USA > Ohio > Ashland County > A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland County > Part 33
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Orange Township; he now approaches the close of his seventy- seventh year, in vigorous health and blessed in all the comforts that belong to an earthly home.
JOHN KREBS.
John Krebs, with his family, removed from Columbiana County to the land upon which he at present resides, in Orange Town- ship, in May, 182 :. Although he settled in Orange Township at a comparatively late period, his neighbors were few in number- his own land was yet a wilderness, and his own were the only family in the northwest part of the township. The nearest east and west road was one mile south of him; and the most conve- nient north and south road was three miles west of his place.
About the second year after he came, he was successful, through the aid of Jacob Mason, in obtaining from the Commissioners of Richland County a grant for the present State road, leading from Ashland to Troy Centre, and which road passes along his western line. About one hundred days gratuitous labor were given by those interested to aid in opening the road-Mr. Krebs and Mr. Joseph Fast each giving twenty days. The original survey of the road was made by Esq. Gallup, of Ashland.
The people during the first settlement of the country not only performed the road labor assessed upon them by law with cheer- fulness, but many added tenfold of voluntary labor. Supervisors made no charge for their services. The same personal sacrifices, if continued, would have McAdamized all our leading roads.
A History of the First Settlement of Orange and Montgomery Townships. By ANDREW MASON.
Vachel Metcalf and Amos Norris were the first settlers in Orange. They removed into it from Bunns's Settlement, in Mo- hican Township, in the spring of 1814. Jacob Young and Jacob Crouse emigrated from Columbiana County, during the same spring, without their families. Young built a camp-house within a few rods of where the bridge crosses the Jerome Fork of the Mohican, on the road now leading from Ashland to Orange. The red frame house, at present owned by James Sloan, stands upon the site originally occupied by his cabin. Mr. Crouse built a camp- house in Montgomery Township on the quarter section where the present Crouse's School-house stands. Daniel Mickey came the same spring, and built a shanty near the spot where Andrew Mason's barn now stands. Patrick Murray also built a shanty, about the same time, on the land now occupied by the widow of his son, George Murray. Mr. Murray did not, however, remove his family until the following year In August, 1814, Martin and Jacob Mason, Jacob Young, Jacob Crouse, Martin Hester, and Lott Todd, all built cabin houses for the reception of their families, having each gathered prairie hay in sufficient quantities to subsist their stock during the following winter. Of those just
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named, Jacob Mason was the only one who had his whole family with him. The others all returned to their former homes for their families. Mr. Todd, however, never returned to the country, and Mr. Hester, with his family, returned in the spring of 1815. The Messrs. Mason, Young, Crouse, and Joseph Bishop all appeared with their families in October, 1814.
Population of Orange Township in 1814-15.
The total number of white families in Orange Township, during the winter commencing December, 1814, amounted to five. Io addition to these, however, Solomon Urie and his two sons, Sam- uel and Thomas, were in the township.
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In the spring of 1815, Thomas Green, Mordecai Chilcote, Mar- tin Hester, Patrick Murray, Christian and Nicholas Fast, and Henry Hampson removed to the township with their families. During the same year, John Bishop, an unmarried man, came into the township.
The First Mill in Orange Township.
In the fall of 1815 Martin Mason commenced the erection of a mill on the site of the one now owned by Samuel Leidigh, two miles west of the present village of Orange. The stones were "hard-heads," and would grind sixty bushels per day. The mill commenced operations in March, 1816. That the settlers in Orange and adjacent townships appreciated the advantages of this mill, may be understood when it is stated that, prior to its erection, the nearest mill was that of Stibbs, one mile east of Wooster. In 1814-15, no corn could be obtained more convenient than Wooster, and along Apple and Short Creeks. The prices at these places were $1.25 per bushel; and wheat could not be obtained nearer than the vicinity of the present town of Massillon, where it sold for $2 per bushel.
Previous to the erection of Mason's mill, corn was prepared for use, by many of the inhabitants, on hominy blocks, of which pearly every cabin had one. Martin Mason, having a large family, had a couple of hard-heads made into millstones. This hand-mill (a good one of its kind) would, by the aid of six persons, vigorously employed, produce half a bushel of meal in two hours. While the millwrights were engaged in the erection of the water-mill, they would employ their evenings in aiding Mr. Mason's family to work the hand-mill in producing the necessary supplies for the follow- ing day.
Population of Montgomery Township in 1814.
Benjamin Cuppy, Robert Newell, Daniel Carter, Sr., the widow Trickle, Daniel Mickey, and David Markley, with their families, constituted the population of Montgomery Township during the winter which commenced December, 1814.
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Hard Times in 1814-15.
During this winter, the families of Martin and Jacob Mason, having exhausted their supplies of breadstuffs, availed themselves of a deep snow that had fallen, and left home on sleds for Stibbs's mill. The only road to Wooster led by way of the old Indian village called Jerometown, near where Jeromeville now stands. On arriving at the mill, they were grievously disappointed to find its operations suspended by the ice. This winter, it may be here observed, was one of remarkable rigor-the snow, during a period of forty days, remaining upon the ground to the depth of at least a foot. Realizing the necessity of immediately supplying their families with something in the form of breadstuffs, they procured a few bushels of shelled corn and started on their way home. The families were without meat, butter, milk, or potatoes. Their only cow, a noble animal, and which had been the main reliance of the family of Martin Mason for food, had died a short time previously from "browsing" upon Buckeye buds. The sole dependence of the families, therefore, was upon their corn. Of this they made hominy, and with the single exception of salt, and the meat of a raccoon, the two families subsisted upon this food a period of two weeks. They were indebted for the 'coon mentioned, to an Indian named James Lyons, who had tracked and treed the animal, and offered the meat to his white friends if they would secure it and give him the skin. His offer was gladly accepted-the tree (an immense one) cut down-the animal killed and dressed, and its meat divided between the two families. A few days after this, two other Indians, Jim Jerk and Billy Mature, came into the house of Martin Mason with a bear, for the meat of which he paid them eight silver dollars. This meat Mr. Mason divided with his brother's family-and the hominy being cooked in bear's oil, made sumptuous fare, and in a few days the weather relaxed so that they were enabled to procure corn-meal from Stibbs's, and venison and other wild meats from the Indians. During the spring some bacon was purchased of Robert Newell, for which twenty-five cents per pound was paid.
Martin Mason first visited the country in January, 1814, and entered for his brother-in-law, Jacob Young, the quarter sec- tion in Orange Township, which the latter improved, and upon which he now resides .* Mr. Mason was at this time a resident of Columbiana County. In June following (in the mean time having sold his farm in the last-named county) he returned and entered the lands in Orange Township, upon one quarter of which now reside Samuel Leidigh and John Fulmer, and upon the other, Jacob Shopbell. When he removed to the township, his family consisted of his wife and seven children, namely, Andrew, John, Charles, Margaret, Mary, Martin, and Anna.
* Since deceased.
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One of the Old Jokes.
It was the custom in the pioneer days, when a man killed an animal, to divide it among his neighbors. One who had often received the benefit of this generous custom, but who was rather noted for his parsimony, had, in his turn, killed a hog, and meet- ing a friend informed him of the circumstance, and expressed to him his fear that he would not have sufficient to distribute among his neighbors, and retain what he considered necessary for his own use. His friend, after considering the case, proposed that he could relieve himself of his dilemma by permitting the hog to re- main suspended outdoors, where it had been dressed, during the night, and before daylight take it in and conceal it in his house, and then give out that it had been stolen during the night. The suggestion received the approval of the hog owner; and on the next morning he met his friend, and, with a rueful countenance, informed him that, sure enough, his pork had been stolen ! The friend addressed, complimented the hog man upou. his skill in lying, and impressed upon his mind that he had ouly to repeat the story with equally skillful address to all whom he would meet, and there would he no doubt that the lie, "well stuck to," would be successful. The other swore terribly that his tale was neither lie nor joke, and that his pork had indeed been stolen. In response to his vehement protestations, his friend would the more compli- ment his skill in "playing off," and would urge him to put on a bold front and maintain his position in the face of everybody. The truth of the matter was, that the disinterested and facetious "friend " who had advised the plan was the one who had all the time possession of the pork !
A Buckskin Joke.
In 1817, Jacob Mason, being summoned on the jury of the Court of Common Pleas, donned his best suit of buckskin pants and moccasins, and set out on foot to Mansfield. On his return home, after the jury were discharged, he encountered a rain-storm, which thoroughly saturated bis moccasins, and soon increased their dimensions to such an extent that at every step the extremi- ties which had originally covered his toes, would be thrown up half way to his knees. He found a night's shelter at the house of Mr. Andrews, near the Black Fork. Thinking it hardly genteel to wear his ill-looking moccasins in the house, he left them at the door, and crossed the threshold in his bare feet. In the morning it was discovered that the dogs had devoured his moccasins, and he was compelled to make his way home, through a forest of nettle- weeds, in his bare feet.
JAMES MOLAUGHLIN.
James McLaughlin, a Pennsylvanian by birth, adopted Milton Township as his home in 1816. He subsequently resided in Mont-
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gomery, and, in 1830, having in the mean time married, repaired to his present residence in Orange Township.
JAMES MEDOWELL.
James Medowell removed to Orange Township from Stark County, in November, 1823. His son William entered in his name the southwest quarter of section 26. It had been previously entered by Michael Koontz, and forfeited by him for nonpayment. The family of James Medowell at this time consisted of his wife and five children, namely, William, Harriet, (now Mrs. Speekman, of Stark County,) John, James, and Henry. Of these, William and John continue to reside in Orange Township-the former being the owner of the old homestead.
EDWARD MURRAY.
Edward Murray immigrated to Orange Township, with his family, in 1820. He died on the 4th of November, 1862, at the age of seventy-three years. He was the last male survivor of the family of the late Patrick Murray, who, with his wife and ten children, removed to Orange Township in the year 1815.
JOHN STULL.
John Stull removed from Jefferson County, Ohio, to Orange Township, in December, 1820. His family then consisted of his wife and three children-the only survivor of whom, now residing in the county, is Isaac Stull.
AMOS NORRIS.
Amos Norris and wife emigrated from Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1809. They resided in Lancaster until 1810, when they immigrated to Mohican Township. Mr. Norris and William Eagle jointly entered a quarter section in said township. Mrs. Mary, widow of Amos Norris, (who died in the summer of 1862, at the age of seventy-four years, and who furnished this memorandum a few weeks previous to her decease,) states that during the first and second years of their residence in Mohican the Indians were numerous, and visited and traded with them almost daily. "In August, 1812, my husband and myself went on a visit to Pennsylvania. We did not know that war was declared when we left home, but when we reached the Pennsylva- nia settlements, we found the people greatly excited, and the men volunteering and drilling. In our absence Hull had surrendered his army to the British, and when we returned home we found our panic-stricken neighbors forted. The Indians had been removed from their villages to Delaware by the Federal troops.
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Mills and Markets.
"Our milling was done at Beam's, on the Black Fork, and down on the White Woman. The trip to the last-named mills was made in canoes. It generally required thirteen days to make it, and, in the first years of immigration, very little corn being raised, it was purchased at the mills at one dollar per bushel. In later years our purchases of salt, leather, iron, etc. were made at San- dusky City, or Portland, as it was then called. Coffee sold for fifty cents, in specie, per pound.
" In the fort, on the 22d day of April, 1813, my first child was born. We had no physician nearer than Mt. Vernon.
"In April, 1814, we removed to Orange, and camped in the woods on the quarter section of land upon which I now reside with my son."
WILLIAM PATTERSON.
William Patterson made his first visit to Orange Township in the spring of 1815, and entered at the Federal Land Office the north- east quarter of section 7, Orange Township. During the same year, he returned to his native place, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and in 1818 revisited the country with a view of making the land he had entered the place of his future residence. In that year he "tomahawked," to use a current phrase of the country at that time, ten acres of his land. By this term "toma- hawked," the unsophisticated of this time will understand to mean, that he cut down, with his axe, from that number of acres, the tim- ber of eighteen inches in circumference and under, and arranged the brush around the base of the trees that were above that size.
On the 20th of May, 1819, he married Miss Jane Freeborn, and the two commenced life upon the land he has since made his home.
Mr. Patterson served several years as justice of the peace in Orange Township.
CHRISTOPHER RICKETT.
Christopher Rickett erected a cabin, upon the place he at pres- ent occupies, in March, 1822. In the following June be removed his family from Washington County, Pennsylvania, to their new home. The land had been entered for him by his father-in-law, John Horn, in the year 1814. His family consisted of his wife and five children.
DANIEL SUMMERS.
Daniel Summers, with his wife and two children, emigrated from Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, to Orange Township, and set- tled upon the land which he had the previous year, 1817, entered -said land being the northeast quarter of section 10, and the same upon which he now resides.
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JOHN TILTON.
John Tilton removed to Stark County from Washington County, Pennsylvania, August 16, 1812; in 1814 he removed to Wayne County, and in 1831 purchased the east half of section 35, in Orange Township. His family at this time consisted of his wife,' and sons Samuel and James A. Mr. Tilton enlisted in the Amer- ican army during the war of the revolution, when he was only fif- teen years of age, and served five years. In addition to less im- portant engagements, he was in the battles of Princeton, German- town, Monmouth, and Yorktown. He also served three months in an expedition against the Indians in the Northwest Territory. Mr. Tilton died on the 12th of August, 1849, at the age of eighty- nine years nine months and sixteen days-leaving, as the surviving members of that portion of his family who removed with him to the county, his sons Samuel and James A., who now occupy, with their families, the half section originally purchased. His wife had died on the 7th of May, 1849, at the age of eighty-four years. Mr. and Mrs. Tilton had kept house over sixty-five years, and within that period had removed thirty-two times, At the date of his death he had had one hundred and sixty-seven grand and great-grandchildren.
" Sick Wheat."
This quality of wheat was often produced in the early attempts at cultivation. Mr. James A. Tilton cannot account for it. The berry would be as plump and attractive in appearance as the best quality ever grown, and the flour would be as white as the best specimens now produced; and when manufactured into bread it would be palatable except that it would have a sweet taste; but when eaten by man or beast it produces a distressing sickness, and only remains upon the stomach a few moments. This was the only disease that then attacked the wheat-neither the weevil, rust, or smut then being known.
SOLOMON URIE.
Solomon Urie immigrated to Orange Township in the spring of 1814. In 1813 he entered two quarters of land-one in Orange Township, the northeast quarter of section 34, and another in Montgomery Township, the northeast quarter of section 4.
He commenced his improvement in Orange Township by the erection of a cabin and the imperfect clearing of a few acres, during the season of 1814. He was an emigrant from Washington County, Pennsylvania.
Murder of Thomas Urie.
Two or three years prior to the entry of the lands above de- scribed, Mr. Urie and his brother Thomas were on a hunting excursion through the eastern part of Ohio, and established their
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camp between New Philadelphia and Cadiz. The brothers, in pur- snit of their game, had become separated during the day. Thomas had succeeded in killing a bear, the skin of which he was convey- ing, toward evening, to the camp, which he had nearly reached. Solomon was also making his way in the direction of the camp, ยท driving before him his horses, which had been belled and span- celled. When within hearing-distance of the camp, his ears were greeted with a sound similar to that of a double crack of rifles, or of the falling of two trees. Knowing that hostile Indians were in their neighborhood, as they had unmistakable evidence during the night before, he considered it prudent to lead his horses and reach his camp by another route. On approaching, he discovered two Indians in his camp, plundering it of its contents, while a third one stood upon the outside as sentinel. He raised his rifle with the intention of shooting the Indian on the outside; but be- fore he could fire, his brother's dog commenced barking and his position and attitude were discovered by his enemy.
In the rear of Solomon was a swamp, but comprehending that it would be an unsafe retreat, he boldly pushed forward to the assault of the sentinel. The latter ran, dodging behind trees, with the view of protecting himself and gaining an opportunity for shooting his antagonist. Mr. Urie pressed forward, and in his course discovered the dead body of his brother. The three Indians pursued him about three miles to the brink of a precipice, down which, without a moment's hesitation, he descended; and, on reaching solid ground, discovered that the breech of his rifle was broken-the trigger of the lock, however, being uninjured. The Indians, on reaching the margin of the precipice, were so appalled at the height that they gave up the pursuit. Mr. Urie continued his journey, in the direction of the Ohio River, five miles, when he came to an encampment which, much to his agreeable surprise, contained, among its inmates, several of the Brady's and other Pennsylvania friends. He remained, during the night, with his friends, and on the following morning the entire party returned with him to the late camp of himself and brother, and found the body of the latter covered with the skin of the bear he had killed on the day previous. One of his legs was stripped of its "leggin" and moccasin, and on the posterior part of his neck was a cross, indicating that this mode of warfare against the whites was to be continued. His body had been pierced by two bullets, doubtless fired by the rifles the sound of which Solomon had heard the evening before. The body was deposited in a grave made with wooden shovels, and in a coffin made of puncheons. The Indians had taken their two horses, forty deer, ten bear, and ten beaver skins, together with their entire stock of provisions and traps. Mr. Solomon Urie offered his friends the full property of which he had been despoiled, and an equal amount in addition, if they would aid him in their pursuit and infliction of summary punish- ment upon the murderers of his brother. They regarded the
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undertaking, however, as too hazardous, and declined the offer of Mr. Urie.
During the war of 1812, Mr. Urie and his son Samuel served in the army as volunteers, and in the fall of 1815 removed to the land above described, in Orange Township, and upon which land he had previously made some improvements. His family, at this time, consisted of his wife and the following named children : Samuel, Thomas, Susan, David, Solomon, John, Elizabeth, George, W., and James.
A Homesick but Sagacious Dog.
Mr. Urie brought with him to the country a couple of dogs, one of which, taking a dislike to the "home of his adoption," made his way back to the old homestead, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, a distance of about one hundred and forty miles. This journey he performed, traversing the wilderness and swim- ming the rivers, in less than twenty-four hours.
John Mc Connell.
This backwoodsman, who may be called an Indian as well as & beast-hunter, for the reason that his kindred had suffered more from the murderous assaults of Indians than from the wild beasts of the forests, had an encounter with a couple of Indians on the Wabash which is worthy of record. At an Indian camp he was visiting, his hunter's knife had attracted their attention, and he was importuned to sell it. When he positively declined their propo- sitions, his wary eye detected mischief in their looks. He took his leave of them, and had not traveled many miles, before be be- came convinced that he was being pursued by the Indians. To confirm his suspicions, he suddenly quit the trail after crossing a prairie, and took observations from behind a tree-the result being to fully establish in his mind that their designs were against him. This was in the afternoon of the day, and he resumed the trail and pashed forward rapidly until the shades of night began to gather, and be had left his pursuers some distance in the rear. Again quitting the trail he hastily kindled a fire a few rods distant. Within & few feet of the fire, be arranged an effigy on a log by adjusting his blanket in such manner as would lead one to suppose that it covered its owner; and then concealing himself at a proper distance, awaited the progress of events. He had not long re- mained in this situation before a rifle ball from a concealed foe entered his blanket, and.soon the two Indians were hurrying to- ward the effigy with uplifted tomahawks. The progress of the larger Indian was instantly arrested by a ball from McConnell's unerring rifle; and the smaller Indian reversed his movement and escaped in the woods before McConnell could reload his gun.
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EPHRAIM WELCH.
Ephraim Welch, an emigrant from Washington County, Penn- sylvania, removed to Orange Township, on the 8th of February, 1828, and purchased of his father the southeast quarter of section 2, which land he improved, and has since occupied. Himself and wife then constituted his family.
JACOB YOUNG.
Jacob Young (originally from Pennsylvania) settled in Orange Township in the year 1814. He reached his ninetieth year on the Ist day of January, 1862.
Mr. Young raised a family of twelve children, and never em- ployed a physician. He was never defendant in a law suit, and never sued but one man. He never had a quarrel with any man. Born under a monarchy, in the reign of George III., he lived to see the origin, progress, and decline of the great American Union. He so arranged his worldly matters that, although he had been the largest landholder in Orange Township, his estate was all equitably and satisfactorily divided among his numerous descend- ants.
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