USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > Salem in Columbiana County > A souvenir history of ye old town of Salem, Ohio, with some pictures and brief references to ye people and things of ye olden time > Part 2
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natural obstructions to their progress. The early homes of the people in the new country were of the rudest kind. [The manner of building the primitive log house has already been described. The mode of completing and furnishing the
house as frequently adopted, according to the authority referred to, follows :] "The third day's work generally consisted in what was called 'furnishing ' the house, that is, supplying it with clap-board table, made of a split slab, and supported by four round legs set in auger holes. Some three-legged stools were made in the same manner. Some pins stuck in the logs in the back of the house supported some clap- boards which served for shelves for the table furniture, consisting sometimes of a few pewter dishes, plates and spoons, but mostly of wooden bowls, trenches and noggins. If these last were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled squashes made up the deficiency. The iron pots, knives and forks were brought from over the mountains, along with iron and salt on pack horses. A single fork placed with its lower end in a hole in the floor and the upper end fastened to the joist served for a bedstead, by placing a pole in the fork, with one end through a crack between the logs in the wall. This first pole was crossed by a shorter one with the fork, with its outer end through another crack. From the first pole through a crack between the logs of the end of
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the house, the boards were put on, which formed the bottom of the bed. Sometimes other poles were pinned to the fork a little distance above these for the purpose of supporting the front and foot of the bed, while the walls were the support of the back and its head. A few pegs around the walls for a display of the coats of the women and hunting shirts of the men, and two small forks or buck's horns attached to a joist for the rifle and powder pouch completed the carpenter's work." The hospitality of the people was proverbial. No one ever appealed in vain for food, in any emergency, whether he were a neighbor or a stranger, and nothing would give greater offense than an offer to pay for the same. The latch-string always hung on the outside, and the stranger or wayfarer always received a generous and hearty welcome. In their friendships they were firm, constant and true.
Salem people have long been noted for the
Home of Rev. Clement Vallindigham
manner in which they cherish the memories and associations of their past history. This very excellent characteristic has been and is still given expression in the numerous family reunions held from year to year. At one of these gatherings- the Painter reunion, held in Salem in 1881- the following letter, written by Robert Painter, then a resident of Oregon, to his niece, Lydia Grim-
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mersey, was read-which gives, from first hands, a rather vivid idea of some of the manners and customs, as well as a hint of some of the hard- ships endured, by the early settlers of this neighborhood :
"Robert Painter, son of Jacob and Mary Hunt Painter, was born in Virginia, Augtst 12, 1796. My parents crossed the Allegheny moun- tains in the summer of 1802 and settled in the fall of that year one mile and a half northeast of where Salem now is. There was no Salem then. It was one vast wilderness. We had one neighbor, Elisha Teeters, two miles north, and Noah Sawey, four miles south. These were all we knew. It was thirty miles to mill, and it took two days to go to mill ; we went on horseback. There were plenty of Indians around and lots of wild animals. We had our wants then as well as now. When we wanted tea we would make it out of sassafras roots or spice wood ; when we wanted coffee we made it out of roasted rye or chestnuts, or when we wanted meat we went out with our gun and got it. There were lots of deer and wild turkey all around us. If we wanted shoes we made moccasins ; if we wanted pants we made them out of buckskin-so we had leather breeches full of stitches, without buttons. But we soon began to have neighbors, some of whom were the Cooks,
Balls, Webbs, Smiths, Davises, Warringtons, Briggs, Holloways, Gaskels and Streets. Most of the settlers were Friends, and they built a log meeting house. The ladies had morocco shoes, and would carry their shoes and stockings in their hands, walking barefoot until near the meeting house, and then slip them on; and when they started home would slip them off, unless they had beaux with them. When they wanted to have a big time the girls and boys would go out in the woods, clean off the leaves, when some would sing and some would dance and so merrily pass away the time ; so we had tame animals as well as wild ones. Jacob Cook was the great deer hunter ; he would kill ten deer in one day ; and John Teeters was the great bear hunter; he would kill fifty in one winter. I saw my mother dress a man's arm from the bites of a bear. His name was Nixon. He was in the woods without any weapons and a bear pitched at him with open mouth. Nixon rammed his fist down the bear's throat and choked it to death. His arms were badly bitten around the elbows. But Aunt Sarah Smith 'took the rag off the bush.' She was at home alone one day and a bear came trotting across the yard. The dogs flew at it and caught it, when the old lady took the axe and chopped it in the head and killed it. There were plenty of wolves around which preyed upon our stock, and we lost lots of stock in that way. We had log
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cabins at first, and we enjoyed life. The Indians were good to us."
The primitive abodes and the simple wants of the people, as population increased and the little town grew in improtance, in time had to give way to conditions re- quiring more skill in handiwork ; and so some of the youths of the town and community must needs learn trades, and even the young maids sometimes were taken into service. Shoes and boots, hats, and all wearing apparel, as well as the materials of which they were com- posed, and also tools, furniture, etc., which in later years were machine made in large centers of population and of busi- ness, had to be produced by the people them- selves in those early days. The early inhabi- tants were thus thrown upon their own resour- ces, and they were equal to every emergency. But in time there was a demand for carpenters, cabinet-makers, blacksmiths, tanners, tailors, hatters, shoemakers, etc. And so persons who
Home for Aged Women.
had already some knowledge in the line of these crafts opened shops and places of business, be- came master workmen, and in time required ap- prentices and helpers. Boys were then "indent- ured " or "bound out," usually until they were twenty-one, and in many cases girls until they were eighteen years of age. But usually seven years in those days was an approximate of the
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period upon which a young person of either sex was expected to enter service and at the end of which time he or she was to be free and enter independently upon life's duties. During ap- prenticeship the master was required to furnish the apprentice "good and wholesome food and clothing, lodging, and a certain amount of schooling, and to teach him the mysteries of his trade." The apprentice on his part was required to "serve his master faithfully, to treat him and his family with due respect, not to embezzle his goods, or say or do anything to the injury of his business ; and not to go to any places of dissi- pation." At the close of the term of service, if all conditions had been faithfully kept, the ap- prentice was, to receive "an outfit, which was usually a new and good suit of clothes, a Bible, and, in some instances, a set of tools of a specified value." Boys would sometimes become dissatis- fied and run away from the masters to whom they had been indentured, before the expiration of their apprenticeship, and thus forfeit their
promised outfit, or, as was perhaps more often the case, be captured and brought back for the small reward offered for such capture. The following copies of indentures entered into by parties in and near Salem have been preserved: "November 29th, 1833, Araminta Grist was in- dentured to Zadok Street. She was to be instructed in the art, trade and mystery of house- wifery ; to be trained to habits of industry, obedi- ence and morality ; to be taught to read, write and cipher as far as the single rule of three ; to be provided for, and be allowed meat, drink and washing, lodging and apparel for summer and winter. She was to live with him until she was eighteen years of age ; and, at the expiration of such service, he should give her a new Bible and at least two suits of new wearing apparel." "Mary Sheets was apprenticed to Alexander Burns. She was to have, at the expiration of her service, a new Bible, two suits of common wearing apparel, a new bureau, one new wool wheel and a new umbrella."
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Chapter II .- Churches and Schools
Many Christianizing and Educational Institutions Hold Sway-Eminent Di- vines and Faithful Educators Have Done Much to Mould Salem Into a Model Community.
For fifteen years or more after the first set- tlement of Salem, the early settlers being chiefly members of the Society of Friends there was no . other form of public worship than theirs. The first regular meeting house to be built in the village was what was known as the Friends' Meeting House, a log building, erected in 1807. A Quarterly Meeting was soon after formed and made a branch of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting. However, prior to this, George Hunt tells that the first meeting on the site of Salem was held in the summer of 1804, in the house of Samuel Davis, near what was afterwards known as "the spring" on Garfield avenue. About a dozen people as- sembled and held a silent meeting. When they were fairly "composed " an Indian chief and his squaw entered the house, and, on being told what was going on, they took seats and sat in a re-
spectful manner until the Friends shook hands. This is still the token of the close of a silent meeting. The red strangers had no communica- tion to offer, but, being invited to take dinner, the chief was so well satisfied with the hospitality that he exclaimed, "Go six days," meaning that he could go that length of time without eating any more. Soon after this a " Preparation Meet- ing " was formed in a log cabin near the present site of the old Town Hall ; and later an addition to it was built and a Monthly Meeting was con- stituted, which was made a branch of the Red- stone Quarterly Meeting. In this meeting house occurred the marriage of David Scolfield and Rebecca Davis on November 20th, 1805. They were said to be the first couple ever married in Salem. In 1808 the first brick meeting house was completed. In the summer and fall of 1807
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Old Log Friends' Meeting House in Fairfield Township-Built in 1808,
the brick were made and the building was fin- ished early in the following year. It stood on the south side of Main street, between Broadway and Depot street. Joel Sharp, Sr., and Aaron Stratton were two of the carpenters who worked upon the structure. This old structure is re- membered by some Salem people still living. It
was occupied as a place of worship until the large brick building on Dry street, still in use by the Dry Street Friends, was erected. In 1828 the society of Friends became sepa- rated into two factions. The "Or- thodox" party held the meeting house and property on Main street. The "Hicksites," the other faction, held the less valuable property, with a small house on Green street. In 1845 the large frame meeting house on Ellsworth avenue, still standing and which the Hicksite Friends still use, was built, and that year the Yearly Meeting was first held here. Since that time, or until 1905, it was held in al- ternate years here and at Mount Pleasant, Jeffer- son county. In the summer of 1905 it was held in the old meeting house in Salem, which was built in 1845-sixty years before. "In 1845," says Hunt's History of Salem, "another division occurred in the Society of Friends. Some years before Joseph Gurney, an English Friend, came
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over and went through most of the American meetings, and preached in such a manner as to set the people to thinking. Many believed that he preached the truth, and there were many who regarded him as getting away from the Friends' standards. One John Wilbur, an American Friend, opposed him. This led to a division; and for a distinction the parties got the names of 'Gurneyites' and 'Wilburites.' But they both ignore the names as applied to their respective parties. By a compromise, during about eighteen years, both parties held their meetings at differ- ent hours, on Sabbath days, and mid-week meet- ings on different days, in the Dry street meeting house. Then the Wilbur Friends built a com- modious house on East Sixth street in 1872, which they still use for a meeting house. Dur- ing many years the Friends had more influence than all the other denominations combined. During late years other denominations have in- creased in numbers and in influence. The Friends diminished, and much of the influence which they formerly exerted is gone from them. Lately the Gurney party have taken to them the name of Friends 'Church,' the others still hold-
1858
METHODIST CHURCH ELSWORTH STREET E. SIDE BET. GREEN & HIGH.
ing to the word 'meeting.' The Gurney body here has done much to sustain services and gain converts. In this capacity Willis Hotchkiss, Joseph Peele, Edgar Ellyson, and Fred. J. Cope have labored with manifest results." Mr. Cope left in 1904 for Columbus, where he labored for some time as a missionary, and then settled down to pastoral work, still, however, giving a part of his time to "rescue work." Mrs. Elizabeth Ward followed him as pastor of the Dry street church. Neither the Ellsworth avenue (the Hicksite) nor the East Sixth street (the Wilbur) meeting has
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Christian Church.
a local pastor. These branches have ministers connected with their annual and quarterly meet-
tings, but no settled pastors over their local meetings.
In 1821 a "class" of nine persons was formed in Salem, consisting of Thomas Kelly and wife, John Flitcraft, Edward Reynear and wife, Thomas Webb and wife, David Hum and James W. Leach. The services were held most- ly at the house of Thomas Kelly, who was then the leader of the class. In 1821 Samuel Brocko- nier, of the Beaver circuit of the Methodist Episcopal church, preached at Salem. The cir- cuit was afterwards changed to New Lisbon, then to Hanover, Lima and Salem respectively. In 1852, petition being made to the conference, Salem was made a separate station, with Rev. J. W. Nessly as the first pastor. In 1823 the first log house of worship had been built by the society, which was succeeded by a larger build- ing in 1837, which they used until 1859, when they disposed of this to the Disciples, and built the brick edifice on Broadway now in use. Some of the early pastors were : Revs. Samuel Crouse, Aaron Thomas, J. A. Swaney, William Cox, Hiram Miller and J. M. Bray. Since 1870 the pastors of the church have been : Revs. William
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Lynch, Thomas N. Boyle, Jolin Grant, W. A. Davidson, J. C. Sullivan, J. M. Carr, J. Brown, Ezra Hingeley, G. A. Simon, W. H. Haskell, J. B. Youmans, C. B. Henthorn, H. W. Dewey, Morris Floyd and C. L. Smith. The member- ship of this congregation in 1905 was reported at 740. In 1890 the congregation purchased a resi- dence property on Lincoln avenue for a parson- age, paying for it about $4,500.
The Presbyterian church of Salem was or- ganized in 1832. Rev. Clement Vallandigham and other members of the Presbytery of New Lisbon had preached in Salem at intervals for a number of years. Mr. Vallandigham, by ap- pointment of the Presbytery, preached at a meet- ing which had been set for the purpose of form- ing an organization. Twenty person were then received into the new church as follows : Hugh Stewart, Reuel Wright, George Ehrich, N. Mc- Cracken, John Martin, James Wilson, Terah Jones, John Wilson, William Martin, Hugh Mar- tin, Agnes Stewart, Agnes Wilson, Mary Ehrich' Elizabeth McCracken, Martha T. Martin, Re- becca P. Campbell, Martha Wilson, Jane Martin, Elizabeth Wright, William Martin. James Wil-
son, Nathaniel McCraken and Hugh Stewart were chosen elders. The society first worshiped in a wagon shop on Main street. The first house of worship was built in 1842, which building, 18 years later, was sold and removed to Race street, where it was used for many years as a dwelling house. The first year after this house was built it was occupied without being plastered, and plank and slab seats were used. In 1860-61 the house on East Green street still occupied by the congregation, was built at a cost of $10,000. (A chapel was later added, and in the Centennial year enlargement and improvements were pro- jected to cost $4,000 or over). Rev. Clement Vallandigham was the first pastor, and continued to serve the church until the year of his death, 1839. He was succeeded by the Rev. William McCombs, who remained until 1852. Other pas- tors of the church have been, Rev. J. S. Grimes, A. B. Maxwell, W. B. Fry, W. D. Sexton, DeCosta Pomerene, B. F. Boyle, W. F. McCauley (stated supply), and William L. Swan, who was installed in March, 1903, and is still, in the Cen- tenial year, the pastor. The membership of the church in the year named was about 550.
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November 10, 1809, a deed was recorded from John Straughan and his wife Mary, con- veying lots 55 and 56, on the corner of what were afterwards Depot and Race streets, in Salem, for the sum of $14, to David Gaskill, Sr., Joseph Willets and Joseph White as "trustees of the regular Baptist Church." This seems to have been the starting point for the Baptist organiza- tion in Salem. As nearly as can be ascertained the first members were : David Gaskill, Sr., and wife, Jacob Gaskill, Mr. Ogle, Joseph Wright and wife, John Spencer and wife, Clarissa McConner and Mary Straughan. A small log church was built on the property. In 1820 a small brick building was erected on the lots. November 23d, 1820, an organization was ef- fected with forty members, and on November 6, 1824, a church constitution was adopted. Rev. Thomas Miller was the first regular pastor, and was succeeded by Revs. Jehu Brown, David Rigdon, Revs. Messrs. Rogers, Freeman, Wil- liams, Blake, Matthias, Suman, Phillips, Stone, Morris, Green, Justice, Ask, Thomas P. Child, B. F. Bowen, T. J. Lamb, John Hawker, P. J. Ward, A. S. Moore, C. H. Pendleton, G. W.
Rigler, R. K. Eccles, C. W. Fletcher, A. B. Whitney, Ross Matthewes and Herman Lang- who was pastor in 1906.
The frame building afterwards known as the "Broad Gauge Church," was erected in 1830, at a meeting held February, 1, 1867, it was re- solved that all books, papers and property be turned over to a new Baptist church, which was formally organized February 12, 1867. Forty- two members then joined "The Baptist Church of Salem," and the old church was disbanded.
The Second Baptist Church of Salem was constituted November 8, 1840, "as a result of dissensions in the First Baptist Church over the questions of slavery and temperance." Decem- ber 12, 1840, the trustees purchased, from the Methodists, a house on Green street. The pas- tors serving this society were : Revs. Morris, Willard, Green and Kirk. The Church dis- banded in 1867 in order to unite with the mem- bers of the First Church in forming " The Bap- tist Church of Salem" as already related. Forty-two members from the First and seventeen from the second joined in the reunion movement. In 1869 the large and well appointed edifice at
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the corner of Main street and Lincoln avenue was built, at a cost of about $10,000. In 1900 the Bethany Baptist church was organized by a faction of the membership, which had with- drawn from the regular Baptist church. Ser- vices were held in the Gurney block on Broad- way for almost three years, when a frame build- ing on Ohio avenue was bought and changed into a house of worship; but in the spring of 1906, Rev. James Lister, the only pastor the organiza- tion ever had, having resigned and left the city, the church property was offered for sale, and a majority of the membership took their letters to the First (or regular) Baptist Church, and again became members of the parent organization.
The first Protestant Episcopal church ser- vices ever held in Salem was on April 19, 1817, in a log school house which stood on Main street, near the present site of the City Hall. It was conducted by Rev. Philander Chase. Transient services were held, at long intervals, until 1859, when, on March 14th of that year, the "Church of Our Saviour" was organized. A vestry was elected, consistingof Thomas Read, S. W. Whitney, S. D. Hawley, Allan Boyle, E. Smith, and Robert
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Protestant Episcopal Church.
and E. Turner. Rev. Mr. Hollis was the first rector. His successors have been, Revs. H. H.
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George D. Hunt.
Morrell, A. T. McMurphy, Ephraim Watt, C. L. Pinder, F. E. McManus, E. L. Wells, Guthrie
Pitblado and (in 1904-06 to the present, ) O. A. Simpson. A school building, and, later, rooms in a business block, were occupied by the congre- gation until 1889, when the handsome stone edi- fice on McKinley avenue was completed. The vestrymen in 1905 were: C. T. Steiner, Senior Warden ; Robert Curtis, Junior Warden ; F. J. Mullins, William L. Deming, Lewis Brereton, L. E. Callen and Claude Taylor. The member- ship of the church was 120.
The Christian or Disciples Church of Salem was organizen March 15, 1859. Prior to that date occasional services had been held by William Schooley, Amos Allerton, Walter Scott, John Henry, J. J. Moss, T. J. Newcomb and others. The building which occupied a site in the rear of the church edifice afterwards built on Ellsworth avenue, and owned by the Methodist Episcopal congregation, was purchased from the latter organization and occupied until the new church edifice was built and dedicated in 1881. This building cost originally about $13,000, and in 1893 it was enlarged and improved at a cost of $7,000. The pastors since 1859 have been : Revs. Theobald Miller, Sterling McBride, S. B. Tee-
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garden, J. W. Lamphear, E. B. Cole, J. H. Jones, W. H. Spindler, H. Cogswell, T. J. Lyle, J. L. Darsie, J. A. Hopkins, T. E. Cramblett, M. J. Grable, R. C. Sargent, Walter B. Mansell and H. H. Clark, who became pastor of the church in 1905. The membership of the church at that time was about 450.
In 1855 a Catholic Church was organized in Salem, and occasionally services were held until 1868, when the Rev. E. W. Lindesmith, who then had charge of the churches of that denomi- nation at Alliance and Leetonia, assumed pastoral care of the Salem charge also. He held services once a month in the houses of the parishioners, and four times a year in Town Hall. This ar- rangement continued until 1880. The Rev. C. Trieber became resident pastor that year, and November 28, 1886, the church on Mckinley avenue, (then East Main street, ) was dedicated. Father Trieber was succeeded by the Rev. Finican, and he in turn by the Revs. F. Senner, G. C. Schoeneman, Conlon and John T. Moran, the last named entering the Salem work February 11, 1905. Connected with the parish at that time were 68 Catholic and 24 mixed families.
In 1901 a parsonage was built connected with the church, and in 1904 a fine parochial school build- ing, costing $12,000, adjoining the parsonage on the west, was erected and dedicated.
The First Evangelical Luthern Church of Salem was organized January 6, 1878, with 48 members. Rev. William B. Roller was the first pastor. The organization held together for a number of years, but did not prove permanent. The Emanual Evangelical Lutheral Church was organized in 1895, and in 1897 the church build- ing on South Lundy street was erected, being dedicated January 16, 1898. The church in 1906 had a membership of about 100.
Unity Church of Salem was organized in the autumn of 1900 by Charles E. St. John, Secretary of the American Unitarian Association, and Rev. George N. Young, of Massachusetts, who served as pastor of the church for a short time. Rev. C. S. S. Dutton became pastor of the church February 1, 1902, and in 1906 continued in that capacity. Regular services were held in the Pioneer Block.
The Church of Christ (Scientist) of Salem was organized February 3, 1902. The first ser-
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vices preliminary to the organization of the so- ciety was held July 1, 1899, at the home of Mrs. Ellen D. Meyerhoefer, on Lincoln avenue. In October 1899, rooms were secured in the Pioneer block, where the regular religious services of the society were still held in 1906. A reading room was maintained there, as is the rule generally in connection with Christian Science societies. The membership numbered about fifteen, and Mrs. Ellen D. Meyerhoefer continued to serve as reader.
The A. M. E. Zion congregation organized some time in the '60's, and in 1870 built a com- fortable house of worship at the corner of How- ard and East High streets. In the course of a few years a division occured in the congregation, and as a result the Bethel A. M. E. congrega- tion was formed. The latter organization built a house on East High street, which in 1905 was practically rebuilt. Each of these societies had a membership of about fifty, and each gave sup- port to a minister part time.
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