History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 106

Author: R. Sutton & Co.
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 427

USA > Ohio > Shelby County > History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 106

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Such were the initial steps toward the founding of a town which was yet to be, and following these steps came the work of clearing and build- ing. Destruction ever prepares the way for construction, for the old must be levelled to make way for the new. The location is a cheerful, even charming one as viewed to-day, but it is doubtful whether it presented any charms other than those arising from a pecuniary stand- point to the men who were interested in the founding of the town in 1820. But all this transpired in " the good old times;" those times of simple tastes, modest demands, and low ambitions, and before "the root of all evil" had become the controlling influence in the affairs of men. Perhaps this is all true, but worship of the past is not largely indulged in "these degenerate days." Let the few worshippers of those days glory in theit best features, and they will not glory alone. Beyond this, they must not shut their eyes to the objectionable features, as if all was virtue, honesty, and hospitality. Mankind has always been more or less human, and sometimes planted thistles where flowers should have grown. They must not become such ardent worshippers of yesterday as to assert that " what was good enough for my father is good enough for me and my children," for this is a theory of conservatism which means only stagna- tion and the death of honorable ambition and manly effort. No day was ever good enough, and no day's effort need be counterfeited, for it can always be improved. Still the past is largely in its grave, and as " noble spirits war not with the dead," it were well to recall the past in kindness and dismiss it with a tear.

But the founders of Sidney, in common with those of the whole county, are in need of no commiseration at our hands, for they did the very best their circumstances and surroundings would permit. The citizens of to-day do not manifest a different spirit so much as they manifest a deeper intensity of the same spirit on account of its better development and greater strength. New conditions have wrought out a new order of things. It is not the freaks of blind fates, or the "sport of invisible powers" which measures the direction and influence of the efforts of man. It was not fatalism but positivism which enabled the pioneer to grapple successfully with the unfriendly forces which beset him on every hand. It required the best manhood in man to contend with cold and inhospit- able conditions. In fact, it called forth a mighty effort to make him master of himself. The community, like the individual, must seize and hold its own destiny in grasp, and sow as it would reap. The man will come into being under adverse conditions, and must take up arms against his surroundings from the very moment of his birth if he would hold his fate in his hands. If in the war which ensues the man succeeds, he will be called a hero, while if he fails he will be branded a fool. So with the community. It must take up arms against the adverse conditions which governed the period in which it sprang into existence, or it will become the victim of those conditions. It can no more stand still than the individual, for inaction is stagnation, and stagnation is suicide. Even conservatism, of which we hear so much, has its reprehensible features, for it is gener- ally only an apology for inaction, while idolized consistency is only an apology for conservatismn. No apologies are recognized in social econ- omy, for it is either development and growth or decline and death. Look about in this county, and view the fate of Cynthiana, Basinberg, New- bern, and other towns which have become only a memory of the past. Look at old Dingmansburg, clasped in the outstretching arms of a living town, and so rescued from a withering doom! Look at Hardin, living only in sacred memory of the gallant patriot, who on that spot offered up his life in the service of his country, and that other memory that it was once the seat of justice of Shelby County ! Even then it does not serve as an adequate monument to these sacred memories. Yet it is dwelling to-day upon scenes long since enacted, cherishing the memory of a glory long departed, and so living only in the past. It is scarcely a life deserving of the name, for better one year of the present than a thousand of the past.

Turn, then, and contemplate a living growth, and view the stately results of the better spirit of growth and development. Turn to Sidney, not with a sigh for " what might have been," but with a noble pride for that which is, and the sacred promise of that which is to be. There is the town located in the valley, creeping up the hillsides and over the summits, dotting its way with buildings of every character, and insti- tutions of every order. Industries, enterprises, and institutions of manifold uses have been called into being to represent the various tastes, desires, and skill of a constantly increasing population. To the original plat have been added more than thirty additions, and the number has never outrun the demand. Neither has that growth ever presented an abnormal aspect, for health of tone has ever marked the extension of the town. Nothing was done, no step taken as the result of intoxicated

ideas of the necessities of the town, but all has been done on a solid and enduring basis. Shocks and disasters have, as a consequence, been strangers here throughout the history of the town.

Let us turn, then, to a review of some of the incidents and accidents of the past, and a contemplation of the institutions and enterprises of the present. The town, as such, dates from the year 1820; for, although two or three cabins may have been erected upon the land which became the town site, they had no more significance than the scores of others scattered throughout the county.

It appears rather certain that John Blake built the first house in the new town, and as considerable interest attaches to the first building and builder, the following article is given space.

"Buildings-Old and New.

" The first building erected in Sidney is being torn down and carted away. Among the several old ones yet standing it is the oldest, and the only one that in all the years remained on its original site. When the ground is cleared and the building season opens, a brick structure, 130 by 54g ft. and three stories high, will be erected by the owner of the lot, M. Wagner. On the first floor there will be two store-rooms, 100 by 25 feet, to be occupied by Thedieck Brothers, dry goods merchants, and W. H. Wagner, dealer in hardware. The building will be finished in the most approved style, compensating for the public eyesore in process of demolition. So much for the new, and this for the old building :

" It was built in the spring of 1820-sixty-two years ago-by John Blake, who employed Thomas English and Elisha Montaney to do the carpenter work. A log cabin stood on the northwest corner of the lot, built by the father of Richard Cannon, of Turtle Creek township. The Blakes moved into this cabin in March, 1820, coming from Miami County. The lot, No. 49, was bought at a sale of town lots a year after the town was laid out. 'Squire Henry, Director, who lived three and one-half miles east of town, managed the sale. Lot 49 brought $125, while lot 29, where R. L. Fry's residence and business rooms stand, sold for $100. The frame building on lot 49 was completed in the summer of 1820, and the Blake family moved in the then finest house within half a day's tra- vel in any direction. In the summer of 1826 John Blake left Sidney for South Carolina, taking fifty head of horses with him. He made the journey safely, sold the horses, got the money, and started for home. At Lexington, Kentucky, he was waylaid, murdered, and robbed. Much of the stock was bought on time, and besides its loss, Mr. Blake was robbed of other funds. The settlement which followed greatly embar- rassed the family, and in 1831 lot 49 and building were sold to John W. Carey, who made several improvements in the building, a noteworthy one being an ornamental piece of work from the tinsmith, signifying that the era of reform in the old building occurred in the year 1832. The same year Mr. Carey hung out a shingle which informed the weary tra- veller that the place was a ' hotel.' Board bills were seldom 'jumped,' as almost anything in trade was acceptable. In cash, $1.25 a week was considered the fair thing. Those who paid the cash realized the grandeur of their position, though there was not much opportunity of displaying one's self before the people of the city.

" The property changed hands so frequently that to trace it through the county records would be an endless task. Mr. Wagner does not remember just what year he made the purchase, nor the price; but it was long before he bought the Burnett House building, which he pur- chased at sheriff's sale in 1863, paying $5000 for it.

"At Director Henry's sale of town lots, No. 20, whereon Guy C. Kel- sey and James Austin have built, sold for $70. From this some idea of the appreciation in value of property in Sidney can be obtained.

"In 1831 the buildings from the Citizens' Bank down to the old frame on lot 49 were built. They were the first brick buildings erected in Sid- ney. As the county seat was at first in Hardin, afterward being removed to Sidney and the business done in a frame trap, the town considered itself big enough to support a brick court-house, providing the people in the back ' deestricks' were willing. The question resulted in the erec- tion in 1832 of a brick court-house No. 2, the one that has just stepped down and out for court-house No. 3, the one in course of construction.

"Although this article treats of buildings, old and new, it is well to draw the line somewhere. The old frame trap, now about to leave us, having long survived its usefulness, will be permitted to take a back seat. In its youth it sheltered the pioneers of the county, but they, or most of them, have also stepped down and out. The science of the beautiful' declares the old building utterly unfit for further use; so it must go. Its timbers, sixty-two years old, are dry and hard enough to withstand exposure to the elements for years to come. In the solitude of the wood-house or back yard, where the tender recollections of a half century gone by steal through its wooden head, it will find rest and peace."-Shelby County Democrat, Feb. 17, 1882.

In the years 1820 and 1825 inclusive, a number of houses of different kinds were erected, to trace the history of which would be a waste of time and space, as they generally passed away with the period for which they were intended.

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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.

Hotels.

On the 4th of September, 1821, John Blake petitioned the Court for license to keep tavern at his house in Sidney, which petition was granted for one year in consideration of the payment of five dollars.

On the 12th of November, 1822, Francis Kendall was licensed by the Court to keep hotel at his house in Sidney, in consideration of paying five dollars to the county.

On the 24th of May, 1830, Abraham Cannon presented a petition to the Court of Common Pleas, and was granted a license, in consideration of a payment of five dollars, " to keep tavern for one year in his house in Sidney."

Stores.

As early as the 11th of December, 1820, John Blake was licensed by the Court of Common Pleas to "vend merchandise" in Sidney for one year, in consideration of the payment of ten dollars. On the 24th of April, 1823, Jesse Bryan was licensed by the court "to keep store in the town of Sidney." On the 9th of October of the same year license was granted Amos Evans to keep store in Sidney. . John Blake, to whom the first license was granted, had it renewed December 11, 1821, for one year,-the fee in each case being ten dollars. He is thus found to figure as one of the very earliest builders, hotel-keepers, and store-keepers of the town.

These are the initial steps taken in different departments, and serve to show the first business men, and the business they established. The cabin was converted into a store, a hotel, or a shop, according to the seeming demand of the public, and the mechanical or financial ability of the individual.

But let us see farther. The town itself was yet unpromising in ap- pearance; in fact it consisted largely of the plat only, and was awaiting the period not only of construction of buildings, but also of streets and walks. The site was likely to be wet, and the timber was as yet only removing, so that log-heaps, stumps, and mud might be said to hold the town, if not in fee, at least in possession. But lots were regularly, although not rapidly sold; and improvements were making steadily, which, rude as they were, indicated at least a living growth, as the result of active energies.

In 1820, or one year after the erection of the county, the sessions of the commissioners and courts convened here, and this was the one dig- nity for which the town was intended, and toward which the first citi- zens had looked with something of hopeful pride Still, the " seat of justice won the town," rather than the town the " seat of justice," for this was the express purpose for which the site was chosen by the duly authorized commissioners.

During the first eighteen years of the town's existence its growth was slow, and its energy feeble. It moved along apace with the county, but its development was slow, as is ever the case under similar circum- stances. It was a village, a county seat, but it had no commercial facili- ties ; and in the midst of a new, although fertile district, it found little impetus to rapid growth. The county was improving slowly, but steadily, and the town was only justified in keeping step. A town may outrun the development of the district upon which it is dependent, and then stagnation ensues, sometimes supplemented by financial crashes and commercial disasters.

In the case of Sidney no such shocks were known, for the conditions were against everything of this nature. If circumstances only warranted a slow growth that growth was adopted, and every step appeared ad- justed to the demands of the hour. From time to time the individual stepped beyond the bounds of prudence, and attempted to create ab- normal demands, rather than supply actual needs, and became the victim of bankruptcy.

This, however, is only an incident in the history of every town and branch of business, and does not argue against our position relative to the normal condition of the general prevailing growth. The man blun- dered and failed; the men were prudent and succeeded. The individual became bankrupt, the town as a community prospered and grew. Schools were established, not as existent to-day, but as demanded and justified by their own day. They served the purposes of their being in a certain sense, and, like everything else, went on improving. Churches were organized ; the adherents of particular creeds, uniting into congrega- tions, and erecting buildings in which might be expounded the peculiar doctrines of each particular denomination. The Methodists came, and, where a few of these met in a new country, the circuit rider sought them, sometimes on foot, but ever determined to organize a class. The Catholic came, and when the missionary priest found a few families of the " mother Church," he instituted the confessional, and visited the little band as often as his missionary labors would permit. Baptists came here to make homes for themselves, and doing this, supplemented their every day duties by the erection of a church and baptismal fount. Here, too, came the Presbyterian with his family, until several families were justi- fied in asking for supplies to preach the mystic word as understood by the adherents to the doctrines of foreordination and election. Some families of United Presbyterians also found themselves banding together and seeking assistance from presbyteries, in order that their infant or-

ganization might hear the word as taught under the tenets of this de- nomination. And they succeeded, too, and to-day the church which holds much in common with the Presbyterians, but finds no solace in open communion, and knows no sacred music except the Psalms of David, is still here in the character of a large and flourishing congregation. Here, then, came and grew the Methodist with the "mercy-seat;" the Catholic with the confessional ; the Baptist with immersion ; the Pres- byterian with predestination, election, infant baptism ; and the United Presbyterian with these doctrines supplemented by close communion and exclusive Psalm singing.

Aside from those which grew into organizations which continue to- day, all shades of doubt and all colors of belief have been represented in the general make-up or personnel of the community. The Unitarian and Universalist, with their higher conception of man, or more merciful conception of a Deity, have found homes among the people of the town. Here, too, is the humanitarian, with his poetic philosophy of life, which holds man at his best estate, and proclaims each his brother's keeper. He is sometimes really an Agnostic ; he may be an Atheist, or an Infi- del,-he is still a humanitarian, at whom is indiscriminately hurled the name of Infidel.

Let us simply admit he may be honest, and honesty with noble deeds may somewhere weigh more than hypocrisy with faith. It is just possi- ble a man can no more force a belief upon himself than he can force it upon others. Somewhere or other a good deed may be accounted a worthy offering, and a kind word an efficacious prayer. Perhaps it is the deed more than the creed which is the index to righteousness in man. Perhaps the man who scatters flowers along the path of a way- farer, and wreathes in smiles the countenances of those with whom he meets, will hear at last the recognition, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these, ye did it unto me;" and not the interrogation, "To what creed did you adhere ? or, to what church did you belong ?"

Aside from these educational and religious institutions, others of an industrial character sprang into being, and were carried along with the general growth. By these the direct and imperative needs of the hour were supplied, and the whole development carried out in uniformity and regularity.

While the canal was constructing, something of an excitement obtained, but it was chiefly abnormal.

During the construction of the Bellefontaine and Indiana Railroad in 1851 and 1852, about twelve hundred laborers headquartered at Sidney, and gave something of a new animation to the town. After the comple- tion of the road a steady growth of both population and industry was experienced, which continued, perhaps, at a nominal rate until a new im- petus was furnished in 1854, when steps were taken toward securing the Dayton and Michigan road, which would give a north and south outlet of immense beneficial importance. Stock was subscribed by citizens with something of a startling readiness, and for a time men with that intoxication born of speculation and railroad excitement traded farms, town lots, merchant stock, anything, and in some instances everything, for railroad stock, which was to advance at alarming strides, and leave dividends and margins in which wealth was assured. The road was finally constructed in 1858-59, and while the benefits of a cross outlet were secured to the community as such, the individuals who invested in stock found themselves largely impoverished. Farms were sold, and the owners were thrown out of homes, and stepped from affluence to penury in a day. The eastern portion of the town was largely appropriated by the railway company, and was neither improved by the owners, nor put upon the market at marketable prices. Held at exorbitant prices, it begged in vain for purchasers, or implored unanswered for improvement during a period of several years. To some extent this condition of things retarded general growth, and barred important enterprises. Fi- nally the property was sold from time to time, and as each purchaser improved immediately upon possession the town grew in symmetry and utility by expansion eastward until the river was reached, and something of a natural limit attained.

During the years 1837-39 inclusive, the canal fever was raging, and served to some extent as an awakener of public sentiment, and a stimu- lus to public spirit. It was then that

EAST SIDNEY,

Embracing the old site of Dingmansburg, was surveyed, and made a part of the town proper. This plat was surveyed June 12, 1837, for Joel Frankeberger and John F. Frazier, and "is situated on the east bank of the Great Miami River in fractional section 10, town. 1, range 13 M. R. S. Lots four by eight rods, except the fractional ones, and their length and width when it varies from the other lots is designated by small fig- ures near the lines (on the plat). Streets are fifty feet wide, except Water Street which is sixty feet in width. All alleys twelve feet wide." The plat was recorded June 15, 1837.

Incorporation.

The village was incorporated under authority of an act entitled " An Act to Incorporate the Town of Sidney," passed March 1, 1834. The enabling provisions of this act are as follows :-

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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.

SECTION I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio: That so much of the township of Clinton in the county of Shelby as is comprehended in the town plat of Sidney be and the same is hereby created a town corporation, and shall hereafter be known and distin- guished by the name of the town of Sidney.

SECTION II. That for the good order and government of said town and the inhabitants thereof, there shall be elected by the white male in- habitants having the qualifications of electors of members of the General Assembly, on the first Monday of April next, and on the first Monday of May annually thereafter, at the usual place of holding elections in said town, one mayor, one recorder, and five trustees, who shall be free- holders residing in said town; one treasurer and one town marshal, who shall each hold their respective offices for one year, and until their suc- cessors shall be elected and qualified.

As the remainder of the act simply relates to the powers and duties of the several officers, it exhibits nothing peculiar or distinctive, and so is not reproduced. It need scarcely be added that the term "white" as applied to electors in Section II. of this act has no force at this time, as it is eliminated from all constitutions and laws both State and national. It is to be regretted that the official records of the town do not cover the whole period from the incorporation to the present. All inquiry and research only discovered such records for the period succeeding the year 1846, thus leaving a gap of twelve years. Such scraps of interest as could be gathered for these years will be found in this volume, but at best they can only serve as detached links indicating the way backward, and not as constituting a continuous chain connecting us with the origin of the town government. Still they are valuable as guideboards, although they neither shorten the distance nor improve the way. Nearly a half century has elapsed since the incorporation, and so the best memories of the men who were here at that time must, touching details and dates, be confused and indistinct, if not absolutely defective. So preferring silence to error we sometimes omit all mention where we would be glad to speak with authenticity. These silent points have cost more effort than the most elaborate subjects, for carried along by an ardent desire to be just and complete, search has been instituted wher- ever hope directed, and hope was sometimes cherished that a dead hope could be revived. So it was that continued efforts proved fruitless as well as laborious. It will be observed the town had been located and platted almost fifteen years before it was incorporated. At the time of the incorporation the population of the whole county could scarcely have exceeded the present population of the town, for in 1830 the inhabitants of the county only numbered 3671, while in 1880 those of the town alone numbered 3823. It is worthy of note that during the first half century of the town's existence, or until 1870, the population only swelled to 2808, while the increase for the decade between 1870 and 1880 was 1015. This shows an increase of nearly one hundred per cent. over the average de- cennial growth prior to 1870. The city was divided into four wards November 16, 1882, and each ward is entitled to two members of the city council. The population in 1840 was 713; in 1850, 1284; in 1860, 1997; in 1870, 2808; and in 1880, 3823. With the present outlook it will require no intuition of prophecy to predict a growth during the next ten years, which will largely exceed all other corresponding periods. Vitality, energy, and enterprise acknowledge no limitations, and these have sufficiently manifested themselves during the past few years to give a guarantee for the future.

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History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 106

Author: R. Sutton & Co. Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Number of Pages: 427

Author: R. Sutton & Co.
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 427