DOUGLAS CLUB

     June 30, 1860, a Douglass Club was formed in Lancaster.  At a meeting called for that purpose a committee of five was appointed to report officers, viz.:  W. T. Wise, J. W. Stinchcomb, A. Brennaman, E. C. Kreider and Tall Slough. They reported as follows: G. J. Wygum, president; John O'Hare, vice-president; Hugh Cannon, treasurer; W. H. Pugh, secretary; executive committee: A. McVeigh, K. Fritter, Wm. Fismer, J. Plout, J. M. Connell, Newton Schleich, Pat. Powers, Adam Guseman.

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY

     The second public library in the history of Lancaster was established in the year 1878.  The funds necessary to purchase three thousand volumes were raised by public subscription.  F. C. Whiley solicited the greater portion of the subscription and was ably seconded by Prof. Andrews, Judge Wright and Kinnis Fritter, his associate members of the board of trustees.  The control of the library was vested in the city council, and a tax has been annually levied for its support.  The president of the council and the president of the school board are ex-officio members of the board of trustees.
     Professor E. B. Andrews, a scholarly man, was a warm friend and supporter of the library from its organization to the day of his death.
     The present trustees are E. B. Cartmell, George W. Welsh, John G. Reeves and H. C. Drinkle.  The library will soon occupy its new quarters, a commodious, handsome and well-lighted room in the city hall.

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HISTORY OF NATURAL GAS PLANT

     Mr. G. W. Trimble, Superintendent of the Natural Gas Plant owned by the city of Lancaster, Ohio, gives the following brief history of same:
     In the spring of 1886 a number of the citizens organized a company to drill for natural gas. The first well was located south of the C. & M. V. Ry., near Maple Street.  The well was drilled to a depth of two thousand feet and gas was found in the Clinton sand rock.  The well produced about one hundred thousand cubic feet every twenty-four hours.  They continued to drill until they reached a depth of two thousand five hundred feet, but found no more gas.  Soon after that time, two other companies of our citizens were formed to sink two more wells.  One was located north and one east of the city, which when drilled in produced one million cubic feet every twenty-four hours.
     During the winter of 1887 and 1888 the three companies consolidated and laid pipes over a small portion of the city and furnished gas to a few citizens.  In April, 1888, the city proposed to put in its own plant.  The question of issuing bonds to the amount of $50,000.00 for the construction of such a plant was submitted to the voters, and out of about two thousand votes there were but twenty-five votes against the proposition.  The bonds were issued and the original plant constructed by the citizens' company was purchased, for which the city paid $23,559.47.
     On the 18th day of July, 1888, the Council appointed three Trustees to manage said plant, viz.:  Messrs. Samuel Whiley, Henry Sieber and Samuel W. Rainey. The balance of the money after purchasing

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the original plant amounting to $26,440.53 was used in constructing a first-class plant, including the drilling of two new wells.  In June, 1889, the City Council issued an additional $25,000 of bonds for natural gas purposes and there were but $20,000 of them sold, making a total bond issue of $70,000.
     The plant was kept in first-class condition at all times out of the earnings of the same, and in September, 1891, the Board began to pay off the $70,000 natural gas bonds out of the surplus accumulated from
the sale of gas, paying as much as $22,500 in one year, and on December 19th, 1895, the last bond was paid off.  They also paid the interest on the bonds, which amounted to $20,000.  Since the natural gas bonds were paid, the Trustees have paid all of the city's bonds and interest as fast as they matured, including Water Works bonds and interest.  We have five thousand two hundred fires on the line.  The income of the plant at the present time amounts to about $50,000 per annum.  The expenses for maintaining the plant is $20,000 per annum, a net profit to the city of $30,000 per annum.  We have single wells that will produce ten million cubic feet every twenty-four hours, with a rock pressure when shut in, of seven hundred and eighty pounds to the square inch.
     The present Board: Messrs. Samuel Whiley, Ed. A. Dodson and Captain Albert Getz, and G. W. Trimble, Superintendent, have had the management of the plant for the past six years, with Captain J. M. Sutphen, Clerk.
     Lancaster, Ohio, February 22, 1897.

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HOCKING VALLEY HOP COMPANY

     The Hop Company was organized Nov. 9, 1865, by T. W. Tallmadge, Dr. O. E. Davis, Dr. H. L. Crider, Rev. P. D. Schory and General Joab A. Stafford.  The Stambaugh farm was purchased and fifty-two acres planted in hops.  Drying and packing houses of approved pattern were erected and all placed under the direction of General Stafford.
     The business did not prove profitable and in a few years it was abandoned and the land laid off in lots, arid what is now known as the hop-yard addition to Lancaster, was added to the town.  This new addition was made by T. W. Tallmadge.
     Tallmadge was born in Maysville, Ky., and came with his parents to Lancaster when a small boy.  He studied law with John T. Brasee, married his eldest daughter, and for two or three years was his partner.  From Lancaster he moved to Columbus, where he was largely engaged in real estate deals.  From there he moved to Washington, D. C.
     Mr. Tallmadge has always been a busy, enterprising man full of energy.  Two of his sons are well-known business men of Columbus.

A BRIEF REVIEW

     Lancaster has always been a lovely place of residence.  Inhabited by an intelligent and industrious people, the society has always been good, cultured and refined, numbering among its members professional men of great ability and distinction, merchants of high character and full of enterprise, bankers of financial ability and of wide reputation.  But it has never been a place for the accumulation of large for tunes.  Men of all classes have been good livers and

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in comfortable circumstances during their lives.  Many of the merchants accumulated handsome fortunes, but unfortunate speculations or business ventures, or endorsing for friends swept the bulk of their fortunes away.  John Reber was the only merchant who died leaving his family an estate worth over one hundred thousand dollars.  We cannot name another whose fortune reached that amount at the time of his death, and there is but one now living whose fortune is rated higher.  Theodore Mithoff was not a merchant, but an enterprising manufacturer and banker, and he is  the only one of this class whose fortune at the time of his death exceeded one hundred thousand dollars.  John T. Brasee left the largest estate of any professional man.  Henry Stanbery made investments that brought his family a fortune after his death.  When he was attorney-general he purchased a lot on High Street, Columbus, for three thousand dollars, which recently sold for . seventy thousand dollars.  Jacob Keller, the Lancaster grocer and miller, is considered a wealthy man.
     The late Noah S. Gregg and Samuel Rogers, distinguished citizens of Circleville, were old-time business men of Lancaster.  The widow of Richard Ainsworth became the second wife of Mr. Rogers.  She was the mother of Mrs. Joseph C. Kinkead.
     Thomas B. Cox was for nearly half a century a well known and wealthy citizen of the suburbs and the owner of beautiful Mt. Pleasant.  His fine grove near his dwelling was the favorite place for political meetings.  He was a strong Democrat, but he was liberal with his Whig friends, and always gave them the use of his grounds.  He was a familiar figure upon the streets of Lancaster.

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     E. B. Cartmell succeeded Theodore Mithoff as president of the Hocking Valley Manufacturing Company.  It is a fine plant, well equipped and well managed.  E. B. Cartmell is his own successful salesman.
     The German element has always been prominent in the history of Lancaster.  The fact that the first news paper was printed in the German language, is abundant evidence of its prominence as early as 1807.  The German language has been in use in one or more of our churches throughout their history.
     Christian Rokohl, Ed. Shaeffer, J. D. Deitrick, Jacob F. Beck, and John Herman were pioneer Germans, and intelligent, honorable men.
     Fred. A. Shaeffer, John U. Giesy, F. A. Steck, M. Leonard, Charles Bauman, Mr. Witte, Mr. Gromme, F. J. Boving, Dr. Saxe, G. Steinman, L. Lobenthal, Rev. John Wagenhals, Jacob Wetzel, Rev. Steck, Rev. Charles Spielman, Joseph Reinmund, Augustus and Theodore Mithoff, E. Becker and W. Binninger were all good business men, honorable in their dealings and in all respects first-class citizens.  Their influence has been felt in all circles and in all measures calculated to improve and benefit our city.
     The income and expenses of the town of Lancaster for the year 1827, taken as a sample of that period were as follows:
     Amount of income from taxes and licenses, $888.14; total disbursements, $932.88.  Benjamin Connell, treasurer, and Gottlieb Steinman, recorder, certify to this statement.  The population was then less than 2000.  At this time there were no free schools, teachers being employed and paid by private subscriptions.
     In the year 1876 the total income of the city from taxes and licenses, other than the school fund, was

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$30,718.93; the total expenses for same year in round numbers was $26,610.04.  In addition to this, $25,569.29 was the levy for school purposes.  The population of the city had in fifty years increased to seven thousand, and the increase in disbursements was $51,300 in round numbers.
     In the last twenty years the streets of the city have been improved and the main ones paved with brick, which causes an additional levy each year.  The city is lighted with electricity at an expense of about $6000 per annum.  These improvements have added greatly to the convenience and beauty of the city, to which the city hall, when completed, will add its full share.
     With all this increase, the tax rate is less than two and one-quarter cents for a city of eight thousand inhabitants.  But one city in the state of Ohio has a lower rate.
     There are a good number of manufacturing establishments that have been in successful operation for a number of years, the Hocking Valley Manufacturing Company, Eagle Machine Company, Orman Bros., Becker Brewing Company and Delancy & Son, to which have recently been added The A. Getz Shoe Factory, The Lancaster or Godman Shoe Factory, W. B. Henry's Brick and Tile Works, Geo. Cowden's Brick and Tile Works, Alten's Machine Shop, Glass Works and Denton Shoe Company.
     No town is more favorably situated for manufacturing — near to coal and plenty of natural gas, with ample facilities for transportation.

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CALIFORNIA ADVENTURERS

     Lancaster furnished her full quota of men who braved the dangers of the deep or the privations of the plains and made their way to California in 1849, 1850 and 1851.
     Many of them achieved distinction in business and in various pursuits. Those remembered were Philip Kraner, John H. Tennant, Jesse B. Hart, John C. Fall, Samuel Crim, Daniel Sifford, Thomas Sturgeon, Tom Lockhart, Fred Shaeffer, Levi Anderson, David Rokohl, John H. Kinkead, and later, R. M. Clarke and Henry Orman, Jr.  Thomas Sturgeon returned to Lancaster in a year or two, as did Daniel Sifford.  Samuel Crim and John C. Fall amassed fortunes and died in San Francisco.  John H. Kinkead became Governor of Nevada, and R. M. Clarke, attorney-general of same state.  Mary Creed, granddaughter of John Creed, the banker, became the wife of Governor Lowe of California.  General Thomas Ewing was chief justice of Kansas.  Miss Kendall, daughter of Ben Kendall, became the wife of Governor Sherman of Iowa.  C. C. Nourse was common pleas judge in Iowa.

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS

     Perhaps Lancaster has been more highly honored than any city in the state, save Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, by the visits of distinguished men of national and world-wide reputation.  The Duke of Saxe Weimar visited here in 1825, and carved his name upon the rocks of historic Mt. Pleasant, the "Standing Stone" of the aborigines.  Governor DeWitt Clinton, whose name will always be remembered in history as the father of the canal system of the

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United States, visited Lancaster in 1825, and was the guest of Judge Sherman, then one of the foremost men of the state of Ohio.  Daniel Webster spent two weeks in Lancaster in 1833, the guest of Thomas Ewing, then senator from Ohio.  While here, with Mr. Ewing, he called upon Colonel Worthington, living three miles south of town, and upon Nathaniel Wilson, living three miles west of town at the historic Locust Grove.  During this visit, Mr. Webster and Mr. Ewing drove to Chillicothe.  On the way they entered a considerable forest and found their way blocked by a fallen tree.  Mr. Ewing procured an axe, with the use of which he was familiar, and soon cut off a log of the proper length, and he and Webster rolled it off the road.  Dr. Waddell, late of Chillicothe, is the authority for this incident.  Mr. Ewing always had a warm spot in his heart for Chillicothe, and when the great fire of 1852 devastated that city, he made a very handsome contribution for the relief of the sufferers.
     Henry Clay was entertained by the citizens of Lancaster with an elaborate dinner in the year 1825.  Frederick A. Shaeffer was always proud of the fact that he once conveyed Henry Clay in his carriage to Wheeling, West Virginia.
     General Jackson was more than once a guest at Lancaster hotels.
     General Wm. H. Harrison was the guest of Lancaster in 1836, and again in 1840.  In 1836 he was entertained at the country residence of David Rokohl on the Columbus road.
     James G. Blaine spent the summer of 1840 as the guest of Thomas Ewing's family in Lancaster, and was here on two or three occasions during his public

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career, the guest of Judge P. B. Ewing.  His last mem orable visit was made when a candidate for the presidency.
    Thomas Corwin, Governor Metcalf, General Leslie Combs and Cassius M. Clay have been guests of Lancaster.
    Later, President Garfield, General Sheridan, Columbus Delano, Governor McKinley and W. J. Bryan
honored Lancaster with their presence.
     Perhaps no city in Ohio, with the possible exception of Cincinnati, has been the native place or residence of more men who have attained to honorable and responsible public positions — many of them achieving a national reputation — than the city of Lancaster.
    General Beecher was for ten years a member of congress; Robert F. Slaughter, legislator and common pleas judge; W. W. Irvin, member of congress and judge of supreme court; and Charles R. Sherman, father of John and General W. T. Sherman, was elected judge of the supreme court in 1823; Thomas Ewing was twice a senator of the United States, secretary of the treasury under General Harrison, and secretary of the interior, which department he organized under General Taylor; John Brough was a member of the Ohio legislature in 1838, and one of Ohio's war governors; Wm. Medill, a member of congress and governor of Ohio; Dr. Tom O. Edwards, a member of congress; H. C. Whitman, judge of the court of common pleas; C. D. Martin, a member of congress and judge of the supreme court; John S. Brasee, a member of the commission for codifying the laws of Ohio; John Sherman was, and is to-day, a senator of the United States, and was secretary of the treasury

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under President Hayes; John W. Noble was secretary of the interior under President Harrison; and that eminent lawyer and courtly gentleman, Henry Stanbery, was attorney-general of the state of Ohio, and attorney-general of the United States under President Johnson; P. B. Ewing was common pleas judge; H. H. Hunter was elected judge of the supreme court of Ohio, but for business reasons did not serve; Colonel Moore was governor of Washington Territory; Charles T. Sherman, for a brief term, United States district judge for northern Ohio; General Hugh Ewing, United States minister to The Hague; Ed. F. Hunter, common pleas judge, state of Washington; and John Hunter, chief justice of Utah Territory. A daughter of Judge Sherman became the wife of Governor Thomas W. Bartley; a granddaughter married Senator Don Cameron of Pennsylvania ; another, General Nelson A. Miles, U. S. A.; another, Judge Samuel Reber of St. Louis, an old Lancaster man; another, Judge Granger of Zanesville, Ohio; and another, T. Ewing Miller of Columbus, Ohio.
     George Sanderson was a major-general of the Ohio Militia, and W. J. Reese, a brigadier-general; and General Samuel F. Maccracken obtained his title as a militia man.
     Tall Slough is the present common pleas judge.
     Wm. T. Sherman was general of the United States Army; Thomas Ewing and Hugh Ewing were major generals of volunteers; Charles Ewing was a brigadier general of volunteers; Joab Stafford, brigadier-general by brevet; N. Schleich, J. M. Connell and C. F. Steele rose to the rank of colonel; Willis Clarke and H. H. Giesy, to the rank of major.
     H. B. Reese was paymaster with the rank of colonel,

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and L. M. Dayton, Sherman's adjutant with the rank of colonel.  Colonel Granville Moody was for a few years a resident of Lancaster.
     To this might be added a long list of minor officers and privates, as gallant and brave men as ever shouldered a musket, whose names are recorded in the archives of the office of the adjutant-general of Ohio, and upon the imperishable roll of fame.  Many of them sleep their last sleep.

     Bishops Merrill, Foster, and Morris, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and also Bishop Young, of the Catholic Church, all eminent men in their churches and of wide reputation, were once residents of Lancaster.
     The trustees of the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, have been the most distinguished men of southern
Ohio, able men from every walk of life.
     Lancaster had the honor of furnishing nine members of that board.  The honorable men thus distinguished, were, Henry Abrams, father-in-law of General Sanderson, Judge Samuel Carpenter, Judge Chas. R. Sherman, Hon. Thomas Ewing, General Samuel F. Maccracken, Hon. Wm. Medill, Dr. M. Z. Kreider, General Thomas Ewing, and F. C. Whiley.
     Hon. Thomas Ewing was the second graduate of the University.  Hon. John T. Brasee was one of the graduates.
     Wm. Latta and Patrick Effinger were graduates.  Theodore Tallmadge and E. C. Kreider were students there; and doubtless others unknown to the author.
     The people of Lancaster are justly proud of their

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city and of the high position it has always held among the cities of Ohio, and proud of the many distinguished men whose fame has shed lustre upon their beloved city.
     The situation of Lancaster is beautiful and romantic.  Mt. Pleasant, the beautiful and historic mountain, "renowned in song and story", the finest landmark of the Hocking valley, is within the corporate limits.  At its base, for a hundred years, was the favorite camping ground of the Indians.  At its base, John Leith, a pioneer of this county, asserted that he sold goods as a young clerk for a Pittsburgh trader in 1765.
     The exploits of Wetzel and his companion, detailed by General Sanderson, is one of the interesting and highly romantic legends of the old mountain.  The pretty story of General Reese and his sweetheart, Elizabeth Sherman, is more than a legend, and will always interest lovers of the romantic.  Judge Biddle, of Indiana, a former law-student of Lancaster, made this story and Mt. Pleasant, the subject of a beautiful poem.

                                                                                                              Horace P. Biddle.

     Mt. Pleasant, and the twenty-seven acres of which it is a part, would make a beautiful park, and in this way it could be preserved for future generations.  As it is, it may be soon despoiled of its timber and become a barren rock.  It has been suggested as a beautiful spot for a monument to General W. T. Sherman.
     The Boys' Industrial School of Ohio is one of the attractions of Lancaster.  Situated in a romantic and beautiful country, it is the admiration of all visitors.

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It is now in the fortieth year of its existence.  It was founded by Charles Reemelin, of Cincinnati.  He visited, while in Europe, a reform school at Mettrey, France, which he thought came near perfection.  On his return to Ohio, he induced the Ohio Legislature to pass a law organizing a school upon the model of the French school.
     Governor Chase appointed him the first acting commissioner, his associates being John A. Foote and James D. Ladd.  The first two are dead; the last named lives in poverty in Beatrice, Nebraska.  The writer was one of the Lancaster committee that escorted Governor Chase and the commissioners, while viewing the proposed location, as were also General Sanderson, L. Lobenthal, Henry Miers, and John D. Martin.
     Three miles, the last half of the route, was through the woods.  The twelve hundred acres was all in timber, except one hundred acres where the buildings now stand.  Mr. Reemelin gave much of his time to starting the institution; but his principal, Mr. Davis, and Colonel Jaeger, the steward, were responsible for details. Mr. Reemelin soon tired of the burden and resigned.  The governor appointed George E. Howe, acting commissioner and superintendent, in which capacity he served for more than twenty years.  He laid the foundation for the greatness of the institution and made for himself enduring fame.  He lived to see twenty-two states organize like institutions upon the Ohio model; and five of the men he had trained made superintendents, viz.:  Frank Ainsworth, of Indiana, C. W. Ainsworth, of South Dakota, Dr. Buck, of Kansas, Kilvington, of Tennessee, and Drake, of Missouri.
     Mr. Howe was succeeded by J. C. Hite, G. S. Innis,

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Charles Douglass and D. M. Barrett, the present incumbent.
     Colonel Jaeger, Van Hyde, Berry, C. M. L. Wise man, A. Levan, D. B. Kumler, Captain Roby, Will Scott and C. D. Hilles, the present incumbent, have been stewards.
     The grounds and buildings have cost the state over $400,000, and the annual outlay now exceeds $100,000 for expenses and new buildings.
     The buildings are all comfortable and convenient —some of them quite fine.  The new church is a model of taste and comfort, and equals any structure of the kind outside the large cities.  The school began with twenty-two inmates, now there are about eight hundred.
     Lancaster is a name that is as old as English history, known "From time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary."  The houses of Lancaster and York were rival claimants for the throne of England, and the contest was styled the "War of the Roses."  Lancaster has been the name of a town and county of England from its earliest history, and there are numerous towns, cities and counties of that name in the United States.
     The red rose is the emblematic flower of Lancaster, and has been such from the birth of the house of Lancaster.  Let us hope that it will always be the favorite flower of Lancaster people, and that it will grow in favor as the years roll round and continue to bud and blossom upon our lawns, cemeteries and parks.  The antiquity of the rose is unquestioned, for we read that it bloomed upon the plains of Sharon.  But Solomon's taste for flowers was never gratified by the sight of a bunch of American beauties.  His was

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"The modest wild rose of the vale,
Its face turned up toward the sky,
Sends perfume on the summer gale,
And breathes to all with fragrant sigh."

     This closes our history of Lancaster and its people. 
     The author makes no claim to literary merit, but hopes that he has recorded facts and incidents pertaining to the history of Lancaster and its old citizens, that will be read with interest by all into whose hands this book may fall.
     Imperfect as it is, the work has been a labor of gratitude and love, and the author wishes to assure his friends and neighbors that, in the preparation of the book to which he now asks their generous consideration, he has been constantly guided and encouraged by a grateful remembrance of the kindness and confidence of the people of Lancaster for forty-three years, and his love for the old town, where his children were born and educated, and where the wife of forty years lies buried.
"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
  In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
 We should count time by heart-throbs.  He most lives
 Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best."