USA > Indiana > Perry County > Perry County: A History > Part 11
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With so much in progress along such varied lines, it was difficult to ascertain in advance the precise day when the first stone of the mill would be laid, and the event could not be announced in time to make it a formal occasion. Although the people and the labour- ers themselves knew not until almost the very hour that the deep foundations of their factory were to be commenced on Monday, May 21, 1849, yet when the first massive block of sandstone was turned down into its permanent resting-place, quite a concourse of atten- tive spectators had assembled to witness the notable scene.
In behalf of the stockholders James Boyd made a few impromptu remarks assuring their cordial co- operation in the upbuilding of "this hitherto quiet, un- obtrusive settlement that has begun, of late, to attract some public notice." Alexander McGregor spoke, as the architect, in response, urging that no 'penny-wise and pound-foolish' notions should enter into the conduct of affairs, but that a fair and judicious use should be made of all means and opportunities.
The informal programme was brought to a close by the Reverend John Fisher, who had come from
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Boston not long before as pastor of the Unitarian Church, and whose eloquent address included the re- mark: "When we consider the many local advantages which the erection of a cotton factory at this place en- joys; its immediate neighbourhood to a splendid sand- stone quarry that can turn out at small cost an article that would decorate a palace; also a rich and extensive coal-mine, both approachable within a few rods; when we consider the abundant supply of water, the magnifi- cent scenery and salubrious climate, and especially the locality on the very banks of the great and beautiful Ohio, with every facility for transporting merchandise to the remotest corners of the world, who can doubt the speedy triumph of such a project and the ultimate realization of the most sanguine expectations of Can- nelton's warmest friends."
"In conclusion," said he, "let me announce that the first stone of the Cannelton Cotton Mill is now laid, in the name of God, in due and ancient form, hoping that His All-Seeing Eye, that looketh with complacency on all laudable undertakings, will guide and govern our steps, preserving us all in health and strength during the erection of this edifice."
By December the building was under roof and in the following April the first shipment of machinery, two hundred and fifty tons in weight, arrived from Taun- ton, Massachusetts, on the steamers Empire and Mag- nolia. Under contract of two years' engagement, ex- perienced operatives from Eastern factories were brought in the autumn of 1850, and on December 18 the steamer California, (commanded by Dwight New- comb,) unloaded the first shipment of cotton ever consigned to Cannelton, 129 bales.
During this month some carding was begun, and George Beebe wove the first cloth on January 7, 1851, when thirty looms were started and about seventy hands were given work, the number being increased from day to day until spring found 108 cards, 372 looms and 10,800 spindles in use, operated by 300 em-
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ployes, all the machinery proving a success from the start.
Ziba H. Cook, of Ballston Spa, New York, was the first resident general manager of the mill, arriving October 26, 1850, and taking up quarters in the large seventy-room hotel erected by the Coal Company and just opened to the public under the name Perry Hotel. It was conducted by Captain Edward Ayers, who re- signed command of the Louisville and Henderson packet Madison Belle to become keeper of the new inn.
The building occupied the corner of Front and Adams Streets, and a portion of it yet stands, as the offices and mould-rooms of the Cannelton Sewer-Pipe Company, into whose possession the entire square passed in 1908. Several changes of proprietorship oc- curred before its disuse as an hotel, but it was never a successful venture, and it was partially remodelled for residence purposes by Hamilton Smith, president of the Coal Company, who made it his home for some twenty years. His eldest daughter, Martha Hall Smith, was there married to Alfred Hennen, Jr., of New Orleans, and they also maintained for several years a separate establishment in the big old house prior to their moving across the river to "Fern Cliff," a Kentucky estate formerly owned by Frederick W. Dohrmann, of Cin- cinnati.
During 1850-51 the cotton mill company erected a superintendent's residence from designs furnished by Ziba H. Cook, who then brought his family from the East. Its longest tenant, however, was his successor, Ebenezer Wilber, who resided there almost forty years, or until his death in 1892, his widow (Margaret Jack- son) and family continuing to make it their home for some ten or twelve years longer.
After a period of vacancy and neglect, it was given a thorough renovation by the mill people in 1912, to become again a home for their general manager, Lee Rodman, and his wife, (Margherita Welling) and in its prominent situation at the corner of Washington
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and Front Streets it remains the leading example of Cannelton's early domestic architecture.
The Cannelton Cotton Mills, whose name was soon changed to the Indiana Cotton Mills, commenced opera- tions with complete mechanical success, but entire financial disappointment so far as the stockholders were concerned. The directors had promised them a dividend of ten per cent. the first year, but instead of this more money was required.
Horatio Dalton Newcomb, of Louisville, treasurer of the company, advanced $30,000 of his own means in 1852, and the following year leased the plant at an annual rental of $10,000, coming out with a personal profit of double that amount, over and above all ex- pense. At the end of a third year he bought the prop- erty outright, for a debt of over $200,000 against it, and the stock-or a controlling interest therein-was owned for the next thirty years by members of the Newcomb family.
It came to be realized that more direct personal supervision of resident interested parties was the only means of economical commercial operations, and this brought into Cannelton in the early 'fifties three men of marked executive ability, whose influence upon the community's life and growth was felt in many different ways during their generation.
Dwight Newcomb, a brother of Horatio D. New- comb, came to Perry County in September, 1851, to look after his brother's interests in the cotton-mill, with no idea of permanent residence, but remained a citizen until his death in 1893. These brothers belonged to a family of twelve children, born in Franklin County, Massachusetts, to Dalton Newcomb and his wife, Har- riet Wells, both natives of the Bay State and living in moderate circumstances. Their education was re- ceived in the common schools, and about 1840 the two brothers came to 'the South,' as Louisville was re- garded, where their Yankee shrewdness laid the foundation of the wealth subsequently attained.
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Dwight Newcomb clerked for five years in his elder brother's grocery, then engaged in steamboating for another five years, building in 1849 his own boat, the California, whose command gave him the title of Cap- tain for the rest of his life. He was for a time presi- dent of the Indiana Cotton Mills, and in 1855 leased the American Cannel Coal Company's mines, under the firm name, D. Newcomb and Company, the other part- ners being H. D. Newcomb and James C. Ford. The investment of $42,000 proved extremely profitable, a total dividend of $400,000 eventually remaining after repayment of the original capital.
Captain Newcomb never married, but always lived in bachelor ease, taking a vacation of two or three months each year, and after retiring from active busi- ness indulged a fondness for wide travel in Europe and America. His first home in Cannelton was a stone resi- dence on the river front (now included as part of the Sunlight Hotel) built according to his own designs, with massive oaken finish and furniture, which its name of "Oak Hall" indicated. This, however, he grew tired of and abandoned for a number of years. In 1882 he bought the conspicuous brick dwelling adjoining St. Luke's Episcopal Church, built in 1868 by Judge Charles H. Mason, and lived there until his death, July 4, 1893. His heirs sold the residence and its furnish- ings to various parties, and the nickname of "Newcomb Place," given it by later occupants, remains the only memento of the Captain himself.
Ebenezer Wilber was born, 1814, the year of Perry County's organization, but far away from its confines, -in Rensselaer County, New York, and was one of the four children of Samuel and Amy (Cook) Wilber, his mother belonging to a Rhode Island family of ex- tensive Colonial connections. His education was re- ceived in his home of Schaghticoke, with one year's training at Lansingburg Academy.
After some years of clerking he made the acquaint- ance, in Ballston Spa, of Ziba H. Cook (not a relative)
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the first superintendent of the Indiana Cotton Mills, and through him came to Cannelton in 1850. He first undertook a course of practical experience in textile manufacturing in a New York factory as a prepara- tion for the position which he came West to fill, and the uniform success of his long management of the Cannel- ton plant proved the thoroughness of his training, down to the minutest detail.
The directors of the mill, in 1858, after five years' appreciation of his valuable services, presented him a costly silver tea and coffee service with massive salver, suitably inscribed, and the connection between super- intendent, stockholders and operatives remained on terms of exceptional harmony until the close of his useful life, in 1892. He was married in 1853 to Miss Margaret Jackson, of Cannelton, and two sons-out of their five children-are yet living in Perry County.
Hamilton Smith is a name without which Cannel- ton's history might never have been recorded as it stands, since to his admirable foresight and the power- ful arguments of his pen must be attributed, more than to anything else, that degree of public attention drawn to this region and leading to the material development of Perry County's natural resources at a vital period of national growth.
He was the son of Judge Valentine Smith and Mary ("Polly") Joy, his wife, born September 19, 1804, in Durham, Strafford County, New Hampshire, in the homestead of pure Georgian architecture which an ancestral Smith had built during the year 1736, and which stands in excellent preservation in 1915 in un- broken possession of the family, the personal property of Griswold Smith, Esq. The Smith lineage goes back to Old Hough, England, and their heraldic bearings show the same three wheat-sheaves that are quartered on the shield of Captain John Smith of Virginia. John Winthrop, first Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and his successor, Governor Thomas Dudley, both were direct ancestors of Hamilton Smith.
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At the age of twenty-one, after careful preparations, Hamilton Smith entered Dartmouth College, that al- ready venerable and revered institution, the Alma Mater of Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, Salmon P. Chase and many other truly great Americans. There he won Phi Beta Kappa honours and was graduated summa cum laude with the class of 1829. During a part of these years Chase was a fellow-student, and a friendship there grew up between the two young men which lasted under conditions of unusual warmth and intimacy until the death of the distinguished Chief Justice.
Three years later, in 1832, after reading law in the Washington offices of William Wirt and Levi Wood- bury, young Smith came to Louisville and entered upon the practice of his chosen profession, following it for fifteen years with notable success. During the dis- turbed financial conditions of the 'thirties his keen judgment as the representative of sundry large Eastern bankers and merchants contributed to the accumula- tion of what was then regarded as a handsome fortune. In at least one year his practice amounted to over $30,000-certainly exceptional at the time, and prob- ably the largest of any attorney then in the West.
His love for the beautiful in nature and art led to the creation of an ideal country estate, "Villula," on the Bardstown pike a few miles from the city, and a show- place among Louisville's suburban homes even long afterward when owned by the Trabue family, of Hawesville. Hither he brought his first wife, Martha Hall, of Bellows Falls, Vermont, but she died in 1845, after bearing him seven children, of whom but two attained maturity,-Hamilton, Jr., and Martha Hall (Mrs. Alfred Hennen) both deceased.
In 1846 he was again married, to Louise Rudd, younger sister to the wife of Judge Huntington, of Indiana, a favourite in Louisville's choicest circles, where her beauty and accomplishments made her an ac- knowledged belle, ranking alongside her life-time
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friend, the famous Sallie Ward. Of this union eight children were the fruit, some of whom were born in Cannelton, where several are buried in Cliff Cemetery, beside their parents in the family tomb.
In 1847 Mr. Smith commenced a series of articles in the Louisville Journal (then edited by George D. Pren- tice) clearly showing the advantages in power of the extensive Western coal-fields over the Eastern water- falls, and the necessary profits which must accrue from building up manufactories in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, near to coal and to cotton, and on the great natural highways of the continent. Similar contribu- tions to De Bow's Commercial Review, Hunt's Western Magazine, the National Intelligencer and other import- ant periodicals had their effect, of whose results the present generation are yet the beneficiaries.
It was the desire of practically demonstrating the truth of these arguments and inaugurating a new in- dustry that promised so much for the future of the West and the South, which led public-spirited men of Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi to organ- ize the company for building the Cannelton Cotton Mills.
Hamilton Smith was among the foremost of these, one of the heaviest investors, and in the unexpected financial difficulties which grew out of the novelty of the enterprise, with other causes, a large part of his private fortune was sunk beyond redemption in the sacrifice sale of the mill to the Newcomb family. An- other instance of the ill-luck proverbially attending the originators of daring and untried ventures.
In December, 1851, he removed with his family to Cannelton, as president of both the cotton-mill and coal companies, taking up his residence in the river wing of the original hotel building at Front and Adams Streets, which was remodelled for his occupancy and where he lived for the next twenty-two years. Sever- ing his connection with the American Cannel Coal Company, in 1873, he then removed to Washington, but
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had been there less than two years when-on February 8, 1875-he died suddenly of heart disease. Death came so swiftly that no words were spoken to his family, nor any recognition made by him of the loved ones around. Unconsciousness took instant possession, and the bril- liant light of his life was quenched in darkness without the faintest flicker such as usually foretells the approaching moment of dissolution.
For a score of years Louise Rudd Smith stood as Cannelton's highest type of devoted wife and mother,
"A perfect woman, nobly planned To warn, to comfort and command,"
making her house the abode of culture and refinement where, in addition to every material luxury, rare art treasures and a library numbered in the thousands, there was always the greater attraction of family af- fection unbroken and unalloyed, showing it in the truest sense a home.
Of unfailing kindness and consideration to those outside her immediate circle, in works of charity and piety she was a shining example to the community, her purest joy being to uplift in God's praise before His altar her superb soprano voice, of exceptional range and finished cultivation.
Cannelton was in her husband's thoughts to the last, and within the month of his demise he was actively negotiating plans toward its further advancement, looking to his own return thither, which would prob- ably have been effected within a reasonable time had his life been spared.
But when he came back it was in the silence of death, to depart no more. His obsequies were conducted with solemn simplicity in the sable draped St. Luke's Church on March 9, 1875. The day was intensely cold, yet the church was crowded and the funeral procession of unequalled length. A pathetic feature was the empty phaeton in which he had driven for many years, drawn by his favourite horse, "Preacher," which one
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of his devoted former employes led directly behind the hearse,
"As when the warrior dieth * * * They After him lead his masterless steed."
Through the snow-clad streets and up the winding road to Cliff Cemetery, amid tolling bells from every steeple in Cannelton, the long cortege took its way to the spot selected years before for his last resting place, where all that was mortal of Hamilton Smith was laid, to sleep the sleep that knows no waking, beneath the whispering boughs of two immemorial oaks that have long kept their watch and ward far above the rippling waters of the Beautiful River he loved so well.
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS AT CANNELTON.
WHILE the Methodists were the earliest religious body organized in Cannelton, the first edifice erected for public worship was by the Unitarians about 1845, and the New England type of Colonial meeting-house was faithfully reproduced in the rectangular frame building, with severely square belfry, which still stands after seventy years of use, at the southeast corner of Third and Washington streets, one of the few original landmarks of pioneer Cannelton. Its actual history, however, is as St. Luke's Episcopal Church, which it became in the middle 'fifties, as Unitarianism was but short lived in Perry County.
James Boyd, whose liberality had provided the first schoolhouse for the village, was also one prime mover in this pioneer church work, being the chief contribu- tor and a trustee, together with Messrs. Fairbanks and Frothingham, of Boston, in its ownership. The site was a donation from the Coal Company, who also gave for parsonage purposes a corresponding lot on the corner of Washington and Fourth streets, which was never thus used, though the ground was held by the church for over fifty years.
The Rev. John Fisher was the first and only resi- dent pastor of the Unitarian belief, as the denomina- tion was not of rapid growth among the incoming set- tlers. With a commendably broad-minded spirit, the deed of gift provided for the use of the building by any Christian minister for Divine Worship, and many various services were held from time to time within its walls, besides different public meetings, lectures,
(10)
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etc., notices of which were printed in The Economist as to be held 'at early candle-light.'
Captain John James may be regarded as father of the Presbyterian society, which was organized early in the 'fifties, though the congregation endured as such for only a few years. He was born December 28, 1808, in South Wales, the eldest son of James and Catherine (Howell) James, of old Welsh stock, and received a liberal education in that language as well as English, his father being a prosperous woolen manufacturer. He married Margaret Jones, also of Wales, who bore him ten children, several of whom lived with their parents in Cannelton until the family removed about 1869 to "Corn Island," near Grandview, and the line is now one of extensive connections in Spencer County.
The American Cannel Coal Company gave to the Presbyterians a lot at the northeast corner of Fourth and Adams streets, on which a frame church thirty- six by forty feet was built, and an adjoining lot run- ning to Fifth street became the manse. The frame residence is yet standing and is the present home of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Curtis Minor (Marguerite Con- way). The Rev. George F. Whitworth was the first pastor, serving as such for several years, but the or- ganization lapsed four or five years afterwards and has never been renewed. The church edifice was used as a grammar department of the public schools in 1861-62, and following the War Between the States the building and lot were granted to the African Method- ists, who maintained regular services there for some thirty years, until an exchange of property was made in 1907, and their buildings were removed to Fourth near Congress street.
Mrs. Whitworth, the Presbyterian dominie's wife, was a woman of superior culture, and in 1849-50 taught a select school giving excellent satisfaction. For a term of eleven weeks the rates were: Primary, $3; Junior, $5; Senior, $6; Piano Music, $10; Use of Instrument, $2; Needlework, as arranged. By degrees
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her institution became exclusively a girls' school, though in the beginning boys were received.
The Rev. David Boyer, who succeeded Mr. Whit- worth as pastor, continued the school for a time, with Miss Julia Boyer as his assistant. In 1851 they taught the first session in the new stone public school building erected on the hillside east of Eighth street. The Coal Company gave the lot and the Cotton Mill a subscrip- tion of $600. This location was unsuitable and in- convenient, and it was used for only four years, then sold to private parties and for fifty years occupied as a residence, with surrounding vineyards, owned by Con- rad Damm. In 1908 it became the property of Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Miller (Lulu Gregory), whose modern residence "Hill Crest" utilizes as a foundation part of the original structure's massive rock walls.
The Baptists, elsewhere in Perry County, notable for their continuity of organized existence, seem to have met with little success in forming a society in Cannelton, and the small congregation among whose most active members were Willard Claflin, Terence Wood and W. H. Bicknell disbanded after only a few years of life in the 'fifties. Not until a generation later was any distinct effort made to resume the work, and the society now existing as "The First Baptist Church of Cannelton" was independently organized about 1893, when its present church was built with the Rev. J. B. Solomon, of Hawesville, as its first pastor; Henderson W. Huff and Lewis Yates, the first trustees, chosen June 11, 1893.
On a more permanently successful basis, however, was the St. John's German Evangelical Association formed December 7, 1854, among its charter member- ship appearing family names still represented in the third generation upon its register. William Lehmann, Albert Lehmann, L- Lehmann, Martin Bruck, Peter Weber, George Kraus, Gustave Lupp, Jacob Moog, Gottlieb Vogel, Henry Kolb, Christian Rodermund, Philip Fuchs, Christian Schnitzler, Ferdinand Kieser
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and others had been holding irregular meetings before this for some time, and the organization was effected by the members themselves who held to the faith, without the leadership of a minister. At the north- west corner of Taylor and Seventh streets a lot was secured and a frame church built in 1855, something like a year before the first resident pastor, the Rev. - Ebling, took charge. The work has been prose- cuted from the first with unflagging energy and now represents what is perhaps Cannelton's most united and vigourous parochial organization. The high meas- ure of material success attained is shown in the pres- ent handsome brick church, with pipe organ and other complete equipment, and the adjoining modern parsonage. Both men and women have spared nothing of personal sacrifice or active labour which could pos- sibly contribute to the result which has been attained.
About the same time a German Methodist society was organized in co-operation with the missionary work which the Rev. Conrad Muth had inaugurated at German Ridge. Among its earliest class members were the families of Henry Vogel, Bennett Wippach, John Johann and Philip Rau, Jr. The latter's father, Philip Rau, Sr., who afterwards joined the son in Perry County, was also an active supporter of the congregation during his unusually long life, and was beyond question the county's oldest citizen when he died in March, 1893, at the age of 103 years, five months and twenty-seven days. He was born at Wuesseck, in the Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, and his great-grandsons keep his memory alive in Cannelton. The Rev. Heitmyer was the first pastor and in 1855 a frame church was erected on the southeast corner of Taylor and Seventh streets, adjoining which a parsonage was afterward built. The work was maintained continuously until 1914, when the de- creased number of members familiar with the German language led to an experimental consolidation with
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