Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio, Part 15

Author: Sutor, J. Hope, 1846-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 898

USA > Ohio > Muskingum County > Zanesville > Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio > Part 15

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ZANESVILLE.

Ebenezer and Elizabeth Zane, of Wheeling, Vir- ginia, on December 19, 1800, for and in considera- tion of $100.00 granted, bargained and sold to Jonathan Zane and John McIntire, 640 acres of land "on the Muskingum river, in the County of Washington and Northwest Territory," and stripped of all verbiage respecting metes, bounds and courses was for the following tract of land : Beginning at a point intersected by a line drawn 491/2 feet east of the west line of Seventh street and another line drawn 33 feet south of the north line of South street; thence west 5,940 feet to a point in Natchez, west of Pine street ; thence north to a point in an east and west line running twenty- five feet south of the north line of Adair avenue, extended west ; thence east to a point in the bot- tom lands south of the Monroe street bridge until it is intersected by the line drawn 4912 feet east of the west line of Seventh street, and thence by that line to the place of beginning.

The town was laid out at the southeast corner of the tract, and is more minutely described under "Town Plat." Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio says: "In 1799 Zane and McIntire laid out the town, which they called Westbourn, a name which it continued to bear until a postoffice was established by the postmaster general, under the name of Zanesville, and the village soon took the same name." This allegation has been accepted without question, and has been repeated so often. by subsequent writers, that it is necessary to sub- mit proofs of its positive inaccuracy.

When the contract between the postmaster gen- eral and Convers was made, in 1798, for the latter to carry the mail from Marietta to the Muskin- gum ferry, as related under "U. S. Mail," the ob- ject was to afford the Marietta settlement mail

PAST AND PRESENT OF

facilities by meeting, at the Muskingum ferry, the mails between Virginia and Kentucky, and not to supply the settlement at Zanesville, because none was here, and to designate the northern terminus the postmaster general called it Zanetown. Jan- uary 1, 1801, William McCulloch, the ferryman, was appointed postmaster, not because an office was necessary, but for the reason that mails had to be assorted and the statutes required it to be done by the postmaster of a distributing postoffice, and the commission was issued to the postmaster at Zanesville. Springfield, or Putnam, was platted first, and the plat was recorded July 27, 1801 ; upon it are delineated not only the streets and lots of the village but the course of the river, with its several rapids, or "falls," and on the opposite side Zanesville is marked. The plat of Zanesville was not filed for record until April 28, 1802, and is recorded in volume seven, page one hundred forty-five, of the records of Washington county. and the town is therein designated as Zanesville ; a map by Gen. Rufus Putnam, surveyor general, of 1804, designates the town as Zane-ville, and the General Assembly, in 1804, named the town of Zanesville as the temporary county seat. The name of Westbourn does not appear in any pub- lic record nor in any private correspondence of the period, and Mr. Howe is therefore incorrect in asserting that the place was known as West- bourn; the place was not platted in 1799, nor did the postmaster general's designation supersede that given by the proprietors. The date of the change from Zanetown to Zanesville has not been discovered, but it probably occurred when McCul- loch was appointed postmaster, January 1, 1801.

The act to incorporate the town of Zanesville was passed January 21, 1814, and specified "that all that part of the town of Zanesville, in the county of Muskingum, included in the original plat thereof, now on record in the county of Wash- ington, together with all additional lots since added thereto on the east side of the river Mus- kingum, and now on record in the county of Mus- kingum, be and the same is hereby erected into a town corporate and shall henceforth be known and distinguished by the name of the Borough of Zanesville, subject however, to such alterations and regulations as the legislature may, from time to time, think proper to make." Other sections of the act provided for the election of officers and the manner of conducting elections, the powers of the corporation and the duties and authority of its officers, and stipulated that no laws should be made "subjecting cattle or hogs, not belonging to the inhabitants of said borough, to be taken up and sold for coming within the bounds of said cor- poration." It is evident that the legislators of the period did not appreciate the nuisance that existed in a town by permitting stock to run at large.

MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

The first election for officers for the town of Zanesville was held April 2, 1814, and resulted in the choice of William Craig, mayor; William Blocksom, recorder; Samuel Frazey, treasurer ; Ezekial Bassett, appraiser; Peter Mills, George Reeve, Nathan C. Findlay and Tames Hampson, councilmen. Findlay refused to serve and John Hamm was chosen to fill the vacancy. The may- or-elect was an Irishman, and carpenter by trade, who came to the town in 1805, and with Thomas Moorehead erected the first Methodist church, in Second street; he was a devout Methodist and had the confidence of his neighbors, but had an insatiable ambition to hold public office ; his ele- vation to the mayoralty caused him to aspire to gubernatorial honors and he became a candidate ; fifty-one votes were cast in his favor in Muskin- gum county, and none elsewhere, but he was ever after called "Governor," and was pleased with the sobriquet. In 1817 he was appointed collector of county taxes and absconded with the money, lo- cated near St. Louis, where his wife joined him and where his investments in real estate made him very wealthy. His bondsmen were James Mc- Guire, who was bankrupted; James Linder, who was nearly ruined; and James Herron and James Hampson, who were able to sustain the loss with- out injury.

July 2, 1819, the County Commissioners created Zanesville township, beginning on the Muskingum river on the line dividing the twelfth and thir- teenth ranges ; thence north to the military line ; thence east to the line dividing the sixth and sev- enth ranges; thence north with said line to the line dividing the second townships of ranges six and seven; thence west to the Muskingum river and down it with the meanderings to the place of beginning. This tract embraces nearly all of what is now Wayne and Washington townships and the present city east of the river : Washing- ton township was cut off June 5. 1822, and Wayne. March 6, 1826. Several amendments to the orig- inal act were made and March 19, 1850, an act was passed creating the city of Zanesville, which was to comprise so much of the county of Mus- kingum as was embraced within the limits of and designated in the records of the county as Zanes- ville township. The act divided the city into four wards, the east and west line of division being the center of the National road from the eastern boundary of the township to the intersection with the center of Fountain alley, and from that point with the center of the alley to the river ; the north and south division line was the center of Cypress alley, from both sides of the city. The First ward was the southwest corner of the city as so divided : the Second ward, the northwest corner : the Third ward, the southeast corner and the Fourth ward. the northeast corner. The mayor was to be

PAST

AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

chosen annually, and each ward had three council- men who were ex-officio judges of all elections in their respective wards.

This division existed until March 23, 1868. when six wards were created; the First was that portion west of Sixth street and south of Foun- tain alley; the Second, that portion north of Fountain alley and west of the center of Sixth street to Howard, north of How- ard and west of Seventh street; the Third, all lying east of Sixth street and south of South street extended to the eastern limits of the city ; the Fourth, all east of Sixth street embraced in lines projected from the centers of Market and South streets to the eastern limits of the city ; the Fifth, all north of Market street extending to the eastern limits of the city, east of Sixth to How- ard, and east and north of a line drawn through the center of Howard, Seventh, Kelly, Under- wood and Spring to the city limits ; the Sixth, all north of the Fifth and east of the Second wards.

February 28, 1870, the council passed an ordi- nance requesting the County Commissioners to authorize the annexation of Natchez, which was described by metes and bounds, and May 18, 1870, the Commissioners agreed thereto and filed a transcript of their action with the council, June 1, 1870, and August 15 the territory was annexed and made the Seventh ward.

An ordinance was passed August 31, 1868, to submit to the voters, at the election, October 13, 1868, the question whether Putnam and West Zanesville should be annexed and the proposition carried in the city, but failed of approval in the villages ; January 3, 1870, a similar ordinance for the election, April 4, 1870, was passed which car- ried in the city, but failed in the villages ; Septem- ber 8, another ordinance was passed for an elec- tion on the same question at the October election, and the West Zanesville proposition was carried in both municipalities, but the Putnam people again refused to annex. October 22, 1870, W. M. Shinnick, John M. James and Elias Ebert, on be- half of Zanesville, and Austin Berry, S. Jacobs Moore and W. W. Wimmer, on behalf of West Zanesville, agreed upon conditions which em- braced the extension of the public water service, the erection of fire plugs and a hose house equip- ped for fire protection, and that gas be furnished for street lighting. The council ratified the agreement, which became effective November 10, 1870, and January 27, 1871, West Zanesville was erected into the Eighth ward.

February 26, 1872, an ordinance was passed to again submit the question of the annexation of Putnam, and it carried in both municipalities at the April election : April 22, Peter Black, Austin Berry and Thomas Griffith, representing Zanes- ville, and A. A. Guthrie, Henry Jones and James

C. Gillespie, on behalf of Putnam, agreed upon. terms among which it was stipulated that city water should be furnished, a hose house erected, and a carriage supplied, and gas be introduced as speedily as possible, and on that date an ordi- nance was passed annexing Putnam, and May 17, 1872, it was created the Ninth ward.

The Eighth ward was divided September 20, 1886, and the Tenth ward created of the territory lying north of a line commencing at the intersec- tion of the center of Park street with the Muskin- gum river, and running through the center of Park street, Moorehead, Blue and Washington avenues to the west corporation line.

As the voting population increased, voting pre- cincts were created but no change in ward lines was made until March 2, 1896, when a republi- can majority, led by office seekers, created each of the precincts of the Seventh and Ninth wards into wards, as the Eleventh and Twelfth, and cre- ated the Thirteenth ward from portions of the Eighth and Tenth wards by placing the territory north of Keen street, from the Muskingum to the Licking and south of LaSalle place, Linden ave- nue, Ball street, Maple, Converse, Granger and Adair avenues to the Licking, in the last named ward. The legality of the proceedings was car- ried into the courts and was declared illegal, and the tricksters were ousted from their positions, and it may not be irrelevant to state that the writer is a Republican.

When the new Municipal Code became opera- tive, the number of wards was fixed by statute at four, and the former First, Third and Fourth wards were made the new First ; the former Sec- ond, Fifth and Sixth were consolidated as the new Second ; the former Seventh and Ninth were joined to make the new Third, and the former Eighth and Tenth resumed their first unit for- mation as the new Fourth ward.

MARKET HOUSE.

June 5, 1814, the town council considered the expediency of erecting a market house, and made application to the County Commissioners for per- mission to occupy the public square, where the court house and jail were erected ; the request was refused and it was built in Market street, east of Court alley, on the site of the present structure, with a frontage of thirty-five feet on Market and a depth of forty-three feet; the building was frame, supported on square wooden posts, the up- per portion weather-boarded, and contained three stalls on each side; it was very frail and the con- tract price for construction was only $150.00. With nearly fifty years' service it was unable to sustain the weight of a very heavy fall of snow in January. 1863, and during the market hours,

OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

PAST AND PRESENT

January 24, the building collapsed ; four persons were killed, twelve seriously wounded and twenty- one slightly hurt.

The council met the same evening and consid- ered a proposition to repair the portion of the building still standing, and clear the ground of the debris; January 26 three contractors were present and represented that the building coula be repaired, and by a vote of five to three it was decided to do so, but an additional resolution de- manded that a certificate should be presented, signed by ten or twelve respectable builders, when the repairs were completed, affirming that the re- paired structure was perfectly safe, beyond all doubt or question, and that such certificate should be printed and posted in all public places. Whether this was offered in good faith or to kill the repairs is unknown, but the result was the same-no one would accept the conditions and January 29 the action was rescinded.

March 16, the committee on Public Buildings, was authorized and instructed, by a vote of seven to one, to secure plans, specifications and estimates of the cost for a new market house, one story in height, on the former site, at a cost not exceeding $12,000.00, and proceeded, without delay, to con- tract for its erection, and June 8 the committee re- ported the award to Charles McDill for $II,- 600.00, the structure to be completed February I, 1864.

July 20, it was announced that considerable dis- satisfaction existed among the people respecting the site selected, and an election was ordered to be held the first Monday in August to determine the question, the tickets to read "Old Site," and "New Site;" it does not appear that the election was held, and old citizens do not remember one ; the site was not changed, but September 14 a lengthy petition was presented asking that the building be two stories, and September 21 a two- story building was ordered. These interruptions delayed the work and July 4, 1864, instructions were given that the lower floor should be fitted with stalls for butchers and heavy produce and the upper for light produce, and although no revoca- tion of these orders is recorded they were not exe- cuted, and the building was made into a city of- fice and market house. August 15 the stone and brick work were reported completed and Septem- ber 15, 1864, the building appears to have been completed.

CITY PRISONS.

The city building, which formerly stood at Fourth street and Fountain allev, is described under the head of the Fire Department ; the date of its erection has not been ascertained but proba- bly occurred during the 'twenties ; when the court house of 1874 was erected the county paid the

city to vacate and as officers of the city were ac- commodated in the market building a city prison had to be provided. A lot was purchased at the southwest corner of Fountain and Potter alleys, and August 24, 1874, bids for the construction of a two story, brick building, were opened and the contract was awarded to T. B. Townsend for $4,199.00.

During 1884, the proposition to erect a joint county and city workhouse was agreed to and the comely and commodious two story brick build- ing, at the southwest corner of Fourth and South streets was erected, in which the Mayor's office, Police Court room, dwelling for the superintend- ent of the workhouse and offices for its officers are located, with the city jail and joint workhouse in the rear.

CEMETERIES.

In June, 1800, a canoe, carrying five men, a woman, a young girl and a two-year-old child, while ascending the Licking, capsized opposite the site of the Infirmary and one man, the woman, girl and child were drowned. The body of the latter was found and buried near Duncan's Falls, but the other three were found near the site of the present B. & O. railroad bridge, across the Lick- ing, and were buried on the banks of the stream, at high water mark, enclosed in bark, peeled from trees, and lined with leaves and grass.

Thus the first burial at Zanesville, was a triple interment and the early visit of the Grim Reaper to the young settlement appears to have directed attention to the necessity of providing a burying ground, and McIntire, ever awake to the emer- gencies of the place, and disposed to supply all demands, set apart a tract of ground in what is now North Sixth street, and at present occupied by the plant of the Zanesville Gas Light Company. A number of bodies were interred there, the last being that of James Filley, in 1806, when the Hill burying ground, at the head of Main street. was set apart, McIntire forbid any more inter- ments in the Sixth street lot, and a number of bodies were removed to the new ground, but many were not disturbed and when the gas plant was erected several skeletons were exhumed, but the bones were carefully collected, placed in a box and decently reinterred in the yard. Not many years ago, the skeleton of a woman was found in the yard, only two feet below the surface ; the hair was bright red, plaited and well preserved. and the remains were respectfully reburied where found.

THE HILL BURYING GROUND,

at the head of Main street, opposite St. Nicholas church, was opened 1806, the first interment be-

PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

ing the body of Elijah Hart. on Sunday, March 18, 1807: no system was observed in digging graves, no record was kept, and each person se- lected the spot most desired ; wooden markers were used, which soon rotted and were displaced, so that the identity of the bodies was lost. Often the grave digger uncovered remains while exca- vating for a grave, and when this occurred, they were concealed with a few shovelfuls of earth. The city took charge of the grounds in 1816 and appointed a sexton, but when the grounds were abandoned, the location of hundreds of bodies was unknown, and when Main street was graded through the hill a number of unidentified skele- tons were exhumed, raked together, shoveled into a cart, hauled to Greenwood and cast into one common excavation, and as there was no record, perhaps among them were the relics of some once prominent citizens,

Lost each human trace, surrendering up Thine individual being, shalt thou go To mix forever with the elements, To be a brother to the insensible rock, And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain Turns with his share, and treads upon ..

THIE ZANESVILLE CITY CEMETERY.

The Zanesville City Cemetery was laid out in 1835, the original tract being slightly less than seven and one half acres, which was purchased March 5, 1835, for $476.00; the first burial was the body of Sarah Ann, wife of Jacob Stout, Sun- day, October 24, 1835; the second, Lott Barr, a carpenter, and the third, James Durban, grand- father of F. A. Durban. Bodies were removed in large numbers from other grounds and rein- terred ; during 1852 three tracts of over thirteen acres were added and from time to time additions have been made until the area at present is about one hundred acres. At a meeting of the cem- etery trustees, June 22. 1887, attended by Messrs. Lindsay. Hahn and Stolzenbach, on mo- tion of the, latter it was unanimously resolved, "That the name of the cemetery known as the City Cemetery, he changed, and that said cemetery shall be named and hereafter called Greenwood." For beauty of land- scape, natural and ornamental, neatness in ap- nearance, thoroughness in management and uni- versal adornment by lot owners, it is not surpassed by any similar private or public burial place in the state; its avenues are never free from visitors, strangers mix with residents in viewing the wealth of color which devoted friends daily place upon the resting place of their departed relatives, evincing their regard for the dead and apprecia- tion of the efforts of the officials to invite the living to remember those who have gone before.

WOODLAWN.

In 1850, a charter was secured for the proprie- tors of Woodlawn Cemetery, and fifty-five and one-half acres were purchased for $4,358.00 from Dr. Increase Mathews; August 5, eighteen gen- tlemen, each of whom had paid $50.00 for a lot, met at the office of C. C. Convers, at Zanesville, and organized the company ; the directors were : Richard Stillwell, Charles B. Goddard, C. C. Con- vers, Hugh J. Jewett, Henry Blandy, E. Bucking- ham, and A. A. Guthrie, and the board organized by electing A. A. Guthrie, president ; C. C. Rus- sell, secretary, and Daniel Applegate, treasurer. The grounds were improved, during 1852, with walks and avenues, and in 1853 the cemetery was publicly dedicated ; the property was not self sus- taining and early in 1896 a proposition was made to the city council to accept the ground as city property, and April 13, the proposition was ac- cepted, and April 20, 1896, an ordinance accepting the deed from the corporation for the premises was passed by a vote of fifteen to one.

QUAKER BURYING GROUND.

In 1810 John Dillon donated an acre of ground, near the mouth of Timber Run, which was desig- nated as the Quaker Burying Ground; the first interments were three men, laborers at Dillon's Furnace, at Dillon's Falls, who died in 1815, of what was called the cold plague, and soon after a William Tudor and family were buried there.

The Israelite burial ground was laid out during 1871, on the north side of the National road, about two miles west of the city.

The first Catholic cemetery was in the rear of the lot now occupied by the St. Thomas church, in Fifth street, and the first person buried was John S. Dugan, who was accidentally killed near Cumberland. Maryland, March II, 1825; when the new church was erected in 1842 the bodies were exhumed and reinterred in the new Catholic cemetery, in Greenwood avenue, near the "city" cemetery, containing a fraction less than two acres, purchased August 14, 1835, for $160.00, and dedicated by Bishop Purcell.

The Mt. Calvary cemetery originated at a meeting held at the law office of Hollingsworth and McDermott, December 16, 1881, which was attended by Revs. Francis J. Dunn and C. V. Metzgar, and Messrs. Edward P. Bloomer, John S. Hollingsworth, L. H. Dennis, John C. Sullivan, Thomas S. Murphy, Henry J. Dennis, Mathew A. Kernan, Dennis Hayes, Philip Mourin and Thomas McCormick. Articles of association were drafted and signed by all of the foregoing named, and a certificate of incorporation was is- sued by the State of Ohio. December 24, when the

PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

following officers were chosen : Rev. F. J. Dunn, president ; E. P. Bloomer, treasurer ; John C. Sullivan, secretary ; H. J. Dennis, Thomas S. Murphy, Dennis Hayes, M. A. Kernan, J. S. Hol- lingsworth and Philip Mourin, trustees. 60.76 acres of land on the National road, adjoining the city on the west, were purchased from C. W. Pot- win, for $7,500.00, and the surface has been graded to form a pleasing landscape ; avenues, drives and paths have been platted and con- structed ; a receiving vault and frame sexton's residence erected, and the grounds are maintained at the high standard of symmetry and beauty which are so characteristic of the Zanesville cem- eteries.

FIRE DEPARTMENT.

For nearly twenty years after the settlement at Zanesville the protection against fire consisted solely of the bucket brigade, and during 1819 a movement was inaugurated to secure an organi- zation and mechanical appliances for such emer- gencies : the Zanesville Express, of December 22, 1819, contained a notice that "The subscribers to the Fire Engine Company are requested to meet in the court house on Thursday, December 23, at two o'clock p. m., for the purpose of organizing. electing officers and transacting such other busi- ness as may be necessary." Forty members of the first fire company were enrolled as The Union Fire Engine Company, among whom were Mich- ael and John Dulty, Adam and John Peters, Na- thaniel and Charles Wilson, Richard and George Reeve, William Twaddle, Joseph Church, Nathan- iel Sprague, S. Deffenbaugh and James Culbert- son. and it was alleged they "were all property holders and business men, and that they put out the fires-with as little water as possible." The equipment consisted of a hand engine and suction carriage, some ladders and two buckets for each member ; the latter bore the name of the company and were kept at the members' homes, and were carried to a fire when an alarm was sounded ; the remainder of the equipment was sheltered in a two-story brick building, at the southeast corner of Fourth street and Fountain allev, consisting of two fronts for fire companies ; a central hall led to the prison city which extended across the rear of the two fronts; in the second story was the council chamber on one side and the Mayor's office or police court, on the other. The engine and suction were hauled to a fire by ropes carried by men, and when the suction could not be used lines of men, women and children were formed who passed buckets of water to and from the supply and the engine.

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Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio, Part 15

Author: Sutor, J. Hope, 1846- Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 898

Author: Sutor, J. Hope, 1846-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 898