mr. Glessner's long residence in Mansfield it was a matter of much note that Senator John Sherman and Hon. Henry C. Hedges were among his staunchest friends, although opposed to him in all things political. By his courteous treatment of political foes Mr. Glessner had many warm friends in the Republican party, and all of them were always glad to do him a personal favor, in such high esteem was he held. In 1832 Mr. Glessner married Miss Henrietta M. Young, of Charleston, W. Va. She died in 1875. Their marriage was blessed with nine children, only five of whom remain. They are: John Y. Glessner, ex-city clerk and the present superintendent of the water works; Ross A. Glessner, who is at present living in Kentucky; Mrs. Henrietta Bowland, of Washington, D.C.; Mrs. Laura Childs, of Cleveland; Mrs. Jessie W. Taber, of Chicago.
From The Richland Shield & Banner: July 7, 1894, Vol. LXXVII, No. 8