350 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY The first traction line in the county was built in 1891 which connected the East End of East Liverpool with the West End of Wellsville. The projectors were Albert L. Johnson, of Cleveland, the brother of former Mayor Tom L. Johnson of that city ; Sidney H. Short, wealthy inventor and C. E. Grover, both of Cleveland. It was originally seven miles in length and cost $200,000. In 1900-'03 it was extended two miles east of East Liverpool to the Pennsylvania state line and two branch extensions via East and West Market streets to the northern sections of East Liverpool. Following the erection of the East Liverpool-Chester, W. Va., bridge across the Ohio River in 1897 the Chester & East Liverpool Street Railway promoted by Charles A. Smith, built a line to Chester which greatly stimulated the attendance in Rock Springs Park in the latter place. In 1905 a second bridge connecting East Liverpool with Newell, W. Va., when another trolley line was built to connect the two places, it being known as The Newell Street Railway Company. It was owned and operated by the North American Manufacturing Company, the holding company of which the Homer Laughlin China Company is the moving concern. In 1904 the Stark Electric Railway, extending east through Alliance, reached Salem. On Feb. 11, 1908, the lines had been extended so as to connect Steubenville and Midland, Pa., and intervening points. The railway became known as the Steubenville, East Liverpool and Beaver Valley Traction Company. Van Horn Ely and others of Rochester, N. Y. and other Empire state capitalists were connected with the early activities and developments of the roadway. By March 1 of the same year the extension was continued to Beaver, Pa., where train connection is made for Pittsburg, Pa. For more than a decade Charles A. Smith, of Chester, W. Va., who was one of the pioneer backers of the traction projects in the Ohio Valley, has been in direct charge of the management of the railways as at present conducted. Power is obtained from the Ohio Power Company and the car barns and offices occupy a large tract of land in the East End of East Liverpool. Five years after its inventor, Samuel Morse had built the experimental Baltimore-Washington line the telegraph reached Wellsville and East Liverpool from Pittsburg, it following the completion of the railway HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 351 lines between these points. It also was extended to the northern end of the county about the same time. About a quarter of a century later the telephone, "the plaything of the Philadelphia Centennial" was introduced into the county, the first Bell exchange being opened in East Liverpool about 1881. This departure gave the world its first "hello girl" in the person of Miss Ursilla Kinsey, a graduate of the East Liverpool High School, who was the first person in the Pottery City's central office to become a lady operator. She passed away in 1925 at Kittanning, Pa., after she had several years previously become the wife of John Wick, of that city. In 1883 an exchange was installed in Wellsville. It was at the same time extended to Lisbon. Salem opened its exchange on July 1, 1884 ; Lisbon, June 1, 1890 ; Leetonia, Feb. 1, 1890; Columbiana, July 1, 1896 and East Palestine on Nov. 1, 1896. In 1884 The Buckeye Clay Telephone Company, organized by the Hon. P. M. Smith, I. B. Clark and William Wooster, of Wellsville, opened an exchange in East Liverpool. It was installed in the old Stone residence of Washington Street, the present site of the Review-Tribune Building. Miss Jessie Stone (later Mrs. Williard Morris) became the initial lady operator attached to it. With exchanges in Wellsville and Lisbon the company operated for about a year. During the famous Van Fossan murder trial in 1885 The Evening Review received its details over the telephone from the Lisbon courthouse by telephone which was then considered a decided contribution to newspaper enterprise. The first regular daily telegraphic news service in the county was received twelve years later in 1897 by the East Liverpool Daily Crisis while James C. Deidrick was its publisher. East Liverpool was connected with long distance in 1894 two years after New York and Chicago had been similarly connected. The event in the Pottery City was celebrated with a public reception during which those attending were permitted to hear an orchestra playing in New York city. The Daily Crisis established a long distance circuit with Cleveland in 1898 and received a daily news report from the Forest City. The Columbiana County Telephone Company, built to compete with the Bell interests, was established in 1898-'99. It was rapidly extended throughout the county and continued until activity it was sold in 1922 to the Bell Telephone Company of Ohio. CHAPTER XXIV. MISCELLANEOUS. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES VISIT HERE-A PRESIDENTIAL VISIT-INITIAL TRIBUTE TO MARTYRED GARFIELD-HOME COMING WEEK-LINCOLN HIGHWAY DAY- NOBILITY INSPECTS POTTERIES-BURNING OF THE WINCHESTER -SCIOTO DISASTER-FLOODS-FIRES-STORMS. Presidential Candidates Visit Here.—What approximated East Liverpool's greatest day occurred on Wednesday, May 15, 1912, during the notable and historic preferential primary campaign for Ohio's delegates to the Chicago Republican presidential convention in the following June when the two contestants, President William Howard Taft and the only then living ex-president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, visited the city that morning within two hours of each other, delivered significant and pertinent addresses, were thunderously applauded and generously extolled by the thousands of residents and visitors who, keyed up by two such major attractions, decided to round out the gala and unprecedented 24-hour period by attending en masse the world's greatest show, that of the Ringling Brothers in Wellsville, four miles away, in the afternoon and evening. Just before nine o'clock ere the murkiness of the Ohio Valley had altogether been dispelled by the slowly rising sun a several-coach special train rolled noiselessly into the Pennsylvania depot just off Second Street and President Taft, escorted by a committee that had met him several stations down the line and which consisted of Col. John N. Taylor, Mayor R. J. Marshall, H. N. Harker, Ben L. Bennett, T. A. McNicol, Jason H. Brookes, W. E. Wells and Walter L. Hill, motored to the rooms of the Buckeye Club in the Diamond, from the porch of which he almost immediately addressed the great throng which from before daylight had - 352 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 353 assembled to hear him. He was accompanied by Major Rhoades, his military aid, who had just succeeded the lamented Major Butts, who had but a few weeks previously gone down in the Titanic disaster, and several secret service and news men. He was introduced by Attorney Ben L. Bennett. Following his address he signed a book that the East Liverpool High School might have his signature and was taken back to his train. It, however, had been run to Wellsville and did not return for nearly half an hour during which interim the president sat alone in his automobile at the foot of Union Street while the secret service men prevented all from going near him. His wait, however, enabled many to take a kodak likeness of him as a souvenir of the second visit to the city of a president of the United States while in office. Hardly had President Taft's party disappeared before another special train, carrying the ubiquitous newspaper correspondents, his immediate entourage of close friends and another East Liverpool reception committee that comprised G. Y. Travis, W. W. Bagley, Josiah T. Herbert, J. T. Smith, Homer J. Taylor and William Nicholson with the redoubtable "Teddy" slid silently to the spot which his successor in the White House had but quitted. The doughty "Colonel" came out of the rear door of the last car. The crowd yelled. Off came the noted campaign hat that was worn and almost torn in its recent excursions into the political ring. The onlookers, recognizing the headgear, released another yell whereupon the hero of El Caney parted his lips in a reciprocal smile and the famous teeth came into close-up view. Bedlam occurred in intermittent fashion as he rode in motor car to the grandstand erected on the lot in front of the attractive home of B. C. Sims on Broadway from where the candidate for a third term declared his reasons for again seeking the place that he had quitted three years before to hunt lions in Africa. He was introduced by Attorney G. Y. Travis. A continuous ovation was given the noted visitor as he returned to the depot, his stay in the city being less than an hour. More than 10,000 persons, it was estimated, heard the two statesmen during their East Liverpool visit. Presidential Visit.—After an absence from the city of four years, he having visited East Liverpool as Ohio's governor in 1895 and frequently previously as the eighteenth district's congressman, President and Mrs. William McKinley honored the community by spending two nights and a day and a half here on Aug. 28-29, 1899, after passing the preceding (23)V1 354 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY Monday in Pittsburg following a vacation at Lake Champlain in New England. While here he was the guest of Col. and Mrs. John N. Taylor in their then palatial home on Sixth Street which by now has been razed and transformed into the city lot. Besides numerous secret service men the president was accompanied by his then secretary, George B. Cortelyou, his physician, Dr. P. M. Rixey, and official stenographer, B. F. Barnes, afterwards the president's assistant secretary and under President Roosevelt the postmaster of Washington, D.C. The special train was composed of three Pullmans : "The Cleopatra," which he and Mrs. McKinley occupied and the "Patagonia" and "Atlantic." They were met in Pittsburg where they had been entertained at the home of Robert Pitcairn, of Shady Side by Col. Taylor and W. L. Smith, Sr. Arriving here at 10:30 o'clock they were met by a huge crowd at the C. & P. station. A carriage drawn by white horses drew them and Col. Taylor west on Second to Washington, to Fifth and under an erected arch on the Diamond from which the words in electric lights, "Our President," dazzled even the visting executive. They descended on Sixth Street an dentered the mansion through a dense throng of people as Hayne's band played "Hail to the Chief" and other martial songs. During the journey from the depot a sons of veterans' contingent at Fourth and Broadway boomed the presidential salute of 21 guns from a cannon. Despite the lateness of the hour the populace would not be appeased without a word from their former representative in congress whom so many knew personally. He finally came outside and from the porch off which he had frequently spoken to the same audience he thanked the people for their kind reception, expressed his weariness and declared, "my coming to East Liverpool always awakens the tenderest of heart springs." The next morning President and Mrs. McKinley were taken riding across the new Chester, W. Va., bridge by Col. and Mrs. Taylor, while Secretary Cortelyou, Dr. Rixey and Mrs. Barnes were given a view of the hill tops by Col. Taylor's son, Will Taylor. A feature of the president's ride was that it was taken in his once own carriage which had carried all the public men of the country to the McKinley home during the famous porch campaign of 1896 which he had presented to Col. Taylor when he assumed the presidency. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 355 Initial Tribute to Martyred Garfield.—East Liverpool residents have the distinction of being the first people of his native state to greet officially as a community the remains of the martyred President James A. Garfield as they, following his succumbing to an assasin's bullet at Elbernon, N. J., passed through the city enroute to Cleveland for subsequent burial on Saturday morning, Sept. 24, 1881. Arches had been hurriedly constructed over the C. & P. railway tracks at the foot of Broadway, Walnut and Union streets under which the train passed. Ropes were stretched at certain points to keep the crowds back. Country people began to arrive in the city at daylight in order to witness the passing of the cortege. School children, led by Haines' band, marched to the railway. Crowds lined the way from the Flint mill in the East End to Jethro. More than 8,000 persons, it is estimated, were out to view the spectacle. Just as the train left Smith Ferry, Pa., a telegram was sent to the East Liverpool office apprizing it of the fact. The people thus caught a view of the engine as it turned the curve near Thompson's pottery. Heads were bared, women wept, the band played a dirge. The engineer, Thomas Carlisle, slowed down so that the people could see through the window the white flowers that had been ordered placed over the catafalque after they had been sent by Queen Victoria of England. The train had three special cars. One, "The Paris" was occupied by Generals W. T. Sherman, Phillip H. Sheridan and Meigs and Col. Henry Corbin ; "The Gallitzin" contained Secretary of State James G. Blaine and the other members of the cabinet with their families and the third, "No. 120," President Roberts', of the Pennsylvania Railway, own car, by Mrs. Garfield and her family. The martyred president in life had on occasions visited and spoken in East Liverpool. R. C. Edmundson, proprietor of the Travelers' Hotel in East Liverpool and long one of its leading business men, heard the shot fired by Charles J. Gitteau that fatally wounded the nation's president. He was then a young man living in Georgetown, near Washington and was just outside the depot when the assassin made his attack. He saw the wounded man placed in an ambulance and hurried away for medical attention. Home-Coming Week.—Home-coming week was celebrated in East Liverpool from July 6-16, 1908. The affair, held under the auspices of the 356 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY East Liverpool Business Men's Association, attracted thousands to the city in that interim and brought hundreds of former residents back to visit former scenes. The general committee was composed of more than 100 leading citizens and was headed by Russell C. Heddleston as president ; Daniel Ogilvie, vice president ; E. J. Finnicum, secretary and N. G. McBane, treasurer. Lincoln Highway Day.—An outstanding event in the city's life was the celebration of Lincoln Highway Day in East Liverpool on Saturday, June 5, 1915. The celebration marked the official passing through the city on the new coast-to-coast roadway of H. C. Osterman, counsul-atlarge of the Lincoln Highway Association and a staff of assistants, including R. E. Spencer, of the Pottery City, Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Osterman being the only women in the party. Thousands from nearby towns visited the city during the day and witnessed the various departures of the occasion which included the breaking of the "Sun," a replica, erected at Fifth and Market streets, presentation of the state flag by Congressman, D. A. Hollingsworth, of Cadiz, 0., and of the city flag by Mayor V. A. Schreiber, the demolishing of a pyramid of china at West End Park, the pulling down of the single brick chimney of the destroyed glass works just east of West End Park and a fire drill during which the initial auto equipment procured by the city was used. Motion pictures of every act performed were taken by Leon Loeb, official photographer which were added to the Lincoln Highway film which at the conclusion of the automobile trip begun in the Atlantic Ocean in New York and concluded in the Pacific Ocean in California, was first shown at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. It carried views of receptions throughout the 10,000-mile journey and was exhibited in East Liverpool the following September. During the day 25,000 snow plaque plates, souvenirs of East Liverpool pottery manufacturers, were presented the school children of the city, Wellsville, Newell and Chester, W. Va. The committee in charge of the day's doings consisted of Homer J. Taylor (chairman), C. A. Goodwin, A. S. Aungst, W. T. Blake, John Manor, Frank Swaney, R. E. Spencer, J. C. Travis, W. H. Phillips and H. B. Barth. The final part of the day was devoted to the annual school picnic at Roch Springs Park at Chester, W. Va. and was marred by a fire that HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 357 evening which destroyed "The Old Mill," one of the amusement features there utilized, at which Albert Rayner, 12, and Glenna Stout, 17, of Chester, W. Va., and Eva Dales, 14 of Newell, W. Va., lost their lives. Miss Hyacinth Mackey, 15, of Newell, W. Va., succumbed on June 20 to the burns she received. Numerous other children were less seriously injured during the excitement attending the blaze. Nobility Inspects Potteries.—That they might have first hand information in their campaigns for parliment as members of the Labor party, Captain Oswald Moseley, who had previously served six years in the House of Commons and his wife, Lady Cynthia Mosley, of London, England, spent Thursday, March 5, 1926 in East Liverpool, during which interim they were shown through Plant No. 6 of the Homer Laughlin China Company at Newell, W. Va., the imposing sample rooms of the concern and the R. Thomas & Sons' plant in East Liverpool. The distinguished visitors came to the city from Detroit, Mich., they interrupting for a day their journey to Ottawa, Can., in order to compare pottery conditions in America with those in England, a section of which Lady Mosley hoped to represent in Great Britain's law-making body. The visit was made under the auspices of the East Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, whose secretary, H. B. Barth, invited Captain and Lady Mosley to East Liverpool upon the apprisal of their wish to note industrial conditions in this country. With T. T. Jones, local writer, and Howard Kaufman, of the Review-Tribune staff he met them early on the morning of their visit at Rochester, Pa., and escorted them to the home of Joseph Betz, president of the Chamber of Commerce, where breakfast was served them under the direction of Mrs. Betz and their daughter, Miss Louise Betz. At noon luncheon was served the organization's guests at the East Liverpool Country Club at which covers were laid for the following in addition to the honor visitors: Marcus and Charles Aaron and Joseph Wells of the Homer Laughlin China Company ; President John T. Wood, of the National Brotherhood of Operative Potters ; Will T. Blake, general manager and editor of the Potters Herald ; Joseph Betz and Harold B. Barth, president and secretary of the East Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, respectively ; R. L. E. Chambers, manager of the Rudolph Gaertner Company, Howard Kaufman and T. T. Jones. 358 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY Later in the afternoon they were served tea at the Joseph Betz home before being escorted by Marcus and Charles Aaron to Pittsburg, Pa., for an inspection that night of the Edgar Thompson steel plant, following which they entrained for Niagara Falls and a week's stay in the Canadian capital before returning to New York and sailing for England on March 13. They spent two months in America studying social, industrial and political conditions and averred their "East Liverpool visit had been one of the most illuminating and pleasant of any on their American itineraries." Burning of the Winchester.—Two outstanding steamboat disasters have marked the river traveling since boats as a means of transportations came into general use. The first of these was the burning of the "Winchester" in the spring of 1867. Enroute from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, off Babb's Island after having just passed East Liverpool, the craft was destroyed. It had just been built to succeed an older boat of the same name. It was commanded by Captain Asa Shepherd, of Wellsville, who, with Captains Daniel Moore and A. G. Murdock, also of Wellsville, owned it. It was the boat's first trip. It was filled with passengers and freight. Just as the boat passed East Liverpool fire was noted in a section of it. The pilot steered directly for the West Virginia shore and shot the prow into the land but the stern swung about in the swollen stream. Passengers were aroused from their berths and became panic-stricken. Many jumped into the water and were washed under the craft or down stream. In all twenty persons perished. Scioto Disaster.—The most serious of all river calamities, however, was the collision of the Scioto and the John Lomas, two excursion boats just off Mingo Junction on Tuesday, July 4, 1882. It resulted in the loss of 75 persons of whom the majority were from East Liverpool and Wellsville. Generously advertised for an outing to Moundsville, W. Va., where the state penitentiary could be visited the boat was practically filled at the East Liverpool wharf early that morning. Then another stop was made at Wellsville where others were taken on including the members of the Wellsville Cornet Band. Several also left the boat at this point fearing that it was overcrowded, they being cheerfully refunded the price of their tickets by Captain Thomas. Between 400 and 500 persons, it was estimated, were on the ill-fated craft after several more were added in Steubenville. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 359 The boat reached Moundsville at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. The return trip was begun a couple of hours later and stops made at Wheeling, W. Va., and Martin's Ferry, Ohio. It was just about dusk, near 8 o'clock, when the fatal spot was reached. There the John Lomas, returning from Brown's Island to Martin's Ferry with excursionists from the latter place was encountered. The river was about 500 yards wide at this point. Despite the sounding of whistles the two pilots headed directly at each other and the boats struck headlong. The Sciota was partially pointed to the Ohio shore at the time. The Lomas immediately backed away and, unmarked itself, left a hole in the prow of the Sciota. Immediately the latter sank in 16 feet of water. Persons on the lower deck were caught, some sleeping, and drowned like rats. The upper cabin was filled to the waist lines of the panic stricken picnickers who were pulled and pushed through window lights and holds cut in the ceiling to the hurricane deck. In desperation many jumped into the water and were washed away. The Lomas was rushed to the Ohio shore where it discharged its passengers and returned to the scene. Its crew rescued about 400. Campers and residents along the shores also aided. Hearing of the disaster Superintendent Phillip Bruner of the C. & P. railway sent a several coach special train to the scene and brought the survivors without cost to Wellsville and East Liverpool. East Liverpool council the following night sent a force of fifty men under the leadership of Jason Neville, Phillip Morley, James O'Brien and Len Dobbins to the scene with grappling hooks, a cannon and other necessities to attempt in the raising of the bodies. They worked until the following Sunday night and did valiant service. Captain J. T. Stockdale of the Cincinnati Packet Company with the Katie Stockdale and other of the company's boats aided materially in the work of recovering the bodies of the lost, but refused any pay therefor. On the boat also was the East Liverpool String Band as well as two organizations: The Arcadians and The Young Married Folks. Efforts to disclose the cause of the collision resulted in the temporary suspension of the Scioto pilot, David C. Keller, who, it was alleged, had permitted women excursionists to handle the wheel at times during the day's trip. It was pointed out that there had been recently a change in the code of signals. However, several weeks later Inspector Fehrenbatch reinstated Pilot Keller, alleging that there was no evidence to connect him 360 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY with the cause of the disaster and intimated it was due to the proved incompetency of the Lomas pilot. This decision caused a protest from East Liverpool residents. Though there was considerable drinking on the boat during the trip it was declared that no liquor was sold on the craft the entire day and that the quantity consumed had been brought on board by those who procured it elsewhere. The event cast a gloom over the communities of East Liverpool and Wellsville. In some families several members were among the victims. Every body lost was eventually discovered and brought back for burial. The Scioto was raised shortly after the accident and given a general overhauling. The port bow was repaired, the John Lomas having penetrated a distance of about nine feet, reaching almost the boilers of the Scioto. Under another name the illfated Scioto was operated on the Ohio for several years thereafter. Floods.—East Liverpool has suffered at intervals since its settlement by devastating floods which have been particularly damaging to plants and residences fronting the Ohio River. The first of these occurred in 1832 when the city was a struggling village. Much loss then ensued. In 1852 an even greater loss was had. Then the initial pottery of the locality was practically ruined, that of the Bennett Brothers. The Harker plant also was badly damaged as well as others along the stream. Another freshet of a destructive nature followed in 1865 but it did not reach the dimensions of that of thirteen years previously. The great flood of 1884, however, practically surpassed all others in its extent and destructive qualities. For miles above and below it the land alongside the city was inundated. Houses, rafts, lumber, debris of all kinds were swept down the turbulent stream. Factories had to be shut down. The water pumps would not operate. For the first time since its construction the Cleveland & Pittsburg railway between Pittsburg and Wellsville suspended operations. The high water mark was reached on February 7. The damage ran into thousands of dollars. Food relief was attempted by sending out a little packet steamer from Pittsburg to persons marooned in the upper sections of houses whose lower floors were filled with water but they in many instances fearing the wash of the waves from its wheel would destroy their homes fired at the boat. Its pilot house was accordingly riddled with bullets. Organized relief finally followed. A boat from HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 361 Pittsburg under the direction of Rev. E. R. Donahoo, pastor of the West End Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg, was able to lend needed aid to the unfortunates between the Smoky City and Steubenville. On March 27-30, 1913, a flood almost the extent of that of 1884 caused a suspension of railway activities into East Liverpool. For two days the city was entirely without railway and mail connection from the outside world. The wharfboat floated over the C. & P. tracks at the foot of Broadway. The City of Parkersburg, which barely was able to pass under the Chester, W. Va., bridge at the outset of the rapid rise in the river was alongside and held in place by being tied to telephone poles. The water extended across a portion of Second Street, and reached the tops of the picket fence between the tracks at the C. & P. depot. The loss to river potteries and residents along the stream totaled thousands of dollars. In the Spring of 1907 a flood of considerable dimensions occurred, the then river line of street cars being unable to function as water covered a portion of the tracks. Trains were also delayed for several hours at that time also. Twice within a month in 1908 two serious floods occurred in the Ohio River, both holding on for about two days each. The first of these was in the middle of February and the second about the same time in March. The river potteries were then reached. Much inconvenience resulted in the transfer of material to the top floors. The old pumping station near Harker's pottery was kept running on both occasions though water covered its floor to a depth of four feet. Stagings were built above the flood stage, which enabled activity. Two boilers that had been permanently raised for such an eventuality enabled the plant to function though valves had to be operated under water. An unusual rise in the river in June of 1882 destroyed gardens from which vegetables had about matured. A similar flood in 1924 covered the then West End Park and destroyed almost entirely all crops in the Aten gardens on the north of the C. & P. tracks as well as that on the strip alongside the river on the south of the railroad. Fires.—Several disastrious fires have visited East Liverpool. Two of these made notable losses in its business district. On Tuesday evening, February 28, 1905, an entire block that circumscribed Market and Fifth streets to Mulberry and Diamond alleys was destroyed, twenty mercantile 362 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY establishments, many the largest in the city, being affected at a total loss of $700,000. The blaze started in the cellar of the W. H. Glass shoe store and despite efforts of the entire fire department and sections of those from Chester, W. Va., Rochester, Pa., and Steubenville, 0., threatened the loss of the most of the city. One casualty occurred, Bert Swearengen, 21, being the victim of falling walls. Four days later Louis Moore, 19, a young pottery workman, instantly lost his life when a piece of brick from the Ikirt Building struck him as he stood diagonally across the street on South Market Street in front of the new section of the Brookes' Building watching the dynamite blasting of the tottering walls by firemen. On Sunday morning, February, 1925, a blaze, starting in the Break-stone millinery establishment of the Milligan Building on Fifth Street destroyed that structure of five stories, the three-story Wasbutsky Building alongside and the Lewis Brothers two-story building just across Mulberry Alley. Adjoining structures were also damaged, the total loss reaching about $750,000. Storms.—Two outstanding hail storms have visited East Liverpool in the years of its existence. The first of these was on June 10, 1870 when frozen pellets to the depth of four inches fell within a three-mile space from the old Abner Martin farm on the east and Kuntz's Crossing on the west and extended an immeasurable distance north and south. On that date late in the afternoon, as he and two boy companions were searching for a lost cow between the site of the present George L. McClintock home on the Lincoln Highway and Ross Meadows, W. A. Calhoun, pottery architect, then 14 years old, had to take refuge under a tree, so fiercely continuous was the icy dropping. The later walk homeward through the shifting, melting mass in bare feet was an ordeal yet vividly remembered after more than half a century. The second occurred on the afternoon of March 19, 1921 and preceded a heavy downpour. So sudden was the frigid visitation that persons were caught in automobiles from which they were with difficulty released to the protection of adjacent buildings. A great deal of damage was done within the city limits when windows of homes, churches and business houses were broken all over the city. The spectacle the following day and for an interim afterwards was such as to suggest an attack by an invading army that generously used the grape and canister of pre-world war days. CHAPTER XXV. IN THE WARS OF THE NATION. COLUMBIANA COUNTY PARTICIPATED IN FIVE WARS-REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS -EARLY DAY ORGANIZATIONS-MEXICAN WAR-CIVIL WAR- CAPTURE OF GENERAL MORGAN, HERE-SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR-WORLD WAR-MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS-ENGAGEMENTS-HOME WAR ORGANIZATIONS -SPEAKERS- VARIOUS LOAN DRIVES-CONSERVATION COMMISSION-RED CROSS-Y. M. C. A.-KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS-OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. Columbiana County, ever loyal to the country of which it is a part, has furnished soldiers for it's five major wars, that of 1812 with England ; the 1846-'48 engagement with Mexico ; the terrific conflict between the States from 1861 to 1865; the 100-day decisive clash with Spain in 1898 and the unprecedented world fight of the nations in 1917-'18. It also had volunteers in practically all the minor scrimmages from Gen.-Maj. Anthony Wayne's campaign against the Indians just after its settlement to the punitive expedition of General Pershing into Mexican territory for the bandit, General Villa. Many of the early residents had fought under George Washington and his generals in the Revolutionary War that gave the United States its independence. As early as 1806 all males in Columbiana County over 18 years of age were subject to military duty. The "First Regiment, Second Brigade, Fourth Division" of Ohio soldiery comprised the then County Contingent. It was made up of 828 persons. The first battalion was commanded by Major Lewis Kinney and the second by Major Taggart. Brig.-Gen. Beall, of near New Lisbon, had charge of the brigade and Maj.-Gen. Wadsworth of Canfield commanded the division. Capt. Thomas Rowland raised a company of men as soon as the War of 1812 was declared on June 18 of that year. They marched to the river - 363 - 364 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY Raisin, 30 miles from Detroit, and refused to surrender following the capture of General Hull and his men. They finally returned home. Other companies were assembled. Capts. William Foulkes, John Ramsey, Israel Warner and David Harbaugh commanded them. In charge of drafted contingents were Capts. Jacob Gilbert, Joseph Zimmerman, William Blackburn and Martin Silter, with Col. Hindman in charge of the regiment, assisted by Majors Peter Mussor and Jacob Frederick. Yellow Creek Township furnished a number of men for these companies as well as for the Mexican War. The "Wellsville Light Artillery," functioned as early as 1844 in Wellsville and was commanded by Capt. Henry Cope. Judge J. A. Reddle commanded a cavalry company from Wellsville. It was attached to the State Militia. In 1858 the "Wellsville Guards" was organized by Capt. Henry Cope. It became a part of Company K, Third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1861 with A. H. Battin as first, James T. Smith, second and J. H. Hunter, third lieutenants. Many from East Liverpool and Salineville were also in this company which was mustered in for three months in Camp Jackson, April 27, 1861. They later re-enlisted for three years. They began service under Gen. George McClellan at Grafton, W. Va. Companies during the later part of the war became attached to practically all Union armies and saw service in almost every zone of the conflict. At least one battle of that great struggle was fought in Columbiana County, that at Salineville on July 26, 1863, one month lacking a day since Gen. John Morgan started on his spectacular and destroying dash from Sparta, Tenn., with 2000 cavalrymen and four cannons which he hoped would enable him to reach Southwestern Virginia. At Salineville the remnant of the rebel officer's command was attacked by Major Way of the Ninth Michigan Cavalry who routed him after a severe fight in which the enemy lost 30 men fatally wounded, 50 slightly injured and 200 captured as prisoners. About six hours later, about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of that day the entire remaining force of General Morgan was captured on the David Crubaugh farm near West Point by Major George W. Rue of the Ninth Kentucky Cavalry. He took 336 prisoners, 400 horses and arms. About 300 of the original command that started on the ill-fated expedition crossed the Ohio into Virginia at Buffington Island. General Morgan HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 365 and some of his officers were taken to Wellsville that night and later imprisoned in the Ohio penitentiary at Columbus. He and six of his men escaped from the institution on the night of Nov. 26, 1863. The following year he was killed in Eastern Tennessee after returning to the Southern Service. On the spot where General Morgan surrendered was later erected a monument by Will L. Thompson of East Liverpool. It consists of a huge stone that rests on a square marker on which has been attached a brass plate with the following inscription : "This stone marks the spot where the Confederate raider, General John H. Morgan, surrendered his command to Major George W. Rue, July 26, 1863, and is the farthest point north ever reached by any body of Confederate troops during the Civil War." "Erected by Will L. Thompson, East Liverpool, Ohio, 1909." The granite stone was completed on Thursday, August 11, 1910. There on that day it was duly unveiled by representatives of General Lyon Post, G. A. R., the East Liverpool Historical Society and the press of the county. An acre of ground about the monument was also purchased by Mr. Thompson for the public's use as a park. The formal transfer of the gift was made by Attorney William H. Vodrey for Mr. Thompson's estate and it was accepted in behalf of the war veterans and the state of Ohio by Justice Daniel McLane. On Sept. 21, 1910 another expedition was made to the spot by many East Liverpool folk who escorted Major and Mrs. George W. Rue, who was found to be residing in Hamilton, Ohio, to the spot on which he played so notable a part nearly half a century before. In the Mexican War soldiers from East Liverpool and other sections of the county were numbered with the armies of Generals Winfield S. Scott and Zachary Taylor. Both in the Spanish-American and the World War a company was raised in East Liverpool. On both occasions it was known as "Company E." Both were in charge of Capt. M. W. Hill, he leading both contingents out of the city after an interval of nearly twenty years. The 1898 company became a member of the Eighth Regiment, Ohio National Guard, known as "The President's Own." The first and second lieutenants were George 0. Anderson and Robert T. Hall, respectively. On April 25, 1898 the Company left East Liverpool for the regimental headquarters at Wooster, Ohio and its members were mustered into the 366 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY United States service at Columbus on May 13 of that year. The regiment reached Camp Alger, Va., two days later. On July 7 the regiment left New York on the transport, "St. Paul" and landed at Siboney, Cuba, on July 10. General Shafter sent it to the trenches and guard duty. Sickness seized the majority of the Company E men. Those able to do so left on August 18 for Montauk Point, Long Island, N. Y., where they landed on August 24. They entrained for Wooster on September 24 and were mustered out of service on Nov. 21, 1898. Two-thirds of the members of the company were physically disabled for a long period and several never entirely recovered from the ravages of disease which the Cuban climate inflicted upon them. The immediate casualties included Francis Smith, who died at Siboney, Cuba, on Aug. 20, 1898; 0. J. Eddy, who succumbed at sea two days later ; Charles Sweitzer who passed away in East Liverpool from illness contracted on the island ; Michael Eck, who passed away at Montauk Point on Sept. 3, 1898 and Edward Holloway, who expired at the same place on Sept. 15, 1898. On Nov. 10, 1900, Arthur Burrows, who had previously re-enlisted was mortally wounded in action in the Phillipines. It was another "Company E" that was formed in East Liverpool during the weeks immediately following the April declaration of war against Germany in 1917. It became a part of the Tenth Ohio Infantry of the State National Guard which was commanded by Col. W. C. Weybrecht, of Alliance. Recruiting was carried on in the Y. M. C. A. Building on Fourth and Washington streets and in its banquet room the soldiers daily messed after it had been assembled. Headquarters were maintained across the street in the second floor of the Moose Building. Drilling was done in various plots about the city and at Newell, W. Va. Though in service for months the Company was preceded to camp by twenty-three East Liverpool, Wellsville, Hanoverton and Lisbon young men who as five per cent of the initial draft contingent went to Camp Sherman on Thursday, Sept. 7, 1917 to assist with others throughout the state for the coming of those to follow them. These pioneer soldiers were : Earl M. Clawson, Thomas Brozka, Samuel R. and Robert A. Taylor, William R. Henderson, E. E. Shenkel, Ernest A. Purton, Charles Hart, George Albert Patterson, Allan George, Robert Guyton, William Roush, John T. Burns, Frank M. Hill, John E. Canavan and William V. Duffy of East Liverpool ; John H. Grafton and Jacob Bowers of Wellsville ; John HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 367 C. Tate, F. C. Sinclair and Wilfred A. Ballen of Hanoverton and Earl C. Apple and C. P. Deemer of Lisbon. The night preceding their departure receptions were tendered the various members of the detachment at the Y. M. C. A., K. of C., and Masonic halls. Crowds thronged in and about the C. & P. depot the following morning as business houses delayed opening for an hour, factory whistles blew and Attorney Jason Brookes made an address while awaiting the west bound 8:10 o'clock train for Steubenville. Many of these young men later became commissioned and non-commissioned officers of what later became Co. L of the 332nd Regiment of the 83rd Division, which the commander, General Glenn, in the summer of 1918 took to France. Commanded by Col. William Wallace, of Indianapolis, Ind., the 332 regiment was detached and served as a separate and disunit in Italy, where it took part in the Piave River battle against the Austrians. Later the regiment did garrison duty. It returned to America in the Spring of 1919. Company L arrived on the Steamer Dante Alighteri which reached New York on April 18. The men were taken to Camp Merritt, N. J., and with others of the regiment participated in the great parades in New York City on April 21 and in Cleveland on April 26. From Ohio's metropolis the men were taken to Camp Sherman at Chillicothe, Ohio, from where they were mustered out of service. On Sunday morning, September 10, with the entire city seemingly present with many from various county points adding to the number, Company E. entrained for Camp Sheridan at Montgomery, Ala. As he had done two decades before, Captain Hill led the detachment down Broadway, following a parade of the main streets of the city, to the C. & P. station. His first lieutenant was Richard Smith and the second, Allan Surles, both local young men, popular and well known. Music was dispensed by the Ceramic City Band. A big reception was tendered the departing men on Saturday night at the Y. M. C. A. gymnasium at which Eugene H. Bradshaw, the city's safety director and president of the National Defense Organization was master of ceremonies. A feature of the affair was the appearance in Scotch kilties of Adam MacGregor, a convalescent wounded soldier of the ill-fated Dardanelles campaign, who sang numerous Scottish songs. 368 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY At Camp Sheridan "Company E" became "Company D" of the 135th Machine Gun Battalion of the 37th Division. As such it reached France in the summer of 1918. Meanwhile Captain Hill had been invalided home and Lieutenant Smith returned to his home here. Lieuts. Millard Blythe and Lester McNicol, both East Liverpool young men, had been attached to the contingent. The men fought in the Argonne Forest and were fighting in Belgium when hostilities ceased on Nov. 11, 1918. On September 26, in the Argonne an exploding shell snuffed out the lives of Sergeant Charles C. Cox, veteran of the Spanish-American War, and Privates Cecil A. Eardley, Howard J. Purinton, Sylvester Bierry, Walter Wasson and John Vaughn. On November 4, a week before the armistice, Daniel Duty, of Wellsville and Harry Heckathore were fatally wounded in action on the Escant River in Belgium. Sergeant Herman Tuerck succumbed to illness at Hoboken, N. J., on March 31, 1919, following his arrival after the return trip on the George Washington. The surviving members of the old Company E, after returning as Company D, were permitted to spend April 3, 1919 in East Liverpool while en route from New York to Camp Sherman at Chillicothe, Ohio, following their return to this country. The event furnished one of the red-letter days in East Liverpool of the entire World War period. Thousands met them at the C. & P. depot at 8:20 o'clock that morning. Officially greeting them were Mayor J. S. Wilson and the day's chairman, Attorney W. H. Vodrey. Frank Robinson, assisted by David McLean and Will T. Blake, was the Marshall of the parade. Though the men were in direct command of Lieut. William R. Atkinson, of Dayton, Ohio, he gracefully permitted Lieut. Allan Surles, now promoted to battalion adjutant, the third officer in rank when the men went away on the drab September morning of more than a year previously, to lead the men with Lieut. Lester McNicol up Broadway to the Y. M. C. A., where dinner was served them by the East Liverpool Red Cross, under the immediate supervision of Miss Sara Simms. After the repast the men paraded the main thoroughfares of the city. It was headed by Police Chief Hugh McDermott and a platoon of six of his men. In it were the Ceramic City and High School bands and the East Liverpool Drum Corps, Mayor Wilson and Chairman Vodrey, HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 369 the Civil War veterans, those of Foreign Wars and the preceding ones of the World War under Lieuts. Robert Brooks and John T. Burns. After another meal at the Y. M. C. A. the men were that evening escorted to the C. & P. station where they entrained for the final leg of their journey to Camp Sherman. There they were in a few days mustered out of service. No less important and making possible the work on sea, in camp and trenches of the enlisted and drafted sailor and soldier were the activities of civilians at home by which money, sustenance and the development of morale were procured and made possible. Bulwarking all done in East Liverpool and the large towns of the county was the nightly dispensation of knowledge of the four-minute men, of that done and planned by the government. In all there were 40,000 of these in the United States during the World War. Beginning with the Second Liberty Loan every war departure thereafter until the war's close was thoroughly explained by these speakers who by their brief, illuminating speeches "put over" every project attempted in the county and city. The organization was "a nation wide one of voluntary speakers for the purpose of assisting the various departments of the government in the work of national defense during the continuance of the war by presenting messages of vital national importance to motion picture audiences during this interval." In charge of the four minute men in Columbiana County was Asher A. Galbreath, of Rogers. His assistants included H. B. Barth, East Liverpool, A. D. Horton, Wellsville and Clark Firestone, Lisbon. All functioned as officials of the Division of Public Information which had been arranged for on April 14, 1917 with George Creel, veteran writer, as the head, assisted by war secretary, Newton D. Baker and navy secretary, Josephus Daniels. East Liverpool as few other cities in the country received the benefits of this organization. Chairman Barth was indefatigable in the direction of the Pottery City Contingent which was the largest in the county. Not a single night was missed by him in having speakers at theatres, churches, the high school or any gathering at which a number of people were together assembled. His reports to Ohio chairman, Harry L. Vail, Cleveland and National director, William Montgomery Blair, of Washing- (24)V1 370 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY ton, D. C., bore evidences of such superiority of work as to cause commendation. The first of the speakers to function in East Liverpool was Attorney R. G. Thompson, when on Friday, Oct. 12, 1917, at the Strand theatre he spoke on the Second Liberty Loan. Thereafter the following subjects in turn were discussed : Second Food Pledge Week, The National Y. M. C. A. Drive, Maintaining Morals and Morale, Carrying the Message, Red Cross Membership Campaign, War Stamp Campaign, K. of C. and Jewish Camp Fund, The Man of the Hour, Necessity of More Ships, Eyes of the Navy and The Dangers to Democracy, Intensive Cantonment Book Campaign, Farm and Garden Campaign, Junior Four Minute Men War Savings Campaign, The Third Liberty Loan, War Chest Fund, Dangers to Americans, Where Did You Get the Facts? War Savings Campaign, Registering For First Draft, Four Minute Singing, Fire Prevention, Food Program, Fourth Liberty Loan, A Tribute to the Allies, What Have We Won ? Red Cross Home Service, Red Cross Christmas Roll, United Work Campaign, The Fifth Liberty Loan, Bastile and Trafalgar Days. In all there were 55 different subjects discussed and 5000 speeches made in East Liverpool. At the conclusion of the war he was given a Certificate of Honor and a Fac Simile letter of appreciation from President Woodrow Wilson. They had previously been presented with badges consisting of a metallic bar cast from cannon on which were the raised figures and letters : "4-M-M-4." Those who served as four minute men under the direction of Chair-main Barth and spoke also at intervals in Wellsville and Chester and Newell, W. Va., were : R. G. Thompson, J. J. Purinton, W. Irving Lewis, George E. Davidson, Walter B. Hill, Blaine H. Cochran, W. H. Vodrey, 0. I. Jones, Dr. D. W. Macheod, Revs. Jesse J. Wyeth, C. W. Cooper, W. H. Clark, W. W. MacEwan, J. A. Spear, Alfred Walls, W. E. Wells, Louis Groglode, W. V. Blake, E. P. Geiger, S. W. Crawford, J. H. Brookes, Frank E. Grosshans, M. E. Miskall, H. B. Barth, Dr. C. P. Ikirt, Dr. R. J. Marshall, R. C. Heddleston, J. Mullen, T. T. Jones, B. L. Bennett and Misses Florence Updegraff, Edna Simms, Olive Birkett and Miss Adeline Blake of East Liverpool ; W. N. Hannun, A. D. Horton, F. L. Wells, W. F. Lones, of Wellsville ; A. A. Galbreath, of Rogers and C. B. Firestone, of Lisbon. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 371 What perhaps was never done in any previous war at least on the scientific and efficient scale they were performed during the world conflict of nations was the food, heat and coal conservation by which a sufficient supply for the allied countries and soldiers were maintained in and about the front lines of defense in Europe. In these departures East Liverpool and Columbiana County again more than maintained the standard demanded of them by the state and national governments. Appointed by Herbert Hoover, national food commissioner, Fred C. Croxton, on Sept. 13, 1917, became the Ohio head of the Commission. It began with but four employes but in a year had 200 workers with six full time volunteers. By July of 1918 there were 150 working in the special sugar division alone. Harold B. Barth was named East Liverpool Conservation Chairman by Commissioner Croxton. To "save food" broadly was the charter of the Food Commission. In three drives pledge cards were signed to this effect by householders in the city and county. The third of these, "World Relief Week" occurred on Dec. 1, 1918. On Nov. 28, 1917 Tuesdays were delegated as meatless days ; on Jan. 28, 1918 a progressive change to two wheatless days was made. The fifty-fifty rule which required the sale by grocers of an equal amount of cereal substance with each pound of wheat flour sold occurred on the following day. That limiting the consumers to a 30-day's supply in the purchase of flour was promulgated the previous December 17. Operating under the Leever act a County Threshing Commission also functioned. The County and City Food Administration Commission was composed of Mayor Joseph B. Wilson, chairman ; H. B. Barth, secretary ; George M. Wilhelem, Jason Brooks and 0. I. Jones, of East Liverpool ; Bert Burns and Harry Marsdan of Lisbon and George Imbrie of Wellsville. In addition an organization in the county, of retail merchants, was formed to display posters, store and window cards, for the preparation of the necessary food conservation and the carrying out of the needful advertising thereto. H. B. Barth, the East Liverpool representative thereon, was also its chairman. The first war bread utilized in the city and county appeared on Jan. 28, 1917. During the war the conservation of coal became a paramount necessity. This work also was in charge of a coal commission, of C. B. Hunt, 372 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY of Salem, chairman; H. B. Barth, of East Liverpool, secretary ; W. L. Foley, East Palestine and Elmer Gamble, of Wellsville. The affairs of the body were administered from Mayor J. S. Wilson's office in East Liverpool, which Secretary Barth occupied with a force of clerical assistants. By national military authority the Columbiana County draft board was appointed by Gov. James M. Cox on May 22, 1917. It consisted of David S. Brookman and Dr. J. M. King, of Wellsville and Will T. Blake and C. V. Beatty, of East Liverpool. Mr. Brookman was president and Mr. Blake, secretary. Physical examinations were made in the Y. M. C. A. building in East Liverpool for the most part, while final instructions were given the departing draftees in the City Hall at Wellsville, where also entraining for the various army camps occurred. In all financial campaigns incident to the World War East Liverpool went over the top, even exceeding by far in some instances its quota. In the first Liberty Loan, in the Spring of 1917, its allotment was $355,000 and $439,100 was obtained ; in the second in the fall of the same year $755,450 was procured though its quota was $520,000 ; in the third Liberty Loan campaign in 1918 $787,950 was procured, the quota being $503,450; in the fourth also in 1918 the allotment was $913,000 and over-subscribed to a total ; in the final one the fifth, known as the Victory Loan in 1919 the sum of $925,850 was raised though but $767,200 was asked for. In 1917 for the Red Cross fund $40,500 was procured though the city's quota was $30,000. In the same year in Y. M. C. A. war work a total of $28,800 was procured with $22,000 asked for and $8,700 obtained in the Christmas Membership Red Cross drive with an apportionment of $5,300. For the Knights of Columbus fund in 1918, $11,500 was obtained on a quota of $7,500. That year a War Chest fund of $200,000 was also raised in an enthusiastic campaign with headquarters in the Elks Building on Fifth Street. The Red Cross membership that year totaled $3,625 while the campaign for War Savings Stamps netted $463,300 from a quota of $454,300. In November of 1919 the Red Cross membership drive netted $4,043 following one in January of the same year that procured for the organization $4,100. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 373 From the war chest sums were paid for fruit pits for gas masks, various boards and committees doing work to further the allied cause. At the conclusion of the World War approximately $50,000 of the War Chest Fund was still available. Following a legal controversy it was turned over in late 1925 to the World War veterans, the sum with accumulated interest having reached a total of $53,000. Under the arrangement it was to be utilized under the direction of a board of trustees consisting of attorneys Robert Brookes and William S. Foulkes, both former soldiers ; Daniel Ogilvie, James Hilbert and W. H. Vodrey. Biographical History G. Richard Thomas is among the prominent and successful business men of East Liverpool, where he is vice president of the R. Thomas Sons Company. He was born here, Oct. 10, 1890, and is the son of George W. and Margaret (Kenney) Thomas. George W. Thomas, deceased, was the son of Richard Thomas, who founded the R. Thomas Sons Company in 1873. It originally manufactured door knobs and was a one kiln plant. In 1892 it was incorporated with the following officers: George W. Thomas, president ; L. M. Thomas, vice president and treasurer ; and A. W. Thomas, secretary. The present plant was erected in 1890 and at that time had 12 kilns. In 1905 it took over the Original Thomas China Company of Lisbon, Ohio, forming plant No. 2. This was formerly a 10 kiln plant and in 1924 a continuous tunnel kiln was added, which makes the Lisbon plant one of the largest and most modern potteries in the country. It now has a capacity of 20 kilns. R. Thomas Sons Company are manufacturers of high tension, porcelain insulators. George W. Thomas died Aug. 7, 1921, at the age of 70 years and is buried in Riverview Cemetery, East Liverpool. His wife died in 1911. They were the parents of four children : Margaret, married Frank M. Gardner, who is cashier of the Dollar Savings Bank, East Liverpool; G. Richard, the subject of this sketch ; Elizabeth, married Leonard C. Webber, proprietor of the Crockery City Ice Company, East Liverpool ; and L. M., Jr., treasurer of R. Thomas Sons & Co. G. Richard Thomas received his education in the schools of East Liverpool and was graduated from Culver Military Academy in 1909. He has since been a member of this firm, beginning in 1909 as cashier and bookkeeper. In 1919 he was made assistant general manager, and in 1921 was elected to his present position as vice president. The present - 377 - 378 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY officers of the company are: L. M. Thomas, Sr., president ; G. Richard, vice president ; L. M. Thomas, Jr., treasurer ; and A. W. Thomas, secretary. On Dec. 3, 1913, Mr. Thomas was united in marriage with Miss Frances McKim, a native of Wellsville, Ohio, and the daughter of R. E. and Mary E. McKim, residents of that place. They have three daughters: Barbara, Jean, and Marjorie. Mr. Thomas belongs to the Masons, Riddle Lodge, No. 315, A. F. & A. M.; Elks and was one of the organizers and president of the East Liverpool Country Club. He is a director of the Potters National Bank. He is a Republican and a member of the First Presbyterian Church. He is favorably known and the Thomas family has always been representative of the best citizenship in Columbiana County. The R. Thomas & Sons Company.—Columbiana County is the birthplace of one of the oldest and most important branches of the electrical industry, back in '73, during Grant's administration, America was laying the foundation for industrial supremacy of the world. New ideas were being advanced, new trades created, new businesses started and in all a golden future pictured. The overland stage was rapidly passing out while rivet. and canal transportation was popular. The population was only 39 million, yet with fifty thousand miles the United States boasted of the greatest system of railroads in the world. The telephone then was but an experiment and the telegraph, though expensive, was slowly gaining commercial recognition. The horse car provided local transportation and that year marked the first trial of the cable car. Artificial light was provided by the aid of tallow candles, oil lamps, gas burners and by the newest of all—electric arc lamps. During that year, another industry was born. The firm of Richard Thomas & Son was established at what is now known as the Pottery Center of the World—East Liverpool, Ohio. The new concern started in a modest way as most businesses did in those days and produced clay knobs and specialties. Their business grew slowly but surely and from time to time the factory capacity was increased and facilities improved. The electrical industry which until then had been but a simmering possibility, now show signs of active development. At the Philadelphia HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 379 Centennial Exposition in 1876, the first successful telephone was exhibited by Dr. Bell. In 1879 the incandescent lamp was invented by Thomas Edison. In 1881 the storage battery was invented, then called a "box of electricity," and in the same year Edison built his first steam generating plant and in the year following, the first water power plant. This activity soon influenced extensive experiments in the "Thomas" plant and early in the year 1884 porcelain was first manufactured by this pioneer ceramist although then used only in making door knobs. This was the first porcelain produced west of the Alleghenies. A warm friendship existed between Geo. W. Thomas (eldest son of Richard) and a very promising young inventor, George Westinghouse, whose name is today known so well in every part of the world. It was really due to the enthusiastic faith of Westinghouse in the future possibilities of electricity that influenced the development of "Thomas Quality" electrical porcelain which was first produced in January 1885. At the start, only one design of insulator was produced, the first shipment going to the U. S. Electric Lighting Co., Chicago, at the time of the organization of the National Electric Light Association. Later, special shapes such as lamp buttons, socket keys, cut-out blocks, etc., were made. In 1887, about the time the first practical electric street railway was built (by F. J. Sprague in Richmond) "Thomas" electric accounts revealed such names as Brush Electric Association, Detroit Electric Works, Pittsburg Electric Co., Central Electric Co., Keystone Light & Pr. Co., Westinghouse Electric Co., et al. In 1892, the firm of The R. Thomas & Sons Co., was incorporated under the laws of the state of Ohio. The "Thomas" line then consisted of three outdoor types of insulator and nearly one hundred designs for interior wiring. In 1893, all of the porcelains used in the lighting arrangement for the World's Fair at Chicago, installed by Westinghouse, were "Thomas." The third issue of the "Thomas" catalog appeared in 1894 and nearly 300 insulators were illustrated. Up to this time, transmission voltages were quite moderate, being regulated somewhat by the capacity of the insulators then available. Early in '94, Thomas ceramists commenced a diligent study of insulator design in an effort to satisfy the demands of the engineering world. Much could be written, if space permitted, of the tireless study, unique developments, discarded trials and progress made during that period. But 380 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY suffice to say, perseverance, skill and thorough working knowledge of the fictile arts again brought victory to the firm of "Thomas." Early in '96 the first "Boch" glaze-filled insulator was perfected, later to be patented. It was the first multi-part high voltage porcelain insulator manufactured. It represented the initial step toward making possible the transmission of electrical energy at higher voltages. One of the first orders recorded came from J. G. White & Co. Other early users were Montreal & St. Lawrence Lt. & Pr. Co., Helena Water & Elec. Pr. Co., Staten Island Electric Co., Pike's Peak Pr. Co., Montgomery Water Pr. Co., Jacques-Cartier Power Co., Salt Lake City Water & Electric Pr. Co., and many others. Although developed over a quarter of a century ago, it is interesting to note that many of these first insulators are still in service today. And so, we can leaf through the chronicles of "Thomas" history, reviewing many interesting accounts of the past, revealing definite milestones of progress made, reciting fiction-like tales of the achievements of this pioneer organization, but all to be considered as merely "part of the day's work" in making history of the industrial development that may be credited to Columbiana County. Millard E. Blythe, cashier of The Community Bank, is a veteran of the World War and one of the reliable young business men of East Liverpool. He was born in this city, July 22, 1888, and is the son of H. H. and Mellie (Kenney) Blythe, natives of East Liverpool. H. H. Blythe, cashier of the Citizens National Bank, is among the prominent and substantial business men of this section. He began his business career in the First National Bank and is one of the organizers of the Citizens National Bank, having served as its cashier since its opening. He is a Republican, a member of the First Presbyterian Church and belongs to the Masonic Lodge. Mrs. Blythe is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. They had three children : William, born in August, 1884, died in 1921, and is buried in Riverview Cemetery ; Millard E., the subject of this sketch ; and Margaret, twin sister of Millard, married Gilbert Follansbee, of Pittsburgh, and they reside in Steubenville, Ohio, where he is superintendent of the Toronto plant of the Follansbee Steel Company. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 381 Millard E. Blythe attended the public and high schools of East Liverpool and was graduated from Culver Military Academy in 1907. He was connected with the Citizens National Bank and later with the East Liverpool Publishing Company as cashier and advertising manager. In April, 1917, he enlisted in the U. S. army and attended the First Officers Training School at Fort Benjamin Harrison, being one of the first to enlist from East Liverpool. He was commissioned a first lieutenant, sent to Camp Sherman and later to Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama. As a member of Company A, 134th Machine Gun Company, 37th Division, he attended the machine gun school, after which he was transferred to Camp Lee, Va., and later to France. He participated in four major engagements and was commissioned captain on Feb. 22, 1919. While in France he was transferred to Company L, 148th Infantry. He was discharged May 12, 1919. After the close of the war Mr. Blythe engaged in the bond business and in October, 1924, was made cashier of the Community Bank. On Nov. 25, 1925 Mr. Blythe was married to Miss Esther G. Ankrim, a daughter of S. Proctor and Anna L. (Graham) Ankrim. A sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mr. Blythe is a Republican, a member of the First Presbyterian Church, is affiliated with the Masonic and Elk lodges, and belongs to the Shrine, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the East Liverpool Country Club. He has a wide acquaintance and the Blythe family is representative of the best citizenship of Columbiana County. J. E. McClure, the well known postmaster of East Liverpool, is a native of that place. He was born July 22, 1872, and is the son of William Mitchell and Mary (Jobling) McClure. William Mitchell McClure, deceased, was a veteran of the Civil War. He was born at East Liverpool and for a number of years was engaged in railroad construction work with the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, while the road was being built through this section. He enlisted as a private during the Civil War in Company E, 115th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served throughout the war. At the time of his discharge he had reached the rank of captain. Mr. McClure was engaged in the pottery business in later life at East Liverpool. Both Mr. and Mrs. McClure are 382 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY deceased and are buried in Riverview Cemetery, East Liverpool. She was a native of New Castle-on-Tyle, England, and came to America with her parents when only three years of age. They settled at East Liverpool. There were five children born to Mr. and Mrs. William Mitchell McClure : J. E., the subject of this sketch ; William F., East Liverpool; Margaret Belle, West Bridgewater, Pa.; George, deceased ; and Dr. Thomas Mitchell, a dentist, in Cleveland, Ohio. J. E. McClure was educated in the public schools of East Liverpool and was graduated from high school in 1891. He later attended Ohio Valley Business College and began his business career as a bookkeeper. After taking the civil service examinations for post office work he began as a substitute clerk and in May, 1895, was appointed a regular clerk. In July, 1911, Mr. McClure was appointed superintendent of mails at East Liverpool, in which capacity he continued to serve until his appointment as postmaster on April 7, 1924. Mr. McClure was married first to Miss Alice Fischer, of Calcutta, Ohio, who is deceased. He was later married to Miss Margaret House, the daughter of Reverend and Sarah House. Reverend House is deceased and his widow lives at East Liverpool. In politics Mr. McClure is identified with the Republican party. He is a member of the Methodist Church and belongs to the Masonic Lodge, Elks Lodge and the Rotary and Buckeye Clubs. Mr. McClure is an industrious and capable man, and has the esteem of his fellow citizens throughout Columbiana County. The Louthan Manufacturing Company, well known manufacturers of potters' supplies, is among the leading industries of its kind in Columbiana County. It was organized in 1901 at East Liverpool, and was originally located on Franklin Street. The founders of the company are B. M. and W. B. Louthan and during the early days of the existence of the business its products consisted of the manufacture of pins and stilts, used by potters. The business has developed extensively and they now manufacture pins, stilts, and elemite porcelain, which stands heating and cooling without cracking. Products manufactured are cores for electric heating; gas mantel rings and burner tips ; porcelain heater plates for electric ranges; radiants and back walls for the radiant fire type of gas heater. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 383 A new and up-to-date factory was erected by this company in 1913 and is located in the east end of the city. In 1924 the old factory building was closed and all work is now done in the new plant. It is 750x100 feet and is located on the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Louthan Manufacturing Company was incorporated in July, 1916, with the following officers: B. M. Louthan, president ; William B. Louthan, vice president and treasurer ; and H. S. Russell, secretary. They rank among the representative and successful business men of East Liverpool. John Albert Bryan is well and favorably known in East Liverpool, where he is successfully engaged in the contracting business. He was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, Sept. 12, 1872, and is the son of Joseph H. and Sarah Ann (Hartzell) Bryan. Joseph H. Bryan was born in Mahoning County, and was a stone mason by trade. He also owned a small farm. He served in the Civil War with the 74th Michigan Infantry, and took part in many important battles of the war. After the close of the war he re-enlisted and served for one year in Texas. Joseph Bryan died in 1902 and his wife died October 6, 1925. They are buried at Salem, Ohio. He was 69 years of age at the time of his death and his wife was 86 years old when she died. To Mr. and Mrs. Bryan were born five children: George H., superintendent of construction for the Columbiana Electric Company, Salem, Ohio; Mary E., lives in Salem ; Dallas W., plant chief for the Bell Telephone Company, Salem ; John Albert, the subject of this sketch ; and Ida B., lives in Salem. John Albert Bryan spent his boyhood at Deerfield, Portage County, Ohio, and received his education in the public schools. When a young man he learned the bricklayer's trade and after coming to East Liverpool in 1900 he became associated with Messrs. Gamble and Surles. The firm was later known as Gamble & Bryan. On Feb. 1, 1925, Mr. Bryan engaged in the brick contracting business for himself. He has offices in the Little Building. Among some of the leading buildings erected by him are the following: Young Men's Christian Association Building, Potters National Bank, American Theater, McKinley Theater, Independent Order of Odd Fellows Building, Masonic Temple, Elks Building. Patterson Memorial, Bell Telephone Building, Crook's Building, and the East Liverpool High 384 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY School Building. He has also engaged extensively in the building of fine homes. On Jan. 21, 1921, John Albert Bryan was married to Miss May Morley, of East Liverpool, and the daughter of Phillip and Elizabeth (Patterson) Morley, both deceased. Mr. Morley was a contractor and was connected for many years with the East Liverpool Sand and Gravel Company. Mr. Bryan has one daughter, Gladys Virginia. Politically, Mr. Bryan is a Republican. He holds membership in the Presbyterian Church, and belongs to the East Liverpool Country Club, Rotary Club, and Chamber of Commerce. Thomas H. Stephens is among the prominent and influential business men cif East Liverpool, where he is agent in charge of the Manufacturers Light & Heat Company. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 27, 1869, and is the son of Thomas H. and Anna (Davis) Stephens. Thomas H. Stephens Sr., was a native of England, his wife being born in Wales. They were brought to this country when children and spent the remainder of their lives here. Mr. Stephens began life in the steel mills as a roller and rolled the first steel rail west of the Mississippi River. He was later appointed general manager of the St. Louis Ore & Steel Company and was general manager of the Pittsburgh Steel & Iron Company. His wife died in 1902 in St. Louis and he died in East Liverpool in 1908. He is buried in Riverview Cemetery. Mr. Stephens was a Republican and a member of the Episcopal Church. He was also affiliated with the Masonic Lodge. To Mr. and Mrs. Stephens 11 children were born, as follows : David, lives in Milwaukee, Wis. ; George, lives in St. Louis, Mo.; M. J., lives in St. Louis ; Charles, lives in East Liverpool ; Thomas H., the subject of this sketch ; John, lives in Milwaukee, Wis. ; Joseph, died in 1900 ; Chester Arthur, deceased ; William, Harriet, and Elizabeth, all deceased. Charles Stephens is a Spanish-American War veteran, having served with Col. Joe Wheeler in the Cavalry in North Dakota. Thomas H. Stephens spent his boyhood in St. Louis and attended the public schools and Jones Commercial College. He was then employed by the Western Steel Company as assistant consulting engineer. He HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 385 remained with this company until the business was sold, when he became identified with the auditor's office of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He was later with the Pittsburgh Steel & Iron Company as assistant chief chemist and was associated with the Booth & Flynn Contracting Company of Pittsburgh. When Senator Flynn organized the California Asphaltum Company at Ventura, Calif., Mr. Stephens was sent there as assistant treasurer and when the business was sold to the Asphalt Trust Company he returned to Pittsburgh with Booth & Flynn until 1899. The company then purchased the Ohio Valley Gas Company and Mr. Stephens was sent to East Liverpool as chief clerk and cashier. Later the company purchased the Tri-State Gas Company and the Manufacturers Light & Heat Company. The business is now known by the latter name and since 1910 Mr. Stephens has been in charge of the entire business as agent in charge. In 1898 Mr. Stephens was united in marriage with Miss Clara Ritzke, of Ventura, Calif., the daughter of Dr. William Ritzke, deceased. They have two children : Loretta, married O. H. Dornan, a traveling representative for Taylor, Knowles & Taylor, East Liverpool ; and Robert G., an adopted son, who is identified with the Manufacturers Light & Heat Company. In politics Mr. Stephens is identified with the Republican party and he is treasurer of the County Republican Executive Committee. He has been a member of the school board for 12 years and served as president for three years. He holds membership in the Episcopal Church, the Masonic Lodge and Shrine. Mr. Stephens has a wide acquaintance in Columbiana County and is representative of the best citizenship in the community. John H. Morton, a successful and well known business man of East Liverpool, was born at Smiths Ferry, Pa., March 23, 1873, and is the son of George C. and Susan (Fisher) Morton. George C. Morton, deceased, ranked among the prominent business men of East Liverpool for many years. He was born at Manchester, Pa., on October 23, 1833. His wife was born near Ohioville, in Beaver County, Pa., Sept. 17, 1843, and died July 20, 1889. Mr. Morton served throughout the Civil War and after his discharge from the army became interested (25)V1 386 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY in the oil business in Pennsylvania. Later he engaged in the general mercantile business and conducted stores at Smithsbury, Frederickstown, and Island Run, Pa. After disposing of these interests in 1874 he removed to East Liverpool and engaged in the cooperage business for 20 years. He died July 16, 1900, and with his wife is buried in Riverview Cemetery, East Liverpool. To Mr. and Mrs. Morton four children were born : William, married May Scott, Rich Hill, Mo., both deceased, and they have a son, William, who lives in New York city ; Laura B., the widow of Charles H. Murphy, lives in Salem, Ohio; John H., the subject of this sketch ; and Georgia May, who lives in Salem, Ohio. John H. Morton grew up in East Liverpool and received his education in the ipublic schools. He began his business career in the jewelry store of W. J. McKinney and later graduated from Parsons Horological Institute at Peoria, Ill., and the Kandler Engraving School, Chicago. Upon his return to East Liverpool he was associated with W. D. Wade until the establishment of his present business in 1901. Mr. Morton conducts one of the finest jewelry businesses in the county and carries high grade merchandise exclusively. John H. Morton was married to Miss Mabel McIntosh a native of Wellsville and a daughter of A. D. and Rebecca (McKenzie) McIntosh. Mr. McIntosh is deceased. He was a well known shoe dealer of Wellsville and East Liverpool. His widow resides with Mr. and Mrs. Morton. Mr. Morton is a Republican, a member of the First Presbyterian Church, is a 32nd degree Mason, and belongs to the Shrine, Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce, East Liverpool Country Club and the Isaac Walton Club of America. He is esteemed throughout his community as a reliable man. Rev. O. L. Benedum, pastor of the Nazarene Church, East Liverpool. is widely known and highly esteemed in Columbiana County. He is a native of Leesville, Carroll County, Ohio, born Nov. 27, 1881, and the son of Frank and Martha (Chase) Benedum. Frank Benedum was born in Ohio, Feb. 13, 1852, and died in 1925. His wife, also a native of Ohio, was born March 3, 1854, and lives at Dennison, Ohio. They were the parents of seven children, as follows: Charles W., lives at Dennison ; C. Guy, lives at Swissvale, Pa.; 0. L., the HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 387 subject of this sketch ; Ralph C., a pharmacist with Bulger's Pharmacy, East Liverpool, was elected Mayor of East Liverpool in Nov. 1925, for a two-year term and is now serving in that capacity ; Arthur Lynn, lives at Brewster, Ohio ; Harold F., lives at Dennison, Ohio ; and Wilbert S., lives at Urichsville, Ohio. Rev. O. L. Benedum received his education in the public schools of Leesville, Ohio, after which he pursued a four years course of study at home in preparation for the ministry. His first charge was at Manning-ton, W. Va., and in 1921, he was transferred to East Liverpool. Rev. Benedum was instrumental in the building of the new church here, which is located at St. Clair and Lincoln streets. The Church of the Nazarene is among the fine churches of this section and accommodates a congregation of approximately 1,500 people. In 1907 Rev. Benedum was married to Miss Altoona G. Bates, who was born at Dennison, Ohio, Dec. 14, 1887, the daughter of G. H. and Mary Estella (Rose) Bates, residents of that place. Rev. and Mrs. Benedum have a daughter, Lulu Gertrude, born April 5, 1908. She is a student at East Liverpool High School. Rev. Benedum and his family have many friends throughout Columbiana County. Frank Crook, one of East Liverpool's successful business men and leading citizens, was born in Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, July 24, 1854, the son of Thomas and Jane (Batchelor) Crook. The Crook family is of English extraction. Thomas Crook was born in Wiltshire, England, and there learned the art of the manufacturing of textile fabrics, and when at the age of 19 years he came to the United States, he was master of all the processes used in the manufacture of woolen goods. His first work was at Hanover, Ohio, but shortly after he bought a woolen mill at Elkton, which he operated for a number of years. Later he entered into partnership with his brother, John, and together they carried on a successful mercantile business at Elkton until within a few years of his death, when John Crook became sole proprietor. Mr. Crook died in 1897 at the age of 73 years and his wife died in 1863, at the age of 47 years. They were life long members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Crook the following children were born: Mar- 388 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY tha, Mary, Sarah, Edward W., Emma, Frank, the subject of this sketch, and Ida. In 1884 Frank Crook located in East Liverpool and formed a partnership with Mr. McGraw in the retail furniture business, the firm being Crook & McGraw. They soon built up a large trade and in 1893 removed to 149 East Fifth Street. After a business association of 12 years, Mr. Crook purchased the interest of Mr. McGraw and in 1893 the business was incorporated under its present name, the Crook Furniture Company. The officers are: Frank Crook, president and treasurer ; and James Oliver, secretary. This is the oldest and one of the most complete furniture establishments in Columbiana County. In 1905 the present building was erected. Mr. Crook married Miss Jennie Fisher, the daughter of Benjamin D. Fisher of Calcutta, Ohio, and to them a daughter was born, Pauline, who married Bert Sebring, and they reside at Sebring, Ohio, where he is identified with the Sebring Pottery Company. Several years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Crook was married to Miss Dora Williams, of Columbiana County, and they have a daughter, Phyllis Crook, who lives in East Liverpool. Jesse C. Hanley, judge of the Municipal Court of East Liverpool, is a member of one of the oldest and most prominent pioneer families of Columbiana County. He is successfully engaged in the practice of law in East Liverpool and is a veteran of the World War. He was born in this city, July 17, 1888, and is the son of James N. and Cora E. (Gorby) Hanley. James N. Hanley was born in East Liverpool in 1863, the son of Charles and Susan (Kirby) Hanley. Charles Hanley was born in Belfast, Ireland, Aug. 23, 1839, the son of James and Elizabeth (Moore) Hanley. James Hanley was the son of William and Fannie (Cromwell) Hanley, the latter a first cousin to Sir Charles Cromwell. William Hanley was a farmer in County Antrim, Ireland, and lived to be 90 years of age. His son, James, was born in that section of Ireland in 1815. Charles Hanley, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came to the United States at the age of 17 years and settled in Philadelphia, where he remained until 1858, at which time he removed to East Liverpool. He served throughout the Civil War, having enlisted with the Third Ohio Independent Battery. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 389 During the winter of 1863 he contracted pneumonia and was sent to a St. Louis hospital, where he recovered. He then entered the 143rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry under Capt. William Brunt, and remained with this outfit until the close of the war. After his return to East Liverpool he engaged in partnership with Robert Hill, but later sold his interest in this business. In the fall of 1868 he built the C. C. Thompson Pottery Company plant. Mr. Hanley was a life long member of the Second United Presbyterian Church and served as Sunday school superintendent and elder. He was a Republican and a member of General Lyons Post No. 44, Grand Army of the Republic. In early manhood James N. Hanley became connected with public affairs and served ten years as city clerk of East Liverpool. In 1903 he took the office of efficient clerk of courts of Columbiana County and served in this capacity until August, 1909. He has since been actively and successfully engaged in the real estate business in East Liverpool. To Mr. and Mrs. James N. Hanley two children were born : Jesse C., the subject of this sketch ; and Hazel, married W. L. Armstrong, of Lisbon, Ohio. They reside in Urichsville, Ohio, where he is engaged in the banking business. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong have a daughter, Deborah, born in 1918. Jesse C. Hanley received his early education in the public schools, was graduated from Lisbon High School in 1906 and then spent two years at Ohio State University. He served as deputy clerk of courts for two years and during that time read law in the office of Judge James G. Moore, of Lisbon, Ohio. In 1909 he entered the College of Law, Ohio State University, and received his degree in 1912. He practiced his profession in East Liverpool from 1912 until 1918 and from 1915 until 1918 was associated with the firm of Lones & Hanley. He enlisted in the army in 1918 and was sent to Camp Jackson, S. C., and later to Pisgah National Forest as a sergeant in the quartermaster's department. In September, 1918, he was transferred to the U. S. Infantry and stationed at the Central Officers Training Camp at Camp Gordon, Georgia. He was discharged Dec. 7, 1918. Upon his return to East Liverpool he was appointed assistant to the prosecuting attorney in January, 1919, and after two years in this capacity was elected prosecuting attorney in 1920. He held this office for two terms and since 1925 has engaged in practice with offices in the Potters Savings & Loan Building. 390 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY Mr. Hanley is identified with the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, and the Columbiana County Bar Association. He is also a member of the Federal Courts. He is a Republican and belongs to the American Legion, Masonic Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Elks, East Liverpool Country Club, Chamber of Commerce, Ph i Delta Phi and Delta Tau Delta fraternities. Nov. 3, 1925 Mr. Hanley was elected judge of the Municipal Court of East Liverpool, Ohio, on a non partisan ticket, being the first to hold that office after its creation by law. Mr. Hanley is thoroughly capable in his profession and is a citizen of high ideals. Joseph Betz, a progressive and enterprising business man of East Liverpool, is one of the well known and substantial citizens of Columbiana County. He was born in Milwaukee, Wis., Feb. 14, 1863, and is the son of Joseph and Ottillia (Wanderer) Betz. Joseph Betz, Sr., deceased, was a native of Ingerkingen, Wurtemberg, Germany, born Aug. 29, 1829, the son of Andrew and Anna Marie (Glaser) Betz. Andrew Betz was an agriculturist and died in 1856 at the age of 66 years. His wife died in 1860 and they are both buried in Germany. They had nine children, as follows: Conrad, died in Germany at the age of 73 years ; Anthony, died in Germany at the age of 72 years; Ulrich, died in Germany at the age of 72 years; Martin, came to the United States in 1875 and died in Milwaukee, Wis., at the age of 56 years ; Frank, died in Germany at the age of 55 years ; Joseph, father of the subject of this sketch ; Mathias, born in 1831, died in Germany ; John, died in Germany at the age of 55 years; and Anna Marie, died in Germany at the age of 29 years. Joseph Betz came to America Oct. 21, 1854, and settled in Milwaukee, Wis. He spent some time in Switzerland before coming to America and after his arrival in Milwaukee he followed his trade of cabinet maker. He died Sept. 1, 1896, at the age of 67 years. Mr. Betz was married on Jan. 8, 1856, to Miss Ottillia Wanderer, who was born at Burgheim, Bavaria, Germany, June 17, 1833, the daughter of Joseph and Barbara (Niederreiter) Wanderer. She died in Chicago, Oct. 21, 1907, and is buried in Milwaukee, Wis. To Mr. and Mrs. Betz were born seven children, as follows: (1) Frederick William, born Dec. 18, 1856, died Nov. 26, 1923, and is buried at Fairmount, Minn. He was a manufacturer HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 391 and a prominent citizen, having served as mayor of Fairmont as well as county commissioner and postmaster. (2) Charles S., born Aug. 3, 1858, is associated with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad as an electrician ; (3) George, born June 5, 1860, died July 15, 1861, and is buried in Milwaukee, Wis. ; (4) Joseph, the subject of this sketch ; (5) John, born April 6, 1865, lives at Portland, Ore. ; (6) Elizabeth, born Feb. 14, 1868, married Joseph Breitenbach, deceased, and later removed to Portland, Ore., where she died Dec. 29, 1923, the result of an accident ; (7) Walburga, born Dec. 17, 1872, died Dec. 3, 1873, and is buried in Milwaukee, Wis. Joseph Betz attended common schools of Milwaukee, and at the age of 13 years entered the employ of a bookbinder, but later became an apprentice on a German newspaper, where he learned typesetting. When 19 years old he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked at his trade and while there he became active in trade unions. On July 8, 1887, he came to East Liverpool to take charge of the Columbiana County Zeitung, a weekly German newspaper founded by the late J. H. Simms. In 1898 Mr. Betz entered into partnership with the Orr brothers in the commercial printing business, located on West 4th Street, and six years later bought his partners' interests in the business, the firm then being known as the Jos. Betz Printing Company. In 1915 he erected one of the finest business blocks in the city, in which his printing plant is located. It ranks among the up-to-date printing establishments of the state and was incorporated on March 1, 1924, with Mr. Betz as president. On Dec. 27, 1894, Mr. Betz was united in marriage at Baltimore, Md., with Miss Louise Marie Hempel, a native of that city, born Nov. 3, 1865, the daughter of John F. and Crecensia (Raiber) Hempel. Mr. Hempel was born at Gelnhausen, Hessen, Germany, Sept. 26, 1831, and died as the result of an accident, Dec. 23, 1910. His wife was born at Altheim, Wurtemberg, Germany, May 30, 1840, and died in Baltimore, June 24, 1923. The Hempel family settled in Baltimore in 1850. To Mr. and Mrs. Betz two children were born : Louise Alice, at East Liverpool, Oct. 11, 1895, who is a graduate of East Liverpool High School and studied music at Beaver College, Beaver, Pa. She lives with her parents and is a member of the Helen Gould Club of East Liverpool ; Wilbert Alvin, born at East Liverpool, Jan. 27, 1900, is a graduate of East Liverpool High School and attended Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, and engaged in business with his father as secretary and treasurer of The Jos. Betz 392 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY Printing Company. He is a member of the East Liverpool Country Club. He was married Aug. 11, 1923, to Miss Margaret Elizabeth Kelley, a native of Wellsville, Ohio, born Jan. 13, 1900, the daughter of Charles H. and Ida (Lyon) Kelley. To Wilbert Alvin and Margaret Elizabeth (Kelley) Betz a daughter, Barbara Louise, was born Aug. 26, 1924 and died May 21, 1925. Wilbert Alvin Betz is a World War veteran, having served in the Student Army Training Corps at Pittsburgh. Jos. Betz is identified with the Republican party in politics and has served the party in many ways for a long term of years. He was township treasurer for two years. He has been secretary and treasurer of the city hospital for the past 19 years. For nine years he has served as president of the Chamber of Commerce. He is a director of the St. Clair Land Company of East Liverpool, and belongs to the Rotary Club, Elks Lodge and East Liverpool Country Club. He served as president of the Kenilworth Country Club of Newell, W. Va., for three years. Mr. Betz served as a member of the local school board from 1908 until 1912 and during that time was active as a member of the building committees in the building program of Washington, Lincoln and Maplewood schools. Mr. Betz and his family are representative of the best citizenship of Columbiana County. Lee C. Cooper.—Of pioneer stock and truly an Ohioan, whose forbears on one side of the family settled in Jefferson County prior to 1800, and whose grandparents on the other side came from Chester County, Pa., and settled in Columbiana County in 1835, the subject of this sketch, Leander Calvin Brinton Cooper, was born at Tritt's Mills, on West Beaver Creek, near West Point, Columbiana County, Feb. 1, 1879. He is named after two uncles who became mayors of Ohio cities, one at Massillon, and the other, George Brinton Cooper, at Wellsville. The latter was a member of the Third Ohio Regiment in the War of the Rebellion and was severely wounded at the battle of Stone River. Mr. Cooper is a son of the late William Penn and Mary Elizabeth (Cole) Cooper. The former was born in East Rochester, Ohio, and spent practically his entire life in Wellsville where he followed the trade of a wagon maker, and in Madison Township, Columbiana County, where for years he was a farmer. He sold his farm in 1900 and removed to East HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 393 Liverpool, where he died in 1914. He is buried in the family plot in Wellsville Cemetery. Mr. Cooper served with distinction in the Union army during the Civil War as a member of Company B, 176th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was the son of William and Jane Cooper. William Cooper, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, operated the Cooper House at Wellsville from 1850 to 1890. William Penn Cooper married Mary Elizabeth Cole, a native of Somerset, Jefferson County, Ohio, and the daughter of William and Mary Jane (Jackman) Cole. She was the granddaughter of William and Nellie (White) Jackman, who were married Sept. 27, 1803. Nellie (White) Jackman was born Sept. 7, 1782. The Jackman family came to this country from Ireland and with many other families from the Emerald Isle settled in Mount Tabor, which came to be known at that early date as "Dublin," because of the preponderance of Irish folk living there. The Cole branch of this family came to Jefferson County in 1798 or 1799 and settled on a farm near Richmond. This farm is now a part of the cemetery in that village. William Cole, maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was twice married, both times to sisters, Sabrie and Mary Jane Jackman. Four children were born to each marriage, two of whom now survive: Mrs. William Penn Cooper, who lives in Lakewood, Ohio ; and Hon. Lee C. Cole of Cleveland. Hon. Lee C. Cole, as a lad of 14 years, guided a detachment of Union soldiers from Richmond, Ohio, to Salineville in pursuit of the rebel raider, Gen. John Morgan, on the day he was captured near West Point in Columbiana County, the most northern point reached by the Confederate troops during the war of the states. He was graduated from Richmond and Mount Union colleges and admitted to the practice of law in 1872. He located in Massillon, Ohio, and after a year's residence was elected city solicitor. In 1880 he was elected Mayor and served two terms. He was elected to the Ohio legislature in 1884 and reelected in 1886. Following his legislative career he removed to Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio, where for several years he was engaged in oil production and glass manufacture. For ten years he was a trustee of the Toledo State Hospital. During their life time he was a close political and personal friend of Senator Calvin Brice and President Grover Cleveland, the latter at one time offering him a European diplomatic station. For more than a decade lie has followed the legal profession in Cleveland. 394 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY William Penn Cooper's ancestry were English Quakers, who lived for many years in and about Philadelphia and Chester County, Pa. They came to Ohio in 1835. Accordingly Lee C. Cooper is a compound of English, Irish, Quaker and Welch ancestors, the latter being traceable through his mother's grandmother, a Mrs. White. To William Penn and Mary Elizabeth (Cole) Cooper five children were born : William Oliver, a business man of Cleveland ; Robert, of Cleveland, and Larkins, Fla.; Mrs. Harry Spellman, lives in Warren, Ohio ; Mrs. Leonard Flath, lives in Cleveland ; and Lee C., the subject of this sketch. Lee C. Cooper received his education in the country schools of Madison Township, Columbiana County, and was graduated from Wellsville High School in 1896. He began life as a school teacher, teaching at Walkers and the Flats in Yellow Creek Township. He also worked on his father's farm. Since March 1, 1906, he has been extensively engaged in the insurance business at East Liverpool, with offices in the Little Building. Mr. Cooper was married Oct. 3, 1906, to Miss Alice Edna Brookes, eldest daughter of John and Elizabeth Brookes, of East Liverpool, whose families on both sides emanated from England. Long engaged in gardening and horticulture, Mr. and Mrs. Brookes are among the well known and most respected residents of East Liverpool, both being prominent in the activities of the First Methodist Protestant Church of the pottery city. For many years Mr. Brookes has been a leader in the church's musical department. Six children have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Cooper : Dorothy May, William Brookes, Ruth Elizabeth, Jean Alice. Joseph Wendell Cole, and Anita Lee, all at home. In politics Mr. Cooper is a Democrat. He is a member and trustee of the Orchard Grove Methodist Episcopal Church of East Liverpool, is affiliated with the Riddle Lodge F. & A. M. East Liverpool, has been since its erection in 1912 a director of the East Liverpool Y. M. C. A., and is a charter member of the East Liverpool Kiwanis Club. He was one of the promoters and secretary of the East Liverpool Business Men's Association for many years, which in 1912 took the form of the East Liverpool Boosters Club, which in turn finally evolved into the present East Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, of which he is and has been a member since its inception. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 395 Mr. Cooper has been since his residence in East Liverpool an aggressive member of the younger class of the city's business men. He has evinced lively interest in all departures making for the breadth of its activities in all civic, moral and religious lines. Of an athletic turn he has been particularly active in furthering physical development in the public schools and at amateur baseball circles. He has also rendered marked aid in bringing about the procuring and development of the Y. M. C. A. camp in Madison Township, which is a part of his father's farm. He has taken a lively interest in the metamorphosis of Patterson Field in the west end of East Liverpool as a playing field for the East Liverpool High School. He lives in a spacious residence on the north side of East Liverpool, from which is discernable on clear days, the three trees that grace the summit of Round Knob, the second highest point in Ohio, near which spot he first saw the light of day. Dr. Albert J. Michels is a well known physician and surgeon of East Liverpool and a veteran of the World War. He was born at Etna, Pa., Dec. 17, 1893, and is the son of John and Albertina (Offner) Michels. Both John Michels and his wife were born in Germany. At an early age they came to America and settled in Pennsylvania, later removing to East Liverpool, where he conducted a restaurant business. He died in 1917 and is buried in East Liverpool. His widow resides in this city. Mr. and Mrs. Michels were the parents of three children: Mary died in infancy ; John Joseph, married Ezora Womer, lives in East Liverpool; and Albert J., the subject of this sketch. Dr. Albert J. Michels attended the public and high schools of East Liverpool and after his graduation in 1912, he entered Bethany College, Bethany, W. Va., from which he was graduated in 1916 with the degree of B. S. In 1919 he received his degree as Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh, and spent the following year as an interne in Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh. Since 1920 he has practiced his profession in East Liverpool with offices in the Little Building. On May 9, 1919, Doctor Michels was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Elizabeth Pilstl, who was born in Rochester, N. Y., the daughter of Ludwig and Emma (Springer) Pilstl, both deceased. Doctor and Mrs. Michels have a son, Albert J., Jr., born May 7, 1922. 396 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY Politically, Doctor Michels is a Republican. He is a member of St. Aloysius Catholic Church, and belongs to the Knights of Columbus, Elks, Rotary Club, Kappa Alpha fraternity and Phi Rho Sigma fraternity. His wife holds membership in the Episcopal Church. Doctor Michels is identified with the Columbiana County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Association, and the American Medical Association. He served as a member of the Medical Officers Reserve Corps at Pittsburgh during the World War. Doctor Michels is one of Columbiana County's best known young men and is deservedly popular with his rapidly increasing practice. First National Bank, East Liverpool, Ohio.—In the year 1873 a bank became a necessity to the flourishing village of East Liverpool and vicinity. The East Liverpool Banking Company was the first bank organized. It had seven directors, a president and a cashier—the cashier being the only employe. The directors' favorite meeting place was the City Hotel, Billy Deevers, proprietor, on Second Street. This bank had a very small beginning and continued in business until 1874, when the First National was organized, April 22, 1874 ; the charter was granted by the government to commence business on April 30, 1874. Of the original 35 stockholders only two are living—Jacob Shenkle and Noah A. Frederick. Members of the first board of directors were David Boyce, Josiah Thompson, J. M. Kelly, William H. Vodrey, N. B. Hickman, N. A. Frederick and George Morley. The officers were David Boyce, president ; Josiah Thompson, vice president ; F. D. Kitchel, cashier, and Col. H. R. Hill, attorney. Each of these officers was required to give a $50,000 bond for the faithful performance of duty. At this time there were no surety bonding companies. Individual bondsmen had to be supplied. The first bond of David Boyce was signed by A. M. Davidson, T. Blythe, B. Walper, J. M. Kelly, N. B. Hickman, and Josiah Thompson's bond was signed by D. C. Thompson, John Thompson, W. L. Thompson, John C. Thompson and C. C. Thompson. The building they occupied was purchased from Huff & Co., for $6,000 and the furniture and fixtures for $125, and was located at the corner of Broadway and Second streets. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 397 In reading over the recorded minutes one finds that in 1876 Colonel W. H. Vodrey was empowered to purchase a first-rate revolver for the use of the bank. The same year the bank refused to join the American Bankers' Association. The favorite meeting time of the board was 6:30 p. m. The circulation or first currency issued by the bank was in denomination of $1 and $2 bills. Thomas H. Fisher, active vice president, is in possession of bill No. 1, which has never been in circulation. It was presented to him by Mr. Boyce and Mr. Macrum. John C. Thompson has been a director continuously for over 35 years. He was elected Jan. 8, 1889, and he and Thomas H. Fisher are the only persons connected with bank now who were associated with it at that time. In the early history, no one associated with the bank could borrow from it on any security. This rule was rescinded by the board through business necessity. In 1878 an assistant to the cashier was employed at the munificent salary of $100 per year and required to give bond for $10,000. This young man was regarded as an apprentice and as getting an education in business. He was also regarded as the most fortunate young man in the village. In 1888 the name of the genial Irishman, Patsy Kernan, appears first on the records as watchman and janitor. The banking hours were 7:45 a. m. to 4 p. m., closing from 12 m. to 1 p. m. The First National Bank observed the 50th anniversary of its founding on May 2, 1924, when members of the board of directors and the employes of the bank were guests of John J. Puriton, at a six o'clock dinner. Thirty directors and fifteen officers have served during that period. Men who have served as directors on the board since organization are : David Boyce, Josiah Thompson, J. M. Kelly, Col. William H. Vodrey, N. B. Hickman, Noah A. Frederick, George Morley, A. Blythe, W. W. Harker, J. F. Hickman, B. C. Simms, John C. Thompson, W. L. Thompson, Robert Hall, James Vodrey, O. C. Vodrey, N. G. Macrum, H. N. Harker, Walter B. Hill, Monroe Patterson, John J. Purinton, George C. Thompson, T. H. Fisher, E. H. Riggs, William H. Vodrey, Charles R. Boyce, Patrick McNicol, W. L. Smith, W. E. Dunlap and J. W. Irwin. Men who have served as officers since organization are : Presidents, David Boyce, Josiah Thompson, John G. Thompson, B. C. Simms, Hon. 398 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY John J. Purinton ; vice presidents, Josiah Thompson, .A. Blythe, J. M. Kelly, B. C. Simms, John J. Purinton, George C. Thompson, C. R. Boyce ; acting vice president, T. H. Fisher ; cashiers, F. D. Kitchel, N. G. Macrum, T. H. Fisher and W. E. Dunlap ; assistant cashiers, H. H. Blythe, T. H. Fisher, W. E. Dunlap and L. D. Bashaw. In these fifty years the officers and directors have passed safely through three money panics, 1873, 1893 and 1907. All of them proved the metal of the men at the helm. The bank opened with a capital stock of $50,000.00 which has been increased through surplus earnings above regular dividends to capital, surplus and undivided profits to over $455,000.00. The total earnings of the bank since organized approximate $800,000.00. During the five years' cashiership of F. D. Kitchel of both banks, the deposits grew to $49,000.00. The next 28 years when Mr. Marcum was cashier they grew to $538,000.00 and the 16 years Mr. Thomas H. Fisher was cashier they grew to $1,890,000.00 and since W. E. Dunlap has held the position, approximately one year and a half, to $2,550,000.00. The employes have increased in numbers from one to nineteen. The development in the business has caused many changes in the banking house and equipment during this period. First, a building was bought and then remodeled; next, a new building was built in 1889 on Washington Street. The quarters on Washington Street were remodeled five times ; outgrowing them each time until 1922-23, when was built the now most modern banking room on Fifth Street, costing approximately $260,000.00. Behind the First National Bank are fifty years of business success, years of service to their customers, which has been amply repaid by their generous and friendly patronage. It is evident that the bank is stronger today than ever in its history and all indications are that its prosperity will steadily increase with every year of business. The First National Bank with its ample capital and surplus of $450,000.00, large resources over $3,000,000.00, modern equipment, good location, up-to-date service, careful and conservative management of the officers and directors, and holding the confidence of the people in this section, will go on to greater success and greater prosperity than it has had in the past. HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 399 The D. E. McNicol Pottery Company, of East Liverpool, is one of the old established and important industries of this city. Its main plant, known as No. 1, is located on the corner of Broadway and Sixth streets. This plant has ten large general ware kilns and five large decorating kilns. High grade semi-porcelain, plain white and decorated dinner ware, also decorated specialties, are made at this plant. Plant No. 2 is located on Starkey Street and has three large general ware kilns where white semi-porcelain dinner ware is made. Plant No. 3 is located on Boyce Street, East End, where they have ten large kilns and manufacture Rockingham and Yellow ware, also saggers, and pins and stilts for their different plants. Plant No. 5, a new modern plant, is located at Clarksburg, W. Va., and has ten large kilns and six decorated kilns. High grade semi-porcelain in white and decorated is made at this plant. The history of this pottery began in 1862 when John S. Goodwin built the original plant, consisting of two kilns. After operating this plant for a few years he sold it to H. A. Marks, Enoch Riley, John Neville, and others, who conducted the business as A. J. Marks & Company until 1869, when it was sold to John McNicol, who organized a joint stock company of the following members: John McNicol, Patrick McNicol, William Burton, Sr., William Burton, Jr., Mitchell McClure, and Adolph Fritz. John McNicol died in 1882 and his son, Daniel E. McNicol took over his interests and later on from year to year he bought all the other interests from members of McNicol-Burton & Company. In 1892 he organized the D. E. McNicol Pottery Company which was incorporated. At this time W. L. Smith became interested and took an active part in the business until 1908 when his interest was purchased by Daniel E. McNicol. Since that time The D. E. McNicol Pottery plants have been operated by D. E. Mc-Nicol and his four sons: John A., Hugh L., Daniel E., Jr., and Cornelius C. McNicol. In 1914 a new plant was built by this company at Clarksburg, W. Va., which is operated under the same management. Daniel E. McNicol, Sr., president of the D. E. McNicol Pottery Company, also owns one-half interest in the pottery operated under the name of McNicol & Carns Company, of Wellsville, Ohio. This plant has six-large kilns, four decorated kilns and makes white and decorated semi-porcelain dinner ware. Daniel E. McNicol was born in East Liverpool in 1856, and is the