When I wrote to you in the last newsletter, the message was one of uncertainty and numerous problems that the Martins Ferry Area Historical Society was facing concerning keeping the Sedgwick House Museum open. Your response was fantastic! Many people wrote or called and asked how they could help. Others sent money in addition to their usual yearly dues. The good news is that we are now financially stable and are preparing to open the museum again during this spring and summer. Our only remaining problem is that the number of members who are doing the physical work at the museum is approximately SEVEN. As you know, in the last year we lost two excellent workers, Annie Tanks, and Mary Philo. If any of you live locally and would like to help, please contact us as soon as possible.
      The Belmont County Tourism Council has once again given us a $2,000 grant to help with the windows at the museum. We are working to preserve the windows, which are the original ones, and to help seal the house to allow for better heating and cooling expenses. Doug from Replacement Windows in Moundsville has done a superb job for us and this spring’s work will complete this project.       The Martins Ferry Rotary Club has also continued their support of the MFAHS and Sedgwick House Museum. They have given us money to help defray the window cost and have provided us with $500 to allow us to hire a host to work at the museum this summer. Betty Douglas will return again in that position. The museum will open Friday, May 6 and be open every weekend until the end of September. The hours of operation on each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be from noon until 4:00 p.m.       At various times during the spring and summer, we are going to offer special programs at the museum. Special crafters from Oglebay, Revolutionary War and Civil War reenactors, and Indian artifacts will be on display. Announcements will be made through the “Times Leader.”       Another exciting event will be occurring on Sunday, October 9. Belmont County will be offering their annual “Rubberneck Tour” and this year’s tour will begin in Martins Ferry and focus on other stops in Pease Township. The Sedgwick House Museum and the Walnut Grove Cemetery will be stops on the tour. This will allow us to welcome between 400 and 500 visitors to our city and bring attention to our heritage as Ohio’s first settlement.

     The Sedgwick house is one of a number built by the Helling family. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Helling and their young son, Charles, came to America from the duchy of Brunswick in 1849, part of the great wave of German immigration that took place after the failure of the 1848 revolution.
     After a short stay in Wheeling they moved across the river to Martins Ferry, where Henry Helling soon became a leading citizen. He owned acres of land, at least two coal mines, went into the wine business, held stock in local manufacturing plants, and was president of the Northwood Glass Company.
     When Charles married Miss Kate Dorsch in 1872, Mr. Helling built a house on the edge of town, using the local red brick as his wedding present. It is now the Sedgwick House Museum. Charles was secretary of the Northwood Glass Company, and when the plant closed down in 1896 to be re-located in Elwood City, Pennsylvania, he sold his house and went with the company to Pennsylvania.
     At almost the same time the Hellings arrived, the Sedgwicks came too. Rev. George Cyrus Sedgwick, nephew of the first Baptist minister in Ohio, had been called to the First Regular Baptist church in Martins Ferry in 1854. The church had been organized in 1836 by his uncle, George Cook Sedgwick.
     The Sedgwicks traced their ancestry back to Robert Sedgwick (often written Sedwick), born about 1605 in Bedfordshire England. He was a major-general in the Puritan army; hence he migrated hurriedly to Connecticut when Charles II restored the monarchy. His descendants moved on to new homes in Maryland, Virginia, and Ohio.
     Rev. Sedgwick came to a rundown church and built it up to a thriving congregation with a greatly enlarged and updated building. On weekdays he was Dr. G. C. Sedgwick, making his rounds on horseback with his medicines packed into a pair of saddlebags. He and his wife, Hannah Lamb Sedgwick had eight children; Leroy Cyrus, who was ten when the family came to town, Chalmers, William, Charles, Frank, Harry, Grant, and Lucy.
     After the Civil War began, Leroy enlisted in the Virginia Light Artillery (changed later to West Virginia Light Artillery) for three years. he then came home and helped recruit for the 175th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Rev. Sedgwick left his pulpit to go to war as captain of Company K. Leroy was his second lieutenant, promoted later to first.
     The regiment reported to Camp Chase in Columbus in October 1864, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, left behind to protect Kentucky and Tennessee and keep General John Hood busy while Sherman marched from Atlanta to the sea. This Army, commanded by General George Thomas of Virginia, never received the credit it deserved, especially when its late fall victories at Franklin and Nashville smashed the last Confederate army in the west.
     After his discharge from the army, Leroy married Sarah Maycox, daughter of John Maycox, manager of the Mendenhall blast furnace, on Valentines Day, 1866, with his father as officiating clergyman. The pictures attached to the wedding certificate show both men in their army uniforms.
     For two years, Leroy kept a store at Second and Washington Streets. He moved to Athens, came back to storekeeping, gave it up to become a deputy sheriff at St. Clairsville, and won two elections for sheriff himself. He then decided that Martins Ferry needed a strong newspaper, and on March 2, 1891, he and George Barr printed the first issue of the Evening Times, which still survives as the Times Leader. He died July 18, 1947 at the age of 97.
     In 1900, Leroy Sedgwick bought the Charles Helling house, which looked across the street to the original site of the blast furnace which his father-in-law was managing. He and Sarah had nine children: Nellie Louise (Mrs. Fred Dixon), Alvin Leroy, Ira B., Emily Mae, Mary Berd, Lulu Lorena, Sadie Edna (Mrs. Roy Jump), Grace C. (Mrs. R. J. Mitchell), and Chester C. The house was too small for so large a family and extra rooms were added, built in the newer frame style.
     The Martins Ferry Area Historical Society, organized in 1967, purchased the Sedgwick home from Mrs. Grace (Sedgwick) Mitchell, who had returned to her old home after being widowed. She was interested enough in the museum idea to turn back a note for $2800 as her contribution, asking in return that the museum carry the family name. The Betty Zane Frontier Days Committee undertook to pay for the house and retired the mortgage in 1977.
     The Neighborhood Development Corporation took off the wooden addition to get back to the brick structure, did some necessary remodeling, installed new plumbing and made extensive repairs. The Society made itself responsible for any further repairs, for upkeep and future additions or changes. A spirited debate over tearing down the wash house, a few feet from the back porch, was fortunately won by those in favor of keeping it.
     The museum opened to the public May 28, 1970, and the deed passed to the Society in 1977.
     As with any older house, there is always a lot of upkeep. A major renovation was undertaken in the early 1990s, with wallpaper, paint, and carpeting. A kitchenette has been added, and the windows have had coverings installed. Entering its 36th year of operation, The Martins Ferry Area Historical Society continues to maintain the Sedgwick House Museum.

     With Alumni Weekend coming up, we thought we would take a look at the 1955 Ferrian. Here are some of the things we found:

Superintendent: Harold A. Meyer
Principal: Fred G. Hart

     Some members of the faculty were: Miss Margaret Gillis, Miss Margaret Crispin, Miss Annie C. Tanks, Mr. Donald Bewley, Mr. John Yoder

     In sports, the football team had the best season of any team since 1948, boasting a 7-3 record. The basketball, baseball, and track teams were also right on top. Martins Ferry obtained a charter in the National Thespian Society, and boasted a very successful Junior and Senior Class Play. The band traveled to the district music contest in Cambridge.