USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 57
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ST. BRIGID'S CATHOLIC CHURCH AT XENIA.
From a historical sketch of St. Brigid's Catholic church at Xenia pub- lished in 1898 it is learned that in 1844 there were five Catholic families in Xenia and that some time in that year the Rev. Father Juncker, of Dayton, afterward bishop of Alton, celebrated mass for these communicants on the
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porch of Jacob Klein's residence on Main street. During the years follow- ing other missionary visits were made from time to time and there is a record of the visit of Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, and Rev. Father Rosecrans, afterward bishop of Columbus, in 1848, mass being celebrated on the occasion of this visit, nine communicants presenting themselves. Visiting priests from Piqua and Urbana continued to make visits to Xenia, services being held in the basement of the old court house, and in 1849 there was a definite effort made to organize a Catholic parish at Xenia, this effort being under the direction of the Rev. James F. Kearney, of St. Raphael's church, Springfield, the first baptismal record in the parish book, in the hand of Father Kearney, having been entered on the IIth day of August of that year. The first notation of a marriage in the parish is made under date of September 10 of that same year. In 1849 also were made notations with reference to funds collected for the purpose of church erection, these nota- tions also being in Father Kearney's hand. In May, 1850, the Rev. Father Howard, of Springfield, was given spiritual direction of the little parish at Xenia and he continued the collections made by Father Kearney. The Rev. Thomas Blake in the latter part of 1851 became the first resident pastor of the Catholic parish at Xenia. He pushed the building movement, lots for that purpose having previously been purchased at the corner of Second street and the Xenia and Cincinnati pike, in Gowdy's addition, and the corner stone of St. Brigid's church was laid on Sunday, June 1I, 1852, Father Howard making the address. It is understood that the first cost of the church was about five thousand dollars, but as the parish grew and its influ- ence expanded additions and extensions were made, a parish school was built, a house for the teaching Sisters was bought and in. 1894 a new parish house was built. The latest improvement in the parish was the erection of the substantial new parochial school which was dedicated to educational purposes in 1914.
At the beginning of his ministry at Xenia Father Blake had a wide field of labor, his activities extending to London, South Charleston, Corwin, Mor- row, Waynesville, Loveland, Milford, Yellow Springs, Wilmington, James- town and other places and for years he required the services of three assistants to cover this parish. Pending the erection of the church Father Blake wit- nessed Catholic marriages in the parlors of the Ewing House, where for years he had his room. In 1885 Father Blake practically retired and Father Cunningham, of Yellow Springs, took charge of the Xenia parish. Father Blake died on July 24, 1886, and was interred in the basement of St. Brigid's church. Father Cunningham was succeeded in March, 1887, by the Rev. Joseph Stoeppelmann, who in October of that same year was transferred, the Rev. Isaac J. Hocter being appointed to succeed him. In the year 1894
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the new parish house on Second street was erected. From 1890 the follow- ing priests assisted the pastor at Xenia: M. J. Loney, P. J. Shea, J. J. Shea, George F. Hickey, William J. Fogarty and Joseph G. Denny. In the fall of 1896 Jamestown was detached from the Xenia parish and since then St. Brigid's has had no assistant priest. On March 19, 1913, the Rev. James E. Quinn, of Cincinnati, was appointed priest of St. Brigid's and has since been in charge of the parish. The various departments of the parish's activi- ties are well organized and all are reported in a flourishing condition.
COLORED CHURCHES OF THE COUNTY.
The large colored population of Greene county is well supplied with churches of several different denominations. The following townships have churches : Cedarville, African Methodist Episcopal and Zion Baptist ; Miami, African Methodist Episcopal (Yellow Springs), Baptist (Yellow Springs) and Baptist (Clifton) ; Silvercreek, African Methodist Episcopal and Bap- tist, both in Jamestown; Xenia, Middle Run Baptist, Zion Baptist, Third Baptist, First African Methodist Episcopal, St. Johns African Methodist Episcopal, Third Methodist Episcopal, Wesleyan Methodist, First Christian, Holy Christian and what is locally known as the "Holy Rollers." This makes a total of sixteen colored churches in the county. There are a few colored people who belong to the Catholic church at Xenia.
The pastors of these several colored churches in 1918 are as follow : African Methodist Episcopal, Yellow Springs, Harry Maxwell; African Methodist Episcopal, Cedarville, F. H. Mason; First African Methodist Episcopal, Xenia, P. S. Hill; St. Johns African Methodist Episcopal, Xenia, P. A. Nichols; Third Methodist Episcopal, Xenia, J. H. Payne; Wesleyan Methodist, Xenia, S. S. Walker; Zion Baptist, Cedarville, H. O. Mason ; Baptist, Yellow Springs, Frank Liggins; Baptist, Clifton, C. M. B. Lewis; Middle Run Baptist, Xenia, W. C. Allen; Zion Baptist, Xenia, G. W. Bec- ton; Third Baptist, Xenia, A. M. Howe; First Christian, Xenia, W. W. Will- iams ; Holy Christian, Xenia, Rev. Bell; "Holy Rollers," Xenia, Mrs. Thomas.
Practically all of these congregations have church buildings of their own, some of those in Xenia having fine edifices. The St. Johns and First (or New Site) Methodists and the Zion Baptists of Xenia have the largest colored congregations in the county seat, and the largest in the county.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE PRESS FOR A HUNDRED YEARS.
The history of the newspapers of Greene county for the past hundred years is difficult to trace owing to the fact that the files of a great majority of the papers which have been published in the county in the past have not been preserved. The newspaper has played an important part in the life of the county; in fact, it is impossible to overestimate the benefit of a good newspaper to a community. The statement is frequently made that our civilization is largely moulded by the press, pulpit and platform, and of the , three agencies, the press of today probably occupies the ranking position. There is not an improvement advanced, not a new idea broached, which does not find a ready advocate in the columns of the local papers. Uniformly they have stood for the best interests of the communities which they seek to serve; there may be exceptions, but as a rule, the local papers can be depended to stand on the right side of public questions, particularly as they may affect questions of local portent.
THE OHIO VEHICLE.
The first newspaper in Greene county was undoubtedly The. Ohio Vehicle, and the best evidence points to its establishment in January, 1814. For- tunately there has been preserved a partial file of the paper for the year 1815, the same being in the newspaper collection of the Greene county library, but the first issue in the small bound volume kept there is dated Tuesday, February 14, 1815, Vol. II, No. 5. If the paper had been issued regularly each week since it was established, its initial number would have appeared in January of the preceding year. The bound file above referred to contains most of the issues of the Vehicle for 1815 up to and including the issue of Tuesday, October 24, 1815. No other issues of the paper have been seen by the historian, and for this reason it is not known how long it continued publication.
This first newspaper in Xenia was a small, four-column folio, published by Pelham & Smith, but who the publishers were, where they came from, whether they established the paper, and how long they continued to issue it -all these are unanswered questions. Neither Pelham nor Smith were identified with any other paper in the county as far as is known.
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THE PEOPLE'S PRESS AND IMPARTIAL EXPOSITOR.
On May 24, 1826, there came into existence a new paper in Xenia bear- ing the cumbersome title of The People's Press and Impartial Expositor. James B. Gardiner, as editor and proprietor of this new sheet, seems to have been a good newspaper man, if his paper may be any criterion by which to judge his ability. A bound file of his paper is in the collection of the Greene county library, and it has the appearance of being much better than the average sheet of its day. It continued to come from the press, and presumably with- out any break in its issue, until it was consolidated with the Xenia Gasette on January 1, 1829. It is evident that it changed its name slightly, since Langdon, the editor of the consolidated paper in 1829, refers to it as the Ohio People's Press, of Gardiner.
OHIO PEOPLE'S PRESS, AND XENIA GAZETTE.
Sometime in the '20s, or it may have been earlier, there were two papers in existence in Xenia at the same time. One was the Ohio People's Press and the other was the Xenia Gazette. Not a single copy of the latter paper has been seen by the historian, the proof of its existence resting upon a copy of another paper which has been preserved. The paper in question bore the lengthy title of Ohio People's Press, and Xenia Gazette, and the first issue of this paper, January 1, 1829, Vol. I, No. 4, explains in its editorial column that it is a consolidation of two previously existing papers bearing these respective titles. Richard C. Langdon, the editor of the consolidation, states in his salutatory that the papers had been edited by James B. Gardiner and Henry E. Spencer, respectively. Gardiner's paper has been discussed.
Spencer was at one time mayor of Xenia, a practicing attorney and was interested at one time or another with the newspapers of the town. He came from Cincinnati in about 1826 and began the practice of law, but in the summer of 1828 he established a campaign sheet known as The Cornet (not the Comet, as has been stated in other histories of the county). He was an ardent follower of John Quincy Adams and his paper was to sound the praises of Adams, who was making the race for the presidency in 1828. Some time before January 1, 1829, Spencer seemed to have changed the name of his paper to the Xenia Gazette; at least, on that date Langdon became the owner of the former papers of Gardiner and Spencer and from the double-barrelled title he gave his paper it would seem that Gardiner con- tributed Ohio People's Press, and Spencer Xenia Gazette, the new sheet carrying the ponderous heading Ohio People's Press, and Xenia Gazette. The comma and conjunction indicate the parentage of the sheet, which, from its subsequent history, must have been prematurely born. Spencer soon left Xenia and returned to Cincinnati where he died in February, 1882.
(35)
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Langdon changed the title of his paper after eight issues, the edition of March 5, 1829, Vol. I, No. 9, carrying the title of Farmers' Record, and Xenia Gasette. The editor explains in this issue why he changed his name by saying that his former title was not sufficiently descriptive of his paper; that it covered too much territory. Furthermore he advanced the proposi- tion that there were so many papers bearing the name "press" that there was liable to be confusion. The "and Xenia Gazette" part of his title was run immediately below "Farmers' Record," and he always made use of the comma in separating the parts of the heading, thus indicating the parentage of his sheet.
But neither the new name of the paper nor all the energy that Langdon could bestow upon it was sufficient to make it successful. He managed to last exactly one year. When his fifty-second issue was reached he evidently did not have the heart to say farewell to his faithful subscribers, but in his next weekly issue, January 7, 1830, he indulged in a long valedictory to his short list of subscribers. He said that the people of the county had not sup- ported him, and made the statement that he had only two hundred and seventy-five subscribers, although the county had a population of between ten and eleven thousand. Furthermore, only three merchants of Xenia patron- ized his advertising columns. In the concluding paragraph of his farewell Langdon referred to the fact that during that week a wagon load of new press equipment had gone through Xenia bound for Oldtown, and that Messrs. Farnsworth, of Xenia, were going to establish a paper in that vil- lage. This is the only reference to any newspaper in Oldtown, but it appears from the best evidence that Langdon was wrong in stating that the Farns- worth brothers went to Oldtown with the newspaper plant. Instead there is every evidence to indicate that they went to Yellow Springs and started a paper in that place. One of the local historians of that town credits Oliver Farnsworth with establishing a paper there in 1830, and this was evidently the paper to which Langdon refers in his valedictory of 1830.
SOME FORGOTTEN PAPERS OF THE '20S AND '30S.
It is unfortunate that complete files of the newspapers of the county have not been preserved, for without the papers themselves it is impossible to tell much about them other than their names. And, strange as it may seem, even the names of some of them are obtainable only from fugitive references to them in other papers of their time. But the files of most of the early papers have completely disappeared and only the most fragmentary knowledge of their existence is left to tell their story.
One of these transitory sheets breathed its last in the fore part of 1827, and if it were not for a passing reference to it by the People's Press it would
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probably have remained unknown. On April 12, 1827, Editor Gardiner of the Press had the following notice in his newspaper: "After the publica- tion of this week's paper, the office of the People's Press will be removed to the upper east rooms in Mrs. Davidson's Stone House near the Public Square, and formerly occupied as the office of the late Xenia Register." This is the only notice of the Register which has been seen by the historian, but it undoubtedly records the passing of one of the early papers of the town. The stone house of which mention is made is undoubtedly the one still standing on Market street opposite the county jail, the same which it is said Doctor Davidson erected in 1814.
Another of these sheets, so local authorities aver, was called The Xenia Transcript, and Thomas Coke Wright is credited with being its editor some time between 1829 and 1833. Another was The Xenia Free Press, which was established by J. H. Purdy in November, 1830, and seems to have had a more or less consecutive career for about a decade. A bound file of the Free Press for 1837 is now owned by The Chew Publishing Company. This paper may have been the immediate successor of the Farmers' Record, and Xenia Gazette which was laid to rest by' Langdon, as before stated, on Janu- ary 7, 1830. Of this, however, there is no evidence, and only a file of the paper would prove it. A fourth paper of the '30s is credited to William D. Galligher, his sheet being known as The Backwoodsman. It is given a tra- ditional birth in 1830, but not a single copy has been seen by the historian in any of the collections in the county. Another lost sheet of the '30s bore the scintillating title of The Demoeratie Spark, a name which at least betrays its politics. It is -supposed to have come from the brain of one Ramsey about 1838. It was evidently one of the many campaign sheets of the day. No copies are to be found in any of the newspaper collections of the county.
THE GREENE COUNTY GAZETTE.
One of the papers of the '3os which has a definite history is The Greene County Gacette, a complete file of which is preserved in the Greene county library. It made its initial appearance on December 24, 1835, under the joint ownership of Albert Galloway and Thomas Coke Wright. Whether this paper was the immediate successor of another paper, the editors fail to state, but since Wright had been connected with The Xenia Transeript it is possible that it followed his paper. Wright withdrew from the paper with the issue of November 17, 1836, his valedictory stating that he had disposed of his interest to his partner, Galloway, because he had been elected county auditor. It might be said here that Wright held this office for eighteen con- secutive years, or until 1855. He later served as recorder from 1860 to 1866.
Galloway seemed to have begun to look around for another partner at
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once, and in the issue of January 3, 1837, Vol. II, No. I, David Douglass, Jr., is announced as a new member of the firm. But the paper was not destined to live much longer. In fact, only twelve more editions came from the press, the issue of March 28, 1837, Vol. II, No. 13, announcing "that with this number its publication will be suspended for a time, or discontinued entirely." After dilating upon the fact that the paper needed something besides the good will of the public to pay its bills, the editors inform their few subscribers that if the paper did not resume publication within four weeks they might consider it indefinitely suspended. It did not appear within the specified time. The paper had been a consistent opponent of the democ- racy of Jackson and may be said to have been the first Whig paper of the county. This party needed a county organ and it was this need which lead up to the establishment of the next paper in Xenia-The Torchlight.
THE XENIA TORCHLIGHT.
For half a century the Xenia Torchlight cast its refulgent rays over Greene county, and at times in its.long career its radiance reached to all corners of the state, and even to many other states of the Union. From the day of its first appearance on September 18, 1838, until its final absorption by the Xenia Gasette on August 7, 1888, the Torchlight was a virile sheet and one which at times was quoted as much as any paper in the state published in a town the size of Xenia. At various times in its career it had some of the best-known writers in the state connected with it. Two of Ohio's best poets were once in its editorial chair, and in the days when Otway Curry and Coates Kinney were associated with it they made it one of the leading county papers of the state.
Politics was responsible for the beginning of the Torchlight. The desire of the Whigs of the county to have an organ to support the candidacy of William Henry Harrison for the presidency fully accounts for the establish- ment of the paper in 1838. The prime mover in the agitation for the paper was E. F. Drake, and it was at his initiative that a subscription paper was circulated among the leading Whigs of the county asking for subscriptions, the subscribers "to pay the amount opposite their names, the money to he applied to the purchase of a printing press and material, and the procuring the necessary apparatus to put in operation a Whig newspaper at Xenia."
The names of these Whigs of the '30s were as follows: E. F. Drake, Charles F. Merrick, John Sexton, Thomas Marshall, Daniel Martin, James A. Scott, Samuel Puterbaugh, John Walton, Jacob Bechtell, Joshua Martin, Robert D. Pogue, N. C. Baker, A. G. Zimmerman, Alexander Connor, G. C. Lauman, Samuel Newcome, John Kendall, John Ewing, John Harbison, Albert Galloway, Samuel Lamme, James Bratton, Bazil Keiler, Alfred
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Trader, Ebenezer Steele, George W. Wright, Nathan Nesbit, Thomas C. Wright, John Keiler, John B. Allen, A. Harlan, T. M. Perkins, Robert Stevenson, John McBride, James Galloway, James Collier, Jonathan Fallis, Jeremiah Gest, A. Hivling, Jr., J. H. McPherson, H. G. Beatty, C. F. Beall, Alexander B. Beall, John Hivling, Brinton Baker, L. Wright, Samuel Powell, B. Newkirk, Samuel Crumbaugh, Smith Persinger, Walter King, John Ankeney, Isaac S. Perkins, Samuel Galloway, David Hanes, Moses Collier, John S. Perkins, James McMillan, Silas Roberts, R. F. Howard, Tinsley Heath, William Lewis, Aaron Collett, Andrew Galloway, Conwell & Com- pany, Pugh Sterrett, Benjamin Towler, John Stevenson and Cummings & Conwell.
At least two of the sixty-nine stockholders had been connected with one of the county papers, Albert Galloway and Thomas C. Wright having been the founders of The Greene County Gasette in 1835, a paper which led a wavering existence for about two years. It is probable that these two men were largely instrumental in the selection of Pazzi Lapham, of Urbana, as the editor and general manager of the proposed paper. When the first issue of the much-advertised paper appeared on September 18, 1839, its subscribers were awed by a long title, towit : Greene County Torch-Light and Xenia Advertiser. This long and unwieldy heading continued at its mast until July II, 1839, when it was shortened to Greene County Torch-Light, the editor being careful to hyphenate the illuminating part of his title. On the same day this abbreviated heading made its bow to the public it was announced that W. B. Fairchild had become a member of the firm as business manager. Some time between the issues of March 5, 1840, and April 16, 1840, Fairchild retired from the paper, and Lapham is stated to be the sole "editor and pro- prietor." The issues between these two dates are missing from the bound files in the Greene county library, and it is therefore impossible to tell the exact date when Fairchild retired.
For some reason which the editor failed to explain, the name of the paper was completely changed with the issue of May 14, 1840, Vol. II, No. 36. On this date it appeared under the title of Ohio People's Press and, bearing this comprehensive heading, it passed into the hands of W. B. Fairchild on September 3, 1840. Lapham stated in his valedictory that his health made it imperative that he retire from the paper. The new editor and owner was evidently not impressed with the changed title of the sheet, and for this reason he changed it back to Greene County Torch-Light with the issue of November 12, 1840. With only a slight variation in name it continued under this title until its final absorption by the Gazette in 1888. Less than three years after taking hold of the paper Fairchild, on June 15, 1843, sent forth his valedic-
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tory, a farewell greeting to the people of the county, in which he took occa- sion to announce that "no power but that to which we all must bow can pre- vent the election of Henry Clay to the presidency in 1844:" If he was not a better newspaper man than prophet, a reason for his retirement from the paper may be seen.
The burden of handling the paper was turned over to Otway Curry and Robert McBratney upon the retirement of Fairchild in the summer of 1843. Curry had won state-wide fame, and even had attracted some national atten- tion, by his poetry, but it takes more than mere poetical skill to run a newspaper. Whether it was lack of this necessary skill, or whatever the reason may have been, the fact remains that the Torchlight in its issue of June 10, 1845, carried the valedictory of Curry. With the retirement of Curry, McBratney became the sole owner and editor of the paper, and so continued until June 22, 1853, when W. E. Morris bought an interest in the paper. But his connection with the paper was only of short duration, McBratney soon again assuming its complete control. When the new Repub- lican party made its appearance in 1854 and two years later nominated John C. Fremont for the presidency, the Torchlight threw all of its strength to the new party and its first candidate for president. McBratney continued to fight for the principles of the new party until January, 1857, when he sold his paper to its former owner, W. B. Fairchild, and Dr. H. R. McClellan.
Fairchild was as uncompromising a foe of slavery as McBratney had been, and his vitriolic editorials on slavery and secession fairly took his opponents off their feet. One has but to read a few of his editorials in order to see that he was a master of satire and possessed of a facile pen which was not afraid to set forth what he believed to be the right. Doctor Mcclellan soon had enough of the newspaper business, and six months after becoming identified with the paper disposed of his interest to E. S. Nichols, June IO, 1857. Nichols had also been previously connected with the paper.
The new firm of Nichols & Fairchild conducted the paper through the opening days of the Civil War and up until April 1, 1862, when the paper passed into the hands of W. T. Bascom, a practical newspaper man from Columbus, who continued as editor and proprietor until the issue of September 21, 1864. The Torchlight of this date carried the valedictory of Bascom and the salutatory of Perry Hawes, the new owner, who apparently was ready to relinquish it in favor of others about a year later. Whatever the reason may have been, the issue of December 6, 1865, appeared under the name of Coates Kinney and J. M. Milburn, to whom Hawes had sold the paper. Kinney and Milburn remained at the helm until January 1, 1869, at which time they turned it over to the tender mercies of a stock company, Dr. R. S. Finley and C. W. Newton being the chief owners of the stock of the newly organized Torchlight Company. Kinney will be remembered by the older
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