USA > Ohio > Adams County > A history of Adams County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, including character sketches of the prominent persons identified with the first century of the country's growth > Part 56
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Ellis Palmer Killed an Indian.
Ellis Palmer, a pioneer of Adams County, came from Pennsylvania to Limestone, Kentucky, about 1790. He and John Gunsaulus, or as he was called, and the name so written in many of the old land and road sur- veys of Adams County, "King Sawley," werc noted hunters. They spent most of their time hunting in the region including what is now Adams and Brown Counties, Ohio, before any permanent settlements were made
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SPRIGG TOWNSHIP
there. Both were active, strong men, and loved the chase as well as any Indian. They never owned any lands but "squatted" on choice spots near the haunts of the bear and deer. Palmer when a lad had seen an elder brother of his cruelly scalped by the savages, and when he grew large enough to handle a rifle, he pushed to the frontier to seek revenge and many a red man has passed to the "happy hunting grounds" through the unerring aim of his rifle. It is related that after peace had been declared, and the whites were beginning to rear their cabins on the north bank of the Ohio, an Indian came to the vicinity of Ellis' Lick, named for Palmer, and he learning of the presence of the Indian, lay in wait for him and killed him with his rifle. Descendants of Palmer and Gunsaulus are scattered throughout Adams and Brown Counties.
Villages.
BENTONVILLE-Laid out by Joseph Leedom in 1839, and named for Senator Thomas Benton, of Missouri, is the largest village in the town- ship, with a population of about 250.
BRADYSVILLE-This is a small village of perhaps 75 inhabitants and was named for its founder, Van S. Brady, who laid out a few lots there in 1839.
Schools.
Benton Special District was established in 1871. There is a two story frame building, in poor condition, standing on a bare, neglected lot at the south of the village. There are four rooms, and at one time this school was the pride of the village. The first superintendent was Judge Isaac N. Tolle. The present enrollment is 56 males and 41 females.
Sub-Districts.
No.
Males.
Females.
No.
Males.
Females.
I
31
16
9
9
II
2
13
8
JO
27
26
3
24
15
II
14
18
4
20
17
12
22
13
5
23
13
13
6
8
22
23
14
29
21
13
II
15
23
IO
8
27
22
16
. 15
12
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CHAPTER XII.
TIFFIN TOWNSHIP
Tiffin Township was organized in 1806, as will be seen by referring to the chapter devoted to the "Organization of the Townships." It was named in honor of Edward Tiffin, Ohio's first and one of her wisest Governors.
First Settlers.
Joseph Eyler built the first cabin in this township where he after- wards made his home near Killinstown, in the winter of 1795. The Ey- ler farm of 300 acres is now owned by John Crawford, Samuel Mc- Feeters and Sandy Craigmile. When Rev. James B. Finley passed over Tod's Trace from Limestone to Chillicothe with his father's cattle and "niggers" in 1796, he noted the fact that there was a cabin near where the town of West Union now stands, built by Mr. Oiler, but no one lived in it. Daniel Collier, about this time, selected a site for his future home on one of the most beautiful terraces along Ohio Brush Creek, known to this day as the "Collier farm." Just below him on the creek was Duncan Mckenzie. Andrew Ellison took up his residence on Lick Fork near the old stone house which he built in 1798, where the town of Waterford was laid out. Richard Harrison about the same time lo- cated at Waterford and kept a tavern there. John Treber built a cabin in 1796 a half mile further down Lick Fork where the old tavern building yet stands, and Peter Shoemaker, Simon Shoemaker, John Shepherd, and Thomas Davis located near by on Ohio Brush Creek. Job Dinning, John Killin, Jacob Piatt, James Ralston, and Adam Hempleman located in the vicinity of Killinstown. Simon Fields settled further east on Brush Creek. George Harper, James Collins, James January and Robert Mc- Clanahan located near West Union.
Surface and Soil.
Being diversified with hill and dale, rivulet and creek, ridge and plane, the township has within it some of the richest and some of the poor- est lands in the county. The soil, highly impregnated with iron on the "red ridges," is fertile. The marl flats are thin soils, and the bald marl . hillsides are barren. But the sugar tree coves and the bottom loams along the streams are very fertile.
Streams.
Ohio Brush Creek, a beautiful little river, forms the northeastern and eastern boundary of the township. Lick Fork is, its longest tributary in the township. It rises at a spring near West Union and flows north-
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TIFFIN TOWNSHIP
east uniting with Ohio Brush Creek at the Sproull bridge. Beasley's Fork also takes its source from a spring in West Union, flows southeast and unites with Ohio Brush Creek opposite the Nathan Foster farm in Greene Township. A branch of the East Fork of Eagle Creek rises in the western part of the township and flows south along its western border.
Churches.
Among the early churches of the county, the Baptist organization on Soldier's Run, in this township should have due notice. This church was organized at the house of James Carson in June, 1802, by Rev. Thomas Ellrod, with the following named membership: James Carson, Elizabeth Carson, David Thomas, Patrick Killen, Nathaniel Foster, Pris- cilla Lovejoy and Eve Ellrod. For years meetings were held at Car- son's or at Osman's schoolhouse. In 1836 a frame meeting house was erected on a lot purchased from Abraham Newkirk.
The pastors of the church have been : Thomas Ellrod, John Harover, Jacob Layman, David Spohn, Hiram Burnett, Lyman Whitney, David Vance, Hugh Kelley, Henry Dinkleman, and Frances Fear. Of the early deacons, there were: James Carson, Nathaniel Foster, John Hamil- ton, Samuel Mason, F. C. Fear, Alpheus Humble and John Osman. Clerks: David Briggs, Bartholomew Anderson, William F. James, Wil- liam Parks and F. C. Fear. The old church building has long since been abandoned, and the organization united with West Union congregation.
OAK GROVE-The Christian, or "New Light," Church known as Oak Grove, about three miles from West Union, in the northwestern part of the township was organized by Elders Davidson, Garroutte and Pang- burn, in 1867, with the following membership: Hester Lowe, Sarah Postlewaite, Margaret Russell, Elizabeth Howland, Jonathan Postlewaite, Huldah Lewis. Levi C. Howland, Andrew Gillespie, Sarah Russell, Sarah L. Gillespie, and Matilda Billiter.
STONE CHAPEL-The society from which this church sprung was nearly contemporaneous with that at Moore's on Scioto Brush Creek. In 1797 Joseph Moore organized a class in Methodism at Isaac Wamsley's on Ohio Brush Creek with Simon Fields as leader. The first meeting house, constructed from logs in 1802, was known as Fields'. It was after- wards known as Burkett's, and later upon the erection of the present structure, "Stone Chapel." There is a graveyard there, but owing to a thick ledge of stone lying near the surface of the ground, it is not used much as a place of burial.
This church is on the West Union and Cedar Mills turnpike, about five miles to the east of West Union, and two miles from the crossing of Ohio Brush Creek. It is built of dressed limestone and is in a very good state of preservation.
SATTERFIELD'S CHAPEL is on the Cedar Mills pike about four miles east of West Union. It is a Christian Union organization and the church building, a comfortable frame, was erected in 1875 by Wesley Sat- terfield, a wealthy farmer of that vicinity. Archie Craigmile, Van R. McCarty, John B. Denning, John Steele, Asbury Beard and their wives formed the first organization in 1868, at Compton's schoolhouse.
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
Schools.
The township has nine sub-districts and one Village Special.
No
Males.
Females.
No.
Males.
Females.
I
18
16
6
37
28
2
2]
19
7
25
27
3
18
19
8
22
22
4
26
25
9
16
20
5
26
30
WEST UNION, the present county seat of Adams County, was estab- lished by act of the Legislature, April 13, 1803. The act named Isaac Davis, John Evans, and James Menary, Commissioners to select a site for the new seat of justice. They were required to make their report in duplicate, one to the Speaker of the Senate, Nathaniel Massie, and one to the Court of Common Pleas which latter were prohibited from ex- pending any more money for public buildings until the seat of justice should be permanently located.
January 16, 1804, the Commissioners having made their report, rec- ommending a site about one-half mile south of Zane's Trace, on lands owned by Robert McClanahan, and near the central portion of the county, an act was passed to locate the county seat there permanently. The act provided for the purchase of the lands of McClanahan and others ad- joining to an amount not exceeding 150 acres at eight dollars per acre, by the Associate Judges of the county and to be paid for out of the county treasury on their order ; the title to said lands to be vested in a Board of Trustees, composed of Nathaniel Beasley. William Marshall, Salathiel Sparks, Aaron Moore, Benjamin Wood, William Collings and John Briggs. This board was required to appoint a Clerk and a Surveyor, and to proceed to lay off lots with convenient streets for the new town to be named West Union, and to make and record a plat of the same. Notice of the sale of lots was required to be published for thirty days in the Scioto Gazette, of Chillicothe. The County Commissioners were em- powered to dispose of county property at Washington. When the num- ber of lot owners reached thirty, they were required to meet and elect a new Board of Trustees to succeed the board appointed by the act. Mem- bers of the Board were elected annually thereafter.
The town proper stands upon one hundred acres purchased from Robert McClanahan for seven hundred and sixty dollars. What is known as Harper's Addition consisted of five acres north of Mulberry Street for which was paid the sum of one dollar. Priscilla Anderson sold five acres adjoining McClanahan's for forty dollars, so that the original plat of West Union cost $801. It sold at the public sale of lots for $2,985.
From the record book kept by the Board, now in the possession of William C. Coryell, of West Union, we glean the following :
Monday, March 19, 1804. Trustees chose William Collings, Clerk, and Nathaniel Beasley, Surveyor.
Tuesday, March 20. The Trustees met at nine o'clock A. M. and proceeded to survey and stake off the inlots, until six o'clock P. M., and then adjourned.
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LOOKING WEST FROM CHILDREN'S HOME BIRDS EYE VIEW, WEST UNION, OHIO
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TIFFIN TOWNSHIP
Wednesday, March 21. The Trustees met at half-past nine o'clock A. M. and proceeded to survey and stake off the inlots until half-past twelve o'clock and then adjourned.
Friday, March 30. Appeared A. Moore, B. Wood, N. Beasley, S. Sparks, William Marshall and William Collings, half-past ten o'clock A. M., and employed Robert McClanahan to assist them and then pro- ceeded to survey and stake off the inlots until half-past five o'clock P. M., and then adjourned.
March 31, 1804. The Trustees met at nine o'clock A. M. and pro- ceeded to lay out and stake off inlots until half-past five o'clock P. M., in whoch time Henry Rape came and made application for the house [log house that stood near the springs where the public well is, on Main Street] that is on said lots, and the said Trustees gave their obligation to keep said Rape in peaceable possession of said house from the ninth day of April next until the first day of the sale of said lots, in considera- tion of said Rape giving his obligation to said Trustees for eight dollars payable the first day of May next.
Monday, April 30, 1804. Appeared A. Moore, B. Wood, N. Beas- ley, S. Sparks, J. Briggs, and William Collings at one o'clock P. M. and proceeded to survey and stake off the inlots until six o'clock P. M., and delivered a plat of the town of West Union unto Joseph Darlinton, Re- corder of the County of Adams, and then adjourned.
Friday, May 1, 1804. Appeared B. Wood, J. Briggs, N. Beasley, S. Sparks, and William Collings at half-past eight o'clock A. M. and pro- ceeded to survey and stake off the outlots until six o'clock P. M., and then adjourned.
There were one hundred and eleven inlots and twenty outlots on the plat.
Thursday, May 17, 1804. The Trustees of the town of West Union met in said town for the purpose of selling the lots in said town at public sale, and chose John Lodwick to vendue said sale, who sold as follows, viz .:
Out- lots.
Purchaser.
Price.
Out- lots.
Purchaser.
Price.
Thomas Nicholson.
$15
11
David Bradford.
$82
2
Clairburn Fox.
18
12
John Little.
28
3
Clairburn Fox.
31
13
John Armstrong.
27
4
Peter Schultz ..
43
14
John Briggs
28
5
Peter Schultz.
36
15
John Brown
20
6
Leonard Cole.
34
16
John Brown
30
7
Jesse Eastburn ...
29
17
John Brown.
23
8
William Robertson.
23
18
David Bradford
33
9
Benjamin Wood.
30
19
David Bradford.
20
10
David Bradford.
38
20
John Brown
25
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
In- lots.
Purchaser.
Price.
In- lots.
Purchaser.
Price.
Isaac Foster
$6
57
Joseph Darlinton
$18
2
Joseph Lovejoy.
6
58
Joseph Darlinton
18
3
James Anderson
6
59
James Chambers.
20
4
Wm. Morrison
8
Alexander Meek
30
5
Daniel Robbins.
8
61
Jesse Eastburn.
46
6
Elijah Rinker
7
62
Jacob Sample.
54
7
Andrew Ellison
6
63
Reserved for ...
8
Daniel Marlatt
12
64
9
10
David Decamp ....
6
66
Thos. James ...
87
11
David Decamp ..
5
67
Reserved for Jail
...
12
David Edie.
4
68
John Kincaid ..
13
Jeseph Beam
4
69
Thomas Kirker
14
John Shirley ..
6
70
Job Denning.
9
15
John Briggs.
71
Robert Anderson.
8
16 17
John Davidson.
15
73
Wm. Robertson.
35
18
Paul Larsh
18
74
James Chambers
41
19
Andrew Ellison
14
75
David Bradford
50 50
21
Peter Shultz ..
21
77
Reserved for.
22
Peter Shultz.
51
78
Court House Elijah Rinker.
78
24
Peter Shultz ..
31
80
John Brown ..
43
25
John Shirley ....
9
81
John Rodgers
40
26 27
John Killi
6
83
Aquilla Smith
17 17 4
30
Charles Larsh
7
86
Lydia Roberts.
10
31
John Killin
James McComas
14
32
Enoch Ogle
Arthur McFarland.
33
Wm. Armstrong.
89
Joseph Curry ..
34
Wm. Armstrong.
27
90
John Brown ..
35
Peter Shultz ..
91
Clairborne Fox
36
Benjamin Wood
92
Elijah Walden
36
38
40
94 Benjamin Wood.
30 5
40 41
W. Hannah ..
9
97
Jacob Treber.
6
42
W. Hannah
11
98 99
Isaac Foster
9 10
46
Reserved.
102
Thomas Kirker.
13 8
48
John Armstrong.
59
104
George Harper ..
8
49
Benjamin Wood.
61 56
106
James Williams ..
22
51
Johnston Armstrong 63
Bartholomew Anderson
21
52
John S. Little.
67
53
Thomas Nicholson.
37
109
Thomas Kincaid.
7
54
Peter.Grant.
37
110
Josiah Wade
6
55
Jacob Treber.
17
111
Josiah Wade.
6
56
Joseph Darlinton.
16
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27
28
Jacob Treber.
5
84
Joseph Darlinton
29
Josiah Wade.
6
85
Job Denning ..
20 20 55 40 37
37
Leonard Cole.
45
95
Isaac Earl ..
Thomas Mason.
25
96
Enoch Ogle.
5
43
Paul Larsh ..
11
100
Isaac Foster.
4
47
Wm. Collings
65
103
Thomas Palmer.
Aaron Moore
7
50
Leonard Cole ..
27
44 45
Henry Rape.
70
101
Joseph Lovejoy.
12
20
Andrew Ellison
10
76
Leonard Cole ..
23
Pete Shultz.
31
79
John Shirley.
11
82
John Brown.
John Briggs
13
72
Court House ..
65
David Bradford.
75
56 27
25 22
87 88
23
31 27
45
93 Arthur McFarland.
Wm. Steen ..
39
John Rodgers.
Leonard Cole.
105
107 108 S. Sparks
11
Ed. McLoughlin
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TIFFIN TOWNSHIP
Saturday, May 19, 1804. Trustees met and took up obligations, and gave certificates to purchasers. Certificates were given John Brown for lots purchased by Claiburn Fox.
All lots are laid off north and south, east by west, six poles by nine poles, except lot No. 14 is four poles at the south end, and five at the north end and nine poles long. Lot No. 15 is five poles at the south end and six poles at the north end. Lot No. 85 is six poles by four and one- quarter poles. All streets running through the inlots and outlots are four poles wide. The street between the inlots and outlots is three poles wide, and lots are twenty-three poles long and fourteen wide except lot No. I is fifteen and two-thirds poles at the south end, and fourteen and one-half poles long. Lot No. 14 is fourteen and two-thirds poles at the north end and sixteen and one-half poles at the south end and twenty- three long. No. 15 is sixteen and one-half poles at the north end and seventeen and two-thirds at the south end and twenty-six poles long. No. 8 is nine and seven-eighths poles at the north end and eight and one- quarter poles at the south end and twenty-three poles long. No. 7 is nine and seven-eighths poles at the south end and eleven and three- quarters poles at the north end and twenty-three poles long. And Nos. 16, 17, 18 and 19 are twenty-six poles long. The street on the north side of the town is three poles wide; and on the east and west of the in- lots the streets are one and one-half poles wide and on the east, west and south of the outlots the streets are two poles wide.
April 30, 1804.
N. Beasley, Salathiel Sparks, Benjamin Wood, John Briggs, Aaron Moore, William Collings, Trustees of the Town of West Union.
State of Ohio, Adams County, ss.
I do certify that this day the within named John Briggs, Benjamin Wood, Salathiel Sparks, William Collings and Aaron Moore personally appeared before the subscriber, a Justice of the Peace in and for the county aforesaid and acknowledged the within plat of West Union and their signing the same to be their voluntary act and deed for the purposes therein laid down.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this thirtieth day of April in the year of our Lord 1804.
[SEAL. ] N. Beasley.
In conformity to the act entitled, "An Act to establish the Permanent Seat of Justice in the County of Adams," we the undersigned do reserve the following inlots in the town of West Union for the following pur- poses, to-wit : Lots numbers 63, 64, 77 and 78 for a Courthouse, etc. No. 67 for a Public Jail, and lot number 46 for a Public Spring and School- house. Given under our hands this sixteenth day of May, 1804.
Hosea Moore, David Edie, Needham Parry, Associate Judges of Adams County.
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
First House and First Stores.
Henry Rape built the first house, a hewed log building, on lot No. 45 He was a hatter and in this house he lived and made hats for many years. A room ten by twelve, in this house. William Armstrong used for a store until he erected the building known as the Mullen corner in 1810, south- west corner Main and Cross Streets. On the northeast corner of Main and Market Streets, William Russell, afterwards Congressman from Adams District, built a two story log-house and opened a small store in 1806. The same year John Hood opened a store in a large hewed log building belonging to Peter Shultz on the northwest corner of the old mill lot. Mr. Hood afterwards erected a building on the southeast cor- ner of Main and Cross Streets.
Early Taverns.
THE OLD BRADFORD TAVERN, northeast corner of Main and Cherry Streets, since known as the Marlatt House, Crawford House, and Down- ing House, was erected by David Bradford who had kept a tavern at Washington while the county seat, in 1806, and was opened to the public in 1807. It is an historic old hostelry, having sheltered President Jackson, Thomas Benton, Henry Clay, General Santa Anna, and hosts of lesser lights in the days of the old stage line from Maysville to Chillicothe, and on to Washington City.
WOOD'S TAVERN, southeast corner Main and Market Streets, was opened in 1807 also. The house was built by John Lodwick, and used by him as a private residence from 1804 to 1807. In later years Edmund Browning kept there "Browning's Inn at the sign of the Goddess of Liberty."
THE BELL TAVERN, on Main Street west of the Public Spring. was kept by John Hayslip for many years in the early days of West Union and was a popular hostelry for the old settlers' Fourth of July banquets.
Tannery.
The first tannery in West Union was operated by Peter Shultz in 1805. It was on the old mill lot.
Tinshop.
The first tinshop opened in West Union was in 1820 by Daniel Boyle, a sketch of whose life is in this volume.
Lodges.
The oldest lodge in West Union, and the parent Masonic lodge of Adams County. is West Union Lodge, No. 43, F. and A. M., whose char- ter was granted by the Grand Lodge at Columbus, Ohio, January 15. 1820. The charter members were: Abraham Hollingsworth, W. M .; Samuel Treat, S. W .; John Kincaid, J. W .; John Fisher. Secretary ; James Ross, George Bryan and Aaron Wilson.
In a recent communication to the West Union Scion, the venerable David Dunbar, of Manchester, states some interesting facts with refer- ence to the Masonic lodge at West Union which should be preserved for future generations. It was a like spirit of political prejudice and religious
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TIFFIN TOWNSHIP
bigotry that prevented the location of the Western Theological Seminary from being located in West Union, because it was argued that the Pres- byterians, who were then Jeffersonian Democrats, were conspiring with Andrew Jackson to overthrow the government of the United States. General Jackson was then in 1825 chairman of the Board of Commis- sioners, selected by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to locate the above named seminary in the district composed of Pennsyl- vania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana, and he and the Hon. John Thompson, of Chillicothe, and Dr. Blackburn, of Lexington, Ky., a ma- jority of the committee, favored West Union. But the radicals and fa- natics of the community would not have it for the reasons named. And unfortunately for West Union, it failed to secure, years afterwards, the site of a state institution-the Asylum for the Insane, now at Athens-be- cause the Virginia blood of Adams County's member of the Legislature at the time chilled at the thought of having "the crazy people" of the State domiciled in "Old Adams." Mr. Dunbar says:
"Following the abduction and death of Morgan, excitement was in- tense, and soon it had extended to all parts of the country. So strong, too, was the feeling engendered, that for a time the system of national government seemed imperiled. A new. and in some states very powerful political party was formed, its general object being to war against secret societies, especially Masons, and more specifically still to prevent the elec- tion of Masons to public office. The most absurd and ridiculous reports of the secret work and conduct of Masons were circulatel and found ready belief. The strife invaded and divided churches, communities were dis- turbed by angry disputes between neighbors, and friends became embit- tered against friends.
"It was during these memorable times that I was living in West Union, the place of my birth, and though a youth of scarcely more than ten years of age, I was a deeply interested observer and student of the situation. The excitement in West Union rose to a high pitch, and soon involved all conditions of society-religious, political and social-in the tempest of passion and out of which soon were formed two antagonistic parties, Masonic and Anti-Masonic. Each party had its newspaper, the Anti-Masonic being published by my brother-in-law, David Murray, with Rev. Dyer Burgess as assistant, while the Masonic organ was issued by a gentleman named Patterson, who, I think came from Clermont County.
"Here it was that I received my first impression and formed my first conclusions regarding Ancient Craft Masonry, and young as I was I perceived that the better citizens within and around the town were either Masons or in sympathy with their cause. I give here the names of some of them that I recollect: Abraham Hollingsworth, William Allen, Daniel P. Wilkins, James Roff, John Kincaid, Adam McGovney, Thomas Thoro- man, Rev. William Page, John McDaid, Robert McDaid, Nicholas Bur- well, Wesley Lee. It was after observing that men like these stood firmly together on the question then being agitated that I resolved if I should reach the age of manhood, and be found worthy, I would become a Mason.
"As I now remember, the last work done in West Union Lodge after the fierce opposition to the Order overspread the country was about 1831, and about 1835 the persecution became so intensely hostile that the lodge surrendered its charter and jewels. In consequence of this action
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
no lodge work was done until 1846. During this interval I had grown to manhood, and in the year 1845, trusting that I had the necessary quali- fications, I petitioned Confidence Lodge No. 52, of Maysville, Ky., and was found worthy of membership. My reason for petitioning a Kentucky lodge was that there was none working in my own state jurisdiction nearer than Cincinnati. Consequently I received the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master degrees, as before stated, in Confidence Lodge, of Maysville. By this time a number of others of the younger men of the vicinity had elsewhere received the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry and they, with some of the elder brethren, whose names I have already given, met (June, 1846) in what is now known as the Old Bank Build- ing to take steps to repossess the surrendered lodge charter and jewels, in order that work might be resumed. Among those were the following: Isaac Foster, M. V. Cooper, D. W. Stableton, Henry Y. Copple, John C. Scott, Benjamin Bowman, William Adams, Edward Townley, David Dunbar and Benjamin Pinney. Of these I am now the only one living. Other meetings were held monthly until October, when the lodge charter and jewels were restored, upon which, having received a dimit from Con- fidence Lodge, I became a member.
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