History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 57

Author:
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1162

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In an interview with Mr. Taggart he gave the following history of his ancestry, in which he stated that John Taggart, William Taggart and James Taggart, three brothers, came from Antrim, Ireland, just before the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, in which war they all enlisted and served the whole seven years. James, the grandfather of the subject of this thrilling remi- niscence, was too young to enlist as a soldier when the war first broke out and so for a time he served as a wagon boss. His grandfather built a log cabin in the fall of 1814 and came out from Pennsylvania the next spring, together with a number of other families, and James' father occupied the cabin. At that period a good many emigrated to this neighborhood and located between here and the state road, among them being the Harrises, Careys, Thompsons and Adamses. Rev. Adams was the first preacher, and a church was built on what was formerly known as the Samuel Snavely farm, three miles to the south. There was then only a path through the woods and every man who attended church or went away from home carried a trusty rifle to protect himself from wolves, bears, wild cats, wild hogs and other wild beasts. The government paid a premium of two dollars on wild hogs, two dollars on wolves and four dollars on bears, and the farmers clubbed together to kill them.

The state road those days from Massillon to Wooster was scarcely more than a narrow wagon road through the woods. The nearest mill was two miles west of Canton, until the Beason Stibbs mill was erected at Wooster.

When Mr. Taggart's father located here there were Indians of the Wyan- dot tribe in this neighborhood. Punch and John Jonneycake and one other,

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Johnny Appleseed, a noted character in those days, who planted appleseeds all over the country and from which the first orchards were obtained, traveled through this section of the country. Punch was a vicious Indian and he sud- denly disappeared one night. His bones were afterwards found and it is supposed he was killed by one of the settlers. The marks of his tomahawk were visible on numerous beech trees for many years. He gave an account of a thrilling fight between a man and a bear in which his father was a participant. A man named Clouse was a tenant on the Taggart farm and lived in a log cabin situated at a spring now known as the mill pond on Paradise street. He was a tanner by occupation and a fearless hunter and tanned the hides for all the farmers far and near. In the fall of the year Samuel Taggart went to Wooster to pay his taxes and during his absence two bears came into the yard and carried off a hog. On returning home Mr. Taggart consulted with Mr. Clouse and they started out with the dogs in search of the bears. They came across one of them near the site of the Orrville flour mill. Mr. Taggart wanted Clouse to shoot the bear, but he wanted to kill it with the dogs. He always carried three butcher knives in his girdle and in the midst of the fight between the dogs and the bear Clouse rushed in and stabbed the bear until it fell dead, Mr. Taggart in the meantime holding the animal by the ears.

The first house built in Orrville was erected by William Bowman, who came to the vicinity with a saw-mill about 1851 or possibly 1852. It was lo- cated west of the mill about 1851, perhaps on the corner where the office now stands. William Gailey built the second house on the corner of Walnut and Market streets on the site of the one built later by Stella and Nettie Gailey, and the original building stands on the north part of the lot. Then old Mr. Seas' father became a resident of the little hamlet and built a house on the Beckley & Strauss corner. He was followed by Clark & Hoover, of Dalton, who opened up a store on the Evans lot, now occupied by Dr. Shie. From that time on Orrville continued to grow and grow and grow, until now we are able to say we are some, and some day we may be the county seat of Wayne county. Who can tell?

Mr. Taggart is getting quite feeble and suffers from infirmities received in his younger days, but he has a remarkable memory and is a quiet and in- offensive citizen. At one time he was quite wealthy, but lost his means many years ago through his generosity of heart to friends.

VILLAGE OF SHREVE.

Shreve, incorporated in December, 1859, is located in the southeast part of Clinton township and was originally known as Clinton Station, but when incorporated the name was changed to Shreve. It was named in honor of

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Pioneer Thomas Shreve, who came to the county in 1817 and settled in Clinton township in 1821. Shreve was made by the coming of the railroad, and has always been a good town or village. The north portion was laid out by D. . Foltz and George Stewart and the south part by Thomas McConkey and D. K. Jones-ten acres on each side of the track, but it has long since extended. far beyond these limits. It now has a population of about fourteen hundred. The first sale of lots was in March, 1853. The first lots in the village were purchased by D. K. Jones and on them he erected a store room and residence. The first building built in the place was a two-story frame house, erected by Neal Power in 1853. D. K. Jones was the first postmaster after the office was moved to the new village, but Thomas Shreve had been postmaster some years before while the office was at his house in the country near by. D. K. Jones also had the first dry goods store. Christian Roth had the first hotel. The first doctor was W. Battles, M. D., who located here in 1853. James Number's was the first child born in the place, and the first woman that died was Miss Barbara Muterspaugh.

VILLAGE OFFICERS.

The following have served as mayors of Shreve, the first election being held at the old hotel March 10, 1860, resulting as follows: Mayor. V. D. Manson ; recorder, William M. Knox; trustees, D. K. Jones, John Robison, Joseph Dyarman, James Taylor and William Johnson. 1861, mayor, Abra- ham Tidball; 1862, Henry Everly : 1863, William J. Bertolett, M. D .; 1864, Z. Lovett ; 1865. V. D. Manson ; 1866, V. D. Manson ; 1867. Elmer Oldroyd ; 1868, John Pomeroy ; 1869, J. H. Hunter; 1870, W. J. Bertolett; 1871. C. M. Kenton : 1872, John Robinson ; 1873. John Robinson ; 1874, John Williams ; 1875. John Williams ; 1876, Daniel Barcus; 1877, Daniel Barcus; 1878, Mi- chael Boothe ; 1879, John Hughes; 1880, William Barry; 1881, John Will- iams ; (record lost by fire for few years ) ; 1894-96. Charles Wilent ; 1896-98, E. G. Oldroyd; 1898-1902, E. D. Bruce ; 1902-03. John M. Moore: 1903-06, G. Critchfield ; 1906-08, A. P. Merkle ; 1908-10. O. D. Bruce.

The present town officers are : Mayor, O. D. Bruce ; councilmen, Frank Denny, Arthur Campbell, Joseph Biggs, Julius Gleitzeman, David Cornelius, P. E. Miller ; clerk, James H. Bonham ; marshal, William Priest ; treasurer, Wiley Miller.

Shreve has had a good system of water works since 1893. The tubular well system is employed and the water is now being pumped to a reservoir on

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the hill to the north of the town. The quality of water is excellent and in abundance for both fire protection and domestic uses.

Electric lights have been the illuminating process in the village since 1895, when E. K. Gardner installed a plant and conducted it as the only one there until about 1891, when a company of citizens formed a stock company and in- stalled a new plant, and both are now operating. Quite a local fight was got- ten up over this new plant, and Mr. Gardner persisted in running and is today furnishing light for the streets of Shreve at a mere nominal sum.

THE POSTOFFICE.

As already noted, the postoffice was at first in the country and known as Clinton, but with the building of the village it was transferred to Shreve. The postmasters serving have been as follows: Thomas Shreve, D. K. Jones, Albert Richardson, William Knox, Peter Housel, W. W. Wise, S. M. Robin- son, Peter Housel, R. S. Critchfield.

The rural free delivery system was put in operation from Shreve in 1902 and now four routes run out from the place.

CHURCHES AND LODGES.

Shreve is well supplied with churches and lodges. There are lodges of the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Maccabees and Modern Woodmen of America, all thriving at this date. See Lodge chapter in this work.

The churches, which are spoken of at length in the Church chapter, are the Methodist Episcopal, Christian and Presbyterian.

The professions are represented in Shreve as follows: Attorney, L. G. Cornell ; physicians, I. H. Hague (retired). R. C Paul, H. B. Bertolett and E. M. Funk. The dentist of the place is Dr. H. C. Graham.

The banking is well cared for by two substantial banks, the Farmers' Bank and the Citizens' Banking Company.

INDUSTRIAL CONCERNS.

While Shreve has never laid claim to being a factory village, yet one finds a lively interest in the following producing plants: The roller flouring mills of D. E. Foltz & Son; two grain elevators ; one creamery ; one newspaper, the News; one boot and shoe store : two drug stores ; one jeweler ; five groceries ;

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one general store ; one exclusive dry goods store ; one exclusive clothing store : one commercial hotel, the Carr; two millineries ; one photograph gallery ; one monument work shop; one livery; one auto livery; one harness shop; two blacksmiths; two furniture stores ; three hardwares; two meat markets; one barber shop.

VILLAGE OF WEST SALEM.

West Salem was platted by Peter and John Rickel, June 14. 1834. It was incorporated in 1868. It is situated in the extreme northwest corner of Wayne county, in Congress township. It now has a population of seven hun- dred within the limits proper and about seventy-five just without the corpora- tion limits. It is lighted by a system of gasoline lamps that are almost if not equal to electricity in illuminating power. This plant was put in in 1909. The place is served by a semi-volunteer fire department, of which the twenty- six members, all business men, receive the nominal sum of five dollars per year. The water is secured from fourteen large street cisterns ; the apparatus for fighting fire consists of hook and ladder trucks, one thousand feet of hose and chemical fire extinguishers.

About 1900 a fine large brick "city hall," two stories high, was erected by bonding the city. The debt is now about all paid. This building cost about fourteen thousand dollars and the upper story is used for opera hall purposes, under a local manager.

MAYORS AND TOWN OFFICERS.

Since the village was incorporated, the mayors have been as follows: D. H. Ambrose, 1868; David Mitchell, 1869; E. McFadden, 1870; John Shank, 1871 : John Shank, 1873: John W. Read, 1874, John W. Read. 1875; James Jeffrey, 1876. Then came E. W. McFadden and D. C. Eckerman : John Wiley, 1898-90; Eli Rupert, 1890-93: J. H. Wiley, 1903, and still serving.

The town officers in 1909 were: Mayor, J. H. Wiley ; clerk, John Pat- terson; treasurer, F. L. Berry ; marshal, John Rhodes; councilmen, O. I. Wiley, E. B. Hostetler, William Taylor, L. V. Patterson and William Salem.

POSTAL HISTORY.

There were established two rural free delivery routes out from West Salem in 1902 and three more added in 1904. The length of each route is twenty-five miles.

From the time the office was established, in Civil war days, John Henny was postmaster for many years. Following him came the following gentle-

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men : 1882-86, James Stephenson ; 1886-90, Joseph Kipinger ; 1890-94, James Stephenson ; 1894-98, Captain Mitchell; 1898 to present date ( 1909) Tom J. Smith.

The professional men of the village at this time are: Drs. J. W. Fer- guson, E. C. Radebaugh and G. C. Smith, medical doctors ; Dr. R. C. Wallace, dentist ; S. T. Topper, veterinary surgeon ; attorneys, J. V. Keller and Grant Goshorn; real estate dealer, I. N. Mann.

VARIOUS INDUSTRIES.

The Greeley Milling Company does an extensive flouring business, being located just outside the town corporation limits. This mill was originally an old-fashioned buhr-stone mill, but was later changed to a roller mill and in 1903 was equipped with the latest flouring-mill process of roller milling, since which time it has been doing an excellent business.

The retail trade of West Salem is represented as follows : One dry goods and furniture store, one dry goods and millinery, one general store, three shoe stores, two exclusive grocery stores, one clothing store, two hardware stores, two drug stores, one meat shop, two harness shops, two restaurants, one hotel, two liveries, two exclusive millineries, one grain elevator, one jeweler, one lumber dealer, one coal dealer, one tile factory, one pool room, one bakery and two barber shops, one newspaper, the Reporter.

CHURCHES AND LODGES.

The churches are the Presbyterian, worshiping in a neat brick, modern- built edifice, with a membership of about fifty.

The Methodist Episcopal still worship in the frame building erected in 1871, but which was remodeled in 1907.

The other church is the Evangelical, an account of which will appear in the Church chapter in this volume.

The lodges of a secret order are as follows: The Masonic, the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Maccabees.

OTHER INTERESTS.

The schools of West Salem have long been the pride of the place. In 1878 a large brick building was constructed at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars, which with some repairs is still doing good service. When built it was known as the best school house in Wayne county, save the ones at Wooster.

The town is supplied with two good banks and is on the Cleveland & Southwestern electric railway line, as well as on the Erie steam railroad line.

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Adelaide M. Gentchfield.

L.R. Crichfield.So

BIOGRAPHICAL.

HON. LYMAN R. CRITCHFIELD.

Hon. Lyman R. Critchfield, ex-attorney-general of Ohio, who forms the subject of this notice, was born May 22, 1831, at Danville, Knox county, Ohio, son of Reuben Trautman Critchfield, a native of Virginia, and Nancy Caroline Hardesty, a native of Maryland; his great-grandfather, Nathaniel Critchfield, who was in the Revolutionary war, and his maternal grandfather, Henry Hardesty, were farmers. His father moved from Danville to Millers- burg in 1834, where he served as justice of the peace several years.

Mr. Critchfield was educated in the Millersburg public schools and the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, from which institution he graduated, receiving the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. At the age of twenty-one years he entered the law office of Hon. George E. Pugh, Columbus, Ohio, who was at that time attorney-general of the state. In 1853 he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court and immediately thereafter began practicing at Millersburg. He practiced six years in Cleve- land and for the last eighteen years has been practicing in Wooster, Ohio. His brother, Leander Jerome Critchfield, was an eminent lawyer of this state and was for a time reporter to the supreme court. Besides practicing in the supreme courts of Ohio, Mr. Critchfield practices in the federal, district and circuit courts and supreme court of the United States at Washington. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Holmes county, Ohio, in 1859, and re- elected in 1861, resigning in 1862 when he was elected attorney-general, serv- ing one term from 1863 to 1865 and was nominated for a second term in 1864, but was defeated with the party ticket. In 1865 he was elected to the state senate, served one term and resigned. Among other public offices he has held are, school director of Millersburg and also president of the council of the city of Wooster.

Politically, Mr. Critchfield is an ardent Democrat, and gives most thought to the strict construction and practice of the federal and state constitutions, and especially to the rights of the people reserved in these instruments. In 1868 he was nominated for Congress by the Democrats in the district com-

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posed of Holmes, Wayne, Ashland, Lorain and Medina counties. In 1887 he was nominated for judge of the supreme court of Ohio by the Democratic party in convention at Cleveland; in 1888 he was again nominated for the same position at the convention held at Dayton.

On October 2, 1854, Mr. Critchfield was married to Adelaide Margaret Shaffer ; their children are : Edith ; Grace ; Henry, the doctor ; Mary ; Blanche ; Lyman, Jr., the lawyer; and Nellie. He of whom this is written is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity and also of the Methodist Episcopal church at Wooster, Ohio, where his law office is also located.

In Ben Douglas' "Wayne County Lawyers," a volume published recently, the author pays this tribute to Mr. Critchfield :

"As one of the leaders of the Democratic party and foremost thinkers in that organization, he has fought congressional battles, handicapped from the outset with disaster-boding majorities, which, however, never abated his ardor or enthusiasm in the conflict. Whether in county, judicial, congressional, state or national campaigns, he is ever ready with his service for his party organization. Wherever he goes he is greeted with enthusiastic audiences as an attractive, aggressive, fluent, logical and masterful champion of the principles of his party.

"To the active practice of the law, when he entered upon its complex duties and responsibilities, he brought the qualifications and forces of a drilled, disciplined and brilliant intellect. He did not enter the list unarmed, or ill equipped, to be battered, bruised and mangled in an unequal contest with the grim old veterans of the then Wooster and northern Ohio bar. His force and effectiveness is strongly emphasized in his arguments to the jury, as he seems not so much to look at them, as to look through them, less for the purpose of seeing how they feel, than to rivet their attention, -- as it were to grasp their minds by the compass of his own. The calm and masterly manner in which he disposes of the preliminary considerations, is the reminder of the experi- enced general, quietly arranging his forces and preparing to press down in overwhelming force upon a single point. His manner becomes aroused ; his action animated. In the careful construction of sentences, nice choice of words, musical balancing of phrases-and marshalling of arguments, he has no superior. if indeed an equal, in Ohio."

Mr. Douglas further says, in illustrating his subject: "These qualities greatly aid the speaker in winning his way at the outset in the hearts of those whom he is addressing, and in preparing them to receive his ideas and argu- ments. When arguments are flounced in scholarly language such as Mr. Critchfield seldom fails to employ and illustrated by beautiful figures of

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speech, the impression produced is apt to be as deep and enduring as that made by a more phosphorescent, florid, fervid and tempestuous style of ora- tory. Stepping aside to the consideration of him outside of his profession, he has an imagination of distinctly diversified and comprehensive acquisitions ; as was said of Whipple, the prince of our American essayists, 'he is an ency- clopedia individualized and is familiar with history, science, art, agri- culture, geology, theology, poetry, and what is desirable to know.'

"To whatever subject his attention may be called, though it be one which you would suppose to be utterly strange to his thoughts. he is enabled upon the slightest meditation to impart an interest, a glow of life, a surprising il- lumination; in this respect Mr. Critchfield's intellect is similar to that of Guizot, of whom it was said: 'No one could surprise him, but from whom you never failed to receive instruction.'

"With his legal learning, his accurate conceptions of the law, his power and supremacy as an advocate, his adroitness in argument, his incisive logic. his tact and foresight in the examination of witnesses and the analysis of testimony, his historical equipment and classical style, his measured sentences properly emphasized to give the intended force to his language, he rapidly rose to be one of the formidable, forensic gladiators of the Ohio bar. To the court he is ever courteous, respectful and dignified; in contentions with opposing counsel, cautious without being timid, resolute, but not rash, firm, but not obstinate; to the jury he administers a common sense philosophy of the law, the simple deductions of reason, a harmonious and symmetrical array of facts, and this in a brilliant, rapid, piercing way; not like the eye of Cy- clops, letting in a flood of rushing and furious splendor, but a Drummond light, illuminating without impairing what it shines upon. He has philosophy. the faculty and facility of presentation, volume and elasticity of expression, picturesqueness of imagination, and almost poetical brilliancy, which invests his qualities with width and breadth and fascination peculiarly his own. He collects his illustrations from the fields of nature and art. and levies contribu- tions on literature and science. Everything in his manner and matter be- trays the sinew and strength of the orator, the tone of his voice, the curve and sweep of his arm, the splenetic glance of his eye, the burning scorn, the blazing indignation ; the cogency and force of his arguments, the inevitable force of his retortion and the nervous vigor of style of a Canning.

"His prepared orations, addresses and readings are completed with severest care. As a sculptor chisels down and finishes his statue, chipping and clipping away the stone to find within his beautiful ideal, so it is he elab- orates his thoughts until they assume the shapes he would give them. His

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literary tastes are pure and their products rank with the most finished emana- tions of Whipple. Everett, Sumner, Wirt or Curtiss. They might be en- titled to the appellation of prose poems, for he has the poet's divine insight. He has a ready appreciation of the proprieties of language, thought and man- ner. as established by the usages of society, and a refined sympathy with the sentiments of the purest intellects. In him we see the human mind in many of its exalted aspects ; there is so much of man forced into it that it appears in fine proportions. He is the kindest and tenderest of men; loved his wife, and in his memoriam of her is the passion of Petrarch and the consuming love of Abelard. He is attached to his family and friends, and loves his country with an affection that is felt in his heart, and which dilates his individuality to the size of a national individuality.

"Upon all appropriate occasions he champions not only the noble, but the noblest of principles within his knowledge. Mr. Critchfield not only possesses the endowment of superior mental qualities, but of the heart equally and assuredly so. In this connection, the sentence of St. Beuve, in one of his memorable essays on Pascal, may with appropriateness be quoted: 'He is good, and great in heart and mind, which strong minds not always are; and all he did in the sphere of the mind and the sphere of the heart, bears the stamp of invention and originality, which attests the force, depth and an ardent mind, so to speak, ravenous in pursuit of investigation and truth.'

"He is an admirer of the elegancies of art. This passion is innate with him, and it is a child of his religious instinct; because the highest and best works in architecture, sculpture and painting, poetry and music have been derived out of an imagination of nature at whose shrine he is a worshipper."

MRS. ADELAIDE M. CRITCHFIELD.

The beautiful subject of this sketch, the wife of Hon. L. R. Critchfield, departed this life October 6, 1895. As of all beautiful women, the elegance of her personality is indescribable,-a composite glow of vital forces. All her sacred vitality, so beautifully manifested, so lovely to contemplate, flashed its last electric grace, beamed its last auroral flushes, and one more of the reproachless, innocent martyrs of earth, an adornment of her race, returned to the God who gave her, in a last and crowning act of sacrifice. Around such a life, so terminated, there were exceptional manifestations of public regard ; eulogies, both public and private, were spoken of her, as a lady of rare

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attainments and attraction in society ; as a leader in benevolences. and in religious influences, and as an advanced advocate of the high prerogatives of women. The Wooster Daily Republican, the Wayne County Democrat, the Wayne County Herald, the Century Club, the Women's Foreign Mission- ary Society : her personal friends among the professors of Wooster Univer- sity and the State Agricultural Station: teachers in the public schools. physicians and citizens of Wooster, and many ladies of Wooster, and her friends in other places, gave her many commendatory eulogies.

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History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 57

Author: Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1162

Author:
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1162