USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 21
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MULBERRY STREET, BREMEN
MISTER
RESIDENCE OF DR. O. P. DRIVER, BREMEN
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BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF BREMEN
f
FORT STREET, BREMEN
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who worshipped in this building. In the early fifties the congregation built a church in Bremen on Broad street. This building after serving for worship for nearly fifty years is now used as a dwelling. In 1900 the present commodious building at the corner of Mul- berry and Walnut streets was dedicated. The society consists of about 375 members. J. Vernon Stone, the pastor, graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1906 and from the Boston School of Theology in 1908.
The First Presbyterian Church is served by Walter D. Hanell, pastor. He was graduated from Ohio Northern University and after- wards from Lane Theological Seminary in 1904. He began his work in Bremen, March I, 19II.
The United Brethren Church has as its pastor Rev. H. O. Davis, who began his pastorate in 1910.
The Dunkard Church or Church of the Brethren is served by Rev. E. B. Bagwell.
Schools
Bremen has excellent schools. There is now (1912) being erected a thoroughly mod- ern fire-proof building, with an auditorium that will seat 500. This building will be used for the grades. It is beautifully located, hav- ing a plot of four acres of ground. The fol- lowing superintendents have served in Bremen : Superintendent Morris, 1888-89; M. E. Osbourne, 1889-1905; E. E. Atwell, 1905- 1906; S. M. Archer, 1906-1908; P. W. Fattig, 1908-1909, W. L. Davis, 1909.
The High School is of the first grade and was organized in 1889. Since that year it has graduated 67-32 boys and 35 girls. The fol- lowing is the list of alumni with addresses: 1900-James Turner, Bremen, Ohio; 1902- George Blosser, Lancaster, Ohio; Grace Row- els, Athens, Ohio; Raymond F. Kagay,
Marion, Ohio; Leslie W. Householder, Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania; Odessie Wright Ey- man, Columbus, Ohio; Grace Bagwell Beery, Rushville, Ohio; Albert J. Black, Columbus, Ohio; Leefe Purvis Turner, Bremen, Ohio; Paul Ashbaugh, Chicago, Illinois.
1903-Mabel Staker Anderson, Chillicothe, Ohio; Bessie McCandlish Seifert, Bremen, Ohio; Ralph Bradford, Chicago, Illinois; Hazel Rinehart, New Lexington, Ohio; Nettie Hilliard Hopkins, Bremen, Ohio; Omar Bagell, Cleveland, Ohio; Edna Belle McCand- lish, Bremen, Ohio.
1905-Fay Ashbaugh, McAllister, Okla- homa ; Emma Rowles, Bremen, Ohio; Eunice Patch, Bremen, Ohio; Grace Everitt Mericle, Bremen, Ohio; Edith Osbourne, Thurston, Ohio; Cloyd Johnson, Portland, Oregon; Ada Cecil Rowles (deceased), Bucyrus, Ohio; Fay McCune Ballinger, Columbus, Ohio.
1906-Lyda Mccullough Deaver, Parkers- burg, West Virginia: Mira Stoner, Chicago, Illinois; Sara Alford, Bremen, Ohio; Nellie Grove McCandlish, Bremen, Ohio; Tommy Seifert, Bremen, Ohio; Belle Houck, Bremen, Ohio; Cecil Kellar, Chicago, Illinois.
1907-John Alford, Delaware, Ohio; Glenn Blosser, Bremen, Ohio; George Kelsey, Co- lumbus, Ohio; Orlando Brown, Newark, Ohio; Everett McCandlish, Bremen, Ohio; Clarence Nixon, Bremen, Ohio; Fern Staker Griffin, Bremen, Ohio; Mabel Johnson Weaver, Bremen, Ohio.
1908 Della Stuart Olive, Bremen, Ohio; Bessie Hufford, Bremen, Ohio; Meda Blosser, Bremen, Ohio; Martha Brown, Bremen, Ohio; Raymond Heyd, Bremen, Ohio; Albert San- derson, Ada, Ohio.
1910-Starling Huddle, Bremen, Ohio; Edward J. Kelsey, Bremen, Ohio; Myrtle Siniff Brety, Columbus, Ohio; Dessa Trout, Bremen, Ohio; Olive Bagwell, Bremen, Ohio;
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Forest Trout Martin, Sistersville, West Vir- entitled "Drifting." This poem was of ginia. marked ability from every point of view. It inspired to higher thoughts, more exalted feel- ings and nobler acts, evincing the high poetic talent of the author.
19II-Roland S. Brown, Athens; Russell L. Householder, Columbus; J. Foreman Mc Cullough, Bremen ; Margaree V. Householder, Bremen; Chloe May Reeves, Bremen; Ruby Fern Fultz, Rushville, Ohio; Leefe Johnson, Rushville, Ohio; Joseph H. Morehead, Rush- ville, Ohio; Carl W. Oberdorfer, Rushville, Ohio.
President of the Alumni Association, James Turner; secretary, Glenn Blosser.
Teachers-Superintendent, W. L. Davis, M. S. in charge of the schools for three years. Principal, C. F. Kreider ; assistant principal, C. W. Brashares; Daisy Mccullough, seventh and eighth grades; Doris Robinson, fifth and sixth grades; Bessie Hufford, fourth grade; Belle Houck, third grade; Jennie Krout, sec- ond grade; Rebekah Robinson, first grade.
Graduates, 1912-Ray Freisner, Raymond Heyd, Holcombe Frasch, Erwin Young, Ford Turner and Carl Mericle.
DR. OLIVER PERRY DRIVER
From the Lancaster Daily Eagle, June 5, 1910. "The possession of friends is a common good," wrote an ancient sage.
Dr. Oliver Perry Driver was a friend of noble qualities-one truly worthy, and such possession was indeed a common good.
His preparatory education was obtained at Fairfield Union Academy, graduating in the class of 1877, when that famous old institu- tion was known as "The Southern Ohio Nor- mal School." In the same class with Dr. Driver were Misses Carrie and Addie Ash- brook, Messrs. Will C. Varsant, Dr. C. E. Baker and the writer.
Dr. Driver's commencement production was a beautiful poem, written in the style and the meter of Longfellow's "Hiawatha," which he
To write poetry, and to love it, was charac- teristic of Dr. Driver. Like Dr. Oliver Wen- dell Holmes-he wrote poems while follow- ing the practice of medicine, and his friends always expected a poem at every banquet, or special occasion. He could have said, as truly as Dr. Holmes :
"I'm a florist in verse, and what would people say,
If I went to the banquet without my bouquet ?"
His chosen profession, however, was not authorship, but medicine, and to the faithful practice of this art he gave his life. One can never forget his bright wit which sparkled through all his conversation. His humor was a constant quality-always uplifting the bur- den of some one, and giving men hope. The rare sparkle of his eye betokened the college prank, the joke, or the humorous story; his pathos showed a heart as tender as a child; his seriousness indicated a clear logical reasoning upon the things that abide.
It has often been a matter of regret to the writer that Dr. Driver did not devote more of his time to the cultivation of what Goldsmith calls "polite literature," and especially of poetry. While Old Fairfield has produced her Enoch Sites in mathematics; her Ewings, Hun- ters. Stanberys, Shermans, Reeses, Beechers and Medills in statesmanship, law and military science, she could have claimed, also, equal rank in the realm of poetry had Dr. Driver devoted his time more largely to this art. Yet his achievements in this line are by no means without merit. The following poem, written in his early manhood, evinces some of the
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qualities of mind and heart which give to the poet his beauty and his charm. The closing stanza of this sweet lyric is prophetic of his own death-and the whole fulfills the defini- tion "A poem is the very image of life ex- pressed in eternal truth :"
THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE
O. P. Driver.
Down where the school house used to stand, A visit late I paid;
And lingered 'round its ruins wild, Deep musing while I staid.
But ah! to me the scene was sad, And tears were free to flow; To think that a few years gone by Were doomed to change it so.
Someone has torn the school house down, 'Twas cruel that he should ; And but a few old stones are left, To mark the place it stood.
The brier now grows 'round its walls, The alders blossom there; It seemed so ragged 'round that place, That once I thought so fair.
The play ground too, has all grown up In weeds and thistles wild;
They flourish now where I have played When but a little child.
The gentle stream hard by the yard, Is flowing just as free, As when I played upon its banks, With laughter and with glee.
Its waters sparkle just as bright ; Its banks are just as green ; Its pebbles just as fair to sight, And white as ever seen.
But there's no music in its song, To me it murmurs sad;
Not like the songs it used to sing, They always made me glad.
The maple tree just by the road, Has grown some taller, too;
It spreads its branches wider out, Its trunk is deeper through.
Such are the changes years will bring As older still we grow,
Till time shall find us near the tomb, With locks as white as snow.
His life has added largely to the sum of human happiness and good-and for this we loved him, and shall ever cherish his memory. C. C. M., Lima, O.
VIOLET TOWNSHIP
Violet township is in the northwestern part of Fairfield County. It is bounded on the north by Licking County, on the east by Liberty township and on the south by Bloom township and on the west by Franklin County.
The township was set off and incorpor- ated in 1808 and from the variety and abundance of wild flowers was called Violet. Its surface is undulating, sloping to the south and is drained by Black Lick, Syca- more and Walnut creeks.
From the beginning the majority of the citizens were German-that class of Ger- mans who pride themselves on being good and reliable citizens. The first man to take up his residence here was a Revolutionary soldier by the name of George Kirke, who entered the eighty acres on which Picker- ington stands. In a few years Abraham Pickering came and bought the tenth sec- tion of land including Kirke's claim and in - 1815 laid off a few lots naming the place Pickerington. In selecting farms it was customary for several to join together, get the range and section from corner trees, pick out a section and for one of them to hurry to the land office to secure it by mak-
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ing an entry and paying the one-fourth part (50 cents an acre) down.
The northern twelve sections of this township belonged to the "Refugee Lands." Scott's History says: "The Refugee Tract, so called, passes through the northern part of the county from east to west. Its width is two miles and length eighteen miles. The origin of the reservation was as follows: There were citizens of Canada, who, dur- ing the Revolutionary war, gave their sym- pathies and aid to the American Colonies. Congress appropriated this 'strip of land, of eighteen miles cast and west, and two miles north and south, for their use, hence the name 'Refugee Lands.' After it had been taken up to the extent of the claimants who presented themselves, the unclaimed portion was sectioned and sold as other Congress Lands."
PICKERINGTON
Pickerington is the oldest and largest town in Violet township. The material welfare of the town has been augmented by its being located in the midst of a good agricultural and grazing country, and the prosperity of the town is matched by the solid prosperity of the many homes of an enterprising and industrious rural popula- tion.
It is situated twelve miles southeast of Columbus, Ohio, and on the line of the To- ledo and Ohio Central Railroad, embracing in its population of about 300 souls some of the fine citizen product of the great Buck- eye State.
More than a century ago the first settle- ment was made by early pioneers, so that the town marks about the same date on the calendar as that of our State capital. The town was laid out by Mr. Abraham Pick-
ering, grandfather of Mr. James T. Pick- ering and C. C. Pickering of Lancaster. While it has not grown so rapidly as its more populous neighbor, it is a thriving place, including in its mercantile firms one department store, one dry goods establish- ment, three grocery and dry goods houses, one drug store and among other lines of business there are one meat shop, two shoe shops, one watchmaker's shop, one harness shop, two blacksmith shops, one hotel, two livery stables and one lumber yard, one flouring mill, one tile and brick plant and one creamery and one bank. Its professional life is represented by one lady and one gentleman physician and by one attorney.
Pickering Family
The following sketch of the Pickering family, the family who founded Pickering- ton, was prepared by Miss Etta Pickering, of Lancaster.
"The Pickering family is of English line- age, and was founded by William Pickering in early colonial days. Abraham Picker- ing, who laid out Pickerington, giving a site for a church, one for a schoolhouse, and another for a cemetery, was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, July 8, 1776. His wife, Ann Looker, was born Sept. 10, 1776. They emigrated to Ohio in 1806 and settled in Fairfield County. They brought with them their little daughter Elizabeth and son James, the latter being but six years old. Elizabeth grew to womanhood and married Thomas Morton. She lived to the advanced age of ninety-five years.
James Pickering was married March 23, 1826 to Catherine Williams from Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania. Their family con- sisted of four sons and one daughter. Jacob Pickering, the oldest son, was born March
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3, 1827. He joined the Methodist church at an early age, served as steward, trustee, class leader, Sunday-school superintendent and Sunday-school teacher. He died in 1886 at his beautiful home in Pickerington. His wife was Samantha Ford-she was a zeal- ous Christian, a member of the Methodist church of Pickerington for 65 years. James Pickering and his wife had four children, all of whom were given a college education at the Ohio Wesleyan University. Jennie died June 6, 1888-the remaining are living in Lancaster; C. C. Pickering and J. T. Pickering are successful attorneys; J. T. Pickering was postmaster from 1898 to 1910, a period of 12 years. Miss Etta, the only living daughter, resides in Lancaster. The mother died at Lancaster, October 8, 1902, aged 76 years."
Churches
There are two churches in Pickerington -the United Brethren and Methodist. The United Brethren church was erected in 1882 and is called Dovel Memorial church. The present building was built as a result of the labors of Rev. Munk of Basil. The membership is small. The present pastor is Rev. J. F. Turbin, located at Pa- taskala.
The first Methodist church was built in 1833. The trustees were Adam Ebright, Isaac Rainer, Philip Ford, John Milnor, John Tyler, Sr., William Thompson, Thomas McArthur, James Pickering and Andrew Dougherty, Sr. This was a brick building 48 x 36 ft. "The men occupied the east side of the church and the women the west and woe betide the luckless one who went in at the wrong door, for he fell under the ban of a custom so closely fol- lowed by all who prided themselves on
maintaining the rule of the day, that no man should sit on the woman's side or woman on the men's side." In 1867 the building was remodeled. This building was used till 1883 when the present structure was erected. The following were the board of trustees when this building was erected : Henry Taylor, William Milnor, M. A. Ebright, William H. Kraner, Simeon Hand- shey, Jacob Pickering and Garrett Miller. In 1905 the trustees were Irvin Fishbaugh, William Milnor, Pearl Kranor, Homer Pierce, Henry Taylor, Lafayette Harmon, Russell Handshey. The present pastor (1912) of the Pickerington M. E. church is Rev. Albert Davis.
Dr. Darlington J. Snyder, a prominent physician of Columbus, was at New Salem. He was for many years one of the most suc- cessful teachers in Fairfield and Franklin counties and was also an instructor in Fair- field Union Academy at Pleasantville.
William M. Wikoff, for many years a leading teacher in Fairfield and other coun- ties, and who was business manager of the Lancaster Camp Meeting, was born at New Salem, and still has large agricultural inter- ests there. Mr. Wikoff resides in Columbus and is actively engaged in teaching (see sketch ).
There are several small villages in Violet township-Waterloo, in the southwest corner of the township, is close to the Franklin County line. It is on the Ohio Canal and the Hocking Valley Railway.
LOCKVILLE AND HARLEY
Lockville is a small village partly in Vio- let and part in Bloom township. It is on the Ohio Canal and is named from the locks that are in the canal near this place. Lock- ville Station is about two miles north of
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Lockville and is on the Hocking Valley road.
Harly or Yelrah is a small village in the extreme east of the township.
The following items of interest were kindly furnished by Mr. A. D. Courtright, president of the Board of Education of Pickerington.
SCHOOLS
By this time the people were becoming dissatisfied with the little old red school- house. Quite a number were clamoring for centralization. The plan for a building large enough for a township high school, and the plan to centralize at least a part of the township schools had many friends. They put on their ticket, to be voted on at the coming election, A. M. Whims, Mike King, John Peters, Gus M. Alexander and A. D. Courtright, for members of Violet township Board of Education. There were twelve other names put on the ticket. At the election all of the candidates favorable to the plan for a change in the Violet town- ship schools were elected by large majori- ties.
The schools of Violet township were no different from other schools in Fairfield County until the school year 1907-8. In 1895 the people of Violet township began to agitate a change in their school system. At this time there was no high school in the township, and if the girls and boys wished to attend a high school they had to go either Two of the members elected-Mr. A. M. Whims and Gus M. Alexander-were not residents of Violet township School Dis- trict, Mr. Whims living in Liberty township School District, and Gus M. Alexander in Pickerington village School District. The Violet township board met on the first Mon- day in January, 1905, at the township house in Pickerington, Ohio, at 2 P. M., to or- ganize. Mike King, John Peters and A. D. Courtright were present. A. D. Court- right was chosen president; John Peters, secretary. The village board met on the same afternoon and by a previous arrange- ment abandoned this district in accord with Section 3894 R. S. to Reynoldsburg, Carroll, or Canal Win- chester. The Board of Education in the spring of 1895, set a time for the considera- tion of building a township high school. The citizens of Violet township came to- gether in public meetings for the purpose of discussing the feasibility of building a township high school. At all of the meet- ings the sentiment seemed to be in favor of it. When the time came for the board to act on the proposition, one of the members who was thought to be deeply interested in the building of a high school, did not come to the meeting, so the matter was dropped for that time. The member of the board who took the lead in the work After the abandonment of the village School District, and their acceptance by the Violet township board, Gus M. Alexander was appointed on the Violet township board to serve for four years and W. W. Milnor was appointed for two years, after which John Peters resigned as clerk and Gus M. for a high school not being returned to the board the next year, the proposition was dropped and seemed to lie dormant for the next ten years. All of these ten years there were those who kept the tender plant watered, and in the fall of 1904, after the new school law came into existence, it be- Alexander was appointed clerk for two years. The board began to lay plans for
gan to take on new life.
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the erection of a building large enough for a township high school and to centralize a part of the township at least. There was a two-room building in Pickerington. In the spring of 1905 the board asked the State School Commissioner for a charter for a third-grade high school, which he granted and the school year of 1905-6 they had the first high school ever held in Violet town- ship.
One of the first things a Board of Educa- tion needs before it can erect a building is money. After carefully going over the finances, the board found it not only had no money with which to erect a building but that they were in debt $1,500 for one erected the year before. Not only were they in debt but the old board had forgotten to make a levy to meet this debt. How to raise the money to put up a building of the size to meet all the requirements was a very perplexing problem. It was first thought that it could be raised by issuing bonds, as provided in Section 3,994. Upon careful investigation it was found all that could be raised on this plan for any one school year would be $2,600, so this plan had to be abandoned.
To ask the people to grant a bond issue under Section 3,991 it was thought would be sure to meet with failure. After con- sidering all of the schemes for raising funds, the board finally hit upon the plan of creat- ing a building fund and in accord with this idea there was levied about $6,000 for the first year. This plan met with general satisfaction and the next year another levy was made of about the same amount.
The funds being provided, it was thought time to begin the new building. The site chosen was a beautiful hill in the north- east corner of the village of Pickerington, about thirty feet above the main part of
the town-a more beautiful site could not be found in Ohio for a school building. The next step was to have an architect make plans and Merriott and Allen of Columbus was the firm selected to perform this task. In a short time the plans were ready. Ad- vertising for bids was the next thing. When the bids were opened it was found they were all too high. The board rejected all of the bids and as it was getting late in the season it was thought best not to at- tempt to build that year.
In February, 1907, the contract was let to Mr. C. W. Ricket of Bremen, Ohio. The specifications called for a six-room building, with basement under the entire building to be heated by hot air. With some changes made by the board, the building cost when completed $15,000.
The building started in May and was to be completed by the first of September, but the season being very wet, it was not completed until the last of October. It was dedicated by State School Commis- sioner Edmund A. Jones, and turned over to Violet township by the president of the School Board. A young girl, Catherine Kraner, represented Violet township. The ceremony was a very pretty, as well as im- pressive. And now after two years of un- ceasing work by the board they were ready to begin school in the new building. They had changed from a third to a second-grade high school with Prof. W. H. C. Ackers,' superintendent; J. S. Talbott, grammar ; Ethel L. Becher, intermediate; and Alice Hizey, primary, as teacher. Two wagons built for the purpose of conveying children to school, were purchased by the board; these two wagons brought in three sub- districts.
The friends of the new school plan now
.
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had a six-room building, with four teachers; teen sub-districts entirely centralized and the query was where to get the scholars to four of the other six partially centralized. More than two-thirds of all the scholars in Violet township are coming to the central- ized school. In connection with the high school there is a splendidly equipped labora- tory-indeed so well equipped is it that when State School Commissioner Edmund A. Jones came down in the beginning of the school year of 1908 with a charter for a first grade high school, he said in his talk in the hall that day that it was "the best equipped school building of its kind in Ohio." at least make a fair showing. It was figured that there would not be more than eighty scholars-twenty to each teacher; it was not expected there would be more than ten at most in the high school. At last the open- ing day arrived. How the friends of the school stood around waiting with bated breath. Soon the scholars began to come in by ones and twos, driving, walking, and in school wagons. How the countenances of the friends of the school changed from one of anxiety to one of joy. Everywhere you could hear women and men shouting, "See them come! It's a success-It's a success!" When the scholars had all got in and taken their places it was found on that first morning, October 27, 1907-that morning when Violet township opened ·her first township high school and was thus the first township in Fairfield County to cen- tralize or partially centralize-to the great astonishment of the friends of the school there were one hundred and thirty-seven scholars.
One of the first things to be done was to change the teaching force, get another teacher for the grades, and put Mr. J. S. Talbott in the high school. This was done by closing and centralizing another sub-district, making four sub-districts out- side of the one in which the new building was located. In the early part of 1908 another wagon was purchased by the board. The wagons are lettered "Violet township schools," and are numbered, be- ginning with No. I. In the school year 1909 another sub-district was centralized and the fourth wagon purchased and in 1910 another and a fifth wagon was purchased. Violet township now had seven of the thir-
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