Otway Curry (March 26, 1804 – February 15, 1855) was a journalist, poet and legislator in the U.S. State of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Biography

Otway Curry was born in Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio. At age 7, in 1811, his family moved to Pleasant Valley,

Union County, Ohio Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 62,784. Its county seat is Marysville. Its name is reflective of its origins, it being the union of portions of Franklin, Delaware, Madis ...

. During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, his education was interrupted when his father was elected to the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

in the then capital of Chillicothe, and his older brother joined the army, leaving Otway at home with his mother. In 1823 he moved to

Lebanon, Ohio Lebanon is a city in and the county seat of Warren County, Ohio, United States. The population was 20,841 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Lebanon is in the Symmes Purchase. The first European settler ...

to learn the carpenter trade, practiced that occupation and began publishing poetry, at times out of state, until 1829, when he began to farm in Union County. In 1836 and 1837, Curry was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. In 1838 he was editor of the short-lived

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

monthly magazine ''

Hesperian The Hesperian is a system (stratigraphy), geologic system and geologic timescale, time period on the planet Mars characterized by widespread Volcanology of Mars, volcanic activity and catastrophic flooding that carved immense outflow channels acr ...

'', and in 1839 began study of law at

Marysville, Ohio Marysville is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Ohio, United States, approximately 27 miles (44 km) northwest of Columbus. The population was 22,094 at the 2010 census, a 38.59% increase from 2000. Marysville's longtime slog ...

Harrison Campaign

Curry was an eager supporter of the 1840 Whig candidate for president,

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

of Ohio. Campaign songs were a part of campaigning in those days. Two songs from the Harrison campaign of 1840 survived: The Rollicking ''Tippecanoe and Tyler Too'', by Alexander Ross of Zanesville, and Curry's quieter ''The Buckeye Cabin Song'', which some sources claimhistory of buckeye name
/ref> helped lead to Ohio's nickname as the Buckeye State:

Later life

Curry was again elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1842. He also bought the ''Green County Torchlight'' in

Xenia, Ohio Xenia ( ) is a city in southwestern Ohio and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. It is east of Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the Miami Valley region. The name comes from the Greek l ...

that year. He returned to Marysville in 1845, and practiced as a lawyer. He was elected a delegate to Ohio's second Constitutional Convention in 1850, and moved to Chillicothe in 1853, where he purchased the ''Scioto Gazette'', and edited it for a year, until failing health prompted a move back to Marysville, where he died in 1855. While working as a carpenter, Curry met and married Mary Noteman. He was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

by faith, and a bishop wrote of him "as a man without a spot in his character, of strong domestic nature, whose home to him was a paradise: - a man of fervent piety, and his poetry as the song of a religious soul : a faith that brings heaven nearer to earth and man into fellowship with the angels."

Notes

References

* * * * * * : has a different arrangement of the song

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curry, Otway People from Marysville, Ohio Ohio Whigs 19th-century American politicians Members of the Ohio House of Representatives 1855 deaths 1804 births Ohio lawyers 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Ohio Constitutional Convention (1850) Methodists from Ohio People from Greenfield, Ohio 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century American male writers Journalists from Ohio People from Plain City, Ohio