USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions > Part 21
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But banks are not by any means a modern institution. There are bankers' records from Babylon, back to the days of Sennacherib, 700 B. C., and many later. Then, before the Christian era, the system seems to have died out, hav- ing been followed by money lending and money changing by private individ- uals, probably because, with the swing of the conquering armies that swept over so many of the countries of the Old World, a man's money and valuables had to be kept so they could be readily carried away and hidden, for capital ever has been the first to hide, when danger threatens, and does so yet. Hence, banks, being the accumulations of many scattered individuals, must have peace and safety for their protection. The first great commercial power to arise from the wreck and ruin that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire, was Venice, the island city, whose ships and commerce covered the Mediter- ranean sea. In that city in 1197 was started the first modern bank of deposit, and it continued for centuries.
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THE THROBBING HEART OF BUSINESS.
The power of banks has gone on increasing, until today it may safely be asserted that banks are the throbbing heart that sends the life-blood through all the commercial arteries of every business. Banks, under our systems of exchange and clearing-houses, have expanded their power beyond the dreams of the world's best bankers of a hundred years ago.
Our Preble county banks are linked, generally speaking, with the whole system in the United States; although, within the law, each is left independ- ent in conducting its own business. We have in this county three systems of banks, national, state banks, and joint-stock or partnership banks, besides pri- vate banks, owned by individuals.
The national bank operates under a charter from the United States, and every stockholder can be made to contribute as much as the par value of his stock, if necessary, to pay the debts of the bank. It also may issue a certain amount of notes.
The state bank operates under a charter from the state, and the stock- holders are under a double liability, the same as those of national banks. It also may issue its notes, but no one is, by law, required to accept them in payment. Such notes also are subject to a heavy tax by the United States, hence none are issued.
Joint-stock banks, or partnership banks, are really private banks, their money being the amounts paid in by the owners, and every member of the bank is individually liable for all debts of the bank, hence they are just as strong financially as the aggregate wealth of the individuals.
There has been but one bank failure in Preble county, and that was of a branch bank. The parent bank failed and took the branch bank with it. In the aggregate, the banking power of the county banks is much greater than our people have appreciated. A short history of each existing bank will be given, then a general view, to show the combined power.
FIRST BANK IN COUNTY.
In 1847, about one hundred and twenty-five stockholders organized, un- der the law of 1845, a branch of the Ohio State Bank in Eaton, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. This was the first bank organized in the county. For a time a room in the first house south of the court house, on (15)
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Barron street, was used as a bank, but later the bank was moved into a room on Main street. John M. Gray was cashier, and in 1853 he was succeeded by H. C. Hiestand. . In 1864 the bank was reorganized into and became the First National Bank, with the same capital, Hiestand remaining cashier. In 1867 the Brooke Brothers bought Hiestand's interest, and John C. Brooke became cashier, he being succeeded by C. F. Brooke, Jr.
In 1884 the twenty-year charter expired and was surrendered. The bank then reorganized under the state laws as the Farmers and Citizens Bank, with Joseph Cramer, president, and C. F. Brooke, Jr., cashier, and so remained until Cramer's death in 1901, when it merged with the Eaton Banking Com- pany.
The Eaton Banking Company was organized under the state laws in 1892, with Edward S. Stotler, president, and J. H. Musselman, cashier, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and started business in the corner room at the northeast corner of Barron and Main streets. This bank was continued as a state bank until 1901, in which year it was merged with the Farmers and Citizens Bank, under C. F. Brooke, Jr., and the two continued under the name of the Eaton Banking Company. In 1903 the bank moved across to the northwest corner of Barron and Main streets, and on January 10, 1905, it reorganized as the Eaton National Bank, with a capital of fifty thou- sand dollars, which later was increased to sixty thousand dollars, with S. Swisher, president, and J. H. Musselman, cashier. This bank has deposits of over six hundred thousand dollars and surplus and undivided profits of fifty thousand dollars. The prime movers in the organization of the Eaton Bank- ing Company were E. S. Stotler, J. H. Musselman, J. M. Gale, S. Swisher, Harvey Paddack, A. A. Leas and George Deem, the last three of whom have answered the last roll call.
PREBLE COUNTY NATIONAL BANK. .
The Preble County Bank was organized as a bank by H. C. Hiestand and others, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, in October. 1873. A brick building, solely for the use of the bank, was erected by J. H. Foos on the north side of Main street, about one-half square west of Barron street. The organizers of the bank, being men well and favorably known in the com- munity, the institution soon acquired a large clientele, which it has held.
In 1888 the bank was reorganized as the Preble County National Bank, and was reorganized in 1908, H. C. Hiestand being president from the first organization of the bank to the time of his death on July 5, 1884. In 1892
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the Ortt company erected a large brick building at the southwest corner of Barron and Main streets and prepared three rooms in this building for bank purposes. When the building was completed in 1893 the bank moved in and has since continued to occupy the corner.
Since the death of H. C. Hiestand, Joseph V. Acton has been president, and A. J. Hiestand is the present cashier. The bank's present capital is sixty. thousand dollars; surplus and undivided profits, one hundred and four thou- sand dollars, and deposits, one million sixteen thousand dollars.
BANKS AT NEW PARIS.
The Farmers Bank of New Paris was started as a private bank in 1889, by Horace G. Bloom, with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, the village never before having had a bank. Seeing similar conditions prevailing in the villages of New Madison, in Darke county, and in Eldorado, Mr. Bloom, a year or so later, started branch banks in both of those villages, which he successfully conducted until his death about the year 1906. In the meantime he had taken in with him others, and the banks were operated as joint-stock banks under the state law.
After the death of Mr. Bloom, the New Paris bank was taken over by his partners, and is still operated as a co-partnership bank, with a capital of ten thousand dollars, with S. C. Ritchie, president, and E. C. Mikesell, cashier. It has, surplus and undivided profits, four thousand five hundred dollars; de- posits, seventy thousand dollars.
The First National Bank of New Paris was first started about 1900, as a private bank, by J. A. Peele, and was run by him as a joint-stock bank until his death, May 20, 1908, during which time it was called the Peoples Bank. After the death of Mr. Peele the co-partners, on August 8, 1908, took over the bank's assets, assumed the liabilities and reorganized the bank as a national bank, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, divided into one hundred dollar shares, since which time J. A. Garretson has been president and M. H. Pence, cashier. It has surplus and undivided profits of two thousand five hundred dollars, and deposits of sixty-three thousand dollars.
BANKS ELSEWHERE IN COUNTY.
Up to 1887 there had been no bank in the county except at Eaton, and many business men at West Alexandria chafed under their disadvantages. Finally, in December, 1887, S. S. Black circulated a subscription for shares in
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a new bank, and in just half a day the paper held the names of S. S. Black, E. S. Stotler, J. M. Gale, P. Smith, J. N. Clemmer, John Fadler, J. E. Davis, A. Unger, Herman Voge, J. Rinck, Joseph Markey, J. H. Markey and Joseph Mills, just thirteen.
The bank was incorporated under the state law, as a joint-stock bank, and was called the Twin Valley Bank, S. S. Black & Company, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. It was organized on January 2, 1888, and started business on Main street in the building at the northwest corner of Dayton and Main streets. The bank prospered from the first, and the company later bought the building at the southeast corner of the same streets, fitted up the corner for a bank and has occupied it ever since. The bank has surplus and undivided profits of fifty thousand dollars, and deposits of about five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. S. S. Black is president and Lew Derby, cashier. This extended account is given because this was the first bank to break away from the county seat. In 1906 the Twin Valley Bank estab- lished a branch bank at Gratis, with N. G. Kimmel as cashier.
The Farmers and Citizens Bank, of West Alexandria, was started on March 14, 1905, as a partnership, or joint-stock bank, by Henry Meyer, R. J. W. Ozias, Sherman Mills, Jacob Urich, J. A. Rosillius, J. H. Ehler, Sr., and fifteen others. This bank began business on the south side of Dayton street, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. It reported to the auditor in 1914, surplus and undivided profits, eight thousand dollars; deposits, two hundred and twenty thousand dollars. R. J. W. Ozias is the president and Sherman Mills is the cashier. This bank was organized and is operated under the state laws.
BANK FAILURE AT CAMDEN.
In 1893 the failure of the Camden bank left Camden without banking facilities, and in 1894 some thirty of the citizens of the village and vicinity started a joint-stock bank, under the state law, called the Commercial Bank of Camden, with a capital of fifteen thousand dollars. It accumulated a fair clientele, but, not proving satisfactory, a number of the citizens of the village and community formed an organiation, bought out the Commercial Bank bodily, and in July, 1906, reorganized the bank as the First National Bank of Camden, Ohio, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. This bank has surplus and undivided profits of fourteen thousand dollars; deposits, two hun- dred and eighty thousand dollars. A savings-bank account is operated in con- nection. The bank occupies the building at the southeast corner of Main street and Central avenue, which it rents. R. C. Prugh is the president and J. E. Randall is the cashier.
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The Farmers' Banking Company, of Eldorado, was organized by Horace Bloom, in 1899, as the Farmers' Bank, a branch of his New Paris and New Madison banks, and as a private bank. At Mr. Bloom's death the bank was taken over by his partners, and so continued until 1913, in which year it was reorganized as a joint-stock or banking partnership, with a capital of twenty- five thousand dollars. It now has surplus and undivided profits of six thou- sand dollars and, one hundred and sixty thousand dollars deposits. It owns its own building on the east side of Main street. Isaac Miller is the president and C. D. Miller is the cashier.
The Farmers and Merchants Bank, of West Manchester was organized in 1897 as a banking partnership, by J. E. Leas and J. W. Leas, with a capital of ten thousand dollars. In 1914 it reported to the auditor that it had, surplus and undivided profits, twelve thousand dollars; deposits, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. John E. Leas is the president and J. W. Leas .is the cashier.
The Farmers Bank, of Verona, was organized in 1906, as a banking part- nership, by S. G. Sheller, John Werts, A. N. Rife, John W. Kreitzer and E. E. Niswonger, under the state laws. It has erected, at the northeast corner of Main and Mill streets, a bank building of Grecian architecture, solely for bank use, equipped with modern appliances. Capital stock, fifty thousand dollars; surplus and undivided profits, six thousand dollars ; deposits, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The capital stock is divided into one hundred dollar shares and is held by many of the farmers and business men of the community. S. G. Sheller is the president and F. O. Pausing is the cashier.
CHICAGO BANKERS IN TROUBLE.
The People's Banking Company, of Lewisburg, was started as the Citi- zens' Bank by some Chicago people. After running but a few years the bank had some trouble, and in 1897 a number of men, headed by L. F. Parmerlee, H. P. Smith, A. T. Horn, L. Finney, E. C. Crider and S. G. Sheller, formed a banking partnership and took over the bank, which, in 1908, was reorganized and incorporated under the state laws as a state bank, with a capital of thirty thousand dollars. This bank built and owns a fine bank building on the west side of Greenville street, used and fitted only for banking purposes. It has surplus and undivided profits of eight thousand, five hundred dollars and de- posits of two hundred and seventy thousand ollars. H. P. Smith is the presi- ent and Waldo C. Moore is the cashier.
In addition to the above there are two banks at College Corner, one on
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the Ohio side, about thirty feet south of the county line, and one on the Indiana side, about twenty feet west of the state line, whose combined assets are over a half million dollars, a considerable part of which comes from this county, which banks are not accounted for herein.
RECAPITULATION.
Surplus and
Name and Location.
Capital. $60,000
Profits. $ 50,000
Deposits. $ 600,000
Eaton National Bank, Eaton
Preble County National Bank, Eaton
60,000
104,000
1,016,000
The Farmers' Bank, New Paris
10,000
4,500
70,000
First National Bank, New Paris.
25,000
2,500
63,000
The Twin Valley Bank, West Alexandria
25,000
50,000
575,000
Alexandria
50,000
8,000
220,000
First National Bank, Camden
50,000
14,000
280,000
The Farmers' Banking Company, Eldorado.
25,000
6,000
160,000
Manchester
10,000
12,000
I 50,000
The Farmers' Bank, Verona
50,000
6,000
250,000
The Peoples' Banking Company, Lewisburg.
- 30,000
8,500
270.000
Total
$395,000
$265,000
$3,654,000
Every bank of the county was visited and only questions asked as to their history and the above items. The figures given can be relied on, therefore, as showing the present condition of each bank, except as otherwise stated in the history.
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The Farmers' and Citizens' Bank, West
The Farmers, and Merchants' Bank, West
CHAPTER XV.
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.
The original method of forming school districts by the early settlers has been described, but under the school laws passed about 1840, and their amendments under the 1851 constitution, the educational interest of the coun- try districts had advanced, until there was a school house all over the county every two miles. They were good houses, many of them brick, with many modern improvements, and supplied with good wide-awake, progressive teach- . ers; so much so that many of the teachers, perhaps the majority, in the graded and municipal schools, served as country. school teachers until their reputation was established, when the higher salaries brought them to town. Where for- merly the public money lasted for three or four months in the winter, for many years past our country schools have been continued eight to nine months per year.
The only criticism that can justly be made against our country schools is that the directors generally have been too short-sighted to purchase enough land for a proper playground, the children having to play in the neighboring fields or the road, or forego many of the sports so dear to boys and girls.
LINKING UP THE SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS.
There is now a movement on foot to centralize the schools of each town- ship, erect one large building in the most accessible location near the center of the township, having teachers for the various grades, the same as the town schools, and having teamsters to gather up in the different localities of the township all the scholars and take them to the school each morning and home in the evening, provided they live more than two miles from the schoolhouse. In our county, Jackson township has been the first to try the matter out, and so well have they succeeded for the last three years that the agitation is spreading. In 1914 Dixon township voted overwhelmingly in favor of the change, and they are now engaged in getting ready for it before October, 1915.
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As the educational matter will be dealt with in describing the villages and townships, it is not deemed proper to deal extensively with the matter in the general history, except to note that 1914, perhaps, started a great change in our educational matters, because the old local school boards are gone and the Legislature has instituted a county board of education and a county school superintendent-whether it be an improvement time alone will tell. There is also a township board of five members.
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CHAPTER XVI.
ISRAEL TOWNSHIP.
By Eleanor Schouler.
A glance at the map of Preble county shows Israel township occupying its tract of six miles square, in the southwest corner, being bounded on the west by the state of Indiana and on the south by Butler county.
When the three associate judges of the county, on March 15, 1808, di- vided the county into townships, they made Israel township include the four congressional townships in the west range of the county. But, one year later, the county commissioners cut off the north sixteen miles and called it Jefferson, while, still later, on June 1, 1812, the extent of land was reduced by the county commissioners to its present proportions.
NATURAL FEATURES.
Israel township's most interesting natural feature is a creek, which flows from north to south through the entire length of the township, and which, with its branches and many tile ditches, drains the land. This stream first made its appearance in history when .General Wayne, on his raid against the Indians, crossed it four miles above Fort Hamilton and named it Four Mile. This name it still bears, although further down the stream, where the "classic shades of Oxford" overhang its banks, it is known as the Tallawanda river, and there is a story current that its pools were reserved by the Indians as bathing places for the maidens of the tribe. But the sturdy Scotch-Irish population of Israel township, with a fine disdain for romance, prefer his- tory to tradition and truth before poetry, so with them it is still Four Mile creek. This stream has played no small part in the lives of the "Israelites:" In early days, when trade was scattered and every locality must produce its own necessities, its banks were dotted with mills, where its waters supplied the motive power which ground food for the farmers and sawed their timber into lumber. But as "big business" gradually monopolized trade, these mills, one by one, disappeared and, with the looms and spinning wheels of the . housewives, have become but a memory of the past.
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With the passing of the mills, Four Mile lost some of its prestige as a factor in the lives of the people, but it still plays an important part in their recreation. Its waters are well stocked with fish, which allure many sports- men to its banks. In winter its frozen surface is the scene of gay skating parties ; but, best of all, is its "old swimmin' holes."
A few times in its history Four Mile has gotten so far beyond its banks as to invade the sacred precincts of the homes along its borders. To the great flood of 1913 it contributed its full quota, sweeping through many houses and doing much damage before joining the raging waters of the Miami. Four Mile is spanned by many bridges of wood, iron or cement, but "the bridge" crosses the stream at Fair Haven, and is known as the "old red bridge," albeit for some years past it has been white. It was built in 1847 by Wiley & Glover, local contractors, and is of the type known as "covered." The roof and weatherboarding, and even the stone abutments, have had to be renewed, but the old frame is still as sound as when it came from the hands of the builder, and some of the planks of the original floor- ing are still in use. Lost in amazement at the mechanical principle upon which this bridge was constructed, and filled with admiration of the wisdom and skill of the builders, a local poet gave expression to the feeling as follows:
"The genius of man No one can discover; This bridge was built By Wiley and Glover."
The three main streams of Israel township are Four Mile creek, flowing from north to south across the township a short distance west of the center. It is joined by Little Four Mile creek, from the west, about a mile north of the south line of the township, and also joined by Hopewell creek, from the northeast, about a mile and a half north of its south line. Along these streams and for only short distances on each side of them are all the rough and hilly lands of the township; the last two and a half miles of Four Mile creek and the same distance along Little Four Mile creek, and about a mile along Hope- well creek, are bluffy hills and gulches that in some respects rival the Devil's .Backbone hill. From the tops of some of the hills of Four Mile may be had some of the finest vistas of the county.
These three streams, with their tributaries, drain the whole township, ex- cept a narrow fringe along the eastern side, which goes to Seven Mile creek. The greater part of the land is level or gently rolling, the slopes being so gradual that the plow goes right on over the top of the ridge. The soil is
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clay, with limestone subsoil, and of most excellent quality, producing all the crops of this latitude.
THE FIRST SETTLERS.
Of the present population of Israel township, which numbered one thou- sand four hundred and one in 1910, as against one thousand five hundred and eighty in 1890, quite a large proportion are descendants of the original set- tlers. Those early homeseekers came from Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky, Georgia and the Carolinas, but fully two-thirds of them were from South Carolina. Nineteen or twenty years before the state of Ohio was carved out of the Northwest territory, a colony of Scotch-Irish, psalm-singing Presbyterians, known as the Associate Reformed Presbyterians, organized a church in Chester county, South Carolina, and named it Hopewell. A fair portrait of these people may be found in the men and women of "Drum- tochty," whom Ian Maclaren has immortalized in his "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush," and other works. When this church was but a quarter of a century old, a number of its families shook the South Carolina dust from off their feet, in indignant protest against the institution of slavery, and, having gathered together their worldly goods, turned their backs upon their homes and set their faces toward the north. On their march over the weary stretch of miles which lie between Chester county, South Carolina, and Preble county, Ohio, many incidents of interest occurred, one of which is especially worthy of note. as illustrating the wisdom of remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy. On the first Saturday night of the journey, the question arose whether they should resume the march on the morrow or spend the day in camp. Opinion was divided on the subject. One party held that to rest quietly in camp was their obvious duty, while the other party insisted that the Sabbath could be kept quite as well on the road. Neither side being will- ing to yield the point, the next day they parted company, and throughout the trip one party spent the Sabbath in camp and the other on the road. But each Saturday night the "camping" party overtook the "traveling" party and they spent the night together, only to part company again in the morning, They reached their destination together, the party which had rested one day in seven in fine condition, as were also their horses: the party which, to save time, had never ceased traveling, was worn and jaded and their horses re- duced to mere hacks.
The first of the South Carolina settlers reached Israel township in the year 1806, and through the next few years were followed by many others. In
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