Baseball and Grindstones

From the time of early settlement in Warren Township, sandstone was harvested from the rocky cliffs along the Ohio River at Constitution and in the hills beyond. It was used primarily for constructing buildings and for making grindstones, wheel-shaped devices used for sharpening tools. 

Among the companies that quarried, refined, and sold the stone was the Constitution Stone Company, incorporated in 1885. As one of the community’s largest employers, it was involved in many aspects of its workers’ lives. Young men connected to the grindstone business formed baseball clubs for entertainment during their limited leisure hours. 

Pictured here about 1910 is the Constitution Stone Company Baseball Club.  Front row: George Shears, Bill Pitts, Lewis Hall, Arthur Shears.  Back row: Marion Chalfant, Raymond Pitts, Pearl Pitts, Harry Wilhelm, Roy Morris, Ray Morgan.

Who were these young men who paused their game long enough to pose for the camera? What became of them after their days of playing baseball were over? Parts of their stories are told in census, military, marriage, and death records found online.

The oldest of the group, sitting in the front row and dressed in a white shirt and bib overalls, is William Henry Pitts, born November 2, 1882, son of Freeman Pitts and Sarah Morgan Pitts. In 1910, and again in 1920, Bill is listed on the census as a laborer in the stone quarry. The first of the group to marry, he was wed to a widow, Dora Seevers Robinson, on September 20, 1905. By 1940, the couple lived on Virginia Street in Marietta, and Bill was working in the oil business. He died in 1954.

Sitting on the ground next to Bill is George Washington Shears, born at Gravel Bank on March 26, 1892, the son of George Shears and Lavina Waterman Shears. George's father, a stone cutter, died in 1905 from blood poisoning. A year later his mother remarried to Ernest Chalfant. Young George married Hazel Lauderman in 1914, when he was employed as a lockman at Lock #18 on the Ohio River below Constitution. Hazel died in 1922, and George married Julia Stephens of Parkersburg in 1924. The 1930 census lists George as a resident in the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus, but by 1932, he and Julia were living in Parkersburg, where it appears he spent the rest of his life. George died November 7, 1960.

On the other side of Bill Pitts, also dressed in bib overalls, is Lewis Phillip Hall, born September 3, 1891, in Newport Township to Lycurgus Hall and Ada May Phillips Hall. Although their father was a farmer, Lew and his older brother Dwight would eventually be employed by the local stone companies, Lew as a sawyer. On November 23, 1915, Lew was married to Bertha Wagner. He was fatally injured in a car accident on July 19, 1963, and died on July 22.

At the end of the first row, wearing a dapper hat, is Arthur Martin Shears, cousin of George Shears. Arthur was born May 14, 1895, to John Shears and Mary Carr Shears. Both Arthur and his father worked in the stone quarries. On December 22, 1919, Arthur married Violet Gallagher, a stenographer from Marietta. By 1930, Arthur was living in Kansas City, Missouri, employed as a furniture finisher. All trace of him in public records is then lost.

The first baseball player in the back row, standing with catcher's mask dangling from his hand, is Marion Alfred Chalfant. Born at Constitution on November 28, 1894, he was the son of William Dudley Chalfant and Ida Ellis Chalfant. The Chalfants lived on Gravel Bank Road, and Marion's father worked in the stone quarry. From July 1917 until April 1919, Marion served as a soldier in World War I. Upon his return to civilian life, he married Freda Weinstock, August 31, 1920. Perhaps Marion's health was affected by his military service, for in 1924-25, at the age of 29, he was a resident of the Home for Disabled Soldiers in Dayton, Ohio. Marion died of tuberculosis in Marietta on August 11, 1929. 

Standing next to Marion in the back row is Jonas Raymond Pitts, who preferred to be called "Ray." Notice the marking "C. S. Co. B. C." (Constitution Stone Company Baseball Club) on his shirt. Ray was born April 29, 1893, in Warren Township, the son of Freeman Pitts and Sarah Morgan Pitts. At the age of 17, he was already employed in the stone quarry. When Ray completed his draft registration form for World War I, he was a hoisting engineer for The Foundation Company of Wellsburg, West Virginia, but living on Gilman Street in Marietta.  Ray and Nettie Noland were married on July 19, 1913, in Hancock County, West Virginia. By the 1940s, Ray was living in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He died September 13, 1978, in Fairfield County, Ohio.

Pearl Albert Pitts was Ray's brother, born August 5, 1884. Pearl's father worked in the stone quarry, as did Pearl and his brother Ray. Not long after this photograph was taken, Pearl found work as a coal miner. By 1920 he was living at Wellsville in Columbiana County, Ohio, and was employed in one of the potteries for which that area was known. It was there that he met his wife, Florence Fultz, and married her in September of 1920. The 1930 census shows that Pearl was back in the Marietta area, working in the stone quarry. In 1940, he was living in Zanesville and doing landscape work. Pearl died July 6, 1959, in Cambridge, Ohio.

Standing with his arms folded and a smile on his face, is Harry Wilhelm, the son of Monroe Wilhelm and Martha Warfield Wilhelm. Harry was born in Belpre on December 18, 1889. In 1910 the census placed him in Warren Township, where his father was a farmer. On June 15, 1916, Harry married Myrtie Dole, the daughter of Albert Dole and Katie Skipton Dole. By 1920 the couple had a home in Marietta, and Harry was an engineer at the Gravel Bank station for the gas company. He eventually became an owner of a gas station, garage, and grocery. Harry and Myrtie's only son, Albert, died in 1930 at the age of 14. Harry died November 3, 1967, in Marietta.

With his bat held at the ready and his mouth open, perhaps Leroy D. Morris just shouted out a joke that made Harry smile. Roy was the son of Daniel Morris and Sarah Sayres Morris, born June 2, 1889. His father was a stone cutter and farmer, who drowned in the Ohio River in November of 1888, about six months before Roy was born. Roy married Gladys Preston in Wood County, West Virginia, on the day after Christmas in 1916. He tried working as an insurance agent before becoming the owner of a grocery, and in 1930 he was the clerk of courts for Washington County. Roy and Gladys raised their family in Marietta, and that is where he died on August 8, 1982.

On the far right in the back row, possibly a left-handed batter, is Ray Autive Morgan. Born in Warren Township on June 6, 1893, he was the son of Samuel Morgan and Mary Wilcoxen Morgan. In 1910 the family lived on Constitution Road in Warren Township. Father Samuel was a teamster, perhaps hauling stone, and brother Pearl worked in the stone quarry. Ray married Laura Gill on November 10, 1915. The couple moved to Hocking County, where Ray worked as a pumper in the oil fields. He died September 5, 1986, in Hocking County.