USA > Ohio > Licking County > History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present > Part 96
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The Ohio Gazetteer, published in 1831, makes this mention of Newark: "Distance from Cleve- land by canal one hundred and seventy-six miles. North latitude 40° 4', west longtitude 5° 26'. It was laid out in the year 1802, by the late General William C. Schenck, on the plan of Newark, in New Jersey, with streets from six to eight rods wide, all crossing each other at right angles. It is situated in a township of the same name, and contains two hundred and fifty dwelling houses, ten stores, five taverns, two printing offices, two large ware-houses. a market house, a Methodist meeting house, and the usual county buildings."
The population of Newark in 1830, was 999: in 1835 1392. The cholera visited the town in the summer of 1834; many of its inhabitants died. and the growth of the place was, probably, checked for a time. It grew slowly but steadily until about 1850 when it took an other long stride forward
Three railroads entered the place between 1848 and 1855, and brought to Newark the light and
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life of commerce; and since that time its growth and developement have kept pace with the surround- ing country.
The amount of business in the city may be sum- med up nearly as follows, though changes are con- tinually occurring and the business can only be approximated. There are three agricultural imple- ment stores; twenty-six attorneys at law; two auction and commission merchants; eight bakers and confectioners; two banks; ten barbers; nine blacksmiths; one boiler maker; two book and sta- tionery stores; twenty-three boot and shoe stores and manufacturing and repairing establishments; two brick yards; one broom maker; three carriage makers; six china, glass and queensware stores ; five clothing stores; ten or more coal dealers; three commission merchants; two express compa- nies; five dentists; eight drug stores; eight dry goods stores; two flouring mills, doing a large business; four foundries and machine shops; two furniture dealers; about fifty or sixty retail gro- cery establishments; two wholesale grocers; two gunsmiths; three hardware stores; five hat and cap stores; five hotels; a large number of insur- ance and other agents; eight livery stables; four lumber dealers; two marble works; seven meat markets; eight merchant tailors; five newspapers; one notion store; four photographers; twenty-five physicians; three planing mills; four printing es- tablishments, of which that of Clark & Under- wood, of the American, stands at the head; four saddlery and harness shops; one saw-mill; three sewing machine agencies; one soap and candle fac- tory ; five stove and tin stores; two tanners and cur- riers; three wagon makers; and two fine jewelry es- tablishments. Probably no jewelry houses in cen- tral Ohio have a finer stock, or a better estab- lished reputation than those of Henry C. Bostwick and H. S. Sprague. Besides the above regular business establishments Newark has the usual num- ber of cigar makers and establishments, saloons, restaurants, small manufactories of different kinds, and many smaller business concerns. Yet the busi- ness of Newark is not what it should be, consid- ering its location on the edge of the great coal fields, and is not, probably, what it will be in the future.
It has advantages almost unsurpassed for busi- ness and manufacturing, and it would seem as if
the latter department of business, especially, must continually increase as the years go by. Indeed: since the country has revived from the panic o: 1873, manufacturing has increased iu Newark.
Among these establishments may be mentioned the stove works of Ashley & Kibler, established two years ago, in the old Mosier foundry. Thomas' foundry and machine shops were estab- lished about 1866. It is conducted by Mr. J. E. Thomas. Simpson's plow works were established in 1851; the Newark marble works, in 1841, by O. F. Mehurin; Ball & Ward's carriage and wagon works in 1836, and are still in successful operation, occupying two large buildings-a stone and frame-on the corner of Church and First streets. Messrs. Gardner & Vance's planing-mill was established in 1873; was burnt down in 1877, but rebuilt, of brick, and is now in successful operation. Stasel & Lamb's planing-mill was es- tablished in 1877, and that of A. Smucker & Sons in 1866. Space, however, forbids a satisfactory review of all the manufacturing and business in- terests of the city. Two large flouring-mills are in successful operation; those of E. M. Mont- gomery and D. Thomas & Sons. The former stands at the foot of Church street, on the site of one of the first mills in the county, elsewhere mentioned. Both are using steam power, and do- ing a large and successful business.
Of banks, there are two at present-the Frank- lin and First National. The first of these was established about 1845, and was the first perma- nent bank started in Newark. There were, per- haps, two or three established before, one by the Smiths, in or about 1838. This latter bank was in existence ten or a dozen years, the man- agers bringing their currency from Michigan for distribution here. The Franklin bank was a private institution, established by Edward Frank- lin, in the old brick building at the southwest corner of the square, where the Adams express company is now located. In 1849, Mr. Franklin admitted his son, John H., as partner, and the firm became Edward Franklin & Son. In 1859, the senior Franklin died, but the son continued the business under the same firm name until 1862, when he admitted his brother, Benjamin, and the firm became Edward Franklin's Sons. Joseph
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Rider was admitted to the firm in 1873, and in '1876, this firm sold out to the present firm, 'Messrs. Robbins, Wing & Winegarner who con- duct the business under the old firm name. The Franklins erected the present brick block, at the southwest corner of the square, and moved the business into it about 1850.
The First National bank began operations in 1865, with a capital of one hundred thousand dol- lars. Mr. J. Buckingham was president and Vir - gil H. Wright cashier. Its first location was where Messrs. Dougherty & Dodd's tin shop is now lo- cated. In 1869-70, the proprietors erected the present brick block, on the corner of Third street and public square, fitting up a room for their pur- pose in the corner of the building and moving into it in 1870.
As a place of residence Newark cannot be greatly excelled. The citizens are largely intelli- gent, sociable, and the larger part of them enjoy- ing most of the good things of the world; there are no division lines worthy of mention-no class or aristocracy-the only requisite of good citizen- ship and good standing being obedience to the laws and the dictates of humanity.
The population of the city in 1880 was nine thousand six hundred and two, and the number of streets one hundred and one.
It may not be well to close this chapter without placing upon permanent record a few facts regard- ing the various societies of the city, of which there are the usual number.
The Young Men's Christian association is just entering upon the fifth year of its existence with as bright prospects as it has ever enjoyed. The work performed the past year is fully equal to that of previous years. The workers have been fewer in number, but they have been all the more faith- ful. More workers are needed.
The reading-room is as inviting a place as can be found anywhere. The supply of papers is good; a few more are needed, however, and more magazines and books. The financial condition of the association is much better than it was a year ago. The reliable subscriptions are sufficient to cover all indebtedness except a balance of about fifty dollars due on the organ. The amount of subscriptions secured last year was six hundred
dollars; if the same amount shall be secured this year the association will be enabled to add to the attractions of the reading-room and thereby in- crease the number of readers. The attendance, as it is, is undiminished. The association feels that it is entitled to the support of the good peo- ple of the city in its works, and is gratified to know that its work is being appreciated.
The Ladies' Library association was organized in March, 1871. A few ladies met at the residence of Mr. George M. Davidson, where the society was organized, and where they continued to meet for six months or more, when they occupied a room belonging to Mr. T. J. Davis, over the First Na- tional bank. In this room their meetings were held about six years, when they removed to Jerome Buckingham's law office. In the spring of 1880, their society and its possessions having grown somewhat beyond the limits of a law office, they secured a room in the court house, where the society now meets, and where it has collected about one thousand volumes.
Mrs. Jerome Buckingham, Mrs. Virgil Wright, Mrs. T. J. Davis, Mrs. George Davidson, Miss Minnie Sprague and others were influential in es- tablishing this society. Mrs. Davidson was its first president, and Miss Sprague, secretary and treas- urer. The membership fee is two dollars per annum, but books are let to those not members by the payment of ten cents a volume. This society is gradually obtaining a firmer foot-hold, and is considered a permanent institution.
The Licking County Medical society was or ganized in 1874. About forty years ago a society had been in existence called the "Licking County Medical and Philosophical society," which had been abandoned after a few years operation.
The first meetings of the present society, before organization, were held in the office of Dr. Charles P. King, that gentleman being very active in the matter. The first meeting for organization, at which about twenty physicians appeared, was held in the drug store of Collins & Thurston. Dr. Barrows was elected president. The society has steadily grown since that time until it includes most of the physicians of the county and some outside of it. The meetings are now held in the court house, in the same room occupied by the
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Pioneer society. In this room they have a few anatomical collections, and the nucleus of a library. In a pamphlet written by Dr. King, the members of the society in 1879 are given as follows:
Drs. James Ewing, Hebron, Ohio; P. C. Allen, Utica, Ohio; E. Sinnet Granville, Ohio; Edward Vail, Newark, Ohio; Thomas H. Roe, Newark, Ohio; Charles P. King, Newark, Ohio; E. S. Brown, Newark, Ohio; J. Watkin, Granville, Ohio; G. W. Garison, Utica, Ohio; J. W. Alexander, Chatham, Ohio; Ira M. Hull, St. Louisville, Ohio; W. N. Walcott, Jacksontown, Ohio; H. Culbert- son, Zanesville, Ohio: J. F. Baldwin, Columbus, Ohio; G. M. Blackburn, Appleton, Ohio; E. R. Pratt, Johnstown, Ohio; Joseph Rogers, Utica, Ohio; A. Follett, Granville, Ohio; B. F. Spencer, Newark, Ohio; J. R. Black, Newark, Ohio; J. Wotring, Newark, Ohio; James Larimore, Newark, Ohio; A. T. Speer, Newark, Ohio; J. H. Brooke, Newark, Ohio; William A. Dunbauld, Homer, Ohio; W. D. Otis, Pataskala, Ohio; S. C. Priest, Newark, Ohio; W. L. King, Homer, Ohio; Z. C. McElroy, Zanesville, Ohio; M. F. Lee, Homer, Ohio; D. H. Ralston, Newark, Ohio; H. T. Lacey, Newark, Ohio.
Honorary members: Drs. James H. Pooley, Columbus, Ohio; John W. Russell, Mt. Vernon, Ohio; E. F. Bryan, Granville, Ohio; Honorable Isaac Smucker, Newark, Ohio.
The first Masonic lodge of Newark (No. 97) was organized April 5, 1822; the first officers being
Stoddard J. Miles, W. M .; Lucius Smith, S. W .; Zachariah Davis, J. W .; James M. Taylor, trea- surer, and David Bell, secretary. This organiza- tion continued working under dispensation until October 4, 1828, when the charter was received, and the following were the first officers under this charter: Corrington W. Searls, W. M .; Robert Hazlett, S. W .; John W. Anderson, J. W .; William W. Gault, treasurer; Elijah Cooper, secretary, Horace Gregory, S. D .; John Wolfe, J. D., and Zachariah Davis, tyler.
Since that date the following Masonic lodges have been organized in Newark: Warren Chapter No. 6, R. A. M., chartered October 1, 1839; Bige- low Council No. 7, R. & S. M., chartered October 22, 1841; Ahiman Lodge No. 492, F. & A. M., chartered October 21, 1874; Newark Command- ery No. 34, K. T., chartered August 28, 1878.
The society of Odd Fellows supports two lodges and an encampment in the city. The first of these was Olive Branch Lodge No. 34, instituted October, 1843; Newark Lodge No. 623, and Mount Olive Encampment No. 12.
In addition to these there are lodges of Good Templars, divisions of Sons of Temperance, lodges of Red Men, Knights of Pythias, Order of United American mechanics, Druids, literary societies, debating associations, reading and social clubs, musical coteries, teachers institutes and other institutions of kindred character.
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CHAPTER LXIX.
THE CHURCHES OF NEWARK TOWNSHIP AND CITY.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN-THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN-EPISCOPAL METHODIST-BAPTIST-PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL- CALVINISTIC METHODIST-GERMAN LUTHERAN-WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST-WELSH CONGREGATIONAL- AFRICAN EPISCOPAL METHODIST-CATHOLIC-GERMAN METHODIST-GERMAN PRESBYTERIAN-CHRISTIAN UNION- SECOND ADVENT-NEW JERUSALEM (SWEDENBORGIAN)-ENGLISH CONGREGATIONAL.
"Where dusky savage wooed his dusky mate, And through the forest rang his battle cry, Now stands the arched and templed halls of State, And gilded steeples pointing to the sky."
THERE are, at present, seventeen church organ izations within the limits of Newark township, fourteen of which are in the city. This fact alone speaks volumes for civilization, law, order and in- telligence. Life, liberty and property cannot but be safe in such a community. The history of these churches covers the full period of time since the first settlement began in the wilderness. Ministers of the Gospel were among the first to brave the per- ils and hardships of the frontier, where they planted the seed that has grown, developed and borne fruit, the evidence of which appears in these beautiful churches, and in the religion and higher civilization of the people.
The first Presbyterian .- The doctrines taught by this denomination were the first introduced into this section. The first Christian minister who preached on the territory now occupied by the city of Newark, was the Rev. Mr. McDonald, a Pres- byterian. He came to this place in 1802, on his way to Franklinton, now Columbus, and was probably a missionary from the neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He was a middle aged man at the time of his visit, and lodged at the house of Sam- uel Elliott, who lived about one and one-half miles east of Newark. He preached several times to the families that were here, which, at that early date, were few in number, either at their houses or in the open air. Thus Presbyterianism was introduced by a living preacher upon the very threshold of the existence of the city.
In the summer of 1803 Rev. John Wright vis- ited this place. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1777. Accustomed to frontier life from his earliest recollections, being familiar with the rifle carried to the house of God by the worshipers, for use in case of attack by In- dians, he was well fitted for ministerial labors among the pioneers. In the year 1806 Rev. James Scott preached regularly for some months. As these two men were among the earliest, most active and widely known of the pioneer Presbyterian ministers of central Ohio, they deserve more than a passing notice.
Rev. John Wright graduated at Dickinson col- lege, Pennsylvania, and was licensed to preach about 1800 by the presbytery of Redstone. He engaged in missionary labors two or three years in Virginia, North and South Carolina, returning through regions now comprising Tennessee, Ken- tucky and Ohio.
In this work he became acquainted with a little band of Presbyterians upon the Hock-Hocking and Rush creek, and settled among them in 1804 In 1806 he became pastor of Hock-Hocking (Lancas- ter) and Rush creek churches. Here he preached thirty-two years, his labors being scattered over a wide extent of country. Many of the churches through this part of Ohio were organized through his instrumentality. He died at Delphi, Indiana, at the residence of his son, Rev. E. W. Wright August 31, 1854, in his seventy-eighth year.
Rev. James Scott was born in Pennsylvania, east of the mountains, in 1775. He graduated at Can- nonsburgh, Pennsylvania, and located at Mt. Ver- non in 1807. Ahout 1810 he was married to the
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daughter of Archibald Wilson, of Newark. He preached at Mt. Vernon, Fredericktown, and Mar- tinsburgh, the extremes of his pastoral charge being about twenty miles apart. Indians were yet in the country, and he was compelled to endure much hardship and danger in his circuit. He frequently walked to Martinsburgh, eleven miles, to preach, and that, too, after searching vainly in the woods for his horse. He died in September, 1851, in his seventy-eighth year.
Through the efforts of these ministers, and by the removal to Newark of some families of Pres- byterian education, that element in the community had, in 1808, attained sufficient strength to warrant the formation of a church, which was accordingly acomplished in the autumn of this year. Rev. John Wright was present and officiated at this or- ganization. David Moore and James Taylor were elected elders, and in the following year Jacob Wil- son was elected an elder.
Of these elders, David Moore was born in Gettys- burgh, Pennsylvania, April 9, 1774, He came to Newark in the spring of 1808, and died April 27. 1845, aged seventy-one years. He was a good business man, and was an elder of this church about thirty years. James Taylor was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1753. He removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania, and subsequent- ly to the vicinity of Wheeling, Virginia. He came to Newark in 1804. He was one of the first judges in the county, having been elected in 1808. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, James Maholm, in 1844 at the advanced age of ninty-one. He was 1 revolutionary soldier; and was with Colonel Wil- liamson in his campaign against the Moravian Ind- ans, and with seventeen others cast his vote against hat massacre. He was a man of high character ind universally respected; and was an elder of this church for thirty-six years. The other elder, Jacob, Wilson, was born in Hardy county, Virginia, Sep- ember 15, 1781, and came to Licking county in 1803. He raised a crop of corn in the North Fork valley, a mile above Newark, and returned n the fall to Virginia. In March, 1804, he married Nancy Colville, of Shenandoah county, and soon fter removed to this place where he lived until his leath, on the eleventh of October, 1827, when he vas but forty-eight. He served in the capacity of
elder eighteen years, and led the singing in the church.
The church was not supplied with regular preach- ing for more than a year after its organization. In the autumn of 1809, the pastoral services of Rev. George Van Eman were secured. He was then a young man twenty-three years of age, unmarried, and had just completed his educational course.
As late as 1868, Mr. Van Eman was yet living, as will be seen from the following letter, dated, Findlay, Hancock county, Ohio, September 1, 1868.
"I settled in Newark in the fall of 1809, was ordained and installed there between Christmas of that year and New Years day, 1810. Revs. John Wright, of Lancaster; Jacob Lindley, of Athens, and James Scott, of Mt. Vernon, were at the ordina- tion. I preached in the court house, sometimes also used as a school-house, a hewed-log building which stood in the public square. I continued pastor three years and six months, when my health failed and I did not preach for some years.
"I cannot tell the number of members, nor who they were. There were two Mr. Moores, with their wives, and several by the name of Wilson. I was the first of our order who settled there. No meeting-house was built in my time. After I com- menced preaching again I spent a Sabbath in Newark on my way to the synod at Chillicothe, and preached the first sermon in their new house of worship, just finished. It was a building, perhaps, forty by fifty feet, and stood on the public square.
"There were a goodly number of exemplary Christians, as I hope, there in my time. There were some careless, profane, and ungodly men, but no violent opposition to religion. I had the good will of all so far as I know, and all classes attended the meetings.
"I was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1786, on the twenty-third of April; received my education at Cannons- burgh; united with the church while at college; graduated in the fall of 1806; studied theology under Dr. McMillen; was li- censed by the presbytery of Ohio in 1808, in Upper Buffalo meeting-house, and just one year after that was ordained. I took part in the organization of Richland presbytery; was pas- tor of the church at Mansfield two years and a half, then went to Greene county, Pennsylvania, and spent fifteen years as pas- tor of the same churches in New Providence and Jefferson. I then gave up my charge and came to this place, and have been in this county thirty-two years. I was the first pastor at New- ark, Mansfield, and this place. I have had no charge since re- signing this church on account of age, but preach occasionally.
This venerable preacher died in Findlay March 12, 1877, in the ninety-first year of his age. In Mansfield he is spoken of as one of the first min- isters in that place. He spent most of his minis- terial life as a pioneer preacher, acceptably and successfully. He was cheerful, pleasant, compan- ionable in his intercourse, and exemplary in all the relations of life. He was an honorary member of
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the Pioneer society of Newark, and attended one of its meetings in October. 1868, coming all the way from his home in Hancock county expressly for that purpose. Many will remember his inter- esting addresses at that time, consisting, for the most part, of reminiscences of early times in the county. His stay extended over the Sabbath, when he gave to the people of the congregation of his former charge an exceedingly interesting dis- course, a few of his old parishioners being present who had been attendants upon his ministry more than fifty years before. Of that number, Mrs. James M. Taylor and Mrs. Isaac Wilson are be- lieved to be the sole survivors, He was then eighty-two years of age, but vigorous physically and mentally.
From the summer of 1812 to the summer of 1815 this church was without a pastor ; but during · the summer of 1815 Rev. Thomas D. Baird was called. Mr. Baird was born in the county of Down, Ireland, December 26, 1773; came to the United States in : 802, and settled in South Caro- lina in 1805. He was licensed in 1811, ordained in 1813, and came to Newark about August, 1815. In the following year the first building for the Presbyterian society was erected in Newark.
On the eighth of March, 1816, an article of agreement was entered into "between Zachariah Davis and Robert Davidson of the first part, and William Wilson, Abraham C. Wilson and Bradley Buckingham of the second part, in which the said parties agreed to the building of a meeting-house for the Presbyterian congregation of the town of Newark, to be of the following dimensions and materials, viz: A brick building fifty-four by forty- six feet, the foundation of stone, the walls of which are to be two and a half feet high and two feet thick; the brick walls of said building to be eighteen inches thick, and fifteen feet high, with suitable brick cornice; to put four windows in each side; to put in two doors, which are to be seven feet high and four feet wide (to be double), with a window above each door, with eight lights each; the pillars which support the roof to be cased up to the plastering overhead, the house to be cased all around as high as the windows; to put in forty pews, which are to be three feet high, with a suita- ble door to each pew, well hung; the floor to be
raised eighteen inches higher at one end of the house than at the other; and to have the whole of said work completed by the first day of November next; and it is agreed between the parties that af- ter its completion it shall remain in possession of said parties of the first part as security, until the full amount of two thousand seven hundred dollars shall be paid to them, which sum they are to receive for the completion of the aforemen- tioned building in the manner aforesaid."
Until the completion of this house the congre. gation had held all their religious services in a building used for purposes of court, school, and church, which stood on the north side of the pub- lic square. It was a structure of hewed logs, con- taining one room which had seats of rough boards laid upon logs. This new church stood on the west side of what is now the park ; the west end of the house being near the west side of the park. Mr. Van Eman, in a letter written subsequently to the one above given, referring to the opening of this church edifice in the fall of 1816, says:
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