350 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY The Ross County Anti-Tuberculosis Society was organized in October, 1908, for the purpose of combating and preventing tuberculosis: (1) By education ; (2) by cooperation with health officials, and (3) by such other methods as the society may from time to time adopt. Rev. Dr. R. G. Noland was the first president; the late Moritz Schachne was the first vice president. The late Dr. Charles Hoyt was one of the active early workers, becoming president when ill health compelled the retirement of Doctor Noland. At first the efforts of the society were largely educational, but the field of activities widened and a nurse was employed to look after indigent cases of tuberculosis. But the field of prevention was broader than this so that the care of babies was taken up, a campaign for a clean city was inaugurated, a warfare on the fly was started, and as the relation of poverty and unemployment to disease became increasingly more evident efforts were made to secure work for those who were out of work and to furnish material relief to the needy. In the winter of 1912 the Associated Charities was formed to correlate the charity work of the city and to finance the relief work which had outgrown the plans of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society. Mrs. A. H. Rumer, superintendent of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, was made executive secretary of the Associated Charities. These societies both prospered. Dr. G. E. Robbins, a former president of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, was chosen president of the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis in 1914, largely in recognition of the character and standing and activity of the local society. Chillicothe has been a pioneer in this sort of work and some half dozen neighboring cities have modeled their public health and social welfare work on the Chillicothe plan. At present there are two nurses at work looking after illness and poverty and doing general social welfare work. In recognition of the value of the work the Chillicothe Board of Education has recently appointed Mrs. Rumer as school nurse. In connection with the night school run last year by the public schools, Mrs. Rumer had a class of sixteen girls trained in home-nursing, and another class of motherless girls under training in the domestic science department of the night school. Through plans inaugurated by the Anti-Tuberculosis Society a movement was set afoot which recently culminated in the securing of a site for a District Tuberculosis Sanitarium on the hills west of Chillicothe. Fayette, Highland, Jackson, Pike, Ross and Scioto counties are jointly interested in this project. HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 351 These societies have their headquarters and permanent home on West Main Street, in the Richard Enderlin Welfare House. Present officers of the Ross County Anti-Tuberculosis Society : President, D. A. Perrin, M. D. ; secretary, R. E. Bower, M. D. ; treasurer, Charles 11I. Haynes; superintendent, Mrs. Anna H. Rumer. Officers of the Associated Charities : President, W. F. Sulzbacher ; vice president, G. E. Robbins, M. D. ; recording secretary, R. E. Bower, M. D. ; treasurer, A. B. Howson ; executive secretary, Mrs. Anna H. Rumer. LABOR ORGANIZATIONS Chillicothe is well organized as to its industrial forces. It has unions of carpenters, printers and other working men and women, and brotherhoods and sisterhoods identified with locomotive engineers and firemen, trainmen and conductors.   WOMEN'S CLUBS   Chillicothe women have been active for many years in social, literary and reformatory fields. Among the best known of their organizations are the Century and the Enterpean clubs, which were both founded in 1896.   The Century Club was organized February 29, 1896, at the close of a series of lectures delivered by Miss Anna G. McDougal and Miss Nancy Mann Waddle of Chillicothe.   The club took its name from the fact that it was organized in Chillicothe's centennial year, and that it also enrolls just one hundred members, the membership being strictly limited to that number.   This club has for its first object, the culture and improvement of its members through the study of such subjects as are deter mined upon by the club from year to year—literary, historical, musical or artistic.   Aside from this there has been an effort to develop the social side of club life, and to bring together, with one center of interest at least, one hundred women belonging to different circles in society, to different churches, and holding widely different personal opinions.   In the endeavor to arouse among the people of the town an interest in history, literature, art, science and kindred subjects, the Century Club has brought lecturers of note, whom the townspeople have heard through the invitation of its members. Among the distinguished lecturers heard are Rev. William Norman Guthrie   352 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   of Cincinnati. Mr. Edward Baxter Perry of Boston (who illustrated his lecture on music with a piano recital), Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith, Mr. Walter Pearson of the University Extension Bureau of Chicago, Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton, Prof. Richard Green Moulton and Professor Troop, of the University of Chicago, and others.   Altruistic work done by the Century Club has been in diversified channels. During the Spanish war, a large consignment of books and magazines was sent to the Ross County soldiers in the Philippines. Each year also, similar donations have been made to the Ohio penitentiary, and to the Girls' Industrial Home at Delaware. In 1902 the Century Club set in motion the project to erect a bronze tablet as a substantial memorial of the founding of the state. This tablet, erected November 29, 1902, on the front wall of the Ross County courthouse, marks the site of Ohio's first state house in Chillicothe, in which was formulated and adopted the original constitution of the commonwealth. For a number of years the Century Club has sold Red Cross Christmas seals, the proceeds of which have been used in part payment of the salary of a district nurse. By subscription among its members, it has furnished the hall and parlor of the Richard Enderlin Welfare House. The Club has also supervision of the Woman's Rest Room, at the request of the donor, Mr. Frederick A. Stacey. The Century Club originated the idea of holding Health Day exercises in the public schools, which has been followed by many other cities, and which has become an annual practice. During the world's war of 1914-16 substantial contributions were sent to the war zone.   In 1897 the Century Club united with the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs, and with the General Federation of Womcn's Clubs, since which time it has been actively interested in both bodies.   In October, 1913, the club was hostess to the Ohio Federation in its annual convention.   Following is a list of presidents and secretaries of the club since its organization : Presidents—Mrs. B. F. Stone, 1896-1897 ; Mrs. A. L. Fullerton, 1898 ; Mrs. John A. Nipgen, 1899-1900 ; Miss Alice Bennett, 1901-1902 ; Miss Myrtle Stinson, 1903-1904 ; Miss Helen F. Stone, 1905-1906 ; Miss Margaret S. Cook, 1907-1908 ; Mrs. H. W. Chapman, 1909-1910 ; Miss Nellie Wayland, 1911; Mrs. J. C. Ballard, 1912 ; Miss Alice Bennett, 1913-1914 ; Mrs. Wilby G. Hyde, 1915. Secretaries—Miss Jane F. Winn, 1896-1897 ; Mrs. H. W. Chapman, 1898-1899 ; Miss Nellie Wayland, 1900-1901; Miss Harriet A. Moore, 1902 ; Miss Kate Koehne, 1903 ; Miss Kate Davenport, 1904-1905 ; Mrs. Frank A. Sosman, 1906-1907 ; Mrs. F. M. Nichols, 1908-1909 ; Miss Marie Moore, 1910 ; Miss Florence Hunter,   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 353   1911-1912 ; Mrs. F. A. Sosman, 1913-1914; Miss Lora E. Hackett, 1915.   The Euterpean Club was organized February 19, 1896, at the home of its first president, Mrs. Austin P. Hermann, for the purpose of cultivating the musical talents of its members and raising the musical standards of the city.   The club has represented in its membership forty active members, there being no limit to the number of associate members. The principal work is choral and includes cantatas, song cycles and special choruses from operas and lesser works, adapted to women's voices.   In its earlier history the Euterpean Club produced miscellaneous programs at frequent intervals, but more recently it has devoted itself to the more serious study of such works as "Hawthorne and Lavender" by Fanny Snow Knowlton.   Chorus drill under a competent director every two weeks is followed by a public production of some work at the close of the calendar year.   Eminent lecturers and some artists have been brought to the city by the club. Following is a list of presidents and secretaries since the organization : Presidents—Mrs. Austin P. Hermann, Mrs. E. R. McKee, Mrs. B. F. Miesse, Mrs. H. W. Chapman, and Mrs. Austin Hermann. Secretaries—Miss Evelyn Pearson, Miss Kate Platter, Miss Maud Brimson, Miss Arabella Lindsey, Miss Eva Roach, Miss Ethel Hoffman, Mrs. W. H. Dyer, and Mrs. H. W. Chapman.   LITERARY REPUTATIONS ABROAD   Perhaps among the best known Chillicothe women who have made literary reputations of a notable nature are Miss Jane Winn, Miss Jane Guthrie and Miss Eleanor Waddle, the first named particularly as an editorial contributor to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the last, as editor of Vogue, New York.   CHAPTER XII   NEWSPAPERS, INDUSTRIES AND BANKS   THE SCIOTO GAZETTE-THE FIRST EDITOR-MAXWELL'S CENTINEL- ITS FIRST HOME-DISTINGUISHED MEN-AN ENTERPRISING PAPER-THE GAZETTE FROM FIRST TO LAST-FIRST RELIGIOUS PAPER IN AMERICA—PREDECESSORS OF THE ADVERTISER-THE NEWS-ADVERTISER-THE GERMAN PRESS AND UNSERE ZEIT - CHILLICOTHEAN INDUSTRIES-INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT-TANNERIES-FLOUR MILLS-RISE AND FALL OF PORK PACKING-WOOD, STONE AND BRICK MANUFACTURES-THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER-FOUNDRY AND MACHINE SHOPS-OTHER PRESENT-DAY INDUSTRIES-THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE-EARLY BANKING AT CHILLICOTHE-HISTORICAL RELICS REVEALED-THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK—THE ROSS COUNTY NATIONAL BANS—CENTRAL NATIONAL BANK-CITIZENS' NATIONAL BANK-THE SAVINGS BANK-VALLEY SAVINGS BANK AND TRUST COMPANY-BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS.   Until the industries and business of a place have made some headway, the level-headed men of a new community do not risk the establishment of banks. They are always on the side of conservatism. Railroads and newspapers often blaze their way through the frontiers before there is much to show in the way of civiliza- tion. And it happened that this was strikingly true in the case of Chillicothe, its newspapers being not only one of the first of its industries, but one which has endured and grown for one hundred and sixteen years under the same name. Its history is therefore unique ; there is no newspaper in America which has a like record. Further, although newspapers are not usually classified under the head of industries, the true, successful and progressive newspaper is an industry of the most intense kind ; and the Gazette has always been dominated by industrious men and women.   THE SCIOTO GAZETTE   The Scioto Gazette has been published continuously since April 25, 1800, and when it was 110 years old Col. W. A. Taylor, of   - 354 -   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 355   Columbus, Ohio, the dean of editors in that state, wrote of it as follows:   "The newspaper, which for the longest period—a century and a decade, for instance—has appeared regularly on its announced publication day, without change or variableness of its name and purpose, along an undeviating and fixed line of policy, ever progressive, assimilating all that made it desirable to practically four generations and during the major portion of the history of the concededly greatest nation of the present day, may very properly not only contest for the honor of being the oldest newspaper in America, since it is neither the child or grandchild nor great grandchild, but an original ancestor still in the prime of life.   " Other newspapers with becoming pride trace back their lineage for a century or even more, but the Scioto Gazette has no lineage and points only to its own record as its orator and herald.   "Hence in its behalf it may be said in all verity that Ohio may lay claim to the oldest living newspaper in the United States, if not in the world. That paper is the Scioto Gazette, of Chillicothe, which has been published continuously, under the same name, since April, 1800. Of course other papers were founded before the Gazette, but they have either died, changed their names or there have been lapses in their publication, but the Gazette has been the Gazette for 110 years, and bids fair to go on being so for another century or two, for there is nothing moribund about it, in spite of its age ; on the contrary it is even more vigorously alive than when its first number was 'pulled' on an old-fashioned hand-press in a log-cabin office in the little village on the Scioto which was then the capital of the Northwest Territory.   "The old files of the paper are the history of the Territory, of the State and of the Nation for over one hundred years. No notable event at home or abroad, has gone unrecorded in its columns ; told in its types are the stories of four great wars, 1812, with Mexico, between the states and to free Cuba, besides the little war with Tripoli, the Seminole campaigns, and lesser fights innumerable. It has recorded the rise and fall of political parties and of the administrations under them ; it has told of the growth of this land from its first form after the Revolution to the day when the Nation's flag floats around the world. It has seen the United States rise from a struggling group of infant states to be one of the great powers of the earth. It has seen the old hand-press give way to foot-power ; foot to steam and steam to electricity; the old-time compositor and his 'stick' disappear before the wonderful linotype ; the pack-train and the flat-boat yield to the canal, the stage and the rude river-steamer ; has witnessed the coming of railways, telegraph and telephone ; it has progressed from tallow-dips to arc-   356 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   lights, from post-rider to wireless, from plodding wagons to aeroplane; today it reaps the benefit of what its founders would have scoffed at as impossible.   THE FIRST EDITOR   "The Scioto Gazette was founded by Nathaniel Willis, grandfather of the well-known poet of the same name, in the days when the equipment of the office, press, type and all, had to be brought over the Alleghenies by pack-train and wagon, delivered to flatboats at Pittsburg for transfer down the Ohio to the mouth of the Scioto, and thence to Chillicothe by pack and wagon again. This was in the days when Mr. Winn Winship of Shepherdstown, Va., whose descendants live in Pickaway county today, borrowed a pair of pistols of United States Senator Thomas Worthington of Chillicothe to protect him in his journey through the wilderness to Philadelphia, where he went, as he wrote, 'to buy types for N. Willis for the printing of the laws.'   "The late Richard Storrs Willis, Esq. of Detroit, stated that his grandfather, the founder of the Gazette, learned the printers' trade under Benjamin Franklin, and was a member of the famous Boston Tea-party. He published papers in Boston, in Winchester, Martinsburg and Shepherdstown, Va., and in 1796 he moved to Chillicothe and started the Scioto Gazette, according to the statements of his grandson. The real origin of the Gazette is a matter of little doubt. Librarian Stimson, of Marietta college, stated that he had definitely traced the Gazette back to 1798 ; old manuscripts in the Hoddy family record that the 'Scioto Gazette, at Chillicothe' was begun in 1797, by Joseph Carpenter, who came from the Shenandoah Valley. It may be that Willis sold out to Carpenter and, later, bought the plant again ; for William Harrison, son of Gen. Bental Harrison, of Washington county, had a copy of the paper dated December 20, 1799, with Willis's name as editor and owner. It was in May, 1799, that. Carpenter went to Cincinnati and issued the first number of a paper called the 'Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette.'   MAXWELL'S CENTINEL   "On November 9, 1793, William Maxwell established in Cincinnati the :Centinel of the Northwest Territory,' the first paper published in the Territory. In 1796 he sold out to Edmund Freeman, who changed the name to 'Freeman's Journal' and moved the plant to Chillicothe in 1800. The old records of the Court of Quarter Sessions in and for Ross county show that in 1800 the   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 357   Court ordered the commissioners in charge of building the old stone courthouse at Chillicothe, afterward used as the first statehouse of Ohio, to advertise for bids in 'Freeman's paper.' Advertisements in the Scioto Gazette for October 19, 1801, are signed by 'S. Freeman, as executor of the estate of Edmund Freeman, deceased,' and part of the equipment and the 'good will' of Freeman's paper were bought by Willis.   "It is certain, however, that Willis began a new series of the paper, Vol. 1, No. 1 being issued April 25, 1800, and from that date to this the old Scioto Gazette has been published continuously. In a letter dated October, 1800, written from Virginia, Winn Winship, the same who rode with pistols in belt to buy type, said see that Willis has begun the publication of the Scioto Gazette' which would seem to fix the date.   "If the paper were desirous of counting age by claiming collateral descent, as some others do, it might claim to date from Nov. 9, 1793, when the Centinel was started, because Freeman bought out the original proprietor, Maxwell, and Willis bought out Freeman. The Scioto Gazette, however, is content to rest on its undisputed and indisputable claim to being the oldest paper of continuous publication under the same name in the country.   ITS FIRST HOME   "The first home of the Gazette was a one-story log cabin, a sort of an annex to a pretentious two-story log palace, in which hats were made, and whose owner advertised in his neighbor's sheet that he 'wanted the country boys to be more industrious in the catching of rabbits than they were last winter,' as he needed rabbit fur in his business.   "In that log-cabin N. Willis ran his paper and wrote editorials urging statehood for this part of the Northwest Territory, until statehood was attained. He also printed the journals of both houses of the territorial legislature, and the laws, for doing which he received $1,500, as recorded by those old journals.   "Mostly the old paper was filled with politics, the doing of Congress, three-months old foreign news, miscellany and advertisements. Local news was seldom given, the first local item being a short account of a Fourth of July celebration, and a list of toasts, in 1802. In 1804 appeared about 30 lines telling of the first murder in Ross County, the trial and execution. Later on the editor wrote ' Two homicides were committed to the prison this morning. We do not know their names or the names of their victims, but we understand both crimes were committed with a club.' As late as 1846 one of his successors failed to give any account of the celebra-   358 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   tion of Chillicothe's semi-centennial on the ground that he had been unable to attend and that no one had brought him 'the minutes of the occasion.'   DISTINGUISHED MEN   "About 1807 Willis sold out the paper and retired to a farm in what is now Pike county, where, besides farming, he turned an honest penny by keeping tavern. A long line of editors followed him, many of them men of more than local or even state reputation. Among them were John Bailhache, an Englishman, member of the legislature and an associate justice of Common Pleas while still editor of the paper, afterward editor and part owner of the Ohio State Journal, mayor of Columbus and later owner of the Alton, Ills. Telegraph ; George Nashee, who managed to .be editor, mayor and member of the legislature, afterward founder of the Ohio State Journal. Another was Seneca W. Ely, associated with the Gazette off and on, from 1835 to 1853. He was first secretary of the old M. & C., now B. & O. S. W. railway, receiver of public moneys, treasurer of the first street railway in Cincinnati ; treasurer of the great Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair during the Civil War, and one of the editors of the old Cincinnati Gazette. Others were William Carey Jones, of Chillicothe, who became U. S. special commissioner on land claims after the Mexican war, was one of the most prominent citizens of the Pacific slope, an authority on old Spanish land grants, and who married the daughter of Gen. Fremont; E. F. Squier, joint author with Dr. E. H. Davis, of 'Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley ;' Otway Curry, the poet ; James H. Baker, Secretary of State under Governor Chase, colonel of the 10th Minnesota infantry, provost marshal of Missouri, commissioner of pensions under Grant and Commissioner of railroads of Minnesota ; Charles F. Lummis, now editor of ' Out West' and one of the foremost authorities on the Southwest and Mexico.   AN ENTERPRISING PAPER   "In all the early history of the state of Ohio the Scioto Gazette played no small part, and was the official mouthpiece for the Virginia party which secured statehood, and for thirty years dominated the policies of the new commonwealth. In 1834, when the foreman of the paper was William Cooper Howells, father of the noted writer, W. W. Howells, the Scioto Gazette was the first to propose William Henry Harrison for the presidency. The first editorial convention held in Ohio, July 8, 1839, was held at the suggestion of S. W. Ely, of the Scioto Gazette, in Columbus. The   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 359   paper was the first to suggest Gen. Zachary Taylor for the presidency, as was acknowledged by Gen. Taylor in a letter to the editor. It was the first to suggest the 'log cabin' feature of the Harrison campaign of 1840.   "In 1839, not being content with the U. S. postal service, the Scioto Gazette set up a route of its own through Ross, Pike, Pick-away, Madison, Franklin and Highland counies. It also opened a free reading room supplied with American and foreign review books and periodicals. In 1847 the Gazette practically built and controlled the first telegraph line from Columbus to Portsmouth, and had a really 'exclusive' telegraph service. The paper began issue as a daily in 1849, but discontinued as such in 1857, when improved railway service brought the Cincinnati papers into competition. During this period it issued daily, tri-weekly and weekly."   THE GAZETTE FROM FIRST TO LAST   For the benefit of some of the readers of this history who would fill in the loopholes left in Colonel Taylor's narrative, it may be stated that following Willis, as editor of the Gazette, was one Richardson, who, after a short time, sold the paper to George Nashee and George Denny. P. Parcells and J. Barnes had also a short season of ownership, during the early years of the Gazette's history. Nashee, who was a native of Massachusetts, came to Ohio in 1807, and started, in company with Denny, in 1807, a Federalist paper, called the Supporter, a paper which was continued in Chillicothe until 1821, though by other parties. Nashee, after serving for some time in the mechanical department of the Gazette, was made state printer, and in 1825 was one of the number who established, at Columbus, the State Journal. He died at the state capital, May 16, 1821, in his forty-first year. Joseph S. Collins, who subsequently moved to Washington, where he died, was at the head of the establishment when the War of 1812 began, and the leading writers (although anonymous) were James Foster and Carlos A. Norton. The chief executive officers of the state were believed at that time to lend their aid to the paper. Judge Bailhache (who was irreverently dubbed Mons. Belly-ache), a man of marked ability, became the owner and editor of the Gazette in 1815, buying it for the purpose of consolidating it with the Fredonian, which he at that time owned, and had, doubtless, bought of Richardson. He remained at the head of the paper until February, 1828, a period of thirteen years, during which he exerted a broad and good influence.   Judge Bailhache died in Alton, Illinois, in 1857. Robert   360 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   Kercheval succeeded Judge Bailhache as the proprietor of the paper, February 28, 1828, and conducted it ably for five years. He married a daughter of Governor McArthur.   On the 17th of April, 1833, John N. Pumroy, a dapper, energetic and eccentric little Yankee (who had some time before come from the East and been placed in charge of the Female Seminary), bought out Mr. Kercheval and installed himself as editor of the Gazette. His name appeared in connection with that of J. L. Taylor, but for some unknown reason the partner soon relinquished his interest, and Pumroy managed the paper alone. He made an attack upon the late Governor Allen, when he was a candidate for a seat in Congress, and applied to him the name of "Gong," which has frequently appeared in newspapers of a later day. Pumroy exhibited many fine traits of character and considerable ability, but certain very marked peculiarities foreshadowed his fate. Before he had severed his connection with the Gazette and Chillicothe, he became insane and was taken to an asylum, where he died not long afterward. His successor was Dr. Benjamin 0. Carpenter, who took possession of the office and paper April 23, 1834, issuing the paper under his own name and that of W. C. Howells, who was designated as "Printer." Doctor Carpenter had been described as "a man of considerable mind, but a wonderfully gassy fellow, and apparently of a rather wild and flighty disposition." On taking charge of the paper he announced in his salutatory that, "wishing the name to correspond with the character," he "had taken the liberty to add, 'and Independent Whig,' to the venerable cognomen The Scioto Gazette."   Seneca W. Ely's connection with this journal began April 22, 1835, after Doctor Carpenter had been its editor for just one year. For about twenty years, though, with slight interruption, Mr. Ely was editor of the Gazette, and it was under his charge it obtained its first pronounced success and earliest condition of flourishing prosperity. It became known by reason of Mr. Ely's able editorship as one of the foremost papers of the state. It was announced in the issue of December 21, 1837, that C. A. B. Coffroth had entered into partnership with Mr. Ely, but that gentleman's connection with the paper seems to have been brief and merely nominal. William C. Jones became a partner November 1, 1839, and remained associated with Mr. Ely until December 17, 1840.   C. C. Allen superseded Mr. Ely as owner of the Gazette December 21, 1843, the latter gentleman being in ill health and anxious to secure a partial release from the responsibility that devolved upon him. He retained his place, however, as editor of the sheet until January 23, 1845, when he withdrew from the establishment altogether. Mr. Allen still retained possession of the Gazette,   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 361   with the talented E. George Squier as editor. He remained in connection with the paper only until December 16, 1846, being absorbed in the fascinating study of American antiquities, and especially the remains of the semi-civilization of the Mound Builders. The result of this study, the magnificent publication, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, known as " The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," is familiar to cultured people in all parts of the country. After leaving Chillicothe, Mr. Squier explored Central America, the Andes and the Amazon, was a prolific writer for the press, and made many and valuable contributions to scientific knowledge. Later he became editor of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. His wife obtained a divorce from him to wed her husband's employer, and Mr. Squier's splendid career came to a melancholy close in the madhouse.   Mr. Ely served several terms in the City Couucil of Chillicothe, being president of that body to the time of his removal from the city.   When the Ohio poet, Otway Curry, purchased the Gazette establishment of Ely, Allen & Looker, the former, being detained some time at his old place of residence, secured Mr. Ely's services in the conduct of the paper (pro tempore), but on the advent of Messrs. Baker & Miller, he closed his connection with it, and in July, 1859, removed with his family to Cincinnati, and became custodian of the funds which a Philadelphia company had subscribed toward constructing the first two street railroads in that city.   The late C. C. Allen, who was associated with Mr. Ely in the ownership of the Gazette, was for many years a resident of Chillicothe, and was known as one of its most worthy citizens. He took but little part in public affairs or politics, but was prominently mentioned for the office of state treasurer in 1857. Mr. Allen died, after a short illness, July 11, 1858.   Ely & Allen remained in charge of the Gazette until March, 1853, when they sold out to one of the greatest geniuses and most famous men ever connected with Chillicothe journalism—the poet, Otway Curry. He remained in the position of editor and proprietor only one year, but during that short period conducted the paper with signal, though peculiar, ability. He came to Chillicothe in 1853, and upon closing his connection with the Gazette, returned to Marysville. While editor of the Gazette, January, 1854, he was president of the Ohio editorial convention at Cincinnati. He died February 17, 1855, less than a year from the time he left Chillicothe. The Currys were of Scotch descent, and had a strain of the blood of Robert Burns.   362 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   Mr. Curry's successors were J. H. Baker and A. P. Miller, who took charge of the paper March 27, 1854. Baker was the editor, and a very fair one. Miller wrote some matter, and had especial charge of the mechanical department. On the 20th of July, 1858, Mr. Baker left the firm, and soon after located in Minnesota, where he entered public life and made quite a marked career, holding, among other public positions, that of secretary of state. Miller conducted the paper alone until May 29, 1866, when he sold out to Capt. Thomas D. Fitch, and went to Columbus, where he became connected with the State Journal. Captain Fitch, after a little more than three months' experience in the sole responsibility, took as a partner his brother, S. A. Fitch.   Following the Fitches came J. R. S. Bond, and Bond & Son, 1868 to 1874 ; Raper & Wolfe, 1874 to 1886. During the time from 1882 to 1884 the city editor of the Gazette was Charles F. Lummis, the well-known writer and authority on the history of the Southwest and Mexico. R. G. Lewis owned the paper from 1886 to 1892, having various editors, among them Gen. S. H. Hurst. On September 29, 1892, the Gazette passed into the hands of Messrs. J. C. Entrekin and M. Boggs. Huston Robins, afterward probate judge of Ross County, had editorial management, and the business management was in the hands of G. W. C. Perry. In 1893 the Gazette was taken by George H. Tyler, who combined the Chillicothe Leader with it. The Daily Gazette was started on November 28, 1892. On November 16, 1896, the Gazette passed into the hands of the Scioto Gazette Company, composed of the late M. Boggs, D. M. Massie, J. C. Entrekin, G. H. Smith, G. W. C. Perry and B. F Stone, all men of weight and standing in city, county and state, with Mr Perry as business manager and Ed S. Wenis city editor.   In 1908 G. W. C. Perry and David M. Massie bought the interests of the other members of the Scioto Gazette Company. Mr. Perry, the managing editor and head of the company, is a member of the famous naval family, one of whom was the hero of the battle of Lake Erie, and the other the author of Japan's open door. He has been identified with the Gazette since 1892. David M. Massie, secretary and treasurer of the Gazette company, is a grandson of Gen. Nathaniel Massie, a leading lawyer and legislator, a trustee of the Ohio State University for many years, and commissioned from 1902 to 1908, to direct the taking of testimony in Cuba regarding all claims growing out of the Spanish-American war. These involved over $61,000,000.   The Scioto Gazette is a seven-column, eight-page afternoon daily, and also publishes an eight-page semi-weekly. It is a member of the Associated Press, and owns the building it occupies.   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 363   FIRST RELIGIOUS PAPER IN AMERICA   It is well authenticated that in Chillicothe was published the first religious newspaper in America. Frederic Hudson, for many years manager of the New York Herald, and at his death one of the ablest as well as the oldest newspaper men in the country—one who made an especial study of the history of the press and wrote a large volume upon the subject—says, in an elaborate article in Johnson's Encyclopedia : "While party spirit prevailed in journalism, class journals began to make their appearance. The pioneers of these were the religious press, and the first made its appearance in 1814-16. The Rev. John Andrews established, in Chillicothe, Ohio, the first religious newspaper in America. It was entitled The Recorder, and its initial number was issued in 1814. Nathaniel Willis thought and talked much of such an enterprise in Portland, Maine, in 1808, but did not receive sufficient encouragement to carry out his plan until 1816. On January 3d, of that year, he issued the first number of the Boston Recorder, and now the Nation is full of religious newspapers."   Copies of this old paper, which were originally the property of Governor Worthington (and one of which still bears, in faded ink, his address), shows that the Weekly Recorder was first issued early in June, 1814. Its publication was continued until 1822. It was a small eight-page paper, the printed surface of each page being about 8 by 10 inches, and was issued every Thursday, the terms of subscription being $2 per annum. It was devoted to the dissemination of local as well as general religious news, and aimed at the improvement of morals by encouraging organized effort. Its motto was "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." Doctor McAdow says of the editor : "He was a Presbyterian preacher, having a number of charges under his care, and a man of fine abilities. He derived little or no income from his ministerial duties, and must have made enough from his paper to sustain his large family and to build a brick house on Main street." The printing office of this pioneer of the religious press in America was a log building which stood on the subsequent site of Judge McCoy's house, Main Street. That the first religious paper in the United States should have been established in a small and new village, of an undeveloped western state, instead of in some one of the old and large towns of the coast, improbable as it may seem at first thought, was, notwithstanding, the fact.   PREDECESSORS OF THE ADVERTISER   In the early spring of 1824, the eccentric Caleb Atwater, of Circleville, came to Chillicothe and established a little paper,   364 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   which he called the Friend of Freedom. Mr. Atwater was a man of culture and genius, with a strong taste for the study of history and many other sciences, but he was not a suitable man to edit a newspaper, as was conclusively shown by the short life of the Friend of Freedom and the appearance of the few numbers that were issued. He filled the paper full of valuable information, but with matter that was not interesting to the great majority of the people, and the result was what might have been expected. Judge Bailhache, of the Gazette, made a fierce onslaught upon the new candidate for public favor, and accelerated its demise. Only four or five numbers were published.   Immediately after the career of Caleb Atwater's little paper was closed, James Allen, a half brother of the late William Allen, started the Chillicothe Times, and supported John Quincy Adams for the presidency. William Allen, at that time, was an Adams' man, or, if not unqualifiedly endorsing him, had at least a leaning that way. The first number of this paper was issued April 5, 1824. It had a life of about two years' duration, and one Scott was, during a portion of that time, associated with Allen in its ownership. Some time in 1826, Allen Latham bought the material with which the Times had been published and started the Chillicothean, a Jackson paper, placing at its head as editor Maj. Amos Holton, a large, portly man and a great gourmand, who from his inordinate admiration and keen appreciation of juicy steaks was called the "beef major." The paper, after about two years had passed, was suspended and the Ohioan came into being as its successor. Major Holton was its editor and proprietor. He had talents, but not dollars, and the result was that his enterprise did not prove a great success. It was only a few months before the Ohioan passed over to the "silent majority" of defunct newspapers, and its editor not long after removed to Missouri, where he died a number of years later.   THE NEWS-ADVERTISER   The Ohioan in June, 1829, bore as an addition to its original title, the words, and Chillicothe Advertiser—probably the first appearance of that well known name in Chillicothe journalism. Upon the discontinuance of the Ohioan, Wilson Cook, early in 1830, started the Chillicothe Evening Post. In the spring of 1831, J. C. Melcher became the editor, and Allen Latham was pecuniarily interested in the paper. Melcher, in the fall of 1833, while engaged in a political discussion with Jonathan F. Woodside, became greatly enraged, and drawing a knife, inflicted a severe wound upon the latter's wrist—a wound from which he never fully recovered.   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 365   Melcher was arrested, tried, convicted, and sent to the state's prison for a term of three years. John Hough then became the owner of the paper, and issued it under the name of the Advertiser, as something of the odium associated with Melcher's crime was supposed to attach to the paper of which he had been the editor. Hough edited the paper alone and with much ability and attendant pecuniary success, until 1840, when he associated with himself Dr. Clement W. Pine, an Englishman of wide information and great force as a writer. The two remained in partnership for some time, and then Pine conducted the paper alone until Samuel W. Halsey (father of Calista Halsey, of Cincinnati), took charge of the office. Halsey was an able editor, but was lacking in business hnowledge and tact. He retired in 1852, and the business was managed, for a year or two, by his brother-in-law. Addison Buck-water, until Eshelman & Ballmeyer bought the office. Ballmeyer, not long after, retired from the partnership and went to Dayton, where he became connected with the Empire. During a fierce political quarrel in that city, he was shot and killed. Eshelman edited the paper twelve years, leaving in 1865, and going to Wooster, Ohio, where he subsequently had charge of the Wayne County Democrat, and from which place he was sent to the Legislature. He exhibited finer qualities as editor than as business manager. After his departure, the Advertiser passed into the hands of James Emmitt, of Waverly, and was published under the management of Wilkinson & Carrille, with Sam Pike as editor. This arrangement continued until Capt. John Putnam, upon retiring from the Legislature, took charge of the paper for Mr. Emmitt. He brought much and varied ability to the Advertiser, and caused a condition of prosperity greater than the paper had ever before enjoyed. Captain Putnam relinquished his position to enter the service of the state as private secretary to Governor Allen, and the Advertiser passed into the hands of S. L. Everett, who, however, retained possession but a short time. The paper was then transferred to its former proprietor, and for a few months was conducted by Kilvert & Mayo, the latter doing most of the editorial work. After this firm had found that they could not make a sufficient profit from the paper, they allowed it to revert to Captain Putnam, who managed it until W. R. Brownlee came into possession. He was succeeded, October 20, 1877, by John Wiseman. Mr. Wiseman conducted the paper with average success until 1882, when the plant and good will were sold to Frank Harper and George F. Hunter, both young men from Eastern Ohio. During the ownership of Captain Putnam the Advertiser had gone from bad to worse, and when Harper and Hunter took possession there were less than 400 paying subscribers left on the books. From that   366 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   day, however, the paper began to prosper once more and the old name of Chillicothe Advertiser again commanded respect. In 1895 Mr. Harper retired to take charge of the Mount Vernon Banner, which had been left him on the death of his father. Mr. Hunter, who had then been connected with the Advertiser longer than any other editor since its founding, continued the business alone, and in December, 1896, added a daily edition. This made three daily papers in the city and after a fierce competition of three years a proposition to consolidate, made on behalf of the News-Register Company, was accepted, and in October, 1899, the Advertiser, daily and weekly, was consolidated with the Daily News, established in 1883, and the Weekly Register established in 1879, then owned by C. C: Waddle, doing business as the News-Register Company. The two interests were consolidated and incorporated in the name of the News-Advertiser Company, of which George F. Hunter was president and C. C. Waddle secretary. In 1900 Mr. Waddle's interest was purchased by Mr. Hunter's brother, W. H. Hunter, formerly of the Steubenville Gazette, a gentleman of considerable ability as an editor and historian.   George F. Hunter and his brother, William H. Hunter, conducted the paper until the death of the latter, in June, 1906. William Hocking Hunter was one of the ablest newspaper men who ever came to Chillicothe. He was a man of parts, a historian, especially well versed in the early history of Ohio, with a wide fund of information. He was very fearless, and his editorials told the truth as he saw it, regardless of whether the subject matter suited politicians and those at whom they were directed. After his death George Frederick Hunter, born in Cadiz, Ohio, in 1858, managed the News-Advertiser, until, on December 31, 1913, he died very suddenly, in the prime of life, from organic heart trouble. He was a public-spirited man, a constant worker for the good of the community, both with time and money as well as in his paper, and a man of singularly equable temper and poise. Since his death the active business management of the paper has been in the hands of his only son, J. K. Hunter.   THE GERMAN PRESS AND UNSERE ZEIT   Unsere Zeit, which is the only German newspaper in the Scioto Valley south of Columbus, was established in 1868 by B. Fromm. It passed from the founder to his son, Charles Fromm, and upon the death of the latter, in 1896, to its present editor and proprietor, C. Albert Fromm, the grandson of its founder.   The German press was first represented at Chillicothe by The Ohio Correspondent, which was started in 1851 by William Raine.   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 367   In 1854, this paper was discontinued, and in the following year George Feuchtinger published a paper by the name of the Chillicothe Anzeiger. In 1857 Richard Bauer succeeded to the proprietorship and changed the name of the paper to the Chillicothe Wochenblatt. He edited the paper until the breaking out of the war, when he sold out to Lieutenant Burkley, who again changed the name of the paper to the Anzeiger. Bauer went to Dayton and started a paper in that city, but subsequently enlisted in the army, and was killed in battle. Mr. Burkley conducted the paper from 1861 to 1864, when he sold out to Mr. Niesen. The paper continued in existence but a short time after that, passing from the last named gentleman to Mr. Arnold, and from him into the possession of Heinsinger & Musacus, who were its last owners. Chillicothe was then without a German newspaper until the founding of Unsere Zeit in 1868.   CHILLICOTHEAN INDUSTRIES   Chillicothe is a fine, interesting, cultured, wealthy old town ; in fact, it ranks very high in its per capita wealth. Perhaps the bulk of its investments in real estate has descended through several generations. Although it has never striven with feverish anxiety to establish and develop itself as a manufacturing city, it has kept well buttressed in that regard, as will be evident by a general survey of its manufactories.   The following by the Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce is a somewhat enthusiastic description of the city, its institutions and its advantages, but incorporates so many salient facts that it is reproduced : "Although Chillicothe is not a manufacturing city so called, nevertheless its goodly number of factories produce the very highest grade of products.   "A book paper mill supplies periodicals like the Woman's Home Companion and Collier's Weekly ; the third largest corn meal mill in the world exports cereals to foreign ports; the largest canning factory in the Middle States packs peas, sweet corn, berries, pumpkins and beans; shoe and automobile factories produce aid to locomotion ; a corps of expert laborers make men's wigs and toupees ; coffins, tufting machines, furniture, pottery, ladies' skirts, horse collar pads, concrete sewer tile, vacuum cleaners and candy are here manufactured.   "All these are created in a well-governed city which offers to manufacturers natural gas and coal from near-by fields, and an abundance of water, clays, stone and hardwoods. Her transportation facilities are over a third rail interurban electric and three steam railroad trunk lines.   368 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   " The late Morris Jessup, of New York, the famous historian, geologist and archaeologist contended that on the site of Chillicothe, Ohio, was located the Garden of Eden.   "The valleys of Paint Creek and the Scioto river, which surround Chillicothe, are among the richest agricultural lands in America. The per capita wealth of the city ranks second in the United States.   "Its local public utilities give service unsurpassed in Ohio.   "The roster of the great men and women who were reared in Chillicothe illumine the pages of the history of our state and nation. Its library, its schools, its broad and tree-lined streets, its well-kept homes and lawns, are all peculiar to the Old Town, and are significant and characteristic of the people here.   "Enjoying all the modern conveniences and facilities of a larger and perhaps busier city, with its population of 15,000, Chillicothe has retained the home and neighborhood life of the towns in America of a half century ago.   "As to its hospitality the fact that state assemblages seek to hold their conventions in Chillicothe is proof that its citizens always extend a sincere and cordial welcome and provide ample entertainment to its visitors."   INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT   To speak in the rough, Chillicothe's industrial life had its most marked development in the following order : Tanneries, flour mills,   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 369   pork packing houses, planing mills, and marble, granite and brick yards.   TANNERIES   Before the '50s a score or more of small tanneries conducted an indifferent business at Chillicothe, but gradually the Armstrongs and the Harmans monopolized the business.   George Armstrong came to Chillicothe from Keesport, Pennsylvania, about 1810. For the first three years he was in the employ of Thomas Jacobs as tanner, and then was foreman for James Hill one year. About 1820 he established a tannery on the southwest corner of Main and Hickory streets and continued there until 1856. In that year he sunk a tannery on New Street on the bank of the Paint, where the business was carried on under different proprietors for many years. George Armstrong died the year it was founded. His son, George L. succeeded him and afterward formed a partnership with Austin P. Story. A new tannery was erected beside the old one, in which steam power and all the modern appliances were requisitioned.   Harman's tannery was established in 1855 by Otto Harman, and about 1858 Christian Elsass became a partner in the business. Mr. Harman died in 1874, and his son, Fletcher, who had been associated with him for a number of years, was sole proprietor for some time, but afterward received his brother, Howard, into partnership. In 1879 Howard Harman came into possession, and long afterward the plant was familiarly known as Harman's Tannery.   FLOUR MILLS   The old Clinton flouring mills, in the northern part of the city, were built by David Adams in 1832. He operated them until about 1863, when they were purchased by Otho L. Marfield. Water power was at first obtained from the canal, steam being introduced in 1872. The White Fawn Mills were built in 1850 and the Scioto Valley mills, corner of Main and Mulberry, in 1865-66. The latter were built on the site of one of the pioneer warehouses, and in 1860 James Emmitt, of Waverly, erected a brick warehouse in the rear of the old frame one. The entire plant was known as Emmitt's Scioto Valley Mills, and warehouses and flouring mills were greatly improved in the '70s.   RISE AND FALL OF PORK-PACKING   The slaughtering and packing business began to assume some importance in Chillicothe about 1830, and from that year for a   Vol. I-24   370 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   decade the bulk of the trade was in the hands of the old firm of John and George Wood. Their plant was on the bank of the Scioto River. Besides that firm, John McCoy was a packer and others were in the business on still a smaller scale. The Woods retired from the packing and provision business about 1840 and were succeeded by James P. Campbell.   From that date until 1846 the business increased rapidly. David Adams opened a house on High Street, John Cowlson a small one on Church Street and Matthew Hufnagle a similar establishment between Second and Main streets. M. R. Bartlett also built a packing-house in 1842 on the Ryan property north of the canal on Mulberry Street. Abram and James Baker operated a small house on Water below Bridge Street.   About this date Sanders D. Wesson went into the business on an extensive scale at the south end of Paint Street. From that time until 1846 Chillicothe most flourished as a packing center, reaching a position only second to Cincinnati. In the winter of 1843-44 not far from 90,000 hogs were slaughtered at Chillicothe. The first mess pork in the city was sold by M. R. Bartlett in 1842, being for shipment to Milwaukee. The Cream City was then advancing to the premier position as a pork-packing metropolis, while Chicago was still in modest retirement.   In 1845 Carlisle & Reed, of Chillicothe, purchased the Adams house on High Street and continued there for many years, the firm being finally changed to that of Allston & Reed. J. and H. McLandburgh were also engaged in the business for many years ; Burbridge & Clempson, from 1851 to 1853. About that time M. R. Bartlett purchased the old Hamilton property on Market Street and built the packing-house afterward occupied by M. R. Bartlett & Son. Alexander Frazier also remodeled the Wilson house at the south end of Paint Street and opened there an extensive establishment. He introduced the English method of singeing and boning meats for the English market ; but the American curing method finally prevailed, even in the British market.     John P. Campbell died in 1850 and his packing house was operated by M. R. Bartlett during the season of 1851-52. John Mar-field appeared as a pork packer in 1852, and afterward purchased the Campbell property, which he occupied until his death in 1860. William Taylor & Son succeeded him. About 1859 Abram Baker built a pork house on Market Street near the Scioto bridge, which he operated until his death in 1871, when he was succeeded by Henry Beim.   But after 1846 the packing business at Chillicothe steadily declined before the advance of Milwaukee and Chicago, favored with better railroad facilities and nearer the centers of production which   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 371   were rapidly shifting westward. By the '80s only a few thousand hogs were being packed in Chillicothe, and a decade afterward the industry had virtually died.   WOOD, STONE AND BRICK MANUFACTURES   The first planing mill and lumber yards to grow into a large establishment were started by Easton & Thornhill, in 1852. The business was continued by Mr. Thornhill until 1867, when it was purchased by William H. Reed. In 1873 two sons were admitted into partnership, and the Reeds eventually controlled a large planing mill, several sawmills and an extensive lumber yard. In 1868 the Hernnstein Brothers established a lumber yard at Deer Creek and Mill streets and a planing mill was installed in 1875.   The Goehner marble and granite works on Mulberry Street were established in 1866 and in the same year Grabb & Hechinger opened a brick yard on East Mulberry Street.   THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER   The manufacture of paper has always held an important place among the industries of Chillicothe. The first paper mills at the foot of Paint Street were established in August, 1847, by Entrekin, Green & Company. Water power, leased from the Hydraulic Company, was used for the first ten years. In consequence of a break in the aqueduct caused by high water in the spring of the following year, they did not get to work until October, 1848. William Ingham became a member in 1849, and a new company was organized under the style of Crouse, Entrekin & Company, which bought out the old concern at a cost of $9,000 for mill and stock. The company continued the business until March 1, 1852, when James M. Ingham became a partner and the firm became Ingham & Company. In 1858 the canal and dam were again flooded out of existence, and the company decided to substitute steam for water power. During the year in which the change was being made the mills were idle.   This line of industry has long been represented by the extensive plant of the Mead Pulp and Paper Company, on South Paint Street.   FOUNDRY AND MACHINE SHOPS   The Chillicothe Foundry and Machine Works were established in 1852 by William Welsh, who was sole proprietor until 1865, when he became associated with Robert Meiklejohn and A. C. Ireland.   372 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   In 1872 a joint stock company was formed with William Ingham as president, its line of manufactures being engines and mill machinery.   OTHER PRESENT-DAY INDUSTRIES   The fabrication of metals in Chillicothe is now represented chiefly by the Descher Machine Works, a general machine shop and manufacturer of auto axles and hubs, and the Tip Top Machine Shop and Foundry, manufacturers of baling presses and iron and brass castings.   In the way of furniture the Ramey Manufacturing Company, vacuum sweepers, and Champion Bed Lounges Company, beds and lounges.   The Standard Cereal Company, with a large plant on East Water Street, and the Sears & Nichols Company, with an extensive canning factory, corner of Main and Mulberry streets, have already been noticed in the extract from the Chamber of Commerce report. The Chillicothe Creamery Company has a plant on the north side of Riverside between Bridge and Hickory streets.   Chillicothe turns out quite a line of shoes, by far the largest plant being that operated on East Main Street by the Union Shoe Manufacturing Company, of which Richard Enderlin is president.   The manufacture of pottery is quite an important industrial line at Chillicothe, one of the notable plants thus devoted being that operated as the Florentine Pottery Company.   The brewers of the place are 0. Wissler & Company and Jacob Knecht & Son.   The American Pad and Textile Company do a large business in making pads for horse collars.   The Ohio Concrete Sewer Company, with a plant on Riverside, manufactures not only concrete sewer material, but all kinds of building blocks.   THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE   The business men and manufacturers of Chillicothe have been organized into a co-operative body for many years. The first of these organizations, the board of trade, was organized in March, 1888, with Albert Douglas, Jr., as president ; C. W. Story, first vice president, and Nelson Purdum, second vice president. It was reorganized in March, 1895, and incorporated, under its present name, in May, 1912. The Chamber of Commerce has a membership of 200 (about half active) and the following officers: R. T. Houk, president ; John A. Poland, vice president ; Samuel M. Veail, treasurer, and J. C. Anderson, secretary.   HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 373   EARLY BANKING AT CHILLICOTHE   The first of the institutions which gave Chillicothe a financial standing in Southern Ohio was known for nearly forty years as the Bank of Chillicothe. It commenced business early in 1809 in a building which the corporation had erected on the north side of Second Street between Paint and Mulberry streets. Besides the necessary rooms for the bank the building furnished a residence for the cashier and (in the second story) a Masonic Hall. The Bank of Chillicothe remained at that location until 1826 when a convenient brick structure was erected for its accommodation on the south side of Second Street between Paint and Walnut. When its charter expired in 1844, the building mentioned was purchased by James McLandburgh, who, in 1848, remodeled it into a residence.   HISTORICAL RELICS REVEALED   On removing the bank vault, a sealed leaden box was discovered, which had been deposited in the wall over the door. The articles have been lost, but the following memorandum was preserved : "Memorandum of articles contained in a leaden box, which is deposited above the door of the vault in the New Banking House, September 8, 1826.   " The following are the names of the president, directors and other officers of the Bank of Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, for the purposes of which bank this building is erected, in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six, in the month of July of that year, being the fiftieth year of the independence of the United States of America :   "Thomas James, president : James S. Swearingen, David Crouse, Edward Tiffin, James English, Francis Campbell, John Evans, William Key Bond, and Cadwallader Wallace, directors ; John Woodbridge, cashier, and Henry Buchanan, clerk."   The following is the list of articles :   " One number of the Supporter and Scioto Gazette, dated July 20, 1826, in which is the account of the death of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. " One number of the Chillicothean, dated August 18, 1826. " One number of the Baltimore Patriot, dated August 22, 1826. " One copy of the by-laws of the Bank of Chillicothe. " One American dollar, coined in 1803. "One American half-dollar, coined in 1826. " One American quarter-dollar, coined in 1825. "One American dime, coined in 1825.   374 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY   " One sheet of bank paper, of the denominations of one, three, five and ten dollars, number two thousand one hundred and eighty-three, dated September 1, 1826."   UNITED STATES BRANCH BANK   A branch of the old United States Bank was established in Chillicothe, about the year 1816. William Creighton, Jr., was appointed president, and Abram Claypool, cashier ; and each of them retained his office as long as the bank continued in operation. It was discontinued in 1829 or '30, after the celebrated veto of President Jackson. The capital of the Chillicothe branch was $500,000.   BRANCHES OF THE STATE BANK   Two branches of the State Bank of Ohio succeeded the old Chillicothe Bank, whose charter expired in 1844. The first of these, the one named above, was organized in June, 1845, with a capital of $250,000. William H. Douglas was its first president, and J. S. Atwood its first cashier. The subsequent presidents were Henry Massie, elected January 3, 1855 ; Albert Douglas, May 5, 1862. The subsequent cashiers were James B. Scott, elected January 31, 1853 ; T. S. Goodman, February 23, 1858, and J. M. Snyder, August 18, 1864.   The charter of the State Bank having expired, this branch was reorganized as the "Chillicothe National Bank, '' May 30, 1865, with ,a capital of $100,000, Albert Douglas being chosen president, and J. M. Snyder, cashier. January 18, 1876, N. Wilson succeeded as president, and D. C. Ruhrah as cashier. M. Lewis became head of the bank on January 19, 1877, and in April, of the same year, the institution surrendered its charter and wound up its affairs.   The second branch of the State Bank of Ohio organized at Chillicothe was known as the Ross County Bank and had a capital of $100,000. The board of directors organized, November 2, 1846, by the election of Owen T. Reeves, president, and A. Spencer Nye, cashier. On May 12, 1847, the capital was increased to $150,000. On February 3, 1857, Mr. Reeves declined a re-election to the presidency, and Noah L. Wilson was chosen in his place. On March 30, 1857, Mr. Nye resigned the cashiership, and B. P. Kingsbury was elected as his successor. May 11, 1863, the stockholders resolved to reduce the capital to $100,000, and subsequently the entire capital was refunded to the shareholders, and the bank retired from business, September 5, 1865.   The Valley Bank was a private institution which, for many years previous to the organization of the national banks in the '60s, enjoyed the confidence of business men throughout Southern Ohio.