USA > Ohio > Medina County > Chatham > Chatham sesquicentennial, 1818-1968. > Part 3
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
Contributed by: Sadie Packard Thatcher
CHATHAM POST 6892 VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES
Early in 1946, at a meeting held in the school house at Chatham, local veterans of World War I and World War II gathered to discuss the formation of a Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Chatham. With guid- ance from Wadsworth and Medina, sufficient interest was aroused to apply for a charter. On a Sunday after- noon, May 5th 1946 Chatham Post 6892, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States was formally in- stalled with an impressive ceremony by the ritual team from Lakewood
The charter carries the following names:
Marion Allis
Lowell Dodge Joe Farkas
Albert Arters
Walter Brinker
Lawrence Giesinger
Edward Clifford
Harold Hall
Elmer Clinesmith
William Hall Homer J. Kohli
Wallace Carr Richard Bok
Melvin Allis
Hayden M. Clifford
Ray A. Clifford
Robert Cole Elden Giesinger John L. Gunder Gail House William Laport
E1mo McVicker
Richard Mattingly
Thomas F. Miller Emmett Sivard Floyd Soward Joe E. Stratton
Archie Surrarrer Lester Root
Richard Welsh
Howard Williams Wilfred Wood Lloyd Pickering Merle Kirkbride William Jelenesics Harold Shelhorn
Kenneth Kulp Hillard Grim
Kieth Dibble Arden Emery Robert Hall William Koppler Dan F. Lloyd Robert McVicker Clare Meek Arthur Moon Howard Sivard Paul Steel John E. Stratton Everett Surrarrer Kenneth Welsh Gene Whitman Wilbur Wood John Yergin Salie Mungia Ivan Fahler Stanley Hayton Rufus Roberts Herbert Jones
The first commander elected by the members was Homer J. Kohli, while at present Robert Arters is commander .
In the organization of the V.F.W. as a national organization, Chatham Post is in the Seventh District of the Department of Ohio. The Seventh District is comprised of Medina, Cuyahoga, Lake and Ashtabula counties. Later, with the formation of more posts in the county, Chatham Post became, and still is, a member of the Medina County Council of Veterans of Foreign Wars. We have had a number of members rise to County Council and District offices and have had one attain rank of National Aide de Camp.
The first meetings of the post were held at the school house and one of the initial needs, which became evident, was the desireability of having a post home .. In this matter the V.F.W. was given a great amount of help from the Chatham Community Club.
The Community Club became well known to all servicemen from the township during World War II, by their gifts, letters and general support. By various donation and fund raising projects the Community Club was able to and did donate for land purchase, nearly $3,000.00.
This most generous act enabled the post to soon contract the purchase of land which was across the road from the school house
As much as anything in the history of Chatham, the Community Club of World War II years typifies the support of the people of the township have given to servicemen of all wars, from the Civil War on through the present conflict in south east Asia.
The servicemen of Chatham will be ever grateful to all those who gave so unselfishly of themselves in the Community Club activities.
The winter of 1946 saw timber donated from the woods of Charles Grim and Howard Williams for a building which was being planned. Early spring of 1947 found members working weekends and evenings on a post home which was finished by mid-summer. Hours and hours of labor being donated by the members. While not large by present standards perhaps, it was very sturdy as all those who drove nails in the native hardwood can attest.
The original building has since been added to a number of times, and now includes a larger meet- ing room and dance floor as well as a large kitchen. These additions were made with the aid and encour- agement of the Ladies Auxiliary to Chatham Post V.F.W., which was installed May 25, 1947.
At the completion of the first dance floor and a kitchen, it was decided to name this Chatham Memorial Hall in honor of the three local servicemen who were lost in World War II, Lloyd Clinesmith, Leonard Pugh and Dale Hubbard.
The V.F.W. has as its motto, "Honor the dead by serving the living", so along with the building of physical property, the post has taken on in support of this motto many service projects.
First, of course, is the observance of Memorial Day. The V.F.W. ritual prescribes a program of observance but cautions members to fit in with local custom or tradition. Chatham township has always been loyal in remembering its soldiers and the V.F.W. is proud to carry on. As our ritual says, in part-"so long as one comrade remains, so long shall we remember." It has been a tradition of long standing that people of Chatham on "Dec- oration Day" would decorate the graves of soldiers buried in Chatham and then gather at the monument at the center of town for oration suitable for the day-and a reading of the roll of all the deceased soldiers who came from Chatham. This Custom is carried on as well as a parade of the colors to lead the march to the cemetary and a firing squad to render a military salute to those who gave their life for our nation.
The post color guard and firing squad have also helped in the observance of Memorial Day parades at other communities in the county as well as at Huntington in Lorain County where our efforts are always well received. Our colors are also often seen leading the large Independence Day parade which is held at Chippewa Lake.
The community service projects taken on by the post, usually in conjunction with the Auxiliary, are many and varied. A few high lights will serve to illustrate.
The "V.F.W. Community" is nationwide so one item that came to attention early in the post hist- ory was the V.F.W. National Home at Eaton Rapids, Michigan. This home is maintained in such a manner as to give a real home atmosphere life for eligible orphaned children of veterans which might not be possible in any other way. Financial support as well as letters, card and visits have been given there.
Another early project which gained recogn- ition is providing of entertainment and refresh- ments twice a month on Sunday evenings at the local area Veterans Administration hospital. This was started with the Medina County County Council V.F.W. at the parapalegic wards at Crile hospital and is now carried on at Brecksville V.A. hospital.
Since president Eisenhower first proclaimed May 1st as Loyalty Day, Chatham Post has in some manner observed the day. One of the first Loyalty Day parades in Medina County was held in Chatham. Later as the program became more widespread, the post has participated in parades and ceremonies throughout the county and some years at Cleveland, as well.
Locally the post always tries to help any family or person in need with what we hope is a minumum of publicity of those concerned. This carries on in time of sorrow or disaster or accid- ents.
Also many hours of work have been donated by members for the post to others who are working for the improvement of the community. Carpenter work on the floor of a church remodeling program is one example and the washing and painting at the school house after a fire left smoke damage is another.
Working to get a local volunteer fire depart- ment instituted is one of the more recent items of note.
Such is the nature of service work the post and auxiliary have entered into, which if each item were listed would go on and on.
Of course, no organization could continue to exist without revenue and various V.F.W. fund raising projects are now a regular part of the local scene. One of the first and probably the one of longest standing is dances open to the public, usually held twice a month during the winter months. At first these were held at the school house, thanks to the cooperationof the school board, and later moved to the post rooms when Memorial Hall was erected. These dances have been well received by the community and likely will continue for years to come.
For the past six years another fund raising project, which also carried on what is more or less a community tradition is the operation of a sugar bush and serving pancakes and sausage dinners.
Many school children from Chatham as well as other schools, even from Elyria who might not otherwise know what maple syrup is or how it is made, visit the post in sugar season and see for themselves how the maple sap is boiled down.
These examples are given to demonstrate the type of projects which help keep the post operating. There have been others and will be more, none of which ever knew success without the support of the community for which the post is most grateful.
From that first meeting in early 1946 to the present, the week by week history of the post would make a book by itself. It is our hope that this writing will help all who may be interested to know what the organization of the V.F.W. is at the local as well as on the state and national level. To some degree, this history has been repeated in the thousands of posts all over the country.
Contrary to the expressions of some unin- formed outsiders, Chatham is a living community and as such, many things change, people move in and people move out. In that respect the local V.F.W. post is no exception. Of the origianal sixty (60) charter members, six are presently members.
Walter Brinker Arden Emery Dan Lloyd
Hayden M. Clifford
Stanley Hayton
Kenneth Welsh
Of these six only two, Stanley Hayton and Kenneth Welsh, still reside in the township.
However, the membership over these years has averaged around fifty (50) it is presently fifty (50), so the spirit of "serving the living" can and will go on.
by Walter Brinker
CHATHAM AUXILIARY #6892 VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES
On May 25, 1947 the Chatham V.F.W. Ladies to Post 6892 was instituted. The Seventh District President, Sister Jeanette Brede installed seventeen members. Sister Dorothe Shelhorn was the first President. Sister Loretta Arters is President now.
The following members are charter members:
Dorothe Shelhorn
Fern Allis
Vivian Clifford
Cleo Brinker
Colleen Welsh
Ruth Sivard
Ruth Schroeder
Lucille Grim
Eva Yoder
Ethel McVicker
Alvenna Kohli
Zelda House
Martha Ferrell
Mary Geisinger
Frances Brinker
Bertha Woods
Laura Shelhorn
Lucille Trunk
Jane Hubbard
Harriet Shack
Edna Williams
The following Auxiliary members served as President for the year (s) listed:
1947-48
Dorothe Shelhorn
1948-49
Dorothe Shelhorn and Ruth Sivard
1949-50 Grace McVicker
1950-51 Ruth Schroeder
1951-52 Colleen Welsh
1952-53
Martha Ferrell
1954-55
Martha Ferrell
1955-56
Viola Aungst
1956-57 Viola Aungst
1957-58
Jean Clifford
1958-59 Cleo Brinker and Marie White
1959-60
Marie White
1960-61
Marie White
1961-62
Betty Buttolph
1962-53
Betty Buttolph
1963-64
Helen Arters
1964-65
Arlene Grim
1965-66
Arlene Grim
1966-67
Loretta Arters
1967-68
Loretta Arters
Chatham Auxiliary helps form the Medina County Council of Auxiliaries as there has to be at least five (5) auxiliaries belonging. There were also Medina, Wadsworth, Seville and Valley City. Bruns- wick just recently formed and joined the county.
Sisters Colleen Welsh, Martha Ferrell and Marie White have served as County Council Presidents. They have also served as officers of District 7 of Ohio of which we also belong.
At the beginning of the auxiliary the members worked hard to buy dishes, siverware, pans, stoves, refrigerator, appliances and many other things. Anything and everything they could find they would do to raise money. The women also bought chairs one year. Another few years we worked selling vanilla, pepper, spices and so forth to raise money . This money went towards to Cancer Fund, Community Service, Hospital work etc. Two years ago we purchased twenty (20) new folding tables. These tables were bought to benefit anyone using our hall. We are also buying a new refrigerator, which we need very badly.
The women also worked with the post on many projects and the members today are working as hard, if not harder, than ever.
The auxiliary participates in Memorial Day parades wherever we are needed. We also parade on Loyalty Day, May 1st. We march on July 4th at Chippewa Lake. We march in other types of parades. The members try to back our men in this category as best we can, whether there are four of us or twenty four.
We help our men with their clambakes, and the Sugar Bush which they started six years ago. We do quite a number of school groups, Y.M.C.A. and many other groups.
We also spend quite a few hours in our kitchen and hall, mainly serving banquets. These range from golf, bowling, firemen and AA, Chatham Alumni, the Mother Daughter Banquet, plus many more at Christmas time and other times of the year.
We carried Alumni and the Mother Daughter banquets on when no one would do them anymore. You have to keep certain old traditions of a community and these happen to be two of them.
We spend the money earned on projects, such as buying flags for the churches, schools, boy and girl scouts, cub scouts, 4-H clubs, etc. We also furnished 575 Pledge of Allegiance cards to the schools this year. This is just one way of showing our part of patriotism to our community.
Another project that was done at the beginning of the Auxiliary was letting our service boys know that they hadn't been forgotten. A gift of money was sent to them and candy was sent also. This project got somewhat overlooked in the next few years. In 1966, the president asked that boxes be fixed up at Christmas time and that we also send $5.00 to each serviceman from our town ship or a member's son on his birthday .. It's alot of hard work and hours spent calling for changes of addressess, but when you read some of these letters we get back from the boys, you get tears in your eyes and you sort of choke up and any and all questions, if you ever had any, are answered and you're so glad that time was spent doing different things.
We also give to the funds in the community as the Heart, Cancer, T.B., Radio Free Europe, UNICEF, and others as they may come along. We give to funds within the V.F.W. such as the Health and Happines Fund for the National V.F .W. Home in Eaton Rapids, Michigan. We also send cards to the children at the Ohio Cottage. We buy Christman seals for the National Home also.
We stand behind our Medina County Council on visits to Brecksville Veterans Hospital. We take turns with others posts and auxiliaries for re- freshments and coupon books. The visits are made every third Sunday of the month. Before Brecks- ville we went to Crile Veterans Hospital to the parapalegic wards. This is another project of all the posts and auxiliaries in the county.
We are always ready and willing to help any family or anyone who needs help, as in sorrow, dis- aster, or accidents. This is mostly families that do not belong to the V.F.W.
We have also given the hall to the new fire department trying to get started and the use of our kitchen, etc.
There are many more projects that could be listed but the people of the community know and that is what counts.
by Mrs. Robert Arters
UX
ILIARY
F W.
Farm Bureau
Chatham Township has always been agricultural, even after the oil boom when many fields were in- vaded with pumps, pipes, and oil holes. At first farmers visited with each other across the line fence, and helped each other with barn raising, and plant- ing, and harvesting.
Later they found enjoyment in organizations. First there was the Farmers' Club; meeting evenings, in homes for fellowship and refreshments. E.T. Clapp remembers that they kept their dishes under the stage at school. Later came the annual Farmer's Institutes in the lull of winter or early spring- bright spots of entertainment and instruction for a couple of days and nights.
Farmers had need of working together on a large scale, having an organization through which they could buy seed, fertilizer, and equipment and sell their products to advantage. Many farm leaders saw this need; and so, just 50 years ago, the Farm Bureau organization was born, patterened after cooperatives in Denmark. Fifty years ago in 1918 Medina County qualified for its County Farm Bureau, and Mr. Buxton was chosen as its first county agent. Things went better for a number of years. Then the depression hit.
Farmers who could not always see how the organization was helping them felt they could not continue to pay the membership dues to "those farmers" down at Columbus. Memberships dropped. In 1935 several of our Farm Bureau men went to Nova Scotia where they had heard that impoverished farmers and fishermen had just pulled themselves out of the mire of a much worse Depression than we were in, through cooperatives. Everywhere they went, they asked, "But how do you get the farmers to take hold and use the cooperatives?" and always the answer was, "We always start with study circles", which were small neighborhood groups where farmers pooled their ideas and often found answers to their problems.
Back they came bubbling over with visions of Farm Bureau Councils. A Louis Warbington of Sidney, now over 90 years old, really got inspired. He wrote to us recently, "I was personally present at the or- ganization meetings of the first 150 (councils) in various counties. As near as I can remember the first four Councils in Medina County were organized during the winter of 1937 and 1938. We organized all four at the same meeting in an upstairs room ... '
The Chatham Council was organized about that time - just about 30 years ago. From the start these monthly meetings have attracted many farmers and their wives, often being the most satisfying group for them outside of the family circle. Now the feeling was "our" Farm Bureau, instead of "their" Farm Bureau. In December of 1946 the Chatham Council decided to break into three Councils, the groups was that large; so names of families were put into a hat and drawn out in three piles. Later the three groups became two, and in 1956 became one again.
To guide the thinking and discussion at the meetings, the State office prepares Discussion Guides. These may deal with taxation, schools, health, safety, or even high cost of funerals,or role of women on modern farms.
We vote at one meeting a year on Farm Bureau policies for the coming year - and our vote counts at the State level. We may send in recommendations at any time-and are urged to work for improvements on the local level. Just recently we have urged the Township Trustees to work toward systematic house numbering, and some plan for solid waste disposal.
As I have tried to show, the Councils are closely tied in with the main Farm Bureau Organ- ization. Many Chatham people belong to the organization, but not the Council. They may like to belong because of its good Automobile Insurance, or its good Hospitalization Plan, even if they are not farmers.
Two other branches of the main Organization also closely tied in with every other part are the Public Affairs Committee and Women's Committee. Public Affairs men deal with vital social concerns such as New Laws for Auto Drivers, Meet Your Candidates, etc. In Columbus our lobbyists for good farm legislation are the most highly respected of any group, according to Sen. Ocasek.
Women's Committee has a long history of improving rural standards of living. Around 1949 they gave demonstrations on freezing of foods; they promoted dairy products at Milky Way Parties; later they held rural-urban-get-togethers to build better under- standing; they have crusaded for litter-free high- ways "Don't be a litterbug." The last two years they have sponsored and assisted at the very valu- able health clinics at the Medina County Fair.
This year Chatham is especially involved. Besides our local Council and good membership in the Organization; the County Public Affairs Chair- man is Kenneth Siman, and the County Women's Committee Chairman is Mrs. Kenneth (Phyllis) Siman. They choose vital issues, get good resource people, - and they are providing a vigorous leadership of which we all are proud.
Mrs. Glenn (Pauline) Garver
OMIO.
FARM BUREAU
ON Inc.
FEDERATION
50th ANNIVERSARY
THE BLACK RIVER CHURCH
The Black River church began when Ephraim and Joseph Swinehart and their families located near Black River, Chatham Township, Medina County, in 1846. Other adherents to the Brethren faith, among them John White in 1849 and Joseph Rittenhouse in 1850, migrated to Black River soon after the arrival of the Swineharts. The territory was at that time included with in the boundaries of the Mohican congregation of Wayne County, of which Jacob Garver was then the presiding elder. But as the Mohican church was distant the need for a separate church house was felt. Before the organi - zation of the Black River church the following mini - sters served the group: Jacob Garver, John Shoemaker, John Martin, George Flack, and Emanuel Bughley of the Mohican church; Elias Dickey, Isaac Smucker, and Moses Weaver of the Ashland church; John Shoemaker, Sr., of the Chippewa church; and Jacob Kurtz of Stark County.
The new congregation was organized at the home of Joseph Rittenhouse on September 30, 1845. Brother Rittenhouse was elected to the ministry and Ephraim Provant and John White were elected deacons. Elders Elias Dickey of Ashland and Joseph Showalter of Stark County conducted the organization.
Among the charter members of the church were Joseph Rittenhouse, John White, George Heestand, John Robinson, Jacob Provant, Ephraim Provant, Ephraim Swinehart, Gideon Bollinger, Samuel Garver, Frederick Dague, John Werts, the wives of these men, Mary Pittenger, and Nathaniel Rittenhouse. Samuel Garver, John Werts and Frederick Dague, along with their wives, and Nathaniel Rittenhouse were baptized the day of the organization.
During the early years, meetings were held in the homes of the members, the families taking turns in entertaining the meetings. When a home was too small, the barn was used.
Jacob Garver was the pastor of the Black River congregation until 1867, when Joseph Ritten- house was ordained to the eldership and installed as pastor. Jacob Shock and J.D. Myers were elected to the deacon's office.
A few years after the organization, Samuel Garver, son of Jacob Garver, was elected to the ministry. In 1870, Gideon Bollinger was called. He served the Black River congregation until 1880, when he moved to Missouri. Tobias Hoover and John Pitt- inger were called to the ministry May 3, 1873, and advanced August 8, 1874. At about this time Samuel Garver was ordained to the eldership and placed in charge of the church, Joseph Rittenhouse having moved to Maryland. Elder Rittenhouse returned in 1876; he died at the age of eighty-two on New Year's Day, 1892. Brother Garver remained as pastor until 1904, when Tobias Hoover was placed in charge. Brother Hoover, ordained to the eldership in 1893, was the presiding elder from February 4, 1904, until his death from cancer on January 26, 1907.
The membership of the church grew rapidly, being the largest just prior to the division of the church in 1882, when there were one hundred thirty-two members. By 1896 the membership had dropped to fewer than fifty.
William Shoemaker and Tobias Prowand were elected to the deaconship April 7, 1883. Charles Woods was called to the ministry November 7, 1887. On November 5, 1892, Isaac Myers and George Hart were elected deacons; Brother Hart was killed accidentally two years later. Henry Kilmer was elected deacon May 1, 1897. Levi Dague and Henry Heestand were elected deacons and A.B. Horst was elected to the ministry on October 14, 1899. Brother Horst and John Yoder, who had moved into the district, were advanced the next year. M. Clyde Horst and S.M. Friend were elected to the ministry September 24, 1904, during the eldership of T.S. Moherman. A.B. Horst was ordained in the fall of 1905, and S.M. Friend in 1908.
The first meetinghouse was built in Homer Township in 1867. In 1882 this structure was transferred to the Progressive Brethren. A second house was built in 1868 in Chatham Township on the farm then owned by Joseph Rittenhouse. In 1900 it was remodeled and enlarged.
The Sunday school, one of the first to be or- ganized in Northeastern Ohio, was started in 1868 with Joseph Rittenhouse as the first superintendent. Other superintendents have been W.F. England, Henry Homan, John Dague, J.B. Wine, Tobias Hoover, John Pittinger, Charles M. Woods, Siman Garver, S.M. Friend, and Henry Kilmer.
In October 1902, a missionary reading circle was organized with Mary R. Hoover as the local secretary. This circle was soon merged with the Christian workers soon merged with the Christian workers society, which is still an active unit in the church.
From 1912 to 1918, A.B. Horst, S.M. Friend, John Yoder, and C.H. Murray served the church in the free ministry. Ira Krieger was elected to the deaconship about 1917. About this time the cong- regation began to see that some financial support for the ministry was necessary. A committee composed of D.B. Garner, F.L. Findley, and Isaac Meyers was appointed to solicit funds to help compensate the ministers for their services. This system continued until 1923, when a group of members purchased the John Yoder farm and presented it to the church for a parsonage. In this year D.E. Sower took up residence on the farm; he pastored the congregation until September 1929.
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.