History of Zanesville, (Muskingum County) Ohio United States of America

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Local History Notes:

ZANESVILLE, a handsome and flourishing city of Ohio, and seat of justice of Muskingum county, is situated on the National road, and on the Muskingum river, 80 miles from its mouth, and opposite the mouth of the Licking river. It is 54 miles E. from Columbus, and 179 miles E. N. E. from Cincinnati. Lat. 39? 57? N., lon. 81? 57? W. It is situated on the left bank of the river, which is a fine navigable stream, flowing through a beautiful, populous, and highly productive valley. The plan of the town is regular, the streets are wide, adorned with many fine buildings, and lighted with gas. The position is naturally advantageous for trade, and in respect to improved means of communication, Zanesville is not behind the progress of the age. Steamboats can ascend from the Ohio to this point, and several of them make regular passages between Zanesville and Cincinnati. The Central Ohio railroad connects it with Columbus on one hand and Wheeling on the other, the western division being now in operation; the Zanesville Wilmington and Cincinnati, about 130 miles long, terminates here, and connects with the Cleveland Zanesville and Cincinnati, which is about 100 miles long, and is in course of construction. The second line is nearly or quite finished. Since the commencement of these works the value of real estate has been much increased, and the city exhibits an aspect of new prosperity. The attention of capitalists is attracted to the advantages for manufacturing which are presented here in the abundant water-power of the river, and in the rich coal mines of the adjacent hills. The water of the river is distributed through the town from a reservoir, which contains nearly a million gallons. The Central Ohio Railroad Company have erected an iron bridge over the Muskingum. It is 538 feet in length, and contains 67 tons of wrought, and 130 tons of cast iron. The city is connected by bridges, with three suburbs on the W. bank of the river, namely, Putnam, South Zanesville, and West Zanesville. The former has a flourishing female seminary, an academy, and above 2000 inhabitants. Five or six newspapers and periodicals are published here. Zanesville contains 14 churches, and a number of well-organized public schools. It has also a free school, supported by a fund of from $300,000 to $500,000?John McIntire, one of the first settlers of the place, having bequeathed nearly all his estate for the education of the poorer children of Zanesville for ever. A suitable building has been erected, and the school is numerously attended. The town contained, in 1851, 2 banks, (capital, $200,000,) 1 cotton factory, 2 woollen factories, 1 nail factory, 2 glass works, 5 iron foundries, 1 paper mill, 5 flouring mills, 2 oil mills, and 5 newspaper offices. Zanesville was laid out in 1799. The seat of the state government was removed from Chillicothe to this place in 1810, and remained about 2 years, when Columbus was selected as the permanent capital. Population, in 1850, 10,355.

Biographies:

Moses Moorhead Granger, jurist, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, Oct. 22, 1831; son of James and Matilda V. (Moorhead) Granger; grandson of Oliver and Beulah (Hanchett) Granger, and of Moses Chapline and Anna (Patterson) Moorhead of Suffield, Conn., and a descendant of Launcelot Granger, who was married Jan. 4, 1653, to Joanna, daughter of Robert Adams of Newbury, Mass. He was graduated at Kenyon college in 1850, was admitted to the bar, and practised in Zanesville, 1853-61. He was captain of the 18th U.S. infantry; was promoted major and then lieutenant-colonel of the 122d Ohio volunteer regiment and was brevetted colonel of volunteers, for "gallant and meritorious conduct in the present campaign before Richmond and in the Shenandoah Valley." At the close of the war he resumed his practice of the law at Zanesville. He was city solicitor, 1865; prosecuting attorney, 1866; judge of the court of common pleas, 1866-71, and chief-justice of the supreme court commission of Ohio, 1883-85. He was married, Dec. 29, 1858, to Mary, daughter of Gen. William J. and Mary E. (Sherman) Reese. He is the author of Washington versus Jefferson: The Case Tried by Battle in 1861-65 (1898).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Zella Allen Dixson, librarian, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, Aug. 10, 1858; daughter of Josiah Buffett and Mary Caroline (Blandy) Allen. She completed the course in the Zanesville high school, studied at Putnam seminary, and was graduated at Mt. Holyoke college, Mass., in 1880. She was married in 1881 to Joseph Ehrman Dixson of Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Dixson died in 1885. She then determined to make the care of libraries her life work, and studied under Melvil Dewey at Columbia college, becoming his private secretary and subsequently assistant librarian of Columbia college. After one year at this post she adopted the profession of library expert and made it her business to classify and rearrange chaotic matter in public libraries. In this work she travelled extensively, and over thirty large and influential libraries were rearranged, including that of Denison university, the City of Duluth, Kenyon college, and the Baptist theological seminary. She established a training school for librarians in which many pupils have been equipped with the best methods for library work. In 1887 she became librarian of Denison university, going from there to the Baptist theological seminary in 1890 and to the University of Chicago in 1892. In 1892 she received the degree of M.A. from Shepardson college for two years' non-resident graduate work. Mrs. Dixsen became a director of the Chicago woman's club, a member of the College alumn? of Mt. Holyoke and president of Mt. Holyoke association of the northwest. In 1894 she was made lecturer in the University Extension department and before summer schools. Her library at "Wisteria Cottage" Granville, Ohio, is mentioned in "Private Libraries of the United States and Canada" published in Leipzig in 1896. She is the author of Library Science (1894); Cataloger' s Manual of Authors' Names (1895); A Comprehensive Subject Index to Universal Prose Fiction (1897), and contributions to periodicals.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Fletcher King, educator, was born near Zanesville, Ohio, Dec. 20, 1830; son of James Johnson and Mariam (Coffman) King; and grandson of Walter and Catharine King and of William and Elizabeth Coffman. Both his father and mother were of Virginia ancestry. William was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan university in 1857, and was tutor in mathematics there, 1857-62. He joined the Upper Iowa conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1862, and accepted the chair of Latin and Greek languages in Cornell college, Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Upon the death of President Samuel M. Fellows, in 1863, Professor King was made acting president, and in 1865 he was elected president. In 1901 he was classed as one of the oldest college presidents in the United States, and the remarkable growth of the institution was largely the re-suit of his progressive administration. He was married in August, 1865, to Margaret McKell, of Chillicothe, Ohio. He was president of the State Teachers' association; a member of the educational council of the National Teachers' association, 1886-1900, and was appointed by President Harrison a member of the national commission of the World's Columbian exposition in 1890. He was elected a member of various philanthropic and scientific societies of America and Europe; was three times elected to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church and received the honorary degree of D.D. from the Illinois Wesleyan university in 1870, and that of LL.D. from the Ohio Wesleyan and the Iowa State universities in 1887.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Samuel Augustus Gilbert, soldier, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, Aug. 25, 1825. He attended Ohio university at Athens and entered the service of the U.S. coast survey, being promoted assistant superintendent. In June, 1861, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 24th Ohio volunteers, and became colonel of the 44th Ohio volunteers in October of the same year. In the battle of Lewisburg, W. Va., in May, 1862, he captured a Confederate battery; was with the army under Gen. John Pope in Virginia in 1862 and in 1863 commanded a brigade in Kentucky. At the siege of Nashville in November, 1863, he was engineer on the staff of Gen. John G. Foster, commanding the department of the Ohio, and on Longstreet's retreat on the 29th he resumed the command of his brigade. On April 20, 1864, he resigned from the army. He was breverted brigadier-general of volunteers, March 13, 1865. He died in St. Paul, Minn., June 9, 1868.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor