Preserved by Eileen Thomas

FOOTPRINTS

Page 59

Watson Dana was supply pastor during 1867-1878.  He was born November 12, 1837, the son of Charles and Eunice Churchill Dana.  He was granted a license to preach in 1867 and ordained in 1869.  He was the only ordained minister from the church up to the present time.  Rev. Dana died February 1, 1928, and is buried in the Newport Cemetery.

In the early 1870’s, the congregation decided to build a bell tower and two classrooms.  Some interesting history in how the church acquired the bell was recorded and ties in with Newport’s busy trade as a river town during this period of time. 

According to the records, the bell was bought at Cincinnati, Ohio, and paid for by voluntary contributions collected by the crews of the Courier and Diurnal, daily packets in the Wheeling and Parkersburg trade.  The collection far exceeded the amount required, so the bell committee gave first prizes to the crews of both boats.  The bell cost $237.  After the work was completed on the tower and the classroom and the bell was properly hung, the church was rededicated on March 1, 1880.

Minutes show that on July 20, 1872, on motion, James Ferguson and Silas Stone were appointed delegates to meet with the Center Valley Baptist Church for purpose of recognizing it as an independent church.

Encouraged with the growth in membership and finances, the church began making other improvements in keeping with the time.  The year 1881 saw an Estey Organ installed.  The pot bellied coal and wood stove and the oil lamps were replaced by natural gas in 1890.

Between the years 1904-1907 the baptistery was installed, thus eliminating the necessity of “gathering at the river” for baptismal service.  In the fall of 1981, the baptistery was remodeled: a new sheet metal insert was completed and new plumbing was installed. 

In 1909 the parsonage was built next to the sanctuary.  Rev. E. G. Stanley was the first pastor to occupy it.  It is a two-story frame house consisting of three rooms, a half-bath, a utility room, and a front reception hall which could be used as a study downstairs.  There are three rooms and a full bath upstairs.  The parsonage has air conditioning and forced-air heating.  Recently new windows and storm doors were installed.  This year (1984) a new kitchen was being installed and carpet laid.  Improvements and repairs to the parsonage are the responsibility of the Trustees, and the utilities are paid by the church. 

A garage fund was started in 1922 and collected $199.08.  The cost of the garage was $197.98.  The garage was built behind the parsonage in 1928.  The garage in recent years has been used for storage and fallen into a complete state of disrepair.  This summer (1984) this landmark will be burned by the Newport Fire Department. 

Everything went along pretty much the same until April, 1915.  At that time a new communion service was added and new pews installed.  The old pews were sold to the Church of Christ for their newly formed church on Maple Street.  The Esty [different spelling from above] Organ was replaced by a Hardman piano which was presented by Mrs. Mary Greene. 

In 1921, electricity was brought into Newport, so new drop lights were installed.  Commemorative Services of the 100^th year of the church edifice were held in 1942.  The Centennial Celebration was dedicated to the pioneers who suffered and sacrificed that the church here might become a permanent influence.

With the growth of the church it was decided to build a 20 ft. X 30ft. block structure.  It is attached to the rear of the sanctuary and is used for Young Adult Sunday school Class and Pastor’s office. This work was completed in 1956.

Page 65-68

A WEEKEND OF CHURCH

By Eileen Thomas

            Let’s daydream a while this afternoon—

            Imagine you are back in the year of 1797 when the first Baptist church was formed in Wood County.  You are traveling on your horse through the woods following a well-traveled wagon trail (These woods probably were like our Wayne National Forest.)  You don’t have a permanent home—everything you own is neatly packed in your saddlebags.

            Do you have the picture in your mind?  Now—

            Your name is James McAboy, you are a circuit preacher and you are committed to go from Beverly, Ohio, to Sistersville, Virginia.  [In the year 1797, West Virginia had not been divided (annexed) from the State of Virginia, this came later.]  You travel to preach to the brethren in this territory, as it is now, it was very important to teach God’s word.  You travel up the hills and down into the valleys—you have ‘tent meetings’ in all the settlements along the way.  Last night you stayed with Elder Davis and his family at the settlement of Rainbow.  Rainbow was located on the Muskingum River twelve miles from Marietta.  Next morning Mrs. Davis had made breakfast for you and the family—there were flapjacks, eggs, ham, fried potatoes, fresh made biscuits and apple butter!  Then she packed you a lunch—corn pone-fresh baked bread-wild turkey meat and a huge slice of deer steak and a couple of apples from their small orchard.  You’ll have to be alert on the trail today because some Delaware Indians had been seen in the area— probably a hunting party, but you still should be careful.  Mr. Devol, who has seen the braves near his home said they didn’t seem hostile, but to keep an eye out!

            At noon you decide to rest your horse and let him graze while you eat your lunch; first you led him to the river for water and at the waters edge you hear a sound, listening more clearly you jump back on your horse and ride off fast!  A pack of wolves were chasing a deer right towards you!!  In the distance you see an old log house that seemed to be abandoned; you make it to the door and lead your horse inside with you, just as the critters passed by!  So you end up having your lunch on the broken down porch on the front of the old house, not letting your horse graze too far in case the wolves doubled back.  Do you have the picture in your mind as to some of the hardships the early preachers went through to bring God’s word to the early settlers?  Also I forgot to mention you had to ride through all kinds of weather—most of the time you were not in sight of shelter. You had to face the wind-rain-sleet-snow, etc. 

            Now lets imagine you’re a farmer in the Lower Settlement (down by Hassely’s Sawmill on Rt. 7). Your name is Joseph Barker.

            It’s Friday night, you go to bed as soon as the sun goes down, you know you have to get up around 4:00 a.m.  As the rooster crows you get up and begin your chores—feed the chickens—milk the cows—slop the hogs—clean out the barn—check out the farm and see if everything is intact.  This done, you go back to the house to wash up for breakfast of ham—red eye gravy—fried potatoes—cooked apples—flap jacks and home made maple syrup and coffee. 

            While your wife, Melissa, and your nine children complete their chores you go outside and ready the buckboard for the trip to the Upper Settlement (Newport). Now you go back inside to spruce up a bit for church while Melissa is putting the finishing touches on the noon meal she has packed, the children are ready for the trip just as the sun is coming up (6 a.m.)

            You get to thinking on the way, you are glad to have your tobacco crop in before the rains come, next week the corn will need harvested, the apples will have to be picked, and you’ll have to set the boys on gathering firewood and get it split and stacked before the weather breaks.  Melissa will be making her lye soap before long.  The girls will have to gather some nuts—seems to be plenty of hickory-walnut-butternut and hazelnuts this fall.  Plenty for us and the wild critters, too.  Also can’t forget to ask Brother Luther if he will trade me some peaches for apples; Melissa wants to put up a bushel or two.

            Suddenly you notice the horses having some difficulty on the slippery road; you notice in the distance a couple other wagons.  Nearing them you are able to see what the hold up is—Dana’s Run had risen from all the rain.  Everyone was standing around wondering what to do. 

            Br. Churchill and John Greene came to their rescue by bringing row boats down the Ohio River from the Newport Landing (just beyond the Newport P. O. toward the river)  They rowed everyone across the run.  The horses had been tied in a shaded area with a slack rope so they could graze a bit.

            Is this making an impression on your mind as to how the early families lived and the lengths they went to have church services?

            Do you think God was pleased with his children?

            Let’s imagine now that you are one of the Joseph and Melissa Barker children—

            You have arrived in the Upper Settlement, today is Saturday—what would it be like to attend church in the early days?  You came to church with your parents—you sit beside them—no visiting with your friends during services—no morning snacks—you ate a hardy breakfast and no more eating until noon meal.  You are there to learn from the Good Book.  There is no radio—no T.V.s, no Nintendos—no cars—no ball games—no bikes and no sleeping in!!  This is just a partial look into the life of a child in the early 1800s.  The Elders of the Church had the say of the church.  They were very strict in their beliefs, and you were brought before the church to be questioned for any unusual behavior.  If you didn’t have answers to meet their beliefs they expelled you from the church.  The Newport people were members in the early days of the Marietta Baptist Church, the circuit preacher held meetings in the settlement about every two months.  On Saturdays services were held in the morning along with a business meeting, then an all day meeting on Sunday with noon meal. 

            August 25, 1822, is our earliest record of a meeting held in the Lower Settlement, with Abigail Churchill, Melissa Barker, and Susan Dana being received into the church.  The next was held Saturday Sept. 21, 1822, at Jacob Churchill’s home.  Being the custom, the wife placed a Bible on a table covered with her best white cloth and bade the neighbors and friends to come at early candle light, meaning come as early as you can, we will be ready for you. 

            So here we are at Brother Churchill’s for Saturday services.  After prayer by Elder James McAboy, Sarah Howard, David Canfield, Ira Hill and his wife, Wealthea, related their experiences and were received into the church. 

            Following services and business meeting, church was dismissed until the next morning.  So now we walk back to Dana’s Run; the water was way down by this time so we waded across to the wagons and proceeded to eat a late lunch. 

            Mr. Kerr had fed and watered our horses while we were at church; so giving him our thanks, the wagon caravan started on the trek home to the Lower Settlement. 

            Brother Luther Barker and his family were in the lead wagon, followed by Jacob Middleswarts, then our wagon followed by Jacob Leonard who turned off at Newell’s Run, and last the Thornilys.  A lot of singing could be heard as we traveled down the River Road.  Arriving home we boys helped Father with the evening chores and brought wood in so Mother could begin supper.  After eating and the dishes were cleared away, the candles were lit and Father read aloud form the Bible.  The Bible is the only book other than a school book or two in the house.  Mother and Father asked questions on the morning service, and each of us older children told what we had gotten out of the service.  Now its bed time; the sun has set. 

            We get up at the crack of dawn to do the same thing over again!  But today is a special day—

            It’s a bright beautiful fall day as the wagons make their way back up the river road!!  As we reach the top of the hill in Newport, we meet several wagons coming in from the other directions—there were the Danas, the McMahans, and the Holdrens coming from Leith Run Settlement and the Fergusons from Ferguson’s Landing.  So as we merged we became quite a large wagon train as we arrived at Jacob Churchill’s yard!

            The meeting began with prayer, then a sermon by Elder McAboy, songs were sung and a lecture was given by Elder McAboy, then we were dismissed from the morning services.  While the Mothers sat out the noon meal, we kids played tag, Red Rover and Drop the Hanky.  After the adults had filled their plates, we children were allowed to do the same.  This was a steadfast rule which was to show respect for your elders!  After the food had been put away we gathered and started walking toward the river.

This is what made our day special—Mother was going to be baptized today!! 

We had not witnessed a Baptism before.  We sure know what the saying “We shall gather at the river” stands for now. 

After the river services, we returned to Brother Churchill’s for the afternoon services and then partook in the Lords Supper.

We sure were a bunch of tired happy travelers when we returned home that evening!

These types of services continued on until January 3, 1838, when the Newport branch of the Marietta Baptist Church became an independent church, thus the date on the front of our church.  Then in 1841 it was decided to build a brick church.  Our church building was dedicated January 1, 1842 with Elder Geer preaching the sermon.  Sunday school was established in 1841.

The forefathers of our church built a firm and lasting foundation of faith and fellowship so let’s continue to join forces as one church family and trust God’s wisdom and will.  Now is the time to set aside your imagination—for you are now “back to the future!”

And yes, you are our future-May God continue to bless us. 

Pages 70-79

BUILDING NEARS FRUITION

By Kathy Perrine

The Marietta Times

            Newport—It’s been several years since the dream of a new addition began at Newport United Methodist Church.

            It’s been one year since the congregation approved plans for the new addition.  It’s been seven months since the rear wall of the church collapsed during the digging of the basement for the new addition.

            It’s taken a lot of work and dedication by a lot of people to get to the near completion of the sanctuary and the new fellowship and education hall.  The target date is Sunday, October 20, 1991 for worship services to return to the church and, possibly, to hold Sunday school classes in the new addition.

            Kurt Landerholm, minister at the church, said members are volunteering their time to help finish the building.

            “Just about every evening through the week and Saturdays for the last month there have been volunteers there painting.”

            One is Roger Dye, a chairperson on the building committee.  He said it’s wonderful to see the building nearing completion, and he is proud to know his grandchildren can grow up and say, “My grandpa did this.”

            “We’ve become friends, really; I didn’t really know the guys I went to church with until I worked with them.”

            Landerholm said all of the chapel furniture and other wooden fixtures that were damaged or destroyed in the collapse are being repaired, rebuilt or replaced by church member and building committee chairperson Walter Lauer and his son Gale.

            “It makes me feel good to begin to see what we were working for,” Walter Lauer said, “to see things shaping up after all the hardship and heartaches.”  Lauer has been overseeing the project since its beginning.

            Landerholm said: “The contractor has done a great job with the church.  It’s going to be very beautiful.”

            “Fifty years from now somebody is going to look at this and say, ‘You know how that scratch got there?  That happened when the church collapsed.’”

            The congregation held services in the Newport School gymnasium following the collapse until it began using the Newport Baptist Church in June.

            Landerholm said that was a very good experience and the hospitality was appreciated, but because the Baptist church has revival starting this Sunday, Newport United Methodist will use the school again until the sanctuary is ready. Both churches will resume their regular church hours starting this Sunday with Sunday school at 10: a.m. and worship services at 11: a.m. 

            Landerholm said that in an effort to display appreciation to the Baptist congregation, members have invited them to a dinner in the new fellowship hall on Sunday, November 24.  It will be held prior to the traditional community Thanksgiving service. 

            It was recently discovered, while Newport Baptist’s records were being retyped, that in 1902 the Baptist church was undergoing roof repairs and could not use its building for some services so the Methodist Church offered its building.  Landerholm said he hadn’t been aware of the coincidence but said he wasn’t surprised because the two churches had such a good working relationship.

            Landerholm said that the first Sunday in Newport United Methodist’s long-awaited church and fellowship hall will be a very emotional and exciting time.  “We are looking forward to it.”

            Long-time church member Libby Lauer said, “I think we are all going to be so overwhelmed and so glad when we get in there that you just can’t describe what it’s going to be like.”

REOPENING OF CHURCH TO BRIING MUSIC TO EARS

By Kathy Perrine

The Marietta Times

October 18, 1991

            NEWPORT—At 3 p.m. Saturday, the carillon chimes at Newport Methodist Church will again strike the hour—for the first time in 226 days.

            At 2:50 p.m. March 7, the rear wall of the church collapsed.  Power was cut off, and the chimes ceased to play.

            Kurt Landerholm, minister at the church, said the carillon system was installed at the church about six years ago in honor of long-time members Gale and Hilda Heeter.

            The chimes were programmed to strike every hour between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. with the playing of short gospel selections and hymns at 6 p.m. 

            “Initially we indicated that 6 p.m. should be a time of prayer to remember each other and the community, our country and the nation,” Landerholm said.

            “We’ve received so many positive comments.  It’s been something the community has enjoyed.”

            He said people use it as a signal for times.  Some tell their children to be home by so many bells.  Some use it as a mealtime reminder.

            “Since the chimes went-off, we’ve heard many comments about how people have missed it,” he said.  “I’m sure it will again be appreciated.”

            Worship services will return to the church on Sunday. Landerholm said it is structurally completed, with 95 percent of the interior decoration finished.  He hopes that everything will be finalized by Christmas.

            “Bit by bit and piece by piece, we’re going back together.  It’s been exciting to see the sanctuary come back.”

            Walter Lauer and his son, Gale, built a new wood arch for the front wall of the church. 

            Landerholm said his Sunday morning sermon will be from the Old Testament book of Ezra on the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.

            “Many of the hurdles and struggles and victories that the people of Juda[h] encountered in the rebuilding of the temple parallel what we’ve gone through.”

            “I recognize that it will be an emotionally charged worship service, lots of excitement and anticipation.  It was almost like a death when the church collapsed.  Now it will be like the Resurrection.”

            A commitment and dedication service is planned after the regular morning service. 

CEMETERIES

            The first burial in the Newport Cemetery was Nathaniel Little on November 20, 1808.

            Many of the stones were cut by Frank Valentine.  Later years his son, Ben Valentine, was the stone cutter.  The last stone Ben cut was his own.

            There was also a small cemetery located on the property now owned by Paul Berga.  It contained many early settlers’ graves.  Dr. George Gale said his grandparents were buried there.  They were moved to the Hammett Cemetery at Willow Island, West Virginia.  Others were moved to the Newport Cemetery. 

CHURCH OF CHRIST

            The membership of the Dewey Avenue Church of Christ congregation came from the faithful members who moved from the rural area to live in St. Mary’s West Virginia.

            During the year 1906, with thirty-one charter members, the first regular meetings were held in the old M.E. Church building, where the present Methodist Church now stands.

            This building served the congregation as a meeting place for fifty years.  Then a new building was constructed on the opposite corner of the street where services were first conducted March 22, 1959.

            Our church was started in 1914 under the supervision of this St. Mary’s Church of Christ.  The John Shaw building on Maple Street was purchased in 1916.  The top floor was removed, and the lower floor of the building was remodeled into a meeting place.  Pews were bought from the Baptist Church in 1915.

            In the early 1950s a complete revamping was done.  Two bathrooms were installed, and one addition was built on the back to be used as two classrooms.  And a baptistery was constructed.  William Dewell was minister at this time.

            The first trustees were W.A. Wilson, Marcus Bayless, Clarence Theodore McCullough, J.O. Rogers, Cyrus Bayless.  It is interesting to note that Cyrus and Marcus were brothers.  Marcus’s family moved to St. Mary’s.   Cyrus’ family were faithful members of the church.  Cyrus’ daughter Ethel Berga is now the oldest member of the congregation.  Her son Jim and her grandchildren and great grandchildren help to make up the family of God in attending the Wednesday evening and Sunday services in the Newport church.  

            The church bought property from Howard and Fern Ward Pryor for $5,000 on the corner of Green[e] Street and Woodland Drive.  A preacher house was erected on this lot in 1965 by men of the congregation.  The first minister to live in this home was Minister Donald Kelly and family.

            Due to the growth of the congregation, Charles Newell, minister, suggested a new meeting house be built. 

            In 1974 bids were put out for the sale of the church building.  Ralph Hendricks bought the property.  It is now used as a storage building for Newport Lumber.

            Wallace Construction Company started to build the new church in 1974 at a cost of $125,000.  This loan was paid off in 1991.

            The new building was dedicated on November 9, 1975, at 2:30 p.m.

The program included:

Opening remarks—Charles Newell

Prayer—Denny Hearn

Song Leader—Dwight Sanford

Introduction of Speaker—Charles Newell

Speaker—Jess Nutter

Song Leader—Larry Shingleton

Closing remarks—Charles Newell

Closing Prayer—Sanford Barnett

A tour of the building followed the dedication.

            The church seats 150 people with a baptistery and two side rooms in front of the church.  Seven classrooms, an office, a utility room, a nursery and two restrooms are included in the addition. 

            Some of the furniture from the old church is still in use today.  Wallace Construction donated 50 Hymn Books and a Bible.  Howard Pryor a clock.

            In 1992 the church bought new carpet, a new sign and new landscaping.

            Trustees are Larry R. Shingleton, Robert Stewart, and Burl D. Hewitt.

List of full time preachers:

Charles Thomas

William Dewell

E.G. Rockcliff

Gray Vaught

Dale Davis

Robert Patterson

Donald Kelly

William Dewell

Charles Steele

Scott Johnson

Charles Newell

Randy Matheny

Frank Love

Robert Patterson

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Williams History of Washington County, Ohio

            The Newport Presbyterian Church was organized in the village of Newport June 9, 1838, by Rev. Bennett Roberts, an Evangelist.  The nine constituent members were, David and Mary Murdock, John and Mary Greene, Jane Moreland, Eleanor K. Cook, Mariah H. Bailey, Sarah E. Dana, and Ira H. Bosworth.  They held their meetings in the pioneer schoolhouse just north of Newport, and after it was burned, meetings were held at the other schoolhouse and at the Methodist and Baptist churches.  The congregation was never strong. They had occasional supplies from Marietta, but not until Rev. Henry Smith, D.D. president of Marietta College, came did they have a stated supply.  For fifteen years he preached to this people twice a month.  He was accustomed to remark that his visits to the little flock in Newport were green spots in his life.  Certain it is no little church for miles around was favored with the service of so talented a minister as was Dr. Smith.  Rev. John Noble also supplied the church.

            In 1869 the presbytery of Athens formally dissolved [the] Newport church, and the following were at their own request transferred to the Fourth Street Presbyterian Church in Marietta:  Eleanor Cook,  Dr. J.H. McElhinney and wife, Ira H. Bosworth and wife, Eleanor C. Bosworth, Augustus Leonard and wife.  Luther Edgerton, the only surviving elder, afterwards became a member of the Fourth Street Church in Marietta.

NEWPORT SCHOOL

            Back in the early pioneer days the children in the neighborhood were first instructed by Caleb Greene, a son of John and Mary Greene, at the family residence.  This was as early as 1801 or 1802.

            The first school house was erected near the present site of the old Barkwill home.  It was very rude in its structure, being built wholly of rough, round logs and having split logs smoothed on one side for the floors and seats.  School was held for only a few months in the winter, and the teachers boarded around among the families. 

            To those pioneers who in the early days had to keep the school going largely by subscriptions, let us pause and think of the sacrifices that must have been made.  But they were men and women with a vision, and in the progress of time, the development in the school system has continued.

            A brick building, which was later destroyed by fire, replaced the primitive log houses; and then another school was started, still on the same site, but this has been torn down by the hand of progress many years ago.  In its place, two grade schools were started, one in the lower part of town, the former site of the Laundromat, the other at the crossroads in what was called the back neighborhood.  This is now the home of Joe and Mary Coyler. 

            In 1866 largely through the efforts of J.B. Greene, a native son and state representative, the Newport Special School District was established.

            At this time the upper grades were taught in the old Methodist Church building which stood where the present old brick school building stands.

            School continued with the three schools in the district until 1889 when a large frame building replaced the old Methodist Church.  The three schools were consolidated and a charter was granted for a high school.  John McDaniels was the first superintendent, from 1890 to 1892.

            One of the requirements for graduation was that each graduate should deliver two self written orations, one in December and the other at commencement time.  In January of 1894, the school burned.  School was then held in vacant buildings in the town.

            The completion of a new brick building in 1895 was located at the bottom of Turkey Knob Road.  F.L. Bailey was the superintendent, from 1895 to 1899.  The facility consisted of three teachers, one for the high school, one each for the intermediate and primary grades.  Up until 1907 the superintendent was the sole instructor in the high school.  The recitation was fifteen minutes in length and no study halls.  Another year was added to the high school course in 1900, and the school became a third grade high school in 1903.

            In 1907 an assistant teacher was added to the high school faculty, and it became a second grade high school.  The first piano was purchased in 1915 through the efforts of the pupils. 

            The new grade school was voted in November, 1925.  The three acre lot was secured from William J. Todd.

            On Friday, April 22, 1927, the present grade school building was dedicated.  The first auditorium was a dream come true. 

            During 1929-1930 the two buildings, grade and high school, were separate units and were under different supervision.  Lynn N. Nicholas was high school principal, Grace Reckard was grade school principal in charge of the eight grade and several one-room buildings which had not become a part of our new consolidated system.

            On December 24, 1915, the Ohio State Department of Education recognized the Newport Number 1 Rural High School.

            In 1917 the present building was ready for occupation and the four high school grades were transferred to the new building.

            Class plays were held in Room A on a stage which since has been removed.  Basketball in 1919-1920 was played in Room B, under the direction of Arthur Buchanan.

            On May 25, 1931, a six year high school charter was granted.

            The first school paper, “The Mirror,” was published in 1940.  The 50^th Anniversary Book published in 1940 was dedicated to Miss Nora Ferguson, the first graduate in 1890.

            In 1948, The Civic Club, redecorated the gymnasium, located in the grade school, and purchased a new electric score board.

            The first kindergarten class was started in September of 1967.  Mrs. Sue Herlan was teacher.  Members of the class were: Rebecca Barnhouse, Joni Board, Sherri Boley, Suzanne Cline, Cheryl Cornell, Jay Eichhorn, Karen Fenton, Bobby Garret, Jane Ann Greenwood, Bryan Harris, Kim Hearn, Kathy Hewitt, Tony Hurte, Maxolia Martin, Debbie Murphy, Randy O’Neal, Eddie Pryor, Jamie Rouse, Faye Seevers, Alesia Smitley, Shelia Summers, Penny Thomas, Kevin Tidd, Brian Wolfe, Jody Wolfe. 

NEW NEWPORT GYM

            Funds for the gym and school addition were appropriated in a school bond passed by voters in November, 1954.

            The concrete block and steel building provides a music room and two class rooms, lockers and restrooms.  Architects for the building were Scott and Easley from Marietta.  The contractor was O.J. Paul of Zanesville, Ohio.

            The old gym in the grade school building was made into a cafeteria.  The new gymnasium was open for the first game of basketball on January 18, 1956.  Mr. Charles Morus joined the staff at…Newport this year 1955-1956, as a coach and teacher of history and physical education.  A graduate of Salem College, Salem, WV.  Coach Morus, (Hank) ended the basketball season with…16 wins and 10 losses, won third place in the county tournament and first place in the sectional tournament.  He later became principal at Newport and transferred to Frontier High School with the consolidation of schools in 1968.

            Members of the Varsity team were: Dick Harris, Harold (Bevo) Francis, Blaine Mendenhall, Dave Riggs, Bernard (Buck) Murphy, John Pritchett, Dave Bookman, John Herlan, Dave Nott.

Members of the Varsity Cheerleaders:  Judy (Hoff) Murphy, Sue (Hoff) Herlan, Patty Riggs, Patsy (Roe) Stalnaker, Shirley (Thomas) Rogers

MOTHERS CLUB

            Beginning of the school term 1947-1948, the mothers club was organized.  The club was started with twenty members and had increased to fifty at the end of school.

            Various projects were carried out to provide money to apply toward the payment of a new projector for use in visual education.

            The beginning of the school year 1970-71, a new organization, the P.T.I., began.  In the summer, election of officers was held at the home of Mrs. Herman Thomas.  Marcia Summers, President; Eileen Thomas, Vice President; Betty Smith, Secretary; Shirley Beaver, Treasurer.

            The Spring Carnival was the biggest project of the year. 

HORRORS!  A POTENTIAL PAUCITY OF PUMPKINS

By Nancy Taylor

Times Staff Writer

Saturday, October 13, 1979

            It’s a frightening rumor to hear this time of year, especially if you’re a comic strip character named Linus and you’re waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

            This year, Linus, there may be a pumpkin paucity—not enough pumpkins out in the ol’ patch.

            One local grower says wet weather has put a real damper on the pumpkin population this year.  A couple others say their crops are fine.  But two more who aren’t growing pumpkins have heard the whispers in the autumn wind—there’s a shortage.

            “This year, we’ve got about three tons of pumpkins,” grower Bill Burkhart of Masonic Park Road said early this week.  Counting an average pumpkin at about 15 pounds, that would be 400 pumpkins.

            Lest pumpkin lovers count their pies before they’re baked, though, a word of caution; Burkhart had 25 tons of pumpkins last year.  This year has been a bust, as far as his pumpkin productivity goes.

            “There was too much rain when the plants were blooming, and they didn’t pollinate,” Burkhart said.  “And it’s been so wet lately, it’s hard to get into the fields.”

            “We generally wholesale the pumpkins, but this year we had so few we’ll retail them in the greenhouse.”

            “We’ve got plenty of pumpkins,” Dean Abicht of Abicht’s Market in Newport said.  “We didn’t lose many at all—not over 10 percent from the weather.  In fact, we’ve got twice as many this year.”

            “We’ve heard there’s a shortage,” said Mrs. Jerry Witten of the Witten Farm at Coal Run.  “But we didn’t hear it was because of the weather; we heard it was because a lot of people just aren’t growing them.  My husband didn’t grow any this year.”

            Mrs. Witten said her children had raised a couple of pumpkins for the county fair contest.  “We put them on display down at the market,” she said, “and we’ve had all kinds of offers to buy them—even though they’ve got our kids’ names carved in them.”

            At Lane’s Fruit Farm on Ohio 676, Hazel Lane said she didn’t think her husband, Eugene, was aware of any shortage.  “We have a nice supply,” she said.  “Ours turned out nice.  Our only problem is the groundhogs getting into them.”

            Bill Stacy of Stacy Farms said he didn’t grow pumpkins this year.  “It was too wet in July to get them planted,” he said.  “But I kinda suspected a shortage, from talking to the other growers around here.”

            The Keith Doak family on Newport Pike isn’t raising pumpkins, “but we heard there was a shortage,” Mrs. Doak said.

            What can local folks do, if there is a shortage?  Many of them certainly won’t want to depend on those plastic jack-o-lanterns do-jobbies.  They might find substitutes, but a cleverly carved eggplant or zucchini just doesn’t have the same kind of appeal.

            Maybe it’s time for America to sink their teeth into research for pumpkin preservation.  It may not sound attractive now, but it might be better to become a pumpkin-independent nation before we’re faced with pumpkin rationing, pumpkin imports—and those long lines of pumpkin-guzzlers that form at the dinner table at holiday time. 

NEWPORT 1913 FLOOD

By Diana McMahan

The News Correspondent

Written on Sunday, March 25, 1979

            Today, the Ohio River offers little threat to the homes of most Newport residents, for new construction has been on higher ground.  However, in 1913, the great flood practically covered the houses and store buildings close to the river bank.  This record flood of all time crested at 58.7 feet at Marietta on March 29, 66 years ago. 

            The first eyewitness reports of damage in Newport came to Matamoras via the Matamoras Relief Committee, a large group of citizens who had traveled down river on the Brown Brothers’ boat, the Evelyn, checking on friends and relatives as far as Marietta, and taking food, clothing and necessities to those who had lost everything to the high water. 

            The great harm done to familiar landmarks shocked everyone on the boat, although damage in Newport was not so great as was first reported.  The wide stretch of water from the West Virginia hills to the Ohio hills, with no valley in sight, made all viewers lose their bearings. 

                                                SEEN FROM BOAT

            Newport suffered considerably from the flood.  The Reynolds’ home and the Newport mill are gone, and Will Cook’s store swung around.  Elson Kirkbride’s Meat Market turned over, and the Post Office and store owned by Will Gano is off foundation.” (Matamoras Enterprise, April 3, 1913.)

            Other damage above and below Newport was just as devastating.  “The O.R. Track above Raven Rock is washed out for a mile or two.  A.A. Stewart’s Oil Well (sic) on the Hall farm, across the river from Raven Rock is all upset.  A house on Grape Island is all upset.  Ex-Sheriff Obe Clark’s old house on the bottom land is wrecked.

            “At Bell’s Run, Lock’s blacksmith shop and several other buildings are gone.  A 25,000 barrel tank floated out of its bed, across the river from Eureka and landed on the fill that is built around them.  Several miles of the O.R. track near St. Mary’s is washed out, and the trestle is also out. Alvin Haskins’ two story house and wash house is turned over.

            “At the Dana Run Bridge all the telephone and telegraph wires are down.  The old store house at Newell’s  Run is gone and the new one badly damaged. Barn and warehouse of F. B. Leonard are gone and the store is badly damaged.”

            Those reports that were exaggerated and in error were corrected by Mrs. William Cook of Newport, whose husband had the store seen from the Evelyn as she went past.  Mrs. Cook wrote to the Enterprise, “The mill is still standing and almost ready for business.  William Cook’s store, I am happy to inform you, would have taken 18 feet more water to have touched us. Loss of merchandise and household goods in Newport is comparatively small, for three fourths of Newport population is on high ground.”

NEWPORT “ITEMS”

            Much news of Newport and the flooded residents arrived in Matamoras in the column of Newport “Personals” published in the Enterprise.  Identity of the columnist is today unknown, but through the short paragraphs one can see how the flood touched the lives of those in a small river town.

            “Mr. George Bacheldor, who was floodbound in New York State, returned home Saturday.

“Mrs. Will Conerty was flood ground in Parker, Pa.

“Harry Karcher has purchased the Hines property and is moving to higher ground.

            “The Meat Market collapsed in the flood; it was the property of Mr. Bernard Reynolds.

            “Mr. Sam Collett’s cottage was wrecked, also a small house belonging to the Bosworth sisters.

            “J.M. Cook’s Blacksmith shop which was on the bank was washed away.

            “Mrs. A.S. Hassinger was flood bound in Columbus, Ohio.

            “The old Strickling house went away in the flood and the old store room swung off the foundation.  Only one occupied house left in the flood, which was the Charles Reynolds’ cottage above the mill.

            ‘The Drum property of Water Street left in the flood, but landed on a farm below town.

            “Mr. Luster Francis’ barn and other buildings left in the flood, but were anchored before going far.  Mr. Wesley Hoff lost his barn during the flood.”

LONE TREE HILL

            Lone Tree Hill, sometimes known as Adkins Point, is famous for its great scope of vision up and down the Ohio River. 

D.A. DYE

            D.A. Dye started a race track near the Oscar Mitchell Home.  The curious feature of the attempt was the envision of the usual construction of such a course.  Instead of having the track in an open arena, visible from the surrounding grounds.  This particular track wound around the outside of the hill.  The spectators having their stands in the center and looking down upon the entire performance.  Why the novel project was abandoned was not revealed. 

MARBLE CHAMPIONSHIP

            Guy Harris won the marble championship of Washington County in June, 1934, winning for the second consecutive year.  Before winning his title, Guy was given some stiff competition by Donald Cornes.  They tied in the regulation play-off, each having a percentage of .667.  In an extra match Harris took three straight to gain the title.

June 8, 1935.  He was the county winner.

            He will go to the eastern finals at Ocean City, New Jersey.

            Marietta Times was the sponsor. 

GRIST AND SAW MILL

            A small horse-power mill commenced to operate on the Ohio at the village of Newport in 1855.  The owner, John S. Moore, at first only ground feed for his own horses, but gradually the operations became enlarged, and in 1859 he erected a frame steam flouring mill, which was afterwards enlarged.  In 1879, the Newport Mill Company bought the old mill, tore it down, and disposed of the machinery. 

            The company was incorporated in July, 1879, with a capital stock of twelve thousand dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each.  Victor Torner is president, James Johnson secretary and treasurer, and John Hadley, director.  Individual members of the stock company were T.S. Hadley, Richard Rea, and Dr. C.B. Gale.  The company erected the mill building, which is of frame and three story and basement structure, 56 X 50 feet in dimensions.  In the year 1887, the mill was remodeled with modern improvements, such as the roller processes.  The company contracted with the Cooper Manufacturing Company of Mt. Vernon for a complete new process mill of four run of buhrs.  It manufactures two fine grades of flour for both family and bakers use, the Electric Light and the Victor.  The Electric Light is a high grade, carefully mixed flour excelled for bread making qualities, and is in the true sense of the term of high grade.

            The Victor is also a high grade, carefully milled flour and is their leader.  It is in steady demand from not only local trade, but from distant points.

            Another brand, the Globe, is a lower grade of flour, but is as the others in great demand.  The mill was completed and in operation on September 1, 1879, the total cost being ten thousand dollars.

            Newport Milling Company has been since the date of its establishment, one of the representative features in the milling interests of Washington County. 

            Mr. T.S. Hadley, the head miller, and Victor Torner, upon whom the management of the mill mostly revolves, are both active business men.  The production of the plant is about 75 barrels per day, but the capacity of the plant is about 100 barrels per day.

            Mr. Madingly and Bill Travis worked there.  Mr. Isaiah Hendricks bought the mill and operated the mill at this location until the 1913 flood when the machinery was ruined.  He tore the building down in 1934 and rebuilt on Dye Street, where he started a feed store.  Rhoda Hendricks, his wife, ran the feed store while Mr. Hendricks started a saw mill, located on the site of the flour mill.  In later years he moved the saw mill to Archer’s Fork, Todd home place.  He continued working in the lumber until his health failed.

            In 1947, Newport Lumber and Coal Co. was started in the building by Mr. Hendricks children, Ralph and Freda.  The business was started on a small scale, as the business grew remodeling and improvements were done on the old building. 

OLD DISTILLERIES

            Old Distilleries were very numerous in the early days when it was a breach of hospitality not to pass the bottle when guests were present.  The purity of the liquor made by the honest pioneer distillers was unquestioned, and everybody used it, until they noticed that they were beginning to yield to whiskey the mastery, and then they quit the use and the manufacture and today there is but little spirituous liquor sold, and none made, in this township.  During the first years of the settlement, “Whiskey Mills” were even more numerous than grist-mills. 

            John Greene, Jr., Ebenezer Battelle, Sr., and Richard Greene had a small distillery in the northwest corner of section twenty-eight in 1805.  They had three copper stills in operation and devoted most of their time to the manufacture of apple jack and peach brandy.  They continued at the business for about ten years, and now there is no sign of their place of business. 

            William Dana started a still in about 1815, and continued until 1832 or 1833, when being convinced that he was not doing right, he ceased operations in this line.

            There was once a log distillery on the Little Muskingum, nearly opposite the old Sharp Mill, owned by Reuben Northup.  This was burned in about 1826.  A remnant of the old fixtures was recently found deeply buried in the river bank.

            From 1820 to 1832 Thomas Ferguson had a still-house on his place above Newport, in section twenty-two.

            Reference to the old account book of John Greene, which was in the possession of his son, Christopher, proves that in the early days whisky was legal tender for all debts, for in those days it was supposed that whiskey was even better than water.  From the same old book it is learned that the consumer of the fiery liquid wanted it to be like water in two respects—pure and free, for they always bought on credit. 

Pages 99-104

NEWPORT MAKES HISTORY

Marietta Times

March 6-7, 1993

            Talk about good news.  Catch this:

            Newport Volunteer Rescue Squad made history when squad members delivered its first baby in its 17 years of existence on the way to the hospital. 

            “It’s the most thrilling thing that’s happened,” squad member Barbara Himmeger told us. 

            Joseph Weston Greene was born last week to Lana Greene of Upper Newport at 11:59 near the Willow Island Locks and Dam on Ohio 7 North.  Assisting with the birth were squad members Himmeger and Bill Greene.

            John Turner was driving and Alice Greene and Mary Lou Reynolds assisted Himmeger and Greene.

            Joseph weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 ½ inches long.  “A beautiful little boy,” Himmeger said. 

NEWPORT LAUNDROMAT

By Julie Brienza

Times Staff Writer

March 27, 1982

NEWPORT—One man was injured Friday evening when a Halliburton Oil and Gas comenting truck crashed into a gas meter beside the Newport Laundromat and set the building on fire. 

            The driver of the truck, Steve Blake, 29, of Zanesville, was taken to Marietta Memorial Hospital where he was admitted in fair condition, according to shift supervisor Tarcella Hendershot.  He had burns on his face and hands, she said.  No other injuries were reported in the accident.

            Blake told the Ohio Highway Patrol he attempted to pull into the Laundromat parking lot at about 6 p.m. when his brakes failed.  He and his passenger, Jerry E. Conroy of Cambridge, were traveling south on Ohio 7.  The truck crashed into one corner of the cement-block Laundromat, breaking a medium-pressure gas main that exploded into flames higher than the roof of that single-level store.

            An employee at the Laundromat, Freeda Adams, and a customer were inside the store when the accident occurred.

            “I was talking to the woman, who was drying her clothes,” Adams said, “and the smoke started to roll in just right now.  The woman said to break a window, and that’s how we got out.”

            Jerry Barnhouse, who lives in Riverside Apartments across the street, said he heard a boom and took off running for the Laundromat when he saw the fire.

            Firefighters from the Newport Volunteer Fire Department contained the blaze in one fourth of the building for about 45 minutes before River Gas Co. workers shut off the gas line at 7 p.m., said Fire Chief Stephen McMahon.

            “If they had a problem turning off the gas, it’s an understandable problem.”  The fire chief said the gas company crew had to be selective in turning off the line so the entire area would not be without gas.

            McMahon said he couldn’t determine the cause of the fire until he got more information on the accident.  Neither he nor the patrol has determined what caused Blake’s truck to go off the roadway.

            Firefighters saved 75 percent of the building, McMahon said, but added most of the damage was from water sprayed to keep the fire under control.

            Max Patterson, owner of the Newport Laundromat for 10 years, said he has some insurance on the building.

            The truck was destroyed.

UNSOLVED MYSTERIS TO FILM IN NEWPORT

By Betty L. Smith

Feature Editor

            Newport will be featured in an upcoming segment of the Unsolved Mysteries television show. 

            The Sam Greenwood home and the “gray house” both built by the Greene family, will be shown in dream sequences of the program, said Kathy Cumbo, associate producer of the Los Angeles based television program. 

            Legend has it that Mary Frances Wood, who lived in Pleasants County on the acreage now owned by B. F. Abicht, married Christopher Greene and lived in the “gray house.”  Their daughter Carrie married Junius Greenwood and moved from the gray house to the Greenwood estate, which was built in 1808.  Just exactly how the Greene family fits into the sequence was not explained, other than there is some connection with the gray house.  A bedroom and the exterior of the Greenwood home are being filmed for the show. 

            These historic homes have been selected as examples of the period when Georgia Rudolph, the subject of this “Unsolved Mysteries” segment, dreams of living in the Marietta-Newport area as “Sandra” a century ago.

            Mrs. Rudolph, a middle-aged lady from Atlanta, Georgia, had been experiencing these recurring dreams over several years, finally seeking the help of a hypno-therapist.  Under hypnosis, she was transported back in time to a former life.  Through this experience, she has come to believe that she is the reincarnated “Sandra.”

            Mrs. Rudolph had not been in Marietta until about five years ago, although she lived for a short time in Columbus, said Miss Cumbo.  Arriving in the Ohio city which was the first to be built in the Northwest Territory, she saw houses and churches which were familiar to her, having seen identical structures in her drams.  She had also visualized the sternwheeler, common to Ohio River travelers of a century ago.

            Mrs. Rudolph was also able to relate several facts about the city that she could not have known without extensive research, Miss Cumbo said.  She is able to clearly recall a number of things, even describing clothing worn during the time.

            “We are a reality based program,” the associate producer noted, “and we are not taking a stand on reincarnation.  We are presenting the segment as unexplained, and the viewer may choose to believe it or not, but Mrs. Rudolph is convinced of reincarnation.”

            Annie Azzariti is the producer of the “Unsolved Mysteries” segment.  A crew of seven are [sic] here from Los Angeles.  The producer was in New York the first of the week conducting interviews with doctors and other professional people for the program.

            Scenes which will be filmed in Newport, in addition to the Greenwood home and the “gray house” include views of the Newport Cemetery.

            The script includes a drowning episode which was supposed to occur during Mrs. Rudolph’s past lives.  She has relived the traumatic suicide several times.

            Sites in the Marietta area which have been chosen are the Ohio River Levee, the Claire E. sternwheeler, the Crown of Life Lutheran and Unitarian churches, and Paul and Robin Broughton’s residence at 826 Second St.

            Several local people have been chosen to fill the cast.  Miss Cumbo said there are five principal actors and five extras, but none of the cast will have speaking parts.  An other-worldly atmosphere will pervade the show, drifting back into the mists of the past as the woman’s dreams are recreated.

            Film star Robert Stack, host of “Unsolved Mysteries” which is broadcast at 8 p.m. on Wednesday evenings on NBC, will narrate the film.  There will also be narration by Mrs. Rudolph, about whom the film is being made.

            Interviews by doctors and professionals will provide input into the subject of reincarnation, not a widely accepted theory.

            Two graduate students from Ohio University at Athens have been hired as costumer and production assistant, said Miss Cumbo, while the direct crew of cameramen, technicians and producers are from L.A.

            While the show is scheduled to air in February, this could change.  Miss Cumbo said an announcement will be mailed to area media of the exact schedule, which can then be shared with the public.

            Filming is planned for Friday through Monday, weather permitting.

            If it snows, perhaps the order of 200 pounds of fake snow for the scene at the Lutheran Church can be cancelled.

NEWPORT MAN HELPS OTHERS WITH CANCER

By David Ball

Pleasants County Leader

April 27, 1991

            Cancer patient Ruober Holpp helps other victims of the disease in order to help himself. 

            But because of his kindness toward others, the Newport 60-year-old will receive the Ohio Courage Award from the American Cancer Society April 29, in Columbus.  Gov. George Voinovich will give the award to Holpp, who has helped needy people by operating the Newport Food Pantry.

            When they called me up about it, I told them at first, “I don’t think so,” Holpp said of receiving the award.  “The things I do helping cancer patients and everyone is what helps me handle cancer.”

            The award is given to an individual who has shown unusual courage, according to Jan Stine, executive director of the Marietta unit of the American Cancer Society.

            “It gives you a real good feeling,” Holpp said of the award.  “That tells me I’m doing the right thing and (to) keep on doing it.”

            Holpp’s story of courage began when he was diagnosed as having breast cancer in 1981, a rarity in men.  After surgery and chemotherapy, Holpp’s disease went into remission.  But while in the hospital, former cancer patients came and talked to Holpp.

            “He continued to work in the community, even though his life was threatened,” Stine said.

            Holpp again was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1989, this time in his spine and both rib cages.  He can no longer lift objects, so his food pantry work has been curtailed.  He has undergone six months of chemotherapy and now is taking medication.

            After his first bout with cancer, Holpp became a participant in the “I Can Cope” program, which helps cancer patients deal with the disease.  He and his wife, Sue, became weekly volunteers at the American Cancer Society office in Marietta.

            “I’m a giving person, and it makes me feel good about myself if I can help someone else,” Holpp said.

            Stine said Holpp also has been called upon by doctors to talk with other cancer patients.

            “His down-to-earth manner and attitude make it easy for people to talk to him,” she said.  “He has truly been an inspiration to others.  He teaches us all, including the facilitator of our “I Can Cope” and Pioneer Cancer Support groups, that a positive attitude and helping others are important parts of recovery.

            Because he has been unable to return to work now that he is considered disabled, he spends his time in other ways, such as operating the Newport Food Pantry, helping needy people with household goods and food.

            He said he tries to have fun and laugh, regardless of how bad the situation might be.

            “Everyone in Newport knows Bob and how he is fighting cancer personally, and that he is an advocate for them if they need one,” Stine said.  “He is very shy and doesn’t feel that he deserves the awards that he has been given.”

            Those awards have included “Man of the Year” from the local Salvation Army.

            “Bob has been truly an inspiration to everyone who knows him,” Stine said, “and they all have a deep appreciation for his service to others and respect for his willingness to help, even when he is ill himself.”

            The local unit never has nominated anyone for the award before, Stine said.

            “I guess we did this year because he was dealing with a reoccurrence, and he was still interested in serving the community,” she said.

            Now, Holpp looks at his disease optimistically.

            “If I hadn’t been a cancer patient, I wouldn’t have gotten to meet all these people,” he said.  He also wouldn’t have started the food pantry, he said.

            “I feel that God had things for me to do, and this is the only way for me to do it.”

Pages 110-111

REST HAVEN REST HOME

“A House of Friendliness for Those Who Care”

On Rt. 244, Off Rt. 7, Greene Street

Newport, Ohio—Call GR 3-2677

Presenting Your Map of Washington County, Ohio—compliments of River Gas Company

            One of the outstanding characteristics of this enlightened age in which we live is the fact that our citizens, when they are aged, sick or infirm, shall have every advantage and opportunity to convalesce in surroundings where kind attention and sympathetic treatment, scientifically rendered, and combined to assist nature in the most effective care of the patient.

            In this regard, we wish to give prominent mention to the Rest Haven Rest Home, in Newport, which is owned and operated by Mrs. Lora McColl.  This establishment offers recreational facilities and is state licensed, and the care given patients here has won for them an excellent public acceptance throughout this territory.

            We take this opportunity to commend the Rest Haven Rest Home upon the valuable service they are rendering and we wish them continued success. 

WILEY EDDY’S OBITUARY

May 17, 1935 Diabetes Causes Young Man’s Death

            Wiley Eddy, aged 24 years, son of John W. and Mabel Ward Eddy of Newport died in Marietta Memorial Hospital on Thursday at 7:20 p.m. following an extended illness with diabetes.  He was brought from Newport to the hospital late Thursday afternoon and never rallied from a diabetic coma.

            He was born in Washington County and spent his entire life in and near Newport.  He was a member of the Newport Church of Christ and of the Odd Fellows Lodge of Newport.  Surviving with his parents are Wayne, Ward, Emma Holdren, Mrs. George McKitrick of Newport, Mrs. Ernest Graham of Michigan.

            Funeral services will be held at the Church of Christ, Newport, on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.  Burial in Mount Hope Cemetery on Eddy’s Ridge.

            Wiley J. Eddy was a member of the Boy Scouts, Beaver Patrol #1. On April 27, 1923, he received the rank of tenderfoot.  Scoutmaster at that time was James W. McKibben. 

Pages 112-113

MAIN STAR OIL COMPANY

            Why started?  Buckeye Pipe Line discontinued the haul of crude oil and the contract in four southeastern counties.  (Nobel Washington Gruency and Monroe—in 1958.)

            Raymond Starling, Virgil Starling, Edward Snodgrass and Ray McMains bought the old Torner gas station and began the Main Star Oil Company in May of 1958.  Ed later sold his shares to the other three men.

            Ronald Starling was the first office manager. Secretaries were: Pat Bush, and Donna Perrine.  David Starling, son of Raymond, was the next office manager.

            The first drivers were: Glen Harmon, Albert Doyle Taylor, Chester Cline, Larry Boyer, Tim Reese and Vernon Smith.

            Later drivers were: Clyde Thomas, Lewis Thomas, Bill Braunburger, Chuck Walker, John Knight, Jerry Eddy, Charles Berga, Dale Berga, Raymond Beaver, Jim Busche, Earl Busche, and Oscar Starkey.

            The first mechanic was Paul Nichols.  The garage crew was: Carl Flannery, Terry Perrine, Perry Thomas, and Bruce Greenwood.

NEWPORT RECORD

By Diana Hott

            There was a time in the late 1800s and the early part of the 20^th century that Newport was a thriving population center booming with stores and industries.

            In 1897-98 Newport even supported her own newspaper, named the Newport Record.  It was published and edited by Arthur N. Dowling.  Subscription price was 50 cents a year, payable in advance, and a single copy was one penny!

            Much of the 6 page weekly was given over to advertising, and from those merchants listed practically every purchase [that] could be made in one of the Newport stores.

            John Lauer’s Harness Shop was on Greene St.  Also on Greene were Dilly and Garretson Contractors.  Builders and Cabinet work.  J.L. Yonally, Jeweler, advertised repair of watches, clocks and jewelry.

George W. Haight was proprietor of the 5 and 10 cent store.  W.S. Gano had a general store.  R. Hanna, in Bevan, bought a large space to advertise fruit and ornamental trees.  J. E. Snodgrass had the Central Hotel, with a livery stable attached.  W. H. Kesselring was contractor and rig builder.

            C.L. Rea also had a livery stable, with boarding horsed advertised in addition.  B.C. Edgell was proprietor of the Newport Bakery.  The Bevan Brothers in Milltown urged everyone buy their felt or knot boots.  The Newport Mill manufactured “Victor” flour.

            Doctors Gale and Eddy, Dr. J.M. McElhinney and Dr. W.W. Warren bought ads in the Newport Record, and Floyd M.Gano advertised himself as funeral director and embalmer.  L.C. Cree sold millinery.  And there was the Newport Daily Meat market.

            A small ad reads “Send 10 cents silver for a copy of The Newport Hymnal 29 pieces, some old some new, with paper cover, Address editor.”

DOG SCARE

            Editor Dowling wrote news that was interesting, amusing, and local.  No national news marred the peace of this small town newspaper.

            The longest story on November 19, 1897, was one which evidently aroused much excitement.

            “Our town had an unwelcome canine visitor last week.  When first seen he was engaged in a fight with Burkhart’s dog under the store porch.  From there, he took in the town generally, killing a cat and a rooster for Mrs. Harris.  Then to K.B. Davis’s giving their cat and dogs a good overhauling.

            “Then to D. Henry’s giving his dog a shaking up and received a good hint to go from one of good old Davey’s No. 8 shoes which sent him up against the side of the house.  Then to M.L. McKitrick’s killing a fine roostnose.  He caused no little excitement at R. Hanna’s, made it interesting for the dog and cat.  Lawrence with the side of a club put the little fellow to fight.  The dog would weight about 7 or 8 pounds, and was very slim, about one foot high and of a dark brown color, said to have been a ferret hound.  He was shot by M.L. McKitrick which we think was a good act.” 

            A subsequent note reports, “Several new dog houses have been built since the dog scare.  Dog loafers are scarce in town now.”

Pages 114-121

PEOPLE IN NEWPORT

[Newport personals from 1897]

Squire Murphy, on his trip to Marietta the other day, purchased a string of suckers.  Daily can be seen 4 or 6 horse teams hauling oil well supplies through our town.

Master Larry Gale has not been able to attend school for several days.

Leander Bayless is building a new stable for his cow this winter.

Cecil Collett has ordered a new hammerless shot gun.

The foundation is laid for Dr. Warren’s new residence in Dye’s Addition.

M.E. HANNA MARKET

            The newly established meat market of M.E. Hanna Meat Market. Mr. M.E. Hanna, which was first opened here about one year ago.  Mr. Hanna has been engaged in the butchering business for the last five years, but not until within the last year has he opened a regular market.  He has fitted up a room on Main Street where he keeps the best fresh meats on hand, beef, port, sausage, etc.

            Mr. Hanna is a native of Monroe County, Ohio, born on January 25, 1861.  He secured his education at public schools.  His early life was spent on a farm.  At the age of twenty-four he commenced the butchering business.  One year ago he started his business at Newport. 

KIRTBRIDE MEAT MARKET

            Elston Levi Kirkbride, a butcher, was born at Archers Fork on February 6, 1855, the son of William and Wealthy Decker Kirkbride.  He married Mathilda J. Scott on April 23, 1879.  They had six children.  She was born in 1862, died in 1943.

1. John
2. William
3. Amos
4. Mrs. Dwight Smith
5. Mrs. J.E. Carpenter
6. Mary Kirkbride

For 35 years he ran the meat and grocery market.  He died March 13, 1934, at the age

of 79 years. 

CREE HOTEL

The Cree House, D.H. Cree Proprietor

And Millinery Establishment of Mrs. L.C. Cree

History of Washington County, Page 262

Published in 1890-91

            A first class house of the Cree Hotel conducted by Mr. D.H. Cree, a native of Newport, born and raised in the town and has conducted the house for the past ten or twelve years.

            (Louisa C.) Mrs. L.C. Cree, his wife and help mate conducts a Millinery Emporium in which capacity she has been in this business for 24 years.  She is a native of this county and learned the cut of millinery in Wheeling, WVa.  And established herself in business 1867, then unmarried.  She afterwards married D.H. Cree, and here we find them today so far in the journey of life.  In her millinery emporium  is carried a fine lot of hats and bonnets trimmed and untrimmed, besides an extensive showing of general millinery goods, such as ribbons, flowers, plumes, feathers, etc., in great variety.  The very latest blocks and designs are received by this house, and appear in the show cases simultaneous with their introduction in our eastern cities.  Louisa Cree Shop on Green [e] Street.

            David Hamilton Cree was born in 1847, died 1919 in Newport, married Louisa G. Heintzellman on March 6, 1871. She was born in 1846, died 1920, in Newport.  Both are buried at Newport Cemetery.  They had one son.  James Alfred, born 1872 and died 1943, married Bertha Alice Hayes on March 1, 1899.  She was born on Friday, November 25, 1870, died 1937.  Both are buried at Newport Cemetery.  Bertha was the daughter of Preston and Mary L. Rea Hayes.  They had three children.

1. James Everett Cree
2. Ruth Alberta-born June 21, 1905-died August 27, 1906
3. Eugene Hayes-born November 6, 1902-died November 11, 1902

GEORGE W. HAIGHT, DEALER IN GROCERIES, NOTIONS, PROVISIOINS, PATENT MDICINES, ETC.

            Mr. Haight is a native of Tyler County, West Virginia, but has lived in this place from childhood up and has always held a prominent position in commercial circles, having been engaged in the retail grocery and provisions line for the past twenty years.  He has just erected a new building 22 X 60 feet which is perhaps the finest retail grocery room in the entire county.  The entire front is large plate glass.  In this room everything exhibits neatness and cleanliness.  The stock embraces fine and fancy groceries, provisions, fine hand picked and garden grown tea spices, flavorings, notions, cutlery, glassware, a large and varied stock of patent medicines.  Candies, cigars, tobaccos, and everything in home and table supplies.

            Mr. Haight was on the river steam boating for twelve years and held various commissions in that capacity. He is much identified with commercial affairs and is among the most energetic merchants of this section of the county.

            George W. Haight served with Co. F. 85^th O.V.I. born 1843 died 1916 married Annie M. Hunter born 1846 died 1937.  They have five children.

1.      James Edgar Haight born 1867 died 1918

2.      Harrie Wood Haight born August 6, 1866 died November 10, 1867, 1yr 3mon 4dys

3.      Gale Haight born December 18, 1870 died March 24, 1875 4yrs 3mon 6dys

4.      Lee J.

5.      Ada born 1876 died 1960 married Frank Kerr on October 31, 1899. He was born in 1874 died 1951 They had two children (Frank’s  parents were James and Hattie Jewell Kerr.)

Norman Eldon born September 10, 1907 in Williamstown, WV died September 26,1972 married Beatrice Porter on August 18, 1931.  She was born on January 13, 1905 died November 26. 1989.  They had one son

1. Timothy H.

Mr. Kerr was a graduate of Marietta High School, Class of 1925.  He was an engineer inspector in Columbus.  A member of American Union Lodge No. 1, FSAM and Sigma Chi Fraternity.  A member of Newport Methodist Church.  He owned the Marietta Country Club before coming back to Newport.  They are both buried at Newport Cemetery

2. Dean died 1970.

MODERN WOODMAN LODGE

            The lodge was located in the upstairs of the old Joe Greene’s Store, brick building on river front, behind IGA.

            The lodge put gas lights on corners of Newport.

            Downstairs of the store building Blinkie Hendershot ran a tavern, held square dances twice a week. 

THE HOFF HOTEL

            H. Wesley Hoff born Cow Run on May 12, 1855, the son of Thomas and Nancy (Petty) Hoff, died 1930 married on November 6, 1879 to Elizabeth Allen born 1855 died 1948.  They had two children. 

            1. Hanna born 1880 died 1969 married William Goddard born 1897 died 1950 no children.  They are buried at Newport Cemetery.

            2.  Dee born September 11, 1882 died July 4, 1899.  He is buried at Newport Cemetery.

            Wesley Hoff was owner of the Newport Hotel in the early 1900s.  Sue Herlan has a picture taken in 1910.  It was a two story frame building with two large glass windows in front.  Meals were served.  It was located on the IGA property.

            Wesley was a member of Raynold Lodge #12, Knight of Pythias, Marietta. 

M. REA AND COMPANY

            Edward Jones Store until 1884 when he moved to Columbus, Martin Wilbur Rea, a lawyer in Marietta, purchased his goods and rented his building.  The firm becoming M. Rea and Co.  The popular Mr. Rea died on November 1, 1887.  This store was on the river bank.  Edward A. Jones was born in Toxteth Park Liverpool England on November 3, 1827 died in Columbus, Ohio on December 2, 1886 married Anna Marie Collins born October 28, 1831 died April 7, 1919  They are buried at Newport Cemetery. 

Page 151

WILLIAM COOK STORE

            William Cook Store was started on Ohio Street.  After the 1913 flood, he built a store on Greene Street.  Kesselrings had it next.  It changed hands again with Mr. Higgans proprietor.  Then Isaac Mendenhall and Sons had it until 1946.  They operated a milk and cream station.  Newport Sales Company was started by Tom and Willie Meadows in 1955 and continued until spring of 1961.

ROB’S CARRY OUT

            Roland E. and Mildred Beaver Cochran came to Newport in 1949 and ran the George Washington Camp that they leased from Ray and Kathryn Perrine.  They started the carry-out in 1955.  Rob’s brother Ralph ran this business for them.  After Rob died in 1963, Mildred gave up the lease and moved up to live at the apartment.

            She sold the property in 1973 when the new bridge was built and moved to Reno, Ohio, in 1974.

OOPSA DAISY FLORIST

            Oopsa Daisy Florist was started in 1982 in the Quaker State Gas Station by Sandra Binegar.  Sandra is the daughter of Carl and Erma Eddy Holdren.  She married Lyle Binegar, and they had five sons: John, Jeff, James, Shane, and Jarod (1975-1981).

            Daisies are her favorite flower, being her trademark.  Before opening her shop, she did flower arrangements for “her girls” (neighbors’ daughters) weddings.

            She has won many ribbons at the county fair for her arrangements.  In 1985 she won the floral design contest sponsored by Florafax.

            The gas station was run first by Earl Rouse, then Jim Binegar, then Lyle Binegar and sons.  They had a game room and bait shop.  Lyle bought the property from Quaker State.  Sandra started her shop in the garage section.  They remodeled and have added three additions.  Their son Shane has a body shop, and their daughter-in-law Sandra has a beauty shop in two of the additions.   

BEAUTY PARLORS

            Gertrude (Thomas) Cameron opened her shop on June 1, 1959, and continued until 1988.  Her shop was located on Newell’s Run.

            Tip-Top Beauty Shop, owner and operator Rose Marie Hays.  She ran her business from 1965 to 1978.  Her helpers were Becky Strickler, Barbara Jurin, and Jane Mendenhall.  Her shop was located on Rt. 1, Newport. 

            Cameo Beauty Salon, owner and operator Catherine Hall.  Her shop was located on the corner of Greenwood and Stanley Streets.

            Julie King Beauty Shop, owner and operator.  She started her business in October 1970.  Her shop is located on Greene Street, Newport.

            Carma’s Beauty Salon, owner and operator Carma Board. She started her business in 1971.  Her shop is located on Harris Street, Newport. 

            Ruth Pryor Beauty Salon, owner and operator.  She started her business in January, 1978.  Her shop is located on State Rt. 7, Newport.

            Country Cuts, owner and operator Myrene Joan (Colvin) Reese.  She started her business in January, 1983.  Her shop is located on County Road 244.

            Wise Choice, owner and operator Terri (Morris) Wise.  She started her business in 1983.  Her shop is located at Wilson Street, Newport.

            Penny’s Shear Design Beauty Salon, owner and operator Penny (Thomas) Rutherford.  She started her business in 1992.  Her shop is located at 203 Harris Street, Newport.

            Comb-on-in-Salon, owner and operator Sandra (Earley) Binegar.  She started her business in 1992.  Her shop is located at the Oopsa Daisy Complex.

            Berga’s Beauty Shop, owner and operator Gayule Berga.  Her shop was located at Rt. 7 and County Road 244.

EDGAR CONTRACTOR

            Owned and operated by Howard (Pete) Edgar.  From 1960 to 1965, Pete joined his brother David in the Edgar Brothers Drilling business.  When David went to work as a state inspector the business was changed to Edgar Drilling. It was finally changed to Howard Edgar Contractor, as the drilling slowed down.  Pete does more dozer and backhoe work.  His sons Jeff and Scott worked for him. 

HEARN CONSRUCTION

            Owner and operator: Charles Hearn

            He does building and remodeling and started his business in 1967.  He has employed his son David and his nephews the Fickensen boys.  He has a steady worker in John Felton. 

C. A. THOMAS CONSTRUCTION

            Owner and operator: Cecil A. Thomas

            Cecil learned his trade from Ralph Winters of R&M Stone Shop of Marietta (no longer in business).

            Cecil started his business in 1978 and has employed as many as 11 men on some jobs.  He has employed in the last year: Mark Mendenhall, Tim, Harold and Jack Kimball.  And his steady employees are Ferrin Thomas and Billy West. 

WILDERMAN COMPANY

            In the early twenties, the Wilderman Company built a large block building 90 by 90 to sell cars.  This was a branch of the Marietta Company.  In 1928, John Eddy, Wayne Eddy, Floyd Cady, and Mr. Clark bought the building and continued to sell cars and run a garage.  In the front of the building they started an ice cream parlor.  Mr. J.F. Cady and John Eddy started a small gas station, and it continued until 1946.  It was the Newport Service Station (The Standard Oil Company).

HARRIS SUPER MARKET

            In 1944, the business originated with a gasoline station plus a small grocery store, and in 1960 developed into an independently owned and operated supermarket.  This supermarket was known to river men as the Boat Store. Waiting at the river’s edge was “The Ranger,” equipped with a two way radio making possible contact with the river boats.  Orders were radioed to the Ranger’s owner and pilot E. A. Harris.  Then deliveries were made boat to boat. 

            The store is modern in every respect and displays the one automatic change machine in this area.  Eugene A. and Kermit Harris are the owners.  Foodland leased the market in 1970.  It is now known as IGA with Buckie Lee as manager.  The Newport Post Office is connected to the store building (the old Wilderman building.)

NEWPORT IGA AND CAR WASH

            The present business was purchased from E. A. Harris and Company.  Carlye (Buckie) Lee and Charles Warren are the owners.  Buckie manages the store.  They opened for business on March 27, 1971.  In September of 1979, the business was expanded to include the Newport Car Wash located one half mile north of the store on St. Rt. 7.

NEWPORT BRANCH OF THE PEOPLES SAVIINGS BANK

            The Newport branch opened in May of 1975 with Loretta Wilson as manager and assistant cashier.  The cashiers were Betty Smith and Betty Elder.  This was the former Ashland Gas Station.  Eugene Martin was the manager of this station.  He later moved to Bell’s Run and operates a garage there. 

THE JUG

            Sam and Vera Greenwood are the owners of The Jug.  It started operation in 1955.  The Jug was built in 1955 by William Greenwood. 

THE GREENWOOD DAIRY

By Jim Greenwood

            My grandfather, Junius Greenwood had a large dairy farm. My father, William, continued this line of work.  I remember him delivering milk first with a horse and buggy, later with a 1937 Ford pick-up and a 1940 Ford pick-up.  He delivered milk twice a day.  During the war (WWII) he delivered milk once a day.

            Dad and my brother Sam and I put in the plant to pasteurize milk in 1954.  We had a herd of 40 Guernsey cows. 

            We bought milk from other farmers. Don and Dick Brown, David and John Thornily and Milton Haynes.

            We named our business the Golden Guernsey Dairy.  We had working for us: Erie O’Neal, Ronnie Bush, and Tom Bleakley worked in the plant. 

            We had two trucks.  I delivered to the New Matamoras area on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday to Newport and St. Mary’s. 

            Donald O’Neal delivered the milk to Marietta, this was door to door.  We missed deliveries one day because of the big snow in 1950.

            Every spring the Newport Grade School children toured the dairy for a field trip.  We sold the business to Sealtest in 1962.  I continued to deliver milk for Sealtest until 1971.  In 1965, my wife Shirley and I built our new home on a section of the Greenwood farm.  We have two children, Jane Ann and Chris. 

MOBILE PRESSURE COMPANY

            Owner and operator, Danny Van Wey, started his auto detailing business in 1985.  In 1990, he began his pressure company. He high pressured residential and commercial establishments.  His business is located on Maple Street. 

THE CHICKEN FARM

            The owners and operators were Larry Shingleton and Floyd Cady.  We started in business in 1954.  We operated until 1959.  It was a 5,000 broiler plant.  Day old chicks wee received from a hatchery in Ellenboro, West Virginia.  They were fed night and day under lights.  They were stared out under gas brooders.  They were fed and watered by hand.  At the age of 10 to 12 weeks they were caught and loaded onto trucks.  The trucks were weighed on scales at the Crystal Ice in Marietta, Ohio.  The average weight would be 3 ½ to 4 pounds.  Processing plants were at Columbiana, Ohio, Pomroy, Ohio, and Parkersburg, West Virginia.  We also dressed out several hundred birds for local use and markets.  Mr. Cady supervised and furnished feed from his store in Marietta, Ohio.  Charley Seevers of Eight Mile was the feed deliverer.  The chickens consumed a ton of feed a day at the finishing period.  On our first batch of chickens we cleared $1,200 at 39 cents a pound.  On our last batch, we received 13 cents a pound and broke even.

HARRY LAUCK POOL HALL

By Rose Marie Hays

            Dad’s mother died when he was 13, and his father died when he was 17.  His story to me was that after his parents died he had it pretty rough.  He had a half brother on his mother’s side who came in for part of the house his parents owned, and if it hadn’t been for Bill Greenwood’s father he would have lost everything.  He went to work for Hiram Carpenter when they were building the St. Mary’s Bridge.  Hiram ran the ferry boat and taught Dad to pilot the ferry. 

            He married when he was nineteen to Lenora Rolston.  He was a very tender-hearted person and felt the boys in town needed a place to enjoy themselves, so he built his first pool room.  There was a service station owned by John Eddy where IGA is now, behind the station was a house.  I don’t know if he bought the house or not but remember living there.  He built a small building back of it and had two tables.  I remember Norman Wallace and Albert Berga racking balls after school.  He didn’t have it very long.  He got steady work on the river and didn’t have time to run it.  Mr. Carpenter worked Dad for several years. 

            Later Dad went to work for Dravo Corporation at Pittsburgh.  He took a test and got his pilots license.  Later he worked for Atlas Towing Co.  I got to go one summer on the boat as mother took a job as cook for the summer.  He retired after about 35 years. 

            He then bought the old post office building from Mr. Gano and made it into a pool room.  He ran this a few years until he moved on account of a flood.  He then made it into two apartments.  June and Junior Harris lived in one, and Ruth and Ed Pryor lived in the other. 

            He later made it back into a pool room and a small lunch room.  Mother wanted to serve just sandwiches, but when I went to work for her, I started having a special dinner every day.  The business grew, and Dad decided to buy Cale Davis’s house.  He had it torn down and built the block building that stands today.  He had three tables in it and enlarged the restaurant. 

            My parents ran that for several years.  Mother passed away in 1966, and Dad ran the business until his death in 1968.

NEWPORT FIRE QUEENS

1958 Janet Van Dyne

1959 Marsha Smith

1960 Charlotte Hanes

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966 Judy Hayes

1967 Mary Parker

1968 Kathy Hoff

1969 Joan Hendricks

1970 Elmeda Hanlon

1971 Joyce Hearn

1972 Linda Stewart

1973 Brenda Fletcher

1974 Pam Back

1975 Barbara Thomas

1976 Rhonda Bartrug

1977 Brenda Bond

1978 Brenda Thomas

1979 Teresa Binegar

1980 Charlene Garrett

1981 Shelly Davidson

1982 Connie Binegar

1983 Kim Dalrymple

1984 Dawn Collins

1985 Terry Haught

1987 Brenda Himmegar

1988 Jackie Tenney

1989 Sheir Binegar  [Sheri or Sherri?]

1990 Missy Hldren

1991 Heather Thomas

1992 Holly Tenney

POST OFFICE

            A post office was opened in the Bevan Brothers Store on June 22, 1897, with the senior partner James A. Bevan (born 1857, died 1947) named postmaster.  The office was called Bevan because the name of Milltown could not be used as there were already several offices with similar names in Ohio.  The younger brother Harmen E. Bevan (born 1854, died 1945) took over the duties of postmaster on October 31, 1903 and held it the remaining 29 years of operation until it closed as no longer needed, being so close to Newport, Ohio, in September, 1932.

            The Bevan Brothers Store building still stands at Milltown across the little iron bridge.  It has been remodeled into a residence owned by Phyllis Brake. 

SUGAR CAMP

            The Dana Sugar Camp was located behind the Bevan house.  The earliest record of the sugar camp is February, 1823.  Five hundred trees were tapped at one time, where thousands of pounds of sugar were made.  The older people as well as the young for miles around helped.  The trees were bored, the sap collected in troughs and then conveyed to kettles, some boiled down to sugar and the rest to molasses.  This continued for days and nights.  They would relieve each other for sleep and meals. 

MILLTOWN SOLDIERS

            Milltown had the honor of sending the first soldiers from Newport Township to the Civil War.  They sent seven soldiers.  James Davis, the first to enlist, Henry Davis, A. S. O’Bleness, John Davis, Carley Jobes, Henry O’Bleness and K. B. Davis.  Henry Davis was the only one killed. 

HUGH HENRY

            Hugh Henry, born in 1972 and died in 1950, was married on November 20, 1894, to Bertha Cline who was born in 1876 and died in 1949.  Both are buried at Newport Cemetery.  Mr. Henry started a small blacksmith shop across the road, before erecting a store and blacksmith shop.  This stood in Milltown until the 1980s.  No family records were kept on the family business. 

K C QUILTING SHOP

            Owner and operator, Virginia A. Smith, Custom Machine Quilting.  She started her business in 1991.  The business got its name because she appliqués  Kritters in the Corners of baby quilts.  The business is located on Rt. 7 next to the Spinning Wheel, at Newell’s Run. 

Pages 254-257

            Earl married Gertrude on April 28, 1919 and started housekeeping at Wade, Ohio, just above Newport.  In April of 1927, they purchased a home at the mouth of Newell’s Run.  Earl was a CPL in the U.S. Army in WWI.  He was a school teacher for nine years and taught at the White School (1916) which was located at what was in later years the Edwin Pritchett property on Newell’s Run.  On Township Road 19 to the left, just before Township Road 23, is Peggs Fork. No. 9 School at the head of Bell’s Run and Seever’s Ridge.  Shoe Fly School located on Township Road 637 Hanna Eddy property.  He taught grades 1-8 at Reas Run School in 1921-1922 in Wade, Ohio.  He served on the Newport Board of Education a as clerk from 1930 for 16 years.  He served as Clerk of Newport Township for ten years.  He was a Notary Public.  Gertrude taught school on Newell’s Run at the Sulfur School across form what is presently George Rodgers’s home. 

            Earl and Gertrude Abicht were farmers and started a small roadside produce market near Route 7 at the mouth of Newell’s Run, located in the field in front of their home around 1936.  They sold produce they raised.   Dean Abicht, their youngest son, lived at home and farmed and worked the orchards.  In 1950, they built the present market building at Newell’s Run. They sold produce and fruit they raised until 1962.  They operated a 30 acre apple orchard on the 126 acre farm at Wade, Ohio, from 1919-1958. (Rea’s Run)

            They operated a peach and an apple orchard on the hill behind their home, 20 acres of the 36 acres at Newell’s Run, from 1950-1958.  They operated a 25 acre peach orchard on the 208 acre farm on Township Road 637, which the family referred to as the Aunt Hannah Eddy Property.  The peach orchard started in 1949 and was in operation until the 1970s.  They had strawberry fields.  Dean recalls selling first grade peaches, graded and brushed, as well as apples for $2.50 a bushel.  No. 2 sold for $1.50 a bushel.  Young men were eager to get to work to buy their school clothes.  Young men were employed from Newport, Lawrence, and Dark, Ohio and St. Mary’s, West Virginia. 

            Pay for picking strawberries was five cents a quart.  Besides the market at Newell’s Run, Dean operated a Cider Mill from 1953-1958.  Cider brought 50 cents a gallon or $10.00 a barrel.  After Dean and Bonnie married, Bonnie delivered cider.  The property where most of the farming was done is located three miles from Newport just below Newell’s Run.  Eight and three quarters acres were purchased in 1939 and were known as the Frank Leonard property which is the location of what is now the Spinning Wheel.  The house directly across was the Frank Leonard House, and located on the river bank was the Leonard boat landing.  The Spinning Wheel originally was the Leonard General Store on the opposite side of State Route 7.  Ben Abicht moved the building across the highway in 1940.

            Most of the plowing was done on the Leonard farm by tractor.  Sometimes Earl Abicht would bring his horse Old Bess around Mud Lane (around Township Road T 19 to Township Road T 443). When he had finished plowing, Rema would ride Bess back home to the mouth of Newell’s Run. 

            In 1932, Earl Abicht became a riverboat lamp lighter; he kept the kerosene lanterns lit to guide the riverboats.  In 1942, Dean Abicht took the duties over and retired as one of the last lamp lighters with 25 years of service.  After electricity, the kerosene lanterns were replaced with light bulbs.  Dean still has the kerosene lanterns.  Dean and his father serviced four river lights.  One at Wade, Ohio, one south of Newport one half  mile below Dana’s Run Bridge, one at Newell’s Run, and one just above Willow Island Dam. 

            As a child, Dean was given a ride on the U.S. Greenbrier Coast Guard Boat, which was the boat that brought the supplies for the lamp lighting.

            On November 25, 1955, Dean married Bonnie Jean Mason Coury (daughter of Nathan Goff and Nellie Belle Rollins Mason).  Bonnie was born at Clarksburg, West Virginia on September 25, 1925.  She had one daughter, Rema, by a previous marriage to Isaac Joseph Coury who died in 1953.  Rema was born December 20, 1944, at Clarksburg, West Virginia. 

            Dean and Bonnie started housekeeping at the property known as the Leonard.  Dean, Bonnie, and Rema moved to the Leonard house from Vienna, West Virginia, in April of 1956.  Rema recalls the Trail Run Phone System.  Ring to answer was a long and one short ring with more than one on a party line. 

            While living at Lower Newport, to vote we took Township Road 387 to Township Road 637 to the town hall on County Road 22 at Long Run.  The town hall is still used on election days. 

            Dean, Bonnie, and Rema continued to work with Dean’s parents until 1958 when Deal left farming and went to work at the Olin Mathiesen Aluminum (Conalco) plant at Hannibal, Ohio.  Bonnie went to work at Marietta Office Supply.  Dean continued to operate his peach orchard at the Hannah Eddy home place.  In 1960, Dean and Bonnie purchased the Old Greene Hotel property from Lawrence Farr.  The location of the Greene Hotel is the parking lot of the Dean Abicht Market, State Route 7 and County Road 25.

            In 1960, Dean and Bonnie purchased the Fred Kerr Store from Fred Kerr which is now the site of the present Dean Abicht Market building.  Dean and Bonnie sold their peach crop from the Fred Kerr Store for one season.  In 1964, Dean and Bonnie purchased the Fred Kerr house on Greene Street from Winifred Kerr, Fred’s daughter.  They have since renovated the house which is now the lot behind the present market. 

            In 1964, Dean and Bonnie purchased the Leonard Farm from Dean’s father, Earl Thomas Abicht.  Bonnie left Marietta Office Supply to open their new market, D&B, for Dean and Bonnie, on July 10, 1962.  Bonnie operated the market during the day while Dean worked at Olin on shift.  On July 5, 1965, Dean decided to return to the farming and produce business.  They changed the market name from D&B to Dean Abicht Orchards in the 1970s and then to Dean Abicht Market. 

            They started the market as a produce market, operating from April to December.  Bonnie enjoyed harvesting the vegetable crops and worked in the strawberry fields as well as working at the market.  In the early 1960s, they started selling plants, seed, and fertilizer.  In the early 1970s, they added the greenhouse and expanded to groceries and stayed open all year round. 

            Dean graduated from Newport High School in 1944 and served as Democratic Central Committeeman for eight years.  He has served as Notary Public since 1965.

            After graduating from Newport High School in 1962, Rema graduated from Salem College in 1964.  Rema married Wayne Edward Robbins on January 2, 1965.  Wayne was born at Dart, Ohio, on November 12, 1941.  His parents were Willard Bruce and Helen Eileen Haught Robbins.  Rema worked at B.F. Goodrich at Oak Grove, Marietta, Ohio.  Wayne worked at Dupont in Washington, West Virginia.  They lived in Marietta.  In 1966, Wayne and Rema decided to return to Newport.  They moved to the Leonard property.  In the early 1970s, Rema decided to join her parents at the market. Along with the market she has served as Newport Area Deputy Registrar for the State of Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and as a Notary Public has sold hunting and fishing licenses since the early 1970s.  Rema clerked at the Newport Post Office in 1983, and served as Rural Carrier Associate at the Newport Post Office from 1984- 1990.

            In 1990, Rema filled the position as clerk at the New Matamoras Post Office and is presently U.S. Postal Service-in-Charge, since September 25, 1992 at New Matamoras. 

            Wayne is a mechanic at Dupont and will have 30 years of service in June of 1993.  Both Wayne and Rema still help at the family market, remembering how they met.  Wayne was employed as a peach picker for Abicht Orchards.   Dean and Bonnie built their first home on Mitchell Drive in 1960.  They sold and built their present home at 204 Hendricks Street since 1976.  Wayne and Rema built their present home at 200 Gale Avenue since 1973. 

            After many years of long hours and hard work as a family, Dean and Bonnie have been very successful in the community of Newport with many valued customers from Newport and surrounding communities.

            With love for farm and country, Dean, Bonnie, Wayne, and Rema in 1992 purchased the 95.84 acre farm from the Burkhart estate.  The farm originally belonged to the original settler John Greene and is referred to in Williams History of Washington County as the Rufus G. Greene Farm.  This farm has been passed down to the heirs of two families. Abicht and Robbins are the third family to own this land.  The property is located off County Road 25 about one mile from Abicht’s Market in Section 34, town 1 range 6. 

            The farm was previously operated as a dairy farm by Michael, Clyde, and Ruth Burkhart who delivered milk seven days a week to St. Mary’s, West Virginia.  They employed young men from Newport. 

            Dean, Bonnie, Wayne, and Rema are making many improvements and looking forward to many years of enjoyment and relaxation with country living. 

            Rema was a member of the first band and one of the first majorettes at Newport High School in 1958 and a candidate for queen for the first Fire Department Festival.  She received Outstanding Amateur Gardener at the Ohio Association of Garden Club State Convention at Akron for Region II in 1979.  Rema was a member of the Marietta Garden Club.  She participated in the Washington County Fair flower show for several years and received several ribbons with the flowers she raised and the arrangements she entered. 

RECALLS OF DEAN, BONNIE, REMA, AND WAYNE

By Rema Robbins

            January 1957 Greenwoods walked on ice across the Ohio River from Newell’s Run to the Island to feed their hogs.  The families’ participation in several floods, when they had to move their equipment from the market located at Newell’s Run. 

            January 20, 1959 Cakes of ice lay along State Route #7 left from the flood. 

            Wednesday night, January 26, 2977 Mother Nature made her own snowballs as strong winds clocked at 36 knots at the airport turned loose snow into balls and produced snow doughnuts that ran the gamut from tiny to huge cylinder size. 

            The funnel clouds that ripped through the area of Newell’s Run on Ohio State Route 7 at seven p.m. Tuesday July 29, 1981 which brought back memories of family talk of the tornado which struck and destroyed Aunt Hannah Eddy’s barn and trapped her inside in the 1930s.

            The recent blizzard of Saturday, March 13, 1993, 24 inches of snow fall during the day and into the night.  People were told to keep their cars off the highways.  Rural letter carriers were unable to deliver the mail. 

            Dean, Bonnie, Ben and Pearle participated in four parades in 1987 with their horses and surrey. The Newport 4th of July Annual Fireman’s parade on July 4, 1987.  The Marietta Northwest Territory Bicentennial parade on July 11, 1987 during mid Summer Heat Wave.  19^th Annual West Virginia Oil and Gas Festival parade on September 17, 1987, received two trophies.  October 3, 1987 Lowel, Ohio Octoberfest. 

            Wayne’s harvest of wild turkey for the last 12 years in a row.  Rema appointment as officer-in-charge of the New Matamoras Post Office during the 1992 reconstruction of the Postal Service. 

            Enjoyment received at the market when customers come in.  I remember coming to Abicht’s Market with my grandparents.  What an impression the large sucker rack display on the front wall had made.

            Dean Abicht Market has many good memories of the different seasons.  Spring with the greenhouse.  Helping people plan their flower and vegetable gardens. Providing good fresh fruit and produce in the summer months.  Apples, Cider, Mums and Pumpkins in the fall.  Christmas trees and fruit baskets in December. 

            Bonnie and Rema planning and planting the flower bed at the market for the community to enjoy.  Bonnie’s delicious home cooked meals and holiday dinners shared with some of the elderly folks in town. 

WOMAN’S SCRAPBOOK BECOMES HISTORIC RECORD

By Kathy Perrine

The Marietta times

August 30, 1991

            NEWPORT—Patty Lauer’s collection makes her Newport’s unofficial record-keeper and solver of historical questions.

            Lauer, 73, has lived her entire life in the same house on an 84 acre farm in Newport Township.  During 60 of those years she has collected newspaper clippings and kept them in scrapbooks.

            In 1931, Lauer was awarded a scrapbook by her eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Boswell, for perfect attendance. 

            “At first I started to write in it then decided not to,” she said.

            She instead began collecting newspaper articles about people she knew or ones related to people in the Newport area.  Lauer said the original scrapbook became so worn that she transferred everything into a large binder with protective plastic coatings. 

            It is now one of the 13 big, thick binders with many pages covered with news clippings. 

            The pages are filled with marriages, divorces, obituaries, memorials, murders, suicides, robberies, fires, wrecks, military stories and other miscellaneous subjects.

            She said most of the clippings were from The Marietta Times.

            “I can’t remember a time when we didn’t take it (The Times).”  Other articles are from the St. Mary’s Oracle, and some are ones sent to Lauer from other publications.

            “There’s a lot of interesting things in them.”

            She said one of her favorites was about a tar and feathering on Mill Creek Road in October, 1938.  Some Newport residents were responsible for the incident that occurred on the recipients’ honeymoon.  She said The Times used to print gossip, which she kept also until they quit printing it. 

            Lauer said there was one thing she missed about The Times:  It quit printing the list of obituaries on the front page.

            Laughing, she said, “It takes a long time to see if mine is in there now.”

            She said she had more obituaries than anything.  She also uses them most, she said.  She said she used them as a source for genealogies—hers and others’.  So, she has gone back through her scrapbooks and indexed all the obituaries.

            “Sometimes I’d remember what book ones were in, and sometimes I couldn’t,” she said.

            The scrapbooks serve as information for a lot of people, she said.

            “I won’t loan them out, but anyone can come here and read every one of them if they want to.  It doesn’t bother me to have people call and want information.  There’s been people ask me if I had things.  That makes it interesting to me to go hunt it up, I love doing that.”

            Lauer said the scrapbooks have settled many arguments, some of them between she and her husband of 44 years, Homer Lauer.

            She said, “We’ll get into a discussion and we’ll wonder, ‘Now, who’s that?’ sometimes it’s ‘Now I know it’s so and so’ and then it’s ‘No, it’s not.’  Then I’ll go looking.”

            “Sometimes he’s wrong, sometimes I’m wrong.”

            She said her granddaughter, Cindy Hearn, has asked for the scrapbooks when she dies. 

            “Nobody else has asked for them.  I said, ‘Whoever gets them, if anybody calls and wants to know something out of them, you have to look it up.’  There is hardly a week that I don’t chop something out of the paper. This is my enjoyment.”

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON CAMP

            It was the former Newell’s Run school house.  George Swain bought the property from Michael Barnhouse.   Ray and Katherine Perrine rented the business from George in 1937.  Two years later they bought the property.

            Ray started a garage and 24-hour wrecking service.  Bob and Mildred Cochran leased the tavern from 1949 until 1963.  After Ray’s death in 1974, Katherine sold the property to Cliff Longnecker in May of 1976.

POINT OF INTEREST

            Three Brothers Island, named in honor of the Briscoe brothers, who are said to have taken tomahawk claims on them in about 1783.   The first Brother Island lies close to the main shore at Belmont, WV, and the separating channel has so filled that now it is really a part of the mainland. 

            The Second Brother Island, commonly known of Broadhead because of the wide sandy bar which almost blocks the river in low water lies well out in midstream.  The boat channel being on the Ohio side.

            The third Brother Island located also well out in the river, perhaps owes its existence to McElroy Run, and Willow Island which nestles close to the shore about a mile below, is perhaps a creation of Cow Creek.

            The soil is very fertile on the islands.  They are especially adapted to growing peaches and small fruits.

            Tomahawk claims each comprising from one hundred to four hundred acres roughly guessing at.  And marked by hacking trees on the corners with hatchets or tomahawk, whence came the name.  Valid titles were given by the government.

            In 1885, the government constructed a dam, extending from the shore just below the mouth of French Creek to the head of Second Brother Island or Broadhead Island at work that gave employment to quite a number of laborers.

            The dam was very strongly constructed, composed of huge blocks of stone laid between large timbers.  The object being to compel a greater flow of water to the west side of the island, scouring out and deepening the steam boat channel.  There was so much silt to be deposited in the still water below the dam that First Brother Island is no longer an island in ordinary stages of the river the old channel being now part of a corn field. 

WILLOW ISLAND LOCKS AND DAM

            Willow Island Locks and Dam rest in a scenic part of the Ohio Valley—with abundant agriculture on the Ohio side and industry on the West Virginia side.

            Located just off Ohio State Route 7, ten miles north of Marietta, the $76 million federal project was initiated by the Corps of Engineers in 1967.

            After relocating a portion of Route 7, construction of the locks began and the dam was started in 1971.  The visitors’ center has exhibits pertaining to the locks and dam, the Ohio River, and the Corps of Engineers.

            The project, operated 24 hours a day year round by civilian employees of the Corps, contains two lock chambers.  The large one is 1,200 feet long to accommodate modern river tows, and the auxiliary chamber is 600 feet long.  Both are 110 feet wide.

            The water level inside the lock chambers can be changed to raise a tow or boat headed upstream from the “lower pool” to the “upper pool” and vice versa for downbound craft.  Under normal conditions, the “lift” (vertical difference between the upper and lower pools) is 20 feet.  A lockage takes about 20 minutes.

HOW BIG?

            The main lock chamber, with the water at the level of the upper pool, contains 19,747,200 gallons—enough to fill 264,000 bathtubs.  The auxiliary lock contains 9,843,000 gallons.

            Miter gates are used to seal off the locks at both ends.  Each miter gate leaf weighs 200 tons and contains enough steel to produce a single railroad track 1.7 miles in length.

            The locks contain 421,000 cubic yards of concrete, and the dam contains 125,000 cubic yards.  The total of 546,000 cubic yards is equal to 67 miles of four-lane highway. 

CODY BELL STORE

            Cody Bell, born February 24, 1894, in Freed, West Virginia, died October 4, 1967.  He married on June 27, 1920, to Virginia Fortney, born May 13, 1896, in West Virginia, died July 18, 1979.  They are buried at The Valley Cemetery, Reno, Ohio.      Cody worked in the oil fields and came to Bells Run in the early 1940s.  He operated a small store (it still stands in the yard of Richard Adams’s property).  Later he built a larger store on the other side of Route 7.  The store closed when State Route 7 was widened.  The Bells moved to Fearing Township.  They were the parents of five children: Irene, Brice, Christine, Duane, and an infant. 

DYE FORD TRACTOR SALES

R.R. 1, On Newport Pike, Newport, Ohio

Call 473-2667

Presenting Your Map of Washington, County, Ohio—compliments of River Gas Company

            America is regarded by other nations as “the horn of plenty,” and with good reason.  We not only maintain the highest standard of living in the world for our own people, but we also contribute generously to other countries.

            To the makers and distributors of modern farm machinery goes much of the credit for this high degree of productivity, and in the Newport area, many farmers depend on the Dye Ford Tractor sales to supply them with equipment.  This concern, managed by Mr. Dye, handles the well-known Ford and new Holland line of farm machinery, as well as a complete line of new and used industrial and farm tractors.  They are thoroughly conversant with farming conditions in this area and can recommend the best machinery for a specific purpose.

            Such firms as the Dye Ford Tractor Sales have helped to ease the hours to work formerly synonymous with the operation of a farm, and in this review of Washington County, we commend them upon the valuable service they provide.  

SORGHUM MILL

            R.E. Dye operated a sorghum mill on his property on State Route 7 around 1940 or 1941.

BUCKEYE PIPE LINE YARD

            There was a pipe yard located on Stanley Street between Alice McGrew’s and Bernard Reynolds’s property.

            In 1869 or 1870, a tank of ten thousand barrels was erected by the Cow Run Iron Tank Company.  This location today is known as the tank farm (Bell’s Run).

            Lynn (Shortie) Gibson worked for the Buckeye Pipeline Company for 39 ½ years.  He was transferred to the Newport site in 1947.  He was an engineer.  The farm has storage tanks that crude oil is stored in, then transferred to barges on the Ohio River.

BELL’S RUN

            The tenth and last post office in the spacious township of Newport also had the shortest existence of any Washington County office.  The office was established on May 8, 1901, at the head of Bell’s Run in the southwest corner of Section 17 near the crossroads.  Martha A. Maxon was the postmaster and the office named “Maxon Post Office.”  The Maxon family was represented as early as 1788 in Washington County.  Henry Maxon who was a member of the first 47 men to arrive April 7 of that year.  Maxon Post Office was in operation only four months when discontinued on September 14, 1901, and the patrons then served by Gracey Post Office, three miles north of Lawrence Township.  The reason for the brief existence of Maxon Post Office is not known nor are there any cards or letters seen cancelled Maxon, Ohio.  There may not have been any mail dispatched. 

THE BELL’S RUN BALL PARK

            The Bell’s Run ball park was located on eight acres of the Harry Lauck property.  It was built in 1925.  Harry Lauck started his blacksmith shop at Newell’s Run.  He moved it to Bell’s Run and continued his business there.

BELL’S SCHOOL HOUSE

            Bell’s School House is still standing today.  It is a rented home, the property belonging to the Barth family.  The school had eight grades.  Some of the teachers were Nathaniel Kidd, Carl Edward, Gertrude Eddy, and Bertha Wening.

WILLIAM O’NEAL EDDY GENERAL STORE ON BELL’S RUN

            William O’Neal Eddy born 1865 died 1948 married Lulu Gano on February 19, 1888.  She was born 1870 died 1940. They are buried at Newport Cemetery.  They had two children.

I.                    Howard born September 13, 1889 at Newell’s Run died July 29, 1965 married Iva McKinley on December 24, 1910.  She was born 1883 died 1964.  They are buried at Newport Cemetery.  Howard operated the general store at Bell’s Run for 25 years and later operated a dairy from 1912 to 1937.

II.                 Ethel born 1895 died 1978 married Raymond Warren born 1891 died 1966.  They are buried at Newport Cemetery.  (His parents were Dudley and Belle Smith Warren)  Raymond had an orchard business which he started in 1922.  In 1949 he dded 3,500 more trees.  They had four children.

A.                 Ivan born September 26, 1921 died September 23, 1927.  He is buried at Newport Cemetery.  Age 5 years 11 months 27 days.

B.                 Helen

C.                 Jack

D.                 Mark

Pages 283-285

BUSINESS DIRECTORY NEWPORT 1993

Name                                       Location                       Proprietors

Abicht’s Market                       St. Rt. 7                       Dean and Bonnie Abicht

B&J Carryout                           St. Rt. 7                       Bernard and Janet Martin

Babcock Lumber                      County 244                  Manager Joe Colyer

Binegar Lumber                        St. Rt. 7                       Shane Binegar

Binegar Used Cars                   St. Rt. 7                       Jimmy Binegar

E.B. Brown Machine Shop       Greene St.                    Eddie Brown

Carna’s Beauty Shop                Harris St.                      Carma Board

Carlton Oil                               Newport Pike               Danny Thompson

Car Wash                                 St. Rt. 7                       Buckie Lee

Comb-on-in Salon                    St. Rt. 7                       Sandra Earley Binegar

Country Cuts                            County 244                  Jonie Reese

Duke and Dutchess                   St. Rt. 7                      

Edgar Construction                   County 25                    Howard Edgar

Frontier Insurance                     Greene Street               Tom Perrine

Gary’s Auto Sales                    St. Rt. 7                       Gary Grose

Graham’s Junk yard                  Sheets Run Road          Tom Graham

Hassley’s Lumber                     Sheets Run Road          Norman Hassley

                                                & Rt. 7

Harris Concrete Finisher           Maple Street                Richard Harris

Hearn Construction                   Reynolds Run Road      Charlie Hearn

IGA Grocery                            St. Rt. 7                       Caryle Buckie Lee

Jug                                           St. Rt. 7                       Sam Greenwood

Joy Exterminators                     Harris St.                      George Joy

Ken-Mac Lumber Co.              County 244                  Kenneth and Mac Hassley

KCQuilting                               St. Rt. 7                       Virginia Smith

King Barber Shop                    Greene St.                    Rodney King

King Beauty Shop                    Greene St.                    Julie King

Martin Auto Repair                   St. Rt. 7                       Gene Martin

Mendenhall’s Upholstery          Dana’s Run Rd.            Opal Mendenhall

Mendenhall Junk Yard  County 25                    Blaine Mendenhall

Morris Welding                        County 25                    Leroy Morris

Newport Lumber                      Dye Street                    John and Richard Hendricks

Oopsa Daisy Florist                  St. Rt. 7                       Sandra Binegar

Ohio River Wholesale

Lumber                                    County 24

Peoples Bank                           St. Rt. 7

Pryor Beauty Shop                   St. Rt. 7                       Ruth Pryor

Riverview Auto Shop                St. Rt. 7

Rutherford Heating &

Air Conditioning                                                           William Rutherford

Penny Shear Design                  Harris Street                 Penny Rutherford

Smitley Construction                 Dye Street                    D. P. Smitley

Spinning Wheel             St. Rt. 7

Thomas Auto Repair                 Greene St.                    Jeff Thomas

Van Wey Pressure Cleaning      Maple Street                Danny Van Wey

West Custom Quilting   County 244                  Joyce West

Wise Choice                             Stanley Street               Teri Wise

MOUNT DUDLEY

            The hill behind Robert Thomas’ home is known as Mount Dudley.

            Newport may have had a larger history if Harman Blennerhassett had built here.  The story is told of Harman Blennerhassett wanting to build a castle on Mount Dudley,  being influenced by Dudley Woodridge to build there.  He spent a large amount of time seeking a location for a home. 

            He sent a scout to the top of the hill.  If he could see Marietta from there he would build his castle there.  The scout came back and told him he couldn’t see Marietta, so the deal wasn’t completed. He went to Belpre and built his mansion on the island. 

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

From the Marietta, Ohio, Times

By Mrs. Frederick Nott

Newport Correspondent

            Progress is evident in the scenic Ohio River village of Newport.  Twenty-five years of growth represent conspicuous change. 

            Improvement of the old as well as expansion by the new illustrates the way of culture and civilization.

            Church, school, and business projects are among the progressive advancements of the Newport community which has doubled its size in population during this period. 

                                                            Newport Methodist Church

            The Newport Methodist Church, built in 1866, has recently taken on a new look achieved by sand blasting the old bricks.

            Two lounges, a kitchen, and two balcony classrooms have been added for convenience and necessity.

             A new altar set and candelabra enhanced by a background of purple velvet draperies replace the old picturesque wall painting of the ascent and entrance to heaven.

            A new Hammond electric organ has been purchased. A baby grand piano has been donated by the late church organist, Miss Mary Ethel Hays.

            Re-carpeting completes the new picture of the church which will soon celebrate its one-hundredth anniversary.

                                                            Newport Schools

            School enrollment has increased to the extent that an annex to the grade school building was necessary to provide space for classrooms

            A library has been added to the high school, a band has been organized, and a new gymnasium has been built.

                                                            Harris Super Market

            Progress in business is well demonstrated by the Harris Super Market located at Route 7 and Greene Street.

            In 1944, the business originated with a gasoline station plus a small grocery store, and in 1960 developed into an independently owned and operated super market.

This super market is known to the river men as the “Boat Store.”  Waiting at the river’s edge is “The Ranger,” equipped with a two-way radio making possible contact with the river boats.  Orders radioed to the Ranger’s owner and pilot, E.A. Harris, are delivered “boat to boat” in the river.

            The store is modern in every respect and displays the only automatic change machine in this area.  A glowing neon sign, “Harris Super Market,” extends across the entire front.

            Newport is truly proud of its new market and the owners, Eugene A. and Kermit, Harris.

                                                            Newport Lumber Company

            The Newport Lumber Co. is a thriving business located on Dye at Greene Street.  Ralph Hendricks owns and operates this enterprise and has remodeled and expanded during the past year.  The same company is operating successfully in Marietta at the present time. 

                                                            Laundromat

            A new Laundromat is located on Route 7 above Greene St.  The owner is Dr. Robert Rudolph of Marietta.  He has provided a modern convenience for which Newport residents are grateful.

                                                            Crago Oil Well

            With in the past 25 years, an oil well  drilled by William Harris on the Crago farm marked a new depth in oil-well drilling and production not equaled today in this locality. 

                                                            Milk Plant and Dairy Bar

            Greenwood’s modern milk plant with newly equipped pasteurization devices furnished milk for Newport and surrounding areas until recent months. 

            The Dairy Bar is owned and operated by the Greenwood Farm.

                                                            Roadside Markets

            Two roadside markets display a variety of farm products.

            The D and B Market is new within the past year and is named for its owners, Dean and Bonnie Abicht.

            The Bayless Farm Market is operating successfully under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Bayless.

                                                            Lumber Companies

            Two large lumber companies are operating in the Newport area.  The U. S. Hardwood Corp. and the Haessly Hardwood Lumber Co. both have furnished employment and progressive interests in Newport for the past five years.

                                                            Service Stations

            Five new service stations are operating in Newport.

            The Sinclair, the Sterling, the Sunoco, the Sohio, and the Ashland are managed by Frank Crumpley, Earl Rouse, Cecil McCoy, Dave Hendershot, and John Vannoy respectively.

            A new Tractor Sales and Service is owned and operated by Ernest Dye at Bells Run.

                                                            Beauty Salon

            Five beauty salons began operation during the last 25 years in the Newport community.  They are Gail’s Beauty Salon, Cameron’s Imie’s Lura’s, and the B and M Beauty Salon. 

                                                            Newport Nursing Home

            The Newport Nursing Home accommodates 17 patients.  It is owned and operated by Mrs. Lora McCall.

                                                            Housing Projects

            Many housing projects have busied the building contractors.  The Riggs Sub-division, the Milltown Community, and the Greenwood Addition have added numerous modern and attractive homes to the Newport village.

Miss Bell is Engaged to Mr. Greene

An announcement from a newspaper

Mrs. Fay M. Bell of 1312 ½ Lynn Street, Parkersburg, is announcing the engagement and forthcoming marriage of her daughter, Patricia Lee, to Robert Clyde Greene, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Greene of Newport, Ohio.

            The wedding will take place Sept. 18 at the Saint Andrews Methodist Church.

            Miss Bell is a graduate of Parkersburg High School and at present is employed at the Division General Office of the Imperial Ice Cream, Division of Fairmont Foods Company. 

            Mr. Greene is a graduate of Newport High School, Newport, Ohio, and Mountain State College. Parkersburg, and at present is employed at the Washington County Farm Bureau, Marietta, Ohio.

Leaves Marietta

PROF. RICHARD D. GREENE HAS TAKEN POSITON WITH THE GOVERNMENT AT NEW YORK.

            Richard D. Greene, graduate assistant in the Department of Chemistry at Marietta College has resigned his position, effective December 1^st and will report for duty immediately thereafter to the Bureau of Chemistry of the U.S. Government.  He has received an appointment as junior chemist and will be stationed at New York City.  Mr. Greene received the highest grade in his civil service examination on quantitative chemistry that there is any knowledge of at the College—99.  Mr. Greene graduated from Marietta College last June and soon thereafter took the Civil Service examination.  Because of his high record at Marietta, he was appointed in September to the position of assistant to Prof. E. L. Krause, head of the Department of Chemistry.  His place at the College will be taken by Ernest Irwin who also graduated with high averages last June. 

Hardy-Greene Wedding Was Brilliant Event Of New Year

Newspaper clipping, date not shown

            Details of the wedding of Miss Elizabeth West Greene of Newport, Ohio, to Mr. Frank Gibson of Cambridge, Mass., celebrated on the first day of the New Year will be of interest here where the bride and her family are well known.  It took place at 8:30 in the morning at the “Greene Terrace,” the ancestral home of the Greene family.  The ceremony was performed by Rev. W. C. R. Vinten, the impressive double ring service being used the young couple standing before a beautiful improvised altar of palms erected in the living room which was redolent with the fragrance of evergreens.  There were no attendants, and the bride wore her traveling costume made of lovely rust colored ostrich cloth with frost velvet trimmings.  A small dark brown hat and brown accessories completed a becoming outfit, and her flowers were a colonial corsage of Talisman roses.

            A wedding breakfast of attractive appointment was served at Greene Tavern immediately after the ceremony, a mound of roses and gypsophilia centering the table.  Mr. and Mrs. Hardy left immediately after the wedding breakfast for New York City, and they will be at home at 137 Irving Street, Watertown, Mass. 

            The bride is a member of one of Newport’s oldest and most prominent families, well known along the Ohio River and closely identified with river traffic in present and past years.  She is the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. W. Greene and is a graduate of Newport High School after which she studied at Lake Erie College for Women at Painesville and at Ohio University at Athens.  She received her diploma from the latter, graduating with the class of 1923.  She then took a post graduate course at the Cambridge School of Domestic Architecture and Landscape Architecture and is a member of Chi Omega national sorority.  For the past few years she has been a member of the Newport High School faculty. 

            Mr. Gibson is connected with the Houghton Mifflin Company of Cambridge, Mass.  He possesses an excellent tenor voice and has been a pupil of the late Augusto Vannini of Boston.  He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank D. Hardy of Cambridge.

            Out-of-town guests at the wedding were Mr. and Mrs. Frank D. Hardy, Cambridge, Mass., Mr. and Mrs. John Gist and daughter Jean, Mrs. Elizabeth Greene and son John of Athens, Ohio, Captain and Mrs. Chris Greene and Captain and Mrs. Tom Greene of Cincinnati. 

Rev. G. I. Wilson Pastor Emeritus At 1^st Presby.

Newspaper dated Tuesday Evening, January 18, 1949

            The Rev. Gill I. Wilson, D. D., retiring pastor of the First Presbyterian church, after serving the congregation for 30 years, was made pastor emeritus by the congregation at the annual congregational meeting Sunday morning.

            A resolution read by Herbert S. Boreman, said in part, “In recognition of the thirty years of faithful, loyal and untiring service rendered by Rev. Gill I. Wilson, and of his effort beyond the call of duty, of his great sympathy and understanding, of his unending love and devotion to the ministry, of his sincerity, his magnificent work in this church, in this and other communities, his teaching and example, his high moral concepts and his noble Christian life and character, this congregation is proud to extend an invitation to Reverend Wilson to become pastor emeritus of this church, at the termination of his active service.”

            Mr. Boreman told the group, that “Perhaps at times we have not appeared to appreciate the fact that our own minister was one who kept abreast of the changing times, who devoted more of his time and effort to hose various matters pertaining to the ministry than should be expected or required of any man; one whose high moral purpose and sincerity could never be in doubt; one who has been a leader in thought and who has taught by precept and example.”

            Following the talk by Mr. Boreman, the congregation held its annual election naming John Hughes and Dr. C. S. Lytle as elders; George Oiler and Dr. Ray H. Wharton as deacons and Henry Ruf as trustee. 

“Doc” Gale Observes 50^th Anniversary Today as Member of That Fast Vanishing Fraternity—the Country Doctor

Newspaper clipping, no date shown

Retirement? Not for Doc!

            Dr. George Hays Gale of Newport observed his 50^th anniversary today as an active member of that fast-vanishing fraternity—“The country doctor.”

            During this epochal period of change and rapid modern development, the 72-year-old white-haired medico—known affectionately to many hundreds in Ohio and West Virginia as “Doc”—has treated thousands of cases covering all forms of ailments, delivered three generations of babies, averaging 35 per year for a grand total of 1,750 infants, including 20 sets of twins.  This astounding figure is equal to nearly four times the population of his home town of Newport. 

Some Figures:

“Doc” Gale, during his 50 years of practice, has worn out 6 harness horses, 2 sleds, 2 harness buggies, and 26 cars, including 2 Hupmobiles, 10 Fords, 3 Dodges, 2 Buicks, 1 Oldsmobile, 2 Chevrolets, 4 Plymouths, and 2 Chryslers. 

“I sported a linen duster in the summer time,” said the “Doc,” “and leather leggings and a heavy fur-lined coat with a high collar in the cold months.  There was supposed to be roads, but they were nothing but a sea of mud.  I have seen the time when I couldn’t make over three miles an hour.”

In payment for his services, “Doc” Gale has received everything from tommyhawks to catfish, and from spearheads to turnips.  He has covered a territorial radius of about 70 miles: Pleasants, Ritchie, Tyler, and parts of Wood counties in West Virginia; Washington and Monroe counties in Ohio, all representing a total population of about 30,000 people.  “To quote David Harum,” said the “Doc,” “I have treated people for everything, from ring bone to ‘disapinted’ affections.”

Well-Traveled:

            His lonely jaunts in all kinds of weather under all kinds of conditions—from the horse and buggy days to the automotive era—have taken him to such out-of-the-way places as Whiskey Run, Horse Neck, Fish Pot, and Friendly, in West Virginia; and to Dog skin, Trail Run, Spindle Top, Fly, and Pine Ridge, in Ohio.  It was in such isolated locales that “Doc” Gale delivered one baby in a garden, and another in a corn crib.  “I have been consulted on many occasions on things not pertaining to medicine.” Said the “Doc,” “you have to be not only a doctor, but a friend, and a family adviser, as well.”

            During his 50 years of service to humanity, “Doc” Gale has operated on and treated patients both under gas and electric lamps in hospitals, houses, cabins, shacks, shanty boats, corn cribs, and even in the wide-open spaces.  “And through it all,” said the “Doc,” “I have enjoyed every minute of it, especially my contacts with people and the many friends I have made.  If I had it to do over again, I would not change one single line.”

Although, after some reflection, the “Doc” chuckled and said: “there have been some exceptions or course. There were the times when people called me at all hours in the night, claiming to have some terrible elaborate ailments.  But when I got there, after a lot of time and trouble, I found out they were not sick—they were just plain drunk.”

Third Generation

“Doc” Gale represents the third generation of Gales in Newport who have been practicing medicine uninterrupted for over a century and a quarter.  It began when the Gale family came over from Ireland in 1799, headed by Captain George Gale, formerly of the British Army.  Captain Gale settled in Virginia and taught school. 

His son, George Washington Gale—“Doc” Gale’s grandfather—studied medical books by Benjamin Rush, the only medical man to sign the Declaration of Independence.  (“Doc” Gale now has those books in his possession at his office in Newport.” George Washington Gale came to Newport in 1821 when the place was a mere hamlet of scattered cabins and houses.  He practiced medicine on the Ohio River between Moundsville and Marietta until his death in 1879, leaving six girls and six boys, five of whom became doctors. 

One of the six brothers—“Doc” Gale’s father—Dr. George Thomas Gale, served Newport and vicinity for sixty-one years before retiring in 1935, and passing on in 1946, at the age of 94.

The present senior “Doc” Gale went into partnership with his late father in 1906at the age of twenty-two, after graduating from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, the second oldest medical institution in America.  The “Doc’s” brother, Dr. Larrey Richard Gale, practiced eight years with them, from 1915 until 1923, when he died of heart trouble.  But from 1906, onward, “Doc” Gale has served and continues to serve West Virginia and Ohio, up to this date.  He will be seventy-three years old on November 6, 1956.  To quote one of his patients: “‘Doc” Gale is known to us as a friend and as a charitable man who has never neglected his profession or ever turned down a request for help.”

In Dad’s Footsteps

“Doc” Gale’s son, Dr. Larrey Bernard Gale, graduated from the same college as his father, on the same minute, on the same day, 42 years later, on June 6, 1948, and began practicing with the “Doc” at Newport in 1950.  This latest edition adds up to four generations of Gales practicing medicine in Newport and environs over an uninterrupted period of one hundred and thirty-five years. 

And one might well describe the senior “doc” Gale as the last 100 per cent country doctor of the lineage.  In the early days of his career, it was a hard life of exposure, long hours, loss of sleep, poor communications, almost impassable roads, and a river full of floating ice which sometimes would take one hour to cross in a row boat. 

But, nowadays, with improved roads, automobiles, bridges, telephones, electricity, lights—the picture has changed considerably.  “Doc” Gale put it like this: “At the best we had boats, trains, and horses when I began to practice.  Automobiles were a curiosity and very unreliable.  Today, the passenger boats have gone with the wind.  And the olden days’ schedule of sixteen full passenger trains a day passing through from Kenova, W. Va., to Pittsburg, has been reduced to one passenger train carrying one coach.  Automobiles, airplanes, and buses have taken over.”

In a 50-Year Span

In the span of his 50-year-career, “Doc” Gale has witnessed a complete revolution in the healing and treatment of internal cases and methods of surgery.  Said the “Doc”: “In my early days, pneumonia was called the great killer and the old man’s friend and carried the highest rate of mortality in this climate.  Today, new medical discoveries have almost eliminated this disease as a killer. 

“The once dreaded diphtheria, typhoid fever, and small pox all are practically things of the past, due to the development of modern preventive medicines.  Chest surgery and surgery on the heart are very commonly done at the present time, but they were unthought-of of in my horse and buggy days.”

For another sharp comparison, “Doc” Gale pointed out that the primary tools of the old days consisted of a pocket case of instruments and saddle bags, carrying from fifteen to twenty different medicines.  “Today, “ said the “Doc,” “the country doctor, what’s left of him, carries a blood pressure apparatus, a stethoscope, an otoscope, a tongue depressor, applicators, sterile dressings, gloves, antiseptics, drugs for easing pain, and a hypodermic syringe with some emergency remedies and a needle.”

Fast Disappearing

Are country doctors disappearing from the national scene?  “The answer is definitely yes.  This is because the young doctors all want to go to urban or city centers where they have hospitals and many convenient facilities which the country doctor does not have.  This makes the work easier for the new generation of doctors.  Their hours are shorter and they are less exposed to hardships, and have more time for recreation.  Also, there is the fact that most young physicians nowadays want to specialize in one branch of medicine, rather than to practice all branches, as the country doctor has to do.”

To demonstrate the decline of country doctors in this area, “Doc” Gale said that when he first began to practice in 1906, there were fifteen country doctors at work within a radius of twenty miles.  “Today, in this same vicinity, there are six country doctors carrying on the same work, but with a rising population.  That ought to give you an idea of the signs of the times.”

On the hopeful side of the rural area of America, from a medical standpoint, “Doc” gale disclosed that there has been a drive in recent years to persuade young doctors to settle in small towns.  Said the “Doc,” “It has been successful to an extent.  Some young doctors have responded and are now supported by fast cars and efficient hospitals in nearby urban centers.  As a result, the country trips that used to require hours to make, now take only a few minutes.”

For More than a Century

The Gales have maintained a medical office in Newport for over 100 years, since 1838.  The original office was washed away in the 1913 great flood.  The present office, now occupied by “Doc” Gale and his brilliant son, Bernard, was constructed immediately after the flood. 

“Doc” Gale enjoys courtesy staff associations at the Memorial Hospital in Marietta, and at St. Joseph’s in Parkersburg.  He is a member of three major medical associations, including Washington County, Ohio State, and the National American. 

In addition to his profession, “Doc” Gale has dabbled successfully in oil for a good many yeas, commercially.  During World War One, he served as Chairman of the Newport Township War Board and volunteered and was commissioned a first lieutenant with orders to sail for France when the conflict ended.  He was a member of the School Board for twelve years, and is now past president. 

His hobbies are hunting, fishing, harness horses, and the collection of Indian relics.  The “Doc” has bagged many a deer, squirrel, rabbit, and grouse in the forests of Ohio, West Virginia, and Canada.  His fine collection of Indian relics, of which he is justly proud, consists of arrowheads, spear-heads, tommyhawks, husbandry instruments, and fragments of Indian bones. 

“Doc” Gale married Miss Carolyn McGrew thirty-eight years ago, April 24^th, 1918.  They have five children: George, Carolyn, Kathryn, Larrey, and Nina—all married except Nina.

Retirement Not for “Doc”

When queried about his plans for retirement, “Doc” Gale had this to say: “I have no such plans at the present time, at least not as long as I am able to work.  A fellow is far better off doing something instead of just sitting around all day doing nothing.”

Dr. and Mrs. Gale are leaving Newport on June 12^th for a trip to Philadelphia where he will attend the fiftieth reunion of the Jefferson Medical College, class of 1906, on June 13^th and 14^th.  Out of the original graduating class of two hundred, only sixty-four are alive today.  And Dr. George Hays Gales of Newport, Ohio, is one of them. 

A “Country Doctor” Is Honored

From an undated newspaper article

Ralph Edwards’ large televiewing audience got a first hand look at a vanishing breed of man last night and liked what it saw—not that the shy, retiring and visibly embarrassed “subject” particularly cared one hootenanny.

It was Newport’s gentle and kindly Dr. George Hays Gale, described as a “country doctor,” but more of a friend, counselor and good Samaritan to his legion of friends and patients in this part of the valley.

A full and rewarding lifetime of serving his fellow man passed in parade across the nation’s television screens in the 23 minutes Hollywood’s master of ceremonies was able to overflow the studio stage with Doctor George’s children, relatives, old friends, classmates and patients.

There was Mary Heeter, long Dr. Gale’s secretary and receptionist, sons Dr. Larry Gale and George Gale and daughters, Mary, Katherine and Nina and Mrs. Gale, the former Carolyn McGrew.

“I rather suspicioned all this,” the doctor grinned after Edwards introduced him to the “This Is Your Life” program with the remark that he never had such a difficult time luring a subject to California. 

In rapid order Dr. George was introduced to his cousin and boyhood companion, the Rev. Cecil McCray of Indiana; Col. Edgard [Edward?] C. Jones, of Rokeby Lock, O., a classmate at Jefferson Medical College; Mrs. Earl Baxter of St. Marys, W. Va., the first baby Dr. Gale brought in the world when he began his practice in Newport in 1906; Dr. Lynn Nicholas, former Newport superintendent of schools and now president of Wayne State University; and finally, old patients, William DePuy, Martha Schneider, Marie Edgell, Elmer Riggs Jr., George Locke and three generations of Keisters. 

Newport’s Population 1,883 Census Shows

From an undated newspaper article

Newport—Preliminary census report figures give Newport a total population of 1,883 consisting of 1,015 in Upper Newport and 868 in Lower Newport.

Figures show there are a total of 630 housing units.  Of this number 370 are in Upper Newport with 260 in Lower Newport.

Upper Newport includes the territory between Newell’s Run (right side) to Davis Run.  Lower Newport includes the territory between Newell’s Run (left side) to Hensler’s Market and No. 9.

Final Day of School

Wednesday was the final day or school for seniors of Frontier High School.  This morning the seniors met at the school gymnasium for graduation practice and taking of pictures for the yearbook. 

Baccalaureate services will be at 8 p.m. Sunday in the Frontier High School auditorium.

                                    Fire Department Reports

An important meeting of the Volunteer Firemen will be held on Tuesday, June 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Fire Department Hall.  All members are requested to be present.

                                    Soft Ball Tourney

The soft ball tournament is now underway.  Newport plays Plauche Insurance in the finals Saturday, May 30, at noon, on Hadley Field at the fairgrounds.

                                    Amici Class Meets

The Amici Class of the Newport United Methodist Church met Thursday evening at the home of Mrs. Rhoda Hendricks.

Present were Mrs. Mary Hughes, Mrs. Effie Edgar, Mrs. Edith Sillaman, Mrs. Mary Leister, Mrs. Hilda Heeter, Mrs. Pearl Hendricks, Mrs. Neva Nash, Miss Freda Hendricks, Mrs. Francis Dimit, Miss Mary Heeter, Mrs. Hazel Greenwood, Mrs. Marian Dougherty, Mrs. Lorraine Stephens, Mrs. Hazel Hoff, Mrs. Cora Whaley, Mrs. Ruth Hoff, Mrs. Anna O’Neil, Mrs. Wanda Brake, Mrs. Lucy Brown, Mrs. Beulah Lauer, Mrs. Emma Eddy, Mrs. Altha Haynes, and Mrs. Rhoda Hendricks.

                                                Personals

Miss Freda Hendricks and Mr. and Mrs. David Edgar of Newport and Mr. and Mrs. John Hendricks of Marietta were weekend guests of Mr. and Mrs. James Snow and daughter Susan in Eatlake [Eastlake?]. 

Mrs. Elsie Mullens, Adrian, W. Va. and Mrs. Ruby Scott, of Marietta, were Wednesday visitors at the home of Mr. And Mrs. Pat Brake. 

(Family tree information in following articles may not be accurate.)

‘Tree that Owns Itself”

Old Deed Protects Giant Elm Against Harm by Man

The Marietta, Ohio, Times—no date given

By Ruth Schornstheimer Special Feature Writer

On the banks of Danas Run at Milltown near Newport stands a giant elm, making a bold if somewhat jagged silhouette against the sky.  For almost a century this tree has been protected from harm by human hands by virtue of the following contract:

“Sold to W. C. Greenwood a large Stately Elm tree, Standing on the East Bank of the Creek and about 12 Rods East of my Store. Said tree is never to be disturbed, defaced, mutilated, or in any way despoiled of its beauty and grandure, so long as it lives as Mother Earth will nurture it.

Milltown June 19^th, 1879

(signed) M. Rea”

Marcellus Rea, who made the sale, owned a small store just across Danas Run.  No information is available as to the amount of money which changed hands.  The original contract was written in pencil on a pasteboard show box. 

William C. Greenwood, grandfather of the present owner of Greenwood Farm, purchased the tree to preserve it.  The elder Greenwood was attracted to the tree because of its size and stateliness, according to his grandson, William G. Greenwood.  “Bill,” as he is known to friends, gives no credence to the legend that his grandfather proposed marriage to his grandmother under the elm and therefore wished to insure its future. 

Whatever the reason, the tree itself was well worth his concern.  Charles Wing, a Mechanicsburg nurseryman, in the late 1930s estimated it to be about 600 years old.  He also expressed the belief that it was at the time the third largest elm in the U. S.

W. C. Greenwood was a flatboat man who had come from Morgantown, W. Va. in 1821 when he was 17 years of age.  Later on he quit the river, got married, and in 1846 bought the home and acreage now known as Greenwood Farm from Capt. Daniel Greene, a sea captain.  Capt. Greene, who had built this first brick house of Newport Township in 1808, was the great grandfather of Capt. Tom Greene of present-day riverboat fame.  The Greenwoods’ son Junius, who was born in this house, grew up and married Carrie Greene, granddaughter of Capt. Daniel Greene, who thus went to live in the house built by her grandfather.  Their son Bill was born within these walls, as were his two sons who now help him work the farm. 

All in all, the family tradition is one of cultivating the earth’s treasures and handing them on to succeeding generations, so it is quite understandable that the gallant elm tree on Dana’s Creek remains standing through the courtesy of W. C. Greenwood. 

Huge Deeded Elm Tree Is Felled near Newport

From The Marietta, Ohio, Times, August of ?

By Myrtle Davis Nott

Newport Correspondent

            At Milltown on the banks of Dana’s Run, a stately old elm tree, sometimes referred to as the “tree that owns itself,” has been regarded by many as the oldest, largest, and most unique elm tree known to man.

            Charles Wing, a Mechanicsburg tree surgeon, in the late 1930s, judged the tree to be approximately 600 years old and the third largest elm in the U.S.  The Rathbone elm in Marietta and a tee in Connecticut were first and second in size.  Since then the Rathbone elm has been removed and the eastern one has perhaps disappeared from mother nature [sic].  Now, the oldest and largest elm has fallen.  Its measurements were 27 ft. in circumference and 9 ft. in diameter. 

            The tree is unique in that it has been protected through the years by a deed and financial provision for its maintenance.

            This humble contract made nearly a century ago tells an interesting story:

            “Sold to W. C. Greenwood a large stately Elm tree, Standing on the East Bank of the Creek and about 12 rods East of my Store.  Said tree is never to be disturbed, defaced, mutilated or in any way despoiled of its beauty and grandeur, so long as it lives as Mother Earth will nurture it. 

            “Milltown, June 19^th, 1897

            (signed) M. Rea”

            Marcellus (Mac) Rea who made the sale to W. C. Greenwood owned a store across Dana’s Run.  The original contract was written in pencil on a pasteboard show box, and no amount of money for the transaction was given.

            William C. Greenwood, grandfather of William (Bill) Greenwood, present owner of Greenwood Farm, attached great sentimental value to the old elm tree. According to an old legend he and his sweetheart wee engaged under this tree.  Therefore, he wished to insure its preservation.

            In later years his son, Junius Greenwood, carrying out his father’s tradition, supposedly was married under the branches of this beautiful giant elm.

            W. C. Greenwood, a flatboat man, came to the Ohio Valley in 1821 from Morgantown, W. Va., when 17 years old.  Later he married and bought the present Greenwood Farm from Capt. Daniel Green, a sea captain.  Capt. Greene, grandfather of the late Gordon Greene, and great-grandfather of the late Tom Greene of riverboat fame, built the first brick house in Newport in 1808.  It was in this house that the Greenwood’s son, Junius, was born.  Junius married Carrie Greene, Captain Daniel Greene’s granddaughter and continued to live in the old homestead and farm the land of his father.  His son, William was born in the same beautiful old brick home and so were his two grandsons, James and Samuel.

            It is tradition and sentiment as well as love for land and beautiful handwork of God that has caused the Greenwood family to cherish and preserve the old elm tree on Dana’s Run, Milltown.

            Now that the time has come when the tree threatens danger and becomes a hazard to highway and public utilities, the Ashland, Ky., tree cutters have felled the old elm, and only a huge stump remains as a landmark and remembrance of bygone days.

[Caption under the photo:  This 600 year old Milltown Elm, located on the banks of Dana’s Run near Newport, has been removed to provide a safer highway.  Early settlers and Indian tribes were familiar with this spot and embedded relics in the tree remain as proof of their visitations.  (Times photo by Jack Lowe)]

3 Landmarks nominated for National Register

Regional News, name of newspaper not shown; the date of July 12, 1979 is written in ink.

Three Washington County landmarks are being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, according to David L. Taylor, Regional Historic Preservation Officer at the Ohio Historical Society’s Regional Preservation Office at Ohio University-Zanesville.

They are the Waernicke-Hille House and Store, located in rural Independence Township, and the Mason House, located at Coal Run, near Beverly. 

The Waernicke-Hille House (1865) at Archer’s Fork was the first brick house erected in Independence Township and was built by Ernest Waernicke (1831-1872) a German tobacco producer and processor.  He was in partnership with Augustus Hille (1844-1918) another German who purchased the home and farm after Waernicke’s death.  In 1874, a post office was established for the Archer’s Fork community and Hille was named postmaster.  Shortly thereafter he erected a wood frame store nearby and housed the post office and community store therein. 

Hille remained postmaster until his death in 1918.  From that time until the post office as closed in 1949, his daughter Ida Elizabeth “Bessie” Hille (1897-1962) was postmistress.  Thus the father-daughter combination served the community for 75 years—the entire life of the post office—an occurrence probably unique in Ohio.  The present owners are Dr. and Mrs. Richard Hille of Marietta.  Dr. Hille is the grandson of Augustus Hille. 

The other nominated property, the Mason House, was built in 1802 along the Muskingum River just north of the Coal Run community.  Its significance lies in the fact that it is an intact, little-altered version of the “saltbox house” a New England folk house type.  It remains essentially unaltered and in its original state.  It has been owned by the Mason family since the mid-19^th century.  Currently it is owned by Horatio Mason.

The National Register of Historic places is a list, maintained by the U. S. Department of the Interior of the Nation’s cultural resources which are historic for their architecture, history, or archaeology on a local, state or national level.  The nomination was prepared according to Ohio’s statewide plan to identify and document historic properties which qualify for National Register status under provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

Any property’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in no way affects an individual owner’s property rights.  Rather, it serves to draw attention to the nation’s visible cultural heritage and also affords owners to take advantage of several provisions to encourage preservation.

The National Register provides for limited protection against demolition of a listed property by a federally sponsored or licensed project; it also entitles property owners to apply for a 50 per cent matching grant-in-aid from the Department of the Interior to aid in the preservation of their property.

Also, there are several important tax benefits for owners of income producing National Register properties. 

Newport O., Has 60 Firemen

By Helen M. White

The Parkersburg News, Sunday, October 15, 1961

            Although Newport Twp., in Washington County, O., was organized in 1798, and early settlers established homes at that time in what is now the village of Newport, this settlement has never found the need to become incorporated.

            For 160 years of its existence, Newport residents depended on luck and buckets, available water and neighboring communities whenever fire broke out in their midst. 

            However, in 1958, the Men’s Civic Club of Newport began a drive to arouse local interest and to raise sufficient funds, both of which were necessary, in order to organize and establish a volunteer fire department in Newport.

            Dr. George Gale of Newport gave encouragement and impetus to the undertaking by donating a valuable piece of ground on which to build the fire station. 

            The fine, level land given by Dr. Gale fronts 80 feet on Rt. 7 and is 150 feet deep.

            The Newport Fire Station was built in 1959.  Heiby of Marietta had the contract for the shell of a 37 by 47-foot building to be constructed of 12-inch blocks.

            This contract included only the four walls, roof, windows, and doors for an approximate cost of $1500.

Members Build the Rest

            The members of the Newport Volunteer Fire Dept. donated their time and labor and completed the building, pouring the floors, installing the wiring, the plumbing, and all the inside trim and finishing.

“Our building alone,” said Fire Chief, Harold Lauer, “is valued at around $25,000 with another $20,000 worth of equipment.”

Having the fire department has reduced insurance rates for Newport residents and, “our next project,” Chief Lauer said, “will be to get a public water supply for our town.”

The Newport Fire Dept. has one 300-gallon pumper and one 1000-gallon tanker which, according to Lauer, is enough for most fires.

In addition to this, the department has maps showing the location of every cistern, pond, and stream in Newport Twp.

They also have similar maps for Lawrence and Independence Twps, with which the Newport Volunteer Fire Department has yearly contracts to answer all fire calls.

In addition, Newport has mutual agreements with all nearby fire departments.

            The members of the department built the tanker themselves but their pumper was obtained from the St. Marys Fire Dept. on most generous terms. 

            The first fire chief of Newport was David Edgar who served one year.  Lauer, the third chief, is now serving his third term in office with assistant chiefs Earl Rouse, Paul Riggs, and David Riggs.

            James Perrine is president of the department and Mrs. Lucille Edgar is president of the Ladies Auxiliary, which, said Chief Lauer, has been a wonderful help to the department. 

            There are around 60 members on the roll with approximately 30 of them active.  The department has a regular meeting twice a month and a training meeting every Thursday.

            The Newport Volunteer Fire Dept. was host this year to the Washington County Fair School which is held each year for all volunteer fire departments in the county.

            Several times Chief Lauer commented on the wonderful help they had received from the St. Marys Fire Department in both money and encouragement.

            The friendly assistance Newport has received from their West Virginia neighbors in helping them get organized and equipped would be hard to evaluate.

            Since the establishment of the Newport Fire Dept., the only two major fires tghey have fought have been both in St. Marys—another example, it would seem, of the Biblical truth about casting bread upon the water. 

Newport squad displays van

March 11, 1977 is written on the page, no source shown

            The new emergency vehicle was displayed to the public at the fire hall Saturday and Sunday afternoons. 

            The van which cost $18,000 and was purchased from the Horton Ambulance Co., Columbus, arrived last week.  For a few days, the squad member familiarized themselves with the equipment in the van and took no calls—but they will be answered for any emergency.

            The Newport squad will operate in cooperation with the Newport Volunteer Fire Dept. and take its calls over the fire department telephones.

            The vehicle is housed in the fire department building—and donations toward its purchase will be accepted by the fire department.  All funds for operation of the fire department are raised locally because the village is not incorporated and has no tax levies.

            Squad members[are] ready to answer any emergency although there is a need for more equipment in the van, it was said.

            Heading the emergency squad are Jack Boley, captain, and Ed Pryor, volunteer fire department chief.  Certified squad members who have completed the necessary training directed by James Vuksic are John Turner, Bill Greene, Steve McMahan, Bob Kelly, Ed Pryor, Wayne Greathouse, Tom Barker, John Beck, Darryl Smith, June Kelly, Pam Greathouse, Pat Lamp, Jennie Smith, Eve Pape, Carolyn Casto, Cathy Rinard, Alice Vannoy, Mary Lou Reynolds, Jack Boley and Shirley Beaver. 

History of Ohio Community Is Told

Newport Prosperous Village

The Parkersburg News, Sunday March 12, 1961

            The village of Newport, O., is on a flat, fertile plain along the Ohio River almost opposite St. Marys, county seat of Pleasants County.

            The land where Newport stands was conveyed to Ebenezer Battelle, Sr., about 1801 by Neal Cortner and John Cotton who had resided briefly on the acres before selling out and moving on.

            The first buildings where Newport now stands, other than the two or three squatters cabins built as early as 1798, are said to be the log cabin of John Cotton built near the river, and the cabin of John Luckey on the present site of the village. 

            Ebenezer Battelle, Sr., built the first substantial house.  At that time the hamlet was called Upper Newport to distinguish it from Lower Newport which was only six miles above Marietta.  Battelle’s house had several rooms instead of the one large room in the quickly constructed cabins of the early settlers.

            The first brick residence built from bricks baked on the premises was erected about 1809 by Captain Daniel Greene.  Others settlers floating down the Ohio often stopped at Newport and stayed, not going on to their intended goal of Marietta. 

            Thus, when Battelle had his land surveyed for a town on Jan. 30 and 31 of 1839, the nucleus of a village was already established.

Newport Grew Fast

            Less than 50 years later, at the beginning of the 1880s, Newport numbered 50 dwellings and 300 inhabitants. 

            Besides a steam operated flouring-mill, there were two blacksmith shops, one wagon shop, a cigar factory, a harness and show shop, seven general stores and three hotels.  The Thribble Shovel Plow and Cultivator was also manufactured at Newport about this time. 

            It was recorded that all seven general stores were unusually prosperous and that the Cree House and the City Hotel were the leading hostelries in 1880.

            For many decades Newport was belligerently against any form of alcohol, in fact none is sold in the village even today and only two such establishments are located anywhere in the township.

            Perhaps this firm and united stand on temperance came about as the result of an earlier and more lenient attitude towards the subject.

            Almost all early pioneers distilled their own liquor.  They used it for medicine and hospitality, for frost-bite and snake-bite, and in lieu of the many comforts left behind when they trekked westward. 

            During the first years of the Newport settlement it is recorded that “whiskey-mills were even more numerous than grist-mills.”

            One of the earliest of record was operated by John and Richard Green [e] and Ebenezer Battelle in 1805.  This venture had three busy stills and a considerable output of apple jack and peach brandy. 

            William Dana started a stillhouse in 1815 which he ran until 1833; Thomas Ferguson had a busy still for a number of years, and an old log distillery which burned in 1826 was also located in Newport Twp. and did a thriving business from 1820 to 1832.

            From old account books preserved from that early time, it appears that whiskey was accepted in the area as legal tender and was always bought and sold in no less than gallon lots.

            Due to an embarrassing and unfortunate occurrence which the passage of time now makes humorous, there was a strong reversal of feeling on this subject.  The operations of the distilleries disappeared almost overnight.

            In the place of whiskey mills, Temperance Societies sprang up, and Newport village and the entire township became the driest place in all the Northwest Territory. 

Considered Palatial Residence in 1807

Dwelling is Newport’s Oldest

Undated and unnamed newspaper article

By Helen M. White Of The News Staff

            A few scattered squatters’ cabins were located in the area of Newport, Washington County, O., when the first settlers established permanent homes here in 1798.

            Col. Ebenezer Battelle and his son, Capt. Ebenezer Battelle, came to the settlement in 1802 and located on the land which Capt. Battelle later platted for the village of Newport. 

            After their arrival the Battelle men soon had ground cleared of its dense growth of virgin timber and a large home erected.

            This dwelling, said to be the first substantial house built in Newport, was a sturdy, two-story building constructed of hewed logs and was considered to be quite a palatial residence in its day. 

            When in 1807 Capt. Battelle married Mary, the daughter of John Greene, another early pioneer to the area, it was to this fine show-place of a home that he took his bride.

Time has proved with what care and skill this house was built over a century and a half ago as it is still standing today, one of the oldest buildings in Washington County.

Battelles Sold Property

            According to Dr. George Gale of Newport, the house remained in the Battelle family until the 1870s.  About this time the family fell into financial difficulties and sold the property consisting of about 1,000 acres and the dwelling, to Capt. Jack Harrison.

            The next owner, Dye Arkey Dye, made extensive additions and changes to the old house. 

            He built a frame addition onto the left end of the original log dwelling and a stone addition in the rear.

            Over the years the structure has been improved and modernized, the logs have been covered with weather boarding and the interior sealed.

            The frame addition built by Dye was first used for additional living space, but when the old property was purchased in 1908 by the Gale sisters, Alcinda, Raebael, and Ellen, they converted this wing into a private chapel

Fine Furnishings For Chapel

            An altar was specially built for the chapel which was adorned with candlesticks and a crucifix.

            Two handsome, large statues, one of Christ and one of the Virgin, were sent the maiden ladies, for their chapel by a nephew then living in Cincinnati.

            The small chapel would seat about 15 to 20 worshipers, Dr. Gale said.  Since there is no Catholic Church in Newport, Mass was recited from time to time in the chapel by priests from nearby parishes. 

Archbishop Swint Held Mass

            Dr. Gale recalled that Archbishop Swint celebrated the Mass in the chapel on at least one occasion when he was conducting a week’s mission in Newport.

            The historic old house is now the property of Dr. Gale’s son, Dr. Larry Gale, who is in practice with his father in Newport.

            At present the old dwelling is empty and the tiny chapel dismantled except for the benches and the bare altars.

            Young Dr. Gale has not decided just what he will do with the property, according to his father, but he did not want the old home with its historic background and family associations to fall into the hands of strangers, his father added. 

Chris Greene Beats Betsy Ann in 20 Mile Boat Race on Ohio; Thousands Crowd the Shore

Wooden and battered Betsy Ann Eats the Smoke of Trim Chris Greene in 20 Mile Contest; Greene Wins by Two Length; Local Man Commands Betsy

            New Richmond, O., July 24 [year not given]—The steel river packet Chris Greene tonight assumed the title of speed queen of the Ohio River and invested itself with a share in its rich tradition and racing lore by making the wooden, battered Betsy Ann eat its smoke in a 20 mile race up the river from Cincinnati.

            Her whistles screaming, her hull trembling from the task and her twin funnels belching smoke and flames, the newer, finer, larger boat loomed through the twilight a winner by two lengths after two hours and 25 minutes of excitement such as the old river had not seen in years.

Recalls Old Days

            The scene took old river men back to the old racing heyday of the middle on the Ohio and Mississippi, to the day when the Robert E. Lee set the present record for the run from New Orleans to St. Louis, and beat the Natchez by six hours—a day when a conscientious riverman would stand squarely before the smokestack and part his hair in the middle to trim ship while a big stake race was on. 

            The boats left Central Bridge at the foot of Broadway Street in Cincinnati at 5:06 p.m. [;] crowds lined the river front and every bridge across the stream as they got underway with the Betsy Ann on her rival’s starboard.  Hundreds of launches, motorboats and small river craft set their sirens screaming as they started up the stream, swollen by recent rains. 

                                                            Ellsworth Cuts Lead

            Captain Chris Greene commanded his own boat and took an early lead which he increased by two lengths at Coney Island Amusement Park, the half way point, and to 800 feet at New Palestine, but Captain Charles Ellsworth of Parkersburg, W. Va., cut that down to two lengths again three miles from the finish. 

            Thousands of spectators lined the banks all the way, cheering the racers, and faster, smaller craft pursed them all the way with a din of whistles.  Airplanes soared overhead and then returned to Cincinnati flying fields for more loads of passengers.  The calliope on the Island Queen started to play “Old Man River,” and “Mississippi Mud.”

            Spectators hastened to the finish line, their automobiles thronging the roads into Richmond as the cry of “here they come” went up with their boilers straining until it seemed they must burst and the signals set at full speed ahead, the boats went for the finish line and the Chris Greene barely got there first. 

            The race was engendered by a boast of Captain Greene that his boat could beat the Betsy Ann “anytime,” after reading press reports of a victory of the Betsy over his boat last week.  He claimed his ship had been four miles ahead of Betsy Ann and had given up the race, allowing her to go ahead on their daily run up the river. 

                                                            Accepted Challenge

            Frederick Way, of the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet lines, owners of the Betsy Ann, took up the challenge and offered the gilt elk horns, won and defended by the Betsy Ann in many a hard fought race on the Mississippi and the Louisiana bayous in the earlier days as a trophy for the victor. 

            The Betsy Ann was launched in 1915 and measures 170 feet by 35.  She carried 150 passengers today while the Chris Greene, built in 1924 and measuring 180 feet by 42, carried 250.  Hundreds of others fairly fought for the privilege of lining their rails during the race.  Neither boat was stripped.

            Captain M.O. Irwin of the Steamer Senator Cordill, Pittsburgh, telegraphed a challenge to the winner before the race, offering to deposit $500 with his crew to put up a like amount as a wager on the outcome.  Rivermen hope for a renewal of the brave old days when frequent races decided the supremacy of the stream. 

From the Parkersburg News, Sunday, April 15, 1973

Old Ferguson House Was Built to Last

By Diana Hott of the News Staff

            Matamoras, O.—The Ferguson House still looks down on the Ohio River, and on what used to be the well-known Ferguson Landing, north of Newport on Rt. 7.

            In the 19^th century, Ferguson Landing was familiar to all who knew the Ohio River.  Today, the water laps up along the shore where once, amidst the hustle and bustle, there were packets and other boats loading and carrying off cargo.  Today Ferguson’s Landing is there in name only.

            Modern river maps list “Ferguson’s Light” at the place the busy landing was. 

                                                Ferguson Early Settler

            The first settler on this land was Thomas Ferguson, born in Loudoun County, Virginia.  Of Scottish decent, he came to Washington County in 1801, and settled on the land, giving Ferguson Landing his name.

            He built a fine log cabin and married Grace Holdren, daughter of Joseph and Grace Holdren.  They had 13 children, among whom was James.  He added the Ferguson property, and it is through that he built the present Ferguson house.

                                                            House Remodeled

            Mr. and Mrs. William Wulfert are the present owners of the Ferguson home.  Mrs. Wulfert is the niece of George Ferguson, who died in 1932 and was the last of that name to live in the home.  In approximately 1936, Mr. and Mrs. Wulfert remodeled the old dwelling for more modern living. 

            Mrs. Wulfert still has many of the beautiful family heirlooms that originally graced the house.  Included is a deed for additional land that was given James Ferguson.  Inscribed in fine Spencerian handwriting, it was signed by President Martin Van Buren according tot the Act of Congress April 24, 1820, making “provision for sale of Public Land.”

                                                Solid Construction

            Massive hand-hewn timbers stretch across the basement ceiling to support the weight of the house.  Basement walls are stone, chiseled cut laboriously by hand, tool marks still upon them.  The stones are carefully cut to fit together without mortar.

            Many of the floor boards throughout the house are wider than trees cut today, and they are still held with the pioneer’s square-cut nails.

            Mrs. Wulfert has made room-size braided rugs inkeeping with the family traditions of the home.

            An ancestral grandfather clock stands in one corner of the living room.  Family stories tell that the works were purchased, but the beautifully grained cherry wood of the case was from a tree cut on the original Ferguson land grant.

            The first Ferguson’s solid cord bed is there, as well as his cherry drop leaf table and delicate oil lamp.

            Sharing the Wulfert’s home are Julie and Lila, two large tabby cats who are sisters, 20 years old.   

Apparently from the Parkersburg News, date not given

Pearls, Buttons—From Ohio River

By Diana Hott

The News Correspondent

            The Ohio River furnished materials for an unusual industry which had its apex during the first two decades of the present century.  In Beavertown, five miles south of Matamoras on Route 7 at the Dawes community and stretching along the shallow shores toward Newport, industrious citizens capitalized on the large black-ridged shells of the fresh water river mussels. (Mollusca unionidae.)

            The fresh water mussels are lined with mother of pearl.  This iridescent lining was used to make buttons.  Buttons factories all up and down the river bought the mussel shells for processing; the nearest factories were in St. Marys and Wheeling, and the factory at St. Marys purchased most of the shells collected at Beavertown.

                                                            Mussel Boats

            The largest “fleet” of mussel boats was oared at Beavertown, a community project at which the Beaver and Mounts families worked.  Further down river, near Leith, Donald Louderback commanded the mussel boat industry. 

            The mussel boats were wide heavy skiff-like johnboats, designed to balance without capsizing in the water, even when the workers stood in them and the boat was loaded with many pounds of mussels. 

            This was before the days of dams; the river was shallow with sweeping bars, and a man could easily wade to the West Virginia shore in the summer.

                                                            Mussel Fishing

            Each boat was equipped with poles about ten feet long, bamboo if available, or sometimes a straight branch cut from the nearest tree.  These were fastened to upright braces affixed to the sides of the boats. 

            Each pole had 30 or 40 heavy lines going down from it, and at the bottom of each line were study [this is the word used—seems it would have been sturdy mm] hooks, each with four barbs.  The poles were lowered into the water and towed along, lines and hooks dragging the bottom.  As a hook slid into an open mussel shell, the shell closed over it.  At intervals, the workers raised up the poles and the mussels were pried off and tossed into the bottom of the boat. 

            Only cleaned-out mussel shells could be sold to the button factories.  So, when the mussel boats were landed, fires were built along the riverbank, and the loads of mussels piled into the black iron kettles full of boiling water. 

            The cooked meat was easily picked loose from the shell.  Women and children usually did this work, carefully searching for the pearls that sometimes occurred in mussels, just as they do in oysters.  Rings, pins and men’s tie tacks were made from the pearls, and some of this jewelry can still be found in the area. 

            The cooked meat from the mussel, although delectable and quite similar to the meat of a clam, was seldom used for human consumption.  Sometimes it was fed to dogs.  But more often it remained in a decayed, supperating [as typed in the article] pile on the hillside. 

            Pay for working in a mussel boat was about 40 cents a day. 

            Today, mussel collecting has again become popular in some areas, although not on the Ohio River.  The mother of pearl from the shell is polished into small beads which are used as a pearl producing irritant in oysters in countries, such as Japan, in which pearls are an export industry.

Date is hand-written as Sept. 3 & 4, 1988; source of the following newspaper article is not shown.

Photo is of Beaver’s Bait Shop

            “I learned on Coony Danver.  He never had any money so I cut his hair for free.”

            Beavertown was named after Michael Beaver in the late 1790s.  A post office named after Civil War Gen. Rufus R. Dawes opened in 1882. Devol explained that the post office couldn’t use the name Beavertown because there were similar names elsewhere in Ohio.  Postal authorities wanted to avoid confusion.  

            The post office closed in 1911 after a rural free delivery started out of Matamoras, Devol said.

            Today, main focus of Beavertown is the twice-monthly catfish tournaments organized by Danny Beaver, co-owner of Beaver’s Bait Shop. 

            Beaver, 29, proudly displays a bulletin board full of snapshots of fish pulled from the Ohio River which flows just behind his shop. 

            “There have been some nice fish turned inthis year,” Beaver said, pointing to the photographs. 

            One showed Sam Butler with the 26- and 30-pound catfish he caught May 29.  Another shows Ron Felter with an 11-pound, 9-ounce catfish caught during the contest. 

            Danny Beaver said it is important to develop the area’s tourism potential to replace a decline in industrial jobs. 

            “When my dad worked at Ormet, I thought I would work there,” he said, sitting in his small shop. “That’s all changed.”

            Beaver works the night maintenance shift at McDonald’s in Marietta for most of his income.  The bait shop is primarily a hobby, he said.

            “If the shop is closed and you need bait, please come next door and I will help you!” said a sign on the door.  “Both owners work full-time jobs and it’s hard to stay open for everyone’s convenience.”

            Besides the United Methodist Church, another gathering place is Whitey’s, owned by Mary Dowler.

            “If I have somebody in here who is hungry, I’ll fix ’em something,” Dowler said. 

            She and her husband, Raymond, fixed up and ran the tavern until his death last year.  Now, she lives upstairs but spends most of her time downstairs taking care of customers. 

            “This was his empire,” she said as she gazed over a fishing dock out back and her

two-story building.  “He put an awful lot into it, bless his heart.”

About Beavertown—not dated and source not shown

Dawes Post Office

            The post office was established in Beavertown and was named Dawes Post Office in honor of Rufus. R. Dawes, head of the Ohio Valley enterprise in 1870 that tried to establish a railroad up the Ohio side of the river from Marietta to Bellaire.  His attempt failed, and the railroad was built on the West Virginia side clear through Wheeling. 

            The first postmaster at Dawes, Ohio, was James C. Cochran in 1882, who was succeeded in 1885 by Daniel T. Webber, then in 1889, Samuel Chocran, 1891, Setathiel Hutchison, 1893, Aurelius Ellis, 1894, William Beaver, 1907, Frederick Joy, and when the appointment rescinded, William Beaver was the postmaster until the post office was dissolved in 1911 due to the rural free delivery from New Matamoras. 

                                                            Nicknames

            Perhaps it all started with Dragon John, but just about every Beaver has a nickname somewhere.  None goes by his Christian name.  Over the years these are a few: Clyde is called Dude; Glen answers to Beaver; Oreton is Bugger; Harmon is Abe; Veryle is Cotton.  Wilbert is Grantie Bud; Cecil is Blackie; Ray is Broughtie; Charles is Link; Ray is Riddle; Earl is Dog Earl; Robert is Bob; Margaret is Maude Beaver Smith; Andrew is Andy Tar Heel; William is Greaser B ill; Sylvia is Mommie Sil; Willard is Gris; Charles is Snappin’ Charlie; Isabell is Bell; Icey is Ice; Clarence is Sloppy; Victor is Vic; Raymond is Doc; George is Rip: Cecil is Bossy: Earl is Junkey; Mabel Corum is Jenny; Vernon is Jiggs: Charles is Chuck; Vernn Michael is Mick; Vernon L. is Johnny  boy; Edgar is Slim Danver; William Danver is Goonie; Raymond Jr. is Bud; Margaret is Jiggs; Dean is Alfred; Robert is Rob; Ralph is [ends here]

From the Cincinnati Post, date handwritten is Sept. 15, 1952 [which seems in conflict with the date of Sept. 18 at the beginning of the article]:

Control of Floating Hotel Poses Problem

River Steamer Would House A-Plant Workers

By James T. Keenan, Post Special Writer

Columbus, O., Sept. 18—The attorney general was asked today what Ohio can do, if anything, if a 100-room floating hotel proposed for Portsmouth illegally sells liquor or conducts or allows gambling.

            The request for an opinion came from A. A. Rutkowski, the state’s chief liquor enforcement officer and the man Gov. Frank J. Lausche designated to bust the big commercial gambling joints a few years back.

            W. W. Kimble Jr., of Portsmouth, has an option on the Gordon Greene, once “the queen of the rivers,” according to H. B. Lyle, Cincinnati, secretary-treasurer of Greene Line Steamers, Inc.   The option expires Oct. 1, Lyle said.  The company is reported asking $60,000 for the boat. 

            Kimble didn’t reveal any additional money-making plans, if he has them.  However, a man who said he was a Portsmouth resident inquired from the liquor department by telephone if he could get a liquor permit for a floating hotel.  The answer was “no.”  Hard liquor permits have been frozen since April 11, 1949.

            However, Kimble or anyone else who establishes a floating hotel on the Ohio River may not need an Ohio liquor license.  The boundary between Ohio and Kentucky is the low water mark on the north side of the river.  Ohio owns none of the Ohio River except when waters are high and pass the low water mark on the north. Ohio might not be able to touch the boat regardless of how it is operated. 

            Kimble did not discuss how the deal would be financed.  Rutkowski’s agents have had reports that some of the gamblers who operated in the Ironton and Chesapeake area, and along the river generally, may have some money in the deal. 

            The Colony and continental Clubs stand in Chesapeake as shabby and weather-beaten monuments to the success of the governor’s drive against the big commercial spots.  The key to the Colony club, raided by Rutkowski, is still in a safety deposit box in an Ironton bank.  It was put there immediately after the raid four years ago and the owner of the property has never claimed it. 

            William Schwartz, who was connected with gambling in Chesapeake, after getting his schooling in Cuyahoga County and serving a term in Ohio Penitentiary for killing a man there, is now operating the Huntington Athletic Club in Huntington, W. Va., across the bridge from Chesapeake. 

            When Gordon Greene operated on the Ohio [,] liquor and beer were served under a federal license and the bar was closed while in port. 

Newspaper clipping from unnamed source with a hand written date, Sept. 18, 1949, along the side:

Miss Patricia Lee Bell and Robert Greene Marry Sunday

Miss Patricia Lee Bell, the lovely daughter of Mrs. Fay M. Bell, Lynn St., and Robert Clude Greene, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Greene of Newport, Ohio, were married yesterday afternoon in St. Andrew’s Methodist church.  The pastor, the Rev. Thomas Zumbrunnen, officiated at the exchange of vows.

A standard filled with white gladioli and greenery formed the center of the bridal setting, and at either side were seven-branched candelabra in which burned white candles.  The family pews were marked with satin ribbon bows and sprays of greenery. 

A half hour of bridal music was provided by Mrs. Monroe Cunningham, preceding the ceremony, and during this time guests were seated by Gail McVey and W. E. Lallathin, both of Marietta. 

Donald Greene, of Newport, O., served his brother as best man. 

                                                The Bride

Given in marriage by her cousin, Gerald Maple of Goffs, the pretty young bride wore a white lace gown, the full skirt being of ballerina length, and around the bottom was a wide band of net.  A Peter Pan collar was at the round neckline and extending from this to the waistline in the front were small white velvet buttons.  A narrow white velvet ribbon circled the bride’s waist and fell into short streamers.  On her head was a head-hugging cap of white net, and circling this were flat leaves of white velvet.  She carried a colonial bouquet of white baby mums, centered with white gardenias. 

Miss Janet Bell, sister of the bride, was the maid of honor, and she wore [a] bright blue velvet gown, made on lines similar to that of the bride.  She carried a colonial bouquet of pink baby mums. 

Mrs. Bell, mother of the bride, wore a rose crepe dress, gray accessories, her felt hat being trimmed with feathers.  On her shoulder was a corsage of white carnations. 

Mrs. Greene, mother of the bridegroom, wore a green dress, black accessories and her shoulder corsage was of yellow roses.

The wedding reception was held in the church chapel, there the traditional bridal colors of white and green were seen in flowers in bowls placed throughout, and palms and ferns.  A tiered wedding cake, topped with a bride and groom, centered the bride’s table. 

Later when Mr. Greene and his bride left for a wedding trip, she changed to a suit of black and matching accessories, her smart felt hat being trimmed with feathers.  On her shoulder she pinned a corsage of white gardenias.  After their honeymoon, they will go to Martins Ferry, Ohio, to make their home. 

The new Mrs. Greene graduated from Parkersburg High School.  For the past three years, she has been employed by the Imperial Ice Cream Co., in the division of Fairmont Foods Co.  She has been an active member of the Junior Dept. of the Parkersburg Woman’s Club.

Mr. Greene graduated from Newport High School, and Mountain State College in this city.  He is employed by the Quaker State Oil Co., in Marietta. 

Newport Volunteer Fire Department

            The Newport Volunteer Fire Department was founded in 1957 by the Newport Men’s Civic Club.  Members met in the school gymnasium until the fire house was completed in 1960.  The land on Route 7 was donated by the late Dr. and Mrs. George H. Gale and the late Miss Mary Gale.  The cost of the building and firefighting equipment at that time was $45,000.  The department finances its operations through the Fourth of July celebration and a tax (1 ½ mill) levy and public donations from the community.  In 1992, the fire dept. was able to acquire a Bingo license, and Bingo was started as a fund-raising operation in November of 1992.  The department serves Newport Township and parts of Independence Township.  They also have a Mutual Aid agreement with St. Marys Fire Dept. (W. Va.)

            There have been 5 fire chiefs: Dave Edgar, Harold “Dutch” Lauer, Steve McMahan and the current chief, David Casto.  [Only four were listed.]

            The emergency squad is a branch of the dire department.  Each squad member is also a member of the fire department.  The squad began in early 1976 when Jack Boley organized the first training class.  There were 21 EMTs certified in December of 1976 for the first time. Presently there are 16 certified EMTs in the department with a few serving as both EMTs and firemen.  The squad made its first run on March 9, 1977, in the new Horton van purchased by the department.  A second Ford van was purchased used in 1987, and the Horton van was traded in.  This is the current ambulance. 

            The first squad captain was Jack Boley.  Following in Jack’s place as squad leader were Carolyn Casto, Lowell Eddy, Nancy Holpp, and Don Brilliant who is currently serving in that capacity as of January, 1993.  Squad Lieutenant is Bill Greene.  The squad currently meets once a month to go over squad runs, train, have an occasional program and sometimes have training programs along with Pleasants County Squad.  Squad members have a shift schedule made up once a month and mostly run one night a week and every other weekend with 4 EMTs on each shift.  There is no charge for runs within the township but donations are accepted. 

            In 1992, the fire dept. building was remodeled and many improvements were made to the building itself including insulation and paneling installed, new heating and air conditioning unit put upstairs, new windows throughout the building, etc.  Also in 1992, a brand new Ford mini-pumper was bought with the help of a grant from the County.  This is the first brand new vehicle purchased since 1976.

            In 1992, we also were lucky enough to have our first paramedic trained.  Don Brilliant trained and took classes for a whole year to become a paramedic.  We are all very proud of his accomplishments.  We are now able to carry a defibrillator for which we may all be trained on it’s use.  We presently have a fund drive going in the community to purchase this piece of equipment which is very expensive. 

From The Marietta Times, Date not shown

Retired Riverman’s Pencil Faithfully Depicts Old Days

By Augusta K. Bedillion

            Capt. Jesse P. Hughes, a native of Washington Co. and who spent more than a half century on the rivers as a master, pilot, steamboat architect, artist and all round riverman, is the author of “Cap’n Hughes Steamboat Sketchbook.”  It is an original art picture book of river craft and scenery.  It is published by The Picture Marine Publishing Company, Cincinnati. 

            Capt. Hughes, who spent his early life in Newport, worked with the famous Greene family of two generations as captain and pilot on many of the steamboats operated by the Greenes.

            The pictures in the book are lithographed pencil sketches of a half century of steamboating that Mark Twain missed.  The sketches were done in pencil from memory and some on the spot. 

            The Steamer Gordon C. Greene, on which he was navigator and the Steamer Indiana, last of the Whit Collar line of steamboats on the rivers, are on the cover page, done in color.  The Gordon C. Greene still plies out of St. Louis on the Mississippi; and the Indiana was destroyed by fire in 1916, ending the long reign of the Commodore Laidley steamboat history on the rivers. 

Began Career as Boy

            Capt. Hughes began is career on the rivers 60 years ago while in short breeches as a cabin boy on the Steamer T. N. Barnsdall, in the Marietta-Matamoras-Sistersville trade.  The boat was owned and operated by the late Capt. William E. Roe.  He is now in Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, spending a long-earned vacation visiting with his son-in-law, B. E. Prater, an instructor in the University of Hawaii, and his daughter, Mrs. Helen Prater. 

            Jesse went from the Barnsdall to boats operated by Capt. Gordon C. Greene and began his piloting career on the Steamer H. K. Bedford, on which Capt. Greene took his bride, Mary Becker Greene; and on the Steamer Argand, which Capt. Mary Becker Greene commanded in the late 1890s.  When Capt. Greene took his steamboats from the “Port of Newport” to the “Port of Cincinnati” Jesse went with him.

Tribute to Author

            In a forward his close friend, Capt. Frederick Way, Jr., of Sewickley, Pa., noted author of river books and head of the organization which sponsors the River Museum in Campus Martius states: “Capt. Jesse P. Hughes went to an art school.  He told me he did.  He told me, too, that his art career was nipped in the bud.  ‘Old Man Greene’ needed him back on the river.  And what Capt. Gordon C. Greene wanted, that was what Jesse usually did.  His yearning for art, and his natural talent for drawing, played him good stead. 

            “This might-have-been pencil and brush man who turned pilot and captain has one guiding principle.  He is accurate in everything he undertakes as is humanly possible.  He now gives us a series of sketches, and they are more than that.  They are photographic; they are historic glimpses of what interested this man most in his river travels over the past half century.  If Jesse’s pencil catches a guy-line somewhat crooked, you may depend upon it that that guy-line was crooked.  He is also accurate in the thrill of a gracefully crated ‘sheer line.’

            “There have been other steamboatmen with the artist’s skill, but none of them have had their work published.  Of all the candidates, Capt. Jesse’s book was chosen.  He was known as a steamboater and not as an artist.”

            The steamer Delta Queen, finest on the rivers, done in color, is the first picture in the book.

            Then, there’s the sketch of the T. N. Barnsdall, named for T. N. Barnsdall, early oil operator here, who gave the whistle on the boat—his namesake.  The boat was later sold and renamed “Royal,” and later named “Liberty.” Her whistle showed up on the Reuben Dunbar, one of the boats brought from the South during the exigencies of World War I.

Navigation Problems

            There was a time before canalization of the Ohio River was completed that the Ohio River was “figuratively speaking,” frozen over half of the year and dried up the other half.  The Steamer Cricket especially designed for low water operations was designed by Capt. Gordon C. Greene and Capt. Hughes.  She only drew 15 inches of water and could run when all other boats had to suspend operations because of low water. 

            In a story in the book with a sketch of the Cricket, Capt. Hughes tells of seeing a farmer drive his team and wagon across the Ohio River directly across the course of the Cricket.  (It might be remembered when folks in this area drove across the Ohio River on low water stage at what was Carpenter’s bar, near the site of the present Lock and Dam 17.)

            The U. S. snagboat, E. A. Woodruff, is pictured in the book.  The boat ran from 1874 to 1921 in the days when there were snags which spelled disaster all too frequently to the barges of towboats on what were “coal waves” after rains enough to make a navigable  stage; when there was smoke 100 miles long in the air from stacks of the towboats following close one after another. 

                                                            Other Sketches

            Then there is the sketch of the light house tender “Goldenrod,” only light house tender on the rivers since 1889 until the Steamer Greebrier [Perhaps he meant Greenbrier as that is the word used later in this paragraph. Typed as shown in article.] took over.  The Greebrier retired from service when the Coast Guard took over, now operating five modern diesel vessels.  It might be interesting to note that these light house tenders were named according to a system for wild flora—Goldenrod, Greenbrier, Anemone, Wakerobin, Fern and Willow.

            A sketch of the Courier, owned and operated by Capt. J. Mack Gamble, and later owned by Capt. Gordon Greene; the Steamer Tacoma, owned by Capt. Greene and which burned in the big river craft fire at Cincinnati in 1922 when the old steamer Island Queen and the Morning Star of the Coney Island Company and Tacoma were destroyed with the steamer Chris Greene burning; a wood named for Mrs. Junius Greenwood of Newport, sister of Capt. Greene; a sketch of the H. K. Bedford which sank and was destroyed in the ice at Ralph Bean’s Landing above Reno are pictured.

            Capt. Hughes selected a miscellaneous collection of his drawings for his book.  There is one of the Peter Sprague, largest towboat ever on the rivers; a showboat in tow; the race of the Steamer Betsy Ann and the Chris Greene in the famous sprint of the packets in July of 1928 when the Chris Green won the antlers.

            A sketch of the side-wheeler St. Lawrence which had the most famous musical steamboat [copy of article ends here].

From the Muskingum Valley Review, Sunday, August 2, 1998:

German churches aided settlements, by Diana McMahan

            In the middle of the 19^th century, the arrival of many German families enriched the small communities, such as Matamoras, and the rural areas beyond.  Many were merchants and craftsmen, others were farmers. 

            These new families made great contributions to the communities [was typed as commities, but I believe she meant communities].  They were all hard-working people; they added German foods to the hill culture as well as their skilled handwork and Teuton ideas.  Where enough of them lived together, they built solid churches with the old gravestones that were more often in German script and carried valuable information about their native homeland. 

            In the northeast end of Washington County, several German churches were formed for the many immigrants who settled in this area.  It has been suggested that the heavy forests and the wide river reminded the newcomers of their native Rhine Valley and the Black Forest. 

            The German organized church nearest to Matamoras was the German Methodist Episcopal Church on Alloway Road.

                                                Church Organized About 1860

            The location of this church was on Township Road 14, a short distance after it turns off County Road No. 9 at the Stonerock home.

            The congregation organized about 1860 and land for the church and cemetery were donated by Mr. and Mrs. Kollman, great-great-grandparents of Bradley Alloway, his brothers and sisters. 

            Many remember the small church that stood by the road in the middle of the cemetery.  Many feared it would be destroyed, a victim of time.  However, the church building was purchased by former resident, Gale Motz, and moved to the Mill Creek Road, where the owner has done much toward restoring it.

            Among the first members of this church were Peter Englehardt, Anna M. Englehardt, John Killmer, Mrs. Kollman, John Singmaster, Philip Newman and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Neun. 

            First minister of the church was Rev. Reinhart, and class leader was Jonas Neun.  The first list of trustees included John Neun, Peter Englehardt and Tunis Neun.  In 1881, trustees were Peter Englehardt, Conrad Miller and John Kellneer (Killmer).

            A list of early pastors included Henry Henkey, Frederick Schimmelfenig, Carl Melitzer, John Kupp, J. G. Reiber and Rev. Moehring.  Sunday School was held every Sunday and church whenever the pastor could get there. 

                                                Other German Churches

            Williams History of Washington County, 1881, mentions several other German congregations.  Regarding the old log German church on Bell Ridge, the Independence Township sections states,

            “By the year 1847 or 1848, the German element in this vicinity had become strong enough to establish the German Lutheran Church.  The first members of this were Adam Yost, Martin Sippel, Henry Goodballet (Gutberlet), Christian Hanselman, John Kinsel, John Wagner, William Saelick and their wives, also Mrs. Huffman, a widow, and others.  A church building was erected on land given by Messrs. Yost and Holstein.  The first preacher was the Rev. Bairnes.  The present minister (1880) is Rev. Wintrin.”

            Hardesty’s 1882 History of Monroe County tells the history of churches in Brownsville, located about five miles from Matamoras.  “The sixth church organized was the German Evangelical Church, at Brownsville, Aug. 30, 1856.  They bought a lot with a house on it, which they remodeled and used as a meeting house.  In 1866, they built a new frame church edifice, 24-by-30 feet, present pastor Rev. R. Leuscher, membership twelve families.  A treasured 1870 record book of the “Zion Evangelical Church of Brownsville” was given to the Matamoras Area Historical Society by Ernest Thode.  Beautifully written in German script, this book contains members’ names: Schmidt, Kraft, Reinherr, Dornbusch, Gross, Machetanz and others.  Ernst Waernecke, who lived at Archers’ Fork, was a member. 

            In Lawrence Township, “The first German Society in the township was organized in 1845, as the German Methodist Church.  A log building was put up and a burying ground laid out on the ridge in the northwest corner.  This house is still standing and services are still held in it at regular intervals.”

            Newport Township also had a German Church.  “A Methodist Church known as the German Church was organized at an early day, and a little log church erected on the west bank of Newell’s Run, in the northwest part of the township.  It was occupied until about 1873, when its society passed its membership to the Pine Ridge Methodist Episcopal Church in Lawerence Township.”

*          *          *

The following appears to be from Tallow Light and the Washington County Historical Society:

The following article was supplied by Mrs. B. F. Cogswell, a member of our society.  As such, it was a typescript copy.  Consequently, we will not credit misspelled words to the author of the original manuscript, nor label these sometimes quaint twistings of the alphabet with a sic.  In other words, without the original manuscript (Its location being unknown at the present), we cannot determine how many transcriptions the present typescript copy represents.  Beyond this, there are references to certain families and persons who have been mentioned in some detail in previous bulletins.  In this case, for the sake of the article, we will indulge in repetitions. 

HISTORY OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF THE OHIO VALLEY

(Newport Township Area)

By Charles L. Dana

The first exploration of this territory now consisting of the State of Ohio was made by the French in the year 1680.  The Ohio Company organized in New England in 1786 was composed of men who had served in the Revolutionary War, and who purchased a large tract of land north of the Ohio River, paying for it in Continental money.  This was the first sale of public land made by the Government.  The first permanent settlement made in the Ohio Valley was on the Ohio Company Lands at Marietta, the pioneers landing at the mouth of the Muskingum River on the 7^th day of April 1788.  Other settlements were made along the Valley soon after  The war between the British government and the Colonies had practically prohibited emigration to this countty.

            The first I will mention is Col. Joseph Barker, who was born in New Market, N. H., in 1765.  He was married to Miss Elizabeth Dana of Amherst, N. H., in 1789.  They came to Belpre, Ohio, in this county, the same year.  He died in 1843 and she died in 1935.  Joseph Barker, Jr., was born in Belpre in February 1790.  He was the first white child born in the township, and is said to be the second white child born in the State of Ohio.  He married and moved to Lower Newport in 1821 and built a frame house and lived in it until he built the brick addition to the house (now occupied by George Henry Holdren) in 1832.  He was married twice, his first wife was Miss Malissa Wilson Stone, and to them four children were born.  His second wife was Mrs. Mary Ann Shipman, and to them four children were born.  He was prominent in public life.  He died in Lower Newport in 1860.

            Joseph Holdren was a farmer and a shoe maker.  He came from Pennsylvania to Newport Township in 1801.  His wife was Miss Grace Coleman of Trenton, N. J.  She died in the year 1842.  To Joseph and Grace Holdren were born eleven children, as follows: Nancy, John, Betsy, Mathias, Joseph, Ruth, Polly, Grace, Susan, Sophia and Coleman.  Coleman  Holdren owned and lived a number of years on the farm now owned by Andrew and George Smith, in Lower Newport.  His family moved to Marietta where he died in 1875.  The children of Coleman Holdren were: Joseph, James, Mary Ann, Julia and Fanny.  George Henry Holdren who is a member of this club [Valley Farmer’s Club] is a son of Thomas Holdren who was a grandson of Joseph Holdren, Sr., and wife Grace Coleman Holdren. 

            We next come to the Middleswart Family.  Abraham Middleswart was born in 1787.  He lived near Pittsburgh, Pa., where all his children were born.  In the year 1815 he moved to Ohio and settled in Lower Newport.  He had fifteen children.  Among them were Jacob and Clark who settled in Lower Newport.   After Clark’s death his family moved out west.  Jacob Middleswart was born 28 December 1793 near Pittsburgh, Pa.  He married Miss Eleanor Fulton, 24 May 1835.  To them were born twelve children, three died when young, nine lived to be grown up, as follows: Hamilton, Francis, George, Austin, Ner, Sarah, Anna, Emma and William.  Of the five men four served in the Union Army, one (William) being too young.  Jacob Middleswart died 14 December 1861.  His wife died 8 August 1891.

            The Plumer Family was eminently a pioneer family.  Jonathan Plumer was born in Newburyport, Mass., in 1724, married 6^th June 1744 to Mehitable Harrison.  They had three sons: Nathaniel, Paul and Jonathan in 1753.  He married Miss Facett and removed to Old Town near Fort Cumberlin, where he engaged in Indian trade.  He furnished commissary supplies to the army under Gen. Braddock.  He placed his wife and children in the fort and joined the army.  When he returned he found another child had been born, named William Plumer.  William Plumer had nine children.  Directly after Wayne’s defeat of the Indians, emigration became active toward the upper valley of Beaver.  Mr. William Plumer must have followed.  They removed in 1802 to Kentucky, but not being satisfied they moved to this community in 1804, on the farm now owned by his grandchildren.  His son John, married Jane H. Fulton, in 1831.  He died 10 May 1889, his wife having died in 1876.  They left a family of three sons and two daughters:  Happy, Eliza and Charles occupy the homestead, Fulton the oldest son lives in Iowa and John lives in Marietta.

            Sereno Hollister, son of Roger and Hannah Hollister, was born in East Glastonbury, Conn., 10 August 1797.  He came to Marietta in the year 1819.  He was married 22 Feb. 1823 to Mary Ann Ryan, who was born in Ireland, 27 June, 1799, and with her parents came to this country about 1802 and settled on the farm now occupied by Charles Hollister.  To this union were born five children: Dwight, Charles, Almira, James and George.  After the death of his first wife, which occurred in 1937, he brought his parents from Whitehall, N.Y. to reside in his home.  His mother lived about a year, his father, Roger Hollister, died in 1851.  He was married a second time, 4 November 1838, to Cynthia A. Brooks who was born in Athens County 22 September 1811 and died 23 December 1848.  To them were born three children: Mary, Elizabeth R. and Harriett.  Sereno Hollister lived for sixty-one years on the farm, which is still the home of his son.  During the active years of his life he followed the occupation of Stone Mason.  He died 2 September 1880.

            The next on the list is the Racers.  Benjamin Racer, Sr., was born in Normandy, France in 1752 and came to this country when a boy.  His family were all, with the exception of himself, killed by the Indians.  He, by showing so much bravery, skill, and fleetness of feet evaded them for several days and won for himself the esteem that caused them to favor him and to adopt him into their home where he lived until becoming tired of that kind of life, when he liberated a prisoner that the Indians captured and escaped with the prisoner and joined the British Army.  He married the daughter of Maj. David Chestnor of the British Army, and came in 1798 to Marietta, bringing his wife and four children: Dennis, Benjamin, Mary and Elizabeth.  They came to the farm in this valley in 1816.  He died in 1823 on the farm afterward owned by his son, Benj. Racer, Jr., and now owned by Ezra Racer.  Three of Benj. Racer, Sr.’s, children married into the Holdren family.  Benj. Racer, Jr., was born in Wyoming County, Pa., 24 March 1785, was married in Newport to Miss Susannah Holdren who was born in Trenton, N. J.  He afterward married Abigail Churchill.  He was the father of sixteen children, as follows [names not listed] who with one exception lived to be grown up.  They all settled within the township except Mary who married Jonathan Middleswart and resided in the state.  All of Benj. Racer, Jr.’s, children have passed away except Ezra and Mrs. Ann Alcock.

            Among the English emigrants coming to this settlement in the year 1795 was a man by the name of Caleb Thorniley.  He with his wife and nine children left Cheshire, England, early in the year, arriving in this country at the port of New York, from this point they came through Pittsburgh, Pa., in wagons.  On account of sickness in the family they were compelled to stop there.  Two daughters died and were buried in the cemetery in Pittsburgh.  The family made the journey from Pittsburgh to the Little Muskingum creek in boats, landing on the 18^th day of July 1796.  William Thorniley returned to England in the fall.  After settling some business and visiting friends and relatives he returned to his own home in the wilderness bringing with him three young men; Joseph C. Cole, Joshua Armitage and William Holt.  Joseph Cole took a tract of land on the left bank of the Little Muskingum creek, about three quarters of a mile from the Ohio River.  A number of his descendants are living in this community.  Joseph and William live on a part of the old homestead and are grandsons of Joseph C. Cole.  Joshua Armitage married a daughter of William Thorniley.  She died and he remarried and went to Cuba where he and his family were murdered at the time of the Insurrection of slaves.   William, the oldest son of Caleb Thorniley, married a Miss Markham in New York City.  They named their oldest son, Phillip Van, in honor of the small boys of William Livingston, with whom she had lived before her marriage.  They had in all seven children, namely: Phillip Van, Caleb, Augusta, Harriet, William, Cornelia, John and Thomas.  Phillip Van had a family of seven children, as follows: William, Walter, Wallace, Willis, Warren, Willard and Samantha.  William another son had five children, who are: Samuel, Elizabeth, Augusta, Eliza and Laura.  John Thorniley was the father of William (called Tanner Bill), Caleb, Mrs. Adaline West, Mary Ann, Thomas C., John, James, George, Elizabeth and Harriet.  The Thorniley’s have been a prosperous family and have helped make the valley what it is today. 

            We next speak of the Smith family.  Samuel Smith came from Connecticut.  He was a sailor and farmer.  He came to the Ohio Valley in 1803.  He married Miss Jemima Bradley and to them eight children were born: Stephen, Susan, Esther, Joshua, Charles, Henry, Frederick, Elizabeth and Eliza.  All have passed away except Joshua, Frederick and Elizabeth.  Joshua lives in W. Va., Frederick in Florida and Elizabeth lives in this neighborhood.  The Smiths were among our earliest gardners and have always been our best gardners.  The children of Stephen and Susan Smith are: Roena, Joshua, David, Samuel, Rachel, William, Albert and Anna.  According to the best information that we can get the family of Wests in Fairfax County, Va., is the oldest of the family of which we have any definite knowledge.  He lived in Fairfax County, Va.  His wife, Sarah Trammel, came west with her children, making her home with her son John and died in Brown County, Ohio, about 1828.  Their children were: Thos., Wm., John, Hugh, George, Robert, Nancy Sally and Libby.  Nearly all the children came to the Ohio River about 1800.  Wm. and Hugh settled near the mouth of Cow Creek, W. Va., about 1803-4.  Later Wm. Married Susannah Reed in Fairfax County, Va., and their children were born there.  She died about 1822-3.  He was a cabinet maker.  He was drowned in the Ohio River near the mouth of Bull Creek, W. Va., about 1827.  Their children were: Newman, Wm., Russell and Susan.  Newman married Eliza Sharp; Russell, Amanda Harness; Susan, Tunis Middleswart.  Wm. was born in Fairfax County, Va., 23 Feb. 1796 and came to Ohio with his parents early in 1800.  He was a volunteer in the War of 1812 and 1814, and was Colonel of the Wood Co. W. Va., militia in the twenties.  He married Elizabeth Compton, 16 May 1819, moved to Washington Co., Ohio, to the farm now owned by their son, Wm. West in 1827.  He died in May 1866, his wife died 9 Jan. 1867.  Their children are: John A., James C., George W., Henry C., Wm. W. and Thos. J. John, James and Wm. settled on farms in the Valley. 

            Solomon Harness and family moved from Morefield, Va., to Wood Co., W. Va. [all references to W. Va. Should be Va.]  about 1815 and settled on what is now known as Ness Farm above Waverly, W. Va.  Granville Harness, the son of Solomon was born at Morefield, Va., 5 August 1798 and moved with his parents to Wood County, W. Va.  He was married to Jane Compton in 1826.  She was born in Winchester, Va., 19 May 1797.  They lived at Calf Creek on his father’s farm until 1831 when they moved to Washington Co., Ohio on the farm above the mouth of the Little Muskingum, where they lived the rest of their lives.  The farm is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Kraft.  Granville Harness died 2 June 1870, and Jane Compton Harness died 9 Nov. 1874.  There was born to them five children, as follows: Virginia C., John L., George W., Solomon and Kathrine W.  None are now living but Kathrine.  John L Harness married August Thorniley in 1853.  Kathrine A. Harness married Theodore Kraft in 1866.  Virginia C. Harness married Capt. Hunter in 1889.

            Thos. and Bain Posey were the original Posey settlers of the Valley, coming from William County, Va., in 1813.  Thos. Posey was married to Amy Petty and to them were born seven children: Anney [?] married Jane McKibben in 1822.  One daughter was born to them and two years later she died.  Henry married Susan McKibben, eight children were born to them.  Three are living, Henry died in 1880.   Alexander married Mahalla Morrison.  Nine children blessed this union.  After her death he married Mrs. Ellen Northrup.  Later he married Miss Kalkins. He died in 1882.  George married Mary Riley in 1838.  Ten children blessed this union, one only living.  George Posey died 31 July [cannot read the date] at the age of ninety-three years, four months, having attained the greatest age of any of the family.  Thos. died in 1854, aged twenty-one years.  Dudley Posey married Rachel Racer for his first wife and Susan Philips for his second wife.  He died in 1899.  Wm. Mar. Elizabeth Williams. Sidney married Benj. Racer.  Alfred and Jessie left here years ago.  Eliza married Wm. McKibben.  Bain died in 1860, his wife years before. 

            Sarah Brown married Wm. Alcock who owned a cheese farm in Cheshire, England, where they lived until 1797, when they sailed for America, arriving at Marietta in Nov. 1797.  They bought a farm four miles above Marietta.  They brought with them large quantities of fine cloth, velvets, etc., which together with money was entrusted to a relative and lost, this left them in the wilderness without money or friends.  Wm. Alcock died in 1799 leaving a widow and seven children.  Thos. the eldest was sixteen years of age.  In 1813 he married Sally Holliday Wells of Winchester, Va.  He loaded boats with produce and took them to New Orleans.  The return trips were generally by vessel from New Orleans to Baltimore, Md., and from that city he walked across the country to Pittsburgh, and from there home in a canoe.  Twice he walked home from New Orleans carrying his gold in a leather girdle around his waist having also his gun, blanket, skillet and killing what he needed, often sleeping with the Red Man for whom he had never had any but kind words.  He kept the first and only ferry across the Little Muskingum, running until the Marietta and Newport pike was built in 1839.  He died March 1860.  His wife died in July 1874.  Thos. Alcock, Jr., lived and died in the same home in 1878.  His widow and son George live on a part of the same farm.  There were ten children born to Thos. and Sally Alcock: Margaret, Wm., Sarah, Thos., Robert, Mary Ann, Martha, Sally, Richard and Nannie.  Three died in infancy, Martha died at the age of thirteen.  Thos. married Ann Racer.  Robert never married.  Mary Ann married Dudley Racer.  Sally married Dr. B. F. Hart.  Richard married Cynthia Middleswart.  Nannie married Dwight Hollister and resided in California. 

            The Miller family we can trace back to 1806 when John Miller moved from West Chester County, N. Y., to Fearing Township, Washington Co., Ohio, and engaged in farming.  In 1825 he moved to the farm now known as the Miller farm and built the house (now occupied by L. E. Miller), which he moved into during the flood of 1832.  He was born in 1777 and died in 1840.  His son, Robert T. Miller, was born in Fearing Township 20 June 1809.  He married Marietta Fuller in 1838.  They had five sons and four daughters: Jane Plumley, John W., Charles A., Emmaline, Robert T., Jr., Lucy Thorniley, George W., Mary Mitchell and Lewis E. Of these, Charles, Robert, Lucy, Mary and Lewis are still living.  The farm was originally entered by Col. Robert Taylor in 1798, who came to this country from Rhode Island and who died soon after, being the first person buried in Mound Cemetery in Marietta (1801).

            Capt. Timothy Buell and his brother Gen. Jos. Buell, came to Marietta in 1789 from Klintworth, Conn., now called Clinton.  Capt. Timothy Buell was born in 1768 and died in 1837.  He served in the War of 1812, represented Washington County in the State Legislature and was sheriff and Tax Collector for Washington County for a number of years.  He was married at Covington, Ky., to Sally Dewitt in 1795 and settled on the farm now occupied by Mr. T. L. Buell.  After the death of his first wife he married [?] McAlister.

            Wm. McAllister and family came from Colbrook, N. H., in 1815 and settled on section 16, the farm now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Loren Olds.  The original land grantor patent signed by Martin Van Buren is in the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Olds.  The family consisted of self, wife and twelve children and an aged father and mother, both of whom died in 1816 and were buried in Mound Cemetery, Marietta.  Wm. McAllister died of cholera while down the river on a flat boat in 1819 and was buried at Hartford, Ind.  It is rather remarkable of seventy descendants of said William McAllister now living, none have the name of McAllister.  The children of Wm. McAllister are: James, Camilla, Harry, Polly, Rebecca, Irene, Nancy, Wm. Jr., John, Frances, Hainer and Madison.

            We now speak of the Cogswells.  Harry Cogswell was born in Whitehall, N. Y., in 1791.  He came to Marietta, Ohio, in 1821.  He married Polly McAllister about 1824.  She died in 1825.  In the year 1827 he married Elizabeth Carlisle who was born in Providence, R. I., in 1804.  They came to Marietta in 1807 in covered wagons and settled at Whipple, Washington Co., Ohio.  She was the mother of six children.  She was the daughter of Maj. Benjamin Franklin Carlisle; she died in 1890.  Harry Cogswell was a soldier in the War of 1812 while a young man.  He taught school in 1823.  He kept the ferry at the mouth of Duck Creek.  He was a farmer by occupation.  He died in 1859. 

            John Stephenson was born in the year 1793 in Hagerstown, Md., and came to Marietta in 1812 and enlisted in the United States Army the same year.  After the close of the war he engaged in the shoe business in Marietta.  He engaged a number of hands called journeymen to make shoes which he carried on horseback to Hagerstown, Md., and Harrisburg, Va.  He would take about thirty horses and fasten sacks of old shoes on each horse and would take several men to ride and lead the horses.  He would make it a point to arrive there at a time when Court was in session and by so doing he could make sale of his shoes and horses and then would buy leather and bring back to make more shoes.  He married Louisa Gravin in 1824.  She was born in Harrisburg, Va., in 1808, came to Marietta in 1810, and in 1847 they moved on the farm east of Duck Creek now occupied by R. J. Stephenson.  The family came from Maryland in covered wagons at a cost of one hundred dollars for a family which was a good deal at that time. 

            In conclusion I will just mention the names of some early settlers of whom I was not able to get information.  The families are as follows: The Hills, Howards, Bells, McKibbens, Broughs, the Ryans and many others….

            Note: The author of the above article, Charles Luther Dana (1845-1905) was a son of William Pitt Dana (1817-53, of Dea. Stephen, of Capt. William) and Susan E. Shipman.  Charles L. Dana married 5 Nov. 1866, Mary Racer (1842-1927)

The following item was furnished by Mrs. Otto (Grace) Gibson:

Christmas Eve on Harmar Hill

‘Tis midnight hour on Harmar Hill,

The city slumbers down below

Electric lights like fire-flies glow,

And ev’rything is hushed and still.

As slow the hours drag away,

I think about the days agone

And anxiously await the dawn

To usher in the Holy Day.

In rapturous dreams of baby dolls

My little one now calmly sleeps,

While here and there a shadow creeps

Along the dingy cottage walls;

And, as I hang her little toy

Upon the tiny Christmas tree,

The distant years come back to me

And I am but an anxious boy.

For, while I dream beside the hearth,

I seem to hear a dear one tell

A story that I love so well

About a Babe of Royal Birth.

I list’ to catch her voice again,

But singing breaks the magic spell,

And soft and sweet, o’er hill and dell,

Comes “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men.”

                                    ---James Martin Shawhan.

From Unpolished Pebbles

Published, 1902

And thus with those of yesteryear, we wish you all A Merry Holiday!

The following is from a newspaper clipping, the handwritten date is 11/19/85 with credit to the Marietta Times:

Letha C. Greene

Hyde Park—Letha C. Greene, 80, of Hyde Park, who headed the line that once owned the Delta Queen Riverboat, died at 6 a.m. Monday in Good Samaritan Hospital of Cincinnati of an apparent heart attack. 

            She was preceded in death by her husband, Capt. Tom Greene, in 1950.  Following his death in 1950 she became president and general manager of Greene Line Steamers, owners of four steamboats until 1966.  She then continued as president for two more years, and was instrumental in keeping the Delta Queen on inland waterways.

            In 1958, when riverboat business became economically strapped, she made financial arrangements to save the Delta Queen.  A 51 per cent controlling interest was sold to a California resident, Richard Simonton.  In 1969, Overseas National Airways, a New York Charter Airline company bought all of the interest. 

            She attended Marshall University of Huntington, W. Va., and the University of Cincinnati.  She was a teacher, public speaker and honorary member of the Cincinnati Propeller Club, Zonta Club, Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen and Knox Presbyterian Church.  She also became a member of the Screen Actors Guild after making a commercial.

            A native of Vinton, W. Va., she married Greene in 1930.  For five years she lived aboard steamers of the Greene Line, founded by her father-in-law, Capt. Gordon C. Greene, in 1890.  The family then settled in Cincinnati.  She authored the book, “Long Live the Delta Queen.”

            She is survived by two sons, Gordon C. II of Cincinnati and Thomas R. II of Cedar Grove, Ind.; two daughters Mary G. Stewart and Letha J. Greene, both of Cincinnati; one sister, Leoma Weidmann,; and six grandchildren

            Private services will be at Newport.  Memorial services will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Knox Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati.  Memorials may be made to the charity of one’s choice. 

McRea Post Office Momento

By Jerry B. Devol

            One of the naturally great pleasures in the collection of county postal history is to discover a postal marking from an office long missing from one’s collection.  A year ago I was missing 23 of the 151 offices that had existed in Washington County, and the McRea office would have seemed one of the least likely to turn up due to its very short life. 

            The McRea Post Office was established at the village of Milltown, about one mile north of Newport, 16 November 1893, in the store of Moses E. Hanna Jr.  He was its first and only postmaster.  After serving some 150 citizens of Milltown and a total of 400 including surrounding farms for about 20 months, the McREa office was discontinued 11 July 1895, with mail going to the Newport Post Office.  The closing of this tiny office was probably due in part to the illness of Postmaster Hanna; he died four months later, at the age of 33 years. 

            Moses E. Hanna was born in Monroe County in 1861 and came to Newport as a child.  In 1885 he was employed as a butcher; by 1890 he acquired his own shop on Main Street.  He undoubtedly was acquainted with the Rev. Thomas Ison McRa (1954-1933) of Monongahela County, West Virginia, who was well liked in the Newport-Lawrence Methodist circuit in the 1880s.  It appears that the little office of Milltown was so named after the Reverend McRa in spite of the misspelling of his name. 

            Following the demise of Moses Hanna and the McRea Post Office, the store was taken over and operated for many years by Hugh Henry.  Another post office was established at Milltown on 22 June 1897, but it was installed in the larger store near the bridge over Dana’s run toward Newport—Bevan Brothers, with James A. Bevan as postmaster.  His younger brother, Harmen E. Bevan, took over the Bevan Post Office in 1903 and kept it for 30 years until it closed 8 September 1932, mail going to Newport. 

            About 40 years after Hugh Henry locked his store for the last time, a great auction sale was held there in 1983.  Some fine collectors’ items were sold out of the old store and out-buildings.  The natives and bidders were shocked when a handful of cigarette baseball cards from the 1910s brought $1100.00.  While rooting in boxes of junk, I found some envelopes, including eleven bearing postal markings of McRea, Ohio.  Fortunately for me, no one at the auction was interested in old letters, so I got them cheap. The McRea postmarks ran from 5 May 1894 through 22 May 1895.

            I’m still missing example postal marking from the following Washington County post offices: Aurelius 1850s; Barber 1850s; Cat’s Creek Mills 1813-1817; Corner 1890-1902; Cornerville 1890s; Devol’s Dam 1880s; Gray 1873-1889; Halfway 1890s; Hope 1890s; Liberty Hill 1855-1865; Limburg 1890s; Lower Lawrence 1846-1867; Maxon 1901; McGuire 1840s; McIntosh 1830s; Mildred 1898-1902; Olds 1855-1863; Olga 1888-1899; Parker 1880s; Prosperity 1898-1902; Rinard’s Mills 1846; and Warfield 1880s.  Most of these probably exist in manuscript only.  I will pay good prices for examples of any of the above:--J. B. D.

Tallow Light, Vol. 18, No. 2

A History of the Lawrence Baptist Church

1840

            Lawrence Baptist Church was organized in 1840.  A log meeting house was built and the people met for worship every Sunday, although no regular preacher visited the congregation until 1844.  During this four year period the very existence of the organization was hanging between doubt and fear, but the courageous labors of Lettie Templeton carried the helpless infant beyond the period of danger.  She has been entitled the proud distinction of God-mother of the church.

Data from William’s History of Washington County, Ohio

            At the regular court of quarter sessions in Dec. 1798…all that portion of Washington County lying east of the western boundary of the Seventh range was set apart and named Newport Township.  Later six townships were created from this parcel, namely: Grandview, Lawrence, Ludlow, Liberty, Jolly and Newport.  (end of quote)

            It was in the northeast part of Lawrence Township, that the little Baptist Church bearing the Township name was established.  There is evidence that the original log building stood not far from the present site.  There was at that time a post office nearby and the address was Steel Run, Ohio.

                                                1833 First Sunday School

            The first Sunday School in the Little Muskingum Valley, so far as is known, was taught by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph McEl Hinney, who resided above and opposite the mouth of Elk Run.  This school was attended by the parents and children of the settlement within a radius of four miles.  It was an itinerant school (traveling from place to place) and was held at the houses in the neighborhood, and most frequently at the homes of Joseph McEl Hinney of Lawrence, and Robert McKenzie and Jesse Fleming of Independence. 

            It seems very probable that the Lawrence Baptist Church was established as an outgrowth of this first Sunday School.

            Other records show that Joseph McEl Hinney with his aged father, John McEl Hinney, and his only sister, Anne, came from the North of Ireland and settled on the Little Muskingum River near the mouth of Elk Run, in 1832.

            The deed for the present church site, dated in 1865, shows that the land was deeded to the Church from Mr. and Mrs. McEl Hinney.  Because of inadequate records we do not know when the present building was erected, although it could have been much earlier than 1865, when the land was deeded. 

            The first minister of the Lawrence Baptist Church was the Rev. J. D. Riley, who became pastor in 1844.

            In the early years there was very little money to pay the pastors, and evangelists who visited the church for revivals from time to time.  The old records tell of how one minister brought both Saturday night and Sunday morning messages, and was paid $7.44 per week for his services.  Another instance tells of how the parishioners gave a dime offering which amounted to $1.10 to pay their preacher for a Sunday service.  The record books also show that $20. was paid to a Dr. Gear for a two-week revival in October of 1901.

Church Sends Two Ministers

Records show that Lawrence Baptist Church has sent two members into full-time ministries, Rev. Emmet U. Smith and Rev. Fred Rake. 

The Rev. Emmet Ulyusses Smith, was united with the Lawrence Church and very shortly thereafter he was licensed to preach.  He was founder and minister of Fair Oaks Baptist Church in Zanesville, Ohio, from 1889 to 1894.  Ill health forced his early retirement and he died in Banning, California in 1897.

Fred Bake left the church around 1905 to study the ministry at Moody Bible Institute.  After Moody he attended Franklin College, in Indiana.  He served as pastor at Logansport, Crawfordsville, Vincennes and Evansville in Indiana and at St. Louis, Mo.  He ministered to a large congregation at the Evansville Church for 36 years until his retirement. 

He was very active in the Lawrence Church as a youth and this love and dedication manifested itself in his coming to this community many times to preach revivals, while on vacation from the Evansville pastorate.  Records indicate that after one of his evangelistic meetings here, as many as thirty converts would be baptized into the church.

In August, 1922 the Marietta Baptist Association held its annual meeting at the Lawrence Church.  Although they had been sending delegates to the meeting each year, this was the first time the church hosted the annual event.

Of the several ministers that served the church during its history, the Rev. O. R. Hoskinson from Marietta, Ohio served the longest period of time (15 years).  He brought messages bi-weekly, and was compensated only by the offerings taken at the meetings.  He is now deceased.

The Rev. Edwin McLeod ministered to the church for eleven years, from 1958 to 1969.  Under his leadership many changes were effected in the physical and spiritual growth of the church.  He inspired the church in its dedication to missions, both at home and abroad.  During his tenure the church also began regular contributions to Jewish Missions. 

            The present church (1975) is proud of the two “Gideons” it has in its membership, Lawrence M. Smith and William H. Bowersock. 

            In 1973, Lawrence M. Smith was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Baptist Convention, the first member of the church to serve in this capacity.

            The Marietta Baptist Parish was formed in 1970, consisting of the Newport, Deucher and Lawrence Baptist Churches.  The Rev. Sherman J. Snider from New Concord, Ohio was called to this ministry.  He resides in the parsonage, owned by the Newport Church, and thus is in the community where he is active in home and hospital visitations, for all three churches.

            The church is able to enjoy and benefit from a worship service each Sunday and a weekly Bible study and prayer meeting under his guidance.  It was the first time in the history of the church that a worship service was held every Sunday.  Many improvements to the building have taken place, and Rev. Snider has inspired his parishioners to a grater love and concern for friends and neighbors. 

            In searching the records it has been determined that the church does not have a constitution.  On e is being drafted at the present time, and will be completed and ready for approval in 1976.

Important dates and interesting highlights in the history of the church:

1840        Church established.

1844        Rev. J. D. Riley became first pastor.

1865    Land deeded to church from Joseph McEl Hinney.

1867    A constitution was drawn up to govern the Sabbath School.

1889    Emmet U. Smith was licensed to preach.

1905    Fred Rake entered Moody Bible Institute.

1922    Church hosted the Marietta Baptist Association annual meeting for the    first time.

1952    Shingles were installed on the church building exterior.  Interior work included painting walls, sanding and varnishing floor.

1955    Basement built under church building, with tile floors, a rest room and built-in kitchen.  An electric range and refrigerator were donated by the minister, Rev. O. R. Hoskinson.  The refrigerator has since been replaced with a new one, but the range is still in use.

1965    The entire sanctuary was refinished with paneling on the walls and a dropped ceiling with new ceiling tile.

1966    New concrete entrance steps and a large portico attached to the front of the building.

1967    All new pews, with padded seats and a new pulpit were purchased and dedicated to the Lord.  A new piano was purchased, with the Ladies Aide Society paying half the cost.

1968    A new communion table was purchased.  A new communion set was donated by the pastor, Rev. Edwin McLeod.

1971    The women’s Mission Society was organized.  The church had been supported in its many endeavors over the years by the Lawrence Baptist Ladies Aide.  This organization was dissolved at the time of the establishment of the Mission Society. 

1973    New shingled roof replaced the slate roof that had been on the building (as far as the records show) since it was erected.

1974    Folding partitions installed in the basement.  This enables the large social room to be divided into four separate rooms for Sunday School classes.  An electric furnace installed to heat both the basement rooms and the main sanctuary.

1975    New storm windows installed on building.

 Following is a roster of the pastors serving the Lawrence Baptist Church:

1844        J. D. Riley

1853    Henry Lyon

1854    John Abels

1863    B. M. Stout

1865    D. Sachman

1866    Mungo Taylor

1866-1898       Incomplete (Records missing.)

1898    Bro. H. Cofer

1899    Bro. Jackson

1900    Bro. Jennings

1901    Bro. Shoemaker

1902    Bro. Barnhart

1904    H. C. Downing

1919    (Supply) J. M. Turner (Associate Pastor)

1920    Fred Rake

1921    N. N. Peyton

1922    (Supply) F. A. Maier (Associate Pastor) and N. N. Peyton

1923    T. B. Ashton

1924-1926       Russell Purdy

1926-1929       N. M. Cunningham

1929-1931       I. L. Basford

1931-1935       J. C. Lucas

1935-1938       A. W. Guiliano

1938-1941       Mrs. A. W. Guiliano

1941-1956       O. R. Hoskinson

1956-1958       Fred Williams

1958-1969       Edwin McLeod

1969-1970       Walter Brown

1970-present    Sherman J. Snider

AAUW Christmas Tour of Homes—1975

Greenwood Home—Newport, Ohio

Built 1808

Note: Please read cards that identify the other beautiful and old places in the house.

            This beautiful stately home is constructed with bricks that were made and kilned on the farm.  The walls are 18 inches thick. 

            As you enter the Living Room—immediately to your left is a melodeon believed to be the first musical instrument in Newport.  Note the red velvet button back love seat that was Grandma Greene’s, an antique butterbowl filled with greens, the old stone jars, copper pans, brass and irons and candlesticks.  On one mantle—glass hurricane candle covers, Cora Craft. 

            Hallway—Rosewood music rack.  Note large keyhole in hall door that is upside down. 

Bedroom to the right at top of stairs: The fireplace is in its original state.  Note the wide window seats.  The four poster bed is a cord or rope bed.  The ropes run lengthwise instead of crosswise which makes it unusual.  The Empire dresser and dressing table are mahogany and are very compatible to the bed.  A cherry candle table stands beside the bed.  Many a Greene and Geenwood baby has slept in the cherry baby bed. Gentleman’s wicker chairs flank the fireplace.  The painting of the Delta Queen was done by Helen Parr Fleming. 

Bedroom to the left of the stairs: A spool four poster bed painted white was originally covered with a canopy.  Early Wedgewood plaques are on the wall near the fireplace. 

Master Bedroom: This bedroom is massive.  The walnut in the bed has a beautiful soft luster.  The marble-top wash stand with the upturned back (splash board) is rarely seen now.  A mahogany desk has ball and claw feet.  From the windows in this bedroom nearly all of Newport can be seen. 

Fourth Bedroom: An early wardrobe and a small table with unusual turned legs are points of interest.  The painting of the “Gordon C. Greene” was done by Captain Jesse Hughs. 

Fifth Bedroom: This room was added about 30 years ago.  The ancient trunk is most unusual in size and shape.  The rocker with an oriental influence, a cedar wardrobe and captain’s chairs along with other maple pieces complete this room.  A child’s rocker with quaint carved back was used by Mrs. Greenwood when she was a child.  A winding stair leads to the downstairs but it is not used today. 

Back downstairs, the warm Den was formerly used as the parlor.  From the west windows you get a view of the Ohio River.  The chandeliers in this room and the dining room came from the “Chris Greene” and the “Tom Greene” riverboats.  The walnut secretary in the corner, brass candlesticks and sleighbells on the mantle and stone jars on the hearth are other points of interest. 

Dining Room: On the wall over the sideboard is a Venetian Mirror and on the sideboard, among other things, a glass Dolphin Compote in the Ribbon pattern.  The many handpainted plates were done by early members of the Family. On the mantle is a Copper Lustre pitcher and above the door a Flow Blue plate and a pewter teapot.  On the cherry table—a rare glass fly catcher vies for attention. 

Kitchen: In the pine paneled kitchen dining areas, above the windows, the racks hold Spode, Haviland and Royal Daulton plates.  In the center of the kitchen table the massive antique butter bowl holds a half-bushel of apples.  A huge key, butter paddle and brass dipper adorn the walls.  Off the kitchen is a closed porch now used as an office.

Out the back door to the screened porch: Note the boot scraper if you missed it on your way in and the hand picked, sandstone trough for watering the horses and now used for flowers. 

            We hope you have enjoyed this memory filled home with all of its lovely furnishings and appointments that have been gathered and saved, passed from one generation to the next, cared for by each so they may serve those who follow.

Attached to the above is a newspaper clipping, the source not shown:

A land grant from the United States government was secured by the Greenes.  Their son, Daniel, a sea captain, built the first brick home in 1808 for his parents.  The home remained in the Greene family until 1846.  W. C. Greenwood, a flatboat man, bought the property.  Mr. Greenwood’s son, Junius married Carrie Greene, a granddaughter of Daniel Greene.  Their son, William is the present owner. 

News of Newport found in Pleasants County Leader, July 9, 1988:

Clarence and Lucille Clegg, Weirton, spent last Friday and Saturday with Mrs. Clegg’s brother and family, Mr. and Mrs. Francis M. Farnsworth, Sr. of Route 1.

David and Virginia Toth, Allison, Jason and Sean of Richmond, Va., visited recently with their grandmother, Mrs. Fern Pryor.  Allison remained for a visit until after the Fourth of July holiday.

Pvt. Gary Boley will arrive home soon for a month’s leave of absence from duty in the U.S. Army at Stuttgart, Germany.  He will visit his wife, Violet, and parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gary Boley of St. Marys and other relatives. 

Luncheon guests with Hope Barnhouse last Tuesday were Mrs. Thelma Rupert, Mrs. Genevieve McKown and Mrs. Beverly Carpenter.  Also calling were Diana McMahan and Helen McMahan. 

Mrs. Alberta Huck and children, Waterford, Ohio, spent last Saturday with Mrs. Bessie Hashman, Route 3, New Matamoras.

Becky Pritchard, Marietta, visited with her mother, Hope Barnhouse, on Wednesday evening.  Charles and Beverly Carpenter were recent clallers of Mrs. Barnhouse. 

The 30^th Annual Firemen’s Festival of the Newport Fire Department brought friends and relatives from far and wide to share in picnics and fellowship.  Family get-togethers proved popular.

Family members visited with Mrs. Jessie Barnett, Leith Run Road, Saturday through Wednesday.  Sharing the good times were Rich and Diane Thomas, Jessica and Jody, Bob and Edie Harris, Billie Jo and Charlie,  Chuck and Judy Harris, all of Coshocton, Ohio; Steve and Karen Brooks, Stephanie and Stevie of Michigan.  The entire family enjoyed attending morning worship at the Center Valley Baptist Church. 

Gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert W. Thomas, Newport, to enjoy the Fourth of July were Mike and Carol Barnhouse and Ryan, Marietta; Karen Smith and Jeff, Macksbujrg, Ohio; Jerry and Leta Barnhouse, Rachel and Amy, Hope Barnhouse and Frank, Newport.  A delicious picnic dinner was enjoyed following the annual parade. 

A delicious pot-luck dinner and fellowship were shared at the residence of Loren and Tammie Rinard.  Attending were Denzel and Mabel Rinard, Mrs. Lulu Rinard, Ed and Lamyra Rinard, Eric Rinard, all of Rinard Mills; Tara Rinard, Marietta; and Greg Edgar, Roger and Darlene Dye, Robb and Valerie McPeek, Mark Mendenhall, Newport; Brenda Antill, Dale and Norma J. Antill, Frank Antill, Rinard Mills and Kim Beidenbach, Scott, Vickie and Marcie Turner, Marietta; Franklin and Mildred Dye, New Matamoras.  Callers during the day were Terry and Janice Pringle, Jennifer and Tiffany, New Matamoras; Roger and Beverly Rinard, Chad, Heather and Jason, Rinard Mills, Ohio; and the hosts, Loren and Tammie Rinard and daughter, Lauren. 

Harold and Gladys Dye, St. Marys, shared the day in Newport with their brother and sister, Bernard and Hazel Dye.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carpenter entertained with a delightful pot-luck supper on the lawn.  Their near-by rose garden in bloom was enjoyed by the group.  Appropriate decorations for the day enhanced the lawn and garden scene.  Those enjoying the occasion were Doug Cochran, David and Linda Cochran, Kelly and Mike Cochran, Becky Farley, Mrs. Edna Cochran, Charles and Diana McMahan and Vachel, Mrs. Helen McMahan, Dick and Mary McMahan, Natalie and Nicole, New Matamoras; Howard Thomas, Mrs. Fern Pryor and Allison Toth, Mrs. Hope Barnhouse and Frank, Mrs. Genevieve McKown, Susan McMahan, Bryan McMahan, Newport; Mary Carpenter, Parkersburg and the hosts, Charles and Beverly Carpenter. 

“Daddy Told me So”

From the St. Mary Oracle—Pleasants County Leader, Sept. 7, 1978

By Hope Deshler Barnhouse

            I have always believed implicitly in what my father told me!  Perhaps I should say—“in what Daddy told me”—because I do not recall calling him anything except “Daddy.”  But some of the tales he tells do have a tendency to stretch a little over the years, in the telling and retelling!

            Daddy came from a large family of eleven children, and this does not include his four older half-brothers.  Hence, one can see that the stage was always set for some incident of humor or pathos.  With such a cast of characters, and I DO mean characters, someone was always playing a joke on another or dissolving into fits of laughter at some comic situation. 

            Speaking with a drawl which we accept naturally, Daddy tends to prolong a conversation.  Many people, hearing him speak for the first time, think he is “pulling their leg” a little.  One such person was a school chum of my sister Helen. On her initial visit to our home, Esther had not heard Daddy talk until his arrival home from work, whereupon we sat down for the evening meal.  Passing a serving dish to her, Daddy asked:  “Esther…do…you…want…some…beans?”  With a puzzled look, she drawled in reply: “No…thanks…I…don’t…care…for…any!”  Needles to say, Esther was very chagrinned to find this was Daddy’s normal way of speaking, and was always a cause for embarrassment to her!

            I’ve heard Daddy tell countless times of a man who lived in a houseboat moored along the Ohio River.  He must have been away from home when a rise in the river came; the boat was left tied to its moorings and consequently sunk.  Next day an acquaintance came along the road; seeing only the roof and the smokestack protruding from the water, he ran down the river bank calling excitedly, “Wherry!  Wherry!  Are you in there?”

A German Grandmother

            I sometimes wonder how they managed to feed all the hungry mouths through the cold winter months on the hilltop farm overlooking the Ohio near the mouth of Davis Run and Grape Island.  Of course, they had their root bank where potatoes, turnips, parsnips and various vegetables were buried beneath mounds of earth with a covering of straw for protection.  The cellar was full of all kinds of preserved produce, barrels of sauerkraut, sorghum, pickled beans and apples; the meat house was rich with tender pink hams and shoulders, cured by long, slow hours of hickory smoking. 

            Any persona born and bred in the country knows the hard work entailed in butchering a hog and preparing the meat for curing.  After killing the animal, it is scalded to clean the outside and the bristles removed.  The carcass is then laid upon a table or board across saw-horses, all preparatory to making the various cuts of meat.  This brings to mind Daddy’s somewhat pathetic tale concerning his younger brother’s reaction at the time of their Grandmother Deshler’s death. 

            She was born in Wurttemburg, German, Dec. 12, 1805, and came as an immigrant to settle in Monroe County, Ohio, around 1840.  When Grandfather Deshler came to settle on the 140-acre farm on sections 24 and 18 in Newport Township, Washington County, she lived in her own small house next to the main house on the farm.  Being still in the horse and buggy days, an undertaker was long in coming (if at all), and they would lay a corpse on a board or flat surface, often with large pennies on their eyelids to keep the eyes closed.  A similar procedure was followed at the passing of Daddy’s grandmother in 1891.  My Uncle Ray, then only a lad of four or five, upon seeing her still form stretched out in this manner, turned to their mother and cried in anguish, “Oh Maaa….I can never eat her!”

                                                            Copperheads!

            These old rocky hills of Ohio seem to be a good habitat for copperheads, one of our most poisonous snakes.  Daddy and my uncles had many experiences with these reptiles, and they held a healthy respect for the “coppers.”  Gathered together one evening on a visit to a neighboring Ohio town, Daddy and four uncles sat talking of the copperheads—“they weren’t as numerous as they used to be;”—“they’d never been seen in or around this particular area;”—“they weren’t as large as in years gone by,” and numerous homily observations. 

            The day following this discussion, as we climbed the concrete steps from busy Pennsylvania Avenue, a through street in East Liverpool, O., to my Uncle Carl’s tiny front yard, someone creamed.

            “Copperheads!”  Sure enough, into the hedge crawled a copperhead!  In the mad scramble a hoe was secured and the snake quickly dispatched.  But did they let that reptile rest in peace, as all dead snakes should?  Oh, no!  He was gently put into a box and tenderly carried out into the country the next day; there he was “cunningly planted” in the path by Daddy, while Uncle Carl talked with Uncle Earle, requesting a look at the favorite foxhound.  They managed to put Uncle Earle in the lead down the path so he would “chance” onto the snake.  I can’t say how high he jumped nor how loud he yelled, but from all reports, it much have been some kind of record!  Now with Uncle Earle in on the plan, they went on up the road to pull the same trick on Uncle Ray, who was especially afraid of copperheads.  As they had shown the snake around to everyone interested, the decision was to let Ray “kill it!”  When Uncle Ray saw the snake, he managed to grab a shovel that happened  to be standing “conveniently “ nearby, and proceeded to beat the snake to a pulp, while Daddy and my uncles stood by convulsed with laughter!  One gets the impression that over the years Uncle Ray was often the brunt of their jokes. His brothers always accused Daddy of bringing that snake to the East Liverpool area!  Foolish idea!

                                                            Boyhood Days

            The farmers in this locale always used to grow tobacco, usually for their own consumption.  The tobacco leaves were hung in log buildings or barns to dry and age, the space between the logs affording a chance for the air to pass freely between the suspended tobacco.  One such barn stood alongside the road Daddy and the others took downhill to the store and defunct post office at Murphy, O., near the mouth of Reynold’s Run.  At the residence, living with his mother, was a youth who could not talk plain, having a definite lisp.  On passing the barn, Uncle Ray would reach between the logs and get a handful of tobacco; this probably gave him a chance to try the forbidden art of chewing tobacco.  Apparently it had gone on for some time as a shortage had been detected by the owners.  One day in passing, Uncle Ray reached through the logs as usual, and much to his surprise and consternation, his wrist was securely grabbed, and the youth inside bellowed loudly, triumphantly, “Ma…Ma…I’ve caught the ’fief!”

            Daddy journeyed down-hill from the ridge several miles to the one-room schoolhouse where he, with my aunts and uncles, received at least the equivalent of an eighth grade education.  They would often remain in school following their eight years, reading and absorbing as much more learning as they could acquire.  The schoolhouse was set near Reynold’s Run, and here they read their McGuffy readers, studied geography, had their spelling bees—in other words, learned their “reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic.”  The schoolhouse still stands today, remodeled into a residence, but basically the same structure in which Daddy attended his lessons these many years ago.   One of his favorite teachers was Mr. Fletcher, a colored man, which must have been unusual for that time. 

            During the local oil boom, Daddy worked in the oil fields.  He worked with a man that was deathly afraid of dynamite.  One day during the lunch-time, another worker, knowing of his great fear, carelessly tossed a couple of sticks of dynamite near the first laborer.  Leaping up in surprise and managing to transpose the syllables in dynamite, what he actually cried angrily was, “Now look-a-here!  Daminyte is daminyte, and daminyte is dangerous and not to be fooled with!!”

                                                            Childhood Memories

            From the time of my birth, we made our home with our maternal grandfather Louderback, who we simply called “Grandpa,” our paternal grandfather having passed away years before.  Grandpa smoked a pipe, occasionally a cigar, but at most times the house reeked of the deep, rich smell of Kentucky tobacco.  He was not content, however, with blends he could buy in the stores, but would send to Kentucky for bundles of tobacco leaves.  These came periodically, in dark brown wrapping paper, whereupon Grandpa would sit down, newspaper in lap, and proceed to crumble the leaves to the texture he liked.  This, in turn, he stored away in tins or humidor. 

            In his lifetime, Grandpa worked at many things—gardening in hotbeds, and selling the early produce to the river packets or shipping things to Wheeling, W. Va., for sale.  Sometimes he would row in his skiff down behind Middle Island to St. Marys for sale of garden produce.  He spent many years at the cooper’s trade, going from orchard to orchard in the northern panhandle, building barrels needed for shipping apples.  At one time, probably around the early 1880s, Grandpa had a dish boat which he would have towed upriver to the pottery town—Wellsville, East Liverpool or Chester—where he took on a supply of ware for sale at the stops on his way back down river.  A john boat and the river current were the sources of “power” on his trip home.  We have one hadnbill stating that “A.C. Louderback will be at your landing with a good supply of pottery, dishware, etc….” He lived a busy, interesting life while rearing a family of seven children, one of whom is my mother, Iva Louderback Deshler. 

            Along came the local oil boom and Grandpa held interest in many wells, some good but some, dry holes.  He often worked on these wells, as a tool dresser or pumping them when they did srike oil.  In working at an engine one day, he caught the index finger of his right hand, and was forced to jerk it from the machinery to keep from losing his whole hand.  The doctor did a good job, for this finger was neatly and smoothly rounded at the first joint.  Many are the times that Daddy told us that Grandpa had burned his finger down to a stub from tamping tobacco in his pipe!  I was just a child then, but I believed it, for after all, hadn’t Daddy told me so?  I suppose that my face wore the same expression of awe that I was to see in later years on the faces of my nieces and nephews, as they were told the same story by Daddy. 

Our Elderly “Kin”

            It seems as if young people today often miss the fellowship, the companionship of older people.  A development of concern for one who is elderly is bypassed, and far more than a generation gap exists!  Not so, when we were youngsters!  We were not permitted to call these “senior-citizens” by their first names; they were “Mr. and Mrs. So and So.” Or more likely, Aunt or Uncle, though no family relationship actually existed.

            My life as a child held a series of these so-called “kin,” with whom I felt a comradeship, an esteem that seemed mutual.  Our next door neighbors, Aunt Kate and Uncle Ed, were especially near to my sisters and me, as was Uncle Clem.  He was a brother to Uncle Ed and resided in his home.  Uncle Clem was a retired school teacher with a great knowledge of historical and natural points of interest, especially in Ohio.  They often toured these sites, including us in the picnics and expeditions—but that is a story in itself!

            Then there were Aunt Barbara and Uncle Gil.  Aunt Barbara was called in to care for Mother at home after the doctor’s visit when my sister Helen and I were born.  For about a year following their marriage, Mother and Daddy lived in East Liverpool; during this time, Aunt Barbara would often come in to clean or do some cooking for Grandpa.  She lived next door in the house that was once Grandpa and Grandmother Louderback’s home, where Mother was born.  She had a vast knowledge of the relationships of the families in our locality, plus a store of old wives tales.  If I were to believe that a child could be marked, then I would say that Aunt Barbara marked me!  Later I was to have an avid interest in genealogy, particularly those of our surrounding community. 

            There was also Aunt Alice, the widow of my great uncle, though she remarried following Uncle Bernard’s death.  Her sister and husband, Aunt Sis and Uncle Elmer, were equally close.  When I was very young, and only vaguely remember, there was Aunt Hattie.  She was plump and jolly, and at the time, was engaged to Grandpa.  Aunt Hattie had been married before also, with children and grandchildren, but death claimed her before they were wed.  I think hers was probably the first funeral that I ever attended.

            My two sisters and I always felt at home in the residences of these various “aunts and uncles;” I was as much at home sitting in the kitchen with Aunt Kate, drinking fresh buttermilk, as if I were at home!  She lived in the house that my great-grandfather, James H. Louderback, built in the late 1860s or early 1870s.  He was a river boat pilot, and the stairway in his home was constructed similar to those on a steamboat, going up from a wide front door with glass panes on each side of the door.  It was a favorite place to play when I was small.   You could imagine all sorts of things lying on the wide steps that you could stretch out on and have room to spare!

            My eldest sister, Genevieve, whom we always called Vevie, is an avid reader.  When we were young she was usually curled up somewhere with a book, often chewing feverishly on numerous toothpicks, which we accused her of swallowing.  Daddy said she would end up with a wooden leg!  She was six years my senior, so as a tot, this seemed logical to me, too!

            Many jars of fruits and vegetables were preserved when Daddy was small.  On one occasion when Grandma was canning peaches, he questioned as to when they would eat them.  Grandma simply replied, “When the snow flies,” and busied herself with her work.  That year when the first snowflake fell, Daddy ran in excitedly calling, “Get the peaches!  Maa…get the peaches!”

            Yes, they are simple tales that we have heard many times, but they have become a part of our heritage, as even within my childhood, there are incidents that color my memory.  A neighbor boy, near my age—about eight or nine then—on hearing that his mother was going to the funeral of a great-aunt, wanted to go also.  When he found he was to stay with another lady, he broke into great sobs, and with tears coursing down his cheeks exclaimed, “I’ve never seen Aunt Toots!”  How well I know what he meant!  There have been endless situations that have arisen, when those same words expressed my dismay at not being able to go somewhere or see something!

            The mother of a family was coaxed for the last of the cookies—maybe it was a piece of pie.  I don’t know!  Finally, in exasperation and thinking of the son away from home, the mother said, “Oh, all right, take it!  Poor Otto won’t have any.”

                                                Heritage of the Past

            The things that we did as children would seem mighty hum-drum to the young people of today!  We lived a slower pace, in the era when radio was new, the “Model T” was popular and the women, in their short fringed dresses, were dancing the Charleston.  I don’t actually remember seeing anyone dance the Charleston, except in movies and later on television.  The first movie that I recall seeing was “The Covered Wagon;” I can see yet, in my mind’s eye, the dust from the rolling wheels, the galloping horses, and the attack of the howling, feathered Indians!

            We often went to the live shows on the old showboats that plied the Ohio River—the “Cottonblossem,” the “Majestic” and others whose names I forget.  The last performance that I attended was on the Majestic when she was docked at Marietta and summer productions were given by the students of Hiram College, Hiram, O.  The joy of hearing the huge steam calliope play the old familiar tunes is a childhood memory to cherish.

            “GerneralWood,” “Senator Cordell,” and later, the smaller “Liberty—these were all river packets passing our home weekly on the run from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh.  The Liberty would sometimes stop at the old Shuster’s Landing, across from the head of Grape Island, to take on some cattle or logs for market.  An occasional passenger would board for New Matamoras, or one of the numerous towns or landings upriver; likewise for the downriver trip to Marietta or points south.  In later years the “Gordon C. Greene,” with its beginnings at Newport with the famous Greene family, plied these waters.  Now, we look forward to the annual trip of the beloved “Delta Queen” each summer!  Even yet, there is the excitement of piling into the car and going to a good vantage point or the Willow Island dam, the better to see her regal passage, to hear her mellow steam whistle!  A nostalgic chapter of Ohio River history is all but gone!

            I wonder how many a child learned to roller skate in the dining room on a linoleum rug?  Or played “Hide and Seek” on a bright moonlight night with their parents?  What a joy it was to bundle up in a mass of heavy clothes, boots and mittens to sleigh ride on an old homemade bobsled!  I still recall how we walked gingerly behind Daddy across the frozen Ohio, while he tested the ice before him with a long pole!  I guess that must be what everyone refers to as “the good ol’ days!”

            What modern child has sat upon an open hilltop at night and listened to the baying foxhounds as they chased the fox over hill and down vale?  While the chase went on, Daddy, who was familiar with the lay of the land, would give a running commentary:

            “They’ve crossed the Hoffman…now they are going down the Brown hill…Rock is ahead—now Pat is chiming in…they’re going up Davis Run…will probably ‘hole up’ before long…No, they are still going…up Clyman point…out past the Yonally!”  By that time they were getting too distant to hear, and we made our way down the road from Abicht’s Orchard by the light of the old lantern.  It’s now just a memory that means little to anyone except a privileged few!

            Our childhood held a series of foxhounds, each finding a place in our hearts. Pat and Rock; Ranger and Blazer; Sort and finally, Nip and Tuck, the last two hounds that Daddy had.  I think that the twinges of rheumatism had set in, putting an end to sitting on a cold hilltop on a damp, summer night!

I’m a little curious as to what Daddy’s reaction to this recitation might be, but I don’t think that I’ll ask him!  He’d undoubtedly say, “No, Hope, this is the way that story goes,” and then give me another version of the same, old tale!

Or perhaps he might reply as he did on a recent occasion.  I had an opportunity to let another party know my thoughts and feelings on a certain subject; later, in telling Mother and Daddy of that conversation, with the remark that I didn’t think I’d said anything to offend the party, Daddy stared at the floor and rocked quietly in his chair for a few moments.  Looking up, he drawled gently, “Well, Hope,…as…a…general…rule; when…you…say… anything, you…usually…say…too…much!”

Lock No. 16 pottery to be displayed at library

From Muskingum Valley Review, December 10, 2000

            Unusual local pottery, handmade at Lock No. 16 during the years 1935 to 1938 is on display in the lobby of the Matamoras Public Library.  This is the first time the Beavertown Lock 16 Pottery has been displayed since it was made. 

            At the end of the Depression, times were hard in southeastern Ohio and other parts of Appalachia. 

            In order to help the esprit de corp of the rural people, the U.S. government planned several programs, both to help the citizens and to provide jobs for some of them.

            One of the centers where programs were planned was at Lock No. 16, Beavertown, Ohio, several miles south of Matamoras on State Route 7.  Lockmaster at No. 16 was Nelson Beare who, with his wife Virginia and daughter Ethel May, lived in one of the spacious lockhouses. 

            Ethel May Beare Noland vividly remembers the pottery program.  She described it as being under the auspices of the Government Extension Program, as a means “to help people express their creativity after the end of the Depression.”

            Women as far downriver as Wade, as far upriver as Matamoras, eagerly met every week or two at the Locks.  A teacher was furnished and he instructed them in molding the clay, in painting, glazes, and art forms.  Some molds were used, but most of the pottery was designed by the women who make it.

            After each art session was over, the potter took the collection of weekly creations away with him to put in a kiln.  The women were excited, waiting to see how their pottery would turn out.  Would it be perfect … or would it be cracked or broken?  Would the colors be good?

            Most of the pottery that has survived those 65 years since it was made is beautiful.  Large and small, dark and light, and of many different colors, each piece was a testimony to the creativity of country women who had never worked with clay before.  There are pieces of black, white, blue and pink.  However, most of the pottery is in earth tones of brown and green.

            Women who lived in this area and whose pottery is on display are: Virginia Beare, Beavertown; Maud Cochran, Grandview; Iva Deshler, Wade; Margaret McMahan, Leith; Ethel May Noland, Beavertosn; now of Marietta; and Minnie Smurr, Beavertown.

            Local collectors of this unusual regional pottery are Hope Barnhouse, David and Linda Cochran, Helen McMahan, Richard and Mary McMahan and Ethel May Noland.

            Librarian Carol Gay urges everyone to stop at the library and view the Beavertown Lock No. 16 Pottery.  Many people did not realize that there was a locally made pottery and have not seen it before. 

Caterers give Betsey Mills Club New Life

From Muskingum Valley Review, Sunday, December 10, 2000, excerpts only

            If you talk to someone familiar with Marietta about unique attractions that help make the city special, they will inevitably mention the Betsey Mills Club on Fourth Street.

            Founded in 1911 by a civic-minded sewing group, the Betsey has been a fixture of the area for the better part of the last century. Offering everything from swimming lessons to day care to art classes, the Betsey Mills has remained one of the most versatile community facilities in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

            In the past few years, however, there has been a decline in the amount of tourism going through the Betsey.

            “I’d say that we really haven’t seen the tour buses stopping here the way they used to,” said executive director Mary Jo Duncan.  “In that respect, things used to be a lot different.”

            …

            Adding to the unique quality of the Betsey’s look is the interior design work done by Circa’s Doug Hines.  Hines, who has been involved with the Betsey Mills since April, is one of the main reasons for the dining facility’s authentic colonial look.

            “I had an older woman come up to me recently and tell me she thought the inside was looking the way Mr. Mills had originally intended,” Hines said.  “Overall, everything is turning out the way I would like it to; I’m very pleased.”

            …

We’ll cross that bridge…on Nov. 19, the opening day, say state officials

From The Marietta Times, Saturday, October 29, 1977

Story by Adella Wacker, Photos by Dave Williams

            It sure has been a long time. 

            When the new four-lane bridge opens between St. Marys, W. Va., and Newport, “it’s going to be the biggest thing that’s happened here in 10 years—they’re going to be jumping,” said a St. Marys businessman.

            Ten years is just how long the townspeople have been without a bridge.

            “It’s been hard on a lot of families,” said Rob Lewis, who is president of the St. Marys Retail Merchants Association.

            Families in the two towns had married, worked, shopped and visited back and forth.

            The demise of the old Hiram Carpenter Bridge caused a slow decline in their relationships, said Lewis.  Business declined on both sides.

            “It’s going to be amazing to see how everyone gets back together.”  Lewis said.

            He will get his chance to see how the towns get back together on Nov. 19.  That’s the official opening date for the bridge from Charles Miller, the West Virginia Highway Commissioner.

            But it’s a date met with healthy skepticism by the locals. 

            “Oh, but we don’t know what year,” teased John Hendricks at Newport Lumber Co.

            The state and the Federal Highway Administration first foresaw a November, 1976 opening.  Then they said summer.  Then September.  Now, November.

            But they seem serious this time.  On Tuesday the state has scheduled a meeting with town officials to plan the celebration.  They’ve never gone that far before.

            Lewis said the hoopla will coincide with St. Marys’ annual Christmas season promotion.

            The state will arrange for speakers and guests, which are to include Gov. Jay Rockefeller.

            And when the traffic comes across the 2,579 feet of steel and concrete, good things are going to happen for St. Marys, a town of 2,500, hopes James Rekard, manager of Shouldis Department Store. 

            And it will mean more Ohio traffic to Harrisville, Sistersville, Paden City and Belmont, W. Va.

            But the bridge traffic won’t be one way.  Ralph Hendricks, the president of Newport Lumber, said he lost 30 per cent of his business when the old bridge first closed.

            He hopes to reclaim a chunk of it. 

            The Marietta Area Merchants Association has hoped the bridge would open in time to carry Christmas shoppers from West Virginia.

            St. Marys has the Quaker State refining plant, Union Carbide, American Cyanamid and construction on the Willow Island power station.  Their workers and families in St. Marys can just as easily go to Parkersburg now. 

            Lewis , Rekard and Ralph Hendricks outlined the logistics of getting to and from St. Marys for the past 10 years.

            Hendricks said he makes the 50-mile trip from Newport Lumber to Marietta, over the Williamstown Bridge and on W. Va. Rt. 2 to St. Marys.

            The closest alternative is the ferry at St. Marys.  It runs from about 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and takes passengers across the Ohio River for 60 cents ($2.50 for trucks), said Rekard.

            But some complain the ferry is not consistent, and the waits can be long.

            The other choice was the ferry at Sistersville, W. Va.

            It was on Dec. 18, 1967, that the Hi Carpenter span was closed.  That was three days after the similarly-designed Silver Bridge collapsed at Point Pleasant and killed 46 persons. 

            The Hi Bridge was reopened briefly to light traffic, but it was closed for good on Dec. 30, 1968.  It had been built in 1928.

            Initial plans included repairing the Hi Carpenter and building a new bridge on existing piers.

            In April, 1970, former Gov. Arch Moore, Jr., after a “town meeting” at St. Marys, said West Virginia would build a $13.5 million four-lane toll bridge on the Carpenter piers.

            “The governor said the new bridge would be ready for traffic in 24 months,” a Times article said.

            In the interim, West Virginia got approval for federal funds for 100 per cent of the cost of the bridge.  Environmental impact studies, hearings and locations and approval from the U.S. Coast Guard had to be obtained. 

            Work started about October 1972.  It was supposed to take about three years.

            Earl R. Scyok, the director of the construction division for the West Virginia Department of Highways, said recently design considerations mainly were responsible for the slow pace of the construction.

            It takes “a long time after contract letting before you see any progress because of the fabrication process,” he said.

            He said it could take a company a year to 18 months to get the steel rolled in the mills and form steel to fit exact bridge measurements.

            The Memorial Bridge at Point Pleasant, W. Va., was completed in two years because it was built from an existing design rather than a new one.

            In addition, Scyok said, the Point Pleasant contractors were hired and paid to build the bridge on a high-priority deadline.  Work at St. Marys didn’t have as high a priority.

            Are some people angry about the time it took to get the bridge?

            “Yeah, sure,” said Rekard of the St. Mary’s department store.

            “I think it was outrageous,” said Hendricks.

            Area residents really don’t understand why the bridge took so long to get built, he said.

            But Lewis said St. Marys people have been patient.

            He credited Sen. Jennings Randolph, D-W. Va., for securing the federal funds to build a four-lane bridge that will not charge tolls.

            But the wait?  “We were content to do that, as long as we got a bridge.”

            The cost of it to date is $24,222,459.

Dairy farm family gives up business

From The Marietta Times, Saturday, May 7, 1977

By Adella Wacker, Times Staff Writer

            Time and the Willow Island Locks and Dam have nudged brothers Richard D., 54, and Donald M. Brown, 52, out of the dairy business. 

            On April 26 Richard—Dick—paced in his muddy boots outside the milking parlor, watching Newport Pike for a cattle truck.  That afternoon the last of the mostly-Guernsey dairy herd went for sale at the Farmer’s Livestock market on Marietta’s West Side: three for slaughter, 11 for dairy.

            The following morning Dick was able to sleep in, getting up at 6:30 a.m. instead of starting his day at 4:30, because for the first time in 36 years he would not have to worry about milking cows in the damp morning darkness. 

            Dick’s son, Richard L., 24, helped load the Guernseys on the auction truck at the Brown’s farmyard.  His wife Ruth Eloiuse watched.  Don’s daughter, Jayne Snell, took pictures. 

Don was at work at American Cyanamid Co., however.  He has worked there since the 1960s when construction on Willow Island began.  Dick also works at another job in addition to farming and milking.  In April he completed 30 years as a bus driver for the Marietta Local and Marietta City School District.  He quit driving the Newport Pike bus route and went to work full time in the bus garage. 

            The U. S. Army Corp of Engineers demanded 25 cropland acres from the Browns for the locks and dam project in about 1966.  “I just didn’t see how there was a living for the both of us,” said Don about his decision to work outside the dairy farm.  “I knew we weren’t going to be able to have as many cows.”

            The remaining 260 acres along the Pike include a lot of woods, 30 acres of cropland and 76 acres of pasture, Don estimates. 

            They could have enlarged their operation by buying feed rather than growing it, enlarging the herd to 100 or more head and trying to make that way.  As his wife Isabelle said, “You’ve got to be into it pretty big if you’re going to make a living at it nowdays.”

            Or they could slowly go out of the business.  The brothers considered the dairy market, the size of their farm and their age, and decided two or three years ago to let the size of their herd dwindle.

            “We all hate to see ’em go,” Isabelle said, “but we were going to have to start replacing the herd.”

                                                            Into Milking

            Mrs. Snell, who lives with her husband in the original brick family home on the farm, regrets seeing them go.  Back from a career as an airline stewardess based in Washington, D. C., she had just learned how to make homemade butter.

            She has stories about like the time company representatives came to the Brown farm to demonstrate the new Surge milker to area farmers and got their clean clothes covered with mud and cow manure.  Or about the half-Brown Swiss and half-Hereford cow the Browns decided to keep. 

            But they all agreed selling the dairy herd was the best thing. 

            “You reach a certain point in your life when you wonder if your husbands are going to have to work this hard the rest of their lives,” said Isabelle.

            Don had thought along the same line: “I guess the older we got the less we felt like putting in long hours….It takes a young man to do it all that.”

            Dick hopes he will be able to take a little more vacation time.  Don repeated a saying about dairy farmers that pegged the situation: “One thing you know, you’re not going to need any good clothes because you’re not going to go any place.”

            Although, the Brown’s say they had it better than most diary farmers.  At least they could trade milking and farm chores with each other.  Between them they had three sons who helped when they were at home.  Don’s sons, Mark and John, have moved away.

                                                            Sold Golden Guernsey

            The Brown brothers started out with Brown Swiss dairy cows.  The family moved to the farm in 1938.  Don was 16 and Dick, 18, when they began dairying.  Later they sold Golden Guernsey milk to William Greenwood, Newport.

            After World War II and Korea were over and they returned home from the Navy, the brothers stepped up to a Grade A operation.  In 1965 the dairy herd hit its peak with 53 head.

            It was about 1966 when construction of the four-lane Ohio 7 highway began next to the Browns. A year later, they moved the original Brown home across that highway, across from the acres bought by the U.S. Army Corp of engineers to the other side of the Pike.  The brothers and their families live in two other houses on the farm.

            So it’s been about 10 years that the Willow Island Locks and Dam changed their scenery on the river.

            “I’m still kind of bitter about it,” admits Don.

From a newspaper clipping, source and date unknown:

…35 cents for a bushel basket of mussels.

Special Boats Used

            To harvest the mussels, Hank explained, a special boat was needed.  This boat would be around 12 feet long and four feet wide with a “standard” on either side. Attached to the standard were iron poles holding a number of ropes to which hooks were tied. These were let down into the mussel beds and as the boat moved slowly over the bed the hooks dug up the mussels. When one side was full, the other would be let down.  A contraption he described as a “mule” at the back of the boat, helped to shove it along in the water.

                                                A Real Cookout

            Camps for cooking the meat in the shells were situated along the river bank.  One, Hank recalled in particular, was in constant operation at the city wharf giving off an odoriferous aroma—probably the city’s first introduction to pollution.

            After the mussels were cooked, they were picked up by large forks similar to pitch forks and thrown over onto benches where the mussels were pried open and the meat picked out by hand.

            The nest step the mussels made on their way to becoming beautiful mother-of-pearl buttons was to be steamed for four or five days. This was done in large vats, placed near the factory.  (Hank says the vats are still there.)

            This process softened the shells and, after being sorted into sizes, they were ready for the buttons cutters.

            The buttons cutters, who practically taught themselves the trade, worked at machines placed side by side on a four foot wide bench built down the center of the factory.  The machines were powered by a gas engine, the shaft being against the wall.  It was necessary to have a steady stream of water sprayed constantly on the tiny saw blades, both Hand and Dent recalled.  

            The button cutter also had to buy his own machine and tools, keep them repaired and be sure the saws were filled to insure perfect slugs.

                                                Came in All Sizes

            “The mussels were in various sizes, ranging from 16 to 30,” Rockwell said.  He worked at this factor in the early 1900s and some days he would saw out as many as 14 quarts of 24s a day.  “This,” he admitted, “was a hard day’s work.”
            Hank Dotson still has some of the tools he purchased while working there, and he demonstrated how the tiny circular saws had to be kept filed.  “Some of the fellow never did get the hang of it, and I remember one fellow’s paycheck at the end of the week came to nine cents.”

            Rockwell said his first paycheck as a button cutter was $7 for a week.  “We were paid by piece work and the company counted a gross as 168 instead of the 144.  This was to allow for faulty slugs,” he explained.

                                                Honesty, the Policy

            Hank said the workers would let their daily output of slugs pile up while drying out in sawdust for the entire week, and on payday when they would get a lull, they’d carry the slugs to the bookkeeper and have them weighed on an automatic scale, whereupon she would figure out what they had coming and issue the check.

            The bookkeeper was the only female working at the factory.  The first to have this position was Minnie Lamoreau—later Ruth Marple Core took over the work.  “In those days,” Ruth said, “everything was handwritten.”

            Although each worker had his own pile of slugs, no one ever thought of bothering them.  Honesty was considered the best policy in those days.

            Every part of the mussel was used, and the various sizes were called such names as “Mother mucketts, pig toes,” etc.  Some of the mussels would be four lines thick and used for the larger more expensive buttons.  The outer trim of the shell was sawed by tip cutters for the cheaper and smaller buttons.  Whatever part of the shell remained was then ground into chicken feed.

            The slugs were shipped on to the finishing plant at Amsterdam, N. Y.

            Many of the workers were “floaters” from the Midwest, as far away as Muscatine, Iowa, Hank said.

            As in many endeavors, too much overhead finally kept the factory from making a profit and it shut down, but for a number of years St. Marys was a winner of he game, Who’s go the button.

Beavertown: a spirited history

The Marietta Times, September 3 & 4, 1988 (date handwritten)

By Roger G. Kalter, Times Staff Writer

            Beavertown—A mix of riverside bungalows and trailers, an underground house, two taverns, a service station and a little white church skirt the Ohio River in the shadow of what was once a notorious moonshine town.

            Folks in this mile-long hamlet along Ohio 7, three miles south of Matamoras, still are full of stories about illicit whiskey made during prohibition in the wooded hills overlooking the Ohio.

            During the early days of the 20^th century, there was little else in the way of work in the tiny community, which today has 75 to 100 residents.

            “People simply did what they had to do,” said the Rev. Frank Conley, minister of Beavertown United Methodist Church.  His church was converted from a one-room school house perched on the hillside.

            Conley, who has ministered the church nearly 28 years, believes stories told about the town’s moonshine history are worse than deserved. 

            “Beavertown is not as bad as the name carried down through history,” said Conley, who lives in Sardis.  He also ministers churches at Mt. Olive and Locust Grove.