The ALEXANDRIA PAPERS #3

G O O D B Y E,   A L E X   H I G H

The other day, I experienced a feeling of dread as I scrolled past a headline that began with "Northr." Having sat through many a football game, my mind filled in the rest. N-O-R--T-H-R--I-D-G-E, LET'S GO! I always thought that was a bit quirky until I went to see my cheerleader daughter at Reynoldsburg when they traveled to Pickerington North. A Spelling Bee broke out that night.

My experience has usually been that Northridge is not a headline you see often - or want to see. But I knew it would happen. Alexandria will tear down another school.

Sometime around 1900, Alexandria built a schoolhouse that consolidated several one-room schoolhouses in the township. Things went quite well. Local teachers taught local children in a local school. Neighbors are neighbors are neighbors. There are so many names to parade in front of you - of teachers and principals - that I fear I would leave one out. Please comment.

Perhaps the most iconic feature to me was the Red Devil in the center court in the gym. There were some who used "Devil" synonymously with the Biblical Satan, or in Hebrew "Nakash." Perhaps a better name? Well, although I eat Devilled Ham, I refuse to eat Devilled Eggs. It is not because I believe these foods are Satanic, it's just because the word "devil" has more than one definition. And please, I do not like eggs, don't offer. I was also pleased to find out that several decades ago, the Newsletter/Student Paper was called "The Checkerboard" for the Red and Black.

I have so many memories invested in those rooms and teachers at Alexandria School. It tears me that those memories will lose their substance. I could walk here in the school and tell you what happened. Hopefully, I will be allowed to take home a brick.

Yes, there are economics to consider. But there is a community to consider. I still have questions.

Mitch Lynd can tell you tales of Alexandria in the 1950s. Bob Fisher, Beck Shaw, Betty Icenhouer, John Hankinson, and John Brooks, plus so many others, could fill in more details. Helen Irwin Cunningham - who was Dr. Fred Nichols 6th grade teacher - has left me with stories of hi-jinks involving the outhouse during football games behind the school.

Honestly, I don't know what to believe, think. or feel. The school board has been told to hang on to the property because -- reasons. Alexandria has had a poor record when it comes to municipality - the burnt Town Hall was never rebuilt. The bricks were repurposed as homes. So was Alexandria's first schoolhouse - on the northwest corner of SR 37 and CR 21 Northridge Road sits a house made of the foundation stones of Alexandria's first school.

Today it is hard to find a teacher who lives in the community where they teach, without regard to district. Personally, I was embarrassed more than once to follow, as a substitute at Northridge, to follow the lesson plans given by the teacher. Our neighbors are not necessarily our neighbors. Welcome to the 21st Century.

Perhaps it is best we tear down our past... perhaps we should look to the future. I mean, in the face of intrusion of a company and employes with no connection to our past, what impact will you accept? To be honest, I've seen it before.

AUTHORS NOTE: As I write this, Bischoff Braueri (Brewery) in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany - my favorite beer - just announced its closing. As in Steven King's The Langoliers, my past is being erased.

The HORSE DRAWN Papers #14

A L L   G O O D   T H I N G S...

The first automobile did not really herald the end of the horse drawn days.

It was actually the steam engine that ended the Horse Drawn era.  A steam powered tractor could pull a 40 bottom plow and make short work of plowing a field. This also changed the paradigm of the Revolutionary War.  In older times, 40 acres would support a family.  As the availability of steam power grew, 40 acres became a small farm.  Farms grew to hundreds of acres and herds grew to hundreds of heads while family heads resorted to business concerns.

The Toledo & Ohio Central was established with stops in Croton, Johnstown, Alexandria, and Hardscrabble before reaching the more metropolitan towns of Granville and the outskirts of Newark.  Catalogs, magazines, and other mail order opportunities brought the wares of the cities to one's doorstep, much like Amazon does today.  We can credit the steam engine once again.

The arrival of the automobile in Alexandria in 1907 was not the death knell of the horse, but it was a final warning shot.  Some farms keep their horses, but John Deere, Massey Fergusen, International Harvester, and others soon found their way onto the farm while Ol' Dobbin enjoyed his retirement.  These tractors are still to be seen at the Tractor Pull at the annual Alexandria Fun Days celebration.

In one moment, it is sad to reflect on these bygone days.  In another moment, I am a product of the muscle car generation.  But there remains a certain nostalgia for the Horse Drawn era.  My good friend Kristen, my neighbor across the street, my former neighbor to the north kept horses.  Kristen is an avid horse fan.  Although Kristen enjoys riding her horse, she is also aware of the history she represents.

1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS396.  The bulge on the hood is the cowl induction.

On the other hand, I had 396 horsepower under my hood...   with cowl induction.  I miss those days too.

The HORSE DRAWN Papers #12

T H E   T I N S M I T H

In 1880, Alexandria and St. Albans supported two tinsmiths.  The 1890 Federal Census was destroyed by fire.  By 1900, there were no tinsmiths listed in town.  By this time, Alexandria had Hardware dealers who could have easily ordered tin items.

First, what is tin?  In those days, tin was produced by dipping thin steel sheets into liquid tin until the desired level of coating is achieves.  The tin acted as an anti-corrosive.  At this point, I must acknowledge Karl Schmidt of Dakota Tinworks.  The tinsmith tends to work with flat metal and use bending, rolling, or soldering techniques to create three-dimensional objects.

One of these local tinsmiths is Lewis Twining, whose relationship to Charles Maranville's wife, Julia Twing, beyond a distant (fourth) cousin, is unknown. The other was John Scureman, a neighbor of Charles Maranville. Scureman was a native of New Jersey who was born in 1837, served in the Civil War, and died in 1905.  I have seen several variations on the spelling of Scureman that vary from the Anglicized to the obvious French spelling.

While tinsmiths can make a variety of objects for the home, especially for the kitchen.  By this time, Columbian Home Products of Terre Haute, Indiana, had been established to produce what my grandparents called Graniteware.  Today, we have plastic cookie cutter sets, the infamous red party cup, and a variety of kitchen gadgets and items now made of plastic.

While plastic was not even invented before 1900, I suspect that the modern hardware store was more able to accommodate the needs of the community by taking advantage of then modern factories using mass-production to provide lower cost.  The tinsmiths probably could not find enough work in Alexandria.

By this time, Alexandria had turned a corner from cottage industries and small business providing necessities to the area farmers to merchandise stores providing standard parts such as nut and bolts and perhaps finer goods than could be had locally.  Alexandria had turned the corner and would soon see the arrival of the automobile to make the transition complete.

The HORSE DRAWN Papers #9

L I G H T I N G   T H E   W A Y

A hearse on display for the 1930 Alexandria Centennial.  Notice the magnificent lamps.

A coach on display for the Alexandria Centennial.  Please note how the lamps are different than the hearse lamps.

An inspection of the Federal Censuses of 1870, 1880, and 1900 reveal two tinsmiths.  There was a Federal Census in 1890, but it was entirely destroyed by a fire.  For those searching for Veteran records, there are similar problems.  Vets, do yourself a favor and please save copies of your orders.

Lamps on a carriage tended to be more of an urban thing than in the farmlands and village.  At the risk of sounding anti-safety, the horse could see better than us humans at night and knew where it was going anyway.  If a farmer needed a light, he or she could easily hang a tin lantern on his or her wagon.  Anyone who has been out and about on a clear, moonlight night knows it is quite easy to see without a lantern.

The M. T. Gleeson Company produced lamps until the company failed in April 1898.  In 1890, the M. T Gleeson is listed as a brass foundry at 228 to 234 North Fourth Street (now occupied by Wolf's Ridge Brewing) with his residence at North Fifth Street in Columbus.  Gleeson also had a shop at the northeast corner of Broad and High, across from the Statehouse in 1874.  In 1878, he is also shown as a dealer in carriage mountings.  It is likely that Alexandria would have ordered from there.  These fittings could include whip holders, various ornamentals or decorative castings, or other latches and accoutrements.

I place a distinction between Lamps and Lanterns.  A lamp is highly finished with a silvered interior to catch and reflect light while the exterior is brass, usually with some fanciful additions and possibly figurines or some other ornamentation.  A lantern is a windowed, tin box with a candle or oil lamp inside. Largely, farmers saw no need for nothing more than a lantern hanging from a hook on the side of the wagon.  City folk, and those needing to show prestige, opted for lamps.

One of the things a luminary does that I have not noticed among tin smithing is the spinning of brass.  Spinning is a special, practiced art that involves a special lathe which can absorb the pressures applied on the shaft against the motor.  A lathe-turned, bowl-shaped pattern is mounted on the spindle and a circular piece of brass sheet is placed against the pattern. Blunt shaping tools are used to conform the brass to the pattern to create a bowl shape.  This can be used to hide a soldered join, or two placed together to form a decorative object.  

Alexandria and St. Albans had two tinsmiths in 1880.  One of these is Lewis Twining, whose relationship to Charles Maranville's wife, Julia Twing, beyond a distant (fourth) cousin, is unknown.  The other was John Scureman, a neighbor of Charles Maranville.  Scureman was a native of New Jersey who was born in 1837, served in the Civil War, and died in 1905.  

Alexandria had no lamp maker.  While there were tinsmiths, Alexandria probably could not support a lamp maker and rely, instead, on catalog and mail order.  It would be sad to see a lamp maker's family starve.

The HORSE DRAWN Papers #11

B O U D I N O T   N E E D S   A   T O P

Generationally, the Boudinots engaged in a couple of different of businesses. They were successful rope makers and successful in dry goods.

There are a series of pictures in Alexandria and St. Albans showing the young ladies of Alexandria dressed in white for Decoration Day.  Their role was to place flowers on Alexandria's fallen soldiers, hence Decoration Day.  Today, we call this Memorial Day.  Back then, Decoration Day was the day to recognize the fallen soldiers of the community by decorating houses with bunting, much as we celebrate the Fourth of July today.  Decoration Day used to be a big event and was reserved solely for honoring those who died in the service of their beloved country with a focus on the recently fought Civil War.  It was the day when the young women decorated the graves of veterans by placing flowers on the graves of the fallen.  The observance of Decoration Day started in the South shortly after the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln - a singular event with profound effect on our community.

One of the first mentions of rope making in Alexandria is a rope factory built by Alexander Devilbiss in the back of Lot 20, or what I remember as Earl and Pauline Rusk's house.  This happened in 1833 and was named the Devilbiss Rope and Harness Company.  Very early on, a rope bridge over the Raccoon Creek was made along what today is Tharp Road.  This rope bridge was in existence in the early 1900s and is mentioned in The Buxton Journal.  Then it was known as the South Road.  It is also not clear if Devilbiss worked leather or were made from finished rope.

A hemp field as it may have looked along Mounts Road.

Another 1800s Alexandria farm and business family was the Boudinots.  In 1866, Elisha Boudinot owned the farm northeast of Alexandria and grew hemp.  Boudinot harvested, dried, and processed the hemp into fibers from which he made rope.   By 1875, Boudinot extended his farm to the highland along the east side of Mounts Road.  Elisha also owned properties in Alexandria.  These included the lot where the firehouse currently stands, although in 1866, there was a house there.  He also owned the lot across the street.  On this lot, there was a house on the west side of the lot and a harness shop on the east half.  Elisha also owned a large house on the east side of North Liberty across from the current township garage.

Elisha Boudinot got his start growing hemp.  With so much farmland devoted to staple crops - often with so much excess of grains that it was converted to whisky and rye - Boudinot could afford to grow hemp and buy flour.  Boudinot would dry the hemp and work it into fiber with which to weave rope.  It is not clear if this led Boudinot into the leather business or if he stuck to rope, but we do know Boudinot & Oldham's offered custom shoes.

An example of a rope making egg.

Making rope is not a difficult thing, but it requires patience, consistency, and some experience.  The first step is to break the hemp into fibers.  Then the fibers are spun into threads.  Individual threads are then twisted into a twine.  Twines are twisted into a strand.  At this point, the rope maker takes three or four strands and use a wooden block called a top.  This top looks like a flattened egg, some have a hole through the long axis.  Three or four grooves are cut along the outside of the top.  These guide the strands as they are twisted into a rope.   There are older methods used to make rope, but this is how you can expect rope to be made in the late 19th Century.

The Boudinots would leave the rope making business behind and would go into the dry goods business.  The family was loyal to their community and to Decoration Day.  Their advertisement would also announce they made custom shoes, a possible throw back to their harness making days. 

The HORSE DRAWN Papers #10

T H E   T R I M M E R

Regimental Flag of the 113 OVI

As Dave Engels of Engels Coach Shop has pointed out, the are several trades that can get sewn into the title 'Wagon Maker.'  If I recall correctly, these include Wheelwright (chassis, wheels, suspension, and frame), Wainwright (body), Trimmer (Upholstery, coverings, and other canvas or fabric accoutrements), Painter, and Striper (pinstriping).  This is not an inclusive list and in an industrial manufacturing system, these trades may have been split into separate shops.

Captain James Royal Ladd is listed as a Trimmer in the 1880 Federal Census.  His pension records indicate he served in the Civil War beginning in 1862 as a private.  At some point, he was promoted to Sergeant before receiving a Congressional Appointment as an officer.  James had three children: Harry, Walter, and John.  The good Captain married Miss Mary E. Van Buskirk.  James was born on June 21, 1835, in New York to Royal and Mary (Gay) Ladd.  In the 1900 Federal Census, he is listed as a gardener, and this makes sense because by this time, James was collecting his pension.  James did not need a job but could supplement his income selling produce.  James passed away on or before March 17, 1905, and laid to rest in Alexandria's Maple Grove Cemetery as a veteran.  One record gives a death date of February 4.  In rural areas, the soil may be so frozen that burials were postponed until after the Spring Thaw.  Accordingly, Maple Grove Cemetery build an above ground mausoleum to accommodate this issue.

James may have enlisted as a private, but after initial training, was officially made a Sergeant shortly after.  By his discharge at war's end, he had been promoted to the rank of Captain. This is not unusual.  Along the way, James was, according to laddfamily.com, was inducted at either Camp Chase in Columbus or Camp Zanesville in Zanesville.  The regiment was ordered to secure Louisville at the very end of 1862.  They then went to Nashville and by September 1863, they were involved in Chickamauga.  The 113 OVI was also at Ringgold, but generally stayed in the northern portions of the south, that is, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, at least until they joined Sherman's March.  James was mustered out of Company H on July 6, 1865

By way of example, James left behind a diary.  Here is an entry from December 6, 1864,

Nov. 14th.  Marched at 6 A.M. passing over the ground near Kinesaw [Kennesaw] Mountain where we fought last summer.  Little did we think at that time that so soon again would we be called upon to remarch the same again.  We passed through several lines of works which the 113th had built itself and saw several graves of the boys we had buried, which served to awaken sad thoughts within our breasts.  We continued our march late in the evening marching 24 miles and burning everything we came to as we went, camping for the night at Vinings Station.

[Author's Note:  The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain was one of the bloodiest battles in Sherman's March on Atlanta.  After nearly a week of fighting, and dying, Sherman was able to outflank the Confederate troops.  Once successful, Sherman's approach to and capture of Atlanta became the next objective.]

So why be a trimmer?  When I retired from the Air Force, I still needed a job to bring in income.  I wanted 40 hours each week, but more importantly, I was done with the 24/7 life.  I love barbecue, so I worked as a meat cutter and fishmonger for a major grocer to better understand the steaks I love.  I never took work home and after an eight-our-day, I was my own person.  I cannot imagine James Ladd feeling differently.

I am going to guess they was little need for a trimmer in Horse Drawn Alexandria.  His absence was not replaced by any carriage maker, and more than likely, the wagonmaker added this job to his own skillset.

James, from Captain to Captain, thank you for your service.  Rest easy, my brother.

The HORSE DRAWN Papers Addendum 1

H O R S E   D R A W N   I N D U S T R I E S   I N   A L E X A N D R I A

A N D   S T.    A L B A N S   B Y   F E D E R A L   C E N S U S

1866 Business Directory

C. D. Maranville, Carriage, Turning, and Trunk Factory

William H. H. Barrick, Wagon Maker and Blacksmith

A. B. Dille, Dealer in Hides, Pelts, and Furs

1870 Federal Census

C. D. Maranville, Journeyman Harnessmaker

Francis Wickison, Journeyman Ropemaker

Richard Stewart, Journeyman Blacksmith

George Sherman, Teamster

Thomas Stewart, Blacksmith

Lorenzo Skinner, Tanner

James D Gould, Blacksmith

Elisha Battee. Blacksmith

William C Momsell, Wagonmaker

Alexander Gould, Journeyman Blacksmith

William H Barrick, Blacksmith

John J Miller, Wagonmaker

William Prout/Pruit, Ropemaker

Blacksmiths - 6; Harness Maker 1

1880 Federal Census

Daniel C Shuee (retired), Blacksmith

Lewis S. Twining, Tinsmith

Charles D. Twining, Harness Maker

John Scuraman, Tinsmith

Elias Penn, Blacksmith

James D. Gould, Blacksmith

Elisha Battee, Blacksmith

Alexander Gould, Blacksmith

Richard Stewart, Blacksmith

Elmer Wells, Wagonmaker

James J. Miller, Wagonmaker

James F. Catrell, Wagonmaker

Silas Bishop, Blacksmith

Watson Davison, Carriage Maker

Thomas H. Stewart, Blacksmith

William Stewart (son of Thomas), Blacksmith

James R. Ladd, Carriage Trimmer

Shadrack Carlock, Cooper

John Leach, Ropemaker

Joseph T. Mowry, Cooper

William Moran, Blacksmith

S. G. Goddard, Blacksmith

Wiley S. Oldham, Blacksmith

Samuel Friend, Journeyman Harness Maker

Blacksmiths - 12; Harness Maker - 2

1900 Federal Census

Alta Curtiss (resident of the hotel), Halter Maker

Thomas Baker, Jr. (Teenage Child of Thomas Baker), Halter Maker

Ellis Baker (Teenage Child of Thomas Baker), Halter Maker

Ruth Baker (Teenage Child of Thomas Baker), Halter Maker

Mary Baker (Teenage Child of Thomas Baker), Halter Maker

Ida (S?) Baker (Teenage Child of Thomas Baker), Halter Maker

Almond McClain, Blacksmith

Richard Stewart, Blacksmith

Earl B. Stewart (son of Richard Stewart), Halter Maker

Charles Maranville, Halter Maker

Albert Tyler, Horse Trainer

Blanche Graham, Halter Maker

Thomas M. Rugg, Halter Maker

H Dean Ashbrook, Stock Dealer

Perry M Ashbrook (brother H Dean Ashbrook), Stock Dealer

Clifton Moss, Halter Maker

David Beaumont, Halter Maker

Alexander Gould, Blacksmith

Frank Gould (son of Alexander Gould?), Blacksmith

William H. Roffey, Halter Maker

Silas Bishop, Blacksmith

William Proctor, Blacksmith

Christopher Piles, Blacksmith

Richard Proctor, Blacksmith

Jacob Shrader, Halter Maker

Ethel Shrader (daughter of Jacob Shrader), Halter Maker

Herbert Thorpe, Halter Maker

Lester Webb, Halter Maker

Diane O. Thornberry, Haltermaker

John T. Reese. Grain Dealer

John Berger, Halter Maker

Samuel Watson, Halter Maker

William Stewart, Blacksmith

John S. Rugg, Halter Maker

Thomas H Perry, Wagon Maker

Orville Renick,  Halter Maker

Susie Renick (wife of Orville Renick), Halter Maker

C. Bruce Adams, Hay and Grain Dealer

John Young, Rope Maker

Frank S Fouler, Harness Maker

Rachel Fouler, Harness Maker

Blacksmiths - 8  Halter; Maker - 18