USA > Ohio > Ashland County > A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland County > Part 10
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of the following year (1815) and entered lands-Mr. Haney the three quarters, upon a part of which is now the town of Savannah; and Mr. Shaw the quar- ter section upon which his descendants now reside; and Richard Freeborn entered a quarter section, in the name of his brother John, on the west line of Orange Township, and about one mile east of Savannah.
In the spring of 1815, the four families above named took leave of their Pennsylvania home-one party, consisting of Richard Freeborn, William Shaw, and James Haney, and his son John, embarking, with their family supplies of provisions and farming uten- sils, on board a keel boat at Charleston, (now Wells- burg,) Virginia, and proceeded down the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum; thence up that river and its tributaries to a point on the Jerome Fork of the Mohican, about five miles below Jeromeville, where they disembarked, sold their boat for one hundred bushels of corn and for the service of bringing up from the Salt Works on the Muskingum a portion of their freight, which they had been compelled to leave there for the purpose of lightening their boat. Having landed their cargo on the banks of the Jerome Fork, they transported a portion of it on pack horses from that point to the house of Jacob Young, in Orange Township, about two miles east of north of Union- town, where they were joined by the party which had arrived at Mr. Young's overland.
This latter party consisted of the women and children, under the charge of John Freeborn. The journey was accomplished on horseback-nine head of horses and other live stock being in the train. This portion of the families having arrived at Mr.
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Young's, and hearing no tidings of their friends who had taken the river route, and having exhausted their stock of provisions, John Freeborn and two boys set out with their nine horses in hopes of meet- ing their friends at Finley's Landing, (above de- scribed as being five miles below Jeromeville.) Not meeting them here, Mr. Freeborn put the horses in charge of the two boys, and, constructing with the aid of an axe and auger a rude raft, and using an in- verted sugar trough for a seat, placed his saddle-bags under him, wrote his name in his pocket-book, that his body might be identified in case of loss, and with his oar, launched his frail craft upon the turbulent and rapid flood. The third day found him upon the Muskingum, where, meeting a keel-boat coming up, he was informed by those in charge of it that his friends were at the Salt Works, a few miles below. Arriving at the point designated, he found the party utterly discouraged, having been worn down in the labor of pushing their overburdened boat against the adverse current, and making preparations to leave it and their cargo, until the waters, which were un- usually high, had subsided, and take such provisions as they could pack upon their backs and make their way, as best they could, on foot, to rejoin their friends. John Freeborn remonstrated against the plan they had adopted-representing to them that the families at Mr. Young's would be without provisions; and, with the reinforcement which his energies would give them, they would be enabled to get the boat, with part of its freight, up the river. His counsel was finally accepted; and, leaving about half their cargo at the Salt Works, they were enabled to join the boys with their horses on about the fifth day. Here, 11
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in an out-house, on the banks of the Jerome Fork, they deposited the greater part of their freight, and with a portion of it packed upon their horses, they made their way, as before stated, to Mr. Young's, where they met their families. The hospitality and kindness evinced by Mr. Young and family to those thus providentially cast upon them are referred to in terms of the warmest eulogy by Mr. and Mrs. John Freeborn. It was such offices of good neighborhood and charity as marked the intercourse of the early times.
From Mr. Young's the entire party proceeded to the quarter section on the border of Orange and Clear- creek, and encamped upon the ground now occupied as a graveyard, on the northwest corner of the quarter which had been entered by Richard, for his brother, John Freeborn. Here they pitched their tents, and here, in a pelting rain, which continued unremittingly, they spent the first night in the vicinity of their future homes. On the following morning the heads of the several families proceeded to select places upon the lands of which they were owners, for the erection of cabins. Within a day or two three cabins were constructed, in one of which the families of John and Richard found shelter, and in the others the families of James Haney and William Shaw.
On the place in Orange Township, John and Rich- ard, by their joint labors, aided by three hands, par- tially cleared and planted in corn six acres of land.
. During the same fall, John sold this land to his father, William Freeborn, who, in the mean time, had followed his sons, and who died the same year he removed to his new home, and whose body was buried upon that part of his land upon which his
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children and kindred during their first night in the wilderness had encamped, and which afterward formed the nucleus of the present burial ground one mile east of Savannah.
In the spring of 1818, John and Richard removed to the lands they had severally purchased, in Clear- creek Township, and erected cabins, and engaged in other improvements. At this date, Clearcreek Town- ship was not organized, but the territory was at- tached to Montgomery Township for civil purposes. The first year the whole neighborhood were required to perform road labor on one of the roads east of Uniontown, more than eight miles distant from many of the inhabitants.
The nearest church was the Old Hopewell, west of Uniontown, and Mr. Freeborn has no recollection of any school-house in the country prior to the one erected in the village of Vermillion.
When Mr. Freeborn immigrated to the country his family consisted of his wife and one young daughter- the latter having since married Joseph Mccutchen, Esq.
Mr. Freeborn is eighty-two years of age, and in the enjoyment, at this time, (October, 1861,) of excellent health for one of his years.
JAMES GREGG.
James Gregg, an emigrant from Ireland, in the autumn of 1829 removed to the farm now occupied by Wm. J. Vermillyae. He subsequently purchased, in sections 1 and 2 in Clearcreek Township, four hun- dred and ninety-eight acres, upon which his sons Robert, Samuel, James, and Richard, now reside. In the fall of 1852, Mr. Gregg died at the age of eighty- two years.
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JAMES GRIBBEN.
James Gribben emigrated from Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, to Montgomery Township, in Decem- ber, 1825. His family made a temporary home at the house of Andrew Stevenson, whose farm adjoined Abraham Huffman's, on the east. His family at this time consisted of his wife and daughter Mary, and sons Richard A., John, and William.
On the following February or March, he entered the east half of the northwest quarter of section 4, (containing one hundred and sixteen acres,) Clear- creek Township, to which place he removed with his family, on the 13th April, 1826. He subsequently purchased the west half of the northeast quarter of the same section, and upon this land, which he re- deemed from its wilderness condition, he has since resided. When Mr. Gribben had erected his cabin, there was not a road in his part of the township, and so sparse was the settlement even at this compara- tively late date, that the first female friend who visited Mrs. Gribben was in the October following the April of their first settlement.
The second year of his residence in Clearcreek, he purchased as good wheat as he ever used for 37} cents per bushel; coffee, 50 cents per lb .; tea, $2.00 @ $2} per lb .; calico, 25 @ 40 cents per yard.
LETTER FROM REV. JOHN HANEY.
LANSING, Iowa, November 10, 1861.
DEAR SIR :- In compliance with your request, I will state that the settlement of what is now Clearcreek Township commenced in the spring of eighteen hundred and ยท fifteen, (1815.) In the winter preceding, Rev. .
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James Haney, (my father,) John and Richard Free- born, and William Shaw, built a small keel-boat in Cross Creek Township, Washington County, Penn- sylvania, and hauled it a distance of twelve miles to the Ohio River. On the evening of the tenth of March of that year, Richard Freeborn, William Shaw, my father, Daniel Devlin, and myself, embarked on the boat freighted with our goods, provisions, etc., from Wellsburg, Virginia, to the nearest navigable point on the Muskingum waters, to our destination. John Freeborn went by land with our cattle, horses, and portions of the families. On reaching the mouth of the Muskingum, we met unusually high water, which retarded our progress much, and made the labor very severe. Daniel Devlin and myself, being each only sixteen years of age, had to perform the labor of strong men. After many adventures and perils, we arrived at a place called Finley's Bridge, about five miles south of Jeromeville, on the twenty- sixth of April, where we met our horses and pack- saddles. Loading them with tools and provisions, we started for our destination; and on the evening of the twenty-ninth we encamped on the ground now known as the old graveyard, on the line between Clearcreek and Orange Townships, one and a half miles south- east of Savannah. The names of the party there encamped were John Freeborn, Richard Freeborn and his wife Elizabeth, and infant daughter Mary; William Shaw and his wife, and daughters Eleaner and Jane, (both small children;) Rev. James Haney, his sons John and Thomas, and daughter Mary- aged respectively, sixteen, fourteen, and twelve years, at that time. The balance of the families came out in the fall.
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Abraham Huffman, Robert McBeth, and Patrick Elliott, were among the first settlers of Clearcreek Township.
' The entire range of surveyed townships from the north to the south side of Richland County, in which Clearcreek was situated, constituted but one organized township, at first named Vermillion. The date of the organization of Clearcreek Township I do not distinctly recollect. It was either John or Richard Freeborn who personally applied for the organization and gave the name. It was the name given by the Messrs. Freeborn to the principal creek in the town- ship when they first saw it in the summer of 1814, and they gave the township the same name. I do not recollect who were the first officers of the town- ship, but I do remember that, for several years, the officers served without pay. Robert McBeth was the first justice of the peace.
I am unable to recall the years that my father represented Richland County in the Ohio legislature. [For the sessions Mr. Haney represented the County of Richland in the General Assembly of Ohio, see narrative of Mr. Cook.] It was, however, during the period that the State organized its Canal System.
My impression is that Mrs. Elliott taught the first school in the township at her own house. I think the first religious meeting was held at father's house, three-fourths of a mile east of Savannah. At any rate, Rev. James Haney preached the first sermon ever preached in the township. For some time after the commencement of the settlement of the country, religious meetings were held at private houses. If I am not mistaken, the first religious society was formed at Mr. Thomas Ford's, and the first administration of
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the sacrament took place there. The precise time, when and where, the first church building was erected, I am unable to recollect.
The village of Savannah was laid out in the winter of 1818, by myself. It was first called Vermillion. The first man who settled in the town was Joseph Fast. The first school-house was a small log building erected on the northeast corner of the town plat. Jacob McLain was the first brickmaker and hatter in the township. Garnett Whitelock was the first black- smith. Joseph Davis built the first sawmill on Clear- creek, one and a half miles west of Savannah.
John and Richard Freeborn planted the first apple seeds, which furnished the trees for several of the oldest orchards in the township.
Mr. Thomas Ford erected the first horsemill for grinding grain in the township.
The Indians hunted for several years after the first settlers came. They were principally Delawares and Wyandots. Game was plenty for several years after the first settlement. The wild pasture was good at first. Cattle and horses done well; but sheep were unhealthy, until the country was improved.
The streams had more water in them than now.
The general health was pretty good, considering that the climate was much damper than at present. The principal diseases were intermittents and rheu- matism.
The social condition of the first settlers was good. Their common wants brought them in contact, favor- able to the cultivation of the social virtues.
But few of the first settlers of Clearcreek Town- ship are now alive.
Few of them done more toward improving the
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country than Abraham Huffman. He was a man of great industry and energy-always ready to admin- ister to the wants of the needy. His uncompromising hostility to what he considered wrong, sometimes caused him trouble that many others could have avoided.
Robert McBeth was an intelligent man, of fine social qualities, and sterling integrity.
Patrick Elliott was emphatically AN HONEST MAN.
Thomas Ford was a highly reputable and intelli- gent citizen.
Those are among the first, whose names I may be permitted to mention in this place, as the founders of Clearcreek Township. Among those yet living, of the very first settlers, are David Burns, Daniel Huff- man, and John Freeborn-all three of whom still re- side (if yet alive) in the Township. Richard Free- born is still living, and resides in Red Wing, Minne- sota. Rev. James Haney died in Fulton County, Illinois, four years ago .*
I have put down some of the principal facts and incidents connected with the early settlement of Clearcreek Township. I have noticed a few of those who were prominent in laying the foundation of the improvement of your now very beautiful county. You can select such as will be of use to insert in your book.
Respectfully yours, etc.,
JOHN HANEY. H. S. KNAPP, EsQ., Ashland, Ashland Co., Ohio.
* Rev. James Haney surveyed the first lots that were laid out in the town of Ashland.
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ISAAC HARVUOT.
Isaac Harvuot emigrated from Chester County, Pennsylvania, and commenced life upon the land which he has since improved and upon which he now resides, in October, 1819. His family at this time consisted of his wife and four children, namely: Julia A., Rebecca, Mary, and Rachel. His farm originally consisted of one hundred acres in section 16.
ABRAHAM HUFFMAN.
Abraham Huffman emigrated from Brook County, Virginia, to the east half of section 31, Clearcreek Township, with his wife and children, Zachariah, Susan, and Abram, in the spring of 1815. He entered his land at the United States Land Office. His second crop of maple sugar he sold at Wooster, for eighteen cents per pound, cash-a remarkably fortunate sale for those times.
Mr. Huffman improved his farm and continued upon it until 1848, when he removed to Ashland, where he died on the 19th of October, 1860, at the age of seventy-five years.
Benjamin, John, William, Mary Ann, Sarah Jane, Daniel, and Perrin C. were born in Clearcreek Town- ship.
Benjamin Huffman, who has resided the last twenty years upon the farm adjoining the old homestead, is the only one of the sons now residing in the county.
. DANIEL HUFFMAN.
Daniel Huffman emigrated from Virginia, in 1816, and purchased of his brother Jacob the farm now owned by William Smyth, and removed to it in 1819.
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This farm he improved and resided upon until the year 1837, when he sold it to John Musser, and pur- chased of Elias Ford the farm upon which he now resides. When he came to the country, the family of Mr. Huffman consisted of his wife and two sons, Benjamin and Samuel.
NICHOLAS MASTERS.
Nicholas Masters immigrated, with his wife, to Clearcreek Township, southeast quarter of section 34, from Somerset County, Pennsylvania, in May, 1830, and improved the land, and has made it his residence since.
HUGH B. MCKIBBEN.
Hugh B. Mckibben immigrated to Clearcreek Township, and settled upon the farm he has since improved and now occupies, on the 31st of May, 1828. Mr. Mckibben emigrated from Beaver County, Pennsylvania, a place about two miles east of the State line. His family at that time consisted of his wife and son, William C.
JACOB MOLAIN.
Jacob McLain emigrated from Pennsylvania, with his wife, to the village of Vermillion, (Savannah,) on the 1st of October, 1822. Mr. McLain's trade was that of a hatter, in which business he engaged in 1823, and continued to conduct it until within a few years. Of those who were citizens and voters in the village when he first made it his residence, he is the only survivor.
Mr. McLain manufactured the first brick that was made in Clearcreek Township.
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JOHN MCMURRAY.
John McMurray emigrated from Mecklenberg County, North Carolina, to Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1816; from the latter place he immigrated to the township which subsequently became Clearcreek, in the fall of 1819. His family at this time consisted of his wife and the following children, namely: Mary, James, Robert, Margaret, and William. Mr. McMur- ray died on the 20th February, 1843, in the sixty- second year of his age. Robert McMurray, Esq., at present a resident of the town of Ashland, is the only survivor of the family now living within Ashland County.
Death of James McMurray.
On the 19th of August, 1830, while engaged with his father, brother William, and Daniel Huffman, in digging a well upon the place of his father, (being the farm now owned by David Shriver,) he came to a painful death under the following circumstances: The younger brother, William, had been in the well, and, being oppressed with a feeling of suffocation, asked to be drawn up by those who had charge of the windlass above; which request being accomplished, James, the elder brother, under the impression that it was an idle fancy that had afflicted the younger brother, determined to descend the well himself. He accordingly, after having thrown down his imple- ments for the purpose of spiking the well, was lowered in the tub, and, after descending about midway, (twenty feet,) those in charge of the windlass discovered, by the instant lessening of weight, that the occupant of the tub had fallen! The fall, (twenty feet,) aside from
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"the damps," would have doubtless produced imme- diate death; and those above fully realized the fate of their companion. It was with much difficulty that Mr. Huffman restrained the younger brother from an attempt to rescue the one in the well. The alarm soon spread, and Thomas Brink, together with Robert McMurray, Elias Ford, and others, who were at work in gathering the timber for the Ford meeting house, assembled about the scene of the disaster. Within about two hours after he had fallen, his body, in the presence of some fifty people, was drawn from the well, after numerous other efforts had failed, by means of the hooks of strong steelyards, which had been lowered into the well, and obtained fasten- ing to his clothes.
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JACOB MYERS.
Jacob Myers immigrated to Clearcreek Township, 23d April, 1829. His native State was Pennsylvania, Green County, where he was ordained as a clergy- man of the Baptist church. He purchased and entered the land which forms the tract upon which he has since resided, on sections 3 and 4, Clearcreek Town- ship. His family at this time consisted of his wife and daughter Charlotte, (who subsequently married James Clark;) his son Cephas, his daughter Eliza, (who married Daniel Taylor;) Minerva, (now the wife of James Dunlap;) and Julia Ann, (now the wife of John Gribben.)
JARED N. SLONACKER.
Jared N. Slonacker emigrated, with his wife, from Pennsylvania to the east half of the northeast quarter section 23, now owned and occupied by William Burns, in Clearcreek Township, in the spring of 1824.
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THOMAS SPROTT, SR.
Thomas Sprott, Sen., emigrated from Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and removed to the northeast quarter of section 35, in October, 1823-being the same land now owned and occupied by his son, Thomas Sprott, Jun. At the time of his removal to this place, his family consisted of four sons and four daughters, his wife having died in Pennsylvania in 1821.
Thomas Sprott, Sen., died on the 19th of March, 1839.
PETER VANOSTRAND, SEN.
Peter Vanostrand, Sen., in the autumn of 1815, made a land office entry of the southeast quarter of section 35, Clearcreek Township. In the spring of 1816, a part of the family removed to the land, erected a cabin, partially cleared a small tract and planted in corn and potatoes.
On the 14th July, 1817, Peter Vanostrand, Sen., died-leaving a wife and eleven children, (one of them, however, a daughter, having remained in Penn- sylvania.) Among the sons was Peter Vanostrand. Jun., the present owner and occupant of the land above de- scribed, and who, at the time of his father's death, was ten years of age.
About 1820, the first school-house in the southern portion of the township was erected on the southern line of the land of Abram Huffman. The house was of hewn logs, 18 by 20 feet, cabin roof, puncheon floor, puncheon tables and puncheon seats. The only light was admitted by throwing out a log on two sides of the building, and using paper, saturated with grease, as a substitute for window glass. The facili- ties for heating the house were limited to fires made
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in a fireplace such as were in general use in the cabins of those days, and afforded in cold weather in- sufficient heat to admit of practice in writing, as the ink would almost freeze in the pen in the process of transferring it from the inkstand to the paper. The first teacher was Robert Nelson, of Milton Township, who continued in that capacity two or three years. Among the first scholars were the children of Abraham Huffman, Isaac Van Meter, Peter Vanostrand, Sen., Robert Ralston, Andrew Stevenson, Mrs. Treckle, and David Mckinney.
Mr. Vanostrand's only neighbors in his part of the township, when he first removed to it, were Abram Huffman and Isaac Van Meter.
As evidence of the privations endured.by many in the early settlement, Mr. Vanostrand mentions the case of a worthy family who came to the country destitute of either provisions or money, who subsisted a greater portion of one season upon pumpkins alone-commencing their use as food while the vege- table was yet unripened. The family would perhaps have suffered death by starvation, had it not been for the friendly aid afforded them by neighbors, after learning their situation.
Every house in Clearcreek, as was the case in other townships in the early settlement, manufactured the wearing apparel for its own household. The males were dressed in buckskin and domestic linen; and the women and children were also dressed in fabrics the product of their own fields and households.
There were no woolen goods, as sheep would be devoured by the wolves; and after the wolves had so far disappeared as to invite the introduction of sheep, the climate and wild food were discovered to be un- favorable to their life and health.
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THOMAS WRIGHT.
Thomas Wright emigrated, with the family of Robert Finney, from Cadiz, Ohio, in the spring of 1820, and removed in April, 1823, to the land of which he has since made a farm, and upon which he and family now reside. On the 23d January, 1823, Mr. Wright and Miss Mary Cellar were united in marriage by Rev. Samuel Cowles.
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CHAPTER VII.
Montgomery Township.
THIS township was surveyed by Jonathan Cox, D. S. U. S., in 1807. The same year the survey was duly platted and certified to Jared Mansfield, Sur- veyor-General of the United States. As with the other townships in the county, so with Montgomery, at the time of the survey there was not a white family within its borders.
Population in 1820 704
"
" 1830
1530
" 1840 2445
"
" 1850 3192
" 1860 3501
Montgomery was detached from Vermillion, and organized in 1816. The records are incomplete. Such as are in the hands of the present clerk, deemed of public interest, are subjoined :-
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