"What! lie down,
and be rode upon rough-shod?
No! face and fight, and be at least respected."
-
Joaquin Miller. |
FOR judicial and other
purposes, the territory now forming Licking county,
belonged to Washington county from 1788 to 1798;
from 1798 to 1800 it was part of Ross county, and
from 1800 to 1808, a part of Fairfield; since the
latter date it has had a separate existence as a
county. It will be observed that the county
seats have been Marietta, Chillicothe, Lancaster and
Newark, respectively. For eleven years (from
1788 to 1799) the citizens of the county and State
were under the second grade of territorial
government, and from 1803 to the present time, under
a State government. Under the first grade of
territorial government, this territory had no
representation in legislature (there being no
legislature,) or Congress; under the second grade
there was a legislature, only one branch of which
was elected by the people; and a delegate in
congress elected by this legislature, who, however,
had not the right to vote on questions before that
body. Since 1803, the people of this county,
in common with those of other counties, have enjoyed
all the rights and privileges of a free and
independent people, with representatives in both
branches of the legislature, and of Congress, of
their own selection.
Prior
to 1808, all business connected with the court, was
transacted at Chillicothe and Lancaster, but in this
year the county of Licking was organised with the
following as its first judicial and county officers:
William Wilson,
president judge of common pleas court; Alexander
Holmes, Timothy Rose and
James Taylor, associate judges; Samuel
Bancroft, clerk of court; John
Stadden, sheriff; Elias Oilman,
treasurer; Archibald Wilson, Elisha
Wells and Israel Wells,
commissioners: John Stadden, collector
of taxes; Elias Oilman, commissioners'
clerk; Archibald Wilson, jr., assessor of
Licking township; Jeremiah Munson,
assessor of Granville township.
The first court was held in the
house of Leri Hays four miles west of
Newark, and two miles east of Granville. There
not being room in the house, the grand jury held its
inquest under a tree. During the year a board
of commissioners consisting of James
Dunlap, Isaac Cook and James
Armstrong, selected Newark as the permanent
county seat. At that date this county
contained but the two townships above named.
The Newark bar and bench have been honored by many men
of talent. Among the first of these was William
Wilson, above mentioned as the firs;
president judge. He was a New Englander,
educated at Dartmouth college, and settled at
Chillicothe as an attorney. He remained on the
Page 275 -
bench until 1823, when he was elected to Congress
and served four years, and until his death in 1827.
Alexander
Holmes, another of the
county's honored officers and pioneers, came here in
1802, from Brooke county, Virginia. He
followed surveying several years, surveying much in
the State for the general government, as well as the
larger part of Licking county; he also made the
first complete survey of the ancient works in the
vicinity of Newark. He held the position of
associate judge from 1808 until 1812, and was again
elected in 1823, serving until 1828. In this
capacity he was upright, intelligent, incorruptible.
He was a man of considerable natural ability, and
identified himself with the interests and early
history of this county.
Samuel
Bancroft,
the first clerk, afterward became associate judge,
serving from 1824 to 1845. He was born in
Granville, Massachusetts, in 1778; was well
educated, and spent the earlier years of his life in
teaching. In 1806, he came to this county,
settling in Granville township, where, in 1807, he
married Miss Clarissa Rose, this being the
first marriage solemnized in that township. He
was in the war of 1812, as a private soldier, and
was surrendered by General Hull.
He was a justice of the peace eighteen years; a
judge twenty-one years, and was a faithful,
efficient officer. He died Jan. 22, 1870, in
his ninety-second year; his great longevity being
due to his regular and temperate habits of living,
rather than his constitution or physical strength.
James
Taylor
was born in Pennsylvania, in 1753,
and after his marriage in 1780, he moved to western
Virginia. In 1782 he was in the Williamson
expedition against the Moravian Indians on the
Tuscarawas, and had the honor of voting, with
seventeen others, against the murder of their Indian
captives, but without avail. Judge
Taylor served as associate judge only from 1808
to 1809. He had served his country during the
Revolutionary war, and was a man of character and
intelligence. His death took place in 1844, at
the advanced age of ninety-one years.
Timothy
Rose was one of the
original Granville colony of 1805, a few of whom now
survive. He was an associate judge from 1808
to 1813, when he died. Judge Rose
was a high-toned, intellectual and intelligent
gentleman, and a man of high character, of sound
judgment, and undoubted patriotism. He served
in the Revolutionary war and distinguished himself
as an officer, at the storming of a British redoubt,
at the surrender of Cornwallis, at Yorktown
in 1781.
Probably more
prominent than any other man at the Licking county
bar, was Hon. William
Stanberry. He fought
his battle of life in the days of "Tom" Corwin,
"Tom" Ewing, and other such intellectual giants
as Ohio delights to honor and remember.
He was born Aug. 10, 1788, in Essex county, New Jersey.
His most valuable inheritance was a sound and
vigorous constitution, a commanding presence and a
high order of talents. He had fair early
educational opportunities, and improved them
faithfully; he also had superior ad vantages as a
law student in the office of Judge
Pendleton, of New York city, of which he availed
himself.
Attendance on the courts of the city, in which the
attorneys were such men as Thomas Addis Emmett,
Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Daniel D. Tompkins
and Martin VanBuren, and where men of the
distinguished ability of DeWitt Clinton
occupied judicial seats, afforded him facilities for
improvement which he greatly prized and studiously
heeded. Highly beneficial to him, also, were
the literary clubs of that day, where his associates
were James K. Paulding, Julian C. Verplanck,
Washington Irving, and other contemporary
celebrities. His participation in the
discussion of political questions, when quite young,
tended to develope his oratorical powers, and his
early efforts as a public speaker gave promise of
future eminence as a popular orator. His
pursuit of knowledge was most ardent and
persevering, and he ultimately acquired a large fund
of information in literature, belles letters and the
classics.
In 1809, Mr. Stanberry located in Newark,
remaining here until his death, a period of
sixty-four years. He became distinguished as a
successful criminal lawyer, and was generally
retained in important criminal cases in this and
adjoining counties which composed his "circuit."
He was in the habit, as were other lawyers, of
traveling with the court, which in those early days
was on wheels, as
Page 276 -
it were, and went about through the woods dispensing
justice. Under these circumstances he
frequently appeared in Mt. Vernon, Mansfield and
other frontier towns, where he found plenty of
clients.
His successful argument in behalf of David Shaver,
his defence of Peter Dimond, charged
with murder, and his great speech in a case
involving the question of conflicting jurisdiction
between the National and State governments, in
relation to the Wyandot reservation on the Sandusky
plains, were among his most celebrated exhibitions
of forensic power. His oratorical efforts were
usually characterized by argumentation, sometimes by
invective, and uniformly by declamation and fluency,
and often by much power and eloquence.
Mr. Stanberry also practiced several years in
the Federal courts, with such men as Henry Clay,
James Ross, Henry Baldwin, Philip Doddridge, John C.
Wright, Judge Burnet, Charles Hammond,
Benjamin Tappan, Edward King, Thomas Ewing, Thomas
Corwin, and others alike eminent at the bar.
Mr. Stanberry was the last survivor of all
these early time lawyers. All those mentioned,
and others who "rode the circuit" and practiced with
him in the early courts, including Mr. Merwin,
Major Munson, General Beecher, Judge Sherman,
General Goddard, Hocking H. Hunter, General Herrick,
Wyllis Silliman, Orris Parrish, Judge Irwin, Judge
Harper, Samuel W. Culbertson, and Judge Searle—all
are dead.
He was elected to the senate of Ohio in 1824, and
served two sessions in that body. In 1827, he
was elected to Congress, to serve out the unexpired
term of Judgs Wilson, deceased.
In 1828, he was re-elected, and again in 1830,
making five years' service in that body, during
which he prominently identified himself with many
measures of public interest, chief of which was the
law granting half a million acres of public lands to
aid in the prosecution of the canal interests of the
State. He died in January, 1873, aged
eighty-five years.
Colonel
B. B. Taylor
was for a time a member of the bar of
this county. He came to Newark in his youth,
studied law, and was for some years a practicing
lawyer in the city; but his taste for politics and
literature led him into other channels, and
prevented his success at the bar. He was, at
different times, editor of a magazine in Columbus,
published by Samuel Medary; the
Kentucky Statesman, published at Lexington,
Kentucky; a paper in Missouri, another in Portland,
Oregon, and probably others. His last removal
was to Mexico. Missouri, where he settled for
the purpose of resuming the practice of law, but
before getting fairly established he died, Jan. 27,
1877, in his sixty-eighth year.
Amos
H. Caffee was born in
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1790, where he
remained until he reached manhood. The west,
at that time presenting a field of great promise of
reward to the industrious, energetic and
enterprising, he decided to make the then rising
State of Ohio his future home. After spending
some months in the effort to find a suitable
location, he was directed by a train of favorable
circumstances to Newark, where he settled in
November, 1811, and where he was an honored citizen
more than fifty years. Mr. Caffee,
being a young man of more than ordinary intellectual
endowments and correctness of deportment, soon
attracted attention, and was, by common consent,
assigned a prominent part in all educational and
other movements, having for their objects the
improvement and elevation of the people, and the
advancement of the interests of the town. As a
reward for his superiority he was frequently favored
with positions of trust and responsibility. He
long held the offices of mayor, post master, and
clerk of the several courts of the county, always
discharging with fidelity and honor the duties of
his positions. He died at the age of
seventy-two years.
Hon. Corrington W.
Searle came to Newark from
the Wyoming valley in Pennsylvania, where he was
born, near the close of the last century. He
was a respectable member of the Licking county bar,
and as early as 1824 was prosecuting attorney, and
served until 1832. After that he was for a
time associated with Judge Wyllis
Silliman, in the practice of law. In 1836
he was elected judge of the court of common pleas,
and remained on the bench until 1843. Judge
Searle was a good lawyer, and discharged the
duties of judge with credit and honor to himself.
After his retirement from the bench he removed to
Zanesville, where he died a number of years ago, and
Page 277 -
where several of his children are at present living.
Samuel
M. Browning was one of
Newark's lawyers of fifty years ago. He was
scholarly and accomplished, genial and studious.
In 1833 he was elected mayor of Newark, and again in
1836, but resigned the office before his term
expired, and removed to Mount Vernon.
Colonel
James Parker came to
Newark as a merchant from Amboy, New Jersey, in
1829, and soon after commenced the study of law, and
in due time entered upon its practice. In 1834
he was elected a member of the council, and became
prosecuting attorney in 1836, in which office he
served four years. From 1842 to 1844 he was
State senator. He afterwards removed to
Cincinnati, where he was elected a judge of the
court of common pleas, and where he died some years
after the expiration of his term of service on the
bench.
Hon.
George H. Flood came from
Zanesville, of which place he was a native, to
Newark in 1837, to practice law. In 1838 and
again in 1839 he was elected a member of the State
legislature, in which body he became an active and
prominent member. Towards the close of
President Van Buren's term of office he
appointed Mr. Flood charge d'affaires
to the Republic of Texas, where he died not long
after.
Hon.
Samuel White was one of
our earlier lawyers, and a full biographical sketch
of him is given in the chapter on the Welsh Hills
settlement.
Daniel
Humphrey was also one of
the early lawyers of Licking county. The
various offices he held are set forth in our
chapters on county officers, and on city officers.
He died many years ago.
Hon.
Joshua Mathiot was a
prominent member of the Licking county bar. He
was a native of Connellsville, Fayette county,
Pennsylvania, and came to Newark, Ohio, about the
year 1820, be fore he had fully reached manhood, and
when it was yet a small village. Joshua
Mathiot was ambitious, and availed himself of
every opportunity to acquire an education suitable
and requisite for :he profession of the law.
Having acquired that, he entered the law office of
General Samuel Herick, of Zanesville, and
after pursuing his law studies for several years, he
was admitted to the bar, and soon succeeded in
acquiring an extensive law practice. He was
elected prosecuting attorney of the county in 1832,
and served until 1836. In 1834 he was elected
mayor of Newark. Hon. Joshua Mathiot
was for a time associated with his father-in-law,
Samuel W. Culbertson, esq., of Zanesville, in
the practice of law, and afterwards with Judge
Buckingham, who had been a law student in his
office. Samuel White, esq., had
also studied law in his office. He
also entered into politics with a good deal of
energy, and was elected a member of Congress in
1840, the district being composed of the counties of
Muskingum and Licking.
Hon. Joshua Mathiot died suddenly, in 1849, when
he had barely reached the "noon of life," leaving
his widow and several children, one of whom was the
wife of Rev. Dr. Cuyler, of Brooklyn, to
mourn the loss of one who had been pre-eminently
faithful and devoted as husband and father. He
was a man of correct deportment, and exemplary in
all the relations of life, always giving the weight
of his influence on the side of philanthropy, good
morals, temperance, and the institutions of
Christianity.
In 1822 the first Presbyterian church, of Newark,
organized a Sunday-school, and the records show that
Joshua Mathiot was chosen one of its
managers. The church was generously supported
by him, and educational enterprises and temperance
organizations were liberally upheld and sustained by
him. The many admirable traits of character he
possessed secured him numerous and warm friends.
His circle of friends and acquaintances was large,
and they were as warm in their attachment and
devotion, as they were numerous. It may be
safely said that we have had but few men among us
who more largely enjoyed the public confidence than
Colonel Joshua Mathiot.
Lucius
Case
was born in Connecticut, Nov. 8,
1813. He spent his youth and early manhood in
his native State, where he received a common school
education. He, however, completed his
education at the Wesleyan university, at Middletown,
and adopted the legal profession as his permanent
pursuit. He studied law with Judge
Phelps, of Hartford, finishing with Judge
Finch, of Delaware, Ohio, whose office he
entered in 1834. He settled first in Hocking
county, but came to
Page 278 -
Newark in 1841, where he continued in successful
practice until his death, which occurred July 23,
1864, while in the prime of life. He was a
member of the Constitutional convention of 1850, and
participated actively in the debates of that body.
He was a man of vigorous intellect, improved by
education and select reading.
Of the later members of the
bar of Newark, who have more recently passed from
the stage of action, perhaps none were more
prominent than Judge Israel
Dille and S. D. King.
The former was born at Dille's bottom (so
called on account of his father's ownership) in
August, 1802, on the Ohio river, in what was then
the Northwest Territory, now Belmont county, Ohio.
While still an infant, his father removing to
Cuyahoga county, he was transported thence across
what was then an almost unbroken, trackless forest,
in the arms of his mother, who made the entire
journey on horse back.
His only opportunity for education was the few books
which formed the library of his father, among which
was a work on astronomy, which was his special study
and delight, and which created that taste for
astronomy and meteorology which he evinced in after
life. When about fifteen, he entered school at
Washington, Pennsylvania, where some of the friends
of the family lived. About 1825, he was a
teacher at Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, and at the
same time a law student with the late Hocking H.
Hunter, of Lancaster, Ohio, to whom he went at
intervals for recitation. After his admission
to the bar, he settled at Newark, and very soon
attracted attention as a lawyer of great ability,
and won the respect and friendship of such men as
Thomas Ewing, Hocking H. Hunter, and
William Stanberry, by whom he was regarded as a
peer, and with whom he argued many important law
cases. He was untiring in the acquisition of
legal lore, indefatigable in the pursuit of
knowledge, laborious as a student of science,
philosophy, and literature; geology, mineralogy,
belles lettres and speculative philosophy were his
favorite studies. By diligence and laborious
investigation he acquired such a fund of information
as is possessed by comparatively few men. So
extensive and diversified were his general
information and knowledge that he had few equals.
In 1840, his health having failed, he abandoned the
active practice of his profession, and sought relief
by travel; visiting the entire region from New York
to New Orleans. He became familiar with the
geology of the whole country, and knew the rivers,
watersheds, and the resources in mineral wealth of
the Mississippi valley, from its mouth to the copper
mines of Lake Superior.
Possessed as he was of rare accomplishments, he was,
withal, very communicative, and, therefore, an
instructive and valuable companion. Possessing
those qualities, one of his rare intelligence and
suavity of manner could not fail to be most
attractive as a conversationalist, and most charming
in social intercourse.
Mr. Dille was, for a number of years, a popular
lecturer on geology. He was also one of the
vice-presidents of the Union Academy of Arts and
Sciences, at Washington city, and contributed a
paper on the cosmogony of Moses, which was
published, and attracted very considerable
attention, especially from the clergy. He also
excelled as a newspaper writer, as a pamphleteer,
and as a contributor to the magazines and quarterly
reviews.
After the commencement of the war of the Rebellion, he
went to Washington, and became connected with the
internal revenue office, then in its infancy, where
he remained until his death, which occurred at his
home, in Washington city, after a very brief
illness, on Jan. 10, 1874, in the seventy-second
year of his age.
Mr. Dille was always full of benevolent schemes
for the benefit of society, and looking out for the
interests of the future. At his very last
visit to his old home in Newark, an incident
occurred which illustrates this trait in his
character.
He was met by a deputation of citizens with an address
of gratitude for something that he had done thirty
or forty years before. It seems that when
Newark was a small village, he was chosen its mayor;
and in pursuance of his usual disposition to look
after the interests of the future, he undertook to
beautify what is now known as Court House square.
He graded the grounds, filled up the depressions,
and planted it around with elms. His work
made, perhaps, little show at the time, but the
years moved along, and the
Page 279 -
trees grew, till now they are the beauty and glory
of the place, and the citizens who are enjoying the
benefits of his beneficent labors, may well hold him
in grateful remembrance.
S.
D. King was a native of
Berkeley county, now West Virginia, but came to.
Ohio in early life, completing his education at the
Ohio university. After graduating, he studied
law, was admitted to the bar, and located in Newark
for the practice of his profession, about fifty-two
years ago. He soon attained to a position of
prominence as a lawyer, and had an extensive and
lucrative practice, which he retained through a
period of at least one full generation. His
conspicuously successful career brought him wealth,
honors, and friends. He had but little
ambition for public life, and, therefore, seldom
sought the suffrages of his fellow citizens; he,
however, sometimes accepted positions that gave him
opportunities to aid in promoting educational and
Christian interests; he also served as prosecuting
attorney, and as a member of the State legislature.
His influence was always in favor of the right as he
saw it. He outlived all his cotemporaries and
died Apr. 20, 1880, at the ripe age of eighty years.
Several other men of
eminent ability have been, and some are yet,
connected with the Newark bar, whose biographies
will be found elsewhere in this work.
The older members of the present bar of Newark are
Messrs. George B. Smythe, C. H. Kibler,
James R. Stanbery, H. D. Sprague, Jerome
Buckingham, Charles Follett and Gibson
Atherton. The younger members who are
coming upon the stage of action and whose full
success is yet to be determined by the future, are
Joel Dennis, J. B. Jones, John D. Jones, B. G.
Smythe, Jesse Flory, James W. Owens, John H. James,
D. A. Allen, John M. Swartz, J. R. Davies, Judge S.
M. Hunter, William A. King, George Crasser, James
Lingafelter, W. Taylor, C. Norpel, C. Follett, jr.,
E. M. P. Brister, L. P. Coman, William Baker, A. B.
Barrick, Perry Veach, Clark Barrows, J. E. Lawhead,
Thomas Thornton, George P. Webb, Theodore Kemp,
Charles F. Bryan and L. B. Harris.
Little need be said of the
building in which these men fought their battles, so
far as this county is concerned. All the court
houses - four in number - have occupied the public
square. The first one stood a little north of
the present building; was built of logs, and when
first erected the floor was mother earth, either
bare or covered with saw dust. It was a square
pen, one or two stories in height (statements
differing regarding this), the seats were slabs or
puncheons laid upon blocks of wood. It was in
perfect keeping with the cabins of the settlers, and
was erected in 1809 or 1810, serving all the
purposes of a court house until about 1815, when
another was erected. This one was stylish,
comparatively; being built of brick, two stories in
height, thirty or forty feet square, surmounted with
a roof which sloped from either side to the center,
upon which rested the square cupola. The upper
part of this building was occupied as a court room,
and the lower part for offices, there being an
office in each corner. This building stood
about where the present one stands, as did also the
one which immediately succeeded it. About 1832
it became necessary to erect a new one. The
old one was not only too small for the accommodation
of the increased business, but it had been poorly
constructed and was beginning to decay; it was,
therefore, taken down, and another brick structure
erected in its place, which, however, was but little
improvement upon the old one except that it was
larger. It consisted of two stories and a
basement, and was built something after the style of
the old court house in Richland county, and shows
that certain ideas of architecture for court houses
prevailed at that time. When the building had
been put up ready for the roof, instead of putting
on the roof in the ordinary way, another partial
wooden - story was added, with ends jutting out over
the main building, these ends being supported by
stone pillars. This was sup posed to add
greatly to the architectural beauty of the building.
The pillars, and the part resting on them, were
wholly and entirely useless - not probably even
answering the purpose for which they were designed,
that of architectural finish. The pillars in
the case of the Newark court house were on the east
and west ends. This building was destroyed by
fire in 1874; about the time it was desirable to
have a new one.
The present building was begun in 1876, and cost, with
furniture, about one hundred and ninety
Page 280 -
thousand dollars. It was fire-proof except the
upper portion. In March, 1879, the upper part
caught fire, probably from a defective flue from the
heating apparatus, and was destroyed; burning down
to the second story, where the fire was
extinguished. In this fire the records in the
offices of the recorder and auditor suffered greatly
by fire and water. The part destroyed was
rebuilt at a cost of forty or fifty thousand
dollars. It is a beautiful structure, and
looks as if it might stand the ravages of time a few
centuries.
The following is a list of
articles deposited in the corner-stone of this
building, under the auspices of the Masonic
fraternity:
1. A list of city, county, State and other public officers.
2. Printed transactions of the Licking County Pioneer society.
3. History of Welsh settlement in the county.
4. List of soldiers from Licking county in the war of the Rebellion.
5. List of the Licking county soldiers killed during the late war.
6. Copies of the Newark Advocate (June 30, 1876); Newark
American (June 30, 1876), and Newark Banner
of June 28, 1876.
7. Christian Apologist, German, published in Cincinnati.
8. A Welsh paper (Y Drych) published at Utica, New York.
9. Copy of the Masonic proceedings of the Masonic grand 10. Copy of
the printed proceedings of the Masonic grand bodies
of Ohio, for 1875.
10. Copy of the printed proceedings of the Masonic grand bodies of Ohio,
for 1875.
11. List of the officers and members of Newark Lodge No. 97, F. and A. M.
12. List of the officers of the Grand Lodge, held for the purpose of
laying this corner-stone.
13. A box of coins, furnished by the commissioners of Licking county and
the First National bank of Newark.
14. List of officiating ministers of the city of Newark, July 4, 1876.
15. List of members of the board of education.
16. A copy of a sermon in memory of the late Rev. Henry M. Hervey.
17. A copy of the Scientific Monthly
of Toledo, Ohio.
18. Record from the German Benevolent society.
19. Recod from St. Francis De Sales Benevolent society.
20. Record from Germania Benevolent society.
21. Record from Germania Building society.
22. Record from Robert Blume Grove No. 24 society.
23. Copy of the specifications and diagram of Joseph Rider's
improvement in fire-arms.
24. Copy of the United States Internal Revenue return for 1876.
25. Copy of the premium list of the Licking County Agricultural society
for 1876.
26. Copy of Ohio statistics for 1875.
27. List of the officers and students of Denison university, Granville,
Ohio.
28. List of the officers of the Licking County Pioneer society.
The first jail ahs been mentioned
in the early history of the town. It stood on
the south side of the public square, and Adam
Hatfield, one of the first mail carriers, was
probably the first jailor. The second jail was
erected on a lot immediately in rear of the Park
house, on East Main street. It was a square
brick building, two stories in height, and very
homely in appearance. About 1840 it was
abandoned for the present building, which stands on
Canal street, south side, between First and Second.
It is a brick, two-story building, about thirty by
forty feet in size, with a one-story wing on the
east side, occupied by the jailor.
Among the public buildings
may, perhaps, be considered the old market-house,
which stood facing the square, directly in West Main
street where it enters the square. It was
erected about 1827 or 1828, and stood upon posts,
the lower part being occupied for a market, and the
upper part as a place of public worship, and for
other public gatherings. Some of the early
schools were also taught here. It was used
until the present one, corner of Fourth and Main,
was erected in 1839 or 1840.
One of the most important public buildings in the
county is the infirmary, located in Union township,
eight miles from Newark, and about three miles south
of Granville. The first Licking county
poor-house, consisting of a hewn log building, was
erected nearly upon the site of the present one,
Dec. 13, 1838, the first superintendent being
Trueman B. French, and the first inmate
admitted, Samuel Thrall, of Granville
township. In 1862, the old log structure was
cleared off and a brick building substituted,
forming one portion of the present main building.
Since the first, the farm has also been extended,
and now consists of two hundred and twenty-six
acres, nearly an acre of which is built over. Mr.
William Beaumont, the efficient
superintendent, comes from Alexandria, and took the
office Feb. 2, 1880. The main building is one
hundred by forty feet, two stories and a basement,
though showing three stories to the public road.
On the first floor is the superintendent's office, a
dining room for the female inmates, excellent
kitchens,
Page 281 -
cellars, drying and ironing rooms. On the
second floor are the superintendent's sleeping
apartments; the male patients' dining room, capable
of seating sixty persons; spacious sitting rooms for
men; a tailoring and clothing department; a
dispensary, suitably appointed for the visiting
physician, Dr. S. S. Richards, from
Kirkersville; the superintendent's private office,
and a suitable meeting room for the infirmary
directors. The whole of the third story is
devoted to sleeping apartments.
The hospital and
infirmary building is a substantial brick, two
stories and a basement, eighty by sixty feet, and is
occupied in part by children, who have their own
separate dining room and sleeping apartments.
The "idiot ward" is also in this building.
Around these two structures cluster some fifteen or
twenty smaller buildings, occupied as shoe shop,
bake house, wash house, store house, slaughter
house, winter and spring milk houses, smoke house,
ice house, wood house, hog houses, stables, barns,
etc. Neat flower and vegetable gardens are
attached, and are skilfully tilled. The
farm consists of two hundred and twenty acres under
a high state of cultivation, having yielded this
year eight hundred and five bushels of wheat, eight
hundred bushels of corn, seventy tons of hay, two
thousand bushels of potatoes, besides pasturing and
feeding twenty-two cows, four horses and fifty hogs.
There are two orchards, one quite young; the yield
of fruit is satisfactory. The directors are
James Miller, of Newark, elected in 1879;
S. C. Williams, of Pataskala, elected in
1877; and R. D. Horton, of St. Louisville,
elected in 1878.
The project of
establishing a "Home for the Friendless" in the
county has been inaugurated, and it is believed will
soon be pushed to completion. It entered into
the mind of Mr. Lucius Humphrey,
one of the philanthropic citizens of the county, to
signalize the close of his life by generously
donating a tract of ten acres of land, situated
within the corporate limits of Columbus, to this
noble purpose. The liberal donor of the
munificent gift selected Judges Buckingham
and Follett and Hon. Isaac Smucker as
trustees to carry his benevolent purpose into
effect, who promptly accepted the trust and entered
into the possession of the property. In
pursuance of the provisions of the trust deed and of
law, a board of trustees, composed of Messrs.
Enoch Wilson, David Winegarner and
John H. Franklin, has been appointed by the
court, who have organized to execute the trust.
The land has been conveyed to the county
commissioners, who will proceed to sell it and apply
the proceeds to the establishment and perpetuation
of a children's home, as provided for by Mr.
Humphrey, under the direction and
superintendence of the recently appointed board of
trustees.
END OF CHAPTER
XXXIV -