History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 48

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 48

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).

The fine stone-china wares produced at East Liverpool take high rank, and at the Centennial Exposition in Phila- delphia competed successfully with other like exhibits. Decorative pottery is an artistic feature, and employs at this place the skill of a large number of experienced and

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY, OHIO.

intelligent artists. The major portion of the people em- ployed in the potteries are English, or of English extraction, although there are many representatives of other national- ities.

CLIFF MINE TERRA-COTTA WORKS.

These extensive works, located upon the bank of the Ohio and the line of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, midway between Wellsville and East Liverpool, were founded, in 1842, by George Mccullough, and are now owned by N. U. Walker.

The works are said to be the most extensive and the oldest of any similar enterprise in America, and manufac- ture of fire-clay various articles, such as fire-brick, sewer- pipe, water-pipe, chimney flues, ventilating flues, chimney tops, hot-air flues, cold-air flues, patent chimneys, lawn vases, flower pots, statuary, stove linings, grate, boiler, flue, and flooring . tiles, window-caps, sills, brackets, cornices, etc.

Mr. Walker utilizes the mineral privileges of a 250-acre farm set upon the high slope which overlooks the works, and thence obtains an abundant supply of clay, as well as considerable coal.

Upon his grounds, which have a river front of about half a mile, are, besides the manufactories, tenements for his employees, of whom there are fully one hundred and twenty-five. Upwards of $150,000 are invested in these manufactories, which contribute largely towards the value of productions in Liverpool township, and which have been an important interest in this locality for thirty-seven years.

OTHER INDUSTRIES.

The other manufacturing industries of the town include the extensive flint-mills of Golding & Co.,-started in 1876, -where a large quantity of the material used in the manufacture of white-ware at East Liverpool and Trenton, N. J., is ground; the Union Planing-Mill of Hall & Bev- ington, built by A. C. and J. C. McIntosh in 1867; the grist-mill of C. Metsch ; the steam brick-manufactories of H. H. Surles and Surles & Gambel ; and the foundries of A. J. Boyce and Morley, Dixson & Patterson. Bitumi- nous coal is found to some extent near East Liverpool, the thickest veins being from three to four feet; and oil like- wise abounds.

GAS-WELLS.

The discovery of oil at Smith's Ferry, Pa., led directly thereafter to explorations in the vicinity of East Liverpool by a company of capitalists from Pittsburgh.

After sinking several wells, and finding nothing better than a flow of natural gas, which they regarded as worth- less, the company abandoned their undertaking. One of the wells, sunk near Jethro, about 1860, by C. B. Simms, produced salt. water as well as gas, and for a time the gas was used as fuel in the extraction of the salt, of which latter the well yielded from eight to ten barrels daily, and until a few years ago was profitably worked. Until 1875 no special effort was made to utilize the gas, which abounded largely in various places within East Liverpool.

In the last-named year Col. H. R. Hill and Mr. William Brunt, Jr., conceived the idea of turning the natural gas to use. Accordingly, they laid pipes from a well near

the river, just above the town-this well having been sunk in 1860-to their respective dwellings, and from that time to the present they have used the gas exclusively for fuel and light with the most gratifying success, and at a merely nominal cost.

The excellent results attendant upon this experiment led Messrs. Brunt, Hill, and others to purchase the stock of the East Liverpool Gas Company,-organized April 21, 1870, by Pittsburgh parties, who engaged in the manufacture of artificial gas until 1875,-and to furnish the natural gas to the inhabitants of the town, and with it to light the town's streets.

The gas is now generally used for light and heating purposes in the dwellings, stores, and business offices, and to a considerable extent in the potteries in making steam and burning ware.

The supply is supposed to be inexhaustible, and to con- sumers the cost varies from $12 to $50 yearly, in accord- ance with the number of lights and fires used, while the expense for street lights is so trifling that instead of em- ploying a person to extinguish the street lamps each morning, the town permits the lights to burn day and night.

POST-OFFICE

An early record states that there was a post-office at East Liverpool, or Fawcettstown, in 1810, when the place was called St. Clair or Fawcettstown, and that a William Larwell, father of Joseph, William, John, and Jabez Lar- well, of Wooster, Ohio, was postmaster. The office was discontinued shortly afterwards, and the settlers had then to go to Beavertown and Georgetown, Pa., or Steubenville, Ohio, for their mail.

About or before 1820, Thomas Moore was appointed a postmaster at Little Beaver Bridge, where the second post- office in what is now Liverpool township was established. Mathew Laughlin (father of Homer Laughlin) was post- master there after Mr. Moore's time, and upon the estab- lishing of a post-office at East Liverpool, about 1830, John Collins was appointed postmaster. Of Mr. Collins it is told that he used to keep the post-office in his hat, and when, in his travels, he encountered a citizen in quest of letters, Collins would doff his beaver, search for the mail, deliver it, and pass on.

Mr. Collins' successors in the office were Wm. P. Morris, Joseph Forbes, John Taylor, Sanford C. Hill, Kirk Arm- strong, G. A. Humrickhouse, and H. H. Surles, the latter being the postmaster at present. For the quarter ending April 1, 1879, the sale of stamps at the office amounted to $1384.77. In the money-order department about $27,300 are received for orders and $28,000 paid out on orders annually.

NEWSPAPERS.

The first newspaper published in Liverpool township was issued May 23, 1861, in East Liverpool, by George J. Luckey and J. W. Harris. It was Republican in politics, was called the East Liverpool Mercury, and was printed at the corner of Union and Second streets. It lived but a year and passed away-for lack of paying patronage-in the summer of 1862.

Thereafter the town was without a local newspaper until

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TOWNSHIP OF LIVERPOOL.

1867, when the East Liverpool Record was issued by W. G. Forster, who had previously conducted the Wellsville Union, at Wellsville, and continued to publish both journals until 1869, when he suspended the publication of the Record and devoted his entire attention to the Union. The Record was a Republican paper and was published on Second Street, adjoining the Dobbins House.

Meanwhile,-in 1868,-one Murphy, of Wellsburg, W. Va., occupied an office where the First National Bank is now located, and began the publication of the Liverpool Local, but abandoned it after an eight weeks' profitless experience.

The next candidate for public favor was the Liverpool Democrat, the first number of which was issued in 1869, by Enoch Bradshaw, whose office of publication on Broad- way is now known as Bradshaw's Hall. Mr. Bradshaw purchased the type, etc., used in Murphy's Local. The paper was Democratic in politics, and prospered fairly until January, 1876, when the material was transferred to J. H. Simms and T. R. Bradshaw, who issued, Jan. 22, 1876, the first number of the East Liverpool Tribune, a twenty-column paper. The firm continued to publish the paper at an office on Second Street, over the post-office, until Jan. 1, 1877, when Bradshaw retired. Simms has since then conducted it on his own account, and in January, 1878, removed the publication office to the present location, adjoining Thomp- son's music-store, on Broadway.

The Tribune is issued every Saturday, has been enlarged to twenty-eight columns, and has a circulation of five hundred.

In November, 1871, D. B. Martin, who had been pub- lishing the Wellsville Local since 1870, transferred his office to East Liverpool, and began the. publication of the East Liverpool Gazette. In March, 1876, he changed its name to the East Liverpool Potters' Gazette, and in June the same year changed the name to The Potters' Gazette, which it still retains. It is not, as its name might imply, devoted exclusively to the pottery interest, but is strictly a local journal. It is issued every Thursday by its original editor and proprietor, contains thirty-two columns of matter, and has a circulation of about five hundred.

BANKS.

The first banking institution organized in East Liverpool was the private bank of Huff & Co., who began business in 1870, and had their banking-house on Second Street, where the Dobbins House now is. The firm was composed of William M. Lloyd, of Altoona, Pa., and George F. Huff, of Greensburg, Pa. In 1873 they built and occupied the banking-house now occupied by the First National Bank. Mr. Lloyd was interested in ten other banks, and these, in- cluding the East Liverpool Bank, failed in November, 1873, when the bank of Lloyd, Hamilton & Co., of New York City, went down. Mr. F. D. Kitchell, who was cashier of the bank from its organization, wound up its affairs, and paid the creditors eighty per cent. of their claims.

In October, 1873, the East Liverpool Banking Company was organized under the State banking laws, with a capital of $30,000. The directors were David Boyce, William S. George, Josiah Thompson, N. B. Hickman, George Morley,

I. W. Knowles, and N. A. Frederick. Hon. David Boyce was president, and 'F. D. Kitchell cashier.

In May, 1874, the institution was reorganized as the First National Bank, with a capital of $50,000. The di- rectors, May 1, 1879, were Josiah Thompson, J. M. Kelly, David Boyce, Andrew Blythe, William H. Vodrey, and N. B. Hickman. The president was Josiah Thompson, and the cashier N. G. Macrum. The bank's circulation, April 4, 1879, was $45,000; its deposit account, $68,608.16; and its loans and discounts, $55,091.13.

CEMETERIES.

The cemetery of East Liverpool, occupying an elevated site at the western end of Fifth Street, is a neatly-kept and handsomely-shaded spot, and contains many handsome tomb- stones.

It embraces the acre of ground donated to the town by Thomas Fawcett shortly after the year 1800 for a ceme- tery. To the original tract additions have been made from time to time by purchase. The first person buried there was " Granny" Snodgrass, whose two children were the next to be laid there, and after them James Kelly and " Granny" Taggart.

In 1832, G. D. Mckinnon donated an acre and a half on his farm, north of the village, for a burying-ground, to be used for the members of the religious denomination called the Disciples and for the poor of the town.

RAILWAYS.

The first railway enterprise with which East Liverpool was concerned was the Ashtabula, Warren and East Liver- pool Railroad, in the promotion of which one John Patrick, a sometime itinerant preacher, actively engaged his ener- gies. Patrick went to New York in 1835, and managed to so awaken attention that the company was organized, stock subscribed for, and the survey of the route com- menced in 1836. He obtained, moreover, a large stock of goods in New York, and upon returning to East Liver- pool opened a store, and projected, likewise, a bank, to be called the East Liverpool Bank. These brisk movements, predicated upon the probable prosperity in store for the town upon the completion of the railway, imparted bright hopes to all the inhabitants of the town, which began to look confidently towards future greatness. Unfortunately for all these rosy speculations, the panic of 1837 demolished the railway project, and, with it, Patrick and the hopes of the community.

Edward Carroll had begun the erection of the Mansion House, which was expected to be the finest hotel in this part of Ohio, but the bursting of the railway bubble checked the career of the hotel enterprise also.

Sept. 16, 1856, the first through railroad-train from East Liverpool to Pittsburgh, over the Cincinnati and Pitts- burgh Railroad, went out with an excursion-party to a Fre- mont barbecue at the latter city. There was no depot at the town, and Mr. Andrew Blythe, the company's first agent, sold tickets from the front door-step of his house, on Broadway near the river. Previous to the date named trains had been running from Cleveland to Wellsville, and also from East Liverpool to Rochester, but the first through passenger-train was sent out as above noted.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY, OHIO.

THE TOWN-HALL.

This fine brick edifice, standing on the corner of Market and Third Streets, in East Liverpool, is one of the town's ornament. Te was built in 1877, by the village and town- ship, and is used jointly for public purposes. Previous to its erection, public business was transacted in a small brick building, which was put up in 1864.

The hall is three stories in height, surmounted by a man- sard roof and observatory, and cost upwards of $6000. It contains a council-chamber, mayor's office, trial-room, jail, marshal's room, fire-engine room, and offices.

CROCKERY CITY HOOK-AND-LADDER COMPANY.

East Liverpool has been fortunately free from conflagra- tions, and, encouraged by that experience, has never had a fire-engine company. The " bucket brigade" has thus far served every purpose, although in 1877 a hook-and-ladder company was organized, but as yet has not been called to active duty. Robert Hague is the captain, Wm. Chisholm lieutenant ; and the membership 50. The company has a fine apparatus, which has quarters in the town-hall.

MUSICAL ORGANIZATIONS.

The first band organized in the town dated its existence from early in 1850, when J. L. Rule instructed a chosen few, and remained as instructor until the enterprise was fairly under way. There were fifteen pieces in the band, which was led at first by Luke Parker, and afterwards by Peter Lee, who went into the service in 1861 as trumpeter in an Ohio battery, and was killed in action. Upon the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion the band organiza- tion was broken up.

In 1865, Harry Martin organized the East Liverpool Silver Cornet Band, and continued its leader until 1872, when it was reorganized by William Manley and others, Mr. Manley having since then been the leader. The or- ganization numbers fifteen pieces, and has a band-room in the town-hall.

The Independent Cornet Band was organized in 1872 by B. W. Haynes, who is still the leader. It has fourteen pieces, has a band-room near Fifth Street, and has lately donned a new uniformn.

SOCIETIES, ORDERS, ETC.

The secret orders of the township are all at East Liver- pool, and are noted as follows :

EAST LIVERPOOL LODGE, NO. 379, 1. O. O. F.,

was organized July, 1866, and has the following officers : D. II. Jessup, P. G .; Geo. W. Croxall, N. G .; George W. Burford, V. G .; Jesse Croxall, T. ; W. D. Moore, C. S .; Felix Hulz, P. S. The Lodge numbers 120, and owns a fine brick edifice (built in 1874) at the corner of Fifth and Washington Streets, in which is their capacious hall.

EAST LIVERPOOL ENCAMPMENT, NO. 107, I. O. O. F., was organized June 16, 1868; has now 45 members, and officers as follows : D. H. Jessup, C. P .; John Brooks, S.

W. ; Loomis Kinsey, J. W. ; James Lee, Sr., H. P .; Geo. W. Croxall, S .; Richard Till, T.

IROQUOIS TRIBE, NO. 40, I. O. R. M.,

was organized 1867, and has the following officers : J. Q. A. Fowler, Sachem ; Jason Neville, S. S .; N. T. Ash- baugh, J. S .; George Peach, C. R .; Wm. Gibbs, A. C. R .; Wm. H. Morrow, K. W.

EAST LIVERPOOL CHAPTER, NO. 100, R. A. M.,

was organized Jan. 29, 1867, and has officers as follows : W. H. Vodrey, H. P .; F. G. Croxall, K .; M. H. Foutts, S .; James Godwin, C. of H .; Perry Johnson, P. S .; W. E. Hazlett, R. A. C .; Geo. Phillips, G. M. 3d V .; B. C. Simms, G. M. 2d V .; M. M. Huston, G. M. 1st V .; C. Metsch, Treas .; D. B. Martin, Sec .; Joseph Barker, Guard.

PEABODY LODGE, NO. 19, K. OF P.,

was organized in 1867; has 48 members, and for officers Jesse Jenkins, P. C .; John Welsh, C. C .; Franklin Ham- ilton, V. C .; Geo. D. Mckinnon, K. of R. and S .; W. S. Dorff, M. E .; J. W. Mckinnon, M. F .; T. B. McKin- non, M. A .; G. Marshall, I. . G .; P. Hendle, O. G .; S. Martin, J. Welsh, W. Dorff, Trustecs.

RIDDLE LODGE, NO. 315, F. AND A. M.,

was organized 1859; has 75 members and the following officers : W. E. Hazlett, W. M .; R. E. Hill, S. W .; Geo. Phillips, J. W .; J. S. Stewart, Sec. ; Jethro Manley, Treas. ; F. G. Croxall, S. D .; John Grafton, J. D .; Jos. Barker, Tyler.

DIVISION NO. 4, A. O. H.,

organized in 1876, has 12 members and the following offi- cers ; John Sullivan, Pres. ; Thomas Cannon, V. P. ; John Morgan, R. S. ; George McNichol, F. S .; Daniel McNichol, Treas. The county officers are Thomas Glenn, County Delegate ; John Morgan, County Secretary.

THE FATHER MATHEW T. A. SOCIETY

was organized May, 1876 ; has 30 members, and officers as follows : Peter Kinney, P .; William Farrell, Treas ; Pat- rick Farrell, Sec.

WATER-WORKS.

The act authorizing the construction of water-works in the village of East Liverpool was passed February, 1879, and in April, 1879, Messrs. Josiah Thompson, I. W. Knowles, and Thomas H. Arbuckle were elected trustees. It is proposed to conduct water from the Ohio River to a reservoir (of the capacity of 1,000,000 gallons) on Thomp- son's Hill, east of the village, where the elevation is 320 feet above low-water mark. Thence pipes will supply the town.

The contract for building the works was awarded May 24, 1879, and it was then understood that the works would be fully completed in the fall of that year.

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SANFORD C. HILL.

For over half a century one of the best known citizens of the county was Sanford C. Hill, who was born near Pughtown, W. Va., on the 20th day of June, 1796. From the time he was old enough he regularly attended schoo!, and obtained an early, liberal education. In 1813, with the consent of his parents, he was employed as a clerk in a Pittsburgh bookstore. In 1818 he looked out a situation in Ohio, and entered into the mercantile busi- ness at a public cross- road now within the limits of the town of Wellsville. In 1819 he made a purchase in the town of East Liver- pool, and removed his store to that place, being the first dry-goods store opened in the town. Sept. 29, 1820, he was married to Vashti B. Moore, of Pughtown, W.Va. Soon thereafter he sold out his stock of goods, and entered into a business far more con- genial to his taste. He procured a complete set of surveying and math- ematical instruments, and for more than forty years made practical surveying his chief business, besides teaching students in the theory and practice of civil engineering. For many years he spent his leisure time in studying astronomy and all the various branches of mathematics. September 6, 1832, his wife died, leaving four children. November 10, 1833, he was again married, to Mrs. Sarah Sansbury, of Achor, Ohio, who died June 25, 1866, also leaving four children.

In local matters in his own neighborhood he long had

a controlling voice; was elected a justice of the peace for over twenty consecutive years, and did more office work as a conveyancer and counselor than, perhaps, any other man in the county. The allotment of the different addi- tions to the town of East Liverpool were nearly all laid out by him.

For forty-two years in succession he made a series of almanac calculations for the various publishers of

Sanford@.Hill

the country. It was through this instrumen- tality that his name be- came a household word, and Sanford C. Hill's almanacs were to be found in almost every family, especially in the West and South.

He was a frequent contributor of mathe- matical and astronomi- cal articles to the lead- ing periodicals of the country, and was re- garded as high author- ity upon all subjects of that nature. His tal- ents and acquirements were recognized and acknowledged among men of science.

He died on the 17th day of April, 1871, aged seventy- four years, nine months, and twenty-seven days. His remains are interred in the East Liverpool Cemetery, and the grave is marked by a plain marble monument, bearing the text of the funeral discourse pronounced in his memory in the Presbyterian Church, in which he had long been a ruling elder : " Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace."

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MADISON.

MADISON township, numbered 10, in range 2, one of the seven southern townships in Columbiana, is the largest of the seven, and still retains its original territory of six miles square. Its boundaries are Elk Run township on the north, Yellow Creek on the south, St. Clair and Liverpool on the east, and Wayne and Washington on the west.

The surface of the township is hilly in every part, and, in common with neighboring elevated regions, Madison is a healthful country and abounds in fine natural prospects. The salubrious climate conduces to extreme longevity, and to a remarkable retention of vigor, both physical and mental, by the aged.

The west fork of Beaver Creek flows through the town- ship in an exceedingly eccentric course from the western line to the northeast corner at Williamsport, and furnishes en route excellent water for several mills.

Round Knob farm, on the southeast quarter of section 22, originally owned by Jacob Welch, and now the property of the Long's Run Oil Company, is claimed to occupy the highest point of land in the State of Ohio, its alleged ele- vation above Lake Erie being eight hundred and forty-four feet, and seven hundred and fifty-four feet above the Ohio at Wellsville. Bituminous coal is found in many places in Madison, and in some spots-notably near West Point-veins to the thickness of three and a half feet exist. Considerable coal is mined, but it is all used for home consumption. The deposits of oil, although supposed to freely exist, have not yet been discovered in paying quantity. A strong flow of natural gas has been found in an oil well at West Point, and is said to provide gas enough to supply West Point with illumination for an indefinite length of time.

Madison has no ruilway within its borders, although railway facilities at Wellsville, New Lisbon, and other near-at-hand points offer fairly satisfactory conveniences in that respect.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

Madison township received its earliest settlers from a thrifty, hardy race of people who came from the Highlands of Scotland. The tract taken up by them was chiefly in what is now Madison township ; it measured ten miles in length, from three to five miles in width, and is to this day known as the " Scotch settlement."

One of the first to locate upon this tract was Andrew McPherson, who came over in 1802 with two sons and two daughters, and took up the southeast quarter of section 36. Of Mr. McPherson's family of four sons and four daugh- ters, one son, Andrew, is still a resident of Madison.

Alexander McDonald settled upon the northwest quarter of section 36, upon the farm now occupied by Andrew

McPherson, grandson of Andrew McPherson, the early settler above mentioned. Alexander McDonald was a man of considerable local note, and was for years a ruling elder in the Yellow Creek Presbyterian church.

In 1815 a Mr. Cook, an early settler, sold his farm on section 25 to Charles Rose, whose son William now lives on the place. On the same section, upon the northeast quarter, a Mr. Shaffer occupied what is now the estate of his son Archibald, deceased.

The northeast quarter of section 21 was entered by James McIntosh, who removed to Iowa in 1857. His son John subsequently returned to Madison township, and still resides there. Upon the same section Wm. Monroe and Evan McIntosh were early settlers.

The northwest quarter of section 25, now occupied by Mrs. M. Cameron, was first entered by "Squire" Arm- strong, who sold it to Alexander Chisholm shortly after locating. John McPhail settled in 1802 upon the north- west quarter of section 36. He sold it to John Campbell, who came over from Scotland in 1813. William Falconer, who emigrated from Scotland in 1804, located in that year upon section 35, the place being now the property of the heirs of the late John Mckenzie.

The place now owned by Samuel Mick, upon the same section, was settled by Daniel McCoy in 1803. Mr. McCoy was a soldier under General Harrison, a prominent mem- ber of the settlement, and long an elder in the Presbyterian church.

The farmns now occupied by Daniel and Alexander Mc- Intosh, upon section 35, are upon land taken up by Wil- liam McIntosh, adjoining whom Daniel McIntosh was a settler upon the place now owned by his son-in-law, Hugh Jack. Duncan Frazer located upon section 26 in 1804. He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, as was his son John,-now deceased,-who occupied the farm after him. James McIntosh settled upon the same sec- tion where his son Alexander now lives.

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History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 48

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