A Brief Hibbs History – By: Mike Swaldo

I’ve been researching Hibbses– not an easy task. The Hibbs family is very old and very large. Our Hibbses first came into Ohio in 1815. Isaac Hibbs (wife unknown, but possibly Elizabeth Cuppy) and his sons Samuel, Joseph, and Isaac Jr., and Daughter Nancy. They purchased land in Jefferson county (now Loundon Twp. Carroll County), and are listed as “Entrymen,” or original landowners in Carroll county. Isaac’s wife, Mary Lucas, died in 1828, and is buried in Kilgore Lutheran Cemetery.

During the 1840’s, Isaac Jr. (now remarried to Julianne Mathews), Step-daughter Isabella, and his two sons Mahlon and Isaac (III) purchased land and farmed up in Oldtown Valley (Co.Rd. 24). Isaac Jr. died in 1858 and is buried in Forney Cemetery (now on private property) up in Oldtown. Isaac and his wife Margaret Markley returned to Carroll County where he later served in the Civil War as a member Co. K, Reg. 98 of the OVI. Mahlon and his wife Eliza Ellen Wise stayed in Tuscarawas County and raised their six children, Harvey, Thursa (m. Daniel Meese), Enos, Almeda (m. Phillip Heldt), Charlotte, Isaac George, William, and John. Mahlon eventually left Oldtown Valley and moved into Lehn’s Valley (now Wainwright) where he had a small farm up where Sani Rd. now goes. Mahlon and Eliza were membeers of st. James Lutheran Church in Tuscarawas. Both are buried there.

Mahlon and Eliza’s oldest son, Harvey (m. Anne Elizabeth Kuhn) lived where Bob and Wilma Briggs now live. Harvey and Anne’s children were George William (m. Emma Farrell), Emma (m. Charles Toben), Ida May (m. Frederick Davis from England), Lucy (m. Joseph Mathias), Albert (m. Clara Hancy), Anne (m. William Ashbaugh), Ella (Ellen Irene) (m. August W. Brieske (Broeske)), Caroline (m. Harry Owens), and Mary (m. Evan Francis).

Harvey and Anne purchased a farm near Alliance where they continued to farm. Eventually, they relocated to Geauga County with Emma and Lucy. Harvey died in 1919 and Anne in 1923. Harvey and Anne Hibbs, the Tobens, and the Mathiases are all buried in Overlook Cemetery in Parkman, Ohio.

Stories from Bob Cookson

Bob Cookson recently shared a couple of stories from his younger days in Goshen. He is currently 70 years young and resides in Wilmington, North Carolina. He told about his days attending the Goshen School and these are his words:

I started first grade at the Goshen School and spent 8 years there. When I started, the “outhouses” were at the end of the driveway behind the school, next to the Leggett property. I remember inside plumbing coming to Goshen but I don’t remember what year. If you went in the left hand set of doors if you were facing the school, at the bottom of the basement steps on the left was the electrical panel and that is where the janitor had a switch to ring the bell for all events. In that same little area was the old hand pump for water. When the restrooms were installed, we also got an electric pump and water fountains. Up town! We even had a shower in the restrooms.
Originally as I recall there was a stage in the gym on the top floor on the left side facing the front of the school from the 416 side. I remember Hupp Music Store putting on a show there with a goup of students playing “Hawaiian Guiltars.” I think Harold Lute played in that performance. Last I heard Harold was still Mayor of Roswell. (He recently resigned that position after many years.) Also, our school plays were performed there. Later the stage came out and we used the gym.
During my 7th and 8th grades, the stage end of the gym was turned into a classroom. Mr. Bowers was the principal and taught 7th and 8th grade. When I first started school at Goshen, Stoggie Rausch was the janitor. Later on Mr. Brennan became the janitor. The only two cooks I remember were Silvia Johnson and Mrs. Hibbs. Basketball coaches I remember were Bill Anderson and Woody Richardson, who was also our mail carrier. Woody’s sons Billy and Eddie attended school there.
We had trouble with the milk vanishing from the cooler in the basement at one time. There were a group of rascals that figured out if you removed the coal cover on the coal cellar (in the back of the school) and slipped in you could enjoy a free milk. Don’t think the school ever figured it out but they did lock the cooler.
We used to always sit on the steps in front of the school and each of us would pick a brand of car and we would count how many went by. We were easily entertained.
At lunch during the summer there was always a softball game. Mr. Bowers would pitch for both sides and of course, he pitched according to the hitter’s ability. In the winter it was basketball.
Mr. Bowers bought one of the early ’55 Chevy V8’s and took a group of us for a ride at lunch time down to Helen Rolli’s tavern and back. V8Chevy was hot in those days! Each year at the end of basketball season, Mr. Bowers would put on a dinner for the school. We did pray before those meals and we did say the pledge each morning before class. I don’t remember anyone being seriously injured as a result. I remember when Lucille Reynolds got Polio and we all got our sugar cube.
I remember once when the flag rope broke, Mr. Bowers had Harold Lute climb the flag pole and put a new rope through the pulley at the top. Today they would probably sue you for even thinking such a thought.
Growing up in Goshen was a great life with great people.

Halloween Stories:

Bob says that he and Russ Hobart were “terrors” during Halloween when they were young. ” I think Tom Brokaw liked to chase us as much as we enjoyed soaping his windows,” Bob said.
He also told of the time he and Russ were “picking on” Waldon Leggett.
“Waldon came out the back door and Russ and I ran across his back yard toward Helen Rolli’s Hill. Almost at the end of Waldon’s yard, there is this dip in the ground and I leaped over it but didn’t make it. I’m falling, falling, falling so I threw my arms out and caught myself but I am in a well or something… Turns out it is was their septic tank. I smelled really good when I got out of there and hauled tail right to the old sulfer creek and tried my darndest to wash that mess off my pant legs. Of course, Russ could not wait to spread the word next day at school.”

Dorothy’s Homemade Noodles

6 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
1 Tbs. Salt
2 C flour (approximately)

Beat eggs with salt and gradually add flour. Roll very thin. Allow to dry approximately 30 minutes or until edges feel dry. Roll sheets together and slice very thin.

Cook in broth or use as you would dry noodles, watching cooking time. These noodles will cook quicker than store-bought noodles.

Ginny Krocker, in memory of Dorothy Hibbs

Bill and Dorothy Hibbs

Dorothy Hibbs & Flora Dindo

Waldon and Thelma Leggett Family

Waldon Leggett married Thelma Hibbs, the daughter of Edwin and Anna Hibbs. The Leggetts built a home beside the Goshen School House and across from Thelma’s parents home. The Leggett’s raised three sons Dick, Terry and Ed. Waldon was a member of the Goshen Local Board of Education which was in charge of Goshen, Roswell and Midvale Schools. Thelma was well-known for making delicious fudge and baked goods, which she donated to all of the Goshen Baseball Team bake sales.

Edwin and Anna Hibbs Family

Edwin and Anna Hibbs bought a large house across from the Goshen School House in the 1930’s. Their daughter Thelma married Waldon Leggett and the couple built a home on the other side of what is now Goshen Valley Dr., next to the School house. They had three sons, Dick, Terry and Ed. When Edwin and Anna Hibb’s son Bill, married Dorothy Carlisle, they made an apartment for them in the upstairs of their home. Bill and Dorothy later purchased the home and raised their three children Ginny, Janice and Bill. The house, which is now owned by Bill and Dorothy’s grandson, Eric Sickafoose, was believed to be Goshen’s first church and Moravian mission house established about 1798. Eric has resided in the home since 1997 with his wife and daughter.

Robson Family

In the 1800′s, Frederick Davis, who was in his early 20′s had planned to move from England to Australia. He learned prior to moving that his brother, David, who resided in Goshen, Ohio was ill. Frederick decided to come to America to visit him.

Frederick lived with his brother David for awhile and then decided to stay in America. He got a job in a coal mine and met and married his wife, Ida Hibbs. They lived on Goshen Hill Road and later moved to a log home near Wainwright, which was previously owned by Mary Ann Winkler. Frederick and Ida’s children were Fred, Ann, David, Charles, Harve, Joe, John and Fanny. David met and married Winnie Cowdney, on September 14, 1925. Her parents Claude and Mary Burns Cowdney had moved earlier from Willoughby, OH to a farm along Horger Hill Rd. David and Winnie moved to a farm near Centerburg, OH, after work in Wainwright Mine slowed down. David soon became homesick for the “hills of home” in Tuscarawas County and decided to buy the Rebecca E. and James Roe property in Goshen Valley when it came up for sale. Two of their daughters, Mildred Davis Curtis and Dorothy Davis Lanum, married and resided in Morrow County. The Davises gave 1 1/2 acres of their three acre property to their daughter Betty and her husband Clifford M. Robson. They built a new home there in 1956. Betty and Cliff, (Cliff recently passed away) had four children: Roger, who resides in the home of his grandparents David and Winnie Davis, Carol (Joe) Ginetti and Phil (Sue) Robson, all of Goshen and Clifford (Joyce) Darrell Robson, of Tuscarawas, OH. Clifford and Joyce previously lived on Horger Hill Rd.