USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 35
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January 8, 1847, four degrees below zero.
December 4, 1849, two degrees below zero.
February, 1850, two below zero.
December. 1851, seven degrees below zero.
January 7, 1852, seventeen degrees below zero.
January, 1853, one degree below zero.
January, 1856, twelve degrees below zero.
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February, 1856, fourteen degrees below zero.
February, 1858, seven degrees below zero.
January, 1860, four degrees below zero.
January 2, 1864, eight degrees below zero.
January 7, 1864, four degrees below zero. February, 1866, four degrees below zero.
January, 1867, ten degrees below zero.
December, 1870, one degree below zero.
December 24, 1871, thirteen degrees below zero, making it among the coldest days on record in the county.
THE OLDEST MAN IN THE COUNTY.
The oldest man who ever lived in this county is supposed to have been Benjamin Berry, who died here in 1877. At that date many of the elderly people here remembered him in their childhood as a middle aged man during the war of 1812-14. Enquiry was made at his death and it was learned that his age was one hundred and eleven years, having been born in 1765, as de- termined from the muster rolls of the war of 1812, in which he took part as a soldier. He also served in the Indian war prior to the war with England. It is not believed that an older man has ever lived in this county and but few in Ohio have attained so great an age.
GRAVE ROBBING IN GUERNSEY COUNTY.
(Jeffersonian, December 11, 1879.)
"In 18- there was considerable grave robbing in Guernsey county. An incidental account is remembered of a body being brought through a toll gate on the National road in a sleigh, head upright, between two men. The body had an old coat thrown over it, and a hat put over its head. The gate keeper was completely deceived. The body of a woman was also taken from a ceme- tery within ten miles of the place from whence this body was brought. One night, during some dissecting by medical students and others, some women approached the place, probably with some suspicion of what was going on, and moved by a curiosity to know the facts. They came so near, and their knowledge was so apparent to those present, that the solidly frozen head of a man was rolled toward them. They screamed and ran away. It was afterward discovered that they had seen nothing and knew nothing, beyond suspicion, and it was explained to them that a pumpkin had been rolled toward
(25)
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them in the dark. If they had more suspicion, it was allayed, or their dread remembrance of the scene, or other considerations, kept their mouths closed.
"Many readers of this will remember that, some years ago, an old barrel lay by the side of a public road in this county. The stench that came from it was so indescribably horrible that no one who ever passed by will fail to call it to recollection now when they are told that the nauseating smell was from fragments of human flesh, which had, in the colder weather, been thrown into the barrel and hauled away in the night time and tumbled down by the roadside."
THE FIRST MAILS.
We take the following account of the first mails of the state from an article written by Col. C. P. B. Sarchet for the Cambridge Daily Sun :
"The first mails carried in Ohio was in 1798, from Wheeling over the Zane Trace to Limestone, now Maysville, Kentucky, and from Marietta to Mccullough's cabin at the ferry at the crossing of the Muskingum river, now Zanesville. These were weekly mails, intersecting at Mccullough's cabin. He had the authority to open and assort the mails. The postoffice was opened at Zanesville in 1803. In 1805 John Beatty, at the cabins at the crossing of big Wills creek, had the authority to open the mails. In 1807 Cyrus P. Beatty was appointed by Thomas Jefferson as postmaster at Cambridge, in Mus- kingum county, Ohio. He held the office for a number of years. In these early days there was but little letter writing. The postage was so much that only business letters passed through the mails. We have in our possession old letters showing postage paid of six and one-fourth, twelve and one-half, eighteen and three-fourth, twenty-five and twenty-seven and one-half cents. There was no prepayment, and many letters were sent to the dead letter office, because the person addressed didn't have the money to pay the postage. Let- ters were sent by travelers from town to town. This came to be done to such an extent that Congress in 1817 passed a law making it a criminal offense for anyone but mail carriers to carry letters. The next postmasters were Nicholas Blaithache, Jacob Shaffner, William Ferguson, Isaiah Mcllyar, William Smith. Robert Burns, James M. Smith, James O. Grimes, Francis Creighton, Edwin R. Nice, William McDonald, C. L. Madison, D. D Taylor and W. H. 1I. McIlyar.
"Of these, nine were appointed as Whig, or Republican, and seven as Democratic. We were acquainted with all of these but the first, and received mail through their hands."
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DARING MAIL ROBBERY.
"On the night of Friday, the 17th inst., as the mail stage was going from Zanesville to Wheeling, one of the large mail bags was stolen from the boot about one mile east of Washington in this county, the bag cut open and the contents scattered in all directions. The robber, or robbers, however, made but a water-haul, as fortunately the bag in question contained only newspapers. We have not heard of a clue having been found yet, likely to lead to the detec- tion of the daring perpetrator of this deed .- Guernsey Times, June 25, 1836.
POSTOFFICES IN 1895.
In the year 1895, before the many rural mail routes had been established, the following was the list of postoffices and remuneration received at such offices by the postmaster in charge :
Antrim, $190; Blue Bell, $41 ; Brown, $142; Byesville, $283 ; Birds Run, $59; Brody, $50; Buffalo, $76; Cambridge, $1,700; Cumberland, $444; Creighton, $36; Claysville, $104; Dysons, $103; Danford, $6.00; Fairview, $265; Flat Ridge, $25; Galligher, $62; Gibson, $92; Guernsey, $65; Indian Camp, $65; Kimbolton, $88; Londonderry, $125; Lore City, $136; Midway, $35 ; Middlebourne, $84; Millinersville, $176; New Salem, $54; Odell, $37: Oldham, $27; Quaker City, $465 ; Salesville, $167; Senecaville, $270; Sutton, $20; Spencer Station, $104; Sugar Tree, $37; Tyner, $32; Washington, $385 ; Clio and Prohibition, amount not given.
GUERNSEY COUNTY'S MAN-WOMAN.
"Florence Goldsborough's adventures as a woman in man's clothing through a period of sixteen eventful years cannot fail of partaking of the strangeness of fiction and the wildness of romance. Such is the character of the history of Florence F. Goldsborough, whose masculine name is Johnny Howard, and whose wild and reckless career has been partly spent in Guern- sey county.
"She was born near St. Clairsville, Belmont county, in 1847. Her father being a farmer, she was taught to work in the fields.
"When about sixteen years of age, she was suspected and pronounced guilty of stealing sixteen dollars from an uncle. For this crime, she served three months in the county jail. While admitting many other crimes, she has ever protested her innocence of this first charge. When she was released from jail, she donned man's clothing, and left home.
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"Upon coming into this county, she first hired to work as a farm laborer, for Rev. George W. Wharton, a Baptist preacher who resided north of Mid- dletown. During the six months she remained with Rev. Wharton, she had the benefit of morning and evening devotion, but without any apparent effect upon her spiritual nature. At any rate, she had the benefit of early rising in order to get the work done in time for prayers, and her health may have been made the better for it, if nothing more.
"Quitting Reverend Wharton's place, she hired to labor on the farm of Andrew Morton, a short distance west of Middletown, and she continued with him about a year. During all that time, her sex was never suspected, and she regularly slept with Jacob Ducker and other farmhands who worked for Mr. Morton.
"But soon she grew tired of farm life, and set out for Columbus, where she found employment as a street-car driver. She continued in that vocation for some time, but at last had a fight, and was sent to the station house for thirty days. When she was released, she went to Bellaire. While there, she was arrested for stealing money from Mr. N. B. Hayes, the late well known stock dealer of this county. For this crime, she was convicted, and sent to the Penitentiary for three years. Here her sex was discovered for the first time after leaving home in 1863, and she was placed in the female department.
"When her term had expired, she went to Cincinnati, and engaged as sec- ond clerk on the steamer 'Alaska,' plying between that place and New Or- leans. After making three trips, and falling in the river once, she quit boat- ing, and returned to Columbus.
"Since her return to that city, she has been variously engaged as bar- tender, bell boy and farm hand and has served sentences to station-houses and jails, in addition to two other terms in the penitentiary, the first for one and the second for three years. Both crimes were stealing money, the last one in 1875. The amount taken was five hundred dollars.
"Her term having expired on the 8th of the present month, she no sooner got out than she put on her male attire, was arrested for so doing, and put in the station house. She protests that she is now going to live a bat- ter life, but will not give up men's clothing, as she prefers it to the garb of women. She looks very much like a small, beardless boy, and the only quality apt to betray her sex is her small hand. She is thirty-two years old, carries her age well, and keeps good health for one who has endured so rugged a life."-Jeffersonian, 1878.
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DAYS OF MOURNING.
Cambridge, in common with all the country, has had her days of true mourning and here will be given brief accounts of how the citizens met these national calamities and how they were affected at the death of her fallen statesmen and military heroes :
When James Monroe died in 1831, the column rules of the Times at Cambridge were turned, as an indication of deep sorrow.
Upon the death of Hon. Henry Clay, June 29, 1852, and upon the de- cease of Daniel Webster, the great New England statesman, on October 24, 1852, the same paper was deeply set in double-column turned rule.
DEATH OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
President W. H. Harrison died at Washington on the 4th of April, 1841, thirty minutes before one o'clock in the morning. Everywhere the national bereavement was deplored by Whigs and Democrats alike, and ser- vices were held throughout the length and breadth of the land. In Cam- bridge, according to the Guernsey Times of April 10, 1841, a discourse upon the life, public services and character of William Henry Harrison was de- livered by Rev. James Drummond, at the Methodist Episcopal church, on the evening of Wednesday, April 14th, at early candle lighting.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION.
"On Saturday last, about eight o'clock A. M., the sad intelligence of the death of President Lincoln reached this place. Sorrow was depicted upon every countenance as soon as it was known that the chief magistrate of the nation was no more. All felt the common calamity, and men of every shade of political opinion mourned the loss of the dead President. The bells of the village, whose iron tongues the day before had rung out their joyful peals, now tolled a solemn requiem through the weary hours. Flags that had floated gaily were clothed in mourning and drooped listlessly upon the sodden air. The elements were in harmony with the general grief, and the sky was overcast with dark and lowering clouds, which mingled their tears with those of the bereaved people.
"In the afternoon a prayer-meeting was held in the Town Hall, where solemn and impressive prayers were made by Reverend Milligan and others.
"On Sabbath day another meeting was held in the same place, when
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speeches were made by Reverends Ellison, Forsythe and McConnell. The remarks of the former gentleman were well-timed and appropriate, but we are sorry to say that in the midst of the general grief, Mr. McConnell in- dulged in remarks better suited to a political meeting than the solemn occasion for which the people had assembled."
DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD.
For the second time in the history of this county, the citizens were called upon to mourn the death of a President, who had fallen at the hands of an assassin. It was in September, 1881. The news spread quickly and sorrow was intense. All business was suspended in Cambridge. Public memorial services were held. The bells of the city tolled and the streets were draped in mourning emblems for the dead President-a beloved citizen and native son of Ohio. Services were held at the United Presbyterian church and at the Presbyterian church. These places were heavily draped in black, intermingled with the flag. A motto was displayed reading: "God reigns, the nation lives," which were Garfield's words in New York city in trying to quell the mob after the assassination of Lincoln, and which words now became appro- priate in his own case. Remarks were made by Professor McBurney, Rev- erend Young, Rev. Hyde Forsythe, Rev. B. Y. Siegford, Reverend Darrow, Judge Tingle and Col C. P. B. Sarchet. This was at the United Presbyterian church.
At the Presbyterian church impressive services were held and the Ma- sonic bodies were out in force. Prayer was offered by S. J. McMahon, Esq .. and by Reverend Milligan. A song was rendered by Prof. John H. Sarchet entitled, "We'll Not Forget Our Buckeye Boy;" he was assisted by the Ma- sonic Glee Club. Benediction was pronounced by Rev. E. S. Hoagland.
Services were at the same time held at the African Methodist Episcopal church, Reverend Johnston officiating and made the point clear that mourning was not for a white man's President, neither a black man's President, but for "our President."
PRESIDENT'S GRANT'S MEMORIAL SERVICES.
When Gen. U. S. Grant, the soldier-President and retired fellow citi- zen, another son of Ohio soil, had passed to the other shore, this county, in common with the entire country, were again in deep sorrow. Though not as sudden as other public calamities, for ex-President Grant had long suf- fered and his death was thought to be inevitable, yet here in Guernsey, where
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there were so many of his old army comrades and political friends, the news was hard to realize-the man of an iron will who had marched to victory on many a well fought field, and he who, after the war closed, had said: "Let us have peace"-the man who had been around the globe and admired by all peoples and tribes, finally had to succumb to the cold hand of death. On August 8, 1885, at the hour when his body was being lowered into the grave, memorial services were being held throughout the entire country. At Cam- bridge the bells all tolled while Grant's remains were being lowered to the earth at Riverside, in New York. Soon after two P. M. the Grand Army of the Republic, with draped banners and flags, fell into line, headed by the Cam- bridge Band. They passed to School Park, where a stand had been erected. There might have been seen a picture of the illustrious American soldier- President, surrounded by flags and crepe. The orator of the occasion was Capt. J. B. Ferguson. Prayer was offered by Reverend Jennings. Dis- patches were read from time to time, as the body of Grant was being taken to its last resting place and while it was being lowered to the vault at River- side.
Like services were held at Byesville, Cumberland, Fairview, Quaker City and other places in the county.
DEATH OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM M'KINLEY.
Again, in September, 1901, President Mckinley, in extending his hand to a supposed friend, while visiting the great Pan-American Exposition, at Buffalo, New York, was shot by an assassin and only survived eight days, the date of his death being September 14, 1901. Memorial services were held in this county. In Cambridge, at the Methodist Episcopal church, old and young filled the house to overflowing. Many of those present had met in like services at the death of the lamented Lincoln and Garfield. Church bells tolled solemnly, and black and white draperies were in evidence throughout the entire city. The floral offerings were all pure white. Mayor Baxter had charge and welcomed the speakers. The front seats were reserved for the old soldiers, including the Grand Army of the Republic, with its banners draped in black. Doctor Milligan spoke touchingly of the unspotted life and, above all, of his beautiful love and tenderness for Mrs. McKinley, during the years of her long illness or infirmity.
Resolutions were passed which contained these words, significant in themselves :
"Resolved, Most sincerely do we record our confidence and pride in him
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as a man ; our admiration for his unspotted life and character, and above all, our love for him because of his tender care of Mrs. Mckinley during her long years of infirmity.
"Resolved, That in his death our hearts are filled with an untold sorrow. In this sad hour we have ceased to be Republicans, Democrats, Prohibition- ists and Populists-Northern, Southern-but are simply American citizens of a bereaved country, mourning a common loss."
SARCHET BROTHERS AND THEIR BIBLE.
"It is well known here that the Sarchets, who were among the first set- tlers of Guernsey county, came from the isle of Guernsey, but we have an item of their history beyond that. The original Sarchets were natives of France. and during the Huguenot persecution two of the brothers were con- verted from Catholicism and purchased a Protestant Bible, Calvin's trans- lation to the French. Information was given to the priests that they were in possession of this book, and to avoid arrest and punishment by the Inquisi- tion they fled with the 'Word' to the island of Guernsey for safety. From these heads sprang the two branches of the Sarchet family in this county, and all of the name that we know anything about. To this day that same old Bible remains intact, and is in the possession of Mrs. R. M. Beatty in Cam- bridge. It is fully three hundred years old, and was brought to this place by the oldest Thomas Sarchet known to this country, in 1806, who was in the line of descent of the two brothers and who was awarded the custody of the same. It is considered of great value as a family relic, and the older men- bers still inquire for the 'old book' whenever they visit Mrs. Beatty."-In the Times, January, 1875.
AN OLD BRIDGE.
Just where the Cumberland and Senecaville creeks unite to form Wills creek, on the old Pike road, between Buffalo (or Hartford) and Derwent, is a very old bridge, said to be almost as old as the famous old bridge in Cambridge. The details of its construction, its exact age, or any data con- cerning it are unknown to the writer. It will be torn down the coming sea- son and a new steel bridge constructed in its place.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
GENERAL REMINISCENCES-PIONEER INCIDENTS.
In this chapter will be found several interesting reminiscences by Col. C. P. B. Sarchet and others who have been life-long residents of the county.
The Cambridge Times of September, 1825, contained this advertisement :
"SALT FOR WHEAT.
"Wheat will be taken in exchange for salt, at the subscriber's works on Wills creek, five miles below Cambridge, at the rate of one and a half bushels of wheat for one of salt. "DAVID SARCHET & Co.
"September 2, 1825."
THE OLD MILL.
The following record was made of the old mill and of going away for salt to get milling done, at an early day, in one of the Cambridge papers by the author several years since :
In what year the old Gomber mill, located on Wills creek, near the junc- tion of the Baltimore & Ohio and Columbus & Marietta railways, south of the Cambridge cemetery, was erected, is not now certainly known. At the time it was built there were two sites in view, the other one at the head of Cedar ripple, north of Cambridge on the Colonel Taylor farm. It was claimed this was the preferable site as there was a longer straight stretch of the creek. The abrupt turn in the creek at the site finally selected, it was thought, would give trouble with the dam. This theory was correct and the cutting away of the bank may yet be seen.
The old toll bridge was built of logs and puncheons, but the Bridge house, built in 1810-II was a frame structure. The sawed lumber for it was pre- pared at the Gomber mill. One of the conditions as to completing the first county jail, built in 1810 was "the stage of water at the Gomber mill." There is a record in the commissioners' journal of 1810, of the road leading to the Gomber mill. This authentic history makes it certain the mill was built prior to the year 1810.
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FLOUR AND SALT.
A corn and saw mill was first erected. The first essentials of the pioneer settlers were flour of some sort and salt. To procure these was attended with the danger of long pack horse journeys along the trails through the wilder- ness. The nearest mill to Cambridge was called "Steers Mill," located on Short creek in Jefferson county. It required four days to make the journey with pack horses. Provisions for the journey had to be carried and some- times the carrier had to wait a day or two days for his turn when the mill was thronged. The flour and meal were inferior to the products of today, but they were a decided improvement over the products of the hand mills. Men preferred the long, tedious pack horse journey to a mill to the laborious grinding of the hand mill. Turning the grind stone was the boys' work in the harvest times when the cradle and the scythe were the harvesting imple- ments. The boys, now sixty years old, recollect this back breaking exercise.
The nearest salt works were at Pittsburg, or the old Scioto salt works in what is now Jackson county, Ohio. To go there for salt was a long and dangerous journey, and this salt at best was a dirty, black article, costing from two dollars and fifty cents to four dollars a bushel of fifty pounds. It was at the wells in Jackson county that the first salt in Ohio was made. It is known that salt was made there in 1755 by the Indians. Of the manufacture of this salt, an account is given in the life of Daniel Boone, who in his boy- hood was a prisoner among the Indians, and was compelled to work at the wells in getting out and boiling the water. Jonathan Alder, who was a pris- oner among the Seneca Indians for fifteen years, says he helped to make salt with the Indians at these wells. A reservation six miles square of these salt lands was made by the state, and the Legislature, in 1804, passed an act providing for the leasing of these lands by the state.
"The "Old Salt-Boiler," Thomas Ewing, and Hon. Samuel F. Vinton, . were in later years engaged in salt manufacture at these works. The wells were sunk down to the salt rock, giving water of great strength. The first well was not more than thirty feet deep. Samuel F. Vinton was the first Whig candidate for governor of Ohio, under the present constitution, and was defeated by Hon. Reuben Wood, Democrat, who was the last governor under the old constitution. Hon. Samuel F. Vinton was a "French Yan- kee," born in Massachusetts. The French name was Vintoine. He married Romaine Madaline Bureau, a daughter of one of the French settlers at Galli- polis. His daughter, Madeline Vinton, was the wife of Commodore Dahl- gren, the inventor of the Dahlgren gun. Mr. Vinton, when in Congress, was
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the author of the bill creating the department of the interior, and Hon. Thomas Ewing was the first secretary of the department.
PACK SADDLE.
There was a term in use in the early days: "Shooting with a pack- saddle." Pack-saddles were made with two forks, usually of dogwood, as it was not apt to split. These were selected of such shape as not to rest upon the horse's withers, or vertebrae. They were fastened to boards of the proper length. The boards rested upon the horse's back, and were either padded or underlaid with sheep skins. On the saddles, the sacks were not liable to slip, and when well covered with sheep skins, made a good substitute for a saddle. The open seated saddles of today are an improvement on the old pack-saddles.
A packer made a journey to the Scioto salt works, and had to stay there over night. His pack-saddle was a rough affair, and during the night the workmen would burn them up. Failing to find his saddle in the morning. the packer, believing the workmen had burned it. went away, determined upon revenge. He made a saddle and loaded it with power, neatly plugging the holes. The next time he visited the salt works, he gave little care to his saddle, and remained over night in a cabin near the works. Not long after he lay down there was a loud report and a great commotion among the em- ployes. Kettles had been blown from the furnace. The packer was not alarmed. He had demonstrated what had become of his other saddle, and had had his revenge. And this is the origin of the saying, "Shooting with a pack-saddle."
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