Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 95

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

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THE MARCHING SONG OF SHERMAN'S ARMY ON THE WAY TO THE SEA.

Our camp fires shone bright on the mountains That frowned on the river below, While we stood by our guns in the morning And eagerly watched for the foe- When a rider came out from the darkness That hung over mountain and tree, And shouted, "Boys, up and be ready For Sherman will march for the sea.

508

FAIRFIELD COUNTY.

When cheer upon cheer for bold Sherman Went up from each valley and glen, And the bugles re-echoed the music That came from the lips of the men. For we knew that the stars in our banner More bright in their splendor would be, And that blessings from Northland would greet us. When Sherman marched down to the sea.

Then forward, boys. forward to battle, We marched on our wearisome way, And we stormed the wild hills of Resaca- God bless those who fell on that day. Then Kenesaw frowned in its glory, Frowned down on the flag of the free,

But the East and the West bore our standards, And Sherman marched on to the sea.

Still onward we pressed, till our banners Swept out from Atlanta's grim walls, And the blood of the patriot dampened The soil where the traitor flag falls. But we paused not to weep for the fallen, Who slept by each river and tree,

Yet we twined them a wreath of the laurel As Sherman marched down to the sea.

O, proud was our army that morning, That stood where the pine darkly towers, When Sherman said, "Boys, you are weary ; But to-day fair Savannah is ours." Then sang we a song for our chieftain, That echoed o'er river and lea, And the stars in our banners shone brighter When Sherman marched down to the sea.

The bar of Fairfield county has from early times been pre-eminent. We here notice some of the more prominent. HOCKING H. HUNTER was among them, and alike valued professionally and as a man. He was the son of Joseph Hunter, the first white man to build a cabin in the Hocking valley. He named his son from the river. The latter died in 1872. WILLIAM J. REESE, a lawyer, who came, in 1827, from Philadelphia to Lancaster, was a prominent Mason, and is said to have been the first Scottish-rite Mason in Ohio. He was a man of rare culture and refinement. He died in 1883, and his widow, a sister of Gen. Sher- man, still survives him.

PHILEMON BEECHER was one of the Connecticut Beechers; was born in Kent, Litchfield county, in 1775, came out here early, represented this district in Con- gress from 1817 to 1827, and died about 1840. Was in politics a Whig, and a man of fine address and presence. He it was who gave Thomas Ewing his first law business of any moment. The very elegant HENRY STANBERY, who began his law practice in Lancaster, and lived here for many years, married for his first wife a daughter of Mr. Beecher. He later lived in Columbus and in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and ended his professional career as Attorney-General of the United States under President Johnson.

WILLIAM MEDILL was the eleventh governor of the State, and the first under the new Constitution, which he had done so much to mould. He came from the State of Delaware, and opened a law office in Lancaster in 1832. He early acquired the public confidence, and arose to distinction ; was a Democrat, and ambitious politically ; was three times elected to the Ohio Legislature. In 1838-41 he was a member of Congress, serving four years. He occupied the position of Indian agent at Washington, and, in 1860, held the office of First Comptroller of the Treasury under Buchanan. In the fall of 1852 he was elected lieutenant-governor of Ohio, and acted as governor the latter part of the term. In 1854 he was chosen

599

FAIRFIELD COUNTY.

governor. He was never married, and at his death, in Lancaster, in 1865, left a large estate. He was a man of superior ability and character. In his adminis- tration of the Indian Department he inaugurated many needed reforms, and won the regard of the Indians by his just, kind treatment.

The Ohio Boys' Industrial School was founded in 1858 by the Legislature, who appointed three commissioners, and they purchased a farm site of 1,170 acres six miles a little south or southwest of Lancaster, high up on the hills and 500 feet above the town. The following description is from the "County History :"

Cheap log-buildings were first erected, and to these ten boys were brought from the House of Refuge of Cineinnati, and a begin- ning made. George E. Howe was constituted acting commissioner, and with his family

resided on the farm, and had general super- intendence until 1878, with Mrs. Howe as matron. He was then superseded by John C. Hite, of Lancaster, with Mrs. Hite as matron. Mr. Howe was then called to the

THE OHIO BOYS' INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.

charge of the State Reform School of Con- necticut, at Meriden, which he still retains. From an humble beginning the farm has grown into gigantic proportions and beauty. The soil for the most part is thin, but it seems well adapted to fruits-as apples, pears, peaches, berries, grapes, etc .- of which large quantities as well as garden vegetables are produced and consumed in the institution, numbering usually about 600 inmates.

The institution beeame popular from the start ; the log structures soon disappeared and fine brick buildings took their place. The present value of the farm with all its build- ings and improvements is over half a million dollars. The total number of pupils who have passed through the school is over 4,000, of whom it is estimated eighty per cent. have become good citizens.

The main building is 161 feet in length, with projections. It contains offices, recep- tion-rooms, parlors, dining-rooms, residence, guest-rooms, storage-rooms, council-chamber, and telegraph-offices. The kitchen, culinary department, and boys' dining-rooms are all in projections of the main building.

What are denominated family buildings are two-story bricks, with basement. The basement is the wash-room and play-place for the boys ; the second story is the school- room and apartments of the elder brother and his family ; the third story is the sleeping apartment for boys. There are nine of these family buildings, besides union family build- ings. The other buildings of the farm are the chapel, shops, laundry and wash-houses, water-tower, bake-house, engine-house, sta- bles, hot-houses, coal-houses, hospital, "cham- ber of reflection," besides many other out- buildings. The buildings are disposed in squares, more or less spaced, and altogether oceupy an area of about twenty acres. The Ohio building, which is the home of the small boys, is isolated from the others, and stands off a third of a mile to the east, and is connected with the chapel and main grounds by a plank walk. A telegraph line connects it with the main buildings shown in the en- graving. The grounds are laid off with gravel drives and plank walks, and are beau- tifully decorated with evergreen trees, arbors, flower-houses, and grass-lawns. The family

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FAIRFIELD COUNTY.

buildings are named after rivers in Ohio, thus : Muskingum, Ohio, Hocking, Scioto, Cuya- hoga, Huron, Maumee, Miami, and Erie. The family of boys of each building take the family name after the building, as the Mau- mee family, Hocking family, etc.

In the incipient state of the school some discrepancy of opinion_existed in regard to modes of discipline. By some it was pro- posed to adopt the House of Refuge plan, in part, in connection with the " open system." The latter was adopted. The term "open system " signifies that an establishment is not walled in like a prison, but is all open to the surrounding country, the same as it would be were it not a place of confinement.

The time of the boys is divided between work of some kind, school, and recreation. Every boy is half the day in school and the other half at work. There is an hour for dinner. Recreations in the form of playing ball and other athletic plays are taken after supper, on Saturday afternoons, and holi- days. Each family is under the manage- ment of an officer denominated the elder brother, whose wife, with few exceptions, is the teacher. The branches taught are those of a common-school education. The boys are held to close and rigid discipline, but treated with uniform kindness and trust. One of the leading features of the discipline is to inspire the inmates with the ambition of earning a Cor- good reputation for trustworthiness. poral punishment is only resorted to in extreme cases, and is always with the rod. A lockup is provided for the most incorrigible, and is denominated the " chamber of reflection."

In addition to school education and manual labor on the farm mechanical branches are also taught. The institution has a shoe and boot manufacturing establishment, a brush factory, a tailor-shop, a cane-seat making de- partment, a telegraph-office, and a printing- office, from which is issued a weekly news- paper, edited and printed by the boys.

Other mechanical trades have been learned there that have been highly creditable to the institution, and greatly advantageous to the inmates. The management find homes for them on their discharge. The time of com- mitment depends upon conduct, as no time is specified, this matter being optional with the superintendent. Boys under sixteen years of age who commit penitentiary crimes are usually sent to the Reform Farm, and some who have been sentenced to the State prison have been commuted to the farm.

Religious instruction is given in the chapel and Sunday-school, and presided over by alter- nation of clergymen of different denomina- tions. There is also a library provided by the State, and from which they draw books under regulations.

TRAVELLING NOTES.

My experience has been peculiar-a Sun- day passed at the Industrial School of Ohio, high on the hills six miles south of Lancaster. I went out Saturday afternoon in a carriage

belonging to the institution. The ride out was invigorating ; all the way up hill, with peeps down into side valleys where, in little dimpling spots, farmhouses were snugly nestled with orchards and vineyards.

It is an interesting spot. I felt while there as if I was lifted above the world, the location is so sightly and so secluded. It seemed as if one could see over everything. To the west, points thirty miles away in Pickaway county, and to the east, in Perry county, about as far, are in view. With a glass, I am told, one can discern the spire of St. Joseph, near Somerset, a place associated with the boy days of Phil. Sheridan.

The institution is under the charge of Mr. J. C. Hite, a tall, venerable-looking gentle- man, who gave me a cordial welcome. He was born on a farm, and has had a varied ex- perience as farmer, teacher, bookseller, county auditor, and now superintendent. The boys address him as "Brother," as they do all of the officers. In the evening Mr. Hite took me over to the buildings, a quarter of a mile away, where dwell the smaller boys from ten to twelve years of age. About 200 were in the school-room seated on benches, and in the centre was a black boy cutting the hair of his mates. It was Saturday night, and they were preparing for Sunday. Presently they marched around the room in single file pre- paratory to retiring-marched to music; and then I witnessed a sight that surprised me. A boy passed me completely transformed ; he marched stiff, head thrown back, arms stiff by his side, his face transfused, expression intense, and he seemed completely as if under the influence of melody and rhythm. In a moment another went by in like manner affected, and then another, and so in that long string of marchers about one in five were thus possessed. Mysterious power, this of music, to lift the soul into the far-away realms of what we fancy without a particle of knowledge must be akin to the spirit-world. And what a lever this emotional faculty is to work upon in this checkered life of ours for good or evil !

The scene on the lawn the next morning, the first Sunday in May, was charming. It was alive with birds. Birds are social, seek the company of man, and here are none to molest or make afraid. The variety is great, and at times the lawn is fairly studded with robins. Here, too, fly the blue-birds, the yellow-birds, scarlet-tanagers, mocking-birds, the modest little chip-bird, who says, "Is there room for me in the world?" and the saucy little sparrow, who asks no odds of any- body, and tries to fight its way into the boxes of the martens, but can't quite make it; woodpeckers from the adjacent woods beat their rataplan, and whip-poor-wills in the shadows of night send forth their sad, re- proachful cries.

Ten o'clock came, and then opened a beau- tiful sight. My ears were arrested by a slow, measured tramp, tramp, on the planks, like that of soldiers. And then I saw what it was : the boys, in companies of about fifty.

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FAIRFIELD COUNTY.

one company from each cottage, were march- ing to church, neatly attired in blue blouses and blue caps and gray pantaloons. Some of these companies were composed of lads from sixteen to eighteen years of age, in stature men.

Everything was so orderly and neat, that I instinctively felt a respect for them ; and well I might. Most of those who live here become so well grounded in the principles of morality that they become good citizens. Very many of the boys never had virtuous homes, and their coming here where the law of kindness is the prevailing rule has been a great bless- ing. Prominent engineers, builders, lawyers, farmers, and merchants have gone from this institution, and I expect the time will come when some of them will rise to be among the highest in the land. They have among them a literary and debating society, issue a news- paper, and have a Christian association of 200 or more members.

The entire village, as I may call it, gath- ered into the chapel-in all about 700 souls. A huge platform filled one side of the audi- tory. Being an expected visitor, Mr. Hite introduced me to the boys, telling them who I was and what I had done in the past for the State and was now doing, and how my book had blessed his youthful days, so that when I alighted from the carriage the even- ing before and made myself known a thrill passed over him. I had brought back the memories of youth ; he had never expected to meet me. The boys wanted me to talk to them ; and I did, the sum of it about this, which I repeat here for the benefit of the young people, for whose use I give these Travelling Notes :

. " Happiness is what we all desire; but it won't come by a grab for it. This is where those silly ones, the pleasure-seekers and self-indulgent, fail ; it only comes by indirection, the following of the path of duty. Many live in their imaginings and not in their facts, and hence are largely miserable. The wise Thomas Jefferson once truly said, man-

kind suffered more from imagining evil that never ensned than all the real evils of life. Once I saw this sentence in a newspaper : 'If you would be happy, perform the disagreeable duty first.' There was a world of wisdom in this; for, if shrunk from, there is misery in the sense of duty unperformed, and when met is never so disagree- able as imagined; in fact, generally proves a positive pleasure, and when finished lifts the spirits in the emotion of triumph that is inevitable. It is as a successful charge of the bayonet; after it one is ready for the next fight with a stronger heart and more cheery spirit. This as a contin- uous rule of life results in victory all along the line."

Mr. Hite being bred a farmer, is very en- thusiastic upon the agricultural capacities of these hills. Immense quantities of fruit are raised here, as apples, pears, peaches, grapes, and berries of all sorts, for which last the soil seems peculiarly well adapted. The success is such that it is bringing in a better class of farmers, and pushing out the rude population yet dwelling in cabins, and called by the boys 'hillikens." The "hillikens" are the police of the institution, and ever ready to "nab" a runaway for the standing reward of $5. Land on the hills is cheap, and can now be bought for from $10 to $15 per acre. The autumnal scenery here is said to be grand, from the mixture of the green of the pines with the scarlet and gold of the oaks and other deciduous trees. In summer these hills are cooler and in winter warmer than the valleys. And what homes there will be among them and all the hill country of Southeastern Ohio, on their summits and slopes, in the riper, richer future of the coming decades. This is one of the most healthy spots of the globe. From 1858 to 1885, a period of twenty- seven years, ont of 4,530 boys who have been here there have been but twenty-three deaths, four of these by accident. From this, it would seem as though this was one of those peculiar places where people neglect trying to get sick, and when, perchance they do, refuse to die.

LITHOPOLIS, about eighteen miles southeast of Columbus, is on a high eleva- tion, surrounded by a fine farming district. Newspaper : Lithopolitan Home News, Independent, Miss O. E. D. Baughn, editor and proprietor. Churches : 1 Lu- theran, 1 Methodist, and 1 Presbyterian. Industries: Hunter Buggy Works, Lithopolis free-stone and William Long quarries, Stone City Creamery, etc. Population in 1880, 404. School census in 1886, 156; H. C. Bailey, superin- tendent.

RUSHVILLE, thirty-seven miles southeast of Columbus, on the T. & O. C. R. R. Newspaper : Item, Independent, W. J. Mortal, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 German Reformed. Population in 1880, 227.

AMANDA, on the railroad, about eight miles southwest of Lancaster, has 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist, and 1 Lutheran church, and, in 1880, 375 inhabitants ; is in a fine farming country, and is a large grain market.

BALTIMORE, twenty-nine miles east of Columbus, on the T. & O. C. R. R., is situated in a fine farming country. Newspaper : Messenger, Independent, Miller & Evans, publishers. Churches : 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 German Reformed, and 1 Evangelical. Population in 1880, 489. School census in 1886, 217,

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FAYETTE COUNTY.

FAYETTE.

FAYETTE COUNTY was formed in March, 1810, from Ross and Highland. The surface is flat ; about half the soil is a dark vegetable loam on a clayey sub- soil, mixed with limestone gravel, the rest is a yellow, clayey loam. The growth of the county when first settled was retarded by much of the land being owned by non-residents, and also from the wet lands, which, when drained, proved highly productive. The county is noted for stock-raising, its fine horses and cattle. Its area is 420 square miles. In 1885 the acres cultivated were 95,549 ; in pasture, 78,938 ; woodland, 26,167; lying waste, 1,841; produced in wheat, 111,318 bushels ; corn, 2,594,944; wool, 142,852 pounds ; hogs, 33,958. School census 1886, 6,733 ; teachers, 136. It has 97 miles of railroad.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

Concord,

1,074

908

Marion,

1840. 879

1880. 971

Greene,

1,616

916

Paint,

1,212

2,045

Jasper,

2,072

Perry,

1,320

Jefferson,

1,948

2,925

Union,

1,945

6,175

Madison,

765

1,405

Wayne,

1,540

1,627

Population in 1820 was 6,336; 1840, 10,979 ; 1860, 15,935; 1880, 20,364, of whom 17,363 were Ohio-born ; Virginia, 1,052; Kentucky, 298; Pennsyl- vania, 291 ; Ireland, 256; Germany, 136.

A gentleman of the county at the time of the issue of the first edition gave the annexed list of some of the more prominent characters in the early history of Fayette. This gentleman was the late Hon. Alfred S. Dickey, whom Justice Chase described as " an eminent judge in Ohio, and worthy of the great esteem in which he is held." He died in 1873, aged sixty-two years. He was the father of Hon. H. L. Dickey, of the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congress :

The following are the names of some of the first settlers of this county, viz. : Col. James Stewart, Jesse Milliken, Wade Loofborough, Thomas M'Donald, Dr. Thomas M'Gara, John Popejoy, Gen. B. Harrison, Jesse Rowe, John Dewitt, Hamilton and Benjamin Rogers, William Harper, James Hays, Michael Carr, Peter Eyeman, William Snider, Judge Jacob Jamison, Samuel Waddle, James Sanderson, and Smith and William Rankin.

Col. Stewart, at an early date, settled near the site of Bloomingburg, about five miles northerly from Washington. His untiring industry in improving the country in his vicinity and the moral influence which he had in the community will be long remembered. Jesse Milliken was one of the first settlers of Wash- ington, was the first postmaster, and the first clerk of both the supreme and com- mon pleas courts of the county, in all of which offices he continned until his death in August, 1835. He was also an excellent surveyor, performed much of the first surveying done in the county, and erected some of the first houses built in the town. Wade Loof borough, Esq., was one of the first citizens and lawyers in the county. Thomas M'Donald was one of the first settlers in this part of Ohio, bnili the first cabin in Scioto county, was engaged with Gen. Massie and others in laying; off the county into surveys. He rendered valuable services in Wayne's campaign, in which he acted as a spy, and was also in the war of 1812.

Dr. Thomas M'Gara was one of the first settlers and first physician of the town of Washington, where he practised his profession for a number of years. He represented the county in the Legislature, and was associate judge. John Popejoy, Esq., was one of the first justices in the county ; he built the one-story house on Court street, on the lot No. 5. It is said that he kept his docket on detached scraps of paper in the most convenient cracks of his cabin, and that his ink was made of

603

FAYETTE COUNTY.

walnut bark. Although many amusing anecdotes are related of him yet he was a good man, sincerely desirous of promoting peace and good-will in the community. Wben a lawsuit was brought before him his nniversal practice was, if possible, to pre- vail upon the parties to settle the dispute amicably. He always either charged no costs, or took it in beer, cider, or some other innocent beverage, of which the wit- nesses, parties, and spectators partook at his request, and the parties generally left the court in better humor and better satisfied than when they entered.

The first court of common pleas in the county was held by Judge Thompson, at the cabin of John Devault, a little north of where Bloomingburg now stands. The judge received a severe lecture from old Mrs. Devault for sitting upon and rumpling her bed. The grand jury held their deliberations in the stable and in the hazel-brush. Judge Thompson was a man of strict and Puritan-like morality, and distinguished for the long (and in some instances tedious) moral lectures given in open court to the culprits brought before him.

The Fighting Funks .- The pioneers of Fayette county were principally from Vir- ginia and Kentucky, and were generally hale and robust, brave and generous. Among the Kentuckians was a family of great notoriety, by the name of Funk. The men, from old Adam down to Absalom, were of uncom- monly large size, and distinguished for their boldness, activity, and fighting propensities. Jake Funk, the most notorious, having been arrested in Kentucky for passing counterfeit money, or some other crime, was bailed by a friend, a Kentuckian by the name of Trumbo. Having failed to appear at court, Trumbo, with about a dozen of his friends, well armed, procecded to the house of the Funks for the purpose of taking Jake, running him off to Kentucky and delivering him up to the proper authorities, to free himself from paying bail.

The Funks, having notice of the contem- plated attack, prepared themselves for the conflict. Old Adam, the father, took bis seat in the middle of the floor to give com- mand to his sons, who were armed with pis- tols, knives, etc. When Trumbo and his party appeared, they were warned to desist ; instead of which, they made a rush at Jake, who was on the porch. A Mr. Wilson, of the attacking party, grappled with Jake, at which the firing commenced on both sides. Wilson was shot dead. Ab. Funk was also

shot down. Trumbo having clinched Jake, the latter drew him to the door, and was about to cut his throat with a large knife, when old Adam cried out, "Spare him !- don't kill him !- his father once saved me from being murdered by the Indians !"-at which he was let off, after being severely wounded, and his companions were glad to escape with their lives. The old house at which this fight oc- curred is still standing (1846), on the east fork, about eight miles north of Washington, with the bullet-holes in the logs as a memento of the conflict.

The Funk family were no enemies to whis key. Old Adam, with some of his comrades, being one day at Roebuck's grocery-the first opened in the county, about a mile below Funk's house-became merry by drinking. Old Adam, wishing to carry a gallon of whis- key home, in vain endeavored even to procure a wash-tub for the purpose. Observing one of Roebuck's pigs running about the yard, he purchased it for a dollar and skinned it whole, taking out the bone about two inches from the root of the tail, which served as a neck for the bottle. Tying up the other holes that would, of necessity, be in the skin, he poured in the liquor and started for home with his companions, where they all got drunk from the contents of the hog-skin.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 95

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006