An excerpt from:
History of Wayne County, Ohio,
From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers
to the Present Time
By Ben Douglass, Wooster, Ohio
Robert Douglass, Publisher
1878
Indianapolis, IN
Orrville, a creation and product of the railroad, and the inevitable genius which surrounds and pursues such corporations, is fast approaching the proportions of cityhood. Concerning her enterprise, sagacity, foresight and quick identity with what best promotes her welfare, we need distill no pen-praise or eulogy. She has two railroads -- one more than Wooster -- and has petitioners for other ones, and as petitioners always should, she "will ever pray." Her people are wide-awake, gritty, self-reliant, and full of life. Despoil her of her energy, if you please, and her situation renders her existence and success compulsory. A junction, cross-way and point of distribution of railways, she must thrive. With communication direct to Cleveland, and her proximity to the coal regions, both east and south, she combines the elements that insure her permanence and stability and impart to her the qualities of a rival.
Surrounded by excellent farms, carefully cultivated by the most frugal and industrious farmers in Wayne county, she is girt with a zone of wealth, the central figure of which she is to stand.
Her commercial population is progressive, alert and enterprising. Her massive and beautiful business blocks will challenge comparison with any town of its age and size in the State. Her churches are solid and substantial structures, and some of them, in point of design are architectural beauties. Her hotels are commodious and in their appointments surpass those of older villages. Her school building is a capacious and costly edifice, and with the additions and improvements recently made, and which are largely due to the action of Hon. William M. Orr, it has become in its appointments and accommodations the equal of any in the county. In general manufacturers she has taken the lead of Wooster, and in the course of twenty-five years, estimating from her past rapid growth, she will rival the county-seat in population and in trade.
Orrville is situated partly in Greene and partly in Baughman township, the dividing line of which runs through, but east of, its center, and was named in honor of Hon. Smith Orr. The lands on which the town was located in 1852 belonged to Robert Taggart, C. Brenneman and C. Horst. Mr. Orr, then living a mile south, got the railroad company to establish a water-tank, and prevailed on Robert Taggart to lay off ten acres into town lots. He then bought out C. Horst, David Rudy and Peter Perrine. Jesse Straughan made the first plat of the town, and named it Orrville, in honor of Judge Orr. The first house built in the village was jointly by William M. Orr and William Gailey, and which was intended for a saw-mill, and to do work for the railroad company. William Bowman as the mill-wright. The lots on the Taggart ten acres were principally the first upon which buildings were constructed; they lay north of the railroad, east of Main street, and were located in Baughman township. Meantime some houses were being built across the line in Greene township. Judge Orr purchasing some land south of West Market street from Christian Brenneman, and some north of West Market Street from C. Horst and William Vankirk, laid out a number of lots. Her population at this time borders closely upon 2,000.
Its incorporation was granted by the Commissioners of the county May 9, 1864, and the first election held was at the office of William M. Gailey, February 22, 1865. The following are the officers since that date:
1865. Mayor -- William M. Gailey; Recorder -- D. G. Horst; Trustees -- A.S. Moncrief, J. W. Steele, J.F. Seas, John McGill, James Evans, Sr.
1866. Mayor -- William M. Gailey; Recorder -- D. G. Horst; Trustees -- John McGill, James Buttermore, D. W. Steele, A.S. Moncrief, J.F. Seas; Treasurer -- T. D. McFarland.
1867. Mayor -- William M. Orr; Recorder -- W. S. Evans; Trustees -- D. G. Horst, William M. Gailey, John McGill, S.D. Tanner, James Buttermore; Treasurer -- T. D. McFarland.
1868. Mayor -- A.S. Moncrief; Recorder -- W.S. Evans; Trustees -- James Buttermore, J.B. Taylor, Abe Gift; Treasurer -- T.D. McFarland.
1869. Mayor -- A.S. Moncrief; Recorder -- W. S. Evans; Treasurer -- T. D. McFarland; Trustees -- D. G. Horst, D.L. Trout, J. F. Seas, Kirk Johnson, L.S. Piper.
1870. Mayor -- A. C. Miller; Recorder -- W. S. Evans; Treasurer -- T. D. McFarland; Councilmen -- D. G. Horst, R. G. McElhenie, D.L. Moncrief, M.C. Rouch, Benjamin Steele, Hiram Chaffin.
1871. Councilmen -- C.L. Hoils, David Frick, John Snavely.
1872. Mayor -- M.C. Rouch; Clerk -- John A. Wolbach, Treasurer -- S. T. Gailey; Councilmen -- Isaac Schriber, W.M. Coup, I.C.Grabill.
1873. Councilmen -- A.C. Miller, Jacob Brenneman, James Snavely.
1874. Mayor -- William M. Gailey; Clerk -- John A. Wolbach; Treasurer -- S. T. Gailey; Councilmen -- Isaac Schriber, W.M. Coup, J.F. Seas.
1875. Councilmen -- H.H. Strauss, DanielGrady, Joseph Snavely, D. G. Moncrief.
1876. Mayor -- J. F. Seas; Clerk -- A.J. Heller; Treasurer -- John A. Wolbach; Councilmen -- Solon Boydston, J.B. Heffelman, J. Snavely.
1877. Councilmen -- Joseph Snavely, Isaac Schriber, F. Dysle, D. L. Moncrief.
Judge Smith Orr was born in Tallord, near Strahan, in County Tyrone, Ireland, on the 23d of November, 1797, and was the youngest child of Samuel and Sarah Orr. He had five brothers and two sisters, all of whom are dead. His mother died on the day of his birth, and his father landed, with the other members of his family at New Castle, Delaware, in the month of August 1801. After a residence of a few years in the East, they removed to Apple creek, East Union township, Wayne county, in the spring of 1812.
There Mr. Orr continued to live until the death of his father, in 1818. He then had but the choice of meeting the world for himself without means, assistance or friends. From that time until about the age of twenty-five he labored at grubbing and rail-splittring for others, when, having accumulated a small sum, he married Maria, youngest daughter of Dave Foreman, a soldier of the Revolution, who settled in Wayne county at a very early period, and who died there.
After their marriage they purchased and settled on a half-quarter of land in the woods on Apple creek, where they lived about three years, and then bought and removed to within one-half mile south of Orrville, and there resided over four years, and then purchased and removed to the tract of land known as the "Home Farm," one mile south of Orrville, and owned by him at his death. There he continued his residence until 1850, when the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad being located, he purchased land in and around where the village of Orrville is situation, and whither he immediately removed and continued to reside until his death, which occurred April 23, 1865.
His wife, Maria Orr, was born in Ligonier Valley, Pa., March 10, 1799, and when a small girl immigrated with her father, David Foreman, grandfather of Enos Foreman, former editor of the Wooster Republican, to the neighborhood of Economy, on the Ohio river, from which place she came with her father to what is now known as Baughman township. Her mother having died a very short time before their immigration to the country, she assumed entire household management of her father's house in the thirteenth year of her age. On the 1st of February, 1821, she became the wife of the subject of this memoir, residing with her husband from that time in East Union, Baughman, and from the spring of 1851 until her death in the village of Orrville, Greene township. During her married life, in addition to her own son, Hon. William M. Orr, she became the foster-mother of ten orphan children, four boys and six girls. She was plain in her manners, kind and affable, and but little disposed to visit or leave home; her greatest enjoyment consisting in receiving and entertaining friends and neighbors at her own house, where she was almost constantly to be found. It may be said of her, as Logan said of himself, "Who ever entered her cabin hungry and she gave him not meat?"
In the fifteenth year of her age, she embraced religion and united with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which she remained a member until about one year after her marriage, when she united with the Presbyterian church, at Applecreek, of which her husband was a member. From that congregation they were transferred by certificate to the Presbyterian church at Dalton. She died as she lived, a believer in revealed religion, expressing a firm and unfaltering hope and confidence in Jesus, her Savior.
Our pen has neither the cunning nor the ability to describe or analyze the parts which entered into the mental and physical composition of Judge Orr. Entering the county, then a dense wilderness, when he was but fifteen years of age, he became, like the oaks surrounding him, a very child of the woods.
The spirit of poesy, which is said to hover over the forests, awoke no inspirations in his breast. If, as Byron says,
"There is society, where none intrudes,"
Then he could love "nature more," if "not man the less." The approach of the bear, the howl of the wolf, the alarm signal of the rattlesnake, the yell of the wild Indian, constituted the sources of his early fears. Nature, however, may have tried to delight and instruct him, and if the barn was not built for the swallow and the hedge-row not set for the thrush, the wild singers of the woods serenaded him with music. He could watch the lithe deer bounding through the thickets, catch design and beauty in the woodland blossoms, and take lessons in philosophy, as nature, blending storm and sunshine, drew God's promise on the cloud.
We can imagine that the life of Judge Orr, at that time, was characterized by more fact than fancy, and that, instead of having margins of poetry, it was filled out to the rim in solid and serious prose. There were no school laws in Ohio then, and schoolhouses and school-teachers but faintly glimmered in dream-land. He may have learned the alphabet in the old family bible, and studied his arithmetic leaning over his knees at the cabin-fire. Under the circumstances which did exist he acquired an education, not such as attainable at the college or university; but his heart, feelings, soul, mind, brain, susceptibilities, all were disciplined in the school of self-denial and experience. It drilled and fitted him for a useful life, made him a benefit and blessing to his fellow-men, who turned to him in adversity for help, and who also sought his counsel and advice when "the winds down the river were fair."
Such a man as Judge Orr could not well have grown up in any country but his own. He was made what he was under divine guidance, solely by his own irresistible will and the inexorable circumstances surrounding a pioneer. He was an original, modeled himself after no pattern, imitated no man's manners, but with strong practical common sense convictions of what a high-minded Christian gentleman should be and do, he struggled perseveringly with fearless, unquailing, mighty will and arm and a warm, heroic heart and faith to be it and to do it. With an ear ever inclined to hear a tale of sickness, suffering or misfortune, and a hand and head ever ready with aid and counsel in need, his purpose was to do everything well that he undertook, however humble the task.
He was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace at an early day, and repeatedly re-elected, through all party malignities and asperities, holding the position for over a quarter of a century. He was elected in the year 1846 by the General Assembly of Ohio as one of the Associate Judges of the Common Pleas Court, which place he honorably and with signal ability filled until the adoption of the new Constitution in 1853, which abolished the office. Besides many other public positions which he occupied with credit, it may be mentioned that he was many times chosen by his political party -- the Clay Whigs -- as a candidate for election to responsible public positions, when the party in his locality was in the minority.
He was a member of the Union Convention which met in Baltimore in 1864 and renominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency, casting his first vote for him, and upon the vote for Vice-President in the convention Judge Orr and the Hon. Harrison G. Blake, by their votes, decided the vote of the Ohio delegation in favor of Andrew Johnson as the candidate, and the vote of Ohio nominated Governor Johnson over Governor Hicks, now deceased.
He was Land Surveyor for forty years, and throughout the entire eastern part of the county his services in this respect were of incalculable value to the citizens. During the ware of the rebellion he held no middle ground, but was decided, outspoken and pronounced in his sympathy and support of the Government. When Cincinnati was threatened by the Confederate forces he placed himself at the head of a company (being then sixty-six years of age) of Squirrel Hunters, and succeeded in reaching the city, an achievement of which a majority of the companies could not boast.
His patriotism was intense, ardent and glowing. Convince Judge Orr that he was right, and legions of armed men could not prevent an effort to perform it. Stir up the lion in the old man's breast, and the hot blood which he imported from the rarest island of the seas rose to its ebb, and if it was to smite a wrong he would dash forward, regardless of the opposition. What he undertook to do he did with all his might.
His motto was --- "Act -- act in the living present; Heart within and God o'erhead!"
Yesterday is past, to-day we will be wiser, and if to-morrow comes, better. He had an indomitable perseverance and will, and believed, with Richelieu, that --
"In youth's bright Lexicon there's no such word as fail."
He was possessed of a wide benevolence, a clear and comprehensive understanding, and an unflinching persistency and tenacity of aim. He was a thoughtful and discriminating student, an excellent historian, and with the political literature and transactions of the country, enjoyed the utmost familiarity. He was a fluent and convincing speaker, indulging in fact, detail and narration, seldom ornamental and never speculative.
He was a Presbyterian of the old school and faith, and belonged to the class of which Rev. T. A. McCurdy speaks in his history of the Wooster (Pres.) Church, who "had in them the ring of the true metal, and blue was their color." Aside from his public duties and labors Judge Orr, by his own unaided individual energy and skill, out of nothing acquired, built up and managed an estate sufficiently large to gratify any ordinary and reasonable ambition. But that which he acquired in his life, above all things to be admired and emulated, was the good name he left among men. To merit this in a sincere, earnest and Christian-like way was, whilst he lived upon earth, his chiefest ambition.
He died in the full faith of the resurrection and the eternal morning after the night of the grave, "sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust" in Him whose death was not only the world's example, but its sacrifice and life. Of his own issue surviving him are one son and three grandchildren.
ORRVILLE MANUFACTORIES AND ENTERPRISES.
Orrville contains quote a number of industrial establishments and other enterprises, of which we note a few of the most prominent.
Askins' Glass Coffin Company -- This is a joint sock company, with a capital of $210,000, engaged in the manufacturer of Askins' glass coffins, a new and superior article, patented January 22, 1877. Fifty operatives are employed. Directors: C. Brenneman, William M. Orr, Joseph Snavely, Joseph Askins, James Buttermore, James A. Taggart. Officers: President William M. Orr; Treasurer D. G. Horst; Superintendent Jacob L. Askins; Secretary A. Taylor.
Orrville Planing Mill was organized in 1867 by a joint stock company, with a capital of $20,000, and after passing through different hands, is now owned and run by Joseph Snavely.
Champion Thresher and Agricultural Implement Shops -- Work in these shops was commenced in Orrville in the spring of 1875, by W. M. Koppes & Company, employing from ten to fifteen hands, and were not able to fill half their orders for the thresher last year.
Hand Rake and Fork Manufactory --Boydston & Ramsey, proprietors, was founded in January, 1871, manufacturing hundreds of these implements annually.
Orrville Pottery was established in 1862, by Amos Hall and Robert R. Cochran. Peter Eckert and Jacob Flickinger purchased the pottery in 1877, and manufacture an extensive variety of crocks, jugs, fruit jars, etc.
Orrville Tannery, established in 1864, by Ludwick Pontius, and was the first tannery in the place. Now owned by F. Dysle & Bros.
Marble Works, established four years ago, C. Banhoff, proprietor.
The Central Ohio Fair, held annually at Orrville since 1867, is the best in some respects in any in all the surrounding counties. The grounds contain forty acres. Thousands attend it every year, until the "Orrville Fair" has become a popular institution with the masses. Present officers: President Hon. John Ault; Vice President Daniel Holzer; Treasurer Joseph Snavely; Secretary H. M. Wilson; General Manager Joseph Snavely.
Company E, Ninth Ohio National Guards, was organized in Orrville, on June 5, 1876, and is a fine military company of forty-five members. Officers: Captain A. H. Postlewait, First Lieutenant T. B. Myers; Second Lieutenant Thomas Carney; Orderly Sergeant John A. wolbach.
The First Fire Company was organized in 1873, with a hand engine called "Dot," and in 1874 this company merged into a new organization of sixty-four members, with another engine called "monitor;" Foreman E. Fogle.
Exchange Bank. This monetary institution was organized in 1868, by Jacob Brenneman and David G. Horst, the former retiring from it in April, 1877, since which time Samuel and Levi Brenneman have taken interests, the style of the bank being Brenneman & Horst.
SECRET SOCIETIES.
I.O.O.F. - Orrville Lodge, No. 490, was instituted July 26, 1871. Charter members: H.P. Hugus, A. W. Bombarger, A.E. Clark, Isaac H. Krieble, Harrison Bowman, John Dunn, J. C. St. John. Present officers: R. Chaffin, N. G.; A. Arich, V. G.; Jacob Holzer, R. S.; A Gift, P.S.; John Miller, Treasurer; J. H. Krieble, P.G.
Orr Lodge Knights of Honor was instituted July 9, 1875. Officers: Rev. J. C. Kauffman, Dictator; William M. Orr, Past Dictator; S. N. Coe, Vice Dictator; S. D. D. Tanner, Assistant Dictator; J. S. Evans, Guide; A. J. Heller, Reporter; J. G. Hartman, Financial Reporter; John Coffey, Treasurer; Rev. J. M. Jenkins, Chaplain; Guardian, George Ream; Sentinel, Solon Boydston.
D. L. Moncrief, M.C. -- The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was born in Scotland, his father in Carlisle, Pa., from where he removed to near Cannonsburg, Washington county. Here the Doctor was born, September 23, 1823, and lived on the farm until fifteen years ago. He attended Jefferson College, and at twenty-two began the study of medicine with Dr. Israel Moore, of Cannonsburg, with whom he remained three years a student, and then removed to Western Ohio. In 1853 he concluded his medical course at Cincinnati. From Mercer county, Ohio, he came to Orrville in March, 1857, at once entering upon a successful practice of his profession, residing there until the present time. He was thrice married, the last time on March 20, 1876, to Miss Marian Morton, an English lady, who accompanied Dr. A. C. Miller on his return from England. He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, and was made Postmaster of Orrville in 1860 by Abraham Lincoln, serving eight years. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church at Dalton.
Dr. Moncrief is a scholar in his profession, and the best type of a refined and cultivated gentleman. Truthfulness, energy, tenacity and firmness in conviction of right are special traits of his character. A man of enlightened mind, he appreciates the value of education, and as a consequence encourages and aids its general promotion. He is ever identified with the best interests of his town. He has carved out his own destiny; acquired competence and wealth, and by his worth, stability and courtesy, has won the deserved confidence and respect of all good men.
Hon. William M. Orr -- William M. Orr, only child of Judge Smith Orr, deceased, was born in Baughman township, January 7, 1826. He was raised on the farm, and with his father remained until he was sixteen years of age, when he commenced teaching school. He attended the Dalton and Wadsworth Academies, and in the year 1846 entered the junior class at Washington and Jefferson College, from which he graduated in 1847.
In this class were John LeMoine, now member of Congress from Chicago; W. S. Moore, late member of Congress from Washington, Pa.; James G. Blaine, member of Congress for many years, late Speaker of the House of Representatives, and present United States Senator from the State of Maine, and other men of mark.
At the annual contest of 1846, between the literary societies of the College, he took the highest honor in debate and was valedictorian of the class of 1847.
He commenced reading law with Hon. T. M. T. McKennon, of Washington, Pa., once Secretary of the Interior of the United States, concluding his elementary studies with Hon. R. P. Spaulding, of Cleveland, Ohio.
He was admitted to practice by Judge Peter Hitchcock, and opened an office in Wooster in 1849, where he remained until 1865, when he removed to Orrville, his present residence.
He was married on the 4th of July, 1849, to Charlotte McFarland, of Baughman township, a niece of Major McFarland, who distinguished himself at Lundy's Lane. Mr. Orr has had four children, Smith, John, William and Maria. William Orr, his third son, died August 3, 1877. His oldest son is practicing medicine in Lasalle county, Ill.
CHURCHES OF ORRVILLE.
A Methodist Society was organized in the district in which Orrville was embraced as early as 1853, by Rev. Joseph Hayes, and services were held in a school-room in the western part of the village. Among its first members were, David Huston, leader, Mrs. Joanna Hayes, Daniel Hoover and wife, Mrs. William Vankirk, Mrs. Joseph Vankirk, Father Wilford, a local preacher, Mary Walters, and Mr. and Mrs. William Skelton. They completed their church edifice in 1868-69. Rev. Alfred Wheeler dedicated it and preached the sermon. The succession of pastors since 1869 has been as follows: Rev. Chilton Craven, N. J. Close, A. E. Thomas, Philip Kelser, J. L. Sanford, J. T. McCartney, W. Reese and J. F. Brant, present pastor.
English Lutheran Mission Church was organized January 6, 1877, with ten members, and was incorporated January 31, 1876, with the following trustees: Jesse Good, A. W. Bombarger, Otho Miller, G. G. Wear and A. McGriffin. March 28 A. C. Miller, M. D., of Cleveland, and J. H. Stoll, M.D., and wife in April, deeded grounds to the Trustees, thus securing to the church the entire block lying on the south-east corner of Vine and Water streets, for a consideration of $1,900. July 18, 1876, on these premises the society began the erection of a church. The corner-stone was laid September 3, Rev. H. L. Wiles, D. D., preaching the sermon. By October 13, 1877, the house was ready for occupancy. The church membership now numbers twenty, and with a flourishing Sabbath-school recently organized the work in the new church begins under favorable auspices. Rev. J. C. Kauffman is present pastor.
Presbyterian Church -- Prior to the organization of the Presbyterian church at Orrville services were held occasionally. Rev. Archibald Hanna preached the first sermon in the interest of Presbyterianism in 1852, in an old school-house, now the home of Mr. H. M. Wilson and family. No further record of any services until July 9, 1854, by Rev. John E Carson, held in the Union church. Here they henceforth worshiped until the basement of their own house was fit for occupation. Services were held by the following named persons: Rev. Carson, Rev. J. W. Hanna, son of Archibald Hanna, Rev. Marshall, Rev. Barr, Rev. Semple. During the close of Rev. Semple's ministration in this place, the church was organized July 25, 1865. The committee appointed by the Presbytery of Wooster for the work consisted of Rev. Philo M. Semple, John E. Carson, Andrew Virtue, ministers; Elders James McClure and Joseph Potter. The original membership consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Gailey, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Reaser, Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Johnston, James A. Taggart, Sarah J. Taggart, Margaret F. Crites, Rebecca Wilson, Lydia Wilson, Mary L. Wilson, Mary J. Ewing, Delilah McFarland, Sarah A. Orr, Rebecca M. Storrs, Catharine Schriber, Sarah J. Taggart.
Soon after the organization of the church, Mr. Semple held a communion here, the first ever held in Orrville. His labor ceased September 16, 1866. October 21 witnessed the advent of Rev. M. L. Anderson, who continued as stated supply of the church, in connection with Holmesville, to March 21, 1869. Rev. Dunlap began his services June 6, 1869, but his ministry was short. He died October 3, 1870. The church was dedicated February 19, 1871, when a sermon was delivered by Dr. Lord, of the University of Wooster. Rev. A. Dilworth began his services August 27, 1871, and was installed November 10, thus securing the title of first regular pastor of this church. Rev. J. M. Jenkins preached his first sermon April 26, 1874, and was installed, September 24,, by a committee of Presbytery, consisting of Rev. A. S. Mulholland and Dr. Taylor of Wooster. D. G. Horst, H. H. Strauss, and J. H. Stoll, M.D., were elected Elders at a meeting held May 19, 1876. A summary of the work of the church from its organization shows that ninety have united with it from other churches. Total number ever connected with it, 257; present membership, 170.
David G. Horst was born in Lancaster county, Pa., June 26, 1831, and came to Wayne county, Ohio, with his father, with whom he remained until 1860, when he settled in Orrville, and engaged in the dry goods and general merchandising business, in which he continued for eight years, when he went into the banking business. He was married February 16, 1853, to Elizabeth Martin, of Baughman township. He is a member of the Presbyterian church; is a man of sound, solid sense, a benevolent, liberal upright, and a consistent Christian gentleman.
J. H. Stoll, M.D., was born in Chippewa township, May 2, 1849. He remained with his father, Christian Stoll, who was a successful and wealth farmer, until he was sixteen, when he attended the Smithville Academy, and thence went to Savannah, Ashland county, where he remained two years. At the age of twenty he began reading medicine with L. Firestone, M.D., LL.D., of Wooster. After successive courses at the best medical colleges of the United States, he graduated in 1871, and immediately entered upon practice at Marshallville, where he remained eighteen months, when he went to London, England, and received lectures at Kings College, but on account of sickness was compelled to return home, when he located in Orrville. He was married June 26, 1871, to Belle A. Jeffreys, of Savannah. He is surgeon of the C. Mt. & C. R. R. and the Ninth Ohio National Guards.
Adam Brenneman, a native of Pennsylvania, immigrated to Ohio in 1831, located in Sugarcreek township, two miles south of Orrville, where he died February 10, 1869. His son, Jacob Brenneman, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., February 28, 1822, removed to Wayne county with his father, where he remained until he was twenty-six years of age. He then began selling goods one mile south-east of the present site of Orrville, where in 1859 he removed and continued his merchantile business, with D. G. Horst as partner. In 1867 he relinquished commercial pursuits and went into the banking business. In 1872 he completed the splendid brick building on Market street, 100x50 feet, three stories high, and at a cost of $12,000. It fronts on the street, with five ample and capacious rooms, an ornament to the town and an honor to the genius and enterprise of Mr. Brenneman, than whom there are no better citizens in the county.
The Graded Schools of Orrville, organized in 1872, are among the very best conducted in the county, having a fine school building, and using all the improved methods of instruction, and are a highly creditable institution to the growing little railroad city. The present instructors are: Superintendent and Principal of the High School, J. W. Dougherty; Teachers: Grammar School, Sarah McWilliams, Intermediate, Martha J. Gailey and Ida Clark; A Primary, Rettie Weirich; B Primary, Lois Steel.
The Orrville Crescent -- This newspaper was established in January, 1870, by John A. Wolbach. The paper is a five-column quarto, 26x40. The office has three job presses, two of which are steam presses, and employs four hands. The Crescent is well managed, has a good advertising patronage, and is settled on a solid foundation. John A. Wolbach, the editor and publisher, was born in Greene township, April 6, 1849, and learned the printing business in the office of the Wooster Republican. In 1867 he worked on the Medina Republican, and after a short experience there went on the Akron Beacon, where he remained two years, until he established the Crescent. He was married September 11, 1869, to Miss Sarah J. Homer, of Medina County.
Evening At Home and Words of Cheer are the titles of two worthy journals published in Orrville by H. A. Mumaw since the spring of 1875. They are very readable family papers, conducted with good literary ability, and are publications of the highest moral character.
Daniel Schriber, a native of Pennsylvania, and for seventeen years a citizen of Wayne county, died February 2, 1852. His son, Henry, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1831, and with his father's family, in 1833, removed to Wayne county, his father soon purchasing a tract of land in Greene township. Henry worked on the farm till he was nineteen years old, when he learned a trade, to which he applied himself for seven years, when he went to school at Fredericksburg and prepared himself for teaching, which vocation for a number of years he pursued. In 1859 he embarked in merchantile business in Orrville, where he has since continued. He has been twice married; first, to Elizabeth Gailey, who died September 27, 1872; second to Sophronia Orr, January 15, 1875. He is the present Postmaster of the town, and has been for a number of years; was elected Justice of the Peace of Greene township in 1872, and re-elected in 1875. He is a member of the Presbyterian church. Isaac Schriber, son of Daniel, was born in Greene township, June 29, 1834. He was married to Catharine Zollars, and is an active, enterprising man. He was appointed Commissioner of Wayne county, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of John McGill, and was elected and re-elected thereafter to the same office. Under his administration occurred the completion of the county buildings, and the improvements and additions made to the County Infirmary. He has held various minor offices.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Douglass, Ben, History of Wayne County, Ohio, from the days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time, Robert Douglass, Publisher, Indianapolis, Ind., 1878.