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has been that they have dropped steadily as economies in the art of producing, transmitting and distributing electric service improved and the widespread use of electric service increased.
Modern manufacturing methods and man's ingenuity have produced in a steadily increasing variety and at constantly lowered prices the familiar household appliances—such as the electric iron, electric toaster, electric percolator, electric fan, electric vacuum cleaner, electric stove, electric refrigerator, electric washer, electric mangle and numerous others. These have had widespread adoption in the home and have contributed to the comfortable and convenient living of the people.
Now practically every home in every city, town and hamlet in the section has electric service. Their average monthly bill for service is less than ten cents per day and they have at their disposal by a snap of a switch the capacity of mammoth plants and services of a highly trained and efficient organization. Much progress has been made in extending lines into rural territory and now thousands of farm homes have all the facilities of modern electric service at their disposal.
Ownership of one of the principal electric service companies in this territory, The Ohio Public Service Company—is vested in its thousands of stockholders who are also its customers. The plan of customer ownership is sound and has the advantage of providing a safe investment for local funds at a fair rate of return, and assuring a realization on the part of the men operating the company of their obligation to render efficient service at a low cost.
No history of the growth of the electric service industry would be complete without a prophecy of its future. Undoubtedly as much progress in utilization of this magic servant will be made in the future as in the past and the large reliable and well managed companies keep an eye ahead all the time to assure their service of being able to meet the requirements.
CHAPTER XXVII.
BENCH AND BAR.
EARLY DAY LAWYERS OF NORTH CENTRAL OHIO WHO WERE ACTIVE ALSO IN OTHER LINES OF WORK AS TEACHERS, BANKERS, NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS, CONGRESSMEN AND STATE REPRESENTATIVES-FAMOUS LAWYERS OF THIS SECTION OF OHIO-JUDGES, CONGRESSMEN AND MEMBERS OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY TODAY-CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
Wooster's first lawyer finding that there was not enough business in the new settlement for him to earn a living in the practice of his profession, turned his attentions to school teaching for which he found a very real need and the young man proceeded to meet the need in a very satisfactory way. He was a good teacher and taking a real interest in his pupils, was beloved by them and there was deep regret when he returned to the East.
The early history of the legal profession in North Central Ohio communities reveals that the early day lawyers often turned their attention to other lines of business which they followed in connection with their duties as attorneys. Some of them taught school as did the young lawyer at Wooster who is spoken of in another chapter. A considerable number from time to time represented county or district in the General Assembly and some became congressmen attaining distinction as law makers, as is the case today for a large proportion of the members of these bodies are attorneys.
At Norwalk, Judge Ebenezer Lane, who later became a judge of the State Supreme Court, was engaged in the banking business. At Medina, Harrison Blake, in connection with his work as a lawyer, engaged in banking and represented the congressional district in the Congress of the United States.
Judge Levi Cox, who came to Wooster in 1815, and who for five years was presiding judge of the Common Pleas Court and served
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for fourteen years as county recorder, established in 1817, the Ohio Spectator, Wayne County's first newspaper.
Mansfield's first lawyer was John M. May, the father of Judge Manuel May, who was on the Common Pleas bench for many years. One of Mansfield's early day lawyers who was also a newspaper publisher and banker for many years, was James Purdy, who was interested in the building of railroads. He was the president of the Mansfield & New Haven R. R. Company, which project became a part of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark line, completed to Mansfield in 1846.
In the possession of Mr. Purdy's daughter, Mrs. Helen Weaver, of Mansfield, is an old account showing how modest were the charges of this pioneer lawyer in the service he rendered in behalf of the railroad project. Among the items of this account due him as president of the Mansfield & New Haven R. R. Company, was one of March 25, 1835, two days examining Toledo & Ohio R. R. and procuring information of office, $2 ; expenses, $4 ; postage, 75c.
April 23, one day on the road, $1; in May, two days at Paris and New Haven, $2 ; expenses at Paris and New Haven that trip, $2. June 9 and 22, day on road, $1; expenses, $2; framing and drawing releases, $2. August 12, three days going to Monroeville and Sandusky City and presenting proposition of partnership, $3 ; stage fare, $7 ; other expenses, $2.75. August 9, cash to Jewett and Foote for advertising, $1.50 ; stationery, $4 ; corr. in breaking ground, $1; postage, $1; preparing contracts and letting jobs, $1; one day at Shelby, locating depot, $1. October, two days on committee at Sandusky, $2. November 1, one day committee on contracts, $1.
December, ten days at Columbus, $10 ; stage fare, $10 ; other expenses, $11; services as member of board ten days, $10. The total bill for services and expenses covering a period from March to December totaled $95, of which $47 was for services and $48 for expenses.
William Johnson, who became member of Congress, and Thomas H. Ford, who became Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, were partners of Purdy in Mansfield at one time. In other chapters mention is made of many attorneys of Mansfield who attained prominence. Among them were Mordecai Bartley and his son, Thomas, both of whom became Governor of Ohio ; Judge Charles Sherman, Senator John Sherman, Samuel J. Kirkwood, Jacob Brinkerhoff, General Roeliff Brinkerhoff, John K. Cowan, Henry C. Hedges, Judges Moses Dickey, Jabez Dickey,
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George W. Geddes, Darius Dirlam, John W. Jenner, S. M. Douglass, N. M. Wolfe and many more that might be mentioned. Curtis E. McBride, former Representative and former State Bar Examiner, was president of the Ohio Bar Association from 1922 to 1923. Judge James W. Galbreath was succeeded on the Common Pleas bench by Judge Charles H. Huston. In 1816, Attorney Alfred Kelley and William Kerr were chosen to represent Cuyahoga, Huron and Geauga counties in the Legislature. Mr. Kelley was afterwards president of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati R. R. Company. Among the Huron County judges have been Charles P. Wickham, Samuel A. Wildman and Irving Carpenter.
Judge Stevenson Burke, who attained prominence in Cleveland, was a native of Lorain County and some of the prominent judges and lawyers of that county have been mentioned in other chapters. One of these was William G. Sharp, who became United States Ambassador to France and Myron T. Herrick, Governor of Ohio and United States Ambassador to France, was a native of Lorain County. Judge A. R. Webber, now on the Common Pleas bench of Lorain County, has been the preceptor of a considerable number of attorneys, among them being Judge W. B. Thompson, now on the Lorain County bench. Lorain County Bar Association : President, H. C. Johnson ; Vice-President, D. H. Aiken ; Secretary-Treasurer, Samuel Deutch.
Noted lawyers of Knox County have been Columbus Delano, Gen. George W. Morgan, Judge R. C. Hurd, Henry B. Curtis, William Windom, Judge William H. West, afterwards of Bellefontaine, often called the "Blind Man Eloquent" ; and many others who might be mentioned. Judge Samuel Humphreyville and Harrison G. Blake of Medina County have been spoken of in other connections.
Among the Wayne County lawyers who have been mentioned elsewhere were John McSweeney, his son and grandson, Judges Frank Taggart, W. E. Weygandt, Carl Weygandt, E. S. Wertz, L. R. Critchfield, M. F. Graven, Martin Welker, M. L. Smizer, S. B. Eason and many more.
Federal Judge P. S. Grosscup, of Chicago ; his brother, G. S. Grosscup, of Seattle; Judges William Osborn, R. M. Campbell, H. L. McCray, John McCray, Frank N. Patterson, General Fulton, General Sherman, W. B. Allison are a few of the men who have been members of the A and bar in years past. The present judge of the Common Ple rt is Judge Charles C. Chapman and others who
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have been on the Common Pleas bench are Judges William T. Devor and D. Homer Graven.
Judges of the Court of Appeals in the counties represented in this review are:
Fifth District: Clyde C. Sherick, Ashland; Charles C. Lemert, Zanesville; Charles W. Montgomery, Newark.
Sixth District: S. S. Richards, Clyde; H. W. Lloyd, Toledo; R. W. Williams, Sandusky.
Ninth District: C. G. Washburn, Elyria; William E. Pardee, Akron ; Ross W. Funk, Wooster.
Congressmen: Thirteenth District, Judge William L. Fiesinger, Sandusky; Fourteenth District, Francis Seiberling, Akron; Sixteenth District, C. B. McClintock, Canton ; Seventeenth District, Prof. Charles West, Granville.
State Senators: C. J. Anderson, Twenty-seventh and Twenty-ninth District; W. G. Nickols, New Philadephia, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twenty-eighth Districts ; William R. Herner, Thirtieth District.
Representatives : Ashland County, J. Freer Bittinger ; Huron County, Clarence H. Burk; Knox County, Julius Headington ; Lorain County, P. H. Rogers ; Medina County, Dr. H. A. Baldwin ; Richland County, Frank Cave; Wayne County, D. W. Galehouse.
FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
Wayne County, although it embraced such a vast area, was not represented in the convention at Chillicothe in November, 1802, when the first constitution of Ohio was formulated for it was principally primeval forests, Indian hunting grounds. Fairfield, delegates from which were Henry Abrams and Emmanuel Carpenter, was one of the nine counties represented. The convention was presided over by Ed Tiffin, who became Ohio's first Governor ; the secretary was. T in Scott, and there were thirty-five delegates.
SECOND CONVENTION DELEGATES.
William Medill was president of the second constitutional convention, held in 1850, and the secretary, W. H. Gill. One of the assistant secretaries was Attorney W. S. V. Prentiss of Knox County and
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James Arnold from Richland County was doorkeeper. There were 109 delegates.
Ashland County's representative was John J. Hootman, a blacksmith, who came to Ohio from Pennsylvania when he was twelve years of age. Huron County's representative was a Norwalk printer, Joseph M. Farr, who fifteen years before was one of the founders of the Norwalk Experiment. H. D. Clark, lawyer-farmer, and Dr. Norton S. Townshend, physician, farmer, educator, both of Elyria, represented Lorain County. Dr. Townshend, of whose enduring work as a pioneer in agricultural education in Ohio mention is made elsewhere in this book, had a distinguished career. Born in England on Christmas Day, 1815, he settled at Avon, Lorain County, when, as a lad of fifteen, he came to the United States. Educating himself by the use of his father's library he taught district school, studied medicine and in 1840 graduated from the University of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. In this same year he was a delegate to the World's Anti-Slavery convention in London, studied in the hospitals of that city, also at Edinburgh, Dublin and Paris. He practiced medicine at Avon on his return to Ohio in 1841, later moved to Elyria. He became a Representative in the General Assembly in 1848. After having served as a delegate to the second constitutional convention, he served from 1851 to 1853 in the Thirty-second Congress, was State Senator, 1854-55. After having engaged in farming near Avon he was made a member of the State Board of Agriculture, serving from 1858 to 1863. For the next two years was a medical inspector in the United States Army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1868 he again became a member of the State Board of Agriculture and the following year became Professor of Agriculture in Iowa Agricultural College. With the opening, in September, 1873, of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College in Columbus, he became Professor of Agriculture there, serving until 1892. He died in Columbus, July95, and is buried in the Avon cemetery.
Knox County was represented in the constitutional convention of 1850 by Attorney M. H. Mitchell of Mt. Vernon and John Sellers, a farmer of Utica.
Richland County's representatives were Dr. James P. Henderson of Newville and Attorney Samuel J. Kirkwood of Mansfield. Dr. Henderson, who lived to advanced age, became one of the best known archaeologists in North Central Ohio, making substantial contribu-
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tions to the history of Richland County. He represented Richland County in the lower house of the General Assembly and was a vice-president of the State Archaeological Association. Under the old militia system, he was a regimental surgeon, was a member of the old Richland County Medical Society, became a member of the Medical Convention of Ohio in 1838 and was one of its vice-presidents in 1847. He became one of the medical censors of Western Reserve College in 1851. He located in Newville and in his old age, not a person was there who was a resident of the village when he came. All had died or moved away. He possessed one of the largest collections of Indian relics in that section of the state.
Richland County's other representative in the convention, Samuel J. Kirkwood, moved to Iowa in 1855, was elected to the State Senate the following year, became Governor in 1859 and being re-elected was Iowa's war Governor. Later he was United States Senator from Iowa and Secretary of the Interior in President Garfield's cabinet. He died February 1, 1894.
Judge Samuel Humphreyville, pioneer lawyer of Medina where he located in June, 1834, entering upon the practice of his profession, represented Medina County, not only in the constitutional convention of 1850 but also in the third constitutional convention in 1873-74. His grandson, Samuel Brainard, has autograph books containing the signature of Judge Humphreyville's colleagues in both conventions. In 1851 he was elected to the Common Pleas bench for the second subdivision of the fourth judicial district for the counties of Lorain, Medina and Summit. He was a member of the State Senate from 1863 to 1865. He died in 1881.
Wayne County's representatives in the convention of 1850 were John Larwill, pioneer merchant of Wooster and E. Wilson, a farmer of near Jeromesville, taking the place of Leander Firestone.
Another member of the convention of 1850 was a former Mansfield man, Josiah Scott of Cadiz, representing Harrison County. He located in Mansfield in the spring of 1829, practiced law in Bucyrus, was a Representative in the General Assembly in 1840. He was afterwards a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court and from 1876 to 1879 member of the Supreme Court Commission. He died in June, 1879.
Presidents of the constitutional convention of 1873-74 were M. R. Waite and Rufus King. Among the 106 delegates were the following, representing counties of North Central Ohio:
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Ashland County : Dr. George W. Hill, attorney, physician and newspaper publisher. While working as a deputy in the offices of the auditor and treasurer of the newly formed county of Ashland, he studied law and in 1850 was admitted to the bar. In 1853-54 he was official reporter for the Ohio Senate, deputy in the office of the State Auditor and in November, 1855, was appointed to a first-class clerkship in the Treasury of the United States. In the medical department of Georgetown College, he graduated in medicine in 1859 and in July, 1861, as a volunteer surgeon was at the first battle of Bull Run. He practiced medicine in Ashland, served two terms as prosecuting attorney of Ashland County, served as official reporter of the Ohio House of Representatives during the winter of 1868-69. From 1868 to 1872 he edited the Ashland States and Union and was delegate from the fourteenth district to the Baltimore convention. He wrote histories of Marion, Wyandot, Allen and Ashland counties. He died October 19, 1884.
Huron County : Cooper K. Watson, attorney of Norwalk.
Knox County : R. S. Tulloss, farmer of Utica.
Lorain County : John C. Hale, attorney of Elyria.
Medina County : Samuel Humphreyville, attorney, Medina.
Richland County : Barnabas Burns, attorney, Mansfield.
Wayne County : John K. McBride, attorney, of Wooster.
One of the pages in this convention was James G. Beamis of Elyria.
FOURTH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
The fourth constitutional convention over which the Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow, of Cincinnati, presided, organized January 9, 1912, adjourned June 7, met again August 26, 1912, and completed its work. The vice-president of the convention was Simeon D. Fess, of Yellow Springs, now United States Senator from Ohio, and the secretary, Charles B. Galbreath, former state librarian and now secretary of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. There were 119 delegates in the convention and there were submitted to the voters of Ohio forty-two amendments at a special election September 3, 1912. Most of these were carried.
Delegates from North Central Ohio in this convention were as follows :
Ashland County : James M. Fluke, farmer of Nankin.
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Huron County : Otto M. Harter.
Knox County : Raymond McClelland.
Lorain County : D. J. Nye and H. C. Redington.
Medina County : Frank W. Woods.
Richland County : Attorney John F. Kramer, of Mansfield, afterwards for two terms member of the Ohio House of Representatives, being Democratic floor leader 1913-15, special counsel to Attorney General Joseph McGee and later Federal prohibition commissioner.
Wayne County : Judge Frank Taggart, of Wooster, former state insurance commissioner.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
EVOLUTION OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION.
AIRPORTS AND BEACONS ALONG AERIAL ROUTES IN NORTH CENTRAL OHIO AS TRAVEL BY PLANES INCREASES-TRAIL-BLAZING PIONEERS AND DIFFICULTIES THEY FACED-BUILDING OF EARLY ROADS, STAGE-LINES, CANALS, STEAM RAILWAYS, ELECTRIC LINES-AUTO ROUTES OF TODAY-HOW BEE LINE FROM CLEVELAND TO COLUMBUS WAS BUILT.
Changes in communication and transportation are being made so rapidly that one can scarcely keep up with the development. Main highways have all been improved to meet the demands of increased motor travel. In some parts of North Central Ohio most of the secondary roads have been improved and in other sections this work is going forward. Airplane travel is increasing, new lines of mail and passenger planes are being established and new airports in this section of the state. There are airports near Elyria, Lorain, Mansfield, Ashland, Loudonville, Medina, Mt. Vernon, New London, Orrville, Willard, Wooster and probably by the time this history comes
from the press more will have been established. Along the airways are lines of beacons and south of Ashland is the largest and best improved emergency airplane field of more than 300 in four states. It is at the junction point for planes from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and from Cleveland, Akron and Columbus. From this place there will be hourly radio broadcasts of weather indications for mail plane pilots.
This writer can recall when a fourteen-mile journey to Mansfield and back could scarcely be accomplished in less than half a day, when there were no telephones, very few paved streets and no paved highways in this section of the state. Now even auto travel at fifty to seventy-five miles an hour covering hundreds of miles in a day is too slow and more and more people are traveling by plane. It was a long time after telephones were invented before they came into gen-
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eral use in this part of the state. Now the news of the world is received by radio in homes everywhere a few moments after the event. And television for the masses is promised in the days to come.
This history tells of the blazing of trails through the forest, the establishment of crude roads through the forest, how the building of canals aided so materially in the development of this and other sections of Ohio ; how the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark R. R. was built, the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland, the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne and Chicago, the Bee Line, the Atlantic & Great Western and other railroads in this section of the state. One of the railroads projected in the late 30s was the Vermilion and Ashland Railroad, never consummated. Near Fitchville can be seen embankments of the old Continental Railway project, which occasioned many bright visions which were destined not to be realized, the project being abandoned about 1856.
The railroad from the north into Mansfield brought passengers to the town in 1846 and a few years later extension of the road to the south was completed. Through the enterprise of Norwalk people, who became officials of the railroad, the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland line was finished in 1851-52, Norwalk taking advantage of the opportunity that Milanites ignored. The obstacles overcome in the construction of the railroad from Cleveland to Columbus are narrated further in this chapter. Similar difficulties were overcome in the construction of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago, the first passenger train on which line arrived at Wooster August 10, 1852. A national salute was fired at sunrise. At three o'clock in the afternoon a dispatch was received from Massillon that two trains were coming with 600 passengers, 500 of them invited guests from Pittsburgh and Allegheny. Before the arrival of the train 15,000 to 20,000 people had assembled at the depot, it is stated. After the visitors had arrived a procession was formed in charge of the marshals of the day, Col. R. K. Porter and J. H. Kauke, and proceeded to a grove northeast of the depot where Landlord Howard of the American House had prepared a banquet. Judge Dean gave the address of welcome and General Robinson, president of the road, delivered an address. A series of toasts followed the dinner in the evening. The fire companies had a big parade, the engines drawn by matched horses caparisoned with flowers, plumes and floating banners. "Three
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other roads have penetrated Wayne County," said Historian Douglass years ago, "but to the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad we owe the rapid growth, development and material prosperity of the county. It was a colossal enterprise, boldly conceived, vigorously executed, a monument to its projectors." The other Railroads through the county are the C. A. & C., the Erie and the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling.
ENTERPRISE OF NORWALK MEN.
As the result of the enterprise of men like John Gardiner, C. L. Boalt and Timothy Baker in the early 50s, Norwalk became a prominent railroad town. In the late 70s when the Wheeling & Lake Erie was built through Norwalk the citizens showed the same spirit that the Norwalk leaders of an earlier day had shown, raising $72,000 toward the construction of the line and to insure the building of railroad shops in Norwalk.
LAKE SHORE AND T. V. R. R.
The Lake Shore & Tuscarawas Valley R. R. was incorporated in 1870 and in October, 1872, bought from the Elyria & Black River R. R. Company the eight-mile line from Elyria to Black River Harbor (later Lorain). Later this line became the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling, after the sale of the C. T. V. & W. Railway Company.
The Wheeling & Lake Erie was incorporated in 1871; in receivership 1878, and sold in 1880. The Milan to Massillon line was opened in 1882 and Norwalk to Toledo the same year. The New York Central shops at Norwalk employed several hundred men but about 1903 were moved to Collinwood. The Wheeling & Lake Erie shops, also formerly at Norwalk, are now at Brewster.
TOLEDO & OHIO CENTRAL.
In 1880 the Toledo & Ohio Central R. R. was built to Centerburg, Knox County, and in the early 90s the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus R. R. line, now the Pennsylvania, was constructed into Knox County.
The first street car with overhead trolley in Ohio was operated in Mansfield Aug. 8, 1887, by Rufus Hale, who, for a great many years, was a motorman on the Mansfield line.
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OTHER STEAM ROADS.
The Nickel Plate and other steam roads in Northern Ohio were built and then came the era of Interurban Electric lines, hundreds of miles of these roads being built in Ohio between 1895 and 1900. The interurban line from Mansfield to Shelby was begun in 1900 and on June 19 of the following year a party of Mansfield people including Reed Carpenter, S. N. Ford, Frank Fast, C. L. Slough and this writer were with A. J. Haycox, superintendent of the line, on the first trolley car into Shelby. In 1904 the Sandusky, Norwalk & Mansfield Traction line construction was begun and finished late in the following year. The Southwestern Traction line was finished through Ashland and Mansfield early in August, 1908, in which year there were 2,300 miles of trolley lines in the State of Ohio.
DECLINE OF TROLLEY LINES.
And then came the auto era, the construction of paved roads, the business of the trolley lines suffered more and more, lines here and there were discontinued and in this present year, the Southwestern quit. Now we have the systems of auto bus lines, and airplanes, traveling across the state, are seen daily.
BUILDING OF THE BEE LINE.
And now let us go back to the early days of steam road construction in Ohio and read of the building of the Bee Line :
Though the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Company was incorporated March 14, 1836, with a capital stock of $3,000,000, and John W. Allen as first president, it was not until more than eleven years later that the actual building of the road was begun. It was four years more until the road was in operation. On February 21, 1851, 428 people including state officials, members of the General Assembly and the city councils of Cincinnati and Columbus, participated in an excursion over the line from Columbus to Cleveland, the party stopping at Shelby for a turkey dinner. As the train entered Cleveland, bands played and cannon boomed, says William B. Thom, former Huron County writer, now of New York City, in an article in the Firelands Pioneer on Early History of the Old Bee Line Railroad. There was a parade next day with a meeting in the public
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square, Mayor Case presiding and Samuel Starkweather delivering the address. There was a banquet at the Weddell House and a torchlight procession that evening. Preaching the following day to the Cincinnati and Columbus excursionists, the Rev. Samuel C. Aiken, Cleveland minister, taking his text from Nahum 2 :4, said : "In a moral and religious, as well as in a social and commercial point of view, there is something both solemn and sublime in the completion of a great thoroughfare. It indicates not only the march of mind and a higher type of society, but the evolution of a divine purpose."
Due partly to the financial panic of 1837, there were two failures in attempts to construct the line within the required time, Mr. Thom says. March 12, 1845, the charter was revived but it was not until two years later than Alfred Kelley, who has been spoken of as the greatest constructive statesman of the first half century of Ohio history, being for over forty years almost continuously in the service of the state as member of the General Assembly, canal commissioner and canal fund commissioner, came to the rescue of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad project, accepting the presidency of the company and bringing about the completion of the road.
Five routes had been considered via Massillon, Wooster, Mr. Vernon, Elyria and Marion. The last two lines included King's Corners, now New London. Columbus and Cleveland had been reproached for lack of interest in the railroad project, Mr. Thom says. J. H. Sargent, a Cleveland civil engineer, called attention, in a letter to the Cleveland Plain Dealer early in 1846, to the dangerous rivalry of Sandusky, then pushing a railroad to the south. This is said to have had considerable effect in increasing interest in the proposed railroad. But the promoters still had difficulty in obtaining subscriptions for the road. Some investors expressed the belief that if Alfred Kelley, under whose supervision the Ohio Canal had been constructed, would take charge of the project the road would be built and the matter was taken up with him. They found him disposed to decline the offer on account of his long public service during which his private affairs had been somewhat neglected, his need of rest and his desire to spend the remainder of his life with his family. Mrs. Kelley urged him not to accept but after it had been mentioned how very important the project was, not only to Cleveland but to the entire state, he told his interviewers that he would think about it and see them again next day, at which time he told them that he felt it was his duty to yield
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to their request. The president then in office resigned and on Aug. 13, 1847, Mr. Kelley was made president. He found that the people were not yet thoroughly aroused to the importance of building the road. It was decided by the directors to make a show of work on the line already surveyed, so the officials met at Scranton's Point, Cleveland, Sept. 30, 1847. Looking upon nothing but unbroken meadows, their courage was at low ebb when President Kelley seized a shovel, filled a wheelbarrow with dirt and dumped it a few yards to the south. Hailing with a shout of joy, the beginning of work, other members of the party followed Kelley's example. To hold the charter one man was employed at the same work that fall and winter until he fell a victim of sciatica and threw down his shovel. But a start had been made, Kelley presented the advantages of the road and more subscriptions were obtained. Opposition among the farmers along the proposed route was strong, Mr. Thom says. They had oxen, horses and wagons ; they didn't need any railroad. But Kelley persisted. It is narrated that one farmer who had repeatedly refused to grant right of way finally asked who was at the head of the undertaking. When told that it was Alfred Kelley, he said : "All right, you can have it. When Kelley starts a thing, he finishes it; no use trying to block him."
RAILS BOUGHT IN WALES.
Frederick Harbach, Amasa Stone and Stillman Witt received the contract for building the road. Iron rails for the road were bought in Wales. Steel rails were not laid until 1867. Mr. Thom says that the first locomotive seen in Cleveland drew a work train of flat cars up the River Street grade. This was on November 3, 1849. So many boys boarded the cars that it became necessary to stop the train and put them off. The first coaches arrived by boat from Springfield, Mass., the same year. The Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company of Cleveland built the engines.
When the line reached Berea, excursionists who rode out from Cleveland spoke of the wildness of the. country, says Mr. Thom further. The first freight taken to Wellington by steam May 16, 1850, consisted of several cars of merchandise. A little later King's Corners' travelers walked a mile northeast of town to the end of the line where they boarded the construction train for Wellington, which
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beginning July 10, 1850, had two trains a day to Cleveland. About November 12, of that year, the road reached Shelby. Construction of the line from Columbus toward Cleveland had been going forward and when the first engine reached Cardington, people in great numbers came from miles around to see the engine. They came "with well filled baskets" until the scene resembled a southern barbecue.
When the construction forces, working toward each other, met in a forest at Iberia Feb. 18, 1851, five hundred people were on hand to see the last rail laid and the last spike driven. Conductor Phineas B. Pease was in charge of an excursion train from Columbus. When President Kelley drove the last spike, cannon were fired, engine whistles blew and the crowd cheered. The cost of the road, appurtenances and equipment as represented by capital stock, funded and unfunded debts up to March 3, 1851, was $3,025,888.27. The company was practically out of debt in two years.
THROUGH KING'S ORCHARD.
At New London the railroad passed through Capt. Henry King's orchard and where the station was erected in 1862, trees once drooped under the weight of apples. The laying of iron rails was the signal for a rush of townsfolk to see the construction train, "men, women and children forming in line along the track and holding hands as a precaution against contact with the incoming locomotive." Engineer Horatio Swan and Fireman William A. Needham, in charge of the first engine to enter the town, married New London girls. Charles Knowlton told Mr. Thom that the first railroad passengers he remembers seeing arrive in New London were two men and two women, all stylishly dressed, seated on benches on a flat car. A line of daily coaches between Norwalk and New London to connect with the Bee Line was started in May, 1851, by Jones, Pantlind & Co. W. P. Curtiss said his father furnished all the stone for the Washburn bridge over the Vermillion River, two and a half miles west of Fiddler's Green, south of New London. From a dozen to twenty Irishmen boarded at his father's house while they were quarrying and cutting stone for that bridge and culverts. Quite a number of men who helped to build the road and worked on the section afterward, bought farms near New London and eventually became prosperous citizens.
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KOSSUTH'S JOURNEY TO COLUMBUS.
The famous Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth, after a triumphal reception at Cleveland where he addressed crowds at Melodeon Hall and a torchlight procession was given in his honor, journeyed Feb. 4, 1852, in a special car over the new Bee Line to present his cause to the people on his way to Columbus and Cincinnati. With him on the trip were twelve Hungarians, Governor Wood of Ohio and committees of prominent citizens of the state.
Crowds cheered him at Berea, Grafton, Wellington, New London, Shelby, at which latter place the Hungarians were banqueted in the railroad dining room. Delegations were present from Mansfield, Tiffin and other towns and Judge Jacob Brinkerhoff of Mansfield, congressman, author of the famous Willmot Proviso, and judge of the state Supreme Court, addressed Kossuth in behalf of the people, handing him a purse of $57.50. The Galion mayor presented Kossuth a letter from the citizens and at Delaware the train halted while the famous Magyar addressed an audience in a church and Dr. Edward Thomson, president of Ohio Wesleyan University, in greeting Kossuth, said : "We welcome you as an Aristides in exile to the home of the oppressed. We welcome you as a Marshal of Europe's troops of freedom to the land of Washington." By the time the train reached Columbus at 6 o'clock that evening, Kossuth's donations amounted to $312.50, of which the Hungarian Society of Delaware gave $210.
RECEIVED BY LEGISLATURE.
The Legislature, which on Saturday of that week received Kossuth and suite when the two houses assembled in the hall of the House of Representatives, was the first elected under the constitution of 1851. The president of the Senate was Lieut. Governor Medill and the speaker of the House was James C. Johnson of Medina County.
On July 7, 1852, four months after Kossuth's journey, the body of the statesman, Henry Clay, was carried southward over the Bee Line and Mr. Thom's article tells of many historic incidents in connection with this road. As early as 1851, the Bee Line, The Columbus & Xenia and the Little Miami, operated three trains between Cleveland and Cincinnati and a joint arrangement with the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula opened a route to the east. For more than ten years, wood was the only fuel used. Woodsheds, each with a storage capacity of 9,000 cords, were built in 1852 at stations along the line.
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During 1857, 27,429 cords of wood in engines, station houses, etc., were consumed. The first Bee Line engine to burn coal was the "Pennsylvania" in 1861, but it was not until 1875 that all of them used coal.
In ante-bellum days, fugitive slaves on their way to liberty, are said to have been carried secretly. Mr. Thom says that his father at New London took runaway slaves from Bee Line box cars, hid them in his home and after dark, showed them the way to freedom. The Bee Line station agent at Greenwich, Hiram Townsend, is said to have aided the fugitive slaves, turning them over to Quakers in that region.
TROOPS TRANSPORTED.
From the opening of the road in February, 1851, to 1860, not a passenger was killed or injured. Over this road April 17, 1861, the Cleveland Grays, on the way to war, traveled and from that time on during the conflict, large numbers of soldiers were carried. In 1863, the Bee Line carried 47,618 Union soldiers. Thousands drank at the New London station well and Mr. Thom says he never will forget the cheers with which they left New London on their way to the Southland or the jubilant days of their return. The first station agent at New London was David Kilburn. Later station agents were Ira Liggett, Stanley Foster, W. A. Smith and C. A. Hall. The telegraph operator there in 1860 was Charles Runyan. In 1863, a rail repair shop, working two fires, was built at New London. Oscar Townsend, who was president of the Bee Line from 1870 to 1873, was a son of Hiram Townsend, first station agent at Greenwich. Hiram M. Townsend, another son, was one of the first conductors on the Bee Line in 1852 and became superintendent of the Lake Shore & Tuscarawas Valley in 1872.
Bearing the body of the martyred President to Columbus, the President Lincoln funeral train, preceded by the pilot engine "Louisville," passed over the Bee Line in the early morning of April 29, 1865, leaving Cleveland at midnight. It consisted of nine coaches drawn by the engine "Nashville." The body of the President was in the ninth car. It stopped at New London about five minutes. Among the distinguished passengers were Governor Brough of Ohio and Major General Joseph Hooker. Mr. Thom says that as the train passed over the road that night, flags floated at half mast, bonfires and torches blazed, minute guns boomed, bells tolled and stations were thronged with sorrowing people.
CHAPTER XXIX.
COLLEGES AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
ALUMNI AND FORMER STUDENTS OF NORTH CENTRAL OHIO COLLEGES LISTED IN "WHO'S WHO"-FIVE FAMOUS OBERLIN EDUCATORS ARE HONORED-SOME FIGURES REGARDING OBERLIN, WOOSTER AND KENYON-ASHLAND COLLEGE EXTENDING ITS INFLUENCE-BRETHREN PUBLISHING HOUSE-ENROLLMENT OF CITY, RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS OF NORTH CENTRAL OHIO IN 1930.
North Central Ohio has been a leader in popular education from the early decades of the nineteenth century. In the log schoolhouses in the clearings, in the institutions of higher learning, like Oberlin and Kenyon, established in the depth of the forest ; in numerous academies, like Norwalk, McGregor's at Wadsworth and the one at Ashland, of which Lorin Andrews was the principal ; and in the union schools a mighty work was accomplished and the foundations well laid for our wonderful educational system of today. In other chapters we have told of these log cabin schools, early day academies and the establishment of Oberlin, Kenyon, Wooster and Ashland colleges.
In the 1930-31 edition of "Who's Who in America," only 139 colleges in the entire nation have so many as twenty alumni listed, but thirteen colleges of Ohio have more than a score of their alumni included. Oberlin has 121, and the college of Wooster sixty-eight. Only twenty-six colleges and universities in the nation have more alumni included than does Oberlin.
The Wooster College Alumni Bulletin stated a few months ago that the latest edition of "Who's Who in America" contains the names of 174 people who are, or have been, associated with Wooster College. Within this group are 80 alumni, 26 former students, 23 graduate department members and 45 holders of honorary degrees. There are quite a number of distinguished alumni of Kenyon College and
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some of Ashland College regarding whom we do not have exact figures.
E. M. Hickin, librarian of the Kenyon College Library, mentioned elsewhere, states that at the end of the last college year the library contained 30,688 books. Endowment funds of the institution are $1,934,684 and the value of the educational plant is $1,784,957.
Five famous Oberlin educators of the past are commemorated in the buildings of the new $600,000 quadrangle of the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology, now nearing completion. The main building has been named Bosworth Hall, honoring the late Dr. Edward Increase Bosworth, dean of the Graduate School until his retirement in 1923, four years before his death.
The west wing has been named Meade Hall, honoring Hiram Meade, one of the former professors of the Theological Seminary.
The north wing is Shipherd Hall, commemorating the Rev. John Jay Shipherd, who with Philo P. Stewart, founded the institution ninety-eight years ago.
Morgan Hall, the east wing, honors John Morgan, one of the founders of the School of Theology. The chapel room of the quadrangle has been named for James H. Fairchild, former president of the college.
In 1930 a group of students at Oberlin College formed the Oberlin Peace Society, which in February, 1931, had 750 members. One of the organizers was Prof. Oscar Jaszi, a former exiled member of the cabinet of Count Karolyi's government in Hungary, now head of the political science department at Oberlin. Students of Yankton (South Dakota) College have formed a branch of this organization and active work in behalf of international peace among college groups is being carried forward.
It is probably unknown to many that the great electrician, Elisha Gray, who is declared to have been the real inventor of the telephone, worked out some of his inventions while he was a poor student at Oberlin, and that when his health broke down, he conducted for a while a dairy near Oberlin, the future scientist delivering the milk to his customers in the college town. Prof. Gray made many inventions, among which were a system of Multiplex telegraphy, type-printing telegraph and the telautograph.
Presidents of Oberlin have been : Rev. Asa Maham, Dr. Chas. G. Finney, James H. Fairchild, Wm. G. Ballentine, Rev. John Henry
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Barrows, Dr. Henry C. King and Dr. E. H. Wilkins. Dr. King was president for twenty-five years and was succeeded in 1927 by Dr. Wilkins.
In the alumni catalogue of the college of Wooster for 1930 are listed 8,759 alumni and non-graduates, of whom more than 7,000 are Wooster people still living. To foreign countries 235 catalogues were sent, mostly to Wooster graduates now in the mission fields. Students now at the college of Wooster represent twenty-four religious denominations, of whom 496 are Presbyterians, 129 Methodists, thirty-seven United Presbyterians, thirty-three Lutherans, thirty-two Reformed, twenty-four Christians and Congregation ; twenty-six did not indicate a denominational faith.
The college on the hill at Ashland suffered vicissitude within a few years after it was opened in September, 1879, but in the last fifteen years or so the institution has gone forward steadily. It now has an endowment of $654,000, four splendid buildings, two of which are new, the library building and the gymnasium ; it has a campus of eighteen acres, fine athletic field ; the enrollment this semester is 312, besides a Saturday school for teachers and a summer normal school which has an enrollment around 335, the total enrollment for the year being about 800. One-half of the students are from Ashland and Richland counties and the rest from various states. The value of the college property is estimated at about $650,000. The following is a list of the presidents of the college : Rev. C. Z. Sharp (1878-1880) ; Rev. R. H. Miller (1880-82) ; Joseph E. Stubbs (1882-88) ; D. C. Christner (1888-94) ; Dr. S. S. Garst (1894-95) ; J. M. Tombaugh (1895-98) ; J. Allen Miller (1898-1906) ; J. L. Gillen (1906-11) ; W. D. Furry (1911-17) ; E. E. Jacobs (1917—).
The president of the board of trustees is the Rev. George Ronk of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the secretary, the Rev. Dr. R. R. Teeter, manager of the Brethren Publishing Co., Ashland. The college library has 12,000 volumes, also the start of a splendid museum with quite a collection of curios from South Africa. Miss Lulu Wood is the librarian.
Among the graduates and former students are Dr. John H. Worst, former Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota and for a quarter of a century president of the Agricultural College at Fargo, N. D.; A. H. Lichty, prominent in Y. M. C. A. work for many years and now professor in a Y. M. C. A. college in the South; Bryan S. Stoffer,
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missionary of the Congregational board in India and president of a college in that land. Among its former students are ministers of many denominations, judges, lawyers, college, university and high school teachers, doctors and nurses, missionaries, men trained in technical and engineering arts. As someone has said : "Perhaps the greatest contribution that a college such as Ashland makes to the life of the nation is to be found in the sterling and sturdy characteristics of genuine manhood and noble womanhood."
The Rev. Dr. J. Allen Miller, dean of the Theological Seminary, is completing a history of the college upon which he has been at work for some time.
The publishing house of the Brethren Church is in Ashland and for twelve years has occupied its own building. In addition to publishing the Brethren Evangelist, official organ of the church, it publishes Sunday School literature, various periodicals. Dr. R. R. Teeter is manager of the company ; Rev. George S. Baer has been editor, for twelve years, of the Evangelist, and the Rev. Dr. Charles A. Bame is editor of Sunday School literature.
ENROLLMENT OF CITY SCHOOLS
D. J. Boone is superintendent of Lorain Schools and P. C. Bunn is principal of the high school. The city has sixty-eight teachers with 2,263 pupils enrolled in the high school and 6,245 enrolled in the grade schools, or a total enrollment of 8,508. There are fifteen school buildings which with equipment have an approximate value of $3,335,000.
Elyria has thirteen school buildings which are valued at $2,250,000. There are 1,522 pupils enrolled in the high school here with fifty-eight teachers ; there is an enrollment of 3,730 pupils in the grade schools which have 222 teachers. This makes a total enrollment in the city of 5,252. R. C. Maston is superintendent of schools and C. P. Shively is principal of the high school.
Wooster has a total enrollment in her schools of 2,280 ; 820 of this enrollment is in the high school and the remainder (1,460) is grade school enrollment. There are five school buildings here and thirty-four teachers are employed. The buildings and equipment are valued at $1,120,000. George C. Maurer is superintendent of schools and Miss Lura B. Kean is principal of the high school.
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J. E. Bohn, principal of Ashland High School, has 969 pupils enrolled, while 1,225 pupils are enrolled in the Ashland grade schools. There are six buildings, valued at $985,819.43 and eighty teachers are employed. The total enrollment for the entire city is 2,194 and E. L. Bowsher is superintendent of schools.
The five school buildings, with equipment, at Bellevue have a valuation of $700,000. There is a high school enrollment of 351 and a grade school enrollment of 960, making a total of 1,311. Alfred Ross is principal of Bellevue High School and C. M. Carrick is superintendent of schools.
The superintendent of Wadsworth schools is Frank H. Close. The high school, of which C. J. Mayhew is principal, has an enrollment of 658 pupils. There are 882 scholars enrolled in the grade schools, which brings the city's total enrollment to 1,540. The three school buildings and the equipment therein are valued at $650,000 and forty-three teachers are employed.
Mt. Vernon's total school enrollment is 1,964, with 714 of ;these being enrolled in the high school and 1,250 in the grades. There are six school buildings, which with equipment are valued at $560,000, and twenty-seven teachers. A. W. Elliott is superintendent of schools and John D. Geiger is principal of the high school.
Shelby has four school buildings, with a total enrollment of 1,190. Seven hundred and sixty-five scholars are enrolled in the grade schools, while the high school enrollment is 425. There are eighteen school teachers. The value of the buildings and equipment has been set at $530,000. R. I. Lewis is superintendent of schools and C. G. Tenor is principal of the high school.
C. C. Patterson is superintendent of schools in Norwalk and there are six school buildings where the 1,227 pupils attend. There are 365 pupils who attend the high school and 562 attending the grades. Twenty teachers are employed. James E. Cole is high school principal. The approximate value of buildings and equipment is listed at $500,000.
At Shiloh, where Paul H. Weaver is superintendent of schools, 275 pupils are enrolled. D. E. Bushey, principal of the high school, has 120 pupils and the remaining 155 are grade school scholars. Twelve teachers are employed in Shiloh and the value of the two buildings and equipment has been estimated at $200,000.
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G. S. Wright, superintendent of schools at Lexington, gives the valuation of the two school buildings there, with equipment, at $175,000. There are seventeen teachers teaching the 513 pupils enrolled in Lexington, 226 of which attend the high school and 287 the grades. I. H. Brune is high school principal.
Superintendent C. I. Landis, of Willard, gives the total enrollment of Willard's four schools as 1,105, over which there are thirty-four teachers. The grade school enrollment is 781 and the high school, of which H. L. Bowman is principal, has 324 enrolled.
MANSFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
C. A. Waltz, superintendent of schools at Mansfield, gives the total enrollment of the Mansfield schools as 6,254. Jesse Beer is principal of the high school, which is valued at $805,000 and which has forty-six faculty members and 1,000 pupils enrolled.
Mansfield has eleven city and three rural schools under its jurisdiction with a total enrollment of 6,254 pupils and 196 teachers.
Number of teachers at the various schools are : Senior High, forty-six ; John Simpson Junior High, forty ; Hedges Junior High, ten; Brinkerhoff Elementary, eight; Bowman Elementary, twenty-three ; Carpenter Elementary, nine ; Hancock Heights, one; Hedges Elementary, thirteen ; Newman Elementary, eleven ; Prospect Elementary, eight; Roseland, one ; Trimble, one; Western, eight ; West First St. Elementary, six ; Bushnell Elementary, seven.
VILLAGE AND RURAL SCHOOLS.
Ashland County's school superintendent is 0. H. Maffet. There are ten centralized schools, thirty-seven one-room schools, three two-room schools which have a total enrollment of 3,361. Of this number, 2,579 are elementary scholars and 782 high school pupils.
J. H. Grove is county superintendent of schools of Knox County. There are eighty-five one-room schools and five centralized schools. The total enrollment for the county's rural and village schools is 4,380.
Lorain County has a total enrollment in the rural and village schools of 6,972. There are twenty-five centralized (or consolidated) schools and nineteen one-room school buildings. R. P. Vaughn is county school superintendent.
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Richland County's school superintendent is John W. Kern. There are ten consolidated schools, seventy-eight one-room schools and a total enrollment in the county's rural and village schools of 4,632.
The total enrollment of Wayne County's rural and village schools is 8,281; of this number 6,575 are elementary students and 1,706 are high school pupils. Seven schools are partly or wholly consolidated and eighty-nine are one-room schools. C. A. Gibbens is county school superintendent.
Huron County has a total enrollment in the rural and village schools of 3,129. There are, in the county, thirty-four one-room schools and thirteen centralized schools. E. A. Bell is superintendent of Huron County schools.
Medina County has no one-room schools. There are seventeen consolidated schools. County school enrollment, 4,800 ; Medina village, 1,200; Wadsworth city, 1,540. S. H. Babcock is county superintendent.
CHAPTER XXX.
YOUNG BUCKEYES' ACHIEVEMENTS.
ACTIVITIES OF BOY SCOUT TROOPS IN NORTH CENTRAL OHIO-SCOUT CAMPS AT FLEMING'S FALLS AND IN HURON COUNTY-EAGLE SCOUTS-FARM BOYS AND GIRLS OF 4-H CLUBS-SPLENDID WORK THEY ARE DOING IN MANY PRACTICAL PROJECTS-LIVESTOCK RAISING AND DOMESTIC SCIENCE-YOUNG DEBATERS, SPELLERS, WRITERS, MUSICIANS.
The Boy Scout movement in North Central Ohio has had a most gratifying development within the past decade and especially within the last half-dozen years. The Johnny Appleseed Area Council embraces the troops of Ashland and Richland counties and part of Crawford County, with Floyd Dent of Mansfield as Scout Executive. Huron County is in the Firelands Area, of which George E. Chronic of Sandusky is Scout Executive. It includes besides Huron, Erie and the two northeast townships of Seneca County. The troops in Lorain County are in the Cleveland Area Council, of which George E. Green is executive and are in charge of E. W. Rule of Elyria, Scout Commissioner. Wayne County belongs to the Canton Area, of which George M. Deaver of Canton is executive. The Medina County troops are part of the Akron Area Council with D. M. Ramsay as Scout Executive. Knox County belongs to the Coshocton Area Council and the Scout Executive is Charles M. Hickman of Coshocton. "Do a Good Turn Daily" is the scout motto.
It was not so long after the Boy Scouts of America organization was incorporated, Feb. 8, 1910, that Boy Scout organizations began to be formed. Some of these troops continued for a long time and though the work was not then organized so thoroughly as it is in these days, these pioneer troops demonstrated scouting in such an effective way that it materially advanced the movement in the years that followed and helped to establish the work in later years. The beginning of the Boy Scout work in Ashland in 1913 was the result
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of a mass meeting during Ashland's first chautauqua, August 19th to 25th of that year. A scout council of ten was named, organizing by making Rev. William Smith, president ; C. A. Mcllvain, vice president; W. A. Duff, secretary ; George R. Freer, treasurer. These with Rev. Dr. W. E. Bryce and Dr. W. F. Emery constituted the executive committee. W. L. Kershaw, at that time general secretary of the Y. M. C. A. was made Scout Commissioner and Ard Blackford, Scoutmaster. For a number of years Mr. Blackford labored indefatigably for the advancement of scouting and another who did considerable work along this line in Ashland was E. W. Craven. Large numbers of the boys who were members of these early troops now occupy positions of importance in the business and professional world.
Scouting today is on a much more elaborate scale, for its far-reaching influence is increasingly recognized. Dr. William J. Cooper, United States Commissioner of Education, said in 1930 that scouting is making effective methods of education which the educational system has long been feeling for but has not succeeded in putting into effect. Analyzing the success of the scout program, he pointed out that it is a system of giving, rather than getting ; provides a selection of activity fitted to the individual ; a unique scheme of vocational exploration ; an effective plan for associating boys with men of character ; tends to develop creative ability and presents its code of ideals as a thing to be done, teaching helpfulness through the daily good turn. A recent report points out that each criminal in the nation costs as much as the welfare influence in the lives of 160 normal boys and that delinquency flourishes in neighborhoods apathetic to child activities.
ASHLAND COUNTY SCOUTS.
Of the fifteen Boy Scout troops in Ashland County, five are in Ashland. There's a very aggressive bunch of Boy Scouts at Loudonville, who in April, 1930, planted hundreds of little trees on Reservoir Hill overlooking the town of Loudonville and the picturesque valley of the Blackfork. 0. D. Culler is Loudonville chairman. Glenn Haller of the Eagle Rubber Company is president of the Ashland Boy Scout Council ; Floyd Stahl, president of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, vice president ; C. A. Davies, scout commissioner ; Postmaster Arthur Vanosdall, court of honor chairman ; Gaylord Freer, finance committee chairman ; Harry Vanosdall, chairman of civic committee ;
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Jack Lentz, camp committee chairman ; and J. E. Arnold, chairman leadership and training committee. There are about two hundred Boy Scouts in Ashland County and several new troops were in the process of formation in the spring of 1931. In a forest near the Country Club, the scouts have a log cabin which is the scene of many scout events.
RICHLAND COUNTY SCOUTS.
Richland County, also in the Johnny Appleseed Area, has twenty-four troops, of which fifteen are in Mansfield. Louis A. Ott, of Mansfield, is president of the Johnny Appleseed Area Council. There are four troops at Galion and one at Crestline. At the beginning of the year 1931 there were close to 700 scouts in this area and the 1931 goal, to the achievement of which aggressive efforts are being put forth, is 1,000.
FIRELANDS AREA.
G. E. Chronic, scout executive of the Firelands Area, states that Firelands Area Council was officially organized in 1925. Troops are located in Sandusky, Norwalk, Castalia, Vermilion, Berlin Heights, Wakeman, New London, Willard, North Fairfield, Huron and Attica. In January, 1931, there were in the area, twenty-five troops and almost 600 scouts. With scout masters, committee men, merit badge counselors, the number of scouts and scouters was 801, of whom 380 were in Huron County. Huron County Eagle Scouts were Alfred Tanner and James Stout of Willard ; William Saladin and Charles Jamison of Norwalk. Scout Executive Chronic estimates that during a period of five years about 1,000 boys have had the privilege of being scouts in Huron County.
The executive board of the Firelands Area Council consists of James F. Flynn, Jr., president ; A. F. Cronenberger, vice president ; E. A. Bell, second vice president ; Wm. Schoeneman, third vice president ; L. E. Eger, treasurer ; P. L. Null, scout commissioner ; Earl Curtis, George C. Hill, Frank J. Prout, A. W. Lutz, R. C. Snyder, W. W. Lawrence and R. R. Robertson.
The Boy Scouts of the Firelands region will have for their recreational activities a 250-acre tract of land, if a movement proposed at a meeting in January, 1931, is consummated. Through this tract, which is called the Lovers Lane land, one of the most picturesque
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regions in that part of the state, flows the west branch of the Huron River. The Huron shale cliffs carved out by the river and creeks are inspiring. It is said that these scenic wonders with their mysteriously fashioned concretions and other attractions, were formed in the Devonian Age, possibly seventy million years ago, and are ideal for geological study, an open book of nature's wonders. Over the shale cliffs is the glacial drift.
BOY SCOUT CAMP.
Flemings Falls near Windsor, one of the most picturesque regions in Richland County, is now the Avery Hand, Jr., Boy Scout Camp, having been purchased by Charles F. Ackerman of Mansfield a few years ago. In this delightful place, which for many years was a summer resort, hundreds of Boy Scouts of the Johnny Appleseed Area go into camp during the summer months in relays of fifty or more. The camp consists of about eleven acres with buildings and equipment for a variety of recreational activities. Scouts of the other areas also have places where they camp and in addition to the benefits of recreation the scouts receive instruction in the various lines of scoutcraft, love of nature is increased, highly beneficial influences that will go with them all their days. These citizens of tomorrow are receiving some very practical help.
LORAIN COUNTY SCOUTS.
The present work of the Boy Scouts in Lorain County was organized about 1925 by Herbert Money, a field executive from Cleveland. At first Lorain County was included with Medina and Wayne counties with headquarters at Cleveland, Mr. Money residing at Wooster. March 1, 1928, Scout Commission E. W. Rule succeeded Mr. Money in charge of the work in Lorain County. At the time the work was organized five years ago, there was a troop in Wellington which had been in existence for ten years or more, also one at Oberlin which had seen about eight years of activity. Lorain had two or three troops. In 1925 seven troops were organized in Elyria. At that time there was no active Boy Scout troop in Elyria. About fifteen years ago the work was sponsored by the Elyria Y. M. C. A. and a troop carried on for about five years. "It finally dropped out," says Scout Commissioner Rule, "and there was no scouting for a few
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years until our present organization was completed and charters issued to the seven troops, dated May 31, 1925. One troop of colored boys, sponsored by the Second M. E. Church, carried on for two years and then dropped. Number Six was a troop sponsored by a group of citizens but only existed a little over a year. Troop One dropped out but the balance of the troops are still going well. We have had in Elyria in the past two years, two other troops."
Lorain has seven fine troops with a membership of 267 boys. In January, 1931, there were twenty-five Boy Scout troops in Lorain County with a total membership of 535.
The first Eagle Scout in the county was Lawrence S. Wells of Troop One, Wellington, in June, 1927. Next was Frederick Rule, Troop Four, Elyria, January, 1928. Since then the following boys have received the badge of the Eagle : Lorain, Frank Molock, Dick Griffin, Bernard Nelson, David Goldthrop, David Garver, Richard Jameson, Melvin Kolnert, Ben Schwartz, Norman Webber, Vaughn Flaherty, Roscoe Pape, Robert Amsden, Albert Joyce, James Frances, Vernon Flaharty, Kenneth Keister, William Higgins and Frank Shaffer; Elyria, Richard Betteridge, William Glover, Richard Gould, Kenneth Mitchell, Robert McWilliams, William Auld, Tom Hallaur ; Wellington, Angelo Dublo, Robert Gott ; and John Sharp, Amherst.
MEDINA COUNTY TROOPS.
In the Akron Area Council there are 124 troops with 3,364 scouts, Scout Executive D. M. Ramsey of Akron states. In Medina County there are 296 scouts. In January, 1931, there had been in the whole area council 176 Eagle Scouts. Those from Wayne County were: Earl Clement, Milton Escovitz, Ross Shenk, Glen Shepler, all of whom attained the honor in 1930. President of the Akron Area Council is M. M. Kindig, Akron; vice president, Frank H. Adams; treasurer, Frank S. Carpenter ; scout commissioner, E. L. Marting. District chairmen in Medina County were Jean C. Hiestand, Lodi; H. E. Aylard, Medina ; A. J. Krabill, Wadsworth. Medina County communities having Boy Scout troops were Wadsworth, Seville, Lodi, Medina, Bennet's Corners and Brunswick. In the Akron Area are the following Wayne County towns : Doylestown, Creston and Rittman.
Scout Executive George M. Deaver of Canton says that there are in the Canton Area, fifty-three troops with an enrollment of 1,309
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scouts. In the seven Wayne County troops in this area are 162 scouts. F. G. Hoover of North Canton has been re-elected president of the Canton Area Council and A. L. Fabens of Wooster is one of the vice presidents of the Area Council and president of the Wooster district. The Wooster Boy Scouts cabin at the Pee Wee Hollow Reservation was enlarged near the close of 1930.
Knox County is in the Kno-Co-Ho-Tus Area, of which C. M. Hickman of Coshocton is scout executive. Scouting in Mt. Vernon was organized eleven years ago by Morris Mitchell, now general secretary of the Mt. Vernon Y. M. C. A. He is now scoutmaster of one of the Mt. Vernon troops and Robert McKown, physical director of the Mt. Vernon Y. M. C. A., is in charge of the other. The Mt. Vernon Eagle Scouts are Ralph Houck, Lester Williams and Webster Buell. In January, 1931, a troop of thirty-two members was organized at Danville.
Ashland Boy Scouts, with other scout troops of the Johnny Apple-seed Area, had the privilege of seeing and hearing the world's most famous scout, Paul A. Siple, of Erie, Pa., who spoke at the McDowell auditorium in Ashland, March 13, 1931, on "A Boy With Byrd." This young sea scout, who was with the Admiral Richard E. Byrd Antarctic Expedition, when the famous explorer flew over the South Pole, was chosen from thousands of scouts on account of his unusual ability, experience and training. The youngest member of the expedition, Scout Siple, who was nineteen when he departed with the expedition, celebrated his twenty-first birthday anniversary on the Antartic ice. He is now in his junior year at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa. He has also addressed Boy Scouts in other parts of North Central Ohio.
In other chapters the work of the Girl Reserves, which organization is having a very substantial growth, is spoken of. The importance of these very practical societies along so many useful lines, especially in inculcating greater love of nature and the highest and most generous ideals can scarcely be over-estimated. The Campfire Girls and similar societies are also building for the future. We wish that we could devote more space to the self-reliant, energetic, generous-hearted young people of all these organizations.
The following is a list of the Eagle Scouts in Ashland and Richland counties of the Johnny Appleseed Area: Richland County,
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Robert Eilenfield, Herbert Endly, Charles Rowlands, Joseph Bayer, Eugene Almy, Karl Lindeman, Ralph Wappner, Jack Summerville, Robert Kern, James Crall, Wilson Kingsboro, Paul Stephans, Larry Twitchell, David Oberlin, Karl Giller, Mark Wolcott, Francis Crall, Perry Cook, Richard Olin, Richard Perrin, William Terry, Donald McCutchan, Robert Fisher, Robert Baker, James Hughes, John Davey, Jr., Eugene Zediker, Richard Taylor, Richard Wolcott, John Van Wagner, Robert Rohrer, Jack Twitchell, Thomas Marinis, Leroy Sweval, George Columbus, Gilbert Morgan, Raymond Turner.
Ashland County : Wayne Sprang, Harold Kiddney, Rex McDowell, Allen Gaetj ens, William Krumlaw, Willis Krumlaw, Wayne Beardsley, Weldon McGuire.
One would like to speak of the Girl Reserves, Camp Fire Girls and other equally meritorious organizations.
FOUR-H CLUBS IN NORTH CENTRAL OHIO.
The remarkable work which farm boys and girls of Ohio are doing in the 4-H Clubs is deserving of an important place in this history, for these young people are leading the way, not only to greater achievements in crop raising, live stock and domestic science, but they are demonstrating the infinite possibilities of persistent, intelligent efforts of young people—and older people as well—along all the lines of useful endeavor. These boys and girls of North Central Ohio, along with all the other boys and girls of this state and throughout the nation enrolled in these club projects, pledge their heads to clearer thinking, their hearts to greater loyalty, their health to better living for club, community and the nation. "To make the best better" is the club motto and the increasing efficiency which these young people are showing demonstrates that they are exemplifying along all these lines of work the club ideal.
Like the Boy Scouts, these young people will be leaders of the coming generation. In their communities and many of them in the larger relations of county and state. The enrollment in Ohio in 1930 increased to 37,000, but there are in the state 350,000 boys and girls who are eligible to participate in these activities. The seven counties of North Central Ohio are well represented in the 4-H Clubs and in the numerous projects. Enrollment in Wayne County is only exceeded by Ashtabula. Visitors to the State Fair have been most
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agreeably surprised at the extent of the achievements of these young workers. The junior fair, established some years ago at Ashley, is now a part of many county fairs and the State Fair.
IN LORAIN COUNTY.
In Lorain County during 1930 more than 400 boys and girls were enrolled. Miss Alice Bird, county extension agent in charge of the work among the girls, says that 304 girls were enrolled in twenty-five clubs in the county in 1930, that application for the formation of thirteen additional clubs have already been received, which would increase the number to thirty-eight. In the girls' groups were eighteen clothing clubs, five food clubs, one flower club and one home-furnishing club.
County Agent Horton B. Alger is in charge of the boys' club work, which in 1930 included potato, calf, rabbit, poultry and garden clubs, with a total enrollment of 110 in these groups. It was carried on to a new high point during the past year and even better results are confidently expected this year. The committee for club work in 1931 consists of H. L. Leimbach, Brownhelm ; Harold Brandt, Pittsfield ; Mrs. Helen Day, Brighton; Mrs. William Brouse, Wellington; Mrs. M. L. Hurst, Oberlin ; Mrs. A. J. Carpenter, North Eaton, and Mrs. I. F. Eldred, Carlisle.
IN MEDINA COUNTY.
The extent to which 4-H Club work has been carried on in Medina County since the movement was organized, is seen in the fact that twenty-two club members in the county have completed six or more years of 4-H Club work ; twenty-eight have completed five years of the work ; sixty-one club members have completed four years of club work. Here are 111 young people who have completed four or more years of 4-H Club work. When we contemplate how many grownups in the daily affairs of life start out on some new project with such enthusiasm and how many, in a very short time, give up so quickly in the face of obstacles that they could have surmounted if they had persevered as these 4-H boys and girls do, the figures given above become more impressive. A very large per cent of these boys and girls finish their projects, for the importance of finishing, as well as starting, is inculcated.
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The following represented Medina County at the Ohio Club Congress, Columbus, in October, 1930: Maxine Wood, Chatham; Helen Daykin, Hinckley ; Kathryn Vaughn, Brunswick ; Floy Sowers, Homer; Norman Effinger, Montville ; Robert Easton, Guilford ; Gordon Briggs, Sharon, and Donald Parfitt, Liverpool Township.
In December, 1930, forty-nine 4-H Club members in Medina County who received the grade of A on their club work during the year were given a trip to Cleveland, banqueted and entertained at the Stillman Theatre, besides visiting points of interest in the city. They were: Marian Coply, Dorothy Renner, Marian Totman, June Lincoln, Homer Ridle, Warren Jennfery, Dorothy Koehler, Paul Rodgers, Margaret Obermiller, Thelma Steck, Mildred Steck, Margaret Steck, Twilla Wilkinson, Mabel Grabenstetter, Edna Mohn, Elton Holden, Junior Beck, Jay Easton, Ralph Smoyer, Joseph Matt, Helen McFadden, Mary Mansfield, Mildred Nice, Martha Rea, Ernestine Bowman, Clarabel Hange, Jean Oswalt, Frances Hartman, Edwin Jones, Ralph Bolton, Zella Indoe, Esther Indoe, Millicent Willey, Thomas Briggs, Carl Raw, Kenneth Stauffer, Leona Bowman, Luella Dickerhoof, Irene Fleming, Marie Lehman, Edna Mabry, Frances Elliott, Mary Pugh, Mildred Herr, Jean Grimm, Evelyn Strong and Howard Woods.
ASHLAND COUNTY FOUR-H CLUB WORK.
Honors in 4-H Club work in Ashland County in 1930 were won by the following boys and girls who were sent to the Club Congress at Ohio State University for a week : Bessie Calhoun, New London, R. D. No. 4; Ruth Johnson, Nankin, Uarda Heffelfinger, Lakeville; Kathryn Wilson, Perrysville ; Gail Strang, Loudonville, and Noble Brinker, West Salem, R. D. No. 4.
Four-H Club Leaders : Mrs. Harlow J. Wiltrout, Miss Gladys McQuate, Mrs. George Rickel, Polk ; Mrs. Arlow Steiner, Mrs. J. J. Jelly, Mrs. T. S. Linn, Mrs. Vic McCuen, Oliver Smith, Ashland, R. D. No. 3 ; Mariana Fels, Carl Songer, Savannah ; Mrs. G. Schrack, Mrs. Chas. Boyd, Perrysville; Marjorie Skeeles, Mrs. Wm. McAdoo, Sullivan ; Mrs. George Crone, Loudonville, R. D. No. 3; Mrs. E. J. Fredericks, Nelson Beem, Karl Obrecht, Mrs. Ernest Conrad, Mrs. E. U. Shafer, Mrs. Elmer Emerick, Mary E. Pore, Mrs. Frances Young, Kenneth Strang, Loudonville ; Elizabeth Read, Eldon Sigrist, West Salem; Mrs. M. J. Drushell, Mrs. Clyde Doerrer, Mrs. M. H.
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Atterholt, Francis Bowne, Guy Springer, Jeromesville; Mrs. D. A. Young, Rev. Harry Young, Ralph Crehore, Nova ; George Krill, Leo Braun, Ernest Zehner, Maurice Masters, Sidney Fluke, Ashland ; Mark Simon, Sullivan ; Roy Kettering, Donovan Funk, Nankin.
In the twenty-six 4-H Clubs in the county there were enrolled during 1930, 270 boys and girls. There were nineteen of the girls' clubs and seven of the boys' clubs. The County Farm Agent is N.. H. Shiliday, who in May, 1924, succeeded the first county agent, E. A. French, who was in charge of the work in the county more than five years. In December, 1930, there were 360 members of the County Farm Bureau, the officers of which at that time were : President, C. D. Curry, Nova ; vice president, E. P. Ford, Nankin ; secretary, Frank Vantilburg, Clearcreek Township ; treasurer, County Commissioner John W. Davidson, Nova. The office secretary is James M. Fluke, of Nankin, and the Home Demonstration Agent, Miss Grace Tresch, who on Sept. 1, 1930, succeeded Miss Marie Wilson.
KNOX COUNTY 4-H CLUBS.
The following boys and girls from Knox County won honors in 4-H Club work during 1930 and were sent to the Club Congress at Columbus for one week : Edith Colopy, Danville; Dorothy Bishop, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 5 ; Elizabeth Boner, Fredericktown ; Rosetta Rowe, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 6; John Long, Centerburg ; Marion Colwill, Bangs ; Dwight Greer, Greer ; and Richard Rowley, Gambier.
A general livestock judging team composed of Ronald Workman, Bellville ; Stanley Algire, Fredericktown ; and Frederick Lifer, Fredericktown, took second place in the state at the Ohio State Fair in 1930; a dairy judging team composed of Ralph Earnest and Elizabeth Boner of Fredericktown and Germanus Colopy of Danville tied tenth place. In the Guernsey calf display, three winners were from Knox County : Raphael Durbin, Danville, took first place and championship; Robert James, Fredericktown, second place, and Larry Bartlett, Jr., fourth place. Those showing Jersey calves at the 1930 Ohio State Fair who were winners were Sherman Smith, Fredericktown, second place; Ruth Phillips, Fredericktown, seventh place ; Elizabeth Boner, Fredericktown, ninth place ; Richard Shafer, Fredericktown, eleventh place ; Ralph Yauger, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 6, twelfth place, and Elva Litt, Fredericktown, nineteenth place.
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The names of the leaders who exhibited food posters were Miss Adaline Phillips, Centerburg, Grade A ; Mrs. Paul Mengert, Center-burg, Grades A and C ; and Mrs. Dema Ashcraft, Gambier, Grade B.
Those showing winter clothing were : Marcella Chapman, Center-burg; Mary Thuma, Martha Thuma and Margaret Coe, Frederick-town. Those showing summer clothing were Ruth Phillips, Louisa Harrison, Eulala Frazier, Fredericktown ; and Naomi Ross and Dorotha Pore, Danville.
Four-H Club Leaders : Anna Willits, Mary McClelland, Eleanor McDonald, Eura Shaffer, Mrs. Massie Phillips, Larry D. Bartlett, W. M. Dill, Fredericktown ; Hazel K. Workman, Ronald Workman, Belleville, R. D. No. 5 ; Mrs. Earl C. Bishop, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 7 ; Adaline Phillips, Mrs. Paul Mengert, Miss Irene Miesse, Miss Mildred Roberts, Miss Martha Dush, Mrs. Edith Bone, Centerburg ; Miss Leona Ealy, Walhonding; Mrs. Dema Ashcraft, Dora Patterson, Miss Miriam Lauderbaugh, Harold Jacobs, Wm. S. Rowley, Jr., Gambier ; Mrs. Anna M. Miller, M. N. Ross, Martinsburg ; Mrs. Florence Gearhart, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 6; Miss Lucille Durbin, Irvin G. Horn, Benedict Durbin, Howard ; Mrs. Edward Richert, Miss Mae Pinkley, Mrs. Mary Grassbaugh, Miss Gertrude Durbin, T. A. Wheeler, Danville; Mrs. S. L. Anderson, Raymond Perrine, Mt. Vernon; Miss Geneva Kirkpatrick, Miss Oma Anderson, Leland Barton, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 2 ; Mrs. Fred Rowe, Richard Anderson, George H. Dunn, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 6 ; Mrs. Conrad Doup, Denzal Harding, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 5 ; Mrs. Loyd Bishop, Mt. Liberty ; Mrs. A. B. Simpson, Florence Shinabarker, A. B. Simpson, Greer ; Mrs. Chas. Clark, Bangs ; Kenneth Long, Centerburg, R. D. No. 1; Chester Ward, Ralph Yauger, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 4 ; Paul Leedy, Butler ; Baird Ronk, Fredericktown, R. D. No. 1; Kenneth Pinkley, Danville, R. D. No. 1; and Ralph Henwood, Mt. Vernon, R. D. No. 1.
The Knox County Farm Bureau enrollment in 1930 was 352 and in the forty-nine 4-H Clubs in the county there were 592 members. G. G. Everhart is Club Agent and the county Farm Bureau officers are J. M. Bone, Centerburg, president ; J. C. Pinkley, Danville, vice-president ; and F. H. Vincent, Mt. Vernon, secretary.
WAYNE COUNTY 4-H CLUBS.
The enrollment in 1930 in the Wayne County Farm Bureau was 500 and in the fifty 4-H Clubs 1,000 boys and girls were enrolled.
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Wayne County Farm Bureau officers (1930) : D. W. Galehouse, Marshallville, president; Carl F. Funk, Sterling, secretary-treasurer; A. 0. Rehm, Orrville, manager. Wayne County Farm Agent: Geo. Dustman.
Wayne County Pomona Grange Officers (1930) : Russell Lehman, Wooster, master ; T. H. Barns, Creston, deputy ; Mrs. Reno Brinkerhoff, Wooster, secretary.
Four-H Club Leaders: Florence Galehouse, Mrs. D. W. Gale-house, Marshallville ; J. Merle Howey, Mrs. Chas. Mowrer, Mrs. R. H. Martin, Mrs. D. H. Hiner, Paul Kinney, Dale Scott, Mrs. Ella Fuhrman, Mrs. Wayne Essick, Miss Mary Firestone, West Salem ; Mrs. Alice Harley, Burbank ; Mrs. 0. L. Hoff, J. Max Langell, Mrs. D. S. Hummel, Clarence Swartz, Creston ; Paul Maibach, Mrs. Ivan Miller, Sterling; Mrs. E. E. McConnell, Mrs. L. E. Amstutz, Rittman ; Miss Phoebe Kate, Homer Billman, H. M. Doyle, Mrs. D. Higginbotham, Miss Ruth Becker, Mrs. Chas. Lawrence, Mrs. F. W. Dean, Mrs. Glen Stair, Mrs. Frank Firestone, Jay Kauffman, Wooster ; J. J. Haley, Smithville; Mrs. Leroy Feusier, Weilersville; J. 0. Erwin, Mrs. W. W. Erwin, Bowdil ; Mrs. Gail Alexander, Funk ; Mrs. W. L. Fohl, W. L. Fohl, Clayton Carson, Apple Creek ; Mrs. Isaac Sheppard, Paul Cunningham, Shreve ; Miss Blancheola Bontrager, Mrs. Ben Speelman, Ben Burry, Fredericksburg; Mrs. Edith Schaffter, H. H. Blosser, Mt. Eaton ; W. H. Wolfe, Mrs. Elmer Ober, Miss Beatrice Barden, Mrs. R. H. Kurzen, Dalton ; Mrs. Walter Amstutz, Orrville.
RICHLAND COUNTY 4-H CLUBS.
In Richland County's forty-five 4-H Clubs during 1930, 438 boys and girls were enrolled, there being clubs in every township of the county except three, and in one of these, Franklin, there was one forestry member. In Jefferson Township, there were eight 4-H Clubs. The major projects of the girls were sewing and preparation of foodstuffs, and those of the boys included the raising of pigs, calves, and poultry, and work in forestry. Some of the girls also participated in livestock raising. Some of the young people won prizes at the County Fair, also at the State Fair. Maxine Stauffer, of Shelby, who represented Richland County in the Health Contest, made an almost perfect score. The Springfield Township Cooking
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Club and the Profit and Pleasure Club of Shelby demonstrated. Teams from Richland County in the judging contest were: Weller Pep Pig Club ; Live Wire Pig Club, Monroe Township ; Butler Pig Club and Perry Township Club.
The County Agent is J. R. Gilkey and the 4-H Club Leaders in 1930 were: Mrs. John Kochheiser, Gail Bollinger, Goldie Secrist, Edna Olin, Olive Walker, Abigail Syler, Harvey Snyder, Clyde Schroeder, W. C. Garber, Bellville; Pearl Spayde, Butler ; Mrs. T. F. McBride, Mrs. C. C. Addlesperger, H. S. Stone, Mansfield, R. D. No. 5; Mrs. C. F. Stuffier, S. L. Taylor, C. H. Morgan, S. M. Mishey, Lexington ; Mrs. C. W. Handley, Helen R. Lockhart, W. S. Barger, Lucas ; Mrs. Wayne Balliett, Carl Darling, Perrysville ; Mrs. N. W. Turner, Mrs. R. S. Virtue, Mrs. G. Parr, Mansfield, R. D. No. 7; Mrs. H. R. Oswalt, Mrs. Howard Koogle, Mansfield, R. D. No. 4; Mary L. Gramly, Oliver J. Gramly, Mansfield, R. D. No. 2; Clara Weidner, Mrs. J. Holtz, Louis Faulkner, Mrs. G. M. Garnhart, Charles Hartz, Shelby; Pearl DeMoss, Greenwich; Mrs. W. W. Pittenger, Miss Margaret Bushey, Shiloh; Dorothy Au, Joseph Au, Plymouth ; T. J. Harper, Mansfield, R. D. No. 3 ; Clayton Marks, Ashland, R. D. No. 6.
HURON COUNTY 4-H CLUBS.
In Huron County in 1930 there were 527 members enrolled in forty-two 4-H Clubs. Eleven of the young people of the Huron County 4-H Clubs won honors in their projects at the Ohio State Fair in 1930. Twelve youthful contestants won honors at the Huron County Fair for best exhibits in as many different projects and deserved recognition of their work was given to others named as delegates to the 4-H Club Congress at Congress, delegates to Camp Crag, near Medina, and delegate to State Camp for 4-H leaders.
Huron County winners in Guernsey Calf Club work at the Ohio State Fair were: Virlin Runkle, sixth prize, and Merel Ellis, ninth prize. In the Holstein Calf Club the Huron County winners at the State Fair were: Harley Olcott, first prize ; Harry Dalton, seventh prize; John Skinn, eleventh prize; Charles Hull, fourteenth prize; George Skinn, fifteenth prize ; Donald Coultrip, sixteenth prize ; Elmer Dalton, eighteenth prize. Herman Weisenberger was second prize winner in the Shorthorn Calf Club and Robert Blackburn was eleventh prize winner in the Jersey Dairy Production at Ohio State Fair.
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The following won honors at Huron County Fair in 1930 for best exhibits in each project: Elizabeth Brooks, Food Club, Bronson Township ; Evelyn Kratzer, Clothing Club, Norwalk Township; Rena DeVoe, Room Club, New London Township ; Harley Olcott, Dairy Calf, Hartland Township; Thomas Bond, Jr., Beef Calf, Fairfield Township; Mary Chisholm, Breeding Lamb, Greenfield Township; George Ryerson, Market Lamb, Fairfield Township ; Clair Ross, Breeding Pig, Fairfield Township ; Charles Chisholm, Market Pig, Greenfield Township ; Gordon Loos, Poultry, Bronson Township ; William Smith, Jr., Garden, Hartland Township ; Austin McKitrick, Forestry, Ripley Township.
Delegates to annual 4-H Club Congress were : Margaret Fay, Wakeman Township ; Winona Bollenbacher, Lyme Township ; Dora Shorthouse, Ripley Township ; Elmer Dalton, Wakeman Township; Louis Conger, Fairfield Township ; Russell Vogt, Hartland Township.
Delegates to Camp Crag were : Rena DeVoe, New London Township ; Louise Chapin, Hartland Township ; Doyle Newman, New Haven Township ; Dale Kellogg, Peru Township.
Delegate to State Camp for 4-H leaders was William Smith, Jr., Hartland Township.
Food Club leaders are : Miss Elizabeth Brooks, Bronson Township ; Miss Helen Egner, Mrs. Thelma Pittenger, both of Greenwich Township; Miss Leil Heyman, Lyme Township ; Mrs. C. H. Long, New Haven Township ; Miss Myrtle Erb, New London Township; Miss Gertrude Jetter, Mrs. Louis Linder and Miss Amelia Miller of Sherman Township; and Miss Anna Cooley of Wakeman Township.
Clothing Club Leaders : Miss Katherine McCague, Miss Louise Skinn, Bronson Township ; Mrs. Dalton Tanner, Fairfield Township ; Mrs. Terry Arnert, Fitchville Township; Mrs. Ora Wolfe, Miss Sarah Vogt, Hartland Township ; Miss Annabelle Arthur, Greenfield Township ; Miss Mary Marvin, Greenwich Township ; Mrs. Sam Wagner, New Haven Township; Mrs. Henry Arnold, New London Township ; Mrs. Louise Linder, Norwalk Township ; Mrs. A. G. Niver, Norwick Township; Mrs. Ruth Ketchum, Mrs. Harry Ruggles, Peru Township ; Miss Netta Ruggles, Ridgefield Township ; Miss Helen Smith, Ripley Township ; Miss Alice Finlay, Townsend Township ; Miss Mary Fay, Miss Dosia Bailey, Mrs. Eunice Holmes and Mrs. Eileen Sprague, all of Wakeman Township.
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Livestock Club Leaders : C. T. Loos, Bronson Township ; Thomas Bond, Sr., Clair Culver, Fairfield Township ; Leonard Brundage, New London Township ; Arvin Emerson, Fitchville Township ; Arthur Lawrence, Greenfield Township ; Clayton Albright, Greenfield Township ; Miss Minnie Green, Mrs. F. R. Salabank, William Smith, Jr., Hartland Township ; Charles Reitz, Lyme Township ; Harold W. Drew, Peru Township ; Lewis Crooks, Richmond Township ; J. L. Barnhart, Ridgefield Township ; Murrey Hunter, Ripley Township ; C. N. Jump, Townsend Township ; Elmer Dalton, Wakeman Township.
Home Demonstration Agent is Miss Mabel G. Fernald and the 1930 County Farm Bureau officers are : C. Frank Hopkins, Greenwich, president ; Robert E. Finlay, Collins, vice president ; Finlay Hester, Norwalk, secretary-treasurer.
G. A. Hummon is County Agricultural Agent and the membership in December, 1930, was 408.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS OF YOUNG PEOPLE.
If there were space, this historian would like to give the achievements of young Buckeyes of North Central Ohio along other lines in which they are distinguishing themselves—spelling competition and other activities of school life, in athletics, school publications, music, inter-high school debates, Prince of Peace oratorical contests, Hi-Y activities and numerous other enterprises in which they are showing their mettle. These young people of initiative, courage, fortitude and persistence, will help to make history of this section of the state in the years to come. Readers of these pages in future days may be interested to note the number of people here mentioned who are occupying places of distinction in the world's activities. What these boys and girls are to be, they are now becoming. It has been so in the past and will continue to be in the future.
In compiling this history, I have been constantly impressed with the heritage such great numbers of the pioneer residents of North Central Ohio and their descendants down through the generations have left to posterity. Some of these are little known beyond the communities in which they lived, but the work they did for the advancement of neighborhood, village or town lives after them and is a constant inspiration to others to useful achievement.
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It is said of the late Dr. Norton S. Townshend of Lorain County, after whom one of the buildings on the campus of Ohio State University is named, that for a number of years he conducted almost single handed the college of agriculture. In 1891 he was elected Professor Emeritus of agriculture. A bronze tablet in Townshend Hall, home of the College of Agriculture, bears the following inscription commemorating this native of Lorain County : "To the memory of Norton Strange Townshend (1815-1895), beloved physician, friend of the cause of human freedom, wise law-maker, a pioneer in agricultural education, one of the founders of the University and its first Professor of Agriculture, the students of agriculture and veterinary medicine have placed this tablet. A. D. 1909."
CHAPTER XXXI.
ARTISTS, MUSICIANS, PLAYERS, WRITERS.
YOUNG PEOPLE OF NORTH CENTRAL OHIO IN INCREASING NUMBERS ARE WINNING HONORS AS SINGERS, INSTRUMENTALISTS, DRAMATIC PRODUCTIONS AND AS WRITERS-NOTED NOVELISTS, POETS, SINGERS, TRAVEL WRITERS, OF PAST AND IN RECENT YEARS.
So great is the number of young people who in these days are attaining honors as singers, instrumentalists, community players, artists, and writers and so many North Central Ohio people of the past have attained distinction in the fine arts that one may merely touch upon the subject in a general way. In other chapters we have spoken of some of those who have attained prominence. Colleges and high schools are giving increased attention to helping the young people develop their capabilities along these lines. Practical journalism is being taught in the high school and college periodicals, there are the glee clubs, the symphony orchestras, the college and high school bands, the art classes, and all the other organizations including the home talent productions, the May Day pageants. A Wooster young woman, Miss Genevieve Irene Rowe, brought honor to her home city and college by winning the National Atwater Kent audition of 1929 in competition with vocalists from all over the nation. Her teacher was Miss Eve Richmond, director of the Girls' Glee Club of Wooster College. A Wooster girl, Harriet Forrester, won honors recently at the Cleveland Play House for her skill in dramatic interpretation. A Wayne County musical organization, which for more than thirty-seven years has been giving musical entertainments throughout the nation, is the Blind Trio, C. J. Myers, B. F. Williams and A. C. Fuhrman.
Grand opera singers formerly of Huron County include Miss Dreda Ayes and Miss Eleanor Searle. Medina has a splendid sym-
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phony orchestra, so has Mansfield, Ashland, and numerous other communities in this section of the state. These are typical of numerous others. We might mention the Old Time Fiddlers, the performers over the radio, the honors won by high school and college bands. In another chapter we have spoken of Dan Emmett and "Dixie." Some of the American Legion Posts have drum corps and the honor won by the Elyria drum corps at Boston has been spoken of. Among the Ashland people who have appeared on lyceum courses are Mrs. Catherine Cole Steele, reader ; Mrs. Floy Wiltrout Horn, instrumentalist; Mrs. Gladys Kottmeier Faulkner ; and Mrs. Mildred Gill Hendry. Glee clubs of the various colleges also give concerts during the year, making extended tours. Two Wellington entertainers are Howard Page and Wilbur Sutlif.
New London was the former home of Carlton Theodore Chapman, painter of marines and landscapes and naval battles. He was awarded medals at the National Academy of Design. Mrs. Christine Giles, New London musician, was on the lyceum platform with her husband, the late Ralph Bingham. Michael S. Nachtrieb, who died at Wooster in 1916, painted the portraits of many American celebrities. Kirk Ridge, pianist, who has attained wide recognition, is a native of Lucas, Richland County. Martha Mansfield, noted film actress, who met a tragic death in 1923 in San Antonio, Texas, when her dress caught fire, was a Mansfield girl. Richard Mansfield, NBC staff tenor in radio broadcasts, also hails from Mansfield.
We had in mind to tell of many people in North Central Ohio who in years agone appeared in the "Drummer Boy of Shiloh," in which A. F. Nail of Mansfield, who staged it in many parts of the nation, appeared more than 5,000 times in the role of "Uncle Joe," but space will not permit.
And when it comes to writers we find so many that we have not the space to tell about; Kin Hubbard (Abe Martin), cartoonist-humorist; Louis Bromfield, Dawn Powell, Herschel S. Hall, novelists ; David R. Locke, Henry W. Shaw, George Kennan, Charles B. Shaw, Frank G. Carpenter, Dr. G. Frederick Wright, John Love, Edith Thomas, Florien Giaque, Herman Fetzer, Mrs. Rhea Mansfield Knittle, Mrs. Mae Carlton Lord, Mary E. Gordon, Mrs. Harriet Gleason, Ada Bedell Wootten ; besides great numbers of prominent newspaper men that this writer has known and great numbers of college professors who have published books from time to time.
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Mention of some of these people and many more appears in other chapters. The writer's notes contain the names of many that, on account of lack of space, cannot be referred to.
North Central Ohio, as we said in the beginning, has achieved and is achieving, along the lines referred to in the title of this chapter.
CHAPTER XXXII.
ASHLAND AND ASHLAND COUNTY.
STEADY GROWTH OF ASHLAND IN RECENT DECADES-ASHLAND ACADEMY- FORMATION OF COUNTY AND SELECTION OF ASHLAND AS COUNTY SEAT- INDUSTRIAL GROWTH-PUBLIC BUILDINGS-LOUDONVILLE'S ADVANCEMENT- ITS FAMOUS SONS-HANOVER TOWNSHIP SCENERY-PERRYSVILLE, JEROMESVILLE, HAYESVILLE, SAVANNAH. AND OTHER VILLAGES.
Ashland County, formed in 1846 from parts of Richland, Wayne, Huron and Lorain counties and with a population of 26,867 by the 1930 Federal census, has an area of 421 square miles and a record of achievements of which its people are justly proud. It has been said of Ashland County that it has the distinction of starting on their careers more successful manufacturers, industrial leaders and people of influence in numerous walks of life than any other county in the state of its size. To every part of the civilized world its products go, its people, urban and rural, are enterprising, aggressive, self-reliant and by their spirit of co-operation and appreciation of those qualities which are for permanence and the growth of civic and neighborhood loyalty, have steadily advanced in importance and influence.
The county seat, Ashland, which by the 1930 census had a population of 11,141, has steadily advanced as a manufacturing city in the past couple of decades. Loudonville, in southern Ashland County, has also in recent years in creased its manufacturing industries, has grown to a population of 2,068 (1930) and is one of the prettiest towns on the CCC Highway. Other villages of the county which show growth are Perrysville, Jeromesville, Hayesville, Polk, and Savannah. In numerous other communities and neighborhoods, religious, educational and social organizations, attest of spirit of advancement and thorough appreciation of the finer things of life.
Ashland, on the Erie Railroad, two federal highways and three state auto routes is thirteen and a half miles east of Mansfield and a
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little over sixty miles southwest of Cleveland. Federal Highway 42 is from Cleveland to Cincinnati and U. S. Route 250 Norwalk, Ohio to Wheeling, West Virginia. State routes through Ashland are 60, 58 and 96. A number of through auto bus lines serve the city. Up to the end of January, 1931, Ashland with all the other communities along the line from Cleveland to Bucyrus had the service of the Cleveland & Southwestern Electric Line, which was put into operation through Ashland in August, 1907. The late F. E. Myers, Ashland manufacturer, was formerly president of the Southwestern.
For many years after it was founded in 1815, when William Montgomery laid out forty-one lots on what is now Main Street, as Uniontown, Ashland was little more than a one-street village drawing farm trade from what in these days would be regarded as rather a small area.
Horace S. Knapp in his history of the county nearly seventy years ago, expressed the belief that Montgomery in laying out the village did not expect it to be more than a crossroads hamlet as indicated by the narrow street and so few lots in the original plat. Says Knapp : "The rude inn, blacksmith, weaver, tailor, shoeshop and distillery would have marked very nearly the culminating point in the town's prosperity had it not been that the enterprise of a generation succeeding the founder conceived the idea of establishing an institution that was destined to accomplish results that have led to the Ashland that now exists." He then tells of the founding of Ashland Academy which grew out of a select school which Prof. Samuel McClure, of Cuyahoga Falls, conducted in Ashland in 1838. A two-story brick building was erected on the grounds of the present high school building and here in May, 1839, began the work of an educational institution, which for more than ten years, up until the establishment in 1850 of the union school system which attracted students from every part of the state and other states. Years later Historian Hill, who had been a pupil of Dr. Lorin Andrews in this noted academy of which more extended mention is made in another chapter, said : "Very few academic institutions of Ohio can furnish a roll of scholars containing more influential and leading men as teachers, attorneys, physicians, politicians and men of science."
On March 12, 1844, while the town was still in Richland County, Ashland was incorporated and Charles R. Deming became the first mayor. The first village council consisted of Jacob Crall, George
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Foltz, Alexander Miller and William Wasson. Robert McMurray was the first recorder of the village and John Jacobs, first village treasurer. Treasurer Jacobs in his first annual report of the village for the year ending March 28, 1845, showed total receipts, $50.50 ; expenditures, $28.85 ; balance on hand, $21.65. The first village marshal was Abe Swineford, whom the writer remembers as an eloquent auctioneer. When he was a young lawyer in Ashland, about 1852, William B. Allison, afterwards for many years United States Senator from Iowa, served as village recorder.
The year 1846, which marked the beginning of the Mexican War and the arrival of the first passenger train into Mansfield over the newly constructed Mansfield-Sandusky line, was a notable one in the history of Ashland. Following the passage of the act of the General Assembly, February 24, creating Ashland County, there was lively competition for the new county seat. Hayesville, a thriving community, seat of Vermillion Institute, was a strong competitor against Ashland for the seat of justice. Citizens of Ashland as an inducement for selecting this town as county seat, offered to donate suitable grounds and pay $5,000 toward the erection of county buildings. Following the election Monday, April 6, George H. Stewart, John P. Reznor and Edmund Ingmand, whom the General Assembly had named as associate judges for the new county, met April 10th at George H. Cake's hotel in Jeromesville and canvassed the vote. Ashland was chosen by a vote of 2,682 to 2,002 for Jeromesville. A little stone church on property purchased from the Methodists, on the site of Ashland's present $325,000 court house, was used for holding court for seven years until the white pillared court house, which until it was torn down in 1928 was the county's temple of justice for seventy-five years, was finished in 1853. The old stone jail, finished in 1848, near the site of the present soldiers' monument, housed the county offices at first and in the attic was the Masonic lodge room until 1859.
The session of court held May 7, 1846, in the little stone building, by Presiding Judge Jacob Parker of Mansfield and the three associate judges, was noteworthy for the number of out of town attorneys in attendance, so many of whom attained prominence in state and nation. This occasion is described more fully in another chapter. The clerk pro tem at this court session was Daniel W. Brown and at the March term in 1847, Jacob 0. Jennings was appointed clerk of court for seven years.
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The first county commissioners were Abner Christ, Edward S. Hibbard and Josiah Thomas ; auditor, Hugh Burns ; prosecuting attorney, N. M. Donaldson ; treasurer, George W. Urie ; recorder, Asa S. Reed ; sheriff, James Doty ; surveyor, John Keen, Jr. County officers for full term were chosen at an election October 13th of that year. The first Congressman that the new county had a part in choosing was John K. Miller. The first coroner was Michael Riddle and the first county school examiners were Lorin Andrews, Nicholas M. Donaldson and John McCormick.
Very soon after Ashland became the county seat two newspapers were established and Judge Northup started the Ashland Woolen Mills on the site of the present flouring mill on Center Street. The woolen mills were operated for some years by Reznor, Risser & Company.
To the village of Ashland up to 1846, additions had been laid out during the years by David Markley, Alanson Andrews, Francis Graham, Joseph Sheets and Christopher Mykrantz, and in this notable year 1846, South Ashland was laid out. Since that time there have been numerous additions of the city, especially in the past thirty years.
Among the taverns of Ashland's stage-coach days were the old McNulty House on the north side of Main Street, opposite Center Street and the old Franklin Tavern across the street on the site of the present municipal opera house. The McNulty House most generally referred to in Ashland annals was the one on the south side of Main Street. This building erected in 1850 is now occupied by George M. Gilbert's furniture store. Across from it three years later Michael Miller established the Miller House. For about half a century these hotels on opposite sides of the street were the scene of many notable gatherings in Ashland. To the McNulty House came Maj. William McKinley, Jr., of Canton, in August, 1878, when he was a candidate for re-election to Congress from the district comprising the counties of Ashland, Wayne, Stark and Portage, the nominating speech at the Massillon convention having been made by a young Asland attorney, Peter S. Grosscup, afterwards for many years being a United States judge at Chicago. Speaking of the future President's visit to Ashland during the congressional campaign of 1878, the Ashland Times of Aug. 22, 1878, says : "Major McKinley was in town Saturday, the guest of his former comrades of the Twenty-third Regiment,
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Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was met at the depot by A. 0. Long and other old friends and taken to the McNulty House. During the day his room was thronged with callers who desired to pay their respects to Mr. McKinley as a public man of national repute and a private citizen of spotless character. In the evening the Cornet Band serenaded Mr. McKinley at the hotel and in response to calls from the large company of citizens who had assembled during the music, he appeared on the balcony and was introduced in behalf of the soldiers whose guest he was. He enlisted in Company E, Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private from Poland. He was then but seventeen years old. He served in the ranks until after the battle of Anteitam, when for bravery he was successively promoted to second and then first lieutenant. Afterwards he was promoted to the rank of captain and assigned to the command of Company G. He was elected to Congress in 1876."
From this same balcony, which with other balconies, was removed in 1913 when the building was remodeled, another famous Ohioan, James A. Garfield, afterwards chief executive of the nation, spoke Aug. 25, 1880, when he was in Ashand for a reunion of his regiment, the Forty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Among the famous guests entertained at the Miller House across the street was President R. B. Hayes on the night of Nov. 14, 1888, when he came to Ashland for the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument the next day.
The Franklin Tavern, on what is now known as the opera house corner, was opened about 1821 by Elias Slocum, Sr., who came to Uniontown in July, 1817, and the following year bought a farm two miles east of the village and with Alanson Andrews and George W. Palmer, bought three acres of land along Montgomery's Run in Uniontown and erected what is said to have been the first distillery in the settlement. At that time, the annals say, there was not a physician in the limits of the present Ashland County. Slocum conducted the Franklin Tavern for many years and was quite successful. The quaint tree planter, John Chapman, on his visits to Ashland was accustomed to sleep on the barroom floor of this tavern and landlord Slocum, who died in 1862 at the age of seventy-eight, used to tell many anecdotes of the barefoot hero. The tavern property was sold in 1856 to the village for $2,300 and on the site was erected the Town Hall, which was destroyed by fire June 6, 1880. The Opera House
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was opened May 30, 1882, and after the fire Feb. 18, 1903, it was rebuilt as we know it today.
An election held in Ashland Oct. 14, 1856—the same year that the Franklin Tavern was torn down—was a determining factor in the career of young Attorney William B. Allison, who so chagrined over his defeat by a young Democratic lawyer, Thomas J. Kenny, for prosecuting attorney of the county that he removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where he was signally successful, entering upon a career that made him a distinguished statesman.
This writer well remembers when Ashland, which now has close to thirty miles of paved street (mostly brick) besides more than seven miles of streets covered with cinders or gravel, had only two strips of paving, Main and Orange streets paved with cobblestones in 1863 when the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, now the Erie, was being built through Ashland. The late E. T. Drayton, who located in Ashland in 1842, used to tell what fun the young men of the village had during the summer of 1863 going on flat cars to Polk after loads of dornicks to be used in the paving. The cobblestones of Orange Street gave way to brick paving as a result of a resolution of council Aug. 22, 1892, but it was not until the latter part of July, 1893, the year of the World's Fair at Chicago, that this first brick street in Ashland was finished. In 1894 two principal residence streets, Center Street and Claremont Avenue, were bricked but the bumpity-bump cobblestone of Main Street remained until 1898, when the street was paved with brick. When Ashland celebrated its centennial in 1915 it boasted more than sixteen miles of paved streets. Now not only are all of the principal city streets paved but all the main thoroughfares in the county are improved highways similar to those in all the other counties of North Central Ohio.
The Ashland County Agricultural Society was organized in 1850, the same year that the union school system was started in Ashland in the brick building that had formerly been the Ashland Academy. The first president of the Agricultural Society was Joseph Workman ; secretary, John Scott, Jr. ; treasurer, William McNeal. The first two fairs were held at Hayesville and some of the others at Ashland. A great many fairs have been held in Ashland County since this first organization was formed and conducted its fairs. In October, 1889, Loudonville had its first free street fair and has held one for several days each autumn ever since. For a number of years Ashland had