Peter Fitger
"Peter Fitger the horseman" is known to nearly every resident of Mansfield. It was on the 51st. anniversary of American independence (July 4, 1827) near the banks of the blue Juniata, 18 miles from Harrisburg, Pa. that he was born. Mr. Fitger, the father, was a German by birth and a druggist and school teacher by occupation. In 1821, the Fitger family came to Ohio, and located at Wooster. The trip was made in a Pitt wagon, and Peter remembers riding the off wheel horse through the "Narrows". As this sketch is not strictly a biography, an account of Peter's boyhood needs not be given except to say that early in his teens he went to learn the trade of a tinner, but at the close of his apprenticeship, but "ruling passion" -- that of being a born horseman -- took him from the tinsegewgaws of the tinshop to a livery stable, where he was given employment, and that engagement indirectly caused him to locate in Mansfield. The late Gen. William McLaughlin, the hero of two wars; the veteran for whom McLaughlin Post, G.A.R. of this city was named; the father of Miss Jennie McLaughlin, who still lives in the old family residence on North Main Street, had been on a trip to Washington in the early "forties" and as the highway of travel between the west and the national capital was then over the National road the general, after leaving the stage at Wheeling, got mail-hack transportation to Wooster, and there hired a livery team to bring him to Mansfield. Peter Fitger was given the honor of bringing the general home. McLaughlin then had considerable fame as a lawyer and legislator. The Wooster road then came across Spook's Hollow and the first sight Peter got of the town was from the Sherman hill and the view so favorably impressed him that he resolved to make the place his future home. The road then came in on what is now East Fourth Street and the first building was a little weave-shop where Samuel Meily wove cover-lids in unique, grotesque and fantastic patterns. Meily was the grandfather of the wife of Hon. Calvin S. Brice. This shop stood on a lot at the southwest corner of Adams and Fourth Streets, now owned by Harry M. Alvord, the United States express agent. North of East Fourth Street there was no house until you got to Platt's near the present residence of our well-known citizen, B.F. Platt, on Newman Street. Mr. Fitger put up for the night at the Exchange hotel, where the Masonic Temple now stands. His horses were housed in the old Exchange stable, north of the alley, where excavating is now being made for the forthcoming Hautzenroeder & Homberger block, which will be an ornament to that part of the city. In February, 1846, being then in his 19th. year, Mr. Fitger came to Mansfield and has ever since made this city his home. The date of the arrival of the first train of cars in Mansfield is not definitely known. A big war meeting was held here to enlist troops for the war with Mexico and arrangements were made with the railroad (the Mansfield and Sandusky City -- now a part of the B.&O. system) to run a train for that occasion. The track was laid to the north end of the city, but passenger trains had not been put on. A crowd of about a thousand people had assembled on the flat where the water works are now located to seethe arrival of the train. Samuel Idler was the engineer and the late J.H. Cook was the conductor of the train. Upon their arrival the engineer blew a loud sharp blast on the whistle, making the people scamper in all directions. As McLaughlin's company left for Mexico on the 9th. of June, 1846, the meeting referred to, was probably held the latter part of May. The late John Ricketts told the writer that the first rain of cars was "run into Mansfield" on the 19th. of June, and that he remembered the date from the fact that his son George was born at 4 o'clock that afternoon. This was the first passenger train. George Ricketts recently resigned the janitorship of the courthouse. However, Fitger took up his habitation and home in Mansfield at least three months before a train of cars of any kind came to the town, and looking around for some business in which to embark, soon engaged to carry a tri-weekly mail between Mansfield and Bucyrus for $10 a month. The distance is 28 miles and the route lay by and included the post offices of Ontario, Riblet, Galion and Olentangy, besides the terminal points. Part of the route verged on the Black Swamp, and during the winter season, the trip had to be made on horseback, the road being like the Swiss guide said to Napoleon "Barely passable". When the condition of the roads was such that a vehicle could be used, passengers were carried, whose fares increased the receipts, without adding much to the expenses of the "line". Adventures and numerous incidents of those trips might be given. The only man now living upon that route, as of yore, is David Bell, who resides between here and Ontario. And the first man with whom Mr. Fitger became acquainted in Mansfield is Morgan Roop. Mr. Fitger established the first dray line in Mansfield, and later a bus line, which he run successfully for a number of years, and then sold out the latter to Cook & Pool. While in the bus line he furnished vehicles for the funeral of Benjamin Johns and the streets being in bad condition, the pall bearers were carried in a four-horse omnibus. He also recalls taking a picnic party to Coulter's cave and meeting with an accident upon the return trip, split them out in Spook's Hollow. The Hon. Henry C. Hedges was one of the party and took the mishap good humouredly. Mr. Fitger passed the summer of 1852 at Niagara Falls in the hack business and had the pleasure of showing George F. Carpenter and wife the sights at the great cataract when they were on their wedding trip. Fitger returned to Mansfield that fall to vote for Gen. Winfield Scott for president, and Sime Grove went to Pennsylvania to vote for Frank Pierce. The next season Mr. Fitger passed at Lewiston, N.Y., in the service of a transportation company. Opposite Lewiston, on the Canadian side of the river, is the historic Queenstown where VanRenssaler surrendered and where Brock fell. In 1854 Mr. Fitger was married in this city to Miss Martha Lowe and the union was a happy one and was blessed with three children, one son and two daughters. The son died at the age of 14 years, and the family was bereaved of the wife and mother October, 1895. One daughter is married to Charles Chambers and the other - Miss Ida - is a teacher in our public schools. In the days of the old stage coach Mr. Fitger drove between Mansfield and Ashland and between here and Wooster. Among his acquaintances at Hayesville at that time were Wade Armentrout, Mr. Scott and Mr. Seaman, the father of Barney Seaman. Stage drivers blew horns as they neared a town and to this fact Mr. Fitger attributes his partial deafness, as his bugle was hard to blow and the act seemed to affect his ears. Mr. Fitger was in the livery business for a number of years; has bought and shipped horses and has ridden horseback to New York City. As a judge of horses he has but few equals. Since 1872 he has sold a great many buggies. He began selling Cincinnati vehicles and demonstrated what could be done in that line, which finally led to the establishment of buggy works here. Mr. Fitger speaks in the highest terms of the old-time citizens of Mansfield; of the Bartleys, of McLaughlin, the Sturgeses, the Hedgeses, the Ritters, and many others. George F. Carpenter and the late Stephen H. Sturges often assisted him to obtain credit in business transactions. Mr. Fitger is a Republican in politics and come from Whig stock. For 27 years he has been a member of the Baptist church and a faithful attendant at its services, but in those 27 years he has not heard 27 words of what has been said or sung there on account of his deafness. He is well known throughout the county and is familiarly called "Pete" by his many friends. "Pete" has been industrious and while he is not possessed of wealth, is comfortably situated and owns a fine home on Park Avenue East and has the respect of his neighbors and a large circle of friends. -- A.J. Baughman.
From Semi-Weekly News (Mansfield): March 22, 1898, Vol. 14, No. 23