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pg. 379 - EARLY GUERNSEY COUNTY MARRIAGES
(From the Times in 1903.)
"The first marriage ceremony performed by a minister in
Guernsey county was that of Thomas Sarchet, Jr., to 'Catty
Markim,' September 11, 1809, by Rev. James Quinn,
elder Methodist Episcopal church, both of them of Cambridge,
Muskingum county, Ohio. There was some bad spelling by
the elder or clerk of record. This was the first
marriage in Cambridge and should read: Thomas Sarchet,
Jr., to Catharine Marquand.
"The first marriage in Guernsey county was James
Boler to Sally Leunce, September 11, 1810, by
Thomas Henderson, justice of the peace, of Oxford
township.
"We give some of the first marriages at Cambridge.
John Robin to Mary Hubert, September 20, 1810,
by Thomas Knowles, justice of the peace, both of
Cambridge.
Cyrus P. Beatty to Nancy Sarchet, June 11, 1811, by
David Kirkpatrick, justice of the peace, both of
Cambridge.
Lloyd Talbot to Nancy Sarchet, November 10, 1811,
by David Kirkpatrick, justice of the peace, both of
Cambridge.
Thomas Lenfesty, Jr., to Cartaretta Hubert,
January 9, 1812, by the Rev. William Lambdin, of
Methodist Episcopal church, both of Cambridge.
Thomas Ogier to Rachel Marquand, May 28, 1812,
by the Rev. William Lambdin, of the Methodist Episcopal
church, both of Cambridge.
Thomas Metcalf to Sarah Gomber, March 17, 1814,
by David Kirkpatrick, justice of the peace, both of
Cambridbe.
Thomas Bryan to Joannah Olive, October 17, 1814,
by David Kirkpatrick, justice of the peace, both of
Cambridge."
THE HUMAN TEAM.
" A Novel
Spectacle, and, we may add, a moving one, was witnessed in
this place ten or twelve days since, exemplifying in one of
the strongest points of view a state of bodily degradation
most painful and revolting to the feelings of human nature.
It consisted of a wagon filled with such articles of
furniture, etc., as usually belong to an emigrating
establishment bound for the 'Far West,' drawn by two men and a
boy, all duly harnessed, acting in the capacity and doing the
work of a team of horses! The individuals thus engaged
appeared cheerful and patient in the exercise of their
laborious employment. They were ascertained to be
emigrants from Germany, on their way to the distant regions of
the West."
~ Times, October 19, 1833.
METEORIC SHOWER OF 1833.
The following
appeared in the Times, by Mr. Sarchet, in
November, 1890:
"The old house now being torn down on North Eleventh
street, at the divergence of the street through the
McCracken and Matthews additions, is one of the
early houses built in Cambridge.
"It was built by Peter Sarchet, Sr.
It was a freak of architecture, a frame, the intervals between
the studding being filled in with brick, and was plastered on
the outside in imitation of stone. Another house in the
same locality, which stood on the northwest corner of Eleventh
street and Steubenville avenue, was of similar build, except
that it was lathed on the inside and plastered. This
house was built by John Torode. Neither of these
houses stood the test in our variable climate, and soon began
to look ragged and unsightly, by reason of the bond in the
mortar or cement giving way and falling off, but both, when
new, were attractive looking houses.
"But it is to relate an incident well known in history,
in connection with the house then occupied by a Mr. George
Clark, that we began this reminiscence. In November,
1833, quite a number of citizens of Cambridge assembled at
Clark's, as was a custom, to engage in 'fighting the
tiger.' During this frolic and carousal, toward the 'we
sma' hours,' one of their number went and returned with the
alarming declaration 'that the world was coming to an end, and
the sky falling in.' These midnight revelers looked upon
a meteoric scene that led them to think that home, rather than
a gambler's den, was the best place to be when the 'sky was
falling in.' So for home they made as best they could,
so suddenly awakened from a drunken debauch, to be ever after
during their lives living witnesses that the 'sky fell in.'
"The New American Cyclopedia gives this description of
that November night, 12th and 13th, 1833: 'But the year 1833,
on the night of November 12th and 13th, is memorable for the
most magnificent display on record, and was visible over all
the United States, and over a part of Mexico and the West
India islands. Together with the small shooting stars,
which feel like snowflakes and produced phosphorescent lines
along their course, there were intermingled large balls of
fire, which darted forth at intervals, leaving luminous
trains, which remained in view several minutes, and sometimes
half an hour or more.'
"The writer of this, then a boy seven years old, well
remembers the eventful night when the 'stars fell.' At
our home we were all engaged in the annual fall custom of
making apple butter, which generally partook of the nature of
a neighborhood frolic, paring and cutting the apples and
stirring the butter until late into the night. Some one
of the number going out, returned with the cry that the 'stars
were falling.' We all looked upon the scene with wonder
and amazement, and one of the number said, 'What's the use of
making apple butter, when the world is coming to an end.'
"But the the world did not come to an end, nor as yet
have wonders ceased. People come and go; one builds up,
another tears down, and out of all we see the onward march of
destiny.
VARIOUS CYCLONES.
The Times of
June 25, 1885, speaks as follows of a roaring cyclone:
"The village of Byesville was visited by a genuine
cyclone last Sunday evening. It was a veritable
'ring-tailed ripper and roarer,' to appropriate the graphic
description of an impressed Byesvillian. It was of the
old-fashioned ortrhodox funnel-shape, with the little end
down, and the big end several hundred feet up in the air.
It carried in its swirl boards, limbs, small trees and general
debris. It ambled in from the southwest at the rate of
about five miles an hour, and after a deliberate but rude
caress to the orchards at the edge of town it came hopping and
hitting and skitting and slipping along through the village,
leaving destruction behind, going off to the northeast when it
grew tired.
"It was after four o'clock when something unusual was
detected by the villagers. The June afternoon was
sultry, and the atmosphere oppressive. A dead stillness
pervated the air, and the sun shone bright and hot. Then
there came a low rumbling sound from the southwest, growing
rapidly into an angry roar, that drew the villages from their
homes to look and listen. Far to the southwest the tops
of the trees were bending and breaking. A dark-hazel
cloud, compact and threatening, was flying above the tree tops
toward the town. A monster freight train seemed crashing
through the forests. Some few divined the cause and,
foreseeing destruction, fled for refuge to cellars. The
consternation spread and, panic-stricken, the people rushed
for the cellars. It struck, and the angry roar was heard
for miles. The town of Byesville more than likely owes
its escape from total destruction to the fact that the cyclone
only struck a corner of the town, and did not strike it with
its full volume. It unroofed stables and demolished
outhouses, carried away boards and timbers, as it was, and one
house was moved eight feet off its foundation. The house
was occupied by Mr. Shields, the saddler, with his wife
and little daughter. They had fled to the house at the
approach of the cyclone, but had barely entered when the windy
monster took the house in his grasp, lifted it, and jammed it
down. The shock loosened the chimney, and the bricks
came tumbling down into the room. All three were
injured, more or less, but none severely. These are the
only injuries reported.
"The cyclone moved slowly, and there was something
awful in its deliberate majesty. All the way the
hazel-cloud seemed topping it, going on before. It
struck the tall trees on the creek banks, bent them low, broke
them or tore them up, dipped dry the creek as it passed, and,
and struck the hill that lies to the northeast, as a sentinel
over the village. The shock demoralized the cyclone, as
no further damage of consequence is reported. Its path
was about fifty yards wide when it passed through Byesville.
It uprooted trees and nearly destroyed several orchards in and
about the town, among them the orchards of Henry Wilson
and Jesse Linkhorn. Shortly after the passage of
the cyclone, a terrific thunderstorm broke over the town, and
for a little while the people fancied that the long predicted
judgment day was come."
CYCLONE OF 1890.
(Jeffersonian, May 1, 1890.)
"The first genuine
cyclone that has visited Guernsey county for many years passed
through Monroe township Saturday evening. About four
o'clock the citizens were aroused to a sense of danger by the
appearance of a small funnel shaped cloud approaching from the
southwest at terrific speed, accompanied by lightning and a
terrible noise. The first account we have of its
devastation is when it struck what is known as the Lytle
farm, on Irish ridge. Here it leveled the
barn and stable, unroofed and crushed in one end of the brick
residence; then, striking Commissioner John Thompson's farm,
a large amount of timber and fencing were blown down and one
steer killed; fences and timber were destroyed on
Philip Randal's farm, but his buildings were outside the
path of the revolving terror and escaped. Mrs.
Yarnell's farm next lay in its path, and nearly all the
timber and fences were leveled to the earth and scattered
about; Mrs. Hollingsworth's farm met the same
fate, but the buildings on both farms escaped, being outside
the tract of the storm. Jonathan Colly's farm was
stripped of about five hundred panels of fence and two acres
of timber were leveled to the north. The path of the
storm was a short distance from his buildings, and they
escaped serious damage. It then passed over the farms of
Weston and Asbury George. On the former,
the fences were leveled and the barn unroofed, and on the
later an addition recently built to his residence was blown
away, together with milk house, corn cribs, wagon shed and the
grain scattered in every direction, the sheep house removed
from its foundation, six hogs killed, their mother's back
broken and a bureau carried from the part of the house blown
away, to a distance of about fifty years, where it was lodged
against a fence. All the buildings on David Meek's
property were unroofed, and a large orchard swept away, only
four trees left standing. A large amount of timber was
destroyed along Laurel creek. The storm passed on in an
almost direct line to the northeast. The path of the
cyclone varied in width from ten to twenty-five rods. It
seemed to bound along like a ball of India rubber, passing
over spaces, and wherever it struck the earth carrying
everything with it. Wheat was shaven off as by a scythe,
the furrows where sod had been broken, lifted and scattered
about, in some places lodged at quite a distance away."
A HAIL STORM IN 1826.
(Guernsey Times, July, 1826.)
"A most tremendous
storm of hale passed through this county on Saturday, the 1st
inst., in a direction from northwest to southeast, about five
miles north of this place. Much injury as been sustained
upon those farms which were within range; fortunately, however
the vein was very narrow, from a half mile to a mile in width;
many of the hailstones were nearly the size of a hen's egg.
We have heard of some farmers who had every vestige of their
crops destroyed - corn that was nearly ready to tassel had the
stalks entirely cut to pieces, to within six inches of the
ground; wheat ready to harvest was completely threshed, and
the straw cut to pieces and tangled together, so as to destroy
it entirely; tobacco was wholly cut up, so as to appear as
though it had never been planted; the trees in the woods and
orchards were stripped of their leaves and fruit. We
have not been able to ascertain the extent of the injury in
full, but from the best information we can receive, there
certainly never has been so destructive a visitation to the
citizens of this community, in proportion to its width."
COLD WEATHER STATISTICS.
(From the Jeffersonian, February, 1899, by Colonel
Sarchet.)
"Some time ago you
said: 'Can you give us a little cold weather history?'
"We will go back to the beginning of Ohio history as a
state. The winter of 1807-8 is known in Ohio history as
'the cold winter.' We are unable to give the cold by
degrees, as thermometers were not then in general use.
"My grandfather then resided in a cabin on the north
end of what is now the Guernsey National Bank lot, on North
Seventh street. We have heard our oldest uncles, who
were then aged seventeen and thirteen years, say that they had
two ways of keeping warm; one was to cut and carry in wood to
keep up the fire, the other was to carry water to throw on the
mud and stick chimney, to keep from burning up the cabin.
The water was carried from a spring, west of Sixth street,
near the residence of Hon. David D. Taylor, on North
Fifth street.
"The next was the winter of 1817-18. We have
heard it said it was so cold that a bucket of water thrown
into the air would be frozen to ice before it could fall to
earth.
"The next was the winter of 1835-6. This comes
within our recollection. There was snow from two or
three feet deep. We well remember wading through it when
it came well up to the waist. My grandfather then had a
thermometer which he kept hanging on the south side of his
house. He came to our house on the coldest morning, and
said to me: 'Boy, it's colder than you are old.' I was
then eight years old."
The writer then gave the temperature for the winter
months from 1850 to 1865, but we will simply abridge and give
his figures for the coldest day of the several years:
In 1850, coldest day was ten degrees above zero; 1851, in
December it was seven degrees below zero; 1852, January 20, it
reached seventeen below; 1853, January 27, one below; 1854,
January 23, at zero, 1855, December 27, two above; 1856,
January 9, twelve below; 1857, January 26, six below; 1858,
February 23, seven below; 1859, February 1, five below; 1860,
January 5, four below; 1861, February 8, zero; 1862, February
16, seven below; 1863, January 18, four above; 1864, "the
coldest New Year's day." the thermometer indicated a change of
forty-six degrees from nine in the evening until six in the
morning, and went as low as eight below, and in the following
month reached nineteen degrees below.
The subjoined table shows the coldest weather from 1841
on to 1871, in Cambridge, Ohio:
January 8, 1847, four degrees below zero
December 4, 1849, two degrees below zero
February, 1850, two below zero
December, 1851, seven degrees below zero
January 7, 1852, seventeen degrees below zero
January, 1853, one degree below zero
January, 1856, twelve degrees below zero
February, 1856, fourteen degrees below zero
February, 1858, seven degrees below zero
January, 1860, four degrees below zero
January 2, 1864, eight degrees below zero
January 7, 1864, four degrees below zero
February, 1866, four degrees below zero
January, 1867, ten degrees below zero
December, 1870, one degree below zero
December 24, 1871, thirteen degrees below zero, making
it among the coldest days on record in the county.
THE OLDEST MAN IN THE COUNTY.
The oldest man
who ever lived in this county is supposed to have been
Benjamin Berry, who died here in 1877. At that date
many of the elderly people here remembered him in their
childhood as the middle aged man during the war of 1812-14.
Enquiry was made at his death and it was learned that his age
was one hundred and eleven years, having been born in 1765, as
determined from the muster rolls of the war of 1812, in which
he took part as a soldier. He also served in the Indian
war prior to the war with England. It is not believed
that an older man has ever lived in this county and but a few
in Ohio have attained so great an age.
GRAVE ROBBING IN GUERNSEY COUNTY.
(Jeffersonian, December 11, 1879.)
"In 18__ there was
considerable grave robbing in Guernsey county. An
incidental account is remembered of a body being brought
through a toll gate on the National road in a sleigh, head
upright, between two men. The body had an old coat
thrown over it, and a hat put over its head. The gate
keeper was completely deceived. The body of a woman was
also taken from a cemetery within ten miles of the place from
whence this body was brought. One night, during some
dissecting by medical students and others, some woman
approached the place, probably with some suspicion of what was
going on, and moved by a curiosity to know the facts.
They came so near, and their knowledge was so apparent to
those present, that the solidly frozen head of a man was
rolled toward them. They screamed and ran away. It
was afterward discovered that they had seen nothing and knew
nothing, beyond suspicion, and it was explained to them that a
pumpkin had been rolled toward them in the dark. If they
had more suspicion, it was allayed, or their dread remembrance
of the scene, or other considerations, kept their mouths
closed.
"Many readers of this will remember that, some years
ago, an old barrel lay by the side of a public road in this
county. The stench that same from it was so
indescribably horrible that no one who ever passed by will
fail to call it to recollection now when they are told that
the nauseating smell was from fragments of human flesh, which
had, in the colder weather, been thrown into the barrel and
hauled away in the night time and tumbled down by the
roadside."
THE FIRST MAILS.
We take the
following account of the first mails of the state from an
article written by Col. C. P. B. Sarchet for the
Cambridge Daily Sun:
"The first mails carried in Ohio was in 1798, from
Wheeling over the Zane Trace to Limestone, now Maysville,
Kentucky, and from Marietta to McCullough's cabin at
the ferry at the crossing of the Muskingum river, now
Zanesville. These were weekly mails, intersecting at
McCullough's cabin. He had the authority to open and
assort the mails. The postoffice was opened at
Zanesville in 1803. In 1805 John Beatty, at the
cabins at the crossing of big Wills creek, had the authority
to open the mails. In 1807 Cyrus P. Beatty was
appointed by Thomas Jefferson as postmaster at
Cambridge, in Muskingum county, Ohio. He held the office
for a number or years. In these early days there was but
little letter writing. The postage was so much that only
business letters passed through the mails. We have in
our possession old letters showing postage paid of six an
one-fourth, twelve and one-half, eighteen and three-fourth,
twenty-five and twenty-seven and one-half cents. There
was no prepayment, and many letters were sent to the dead
letter office, because the person addressed didn't have the
money to pay the postage. Letters were sent by travelers
from town to town. This came to be done to such an
extent that Congress in 1817 passed a law making it a criminal
offense for anyone but mail carriers to carry letters.
The next postmasters were Nicholas Blaithache, Jacob
Shaffner, William Ferguson, Isaiah McIllyar, William Smith,
Robert Burns, James M. Smith, James O. Grimes, Francis
Creighton, Edwin R. Nice, William McDonald, C. L. Madison, D.
D. Taylor and W. H. H. McIlyar.
"Of these, nine were appointed as Whig, or
Republican, and seven as Democratic. We were acquainted
with all of these but the first, and received mail
through their hands."
DARING MAIL ROBBERY.
"On the night of
Friday, the 17th inst., as the mail stage was going from
Zanesville to Wheeling, one of the large mail bags was stolen
from the boot about one mile east of Washington in this
county, the bag cut open and the contents scattered in all
directions. The robber, or robbers, however, made but a
water-haul, as fortunately the bag in question contained only
newspapers. We have not heard of a clue having been
found yet, likely to lead to the detection of the daring
perpetrator of this deed.
~ Guernsey Times, June 25, 1836.
POSTOFFICES IN 1895.
In the year
1895, before the many rural mail routes had been established,
the following was a list of postoffices and remuneration
received at such offices by the postmaster in charge:
Antrim $190; Blue Bell, $41; Brown, $142; Byesville,
$283; Birds Run, $59; Brody, $50; Buffalo, $76; Cambridge,
$1,700; Cumberland, $444; Creighton, $36; Claysville, $104;
Dysons, $103; Danford, $6.00; Fairview, $265; Flat Ridge, $25;
Galligher, $62; Gibson, $92; Guernsey, $65; Indian Camp, $65;
Kimbolton, $88; Londonderry, $125; Lore City, $136; Midway,
$35; Middlebourne, $84; Millinersville, $176; New Salem, $54;
Odell, $37; Oldham; $27; Quaker City, $465; Salesville, $167;
Senecaville, $270; Sutton, $20; Spencer Station, $104; Sugar
Tree, $37; Tyner, $32; Washington, $385; Clio and Prohibition,
amount not give.
GUERNSEY COUNTY'S MAN-WOMAN.
"Florence
Goldsborough's adventures as a woman in man's clothing
through a period of sixteen eventful years cannot fail of
partaking of the strangeness of fiction and the wildness of
romance. Such is the character of the history of
Florence F. Goldsborough, whose masculine name is
Johnny Howard, and whose wild and reckless career has been
partly spent in Guernsey county.
"She was born near St. Clairsville, Belmont county, in
1847. Her father being a farmer, she was taught to work
in the fields.
"When about sixteen years of age, she was suspected and
pronounced guilty of stealing sixteen dollars from an uncle.
For this crime, she served three months in the county jail.
While admitting many other crimes, she has ever protested her
innocence of this first charge. When she was released
from jail, she donned man's clothing, and left home.
"Upon coming into this county, she first hired to work
as a farm laborer, for Rev. George W. Wharton, a
Baptist preacher who resided north of Middletown. During
the six months she remained with Rev. Wharton, she had
the benefit of morning and evening devotion, but without any
apparent effect upon her spiritual nature. At any rate,
she had the benefit of early rising in order to get the work
done in time for prayers, and her health may have been made
the better for it, if nothing more.
"Quitting Reverend Wharton's place, she hired to
labor on the farm of Andrew Morton, a short distance
west of Middletown, and she continued with him about a year.
During all that time, her sex was never suspected, and she
regularly slept with Jacob Ducker and other farmhands
who worked for Mr. Morton.
"But soon she grew tired of farm life, and set out
for Columbus, where she found employment as a street car
driver. She continued in that vocation for some time,
but at last he had fight, and was sent to the station house
for thirty days. When she was released, she went to
Bellaire. While there, she was arrested for stealing
money from Mr. N. B. Hayes, the late well known stock
dealer of this county. For this crime, she was convicted
and sent to the Penitentiary for three years. Here her
sex was discovered for the first time after leaving home in
1863, and she was placed in the female department.
"When her term had expired, she went to Cincinnati, and
engaged as second clerk on the steamer "Alaska,' plying
between that place and New Orleans. After making three
trips, the falling in the river once, she quit boating, and
returned to Columbus.
"Since her return to that city, she has been variously
engaged as bartender, bell boy, and farm hand and was served
sentences to station-houses and jails, in addition to two
other terms in the penitentiary, the first one for and the
second one for three years. Both crimes were stealing
money, the last one in 1875. The amount taken was five
hundred dollars.
"Her term having expired on the 8th of the present
month, she now sooner got out than she put on her male attire,
was arrested for so long, and put in the station house.
She protests that she is now going to live a better life, but
will not give up men's clothing, as she prefers it to the garb
of women. She looks very much like a small, beardless
boy, and the only quality apt to betray her sex is her small
had. She is thirty-two years old, carries her age well,
and keeps good health for one who has endured so rugged a
life."
~Jeffersonian, 1878.
DAYS OF MOURNING.
Cambridge, in common with al the country, has had her days
of true mourning and here will be given brief accounts of
how the citizens met these national calamities and how they
were affected at the death of her fallen statesmen and
military heroes:
When James Monroe died in 1831, the column rules
of the Times at Cambridge were turned, as an
indicatino of deep sorrow.
Upon the death of Hon. Henry Clay, June 29,
1852, and upon the decrease the Daniel Webster, the
great New England statesman, on October 24, 1852, the same
paper was deeply set in double-column turned rule.
DEATH OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
President W. H. Harrison
died at Washington on the 4th of April, 1841, thirty minutes
before one o'clock in the morning. Everywhere the
national bereavement was deplored by Whigs and Democrats
alike, and services were held throughout the length and
breadth of the land. In Cambridge, according to the
Guernsey Times of April 10, 1841, a discourse upon the
life, public services and character of Willilam Henry
Harrison was delivered by Rev. James Drummond, at
the Methodist Episcopal church, on the evening of Wednesday,
April 14th, at early candle lighting.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION.
"On Saturday last, about eight o'clock A. M., the sad
intelligence of the death of President Lincoln
reached this place. Sorrow was depicted upon every
countenance as soon as it was known that the chief
magistrate of the nation was no more. All felt the
common calamity and men of every shade of political opinion
mourned the loss of the dead President. The bells of
the village, whose iron tongues the day before had rung out
their joyful peals, now tolled a solemn requiem through the
weary hours. Flags that had floated gaily were clothed
n mourning and drooped listlessly upon the sodden air.
The elements were in harmony with the general grief, and the
sky was overcast with dark and lowering clouds, which
mingled their tears with those of the bereaved people.
"In the afternoon a prayer-meeting was held in the Town
Hall, where solemn and impressive prayers were made by
Reverend Milligan and others.
"On Sabbath day another meeting was held in the same
place, when speeches were made by Reverends Ellison,
Forsythe and McConnell. The remarks of the
former gentleman were well-timed and appropriate, but we are
sorry to say that in the midst of the general grief, Mr.
McConnell indulged in remarks better suited to a
political meeting than the solemn occasion for which the
people had assembled." DEATH OF
PRESIDENT GARFIELD.
For the second time in the history of this county, the
citizens were called upon to mourn the death of a President,
who had fallen at the hands of an assassin. It was in
September, 1881. The news spread quickly and sorrow
was intense. All business was suspended in Cambridge.
Public memorial services were held. The bells of the
city tolled and the streets were draped in mourning emblems
for the dead president - a beloved citizen and native son of
Ohio. Services were held at the United Presbyterian
church and at the Presbyterian church. These places
were heavily draped in black, intermingled with the flag/
A motto was displayed reading: "God reigns, the nation
lives," which were Garfield's words in New York city
in trying to quell the mob after the assassination of
Lincoln, and which words now became appropriate in his
own case. Remarks were made by Professor McBurney,
Reverend Young, Rev. Hyde Forsythe, Rev. B. Y. Siegford,
Reverend Darrow, Judge Tingleand Col. C. P. B.
Sarchet. This was at the United Presbyterian
church.
At the Presbyterian church impressive services were
held and the Masonic bodies were out in force. Prayer
was offered by S. J. McMahon, Esq. and by Rev.
Milligan. A song was rendered by Prof. John H.
Sarchet entitled, "We'll Not Forget Our Buckeye Boy;" he
was assisted by the Masonic Glee Club. Benediction was
pronounced by Rev. E. S. Hoagland.
Services were at the same time held at the African
Methodist Episcopal church, Reverend Johnston
officiating and made the point clear that mourning was not
for a white man's President, neither a black man's
President, but for "our President."
PRESIDENT'S GRANT'S MEMORIAL SERVICES.
When General U. S. Grant, the soldier President and
retired fellow citizen another son of Ohio soil had passed
to the other shore, this county, in common with the entire
country, were again in deep sorrow. Though not as
sudden as other public calamities, for ex-President Grant
had log suffered and his death was thought to be inevitable,
yet here in Guernsey, where there were so many of his old
army comrades and political friends, the news was hard to
realize - the man of an iron will who had marched to victory
on many a well fought field, and he who, after the war
closed, had said: "Let us have peace" - the man who
had been around the globe and admired by all peoples and
tribes, finally had to succumb to the cold hand of death.
On August 8, 1885, at the hour when his body was being
lowered into the grave, memorial services were being held
throughout the entire country. At Cambridge the bells
all tolled while Grant's remains were being lowered to the
earth at Riverside, in New York. Soon after two P. M.
the Grand Army of the Republic, with draped banners and
flags, fell into line, headed by the Cambridge Band.
They passed to School Park, where a stand had been erected.
There might have been seen a picture of the illustrious
American soldier-President, surrounded by flags and crepe.
The orator of the occasion was Capt. J. B. Ferguson.
Prayer was offered by Reverend Jennings.
Dispatches were read from time to time, as the body of
Grant was being taken to its last resting place and
while it was being lowered to the vault at Riverside.
Like services were held at Byesville, Cumberland,
Fairview, Quaker City and other places in the county.
DEATH OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM M'KINLEY.
Again, in September, 1901, President McKinley, in
extending his hand to a supposed friend, while visiting the
great Pan-American Exposition, at Buffalo, New York, was
shot by an assassin and only survived eight days, the date
of his death being September 14, 1901. Memorial
services were held in this county. In Cambridge, at
the Methodist Episcop0al church, old and young filled the
house to overflowing. Many of these present had met in
like services at the death of the lamented Lincoln
and Garfield. Church bells tolled solemnly, and
black and white draperies were in evidence throughout the
entire city. Mayor Baxter had charge and
welcomed the speakers. The front seats were reserved
for the old soldiers, including the Grand Army of the
Republic, with its banners draped in black. Doctor
Milligan spoke touchingly of the unspotted life and,
above all, of his beautiful love and tenderness for Mrs.
McKinley, during the years of her long illness or
infirmity.
Resolutions were passed which contained these words,
significant in themselves:
"Resolved, Most sincerely do we record our confidence
and pride in him as a man; our admiration for his unspotted
life and character, and above all, our love for him because
of his tender care of Mrs. McKinley during her longs
years of infirmity.
"Resolved, That in his death our hearts are filled with
an untold sorrow. In this sad hour we have ceased to
be Republicans, Democrats, Prohibitionists and Populists -
Northern, Southern - but are simply American citizens of a
bereaved country, mourning a common loss."
SARCHET BROTHERS AND THEIR BIBLE.
"It is well known here that the Sarchets, who were
among the first settlers of Guernsey county, came from the
isle of Guernsey, but we have an item of their history
beyond that. The original Sarchets were natives
of France, and during the Huguenot persecution two of the
brothers were converted from Catholicism and purchased a
Protestant Bible, Calvin's translation to the French.
Information was given to the priests that they were in
possession of this book, and to avoid arrest and punishment
by the Inquisition they fled with the "Word" to the island
of Guernsey for safety. From these heads sprang the
two branches of Sarchet family in this county, and
all of the name that we know anything about. To this
day that same old Bible remains intact, and is in the
possession of Mrs. R. M. Beatty in Cambridge.
It is fully three hundred years old, and was brought to this
place by the oldest Thomas Sarchet known to this
country, in 1806, who was in the line of descent of the two
brothers and who was awarded the custody of the same.
It is considered of great value as a family relic, and the
older members still inquire for the 'old book' whenever they
visit Mrs. Beatty." - In the Times,
January, 1875. AN OLD BRIDGE.
Just where the Cumberland and Senecaville creeks unite to
form Wills creek, on the old Pike road, between Buffalo (or
Hartford) and Derwent is a very old bridge, said to be
almost as old as the famous old bridge in Cambridge.
The details of its construction, its exact age, or any data
concerning it are unknown to the writer. It will be
torn down the coming season and a new steel bridge
constructed in its place. |