USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > Steubenville > Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, 20th > Part 62
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83
Din ed by Google
438
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY
to be their guests. An exceptional num- 8,107, in 1880 was 12,093, in 1890 was 13,- ber of expert golfers is being developed.
Members of police department: Mar- tin J. Larkin, chief; E. T. Zimmerman, D). W. Conner, Joseph Morrow, John Dunn, Richard Edgerly, Lafayette Mercer, B. F. Matthews, Patrick J. Ward, John C. Snod- grass, Charles A. Haupt, John Hineman, George B. Wilcoxon, Fred B. Hull, Geo. S. Smith, Edmond Russell.
CITY GOVERNMENT, FINANCES AND POPULATION
The financial statement for last year is as follows:
Balance January 1, 1908. $ 63.710.63
Receipts during the year. 399,079,39
Total $162,790.02 Expenditures during the year 353,942.89
Balance January 1, 1909. $108,847.13
Excess of receipts over expenditures. 45,136,50
The general city indebtedness to be met by general taxation consists of $9,000 Car- negie library bonds and $14,000 garbage plant bonds. Total, $23,000. Water works bonds to be paid ont of water reuts. $160,- 000; sewer certificates to be paid by abut- ting property, $94,704.58; improvement bonds to be paid partly by general levy and party by assessment, $113,000. Grand total, $390,704.58. The Mears fund for the relief of the poor has $10,000 four per cent city bonds to its eredit, and the fire- man's pension $5,000 six per cent La Belle Iron Works bonds. There were ten and one-half miles of sewers constructed dur- ing 1908 and two miles the present year, making with those previously constructed, a present total of about twenty-two miles. The street paving system, which has at- tracted the attention of official visitors from other cities, both large and small, has been extended into the suburbs in every direction.
Elsewhere will be found county tables of population but it may be stated here that the population of the city in 1820 was 2,539; in 1830 was 2,937, in 1840 was 4.247, in 1850 was 6,140, in 1860 was 6,154, in 1870 was
394, and in 1900 was 14,349. It will be no- ticed that there was practically no increase from 1850 to 1860, but about 33 1-3 per cent from 1860 to 1870, and nearly fifty per cent from 1870 to 1880. This included additional territory added to the city into which there had been a gradual overflow during the previous twenty years. The increase in these two decades was about the average of the country generally. The increase was comparatively small from 1880 to 1900 when the "boom" period started, as in- dicated in the reports of our industrial and financial institutions. A numerical census taken in connection with the school enum- eration in 1909 indicated a population of 20,287, divided as follows: North of Dock street, 4,681; Dock to Market, 5,349; Mar- ket to South, 3,537; below South, including Pleasant Heights, 6,720. It is probable that the census of 1910 will give a popula- tion of 25,000 in the city and township. Un- der these conditions real estate has greatly enhanced in value during the last ten years.
The mayors of the city since the adop- tion of the charter of 1851 have been as follows: Geo. W. Mason, 1851 ; Eli T. Tap- pan, 1852; John Shane, 1853-4; John S. Patterson, 1855-6; J. H. S. Trainer, 1857-8; John F. Oliver, 1859 to July 1861; John S. Patterson, July, 1861, to June, 1863; M. O. Junkin, 1863-6; George M. Elliott, 1867-8; Robert Love, 1869-70; Wm. T. Campbell, 1871-2; James Elliott, 1873-4; John F. Oliver, 1875-6; John Irwin, 1877-80; James Marion, 1881-2; James McConville, 1883-4; Henry Opperman, 1885-8; Osear Brashear, 1889-90; Win. Scott, 1891-4; Wm. Riley, 1895-98; John P. Means, 1899-1902; Rob- ert I. Scott, 1903-7. Thomas W. Porter, present incumbent, term expires 1910, but has been re-nominated.
The present city officers after the mayor are Frank King, auditor; Spence Wallace, treasurer; John N. Leetch, engineer; John H. Huston, solicitor.
Public Service Board-Henry F. Law- ler, president ; John A. Saulters, vice-pres-
Dig ized by Google
439
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
ident; Eli Fetrow, secretary; Harry G. Simpson, clerk; Geo. B. Hull, collector of water rents; John A. Saulters, acting superintendent of water works; Jolin N. Leetch, city engineer; Thomas Woods, su- perintendent of streets.
Public Safety Board-John Fishinger, president ex-officia; G. G. Gaston, vice- A. Gladfelter, clerk; Martin J. Larkins, chief of police; Win. B. Martin, chief of fire department.
Board of Health-Thomas W. Porter, president ex-officio; G. G. Gaston, vice; president; Wm. S. MeCauslen, clerk ; Wm. MeMullen, P. W. Bougher, S. R. Stark; John Welch, health officer.
Sinking Fund Trustees and Tax Com- missioners-E. M. Fisher, president ; F. S. King, secretary and treasurer; C'onrad Hutterly, B. R. Dawson, Peter E. Brady. Council-Winfield Scott, president; Win. M. Trainer, clerk; John J. Dillon, A. S. Bernier, James W. Hutton, Charles Law- son, E. M. Geary, Win. R. Boyd, Win. Doepke.
COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY AND ITS WORK.
While not distinctively a Steubenville institution the Jefferson County Medical Society has been so closely identified with the city that a brief notice of that organ- ization will not be inappropriate here. The venerable Mrs. Johnson, whose vivacious reminiscences of pioneer days have en- livened some of our previous pages, inti- mated in an interview that the lack of "doctors" in the early days was not seri- ously felt, as in her words, "We wanted none of them, you would be a heap better off if you followed our old style in that respect today. For a spring of the year medicine we used sassafras and spicewood. To prevent sleepless night, the best thing in the world is a catnip blossom ponltiee placed on the back of the neck. Hops, bread, horseradish and flax seed make fine poultices. To produce a sweat we used pennyroyal tea. For vomiting-I mean to prevent it-and for sick stomach the finest
thing in the world is simply to serape a little horseradish and mix in cold water, and take a drink. For light head from fever bake a poke root, as you would a potato, bathe your foot and place it to the sole as a poultice, and relief is yours in half an hour. Tar water cured most ordi- nary coughs, and for consumption and gravel we always found spikenard had no equal. That herb is one of the most valuable for many things. To stop bleed- ing produced by cuts we used fresh soot from wood ashes, or puff balls, and applied pounded ehn bark as a salve. Buttermilk pills were infallible for biliousness or as a general corrective of the system, etc."
However confident the pioneers may have been as to the healing powers of the unlimited supply of "herbs" which was at hand, not unmixed occasionally with a lit- tle superstition, they did not disdain the help of more scientific remedies when op- portunity afforded. Rev. Dr. Doddridge, as we know, had studied medicine, and no doubt ministered frequently to the bodies as well as the souls of his scattered flocks. and may safely be regarded as the pioneer physician of this section. When Dr. David Stanton removed from Mt. Pleasant to Steubenville about the beginning of the year 1814 he had already attained a repu- tation as a physician and had an extensive practice at least from a territorial point of view. Dr. Benjamin Dickson was here about 1808, and Dr. Mason during the same period, so that by 1814 there were at least three regular physicians located at Steubenville, whose practice no doubt ex- tended throughout the county. By 1817 the unmber had increased to five. Dr. Wmn. Burrell appears to have practiced at Smithfield at least by 1807, perhaps earlier. William and Anderson Judkin located there soon after, William subsequently re- moving to Steubenville, and Anderson to Bloomfield, and from there to Richmond. Dr. Wn. Hamilton, of Mt. Pleasant, after- wards of Steubenville, and Dr. Isaac Park- er, of the former place. were also early physicians, succeeded afterwards by the
Dlg zed by Google
440
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY
Flanners. Drs. Riddle, Harrison, Vorhees and Johnson lived at Bloomfield. Drs. Hammond and McGinty were early at Steubenville, perhaps among the five noted in 1817. McGinty moved to St. Louis. Drs. Lester and Scott were among the second set of pioneers. Dr. Benjamin Tappan was one of the foremost physicians of his day, and received the highest training avail- able in this country, supplemented by a course in European schools and hospitals. Dr. Thomas Johnson came to Steubenville in 1834, and carried on a successful prac- tice for more than forty years. Dr. Wil- liam Stanton was born in the north of Ireland, and was educated at Edinburg university. He came to Clark county, Ohio, in 1833, but became discouraged after a year and started to return home. Pass- ing through Steubenville he met an old friend who induced him to locate here, where he remained until his death in 1895, after a practice of sixty-six years. Among the early physicians of Smithfield were William and John Leslie, father and son.
On July 17, 1858, a number of phy- sicians and surgeons met in Steubenville for the purpose of forming a Jefferson County Medical Society. Ten days later at a meeting held at Dr. Tappan's office, a constitution was adopted with the code of medical ethics of the American Medical Association. A complete organization was effected on August 3, 1858, with the follow- iug officers and charter members: Presi- dent. Benjamin Tappan; vice president, William Hamilton of Mt. Pleasant; secretary, Enoch Pearce; treasurer, Thomas Johnson; censors, William S. Bates, of Smithfield; A. T. Markle, of Wintersville; Joseph Mitchell, of Steuben- ville; E. Brugh. Dr. Tappan died on Jan- mary 17, 1884, and Dr. E. Pearce is the only surviving charter member. Monthly meetings were held for discussion of med- ical subjects until March 8, 1861, when, owing to the Civil war, there was an in- termission until November 1. 1864, when the meetings were resumed, and held reg- ularly until November 7, 1891, when the
society affiliated with the Eastern Ohio Medical Association, including the coun- ties of Jefferson, Columbiana, Harrison and Belmont, which arrangement con- tinued for ten years, when a redistricting of the state took place and the county so- ciety resumed its meetings. The present officers are Joseph Robertson, president ; Wm. A. Strayer, vice-president; J. R. Mossgrove, secretary and treasurer.
While various matters of public interest were discussed by the society there was a movement inaugurated by it which not only had a state-wide influence, but has no doubt contributed largely to the amelioration of the lot of the incurable insane in other states. In the early part of 1865 Dr. Enoch Pearce, who had lately returned from service in the army, was solicited by Eli H. McFeely, one of the former trustees, to take the position of physician at the county infirmary in place of Dr. Scheetz, resigned. At that time the state made no provision for the care of the incurable insane, and when one was discharged from an asylum as incurable the only place of confinement for such, especially if the case was violent, was the county jail or a jail- like structure attached to the infirmary. Dr. Pearce's duties as infirmary physician did not necessarily imply any special at- tention to the insane, as their malady was regarded as hopeless. But their condition was such as appealed to every humane in- stinet. Confined in small cells in a stone building, absolutely destitute of every com- fort, sometimes chained or handcuffed, fre- quently naked (both men and women). sometimes wallowing in their own filth, the details of their confinement were absolute- ly unprintable. With the approval of the trustees, who were as anxious as anybody to remedy this condition of affairs, if pos- sible. Dr. Pearce brought the subject be- fore the association at its meeting on April 4. 1865, and on motion the president, Dr. Markle, appointed the whole society a com- mittee to investigate the matter and re- port at next meeting. A verbal report was made at the May meeting and a committee
Deiized by Google
441
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
consisting of Drs. Pearce, Hamilton, prepared for presentation to the legisla- Markle and Tappan, appointed to reduce ture, providing for the erection of an asylum for the incurable insane, the only qualification for admission being that a patient had been discharged from one of the other asylums as incurable. Here an obstacle arose from the jealousy of the existing institutions, the managers fearing that if a patient discharged by them as in- curable should afterwards regain his rea- son in the new asylum it would reflect on them. This would seem to be a very petty objection to a great philanthropic move- ment, but there was a condition and not a theory to confront, and the act was amend- ed to enlarge the existing facilities, with- out having any asylum distinctively for the care of incurables. This was agreed to, and the state undertook to care for all its insane citizens without regard to wheth- er they were incurable or not. In a few years the jails and infirmaries of the state were emptied of their insane inmates, who have since been cared for with decency and humanity. The credit for this movement rests with a Jefferson county society and a Jefferson county physician. the details to writing, which was done at the next meeting, when it was adopted and a copy directed to be sent to the June meet- ing of the Ohio State Medical Society. Dr. Pearce attended that meeting with the re- port, and was authorized to investigate the condition of the incurable insane through- out the state, and report to the next an- nual meeting. Blank forms with questions covering the subject were sent to every county, and the replies showed that the conditions in Jefferson were not exception- al, but the situation was as bad elsewhere, and in some counties worse, if that were possible. The information contained in the replies was collated, and was so shocking and startling that at the next meeting of the society at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., the doctor was advised to with- hold his report, as it would be attacked, and there might be danger that some of the charges might not be sustained. But the doctor had with him the original signed reports, and when the members saw them there was no further objection. The state society took up the matter, and a bill was
Dinimed by Google
CHAPTER XXII
THE RIVER TOWNSHIPS
Steubenville, Island Creek, Knor, Saline, Cross Creek, Wells and Warren-Towns of Toronto, Mingo, Brilliant, Irondale, Hammondsrille, Empire, Rayland, etc .- Pion- cer Schools and Churches-Early Trials and Later Developments.
STEUBENVILLE TOWNSHIP.
As most of the history of Steubenville Township and Mingo Junction has already been included in the general history of the county and in that of the city of Steuben- ville, it will only be necessary to include here and in the history of other townships such facts as are not related in the forego- ing. The original township was erected on May 30, 1803, and included what are now Island Creek, Cross Creek and Salem town- ships, the two former being cut off on June 4, 1806, and the last named on June 3, 1807. According to the township minutes an elec- tion was held at the court house in Stenben- ville, Zaccheus Briggs presiding, when the following officers were elected by ballot : Joli Black, clerk; Zaceheus Biggs, James Dunlevy and James Shane, trustees; Rich- ard Johnson and Jonathan Nottingham. overseers of the poor; Thomas Hitchcock. William Engle and Richard Lee, fence viewers; Matthew Adams and Samuel Hunter, appraisers of houses; Andrew Me- Cullongh, lister of taxable property ; Thomas Gray, George Friend, Daniel Dun- levy and Thomas Wintringer, supervisors of highways; Anthony Blackburn and An- drew McCullongh, constables. This was at- tested June 21. The next minute is as fol- lows: "At a meeting of the subscribers.
trustees of the township of Steubenville on the 11th of October, 1803, ordered that the aforesaid township be divided in the fol- lowing manner: Beginning at the Ohio River at the mouth of Wills Creek ; thence up said creek to the head gate of Josiah Johnston's saw-mill; thence north to the township line; thence with said line to the river alloted to George Friend." Also from the Ohio River up snid Wills Creek till op- posite Benjamin Doyle's; thenee south to Cross Creek, a straight course ; thenee down said creek to the month, with the town of Steubenville, to be in the district with Thomas Gray. (This is practically the present township except the part below Cross Creek.) Also from the mouth of Cross Creek np said ercek on the south side of the township line west; thence south to the township line: thence east to the Ohio River, deeded to Daniel Dunlevy. As also from Wills Creek, a south course to Ben- jamin Doyle's ; thence sonth to Cross Creek ; thence up said creek to the extreme of the township in a west corner to the place of beginning, to be in the district allotted to Thomas Wintringer." The officers for the succeeding year were: Trustees, Brice Viers, John England, Thomas Patton; overseers of the poor, Jonathan Notting- ham and Samuel Thompson: constables, Anthony Beck and Andrew Mccullough;
442
Digiized by Google
443
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
supervisors of highways, Daniel Treadway, Jacob Arnold, Geo. Friend, Joseph Porter; fence viewers, Richard Cox and Philip Smith; house appraiser, Joseph Day ; treasurer, Samuel Hunter. The only ref- erence to changes in the township bound- aries is a minute on June 30, 1806, to the effect that in consequence of a division of Steubenville Township, David Powell, late trustee, has fallen into the township of Cross Creek, Philip Cable is appointed trustee in his place. On the old minute book is found an entry of $4.43 for conduct- ing a pauper funeral. Under the "squirrel act" of December 24, 1807, requiring cer- tain taxable residents to produce so many squirrel scalps annually with the view of exterminating those animals, Hans Wilson is credited with thirty scalps; Philip Cable, sixty; and Godfrey Richards, twenty-two; in all, 112 scalps. The idea of protecting squirrels had not yet crystalized. On April 1, 1811, it was certified that Mordecai Bart- ley had received 132 votes; John Adams, twenty-eight, and Jolin MeGraw, twenty- seven for justice of the peace. "July 10, 1813, Jacob Fickes produced his receipt from the treasurer for payment of $2 for refusal to serve as trustee." The office evi- dently sought the man in those days. The present township has somewhat the shape of a rude letter B, having six full sections and eight fractional, fronting on Wills Creek and the Ohio River, the northern bonndary being formed for a short dis- tance by the creek, with straight lines on the west and south separating it from Cross Creek and Wells Townships. The area is about 7,100 acres, of which 1,676 are within the corporate limits of Steubenville. The principal streams are Cross Creek, George's Run and Wells' Run. The Wa- bash system crosses it at Mingo, with C. & P. and W. & L. E. along the river front, and Panhandle to and up Cross Creek. Among the early settlers after Bezaleel Wells were the Johnsons. Bickerstaffs, Abrahams, Permars, Powell, Lockard, Hodbert, Myers, England, Potters, Rick- eys, Adams and Hills. Mrs. Johnson, nee
Mary Bickerstaff, was a mine of reminis- cences. Her home was on eighty acres of land purchased from Bezaleel Wells a mile and a half west of old Steubenville. She remembered hearing Lorenzo Dow preach on the street in Steubenville in 1799 or 1800. It is known positively that Dow was in the Short Creek Valley in 1798 and preached to the pioneers. He was known to deliver eloquent discourses to an audi- ence composed of one person. They lived in a log cabin, but the old lady declared there was "a heap of comfort in it com- pared with your damask curtained houses of to-day." Dow arrived at Steubenville on foot, for he would not ride. A report had gained circulation that a great divine was coming, whom some were not slow to claim a second Christ, which led to 200 or 300 persons gathering under a large tree that stood at the end of the public square. Beneath this tree was a bench upon which butchiers cut up their meat, and there was also an upping block. When Dow arrived he look very seedy and travel worn, and staggered somewhat, which led to Mrs. Bickerstaff inquiring if he were drunk. Her husband replied, "Thee'll see di- rectly." Mr. Dow mounted the "upping block" and began his sermon with these words :
"Sent by my Lord, on you I call- The invitation is to all; Come all the world, come sinner, thou, All things in Christ are ready bow."
The andience was so delighted that a col- lection was taken up and the receipts hand- ed to the preacher, who sought out the most humbly attired person in the crowd, and handed the money to him, bidding him God speed in its use. The Bickerstaffs invited the preacher to their house, but he declined, saying, "I have not the time, my Lord's work must be done and I must go." The farm was paid for in produce. It was in this township on the Adams farm about a mile west of Mingo that the last Indian fight took place on Jefferson county soil, as related elsewhere. George Adams, fa-
Detized by Google
444
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY
ther of Henry Adams at the age of seven- teen joined General Wayne's army, his home then being in Fayette county, Penn- sylvania. He aided in building Fort Re- covery, and settled in Steubenville Town- ship in 1796. Philip Smith, who was with the Crawford Sandusky Expedition, set- tled near Steubenville in 1799, where he lived until 1812, then removing to Wayne county.
MINGO TOWN.
Although Mingo Bottom was a historic point from the first advent of the white men into this valley, was the scene of the first recorded event in the county, had enough settlers before 1790 to at least discuss re- sistance to the forces sent to eject them, was the rendezvous of the Gnaddenuten, Crawford and other early expeditions, be- came a railroad junction in 1853 and was the landing place for supplies during the building of the S. & I. R. R., was a camp during the Civil War; in short was a lead- ing figure in all the county's history, yet down to the fall of 1869 there was not even the semblance of a village there. The surrounding country was divided into cul- tivated farms, with substantial homes, but at the place itself were but one small frame house and a little railway station. There was not even a postoffice, and the neighbor- ing residents came to Steubenville to vote. The very name was appropriated by a post- office in another section of the state, and when it was afterwards desired to utilize the old name which had indicated the spot for a century and a half, it was necessary to add to it the word "Junction." There was a locust grove on the river bank front- ing the vanishing island, and another on the hilltop, both of which were favorite picnic grounds. The state road down the river here songht the base of the hill (now Commercial Street), passing the well known watering trough at Potter spring, and the noise of passing trains only mo- mentarily disturbed the rural quiet of this peaceful valley. The Potter, Piehler, Means, Wells or Jump farms occupied the
territory, with Henry Farmer's place on the south and Adams on the west. What was known as the Potter and Means farms was purchased to the extent of 600 acres in 1800 by Rev. Lyman Potter and his son- in-law, Jasper Murdock, the former being a missionary of the Presbyterian Church in Ohio and Pennsylvania. At his death the property was divided, Mr. Murdock's heirs taking what was afterwards the William Means farm, and Mr. Potter's son Daniel taking the part long known by his name. As related elsewhere, Mr. Potter, in the summer of 1869, sold the locust grove and a tract on the hill to a party of capitalists for the erection of iron works, and another piece to Matthew Hodkinson. The erection of these concerns soon made a radical change. Mr. Potter died in September, 1869, and his son Daniel and R. Sherrard, Jr., were appointed executors. A small town began to grow up around the works in the bottom, and in 1871 the executors laid out an addition of forty-five lots. The next year Elisha P. Potter made an addi- tion of twenty-five lots, and the executors forty-seven more, making a total of 117. To these additions were made by the Hod- kinsons and others until not only the bot- tom was pretty well occupied, but the town had crossed the railroad, and was creeping up the hillside. The depression following the panic of 1873 checked progress for a while, but in 1879 matters brightened up and with the enlargement of the iron works, discovery of oil and other industrial advan- tages, the town has made steady progress. In 1880 the population was 700 or 800, and in 1890, the first it figured as a separate civil division in the census reports, the population was 1,856, and in 1900 it was 2,954. The present population is about 3,500. Geographically the town is divided into four sections, known as North Hill, Church Hill, Reservoir Hill and East Side. The first section lies north of MeLister Avenne, Reservoir Hill is between MeLis- ter Avenue and Ravine Street and west of Commercial Street, south of Ravine and west of the Pan Handle Railroad is Church
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.