Mary L.

Cook Public Library

Ohioana Room
George Myer
NOTE: The following article about George Myer was published
in the Waynesville News October 26, 1889.
MR. GEORGE MYERS:
HIS NINETIETH BIRTHDA.Y CELEBRATED
LAST MONDAY
Mount Home, the residence of the Myers family for eighty
years, was the scene, on Monday last, of a very unusual but
happy event: the gathering together of a large number of
friends to celebrate the anniversary of one who had completed
his ninetieth year. The nonagenarian thus honored was Mr.
Geroge Myer, one of the very few remaining pioneers of this
section , and who is universally esteemed and venerated for his
long life of integrity and usefulness. The weather was
charming and the drive up through the wild, romantic glen
leading to the sequestered home of this intellectual family
called vividly to mind a poem descriptive of it written by the
highly-gifted poetess. Miss Carrie Myer, almost at the outset
of her literary career, and in which she says their cottage
* * -k * "rears its wealls
From the village strife aloof.
Where the shade of trees at sunset falls
In beauty on its roof.
Here spreads the catalpa with blossoms
wh i t e ,
And the cedars by the gate.
Ere woods for the May-nymphs wait.
But the beautiful trees!
Oh, the beautiful trees!
How oft I watch, with a childish joy.
Their green boughs wave in the breeze!
Here still are the venerable cedars with branches outspread;
the catalpas so gracefully irregular, and the lilacs as of old;
and yonder, across the ravine, are the ancestral woods, not yet
bereft of their autumn glory, and closing in a delightful retreat
"far from the madding crowd", in the midst of nature's own
solitudes .
When Mr. Myer was brought to this spot by his parents, in 1809,
it was an unbroken forest"not a stick smiss", and, excepting a
few years spent in Lebanon, Xenia and Wilmington, his life has
been passed in serene contentment here where his ancestors
established their western home. They came from Newark, New Jersey,
where Mr. Myer was born on the 21st of October, 1799. He studied
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George Myer
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law with the late Governor Corwin, and was admitted to the
Warren-County Bar, after a very flattering recommendation
from Gov'r Corwin, Phineas Ross and Howard Dunlevy; but
after a trial of the practice of law, Mr. Myer abandoned it
and sought a more congenial life by returning to the farm.
Doubtless he would never have lived to celebrate his ninetieth
birthday if he had not fled from the perplexities and
annoyances of a lawyer's life.
The friends who assembled to do honor to the aged gentleman
on his natal day were as follows: Mr. and Mrs. J.C. McKay,
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Upp, Mr. and Mrs. J.O. Collett, Mr. and Mrs.
Marion Gordon, Mr. and Mrs. Drew Sweet, Mr. and Mrs. John
Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. W.M. Arthm, Mr. and Mrs. A. Shepard, Mr.
and Mrs. Robert Braddock, Mr. and Mrs. J. Mercer, Mr. and Mrs.
George Upp, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Oglesbee, Mr. and Mrs. C.
Thompson, Miss Schofield, Misses Cora McKay, Kate Hisey, Sarah
Lane, Mary Collett, Mary Clark, Etta Antram, Hattie Oglesbee,
Allie Yeo; Anna Gillam, Clara Gillam, Eva Woollard, Elsie Devor,
Edna and Ethel Upp, Helen Oglesbee, Stella Collett and Martha
Parker; Mrs. Ellen Collett, Mrs. Rebecca Stiles, Mrs. Hannah
Williamson, Mrs. Lida Smith, Mrs. Clinton Antram, Mrs. Varner,
Mrs. P. Earnhart; Lester Gordon, Thos. Clark, Walter Varner,
Geroge, John and Arthur Woollard, Frank Braddock, Cha's Sears,
Mr. George Brown and Mr. Web. Devor.
These found their old friend in the enjoyment of a fair
degree of physical health, notwithstanding his weight of ninety
years, and with mental faculties intact and he was evidently
pleased to see so many of his friends and receive their hearty
congratulations. It was pleasant to sit there with him by the
wide, open fireplace, with the cheerful wood-fire blazing up the
chimney, in one of the oldest houses in the Township, and hear
this patriarch talk of early days, when the sound of the axe
was new and strange music in the tangled wildwood; when deer,
turkeys and other game were plentiful, and when there were but
few if any artificial tastes to gratify. Mrs. Jane F.
Nicholson, in her interesting sketch read before the last
Pioneer Reunion, stated that this house contained more books
than any other house in the neighborhood, and the only
encyclopedia. This added to the natural endowments, accounts
for the literary tendencies of the family and their preference
for a secluded life, for the love of books and
the sunshine the younger members of
the company indulged in youthful amusements.
We believe that Mrs. Victoria McKay is the one whose kind
heart suggested this happy occasion. Her motion was seconded
and enthusiastically carried out by everyone to whom it was
mentioned, and the result was brilliant, successful , and
eminetly satisfactory in all respects.
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Mr. Myer was the recipient of several tokens of esteem and
affection, and cordial letters from members of the family, too
far away to be present.
When the sun began to decline behind "the beautiful trees",
one after another the friends made their adieux and returned
to their homes, bull of happy thoughts of the hours passed in
a most congenial household, and fervent wishes that what yet
remains of life for the venerated head thereof may be unroffled
by care or sorrow; and surely, if the devotion of affectionate
children, who anticipate his every wish or want can assure it,
this wish will be realized.