Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 11

Author: McKelvey, A. T., 1844- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490

USA > Ohio > Belmont County > Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 11

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mills on the Bellaire, Zanesville & Cincinnati Railway; the Gaylord mines near Don on the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad; and the We- gee mines near Ambler. There is in addition to the above the Scheck mines, the Pittsburg & Ohio Coal Company and the Belmont mine No. 2 in Bellaire.

The coal of Belmont County is regarded as being without a superior for the operation of locomotives, and is in great demand for that purpose throughout the country. The fast en- gines of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad each consume from 10 to 15 carloads per day, while the road as a whole consumes for locomotives 850 tons daily, while the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling road consumes 975 tons daily and the Wheeling & Lake Erie consumes 1,200 tons daily. Hundreds of cars of this coal are shipped to Canada by the Troll mines weekly for locomotive purposes, and more is de- manded but lack of sufficient cars forbids such long shipments. An analysis of the Belinont County coal reveals

Fixed carbon. .55 %

Volatile .38

Ash 6 "

Sulphur

2 "

Moisture 3

TIIE UNDEVELOPED COAL LANDS.

In addition to the mines already in operation, large purchases of undeveloped coal land have been made since the opening of the new century as already referred to, for which an aggregate of over two million dollars was paid. These purchases are as follows :

International Coal Company . 24,500 acres

Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Company . 11,000

Lorain Coal & Dock Company. 6,500

C. Troll's Sons. 13,600

Pursegloves 600

Weaver Coal Company 6,000

Empire Coal Company. ·32,000

McComas 5,200

Sun Oil & Coal Company .24,000

Morgan & Company. 1,500

Alexander Neff 1,000

J. II. Patterson.

2,000

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

A review of the census by townships will re-

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,

veal the fact that in 1840 the bulk of the popu- lation resided in the rural districts and agri- culture was the leading industry. The few primitive manufacturing enterprises were lo- cated at the county seat, and consisted of two cut nail factories, a furniture factory, a brush factory, a coffin factory and a shoe factory. In Uniontown there were millwrights and in Mar- tin's Ferry there were also foundries and ma- chine works. In 1880 a marked change was noted.

In the interval between 1840 and 1880, the manufacturing interest developed with great rapidity, especially in Pease, Pultney and War- ren townships. Before the completion of the Central Ohio Railroad to Bellaire and the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad to Bridgeport and Bellaire, the seven townships on the north side of the county had 50 per cent. more prop- erty on the tax certificate than the nine town- ships on the south side, yet in 10 years after the railroads were completed and in operation the tax payers in the nine townships on the south side of the county had returned 50 per cent. more property to the assessor than the townships on the north side.

Invited by the accessibility and cheapness of raw material as well as good transportation fa- cilities both by rail and water, manufacturing establishments were built all along our river front. Money was plenty, labor was in de- mand and well remunerated, and glass houses, iron mills, blast furnaces and machine works sprang up as if by magic. The first glass works were organized in 1861 at Bellaire, and the first rolling mill in 1866 at the same place. These continued to increase in number until in 1890 there were 18 glass houses and six rolling mills and blast furnaces in Pease and Pultney townships alone; in addition to which there were numerous agricultural machinery facto- ries, stove foundries and barrel factories. with an aggregate capital of nearly two mil-

lions of dollars, and furnishing employment to upwards of 3,000 workmen.

At the opening of the 20th century, Belmont County had become a great industrial center, with immense steel plants, glass houses, nail mills and foundries, that blacken the sky with the smoke of their factories and illuminate the heavens with the light of their furnaces by night.

These factories and mills give employment to 92,075 operatives with a monthly pay roll of $367,700. William Alexander of Bridgeport says that the promotion and progress of these , great industrial enterprises was due largely to the untiring zeal and sacrifices of such public- spirited citizens as W. W. Holloway, Ebenezer Rhodes and John C. Tallman of Bridgeport ; William Clark of Martin's Ferry ; A. L. Weth- erald and W. G. Barnard of Bellaire.

To this list of worthy men we might add Col. C. L. Poorman, Gen. B. R. Cowen and Col. J. H. Sullivan of Bellaire; William T. Graham of Bridgeport; Cyrus Mendenhall and L. Spence of Martin's Ferry ; and J. M. Lewis and J. H. Watt of Barnesville.

John C. Tallman proved an able financier and wise counselor in the promotion of all these great industries. W. W. Holloway stood by the helm and piloted the Aetna Standard Mill through the financial storm of 1873, when its stock sold as low as 40 and 50 cents on the dollar.

Ebenezer Rhodes was mainly instrumental in establishing the La Belle Glass Works.

The great steel plants in Bellaire, Martin's Ferry and Aetnaville have been absorbed by and are today operated by the national steel trust which is now preparing to add valuable improvements to the plant in Bellaire. A his- tory of the various mills and factories will be found in the history of the township in which each is located.

CHAPTER VII.

SOME MEMORABLE STORMS AND FLOODS.

THE CYCLONE OF 1887-A REMARKABLE HAIL STORM-THE HARDESTY FLOOD-THE FLOODS OF 1866, 1881 AND 1888-FLOODS ALONG THE OHIO-THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1884.

THIE CYCLONE OF 1887.

The morning of the 17th of April, 1887, was an eventful day in the history of Belmont County in that, on that day, there swept over a portion of the county the fiercest tornado ever witnessed by our people.

It was an ideal spring morning, the fields were green, the forests were crowned with foliage, and the whole face of nature was brightened with the blossoms on the fruit trees. Soon the air became very sultry and hot and large clouds banked up in the western sky. Presently great drops of rain of unnatural size began to fall in torrents, and in localities hail; when the rain slackened, a peculiar stillness pervaded the air as the cyclone burst.

The cyclone started in an open field, just beyond the Infirmary, and looked like a great revolving funnel. The cloud reached from the heavens to the earth, dipping downwards and lifting upwards as it whirled over its path of destruction.

The route of the cyclone was eastward and moved with such swiftness and force that notli- ing could stay its fury. Crossing the Flushing Pike, it left a pathway of destruction 50 feet in width at the beginning, and widening to quar- ter of a mile. The large Infirmary barn and weight scales were blown away like feathers. One tract of timber after another was com- pletely swept away. Telegraph and telephone

posts were snapped off like pipe-stems. Whole orchards were uprooted and broken. The air was full of bridges, gates, outbuildings and fences; approaching St. Clairsville, a new and modern house of Calvin Patton was completely destroyed but the family miraculously escaped death by fleeing to the fields,-the loss upon this farm alone was upwards of $1,000. Near- by was a beautiful suburban home of Mrs. Mary Riley. This house and all the household furniture were practically destroyed,-the loss here was upwards of $10,000.

Reaching St. Clairville, the destruction was frightful; scarcely a building in the town es- caped injury, some were completely destroyed, many were unroofed; the Presbyterian and United Presbyterian churches were over- thrown, and the streets were literally block- aded with timbers, bricks, roofs, telegraph poles, wagons and vehicles of every description. All the merchants had their stores unroofed and the rain that followed wrought great dam- age. The following day was the Sabbath ; not- withstanding all the preachers in the town joined with their flock in working to repair the homes and the business blocks to shelter them from the stormn.

Scores of citizens were more or less injured by falling roofs and tumbling walls, but mirac- ulously no lives were lost.

Reaching the Fair Ground, all the new build- ing serected at a heavy expense were carried

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,

away, and the stately old oaks that were the pride of the people were utterly ruined. Pass- ing over St. Clairsville, the tornado reached the "big woods" on the farm of Judge Thomp- son,-this was perhaps the finest piece of tim- ber left in Eastern Belmont County, but when the funnel-shaped cloud raised above it and swept eastward, the beautiful grove was de- molished. Nothing was left to mark the place where the "big woods" stood but a twisted, broken mass of timber.

From St. Clairsville it swept eastward over · a pathway of destruction for II miles, leveling homes and barns. Within the cloud-encircling sweep were sheep and poultry and pigs, fences, gates and outbuildings.

The hilltops were brushed and the valleys were swept until it reached Martin's Ferry when the cloud burst over the river and disap- peared.

In Martin's Ferry the destruction was fear- ful; as in St. Clairsville, many homes were ruined, mills and factories were unroofed and 40 buildings of all kinds were destroyed. The streets were covered with debris of every de- scription; scores of citizens were injured, but happily no lives were lost.

The loss inflicted upon' the sufferers by this great tornado was estimated at upwards of a million dollars. Liberal contributions were made for the relief of the sufferers by many generous hearted citizens, not only of Belmont County, but of Wheeling, West Virginia.

A REMARKABLE HAIL STORM.

There are but few living today that have any recollection of the great hail storm of 1816. The storm occurred on Saturday, and three days thereafter hail stones of considerable size were gathered by the wayside. The grain and fruit growing in the belt of the storm were utterly destroyed, and many of the pioneer farmers, thereby unable to meet their obliga- tions, were compelled to move out. These pio- neers had purchased land from the government, but were obliged to sacrifice it because of the disaster.

THIE HARDESTY FLOOD.

Early in the history of our county, probably in 1818, a flood occurred along the line of McMechen's Creek known as the "Hardesty Flood." The sudden rise of the water was doubtless due to a cloudburst, for in a few mo- ments a raging torrent swept down the valley entering many homes and working great de- struction. The house of John Hardesty could not resist the force of the torrent, and was swept away and Mr. Hardesty and his wife and five children were drowned.

THE FLOODS OF 1866, 1881 AND 1888.

From a copy of the St. Clairsville Gazette on file in the auditor's office, we read the de- tails of one of the most terriffic storms in the history of the county. On Sabbath evening, August 12, 1866, the storm swept over Wheel- ing Creek Valley from Flushing on the west to the Ohio River and beyond. For hours the sky was illuminated by continuous streams of lightning. The thunder pealed continuously and the rain fell in torrents. In a few hours, Wheeling Creek had overflown its banks and, at a point between Barton and the foot of the " big hill," the log house of Kellis Robin- son was washed away, and father, mother and five children were drowned. At Oglebay's Mill, the creek broke over the narrow channel that carried the water into the dam, and, wasli- ing nearly an acre of land away, the course of the stream was completely changed.

A dwelling house near Flushing was struck by lightning and burned, while the large barn and stable of Bushrod W. Hogue was also destroyed by lightning.

The loss of personal property was terrible- some farmers lost their entire crop, fields of corn ranging from 10 to 30 acres were con- pletely washed away and several small bridges between the foot of the " big hill " and Bridge- port, including the bridge at Kirkwood, were destroyed. In addition to the seven drowned, two were killed by lightning.

In the month of May, 1881, a rain storm

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

of a character similar to that above narrated broke over St. Clairsville and the country northward. The little stream running north of the town and known as "Jug Run" became a raging canal of water that swept its narrow channel from bank to bank, carrying off every- thing that was movable. Along the line of "Jug Run" fences and bridges were washed away, and the road was literally destroyed.

The St. Clairsville & Northern Railroad had just been completed at an expense of about $30,000, and in a brief hour was undone, and it became necessary to build the road anew. Many families were driven out of their homes by the water and numbers barely escaped with their lives.

The year following the great cyclone 'of 1887, previously mentioned, the St. Clairsville branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, with the exception of a mile or more near St. Clairsville, was literally washed away by an unprecedented flood on Little McMechen's Creek. The rain storm was a veritable cloud- burst, washing away houses, bridges and fences. A great wall of water surrounded an approaching train with a passenger coach well filled with passengers. The train was com- pelled to stop, and although the water nearly engulfed it, the engine and car withstood the shock and the passengers were saved. Nearly everyone living on the borders of the creek suffered and the railroad was so badly dam- aged it was necessary to rebuild it. The loss was estimated at $200,000.

FLOODS ALONG THE OHIO.

Four notable floods have occurred along our river front at different periods, caused by a sudden rise in the waters of the Ohio. The first of these memorable floods is known as the " Pumpkin Flood," and occurred in the fall of 1816 when the corn was in shock and the rich bottom lands were yellow with pumpkins. The water not only swept the river front, bearing upon its bosom countless pump- kins, but the backwater, following the chan- nels of Wheeling and McMechen's creeks,

extended back for miles, practically destroying the farmer's crops.

THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1884.

In 1832 and 1852 occurred similar floods to that narrated above which wrought great destruction. But perhaps the severest flood in the century just closed was the great flood of 1884.

When this occurred, the cities of Bellaire, Bridgeport and Martin's Ferry had become industrial centers with an aggregate popula- tion of upwards of 20,000. The river attained a height beyond that of any previous floods, completely inundating a portion of these towns and compelling the citizens to move to their upper stories or take to the hills.

The mills and factories were closed and many of them were under water. The streets were full of debris and the fields for miles back were covered with logs, and the destruction to fences, homes and barns by backwater was estimated at enormons figures.

At Bellaire the situation was appalling. Nearly the whole of the lower town from where Union street crosses the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad track was completely sub- merged.

The Bellaire Nail Works were flooded, and greatly damaged by drift. The Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad track from Gravel Hill to a point below Indian Run was badly torn up, washed out and twisted. The roundhouse and depot were submerged as were also the cars for freight and passengers. The Bellaire, Zanesville & Cincinnati and Ohio Valley roads were badly damaged, and the Aetna Mannfac- turing Works flooded to the second story. Many destitute and homeless women and children were quartered in the school houses and in the City Hall.

At West Wheeling and Bridgeport the scene was one that defies description. The towns were completely inundated. The only communication between Bridgeport and Kirk- wood was by boats ; all the bridges were under water and the river rose to the floors of the

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,

wooden bridge that spans the Ohio River at Bridgeport, against which logs, buildings and drift of every character collected to such an extent that it was feared the bridge would give way.

To add to the horrors of the scene, an ex- plosion at Bridgeport caused a conflagration that destroyed $35,000 worth of property.

In Martin's Ferry the dwellings and mill on the low land were all under water. Great destruction was wrought and hundreds of peo- ple were left homeless. The government ap- propriated a relief fund of $300,000 to the flood sufferers along the Ohio River, of which Martin's Ferry, Bridgeport and Bellaire re- ceived $1,000 each.

CHAPTER VIII.

PEN SKETCHES OF SOME PROMINENT BELMONT COUNTY MEN AND WOMEN.

THE FIRST ABOLITIONIST, BENJAMIN LUNDY-ISABELLA THOBURN-SENATOR WILLIAM WINDOM-WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS-GEN. BENJAMIN RUSH COWEN-GEN. THOMAS THOMPSON ECKHART-GEN. DAVID A. HOLLINGSWORTH-REV. DR. JAMES MOFFATT -BISHOP JAMES M. THOBURN.

THE FIRST ABOLITIONIST, BENJAMIN LUNDY.

What Martin Luther was to the cause of re- ligious reformation in the 16th century, Ben- jamin Lundy was to the cause of human free- dom in the 19th century, viz: self-sacrificing, bold and courageous.

The controlling element in Lundy's char- acter, the motive power of all his actions and writings, was his faith in God and his un- bounded enthusiasm in the cause of human freedom.

Sitting at his workbench in one of the old saddlery shops of Wheeling, he saw gangs of slaves driven down Main street like droves of cattle; he heard their agonized cries under the cruel strokes of the blacksnake whip and his heart was filled with an indomitable purpose to devote his life to the liberty of the slaves.

Surrounded by the influences and associa- tions of slavery, he removed to St. Clairsville, and there inaugurated the great philanthropic movement, that resulted in the freedom of the slaves at the hands of the immortal Lincoln.

Mr. Lundy was born at Hardwick, New Jer- sey, on the 4th of January, 1789, of Quaker parentage, but began his great work in St. Clairsville in 1815 when only 25 years of age.

There he called a few sympathizing friends and neighbors together and organized the first anti- slavery society in the United States.

The names of those pioneers in this great movement are unhappily unknown but the num- bers increased so rapidly that within six months this "Union Humane Society," for such it was called, consisted of 600 members.

Mr. Lundy was a forceful and earnest writer and upon his 26th birthday issued the cele- brated "Appeal to Philanthropists," a docu- ment so clear, comprehensive and convincing, that it proved the basis upon which every subse- quent appeal or argument issued against slavery, in the long and fierce agitation that followed, was founded.

Soon thereafter he became a regular con- tributor to The Philanthropist, published by Charles Osborn of Mount Pleasant and, subse- quently, assistant editor; under his editorship, the paper became decidedly anti-slavery in its tone.

Such was his zeal and devotion to the cause of abolitionism that he took his entire stock of saddlery and harness by flatboat to St. Louis, with a view of obtaining sufficient money to enlarge the paper's publication.

Reaching St. Louis, lie entered with en-

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,

thusiastic zeal into the fiery controversy over the Missouri Compromise, which was then pro- gressing and so won the hostility of the slavery advocates that he was obliged to sell his entire stock at ruinous prices, and, in order to save a little out of the disaster, returned home on foot in the dead of winter. To add to his discom- fiture, he found Mr. Osborn had removed his type and printing press to Jonesborough, Ten- nessee, where Mr. Lundy subsequently joined him, and for three years published an abolition paper in a Slave State where he incurred the hostility, and was subject to the ridicule of the "hot bloods" all about him.

Previous to his trip south, he had published the Genius of Universal Emancipation, or rather had it published in Steubenville, while he resided at Mount Pleasant 20 miles distant, and made it a success by traveling on foot each way, carrying his manuscripts in his pockets going, and bearing with him the published paper on his return.

Mr. Lundy made a journey of 600 miles on foot to attend the first anti-slavery convention ever held in the United States in Philadelphia in 1823-24. He subsequently removed to Bal- timore, traveling from Jonesborough, Tennes- see, on foot and wherever he entered a village or settlement of Quakers he found friends and met with encouragement. On this trip he made abolition speeches and organized abolition so- cieties. Although often insulted and threatened with personal violence, he sustained no bodily injuries on the journey. On reaching Balti- more, however, lie was attacked by a villainous slave trader named Wollfolk, and nearly beaten to death, and the pro-slavery judge, Nicholas Brice, condoned the offense and set the prisoner free with a remark that "Lundy only got what he deserved."

In the year 1828, Mr. Lundy began a lectur- ing tour through New England, arousing pub- lic sentiment against human slavery, and while upon this tour he met and made a convert of William Lloyd Garrison, who subsequently be- came the most illustrious anti-slavery writer and speaker in the nation. For years Mr.

Lundy was associated with Mr. Garrison in the publication of the celebrated Liberator.

Mr. Lundy's later life was given over to or- ganizing anti-slavery societies and finding homes for escaped or liberated slaves. He died in Lowell, Illinois, August 29, 1839.

William Lloyd Garrison his co-laborer wrote of him, "Instead of being able to stem the tide of public opinion it would at a glance seem doubtful whether he could sustain a temporary conflict with the winds of heaven. And yet he has explored 19 of the 24 States from the Green Mountains of Vermont to the banks of the Mississippi, multiplied anti-slavery socie- ties in every quarter, put every petition in mo- tion relative to the extinction of slavery in the District of Columbia, everywhere awakened the slumbering sympathies of the people and began a work, the completion of which will be the salvation of his country.

"His heart is of gigantic size, every inch of him is alive with power.

"He combines the meekness of Howard with the boldness of Luther.

"Within a few months he has traveled 2,400 miles, of which upwards of 1,600 was traveled on foot, during which time he has held 50 public meetings. Rivers and mountains vanish in his path. Midnight finds him winding his solitary way over an unfrequented road. The sun is anticipated in his rising. Never was moral sublimity of character better illustrated."

ISABELLA THIOBURN.

Among the cultured and devoted women whose memory the world delights to honor, there has been none whose name is more re- vered and honored, none whose life work was more exalted among Christian people of all lands than that of Isabella Thoburn.

Miss Thoburn as the first representative of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, endured many hardships and sufferings and overcame countless barriers of caste in opening the doors of the homes in India for the adinis- sion of Christian women.

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

Isabella Thoburn was born March 29, 1840. She received her early education in the Beech Hill school house, two miles east of St. Clairs- ville and later attended Wheeling Female Col- lege, from which she graduated in June, 1861. She spent some time in Cincinnati in art study, in the School of Designs. She taught in sev- eral schools near St. Clairsville, also a year in the young ladies' seminary in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and two years in the collegiate institute in West Farmington, Ohio.

In 1869 the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized, and she was chosen as the first rep- resentative of the new movement. Previous to this, she had offered herself to the General Missionary Society, but was told there was no place for single women in that organization. The new organization gladly gave her a place, and she became the first in the long list of workers numbering several hundred, who are now laboring in 12 different countries.

Miss Thoburn sailed from New York in November, 1869, reaching Lucknow, India, five weeks later. She began her work with seven poor girls gathered in from the bazaar, one of them a tiny child bearing the now well known name of Lilivarti Singh. Her school grew rapidly ; larger rooms were needed, and a great awakening among the Eurasians in Cawnpore resulted in an appeal to her to super- intend an English school there, while still hold- ing her place in Lucknow. She accepted the double duty, and traveled the 45 miles back- wards and forth each week in open third-class cars, until a helper was sent from America. Her first furlough came after 10 years of hard service, and within the year she had returned to India.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 11

Author: McKelvey, A. T., 1844- ed Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1490

Author: McKelvey, A. T., 1844- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490