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History of Ashland County, Ohio
George William Hill, Williams Bros
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATION
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JOHNNY APPLESEED.
Page 27.
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A HISTORY
OF THE
PIONEER AND MODERN TIMES
OF
ASHLAND COUNTY,:
FROM
THE EARLIEST TO THE PRESENT DATE.
BY
racio H. S. KNAPP.
PHILADELPHIA : J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1863. P
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. .
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, by
H. S. KNAPP,
In the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
I
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INTRODUCTION.
IN 1857 the late Lorin Andrews-the first white male child who lived to attain mature manhood, and surely his was a mature manhood, who was born in the Township of Mont- gomery-suggested to the undersigned the undertaking of the work which is herewith offered to the public. It was after repeated conversations and solicitations on his part, and with many misgivings in my own mind that the matter attainable would be of a quality to recompense the public and the author, that I finally commenced my labors. Having, how- ever, once entered the field of investigation, I found the re- sources more ample and interesting than had been anticipated; and, although the work has been protracted and toilsome, I find compensation in the self-assurance that to the people of Ashland County has been rescued from a rapidly perishing condition material that will be of no ordinary value to them and to future times.
An accurate history of the events sought to be given derives more importance from the fact that several writers of the purely "sensation " stamp have so caricatured, in publications they have made, certain prominent incidents connected with the early settlement of the territory that now forms the county, that truth and falsehood have been utterly con- founded. Had the effort to vindicate the truth of history against the assaults of mere romancers been much longer de- layed, the period would soon, in the course of nature, have forever passed, within which it would have been possible to
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INTRODUCTION.
correct, by contemporary evidence, the errors into which a considerable portion of the public have been led by "his- tories" which, like more unpretending "tales" we see pub- lished, can scarcely claim the merit of being even "founded upon facts."
Outside of official records, inaccuracies in minor details will doubtless be discovered. Such inaccuracies are unavoid- able, where dates and events which occurred more than & generation ago depend alone upon the memory for their authenticity; but every reasonable effort has been made to avoid errors and reconcile discrepancies.
I gratefully acknowledge my obligations to Rev. James Rowland and James E. Cox and William Johnston, Esqs., of Mansfield; Rev. R. R. Sloan, of Mt. Vernon; Hon. A. H. Byers and Joseph H. Larwill, of Wooster; Hon. John H. James, of Urbana; Revs. John Robinson, W. A. G. Emerson, and Thomas Beer, of Ashland; Thomas L. Armstrong, Esq., of Hayesville; Miss Rosella Rice, of Perrysville; and to many other kind friends for valuable information furnished. I do not, however, acknowledge ordinary courtesy at the hands of the General Post-Office Department, at Washington, for information often requested of it through Hon. H. G. Blake and others, but to which request no attention has been paid. I have also to regret that applications for facts in pos- session of parties relating to certain churches have not been responded to, thus rendering it impossible, in many instances, to give satisfactory details.
The historical matter embraced in the contributions of the pioneers will afford ample reason for the absence of matter which would otherwise be more appropriate under the imme- diate heads of the several chapters of the work.
H. S. KNAPP.
January, 1868.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Ashland County previous to its Settlement by White Inhabitants.
9
CHAPTER II.
The Pioneers and their Times ..
14
CHAPTER III.
Refuse Lands-Condition of early Agriculture The opening of Mar- kets, etc .
24
CHAPTER IV.
Johnny Appleseed
27
CHAPTER V.
Ashland County-Commencing with its Organization 88
Electiona.
41
Ashland County Judiciary
46
The Common School System of Ashland County 61 Taxable Wealth of Ashland County 69
Taxable Property. 78
Meteorological Phenomena ... 76
Registry of Periodical Phenomena 78
Marriage Statistics.
79
Ashland County Agricultural Society .. 80
The June Frost of 1859 81
Ashland County Sabbath-schools. 88
Pauperism
84
Diminution of Population 85
Volunteers for 1861-62
86
CHAPTER VI.
Clearcreek Township. 108
Churches in Savannah and Clearcreek Township. 108
Official Record. 110
Population of Clearcreek Township in 1828 110
Officers elected in April, 1829 112
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CONTENTS.
PAGE
Township Officers in 1862.
112
Savannah .. 118
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Clearcreek Township. 118
CHAPTER VII.
Montgomery Township
167
Elections
168
Churches ..
170
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Montgomery Township. 179
CHAPTER VIII.
Ashland
215
Churches.
221
Masons and Odd Fellows. 241
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 243
The First Burial Grounds
244
Ohio Normal Academy of Music
245
Ashland Newspapers ...
246
Public Buildings and Institutions
249
CHAPTER IX.
Vermillion Township.
254
Extracts from the Official Records of Vermillion Township .. 266
Elections.
270
Justices of the Peace. 272
Churches in Vermillion Township.
278
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Vermillion Township. 274
CHAPTER X.
Hayesville
297
The Original Town ...
298
Concord Lodge, No. 325, I. O. O. F. 800
Churches in Hayesville
800
Permanently Established Business Men in Hayesville-1862-68.
808
CHAPTER XI.
Green Township.
808
Churches in Green Township .. 805
Perrysville ...
806
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Green Township. 807
Extracts from the Official Record of Green Township.
856
Successive Justices of the Peace in Green Township. 861
CHAPTER XII.
Hanover Township
862
Extracts from the Official Record ..
864
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CONTENTS. vii
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Justices of the Peace ..
868
Churches-Evangelical, Lutheran, and German Reformed.
869
Murder of John Whitney.
870
Loudonville
371
Churches in Loudonville.
874
Benevolent Institutions
376
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Hanover Township. 877
CHAPTER XIIL
Lake Township ..
885
Odell's Mill
886
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Lake Township. 886
Churches in Lake Township.
890
Extracts from Lake Township Records.
891
Justices of the Peace for Lake Township.
898
CHAPTER XIV.
Mohican Township
894
Churches in Mobican Township. 898
Extracts from the Official Records of Mobican Township. 899 Justices of the Peace for Mohican Township. 899
Jeromeville.
400
Churches in Jeromeville.
401
Mohicanville.
404
Churches in Mohicanville
405
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Mohican Township.
405
CHAPTER XV.
Perry Township .
428
Extracts from Official Records of Perry Township.
428
Rowsburg.
480
Churches in Perry Township
481
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Perry Township.
485
CHAPTER XVI.
Jackson Township
471
472
Perrysburg.
Churches in Jackson Township. 478
Justices of the Peace in Jackson Township since 1881.
476
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Jackson Township.
477
CHAPTER XVII.
Orange Township.
499
Orange Township Churches 500
The Village of Orange.
602
Reminiscences of the Pioneers of Orange Township.
505
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII. PAGE
Mifflin Township.
528
Mifflin
582
Churches
532
Township Officers for 1862 538
Successive Justices of the Peace
533
Reminiscences of the Pioneers in Mifflin Township
584
CHAPTER XIX.
Milton Township
585
Extracts from the Official Record 586
Election of April 7, 1862. 586
Successive Justices of the Peace of Milton Township. 536
Pioneers of Milton Township.
587
CHAPTER
Buggles Township 588
Extracts from the Official Record of Ruggles Township 540
Commissions of Justices of the Peace .. 540
Pioneers of Ruggles Township. 540
CHAPTER XXI.
Troy Township
542
Troy Centre 548
Churobes
543
Pioneers of Troy Township.
548
CHAPTER XXII.
Sullivan Township 544
Pioneer Sketches. 544
Sullivan Village 549
Churches.
549
Sullivan Lodge, No. 818
550
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ASHLAND COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
Ashland County previous to its Settlement by White Inhabitants.
WITH regard to the period that preceded the settle- ment by white people of Ashland County, very little, of course, is known. The space indicated compre- hends an indefinite rule of darkness and barbarism; and the investigation of its traditions and imperfect annals, and their embodiment into historical form, would involve an amount of antiquarian research not consistent with a work like this. Many of the acres that are now embraced within Ashland County have doubtless been the theater of events that would render them "classic ground;" but the history of those times is neither attainable nor germain to the object of this work. The scope and design of this volume em- braces the period commencing with the permanent settlement by the white race. Such resources, how- ever, as are available and authentic, relating to the anterior period, are employed.
In Taylor's History of Ohio, there is a reference (p. 79) to an Indian trail leading from Fort Duquesne, by way of Fort Sandusky, to Detroit; which is traced 2 (9)
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY.
by him as passing through the townships of Mohican and Vermillion. This route was supposed to have been opened soon after the erection of the fort at Pittsburg, in 1754. An appendix to Hutchins' His- tory of Boquet's expedition in 1764, gives five differ- ent routes through the Ohio wilderness. "Second route, (p. 163,) W.N.W., was twenty-five miles to the mouth of Big Beaver, ninety-one miles to Tusca- roras, (the junction of Sandy and Tuscaroras Creeks, at the south line of Stark County;) fifty to Mohican John's Town, (Mohican Township, near Jeromeville or Mohicanville, on the east line of Ashland County;) forty-six to Junandot or Wyandot Town, (Castalia, or the source of Cold Creek, in Erie County;) four to Fort Sandusky, (at mouth of Cold Creek, in Erie County;) four to Fort Sandusky, (at mouth of Cold Creek, near Venice, on Sandusky Bay;) twenty-four to Junqueindundeh, (now Fremont, on Sandusky River, and in Sandusky County.) The distance from Fort Pitt to Fort Sandusky was two hundred and forty miles." Referring to Pownal's map, pub- lished in 1776, which locates the various Indian tribes then in Ohio, Mr. Taylor infers that "the west branch of the Muskingum, known on our maps as the Whitewoman or Mohican, was assigned to the remnants of the old Connecticut tribe, whose name, otherwise evanescent, has been embalmed by the genius of Cooper. As we have seen from the diary of Smith, there was a Canghnawaga village (the Mohican was the origin of this tribe, but fused with Canadians and Iroquois, and lately resident near Montreal) about twenty miles above the Coshocton Forks, and still farther north, on the lake branch of the Mohican River, was the Mohican John's Town,
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY. 11
near the (now) village of Jeromeville, in Ashland County. Thence these ' Last of the Mohicans' were accustomed to range northward to the lake, and east- ward over the comparatively vacant plains now con- stituting the counties of the Western Reserve."
The diary of Colonel James Smith, to which Mr. Taylor refers, is republished more fully in a volume entitled " Western Adventures," by John A. McClung, printed at Dayton, Ohio, in 1847. Smith was a cap- tive five years among the Mohicans, and was adopted as a member of their tribe. After his escape, in 1760, he published a narrative of his adventures. In company with his adopted brother, whose name was Tontileaugo, he made a journey, during his cap- tivity, from the west branch of the Muskingum to Lake Erie. They proceeded to the head waters of said branch, and thence crossed to the waters of a stream called by Smith the Canesadooharie. This was probably the Black River, which, rising in Ash- land, and traversing Medina and Lorain Counties, (at least by the course of its east branch,) falls into Lake Erie a few miles north of Elyria. If we sup- pose that Tullihas, situated twenty miles above the principal forks of Muskingum, was near the junction of the Vernon and Mohican Rivers, on the border of Knox and Coshocton Counties, Smith and his com- panions probably followed what is called, on Thayer's Map of Ohio, the " Lake Fork of the Mohican," until they reached the northern part of Ashland County, and there struck the head waters of the Canesadoo- harie, where, as Smith testifies, they found "a large body of rich, well-lying land; the timber, ash, wal- nut, sugar-tree, buckeye, honey-locust, and cherry, intermixed with some oak and hickory."
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY.
The 8th of September, 1760, was the date of the surrender of Canada to the English, by the French Governor Vaudrueil. Major Robert Rogers, a native of New Hampshire, and an associate of Putnam and Stark, was ordered to take possession of the Western forts. He left Montreal on the thirteenth of Sep- tember, with two hundred rangers. In his History of Ohio, Mr. Taylor quotes liberally from the Journal of his Military Life, published by Rogers, in London, in 1765, and also a, "Concise Account of North America." From Detroit, the major went to the Maumee, and thence across by the Sandusky and Tuscarawas trail to Fort Pitt; and from his journal of this overland trip, Mr. Taylor traces his route. On the 4th of January, 1761, he finds Rogers encamped at a point eleven miles south from Monroeville, in Huron County. We adopt Mr. Taylor's definition of the trail from thence as contained in his annota- tions to the Journal of Rogers, which occurs on pages 124 and 125. "On the 5th, traveled south-southwest half a mile, south one mile, south-southwest three- quarters of a mile, south half a mile, crossed two small brooks running east, went a southwest course half a mile, south half a mile, southeast half a mile, south two miles, southeast one mile, south half a mile, crossed a brook running east-by-north, traveled south- by-east half a mile, south-southeast two miles, south- east three-quarters of a mile, south-southeast one mile, and came to Moskongam Creek,* about eight yards wide, crossed the creek, and encamped about thirty yards from it. This day killed deer and turkies in our march.
* Black Fork of Mohican.
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY.
"On the 6th, we traveled about fourteen or fifteen miles, our general course being about east-southeast, killed plenty of game, and encamped by a very fine spring .*
"The 7th, our general course about southeast, traveled about six miles, and crossed Moskongam Creek, running south, about twenty yards wide.t There is an Indian town about twenty yards from the creek, on the east side, which is called the Mingo Cabbins. There were but two or three Indians in the place, the rest were hunting. These Indians have plenty of houses, hogs, etc.}
"The 8th, halted at this town, to mend our moga- sons and kill deer, the provisions I brought from De- troit being entirely expended. I went a hunting with ten of the Rangers, and by ten o'clock got more veni- son than we had occasion for.
"On the 9th, traveled about twelve miles, our general course being about southeast, and encamped by the side of a long meadow, where there were a number of Indians hunting."§
With regard to the identity of the "fine spring" mentioned, those who have given attention to the matter differ in opinion. It is not probable that it is " somewhere between Vermillion and Montgomery Townships." Dr. Bushnell, of Mansfield, who has
* Who will identify this "fine spring," somewhere between Vermillion and Montgomery Townships, in Ashland County ?
t Lake Fork of Mohican, below Jeromeville, Ashland County. # A prominent object on all early charts, but usually called "Mohican John's Town." The township is now called " Mo- hican."
§ Still called, on the map of Ohio, " Long Prairie," in Plain Township, Wayne County.
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY.
been familiar with the country for a period of upwards of forty years, supposes it to be one of the "Quaker Springs," two or three miles southeast of Haysville. The "Mingo Cabbins" were probably upon the Indian village of "Green Town."
This is all the information, from sources which are entitled to be regarded as authentic, that we are enabled to obtain relating to Ashland County a century since. It has been supposed by some that the route of the lamented Colonel William Crawford, in the expedition which terminated so disastrously and miserably to himself, in 1782, led through this county; but such data as we have been enabled to obtain do not authorize this conclusion.
CHAPTER II.
The Pioneers and their Times.
FIFTY-THREE years have elapsed since the first white settlement was commenced within what is now the organized territory of Ashland County. What changes have been wrought within that half century! The first pioneer found the country with- out church, school, market, road, merchant, mechanic, or cultivated acre-if we except a few spots that may have been marked by the rude efforts at tillage by the Indian. Savage beasts and uncivilized men were in deadly conflict throughout the domain of the wilderness. . Except when winter withdrew them to their caverns, the earth teemed with venomous and loathsome reptiles. The country was utterly desti-
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY.
tute of any of the moral or material resources that bear relation to civilized life. Such, in brief, was its condition when that band of moral heroes, the Pioneers, entered the country and grappled with privations and dangers altogether unknown to the generation who now occupy this country, and even to the experience of those who have of late years undertaken the subjugation of the forests west of this. There exists no analogy between the habits and modes of life of. those who were backwoodsmen at the commencement of the present century, and those who have peopled the new States and Terri- tories of the West. Here, until the opening of an Atlantic market by the completion of the New York and Erie Canal, in 1825, there had been no sale of produce except for neighborhood consumption; while westward of this, during the last ten or fifteen years particularly, artificial communications, by means of canals, turnpikes, or railroads, have advanced, almost pari passu, with the van of the immigrating column, and agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, with all the happiness they bestow, have been enjoyed, with the exception of brief delays, by the first popu- lations of the new States and Territories. Steam, as an agent of transit alone, has wrought a wonderful revolution in accelerating the distribution of popula- tion and wealth. The pioneers of Ashland County made their way hither from their former Eastern homes by the tedious process of horse and ox teams, and some even on foot, occupying weeks in their journeys. They were the manufacturers of almost everything they used, including their farming imple- ments and the fabrics with which they were clothed. Their food, also, as well as their raiment, was the
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY.
exclusive production of their own farms. There were no importations of goods. Their modes of life, created by their necessities and their isolation, made them a race sui generis. The world will "ne'er look upon their like again."
Different has it been with those who first settled the States and Territories north and west of us. Themselves and families, stocks of clothing, farming implements, merchandise, and abundant supplies of provisions, embracing even the luxuries of life, have been conveyed from tramontane homes to within a stone's throw of their places of destination in the " far West," by means of the modern facilities which steam employs on natural and artificial channels, performing, in a single day, a distance which, fifty years since, would have occupied nearly or quite a month to accomplish. These transportations, too, were conducted on a scale of cost corresponding in reduced amount with the difference in time em- ployed. Thus, comparatively, has time and space and expense been equally annihilated by the magical improvements of the utilitarian era which has had its dawn since the first white settler commenced his improvement of the soil within our limits. Had anything essential to comfort been forgotten by the pioneer family of the country west of us, commerce met them almost at the doorway of their cabin and supplied the needful commodity. The privations of the pioneer life as it formerly existed, the occidental adventurer may have heard of or read of, but it is a matter altogether outside of his own experience. Pioneer life in the States and Territories west, as compared with that of Ohio, has been a mere holiday affair.
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY.
There is much embraced in the personal history of the pioneers that may not interest the general reader. The office of the author, in this department, has been little else than that of amanuensis and com- piler-some of the narratives being from the manu- script as furnished by the narrator himself, without any attempt at revision by the editor. If the mat- ter under this head is sometimes found wanting in symmetry, and if repetitions occur, or if statements touching the same events are occasionally found in conflict, in unimportant details, it must be borne in mind that they are simply reminiscences, unaided, in most instances, by memoranda or other record. All efforts at adornment of these narratives, however, would only impair their value. They are the most attractive in their simplest form.
We confess to a feeling of veneration for the char- acters of those men who penetrated the wilderness and inaugurated civilization and its train of blessings in a region where savages and wild beasts had main- tained undisputed empire. The scenes through which they passed are suggestive of rich fields for the genius of the poet and painter, and fields that it is hoped may be hereafter occupied. Would not that, reader, furnish a night-scene for an artist, where our friend, Elias Ford, was reposing, "one eye open," in his little three-sided cabin-his faithful dog, "who could do everything except talk," posted as sentinel between his "open front" and the fire which always blazed at night a few feet distant from his hammock-his trusty rifle supported by his left arm-the reptiles coiled upon the ground beneath him -the hordes of ravenous wolves, attracted by the venison, the savor of which, during the process of cooking the
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY.
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supper for himself and dog, had impregnated the atmosphere around, stimulating their voracious appe- tites to a point of uncontrollable fury,-would not this, and many kindred scenes described in these pages, constitute material worthy the genius of the best painter?
No country settled at and prior to the date of the portion which now forms the State of Ohio, ever had but one race of pioneers-the men who penetrated the wilderness, endured all the hardships incident to its subjugation, and transmitted to their successors the comforts and conveniences of a high civilization. When this class of men pass off a given spot, they disappear for all time: the country which was first redeemed by them will know them nor their like no more forever. To record the stories of the adventures and sufferings-the joys and sorrows-of the pioneers who yet survive in Ashland County, was the chief object in producing this volume. It is a work which, had it been commenced earlier, would have been more satisfactorily prosecuted; while, had it been postponed to a much later period, the grave would have closed over the last of the pioneers, and any- thing like a faithful history of their times could not have been produced. The present and rising genera- tion may derive an instructive moral lesson, by con- trasting the privations and discomforts which beset the first settlers with the circumstances which sur- round themselves. Such contrast should inspire the latter with feelings of gratitude for the blessings which they enjoy, and should stifle that disposition to complain, which has become almost as chronic with us as it was with the ancient people who were fed with bread from heaven.
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