USA > Ohio > Ashland County > A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland County > Part 21
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These ceremonies lasted about two hours, when the occasion was ended by a general shaking of hands, indicating the utmost good feeling among the worship- ers. After the ceremonies were over, the Indians, in order to show their respect to the white spectators present, who came to witness the festival, presented each one of them with a piece of the meat which they had prepared for the occasion. Mr. Coulter received a piece of bruin's fat, which, after tasting, he threw away.
Among the persons present on this occasion, the following are recollected, viz .: John Coulter and his sisters, Rachel and Abigail, David Coulter, Harvey Hill, Alexander Rice, and his sister, Elizabeth, (wife of J. Coulter, Esq.,) and Mariah Petty.
JAMES GLADDEN.
James Gladden, with his family, emigrated from Jefferson County, Ohio, to the farm upon which he now resides, in 1826. He is now sixty-eight years of age sixty-five of which he has spent in Ohio. Mr. Gladden having immigrated to the country at a com- paratively late date, there were no incidents regard- ing his pioneer life, in Green Township, which he regards worthy of relation. 1
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SAMUEL GRAHAM.
Samuel Graham and wife removed to Green Town- ship in October, 1821, and entered the northwest quarter of section 17, upon a part of which he yet resides. He was an emigrant from the State of New York.
Antiquities of a Perished Race.
Upon the quarter above mentioned, there was a circular embankment, embracing about half an acre of ground. The embankment was about five feet in height, forming a regular circle, with the exception that it had been broken on the west side by what appeared to have been a gateway. This supposed gateway was about twelve feet in width. The em- bankment, as well as the interior space, was covered with a heavy growth of timber. In the center of the circle was a mound of irregular sides, the center of which rose about three and a half feet above the natural surface of the ground. Excavations were made in this mound to the depth of about nine feet, which appeared to be the distance of the artificial work. No other relics than wood, coal, and a sub- stance resembling feathers, were found. These were discovered near the lowest depth. The latter sub- stance rapidly decomposed on exposure to the air. This ancient work was about half a mile northeast of the old Indian Greentown.
Another similar embankment, but near twice the height of the one above described, was situated about half a mile east of Greentown. It inclosed near an acre of ground, but had no mound within the inclo- sure. The plow has nearly obliterated these ancient works, though their outlines can yet be traced.
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CALVIN HILL.
Calvin Hill, an emigrant from Vermont, purchased, in November, 1811, the land in Green Township, which subsequently became his homestead for many years. This farm is now the property of G. W. Carey, Esq. His nearest neighbors were Captain Ebenezer Rice, (father of Alexander Rice, who lived on the place now occupied by the latter;) Joseph Jones, (who owned the farm upon which now resides John Taylor;) Judge Thomas Coulter, (who lived upon the quarter directly south of Charles Tanne- hill;) Lewis Hill, (who resided immediately below what is now the town of Perrysville;) Solomon Hill, (who resided immediately above said town;) Moses Adzit, son-in-law of Solomon Hill, (and who resided upon the place of his father-in-law;) Melzer Tannehill, (whose farm adjoined Judge Coulter's on the east;) Lewis Oliver, (whose farm was directly east of Charles Tannehill;) and Jeremiah Conine, (whose farm was east of Melzer Tannehill's;) Sylvester Fisher, (whose land joined Mr. Rice's on the north- west;)-these were the neighbors of Mr. Hill.
ANDREW HUMPHREY.
Andrew Humphrey removed with his family, con- sisting of his wife and four children, to Green Town- ship, in the year 1824. He emigrated from Cham- paign County, Ohio. The previous year he had purchased the half section now owned and occupied by his son, William Humphrey. He died in 1850, at the age of sixty. William and John Humphrey, both residing in Green Township, are the only sur- viving members of the family. The north part of
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the township, when Mr. Humphrey removed to it, was an unbroken wilderness-no house between him and Mohicanville and Hayesville, and only one or two between him and Perrysville.
WILLIAM HUNTER.
William Hunter, an emigrant from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, removed with his family, con- sisting of his wife and eight children, to Green Town- ship, in March, 1818, and commenced improvement upon the north half of section 26. He originally emigrated from Ireland, and was an officer in the Federal service against the insurgents in the "whisky insurrection."
He died on the 17th of January, 1819, at the age of forty-seven. He had been to the mill at Newville, and on his return his family discovered, from an unusual appearance in his features, that he was ill. He remarked to his family, "Faith, childers, I believe I am poisoned," and laid himself down before the broad fireplace, so close to the embers on the hearth that his feet were partly imbedded in the warm ashes. His trembling limbs created a great dust, which, added to his chattering teeth, despite their warm sympathy for their father's affliction, provoked mirth from the little ones. This demonstration so annoyed the suf- ferer, that he raised himself up, and demanded to know whether they had "no better manners than to laugh at the miseries of a dying man," and made an effort to give the children "a brush." His attack proved to be a hard ague chill-the first of which he or his family had any experience-and which, in about three months, resulted in his death.
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Of his sons, David, James, William, and John yet reside in Green Township.
About two years after the death of the elder Mr. Hunter, his widow died, leaving a family of nine orphan children-the eldest boy being between six- teen and seventeen years of age, and the youngest only fourteen months. This young family, in a new and wild country, struggled with the privations that beset them, and remained together (with the excep- tion of two sisters, who married) until David, the senior brother, attained the age of twenty-seven years. On the third morning after the death of the widow, the youngest child rose, and, approaching the bed formerly occupied by his mother, called upon her in piteous terms to receive him-an incident which opened afresh the fountains of grief in the elder mem- bers of the family.
How David Hunter obtained his first Fruit Trees.
Some years after the death of his parents, David Hunter, on his way to Mansfield to pay his tax, met, for the first time, with Johnny Appleseed. The two sat down upon a log and engaged in conversation- Hunter dividing with his new acquaintance the few cakes he had taken with him to sustain himself on his journey. Johnny inquired into the circumstances of Hunter's family, where he lived, etc., and receiving answers, advised the young man that he should not delay in obtaining and transplanting trees for an orchard. Hunter stated that he was too poor to pay for the trees. His new friend rejoined that he could supply him with fifty or sixty trees, and that as to the question of pay, it was a matter of no moment whether they were ever paid for. He then told Hun-
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ter to call upon his brother-in-law, William Broom, (who lived upon the farm now owned by William Cowan, Esq.,) and obtain the trees. He did so, and from this beginning, has made additions until now he has orchards numbering over six hundred fruit trees.
Indian Relics.
About fifteen years since, in plowing a field below a depth that a plow had ever before reached, some bones of a skeleton, in a good state of preservation, were exposed, and, upon further examination, all the principal bones were found. Among other relics found near the skeleton was a skillfully-wrought and highly-polished stone hatchet, in exact imitation of the most perfectly-formed modern instrument of that name, including the eye for the handle. The arts that belong to our present civilization could not pro- duce a more perfect specimen than this.
Effects of Flour made of "Sick Wheat."
The first wheat raised upon the place, which was the second year after the family settled upon it, was a remarkably fine crop. As the family had been without wheat flour since their residence in the country, Mr. Hunter lost no time in threshing six or seven bushels, and taking it to the mill at Newville for manufacture into flour. The flour had every ap- pearance of being of the best quality. On returning home, the children could not wait the ordinary pro- cess of baking bread, and Mrs. Hunter immediately commenced preparations for baking "slim cakes." The family were soon engaged in partaking heartily of the cakes; and their meal being finished, the faithful dogs also were were not neglected. Within from five
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to ten minutes after supper was concluded, one of the family became suddenly seized with an attack of what was termed "water brash," which was soon followed by violent and painful vomiting. Soon the whole family, and finally the dogs, were similarly attacked. Not attributing the cause to the cakes of which they had eaten-for they had yet learned nothing of "sick wheat"-the family again, after they had recovered of their illness, which was brief, partook of the cakes, and the same results followed. Subsequently, hogs were fed of this wheat. They eagerly ate of it, and its effects was to make even "hogs vomit." Chickens were also affected by it. The only animals whose stomach could endure it, were cattle, sheep, and other ruminating beasts.
At the raising of Alexander Skinner's mill, on the Black Fork, half a mile above Loudonville, a Mr. Green, who had been attending the raising, applied at the house of Hunter for some food. He had been partaking rather freely of liquor. There was bread in the house, made of the flour of this "sick wheat," which David offered him, with a cup of milk. Within a few minutes after partaking of this food, and having withdrawn his chair from the table, the saliva com- menced accumulating rapidly in his mouth. He was resting his face upon his hand, and soon his rebellious stomach involuntarily deposited most of its contents into the broad sleeve of his hunting shirt; which, in the position of his hand and arm, was in a good situa- tion to receive it. He attributed his illness exclusively to the liquor, and after his stomach recovered from the effects of its sickness, and as it was now more empty than before he had partaken of the food, he called for more bread and milk. David, whose love
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of fun was equal to his hospitality, readily complied with the request of the hungry man, and again sup- plied him with bread and milk. Soon another mis- fortune, even worse than the first, occurred to him. When the paroxysm was over, he gave it as his solemn opinion, that the liquor he had drank had ruined the coats of his stomach-advised the boys to take warn- ing of him, and never drink liquor-thanked them for their kindness, and took his leave.
WILLIAM IRVIN.
William Irvin .immigrated to Montgomery Town- ship, Richland County, from Mt. Vernon, in 1815, and in the year following purchased eighty acres of the southeast quarter of section 20, Green Township, upon which land he yet resides.
MOSES JONES.
Moses Jones, with his family, settled in Green Township, on the farm now owned by John Taylor, Esq., in August, 1815. He died in 1856, at the age of seventy-eight. Joseph Jones is the only survivor of his family resident in Green Township.
THOMAS JOHNSTON.
Thomas Johnston emigrated from Pennsylvania, in March, 1828, and made his first purchase in section 9, Green Township, a tract originally entered by John Murphy. Mr. Johnston, at present, is the owner and occupant of section 33, southeast quarter, Vermillion Township, a tract which he purchased, within a few years past, of his father-in-law, Mr. Joseph Workman.
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PETER KINNEY.
Peter Kinney, formerly a resident of Columbiana County, entered, in April, 1810, the land upon which the families of Thomas W. Calhoun and Elias Groff now reside. He made some improvement, but never removed his family to this land, having made another purchase in the adjoining Township of Monroe, to which he removed his family on the 7th of July, 1819. He subsequently removed to Illinois, where he died in 1833, at the age of fifty-two.
Abraham Baughman and John Davis had preceded him to Green Township, but what length of time is not known to Mrs. James Irvin, (daughter of Mr. Kinney,) who communicates this memoranda. Mr. Davis was a widower, and had been a revolutionary soldier, and, some years subsequent to his settlement in the township, was found dead on the roadside, above Chillicothe, to which place he had been to draw his pension.
Removal of the Greentown Indians.
When Captain Douglas, of Mt. Vernon, with his command, visited Greentown for the purpose of re- moving the Indian inhabitants, a party of Indians, on the night of the day that Douglas made his appear- ance in their town, came to the house of Mr. Kinney, and stated to him their troubles, and asked him to intercede for them, and permit them to remain at their homes. He accompanied them on their return; had an interview with Captain Douglas, and remon- strated with him on the injustice and impolicy of re- moving the Indians from their town, since they had agreed to give up all their arms, and have the roll of
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the men called twice a day. So confident was Mr. Kinney that evil to the white settlers would result from their removal, and so earnest did he become in his protest against the folly, that the captain drew his sword upon him, and might have committed vio- lence, had he not been for the moment surrounded by the anxious and indignant Indians. It is doubtless true that, had Mr. Kinney's counsels prevailed, the massacre upon the Black Fork would not have occurred.
It was a command under Colonel Robert Crooks, of Pennsylvania, that burned the buildings in Green- town a few days after the removal of the Indians.
WILLIAM MONAULL.
William McNaull immigrated to Montgomery Town- ship in June, 1815, and in 1828 removed to Perrys- ville, and engaged in the mercantile business, in which he continued until 1856-a period of twenty-eight consecutive years. He is the oldest merchant in the county, and has lost by "the credit system" an amount sufficient to secure a life-long competence to the poor- est family in the county.
JOHN NEPTUNE.
John Neptune, an emigrant from Maryland, re- moved to Wooster in 1819, and in 1824 purchased the farm in Hanover Township, now owned by John Sneer. In 1831 he purchased and removed to the farm upon which himself and family have since re- sided, in Green Township.
ALLEN OLIVER.
Allen Oliver, born in New Jersey, immigrated to Worthington Township, Richland County, October,
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1810. In the preceding June, he entered the south- west quarter of section 28, Green Township; and in February, 1811, removed his family to a half-faced cabin, without a roof, upon this land. During the first night the family lodged in their roofless house, the snow fell to the depth of ten or twelve inches.
His family at this time consisted of his wife and sons, John, Daniel, and Lewis, and four daughters. Daniel and Lewis-the latter residing upon the old homestead-Mrs. Sarah Tannehill and Mrs. Elizabeth McMahan are the only survivors of the family of Mr. Oliver now residing in Green Township. His own death occurred on the 28th of September, 1823, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.
Characteristic of Johnny Appleseed.
Johnny, from more respect to his sense of right than law, would join parties who were employed in work upon the public roads. On one occasion, while thus engaged near the Jones prairie, in Green Town- ship, a yellow jacket's nest became disturbed, and one of the insects found its way under his pants; and although it inflicted repeated stings, he gently and quietly forced it downward by pressing his pants above it. His comrades, much amused at his gentle- ness under such circumstances, inquired why he did not kill it? To which he replied that "it would not be right take the life of the poor thing, as it was only obeying the instinct of its nature, and did not intend to hurt him."
A Trip to New Orleans, Richmond, etc.
In the spring of 1823, Lewis Oliver and John Davis purchased of Nathan Dehaven a flat-bottomed boat,
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and freighted it, partly at the place of Mr. Oliver and partly at the Loudonville mills, with wheat, flour, lumber, pork, chickens, and whisky, and safely navi- gated their craft and its burden to New Orleans. At that place, not finding a market for their wheat and pork, they reshipped those portions of their cargo to Richmond, Virginia. From the latter place, they traveled homeward, on foot.
WILLIAM REED.
William Reed removed, with his wife, to Green Township, in April, 1829-his father having pre- viously entered for him the northeast quarter of sec- tion 11-being the same tract which he improved, and upon which he has since resided. Mr. Reed was an emigrant from Washington County, Pennsylvania.
EBENEZER RICE.
Captain Ebenezer Rice and family immigrated to Green Township, in February, 1811. He had emi- grated from Essex County, New York. In August, 1811, he removed his family to the northwest quarter of section 29, which tract he had entered in Novem- ber, 1810.
Mr. Rice's family were the thirty-ninth which set- tled in Richland County, and the fifth in Green Township. He died in 1821, in the forty-ninth year of his age.
Alexander Rice occupies the farm originally en- tered and improved by his father, and is the only son of Ebenezer Rice now residing within Ashland County.
Captain Ebenezer Rice was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and was the eldest son of Samuel and
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Abigail Underwood Rice. Samuel was the son of Ger- shom, who was the son of Ephraim, who was the son of Thomas, who was the son of Edmund and Tamazine Rice, who emigrated from Barkhamstead, England, in 1638, and lived and died in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The old homestead, on the banks of the Sudbury River, with its beautiful spring and its broad meadows, is still in the possession of the Rice family.
The Old Distilleries.
" Any way to make money to pay taxes, and have a little something to trade on," thought the poor pioneer; and no better way was there than to make whisky. And here, in early days, among the sylvan shades of wild and beautiful Green Township, were no less than eight distilleries. A staunch, buzzing, seething, chattering, peerless one, was that which stood on the green slope just a few rods above Greentown meeting- house: old, old settlers will tell you now, with a sneaking, fun-loving twinkle in the half averted eye, "it made most delicious whisky." But, alas! for the curse! poor men hung around it, willing to chop wood, empty slops, or do any dirty jobs, for all they could drink while they worked. Another distillery was near where Warring Wolf now lives, a mile or so below Mckay; another on the Cowen farm; another on the Van Horn estate; one on the Vanscoyoe farm; another on Richard Guthrie's; another on Jesse Parr's; and the last one we can remember, near the old Man- ner mill, on the Clear Fork. Thank God! they are all gone now! The sweet autumn airs play over the green, grassy places where once rose their snaky hisses and their pestilential breathings, and the brooks and hill- side springs and gushing fountains, that were once so
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wickedly perverted to base uses, now sin no more. Where stood the distilleries with the cavernous hole dug under them, are now fields or woodland pastures, with only a green hollow, or dimple, left to tell the tale. But, my oh! how handy it was to have something to trade on-good deal handier than stamps. Mr. - bought a horse of old Billy Rag Bag, and gave forty- five gallons of whisky; great, big, good horse, nothing the matter at all with him; not shoulder-stove, or spavined, or ailing at all. And the Rag Bag family lived gloriously, superbly, for a whole month or two- had egg-nog to drink three times a day, and a good swig all round before they went to bed at night, and had their pumpkin sauce seasoned with whisky, and their corn bread; and then it was excellent to take the wild, woodsy taste off the spring water in those early times, when the very sunshine would not pene- trate through the dense, leafy screen that curtained in their hill-side springs !
And this fine young horse that the wealthy Miss Skimmens drives so beautifully every day, her veil and ribbons all a flutter after her, and her dainty gloved hands toying so charmingly with the scarlet lines! Fine horse, that-carries his head like a Napo- leon! Well, his great-great-grandam only cost sixty gallons of whisky, and grandpa carried it home him- self, in pails and such like. Boggs wouldn't let him have the big barrel in the bargain. Boggs was close in a deal-Young America would call him cussed stingy.
About Cincinnati in 1808, etc.
In the year 1809, Judge Thomas Coulter was going down the river, from Jefferson County, Ohio, with a boat load of flour, pork, and whisky, when a
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man, who owned a large tract of land on which Cin- cinnati now stands, hailed him, and was very anxious to make a trade with him-let him have his land for the contents of his boat. The judge didn't like such mighty rough, broken land, and, after talking a few minutes, went on his way to New Orleans. . That was a common way then, among enterprising men, to make a good stout boat, and take provisions down to New Orleans, unless they sold out before they got there.
Incidents of Social Life in the Pioneer Times.
In early days all the salt the pioneers could obtain was brought from Zanesville, on horseback, subse- quently in boats. Neighbors often borrowed pints or teacupsful, and then used it very sparingly, it was so precious. Mush was almost intolerable without salt. The old pioneer mothers tell us now that stewed pumpkin was eaten three times a day, and was con- sidered a staple, or as much of a necessity as potatoes are now. A young married couple, who commenced housekeeping in a bare log cabin, with a straw bed, an axe, and a borrowed dinner pot-no teakettle or spider or other ironware, save this memorable pot- the first winter dried one hundred large pumpkins for their own family use; for, as she says now, "we wanted to busy ourselves at some kind of employ- ment in the long evenings." The following summer, she taught school at home-had a few scholars, some of them great slab-sided young men, who couldn't tell how many months there were in a year. The cheery, sweet little wife would have to stand tip-toe beside them, and used to get so tickled at their funny an- swers. Not as school ma'ams do now did she when
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school was out-draw her pay and buy something new. Oh, no! their parents paid in spinning and weaving, and in helping John clear and grub in the sturdy wild wood. Sheep were very scarce, but the good wives managed to get up an occasional home- spun coat for the husbands to wear to meeting. They dyed the cloth brown with butternut bark, or, in bet- ter days, blue, with a dye made of chamber lye and indigo. The dear little dye tub had to stand in the warmest corner; it held as honorable place then as my lady's trim little workstand does now in the family sitting-room. The dye tub had a tolerably close cover, and was used to sit on altogether. We have frequently heard a story about a young man in those days, in Green Township, going sparking Sun- day night, and, while he stayed, he occupied the honor- able seat above named. The cover got shoved aside a little, and the skirts of his light-drab coat slipped down into the blue element. And there he sat, like a beaver soaking his tail, and the skirts were dyed a pretty blue. We never believed this, but it made a capital thing for the girls in those olden times to titter about, at quiltings and corn-huskings and frolics, and "after meeting was out." They had pretty girls in those days-we love to ask the old fellows about 'em now, and hear the invariable answer, "she was like a steel-trap;" or, "her eyes were like a wild deer's;" or, "her cheeks were like red roses;" or, "she'd a com- plexion like a china radish;" and, again, "oh! she could ride like the winds; manage any critter you ever saw; go so fast she'd leave no shadow at all." Once in awhile, in those days, a girl had a nice dress -or short gown, it was called-made out of mama's gray cloak, or crimson camlet, that had passed through
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