Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th, Part 20

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 926

USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th > Part 20

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Jeffrey Brothers saw- and planing-mill at Ashley. This mill was established about 1860 by Lewis Powers. Sometime in the early '80's Mr. Powers took his son into partnership. Evidently the business was not successful, be- cause in August, 1906, it was sold at sheriff's sale to A. L., O. S., M., and I. B. Jeffrey, who with their father, composed the firm of F. MI. Jeffrey & Sons. The saw-mill building is 22 x 86 feet and the planing-mill is 40 x 50 feet. Each mill has its own engine and boiler. They manufacture about 500,000 feet of hard- wood lumber annually, and they also do a retail business in softwood lumber and interior finish amounting to $10,000 to $15,000 an- nually. They also have a well-equipped ma- chine-shop, in which they do all kinds of ma- chine repairing.

J. T. Erwin established a saw-mill at Sun- bury in 1898. He handles about a hundred carload of hardwood lumber each year. He manufactures hardwood frames for building's and wagon stock, and also exports a large amount of white oak in large dimensions. . \t times as many as twelve men are employed here.

The Ashley Lodge and Church Furniture Company. This business was established by W. W. Stratton. in 1869, to manufacture a line of furniture such as the name of the com- pany implies. Until 1900, he sold direct to lodges and other organizations. In 1900 the policy of selling only at wholesale was adopted. In 1905 the business was incorporated under its present title. C. S. Aldrich is president, Edward Keltner is treasurer and W. W.

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Stratton is secretary and manager. The pres- ent building, which was originally an opera house, has been occupied for nearly thirty years. The company numbers among its cus- tomers every regalia house in the United States. Some of the outfits which it manu- factures for lodges sell for as much as $1,500. The business totals from $15,000 to $20,000 a year and furnishes employment to about twenty men.

About 1903 Messrs. Keys & Worboys of New York City established a plant in Dela- ware for the manufacture of barrel hoops and staves. This business was purchased on De- cember 1. 1906, by J. K. Wylie, who has doubled the capacity of the plant. About thirty men are employed, and about 30,000 hoops and 36,000 staves are turned out daily. the product being shipped to cooperages all over the country.

The Union Handle Manufactory, at Ash- ley, was established in the spring of 1905. by Harry D. Hale. He makes all kinds of fork. hoe, rake, shovel and "D" handles; also runs a saw-mill, and ships about a hundred car- loads of lumber a year. He ships about a carload of wagon stock each week. The main building is 200 x 46 feet, and in the spring of 1908, an addition 36 x 50 feet in dimensions was erected and equipped with special machin- ery for the manufacture of "D" handles. The power is furnished by one 60 H. P. and one 50 H. P. engine and one 70 H. P. and one So H. P. boiler. About thirty-five men are employed in the mill and a like number in logging.

FLOUR MILLS.

Flour-mill at Sunbury. The history of this mill dates back to about 1842, when Samuel Peck and T. P. Meyers built a saw- mill half a mile due east from Sunbury. This was sold to James Bailey in 1848. He added a grist-mill, and in course of time sold the property to John and Henry Boyd. In 1872 they sold the mill to G. J. Burrer, one of the present owners. Three years later Mr. Burrer moved the mill to his present location in Sun-

bury. The mill was remodelled in 1882 and new machinery was installed. About that time improvements in milling machinery were being invented at a rapid rate, and so in 1887, the mill was again remodelled. Six years later, his present elevator, having a capacity of 16,000 bushels, was erected. In 1907 Mr. Burrer's son, Parker, was admitted to part- nedship, the firm name of G. J. Burrer & Son being adopted, Their brand of flour is "White Loaf." and the present capacity of the mill is eighty barrels per day, in addition to the meal and other feed which they grind. Power is furnished by an 80 H. P. Cooper engine.

The flour-mill at Ashley was established in 1875. when the Ashley Milling Company was formed by M. B. Shoemaker, Dell Coomer and Joseph Cole, whose firm name was Shoe- maker, Cole & Company. They erected the present mill building, in which they installed old-fashioned buhrs. It had a capacity of fifty barrels a day, and their brand of flour. "Diamond Wedding." was widely known and used for many years. It has always been a steam mill, the power being supplied by a 65 H. P. slide-valve engine. The mill was purchased by J. B. Miller & Company in the late '70's, and in 1882, they remodelled it. installing modern flour-making machinery and increasing the capacity of the mill to 100 bar- rels. They sold out to O. Jones, John Doty and Frank Miller about 1886 or '87. After being owned by several other parties, the mill came into the possession of the present own- ers. L. E. Shoemaker and W. M. Shoemaker, who have adopted the firm name of the Shoe- maker Milling Company. "Mother's Choice" is the brand of flour now made, and besides having a large sale in all the surrounding towns, an average of 650 barrels a month is shipped to Columbus.

The Powell Milling Company was organ- ized in August, 1907, by Frederick H. Jaycox. H. E. Sharp and Dr. Charles F. Talley. They installed a Miller 40 H. P. gasoline engine. which consumes only three gallons of gasoline per day. "Straight Grade" is the brand mantt- factured. the capacity of the mill being forty barrels per day. Everything in the line of

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feed is also ground. As the machinery which was installed in this mill was brought from an old mill on the Scioto River, it may be well to state here such facts as we have been able to obtain concerning that site, which is in Concord Township, about two miles below Bellepoint and a mile north of the Girls' In- dustrial Home. So far as we know. the first mill here was built by a man named Fred- ericks. It was burned in 1869, and at that time was owned by Lee Went. In 1876. David Willey and Thomas Slough built a mill at this point. Willey sold out to his partner after two years. After some time, the mill passed into the hands of James Slough. About 1880 luis estate sold it to Daniel Stokes. About 1889 he sold the mill to Erastus Stone, who sold it about 1893 to John Jaycox. From him the property passed to his son, Frederick H. Jaycox. He put in a steam plant, which he later replaced with a gasoline engine. As above noted, Mr. Jaycox dismantled the mill and removed the machinery to Powell. in Oc- tober, 1907, so the old Magnolia mill, as it was called by Willey & Slough, has doubtless seen its last days of service.

What is now commonly spoken of as Snyder's mill, which is located at 69 East Central Avenue, Delaware. will soon be torn down and even the building will be a thing of the past. In 1846 Fred Decker started a flour mill here, the building having been pre- viously used as a woolen-mill by Col. Benjamin F. Allen. Later the mill was purchased by Charles Wottring, Frank Miller and J. H. Pumphrey. The mill changed hands fre- quently. Charles Wottring being identified with it most of the time until about 1880, when E. Snyder purchased Wottring's interest. Up to that time the capacity of the mill had been fifty barrels. Snyder remodelled the mill. in- creasing its capacity to two hundred barrels per day. Later his sons Edward, Arthur and Peter ran the mill under the firm name of Sny- der Brothers, Edward Snyder eventually be- coming the sole proprietor. In 1880, the ele- vator was built and other improvements made at an outlay of something like $10,000. On April 20, 1906. the property was sold to the

Electric Roller Milling Company, and they closed the mill.

The Electric Roller Milling Company of Delaware was established in 1904 by Kaiser & Gwynn. At that time a 25-barrel mill was built, the dimensions of the building being 90 x 40 feet. Mr. Kaiser retired from the firm in 1905, and a corporation having the present title was formed. The following gen- tlemen comprised the Board of Directors and held the official positions indicated: E. F. Gwynn, president; T. J. Griffin, treasurer; J. G. Rosenthal, secretary ; John F. Gaynor. The same year the capacity of the mill was in- creased to 100 barrels, and the elevator ca- pacity was increased to 20,000 bushels. The principal brands of flour made are, Pride of Delaware, Acme, Electric and Silver Dust. This is the only flour-mill now in the city. The company also does a large business in grain, feed, salt and coal.

DISTILLERIES.

There are men yet living who can remen- ber when it was thought necessary to serve liquor at a church "raising." and it was the usual thing for a man who made whiskey to contribute as many gallons as he could afford to the salary of the minister. It was also customary for merchants to keep whiskey and glasses where they were freely accessible to their customers, on the theory that a liberal use of this lubricant facilitated trade. While the early settlers brought their taste for liquor with them, it was not so much the demand for whiskey as it was the market which its manufacture made for corn that led to the es- tablishment of numerous stills at such an early date. The first still in Berkshire Township was operated by Nicholas Manville in con- nection with his grist-mill, which was located near the present town of Sunbury. This be- came the property of Major Strong about 1817. He ran it until 1825, when he sold the still to Eleazar Gaylord. When the business was it its height. it was carried on in a two- story stone building. Here a large part of the surplus corn raised by the settlers was

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converted into whiskey. In those days there were no revenue officials to bother distillers, who had a home market for their product, thus eliminating the expense of transportation and a selling force. The result was that pure whiskey was sold for twenty cents a gallon. While the whiskey of those days was the "straight goods," and the use of prune juice. etc., in connection therewith had not been dis- covered, its intoxicating qualities were not in any way diminished, and there were those who made intemperate use of the beverage, to their own shame and the disgust of the community. The boys had a method of punishment which, while it afforded them amusement, gave some expression to the sentiment of orderly citizens and at the same time taught the offender to in- clulge his tastes in the seclusion of some private retreat. When a man was discovered in a state of helpless inebriation, each arm and leg would be seized by a boy, and laying their victim face downward on a barrel, the boys would roll him until his disordered stomach was relieved of its contents and the man was in some measure sobered up. It was seldom that more than one or two applications of this remedy were necessary to accomplish the de- sired result. A story is told of one inveterate individual in Sunbury, who was familiarly known as "Uncle Tommy," which we will quote. He "seemed to defy the correctional force of the old method, and a more stringent method had to be adopted. He was seized one time, thrust into hogshead, and rolled some fifty yards into the creek. The treatment was severe, but the cure was radical for the time."

Colonel Byxbe had a still in the cellar of his grist-mill on what is now East Central Avenue. Here his customers were wont to regale themselves with sundry strong potations while waiting to be served by the other de- partment of the establishment. Another still which is often referred to in the records of those early days was built by Dr. Reuben Lamb on Delaware Run, nearly opposite the spot where the Edwards gymnasium now stands. For several years Rutherford Hayes ( the father of President Hayes) who came to Delaware in 1817, was a partner with the

doctor, but he was noted for his temperate use of the whiskey he made.

His grist-mill at what is now Warrensburg proving unprofitable, Philip Horshaw, in 1815. began the manufacture of liquor in a small still-house near his mill. He continued in this business until 1822, when he sold out to Thomas Jones. He remained in the business a number of years and then sold out to Jo- seph Dunlap, who operated the still until 1836. when the entire business died out. David Bush built a small distillery in Troy Township at an early day, but it never amounted to much.

Two distilleries were set up in Berlin Township at an early date by Nathaniel Hall. In 1816 Isaac and Chester Lewis built a still near Cheshire. Armstrong & Frost carried on the business. These resorts did not last long, for it seems, the drinking habit was not so general here as elsewhere. Jeremiah Curtis, who was the first settler in what is now Genoa Township, had a still in connection with his saw and grist mills.

In 1826 C. P. Elsbre and a man named Trip formed a partnership and began the manufacture of liquor in the southwestern part of Orange Township. They located their still near a spring in the woods, but the water be- ing so strongly impregnated with iron as to be unsuited to their purpose, they changed their location to a point on the Whetstone. Here they manufactured about two barrels of whis- key a day for over a year. Mr. Elsbre then sold his interest to a man named Thomas, and about six months later the business was dis- continued.

It is said that near the close of the war Walter Bump ran a "moonshine" distillery in a quiet way in Kingston Township, but the Government officials soon put an end to his operations.

LEATIIER.

The early pioneers had not been here long before there was a strong demand for leather. but those who established tan-yards found it difficult to supply this material because of the scarcity of hides. At first, nothing larger than

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woodchuck skins and an occasional deerskin could be had. There was no market for cattle. and the settlers. therefore, had only as many as were needed for the working of their farms Later the hogs which had been turned loose in the woods and had bred prolifically were a source of supply. After running wild for six or seven years they had hides of remarkable thickness, and these, when tanned. supplied a coarse tough leather which was used in mak- ing harness and horse-collars. Later a mur- raine got among the cattle, large numbers of which died. thus furnishing for a time a good supply of leather. but at a serious loss.

The first tannery in the town of Delaware was started by Capt. Joab Norton in 1809, in a two-story building which he had purchased or erected in the fall of the previous year. It was built into the side of the hill just north of where the Edwards gymnasium stands. The ravine south of this hill has been filled up, but at that time, only the top story of the building showed above the hill on its southern face. The lower story of the house was used for the works, the vats being located just north of the building. A free-flowing spring a little east of the building and well up on the hill- side supplied the family and the tannery with water. Here he also made boots. Norton be- came afflicted with the ague, and in 1810. he sold the property to a man named Koester. The latter was a carpenter, and purchased the tannery as a speculation. In 1813 he per- suaded Norton to return and work it for him. but the Captain was here only a few months when he died. The old building soon fell into disuse, and for years stood in a rickety. tumble-down condition, with its leaky roof of loose warped-up shingles, its windows stuffed with old hats and rags, the doors with broken hinges and latches, slamming with every gust of wind, and bearing all the other marks of an abandoned, tottering old tenement. This old building stood for thirty or forty years unused, and needed but little more than these signs of decay to get it a reputation of being haunted. Later a man named Hull had a tan- yard at this location, which he operated until sometime in the '60's. when he sold the prop-

erty to Ohio Wesleyan University. George Storm, who came to Delaware in 1809. worked in the old Norton tannery for a while. and then started in business for himself on the east side of Sandusky Street, about a square north of the present Court House. He continued in business here for many years, supplying the country for miles around with leather. At an early day Tom Wasson established a tannery on Washington Street, just north of Delaware Run. Robert O. Brown bought him out and ran the business until 1855. when he aban- doned it and divided the property into town lots. John Lee had a tan-yard on the north side of Central Avenue, just west of Franklin Street. This property passed into Robert O. Brown's hands about 1852, and he closed it up.

The first tannery in Berlin Township was built by Wilbur Caswell in 1817. It was lo- cated on Alum Creek flats in Cheshire for a number of years, and was then moved on the hill. where the business was continued until 1858. As early as 1816, William Myers sank vats and began the manufacture of leather a half a mile southeast of Sunbury, across the creek from the saw and grist mill. Three years later, a man named Whitehead started a tannery at Galena, and did a thriving busi- ness. The enterprise was carried on by dif- ferent owners until 1873. when the business was discontinued.

The Dunhams had a tannery on the Berk- shire Road at an early date. A tannery was started in Oxford Township in 1824 by George Claypool, just south of Windsor Cor- ners. It was owned at a later date by Jonas Foust. and still later by James J. Sherwood. In 1845. Israel Waters started the first tannery in Thompson Township. It was located near the site later occupied by Pickering's mills. The first tan-yard in Trenton Township was oper- ated at an early date by Silas Ogden, but no definite knowledge of it has been pre- served.

TEXTILE PRODUCTS.

In the days of which we write, the present highly organized state of the manufacturing

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industries was not even dreamed of, and even if factories had been established, wherein were made all the articles of apparel that constitute the clothing of a family, the expense of getting the goods to the consumer would have placed them beyond his reach. The same conditions placed the markets for his products beyond the reach of the farmer, and so it was that each pioneer family was reduced to the ele- mental state of providing for its own necessi- ties with its own labor and materials produced at home. Every farmer raised flax, and this with wool from his sheep constituted the sup- ply of raw materials. The operations of card- ing, spinning, weaving, fulling, etc., were all performed at home, and as with quilting, and corn-husking, wherever possible, "bees" were held in order to combine pleasure with the work. the opportunities for social intercourse in those days being few indeed. And so it was that when a family had twenty-five or thirty yards of cloth to full, a company of a dozen or fifteen of the young men of the neigh- borhood would gather. Taking off boots and stockings, they would seat themselves in a circle, just far enough apart that their feet would meet near the center. The goods to be fulled were piled into this ring, hot water and soft soap were poured on, and the goods were fulled by the men kicking the pile towards the opposite side of the circle, all hands kicking in unison, is it were. An endless rope, held tightly by all, kept them from falling off their seats. Of course, it would not be long before the suds upon the floor would be knee deep, and then some mischievous chap would ac- cidentally kick his neighbor's seat from under him, sending the unfortunate victim into the suds which were splashed to the ceiling. On these occasions pumpkin pie and cider were served as refreshments. Later, it was dis- covered that goods could be fulled equally well by placing them in a tub or barrel with soap and warm water and pounding the mass with a heavy wooden pestle attached to the end of a stick, a method which was also used in wash- ing clothes before the days of washboards. After a time fulling-mills were built, provided with apparatus for carding and spinning. The

motive power was a tread-wheel worked by oxen, and is described as follows: "The wheel was laid flat upon its hub, the axle being in- clined a little from perpendicular so as to af- ford an inclined surface on the wheel. In place of spokes, the upper surface of the wheel formed an inclined platform provided with cleats, upon which the oxen traveled. The up- per end of the axle was provided with a spur- wheel, which, acting upon gearing on a hori- zontal shafting, communicated the motion to the machinery of the mill." One such old mill is now used by Charles Wheaton of Sunbury as a stable. It was built early in the last cen- tury by B. H. Taylor and B. Chase and did service for many years.

In 1818, E. Barrett & Company started a woolen-mill, just north of where Colonel Byxbe had his saw and grist mills. This old woolen-mill is known to the present genera- tion as the Snyder & Star flour-mill. A large two-story brick building was erected near the mill, in which to board the hands. This build- ing, the roof of which has been lowered thir- teen feet, is now owned and occupied by the Delaware Ice and Coal Company. It was generally understood that L. H. Cowles was Barrett's partner, and the prime mover in the enterprise. Titus King afterward took Cowles's place in the firm, the name of which became Barrett & King. In 1827 the prop- erty and business were sold to Colonel Ben- jamin F. Allen, who, two years later, intro- duced a carpet-loom. He wove one piece of carpet that attracted considerable attention. During this time, his mill was rented for a period by J. W. Cone, who had learned the trade there. In the latter part of 1829, John Moses and Seth H. Allen purchased the mill. These men were not more successful in the business than the others, and the mill finally lay idle for a long time until it was turned into a grist-mill. In 1829 Colonel Meeker added machinery for carding and fulling to the equip- ment of his flour-mill at Stratford. Gunn & Pickett operated a woolen-mill for some years in Liberty Township, about two miles below Stratford. The property was bought by James Hinkle, and he continued it until the business

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went down. In 1844 J. W. Cone established a woolen-mill in Thompson Township, which for thirty years was the pride of this section. The mill was run by water-power until 1868, when steam-power was introduced. In 1874 sparks from the chimney set fire to the mill, and it was destroyed. Luther Cone, a brother of J. W. Cone, built a woolen-mill in Marl- borough Township about 1846. This mill was operated successfully for a number of years, and was then purchased and remodelled into a grist-mill by a man named Kline. In

1869 the firm of Page & Stevenson started a woolen-mill in the third story of the Clippinger planing-mill. A little later, W. K. Algire pur- chased Page's interest, and the firm name be- came Algire & Stevenson. In August, 1873. a stock company with a capital of $30,000 was incorporated under the name of The Dela- ware Woolen Company. The following men were directors and officers : Chauncey Bradley, president ; Charles Arthur, Dr. J. H. White, J. G. Grove, H. F. Brown and John Wolfley. A. B. Stevenson was superintendent. They built a brick building 40 x 90 feet. on Union Street, besides a boiler and engine-room and a dye- room. It was well equipped with textile ma- chinery, and the company started in the manti- facture of flannels and blankets. Later a line of cashmeres was added. The industry fur- nished employment to about twenty-five peo- ple, but was never much of a success from a financial standpoint. About 1877 or '78, the company failed, and was sold at auction by the sheriff for $13.840. The following gentlemen, all of whom had been connected with the com- pany, were the purchasers: Charles Arthur, who became president of the company; John Wolfley. Charles Steinbeck, J. Hyatt, J. G. Grove, Dr. J. H. White. H. F. Brown. They ran the mill until some time late in the '80's, when, the business proving unprofitable, it was closed up. . After that several different manu- facturing enterprises were carried on in the building for short periods of time, and it was also used for a skating rink. Finally, in 1893, the building and lot were sold to Delaware County for use as an armory.

In 1855 James M. Hawes and D. S. Brig- ham, who came from the East, saw an oppor- tunity to make profitable use of the large quantities of flax straw produced here, but for which there was no market. They interested Judge T. W. Powell in the venture, and a two-story factory, 40 x 50 feet was built and equipped with machinery for preparing the straw for market. It was found that the heavy freight expense absorbed all the profit. so in 1857, the firm installed machinery for the manufacture of cotton baling. At the end of the first year, Mr. Hawes became the sole pro- prietor of the business, and at a great expense re-equipped the factory for the manufacture of twines, burlaps, woolsacks and seamless grain-bags. In the meanwhile a company with a capital stock of $150,000 was incorporated under the name of the Delaware Manufactur- ing Company, of which W. W. Scarborough was president, Geoge F. Pierce, secretary, and James M. Hawes, agent. A large mill, two stories high, with an attic. 50 x 100 feet in di- mensions, was erected. and a 125-horsepower engine installed. At the close of the Civil War, the machinery was changed for the manufacture of bagging and cotton baling, and a warehouse 40 x 100 feet was added. The volume of business which was developed may be imagined from the fact that in 1870, 182 persons were employed, the pay-roll amounting to $4.000 a month. The company went under in the panic of 1873, and the property is now used by The Delaware Chair Company.

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Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th, Part 20

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company Number of Pages: 926

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 926