USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 94
USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 94
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PHYSICIANS.
Among the oldest practioners of medicine in the township, were Doctors Stevens, Otis, Boise and Chas. Smith, of Lyme. Cotemporary with them, and earlier, were Doctors Kittredge, Sanders and Til- den, who visited the township occasionally.
Dr. L. G. Harkness was the first physician promi- nently identified with the history of Bellevue. He was born in Salem, Washington county, New York, April 1, 1801, educated for his profession in the State of his nativity, and came west in 1823. He located upon the ridge, in Lyme township, and became associated, professionally, with Dr. Stevens. He removed, afterward, to the village of Bellevue, and rat long after abandoned his practice. He continued to reside here, however, and the story of his life is quite fully told elsewhere in this history.
In 1835, Dr. Daniel A. Lathrop came to Bellevue, from his birthplace, Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and almost immediately became a very successful practitioner, taking up Dr. Harkness' ride, and having all of the business, which that physician formerly attended to, upon his hands. He not only took Dr. Harkness' place, but filled it, and enjoyed as extensive a practice, perhaps, as any physician who ever located in the village. It extended over a long term of years, too, and really did not terminate until a short time before the Doctor's departure from town, in 1861, though he was not actively engaged in the pursuit of his profession for two or three years previous to that date. The Doctor returned to Montrose, Pennsylvania, where he is now located. He is a graduate of a Philadelphia college.
The physicians who followed him were numerous. We shall only speak of those most prominently identi- fied with the history of the town. A Dr. Gray came in und remained a short time. Dr. W. W. Stillson was
in practice for a number of years and removed to Clyde, where he is at present in practice. Dr. Amos Woodward, a native of Lyme, began practice in 1846, and after six or seven years retired, though he con- tinued to reside in the village and has long been one of its leading citizens. Dr. Charles Richards, now of Binghamton, New York, came in soon after Dr. Woodward began practice, and read medicine with Dr. Lathrop, afterwards entering into practice.
Dr. John W. Goodson, now in Sterling, Rice county, Kansas, began the study of medicine in Bellevue about 1840, and completed his professional education at Buffalo, there receiving his diploma. He immediately returned to Bellevue and entered into practice, taking, almost from the first, a prominent position, both in the medical fraternity and in general society. He had a lucrative practice and accumulated a fine property. He was for a time assistant surgeon of the Seventy-second Regiment O. V. I., and was with Grant's army before Vicksburg. The doctor was a native of England and was born on the 4th of July, 1817. He came to this country when a lad . thirteen years of age. He is now represented here by three children-Mr. F. L. Goodson, Mrs. J. A. Hig- bee and Miss Nettie Goodson. F. L. Goodson is the village postmaster, now serving his third term He is popular both as a man and an officer.
Dr. Ralph A. Severance begun practice in Bellevue in 1854. He was a native of Greenfield, Massachu- setts, and read medicine there with Dr. Brigham, who was afterwards in charge of one of the great asylums for the insane. He attended lectures in New York city, and graduated from Bowdoin college, Bow- doin, Maine, with the class of 1831. He first went . into practice at Rockingham, Vermont, and remained there twenty-three years, coming directly from that place to Bellevue, which has ever since been his home and in which village he has constantly practiced since 1854. He is now in the seventy-seventh year of his life and the forty-eighth of his practice. Dr. Sever- ance is now in the third year of his presidency of the Delamater Medical Society, is a member of the Ohio Medical Society, and of the American Medical Asso- ciation. His practice here has been very extensive and he is esteemed both professionally and as a citizen.
Dr. J. J. Hartz who came to Bellevne in 1852, was one of the most eminent men of the profession who have practiced in this part of the State. He was born in Versailles, France, in 1798, and received his medi- cal education at the University of Heidelberg. After coming to this country he traveled through the south, was for a short time a resident of Charleston, and a transient resident of Texas. For a number of years before coming to this village he was located in Por- tage county, and at Upper Sandusky, in both of which neighborhoods he had a very extensive prac- tice. He rendered efficient service at Sandusky dur- ing the prevalence of the cholera there, going upon the request of some of the local physicians.
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
During the whole of his long service in the profes- sion in Bellevue, he was regarded by all as a man of marked ability in his profession, and as a gen- tleman of rare worth in all of the affairs of life. He was a man of liberal culture outside of medicine, and was a remarkable linguist, speaking with fluency seven languages. He was ever the courteous, pol- ished, dignified gentleman, and won the admiration and esteem of all. He died, in 1865, of consumption, such of his patients as were able, coming to see him, whom he treated even up to the hour when he breathed his last; such was their confidence in his skill. He was a surgeon as well as physician.
Dr. H. L. Harris, born June 30, 1819, in Oxford- shire, England, is a graduate of the Starling Medical College of Columbus, and received his diploma in 1848. Next to Dr. Severance, he is the oldest prac- titioner in the place. He was in practice in South Bend, and, in 1849, removed to Flat Rock, where he remained until 1859, when he came to Bellevue. He has enjoyed a very fine practice and is much esteemed by all who know him.
Quite a number of physicians have practiced in the village for a short term of years and then removed to other points, among whom may be named Drs. Zen- dry, Carpenter, Heppurn, Hayes and Frost .. The physicians of Bellevue are, at present, as follows: Drs. Ralph A. Severance, H. L. Harris, Geo. L. Lanterman, W. S. Robinson, G. V. Parmelee (suc- cessor of Dr. Carpenter) and Chas. Sandmeister. The dentists are Drs. E. D. and Alexander Lord. Dr. G. N. Harcy is a regular practitioner of medicine in the township, and is located on Strong's ridge.
BELLEVUE CEMETERY.
This cemetery was begun about the time of the first laying out of the village of Bellevue, in 1835, on land given for the purpose by Messrs. Chapman, Hark- ness and Amsden, who were the first proprietors of the land on which the town is now situated. The first burial in this ground was that of Rebecca Chris- topher, who died March 20, 1836. At the time of giving the land for this purpose, the owners fenced it.
In 1855, the village authorities purchased some- thing more than five acres of land and made an addi- tion to the cemetery, which now contains over seven acres. The old part was laid out in good form as far as practicable, with walks and paths between the lots, but no uniformity had been observed in first laying it out, and it was not possible to arrange it according to the best order, still it was much improved. The addition was laid out in good shape, and lots staked off, which have been disposed of from time to time. When the last purchase was made a board of trustees was elected, consisting of W. H. King, mayor of the village at the time, Barney York, Lowell Chandler and D. Moore, for terms of one, two and three years. One trustee is now elected yearly. The board, at pres- ent, consists of D. Moore, Joseph Sherck and Martin Gross. Most of the religious denominations of the
town bury their dead in this cemetery, as it is situ- ated in a better location than any other ground in the vicinity. D. Moore is superintendent of the cemetery, and has acted in that capacity most of the time since its organization.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
In June, 1870, the village council of Bellevue pur- chased a second-hand hand fire engine, a hose cart and several hundred feet of hose from the authorities of Tiffin, for the sum of about three hundred dollars. A fire company was organized with Dr. J. W. Goodson, foreman; Charles Nicolai, first assistant; B. Benn, second assistant, and J. H. Webber, secretary. In 1874, council appointed as chief of the fire depart- ment, A. B. Smith, who served in that capacity for one year. In 1875 William R. West succeeded him, he also remaining one year. Charles Nicolai was ap- pointed in 1876 and served until 1879, when C. C. Cook was appointed. A first class Silsby rotary steam fire engine was purchased in 1875, with a hose cart and one thousand feet of hose, at a cost of about fonr thousand seven hundred dollars. In May, 1879, the companies were re-organized and formed into one company, under one set of officers, but one division was assigned to the engine, another to the hose, and another to the hook and ladder. The officers elected were John Eichhorn, foreman; John Toomy, first as- sistant; William Estnaur, second assistant; John L. Painter, secretary; William Mayne, engineer and treasurer. The "hooks " were first organized in 1877, more as a sporting company, though active at fires. C. C. Cook was captain; John M. Enright, foreman; Seth H. Cook, assistant foreman; J. C. Morrell, sec- retary, and Thomas Rudd, treasurer. Under this or- ganization they ran for prizes twelve times, and were successful in eleven runs. Their fastest time was made in Norwalk, when they had a man at the top of a thirty foot ladder, after a run of forty rods, in thir- ty-four and one-half seconds. On the re-organization of the fire department the hooks became a part of that organization, but still retain their sporting organiza- tion. Under the organization of May, 1879, the fire company assumed the name of the Ever Ready Fire Company, No. 1, of Bellevue. The steamer, hose cart and ladder trucks, are kept in the lower story of the fine city hall, and are, as the name of the compa- ny implies, ever ready for duty.
SOCIETIES.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.
The charter of Bellevue Lodge, No. 123, I. O. O. F., was granted July 21, 1848. The following are names of the charter members: William W. Stilson, A. Leiter, M. H. Seymour, R. C. McElhany and P. G. Sharp. The lodge was instituted November 9th, of the same year, by Grand Master McElwin, when the following officers were elected: A. Leiter, N. G .; Wm. W. Stilson, V. G .; W. H. Seymour, R. S .; R.
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
C. McElhany, P. S .; P. G. Sharp, treasurer. The N. G. appointed C. Cone, Con .; T. Baker, warden; F. H. Cone, I. G .: J. Hoover, O. G .; J. L. Hunt, R. S. to N. G .: S. G. Culver, L. S. to N. G .; H. G. Harris, R. S. S .; C. D. Dwight, L. S. S .: B. F. Taylor, R. S. to V. G .; C. L. Cook, L. S. to V. G. Meetings are held Monday evenings of each week. The present membership is fifty. Officers for 1879 are: John H. Mayne, N. G .; John Painter, V. G .; Thomas Thornloe, R. S .; John Earls, P. S .; George Schuster, treasurer. The society is in a flourishing condition.
FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS.
A charter was issued by the grand lodge at its session in Mansfield, Ohio, October 26, 1855, for Bellevue Lodge, No. 213, F. and A. Masons. The charter members were: W. B. Disbro, L. W. Frary, L. S. Chandler, M. Peters, D. A. Lathrop, James Cady, W. B. Dimick and C. B. Gambies. The first officers were: W. B. Disbro, W. M .: L. W. Frary, S. W .; L. S. Chandler, J. W. The present officers are: John Cowle, W. M .; Charles Welsh, S. W .; C. C. Cook, J. W .; S. P. Gaugler, secretary; R. A. Sev- erance, treasurer; Stephen Birdsall, S. D .; L. Haxton. J. D .; E. O. Merry, Tyler.
ROYAL ARCH MASONS.
A charter was issued for Bellevne Chapter, R. A. M., No. 113, at Dayton, Ohio, October 17, 1868. The charter members were: D. M. Harkness, J. K. Rich- ards, R. A. Severance, W. W. Beymer, W. E. Greene, M. A. Barnes, H. Peck and John Cowles. The following officers were appointed: R. A. Severance, high priest; H. Peck, king: W. E. Greene, scribe. . The present officers are: R. A. Severance, H. P .; John Cowle, king; D. M. Harkness, scribe; W. E. Greene, captain of host; C. C. Cook, prin. sojourner; Charles Welsh, R. A. Capt .; Eugene Smith, Gr. Master 3d vail; Charles Nicolai, Gr. Master 2d vail; Thos. H. Wood, Gr. Master Ist vail; J. A. Higbee, secretary; H. C. Moll, treasurer; E. O. Merry, guard.
KNIGHTS OF HONOR.
Bellevue Lodge No. 957, Knights of Honor, was organized March 8, 1878, with the following charter members: H. N. Richards, R. A. Boyer, F. L. Good- son, R. Greenslade, W. H. Kern, G. S. Lanterman, H. F. Baker, G. A. Beckwith, H. B. Acker, E. H. Smith, T. H. Wood, J. W. Close, Wm. Mayne, Joseph Scherck, E. W. Dorsey, T. C. Wood, C. D. Smith, W. H. Dimick, Joseph Bannister, Thomas Thorneloe, C. H. Welch. The first officers were: H. F. Baker, P. D .; E. H. Smith, D .; H. N. Richards, V. D .; George A. Beckwith, A. D .; R. Greenslade, chaplain; R. A. Boyer, guard: F. L. Goodson, R .; W. H. Kern, F. R .; Joseph Scherck, treasurer; W. H. Dimick, guardian; Wm. Mayne, sentinel. The lodge was instituted by H. R. Shomo, grand dictator of Ohio. Meetings are held Wednesday evening of
each week in Odd Fellows' Hall. The present mem- bership is thirty-seven. Officers for 1879 are: E. H. Smith, P. D .; H. N. Richards, D .; R. A. Boyer, V. D .; W. H. Kern, A. D .; Rev. D. C. Eckerman, chap- lain; W. H. Benn, guard; W. H. Dimick, R .; H. Z. Fisher, F. R .; H. B. Acker, treasurer; J. P. Korner, guardian; and James Bannister, sentinel. This society is in a fine condition financially.
' BANKING.
Chapman, Harkness & Company for some years prior to 1852, Harkness & Company from 1852 to 1868, and H. M. Sinclair from 1868 to 1843, carried on a business comprising some of the features of banking; but it was not until 1871 that a house was established with the clearly defined object of doing a strictly banking business. On the 22d of May, of 1821, was organized the banking firm of Wood, Woodward & Company, Bourdett Wood, Abishai Woodward and E. J. Sheffield being the partners. Prior to that time, there was no bank in Bellevue that pretended to supply the needs of the various classes of borrowers of money. H. M. Sinclair & Company, grain buyers and flouring merchants, kept a bank of deposit and exchange, but did not aim to accommo- date the borrowing public. so as to supply the needs of every applicant who could furnish adequate se- curity. There was, therefore, a want felt for just such a business institution as the Bellevue bank proved to be. Its career has been one of rapidly growing prosperity. The partnership was a strong combination, and inspired its patrons with confidence. Mr. Wood was a man of wealth, an old citizen, known and esteemed far and near, and Mr. Woodward had long been identified with business interests in Bellevne, and was universally respected as a citizen and as a man of sound judgment and unquestioned integrity, while Mr. Sheffield had been in the employ of H. M. Sin- clair & Company for a number of years, had grown familiar with the details of the banking business, and had become favorably known to the farmers and the business public. With these primary qualifica- tions, he united others very essential to the successful managing officer of a banking house. He was careful as to his securities, made the art of pleasing a study, thoroughly acquainted himself with the responsibility of his patrons, and kept the business in such admira- ble condition as to be able and ready to supply every application for a loan that came accompanied with proper evidence of security. The result has been that the bank has steadily increased in its busi- ness operations and grown in favor with its patrons. The firm opened their bank in the room now occu- pied by the First National Bank, but in 1875, pur- chased, of Mr. Woodward, the site of the present building, and erected the fine brick block wherein the bank is now located. In September, 1876, the bank was incorporated by act of the State legislature, and commenced business October 2, 1876, as a stock company. The capital stock with which the bank
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
organized was one hundred thousand dollars, Messrs. Wood, Woodward and Sheffield becoming the largest stockholders. The company included many of the leading business men in the place and several of the ablest farmers in the vicinity. A board of directors was chosen September 23, 1876, consisting of Bourdett Wood, Abishai Woodward, E. J. Sheffield, Andrew Smith, A. C. Beckwith, and the following year two more directors were added, viz: D. M. Harkness and J. B. Higbee. Bourdett Wood was chosen president; Abishai Woodward, vice-president; and E. J. Shef- field, cashier; and these gentlemen are the present officers, with Abishai Woodward, Jr., as teller. The stockholders of this bank in number represent not less than one million three hundred thousand dollars, two of the directors, Mr. Wood and Mr. Harkness, representing, together, three-fourths of a million.
The First National Bank was organized September 30, 185, the capital stock being fifty thousand dol- lars. The directors are : J. T. Worthington, Dr. Amos Woodward, J. B. Higbee, William McKim, Joseph Egle and J. K. Richards. J. T. Worthing- ton is president, and E. H. Brown the efficient cashier.
DRY GOODS.
In this line of business, Mr. Anthony Ruffing, Messrs. Boyer & Eichhorn, and Hilbish, Harsch & Co., supply the needs of the denizens of Bellevue and surrounding country. Mr. Ruffing has been in Belle- vue since 1856, and has been connected with the dry goods business, either as a clerk, partner or sole pro- prietor, ever since, with the exception of five or six years. No man in Bellevue is more attentive to his business. Of a quiet and reserved disposition, he, nevertheless, is very industrious and energetic, and has built up a very successful trade. He enjoys the esteem and confidence of all classes of citizens. Mr. Joseph Boyer, the senior member of the firm of Boyer & Eichhorn, has been in the dry goods business since 1862, at which time he connected himself with Applegate & Company. In 1865, he took the lead- ing place in the business, and the firm was thereafter known as J. H. Boyer & Co., until 1868, when Mr. Eichhorn was received as a partner. Both these gen- tlemen are peculiarly well adapted to the pursuit they follow, and enjoy a generons share of the community's patronage. Hilbish, Harsch & Co. have but recently established themselves in this business.
E. M. Wolf, the village clothier, came to Bellevue in 1863, and established himself in business in the same room he now occupics. He has not changed his place of business a single time in all these years, and his prosperity is proof that he is popular with his patrons.
MANUFACTURING.
FLOUR.
Messrs. Higbee & Company are the proprietors of a business industry of great value and importance to
the prosperity and growth of Bellevue. The sur- rounding country, for many miles north, south and west, can with difficulty be excelled as a wheat pro- ducing country. The soil, a mixture of sand and clay, with a substratum of limestone, contains all the needed ingredients for the abundant growth of this cereal. The senior member of this firm, in the year 1849, taking cognizance of the fact that this was an excellent wheat district, and that Bellevue might give birth to a business that would stimulate the produc- tion of this grain, undertook the erection of a flour- ing mill. He was connected in this enterprise with a Mr. Lawrence, and on the first of Jannary, 1850, the stone mill, with four run of stone, and a building thirty-six by eighty feet on the ground and sixty feet in height, was opened to the public. Hither came the farmers with their wheat and found a ready active market. In 1853, Mr. Higbee purchased his partner's interest, and continued the business single handed. In 1859, his mill was burned but was immediately re- built. In later years L. F. Harris, and his son, J. A. Higbee, were admitted as partners. Mr. Har- ris soon withdrew, Mr. Higbee and his son continuing the business. In 1873, or early in 1874, the Higbee's purchased the mill of H. M. Sinclair & Co., and re- ceived Mr. T. L. Branan as a partner. Higbee & Co., in the persons of J. B. Higbee, J. A. Higbee and T. L. Branan, became the proprietors of these two large fine flouring mills, the largest industry of the kind un- der one management in Northern Ohio. The old mill, or the stone mill, had, in the meantime, been enlarged, and at this time contains nine run of stone, and has a producing capacity of two hundred and fifty barrels of flour per diem, while the Sinclair mill produces two hundred barrels. Worked to their full capacity, every working day in the year, these mills would turn out about one hundred and forty thousand barrels of flour per year. The firm, besides supplying the home de- mand, ship about seventy-five thousand barrels yearly. This flour goes to all points along the Lake Shore road, east, and into Pennsylvania, New York and the New England States. They tell us that they purchase not less than five hundred thousand bushels of wheat per year.
In addition to their milling business, this firm is the largest grain buyers and shippers in this section of the State. They own two large elevators at this point and one in Clyde. In addition, they ship grain from all the principal points along both branches of the Lake Shore road between Toledo and Cleveland.
This house is likewise interested as an equal partner with Mr. T. R. Butman in the latter's patents of hot blast furnace automatic doors and rocking grates, which are marvels in their way. They act as pre- ventives of smoke, and save both labor and fuel. The firm have their main office at this place with a branch office at Cincinnati. These doors and grates are in great demand. Mr. J. B. Higbee, the senior member of the firm, has been identified' with the growth and prosperity of Bellevue for upwards of
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
forty-five years, and history may candidly record for him the fact that he has always been a public-spirited citizen, making liberal investments in various kinds of business promotive of the growth of the place.
BARRELS.
William and B. F. McKim came here from Seneca county, New York, in 1849, and started a cooper shop in a log house, near the present residence of Mr. William Patterson. Here they carried forward a small business for about three years when they built them a shop on the ground now occupied by the re- sidence of B. F. McKim, and after remaining here for two years longer, they built a shop near Messrs. Higbee & Co.'s stone mill. Having secured the trade of the latter named firm for whom they made flour barrels, their business gradually prospered, and was conducted with good success for five years, when B. F. McKim was induced to accept the position of fore- man of the shops of Messrs. Harkness & Co., dis- tillers, which position he filled with much credit for fourteen years. In the meantime William kept . the old business going. The two brothers, about the year 1869, decided to resume their co-partnership re- lations, and at the same time, to enlarge their business. They purchased the shops near the present Power building from H. M. Sinclair & Co., at that time the owners, and soon fitted up one of the buildings for the reception of machinery. Hitherto barrel making had been done exclusively by hand. From this time forward they were enabled to greatly augment the amount of their production without increasing the labor and expense. At the time of this purchase, they employed twenty-five men. In 1871, the Belle- vue Power Company, having completed their build- ing, the MeKim Brothers rented a portion of the same, and purchasing new machinery, commenced the manufacture of barrels on a much larger scale than hitherto had been known to them. To-day, he, who visits their works, will be astonished at the ex- tent and scope of their business. They employ an average of sixty men, and their producing capacity is four hundred barrels per day. It requires nearly two thousand dollars per week to pay for labor, ma- terial, expense, etc. Their goods are shipped to Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, Baltimore, New York and other eastern markets. A novel feature of their business is the shipment of barrels in the knock down. After a barrel is made, it is taken to pieces, each stave, hoop and head carefully numbered, and in this way the goods are shipped to distant markets. By this procedure they are enabled to ship four hundred barrels in a single car load, whereas, by the former method they can ship but one hundred.
Most of their barrels are for oil, but they make a great many flour barrels, and in the season a large number of cider barrels. Last fall their manufacture of this kind of barrel reached the number of twenty- one thousand.
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