Growing Up In Working Class Youngstown — Howard W. Jones

June 9, 2018June 9, 2018 / rtrube54 / 4 Comments

I was able to attend Youngstown State because of Howard W. Jones. He was the principal reason that there was a Youngstown State as the first and longest sitting president from 1935 to 1966. He retired when Youngstown University was on the verge of becoming a state university, which happened in 1967. To protect the university’s private endowment, he became the president of the Youngstown Education Foundation (now the YSU Foundation). He served in this position until 1975. In 1972, I received a scholarship from the Youngstown Education Foundation (full the first year, and partial the remaining years). That scholarship, along with part-time jobs and low tuition, allowed me to graduate in 1976 without any loan debts.

Who was this man whose leadership was so crucial to the growth of Youngstown College, later Youngstown University? Jones was born September 25, 1895 in Palmyra, Ohio. He served in the Navy during World War I and completed his Bachelor’s degree at Hiram College in 1920. He later completed a Masters degree at Western Reserve University in 1938, and was granted an honorary degree in Pedagogy in 1943 from Westminster College. He worked as an athletic trainer, coach, and school principal before returning to Hiram to serve as assistant to the president at Hiram.

He came to Youngstown in 1931 at the invitation of the YMCA. You may recall that Youngstown College got its start when the YMCA starting offering college level courses at the Youngstown Association School. In 1921, it became the Youngstown Institute of Technology, then in 1928, Youngstown College. In 1931, Jones was the associate general secretary of the YMCA and was appointed to direct Youngstown College, essentially to serve as president. He presided over construction of a new 35 room classroom building that would one day bear his name, at the corner of Wick and Lincoln Avenues, built at a cost of $350,000 and dedicated October 1, 1931. Enrollment at the time was 200. He formally was named President in 1935. He brought the Dana School of Music from Warren to become part of Youngstown College. Over the next 20 years he led the expansion of the college into a university, the growth reflected in the name change to Youngstown University in 1955. By the time he retired in 1966, the university had grown to 12,000 students with new science and engineering buildings under construction. He was succeeded by Albert Pugsley, who was YSU’s president when I enrolled in the fall of 1972.

Howard W. Jones died February 25, 1982 at the age of 86. He oversaw a transformation from a small, mostly night school to an urban state university. His work at the Youngstown Education Foundation made it possible for many of my generation to be the first to obtain college degrees. The campus I encountered in 1972, much less developed than today, was fundamentally a result of his leadership. I wish I had met him. It occurs to me that I have a good deal for which I could thank him.

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — David Tod

May 26, 2018May 25, 2018 / rtrube54 / 7 Comments

Governor David Tod, Public Domain via Wikimedia

Son of one of the Western Reserve’s early judges. A farm owner in Brier Hill. A pivotal figure in “block” or Brier Hill coal mining that spurred the growth of the iron industry in the Mahoning valley and owner of major coal, iron, and rail companies. State office holder. Civil War governor. David Tod was all of these.

David Tod was born in Youngstown on February 21, 1805 to George and Sarah Tod. His father served as a state lawmaker from 1804 to 1806, and then on the Ohio Supreme Court. It appeared that David would follow his father’s footsteps–working on the family farm in Brier Hill, attending the Burton Academy in Geauga County, and studying law in Warren. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1827, served as Warren’s Postmaster in 1832, and a one-term State Senator in 1838. He returned home to Brier Hill in 1840 to private practice. His father died the following year.

The year 1841 marked a turning point. Tod inherited his father’s farm and began to mine the seams of coal underneath it. The coal was slow burning and generated plenty of heat, making it a superior fuel source to the charcoal previously used in iron making. This coal propelled the growth of the iron industry in the valley and lead to growth in Tod’s wealth as it was shipped, first via canal, and later rail to Cleveland and other regional producers. The coal, called “block coal” also became known as Brier Hill coal, although it could be found in seams throughout the area, including Mineral Ridge and Girard, where Tod acquired additional land.

He had not lost the bug for political office, however. In 1844 and 1846, he made unsuccessful runs for governor. Then in 1847, he was appointed James K. Polk’s minister to Brazil, where he served until 1851. He became president of the Cleveland & Mahoning railroad, helping to expand the transport of both raw materials and finished products for the valley. He launched the Brier Hill Iron Company, later to be consolidated as Brier Hill Iron and coal, and resulting in the building of two blast furnaces, “Grace 1″ and Grace 2” in Brier Hill, both named after his daughter.

This was built around the time of the Civil War, which further stimulated the Valley’s industrial growth. These years also represented the culmination of Tod’s political ambitions, with election as governor in 1862 as a National Union candidate combining Republican and War Democrat party members. He worked hard to meet the troop quotas set by Lincoln, calling for Federal conscription. He arrested war resister Clement Vanlandingham, and defended the state from Morgan’s Raiders. He was not re-elected in 1864. Lincoln offered to appoint him secretary of the Treasury, but Tod’s health was weakening, and he declined. In 1868, he died of stroke at age 63.

Perhaps the greatest tribute to this industrial magnate and politician is this by Abraham Lincoln:

“Governor Tod has aided me more and troubled me less than any other governor.”

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Reverend William Wick

April 28, 2018April 27, 2018 / rtrube54 / Leave a comment

Helen Chapel of the First Presbyterian Church, By Nyttend [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

“In Youngstown, the name ‘Wick’ is a synonym for fiscal integrity and unusual ability, for high character, and for public spiritedness.” — Joseph G. Butler.

Two Wick brothers were among the very earliest to settle in Youngstown and the Wick name not only runs through the city as Wick Avenue, but also the city’s history. Henry and William Wick were both born to Lemuel and Deborah (Lupton) Wick. In this post, I will focus on the older brother, William, who established the first congregation in the Western Reserve, First Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Wick and Wood Street, just across Wick Avenue from its present location.

Reverend Wick was born on Long Island July 29, 1768. The family later moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Washington and Jefferson College in nearby Canonsburg. He married Elizabeth McFarland, daughter of a Revolutionary War colonel on April 21, 1791. They started out married life on a Washington County farm. They would eventually have eight sons and three daughters. William Watson Wick, their eldest, served as a congressman from Indiana.

Wick read theology in the “Cannonsburg Academy,” a log cabin school presided over by a Dr. McMillan, who persuaded him of the need for preachers on the growing frontier. He completed his studies and was licensed to preach on August 28, 1799. He accepted calls to two churches in Mercer County, Hopewell and Neshannock in 1800. The Presbytery of Ohio released him from the Neshannock call so that he could begin ministry in the Western Reserve in 1801, the first permanent minister in the Western Reserve, receiving support both from the Presbytery and the Connecticut Missionary Society (remember that it was the Western Reserve of Connecticut), along with Joseph Badger.

One of the families that moved to nearby Coitsville Township at the same time was that of William Holmes McGuffey, whom Wick knew from Washington County. McGuffey received his early education from Wick, and one wonders how much he influenced the McGuffey Readers. Wick educated him in Latin as well as using “Webster’s Speller” and Lindley Murray’s English Grammar

Reverend Wick divided his time between the church in Youngstown and the Hopewell congregation. The ministerial life was hard and his health had been delicate even during his years on the farm. In October 1814 a severe cold weakened his lungs. He continued ministering through the winter, his health continuing to fail. He preached his last sermon on February 13, 1815 but address them in his home until he died, March 29, 1815.

At his request, he was buried in Youngstown. On his tombstone, it is noted that he preached one thousand five hundred and twenty-two sermons and married fifty-six couples. The Youngstown church grew rapidly, thanks to an awakening of religious interest in 1803.

First Presbyterian Church continues to this day, it’s tall white spire overlooking downtown Youngstown from the bluffs to the north. I wonder if Reverend Wick would have thought his little log cabin church would still be ministering to the spiritual needs of people in Youngstown over 200 years later?

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Daniel Shehy (Sheehy)

April 7, 2018January 14, 2021 / rtrube54 / 21 Comments

An illustration of the cabin erected by Daniel Shehy, From History of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, Ohio, Volume 1, By Joseph Green Butler

Who was the first settler of Youngstown (other than native peoples)? The standard answer of course is John Young who surveyed the land, purchased the township, platted the initial settlement, and built the first cabin near Spring Common. This has been disputed by a descendant of Daniel Shehy who contends that Young never lived in Youngstown, nor built the first cabin. Clarence A. Horton writes:

“After purchasing the land Daniel Shehy began at once to construct Youngstown’s first cabin along the river on it’s north-eastern side at a point which later became known as Edgewood Street and Truesdale Avenue. The cabin was made of rough logs about 16 by 20 feet, one story and all in one room.” (As quoted in Howard C. Aley, A Heritage to Share, p. 31).

Daniel Shehy (while it is often rendered “Sheehy”, a descendant wrote me to assert the spelling with the single “e”) without question was one of the first settlers. Born in 1756 in Tipperary, Ireland, he fled to America during the Revolution when two near relatives were executed for opposition to government policies. He joined John Young enroute to survey the township lands Young had agreed to purchased, subject to survey. He had $2,000 in gold to invest and agreed to purchase 1000 acres of land, 400 on the east side of the Mahoning, 600 on the west. Shehy and Young ended up in a land dispute when it appeared that Young sold the land Shehy had agreed to buy to a subsequent purchaser. It took two trips to Connecticut to resolve the question (Youngstown was part of Connecticut’s Western Reserve lands). The dispute even landed Shehy in jail and fined $25 for threats against Young.

Some contend that the settlement of the dispute, granting him the 400 acres east of the Mahoning, came when Shehy’s wife Jane named a son John Young Shehy. Daniel and Jane met July 4, 1797 when Shehy, Young, and James Hillman went to nearby Beavertown, Pennsylvania, to celebrate the holiday. They married the same year and had a number of children.

Beyond being one of the first, if not the first settler and presumably farming the land he finally gained title to, Shehy doesn’t appear to play a major role beyond appearing in an early list of taxpayers. The Reverend Thomas Martin celebrated the first Catholic services in Youngstown in their home in 1826. His cabin appears in a famous horse race between Youngstown and Warren for the county seat of what was then a single county, Trumbull County. The Youngstown horse, Fly, won and kept running for a mile past the finish to Shehy’s cabin. For some reason, Warren still got the county seat.

Daniel Shehy died January 20, 1834, survived by Jane until 1856. His name endures on Shehy Street, on the east side, running from Wilson Avenue to Oak Street south of Himrod. Along with James Hillman and other early Youngstown residents, he is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

If some family descendants or others up on Youngstown history can add to this account, please leave comments here. Shehy was a key figure in Youngstown history but there is little more written about him that I could find than is written here.