Veteran Recalls His Battle Experiences of 65 Years Ago

The Marietta Daily Times, April 7, 1930, Section 1, page 12

Goes Back To Stirring Days of ‘61

Of the many hundreds of men who returned to Washington county to take up their places of abode at the close of the Civil War barely eighty are living today and each year sees the thinning ranks of the men who wore the blue gradually closing against the relentless adversary that knows not ultimate defeat.

Nearly 65 years have come and gone since the fall of the Confederate cause at Appomatox and the sturdy troopers who came back to civil life at that time largely have done their part in this world’s program of events. Scattered about the countryside today the wavering lines are slow to form at the bugle’s call and the surviving comrades largely are living out a peaceful existence made possible by a grateful nation that they risked all to preserve.

Will Miss Something

Many and interesting would be the life stories of these men and future generations to whom their recital will be denied will miss something that has made for a grand and glorious experience among Americans of today. History will record in a general way the stirring times that made of the sixties of the last century one of the outstanding decades in this country’s life, but the personal touch gained about the campfires where men of the Grand Army have been the central figures will be missing and no pen picture, however elaborately it may be drawn, can replace it.

In a general way these war veterans have spoken “the same language” and much that has been told by one of them can be related by another, and for that reason The Times publishes in this connection a brief biographical sketch of the experience of Capt. James R. Hyler of Reno. Captain Hyler is one of Ohio’s representative Civil War veterans. He is a native Ohioan. He spent more than four years with the colors. He participated in many of the decisive battles of the war, and he carries through his declining years the scars of two severe wounds that he sustained in action.

Amid Familiar Scenes

Captain Hyler and his good wife – each nearing the four score milestone of life – are living in ease and comfort in their attractive home at Reno. There, on the banks of the Little Muskingum river, they look out upon scenes long dear to them and reminiscent of their years of activity in the community, and their hospitable latchstring constantly is out to any and all who are so fortunate as to have their friendship.

This venerable couple are natives of Morgan county. Captain Hyler was born at Stockport and Mrs. Hyler was born at Hooksburg. There they lived at the beginning of the year 1861, and from there the former went forward as one of the 75,000 men who volunteered in response to Lincoln’s first call.

James R. Hyler – “Jimmie” as his boyhood friends knew him – was employed in the oil fields at Burning Springs, [West] Va., when Fort Sumter was fired upon – the shot that precipitated four long and bloody years of hostility.

Oil Country Forsaken

“Over night the oil country was forsaken and we all hurried to war,” is the way Captain Hyler tells about it today. He came to Marietta along with scores of others and here he signed the roll as a 90-day soldier “to help put down the rebellion.” With his comrades he was sent to Columbus to the state military camp and there he was inducted into the service. He was assigned to general duty and was sent to Grafton, [West] Va., to help guard the railroad bridges.

Before the 90-day enlistment had expired the people realized what was in store, and the rolls were opened for all who would re-enlist “for three years or the duration of the war.” Private Hyler was among the first to sign and he was accepted as a member of Company H of the 25^th Ohio Infantry – one of the Buckeye regiments that was to carve its name permanently into the war annals of the nation.

Regiment Sent South

His first enlistment was on May 20, 1861. His second one was on June 26^th of the same year. Following preliminary training at Fort Hayes at Columbus, he was sent South with his regiment, Colonel James A. Jones commanding. A few months later the commanding officer was transferred and was replaced by Colonel William P. Richardson of Marietta, who was destined to win lasting fame for his command and for his native city.

Assigned to the Army of the Potomac the 25^th Ohio was one of the commands sent against Stonewall Jackson in the Virginia valley country and that meant activity from the first. Quickly seasoned by an active campaign of fighting this regiment never was spared and in the parlance of more modern warfare it would have been classed among the “shock troop” divisions of the Union.

Receives First Fire

At Cheat Mountain on September 12 and 13, 1861, the regiment was given its baptism of fire. Then followed Greenbrier, Camp Allegheny, Huntersville, Monterey, McDowell, Cross Keys, Freeman’s Ford, Second Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Hagerstown, Fort Wagner, Honey Hill, Deveaux Neck and Gregory’s Landing, Charleston and Swift Creek.

An imposing list of battles that, and they constituted more than three years of fighting that were full of action at every turn. Captain Hyler was wounded at Chancellorsville and again at Gettysburg, in the latter action so severely that he was sent to a hospital or rather to several hospitals for some months.

Three Terrible Days

“We had three terrible days at Gettysburg,” said Captain Hyler. “On the first day we were in General Barlow’s division and were sent against Longstreet. We had moved by forced march from Hagerstown, Maryland, and were sent into action almost as we finished that 25-mile hike. It was hot stuff there and we knew that we were facing the pride of General Lee’s great army.

“On the second day we fought at the Roundtops still in Barlow’s army and the fighting was desperate. We knew it was a critical situation and the men were told that we must stop the Confederates or the way to Washington was open to them.

On the third day of the fight our forces held the high ground more than a mile from our first day’s position, and there it was that the Pickett charge was launched. The 25^th was in the thick of things and there is where I was wounded. That night, after I had been carried to an emergency hospital, the word was passed along that we were winning and that Lee and his army had turned back in the direction of Chambersburg and the South.”

Personal Experiences

Captain Hyler recalls many of his personal experiences in the war. Cross Keys, he declares, was the bitterest fight in which he participated. It was one of the main battles in the long valley campaign, and the Union army was confronted by Stonewall Jackson’s troops. “There was one time that we gave Jackson’s forces a real licking,” he remarked.

After receiving his wound at Gettysburg, and his long hospital period, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He rejoined his regiment in South Carolina, then was detailed home as an enlistment officer. He was assigned to duty in Washington, Morgan and Muskingum counties. He secured a number of recruits here and took them South to his command. It is one of the saddest war experiences that of nearly a dozen young men whom he enlisted in this territory, not a single one lived to return home.

He quietly observed his 87^th birthday on January 14^th of this year. Mrs. Hyler is two years younger.

Some Reminiscences of the Pioneers

 The Marietta Register, June 19, 1873

It is to be regretted that perfect lists of the early settlers at Marietta have not been preserved. We have lists of those who resided in Campus Martius, the garrison at the Point, and in Fort Harmar at the commencement of the Indian war in 1791. Of the period which followed the war we have a very imperfect record of names.

Among those who, I suppose, came out after the war was Dr. Robert Wallace of Philadelphia, with his family. The exact time of his coming to Marietta we do not know. He was an intelligent physician. He had three sons and three daughters. 

The eldest son was the Rev. Matthew Wallace, a Presbyterian clergyman. He married Deborah, daughter of Dr. Joseph Spencer of Wood County, Virginia. The second son, Dr. David Wallace, was unmarried when he left Marietta. The youngest son was Robert; he was a young man when the family left here. Robert was living, a short time since, in Covington, Kentucky, where he has resided for many years. One of Dr. Wallace's daughters married Charles Green; another married the Hon. Jacob Burnet, formerly of Cincinnati. The youngest daughter was unmarried at the time they left Marietta. She probably married afterward in Cincinnati. The exact time of Dr. Wallace's removal from Marietta to Cincinnati, I do not know - probably 1809. 

Two of the oldest houses in town were built by Dr. Wallace while he resided here. The first is now occupied by Mrs. Smith, tobacconist, on Ohio Street opposite the wharf boat. He resided in this house for some years and kept his office in the front room. After this he built the lower part of what is known as the "Brophy House" on Ohio Street. Here he lived for several years previous to leaving Marietta. The Doctor was well known in Cincinnati.

Charles Greene

Mr. Greene came to Marietta, probably in the latter part of 1788 or early in 1789. He built a house in what was known as Campus Martius, on the Stockade, in which he resided during the Indian war with his wife and his three children, Sophia, Susan, and Charles. His wife's sister, Miss Sheffield, resided with them. She afterwards married Major Ziegler of Wayne's army (who settled in Dayton, Ohio). Mr. Greene was one of the earlier merchants of Marietta and was also engaged, after 1800, in building sea-going vessels: in 1800, brig "St. Clair"; in 1801, brig "Eliza Green"; in 1806, brig "Sophia Green." The brig "St. Clair" went out in the spring of 1801 under the command of Commodore Whipple. She was owned by Mr. Greene and several other businessmen of Marietta and was loaded with flour, pork, and other produce.

Her first voyage was to Havana, where her cargo sold to advantage. Flour brought forty dollars a barrel (the duty was twenty). The yellow fever raged in Havana and hindered their operations somewhat. The next voyage of the vessel was to Philadelphia, where she was sold.

During the continuance of the Territorial Government from 1788 to the organization of the State Government in 1803, there was no registration of marriages; but, as I understand, the second wife of Mr. Greene was Miss Wallace, the daughter of Dr. Robert Wallace. Capt. W. W. Greene who died at St. Louis on the 16th of April, 1873, was their son.

Mr. Greene, while living in Marietta, built a house on Ohio Street, afterwards occupied by Moses McFarland as a public house. A portion of it is still standing. Part of it was torn away to build a three-story brick for Skinner & Thomas. Mr. Greene's eldest son settled at Dayton at an early period and was killed in an unfortunate street fray.

A.T.N. [Anselm Tupper Nye, 1832-1899]

Memories of Marietta

The Marietta Daily Times, November 18, 1933

W. G. Sibley, friend and acquaintance of many Marietta residents, writes interestingly of Marietta men of the 1870s in his column, "Along the Highway," in the Chicago Journal of Commerce. He says:

There is one place we can always write about, and that is beautiful old Marietta, where for seven years we were an academy boy and a college student. Our memory goes back to the men of Marietta in the 1870s, and of them we shall write. They were great men in our youthful eyes and (many of them) really superior individuals, whose sons and grandsons adorn great cities today. 

First, there were the lawyers, always interesting to us because our father was one of them. There were Judges Loomis and Knowles, General Richardson, who refused an election as attorney general during the Civil War; T. W. Ewart, Brigham, Alban Davies, Judge M. D. Follett and Colonel R. L. Nye, W. G. Way and Fred J. Cutter.

Then there were the newspaper publishers - R. M. Stimson and E. R. Alderman of the old Register, Theodore Davis of the Leader, and S. M. McMillan father of the violinist - all conspicuous men, the last proprietor of The Times, the only newspaper survivor after nearly sixty years.

Among the business men of that period we knew Cadwallader and Bennett, the photographers; M. P. Wells of Bosworth, Wells and Company, the senior Turner and his clever sons, Charles and Fred. Mr. Wells made himself historical by building Marietta's wonderful system of shade trees. One ornament to the town was General Edward Benjamin Dana Fearing, a gallant soldier, General Dawes and General Warner were both business men and congressmen in turn. Down Front Street were the Glines bookstore, the Sniffens, with Jake Pfaff, the caterer, on Putnam whose escalloped oysters, chocolate cake and ice cream were famous; McCaskey, the druggist, who brought the "cigars of our daddies" to town; George Eels, the shoe man and postmaster; Asa Waters, the banker; Fred Wehrs, a capable grocer, who had everything good to eat.

The town was fortunate in its preachers. There were Doctor Boyd, the Episcopal rector; Doctor Addy, the Presbyterian; Mr. Lusk, the Unitarian, and Doctor Hawkes, who presided over the Congregational Church - all gifted and pious leaders in intellectual affairs.

One man who stands out in our memory is Ben McKinney. Father told us once he was the cleverest Democratic politician in southern Ohio. His political office was the sidewalk in front of the court house where his plans and stratagems were discussed and determined. With George Wieser we thought that what McKinney did not know about politics was not worth knowing. Now his capable sons control the destinies of The Times, since the redoubtable Sam McMillan moved away from Marietta. Their daily compares with the Cincinnati papers of the 1870s in interest and volume.

There was another group of men we knew in our college years. They were, for the most part, clustered around Flat Iron Square, facing the levee, and so convenient to river travelers. There was "Windy" Wood, "Billy" Smith, the National House bar, and sundry saloons up Front Street with which we were familiar. One of them was the Philharmonic Hall, in which students liked to imbibe beer and music together, run by the Becker boys.

Physically Marietta, excepting street improvements and the court house, has not changed so very much. The old city hall stands, an example of ugliness in public buildings, to remind one of the scandal in its erection. The one marked change to us is the disappearance of the Ward home on the lower block of Putnam Street. Fronted by a row of stately and magnificently great sycamore trees, its large lawn, filled with flower bushes, was a lovely asset to the city. Diagonally across Second and Putnam by the old jail stood a huge forest monarch whose kindly shade protected the chain gang that broke rock for street repairs long before brick and concrete streets were dreamed of.

Marietta's old city hall, "an example of ugliness in public buildings."

We must not omit from our business acquaintances Eugene Warner, James Nye, A. T. Nye, the gifted Mrs. Peddinghaus who conducted a successful jewelry store, nor W. F. Curtis, the Reckards, the Browns, the elder Mills and his son John, nor S. A. Cooper of the chair factory - nor George M. Woodbridge and Doctor Hildreth, who kept records of physical phenomena.

The college families - Andrews, Rosseter, Beach, Manatt, Biscoe and Gear - were, of course, social leaders in the community, and made Marietta famous for culture. And there was the elder Oldham, a pillar of Democracy in his time.

Reminiscences

Marietta Daily Leader, January 9, 1896

Nahum Ward, who lived on Putnam Street, was noted for his gentlemanly appearance. He was always neatly dressed, and in all respects a fine appearing man. He built the Unitarian Church, and after its completion, gave it to the congregation to be theirs as long as God was worshipped in unity. The building was quite complete, furnished in all respects with a fine organ and organ screen.

William S. Ward, too, was a grand assistance in building up the Society. He frequently had the building painted at his own expense and all repairs needed were done by him.

John Brophy occupied the building on Ohio Street with the pillars in front. He was an Irishman by birth. In his drunken sprees, of which he had many, he used to tell of those who owed him, calling them by name. His wife was a good member of the Catholic Church and many bequests from her kind hand were known only to herself. Mr. C. G. Best clerked for the Brophys for many years.

Mr. Beman Gates published the "Intelligencer" for many years. He was a rigid temperance man, and to my knowledge, refused an advertisement from a liquor dealer with cash accompanied. He was, I think, a music teacher in his youth. He married one of the daughters of Charles Shipman, who then lived on Front Street.

Reminiscenses

The Marietta Daily Times, December 1, 1931

Recently I met a fellow who was a pal of my boyhood days, and naturally we got to reminiscing of the days when life was young. Those were happy days, and these are happy days also. I think life is just as enjoyable for me today as it was nearly half a century ago, only in a different way.

Young folks today are reared without any knowledge of many things which were a part of home life three or four decades ago. My first childhood dreams came in a trundle bed, which was the first lower berth. It furnished bunking quarters for three of us at night and was rolled back under the big bed for the day. This provided most economical sleeping quarters, where there were large families and few rooms. The beds were often of the cord variety, where a heavy cord took the place of slats or springs. Surmounted by a feather mattress they were about as comfortable as some of the modern beds, though they did not comply with some of the present sleeping technique.

All the rooms except the parlor were heated with barrel stoves with coal for fuel. There was an open fireplace in the parlor which was fired up on Sunday and when company arrived. One of the regular chores after school was to fill the coal boxes and get in enough dry kindling to start the fires in the morning. If this was not done before dark, it had to be done after dark by the dim light of the oil lantern. Those old stoves when they began to show red below the doors provided ample heat that was real heat. They may have violated some of the rules of heat engineering, but they were most cozy and comfortable.

There were other chores at the barn, feeding and milking the cow who added much to the family living. Also, old "Barney," the equine member of the family, had to be fed and bedded, and occasionally curried. He also served as a passenger sedan when he was taken back and forth to pasture.

Usually there was a pair of pigs who were making hogs of themselves to replenish the family lard for winter. Those home grown hams and sausage - well I can taste them yet. None today taste like those did.

In the fall the cellar was well-stocked with potatoes, several barrels of apples and a barrel of sorghum. This sorghum was used for frosting the buckwheat cakes which composed the daily breakfast all winter. Some day dietitians will discover a new vitamin in buckwheat cakes and the air will be filled with their praises a la Phil Cook or some other cook.

The acme of every boy's ambition was a pair of red top boots. Shoes were very plebeian. Occasionally when snow or water got into them, it taxed the capacity of the old boot-jack to get them off. I still have the old boot-jack, now retired on pension. It served its day well for it helped many times to get our feet out of a tight place.

On Sundays and for an occasional party or funeral, we were decked out in those stiff-bosomed, clap-board shirts. They were alright until you sat down; then they shoved the collar up against the ears and shut off part of the air intake. Weekends were not anticipated with any great joy. They meant a vigorous Saturday night scrub, which always brought out all the sore spots collected during the week and it also meant those stiff jacket shirts on Sunday.

The evenings were usually spent around the big center table lighted by a large kerosene lamp. Here we learned to extract the square root and to locate Timbuktu. After the lessons, possibly there would follow a game of checkers or authors, while at other times we gathered around the wheezy organ and sang some of the old hymns which today lift my spirit above the noise and clamor of this speeding age as they are occasionally wafted in over the air.

As I sit by the radio on Tuesday evenings listening to the sacred hour program featuring the grand old hymns, I find myself in a pew in the old two-horned church, listening to Miss Lillian Eells as she sang these same hymns so appealingly, just before Dr. Dickinson, that grand old man, arose to tell us of that better way. In those days, every family had a pew and usually had enough children to fill it. 

We never get away from those early influences, however far afield we may wander. Such are some of the memories of boyhood days, which bring much delight to live over again as we draw nearer to that golden shore where we shall renew friendship with those whom we have loved long since and lost awhile.

By C. Tassel

 

Descendant of Earliest Settler May Come Here

The Marietta Daily Times, May 28, 1910

If his present plans are carried out, one of the notable visitors at the big Home Coming and College Jubilee will be W. H. H. Hardin of Delaware, Ohio, a descendant of one of the first settlers of Marietta. Mr. Hardin's people were, according to the family traditions, among those who first landed in this city and his coming back to the scenes where his people helped in the beginning of Marietta will be of interest, both to himself and to the people of the city.

Mr. Hardin's plans are made known in a letter to this office and with it he enclosed a copy of the invitations to the annual Hardin family reunion, which was held last August at Glenmary Park near Delaware.

An effort will be made to induce Mr. Hardin to carry out his plans and come to this city. His letter is as follows:

Editor,

Dear Sir:

I have noticed in the papers that there is to be a celebration in Marietta the first week of the month of June and (as I understand) it is in honor of the first white settlers.

As the traditional story is handed down to us (the Hardins of today) we can boast of that honor, as our history dates back to 1772 when our people left Summerset County, Pa., and came down the Ohio river on a raft with their household effects, women and children.

Strong men managed the rafts and the older men and larger boys came overland in wagons, bringing what they needed in the way of tools and implements, such as they had in those days, together with their domestic animals.

But before their separation they gathered together in humble devotion to their Almighty God the Creator, asking for his guidance and protection in this adventure. This old stock of Hardins was a very devotional band of Christian workers and were at peace with the red men of the forest and were not injured or molested when the people were put to flight at Neighborsville, now called Newcomerstown.

At the time of the above mentioned meeting they also devised plans for the future to be acted upon in trying to get together again. This one plan was to the effect that on a certain Thursday in the near future at a certain hour in the afternoon, one of the men was to blow the old "conch" shell and if the persons on the raft heard the blowing of the old conch shell, they were to answer by shooting the old gun called "Germany." Tradition as handed down to us of the present generation says that this all transpired, and two years ago the writer of this article had the pleasure of seeing and blowing that same old conch shell at our annual Hardin reunion.

My people here are urging me to attend your celebration and if I do come, I expect to bring that same old shell with me.

Enclosed is one of our cards of last years so that you will see that I am no fraud.

Respectfully,

W. H. H Hardin

1231-2 West Williams Street

Delaware, Ohio.

P.S. The old colonists names as far as I am able to give them are as follows: T. E. Hardin. Friends Patten, Noggle, Spangler, and Cole.

 

Back to the Old Home

The Daily Register, January 6, 1906

After almost thirty years of wandering and absence, I've been back to the old home in Barlow, Ohio.

In Chicago I met and recognized Mr. Peter McLaren. We had a long "crack," lasting into the wee smaw hours a' yont the twial.

Meeting an old and dear friend in Marietta, was so busily occupied in conversation that I forgot to look out of the car window until we reached Fleming, and then I felt at home. Every house and home and hill and rock and road an stream seemed familiar and unchanged. I saw the hills I'd traversed as a boy with a gun in pursuit of the game that always escaped; the hills that I'd climbed when a schoolboy and played hooky, we called it in those days going to the winter-green hill. I looked down the stream on whose banks I sat and fished many a summer day; I saw the swimming pools, the joyous meeting place of us boys on summer evenings long ago. And then Vincent - I hardly recognized it. It has grown and is a beautiful village of comfortable, commodious and handsome homes.

The old Vincent homestead has passed to strangers and the family scattered. Only one of the name, Mr. Caleb Vincent, now resides in the village. At Barlow I missed the genial and hearty welcome of Capt. J. W Merrill. In memory I went back to the war time and recalled the kindness and attention show to a soldier brother, and the thoughtfulness and sympathy for the friends at home. I recalled, too, my first visit to the Barlow House, the morning after the battle of Chickamaugua. It was the saddest duty of my life to carry the message to the wife and mother that the son was wounded and a prisoner. But the next morning I carried another message that Capt. Merrill was exchanged and was coming home. And so in this home I have seen the pendulum swing, in twenty-four hours, from anguish to joy.  Uncle Jim and Aunt Beck are gone, but they live in memory for the many kind deeds done. 

My people were Scotch, and my visit to my kinsfolk was necessarily among the Scotch people. It began with Mr. Thomas Drain's and extended to Mrs. Duncan Drain's. Only a few of the old Scotch are now living - Uncle James McKay, ninety past, Mrs. Daniel Drain, eighty-seven past, Mrs. David Furguson, eighty-five past. They enjoy the present and recall the past. We think of them as in the twilight of life. But they are enjoying the present and waiting for the coming of the eternal morning. It is worth a trip across a continent to see the closing of a busy and a happy career.

A few others of the younger Scotch, of seventy to eighty, are still in their old homes near Barlow. I visited in twenty-five or thirty different homes, and if any of the sons or daughters in all these thirty years have failed to follow in the footsteps of their fathers, it was never mentioned. The highest tribute that Tennyson could pay to the dead prince was: "He spake no evil, no, nor listened to it." And the tribute that could adorn the character of a king must necessarily add luster to the character of the people.

It was quite a change, coming from a section where every home and farm is for sale. These old farms and homes have been occupied by the same families for sixty or seventy years; seemed strange. In some of the homes I've seen four generations of the same name; in others three and two.

What wonderful memories cluster around these old homes. In one I could see the old gray-haired sire sitting by the fireside after his first born son had been killed in battle, and his second son had gone to the front. I saw him again after his third and last son had been sent to the front. I could recall the parties, the pleasures and the hospitalities of the home. These old rooms and homes bring back the pleasures and happiness of long ago, as well as the sorrows and sadness.

The old father died; the son took his place in the home, in the church, in society.

I have never seen more perfect satisfaction and contentment with their lot in life than here in Barlow and adjoining neighborhood. I had only two weeks to spend, and two weeks were entirely too short. My last day I spent with my aunt, Mrs. Margaret Gordon, and Capt. Samuel Harvey spent the day with us at the Gordon home. It was only two weeks, but my cup of pleasure ran over and my only regret when I came to bid adieu was that my time was too short.

M.

A Green-Horn's First Trip to Marietta

The Marietta Times, May 1, 1890

Away back in the 1830s when this country was thinly settled, I took my first trip to Marietta. My father was a plain farmer, and like most plain farmers, used a yoke of oxen and cart to haul his produce to market, to trade for groceries and other necessaries.

As my brother was going to Marietta with a load of produce, my father told me I might have all the walnuts I would gather and could go with my brother to sell them. I went right to work and gathered two bushels. I had heard father speak of all the principal stores, and was familiar with the names of most of the people who lived there. Most of the old settlers traded with Joe Hall. The business part of the town was from Hall's to Mills' corner on Ohio Street.

My brother drove down Greene Street to the market house, which was a building about fifty feet by twenty-five, and stood where the National Hotel now stands. As we backed up to the market house, a man came up and asked me what I had in the sack. I told him walnuts. He bought them and paid me two quarters for them. 

I started down town feeling very rich. Finally I came to a store where there were piles of cheese, cakes and crackers. I stepped up to the counter and asked a big red-faced man for a quarter's worth of crackers. He weighed out a pan full and asked me if I had anything to put them in. I took off my saw-tooth cap and held it up for him to put them in. He poured them in and I started out, but he told me to wait and get the rest of them. He weighed another pan full and asked had I no other place to put them. I opened my hunting shirt, which was belted around my waist, and he poured them in. 

I started back to the market house, carrying my cap full of crackers in my hands. When I got to the cart I emptied them into a half-bushel we had along and started for home. I had crackers enough to last for months, and so ended my first trip to the celebrated city of Marietta.

Old Boy.

 

Recollections of E. B. Clarke

Sunday Morning Observer, April 15, 1917

We are in receipt of a mighty interesting letter from Mr. E. B. Clarke, an old Marietta boy, now living at Athens, and in which he says, after some very complimentary words about Marietta, the town, the people and the Observer:

"The paper interests me very much and I thought I might contribute to the cause by sending you some 'scraps of paper' giving some early recollections.

"It might be asked by what authority I announce myself as a historian. I think my credentials will admit me. My grandfather arrived at Marietta soon after those who landed on that memorable seventh of April. I was a school boy at Marietta and played football in Butler Street while a student at the Western Liberal Institute. Afterwards was for several years employed in the offices at the Court House and in the Post Office. Did I become acquainted with any of the Marietta people? Yes, I knew them all, but now I fear I would be a stranger but not in a strange land. J. W. Nye was about the last survivor of those I knew so long ago.

"They were good people, I have never found better."

Factories

Marietta Bucket Factory, John Newton, manager, at ferry landing, Harmar. There was another bucket factory at the north boundary of Harmar, buildings afterwards used as a pow factory. There was a flour mill adjacent. Marietta Woolen Factory, operated a few years, now Nye's stove foundry. Henry Wesselman did the painting at the Chair Factory. There was a barrel factory near the foot of Washington Street. A wooden pump factory was operated near the Exchange Hotel. M. J. Morse's tannery East side Second Street, near Butler. Two large dogs pumped the water by treading a wheel.

J. O. Cram's flour mill, just above the railroad bridge, was burned. A man named McBride owned the mill on the West side of the river. McBride was arrested as the incendiary. He shot Davis Greene, the attorney who defended him, and when about to be arrested for attempted murder, committed suicide by shooting.

Owen Frank's machine shop on Second Street built machinery for steamboats, mills, etc., and manufactured cotton plows which were shipped by the boat load to Mississippi and Louisiana.

Steamboats were built at the shipyard in Harmar.

John Hall had a cracker bakery on Ohio Street.

A. & S. Fuller manufactured furniture by hand, no power machines.

J. Naylor had a boot making shop on Gilman Street for many years.

A. Weber's tailoring establishment was on the island between the bridges on Front Street.

W. B. Hollister had a marble shop on Gilman Street. Peter McLaren's shop was on Front Street.

First gas works built about 1855. Previous to that time we carried lanterns when on the street at night.

Hotels  

Mansion House by Mrs. F. Lewis, near junction of rivers. Marietta House by C. W. Moseley, Third and Ohio streets. Biszantz House by C. F. Biszantz, Butler Street, west of Front. National Hotel by N. Fawcett, Greene and Second streets. Brophy House, Ohio and Third streets. Exchange Hotel (afterward Putnam House), Gilman Street, near river. Harmar House, diagonally across street from Putnam's store.

Banks  

Marietta Branch, State Bank of Ohio, I. R. Waters, cashier. Benedict Hall & Co., private bank. D. G. Mathews, member of firm.

Some Marietta Merchants

A. A. Darrow & Bros., C. & S. Shipman & Co., George M. Woodbridge, John M. Woodbridge, John Brophy, George Benedict, William F. Curtis, Gates & Payne, David Putnam, L. & D. Barber, A. Stone, James Holden, D. Holden, Bosworth Wells & Co., John Marshall, C. F. Biszantz, Gerd Wendelken, W. B. Thomas, Wilson & Waters, A. B. Waters, r. P. Iams, J. Ebinger, John Mills, Mills Iams & Dana, were dry goods and some general merchandise.

J. B. Hovey, A. L. Guitteau, Bosworth Wells & Co., retail grocers.

Hovey, Iams, Battelle & Co., wholesale grocers. 

 J. C. Paxton, S. H. Paxton, cigar store and factory.

Gurley & Cross, C. E. Glines, George Jenvey, Edwin Fuller, books.

W. L Ralston, S. Slocomb, boots and shoes.

E. B. Perkins, Cotton & Buell, Buell Brothers, drugs.

J. W. Baldwin, David Anderson, M. T. Peddinghaus, watches and jewelers.

Bosworth Wells & Co. (two stores, one groceries), A. T. Nye, Rodick Brothers hardware.

Hugh Brennan liquor store, Greene Street, only drink shop in town.

L. Soyez "ice cream saloon" on Ohio Street. General Lafayette visited Mr. Soyez.

Reckard & Fawcett operated a livery barn on Third Street near Greene and owned the only omnibus.

A. W. Sprague owned a low water steamboat of which he was captain. It made trips up the Ohio.

Physicians     

F. Regnier, J. D. Cotton, H. Trevor, Seth Hart, ____ Sawyer, S. P. Hildreth, George Hildreth.

Dentists     

E. H. Allen, J. A. Tenney.

Newspapers     

Marietta Intelligencer by Beman Gates was the Whig newspaper. T. L. Andrews became owner and editor, and he sold it to R. M. Stimson who changed the name to Register. A. W. McCormick was editor and owner of the Republican, the Democratic organ. McCormick sold the paper to William Scott and became a captain in the Civil War. The Republican soon ceased to exist. William Lorey published the Marietta Demokrat, a German paper. It had a short existence. E. Winchester of the Home News, published that paper for a few years. Tradition says the Marietta Gazette was the first newspaper and that Caleb Emerson was editor.

Early Postmasters     

A. L. Guitteau - Fillmore's administration and before.

Nathaniel Bishop - Pierce's administration.

A. W. McCormick - Buchanan's administration.

Sala Bosworth - Lincoln's administration.

Teamsters     

All draying and probably delivery of coal was done by two ox teams in dump carts owned by "Sink" Munsey and M. Torpy. James Goldsmith operated the first two-wheeled dray.

The Fair     

The first Agriculture fair was held in the Court room of the old Court House. The live stock, consisting of eight or ten cattle and a few sheep, were on exhibition on the square north of Scammel Street and east of Third. No houses on that square at that time.

  
   

Former Local Man Tells of Swimming Days

Marietta Daily Times, August 2, 1940

John L. Harrison of Washington, D.C., alumnus of Marietta College, class of 1887, former resident of Harmar who holds his contacts with Marietta friends, has written interesting reminiscences of the old days of his boyhood. He was one of the prominent baseball players in his college days, and is remembered by many friends. Until his retirement in recent years, to make his home in Washington, he was engaged in educational work in Topeka, Kansas, and later at Kimball, West Virginia.

The first article in the series of his reminiscences sent to The Times is as follows:

There appeared recently an item in The Times stating that the bathing beaches were opened and life guards provided by the city. To the "old timers" living elsewhere but still interested in the old home town, this must awaken a nostalgic recollection of boyhood days spent so happily along the blue Muskingum and placid Ohio. One always remembers his friends in their kindlier moods, free from anger and fury; and so, with the two rivers, one's mind sees them calm and peaceful as they appeared on those warm summer days so long ago.

In our boyhood days some 50 years ago, we Harmar boys sought out our own bathing places and were our own life guards. We had a monopoly on good swimming places in the Muskingum River and we jealously guarded against any encroachments on our own territory by the "Marietta Rats." The enmity existing between the boys of Harmar and those of Marietta forbade any exchange of courtesies and so swimming by either in the other's territory was taboo.

Our swimming places were five in number. The first was from the railroad draw bridge abutment (the draw span was formerly on the Harmar side). Here the channel was kept dredged and the water was deep. The locks were on the Harmar side and this was another favorite swimming place. From the top of the lock wall down to the water when the lower gates were open was perhaps 12 or 15 feet and high diving was the game there. The apron of the dam was utilized also but only by the expert swimmers.

Strange as it may seem, every Harmar boy knew how to swim. Where he learned, I do not know, for we passed up all the shallow beaches and used only the jumping off places. The most popular place of all was "The Logs," a long, wide raft in front of the old bucket factory, now I believe a unit of the Brickwede Brothers plant.

Here, on a summer evening, 20 or 30 urchins, together with older boys, used to meet, waiting for darkness. As we always bathed a la Sally Rand or Lady Godiva, the Harmar marshal issued this stern edict: "You kids stay out'a there 'til you see three stars or I will throw you in the can." As he was sort of a Jake Dye person, we knew he meant it, so we sat about and waited until some kid would yell "there's one," and then someone else would call "over yonder's another," and then, upon discovery of a third star, a mad scramble ensued to be the first in and to avoid being the last.

The Logs was an ideal bathing place, for each log had been stripped of its bark and sawed lengthwise, so that the surface of the raft was smooth with very narrow chinks in between. Of course every one who bathed there could swim from the youngster's dog fashion efforts to the man-fashion finished performer. The water was eight or more feet deep, and it was a proud kid who could "bring bottom" and fling the gravel among the bathers. We had a spring-board also, and it was a favorite stunt after a long dive to show the various astronomoical bodies such as the stars and moon.

Marietta Daily Times, August 5, 1940:

Tells Friends Marietta Is Beautiful City

John L. Harrison, who left Marietta soon after his graduation from Marietta College in 1887, has held sentiment for his old home town throughout the years, and at intervals expresses his love and loyalty through the public prints. He has been an annual visitor to Marietta in recent years and is always greeted cordially by those who remember the Harrison family of Harmar.

His brother, Walter C. Harrison, Marietta College, class of 1891, who for many years was in an official position with the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh, retired last year and made his first visit back to Marietta in many years. The brothers have a home in Washington, D.C., where they are living  in retirement.

In the last section of reminiscenses written to The Times, Mr. Harrison writes:

Beautiful Small City

In speaking of Marietta among my friends and acquaintances, I always refer to it as the most beautiful small city in the country. I honestly think it is. There is a something about the town - a broad peace and quietude born of the stately trees, the reposeful homes, the friendly hills, the shining rivers, that stamp it as unique and individual. One can hardly live in the presence of such attractions, without chameleon-like, absorbing the qualities of his surrounding; hence the citizens are cultured, broad-minded, highly intellectual, lovers of beauty and freed largely of narrow prejudices.

Those of us who were born and raised there can never forget loyalty and affection for the old home town. Its tendrils have woven themselves about our very being.

In my occasional visits back to Marietta, I note with pride the progressive tendency of the city, but how I miss the old personnel. Fifty-three years is a long, long time, and changes are but natural. So, I walk the streets peering hopefully at the passing faces seeking vainly for a familiar one, and when one is encountered, it is bewildering to see the white head and other signs of old age.

Memorial Comes Back

The misty memories of the past come flooding back, bearing a picture of the one before me, full of youthful energy and strength. It is startling for a moment, and then I reflect with amusement, that I must present the same counterfeit presentment to him or her, Ah, well, "thus runs the world away."

There is one unchanged thing in Marietta which I noted with pleasure and which carried me back to those good old days of long ago, and that is as youthful and lusty today as it was back there in the 1880s. That is the voice of the old river - the Muskingum dam. I stood for a full half hour last summer on the railroad bridge and listened to the deep diapason of its musical roar and realized I had at last found an old friend which remained eternally young and sparkling as a spring wild flower, although bearing the weight of millions of years of turbulent existence. Of all things in this old world, water alone is exempt from physical penalties. Time corrodes metals and disintegrates rocks, but water remains unaffected - eternally young.

 

A Sketch of the Life of One of Our Pioneers

The Marietta Tri-Weekly Register, March 13, 1890

A Remarkable Old Lady Who Celebrates Her Eightieth Birthday.

Since so much has been said of late concerning the aged persons, some of whom dwell in our midst, we wish to give for the benefit of our readers an account of one of Harmar's most esteemed ladies, in the person of Mrs. Mary Edelston-Pugh. While interviewing the subject of this sketch we were surprised at the accuracy of the dates of coincidences, which in every particular corresponded with the record of the family Bible. The lady is as yet possessed of all of her faculties; attends to her household duties, helping milk four cows, and on Sunday, when the weather will permit, attends the Unitarian Church in Marietta, being a member of the same, and seems to feel very little fatigue upon returning home. From appearances, we predict for her quite a number of years yet.

Mrs. Edelston's maiden name was Mary Smith. She was born one mile from what is now Williamstown, W. Va., on the 27th of February, 1810. She remained here until she was five years of age, at which time she moved with her father's family to Plymouth, Ohio, where she remained until she was eighteen years of age. Among her friends who visited her while she lived at Plymouth were the late Nahum Ward, Levi Barber, William Skinner, Daniel Greene, Oliver Cram, Henry Fearing, and David Barber. While there they would find amusement in wolf hunting.

She was married on the 26th of August, 1830, to Jarvis Edelston, who was a carpenter and contractor by occupation. She was the mother of four daughters and three sons. Two of her sons were in the Union Army, and one in the Confederate service.

Jarvis Edelston and his brother-in-law, Joseph Anders, took the contract and put the first dam in the Muskingum River, some portions of which are still standing the rapid current of the water. Mr. Edelston died on September 8, 1850, aged 51 years.

Mrs. Mary Edelston was married the second time to James Pugh, who was a farmer by occupation. After three years of happy married life, Mr. Pugh departed this life in Fairfield Township, Ohio.

Mrs. Edelston has lived since the flood of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers in 1832, in a large two-story brick building on Market Street, Harmar, Ohio, where she has raised her family and relates many pleasant and sad events which have transpired in that period.

On last decoration day, this loyal old lady joined the procession, walked to the City Hall, from there to the two cemeteries, and returned to her home in Harmar, remarking that she thought she had only done her duty.

She has always been known by the name of "Aunt Polly," and to the sick and those in need of assistance, she has always, no matter how much it inconvenienced her, give a cheerful, helping hand, as all who have the pleasure of her acquaintance will attest.

While yet a child she remembers distinctly the old earth works thrown up on the Muskingum as a refuge for the citizens in case of danger.

On Thursday, February 27th, Mrs. Edelston arrived at her eightieth mile stone. A few of her friends gathered in the evening and indulged in some choice selections of vocal and instrumental music. The aged lady is still a good conversationalist and enjoyed the occasion very much. Her numerous friends wish her many such pleasant returns and all hope they may by the hand of Providence be spared to attain her age and wonderful preservation.

 

Marietta Fifty Years Ago

The Marietta Leader, June 7, 1890:

A Paper Read to the New Century Historical Club by Hiram A. Hill.

Let us leave the post-office now and go down street.  There are no other buildings between it and the run below, the ground is low, we depart on a pavement of rough flag-stones, diagonally across the street, till we come to the stone bridge across the run.  This bridge consisted of a single arch, and was narrow, and was located near the west line of the street.  The stone pavement led to a wooden footwalk on the left side of the bridge.  I think this bridge was built by private subscription.  Two accidents occurred here which I will notice.  P. Hildreth, Jr., when about twelve years of age, fell from the west side of the bridge and fractured his skull; but he recovered from the injury.  A Mr. Baker, many years previous to this, fell from the other side, and was drowned.

Let us cross the bridge now and pass to the right of the street, where the stone pavement leads us on between the street and the commons on the right.  There was no mill on the bank of the Muskingum, no deep cut as now from Front street to the mill, but it was all smooth unincumbered ground.  At the bank were a few large sycamore trees, and that was all, to obstruct the view in that direction.  Over by the abutment of the dam was a small frame building used as a store room, and there also was the ferry landing.  Bridges across the Muskingum were not thought of then.

But we have crossed the bridge now, and about three or four rods below, and on our left, we have the old market house, dilapidated and dingy, not used except by cows and horses as a shelter from the rain.  It stood in the middle of the street, when it was built I am not certain, but think probably in the flush times caused by the last war with Great Britain.  Below the market house two or three rods, and on land now owned by Mrs. Haberling, was a board shanty, used as a blacksmith shop by Joseph Glines, the father of the late William Glines, Esq., of this city.  From this shop down to Styer's drug-store was a board fence.  On the ground now occupied by the store, or very near there, was a small frame building, with no glass, but board shutters to the windows, painted red.  This building was used for a slaughter-house, and was owned by Capt. Nathaniel Dodge.  Capt. Dodge did not follow the butchering business himself, but rented the place to Henry Armstrong for a number of years for that purpose.  There were no more buildings to Butler street.  From the slaughter-house to that street, and taking in the whole width of Front street, the ground was as low as it is now anywhere between Second and Third streets, or about sixteen feet below the present grade of the street.  From this cause the wagon road from the bridge to Butler street was to the right of the stone pavement, and on the common.

The frame part of the St. James hotel, with its four column portico, has stood there for more than seventy years.  Col. Abner Lord, I believe, built the house, but after him it was owned and was the residence, for a long time, of Dr. John Cotton.  From this building to the corner at D. B. Anderson's was a board fence, thence down Front street 180 feet, a board fence and stone pavement.

We will now cross over to the left side of Front street, below Butler, and notice the buildings.  The first house is a low gambrel-roof structure owned by the widow Baker, formerly the wife of the man who was drowned at the bridge, no paint on this house.  I will state here, that from this house to Greene street there was no pavement; only a path, with weeds here, and weeds everywhere, except in the path and wagon way where they could not grow.  The next house was a two story frame owned by Thomas Baker.  This house stood on the ground where now stands the St. Cloud hotel.  The next was a poor frame without paint.  The next a story-and-one-half tenement house, with the end to the street, no paint, the next was a large two-story frame house owned by Jason R. Curtis.  It stood on the ground now occupied by Stanley's stores, and was not painted.  Above the alley below, at Peter Kuntz, was a story-and-a-half frame tenement house, occupied by John Cunningham.  Below the alley, on the lot where now stands Rodick's stores, was a brick dwelling house owned by William Talbot, the next a frame owned by Mrs. Buck, the next a frame owned by Dudley Woodbridge.  

The next lot below this had a two-story brick building, standing back a considerable distance from the street, and a row of locust trees on each side of the walk leading to it.  The lower room of this house was for a school room, the upper a masonic lodge, approached by a flight of stone steps, from the ground up.  I notice something singular about these steps, they never had a rail, or balustrade, for protection from falling off.  The entrance to the lodge room was from the southeast side of the building.

On the ground occupied by this house was erected, probably, the first jail in the Northwest Territory.  It was one of the blockhouses within the palisade inclosure of the fort at the "point."  This building was burned down, and was, I believe, the first house, with the exception of one, burned in the town.  It was not used as a jail at the time, and was of little value.  It was supposed to have been set on fire by two young men, more notable for engaging in tricks and malicious mischief than anything else.

There was a scene at the burning of this structure which I will describe.  Another house, near by, was much endangered by the great heat, and a number of ladies were carrying water till they became almost exhausted, while a crowd of men were standing by as idle spectators.  This was more than the ladies could endure, and one of them turning to the men, gave them such a rebuke that they concluded they had better go to work or leave the ground, for another rebuke like that would by no means be desirable.

This lot is now occupied by Mr. Buell's drugstore and Theis' hardware store.  The next building below, and on the ground where Smith's furniture store stands, was a small two-story brick house, with the end to the street, occupied by James Dunn as a hatter shop.  From this shop, for two or three rods, was a post-and-rail fence, to an old and much decayed barn, standing on the lot where is now the store of the Nye Hardware Co.  From this barn to the house on the corner, where now stands the First National Bank, was more post-and-rail fence.  

The house on the corner was originally built by Gen. Joseph Buell for a tavern.  A Mr. Munsel kept the tavern for some time, but I think there was no tavern there later than 1820.  After that time it was occupied as a tenement house, sometimes having three or four families, and to consequence soon became much out of repair.  The first floor of this building in the rear was about seven feet from the ground, and I believe not higher than the floor of the National Bank.  The approach to the front door, on Front Street, was by a flight of several wooden steps. Entering the door, you came into a hall extending through the building with a stair way to the upper rooms.  On the left of this hall were two rooms of equal size, and on the right two.  Ascending the stairs to a door on the left, you would enter a spacious hall.  On the right was a narrow passage way, on each side of which were doors opening into sleeping rooms.  This house was a frame, painted red, and was called by the boys the "Old red house."  After the building became so much in want of repairs that it was almost abandoned as a place of residence, the school-boys used to resort to the large hall and spend sometime in throwing tops, which I can affirm were better tops than any I see now.

If the walls of this hall could have spoken, how much they could have related of meetings here in the early years of the century, of persons of note, who spent the hours of night in the giddy dance, forgetful of all but the pleasures of the moment, charmed by the attractiveness of the place and music's enlivening sound.  It is wisely ordered that we can not know the vicissitudes of the future in this life, for so sad are they sometimes, that they would deprive us of the enjoyment of the present.  Had Mrs. Blennerhassett, who I have no doubt attended these meetings, known that at a future period she would be reduced from affluence to extreme poverty, the reflection would have caused a sadness which no scenes of revelry could have alleviated.  I believe this lady was a woman of kindly and benevolent feelings, and no doubt many were her charitable acts in the days of prosperity.  A reflection upon these acts in after life, in the days of adversity, afforded, I have no doubt, a pleasing recollection, while the splendor and gayety of the ball-room reverted to, could not, I think, produce a corresponding feeling of satisfaction.

The last time my attention was particularly attracted by the "Red house," was in February, 1832, when I was paddling by in a small canoe and saw a cow looking out of a sashless window of the upper story,  apparently contemplating the mighty waters of the Ohio, which were now nearly as high as the floor on which she stood.  The poor man who owned the cow, not being able to take her to high land, thought he would take her in on the first floor, and thence being driven by the rising water, he was compelled to take her to the upper story.  Thirty years afterwards, this person, who took so much pains to save his cow from drowning, committed suicide by drowning in the Muskingum river.

Speaking of the flood of 1832, it was not quite so high as in 1884, but I think the destruction of property was greater.  The number of floating houses of different kinds, with stacks of hay and grain, and shocks of corn fodder was astonishing.  Add to these the immense quantity of drift-wood and fencing floating by, the whole presenting a sad picture of destruction.

The Marietta Leader, June 11, 1890:

We have now arrived at Greene street, let us go up a little to the South-east corner of the lot.  Here is a frame house one story high, with the end to the street, which I suppose was the first frame house built at the "Point."  Gen. Buell speaks in one of his letters of having constructed such a building, the timber for the frame of which was brought from above Pittsburg.  It stood on the ground now occupied by Booth's variety-show building.  The Old Red house with this one, was removed in 1832 to give place for better buildings.  The latter was bought by Stephen Daniels and moved to the south corner of Greene and Third streets, where it was used for a carpenter shop.  Subsequently it was bought by D. B. Anderson and converted into a dwelling.  Some years after, Mr. Dye bought it and moved it to the west side of Third Street, near his dwelling, where it stood till recently, when it was condemned by the city council and torn down.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, there was a time, when if you had passed through the streets of Marietta early in the morning, very likely you would have seen a man or a young woman with a fire-shovel carrying fire from a neighbor's, their fire, which was covered with ashes during the night, having "gone out," and as there were no matches like we have now, they were obliged to borrow fire.  This was of frequent occurrence.  The first Lucifer matches brought to Marietta were on sale at the store of the late Col. John Mills about the year 1833.

There was comparatively little coal burned in the town previous to that date, and the cooking-stove was little known, except as in use on steamboats, for the accommodation of which I think it was invented.

The mode of cooking previous to 1830 was very much after the fashion of our great-grandmothers of England.  If you will go with me into a kitchen I will prove this.  When we enter, the first thing to attract our attention is a capacious fire-place, for burning wood exclusively, with an iron crane in it, upon which are suspended several hooks called pothooks, and on these such iron vessels as may be desired in cooking.  On the left of the fire-place is a brick-oven, and under it a receptacle for ashes.  The fire place is deep enough to take in the old time back log, or yule log of our English fore-fathers.  It is long enough to admit split wood four feet long, which is supported by andirons.  With the backlog, Christmas, or yule log, and a plenty of split wood, a fire was made which was very cheering to see, especially on a Christmas day.

For baking, besides the brick oven, there was a cast-iron vessel, with a close fitting lid in which bread was baked, by placing coals underneath and on the lid.  For roasting there was in use a tin reflector to set before the fire, with an iron rod extending through the center of it called a spit, on which the articles to be roasted were fastened.  These reflectors were large enough in some cases to roast two turkeys or geese at a time.  By turning the spit frequently, all sides of the turkey or goose were exposed to an equal degree of heat, and it proved an excellent method of preparing these articles for the table.  

But there were people, both in the town and country, who thought themselves too poor to own a reflector, and yet were not so poor as not to have occasionally a roasted turkey.  I was once in a house where lived a poor family.  The cooking there devolved on a little girl about twelve years old, whose mother had died, they had no reflector, but instead she had the turkey suspended before the fire by a string or maybe a wire, under the roasting turkey was placed a large dish to receive the dripping fluid, which was frequently dipped up with a spoon and poured over it.

Now ladies and gentlemen, it is some time since we left our room, and if it is nearly nine o'clock at night we shall soon hear the sound of the town bell.  It is at the present time in the cupola of the Court House, and has a muffled sound, in comparison to what it need to have when it was suspended in the open belfrey of the old Court House.  Well do I remember its clear tone, when it rang at nine o'clock in the morning, at noon, and at nine o'clock at night.  There were no other bells in the town, save one on the Congregational church.  It was customary at that time to toll the Court House bell, whenever a death occurred in the town.  The old Court House was a frame structure, and stood on the site of the present jail building.  I have thought, many a time, about the custom of ringing the town bell at nine o'clock at night, and have concluded that it was probably the continuance of a custom originating in England.  I mean the ringing of the Curfew-bell.  In that matchless poem of Gray's, in which he says,

     "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day;

      The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea;

      The plowman homeward plods his weary way,

       And leaves the world to darkness and to me."

He alludes to the ringing of this bell.

The practice of ringing the curfew originated in England from an order of William the Conqueror, which obliged the people at its ringing, to cover their fires, put out their lights, and go to bed.  The hour for ringing the curfew was eight o'clock in the evening, an hour earlier than the ringing of our bell, but our Anglo-American ancestors, not having much respect for an edict of a king, could easily change the hour of retiring from eight to nine o'clock.  It used to be a common saying here, it is nine o'clock, and it is time all honest people were in bed.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we were down where the old jail was burnt, I forgot to tell you about the relic of barbarism, the whipping-post.  Well it stood in the lot between the jail and Front Street, a disgrace to Christian civilization.  When the old Court House was built, it was moved to the lot at the North corner of Putnam and Second streets, on the lot now occupied by the present Court House.  Were any persons ever whipped there?  I believe not many, how many I can not say.  The following traditional account of the satisfaction of justice at this post, is from a man who witnessed the whipping of two men, convicted of some petty offense, and whose names I could give if I thought proper.

He said it occurred when he was a boy, and he went with his sister, two years older than himself, to witness it, and besides themselves, there were many others present.  Said he, I endured the sight pretty well myself, but my sister could not endure it, and was so overcome that she cried.  I believe these were the last whippings here, and the whipping-post is counted among the things of the past.

"The world moves," and when it makes a move out of barbarism, everybody ought to rejoice.  How changed have been some of the laws.  Long since the whipping-post was taken away, the law was severe on the man who, unfortunately, was unable to pay his debts.  He was liable to be imprisoned, if his creditor chose to have him confined.  The jail in the old Court House had its key turned more than once on men who could not pay.

I remember the case of a man who owed a small debt, and who was imprisoned by his creditor, with the soothing information that he should like there till he should rot, if he did not pay.  But the law provided that the creditor should pay for the debtor's board while in jail, in consequence of which there were not many kept in jail very long.  The law provided, also, that if the debtor would give security that he would not leave the county, who need be imprisoned; and such a person was spoken of as being "out on the limits," that is the boundaries of the county.

It seems that the law makers were long in waking up to the conviction, that a man outside of jail would be a hundred times more likely to pay a debt, than one inside; but they did, finally, wake up to it, and the law to imprison for debt was repealed.

Did you hear, while passing by some of the smaller dwellings, a low sound like very distant thunder?  If you did that was no doubt the sound of the spinning wheel.  Probably there is not one of them used in the town today, but formerly they were much used for spinning yarn to be woven into cloth and for other purposes.  The hand loom was, also, much used, and we had two fulling mills and cloth-dressing establishments which furnished a very substantial cloth.  But has not our town been injured by the discouragement of home manufacturing, and in sending its money to patronize distant factories?  It may be taken as an axiom, that a town which buys everything and produces nothing, will never be anything but a slow town.  Our fulling mills, rope walks, potteries, woolen mills, cotton mills, hatter shops, shoe and bucket factories, and soap factories are mentioned only as things of the past.

In passing up Second street from Greene street we crossed the little stream once called the Tiber; but it has an alias now, which is Goose Run.  There being no bridge, properly speaking, across this stream, we walked over on a log which had been laid for the accommodation of pedestrians.  This stream used to abound with little fish, but its waters were so poisoned by the drainage from tanneries and the Gas works that they have long since disappeared.

To the right, and very near the bank of the Tiber, stood the "Old Sycamore," the last survivor of the great forest trees which stood on the ground when the pioneers landed, one hundred years ago.  That was evidently an old tree at that time.  I don't know why that tree was left standing, unless it was to show for many years what kind of trees there were when the New Mayflower landed.  It is not a great while since the old tree fell, but whether it was cut down, or blown down, I am not able to say.  There has been some dispute as to who cut the first tree after Putnam's boat struck the shore, but if the man is living who cut down the "Old Sycamore," his name ought to be known as the person who felled the last tree of that noble forest once covered the site of our beautiful city.