USA > Ohio > Washington County > Belpre > A history of Belpre, Washington County, Ohio > Part 14
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Templar, Aaron, Volunteer.
Thorpe, Martin R, age 18, Volunteer, December 1861, Seventy-fifth Regiment, private, attained adjutant, wound- ed at Chancellorsville, re-enlisted as a veteran.
VanGilden, George H., age 19, Volunteer, February, 1864, Thirty-ninth Regiment, Company K, private, dis- charged July, 1865.
Watson, John K., age 24, Volunteer, May, 1864, one hundred days, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Company H, private, served four months, discharged Sep- tember 14, 1864.
Watson, Daily, age 20, Volunteer, May 1864, one hun- dred days, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Com- pany H, private, served four months, discharged Septem- ber, 1864, was in hospital at Point of Rocks with measles and camp disease.
Watson, Jacob, age 18, Volunteer, August 11, 1862, three years, Ninety-second Regiment, Company F, private, served three years, discharged June 20, 1865, never off duty during enlistment.
Weaver, Hanson, Volunteer, January 23rd, 1862, three years, sixty-third Regiment, Company F, private.
Weaver, William, Twenty-seventh Illinois, Company D.
Winans, Francis, age 21, Volunteer, January 28, 1862, three years, Sixty-third Regiment, Company F, private, died September 1862, of diphtheria.
Winans, Benjamin, age 23, Volunteer, January 23, 1862, three years, Sixty-third Regiment, Company F, cap- tured near Atlanta, Georgia, in 1864 and imprisoned, ex- changed and reached home in July 1865, in reduced condi- tion.
Walker, Henry M., Volunteer, May 1864, one hundred days, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Company H, private, served four months, discharged September 1864.
White, Leonard I., Seventy-fifth Regiment, Company D.
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White, Henry S., age 23, Volunteer, June 20, 1861, Thirty-ninth Regiment, Company K, private, served four years, discharged July 1865, re-enlisted in 1863 and was detailed for Clerk duty.
White, Arastus H., age 19, Volunteer, August 14, 1862 three years, One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, Com- pany B, private, served three years discharged June 24th, 1865, wounded at Hatchers Run.
White, Sidney P., age 19, Volunteer, March 4, 1864, One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, Company B, pri- vate, attained Orderly, was in thirteen different actions and was transferred to Company B, Sixty-second Regi- ment.
White, William W., age 21, Volunteer, November 13, 1861, Seventy-fifth Regiment, Company D, private, died in hospital May 17, 1864 of intermittent fever, captured at Gettysburg and exchanged.
Williams, David, age 22, Volunteer, May 1864, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Company H, private, served four months, discharged September 14, 1864.
Williams, George W., Volunteer, May 1864, one hun- dred days, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Com- pany H, private, served four months, discharged Septem- ber 14, 1864.
Williams, George W., age 37, drafted, September 1864, one year, Seventeenth Regiment, Company K, private, dis- charged 1865.
The following were sick in hospitals when their regi- ment was discharged and their names do not appear in the Alphabetical List.
George Anderson, Volunteer, May 1864, one hundred days, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Company H, private, served four months, discharged September 14th 1864.
Sanford Downs, Volunteer, May 2nd 1864, one hun- dred days, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Com- pany H., private, served four months, discharged Septem- ber 2, 1864.
George A. Howe, Volunteer, enlisted in State Militia in 1861 and served on guard duty, enlisted May 1864, one
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hundred days, Corporal, served four months, discharged September 14, 1864.
Douglas A. Gilbert, Volunteer, May 1864, one hundred days, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, private, served four months, discharged September 14, 1864.
RECAPITULATION
Huntingtons Battery 11
Seventh Ohio Cavalry 3
One each in Third Virginia Cavalry, Fifth Kentucky
Cavalry and Third Iowa Cavalry
3
One Hundred Forty-eighth Ohio National Guards 42
22
Seventy-third Ohio
24
Thirty-ninth Ohio
12
Seventh-fifth Ohio
7
One Hundred and Sixteenth Ohio
6
Sixty-third Ohio
3
Ninth Virginia Infantry.
2
One Hundred and Ninety-first Ohio and Eleventh Vir- ginia Infantry, two each
4
One each in Second Virginia Infantry, Twenty-seventh
Illinois, Forty-seventh Iowa, Seventy-first Ohio, Thirty-sixth Ohio, Ninety-first Ohio, One Hundred and forty-first Ohio, One Hundred and Twenty- second Ohio, One Hundred and Ninety-sixth Ohio, One Hundred and Eighty-third Ohio, and ten not designated
23
Total number of Soldiers 162
Died 24
The following was furnished by S. J. Hathaway, Esq., the compiler of this Roll of Honor, and belongs here be- cause most of the men in this Company were from Belpre.
THE BELPRE GUARDS
At the beginning of the War of the Rebellion, Presi- dent Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men as it was thought at the time, April, 1861, that this would be a sufficient number to put down the rebellion. At the ear- nest solicitation of Governor Dennison of Ohio, General Geo. B. McClellan was sent with his army into West Vir-
Ninety-second Ohio
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ginia, then Old Virginia, and ordered to push on towards the mountains and drive the rebel army back beyond that barrier, for Governor Dennison saw if this was not done early in the war that the Ohio River was likely to become the border line between the contending forces.
Under these conditions McClellan began his campaign into Virginia early in the Spring of 1861. It was the first military movement of the war. He had not more than got started on his campaign before the urgent need of more troops was upon him. His line of communications was poorly guarded, and beyond the Ohio River in Ohio the rail- roads were at the mercy of raiding parties from Virginia.
Governor Dennison thereupon called for Ohio troops to volunteer their services for this important duty and many companies volunteered. Accordingly on June 23rd, 1861, the Adjutant General of Ohio issued the order for the movement of Ohio militia and ten companies were placed along the B. & O. which was at that time known as the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad. Four of these companies were from Washington County as follows: Co. D First Regt. Ohio Volunteer Militia, Capt. Wm. B. Mason, The Fireman Zouaves, Captain S. F. Shaw, both companies from Marietta, the Harmar Company, Captain Joseph B. Daniels, and the Belpre Guards, Captain Frank H. Loring of Belpre, this county. They served on this guard duty for about three months as above stated and de- serve to be honored and remembered, because they did faithful and important service and their names are not in- cluded in the Ohio Roster of troops for the reason that none but those who were sworn into the U. S. service are in- cluded in that publication and we take pleasure in giving the names of Captain Lorings Company here, as included in History of Washington County, from which this list is copied.
NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN OF CAPTAIN FRANK LORING'S COMPANY
Commissioned Officers Captain-F. H. Loring; Lieutenant-James King. Non-Commissioned Officers
Orderly Sergeant-A. P. Sherman.
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Sergeants-J. L. O'Neal, John Mitchell, C. W. Stone, John Drain.
Corporals-A. H. Browning, P. W. Simpson, E. M. O'Neal, A. D. Stone.
Privates-H. G. Allen, L. C. Allen, James R. Barrows, George Ballard, Daniel Breckenridge, William Baker, W. W. Bodkin, William Berry, Samuel Barkley, Jacob Clark, A. F. Downer, Moses Dugan, George Dunlevy, J. G. Ellen- wood, Councee Flowers, George Flowers, S. R. Forbes, George Gage, Alexander Galbraith, George Hutchinson, John Haddow, George A. Howe, John Hutchinson, D. B. Horton, C. B. Kirkpatrick, Fremont Kirkpatrick, Henry Kirkpatrick, Corwin H. Loring, George Lysle, George M. Conaughey, Joseph Marsh, Joseph Miller, James Menden- hall, James McGaffey, J. F. Newport, J. R. Newport, M. Noland, Joseph Noland, F. Odenaham, E. R. O'Neal, William Powell, James Powell, Josiah Rutherford, Jacob Ruther- ford, B. B. Stone, Frank Stone, George G. Stone, William F. Shee, Joseph Sterlin, William F. Sayre, Henry Schram, Harrison Smith, John A. Shipe, S. C. H. Smith, Milton Stone, F. B. Simpson, Martin Sharp, John Thompson, Wil- liam White, Noah Welch.
CHAPTER XV
AFTER THE CIVIL WAR
HE era of Railroad building in this country com- menced about the year 1835 and proceeded slowly at first. Most of the lines built during the next two decades were in the Atlantic States and were what would now be called short lines and these lines were extended a few miles at a time. Rail- roads multiplied as the people learned their advantages and the means could be secured for their construction. The Baltimore & Ohio was one of the first roads to extend its lines to the west. This road advanced gradually from year to year until 1857 when it reached the Ohio river at Parkersburg, opposite Belpre. This road followed substan- tially the route of the extensive stage road which was laid out by the State of Virginia within two or three years after the settlement at Marietta and, before the Railroad was built, was one of the best patronized stage and freight routes between the Atlantic States and the west. The completion of this road gave the people at Belpre a direct and rapid communication with the east, and greatly facili- tated the movement of soldiers and supplies during the Civil War. During the time, before West Virginia became a separate state it was disputed territory. During this period several battles were fought along the line of this road and the daily papers often recorded the tearing up of rails of this road by Confederate soldiers and a few days later in another portion by Union soldiers. The import- ance of this road for the movement of soldiers and sup- plies was probably one of the causes of the separation of West Virginia from the parent state and her continuance in the Union.
In April 1857, the same year that the Baltimore and Ohio Road was completed to Parkersburg, the Marietta and Cincinnati Road was completed and commenced its busi- ness. By this means direct communication by Railroad was completed between Baltimore and Cincinnati, with the
VILLAGE SCHOOL HOUSE, BUILT 1876
JUDGE OLIVER RICE LORING
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exception of nine miles between Scotts Landing and Park- ersburg in which gap the Ohio river furnished the means of transfer by steamboats and barges.
The costs and inconveniences of this transfer were so great that it was impossible to secure through business and the local business was little more than enough to keep trains running. The business men of Washington County saw that a direct connection between these two roads was of vital importance to both roads and to the public. The English bond-holders who were interested in the B. & O. Road were unwilling to make farther advance of money, and the Directors of the B. & O. refused to aid, and the Marietta and Cincinnati Road was placed in the hands of a receiver in 1858. Every one acknowledged that a road from Scott's Landing to Belpre was a necessity but how it could be built was an important question. It made that matter more embarassing because the country at that time (1857-58) was in the midst of one of the worst financial panics in our history. By the transfer of the M. & C. Road to a receiver Hon. Wm. P. Cutler was released from his position as president of that road, and gave his attention to the organization of the Union Railroad Company, and the construction of this line of nine miles of road.
W. P. Cutler, John Mills, and Douglas Putnam under- took this work and the road was completed in 1859, so that it was ready for use at the beginning of the Civil War. Tracks were laid to the river bank on each side so as to connect with large transports furnished with tracks, which ferried both passenger and freight cars across the river. This method of transfer was reasonably successful but there were times when it was difficult and even impossible to make the connections, especially in a very low stage of water, a time of flood, or when the navigation was hindered by floating ice. As business increased after the close of the war it became evident that it was necessary to make better provision for crossing the river at Belpre.
In 1868 what had been known as the Marietta and Cincinnati Railway came under control of the B. & O. road and was given the name of Baltimore and Ohio Southwest- ern Railway.
A little later it was decided to construct a short line from Athens to Belpre and bridge the river here. The
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road was completed in 1874 and the bridge about the same time which made Belpre only a way station on a through line of railway but it was an important station, for the Railway Company purchased of George Dana, Esq. twelve acres on "the plain," built suitable buildings and estab- lished stock yards for unloading, feeding and watering animals transported in cattle cars, as the law directs.
From that time to the present thousands of cattle, sheep and hogs have here been rested and refreshed every month. A large hotel was built by the Railroad near the station which for a number of years was patronized by cattle men and others. This business was finally suspend- ed and after being unoccupied for a number of years the building was demolished in 1915.
VILLAGE
Previous to the completion of the road from Marietta to Belpre, the history of Belpre referred to the township. In 1852 A. H. Browning Esq., secured the laying out of a village plat by S. H. Chamberlain, Surveyor. In this plat were eighteen building lots. A considerable number of additions were made to this plat until it reached its present dimensions. After the completion of the road just men- tioned the village began to assume importance. Dwellings were erected, also a store in which the Post Office was located. Soon religious services were held here and within a few years a school house and two houses for worship were built.
In 1870 there were about one thousand persons in the village and a little later a petition, signed by one hundred and ten citizens, was presented to the County Commission- ers asking for the incorporation of a village; a remon- strance was presented, signed by seventy leading citizens, which delayed action on the petition, and it was finally decided not to authorize the incorporation because the boundaries proposed included farm lands which should not be embraced in the village. In 1901 a majority of citizens voted to incorporate the village and the charter was receiv- ed January 9th, 1902. The first election of village officers was held a little later. The citizens of Belpre have not attempted to make this a manufacturing center very much beyond the necessities of local trade. A ship was built
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here a little above the Little Hocking by Martin Roberts. Commenced in 1860, though not completed until after the close of the Civil War, when it was sent down the river to the Gulf of Mexico for ocean trade.
About this time the oil business began to assume im- portance in Southern Ohio and adjacent parts of West Virginia; this fact and the growth of Parkersburg made the village a more desirable locality for residences and caused a steady increase both in population and business. In 1865 a drug store was established by C. H. Johnson, also a flouring mill was operated near the ferry by Leseur Hadley and Stone and a little later a planing mill and lumber yard by Stone and Marsh.
In 1868 or 69 Barkley and Downer established a Tan- nery in the north part of the village. This firm was succeed- ed by Kuhn Brothers who continued the business and fur- nished good leather for the foot wear of the citizens of Belpre and vicinity.
For several years a pump factory was operated near the river by Marsh, Crandal and Co.
These factories near the river were very seriously in- jured by the flood of 1884. The flouring mill and lumber yard were abandoned and the pump factory was reorganiz- ed by Glazier, Potter & Rathbone who continued the busi- ness for several years. Some years later a flouring mill was established here by Pearcy and Son of Parkersburg which manufactured a considerable amount of good flour until the building was consumed by fire in 1908.
Vinegar works were established in 1834 on the farm of George Dana. This business was continued for many years by his son George Dana, Junior. Many thousand gallons of good cider vinegar were manufactured here which greatly aided the neighboring farmers by furnish- ing a sale for their second grade apples, and the name George Dana on a package was considered a guarantee of purity.
George Dana commenced the evaporation of apples in 1880 and continued the business for several years. The Dana Canning Company built a large factory near the Railway Station in 1885 and introduced the canning of fruit. For several years this company manufactured a large
164
number of cans, introducing improved machinery for that purpose. In 1901 they disposed of this branch of the busi- ness but have continued the canning of tomatoes, berries, pumpkins, and apples, distributing thousands of dollars among the farmers, and furnishing employment to a con- siderable number of persons during the active season.
NEWSPAPERS.
During the decade after Belpre Village began to as- sume importance three different attempts were made to establish a newspaper here. In 1875 J. B. Kinkead began publishing "The Courier" which continued but a short time. "The News" was published by Mrs. Mary J. Adams in 1878. Dana Goshen published "The Herald" in 1879-80. Neither of these enterprises proved successful and they were soon abandoned. The connection of Belpre with Parkersburg and the facility of communication really make a separate newspaper unnecessary. The Parkersburg dailies make commendable efforts to collect Belpre news and a Belpre directory is published with that of Parkersburg, so that the people of Belpre are well served in these re- spects.
The farmers have experimented with various crops to learn which can be most profitably raised in their soil and climate; they have tested various kinds of fertilizers in order to know which are best for their use; they have also supplied themselves with the most approved farming uten- sils with which to perform their work. It has been proved by various trials that the land on the second bottom, or terrace, is specially adapted to market gardening, also that while Parkersburg furnishes a limited home market, the surplus can be transported within twenty-four hours to the markets of Pittsburg, Cleveland and other northern cities, and this two or three weeks earlier than they can be raised in the vicinity of these cities. For these reasons the busi- ness of market gardening has increased during the last twenty years and will probably continue to grow.
Manure is easily secured from the stables of Park- ersburg and commercial fertilizers can also be easily pro- vided and by careful adjustment two annual crops can be raised on much of the land.
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FARMERS CLUB
At a gathering of farmers July 19, 1879 several mem- bers of the Muskingum farmers Club were present who gave an account of their organization. As a result it was resolved to organize a similar club in Belpre.
This plan was consummated at a gathering on the lawn of Cyrus Ames, Esq., one week later when the Belpre Farmers Club was organized with Hon. A. L. Curtis as President. The object of the Club was improvement in farming, gardening, and fruit raising, and also social and intellectual culture. Monthly meetings were held at the homes of members for several years and all who desired to attend were made welcome. The exercises consisted of essays and discussions on farming, gardening and fruit raising, also declamation and music by the young people. These meetings were finally superceded by other neighbor- hood gatherings.
A suspension bridge across the Ohio river connecting Belpre with Parkersburg was commenced March 15, 1915, and the first toll was collected April 22, 1916. This bridge is 2845 feet in length, central span 775 feet and the towers 175 feet high above low water. This bridge brings Belpre and Parkersburg into very close connection, and when trol- ley cars cross the bridge (for which tracks are already laid) the two will be substantially united for all business and social relations. In addition to this connection with Parkersburg there are many reasons why Belpre is a spe- ially favorable place for residences. In religion there are two well sustained churches with easy access to churches in Parkersburg. The schools are equal to those in any village in the country culminating in a High School of the first grade and nearly every scholar can go to the school house on concrete walks. A person can attend an evening enter- tainment, in Marietta or Parkersburg and reach home the same evening either by trolley or steam cars. In the village or vicinity a family may have virtually a country home with sufficient ground for flowers and vegetable garden, with educational, social, and religious advantages of a city. At the same time the children are at least partially removed from the temptations and evil associations of a city.
Another fact is worthy of attention. There has been no saloon in the village or township for twenty years and
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in all votes on the question for several years the dry vote has been two-thirds of the whole. The citizens of Belpre are human and there are some who use intoxicating liquors but the sentiment for temperance and good order is so far in the ascendancy that it is more likely to increase than decrease.
From these considerations it is evident that conditions in Belpre are such as to invite good citizens to make their homes there. When the trolley cars shall cross the bridge, for which tracks are already laid, the line will doubtless be continued westward until there is a continuous connec- tion between Pittsburg and Cincinnati and intercommuni- cation between the cities and villages in the valley.
This convenience of travel and traffic together with the growth of the enterprising City of Parkersburg will invite families to establish homes along the plain extending west from Congress Creek. This land is so much elevated above the highest ambition of the Ohio river that it must always remain dry. The land between the bluff and the hills is all fertile and arable and as well adapted to beau- tiful country homes as to market gardening.
Those who look upon this region a half a century hence will doubtless see fruit orchards, vegetable and flower gar- dens, and well trimmed lawns interspersed with attractive and costly homes making one of the most attractive subur- ban regious in the valley.
CHAPTER XVI
EDUCATION
HE first school in Belpre was taught by Miss Bathsheba Rouse in the block house of Col. Ebenezer Battelle, during the summer of 1789. Miss Rouse was the first female teacher in Ohio and it is significant that during the season that the first cabins were occupied the settlers made provision for the education of their children by the establishment of a school.
In their minds the school was the direct and imme- diate associate of the home in the interests of the rising generation. Miss Rouse taught a school for several subse- quent summers and a winter school was taught by a male teacher, among the first of these were Jonathan Baldwin and Daniel Mayo, the latter a graduate of Cambridge Col- lege. These pioneers seem to have followed substantially the plan of country schools in New England at that time, which was to employ a female teacher for three months in the summer and a male teacher for an equal time in winter.
Universal education through the common schools in this country had its origin in New England. The settlers there brought with them the town meeting as the unit of a democratic government, and, because all the citizens were participants in such a government, all should be made in- telligent. It has been true in the history of various parts of our country that wherever a company of settlers from New England have located there has very soon been a school and, before the settlement has become very large, plans have been made for an academy and college.
When Stone's Fort was erected in 1793 there were forty children in the families domiciled there and a school house was built within the palisades. We find mention of a log school house in the middle settlement in 1801 which had evidently been erected some time earlier. There was also a log school house at Newbury as early as 1800. These early school houses were warmed in winter by an ample
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fire place in one end of the room. The entrance was on one side of this fire place and the teachers desk on the other side; there were seats for scholars on the other three sides of the room with an open space in the center where the scholars recited, and toed a line when they stood in the spelling class. A little later, and perhaps at this early day, a small silver coin was perforated for a string and worn home each night by the scholar who was at the head of the class, and borne away in triumph on the last day by the scholar who had worn it home most times during the term. School houses were built in other portions of the township as they were needed. Some small appropriations were made for the first schools by the Ohio Company but most of the expenses were borne by the parents. Mrs. Preston, in her history of Newbury, states that the "wages of teach- ers during those early years were five dollars a month with what the parents of the children could give, the teacher boarded around." The five dollars probably came from the Ohio Company's appropriations or from other public funds and the balance from tuitions and contributions.
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