Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1939-06-29

/ erecting the store and dwelling. The
, shop was divided by a partition
| one end being used as blacksmith
: and the other as wood shop. This
!, we believe, was the building where
the threshing machines were made
John Whitney, father of ex-Auditol
John Whitney, made the old fash
!, ioned wind or tanning mills. Tht
, farm boys Of 35 and 40 years ago
who have not turned the old WIND
!, mill for hours to clean the wheat
J for sowing, or to take to mill, is
. not entitled to a certificate as has
been.
The old shop was not only a place
/ to work, but many has been the
game of horse shoes pitched here
"Nide' Davis, Eph Kellar, the Nc
Graths, W. B. Smith, Robert Bailey
Scott Brill and J. E. Martin; Boone
Smith also had shop for num-
, ber of years on his own lot, where
the Best garage now stands.
/ Harry Whitehouse, after purchas-
ing the Cunningham property, turn
ed the building that had been used
for store into shop, where he
worked until fall of 1928. In the
spring of 1929, he sold property and
moved to the county seat.
Physicians
Like all villages of any conse-
quence our village had doctor
who did thriving business. Doc
tors Hatfield, Piper, Williams and
Hill were residents Of the village
| and rode the country Dr. j. M
/ of
last doctor, while not living in the
village, he lived near by, occupying
| the house now the home of Earl
Wilson and family. the house hav-
ing been built by DR.. Hall, and
where he lived several years after
moving from the village
| At this time county seat doctors
! look after the needs Of our citizens.
| In the early days horse trading was
a profession and like all other pro-
| fessions some We're, perhaps we
| should say specialists. Quite bit
| of swapping was done. In those
| days run away horses We're COM
mon, much of the space now devoted
to automobile accidents in our coun-
| ty papers, was used to tell of run
aways. On account of the fact that
very few farmers have two real good
| horses the excitement is over These
runaWayS were not only exciting
| but many times resulted seriously.
| Old folks used to tell that the first
person buried in the Bristol ceme-
terry was a man who had been killed
by runaway team.
In those days the Gypsies made
a a
mer, camping near the village where
the traders went in and dickered
with them. It was a man with not
only lot of confidence in his abil
ity, but one with good sound heart
who traded with them.
At the present time there is not an
adult person living in the village
who has a birthright-in fact there
is an entire new citizenry in the last
20 years or less. AS intimated, our
village as we'll as our township, has
some noted residents whom we hope
to tell you about later on.
We once heard a preacher who
preached good sermon-and at
the end said ''and that brings us to
the text" While we are not preach
ing, neither are We at the end OF
our story-but while we think of it
and have the notes here, we had
better tell you that Bristol town
ship came into existence as a town
| ship July Z, 1919, by order of the
| county commissioners who ordered
that an election be held at the
home of Justus Merwin on July "a
of that month to elect another ]. P.
| 1t seems David Stevens had been
working, or serving under a COM
mission which dated back to July 8,
1915, and now with the coming Of
July 7, 1899, the township will have
been in existence six score years. AS
we look back in memory through
half of that time, and by and
through the history impaired by
men and women who had lived
through most, if not all of the 9TH
er half. we can only say "What hath
God Wrought" AS we have stated
in previous writings the first land
entered was by David Stevens (Cris-
man farm) in 1904. Mr.. Stevens
built the first frame house in the
township which is still standing. II
we mistake not, Mr.. Crisman pur-
chased the land from Mr.. Stevens
or his heirs. At the present time
part of the farm with the original
buildings is owned and occupied by
V. NJ Crisman, a grandson-thus it
has only been in the two names
during the 125 years. AS we have
stated somewhere this was one Of
the stops on the Marietta GAINESVILLE
stage route What a change in
transportation Folks with automo-
biles would make the trip quicker
than the drivers of these old
coaches could feed, curry, harness
and hitch their four horses. 1t
seems we would have enjoyed trip
like that-but we didn't arrive in
time. We knew one man who was
driver on the route, the late Jacob
Workman. 1t was left to us to ride
in the linch-pin wagon, the express
the variouG kinds of carts, buggies.
street cars, interurbans, railroad
coaches, steam boats and automO
biles. We still have the airplane to
add to the list-if we ever add it.
Let us tell you that the first Fast
Mail tablet of copy was written 10
years ago, and while we attempted
to revise it and bring it up to date,
we find we missed several places.
From this on we will write more as
the spirit moves us.
We find that on this 120th ami
versary of the township, easements
have been taken and memberships