Margaret Moorhouse
"Aunty" Moorhouse is one of the best known women in Richland County. For nearly 60 years she has catered to the public as the landlady and manager of a hotel or boarding house, and has boarded and fed jurors and witnesses, the number of whom would aggregate into the thousands. Her maiden name was Margaret Baggs, and she was born in Washington Co., Pa., eighty-three years ago and came to Ohio with her parents in 1822 and settled in Cadiz, which place was her home until her marriage with George Hull in 1836. Hull died in 1879, and two years later the widow married Thomas Moorhouse -- father of George Moorhouse, the attorney. Mr. Moorhouse died in 1893, and being again a widow, Mrs. Moorhouse is often called "Aunty" Hull, the name she was known by for so many years. Upon the streets of Cadiz, Bishop Simpson and Margaret Baggs were playmates. She well remembers the Hon. John A. Bingham, who afterwards attained distinction and honors as a congressman and as a diplomat and whose oratory has not only resounded over the hills and along the fair valleys of Ohio, but has also rolled and roared through the nave and corridors and echoed from the fretted ceiling of the halls of congress. "Aunty" is of the Methodist faith and has been a faithful member of that denomination for many years. Her brother, James Baggs, and Bishop Simpson joined the Methodists at the same camp meeting. Another brother, William, married Elizabeth Niman, sister of our fellow townsmen, James A. and John B. Niman. The Baggs family furnished brave soldiers as well as honored civilians. John Baggs served his country through two wars and Robert was killed in the battle of Chickamauga. Many soldiers lie in unmarked graves in the southland, but it matters not, for their brave deeds are remembered by their countrymen with patriotic gratitude and at the general resurrection their bodies shall come forth unmaimed in the fruition of the glory of the life everlasting. Mr. and Mrs. Hull came to Mansfield in 1838, landed at the Teegarden -- now the Vonhof -- and soon afterwards bought the Pugh house, where the Masonic temple now stands, changed the name of the hotel to the Pennsylvania house, which they conducted successfully for a number of years. In the spring of 1861, they leased what was known as the bank building, opposite the old "North American", where the Purdy building now stands and there kept boarding house for 27 years. This house was the recognized headquarters for jurors and court witnesses for more than the fourth of a century. The day of the Webb execution, "Aunty's" meal receipts amounted to $76 -- 304 meals. "Aunty" still keeps a few boarders. She keeps no help. Even at her advanced age she is able to attend to her household duties as of yore. "Aunty" Moorhouse grows old cheerfully. Grows old? No! A good woman never grows old. Years may pass over her head and silver her hair, but when goodness and benevolence dwell in her heart, she is as young in spirit as when the springtime of life opened to her view. No one thinks of age when in her presence, for among her acquaintances she is a friend and benefactor, always cheerful in spirit, and active in deeds of kindness and mercy, although they may be humble. Such a woman is "Aunty" Moorhouse.
From The Mansfield Semi-Weekly News, August 9, 1898, Vol. 14, No. 66
