USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > Historical collections of Coshocton County, Ohio : > Part 10
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Merchandizing, Banking, Tavern-keeping, etc. 115
latter still living in the county. Neither this sort of work nor the stage-coach business ever seems to have had a large place among Coshocton county interests. Among " the drivers " there were possibly some whose experiences would be freighted with romantic interest were they set out ; but they are, if recorded at all, in some tablet of memory now moss-grown and illegible.
Above the general surface there rises the history of the canal-driver boy, who afterward was governor of Iowa- Wm. Stone-originally from the State of New York, but spending his boyhood and young manhood in Coshocton.
A good many " bare-foot Bills," both in and out of Coshocton county, have gotten well on in the world. For the comfort and encouragement of the present generation let it be recorded.
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
CHAPTER XIV.
PHYSICIANS-STATISTICS AS TO HEALTHFULNESS OF COUNTY-PIONEER MEDI- CAL REMEDIES.
THERE is record evidence to show that, in all, not fewer than a hundred and sixty persons have practiced medicine in Coshocton county. With the exception of some twelve or fifteen, these have all been " regulars."
The first resident physician was Dr. Samuel Lee. His biography is given elsewhere in this volume. A ride of twenty miles was in his practice a common occurrence, and for consultation he went to Mansfield, in Richland county. His active practice covered more than forty years.
The next physician who seems to have made his mark distinctly enough to be readily traced was Dr. Hiran Wright. He was a Canadian, coming to Coshocton di- rectly from Western New York. He remained in the county until about 1831, when he removed to Knox county, and not long thereafter died.
In 1831 the physicians of the county were S. Lee, Lewis Colby, Thomas Heslip, William Emerson, Jared Cone, G. R. Morton, Benjamin Hill, and E. G. Lec. Of Dr. S. Lee information is given above and elsewhere.
Dr. Benjamin Hill came to Keene township in 1824 from Cheshire county, N. H. Though very young, he had been in the Revolutionary war in its last year as an assistant to an army surgeon. He was quite eccentric, as people judged ; rough in speech, but kind of heart, and especially tender toward the brute creation, horses, dogs, cats, etc. His medical hobby was that all diseases were produced by . miasmatic influence. His wife died about 1834, and he re- turned to New England, and died soon after.
Lewis Colby was a well-educated physician, coming, it is understood, from Vermont to Keene about 1828. In a few years he went to Louisiana, and there died after a brief pe- riod of practice.
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Physicians, etc.
Thomas Heslip was of the well-known Linton township family by that name, and he practiced for a time near Ja- cobsport.
William Emerson read medicine with Dr. Lee, and, after attending lectures in Cincinnati, practiced in connection with him, having his residence and office in Roscoe. That was about 1828. He was a promising young man. Died of pneumonia in 1833.
Jared Cone was at West Carlisle about 1828; practiced there some years, and then went to Dresden, whence he re- moved to Missouri.
Dr. E. G. Lee was at East Union, one of the two towns united under that name having been laid out by him. He came from Knox county, and went back there after some years.
George R. Morton was at Coshocton ; came from Norris- town, Pa., about 1830; about 1835 he removed to San- dusky city, and there died a few years since.
With the vast throng coming into the county from 1830 to 1845, there was a due proportion of those proposing to practice the healing art. Some of these did not abide very long, and others did not acquire a very extensive practice, and were chiefly occupied with other pursuits. Among these may be mentioned, as pertaining to the earlier day, Henry Miller, afterward so distinguished in business circles in Columbus, who practiced medicine for a short time at Warsaw, as also his brother Jonathan, afterward of Frank- lin county ; or A. T. Walling, now Congressman from the capital district. Or of still later day, Dr. E. Conc, of Washington township, afterward a M. E. preacher, and who recently reported himself as "grower of peaches and ap- ples on sheep lands." Or, in still more recent times, Dr. B. C. Blackburn, who was for a time a merchant, and sub- sequently a farmer, and has even taken somewhat to poli- tics, representing the county in the legislature. And, by the way, the doctors seem to have been in favor in this matter, the county having sent to the legislature Dr. S. Lee, Dr. Williams, Dr. Stanton, Dr. Cass, Dr. Fellows, and Dr. Blackburn.
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
Among the physicians who, by long residence and prom- inence in their profession, are worthy of notice, in addition to those already named, may be mentioned Dr. Willetts, for many years at New Castle; Dr. Delamater, who removed to Indiana, and there died in 1874; Dr. Barger, of New Castle, who was killed by the explosion of a boiler of a steamboat at Louisville, Ky., while on a trip to the west in 1843; Dr. James, who removed from the county about 1846; the Madisons, both dead; Silas Sapp (brother of Enoch), who removed to Indiana, and there died in 1870; R. R. Simmons (brother of John T.), removed to Harrison county about 1860; I. N. Fellows, who died in 1869 ; L. Howard, who met with his death in Keene at the time of receiving a blow at the hand of his brother-in-law, who was convicted of manslaughter about 1859.
The veteran physician of the county, at this writing, is Dr. Maro Johnston, of Roscoe. He is a native of the county, and studied with Dr. Samuel Lee, of Coshocton ; attended lectures at Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati ; commenced practice in Roscoe in June, 1833; uninterrupt- edly in practice.
Heslip Williams, native of Guernsey county, where he studied and practiced for a time, commenced practice at Jacobsport in 1835; was in legislature; otherwise steadily in practice .*
Josiah Harris, from Maryland, graduated in the medical department of the University of Maryland ; came to Cosh- octon county in 1837; practiced in Roscoe until 1840, and then removed to Coshocton.
William Stanton, native of Hartford county, Ct. ; studied with Dr. Sears, of Albany, N. Y .; came to Coshocton county in May, 1838 ; was at West Bedford five years, and then removed to Warsaw. He gave up practicing in 1849, and has since given attention to farming, merchandising, etc. He removed to Coshocton in 1868.
George Day, native of Jefferson county; came in 1839 to Oxford township, where he still resides; attended one
* Died August 6, 1876 (while these sketches were passing through the press), of heart disease, aged sixty years.
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Physicians, etc.
course of medical lectures at Ohio Medical College, Cincin- nati.
A. L. Cass, from Muskingum county, studied with his relative, Dr. John Andrews, of Steubenville ; graduated at the University of New York ; came to Coshocton county in 1842; and with brief exception, while in the State Senate, practiced uninterruptedly until the summer of 1874. At that time he was prostrated by disease, and has not yet re- sumed practice. At this writing he is residing at Pitts- burg.
W. H. Vickars, of Muskingum county, studied with Dr. Watkins ; commenced practice at Otsego about 1840 ; re- moved to Coshocton county (Jacobsport) in 1845 ; and there died in 1873.
J. B. Ingraham, a native of Harrison county, Virginia, studied with Dr. Carpenter, of Athens, Ohio; attended lectures at Starling Medical College in Columbus ; came to Linton township in 1848; removed to Coshocton in 1864; uninterruptedly in practice.
David Lawson studied with Dr. Russell, of Mt. Vernon, and commenced practice in 1849; lately in drug-store at Warsaw.
Samuel McElwee, native of New Jersey, studied chiefly with Dr. A. McElwee ; holds diploma of Cleveland Medical College ; commenced practice in 1849 at New Castle; and has been there ever since.
E. Sapp, native of Knox county, studied with Dr. Houts, of Danville, and came to Coshocton in 1850. For a few years he gave special attention to dentistry.
David McElwee studied with his brother, S. McElwee; established at East Union.
N. Blackman, of Warsaw, studied with Dr. Barnes, of West Bedford.
John Anderson, native of Guernsey county, read with Dr. Kortz; commenced practice in the fall of 1848 at Port Washington, Tuscarawas county ; then in Keene, Coshoc- ton county. He came to Coshocton in 1868, and has since been engaged in the drug and book business.
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
S. H. Lee, native of Coshocton, studied with his father, Dr. S. Lee ; commenced practice at Canal Dover, Tusca- rawas county ; practiced from 1849 to 1856, at Peru, Indi- ana; then returned to Coshocton; was surgeon in Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1862, 1863, and 1864. He gave up practice in 1865, and has since been engaged in the drug business.
J. T. Edwards, native of the county, read with Dr. Rus- sell, of Mt. Vernon ; graduated at University of New York in 1857 ; and has since been in practice at West Carlisle.
In addition to those indicated in the foregoing list as still in practice, the following others may be named : J. W. Wright, J. W. Brady, J. C. Brower, W. C. Frew (native of county), at Coshocton ; John C. Davis, at Orange ; Wm. Bancroft and A. H. Garber, at Jacobsport; W. H. Wil- liams and A. J. Hughes, at West Lafayette ; B. W. Chap- man and E. P. Stuart, at Bakersville ; Peter Lenhart, Chedister, and Volz, at Chili; M. J. Love (native of county), at Keene ; S. M. Carr and Beach, at Clarks ; John Moore (native of county) and N. Calhoun, at Warsaw ; J. W. Winslow, at Spring Mountain ; . - - , at West Bedford ; Wm. Smith (native of county), at West Carlisle ; A. M. Henderson, at Frew's Mills ; J. M. Smith (native of county), at Canal Louisville ; T. Ralston, at East Union.
A county Medical Society was formed about 1855, hold- ing meetings at intervals until about 1867, when the or- ganization was practically abandoned. Under the State Constitution prior to 1851, the county authorities assessed a specific tax upon the physicians practicing in the county, running from three to five dollars per year.
Lest some readers might conclude from the number of physicians who have been in Coshocton county, that it was an unusually sickly region of country, it may be well to state that the statistics for many years show an average death-rate of one to every one hundred and thirty-three in- habitants per year. In 1874, when the population of the county was about twenty-four thousand, the deaths reported were one hundred and seventy-seven.
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Physicians, etc.
From 1840, on for a number of years, a traveling dentist occasionally visited Coshocton. The poor fellow finished his course about 1858 by hanging himself (while in a de- pressed condition of mind, produced by discouragement in business and hard drinking) in a stable then standing in rear of the " Central House." The first resident dentist was Dr. E. Sapp. He was succeeded by Disney & Moffitt. Dr. Jacobs next undertook this work. Disney & Moffitt were succeeded by Finlay and Wernett, and Jacobs by Dr. Wait.
Among the more notable practicers of the so-called " ir- regular " schools of medicine, have been Dr. Alexander McGowan, of the " Thompsonians ;" Dr. Martin Roberts, who learned his " arts of healing " from the Indians in Western New York ; Drs. Wilson, Walling, Waddell, and Farquhar, of the " Uriscopians ;" Drs. Von Ruedegish, Alder, and Burr, of the " Eclectics."
The first Homeopathic physician to settle in the county was Dr. W. W. Smith, who came to Coshocton just after the war of 1861-5. He removed to Pennsylvania in 1874.
At this writing Dr. N. M. Shurick represents that school, having commenced practice in 1875.
The medical remedies in the days of the first settlers, ere the doctors had come around, may have some interest for some young readers. The diseases of children were nearly all ascribed to worms. For the expulsion of these a solution of salt was given, or some scrapings of pewter spoons, or some copperas gathered near coal-bank runs.
A very general remedy for burns, swellings, etc., was a corn-poultice, made of pounded corn. Poultices of scraped potatoes or raw turnips and slippery-elm bark were often used. For the croup (called the bold hives) the juice of roasted onions or garlic was given. For fevers a tea of snake-root. The itch, which was very common, was cured by an application of brimstone and lard. Rheu- matism, and swellings generally, were treated with oil of rattle-snakes, bears, geese, coons, ground-hogs, and pole- cats. White walnut-bark tea was a great favorite. If it
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
was intended for an emetic the bark must be stripped up the tree ; if for a purge, down. Some had great faith in charms. The erysipelas, or St. Anthony's fire, could, as some believed, be cured by circumscribing it by the blood of a black cat, etc.
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Newspapers.
CHAPTER XV.
NEWSPAPERS.
THE old citizens tell how they and their cotemporaries used to watch for the arrival of the stage from Zanesville bringing the Weekly Messenger. Wm. K. Johnson and other young store-clerks of that day read themselves hoarse for the edification of the customers and loafers, a number of whom were not very good readers, and then, besides, a paper would thus go farther. A President's message, only four days from Washington, was a wonderful thing.
One Dr. Maxwell (who, besides printing the paper, had on sale in the office "Godfrey's cordial," "Bateman's drops," etc.) is credited with having started the first paper in Coshocton county-the Coshocton Spy-in the latter part of 1825. It was a sheet twelve inches by eighteen, issued with much irregularity. The concern, after a brief career, was turned over to John Frew, who had furnished supplies from his store for some time. Maxwell went to Mount Vernon, and, in consequence of criminal charges, subsequently fled the country, and the paper was put in charge (as foreman) of one O'Hara, Frew being still the publisher, and steadily paying a little for this honor. O'Hara at length fell a victim to delirium tremens, and Burkit E. Drone became the editor and printer, having also a half interest in the ownership of the paper. After a time, Joseph Medill, afterward famed in Cleveland, and still later and more largely in Chicago, as editor of the Tri- bune and mayor of the city, became associated with the paper. The name of the paper at that time was the Democratic Whig. Drone went to Cincinnati, and Me- dill also removed, and the paper became the property of H. Guild, who at length suspended publication, as some of his predecessors had done. The name at that time was The Republican. After some time the office became the prop-
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
erty of R. W. Burt (now in the internal revenue service at Peoria, Illinois). How he got it and what he did with it we let him tell :
" In August, 1853, Mr. H. Guild, the editor and proprietor of the old Whig newspaper in Coshocton called on me and desired to sell me his interest in it. He had ceased its pub- lication two or three months previously, having lost hope in its success. I told him I was not a Whig, had been a Democrat, but was now a Freesoiler; that my party in Coshocton county only included about fifty people, and that I saw little or no prospect of establishing a paper in ad- vocacy of my own principles. I also distrusted my ability to do justice to my own cause, never having had any ex- perience as editor, nor even as a printer. I gave him no encouragement, and he went away. But in truth he had awakened a desire in my mind to engage in the work of publicly advocating my principles, which I believed would finally triumph. I thought over the matter, talked with my father and some leading Whigs and independent Dem- ocrats, and finally embarked in the enterprise. I was as- sisted greatly by Hon. James Matthews, and his brother-in- law, Thomas W. Flagg, was taken in as associate editor. I called the paper the Progressive Age. The first num- ber was published in September, 1853, and was outspoken on the subject of slavery extension and the fugitive slave law, and strongly advocated the cause of temperance. Wm. A. Johnston was foreman in the printing office. I sent the paper to all the old subscribers of the Whig paper, and also to all the Democrats whose names I could get. I soon found plenty of papers returned ' not taken out of the post- office.' In two months, however, after my first issue, I had only about two hundred and fifty subscribers, but I did not get discouraged. In a few months, by most persistent efforts, my subscription-list was greatly enlarged, and at the end of a year it had reached seven hundred. The fol- lowing year the Age took part in the formation of the Republican party, and the new party having succeeded in electing nearly all their candidates for county offices, the Age came in for a share of the public printing, which
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Newspapers.
gave it a firmer footing. I continued the publication about three years, and the Republican party was in power in the county when I sold the paper to A. R. Hillyer, who pub- lished it about a year, and then sold it to J. W. Dwyer. I assisted Dwyer about a year, and then left the county."
J. W. Dwyer succeeded Hillyer, making out of the paper very little direct pecuniary gain. He left it to take office in the treasury department under S. P. Chase.
Asa L. Harris, from Columbus, became the proprietor of the paper in 1861. He changed the name from Progressive Age to Coshocton Age. About the close of the war, Harris went to Georgia to become postmaster of Augusta (having served in like capacity in Coshocton) ; and the paper, after being run for a time by J. W. Dwyer and W. A. Johnston, became, in 1866, the property of its present publisher, T. W. Collier, who had resided in Cadiz and New Philadel- phia, and had been in service as adjutant of the Eightieth Regiment, O. V. I. The present circulation of the paper is reported at 1,200 copies.
In 1831 John Meredith began the publication of a paper at East Union, Perry township. It was called the Castle of Liberty. In 1832 it was removed to Coshocton, and was published until after the presidential election in that year, when it was discontinued. It advocated Democratic prin- ciples and the re-election of General Jackson to the presi- dency. James Matthews assisted in the editorial depart- ment for a time.
About 1836 the publication of a Democratic paper, called the Western Horizon, was begun at Coshocton. Wm. G. Williams, then county treasurer, was the proprietor, and Russell C. Bryan the editor. For a time John Oliver man- aged the paper. Subsequently Messrs. Weeks, Wagstaff, T. W. Flagg, and Chauncey Bassett were connected with it. In 1840 its publishers were Flagg & Bassett. It was then about half the size of the Democrat of to-day, and bore that name. About 1845 A. W. Avery, who had been a minister of the M. P. Church in Coshocton, was its ed- itor. He removed to Illinois. In the fall of 1850, A. T. Walling, now member of Congress from the Columbus dis-
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
trict, was editor and publisher of the paper. In 1853 Rich and Wheaton were publishing it. In the spring of 1856, Asa G. Dimmock, who had edited the Cadiz Sentinel and the Cosmopolite at Millersburgh, and had just finished his service as warden of the Ohio Penitentiary, became editor and publisher. When nominated for prosecuting attorney in 1862, he disposed of the paper to A. McNeal, a young man from Bethlehem township, who had just served as county recorder. He was drowned while fishing in the Tuscarawas river, a few miles above Coshocton, in August, 1862. Wash. C. Wolfe ran the paper from McNeal's death until after the election, when Dimmock resumed, and soon thereafter (November, 1862) J. McGonagle, formerly of the Cadiz Sentinel, became a partner with Dimmock, and con- tinned for some two years. He removed to Shelby, O. In the spring of 1866, the present publisher, John C. Fisher, of Muskingum county, who had been connected with the Newark Advocate, became a partner with Dimmock. The health of the latter was at that time seriously broken. He spent the most of the summer in visiting among friends, and died that fall at the home of his brother, in Montrose, Pa., and Fisher became the proprietor and editor of the paper, continuing as such unto this writing, except that during Mr. Fisher's absence in the State Senate it was edited by W. R. Gault and other temporary editors, and that during the summer of 1875, for a few months, W. C. Brownlee (now of Chillicothe) was associated with him. It is understood that in its earlier history the paper fre- quently required the help of its party friends, and none of its numerous publishers have been able to retire with a large fortune. Its appliances are better now than in any past period of its history. Its circulation is reported at 1,000 copies.
For a couple of years (1849 and '50), a paper, called the Practical Preacher, was published some months, at Coshoc- ton, by Rev. Mr. Wirick, then residing at Jacobsport, who was the Methodist preacher on the circuit .* He
* Beside sermons, the paper contained communications of literary and miscellaneous sort. Among these were a few sketches of the
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Newspapers.
had been a printer before becoming a minister. Rev. Mr. Calhoun and other ministers furnished matter for publica- tion. It was printed in the Age office-did not thrive- was short-lived.
H. C. Beach and Beach & Elliott, about 1870, and again in 1874, published for brief periods an independent and literary paper.
At least two ladies of Coshocton-Mrs. E. W. James and Mrs. E. T. Spangler-have made some reputation as paper and magazine writers. The latter is also the author of a book, the Physician's Wife.
Mrs. Louise Morrison Hankins-a Coshocton-born lady, now of New York City-has achieved considerable fame as a magazine and book writer.
history of Coshocton, partly historical and partly "bar-room stories." The writer of these, in a recent letter, says that the historical matter, then published in the Preacher, is found in Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, Doddridge's Notes, and other readily accessible publications.
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
CHAPTER XVI.
SCHOOL MATTERS.
SCHOOL matters did not receive much attention nor attain any noticeable prominence for many years after the organ- ization of the county. The demands of pioneer life were, as is commonly the case, too heavy in other directions to allow of as much time or means for these things as they might in other conditions receive. But there was not much disposition on the part of many to create or improve facilities. There was some study and very carnest efforts on the part of individuals to get something of "book learning," and a very marked individual proficiency in the three great underlying primarily utilitarian attain- ments of reading, writing, and cyphering; but practically no schools before 1820. About that time, the policy of the State was thoroughly settled and well shaped, and stimulated what of interest there was in localities. The Congress of the United States, in 1803, had granted to the State the one-thirty-sixth of all the lands in the United States Military District for the use of schools in the same, and the Legislature provided for the leasing thereof. But these leases yielded little or no revenue beyond the expense of managing them, and in 1827 they were sold, and the proceeds taken as a loan by the State (now a part of the irreducible debt), with the agreement to pay to schools six per cent. interest on the amount annually. These lands in Coshocton county were appraised by James Robinson and Richard Fowler, and staked out by James Ravenscraft. The sale of them was superintended at first by Samuel Rea. Afterward James Hay was appointed for this work, and he declining, Robert Hay was designated. The sum paid to the county from this fund has been for many years about $800.
In 1821 school districts (school affairs having been hith-
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School Matters.
erto in the hands of township trustees, and almost wholly dependent upon voluntary efforts) were fully arranged for, and the householders in such districts were authorized to select a school committee and a collector and treasurer, and the committee was authorized to receive donations of sites for building, and to assess taxes on their district, as also to receive from the township the rents of the school lands.
In 1825 a school tax was directed to be raised in every county, and yet more complete and practicable arrange- ments as to districts and directors were made. On certain conditions a tax, not exceeding in amount $300, could be levied for building a school-house. Rate (or tuition) bills could be arranged for and relied on where the tax was insufficient.
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