USA > Ohio > Athens County > A Brief History of Athens County, Ohio > Part 1
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3 3433 08182662 4
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A Brief History OF
ATHENS COUNTY OHIO
BY
CLEMENT L. MARTZOLFF
Published by The Author ATHENS, OHIO 1916
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 821843 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS 1917 L
Copies of these booklets may be secured at the following prices, postage prepaid.
One copy
$0.25
Five copies
1.00
One dozen copies
2.00
Address:
Mrs. Candus Martzolff
108 Lancaster Road
Athens, Ohio
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FOREWORD
HERE are few counties in Ohio which have a more interesting history than Athens County. It is the purpose of this small book to tell the story of how white men found this county covered with a dense forest in which roamed many wild animals; how it has been changed until today it affords homes for many thousands of people; how there are good farms in our hills and in our valleys; how towns and villages have sprung up and grown; how mines have been opened; how factories have been built and how churches and school houses are found everywhere.
The compiler at the request of superintendents of schools, teachers, and others, who have long felt the need of a brief outline of the county's history has rapidly col- lected the facts given on the following pages. He claims but little credit in the way of original research for the material given. He has freely made use of the excellent History of Athens County, written by Charles Manning Walker in 1869, now out of print. Thinking the time had come for the new generation to get acquainted with the chief events of the county's history, the undersigned sends it forth in the hope it will find a place.
CLEMENT L. MARTZOLFF.
Athens, Ohio, December 13, 1915.
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BISHOP DAVID HASTINGS MOORE.
A product of Athens County, Son of Pioneer parents, born on Margaret's Creek, educated at the Ohio University, a brave soldier, a great preacher, and a good man, honored and loved by all who ever knew him.
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THE MAKING OF ATHENS COUNTY
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ONG before white men came to live here some things happened which has made Athens County the kind of county it is. Geologists tell us that thousands and thousands of years ago what is now the state of Ohio lay beneath the ocean.
Finally the bottom of this sea was raised like a great ridge until the top of this ridge was lifted above the water. Then the rains wore out great valleys and the parts left are the hills of southern Ohio and the mountains of West Virginia.
Because of these valleys it is easier to get at the min- erals buried in the hills. Besides, they afford locations of our most fertile farms.
Rocks :- Athens County lies in what is known as the carboniferous or coal region. It is so called because of the · many veins of coal to be found in it.
Between the seams of coal are layers of limestone, sandstone, shale and clay. The limestone is used for mak- ing roads, the sandstone for building purposes, and the shale and clay for the manufacturing of brick.
Streams :- The county has many good sized streams, which afforded abundant water-power before the days of the steam engine. They also served to float the Indian canoe and the white man's raft, before there were good roads.
The Hock-hocking is the principal stream which runs for about fifty-four miles across the county. Its chief tribu- taries are Sunday Creek, Monday Creek, Margaret's Creek, and Federal Creek. Shade Creek in the southern part runs into the Ohio River. The Indians called the river "Hock- hocking," which is a word meaning "bottle-neck." It gets
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that name from the shape of the rock cliffs at its source in Fairfield County.
Sunday and Monday Creeks were named by the Survey- ors, who when surveying the land found themselves, on a Sunday at the mouth of the first named and the next day were at the second stream. Margaret's Creek was named for Margaret Snowden, the first white woman to live in its valley.
Trees :- If you go into the woods, you will find many different kinds of trees. These are the same varieties which grew here when the pioneers came to make their clearings. So much dense forest, so many deep valleys and such large rocks afforded splendid homes for wild animals.
Animals :- When the first settlers came they found the woods swarming with many kinds of game. They had no difficulty in getting all the fresh meat they needed. Tur- keys were plentiful and to kill a bear was not unusual. A few buffalo were also here yet when the first settlers came. .
The most dangerous animals were the wolf, the panther, or wild cat, and the rattle-snake. Many interest- ing stories are told of hunters and their experiences. Two men killed sixty-five bears in one season in the neighbor- hood of Hibbardsville. At another time, two hunters se- cured forty-six in six weeks. The skins were very valuable, bringing as high as five dollars each. One hunter killed thirty deer in two weeks. Venison was the main meat of the pioneers, together with wild turkey. The last buffalo, killed in the county, was near the site of the present Court House in Athens, in 1796. Three years later a buffalo calf was captured near Mineral and brought to the settlement where it was given to a cow to raise. Wolves and panthers were a great annoyance to everybody, especially those who raised sheep. Such a scourge were they that for many
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years a bounty of from two to four dollars was paid for every wolf or panther scalp.
A doctor in traveling through Rome Township one night found himself followed by a pack of wolves. He was obliged to climb a tree for safety, where he spent the night. In the morning his hungry enemies left and the doctor went on his journey. He had not gone far till he found where they had killed a calf, for their breakfast.
THE HOME OF MAN
The first people to live in Athens County were the Mound Builders. There must have been many of them, since so great a number of their mounds are to be found. There are no less than seventy-seven mounds, fortifications, and. village sites in the various townships.
The finest group is located on what is known as "The Plains," near Beaumont. There are two village sites, one near Hocking station and the other at Fisher The great- er number of these earthworks is to be found in Ames, Athens, and Alexander townships. Some of them have been opened and skeletons, arrow heads, stone hatchets, and knives were found in them.
The Forest Rovers :- The Indians were the next to make their homes here. With such an abundance of game it is readily seen why the valley of the Hock-hocking should be favorite hunting grounds for these children of the forest.
The Shawnees, a powerful tribe living on the Scioto, had the real possession of this region, although the Dela- wares on the Muskingum frequently made use of it, as did the Wyandots, who lived where Lancaster now is.
The salt springs at Beaumont also attracted the Indians to the valley. A man, named Smith, who was cap-
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tured and who lived among the Delaware Indians for four years in 1753, tells how they went to the buffalo-lick on the Hock-hocking and made half a bushel of salt.
INDIAN VILLAGES AND TRAILS
There were two Indian towns in Athens County; one of them, Wanduchale's Town, in the northern part of Troy township. It was named for a Delaware chieftain by that name. The other one, Shawnee Town, was at Beaumont.
An Indian trail also went through the county. It passed by Wanduchale's Town in a southwesterly direction and cut through the south-eastern corner of Carthage town- ship. Of course, there were other trails in the county, es- pecially leading to the saltlick, but these followed the buffalo paths, made by these animals as they sought for the salty waters.
Some Indian Visitors :- The Indians never gave much trouble to the pioneers of Athens County. Few of them were seen after 1800. That year about forty came, one day to the home of Moses Hewitt who lived on Margaret's Creek. They had been taking too much fire-water and were very insulting. Mr. Hewitt ordered them off the place and when they refused, he went at them. One he knocked into the fire place and another he pushed out the door. A third caught Mr. Hewitt and they had quite a fight. Finally Mr. Hewitt got the Indian's thumb into his mouth and he soon had the fellow howling in great style. The Indians left in anger and it was feared they might return during that night. They watched for them but no red-skin ap- peared.
English Claim Athens County :- The first white people to claim what is now Athens County were the English. Because John Cabot discovered North America (1498), the English King believed he could do with the land as he pleased. So James I (1609) gave to Virginia all of the
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region now in the Ohio Valley. But it was nearly a century and a half before the Virginians made any attempt to use the country.
The Lilles Of France :- Meanwhile the French sent a man, La Salle, (1669) to explore the territory. He was the first white man to see the Ohio River. Floating down that stream, past where Hocking-Port is, he claimed the whole region for France. That country at once sent its traders to deal with the Indians. While England claimed the land, the French actually possessed it. So at one time Athens County was under the French flag.
An Unjust Act :- In the French and Indian War (1763), England took the American possessions away from France. Virginia thought she would get all her territory back. In- stead England took it from Virginia and gave it to Quebec. Athens County thus became a part of Canada. This an- noyed the Virginians and they took it as a cause for the Revolutionary War. The granting of Independence to the colonies returned the county to Virginia and we were once more a part of that state. In 1784 Virginia gave it to the United States government to do with as it pleased.
The Pathfinders :- There is no doubt but the first white men to thread the woods of Athens County were the French trappers and traders, with perhaps an occasional Jesuit priest to teach religion to the Indians. For seventy- five years these French Pathfinders held undisputed sway here. But about the middle of the eighteenth century the English Pathfinder, in the person of the Scotch-Irish trader, from Pennsylvania, began to make his appearance. This brought on the clash between England and France for possession and resulted in the French and Indian War, with England as winner.
A Distinguished Visitor :- Among the first Americans to see Athens County was George Washington. In com- pany with a friend, Colonel Crawford, he made a journey
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to the Ohio Valley (1770). He came to spy out the land and if he liked it, would purchase some of it. He tells in his Journal how one evening as they floated down the Ohio they came to the mouth of the Great Hock-hocking and camped on the south side of the Ohio for the night. He must have liked the looks of the place for he selected the tract as his own and it has been known as Washington's Bottom ever since. 1
A Real Live English Lord :- Four years later (1774), Athens County saw many white men within her borders. The Indians on the Scioto had been very troublesome to the Virginia Colonists. The Governor, Lord Dunmore, con- cluded to punish them. He raised two armies to go into the Indian country. One of these he himself commanded, while the other was under the leadership of a brave Indian fighter, General Andrew Lewis. The armies went by different routes. Early in October, the army of Lewis found itself encamped where Point Pleasant, West Virginia, now is, while Lord Dunmore with 1200 men was at the mouth of the Hock-hocking.
A Fort in Athens County :- Here where Hocking-port now stands Dunmore cleared off several acres and built a fortification from the timber and called it Fort Gower. For many years the site of the fort could be distinctly seen. Early settlers in plowing frequently picked up bul- lets, broken swords, hatchets, etc., where the fort had stood.
After remaining here for a while, Lord Dunmore, leaving some of the men to guard the fort, proceeded up the north bank of the river. The first night they encamped at the mouth of Federal Creek and the second night at the mouth of Sunday Creek.
Upon making a treaty of peace with the Indians, Dun- more returned to Fort Gower after an absence of about three weeks.
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A Dissatisfied Army :- While preparing to re-embark his army for the return home, a remarkable thing hap- pened. Some of the men did not like the idea of making peace with the Indians. They thought Lord Dunmore should have punished them and the reason he didn't was to get their friendship for England. The men believed they had come on a "wild-goose chase" and the Governor had been guilty of double dealing.
A Declaration of Independence :- Accordingly on No- vember 5, a meeting was called and after speeches had been made, a set of resolutions was drawn and signed. These resolutions went on to say, among other things, that they would be loyal subjects of King George Third just so long as he would reign over a free people, but their love for American liberty outweighed all things else and they would consider it their duty to defend their own country first. These were brave words to say in the presence of the King's governor but they were brave men who said them. What they declared here in Athens County might well be called a prelude to the Declaration of Independence.
A Border Experience :- Two years later (October 1776), Colonel Robert Patterson and six companions from Kentucky, pushing up the Ohio River, found themselves one evening encamped opposite Newbury Island in Troy township.
After they had eaten their supper, they lay down to sleep with their guns at their sides. During the night some Indians crept up and fired upon them and immediately rushed with their tomahawks to finish the job. Patterson had been shot, so he could not use his gun. A hand to hand fight took place, during which he was cut with a . tomahawk. He managed to creep off into the bushes while his companions were still fighting.
Finally the Indians left and he could hear nothing but the groanings of his companions. When he reached them,
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he found one dead, another missing and the rest all severe- ly wounded. In the morning, they dressed each other's wounds as best they could and started to walk through the woods. Soon one of the men gave out and he begged them to leave him alone to die.They pushed on, but they had gone but a short distance till more of them gave out. Only one was able to walk. They concluded then to let him go to the nearest settlement and get help, while they would remain and make the best of it. On returning to their companion they found him dead. Not being able to bury - him, they allowed him to remain for the wolves to eat. They managed to crawl up a ravine and, found shelter under some rocks where the three wounded men lived on paw-paws. They suffered terribly from their wounds. After four days their companion returned with several men who took them to the nearest station in boats.
THE HOME MAKERS.
The Pioneers came next. They are the people who brought their families and expected to make this region their home. This meant that the land had to be cleared, houses built, roads cut through the woods, towns laid out, and crops raised.
The Founders :- Athens County happened to be settled in this way. After the Revolutionary War, some men in Massachusetts, of whom Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Reverend Manasseh Cutler, and others as leaders, con- cluded to come to the Ohio Country and settle it. To do this they organized a company known as the Ohio Company of Associates. This company sent Manasseh . Cutler, in his sulky, to New York, to buy the land of Congress. After a good deal of trouble he at last made a bargain which was a good one.
The Bargain :- He secured 1,500,000 acres in South- eastern Ohio at sixty-six and two-thirds cents an acre. For
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extra measure, he influenced Congress to throw in two . townships, seventy-two square miles, for a college, one section, six hundred and forty acres in each township for schools and another section for the churches. All of Athens County was included in this purchase.
In April 1788, forty-eight men, headed by Rufus Put- nam landed at the mouth of the Muskingum and began to lay out Marietta, the oldest town in Ohio. In a few months General Arthur St. Clair arrived to be the Governor of the Northwest Territory, and the machinery of government was set in motion. The colony began to grow rapidly. Soon other settlements reached out into the surrounding country.
Troublesome Indians :- Unfortunately an Indian War broke out, and the settlers flocked to the Marietta block- house for protection. This prevented the location of the college townships, which were to be in the center of the . purchase. Not until 1795-96 were these townships located and surveyed. Athens and Alexander townships being in the center of the purchase, were selected, and ever since they have been known as the university townships and their lands as university lands.
General Putnam who had supervision of the surveying was anxious to have these university lands settled as soon as possible, so money could be secured to start the college. As soon as the Indians were quieted, settlers began to arrive in great numbers.
Athens Settled :- Encouraged by General Putnam, some of them decided to locate on the college lands. In the early spring of 1797 a number, led by Alvan Bingham, in a large canoe, floated down the Ohio, and pushed up the Hock-hocking to where Athens now stands, Here they landed. Some of them staked out their claims on the site of the present city, while others went into the surrounding country. The next year more settlers came and the next year (1799) Athens was laid out regularly as a town.
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Other Settlements :- The year after Athens was found- ed, (1798), Judge Ephraim Cutler, George Ewing, and Captain Brown began the settlement in Ames Township. George Ewing's family came first and the others a year later. The families and household goods were loaded on flat boats, which were pushed with long poles up the Hock- hocking and up Federal Creek.
Troy Township was settled the same year with Ames, near Frost, although the year previous Benajah Hoyt had built his cabin at Hocking-port.
The first settler in Trimble Township was Solomon Tuttle who located there in 1802.
Some had located in Rome Township in 1800.
Dover Township was settled first in 1799 by Daniel Wethee and Josiah True.
Carthage Township had its first settler in Asahel Cooley, who established his home there in 1799.
The first man to locate in Canaan Township, as well as the first in Athens County, was one Peter Boyles, who built his cabin on the "school section, between the grave yard and the river" in 1795. Here the same year, June 5, his son George Boyles was born. He is no doubt the first white child to be born in Athens County.
Athens County Formed :- During these years, what is now Athens County belonged to Washington County. The section was called the Middletown voting district because of its central location. There were now enough people to warrant the establishment of a new county. This was done by act of the legislature, February 20, 1805. The law went into effect on March 1, 1805, and Athens became the twen- tieth county in the state. Its area was 1053 square miles and it included five townships now belonging to Meigs County, two belonging to Morgan County, three belonging co Hocking County, seven belonging to Vinton County, and a strip about ten miles long and one mile wide which was later given back to Washington County. As other counties
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were organized, parts were taken from Athens and in one instance a little added to it, until its present area is 484 square miles.
The Township Formed :- When the county was organ- ized there were four townships, Athens, Ames, Alexander, and Troy. Athens Township included besides its present area, Canaan, Waterloo, and two townships now in Vinton County. Alexander had within its territory, Lee and Lodi, five townships now in Vinton and three in Meigs. Troy contained Rome and Carthage and two townships in Meigs County. Ames township comprised in addition to itself Trimble, York, Dover, and Bern townships, two townships of Morgan County, and three of Hocking County. The other townships were established as follows:
Rome, 1811; York, 1818; Canaan, 1819; Bern, 1825; Waterloo, 1826; Trimble, 1827; Lodi, 1829.
The Starting of the University :- While it was the intention from the beginning to establish a college, many things hindered its progress. Nothing could be done until enough of the college lands were sold to insure its success. This was not accomplished until 1804, when the legislature passed an act establishing the Ohio University in the town of, Athens. The same year the Board of Trustees met, 'among them being the Governor of Ohio, Edward Tiffin, who had ridden horse back all the way from Chillicothe.
In 1807 a building, the first in Ohio for college pur- poses, was erected. The school did not open till 1809 when three young men appeared on the first day. The attend- ance did not grow very rapidly and the first class did not graduate till 1815. One of the graduates was Thomas Ewing from Ames township who later became distin- guished as a great lawyer and served as United States Senator from Ohio and as a member of the President's Cabinet.
The college has had many ups and downs, but it has
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survived them all and today, under President Alston Ellis, is more prosperous than ever. Many hundreds of Athens County boys and girls have been educated here and some of them have become noted. Among them, besides Ewing might be mentioned Bishops Ames, Moore and Cranston, of the Methodist Church and Ex-President Scott of the Ohio State University. Now more than 1100 students are attending this oldest college in Ohio.
HOW OUR FATHERS LIVED.
The pioneers who came to the woods of Athens County lived very simply. The homes were made of logs with mud daubed in the cracks. The roof was clapboards, held in place by long poles. The floors were logs hewed on one side. Greased paper served for windows. A big fire place in which huge logs could be rolled, took up one end of the house. The hearth consisted of flat stones. Here the cook- ing was done. The utensils usually consisted of a pot and skillet. The baking was done in what was called a "Dutch oven." It was a large skillet with a lid. Live coals were piled about it and above it and in this way bread, usually corn pone, was baked. The clothing worn by women and children was made of linen spun and woven from flax raised on the land. The men generally wore a shirt and trousers of buckskin. The cap was made of coon-skin and sometimes it had a fox's tail hanging down behind.
Their food was coarse and plain. Meat from the wild animals with cracked corn or hominy was the usual diet. Before mills were built, each family had a "hominy block." The corn was crushed with a wooden maul into meal.
People helped one another a great deal. There were log-rollings and house-raisings and corn-huskings. The pioneer knew very little besides labor. During the day mother and daughters often helped in the fields. In the evening, wool and flax were to be spun, stockings knitted, clothes made, brooms from hickory splints manufactured,
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A PRETENTIOUS PIONEER HOME-BUILT IN 1800
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harness mended, corn shelled, and dozens of other duties; then to go to bed and sleep during the long winter nights and awake in the morning, and find on the bed covers a thin layer of snow, which had sifted through the clap- board roof.
HOW ATHENS COUNTY PEOPLE MADE A LIVING
Agriculture :- In spite of its rough surface, Athens County has always been a good agricultural county. Its many streams have furnished rich bottom lands, on which good corn crops could be raised. This meant the fattening of many hogs and cattle. The limestone ridges produce an abundance of blue grass affording rich pasturage for
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