History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 109

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 109
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 109

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40-B. & J. Cos.

Some member proposed to sell the lodge-room and pay off the indebtedness, and then was seen the mistake of disposing of the lower story. These troubles continued on until 1833, when one of the brethren proposed to take all the property of the lodge and assume all its indebtedness. The members were all sum- moned to meet on a certain day at one o'clock, at which time the question was debated pro and con. The writer of this sketch was soon convinced that the proposition would carry, and asked a leave of absence for a short time, which was granted, but he did not return that day.

After all the furniture, jewels, &c., were sold, the next move was to resign the charter, and on the 7th day of January, 1834, on the motion of Mr. MeNeely, in the Grand Lodge, the charter of Friendship Lodge was accepted and Friendship stricken from the list of lodges. . At this Grand Communication, out of a list of one hundred lodges, only thirty were represented.

When the purchaser took possession of the property Mr. Mackall requested permission to keep the book of minutes, which was refused. He then asked for the leaves that were written on, and they were given him. . He placed them in his secretary. Some time after this he was lying very ill, and his physician had very little hope of his recovery. A prolonged sinking spell came over him, and his wife thought he was dead. When consciousness returned he asked his wife to bring him the bundle of papers. He examined it, and found the bundle was what he wanted. He kissed it, and asked her to lay it on the grate that he might see it burn, saying that "he wanted no vandal to examine or read it after he was gone." Had his mind not been weak from illness he would never have destroyed the papers.

During the eight years that Friendship was dormant its members became scattered over the country, so that there hardly remained a constitutional number of members. These were : R. Hopper, Robert Hodgin, John McCune, Vachel Barnes, Na- than Riley, John Kuntz, J. W. Harris, John Hance. Kelion Hager, and Benjamin Mackall. They, with T. C. Parker, met occasionally to keep. posted.

At one of those meetings the W. M. of Moriah Lodge No. 105, U. D., being in town, was invited to attend, and gave them some instruction. As he was on his way to the Grand Lodge, he made their case known, and on the 17th of October, 1842, the Grand Lodge passed the following :

"Resolred, That Friendship Lodge No. 89, at Barnesville, in Belmont county, be authorized to resume work: and that the charter now deposited with the Grand Lodge be restored to them."

In pursuance of said resolution and a letter of dispensation from G. M. W. J. Reece. the members met and elected the fol- lowing officers :

T. C. Parker, W. M. Benjamin Mackall, S. W. Robert Ilopper. J. W. John McCune, treasurer. Vachel Barnes, secretary, Robert Hodgin, S. D. John Hance, J. D.,

And the Tyler, Recording to the by-laws, was appointed by the master-elect.

Grand Master Reece sent his proxy to Wilnith Jones, of St. Clairsville, to install the officers, who fulfilled his duties faith- fully and to the satisfaction ot all concerned. In this year R. E. Frasier, John T. Mackall, John HI. Piper, Caleb Webster, Stephen Wilson. Jesse C. Cowgill. Joseph Fry, E. D. Barnes, B. A. Brown and HI. M. Hays were initiated.

On the first of November, of this year, the delegate to Grand Lodge presented the old charter, which caused such rejoicing that the W. M. had to use the gavel very freely.

On the 5th of November, 1878, the following were elected officers for the year of 1878-9, and were installed on the 27th of December succeeding :

Robinson Mebane, W. M. William II. Anderson, S. W. Samuel H. Blowers, J. W. John W. Hingely, treasurer. Benjamin Mackall, secretary. Thomas T. Colpits, S. D. Thomas E. Shry, JJ. D. Daniel B. Edson, tyler. TOBACCO TRADE.

Barnesville since 1820 has been one of the principal centres of the tobacco trade of Ohio. In 1824 the firm of Davenport &

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

Gibson, which had been engaged in handling leaf tobacco, erect- ed a large wooden building on the lot just back of the present residence of Mr. John Cole, for the more convenient dispatch of the business. A few years thereafter James Barnes & Sons put. up astill larger wooden structure for the packing of leaf tobacco, on the grounds where the Presbyterian Church now stands, southwest corner of Chestnut and Church streets. And al- though the Messrs. Barnes were the second to begin the busi- ness, they soon became the leading operators in that trade, and so continued until 1842. In many years they handled and shipped as many as twelve hundred tabs a year with an average weight of 850 pounds.

As the cultivation of tobacco increased, other firms engaged in the trade, and in some years from four to five thousand tubs have been packed in the town. And so Barnesville became in truth a town of "tobacco worms," as the employes in the trade are called in local parlance.

The housing or saving of tobacco in this part of Obio is done after the following plan : The leaves are stripped from the stalk in their green state; then strung upon strings attached to sticks, two to three leaves at a time alternating from side to side of the stick. The sticks are then hung upon scaffolds in the open air to wilt and get yellow. Then the sticks are hung in the house to be cured, that is, dried out. After the tobacco is cured and again becomes damp, the sticks are taken down, the strings broken from the sticks, and the leaves rolled into bun- dles. In this bundle form the tobacco is delivered to the leaf merchant. The leaves are then assorted to length and color and kinds, and tied in bundles or "hands," as they are called, of from fifteen to twenty-five leaves each, by a leaf folded lengthwise on itself and wrapped about the butts of the leaves. After this these "hands" are neatly spread out and put compactly together in bulks to await to be "qualified." This process "to qualify" is to extract from the leaves a large portion of their organic moisture, so that the tobacco will neither rot nor mould after it is packed in tubs. To expell this moisture, artificial heat must be applied or the tobacco inst be exposed for a long time to dry currents of air .. The old process "to quality" was to let the to- bacco remain in bulk until incipient rotting began. This was made known by the undue heat of the tobacco in bulk. The hands were then taken up, shaken, and straddled on smoothly shaven sticks, and hung in the packing house to "dry out." Af- ter the tobacco so hung in the house was thoroughly dried and again became damp, it was taken down and rebulked to await the process of packing. . That process "to qualify" was followed until 1845, when the present mode came into nse. The only dif- ference between these processes "to quality" is this: that the tobac- co in bulk was required by the old process to begin "to heat" be- fore it was hung in the packing house to "dry out ;" the new process does not permit it to heat in bulk before it is hung up. The old mode "to qualify" extinguished almost all the organic moisture of the leaves, and prevented after damage from it; but while doing that it injured the texture of the leaf fibre. So each mode has its advantages and disadvantages.

"The "packing" process is to place the "hands" evenly and smoothly together in layers, a "hand" deep in the tub, the layers constantly changing direction in the tub. After the tub is filled the tobacco is pressed down with screws, then refilled and screwed down again, and so on until the tub is pressed full. The aim is never to exceed nine hundred pounds to the tub nor less than eight hundred pounds.

TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES.

The first temperance organization in Barnesville was made in the month of January, 1836. The pledge which tormed the basis of the society simply provided against the use of distilled liquors, leaving the membership free to use all other intoxica- ting beverages. Hon. John Davenport offered this pledge to the meeting, and prefaced the offering with remarks concerning its success in the Eastern States. It was adopted by the meeting, and was subsequently subscribed by nearly every adult person in the town.

The next effort in order of time was in the year 1842, wben the Washingtonian reform swept over the country. Everybody became a Washingtonian, and so completely did the community become subject to the power of that temperance movement that for years not one drop of intoxicating liquors could be bought in the town; and it so continued until the deluge of intoxica- tion was precipitated upon her at the beginning of the con- struction of the C. O. R. R. in 1852.

In the fall of 1847 the first Division of the Sons of Temper-

ance was instituted in Barnesville. It was called the Barnes- ville Division, No. - , S. of T. The men pressed into it so numerously that it became necessary to form another division. This was done early in the year 1848, and it was called the Hobah Division, No. -. S. of T. The membership of the two divisions soon exceeded five hundred, and they held undisputed control of the town and adjacent country until they were over: whelmed by the debauching influence of railroad construction.

From 1852 until the Women's Crusade in 1874 many efforts were made in bebalt of temperance reform in Barnesville. Di- visions of S. of T., Temples of Honor, Good Templars, Recha- bites- and divers temperance pledges all tried their powers upon the possessions of intoxicating drinks here, but they all proved powerless to dispossess them, or to weaken their hold upon the people.

The Women's Crusade of 1874 struck the grasp of intemper- ance on the town a deadening blow, and the grip of that grasp has been weakening ever since, When that crusade began here a majority of the people favored the use of intoxicating liquors as drinks, but now the majority of the people are against their use, with a constant angmentation of that majority.

In the winter of 1877 the Murphy Pledge movement reached Barnesville, and up to the subsidence of the excitement in 1878, over two thousand persons resident in the town and township had taken that pledge. And Barnesville may now be said to be in truth a temperance town.

THE METHODISTS AND THEIR CHURCHES.

The first resident family in Barnesville were Methodists. The head of the family was the Rev. James Round, a local preacher of that religions sect. He was originally from the state of Mary- land, and moved from that state to St. Clairsville, Belmont coun- ty, Ohio, in 1804, and there pursued his trade of tanner. Short- ly after Mr. Barnes had entered the lands on which Barnesville now stands he associated himself with Mr. Round to sink a yard and carry on a tannery on those lands. As Mr. Barnes intend- ed to lay out a town on those lands, Mr. Round obtained from him a promise that when the town should be laid out that he would donate two acres of land at or near the town to the M. E. Church for a church house site and burial ground. Having put up a hewn log house on what is now the southwest corner of Main and Chestnut streets, Mr. Round in the spring of 1808 re- moved his family to that house and began to sink his tanyard. On the 8th of November, 1808, the town was laid out and the position of that little hewn log house controlled the direction of the main street of the village. So soon as Rev. Round had settled at the hewn log house members of the M. E. Church began to gather there for religious worship. It continued to be a preach- ing station until the log church was put up in 1810. At this hewn log house the first marriage in the village was celebrated. It was the marriage of Mr. Robert Mills to Miss Patience Shaw. a young lady Rev. Round had raised. Rev. Round performed the marriage ceremony.

As soon as the town was laid out, Rev. Round selected the two acres promised him by Mr. Barnes for M. E. cburch house and graveyard. The site chosen is now occupied by the Disci- ples' church, north side of West Church street. In the spring of 1809, James Asbury, first Bishop of the MI. E. Church, with Rev. Boehm (who died a year or two ago, aged one hundred and four years) then on a tour of inspection of the outposts of that ag- gressive and missionary denomination of Christians, tarried over night at the little hewn log house of Rev. Round. In the morn- ing these reverend gentlemen took a walk to see the lands chosen for the site just mentioned. Rev. Round pointed out the spot. After caretully examining it the Bishop turned to Rev. Round and addressed him in these almost prophetic words : " Yes, Brother Round, choose that ground, build your meeting house, and my word for it. Methodism will never be dislodged from Barnesville."

The log church just mentioned was constructed of huge hewn logs contributed by the membership and friends. The house was forty by thirty and stood a little west of the present Disci- ples' church and frouted cast. Two chimneys of stone were put up outside at the west corner, with two immense fire places on the inside, for wood fires. The doors occupied the east corners and led to the aisles that passed along the sides of the house to the fire places. Between the aisles were the benches, withont backs-mere slabs split from large trees and with four legs to the bench to support it. The sides and ends of the room were ceiled to the square. At the square two substantial girders cross- ed each other at right angles and were fastened into the top logs

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES,

to support the walls. There was no ceiling, so the whole inside of the roof was exposed to sight. A little high circular pulpit decorated with tiligre work, stood between the fire places. Such was the little hewn log church, the first house of worship built by the Methodists in Barnesville.

This church honse was occupied by the Barnesville M. E. con- gregation until 1822. By that time the membership of the church had become so large, and the general attendance of the people so great, that the log church was found too small for comfort, so in the summer of 1822 the old brick church now used by the Disciples was built. The little pulpit was taken from the log church and set up in the brick one, where it remained as the pulpit until the year 1850. The town still growing, the mem- bership still increasing, and the attendance of the common pub- lic enlarging, the old brick church became too small to hold them all; so in 1856 the spacious church house at southeast corner of Church and Chestnut streets was put up. It is a brick struc- ture seventy-two feet by forty-eight feet, two stories high. The lower story is occupied by a lecture-room, class-rooms, vestibule and stairways. The upper story is a large commodions andience room, well furnitured, with gallery and a pulpit of the modern pattern. The building is surmounted by a small belfry and one of the finest bells for tone that was ever cast.

This church cost something over four thousand dollars, and will seat five hundred persons in comfort. Rev. John Coil was preacher in charge during the time it was built, and the dedica- tion sermon was preached by Rev. D. P. Mitchell, now of Kansas Conference. The contractors for the brick work was William Smith, Esq., and John O. Parsons ; for wood work, John Mor- row, Present pastor, J. C. Sullivan. The present membership of Barnesville church is four hundred and fifteen.

In March, 1864, the Pittsburgh Conference held its annual session at this church, Bishop Levi Scott, presiding.

Barnesville has always been a Methodist town. Starting with a Methodist family as its first inhabitants, it continued to be under the almost undisputed sway of that Christian sect it- til the Disciples of Christ put up their little brick church house on West South street in 1842. At one time, about the year 1824, the head of every family in the village but five was a mem- ber of the M. E. Church. During the existence of the town, there have been some extraordinary revivals of religion inangu- rated by the Methodists here. Those of 1824. 1835 and 1848 having been the most noted.

The revival of 1835 was the most noted, as it was begun and carried on by that celebrated orator the Rev. Charles Waddell, a grandson of the "Blind Preacher," so admirably pictured by Wirt in the "British Spy." On one occasion during this revival so powerful was the effect of one of Waddell's exhortations upon the people that singing was suspended for ten minutes. The whole congregation appeared as a mass of mourners-nothing being heard but prayers, shouts, sobs and exclamations of praise, and nothing seen but upturned faces and clapping hands. No words or anthor can describe the scene-the house simply seemed to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

In each of the years 1841-2 a camp-meeting was held by the Methodists of Barnesville on the slope a little northeast of the present residence of Abel Lewis, From the fact that those meetings were held near a large spring, they are known as the " Big Spring Camp-meetings." That spring now supplies the water tank on the B. & (. Railroad just east of the depot. Those camp-meetings were illuminated by discourses from the great theologians Elicho Rates Thomas Babcock, James Sans In an? John MeMahon,

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

For many years but few Presbyterians lived in and about Barnesville. Mr. James Mcheich and wife up to the year 1840 were the only residents of the town professors of that faith. But as time passed on others moved in, and in 1858 the follow- ing professors of that creed resided in the town, while there were several others residing there whose religions proclivities were towards Presbyterianism : James MeLeish and wife, David McCartney and wife, Mrs. James Orr, Mrs. William L. Hager, Mrs. Emily Fisher and daughter, and Mr. Jesse B. Aikin, So in the autumn of that year Rev, John Hamner, of Baltimore, Md., under the advice of the Rev. Cross, made a religious visit to Barnesville, He preached there for about two weeks, occu- pying the basement room of the then unfinished M. E. Church and Warfield's Hall, over the present business rooms of Plumty & Gunning, on lot No, 18, original plat of the town. Near the close of his visit there Rev. Hammer advised the Presbyterian I-40-K & J. Cos.

friends to at once form a society and build a meeting-house. On his own motion, he appointed Mr. Richard E. Frasier chair- man of a committe to be chosen by himself to prepare and cir- culate subscription papers to raise funds to erect a church, In a few days the committee were chosen, and at its first meeting resolved that if sixteen hundred dollars could be obtained by subscription they would immediately build the church honse, In one day the sixteen hundred dollars was subscribed, and in a short time a site was bought and the building put under con- tract. The lot then occupied by the old tobacco packing-house of James Barnes & Sons, at the southwest corner of Church and Chestnut streets, was purchased of Mr. Henry T. Barnes; the old packing-house removed to the lot west, and the building of the meeting-honse at once begun by the contractor, Mr. James Elerick.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH CONTRACT.

The church house was finished and dedicated in the spring of 1859. It is a wooden structure over sixty feet long and forty feet wide, surmounted by a cupola, spire and bell. It will seat four hundred persons comfortably, is well seated with pews, and a fine pulpit after the modern style. The church is illuminated by chandeliers kindly donated by the Rev, John Coil, of the M. E. Church, and is warmed by stoves.

Soon after public services were begun to be held at the church a large number of persons who had not before made an open profession of religion became members, and the church forth- with began a prosperous career.

The meeting-house and site cost about three thousand dollars. Its first pastor was Rev. William Kirkwood. The reverend gentlemen who have been pastors of the church since Mr. Kirk- wood are comprised in the following list and officiated in the order named: Greenlea, Caldwell, McClelland, Lafferty, Shafer, Sinclair and Mack. Rev. Mack is now in charge of the congre- gation, which is in a flourishing condition with a membership of eighty persons.

The first elders were John George, Mitchell Thompson and William Harper. The present elders are John Laughlin, Geo. Shepherd, Richard E. Frasier and John W. Kennon.

About the year 1861 William Sawhill, a lay member, snc- ceeded in establishing a Sunday school in connection with the church. At the start the school numbered twenty-five scholars with Mr. Sawhill as superintendent. The superintendents in succession as they followed Mr. Sawhill are: I. T. Woods, Wil- liam Harper, John Langhlin and J. M. Yarnell. Mr. Yarnell is the present superintendent, and the school has an average at- tendance of one hundred and seventy-five pupils. The school has a respectable library of well selected books.

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST AND THEIR CHURCHES.

The first organization of the Disciples of Christ in Warren township into a society was at the house of John Phillips, Sr., about two miles northwest of Barnesville, about the year 1833. They continued to meet at the house of Mr. Phillips for several years and then transferred their meetings to the old stone school house, about half a mile southwest of Mr. Phillips' residence, where they continued to worship until the year 1842. They had occasional preaching during that time by Elders Burnett, Lamphear, Poole, Gardner, Jones. Campbell (the elder). Hall and others.

In the year 1842 the Disciples held a week's meeting at the town of Barnesville. They erected a large tent on a vacant lot on West Main street, south side, and immediately east of the present residence of Mrs. Thomas Barze. The tent was well seated and held about five hundred persons. This meeting proved to be an interesting one and quite a number were added to the membership of the church.

In the year 1842, James Barnes, proprietor of the town, pre- sented the Disciples with a lot at the west end of South street, north side, and just across the alley west of the present residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Barnes. Upon this lot in the same year.they erected a brick chapel forty by fifty feet, and some time in that year began to occupy it as a place of worship. John N. Hunt and Jesse Jarvis were elected elders ; and Elders Asbury, Gard- ner and John N. Hunt were the preachers in charge from that time until 1847.

From 1842 to 1856 the church did not increase largely in mm- bers, but in the fall of 1856, Elders A. E. Myers and W. I. Moore hegan a meeting which resulted in a large accession to the church, increasing the membership to over one hundred. In the spring of 1857, the Methodists having vacated their meeting

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house on Church street, the Disciples bonght, refitted and ocen- pied that early in the summer of that year as their place of wor- ship. Ellers Myers and Moore continued to preach for the church until 1858, when Elder Moore having graduated at Beth- any College, left for his home in Kentucky. He now resides in Cincinnati and is one of the ablest and most noted preachers among the Disciples of Christ. In the summer of 1859, Bishop Alexander Campbell preached his last sermon to the Disciples at Barnesville. His text was : " And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ; but the greatest of these is charity."-1 C'or. 13c, 13v.

Elder Myers continued to preach for the church until 1867. In that year Elder H. MeDiarmid, a graduate of Bethany Col- lege was employed to preach for the church all his time, and he remained here for two years. During his pastorate the meet- ing honse was remodeled at an expense of abont nine hundred dollars. Elder McDiarmid left for Kentucky in the fall of 1869 and in 1870, Elder J. B. Marshall, of Indiana, was employed as preacher for the church and so continued until 1873. From 1873 to 1876 the church was without a regular pastor. In 1876-7 Elder J. R. Tate preached for the church. At the present time Elder Philo Ingraham, of Illinois, is pastor and preaches for the church twice a month.

The first Sunday School in connection with the Disciples church was organized by Elder Martin abont the year 1854. It was afterwards continued by Elder 1. N. Hunt. In 1856, Wil- liam Barnes, now at Indianapolis, was elected its superintend- ent. He immediately added a fine library to the school, and the church having large accessius to its membership at the time, the school soon became prosperous. R. C. Graves is at present su- perintendent of the school.

FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE.

Previous to 1874 the Friends who resided in Barnesville were members of and attended Stillwater meeting one and a quarter iniles east of town. In the year named as many as twenty families of their society, being residents of the town and imme- diate vicinity, an indulged meeting, or meeting for worship, was allowed them by Stillwater monthly meeting, and in the spring of 1875 they built a small two-story frame building 30x40 feet for a meeting-house and school room. It is located at the north- west corner of South street and Cemetery avenue, and cost with its furniture nearly $3,000.

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History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 109

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728