USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > Lancaster > Centennial history of Lancaster, Ohio, and Lancaster people : 1898, the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the spot where Lancaster stands > Part 17
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In 1829 he came to Lancaster and became pastor of St. Peter's congregation and some churches in the country. Here he labored for fifteen years with suc- cess, and made inany friends, among them Hon. Thomas Ewing, whose friendship lasted to the end. In 1844 he moved to Lithopolis, where he was the pas- tor of the Lutheran Church for four years. In 1848 he returned to Lancaster and again became pastor of St. Peter's and of Trinity in the country. In 1860 he was called to Circleville, where he was pastor of the· Lutheran Church for nine years. Advancing age,-
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and failing health compelled him to retire from the ministry, a work that he had faithfully and ardently followed for fifty years. In 1870 he returned with his wife to Lancaster, where they spent the years of a happy old age. He died September 12, 1884, aged eighty-five years. He was a plain, unpretentious man, a good and effective preacher, and a model and be- loved pastor. He was a prominent member of the Synods of the Church, frequently serving as chairman. He was alive to the interests of his church and devoted to his work and to the people he served. He was a liberal, broad-minded man and popular with Chris- tians of other denominations. He was one of a long list of pioneers who preached the Gospel in the newly settled Western country and one of the men whose influence for good cannot be estimated or fully appre- ciated. One of his daughters was the wife of George G. Beck, a prominent business man of Lancaster. His son Samuel is a Lutheran minister of Ft. Wayne, Ind. Captain Albert Getz married his stepdaughter.
THOMAS WETZLER
Thomas Wetzler was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on the 19th day of February, 1829. When but seven years of age his parents moved to Ohio, traveling all the distance in a wagon and reached Fairfield County in 1836 after many weeks of hardships incident to the crude method of travel in those times. He acquired an education in the common schools and when yet quite young he entered the Gazette office, where he first received instructions in the "are preserv- ative." In 1849, he went to Cincinnati and worked on the old Gazette until the summer of the following year, when he moved with his wife to Columbus and
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there was employed at the various printing establish- ments of the Capital City. During the sixties he was superintendent of the big printing establishment operated by Richard Nevins, who was then doing the printing for the state and a general line of work for other large concerns.
In 1870, Mr. Wetzler returned to the town in which he had spent his boyhood days, purchasing an interest in the Ohio Eagle, of which he is still the owner and senior editor. He is also one of the editors of the Lancaster Daily Eagle, a publication that was launched on the journalistic sea in the spring of 1890.
He is now nearing the sixty-eighth mile-stone of life, and is rapidly recovering from a sickness which has detained him from his desk for about six months. His entire life since a boy has been one of activity, and in his declining years he is blessed with a good and profitable business.
H. L. CRIDER
Dr. Crider was a native of Fairfield County, and came to Lancaster a young man. He studied dentistry and practiced his profession here for more than forty years. His wife was the daughter of Rev. Geo. Wise, a pioneer preacher.
Dr. Crider was a good dentist, a clever gentleman, and a much respected citizen. He died very recently, leaving to his family a good name.
CHARLES SCHNEIDER
Charles Schneider was born in Saxony, March 19, 1814. He came to the United States in the year 1840, and settled in Lancaster. In Germany he was Deputy Clerk of the Court. Immediately upon his arrival in
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Lancaster he commenced giving lessons in music. The daughters of Dr. Kreider were his first pupils.
In the year 1844, he married Miss Anna Maria Hoff- man, daughter of John Hoffman, a farmer, then living three miles from town. His whole life has been de- voted to teaching music and the French language. Two years of his life were spent in Granville, teaching music, and one year in Columbus. This was in the year 1849. Since that year he has resided in Lancaster.
His oldest daughter, Caroline, was quite a famous musician and an adept upon the piano. She gave music lessons in Lancaster, Columbus, and Chicago. She died in Chicago in the year 1889, at the age of forty- four. His children all possessed musical talent, and his son Charles is quite an artist. He is now an invalid and tenderly cared for by his family.
CAPTAIN AUGUSTUS RUFFNER KELLER
Captain Keller was born July 1, 1838. He was the son of Hon. Daniel Keller, one of the good common sense farmers of Fairfield County, whose judgments as a justice of the peace for fifteen years were never re- versed. He was a member of the Legislature and of the Board of Trustees for the State University. He voted for the repeal of the black laws and for S. P. Chase for Senator.
At the age of twenty-four years Augustus enlisted in the Ninetieth Ohio Regiment. He was made captain of Company I, and later quartermaster on the staff of General Stedman. He served honorably dur- ing the war. On his return to civil life he became a farmer and also took an active part in politics, being chairman of the County Republican Central Committee one or two terms. Governor Hayes appointed him a
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member of the Board of Trustees for the Ohio Peni- tentiary from 1878 to 1883. He was the agent of the Crow Indians in Montana Territory, being appointed by President Hayes. He was a member of the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion, and of Ezra Rick- etts Post, G. A. R., of Carroll, Ohio. For four years he edited and published Public Opinion at Westerville, O. For five years he was the political editor of the Fairfield County Republican. Captain Keller was a bright man and a ready and fluent speaker. He died in Lancaster, O., May 11, 1896, aged fifty-eight years.
SAMUEL A. GRISWOLD
February 4, 1896, Samuel A. Griswold retired from the editorial charge of the Lancaster Gazette after a service of thirty years. He was a writer of ability and a citizen of unblemished character.
On the evening of February 4, 1896, a few of his old friends met him at the home of a neighbor, and that pleasant evening will always be remembered by those present. It was an event in the history of Lancaster worth recording and we copy from the Lancaster Gazette. This occasion was in honor of the retiring editor and his successor, F. S. Pursell.
Hon. J. D. Martin, as toastmaster, arose and made the opening remarks of a symposium which for interest, brilliancy and heartfelt earnest words has probably never had a precedent in Lancaster. In referring to his long acquaintance with Mr. Griswold he paid that gentleman a eulogy which conveyed not words of empty compliment, but the utterances of a heart filled with respect and honor for a citizen who had lived for more than a third of a century in this community and had during all that time maintained a character without
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spot or blemish. In his words of welcome to Mr. Pursell, as a citizen and business man of Lancaster, he echoed the sentiment of all present.
Mr. C. M. L. Wiseman, the host, was first called on and responded with a prepared address which we take delight in reproducing as follows :
"Come, dear old comrade, you and I Will steal an hour from days gone by - The shining days when life was new, And all was bright with morning dew, The lusty days of long ago,
When you were Bill and I was Joe."
Samuel A. Griswold was born February 18, 1815, in Columbus, Ohio, and was the reputed first male child born within the then corporate limits. He has witnessed the growth of Columbus from a small vil- lage to a beautiful city of more than one hundred thousand people. He spent the early years of his life in Worthington and Delaware, Ohio. At Worthing- ton he was the classmate of the late George M. Parsons of Columbus. At Delaware, he and President Hayes were boys together. He spent three years at Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio, and while there was the classmate of Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's Sec- retary of War.
He acquired the printer's trade in his father's office and could set type at the early age of six years. While yet a young man he published a newspaper in Tiffin, Ohio. This was in the year 1838. Clark Waggoner, of Toledo, was an editorial cotemporary at Lower Sandusky and a warm friend. From Tiffin he re- moved to Marion, Ohio, where he published the Buckeye Eagle, with T. P. Wallace, who still resides there, as a partner. He was justice of the peace for
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three terms and postmaster under President Taylor. In the year 1854 he was elected auditor of Marion County. From Marion he removed to Lancaster in November, 1861. He served as quartermaster's clerk in General Sherman's army in 1865. In the year 1866 he became editor and part owner of the Lancaster Gazette and has continuously edited it since.
For thirty-four years he has been an industrious, respected and honored citizen of our city.
But few men live to the great age of four score years; and it is a rare thing to find a man of that age who has spent all the years of his life in active, laborious business. His life has been a long, honorable and useful one, and he now retires from its active duties with a reputation unsullied and the good will of all who know him. He is now
" In life's late afternoon,
Where cool and long the shadows grow, [He walks] to meet the night that soon Shall shape and shadow overflow."
"May the evening of his days be as tranquil and happy as their dawn and meridian have been honorable and useful."
Regrets were received from Jacob Beck, H. C. Wiseman, of Springfield; Malcolm Jennings, of Co- lumbus; A. R. Keller, H. B. Peters, E. B. Cartmell and others. Those present aside from Mr. Griswold and Mr. Pursell were Hon. J. D. Martin, Gen. John G. Reeves, A. I. Vorys, Philip Rising, Rev. W. L. Slutz, Rev. W. H. Lewis, Rev. G. W. Halderman, Samuel Whiley, Dr. J. H. Goss, F. C. Whiley, Thos. Wetzler, Wm H. Kooken, Capt. J. M. Sutphen, H. G. Trout, Dr. Geo. W. Boerstler, H. W. Griswold, C. D. Hilles,.
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T. W. Varian, Geo. E. Kelley, H. C. Drinkle, J. M. Wright, James T. Pickering, Charles B. Whiley, F. C. Neeb, Charles P. Wiseman and Will Wiseman.
E. B. ANDREWS
Ebenezer Baldwin Andrews, son of Rev. William and Sarah (Parkhill) Andrews, was born at Danbury, Conn., April 29, 1821. He was the youngest of six sons, five of them ministers of the Gospel. He entered Williams College in 1838 and came to Marietta in the fall of 1839, and was graduated in 1842. After teach- ing for a short time, he studied theology at Princeton, and April 29, 1846, was settled as pastor at Housatonic, Mass. In June, 1850, he became pastor of the First Congregational church of New Britain, Conn., and in December of that year, he was married to Miss Cath- arine F. Laflin, of Housatonic, Mass. In 1851 he was elected to the chair of Natural Sciences in Marietta College, and remained from 1852 till 1870. He early became interested in geological investigations, and soon made the study of geology very prominent at Marietta. His enthusiasm in this science was stimu- lating, and his methods of teaching it, suggestive.
At the breaking out of the Rebellion, Prof. Andrews was exerting himself as a patriotic citizen, in efforts to raise troops, when, without his knowledge, he was appointed by Governor Dennison, Major of the Thirty- sixth Ohio Regiment.
Responding to this call, he left the peace and quiet of college life to enter the service of his country. Feel- ing, with others, the importance of having a man of military education at the head of the regiment, he was largely instrumental in securing, by his influence in Washington, the appointment of Colonel George Cook,
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whose discipline did so much to make the brilliant record of that regiment. Major Andrews served with his regiment in its campaigns in West Virginia, par- ticipating in its first battle at Lewisburg. After his brigade was transferred to the Potomac, he was in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, when by the promotion of Colonel Crook and the death of Colonel Clark, the command of the regiment devolved upon him. In 1863, Colonel Andrews resigned, and re- turned to his college work in Marietta, where he remained until 1869, when he received an appointment on the Ohio Geological Survey, and con- ducted the survey in Southeastern Ohio. After fin- ishing his labors in the service of the state, Prof. An- drews embodied some of the results in a work on Ge- ology, intended for use as a text-book in schools and colleges.
In social intercourse, Rev. Andrews was a man of remarkable graces. His conversational powers were of a very high order; there was in his conversation a keenness of point, a frequent flash of brilliancy, accom- panied by unusual dexterity of argument.
Prof. Andrews received the degree of LL. D. from his Alma Mater in 1870. After leaving Marietta, he resided some years in Columbus, removing to Lan- caster in 1872, where he died, after a brief illness, August 14, 1880.
(Copied from an address given at an alumni re- union at Marietta College).
JOHN R. MUMAUGH
Mr. Mumaugh was born in Hocking Township, Fairfield County, Ohio. During the winter months of 1839 and 1840 he taught school. Coming to Lan-
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caster, he undertook the collection of accounts and the settlement of the business of the firm of Ring & Rice. Then followed the settlement of the accounts of Smith and Arney and John H. Tennant.
So successful was he in his collections that business came to him rapidly, and to this business he added that of settling the estates of deceased persons.
He made these two lines of work his life business, and during the time closed up twenty-five large estates to the satisfaction of all concerned.
He was required to give heavy bonds and none of his friends ever had cause to regret that they were on his bond. Late in life he engaged in farming and mill- ing. He gave much assistance to the two railroads of Lancaster and was for many years the leading director of the Hocking Valley Bank. He married in the year 1841. He died a few years since, leaving his family a handsome estate.
HENRY V. WEAKLEY
Mr. Weakley was born in Lancaster. He first clerked in Baltimore, Md. His health failing, he made two trips to Brazil, South America, in 1847 and 1848.
The winters of 1848 and 1849 he spent in the South. Returning to Lancaster in 1850, he became teller of the Hocking Valley Bank, and served four years. He was then made cashier of the Wabash Bank, Indiana, returning in 1855, when he became freight agent of the C. M. & Z, Railroad. In 1859 he was elected cashier of the Hocking Valley National Bank, but failing health compelled him to resign about 1865.
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JOEL RADEBAUGH
Joel Radebaugh was born in Pleasant Township, Fairfield County, Ohio, and spent his youth upon the farm of his father. While yet a young man he met with an accident, which necessitated the amputation of a limb. This compelled him to seek other employ- ment. Dr. M. Z. Kreider, Clerk of the Court, gave him a position in his office and he soon became his chief deputy. Upon the retirement of Dr. Kreider, he was appointed Clerk of the Court, and held the office until the adoption of the new State Constitution; when he was elected the first probate judge of Fairfield County.
He was thoroughly competent and organized this new office. Upon the organization of the Cincinnati, Wilmington and Zanesville Railroad Company, he was elected its secretary, which position he filled with sig- nal ability for several years
Late in life he accepted a position in the Treasury Department in Washington, D. C. Becoming too old for the labor of a clerk, he went west to live with his son, Randolph Foster Radebaugh, of Tacoma, Wash- ington.
His son was one of the pioneers of that region and accumulated a handsome fortune. Mr. Radebaugh died in Tacoma a year or two since. He was during his life a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
COLONEL C. F. STEELE
Mr. Steele was born in West Virginia, April 11, 1828. He did not have the advantages of good schools, hence received a poor education.
He was a soldier from Belmont County, Ohio, in
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the war with Mexico, and was brave and true. Re- turning from the war, he joined a party in 1849, with Governor Shannon, and went to California. Not suc- ·ceeding there, and being of an adventurous turn of mind, he went to South America, where he spent sev- eral years, returning to Ohio in 1860. In 1861 he was one of the first to volunteer for the war, and was «elected, on the three month's call, Major of the Seven- teenth Ohio Regiment.
On the disbandment of this three months' regiment, he recruited or assisted in doing so, the Sixty-second Ohio Regiment, which encamped at Lancaster.
He was wounded so severely in the charge upon Fort Wagner that he was compelled to resign. In 1863 he married Maria E. Ewing, daughter of Senator Ewing.
He next engaged in running the old Ewing Salt Works at Chauncey, Ohio, where he made money, and in a few years returned to Lancaster and led a retired life.
Colonel Steele was a brave man and his life was full of adventure. He died a year or two since and was buried in Elmwood cemetery.
JOHN BOWMAN McNEILL
Mr. McNeill was a son of Dr. Robert McNeill. He was educated in the Lancaster schools, studied law and was admitted to the bar, and became a partner of Charles D. Martin. The firm of Martin & McNeill occupied a high position at the Lancaster bar. John McNeill was a very popular man in Lancaster and Fairfield County, both as a citizen and Republican poli- tician. By blood and marriage he was connected with many prominent families. His mother, an Arnold,
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lived to be ninety-three years of age, outliving her husband sixty years. Mr. McNeill had passed his sixtieth year at time of his death. His eldest daugh- ter is the wife of a prominent Lancaster attorney, A. I. Vorys, Esq.
SOME MERCHANTS WHO WERE NOT EARLY PIONEERS
GEORGE KAUFFMAN
Mr. Kauffman was a native of Baltimore, Md. He was a Lancaster druggist for forty-five years. He was a very quiet, unassuming man, industrious and atten- tive to business, and in the end successful. He came to Lancaster in the year 1824 from Baltimore, Md. He opened a store on the lot of F. A. Foster in a frame building, which has since been removed and a three- story brick erected in its place by F. A. Foster. When F. A. Foster retired from business, Mr. Kauffman purchased the building. After a few years of success- ful business, George Kauffman was tempted to en- gage in outside business and to endorse for friends, and thus lost all that he had accumulated up to that time. His losses are stated on good authority to have been as high as thirty thousand dollars.
He rallied again, got upon a sound footing, and ac- cumulated a handsome fortune. He married Miss Henrietta Beecher, niece of General Beecher, who at the time was here on a visit to her sister, Mrs. Dr. White. She was an amiable, Christian woman and a good wife and mother. For a few years of his busi- ness career M. B. Gregory, his wife's nephew, was his partner in business. Mr. Kauffman was at one time the partner of John T. Brasee in the milling business.
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They operated the canal mill for some years. He was also a stockholder and director in the Starch Company during its existence. The doctor was a staunch Meth- odist and a leading member of that Church. His gray head was always a conspicuous figure in that congre- gation. As a business man he was always prominent, useful and influential. He died in the year 1866. Davidson and Geo. B. Brasee succeeded Kauffman in business, and, upon the withdrawal of Brasee from the firm, Dr. A. Davidson continued the business. His son, James Davidson, has been the practical manager of the business for twenty years.
CAMPBELL, RUDISILL & COMPANY
The firm was composed of John T. Barr, of Balti- more, Md., Frank Campbell, of Chillicothe, and Henry Rudisill. They opened a store in Lancaster in the year 1824 and continued it as late as 1834. When the firm dissolved, Rudisill moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., where he became a wealthy man.
HENRY MATTHEWS & COMPANY
The partner of Matthews was his brother-in-law, Joel Buttles, of Columbus. They opened a stock of as- sorted dry goods in the year 1824. March 18, 1830, they admitted their clerk, Thomas Reed, into the firm without a change in the name. In the year 1832 Gen. William J. Reese purchased the interest of Matthews and Buttles and continued the business with Thomas Reed. Henry Matthews was a very prominent mem- ber of the Methodist Church and a local preacher. He had been traveling preacher of that Church and in the year 1819 traveled the Hockhocking circuit, which
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included Lancaster. We have not been able to ascer- tain what became of him after he ceased to be a merchant.
GEORGE H. SMITH
Mr. Smith was a native of Virginia and came to Lan- caster in the year 1822. He began life as a tailor, but soon enlarged his business and became a merchant tailor. In 1837 his partner was Christian Lochman. In 1839 Theodore Tong became his partner, the firm name being Smith and Tong. This partnership con- tinued until the year 1853, each then opening a store upon his own account. In 1858 Smith retired from business and removed to his farm in Greenfield Town- ship; but in a few years he tired of country life and returned to town. George H. Smith was an honest man and much respected, and during his life a member of the Methodist Church. His wife was a sister of Mrs. Hocking H. Hunter and a daughter of an hon- ored citizen, Samuel Matlack, originally from Fayette County, Pa.
DANIEL SIFFORD
Daniel Sifford arrived in Lancaster, April 1, 1827, from Frederick, Md. Mr. Sifford was a carpenter by trade and built many good houses in Lancaster, among them the houses of Judge Irvin, Newton Schleich, Gil- bert Devol, and Judge Whitman. He built his own house on Main Street, and the Ainsworth Block now owned by Thomas Sturgeon. In 1867 he built a fine residence for his daughter on High Street. He super- intended the building of the Episcopal and English Lutheran churches. In 1835 he purchased a hard- ware store, which he conducted but one year. In 1837 he was appointed postmaster of Lancaster, and held the office until 1841. In 1852 he made the trip to Cali-
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fornia, where he remained two years. In 1856 he built the Sifford and Sturgeon Block on Main Street, Lan- caster. When completed Sifford and Sturgeon opened a drug store in the east room. In 1860 Sturgeon sold his interest to Sifford, whose son John at time of his death was a partner.
Sifford was an energetic, industrious man, but he had some reverses and did not leave a very large estate. He read good books, was fond of flowers, and was a man of good taste, three good things in any man's make-up.
JULIUS W. DUMONT
Mr. Dumont was an educated German druggist. He opened a fine drug store in Lancaster in 1832. He was an energetic, industrious man, but did not make a success of his business. He was an eccentric, and one of his visionary projects was to lay out the town of Dumontville, build a hotel, and open a dry goods store. His various business operations proved a fail- ure and he was compelled to sell out, which he did April 26th, 1839, to Bury & Lamb. January 8, 1840, Lamb disposed of his interest to George G. Beck. Bury died in 1845 and Beck continued the business alone until 1850. In this year he sold out to E. L. Slocum, and in 1854 H. B. Hunter purchased an in- terest in the store and became a partner of Slocum, this partnership being closed in 1855 by a division of the stock, Slocum continuing the business at the old stand. In 1864 E. B. White became a partner of Slocum, the firm being known as Slocum & White. In a few years Slocum sold out to White, who contin- ued the business. One of the expedients of Dumont was to issue shinplasters, promises to pay; the writer remembers carrying one for many years when a youth.
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GEORGE G. BECK
George G. Beck was the son of Jacob Beck, Sr. He was born January 13, 1816, on the spot where he lived all of his life and where he died April 24, 1885.
When a boy he acquired the trade of a tanner at the old Fahnestock tannery, well known as the old Sutzen tannery, west of town near the river. In 1835 he en- tered the drug store of Julius W. Dumont as a clerk, where he remained until Dumont sold to Bury & Lamb in 1839, when he then became the clerk of that firm. Lamb did not remain in the business long and G. G. Beck became Bury's partner January 8, 1840. In 1843 they removed their store to the King building. In 1845 Mr. Beck, on the death of Bury, purchased of the heirs their interest in both stock and building and continued the business until 1850, when he sold out to E. L. Slocum. In the year 1856 he invested money in the Starch Company, became a director, and was elected president. He continued to hold this posi- tion until the year 1860, when the concern was closed up. He then returned to the drug business, managing the business of H. H. Hunter on the Shaeffer corner for a few years, when he purchased the stock and out- fit of Mr. Hunter. In 1881 he bought the Shaeffer Block and continued his business up to the time of his death. Mr. Beck was an honorable business man and highly respected. During the latter years of his- life his son John was a partner under the name of G. G. Beck & Son, and he still continues the business. Mr. Beck was all his life a prominent and devoted mem- ber of the Lutheran Church, and one of the leading spirits in the preliminary work and in the construction.
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