Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/476

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��called the " Devil's Teapot," where he manufact- ured ale or Iteer. and perhaps spirits, and kept a saloon in addition to his bakery. He soon did a good business and made money. He was a hearty, go-ahead, jovial fellow, and those who indulged in the •' ardent " (and there were few who did not in those days) liked to patronize Wiler, partly on account of his genial disposi- tion and partly because he always laid a nicely sugared cake on top of each glass as he handed it out. He was thrifty and paid Mr. Styers the rent promptly. After a time, he concluded he could make more money by keeping a hotel in addition to his

���other business ; but he was a single man, a seriovis ob- stacle to his plans. He was not a man, howev er. to let difficulties so small as that stand in his wa}'. Mr. Sty- ers, his landlord. had several girls, ' and one day, when j Wiler went to pay his rent, he asked Styers for one of

them for a wife. That gentleman brought out his oldest daughter, arrangements were soon made, and in a short time the Wiler House came into existence. This lady proved to be one of the best of wives. The marriage took place in 1819. Mr. Steers assisted the young couple b}' presenting them with the property, and in a short time the enterprising and indus- trious Wiler added to it, and in 1831 built a two-story brick, which is yet a part of the Wiler House. Additions have appeared from time to time until the building reached its present grand proportions. It has been well managed, alwaj's considered a first-class house, and so remains at present.

��ST. .JAMES HOTEL.

��The very excellent hotel, now known as the St. James, also has something of a history. Sam- uel Bukias, before mentioned as the first tin- ner, had his shop on that corner. He owned two small frame houses then, standing together, in one of which he lived. These caught fire and burned down. During this fire, Mrs. Bukias escaped from the burning buildings and ran through the crowd to the Wiler House ; then, remembering her baby, ran back, caught it up, wrapping it in her apron, and again pushed her wa}' through the crowd to the Wiler. Being greatly excited, she had dropped the

liabe in the street, and did not miss it until she came into the house. Almost frantic, she ran back again and found it in the street, unhurt, among the tramp- ing, rush and con- fusion of the excited crowd. Bukias afterward died, and his widow married a man named Felix Leiter, who started the first hotel there in 1830 or 1831. The building was frame, and was also destroyed by fire. Tn 184:4, a Mr. Teegarden built a small brick hotel there, which he called the Teegarden House, the beginning of the pres- ent structure. It has changed hands and names man^- times, lieing called for a long time the Weldoii House, Mr. James Weldon, son of Rolin Weldon, being its owner and proprietor. He died Fel)ruary 20, 1872. He came to Mans- field in 1810, when be was six years of age, remaining here until his death. He learned the l^lacksmith's trade with his father, and afterward dealt largely in stock with John U. Tanner. In early daj^s, he made sugar every

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