Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1939-09-21

right was teaching his first term
which recalled to our mind that Ell
mer taught at least one term al
! Valley. We remember when he call
ed the class in arithmetic, the les
son was cube root. In about two
minutes he found there wasn't any
member of the class knew anything
about it. He said "'class dismiss
ed Same lesson tomorrow" On
the morrow he came with a set OF
blocks, and showed us-no doubt
some of the pupils have forgotten
the story We have told, and we still
wonder when we will need to use
, cube root. Elmer was a real teach.
| er, but his pilgrimage was short
| He sleeps in the Stevens cemetery
We forgot to tell you Brooks and
Anise Paxton We're teaching in Bris
tol that year.
George p. Roberts
While we have told much of this
man and told much that he told US,
we feel this work would be incom-
plete if We did not include a his
tory of his life and work here. Son
of Ephraim and Elizabeth McHugh
Roberts, he was born Feb. 10, 1S47.
in Tallytown, or Arlington. AS we
remember he was born in that part
of the village which was in Bristol
township. His father was cab
met maker-made coffins, as we
have told in previous writings. The
coffins were made of black walnut,
and he charged a dollar foot-not
for the lumber, but as to the length
of the coffin-siX foot, Sc, and so
on. In Georges boyhood, his faith
er bought the farm on Bear Run
and moved his family there-where
a brother, John, died in young man
hood. George was twice married
His first wife, Flora Paxton, only
lived a short time after their mar
riage. His second wife, Lucy Sc.
vail, survives him. His death oc-
Cured March 8, 1884, aged 81
years, and 21 days. Besides the wife
one son, Prof. f. E. Roberts, of the
Bethany college, Bethany, w. aV.,
also survives him.
En- early life he taught school:
was a graduate of a business coll
lege; served in various offices of the
township, but the greatest thing we
found in him was his wonderful
life of the township. He was always
an interesting conversationalist We
found early in our experience that
he wanted folks who quoted him to
tell what he said-and not add too,
and we never had occasion to dc
so, as he was always very explicit.
If we have ever deserved any praise
for our writing of historical mat
ter, we owe much of it to Mr. Rob
erts, as we spent many hours lis
tening to him tell of men and
events which became a part of our
writing. He sleeps in the Meigs
cemetery.
Roads
1t seems that away back in the
early history of the township, roads
bothered the settlers. While the
Barnesville. now state highway IS,
was not the first road, it dates back
to 1920, and has at this time be-
come the main road of the town
ship, carrying, We believe, more
through traffic than all the rest of
the roads combined. From it ex-
tends route 7G north, which leaves
rs at the site of the old Stevens
stand-then just little ways on to-
ward Cabinville, route 284 starts
off rs, and follows the ridge to the
Muskingum county line, and
through Young Hickory, Zeno, and
on to Charlottesville. Many candi-
dates have Won, and many lost cleo
ton on road promises. In the ear
ly days and up until not so many
years ago much of the work of
road building was by man and
horse power. Now machinery has
'supplanted man and beast to large
extent Gasoline and fuel-oil driven
machines have been so improved
that one machine will do the work
that 20 teams formerly did, all of
which has added to the unemploy-
ment situation.
We can't help noticing, and re-
marking of the changes that have
occurred in the township since we
started the original manuscript