CHAPTER XXI.
History of the Towns and Townships
of Belmont County

MARTIN'S FERRY
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    This active and growing little city lies along the banks of the Ohio river in the northeast part of Belmont county.  Its site is a beautiful one, and consists of two plains or bottoms.  The lower one, which is near and bordering the river bank, is comparatively narrow, widening from its southern boundary as it stretches up the river for two miles to its northern limits at the village of Burlington, and is composed of argillaceous alluvium.  The upper plain is four or five times as broad, and made up like the higher or second terraces, generally of pebbles, gravel and sand, with a thin covering of soil.  From the lower plain to the upper the ascent is from forty-to-fifty feet.  The lower third of the upper terrace is bisected by a small stream of water, leaving a depression of from twenty-five to forty feet, after which it becomes level and continues for half a mile when the surface ascends gradually to the adjacent highlands.  A chain of bold hills surround the town and intersect each other in such direction as to compose an imperfect square through which the Ohio river enters and passes out.  The town is built partly on the bottom and partly on the hill.  The buildings stand over an irregular extent of ground, occupying a very large space that is being gradually built up.  This town was laid out by Ebenezer Martin on the 13th of March, 1835.
     The founder, from whom the name is derived, was born Nov. 9, 1791, in a log cabin immediately above where the Excelsior Glass Works are now located.  His father, Captain Absalom Martin, who was a soldier in the revolutionary war, emigrated from the state of New Jersey in the year 1787, and settled upon the tract of land now occupied by this village.  Mr.

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M's mother, whose christian name was Catharine, was a sister of Col. Ebenezer Zane.
     Captain Martin was employed by the government as surveyor in the Northwestern Territory.  From an examination of his field notes, it seems that he had been engaged in surveying for several years in different localities in the territory.  He died in 1801, leaving his widow with two children - Ebenezer, aged ten, and Patty, aged eight years.
     Shortly after the death of his father, Ebenezer was sent to school at New Brighton, New Jersey, where his grandfather resided.  At this place he lived until the death of his grandparents, and then returned to Wheeling, where his mother lived.  From thence he was sent to Washington College to complete his education.  On his return from college he commenced the study of law, but having arrived at the age to control his own affairs, he took charge of the large estate left him by his father, and he removed on his lands on the Ohio side and began improvements on them.
     In 1810 he married Miss Hannah McLaughlin.  This union was one of unbroken happiness, and lasted until the death of Mrs. Martin in September, 1833.  This misfortune he bore like a Christian, submitting calmly to the will of his Maker.  He did not foresee, great as the loss was, that it would one day be repaired by a companion no less worthy of his affection than the one he so justly mourned.  In 183- he married Minerva Zane, granddaughter of Jonathan Zane, one of the brave, noted borderers who came out to the present site of Wheeling in the year 1770.  In this union he was blessed with ten children, eight of whom are living.  He lived to see his children arrive at the age of maturity.  But another afflicting dispensation of Providence overtook him in 1872, by the death of his second wife.  This was a severe stoke, from which time a gradual decline in his health became apparent.
     In consequence of his liberality and kindness of heart, he became involved as security for a friend for which the greater part of his farm was sold in the year 1847 retaining but some forty or fifty acres, upon which he removed from his old homestead in the spring of 1848.  After his loss he applied himself to the cultivation of his few remaining acres and enjoyed his situation with apparent happiness.










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     Burkle's addition, Mar. 2, 1874.
     Martin's third addition, Oct. 1, 1874.
     William Clarke's second addition, Oct. 1, 1874.
     Evan Wallace's addition, Mar. 30, 1875.

THE FERRY

OFFICE ESTABLISHED

AMONG THE EARLY MERCHANTS.

WHEN INCORPORATED.

     This town was incorporated by the commissioners of Belmont county, Aug. 5, 1865.  The first municipal election was held on the 15th day of December, 1865.  The following is a list of the several officers since its incorporation:

MAYORS.

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RECORDERS.

TREASURERS.

MARSHALS.

COUNCILMEN

CEMETERY.

     The town has no public cemetery, but by the munificence of Ebenezer Martin the dead have a final resting place in the beautiful Walnut Grove on the northern limits of the second plateau.  In this spot reposes peacefully and undisturbed the remains of several of the pioneers of this region.  Among others are Capt. Absolom Martin, Col. Ebenezer Zane and his sister Elizabeth, the heroine of the desperate "gunpowder exploit" of Fort Henry during the seige of 1782.

MATERIALS FOR BUILDING.

ANTIQUITIES.

     Some two hundred yards southwest of the cemetery, a large mound stands, which measures four hundred feet in circumference at the base.  Its present height is twenty-five feet.  On the sides of this mound are several beech trees from two or two and a half feet in diameter, and on its summit a large chestnut tree formerly stood, the stump of which was removed when the mound was explored in the summer of 1836, by Joseph Templeton, a graduate of Washington College, and who subsequently became a Presbyterian minister.  He died in number of years ago in St. Louis.  There were found in the excavation skulls, teeth and fragments of bones, with long straight black hair.  The bones were covered with ashes and charcoal.  At the base of this mound was discovered a large cavity ten feet in diameter, the bottom of which was covered with five inches of ashes.  Arrow heads and a piece of metal supposed to be copper in the rude shape of a hatchet were also found in it.  No stones, however, were found.
     A smaller mound, about eight feet in heighth, situated on the northeast side of Hanover, between Third and Fourth streets, was obliterated in the grading of Hanover street.  Pieces of bones, ashes, charcoal and a stone about four inches in length and one and a half inches wide, and of an oblong shape; was perforated at one end.  There was also some lime stones, which had been transported from a brook about a half mile distant.
     On the west side of Broadway, south of Adams street, a mound three hundred feet in circumference and twenty feet in heighth stands on the grounds owned by Michael Sweeney, and vet remains unexplored.
     On Fourth street, between Hanover and Walnut, the street commissioner in grading found in a compact heap a large quantity of arrow heads.
     By whom these mounds were formed and for what purpose rests entirely upon conjectures.

WATER.

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NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE.

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY.

OHIO VALLEY AGRICULTURAL WORKS.

BOYLE & BROTHERS THRESHING MACHINE WORKS.

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per year.  They also do a general repairing an djobbing business, and have a good local trade.

OTHER WORKS.

BUCKEYE STOVE FOUNDRY.

MARTIN'S FERRY KEG AND BARREL WORKS.

BELMONT FURNACE.

CULBERTSON, WILEY & C__S FOUNDRY.

STEAM SAW MILL.

BAKE FACTORY.

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STAR PLANING MILLS AND LUMBER YARD.

THE GLASS BUSINESS.

OHIO CITY IRON AND NAIL WORKS.

POPULATION.

SCHOOLS.

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CHURCHES.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

[Picture of BELMONT COAL WORKS, JACOB H. HETHERING   , PROPRIETOR,
BELLAIRE, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO]

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HISTORY OF THE MARTIN'S FERRY BAPTIST CHURCH.

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HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH.

HISTORY OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MARTIN'S FERRY, OHIO.

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SECRET ORDERS.

OHIO CITY LODGE NO. 54, K. OF P.

BELMONT CITY LODGE NO. 221, I. O. O. F.

OHIO CITY LODGE, NO. 186 OF F. & A. M.

     From Apr. 14, 1874, to October 21st of the same year, this society worked under a dispensation.  At the session of the Grand Body in October a charter was granted them.  They organized and held their first meetings in West's block, on the corner of Third and Walnut streets, where they continued to meet until the fall of 1874, when they removed  to Medill's block.  In September, 1877, they moved into Wallace's block.  Hall 23x45 feet and tastefully furnished.  The charter members are as follows:  Potter Jordan, L. W. Inglebright, Hiram Frasier, L. C. Sedwick, L. C. Wells, F. Wright, S. Young, G. W. Medill, A. M. Shipman, L. L. Smith, A. J. Alexander, Jesse M. Ruggles, Alex. Rose, J. A. Majors, McGruder Selby, J. A. Crossley, G. C. Sedwick, J. Z. Cochran, George E. Rider, James Dean and Edward Williams.
     The officers elected and installed after the formation of this society were:

CARROLL LODGE, No. 23, A. A. of L & S. W.

     This association was chartered Mar. 8,1879.  It is an association of workers in iron, tin & c., & c.  The main object of this society is for the improvement and protection of the several branches represented, and for the mutual aggrandizement of its members.  Its charter members and officers are as follows:

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