Villages
Perrysville
was platted January 28, 1835 by Mahlon Stewart on his 464 acre farm. It
was surveyed by Van Brown. The first addition was recorded on October
20, 1846 and it consisted of 40 lots.
Eleven additional lots were platted March 19, 1847 by Mahlon
Stewart and recorded as Stewarts #2 on March 22, 1847.
The town is nine miles south of Carrollton.
When entering Perrysville from Carrollton, a pond can be seen at
the bottom of a hill below the Historic Church cemetery. Near this pond
was the site of Mahlon Stewart’s first home. It was a log house and
later, once a bigger home was built, the log house was used as a church.
There was a large spring in the location and most likely why the pond
was developed years later.
This village was quite populous and had several businesses for many years before the railroad passed through other parts of the county. From doctors, general stores, drug store, restaurant, wagon maker, blacksmith, cobbler, tannery and a hotel.
Sadly, a
fire the night of February 2,
1910 destroyed many of those businesses. The fire was believed to
have started by the owners of a fabric store. The owners were seen going
to their store and leaving just a short time later. It wasn’t long
before townspeople saw flames coming from the building. The fire was
fought by a bucket brigade which was formed from the bottom of the hill
at the intersection of State Routes 164 and 332 to the fire. Buildings
on lots 19, 20, 25, 26 & 32 were destroyed. The town rebuilt and thrived
until the 1930’s when the Great Depression forced the closing of most of
the local businesses.
Post Office
For a time, Jacob Gladden, Sr., kept a post office on his farm
and called it Hickory. The
name coming from the many admirers of Andrew Jackson whose
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There were very few letters that
passed through the mail in those days and the office was only
visited about once every two weeks. The main mail delivered were
newspapers from Cadiz and Carrollton, those being the Cadiz
Sentinel and The Carrollton Picayune. According to
the Post Office Department in the National Archives, a post
office was established in Perrysville April 25, 1848 with
Alexander Johnston as |
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Post Office
with M E Church |
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To differentiate Perrysville in Carroll County from
Palermo
was platted July 17, 1838 by George K. McCaskey. Once it was okayed by
the County Surveyor, Van Brown, the plat was recorded August 11, 1838.
In 1884, Peter Herold said of the town, “This town is not of much
importance from a commercial point of view, and a quarter section of
good land was badly spoiled by locating a town here. This hamlet is
situated 8 miles south of Carrollton. Population, 15.” Despite Mr.
Herold’s glum description of this village, it somehow managed to thrive
for quite some time. S. T. Allen had a general store, was a black smith
and the post master. George K. McCaskey, the founder, had an inn while
Thomas Moreland and Harvey Scott were both stock dealers.
Other
Settlements
Two other places in the township are really non-existent, outside
of the locals, who live there. They are separated by fictitious boundary
lines and known as Arabia and Navengal Hollow. How did
they get these names? It started at the close of the Civil War when
prohibition was reaching its height. Many locals discovered that
disposing of surplus corn and rye was more profitable to be turned into
distilled liquors instead of hauling them miles over bad roads and to an
uncertain market. One of these illegal stills was found by an Assessor
of the Internal Revenue for the county while he was making a visit. On
the Sell’s farm he found a small still and tub of sour mash. He
immediately reported this to headquarters. It was reported as being in
Navengal Hollow. He most likely figured out the location from watching
the frequency of local farmers going away from the place with a grain
sack thrown over an old horse with a little brown jug in one end of the
sack with an equal size stone in the other. The whiskey made there was
known as “Hoopengarner’s Whiskey” and well-known throughout the area.
The other area, Arabia
was the only place where an actual saloon was attempted. Despite the
many illegal stills, many residents were part of the prohibition
movement. When a proprietor tried to open a saloon at the crossroads in
Arabia he was thrown in jail for three months and his customers forced
to go somewhere else. It’s likely the names of these two places came
about so they could be found.
Stoney Lake
is not a town or village, but was developed along the McGuire Creek
which feeds the south fork of Leesville lake today. Five men cleared the
brush and trees from the area and then the “bowl” was made with a hand
held slip scraper pulled by a mule and guided by a man. A club was
organized in Carrollton to govern the lake. Robert Busby, of Cadiz, was
hired as the contractor. He and his sons, Roy and Pat, stayed at the
Kirby Hotel in Perrysville while doing the work.
Once the lake was finished it was stocked with blue gill,
crappies, and bass several times. The lots around the lake were first
sold to the stockholders. They got to pick their lot by drawing a number
from a hat at their organizational meeting. Each lot was $100. Once all
the stockholders had a lot, the remaining lots were sold as individual
sales. They weren’t required to build, but had to keep the lot cleared.
The first cottage built was pre-cut. The owners were Fred and Mae
Shannon of Steubenville. He was an undertaker there. They, along with
their two daughters, Katherine and Ruthie, would arrive in a chauffered
limosine along with their maid. The family would stay through the
‘warm season’ with the lake caretaker delivering groceries and milk each
week.
There was also a club house at the lake built of logs, with a
wallboard finished interior. There was a kitchen and living room
downstairs with two bedrooms upstairs.
A similar area to that of Stoney Lake is Vo-Ash Lake which is just a few miles east of Stoney. It is a man-made lake that was built in 1958 by Charles Voshel and Al Ashbaugh of Carrollton. The lake is private with many of the homes still occupied. The overflow portion of the lake was rebuilt in the late 1990’s.