The seat of
justice of Wayne county was laid out in the fall of 1808 by the
proprietors, John Bever, William Henry and Joseph H. Larwill,
and is 377 feet above Lake Erie, and was made the seat of justice for
the county May 30, 1811.
It was so named by Hon. Joseph H. Larwill, in
honor of the Celebrated Major General David Wooster of
Revolutionary renown, and a member of the old and distinguished family
bearing that name. SKETCH OF GENERAL
WOOSTER. David
Wooster was born at Stratford, in Connecticut, Mar. 2, in the year
of our Lord, 1710. The strictest scrutiny of his earlier record
furnishes but a meager detail of his boyhood. He was a man of
prepossessing personal appearance, of rare intellectual culture and
accomplished education. His collegiate course was exact and
scientific, answering the punctilious curriculum of Yale in 1738.
When the colony constructed what was then called "the
guard-a-costa," to be employed defensively in case of assault by Spanish
cruisers in 1739, he was designated as second in command, and shortly
was appointed Captain. At the close of this service he married a
daughter of President Clapp, of Yale College, a lady said to have
been admirably suited to encounter the dangerous scenes which were
already flinging their dark and ominous shadows upon the future.
Valiant women always make braver, courageous men; and Mrs. Wooster
had firmness, power and res- [Page
282] -
olution of mind combined with exquisite
refinement of manners, which aided him immensely in the subsequent
experience of his life.
In 1745, when Colonel Burr raised a regiment in
Connecticut to join the troops destined to act against Louisburg - a
seaport village on the eastern coast of the Island of Cape Breton, an
insular colony of British North America - Captain Wooster was
appointed to the command of a company in that regiment, and occupied an
active place in the reduction of that considerable fortification.
After its capitulation, he was ordered to take charge of the cartel
which was sent to France for exchange of prisoners. He was not at
that time permitted to land in France, but hastened to Great Britain,
where he was received by aristocrats, the dwellers of the Court, and
velvet-sandaled Royalty itself. He even became a favorite of
King George, who presented him with a Captain's baton in a regiment
of Sir William Pepperell, with half pay for life.
After one of the Aix-la-Chapelle treaties, and the
recession to France of the fortress mentioned, Captain Wooster retired
to the serenities of home and the sanctities of private life. For
awhile he lived in tranquil seclusion in New Haven, when the sky lowered
again, and the mutterings of the Titans of war were heard in the
distance. In 1750 he was made Colonel of a regiment, but was not
fated to remain there long, as he was soon advanced to a Brigadiership,
which office he held until the peace of 1763, when once more he withdrew
to the pensive shades of retirement.
We find him next in New Haven, an enterprising, public
spirited man, engaged in commercial pursuits. We believe, at one
time, he was appointed Collector of Customs of the port of New Haven.
And now beams, in faint but terrible lines upon the horizon, the test
hour to men of place and power. The cloud, not larger than a man's
hand, grew rapidly, and men had to decide. General Wooster
named his position from the beginning, and when the bloody logic of
Concord and Lexington was sought to be taught in the school of
despotism, although courts had received
[Page 283] -
him, kings had honored him -
honored him with office - and although he held the king's seal, he
renounced everything, and poured out "the tinkling crimson tide that
plays upon the heart's red brink" for freedom from oppression and the
independence of his country. And with the forethought and
prescience of a wise man, he comprehended the necessity of the hour, and
while Ethan Allen and Arnold executed the drama of the
capture of Ticonderoga, we must award to General Wooster a full
share of the honor of the conception of the plot of that hazardous and
momentous enterprise. He even went to Canada with Montgomery,
and for awhile after that gallant soldier fell had supreme command.
In 1775, after a successful vote for the creation of an
army, Congress appointed him third in rank among the Brigadiers upon
that occasion. In 1776, the epochal period of the national life,
he saw much bitter service, though as it was in the inception of the
Revolutionary contest, few substantial laurels were achieved, the
contest raging long afterward. In the same year he was appointed
Major General of the militia of Connecticut, with a supervisory
control of the military stores, which were kept near Danbury. The
British had a jealous eye upon these provisions, and with a force of two
thousand men under Tryon, sought their capture, and succeeded. General
Wooster, with seven hundred raw recruits, attacked them April 27,
1776, but, forced to retreat, received a fatal wound. He had,
however, the comfort of dying in the sacred circle of this family, on
the 2d of May 1777. His last words were, "I am dying, but with the
strong hope and persuasion that my country will gain her independence,"
His remains were ensepulchered at Danbury, Connecticut.
On June 17, 1777, Congress voted that a suitable monument should be
erected to his memory, but measures never were inaugurated to execute
the resolution. His grave was not identified until 1854, when, by
an Act of the Legislature of that State, the corner-store of a monument
was laid. No wonder our independence was achieved when such
intrepid spirits leagued and fell for it! What a priceless boon
they have bequeathed to us! What a
[Page 284] -
debt of love, what a flame of
praise we should kindle at the altar of their remembered names!
We discover, then, that illustrious and patriotic
memories surrounded the baptism of Wooster. It started in its
infancy with the inspirations of a riper and maturer life, glorify the
magnificent achievements that spirit prompted!
Wooster, it may here be remarked, was not the first
county-seat. The place designated by the first Commissioners was
on the eminence east of south of the city, on lands then owned by
Bazaleel Wells & Co., and was called Madison. Dissatisfaction
accrued from this selection, whereupon the Legislature appointed new
Commissioners, when the present Wooster has chosen as the county-seat.
But a single cabin was erected in Madison.
VACATION OF TOWN OF
MADISON
Bazaleel Wells, John Shorb and Joseph Dorsey, proprietors
of the town of Madison, in the county of Wayne, having, according to the
conditions of the sale of lots in said town, returned the sums of money
heretofore received of the purchasers of said lots, and taken up their
respective certificates therefore, whereby they are the sole proprietors
and owners of said town, and the lots therein, by John Goodenow,
their attorney, applied to the Court, then in session, February 21,
1814, to vacate the same, according to the provisions of the statute in
such cases made and provided.
Whereupon the Court, at its April session, 1814,
ordered that the town plat of the town of Madison, in the county of
Wayne, be vacated.
The first settlers in Wooster, and in Wayne
county, were the three Larwill brothers, to-wit:
William, Joseph and John.
The first house erected in the town or county was a
"log-temple," on East Liberty Street, directly west of what was
subsequently known as the William Larwill property. The
principal tools employed in its construction were a broad-ax and drawing-
[Page 285] -
knife. It was raised at the time that the town was being laid out,
and its first occupants were William Larwill and a young man
named Abraham Miller. Benjamin Miller, the father of this
young man, removed, in the spring of 1809, from Stark county with his
wife and family and opened a house of entertainment.
Benjamin Miller was the first married man who
settled in the town or county.
He kept the first tavern in the town or county on the
spot where J. B. Power has his dry goods store.
He was the father of the first white child born in the
town or county. It was a girl, and was christened Tillie Miller,
the honor of naming her being awarded to Hon. John Bever.
She grew to womanhood, married a son of John Lawrance,
father-in-law of the pioneer editor, Joseph Clingan, by which
union were resulted seven children, one of whom (Harrison)
distinguished himself as a Disciple minister.
The first store started in Wooster was by Wm.
Larwill.
In 1810, the first brick house built in the town or
county was erected by John Bever, on the corner now occupied by
J. S> Bissell & Bro., dry goods merchants.
In 1808, the road from Massillon to Wooster was cut,
the first road opened in the county.
The first State road running through the county, from
Canton to Wooster, was laid out by the Commissioners in 1810.
In 1809, Joseph Stibbs, then of Canton, built
the first grist mill, in the vicinity of Wooster.
In 1811 Hon. Benjamin Jones, leaving Youngstown,
Trumbull county, passed through Wooster and on to Mansfield, in search
of a location, in the interest of Priest Jones. He selected
Wooster and reported so to the "Priest." During the following year
(1812) Priest Jones and his family, Benjamin Jones and
Betty Scott, arrived at the county seat. They bought goods an
started a store, Constant Lake, father of Constant Lake,
of Wooster, hauling a load for them. They opened up in a rough,
wooden building, erected by Robert McClarran, father of
Rossell and Clinton Mc-
[Page 286] -
Clarran, located on the premises now
occupied in business by Samuel Geitgey, the second store in the
town and county.
Robert McClarran, the carpenter in this
instance, was the first Justice of the Peace of the town or county.
The first white man who died in Wooster was
Alexander Crawford, in 1808.
The first resident lawyer, who died in Wooster, was a
Mr. Raymond.
The first physician* of Wooster was Thomas
Townsend, here as early as 1813.
The first minister was Thomas Griffith (Priest)
Jones, arriving in 1812 (Baptist), and this denomination built the
first church in 1814.
The first school teacher was Carlos Mather, a
young lawyer of New Haven, Conn., who taught in 1817.
The first Postmaster of Wooster was "Priest" Jones.
The first school house, a brick, was built on the site
of the third ward school building.
The first 4th of July celebration held in Wooster, or
the county, was west of town on Christmas's run, the water for cooking
purposes being procured from a spring at the base of the hill, on the
premises now owned by Judge Downing. The dinner was under
the supervision of Wm. Hughes; the Declaration of Independence
was read by James Hindman, and "Priest" Jones made the
oration.
Renssellaer Curtis carried the first mail to
Wooster from New Lisbon to Mansfield.
The first will on record in the Recorder's office at
Wooster was made by Frederick Brown, of East Union Township.
The first transfer of real estate on record in the
Recorder's office in Wooster, is from Oliver Day to Elam Day,
of East Union township.
The first Court of Common Pleas held in Wooster was in
1812.
The first election held in Wooster was on the first
Monday in April, 1810. The following is a list of electors:
---------------
* Ezekiel Wells, of East Union, was the first physician in the
county.
[Page 287] -
Josiah Crawford, Jesse Cornelius, Jacob Matthews,
William Larwill, Paddy Chest, Robert Carn, Benjamin Miller, Jacob Wetzel
(relative of Lewis Wetzel, the renowned Indian hunter of West
Virginia), Luke Miller, Samuel Martin, Matthew Riley, John Driskel,
William Smith, John Rodgers, John Wright, Christian Smith, Joseph Hughes
and William Riter.
The first fire company was established in
1827, though as early as 1825 a committee, consisting of Gen. Cyrus
Spink and Thomas L. Grilling, was appointed to either go to
Philadelphia, or correspond with parties there, in regard to the
purchase of an engine.
In 1827 Thomas Wilson was appointed a committee
to contract for, and superintend, the sinking of a reservoir or well on
the public ground, in the angle of Liberty and Market streets, on the
north-west corner of the south-east quarter of said public ground, two
pumps to be placed in said well or reservoir.
In 1829, Frederick Kauke and Joseph Bergen
were appointed watchmen of the town at a salary of $11 per month.
Howe says: "When Wooster was first
settled there were no white inhabitants between it and the lake; on the
west, none short of the Maumee, Fort Wayne and Vincennes; on the south,
none until within a few miles of Coshocton, and those on the Tuscarawas
were the nearest on the east." The city is located 86 miles
north-east of Columbus, and 52 miles south of Cleveland, upon the line
of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway. It lies at the
altitude of 50 feet above the Killbuck valley, and is surrounded by a
highly cultivated, beautiful and fertile country.
It was incorporated October 13, 1817; advanced to a
city of the 2d class September 9, 1868, and divided into 4 wards
February 24, 1869, and has a population of over 7,000 souls. It is
distinguished for its healthy and excellent location, and during the
business days of the week it presents a fine picture of commercial
activity. The country surrounding it is replete with rich and
diversified scenery, and is under the highest conditions of successful
and remunerative tillage. The city government is vested in a Mayor
and Common Council. [Page 288] -
The plan of the city is principally in squares.
It contains numerous well-built churches, of different denotations.
Many of its private dwelling are expensive, tasteful and elegant, and
its public edifices are costly and substantial. It has the best
system of natural water works in Ohio. Its fire department is
divided into hose companies, although two first-class steamers are
retained, the latter seldom being called into operation, as any single
hydrant, with hose attached, is equivalent to an engine.
The city is illuminated with gas; an ordinance has
passed for the establishment of a complete system of sewerage, and the
chief business streets are soon to be mecadamized. Manufacturing,
though in its infancy, is carried on to considerable extent, and of the
ordinary mechanic trades there is a fair representation. Its
[police arrangements are excellent at present, and the cleanliness and
general good order of the place are remarkable. The "Independent
Order of Mechanics" have a library and reading-room in the city, and a
membership of leading mechanics of all the trades. This is one of
the most worthy orders of the city, and is noted for the intelligence,
zeal and good character of its composition. A fair quantum of the
secret or mystical societies are represented.
The public press of the city consists of two weekly
newspapers, the Democrat and Republican. It may
safely lay claim to one of the best opera houses in the State. Its
Missionary and Bible Societies are worthy institutions, sustained by
earnest men and women.
The public schools of the city are well managed and
efficiently sustained. The buildings are of brick; that of the
High School, on North Market street, being a gem of architectural art,
and an ornament to any city. The course of instruction is
graduated, and when the pupils are sufficiently advanced, they are
promoted to the High School, where they are instructed in natural
science and in the classics. But the University, a history of
which, by President A. A. E. Taylor, appears elsewhere, is the
crowning glory of Wooster. It ornaments an imposing eminence - the
site being donated by E. Quimby, Jr., of Wooster - north of the
city,
[Page 289] -
with a commanding prospect in every direction, and environments
embracing splendid drives and gorgeous distances, leaving the city below
like a nestling infant, in the midst of gentle slopes and a blooming
valley. Its construction was an enterprise of which the citizens
of Wooster and Wayne county may be proud, and future generations will
point to it as a monument of the wisdom and sagacity of the men who
projected it and bore it on to successful completion.
Coeval with the laying of the corner stone of the great
Republic was laid the solid foundation of literary and religious truth.
Our fathers were not forgetful of this primal duty. There was
great need for such an institution as this in Ohio. A college
established in a State or community multiplies the number that would
seek a liberal education, and imparts to that State or community its
general features and nobler aspects of character. Its influence
creates an atmosphere around it, and stirs the aspirations, as by an
irresistible agency, of those who seem destined to high positions.
Princeton made New Jersey; Harvard, Boston; not Boston Harvard; and
Germany, in is moral aspects, is but the product of what her renowned
universities have made her.
Not the least remarkable of all the noble features of
this institution is the co-education of the sexes, and the disposition
and determination to advance the standard of female culture. The
man, who, in this age of the world, antagonizes the complete and
thorough education of woman, should have no ancestry short of the darker
eons of mankind. Man now pursues science in her expanded and
expanding sphere, and woman must progress and attain her possible
elevations. She must and will, if opportunity is afforded, seek
and achieve them, and
"Set herself to man
Like perfect music unto noble words."
INCORPORATION OF WOOSTER.
Wooster was incorporated as a town,
October 13, 1817, and
[Page 290] -
advancing in population was chartered as a city of
the second class, and divided into four wards, February 9, 1869.
FIRST ELECTION AFTER
INCORPORATION.
On the first Saturday in March, 1818, an election was held at the house
of Joseph McGugen, in Wooster, for the purpose of electing,
according to law, a President, Recorder and five Trustees for the
incorporation of the town, with this result: Isaiah Jones was
elected President, John Patton, Recorder, T. G. Jones, Thomas
Taylor, Joseph Eichar, Thomas Robison and Benjamin Jones,
Trustees. On the 12th of March of this year the above officers met
at the house of John Patton, and after having produced their
certificates of election from the clerk, and taken an oath to support
the Constitution of the United States and the State of Ohio, as also an
oath of office, adjourned.
At their next meeting, in the month of March, the
President having taken his chair, the Board proceeded to the choice of a
Marshal, Treasurer and Collector, when Daniel Hoyt was
elected Marshal, Thomas R. McKnight Treasure, and Henry St.
John Collector. The first step taken was to appoint a
committee to draft By-Laws for the government of the Board, which
committee designated T. G. Jones and Benjamin Jones.
A committee composed of Thomas Taylor, Joseph Eichar and John
Patton was next appointed to prepare and bring in a bill for the
abatement of nuisances, and another composed of Benjamin Jones
and Thomas Robison was appointed to bring in a bill to prevent
horse-racing and shooting.
On Friday, April 3, 1818, the Board met, and on motion
it was resolved that a committee of two be appointed to prepare and
bring in a bill for the prevention of immoral practices.
At a meeting of the Board, Thursday, April 9, 1818, a
bill for the abatement of nuisances, by John Patton, with some
amendments, became a law, and as such, is the first on record.
[Page 291] -
THE SECOND
ELECTION Was held on the first Saturday of
March, 1820, at the house of Joseph McGugen, for the purpose of
electing corporation officers, William Nailer and
Thomas Robison acting as judges, and John Patton as clerk of
election, there being thirty-nine votes polled. The names of
electors are as follows:
Francis H. Foltz, John Hague, Elijah Tillotson, Daniel O. Hoyt, Thomas
R. McKnight, Philip Griffith, John Wilson, John M. McClelland, Robert
Orr, Reasin Beall, Jacob Matthews, Wm. B. Smith, Andrew Mackey, David
Losher, Thomas Townsend, M. D., Nicholas Mason, Fred Foltz, James Nailer,
David Griffith, Joseph McGugen, Trueman Beecher, Henry St. John, John
Larwill, Moses Owens, Calvin Hubbard, Charles Connelly, Thomas Robison,
John S. Headley, Benjamin F. Coleman, Hugh O. Harrow, William Nailer,
John Patton, George Lisor, John Steward, Edward Jones, Joseph H. Larwill,
Robert McClarran, John Yergin.
A LIST OF CANDIDATES AT AN
ELECTION HELD IN
WOOSTER,
MARCH 29, 1824.
President - Samuel Quinby, Edward Avery, Thomas Robison
Recorder - Cyrus Spink, John Patton, Wm.
Larwill.
Trustees - Edward Jones, David McConahay,
Francis H. Foltz, Matthew Johnston, Wm. McFall, Joseph H. Larwill, John
Christmas, John Patton, Wm. McComb, Moses Culbertson, Cyrus Spink,
Calvin Hobert, David Robison, Thomas Robison, Thomas Townsend, Horace
Howard, William Nailer, Samuel H. Hand, Edward Avery, Benjamin Jones,
Col. John Hemperly.
We do certify that Samuel Quinby had 53
votes for President, and William Larwill had 30 votes for
Recorder, and Edward Avery had 52 votes for Trustee, Thomas
Robison had 37 votes for Trustee, William MaComb had 30 votes
for Trustee, William Nailer had 20 votes for Trustee, and
Thomas Townsend and John Patton had each 19 votes for
Trustee.
(Signed) MATTHEW JOHNSTON,
WILLIAM MCFALL, Judges
Attest: JOHN LARWILL, Clerk of Election
EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC
RECORDS.
Ordered, That Joseph Alexander be allowed $25.00 for services
rendered by digging up stumps in the Public Square, in July, 1816.
Ordered, That Cyrus Spink be allowed two dollars
for attending on David Wolgamot, a State's prisoner, as a guard,
in July, 1816. [Page 292] -
Ordered, That Joseph H. Larwill be allowed the
sum of $5.20 for digging a drain to the Court House, October, 1817.
Ordered, That Thomas Robison be allowed $12.50
for making six pool-boxes for the use of the county, in 1817.
Ordered, That Joseph Alexander be allowed $2.00
for waiting on grand jury, at October term, 1816.
Ordered, December 20, 1817, that Benjamin Franks
be allowed $2.00 for blazing a road from Paintville in a north
direction.
Ordered, That Nathan Warner be allowed to spend
$200.00 of the three per cent, fund allotted to this county, on the
State road, west of Wooster, for which he shall receive $8.00.
Ordered, That Benjamin Thompson and Ezekiel
Kelly, Trustees of the Baptist Church at Wooster, be allowed $50.00
for use of same, to hold court and transact other public business in,
for the term of two years, ending in June, 1831.
Ordered, That David Woolley, Deputy Assessor, be
allowed $24.75 for assessing the townships of Sugarcreek, Baughman and
Chippewa. June, 1830.
A contract will be sold at the Auditor's Office,
November 17, 1830, to the lowest bidder, for the safe keeping and
providing for of an idiot called "Crazy Sam."
OFFICERS OF THE TOWN OF
WOOSTER.
1818 -
|
Isaiah Jones, President; John Patton, Recorder;
Thomas G. Jones, Thomas Taylor, Joseph Eichar, Thomas Robison,
Benj. Jones, Trustees. |
1820 -
|
William Nayler, President; John Patton,
Recorder; John Sloane, Thomas Townsend, William McComb, Thomas
Robison, Thomas McKnight, Trustees. |
1822 -
|
Samuel Quinby, President; William Larwill,
Recorder; John Christmas, William Nayler, Cyrus Spink, Joseph
Barkdull, Thomas Townsend, Trustees. |
1825 -
|
Thomas Wilson, President; John Larwill,
Recorder; Samuel Quinby, William Nayler, Benjamin Jones, John
Smith, Cyrus Spink, Trustees |
1826 - |
John Smith, President; Ben. Church, Recorder;
David Robison, Benj. Jones, Wm. McFall, John Barr, Joseph S.
Lake, Trustees. |
1827 - |
Thomas Wilson, President; Ben. Church,
Recorder; Sam'l. Quinby, David Robison, David McConnahay, Cyrus
Spink, Trustees. |
1828 -
|
J. M. Cooper, President; Wm. Larwill, Recorder;
David McConnahay, David Robison, Benj. Jones, Samuel Quinby,
Cyrus Spink, Trustees. |
1829 -
|
Benj. Jones, President; Benj. Bentley,
Recorder; Ed. Avery, Ezra Dean, John Larwill, Sam. Irvine,
Thomas Robison, Trustees. |
1831 -
|
Thomas Wilson, President; J. M. Cooper,
Recorder; John Larwill, John P. Coulter, Sam. H. Hand, Levi Cox,
Trustees. |
1832 - |
Thomas Wilson, President; John H. Harris,
Recorder; J. P. Coulter, Ben. Church, Ed. Avery, Sam'l. Quinby,
Wm. McCurdy, Trustees. |
[Page 293] -
1833 - |
Matthew Johnston, President; E. Quinby, Jr.,
Recorder; Christian Eyster, Wm. J. Sprague, John Swain, Sam'l.
Cutter, Wm. Goodwin, Trustees. |
1834 -
|
**Ed. Avery, President; Ben. Church, Recorder;
David McConnahay, John P. Coulter, John Larwill, Wm. McComb,
Sam'l. Quinby, Trustees. |
1835 -
|
John Larwill, President; Benjamin Church,
Recorder; John Jones, Cyrus Spink, Thomas Robison, Levi Cox,
Trustees. |
1836 -
|
Lindoll Sprague, President; J. M. Eberman,
Recorder; John Crall, C. H. Eckert, William Taggart, Joseph
Hogan, J. J. Fox, Trustees. |
1837 -
|
Lindoll Sprague, President; James Thompson,
Recorder; William Taggart, J. J. Fox, John Crall, William
Spencer, J. P. Coulter, Trustees. |
1838 - |
H. Lehman, President; Benjamin Church,
Recorder; John Crall, Christian Eyster, Joseph Hogan, William
Childs, William Nailer, Trustees. |
1839 - |
J. W. Schuckers, President; Benj. Church,
Recorder; Kimball Porter, Jonas Nachtreib, Wm. Childs, Sam'l. N.
Bissell, Samuel Coulter, Trustees. |
1840 - |
John H. Harris, President; Jonah Crites,
Recorder; Thomas Williams, Wm. Stitt, Wm. Spear, Henry Hoke,
Jacob Winebrener, Trustees. |
N. B. |
334 votes polled |
1841 - |
E. Eyster, President; Jonah Crites, Recorder;
Thomas Williams, Wm. Spear, Chas. Howard, Jonas Nachtreib, Wm.
Stitt, Trustees. |
1842 -
|
Kimball Porter, President; D. M. Crall,
Recorder; Joseph Hogan, Henry Hoke, Wm. Taggart, Jacob Immel,
John Fisher, Trustees. |
1843 -
|
Christian Eyster, President; Jas. A. Grant,
Recorder; Thomas Williams, Horace Howard, E. Pardee, P. Vannest,
Cyrus Spink, Trustees. |
1844 - |
Charles E. Graeter, President; Campbell Beall,
Recorder; Rich P. Reddick, Jacob Kauffman, Lewis Gibson, Moses
Shaffer, Trustees. |
1845 - |
Henry Lehman, President; John P. Jeffries,
Recorder; John Wilhelm, Harvey Howard, Wm. Spear, Evans Parker,
Samuel R. Curtis, Trustees |
1846 - |
Evans Parker, President; Samuel Woods,
Recorder; David Foglesong, Jacob Immel, Lewis Gibson, Philo S.
Vanhouten, J. P. Coulter, Trustees. |
1847 - |
Thomas Williams, President; John P. Jeffries,
Recorder; Thomas Robison, Peter Vannest, Henry Hoke, Kimball
Porter, William ____, Trustees. |
1848 - |
Samuel L. Lorah, President; George
Rex, Recorder; William Slemmons, John Geitgey, Samuel Christine,
Abraham Fox, H. L. Wolford, Trustees. |
1849 - |
Everett Howard, President; John McSweeney,
Recorder; Michael Miller, I. N. Jones, A. McDonald, Gottlieb
Gasche, Henry Hoke, Trustees. |
1850 - |
† A.
McDonald, President; O. F. Jones, Recorder; William McCurdy,
John Geitgy, Charles Casche, Samuel Mentzer, Emanuel Schuckers,
Trustees. |
____________________________________________________________________________________________
* Mr. Avery,
declining to serve, Mr. McConnahay was appointed for the ensuing
year.
† At this
election the vote was taken for or against what was then called the
Akron School Law, in pursuance of a law passed by the legislature of
Ohio, on the 19th of March, A. D.
[Page 294] -
1851 - |
Christian Eyster, President; Thomas S. Johnson,
Recorder; Levi Miller, John Geitgey, Charles Gasche, Philo S.
Vanhouten, James M. Blackburn, Trustees. |
1852 - |
Jacob Vanhouten,
President; Henry C. Johnson,
Recorder; Levi Miller, William Stitt, Henry Lehman, E. Quinby,
Jr., Henry Hoke, Trustees. |
1853 - |
S. R. Bonewitz, Mayor; Henry C. Johnson,
Recorder; Chas. Gasche, Wm. Stitt, E. Quinby, Jr., Kimball
Porter, J. H. Kauke, Trustees. |
1854 - |
S. R. Bonewitz, Mayor; Henry C. Johnson,
Recorder; Chas. Gasche, John Crall, Wm. Howard, Michael Miller,
J. S. Duden, Trustees. |
1855 - |
Wm. Childs, Mayor; Henry C. Johnson, Recorder;
Philo S. Vanhouten, Treasurer; Jacob Chapman, Marshal; Wm. Stitt,
Jacob S. Duden, James Madden, Wm. Howard, James Curry, Trustees. |
1856 - |
I. N. Jones, Mayor; John E. Irvin, Recorder;
Philo S. Vanhouten, Treasurer; Stephen Dice, Marshal; Gotleib
Gasche, Angus McDonald, John Crall, Wm. Spear, David Carlin,
Trustees. |
1857 - |
Neal McCoy, Mayor; Jacob Shultz, Recorder;
Alexander Laughlin, Jacob Kauffman, R. R. Donnelly, J. H. Baumgardner, J. E. Irwin, Trustees; Arthur Craig, Marshall. |
1858 - |
Neal McCoy, Mayor; J. E. Irwin, Recorder; R. R.
Donnely, Jacob Kauffman, A. Laughlin, John Crall, J. H. Kauke,
Trustees; P. S. Vanhouten, Treasurer; Jos. Plummer, Marshal. |
1859 - |
A. Saybolt, Mayor; H. C. Johnson, Recorder; R.
R. Donnelly, Treasurer; J. H. Kauke, J. D. Robison, Harvey
Howard, E. Quinby, Jr., D. Robison, Jr., Trustees; S. J.
Kermickle, Marshal. |
1860 - |
J. H. Kauke, Mayor; Eugene Pardee, Recorder; H.
M. Curtiss, E. Quinby, Jr., J. D. Robison, A. Saybolt, D.
Robison, Jr., Trustees. |
1861 - |
J. H. Kauke, Mayor; Ben Douglass, Recorder; A.
Wright, A. Saybolt, James Hallowell, E. Quinby, Jr., John
McClelland, Trustees. |
1862 - |
Geo. Rex, Mayor; Ben Douglass, Recorder; L.
Firestone, J. S. Duden, A. Wright, A. R. Chapman, Wm. J.
Craighead, Trustees. |
1863 - |
R. R. Donnelly, Mayor; Henry Lehman, Recorder;
Anthony Wright, W. J. Craighead, James Curry, J. S. Duden, E.
Quinby, Jr., Trustees. |
1864 - |
J. H. Downing, Recorder; Angus McDonald, John
McClelland, C. M. Amsden, John Brinkerhoff, S. K. Funk,
Trustees. |
1865 - |
G. W. Henshaw, Mayor; J. H. Downing, Recorder;
John Brinkerhoff, James Curry, T. P. Baumgardner, P. S.
Vanhouten, G. B. Somers, Trustees. |
1866 - |
James Curry, Mayor; George Rex, Recorder; G. B.
Somers, John Wilhelm, G. B. Seigenthaler, Neal Power, Thomas
Woodland, Trustees. |
1867 - |
A. Wright, Mayor; A. S. McClure, Recorder; E.
Quinby, Jr., Sylvester Gray, David Clark, G. B. Somers, Phineas
Weed, Trustees. |
1868 -
|
R. B. Spink, Mayor; T. S. Johnson, Recorder; A.
McDonald, I. S. Gray, A. Johnson, I. N. Jones, George Bartol,
Trustees. |
[Page 295] -
CITY OF WOOSTER
OFFICERS.
1869 - |
Charles S. Frost, Mayor; Aquila Wiley,
Solicitor; Hugh McAnnanny, Marshal; A. J. Dewitt, Clerk; J. H.
Lee, Civil Engineer; James Johnson, Street Commissioner; Jesse
Smith, John McMahon, Councilmen 1st Ward; B. Barrett, P. T.
Baumgardner, Councilmen 2d Ward; A. McDonald, James Shamp,
Councilmen 3d Ward; L. P. Ohliger, W. A. Underwood, Councilmen
4th Ward; Thomas A. Adair, Assessor 1st Ward; John Crall,
Assessor 2d Ward; John S. Caskey, Assessor 3d Ward; Chas.
Laubaugh, Assessor 4th Ward. |
1870 - |
L. P. Ohliger, Treasurer; I. S. Gray,
Councilman 1st Ward; Joshua Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward; Zac
Potter, Wm. Stitt, Councilmen 2d Ward; Sam. Rhodes, Assessor 2d
Ward; S. R. Bonewitz, Councilman 3d Ward; D. Hamilton, Assessor
3d Ward; Adam Foss, Councilman 4th Ward; W. S. Rogers, Assessor
4th Ward. |
1871 - |
Jos. C. Plumer, Mayor; Zach. Potter, Marshal;
Isaac Barnet, City Commissioner; Aquila Wiley, Solicitor; Jno.
Zimmerman, Councilman 1st Ward; D. C. Curry, Councilman 2d Ward;
G. W. Henshaw, Councilman 3d Ward; Robert Redinger, Councilman
4th Ward; E. Schuckers, Assessor 1st Ward; Jacob R. Bowman,
Assessor 2d Ward; David Hamilton, Assessor 3d Ward; R. B.
Laubaugh, Assessor 4th Ward. |
1872 - |
Mortimer Munn, Councilman 1st Ward; Joshua
Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward; Enos Foreman, Councilman 2d Ward; J.
R. Bowman, Assessor 2d Ward; A. McDonald, Councilman 3d Ward;
____, Assessor 3d Ward; R. B. Spink, Councilman 4th Ward; John
Applebaugh, Assessor. |
1873 - |
Jas. Henry, Mayor; J. H. Carr, Solicitor; Z.
Potter, Marshal; Wm. Mann, City Commissioner; Jacob Stark,
Councilman 1st Ward; Joshua Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward; D. C.
Curry, Councilman 2d Ward; A. J. Coover, Assessor 2d Ward; D. W.
Immel, Councilman 3d Ward; Martin Gross, Assessor 3d Ward; Perry
Miller, Councilman 4th Ward; Jno. E. Applebaugh, Assessor 4th
Ward. |
1874 - |
John Stevenson, Councilman 1st Ward; Joshua
Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward; J. H. Kuke, Councilman 2d Ward; S. J.
Kirkwood, Councilman 2d Ward; Chas. Laubaugh, Assessor 2d Ward;
A. McDonald, Councilman 3d Ward; Andrew Reed, Assessor 3d Ward;
Robert J. Cunningham, Councilman 4th Ward; Isaac Mowrer,
Assessor 4th Ward. |
1875 - |
Owen A. Wilhelm, Mayor; Cyrus Reider,
Solicitor; Chas. Chiffer, Marshal; Wm. Miller, Street
Commissioner; Jacob Stark, Councilman 1st Ward; Philip J. Spreng,
Councilman 2d Ward; John K. McBride, Councilman 3d Ward; Michael
Miller, Councilman 4th Ward; Joshua Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward;
Chas. Laubaugh, Assessor 2d Ward; Andrew Reed, Assessor 3d Ward;
John E. Applebaugh, Assessor 4th Ward. |
1876 - |
Mortimer Munn, Councilman 1st Ward; John H.
Kauke, Bethuel Barrett, Councilman 2d Ward; Dan. Dull,
Councilman 3d Ward; R. J. Cunningham 4th Ward; Josh. Wilson,
Assessor 1st Ward; Robert Coffey, Assessor 2d Ward; Wm. Mann,
Assessor 3d Ward; Jac. Somers, Assessor 4th Ward. |
1877 - |
H. B. Swartz, Mayor; C. A. Reider, City
Solicitor; A. H. Dice, Marshal; G. B. Somers, Street
Commissioner; D. W. Immel, Water-works Trustee, three years; Wm.
Nold, Water-works, Trustee, two years; Wm. H. Banker, Waterworks
Trustee, one year; B. J. Jones, Councilman 1st Ward; Bethuel
Barrett, Councilman 2d Ward; D. D. Miller, Councilman 3d Ward; W.
A. Underwood, Councilman 4th Ward; Josh. Wilson, Assessor 1st
Ward; J. S. Duden, Assessor 2d Ward; Jacob B. Koch, Assessor 3d
Ward; Jacob Sommers, Assessor 4th Ward, |
1877 - |
George B. Miller, Harry H. Huber, present
Police. |
[Page 295 -
1869 - |
Charles S. Frost, Mayor; Aquila Wiley,
Solicitor; Hugh McAnnanny, Marshal; A. J. Dewitt, Clerk; J. H.
Lee, Civil Engineer; James Johnson, Street Commissioner; Jesse
Smith, John McMahon, Councilmen 1st Ward; B. Barrett, P. T.
Baumgardner, Councilmen 2d Ward; A. McDonald, James Shamp,
Councilmen 3d Ward; L. P. Ohliger, W. A. Underwood, Councilmen
4th Ward; Thomas A. Adair, Assessor 1st Ward; John Crall,
Assessor 2d Ward; John S. Caskey, Assessor 3d Ward; Chas.
Laubaugh, Assessor 4th Ward. |
1870 - |
L. P. Ohliger, Treasurer; I. S. Gray,
Councilman 1st Ward; Joshua Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward; Zac
Potter, Wm. Stitt, Councilmen 2d Ward; Sam. Rhodes, Assessor 2d
Ward; S. R. Bonewitz, Councilman 3d Ward; D. Hamilton, Assessor
3d Ward; Adam Foss, Councilman 4th Ward; W. S. Rogers, Assessor
4th Ward. |
1871 - |
Jos. C. Plumer, Mayor; Zach. Potter, Marshal;
Isaac Barnet, City Commissioner; Aquila Wiley, Solicitor; Jno.
Zimmerman, Councilman 1st Ward; D. C. Curry, Councilman 2d Ward;
G. W. Henshaw, Councilman 3d Ward; Robert Redinger, Councilman
4th Ward; E. Schuckers, Assessor 1st Ward; Jacob R. Bowman,
Assessor 2d Ward; David Hamilton, Assessor 3d Ward; R. B.
Laubaugh, Assessor 4th Ward. |
1872 - |
Mortimer Munn, Councilman 1st Ward; Joshua
Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward; Enos Foreman, Councilman 2d Ward; J.
R. Bowman, Assessor 2d Ward; A. McDonald, Councilman 3d Ward;
____, Assessor 3d Ward; R. B. Spink, Councilman 4th Ward; John
Applebaugh, Assessor. |
1873 - |
Jas. Henry, Mayor; J. H. Carr, Solicitor; Z.
Potter, Marshal; Wm. Mann, City Commissioner; Jacob Stark,
Councilman 1st Ward; Joshua Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward; D. C.
Curry, Councilman 2d Ward; A. J. Coover, Assessor 2d Ward; D. W.
Immel, Councilman 3d Ward; Martin Gross, Assessor 3d Ward; Perry
Miller, Councilman 4th Ward; Jno. E. Applebaugh, Assessor 4th
Ward. |
1874 - |
John Stevenson, Councilman 1st Ward; Joshua
Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward; J. H. Kuke, Councilman 2d Ward; S. J.
Kirkwood, Councilman 2d Ward; Chas. Laubaugh, Assessor 2d Ward;
A. McDonald, Councilman 3d Ward; Andrew Reed, Assessor 3d Ward;
Robert J. Cunningham, Councilman 4th Ward; Isaac Mowrer,
Assessor 4th Ward. |
1875 - |
Owen A. Wilhelm, Mayor; Cyrus Reider,
Solicitor; Chas. Chiffer, Marshal; Wm. Miller, Street
Commissioner; Jacob Stark, Councilman 1st Ward; Philip J. Spreng,
Councilman 2d Ward; John K. McBride, Councilman 3d Ward; Michael
Miller, Councilman 4th Ward; Joshua Wilson, Assessor 1st Ward;
Chas. Laubaugh, Assessor 2d Ward; Andrew Reed, Assessor 3d Ward;
John E. Applebaugh, Assessor 4th Ward. |
1876 - |
Mortimer Munn, Councilman 1st Ward; John H.
Kauke, Bethuel Barrett, Councilman 2d Ward; Dan. Dull,
Councilman 3d Ward; R. J. Cunningham 4th Ward; Josh. Wilson,
Assessor 1st Ward; Robert Coffey, Assessor 2d Ward; Wm. Mann,
Assessor 3d Ward; Jac. Somers, Assessor 4th Ward. |
[Page 296] -
1877 - |
H. B. Swartz, Mayor; C. A. Reider, City
Solicitor; A. H. Dice, Marshal; G. B. Somers, Street
Commissioner; D. W. Immel, Water-works Trustee, three years; Wm.
Nold, Water-works, Trustee, two years; Wm. H. Banker, Waterworks
Trustee, one year; B. J. Jones, Councilman 1st Ward; Bethuel
Barrett, Councilman 2d Ward; D. D. Miller, Councilman 3d Ward; W.
A. Underwood, Councilman 4th Ward; Josh. Wilson, Assessor 1st
Ward; J. S. Duden, Assessor 2d Ward; Jacob B. Koch, Assessor 3d
Ward; Jacob Sommers, Assessor 4th Ward, |
1877 - |
George B. Miller, Harry H. Huber, present
Police. |
WOOSTER POSTMASTERS.
List of postmasters, and
the date of their appointment, at Wooster.
Office established and Thomas G. Jones appointed
Postmaster, December 8, 1812; John Patton, November 20, 1818;
Ezra Dean, April 14, 1829; Bezaleel L. Crawford, March
26, 1841; Jacob M. Cooper, July 22, 1845; Thomas T. Eckert,
April 36, 1849; George W. Allison, November 24, 1852;
Jacob A. Marchand, November 17, 1853 - re-appointed April 2, 1856;
James Johnson, January 10, 1860; Enos Foreman, April 17,
1861 - re-appointed March 17, 1865; Reason B. Spink, November 13,
1866; Addison S. McClure, April 19, 1867 - re-appointed March 28,
1871, and March 10, 1875. FIRST
FIRE COMPANY OF
WOOSTER.
[Extracts from Minutes of Company.]
At a meeting of the Wooster Fire Company, No. 1, convened at the
house of William Nailer, Esq., on Saturday, the 20th day of
January, 1827, Captain John Smith called the company to order,
and Samuel Quinby was appointed Secretary.
On motion, it was resolved, That said Company appoint
two persons to act as engineers; six persons to act as ladder-men; two
persons to act as pikemen, and two persons to act as ax-men for said
company.
Thereupon Wm. Goodin and D. O. Hoyt were
elected engineers; Samuel Barkdull, David Lozier, James Nailer, John
McKracken, Calvin Hobart and Benjamin Jones were appointed
ladder-men; Wm. H. Sloane and C. H. Streby were appointed
ax-men, and I. E. Harriott and ____ were appointed pikemen.
On motion, Samuel Quinby, Moses Culbertson and
William Goodin were appointed a committee to draft by-laws for
the regulation of said company, and report the same at the next meeting
of said company. On motion, resolved, That this meeting adjourn,
and that said company meet at the house of Wm. Nailer, on Friday
next, at 1 o'clock P.M. [Page
297] -
Friday, January 26, 1827: Agreeable to adjournment, the
members of the Wooster Fire Company No. 1, met at the house of Wm.
Nailer, and adjourned to the Court House. Captain John
Smith was called to the chair, and Samuel Quinby was
appointed clerk of the meeting. The committee appointed at the
last meeting the draft by-laws for the government of said company, made
report to the meeting, and, after the clerk had read the by-laws, as
reported by the committee, they were amended and adopted. On
motion, Joseph S. Lake was appointed Clerk, and John Miller
Treasurer of said company, and the meeting adjourned.
THE FIRST
WHITE MAN WHO
DIED IN WAYNE
COUNTY.
The
first white man who died in Wayne county was Alexander Crawford,
brother of Josiah Crawford, the owner then of what is now known
as Bahl's mill. Shortly after his arrival in Wooster, his
horse was stolen from him by the Indians. He immediately started
in pursuit of the savage thieves, going on foot, which was at that time
the popular method of travel. He perservered in his search as far
as Upper Sandusky, but failing to overtake or capture them, he abandoned
the pursuit. On his return he could obtain no water to drink, save
what lay in pools in the woods and by the roots of fallen trees, and
being very dry, was compelled to slake his thirst with this green-scummed
and poisoned water. This was in 1808, and his pathway was amid the
solitudes and stolid glooms of dense and dreary woods. On his
return to Wooster, he was burning with a violent fever, when he found a
stopping place, and to him a dying place, under the protecting roof of
William Larwill.
He was sick but a few days, and died in the small
office of Mr. Larwill's store, which was situated on the grounds
known now as the drug store of Harvey Howard, No. 4 Emporium
Block. Mr. Larwill describes his sufferings as being
terrible. He had no medical aid. For him "there was no balm
in Gilead, there was no physician there."
How and Where Buried. - Near the present First
M. E. church the proprietors of Wooster, William Henry, John Bever
and Joseph H. Larwill, had laid out and donated to the town what
was called the "Public Graveyard." Here his remains were interred.
[Page 298] -
John Larwill, Benjamin Miller, William Larwill, Abraham Miller,
and one or two others dug the grave and buried him. His coffin was
made of rough boards by Benjamin Miller and his son Abraham,
and he was carried to his final repose-upon spikes of wood on which
the coffin rested. His grave no one can identify. The sombre years
have swept over it, and it casts no shadow unless upon some stricken
heart. The death-ground holds him, and his sleep is as sweet as if
under the granite shaft. JOHN
BEVER. John
Bever*
one of the original proprietors of Wooster, was a native of
Ireland, and emigrated to America when quite young. His two
brothers, William and Sampson Bever, and his sister
Jane also emigrated from Ireland, but whether in company with
the subject of this sketch, we do not known, and settled in Beaver
county, Pa. John Bever settled in Georgetown, in
Beaver county, Pa., along about the year 1788. He got into
employment of the Government, and furnished supplies for the
block-houses kept for the security of the adventurous settlers, on
the southern side of the Ohio river, from the invasions of the
Indians.
After the State of Ohio was organized, he was employed
as a surveyor by the Government of the United States. He
surveyed Columbiana, Stark, Wayne, and other counties in the State,
and was likewise one of the parties that laid out the county-seats
of Columbiana, Stark and Wayne.
With these opportunities presented to him, he secured
considerable property in the different localities, that in time
became very valuable, and, at his death, his wealth was estimated at
a quarter of a million dollars in money and lands.
---------------
* John Bever, William Henry and J. H. Larwill
each owned a quarter section of land, on which was originally laid
out the town of Wooster, and are referred to as the original
proprietors of the city. We are able to produce brief sketches
of Messrs. Bever and Henry, the latter prepared by
Hon. Robert H. Folger, of Massillon, Ohio. No biography of
J. H. Larwill appears in this work, and for reasons entirely
too frivolous to be mentioned.
[Page 299] -
His first marriage was to Miss Nancy Dawson,
of Georgetown about 1790, by which union there resulted five
children. One daughter grew to womanhood, and married James
L. Bowman, of Brownsville, Fayette county, Pa. Both she
and her husband are dead. His first wife died about 1818, and
in the fall of 1820 he was married a second time, to Lydia
Vaughan, who bore him one child, Henry V. Bever, who now
lives in Paris, Edgar county, Ill. She died September 22,
1849, in her 69th year. He built, in connection with Thomas
Moore, the first merchant's flouring mill west of the mountains,
on Little Beaver creek, and the first paper mill in Ohio; and the
second west of the Alleghenies was erected 1805-6, on the same
stream. Its proprietors were John Bever and John
Coulter.
John Bever*
died May 26, 1836, near the State line, in Columbiana county, Ohio,
on what he called his "Springford" farm, and in the house which he
had built shortly before his death. He was about 80 years old
when he died, and was buried on his farm, which was his expressed
wish, about forty rods from his residence. In the year 1855 a
land-slide occurred on the face of the hill where he was buried,
which badly wrecked the brick wall enclosing his grave, when his
son, Henry V. Bever, removed his remains to the burial place
of his second wife, on her farm, one mile east of Oneida, Carroll
county, Ohio. He was a member of the Episcopal church, and had
been many years prior to his death.
The following extract is copied from the American
Pioneer, published by John S. Williams, Chillicothe, Ohio,
1842:
When orders were given by the Government to the
Surveyor-General of the North-western Territory to have a portion of
the public lands therein surveyed and subdivided into sections, many
applications were made by persons for situations as deputies.
Among the number was a young man from the extreme western part of
Pennsylvania, who had, without pecuniary means or the facility of
instruction, but
---------------
* John Bever's father was a German by birth, and
our best information is, that his mother was Irish. John
spoke the German language fluently. It is claimed that
religious troubles caused his father to remove from Germany to
Ireland. The Irish invariably spell the name Beaver,
and the Germans Bever, pronouncing the E as in ever.
[Page 300] -
by his own application and industry during the
recess from labor, acquired a knowledge of surveying.
Clad in a hunting shirt and moccasins, the usual
habiliments of the backwoodsman of the day, he presented himself
personally to General Putnam, at Marietta, O., and made known
his desire to have a district to run out. The General replied
that there were so many applications he was afraid he could not
gratify him, and that he could give no decisive answer for some
time. "Sir," said the applicant, "I have come a considerable
distance, and am dependent altogether upon my own exertions for my
support. Have you any work for me to do by which I can get a
support until you can give me an answer?" "Yes," answered the
General, "I have some wood to cut." "Sir," answered the young
man, "I can swing an ax as well as set a compass!" and doffing his
hunting shirt, went at it with full vigor, the General occasionally
looking out to see how he progressed. The job was completed.
"Sir," again said the applicant, "have you any drafting or platting
in your office that I can assist you with?"" "Yes," said the
General, "I can give you some of that to do." In due time the
plat was completed and handed to the General, who examined it
carefully, and with apparent surprise, alternately looking at the
plat and the applicant, thus responded: "Young man, you may go home;
you shall have the district you desire, and so soon as the necessary
instructions are made out I will forward them," which was complied
with, and so satisfactorily executed to the department by the young
surveyor that at subsequent progression of surveys three districts
were awarded to him by General Mansfield, the successor of
Putnam. The young an thus represented as presenting himself
was the late John Bever, Esq., formerly of Georgetown, Beaver
county, Pa., and who was stated to the writer of this article that
that incident was probably the foundation of the ample fortune
acquired in after life and possessed at the time of his death, in
1836.
WILLIAM HENRY.
Among the pioneer settlers of the counties of Wayne and
Stark, no one is entitled to more honorable mention than the late
Judge William Henry.
When the "New Purchase " came into the market, after
the treaty of Fort Industry, on the 4th day of July, 1805, the first
surveying party, on the lands now included in the tenth range and
extending to the sixteenth range, inclusive, was composed in part of
the late Hon. Messrs. Joseph H. Larwill, John Larwill, John
Harris and William Henry, then young men who had come to
the frontier, as the West was then called, to find a fortune.
They have all passed away, leaving the memory of a good name.
[Page 301] -
The "New Purchase" included the lands west of the
Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingham river, those east having been
included in the treaty of Fort McIntosh, made on the 21st of
January, 1785. A glance at the county maps shows the territory
surveyed by the young men above named, all west of the tenth range
being in the now county of Wayne; the tenth range, in Stark county,
including the western portions of the township of Franklin, now in
Summit, and Lawrence, Perry and Bethlehem, in Stark, and the whole
of Tuscarawas and Sugarcreek.
In addition to being one of the original proprietors of
the city of Wooster, it so happened that Judge Henry, when
the lands west of the Tuscarawas river, in the now township of
Perry, in Stark county, came into market, entered fractional section
six, upon the south end of which is now built portions of the second
and third wards of the city of Massillon.
The older citizens of Massillon who were acquainted
with Judge Henry from the time of his coming to Ohio, having
passed away, but little can be traced of his early history beyond
the fact that he was a native of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and
that his appearance in the district now embraced in the counties of
Wayne and Stark was with the surveying party, already referred to,
in 1807, from which period to 1814, during which both counties were
erected by acts of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, he
resided in the Tuscarawas Valley, in a log cabin, which is well
remembered by the writer, as standing where now is erected the
station buildings in the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley and Wheeling
Railway Company, in the third ward of the city of Massillon; and
also in the toll house of the toll bridge, which crossed the
Tuscarawas river at the present crossing of Cherry Street.
Judge Henry was largely interested in the toll bridge company as
a stockholder, the bridge being erected on the great territorial
road running west from Pittsburg.
In 1814 he was elected a member of the House of
Representatives, in the State Legislature, for the counties of Stark
and Wayne, and served his constituency most acceptably, ever
after-
[Page 302] -
ward declining a re-election and mingling little in politics -
the offices he held always sought him, instead of his seeking the
office.
The acquaintance of the writer with Judge Henry
commenced in 1818, and continued until his death. After his
term of service in the Legislature, he was elected Associate Judge
for Stark county, and as such was highly esteemed for his
uprightness and integrity of character. At the period above
named, 1818, he was a successful merchant in Kendal, now the fourth
ward of Massillon, where he continued for many years, removing from
there to the brick building erected by himself, near what is now the
west end of Cherry street bridge, remaining there until he sold out
his possessions in the Tuscarawas Valley, and removed to
Brookfield, in Tuscarawas township, where he engaged largely in the
mercantile business and in the merchant milling. On closing
out his interest there, which passed into the hands of the son-in
law, C. B. Cummins, Esq., he removed to Wooster, where he
continued to reside until his death.
Judge Henry was closely identified with the
growth and prosperity of that portion of the Tuscarawas Valley in
Stark county for ore than thirty years. He may be said to be
one of the founders of the Methodist Episcopal church in that
locality, and of which he was life-long an active and worthy member.
He was a man of strong will, rarely surrendering his judgment, when
once his mind of strong will, rarely surrendering his judgment, when
once his mind was made up, to that of any other person. Being
a man of an order of talents and education far above mediocrity, he
was so recognized and respected in all business and social circles.
As a merchant no man's integrity stood higher. In the city of
Massillon he was one of the first to embark in merchandizing in
1827, while yet the ground plat of which was covered with the leafy
honors of the forest, as a member of the firm of A. McCully & Co.,
and a few years later in the well known firm of J. Robinson &
Co., at Fulton, in both of which firms his name was a tower
of strength, and a synonym for the commercial integrity which marked
the history of his entire life, and in both of which firms he was
emi-
[Page 303] -
nently successful. At his death he left no surviving
family, except his second wife, his first wife and all his children
having gone before.
Of Judge Henry it may be well
said he was a representative man, a representative of the class of
men who, in the early settlement of Stark and Wayne counties,
endured the hardships of forming new settlements and communities;
but of that class it must be said that they laid the foundations of
civil and religious liberty, and succeeding generations are reaping
the benefit of their labors.
JOHN LARWILL.*
---------------
* Died since this was
written.
[Page 304] -
[Page 305] -
[Page 306] -
Coffee per pound
........................................................... |
62½ |
Tea per pound
................................................................ |
$3.00 |
Common keg tobacco, per
pound ................................... |
.50 |
Coarse muslin, per yard
.................................................. |
.50 |
Calico, per yard
.............................................................. |
.50 to .95 |
Nails, per pound
............................................................ |
.18 to .20 |
Iron, per pound
.............................................................. |
.16 |
Salt, per bushel
............................................................... |
4.00 |
Indigo, per ounce
........................................................... |
1.00 |
Powder, per pound
......................................................... |
1.00 |
Other things in
proportion. Transportation was $10.00 per hundred from
Philadelphia, and $3.50 from Pittsburg, brought in wagons. It
took thirty-five days to make the trip from Wooster to Philadelphia.
The teamster obtained one-half of his pay for the trip before he
left here and the remainder at the city. To the city he
carried the furs and skins of bears, beavers, otters, coons, deer,
together with dried venison-hams, and such other commodities as.
[Page 307] -
were staples of exchange, and then brought back with him goods and
wares for the dealers.
At that time a saddle of mutton could be purchased from
the Indians for a quarter of a pound of powder.
While Mr. Larwill never sought politics
as a means of self-promotion, or personal agrandizement, he,
nevertheless, was tempted, at times, to mingle in its turbulent
waters, but with the steady purpose, at all times, of subordinating
the politician to the man. He abhorred the petty strifes,
nasty jealousies and sinister tactics of political wars. He
was a puppet in the hands of no man or men, and when promoted to
honors, did not permit himself to be carried passively around the
circles of public policy without the exercise of an independent
presiding will.
In 1820 he was elected Justice of the Peace for Wooster
township, holding said office a period of six years. At the
end of his
term, the docket was cleared, all collections closed up, constables
all paid off, an appeal from judgment having been taken but in one
instance. During his official career he married sixty-two
couples. In 1824, he attended the first Democratic Convention
ever held in the State of Ohio, at Columbus, in the month of July,
William McFall and Hon. Benjamin Jones
being the other two delegates. The convention was composed of
seventeen delegates, who formed the electoral ticket for Jackson,
all of whom are dead but Mr. Larwill. On motion
of Mr. Larwill, Benjamin Jones was
nominated as elector of this Congressional district. In 1832,
he was chosen as elector to Baltimore, when General Lewis
Cass was a candidate for the Presidency. He was elected
to the Legislature in the autumn of 1841, during the great currency
excitement, but was defeated for re-election by a Mr.
Willoz, because he was opposed to a re-chartering of the bank of
Wooster. He was elected member of the Constitutional Convention in
1850, from Wayne county, engaging in the animating discussions of
that session and serving acceptably, both his constituents and the
State.
The active, prominent and forward movement taken by
Mr. Larwill, in the location and construction of the
Pittsburg, Fort
[Page 308] -
Wayne & Chicago railroad to the city of Wooster, is fresh in the
memory of the people. His intimate relation to that colossal
scheme; the commotions that threatened it and shook it; the
opposition he encountered and the ultimate victory that he achieved,
are all fully set forth in another chapter of this work. In
public life Mr. Larwill adopted the independent course; in fact it
would have been difficult for him to have done anything else, in
view of his strong convictions, positiveness of character, and
native dislike of all speciousness and pretention.
He is a ready talker, and his public speeches are characterized by
sterling common sense, pointedness of expression, and impressive
energy. He never addresses himself to expectation, and has that
other facility, so rare among men, "dares to displease."
His conversation is agreeable and instructive, interspersed often
with flashes of humor, and again with whole salvos of sarcasm.
When aroused, his denunciations are "caustic as frozen mercury."
When he assails an adversary, it is not with a penknife, but with a
sword. His intellect is clear, incisive and quick.
A severe dignity and rigid decorum characterize the
man. He despises the glitter which invests the summits of
society, detests nonsense, sensationalism, all vaporing, pretense
and sham. Domesticity, and a warm, fraternal feeling toward
his family, are exemplified in him. His page of life, now
nearly written to the edge, enshrines many a worthy and virtuous
deed. Although advanced to his eighty-second year, he
possesses considerable muscular energy, and retains to a remarkable
degree his mental strength.
He was married Jan. 31, 1826, to Miss Ann Straughan,
of Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio, by "Parson Jones,"
who rode horse-back from Wooster to perform the ceremony. He
is the father of seven children, three boys and four girls, one of
the former dying in infancy, and another in his third year.
John S., his only surviving son, is located in Fort Wayne, Ind.,
and is a partner in the Perkins Engine Works of that city. He
is an accomplished business man, a fine scholar, and graduate of
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
[Page 309] -
Mr. Larwill is
living in tranquil retirement, in the city of Wooster - his
permanent home for over sixty years - with his aged wife, and three
daughters, in the enjoyment of
"All that should accompany old age,
As honor, love, obedience."
ROBERT
McCLARRAN.
Robert McClarran was born
in Lancaster county, Pa., and removed from Westmoreland county to
Wooster, Ohio, in 1811. He was then a young man, energetic and
industrious, and was a carpenter by trade. Many of the first
houses in the town of Wooster were built by him, some of which are
still standing, and are solid, substantial dwellings.
In 1812 he was married to Grace Cook, of
Columbiana county, Ohio, who accompanied him to his new home, to
share with him the privations as well as the romance of life in the
wilderness.
He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and after its
close he purchased a large tract of land adjoining Wooster on the
south, on which he moved, built a saw-mill and made improvements.
He was the first Justice of the Peace elected in
Wooster or Wayne county, and as such married the first couple ever
married in Wayne county, and solemnized the majority of the first
marriages. He was elected to the Ohio Legislature December 1,
serving therein from Dec. 1, 1823, to Dec. 6, 1824. He held
various positions of public trust, the duties of which he discharged
with ability and to the satisfaction of the entire community. He was
the father of Roswell and Clinton McClarran,
the former of the city of Wooster, the latter of Wayne township.
He died Mar. 7, 1831.
Many are the
stories handed down of the fun and frolic the settlers had in
McClarran's days. The following is an instance: At the north of
town stood the old block-house, in which lived an old lady the men
had nicknamed "Widow Blockhouse." Suddenly she
surprised the little community by announcing that she had concluded
to doff her mourning and take to herself another husband in the
person of an old fellow who had neither money nor home. This
was fun for the " boys "
[Page 310] -
of that period, and they made Widow Blockhouse's
marriage an extra event that passes into history. All the
jovial spirits of the settlement were present on the evening of the
wedding. It was a lively occasion; 'Squire McClarran,
an inveterate joker, performing the ceremony with the greatest
humorous solemnity. In the beginning, after a few remarks on
matrimony in general and this case in particular, he asked if there
was any one present who had objections to this lovely couple
"renewing their hearts" in marriage; whereupon a gentleman
impressively arose, and in a complimentary speech withdrew all his
claims upon the affections of the bride. Then another arose,
and another, until every man present had made remarks and given his
consent to the marriage, it being made very evident from their words
that they felt they had a sort of personal claim upon the affections
of the charming widow, but felt forced to give way to a more favored
suitor. The ceremony concluded, the 'Squire ordered every man
in the company to kiss the bride. This was complied with by
all, until it came to the turn of the last, a gentleman who is yet a
citizen of Wooster, who emphatically refused, saying he "would be if
that was not asking too much!"
ANDREW
McMONIGAL AND FAMILY
Amongst the earliest
settlers in Wayne county was Andrew McMonigal, who visited
this section with his father, in 1807, following the Indian trail
from the Ohio river, prospecting for land. He, however, after
a short stay, returned to Pennsylvania, where, in Carlisle, on Apr.
21, 1814, he married Miss Sarah Glendenning.
In May, the following year, 1815, Mr. and Mrs.
McMonigal emigrated to Wayne county, coming in a four-horse
wagon, via Pittsburg, and settled two miles west of Wooster, on what
is now known as the Lawrence farm, which land McMonigal
entered from the Government.
They lived there, farming, for three years, then moved
into the Wooster settlement, and kept a *' general store," Mrs.
McMonigal waiting on customers jointly with her husband.
Their business place was where John Taylor's brick
grocery store building now stands, on West Liberty street, and their
residence was on South Buckeye street, opposite Farnham's
present livery stable, and was the only house at that time erected
on the street.
In 1821 they quit merchandising and again resumed
farming,
[Page 311] -
removing two miles south-west of town, where he had entered a tract
of land. On this place, called the " Old Homestead," which they
wrested from the wilderness and wild prairie, and which property
still remains in the family, they lived and reared their children
until 1839, in which year they moved back to Wooster, where Mr.
McMonigal died May 9, 1846, aged fifty-five years, leaving a
large estate. His remains were interred in the Seceder
church-yard, on Buckeye street, but were afterwards removed to
Wooster Cemetery. Mrs. McMonigal is still
living, and in possession of excellent health for one of her years.
Andrew McMonigal was born in Cumberland
county, Pennsylvania, Apr. 22, 1791. His father was born in
County Derry, Ireland; his mother American born; her maiden name,
Nancy Mahattan. Mrs. McMonigal was born near
the town of Fintona, in County Tyrone, Ireland, Nov 11, 1793, and
emigrated to America in 1801.
Their children were nine — Nancy, who married
John Black; James, married to Sarah E. Hall;
Jane, married to John P. Jeffries; Sarah, married
first to John R. Wilson, and second to John Copland;
Martha, married to Henry G. Saunders; Mary,
married to William C. Rice; Eliza, married to Elias
Cosper; William, married to Kate Carr;
and Andrew, married to Mary Hess. Of
these, Nancy died in 1835; Mary, 1843; Sarah's
first husband, 1853; James, 1865; Martha, 1868;
Andrew's wife, 1872. The rest are still living.
Andrew McMonigal was an active business man, and
ever recognized as of the strictest integrity. He was one of the
founders of the Seceder Church in Wooster, of which he was an
exemplary member for many years and until his death.
JOHN McCLENNAN, SEN.
John McClellan, Sen.,
was born in Westmoreland county, Pa., Mar. 3, 1785, his father being
a native of Ireland. Nancy Elder, his wife, was born in
Franklin county, same State, Dec. 4,
[Page 300] -
JOSEPH STIBBS.
Joseph Stibbs
was born in Washington county, Pa., Nov. 2, 1779, and both on the
paternal and maternal side, descends
[Page 313] -
---------------
* This is the mill at which the powder explosion
occurred, killing Michael Switzer, etc.
[Page 314] -
JOSEPH S. LAKE.
Mr. Lake was a
native of the State of New Jersey, and was born at Salem, on the
30th day of June, 1800. His parents, Constant and Ann Lake,
both being consistent members of the Baptist church in that place,
then under the pastoral care of the Rev. Horatio G. Jones, a
great and good man. Hence it may be inferred that their son
Joseph had, from his earliest years, the example of right living
set before him.
In the spring of 1815 Mr. Constant Lake, with
his family, took up his residence in Wooster, Ohio, where the
subject of this sketch began his active business life. By
close application and persevering industry, he became prosperous and
acquired an honorable reputation as a merchant. One of the old
and well known energetic firms in Wooster was that of Jones &
Lake. It was a step in the right direction for Joseph
S. Lake, in the beginning of his business career, that he became
associated with Mr. Benjamin Jones, a man of good judgment,
and correct principles, kind and liberal. His generosity was
not often seen in the highways; but his helping hand was opened and
help bestowed where worthily needed, unknown and unseen by the
public.
Mr. Lake was married the 18th day of April,
1822, to Eleanor
Jos. S. Lake
[Page 315] -
Eichar, daughter of Joseph Eicher. His
wife.........................
[Page 316] -
"We hear that Mr.
Joseph S. Lake ...............
REMINISCENCES of WOOSTER,
By MRS. JOSEPH LAKE,
of New York City.
We
arrived at Wooster, April 15, 1814. Levi Cox and
Carlos Von Julius Hickox were the editors of the Ohio
Spectator, the first newspaper published in Wooster. It
never wanted contributors to its columns, and called out a great
amount of talent, so that, by general consent, it was conceded that
Wooster was the "Athens" of Northern Ohio.
Joseph Christmas was perhaps the most
distinguished of the poets, who co-
[Page 317] -
[Page 318] -
COLONEL JOHN SLOANE.
Pre-eminent,
conspicuous and foremost among the brilliant pioneers of Wayne
county, distinguished for his superior intellect
[Page 318] -
[Page 319] -
[Page 320] -
[Page 321] -
of a life-long citizen of Wayne county to the exalted position of
Treasurer of the United States.
JOHN PATTON.
[Page 322] -
GENERAL REASIN BEALL.
[Page 325] -
HISTORY OF THE FIRST SCHOOLS OF
WOOSTER*
About the
first of June, 1814, the Rev. Thomas G. Jones and Joseph Eichar,
Sr., went around among the people of the settlement to ascertain
who would be willing to send their children to school. They
found that all in the place, both boys and girls, would only make up
a small school.
It was commenced in the block-house, on the site where
the
----------------
Written by Mrs. Joseph S. Lake.
[Page 326] -
[Page 327] -
[Page 328] -
[Page 329] -
[Page 330] -
[Page 331] -
DR. JOHN CUNNINGHAM.
John
Cunningham, M. D., was born in Washington county, Pa., Feb. 19,
1792, his father emigrating
[Page 332] -
GENERAL CYRUS SPINK.
PHOTO OF CYRUS
SPINK
[Page 333] -
[Page 334] -
[Page 335] -
THOMAS
TOWNSEND, M. D.
Thomas Townsend, the
pioneer physician of Wooster, was of Quaker parentage, and a native
of Pennsylvania. He removed to Wooster in 1810-11, remained
there about thirty years, when he went to Wheeling, West Virginia,
where he died. He owned the property now in possession,
and built what is now the frame portion, of Mr. Sprague's
residence, in which he lived and had his office. Mr.
Townsend was a man of marked ability in his profession, and
performed a conspicuous part in the civil organization of the town
and county. He held different positions of official
re-
[Page 336] -
sponsibility, prominent among which was an Associate Judgeship in
1819.
DANIEL McPHAIL, M. D.
Daniel McPhail was one of the pioneer physicians of Wooster,
settling there as early as 1818. He was born and educated in
Scotland; was a man of unusual acquirements, and a splendid chemist.
He practiced his profession in Wooster eleven or twelve years, but
prejudice rose against him and he was sued for mal-practice.
Judge Charles Sherman, father of Genera Sherman
defended him, and Judge Edward Avery conducted the
prosecution. In the trial Mr. McPhail vanquished his
persecutors and was triumphantly vindicated. Desiring to avoid
other hostile combinations, he removed to Tennessee and thence to
New Orleans. He subsequently returned to Tennessee, where he
acquired a vast practice, and where he died, having achieved great
reputation.
THOMAS
ROBISON.
Apr. 8,
1791, Thomas Robison, father of Dr. J. D. Robison, was
born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, within six miles of
Chambersburg, near Rocky Springs. His father came from York
county to Franklin, where he died. Thomas left Franklin
county in 12806, removing to Columbiana county, Ohio, and remained
there until the spring of 1807, when he went to Zanesville, and
remained there until the following December. He then went back
to his native county in Pennsylvania, and learned the cabinet-making
trade in Chambersburg, working as an apprentice for three years.
He then returned west and landed in Wooster, Nov. 15, 1813, in
company with his brother, David Robinson, Sen. On their
arrival, David and Thomas bought a tan-yard from a man named
John Smith, who subsequently, in 1824, became Sheriff of
Wayne county. The tannery is the one located on North Buckeye
street, and now owned by George Seigenthaler. Thomas,
at the same time, started a cabinet shop on North Buckeye street,
where Shively's barn now is, he running that branch of
business and David the tannery. In a few yeas the
brothers dissolved partnership.
In the fall of 1816 he went to Westmoreland county,
Pa., where he was married, on the 12th of November, to Jemima
Dickey, at
Page 337 -
the residence at Alexander Robison, returning with his bride to
Wooster, Dec. 20, 1816.
He sold out his cabinet establishment along about 1830,
when he joined in mercantile pursuits with Moses Culbertson, on
the north-east corner of the Public Square, now occupied by J. S.
Bissell & Brother. After being a while in trade, the sold
their store to Jacob Eberman. Several years afterward, say
in 1839, Mr. Robison again engaged in merchandizing with Wm.
Jacobs, brother of James Jacobs, and after a successful
career retired from commercial pursuits.
He was one of the most popular men in the community.
Son after marriage he was elected Justice of the Peace, and thereafter
was the choice of the people for several offices. He was Sheriff
of the county from 1828 to 1832; member of the State Senate from Dec. 3,
1832, to Dec. 5, 1836, having been re-elected in 1834; was chosen one of
the Associate Judges of Common Pleas Court in 1848, besides filling
several other less important offices, such as Director and
Superintendent of the Wooster and Cleveland Turnpike, etc. In
religion he was a Presbyterian, and was Moderator of one of the earliest
Presbyteries held in Wooster, proving himself by success to be one of
the most zealous members in efforts to procure subscriptions and money
to build the old brick Presbyterian church on West Liberty street.
He died suddenly in Wooster of neuralgia of the heart,
on the 14th of September, 1857, his wife surviving him until Mar. 10,
1869.
Thomas Robison was an exceedingly popular and
enterprising citizen, and held in universal esteem by all who knew him.
He was full of good humor, and was kind, benevolent and cordial.
In his positions of public trust he sustained a reputation for honesty,
fairness, fidelity and integrity.
He was conscientious and sincere in purpose; of
magnanimous and indulgent disposition; an unassuming, buoyant-minded,
hopeful, earnest, Christian gentleman.
BISHOP
EDWARD THOMSON.
[Page 338] -
[Page 339] -
[Page 340] -
is admitted. His faithful labors as Bishop endeared him to the
church. Though exalted to the Episcopate, he never forgot his
friends and associates.
"PRIEST JONES."
[Page 341] -
[Page 342] -
[Page 343] -
[Page 344] -
SAMUEL QUINBY.
[Page 345] -
[Page 346] -
[Page 347] -
[Page 348] -
[Page 349] -
LEVI COX
[Page 350] -
[Page 351] -
[Page 352] -
LINDOL SPRAGUE.
JOHN CHRISTMAS.
John
Christmas was
born in Manchester, England, and emigrated to America when he
was eighteen years of age. He lived for a time in Washington
County, Pa., across the Monongahela river from Brownville, and from
there removed to Georgetown, at the mouth of the Little Beaver,
opposite Smith's Ferry.
Here he followed merchandising until 1818, when he came
to Wooster, and engaged in Mercantile pursuits. His wife was
of the Beall-Stibbs family. His son, Joseph
Christmas, became a Presbyterian minister, and preached the
first sermon ever delivered in the old brick Presbyterian church.
He was an artist and poet of ability, and died in New York City, at
the age of 27.
Charles Christmas, his oldest son, was born in
Washington county, Pa., Nov. 20, 1796, and removed with his father
to Wooster, in 1818. In February, 1821, he was appointed
Surveyor of Wayne county, by Judge Parker, serving three
consecutive
[Page 353] -
terms, by appointment. In 1829 he surveyed public
lands on the Elkhart Plains; in 1830-31 he surveyed in Michigan, and
in 1832 on the Seneca Reservation.
In 1850 he left Wooster, and arrived at the Falls of
St. Anthony in July of that year. He helped to organize
Hennepin county, Minn., in 1852, had the first appointment as
Surveyor of the county, and helped to establish Minneapolis, the
county seat. He was married to Mary A. Rogers, in
December, 1820, and had fifteen children. He is now, if
living, 81 years old, and the only survivor of the family bearing
the name. He surveyed a great deal of the present site of
Wooster, and is the author of what is known as "the old Christmas
map" of Wayne county. His father built the brick house, now
occupied and owned by Samuel Johnson, Esq., and the stream
known as "Christmas Run" was named for him.
EDWARD AVERY.
[Page 354] -
JAMES JACOBS, SR.
[Page 355] -
[Page 356] -
NEWSPAPER PRESS.
[Page 357] -
[Page 358] -
[Page 369] -
[Page 360] -
HORACE HOWARD
[Page 361] -
JOSEPH CLINGAN.
[Page 362] -
[Page 363] -
BELL McLAIN.
[Page 364] -
REMINISCENCES
By REV. M. E. STRIEBY.
[Page 365] -
EZRA DEAN
[Page 366] -
[Page 367] -
STEPHEN F. DAY, M. D.
[Page 368] -
[Page 369] -
[Page 370] -
[Page 371] -
WOOSTER CHURCHES.
[Page 372] -
Baptist Church.
[Page 373] -
[Page 374] -
[Page 375] -
[Page 376] -
[Page 377] -
[Page 378] -
[Page 379] -
[Page 380] -
[Page 381] -
[Page 382] -
[Page 383] -
[Page 384] -
[Page 385] -
[Page 386] -
[Page 387] -
[Page 388] -
[Page 389] -
[Page 390] -
[Page 391] -
[Page 392] -
[Page 393] -
[Page 394] -
[Page 395] -
[Page 396] -
[Page 397] -
[Page 398] -
[Page 399] -
[Page 400] -
[Page 401] -
[Page 402] -
[Page 402] -
[Page 403] -
[Page 404] -
[Page 405] -
[Page 406] -
[Page 407] -
[Page 408] -
[Page 409] -
[Page 410] -
[Page 411] -
[Page 412] -
[Page 413] -
[Page 414] -
[Page 415] -
[Page 416] -
[Page 417] -
[Page 418] -
[Page 419] -
[Page 420] -
[Page 421] -
[Page 422] -
[Page 423] -
[Page 424] -
[Page 425] -
[Page 426] -
[Page 427] -
[Page 428] -
[Page 429] -
[Page 430] -
[Page 431] -
[Page 432] -
[Page 433] -
[Page 434] -
[Page 435] -
[Page 436] -
[Page 437] -
[Page 438] -
[Page 439] -
[Page 440] -
WILLIAM STITT
[Page 441] -
[Page 442] -
[Page 443] -
[Page 444] -
JOSEPH DOWNING.
[Page 445] -
[Page 446] -
[Page 447] -
[Page 448] -
[Page 449] -
[Page 450] -
[Page 451] -
[Page 452] -
[Page 453] -
[Page 454] -
[Page 455] -
[Page 456] -
[Page 457] -
[Page 458] -
[Page 459] -
[Page 460] -
KIMBALL PORTER.
Colonel Porter was born in Lee, Massachusetts, on the 4th of
July, 1803. He resided in Wooster from 1831 to 1856, and was
marked as being one of its most prominent citizens in all respects.
A man of unusual business enterprise, he was especially identified
with the successful management of the stage coach line, of which,
for many years, he was Superintendent. On the advent of the
railroad through this part of Ohio he went West to assume a similar
position there, and died in Iowa City, Iowa, June 27, 1863.
His body was brought to Wayne county for interment in the Wooster
Cemetery. Few men were more deservedly popular for noble,
personal Characteristics than Kimball Porter, and many
cherish his memory with tenderest emotions. He was a member of
the Disciple church, and died as he had lived, a zealous and
consistent Christian.
HON. GEORGE REX
[Page 461] -
[Page 462] -
[Page 463] -
[Page 464] -
E. QUINBY, JR.
Wooster, Ohio
[Page 465] -
E. QUINBY, JR.
[Page 466] -
[Page 467] -
[Page 468] -
[Page 469] -
[Page 470] -
[Page 471] -
[Page 472] -
[Page 473] -
[Page 474] -
[Page 475] -
JOHN McSWEENEY*
"Genius: like a star, it dwells alone."
---------------
* It is due to Mr. McSweeney to say that this
sketch was written without his knowledge or consent.
[Page 476] -
[Page 477] -
[Page 478] -
[Page 479] -
[Page 480] -
[Page 481] -
[Page 482] -
[Page 483] -
---------------
* Blake was an officer in the English navy, and
brought suit against Widow Wilkins, sixty-five years old, for
a breach of the marriage contract and damages thereby sustained.
[Page 484] -
BENJAMIN EASON.
[Page 485] -
[Page 486] -
[Page 487] -
[Page 488] -
[Page 489] -
[Page 490] -
DAVID ROBISON, JR.
David Robison, Jr.,
fourth son of David and Elizabeth Robison, on Jan. 22, 1830,
first visited the planet on which so many millions fight, sin,
agonize and die. Having availed himself of the educational
privileges of the select schools of those days, at the age of
fifteen he entered the dry goods firm of his father and his brother
John, who were then partners in the mercantile business, as
clerk, or rather as a general errand boy. With them he
remained several years, diligently applying himself to business and
preparing for the sterner duties of advancing life. Not
content, however, with the mental discipline and meager attainments
of the village school, he resolved on giving wider scope to his
intellectual faculties, and in the spring of 1849 he registered
himself a student at the Western Reserve College, located at Hudson,
Ohio. Here he remained for two years, when he returned to
Wooster and embarked in mercantile pursuits for himself.
In July 1851, a partnership was formed with his
brothers John and James, constituting the firm of
Robison & Co., in the dry goods trade; at the same time another
was entered into with James in the milling business at the
Wooster Mills, under the style of J. N. & D. Robison, Jr.
In 1854 he purchased the interests of the two brothers in the store
and sold to James his share in the mill.
He was one of the incorporators of the Wooster Gas
Company in 1856, and materially aided in the construction of the
works. For a number of years he has been identified with the
banking interests of the community; was associated with the private
bank of Bonewitz, Emrich & Co. in 1867, and which was
re-organized in 1868 and changed to the Commercial Bank of Wooster.
He was one of the principal organizers of the National Bank of
Wooster commencing business Jan. 1, 1872, and was its first
president.
He was one of the incorporators of the Wooster
University, a member of its executive Committee; was active and
assiduous in raising funds for the construction of the buildings and
for its endowment; took a promnient part in organizing its
Faculty and one of its liberal and ready benefactors.
He was married Sept. 1, 1853, to Miss Ann E. Jacobs
of Wooster, eldest daughter of James and Elizabeth W. Jacobs,
by which union they have two sons, both of whom are living, namely,
James Jacobs and Willard Field Robison. He
became a member of the Presbyterian church of Wooster, in April,
1858, his wife
[Page 491] -
uniting with this denomination seven years prior to this, while
attending school at Steubenville, Ohio. Mr. Robison is
still engaged in mercantile speculation in Wooster* at the old stand
where he embarked in business in 1845. His corner is about as
well advertised and known, we were going to say, as Nasby's
Confederate Cross Roads, between the management of it and the
Presidency of the Bank, he is restrained from indulging in any
lingering whims of mischievous boyhood. As the narrative
shows, he is a public-spirited, enterprising, projective man.
By virtue of his very mental organization he is a progressionist.
He has plenty of independence of character and many good reasons for
it.
Had the metalic creeds of Westminster been burned upon
his brain with a rod of iron he would not have carried the whole of
the impression to his grave. He has faith enough, but then he
thinks a great deal more than he believes. If he is not much
over forty-five, he has arrived at a good many conclusions. He
believes, for instance, that a man may carry a good headed cane and
wear a wooden head. He is of the opinion that a man who is
willing to pay will do so sooner than one that has the means to do
it. He considers greenbacks in the vault more desirable than a
note of 60 days, at 10 per cent., secured by mortgage, where the
maker fails to meet it promptly at maturity. This is his, and
a very wise conception of business.
He is a Wayne countian, and as indigenous to the soil
as the massive elms in his door-yard; but he has heard a fair share
of the roaring of the outside multitude. He was not wholly
educated at Hudson, but has learned much from the light of the
conflicting flints of the world. The rifleman, before he
enters upon the hunt and chase, puts up his target, which, for the
time, is the object of his skill. He set up a motive, pinned
up a purpose before he marched out against life, and now, in its
exciting pursuits, it is constantly before him. He gave to
life an aim, and no sooner was it done than the brain-children began
unfolding it, as the rays of the morning's light unfolds the
convolvulus.
He consecrates himself to an idea - that idea is his
business. He is equally at home at the bank as well as at the
counter. He would have been correspondingly efficient in any
chosen sphere of activity and labor. His judgment is sound,
his propositions usually supportable by facts and argument, with
both of which weap-
---------------
* Removed to Toledo since this was written.
[Page 492] -
ons he can adroitly and forcibly maintain himself against an
adversary. What reasons may have influenced him against
entering upon the legal profession we do not pretend to solve, but
he would have made a lawyer, just as sure as you are born, and a
good one, too.
His opinions are characterized by commendable
catholicity, yet there is unction and earnestness in his
convictions. But, most of all, his business is his charmed
circle. It is here where he manifests his power. He
binds his energies in the quiver of his will, and hurls them with
the precision of Indian arrows. His executive ability is of a
fine order. What he undertakes he proposes to finish. He
strikes his irons only when they are at white heat; then every blow
counts one. He wants gas in the city because it brings light;
banks, because they are the light of commerce; a university, because
it bears a shining torch in its hand.
He has great elasticity of constitution, a
superabundance of good feeling, and a shunshiny gaiety of
imagination. He is a warm friend, a cool and dignified enemy.
In conversation he is original and animated. When aroused his
tongue vitriolizes his speech, though he inclines to give his
opponents a wide berth. His correct and upright business
habits, his probity and integrity, have anchored him safely i the
confidence of the public.
ANGUS McDONALD.*
---------------
* Written in 1874.
[Page 493] -
[Page 494] -
[Page 495] -
[Page 496] -
[Page 497] -
WOOSTER WATER WORKS.
---------------
* 1874, when this was written.
[Page 498] -
[Page 499] -
O. F. JONES.
[Page 500] -
W. C. MOORE, M. D.
[Page 501] -
[Page 502] -
S. R. BONEWITZ.
[Page 503] -
ALF. HOWARD, THE AMERICAN "OLE BULL.."
[Page 504] -
THE UNIVERSITY OF WOOSTER.
[Page 505] -
[Page 506] -
[Page 507] -
---------------
* 50 vol. Stat. Ohio, p. 128 - amended Mar. 12, 1853;
51 vol. Stat. Ohio, pp. 393. 403.
† Dr. Robinson, so
long pastor at Ashland, was one of the early projectors and
advocates of the Synodical College, and from the start has been one
of its most faithful friends and President of its Board of Trustees.
The institution owes much to his wisdom and zeal.
‡ Mr. Quinby, in addition to the grounds,
contributed about $30,000 to the funds of the institution, did also
Captain J. H. Kauke in an equivalent sum. And to the
deep interest and great general activity of these gentlemen,
together with the untiring aid of all the other resident members of
the Board of Wooster, and especially to the zealous and efficient
help of the Treasurer, John McClellan, Esq., is owing the
establishment of the institution on a liberal, broad and permanent
basis.
¶ Dr. Taylor was early a prominent member of one
of the committees of conference upon a Synodical College from the
Synod of Cincinnati, when a Ruling Elder in the Westminster church,
he continued to be deeply interested in the movement, and subscribed
liberally towards the endowment. He was elected one of the
first Trustees by the Synod of Sandusky, and was one of the
committee who came to Wooster, examined the site and agreed upon the
location of the University at this point. He died in
Cleveland, February, 1868. At a later date, his only son was
elected second President of the University, to succeed Dr. Willis
Lord.
[Page 508]
---------------
* Rev. John W. Scott, D. D., General Fiscal
Agent; Rev. T. K. Davis and Rev. S. G. Dunlap,
Canvassing Agents.
† This chair afterwards
endowed by legacy of B. J. Mercer, Esq., of Mansfield, Ohio,
in $25,000.
[Page 509] -
---------------
* In the raising of this fund the system of single and
cheap scholarships was avoided, and the amount was secured mainly
from members of Presbyterian congregations.
[Page 510] -
-------------------------
* These addresses were subsequently published, together
with the annual report of the Board of Trustees for this year, in a
pamphlet. The following persons also took part in the
proceedings: Rev. David Hall, of Mansfield, Rev. J.
A. Reid, of Wooster, and Rev. A. A. E. Taylor, of
Cincinnati. The reports of the Board for the two preceding
yeas had also been published in pamphlet form.
[Page 511] -
[Page 512] -
---------------
* The proceedings of the inauguration of President
Taylor were published in pamphlet form, and consisted of
Farewell address by President Lord; address of Induction by
Rev. John Robinson, D. D., President of the Board of
Trustees, and Inaugural address by President Taylor.
[Page 513] -
[Page 514] -
[Page 515] -
[Page 516] -
[Page 517] -
[Page 518] -
[Page 519] -
TABLE OF STUDENTS IN ATTENDANCE ANNUALLY.
REV. A. A. E. TAYLOR, D. D.†
---------------
* Estimated in part.
† Selected
[Page 520] -
[Page 521] -
[Page 521] -
LEANDER FIRESTONE, M. D.
[Page 522] -
[Page 523] -
[Page 524] -
[Page 525] -
[Page 526] -
[Page 327 527] -
W. W. FIRESTONE, M. D.
[Page 528] -
MARTIN WELKER
[Page 529] -
[Page 530] -
[Page 531] -
[Page 532] -
JAMES D. ROBISON, M. D.
James D. Robison, was
born Apr. 23, 1820, on the corner of Buckeye and North streets,
Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio. His early years were spent with
his father, Thomas Robison, Esq., during which time he
attended the village schools, procuring such education as the
limited opportunities of that day admitted. At the age of
seventeen he hired as a clerk to Robison & McCune, where he
remained until he was twenty, at which time, and in accordance with
an intention previously resolved upon, he com-
[Page 533] -
menced the study of medicine. He entered the office of Dr.
Samuel Norton Bissell, in February, 1840, continuing with him
until October, 1841, when, during the fall, he proceeded to
Philadelphia, that winter availing himself of a course of lectures
at the Jefferson Medical College of that city, soon thereafter
taking advantage of a course of clinical instruction at the Brooklyn
Hospital.
The summer of 1842 he spent in Cincinnati, in pursuit
of his professional work, in the office of Dr. William Wood,
simultaneously attending lectures at the Medical College of Ohio and
a clinical course at the Commercial Hospital of Cincinnati.
In the fall of 1842 he returned to Philadelphia, where
he graduated, and received his diploma in March, 1843. He
returned to Wooster and remained there during the summer, the same
autumn, however, removing to the Queen City, locating there and
actively engaging in the practice of his chosen profession.
Here he met with signal success in his profession, and here he
continued until the 3d of July, 1846, and until the breaking out of
the Mexican war.
At the solicitation of S. R. Curtis, Colonel of
the 3d O. V. I., he was made Surgeon of said regiment, leaving
Cincinnati that day (July 3) for Mexico. Arriving at New
Orleans on the 9th, he spent a day or two in the city, when he
proceeded to Brazos de Santiago, at the mouth of the Rio Grande,
arriving August 6 at "Camp Curtis," opposite the old city of
Matamoras.
On the 9th of December he was assigned by General
Patterson as Surgeon to the 3d Illinois regiment,, commanded by
Ferris Foreman, which being ordered by General Zachary
Taylor to Victoria, arrived there Jan. 4, 1847. January 15
Patterson's Division, of which his (Robison's)
regiment was a part, was ordered to join General Winfield Scott
at Tampico, and on March 8 they were ordered to sail for Vera Cruz,
whither they arrived on the 15th, the Mexican forces surrendering
seventeen days thereafter, the United States soldiers taking
possession of the city.
On the 10th of April, 1847, on account of sickness,
Dr. Robison resigned his commission and returned to Wooster, and
in October of the same year formed a partnership with J. P.
Coulter, M. D., for the practice of medicine, which continued to
the fall of 1853. Here he intermitted his professional labors
for about a year, meantime going to New York and visiting the
hospitals and medical institutions there with a view to keeping
abreast with the progress and discoveries of the profession.
He again returned to Wooster
[Page 534] -
in the autumn of 1854, opening an office and engaging in the
practice until 1861, when the war of the Rebellion was inaugurated.
He immediately offered his professional services to the government,
which were as promptly accepted, being assigned to the 16th Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, with which he was identified throughout the
three months' service. He was in the battle of Phillippi, one
of the earliest collisions of the Rebellion, and had the honor of
amputating the first leg of the war, that of a Confederate soldier.
He was promoted to the rank of Brigade Surgeon in July, 1861, and
assigned to the command of General Rosecranz. After the
battle of Carnifex Ferry he was ordered to locate and organize
hospitals along the Kanawha, and assume charge of the one situated
at Galipolis. He was with General Lander at Paw-paw
Tunnel, who died the second day after his arrival.
He accompanied the army of General James Shields
down the Valley of the Shenandoah and participated in the first
battle of Winchester, Virginia, Mar. 23, 1862, which resulted in the
discomfiture of the forces of Longstreet and Stonewall
Jackson. He next assumed supervision of hospitals, and
continued to act in that capacity until General N. P. Banks
was driven from the Valley. He was afterwards sent to the
Peninsula with the forces under General G. B. McClellan,
being attached to the 6th army corps, commanded by General
Franklin, as an inspecting surgeon, retaining said position
until after the battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862.
He was next ordered to Washington City to take charge
of the Patent Office Hospital, where he remained until he was
compelled to resign on account of the illness of his wife. On
his return home he was appointed Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment
for this district, which position he held during the war.
Since then he has been engaged in practice.
Dr. J. D. Robison has been twice married.
A retrospect of the life of Dr. Robison shows it
to have been an intensely active, zealous and positive one.
From the very outset in 1840 it has been a vigorous battle, not a
long skirmish line, with here and there a faculty employed, but a
compact and concentrated movement against the opposing forces of the
world. Diligence and speculative research were characteristic
of him in his rudimentary professional years. He was practical
and observant from the very outstart of his studies.
He is one of the able and popular physicians in the
county, and is seen every day with the harness on. He is not
an idler,
[Page 535] -
and even if he were so inclined, his professional
duties would give him no time for recreation. There has always
been a fascination in his chosen science. He toils in it
because it delights him. Its duties may be depressing and
discouraging at times, but then they have their rewards. It
may be the ministry of pain, but it is likewise the ministry of
blessing and love. At the bed of sickness he is non-excitable,
candid and undeceiving, full of encouragement and expectation.
He is naturally of a cheery, spring-like and hopeful
disposition. He believes, with one of the old poets, that we
should hope for everything that is good, because there is nothing
which may not be hoped for, and nothing but what the gods are able
to give us. Surely it is a cardinal and robust virtue in man.
It imparts habitual serenity and good-humor. It is a kind of
vital heat in the soul that cheers and gladdens it. It makes
pain easy and labor pleasant.
As a skillful practitioner he takes high rank, having
an experience possessed by few of his rivals - active professional
service during two wars. As a patriot all that can be said of
Dr. Robison must be expressed in the language of eulogy.
In the Mexican campaign he was one of the most popular of the
surgeons and won a reputation as an eminent and successful
practitioner. In politics he is a Republican, but has made it
a life-rule to avoid its tumults and strifes. Had he ventured
upon this field he could not well having been kept out of Congress.
In this direction he had special qualifications. He prefers to
look at the sunlight to the twilight side of human nature. He
is a man of marked mental and physical equilibrium - calm and
self-possessed. He is genteel, plain aned unaffected. In
the social circle he is at home and causes all to feel the same way.
He is a fluent talker, the gravity of his conversation at times
being often enlivened with wit and humor. In fact, he is such
a man and his demeanor such as to be equally distant from constraint
and negligence, and he will command your respect while he lays seige
to your heart. The Doctor, though slightly past his fiftieth
year is yet hale and stout, having the prospect of years of
usefulness and enjoyment.
He still sparkles with his youthful vivacity; is as
full of fun as spring rivulet is of water. If his hair is
snowy, it covers a warm head, for "where the snow flakes fall
thickest there's nothing can freeze."
[Page 536] -
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF WOOSTER
[Page 537] -
[Page 538] -
JOHN ZIMMERMAN.
[Page 539] -
REV. BENJAMIN POPE.
[Page 540] -
CAPTAIN GEORGE U. HARN.
[Page 541] -
[Page 543] -
WOODHULL AND CLAFLIN.
[Page 544] -
[Page 545] -
MAJOR ENOCH TOTTEN.
[Page 546] -
[Page 547] -
JAMES C. JACOBS.
[Page 548] -
[Page 549] -
[Page 550] -
COLONEL JOSEPH H. CARR.
[Page 551] -
CAPT. A. S. McCLURE.
A. S. McClure was
born Oct. 10, 1839, in the city of Woos-
[Page 552] -
[Page 553] -
[Page 554] -
[Page 555] -
[Page 556] -
COLONEL E. P. BATES.
[Page 557] -
[Page 558] -
[Page 559] -
[Page 560] -
of Life Insurance. This is the focal point of his thought and
labor, and to this one object he has converged all the lines of his
life.
IRA H. BATES,
Second son of Daniel Bates, was born in Oneida county, New
York, Sept. 18, 1833, being the senior of the Bates Bros.,
now located at Wooster. He remained with his father, who was a
farmer, until he reached twenty-one years, when he concluded he
would open up another field for the exercise of his faculties.
He was willing that his experience on the farm should
now conclude, and so he determined. It may have required more
effort on the part of Mr. Bates than we imagine to sever his
relations with the farm, as he was greatly attached to the sports
and pastimes of rural life. He seems to have had the fondness
of the Englishman for his gun and dog, and, we are told, sometimes
exhibited this fondness to an extent that would well-nigh indicate a
lingering aversion to work that sometimes has a tendency to engender
grave and even formidable suspicions in the paternal mind.
He probably believed, with the Arabs, that the days
spent in the chase are not counted in the length of life, or with
Henri Quatre, that manly exercises are the foundations of that
elevation of mind which give one nature ascendancy over another.
He finally determined upon an education, and soon every
energy of body and mind were bent in that direction. The help
that he obtained in this project was summoned from his own
resources. It was the man inside shouting bravo to the man
outside; the jewel addressing the casket; the letter talking to the
envelope.
After a protracted course of study, punctuated with
intermissions and paragraphed with delays, he graduated with honor
at Hillsdale College in 1862, being a member of the first class that
took a full course at that institution.
The societies of the institution were reduced to
organization during his term, and for his devotion to their
interests, his labors for their welfare and personal sacrifices, his
name is kindly cherished in their annals.|
Like many other earnest students, after his withdrawal
from college he entered upon the profession of teacher, in which
occupation their was to him pleasure and delight, and to which he
seemed to be wedded. Conscious of his ability to communicate,
[Page 561] -
instruct, explain and analyze, he had the power to command
attention, the quick ingenuity to hold it, and consequently
impressions were transferred from his to the pupil's mind as readily
as the color to the canvas from the artist's brush.
He first began the vocation of teacher, after
graduation, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where the fine public schools of
that city attest his efficiency and worth, and to whom they are to
this day indebted.
Protracted years of hard study, and two years of
confinement and labor as a teacher, debilitated and prostrated him
in health so that he well-nigh exchanged his life for his devotion.
It was now deemed necessary to abandon the school-room, and acting
upon the advice of friends, and especially his brother, E. P.
Bates, he wisely resolved to forever relinquish it with its dark
airs and its dense noxious atmosphere.
Accordingly, in the spring of 1866, with his brother,
E. P. Bates, he entered upon the work of Life Insurance,
which has been developed upon an enduring basis, and which to-day
employs the best genius and commands the strongest talent of the
civilized world.
Mr. I. H. Bates was married to Carrie M.
Allen, of Winnebago county, Wisconsin, Mar. 6, 1866, by which
union they have two children - son and daughter.
Mr. Bates is in his life's prime, and his powers
and capacities for business are barely matured, so that he can look
forward hopefully and confidently to many months and years of labor
and usefulness.
While he was eminently qualified to have entered upon
any of the public professions, he mapped out for himself a different
path, in which he has few if any equals.
He is a masterly scholar, a student of history and a
learner, as when at the college or academy, for he is not of that
class who believe that all knowledge is acquired in the school-room,
and that after that all is perpetual vacation and repose. He
is not a politician, but is decidedly well-informed upon the history
of American politics and the issues that to-day divide the parties
and distract the country.
His is emphatically of the reflective order of mind,
and he arrives at conclusions only after careful thought. He
has enough of secretiveness to hold the world at fair advantage, and
with him the remainder of judgment is seldom expressed.
[Page 562] -
He forms few friendships, but lasting ones. His
motto is, "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, grapple
them to thy soul with hooks of steel." To his personal friends
he is warmly, if not passionately attached, and the link betwixt him
and his kindred and family is of solid gold. He is the center
of a pleasing group of domestic virtues. His intelligence,
courtesy and affability have won him many friends in this community.
He is a finished, straightout, decisive, practical man, having
faith in the prevalence of right, the triumph of truth, and is as
full of honor as an April brook of water. His motto is,
"Fact shall be fact for me, and truth the truth forever."
QUINBY OPERA HOUSE.
[Page 563] -
ARCADOME HALL - THE BAUMGARDNERS.
---------------
* It was destroyed by fire, March 23, 1874.
[Page 564] -
[Page 565] -
JOHN F. BARRETT.
MATTHEW JOHNSTON, SR.
[Page 566] -
A CATHOLIC BISHOP DIES IN WOOSTER.
[Page 567] -
upon him, and pronounced his disease cholera. He was buried
the same evening, but during the following winter his remains were
disinterred and transplanted at Cincinnati.
WILLIAM SPEAR.
[Page 568] -
down, involving a loss of $10,000, upon which there was no
insurance. Notwithstanding this severe misfortune, he almost
immediately purchased two acres of ground at the terminus of South
Walnut street, from J. H. Kauke, for $2,000, and there
erected a large new shop, three stories high, forty feet wide and
eighty-eight feet in length, filling it with all kinds of the latest
styles of machinery, and running it by steam-power. In
addition to the main building are dry-houses and store-houses, with
lumber-yard, the whole establishment employing twenty to twenty-five
hands.
JOHN WILHELM.
[Page 569] -
JAMES CURRY.
[Page 570] -
[Page 571] -
OLD GERMAN BANK.
The old German Bank of
Wooster was organized in 1816, with T. J. Jones as President
and W. Larwill as Cashier. Its existence was of brief
duration, and for a while it was conducted without a charter.
In 1834 the Bank of Wooster was established with J. S. Lake
as President and Benjamin Bentley as Cashier, and exploded in
March, 1848.
WAYNE COUNTY BRANCH OF THE STATE
BANK OF OHIO.
The Wayne County Branch
of the State Bank of Ohio was organized February, 1848. D.
Robison, Sr., was President until January, 1858, and Isaac
Steese from 1858 to the expiration of its charter in 1865; E.
Quinby, Jr., being Cashier from the organization to its close,
in 1865.
THE WAYNE COUNTY NATIONAL BANK.
The Wayne County National
Bank was organized in January, 1865; R. R. Donnelly,
President, and E. Quinby, Jr., Cashier. January, 1874,
Harrison Armstrong was made President and so continued until
his death, in 1876; E. Quinby, Jr., serving as Cashier.
The officers at this date (1878) are, E. M. Quinby,
President, and E. Quinby, Jr., Cashier. Original
capital, $75,000, with the privilege of augmenting it to $250,000.
EXCHANGE BANK.
In April, 1865, this bank
began business under the style of Sturges, Stibbs & Co., as a
private banking institution, and in 1863 it was changed to
Stibbs, Hanna & Co. At present the style of the bank
is J. H. Kauke & C. S. Frost.
NATIONAL BANK OF WOOSTER.
The private
banking company of Bonewitz, Emrich & Co. was
organized in the spring of 1865 by S. R. Bonewitz, T. S. Johnson,
M. W. Pinkerton, G. P. Emrich, John Bechtel and C. H. Brown,
with capital of $25,000. Apr. 15, 1865, it opened up for
business. In 1868 it was reorganized as the Commercial Bank
[Page 572] -
JOHNSON'S BANK.
Sept. 2, 1868, T. S.
Johnson "started a bank, too," which the same was of discount
and deposit, with a capital of $20,000, and in 1875 it _____, when
there was a wailing among depositors to the amount of $100,000
SAMUEL ROUTSON.
[Page 573] -
D. C. CURRY & CO.
[Page 574] -
[Page 575] -
JACOB EBERHARDT.
[Page 576] -
SECRET SOCIETIES.
In a Symbol
there is concealment and yet revelation.
Bees will not work except in darkness; thought will not
work except in silence; neither will virtue work except in secresy.
Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth.
* *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* *
Virtue will
not grow unless its root be hidden.
Carlyle on Symbols.
Masonic.
[Page 577] -
I. O. O. F.
Knights of Pythias (English).
Knights of Pythias (German.)
[Page 578] -
Improved Order of Red Men.
The Royal Arcanum.
Temperance Societies.
Temple of
Honor No. 27 was organized on the 11th of November, 1847, with
thirty charter members. The first officers were David
Parrett, W. C. T.; D. H. Holiday, W. V. T.; ____
McKean, W. R.
Evergreen Social Temple No. 3 was organized in 1853.
- END OF CHAPTER.
-----------------------------------------------
< BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
>
|