History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 65

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040


USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 65


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Joseph Harris, William Andrews, T. A. Rexford, Obediah Norton, William Avery, Moses Nichols, Almeron Sands, Daniel McFarland, Samuel Avery, Jonathan Je- rome, W. S. Drake, Charles B. Fitch, Jere- miah Everett, Daniel Hill, Thomas D. Knapp, Israel Harrington, William Downs, David Gallagher, Hugh B. McKner, Thomas Brown, Aaron Forgerson, Joshua Davies, Ruel Louis, John Payne, Morris


413


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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.


A. Newman, Peleg Cooley, John Robin- son, John Cooley, Thomas L. Hawkins, Thomas Forgerson, Holsey Forgerson, Aaron Willis, and John W. Tyler.


We give one more list of elections of Sandusky township, taken from the rec- ords of the October election of the year 1826: Samuel Treat, James A. Scranton, John Downs, Esbon Husted, Thomas Gal- lagher, Richard Sears, Asa Bliss, Giles Thompson, Jacob Bowlus, Jesse S. Olm- sted, James Fuller, Casper Remsberg, Francis Call, Mahlon Thomas, Jonathan Holcomb, Jacob Nyce, Ammi Williams, Phineas Ball, David Bowlus, Jacob Me- lius, William McClelland, Elisha B. John- son, Francis A. Wally, Merrit Scott, John Wolcott, Cyrus Hulburd, Thomas Haw- kins, William Dew, Rodolphus Dickin- son, George Shannon, Abram Bark, Har- very J. Harman, George Jackson, George J. Whitaker, Moses Wilson, John W. Ty- ler, William Knapp, Jacob Bowlus, jr., Charles Cole, John Mclaughlin, Thomas Bonner, Michael Egan, Leonard Kider, Charles Runnels, Warren Waterman, Wil- liam Suthorn, Peter Bellow, Eldridge A. Bristol, John Culbertson, John Andrews, Joel Van Doren, James P. Stephenson, Ferdinand Wilson, Joseph Mominne, David Grant, Abram Van Doren, Andrew Baker, Joseph Hall, Thomas Ware, Wil- liam Ware, Benjamin Bailey, I. C. Ball, Joseph Connel, John Woods, Ezra Wil- liams, Elisha W. Howland, Calvin Seager, David Gallagher, William Baker, Elisha Thompson, Daniel Brainard, Daniel Brain- ard, jr., Thomas Holcomb, Aaron Love- land, McKinsey Mowery, Abner Loveland, and Thomas White.


By 1831 the number of votes in the township had increased to one hundred and forty-six.


Previous to 1830 there was no corpo- rate government for the village, which had now changed the name Sandusky for that


of Lower Sandusky. Sandusky township had exercised exclusive jurisdiction over the village. By special act of the Legisla- ture, passed February 11, 1830, so much of the reservation as is included in the sur- veyed township number five, range fifteen, was set apart and granted the powers and privileges of a corporate town, under the statutes of the State. The complement of the two miles square reservation, being a strip about three-quarters of a mile wide off the south side, continued under the ju- risdiction of Ballville township exclusively. In 1856 the corporate limits were so ex- tended as to include this strip, making the town of Fremont co-extensive with the an- cient and historic reservation. John Bell was elected first mayor.


CIVIL ROSTER.


Previous to 1843 the records of the town are lost. The mayors of Lower San- dusky, elected in the spring of each year, were: John Bell, 1830; R. P. Buckland, 1843 ;* John Bell, 1844; Cornelius Let- scher, 1845 and 1846; Chester Edgerton, 1847; I. C. Ball, 1848; J. G. B. Downs, 1849. That year the name of the town was changed to Fremont. At the expense of repetition we give the full council for each year :


1850-Brice J. Bartlet, mayor; C. R. McCulloch, recorder; LaQ. Rawson, John R. Pease, C. O. Tillotson, James Huf- ford, Samuel Wilson, trustees.


1851- B. J. Bartlett, mayor; Alvin Coles, recorder; James Parks, Thomas Pinkerton, Frank Bell, Christian Doncy- son, John P. Haynes, trustees.


1852-B. J. Bartlett, mayor ; Thomas P. Finefrock, recorder; William Herbster, Christian Doncyson, Isaac Sharp, O. L. Nims, J. F. R. Sebring, trustees.


1853-A. B. Taylor, mayor; T. P. Finefrock, recorder; Christian Doncyson,


*From 1830 to 1843 unknown.


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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.


O. L. Nims, Isaac Sharp, J. F. R. Sebring, M. Wegsson, trustees.


1854-A. J. Hale, mayor; Charles L. Glick, recorder; Thomas Pinkerton, J. F. R. Sebring, George C. Canfield, R. C. McCulloch, William E. Haynes, trustees.


1855-B. J. Bartlett, mayor; Charles L. Glick, recorder; Thomas Pinkerton, .J. F. R. Sebring, G. C. Canfield, C. R. McCulloch, William E. Haynes, trustees.


1856-B. J. Bartlett, mayor; E. M. Hulburd, recorder; R. P. Buckland, S. Thompson, Jesse S. Van Ness, J. F. R. Sebring, Ira Smith, trustees.


. 1857-John R. Pease, mayor; Nat Haynes, recorder; H. Cleland, C. Doncy- son, Casper Smith, W. Beaugrand, John Joseph, trustees.


1858-John L. Green, mayor; Oscar Ball, recorder; S. M. Ellenwood, C. Don- cyson, Casper Smith, Joseph Stuber, Dan- iel Capper, trustees.


1859-Stephen Buckland, mayor; J. R. Bartlett, recorder; W. N. Morgan, Andrew Morehouse, Theodore Clapp, Detleff Thompson, Samuel Thompson, trustees.


1860-James Justice, mayor; Joseph R. Bartlett, recorder; Thomas Kelly, F. J. Geibel, Nat Haynes, Philip Dorr, Thomas Pinkerton, trustees.


1861-Daniel L. June, mayor; D. W. Krebs, recorder; G. M. Tillotson, O. A. Roberts, Ira Smith, Joseph Chapman, Creighton Thompson, trustees.


1862-John M. Kline, mayor; D. W. Krebs, recorder; O. A. Roberts, D. Cap- per, Bryan O'Connor, C. Hodes, A. Ben- nett, trustees.


1863-John M. Kline, mayor; D. W. Krebs, recorder; O. A. Roberts, Bryan O. Connor, D. Capper, Casper Hodes, Aaron Bennett, trustees.


1864 - LaQuinio Rawson, mayor ; D. W. Krebs, recorder; D. Garvin, John


Koons, Isaac Dryfoos, J. S. Van Ness, Charles Thompson, trustees.


1865-Homer Everett, mayor; D. W. Krebs, recorder; Fred Fabing, A. J. Har- ris, Oscar Ball, Charles Thompson, George Williams, trustees.


1866-John Bell, mayor; E. F. Dickin- son, recorder; Ambrose Ochs, J. Stier- walt, William E. Haynes, Thomas Kelly, F. G. Geibel, trustees.


The number of trustees in 1867 was increased to six, and one of their own number was chosen president. Previous to 1867 it was the duty of the mayor to act as president of the council. We give below the names of members of the council as they appear on the roll, the president always being named first :


1867-John Bell, mayor; F. Wilmer, recorder; Jacob D. Botefur, Betts, Brush, Ochs, Quilter, and Keller, trustees.


1868-John Bell, mayor; F. Wilmer, recorder; C. H. Bell, Betts, Botefur, Brush, Engler, and Quilter, trustees.


1869-Jesse S. Van Ness, mayor: J. S. Van Valhenburgh, recorder; Charles H. Bell, Betts, Gores, Haynes, Horn, and Sheldon, trustees.


1870-J. S. Van Ness, mayor; J. S. Van Valhenburgh, recorder; Paul Gores, Botefur, Kridler, McArdle, Haynes, and Sheldon, trustees.


1871-E. F. Dickinson, mayor; George J. Krebs, recorder; James Kridler, Shel- don, Haynes, Thompson, McArdle, and Botefur, trustees.


1872-E. F. Dickinson, mayor; George J. Krebs, recorder ; James Kridler, Haynes, Sheldon, Thompson, Stuber and Geibel, trustees.


1873-E. F. Dickinson, mayor; F. J. Geibel, jr., recorder; F. J. Geibel, Stuber, Kridler, Greiner, Fabing, and Bauman, trustees.


1874-E. F. Dickinson, mayor; F. J. Geibel, jr., recorder, resigned, F. J. Smith


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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.


appointed to fill vacancy; George W. Gurst, Fabing, Greiner, Elderkin, Heider, and Bauman, trustees.


1875-E. F. Dickinson, mayor; H. B. Smith, recorder; J. P. Elderkin, jr., Fa- bing, Greiner, Bauman, Gurst, and Heider, trustees.


1876-E. F. Dickinson, mayor; W. W. Stine, recorder; A. Young, Bauman, Fa- bing, Greiner, Dickinson, and McCulloch, trustees.


1877-Jesse S. Van Ness, mayor; W. W. Stine, recorder; C. K. McCulloch, Dickinson, Young, Sheldon, Haynes, and Parks, trustees.


1878-Jesse S. Van Ness, mayor ; W. B. Kridler, recorder; James Parks, Haynes, Sheldon, Kridler, Reinick, West, Meng, and Thompson, trustees.


1879-C. H. Bell, mayor; W. B. Kri- dler, recorder ; S. P. Meng, Butman, Gei- bel, Johnson, Kridler, Parks, Thompson, and West, trustees.


1880 -- Charles H. Bell, mayor; W. B. Kridler, recorder; F. J. Geibel, West, Baker, Loudensleger, Johnson, Bauman, Moos, and Butman, trustees.


1881-Jesse S. Van Ness, mayor, (de- ceased in July, E. Loudensleger appointed to fill vacancy); W. B. Kridler, recorder; E. Loudensleger,* J. V. Beery (vice pres- ident), Geibel, West, Baker, Price, Moos, and French, trustees.


One more change of local government remains to be spoken of. The township jurisdiction of Sandusky township extend- ed over the city until 1878, when, by act of the county commissioners, a new town- ship, to be called Fremont, was erected. The boundaries of the township are co- extensive with those of the city.


NAME OF THE CITY.


As has already been seen, the first name of the capital city of the county was


1


Sandusky. The postoffice was entered as Lower Sandusky, and by 1830, when the incorporating act was passed, Lower San- dusky had become the commonly accepted name. There was, however, endless con- fusion in the mail service and among bus- iness men, caused by the number of posts along the river bearing the same name with but slight modifications. There were Upper Sandusky, Little Sandusky, Middle Sandusky, Lower Sandusky, and Sandus- ky City. It was felt, therefore, not only expedient, but a business necessity, that the name should be changed. The town was already giving promise of that rapid growth which has since been fulfilled. What the new name should be was a mat- ter, therefore, of no little interest and dis- cussion. Croghanville was the natural choice of a certain class of citizens who delight to recall the past and memorialize great deeds and heroic characters. This, too, was the name of the original village surveyed under authority of the United States as early as 1816.


But there were practical business men who foresaw the difficulties which would follow the adoption of the historic name. Croghanville was a hard name to spell, and, should it be adopted, was almost cer- tain to be the cause of many orthograph- ical blunders.


Discussion materialized into action in 1849. A name, at that time, in every newspaper, in almost every mouth, was John Charles Fremont. Our interest in events of local history and admiration of heroic conduct compels us to regret that the town did not receive the name of the officer who made the ground over which it has spread, a place of National interest. In the firmament of history, brightened by many lustrous names, Colonel Fremont appears not as a brilliant star, but as a permanent light. His useful explorations and discoveries in the far West, were valua-


*Appointed mayor in place of J. S. Van Ness, de- ceased.


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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.


ble contributions to geographical science, and gave a powerful impetus to the settle- ment and development of California.


John Charles Fremont was born in Georgia, entered Charleston college at the age of fifteen, and was noted for mathe- matical genius. Before the completion of his course he became infatuated with a ยท West India girl, whose raven locks and soft, black eyes interfered sadly with his studies. He was expelled from college. His first employment was as private teacher of mathematics, and in 1833 the situation of instructor in mathematics on a United States sloop of war was given him. He was subsequently given a professorship of mathematics in the navy, and a few years later was employed in the survey of sev- eral Southern railroads. In 1838 he was commissioned second lieutenant and placed on the corps of topographical en- gineers. While compiling a series of re- ports in Washington, in 1840, he made the acquaintance of Miss Jesse Benton, daughter of Colonel Thomas H. Benton, then a leader of his party in the United States Senate. The lady was only fifteen years old, but youth is no barrier to love. Colonel Benton, taking advantage of his influence, had the young officer peremp- torily ordered on an exploring expedition to the Des Moines River. Returning the following year, Fremont claimed his be- trothed, whom he secretly married.


Fremont made the first systematic ex- ploration of the Rocky mountains, one of the highest peaks of which bears his name. His reports were of great value, as furnish- ing information about overland routes to California, and setting forth the mineral resources of that region.


During the troubles with Mexico, Colonel Fremont's services were of great value, in protecting American settlers in California, and ultimately in expelling Mex- ican authority from the Territory. In 1847


he bought an estate in California, on which he determined to settle. In 1849 the State was admitted to the Union, and as a mark of appreciation of his services as an explorer, and for having secured the annexation of the Territory to the United States, Colonel Fremont was elected by his State to represent her in the United States Senate. A cast of lots gave Fre- mont the short term of three years. While he occupied a seat in the Senate, Califor- nia interests received his close attention. He was author of the most important legislation relating to her early interests. He took a decided stand against the ex- tension of slavery, which lost him a re- election to the Senate. His ideas con- cerning the "peculiar institution" con- formed to the principles upon which the Republican party was established, and he became the party's first Presidential candi- date. In a letter to the convention he said :


I heartily concur in all movements having for their object to repair the mischiefs arising from violation of good faith in the repeal of the Missouri compromise. I am opposed to slavery in the abstract and upon principle, sustained and made habitual by long set- tled convictions. While I feel inflex ble in the be- lief that it ought not to be interfered with where it exists, under the shield of State sovereignty, I am as inflexibly opposed to its extension on this conti- nent beyond its present limits.


This was the platform on which the spirited campaign of 1856 was fought. Buchanan received one hundred and seventy-four votes from nineteen States, while Fremont received one hundred and fourteen votes from eleven States.


Colonel Fremont, in 1858, removed to California, where he became identified with important measures of public im- provement, but suffered financial misfor- tune. In recognition of the high politi- cal station to which he attained, he was appointed to the Governorship of Arizona Territory, in which office he served one term.


53


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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.


We have now sketched briefly the career of the man in honor of whom the county seat was named-a man who enjoyed im- mense popularity while in the zenith of his career, and a man, too, who left the impress of his life upon an important section of our country.


About the only opposition to changing the name of the town was made by Judge Howland, who was always odd. While the subject was under discussion he wrote the following poem :


There is a prayer now going round, Which I dislike to hear, To change the name of this old town, Which I hold very dear.


They pray the court to alter it, I pray to God they won't; But let it stand Sandusky yet, And not J. C. Fremont.


Sandusky is a pleasant name, 'Tis short and easy spoken,


Descending to us by a chain That never should be broken.


Then let us hand it down the stream Of time, to after ages, And Lower Sandusky be the theme Of future bards and sages.


Won't the old honest sachems rise And say to us pale faces :


"Do you our ancient name despise, And change our resting places?"


"Our fathers fathers slumber here ; Their spirits cry: 'Oh don't Alter the name to us so dear, And substitute Fremont. '"


Therefore my prayer shall still remain Until my voice grows husky --


Oh ! change the people, not the name, Of my old home, Sandusky.


SURVEYS.


Fremont now embraces several differ- ent surveys or plats ;


First. Croghanville, laid out and survey- ed by Lieutenant Wormley, United States surveyor, in 1816, and hell for sale by in- and out-lots, the title still being in the General Government. Then it was ex. pected that a city, fort, and ship-yard would


soon be built on that elevated and beautiful site.


Second. Sandusky, the first survey on the east side of the river, made, or dedi- cated and acknowledged, December 6, 1817, by Thomas L. Hawkins, Thomas E. Boswell, Morris A. Newman, Israel Harrington, and Josiah Rumery.


Third. The survey made by Quintius F. Atkins, in 1825. This was a survey of the unsold and reverted tracts and lots in two miles square, into in- and out-lots, to be sold for the purpose of constructing the Western Reserve and Maumee Road. At this time the east side of the river, along the turnpike, called East-town; the lots along the river above and about the warehouses, North-town ; and the lots about the shipyard and around the late resi- dence of Dr. M. E. Rawson, called Mid- dle-town; a number of lots in the vicinity of McArdale's new planing mill and sash factory, called the Triangular Survey, were made.


Fourth. The Brush survey, including that part of town where the court house and the Episcopal Church now stand, dedi- cated by Platt Brush, Platt Brush, jr., Samuel Brush, and John T. Brush, April 4, 1840.


Filth. Dickinson and Birchard's addi- tion to the town of Lower Sandusky, in- cluding the lots along the turnpike, on the hili, on the west side of the river, dedi- cated September 6, 1840, by Rodolphus Dickinson, Sardis Birchard, and Richard Sears.


These are the chief surveys made in the town, though a number of others have since been made. To mention them all would be tedious. These several surveys made it expedient to re-number the whole city, which has been done, and each added plat has been numbered in the same series. The whole of two miles square is platted and numbered, either in in- or out lots.


CHAPTER XXVI. FREMONT-BUSINESS PROGRESS.


Mercanti'e, Manufacturing, and Banking-Business Directory.


T THE mercantile history proper of Fre- mont begins in 1817 with the arrival here of a large stock of dry goods, gro- ceries, hardware, crockery, liquors and wines, shipped from Albany, New York, to J. S. & G. G. Olmsted. This miscel- laneous assortment was one of no small proportions for a country store, the invoice amounting to no less than twenty-seven thousand dollars, and the transportation on the same being four thousand four hundred dollars. Even in those days it required men with something besides heavy bones and brawn, elements of endurance, strengthened by hardships, and a spirit of enterprise to build up towns and popu- late the surrounding wilderness. Capital, then as now, was the principal motive power. The firm also brought with them a number of carpenters to erect a store building, and several coopers to make barrels to be used in the river fisheries. Pine lumber for building material was brought here from Buffalo by water. Im- mediately on the arrival of men and ma- terial, the construction of a commodious frame building was commenced on tract number six, as it was called, about on the present site of I. E. Amsden's saw-mill office. It was two stories in height, and presented a front of sixty feet towards the Sandusky River. Dormer windows jutted out above, and under them were project- ing beams with pulley-blocks and tackle for raising goods. The lower story was divided into two departments, one used for a general salesroom and the other for a warehouse in which to store away the pro-


duce received in baiter for the necessary household wares and luxuries for the pioneers and villagers. The dimensions of the structure were thirty by sixty feet. It was considered a mammoth building, and the stock of merchandise, which soon piled high the counters and shelves, was greater than any other between Detroit and Cleveland, and Urbana and the lake. For a number of years the store was in truth a commercial emporium. The fol- lowing prices, at that time derzanded for goods, which, in comparison, now bring but a pittance, may be read with interest : Brown sheeting, three-fourths of a yard wide, fifty cents per yard; calico, from fifty to seventy-five cents per yard ; satinet at two dollars and a half per yard. In articles of consumption there is not so much difference in the figures, for coffee sold at thirty-eight cents, tea for one dol- lar and one dollar and a half, and tobacco at fifty cents. Powder sold for one dollar, and lead for twenty-five cents per pound respectively. Under such circumstances, to make it pay, every shot had to count. In contrast to these prices, but still to our own advantage, whiskey, which of like qual- ity would now cost from two to four dollars per gallon, then was easily purchased at seventy-five cents. It is curious what changes are brought about by the advance of civilization. Kefined loaf sugar was the only article of that nature imported, as the sugar maple forests well supplied the inhabitants with this staple article, and also took the place of molasses and syr- ups. Probably the first manufacturing


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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.


done by the Indians was the converting of the sap of the maple into a portable pro- duction-sugar. They exchanged this tor the storekeeper's gew-gaws. It was put up in boxes made of birch bark, holding from thirty to fifty pounds, and the package called, in the musical language of the noble red man, a "mocock." These "mococks" fornned a prime article of cx- portation, as well as for local consumption. Foreign brown sugar, or that made from the cane, was not sold in the village until 1828 or 1829. At this early time (1817) the rivers and woods abounded in valuable fur-bearing animals, and it would seem from the following figures that the occupa- tion of a trapper and hunter might then have been followed to exceeding great ad- vantage. Soon after opening business the Olmsted firm received in trade and shipped during one season, twenty thou- sand muskrat pelts, worth twenty-five cents each; eight thousand coon skins, worth fifty cents each; one hundred and fifty otter skins, worth five dollars each, and two hundred bear skins, worth five dollars each.


The first wheat shipped East from this city, then the village of Lower Sandusky, was a lot of six hundred bushels, sent for- ward by J. S. Olmsted in the year 1830. It was bought at the price of forty cents per bushel, and sold in Buffalo at sixty cents per bushel. The high rates of transportation consumed all the profits. In 1820 the first cargo of pork, to the amount of one hundred and fitty barrels, was shipped to Montreal by the firm of J. S. & G. G. Olmsted, where it was sold at a considerable loss. These latter state- ments of shipments and prices of goods will give some idea of the mercantile busi- ness at an early day in Sandusky county.


While the Olmsteds, as related, were the first m rchants here, in the true sense of the term, they were not the earliest


traders. Before the war of 1812, Mr. James Whittaker had traded to some ex- tent with the Indians, bartering with them a few goods for their own peculiar use. Hugh Patterson, a Scotchman, who had been a partner in these transactions with Mr. Whittaker, soon after the date last mentioned kept a store at Muncietown, on the east side of the river and about two miles from this city. There was one other trader, by name Augustus Texier, who kept a small stock of cheap goods in the village, and managed to gain a livelihood thereby. David Gallagher, another of the early merchants, came here before the war of 1812, and was employed for a number of years as an assistant commissary at Fort Stephenson. He was afterwards connected with the Olmsteds, both as a clerk and a partner.


In 1823 Dr. L. Brown was selling gen- eral merchandise in a frame building where Mrs. Tyler's block now stands. Richard Sears, a young man and accredited as having been one of the beaux of the vil- lage, was a merchant at the same date, and afterwards on the same site. In 1831, re- moving his stock from a frame structure on the present site of the Heffner block, he formed a copartnership with J. S. Olm- sted, who in the meantime had dissolved partnership with his brother, and having left his original store house on the river bank below, was selling general merchan- dise on the northwest corner of Front and State streets. The firm name was Olm- sted & Sears. Four years the partner- ship continued, dissolving on Mr. Sears engaging in business by himself. Mr. Olmsted, soon alter this dissolution, re- moved to the old Harrington block, and from thence, in 1840, to a building stand- ing on a portion of the lot now occupied by the Fabing & Hime block.


John W. Tyler was another of the earlier storekeepers, and Esbon Husted,


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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.


between 1820 and 1825, kept a general store, with drugs, on the southeast corner of Front and State streets. Isadore Beau- grand and George Grant were his clerks. Rodolphus Dickinson, Sardis Birchard, and Esbon Husted, in 1831, began the dry goods business on the same site, under the firm name of R. Dickinson & Co. From 1841 to 1844 the firm of Cutter & Heywood sold dry goods and bought grain there. Among the other pioncer trades- men, still well remembered by the older citizens, was Judge Knapp, who sold gro- ceries in the old Knapp building, on the present site of White's block. In 1836 or 1837, John M. Smith commenced sell- ing dry goods where Dryfoos Brothers & Bach now hold forth. Eddy & Wilkes succeeded him. Where the First National Bank is at present, John Bell and Merritt L. Harman kept a general store of dry goods, groceries, hardware, etc., between the years 1830 and 1840. John P. Haynes, J. K. Glen, and Austin B. Taylor were three more of the old merchants com- mencing here early in the thirties.




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