USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio, from 1808 to 1908, Vol. II > Part 12
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HORATIO WITT.
Horatio Witt, who is now living retired in Olivesburg, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, March 16, 1815, his parents being George and Sarah (Schultz) Witt, both natives of the east, the mother's birth having occurred in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, where she also celebrated her marriage. In the fall of 1837 George Witt and his wife journeyed by wagon to Wayne county, Ohio, where they remained for two years and then took up their abode in Knox county. The father was a carpenter by trade, but after locating in Knox county he gave his attention to general agricultural pursuits until called to his final rest in 1864, when almost seventy years of age. His wife's death also occurred on the farm in Knox county when she had attained the age of over sixty years. Of their family of thirteen chil- dren only three survive, namely: Horatio, of this review; Mrs. Rebecca Burris, of Rochester, New York; and Henry, residing in Kansas.
Horatio Witt acquired but a limited education in the schools of his native state, and in the spring of 1837 came to Ohio, locating at Jackson, where he followed the carpenter's trade, which he had learned under the supervision of his father. In 1839 he returned to Somerset county, Penn- sylvania, and thence removed to Fort Cumberland, Maryland. In 1840 he once more came to this state, locating in Knox county, while in 1843 he took up his abode in Rome, Richland county, where for thirty-five years he suc- cessfully followed his trade. After the death of his wife he lived retired in Mansfield for nine years, and for the past two years has made his home in Olivesburg. He owns eighty acres of land near Rome, and is one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of the community. He also has a creditable military record, having enlisted on the 27th of August, 1862, as a member of Company E, Third Ohio Cavalry, and a company of the Army of the Cumberland. He was honorably discharged in June, 1865.
In Bedford county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of February, 1840, Mr. Witt was united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth Devoe Baker, who was born in
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that county in 1807, and who died September 26, 1886. She had three children by her first marriage and two by her second, named Lesley Levi and Sarah E., both of whom are deceased.
In his political views Mr. Witt was originally a whig and cast his first ballot for Harrison, but since the organization of the republican party has been a strong supporter of its principles, and while a resident of Rome he capably served his fellow townsmen in the position of supervisor for two years. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and his social interests are centered in the G. A. R., he being a member of the Mansfield (Ohio) post. Having made his home in this county for almost two-thirds of a century, he is largely familiar with its annals from a pioneer period down to the present time and still takes an active interest in its development along many lines. Though he has passed the ninety-third milestone on life's journey, he has the appearance of a much younger man, retaining all his faculties unimpaired and is able to enjoy a humorous situation with much of the zest of youth.
FRED WALTER.
Fred Walter is now living quietly in honorable retirement from labor in Mansfield, but there have been many interesting and at times thrilling experi- ences in his life record. Born across the water, he was numbered among the argonauts who sought the Golden Fleece in California and has been identified with mercantile interests for many years in Richland county. He has now reached the venerable age of eighty-two but in spirit and interests seems yet in his prime and is enjoying life amid pleasant surroundings at his home in the county seat. He was born in Huntheim in the grand duchy of Baden, Ger- many, January 13, 1826, a son of Franz Valtin and Monika (Heimbuuecher) Walter. In the summer of 1833 the family left their home at Huntheim and traveled by wagon through France to Havre-de-Grace, where they took passage on the sailing ship, Francis, the first to leave for New York. There they arrived after a voyage of forty-seven days and afterward took passage on a flatboat attached to a stern wheeled steamer for Albany, New York. At that point they boarded a canal-boat for Buffalo, whence they proceeded by steamer to Portland, now Sandusky, Ohio. Their destination was Peru, Huron county, Ohio, and there the father secured a farm, on which Fred Walter worked until September 27, 1845.
On that date he was apprenticed to learn the brewing business at the old city brewery in Mansfield, and when three years later the owners of the brewery sold out to Kraft & Long, Mr. Walter was retained as brewmaster and manager of the brewery at the magnificent salary of eighteen dollars per month and board, working sixteen hours per day. He filled that position until February, 1850, when, attracted by the discovery of gold and the consequent business opportunities offered in California, he organized a company of nine men for a trip across the plains, his associates being Louis Vonhof, Louis Wolfert,
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Louis Remy, Louis Grabil, Joseph Luethner, Philip Went, John Matthes and Mr. Roering. On the 19th of February they proceeded over the Sandusky & Mansfield, now the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, to Sandusky and thence over the Mad River Railroad to Cincinnati. They accomplished that part of their journey in twenty-four hours, which was considered fast time for that day. They then proceeded down the river to St. Louis by steamer and up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Independence, Missouri, where they outfitted for a trip across the plains, securing two wagons and eight mules.
On the 15th of April they started on their trip of two thousand miles over a wild and unsettled country. They were members of a train consisting of thirteen wagons and forty-five men, but lost one man by drowning in the Green river. After a tedious and dangerous trip through that Indian country, across the hot, sandy deserts and through the mountain passes, they arrived at Hangtown, now Placerville, California, on the 12th of July, finding there a typical mining camp with all the various phases of life represented. There Mr. Walter did his first mining and for two years he continued the search for the precious metal, meeting with but indifferent success. Believing that he might derive greater profit from business interests, he then located at Weaver- ville, California, where he and a partner put up the first brewery in the north- ern part of the state. It was primitive in its style of construction, for the part- ners did most of the work themselves, sawing the necessary lumber by hand, as lumber at that time sold at two hundred and fifty dollars per thousand feet. Their beer kettle held two barrels, as it was impossible to pack a larger one on mule back over the hundred miles of mountain trails to their location. How- ever, they enlarged their kettle by putting on a three-barrel wooden addition, so that they could brew about four barrels of beer. The malt was ground in a handmill and they sold beer for two dollars per gallon, paying nine dollars per bushel for barley and three dollars per pound for hops. The retail dealers sold pony glasses of beer, as they did all other drinks and cigars, at twenty-five cents. The new concern prospered and after three years, in 1855, the partners erected a substantial brick brewery with more modern appliances at a cost of twenty-six thousand dollars.
In 1858 Mr. Walter made a trip by way of the Isthmus route and by steamer to Ohio and was married in Toledo, this state, on the 28th of December of that year, to Miss Mary Wilhelm, of Monroeville, Ohio. They have become the parents of nine children, of whom three sons and five daughters are yet living. A few days after their marriage, on the 1st of January, 1859, Mr. Walter and his bride started for California, again making the trip by way of the water route. He not only continued an active factor in business but was also a prominent man in the community and in affairs of state. In 1860 he was elected to represent his district in the California legislature and while thus serving voted to make the first appropriation for the California state house sitting as a member of the legislature he received a dispatch that his brewery was wrecked by fire. It was a fireproof building on the outside, but inflammable materials were used on the inside and the loss was fifteen thousand dollars, with no insurance. Returning to Weaverville, Mr. Walter arranged to put on a
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large force of men to repair damages and in six weeks the brewery was in full operation again.
While continuing a residen' of California, Mr. Walter was in 1865 elected state and county tax collector for two years, and as the duties of the office demanded his entire time, he and his partner sold the brewery. They had made a successful venture of this and for a considerable period had enjoyed an extensive and profitable patronage. In 1867 Mr. Walter was nominated by the democracy for state senator but the district was overwhelmingly repub- lican and he lost the election by fifty-six votes. He ran far ahead of his ticket, however, a fact which indicated his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his fellowmen.
Having disposed of all his business interests in the far west, Mr. Walter returned to Ohio in 1868, his family having preceded him the previous year. For a few months he enjoyed a well merited rest and then engaged in the whole- sale grocery business as a member of the firm of Remy, Hedges & Walter. This venture did not prove profitable, however, and was closed out with considerable loss in 1879. Mr. Walter then turned his attention to the wholesale liquor business, which he conducted along profitable lines until 1894, when he turned over the business to his two sons and retired. He is now resting in well earned ease and has reached the age of eighty-two years. His has been a long and active life and wherever he is known he has gained many friends who esteem mim for various traits of character which uniformly command respect and regard. .
HIRAM R. SMITH.
It is seldom that one attains such a venerable age as has Hiram R. Smith and yet retains his faculties so slightly impaired, for Mr. Smith is now ninety- five years of age, but to converse with him and discuss with him the affairs of the times one would think him much younger. His mind, too, forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present and in the storehouse of his memory are many things that are of interest and value to the historian concerning the early days when Mansfield was a village and the surrounding country was largely an unimproved wilderness. For many years he has lived a retired life, enjoying the fruits of his former toil, yet is still financially interested in a number of different enterprises which have been of material benefit to the town and county.
Hiram R. Smith was born January 7, 1813, his parents being Asa and Hannah (Richmond) Smith, the former a native of Long Island, New York, and the latter of Rhode Island. They were married in the Empire state and made their home in Waterloo, New York, until attracted by the opportunities of the new but growing west, they removed to Huron, Ohio. Travel was not done at that time with long trains of cars propelled by steam, and on their westward way they journeyed on the lakes. Their family numbered seven children, of whom Hiram R. Smith is now the only survivor. He was but
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Jinam Rfmich
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two years of age when his father died, and later the mother sold the farm, which had been secured in pioneer times, and removed to the city of San- dusky, where she continued until her demise. Most of the family have attained advanced years. One son, William B., died in Sandusky at the age of eighty-three years, after being long and prominently connected with the city. He built the first frame dwelling there and also the first brick resi- dence and it is still standing. He was identified with its business interests as a merchant. Sally became the wife of Silas Dewey and both died in Clyde, Ohio, near Toledo. Nancy became the wife of Amos Fenn, a native of Massa- chusetts and a prominent early settler, manufacturer and farmer of Clyde, where he served as justice of the peace for thirty years, while both he and his wife resided there until called to the home beyond. Clarissa became the wife of Hugh McFall, one of the first merchants of Mansfield and a citizen prominent in community affairs. Both he and his wife died in Mansfield. Frederick spent his entire life in Sandusky. Susan became the wife of James P. Bowman and lived in Mansfield for many years. She died here, but her husband's death occurred in Bucyrus, Ohio.
At the age of eleven years Hiram R. Smith came to Mansfield, which city has been his home for eighty-four years. His coming antedates that of any other resident, and within his memory Mansfield has developed from a little hamlet to a prosperous city of over twenty-four thousand inhabitants. There is no resident here who has a more comprehensive and accurate knowl- edge of events which occurred in the early day, for what are to others matters of history have been to him matters of observation or experience. He attended the pioneer schools of Mansfield, his principal instructor being Alex- ander Barr, a leading educator of his day, and Mr. Smith was also at one time a student under Judge Stewart, the father of Mrs. John Sherman.
Starting out in the business world, Mr. Smith became a clerk in the mercantile establishment owned by his brother-in-law, Mr. McFall, under whom he became deputy postmaster in 1830, and in 1839 he also engaged in merchandising for himself, carrying on the business very successfully until 1870. In the early days he shipped his goods from Philadelphia by team and he has crossed the Allegheny mountains in a canalboat. When he had ceased to engage in merchandising on his own account he began the erection of the Smith block on Main street, and it still continues one of the valuable prop- erties of the city as well as one of the most attractive in its style of architecture. It is four stories in height and seventy by one hundred and eighty feet. Mr. Smith had purchased the lot in 1840, and it has produced regular annual rentals since that time. Various business enterprises have felt the stimulus of his cooperation and sound judgment. He was one of the first directors of the Richland Mutual Insurance Company, and became its president. He is the oldest director in the Farmers National Bank, and was likewise vice president of that institution. He was also a director of the Mansfield Cemetery Association.
In 1839 Mr. Smith was married to Miss Ann C. Leiter, a native of Leitersburg, Maryland, and they became the parents of four children, but all are now deceased save Richmond, who is the secretary and manager of the
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Richland Mutual Insurance Company. The death of Mrs. Hiram Smith occurred in 1850 and when four years had passed Mr. Smith wedded Miss Ann Ward, of Richland county, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Ward, who were early settlers of this county. By this union two children were born: Ward, who died in August, 1899, at the age of forty-three years, leaving a wife and two daughters; and Rena, the wife of E. B. Caldwell, a druggist of Mansfield.
In his political views Mr. Smith has always been a democrat, stanchly supporting the party as it has expressed the trend of public thought upon the momentous questions of the day that can be affected through legislation. He has been called upon to serve his city in various official positions and there are many evidences cited of his intense public spirit and helpful attitude toward Mansfield. He was largely instrumental in securing the reformatory here, and when the Children's Home was built, was at the head of the enterprise. He and his family are all members of the Congregational church, and have been generous in its support and active in its work. Mr. Smith has now reached the remarkable old age of ninety-five years, and the greater part of this time has been spent in Mansfield, where he is honored by young and old, rich and poor. His name here has been a syonym of business integrity, of public-spirited citizenship and of progressiveness in all life's relations and as the years have passed he has builded a character which everywhere awakens admiration and esteem.
The following article, concerning pioneer times, was written by Mr. Smith when ninety-five years of age:
Asa Smith and Hannah Richmond Smith, my father and mother, moved from Seneca county, New York, in the spring of 1810, and settled on the banks of Lake Erie at Huron, Ohio, where I was born January 7, 1813. Before and during the war of 1812 the settlers experienced a great many hardships and their lives were in constant danger from the Indians. At the first election in Huron, Ohio, Asa Smith was elected justice of the peace. My father died in 1815.
On the fourth of July, 1824, my sister, Clarissa Smith, was married to Hugh McFall, of Mansfield, and about two months later, in September, of the same year, she had me, her youngest brother, then only eleven years of age, to come to Mansfield and make my home with her.
Mr. McFall was one of the early merchants of Mansfield, and he came here in 1820. He took me into the store to do chores. I went to school in the winter. My teacher was Alexander Barr. The schoolhouse was on the north side of East Fourth street, near the big spring. The boys had to take turns in chopping wood and building fires, and the girls in sweeping in the schoolroom at noon. I finished my education under Judge James Stewart's school on Park avenue West.
In 1828 James Hedges was a member of the Ohio Legislature, and through his influence, Hugh McFall was made a presidential elector for this congressional district. In January, 1829, Hugh McFall went to Columbus and cast his vote for Andrew Jackson for president. Mr. McFall made the trip on horseback, as there were no stages running at that time.
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Upon his return he brought a small keg of oysters in his saddle bags-the first oysters ever received in Mansfield. The keg contained about three quarts. We had a good deal of trouble in eating them, as we did not know which end of the oyster to put in our mouths first, but with the assistance of our neighbor we got them all eaten.
Gen. Andrew Jackson was inaugurated president March 4, 1829, and a short time thereafter Hugh McFall received the appointment of postmaster, which he filled during Jackson's two terms.
I was appointed deputy postmaster and had special charge of the office.
In 1830 there had accumulated a surplus of funds in the office of twelve hundred dollars. We received an order from the postoffice department at Washington to deposit the money in the Franklin bank of Columbus. Stages were not yet running.
The money being all in silver, the bulk was both large and heavy. Mr. McFall having been over the road so lately, explained the way to go, and the stopping places. My first stop was Fredericktown, where I got my horse fed and dinner at Abner Ayers' Hotel. From Fredericktown there was a new road cut through to Sunbury in Delaware county, which was very thinly settled. At one place it was five miles between cabins.
The first night I stopped at Mr. Potter's Tavern near the west line of Knox county. Mr. Potter, in taking the saddle bags off the horse remarked. "Young man, this is very heavy." I explained to Mr. Potter the contents, and requested him to put the saddle bags in a safe place. The next morning I started off all right. As the sun was going down I came to a crossroad, and learned from the guide board that it was nine miles to Columbus, and two miles to Worthington. I realized that I could not get to Columbus until late in the night, so I went to Worthington, which was a new town laid out by Colonel Kilbourn, who entertained travelers. When I rode up to the house, Mr. Kilbourn came out and took the saddle bags off the horse. He made the same remark that Mr. Potter had made. When I explained my business to Mr. Kilbourn 1 was all right. He was a Jackson democrat and knew that Mr. McFall was a presidential elector. He also knew my mother in Sandusky, as he had a brother, Hector Kilbourn, living there and he often visited hint. Colonel Kilbourn was the grandfather of James Kilbourn, of Columbus, who ran for governor.
The next morning I rode into Columbus, and made my deposit in the Franklin bank and remained there until the next morning looking around the city and through the first State House built in Columbus.
It stood at the edge of the sidewalk.
I came home by way of Johnstown, from Johnstown through Granville. Newark, Utica, Mt. Vernon and Bellville, home.
The first stage line through Mansfield was established by Marsh & Barney. Mr. Marsh kept the first hotel in Sandusky, and Mr. Barney lived in Mt. Vernon. They ran road wagons with canvas covers and carried all kinds of merchandise and passengers. They ran from Sandusky through Norwalk, New Haven, Mansfield, Mt. Vernon to Delaware and made a round trip once a week. About 1831 Neal & Moore & Co. established a daily hne of stages
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from Columbus through Mt. Vernon, Mansfield and Norwalk to Sandusky. About two years later a line of stages was established from Pittsburg through New Lisbon, Canton, Wooster to Mansfield and a few years later was extended to Bucyrus.
The old and main line of stages was from Philadelphia through Lan- caster, Harrisburg, Carlisle and Bedford to Pittsburg. On the National Road from Baltimore to Wheeling, Columbus and continued on west and from Albany to Buffalo. They ran day and night. The driver carried a way bill with the names of every passenger.
In those days the only mode of travel was by water, stage and horse- back. The first steamboat on Lake Erie was called, "Walk in the Water." She was a medium sized boat with a stern wheel.
In those days there were no commercial travelers and we were com- pelled to go to eastern cities to buy our goods. Such articles as iron, nails and glass we bought in Pittsburg. There were regular teams on this route. John T. Creigh and Jerry Jaques each ran a regular line of big wagons of six horses between Mansfield and Pittsburg and supplied all the towns on their route.
Before the days of canals and railroads I used to take the stage through to Philadelphia and buy our goods and load them in big Pennsylvania wagons, six horses to a wagon and have them hauled to Mansfield. We had to pay from five to six dollars for every 100 pounds. Upon the return trip we would load the wagon with cranberries, ginseng, beeswax, butter, flaxseed and furs.
At that time a great many swamps produced cranberries. There was a large one a short distance west of Plymouth, in this county. Ginseng was in great demand for Chinese trade. There was great difficulty in those days in having freight transported to the west from the eastern cities. New York, to overcome that trouble, built a canal from Albany to Buffalo, connecting the Hudson river with Lake Erie; Philadelphia, to open up a freight line to Pittsburg, built a canal from Harrisburg to Hollidaysburg, on the east side of the mountain, and from Johnstown, on the west side of the moun- tains to Pittsburg. To make connections between the two canals there was built the Portage Railroad, rails were laid from the bottom of the canal to the top of the mountain on the east side, then down the west side into the canal at Johnstown. Canal boats were placed on trucks in the water, then freighted over the divide by stationary engines. I have sat very comfortably in a canal boat and crossed over the Allegheny mountains.
The first railroad in Pennsylvania was from Philadelphia to Columbia. The first railroad from Baltimore, the B. & O., was built to Elicott's Mills, then we had to take the stage to Wheeling, then continue on to Mansfield. The first railroad in the state of New York was from Albany to Schenectady. There was a stationary engine to haul the cars to the top of the hill at Albany and another to let them down to Schenectady on the bank of the river.
After the, opening of the New York canal I would take a steamer at San- dusky to Buffalo, quit the steamer at Buffalo and then take the canal. At Weedsport I would stop and take a hack to Auburn to buy carpenter tools
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made at the Auburn penitentiary. Returning to Weedsport I would take the canal to Albany, thence by steamer to New York city.
At one time I took a steamer at Buffalo in the evening. It was in the spring of the year, and the ice was not all out of the lake. In the morning we found the steamer was anchored at the head of Grand Island in Niagara river. During the night a lot of floating ice had carried the boat down the river and we had to remain there until the ice had sufficiently passed to let the boat go up stream. At another time I left Buffalo in the evening for San- dusky. During the night the steamboat encountered a very severe storm. The passengers were all out down in the cabin. They could neither walk nor sit without holding to something. Every article of furniture that was not nailed fast kept rolling from one side of the cabin to the other. After daylight, it was ascertained that the vessel was lying off Erie, Pennsylvania, and it was several hours before the boat could get into port. As soon as the boat reached the dock the passengers all disembarked and procured wagons to take them to Conneaut, from which place the Lake Shore road had just commenced run- ning to Cleveland. The passengers all rejoiced when they got on land. On another trip to New York, in the spring, I took a steamer at Sandusky, we found a large amount of floating ice and the further we went down the lake the more it increased until we got entirely blockaded and could not go any further, and the ice followed the boat. Next morning we found we were about a mile from the Canadian shore and opposite Buffalo. The captain sent two men to the shore to let us know whether it was safe. As soon as they reached the shore they hoisted a flag, all right. Then the passengers gathered up their baggage and started for the shore. The trunks they hauled on the ice with ropes. Then we had to hunt up farmers enough to haul us ic the Niagara river, opposite Buffalo.
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