USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Memoirs of the Miami valley > Part 64
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The original acreage of the park has been augmented, and the arboretum accommodates thousands upon thousands of young trees and shrubs, interspersed with great beds of bulb plants, where- in he who cannot please his taste must be difficult to satisfy. Dur- ing the season, the iris display alone is worth the whole. But so it seems as each flower or shrub comes into its brief kingship in the realm of summer.
Immense orders are shipped from the conservatories during the planting seasons, by freight and express, and no train ever leaves Sidney without bearing a large quota of carefully packed plants from the nurseries.
The company was incorporated in August, 1911, with the fol- lowing personnel: B. P. Wagner, W. H. Wagner, M. M. Wagner, L. R. Wagner, J. F. Wagner ; H. L. Brown, manager; A. M. Brown, superintendent of landscape gardening.
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THE STORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
The Churches of Sidney
Necessarily primitive as was the beginning of civilized life in the early days of the county seat, the settlers brought with them what was better than goods and chattels-their religious principles and practices. Scarcely had the little community begun to gather when they also began to concentrate into groups and devise ways and means of holding religious services.
The first move toward organization was made by a small com- pany of Presbyterians, who met under the spreading branches of a great tree which stood by the riverside, not far from the foot of North street. This little band may not have been permanent in organization, but it was persistent in spirit, and in 1825, with the Rev. Joseph Stephenson to aid them, eight members gathered in the old courthouse in the month of September, and formed the first religious body of Sidney, an organization which has stood the wear and tear of nearly a century. The eight members were Dr. and Mrs. William Fielding, Mr. and Mrs. John Fergus, Mr. and Mrs. William McClintock, James Forsythe and Sarah Graham. Dr. Fielding and Mr. Forsythe were the first ruling elders of the church. Mrs. Fielding was the longest survivor of the eight, attaining the age of ninety odd years. Rev. Stephenson preached for the first few years at regular intervals, dividing his time between Sidney, Bellefontaine and other pioneer centers. Rev. Sayres Gayley fol- lowed him. The congregation continued to meet in the old court- house until 1833, when they were able to erect their first church edifice, a modest frame chapel costing $900 and located on the Charles Starrett lot at the corner of North and Miami streets. In the meantime the little group had doubled in numbers, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Cummins, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Mccullough, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Wells and Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Wilson having united. Rev. Samuel Cleland came about this time, and remained five years, during which period both he and Mrs. Cleland were prominent among Sidney's early school teachers. Revs. J. T. Hendricks, Greer, Hare and Bonar filled the pastorate successively until 1842, when the Rev. W. B. Spence was called from Trot to occupy the pulpit. Twenty-two years of happy association followed, before Rev. Spence's retirement to a suburban home near Sidney; and after a short pastorate by Rev. Daniel Bridge, Rev. Robert Mc- Caslin came, in 1866, to begin a service which lasted nearly thirty- three years, and only closed because of advancing age and feeble- ness. Dr. McCaslin, who still lives in Sidney, the venerated pastor emeritus of his congregation, is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the family originating in "old Donegal," Ireland. He was a life-long friend and ministerial associate of the late Dr. Kalb, of Bellefontaine, Ohio. Dr. McCaslin recently celebrated his eighty-third birthday, with a number of octogenarian friends, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. L. Dickensheets, in South Ohio avenue. Since the retirement of Dr. McCaslin the church has been ministered to by Rev. James A. Patterson for four years, Rev. Leroy Coffman for six years, Rev. John Charlton for ten years, and since 1918 by Rev. William Blake Love. The first chapel was replaced in 1846 by a brick church of
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good proportions which stood on the original lot until 1883, when it was torn down to make room for the present edifice. A roomy and comfortable manse occupies a location immediately north of the church.
The Methodist Episcopal church was the second to form an organization, the nucleus of which was a group of adherents who gathered at the home of Joel Frankeburger in 1825 to listen to preaching by Rev. Levi White. Mr. and Mrs. Frankeburger, Mr. and Mrs. George Poole, Mr. and Mrs. John Bryan, "Mother" Mc- Vay and "Father" DeFreese, formed a class of eight, who met in the winter at the Frankeburger home, and in summer met under a big elm tree on the river bank, where they held revival meetings and received many accessions to the class. In 1829 they purchased for sixteen dollars a church lot at the southeast angle of Miami and North streets, but did not build upon it until 1831, when a tiny frame chapel was erected by the labor of their hands, the lumber and materials being donated, so that the building cost nothing at all. In 1838 the growing congregation erected a good plain brick church in which they worshiped until 1872. Needing a larger lot, they then sold the original site to the Baptists, and located at the corner of Poplar street and Miami avenue, building a large church which answered the requirements until 1914, when they were per- suaded by circumstances to undertake a radical step in Sidney church history, and at a cost of over $60,000 the church property has been transformed into a complete "Community" or "Institu- tional" church, which, in lieu of any Social Centre or Y. M. C. A., has become a vast instrument of good to the young people of Sid- ney. The church itself seats eight hundred people and is equipped with the finest pipe organ in the city. Connecting with the audi- torium by ample passages, are a fine gymnasium, with bowling alley, shower baths, and athletic room, presided over by a thorough instructor ; banquet room and modern kitchen department; a model kindergarten room, with teaching by Miss Pfefferle, church secre- tary, during the summer months; the capacious Bible school de- partments, senior and junior ; and the parsonage, which occupies the corner, the whole property covering one-fourth of a city block. Fur- nishings are complete for all requirements, with pianos in every de- partment ; and the Bible school has five hundred pupils enrolled. The church membership is about eleven hundred. The advantages of the church plant are open to people of every creed without prejudice or discrimination. Rev. Frank Munger is the present pastor. The United Presbyterians organized in 1829, under Rev. John Reynolds, -a little congregation of twelve members, including Robert W. Stephenson and Samuel Gamble, who were the first ruling elders, and Mrs. Abigail, who died in 1879, the last survivor of the original members. Pastors came and went frequently for several years, but Rev. Samuel Sturgeon remained for three years, the congrega- tion having increased to seventy persons in 1840. Rev. C. T. Mc- Caughan came to the church in 1841, and during a pastorate of sixteen years enlarged the congregation by nearly one hundred and fifty per cent. The old courthouse was the first place of worship of the United Presbyterians, who in 1835 erected a little frame
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chapel on the site now occupied by St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church on Water street. In 1854, having become numerically strong, the Court street site was purchased and a large church built which stood until 1892, when it was sold for business purposes, and the church retired to a quieter location on North Main avenue, where they have a pretty modern church; and though the period of growth has passed, the congregation still numbers some of Sidney's best families. Rev. Samuel Moore is the present pastor.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church dates from 1840, when the Rev. George Klapp organized the small membership of thirty or less communicants, with John Jacob, elder, and Jacob Pfeiffer, deacon. The church had no permanent home until 1854, when they purchased the Water street site vacated by the United Presby- terians, and in this they worshiped for thirty-four years. Rev. A. H. Minneman, who came to the pastorate in 1885, remained twenty years, the substantial church still in use being erected under his pastorate in 1888. Rev. Poppen succeeded to the pulpit in 1895, since which a parsonage has been added to the church property, and a fine organ installed in the church, which has now a congrega- tion of four hundred and fifty members,
Up to the late forties the adherents of the Roman Catholic faith were not numerous, although they had formed themselves into a society which met in private dwelling houses and various public halls, receiving churchly ministrations from Revs. Thomas Shee- han and John Quinlan, who visited them at intervals. In 1848, a small frame building, which had already done duty as a cooperage, was purchased by the society, and by agreement of Charles Starrett this little "church" was set upon the corner now occupied by the new Armory building, at South and West streets. The lot was merely loaned by Mr. Starrett to any homeless congregation, until they were able to buy elsewhere. About 1855, the poor little church was destroyed one night, by some unknown miscreant or idle fanatic, the deed being accomplished by means of powder and stone,-the powder, a small kegful, believed to have been stolen from the Toy & Edgar blacksmithy on West avenue, a short distance away. No one was apprehended, and the deed went un- punished. The congregation were accommodated in several dif- ferent halls about the village until a new church had been built, of brick, plain but commodious, at the corner of South Main and Water streets. Mathias and Peter Wagner and John Smith were the trustees. The edifice faced the east, and the rear was parti- tioned off for use as a school for the children of the parish, which remained a mission until 1862, at which time the first resident priest, Rev. Florentine D'Arcy came to the charge. He was fol- lowed by Revs. William D'Arcy, William O'Rourke, John D. Kress, William Sidley and Henry Rowecamp, who occupied until the ar- rival of Rev. Francis Quatman in March, 1875. In 1876 a large parochial school was built at the west end of the church lot, facing Water street, and additional land at the north of the lot on Main avenue was purchased for the erection of a home for the Sisters of Charity who were put in charge of the school. In 1890 the old church was torn down and the present beautiful church of the Holy
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Angels built on the same corner, but fronting south. It is one of the largest, and has the most beautiful interior in the city. A new home for the Sisters has been built on the corner south of the church and the first home accommodated to the requirements of a rectory, where Father Augustine Fortman has presided since the death of Father Quatman in 1899. Father Quatman enjoyed a high degree of love and veneration in Sidney regardless of creeds, and his successor, now twenty years in the field, is also held in high regard. The church is in prosperous condition with 1,500 members, and at present is engaged in extending its high school work, the staunch old residence on South Main avenue, built by George Hemm in 1875, having been purchased for remodeling into a school.
About 1850 or earlier a settlement of Dunkards (German Bap- tists) located a few miles east of Sidney, and later built a little church on the bank of Mosquito creek, where they worshiped until 1895. At this time they came to Sidney and purchased the building erected by the German Methodists many years before, on the corner of South and Ohio avenues, that body having disbanded, or become absorbed by the Methodist Episcopal congregation. The little con- gregation of twenty Dunkards, grew to sixty within four years, and in 1905, under Rev. S. Z. Smith, the mission board sold the old church and erected a new house of worship on Grove street, where, as "The Church of the Brethren" they have a membership of about one hundred and twenty-five. Elders Keiser, Longenecker and Fitzwater preceded Rev. Smith. The old Dunkard site on Ohio avenue was originally the site of the first Frazier home in Sidney, and the old church has been remodeled by Mr. DeWeese into a really beautiful home.
The "regular" Baptists were the next in order to organize among the present churches of Sidney, a missionary committee of the Union Baptist association coming from Dayton in 1869, to hold prayer meetings at the homes of resident Baptists. Later, services were held at the hall in the old DeWeese building. The organiza- tion of the church was effected in January, 1870, at the home of Mrs. Mary Whitman, with seven members, W. M. and Mary Whit- aker, John Grey, Anna Perrin, A. S. Moore and John and Callie Holverstolt. Rev. A. Snyder was the first pastor, and the old Methodist Episcopal church property was purchased in 1872 under Rev. Shepard, the fifteen members obligating themselves to pay $1,700. A new church was built in 1884, under the ministry of Rev. J. R. Downer, which burned in the winter of 1904, but was rebuilt by the congregation without delay. A parsonage has been added to the church property standing on North street, at the rear of the church. Three hundred and fifty members are now enrolled and the pastor is Rev. William Pieffer.
In the fifties a society was organized of the "Christian Connec- tion" or "New Lights" denomination, and a church built, which is still standing, remodeled into a tenement, at the corner of Miami and North Lane. This congregation was never large, but the so- ciety was the independent owner of the church property. When the first attempt was made to organize the Church of Christ, many years ago, the old "New Lights" edifice was used by the two con-
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gregations on alternate Sundays. The Church of Christ was obliged to disband on account of numerical weakness, and the New Lights also discontinued services, and the property was sold to Donaldson and Bole for warehouse purposes (the broom factory) the money being still held in trust for re-organization at some fu- ture day.
The Church of Christ is again represented among Sidney churches having re-organized in 1910, when they began a corporate existence in the assembly room of the courthouse. Rev. C. J. Se- bastian was the first minister, serving from 1911 to 1915. The new church building was dedicated in September, 1914. It stands on Miami avenue, between East Court and South streets. During the three years preceding its erection, the congregation had used the little chapel remodeled by the Evangelicals from the old hose house of the fire department. Rev. W. S. Collins is at present minister of the church.
The United Brethren organized a church in Sidney in Sep- tember, 1894, under Rev. E. E. Swords, a missionary, the society of nine members using the old Dunkard church for their meetings. The society from 1895 to 1898 was in the successive charge of Revs. Reed, Waldo and Lower, whose idea of a memorial church in honor of the Shelby county missionary, Ella Schenck, who lost her life under tragic circumstances in Africa, was carried out under the pastorate of Rev. W. T. Roberts, his successor, in 1899. The con- gregation has grown with unusual rapidity and now numbers four hundred members, 210 of whom came into the church under Rev. L. S. Woodruff. Rev. Louis Moore is the present pastor.
The Christian Science Society of Sidney began in a small circle of people who became interested in 1906, and formed a reading circle. The first public service was held in Sexauer's hall, June 22, 1913. Eighteen persons were in attendance. Services were regu- lar after that date, and in 1914 the hall was leased, also an adjoin- ing room, which is maintained as a reading room, open Wednesdays and Saturdays. The society was regularly organized September, 1915, with twenty charter members. Wednesday evening meetings are held, and a lecture on Christian Science given publicly every year. There is steady growth, and a building fund is being accu- mulated. The society is a branch of the Mother Church at Boston. Mrs. Frances M. Carey is the First Reader.
Many years ago the Mount Vernon Baptist church (African) was organized and worshipped in a little chapel built on the Star- rett lot where had stood the little Catholic church of the fifties. The site being desired for the new armory, the city of Sidney purchased the title from the Starrett estate, and the Mount Vernon Baptists moved to the northwestern part of Sidney where they have erected a neat church of cement block at the corner of Park and Linden streets. They have a congregation of sixty-five members, and their present pastor is Rev. Hathcock.
St. Paul's Evangelical (German) church dates from 1870, when they were organized by Rev. Hermann. For the first sixteen years their services were held in the old New Lights church at the corner of Miami and North Lane, when the old hose house corner at Miami
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and Water streets was secured and fitted up as a church which served them until 1906, when their present pretty church at the corner of South and Main avenues was erected under the pastorate of Rev. Theodore P. Frohne. The church was dedicated in 1908, and the organ, just completed at this time, is in part the gift of Andrew Carnegie. The stained glass windows are of exceptional beauty, nearly all being the gifts of members. Rev. R. Wobus, the present pastor, succeeded Rev. Frohne in 1910.
The date of the first effort at organizing the Episcopal church in Sidney is uncertain. Mrs. Thomas Blake, of English birth and an adherent of the church, with Mrs. Wilkens, also an Episcopalian, homesick for the mother church began a practice of reading the service of the church together, with the hope of assembling a parish. The Starrett church lot at the corner of North Lane and Miami avenue was petitioned for, and a house, which by agreement was to become eventually the rectory of a future church, was built on the corner by Mrs. Wilkens, who occupied it until her death. Occasional services were read here, but the parish never materialized for the building of a chapel, and the property might have reverted to the Starrett estate except for the prompt action of a few of the faithful. During the year 1895 Archdeacon Brown visited Sidney, and gather- ing the four communicants of the church then known to reside here, Mesdames Sarah Stuber, J. W. Cloninger, W. S. Ley and B. M. Donaldson, a series of services was inaugurated at the assembly room of the courthouse, with Rev. Barkdull in charge. This was the beginning of St. Mark's Parish (mission). The first confir- mation service was held, by courtesy, in the United Presbyterian church; and then, by suggestion of Mrs. Donaldson, the old New Lights church was secured, renovated, redecorated and furnished as a mission, with Rev. T. R. Hazzard in charge. In 1900 the parish undertook the building of their own church on the Starrett lot, south of the rectory. The plans for the church were drawn by Rev. Haz- zard, following a little English church which he remembered. It is in Gothic style, with beamed nave of Flemish oak, the whole in conformity with ecclesiastical standards, and impressive, though small. Rev. Hazzard did a large part of the manual labor himself, to conserve the limited funds available, and the church was dedicated clear of debt. Called to New York, Rev. Hazzard was succeeded by the Revs. Linric, Stalker, McCalla, Haight, Banks, and Seitz, sharing the ministry of several of these with Holy Trinity church in Bellefontaine. The present rector is Rev. Kirk O'Ferrall, who de- votes Sunday evenings to Sidney, his home parish being in Lima, Ohio.
HON. WALTER D. JONES
THE STORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
T HIS being a history, or as the title suggests, the Memoirs of Miami valley, it will not be the province of this work to re- view those infinite details of each county, which have been so faithfully depicted in the past. Rather, it is a purpose to treat the Miami valley as a whole, with such variations as will be found necessary to preserve those vital or epochal events of each county.
Thus, the great conservancy work will be treated as a whole as will also the Symmes purchase and other events. So, the work is intended primarily as a comprehensive history of the Miami valley in all of its important phases, with a broader and we might say a more sympathetic insight into the modern phases of each county embraced in this work.
Very properly the history of Miami county must begin with the Indian occupancy. It is true, the Mound Builders antedated this period. This period, however, has been the subject for numer- ous researches by archeologist, historian and student and is famil- iar to almost every school child and taught as a part of school cur- riculum. The monuments left by those pre-historic people-is the best assurance of the interest of future generations.
The great Algonquin tribe, occupied this part of Ohio when the first white man penetrated into its fastness. The Algonquins were a powerful confederacy and held absolute sway over this dominion. They had successfully contested all attempts to dislodge them, frequently measuring their strength with the powerful Iroquois.
The Algonquins were composed of a number of tribal units, ap- parently, however, without many distinctive differences. The French first applied the name Miamis to the Indians living in and around what is now Miami county; by others they were called the Twigtwees; the provincial council of Penn, referring to them as the Tweechtwese.
The history subsequent to the early incursion of the whites finds their allegiance divided between the French and the English. The same lack of common interest being found here as with other tribes throughout the country; the Miamis were allied with the French and a number of the other tribes in this vicinity were allied with the English. The English together with the Cherokees, Dela- wares and other tribes were victorious in one of their many clashes with the French and their Indian allies, including the Miamis; sub- sequently, the Miamis being continuously harassed by the English, removed to the Maumee river and left this territory to the Sha- wanoes, a nomadic tribe, who came originally from the South, in all probability from the vicinity of Florida.
There had been sporadic attempts at settlements by the whites in this region ; as far back as 1749, the French and English beginning that long drawn out contest for supremacy, which only ended with
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the fall of Quebec. One Christopher Grist, who was an English agent for the Ohio Trading company who visited this part of the valley, found the Indians on terms of amity with the white adven- turers as late as 1750. He referred to their villages as 50 miles up the Miami and states their number to have been at least 200. It is asserted and claimed with some degree of validity that some of these villages were near the present site of Piqua.
As far back as 1849 the French controlled the trade of this country and claimed possession by right of settlement. The French Governor of Canada, Grallisonier, caused lead plates, engraved with the claims of the French government, to be placed at the mouth of rivers running into the Ohio. One of these plates dated August 16th, 1749, was found near the mouth of the Muskingum. However, this attempt at possession was abortive, as the French claims were in constant dispute by the English. There was desultory fighting between the English and French for permanent possession and when the keystone of the situation, Quebec, passed into the hands of the English, the English claims were largely secured.
The French had built a line of fortifications from the Ohio toward the Great Lakes ; and about 1749 the English had established a trading center at the mouth of Loramie's creek. This so-called intrusion of the English, impelled the French to demand of the Twigtwees the surrender of the trading house to them. Their refusal to do so, resulted in the seizure of this place by the French and their Indian allies; the Indian defenders being killed or driven away and the English traders were carried to Canada as prisoners.
In October, 1753, the Twigtwees, Shawanoes and other tribes in this vicinity sent representatives to meet the commissions of Pennsylvania. This meeting was held at Carlisle and a treaty was concluded. Benjamin Franklin was one of the commissioners.
In the summer of 1780 General George Clarke, after a prolonged contest with the savages, destroyed all the Piqua towns on Mad river, laid waste their cultivated lands and destroyed the last vestige of their possessions. The Shawanoes, humiliated by this defeat, moved to the Great Miami. Here they built a new settlement and largely turned to hunting for their subsistence. Two years later, recovering from their chastisement, they engaged in a series of raids into Kentucky, killing all whites whom they encountered. They committed many terrible outrages and swooped down on all unprotected settlements, killing without mercy.
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