USA > Ohio > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Ohio : her people, industries and institutions > Part 10
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INCIDENTS.
The early history of Fayette county is full of incidents of daring and endurance. Edward Smith, Sr., entered lands on the banks of Paint creek, known as the East fork, in the year 1810. He found his entry covered with trees. A wigwam served as shelter by night. He made the accustomed opening for a borderer, clearing up enough land for the starting of a crop. The news of war declared caused him to lay aside the axe and take up his rifle. Peace came and he returned to his home. One night, returning from the county seat, he found the creek very high, but rode in fearlessly, was thrown from his horse and drowned.
Thomas Moon, Sr., arrived in Green township, Fayette county, in 1810, from Virginia. He was accompanied by his family of nine children and settled on Rattlesnake creek, upon the dividing ridge. Finding a fine mill site, he erected there the first grist mill, saw mill and distillery in the county. Isaiah Pancoast, from Pennsylvania, removed to Fayette in 1810 and settled on the west bank of Deer creek. He built a large log house, which had all rooms in one. Opposite the house on the other bank of the stream was a camp of Indians. The squaws often came over with venison to exchange for meal. The Indians, having killed deer, threw the carcasses into the stream above their camp and the watchful squaws pulled them out when they had floated down. Pancoast passed the first season in a shelter made of wagon covers stretched on poles, while he gave his chief attention to the planting and raising of seven acres of corn. The daily fare was corn meal and game from the woods. Wolves ran in large bands and the sheep had to be penned at night for safety. Trading was done at Chillicothe. At this time there were no settlements between Waterloo and Washington. The Indians moved and left a pig behind. The animal came to Pancoast, who penned it and in time it grew into a large porker. One day an Indian of the party called at the house, was shown the pig, and told to do as he pleased with it. He killed and dressed it, cut it in halves, and left one to Pancoast.
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A HERMIT.
Wild and lonely as were the forest wilds, distant and inaccessible as were the various improvements, yet here, in the solemn silence of the wilder- ness upon the west bank of Compton creek, dwelt a bold and fearless hunter. In 1803 he came hither and built himself a cabin. He lined the interior with skins of elk, bear and deer and made his garments from dressed deer- skins. He owned many horses and cattle and when crowded by settlers and stinted in game went westward for more room. He had seen service in Dun- more's campaign, had served in 1776, and, according to rumor, was killed in the Black Hawk war of 1832. This hermit's name was Nathan Hathaway.
DISTILLERIES.
In the early days it was thought that liquor was indispensable upon public occasions of any kind or any social gathering. Liquor was thought to be pure and harmless. The still of Solomon Sowards, started in 1824, eight miles northwest from the county seat, seemed a great convenience to the settlers. The customer brought his corn, had it ground, and exchanged the meal for whiskey, or had his own meal stilled in the copper still, on shares. On the occasion of an election for representative in 1823 parties were sent to Caylor's distillery for a barrel of whiskey, which was opened for general use in Washington C. H .; tin cups were filled and emptied and by night there was a general drunk. Such scenes were not uncommon. In almost every settle- ment these copper stills were found, and corn, rye and peaches supplied ma- terial for strong drink. The last still was erected in 1855, in Washington C. H., on the later side of the woolen mill. The last copper still had been in operation for a number of years on the farm of Joseph Orr, and was finally sold as junk to J. W. Heagler, then a dealer in hardware and later recorder. Heagler sent it to Columbus in 1849 and so ended the manufacture of whisky in Fayette.
In those early days whiskey was sold as they hand letters from a post- office. The bar was closed except a pigeon-hole, through which the customer received his stimulant. One would step to the hole and ask for a gill, half- pint or pint, these amounts being held by bottles behind the bar. The bottle was handed through and with a pitcher of water and glasses the liquor was consumed, the bottle returned, refilled, and ready for another. A gill cost six cents and a half-pint a shilling.
CHAPTER V.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
Counties, like states and nations, have a form of government peculiar to themselves. Counties have rights that the state does not presume to in- trude upon ; states have rights that the Constitution of the republic does not interfere with, providing such supposed rights, or legal enactments, do not conflict with the rights of other commonwealths. The voters of a county are supposed to dictate the policy of their section, under certain general forms and restrictions of the state, and thus it is up to the people of a county to govern themselves in a local sense. Some counties in our state have had excellent systems, others have been questionable. Fayette county has been as progressive, with the changes of time, as any county in the state. Her sys- tem of keeping accounts has varied with the decades, but at present is provided with a safe and correct method of bookkeeping. For the most part, the peo- ple have elected good men to official positions, and when another type have occasionally gotten into county office, they have been discarded as soon as possible.
It will be the aim in this chapter to record some of the most important transactions in governmental affairs, such as the acts of the board of county commissioners, the various institutions, care for the poor, the building of court houses, jails, highways, etc. There will also be appended a list of county and state officials, showing who have been at the head of different departments here during the last century. It will be seen by the chapter on "Organization" how the machinery of county government was first set in motion and by what persons it was managed.
Unfortunately, the first court house, with most of the records of the county for its first eighteen years, were totally destroyed by fire in 1828, hence much concerning the first acts of the first set of county official has forever been lost, save what is presented by tradition.
ROBBERIES.
The county has been unfortunate in having had three treasury robberies, one under J. S. Bereman, treasurer, at an early day, when five thousand dol-
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lars was stolen by safe-breakers; a second entry of the county safe was under Treasurer Robert Stewart, when about the same amount was taken and never recovered. Again, under Treasurer A. E. Silcott, in February, 1864, the safe was entered by a false key and four thousand seven hundred and forty-three dollars stolen and this was never recovered. At the last robbery, it was dis- covered that in his hurry to get away the burglar left his false key in the lock of the safe, and it was shown by other circumstances that the robbery had probably been committed by parties connected with the former robbery, who had evidently preserved and used the same key to enter the safe with. Then the county authorities secured a modern combination lock, since which time there has been no money unlawfully taken from the safe of the treasurer.
EARLY COUNTY BILLS.
The county fathers nearly a hundred years ago were not spendthrifts, but cut bills where they could, and were satisfied with simply what was abso- lutely necessary to carry on the county government. As examples, the fol- lowing is quoted from the records of James Henton, as published in the Herald of May, 1834, which runs as follows :
Among the listed contingent items was that of Samuel Lydy, who was paid ninety-nine dollars for "publishing list of forfeited lands, expenditures. and notices, in 1833," and he was also paid fifty-seven dollars "for publishing delinquent lands in 1833, and notice to school clerks." Three dollars and sixty cents were paid for pasteboard, chair, etc., for use in the auditor's office. It will be seen that the amount of stationery and furniture required in the county offices then was not in excess of what it should have been.
The account of Treasurer Benjamin Henton shows the total receipts for that year to have been $8,845.19, including a balance on hand at the previous June settlement, which was $1,368.72. The total disbursements for that year were $6,983.88, leaving a balance in the treasury of $1,861.30. Among the receipts was the item of $50 for tavern licenses in the county for 1833, and also $215 for horse hire. Jesse Millikan was clerk of the courts then and also served as postmaster in Washington, C. H.
THE FIRST COURT HOUSE.
Valentine, or "Felty," Coil, while but two years old, was captured by the Indians and taken to Canada. Coming to this county in its infancy, he found use for his knowledge in making brick for the first court house and first brick
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building in the county. Early in 1813 excavations were made on the site of the present court house and the clay taken out was burned into brick by Coil and used in the building, which was completed and occupied as early as March, 1814. The windows were composed of twenty-four lights, each ten by twelve inches. The cupola was similar to that of the second court house, although without a base. The location of the building was about twenty feet west of the alley and twenty feet back from Court street. While it seems that that building was in the main finished and occupied in 1814, yet it is stated that two men by the names of Life and Burnett finished the cupola in 1815. It cannot be ascertained who built the house, but it is known that Jacob Kelley and Silas Young, in addition to "Felty" Coil, were brick makers and brick layers and resided in Washington at that time. In about the year 1828 this building burned down, involving the loss of nearly all the county records. Court was then removed to a little brick office, occupied by Judge Wade Loofborrow, situated in the rear of the present office of Doctor Sauls- berry in the Brownell grocery building. From here it was next removed to a house later owned by Mrs. R. A. Robison, Jr., where it was held until a new court house was built.
THE SECOND COURT HOUSE.
On the first day of February, 1828, the board of commissioners, then consisting of Jacob Jamison, Thomas Burnett and Matthew Jones, met for the purpose of entering into negotiations for the erection of a new court house. Together with other citizens, the brick walls of the old building, yet remaining, were examined and, after consulting mechanics and masons, the board decided that they were not worth repairing. On the following day the board agreed to build a new court house with fireproof offices attached for the clerk of the court, recorder and auditor. The clerk of the board. Norman Jones, was instructed to draft a plan for the new building and the auditor was ordered to give notice that the commissioners would meet on the 5th day of March, following, to receive bids. The auditor was also authorized to sell the brick in the old walls to the highest bidder.
On February 23d the board met to select a location for the new house, which resulted in their choosing the southeast corner of the public square, the main building and offices fronting on Court and Main streets. It was ordered that a draft be made of the contemplated structure, the main building to be forty feet square, with a wing thirty feet long and fourteen feet wide at- tached, facing each street. On the day appointed, March 5th, the board met
From 'Hist. Coll. of Ohio."
Copyright, 1888, by Henry Howe.
STOCK SALE, COURT STREET, WASHINGTON C H., 1888.
FAYETTE COUNTY COURT HOUSE AND JAIL.
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to receive the bids and award the contract. Thomas Laughead, of Ross county, was the successful bidder, with a bid of one thousand three hundred eighty dollars and ninety cents. The carpenter work went to John Harbi- son, of Greene county, for one thousand three hundred seventy-two dollars and forty cents. On March 4, 1829, one year after the awarding of the above contracts, the house was ready for the inside work, the contract for which was awarded to John Harbison for six hundred eighty-nine dollars and sixty-seven cents.
The floor of the lower story was laid of white or burr oak, one and a half inches thick and seven inches wide. The upper was of yellow poplar. A washboard of good seasoned walnut, one and a quarter inches thick and eight inches wide, surrounded the floor of the lower story. The fire-places were of brick, with hearth of same. A handsome chair-board of walnut extended around the lower wall. In the smallest office, on Court street, there were three plain fire boards in the lower floor.
The contract for the plastering was given to Silas Young for three hun- dred and twenty-nine dollars and on December 8th, the same year, the work was completed, examined by the commissioners and accepted. On April Io, 1830, the inside work was examined and accepted by the board and the bal- ance paid. This was the date of the finishing of the court house, although it had been used previously. On June 9, 1836, Daniel McLean was ordered to purchase a bell for the court house, at any sum not to exceed one hundred dollars. At different times afterward repairs were made on the building and improvements added.
In 1844 a county auditor's office, also a treasurer's, were built on the Court street side. William Harfor was the contractor. Extensive repairs were made in 1846, consisting of girders, flooring, plastering, and painting of the outside in Venetian red. In 1848 an addition was made on the north- west side also, twelve by thirty feet in size.
THE PRESENT COURT HOUSE.
The first mention made of attempting to prepare for the erection of the present magnificent temple of justice for Fayette county was an item found in the Herald, dated March, 1881, which spoke of the county commissioners having decided to put it to a vote of the people of the county, at an election to be held April 4th, that year. The propositions up were: "Shall we build a court house by tax, and shall we build a jail by tax?" The county board then consisted of Joshua Mahan, R. S. Sutherland and W. J. Horney.
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The records show that a contract was awarded, August 3, 1882, to J. North Bros. & Lichtenberger, under architects D. W. Gibbs & Company, of Toledo, Ohio, to construct a court house, the same being the present sub- stantial and beautiful temple of justice. The contract price was originally eighty-five thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars, and the structure was to be completed by September 1, 1884. To this were added changes and in- ternal improvements, fixtures and furniture, etc., totalling about one hun- dred and forty thousand dollars for the property, as it now stands. It is its own best monument and record, for doubtless unborn generations will yet use it to transact the business of Fayette county in. When erected, thirty-one years ago, it was looked upon as among the finest, modern court houses in Ohio. Age has told somewhat on it, yet it is in good condition today. Re- cently, it has had its outer walls thoroughly cleaned, making the stone work look as good as new. A town clock adorns and makes useful its splendid tower. It is a high three-story structure. A hot-water heating plant was contracted for in 1903, and cost one thousand five hundred dollars; at the same date another contractor placed in the jail a similar one, costing two hundred and ninety-five dollars.
COUNTY JAILS.
It is recorded that an old dry well served as the first jail in Fayette county.
The first jail built at Washington C. H. was located near the present one, about sixty feet from Main street and about thirty feet southeast of the alley running along the northwest side of the old public square. The jail con- sisted of two square pens, one inside the other, the intervening space of per- haps one foot between the walls being filled in with stone, the outer wall being about twenty-four feet square. It was built of hewed logs, was two stories high, and was erected about 18II or 1812. At the east corner a door opened into a hallway six feet wide that extended along the northeast side of the building to the north corner. About five or six feet from the entrance to this hall a stairway led to the "debtor's room" above. The room below was about twelve by eighteen feet and was called the criminal cell, or dungeon. This jail was burned in 1823 by an incendiary, and the sheriff's dwelling, a small frame structure contiguous to the jail, was also destroyed at the same time, with all the household goods of Sheriff Robinson, save a deer-hide trunk, containing some of the clothing belonging to his deceased wife.
In 1825 a new jail was built on the same square, a little nearer the alley
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and also closer to Main street. This was a two-story brick building, twenty- five feet square, and was arranged inside similar to the old log jail. The walls of this jail were only thirteen inches thick and several prisoners escaped while it was in use. On December 9, 1835, the auditor was ordered to offer the old jail for sale on the 15th of the following June, except such material as the board might reserve.
On January 15, 1836, at a meeting of the board, it was decided that, for lack of funds, the old jail should be repaired instead of building a new one. New walls of bricks were to be built, the same height as the old ones, also one dungeon and one prison room, and the whole building to undergo repairs, the contract for which was let to Benjamin A. Crone for three hundred and fifty dollars. On the 27th of the following August the work was reported completed.
This jail was used until September 16, 1839, when public notice was given that a new jail was to be constructed, located on the public square, forty-four feet front, thirty-five feet back, and two stories high, with all the necessary cells and other fixtures for the confinement and accommodation of prisoners, all of which work was to be done by Edward Lamme for forty- seven hundred dollars, who entered into bond for the faithful performance of the same. After the walls were up the carpenter work was begun by Benja- min A. Crone, who was to complete the same for one thousand dollars. On August 25. 1841, the commissioners accepted the jail, after a careful examina- tion of the work.
The present jail and sheriff's residence was erected by the same con- tractors who constructed the present court house. It was built in 1882-3, at a cost of twenty thousand dollars for the structure, to which were added in- terior expenses from time to time. It is an excellent building, standing on the corner of the public square, near the court house.
PUBLIC DRINKING FOUNTAIN.
On the corner of the court house square is situated a handsome public drinking fountain, constructed of gray granite at much expense. It was placed there, handy to the passer-by, in 1896, by Mrs. Morris Sharp. It bears the inscription upon its large square metal tablet, facing the court house, the words: "Presented to the City of Washington Court House and Fay- ette County, by Madeline Baker Sharp, in Memory of Her Husband, Morris Sharp, who Died February II, 1905. Erected 1906."
Tens of thousands of passers-by have already slaked their thirst from
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the waters of this artistic fountain, and it will doubtless stand many years as a perpetual reminder of, and as a truly befitting memorial to, one of the honored sons of Fayette county.
Mr. Sharp, for whom this was erected as a memorial, was a prominent business man and a banker.
THE FIRST COUNTY "SAFE."
Odd as it may seem to the reader of today, when time locks and fire- proof, burglar-proof safes are found in every county in the country, at the time when County Treasurer Heagler took the office in 1838, the county safe consisted of a tin box, six inches in depth, by four inches wide and a foot long. It was fastened with a tin clasp and brass pad-lock. This "safe" held the paper money, while the coin, amounting to about two hundred dollars, was placed in a shot bag. The "office" consisted of a mere room. The official papers were kept in a sealed half-bushel measure. The books were three in number and had thin paste-board covers. The room had no desk, table or stationery. In fact, the treasurer did his county business largely at his private residence. He received four hundred and fifty dollars per year salary.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COUNTY INFIRMARY.
The early residents of this state were in the habit of providing for the wants of the poor and destitute in the following manner. When application for the keeping of a person in poor circumstances was made to the township trustees, they bound him for a certain term to the lowest bidder, who was required to give bond for the faithful discharge of his duty, feeding, clothing and properly caring for his charge. Thus were the poor well cared for in the early days.
Later an act was passed by the Legislature of Ohio, providing for the "establishment of county poor houses." Any county having within her limits a sufficient number of paupers was empowered to purchase grounds and erect suitable buildings thereon, to which all the infirm and needy were to be ad- mitted. For the period of nearly fifty years after its organization Fayette county had no public institution in which she could care for her infirm, but provided for them through her township trustees. In about 1850 philan- thropic citizens agitated the erection of buildings for this purpose and in 1853 the board of county commissioners were induced to take the matter under advisement. On June 7, 1853, they resolved to erect an institution of
FAYETTE COUNTY CHILDREN'S HOME.
FAYETTE COUNTY INFIRMARY.
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this character and purchase a tract of land for the same. On the same day Hopkins Shivers, in consideration of three thousand five hundred eighty- seven dollars and fifty cents, deeded to Jacob A. Rankin, Robert Eyre and Micajah Draper, commissioners, for the purpose of a poor house, a tract of land. It is not certain whether steps were immediately taken to construct buildings on the deeded land. On Christmas day, 1854, the board examined the woodwork of the building being erected and were satisfied. On May 16, 1855, the plastering was looked over in the same manner. A report for the year ending June 1, 1855, showed the institution in operation, with seven inmates.
THE FAYETTE COUNTY CHILDREN'S HOME.
This institution was founded, under the laws of Ohio, in June, 1885, on a hundred-acre tract of land bequeathed by Peter Carder. The administra- tion building was completed in October, 1886. In 1900 thirty-four acres more land were added, and the donation of ten thousand dollars by a wealthy farmer named Jesse Johnson, from the east part of the county, materially aided in making the excellent improvements there found today. This dona- tion was provided for in Mr. Johnson's will in 1896. Fifty-three acres were then added, making a total of one hundred and eighty acres in the place. It is all valuable land.
CARDER INFIRMARY.
Peter Carder, an old resident of this county and owner of an immense old estate, upon being informed of the necessity of a new poor farm, con- ceived the idea of donating a portion of his estate to the county for infirmary purposes. In the year 1863, shortly before his death, he bequeathed to the county five hundred and seven acres of his estate, as a home for the poor. After his death, his widow objected to the provisions of the will, and several years passed before the matter was compromised. The county, in 1867, by its agents, William Clark, William Jones and Allen Heagler, began the erec- tion of the new building. The foundations were laid in the summer of the same year and by 1869, the work was fully completed. On July 7, 1869, the inmates of the old building, forty-seven in number, were admitted to the new infirmary. This institution was located on the Columbus pike, two miles northeast from Washington C. H. It is a four-storied structure, including basement and attic, and contains many modern conveniences. The govern- ment of the institution is vested in a board of directors and a superintendent appointed by them.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
The last report of the condition of the county infirmary, made by the auditor of Fayette county, in September, 1914, shows the following: The total cost of maintaining the unfortunate poor during the year ending September Ist, was seven thousand five hundred seventeen dollars and fifty- seven cents, but this did not take into account the amount of produce raised on the county farm, as the harvest was not yet gathered and its value obtain- able at that date. Then there is the additional expense of keeping certain persons, or partly maintaining them, outside the infirmary, which sum amounted to two thousand four hundred twenty-six dollars and eighty-six cents, making a grand total of nine thousand nine hundred forty-four dol- lars and forty-three cents. less the amount raised on the county farm. On September 1, 1914, there were forty persons, twenty-six men and fourteen women inmates. There were fourteen admitted during the last fiscal year. Total number supported during the year, fifty-four, thirty-six male and eighteen females. Five died during the last year and eight were discharged, making the present number of inmates forty-one, thirty of whom are men.
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