USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > Steubenville > Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, 20th > Part 69
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The first Mount Pleasant bank was es- tablished in 1816, with Joseph Gill as president and Lewis Walker cashier, who was succeeded by Enoch Harris. It car- ried on business until 1846, when it was decided to close up its affairs, which was accomplished by 1850. The capital was $100,000, and Mr. Gill was its only presi- dent. In the meantime, in 1848, the Mount Pleasant Branch of the State Bank of Ohio was organized, with a capital of $100,- 000. Jolin Watkins was the first president, James H. Gill a member of the board of control, and Jonathan Binns cashier. John Hogg became president on the death of Mr. Watkins in 1855, but only served about a vear when he resigned on account of ill health and was succeeded by Mr. Gill, who served until 1859 and was succeeded by Jo- sephi Cope. Mr. Binns was its only cashier. After the adoption by Congress of the Na- tional Bank Act, measures were taken to
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close up its affairs, which were finally con- cluded by January 1, 1880. The First Na- tional Bank was organized in 1863, with a capital of $175,000, and was the natural successor of the old stute bank. William Price was the first president and Jonathan Binns cashier. In 1872 Dr. J. T. Updegraff became president and lsaac K. Rateliff cashier. In 1877 Dr. Updegraff was sue. ceeded by Mr. Gill. The bank's charter was renewed in 1883 and ngain on Febru- ary 24, 1903.
In 1904, Michael Gallagher, a prominent citizen of Dillonvale, organized a new bank at Mt. Pleasant, under the mme of the People's National, and shortly after pur- elised most of the stock of what had then become the Mount Pleasant National Bank, which went into voluntary liquidation. be- ing practically absorbed by the People's. The following spring the leading stock- holders of the Mount Pleasant Bank organ- ized a new company, under the name of the Citizens' Savings Bank, with n capital of $25,000, that of the People's being $50,000. Both banks are now in operation, Michael Gallagher being president of the People's Bank, with E. B. Jones cashier, und C. M. Brown president of the other, with Ernest Hayue cashier. The last statement of the People's Bank showed resources of $202,- 600.04.
There was one industry in Mt. Pleasant between sixty and seventy years ago that was so unique as to merit special deserip- tion, and space has been reserved for it here rather thin in the general review of the county's industries. We refer to the silk factory, the first of the kind in the United States. William Watkins, who came to Steubenville in 1819 and subsequently built what is now the MeCook mansion, on North Seventh Street, planted a grove of mulberry trees and began the cultivation of the silkworm. His efforts, however, went no farther than to create an interest in the mintter. but in 1841 Thomas White. an itinerant dentist, arranged with John W. Gill to plant a mulberry orchard of twenty-five acres on the latter's farm near
Mt. Pleasant. As soon as the trees were of sufficient size the propagation of silk worms was begun und in 1842 Mr. Gill erected a two-story frame cocoonery 18x40 feet, in addition to a 20x30 feet brick, in which the moris multicaulis proceeded to work. Shelves about two feet apart, made of reticulated cotton cloth stretched over wooden frames, filled the buildings from floor to ceiling. They were movable, and when the worms attained a length of half an inch they were laid on these stretchers and fed on mulberry leaves. The eggs were brought from France. The silkworm breeds twice a year and the eggs will hatch withont special attention save keeping them at the proper temperature. At the proper time the worms instinctively climb for the pur- pose of spinning cocoons, and at this june- ture oak branches are thrown in, on which they spin the cocoons, encasing themselves in about five days. The cocoons are placed in boiling water to kill the larva, the floss picked off, und after softening them in warm water the threads are carefully reeled off and wound on spools. The strands are then twisted three to five to- gether and woven into what is known as raw silk. Silk noils were made from the floss into what was known as knicker- hocker woolens. The first figured silk mnde in the United States was turned ont here. and silk velvet, hat plush, dress silks of vnrions colors and ribbons were among the early products of the factory. The silks were made by the old process known as the "Draw Boy Loom," and the first pattern made was the buckeye burr, the ground be- ing a light buff. The figures were abont an inch apart and a quarter of an inch in diameter. Henry Clay, the Whig enndi- date for President in 1844, was presented with a vest pattern from this piece. and the voters in this factory all voted the Whig ticket printed ou white silk made here. Hlad Clay been elected and the tariff sustained, it might have extended the life of the industry. The first American flag ever seen in China was made here and taken to the Celestial Empire by Caleb
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Cushing, the American minister. The looms in this mill were three yards long and one wide, operated by cords passing overhead and drawn by a boy in regular succession. After weaving three yards operations were stopped to clean off the warp or chain, which was called "picking the parry," which rest was highly appre- ciated by the boys. The velvet silk loom had different gearing and a brass wire was placed above the cotton warp, after which four picks were thrown in to bind the cot- ton and silk chains. The silk ends pro- truding from the cotton warp formed the fine plush found on the velvet. The ribbon Jooms were much the same as at present, save that they were operated by hand. The loom was nearly square, with eight distinet warps and shuttles, all operated by one weaver. The shuttles closely resembled a sunfish in shape. The building used for the factory had been originally a salt ware- house, and all the machinery used was made in the establishment. Three and sometimes four weavers were constantly employed, and about twenty laborers, male and female. John Rox. Jr., was foreman. In the fall of 1846 the factory was moved to Wheeling, and abandoned a few years later.
Mount Pleasant postoffice was estab- lished on April 1, 1813, with James Jud- kins as postmaster, succeeded by William Judkins, December 29, 1823; Samnel Steer, September 25, 1825; John Watson, March 1, 1828; Amos Jones, April 12, 1837; David Chambers, November 1, 1853; Robert W. Chambers, August 22, 1861; Miss Harriet Atkinson, March 23, 1869; Robert W. Chambers, December 19, 1870; John F. Mitchell, 1885; James M. McManus, 1889; Thomas F. Mitchell, 1893; Jesse M. Ben- nett, present incumbent, 1897.
The good times induced by the War of 1812 were not continuous. The panic that caused snch financial disaster in 1819 was most discouraging to the settlers, for some of them were in the town booming business, having laid out Mt. Pleasant in two parts, hoping to bring the two together as one
town and join with Trenton, a short dis- tance away, but today they still remain in three parts. In writing of this panic, S. S. Tomlinson, an aged resident of Mt. Pleas- ant, says: "For the better part of two years little relief was realized from the great calamity that fastened itself upon every individual and every branch of busi- ness. A majority of the banks of the state were overthrown, but some maintained their ground, among them the Mt. Pleasant bank. Very few products of the soil would command money, even at the lowest price. Although distilleries were abundant, corn commanded only ten cents a bushel, while wheat and oats were only articles of barter. Although taxes were very low, it was with the greatest diffienlty that money could be obtained with which to pay. My father was a mechanic, his principal business be- ing the manufacture of chairs, and during the time of this financial distress, Samuel Irons, the owner of one of the most desir- able farms in Mt. Pleasant Township. called at the shop, proposing to exchange beef for chairs, stating that he was under the necessity of killing a beef so he could sell the hide for money with which to pay his taxes. Between 1820 and 1830, a family named Bartoe, living in Harrison County, having stored their wheat for several years, discovered that the weevil was work- ing on it and seemed likely to destroy it. They therefore had it ground into flour, selling one hundred barrels to John Bone, at the mouth of Short Creek, for one hun- dred dollars. Nevertheless the town picked up again, and, as we have seen, was pros- perous during the manufacturing era, which gradually declined, leaving the little village on the hill the center of a well-to-do rural community, with homes of culture and refinement. The building of the railroad up Short Creek, within a mile of the village, did not cause it to take much part in the industrial development of the northern part of the township, which made little change in the town itself. The population of the village in 1850 was 755, of which 90 were colored; in 1870 it was
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563, including 13 colored; in 1880, 693; in 1890, 644, and in 1900, 626, which is about the same at present. The underground railroad, the first abolition convention, free labor store and other incidents of the place are treated of elsewhere.
There was, of course, a burying ground at Mt. Pleasant from the beginning, and the New Highland Cemetery was laid out in 1882.
Mt. Pleasant has always taken an active interest in the temperance canse. A society was organized in 1855, with a pledge to ab- stain from alcoholic or distilled liquors, but allowing the use of fermented liqnors, which gave it the name of "half way so- ciety." A total abstinence society had been organized in 1837, and in 1840 the Sons of Temperance were organized by Isaac Me- Donald and E. L. Worthington, of Steuben- ville. The Martha Washington Society was formed the same year, and one of the treas- ures of the D. M. Mulner family, is a silk banner made in the town and presented to the society, on one side of which was the motto, "Our Canse Is God's; Our Course Is Onward," and on the other, "On Fe- male Influence Rests the Destiny of Man." The Sons of Temperance continued in act- ive operation abont fourteen years, and were sneceeded by the Temple of Honor, which was organized September 9, 1854, and lasted about ten years, when the enlist- ment of so many of its members in the War of the Rebellion caused its disbandment. A lodge of Good Templars was formed in 1869, and continued in operation four or five years. There was probably no need of a women's temperance crusade in Mt. Pleasant, but the women joined in the work in neighboring towns. The Murphy move- ment in 1876 developed into the Social De- gree, in connection with the Temple of Honor, and Band of Hope, a juvenile so- ciety. D. M. Mulner opened the Temper- anee Exchange Hotel in 1847, when that kind of a hostelry was an exception. When the Legislature enacted a township local option law, Mt. Pleasant took advantage of it and voted its enforcement, notwithstand-
ing the larger alien population which had come into the township. It was evaded more or less in Dillonvale and that town re- mained "wet" until the adoption of county prohibition in the fall of 1908, when it re- snmed its original dryness.
The fraternal societies have been well represented in the town during recent years, including Mt. Pleasant Lodge, No. 63, I. O. O. F .: Manchester Unity Lodge, same; Gabbal Encampment, No. 41, same; Idelia Lodge, Daughters of Rebekah; Knights of Pythias; J. T. Updegraff Post, No. 449, G. A. R., and United American Me- chanics.
Trenton, one mile west of Mt. Pleasant, was laid ont about the year 1815 by Elwood Rateliff. It has remained a quiet little hamlet of about 100 people. The postoffice is Emerson.
DILLONVALE.
The industrial development arising from the impetus to mining of coal caused by the opening of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Rail- road in 1889 centered about what had long been known by the classic name of Anna- delphia, where there had been a pioneer paper mill and two grist mills, one of them an imposing stone structure, known as the Updegraff-Barklmirst mill. It was a quiet spot on the creek, a couple of miles from Mt. Pleasant village. It had been platted by Nathan Updegraff as far back as February 20, 1816, but never occupied as a town. On February 22, 1889, a new plat of thirty- three lots was made, to which was given the prosaic name of Dillon, which has since ex- panded into the more enphonious title of Dillonvale. Additions were soon made and the town grew rapidly until April 25, 1902. when it was incorporated with a claimed population of 2.000, since increased, so it is said, to 2,500. Even if the census fails to fully verify these figures, it is the fourth largest town in the county. That it has become a flourishing community is evi- denced by the fact that the First National Bank of this place, started about 1900, by its last statement showed resources
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amounting to $270,950.92. W. M. Catlett is the cashier. The Knights of Pythias have a lodge, No. 584 .. The old mill still stands, a monument to other days. The Lake Erie. Alliance & Southern Road, now a part of the Vanderbilt system, reaches the W. & L. E. at this point. The former has so far been operated only as a freight road, prin- cipally coal, but there is no doubt that pas- senger traffic will be added in time. There is also a good pike from here to Smithfield, six miles distant. A postoffice was estab- lislied here in 1889.
Long Run, about three miles up the creek, is an unincorporated mining hamlet, with Ramsey as the postoffice.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
Records of the pioneer schools of Mt. Pleasant Township are scarce, but it goes without question that the educated people who settled on the Short Creek hills did not neglect the necessities of the rising generation that shortly made this a liter- ary center of the county. Schools there were in the village and county, and at a very early date steps were taken in the direction of higher education. While the first female seminary in the West was opened at Steubenville, the first conception of such an institution was at Mt. Pleasant. In the year 1816 the yearly meeting of Friends appointed a committee of ten, consisting of Abel Knight, Jonathan Tay- lor, Nathan Updegraff. Isaac Parker, William Herald, David Brown, Emor Bailey, James Paty, Richard Barrett and George Shugart, to receive contributions for the purpose of founding a boarding school. Some opposed the project on the ground that it might foster pride and sloth- fulness, and the subject lay dormant until 1824, when the meeting was informed that Thomas Roth had bequeathed five thousand dollars for that purpose. This acted as a stimulus and a committee was appointed to receive and take charge of the money. The Hicks trouble in 1828 dampened the enthusiasm, and nothing more was done
until 1831, when it was reported that great interest was manifested in the matter, and additional funds had been subscribed. A committee of forty-one members was ap- pointed to solicit further help, select and purchase a site near Mt. Pleasant and re- port plans for a building. It was found that $6,927 had been subscribed, with promises from eastern and English Friends, so in 1832 a site of sixty-four acres was purchased from Dr. William Hamilton at $42 an acre .. The committee recommended to the yearly meeting that the institution should be a finishing school for both sexes, and that the building should consist of a central house for fam- ily and general purposes, with a wing at either end, one for boys and the other for girls by which plan it was thought that effectual separation of the sexes would be secured. A subscription of $2,000 was promised from England if the project was carried out. The whole sub- ject was referred to the meeting on "suf- fering," which ordered the work to pro- ceed. A contract was made with Abel Townsend to erect a building for $10,000, the center building to be forty feet front by forty-six feet deep, each wing to be thirty- six feet front by thirty-two feet deep, the center to be three stories and the wings two stories high, besides basement, a belfry on top of the center building, with a walk around it, the whole making quite an imposing structure, with a frontage of 112 feet. The house was completed in 1836, and in January, 1837, was opened for pupils. Daniel Williams was the first superintendent, with his wife Elizabeth as matron. Teachers in the male department were Robert S. Holloway and George K. Jenkins; female department, Abby Hollo- way, wife of Robert, and Abigail Flanner. Susan Judkins was cook, and her husband, James, was janitor. Betsy Bundy, a col- ored woman, did the washing, Esther Os- born the ironing, and Tacy Wilson was nurse. With fifteen additional acres of land the total cost of the site and building was $21,827.49. The school opened with
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120 pupils at $68 per annum, but the re- the county outside of Steubenville. In ceipts fell short of expenses by $280.28 or $3.30 per scholar. In 1838 Lewis Carey was made governor of the institution, with George K. Jenkins, Parrin Wright, Abbie Flanner and Susan M. Thomas as teach- ers. The average attendance this year was sixty-nine and the deficit $794.61. There was an annual deficit for several years, but after that the school was oper- ated at a profit. Dutch ovens, frying pans and great open fireplaces furnished the original methods of cooking and heating until displaced by modern "progress." At first the inmates attended Short Creek meeting, where Mary Edmondson, mother of Anna Dickinson, taught school in 1826. In 1838 Lewis Taber, of Vermont, was en- gaged as teacher and lecturer, and con- tinued for several years. G. J. and J. M. Plummer succeeded Williams and wife as superintendent and matron, followed in 1842 by Benjamin and Mary Hoyle, who remained until the spring of 1847.
What was known as the Wilbur-Gurney conflict occurred in 1854, and the Wilbur- ites obtained possession of the hoarding school. The Gurneyites. brought suit to recover the property, which resulted in protracted litigation and one of the most interesting legal battles ever occurring in Jefferson County courts. The District Court did not attempt to decide the mat- ter but reserved it to the Supreme Court, which early in 1874 awarded the school to the Gurneyites. Extensive repairs costing $3,566.22 were made with the view of re- opening the school. Work was suspended for the winter, and on January 17, 1875, the buildings caught fire and burned to the ground. They were never rebuilt, and the dearly won victory was a barren one so far as this particular institution was con- cerned.
In the meantime the public schools were not neglected and were constantly im- proved, especially in the village. In 1861 they were reorganized with a complete graded system and village high school, with all the higher branches, the first in
1867 a substantial two-story briek build- ing was erected, with main portion 60x30, and a wing 36x30. It contains four school rooms, and cost $4,100. Dillonvale also has a good ten-room school house, with two rooms devoted to high school. The town- ship schools are six in number, viz: Leas- ure in Section 5, Colored at Trenton, Rob- inson in 23, Long Run in 24, Science Hill in 28, Binns, a new one in 35. In 1850 Rix Patterson, a bachelor, left a bequest of $5,- 012.17, to be invested as a permanent fund, the interest of which was to be applied to the support of the common schools of the township, which fund is managed by trus- -tees. In 1799 there was a log school house in what is now Colerain Township near Mt. Pleasant, which was claimed to be the first erected within the original boundary of Jefferson County. Wild beasts and In- dians were equally to be feared in those days, but this did not daunt the pioneers who were determined to make the best of their limited facilities.
While the Friends very soon became the prominent factor in the settlement of Mt. Pleasant Township we have seen that they were not the first on the ground, and con- sequeutly did not have the first place of worship. The Presbyterians claim this honor, not only as to Mt. Pleasant Town- ship, but as to Jefferson County. About 1798 Dr. Jolin MeMillan came to this sec- tion and founded at least two congrega- tions, one at Richland, now St. Clairville, and the other on Short Creek, now Mt. Pleasant. The spot is still pointed out on the farm later owned by Robert Finney, where Beech Spring school house stands near Short Creek, under the forest trees with a tent or covered stand for the minister and leader of the singing, the or- ganization of this church was effected. The first elders were Richard MeKibbon, Thomas MeCune, James Clark and James Eagleson. Thomas Major and Adam Dnn- lap were chosen in 1808. John Alexander and Jacob Tull in 1829, and David Bal- dridge. John Theaker and John Major in
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1832. Among the precentors were John Alexander, Joseph Kitheart, Cunningham Kitheart, Archibald Major, Amos Jones and Wm. McGee. This spot was three and a half miles southeast of the present village of Mt. Pleasant, and over the line in War- ren Township. Two graves were once there but are now undecipherable. The first house was a mile and a quarter sonth- east of the original meeting place. It was built of logs at the foot of Hoge's hill near Little Short Creek, and was a very prim- itive structure without any arrangements for heating, other than hot stones brought by the more delicate women to keep their feet warm. This house was used for twenty years, and was surrounded by a cemetery containing a hundred graves, but only a few mouldering tombstones now mark the spot. The congregation then occupied the Associate Reformed Church, known as Union House, in an enclosed graveyard still existing near the Murray farm. This building was made of hewn logs, and stood on a hill about a mile and a quarter above the old church, and two miles east of Mt. Pleasant. This building was afterwards taken down and made into threshing ma- chines by Thomas Mitchell, Robert Theaker and James H. Drennan. Joseph Anderson was the first pastor of this or- ganization. He was licensed by the Pres- bytery of Ohio on October 17, 1798, and being afterwards ordained was installed pastor here on August 20, 1800. He was ordained under a large tree on the farm of the late Clark Mitchell, and was the first Presbyterian minister ordained west of the Ohio. He was dismissed to the Pres- bytery of St. Charles, Mo., in 1835, and died at Monticello in that state in 1847, in his eightieth year. In the meantime it was determined to locate in the village, it be- ing a more central point, and in 1829 foundations were laid for a new brick structure, which was completed the fol- lowing winter. Adam Dunlap, John Hogg and William Pickens were the building committee, and Samuel Miller the brick contractor, and Henry Amrine the ear-
penter. Dr. Hamilton secured money among the Masons to build the pulpit. This building stood for about twenty-five years, when the walls becoming cracked it was determined to rebuild, and the new struc- ture was completed in 1855. William Reid, Joseph Kithcart and William McGee were the building committee. A. G. Kinsey burned the brick, Charles Mercer and John Smith did the brick work, and J. H. Sidebottom the wood work, the structure costing $2,115.80. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev. Samuel Boyd, of Bridgeport. The house was renovated in 1870 at a cost of $800, and further im- provements were made in 1877 at a cost of $190. A Sunday school was started on the second Sunday of November, 1868, with an enrollment of sixty-eight, which had increased to 150 in 1879. Rev. Ben- jamin Mitchell became pastor in 1829 and served until 1877, when he was succeeded by Rev. W. S. Pringle. Rev. B. J. Brown followed him in April, 1897, and remained some six years, when he was succeeded by Sammel J. Young, who resigned in 1909, leaving the charge vacant. The Presby- terians built a frame chapel in Dillonvale soon after the town was laid out. It was served most of the time from Mt. Pleas- ant, although Rev. O. Patterson was pas- tor before and after 1897. Services had not been held in it for some time, and in the early morning of February 23, 1909, it was ignited by an incendiary and burned to the ground with Mr. Parlett's house ad- joining. An arrest was made, but the evi- denee was insufficient to conviet, and the jury, after several hours deliberation, re- turned a verdiet of not guilty. The struc- ture has not been rebuilt. The Presbytery of Ohio was formed out of Redstone in 1793, and extended to Scioto River. On October 11, 1819, the Synod of Pittsburgh resolved that "so much of the Presbytery of Ohio as lies northwest of the Ohio River including the Reverends Lyman Potter, Joseph Anderson, James Snodgrass, Abra- ham Scott, John Rea, Thomas Himt, Thomas B. Clark and Obediah Jennings,
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