USA > Ohio > Gallia County > Illustrated historical and business review of Meigs and Gallia counties, Ohio, for the year 1891. > Part 2
USA > Ohio > Meigs County > Illustrated historical and business review of Meigs and Gallia counties, Ohio, for the year 1891. > Part 2
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THE COUNTY OF MEIGS.
HE first settlements in the county were naturally, of course, made along the banks of the Ohio. They would go from one settlement to an- other by water. This was about the year 1796 or after the Indian wars of 1795. Nature was lovely then as now. The banks of the "beautiful Ohio" presented a scene of loveliness from various points of observation in its long and winding course from the mouth of the Hocking River to the present east- ern line of Gallia county, a distance of more than sixty miles. Settlements were commenced in various places along the river as early as 1796.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
Settlements were commenced in the eastern and southern part of Meigs county, at Letart, and near the mouth of Leading Creek, as early as the year 1796. About the same time a settlement was commenced in Chester Town- ship where Chester is now located. A settlement was also commenced at Tup- per's Plains, in Orange Township, and also in Rutland about the year 1800. In the year 1820, when the fourth census was taken, the inhabitants! numbered 4,480.
ORGANIZATION, BOUNDARIES, ETC.,
Meigs county was formerly a part of Washington county, and later it was included in the counties of Athens and Gallia and was created by act of the legislature from those two counties. January 21, 1819. The first seat of Justice was established at what is now Middleport, February 18, 1820. It was changed to Chester in the spring of 1822. In 1841 it was again changed to Pomeroy, where it has ever since remained.
DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTY.
Meigs county included twelve organized townships. Six had been estab- lishod under the new authority of Gallia county, and two under that of Athens
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MEIGS COUNTY.
county. The names of the townships are as follows : Salem, Columbia, Scipio. Rutland, Salisbury, Bedford, Orange, Chester. Sutton, Letart, Lebanon, and Olive. These will be further treated under their respective towns.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
Meigs county lies on the north and west shores of the Ohio and has a river boundary of more than sixty miles. The valley of the Ohio is narrow and lined by abrupt hills and cliffs. The valley of the Ohio is a rich, alluvial soil unequaled in fertility. The hills back of the river are generally rocky and steep for a short distance, then the land becomes more nearly rolling and is very fertile in general. Meigs county is bounded on the north by Athens, on the east by the Ohio, on the south by the Ohio river and Gallia county and on the west by the Ohio River and Vinton county. The drainage of the coun- ty is very complete. The Shade River in the northeastern part of the county and Leading River in the southwestern part of the county are the principal streams.
SOIL
Taken as a whole the soil of Meigs county is in quality above the average of that of the counties of southern Ohio. The valleys of the Ohio and Shade Rivers are very rich and productive, and equal in fertility to any lands in the State. The soil on the hillsides is determined in quality by the nature of the strata composing the hills. It is richest where there is an abundance of lime- stone and poorest when derived from disintegrated sandstone. Among the hills of the county are found some very beautiful and productive lands, and even the most rough and forbidding hills, have, by the frugal and industrious German population, been rendered productive and attractive.
GENERAL GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.
COAL
The County lies wholly within the coal measures and in the upper portion of the series.
In the drift gravel in the Ohio terraces we find a great scarity of pebbles and small bowlders, very interesting in their lithological and palentological characters. In addition to granites, quartzites, and all forms of the harder rocks found north of the lakes, occur fossils of all the fossiliferous strata lying to the north. They are best preserved when imbedded in cherty limestone. The stratified rocks of the county all belong to the coal measure forma- tion. It is common to divide the Ohio coal measures into two divisions-upper and lower-the dividing line being that of the Pittsburgh seam coal. The county is rich in coal, the well known Pomeroy scam having here a large de- velopement and extending over a large area. This seam is overlaid by alter- nate strata of shades and sandstones, but further north and east these are re- placed by limestone. There are other seams of coal in the county, some higher and others lower than the Pomeroy seam, in the geological series, yet this is the only one that has been or probably can be profitably mined. The Pomeroy
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HISTORY OF
seam corps out along the bluffs lining the long winding shores of the Ohio and is thus easy to mine and in quantities to last for ages. This is one of the important industries of the county.
SALT.
Meigs county is also one of the richest districts in the county in saliferous strata, found by boring to a depth of a thousand feet or more below the Pome- roy seam of coal. The brine obtained from such is sufficient to make this the most extensive salt regions in the State. This is in the hands of the Ohio River Salt Co., and their extensive works are on both sides of the river and eleven active furnaces are used, employing five hundred men and turning out 5,000,000 barrels of salt per year.
BROMINE.
Bromine, from which bromide of potassium and hydrobromic acid are made, is found in the "mother" or "bittern" water, left after the crystallization removal of the salt from the vats. This bittern was formerly thought to be worthless and was suffered to go to waste. But chemicial analysis demon- strated the fact that it contained an element more valuable than salt, and far less bulky. This element is found in all the salt wells of the Ohio River Val- leys, the Monongahela in Pennsylvania, the Kanawha, in W. Va., and the Scioto in Ohio. It is not however found in those of New York nor Michigan. Until about 1865 or 1866 this article was imported from Europe in small quantities and sold at five dollars per pound. Its compounds are now extensively used in medicine. The bromide of potassium is considered a very superior sedative. The bromide manufacturers of the Ohio and tributary valleys, now supply the world's markets for this article at a cost of one-tenth of the price previous to its manufacture here.
PETROLEUM.
Meigs county is susposed to lie in part, if not wholly within the "gas fields," gas having been found in several localities. Delafield, speaking of this product of mother earth (A. D. 1832) calls it "spring oil" or seneca oil" and says that "it has been known to the hunters and early inhabitants of the country since its first settlement. It is generally suppossed to be the product of coal, at a great distance below the surface of the earth. It is. as is well known an oleaginous substance, possessing a strong, disagreeable odor. This oil, by fil- tering through charcoal is almost deprived of its empyreumatic smell and can be used in lamps, as it affords a brilliant light. It is very useful, and therefore much employed in curing the diseases of, and the injuries done to horses. It is a preventative against the attacks of the blowing-fly, and is perhaps the best substance known for prevention of friction in machinery."
Little did Delafield think at the time he wrote the forgoing that this same "spring oil" as he styled it, would ever become such an article of commerce and an article of such real merit and worth to the civilized world, but such it is to-day, and the supposition is that Meigs county is rich in this same "spring."
He (Delafield) further speaks of "the gas arising from salt wells, which when a light is applied, inflames and burns for days until extinguished by
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MEIGS COUNTY.
rain or a sudden gust of wind," and he also mentioned "some pools of water through which gases arise, and which consequently have acquired the name of burning springs." The best fields of the country are Macksburg, Cow Run and the extensive fields in the Eureka, Newport and Belmont regions, and are among the most productive and paying fields of the United States. At the present time borings for oil within a few miles of Pomeroy indicate that there is oil in this region and some fair wells have already been found. This terri- tory, a belt of land from three to five miles North of Pomeroy, is being pros- pected by the Hope Oil Co., of Oil City, Pa., and with very encouraging pros- pects. Should good oil fields be developed in this locality, it will place Pome- roy at one bound in the van of any city on the Ohio, owing to the extensive coal fields at her very doors,
NATURAL GAS.
Recent developments have shown to the geologist that Meigs County lies also, in the "gas fields," gas having been found in numerous places of boring for salt and oil.
Natural gas is not however new to Meigs County, but only its development new, as it found its way through fissures in the earth and burnt and escaped hundred of years ago in several different localities, and was then called "burn- ing springs." However natural gas is a new discovery to the world, compara- tively speaking. It was in use as far back as the year 1825 in the village of Fredonia, New York, and throughout the oil regions, the numerous borings re- sulted in the discovery of gas wells that were in various places and at various times utilized for heat and light.
Eventually, less than two decades since, the utilization of gas for manu- facturing purposes, was begun by Rogers & Burchfield at their Leechburg, Pa., iron works, and in 1875, it was introduced to the iron works of Spang, Chal- fant & Co. at Sharpsburg, Pa. In the manufacture of glass the Rochester Tumbler Works were the pioneers, while in 1883, its introduction into the Pittsburg Plate Glass Works may be said to have placed that city, at one bound, at the head of the world for this, the difficult class of glass to make. It has done equally as much for numerous other cities. Western Pennsylvania, Findlay, Ohio, New Cumberland, W. Va., mark the centres of valuable regions, while it has also been found in considerable quantities in Western New York, Illinois, Kansas, etc.
The origin of natural gas, like that of petroleum is involved in obscurity. Geologists differ in their theories: Prof. Lesley considers it a direct product of petroleum by spontaneous evaporation. The discovery of natural gas in this country, marks an epoch that will ever be memorable in the history of her ad- vancements. The severest tests early demonstrated the marked superiority of natural gas to any other fuel in the world, owing to its containing such a large proportion of carburetted hydrogen, popularly known as "marsh gas." Hydro- gen as thus found is the most inflammable element in the universe, and when a fuel contains as high as ninety per cent. of it the degree of heat evolved can be readily imagined. Natural gas varies strangely, both as regards its qual- ity and the pressure with which it escapes.
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HISTORY OF
Mr. S. A. Ford, the chemist, gives the following composition of an average sample :
Carbonic acid 6
6 .6 per. cent.
('arbonie oxide 6
.6 66 66 Marsh gas 6 67.00 66 66
Oxygen 6
Hydrogen
6 22.00 66 66
Olefiant gas · 6 .8
Nitrogen 6
6 1.00 “ 66 Ethylic hydride 6 5.00 per. cent.
6 3.00 66 66
It is thus extremely rich in the very elements demanded by the iron, steel, glass, and pottery worker, and they now consider it indispensible, so econom- ical is it in use, so pure in its composition, so steady and powerful as a heat producer. Apart from the great utilitarian reasons is its cleanliness. Ex- cept for the jets of steam escaping from the factories, no one would at a dis- tance suppose they were in operation. No dark cloud and odorous wreaths of coal smoke to hover o'er, and settle down on a city as of old, but instead there is a clear pure atmosphere, and the picturesque features of the city and its surroundings are distinct in their outlines.
To the mill and furnace workers, the use of gas is an unqualified blessing : the dirt and dust of the coal heap is absent, the strain of shoveling and mend- ing fires is abolished, and while the steady, even heat of the gas is doing its work, the employes are resting, and are thus prepared to better preform their duties. The purity of gas, as a fuel, has enabled our great iron, glass, and steel works, that have adopted its use, to produce goods of superior quality, and better finish, and all goods thus manufactured, are to-day, the best of their kind in the world. In this connection Mr. Theo. D. Morgan, the expert, remarks, "for heating iron and steel, even when used in the most primitive manner, natural gas excels coal."
What then may be said of it when used under conditions the most favor- able? Simply that it is UNAPPROACHABLE by any other fuel at present known.
Natural gas is indispensable to the manufacturer, and has increased the productive capacity of rolling mills in every instance fully 25 per cent ; never has such perfectly tempered and pure steel been turned out. In glass the re- sults have been equally as marvelous. The use of natural gas produces a un- iformity of temperature in the furnaces and annealing ovens that, combined with the skill of our manufacturers, is triumphantly evidenced in the product- ion of the finest plate glass in the world. No smoke, dust, cinders, sulphur, or other impurity is present, and equally brilliant results are achieved in the making of plain table glass and fancy colored wares. For household uses in fuel, light, heat and cooking purposes, also, natural gas is at this day a prime favorite. Owing to its volatile character, and the intense pressure exerted in the service pipes, it was found difficult at first to use for domestic purposes with satisfactory results. The inventive genius of mechanics has, however, overcome every obstacle both as regards sure control of the gas and proper burners to afford the most perfect combustion, and natural gas for heating, cooking, and lighting purposes in various regions is in general use. The re- sults are of the most gratifying character as to cost, apart from the increased comfort and cleanliness secured to the house-keeper from the absence of the dirt, dust and smoke of coal and cannot fail to bring the manufacturer and the merchant to its locality. The gas fields of Meigs County are operated by the Meigs County Natural Gas Co., and the city of Pomeroy has given the right to lay mains throughout the city from the wells.
Institutions of Charity.
Scatter the germs of the beautiful In the depths of the human soul !
They shall bud and blossom, and bear fruit While the endless ages roll ; Plant the flowers of charity, The portals of the tomb, And the fair and the pure above thy path In paradise shall bloom.
F ROM the very earliest time there has been a desire among men to res- cue helpless infancy from want and suffering ; and the problem of how to save the homeless children has puzzled philanthropists for many centuries.
In the middle ages, Charles V., and Francis I. instituted foundling estab- lishments, which received the support of subsequent kings of France.
In 1670, Louis XIV, established a foundling asylum, but at best, these and all similar attempts, although in the right direction, lacked that permancy guaranteed by a law of the State. In the United States we have for many years had orphan's asylums, supported by a private charity. These were as a rule located in the large cities, where they were able to reach limited numbers only with their benign influences. The distressing fact still remains, that · children thrown upon the charity of the public, with few exceptions, had no other refuge than the poor house. It was left to modern civilization to fur- nish an adequate remedy, and advanced ideas of the scope and functions of Civil Government, to place the responsibility upon the shoulders of the people of the State, where it rightfully belongs; and.it is an imperishable honor for Ohio that she was the first State to acknowledge the responsibility.
Since the passage of the Ohio Law in 1866, other States have followed with similar laws forbidding the placing of children in the State poor houses, and providing for their support and education in a humane and intelligent manner.
There exists, in the different States, a wide difference of opinion, as to the best methods of accomplishing the ends desired. Some States support their children in private orphan asylums and in families ; some have a Central
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HISTORY OF
Children's Home for their temporary detention, until they can be placed in families; others have the Ohio plan ; but all agree on one point, and that is, that the Children's Home is at best but a TEMPORARY ABIDING PLACE for their support and schooling, until placed in respectable families.
.......
FIRST CHILDREN'S HOME IN OHIO. ESTABLISHED 1866, WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.
CHILDREN'S HOMES IN OHIO.
The establishment of Civil Government and the first settlements in the Northwestern Territory under the ordinance of 1787, at Marietta, in the year 1788, was but one of a series of great events of that age of grand achievements.
The founders of Ohio, soldiers of the Revolution, as they were, believed that Education, Morality, and Religion, as well as Liberty, were the enduring foundations for a State; and it was in keeping with the eminent character of these pioneers, that their descendants should conceive and carry out ideas of far reaching philanthrophy.
AN OHIO WOMAN.
It was at Marietta, the "Old Pioneer City," in the year 1857, in Washington County, there lived a true and nobled-hearted woman, a follower of Him who said: "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not," and she felt the hopeless condition of those bright and promising child- ren, who through no fault of theirs, were thrown into the County Infirmary and doomed to have their early years blighted by the depressing influences of 1 overty, imbecility, and degradation. She was aroused to action and resolved to do what she could for their liberation, Accordingly she selected a quiet place in the country, and there established a home for these unfortunates. Washington County came promptly to her assistance, so that with what the coun-
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MEIGS COUNTY.
ty appropriated, and what she could eke out in other ways, the first Children's Home in Washington county flourished until the year 1866, when the public- spirited citizens of the county sought to make the Children's Home one of the institutions of the State, by petitioning for a law of general operation, extend- ing its benefits to every county in Ohio. In furtherance of this desire, a peti- tion was circulated and numerously signed by the people of Washington County, praying for the passage of such a law.
The result was the enactment of the CHILDREN'S HOME LAW OF 1866. And this generous and charitable woman has lived to see Children's Homes establish- ed in THIRTY-SIX COUNTIES in Ohio. Do you ask her name? It is a name we are proud to mention in this Review. It is CATHARINE FAY EWING, better known as AUNT KATIE FAY. So long as there shall be children to save from lives of shame and degradation, so long as Children's Homes shall survive, so long as the great heart of Humanity shall be touched with pity for the home- less child, just so long shall the name of "Aunt Katie Fay" be cherished and honored in the great State of Ohio.
MEIGS COUNTY CHILDREN'S HOME.
At the spring election of 1882, the citizens of the county, by a large ma- jority voted to erect a Children's Home at a cost of $10,000 for grounds and buildings. A site was selected on original section 20 and 25 acres of land, costing $2,610 and buildings erected, and it was ready for occupancy in the spring of 1883. The Rev. J. M. Nourse was its first superintendent.
MEIGS COUNTY CHILDREN'S HOME, ERECTED 1883.
The farm is in good condition, and is very favorably located in a good neighborhood ; is sufficiently retired, yet easy of access, and from the buildings and grounds is presented a beautiful and picturesque view.
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HISTORY OF
The object is to afford an asylum to indigent children of the county under the age of sixteen years, until suitable homes can be provided for them, with kindly disposed persons, and all reasonable efforts are made for their improve- ment in industrious habits and morals while they remain in the Home.
Children from other counties may also be admitted on such terms as are approved by the Trustees.
We cannot close this subject without a few words more in regard to the founder of all the Homes in Ohio, Mrs. Catharine Fay Ewing, who still resides in Marietta, and to whom much is to be credited,-yea, more than this world can, but
As travelers oft look back at eve, When eastward darkly going, To gaze upon that light they leave Still faint behind them glowing,- So, when the close of pleasure's day To gloom hath near consigned us, We turn to catch one fading ray Of joy that's left behind us. MEIGS COUNTY INFIRMARY.
The Meigs county Infirmary is located three miles northwest of the Court House, and two and one-half miles west of the fair grounds; is under good improvement, the farm consisting of about one hundred acres.
PEET. DEL. .
Civil History of Meigs County.
ASHINGTON, the first county organized in the Northwest, was es- tablished by proclamation of Governor Arthur St. Clair on the twen- ty-sixth day of July,1788, which originally embraced about half the territory now included in the State of Ohio. The next county proclaimed was Hamilton, January 2, 1790. Then followed the erection of the counties from 1790 to 1795, of St. Clair, Knox, Randolph, and Wayne, lying in the North- west Territory, and outside of the present limits of Ohio. The establishment of Wayne lessened the size ofWashington, as did also the creation of Ross in 1798. After the organizationof the State government, counties were created quite fast, and the old territorial counties were reduced in size corresponding- ly. Muskingum was formed in1804; Gallia in 1803; Athens in 1805; Monroe in 1815 ; Morgan and Meigs in 1819.
All that part of Meigs county lying south of a line beginning at the mouth of Shade River, thence up the same with the meanders thereof, until it intersects the east and west line between the third and fourth townships in range twelve (near Adams Mills; ) thence west with the same to the eastern boundary line of Vinton county, belonged to Gallia county. All north of this line was included in Athens county.
Meigs county, as is well known, was organized in the year 1819, having been originally a part of Gallia county. In the month of April, 1819, the first Court was organized, and the original journal entry is the best account of that organization within our reach, and is as follows :
"Be it remembered that at a term of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Meigs began and held at the temporary seat of justice for said county, present the Hon. Ezra Osborn, President Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit of the Court of Common Pleas for the State of Ohio, and Orasha Strong, Fuller Elliot and James E. Phelps, Esquires, Associate Judges, who
.
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HISTORY OF
produced their several commissions, under the great seal of the State of Ohio, which were read in open Court."
Our readers will notice that this Court was held at "the temporary seat of justice for said county," but the records do not tell us whether this seat of justice was in the saddle, under a tree, or at some farm house.
The term lasted but two days, and on the first day the Court, after hear- ing the commissions read, and appointing Robert C. Barton, Clerk pro. tem., and Samuel F. Vinton, Prosecuting Attorney, adjourned. The first business of the second day of the term was the granting of license to James E. Phelps, to keep a "House of Entertainment at his now dwelling house." As James E. Phelps was one of the Associate Judges, we are of the opinion that the tem- porary seat of justice" was at the house or near it of Judge Phelps, wherever that was.
The Court having thus provided a House of Entertainment, issued a li- cense to George Russell for "a ferry across Leading Creek," and a license to to the Rev. Elisha Rathburn to solemnize marriages.
James H. Hayman and Alexander Miller applied for the position of County Surveyor, but the records tell us that "the Court being equally divided, the application was laid over until next term." So it appears that the struggle for county offices began long ago.
The Second Term of Court began on the 19th day of July, 1819, and was held at the "Meeting House in the Township of Salisbury." There was not in all probability more than one meeting house in the Township of Salisbury, at that time, but probably even Harry Wilson could not locate it at this late day.
This term lasted four days, and for the first time there were jurors and cases. The grand jurors were as follows: Daniel Rathburn, foreman. David Lindsey, Adam Harpold, Jesse Worthing, Joel Smith, Silas Knight, James Shields Jr .. George Roush, James Gibson, Calvin Marvin, John H. Sayre. Al- vin Ogdin and Joseph Hart, with Major Reed and Moses Reed as talesmen.
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