History of Proctorville, Ohio

History of Proctorville, Ohio, as told by Capt. Mace
31 May (year not clear on the source) IRONTON TRIBUNE

Submitted by Barbara Madden

The founding of Proctorville and its growth in the early years is described by Captain Ellis Mace, one of the Ohio river’s most well-known riverboat captains. Capt. Mace is a resident of Proctorville. His history of that community was sent to the Tribune.

This place, at one time, was known as Quakers Bottom. Above Thomas street to Jackson Pike was called Grant Town. The Methodist Church stands on the corner of State Road Seven and Thomas street in Grant Town. Jacob’s PROCTOR owned some land on the river bank near a farm road where (he) built a small stone house on the river bank.

At this time, a road ran along the river bank. Later Mr. Proctor built a large brick house east of the store on the river road. The Proctor family lived in this house for several years. All rivermen knew this place as Proctor’s landing.

Charley WATERS, with his family, left Maryland and floated down the Ohio river on a flatboat. They landed at the mouth of Symmes Creek at Flemingsburg, the second town in Lawrence county, and Mr. Waters established a home there. After a short time, his house was destroyed by fire. Mr. Waters came to Proctor’s Landing and bought Mr. Proctor’s store and house. Mr. Proctor moved to his farm back near the Hill.

   Mr. Waters took over the post office. John PARKER replaced him under Grover CLEVELAND. He had got every Democrat here to vote for Cleveland, only one John Parker, and he got the post office (as by source). The brick house, now called the Waters home is still in use.

Proctorville was laid out in 1878 by T.J.SHIRKEY. Mr. Proctor had requested that if the town were to be named for him, he would call it Proctorville, leaving off the positive, and his request was granted, so Proctorville was laid out and incorporated the same year, 1878.  John Parker, the only Democrat inside the corporation, was elected the first mayor.

   First Proctorville town officials; Mayor, John Parker; clerk, O.E. REC; Marshal, J.H. LOYD; treasurer A. MAGEE. The six councilmen–T.B. FLOWERS, Harvey PRICHARD, Madison FORGEY, J. MacSMITH, R.W. MAGEE, Doctor S.R. RICKETS.  All these men were elected, and Proctorville had a government to start with made up of the best citizens.

Proctorville streets from east to west, Front, Susan, Elizabeth, State road 7, and Wilgus.

Cross streets-south to north, Jackson, Grant, Thomas, Ferry, Front from Jackson to Thomas, Susan from Thomas to Ferry, Elizabeth from Jackson to Ferry, State road 7 from Jackson to Pine alley, Wilgus from Jackson to Shirkey, Shirkey from State to School Alley, Jackson from Front to Wilgus, Grant from Front to School Alley, Thomas from the riverbank to Wilgus, Ferry from the riverbank to State road 7.

Alleys- Leon alley from Grant to Ferry 13 feet wide, School Alley from Jackson to Shirkey, Broad alley from Susan to State 20 feet wide, Pine alley from Front to state.

There were five good stores and a flour mill in the town. D. B. MAUCK & Co. bought everything the farmer had to sell and ship the chickens and eggs to D. HOPPE in Cincinnati. The BUSH brothers operated the flour mill, which did a big business. They swapped flour and meal with the farmers for grain. Farmers came into Proctorville from miles around to trade.

Henry WATERS bought the Bush brothers out and moved the mill over to Second street and Fifteenth street, but Henry didn’t do any good in Huntington, so he sold the mill to KEISTERS, and they ran the mill as Keister Milling Company. There was a bank started in Proctorville. D. B. Mauck had charge.

Doctor REYNOLDS told me that he had some money in the bank and asked for a loan. He said that Mauck had told him that he would loan him the amount that he had in the bank and no more. So, Doc said he checked his money out of that bank, went to a Huntington bank, and got the money he wanted.

The Proctorville bank was moved over to Third avenue and Twentieth street, and now this 20th street bank is one of the best in Huntington, but they loan money.

Bay Brothers ran packet boats out of Proctorville to Ironton, Portsmouth, and Gallipolis. These men owned 32 steamboats in their time. Capt. George BAY lived in Proctorville. Will Bay lived in Ironton. Proctorville had four doctors- no need for anybody to be sick.

These doctors owned their own homes, and Proctorville had a good brass band led by Colie MAGEE. The last picnic was in R.W. Magee’s orchard in 1888. John LUCAS riding R. W. Magee’s white horse, was marshal of the day.

My boy was just four days old, and I carried him to the front gate to watch the parade pass. Our schools have always been the best, and two churches were always well-filled until picture shows commenced running on Sundays. These shows are wrong and should not be allowed.

The first ferry was a push boat operated by John PARKER. He pushed the boat across the river with poles in low water. When there was too much water for poles he used oars. The Hannons owned this flat and bought a small steam ferry boat named “New Era.”

 I have records of when the BUFFINGTON’S ran a steam ferry across the mouth of Guyan creek and over to the Ohio shore in 1936. Before this, John Parker operated a push boat. Later the Hannons got the ferry franchise for the Ohio River, and they bought a small ferry boat named “New Era.” (repeat as by source).

Bill SMITH bought the “New Era” and ferry franchise from the Hannons. He had the bad luck of losing the “New Era” on the ice. Then Capt. Smith bought a ferry up near Parkersburg named “Lyda Cross,” and she was sunk by ice the first winter. Then he bought a small boat from the JENKINS estate.

He fitted he out for a ferry and named her “Whisper.” This name fit for her escape was only a whisper. About this time, Captain Smith got the name “Ferry Boat Bill.” In 1891 Captain George Bay contracted with the HOWARDS at Jeffersonville to build a new ferry boat for Proctorville.

This new boat was delivered in 1891. Captain George Bay and George Smith went to Jeffersonville and brought her home. Then “Ferry Boat Bill” had a real ferry boat. She had all the business she could handle. Captain “Ferryboat Bill” died in 1896 and was buried in Ironton. The two boys, Ed and George, ran the boat for their mother. She died in 1901 and was laid beside her husband in Ironton in 1901.

Capt. Paul THOMAS had married Vergie SMITH, and soon they came to Proctorville. Using his wife’s stock in the ferry, Paul joined the two boys on the ferry boat. They got along fine for several years when they disagreed. The ferry boat and franchise were sold at a public auction to settle the dispute. Home HOLT and George SMITH bought it all for 32 thousand dollars.

Paul Thomas, at once, bought half interest in the Twenty-Sixth St. ferry and, I understand, got a bargain. Finally, Ed SMITH bought the other half of the Twenty-Sixth St. ferry. I had sold my towboat, “Sea Lion,” to Lew DAVIS, cashier of an Ashland bank. He bought her for Capt. TANNER. I helped my son-in-law in his gas station for a while.

Then Capt. Thomas wanted me to pilot his ferry boat on 26th street for a while. I accepted, and the first day I worked, the collections were bad. I told Paul we would have to run that boat, leave the float with one rig or one passenger, and drive her. He agreed, and I did run her. Our business got better.

Rigs came up from Chesapeake to cross where the boat was run. They told me they were in a hurry, and Paul’s partner Ed Smith told some of our customers, Capt. Mace would pull the cylinders out of place. He said it was foolish to run a ferry boat so hard that he tried to keep the fireman from making the steam I wanted.

But the fireman, Bert COOPER, was on my side. Paul said, “drive her. Bert makes the steam,” and I did drive her.

After a few years, I told captain Thomas that we would have to have a larger boat. He said we had some money but not enough to build a new boat. Then I advised him to have Dow EATON call a meeting of all Big Orchard men at his home, increase the stock to thirty thousand dollars, and sell ten thousand of it to Orchard men, and Paul and Ed would still have control. He took my advice. They called the meeting, and the next morning after the meeting, Captain Thomas jumped farther to get on the ferry than I had ever seen him before.

He hurried to the pilothouse and said, “Mace, we are going to build that new ferry boat.” I smiled. He got Charley THACKER, and they went out on Greasy Ridge to get a man to see the lumber. Paul hired a man to draw the plan for the hull and offered 25 dollars for a name. My name was “Aloya,” meaning good luck.

A clerk from the tobacco market sent in “Oweva.” He got the prize. The “Carrie Brown” engines were used on the “Oweva.” This gave her power. Her business ran 250 to 300 dollars every day. Her expense was 45 dollars. She was forced out of business by the bridge that carried autos for 10 cents. All Huntington ferries had to quit. Her engines are in River Museum at Marietta, Ohio.

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Proctorville – Union Tp. – Proctorville is located twenty-two miles above Ironton and is on the Ohio River, almost opposite the old town of Guyandotte.  The village was named for Jacob Proctor.

Ironton Register, Thursday, September 20, 1877 -At the incorporation of Proctorville, a variety of names for the town was suggested, among which was “Cherrington,” as a sort of a golden mean between Grant town and Proctorville, but the latter was adopted.  Why not call it for short, Proctor, and thereby save a lot of useless writing?  By a hundred years or so, that unnecessary tail Ville will have absorbed several days’ hard work.  Amputate the tail.

Ironton Register, May 5, 1892 – T. A. Walton wrote about the “Mound Builders,” the Indians in this area.  He wrote, “Where Proctorville now stands was one day part of a well-paved city, but I think the greater part is now in the Ohio River.

Only a few mounds there, one of which was near the C. Wilgus mansion and contained a skeleton of a very large person, all double teeth and sound, in a jaw bone that would go over the jaw with the flesh on, of a large man; the common burying ground was well filled with skeletons at a depth of about 6 feet.  Part of the pavement was of boulder stone and part of well-preserved brick….

IR May 15, 1902 – Ye Olden Times – Jacob Proctor and Abner Smith, I think, were the only resident landowners in 1841 in what is now Proctorville.

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PROCTORVILLE

Matrimonial, Criminal, Personal, and Interesting Locals Generally

  Correspondence of the Ironton Register 23 February 1888

Not having seen any news in your paper from this place for some time, I thought I would drop you a few items. Right here, I want to say, on last Sunday morning, while the birds and fowls were yet upon their perches, and before the sun had peeped over the eastern hills, and the stillness of the Sabbath had not been disturbed, when a knock was made against the door of  Squire OLLUM’s residence.

The ‘Squire was yet on his couch, in the arms of Morpheus, dreaming of the angels and everything blissful, except launching someone out upon the sea of matrimony, when presently he was aroused by a second knock. He arranged his toilet as quickly as possible, and as he neared the door, he heard somebody on the outside sigh. The thought struck him that someone was after a warrant for arresting someone who had committed terrible depredation.

The door was opened, and the stranger was invited in. The light was turned up, and a second look revealed the haggard and woe-begone face of our newly made County Clerk, J.W. SAYRE, who had put in the night thinking of the responsibilities he had already taken and was about to take.

He had gone through the ordeal of being sworn into office, took a glance over the books, thought of the work in the present term of court, and that all would be too much to go alone. John was raised in the country, and the many temptations that a country boy is liable to come in contact within the city necessitated his making new resolves, one of which was to read the Bible.

He first began reading Genesis, 2nd chapter 18th verse; “And the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone.”  He stopped, scratched his official head, and said the scriptures must be fulfilled.

Straightway, he donned his best garb and took a boat for Proctorville, where at 9:15 a.m. at the bride’s residence, J.W. SAYRE and Miss Fannie MARKS were made one, ‘Squire I.W. OLLUM officiating.  John left for Huntington, West Va., to take the 10:55 train for Ironton to be in his official capacity in the Court Room Monday morning, but before going, he showed great nervous excitement.

He breakfasted at the Metropolitan hotel and, on leaving, was careful to get a better hat than his own. The mistake was not discovered until about the time of his departure. It was too late to correct the mistake. So, Mr. Editor, if he has a difference in his countenance, it is not all due to his getting married, for the hat has something to do with it. Mr. SAYRE has won a pearl of a great prize from Miss MARKS. She is one of our best young ladies with a kind and amiable disposition.

Last Saturday night, Mr. Henry SPEARS, who lives about one and a half miles back of town, discovered that his wife had let, taking with her $138. Mr. Spears is a poor man and about two months ago received a small pension, having disposed of all his money except the above amount.

He has been married for about 25 years and always got along peaceably, and he cannot account for her rash act. She has been an invalid for several years and may be mentally wrong, but Henry thinks she has gone with a handsome man.

• Dr. W.W. REYNOLDS has returned from the West and purchased the property and goodwill of Dr. W. H FEURT, who will leave for Huntsville, Ala. On March 1st, he will go into the stock business and practice medicine.  While on a prospecting tour a few weeks ago, the Doctor traded his two stallions, Black Prince and St. Paul, for a fine imported Arabian spotted stallion valued at $3,800.  He is perhaps the prettiest horse in the state, having the perfect shape, jet black, and snow-white spots. He has a very heavy black mane and tail. The people of Lawrence Co will very much regret losing the Doctor, and much credit is due to him in his endeavor to improve our stock’s quality.  Our loss will be Huntsville’s gain. May success follow him in his new field of labor.

• W.R. WISEMAN has purchased a small farm three miles back of town, upon which he has built a house. He will make a business of raising poultry.

• Henry MAGEE contemplates embarking on the livery business in the spring.

• H. B. MAUCK, the genial coal oil manipulator of  D.B. MAUCK  & Co., is rusticating in the rural districts of Gallia Co. with his mother, brother, sister, cousins, aunts, and somebody’s daughter who lives on the head of Possum creek. We imagine we can see Harlow sitting by the side of the murmuring brook “and his girl,” with his feet dangling in the crystal waters, pondering over the happy, sunny  Summer days of his youth.

• Joe V. RICKETTS has fully recovered from typhoid fever and returned to his studies at Miami Medical College, Cincinnati.

• Joe FELIX, of RICKMORE’s Dry Goods house, was in town last Sunday and Monday, looking after a claim he is working up among some of the fair sex.

• The quarterly meeting took place at Rome church last Saturday and Sunday. The meeting will be protracted.

• Gen. ENOCHS, E.V. DEAN, Julius ANDERSON, and Rob’t MILLER were on our streets last week.

• Augustus MAGEE, of this place, was awarded the contract of carrying the mail between the Ohio river R.R. and this place, beginning the 20th. We will get our dailies at 7:25 p.m.

• T.J. GILLETT has purchased the farm of the late R.T. CARTER.

• C.I. BUSH was called to the bedside of his daughter Minnie, who is suffering from a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism, at Oberlin, O., where she is attending school.

• Dr. ATKINSON, who came here a short time ago, is getting good practice. As the Doctor becomes acquainted, he is much liked by the people.

• H.C. WALTERS, the high-hatted gentleman of fast horse fame, is enjoying a short vacation in Cheshire, Middleport, and Pomeroy.

• J.P. REALL is closing out his general merchandise stock and renting his rooms to D.B. MAUCK & Co., who will open a store of the same kind about March 15th. W.A. WATTERS, of Cincinnati, will have charge of the store. first child, my husband, Jerry, with whom I’ve shared a wonderful life. Also, in 1927, the first talking pictures were shown.

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Quaker Bottom – Union Tp. – Quaker Bottom is now a part of Proctorville.   Some of the earliest settlers of Quaker Bottom were “In 1796 John Phillips, Jesse Baldwin, and family, members of the Friends from Westfall, North Carolina; Phineas Hunt and his family, all members of the society of Friends except himself (and he soon became a member) moved to the Virginia side of the Ohio River.

In the latter part of the year 1797, Jesse Baldwin, after raising some corn opposite Green Bottom, moved some eighteen miles down Ohio and settled in what is now called Quaker Bottom, opposite the mouth of Guyandotte river and the present town of that name.  Ironton Register (no source given)

Ironton Register, Nov. 14, 1895 – James Buffington, who owned and lived on a farm just below Proctorville, told how Quaker Bottom got its name; that the farm which he then owned, once belonged to a Quaker, who was one of the earliest settlers in that part of the country, and on the farm was a small stream, a tributary of Indian Guyan, and that on the place the stream had a fall of about 10 feet, and he conceived the idea that he would utilize the power; so he made a chute for the water and got a stump which was hollowed out for the purpose and had a long pole put up like a mill sweep.

Instead of a bucket, he attached a sugar trough to the pole by two rawhide ropes, which were lowered into the water where the falls came down.  On the sweep or pole was a heavy piece of wood made in the shape of a pestle, which, when the trough filled with water and sank, lifted the other end of the pole or sweep. As soon as the trough sank to a certain distance, the force of the current overturned it when it arose, and the pestle came down in and on the hollow stump where the ingenious Quaker had put his corn.

Then the trough was again filled, and the same process was gone over, and all that the good Quaker or his neighbors had to do was to put their corn in the hollow stump and go to their work, coming back when the corn was done.  The neighbors who used the good Quaker’s mill alluded to it as being on bottomland belonging to the Quaker, and Quaker’s Bottom was the result.

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Ironton Register February 23, 1899

• Valentine’s Day met a cordial reception by the younger members of our town, and valentines, comic, pathetic, and sentimental, were exchanged, and good humor prevailed.

• Robert Owen, wife and brother of Guyandotte, passed through here Tuesday on their way to Millersport, being called to the bedside of Mrs. Owen’s mother.  Mrs. Detoor died later from injuries received from a fall.

• Rev. Pletsmeyer began a series of meetings here on Sunday evening.  A quarterly meeting will be held on the 26th.

• Mrs. Charles Hall will give a missionary tea on Saturday, Feb. 25th, for the benefit of the Rome Auxiliary.

• The cold weather was fatal to some of the animals in the vicinity.  Art Ashe lost a fine calf, and E. J. Smith had thirteen valuable pigs frozen to death.  Had Art Ashe consulted B. F. Beckett, that calf would not have frozen?

• Sam Elson, our popular mail carrier from Labelle to North Kenova, was compelled to take a week’s rest, and Perry Huffman filled his place.

• Many of our fruit raisers fear that most of the fruit is killed.  The Cox boys say that peaches in this county will be a dollar apiece.

• Mr. H. C. Watters laments the loss of a valuable orange crop.

• Only one house in town is supplied with Cole’s hot blast heater, and that is the only place where the flowers bloom unconscious of the miniature Klondike that has recently greeted our clime.

• H. B. Mauck, while trying to get in a skiff at Ensign Ferry, slipped on the ice and fell into the river.  His condition seemed perilous for a time.

• Gene Smith has opened a first-class meat market in Smith Block next door to the post office.  He will drive a wagon to Labelle and Rockwood twice a week.  We hope Gene will have better control of his horses while driving his meat wagon than he did on his last sleigh ride, as he upset and lost his girl, cushions, footwarmer, and everything but his temper.

• Many of our people have succumbed to the ravages of grip.  Among them are M. E. Judd and wife,  Mrs. S. S. Suiter, Bert Rose, Belle McCormick, J. M. Hall and wife, and Ed. Brown.  C. E. Watters has been quite ill for a few days.  Miss Virginia Kaminski has been suffering for the past week from neuralgia.  Hagel McCorkle is very sick.

• W. W. Prather of Manchester, Ohio, was the only traveling salesman on our streets during the recent cold weather.

• Will Kimball of Chesapeake was visiting relatives here last week.