F. G. Leete Documents Gives an Interesting Story of the Founding and Naming of Ironton, Ohio
SOURCE: Ironton Sunday Tribune, 11 Dec. 1938. Written By F. B. Lawton
The photographs and records gathered and preserved by the late Albert and Charles Campbell, the sons of Ironton, are most interesting. The immense scrapbook the younger son Charles kept was mentioned at the close of a previous article.
In the hands of Mr. Fred Leete are other valued records and papers, which he probably has more than any other person in a very large territory. Its contents had then been hastily scanned in the hope that they might later be more closely examined.
This is the concluding article of stores devoted to reciting some great stories of interesting historical facts regarding the earlier Ironton, Ohio, community. Fortunately, authentic records of some such matters have been preserved in the form to present for public reading.
Still, a greater number of equal interests must exist in the memories of the larger body than is realized of older citizens now inactive, who seek no occasion beyond the family circle to give them utterance.
In imagination, we may see the elderly among such people in the quieter days of the ruminating on occasion over the experiences and observations which would indeed be of general interest if they could be recorded.
This writer sincerely hopes these quiet days are days of comfort and cheer for all such honored citizens. In the last few weeks, he has enjoyed more than can be expressed, the cordial greetings of so many, including many of these.
The ties of friendship and common interest remain secure despite variance in the lesser circumstances of pursuits and place.
Whatever of interest has appeared in these writings or may be written here is only a small part of what might be procured throughout the medium of existing documents alone, and to these might be added, for their general interest, selected papers of those who have preserved them, singly or in a systematic order for future reading; and the reminiscent reports of many. such sources of information are still in Ironton or are available in distant places in large numbers.
This privilege has since been enjoyed. a newspaper article can’t do justice to its voluminous contents, largely classified as the subject. The back of the book is five inches wide, and its covers bulge to ____ all that it contains. Only some of its highlights of interest may be presented here by merely mentioning them.
Contained in it are numerous papers relating is the founding of Ironton. Following is a quotation from a characteristic letter by John Campbell in 1846 when projecting the establishment of a town in the neighborhood of Hanging Rock, which indicates his vigor and vision. “We could soon have a town of 10,000.
It would be far enough from any other city to become one of the largest in the west. On our own energy, all would depend. Why should it not go on? why should we not be the actors in this? We have the capital. We have the capacity. Why should we not have the energy?”
When Mr. Campbell came to Hanging Rock in March 1833, he brought with him this recommendation:
Ripley, O., March. 4, 1833.
I testify hereby that the within named John Campbell was in my employ from August 1830 as a clerk until about the first of May 1831. At that time, I sent him with a store to a neighboring town, of which he had the whole management until 1833, all of which he managed to my satisfaction so that I can say that whatever he may engage in doing will be performed with honesty and integrity.
Wm. Humphreys.
This appears in the book: “Mr. Campbell stated that while he was clerking for J. Riggs & Co. at Hanging Rock and The Forge was building, he got the impression that the company did not care for his services, because they did not express themselves on the subject, so he had his trunk taken down to the river intending to leave.
As he was disappearing over the bank, Andrew Ellison happened to spy on it and called him back. Mutual explanations resulted in his remaining in this iron district.”
The following paragraphs are taken from a long statement written in the beautiful handwriting of Charles Campbell:
In June 1848, Davidson’s farm was sold on which Ironton is now located. John Campbell had designed buying it, as he supposed that a town would sometime be laid out at that location, even if his plans failed. but in June, he had to go to the convention at Buffalo as a delegate from this district. He thought the farm would sell for half price, and the convention was important. While gone, Wm. D. Kelly purchased the farm.
When Mr. Campbell returned, he entered into negotiations with Robt. Hamilton to extend the Hanging Rock railroad to Chillicothe. Mr. Campbell was elected President of this road and Mr. Dempsey secretary, but their proposition did not suit Mr. Hamilton, and they refused his proposition.
Mr. Campbell then quietly urged old Mr. Dempsey and Mr. Willard the purchase lands at Storms Creek above Hanging Rock and Storms Creek for the location of a town and terminus of another railroad. And here is an interesting episode:
On that day of October 31, 1848, Mr. James O. Willard and Mr. _____ Peters met upon the road as they were passing to and fro from Hanging Rock and their respective furnaces. They stopped and talked about the failure of the scheme to build at Hanging Rock (see if a section of the article is missing here) by John Campbell to build a railroad above Hanging Rock and locate a town.
These two gentlemen turned their horse’s heads to the Rock and, riding all night, awakened Mr. Campbell just before daylight. His astonishment at the sudden awakening was great, but he was delighted to find they favored the new town.
The next day, Nov. 1, 1848, an article was drawn up in which they agreed to stand by Mr. Campbell in his purchase of land for the town. At that time, Dr. Caleb Briggs had his office beside Mr. Campbell and signed the agreement. James W. Means, a brother-in-law of Mr. Campbell, also signed five signers.
Mr. Campbell, the same day bought two farms from W. D. Kelly and authorized him to purchase other farms. This was done quietly, Mr. Kelly reporting daily as he passed Hanging Rock from his home below on the river.
How was Ironton named? George T. Walton, in a letter to the Ironton Register dated Burden, Kansas, Feb. 5, 1901, tells how after his father, Thomas Walton, made a topographical survey of lands above Storms Creek, he made a rough plat of grounds.
There was a meeting of directors at the office of Campbell, Ellison, and Co. at Hanging Rock, present John Campbell, W. D. Kelly, Dr. Briggs, et al., the general plat being accepted subject to modifications.
The town naming was discussed with pros and cons, and several names were suggested. I sat listening and conjuring up names. We wanted a name that would suggest the city’s business to be. I thought, as the original of my family name was Wall-Town, why not call the new city Iron-Town, abbreviated as my name, Ironton.
I wrote the name on paper and handed it to John Campbell. He jumped up as quickly as thought and said in his emphatic manner. “That’s it, George; that is the name. Write it on the map, George.” No vote was taken, or question put. I suppose I wrote it right there at the office of Campbell, Ellison & Co., the first time that word was ever written. It must have pleased Mr. Kelly, for he named his new boy Ironton Austin Kelly in a few days.”
Supporting the above, the statement by Charles Campbell (son of John) reads: “Mr. Campbell several times stated that in naming Ironton he had wished to include the word iron, and the addition of ton seemed to be the best way – a ton of iron, an iron ton, and no doubt Mr. George T. Walton has given the correct details of the final conclusion in his letter of Feb. 25, 1901, to the Ironton Register.”
The first sale of lots in Ironton was on June 20 and 21, 1849. Page 123 of the book has a prospectus of that event.
Page 116 has attached to it the original draft by C. Briggs of House Bill to be introduced in the Ohio Legislature by Mr. Hambleton, to incorporate The Ohio Iron & Coal Company, consisting of John Campbell, Joseph W. Dempsey, Henry Blake, Jas. O. Willard, Caleb Briggs, James W. Means, John Ellison, George Steece, James A. Richey and their associates and written by C. Briggs, Secy. of Ohio Iron & Coal Co. and of Iron R. R. Co.
There is an advertisement dated Dec. 15, 1853, for bids to build the first bridge over Storms creek near its mouth by order of the county commissioners, signed by “J. C. Terry, A. L. C.”
Private subscriptions were taken in 1851 to enable John Campbell, Wm. Lambert and George M. Kemp to enter into obligations with the county commissioners to put up and enclose a suitable building if the county seat shall be moved to Ironton, Ohio. The first Ironton, Ohio Courthouse resulted.
Another subscription list of interest was in 1850 to build the first public school house in Ironton, Ohio, on 4th street, on the lots now partly occupied by the Gold camp Hardware Co. Block. The subscriptions had these conditions: “if a lot is purchased, it shall be placed in the hand of John Campbell, Sheppard Duke, and W. D. Kelly, trustees, and whenever sold, the proceed of same to be returned to subscribers in proportion to their subscriptions.”
Then follows the written receipts for payment of subscriptions, some fifty in number, which is 1855, were prepaid to the individuals and so marked paid and the record preserved. The full list of subscribers to that enterprise follows:
Jas. W. Means by J. Campbell, John Campbell, Wm. D. Kelly, Stephen Daniels, H. Campbell, Jas. M. Merrill, Morris Jones, Jas. Sullivan, Irwin J. Kelly, Wm. Hall, W. E. Kemp, Simon Parker, D. K. Cochran, F. Dolin, Jas. Smyth, S. Duke, Thos. Wigley, A. Ford, Caleb Briggs, D. K. Cutler, Isaac Davidson, D. W. Vogleson, Stephen White, Thos. Winters, Wm. __ Clair, George Buchanan, J. A. Thompson, John Sloat, J. C. Linder, C. M. Corwin, Coenrod Heine, David Small, Wm. Stern, M. Paschel, E. Buckingham, Stephen York, Martin Gillen, C. Conway, Lawrence King, John Ward, Benj. Savage, J. M. Kelly, John K. Smith, Jacob _____, W. W. Kirker, Wm. Lambert, T. Murdock, A. Ricker, Jas. Scott, M. Rogers. There was another subscription in 1852 to enlarge the schoolhouse.
It might be interesting to publish the rules of the Board of Education and the school examiners in 1854 to compare them with present school regulations and practices. Those early rules appear in the book.
The first subscribers to the Star Nail Mills capital stock – later the Belfont – were there, under the firm name of Peters, James & Co., in 1854; John Campbell, John Peters, Jas. M. Merrill, A. James, Wm. Reid per M. Sechler, Saml. Baird, John Culbertson, William F. Willson, John E. Clarke, Walter Bennett, James Kirker, R. A. McConaughy.
It is noted on the manifest of Campbell, Ellison & Co. of Cincinnati in 1856 that the names of these firms are printed in the heading: Ironton Rolling Mills, Ironton Star Nail Works, and Ironton Stove Foundry.
Somewhere it is stated by Charles Campbell of his father that “John Campbell later in life said he never felt sure of the success of Ironton, Ohio until he laid the cornerstone of the old Ironton Ohio Foundry known as Campbell & Co. After that he felt all would be prosperous.”
And in another place, (Charles Campbell) writes, “Father had Centre street laid off much wider than the balance, as he prophesied it would be the principal street for business, etc. for a great many years, except Second street.”
Although it occurred when he was less than five and one-half years old, the writer distinctly remembers a period of excitement and deep sorrow in his family and remembers a period of excitement and private mourning at the time of the assassination of President Lincoln. A page of the Campbell scrapbook has on it the original paper and signatures, which expresses in some measure the first reaction of the businessmen of Ironton, Ohio, upon receipt of the dreadful news. It is copied below in full:
Ironton, Ohio. April 15, 1865
We, the undersigned citizens of Ironton, Ohio, given the appalling calamity to our government, as this day announced by telegraph, do agree to suspend business during the afternoon and evening of this day.
| T. N. Davey | R. W. Magee |
| John Campbell | J. T. Davis |
| J. A. Whitman | E. Ward |
| J. Combs | Wm. Nixon |
| I. C. Dovel | D. Nixon |
| Gillen Bros. | W. T. McQuigg & Co. |
| R. Mather | (illegible) |
| Chas. E. Hamilton | Hill & Co. |
| J. C. McGugin | Evan Jones |
| G. Newberger | J. P. Morris |
| Henry Wilson | G. W. Sample |
| E. Bixby | Peter Stein |
| S. Ward | S. Johnson & Co. |
A former newspaper notice of significance in 1850 is preserved. It reads as follows: “to whom it may concern: Notice is hereby given by The Iron Railroad Company that it will not receive as freight upon the Iron Railroad any spirituous and intoxicating liquor including ale, beer, etc. Those interested in the liquor trade will govern themselves accordingly.
(Signed) Cyrus Ellison, Pres. Iron Railroad Co., Ironton 28 Apr. 1850
A clipping from the Ironton Ohio Register of July 14, 1854 interests your correspondent, for it reveals his grandfather James M. Amlin (afterward Postmaster at Ironton, Ohio) as a promoter of a new enterprise for which the building at 7th and Railroad – later the W. D. Henry flour mill and now the Crystal Ice Factory – was erected. This is the item:
“A company for the manufacture of plows was organized in Ironton, Ohio the 4th inst., consisting of S. S. Stone of Troy, N.Y., James M. Amlin and Wm. H. Crawford of Marietta, John Campbell, H. C. Rodgers, and Geo. P. Rodgers of Ironton, Ohio, and S. W. Dempsey of Vesuvius Furnace under the style of Rodgers, Amlin & Co.
Capital stock subscribed $20,000, and works will be erected of a capacity to manufacture one hundred plows per day. Mr. Amlin is to be the business manager and Mr. Crawford’s clerk. The manager of the manufacturer is to come from Troy, N. Y., and the buildings are to be located on the corner of Railroad and Seventh streets on the high ground to the left of the railroad going out of town. The firm is strong, and the work will be pushed forward with all reasonable dispatch.”
Another very interesting clipping that Mr. Campbell preserved to contrast with present-day advertising is a ten-inch ad of the general merchandise department of the Ironton Ohio Rolling Mill Co., which was in the Jenkins Block. some of the old-timers in Ironton, Ohio, will ____ that.
The ad is a single column all in solid nonpareil (now 6 points) type, announcing that the Ironton Ohio Rolling Mill Company “have received their mammoth stock of fashionable spring and summer goods direct from the Quaker City (Philadelphia”). The advertisers say they are confident the goods “cost us at least 20 percent, less than those who purchase in Cincinnati. Consequently, we can sell 10 percent less and make the same money as those who purchase at the above-named places.”
Occupying one inch of the ten is this paragraph:
“And to the Ladies, we will now unsparingly offer our most earnest solicitations for a call, for we are well satisfied that we are now prepared to offer to your satisfaction those numerous articles that you have so often called for and have been disappointed in getting and been obliged to incur great expense in going to Portsmouth and even Cincinnati to obtain.”
Further along, the ad concludes, “In pay, genuine notes on the Iron Bank will do. Butter not refused. Apr. 22, 1852.”
I’m working on my Family History, and Ironton, Ohio has come up in my research. I have gotten as far as James Oscar Walton, who is my great grandfather. I’m also trying to connect a William Walton and his wife Katherine E. William was born in 1871 and died 1908 at 37. He was a soldier in the Spanish American War Ohio Infantry. It seems I am related to the Waltons in Ironton.
My father, his father and grandfather lived in Ironton, Ohio on 5th Street. I appreciate the above information and will include it with the information I have collected over the years concerning, my father, William A. Rodgers, his father and mother, Chester and Myrtle Rodgers, his sister Charlotte Rodgers and others.
If you have other information concerning the early years in Ironton and our family … Chester, Leonard X, Eva and others, please contact me through email at [email protected] or call 608 738-9909 (cell phone)