2 JOHN WESLEY POWELL. 



United States, Joshua R. Giddings, and other distinguished aboli- 

 tionists. To the people of southern Ohio, many of whom had orig- 

 inally emigrated from Virginia and other slave States, anti-slavery 

 sentiments were extremely obnoxious. For several years an ag- 

 gressive agitation was kept up; meetings were held in various por- 

 tions of the State, and pamphlets in the interest of the cause were 

 published and distributed. At one time Wesley's Thoughts on Sla- 

 very were issued in pamphlet form and widely circulated by a coterie 

 of men living in Jackson. This publication led to a great uproar 

 in the town, and four of the leading agitators were mobbed, and 

 soon afterwards one of the professors of Oberlin College was as- 

 saulted on the street while on his way to the Powell residence. 

 These years constituted a very exciting epoch in the boy's life. He 

 was now old enough to appreciate the character of his father's 

 course, and keenly felt the terrorism in which the family was con- 

 stantly held. 



But these circumstances led to events which profoundly influ- 

 enced his subsequent life. A short distance from Jackson, on a 

 large farm, lived Mr. Crookham, a man of some means. He had 

 a grown family, in which were several sons who took charge of the 

 farm and relieved their father of the cares of business. He was 

 now an old man, and reputed to be a great scholar. To John he 

 seemed a man of miraculous wisdom. He had built for himself 

 two large log-houses, connected by a shed. In one he had his 

 library, museum, and laboratory ; the other was arranged as a 

 school-house, and in this he taught gratuitously such young men 

 as desired instruction. 



As the son of an abolitionist it was at one period difficult for 

 John to attend the village school. The boys considered that he 

 had no rights which they were bound to respect, and his mother 

 came to the conclusion that it was not safe for him to go to the 

 school any longer. About this time Mr. Crookham came to see his 

 father and mother, and the kind old gentleman proposed that John 

 should come and study with him in his log school-house. The lad 

 was shy and embarrassed, and it was quite a while before Mr. Crook- 

 ham, although a constant visitor in the family for several years, 

 could overcome his timidity. At last, addressing Mr. Powell, he 

 said; "Great Britain, 1 I will take the boy and make a scholar of 

 him." To this the father consented, and that day completed the 

 arrangements for his guardianship of the lad until the excitement 

 should subside. 



1 Mr. Crookham always called John's father " Great Britain." 



