USA > Ohio > Shelby County > History of Shelby County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 46
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This ascent to the classic suburb of Jimtown or Bennettville was soon reached and a little more power was applied as if the car was eager to get out of sight of this burg nodule which has come to stay and can not be avoided even if so desired on a northern trip.
What a change has been wrought in the country within the last thirty or forty years around Sidney. The almost impassable mud and corduroy roads with their adhesive or jolting horrors have been supplanted by hundreds of miles of graded and graveled free pikes, furnishing drainage outlets and arnihilating distance when compared with what used to be. Dense native forests have been cleared and unobstructed vistas miles in length opened through the rich level country dotted here and there with pretty farm houses and barns environed by clustering orchards.
The butting in of an era of prosperity years ago and its continuance with no prospect of abatement put farmers on Easy street, doubled the value of their real estate, fattened their bank accounts so that they are beginning to know the luxury of living rather than merely existing. With taste thus elevated and becoming alive to the possibilities which can be achieved by in- telligently working with Mother Nature, what Shelby county will be in half a century more is a picture that can hardly be overdrawn.
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The trolley line does not invade nor disturb Swanders and one might go by without knowing it, so' unpretentious is it, but Anna, split into two precincts and about evenly balanced by the boundary line between Franklin and Dinsmore townships, has, in round numbers, about one thousand people, good, bad and indifferent, with a large preponderance of the good, as it is a Lutheran stronghold and their magnificent new church edifice close to the track challenges admiration for its artistic beauty and the up-to-date homes erected largely by rich, retired farmers, who have clustered there for social, intellectual and religious privileges. But I started for Botkins and will re- serve Anna for future reference. Remembering Botkins, graced by the rather plebeian name of Stringtown forty years ago, I turned up my trousers and wore rubbers, for at that time it did not take more than a heavy dew to con- vert its rich, undrained soil into a mortar bed where, Mrs. Gutman said, her horse got stalled in the street, though she and a box of dog leg tobacco were the only freight in the buggy bound for Fryburg. The foot gear precaution based on ancient experience was entirely unnecessary as the graded streets were comparatively dry and the long lines of concrete pavement were white and clean as a new pin. Being Monday, when wash tub wrestling engages the attention of rural households and which was an ideal day for drying purified linen, there was not much business bustle in the growing village, giving a pedestrian plenty of elbow room, and the first familiar face which dawned on my optics was that of Adam Blakeley, a friend in good and regular standing for many years.
Adam, though a stalwart Republican in a strong Democratic town, is no mere figure head, as he has been mayor and was only defeated the last time by one vote by Thomas Kennedy; is postmaster and editor and proprietor of the Botkins Herald, a luminary which sheds light in the community, sug- gests improvements, records the happenings and molds public opinion.
As the objective point on this trip was to interview John Blakeley, his father, a pioneer veteran of eighty-four years, we together walked to the home of this retired farmer and as good luck would have it there sat Lorenzo Elliott, a relative and veteran pioneer but a few months Mr. Blakeley's junior and walked from his honte two and a half miles distant to make a morning visit. He is wonderfully well preserved, while Mr. Blakeley is physically in- firm, using two canes to support his bowed form, but mentally clear, is an omnivorous reader with a fund of reminiscence and a voluble tongue that enjoys a rehearsal of past events.
He was born in Franklin county, July 11, 1825, and came to Shelby county with his parents when three years old, where he has since lived. July I, 1852, he married Miss Elizabeth Elliott, the fifteenth child of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Elliott, and became the father of eight children, of whom Adam, Mary and Margaret, now Mrs. Charles F. Snyder, of near Oran, survive.
By industry, economy and judicious investments he became a large land owner but becoming somewhat weary of rural cares he moved to Botkins in May, 1883, a few days after the big snow storm. Not having a sportsman's taste he has but few bear, wolf and deer stories to tell in which he figured, as
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he never killed but one deer, but he is rich in turkey and squirrel tales and once in his life he shot into a flock of turkeys with his rifle, the ball passing through the head of one and the body of another, one of those chance shots which even a novice might execute, like killing two birds with one stone. He never got tainted with the miasma of Democracy prevalent in that section, so that sin is not on record against him, and he is a Methodist with a clean title and faith that strengthens with years.
Lorenzo Elliott was born in Licking county in 1826 and came to Dins- more township in 1835, married Miss Mary Bolin for his first wife and Mrs. Chamberlain, born in England in 1831, for his second wife, and who is still his helpmeet. . He has plowed the land on which Botkins now stands and cradled wheat from its acres. He also laid a mile of ties on the C. H. & D. railway. The station was named after Richard Botkin, who graded three miles of the railway but never lived to see a train on the road.
Like Mr. Blakeley Mr. Elliott was not much of a Nimrod, as he des- patched but one deer but he has scared as many as twenty at one time from the corn field lest there would be no provender left for the family. Mr. Blakeley related a hog sale he once made to William Marshall, of Hardin, soon after the war which overtops all accounts of recent transactions. He sold him seven Chester Whites that weighed 3,006 pounds at nine cents gross, and drove them to Anna, realizing $270.54.
The fact that Botkins gave 124 wet votes to 24 dry brings a blush to Mr. Blakeley's cheeks and provokes stinging censure from the gray haired veteran and that they have just as many saloons as churches, three each, is a thorn in his side and the breaking up of a temperance meeting by a bombardment of eggs last fall rouses his indignation every time it comes to his mind, which. is several times a day. It was a shame, especially at the high price of eggs.
As soon as I arrived I looked for the historic house of twelve gables built by James Niemann, but learned that a few years ago it fell into the hands of W. C. Zanglein and the enterprising merchant, not thinking it worth preserv- ing any longer as a curiosity, razed it to the earth and erected his fine three story brick department store 42 feet by 90, which is crowded from basement to roof with a limitless store of articles, including groceries.
Botkins now has three dry goods and one furniture store, two warehouses, new bakery, four blacksmith shops, a large implement house now being erected by Mayor Kennedy which will be roofed this week, and a large factory employing seventy-five men owned by the Sheets brothers, and a bank. These brothers now own and operate nine warehouses at different points and by the means of the telephone do all their office work in Botkins. Frank Gutman, who has spent his forty-five years or more, his entire life, in Botkins, suc- ceeding his father in the store close to the C. H. & D. track. has bought 3,000 bushels of clover seed so far this season. The Catholics are strong here and maintain a parochial school.
Botkins draws trade from a large section of the rich farming country and the freight and express business at the station is very large. Frank Hemmert, the genial station agent who learned telegraphy thirty-five years ago in the
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office and has been the trusted agent for thirty-three years, said the creamery at the thriving village of New Knoxville ships 4,000 pounds of butter a week from the station to Cincinnati and says it is worth one's while to visit that place and see their dairies, where the cows are kept and cared for with Hol- land-like neatness and gentleness. It is the garden spot of Auglaize county. One thousand gallons of cream now, and two thousand in summer, are shipped to Dayton monthly from the creamery owned by the Dayton Pure Milk & Butter Company at the edge of town. Farmers take their fresh milk to the creamery, where the unctuous richness is separated by the centrifugal process and the impoverished milk taken back home. A large amount of poultry comes to an untimely end here and they have eggs to throw at the birds-and others. That unaccountable and mysterious milk sickness used to prevail alarmingly here, destroying human lives and whole herds of cattle but nothing has been heard of it for years. Some claim that the virus in the poisonous weed has been switched into the Democratic party, but for one I do not believe it, as no fatalities have occurred, though strange actions are sometimes obvious up there.
It might look as if there was a methodical design in my making the call so near noon, and perhaps there was, but then there is no place where the tongue wags with such freedom as around a dinner table. The layout indi- cated that though it was Monday, they were fully prepared for distinguished company. Gray seemed to be fashionable color with one exception around the board and we did our duty with veteran courage and fidelity. Bidding my old friends good-bye I strolled quietly around as though I were running a giun shoe campaign until the sun-down trolley car arrived and reached Sid- ney when the light of the new moon began to shimmer.
ISAAC HARSHBARGER. Our esteemed townsman, Isaac Harshbarger, now somewhat bowed with the burden of more than four score of years, was born in Montgomery county, not far from Dayton, in 1825 and has been a resident of Salem township and Sidney for seventy-five years. He was the oldest of ten children in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Harsh- barger, the former of whom was born in the year 1800 in Rockingham county. Virginia, the latter in Franklin county, Pennsylvania. In 1838 the family left Montgomery county and after three days of continuous travel settled on a farm of 100 acres, three miles northeast of Sidney, which he had pur- chased in Salem township, and which is now owned by the Oliver C. Staley heirs. There were no bridges north of Piqua and the streains had to be forded. Of course most of the land was a virgin forest. Tillable farms had to be reclaimed from the shadows and Isaac did what he could to let the sunlight in. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to learn the tailor's trade, at which he worked in Port Jefferson and Sidney for forty years.
Port Jefferson became a booming village and after the canal was finished. being at the head of navigation, had a most brilliant prospect. Gerard and Thomas bought on the site 160 acres and laid out about 120 in streets and lots ; a man by the name of Jackson ,laid out twenty acres and Mr. Wright
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thirty acres, which he called North Salem. Three long streets running east and west were made and buildings constructed rapidly. In fact the future for Port Jefferson looked so propitious that the late Samuel Rice, who went on horseback from Buffalo to Chicago to make an investment, concluded that Fort Jefferson had a brighter look and made a purchase there in preference to the Windy City, now the metropolis of the West.
Soon after the canal was done, five warehouses were in operation, cooper and stave shops employed at least 150 men, there was one grist mill, two asheries for the manufacture of potash, where seven cents a bushel were paid for ashes, which was no inconsiderable revenue to the farmers as forests were burned in clearing the land. There were five stores, the father of Lot Ogden being among the first who came from Chambersburg, near Dayton, with a $400 stock and eventually accumulated $50,000 or more. Mr. Cromer did about the same and moved back to Dayton, and Mr. Thirkield and Mr. Thompson also had general stores. The trade at this little giant of a town was immense, reaching far to the north and east. Streets were thronged whenever the roads would permit. Previous to this grain had to be hauled to Sandusky on the lake, so that the scope of country tributary in a business was far reaching.
Two large hotels were built, at one of which Mr. Harshbarger boarded two years at $1.25 a week and it makes his mouth water to think of the excel- lent fare provided at about six cents a meal with lodging thrown in.
Peaches and berries were abundant and could be had for the gathering, game fairly swarmed in the woods and numerous birds snapped up the cod- ling moths, so the luscious apples were not bored and preempted at the center with a vermiform appendix.
The bugs and flies with which the present generation has to contend had not rallied their warring forces, so living was cheap, and well that it was, as even shin plasters, which were current, did not lie around loose.
Mr. Harshbarger says that there was more and finer poplar in the forests of Shelby county at that time than in any other county in the state, with abundance of walnut, both of which are now so valuable, but they were ruth- lessly cut or destroyed.
There were three sawmills in the vicinity and as there was plenty of snow in the winter of 1847, the sawmills were crowded with poplar logs from three feet to five feet in diameter.
In January a thaw and rain set in, the water rose to an almost unprece- dented height and swept them away. He says he saw logs that would cover ten acres float down the Miami.
In the campaign of 1840 the whigs got together one day and cut the monarch poplar on the south side of the river, which was over six feet in diameter and sixty feet to the first branch. The mammoth log was converted into a canoe in which four or five could sit side by side. This was drawn to Dayton and sold to a party in Hamilton and was used in the "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" stirring campaign.
Two or three canal boats were built in Port Jefferson when the canal
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got in operation and the now lonesome feeder of the Miami and Erie canal was a busy throughfare for packets and freight boats but the notes of the horn of the captain have been superseded by the steam whistle of the railway engine. A dry-dock for the repair of boats was constructed at the basin near Philip Smith's foundry.
As soon as the Big Four and C. H. & D. railways intersected at Sidney, a cloud came over the business sky of Port Jefferson which has never lifted and the golden prospect of this pretty spot, still beautiful in its decay, went glimmering and Sidney commenced to boom into consequential importance, sapping the very life blood of Port Jefferson, until today there are not as many inhabitants as there were voters in 1847.
Mr. Harshbarger was a life-long democrat and held local offices in Port Jefferson for many years. In 1853 he was elected coroner of the county and with Dr. Park Beeman and Dr. Albert Nelson was present at the inquest on the body of the murdered Artis girl. It was held in February with the snow fifteen inches deep on the ground. He was present at the hanging of Artis a year later in the county jail and was deputized to help Sheriff J. C. Dryden. The African fought so hard when they started from his cell that he had to be choked and knocked into insensibility before they could adjust the noose. He was four years United States marshal for the counties of Shelby, Auglaize and Mercer under Gen. Andrew Hickenlooper, and in 1868 was elected sheriff of Shelby county, serving six years.
He married Miss Joanna Staley, who was a schoolmate of his boyhood, and seven children were born in their household, four of whom are living. Mr. Harshbarger bought the old home farm of 100 acres where he lived for many years but since 1902 he has been living with his daughter, Miss Verdy Harshbarger.
J. EDWARD RUSSELL
Representative Citizens
HON. J. EDWARD RUSSELL, a leading member of the Sidney bar, with offices in the Woodward building, Sidney, is one of the representa- tive men of Shelby county and for sixteen years has given attention to the numerous duties connected with his office as secretary of the Shelby County Fair Board. Mr. Russell, like many of his professional brethren, was born on a farm, August 9, 1866, his parents living then in Turtle Creek township, Shelby county, four miles from Sidney. He is a son of William and Laura (Beck) Russell.
William Russell was also a native of Shelby county and was born on a farm in Clinton township, two and one-half miles northwest of Sidney, a son of Joshua Russell, who was a pioneer in that section. Mr. Russell for a number of years was an extensive farmer and stock raiser but is now practically retired and lives on a small farm not far from Sidney.
J. Edward Russell attended the public schools of Turtle Creek town- ship and afterward the Sidney schools and after graduating from the Sidney high school in 1888, engaged in teaching and taught three terms in the district schools, in the meanwhile applying all his leisure time to acquiring knowledge of the principles of law. He then entered the law offices of George Marshall, with whom he pursued his law studies until he finished the course, and in 1893 was admitted to the bar and immediately opened his office at Sidney. He served two terms as city solicitor and has been a member of the school board for one term. In his practice of law he covers all branches and has been identified with many cases of state-wide interest. In republican politics he has been unusually prominent and in 1904 and again in 1906, was elected to the state senate, and while at Columbus won still further the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. Mr. Russell has additional interests and is a member of the board of directors of the First National Exchange Bank and also of the Peoples Savings and Loan Association.
Senator Russell was married at Sidney, O., to Miss Jennie Laughlin, who died August 29, 1910, survived by one daughter, Carrie. He is a member of the Presbyterian church. In his fraternal relations he is a Mason and a Knight of Pythias, and belongs also to some professional societies and social organizations. He is distinctly one of Sidney's foremost men.
WILBER E. KILBORN, one of the representative and substantial busi- ness men of Sidney, O., treasurer and general manager of the American Steel
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Scraper Company, an important enterprise of this city, was born near Benson, Vt., a son of Edson S. and Martha J. (Wright) Kilborn.
The parents of Mr. Kilborn came to Shelby county when the latter was eight years old, and later moved to a farm west of Lincoln, Neb. The father engaged in farming and there both parents died and three children survive : Wilber E .; Mrs. Lydia Funk, residing at Milford, Neb. : and Henry S., a farmer in Hamilton county, Neb.
Wilber E. Kilborn attended the public schools at Sidney, and afterward, for several years, taught school. In 1875 he became cashier of the Citizens Bank and continued until 1881, when he left in order to become manager of the American Steel Scraper Company, of Sidney, and ever since has remained interested in the same business way, a reliable, honorable, conservative factor in the city's life.
Mr. Kilborn married Miss Anna Hendershott, a daughter of George W. Hendershott, an old resident of Sidney, and they have two surviving children : Helen M., who is the wife of Joseph Hagan, of Toledo, O .; and Ruth, who is a student at Smith College, Northampton, Mass. Mr. Kilborn and familly are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In his political views he is a republican, and he is an active member of the Commercial Club. In 1912 he erected his handsome residence on North Ohio avenue.
W. J. SHERMAN, who is assistant cashier of the Loramie Banking Company, at Fort Loramie, and a member of its board of directors, belongs to one of the old and substantial families of this section, one that has had much to do with the development of Shelby county. He was born at Fort Loramie, on the west side of the Miami canal, May 3, 1869, and is a son of W. J. and Mary (Hummer) Sherman.
W. J. Sherman was born in Germany and was four years old when his father, William Sherman, brought him to the United States, in 1836, and set- tled in Shelby county. A thrifty, enterprising and broad-minded man, Will- iam Sherman became a leader in many of the early movements in this section and through his efforts a schoolhouse was erected on his farm and the special school district as well as the fine turnpike road afterward constructed, bears the Sherman name. W. J. Sherman received his primary education in the above district but completed his education at Cincinnati, O., and afterward taught school for some years and subsequently was made county surveyor of Shelby county, acceptably filling that important office for twelve continuous years. After his marriage he settled in McLean township and became inter- ested in the lumber and stave manufacturing business and in this connection acquired some 1,000 acres of land lying in Patterson township, in Darke county and in McLean and Cynthian townships in Shelby county. He was also engaged as a dry goods merchant at Fort Loramie, being the senior mem- ber of the general mercantile firm of Sherman & Pilliod. His death occurred at the age of sixty-five years and his loss was felt in many circles. He was a faithful member of St. Michael's Catholic church and he and wife carefully reared their children in this faith. As a leading democrat in his section he was frequently honored by his party with election to public office and he
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many times served as township trustee and in other capacities. He married Mary Hummer, a daughter of Peter Hummer, then of Cynthian township, and three sons and five daughters were born to them, namely: Johannah. who is the wife of Bernard Borger of McLean township; Magdalene, who is the wife of Anthony Brandewie, of Clinton township; Mary, who is the wife of John Borger, of Fort Loramie; Peter, who is a resident of Sidney; Catherine, who is the wife of J. B. Trimpe, of Sidney; Clara, who is the widow of Henry Pilliod. of Toledo, O .; W. J .; and Charles, who died when aged twenty-three years. The mother of the above family survived to the age of seventy-two years.
W. J. Sherman, who bears his late father's name, attended school in boy- hood in the Berlin special school district and afterward was a student at St. Mary's Institute, Dayton, O. He then gave his father assistance on the home farm until he was twenty-one years of age when he turned his attention to the livestock business and for seven years was a large shipper of stock from this section. Since the organization of the Loramie Banking Company he has been on its directing board and one of its officials, and was one of the promoters of the Minster-Lorain Railway, and is secretary of the company. Since his marriage he has resided in McLean township and is interested there in 200 acres of land, divided into two well-improved farms.
On November 25, 1896, Mr. Sherman was married to Miss Frances Schemnecker, who was born in Kentucky and is a daughter of Frank and Ida Schmnecker, who were then residents of Minster, O. To Mr. and Mrs. Sher- man the following children have been born : Frank, William, Victoria, Mary, James, Beatrice and Helen. The family belongs to St. Michael's Catholic church and are interested and active in many of its avenues of benevolence and pleasant social organizations. Mr. Sherman is a strong democrat, along old Jeffersonian lines, and his influence in his party is marked. As a citizen he is held in exceeding high esteem, serving for years as a member of the city council of Fort Loramie and for seven years was elected mayor, his wise management of municipal affairs during this long period, bringing about much prosperity.
JOHN J. SHERMAN, president of the board of county commissioners of Shelby county, O., and one of the county's most substantial citizens, belongs to one of the old pioneer families of this section. He was born in McLean township, October 2, 1848, and is a son of Henry B. and Catherine (Ernst) Sherman.
William Sherman, the grandfather of John J. Sherman, came to the United States from Prussia, settled in Ohio and in 1833 entered land from the government in McLean township, Shelby county. Henry B. Sherman, son of William Sherman and father of John J., was fifteen years of age when he came to Shelby county and here became a well-known man. For twenty- eight years he taught school acceptably, although he was largely self taught. He also engaged in farming and took an intelligent interest in public matters and, in fact, became a representative man in McLean township, where his death took place in 1904, when he was aged eighty-six years. He married
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