The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-01-31
DEATH OF DIR. BENJAMIN rApPAN

DIR. Tappan died in Steubenville, Ohio,
Thursday, Jan. II, 1884, aged nearly ~
years. He was born in Steubenville,
OHIO, April 1st, 1872, the son of one of
Ohio's distinguished men, Judge Benja-
min Tappan, who was born in Massachu-
settes in 1773 a brother of the renowned
Arthur and Lewis. Judge Tappan, was
thoroughly educated for that day, took
to the law profession, and after being I'd
mitted to the bar, he came to Ohio and
settled in Ravenna, then an unbroken
wilderness, June 1899. He built the first
log cabin i'll Ravenna, on the farm now
owned by Capt. j. d. King, being the
second one erected in the county. In
the summer of 1900 Judge Tappan went
to Connecticut, and married Miss Nancy
Wright, sister of Hon. John c. Wright !;
returned to Ohio and settled his young
bride III the primitive house provided
for her, in the primeval forest of Raven
ma. Judge Tappan served as a member
of the first Ohio Legislature, after the
State was admitted into the Union in 1903.
He served rs aide-de-camp to Gen.
w duSW wv VI III Ill tliC val VI lC1Hs
the owner of the south division of lots in
Ravenna township, he surveyed and laid
out the old town plat of Ravenna village.
About 1909 Judge Tappan left Ravenna
and settled in Steubenville. For several
years he served as presiding Judge of the
5th Ohio circuit; in 1888 was made Uni
ted States district judge for Ohio. He
nnr1ni1np of the f1m0IlS
"Tappan's Reports, " found on the shelves
of every complete law libraryin in the State.
He was United States Senator from 1889
to 1S45. In 1922 Mrs. Tappan died at Steu-
benville, leaving her only child, the sub
ject of this sketch, motherless when
scarcely ten years old.
The Judge later was married to Mrs.
Elizabeth Frazer. By the second marri-
age Prof Eli L. Tappan, of Kenyon Col
lege, Gambler, a leading educator of the
State, was the only child, and the nearest
living relative of that generation to the
late DIR. Tappan. Andrew Jackson while
President.nominated Judge Tappan as
United States Judge, but because of his
anti-slavery sentiments, the Senate re-
fused to confirm his nomination.
After his mothers death young Benja-
Minis education was the special care of
his father. When twelve years of age he
entered the academy at Round Hill,
Mass, where he was classmate of the late
Rev. Henry Bellows, ID. d., of New York
City, and for two years IL pupil of our
national historian, Hon. Geo. Bancroft.
We find him later prepared for enter
ing the Freshman class of Harvard
College. Supplemented with two
years in the medical department of the
University of Pennsylvania, he was grad
uated in the spring OF 1886. The late DR..
John VIM. Draper, the celebrated physi-
ologist and author, WIS his classmate and
roommate and DR.. Beecher, of dispensa
ry fame, his proctor at medical school.
In 1897 DIR. Tappan entered the celebrated
University of France, where he had free
use of, and occupied minor but import
ant position in the Paris hospital, the
largest and probably the most scientific
institution of the kind in the world. At
ter the Doctors return from France, hav-
ing what was rare at that date among
Americans, some knowledge of the Span
ish language, President Van Buren, ap-
pointed him SPECIAL Minister EXtraordin-
ary to Ecuador, South America, i'll
which position he served some fourteen
months. In 1889 Dr. Tappan was married
to Miss Della Stanton, sister-Of the late
Edward M. Stanton, the famous Secreta-
ry of War. She was the mother of five
children. Benjamin the oldest, served
through the late rebellion, went to the
Pacific slope, and was murdered by the
Indians in Arizona. OF the other four
children, Rev. David Tappan is a settled
pastor of a Presbyterian church in lov a;
James Tappan and Mrs. Nancy Houston,
of Urbana, o., and Miss Lucy n. Tappan,
delphia. DR.. Tappan married for his Sec
ond wife, Miss Helen Rowan, who died
leaving no children. February =, lSG0,he
married his third wife, Miss Nancy Low
ther, who survives him, and by whom he
is the father of nine children, of which
two sons and four daughters are living.
Long before the war, DR.. Tappan was
anti-slavery in his convictions, and at
the first bugle call he enlisted in the de-
leIiSe Oh his country, ne TecclFeu the
appointment of surgeon of the 9th o. V.
Infantry, which was the first appoint
ment made by the Governor of Ohio, in
that branch of the service. AS n practi-
toner in medicine and surgery. DR.. Tap
pan was very successful, gaining the con-
fidence of the entire community where
he was known. His was a varied and
f1II1 n Tu a
Judge Tappan died ip 1857, at the ripe age
of 81. Since the fathers death, DR., Tap
pan has been the owner of a good por-
ton of Benjamins and Eli Tappan's ad-
dition to Ravenna Village, and a large
farm adjoining it on the east. The Tap
pan families Identified with the early
history of Ravenna, have nearly ali
passed away. The frequency of the
name, as grfhtors in our county records
of deeds, will remind future generations
of their having lived, for hundreds of
years to eOmS. E. Z. b.
Ravenna, o., Jan. IS, 1884.