Furnaces

William Cole Frailey

William Cole Frailey, iron master, Ironton, Ohio, was born in Fredericktown, Maryland, on October 28th, 1829. His parents were Christian Frailey and Elizabeth Hopeman, the former of Pennsylvania and the latter of Missouri. His father was a Maryland planter but never owned slaves, being a Whig in politics.

Novel Tomb in Ohio

A novel tomb at Hanging Rock, Ohio in Lawrence County, Ohio, in the middle of last century, attracted so many of the curious that it had to be removed along with the corpse. At his request, a wealthy Ironmaster was Interred In an iron coffin placed two feet above the ground on Iron pillars, and a wooden building was built around the coffin. Crowds poured in from all directions to see this strange tomb until the building was finally removed and the coffin buried in a grave near the place.

Armstrong and Hannah Rankins on Oak Ridge

This name originated, doubtless, under a mistaken view of things, as the furnace didn’t stand on a ridge.  When your correspondent read on the stone in the arch of the old furnace stack, “Oak Ridge Furnace built by W. H. Allison, 1856.”  I could not help saying to myself that the year of ’56 must have been a year of mistakes.

William Firmstone

William Firmstone, who had a prominent career as a blast furnace manager in this country, came here originally from England in the spring of 1835. The manufacture of pig iron by the use of coke fuel...

Marshall Field

Marshall Field was without question the greatest and most successful merchant of his generation, and he was one of the world’s richest men, his wealth being estimated at anywhere from $100,000,000 to $200,000,000.000.  The following incident is of local interest in connection with Marshall Field: Miss Jennie Scott, the sister of Marshall Field’s first wife, was burned to death at Mt. Vernon Furnace, Lawrence County, Ohio June 17, 1862. 

Robert Scott

Last Saturday evening at 5 o’clock Robert Scott died in Ironton, andon Sunday morning at 9 o’clock, Thomas W. Means expired in Ashland. What vivid reminiscences do these names call up! How much of the past of Lawrence County is mingled in their lives!

Robert Scott was born near Paris, Ky., September 22, 1809. While yet a young man, he became interested in the iron business and was connected with several furnaces across the river.

Charles Burgess

 Charles Burgess was born in Pelsall, England, October 2, 1841, and in his early life he spent many years in iron and steel mills in and near Sheffield, and at the age of twenty-four he came to the United States, in March 1866. He first worked at Troy, New York, where he was engaged for a time at the Bessemer Steel Works, and also employed in making special iron.

Ernest Whitcomb Crichton

After an illness of 10 days, Ernest Whitcomb Crichton, a veteran steamboat man of Oregon, died last night at his home, 280 East Seventeenth street, North. The cause of death was peritonitis. Mr. Crichton was born at Buckhorn Furnace, Lawrence county, Ohio, in 1850 and came to Oregon in 1875, taking a position with the old Oregon Iron Company, with headquarters at Oswego. In 1877 he went into the steamboat business with Captain U. R. Scott, S. H. Brown, Z. J. Hatch and L. B. Seeley, having charge of the steamers “Ohio” and “City of Salem.”

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