1850-At the October election of 1850, held on the 8th of that month, for Governor, Reuben Wood (Dem.), received in Williams County 601 votes, and his Whig opponent, William Johnston, 402 votes.

1852-In this year, for Congress, Alfred P. Edgerton (Democrat) received 730 votes; J. C. Parker (Whig), 434 votes, and Woolsey Wells (Free-Soil), 2 votes-the two votes in the county having been given Mr. Wells in Pulaski Township. Mr. Edgerton's majority at this election exceeded that received by any other candidate upon the Democratic ticket.

1855-At this October election, in Pulaski Township, for Governor, Salmon P. Chase (Republican) received 890 votes; William Medill (Democrat), 861 votes, and Allen Trimble (American), 17 votes. The majority of the Republican ticket was elected, although the majority for Mr. Chase was the largest. This was the first instance in the political history of Williams County where the regular nominees of the Democratic party had been entirely overthrown in a strictly party contest since the organization of that party.

1860-Pulaski Township, at the October election of this year, voted as follows: For Supreme Judge, Jacob Brinkerhoff (Republican), 206 votes, and Thomas J. S. Smith (Democrat), 236 votes; Board of Public Works, Levi Sargent (Republican), 204 votes, and Abner L. Back us (Democrat), 218 votes; Congress, James M. Ashley (Republican), 207 votes, and James B. Steedman (Democrat), 230 votes; Probate Judge, Isaac R. Sherwood (Republican), 164 votes, and Meredith R. Willett (Democrat), 277 votes; Clerk, George L. Starr (Democrat), 146 votes, and Jacob Youse (Republican), 298 votes; Auditor, Conroy W. Mallory (Republican), 235 votes, and William Sheridan, Jr., (Democrat), 202 votes; Recorder, Harvey H. Wilcox (Republican), 214 votes, and Henry Sheets (Democrat), 225 votes; Commissioner, Alpheus W. Boynton (Republican), 196 votes, and John G. Mattoon (Democrat), 234 votes; Coroner, Justus O. Rose (Democrat), 204 votes, and George W. Barkdull (Republican), 233 votes.

1863-There probably never occurred an election in Ohio that produced a higher degree of excitement within the State, or a more profound interest abroad than the memorable campaign of 1863. Since the opening of the war, in 1861, there had occurred no conflict that would bear comparison, in the intensity of feeling it produced, to this one. After the close of the polls on the 13th of October, results were rapidly received and transmitted, and the Governor-elect being then resident of Cleveland, was, near 12 o'clock at night, in possession of sufficient returns to authorize him to transmit a dispatch to Edwin M. Stanton, then Secretary of War, that the entire Republican State ticket in Ohio had been

elected by a majority of about 100,000. The official vote in Williams County is appended:

Totals...

1955 1318 1956 1342 1956 1348 1958 1389

Of the Williams County soldiers in the army, 362 voted, and of these all cast their votes for the Republican candidates, with the exception of two, who voted for Vallandigham; and three cast their votes for each of the others upon the Democratic State, legislative and county tickets. Since this memorable election, the politics, or party lines in Williams County, have not been sharply defined. The voters have been generally "independent," and it has been difficult to estimate results, particularly as regards candidates for county offices, until the votes have been officially canvassed, though there can be no doubt that the Republicans have now a clear majority in the county.

Passing here an interval of sixteen years, it may be mentioned that Gov. Charles Foster (Republican), in Williams County, in 1879, received 2,761 votes, and Gen. Thomas Ewing (Democrat) 2,628 votes, giving to the Republican candidate a majority of 133.

In 1881, Gov. Foster being a candidate for re-election, he received. 2,588 votes, and John W. Bookwalter (Dem.) 2,257 votes, giving to Gov. Foster a majority of 331.

vote of the years 1880-81:

Following is a tabular statement of the Presidential and Gubernatorial

Totals.......

2588 2257 2608 2268 2616 2267 2881 2591

So far as attainable from official and other records deemed authentic, the vote of Williams County in its original and present limits for Presidential electors is here given, commencing with the memorable log cabin and hard cider campaign, as it was at the time characterized, that occurred nearly a half century ago.

1840-William H. Harrison (Whig), 396 votes; Martin Van Buren

(Democrat), 407, giving the latter a majority in the county of 11 votes. Mr. Birney, the Abolition candidate, received no vote in Williams county.

1844-Henry Clay (Whig) received 583 votes, and James K. Polk (Democrat), 673 votes, making Polk's majority 90. Again, there were no votes cast for Mr. Birney, who ran the second time in the canvass as the candidate of the Abolitionists.

1848-In this contest a convention of Free-Soilers held at Buffalo, N. Y., placed in nomination a candidate for the Presidency, and adopted a chart of principles satisfactory to nearly all the Abolitionists, and to many others of the old parties. In Williams County, the vote stood: Zachary Taylor (Whig), 328 votes; Lewis Cass (Dem.), 510; Martin Van Buren (Free-Soil), 154. Majority for Cass over Taylor, 182. 1852-Franklin Pierce (Dem.), 832 votes; Winfield Scott (Whig), 546; John P. Hale (Free-Soil and Abolition), 160. Majority for Pierce over Scott, 286. Between this and the quadrennial election following the very name and machinery of the Whig party had passed out of existence.

1856-James Buchanan (Dem.), 1,022 votes; John C. Fremont (Rep.), 1,327; Millard Fillmore (American), 49. Majority for Fremont over Buchanan, 305. And since this memorable struggle between the contending parties to secure the Presidency, the Democratic party, as organized upon its ancient principles, has been consigned, like the old. Federal and Whig organizations, to its political grave, though a respectable organization exists that retains its name. Williams County, it will be observed, gave the heaviest vote for the Republican ticket, by more than double that it had ever cast against the Democratic party, and its majority against the combined vote of its opponents, amounting to 256.

1860-This contest terminated the "irrepressible conflict" between the Free and Slave States, as Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward had declared. several years previously that it was destined to become, and, so far as law could make it so, placed the former master and slave upon terms of civil and social equality. Williams County very largely increased her Republican majority, giving to Lincoln (Rep.) a vote of 1,713, to Douglas (Dem.) a vote of 1,180, and to Bell (American) 29 votes, making the majority of Lincoln over the combined vote of his competitors, 504.

1864-Lincoln's (Rep.) vote, 2,197; McClellan's (Dem.), 1,425; Lincoln's majority, 772, very closely approximating two-thirds the whole

vote.

1868-Ulysses S. Grant (Rep.), 2,280 votes, and Horatio Seymour (Dem.), 1,814, resulting in a majority for Grant of 466.

1872-The Bryan Press (Rep.) of date November 14, 1872, reviewing the result of the autumn elections of that year, said:

"At the election in October, 1871, our majority in the county was only 199. At the October election this year, it was 367, being an increase over the majority of the previous year of 168. At the Presidential election of 1868, we gave Grant a majority of only 466. This year we give him a majority of 805, being an increase of 438 over our majority at the late October election."

The official Presidential vote of 1876 stood as follows:

The official vote for Presidential candidates in 1880, is given on a preceding page. There is nothing to add.

Between the opening of the time when insurrectionary forces made assault upon Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, and then following during the entire progress of the conflict of four years, there was scarcely a discordant voice heard in Williams County against a vigorous prosecution of the war for the preservation of the Union, so far as diligent inquiry can establish. There were diverse opinions regarding the modes and ulterior objects, but finally all diversities became fused in a common crucible, and following the advent of peace, an effort, which resulted in utter failure, was made to resurrect the parties known in ante-bellum times upon former bases, but such labor was unproductive of fruit. Of the living issues, if there in truth be any, between the so-called political parties of our day engaged in a struggle for supremacy, it is in order for those who understand the issues to explain through other channels than these pages, as such discussions have no proper place here.

WILLIAMS COUNTY JOURNALISM.

In 1837 a sheet, "medium" in size, made its appearance in Defiance entitled the Barometer, and was under the management of John B.. Seamans. Although in politics Mr. Seamans was a Whig, the paper maintained a neutral position. The editor was a lawyer and a good writer,