History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 31

Author: D. W. Ensign & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 541

USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 31

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).

In 1837 a lot of land was leased of Benjamin Hanna, on the northeast corner of the public square, on which was erected an engine-house and council-chamber, which are yet in use to house the " Eagle" fire apparatus. These were purchased in 1867 in order to supply the demand for better protection against the fires which threatened the place. To man the engine a company was formed which is yet in ex- istence, and has an effective organization. About 1850 the " Vigilant Hose Company" was formed to co-operate with the Relief Company, and in 1870 a new engine-house was built for these companies on the hill, from which that part of the village can be reached with greater ease than when all the apparatus was in the business part of the place.

THE CEMETERIES.

Early in the history of New Lisbon the people were sorely afflicted with a fever, which, in 1808, proved fatal to many adults. During the visitation of this sickness Reasin Beall set aside two acres for a cemetery on the south side of the creek, which was cleared up by Gen. Beal, Capt. Row- land, Fisher A. Blocksom, and a few others who were well enough to engage in this work. For many years this was the reposing-place of the dead, but after 1835 its general use was discontinued. That year Henry Springer began what constitutes a part of the present cemetery in the north- eastern part of the village, and which, since 1876, has been controlled by a board of officers appointed for the purpose. It has been enlarged to contain fifteen acres, and has been improved to a considerable extent, presenting already an attractive appearance. The first interred here were the re- mains of Dr. Springer, the father of the founder of the cemetery, who died in November, 1834. At present several hundred dead repose there.

In the western part of the village the German Reformed and Lutheran churches established a cemetery in 1815. It was laid out by Michael Stock, and is yet occasionally used for sepulture. The Friends' cemetery, in the eastern part of the village, was laid out by John Briggs, probably

* See chapter on "Internal Improvements."

Digitized by Google

117

TOWNSHIP OF CENTRE.

about the same time as the above, and like it has fallen into a dilapidated condition from infrequent use since the village cemetery has become the principal place of interment.

EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.

As near as can be learned, the first schools in the town- ship were established at New Lisbon, and that place has always retained the most conspicuous position in educational affairs. The following history of

THE NEW LISBON SCHOOLS

was prepared for the State superintendent in 1876 by the Hon. H. H. Gregg, for many years an active member of the board of education :

" We cannot give a full and satisfactory history of the schools of New Lisbon without going back to the beautiful spot of ground originally chosen by the first settlers of New Lisbon to rear the old log cabin school-house in which to educate their children.

" According to the testimony of the venerable Fisher A. Blocksom, who came to New Lisbon in November, 1805, the lot or square of ground on North Market Street, on the hill, occupied from the commencement of the town for school purposes, was originally a beautiful grove of white- oak saplings or bushes, in the midst of which was con- structed a rude log cabin school-house, of round logs and clap-board roof, and, according to the testimony of one who attended school in the rude building, light was admitted through oiled or greased paper, used in place of window- glass. The school-furniture of that day was not made of cast iron and varnished wood, in large factories, as at present, but was generally constructed of slabs, flat side up, adjusted by fixing pins in the wall, and desks to suit, and the teacher sat on a stool of primitive style, and desk the same, with rod near at hand to insure peace and obedience to his man- dates. Inside of this rude but humble building the light was extracted from Dilworth's and Webster's Spelling-books, the English Reader, and Daboll's and Jesse's Arithmetics and the ' Western Calculator,' and other ancient school-books long held in remembrance by the older class of people.

" And Mr. F. A. Blocksom says when he first came to New Lisbon this primitive log cabin school-house was pre- sided over by a teacher named Wilson, and he thinks David Wilson was his full name, and that he continued to teach until the year 1808, when he died of a fever which pre- vailed and proved fatal in many cases at the time. He was succeeded by Reuben P. McNamee, who was afterwards county commissioner, and also by the Rev. Thomas Rigdon, a Baptist preacher, who was elected a representative in the State Legislature from 1813 to 1816.

" This primitive log cabin school-house was succeeded by a hewed log house, which was at the time considered a great improvement in architectual style, and from the further tes- timony of Mr. Blocksom the school-board about this time Was composed of Gen. Reasin Beall, Maj. Thomas Row- land, Daniel Harbaugh, and Fisher A. Blocksom.

" In the last-named house John Whitacre taught school ; also De Lorma Brooks, who was a representative in the State Legislature in 1820-27, and now resides at Beloit, Wis. And of the early teachers I will name Thomas Mor-

rel, long a citizen of New Lisbon, and also a man named Mckinley. And in later years Robert Whitacre and Jacob G. Williard taught school in this house,-the former for six years auditor of this county, and the last named treasurer and county surveyor, and is at this time county surveyor of Stark County.

" The last teacher, however, who occupied the old build- ing was the late David Anderson, who, for about thirty- seven years, well and faithfully served the people of New Lisbon as a teacher of youth. In fact, it was not until September, 1849, that the board of school directors declared the old hewed-log house ' no longer tenantable,' and Mr. Anderson and his school were compelled to abandon the premises and occupy a building on West Walnut Street which had been rented for them.

" But many persons who graduated from this old log cabin school afterwards made their mark in the world. Three became distinguished in the medical profession at Cincinnati,-two of them eminent medical professors,-and one of the three served for several years in Congress. And a fourth became distinguished for his legal knowledge in the southern part of the State, and for his eloquence and distinguished ability as a representative in Congress. And in Cleveland are two bank presidents and one cashier, as well as an editor of a daily evening paper, who graduated from the old building ; and in Detroit, Pittsburgh, and St. Paul are legal as well as business representatives, and one holding an important official station, who can claim to have gone forth from the old log cabin school, or received their first lessons in the same. And I can also add the names or refer to several eminent ministers of the gospel who received their first lessons in the old school-house on the hill,-one of them, the Rev. Henry C. McCook, once superintendent of our schools, and now a distinguished minister of the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. I would also name members of the press in several States, as well as a recent governor of Colorado, but it would make my address or history too lengthy.

" The old log cabin era, however, although useful in its day and generation, and productive of most excellent fruits, cannot strictly be called a public-school system in the sense of later years. The expenditure of the public-school funds only lasted a few weeks or months, when the schools were compelled again to fall back upon private subscription to keep or maintain an existence, and, as a consequence, those scholars whose parents were unable or unwilling to subscribe and pay had to cease their efforts at an education just, in fact, as they had commenced, and then fall back into the next class, and lose the position which they had striven to maintain while the public fund held out.

" But this inequality ceased when, about the year 1848, our schools were organized under what was called the ' Akron law,' and $1603.78 were levied and collected for school purposes ; but, the records being lost or mislaid, we cannot give more particulars, only to say that the law was passed for the benefit of the town of Akron, and made general in its application.

" In consequence, however, of the law being repealed or changed in its application to other places, on the 16th of April, 1849, the qualified electors of the school districts

Digitized by Google

118

HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY, OHIO.

composing the town of New Lisbon met according to pre- vious notice, and adopted the act recently passed by the Ohio Legislature, entitled 'An act for the better organiza- tion of public schools in cities, towns,' etc. On the 28th of April of the same year an election was held for school directors under this new organization, which resulted in choosing Th. Umbstaetter, Daniel Dorwart, Robert Hanna, William D. Morgan, B. W. Snodgrass, and H. H. Gregg as directors.

" Under this organization a tax of 81350 was assessed upon the property embraced within the limits of the New Lisbon union school district, said tax to be in addition to the moneys accruing under the general school laws of the State.

" The schools were divided into three departments : first, the principal ; second, the secondary ; and third, the primary,-the teacher of the principal school to be, ex officio, superintendent of all the schools. And under this new organization we appointed William Travis as principal and superintendent; Miss Harriet M. Converse, assistant ; David Anderson, male secondary ; and for the primaries, Mrs. Mary Tabor and Misses Harriet Canaan, Mary Ann Craig, Martha Thomson, and Rebecca J. Lee.

" Rules and regulations were then adopted for the gov- ernment of the schools, text-books selected, rooms rented in which to open schools; and still the log cabin school- house was called into requisition for Mr. Anderson's sec- ondary school. On Monday, the 14th of May, 1849, the schools were put into operation under the new organization, graded to suit the different departments, and a very general attendance of the children in all the sub-districts was re- ported. The high school or superintendent's department was located in the basement of the Presbyterian church, the two rooms having been rented for that purpose.

" We must confess, however, that in the reorganization of our schools some opposition was manifested. The first school funds, $1603.78, having been collected under what was called the ' Akron law,' with the boundaries of the district somewhat different, injunctions were applied for, both in the Common Pleas and before Judge Spalding of the Supreme Court, and notices served to enjoin the school board from applying the said funds to the union schools as organized under the later act of the Legislature of Ohio. The applications for injunctions, however, were overruled in both the Supreme and Common Pleas Courts, and the school board was left free to apply the funds to the payment of the teachers' salaries and other expenses in the newly- organized district.

" At the close of the first term, July 21, 1849, our pro- gress under the new law stood as follows: number of schools and teachers, 7 ; scholars enrolled, 456,-males 227, females, 229 ; average daily attendance, 321.

" The second term of our schools commenced on the 3d of September, 1849, and in renting rooms and preparing for the same the old log cabin school-house was declared by the board 'no longer tenantable,' and a new room was rented for the male secondary, under David Anderson ; and thus passed out of use, but not out of recollection, the ven- erable old public log cabin school-house, which so long in early times stood as a beacon-light to knowledge and educa- tion on the hill.

" According to the annual report of the school board, the first year of the union schools of New Lisbon showed a

Receipt of funds to the amount of ..... ..... $3487.94 Expenditures for the year ... 1838.78

Leaving & balance of. $1649.15

" At the close of the term, in July, 1851, under the super- intendence of Reuben McMillen, the whole number of scholars reported as enrolled was 447, with an average daily attendance of 326.

" On the 14th of June, 1851, propositions were submitted to the voters of the union school district of New Lisbon, and adopted, authorizing the board of school directors to raise by taxation the sum of $5000, running through 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, and 1856, with the privilege to borrow all or any portion of the above amount, and also to raise a sum sufficient to pay interest on the same.

"The people seemed determined to have good and efficient schools in which to educate each and every child of lawful age in the district, and for that purpose they were willing to be taxed, as well for the erection of buildings as for other school expenses.

" On the 5th of March, 1853, a vote was also taken as to whether there should be one or four school-houses built; at which election 166 votes were given for building one school-house, and 92 votes for building four school-houses, thus putting our schools all under one roof, where the head can supervise the different branches, and thus make the system more uniform and efficient.

" During the year 1856 a plain but substantial brick school-house was built on the beautiful location on the hill, and just where the early inhabitants of New Lisbon located the original log cabin school-house. The building is 55 by 80 feet, three stories high, having four rooms on the first floor for the smaller class of children, and four on the second, counting the recitation-room, for the more advanced scholars, and a fine large hall, covering the whole of the third story, for examinations, lectures, or any other legiti- mate or useful purpose, and which, if necessary, can be divided and used for school-rooms. And I will add, the contractor was James Scott, who put up the building in the most substantial manner. And the members of the school board under whose administration this building was erected were as follows: Erastus Eells, James H. Shields, William Dorwart, Simon Spiker, George S. Vallandigham, and Wm. D. Lepper.

"On the 6th of April, 1857, the New Lisbon union schools were opened in the new brick school-house, under the late David Anderson as superintendent; J. B. Harris, teacher of the high-school; Miss Lucretia Cole, female grammar-school; Miss Sarah E. Roach, intermediate; Miss Harriet Dibble, advanced primary ; and Misses Mary Ann Eells and Mary L. Watt, primaries.

" This was really a new and eventful era in our public- school system,-a fine, substantial public building, where all the children and youth of the town could gather and receive instruction under the same roof, with an able in- structor for each room, and all under the supervision and control of one superintendent.

" Our present school system has been in operation in New Lisbon for twenty-seven years, and has become so firmly

Digitized by Google

119

TOWNSHIP OF CENTRE.

established that no person could think of abolishing or changing it in any manner in order to cripple or render it less effective in the education of our youth. All parties join in its support, and we have the good sense to elect our directors free from partisan bias, and to so manage and ad- minister the affairs of our schools that nothing of the kind shall creep in and corrupt the fountain and source of know- ledge and education. Within a very few years we have ex- pended about $3000 to modernize and improve our school- building, and it is now surrounded by a beautiful grove of evergreen and forest trees, to which the minds of our youth will wander back many times in years to come while in pursuit of their destiny in the outside world.

"The branches regularly studied in the primary schools are reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, and geography, and, in No. 6, grammar. The following branches were studied last term by scholars attending the high-school : reading, spelling, higher arithmetic, physical geography, English grammar, primary and higher algebra, geometry, geology, physiology, rhetoric, history, and bookkeeping.

"On the first opening of our schools, in 1849, under the union-school system, the wages of teachers were low, ranging from $14 per month to $450 per year for Mr. Travis, the superintendent. In later years salaries were gradually raised, and at one time the school board paid the superintendent as high as $1200 to $1500 per year. At this time the teachers of Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 receive $35 per month ; No. 5, $40; No. 6, 850; assistant in high-school, $45; and the superintendent, $1000 per annum.

" I will now give the names as well as the date of appoint- ment of the superintendents of our schools. They gener- ally taught the high-school, but were not in all cases super- intendents when first appointed : William Travis, April 30, 1849; Reuben McMillen, April 24, 1850; George Fraser, April 24, 1852; J. B. Harris, Sept. 26, 1853; Henry C. McCook, March 31, 1855; David Anderson, April 24, 1857; T. M. T. McCoy, Aug. 23, 1860; W. M. Bryant, March 23, 1867; W. R. Smiley, April 11, 1868; I. P. Hole, Aug. 14, 1869; R. W. Tayler, June 6, 1873; G. F. Mead, July 5, 1875 ; C. C. Davidson, June 20, 1876, who is yet the superintendent."

The present teachers and the number of pupils enrolled in each school are as follows : G. W. Henry, high-school, 78 pupils; A. R. Martin, grammar, sixth grade, 42 pupils ; Miss Lena Lindsay, grammar, fifth grade, 38 pupils; Miss Mary Sinclair, primary, fourth grade, 45 pupils ; Miss Lydia Ogden, primary, third grade, 63 pupils; Miss Bella Child, primary, second grade, 73 pupils ; Miss Adelaide H. Young, primary, first grade, second division, 73 pupils; Miss Lou Roach, primary, first grade, first division, 57 pupils. Total enrollment, 469; average daily attendance, 355.

The present board of education is composed of J. H. Wallace, President; John Way, Secretary ; John Burns, Treasurer; H. H. Gregg, David C. Schultz, and George B. Corbett.

Cold Run Academy was organized in the spring of 1867, by Joshua and Samuel Bowman, C. M. Miller, Hiram Chandler, and John Mason, to secure the privileges of a high-school for members of their families. . A building was procured in the Bowman neighborhood, in which the school

was opened, April 15th, with sixteen pupils, under the in- struction of W. R. Smiley. The first term closed July 3d, and, the school having been successful, the fall term was opened with fifty pupils, twenty-four of whom had come from abroad to attend this school. Mr. Smiley left at the end of the year to become the principal of the New Lisbon schools, and the academy was placed, the second year, in charge of D. M. and J. R. Carey, of Salem, who also con- ducted it successfully.

The last term was taught by Ashbell Carey, and ended Feb. 25, 1870, with a reunion at the house of Joshua Bowman, of those who had attended the school. An ag- gregate attendance of 126 pupils was reported; and, the mission of the school being fulfilled, so far as the founders were concerned, Cold Run Academy was discontinued.

The Schools of the Township .- An early school was taught on the present Infirmary farm by Philip Athee, and where is now the house of Wm. Rudisill. John Stough, Jobn Mason, George Rudisill, and John J. Bowman put up a building very early for a school in that neighborhood. Among the pioneer teachers were Jonas Bowman, Jesse Hoops, Wm. D. Ewing, and Jemima Reed. No satisfac- tory record of the early condition of the schools is in existence. In 1878 the exhibit was as follows :

District. Clerks of District.

Males of Females of School Age. School Age. Total.

No. 1. Charles Chandler.

No. 2. F. B. Chandler.

No. 3. Wm. A. Stockman ...

No. 4. Wm. Johnson.

No. 5. Jason Morgan.

No. 10. George W. Vogan

116

No. 9-11. L. C. Marquis ...

No. 11-13.t Charles Donnelly.

222

221

443

Most of the districts are provided with comfortable school-buildings, and, in a few instances, they are above the average condition of school-houses in the country.

CHURCHES.

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NEW LISBON.

This is the pioneer religious society in the township. Its organization appears to have been effected in 1806, but who were the constituent members and by whom the body was formed cannot be learned from the meagre records kept at that time. Some time during the latter part of that year, or early in 1807, the Rev. Clement Vallandigham was invited to become the pastor of the congregation, and, accepting the call, arrived with his family at New Lisbon, May 22, 1807. He had been licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Ohio about a year previous to that time, but does not appear to have been ordained to the holy office. He was properly ordained and installed pastor of the New Lisbon congre- gation June 24, 1807. He was then in the prime of his life, and entered upon his mission with great zeal, faithfully discharging the duties of his pastorate, which embraced also several congregations in the southern part of the county. Of his life and character little can be here said. How well he succeeded in his ministerial office is shown by the large congregations which he gathered, and which remain to this day

* Fractional district, partly in Elk Run.

t Fractional district, partly in Salem.

Digitized by Google

120

HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY, OHIO.

to pay tribute to his worth and attest his many excellent qualities of heart and mind. He died at New Lisbon, Oct. 21, 1839, in the sixty-second year of his life, and in the thirty-third year of his pastoral connection with the con- gregation.

The meetings of the New Lisbon congregation were first held in the old log court-house, and in a preacher's tent which had been put up for use in fair weather in a beau- tiful grove a little west of the present stone mills. Prob- ably at the latter place, on the 17th of August, 1807, Hugh McClaren and Patrick McKaig were chosen the first ruling elders, and soon after were ordained. Jonathan Hamilton, Cornelius Dorland, John Travis, and John Moore were likewise ordained elders in a few years, but the exact dates cannot be given.

In the month of September, 1807, occurred the first bap- tism of which there is any record,-James, the son of Davidson and Agnes Filson, living in the western part of the township.

The original membership of the congregation began to be augmented early in 1808, and that year there were re- ceived into the church David Graham, Rebecca Beall, Su- sannah Hamilton, and Agnes Stewart. In 1809, John and Isabella Montgomery, Ebenezer and Sarah Martin, Wm. Davitt, Hugh Stewart, Nancy Mathews, Katie Hamilton, Mary Mclaughlin, Betsey Jolly, Rachael Harper, John, Rebecca, and Robert Travis, John Moore, Eleanor McLane, and Mrs. and Mr. Scott. In 1810, Jeremiah Mclaughlin, John and Ann McMillan, Andrew and Rachel Armstrong, Benjamin Paul, Charles and Mary McDavitt, Elizabeth Gib- son, Jane Fife, Doretha Bowman, and Rebecca McCready. In 1811, Robert and Polly Ramsey, Peggy, Jonathan, and Sally Paul, Mr. and Mrs. Cross, James and Polly McKin- ley, Wm. Mclaughlin, Eleanor Rose, David Scott, Wm. Crane, Wm. Shehan, John Hessin, Polly Davis, Polly Hamilton, Nathaniel and Jane McCracken, Susannah Bur- beck, Betsey Stibbs, Wm. McCready, John Gibson, Betsey Crane, Thomas King, Joseph Fife, Juda McKee, Peggy Graham, Nancy McMillan, John, Robert, and Sarah Whan, and Thomas Pollock. In 1812, Hannah Hamilton, Mar- garet Ewing, Arthur Burbeck, and Polly Gibson.

On the 1st of April, 1814, the communicants numbered 137, and, of this number, about 60 had been received on confession. In 1820 there were 239 members, and prob- ably at no period since then have there been less than 200. At present the membership is nearly 300.

In 1814 the first meeting-house of the congregation was put up, nearly west of the present jail. It was a large, plain, one-story building, and in these days would be called very uncomfortable. The seats were high, and the aisles were paved with brick. Below the quaint pulpit was a seat for the clerk, who led the singing. This office was performed many years by Alexander Mathews, who lined the hymns or psalms, generally repeating two lines at a time, and then pitched the tune with a device somewhat like the tuning- fork at present used. Of course he did not always succeed at first, but the congregation was patient, and heartily joined in the singing after he was properly attuned. Around the church-yard was a high fence, along which were posts for the farmers to hitch their horses.

On the 7th of March, 1836, the congregation was incor- porated by an act of the Legislature as " The First Presby- terian Church," with the following corporators : George Lce, James McKaig, Joseph Hamilton, Samuel Martin, William Crow, Davidson Filson, and John Armstrong. Power was conferred to hold property not to exceed in value $6000, and provision was made for the election of a board of trustees. The purpose to build a new house now assumed tangible shape, and in February, 1837, Gen. John Armstrong, Elderkin Potter, David Begges, Horace Potter, and James McLaughlin were appointed a building commit- tee. But the edifice which is now the place of worship was not erected until 1840, and not fully completed until the fall of 1841, when the pews were sold. The church is attractive, having been improved at an expense of $2500, and is controlled by the following trustees : John Ram- sey, John Way, C. B. Dickey, Wm. Burbeck, Henry W. W. Bough, James Dorrance, and James Charters.

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.

History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 31

Author: D. W. Ensign & Co. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 541

Author: D. W. Ensign & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 541