The Story of the Sedgwick House Museum

Contributed by Barbara Shrodes.

	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 relocated in Elwood, 
City, Pa., he sold his house and went with the company to 
Pennsylvania.  (Five years later Northwood Glass Company returned to 
the area, bought a Wheeling glasshouse and went into production 
again.)
	At almost the same time the Hellings arrived, the Sedgwicks 
came too. Rev. George Cyrus Sedgwick, nephew and namesake 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 Cyrus 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 (now on 
display at the museum). He and Mrs. Sedgwick (Hannah Lamb) had eight 
children: Leroy Cyrus, who was ten when the family came to town, 
Chalmers, William, Charles, Frank, Harry, Grant, and Lucy (Mrs. 
Oates).
	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 
Valentine's Day, 1866, with his father as officiating clergyman.  The 
pictures attached to the wedding certificate show both men in their 
army uniforms.
	Like many veterans, he must have been restless. For two years, 
Leroy kept a store at Second and Washington Streets. He then 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. On March 2, 1891, he and George Barr printed the first 
issue of the Evening times, which still survives as the times-Leader.
	In 1900, Leroy Sedgwick bought the Charles Helling house, which 
looked across the street to the original site of the blast furnace 
that 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. Jay 
Mitchell), and Chester C.  The house was too small for so large a 
family, and they added extra rooms, 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 removed 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.
	In the late 1980s the Martins Ferry Area Historical Society 
obtained a grant from the state of Ohio, and with matching funds 
raised locally and from Martins Ferry High School Alumni, undertook 
an extensive renovation.
	The museum is open from May through September, Wednesday 
through Saturday from 12:00 noon until 4:00 p.m., or by appointment. 
It is staffed entirely by volunteers.