Athalia, Ohio

Athalia – Rome Tp. – John Tierman laid out a town above the mouth of Two Mile Creek and named it Athalia in honor of his daughter of that name.  – The petition of the people of Athalia to incorporate that village was acted upon (by the Commissioners), and the village was incorporated.  Ironton Register, June 9, 1887.

This is a picture of the blacksmith shop in Athalia, OH. My great-great-grandfather Petry is second from left. Photo courtesy of
Jennifer Harber‎ posted on The Lawrence Register Facebook group in 2014.

I found this postcard of the Athalia house I posted about recently. It and the store were owned by my great-grandfather, Robert Wylie. The store is long gone, but the house is still there.

The house is on Rt 7, across from the Methodist church in Athalia, Ohio. Photo courtesy of Brian D. McCown‎ posted on The Lawrence Register Facebook Group 2015

Various Newspaper Articles about Athalia

• Hamilton Telegraph Hamilton Ohio February 23, 1860, page 4 Post Office Contributions to the Washington Monument from Ohio. The following is the number of contributions from the Post Offices of this state to the Washington National Monument up to February 1. It will be seen that, but a small portion of the offices have collected anything at all for the monument: Athalia $30
• Cincinnati Enquirer May 27, 1879, page 2 Burke vs. Dixon in Hard-Glove Fight for Fifty Dollars a Side Huntington, WV May 24 – The long talked of hard glove fight between Henry Burke and Frank Dixon, two athletic machinists and old-time sports of this city, took place Saturday, the 24th inst., about twelve miles above her, near Athalia in Ohio for $50 aside. Three rounds were fought in five and one-quarter minutes. As a consequence of Burke delivering a foul blow, Dixon was declared the stakes winner. The principals, with the seconds, backers and friends, and representatives of the press, numbering in all about seventy-five, started from this city at 6:30 am on the steamer Fannie Freeze. The destination was reached at 8:00….[long story]
• 1880 Census gives the population of Athalia at 251.
• Dayton Ohio Herald November 9, 1883, page 3 Dr. Thos. Hallannan, 31 of Wayne Street, after an extended visit to his father, Dr. P. B. Hallanan, left for Athalia to resume his professional duties this morning.
• Gallipolis, Ohio February 16, 1884 – Flood – A report that the village of Athalia, Ohio, is almost entirely swept away. At Millersport, Ohio, twenty or thirty houses are gone. At Proctorville, Ohio, the water is in the second story.
• IR October 1, 1885 – Athalia – Our village is adorned with a new schoolhouse. Clark Bros. bought the old building for $45. They will move it to the lot their store stands on.
• Ironton Register, Thursday, November 10, 1887, F. Drummond teaches the Athalia school and is well pleased with his situation, which strongly indicates he is doing good work.
• Times Recorder, Zanesville, Ohio June 29, 1888, page 3 Miss Emma Magee of Athalia, Ohio, is visiting her brother Rev. L. L. Magee on North Seventh Street.
• Ironton Register, Thursday, October 18, 1888, Jesse Dillon has about finished his contract on abutments and grading for the bridge across Indian Guyan on the Athalia and Ironton pike via. Getaway. The bridge is 85 ft. long. Mr. Dillon has just been awarded the contract for putting up a large reservoir in Huntington, costing about $6000; he wants men and teams.
• Summit County Beacon, Akron, Ohio May 29, 1889, page 6 – At Athalia, Lawrence County, Misses Bettie Kyle and Rucker fought a duel with pocketknives while on their way home from church with a young man. The Kyle girl is not expected to live. Jealousy was the cause.
• Cincinnati Enquirer May 23, 1889, page 1 – Duel of Amazons-Sunday Night Struggle in the Road-Fierce Conflict with Knives While Returning from Church, Two Women Fearfully Gashing Each Other-Special Dispatch to the Enquirer- Ironton, Ohio May 22-News has just reached here of a terrible duel between two young women near Athalia a village twenty miles from here, last Sunday night. Bettie Bower and Julia Rucker got into a dispute about a young man while returning home from church, and the conflict grew so hot that they attacked each other with knives and fought furiously. So vicious was the fight that bystanders were afraid to attempt to interfere, and the two infuriated Amazons cut and slashed each other until Miss Bower fell from exhaustion and blood loss. She has eighteen cuts, two or three of which are in the back, near the spine, and are considered fatal wounds. The other woman is fearfully gashed, but none are serious. Miss Rucker was arrested, but a county Squire acquitted her, finding that she acted in self-defense. The young man in question had been paying attention to both women, who were very jealous of his favors.
• Hamilton Evening Journal Hamilton, Ohio May 11, 1892, Wed • Page 1 Belle is Missing. Another Pretty Girl Mysteriously Disappears-Gallipolis, Ohio, May 11-Miss Della Wilks, a pretty eighteen-year-old girl of Athalia, mysteriously disappeared from her home yesterday morning. Miss Wilks had a lover named Levi Edward of that place, and it is thought he has enticed her away. Before her departure, she wrote her mother the following note: “Dear mother: My conscience tells me that I have given you enough trouble. I will leave you, and you will never see me again. Don’t grieve after me. Gooby.” A telegram received from Edwards says he knows nothing of her. Mr. and Mrs. Wilks fears their daughter has committed suicide.
• Akron Beacon Journal July 19, 1892, page 4 – Ironton, Ohio -William A. Strickland of Athalia, this county, has returned his pension check to Washburn & Cranshaw, attorneys of this city, requesting them to return the bill to the government. Strickland claims to have had divine inspiration from the Lord informing him that the pension money was a curse and to reject it as blood money when he now does.
• IWR June 3, 1893, In re consolidation of sub-district No. 4, Rome township to Athalia particular village district, transcript filed.
• Newark Advocate (Ohio) June 17, 1893, page 8 – Rev. L.L. Magee returned yesterday from a week’s visit with friends at Athalia, Ohio. He was accompanied by his sister, Miss Laura Magee, who would spend a few days in the city.
• Richwood Gazette, Richwood, Ohio July 19, 1894, Thu • Page 1 – ON THE WARPATH. Crowfoot Tackles a Balloonist and Fares Very Badly. Gallipolis, Ohio, July 16. A little show pitched its tent at New Boston a few days ago. Among the star attractions was a prominent Indian named Crowfoot. He had some trouble with his boss and quit the circus business. Prof. Tolbert of this city, the well-known balloonist, then employed Crowfoot. Everything went along quietly till Crowfoot got some fighting whisky. That set him wild, and he threatened to wipe out the entire village of Athalia, a town on the borderline of Gallia and Lawrence counties. He began at the head, trying to get the scalp of Mr. Tolbert, but Tolbert, though a “paleface,” isn’t pale-livered. He didn’t want the scarce worth of copper.
• Crowfoot advanced with desperate deliberation. Tolbert’s associates fled in terror, fully expecting the redskin would gather their employer’s locks for a keepsake. They saw the Indian pull a bowie knife from his hip pocket and heard the men come together. A scuffle ensued, a blood-curdling whoop issued from the redskin’s mouth, and all was ended. By this time, the crowd had uncovered their eyes, and instead of seeing Tolbert dead, they beheld an Indian lying on the ground, his face mutilated, a piece of his nose missing, one ear out of place, and both eyes swollen close. He was dead than alive. Mr. Crowfoot, almost beaten to death and bleeding as though he had his throat cut, was picked up and thrown over an embankment. This was the last that he saw of him.
• Marion Ohio Star, September 15, 1894, page 1 – Juvenile Marriage – Gallipolis, Ohio-Sept. 15-It has just leaked out that Mr. Clyde Vermillion, son of the postmaster at Athalia, a town just below here, and Miss Gussie Neil, the belle of the village of Atlanta, were married at Ironton last Fourth of July. The groom is 18, and the bride is 16. Both are well-known people.
• Portsmouth Daily Times, December 5, 1911, page 4 – Lawrence Co. Has A Murder-Ironton, Ohio. Dec. 5-During a quarrel Sunday night at Athalia, Ben White, 18, shot Ben Workman, 17, through the head with a revolver. Workman is expected to die, and White, who was arrested, is being held without bail.