Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1933-06-08
Il ho A STORY
GO - Bristol Township Folk
| |AAlL/jLO/ g BY

over in Center. We were unable to
get the sketch of his life-but we
want to tell you that he was in his
boyhood, a resident of Meigs and
went to school to G.. p. Roberts in
1910. His father was carpenter
painter and paper hanger.
While Bristol is one of the best
agricultural townships in the county,
we can't help noting that some of our
farmers raise corn and feed the corn
to their team, haul out the manure
and raise more corn to feed their
team. Of course they feed the hogs
and eat the hogs OF course you
see what we mean.
Do you know that at one time we
had at least five blacksmith shops,
all running from early morning till
late at night, and at this time not q
shop in the township.
We have letter written by A. A.
Mendel, Valparaiso, Ind, to his
brother r. L. of the county seat, in
which he tells of an old gentleman
looking at him with steadfastness
melons-that he looked guilty. We
are not here to state whether he
was guilty or not, only to remark
that he has a good memory. AS we
have told before, Mr.. Mendel runs
hospital for stringed Instruments.
In the letter referred to he tells of
selling a violin for hundred dol
lars. How we would like to hear
David and Bill play on one of that
kind-that is if the music would or
could be any better. From what we
can read between the lines, we are
convinced the neighbors knew the
Mendel boys were in the neighbor-
hood. There must have been an
awful calm when they left. On
second thought we believe Perley,
Vince and Rus came on the scene
about that time A. A. mentions the
Downings and wilson's. Seems we
have heard their names mentioned
in some of the uplifting events of
those days. AS yet no monuments
have been erected to commemorate
the aforesaid events, but there is
still material to build monuments of.
We are still of the opinion that we
may live to see, national park IN
the big Hollow" Farmers here
about wouldn't lose anything if we
could land such thing.
Perhaps we have told it before,
but we feel it should be told again.
When we formed the grange in '91,
at nearly every meeting they dis
cussed the oleo law. Some of the
more fluent went so far as to say if
they were allowed to put that stuff
on the market, city folks would buy
it and cripple the dairy business.
If they could see the farmers haul
ing their milk cans and cream to
market and buying oleo at two or
three pounds for quarter, then
cussin' because the cream price is
so low. We read recently where
rancid butter would cure cancer,
and that brings to our mind that
only a very few people in Bristol
have died of cancer. We are not
here to say that there is anything in
the climate, water or soil that pre-
vents our folks from having cancer.
We recall at this time statement of
Mrs. Rae Oglevee who has a r. N.
degree, but who for the past several
years has been housekeeper for her
family. In talking about cancer
cures she said "Anyone discovering
a cure for cancer could go into the
wilds of Africa and they would pave
a road to his house"
While Bristol folk are above the
average in intelligence, a lot of
them can't read. Do not misunder-
stand us; they can pronounce the
words, but on account of the curious
meanings of many words in our
language, it is often hard to tell
what the writer means, or perhaps
we should say that those who read
ofttimes fail to get the meaning
that the writer intended to convey.
Some time ago we spoke of the
old store at the old Merwin-Row-
land, now the J. w. Bird farm. Mr..
Bird informs us that there was also
a still house there, and that on one
occasion, on the last day of school
at the Election, the teacher went to
the still house and purchased three
gallons Of liquor and treated the
crowd We did not learn whether
they employed him for the next year
or not This store and still house
was the stopping place of hunters
and settlers, as they were on their
way 10 and from GAINESVILLE. 1t
always seemed funny to us that men
who in their young manhood drank
and raised the devil in the neighbor-
hood, would as soon as they felt the
rheumatic pains in their legs "rare"
and snort and paw up the dirt if any
young man in the neighborhood
would do any half as bad as they
had done.
Very few men in our township
ever got very rich, in fact none, as
riches are measured today. In our
boyhood, folks who had 16O acres
of land, stocked with a big house,
were called rich. With the fall in
land values, it would take about
that kind of farm to pay doctor
bills and funeral expenses, and
erect a monument today, provided
they did not linger too long and did
not have hospital bill; and then it
would not be enough.
Charles Dunlap was born in Mus
kingum county, near Museville. He
has been married twice. His first
wife. Kate Little, was the mother of
his three children-Donald who
married Leila Anderson and lives in
the Mary L. Chambers house near