The Times Recorder will publish a series of stories looking back at the people and events that helped shape our area as the country marks its semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
A Muskingum County man was a pioneer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He built a business that produced national known art pottery lines, amassed a fortune, owned the first automobile in the county, shaped the culture and left a lasting legacy.
Samuel Augustus Weller, the son of Jacob and Mary Fulton Weller, was born April 12, 1851, in Fultonham. On Jan. 11, 1885, he married Herminnie C. Pickens. They had two daughters, Louise and Ethel.
According to his obituary in a local newspaper, “Mr. Weller was one of the pioneer pottery manufacturers of Ohio and started his business in Fultonham, where he manufactured pottery on a small scale and sold it on the road. He came to Zanesville in 1882 and leased a frame building on Second Street, which he used as a warehouse. About six years later, he moved his factory to the Muskingum River bank at the foot of Pierce Street in Putnam, and a short time later, because of his growing business, he was forced to seek a larger location.”
Weller bought the old Putnam Show Grounds and built a new plant there. The obituary mentioned he “started the manufacture of jardiniers, hanging baskets, umbrella stands and other articles of art property and was again forced to enlarge the plant in 1893 and 1894.” After the new addition, Weller began making the now-famous Lonhuda and Louwelsa pottery.
Along with his other investments, Weller’s pottery business made him a millionaire. With some of his wealth, he decided to construct the most magnificent theater in Zanesville. Local Historian Thomas W. Lewis, in his three-volume set, “Zanesville and Muskingum County,” stated: “When S.A. Weller, manufacturer of art pottery, decided to build in Zanesville a new theater worthy of the city − one larger and more costly even than the Schultz (Opera House) − he chose a site on North Third Street, West side, between Main Street and Fountain Alley, which had been occupied by the residence of Z. Clements.”
Lewis continued: “The initial event was set for Monday, April 27, 1903, with ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’ as the attraction. The sale of seats took place at Schultz’s Opera House, beginning at 7:30 A. M. on Thursday, April 23. As early as the evening of Tuesday, the 21st, twenty-one boys established themselves in Fountain Alley at the rear of the Schultz, to await Thursday morning’s opening sale.” (Perhaps to buy several tickets for scalping purposes?) According to a Wikipedia article, “It opened on April 27, 1903, with floor seating for 1,700 people and six boxes; it closed in 1958, more than three decades after Weller died.”
Weller also owned the first automobile in Muskingum County. A Times Recorder article dated May 30, 1900, proclaimed: “The ice is broken and the frost is off, for the first automobile has arrived in Zanesville. Coshocton and Newark have rejoiced in horseless vehicles for, lo, these several weeks, but at last our patience has been rewarded.” The article continued: “S.A. Weller is the man who has DEFOSSILIZED the town.”
Weller’s vehicle, a General Electric Runabout, could travel about 30 miles per charge. It was bought at John Wanamaker’s store in Philadelphia. According to local historian Norris F. Schneider, in “Y Bridge City,” other horseless carriages soon followed: “Within a few months Bernard V.H. Schultz, Ebert Peabody, and J.S. Fritz were driving Milwaukee steamers around town. …William G. Larzelere bought the first gasoline car in Zanesville, an Oldsmobile.”
Schneider said a Zanesville Signal reporter announced by July 1912, Zanesville had become “a joyriding community,” having 229 cars and 15 trucks. By 1916, there were more than 1,700 automobiles registered in Muskingum County. As a result of this car-buying spree, a big automotive event was planned by the Times Recorder. The show began on March 27, 1916, and lasted one week. Of course, all this “horseless carriage” frenzy began with Samuel Weller, who had truly “defossilized” our town. By the way, Mrs. Weller also drove the electric car. There is a photograph of her sitting behind the wheel. Well, actually, she was sitting behind a joystick.
S.A. Weller died on Oct. 4, 1925. The Times Recorder informed the community about his death: “Samuel A. Weller, aged 74, one of Zanesville’s most prominent citizens and leading pottery manufacturers, died in a private sanitarium in Washington, D.C., Sunday afternoon following a stroke of paralysis which he suffered while on a business trip to the national capital. His wife and two daughters were at his bedside when he died. His son-in-law, Frederick Grant, was also present.”
The Zanesville Signal reported the funeral: “The funeral of Samuel A. Weller, Zanesville manufacturer, who died in Washington, D.C., was conducted at the late home, North Sixth Street, at 2 p.m. Wednesday and was largely attended. The services were (led by) Rev. D. F. Wood, pastor of the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church … At 8 o’clock Tuesday night, members of Zanesville Lodge, B.P.O. Elks, went to the Weller home where they held their ritualistic services.”
Burial was in the large mausoleum at Zanesville’s Woodlawn Cemetery. His wife, Minnie, lived to the age of 92, dying in 1954. The older daughter, Louise A. Weller Smith, died in 1937. Ethel Elizabeth Weller Grant Curphey lived until 1992.
Lewis LeMaster is a retired school teacher of the Zanesville area.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: An industrialist who changed how Zanesville lived, worked and traveled
Reporting by Leonard L. Hayhurst, Lewis LeMaster, Special to the Times Recorder / Zanesville Times Recorder
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