USA > Ohio > Putnam County > History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions > Part 21
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Mr. Phillips was granted a license to keep a tavern at his residence in Kalida, on producing satisfactory evidence to the court that lawful notice of his intention had been given, and that he sustains a good moral character, that he is a suitable man, and is provided with suitable accommodations.
FIRST CASE IN COUNTY COURT.
The first case which came up before the court was that of Joshua Wag- gonseller vs. Jacob Dewees, in chancery. It was ordered that a notice in this case be published for four weeks in the Saturday Evening Post, a newspaper published in Philadelphia, and that a copy of this notice be posted on the door of the court house for four months previous to the next term of court.
It was ordered that three justices of the peace be allowed to the newly
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organized townships, making the number as follows: Monroe, one; Riley, two; Ottawa, two, and Greensburg, one, and that there be allowed one for Union township. It was further ordered that elections be held on the 16th day of May, for these justices of the peace.
Court again convened in April, 1835. Isaac McHeny, aged seventy-two years, a resident of this county, came into court and made a declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed June II, 1832, grant- ing pensions to soldiers of the Revolutionary War, and his declaration was certified to the war department.
It was ordered that Sheldon Guthrie, James Taylor, F. C. Fitch, Richard Lee and Moses Lee be appointed as school examiners.
The grand jury came into court and presented six indictments. Of the six indictments, four were for selling spirits without license.
ATTORNEYS.
There is no official record of the many attorneys who have practiced in Putnam county and it has been difficult to compile a list of the lawyers who have practiced at various times in the county. In the following compilation, they are listed by towns, and an effort has been made to give them in the order in which they settled in the town. Many of them, of course, began practic- ing in one town and later moved to another town, and especially is this true of the early lawyers of Kalida. Practically all of the attorneys of Kalida moved to Ottawa when the county seat was moved to the latter place in the latter part of the sixties.
Ottawa-J. B. Woodruff, T. J. Logan, D. I. Brown, Richard Lameson, Charles A. Wright, Azariah Budd, Day Pugh, James R. Linn, James Ander- son, Eli Holmes, Josiah Gallup, C. J. Swan, H. F. Knowles, John Buchanan, Stansbury Sutton, Joseph Foll, J. J. Moore, W. C. G. Krauss, Christian Barr, R. W. Barton, Alexander Moore, Martin Knupp, A. L. Thomas, A. V. Watts, George H. Knupp, J. S. Ogan, W. H. Kinder, James T. Lentzy, Hugh Mc- Clure, J. M. Sheets, John P. Bailey, D. C. Long, L. E. Holtz, George Fritz, E. R. Eastman, Charles Troyer, James Bethard, J. P. Leasure, D. M. Bailey, D. N. Powell, J. H. Straman, G. W. Risser, John E. Todd, W. W. Sutton, W. H. Handy, Guy C. Long, B. A. Unverferth, C. S. Malone, Hiram Sum- mers, Albert H. Straman, Edward F. Weiser, J. W. Smith, Frank Firman, C. W. Fawcett, Ralph Pugh, Gilson Moore, B. L. Griffith, W. H. Leete, Benjamin Griffith and L. E. Eastman.
Kalida-F. H. Gillette, A. A. Skinner, W. L. Berge, John Norris, J. M.
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Palmer, Benjamin Metcalf, James McKenzie, J. J. Ackerman, W. H. Ball, A. Monroe and Charles Veach. Veach is the only attorney now practicing in Kalida.
Columbus Grove-N. W. Ogan, Elam Day, Sidney Sanders, W. C. Tingle, Guy Killen, H. S. Core, Chester C. Rimer and N. E. Mallahan.
Continental-A. J. McClure, Charles Varner, E. L. Hartman and J. C. Madden.
The following is a list of the judges of various courts from the organ- ization of the county, in 1834, up to the present time :
ASSOCIATE JUDGES.
Previous to 1834, or until the county was organized, this county had no distinctive judges, as the territory was attached to Williams county for judicial purposes.
In 1834 the first associate judges were elected and the bench consisted of the following persons : William Cochran, Henry Morris and Silas Mc- Clish. These judges served until the year 1845. Silas McClish was elected as presiding judge in 1842.
In 1845, George Skinner and Jonathan Sackett were elected as associate judges and served until 1853, when a new state constitution went into effect.
COMMON PLEAS JUDGES.
The court of common pleas was created in 1853 by the enactment of the new constitution. The following have served the county in that capacity : 1853-57, John M. Palmer; 1857-58, M. C. Whiteley ; 1858-65, Benjamin F. Metcalf (died in office) ; 1865, O. W. Rose (served eight months; died in office) ; 1865-1878, James McKenzie; 1878-79, Charles Hughes (district changed in this year) ; 1879-1885, John J. Moore; 1885-94, W. H. Handy ; 1894-99, John M. Sheets; 1898-06, Michael Donnelly (resigned to become member of circuit court of the district) ; 1906, J. S. Ogin (served eight months to fill vacancy ) ; 1906-20, John P. Bailey.
CIRCUIT COURT JUDGES.
The circuit courts were created in 1884 and Putnam county was placed in the third judicial district, comprising sixteen counties. In 1884, the fol- lowing judges were elected : Thomas Bier, of Crawford county, for term of
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two years; John J. Moore, of Putnam, for term of four years; Henry W. Seney, of Hardin county, for term of six years; 1892, James H. Day, of Mercer county, elected for six years ; 1894, James L. Price, of Allen county, elected for six years ; 1896, Caleb B. Morris, of Marion county, elected for six years; 1896, John C. Royer, of Fulton county, apointed to fill vacancy of Seney ; 1904, Silas E. Hurin, of Hancock county, elected for six years ; 1906- 15, Michael Donnelly, of Henry county; 1908-20, Walter H. Kinder, of Hancock county ; 1910-16, Phil M. Crow, of Hardin county; 1915, T. T. Ansberry, appointed to succeed Donnelly. In 1913 the circuit court became the appellate court.
ATTORNEYS OF PUTNAM COUNTY IN 1915.
Ottawa-D. M. Bailey, E. R. Eastman, Leroy Eastman, George Fritz, C. W. Fawcett, Benjamin Griffiths, W. H. Handy, J. P. Leasure, J. J. Moore, J. S. Ogan, D. N. Powell. H. M. Summers, J. W. Smith, J. H. Straman, Albert Straman, Benjamin Unverferth, A. V. Watts and Edward Weiser.
Leipsic-A. A. Slaybaugh and W. S. Stevenson.
Columbus Grove-Harry Core and C. C. Rimer.
Continental-J. C. Madden, Charles Varner and E. L. Hartman. Kalida-Charles Veach.
CHAPTER XIV.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
The public schools of Putnam county have gone through a marked change from the beginning to the present time. The first definite organiza- tion which the schools had was "two mile districts." The townships were surveyed and laid out in two-mile-square districts. These districts were self- governing, independent bodies. The citizens of these districts met at the school house and elected the school board, which consisted of three directors. The directors made their own tax levy, employed their own teachers and were the head of the school systems in the several districts. The directors made their report to the county auditor and were responsible to him alone. They were their own treasurer and dispensed the school funds themselves.
The next change came a short time later. The citizens still elected their three directors as before, but one of these directors was chosen as the presi- dent of the two-mile-square district, while the other two were merely sub- directors. The former became a member of the township board of education, which elected the teachers and made the tax levy. The duty invested in the sub-directors was merely to suggest and recommend teachers and other mat- ters, but having no immediate voice in the business; but the township board was the official school body and transacted all of the important business. They made their report to the county auditor as before.
The next change came in 1900, when the township board was elected at large by the voters, regardless of districts, and this board consisted of only five members. This board was the official organ of the school system of the county, electing the teachers, levying the taxes and buying fuel, etc. There was still one sub-director. He was elected by the local people from each district and could recommend and make suggestions, and also had the care of the building.
Under the old law for twenty years back, township supervision was optional. In this system the township board hired their supervisor, but this was entirely optional. Riley township was the only one in the county having township supervision. Another plan was where a union of townships could be effected if desired. An example of this system in the county was the
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union of Liberty and Van Buren townships. The optional supervision law ran up to the present code, when supervision was made mandatory.
The next change came in 1913, which dispensed with the sub-director, taking the school government more and more out of the hands of the people. The effort all through this change of system has been to make the county the strong unit, the desire being to make the county count for more than the township. The powers which were formerly delegated to the township are now delegated to the county. This strong basic influence, by way of explana- tion, came from the systems in vogue in Virginia and were copied by the law- makers of Ohio from that state.
This latter change, which went into effect May 22, 1913, provides that the county board of education, which is the chief body, must be elected by the presidents of the existing school boards of the township. In case there are special districts in a township, the presidents of these several school boards meet and decide who shall cast the vote for the township in the county board election. Each township is entitled to only one vote. The county board of education is made up of five members.
The first meeting, which was a special session as provided by this law, was held on the third Saturday of July, 1913. The regular meetings are to be held the third Saturday in March, at which meeting the regular business is disposed of. Other regular meetings are to be held every two months, although a special meeting can be called between regular meetings.
The members of the county board of education are elected regularly for a term of five years, one retiring each year and a new member is elected. These members must be from different districts. At the first election, which was held on June 2, 1914, the following were elected to serve on the board of education for Putnam county. In order that the rotating system, whereby one new member was elected each year, could be brought into effect, at the first election the members were elected for a term of from one to five years as follows : B. H. Herringhaus, one year term, district No. 12; Harry Reese, two year term, district No. 6; Dr. C. F. Douglas, three year term, district No. 8; Frank Giesken, four year term, district No. 3: W. P. Frantz, five year term, district No. I.
This board met in regular session on June 13, 1914, at which time George J. Keinath was elected as the first county superintendent, for a term of two years. The duties of the superintendent, besides the regular oversight of the schools, are to act as secretary of the county board of education and also act as executive officer of the board, with the privilege of discussion and
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making suggestions, but not the power of voting. The superintendent is elected for a term of from one to three years, as the board decides.
The county board of education divides the county into supervision dis- tricts. Each district contains one or more villages or rural districts and no district shall have more than sixty teachers or less than twenty. If there are three or more boards in a district, the presidents of the boards elect the district superintendent. If only two boards in a district, they all have a vote.
The county board of education met on August 4, 1914, and divided Putnam county into twelve supervision districts. Following is a table show- ing the supervision districts, name of the district superintendent, number of teachers in each supervision district and number of teachers in each local district :
District, name of superintendent ; local districts and number of teachers in each, and total number of teachers in each supervision district follow :
No. I-Northeast supervision district, W. W. Dibble, superintendent. Liberty township, 9 teachers; Van Buren township, 7; Blanchard township, 12; Gilboa village. 2; Belmore village, 4; total, 34.
No. 2-Northwest supervision district, J. E. Hathorn, superintendent. Palmer township, 8 teachers ; Monroe township, 7; Perry township, 8; Miller City village, 3; Hartsburg Special, 2; Dupont village, 3; Cloverdale, vil- lage, 3; total, 34.
No. 3-Center supervision district, H. J. Benning, superintendent. Ottawa township, 5 teachers; Greensburg township, 7; Glandorf village, 6; Ottawa and Pleasant special, 1 ; Hoffman special, I; "Plum Creek" Center, I ; B. Fortman special, I ; Theodore Fortman special, I ; Liberty special, 1 ; New England special, I ; total, 25.
No. 4-Southeast district, J. A. Smith, superintendent. Riley town- ship, 18 teachers; Pleasant township, 9; total, 27.
No. 5-Southwest supervision district, F J. Uhrich, superintendent. Monterey township, 2 teachers; Jackson township, 5; Ottoville village, 7; Monterey second special, 2; Jackson special, I ; total, 17.
No. 6-Sugar Creek district, Perry Ford, superintendent. Sugar Creek township, 13 teachers; total, 13.
No. 7-Jennings supervision district, Frank A. Derck, superintendent. Jennings township, 5 teachers; Ft. Jennings village, 3; Rushmore special, 2; total, 10.
No. 8-Kalida supervision district, H. M. Jay, superintendent. Kalida
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village, 6 teachers; Jack Oak special, I; Mud Ridge special, I; Union town- ship, I ; total, 9.
No. 9-Columbus Grove supervision district, W. E. Stevens, superin- tendent. Columbus Grove village, 13 teachers; total, 13.
No. 10-Continental, J. H. Young, superintendent. Continental village, 10 teachers; total, IO.
No. II-Leipsic, A. C. Alleshouse, superintendent. Leipsic village, II teachers ; total, II.
No. 12 -- Ottawa, C. J. Holzhauer, superintendent. Ottawa village, II teachers; total, II.
The law has been amended, which will make a change in these districts in the near future.
COLUMBUS GROVE SCHOOLS.
In 1842 two school districts were created in Pleasant township. The Westerley district, with small portions of other townships became special district No. 2. Rev. William McGookin was the first teacher. From time to time various sub-districts were formed from territory detached from this district, leaving what is now known as Columbus Grove special district. The first school house, a log structure, was located on the north side of High street, near the site of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad. The second, a frame building, was erected on the same location and when the railroad was built it was purchased by the company, moved to their station grounds and used for a depot. The third building, a two-story frame, erected near the present school grounds, is still standing, being used for a barn. The next school building was first erected as a six-room structure and later was enlarged to twelve rooms.
The present building was erected in the year 1909 and is considered as one of the best equipped for fire protection in the state. It has seventeen rooms, a library, teachers' rest room, and superintendent's office, making it most convenient and commodious for both teachers and pupils and, with the modern equipment, makes it one of the most up-to-date school buildings in the county.
The teachers following Reverend McGookin in the first building were, Joseph Lippincot, Dr. H. E. White, Elizabeth Stewart (Mrs. N. H. Bagley), Dr. J. A. Newell, John Cottner, David McCurdy, Phillip Anderson and J. B. Jones. Elizabeth Begg (Mrs. George Morris), J. B. Sprague and C. A. McDowell taught in the second building. J. W. Powell, David Wisterman,
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James Anderson, Mary Begg ( Mrs. F. M. Cheadle ) and E. R. Hogle taught in the third building. J. H. Bowman and W. O. Brown taught in the third building, completing the list to 1875.
In 1875 the classes were graded and a course of study was adopted, the first class graduating in 1878. There have been over two hundred and fifty graduates from the high school, and there are fourteen in the present gradu- ating class. At present there are three hundred and fifteen enrolled in the grades and one hundred and seven in the high school. Nine teachers are em- ployed in the grades and four in the high school. Superintendent W. E. Stevens, who is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, has served the school since 1910 and has been employed for two years longer. The prin- cipal, F. W. Sexton, is a graduate of Wooster University.
Following are the superintendents since 1875: J. F. Jones, September, 1875-May, 1878; W. L. Brothers, September, 1878-May, 1879; E. T. Fair- child, September, 1879-May, 1883; F. C. Knoff, September, 1883-May, 1885; E. Ward, September, 1885-May, 1891 ; A. L. Belch, September, 1891-May, 1898; H. D. Grindle, September, 1898-May, 1904; W. E. Kershner, Septem- ber, 1904-May, 1905; James T. Begg, September, 1905-May, 1910; W. E. Stevens, September, 1910, to the present.
VAUGHNSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL.
Thirty-five years ago there were nine school districts in Sugar Creek township, with three school directors to each district. This is the first his- tory of the schools which can be gathered. This township supervision, which began in 1902, lasted thirteen years.
Vaughnsville became a first-grade high school in 1911. Although this was not the beginning of the school system there, as they had held school for several years in different buildings in the town, still they had no high school building and were not classed as first grade. The first high school was held in the township house in 1901.
The present beautiful and modern building was erected in 1908 and marked the real entry of Vaughnsville into the limelight as an educational center. The building was finished at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars, and the following school board deserves some praise for its success: J. M. Gardner, president; M. M. Auchmutey, clerk; I. N. Parker, C. R. Smith and Harry Reese, directors.
The following have served as superintendents: John Funk, E. W Greene, Victor Perry and Perry Ford. Forty-five young men and women
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have been sent out into the world with a finished high school education since it became a first-grade high school, four years ago. The present enrollment numbers sixty-eight. There are fifteen in the 1915 graduating class.
The present school board consists of the following: Harry Reese, president ; O. T. McBride, J. I. Thomas, John Stevens and John Clevenger, directors. The district schools were consolidated this year. The high school students are brought to Vaughnsville and the grade pupils are sent to Rimer. This necessitated the erection of a new school building at Rimer, at a cost of fourteen thousand dollars. An addition is also being built to the Vaughns- ville school building, at a cost of eleven thousand dollars, which doubles. the capacity of the school.
CRAWFIS COLLEGE.
Through the will of John Crawfis, a wealthy and distinguished citizen of Blanchard township, the citizens of Putnam county were afforded a means of instituting a high school with the object of affording an avenue to a higher education by the way of our district schools. Mr. Crawfis died in the year 1880 and bequeathed to Blanchard township the splendid sum of twenty- five thousand dollars to be used in the erection of a college. This proved to be the greatest gift which the citizens of Putnam county could hope for, and was the real start of the splendid school systems in this county.
The work on this handsome structure was begun in the year 1888. The site was in the southeastern portion of section 20, Blanchard township, lo- cated on the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western railroad. The building was a two-story brick structure, erected at a cost of eleven thousand dollars and christened Crawfis College in honor of the donor of this noble gift, who made its erection possible. The campus is planted in shade trees and pre- sents a very pretty appearance. During the year following, 1889, two dormitories were built, at a cost of two thousand and eighty-seven dollars, making one of the most complete public schools in the state and furnishing accommodations for higher education to the students of this community.
The building committee was composed of A. C. Hall, N. Conine and B. O. Robinson. The architect, E. Zoll, of Findlay, drew up the plans for the building, and A. Faeth, of Delphos, Ohio, had the contract. Prof. I. L. Harmon served as the first superintendent, from 1888 to 1891; Prof. Job Hill, from 1891-92; Prof. J. T. Fairchild, Prof. L. S. Lafferty, from 1892- 94; Prof. B. J. Beach, from 1894-97; Prof. W. S. Wallen; Prof. John
P4
CRAWFIS COLLEGE.
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Wallen; Prof. John Hathorn, and Prof. W. W. Dibble, who is still head of the school.
The following teachers have assisted : George W. Risser, O. C. Wright, commercial department ; Florence B. McClure, language; Mrs. O. C. Wright, elocution, with Charles Harbaugh, assistant ; B. F. Finkle, mathematics; Mary Banfield, shorthand and typewriting ; J. Krider, penmanship; Charlotte Rice, common branches; A. V. Mueller, German ; C. C. Miller, assistant in the nor- mal institute ; Etta Compton, pianist ; Blanche Adams, O. V. Todd and Emma Everett, assistants in the common branches; L. D. Hook, penmanship; G. R. Miller and J. C. Light, common branches; Bessie Ashbaugh, elocution ; Flora McCray, pianist; Professor Wisley, telegraphy; N. O. Harmon, vio- lin ; Mrs. Lafferty, Katherine Oren, Captolia Oren, Ida Barto, Phoebe Oren, common branches, and Mr. Black, penmanship.
The school has had a flourishing career under the able management of the above superintendents and competent assistants. The school was changed to a first-grade high school on December 8, 1908, and at present is under district supervision. W. W. Dibble, the present superintendent, deserves much of the praise for the excellent status of the school and the achieve- ments which have been the reward of his efforts.
The girls' dormitory was destroyed by fire, but was soon replaced by a new one, which is very commodious and modern.
The school is on a firm basis, with well-equipped laboratories, a splendid library, including encyclopedias, dictionaries and many works of standard authors. The present corps of teachers are George R. Miller, principal; Janet Rower, teacher of languages; T. I. Curtis, teacher of science. The enrollment at present embraces thirty-two pupils. This year's graduating class included four members.
LEIPSIC HIGH SCHOOL.
The Leipsic public school was organized in 1867, with Dr. J. C. McClung as principal, and had an enrollment of thirty-four pupils. In 1878 a commo- dious school building was erected, which accommodated the children of this village.
In 1880 it had reached the grade entitling it to a position of a high school. The growth of the school was so rapid, along with the increase in the population of the town, and reached such proportions that the building was inadequate to accommodate all of the students. The former structure was enlarged with an addition, and this furnished ample room for the mem-
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bers of the school until the present structure was built, in 1908, at a cost of thirty-seven thousand dollars. This school building is modern and up-to- date in every respect, and, in addition to class rooms, superintendent's office, library, etc., it has an auditorium with a seating capacity of six hundred and twenty, large stage, and a very great asset, not only for the school to be proud of, but also the townspeople.
In 1883 the high school, under Supt. A. B. Spach, sent forth its first grad- uate, William H. Burkholder. Up to the present time two hundred and thirty-four have received certificates of graduation, and the present class numbers twenty-seven. The steady increase in the number of graduates is in marked contrast to the growth of the school. In the thirty-two years of its existence it has grown from a third-grade to a first-grade high school, from a few students to an enrollment of approximately four hundred at present. A chemistry course was added in 1914; also a phonograph has been installed for marching music. The school is active in athletics, and especially active along lines of literary societies. The Emersonian and Websterian societies are rival organizations and each year hold a contest in reading, debating and oratory, for a silver cup.
There are four teachers in the high school and eight in the grades. Following is a list of the superintendents since 1883: A. B. Spach, 1883-86; I. L. Harmon, 1886-89 ; L. S. Lafferty, 1889-91 ; C. M. Lewis, 1891-97; C. J. Luxmore, 1897-98; W S. Sackett, 1898-1908; H. A. Lind, 1908-13; A. C. Alleshouse, 1913 to the present. Mr. Alleshouse has been re-employed for two years longer. He has Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Wittenberg College, Springfield. Ohio. The principal, P. J. Foltz, is a graduate of Defiance College.
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