The construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal was a major event in Ohio history. By connecting Ohio to New York and New Orleans, the Ohio & Erie Canalway helped fuel westward expansion, a national market economy, and a booming industrial market. The canal defined the settlement of numerous towns and villages including Lucasville and Waverly.
Local history buffs, let's focus on Waverly today. Its ties with the canal reveal an interesting evolution in the development of Southern Ohio and a strong rivalry with Piketon that began a very long time ago.
The construction of the canal – that connected Akron with the Cuyahoga River near its outlet on Lake Erie in Cleveland with the Ohio River near Portsmouth – heightened the hopes of those along its path that were destined to prosper from canal traffic.
Initial plans placed the canal through Piketon, bypassing Waverly. The route aggravated an intense rivalry between Piketon and Waverly citizens. After persistent lobbying by Waverly promoters, the canal route was changed and Piketon was bypassed. The Waverly cause was aided greatly by Ohio Speaker of the House, at that time, Robert Lucas, who owned land near Waverly and stood to gain greatly by the new route. While he denied the charge, it is interesting to note that Lucas did plat the town Jasper on his land along the canal.
(“Lake White State Park.” https://stepoutside.org/place/lake-white-state-park-waverly-oh.html.)
History Note:
The history of every new State is replete with the conflicts between towns for county-seats. That between Waverly and Piketon is thus told in the Chillicothe Leader:
“A Strange Fatality has overhung Piketon from its earliest day. A town of fair promise, it has “just missed” everything good but the county-seat, and that was taken from her. When the course of the great Ohio & Erie canal was first laid out, it passed through Piketon. When the survey was completed, the people of that town were jubilant; they believed the future success of their town was assured, and that the death-warrant of Waverly – its rival – was written and sealed.
“It so chanced that Hon. Robert Lucas was in the Legislature at this time—Speaker of the House. Mr. Lucas owned large tracts of land about the present town of Jasper, and so it happened that after a while the people of Piketon were startled by the information that another survey was being made, with the view of running the canal down on the Waverly and Jasper side of the river, completely cutting them off. The hand of Robert Lucas was plainly discernible in this new deal, and his influence was great enough to secure the location of the canal through his Jasper lands. This was a blow between the eyes for Piketon – a most fortunate circumstance for Waverly.
The canal gave Waverly water-power for her mills, an advantage that was of great importance to any town in the days before steam-power was introduced. Waverly very promptly felt the impetus that this advantage gave her, and began to exhibit a vigorous growth.
(“Pike County.” https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~henryhowesbook/genealogy/pike.html.)
So it was that the City of Waverly was founded in 1829 along the Ohio-Erie Canal. Originally called Union, a name claimed by several other Ohio communities, the name of Waverly was suggested by an engineer on the Ohio-Erie Canal, Francis Cleveland. Cleveland had been reading Sir Walter Scott's Waverley Novels. (Notice the spelling change.)
History Note:
Settlers to the area were drawn by the construction of the Ohio Canal along the Scioto River, which opened in Waverly in 1832. The town was laid out in 1829, the year James Emmitt purchased the first lot for thirty-six dollars (History of the Lower Scioto Valley 735). As the History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio (1884) explains, in 1830, local denizens had petitioned for a post office and "were casting about for a suitable new name." Their query was answered by the chief engineer for the canal, Captain Francis Cleveland. At the time, Captain Cleveland was reading one Sir Walter Scott's Waverley Novels and suggested the name of Waverly. Under this name the post office was established, and kept by James Emmitt in his store” (735-6).
Opening Of the Canal
The canal was opened in 1832, and it was announced that the water would reach Waverly on the morning of September 6th. Preparations had been made to welcome its advent. Almost the entire population of the surrounding country had flocked into Waverly “to see the water come down the big ditch.” The citizens had arranged to give a grand public dinner in the open air. Robert Lucas and Major General Duncan McArthur McArthur – who were opposing each other in the race for the governorship – were present.
And, although the canal banks were packed with people eagerly awaiting the advent of the water, it didn’t come – “although it was struggling bravely to reach the point where hundreds of people were waiting to greet, with ringing cheers and noisy salutes, its advancing, incurring amber wave.”
The canal for long distances was cut through gravelly land, and as a matter of course, when the water reached these gravel-bottomed channels, it was absorbed, as though by a huge sponge. It was not until such places had become well water-logged that the south-bound tide made much progress toward Waverly, but “at noon a mighty shout announced its arrival at that point.”
(“Pike County.” https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~henryhowesbook/genealogy/pike.html.)
Following close in the wake of the advancing tide was a boat “bearing a party of jolly Chillicotheans – among them Gen. James Rowe, Dr. Coates, James Campbell and Edward Edwards – to whom the odd little craft belonged.” They were the first navigators of the waters of the canal south from Chillicothe to Waverly.Their badly-built and leaky boat had “an eccentric fashion of sinking every night, while they were afloat, and they were forced to amuse themselves every morning by 'raising the craft' and pumping her out.”
The first regular passenger and freight-boat that reached Waverly was the “Governor Worthington,” owned by Michael Miller and Martin Bowman, of Chillicothe. It brought down quite a number of passengers from Chillicothe, and was a great curiosity. The owners had mounted a little brass cannon on the “Gov. Worthington’s” deck, and fired it off at brief intervals on the way down, attracting the widest attention.
(“Pike County.” https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~henryhowesbook/genealogy/pike.html.)
All those who came to the opening “were feasted at the great public dinner, bountifully served by a rejoicing people.” Both Lucas and McArthur made after-dinner speeches –
McArthur addressing himself directly to the Whig element present, and Lucas to the Democrats; but “both joined in prophesying the incalculable blessings and wonderfully increased prosperity that would follow close upon the opening of travel and traffic on the then great waterway.”
Growth of Waverly
Waverly's growth was closely tied to commerce on the canal, and within a few years Waverly became an economic competitor with the county seat of Piketon. James Emmitt, known as the “Father of Waverly” and the town’s first entrepreneur, made most of his fortune from canal activities. He first hauled grain on the canal. Then he built a grain mill, followed by a distillery to make whiskey. Emmitt added other businesses as well as many acres of farmlands. In the 1850's he claimed to be the Scioto Valley's first millionaire, reportedly was Pike County's largest taxpayer and was said to employ half the men in Waverly.
(James Fisher. “A rich history, with a dark side.” https://maps.roadtrippers.com/us/waverly-oh/accommodation/the-emmitt-house-burned-down. June 20, 2014.)
History Note:
James Emmitt, son of George Emmitt, came to Pike County in 1816 at the age of 10 and worked for 10 years as a farm laborer, woodcutter and teamster. He saw the canal construction as an economic opportunity not to be missed. He first turned his home into a boarding house for numerous canal engineers. When the Waverly section was completed in 1832, he purchased canal boats to carry grain, built a large grain mill and whiskey distillery, and raised hogs on the grain mash left from the distilling process. Only when cholera broke out in 1852 did he respond to public outcry over the bad odor by moving the hog farm further away. In 1861, he built a hotel and restaurant called The Emmitt House.
During the 19th Century, 2 former slaves of President Thomas Jefferson named Madison and Eston Hemings, moved into Pike County. Both men claimed to be the illegitimate sons of President Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings. Although DNA evidence has proven Madison Hemings was not fathered by Jefferson, the evidence did prove a Jefferson male possibly fathered Eston Hemings. Both men gained their freedom after Thomas Jefferson's death on July 4, 1826. Madison Hemings helped construct several buildings in Waverly, including James Emmitts' hotel.
(“Waverly Ohio.” http://touringohio.com/southwest/pike/waverly/waverly.html.)
Perhaps Emmitt's most lasting achievement was a successful campaign from 1859 to 1861 to move the Pike County Court house from Piketon to Waverly. However, the prosperity of the canal era was short lived. With the advent of rail transportation, goods could be shipped more efficiently throughout the country. As early as 1860, use of the canals had dropped dramatically. In 1913, the Ohio and Erie Canal was officially closed.
In addition, the Federal Government taxed the smaller distilleries out of business. Emmitt's influence remains today in several of the town's historic buildings and Emmitt Avenue, the main street.
Anti-Abolition Movements
Historian Andrew Feight writes that the Piketon Anti-Abolition Resolutions originated in a public meeting held on July 29, 1836, at the original courthouse of Pike County, Ohio, in the village of Piketon. By the summer of 1836, Piketon’s future prospects were already being eclipsed by Waverly’s. Thanks to its location on the Ohio-Erie Canal, Waverly had risen to regional economic dominance.
(Andrew Feight, Ph.D., “Rev. Edward Weed & the Piketon Anti-Abolition Resolutions,” Scioto Historical, accessed March 6, 2022, https://sciotohistorical.org/items/show/107.)
In the weeks preceding the Piketon meeting, great excitement and controversy had erupted in Waverly and Piketon over the issue of abolition.
The anti-abolitionist mobs of Pike County were not simply an isolated event – they were part of a larger phenomenon that broke out in the mid-1830s. From Alton, Illinois to Cincinnati, Ohio, to the streets of Boston, Massachusetts, white Americans reacted violently to the emergence of immediate abolitionism, the movement for which Rev. Edward Weed was a paid organizer.
In the history of the Lower Scioto River Valley and Pike County, in particular, the violence experienced by the Rev. Weed in the late summer of 1836 occurred at a moment when the economy of the region was experiencing dramatic growth.
By the summer of 1836, when Rev. Weed came to Pike County, Waverly was experiencing its initial boom time and James Emmitt was already the wealthiest businessman in the area.
Edward Weed arrived in Waverly around July 14, where he was welcomed into the home of Dr. William Blackstone, a local supporter of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Exactly where Weed gave his first lecture is unknown, but once word spread an angry mob began to form, which according to Weed, had none-other-than James Emmitt at is head.
Lower Scioto Blog
reports …
“In his memoirs,
James Emmitt provides a fairly detailed account of Rev. Weed’s
visit, but strangely, he changes Weed’s identity to that of George
Thompson, a much more infamous English abolitionist, who was met with
angry mobs on his tour of New England. Although a mob sought Thompson
in Boston around this time, the British abolitionist never visited
Ohio in 1836.
“Writing some
fifty years later, perhaps for dramatic reasons, Emmitt chose to
portray Weed as Thompson, but one thing that is clear is that Emmitt
downplayed his own leading role in the whole affair. He acknowledged
his opposition to abolitionism at the time, but explained it as being
the common sentiment. As he put it in his memoir, 'Blackstone and his
… followers, in 1836, had arrayed against them the combined,
determined, outspoken sentiment of this whole community, and this
whole section as well.'
“According to Emmitt, Dr. Blackstone
publicized the upcoming visit of Rev. Weed and at that time was
warned that if the abolitionist speaker 'came he would not be allowed
to make a public speech, and warned that it would not add any to Dr.
Wm. Blackstone’s happiness, for him to slap public sentiment in the
face. But warnings and threats only intensified the doctor’s
bitterness, and strengthened his determination to have [Weed] come to
Waverly and enlighten us as to the iniquity of the national crime we
were sustaining in upholding slavery … '”
(“James Emmitt’s
Anti-Abolition Mob Part II.” Lower Scioto Blog.
https://lowerscioto.blogspot.com/2007/07/james-emmitts-anti-abolition-mob.html.
July 30, 2007.)
Weed arrived the night before his first scheduled lecture. That evening, according to Emmitt, his opponents broke into Blackstone’s stable, clipped the mane from Weed’s horse, and shaved off all of its hair. They took Weed’s buggy and smeared it with excrement. Then, the following morning, a mob gathered outside Blackstone’s house.
According to Emmitt, the leader of the mob yelled: “You’ve imported [an outsider] into Pike County to teach seditious doctrine. …. And I tell you, Blackstone, the loyal people ain’t going to stand it. Do you expect us to stand here and listen to a traitorous [abolitionist] telling us what is right and what is wrong?
With the cheers of the crowd behind him, he continued: “The best thing you can do for your nigger-loving friend, Blackstone, is to get him out of the country, just as soon as it is possible to jump the border.”
At this point, Blackstone emerged from his house and declared that his guest would speak “if he had to wade in blood knee deep to protect him.” The mob’s leader responded: “If that man attempts to make a speech here today … we’ll pull down the last log in the house over your head.
According to Emmitt, this threat led Blackstone to give in and Rev. Weed fled out a back door and to his horse, which he quickly road off upon without a saddle or any of his belongings. As he galloped down the road towards Piketon, the young children of the town were waiting with rotten eggs, with which they pelted the young minister – what Emmitt called “a fitting, loud-smelling, farewell salute.”
(“James Emmitt’s Anti-Abolition Mob Part II.” Lower Scioto Blog. https://lowerscioto.blogspot.com/2007/07/james-emmitts-anti-abolition-mob.html. July 30, 2007.)
Lower Scioto Blog continues …
“Emmitt’s account underplays his own role and misrepresents how the standoff was actually resolved. According to a letter later published in the Chillicothe Gazette, Samuel Reed, a former Associate Judge of the Court Common Pleas in Pike County, negotiated Weed’s peaceful exit. Reed, who was later accused of being an abolitionist for his role in the affair, defended his actions, stating that he 'went and reasoned with [the leaders of the mob] on the impropriety of using any force, it being in direct violation of law – and proposed that, if they would use no violence to the persons or property of any of the citizens, I would persuade Weed to leave the place, which he did … '”
(“James Emmitt’s Anti-Abolition Mob Part II.” Lower Scioto Blog. https://lowerscioto.blogspot.com/2007/07/james-emmitts-anti-abolition-mob.html. July 30, 2007.)
With the intervention of Judge Reed, the Reverend Weed fled to Piketon, from which he soon departed there.
According to an account published in the Chillicothe Gazette, “a large and respectable meeting of citizens of Piketon and the vicinity” assembled and chose John Innskeep Vanmeter to preside. Vanmeter had been raised in a family of wealthy slaveowners. He was a graduate of Princeton University, a lawyer and former state representative in Virginia before moving to Pike County in the 1820s. Vanmeter and his neighbors who had gathered here at Piketon in the summer of 1836 were anti-abolitionists, opponents of the antislavery movement that sought the emancipation of African-Americans
All of this evidently stimulated the Piketon populace to write the Piketon Anti-Abolition Resolutions (late July 1836), which stated “the citizens of Piketon and the vicinity, in council assembled, are diametrically opposed to modern abolitionism, and feel no desire to interfere with the concerns of the slave-holing States, and still less between master and slave.” And the resolutions stated “all abolitionists to desist from visiting our towns for the purpose of delivering lectures, or circulating publications on the subject of abolition.”
(Andrew Feight, Ph.D., “Rev. Edward Weed & the Piketon Anti-Abolition Resolutions,” Scioto Historical, accessed March 6, 2022, https://sciotohistorical.org/items/show/107.)
(“James Emmitt’s Anti-Abolition Mob Part II.” Lower Scioto Blog. July 30, 2007.)
Closing
To close this blog entry on Waverly, allow me to share an interesting history of an 1859 painting by Richard H. Shepherd as described by David Neuhardt.
Based on having led several canal tours in the Scioto Valley, the author recognized the place the painting actually illustrated James Emmitt's bustling industrial complex on the Ohio & Erie Canal at the south end of Waverly, Ohio.
A review of an online Sanborn Fire Insurance map of the complex from 1892 and an email to David Meyer, author of the preceding article and a recent book on the Ohio & Erie Canal in the Scioto Valley, confirmed the author's initial conclusion.
Garth's Auctioneers and Appraisers write …
“Not only does the painting show Emmitt's businesses, it probably is not too great of a leap to guess that Sheppard probably painted the view on commission for Emmitt (who may well be the man shown in the foreground of the painting with his walking stick in the air 'surveying his domain'). Emmitt, whose very colorful 1888 biography states on the title page that it was 'revised by himself,' was not one to hide, or under-estimate, his accomplishments.
“Based on Garth's research, Sheppard, who was born in 1819, was working in the 1850s in Baltimore as a painter of portraits, miniature portraits and landscapes. He last appears in the Baltimore directories in 1856, and then reappears in Gallipolis, Ohio in 1865 when he purchased property in that city. He died in 1895. Sheppard is known to have painted a pair of similar landscapes of Lebanon, Ohio.
“The high hills shown in the background of the painting are the hills lining the east side of the Scioto Valley – the same hills that, just to the north in Chillicothe, served as the inspiration for the 'mountains' so prominently featured in Ohio's state seal. Emmitt's famous distillery, with its 'drive through' bonded warehouse, occupies the center foreground while the grist mill buildings are just behind.
“Just beyond (north of) Emmitt's mills, the Waverly canal basin, occupied by two line boats, can be identified. The canal itself is to the right of the complex, with a side cut to the distillery and what appears to be either a boat under construction or being loaded with lumber in the foreground.
“North of the Emmitt complex, a covered bridge carries the Waverly and Sunfish Turnpike across Crooked Creek on the left, while the Market Street bridge over the canal and the Grand Hotel can be seen in the heart of town.
“Comparing the painting to the map accompanying Dave Meyer's article will show other structures that can be identified. Two prominent features of the map do not appear in the painting, however. George Emmitt's Pee Pee Mills, which were not constructed until five years after the painting was made, would later occupy approximately the site of the shed built against the hill in the left foreground. Lock 44 cannot be seen in the painting because it is on the far side of the distillery and mill complex.”
(“Waverly in 1859 — The James Emmitt empire.” https://www.garths.com/single-post/2020/01/27/waverly-in-1859-the-james-emmitt-empire. Garth's Auctioneers and Appraisers. From Towpaths, a quarterly edition of the Canal Society of Ohio..)
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