West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 45 by Charlie Miller

____January 27, 1870- Madison County Democrat, cont’d- Wm. Fickey, grocery merchant, and Miss Ida Fellows daughter of W. W. Fellows, were married Thursday last, Rev. Noah Speck officiating. 

Rev. Shepard of Granville preaches at the Baptist Church every Sabbath. 

The mammoth ice house at the depot, owned by a Cincinnati company, was partially filled during the cold snap a couple of weeks ago. (Ice was cut from Little Darby Creek in the winter and stored for summer use.) 

____January 27, 1870- Webb Bliss, the Railroad agent, furnishes the following number of cars of live stock shipped from this station during 1869: Cattle, 58; Hogs, 87; Sheep, 39; a total of 184 animals which averages 928 head of cattle, 4,350 head of hogs and 1,950 head of sheep. 

____ March 17, 1870- The go-ahead people of West Jefferson determined not to be outdone by neighboring towns in any movement, calculating to add to the prosperity of the community in which they live, have made the preliminary arrangements for organizing a Building & Loan Association. The incorporators are John Harvey, Dr. J. N. Beach, C. F. Bliss, W. W. Fellows, and Jacob McNeal, Esq. 

____Thomas J. Stutson who has been a merchant of West Jefferson for 27 years, (1843) plans to retire to his farm in Deer Creek Township. 

____April 28, 1870- The stockholders of the West Jefferson Building & Loan Association met on Friday evening and elected the following officers, President, W .W. Fellows; Vice President, Dr. J. N. Beach; Treasurer, Alex Swanston; Secretary, Jacob McNeal; Directors, Martin Kuehner, John Harvey, A. Miller, D. W. Bliss, J. K. Smith, Wm. Harvey, J. J. Booth, Alex Wilson, and J. C. Olney. 

____May 5, 1870- The first installment of the West Jefferson Building & Loan was paid on Saturday evening. The capital stock of the Company is $150,000.00 in $200.00 shares. 

___Abner Johnson and W. H. Stutson have taken a room in Swanston’s new block for their meat market 

____Dr. H. S. Quinn and Miss Bettie Putnam were recently married by the Rev. C. W. Finley. 

____June 16, 1870, W. W. Fellows will erect a new house in the near future. (This is the big brick house on the southwest corner of Fellows Ave. and Frey Ave.) 

____ July 7, 1870- The census of 1860 shows West Jefferson, 460 people, Jefferson Township, 973, for a total of 1,443 in the entire Township. 

____July 28, 1870- Esq. Jacob McNeal employs about a dozen men at his carriage shop but doesn’t believe in advertising. (This shop stood on the southeast corner of Main and Twin Streets.)