History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 33

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The contract for building the hall was awarded to Henry Shively on the 2d day of June, 1879, at the price of one thousand six hundred and fifty-nine dollars. Floral hall was insured while being built, and was ready in time for the fair.

On the first day of the fair of 1879, being October 2, at 9 o'clock in the evening, fire broke out at the northeast corner of the fair grounds, a locality occupied by trotting and running horses. In a very short time a block of stalls, twenty-two in number, were consumed. The loss on the stalls was fully insured. Mr. J. H. Harley, of Huron, lost a valuable mare, and some valuable harness, and some saddles were also burned.

This fire was said to have been caused by fire communicated to straw in the halls from candles used by men who were sleeping in the stalls, and who went to sleep without properly caring for the light they had used. Perhaps the man fell asleep while reading. The damage done to the property by this fire was less than one hundred dollars, and was repaired by vigorous work the next day, without interrupting the proceedings of the fair.

The receipts and disbursements of the society, for the fair of 1877, were as follows:

RECEIPTS.

Amount in treasury from 1876 $161.81

Gate fees and entrance 2,714.84

Stand rents 465.00

Permits

75.25

Pasturage, racing, etc

455.55

$3,872.46

DISBURSEMENTS.

Amount of premiums paid $1,400.00

Paid on real estate and improve- ments 1,288.95

Current expenses other than pre- miums 1,217.75 $3,872.46

Funds in treasury December 14, 1877 $15.76

The society, at the date of this report, had a membership of fifteen hundred and fifty persons, with an indebtedness of two thousand five hundred and seventy-one dollars and sixty cents.

Directors were elected on the 2d day of February, 1878, for the ensuing year, as follows; Henry Filling, Madison township; Joseph D. Benner, Washington township; W. H. Hineline, Rice township; W. J. Smith, Jackson township: E. A. Beebe, Townsend township; Henry Herman, Woodville township, each for two years, and Henry Coonrod, of Fremont, director at large.

On the 16th of February, 1878, the board of directors met and elected the following officers: L. Q. Rawson, president; Charles H. Bell, vice-president; W. W. Stine, treasurer ; John Landgraff, jr., secretary.

The president then appointed an executive committee, as follows: L. Q. Rawson, C. H. Bell, Henry Coonrod, W. W. Stine, and William J. Smith. This committee, on the 5th of March, arranged a premium list for the next fair.

In this list, for the first Time, a premium was offered to encourage bee culture.

This year the board designed and com- pleted a building for the use of the officers of the society, on the grounds. The fair was held on the 1st, 2d, 3d,

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and 4th days of October, 1878, and was attended by an estimated number of ten thousand persons. The weather was of the most favorable character for the exhibition. The arrangement was good, the grounds in better order than ever before, and the fair a success in all respects. The Driving Park Association were permitted to use the race track for a consideration, which no doubt contributed to swell the attendance.

The receipts and expenditures for the fair of 1878 are as follows:

RECEIPTS.

Amount in treasury February, 1878 $15.76

Received from State allowance for 1877 127.52

Received from sale of tickets 2,888.40

Received from stands and permits 852.00

Received from county 507.00

Received from other sources 402.66

$4,793.34

DISBURSEMENTS.

Premiums paid $1,609.50

Paid for permanent improvements 860.21

Paid on old indebtedness 1,325.82

Paid for current expenses 992.51

Balance on hand December 19, 1878 5.30

$4,793.34

The great financial success and the suc- cess in other respects of this fair, encouraged the society to hope that in another year it would free itself entirely from debt, and be on the highway of advancement clear of all obstructions.

This year's statistics showed that there were forty thousand acres of wheat raised in the county, and that the average yield was twenty-two bushels to the acre.

The exhibition of machinery exceeded any thing done in that way on the ground at any previous fair. The inventions for binding grain were first exhibited at this fair, and attracted much interest and close attention.

On the 1st of February, 1879, the members of the society met at the courthouse in Fremont, for the election of direct-

ors. At this meeting, before proceeding to the election, the president, as a matter of advice, wished an expression of the sense of the members on the question of allowing the sale of beer on the fair grounds.

After considerable discussion, on motion of L. W. Ward, a vote was taken to express the opinion of the meeting on the question, but not to be binding on the directors, nor to take away their control of the matter. The vote was taken by ballot. The whole number of votes was forty-three; of this number thirty-two were in favor of allowing the sale, and eleven against it.

The members then proceeded to the election of directors for the ensuing year, with the following result: Sandusky township, Manual Maurer, two years; York, T. E. Gardner, two years; Riley, Joseph R. Clark, two years; Ballville, James E. Wickert, two years; Scott, D. S. Tinney, two years; Woodville, H. Herman, two years; director at large, Joseph Waggoner, one year. Directors holding over one year were Joseph D. Benner, W. H. Hineline, William J. Smith, E. A. Beebe, S. S, Rathbun, and Joseph Waggoner, the director at large,

On the 8th of February, 1879, the board met, and elected L. Q. Rawson, president; John L. Greene, jr., vice-president; William B. Kridler, secretary, and E. B. Moore, treasurer.

The executive committee for 1879 con- sisted of the following named gentlemen, who were appointed by the president, namely: Manuel Maurer, John I .. Greene, jr., and William J. Smith. At this meeting the rule of the State Board of Agriculture, requiring the exhibitors of thoroughbred animals to furnish the secretary of the society a pedigree of the animal at the time of making the entry, was adopted. At the same meeting the board resolved to hold the next annual

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fair on the 30th of September and the 1 st, 2d, and 3d days of the month of October, 1879.

The premium list was revised and pub- lished, and the fair was held at the appointed time. The receipts and expenditures of this fair, according to the treasurer's report, were as follows:

RECEIPTS.

Balance in treasury, February, 1879 $35.89

From sale of 4,500 tickets 1,127.75

From sale of 251 half-tickets 25.10

From sale of 856 grand stand tickets 58.60

From sale of 1,543 membership tickets 1,543.00

Received from other sources 81.80

$3,601.14

DISBURSEMENTS.

For current expenses

$1,157.15

For permanent improvements

958.96

For premiums paid

1,997.10

$4,093.21

The total indebtedness of the society on the 1st day of January, 1880, as stated in the journal of its proceedings, was one thousand three hundred and nineteen dollars and eighty-three cents. While apparently the expenditures of the society for the fair of 1879 exceeded the receipts by the amount of four hundred and ninety-two dollars and seven cents, it must be remembered that nine hundred and fifty-eight dollars and ninety-six cents were invested in permanent improvement of its property. This shows, in fact, a net gain of four hundred and sixty- six dollars and eighty-nine cents, which is doing well. It should also be noticed that the amount of premiums paid in 1879 is much greater than that paid at any preceding fair.

At a meeting of the society held at the courthouse on the 7th day of February, 1880, Joseph Waggoner was elected director at large, but declined to act as such, and William J. Smith was elected to the office.

The directors for the year 1880 were as follows: For Fremont township, M. Maurer, one year; York, T. E. Gardner, one year; Riley, Joseph R. Clark, one year

Ballville, James E. Wickert, one year; Scott, D. S. Tinney, one year; Woodville, H. Herman, one year; Madison, J. Marvin, two years, Jackson, Daniel Sueckert, two years; Washington, N. Engler, two years; Green Creek, Joseph Lutz, two years; Rice, Peter Darr, two years; Townsend, Frank Dirlam, two years; Sandusky, Fred Smith, two years; director at large, William J. Smith, for one year.

Amongst the proceedings at this meeting was the passage of a resolution forbidding the sale of beer or any intoxicating liquors on the grounds of the society, which was passed by a unanimous vote of the members of the society present at the meeting. At this meeting another resolution was unanimously passed, that the directors be requested to obey the laws of the State of Ohio in the matter of gambling, and that no wheel of fortune or gambling device of whatever kind be permitted upon the society's grounds at their annual fair.

On the 14th day of February, 1880, the board of directors met at the city council chamber, and elected the following officers, namely: J. L. Greene, president; Joseph Waggoner, vice-president; William B. Kridler, secretary, and E. B. Moore, treasurer.

At this meeting, February 14, 1880, the time for holding the next annual fair of the society was fixed for the 28th, 29th and 30th of September, and the 1st of October, 1880.

The fair was held according to appoint- ment, and was a success, as the treasurer's report to the board, made on the 1st of February, 1881, will show, and which is as follows:

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

RECEIPTS.

Balance in the treasury February 1, 1880 $189.17

Received from sale of tickets 2,622.27

Received from sale of stands and permits 347.00

Received from other sources 188.00

Received from pasturage 95.50

Received from county 479.48

$3,921.42

DISBURSEMENTS.

Amount paid for premiums $1,861.17

Amount paid for permanent improvements 813.11

Amount paid for current expenses 794.09

Amount paid for interest on certificates 63.00

Amount paid on principal of debt 72.62

Balance in treasury. 316.86

$3921.42

At the meeting on February 1, 1881, the total indebtedness of the society was ascertained, and stated to amount to six hundred and sixty dollars.

This shows the society to be on a solid financial basis, with the good will of the people to support it in the future, and in possession of one of the most attractive county fair grounds in the State.

NOTE .- The reader will find inaccuracies in the figures forming the tables of receipts and disbursements, but wherever they occur the publishers have followed the manuscript exactly, and are not responsible for the errors and discrepancies.

CHAPTER XXI. THE PRESS.

History of Newspapers Published in Fremont, Clyde, Bellevue and Green Spring-Their Editors, Politics' Changes, &c .- A Mistake and its Consequences.

T HE first step toward a complete civil- ization of a people is to open a way by which facts and ideas can be conveyed to and deposited in the storehouse of each one's heart and memory. This process may be likened to the removal from a highly productive region of country to other and new regions, rich by nature but unimproved and yielding nothing .. To clear the way and prepare the track to such new region of undeveloped hearts and minds of the people is the peculiar office and result of common education. And here the simile ends, for the whole earth may, within some vast period of time, be reached and subdued, and put in direct or indirect communication with every other part. But new territory to be reached and developed in the cause of civilization will be found in every succeeding genera-

tion of men, and will be as perpetual as humanity itself.

When education has opened the way to the hearts and understandings of the people, then next in importance comes

THE PRESS,

which may be likened to the locomotive and train attached, transporting rich cargoes of fact, science, thought, and information from the old to the new region; and when the new region is developed, the train returns with rich freights from the new to the old, thus establishing a vast exchange of new thought and facts to enrich the world.

The later inventions of the telegraph and telephone have not yet superseded the newspaper. The first is used for business chiefly, and beyond that is the hand-

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

maid of the press only; the second is too limited in its capacity for communication with the great masses of the people.

Notwithstanding the wonderful progress of invention, the newspaper yet remains the great engine for the rapid diffusion and transportation of facts and thoughts from mind to mind, and today stands the strongest helper in the great work of elevating mankind to a higher plane of sympathy and civilization.

It is probably true that the press has not always raised those seed thoughts of progress which have produced so much good. These have in part come from the scientists laboratory, the advanced thinker's brain, or the pulpit. But the press has sown the good seeds of progress, from whatever source they came, further, wider, and more broadcast amongst the people than any other instrumentality among men.

It is, therefore, fitting that, whatever has been done toward establishing and supporting the press here should be made part of the county's history. Such a record will furnish interesting matter for reference and comparison in the future, and at the same time be only an act of justice to those who worked so hard, under financial discouragements, to establish this great medium of communication amongst the people of the county.

LOWER SANDUSKY GAZETTE.

The first printing press brought to Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), was a small hand press, introduced by David Smith. The first paper printed on it was called the Lower Sandusky Gazette, edited, and published, and in fact printed by the proprietor himself, alone, he being the only hand about the office. The first number was issued in July, 1829. The size of this paper when opened and entirely spread out, was seventeen by twenty-one inches, by exact measurement.

The editor and publisher, typesetter and press man, all in one person, was a thin, pale, slip- shod specimen of humanity. He always wore his shoes, or rather slippers, broken down at the heels, and his socks were ragged. He was afflicted in the autumn of the year 1829, soon after the commencement of his brave enterprise, with fever and ague, which at that time no person of fashion was without in the dread month of September, who resided at Lower Sandusky. The editor and publisher's woodpile was always out doors in front of his office, and the pieces were eight feet long, to be chopped by himself into proper lengths of about four feet for the fireplace, from which the whole office was to be warmed in the winter. He would leave the care of the press whenever the temperature of his office fell near the freezing point, and go out to chop wood to replenish his fire, warm up the office, and then resume his place at the press, or case, or the editorial table, as the case might be. While, after a sudden, cold snap in the weather, Smith was cutting wood one winter in the snow, his heels being bare, were frozen before he could cut sufficient wood for the night, and his feet remained sore for a long time, during which kind friends volunteered to cut and carry in his firewood.

Smith found after a while that the paper would not pay, and being generally disgusted, left the country with his press, and the Lower Sandusky Gazette died of malaria and hard times at the age of about eighteen months. The future life and fate of Mr. Smith is not obtainable at the present day, but wherever he may be, whatever his fate, David Smith stands as the pioneer newspaper editor and publisher of the county, and we cheerfully give him the honor in return for his daring and sufferings in the attempt to establish a paper at that early day in Lower Sandusky.

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

Mr. Reuben Rice, now deceased, late of Ottawa county, near Elmore, in a communi- cation to the Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society, on the 26th of August, 1875, said he was a practical printer, and settled on Portage River in 1823, after spending some time at Lower Sandusky and trading there. Mr. Rice, in this com- munication, further said:

That in the year 18-year not recollected-there was a man by the name of Smith started a paper at Lower Sandusky, called, I think, the Lower Sandusky Gazette. He was taken sick and he-no, he didn't,-but his paper drooped and died, not a natural death; but Sandusky being at that time a place infested with the effluvia arising from the marshes and stagnant waters, jeopardized almost every thing that had life, and some things inanimate as well as animate, suffered from the malaria of a sickly place, so the printing of the paper died out though the printing materials he removed. I had the honor of printing said paper for a few weeks while the editor and proprietor was sick, but whether this had a tendency to bring about a more speedy termination of the malady with which said paper was afflicted, I know not, but this I do know, that the paper was to no great degree benefited by the operation, as the sequel goes to prove.

It is not known now that the Lower Sandusky Gazette was the organ or advocate of any political party, church, or sect. It was probably only a newspaper and advertising medium of no marked proclivities or objects except to live, and in this primary object it failed. From some time in 1831 to the month of June or July, 1837, a period of more than six years, no paper was printed in Lower Sandusky, and newspapers published in other localities and townships, which, in a small village is about equal to a daily paper, fed the appetite for news.

The next venture in the way of newspaper publication in Lower Sandusky was the publication of

THE LOWER SANDUSKY TIMES.

The press for this paper was brought here by Alvin G. White, who edited and published it for a time, under the auspices

of some leading politicians of the county who were opposed to the administration of Martin VanBuren. The first number was issued in June or July, A. D. 1837. It was, under the management of Mr. White, a very useful medium for advertising, and in advocating moral order in society. Mr. White published the Lower Sandusky Times several years, when ill health caused him to retire, and Peter Yates succeeded him in the management and editing of the paper, Mr. Yates was a bitter partisan and a most acrimonious writer, and under his management the paper lost ground in popularity and patronage. The Democratic party being in the ascendancy in the county, it had no public patronage, and was printed at a loss to those interested. Mr. Yates sharp, personal attacks on men, and the bitterness in the treatment of the feelings and opinions of the party opposed to him, finally resulted in a transfer of the management, and a change of the name of the paper, In 1839 Clark Waggoner, then a young printer, was placed in charge of the press and materials of the office, and commenced the publication of the.

LOWER SANDUSKY WHIG.

At this time events were tending to a great political excitement. Mr. Ogle, of Pennsylvania, had made his remarkable expose, in Congress, of the extravagance of the administration of Martin VanBuren, His great speech about the gold spoons and other golden furniture of the White House, and the immense defalcations which had taken place under his administration, amongst which was the notable defalcation of Swartwout, collector of customs in New York, were being exposed, and party spirit was being aroused under the cry of reform. The Lower Sandusky Whig, printed and published by Mr. Waggoner, was the organ of the Whig party of

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

the county, through the memorable campaign of 1840. It had the patronage and support of such men as Ralph P. Buckland, who was an active leader in the Whig party, with many other able and influential men, such as Revirius Bidwell, John A. Johnson, Dr. L. G. Harkness, Barney Kline, Amos Fenn, Frederick Chapman, Alpheus McIntyre, William S. Russell, Norton Russell, Caleb H. Bidwell, Elisha W. Howland, Thomas L. Hawkins, Dr. Thomas Stillwell, and many others, whose names do not now occur to the writer, who took an interest in the support of the paper, and many of whom became contributors to its columns. Some of these men still live, and will remember the political contest; but most of them have "passed to that bourne from whence no traveler returns," unless they return to communicate with the Spiritualists. It was in the heated campaign of 1840 that the now veteran editor of the Fremont Journal, Isaac M. Keeler, took his first lessons in the art of printing. The paper became an effective one in the campaign of 1840, and was rewarded for its labors by the triumph of its party in the election of William Henry Harrison to the Presidency.

It is proper here to place on record a description of the printing press on which the Lower Sandusky Whig was printed. It was what was called a "Ramage," almost a facsimile of Benjamin Franklin's old press, now so carefully preserved in the patent office in Washington, and the same one on which, years before, the Albany Argus had been printed. With three pulls to print one side of the paper, it was no small job to work off an edition.

The Lower Sandusky Whig was, after a few years, transferred to John Shrenk and changed to the

LOWER SANDUSKY TELEGRAPH.

Mr. Shrenk edited and published the

paper with fair success until March, 1849, when it was purchased by James S. Fouke, who changed the name and edited and published it under the title of the

LOWER SANDUSKY FREEMAN.

When, at the October term of the Court of Common Pleas, the name of the city was changed from Lower Sandusky to Fremont, of course the name of the paper was changed accordingly. Mr. Fouke edited and published the paper until November 6, 1852, when it was transferred to Mr. J. M. Main, who issued about six numbers, when he sold the office.

On the 27th of January, 1853, Mr. I. W. Booth commenced, with the same press, the publication of

THE FREMONT JOURNAL,

and continued it until December 24, 1853, when John Mastin, became the sole proprietor.

On the 26th day of May, 1854, Isaac M. Keeler purchased a one-half interest in the press and paper, and became the editor of it, and continued the publication under the firm name of Mastin & Feeler.

On the 1st of December, 1854, Mr. Keeler bought out Mr. Mastin's interest and became editor and sole proprietor. Under Mr. Keeler's management the paper flourished, and became not only a paying concern, but the best record of passing events, local and national, in the county. He managed it carefully and ably in the interest of the city and county, and was always stalwart and able on the side of morality, law and order, and the right in politics, as he understood the right. The paper was born a Whig, and under his management did good service to that party, and also the Republican party since its organization.

Mr. Keeler continued to publish and edit the journal until the 18th. of September,

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

1865, when he sold the establishment to Redway Brothers, under whose management the paper was published until the 5th of October, 1866, when they sold out to Messrs. Wilcox and Greene.

On the 22d of May, 1868, Mr. Wilcox sold his interest in the paper to his partner, J. H. Greene, who managed it some months, when he sold the establishment to A. H. Balsley. Mr. Balsley continued in the management of the paper until November 12, 1875, when Messrs. Harford & Grove became the proprietors and publishers, and conducted the journal until December 12, 1877, when Mr. Keeler again became the owner of the journal office, and resumed control of the paper, after having been out of the publishing business for more than twelve years.

The frequent changes in the management of the paper had not improved it in either popularity or profit in the publication of it.

Mr. Keeler says that in all the twelve years he was engaged in other business he had a yearning for the journal office, where, for a period of twenty-five years, he had labored almost continuously.

Since Mr. Keeler resumed the manage- ment of the Fremont journal, it has been much improved in all respects. It is now on a sound financial basis. The journal is now printed on a Wells' cylinder power press, moved by steam power. It has in the job- room two steam power-presses, and has a full patronage.

Mr. Keeler, it is true, continues to edit and manage the paper, but has associated with him his son Samuel, who is local editor, and who is now in well advanced training in the newspaper business. The father now regrets that he ever left the management of the journal. He intends, however, when the course of human events shall disable him from the proper discharge of editorial labors, that his son,

who is already a promising proficient in the business, shall become the editor and manager of the journal, and the indications are now quite plain that whenever the Fremont journal shall pas to the control and management of the son the paper will be fully sustained in all those qualities which make it an able, and pure, and popular county newspaper.

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History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 33

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