USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 67
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The sharpest impetus to these interests was furnished, however, when the Ohio and Pennsylvania Coal Company was organized, in 1867, and began operations at Salineville in that year. They absorbed at first six coal mines in that locality, and entered briskly upon the work of de- veloping a profitable industry to a degree far in advance of efforts previously made.
The company controlled, June 1, 1879, six coal mines at Salineville, and from them took an average of about eight hundred tons of coal daily, employing in the labor from two hundred and fifty to two hundred and seventy-five persons. Of the company's six mines, five are " drifts," or " banks," and one only a " shaft." The latter, it may be remarked, is the only " shaft" among all the mines in Salineville, the residue being what are known as "drifts," or horizontal openings into the side-hills,-a style of mining much less expensive than the shaft. The company has a capital of $84,000; its president is James F. Clark, its superin- tendent Daniel McGarry, and its treasurer J. R. Conrad.
The kinds of coal taken out at Salineville are known as the " Columbiana" and the " strip" vein, the latter being but slightly impregnated with sulphur, costing more to mine than the Columbiana, and of course of more value in the market.
The Ohio and Pittsburgh Company's mines average veins of from three feet to six and a half feet in thickness, and the length of the mines from three hundred to seventeen
hundred yards. The shaft reaches down to a depth of but fifty feet.
THE MANUFACTURERS' COAL COMPANY,
controlled by James Farmer and the firin of Crannage & Anderson, began to mine in 1872, and are now operating a mine of Columbiana coal about one thousand yards iu length and having an average thickness of vein of five and a half feet. They are also working a strip-vein mine of a similar length, and in both mines (employing seventy-six men) obtaining about one hundred and four tons of coal daily, although the ordinary yield is thrice that amount.
THE COLUMBIANA COAL COMPANY,
operated by Morris Foster, of Pittsburgh, have two " banks," which they have been working since 1877, and now take out about two hundred and seventy-five tons of coal daily, employing eighty-five men. Each bank has depth of about three thousand feet, and in the larger vein the thickness is claimed to be an average of seven and one-half feet.
This company mine also fire-clay in the " strip-vein" mine and hard clay in a clay-bank, their shipments of clay averaging about seventy tons per month.
John Hayes, one of the early miners at Salineville, has a mine from which about one hundred tons of coal daily have been taken, but work therein has for some time been sus- pended, although likely to be speedily renewed.
When the coal trade is brisk and the mines at Salineville are pushed to their extreme productive capacity, they give employment to as many as six hundred persons, and yield for shipment from twelve to thirteen hundred tons of coal daily.
MANUFACTURES.
The Salineville Woolen-Mills, owned and operated by J. A. & R. Montgomery, occupy in Sulineville the build- ings erected, in 1845, by James Farmer for a flaxseed-oil mill. Mr. Farmer continued to make oil there a number of years, and then, changing the manufactory to a woolen- mill, thus conducted it until 1856, when he sold it to John Montgomery, who manufactured woolen goods on his in- dividual account until 1867, when he took in his son, J. A., as a partner. John Montgomery died in 1877, when, by the accession of R. Montgomery, the firm became as at present constituted.
The mill-building, constructed of brick, is what is known as a " one-set mill," and, run by steam-power, manufactures woolen flannels, blankets, hosiery, stocking-yarn, jeans, etc., and does, besides, considerable custom-work. The em- ployees number eight.
L. Bright has a tannery at Salineville, where Henry Nixon, the first tanner in the town, began the business in 1849; he disposed of it, in 1866, to Mr. Bright. About one thousand hides are tanned yearly. Steam is the motive- power, and seven the number of hands employed.
J. G. Lacock & Co. have a large steam grist-mill at Salineville, with five run of buhrs. The mill-the first in Salineville-was built, in 1838, by James Farmer and Isaac Kirk, and was run by water-power until 1839, when steam was added. In 1856 the firm-name was changed to
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Farmer, Lacock & Co., and in 1877 to its present title. The mill has a large run of custom-work, and a capacity for producing sixteen thousand barrels of flour yearly.
McGarry, Black & Co. operate a fine steam grist-mill near the railroad station. It was built in 1877, is three stories in height, has two run of buhrs, and a productive capacity of twenty barrels of flour for every ten hours.
The Ohio Flouring-Mills, run by steam-power, were started by Faloon Bros. in 1877. They have two run of wheat-buhrs and one chopping-buhr, with a manufacturing capacity of thirty barrels of flour every ten hours. The mill employs two hands, and has a brisk custom trade.
William Faloon & Co. operate a steam planing-mill at Salineville, and manufacture doors, sash, blinds, and building material. In the mill-building they make also farm-bells, plow-points, and general castings. The mill was set in motion in 1869, and employs, in busy times, from ten to fifteen men.
N. & O. Cope opened an extensive foundry and machine- shop in Salineville about 1849, and continued it until 1869, when it passed into the possession of W. W. Orr, who had had an interest in it for some time. Mr. Orr carried on the foundry until 1873, when he converted it into a planing- mill, which he discontinued in 1878.
THE SALINEVILLE BANKING COMPANY,
a private corporation, is the first and only banking institu- tion Salineville has had. It was organized March 1, 1873, with J. G. Lacock as president, W. T. Cope as cashier, and directors as follows: J. G. Lacock, Isaac Kirk, Robert George, H. A. Thompson, Edward Pumphrey, L. Bright, W. T. Cope. The officers and directors in 1879 were the same as above given. The capital, which was originally $30,000, was in 1877 reduced to $20,000.
SECRET ORDERS. SALINEVILLE LODGE, NO. 348, F. AND A. M.,
was organized October, 1864, with 10 charter-members, as follows : A. H. Battin, W. M .; W. W. Orr, S. W .; S. S. Robertson, J. W .; and James Russell, James Criss, John Moore, J. G. Lacock, J. C. Baird, J. M. Irwin, and Samuel Lindesmith.
The Lodge has now 68 members and the following officers: William Deveny, W. M. ; J. F. Lacock, S. W .; Charles H. Spencer, J. W.
STAR OF PROMISE LODGE, NO. 435, I. O. O. T., was organized Aug. 8, 1869, with 10 charter-members and the following officers: M. E. Detemple, N. G .; I. W. Potts, V. G .; - Huston, Sec. ; George Bowden, Treas. The present membership is 60, and the officers, J. B. Hayes, N. G .; James Cordingley, V. G. ; David Finnegan, Sec .; John Kirk, Treas.
SALINE ENCAMPMENT, NO. 159, I. O. O. F.,
was organized Aug. 6, 1872, with 7 charter-members, as follows : Charles Cameron, S. M. Sexton, C. C. Kleinfelder, Edward Roberts, John Kirk, George Bowden, George Dysart. There are now 40 members and the following oficers : Daniel Herbert, C. P .; William Gold, S. W .;
William Wierbaugh, J. W .; David Finnegan, H. P .; Ralph Woodward, Treas.
RAILWAYS.
Salineville is an important station on the main line of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, over which trains were first run in 1852. Shipments of coal from this station average from seventy-five to eighty cars per day, and form no small item in the freight business of the road. John K. Lloyd was the first railroad agent appointed for this point, and he served from 1852 to 1853. J. P. Farmer was the agent from 1853 to 1856, when F. Rogers was appointed, and, resigning in 1866, was followed by John Hocy, and he in turn by F. Rogers, the present agent, who was reappointed in 1872.
In 1854 the Salineville Railroad Company, of which James Farmer is the head, built a railway, about two miles in length, from Salineville, along the course of a fork of Big Yellow Creek to the Carroll County line, for the trans- portation of coal from the mines along the line to Salineville.
NEWSPAPERS.
Salineville's first newspaper was the Salineville Era, which was published during 1870, in Wellsville, by J. E. Porter, and lasted less than a year.
James M. Reese, whose office of publication was likewise at Wellsville, issued, in 1871, the Salineville Miner, but it was a short-lived publication, and passed away after an existence of a few months.
May 2, 1872, J. W. and J. F. Lacock issued the first number of the Salineville Index, a twenty-eight-column paper. The Index was published at Salineville, was inde- pendent in politics, and flourished until the fall of 1878, when, passing into the hands of William Jackson, its name was changed to the Salineville Herald, and as such it is still continued by him. It has a circulation of about 700, and is published every Thursday.
POST-OFFICES.
Washington has two postal stations,-Salineville and Highlandtown. The first postmaster at Salineville was James Farmer, who was appointed about 1835. He kept a store at the time, and, in 1840, Jos. G. Lacock, entering as Mr. Farmer's clerk, took active charge of the post-office, although Mr. Farmer continued to be postmaster. Mr. Farmer's successors were G. W. Boring, Wm. J. Dallas, and L. C. Dallas. The latter is the present incumbent, and has occupied the office since 1860.
The business of the money-order department of the office for March, 1879, was a profitable one, embracing the receipt of $3769 for money-orders issued, and the payment of $740 on orders received. The receipts for the sale of stamps during the quarter ending April 1, 1879, amounted to $369.22. The office receives and forwards three daily mails,-one tri-weekly and one semi-weekly mail.
The first postmaster at Highlandtown was Alex. Chis- holm, after whom the appointee was Albert Welch, of Wayne township, for whom John Russell, storekeeper at the village, transacted the office business. Russell removed, subsequently, to Iowa, and was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives. After Welch, the postmasters were Wm.
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Nicholson, Andrew Douglass, a blacksmith, David Rose, John McGillivray, and John Hannum, the present incum- bent.
When the post-office at Highlandtown was first estab- lished, the post-office department directed the name of In- verness to be given to it, since there was already a postal station called Highlandtown. Commonly, the village is known as Highlandtown, but as a postal station it is known as Inverness.
CEMETERIES.
The public burial-ground at Salineville is known as Woodland Cemetery, and occupies a handsome elevation north of the town. The truct is about ten acres in extent, and was purchased by the town in 1870 for $600. In that year it was opened for public use, and since has been so improved that it is regarded as one of the finest ceme- teries in the county. The first board of cemetery trustees, chosen when the ground was purchased, was composed of Thomas B. Cope, J. G. Lacock, and Thomas Francis.
Previous to the purchase of " Woodland," the town used a burial-ground originally designed for the private grave- yard of the Farmer family, but subsequently devoted to public use.
WASHINGTON'S WAR-RECORD.
Under the call for three months' men, upon the out- break of the Rebellion of 1861, Salineville furnished for the company raised by Capt. Henry Cope, of Wellsville, and afterwards attached as Company K to the Third Ohio, the following : Laughlin Dallas, John McCullough, John S. Thompson, David Jacobs, Wilson Nixon, James Camp- bell, R. J. Gould, Edward McGaffick, Henry Barcus, J. J. Donahoe, B. Rigdon, J. K. Farmer, S. N. Irwin, Benjamin Gresbaugh.
Under the call for one hundred days' men, Washington township provided a full company, called Company A of the One Hundred and Forty-third Ohio Volunteers .*
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
SAMUEL C. KERR.
This gentleman's ancestors were as follows : James Kerr, his grandfather, was a native of Berkeley Co., W. Va. ; emi- grated to Allegheny Co., Pa., about 1790, and to Colum- biana Co., Ohio, in 1808; died in 1810.
William Kerr, his father, was born in Allegheny Co., Pa., Feb. 12, 1795 ; came to Washington township, Colum- biana Co., Ohio, in 1808. He was in many respects an extraordinary man. Although enjoying but very limited opportunities for school education, he was the business man of his neighborhood, writing letters, deeds, etc. He filled various positions of trust and honor, served thirty-six years as justice of the peace, and nine years as commissioner of Jefferson County. His occupation was that of a farmer. He married, May, 1826, Miss Eleanor Clark. They had ten children,-James P., Jane, Samuel C., Hannah, Sarah
L., Mary M., Leah B., Delilah C., William M., and Fay- ette, all living except Fayette, who died Sept. 10, 1850.
On his mother's side his grandfather, Samuel Clark, was a native of Pennsylvania; came to Columbiana Co., Ohio, about 1798, settling on the north fork of Yellow Creek, in what is now Washington township. His mother, Eleanor Clark Kerr, was born in 1805; is residing now in Brush Creek township, Jefferson Co., Ohio.
REA
SAMUEL C. KERR.
Samuel C. Kerr, the subject of this sketch, was born Jan. 13, 1831, in what was then Saline township, Colum- biana County, now Brush Creek township, Jefferson County. He received only a common-school education, and learned the stone-cutting trade, following that occupation and assisting on the farm in the summer and teaching school in the winter.
He married, Nov. 3, 1859, Miss Frances J. Milner, daughter of William and Lydia Milner, -- all natives of Columbiana County. Mrs. Kerr died Dec. 17, 1860, aged twenty years. Mr. Kerr was again married, on the 22d of October, 1868, to Miss Mary Clark, daughter of Stephen and Rachel Clark, natives of Columbiana County, and both born in 1804. Mr. Clark died in 1873; Mrs. Clark in 1878. Mrs. Kerr was an exemplary member of the Pres- byterian church for twenty-five years. She died April 22, 1875, at the age of forty-four years. Of this marriage was born one child, John Fayette Kerr, Nov. 22, 1869.
During the war Mr. Kerr was a member of Co. D, 126th Ohio Volunteers, enlisting as a private, Aug. 11, 1862. He was promoted successively to second lieutenant, to first lieutenant, and to captain ; was honorably discharged May 15, 1865. He was in the battles of Martinsburgh, Waupon Heights, Brandy Station, Bealton, Locust Grove, Mine Run, and the Wilderness. He also experienced ten months' confinement in the rebel prisons at Macon, Ga., Charleston and Columbia, S. C.
Mr. Kerr was a representative from Jefferson County in the Ohio Legislature four years, from 1866 to 1870. He
* See " Military Ilistory," in this volume.
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came to Columbiana County in 1869, since which time he has followed farming. He was elected from Columbiana County in 1877 a representative in the State Legislature for two years; was renominated for the same office. Is a Republican, as shown by his ballot for President, which was cast for Scott, Fremont, Lincoln, Grant, and Hayes. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1856.
JOHN T. DYSART
was born in Scotland, Sept. 2, 1839. His father (James Dysart) came to America in 1844. He settled first in Carroll County. In 1847 be removed to Columbiana County, where he remained until his death, which occurred Aug. 24, 1870. James Dysart's family consisted of thirteen children,-twelve sons and one daughter. Eight of that number are deceased. The subject of this sketch remained at home until he was fourteen years old; he then went to the West, where he remained four years. When the Rebel- lion broke out he was one of the first to respond to the call'to arn , entering the service June 6, 1861, as a private in the 3d Ohio Infantry Regiment, going immediately to the seat of war. This regiment was captured by the enemy near Rome, Ga., and was held three months as prisoners of war, and during that time were in prison in the following places : Belle Island, Atlanta, Knoxville, and Dunville. This regiment was in twelve engagements and twenty-three skirmishes. Mr. Dysart was present at all these engagements, and went through safely, with the ex- ception of a slight wound, which he received Aug. 28, 1863, while guarding a wagon-train near Stevenson, Ala. After the discharge of the regiment Mr. Dysart selected Chattanooga, Tenn., as a place in which to engage in the mercantile business; after about six months he returned to Salineville, where he engaged as a clerk in a store. August, 1867, he began business for himself, in the mer- cantile line, also buying and selling real estate and coal. Mr. Dysart has a partner, and the firm is known as Dysart & Cameron. Mr. Dysart has always taken an active part in developing the mineral resources of this and other States, having spent much time and money to accomplish his object. He has a fine geological collection gathered froin this and other States. He is in politics a Republican, and, while never having sought political preferment, has always earnestly served the best interests of the party when choseu by it to fill any office. He was elected mayor of his town in 1866, and has been a member of the council for thirteen years ; has represented his party as a delegate to various conventions. Is a liberal in his religious views.
Mr. Dysart remains unmarried, and is now in the prime of life. Long may he live to enjoy the fruits of his indus- trious youth and busy manhood ! And we feel confident that he will maintain the good character he has won, and retain to the last the respect and the esteem of those who have the pleasure of his acquaintance.
JAMES FARMER
is a native of Georgia, having been born near Augusta, on the 19th of July, 1802. During the early part of the sev-
enteenth century his ancestors came from England, where they have honorable mention since the days of Henry VII., and especially so during the time of Charles II. His grandfather took an active part in the stirring times of the Revolution, participating in the various battles that were fought in Georgia and the Carolinas. His father, on account of slavery, decided to leave the South, and re- moved, in 1805, to the newly-admitted State of Ohio, set- tling upon a tract of land in Columbiana County, where he remained until the fall of 1818, when he removed to what is now known as Salineville, in the same county. Here young Farmer grew to manhood, availing himself of such opportunities as then existed for acquiring an education while devoting a large share of his time to assisting on the farm and aiding in the manufacture of salt, which his father had commenced in 1824. At the age of twenty- two he leased his father's sult-works, and having so enlarged them as to make a more profitable business, devoted him- self for years to this industry. In 1828, however, he con- cluded to extend his business enterprises, and so crossed the mountains to Philadelphia, and purchased a stock of goods suitable to the demands of a new country, and this laid the foundation of a mercantile business which he continued for nearly thirty years. In 1834, Mr. Farmer was married to Miss Meribah Butler, a young lady of English parentage, who had, with her parents, previously removed to Ohio from Philadelphia. In 1838 he built what was for those times a large flouring-mill, thus increasing his business by pur- chasing wheat and manufacturing it into flour, which he shipped to the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and New Orleans. In pursuance of this business, therefore, Mr. Farmer had occasion to travel very considerably, which brought him into contact with the larger commercial in- terests of the country, and into business relations with a large circle of wealthy and influential business-men. Before the era of ruilways in Ohio, when the great commercial business was transacted entirely by water, Mr. Farmer, in 1844, built a fine steamer for the profitable traffic at that time carried on upon the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and employed it for some years in the trade between Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and New Orleans. In the year 1846 he, with his usual enterprise, was foremost in securing a charter for a railroad from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, and entered with determination upon the building of the same. The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad thus came into existence. Mr. Farmer was made president of the company, devoting his time, energy, and money to the enterprise, and under his able management the road was completed from Cleve- land to the Ohio River in about five years. This road opened up a large tract of mineral wealth, and gave a great stimulus to Cleveland, especially to the coal trade of that lake city. In 1856, Mr. Farmer removed with his family to the Forest City and engaged in the coal trade, having mines of his own which he has worked successfully for the past twenty years. Since arriving in Cleveland he has identified himself with the manufacture of iron, and the bauking interests of the city. In 1858, Mr. Farmer was again called to the presidency of the Cleveland and Pitts- burgh Railroad Company, and in order to facilitate its man- agewent the superintendency was also assigned him, and it
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was thus mainly through his wise and economical adininis- tration of the company's affairs that the road was kept from falling into the hands of its bondholders,-a fate that befell many corporations after the disastrous financial crash of 1857. In 1859, Mr. Farmer, feeling that the company he had served was again upon a safe footing, retired to the management of his private business, yet still remained a member of the board of directors for some years longer, when he resigned entirely, having served the company in all nearly twenty years. Although devoting himself to his own business interests, Mr. Farmer ever kept those of Cleveland in view, and, as he was convinced that the city's greatness was founded upon its manufacturing interests, determined upon a new railway line to the nearest coal-fields. Thus in 1870 he began, through the press and otherwise, the agitation of the subject as one of vital importance to the future prosperity of the city. In 1871 a company was organized, known as the Valley Railway Company, whose object was to build a road, by way of Akron and Canton, into the very heart of the great coal and iron fields of Ohio. Mr. Farmer was chosen president of the company, and the work of construction began in the spring of 1873, but, owing to the great financial crash in the fall of that year, work was suspended, the company's affairs being kept in such trim, however, that in 1878 the first rails were laid and machinery put on, so that at the present time the road is nearly com- pleted to Canton, a distance of sixty miles, and its entire
success fully assured. Mr. Farmer has thus been the organ- izer of the two railways that give to Cleveland her commercial importance so far as great mineral and manufacturing inter- ests, founded upon an inexhaustible and cheap coal supply, contribute to that end. Mr. Farmer is now seventy-seven years of age, but is still hale and hearty, has the companion- ship of his wife and five children, and, with his children's children around him, still looks forward to years of useful life. He is an honored member of the Society of Friends; has never sought political honor, but gone quietly forth in the business walks of life, devoting his time and energy towards enterprises for the public good, believing that a man has higher duties in life than the simple acquisition of wealth ; that he who lives to benefit mankind has ennobled his own soul, and may well rest when life's labor is done. He possesses a well-balanced mind, maturing all his plans by careful consid- eration ; has a calm judgment ; is serene in disposition, and charitable to the fuilings of others. He is genial as a friend, kind and indulgent as a husband and father, and is gen- erally esteemed, respected, and beloved. With a mechanical turn of mind, he is a close observer of both men and things in the world around, and may be said to be wholly the ar- chitect of his own fortunes. He possesses a strong will, that has carried him over all obstacles. In his business enter- prises he has lived to see his efforts for the public good crowned with success, and is entitled to enjoy the honorable old age that is his.
WAYNE.
WAYNE, numbered 13 in the list of townships, and oc- cupying range 3, contains an area of five miles square, and is one of the seven townships forming the southern tier of Columbiana. Its boundaries are Centre township on the north, Washington on the south, Madison on the east, and Franklin on the west.
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