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Lowell was the site of one of ten wooden covered bridges, built from 1820 to 1887, that crossed the Muskingum River from Marietta to Coshocton. The Lowell bridge was built in 1881. Bridges were built out of wood because there was plenty of lumber available, and building with wood was easier and cheaper than using stone. Covers protected the timbers from rain. The bridge connected Lowell, on the north side of the river, with the railroad that ran on the south side. This bridge suffered from many mishaps typical of wooden bridges. In 1882 a severe storm blew off the roof. In 1884 a flood washed the bridge off its stone piers. The bridge was restored, only to be destroyed by the 1913 flood, a disaster that removed many bridges on the river. An iron bridge was built on the site. The last covered bridge on the river was at Conesville seven miles south of Coshocton. Built in 1876, the bridge was condemned in 1958 and destroyed by a controlled fire.
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A farm boy with a tenth grade education, Leslie Peltier, born near Delphos in 1900, achieved fame as one of the most famous astronomers of the twentieth century. In 1916, he raised $18 dollars by picking 900 quarts of strawberries on his father’s farm in order to purchase his first telescope. His stargazing abilities led Harvard Observatory’s Dr. Harlow Shapley to proclaim him “the world’s greatest non-professional astronomer.” During his 65 years of stargazing, Leslie Peltier discovered 12 comets and two novae and made 132,000 variable star observations. Peltier made his discoveries on his homemade “merry-go-round” observatory that rotated on a child’s merry-go-round track and housed the optics from a 6-inch, f/8 telescope on loan from Princeton University. To recognize his achievements, the Astronomical League created the annual Leslie C. Peltier Award in 1980 to recognize an amateur astronomer who contributed to astronomy observations of lasting significance.
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Born in Pennsylvania in 1791, Bishop John Seybert came to Ohio in 1822 and preached throughout the mid-west. Seybert served the faith for forty years as an itinerant preacher, a presiding elder, and the first bishop of the Evangelical Association, one of the original denominations that is now part of the United Methodist Church. As a circuit rider, he traveled on foot, horseback, and spring wagon a distance of 175,000 miles, preached 9,850 sermons, held 8,000 prayer and class meetings, and made about 46,000 pastoral calls and 10,000 calls on the sick. Seybert often paid his own expenses on the meager salary of $100 per year. He died in 1860 and is buried in the Bellevue – Flat Rock area.
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Team photograph here Standing, L to R: Coach C. Norris Simpson, Donald Alt, Bill Ziegler, Roy Meyer, Jerry Kuhlman, Karl Inkrott, Vern Schroeder, Mel Lammers Kneeling, L to R: Joe Lammers, Junior McDonald, Frank Schroeder, Ralph (Skip) Meyer, Dick Barlage Team manager: Charles Warnimont Cheerleaders: Betty Lou Meyer, Agnes Riepenhoff, Clara Schroeder, Audrey Wischmeyer School colors: Blue and Gold “You have got to have the boys and I had the boys” –Coach C. Norris Simpson
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In the heyday of steamboating on the Muskingum, many people made their livelihood on the river. Jane McMillan, known as Old Jane, was one of the few women reported to have piloted boats on the river. In the 1840s she was co-owner of the “Zanesville Packet.” McMillan worked a variety of jobs, from cook to pilot. She was reported to know the twists and turns of the river so well that she could navigate safely at night, something many pilots refused to do. Isaac Newton Hook, a descendant of the earliest settlers in Zanesville, used skills he learned on the Muskingum River as a pilot on the Mississippi during the Civil War. He shipped supplies needed by the Union army. His tomb is in the Brick Church cemetery between Hooksburg and Stockport. He had the grave built out of concrete and above the level of the 1898 flood. The 1913 flood submerged the tomb, but it survived and can be viewed to this day.
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The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) traces its origins to mid-18th-century England, where it served as a mutual benefit society for traveling workmen. Odd Fellowship moved to the United States in 1819; the first Ohio lodge was established in 1830, and the Canfield Lodge was instituted in 1850. The charter members of this lodge were E.J. Estep, John G. Kyle, James Powers, W. M. Prentice, and William W. Whittlesey. Many of the early members of this lodge were businessmen, lawyers, physicians, and tradesmen. Lodge 155 remains one of the oldest active lodges in northeastern Ohio. (continued on other side)
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Born in Piqua, Ohio, the Mills Brothers grew up and attended school in Bellefontaine. The brothers — John, Jr., Herbert, Harry, and Donald Mills — were the first African-American vocal group to perform on a national radio broadcast and achieve commercial success. Enjoying worldwide fame throughout their career, the Mills Brothers popularized such hits as “Tiger Rag,” “Paper Doll,” and “You Always Hurt the One You Love.” After the death of John, Jr. in 1936, the remaining brothers were joined by their father, John, Sr. In all, the Mills Brothers recorded over 1,200 songs.
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Two Deputy U.S. General Land Office Surveyors traversed Goll Woods: Benjamin Hough in 1815 and Captain James Riley in 1821. Hough (1772-1819) established the Michigan Meridian in 1815 and was county and state office holder in Ohio. Riley’s life was more tumultuous. Riley (1777-1840) captained the merchant ship Commerce, which wrecked off the Saharan coast in 1815. Riley and crew were enslaved for four months until ransomed by British diplomat William Willshire. In 1817, Riley published a famous account of his time in North Africa, and, in 1819, was appointed a surveyor by Surveyor General Edward Tiffin. Moving to Northwest Ohio, Riley named the village he founded in 1822, Willshire, for his deliverer. Riley returned to New York in 1826 and to the sea, where he died. Riley’s book went through more than twenty editions by 1860 and Abraham Lincoln credited the account as one that influenced him deeply.
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