The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1947-12-11

Silas Thorla, who lives about
halfway between Hoskinsville and
Renrock, recently spent a day in
Cumberland visiting friends and
talking over old times. He now
boasts the age of 81 years and is
trim and husky.
He attributes his good health to
his abstemious life, following the
Injunction of his mother, who used
to remind him that many persons
dig their graves with their teeth.
His mother was a Caldwell, of the
family that founded the county seat
of Noble county. His father ran the
diStillery near Renrock for many
years, and Mr.. Thorla says: Though
/ was born and reared in a diStillery
/ am not user of liquors and never
have BEEN.
His first school days were in the
Smith school house, so called be-
cause it was on land owned by Will
liam Smith, who afterwards moved
to Cumberland and ran a hotel at
Main and Cambridge streets for
several years. This frame building
has long been gone and on the site
today are the residences of William
, Wilson and Charles Hawkins.
Mrs. Smiths maiden name was
Sallie McClelland, daughter of John
McClelland, who came to this part
of the country in 1848 and located
a few miles west of town on what
is known as part of the Collins
farm. These McClellandS had sew
en- children and one of the girls,
Mary, a sister of Mrs. William
Smith, married Peter Frazee and
was the mother of Mary Agnes,
who married Odel Squier
FearsOme Tales
The farms of the Smiths and the
Thorlas joined and when Silas was
a little boy, just starting to school,
he and the Smith girls used to walk
part of the way home together.
They told him fearsome tales of
of places he had to pass after
leaving them to go the remainder of
the way home alone. There was a
story about an old Indian who lived
in a hollow tree and always carried
a tomahaWk in his belt and one
about a house where crazy man
was kept chained and who ratified
his chains when he heard anyone
passing. So frightened was the
small boy that ne refused to go to
school, until persuaded by his
mother with a switch and the as
surance that there was no truth in
the tales of the little Smith girls.
After the Smiths moved to Cum
berland and these girls grew up,
they married Cumberland men.
Mary, better known as Moll, mar
ried William Fulton, blacksmith
in partnership with his brother.
Their shop was on Water street,
then one of the busiest parts of the
town, then known as CuSicsburg.
The other Smith daughter, Eva,
married Robert Martin, a son of
Hayden Martin, who came from
Sharon to our town and had a
butcher shop.
After a time a new building took
the place of the old log school,
which also served as a church un-
til the Ragan chapel was built at
Hoskinsville. BY his time Silas
was older and not too scared by the
tales told by little girls. The new
school house was at the headwaters
of Meigs creek, on what was known
as Pleasant Ridge. This school was
popularly known as Bedlam.
Early Teachers
Mr.. Thorla remembers fondly his
early teachers who were kind and
gentle and loved by the pupils.
Among them were two Cumber-
land women, Hannah and Amanda
Collins, sisters. Their home was
where the Howard F'risbee family
now lives.
The old wooden mill at Crooked
Run, started a hundred years ago,
is remembered by Mr.. Thorla. This
was the first such a factory in this
part of the county and was owned
and operated by family named
Bush. Later the plant was taken to
Caldwell and sometime afterward
the building was destroyed by fire
and the business was moved to
Dresden, where the fine Dresden
flannels are now woven.
During the boyhood days of Mr..
Thorla there was a flour mill in
that neighborhood, started by man
named DickerSon, which became he