MORROW COUNTY
Page
315
MORROW COUNTY was formed February 24, 1848, from
Richland,
Knox, Marion and Delaware, and named from Jeremiah Morrow, of Warren
county,
Governor of Ohio from 1822 to 1826. Surface level on the west and
south; north
and east somewhat hilly; soil fertile, with large quarries of good
building
stone.
Area about 450 square miles. In 1887 the acres
cultivated were 97,443; in pasture, 74,809;. woodland, 41,291; lying
waste,
804; produced in wheat, 195,996 bushels; rye, 3,022; buckwheat, 773;
oats,
505,626; barley, 126; torn, 717,359; broom corn, 72 lbs. brush; meadow
hay,
32,653 tons; clover hay, 6,383; flax, 7,000 lbs. fibre.; potatoes,
47,674
bushels; tobacco, 278 lbs.; butter, 692,743; cheese, 70; sorghum, 757
gallons;
maple syrup, 23,031; honey, 2,418 lbs.; eggs, 618,108 dozen; grapes,
3,830
lbs.; wine, 310 gallons; sweet potatoes, 170 bushels; apples, 3,563;
peaches,
1,495; pears, 1,422; wool, 540,138 lbs.; milch cows owned, 5,561.
School
census, 1888, 5,063; teachers, 248. Miles of railroad track. 55.
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
Bennington, |
1,265 |
936 |
Lincoln, |
891 |
901 |
Canaan, |
1,223 |
1,087 |
North Bloomfield, |
1,443 |
1,227 |
Cardington, |
1,358 |
2,376 |
Perry, |
1,150 |
1,106 |
Chester, |
1,620 |
975 |
Peru, |
876 |
916 |
Congress, |
1,651 |
1,262 |
South Bloomfield, |
1,395 |
1,067 |
Franklin, |
1,456 |
957 |
Troy, |
640 |
730 |
Gilean, |
1,680 |
2,653 |
Washington, |
1,137 |
983 |
Harmony, |
1,041 |
697 |
Westfield, |
1,414 |
1,199 |
Population of Morrow in 1850, 20,380; 1860, 20,445;
1880, 19,072, of whom 15,390 were born in Ohio; 1,323, Pennsylvania;
455, New
York; 294, Virginia; 108, Indiana; 27, Kentucky; 268, German Empire;
139,
England and Wales; 131, Ireland; 39, British America; 9, Scotland; and
5,
France. Census, 1890, 18,120.
This county is a little south of the centre of the
State and is just south of the great water-shed, or rather lies on its
broad
summit, just far enough to have a slow drainage into the Ohio river.
The first permanent settlers came into the county
just
after the close of the war, 1812-1815, and the first grist and saw mill
to
accommodate the settlers was built by Asa MOSHER on the Whetstone, in
what is
now Cardington township, in 1821. For many years supplies for the
families were
scarce and it was difficult to get the necessary grain and have it
ground in
the dry time of summer and fall: Corn meal and other supplies had to be
packed
on horseback from Owl creek and Delaware county, but with hominy blocks
and
roasting ears, mush and milk, and pone and buttermilk, venison and wild
turkey,
the people got along cheerily and hopefully.
Grabbing
a Baby.—When
the first settlers came there were Indians about, but on friendly terms
with
the settlers. The first settler in Washington township was Benjamin
SHARROCK,
who came in the winter of 1818-1819. When his family came to their rude
home in
the wilderness they found themselves surrounded by the Indians. “Not
long after
their coming,” says the County History , “Abner SHARROCK was born, and
when but
a few months old, in a wigwam not far away, an Indian boy, who was
about the
same age, died. Something of mother-love was manifested even in the
breast of
that dusky savage, in that immediately she longed to replace her lost
pappoose,
and between her wailings she came to Mr. SHARROCK’S cabin and asked for
Abner.
Of course, the request was denied; but when the mother’s back was
turned the
squaw seized the little fellow in
Page316
her arms and darted out of the door
into the woods toward
her own wigwam. The mother
gave chase,
and when the squaw was in the act of crossing a fence she was caught. A
struggle ensued, but for
once might and right were united, and the stolen child was
rescued from
the hands of his savage captor.”
MOUNT GILEAD, county-seat of Morrow, about forty
miles
north of Columbus, is on the C. C. C. & I, and T. & O.
C. Railroads.
County officers, 1888: Auditor, Christian GRUBER; Clerk, James E.
McCRACKEN;
Commissioners, John McNEAL, John McCRACKEN, Aaron B. KEESE; Coroner,
Chauncey
C. DUNHAM; Infirmary Directors, Lafayette S. DUDLEY, James TURNER,
Yelverton P.
BARRY; Probate Judge, Louis K. POWELL; Prosecuting Attorney, Wm. H.
BARNHARD;
Recorder, Sylvester R. RAUHAUSER; Sheriff, James R. McCOMB; Surveyor,
Wm. C.
DENNISON; Treasurer, David V. WHERRY. City officers, 1888: John A.
GARVER,
Mayor; W. R. Baxter, Clerk; B. A. BARTON, Treasurer; John B. GARBISON,
Marshal.
Newspapers: Morrow County Sentinel,
Republican, J. W. GRIFFITH & Son, editors and publishers; Union Register, Democratic, W. G. BEEBE,
editor and publisher. Churches: 1 Baptist, 1 Methodist, l Presbyterian,
l Universalist.
Banks: First National, Allen LEVERING, president, R. P. HALLIDAY,
cashier;
Morrow County National, W. G. BEATTY, president, George F. WOLCOTT,
cashier.
Manufactures
and Employees.—Mount
Gilead Building
Co., doors, sash, etc., 7 hands; Anchor Milling Co., flour and feed, 4
;
McGowen & Co., drain tile, 4 ; Morrow County Sentinel,
printing, etc., 5;
H. Dunn, carriages and buggies, 6; Mount Gilead Machine Shop,
repairing, 3 ;
Buckeye Roller Mills, flour and feed, 4; Mount Gilead Pottery, jugs,
jars,
etc., 6; Dennison Brothers, drain tile, 6.—State
Report, 1888.
Population, 1880, 1,216. School census, 1888, 387;
J.
H. SNYDER, school superintendent. Census, 1890, 1,363.
Mount Gilead was laid out September 30, 1824, by
Jacob
Young, of Knox county, under the name of Whetsom, though it was
generally
called Youngstown. In 1832 the Legislature changed its name to Mount
Gilead,
and in 1839 it was incorporated. It is a rich farming country, and near
it are
valuable stone quarries, where are stone tile works, which, with the
Mount
Gilead tile works largely manufacture all sizes and kinds of tile
draining.
The town was of a slow growth. At the time of the
issue of our original edition, in 1847, it was in Marion county, and
therein
was thus described: “Mount Gilead, eighteen miles southeast of Marion,
is a
flourishing village containing two churches, several stores, two or
three
mills, and about 400 inhabitants.” On the formation of Morrow county in
1848 it
became the county-seat, and it took a new start. The census of 1850
gave it a
population of 646. The excitement of securing the county-seat after a
hard
struggle got vent in a great jollification by bonfires on the streets
and a
congratulatory meeting and speeches in the Presbyterian church, in the
midst of
which Capt. RIDGDON broke his leg
RUM AND SLAVERY Were topics that interested the
first
settlers of town and county. As early as the spring of 1830 a
temperance
society with forty members was formed at Mount Gilead, and in 1840 an
anti-slavery constitution for a society was signed by fourteen men and
nine
women. This was in the Presbyterian church. It was signed in the midst
of the
throwing of rotten eggs and an uproar from a howling mob who finally
broke up
the meeting.
A branch of the “underground railroad,” which
passed
through the township, did a considerable business, though the principal
depots
were in Peru and Washington townships. In this connection a sad story
is
related in the County History.
Clipping
the
Hair of a United States Marshal.—In
the early summer of 1860 some blacks were staying at a
point about two miles south of Iberia. One
evening the trains stopped and let some parties get off in that
vicinity. This fact was
telegraphed by
rumor far and near. The young
men
saddled their horses and hastened to the protection of these fugitives. Two of them were rescued. But the
boys were
incensed. They caught the
party, which
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317
Top
Picture
THE DOUBLE-HEADED BABY.
Bottom
Picture
Theo. Brown, Photo.,
Mt. Gilead,
1886.
COUNTY
BUILDINGS, MT. GILEAD
Page
318
proved to be
the deputy
United States Marshal
and two subordinates.
Then some of the boys held the deputy for another to clip the hair off his head, while others administered some ironclad oaths to the
subordinates and thrashed
them most unmercifully.
Arrest
and Imprisonment of President Gordon.—One who stood by, not consenting
to, but opposing this
summary punishment, was Rev. Mr. GORGON, then president of Ohio Central
College, at Iberia. He was the
one, however, who was brought to trial and
imprisonment.
After remaining in prison for some time, the
affair was brought to the ears of President Lincoln, who immediately
pardoned
him. But the pardon did not
exonerate him
from blame, and he refused to leave his prison cell, preferring to
languish in
prison to going out with the imputation of criminality
upon him. His friends,
however, persuaded
or compelled him to avail himself of
the
pardon and leave his prison cell. But
disease had fastened upon him, breathing the fetid atmosphere of his
damp cell,
and his release was only just in time to save his life.
The respite was but brief. The release did not bring permanent
relief. A few brief years
passed, and the disease contracted in that prison cell in Cleveland
brought him
to an untimely death, which occurred in 1868.
THE DOUBLE-HEADED BABY.
On
October 12,
1870, there was born in Peru township,
this county,
one of the must remarkable double children ever known. This monstrosity
consisted of two perfect children from the heads to the umbilicus or
navel,
which was in common. From
this point the
two united to form one body, the intestinal
and
secretory
and excretory organs were common to
both, and the genital organs those of a female
child. On one side were two
well-formed
legs, extending from the side of the body at an equal distance from
each head,
and at right angles to the body, perfect
in all respects with the exception of a slight twist in one of the feet. At the other side of the body a
double leg, or
two legs united or blended into one; this
also extended at right angles. This
double leg terminated in a double
foot on which were
eight toes and two heels.
At birth it weighed about twelve
pounds. The mother
was healthy, and was not aware of any circumstances to account for the
peculiar
and, very extraordinary form of the child. From its birth both parts
were as
healthy as the average infant, although one was somewhat the stronger,
and the
mother, for lack of sufficient nutriment for both, was obliged to have
recourse
to the bottle for the stronger one. The parts were named Mina and
Minnie,
respectively.
The circulation of the blood at the
two extremities of
this double child was perfectly independent. The pulse at the wrist of
one set
of arms had, upon examination, been found to beat six beats faster than
that of
the other, while the prick of a pin or pinch of the shoulders attached
to one
head was not noticed by the other. Sometimes
one was asleep while the other was awake and playing, and again both
were
asleep.
The appearance of the child was not
at all repulsive,
as is sometimes the case with monstrosities, but both faces were
bright, intelligent and
pleasing.
The mother of the child was Ann
Eliza FINLEY, born in
Champaign county, July
28, 1836; she was a robust
woman, quiet and self-possessed in manner. June
6, 1859, she married Joseph
FINLEY. He was born in
Pennsylvania, August 18, 1824;
removed to Ohio in 1845, and in 1862 enlisted in the 96th Ohio
Volunteer
Infantry and served for three years in the South and Southwest without losing a single day from sickness,
absence, or any other cause.
Previous to the birth of this
remarkable child the parents had two
daughters and one son and afterwards a daughter; none of these had
anything
peculiar in their organization.
About five months after the birth
of the child it was
taken on a tour for exhibition in the principal cities of the United
States. At
Philadelphia an examination was made by physicians and surgeons of the
Jefferson Medical College and a lecture delivered upon it by Dr. Getchell
in the
presence of many physicians and scientists.
Dr. H. Besse, of Delaware, Ohio,
had charge of the double child,
both as business agent and physician, from a short time after its birth
until
its death, and it is from his very
interesting
work entitled “Diploteratology” that this account is
abridged.
The death of the child occurred at
Boston, Mass., July
18, 1871, just nine months and six days after its birth.
A few days previous to the death
Mina had had a severe
attack of cholera infantum,
but had partially
recovered when Minnie, who had been but slightly affected at the time
when Mina
was worst, was seized with an attack of vomiting and gradually sank
until 7:15 in the evening,
when she passed away, and
was followed just one hour later by Mina.
A post-mortem examination was held
which revealed many
wonderful curiosities, both in anatomy and physiology, a full account of which is given in Dr.Besse’s
book. The
body was for a time preserved in a casket with glass facings, but was
afterwards buried.
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317
Numerous case
of the births
of double children have occurred, but none so remarkable in all its
conditions
as this of Mina and Minnie FINLEY. In
most such cases death usually comes
a short time after
birth and many are still born. Few
reach
maturity, although there have been instances as the Siamese Twins, the
Hungarian Sisters, and Millie and Chrissie Smith, the Carolina Twins,
now
living at the age of thirty-nine. In
every such case the death of on part is followed within a few hours by
the
death of the other.
THE SAD FATE OF RICHARD
DILLINGHAM.
A
pathetic
case of martyrdom in the cause of human liberty was that of Richard
DILLINGHAM
of Morrow county, as related in the
“Reminiscences of Levi Coffin:” He was the son of Quaker
parents and
himself a consistent member of
the
Society of ‘Friends. On
attaining his
majority he engaged in school teaching and held a high reputation for
uprightness and fidelity to conscientious principles.
In December, 1848, then in Cincinnati, he was earnestly
solicited
by some colored people to go to Nashville, Tennessee, and bring away
their
relations who were slaves
under a hard
master. He undertook the
project, but was
betrayed by a colored man in whom he confided, was arrested and
imprisoned.
While
awaiting
trial he wrote a very pathetic letter to his betrothed, whom he offered
to
release from all obligations to him, but she nobly chose to prove her
constancy. His trial took place April 13, 1849. After counsel had
closed, he
rose and in a calm and dignified manner made the following appeal:
DILLINGHAM’S APPEAL.
“By
the kind permission of the court, for which I am
sincerely thankful, I avail myself of the privilege of
adding a few
words to the remarks already made by my counsel. And although I stand,
by my
own confession as a criminal in the eyes of your violated laws, yet, I feel confident that I am
addressing
those who have hearts to feel, and in meting out the punishment that I
am about
to suffer I hope you will be lenient for it is a new situation in which
I am
placed. Never before in the whole course of my life have I been charged
with a
dishonest act. And, from my childhood, kind parents, whose name I
deeply reverence,
have instilled into my mind a desire to be virtuous and honorable; and
it has
ever been my aim so to conduct myself as to merit the confidence and
esteem of
my fellow-men. But, gentlemen, I have violated your laws. This offence
I did commit, and I now
stand before you, to my
sorrow and regret, as a criminal. But
I was prompted to it by feelings of
humanity. It has been suspected, as I was informed, that I was leagued with a fraternity who are combined for the purpose of
committing such offences as the
one with which I am charged. But,
gentlemen, the impression is false. I alone
am guilty; I alone committed
the offence,
and I alone must suffer the penalty. My parents, my friends, my
relations are
as innocent of any participation in or knowledge of my offence as the
babe
unborn. My parents are still living, though advanced in years, and, in
the
course of nature, a few more years will
terminate their earthly existence. In their old age and infirmity they
will need
a stay and protection, and if you can consistently with your ideas of
justice,
make my term of imprisonment a short one, you will receive, the lasting
gratitude of a son who reverences his parents and the prayers and
blessings of
an aged father and mother who love their child.”
This appeal created a great
sensation in the
court-room and several of the jury wept. They retired and in a few
minutes
brought in a verdict for three years in the penitentiary, the mildest
sentence
the law allowed for the offence committed.
In the summer of 1850 the cholera
broke out in the penitentiary. DILLINGHAM
was untiring in his kinldy ministrations to the sick and
dying fellow-prisoners, until one Sabbath morning he was himself
attacked, died
at noon and was buriend at half-past three the same day.
DANIEL
McCARTNEY THE MEMORY
PRODIGY.
One
of the
most extraordinary cases known of memory, united to power of
arithmetical
calculation, was illustrated by Daniel McCARTHNEY,
who resided a large part of his life in this county and then passed his
last
days in Iowa, where he died in 1887. Our attention was directed to this
case by
a letter from the venerable Joseph Morris, of the Society of Friends, written from Cardington,”second
month,
14th; 1888,” which we subjoin together with the printed account from
the Cardington Independent. Who wrote the newspaper article we
do not
Page320
know.
A sister of Mr.
McCARTNEY, Mrs. Mary R.
STOREY, once lived, and
perhaps is yet living, in Iberia.
For many
years, writes Friend
Morris, I was well acquainted with Daniel McCARTNEY;
he has also been at my house. The first time that I remember to have
seen this
extraordinary man I stepped into a wagon-maker’s shop in Cardington on
business
and was introduced to Daniel McCARTNEY,
and was
informed of his remarkable memory and that he could call to mind all
that he
had seen for twenty years. “Yea,” said he, “longer than that.”
I told him
that my wife and I were
united in marriage on the 27th of the eleventh month, 1828, nearly
twenty years
ago. “Please tell me what was the day
of the week.” I
noticed a thoughtful expression come over his countenance, and then
almost
immediately the reply came. “Thursday; you Friends call it fifth day.”
I asked
him to tell how the weather was on that day. He said it was dark and a
little
stormy, which was the case. He laughed and said we killed a beef that
day.
I asked him
if he remembered what
they had on the table for dinner. He said he did, and mentioned among
other
things, butter, but said he did not eat any butter, for he was not fond
of it.
At other times and on other occasions I have heard him answer questions
without
once giving evidence of being mistaken. I would further add he was a
worthy and
consistent man, I am directed by J. D. Cog, of Cincinnati, ex-Governor
of Ohio,
to write to thee on this occasion.
[From
the Cardington Independent.]
Daniel McCARTNEY
died on the 15th of November, 1887, in Muacatine,
Iowa, being a little over seventy years old. In view of the claims of
Mr. McCARTNEY and his
friends as to his ability to remember the
occurrences of each day since he was a boy of ten years, I feel that
something
more than a passing notice is required. He removed with his father and
mother,
Robert and Lydia McCARTNEY,
when he was sixteen years
old, from Washington county, Pa., and settled in Washington township,
Morrow
county, Ohio.
After living
here two years the
family went to live in Cardington, the same county, where the father,
Robert McCARTNEY, died
soon after, leaving his son Daniel to be
supported by his relatives, who lived in various parts of the county.
His
inability to support himself
was caused by his defective vision, and although his sight became so
much
improved as to enable him to learn to read when he was about forty-two
years
old, yet it was with such great difficulty that his
acquisitions can be said in no way to be due to
his reading.
I will give
a few extracts from
the Journal
Speculative Philosophy, written by
our State Superintendent, m which he speaks of three several
examinations he gave Mr. McCARTNEY.
In the first he
gave him twenty-four dates belonging to nineteen different years. He
gave the
days of the week correctly in an average of four seconds, with a
description of
the weather with the associating circumstances. In the second
examination he
was given thirty-one dates in twenty-nine different years, for which he
gave
the days of the week, the weather and associating circumstances. The
average
time for giving the day of the week was five seconds. In the third
examination
he repeated the fifty-five dates previously given, to which he gave the
same
days of the week, the same description of the weather and the same
associating
circumstances, in some cases adding others.
That the
reader may more clearly
understand what has just been written, I will give Mr. McCARTNEY’S
answer to a question of my own: “Wife and I were married on the 28th
day of
January, 1836; give the day of the week, the kind of weather, etc.?” He
gave
answer in a few seconds. “You were married on Thursday, there was snow
on the
ground, good sleighing and not very cold; father and I were hauling
hay; a sole
came off the sled, we had to throw the hay off, put a new sole on the
sled and
load up again before we could go.”
Meeting Mr. McCARTNEY
perhaps a dozen of years afterwards, I said to him, you told me the
kind of a
day I was married on. I looked him in the eye, which was the same as
saying,
“If your memory is as good as you claim you can repeat what you said on
the
former occasion.” He replied instantly, “Yes, it was on the 28th day of
January, 1836,” and repeated the same story of his father and himself
hauling
hay, etc. My wife asked, “What kind of a day was the 16th of February,
1837” He
instantly threw up his hands and exclaimed, “Oh, how it snowed!” which
we knew
to be true. At the same time I read (perhaps half a dozen) passages
from the
Bible, taken at random.” Their exact location, book, chapter and verse
were
immediately given.
I then gave
him a number of
mathematical problems, such as to multiply 786 by 392; what is the cube
root of
357911, etc.; to all of which he gave answers obtained mentally, and
all were
correctly given. I will give a few extracts from a committee’s report
of he
result of an examination held in Columbus, March 29th, 1871, which was
sufficient
to shake the scepticism
as to the correctness of all
Mr. McCARTNEY’S claims.
The Hon. E. E. White
conducted the arithmetical examinations, Rev. Phillips the Biblical
examination, and T. C. Mendenhall, of the Columbus high school,
attested the
accuracy of answers as to the days of the weeks.
One of the
arithmetical questions
asked was: “What is the cube root of 4,741,625?” to which a correct
mental
answer was given
Page
321
in a few
seconds. Another problem was,
“increase 89 to the sixth power;” he gave the answer obtained mentally
in ten
minutes, 496,984,290,961. The committee concluded their report in these
words:
“Mr. McCartney’s experiences seem to be ready to appear before him at
his
bidding in all their original distinctness, which shows clearly that
among the
prodigies of memory recorded in history in the front rank must be
placed Daniel
McCARTNEY.”
From the
Cleveland Leader of
April 19, 1871, I give the following extract: “The exhibition was a
most full
and unanswerable argument in support of the claim that Daniel McCARTNEY has no peer; his
peculiar gifts are more varied
and wonderful than any other.”I
knew of several
attempts to exhibit Mr. McCARTNEY
to the public, all
of which proved to be failures as far as money-making was concerned.
The last
attempt knew of was made by a prominent citizen of our own county in
the year
1871. When my opinion as to the
success of the enterprise was
asked. I told the agent that it would be a failure, not from any defects
of McCARTNEY in heart
or mind, but because the capital he
intended to invest was intellectual (the powers of soul; and not
physical. I
said, if you were showing
the double-headed baby the
public would be charmed at the sight. No one would be so poor as not to
be
willing to give his fifty cents. But his prominent traits were those of
the
mind, which soared so far above the majority of the public as to be
lost to
their view.
How very few
people there are who
can realize the powers of a mind that can solve an arithmetical problem
in the
cube root mentally in a few seconds.
Or how few are
there who could realize the powers of memory by which Mr. McCARTNEY
could summon every prominent act of his life into his presence with all
their
original distinctness; or how very few there are who could tell whether
the
statements made by him were true or false. No one could tell unless he
had kept
a record of the occurrences of days and dates for the last fifty or
sixty
years. Such a record has been kept by many of our citizens, to whom the
majority must look for a knowledge
of the facts. In
early life Mr. McCARTNEY
made a profession of
religion by uniting with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and remained a
worthy,
consistent member to the close of his life.
Morrow claims the honor of
being the birthplace of
two eminent men, ALBERT P. MOREHOUSE, born in Peru township,
and governor of Missouri in 1888, and CALVIN S. BRICE, born in Canaan
township.
In one sense this is not true, for neither of them were born in the
county. Peru,
at the time of the birth of the first, was in Delaware county, and
Canaan, the
birthplace of Mr. BRICE, in Marion county. Morrow county
came into existence later than either, and clasped both in her arms as
her
production.
The father
of Mr. MOREHOUSE was at
one time county sheriff, and Albert passed his young days at Mount
Gilead, in
company with Andrew JACKSON Calhoun FOYE, now one of the leading and
most
enthusiastic spirits of the Ohio Society in New York and they
as “boys together had good times.”
Mr. BRICE
was born in Denmark,
Ohio, September 17,
1845. His father was Rev. William
K. BRICE, a Presbyterian minister, who came from Maryland in 1840, and
settled
in the village of Denmark, Canaan township.
His
mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth STEWART, was from Carroll county, Ohio.
Calvin
attended the public schools
until September, 1858, when, at the age of thirteen, he entered the
preparatory
department of Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio.
At fifteen
years of age he
enlisted in Capt. Dodd’s University company,
which, in
response to President Lincoln’s call in 1861, offered its services for
the
suppression of the rebellion. The company was sent to Camp Jackson,
Columbus,
where he took his first lesson in military discipline. In April, 1862,
he was
enrolled in the 86th O.V.I. and served, with his regiment, during the
summer of
that year in West Virginia.
Returning to
the university, he
completed his course and graduated in June, 1863; then taught school
for a
brief space at Lima; in the fall of 1864 recruited Company E of the
180th O. V.
I. regiment, and as its captain, on the close of the war he was
promoted to the
rank of lieutenant-colonel for meritorious service he being then just
of age.
In 1866 he graduated at the law school of
Ann Arbor University,
Michigan, practised law
in Ohio until 1870, when he embarked in great
railroad enterprises, by which he secured, as is popularly believed,
correspondingly large means. Politics also interested him. In
1876 he was one of
the Tilden electors for Ohio,
and in 1880 one of the Cleveland electors, and had the high honor of
being
unanimously chosen chairman of the Democratic National Executive
Committee, and
still higher in 1890 as being elected as Ohio’s successor in the United
States
Senate to Hon. Henry B. Payne. Mr. BRICE stands high as a man of large
capacity
in affairs generous in disposition, of singular mental alertness, and
electric
in action.
Page
322
CALVIN
S. BRICE,
U.
S. Senate.
Page
323
IBERIA is nine miles north of
Mount Gilead. It has
1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, and 1 United Presbyterian church
and
about fifty dwellings.
Before the
war Ohio Central
College was established here, and its president, Rev. George GORDON,
arrested
and imprisoned for the violation of the fugitive slave law, as related.
The old
college building is now used for the “Working
Home for the Blind.” This was opened June 20, 1887, with G.
C. TRESSEL, of
Cleveland, superintendent, with his wife and daughters as assistants.
The State
supplied the building, shop, and equipments, and it was the hope that
it would
be self-sustaining without further State aid. It has but few inmates,
and the
institution is as yet experimental.
CARDINGTON is five miles
southwest of Mount Gilead,
on the Olentangy, a
branch of the Scioto, and on the
C. C. C. & I. R. R., forty-one miles north of Columbus.
City officers, 1888:
O. P. RUSSELL, Mayor; G. H.
RUHLMAN, Clerk; Frank SHAW, Treasurer; I. C. MILLER, Marshal; Robert
BENDLE,
Street Commissioner. Newspaper: Morrow County Independent, Republican, E. E. NEAL,
editor. Churches: one
Methodist Episcopal, one Methodist Protestant, one Presbyterian, one
Catholic,
and one Lutheran. Banks: Cardington Banking Co., Thos. E. DUCAN, president.; W. G. BEATTY,
cashier. First National, F. P.
HILLS, president, E. J. VAUGHN, cashier.
Manufactures and employees: Cardington
Independent, printing, 4 hands; C.
KOPPE, whiskey, 2 ; Gray Brothers & Co., machine repairing, 10;
Dawson
& Wherry, flour
and feed, 6; R. T. Mills, flour and feed, 2; N. W. Hartman, feed mills,
etc., 10; Hercules
Manufacturing Co., wheat scourers, 6; J. S. Peck, furniture, 12.—State
Reports. Population, 1880, 1365 School
census, 1888,
366; A. L. BANKER,
superintendent of schools.
Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $18,000.
Value of annual product,
$21,000.—Ohio Labor
Statistics,
1888.
CENTERVILLE is eight miles
southeast of Mt. Gilead.
Population, 1880, 266. School
census, 1888,
78.
EDISON
is two miles west of Mt. Gilead, at the junction of the C. C. C.
& I. and
T. & O. C. Railroads. It has two churches—one Methodist
Episcopal and one
Baptist. School census, 1888,152.
SPARTA 18 thirteen miles southeast of Mt.
Gilead. Population, 1880, 235.
School census, 1888, 100.
MARENGO
is ten
miles south of Mt. Gilead, on Big Walnut Creek and T. & O. C.
R. R. It has one Methodist
Episcopal Church. School census,
1888,102.
JOHNSVILLE
(P. O. Schanck’s) is
ten miles northeast of Mt.
Gilead. School
census, 1888, 98.