USA > Ohio > Adams County > A history of Adams County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, including character sketches of the prominent persons identified with the first century of the country's growth > Part 57
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"After resumption of regular work by West Union lodge the first candidate to be initiated was the late I. H. DeBruin, and following his ad- mission, I remember the names of these: William M. Meek, James N. Hook, Joseph F. Eylar, James Sparks, Abner Sparks, Oliver Sparks.
"I remained affiliated with West Union Lodge No. 43 for thirteen years, at the expiration of which time Manchester Lodge, No. 317, was instituted (1859) and I became a charter member and have been identified with it ever since.
In 1871 I received the Royal Arch Chapter degrees in Manchester Chapter, No. 129, and in 1873 was invested with the order of the Red Cross, Knights Templar and Knights of Malta degrees in Calvary Com- mandery, No. 13, of Portsmouth, but am now a member of Maysville Commandery, No. 10.
"I presume I am the oldest Mason within Adams County, and al- though the infirmities of age creep on apace my zeal for our ancient and honorable institution has not abated.
"This being written solely from memory may contain mistakes, which would not be remarkable considering the lapse of years, but it is in the main correct."
WEST UNION LODGE, NO. 510, I. O. O. F., was instituted on the evening of June 11, 1874. The charter :nembers were: J. W. Eyler, William Hood, J. W. Bunn, L. P. Stivers, F. J. Miller and E. R. Wells.
CRYSTAL LODGE, NO. 114, K. OF P., was instituted June 12, 1878, with the following charter members: C. E. Irwin, F. D. Bayless, John A. Eylar, J. H. Connor, Willis Ellison, W. F. Kilpatrick, G. F. Thomas. John W. Hook, S. N. Bradford, M. R. Brittingham, W. F. Lloyd, A. E. McCormick, C. Frederick Mair, Oliver Smeltzer and Frank Hayslip. F. D. Bayliss was P. C. and first representative; John Hook, C. C .; G. F. Thomas, V. C .; John A. Eylar, Prelate ; W. F. Lloyd, M. of F .; J. H. Connor, M. of E .; Frank Hayslip, K. of R. and S .; C. E. Irwin, M. A .: Oliver Smeltzer, I. G .; Willis Ellison, O. G.
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Churches.
The oldest church organization in West Union is the Presbyterian. . This church was formerly organized on East Fork of Eagle Creek by Rev. John Dunlevy and Rev. Richard McNemar about the year 1800. The great Shaker revival in Kentucky had its effect here, and finally re- sulted in the expulsion of Dunlevy from the Eagle Creek Congregation, whereupon he joined the Shakers in Warren County in 1805. About this date Rev. William Williamson, who was then in the vicinity of Cabin Creek, Kentucky, held occasional services with the remnant of the Eagle Creek Congregation.
In 1809 a movement was set on foot to build a church house in West Union. The congregation was weakened from dissensions and divisions, many members having joined the Cherry Fork Church, and had only been held together by the patient care of Joseph Darlinton, William Marshall, and James Baird, ruling elders. A subscription list headed by Thomas Kirker, Joseph Darlinton and Joseph Nelson, was circulated and enough subscribed in labor, linen, cattle, wheat, and cash to. warrant the letting of the contract for the church building. It was to be a stone structure. the present building in the main, and Thomas Metcalf, afterwards Gov- ernor of Kentucky, was awarded the contract for the stone work, all ma- terial to be on the ground. at $250, May 26, 1810.
Hamilton Dunbar had the contract for the carpenter work, and Job Denning the contract for hauling the stone from the quarry to the ground where they were to be used.
THE M. E. CHURCH-The nucleus of this congregation was formed at the residence of Peter Shultz, in 1807, by Rev. John Collins, of the Scioto Circuit. The members of the first class were William Russell, leader, Mrs. Russell, William Armstrong and wife, Peter Shultz and wife, Mary Rape, Mary Woodward, Mrs. Nancy Cole and Mrs. Hannah Hood. It was at the house of Peter Shultz that Rev. James B. Finley. who had been known as the "New Market Devil," attempted to preach one of his first sermons.
In 1819 the present site of the church was secured and in 1820 a brick building was erected on it. In 1868 it was removed and the present brick edifice erected. Rev. Greenbery R. Jones, while Presiding Elder, built the frame house on Main Street near the Public well, recently oc- cupied by Mrs. Stewart, where he resided for several years.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH-At the house of William Mahaffey, north- west of West Union, in 1833, this association was organized by Elder J. Layman. The society struggled along until 1846, when a building was erected in West Unon. This was destroyed by the great tornado of May, 1860, and in 1861 the present structure at the west end of Main Street was erected.
THE CHRISTIAN UNION CHURCH-The organization of this church was formed directly following the Civil War, when dissensions in the Methodist Church over politics brought about the organization of the Christian Union Society. The Christian Union Church building is a neat frame located at the northwest corner of Mulberry and Market Streets. The leading spirits in the organization of this church in West Union were
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
General J. R. Cockerill, John K. Billings, Dr. F. J. Miller, and John Laughridge. The church was dedicated March 1, 1869, by Rev. A. S. Biddison, editor of the Christian Witness, Columbus, Ohio.
The West Union Band.
The "famous" West Union Band was organized March 18, 1850, by Prof. R. P. Robbins, with the following named members: David B. Graham, Eb clarionet; James R. Oldson, Eb clarionet ; James Moore, Bb clarionet ; Samuel Burwell cornet ; Joseph W. Hayslip, valve post horn ; Henry Woodrow, Bb bugle; Joseph Killin, valve trumpet; Thomas N. Allen, tenor trombone; W. W. Killin, bass trombone; Dr. W. C. Hay- slip, ophicleide; Henry Ousler, bass drum and cymbals. Prof. Robbins is at this writing at Cairo, Ill. While in West Union he boarded at the Marlatt Hotel, a famous hostelry a half century ago.
Newspapers.
POLITICAL CENSOR-The first newspaper printed in Adams County was the Political Censor, a small sheet issued from an old Ramage press by James Finley, at West Union, in 1815. The office was in the late Uriah Upp property. -
THE VILLAGE REGISTER, the next newspaper, was first issued in 1823 by Vorheese and Wood. It was afterwards controlled by Beasley and Murray, and called The Register and Advocate. Its last issue was in 1831, the office then being in the lower story of the house where Caroline Worstell now resides on Mulberry Street. Files of this paper are now well preserved in the possession of O. E. Hood, of West Union, whose father when eleven years of age entered the Register office as an appren- tice under the publishers Nashee and Bailhatchee.
THE COURIER OF LIBERTY, an Anti-Masonic organ, was printed by a "Yankee" named Jacob Crapsey, from 1831 to 1833, when for lack of patronage it expired. Crapsey taught school at Manchester and read law in West Union, from which place he went to Cincinnati to practice in the legal profession.
THE WEST UNION REGISTER, Jacksonian Democrat, succeeded the Courier, and was edited by the first real live newspaper man in the county, George Menary, a brother of the celebrated Samuel Menary, of The Ohio Statesman. Menary left West Union and went to Clermont County in 1835, where he published a newspaper.
THE FREE PRESS was published a short time from the Courier office as an Anti-Masonic and Whig newspaper, by Jackman and Carl. In 1835 the material was sold to James H. Smith, then County Recorder, who published it as a Whig advocate until 1839.
THE ADAMS COUNTY DEMOCRAT was first issued in 1844 by Lewis A. Patterson. Then it was controlled by Joseph P. Patterson and W. N. Clarke, who in turn were succeeded by the late Judge John M. Smith, father of Joseph P. Smith, whose biography appears in this volume, who made the paper one of the most radical Democratic organs in the State. R. P. Brown succeeded Judge Smith in 1849, and continued the publica- tion until 1860.
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THE SCION OFFICE, WEST UNION
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THE DEMOCRATIC UNION was issued in 1860 by T. J. Mullen and J. K. Billings in opposition to The Adams County Democrat. In 1861, John P. Patterson became proprietor, who was succeeded in 1863 by John A. Cockerill and S. E. Pearson. This was the beginning of the brilliant newspaper career of John A. Cockerill. See biography in this volume. William K. Billings succeeded Cockerill in 1865, when shortly thereafter the paper suspended.
THE SCION-This newspaper first made its appearance February 17, 1853, as The Scion of Temperance, Samuel Burwell, editor and pro- prietor. In May, 1865, the name was changed to The West Union Scion which it still retains. It is the oldest newspaper published in the county, and its venerable editor and proprietor is the oldest newspaper man in the State. The engraving showing the Scion office, represents Mr. Bur- well at his "case" setting an editorial or a local as he has done for a half century. The Scion is Republican in politics, and has the largest circula- tion of any newspaper in the county except, perhaps, The Defender.
THE PEOPLE'S DEFENDER was first issued Friday, January 16, 1866, by Joseph W. Eyler, now of the News-Democrat, Georgetown, Ohio. The Defender is a radical Democratic organ and is ably edited by Edward A. Crawford, who succeeded Mr. Eyler in 1890. It has a very large cir- culation and its editorials are quoted by the Democratic press throughout southern Ohio.
THE ADAMS COUNTY NEW ERA was issued by a joint-stock company of disgruntled Republicans in opposition to The Scion in 1877, with C. E. Irwin, editor. Irwin was an "importation" and came heralded as the de- stroyer of The Scion and the modern Moses of the Republican party in Adams County. He was a forceful writer, but bitter and resentful, and he sadly failed in his mission, dying from disease incurred through worry and disappointment, in 1887. The New Era is now conducted by Samuel E. Davidson, and is Republican in politics.
Public Schools.
The present public school system was inaugurated by adopting the "Akron Law" in 1856. A vote to adopt the provisions of that act gave twenty-seven majority, old Dodge Darlinton, one of the "fossil" clogs of the wheels of progress in West Union, leading the opposition. John M. Smith, J. R. Cockerill, J. W. Lafferty, E. P. Evans, Henry Ousler and J. P. Hood constituted the first Board of Directors. A two story brick building of four rooms was erected on the site of the present com- modius building, at a cost of $2,500.
The present building was erected in 1886. The present enrollment is: White males, 158 females, 162. Colored males, 2; females, 3. Num- ber of teachers employed, 5.
Previous to the inauguration of the graded schools under the Akron Law, the village of West Union, with contiguous territory, was divided into two school districts. One of the schoolhouses was a log structure and stood south of the old Presbyterian Church. The other schoolhouse was brick, now the residence of Mrs. Lina Lawler on North Cherry Street.
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The Wilson Soldiers' Monument.
Hon. John T. Wilson, of Tranquility, left a bequest of $5,000 to the Commissioners of Adams County to erect a momument at West Union, in memory of the soldiers of Adams County who were killed or died in the War of the Rebellion. County Commissioners, Philip Hughes, Robert Collins and Thomas Shelton, June 10, 1892, let the contract for the erection of said monument to Staniland. Merkle and Staniland, of Dayton, Ohio. The monument complete to be 10 feet 4 inches square at base and 50 feet 5 inches in height, containing 904 cubic feet, to be completed by September, 1892. However, a strike in the granite quarries in the East prevented the completing of the work until June 10, 1893. The monument stands on the right of the front entrance to the grounds of the Wilson Children's Home, a very poor location, being over- shadowed by the massive and imposing Home building.
The monument was unveiled Saturday, June 10, 1893, in the pres- ence of more than 10,000 of the citizens of Adams County. Judge D. C. W. Loudon, of Georgetown, Ohio, Colonel of the 70th Regiment, was chairman of the meeting, and Judge Samuel F. Hunt, one of the most polished orators of the State, delivered the oration. Col. John A. Cock- erill, known as the "Drummer Boy of Shiloh," a native of Adams County, and a son of Col. J. R. Cockerill, who organized the 70th Regiment O. V. I., was present and at the conclusion of Judge Hunt's oration unveiled the monument.
In the parade preceding the oration and unveiling ceremonies, were 600 white haired Adams County veterans of the War of the Rebellion.
The donor, Hon. John T. Wilson, was Captain of Company E of the 70th Regiment, under Col. J. R. Cockerill.
REMINISCENCES.
Jacob Treber's Bear Hunt.
About the year 1799, Jacob Treber, son of John Treber, had an ex- perience he did not forget during his long life.,One morning in winter. after a heavy snow fall, he found the fresh tracks of a full grown bear. They led up the hollow to the north of his father's house. He followed them a short distance and returned for an ax and a gun. Then he re- turned to the trail of the bear. It led to the cabin of a neighbor named Simms, who with ax and gun followed it. They tracked the bear to the mouth of a cavern in a hillside two miles north of the Treber tavern. Young Treber tried Gen. Putman's device of smoking the bear out, but it would not answer. Then he determined to follow the bear into the cavern. Simms undertook to dissuade him, but it was useless. Treber made a block of wood and cut a cup or depression in it. This he filled with grease from a small box in the side of the gun-stock where it was carried and used for greasing bullet patches and took part of his shirt to make a wick for his improvised lamp. When his torch was completed, he entered the cavern. He could distinguish the eyes of the bear and fired at them. He then made for the entrance and in the narrow passage, a bear crashed by him and almost squeezed the life out of him. The bear got out first, however, only to meet its death from Simms' gun on the outside. When Treber got out, he felt convinced that the bear Simms killed was
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the mate of the one he had shot. He entered the cavern a second time and found his bear dead. The problem was to get the bear out. Treber tried to pull it out, but it was too large and heavy. He tried to roll it over and force it through the passage, but the body got fast in that place with Treber behind it in the cavern. With main strength, he pulled it back and went out to devise a new plan. He and Simms cut hickory withes, secured them about the bear's shoulders and pulled it out. Thus Treber and Simms secured two bears for their morning's sport and the guests of Treber's tavern had bear meat for a number of days.
"Bloody Bridge."
In 1876 the present wooden bridge over Ohio Brush Creek at Satter- field's on the Rome pike was erected, and its completion was celebrated with a picnic and dance in the new structure, which then was known as the Forge Dam bridge. During the day Simon Osman and his two sons, who resided near by, and James Easter and his son, also residents of the vicinity, between whose families there had been ill feeling for years, got into a fight in which Simon Osman was stabbed to death by James Easter and he injured for life by one of Osman's sons. John Easter, the son, was severely stabbed by one of the Osman boys. There was so much blood spilled in and about this bridge in this conflict between the Osmans and the Easters on that September day that it has ever since been known as "bloody bridge."
Killing of Samuel Greenlee.
Partican politics and its debauching influences caused the killing of Samuel Greenlee by Albert Adamson on the day following the presi- dential election in 1888. West Union was crowded with Republicans rejoicing over Harrison's election, and Samuel Greenlee, who had re- cently before joined their organization, and who had been drinking heavily for some days, was among the jollifiers. Albert Adamson, son of John Adamson, then a leader in the Republican party in the county, had allied himself with the Democratic organization, although a mere lad of sixteen or seventeen years, and he and Greenlee had had some controversy on the day of the election over matters connected with poli- tics, and Greenlee had been ordered out of the Adamson House, now the Florentine Hotel. About 10 o'clock on the day of the killing, Greenlee and Young Adamson applied insulting epithets to each other in a crowd of jollifiers near the old Crawford Hotel on Main Street, and as Adamson turned away walking in the middle of the street east toward the public square, Greenlee followed him, intending to go, as was claimed, across the street to the barber shop then conducted by Sylvanus Edgington, a prom- inent Republican in local politics. When Greenlee had reached the mid- dle of the street, Adamson turned and fired several shots in quick suc- cession, wounding him mortally. He was helped into Dr. Coleman's office adjoining the Crawford Hotel on Main Street, where he died in a short time. Young Adamson was arrested, indicted and tried for murder, but was cleared of the charge through the efforts of his counsel, chief of whom was Ulric Sloane, then a noted criminal lawyer in southwestern Ohio.
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
Reminiscences of West Union.
The first settler at West Union was James Collings. He built the log cabin near the fine spring directly in the rear of the present residence of Robert Kincaid, on the old Manchester road. The residence overlooks Beasley's Fork Valley and the spring is a noble one, 'but every vestige of the house has disappeared and there has been no house there for more than sixty years. At the time this house was built his nearest neighbor was General John McClanahan, who resided on the farm on the Pan Handle road formerly occupied by Judge Samuel McClanahan. There was a trace through the forest between the two houses. The trace was indicated by blazes on the trees. James Collings made his settlement directly after the peace with the Indians in 1795. He purchased a tract of four hundred acres of land directly south of West Union, the northern boundary of which is the street just north of the Village Cemetery.
Robert McClanahan took up a tract of one hundred acres which em- braces the town plat of West Union, lying in the shape of a square, bounded about as follows: The south line was the street north of the cemetery, the western line was through the alley near A. Z. Blair's res- idence, the north line was North Street and the western line ran on the street in front of Samuel Burwell's residence. Robert McClanahan pur- chased this tract for three hundred dollars of Richard Woods and sold it to the trustees of the town for seven hundred and fifty dollars. They sold it in lots for two thousand nine hundred and eighty-five dollars. He built his log house where now stands Mrs. John Moss's millinery shop, directly west of the public well, which was then a fine spring. General Darlinton built a story and a half log house on the ridge east of the Beasley Fork turnpike, just above the public watering-trough and across Beasley's Valley from James Collings. General Darlinton owned 700 to 800 acres of land east of West Union.
Ephraim Cole built a residence near the present Trotter residence on a one hundred and forty acre tract of land he purchased of General Darlinton. He also owned one hundred acres north of the town which he purchased in the Ashmore Survey, from Richard Wood. His deeds are dated 1802.
Salathiel Sparks, grandfather of the present Salathiel Sparks, owned one hundred acres where the new addition to West Union was laid out. His residence was the former Thomas Huston residence. Huston was connected with the old West Union Bank, on Cherry Street, just south of the "Lee Corner," and it is said that just before the bank failed, an ox-cart of specie was taken from the old stone vault of the bank to his house and thence to Cincinnati. Ephraim Cole's one hundred acres of land lay to the west of Sparks', and between him and George Harper, who had about seventy-five acres north of the town, now owned by Salathiel Sparks. Harper's residence was on the site of the present Sparks residence.
The nearest settlement on the west was that of General John Mc- Clanahan already mentioned. Thus the original proprietors of West Union and vicinity before the town was laid out were: Ephriam Cole, Joseph Darlinton, Salathiel Sparks, George Harper and Robert McClan- ahan.
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NEW COUNTY JAIL, WEST UNION
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Henry Rape purchased the lot on which was built McClanahan's house west of the public well. He occupied it for a hatter's shop and residence for a long time.
Ephriam Cole died about 1833, at the age of eighty-four, in the house now occupied by Jabez Eagle. He was a tall, spare man and of a taciturn disposition. It is said that he was a widower at the time of his death. The place of his burial is not known, but it is supposed to be in the Collings burying ground or the Village Cemetery.
The Village Cemetery was dedicated 1834, by deed from Robert Wood and wife to certain persons who had friends buried there before 1834. The spot was used as a cemetery as early as 1816. The first interment was one Miles, who died a stranger, in 1816, in West Union. The deed of the original dedication calls for three-fourths of an acre. Miles was buried near the old gate, where a walnut tree stood for many years. Nicholas Burwell was present at Miles' interment and gave the account of it to his son Samuel, who gave it to the writer.
The Lovejoy graveyard was dedicated in 1840, but it had been occu- pied for a cemetery long before then.
The house now occupied by Wm. Lafferty, where he conducts his furniture business, was built by Hon. William Russell, who owned through to the next street south, and included the spring situate in the rear. Mr. Russell built the present frame front of the house and the addition and wing to the south, which was afterwards changed by Wesley Lee and remains to this day as Wesley Lee changed it.
'The Bradford Hotel, formerly the Marlatt House, was built in 1806, by David Bradford and occupied by him from that date until the day of his death in 1834. After his death is was occupied by his grandson, Samuel G. Bradford till about 1840.
The Florentine Hotel was first used as such by David Bradford, Jr., who conducted a hotel there for some ten years, probably from 1836.
The Miller and Bunn corner was known as the McCollough corner, and it was occupied as a store room by Samuel McCollough for many years.
The present Mullen corner was known as the Armstrong corner. The building was erected by William Armstrong and occupied by him for many years. Satterfield's drug store was originally a stone building and was known as the Hood corner and there John Hood, the father of James Hood, who was known as "Ahiezer," built the original building and occupied it as a storeroom. William Russell's store stood on the ground now occupied by the east end of W. V. Lafferty's furniture store. The log house built by General Darlinton and overlooking Beasley's Fork Valley was torn down and used to build the east end of his residence on Main Street, east of Dr. Miller's residence.
The Siamese Twins were exhibited in West Union for two or three weeks in the east end of the building just cast of Joseph Hayslip's resi- dence.
John Sparks kept a store in the building now occupied as the post office.
An Irishman named McKorkle conducted a small brewery just north of the present jail where John Clark now resides, in 1820.
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The late Judge Joseph Moore, of Portsmouth, Ohio, helped to build the old stone business house and dwelling in 1814, that stood on the Sat- terfield corner where James Hood once sold goods.
About that date the first "Windsor Chair" maker located in West Union. His name was Thomas Bereman, and he had an apprentice who caused him great annoyance by his "impudent manners" towards his cus- tomers. When this apprentice finally ran away from Bereman and the chairmaking business, as was required by law, Bereman offered a reward for his return, which was published in the county newspapers :
One Cent Reward.
Ran away from the subscriber, on the 16th inst., George Welch. an indented apprentice to the Windsor Chair Making and Painting business ; twelve years old, light complexion. He had on when he went away a new suit of brown jeans, fur hat and new shirt and shoes; being some- what better clad than he deserved, or is used for apprentices to be-very forward garrulous and impudent. Whoever returns said George, will be coldly treated and receive no thanks; but shall have the above reward without charge. All persons are cautioned about harboring him, as I believe he was persuaded away.
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