HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 425 thread was boiled in lye to take out the kinks, and wound upon large spools. The weaving followed, then, the bleaching, requiring much more labor after which the linen was ready to be made into clothing or, used for bedding or other purposes. The average family had a field of half an acre to an acre of flax each season. The ground was scratched with a shovel plow, and the seed was sown broadcast, generally on Good Friday if the weather permitted. It was brushed in. By 'June it was three feet or more and began to bloom. This was the "Blue Bow." The blossom is beautiful and the flax field seemed like a bit of sky fallen to earth. Toward the end of June the flax turned yellow and then followed the flax pullings. This crop was raised extensively in this county down to the '60s, and one of the old fashioned flax pullings was going on at the Exline Farm on Salt Creek the day that Gen. John Morgan's army captured Jackson. The spinning wheel for flax was smaller than that for wool. An expert woman' could run it at the rate of thirty to forty revolutions a minute. A dozen cuts a day was considered by her as a fair day's work. A cut was 120 threads around a reel three yards round, or 360 yards. Thus a day's work was 4,320 yards or about 21/4 miles. But only the few could devote the entire day to the work and the, spinners in many a farm home worked until the midnight hour. Such was one of the hardships that farmers' wives underwent before the advent of the factory. COTTON AND COTTON SEED The first settlers in the county of southern origin, brought cotton seed with them and crops of cotton were grown in Milton, Bloomfield, Madison, Lick, Franklin and Jefferson townships for several years. The season was very short, for it could not be planted until the frost was out of the ground, and the autumn frosts came so early, that only the lower bolls would ripen in this county. The seeds were picked out by hand for no gin was ever brought to this county. The neighbors gathered at night to pick out the seed, just as they did to' husk corn, and the gatherings were merry ones. A few ingenious farmers made small gins of two rollers, to be operated by two persons, one feeding and the other pulling out the fiber. This expedited the work, saving the labor of six to eight people. Carding came next and spinning on the small flax wheels. The cotton thread made in this county was coarse. The difficulty of maturing the crop soon led to its abandonment and none has been raised here for seventy years. Another crop that the southern immigrants never neglected was tobacco. In February or early March, a brush pile was burned on a piece of new ground, and while the soil was still warm, the tobacco seed was sown in it. It came up in about six weeks, and when large enough it was set out leaving about four feet between the plants. It required much cultivation and the labor of picking the tobacco worms was exacting and disgusting. The top was pinched off to prevent seeding. The stalk was cut in time and split and hung upon a pole to cure. After the usual preparations it 426 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION was made into twist or pressed. A tobacco house was established in Milton Township but it was operated only a few seasons. All men, women and children used tobacco in some form and some women still smoke it in some parts of the county. While the habit of using tobacco may seem disgusting, its use may have had a beneficial effect on the health of 'the pioneers. SPORTS OF THE BACKWOODSMEN The sports of the pioneers were very different from those of today in that many of them were a part of the every-day life of the people. Log rolling is hard labor, but when all the neighbors gathered, the event became in a measure a holiday affair with its big dinner and supper and dance afterward. House raisings, corn huskings, fodder and flax pullings, cotton seedings, apple peelings, and quiltings were all joyous occasions, and while there was much sport, the co-operation of so many was of material benefit to the community. In case of desperate illness in the family or accident to the head of the family, the neighbors came and did all the needful work, thus preventing the distress that leads to poverty and penury. All these country gatherings, while furnishing clean, wholesome social intercourse, also promoted the material prosperity of the pioneer. There were other more purely social or religious affairs, spellings, singings, camp meetings, and revivals, which on the whole had an uplifting tendency. The funeral was also a great institution in the woods, for neighbors did not count the miles when sickness or death came into a family, and they traveled ten to fifteen miles sometimes to show sympathy and render service. There were less innocent sports, among them various forms of gambling. The first man the county that violated the laW against gambling with cards was John McGhee, of Lick, who was indicted at the July term of 1817. He entered the plea of not guilty. The jury that indicted him consisted of David Mitchell, John Graham, John Backus, John Bennett, Peter Brown, Moses Hale, Jos. Gray, Jacob Westfall, William Burris, James Winks, Allen Rice, James Lackey, Joseph Crouch, George Campbell and Jerry Brown, and they indicted him for importing a pack of cards into Jackson County, and John McBride, Theo. Blake, Dan Harris, John Delay, John Frazee, Edward Story, Jas. Stephenson, Levi Howell, Reuben Long, Asa Lake, Patrick Shearer and Drury Bondurant found him guilty at his trial. He was fined $5 and the costs. It will be wondered how they kept their faces straight. Another of the sports of early days was horse racing. There was racing everywhere, to and from camp meetings, musters, weddings, but regular courses were also laid out and measured. One such track was established in early days in the flatwoods of Madison, near the site where Daniel Edwards, the Welsh pioneer, settled afterward in 1834. This track consisted of two paths about thirty feet apart, one-fourth' of a mile long, and straight as an arrow. Races were held at least as often as twice a month. Unfortunately these gatherings were the occasion HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 427 for much drinking and fighting as well as racing and gambling. Several tragedies finally checked the sport. The first was the killing of John Powers. He was riding one of the race horses and it suddenly left the track. When it approached a tree Powers leaned to the other side, and the horse swerved in the opposite direction and Powers struck another tree full in the breast. He was knocked to the ground and died instantly. There was another race .course on the land of James Reed, living west of old Oak Hill.. It started in the low gap near where the railroad runs now and was laid up-grade toward the Reed spring. From three to five hundred attended these rural races. Two others killed at such races were Ebenezer Donaldson and David Jones, and several others were seriously injured. The coming of the Welsh, combined with these tragedies, made the sport unpopular for a time, and it has never regained its old standing in the county. Shooting matches had a fascination for men who had just been freed from fear of Indian foes, and the institution continued as a sport in the southern townships, down to 1913. Some farmers provided turkeys for the matches, an occasional farmer getting up a match for the purpose of selling his turkeys at home. In the early days a turkey was tied to a stake or stump, 150 yards distant from the shooting line, and the first to draw blood from the turkey secured it as a prize. Later the shooting was done at a mark, and the best shot won the turkey. Chances for a shot were sold in the early days for a bit or 12 1/2 cents, but since the war, for one dime. There was much drinking during the day, with an occasional fight, and a dance was always given at night which was occasionally broken up by fighting. The girls wore calico dresses, but they had heavy shoes, for the dances were usually held in winter. The dancing was done in a small log cabin, with a roaring fire in the big chimney and the room was always crowded; but certain conventions, well understood, and observed, prevented many improprieties winked at in pretentious dwellings today. The last shooting match' of record held in Hamilton Township ended in a fight and a shooting. The trial that followed brought the sport such notoriety that shooting matches have been discontinued, perhaps forever. SICKNESS AND DOCTORS The greatest trial of the pioneer was sickness, for no medical assistance could be secured by those who had penetrated deep into the woods. Every family knew that when they located in the woods and began to make a clearing, death would come and carry away one or more members, perhaps the father and provider, before the land would become salubrious. The fevers that came unawares were dreaded the most. Finley, who was thoroughly acquainted with conditions in Jackson County, wrote that many deaths occurred from diseases at the Scioto Salt Works. "The new settlements," said he, "were regularly visited by autumnal fevers. They were of the bilious type, and sometimes the symptoms resembled those of yellow fever. Bilious intermittents, or 428 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION fever and ague prevailed to a great extent. They were supposed to be caused from the effluvia arising from the decomposition of the luxuriant vegetation which grew so abundantly everywhere." (They did not seem to have suspected their drinking water.) "These fevers were attended with great mortality and the sufferings occasioned by them were intense.. Often there was .not one member of the family able to help. the others and instances occurred in which the dead lay unburied for days because no one could report the death to neighbors. The extensive prevalence of disease, however, did not deter immigration. A desire to possess the rich lands overcame all fears of sickness and the living tide rolled on, heedless of death. In the summer of 1798 the bloody flux raged as an epidemic with great violence and for a while threatened the town of Chillicothe and its vicinity. Medical skill was exerted to the utmost but all to no purpose as but very few of those attacked recovered. From eight to ten were buried every day." The Scioto Salt Works, located in a low, swampy valley, was perhaps the sickliest place in Southern Ohio, and the death rate was very high. Even visitors who came to the works after salt in 1798 sickened and died. There was hardly any hope for anyone attacked, for there were no doctors in the county, until 1810, when Dr. Gabriel McNeal' came from Virginia, and the only medical aid that could be secured had to be summoned by horseback riders sent to Chillicothe or Gallipolis. For eight years after the epidemic of 1798 there was a comparative respite, but according to Atwater a fever of the remittent type made its appearance in the autumn of 1806, extending from the Ohio River to Lake Erie. "Its symptoms were chills in the forenoon between ten and eleven o'clock, which were succeeded by a violent fever afterward in an hour and a half. The fever continued to rage until about six o'clock in the evening. During the exacerbation great pain or oppression was felt in the brain, liver, spleen or stomach and frequently in all of these organs at the same time. By daylight there was a respite, but not a total exemption from the urgency of these symptoms. From information given us by many in the circle around Chillicothe, one-sixth part of the inhabitants died. 'In 1813 and 1814, there was a like epidemic. But perhaps the worst year was 1823. Heavy and long-continued rains set in about the 14th of November, 1822, and continued almost daily until the first of the ensuing June. It is computed that the country between the Scioto and the Miami rivers had the twentieth part of its surface covered with water during the months of March, April and May. A fever commenced its ravages and continued its course during the months of June, July, August, September and the early part of October. It was of the remittent type affecting more or less perhaps nineteen-twentieths of the people. In 1824 there was a repetition of the epidemic on a smaller scale." The families living in the Valley of Salt Creek were visited by another light epidemic in the summer of 1827. This was the last, but for forty years many suffered and died from autumnal fevers. These caused the deaths of many of the pioneers. Few of them left any memorials except the few tombstones HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 429 that survive, which show that they died so young in years. Elizabeth Scott, wife of a prominent citizen, died in 1822; Huldah, wife of Edmund Richmond, died in August, 1823 ; Sheriff William White, died in office in 1824; Hon. Jared Strong, representative several terms, died in 1827 ; Absalom Faulkner in 1829. With so many deaths among the well-to-do, the death-rate in other classes must have been heavier. Rev. David C. Bolles, one of the ablest ministers, died of fever April 20, 1840, after a residence in the county of only about eighteen months. Drainage was impossible while so much of the forest remained, and the statistics 'show that less than one-fourth of the county had been cleared when the railroad came in 1853. The building of so many charcoal furnaces later led to much wood chopping and the charcoal pits leached into the :creeks, thus purifying the waters in a measure, while clearing the land let in the sunshine, the foe of the mosquito. Some neighborhoods, notably one in Jefferson Township, suffered epidemics of sickness for many years, which was supposed to be contracted from cows' milk and was called milk sickness. This sickness was doubtless caused by poisonous weeds which cattle ate when grass grew short in August and September. Several weeds or wildings are eaten by cattle, notably larkspur, in grazing in woods, which have a deleterious effect. Even today, typhoid fever occurs frequently in the country, because so many farmers get their water supply- from sipe wells or shallow springs, whose waters become contaminated so easily from the barnyard located too often too near the source of the water supply. There have also been cases of fever caused by the upsetting and emptying of milk buckets suspended in wells to keep the contents cool. The pioneers that survived the perils of the woods lived to a ripe old age, some of them reaching the century mark. Many Welsh pioneers who came here after the partial settlement of the county lived to be octogenarians. In later years, there has been a marked increase in the number of golden weddings, which is evidence that living conditions are improving vastly. CHAPTER VII POLITICAL AND INDUSTRIAL (1816-54) SHERIFFS OF THE COUNTY-—CLERKS OF THE COURT—PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS—PROBATE JUDGES — TREASURERS — RECORDERS — SURVEYORS- ASSOCIATE JUDGES—COUNTY COMMISSIONERS—REPRESENTATIVES FROM JACKSON COUNTY—FIRST IRON FURNACE FOUNDED—OPENING OF COAL MINES—PROFESSOR W. W. MATHER—THE WELSH IMMIGRANTS —THE SECOND IRON FURNACE—EXPORTATION OF COAL TO CHILLICOTHE. The political history of the county from 1816 to 1854 consists of little more than a list of officials that succeeded one another. Politics as now played was not known in the life of the pioneers. They voted against the men they did not like and for their friends, and this was almost the sum total of county politics until the slavery issue became prominent and the republican party sprang into existence. SHERIFFS OF THE COUNTY The sheriff was the most important officer in the early days for he came into contact with so many people in such a variety of ways. The first was Abraham Welch, who was elected in 1816 and 1817, and then left the county and forfeited a bond to avoid conviction for passing counterfeit money. He was succeeded by Joseph Armstrong, who had a remarkable record in that office. He served first from 1817 to 1823, and was succeeded by William White, who served a part of a term and died in office. Armstrong was re-elected in 1825 and served four more years, giving way to John Duncan, who was given one term, when Armstrong was again elected for two more terms. He was then a deputy under his successor, John Duncan, in 1838 and 1839. He was incapacitated by deafness from serving longer. The next incumbent was Daniel. Perry, followed by Sabin Griffis, James Shepherd, Vinton Powers and Bannister Brown, each of whom served four years. The reign of the democrats was then broken. CLERKS OF COURT The first clerk of courts was Dr. Nathaniel W. Andrews. The term was seven years. He was succeeded by Absalom Faulkner in 1823, who - 430 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 431 died in 1829, before the end of his term. His little son died the same day. Faulkner was one of the first Free Masons in the county. Daniel Hoffman was appointed to succeed him and served eight years. Jacob Westfall served from 1837 to 1851 and then John J. Hoffman, son of Daniel Hoffman, served until 1857. PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS The first prosecutor was Joseph Sill of Chillicothe, appointed by the court in 1816 to 1820. Samuel F. Vinton, who served many terms in Congress, was prosecutor, by appointment, from 1820 to 1824. Richard Douglass of Chillicothe followed for one year. The first lawyer to locate in the county was Joseph Lake, and he was made prosecutor in 1825, serving four years. John T. Brazee served in 1829 and 1830, and Thomas Scott until 1832, when James Hughes, a resident lawyer, was appointed and served until 1836. James Hughes succeeded him until 1840, when Hughes was re-appointed for two more years. Johnson came to Jackson in 1829. Levi Dungan served from 1842 to 1846, and gave way to Johnson, who served two more years. T. R. Stanley served the next two years, and in 1850 Dungan was appointed and served five years. The after life of Joseph Lake is not known. Johnson and Dungan died in the county. Hughes established the Jackson Standard in 1847, but moved to Wisconsin later and died there. PROBATE JUDGES The office of probate judge was not created until 1851 and Jacob Westfall was the first incumbent, serving from 1852 to 1855. Thomas N. Howell followed him for three years, and John. Stevenson for two terms, from 1858 to 1864. TREASURERS Maj. John James received the appointment as the first treasurer of the county and served until 1818. Charles O'Neil, who succeeded him, died in office, May 16, 1819, aged only twenty-six years. Andrew Donnally was appointed to fill the vacancy and William Ranson succeeded him in 1820, serving until his death, which occurred December 8, 1832. He was born September 20, 1794, and was thus only thirty-eight years old. "Alex. Miller came next, serving to 1834, and then James M. Martin, who served until 1841. James McQuality, who, served until 1849. James Dyer, who served until 1855. Thomas B. Dickason, who served until 1857, and was succeeded by Jacob Westfall who had been probate judge. Westfall served two years and gave way to Dickason again, who was in office from 1859 to 1865. He was treasurer when Gen. John Morgan's raiders captured Jackson, and he took the funds from the treasury and hid them in a brier patch on one of the hills near Jackson. Dr. N. W. Andrews, who was clerk of courts, 432 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION was also the first clerk of the commissioners, or auditor, and held the office from 1816 to 1822. His successors were Alex. Miller to 1824, Dan Hoffman to 1826, Miller again to .1827, Vincent Southard to 1829, Thomas Dougherty to 1831, Southard again to 1838, George M. Adams to 1824, John Stevenson, Jr., to 1846, John S. Hanlin to 1850, Stevenson again to 1858, and W. N. Burke to 1860. The last named died while away from home. RECORDERS Dr. N. W. Andrews was also the first recorder of the county, serving from 1816 to 1827. Vincent Southard then held the office to 1838, James McQuality to 1841, James Farrar from 1847 to 1850, Daniel Parry, who had been sheriff two terms, from 1850 to 1853, Farrar again to 1856, and John S. Stevenson until 1861. McQuality kept a tavern on Main Street, where all the distinguished democrats stopped when they visited Jackson. The building was torn down a few years ago to give way to the Lake & Dauber and Pusateri's brick block. It will be noticed that Andrews, Southard, Westfall, Farrar, Stevenson and others, as well as Armstrong, were official officeholders. The fact that they were elected so many times, to so many different offices, proves their popularity and reveals a very different state of political affairs from that which now. prevails. SURVEYORS Dr. Gabriel McNeal, who was appointed surveyor of the county in 1816, served two full terms of seven years, and was succeeded in 1830 by John Keenan, who served four years and gave way to Beverly Keenan, who served for a like period. Oliver N. Tyson then served from 1838 to 1846, Joseph Hanna to 1859, Beverly Keenan again to 1862, and Parker Smith to 1865. Smith was a distant relative of President If. S. Grant. Keenan followed Smith and served until 1874. ASSOCIATE JUDGES The office of associate judge was one of the greatest dignity in the county while it existed. The first associate judges have been referred to : William Given, David Paine and High Poor. The next man elevated to the county bench was David Mitchell, who succeeded Given June 19, 1819. In 1823 Given returned to .the bench, succeeding Paine in 1825. Paine was appointed again, succeeding Mitchell and the bench remained the same as in 1816 up to 1827, when Given left the county and located in Scioto. James Stephenson succeeded him in 1830. John James succeeded Poor who had died. Mitchell was reappointed in 1832, _succeeding Paine. In 1833 George Burris took the place of James. In 1836 James Dempsey succeeded Mitchell and Thomas Vaughn succeeded Dempsey in 1837. There was no change until 1842, when Asa Dudley HANGING. ROCK IRON REGION - 433 took Stephenson's place. In 1847 Robert Mims appeared in place of Burris. Patrick Murdock came next;. in 1849, following Dudley, and George W. Hale succeeded Murdock in 1850. The court disappeared in 1851 under the new constitution. The last members were Thomas Vaughn, Robert M. Mims and George M. Adams. Vaughn, who served twelve years, was the father of Rev. M. D., James Stephen and Thomas Vaughn, all deceased. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and was in charge of Fort Meigs in the War of 1812. He died in Bloomfield Township. George M. Adams was also the first mayor of Jackson. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS The roster of commissioners is a long one, and the names will be arranged after the years of their election thus: 1816, John Stephenson, John Brown and Emanuel Trexler ; 1817, Robert G. Hanna; 1818, James Weeks ; 1819, Daniel Hoffman ; 1820, Thomas Scott ; 1822, Samuel Carrick ; 1824, George Burris ; 1825, John Anglin; 1827, Moses Hale, John Farney and Robert Ward; 1828, Samuel Carrick ; 1829, John ,Burnside ; 1830, George W. Hale; 1832, Timothy Radcliff ; 1833, William Buckley; 1834, John Farney ; 1836, John Stephenson; 1837, Daniel Perry ; 1838, Martin Owens; 1840, John A. Swepstone; 1841, John Buckley ; 1842, James A. Adair; 1843, Newell Braley; 1844, Samuel Carrick; 1846, Ebenezer Edwards. He was the first of the Welsh immigrants elected to a county office. In 1847, John Callaghan; 1848, John Robbins ; 1849, Moses Hays ; 1850, John S. Stephenson. He succeeded John Robbins. The last named lived in the part of the county annexed to Vinton County in the spring of that year. 1851, Peter Pickrel, who defeated John Stephenson, but he came back in 1853 in place of Callaghan. George Burris came back again in 1854 in place of Pickrel, but the latter ousted Hays in 1855. 1856, G. W. Hale ; 1857, Newell Braley and John Sanders. In 1858 E. Edwards was elected again as a republican, instead of Pickrel and J. A. Sell came, in in 185.9 instead of Braley and made the board republican. Joseph Rule, the third republican, came in in 1860, and the' board was controlled by the republicans until 1913, when the democrats elected G. J. Reiniger and John F. Fought, two democrats. The above list includes the names of the majority of the substantial farmers of their times, men who retired from public office no worse than they entered it. This cannot be said of all officials who spend two or three terms in courthouses in these days. John Callaghan died in office October 1, 1852. He was a native of Bath County,. Virginia, born in 1795, and came to this county with his parents in 1811. Peter Pickrel was a son of Solomon Pickrel, who came .to this county from Virginia in 1815 and settled near Jackson. Peter was born in Virginia, January 19, 1811, but spent most of his. life in this county, where he died. John S. Stephenson, who served several terms, was a grandson of John Stephenson, the first commissioner. John Sanders was born in Guilford, North Carolina, Vol. I---28 434 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION August 15, 1815. He came to Ohio with his mother in 1823 and to Jackson County in 1840. REPRESENTATIVES FROM JACKSON COUNTY Jared Strong was the first real representative of Jackson County in the Ohio Legislature, which was in a district with Pike until 1820. Strong was re-elected in 1817, but William Given got the place in 1818. Then Strong was given his third term. In 1820 Jackson was placed in a district with Gallia and Meigs and the district had two representatives ; Robert G. Hanna was elected from Jackson and George House from Meigs. In 1821 House and David Boggs of Gallia won out, but in 1822 Jackson evened up by electing J. W. Ross and Jared Strong, two of its own citizens, giving the latter his fourth term. He had many relatives in Gallia and Meigs. Strong received his fifth term in 1823, with Fuller Elliott. In 1824 Jackson elected two of its sons, J. W. Ross and. David Mitchell, and Ross was given his third term in 1825 with Samuel Holcomb of Gallia. In 1826 Jackson again won the two representatives, Daniel Hoffman and Stephen Strong, son of Jared Strong, whose name was one to conjure with in a district including so many relatives. In 1827 Jackson won again with Andrew Donnally and George Burris. In 1828 Jackson and Pike were reunited, and Alex. Miller of Jackson. was elected and chosen again in 1829 and 1830, John Barnes of Pike came in 1831, Robert Lucas of Pike and George Burris of Jackson in 1832, Barnes again in 1833, John Burnside of Jackson in 1834 and David Mitchell of Jackson in 1835. In 1836 Jackson was joined joined to Ross and Pike, and James Hughes was elected as one of the three members in 1836, 1837 and 1838, and Elihu Johnson in 1839. Hocking was added in 1840 and the district had four members. Jackson had John Stinson in 1840, John James in 1841, Elihu Johnson in 1842, and Asa R. Cassidy in 1844. Jackson was then yoked 'with Gallia and had Martin Owens in 1845 and Alexander Miller in 1846. Gallia had J. J. Combs in 1844 and A. T. Holcomb in 1847. Athens and Meigs were added to the other two counties in 1847 and H. S. Bundy was elected in 1848, J. W. Ross in 1849 and Bundy again in 1850. After the census of 1850, Dan D. T. Hard of Vinton was chosen in 1851, W. J. Evans of Jackson in 1853, E. F. Bingham in. 1855, R. B. Stevenson in 1857, and Alex. Pierce in 1859. L. Edminston was elected to fill out Pierce's term after his resignation. All except Evans, during this decade, were from Vinton County. Jackson lost in the other cases on account of the convention system, which enabled the democrats to unite on one candidate and win. The county has been a single legislative district since 1860, when it elected the first republican member.. The study of the ups and clowns of politicians reveals many mysteries. The victories and defeats of men seem like incidents in a game of chance. Opportunity seems to swing around like a planet swings round the sun, and men find their opportunities, like meteors, fall on a swinging planet. Take the cases of David Mitchell and John James, or those of HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 435 James Hughes and Elihu Johnson, or the records of the men in the office of associate judge or prosecutor. Hughes and Johnson were always rivals, and each won in turn; Mitchell and James were always allies, and yet each won only in turn; Strong always won when he wanted to run, much as Armstrong did for sheriff or Vinton fore congressman. Strong never ran when he could not win, but George L. Crookham could never win when he ran, although he was recognized as the. ablest man of his time in the county. Many stories are told about rural, members' experiences at the capital. One arrived at Chillicothe with very muddy booth and the kind host gave him corn husk slippers to wear while 'his boots were drying in the kitchen. The next morning when the representative was asked by his host how he slept, he answered: "I slept well, but those slippers would keep falling off." Of all the representatives H. S. Bundy, who was elected in 1848 and 1850, became the most distinguished, for he served later in the Senate and in Congress. Of those from other counties Robert Lucas became governor of the state. While a citizen of Pike he visited often in. Jackson and owned property here for many years. FIRST IRON FURNACES FOUNDED The first iron furnace was built in Jackson County in 1836. The lands which first attracted attention on account of their great mineral wealth lay in Hamilton Township, and the firm of Rogers, Hurd & Co. bought them and named the furnace which they built Jackson. J. M. G. Smith was made manager, Jacob Hurd clerk, and J. H. Ricker store keeper. The ore was derived from beds lying on the hilltops which in paces were nearly six feet thick and some acres are known to have produced 10,000 tons. The company met with reverses, but the furnace continued in blast until about 1874. Jackson Furnace was built so near the county line that it did not materially affect the county or its business, but the proximity of so many of the furnaces in Scioto and Lawrence counties did affect the southern half of the county from 1830 to 1854. There was no coin in the county even to pay taxes, and many of the farmers and their sons left the farms in the autumns to chop wood at the lower furnaces during the winter, and thus secured supplies hitherto unenjoyed as well as small sums of money for their use in business transactions. Soon many of the young men sought more regular employment at 'these furnaces, digging ore, hauling, as well as chopping, and making charcoal. Returning home on visits or to settle on farms bought with their savings, they brought their knowledge of minerals with them: This led to the discovery of the rich deposits of coal, ore and limestone in Jackson County, and when furnace building began the companies found enough experienced furnace workers in the county to conduct their operations. About this time the girls of the' farmers began to go into service in Portsmouth and even as far away as Cincinnati. The daughters of the first settlers had never left their father's homes in the woods, until they rode away with their 436 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION young husbands to their new homes, but when the girls of the '30s began to go into service in the towns along the Ohio River, a great change set in, for when they came back home on visits or .to marry as the case might be, they brought with them the fashions of the day and much other feminine lore, which gradually leavened and revolutionized the countryside. The effect of this form of travel and seeing of the outside world on the primitive conditions in the backwoods cannot be appreciated. today. One of its most material results was the rebellion of the women against the one-room log cabin in which the pioneers had lived. When the daughter came back from town, it would not be long until an ell was built to the house, and a separate kitchen added, as a slope in the rear, or at the end. A study of these house changes would be very interesting for they caused many changes in the manners and customs of .the pioneers. OPENING OF THE COAL MINES The existence of coal in Jackson County was known from the very earliest times, for the veins showed in a number of rock shelters and in the banks of creeks or gullies, but there is no record that the Indians had learned its use. When James Denny was appointed the first agent of the Scioto Salt Works he was directed by the law enacted April 13, 1803, "to ascertain whether or not there is contiguous to said works any considerable quantity of stone coal and whether it can be used to advantage in boiling said water." Denny's report seems to have disappeared and it is not known what he reported. There is a tradition that a salt boiler who built a furnace on Sugar Run, set his kettles on blocks of stone coal, and had to reset them when his furnace burned down, but the experience does not seem to have taught him anything. A vein of coal is said to have been found by William Given in boring for salt water, but at too great a depth to use the coal, for sinking shafts for the mineral was not then deemed practicable because there was such a large supply of available timber. But coal was mined in the Buffalo Skull neighborhood in the early '20s for the use of blacksmiths. Also a mine was opened for the same purpose on the land of George Riegel, of Scioto, in the year 1823. The shaft coal underlying Jackson was discovered a second time by men digging a well for Reverend Powell on the lot where the Crescent Opera House stands, about 1840, but the rich mineral wealth of the county had already been brought to the attention of the people of the State of Ohio by Prof. W. W. Mather, in charge of the first geological survey, whose report was filed with Gov. Joseph Vance in January, 1838. Caleb Briggs, one of his assistants, stated that "In these counties are also three beds of workable coal.- It is made up of laminae, containing distinct traces of vegetable fibre, so thin that a great number can be counted within the space of a few, inches. This coal burns with a brilliant yellowish flame and being free from sulphuret of iron is very highly esteemed for fuel and smith's purposes. On account of its purity it may be used in the smelt- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 437 ing of iron. Numerous openings have already been made in this bed. It has been used in Jackson, Athens and Scioto counties. Five or six miles west of Jackson, this coal has been dug, and drawn by teams to Chillicothe, where it costs on delivery about sixteen cents per bushel. It has been taken from banks owned by Messrs. Chandler, Milliken, McKinniss, Howe, Ward, Landrum and others." Briggs said that many thousands of bushels had been marketed up to that time, and the industry grew steadily from that date for about seventy years, when the best deposits in the county began to be exhausted. The development of the industry was of necessity slow until 1853. When the railroad came to Jackson, shipments of some of the coal in the Oak Hill neighborhood began to be made rapidly to Portsmouth. The next important shipments to Portsmouth were made from mines opened to McClintock's *lands at Petrea. PROF. W. W. MATHER Prof. William Williams Mather to whom Jackson County owes so great a debt was a native of Connecticut where he was born May 24, 1804. He was a lineal descendant of Richard. Mather. He entered West Point in 1823 and led his classes in 1826 and 1827 in chemistry and mineralogy. In 1837 he accepted an appointment as geologist of Ohio and moved to Jackson County to live in 1838. He retained his home here for many years, and his Wife and two of his children died here. During that period he was absent from his home much of the time serving at the Ohio University as professor of natural sciences and at Marietta College as professor of chemistry and geology. He made reports on the mines of several states, in addition to his Ohio reports. His cabinet of minerals which he began to collect in 1837 numbered 20,000 at his death which occurred in Columbus, February 26, 1859. Had he been able to convince men of means of the great wealth of Jackson County, its mineral development would have occurred a decade earlier at the least calculation. While a citizen of the county, he allied himself with its people in promoting many worthy causes, assisting among other things in building the first Baptist Church of Jackson. His wifes remains were interred on the highest point on their farm, overlooking the beautiful gorge of Salt Creek and much of the surrounding country where she had spent the last sixteen years of her life. Mather donated the spot thus consecrated to him as a public grave yard, and it is now used by all the country side. His brother-in-law, Rev. David C. Bolles, who came west and settled in the woods on Salt Creek in 1838; died April 20, 1840, aged only forty-seven years. His house stood near the bridge across Salt Creek where Einon Lloyd lived for many years afterward. Mather organized a company named "The Ohio Iron Manufacturing Co.," with a capitalization of $300,000 on March 6, 1845, to manufacture iron, glass, pottery and fire brick, make salt and saw marble, but his brilliant plans never materialized. He was a man of ideas a generation ahead of his time and others have now entered 438 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION into his kingdom. Even his name has almost been forgotten for the graveyard which he donated is usually spoken of after his successor in ownership, another New Englander, W. W. Pierce, who came west with him. and finally bought his Jackson County Farm. Pierce took down the Mather home, built in a commanding position overlooking the gorge, and rebuilt it at the foot of the hill, in a protected nook in the valley. Two of Mather's infant children, Increase, who died in 1840, and Cotton, who died in 1849, lie on either side of their mother's grave. Oddly enough a number of other New Englanders had settled in the same neighborhood chosen by Mather many years earlier, and some of them now lie in the Mather Graveyard, among them Jonathan Walden, who died January 13, 1857, aged fifty-one years. THE WELSH IMMIGRANTS The Welsh who immigrated to this county directly from Wales arrived in 1818. The ship in which they came reached Baltimore, July 1st. There were six families and the names of their head's were John Jones, Tirbach, John Evans, Penlanlas, Evan Evans, Tymawe, Lewis Davis, Rhiwlas, William Williams, Pontvallen and Thomas Evans. They left Wales about April 1st. Their homes had been in Plwyf Cilcennin, in Cardiganshire, South Wales, and their plan was to go to Paddy's Run in Southwestern Ohio. After spending about a month in. Liverpool arranging for the voyage, they sailed for Baltimore. One death occurred on ship board, the infant of John Evans and wife. The trip from .Baltimore to Pittsburg was made in wagons. There they bought boats and set on a voyage down the river. One of the stops was made at Gallipolis, where they were induced to spend the night ashore. In the morning the boats were gone, but their contents had been brought ashore., No other boats were then procurable, and in a few days they concluded to remain permanently in that part of Ohio. A new road was being built at the time from. Gallipolis to Chillicothe and the men secured employment at work that they understood at once. While engaged on this road work, they saw the lands on Cherry Fork, a branch of Symmes, twenty or more miles out of Gallipolis and determined to settle there. The land was then in Gallia County, but when Vinton was created in 1850, two tiers of sections were taken from Gallia to make Jackson large enough to meet the constitutional requirement, and the lands of these Welsh settlers were thus annexed to Jackson County. The settlement which had been in a measure accidental, soon attracted others, and in the '30s a large colony grew around them, mostly on the headwaters of Symmes Creek but a few settled on the waters of Raccoon. The first arrivals on the west concluded to build a church and Rev. Robert Williams came and settled near the small church, which had been named Moriah and thus insured the holding of regular church services in Welsh. This nucleus attracted hundreds -of others, until thousands of people were established in parts of Jackson, Gallia, Lawrence, Scioto' and even Meigs. Ten to fifteen churches were established in HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 439 Jackson County alone, in which Welsh was the language used. The conditions prevailing in the old home in Wales were largely duplicated on a foreign soil, and guided by Rev. Robert Williams and other worthy ministers, the colony grew rapidly in wealth as well as population. The Welsh had great regard for education, and the children born and bred in Ohio, soon became ardent Americans, really typical Americans, for the Welsh have no patriotic love for Great Britain, and America is their only political mother. Endowed by nature with great talents, and becoming imbued at once with American ideas, the young Welsh early became potent factors in the upbuilding and development of the county. Several hundred of them served in the Civil war, and when they returned, they were ready to go out to carve their own future. The great majority of the Welsh who came to this county were Calvinistic Methodists, followers of George Whitfield rather than of John Wesley, and this denomination established Moriah and Horeb churches in the later '30s, Soar Sardis, Bethel, Centerville and Oak Hill in the '40s, and five or six more churches in later years. The Congregationalists were few in number in Jackson. County but predominated in Gallia. A Congregational Church Was established at old Oak 'Hill in October, 1841, by eleven charter members and it still lives. There are five or six other Congregational churches in the settlement. In addition to these, two other denominations, the Baptists and Wesleyans, founded a few congregations, and an Episcopal priest came and rallied a few around him until he returned to Wales. The first Baptist Church was founded at Oak Hill in 1845. The Episcopalian Church was started at Centerville, but it did not survive, because only a few Anglican Welsh emigrated. Nearly all the first Welsh in this county came from Cardiganshire which is a- purely agricultural district, but in course of time, the sons of these Welsh farmers began to seek employment in the small towns, and especially at the furnaces of Scioto, Lawrence and Gallia counties,' and the coal mines of Meigs, and the groups in different localities became numerous until there was a demand for their own church organizations with the result that in a few years, there were thirty-three congregations or Sunday schools in the Auxiliary Bible Society of Jackson and Gallia counties. When the industrial awakening began in the county in the late '40s, Welshmen, who had been employed in mines or furnaces, returned and several furnaces were built by companies of Welshmen notably Jefferson and Cambria, and they were numerous among the stockholders of other furnaces. Jefferson is still in operation and it has never been operated on Sunday or Thanksgiving day. The Welshmen were abolitionists, and united almost in a body with the republican party when, it was organized, and this caused the political revolution in the county in the '50s. Oddly enough, the Germans, who settled in Scioto Township about the same time, all became democrats, and that township always gave a democratic majority until Cox ran the second time in 1914 when it gave .a majority for his opponent. 440 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION THE SECOND IRON FURNACE. The second furnace established in the county was Keystone, which was built by. John McConnell & Co., on Little Raccoon in 1848. It was located in section 12 near the Gallia County line, and the location was selected because it was believed that the iron could be shipped by water down the Raccoon to the Ohio in high waters. The builders operated until 1850 when it passed into the hands of Green, Benner & Co. Its first capacity was only twelve tons a day but later it was increased to twenty tons. Hon. H. S. Bundy bought it in 1871, and owned it to the end. A postoffice was established in 1855 and Samuel Benner was the first postmaster. This furnace had the honor of sending out the first company of three years' men from this county for the Civil war. Mendall Churchill, Samuel Thomas, Charles W. Greene and John A. Evans were all employed in various capacities at this furnace in 1861, and they organized a company with Churchill as captain. It was soon mustered and the men rode in ox wagons to Keystone Station on the Portsmouth Branch to start for the front. The parting of the men and their families who accompanied them as far as the, railroad will be remembered while any of them survive. Their regiment was organized as the Twenty-Seventh at Camp Chase in August, 1861, and the Jackson County boys became Company E. They left camp August 20, 1861, and saw much active service. Their regiment was one of the banner regiments of the war. Churchill, Thomas, Green and Evans, who went in as minor officers, received many promotions, the first becoming a brigadier-general, and the others captains. Captain Churchill recruited sixty-nine more men for this regiment from this county in 1863, making a total of 163 altogether. After the war the survivors in Bloomfield Township instituted the first bean dinner in Southern Ohio at old Keystone, to serve as a memorial of their hard service. Beans were boiled in large kettles, with slices of side bacon, and served in pie pans .on long tables stretched out under the trees in a grove near the furnace, where the smoke from the kettles floated above them while they dined, recalling camp scenes in the South. Coffee was served in tin cups. This they did annually while the veterans survived. The bean dinner has become an institution and they are held in a circuit beginning with that at Keystone, which is always held on the last Saturday in July, and Vinton in Gallia follows a week later. These gatherings have gradually become home comings for all the people and many come hundreds of miles to attend them. THE MEXICAN WAR The last year of the Mexican war, William Cissna and Philip P. Price of Jackson raised a part of a company in Jackson, and Cissna was made captain and Price, lieutenant. The half company proceeded to Piketon where they filled up the quota, and then went down the canal to Ports: mouth and went into camp, while General Hamilton of this military district went to Cincinnati to get the company accepted into the service. In the meantime the war came to an end before they were mustered in, and HANGING- ROCK IRON REGION - 441 they returned home. No roster was preserved, but it is known that Gabriel Andrews and Samuel Pike were two other members of the half company. But there were a number of Jackson County men in the war in regiments raised earlier. Price named above was a native of Louis- burg in Greenbrier County, Virginia, where he was born July 20, 1820, the son of Isaac Price and a grandson of Jacob Price who fought in the revolution, for which he was pensioned. His father, Isaac Price, fought in the War of 1812. About 1825, he with his family moved to Ohio and settled at Piketon. There his son Philip learned the hatter's trade going from there to Chillicothe in 1837. In 1842 he settled in Jackson and started the only hatter's- shop in the history of the town. It stood on the site of the building now occupied by the Standard Journal Company, on Main Street, and a man named Joseph Throckmorton had a shoe shop across the alley. In 1842 James McQuality was conducting a tavern on Main, and Price boarded with him. Other boarders then were Levi Dungan, who was a teacher, conducting a school in a log house standing on the lot where the Lutheran Church is now. Price was a whig always, and took an active part. in the campaign of 1848. A great meeting was held in Jackson in that campaign and one of the features of the, day was a parade with floats showing the advantages of a protective tariff. Price was rewarded by the whigs with the appointment as postmaster, entering upon his duties July 1, 1849. He established his office in his shop where the Standard Journal is now doing business. Before that time the office had been in the corner room of the McQuality House. Price held office four years and was succeeded by L. S. Steel, who moved the office back to the McQuality House. McQuality himself had been postmaster under Jackson and had held the office until Harrison was elected in 1841. Price knew all the old pioneers who survived to his time, and he said that George L. Crookham took more papers than any one else in the county. Price furnished much local history when the history of the county was compiled by the writer, and acknowledgment is made in this manner by preserving his name. 'He is the authority for the statement that the first shaft coal was found in digging a well on the lot of Reverend Mr. Powell on West Main Street. THE IRON RAILROAD OF LAWRENCE COUNTY Caleb Briggs, who. assisted W. Williams Matther to make the first geological survey of Ohio and to incorporate the Ohio Iron Manufacturing Co., later became associated with J. M. Campbell, Joseph W. Dempsey, Henry Blake, James O. Williams, James W. Means, John Ellison, George Steele and James Richey, who incorporated the Ohio Iron & Fuel Co., which laid out the City of Ironton. He spent the rest of his life in that city. It was the ambition of Matther and Briggs to build a railroad to tap the rich mineral deposits of Jackson County. Both had bought mineral lands in that county, and Briggs urged such a railroad starting in *Upper Township. Finally a railroad company was organized under an act passed March 7, 1849, known as the Iron Railroad Company, and in addition to the Lawrence County men in it, 442 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION Daniel Hoffman, George P. Rogers and John Adair of Jackson County were incorporators and the capital stock authorized was $500,000. A year later to the day, March 7, 1850, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the commissioners of Jackson County to appropriate $100,000 to be subscribed to build this proposed railroad. But the act provided that the question had to be submitted to a vote of the people. This was done April 1, 1850, and the vote stood: For subscription, 1,128; against, 376. Nearly one-tenth of the opposition vote was cast in Bloomfield Township. The promoters of the Iron Railroad won the victory but they delayed to take advantage of it, which gave the business men of Portsmouth their opportunity, and they stole a march upon them. The Portsmouth men had organized the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad Company, February 20, 1849, with a capital stock of $200,000, to build a railroad up the Scioto Valley to Chillicothe and Circleville and across to Lancaster. But Pike County refused to sub scribe any money for it and the route through that county was abandoned because of the bait of $100,000 in Jackson County. While the Ironton men were delaying, negotiations were opened with Jackson County, and the agreement was reached to switch the subscription to the Portsmouth railroad. An act was passed March 20, 1851, to. relieve. Jackson County of its obligation to the Iron Railroad Co. In the meantime the work of building the road from Portsmouth toward Jackson had been undertaken, and contracts near Jackson were let in April, 1851. The first five miles south . of Jackson were awarded to the Myers Brothers from Maine, one of whom, Henry Myers, married Electa, daughter of James McQuality of Jackson. The commissioners who switched the subscription to the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad were John Callaghan, John S. Stephenson and Moses Hays. The greater part of the grading of the new railroad was done in 1852, and the first train ran into Jackson in August, 1853, and then began the new era. Oddly enough the Iron Railroad extension reached Jackson many years later as a branch of the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. It connected with the Portsmouth railroad at Bloom Switch, and ran its trains as far as Jackson on the Portsmouth railroad, and then transferred to the main line of the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton. CITIZENS BANK OF JACKSON Some of Jackson's business men saw the necessity for establishing a bank. finance the railroad subscription and other industrial undertakings, and on August 7, 1851, the following advertisement appeared in the Standard : Citizens Bank Bennett & Co. have established a bank in Jackson and are prepared to loan money on short time in large or small sums upon approved security, and also purchase good negotiable paper and county orders on favorable terms. Office for the present over the auditor's office. Bank open from 10 o'clock A. M. to 12 M. J. W. Laird, cashier. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 443 The partnership of Bennett. & Co. consisted of Walker Bennett, T. R. Stanley, J. M. Steele, James Farrar and J. W. Laird. T. R. Stanley had been prosecuting attorney and the bank was opened in his office. The building stood on the east side of the courthouse, was two stories high, with two rooms and a hall on each floor. It belonged to the county. The auditor was John Stephenson. Jesse W. Laird, the cashier, was born in Chillicothe, February 20, 1822, and was the son of John and Phoebe Laird. When eighteen years old he began the study of medicine and practiced three years, one in Indiana and two in Jackson, after he came here in 1844. He then engaged in other business. The bank failed after a few years and Laird then read law. and was admitted to the bar. He held many positions of trust after the county became republican, serving several times as mayor of Jackson and two terms as probate judge of the county. A unique experience in his political career was his defeat for representative by a trick. He was nominated by the republicans. On the day of the election spurious tickets, with the name of his opponent printed in, instead of that of Laird, were circulated in the rural townships. A sufficient number of these ballots were cast by mistake in outlying townships to bring about his defeat. This result led to a demand for a new law making it an offense to print and circulate such spurious tickets, the first ballot law whose purpose was to establish party government in Ohio. Laird assisted in editing the Standard from its establishment in 1847, until T. R. Matthews, bought his interest in 1853, and he was the first to suggest the establishment of a bank. James Farrar was a well known citizen and was connected with the element controlling the politics of the county, for he was made._ recorder in 1847, and again in 1853, serving three years each time. The arrangement of building offices outside of the courthouse was not peculiar to Jackson County. For instance, the old office. building at Batavia in Clermont County is in use this year (1915). The Jackson buildings burned down at the same time as the courthouse in 1860, and some of the stone door caps are still doing duty in other buildings still standing. Before closing the history of this period, a third furnace must be mentioned. The success of Keystone Furnace near the eastern line of the county, which was able to ship its iron largely by water down Little Raccoon in flood time, led to the building of Buckeye on the same creek, a few miles northwest, in 1851. Thus there were three furnaces built before the railroad came, but they were not built by Jackson County men. The county up to that date had been dominated by the mountaineers of Virginia, men of strong personality who settled in the Ohio woods when they were young, but their lives were worn out in the strenuous struggle against pioneer conditions, and this made them slow to join in the new forward movement. They disliked innovations and continued to do things in the new county in the old ways, but time waits for no man, and the new era came as the old pioneers were gathered to their fathers. CHAPTER VIII RAILROAD ERA COMMENCES RAILROAD REACHES JACKSON-CELEBRATING ARRIVAL OF FIRST TRAIN---- DANIEL HOFFMAN, VETERAN SALT BOILER-MOSES STERNBERGER-J. W. LONGBON, SCHOOL PILLAR-EDITOR MATTHEWS-THOMAS L. HUGHES- WILLIAM J. EVANS-THE WELSH CARRIED DISPUTES TO THE CHURCH- PIONEER WELSH CHURCHES-WELSH FURNACES-BUSINESS. MEN AND INDUSTRIES OF 1854-CONDITIONS AT OAK HILL -JACKSON, KEYSTONE AND BUCKEYE FURNACES (1853) -FOUNDING OF NEW FURNACES-CAMBRIA FURNACE COMPANY-YOUNG AMERICA -RISE OF FLOOD PRICES-HOW JACKSON BENEFITTED-THE NEW REPUBLICAN PARTY-COMING OF THE MARIETTA AND CINCINNATI RAILROAD (1854)—THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION (1855)—A SENSATIONAL MURDER. Next to the coming of the first permanent settler to Jackson County in 1795 the most important event in its history was the coming of the railroad in 1853. The track of the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad crossed the county line near Eifort early in May of that year, and reached Oak Hill June 2, when a great celebration was held. Settled weather having set in, the laying of ties and rails proceeded rapidly and the cars began running to Clay, June 29th, and to Bunn's Crossing, within a few miles of Jackson, on July 26th. This point became a station and regular traffic between Portsmouth and Jackson was opened. RAILROAD REACHES JACKSON Preparations were made at once to celebrate the entrance of the cars into the town in a fitting manner, and a public meeting was called at the .courthouse August 9th to perfect the arrangements: It was voted to hold the celebration on August 18, 1853, and that a barbecue and free dinner should be the main features. The chairman of the meeting was Jacob Westfall, and the secretary Thomas R. Matthews. A general committee was appointed to carry out the plans outlined, 'viz.: Levi Dungan, R. C. Hoffman, G. B. Walterhouse, Andrew Long, John Smith, Francis Smith, D. A. Hoffman, J. W. Longbon, G.M. Adams, H. H. Heiphenstein, T. R. Matthews, J. H. Bunn, H. H. Fullerton, Vinton Powers, O. C. Miller, Nelson T. Cavett, Martin Owens, Moses Sternberger, James Farrar, Thomas N. Howell, Banister Brown, Jacob West- - 444 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 445 fall, A. French, A. Walterhouse, C. Isham and T. R. Stanley. An additional committee of three, Thomas R. Matthews, J. S. Taylor and Abner Starkey, was named to attend to the invitations and advertising. The general committee met August 10th and made the final arrangements. John J. Hoffman was named as marshal of the day, and the following township committees were appointed : Robert Aten, S. S. Yandervort, John Kennedy, Moses Hays, W. S. Schellenger, E. F. Swift, James Johnson, John Stephenson, E. H. Goddard, W. A. Mc-Cray, Reece Thompson, Jared Stephenson, William Arnold, John Stinson, James Reed, Thomas L. Hughes, John S. Stephenson, William Evans, Michael McCoy, Solomon Dever, Thomas W. Leach and Jacob A. Sell. Later the following were selected as vice presidents for the day, or assistant marshals : Joseph Aten, Samuel Dickson, T. Bailey, John Stevenson, N. Braley, N. Smith, Thomas Creighton, William Hale, George Poor, Nelson Harrison, James Horton, Daniel Hoffman, S. G. Montgomery, Sam R. Johnson, John Irvin, George W. Culp, D. Creighton, B. Ellerton, William A. Sell, Ben Callaghan, H. C. Bunn, F. McNeal, N. Shoemaker, Jackson Gilliland, J. Dever, Dan Perry, Jr., Dr. S. W. Salmons, J. C. Neal, Dr. C. B. Hall, Thomas McClure, A. N. Holcomb, S. Powers, John Miller, John Milliken, C. P. Hyatt, T. W. Gilliland, S. Sternberger, John L. Long, J. R. Rathburn, S. Books. These lists of names include practically all 'the public officials of the town and county at the time, together with the others who had been most active in forwarding the railroad movement and new business. CELEBRATING ARRIVAL OF FIRST TRAIN On the night before the great event a fine rain fell, adding the last touch to the enjoyment of the occasion. The country people began to arrive at dawn, and all made their way to the railroad track. Long before the noon hour .the throng was so great that the track was lined for more than a mile on both sides with people, many of whom had never seen a locomotive. Shortly after twelve the train of cars came in sight, and as it passed slowly with its eighteen cars carrying nearly 1,000 people, a mighty shout went up from the expectant throng. The visitors from Scioto County had brought the Portsmouth Guards in full uniform. Marshal J. J. Hoffman planed them next to the bands and then arranged the procession of more than 5,000 people to march to the grove belonging to Jacob Westfall, where the barbecue was held. After the dinner Hon. Jacob Westfall was introduced as chairman of the day, and Hon. Elihu Johnson delivered the address. Responses were made by Hon. C. Glover and Charles Tracy of Portsmouth. No cannon nor firearms were fired during the day, and nothing occurred to mar the occasion, when the "Iron Horse" came to Jackson and introduced the iron age. DANIEL HOFFMAN, VETERAN SALT BOILER The lists of names given indicate that nature had already found the way for a new era by removing from the scene of action practically 446 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION all the leaders of the salt-boiling day. The only notable exception was Daniel Hoffman, and he was signally honored, for his three sons and his son-in-law, John L. Long, were selected for various duties. Only a few of Daniel Hoffman's generation were living. Charles Kinnison had died July 8, 1853 ; Peter Bunn, Sr., followed eleven days later in his seventy-third year ; James Lackey died December 8, 1853, aged eighty-three years ; Maj. John James followed May 31, 1854, aged eighty-two years ; Judge David Paine departed January 5, 1856, aged eighty years, and a hundred or more of the salt boilers died between 1850 and 1860. A few of these, like James Paine, Crookham, Mitchell, Seel and others, who had attended the first day of court in 1816, lived to see this celebration and to compare the people and the incidents of the two days. Doubtless there was a jealous tinge to their remarks about the new men who were prominent in the day's proceedings, but they belonged to the dead past and they soon faded away like the leaves of autumn. MOSES STERNBERGER Among the new men perhaps no one had. attracted more attention than Moses Sternberger. He was the son of Samuel and Caroline Sternberger of Bavaria, Germany, where he was born August 29, 1826, the second of eight children. When only thirteen he emigrated, clerked for two years in Philadelphia, and located in Jackson in 1845. He started in business as a peddler of notions, but in the winter following he opened a small store in Jackson, and eight years later, in 1853, he was one of the well-to-do and perhaps the most widely known of the town merchants. Three years before he had married Elizabeth Stephenson, a member' of one of the very oldest and most numerous families, and they founded a family which has played a leading part in the business of the county to this day. J. W. LONGBON, SCHOOL PILLAR Of a very different type was J. W. Longbon, the young school teacher who located in Jackson in 1847. He was born in Yorkshire, England, May 26, 1824, came with his family to Ohio in 1829, and taught for several years in the. Western Reserve. His coming to Jackson revolutionized its school system, for he brought new ideas and new methods. Opposition came and he went to Piketon, where he remained during 1851 and 1852, but he came back to Jackson in 1853, when his friends made him one of the county examiners and superintendent of the Jackson schools. For about forty years he remained one of the pillars of the school system of the county. EDITOR MATTHEWS A third type was represented by Thomas R. Matthews, of French-Welsh origin, who was secretary of the general committee. He was the HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 447 owner of the Standard, the only paper published in the county at that time. The first paper in the county, named the Aurora, was established in 1846 by Charles W. by and George D. Hebard. The owners were democrats, while the majority of readers in the county were whigs or freesoilers, and the Aurora languished. In the spring of 1847, February 20th, Col. James Hughes, an attorney, traded a tract of land for Hoy's press and established the Standard, March 26, 1847. He retained its ownership until he left the county to locate in Wisconsin, when J. W. Laird became owner. Thomas R. Matthews became his associate and after some years Laird retired. Hughes made the Standard a whig paper and it remained whig until June, 1855, when Matthews allied himself with the new republican party. As a reward for his services he became the first republican postmaster of Jackson, receiving his appointment from Abraham Lincoln. THOMAS L. HUGHES One other that must be referred to by name was Thomas L. Hughes, who, together with William J. Evans. was put on the committee to represent the Welsh element which had settled on the best lands in Madison and Jefferson townships, and along the southern borders of Bloomfield and Franklin. Hughes was a scholarly man, but also a successful business man. He was a merchant at Oak Hill, when the railroad came and assisted in organizing the Jefferson Furnace Company in .January, 1854. Later he was called to serve the county as commissioner and representative. He was also the first Jackson County author to publish a book "Ye Emanuel," a life of Christ, in Welsh. WILLIAM J. EVANS William J. Evans was the second Jackson County man elected to a public office, carrying the legislative district, composed of Jackson and Vinton counties, by a majority of sixty at the election held in October, 185'3. Until that year very few of. the Welsh settlers had become naturalized, but his candidacy turned their attention to politics. In the beginning Welshmen were inclined to join the democratic party on account of its name, but the election of William Bebb, a Welshman, as governor in 1844 divided them, for he was a whig. Early in the '50s the slavery question began to overshadow all others, and this caused more Welshmen to join the whigs. Then came the publication of a Welsh translation of Uncle Tom's Cabin in the Cyfaill, a monthly magazine. This gained a wide circulation in Jackson County, and when the republican party was organized in Jackson County in 1855 the Welsh voters went over to that party almost in a body. By 1864 there were not more than ten Welsh democrats left in the entire county. Their change drove the democratic party out of power and retired the small coterie of politicians which had managed the affairs of the county for a generation to private life. From 1853 down to the present Welshmen have 448 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION been successful candidates for office, holding all county offices in turn, and securing occasional representatives in the Ohio Senate and in Congress, and today all positions are open to them. THE WELSH CARRIED DISPUTES TO THE CHURCH The Welsh. of the county were at first almost a state by themselves. They established their own churches, in which only the Welsh language was used. They cared for their own poor, and they settled their disputes in their churches. A noted steer case is one in point. Not unlike other litigants, these two Welshmen submitted their cause to the class meeting of Horeb Church, and after a number of sessions were held by the committee appointed, a jury, in fact, they ordered the steer to be sold, and the proceeds divided equally between the contestants. There were no costs. Hundreds of other disputes were settled by the same authorities. Practically every Welshman was a member of some church, and even cases of drunkenness and petty misdemeanors were disposed of in church trials. More than half a century elapsed before any Welshman applied in court for a divorce, and the affair was a great shock to the entire settlement. PIONEER WELSH CHURCHES The first Welsh church in the county was organized by the Calvinistic Methodists at Moriah in Madison Township, November 30, 1835, with fourteen members, viz., David and Mary Edwards, John E. and Mary Evans, William and Ann Evans, Thomas and Margaret Evans, Thomas and Ann Alban, Ann Jones and Mary Alban, David Evans.. William settled on the headwaters of Hewitt's Fork and a Sunday school was established at the farm of his son, Joshua Evans, early in the winter of 1837. Out of this grew Horeb Church, the first church in Jefferson Township of any denomination, which society was organized in 1838 with twenty members. The third church was established at Centerville, just across the line in Gallia County, in 1840 ; Zoar in 1841; Bethel', in the Township of Jefferson, in 1841; Sardis in 1843 ; Bethania in 1848, and Oak Hill in 1851. There were two or three other smaller churches which had a short existence. Tabor, not far from Bethel, in 1848; Bethesda, not far from Bethania, in 1856, and Salem, in Gallia, in 1862. In addition to these the Congregationalists established a Welsh church at Oak Hill in October, 1841, with eleven members, and the Welsh Baptists organized a church in the same village in 1845 with seven members, viz., Thomas Jones and wife, - Edward Griffith and wife, Edward Lloyd and wife, and John E. Jones. In addition to these churches, Sunday schools were organized in various neighborhoods as daughters of the mother church, such as Hewitt's Fork, Black Fork and Jefferson, three tributaries of Horeb. Symmes Creek, a tributary of Moriah, or independently like Bloom, Pioneer and others at furnaces bearing those names. In 1845 all the Welsh churches and Sunday HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 449 schools (all the branch schools had their own buildings) federated to establish an auxiliary of the American Bible Society. At one time there were more than thirty-three of these bodies located in Jackson, Gallia and Lawrence counties. The annual donations of these bodies sometimes amounted to more than $1,600, and the contributions from 1845 to the present exceed $60,000. After Welshmen began to move to Jackson and the mining towns, other churches were established in Jackson, Coalton, Wellston and Glen Roy, and the first survives, together with Horeb, Bethel, Zoar, Oak Hill, Sardis, Moriah and Centerville, all except the latter in this county. The Congregational Church at Oak Hill survives also, together with three or four others in Gallia County, showing with what tenacity Welshmen cling to their language. All the pioneers have died, and the majority of the members now are their grandchildren. The language will probably die in this county with 'the last of the grandchildren of the pioneers, but some of the words and names especially may survive a little longer. WELSH FURNACES In passing it should be noted that those Welshmen established three furnaces, Jefferson, Cambria and Limestone, of which Jefferson is still in operation. It has been one of the most successful business institutions in the history of the state. BUSINESS MEN AND INDUSTRIES OF 1854 The following roster of the business men and industries doing business in Jackson in 1854 presents an imperfect picture of the times, but it is the best available David Hoffman, who had been in business since 1816, was still dealing in general merchandise, corner of Main and Portsmouth streets. F. Shower was conducting the Franklin Hotel. A. B. Price had just opened a confectionery in the building occupied by the "old drugstore." The old steam mill was on Portsmouth Street and it also carded, wool. A. French was operating the stage coach line from Gallipolis to Chillicothe; his house stood next to the alley on Main opposite the public square. Elias Long was dealing in general merchandise. Moses Sternberger was selling dry goods and groceries. Holliday, Price & Co. were selling hardware. Trago and Helphenstein were dealing in boots and shoes. James Dyer was selling dry goods and groceries. A. F. Smith was a tinner. Samuel H. Book, a wagon maker, and Lewis and Thomas were the leading blacksmiths. On Portsmouth Street, one door below the steam mill, J. Q. Rathburn was making saddles and harness ; also Nelson T. Cavett, who had his shop on Main where the Cavett Block now stands. J. M. Martin and H. H. Adams were merchandising. Thomas B. Dickason was selling dry goods, also David Leach and John Nelson. James Nelson was a boot and shoemaker. T. R. Clewer & Co. were running a drug store. Alex Criswell had started a grocery near the station. Bowdle and Roberts were selling Vol. I-29