USA > Ohio > Ashland County > A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland County > Part 22
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the hands of a great-grandmother - little, narrow pokes of dresses, but very pretty then.
For the first few years the pioneers had to eat corn bread and mush altogether, except on Sunday morn- ings, when the whole family would be treated to short cake for breakfast. The poor little children did love that holy day so, for the short cake was delicious. Then, on that morning, the mother indulged in a cup of tea; real store tea, that smelt of dear old New England or New York; and we'll warrant, the hot tears often coursed down those dear old care-worn faces as they sipped little tastes, and tried to make it taste longer and get all the good of it. Folks had to have pills then as well as now, and, as there were no pill venders with their boxes or one-horse wagons perambulating the country, they manufactured their own. They boiled butternut bark down to a thick syrup, thickened it with meal or flour, and made it out into pills; and every well-to-do family kept a sup- ply. In peeling off the bark from the trees, be sure it had to be stripped downward, or it wouldn't physic. The leaves of the boneset stripped off, upward, were dried, and saved among the valuable medicines for an emetic.
Naughty pride would creep in among the young men even then; and do let me tell an incident that afforded me a good laugh. It was in the long, long ago, about 1816, an indulgent father told his two boys, who were, perhaps, eighteen and twenty, that because they had been so good to work and help bring up the younger brothers and sisters, they might have a fine seven-acre field to put out in tobacco, and they might have the proceeds all themselves. The great strapping good fellows thought they had the best
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father in the world. They raised a fine crop, took special care of it, and sold it. Well, but how to lay out the money to best advantage troubled them a good deal. At last they decided to buy hats, and went off and bought each a great, long, furry stove- pipe hat, just exactly like the preacher wore. Oh! they were the happiest boys; went to meeting regu- lar, and wore the hats every time, unless the weather was bad or the clouds looked lowering and suspicious; then they left them safe up in the loft, in the "chist." Both went to see the rosiest girls they knew, and both were married in less than a year, and to-day they are rich old farmers, trotting their grandchil- dren on their knees; and all this came of wearing such monstrous, fine, furry, unexceptionable hats !
Good Methodist preachers used to be very common in early days, real talented men too. One of them, though, in his moments of thoughtless excitement, used to swear-real, wicked, bad swearing-and, on being reprimanded once, he replied, " My dear brother, it's not swearing; it is a kind of a rough way I have of praying when I am excited !"
Some of the industrious, busy mothers, in those perilous and hard times, never took time to comb their little children's heads only once a week, and that was on Sunday morning before church. After this performance was over, each child had to take a spoonful of bitter cordial, made of aloes and other stuff, to keep off ague and sickness, and keep the stomach in healthy order. Little ones dreaded this as much as they liked the morning that brought the delicious offset, the short cake.
Girls used to break the wish-bone of a chicken, and name the pieces after some of the boys, and then
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stick them over the cabin door, and giggle, and watch what young fellow would pass under first. Had lots of fun. Then they would press the leaves of the rue on the bare arms, and wish, and if it left a red im- press, the wish was sure to come true-never failed. In milking a young cow, for the first time, sometimes they would milk in a big washing tub, or some large vessel-it was a sure sign she'd be an abundant milker; any woman was silly who would milk first in a small pail or tin cup.
Appearance of the Country.
The country in those early days was more beautiful than any pen can describe. The valley of the Black Fork was very densely covered with a low, matted growth of small timber, while, close to the creek, the ground was rankly covered with long grass, and the interlacing vines of the wild morning-glory, plumy willows, and the dark, thick growth of alder. The hills were crowned with giant oaks, and the fragrant winds were healthful as the breezes of the ocean. Wild game abounded, even great ferocious wild hogs, with their foamy, white tushes gleaming out and look- ing frightful. Captain Rice got his neighbors and all their dogs to help him catch one once. It took & sty as stout as the hills and the rocks to hold him captive.
The first School and School-House.
The first school taught in Green Township, that we know of, was taught by Betsey Coulter-a little ac- commodating neighborly affair, in her own house, in the summer of 1814. The next summer, poor old William Maxwell Adolphus Johnson taught in his
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own house. He was a Scotchman, a man of some talent and good education. The following winter, Asa Brown, a shrewd Yankee, taught in the new school-house. It was built near the center of the town, on the south side of what is now Esq. Cowen's farm. It had a good, stout puncheon floor, wide fire- place, a log left out at each side of the house, and the aperture covered with greased paper, for windows.
The Oliver boys "stalled the master" that winter, in the rule of three, but Judge Coulter helped him out of the scrape creditably. Oh! what good times they did have that first winter at school! Only yes- terday, we heard one of the boys and one of the girls laughing heartily over fun of running races and snow- balling and playing tricks on the master! Though the boy is now hale and hearty, and on the shady side of seventy, and the girl a little younger, their laughter was cheery and ringing, instead of cracked and tremulous. ' Before that winter's school was fairly closed, the master went into the dry goods business. His entire stock was bought in Zanesville, and brought up the river and tributary creeks, and safely landed at Perrysville, in a boat of his own making. He lived on the old Esq. Taylor farm, now owned by Hiram Cake. One of his children thrust a burning stick into some powder; the house was partly demolished, and two of his children killed. The explosion was felt for a great distance, and heard in Vermillion Township, ten miles distant.
At an early day, John Coulter and Captain Rice took the job of cutting a road from Ashland to Mans- field. They contracted to cut ten miles for ninety dollars, and the place of beginning was specified then as the Trickle farm. The Trickle family had left
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their poor little home on account of the Indians, and gone to Wooster for safety. The father of the family died the day the men commenced their job of cut- ting.
After the roads were cut, or laid out through the woods ready to work on, Philip Seymour was made one of the first supervisors. His district extended from Perrysville up the Mansfield road, almost to Lucas. One time when they were laboring on the road and felling trees on the Mohawk Hill, one fell aslant and broke one of Richard Conine's legs. The men made a comfortable resting-place for him against a tree, and then started John Oliver off to borrow Peter Kinney's old gray mare to carry Dicky home. John had five miles to walk through the woods; it was growing late when he returned, and Dicky suf- fered extremely. His father rode and took him .on behind, and there he was all that weary ride of rough miles, his leg dangling and the broken bones grating together and paining him intensely. Solomon Hill and Judge Coulter attended to the binding up and splintering and fixing his poor limb that night, as the family were in poor circumstances, and no doctor .nearer than Mt. Vernon. It was many weeks before Richard could get around, and as soon as he could walk, he limped out on crutches to look at the young pigs in the pen, and before he got back to the house, he slipped and fell and broke it over again; and then the two men were sent for, and the dreadful perform- ance unskillfully gone through with another time. Then, before he wholly recovered, the settlers had to flee to the block-house for safety from the Indians; and there, within its dreary, lonesome walls, Dicky's young mother died, with no physician near to save
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or help; none but hardy and sympathizing men and weeping and pitying neighbor women. How these little life-incidents will run on into stories; one leads into another and another, and we hardly know where to stop or how to close! What a web of history is even the incidents of pioneer times in one township! And what fun those stalwart, handsome, sunburnt young fellows, clad in buckskin, did have! How they did love the free, wild wood, and the cheerful-looking clearings, with their burning brush heaps and piles of logs lying promiscuously every way, and the green framing-in of woodland that shut out everything from sight except the spanning of blue sky! Those were glorious old times, indeed, and no wonder that weary, sluggish old pulses leap as with the vigorous life of childhood, now when they, old friends, meet together and live those times over again, as they sit in the shade of their own vines and roof-trees. They did have the jolliest singing schools and spelling schools and log-rollings and raisings of barns and double log houses. And then, at elections and trainings, some- times some of the old fellows would drink a little too much, and they would have such laughable fights, and the younger ones would be so tickled at the "dog falls" and the aimless blows at the head that wouldn't tell on the head at all, and the great earnest grips that would bring the tow shirt with them, and the tumbling over, and the too drunk to make a raise again, and the lying on the ground, and the feeble pecking at each other's heads, blows that a suckling baby would almost take as caresses ! We often hear the dear old boys laughing heartily over these merry recollections. And we hear them tell, too, of deaf old Aston. A crowd of them would gather in the
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old man's shop, and some of them would say real saucy things right to his face, and swear at him, and call him bad names, and make an immense sight of fun for the rest, who would be in convulsions of laughter, and the poor old man wouldn't hear a word they'd say. Once in awhile they would make some pleasant remark to him to keep him in good humor, and from suspicion.
And then, one time, some of the young men went, after night, away up toward Hayesville, to search for a thief. They suspected him to be hidden in his house, and they all lay down slyly close up to the outside wall of the big fireplace, where they could peep in. Nobody was to be seen inside the house except the man's wife and an old gal, who was living with them. There sat the two women, right before the fire, knitting, and both talking busily enough, never dreaming that a dozen ears heard every word they said. The boys could hardly keep from laugh- ing, and one giggling fellow had to go off a little dis- tance, occasionally, to laugh it out. After awhile they got to passing the bottle around-must have something to drink to keep them warm; and the fun- niest part was that the two women smelt whisky, and sniffed up their noses and wondered what it was, and kept sniffing and wondering until after they had gone to bed.
The thief did not make his appearance that night, but a few weeks afterward the boys searched again, and found him under the floor, and made him crawl out, and they took him.
Parson Gerry.
Among the ministers who preached here in the backwoods forty years ago, was a genteel, intelligent, 23
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handsome man, by the name of Gerry .* For awhile he made his home in Green Township. He was wedded to an accomplished Irish lady. The gambling saloons of our cities know not a more successful and scheming rascal, and yet over all he dared to wear the "livery of Heaven." His eloquence was of a masterly style, and he won the hearts of all his hearers, while he held in his power even those who doubted his sin- cerity and godliness. His bearing was fascinating and faultless, and his polite demeanor was winning in the extreme. Of his superior rascality, two instances I remember to have heard from those interested.
He had borrowed a hundred dollars of David Coulter, a son of Judge Coulter, and had not paid it back at the time specified. He had removed to some city distant from here, and Mr. Coulter, growing tired of his promises to pay, started off in a rage, swearing he wouldn't come home until he had received his money. It was Saturday night when he arrived there, and he sallied out the next morning in any- thing but a good humor. People were thronging the streets on their way to church, and, as Coulter was walking along, moodily, with his head down, a manly but silky-toned voice said: "My dear Coulter, how happy I am to see you! I am to preach at ten ; come with me, please." It was Gerry, who drew Coulter's arm within his own, saying blandly, "I wish to speak with you, privately, after service;" and he took him right along with him.
A few days after, Mr. Coulter came home, looking very serious, and, when his jolly chums inquired his success, he told them that he went and heard Gerry
* A nephew of Elbridge Gerry, one of the Signers of the Dec- laration of Independence.
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preach, and the beautiful sermon, so wonderful in its touching eloquence, made him feel that he could well afford to give Gerry one hundred dollars.
The text was, "Love one another ;" and Coulter said it affected him to tears, and he felt mean and guilty, and thought he wasn't good enough to receive money from Gerry's hands, and that, as soon as service was over, he sneaked out and hurried away, for fear Gerry would see him. So great is the magical power of eloquence !
Gerry was one time riding in a carriage, going to fulfill an appointment, when he came to where some laborers were working on the roads, in the western part of Green Township. They were fixing a cross- ing, and the carriage could not be driven over very well, and Gerry got out and led the horse, while the men got the carriage safely across. Gerry, with his usual politeness, took off his hat, and, bowing, thanked them very nicely, and, to add a flourish probably, went to pull his handkerchief out of his coat pocket, when out came a loose pack of cards, flying hither and thither all over the road !
Not at all discomposed, he smiled sweetly, and said in his silkiest tones: "It is not very creditable, gen- tlemen, to find such things in a minister's keeping. I had no idea these were the contents of a little pack- age that your neighbor B.'s children were sending to some of their little friends-ha! ha!" and he laughed heartily; while the honest men, believing his glowing words, gathered up the little tell-tales, brushed off the dust, and returned them to his pocket.
SIMON ROWLAND.
Simon Rowland was an emigrant from Pennsyl- vania. He visited the country during the war of
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1812, when about seventeen years of age. Several years later, he married Sarah, daughter of Calvin Hill, and purchased the farm in Green Township, now owned by John Maurer, which place he occupied until the time of his death, which occurred in December, 1838; and his widow died on the 17th day of March, 1859.
CHARLES AND BAZEL TANNEHILL.
Charles and Bazel Tannehill, in October, 1810, commenced improvement on the northwest quarter of section 33, Green Township. They had, the month previous, entered the above described quarter, together with the southeast quarter of section 29, (which was subsequently improved by Charles Tanne- hill, and upon which he at present resides.) They were emigrants from Jefferson County, Ohio.
The "First Family" in Green Township.
The family of Abraham Baughman was the only one residing in the township when Messrs. Tannehill commenced their improvement. This place became afterward known as "the Guthrie farm," and is now occupied by John Castor. There was also an unmar- ried man, named John Davis, keeping "bachelor's hall" upon the farm now owned by William Irvin, being the southwest quarter of section 30. In the fall of 1811, Melzer Tannehill, Sen., (father of Charles and Bazel,) removed his family to Green Township.
First Commissioners of Richland County.
Melzer Tannehill, Sen., of Green Township, James McClure, of Belleville, and Samuel Watson, of Lex- ington, were the first Commissioners of Richland
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County, elected in 1813. Mr. Tannehill, in 1812, had been elected assessor for Knox County, (Green then being one of the townships of that county.) He was also among the first justices of the peace of Green Township.
The Indian Outrages on the Black Fork create a panic among the Settlers of Green Township.
Directly after Hull's surrender, at Detroit, the public necessities were supposed to demand imme- diate additions to the military force for the purpose of resisting anticipated Indian invasions of Ohio. Charles Tannehill responded to the call for volun- teers, and enlisted for a term of forty days, under the command of Major Kratzer, of Mt. Vernon. A body of troops, himself among them, were out on a scout- ing expedition, and in the vicinity of the present town of New Haven, Huron County, discovered a vacated encampment, which had the appearance of having been a few hours previously occupied by the Indians. On Saturday night, the white and Indian encampments were not separated by a distance ex- ceeding a mile; although this fact was not discovered by our troops until Sunday evening, which gave the enemy a day's advance of us. Early on Monday morning, the troops pushed forward on the Indians' trail, and on that evening reached the place where the town of Ganges now stands. On Tuesday morn- ing, (the day Copus was killed,) a party of five, in- cluding Mr. Tannehill, were sent to the relief of the settlers on the Black Fork, as it was supposed the Indians contemplated an attack upon that settlement. They were led to this conclusion, from their knowl- edge that Seymour and Ruffner had been killed a
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few days previously. Arriving near the Ruffner place, they met the remaining troops, (seven in num- ber,) who had been engaged in the battle at Copus's, having in charge the surviving members of the Copus family. These troops had also, since the battle, been joined by about one hundred others belonging to the same command, (that of Major Krebs, of Tuscarawas County.) The united force on that night encamped in the vicinity of the Copus cabin, and, on the next morning, Mr. Tannehill and party took leave of the Tuscarawas militia, and pursued their way to the de- serted village of Greentown. Near that place, at the cabin of Abraham Baughman, (which was also found deserted,) Mr. Tannehill separated from his compan- ions and continued his way homeward. Near Perrys- ville, he overtook John Coulter and Harvey Hill, who were urging forward some cattle at,"double quick," and from whom he learned that the settlement had heard the tidings of the last battle, and that they formed the rear guard of the settlers who were fleeing to Samuel Lewis's block-house, on the Clear Fork.
On the day following, the men returned and erected a block-house on the place of Thomas Coulter, which afforded security for a greater portion of the Black Fork settlement of Green Township during the re- mainder of the war.
The Markets.
From the date of the first settlement of the town- ship until about 1816, the wants of new immigrants created a good demand and good prices for all the surplus produce the farmer could raise; but in the year above mentioned, a surplus beyond the wants of the settlement was produced, and prices fell to a very
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low figure. This made it peculiarly hard upon the first settlers who had leased Virginia Military District School lands, as the interest on their purchases fell due about this time. Corn, which had in the pre- vious years since the first settlement, found ready sale at seventy-five cents per bushel, could not be sold at any price; and wheat, which had formerly sold for $1.25 per bushel, and even higher, was now re- duced to 37} and even 25 cents per bushel. Five bushels of wheat were exchanged by Mr. Tannehill for one bushel of salt. The first market was at Port- land, or Sandusky City. The first trip which Mr. Tannehill made, in 1819, occupied ten days.
Melzer Tannehill, Sen., died in April, 1851, at the age of eighty-five and three-quarter years. Charles and Melzer Tannehill, Jun., are the only survivors of the family that originally immigrated now residing in the county.
Melzer Tannehill, Jun., immigrated with his father's family to Green Township, in September, 1811, and is now the owner and occupant of the original homestead of the family. He was a boy ten years of age when he came to the township.
Organization of Green Township.
Mr. Tannehill is of opinion that Green Township, in 1810, embraced what is now Hanover, in Ashland County, Monroe and Worthington, in Richland County, and Brown, Jefferson, and probably other townships, in Knox County. The territory thus organized, he believes, derived its name from the old Indian Green- town, and when the territory finally became sub- divided into civil townships conforming to the United States surveys, the old town, falling within the limits of the present township, retained the original name.
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Attempt to Hoax an old Soldier.
In October, 1813, after all apprehension of Indian attacks had subsided, and the families in the neigh- borhood had withdrawn from the forts and returned to their homes, a corps of soldiers, who had been stationed at Lewis's block-house, of which the old soldier, John Davis, had also been an inmate, con- cluded to test the courage of the old man. Accord- ingly, about daybreak, they approached within a short distance of his cabin, and discharged their guns. The old man, however, was not driven from his propriety, and exhibited no symptoms of fright. But the conse- quences of the joke did not end here. Lieutenant Winteringer, of Jefferson County, then in command of Coulter's block-house, hearing the report of the guns, but mistaking the direction of the sound, con- cluded that the house of Mr. Adsit was attacked, and, placing himself at the head of his troops, made for the relief of that citizen's family. Arriving at Adsit's, and finding all quiet, he proceeded to Mr. Rice's, con- trolled by the opinion of Mr. Adsit that the firing had proceeded from the vicinity of that neighbor's premises. The lieutenant was soon at the house of Mr. Rice, who had also heard the report of fire-arms, and had inferred that the sound proceeded from the neighborhood of Lewis's block-house. Adopting Rice's theory, he made for the block-house-upon reaching which place, he soon learned the truth of matters. After severely reprimanding the thoughtless wags for their violation of discipline, and for having cost him so much anx- iety and labor, he returned. The "comedy of errors," which had produced such perplexity and confusion of sound, originated, as will be plainly evident to those
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acquainted with the physical features of the country embracing the several points mentioned, in the echoes.
How the Crops were put in.
During the years 1812 and 1813, the fall crops of wheat and rye were put in by the farmers in the neighborhood under guards of soldiers-those being the periods when attacks from the Indians, in conse- quence of occurrences elsewhere related, were most apprehended.
Strategy at the Block-House.
During the excitement that pervaded the commu- nity at the block-house, on the evening after the at- tack upon the Copus family, the male inmates of the fortress, including boys and men, assembled, in the dusk of the evening, in the vicinity of the fort, and near the apprehended point of attack, for military drill. There were no regular soldiers, and it was a parade of the militia. Such as had bona fide rifles and muskets shouldered them, and those who had not, substituted wooden or Quaker guns. The roll was called, and the men would respond for them- selves, the boys, and a multitudinous number of mythical persons-thus leaving the impression upon the minds of the concealed foe, if such were in sight and hearing, that an immense force was defending the block-house.
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