The historical review of Logan County, Ohio, Part 7

Author: Kennedy, Robert Patterson, 1840-1918
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1586

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For many years one of the most fa maas hostelries in Bellefontaine was the Union House: it was originally the court house, and was purchased by Salathiel Knight after the new court house was completed in 1833, and he sold it to Peter I.eister, who had come to Bellefontaine in 1832. Leister turned it into a hotel and called it "Leister's Tavern." and for some fifteen years he kept one of the best taverns in the interior of Ohio; he sold to Walter Slicer who remained its landlord for many years. It was after- wards kept by a Mr. Jamison, who chang- ed its name to the Union House, and finally by long Jim Moore, who died sud- denly while its landlord: it then came into the possession of Captain John B. Miller who had returned from the war. and who remained its landlord until his death in 1878; it was known far and near as one of the best hotels in the country; It gave way to the Opera Block, and the Opera House is situated upon a part of the ground occupied by this hotel.

SOME EARLY RESIDENTS OF BELLEFONTAINE.

Joseph Gordon, one of the early resi- dents of the new seat of justice, was Joseph Gordon: he built two houses on the Boyd lot, and afterwards built a house in which he resided, on the corner of De- troit and Chillicothe streets. Gordon was . an active, wiry, energetic man, and was clever at almost anything to which he

COLONEL WILLIAM MC CLOUD.

Another of the early reside its of Lo- gan county, was Colonel William Me- Cloud. he was born in Ireland July 4th, 1776, and came to the United States when a young man and first settled in Vermont. and about 1805 came westward to the Mad river country which was the Mecca of the pioneers, and settled of a farm just west of Bellefontaine. In the year 1812 he was a member of Captain William Me- Colloch's company of scouts and served during the war: he was a great hunter. and was put in charge of the hunters for the army, for the purpose of supplying the army with game. He was a hatter by trade and in early years followed that occupation: he afterwards removed to the new county rorth of Logan, which be- came Hardin county, and for a number of years lived in Fort Me. Arthur, on the Scioto, about three miles southwest of

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGIN CONNIE

Kent on Hull's trace. On the organi- zation of that county he became one of the associate judges of Hardin w unly. and it was in his house, Font Me. Arthur. and at the suggestion of Mrs. McCloud that the county seat of Hardin county was called Kenton. in honor of General Simon Kerton, who was a close friend of the MeClouds.

In 1844 MeCloud moved back to Bellefontaine, and lived in a log house built by one Selathiel Knight on Mad river street on the lot now owned by E. P. Lockhart, where he died in 1844: he left a large family: one of his daughters. Letitia, married Doctor Lor 1; the remain der of the family moved west.

NATHANIEL DODGE.

One of the early settlers was Nathaniel Dodge; he came from ,Pennsylvania be fore the new village was located and lived in a cabin just east of the present city.

came the mail carrier betagoff the post office and the railroad, and remained such until his death. he was kilka Is the cars while returning to his home just south of the town.

MATTHEW SIMPSON.

Another peculiar and at the same time learned man in the new town was Mat- thew Simpson: he built and lived in the most pretentious residence in the new town, on the corner of Madriver and Au- burn streets: he was unquestionably a man of education and literary ability, and his family was recognized as among the first in the town: he was an engineer by profession and was engaged in govern- met work on the Mississippi river. One of the Simpson girl married Richard S. Canby, and another Hiram McCartney, both being lawyers at the new seat of justice. Simpson died at Vicksburg while engaged in his profession as an engineer on the river.

He was a young man of twenty-five years of age, of fine appearance and good address, and he soon won his way as a SAMUEL NEWELL. favorite with the younger society of the One of the early settlers of Logan county who became at once prominent in his public affairs was Sanmel Newell ; he came from Kentucky in 1866, and bought the farm just cast of Bellefon- taine, and built a one story brick house just north of the present Catholic church ; it was for a time quite a pretentious dwelling, and was the center for many years of a most promising and prosperous family. The first meeting of the commissioners of the new county of Logan was held at his home in 1818. He was one of the first of- ficers of the new county, and for many years the clerk of its courts; he was for ten years frontier: he shortly afterwards married Betty, daughter of Colonel Workman, one of the most prominent of the early set- tlers: Betty Workman had been quite a belle of the neighborhood and as Betty Dodge she remained to the day of her death a handsome woman. Dodge was for many years in the public employ in one capacity or another: he kept one of the first hotels in the new village; he was the first jailer and for many years had charge of the court house, and rang the court house bell upon all public oc- casions. Upon the completion of the Lake Erie and Madriver Railroad he be- a member of the Legislature of the state,

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOG. IN COUNTY

he'd other feces in the county, and was Zame, who was at that time the widow of ay most active and useful citizen; he ever- ciel great influence in the politied as well - the social affairs of the eventy and the mmmmity: be left quite a family of chil Fren. His son Joseph married a daughter E Willen MeCMlech. and, like his father. arved in the Legislature.

THE NEWELL FAMILY.

The Newell family was quite a promi- Y ot family among the early settlers of the monty: Hugh, John, Themas and Samuel di cant from Kentucky, and became resi- Cents of the county. It was from such set- t'es as these that the bone and sinew of the Few commonwealth of Ohio received its trength and security. This outpouring of !le maire progressive, intelligent and pros Terens of the people of other states quickly wade Ohio one of the foremost states in the Viim, and she has continued to hold her Here in the sisterhood of states, and has & t failed to keep pace with the wondrous developments of the whole country.

JAMES MANNING REED.

Was the eldest son of Colonel Seth Reed, the founder of Erie, Pennsylvania. Colonel Seth Reed served in the Revolu- tionary war, and was Hientenant Colonelof the Fifteenth Massachusetts Infantry; his son. James Manning Reed, was born at Ux- bridge, Massachusetts, January 6th, 1770. After the Revolution, Colonel Seth Reed gathered together a small colony and with 1:i- family canie west, and to the present site oi Erie, and founded that city, where his unmediate descendants still live. His son. James M. Reed, came to Ohio about 1866 001 settled in Logan county; in 1807 he tried Elizabeth, the daughter of Isaac 1

Robert Koleville, and settled on a farm just west of Bellefontaine At the very first election held at Beik ville m Logan county, in 1818. after the county was cut off frem Champaign, the first person to east his ballot at that election was James M. Reed; he thus became the first veter in Logan county: he had resided for a short time at Zanestown before removing to his farm west of Bellefontaine. Mr. Reed was for many years a prominent and active citi- zen of Logan county, and died May 5th. IS47: he left two sons Duncan M. and Ebenezer Z .. and one daughter, Eliza, who married General Isaac S. Gardner.

The new county and the new county seat began to grow and flourish, and quite a vil- lage began to thrive upon the banks of Pos- sum Run: from all sections of the country new and important additions were made to its population : almost every trade and in- dustry were soon represented among its in- halatants, and it became in some manner independent of the outside workl.

DOCTOR ABIAL H. LORD.

In the year 1823 Doctor Abial Il. Lord. a young man, came to the new county seat as a physician : perhaps no more impor- tant personage was added to the new com- munity than Doctor Lord; he was born in Windsor, Vermont, April 26th, 1802, and at an early day came west to Cincinnati, Doctor Lord's father was an Irishman, and was a distinguished physician, being for a time connected with the English army as a surgeon ; he came to America and settled in Vermont, from whence he afterwards came 16. Cincinnati. Doctor Lord had come from Cincinnati to Urbana, and studied medicine with a Doctor Carter, and upon completing

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.

his studies came at once to Bellefontaine, to city, where he had spent the declinog years locate as a practicing physician. Up to the of a long and useful life. time of Doctor Lord's coming to Lagan county the people were compelled to depend DOCTOR WILLIAM D. SCARFF. upon the simple remedies of the househow !. One of the physicians of Logan county . prominent for many years was Doctor Wil- liten D. Scarff, who came to this county from Xenia. Ohio, in 1852. For a number of years he practiced extensively throughont this part of Logan county, and was regard- ed as a man of much information and many accomplishments. He died in 1900. end upon such medical attention and advice as they could secure from long distances. Doctor Lord at once became a most impor- .tant factor in the daily walk and life of a very large and far-reaching community. His practice extended a distance of thirty or forty miles in all directions from the new settlement : he was compelled to ride on horseback, as the only possible ments of MERCHANTS. communication in that carly day : his rem- edies were simple and limited, and yet he had the reputation of being a most success- iul practitioner.

He was a man of great information und a close student of human nature, and a most pleasant and companionable gentleman ; he served long and faithfully the people anding whom he had cast his lot, and will long be remembered as a most faithful public servant.

He married a daughter of Colonel Wil- ham MeCloud, a most estimable woman, who went with him very many years, and shared with him the labors and duties of the earlier and more trying times of these new settlements: they left a family of chil- dren, who have since occupied prominent and important places in the community.

Doctor Lord was at one time treasurer of Logan county, and was active in the up- building of the new seat of justice. As a physician perhaps no doctor in this section of Ohio ever had a larger or more extensive practice : he was small in stature. but was a man of wonderful energy and vitality. and continued his labor for many years : he died in 1891 on the farm just east of the

Among the most important of the busj- ness enterprises of the new settlement was the business of merchandising: the bring- ing of the commodities required for the use. benefit and comfort of the new settlers, and the taking out of their barter trade and traf- fic. This section of the country was situat- ed at a great distance from the seats of com- mercial traffic, as measured by the means of communication of that early day: the Ohio river on the south, and the lakes on the north, were the nearest points of trade at which such products as could be raised at that time could be exchanged for actual necessities required by the people in their every-day life. The products were wheat. corn, flour, bacon, beeswax, venison, dried apples, ginseng, and in small quantities ma- ple sugar.

The necessities were the dry goods re- quired for family use and coffee, sugar, salt, tea. molasses, rice, and such agricultural and other implements as were required for and other implements as were required for the soil.

The transportation, in the very earliest stage, was on horseback. and later. after

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOG.IN COUNTY.

the road. were opened through the forests. it was In wagons.

At a later day the usand markets for the products of the community were on the lakes at Sandusky or the river at Cincin- mati, and the methere of conveyance was by wagons; the business of transportation was carried on by quite a number of persons, and the trips to the lakes and the river were made with something like regularity: it generally required ten days of two weeks to mike a round trip, depending consider- ably upon the condition of the road: these trips were most generally urile bay a num- ber of teamsters gathering together into a seit of convoy, and their four horse teams. with bells and bearskin housings made quite an imposing appearance. The team stets always rode the saddle or near borse. the horse to the right of the saddle horse being called the "off horse," and the lead- ers being guided by a single line: this same method of conveyance was necessary to bring the gods from the Eastern wirk- ets of Philadelphia. Baltimore and New York.

The trips to Sandusky generally carried wheat and flour, and sometimes con. and other articles of trade and barter according to the demand; these same teams came lack loaded with salt, sugar, rice, molasses, and such other articles as were re mired by the stores for their trade with the people.

The price of wheat at that date ranged from fifty cents to one dollar per bushel at Sandusky, governed materially by the sup- ply and demand, while the price of salt, was from five dollars to ten dollars per barrel. and it sometimes required almost an entire verge of wheat to purchase a single barrel

EAST FOR GOODS.

After the National Road was completed across the mountains to the east the mer- chants of this section went east for their goals, making their trips in the spring and iall . i the year. and generally requiring from tour to six weeks for the trip.

They rode by stage or horseback, and it was quite customary for the merchants of Springfield, Urbana, West Liberty, Belle- foutaine, Marysville and surrounding towns to come together and form a cavalcade of some fifteen or twenty persons on horse back, and thus proceed over the National Road to the cast for the purchase of goods : " they generally carried large sums of mon- cy on their persons this was a matter of stfety as well as of comfort and compan- inship. The goods so purchased were brought by wagons from the east, the charges leing at so much per hundred. of- ing to the distance to be traveled.

The advent of a convoy of these wagons into the towns in those early days created as much excitement as the coming of Robin- son's Circus does non.

These teams were always of four and sometimes of six horses, and the wagons of the large, or Conestoga type. The bear- skin housing of the horses, the music of the bells and the imposing appearance of these great wagons was sufficient to awaken great interest and call out the whole popu- lation.

It was wonderful what loads they couldl carry; they generally brought cargues of from four to six tons of goods and mer- chandise. and went back loaded with bacon. hees-wax, dried apples, ginseng and such other articles of trade and barter as they could gather up.

HISTORIC.M. RETTEN OF LOGAN COUNTY.

The expenses of this methodof trans- a hotel in the building adgaining on the prestation was very great. I rekthier die south. tinctly of General Gardner tella, me. that Ile remained here until 1830, wid solī to Robert Casebolt, and removed to Mich- ipan, where he remained some four or five Years and then referred to Bellefontaine. the last thice wagon bad of sorol. fe- ceived by him in this meiner frugt the cast by the Conestoga route, For the National Road. cost in transportation alone over Ile died in Michigan while on a visit to that stite. nine hundred dollars, an amount soficient to pay for the transport d'un of ever live or thirty car loads of goods from the as the markets at the present day.

MERCHANTS.

The first merchant in Bellefontaine was John Rhodes, who came from Urbana al- most immediately after the new county set was located; his store was on the corner of Main and Columbus streets, where the Watsen Mock is now situated: he did not make a great success of it, and went lack to Urbana, and was soon after succesde by Thomas Armstrong ard Lot Janney.

THOMAS ARMSTRONG

Purchased of A. Casid. administrator of William Powell. Jr., the log house on the corner now occupied by the Presbyterian church, and after Rhodes was the next storekeeper; he afterwards removed his store to a small brick on the lot now occu- pied by the Logan house, and kept store in this for many years, and probably until 1852. when the building was torn down to make way for the hotel building.

LOT T. JANNEY.

Came from Le udon county. Virgima, in 1820. lived on the John Hoge farm, east of town, for a year, and then came to town . corner into which be removed his store in and built a long. low, one-story room where the Melodeon Building now stands and opened a store there in 1821. and also kept

Lewis B. Wysong and J. W. Fyffe were early merchants: Fyffe came from Urbana and succeeded Rhodes but failed and re- tured to Urbana.

ROBERT PATTERSON.

The next merchant was Robert Patter- Sen, who came from Licking county in September, 1824, and opened a store in the building on the corner of Main and Chilli- o the streets, built by Joseph Gordon, and still standing, and is known as the Boyd corner : be kept his store in the front room and lived in the back part of the building. He was hoi near Londonberry, Ireland. in 1787, and came to this country in 1866, and first settled in Pittsburg, and was employed by a firm of Tron Founders as clerk and lockkeeper, and, exhibiting marked ability. was sent by them to a place called Mary- Ann Furnace, in Licking county, to build a fur- nace: here he made and cast seven and ten plate stoves, believed to be the first stoves cast west of Pittsburg. He entered the war of 1812, and served until its close. He built the warehouse now occupied by Kerr Brothers, and was for many years one of the leading business men of the city. Ile purchased the let just south of the court house and built a frame building on the 1829; he afterwards built the entire row called the Patterson Row, which gave way to the Opera block. He was a man of the

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOGAN COUNTY.

strictest humor and integrity, and exact in christian character: her heart was d store- Il matters sykether his own or his neigh Quase of love and devotion for the poet and bret he was kay active in the building of distressed, and when the Master called her Me Mad River DI Lake Erie Raijtoa L. a. i It was only after her years were full and Wie's labors all complete. wat ne of its first ffers, and was engaged for many months in raling along its pro- Jack May - died in 1833. He was one parsed route, securing rights of way and as of the finest specimens of physical manhond istance in ste cks and sub-captions, and was on the whole country.

ir one year- secretary and pretender wi : : mad : he was also the president of the !. Acfontaine and Delaware Ruhrorul.

He was a rim of brood views and in tensely loyal to his adopted country, at during the Rebellion no one exerted him makevation to the country and its cute.

He died at the tige age of eighty yours :. 1 is biricd in the Bellefontaine cemetery.

BROWN AND MAYS

Doctor Benjamin S. Brown and John Con - kept a store ral the other news Defi- ¡Al by the Powell Hock.

There is no date fixed for the coming of W Her Browa to B.Beiappoint. Let be wa. "po inted surveyor in 1818. He was in all manner connected with the Fullis fun Me and this may have brought him to this price. just as his cousin. Benjamin Stanton. came from cistern Ohio, induced to follow D. ctor Brown.

Thus families and neighborhoods were influenced in making selection of location. in the west, and followed those who had e ne lefore.

Mays married Rachael Powell. a daugh- ter of William Powell, one of the original 1 " prietors of the county seat.

JOHN WHEELER.

John Wheeler came to Bellefontaine in 1825. and in 1827 purchased the lot on the west side of Main street, just north of Co- Tombes street where he budt a two-stery same billing, at that time the largest and mest imposing in the new town. In the both rom of this he kept store and in the south and upper part kept a hotel.

His store was one of the best and most important in the town, and commanded a Large trade from the surrounding country. A large fruit ci the trade and traffic of the country was with the Idions, and one who ammended their good will generally man- Tagged to gather in a large part of their cas- tom: Wheeler's store and tivern were cen- tial points of the town, and John Wheeler was one of the foremost men in the place.

To this store in 1835 came William G. Kennedy, a young man of twenty-five years of age, who had been raised in Union cotta- ty but had for some years in company with the Inte Abner Jennings, of Urbana, clerked for Ralph E. Runkle in West Liberty.

He came as a manager of the Wheeler store, so that Wheeler might devote himself to his tavern. the business of which had grown to considerable proportions.

She was one of the most beautiful char- peter- it was ever the fortune of the writer to love we a woman of mest remarkable com- GENERAL ISAAC S. GARDNER. por sense, and one whose whole life was an Isac S. Gardner was born in Pendleton : amlifeation of the highest type of the county, Virginia, in 1807, and when a young

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF LOG.IN COUNTY.

man went to live with his unde Jeant Skiles in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and came to Bellefontaine, in company with the late Judge Thomsen, of Sidney, also a young man from Uniontown. they arriving on the 4th day of My. 1836.

Young Gardner was just twenty-one when he arrived in Bellefontaine, a village of four hundred inhabitants. He had been? pursnaded by one Jacob Sides, a wealthy land owner who had land- in Logan county. to come west. and who promised to assist him: Sides died just ninety days after young Gardner arrived in Bellefontaine. and one of the first duties he performed was to settle the estate of Jacob Sides.

Young Gardner started a store in a build- ing which had formerly been occupied by McClanahan as a tavern, and which was situated where the Wissler store now stands. opposite the court house.

He was afterwards associated with N. Z. McColloch, and their store became the favorite trading place of the Indians, and for very many years commanded a large trade.

He himself used to tell of his courtship and marriage. Shortly after his arrival in Bellefontaine he was standing with Mr. Me- Cellech in front of Wheeler's tavern await- ing the arrival of the stage from the north. which was always an event of interest in those frontier times. When the stage door opened a very dashing young girl of sev. enteen years stepped from the inside : young Gardner was at once attracted to her and turning to McCulloch, who was a cousin of the girl, asked who she was, and being informed that she was Eliza Reed, just re- turning from school at Erie, Pennsylvania, young Gardner, whose strong methodism had not then asserted itself. exclaimed :

"Noch, damned if I don't man, that girl!": and the courtship which begon at the stage coach door that evening ended in less than a year by the marriage of the young Vir- ginian and the grand-daughter of Isaac Zane.

For more than sixty years these two went together honored and respected. and left a family of children to hold their mem- ories in affectionate regard.

For nearly fifty years General Gardiner was a merchant in Bellefontaine and en- joyed the confidence and esteem of his fel- low citizens during a long and useful life. He served one term as state senator in the Ohio legislature, wis active in any mater looking to the building up of the city; he built one of the first ware-houses and was for many years one of the directors and ac- tive co-workers in the building of Belle- fontaine and Indiana Railroad and was largely instrumental in assisting to put it through to Cleveland: it is known as the Big Four.

General Gardner died in 1894 full of years and honors.

OTHER MERCHANTS.

Other merchants who followed these were Culberson Elder, who had a store on Main street, just south of the Methodist pul - sonage.

Jonathan Seaman, whose store was on the corner where the Bellefontaine National Bank now stands.

Richard S. Canby, who had a store in a leg house, where the Lawrence block nov, stands, and where he afterwards built a brick building which was torn down to make way for the Lawrence block.

Istnie N. Heylin was another merchant ; he was quite an accomplished young nin.

HISTORICAL, REVIENT OF LOGIN COUNTY.

par samtlige of an erater, and delivered the Fourth of July and bess in 1837. in a Stine just out of the Big Four sims: it your site flowery and in some respect . her- Il- married a Doke, went to the 40-t : died about 1815. This widow af- I. ... moved to Urbana. Gwynne and 1000 m. George W. Lathrop. Neil Slicer Justin B. Miller, also kept store.

WILLIAM C. KENNEDY.

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The historical review of Logan County, Ohio, Part 7

Author: Kennedy, Robert Patterson, 1840-1918 Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1586

Author: Kennedy, Robert Patterson, 1840-1918
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1586