Louise Smart
Mrs. Louise Smart has been a lifelong resident of Monroe Township, and her relatives are among the well-to-do people of that part of the county. She is a member of the Richland Pioneer Association and takes an interest alike in the events of the present and the associations of the past. In about 1846 she was married to Perry Smart, who is now deceased. The Smart Farm is about a mile and a half north of Lucas, and there Mrs. Smart and her son, Harland, now live on the same old place, which had been the home of her husband's father. About four years ago their house was destroyed by fire, but a new dwelling soon arose Phoenix-like in its place. The Smart Farm is about a half mile from the old-time Gledhill Woolen factory. The main building still stands and is now used as a barn. Walter Gledhill operated this factory for a number of years quite successfully, but in 1870 removed the machinery and fixtures to Mansfield into what is now known as the Baltimore block, which he rebuilt and operated for some time. But a new page had been turned over in the book of the world's industries relegating the smaller factories to the past, leaving the field to the large establishments, which under the fostering care of trusts and combines occupy the field today. The Painter Woolen mills, a half mile east of Mansfield, the Lonsdale and France factory, on the Rockfork, below Lucas, the woolen mills at Newville, Watt's carding and fulling mills, near Hemlock Falls, the large woolen factory of Clapper & Orewiler, at the old town of Winchester, between Butler and Newville, the Frary mills, west of Bellville and others that might be named, all shared the same fate. This was not only true of woolen mills, but other industries were included in the same category and shared the same fate. The world moves and people must adjust themselves to the situations and times in which they live. Mrs. Smart's maiden name was Zody, and her father owned a fine farm on the road leading from Lucas to Perrysville, about midway between the Mohawk Hill and the latter place. Walnut Hall school house stands upon the southwest corner of the Zody farm. This school house deserves a passing notice, as Judge Wolfe and others, now residents of Mansfield, there received their primary education. In 1852--4 George W. Ridge taught at Walnut Hall. As a teacher, Ridge was a composite of the old and the new. In his teaching he used blackboards and outline maps and other improved methods of instruction which were not entirely approved of by many heads of families in those days, who considered that reading, writing and "figuring to the rule of three" were educational attainments sufficient for the ordinary business life. But while Ridge was considered new and modern in his modes of teaching, he was assertive in his manner and as a disciplinarian the government of his school was upon the lines of the old school master and he never spoiled a scholar by sparing the rod. In time the rod was succeeded by a leather strap and if it's marks cannot be traced upon the backs of some people today it is because time kindly heals all wounds. Mr. Ridge married one of his pupils, Miss Catharine Zody, a sister of Mrs. Smart, and an estimable lady of domestic taste. Mr. Ridge and wife followed Horace Greeley's advice to go west and located at Vinton, Ia., where they prospered. The next teacher at the Hall was George L. Reed, a half-brother of our J.M. Reed. But George long since gave up the rod of the pedagogue for the tripod of the sanctum, and is editing a newspaper out in Kansas. But the rod in Reed's case was only a figure of speech, for he governed by moral suasion. He was modest, gentle and persuasive, and as an instructor had but few equals. Like Ridge, Reed is a man of sterling worth and spotless character. Each did his duty as he saw it, and many of their old-time pupils acknowledge today the debt of gratitude they owe their former teachers. Mr. Reed married Mary Ellen Wigton, daughter of 'Squire William Wigton, one of the early settlers of Monroe Township, and one of its most respected citizens. Of the farms cornering at the Hall, that of Crawford's has been sub-divided and is now owned by Mr. Yarnell and Mr. Mowry, and that of Adam Wolfe by Gould Tucker. The Baughman farm passed into the hands of the Dome family, but the Zody farm has not changed ownership for many years. William Crawford, is pleasantly spending the autumn of his bachelor life at Perrysville. Mrs. Smart raised two sons -- Leander and Harland. The former is now deceased, but his daughter resides in Mansfield, and is the wife of Christian Baer, a son of the late ex-commissioner. -- A.J. Baughman.
From The Mansfield SemiWeekly News, September 6, 1898
