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MISCELLANEOUS

     In August, 1853, the Cincinnati, Wilmington & Zanesville Railroad was completed to Lancaster.  In 1867, the Columbus & Hocking Valley Railroad was completed from Columbus to Athens.  These two railroads placed Lancaster in communication with the outside world and afforded facilities for freight and travel to all points of the compass.
     In the year 1855 the Lancaster Gas Works were built and the streets, business houses and dwellings lighted by gas.
     In 1877 the present system of Water Works was established and is owned by the city.
     On the first day of February, 1887, natural gas was discovered in Lancaster.  E. L. Slocum was the first to agitate the formation of a company to bore for gas, and to him is due the chief credit of the discovery.  The plant is owned by the city.  Gas is found in abundance and it is furnished to the citizens at a reasonable rate.
     An electric light plant, owned by a company, furnishes light for the streets of the city and many business houses.  Geo. Matt is the principal owner of both gas and electric light plant. 
     The improvements sketched bring us down to about the year 1880, another period of forty years.
     Lancaster had grown and prospered and the population numbered six thousand eight hundred and three.  The men who made Lancaster famous had all passed to their long home, save General and John Sherman, and a new generation had taken their place.
     The discovery of natural gas gave the town quite

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a little boom and some two hundred new buildings have been erected. The population has increased and now numbers eight thousand.

     Dr. M. Effinger, Dr. P. M. Wagenhals, and Dr. O. E. Davis practiced medicine in Lancaster prior to the year 1870.  They were able physicians and genial, warm-hearted men.  They are numbered with the dead, but live in the hearts of hosts of friends who keep their memory green.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

     The Methodist Episcopal Church of Lancaster was organized about the year 1812.  There had been a small class a few years prior to this, but it had not assumed the form of an organization.  Bishop Asbury had preached in one of the school-houses and in the Court House in 1809.  James Quinn, Jesse Stoneman, and Asa Shinn had preached to the early settlers from time to time.  Jacob D. Deitrick and wife, Peter Reber and wife, Thos. Orr and wife, Christian Weaver and wife, George Canode and wife, and Mrs. Wm. B. Peck were the original members.  The wives of the four men named were sisters and daughters of Frederick Arnold, a farmer who lived north of the town.  They were sisters of Henry Arnold, long a merchant of Lancaster. 
     In the year 1816 a substantial frame house of worship was built, in which the congregation met for twenty-six years. Mrs. Wm. B. Peck was the largest contributor to this new house.  In 1820 Lancaster was made a station and Rev. Thomas A. Morris, afterwards a bishop, was the first settled pastor.
     At this time the congregation numbered sixty-five members.  It did not long remain a station, as the

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Radical excitement distracted and partly disrupted the congregation.  The effect was to cause the station to be abolished.  In 1830 the church had so far recovered from the Radical disruption, that Lancaster was made a half station, and this continued until 1839, when the charge again became a station.
     In the year 1839 a new, commodious, substantial and handsome house of worship was dedicated, and it is still a handsome edifice.  The new church building was dedicated by the Rev. Joseph M. Trimble, a son of Hon. Allen Trimble, once governor of Ohio, and a very distinguished divine.
     In 1816 John McMehan was one of the regular preachers at Lancaster.  He was an eloquent and popular preacher.  He and a Universalist, named Streeter, held a public discussion in the court-house, which attracted much attention.  On McMehan’s next round, after preaching to a large audience in the court-house, he was met at the door by a certain Colonel and insulted.  Dr. Smith, who witnessed it, exclaimed, “Smite him, Johnny, in the name of God, for he richly deserves it!” McMehan collared him, but did not strike.
     Jacob Young, a pioneer preacher, who was presiding elder at the time, states that this incident occurred in the year 1818. At that time the Methodists had a house of worship, and it is possible that father Young is in error. Other authorities state that McMehan was here in 1816, before the church was built, hence the reason for preaching in the court-house.  James Quinn was his associate, and preached the first sermon in the new church, then not entirely finished.  This was in the year 1816, according to the best authorities.
     The new church building was not built by contract.

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but the construction was superintended by James Herman. Laurence Hyle worked upon it and in that way paid a twenty-five dollar subscription.  The Radical or Methodist Protestant movement embarrassed this Church for a time.  The leading organizers of that movement were Benjamin Connell, John Arney, George Hood, W. B. Pearce, and Salmon Shaw.  This society died with its founders and the survivors returned to the M. E. Church.
     During the eighty-five years of the existence of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lancaster, its pulpit has been filled by many distinguished and able men, men who were able and eloquent at the time or became such in future years.  James Quinn, John McMehan, Thos. A. Morris, afterwards Bishop, Joseph M. Trimble, W. P. Strickland, R. S. Foster, afterwards Bishop, Granville Moody, and C. A. Van Anda were the most prominent.  Bishop Merrill when on the Royalton circuit lived in Lancaster.  He is perhaps the ablest divine who ever preached to a Lancaster audience.
     Many of the best men and women of Lancaster were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Charles Babb’s family were Methodists, and the first to settle in Lancaster in 1802.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

     The father of the Presbyterian Church in Lancaster was the Rev. John Wright.  He came here from western Pennsylvania by way of Kentucky, in the year 1801, as a missionary.  He did not remain long, going again to Kentucky, but in a year or two returned to Lancaster and made it his home until the year 1835, when he removed to Indiana.  He preached in the cab-

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ins until the Court House was built in 1807, when that became their house of worship and so remained until the year 1823.  In this year a one-story brick church building was erected on the spot now occupied by S. J. Wright as a residence.  At this time the families of Work, Sturgeon, Maccracken, Sherman, Foster, and Wilson were the prominent members.  In the year 1833 a larger and more imposing house of worship was built, just south of the old church.  The architect was Isaac Church; the carpenter, James A. Weakley.  At this time the membership was about two hundred.  Rev. Wm. Cox succeeded Rev. Wright and for fifteen years was a very popular and useful preacher, and universally liked.  One of his daughters was the wife of General Thos. Ewing, another the wife of Colonel J. M. Connell.  Other prominent pastors were the Reverends Lowry, Galbraith, Fullerton, and Boyd.  In 1892 a handsome modern-styled church building was erected in place of the old, which had been removed, Isaiah Vorys, Jr., being the contractor.  Rev. John Gourley is the present pastor.  This society is one of the time-honored institutions of Lancaster; the only church that can trace its history back to the first settlement of the town.  Rev. James Quinn, the Methodist missionary, was the first to penetrate the wilderness and preach the Gospel, but was not the first to establish a church in Lancaster.  Thomas Sturgeon, now eighty-nine years of age, and Mrs. W. J. Reese, now eight-five years of age, when infants, were baptized by the Rev John Wright.  “My mother’s children were all baptized by Rev. John Wright.” — Jno. Sherman’s Autobiography.

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May 6, 1822, the trustees of the Presbyterian Church contracted with Christian Weaver and Jas. A. Weakley to build a one-story brick church building, to be completed by June 1, 1823, for the sum of sixteen hundred dollars, the church to be fifty feet in length, thirty feet in width, and sixteen feet in height.  Twelve hundred dollars was at that time subscribed.  The trustees who signed this contract were Samuel F. Maccracken, Joseph Work, and David Ewing.  The contract was witnessed by H. Weed and Mrs. S. F. Maccracken.  Robt. Wilson furnished one thousand nine hundred and eighty-four feet of lumber for twenty-two dollars; two thousand feet of lath for eight dollars and forty cents.  Here follows the subscription list. 

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     It must be understood that the contractors areed to take the work, materials, produce, and trade subscribed.  This list of subscribers is valuable and interesting, as it shows the citizens who lived in Lancaster and the neighborhood at that time who were able to contribute to a public enterprise or church in that early day.  It is not an index to the congregation, for they were not all Presbyterians or church members.  We find in the list one Universalist, nine of the most prominent Lutherans of the town, two Baptists, three leading Methodists, and four very prominent Catholics.

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH

     The Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized about December 15, 1816.  At that time Rev. Michael J. Steck, of Greensburg, Pa., came to Lancaster and gathered around him the pioneers of Lancaster of that faith, and began preaching in the courthouse, then the house of worship for all denominations.  The Rev. Foster, who resided in Perry County, Ohio, had preached here frequently for several years as a missionary.  The prominent Lutherans, who had kept the faith under the preaching of Foster and formed the organization of the Church under Rev. Steck, were Jacob Beck, Sr., Christian Rokohl, Edward Shaeffer, John Herman, Geo. Beck, Sr., Christian King, Jacob Shaeffer, and Gottlieb Steinman.  They were men of character and influence and the Church they founded

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grew and prospered.  Jacob Beck, Sr., donated the lot upon which the first church edifice was built.  The Rev. Steck was a faithful minister and soon gathered about him a large congregation.  Having secured the ground, he soon had the funds raised for the erection of a new church building.  In this work he was ably assisted by the pioneers named above.  The new church was ready for the corner-stone in August, 1819, as the following card, cut from the Ohio Eagle, will show.

LUTHERAN CHURCH

     All lovers of Christianity, who take pleasure in seeing the Church of Christ flourish, are hereby invited to attend the solemn ceremony of laying the corner-stone of a church to be erected by the German Lutheran congregation in Lancaster, on Wednesday, August 11, 1819.  

                                                                    Jacob Shaeffer,
                                                                   Gottlieb Steinman,
                                                                   Christian King,
                                                                   Jacob Beck, Sr. 

     From Ohio Eagle of August, 1819. Rev. M. J. Steck severed his connection with this church in the year 1829 and returned to Pennsylvania.  Rev. John Wagenhals succeeded him and continued as pastor until 1854.  Rev. Christian Spielman was pastor from 1860 to 1864, and was succeeded by Rev. G. W. Mechling, the present pastor. 
     The first building was burned down in 1846, and was replaced by a good structure.  In recent years this was abandoned and a fine new church building erected on the corner of Broad and Mulberry Streets.  Rev. Mechling preaches to large congregations.  The venerable Jacob Beck, of Hocking Township, was for many years a leading and useful member of this society.

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ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH

     This Church was organized in 1843, and worshiped for three years in St. Peters.  In the year 1846 St. Peter’s building was destroyed by fire.  The English branch in that year built a new and handsome house of worship on Columbus Street.  This building was greatly improved in the year 1892.  The Rev. John McCron was the first pastor. 
     Rev. Samuel Sprecher and Rev. J. B. Helwig, former pastors, became somewhat distinguished as divines.  For more than twenty years Rev. G. W. Halderman served this congregation as pastor, and continues to sustain that relation.  In these years he has endeared himself to the people of his charge and to the citizens of Lancaster generally, by whom he is held in high esteem. 
     The early members of the Church, with but few exceptions, have gone to their reward. 
     The membership is now about two hundred and seventy-five.

GRACE REFORMED CHURCH

     This Church was organized in the year 1816 by Rev. George Wise.  He had spent a part of the previous year as a missionary in Fairfield County and frequently preached in the courthouse. 
     The new society numbered about twenty members.  About the year 1818 Rev. Wise began to preach to his congregation regularly in a new schoolhouse on Columbus Street.  The house is still standing and is now used as a residence (No. 317 S. Columbus Street).  In 1832 Wise’s congregation purchased the schoolhouse and, after some changes, dedicated it as a house of worship.  The synod met here in 1838 and Rev. Geo.

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Wise was transferred to Basil and Winchester, and Rev. Henry Williard became the pastor, and so remained for eight years.  He married a daughter of John U. Giesy.  In 1845 the present church was partly built, but was not completed until during the pastorate of Rev. P. D. Schory, from 1853 to 1859.  This venerable man is still a resident of Lancaster.  He married the widow of an old Lancaster pioneer, Jacob Green.  Among his many accomplishments, not the least, is his knowledge of and taste for horticulture and gardening.  Emanuel Giesy was for many years the leader in this congregation.  Rev. W. A. Hale, a distinguished divine of Dayton, Ohio, was pastor of this church from 1872 to 1878.  During his pastorate the membership was two hundred and twenty-five.  Rev. Hale has achieved quite a reputation and is highly esteemed in Dayton.  He is at present a member of the Ohio Board of State Charities.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH

     St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church was organized in the year 1835.  The Rev. Sherlock J. Andrews was the first pastor.  Henry Stanbery, Wm. J. Reese, Mrs. Judge Sherman, Mrs. John Reber, Mrs. D. Kutz, Mrs. W. J. Reese, and Mrs. Judge Van Trump were among the early members. In the year 1845 the corner-stone of a church building was laid and the building of the same placed in charge of D. Sifford.  For want of funds, or for other good reasons, the building was not completed until the year 1852.  September 26th of that year the building was consecrated to the worship of God by Bishop C. P. Mcllvaine. It was, and still remains, a handsome and well furnished

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church, and at the time of dedication had been paid for.  This congregation was never a large one, but among its members were zealous, earnest Christians and representatives of many distinguished families of Lancaster.

IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH

     This church was organized in the year 1847, Rev. E. Leonhardt, pastor.  The church building on Chestnut Street was built in the year 1851.  This church has had a slow but healthy growth and now numbers two hundred and ninety members.  The preaching at first was exclusively German, but both English and German are now spoken.  The present pastor.  Rev. C. A. Kaumeyer, is popular with his people.

ST. MARY’S CATHOLIC CHURCH

     The first Catholic society was organized by the Dominican Fathers of Perry County, Ohio, and a small frame house of worship was erected in the year 1820 on Chestnut Street, near the canal.  The first brick edifice, now used as a schoolhouse, was erected in the year 1841, on High Street.  The present commodious and elegant structure was built in the year 1864.  The priests of the Dominican order had charge of this congregation until the year 1839.  In that year Rev. J. M. Young became the first settled pastor, in which capacity he remained for fifteen years.  He retired about the year 1854, and was soon thereafter installed as Bishop of Erie.  Rev. N. E. Pilger is the present pastor, and has held that relation thirteen years, since 1884.  His congregation or membership number about one thousand six hundred.  The membership of this church has always

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been large, and among the number many of Lancaster’s most widely known families. 
     The lot for church and graveyard near the old canal for the first church was donated by Thomas Fricker; in addition to this he made a subscription. 
     In this graveyard, now the Tatge lot, his first wife and a daughter were buried, and other pioneers rest here.  There is no semblance of a graveyard there now, but the dead are there.

THE UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH

     This society laid the cornerstone of Maple Street Chapel May 29, 1894, and the church was dedicated November 4, 1894, by Bishop Dubs, of Chicago.
     The membership is about two hundred and twenty-five, and the present pastor is W. W. Sherrick.

TRINITY EVANGELICAL CHURCH

  This building was built in 1872.  This society was organized and in a flourishing condition before the Evangelical Church became disrupted and the two branches became known as the Esher and Dubs factions. 
     This society has possession of the original church building, and has been sustained so far by the courts.  Rev. W. H. Munk is pastor.

OLD SCHOOL BAPTIST CHURCH

     Rev. George DeBolt was a missionary Baptist preacher in Lancaster as early as 1811. 
     Isaac Church and wife, and James Lowry and wife were the first members.  Rev. White, father of Dr. J. White, was the first pastor, and the Rev. Samuel Carpenter was the pastor for many years.  The New

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School Baptist, or Missionary Baptist Church, was organized in 1842.  Rev. J. M. Courtney was the first pastor.  The families of Creed, Latta, White, Slocum, and Mrs. Tallmadge were members of this church.

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

     The writer is not able to state when the African M. E. Church was organized.  It has been for many years a large and respectable society.  John C. Viney has long been one of its leading members.

CHURCHES AND OTHER BUILDINGS

     The churches of Lancaster are handsome, commodious structures, creditable to the good taste, liberality and public spirit of those who worship therein. 
     The first three brick buildings erected in Lancaster have been mentioned.  Thomas Ewing built the first commodious brick residence about the year 1824.  Gen. Samuel F. Maccracken built the first really fine pretentious house in the town in 1833.  It is still in a state of fine preservation, and is now owned and occupied by John G. Reeves.  General W. J. Reese built the next fine house and was soon followed by Henry Stanbery.  Builders say that Michael Garaghty’s house, built about the same time, though not so pretentious, was one of the best built houses in Lancaster; it is now owned and occupied by Mrs. John R. Mumaugh. H. H. Hunter’s dwelling, once in the suburbs, and built in 1844 by Henry Orman, was a fine residence.  Col. Van Trump and D. Tallmadge built stately homes west of town.  There are many modern dwellings in the city, but none to compare in splendor and in capacity for entertainment to the grand old mansions mentioned.

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POSTMASTERS OF LANCASTER

     Here follows a list of those who have served the people of Lancaster in the capacity of postmaster in the order named: Samuel Coates, Sr., Samuel Coates, Jr., Jacob D. Deitrick, Elnathan Scofield, Henry Drum, Thomas U. White, Daniel Sifford, Henry Miers, James Cranmer, John C. Cassel, Benjamin Connell, John L. Tuthill, C. M. L. Wiseman, J. M. Sutphen, Charles H. Williams, Jonas Shallenberger, Chas. B. Martin, and W. E. Newman, the present incumbent.

MAYORS OF LANCASTER

Lancaster was incorporated as a city of the third class in the year 1851. Those who were elected to the office of Mayor, were in the order named: W. P. Creed, John D. Martin, Silas Hedges, Alfred McVeigh, K. Fritter, Samuel Ewing, Tall Slough, Philip Benadum, John D. McCormick, Wm. Vorys, Samuel W. Rainey, H. C. Drinkle, Hugh Cannon, Chas. W. Parido, Abram Beery H. W. Carpenter, and James Willock, the present incumbent.

HONORED CITIZENS

     But two of the honored citizens of Lancaster of the period of 1825, remain with us — Henry Orman, and Jacob Beck, now past ninety-three years of age.  They have lived long and useful lives, with honor untarnished.  For more than seventy years, the best people of Lancaster have been their friends.  Secure in the affection of their families, they serenely await the summons that shall soon call them hence. 
     Jacob Beck was county treasurer for six years, and

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was a long number of years, a public administrator of great ability Hunter and Stanbery were his advisors and warm personal friends.

HENRY ORMAN

     Mr. Orman was a native of Maryland, and was born June, 1804.  He was a carpenter by trade.  When nineteen years of age he bid adieu to the scenes of his youth and set out on foot for the western country. 
     He landed in Somerset, Ohio, in 1823, where he remained one year. 
     In 1824 he came to Lancaster.  Here he worked as a journeyman for two years, and in 1826 set up for himself.  He worked by the month for the two years named at eighteen dollars and his board.  It was the good old custom then for employers of every grade to board their employees. 
He worked upon the frame market house and town hall in 1825. 
     He was always an ardent politician, but one term in the town council was the only office he ever held. 
     July 23, 1828, he was married to Miss Ann Beck, the daughter of a pioneer.  They were both members of the Lutheran Church.  Henry Orman was a good citizen and a good mechanic.  He built the fine residence of H. H. Hunter, the Rising Block, and many other good houses.  His sons, who succeeded him in business, Jacob B., Thomas, and George, built the new courthouse. 
     Mr. Orman has been all his life a member of the Masonic Fraternity, his name having been presented by Judge Sherman. 
     Henry Orman is the only surviving member of the

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Grand Commandery of Knights Templar, which assembled in Lancaster in the year 1843.
     He is living at a great age, honored and respected by all who know him.  Those he knew in youth and middle life have gone to their reward, but their children are here and respect the friend of their fathers.
     For fifty years Henry Orman was one of the best known men upon the streets of Lancaster.

SAMUEL S. RICKLY

     Henry Orman in his long business career employed many worthy young men.  Of this number S. S. Rickly, now a prominent banker of Columbus, is one, and worthy of mention and remembrance.  Mr. Orman employed him as a carpenter at the time he built the Tunis Cox or Eckert house on Wheeling Street, now occupied by Wm. L. Martin.  Mr. Rickly spent the years of his young manhood in Lancaster at a time when many brilliant men made it their home, and he must have received some intellectual inspiration from his surroundings.  He has lived a long life, and the success that comes of industry, energy, perseverence, and intellect, is his.  Like his unfortunate friend, Henry Orman, he is now totally blind, but bears it all with becoming cheerfulness.  Life is not a blank nor existence a burden.  Every day finds him in the discount room of his bank directing its business.  His memory recalls the events of his life and the pages he has read, and he can say with Wordsworth: 

“For oft, when on my couch I lie,
    In vacant or in pensive mood. 
They flash upon that inward eye. 
    Which is the bliss of solitude.”

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JACOB BECK

     Mr, Beck is in many respects the most interesting character that Lancaster has produced.  He has just passed his ninety-third birthday and is in full possession of his mental faculties.  He was born in the Canton of Basel, Switzerland, the 25th of June, 1804.  In 1806, with his father and mother, he emigrated to America, landing in Philadelphia August 10th of the same year. They settled temporarily in Pennsylvania.
     In the month of April, 1810, they started west and landed in Lancaster May 5th. Here he was reared and educated and here he spent the most vigorous years of his life. In his father’s shop he acquired the trade of a blacksmith, which he followed successfully for many years.
     In the year 1822 he was confirmed and became a member of the Lutheran Church, and for seventy-five years he has led a consistent Christian life, and has been a trusted and influential leader in his denomination.  He was for many years a member of the Board of Trustees of Capital University, their pioneer college in the West.  In the year 1830 he was elected treasurer of Fairfield County, which office he filled for six years.  Leaving the treasurer’s office, he purchased a farm near town and removed his family to his new home, where he has since resided.
     Mr. Beck possessed unusual business qualifications and was especially adapted to the settlement of estates, the amount of this class of business that came to him being unusually large.  This business brought him into very frequent contact with Ewing, Stanbery, Hunter,

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and Brasee, and throughout their lives he had their confidence and esteem.  One of the pleasant memories that gives him comfort in his old age is that he was intimate with, and shared the friendship of the four greatest men of Lancaster, of their time. In his blacksmith shop he learned the lesson of his life, long before Longfellow beautifully expressed it, 

“Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought.” 

     Mr. Beck is a man of rare good common sense, honest, frugal, and industrious—with these good qualities he could not but be successful in business. 
     He has lived a long, useful, and honorable life, illustrating the virtues that adorn and ennoble human nature.

THE COLORED CITIZEN

     The colored population of Lancaster has always been quite large and respectable.  The first settlers came with their old masters from Virginia, as early as 1810.  They were always treated kindly and considerately, and were afforded opportunities to better their condition.  At the same time there was always a proslavery sentiment in a more or less mild form in Lancaster; notwithstanding that a large pioneer element of able men came from New England. William Peters, Scipio Smith, John Ampy Jones, and Nelson Smith were intelligent, useful and popular citizens.  As the Anti-slavery sentiment grew and spread over the country, the pro-slavery sentiment was increased in Lancaster.  In the year 1848 the colored people proposed to have a Sunday school celebration, for which great preparation was made.  John B. Reed painted

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their banners, and all things were ready for the display to take place on the first day of August.  As that was the anniversary of West Indian emancipation, it was soon noised abroad that the real object was the celebration of that event.  Great excitement prevailed and even the conservative people of Lancaster were affected by it.  At midnight, July 31st, the house of Nelson Smith, the headquarters of the colored people, was mobbed by the rough element of the town.  The house was badly wrecked and the furniture destroyed.  The one hundred or more visiting negroes from Chillicothe and Circleville hastily left the town.  Dan Brown, a school teacher and son-in-law of Scipio Smith, drew his rifle upon one of the leaders of the mob, but was prevented from firing by Mrs. Nelson Smith.  William Slade, cashier of the Hocking Valley Bank, was the only man in town brave enough to denounce the outrage, which he did in vigorous language. Henry Stanbery, Attorney-General of Ohio, was here on a visit and reproved Slade for his incendiary language.   It was found necessary to place a guard around Slade’s house that night.  During this year (1848) Joshua R. Giddings, the Anti-slavery apostle, was advertised to speak in Lancaster and the day named, but the temper of the people was such that the appointment was withdrawn.  This was the situation of the colored man in Lancaster before the war. Emancipation and the right of suffrage has made a wonderful change.

THE STARCH COMPANY

     The first company organized by citizens of Lancaster upon a large scale for the purpose of manufacturing, was the Lancaster, Ohio, Manufacturing Com-

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pany. This company was organized for the purpose of manufacturing starch from Indian corn.
     The promoter was Charles Colgate, an adventurer from New York. He represented himself as thoroughly versed in the business of manufacturing, and was backed by his brother, the great soap man of New York, and other well known New York friends of his to the extent of fifteen thousand dollars. The reputation of his backers was such and the appearance and conversation of the man so pleasing that his word was taken and the company organized without farther investigation.
     The articles of incorporation were signed by Joseph Work, Sr., James Gates, G. G. Beck, C. Dresbach, and D. Tallmadge, June 20, 1856. The first directors were John T. Brasee, Darius Tallmadge, J. C. Kinkead, Thomas Sturgeon, P. B. Ewing, G. G. Beck, and Wm. Latta, elected June 27, 1856.  The stockholders disagreed upon some matters pertaining to the management, and July 2, 1856, the new Board resigned and what was termed the D. Tallmadge faction retired from the company.
     A list of the stockholders is here given, which shows that the best business men of Lancaster were in this enterprise.

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     The trouble was finally adjusted and John Reber, D. Kutz, George Kauffman, Henry Miers, Thos. Ewing, and others, took the stock of the retiring members, much to their regret in after years. 
     The new Board, Jno. T. Brasee, Geo. Kauffman, G. G. Beck, John Reber, Henry Miers, and P. B. Ewing, organized July 26, 1856, and elected G. G. Beck president, and C. M. L. Wiseman, treasurer and secretary.  These officers continued to the end. 
     A lot was soon purchased and in the course of a year a magnificent building was erected and fully equipped at a cost of $66,000, the capital stock of the company being but $60,000. Charles Colgate, the promoter, was elected superintendent.
     He did not prove to be a good, level-headed business man.   The building and equipment cost at least $26,000 more than he had given the Board of Trustees to expect.  He was his own architect and made his own plans, and so completely had he impressed the Board with confidence in his ability, that things ran on without check until it was too late.
     The expense of building and equipment was far beyond the expectations of the Board, and his management of the factory, once in operation, fell far short of their expectations, being operated at a loss from the beginning.  In two or three years he was deposed and the factory was run for a year or more by G. G. Beck as superintendent.  They were in too deep water to continue long, and the business was closed up in 1860

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     Such, in brief, is the history of the most expensive manufacturing enterprise of Lancaster, managed by its best talent. 
     The history of the plant emphasizes the fact, that men of ability can be imposed upon and cannot well manage a business they do not understand. 
     The entire capital was sunk in this enterprise, not one dollar being restored to the stockholders.

KILLING OF LITTLE AND MICHAELS

     The death of John Little and Tip Michaels, soldiers of the Seventeenth Ohio Regiment, at the hands of John See, was the most unfortunate and deplorable tragedy that ever stained the annals of Lancaster.  During the war for the Union there were men in Lancaster who sympathized with the South.  This was known to the soldiers and it excited their ire.  In February, 1864, the Fairfield Boys of the Seventeenth Ohio Regiment were home on furlough.  Our best citizens contemplated the meeting of the boys and the men they disliked with much anxiety.  The crisis came on the 20th of February.  
     John See and his son, George, with others were in Steck’s saloon on that fatal day.  Joshua Whitely, Sylvester Courtney, John Little, Tip Michaels, and Lyman Barnes entered the saloon and ordered drinks.  The boys then turned to George See and an exciting conversation ensued.  Soon there was a general row, and John See drew his pistol, as he afterwards alleged, and fired to kill Whitely and Courtney, but, instead, killed John Little and Tip Michaels.  A general fight followed the shot of See, and in the confusion both he and his son escaped by the back door, mounted their horses, and were off for the hills.  The report of the

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pistol shot was heard upon the streets and the saloon was soon filled with people.  During this confusion the Sees got a good start and were well out of town before any one had presence of mind enough to procure horses and follow them.  A half dozen soldiers finally found horses and went in hot pursuit.  George See was overtaken two miles from town and brought back on the same horse with Lew Richwine.  The streets were full of excited people and all the soldiers were there, all anxious to get at See.  It was pitiful to see the distress of the poor man seemingly in the presence of immediate death; for no one in that vast crowd expected, and but few, in the excitement of the moment, wanted anything else.
     He was taken from the horse, knocked down and trampled upon until apparently dead.  The crowd was so great and pressed so close that men could not strike, and this is all that prevented immediate death.  A few brave men saved his life.  Dr. P. M. Wagenhals, William P. Creed, Henry Springer, and others opened the way, pressed the soldiers back, and carried the apparently lifeless body to the office of Dr. Wagenhals, where he was restored to consciousness.
     In the darkness of the night he was carried to the residence of John D. Martin, where he remained until able to be turned over to the care of his family.  John See was pursued a few miles but succeeded in eluding his pursuers and hiding in a neighboring barn. In a few weeks the soldiers returned to the army.  John See returned to Lancaster, was indicted and tried by a jury of twelve men before Judge Van Trump and acquitted.  The verdict was the subject of much censure, and it was denounced by a large number of people, but no farther trouble followed.  The soldiers on

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this same vacation mobbed the office of the Ohio Eagle.  The office was pretty thoroughly gutted and the type thrown out of the windows on to the pavement.  Chas. Roland, the editor and proprietor, took the matter very coolly; he made an estimate of his losses amounting to about one thousand two hundred dollars, and presented his bill to the city council.  The claim, without much discussion, was favorably received and promptly paid.  One member of the council could not see his way clear to pay it legally, but he said he would vote for it for good fellowship.  This was an exciting day in Lancaster, and many feared that it would not end without violence and bloodshed.  Fortunately for our town, night came without any further trouble and everybody breathed easier.  Whitely was indicted for assaulting George See with intent to kill, and was also indicted for mobbing the Eagle office.  He was tried and acquitted on both charges.  He proved he was not present when the Eagle office was mobbed.  After the killing of the boys, men who had any fear of violence from the soldiers were not often seen upon our streets.  Those who read the accounts of those eventful days can have no adequate conception of the in- tense excitement that prevailed here, during those four weeks and the weeks that followed, until the trials were over.  But the counsel of cool-headed men prevailed; quiet was restored and men returned to their peaceful occupations.

LANCASTER IN THE WAR

     Lancaster furnished a large number of soldiers for the Union Army from 1861 to 1865.  Of the number enlisted, sixty-three were, at the start or before the close of the war, commissioned officers.  We give their

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names as it is an index to the patriotic spirit of the times. Men of both political parties are in this list, and they were brave and true. Those marked with a star were killed in battle or have since died.
     *Gen. W. T. Sherman,
     *Major-Gen. Thomas Ewing,
       Major-Gen. Hugh Ewing,
     *Brigadier-General Chas. Ewing,
     *Captain Ezra Ricketts,
       Captain D. P. Sullivan,
       Captain B. H. Showers,
       Captain Levi Cornwall,
     *Colonel John M. Connell,
     *Colonel L. M. Dayton, of Sherman’s Staff,
       Captain John Sears,
       Captain W. E. Felton,
     *Lieutenant- Colonel A. W. Ebright,
       Major W. G. Clark,
     *Captain Joseph Bury,
       Captain J. M. Sutphen,
       Captain Zack Heed,
       Colonel H. B. Reese, paymaster.
       Major Andrew Davidson, assistant surgeon,
     *Captain J. W. Stinchcomb,
       Captain J. T. Weakley,
     *Captain E. A. Richards,
     *Captain Leo. Noles,
     *Brigadier-General by Brevet J. A. Stafford,
       Captain A. Ogden,
       Captain W. H. Walker,
     * Colonel Newton Schleich,
     *Lieutenant-Colonel H. B. Hunter,
     *Captain J. C. Henly,
     *Captain John Van Pearse,

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       Captain Isaac Butterfield,
     *Major H. H. Giesy,
     *Major A. H. Perry,
       Captain L. R. Carpenter,
       Captain John G. Reeves,
     *Major Hooker,
       Major H. W. Carpenter assistant surgeon.
       Captain Seth Weldy,
     *Captain B. J. Butterfield,
     *Captain Geo. E. Blaire,
       Lieutenant C. H. Rice,
       Lieutenant Chas. Young,
     *Lieutenant Geo. C. Rainey,
       Lieutenant Irvin Linn,
       Lieutenant Theodore C. Michaels,
     *Lieutenant Pat McGrew,
     *Lieutenant Creed Ritchie,
     *Lieutenant Thomas Hunter,
       Lieutenant Wm. H. Pugh,
       Lieutenant Allen Titler,
       Lieutenant Chas. E. Reck,
       Lieutenant Michael Steck,
       Captain William Wiedner,
       Captain J. H. Arney,
       Lieutenant Solomon Homan,
       Lieutenant L. H. Barnes,
     *Lieutenant Charles Clarke,
       Lieutenant Geo. Orman,
       Lieutenant Chas. Heed,
               A. Q. M.,
       Captain J. B. Orman,
               R. Q. M.,
     *Lieutenant Geo. Wygum,
     *Lieutenant Emanuel Giesy,
       Lieutenant Thomas Reber.

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    Major H. H. Giesy and Captain Ezra Rickets were killed in battle, Captain Ricketts at Chickamauga and Major Giesy before Atlanta. Lieutenant-Colonel Ebright was killed in battle near Winchester, Virginia, and his body, as was that of Major Giesy, was brought to Lancaster for burial.  The Southland holds  “The dreamless dust” of Captain Ezra Ricketts.
     Captain John Sears, of Lancaster, and Captain John Busby, of Royalton, Fairfield County, now of Iowa, were present in Ford’s Theater, Washington City, the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.  They assisted in carrying the wounded President to the room where he died.  Captain Sears preserves the coat that he wore upon that awful night, stained with the blood of the martyred President.
     “To have been to the wars is a life-long honor, increasing with the weight of years.”  The Civil War is an event of the past; peace has spread her wings over our broad extended country, and we are a united, prosperous, and happy people.   “The blood that flowed at Lexington and crimsoned Lake Champlain, Streams still along the Southern Gulf and by the lakes of Maine.”

FINANCIAL ITEMS

     In the year 1815 the total taxes of the county, including Lancaster, were in amount $3,974.07; county expenditures for the same year, $3,440.10. Michael Garaghty and John Augustus were commissioners.  In the year 1826 the total valuation in the county was $1,588,278; the taxes were $8,328.39.

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     In the year 1866 the total valuation was |14,161,095 ; taxes for the same year, $185,594.
     In the year 1879 the valuation was $18,201,990; taxes for the same year, $215,535.
     In the year 1826 flour was worth $1.25 per barrel.
     In the year 1866 flour was worth $15.00 per barrel.
     In the year 1826 rye whiskey was worth five dollars per barrel.
     In the year 1866 whiskey was worth $250 per barrel.
     In 1826 wheat was twenty-five cents per bushel, corn and oats ten cents per bushel, pork $1.25 per one hundred pounds.
     The total value of all assessed property in Lancaster for the year 1897 is $3,077,140.
     The total taxes for same year, rate 2.21, are $76,178.64.
     Of the above valuation the real estate is $1,962,250, and the valuation of the personal property is $1,114,890.
     The population of Lancaster now numbers about 9,000. There has been a steady but gradual increase since the discovery of natural gas, which is used in buildings and manufactories.

INSURANCE AGENTS

     The first fire insurance agent in Lancaster was Jacob D. Deitrick, representing the Protection Company, of Hartford.  Other agents, from time to time, were: Samuel J. Maccracken, the Traders of New York; Charles Borland, for the Columbus, Ohio, Insurance  ompany; Jno. D. Martin, for the Aetna, succeeded by P. Van Trump, and he by B. F. Reinmund; W. P. Creed, for the Protection, and also the Insurance Company of

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North America; W. T. Wise, for the Home of New York, also Hartford Company of Hartford; Jno. D. Martin, for the Connecticut Life Insurance Company, of Hartford.

THE FIRE FIEND IN LANCASTER

     Lancaster in its history of ninety-six years has not been a sufferer, at any one time from a very extensive fire. 
     From time to time fires of considerable magnitude have occurred, but no great conflagration.  Peter Reber was the owner of a horse power mill, situate where the Presbyterian church now stands.  In 1821 this mill was destroyed by fire.  The bucket brigade was worked here to great advantage in saving other property, and tradition says that Thomas Ewing and Adam Weaver, both stalwart men, disagreed as to its management and came to blows. 
     The next fire of any consequence was the shop of R. O. Claspill, on Columbus Street, where now the English Lutheran church stands.  This was in 1832.
     In 1833 the Union hotel, owned by Col. John Noble, and occupied by G. Steinman, was destroyed by fire, with but little insurance.  St. Peter’s church on the canal was destroyed in 1846.  R. W. Denning & Co.’s large mill on the the canal in 1853.  In 1854 the rear of D. Tallmadge’s home and his stables were destroyed by fire.  John Effingers house was burned in 1856.  The Green Block, on the corner of Main Street and the Public Square, a three-story brick building with

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three store-rooms and offices above, was destroyed by fire in the fifties. 
     Eran Julian and others were losers to some extent and Colonel Van Trump and Stinchcomb and Clarke lost their libraries. 
     About this time the shop of Josiah Wright, on the alley in rear of Kauffman’s drug store was burned; the fire was caused by drawing gasoline by artificial light in a small outhouse.
     Sometime in the sixties the carriage shop of Geiser Bros, was burned.
     September, 1870, Orman Bros. shop was totally destroyed by fire, also Reber and Kutz’s warehouse. 
     In the same month and year the stables of Shaeffer’s Hotel were destroyed by fire. 
     January, 1873, the Evans tannery was burned, in 1879 the Jno. Arney foundry and shop, in May, 1879, Murgin’s dwelling, in 1880 Sturgeon’s ice house, in 1881 Neil, Tippet & Co.’s bent works. 
     The good water supply and standpipe pressure has thus far prevented a conflagration. 
     Along in the seventies the Hocking Valley Works suffered a severe loss, and on two occasions the Eagle Works were partially destroyed.

CEMETERIES

     The city of Lancaster has provided everything necessary for the convenience and comfort of its citizens; good streets, good pavements, good schools, good water works, good fire department; and a City Hall, substantial, commodious, convenient, and beautiful, not excelled in these respects in the state of Ohio. 
     Private capital has provided electric and gas light, a good street railroad, and an opera house, to which

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may be added the magnificent natural gas plant belonging to the city. 
     While doing all this we have not been unmindful of the dead. 
     The pioneers, or most of them, who died prior to 1830, were buried in the cemetery on the hill, donated by Ebenezer Zane, and in the Methodist burying ground adjoining. 
     Elmwood is the resting place of the greater number of the old historic characters of Lancaster. It is a small but well kept burying ground and dear tO' the hearts of hundreds yet living.
     The Mt. Pleasant Avenue front will soon have a new ornamental iron fence, contributed by the friends and descendants of the honored dead.

FOREST ROSE

     This cemetery is located just north of the city.  It is a romantic spot and is fast becoming the pride of our people.
     It already contains many handsome monuments and the improvements going on and in contemplation will soon make it a handsome and attractive burying ground.
     Our board of cemetery trustees take a deep interest in its care and development, indeed in the care of all our cemeteries, and the city of the dead is safe in the their hands.  The present board are E. B. White, Henry G. Miller, and Albert Deitz.

CATHOLIC CEMETERY

     The Catholic Church has, within a few years, improved and put in good shape a fine cemetery, upon the hill south of the city.  It is already a very handsome place, and a credit to the Society.

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     Robert F. Slaughter and his wife were buried in the Carpenter graveyard on the hill south of town, with other pioneers of that neighborhood. and his wife were buried in the Carpenter graveyard on the hill south of town, with other pioneers of that neighborhood.