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 9
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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.
Shirk, John Smith, Benjamin Stephens, William G. Stoaks, John Thomas, Gilbert W. True, Uriah Tuttle, Ellis Vore, Alfred Walford, Thomas J. Waller, John W. West, William M. West, John White, Alexander Wickham, Jacob Wickham, Nathan Wickham, Rouse Wickham, David Wilson, Joseph Wright, and Simon K. Young.
The commissioned officers of Company I were William M. Mc- Mackin, captain ; John Halland, first lieutenant; and Perry T. Nichols, second lieutenant. The rank and file of the company con- sisted of James Archer, William Archer, Nathaniel Bates, Connetis S. Bennett, William A. Bonnell, William H. Bucher, Thomas Boyd, John D. Calvert, Jonathan Carr, James A. Carson, Jonathan Cash, Orleana Coon, Simpson Coon, William Cummings, William Day, John Ellis, Hugh English, James S. Farley, John Gallagher, George Gardner, Joseph P. Graham, Jesse M. Gray, I. K. Gregory, James H. Gregory, William H. Hamer, Robert W. Hamilton, Aaron Hesson, Samuel Hesson, Edward W. Hill, James A. Hill, Dennis Iams, John McBride, William McFarland, John McKehis, James McLaughlin, George McPeak, Joseph Mantle, Levi Matthews, Thomas E. Mat- thews, William H. Miles, Robert Millner, Marion Milton, Thomas W. Oshele, William G. Parker, Alexander Pricer, Jacob Pritchard, William Rhodes, John Roads, Jacob Savier, Sylvester W. Stockdale, Thomas B. Tarleton, James Tetenish, William Tripp, Henry H. Tople, Isaac A. Vance, Anthony Williams, James Williams, Jesse Williams, Daniel Wiley, David Wilson, John L. Winch, John Wolf, and Samuel R. Yoho.
In February, 1865, came the last call for infantry troops in which Noble county participated. In that month the One Hundred and Eighty-Fifth and the One Hundred and Eighty-Sixth regiments were organized, with headquarters at Barnesville. The One Hundred and Eighty-Sixth was mustered in on February 14, for one year. In this regiment Noble county was represented by Company G, with William Bramhall as captain, John Bramhall as first lieutenant, and John Mitchell as second lieutenant. The muster roll of the company contained the names of Aaron Archer, Ambrose Archer, Isaac Archer, James Archer, Nathan Archer, Sebastian Archer, Thomas Archer, Zachariah Barlow, Philo V. Barnes, Miles P. Bevans, William M. Caldwell, Abner M. Chapman, David Cline, Richard T. Crandel, Robert F. Dailey, Samuel Davidson, Henry Dunn, Thomas Edwards, Isaac Enochs, Isaac Enochs, Jr., Richmond Enochs, Alfred Farley, Elijah Forshey, John Forshey, Thomas Forshey, Joseph Freeman, Russell Glidden, Silas J. Gordon, George Grandon, Stephen Grandon, William Grandon, Isaac Harper, Mordecai Harper, William Harper, Henry W. Heidelsheimer, James Hicks, George Hiddleston, John Hughey, William T. Hutchinson, Richard Iams, Samuel King, Will- iam L. King, David Kline, Robert J. Lawrence, Archibald C. Lovall,
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
Abraham McBride, Jacob McBride, Owen McBride, Samuel Mc- Bride, Conright McCoy, Cornelius McElfresh, James R. McPherson, Alonzo Mallett, Friendly Mallett, Lucius W. Mallett, Orrin Mallett, George Miller, Stephen Mills, William N. Mills, Thomas 'Murry, Eli Neptune, William D. Nieswanger, Alfred Pepper, John H. Phil- lips, Alexander Sands, John W. Slack, John Slusher, Harmon P. Smith, Henry Smith, Henry H. Smith, James W. Smith, John W. Smith, Peter C. Smith, James Spence, Michael H. Spence, Othey Swain, Samuel Swain, Zachariah Swain, James Swaney, Edward Y. Taylor, Melville C. Taylor, Richard Taylor, William H. Thomas, George W. Todd, Jacob Van Fossen, Adam Warner, Matthias West- field, Benjamin L. Wilson, William Wilson, Patterson F. Yoho. William Young.
Noble county contributed Company D to the One Hundred and Eighty-Fifth infantry, which was mustered in on February 25, 1865, for one year. Mathias D. Rodecker was captain of the company ; George W. Beymer was first lieutenant; and William C. Calland was second lieutenant. The non-commissioned officers and privates were Isaac Arters, Wilson S. Bailey, Nathan Barnes, George Bircher. William H. Brown, George M. Butler, Charles W. Calland, Richard Calland, William C. Calland, Thomas Carter, Edward Cleary, Charles Craig, William Craig, John W. Curtis, John M. Danford, George W. Dotson, Charles W. Dowell, James W. Drake, Thomas A. Forshey, Erasmus I. French, William French, John W. Fry, Henry R. Guiler, John W. Hare, Abraham Kent, Cyrus Loper, James M. Mc- Ginnis, John R. McGinnis, James A. Miligan, Alexander Milton, Jason Moore, Milton Moore, Samuel Moffitt, Richard T. Norvil, Will- iam M. Nowell, Richard G. Okey, Michael M. Peters, David W. Phil- lis, William H. Piggatt, Edward T. Reed, Joseph E. Selby, William Shepherd, James T. Slack, William T. Staats, George H. Timanus, William West, Franklin Wiley, Levi Willey, Lorin Willey, John Wilson, John M. Wilson.
Neither of these two late regiments saw much actual service, the One Hundred and Eighty-Sixth being mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., September 18, 1865, and the One Hundred and Eighty-Fifth at Lexington, Ky., September 26.
In addition to the infantry companies named, there were a number of Noble county men in other companies, notably Company B of the Ninth Ohio volunteer cavalry, the Twenty-Second battery, Ohio light artillery, and Company F of the Sixty-Third infantry, which was filled with Noble county recruits after the original organization was depleted by arduous service. To give an accurate account of the in- dividual records of these men would be an extremely difficult matter, at this distant day, and is therefore not attempted. It is safe to say, though, that no matter where they were found, they did their duty,
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for out of the hundreds of men that enlisted from Noble county very few were dismissed from the service for conduct unbecoming to a soldier, and less than a dozen are known to have deserted. Out of one of those desertions, however, occurred an incident that will long be remembered by the residents of Noble county, and particularly those of Noble township. The affair has been handed down to his- tory as the "Hoskinsville Rebellion."
All along the Ohio river there were many who felt that the war could have been avoided. They were either immigrants from the Southern States, or descendants of those who had come from that section of the Union, and their sympathies were with the slaveholders to a considerable degree. Among them were some who recognized not the truth of the old adage that "Discretion is the better part of valor," and kept their tongues wagging in denouncing the government for its attitude toward the South. The draft of October, 1862, encouraged this class of mischief makers and led to the organization of such socie- ties as the "Knights of the Golden Circle." The southern portions of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio were full of this class of people, and by the beginning of the year 1863 they had grown sufficiently bold to offer organized resistance to the Federal authorities in a few instances. One purpose of the secret orders was to have the members write to their friends in the army, persuading them to desert, and promising those who would do so the aid and protection of the society. On Jan- uary 25, 1863, a young school teacher of Noble township wrote to his cousin in the Seventy-Eighth Ohio infantry. The letter contained the following extract :
"Well, Wesley, my advice to you is this, and it is not given without much reflection, knowing the danger to which such a step will expose you. Come home, if you can possibly get home, for to conquer the South is an impossibility, and the only hope for you to reach home is to desert, for to stay where you are is death, and to desert can be no worse."*
The recipient took the advice contained in the letter, deserted his post, came home, and found concealment near Hoskinsville. In Feb- ruary the letter happened to fall into unfriendly hands and was pub- lished, whereupon the adjutant-general of Ohio caused two warrants to be issued for the apprehension of the deserter and also for the writer of the letter. Deputy United States Marshal Colby was sent from Cincinnati with a corporal's guard to make the arrests. Upon arriv- ing at Hoskinsville the deputy marshal was surprised to find the men he desired under the protection of a well organized and armed mob
* At the time this letter fell into the hands of the authorities it was thought to be párt of a well-organized movement to demoralize the army, but it after- ward developed that it was the individual act of a thoughtless young man, who, in his zeal, did not weigh the consequences of such a course.
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which dared the officer to attempt to take the men. Deeming it unwise to try to serve the warrants the marshal and his posse retired and the mob became jubilant to think they had won a victory over the government. Their joy was destined to be of short duration. Marshal Colby tried to make the arrests on March 11. When he found himself thwarted he reported without delay to United States Marshal, A. C. Sands, at Cincinnati. A hurried consultation was held with Colonel Eastman, commander of the post at Cincinnati, and the result was that two companies, B and H, of the One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio, under Capt. L. F. Hacke and Lieutenants Clotworthy and Hud- son, were ordered to Hoskinsville with instructions to make the arrests at all hazards if the parties could be found. This force proceeded by rail to Cambridge, where it arrived on the evening of 18th, and the following morning took up the march to Hoskinsville. About the middle of the afternoon of Friday, March 20, the troops reached their destination to find the place almost deserted, only a few old, decrepit men and the women and children remaining in the village, the men who had constituted the mob of a few days before being in hiding in the neighboring hills. The soldiers established "Camp Hardy"# and went into quarters to await the return of the citizens. They remained at Hoskinsville until Monday, March 23, when they broke camp and marched to Cambridge via Caldwell with seventeen prisoners. Later other arrests were made, the total number of prisoners being thirty- five, who were cited for trial before the Federal court at Cincinnati. The deserter had managed to escape to Canada and the teacher who had written the letter had also disappeared. After the war the former came back to Noble county where he is still living, but the latter never returned.
Of the men arrested nine pleaded guilty and were fined and impris- oned. Indictments were returned against ten others for conspiracy. Three of those were found guilty and fined five hundred dollars each. Some trouble was experienced by the government in getting witnesses to Cincinnati and heroic measures had to be adopted in a number of cases. Such was the famous "Hoskinsville Rebellion." After a lapse of more than forty years the incident is referred to in a spirit of levity by the old residents of Noble county, but at the time it occurred it was no laughing matter.
* The camp was so named in honor of Moses D. Hardy, who had furnished the officers with the names of a number of those who participated in the insur- rection of March 11.
* One of the government witnesses was John Emmons, then a boy of fifteen, now treasurer of the county. The writer acknowledges his obligations to Mr. Emmons for his recollections of the affair.
Chapter VII.
PROGRESS SINCE THE WAR-THE OIL FIELDS-FIRST WELLS-A MIDNIGHT EXPERIENCE-DAVID MCKEE-A CONFIDENCE GAME -RAILROAD AGITATION-THE OLD CALICO ROAD-MARIETTA & PITTSBURG COMPANY INCORPORATED-CONTRACT LET FOR CON- STRUCTION-FIRST TRAIN TO CALDWELL-THE NARROW GAUGE -ZANESVILLE & SOUTHEASTERN-TWO COMPANIES CONSOLI- DATED-COMPLETED IN 1883-NEW TOWNS IN NOBLE COUNTY- DEXTER CITY-SOUTH OLIVE-DUDLEY-AVA-BELLE VALLEY -EAST UNION-MOUNDSVILLE -- FULDA-GROWTH OF CALD- WELL-NEWSPAPERS-INCORPORATED --- PETITIONERS -VILLAGE OF THE SECOND CLASS-FIRST TRUSTEES-LIST OF CITY OFFI- CIALS-BANKS-FAIR ASSOCIATION-BUILDING AND LOAN ASSO- CIATION - IMPROVEMENT BONDS - FIRE - WATER-WORKS - DEATH OF JOHN GRAY-"PRIVATE" DALZELL-SOLDIERS' RE- UNIONS-MOUND BUILDERS RELICS-AUSTRALIAN BALLOT LAW -NEW JUDICIAL CIRCUIT-SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR-MILITIA -MEDICAL SOCIETY ORGANIZED-THE GREAT SNOW STORM- CENTENNIAL ODE.
S INCE the great Civil war the progress of Noble county has been steadily forward along peaceful lines. When her sons were discharged from the army they returned to their homes, "beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning hooks," and began the creation of new wealth to take the place of that destroyed by the ravages of war. The valor of the soldier has been extolled in history and song, but the meed of the artisan and husbandman is to be found chiefly in the cold, unsympa- thetic statistics that mark a nation's advancement. Yet the triumphs over the forces of nature-the deeds that distinguish civilized man from the barbarian-are no less deserving of praise than the victories of arms. Since the war the industrial development of the county has gone forward with great. strides. Railroads have been constructed, thus placing the people of Noble county in communication with the outside world, and adding to their commercial possibilities ; schools and churches have been founded for the intellectual development and moral welfare of the people; newspapers have been established to
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
chronicle their doings ; and new industries opened to minister to their physical comfort.
One of these industries, and one that has contributed in no small degree to the material wealth of the county, is that of oil production. Oil was first discovered in Noble county in 1814. For many years prior to that time a deer-lick, near the place where the village of Olive was afterward started, was known to be rich in salt. In 1814 Silas Thorla, who had previously been in the employ of the Kanawha salt works, was attracted to the spot and determined to sink a well for the purpose of engaging in the manufacture of salt, which at that time was worth two dollars a bushel, and hard to obtain at times even at that price. At the depth of about two hundred feet a rich vein of salt water was struck, but it was so impregnated with oil that for a time it was thought to be unfit for use. It was soon discovered, how- ever, that by letting it stand awhile the oil could be skimmed off and the water converted into salt. A few of the settlers tried the experi- ment of using the oil in their lamps, but in its crude state it made so much smoke and emitted such a disagreeable odor that the attempt was abandoned. No further effort was made to utilize the oil and hundreds of gallons of it were allowed to go to waste. Much of it was gathered by peddlers and sold under the name of "Seneca Oil,"'* as a remedy for rheumatism and kindred ailments. In addition to salt water and oil, the Thorla well would at times issue gas with such pressure that the water would be forced forty or fifty feet in the air. This occurred about once a week and the salt making had to be sus- pended while the blowing process was under way. It was observed that the gas was easily ignited and that it burned steadily, but, as in the case of the oil, no effort was made to turn it to account.
About a year after the Thorla well was sunk, Robert and John Cald- well and an Englishman named Hill drilled a well about a half mile further up the little stream and began the manufacture of salt there. This well, like its neighbor, produced both oil and gas, but, as salt was the principal object of the quest, the by-products were allowed to go to waste. John McKee, an old pioneer, gave the following in- teresting recollections of this well, in an interview in the Caldwell Republican in the summer of 1870. It seems that the demand for salt was sufficient to justify the proprietors in running the works day and night, the water to supply, the kettles through the night. being pumped during the day. Mr. McKee said :
"One night it fell to the lot of Robert Caldwell to 'run the machine.' Everything went well with him until nearly morning, when he found
* The oil was so named because the Seneca Indians were known to have used a similar oil in their ceremonies, and for medicinal purposes, as early as the middle of the eighteenth century. They obtained it on Oil Creek, in western Pennsylvania.
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THE COUNTY OF NOBLE.
the water nearly exhausted and had to pump more. For this purpose he mounted a platform made of puncheons to reach the spring pole ; this brought him eight or ten feet above the ground and almost directly over the well. In order to have light upon his work, he carried some blazing coals upon a piece of hickory bark. . He placed the bark upon the floor, seized the spring pole and commenced work; but ere his task was half completed a live coal fell through the floor and very near to the well-quite near enough to ignite the gas from the well. Mr. Caldwell said he saw a ball of fire rise upward, while the timbers cracked and the irons rattled and his hair stood on end. Slowly this ball ascended, being fully as large as a haycock, until it reached the highest branches of a hickory tree standing near, when it exploded, making a noise equal to the loudest thunder. . The noise was heard for five miles in every direction. * Robert Caldwell was not hurt, but a worse scared man was never seen on Duck Creek."
In August, 1859, Col. E. L. Drake, acting for a syndicate of capi- talists, struck oil near Titusville, Pa. Within a few weeks an intense excitement pervaded all Western Pennsylvania and even extended to other States. A popular song, entitled "Oil on the Brain," was sung throughout the country. Shortly after Drake's discovery, David McKee, of Noble county, visited the oil regions of Pennsylvania and became interested in the oil question. Forming an agreement with George J. Duff, a Pittsburg operator, he began active operations in the Duck Creek field in the summer of 1860. Others were in the field equally as early and in a little while the oil excitement was as great in Southeastern Ohio as it had been in Pennsylvania the year pre- vious. The first oil well to "come in" in Noble county was on the farm of Dennis Gibbs, and was drilled in the summer of 1860. A little later the second well was completed on Frank Blake's farm, and while oil was found in both places it was in small quantities and the wells were abandoned. In the fall a well was drilled on James Dut- ton's farm, about a mile from Macksburg. This well yielded about one hundred barrels a day and great excitement followed. In a few weeks the territory was full of prospectors and one could see derricks in every direction. The first well drilled by McKee & Duff was what was known as the "Diamond Well," not far from the present site of Dexter City, in Jefferson township. Oil was found in paying quan- tities but the well' had to be abandoned on account of the excessive flow of water.
This much was known of the Noble county oil fields before the war began. By the fall of 1861 all work tending toward the develop- ment of the field was suspended. Like nearly every other discovery of rich natural resources the real development had to be preceded by a period of wild speculation. After the restoration of peace, attention was again directed to the possibilities of vast fortunes being acquired
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in oil. Speculators from New York, New England, and Pennsyl- vania visited Ohio for the purpose of leasing or purchasing all the lands under which it was thought oil could be found. Companies with capital stock running into millions were organized, the sale of this stock being the principal object. Farms worth forty dollars an acre sold for a thousand, some refusing even this high figure .* After the collapse of this bubble the real prospecting for oil commenced and has gone on until the present time. In 1903 it was estimated, by competent persons, that there were from two hundred and fifty to three hundred paying wells in operation in Noble county.
Most of the early wells were sunk only to what was called the sec- ond sand, ranging in depth from five hundred to nine hundred feet. Some were even less than five hundred. The supply of oil in these wells was soon exhausted and for a time it looked as if the entire field would have to be given up. The completion of the railroad from Marietta to Caldwell, in the fall of 1871, offered the oil producers an opportunity to get the output of their wells to market and the oil industry received a new impetus that led some of the prospectors to try the experiment of sinking wells to a greater depth. In connection with the further development of the Macksburg field a smooth piece of exploiting was done by some of the class known as "wild catters" from the Pennsylvania fields. These men put down a well, in Jef- ferson township, about three miles from Macksburg, sinking it to the third sand, where oil was found in abundance. They were very secret in their movements, however, and, instead of pumping the well, plugged it, took down the derrick, and announced that the experiment was a failure. Several farms in the neighborhood had been leased, the leases being contingent upon the discovery of oil. These leases were not consummated and the field was apparently vacated for good. Then one of the "wild catters," pretending to have learned that some others were desirous of testing the field, suggested to one of the farm- ers in the vicinity that he might, by pouring some oil on the surface around the well, lease his land to good advantage when the new men arrived on the ground. Soon afterward the supposed strangers put in an appearance, sure enough, and the "salted mine" worked fully as well as its projectors had intended. The newcomers were favorably struck with the prospects and at once began the work of leasing lands. Here is where the scheme worked the other way. The neighboring farmers, believing the well to have been a failure, as given out by the men who had drilled it, leased their lands at a comparatively low
* As a matter of fact very few farms were actually bought by these oil com- panies. Fabulous prices were offered but only in a few instances were the lands actually paid for, the main object being to dispose of the stock. Such lands as were bought were necessary to the companies to carry out their represen- tation as owners of oil lands in the new field.
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figure. Many of them sold their farms outright, at prices about equal to their value for agricultural purposes. When the lands had all been secured the development of the field was begun in earnest and in a short time the Macksburg oil region was producing more than three thousand barrels of oil daily. Some of the farmers who had parted with their lands on easy terms felt chagrined over the manner in which they had been made the victims of a confidence game, but it was another application of the old consolation, "What can't be cured must be endured."
At the close of the war the greatest need of Noble county was improved transportation facilities. As early as 1849 the Sharon Rail- road Company had been incorporated by Isaac Parrish, J. M. Stone, Oliver Keyser, Elijah Stevens, and Samuel Aikens, with a capital of $30,000. The purpose was to build a road from Sharon to the most available point on the Muskingum river in Washington county. The following summer the work of grading the road was commenced but it was soon discovered that the capital was entirely insufficient to carry out the project. In the articles of association it was provided that the road might be extended to Marietta or Cumberland, or both. In 1853, the Guernsey county court granted the company permission to increase the capital stock to $50,000 and to extend the road to Cum- berland, in pursuance of the provisions of the charter. The company was re-organized and several propositions, each more pretentious than its predecessor, were broached. After ten years spent in futile endeavors to build the road from some place on the Ohio river near Steubenville to Cincinnati, and after more than $250,000 had been expended in the undertaking the old "Calico" road as it was called, was relegated to oblivion.
In 1866 the agitation was begun in favor of a railroad from Mari- etta to Point Pleasant. Meetings were held along the line of the proposed road but the people, remembering their unhappy experiences with the old "Calico" route, gave the movement at first but slight encouragement. The first interest manifested in Noble county was at a meeting held at Caldwell, on November 8, 1866. At this meeting William McKee, Dennis S. Gibbs, and George Fetters were appointed as a committee to visit Cumberland and Marietta to counsel with the people of those cities and bring about some concert of action. For a time efforts were made to revive the old "Calico" charter, but that plan was finally abandoned and preliminary surveys were made along both the east and west forks of Duck creek, for a road running from Marietta, through Caldwell and Cambridge, to some point in the interior of the State. Matters dragged along for about a year and a half, until February 19, 1868, when a meeting was held at Cam- bridge, at which a large number of people from Guernsey, Washing- ton and Noble counties were present. At that time it was decided to 7
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