USA > Ohio > Noble County > The county of Noble; a history of Noble County, Ohio, from the earliest days, with special chapter on military affairs, and special attention given to resources. > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
ner of section 15, in township number 5, of range S; thence east to the southeast corner of said section; thence south to the southwest corner of section 23 in township number 5, range S; thence east to the place of beginning : containing 23 sections."
Marion township was formed from the fractional townships taken from Union and Seneca townships of Monroe county. The eastern half of the new township came from Seneca and the western half from Union. The boundaries fixed by the commissioners of Noble county
were : "Commencing on the seventh range line at the southwest cor- ner of section 31, in township number 7 of range 7 ; thence east along said township line to the southeast corner of section 25 in said town- ship number 7 and range 7; thence north along the section lines to the northeast corner of section 30 in said township number 7 and range 7 ; thence west along said township line to the northwest corner of section 36 in said township number 7 and range 7; thence south along the seventh range line to the northeast corner of section 1 in township number 7 of range 8; thence west along the said township line to the northwest corner of section 3 in said township 7 and range 8; thence south along the section line to the southwest corner of sec- tion 22 in said township number 7 and range S; thence east along the section lines to the seventh range line; thence north to the place of beginning : containing twenty-four sections."
The record regarding Noble township reads: "Commencing at the southeast corner of section 34, in township number 7 of range 9; thence north to the northeast corner of section 3, in said township number 7, range 9; thence west along the township line to the north- west corner of section 1, in township number 7, of range 10; thence east along the township line to the place of beginning: containing thirty sections."
Olive township, lying directly south of Noble, began "at the south- east corner of section 36, in township number 6 of range 9; thence north to the northeast corner of said township number 6 of range 9; thence west along said township line to the northwest corner of the east half of section 5 in said township number 6 and range 9; thence south through the center of sections number 5, 8, 17, 20, 29, and 32 to the southwest corner of the east half of section 32 in said township number 6 and range 9; thence along said township line to the place of beginning: containing twenty-seven sections."
The boundaries of Seneca township were altered: "Commencing at the southeast corner of section 36, in township number 8, range number 8; thence north along the seventh range line to the northeast corner of section 13 in said township and range; thence west along section lines to the northwest corner of section 1S in said township and range; thence south along the range line to the southwest corner
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
of section 31, in said township and range; thence east to the place of beginning: containing 24 sections."
Sharon township was erected to provide for the fractional townships taken from Morgan county. The boundaries begin "at the southeast corner of the west half of section 32, in township number 6, of range number 9 ; thence north through the center of sections 32, 29, 20, 17, 8, and 5 to the northeast corner of the west half of section 5, in said township number 6 and range 9; thence west along township lines to the northwest corner of section 3, in township number 6 and range 10 ; thence south along section lines to the southwest corner of section 34 in said township and range; thence east along township lines to the place of beginning : containing twenty-seven sections."
Stock township, next to Jefferson, has the most irregular boundary lines of any township in the county. These lines are described on the commissioners' record as "commencing on the seventh range line at the southwest corner of section 32 in township number 6 of range number 7; thence east along the section lines to the southeast corner of section 26 in said township number 6 of range number 7; thence north along section lines to the northeast corner of section 30 in said township and range; thence west along said township line to the seventh range line; thence south along the seventh range line to the northeast corner of section 25 in township 7, range 8; thence west along section lines to the northwest corner of section 27 in said town- ship number 7 and range 8; thence south along section lines to the southwest corner of section 3 in township number 6 and range 8; thence east to the northwest corner of section 4 in said township num- ber 6 of range 8 ; thence south along the section line to the southwest corner of section 14 in said township number 6 of range 8; thence east along the section line to the seventh range line; thence north along the seventh range line to the place of beginning: containing twenty-three sections."
Wayne township is also made up of the fractional townships taken from Richland, Beaver, and Wright townships of Guernsey county, and contains four sections of the military lands-all there is in Noble county. The record describes the boundaries as "commencing on the seventh range line at the southwest corner of section 31, in township number 8, of range 7 ; thence east along the south line of said township to the southeast corner of the west half of section 25 in said township ; thence north through the center of sections number 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30 to the north line of said township; thence west along the north line of said township to the seventh range line; thence south along said seventh range line to the northeast corner of section 20 in the first township of the seventh range of military lands in the Zanes- ville district; thence west to the northwest corner of section 19, in
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
said township number 1 and range 1 as aforesaid; thence south to the southwest corner of section 22 in said township number 1, range 1, on the Ludlow line; thence west along the Ludlow line to the north- west corner of section 6, in township number 8 of range 8; thence south to the southwest corner of section 7, in said township number 8 and range 8; thence east to the southeast corner of section 12, in said township number 8 and range 8; thence south along the seventh range line to the place of beginning : containing twenty-five sections."
During the next three years a few changes in the boundaries, as established by this first order, were made. The first of these was in March, 1852, when the commissioners, in response to a petition signed by twenty-five citizens, ordered the west half of sections 25, 26, and 27, and the east half of sections 31, 32, and 33 to be taken from Wayne township and annexed to Beaver. On March 7, 1854, a peti- tion signed by fourteen persons was presented to the board of county commissioners asking for a change in the line between Elk and Stock townships. As a result of this petition sections 25 and 31 in Elk township were attached to Stock. In June, 1855, twenty-eight tax- payers petitioned for a readjustment of the line between Center and Enoch townships, and the commissioners ordered that sections 31, 32, and 33 be taken from Center and attached to Enoch. At the Sep- tember term, of the same year, Abraham Bryan and some of his neighbors asked the commissioners to restore the north half of section 31 to Center township, which was accordingly done. With the excep- tion of these changes the township lines in Noble county stand today as they were established by the commissioners at their first session in 1851.
Under the order of the court of common pleas at the June term an election for justices of the peace was held on the twelfth of July. In some of the townships the justices who held office prior to the issuing of the order were allowed to continue. So far as the records of this election are obtainable they show that Daniel Pettay was elected in Center; John Archibald, in Sharon; John Moore, in Brookfield ; Reuben Wood, in Stock; James Rich and Abner Williams, in Wayne; Moses Spencer, in Elk; Alfred Ogle, in Enoch ; Samuel Gebhart, in Beaver; and John Stevens, in Buffalo.
In accordance with an order passed by the commissioners at the first session the board met with the commissioners of Morgan county at McConnelsville, on Monday, May 12, 1851; the commissioners of Washington county at Marietta, on Friday, May 16; the commission- ers of Monroe county at Woodsfield, on Wednesday, May 21 ; and the commissioners of Guernsey county at Cambridge, on Monday, May 26. The object of these meetings was to make settlements with the different counties from which the territory comprising Noble county had been
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
taken, and to secure Noble county's share of the revenues remaining in the several county treasuries at the time the county was erected .*
The establishment of a new county attracted the attention of news- paper men as being an inviting field for the exercise of their talents. The Democratic majority in the county was nearly one thousand, and it was probably natural that Democratic editors should dis- play greater energy in preempting the field. William H. Gill and Robert Leech, both of whom were members of the Constitutional Convention of 1851, founded the Democratic Courier at Sarahs- ville, soon after the county was organized. The first issue of the paper appeared in May. The Whigs, however, were not far behind, for in July Oliver P. Wharton and Richard H. Tanevhill began the publication of the Noble County Investigator at Olive.
Several important matters were disposed of by the commissioners at their June term. The commissioners appointed by the legislature to locate the county seat were to receive three dollars a day for their services. George Mccullough presented a bill for eleven days, and Martin Heckard and Lafayette Emmett for fifteen days each. On June 2, the board ordered warrants drawn for the several amounts, so that it cost the people one hundred and twenty-three dollars to have located the seat of justice. As no public buildings had vet been erected it was necessary to provide quarters for the various county officers. Rooms were rented from Dr. J. F. Capell for the recorder and treasurer: the clerk's office was obtained from a man named Axtell; and the auditor's office from William Tracy. The rents varied from one dollar to one dollar and fifty cents per month, in- cluding fuel. On June 25 the board made its first levy of taxes : for county purposes, $7,000 ; for township purposes, $1,200; for school purposes, $2,778; and for public buildings, $2,100. The next day it was ordered that the court house and jail be located unon the public square in Sarahsville, and notice to contractors was given, through the medium of an advertisement in the Democratic Courier, that the board would receive bids on July 28, 1851, for the erection of a jail. The specifications provided for a building thirty by forty feet. two stories high ; the first story to be of stone and to be nine feet high ; the second to be of brick, ten feet between floor and ceiling. The windows in the first story were to be thirty inches square and covered with an iron grating. Those in the second story were to each have
*The matter of adjusting these relations seems to have been attended with some difficulty. In March, 1852, the authorities of Guernsey county made a demand upon Noble county for about $700 for bridges located in that part of Noble that had been detached from Guernsey. The feeling is shown by the commissioners' record of Noble county for that date, wherein it is positively " Ordered that the board notify the Guernsey county commissioners that they will not pay any part of it."
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
twenty-four lights of 8 by 10 inch glass. The second story was also to be divided into "common rooms." On July 29 the board entered into a contract with John B. Heaton, for the construction of the jail for the sum of $2,230, the building to be completed by the first day of August, 1852. The jail was never finished according to the agreement, for before the time arrived when it was to be turned over to the commissioners Heaton threw up the contract and left the county. In December, 1852, his bondsmen, Harrison Secrist, Thomas Dyson and Joseph Potts, were notified that they would be held for damages on account of the failure to carry out the contract, and a month or so later the board accepted the jail, although the record was made to show a protest on the material and workmanship used in the construction of the building .*
Scarcely had the organization of Noble county been completed when a contest arose over the location of the county seat. In fact, the difference of opinion existed before the passage of the organic act by the legislature. The action of the commissioners in selecting Sarahs- ville was no doubt the most reasonable decision they could have reached, as Sarahsville was the most centrally located of any of the towns in the county at that time. However, many of those living in the southern part of the county were dissatisfied with the selection. as being too far north of the geographical center of the county. As soon as it was definitely known that Sarahsville had drawn the prize those in the south began to manifest their displeasure. Bribery was openly charged and a determination announced to continue the fight until the seat of justice should be more centrally located. As is usual in such cases the newspapers of the county took sides in the matter and the contest grew in intensity. The Democratic Courier warmly advocated the retention of the county seat at Sarahsville, while the Investigator just as strongly adhered to the cause of the opposition. Although nominally a Whig paper, the Investigator now assumed the role of an independent publication, and advocated the election of a "People's Ticket," which was made up of both parties, the issue being the location of the county seat. National politics was submerged in the all absorbing question. The fight was not always conducted with "dignity and decorum." Epithets were hurled at each other, blows were sometimes exchanged, and altogether a great deal of bad blood was exhibited. The opponents to Sarahsville finally settled upon a location described as "the northeast quarter of section 3, in Olive Township," and from that time their campaign was di- rected with more system and effect. Political differences were made
* After the removal of the county seat to Caldwell this jail was used for var- ious purposes until 1871, when it was sold to the Sarahsville Methodist Epis- copal Church for $200.
5
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
up along these lines and no matter whether the voter was Whig or a Democrat he was expected to identify himself with either the party of "The North" or "The South."
The party of the South showed good generalship in the election of county officers. They permitted the Sarahsville faction to elect prac- tically all the candidates except the majority of the board of commis- sioners, thus delaying the erection of public buildings at the seat of justice. Had the party of the North once succeeded in electing a majority of the board, and then hurried the erection of a court house, the removal of the county seat would have been rendered highly problematical. One effect of the agitation was to bring about the establishment of a new paper at Sarahsville. In August, 1852, Oliver P. Wharton, who was one of the founders of the Investigator at Olive, became associated with Dr. J. F. Capell and started the People's Organ at the county seat. Paradoxical as it may seem, the new paper was an enthusiastic advocate of the Olive township site. The Democratic Courier had in the meantime changed hands, Samuel McGarry and William Tracy becoming the proprietors. It continued to battle heroically for Sarahsville, but the establishment of the People's Organ, "right in the heart of the enemy's country," undoubt- edly weakened the party of the North, and inversely encouraged the party of the South. Thus matters went on until the meeting of the legislature of 1854. At that session there was a strong lobby repre- senting the Olive township site, and on April 29, 1854, a bill was passed authorizing the people of Noble county to decide by popular vote the location of the county seat. Immediately upon the passage of the bill both sides buckled on their armor and prepared for the final struggle. The election was called for the second Tuesday in October, which gave plenty of time for the discussion of the merits of the two locations. And good use was made of the time. At the mills, at the postoffices, wherever two or three of the citizens happened to meet, the county seat question was the all absorbing topic.
On election day a heavy vote was polled, and notwithstanding the intense interest only a few fights occurred. The total number of votes cast was 3,630, and the majority in favor of the new location was 150. In the townships of Beaver, Buffalo, Center, Marion, Noble, Seneca, and Wayne the majority of the votes were against removal. In Seneca and Wayne the new location did not receive a single vote. On the other hand not a vote was recorded in favor of Sarahsville in the townships of Jackson and Olive. The closest vote was in Noble township, where the majority in favor of the old county seat was but three votes. In counting and analyzing the vote some queer features were disclosed. Although the new location was con- siderably farther from Summerfield than Sarahsville, the majority of the voters at Summerfield favored the new site to get rid of
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
Sarahsville as a commercial rival. For the same reason a large vote was cast for the old county seat at Sharon, where it was seen that the establishment of a new county seat, only three miles away, would tend to injure the business of Sharon. About twenty votes were cast for other places, some of them clearly in a spirit of levity. The fight did not end with the election. No sooner had the result been an- nounced than the friends of the new site were charged with com- mitting almost all the misdemeanors in the code to carry the election. Then fraud, illegal voting, intimidation, and bribery were brought up as counter charges, and the old contest was renewed. John W. Noble and others, who had all along opposed the removal, brought suit to test the validity of the election. They based their suit on the plea that "there was no law of the State at the time of said vote, authoriz- ing and prescribing the manner of holding such an election, and that the law authorizing said election and removal is wholly unconstitu- tional and therefore void." Then followed a long and costly litiga- tion. The court of common pleas decided against the complainants. To reverse the decision the contestors filed a petition in error in the district court of the county. From this court an appeal was taken to the supreme court of the State, where the original decision of the court of common pleas was re-affirmed, and the legality of the location fully established. In this case some of the best legal talent of the State of Ohio was employed on both sides and the ground was con- tested inch by inch until the final decision was reached.
In the meantime the county commissioners proceeded as though no suit was pending. Samuel Caldwell and others had offered to donate a location for a county seat, and had entered into a bond for $40.000 to carry out their promise. On December 6, 1854, less than sixty days after the election, the commissioners selected a tract, which is thus described in the records of that date: "Beginning at the place where the Lancaster and Louisville road crosses the west line of the northeast quarter of section 3, in township number 6, of range 9 of the lands sold at Zanesville, Ohio; thence north on said west line 28 rods ; thence east 29 rods ; thence south 28 rods ; thence west 29 rods to the place of beginning."*
Two resolutions were adopted by the board on the same date. The first provided that "Ezra McKee be authorized to cause to be sur- veyed that part of said northeast quarter of section 3, Olive township, described in the first section of the law of April 29, 1854, and that in making such survey there be reserved as a public square about two and one-half acres, upon which to erect a court house, provided that a strip about three rods wide can be obtained on reasonable terms from
* After the suit of Noble et al. was decided this tract was deeded to the county commissioners by Samuel Caldwell. The deed bears the date of June 2,1857.
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
the land-holders adjoining, in order to the laying out of streets all around and a tier of lots on two sides of said square."
The second resolution provided "that the name of the new county seat ordered to be surveyed be Caldwell."
The survey ordered by the above resolution was made on December 20 and 21, 1854, by deputy county surveyor George Bell. In addi- tion to the tract twenty-eight by twenty-nine rods, described in the commissioners record, a plat containing forty-eight lots, including about eleven and one-half acres, was laid off at that time, but none of the lots were offered for sale until the final disposition of the litigation to determine the location of the county seat. As soon as this suit was finally settled the town of Caldwell began to make progress. On June 10, 1857, the commission passed an order to erect a court house on the public square in the town of Caldwell, and fixed upon July 20 as the time for opening the bids therefor. Thomas Drake was employed as architect and on July 21, the bids having been examined, the commissioners awarded the contract to Young & Gibbs for the sum of $13,000, the building to be completed by September 20, 1858. The building was completed to the satisfaction of the board and was accepted on January 4, 1859. During the time it was under construction the frame building on the west side of the public square was used as a temporary court house .*
On June 24, the commissioners ordered that certain lots belonging to the county, "as laid out and platted in the town of Caldwell," be sold at auction on the fourth of July, following. At that sale a number of the lots were disposed of, the prices ranging from $48 to $200 each, and within a few weeks a number of buildings were under construction. In one of these early buildings the first newspaper of Caldwell found a home. After the election which decided the location of the county seat, the People's Organ was changed to the Noble County Patriot. Later it fell into the hands of John Stevens and W. M. Kain, who published it a short time as a religious weekly under the name of the Christian Harbinger, after which it was united with the Republican, which had been started at Sarahsville in 1856 by Gibbs, Clark & Schofield. The new publication took the name of the Consolidated Republican, Randall Ross and William H. Phipps becoming the proprietors. In 1857 Ross built a two story house at Caldwell and in the upper story he established the publication office of the paper. The lower store was occupied by Elijah Stevens, who was the first merchant in the new county seat. Soon afterward he had a competitor in the person of Fulton Caldwell, who opened a store called the "Merchants' Exchange," on Cumberland street.
* In 1903 the lower story of this building was used as a tailor shop by Henry Schafer.
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
At the time the contractors began work on the court house the residences in the immediate neighborhood were so scattering that the workmen found it extremely difficult to obtain convenient boarding places. In this emergency the contractors put up a frame shanty, near one corner of the public square, for the accommodation of the men. The bricks used in the construction of the court house were burned on the premises from the clay excavated from the foundation of the building. The erection of private building's had progressed so far by the beginning of the year that the commissioners were enabled to find temporary quarters for the various county offices, and therefore felt justified in ordering the removal of the records, etc., from Sarahs- ville. Accordingly, on January 21, 1858, an order was issued by the board for the officers of the county to remove all books, papers, fur- niture, and business to the places provided for them within the next twenty days. With the promulgation of this order came the last faint effort of the friends of Sarahsville to oppose the removal of the county seat. An appeal was taken to the courts to prevent the exe- cution of the order, but the removal went on and in a short time the seat of justice of Noble county was fully established at Caldwell. The repeal was then dismissed, the only remaining evidence of Sarahsville's official greatness being two lonely prisoners in the old county jail. And even this was to be taken from her. In October, 1858, a contract was awarded James Dudley for the erection of a jail and jailer's residence on the west side of the public square, on a lot belonging to the county. The contract price was $3,800, and the time specified for the completion of the structure was December 1, 1859. It was completed on time and since then the prisoners have been committed to incarceration in the county seat. By the autumn of 1858 Caldwell boasted of two hotels. The first, called the "Eldo- rado," was a two-story frame building, near the southwest corner of the square. It was kept by A. R. Boice, who had erected the building for that purpose. The second hotel was opened by J. W. Boggs, in what was known as the George Rice building. In 1860 Boggs became the proprietor of the old Eagle Hotel.
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