USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio, from 1808 to 1908, Vol. I > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
.
TO
GC 977.101 R39b v.1 1195077
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02398 6687
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyofrichlan01 baug
Property . L
Mansfield R.D. 2 Windsor Rd.
HISTORY
OF
Richland County
OHIO
FROM 1808 TO 1908
By A. J. BAUGHMAN
Also Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens of the County
ILLUSTRATED
Gc
977. 101
R39b
V.1
VOL. I.
CHICAGO: THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING CO. 1908
1195077
AfBaughmann
HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY, OHIO
A CENTURY IN RICHLAND COUNTY.
Standing upon the threshold of another century in the history of Mans- field, a retrospective glance at the progress made in Richland county in the hundred years past, reveals achievements of which the first settlers never dreamed. We are blessed with natural resources, with a healthful climate and a fertile soil, which, combined with the industry and activity of an enterprising people, made our success and prosperity go steadily forward. It is a surprising fact this beautiful city of Mansfield-Richland's county seat -with a population of nearly twenty-five thousand-less than a century ago had neither habitation nor name, and its site was a part of that vast, unex- plored territory, whose western boundary was supposed to be lost in the golden twilight of the setting sun, and whose wild domain seemed destined to remain forever hushed in the silence of its solitude, save when awakened here and there by the dismal howl of the wolf, or the fearful whoop of the savage.
Into the depth of the vast forest came the Richland county pioneers, and their advent marked a period in American history of absorbing interest alike to old and young. It is proper that it should be so. These hardy pio- neers coupled virtue with courage, humanity and love of country with the stern duties and hard battles of frontier life, and the example of their lives not only interests but strengthens our faith and admiration in human cour- age and unselfish purpose.
A large portion of the first settlers of Richland county came from Penn- sylvania, but no matter where they came from, they were a superior class of men who first traversed our hills and valleys by dimly marked and winding paths. The first settlements were largely made along the branches of the Mohican. None can now correctly imagine nor portray the features of this wild country at the time the first cabins were built. Then there were dangers to be encountered and numerous difficulties to overcome. The . gigantic forest had to be cleared, and the work was so enormous that only the strongest, the bravest and the most courageous dared to attempt to accomplish it. But the pioneers transformed the dense woodlands into fer- tile fields, and made the waste places blossom as the rose.
It required men of thought. enterprise, resolution and strong purpose, to break up the old associations of life and brave the hardships and priva-
8
HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY
tions of a new settlement in the wild woods of the West. Such qualities the early settlers of Richland county possessed. They were men of intelligence and strength who led the way over the Alleghenies to the borders of our beautiful streams. And they were neither ignorant nor uncultured, for they had been brought up in a land of schools and churches.
In these hundred years the county has truly undergone a very marvel- ous charge, for instead of it being the home of savages, it is now occupied by intelligent, energetic, peaceful, civilized men and women, who have founded institutions of learning, built villages and magnificent cities.
As the roads were mere bridle paths, the people walked or rode on horse- back. The cabins were built of logs, and the first ones had greased paper win- dow panes. The chimneys were on the outside and were made of sticks and mortar. The floors were of puncheon. The fireplaces were large enough for "back-logs" and "fore-sticks." Very few families had clocks. They guessed the hour of noon, or ascertained it by the creeping of the sunlight up to the "noon mark" drawn upon the floor. The furniture of a cabin was usually a few chairs, a plain table and a bedstead. The bedsteads were made by poles being crossed and stuck into the wall at one end and resting on Y sticks at the other end. A little later came the trundle-bed, which was low and was pushed beneath the other bed during the day. There were no carpets upon these cabin floors, and a set of dishes consisted of six plates and six cups and saucers, and happy was the housewife who possessed these luxuries, for many families had only a few pewter plates which they brought with them. The cooking utensils were a teakettle, an iron pot and a skillet, also brought from the other side of the mountains upon the backs of horses. They grew gourds and hard-shell squashes,from which they made bowls and dippers. Salt had to be brought from the East until a road was opened to the lake, and the supply often became exhausted, and its scarcity was a great privation to the first settlers.
"Johnny cake" was the principal form of bread for breakfast and pone for dinner, with wild game, hominy, and honey, while the standard dish for supper was mush and milk. Log-rollings, house-raisings, and wood- choppings were big occasions then, and dinners of "pot-pie" were served. Corn-huskings were also great events, and nearly all the pioneer gatherings would wind up with a dance after supper, in which all present joined. In the absence of a fiddle, the music was furnished by some one whistling or blowing on a leaf.
For lighting purposes there was the "lard lamp." and later the "tallow dip." The Bible and the almanac. with perchance a book or two brought with them from their former home, often constituted the reading matter of a family. If the fire went out upon the hearth, it was rekindled by strik- ing flint, or by a coal from a neighbor's hearth, which gave rise to the old saying, "Did you come for fire?"
The cabin homes of old Richland, Some still are left today In shady nooks by winding brooks, And on the great highway.
9
HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY
The method of milling in those times was to balance two or three bush- els of grain on the back of a horse and then mount a boy upon it. who had to wait at the mill for his turn and return home with the grist.
Farm labor has been rendered easier and more agreeable by the use of machinery and improved implements. Grain which was once sown from bags swung from the farmers' shoulders, is now drilled in by machinery. With sickle or cradle the farmer once cut his ripened grain, and raked and bound it by hand. Now farmers ride on the cushioned seats of reapers and binders, watching the waving grain cut and gathered up by well-adjusted attachments. Even the clatter of the flail has been hushed by the rattling thresher, which not only separates the seeds, but bags them for the market.
In the early days a tavern was a prominent factor in a community, and they were interspersed here and there along the roads leading to the lake. It was a place where every traveler who came along sought rest and refreshments for himself and his tired horse. The taverns were also the stopping places of the freight wagons and the stage coaches, and the arrival and departure of these were great events in the life of the rural com- munities. These taverns had large fireplaces, which in winter were kept well filled with wood, and they were of sufficient capacity to heat and light the house. There was no market for timber in those days of clearing the forest, and the only cost of fuel was the cutting of the wood. Around these great fireplaces the travelers gathered, and their conversation gave the set- tlers glimpses of other parts of the country of which they knew little, and at bed-time the weary sojourners would spread their blankets near the blazing fire and retire to rest and sleep. But the tavern with its old-fashioned life has gone with the stage. The Mansfield hotels of today-the Vonhof and the Southern-with their conveniences and fine equipments, are like royal palaces when contrasted with the little log cabin in which Captain James Cunningham boarded the surveyors who platted the town of Mansfield, in June, 1808.
A century ago, Abraham Baughman and John Davis came to the Black- fork valley. They were the first white settlers there, and located near the Indian village of Greentown, which in the first formation of counties was in Richland. The writer's father, Jacob Baughman, then a boy in his teens, would walk to Wooster-a distance of thirty miles-once a month for their mail, that being the nearest postoffice. The first mail brought to Mansfield was by carriers, on foot, once a week, and was distributed from a log in the public square-now our beautiful Central park. At the pres- ent, thirty-three mails are received daily at our city postoffice and delivered at the homes of not only the residents of Mansfield, but are carried by the Rural Free Delivery system to the farmers of the county.
The spinning wheels of the pioneer period, what few are yet left, are cherished as heirlooms by their fortunate possessors. There was the large wheel for wool and the small one for flax. Flax was a necessity. A clearing was made in the winter and in the spring the flax seed was sown, which grew and was harvested. It was spread on the ground to receive the autumnal rains and early frost, which was necessary to prepare it for the breaking. the
.
10
HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY
scutching, and the hackling. The tow was then separated from the flax and both were in readiness for the spinning. The hum of the spinning wheel and the reel was the piano music of the pioneer home; and, when echoed by the loom with its quick-moving shuttle, furnished the tow cloth and the linen so useful in those early times, when calico was a dollar a yard, and money was very scarce. The wool and the linen and cotton used for clothing had to be colored by the housewife to suit the tastes of the family. The dyes usually used were copperas, butternut, madder, and walnut. But the men, clad in linsey-woolsey or tow pants and home-made linen shirts, laid broad and deep the foundations of social, moral, industrial, and religious life, which have been preserved by their descendants as a priceless inheritance.
An affectionate veneration should be manifested for the pioneer women, who shrank from no dangers, shunned no hardships, endured great priva- tions, and in their homes cultivated social and domestic virtues. These strong and brave mothers, who toiled by their husbands' sides in life's hot noon, and went hand in hand with them down the dusky slope of the even- ing of an eventful, busy life, have, like their companions, folded their arms to rest.
A just meed of praise should be given the pioneer preachers, who amid all difficulties, dangers, and hardships, ministered to the early settlers of the county, and materially aided in laying the moral sentiment, which has broadened and deepened with the advancing years. It was a labor of love to them, and they endured privations that few of today know anything about. The oratory and eloquence of these preachers made many converts, and much could be written favorably about them, many of whom were scholarly men. They appealed to the holiest and most sacred impulses of the heart, and wove the loveliness of their teachings into the lives of their hearers.
In the long ago, places for religious worship were few, and camp- meetings were frequently held, and were very popular. At these meetings, hymns of sincere praise were sung, and never could they have sounded more expressive and sacred than upon these open-air occasions.
And mention of the singing schools of that period must not be omitted. as they were important factors in the musical education and social enjoy- ment of the people. Singing schools were held at intervals in every school house, and the "singing master" was a weighty personage in a community.
The first schoolhouse built in Mansfield was a frame building, paid for by subscription, and cost two hundred dollars. It was situate on East Fourth street near the big spring. This was in 1818. What a change between then and now. Mansfield now has ten school buildings, containing two hundred and ten rooms, with a valuation of $449,310.
Life was all real to the people of the backwoods one hundred years ago. The world moved slowly then and the people were not made world weary by the rush of affairs and the killing pace for supremacy in the race for wealth. But the ring of the woodman's axe in time gave place to the hum of machinery. The log cabins of our forefathers have vanished into the storied years, and stately mansions have risen in their places. The log
11
HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY
schoolhouses only remain as a memory, and have been replaced by fine temples of learning.
Richland county has achieved much, accomplished much. In times of peace she has contributed her share of the honored statesmen of the coun- try; in times of war, her sons have shown their patriotism and valor upon many a hard-fought field of battle. In the professions, in the arts, and in the sciences, many Richland county boys have attained distinction and honor.
OHIO-MICHIGAN BOUNDARY LINE DISPUTE.
The valiant sons of Richland county offered their services to Governor Lucas in 1835-6, in the then threatened war between Ohio and Michigan over the boundary line question. The story of that Ohio-Michigan boundary line controversy may seem to the generation of today more like a legendary tale, than as a true chapter of American history. that it is. It is but another verification of the oft-quoted remark that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction deals with the imaginary things of life, truth with its stern realities.
The controversy and threatened war was the result of a boundary line dispute between the two states in 1835-36. The immediate cause of the trouble was a lack of information about the geography of the country when the line between Ohio and Michigan was defined by congress. This was called the Fulton line. The authorities of Ohio, on ascertaining the un- certainty of their northern boundary, asked for a survey which was granted in 1812, but could not be made on account of the hostilities of the Indians. Later the line was run to include the present boundary of Ohio, and was called the Harris line, and ran eight or ten miles north of the Fulton line.
The trouble over the boundary began when Ohio commenced to con- struct the Ohio & Erie canal from Cincinnati to Lake Erie-a waterway of two hundred and forty-seven miles in length, with Toledo as its lake ter- minus. Michigan wanted Toledo within its territory because it was not only the terminus of the canal but also the mouth of the "Miami River of the North," as the Maumee river was then called. Ohio put up a fight for the Harris line, because the canal being a state institution had to have its ter- minal within the state. According to the Fulton survey. Toledo was in Mich- igan, but by the Harris line it was in Ohio. The citizens of Toledo were anxious to secure the lake terminus of the canal, and therefore were in favor of the Harris line, and petitioned Governor Lucas to extend the jurisdiction of Ohio to the Harris line. The governor sent a special message to the legis- lature, which resulted in an act passed February. 1836. appointing a com- mission to run and re-mark the Harris line.
In the meantime the legislature of Michigan passed an act providing "that if any person shall exercise or attempt to exercise any official functions. or shall officiate in any official way within the limits of the territory of Michigan, except by virtue of a commission from the United States govern- ment or the territory of Michigan, he shall be fined not exceeding one thou- sand dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding five years, and any person residing within the territory who accepts a position of trust or authority other than
12
HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY
from the general government or the territory of Michigan, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars."
Governor Lucas decided to march on Toledo, despite the consequences, but ere he mobilized his troops, the Hon. Richard Rusk, of Philadelphia, and Colonel Howard, of Baltimore, arrived from Washington as commissioners from the president to stop all warlike preparations between the states. At a conference with both governors, a proposition was submitted, permitting the Ohio officials to re-mark the Harris line, but to this proposition Michigan would not agree. This created intense excitement throughout Ohio, and aroused the Buckeyes to such an extent that they clamored for war at once. The legislature was convened in special session and three hundred thousand dollars appropriated to carry into effect all laws relating to the northern boundary, and the governor was authorized to borrow three hundred thou- sand dollars more for the same purpose. Governor Lucas at once ascertained the strength of each division of the Ohio militia and was informed that te: thousand men were ready to march at once to the disputed territory. Mich- igan was equally aroused and dared Ohio to come. Several persons were arrested for accepting commissions from the Ohio authorities, and in turn, Michiganders were arrested for attempting to exercise official power in Ohio. Thus the disputed territory was kept in a continual turmoil with constant fights against the authorities of both Ohio and Michigan.
Hiram R. Smith was deputy postmaster at Mansfield for eight years- from: 1829 to 1837. The postoffice was in McFall's store, where Mr. Smith was employed. The postoffice duties devolved largely upon Mr. Smith, as Mr. McFall, the postmaster. gave his attention chiefly to the mercantile trade. At that time there were only four stores in Mansfield and all carried general stocks. They were: Sturges, Bowman's, McComb's and McFall's. Being thus employed, Mr. Smith had excellent opportunities of hearing Ohio and Michigan war talk, and he says the feeling ran high.
At that time Richland county had a regiment of state militia, known as the First Brigade of the Eleventh Division of Ohio Militia. The field and staff officers were: Colonel, Samuel G. Wolfe; lieutenant colonel, John Murray; major, George Urie; adjutant, William Stevens; surgeon, Dr. Wil- liam Bushnell.
The regiment was composed of eight companies. The men were well equipped and with their burnished rifles and gay uniforms made a fine dis- play on parade. The officers attracted much attention in consequence of their large size and military bearing. The regimental officers were superbly mounted, and their horses were richly caparisoned.
It seems in place here to mention those officers who are remembered. Surgeon Bushnell was the father of M. B. Bushnell. Captain E. Chew was of Blooming Grove township, and afterward became an associate judge of the court of common pleas of Richland county.
Captain Martin was of Millsborough, Springfield township. William Davis, a brother of Henry P. Davis, of this city, was a member of Captain Martin's company.
Captain John Baughman was of Jefferson township. He removed to
13
HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY
Missouri in 1847, where he was killed by the guerrillas in 1861, for being a Union man. The guerrillas made a raid on the little town of Florence, where they gathered up several Union men, and taking them upon the street, ordered them to kneel and be shot. They all kneeled except Captain Baughman, who refused, saying that he would only kneel to his God. At that the rebels opened fire upon the squad, killing each person thereof.
Colonel John Murray was treasurer of Richland county in 1837-41. He died in Missouri in 1858. Upon the resignation of William Stevens, the late Hon. John Sherman became adjutant of the regiment.
When Governor Lucas called for troops the Richland county boys re- sponded promptly, as they have done in every war, but ere the time came for their departure, their marching orders were countermanded. Ohio had gained a legal point in the controversy to which Michigan acquiesced, pend- ing the action of congress. The legislature of Ohio had created the county of Lucas, with Toledo as the county seat, and Governor Lucas ordered court to be held there on the first day of September. 1836, and appointed a judge and officers for the same. These with a posse of twenty-six men quietly entered Toledo under cover of night and formally opened court in a school- house of the village at 3 o'clock a. m. There was no business on the docket, but a legal point had been gained-an Ohio court had been held within the limits of the disputed territory, which technically gave Ohio control over the same and caused Michigan to suspend hostilities, pending the action of congress. Three months later congress convened and made a final settle- ment of the trouble, by giving Ohio the disputed strip of land and recom- pensing Michigan for the same, by giving her the peninsula between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.
And thus the war-clouds which for a time hung so threateningly over our land were soon deep in the bosom of Lake Erie buried.
THE ANCESTRY OF THE OHIOAN.
A. M. Courtenay, D. D., in an address at Zanesville gave an interesting account of the ancestry of the Ohioan. from which. in part. this resume is taken. At a notable assembly in one of Ohio's Universities, the Rev. Bishop paid tribute to the greatness of the state, which he ascribed to its New Eng- land origin. This he did without qualification, as a compliment. in a con- fidence as naive and undoubting as emphatic. No axiom could be carved in harder outline. He evidently believed that Ohio was. in the major part, peopled from New England, and that if there were among its settlers a few stragglers from less favored regions, they were obscure. insignificant. and soon dominated by the persuasive Yankee notions.
We have also been told by others that Ohio was settled by Pennsyl- vanians-Pennsylvania Dutch, in local vernacular. The latter claim. is not so generally held as is the former. We have been accustomed to hear and read assertions from our Down-East brethren to the effect that everything good and great in our civilization comes from Plymouth Rock.
Dr. Courtenay did not question the potency of Puritan ideas. or the
14
HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY
vigor and moral value of the Pilgrims. The contribution by New England to the growth of the American Republic is a fact so far beyond dispute that her sons supererogate in constant affirmation. We all cheerfully admit that that our Yankee brother has enriched the National life with every good ele- ment-except modesty. Yet he had no option on all the virtues and valors.
A few "first things" may here be stated and considered: The first legis- lative assembly of white men on the American continent was at Jamestown, Virginia; the first ordinance of religious liberty was in Maryland; the first declaration of independence was made at Mecklenburg, in the Carolinas; the first tea thrown overboard was from the "Peggy Stewart," in Annapolis har- bor; the first steamboat floated on the Potomac, and the first railroad was at Baltimore. Of course, this only means that each section of the country may have an Oliver to the others' Roland. In the case of Ohio, one may enter a bill of exceptions, to-wit, that the marvelous development of this most typical of American states is due, not alone, nor even chiefly, to its New England blood, but to that mingling of vital currents which has made strong the heart of the Commonwealth.
After the Indians had suffered defeat at the battle of Fallen Timbers, in 1794. they never rallied, and Ohio was thus left comparatively free for the settlement of the white man, and thus the new Canaan which had long lured the tribes of our Israel, as an exceedingly good land were open in part to settlement, yet the white man was withheld for some years later from entering and possessing it by fear of the "sons of Anak." When, however, the sword of the Lord and of General Wayne hewed the way, population poured into the land like floods, gathering to and radiating from different centers.
Despite, however, minor differences, which entered into the settlement of the state, Ohio has attained social solidarity, and uniformity of educational system, of legal procedure, of political aspiration, through the weaving process of ceaseless interchange of business, literary and religious interests. This has tended to the obliteration of individuality in the sections, but marks of the original variations distinguish each: for example, Southern Ohio from Northern, as clearly as the New England of today from those Commonwealths known formerly as the Border States.
It is the mingling of these diverse elements into a new compound which has enriched Ohio. And it is to be noted that here first occurred the blend of native blood, which has since continued throughout the West. Up to the close of the eighteenth century the colonies on the Atlantic coast were sep- arate. Their people mingled little. They were as diverse as the English, Scotch, Dutch and Irish. But from all of them poured streams of people into that fair land which lies between Lake Erie and the Ohio river, and the children of the Puritan and Cavalier, Hollander and Huguenot, Teuton and Scotch-Irish, married and begot a new race.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.