USA > Ohio > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Ohio : her people, industries and institutions > Part 25
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Great and eloquent speeches were made by prominent Ohio men, and from former Buckeyes who then resided in distant cities and states. Among the number who spoke may be recalled now Hon. John J. Lentz, of Columbus ; H. B. Maynard, Hon. Charles A. Reid, Hon. H. M. Daugherty, Dr. R. M. Hughey, Judge Joseph Hidy, Humphrey Jones and several more, several of whom spoke more than an hour, and all to the edification of the assembly.
The fifteen hundred "home-comers" were all required to register their
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FAYETTE COUNTY, 01110.
names and present address, etc. It was an occasion long to be remembered by those present.
INTOXICATED HOGS.
A funny incident occurred on a farm east of Washington C. H. not many years ago. A farmer had placed a half bushel of wheat in a cider barrel to keep the cider sweet. After the barrel had been emptied of the cider he dumped the soaked wheat out to his hogs. They seemed to enjoy it very much and ate it all up quickly. But soon thereafter the fermented grain got in its usual work-even on the swine-and they all became glor- iously drunk. They were on a genuine spree for more than a day. Some of the herd stretched out in the sun and seemed to be enjoying the real "drunk." They doubtless had dreams of corn and plenty and of fine days yet to come in their experience. Others of the herd became hilarious and cut all sorts of antics. They were so happy themselves that they seemed to want all their near-by comrades to join in the frolic, too. It was some time before the farmer realized why the swine acted so strangely. He finally dis- covered the fact that they had eaten the fermented wheat and had become really drunk on hard cider. After a day and a night (as usual) the swine were on their feet and ready to feed the usual way, barring a swelled head and blood-shot eyes !
AN ODD OLD RECORD.
In the county auditor's office of Fayette county may be seen a curious record, ordered made by the then commissioners of Fayette county, the date of which was 1836. The record shows that there were then but three attor- neys in the county and five physicians, each of whom had to pay a tax of three dollars for practicing their chosen professions. The entry in the county record reads thus :
"This day the honorable board of commissioners examined a list of practicing lawyers and physicians as returned by the county auditor of Fay- ette county for 1836, and it was ordered that the auditor of Fayette county enter the list as aforesaid and the tax duplicates for the year 1836 with the following sums to their several names, to-wit, a list of practicing lawyers and physicians.
(Signed)
"GEORGE MANTLE,
"JAMES KIRKPATRICK,
"SAMUEL SOLLARS,
" County Commissioners."
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
The list of "professionals" was as follows: Wade Loofborrow, Robert Robinson, Samuel Kerr, lawyers ; Benjamin Henton, Elijah Crosby, Eleozar Nartin, Joseph L. Bohrer, physicians.
GARFIELD MEMORIAL SERVICES.
The memorial services held over the death of President James A. Gar- field, in September, 1881, were largely attended in Washington C. H. and at various villages within Fayette county. At the county seat the Methodist church was packed to overflowing and hundreds were unable to gain an en- trance. The city was heavily and universally draped in befitting mourning. No such day had ever been witnessed in the county. All soldiers, all civic societies, and a great throng of civilians marched through the streets, with bowed heads and heavy hearts. A great man, an honored son of Ohio, had been cut down in the prime of his noble manhood. He had withstood the shot and shell on many a battlefield in Civil-war days, but at last was struck down in days of peace by an assassin's bullet, on July 2, 1881, lingering in great pain and suffering until relieved by the death angel. Rev. J. C. Irwin, of the Christian church, had charge of the services and spoke very feelingly of the dead President and General. Other speeches were made by Mills Gardner, J. B. Koontz, Hon. M. J. Williams and Prof. C. F. Dean.
At Bloomingburg and Jeffersonville like services were held and orations delivered on the life and character of the late President, after which appro- priate resolutions were passed.
M'KINLEY MEMORIAL SERVICES.
At the time of the assassination of the late lamented William Mckinley the people, regardless of political parties, greatly mourned his tragic death. at Buffalo, New York, September 14, 1901. Preliminary memorial exercises were held in the various churches of the county on the Sunday following the death of the good President. At Grace Methodist Episcopal church it was communion day, and after that ceremony was over under charge of the then presiding elder, Rev. Murdock, Rev. Norcross, pastor, spoke very touchingly of the departed statesman. Miss Edith Gardner sang the last words of the President. "Nearer, My God, to Thee," with a pathos in each line that moist- ened every eye in the large audience present.
At the Presbyterian church a memorial sermon was preached by Dr. McNair, from the text, "I am the way, the truth and the life." The choir
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
sweetly sang Mr. McKinley's favorite song, "Lead, Kindly Light." Also was sung "Sometime We'll Understand," and other appropriate selections. At the evening service at the same church, Dr. McNair read the tribute paid Mr. Mckinley by United States Senator Thurston. It came with much force, as the two were intimately associated in their high offices at Washing- ton. "Crossing the Bar" was rendered by the church choir with great effect.
The same day appropriate services were held in various churches throughout this county, including those held at Jeffersonville Methodist church.
The regular memorial services were held at Grace Methodist Episcopal church on the following Thursday, when the house did not begin to hold the thirong who there assembled. It was a union service and the citizens one and all turned out, as never before in Washington C. H. The day was the saddest since the assassination of Lincoln in 1864. The expression of grief was manifest in emblematic form by the heavily draped United States colors, as well as the drapings throughout the spacious church building. The pipe organ was also screened in by black drapery. On one side was a life-sized picture of Mr. McKinley. Judge Maynard presided as chairman. Rev. Honeywell, of the Christian church, read the Scriptures and Doctor McNair, of the Presbyterian pulpit, offered a fervent prayer. Hon. Mills Gardner made a very eloquent oration. His personal experiences with Mr. Mckinley in Con- gress made his speech one of unusual effect upon the audience. Miss Edith Gardner sang, as but few could, that splendid hymn ( favorite of Mckinley's), "Lead, Kindly Light." Doctor Norcross delivered an address also. He paid a splendid tribute to that matchless American citizen, then cold in death. A copy of the resolutions passed on that sad occasion were published and sent to Canton to Mrs. McKinley. After the final singing of "America" by the entire audience, the benediction was pronounced by Rev. Carter, of the African Methodist Episcopal church.
POPULATION OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
This county was created January 19, 1810-one hundred and four years ago-and its population at various periods has been as follows, the same being taken from United States official reports :
In 1810 it had 1,854 inhabitants; in 1820 at had 6,336; in 1830 it had 8,182; in 1840 it was 10,979; in 1850 it had increased to 12,726; in 1860 it was 20,364; in 1870 it reached 17,170; in 1880 it was 20,364; in 1890 it Ivas 22,309; in 1900 it was 21,726, having fallen off in the decade just
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
previous and in the last federal census the figures are 21.744, only thirty-nine increase over that of 1900.
The subjoined table shows the date of the creation of the ten civil town- ships in Fayette county, together with their population for the last seventy years, given in decades :
Townships.
Created.
1840
1880
1890
1900
1910
Concord
1818
1,074
908
735
733
713
Green
1810
1.616
916
746
70I
694
Jasper
1845
2,072
1,982
1,770
1,590
Jefferson
1810
1,948
2,925
3,092
3.029
2,718
Madison
1810
765
1,405
1,429
1.317
1.233
Marion
1840
879
971
1,009
932
949
Paint
1810
1,212
2,045
2,325
2,29I
2,079
Perry
1845
1,320
1,102
1,037
930
Union
1810
1,945
6,175
8,283
8,368
9.425
Wayne
1810
1,540
1,627
1,606 1,547
1,436
In 1910 there were 6,158 white voters and 383 colored or negro voters in the county. The colored population in 1910 amounted to 1,231.
The population is largely American by birth, there only being one hun- dred and thirty-eight persons born in foreign lands, and these were as fol- lows: Canadian French, I; English Canadians, 6; Denmark, I; England, 21; France, 2; Germany, 48; Ireland, 48; Greece, I ; Holland, I : Scotland, 4; Switzerland, I ; Turkey, 3: Wales, I.
POPULATION IN INCORPORATED CITIES AND VILLAGES, 1910.
Washington C. H., 7,277; Bloomingburg, 610: Jeffersonville, 716; Milledgeville, 187; New Holland, 804: Octa. 91.
Total number of dwellings in the county 5.369
Total number of families in the county. 5,466
Total number of dwellings in Washington C. H. 1,855
Total number of families in Washington C. H. 1,932
POPULATION OF UNINCORPORATED VILLAGES.
Allentown, in Jefferson township Not given
Cook, in Madison township 68
Edgefield, in Jasper township
46
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
Good Hope, in Wayne township 250
McLean, in Wayne township
51
Madison Mills, in Madison township 136
Pancoastburg in Perry township (known as Waterloo) 249 Parrott, in Jefferson township 50
Sheldon, in Jasper township.
96
Staunton. in Concord township
Less than 100
New Martinsburg, in Perry township
250
Lutterell, in Jasper township
30
Yatesville, in Paint township
I 27 1
Pearson, in Jasper township
38
Moons ( Buena Vista), in Green township
1 200
Walton, in Perry township.
60
Glenden, in Jasper township
I
1
1
1
25
1
1
1
1 I
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
GREAT FLOOD OF MARCH, 1913.
In 1913 occurred one of the worst floods ever seen in the county. It was a part of the great series of floods which devastated Dayton, Columbus and Indianapolis, the Beginning being the cyclone storm originating near Omaha, Nebraska, where so many lives were sacrificed. The flood of 1886 was counted a record-breaker at that time. That was when Paint creek, one sunny afternoon, took a sudden rise and soon became a whirling flood. That was caused by a water-spout in north Fayette county, which came down the creek, making a regular sea of water from fifteen to twenty feet deep. It started at one-thirty o'clock in the afternoon and passed its crest by midnight. During these few hours it washed away bridges, railroad tracks and covered and threatened the city itself with dire calamity. Fortunately no lives were lost.
As to the flood of March, 1913, it will ever be referred to as one of the truly great storms of this portion of Ohio. On Monday evening, March 24th, a genuine "twister" cyclone struck the extreme northern part of this county, between four and five o'clock, laying waste a pathway about one hundred yards in width. The clouds dipped down and the wind struck the earth with awful violence four miles north of Jeffersonville, and for a considerable distance wrecked all the farms, fences, buildings, etc .; also uprooted huge forest trees and did an immense amount of damage. Dr. H. H. Little, who was on the highway driving, had his horse and buggy picked up and hurled into a deep ditch, but fortunately he was not killed, though somewhat bruised.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
The devastation along Paint creek, in the vicinity of Washington C. H., was something fearful. The stream overflowed its banks and levees were swept away, taking all in its mad onward rush. Reaching up the creek, it touched the lower part of the concrete bridge, near the Baltimore & Ohio railroad; also submerged the territory by the shoe factory, flowing over the floors of that plant to a depth of two feet. It caught the Willis lumber yards and floated much valuable material off. It destroyed the roadbed of the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton railroad for over two hundred yards. It threatened and severely taxed every bridge in the city, overflowing West Court, South Main, South Fayette, South Dayton, North Dayton and Syca- more, so the bridges could not be crossed by footmen. The large stock-sale barns were flooded, but the animals had all been released from danger. Wednesday morning there was four feet of water running through this im- mense structure. Along the Pennsylvania tracks, east of Sycamore street, several hundred feet of track was washed away. The Chicago, Hamilton & Dayton railroad also suffered in the vicinity of the gas works plant. At Good Hope and near-by vicinity the creek was never seen higher.
While this was all transpiring here in Washington C. H. and Fayette county, the entire country was suffering even greater losses, such as those at Dayton, Columbus, Indianapolis and Omaha, Nebraska, in which great cities there were thousands upon thousands drowned and unnumbered millions of dollars worth of property swept away and forever lost to the owners. The people of this county gave liberally to all the various relief funds raised by popular subscription throughout the flooded districts of Ohio and Indiana. The churches and Young Men's Christian Association at Washington C. H. were all alive to this good work, and the Ohio National Guard was repre- sented by one hundred and fifty men under command of Maj. Rell G. Allen, of Company M. They were at Dayton through that never-to-be-forgotten flood season and succeeded in saving hundreds from a watery grave. They proved the bravest of the brave. Five hundred dollars was sent from Fayette county to flood sufferers upon the first call for aid. Thousands of people did willingly all they were able to.
PORTRAIT OF M'KINLEY BY LOCAL ARTIST.
The first three-quarter view portrait of William Mckinley ever made was executed by an old Washington C. H. boy, Heber L. Jones, a son-in-law of Gib Paul, who thereby received considerable notoriety, particularly after the death of Mr. Mckinley. It was in 1891, when Mr. Mckinley was a
272
FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
candidate for Ohio's governorship, and when he visited Washington C. H., that he found that young Jones had been distributing broadcast a lot of pie- pans with his picture attached to their center. This very much pleased him and he was only too glad to accept an invitation to sit for a three-quarter view picture in the gallery where Jones was then doing work. Mr. Jones lived many years at Greenfield, Ohio.
AUTOMOBILES IN COUNTY.
The automobile has become very popular in Fayette county, as it is seen by the assessor's report for February 1, 1914. There were at that date in Fayette county four hundred and thirty automobiles; thirty motorcycles and eight motor freight trucks. Since then there have been many more sold within the county, this having been an unusually large sale year for this class of goods in the county. In 1902 there were none of these modern conven- iences in this county, as that was about the first year they were placed in the markets of the world. The number in 1911 was only one hundred and fifteen.
BLIND PENSIONERS.
The blind relief commission for Fayette county had on its pension rolls, in 1913, forty-four blind persons. There was paid out to them that year the sum of three thousand eight hundred and eighty-four dollars, equal to about seventy-seven dollars each. There are other blind people in Fayette county, but the law requires the sons of blind persons, if they have sons, to pay the expense, so there were possibly sixty blind persons in this county when that report was issued.
MARKET QUOTATIONS.
The following have been the market quotations in Fayette county at various dates :
1852-Flour, $3.25: wheat, 62 cents; corn, 26 cents; oats, 23 cents ; clover seed, $4.50 per bushel; rice, 6 cents per pound; hams, II cents ; molasses, 34 cents ; candles, 19 cents per pound ; sugar, 5 and 6 cents ; cheese, 6 cents ; coffee, 9 cents ; pig iron, $24 per ton ; whiskey, 1834 cents per gallon (no United States duty on it then).
The following were market quotations at Washington C. H. in the month of January, 1861, three months before the opening of the Civil War :
Wheat, 80 cents: oats, 18 cents; corn, 20 cents; flax seed, 90 cents ;
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
timothy, $2.00; flour, $2.50 per hundred weight; New Orleans sugar, 81/2 cents ; sugar house molasses, 50 cents ; coffee, 16 cents ; butter, 12 cents ; eggs, ' 6 cents ; potatoes, 25 cents ; bacon, 9 cents; beans, $1.25; salt per barrel, $2.00 ; cattle, $1.75 to $3.60; hogs, $4.50 and scarce.
Near the close of the war, or in October, 1864, the paper files give the local Fayette county markets as follows: Wheat, $1.60; flour, $5.00; corn, $1.00; New Orleans sugar, 35 cents ; coffee, 75 cents ; lard, 22 cents ; butter, 33 cents : potatoes, $1.25 ; beans, $1.80; salt, $4.50; bacon, 22 cents.
The prices in October, 1914, while the great European war was raging, were as follows in Washington C. H .: Hogs, per hundred weight, $9.00; cattle, $9.75 to $11.00; butter, 27 cents ; eggs, 30 cents ; potatoes, 65 cents ; sugar, 6 to 7 cents per pound ; coffee, 15 to 35 cents ; tea, 40 to 80 cents ; salt, per barrel, $1.40; nails, per pound, 21/2 to three cents ; barbed wire, $2.75 per hundred pound rolls ; flour, $1.50 to $2.00 per hundred ; bleached muslin, per yard, 9 to 15 cents.
The January file of the Ohio Register, published in this county, in 1913 appeared the following: "Speaking of old-time markets and wages, reminds us that things have all changed-at least in most things. Common labor today is paid from $1.75 to $2.25 per day ; extra good men get as high as $2.50 a day. Skilled labor is in great demand and men of this class receive from $3.50 to $6.00 per day. Good horses bring, today, from $150 to $300 each and horses to match up for fancy teams bring as high as $500. Good farm horses run from $200 to $300."
(18)
CHAPTER XVIII.
REMINISCENCES AND MEMOIRS OF DEPARTED PIONEERS AND LATER SETTLERS.
"OLD UNCLE BILLY SNIDER."
Everyone of any considerable age in Fayette county will readily recall the title "Uncle Billy Snider." He was born in Redstone, Pennsylvania, in 1805. His parents removed to Ross county, Ohio, in 1805, soon after his birth. From there they moved into Fayette county in 1809. When grown to man's estate Billy engaged in the live stock trade and followed it for more than sixty years. He bought and drove cattle, sheep and hogs to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York cities. This was long before Ohio had a rail- road within her borders, and many droves were thus taken overland on foot to the Eastern markets. Billy went on his horse and was accompanied by one man for each hundred hogs or cattle or sheep, and these helpers went on foot the entire distance. One winter he took a drove of hogs to Baltimore. There were in that drove thirty-three hundred swine, and upon his arrival he found a glutted market, and as a result he lost over three thouand dollars in his enterprise. The distance from Fayette county to Baltimore is four hundred and seventy miles. It required from forty to forty-five days' travel to make the distance through a country wild and its streams all unbridged and no modern pike roads either !
The swine of those days, three-quarters of a century ago, were not of the fat, slick porkers of today, but of the "elm peeling" type-lean, lank and long in make-up.
When passing through the Alleghany mountains with his droves, Mr. Snider frequently met with many exciting experiences with thieves and rob- bers. On one occasion he stayed all night at a farm house on the mountain side, and the next morning when ready to leave he discovered that ten of his drove of hogs were missing. He and the farmer tracked them up the side of the mountain, the frost-covered leaves assisting them to follow their trail. They located them in a rail pen in the bushes. There they had remained most all night. They were turned loose and were seemingly only too glad to be released and speedily found the drove at the foot of the mountains.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
On another occasion Mr. Snider drove three hundred and twenty-nine stock hogs to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and there sold them to a hotel keeper. He remained over night at the same hotel and had on his person six thousand dollars in money, all in his pocket books. Not feeling well that night he did not sleep as sound as usual, and well it was, too. About midnight he heard muffled footsteps coming up the stairs toward his room. He waited until the robber really entered his room and commenced feeling about his head and pillow, whereupon he jumped up and exclaimed, "Leave this room at once or I will blow your brains out." He left, too! As a matter of fact Uncle Billy did not have any firearms with him.
At another time he dropped his pocketbook from a pocket that had a hole in it. When he missed it, he was out some distance from the place he had last stopped at, and soon retraced his steps. Upon going into a small store, he saw some men looking at something on the counter, and enquired if they had found any money. Replying that they had, they never once ques- tioned him, but gave the whole amount over to him. "Billy" thought he had struck a very honest neighborhood. The pocketbook contained seven thou- sand dollars.
In pioneer days Uncle Billy "married" a good many couples in Fayette county, and it is related that his favorite ceremony was as follows :
"Dark and dismal is the weather When I tie this rogue and score together. Since you are so well agreed Great success the young Indian breed ; Wild-cat Jo and Apple Lucia, Great success the young papooses,
Let rain, hail and thunder Put this rogue and score together
Salute your partner."
"KELLY" DIXON, THE AGED PEDESTRIAN.
John Kelly Dixon, known far and near as "Kelly" Dixon, a resident of this county and aged ninety-one years, has a unique and interesting record, he having been a California "Forty-niner," at a time when crossing over from the states to the Pacific coast was no pleasure excursion. He was the son of Thomas and Margaret Dixon, born in Bedford county, Virginia, and when ten years old accompanied his parents to Ohio, walking four hundred
276
FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
miles. Until he was twenty-five years of age he farmed and cleared up timber and split rails at fifty cents a day and received three dollars an acre for clearing up some timber land. He boarded himself and subsisted on a wild game, fish and corn bread diet. He was a dead shot with a rifle and killed many wild turkeys a hundred yards distant. In 1850 he was attracted, with thousands more, to the newly discovered gold fields of California. With him were his brother, Ellis Dixon, Henry Hoppes and Joseph Sperry, who started out with a mule team-four mules and a big wagon. From Washing- ton C. H. they made their way direct to Cincinnati, Ohio, and from there took boat passage for St. Louis, from which place they started with their mules for the Golden Gate on the far-off Pacific. En route they crossed three great deserts, one ninety miles wide, one forty miles wide and another thirty miles wide. After traveling six hundred miles on the plains, they came into a region where cholera was raging and people were daily dying. Mr. Dixon's brother, Ellis, took the dread disease and died. Saddened by the loss of his brother and comrade, Dixon and Mr. Hoppes continued on their journey to California, their first stop being the then small village of Georgetown. Here they made big wages digging gold, but after two weeks Mr. Dixon decided to try his luck in other parts of California, bade Hoppes good bye and went on alone. Chancing to fall in with a man of his liking, he formed a partner- ship with him, and they were both quite successful in gold-mining, but soon his partner sickened and died, leaving him alone again in a strange land. But by rare good fortune, he fell in with two of his old company and they all started for the northern mining section. This trip was among the most trying of all his western experience. The little band met several tribes of Indians, suspicious and unfriendly. For a time things looked gloomy, but the gold diggers sang and danced and finally won their way into the good graces of the Indians, and were allowed to go on their way unmolested. Starvation then threatened them. During two weeks of their time they were in northern California and they had nothing to live on but taffy made from sugar and water. For a time they tried mining in Oregon, but in that were not successful, so returned to California. Again Dixon was left alone, but in a rich field where he had the highest returns of his sojourn in California, making as high as forty dollars a day. He traveled two hundred and twenty miles alone, making from fifty to sixty miles a day, and by good fortune escaped from Indians, bears and wolves.
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