USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > A complete history of Fairfield County, Ohio > Part 17
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The sports and pastimes of the settlers were pitching quoits, jumping, running foot-races, wrestling, dancing, plays of a great variety, and in rough and tumble fights. Fighting was very common at public gatherings, such as sales, log-rollings, corn-huskings, house-raisings, and the like. Horse-swapping was almost universally practiced. The most of it was done at gatherings. Sometimes the family fire went out over night, when some member of the family had to go to neighbors to procure it before the breakfast could be started. The first and only chairs known were called split-bottoms. Many families at first sat on slab-stools of their own make.
One pair of shoes a year was all that could be had ; the re- mainder of the time they went barefoot. The boys had two suits of home-made flax and tow-linen in summer, and in win- ter one suit of linsey-no underclothes. The young ladies thought they were fine if they had one calico dress in a year. Wheat was worth twenty-five cents, and corn from five to twelve and a half cents a bushel, in trade. A day's work was from sunup to unsdown, and the wages was 25 cents.
HENRY LEONARD'S COMMUNICATION.
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP.
DR. H. SCOTT-Dear Sir: Having learned that you are en- gaged in preparing a history of Fairfield County, I hereby send you a few pioneer items and incidents of the early settle- ment of Liberty Township, for your disposal.
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
I was born on the 14th day of February, 1812, just 65 years ago this day. My object is not so much to speak of what I know personally of the early history of our township, as it is to refer to facts that transpired prior to my coming on the stage of action, and for such information I am indebted mainly to sev- eral of the descendants of the very first settlers. Among these I mention the names of Jacob Bibler, Joseph Alt and Noah Gundy, still living, and whose united ages are over two hun- dred and forty-four years.
OLD PIONEERS.
Christian Gundy and wife came in 1800. £ They came from Lancaster County, Pa., as far as Wheeling, Va., on horseback. Mr. Gundy left his wife at Wheeling, and came out here on Walnut Creek, and planted three or four acres of corn, and then went back and brought his companion, and lived all winter in a sugar-camp with a blanket for a door. Robert Wilson came about the same time, and they both, with their families, squatted on unsurveyed lands. After the surveyor established the lines, these two neighbors found that they had settled on the same section ; so Mr. Gundy moved his tent east- ward. Noah Gundy, his son (my informant), was born in 1806, and still lives on the old homestead.
DAVID BRUMBACK
Came in 1803 or 1804, and settled half a mile south of the present town of Baltimore, near Walnut Creek bridge, on the west side of the present pike. The farm is now owned by Emanuel Rinch. Mr. Brumback afterwards settled on Poplar Creek, where his son now lives. Martin Brumback, the son, has the most extensive vinyard in the county.
BADER AND SHOWLEY.
In 1804, Nicholas Bader and Jacob Showley came and entered a half section of land south of the Brumback place, where they lived and died. They came from Switzerland. At Pitts- burg they embarked on a flat-boat and paddled down the Ohio river to the mouth of the Hockhocking. Here they put their chests and bedding in skiffs, or canoes, and poled and paddled them up to the falls of Hocking (Logan). From there they
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made their way through the wilderness to this township, and settled down in a strange land, with few neighbors.
JOSEPH ALT AND FAMILY
Came from the same country, one year afterward, passing over the same route. While floating down the Ohio river their boat struck a snag, and sprung a leak and sunk. They got ashore safely, but with soaked clothes and baggage. While they were waiting on the bank for another boat to come along, they built a fire and dried their clothes. At the mouth of Hocking the wife and three young children were left alone, while the father and son Joseph started on foot up stream, over hills and gullies, in search of their countrymen, Showley and Bader, in this township, and make arrangements with one of them to go to Chillicothe and enter land. The second night, while they camped in the wilderness, about midnight they heard a noise such as they never heard before. Old Joseph got up and began to stir up the fire until the sparks and flames made it light all around, and took up his gun, but the animal had fled. The next day they were told it was a panther.
GOING TO MILL.
Old Father Bader, son of Nicholas Bader, has told me, that when a small boy, his father sent him to Ream's mill with a bushel and a half of corn, and that it required three days to make the trip. Noah Gundy says that the first grist of corn his father took to mill he carried to Newark, in Licking County. I asked how his father found the way. He said, over an Indian trail. The first horse-power mill in Liberty was built by Jacob Showley. Almost every pioneer family had a hominy-block.
FRANCIS BIBLER,
Of Shenandoah County, Virginia, landed here in the woods in 1805, with four sons and four daughters. Their log-cabin was built on the spot of ground where John W. Chapman, Post- master of Basil, now resides. This family moved into their cabin late in the fall, and before the chinking or daubing of the cracks was done.
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
NO BREAD.
This family had not had a mouthful of any kind of bread in their house for over five weeks. Old Father Bibler went to Chillicothe to buy some corn. Owing to the short supply there, he only got one bushel, for which he had to pay two dollars. This he brought home, and sent his son Jacob (my informant) to Woodring's mill, about five miles west on Walnut Creek, where he had to wait for his turn. He said that when the warm meal was running from the spout out of the burrs, he caught some in his hand, and that he never tasted anything so good in all his life.
COONS AND SQUIRRELS.
The first season they planted about three acres of corn, but they did not even get a peck of ripe corn. The squirrels visited the cornfield in day-time, and the raccoons in the night. Jacob told me that his father, Abraham, went out with his rifle one morning and killed thirty-eight squirrels off of one tree, and then he was not able to count the remainder on the same tree. On another occasion he brought down eighteen raccoons from a single tree.
INDIANS AND WHITE BOYS PLAYING.
It was a common thing for the boys of both races to meet and engage in testing their skill and activity by running foot- races, jumping and tusseling. My informant spoke of Thos. Warner's, in Walnut Township, and of Tutwiler's, and at his father's, where Basil is, as frequent meeting-places of these boys of both races. He referred by memory to the spot where A. T. Mason's residence is, and the foundry, as these old play-grounds.
TOWNSHIP ELECTION.
"I remember," said the narrator, "of hearing my father and other old men tell, that one time when a township election was to be held, they had to send around word and hunt up seven men in order to be able to hold an election for township officers." We have none of that kind of trouble now, and there are six to seven hundred voters in the township.
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
FIRST MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL.
The first resident minister was Rev. Martin Kauffman, a Baptist. Rev. John Hite, of Walnut Township, also preached in the neighborhood for many years. Rev. Benedum, of the United Brethren, preached for a long time at the house of Mr. Showley. He was a resident of Bloom Township. Rev. Geo. Weis, of Lancaster, was the first German Reform minister who came about. He preached first at Amspach's, two and a half miles north of Basil, where St. Michael's Church now is. This was about 1817.
CAMP-BOY.
In conversation with Gen. Geo. Sanderson, of Lancaster, some fifteen years ago, he told me that when he was a small boy he - came with a couple of hunters into this (Liberty) township, and served them as camp-boy about a week, at a time when there was not a cabin or white man within its limits. He spoke of the site of their camp as being just above the spring, or on the hill immediately north of where Pugh's warehouse stands, at Basil, on a lot now owned by my sister, Mrs. Musser. Where now, are the hunters, and the camp-boy, and the camp?
FIRST TAVERN IN BASIL.
Henry Yanna built the house now owned by Jacob H. Campbell, our hardware merchant. This was our first tavern. Mr. Y. was a Swiss, and a professional butcher. Many thou- sands of pounds of beef did he haul on the " Deep Cut " to Monticello (a town then near the present Millersport). But now Monticello is a cornfield. Beef then was sold at three cents per pound. There were more than a hundred hands constantly at work. Mr. Yanr a had for his tavern-sign an ox painted on the board.
PETER DARING,
Also a Swiss, had the second tavern. There was business then for two taverns in Basil, not so much for entertainment as for the sale of whisky and " stone-fence cider," which meant four gallons of whisky in a barrel of water, to make it to keep. For his sign he had the Swiss hero, Wilhelm Tell.
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
FIRST STORE IN BASIL.
Henry D. Bolle, a Frenchman, on the day of the first sale of town-lots. purchased the old homestead, which consisted of a hewed log house, and the old vacated log-cabin, built in 1809. The purchase price was about sixty dollars. This was inlot No. 9. He put one shelf up-stairs, twelve feet long and one foot wide. On this shelf he was able to put his entire stock of goods.
One year after, he put up shelving and a rough counter in the old log-cabin. In this cabin he did business for two years. In 1828 he called at our house and wanted to sell his store to my father. My father replied, "Wat do I want wid your store ?" Bolle replied, "You put little Henry in dere ; he . make sthore-keeper some day." He left the goods in the cabin for us to sell in a year, promising to take back what was not sold. We took them at retail price, but could not make one cent on them. But father had one hundred dollars in silver, which he kept in a wooden box on top of the clothes-press. He sold a horse for fifty dollars. This made a capital of one hundred and fifty dollars, which was carried to Lancaster on the 15th day of April, 1828, and with that amount our first purchase of merchandise was made.
Our sales did not average two dollars a day during the first year, the aggregate amount sold being no more than $500. But by perseverance, diligence and attention, the Leonard brothers were enabled to navigate the turbulent waters of trade for nearly forty years, without meeting any serious disaster from the frequent and fierce storms and hurricanes caused by the risky and unreliable trade-winds, on account of which so many mercantile ships were swamped or sunk.
PIGEON-HUNT.
There was a time in the early history of this country when wild-pigeons were so very plenty, that they literally " darkened the heavens " in their flight to and from their roost in Licking County.
On one occasion five young men set out from this neighbor- hood for the pigeon-roost, to bring back, as they doubted not, large numbers of these birds. The company consisted of Samuel Bader, John Hively, Jacob Showley, Jacob Bibler and
-
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
Jacob Goss. The two latter are still living. They provided themselves with punk, flint and steel, for the purpose of rais- ing a fire at night. But alas ; a cold, driving rain set in, and they were soaked to the skin, with no possibility of starting a fire, as everything was dripping wet. Their expedition was a failure, of which they never heard the last. Old Father Shriner, who was auctioneer in the settlement, or " sale-crier," as the term was then, loved to twit the boys when they were present. " Here, Jacob," he would say, "is a tub; it will do to salt down your pigeons. How much will you give ?" Or, if he offered a small vessel, he would say, " Sell ist gut fuer Saltz," by which he meant, this will answer to carry salt for salting down your pigeons. Old Father Shriner was a jolly old pioneer. His grandchildren are now grandparents. Such is the flight of time.
NAILING COFFINS SHUT.
Our old pioneer, David Brumback, was the undertaker in our township. He buried, or rather made all the coffins when I was a small boy. I remember once I went with my grand- father to a funeral at Showley's, and as screws were scarce in those primitive times, nails were used to fasten down the lid of the coffin ; and I heard my grandfather tell my mother this : " Barbi, wenn ich sterbe, will ich nicht mit dem Hammer zu- genagelt sein." Barbara, when I die, I will not have my coffin nailed with a hammer.
WHISKY-BOTTLE AT FUNERALS.
I remember, too, when it was customary to carry, or hand round a bottle filled with whisky before the funeral would leave the house. I had the honor myself, when called on, to hand the long-necked green bottle around, and a young lady would follow with cakes and pies.
INDIAN SQUAW WOUNDED.
Mr. Noah Gundy, who has been living in the vicinity more than seventy years, told me, that the Indians almost every spring would come on Walnut Creek, near their farm, for the purpose of boiling sugar. One time a man came to hunt, and seeing some object moving among the pawpaw bushes, and be-
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
lieving it to be a bear, fired at it, and was startled by the scream of a squaw, and alarmed, he lost no time in giving "leg-bail." The Indians were soon on his trail, but he eluded them by his fleetness, and by taking to the bed of the creek, thus causing them to lose his track; and he kept safely out of their way until the matter was settled and the Indians pacicified. Dr. Shawk, of Lancaster, was sent out to dress the wounded arm, and he partially succeeded in persuading them. that it was unintentional, though they for a long time enter- tained lingering doubts. The squaw, however, got well, and all was over.
[This I believe to be the story that is told of the late Judge David Ewing, of Pleasant Township. The circumstances are nearly the same in both statements. The friends of Mr. Ewing, however, do not locate the scene on Walnut Creek, but in the Arnold settlement, in Pleasant. They also say that the Indians refused the services of a doctor, and that the affair was settled by Daniel Arnold and others, by the payment of money and other things .- ED.]
A HOG STORY.
At one time old Father Gundy drove forty head of fat hogs all the way to Zanesville, Ohio, for which he expected to re- ceive $1.50 per hundred, but it seems that when he arrived with the porkers, Mr. Buckingham backed out, and said that he could not pay more than $1.25 a hundred, that they had come too late. Mr. Gundy was displeased, an i said, "You shan't have them." So the old man left the forty fat hogs to take care of themselves, and returned home in a bad humor. Strangely enough, in about three weeks every one of the hogs straggled back to the Gundy farm, over a distance of more than forty miles, and were afterwards sold to a Chillicothe man for $1.50 per hundred pounds. Hogs were then sold by net weight.
STRONGEST MAN IN THE TOWNSHIP.
In the early settlement of our township, especially before we had a canal, our farmers would go to Zanesville with their wagons and exchange their wheat for salt. At one time six or eight teams from Walnut Creek went in company, and after
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
they had sold and unloaded their wheat, they drove to the salt-house. Mr. Fairchild (long since dead) said to the clerk, or salt man, " We will bet you a gallon of brandy that we have a man in our crowd that can pick up a barrel of salt by the chimes and lift it into the wagon." After the salt man had eyed the crowd closely, and could see no giant among them, he said, "Agreed." Mr. Fairchild then called out, "John Huntwork, pull off your coat and go to work." And John did not only load one barrel, but, as one wagon after another drove up, he picked up the barrels of salt as though they were firkins of butter, and loaded the wagons. And it is to be remembered, that at that time a barrel of salt weighed more than 280 pounds ; many of them weighed over 300. Mr. Noah Gundy (my informant) further told me, that John Huntwork at one time carried eleven bushels of wheat up a pair of steps at one load. The wheat was put in one large sack especially for the occasion.
AN INDIAN SCARE.
It was rumored that the Indians were coming in to plunder the pioneers. Bibler's cabin was the place of rendezvous. It was not long before several guns were heard at a neighbor- ing cabin, when the women began to scream. One old lady said : "O! I wish the Indians had killed me long ago." My mother wanted father to go, but he said no, he would not run away from his own house. They all stayed at home, but no savages appeared. The rumor had been started and the guns fired by rowdies, for fun, but the neighbors did not recognize the fun.
HOW BASIL GOT ITS NAME.
Old Father Jacob Goss landed here in 1807 or 1808, and put up a cabin. He had two sons and one daughter. When the canal was being located, Henry Hildebrand laid out a new town, which was named New Market, but is now the " Balti- more, Ohio." Jonathan Flattery surveyed the lots of Basil, and when he was through he asked Father Goss what he was going to call his town, and he (Goss) decided to leave the naming of it to his neighbors. My father proposed Basil, and 'Squire Joseph Hustand proposed Geneva, both Swiss
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
names. It was decided to determine by ballot. At this stage of the case, I, a boy, came along on my return from the old Hively log school-house, with my copy-book under my arm. Father told me to write some tickets, which I did, upon a blank sheet torn from my copy-book. The votes were cast, and upon counting out from the hat it was found that there were six for Basil and six for Geneva-a tie. At this point my uncle, John Goss, came up the hill, when my father said : "John, vote Basil." He gave the casting vote, and hence Basil. I was, therefore, the first to write the name of our vil- lage, Basil. This was in 1825, and therefore these two villages are a little over fifty years old. Henry Hildebrand was first proprietor of Baltimore, and Jacob Goss first proprietor of Basil.
THE FIRST CORN PONE.
A number of our Swiss families, instead of going to the mouth of Hocking, and up that stream in skiffs, turned up the Muskingum and came to Zanesville, a nearer and more eligi- ble route. Among them were the Weber and Erb families. They laid up a little below Zanesville. In the morning, old Mother Erb went to a cabin near by to get some milk for their coffee. She took with her a silver quarter. The woman of the house had no change. The old lady made motion for her to let her have a piece of what she took to be an egg-pudding, which she saw in the skillet. The woman gave her the whole of it, and she hurried back to the camp with the pudding (?) in her apron, saying: "Now we will have a nice breakfast." The pudding was cut, but no one could eat a bite of it. Even their dog would not touch it. It was a corn pone. But they got well over that before they were five years older.
CHEAP WHEAT AND CORN.
Joseph Bibler told me only last week, when speaking of the price of grain, after the little farmers had raised more than they needed, that they would have been glad to have got ten cents a bushel for their corn, but could not get five cents cash.
At one time he (Bibler) went to Lancaster to see if he could sell some wheat. A prominent citizen and business man there, said to him: " I have no use for any wheat now, but if you will bring it in and empty it into one of these mud-
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
holes, so our gentlemen can have a clean and dry walk, I will give you twelve and a half cents a bushel." I had heard the story before, but this from my old and reliable friend settled the question.
CONCLUSION.
Following are the names of the principal pioneers who set- tled in Liberty Township prior to the year 1812 :
Robert Wilson, Christian Gundy, David Broomback, Francis Bibler, Jacob Showley, Nicholas Bader, the Erb and Weber families, Philip Shepler, McCalla, Fairchild, Switzer, Gaster, Amspach, Giesy, Hiser, Hanna, Minehart, Howser, Hensel, Apt, Heistand, Alt, Morehead, Bartmess, Cook, Leisteneker, Finkbone, Heyle, Bader, Black, Hiveley, Eversoles, Farmer, Shisler, Campbell, Zirkle, Kumler, Leonard, Brown, Sann, Bolenbaugh, Rouch, Paff, Newel, Blauser, Shriner, Knepper, Wright, Olinger, Growiler, Kemerer, Sager, Tusing and Soltz. Respectfully,
HENRY LEONARD.
RECOLLECTIONS OF MICHAEL LEIST.
CLEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Michael Leist was born in Clear Creek Township sixty-six years ago, and has resided within its bounds all his life. The following are the names of the first settlers of the township, to the extent that he remembers them.
John Leist (father of Michael) came in 1805. He is well remembered. He served many years as Justice of the Peace, and was thirteen times elected to the State Legislature. The very first settlers of Clear Creek, as Mr. Leist remembers them, he named as follows-the time of their arrival varying from 1800 to 1810. They settled in different parts of the township:
Martin Smith, Mr. Binhimer, the Fosnaughts (the des- cendants of the Fosnaughts constitute a large voting force of the township to this day). John, Nicholas and Daniel Con- rad came early. Henry and Daniel Conrad, two descend-
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
ants, are still living, at an advanced age. George Conrad is still living at the age of 82 years. He was a son of John Conrad. Daniel has two sons living, and Nicholas one. George Nigh was a very early settler. His descendants are all dead. Peter Swineford settled east of John Leist. John Welsheimer, Mr. Stott, John Starr, Peter Good, Peter Baker, George Baker. George Stout and Benjamin Chrisman were among the early settlers of Clear Creek. Mr. Dilsaver built the first horse-mill in the township. This was a little east of Stoutsville. George and John Hammel settled a little east of Dilsaver's. George Augustus was a very early settler. There were either three or four of the Hedges amongst the first- comers. They had a numerous progeny, and the family is still conspicuous in Clear Creek. John Reynolds came very early. His three sons, Stuart, Thompson and Franklin, are all dead. Mr. Stukey was among the first pioneers in Clear Creek Township. Two or three brothers by the name of Friend came about the same time. Their descendants still reside in the township. Mr. Spangler was among the first settlers. Two of his sons are still living, viz. : Jeremiah and Samuel. Jacob Schumaker, a pioneer, lived and died in Clear Creck Township. Jonathan Dressback was a very early settler.
DUTCH HOLLOW CHURCH.
Mr. Leist described the two-story log church, built seventy years ago, in Dutch Hollow. Among the preachers who attended there more or less regularly, were Rev. George Wise, German Reform; Rev. Stake, Lutheran ; Rev. Leist and Rev. Bing.
Mr. Leist also gave an interesting description of the first school-house and school in Dutch Hollow, near the church. School was kept there from two to three months in the year. The back-logs for the fire were drawn in with the log-chain and horse power, through an opening in the wall opposite the fireplace, and in very cold days the opening was closed by banking up the ashes to keep the cold wind out. He learned to spell by rote from hearing his brothers spell before he knew a letter of the alphabet. On one occasion he cried because the
13
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, OHIO.
master refused to allow him to stand up with the spelling class ; but to please him, finally he was permitted, and when the hard words passed along down the class, missed by several, he spelled them correctly and went up, very much to the amusement of the school.
The first election for the township was held in a log school house near its center. The same spot has been the voting place ever since, and continues to be at this day. George Valentine was remembered as among the early 'Squires. The pioneer house-raisings, log-rollings, corn-huskings, rail-maul- ings, grubbings, quiltings, and the like, were referred to as things that had been, but that are never to be again. Also, the old hominy-block, the corn-grater; mills dried up and scarcity of breadstuffs-the dear old days of peace, and happiness, and brotherhood.
JOSEPH G. WISEMAN'S LETTER.
WALNUT TOWNSHIP.
NEW SALEM, March 8th, 1877.
DR. H. SCOTT-Dear Sir : The note you intended for Charles Wiseman was placed in my box, there being no man by that name residing in the neighborhood. Not having come to this neighborhood until 1818, I have most of my informa- tion from first settlers.
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