West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 90 by Charlie Miller

____October 11, 1892 – A Resolution accepting the bid of D. W. McGrath for the furnishing of all material necessary and the erection of the town hall. Furthermore, a contract will be entered into by the corporation with the said D. W. McGrath with James Burnham and John C. Burns and his trustees for said improvements according to plans and specifications. Also accepting his proposal at the following rates, the said being the lowest for said improvements. The amount to be paid by the village in cash, $9,968.00, and is to furnish free, the brick from the old building and said contractor is allowed until the 15th day of July 1893 to complete said contract and the Mayor of the village is hereby authorized and directed to sign and execute a contract on behalf of the corporation. Done this 17th day of October 1892. 

____The Street Light Committee was instructed to have the street lights painted green. Mayor Booth was to be the supervisor of the building of the new town hall. 

____December 14, 1892 – Workmen are engaged in putting long-distance telephone lines into West Jefferson. 

____January 25, 1893 – George Blair of West Jefferson, died. (The Blair family were very early settlers in Jefferson Township. In 1853 George W. Blair donated the land and was instrumental in establishing the M. E. Methodist Church and cemetery on the Blair Pike. The Cemetery is still there, but the church was torn down and later was erected on land donated by E. R. Haynes which became the Gillivan Methodist Church on the corner of Blair Road and U. S. 42.) 

____March 28, 1893 – The village received a bill of $1,065.00 for concrete footing and stonework and excavation and was paid. 

____April 5, 1893 – President Cleveland has appointed Derwin Dunn of Madison County to be Minister to Japan. 

____April 1893 – The village was billed in the amount of $1.50 from Marshall George Baber for burying two dead dogs and one dead hog. 

____May 24, 1893 – The Jefferson Gun Club builds a clubhouse on the Peen lot. 

____October 10, 1893 – Contractor D. W. McGath received $1,500.00, the final payment on the new town hall, making a total payment amounting to $9,900.00. $68.00 was held back for unfinished carpenter work. 

____April 11, 1894 – The plastering of the new town hall has been completed. On May 8th, Councilman McCarty informed Council that the corporation was being sued by D.W. Gath for the balance claimed to be due him from the town hall contract. The amount due was $68.00.

West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 91 by Charlie Miller

____May 9, 1894 - James Peene, an old resident of West Jefferson, dies. (James Peene was born April 25, 1834, in Kent County, England. His parents immigrated to Canada in 1834 and came to Jefferson in 1857 where he married Mary Ann Zinn. He owned 88 acres where Arbors West is now located.) 

____November 9, 1894 – It was authorized for the removal of the old fire department building to the rear of the new town hall and to the center, 18 feet from the rear wall, and to tear down the old jail, and to repair the old fire department building for use as a coal bin and storage for corporation supplies. May 8, 1894 – An ordinance was passed to allow the Ohio Telephone and Telegraph Company to erect poles and wires within the corporation limits. 

____June 20, 1894 – The Post Office was moved to the east room of the new town hall. Patrick McElroy is Post Master. (His father, Terrance, was born in Ireland. Patrick was born in January of 1857 in New York and died in 1908. He served as Postmaster from December 1893 to February 1898.) 

____June 27, 1894 – A bill of $32.00 was paid for the setting and inscription of the town hall cornerstone, done by W. H. Dole and Sons. (The cornerstone can still be seen there today.) 

____October 29, 1894 – A resolution was made to purchase new chairs for the town hall from the Dayton School Furniture Co., 80 #30 chairs @ $1.75 and 180 #13 @$1.60, 220 #80 chairs @ $1.45, 8 seats 8 feet in length making a total of 64 feet of oak wood at the rate of 75c. Per foot. Total amount $795.00. Moved by McCarty, seconded by Smith that the resolution be adopted. The Mayor refused to consider the motion on the grounds that the adoption of the resolution was illegal, and would not consider it for that reason. 

McCarty insisted that the motion should be put. Mayor Hull then declared that he would not be a party to such illegal business and left the council chambers followed by Blazer and Miller. It was then moved by McCarty and seconded by Slaven that Councilman Smith act as chairman until the business was all transacted. The motion carried. Smith then took the chair. Moved by McCarty, seconded by Smith that the resolution be adopted by the opera chairs. The resolution was passed and the Council adjourned. 

____At the next meeting Mayor Hall moved that the minutes of the last meeting be re-written to constitute another meeting after he had left. The motion was defeated. The motion was again defeated at the meeting on November 13th.

West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 92 by Charlie Miller

_____November 27, 1894 – Regular meeting of Council, Mayor Hull presiding: 

Minutes of the October 9th meeting were read. Mayor Hull again voiced his objections to the latter part of said minutes and would not permit the reading of them. It was then moved by McCarty, seconded by Slaven that the Clerk proceed with the reading of the minutes. The motion was declared out of order. It was then moved by Smith, seconded by McCarty that an appeal be taken from the decision of the Chair. Mayor Hull refused to consent to the motion of appeal. Moved by McCarty seconded by Smith that the minutes of the October 9th meeting be not approved. All voted yes except Slaven who refused to vote. Motion carried. Moved by McCarty seconded by Smith that the Clerk proceed with the reading of the remainder of the minutes. The motion was declared out of order. Moved by Slaven seconded by McCarty that the reading of the minutes be postponed until the next regular meeting. Motion carried. 

____December 11, 1894 – Regular Council meeting - motion made by Smith seconded by McCarty that a committee of two be appointed to secure an attorney at the expense of the Corporation, to settle upon some plan to approve the minutes. All voted yea. The Mayor appointed Bazler and Braithwaite to the committee. 

____January 8, 1895 – Regular Council meeting- A communication was received from B. H. Lewis an attorney, in which he explained how a satisfactory adjustment could be made to the minutes of the previous meeting. The council refused to accept his advice. (The bill for the Opera House chairs was finally paid on July 9, 1895! Council members were: James Slaven, Henry Miller, John Bazler, William Smith, James McCarty, and Isaac Braithwaite.) 

_____1894 – From The Madison County Democrat, taken from The Washington Post. The last veteran of the Revolutionary War died on April 6, 1869, at the age of 109. It is predicted that the chances are that the man who is destined to bear the proud but melancholy distinction of being the last survivor of the Civil War will not live later than 1950. (According to Google the last surviving Revolutionary War veteran was Lemuel Cook, who died May 20, 1866, at the age of 106. The last surviving veteran of the Union Civil War veteran was Albert Woolston who died August 2, 1956, at the age of 106. the last Confederate veteran was Pleasant Cump who died December 31, 1951, at the age of 104) 

____April 17, 1895 -Dr. L. H. Black, the Dentist, is now located in the Odd Fellows Block. 

____May 22, 1895 – A man comes in from a hard day’s work. He is met at the door by a drunken wife. A family quarrel ensues and a loaded pistol is produced. A shot is followed by a cry of pain and a murderess flees the county. Such is the tale of matricide reported from West Jefferson. Theo. White, colored, living on the Asa Silver farm 2 ½ miles west of Jefferson, on the Urbana Pike, (Rt. 29) was shot by his wife and killed.

West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 93 by Charlie Miller

____May 22, 1895 – Town Street has been opened west of West Street through the lots of Elizabeth Slaven and Jacob McNeal to the street now opened in the rear of lot #1 of Mortimore and Newman’s Addition. (This opened Town Street between West Street and Twin Street) 

____May 29, 1895 – The Township Trustee has bought from A. A. Gregg, the lot behind the Baptist Church for $500.00 for the purpose of building a Township Hall. (N. Center St.) A small strip of land was also bought from William Borland. (This later was Galbraith Hall and was later razed.) 

____1895- There are now 501 Civil Veterans living in Madison County. 

____June 13, 1895 – An amendment to an ordinance entitled, an ordinance to provide for the observance of the Sabbath passed in council September 18, 1875. Section I: Be it ordained by the Council of the Village of Jefferson, County of Madison, that Section I of an ordinance entitled An ordained to provide for the observance of the Sabbath, is hereby changed to read: That it shall be unlawful for persons keeping and running saloons to do any business of whatsoever nature on the Sabbath Day commonly called Sunday. That any person or persons engaged in mercantile business shall be permitted to open their stores until 9 A.M. That meat shops are hereby privileged to open until 9 A.M. That persons doing business in a restaurant or eating house or tavern, to the accommodation of the public, are hereby entitled to remain open on Sunday. Drug stores are permitted to sell on the prescription of a physician. Further, the provision of this section now specifies a violation of the same by persons doing business not entitled to barter or sell on the Sabbath Day under the provisions of this section except in cases of absolute necessity as for charity. If any person or persons permitted by this section to do business on the Sabbath shall fail to do service to that Day and conduct their places in a disorderly manner, not compatible with the proper respect to that Day, shall be punishable by the law as in Section II of this ordinance. 

____1895- The total number of street lights in West Jefferson is 51.

____July 3, 1895 – James Murray is putting up a new brick block 20’ X 32’ next to his adjoining building. 

___July 10, 1895 – The estimated cost of the new Township Hall is $4,450.00 

____August 21, 1895 – Kendall and Taylor of Columbus were awarded the contract to build the new Township Hall for $4,364.00, it will be completed by the first of December. 

____August 27, 1895 - A representative of the Detroit Heating & Lighting Co. proposes to furnish one each of the following: 1- 100 light gas machine and 1-100 light mixer attached with the necessary piping, etc. exclusive of fixtures, for the sum of $600.00. A motion was passed for gas fixtures to be bought for a price not to exceed $71.00.

West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 94 by Charlie Miller

____1895- A. A. Gregg Jr., is the manager of the Opera House (Village Hall)

____November 26, 1895 – Joseph Borland quits as the Lamp Lighter, and Neal Lambert is appointed.

____December 11, 1895 – Ollie White, who killed her husband last May is captured in Gallipolis, Ohio. (She was later sentenced to life in prison.)

____September 23, 1896 – December 23, 1896 – West Jefferson has another murder to add to its list of unfortunate homicides. Edmund Buck, who owned the Hotel Buck, was killed about noon by Marsh (March) Ricks a local barber, near the same site where Mr. Samuel Stickley was murdered. Ricks was jailed by officers George Baber and Sprague. Ricks was taken to London for fear of being lynched. (March Rix was born September 29, 1869, in West Jefferson. His father was Martin Van Buren Ricks, born June a slave 1843 in Oktibbeha, Co. Mississippi. It is believed that Ricks, wife, and a son escaped to the north when Gen. Grierson’s Raid came through Oktibbeha County, Mississippi in 1863. Ricks later served in the 27th Infantry, U.S.Colored Troops. He was killed by being hit by a fast freight in West Jefferson in 1804 and is buried in the New Hampton Cemetery.)

____December 23, 1896 – March Ricks received a life sentence in the Ohio State Penitentiary for the Murder of Ed Buck. (Per Ida Grassel he was later released and grieved himself to death as he was a friend of Bucks. Ed Buck donated the land for the St. Simon & Jude Catholic Church on Main Street)

____March 3, 1897 – Bill Stutson has opened a butcher shop in the old Ricks shop room.

____June 23, 1897 – Prof. Linson made a successful balloon accent and parachute leap here last Saturday.

____July 21, 1897-Prominent citizen of Jefferson dies. - Dr. John Nobel Beach, was born in 1829 in Madison County, located in Jefferson in 1859. In 1884 he published a history of the 40th O. V. I. of which he had been commissioned Surgeon. In 1874 he was elected Professor of the Columbus Medical College. In 1875 he represented Madison County in the Lower House of the Ohio Legislature. He was for some time the West Jefferson correspondent for the Madison County Democrat. His funeral held in Jefferson, was the largest ever seen here. (Dr. Beach built the large brick building at 11 W. Main St and had his office in the east end.)

____August 1897 – Another Murder in West Jefferson: 13-year-old Maud Whipple, daughter of Mrs. Kate Whipple of West Jefferson, was found shot near the Big Darby Creek, two miles east of town. Mrs. David Taylor, 47, was arrested as a suspect. (Kate Whipple was a widow, she had another daughter named Harriett whose husband Calvin Gillivan was the grandson of George Gillivan a Mayor of West Jefferson who died in office in 1903.)

West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 95 by Charlie Miller

_____September 1, 1897 – Hon. S. M. Taylor, brother of Druggist Zack Taylor, has been appointed United States Consul to Glasglow, Scotland.

____January 6, 1898 – Former West Jefferson resident William Wallace Fellows, died in Columbus last Monday morning. (W. W. Fellows was born in 1818 in New Hampshire and came to Jefferson in 1836 and entered into the mercantile trade and farming. He and his son, T. B. Fellows later operated a dry goods business. In 1872 he retired and went to farming on the 18 acres that he owned along the Frey Ave. and Lilly Chapel Pike. He built the large brick home on the corner of Fellows Ave. and Frey.
Ave. Fellows Avenue is named after him.)

____February 16, 1898 – West Jefferson now has a long-distance telephone line by having the line at Zack Taylor’s store connected with the one in Columbus.

____February 23, 1898 – “Fort” Byron, one of the eyesores of our town, is being torn down to make way for a new building. (This is the current site of the Huntington (former 1^st Merit) Bank.

____March 2, 1898 - Another murder near West Jefferson----Three miles west of town on the London-West Jefferson Road near the home of Thomas Pearce, the dead man, Joe Millholland, had been shot and then placed on the Little Miami R.R. tracks and ran over by a train. The guilty party is not known.

April 20, 1898 – A new hotel is being built in Jefferson and is being entirely lighted by gas.

____May 18, 1898 – Chas. Recob, Mary Kehoe, and Pat Matlock have purchased new bicycles, there are about 100 of these vehicles in this village.

The Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War was a war waged against Spain by the United States in 1898 to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. Relations between the two countries became strained in 1897 and the accidental blowing up of the United States battleship Maine in the Havana harbor on February 15, 1898, led to the beginning of hostilities. Cuba was blockaded on April 22^nd and the war was declared first by Spain and a day later by the United States on April 25, 1898. On May 1^st the Spanish fleet under Montojo, was completely destroyed by Admiral Dewey in the Manila Harbor.

The Peace Protocol was signed on August 12, 1898, and the actual treaty was ratified in Paris on December 10, 1898. By the terms of the treaty the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, and all Spanish West Indies were ceded to the United States in payment of 20 million dollars, while Cuba was recognized as an independent territory under the protection of the United States.

West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 96 by Charlie Miller

Madison County in the War – Company E, 3rd Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was formed in London, Ohio, and mustered into the regular service on June 30, 1898. The Company contained 109 officers and men. It was mustered in as an addition to the Ohio National Guard. Co. E left London on Thursday, June 23, 1898, for Camp Bushnell at Columbus. There were three more companies formed in London but they were never mustered into the service. The following men from West Jefferson were in Company E.

William Bishop - PVT 21, sick in St. Francis Hospital, October 20-24, 1898

Charles Burns - PVT 25, mustered out with Company

Joseph Cartwright – PVT 20, “

William Cartwright – PVT 22, “

Grant Dennison – PVT 33, “

William Furrow – PVT 21, “

Michael Garrick – PVT 23 “

Charles Hart – PVT 19 “

John Hann – PVT 22 mustered out October 26, 1898

Harley Neighborgall – PVT mustered out with Company

Joseph Pearce – PVT 25 “

Henry Prior – PVT 25 “

Homer Roberts PVT 19 “

Monah Sweetman PVT 27 mustered out October 29, 1898

The 3rd Regiment O. V. I. Contained 12 companies. Some of the Regiment had already departed for the South before Co. E had joined it. The Regiment left Columbus on May 18th arriving at Tampa, Fl. May 23, 1898. It left Tampa by rail arriving at Fernandina, Florida on July 25th. It left Fernandina by rail on August 29, 1898, arriving at Huntsville, Alabama on August 31st. It left Huntsville on September 14, 1898, arriving in Columbus on September 15th, furloughed from September 16 to October 16, 1898, and mustered out on October 26, 1898.