John Brown Dillon
(1808-1879)
Ohio & Indiana
William Turner Coggeshall, The Poets and Poetry
of the West: With Biographical and Critical Notices 109 (Columbus,
Ohio: Follett, Foster and Company, 1860):
JOHN BROWN DILLON is a native of Brooke
county, Virginia. While he was an infant his father removed to
Belmont county, Ohio. There John had the opportunities of education
which a country school, at winter sessions afforded, until he
had learned what reading, writing, and arithmetic are. But he
was only nine years of age when his father died. He was then compelled
to earn his own livelihood, and he returned to the county of his
nativity, in Virginia, and apprenticed himself to a printer at
Charleston. At seventeen years of age, with no fortune but his
compositor's rule and a good knowledge of its use, he went to
Cincinnati, seeking work.
While an apprentice he had cultivated a natural taste for poetry,
and had occasionally contributed verses to the newspapers for
which he set type. In 1826 he contributed a poem to the Cincinnati
Gazette, which immediately gave him a prominent position as
a poet, among the young men who then wooed the Muse in the Queen
City. It was "The Burial of the Beautiful."
In 1827 Mr. Dillon contributed occasionally to Flint's Western
Review, and he wrote "The Orphan's Lament" for The
Western Souvenir in 1829. In December, 1831, he formed a partnership
with William D. Gallagher for the composition of a New Year's
Lay for the carrier of the Cincinnati Mirror. The lines
on "The Funeral of the Year" are from that Lay.
In 1834 Mr. Dillon went from Cincinnati to Logansport, Indiana.
There, while editing a newspaper, and often "working at case,"
he continued studies which he had begun in Cincinnati; was admitted
to the bar, and began the practice of law. He had, however, more
love for literature than for law, though he did often exercise
his poetic abilities. Local history deeply interested him, and
after a few preliminary studies he determined to write "'A
History of Indiana." In 1842 he published a small volume
of "Historical Notes." In 1845 he was elected State
Librarian of Indiana, an office which he held with credit to himself
and profit to the State for several terms. He has since been actively
identified with popular education in Indiana, has been a useful
officer of one or more of the benevolent institutions, and for
a number of years was the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture.
Meantime his historical studies were carefully pursued, and
in 1859 the result of them was given to the world, by Bingham
and Doughty, publishers, Indianapolis, in an octavo volume of
636 pages, which is called "A History of Indiana," but
which comprehends a history of the discovery, settlement, and
civil and military affairs of the North-West Territory, as well
as a general view of the progress of public affairs in the State
of Indiana, from 1816 to 1856.
Dillon served as editor of Logansport, Cass County Canal-Telegraph
(1834-1842) and was Indiana's State Librarian from 1845 to 1851.
From 1859 to 1879 he was secretary of the Indiana Historical Society.
[Biographical
Note, Indiana State Library Manuscripts Section]
Dillon's poem, "Burial of the Beautiful," is from Oliver
H. Smith's Early Indiana Trials and Sketches: Reminiscences
222-223 (Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co., Printers,
1858)(1857):
Burial of the Beautiful
Where shall the dead the beautiful sleep?
In the vale where the willow and cypress weep;
Where the wind of the West breathes its softest sigh;
Where the silvery stream is flowing nigh,
And the pure, clear drops of its rising sprays
Glitter like gems in the bright moon's rays—
Where the sun's warm smile may never dispel
Night's tears o'er the form we loved so well—
In the vale where the sparkling waters flow;
Where the fairest, earliest violets grow;
Where the sky and the earth are softly fair,
Bury her there—bury her there!
Where shall the dead and the beautiful sleep?
Where wild flowers bloom in the valley deep;
Where the sweet robes of spring may softly rest
In purity over the sleeper's breast;
Where is heard the voice of the sinless dove,
Breathing notes of deep and undying love;
Where no column proud in the sun may glow,
To mock the heart that is resting below;
Where pure hearts are sleeping, forever blest;
Where wandering Peris love to rest;
Where the sky and the earth are softly fair,
Bury her there—bury her there!
John B. Dillon, A History of Indiana, from its earliest exploration by Europeans to the close of the territorial government, in 1816: comprehending a history of the discovery, settlement, and civil and military affairs of the territory of the U.S. northwest of the river Ohio, and a general view of the progress of public affairs in Indiana, from l8l6 to l856 (Indianapolis: Wm. Sheets, 1843)(Indianapolis: Bingham & Doughty, 1859) [online text] (New York: Arno Press, 1971)
____________, History of the Early Settlement of the North-western
Territory from its earliest exploration by Europeans to the close
of the terretorial [sic] government in 1816 ; with an idtroduction
[sic] containing historical notes of the discovery and settlement
of the Territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio (Indianapolis: Sheets & Braden, 1854) [online
text]
__________, An Inquiry into the Nature and Uses of Political
Sovereignty (Indianapolis: Journal Co.'s Steam Print. Establishment,
1860)
__________, Notes on Historical Evidence in Reference to Adverse
Theories of the Origin and Nature of the Government of the United
States of America (New York: Printed by S.W. Green, 1871) [online text] (Littleton,
Colorado: F.B. Rothman, 1985)
__________, Oddities of Colonial Legislation in America as applied
to the public lands, primitive education, religion, morals, Indians,
etc., etc., with authentic records of the origin and growth of pioneer
settlements, embracing also a condensed history of the states and
territories, with a summary of the territorial expansion, civil
progress and development of the nation (Indianapolis: Robert
Douglass, 1879)(2 vols.) [online text]
__________, The National Decline of the Miami Indians (Indianapolis:
Bowen-Merill Co., 1897) 1 (4) Indiana Historical Society, Publications,
pp. 119-143, vol. I, no. IV)
John Coburn, Life and Services of John B. Dillon (Indianapolis:
Bowen-Merrill Co., 1886)(with a sketch by Judge
Horace P. Biddle)
Coburn (1825-1908) too was a lawyer. "He was educated in
the public schools, at the old marion County Seminary, and at
Wabash College, from which he graduated in 1846. After studying
law, he was admitted to the bar in 1849 and began to practice
in Indianapolis. For one term, 1850-51, he was a member of the
Indiana State Legislature, and from 1859 to 1861 he was Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas. . . . Elected to Congress in 1866,
he served four terms. . . . . Following his period in Congress
he resumed the practice of law in Indianapolis." [R.
E. Banta, Indiana Authors and Their Books 1816-1916: Biographical
Sketches of Authors Who Published During the First Century of
Indiana Statehood with Lists of Their Books 61 (Crawfordsville,
Indiana: Wabash College, 1949)] [John
Coburn, 1825-1908] [Coburn,
Wabash 1846] [Congressional
Biographical Directory]
Biograhical Sketches
"John Brown Dillion," in R. E. Banta, Indiana Authors
and Their Books 1816-1916: Biographical Sketches of Authors Who
Published During the First Century of Indiana Statehood with Lists
of Their Books 88 (Crawfordsville, Indiana: Wabash College,
1949)
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