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 58
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115
April 23, 1824. Thomas Bereman, West Union, Ohio.
The old town of West Union is the only county seat in the State of Ohio without steam railroad or electric traction line. Since "time when the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," steam railroads have been building on paper, to West Union, the present "Black Dia- mond" route being the latest enterprise of the kind.
Smith's Tannery.
It is said that the tanyard and leather store of Lewis Smith, in West Union, is the only establishment in southern Ohio, where raw hides are tanned and dressed under the processes of "the good old days when honest men made honest wares and sold them at honest prices."
.
Digitized by Google
Digitized by
1
W. W. RAMSEY, D. D. JUDGE WM. MC KENDRER
CROCKETT MC GOVNEY ALBERT D. KIRK
Digitized by
CHAPTER XIII.
WAYNE TOWNSHIP
Wayne Township takes its name from "Mad Anthony" Wayne, the hero of Story Point and the conquerer of the Indians at "Fallen Timbers" in 1794. It was formed in 1806, and was one of the six townships into which the county was at that time reorganized. It originally included the territory now occupied by Oliver, Scott and Winchester Townships.
Surface.
The surface is undulating. In the east central portion it is broken by low hills, and deeply furrowed by the water courses. The soil is a heavy clay, highly impregnated with iron and for the most part produces fine crops of corn, wheat and clover. The narrow valleys are very fertile and grow an excellent quality of tobacco. In the western part of the township the soil is a compact boulder clay, and is rated as "thin land." The valley of Cherry Fork, a tributary of the West Fork of Ohio Brush Creek, embraces some of the prettiest farms and most fertile lands in Adams County.
Crooks.
Three small branches from the northwest, west and southwest por- tions of the township respectively, unite a little to the west of the village of North Liberty and form Cherry Fork of the West Fork of Ohio Brush Creek. It is a narrow and rapid stream and in its lower course attains considerable size. From the great number of large wild cherry trees that formerly grew in the valley of this stream it derives its name. At Harshaville it receives the waters of Grace's Run, a pretty little stream that flows through the north part of the township and which is augmented in its course by Martin's Run near the Oliver Township line.
Early Settlers.
Samuel Wright, who came from Kentucky to Cherry Fork and erected a cabin where the brick dwelling now stands on the Allison farm, just to the west of the present village of North Liberty, was perhaps the first settler within the present limits of the township. This was in March, 1799. Here he lived and died, having reared a large family, of which a son, William, was the father of A. M. Wright, the gunsmith of Cherry Fork, now in his eighty-fifth year, yet working at his trade like a man of forty. He has in his possession a pair of doe-skin gloves made by a sister of his father, Margaret McKittrick, as a wedding gift and which was worn by him at his marriage. A pair of silk stockings, worn by his father when he was married, and kept as "wedding" stockings
(495)
Digitized by
486
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
and worn by each of his seven sons and four daughters at their marriages, is also carefully treasured away by Mr. Wright.
In the year 1800, Adam Kirkpatrick came from Bourbon County, Kentucky, and settled on the farm now owned by Catharine Liggett on Grace's Run. He married Rosanna Patton. In this year, also, Joseph McNeil and his brother James built cabins on Cherry Fork about a mile southeast of the village of North Liberty. The next year Francis Mc- Clellan settled near the McNeils. Then came James and William Mc- Kittrick and located where John Widney now resides on lands then owned by Samuel Wright. In 1801, Robert Morrison settled on the farm now owned by William Morrison near Eckmansville. James Smith came to the Nathan Plummer farm in 1802, and Robert Foster located on the the Foster farm two miles southeast of North Liberty. In this year, also. James Young settled at Youngsville, and William Finley, James Finley. John McIntire and James Caskey located in the eastern portion of the township. Thomas Wasson, in 1805, built a cabin on the farm recently owned by Campbell Wasson. Daniel Marlatt, in 1804, settled on the old Marlatt farm west of North Liberty, and William and Daniel John, and James Ross came to the township about the time of its organization.
The Cherry Fork Cemetery
at the village of North Liberty is the oldest burial place in the township. General Robert Morrison has stated that he dug the grave for the first in- terment here, the little son of William Davidson killed by lightning in the year of 1802. The negro, Roscoe Parker, who was lynched by a mob for the murder of old Mr. and Mrs. Rhine, was buried in the northwest part of the old cemetery in the "pauper's corner," by old Sam Bradley, an ex-slave, who for many years was a familiar figure about the village of North Liberty.
The new cemetery south of the present U. P. Church is a prettily ar- ranged and beautifully ornamented "city of the dead."
Churches.
There are four churches in the township: The U. P. (see sketch of) at North Liberty; the M. E. at same place; the Presbyterian, at Eck- mansville, and "Peoples," at Youngsville.
Schools.
NORTH LIBERTY ACADEMY-The village of North Liberty in days gone by was a widely known educational center. "The Old Academy on the hill," with its broad, green lawn ornamented with shrubs, vines and evergreens, is held in the memory of hundreds of fathers and mothers as a beautiful oasis in the schooldays of their youth.
The beginning of the North Liberty Academy was a Select School taught by Rev. Jacob Fisher at his own home in the winter of 1848-9. In 1851 the old Associate Reformed Church building, one-half mile east of North Liberty, was moved to the village and fitted up for an academy building, where Rev. Fisher taught several terms. In the summer of 1852, Rev. James Arbuthnot taught a select school in the old brick church south of the village. In 1852-3, Rev. Arbuthnot and Rev. W H. Anderson conducted a class in the old Associate building. In 1854, Rev.
Digitized by Google
487
WAYNE TOWNSHIP
Arbuthnot, James Wright and D. H. Harsha conducted the school. 'Then came Rev. Gilbert Small and Rev. N. R. Kirkpatrick. About this date a joint stock company was organized, and the present building was erected. It is a massive frame of the old academic style of architecture, with great dome rising from the center, and is after the lapse of nearly a half century, in good condition.
The following advertisement from an old newspaper points clearly to the beginning of the North Liberty Academy: "Efficient means hav- ing been taken permanently to establish an Academy at North Liberty, a suitable room has been provided for temporary occupancy, and arrange- ments have been made for opening a School on Wednesday, April 1, 1857, to be taught by the Rev. N. R. Kirkpatrick assisted by Rev. Gilbert Small. Tuition for languages, Algebra, etc., $5.50; English lower branches, $3.25; Boarding, $2.00."
The Academy was conducted by teachers of more or less ability and with varying success financially, until 1868, when the academy was sold to Rev. Joseph Smith, a Baptist minister. He and his wife, a most ex- cellent lady and teacher of marked ability, built up the school, improved the grounds, and did much to make the school prosperous. But Prof. Smith, a robust and strong-minded gentleman, with very pronounced views on the questions of temperance, politics and social affairs, was a thorn in the side of a little coterie of individuals such as may be found in all isolated communities, who assume to be social, religious and political autocrats. The community in and about North Liberty was mainly Abolitionist and radically Republican in politics, and Associated Reform (United Presbyterians) and Covenanters in religion, the very imper- sonation of "holier than thou." Prof. Smith was a Democrat, a Baptist, and an advocate of temperance who declared the secret indulgence in alcoholic drink, a greater evil than the moderate open use of the same. These differences of opinion between Prof. Smith and the would-be autocrats soon led to bitter personalities, with the result that his school was tabooed and he ostracised in the community. In 1882, Prof E. B. Stivers, of the Higginsport. Ohio, public schools, leased the Academy from Prof. Smith and opened a Normal and Training School for teach- ers. From the first the new school was a success. In the Spring and Summer terms of 1883 there were nearly 100 students enrolled and four teachers were employed. In September of this year, Prof. Stivers took charge of the West Union public schools, and the Academy having been purchased by the U. P. Church was again put under sectarian control. After two years of disappointment, the management leased the buildings to Prof. Jones, now Superintendent of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Columbus, O., and Prof. Dodge, an eminent instructor, who again built the school up to its former standard. Profs. Jones and Dodge were suc- ceeded by adventurers in academic and normal school work, with the result that the building and grounds were sold to the Board of Education of Wayne Township and converted into a public school building in 1893.
If many of the energetic and liberal minded men who at various periods attempted to found a permanent institution for the instruction and training of young men and women at the old academy had been unsel- fishly supported by the community, there would be there today a school with hundreds of students and an institution, a credit to the community.
Digitized by Google
488
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
Sub-District Schools.
The first schoolhouse in the township was a log structure on the Baldridge farm, in which William Patton was the first teacher
There are eight sub-districts in the township, and in each there is a plain, cheap frame schoolhouse by the dusty roadside with neither shade nor lawn excepting the town school in the old academy building.
Teachers are paid from $25 to $35 per month, and the schools are in session from six months to eight months in the year. The following is the enrollment in each district in the year 1899:
No.
Males.
Females.
No.
Males.
Females.
I
16
29
. . 5
28
45
2
15
19
6
8
16
3
33
20
7
16
13
4
26
14
8
29
17
Mills.
Samuel Wright, the first settler at Cherry Fork, built the first mill, a tub-wheel, about the year 1802, on the creek near where Hunter's steam mill now stands. Afterwards, Robert Thomas erected a horse mill at this point which was in later years supplanted by a water mill and this in turn by a steam mill. At the present steam mill in 1879, the pro- prietor, Stewart McCormick, was mangled and killed by his clothing becoming entangled in the belting of the machinery. David Potts, his brother-in-law, succeeded Mr. McCormick, and conducted the business for some years. The present proprietor's name is Hunter.
Villages.
NORTH LIBERTY (or Cherry Fork ) POSTOFFICE was laid out in 1848 by Col. William McVey He was a radical Abolitionist and named the village North Liberty, as the new village plat lay north of Cherry Fork, and his residence and store to the south of that stream, opposite the old water mill. The village now contains two general stores, one drug store, hardware store, furniture store, and merchant tailor shop, A. D. Kirk, proprietor, and one hotel. There are two resident physicians. two churches, and one Lodge, I. O. O. F. Population about 300. It is nine miles from West Union and five miles from Winchester and fourteen miles from Manchester on the Ohio River.
YOUNGSVILLE is situated two miles to the southward from the town of Seaman on the C. P. & V Ry. It was founded by David Young who opened a small store there in 1840. C. E. Silcott & Company did a flourishing business there for many years. J. F. Young and others also, were merchants in the village. It has one church-The Peoples-in which any denomination may hold service. Population about 75.
ECKMANSVILLE-This is a little cluster of buildings two miles southwest of North Liberty, among which there is one store, one black- smith shop and two churches-one M. E. and one Presbyterian. The village was laid out by Henry Eckman, a blacksmith, who first settled here in 1824. In the period from 1870 to 1885, John Morrison and son, and later A. B. Morrison & Company did a flourishing mercantile and banking business at this village.
Digitized by Google
489
WAYNE TOWNSHIP
The United Presbyterian Church.
About the year 1797-8 several families, members of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, came from Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky to the East Fork of Eagle Creek, Adams County, in the vicinity of the present town of West Union. These families petitioned the Pres- bytery of Kentucky, and Rev. Adam Rankin was the first supply sent by that body. 'He preached at the house of James January who then kept a tavern at the foot of the hill west of West Union on the old Cincinnati road, in the autumn of 1799.
In the autumn of 1802 four ruling elders, Joseph McNeil, Stephen Bayless, John Leach and Paul Kerr, were elected, and ordained by Rev. A. Craig. This was the first organization of the A. R. Presbyterian Church in Adams County The first Lord's supper was administered in the congregation by Revs. Rankin, Craig and Steele in the autumn of 1803. About this time Rev. Robert H. Bishop (afterwards President of Miami University) and Rev. David Risk, both recently from Scotland, came within the bounds of the congregation. Rev. Bishop continued as a stated supply until the summer of 1804. At this time Rev. Bishop re- fused a call as pastor of the congregation at a salary of $400, one-half his time to be devoted to preaching to members on Cherry Fork (at North Liberty) of Brush Creek. The Rev. Risk was then called He accepted and was duly installed as pastor of the congregation In the spring of 1805 the members living at Cherry Fork were organized into a separate congregation, and John Wright, Samuel Wright, and John McIntire were ordained ruling elders who, with Joseph McNeil, ordained at Eagle Creek, constituted the first session of the Cherry Fork congregation. The church house was built of logs, the cracks chinked with blocks and daubed with clay. There was neither fire-place nor stove, and no floor. The congregation sat on slabs of timber supported on pegs. Rev. Risk continued in charge of the congregation about two years, dividing his time equally between it and the Eagle Creek congregation nine miles away. Rev. Risk demitted his charge in August, 1806, and until the autumn of 1809 these congregations were without a pastor. In the meantime the members residing on West Fork of Brush Creek and George's Creek (Tranquility) organized at the West Fork congregation and erected Hopewell Meeting House. In the summer of 1808 Rev. William Baldridge, of Big Springs, Virginia, preached to these con- gregations. On the twentieth of November he took charge of the con- gregation here, having removed with his family from Virginia. His time was divided one-half being devoted to Cherry Fork. For this latter service he was to receive $165, one-half of this in articles of merchandise at the following prices as fixed by a committee from the congregation of which Judge Robert Morrison was chairman :
Beef and Pork, per cwt. $2.50
Wheat, per bushel
.58
Rye, per bushel. .42
Corn, per bushel.
.25
Oats, per bushel .25
Whiskey, per gal. .50
Digitized by
490
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
Seven hundred linen, per yard. .50 Clean swingled flax, per yard. .121/2
Maple sugar, per pound . .121/2
At the beginning of Rev. Baldridge's pastorate the old log church at Cherry Fork was enlarged by taking down one side and adding a room by making off-sets where the extension began. One of these off-sets was arranged for a pulpit which placed it at the middle of one side of the building enlarged to 35x55 feet. Stoves were not provided until ten or twelve years later.
Rev. Baldridge was not installed as pastor, regularly, until the year 1820. The reason of this delay was that Rev. Baldridge was supposed to sympathize with Dr. Mason in his deviating course. In 1829 West Union, Cherry Fork, West Fork and Russellville (North Fork of Eagle Creek) united in calling Samuel C. Baldridge to be colleague to his father in a joint pastorate over these four congregations. Rev. Wil- iam Baldridge died in 1830. The congregation was vacant for two years. In the spring of 1832, the Lord's Supper was administered by Rev. D. McDill.
On the first of November, 1832, Rev. Robert Stewart took charge of the congregation at Cherry Fork and West Fork. He wes ordained and installed in the following December. He received as one-half his salary from the Cherry Fork congregation $219.35. In 1833 a new brick church house 50x50 feet was erected containing fifty-eight pews.
In 1837 the question of Negro slavery and the temperance move- ment, divided the Cherry Fork congregation, and Col. William McVey with others formed the "Associate Congregation of North Liberty." In 1846 the Unity congregation was formed. Rev. Stewart died in the year 1851, having been born near Wheeling, Virginia, in 1796. In September, 1853, Rev. D. McDill was ordained and installed as pastor of the congre- gation. In 1855 the present commodious brick church was erected. It is 50x70 feet with a 22-foot ceiling. After Rev. McDill's resignation, John S. Martin was called and accepted, and was installed in October, 1877, which place he filled with marked ability until the date of his death, April 6, 1889. Rev. Martin received a salary of $1,000.
On September 30, 1890, the present pastor, J. A. C. McQuiston, was installed over the congregation, at a salary of $1,000. Rev. McQuiston is a native of Illinois.
The church is in a fairly prosperous condition-the membership being composed generally of prosperous farmers and merchants. The "clanish" spirit yet manifests itself among those of limited education and of little experience in the world, but the younger element is inclined to be liberal and broad-minded.
In fine weather the Sabbath service is largely attended, each member turning out in his best carriage drawn by his most spirited team-and it is a sight never to be forgotten, this line of carriages-a line not exceded in length or numbers at any place of worship in the State.
Digitized by Google
491
WAYNE TOWNSHIP
REMINISCENCES.
The last black bear ever seen in this portion of Adams County was caught in a trap by Samuel Wright's boys about the year 1835, near the mouth of Grace's Run on Cherry Fork. It weighed nearly two hundred pounds after being skinned and dressed. At that time deer were plentiful in this region.
A Remarkable Centenarian.
In 1883 there was living near Youngsville in this township, a pioneer of the western country, by name of Joseph Smittle. In August of that year, the writer attended a basket dinner given at the residence of the old pioneer celebrating his 104th birthday. He was then in full posses- sion of his faculties, excepting his sight which was somewhat impaired. His hair was but slightly streaked with gray, and he had the general ap- pearance of a well-preserved man of not more than seventy-five years of age. He lived to be 106 years old.
Digitized by
CHAPTER XIV.
WINCHESTER TOWNSHIP
This is the northwestern township of Adams County. It borders Jackson Township, Brown County, on the west, and Concord Township, Highland County, on the north. It is one of the more recently formed townships of the county, having been organized January 2, 1838, from territory four by six miles, off the west side of Scott, and a strip two by four miles off the north end of Wayne Township. It contains something more than thirty-two square miles or about 20,000 acres of land.
Surface.
The western part of the township is undulating, with low marshy areas at the head of the small streams whose waters reach the North Fork of Eagle Creek to the southwest or one of the forks of Ohio Brush Creek that flow across the northern portion of the township to the eastward.
The eastern part of the township is more hilly and the land rougher, than the western portion. The soil in the western part is chiefly the white clay, or boulder drift. These clay soils are rich in all the material of vegetable growth except organic matter, which being supplied by in- telligent crop rotation, will gradually improve in productiveness. On the other hand, where the virgin soil has been sapped of its organic matter and not restored by intelligent cultivation, the lands have become cold and barren. It is remarkable that in traveling along the highways through this section, an observer will see on the one side fine fields of corn, oats, wheat, or grass, the products of intelligent farming; and on the other dreary fields of running-briers, poverty grass, and sedge, the harvest of ignorance and sloth.
The eastern part of the township along the numerous small streams and creeks possesses a good limestone soil-the uplands, however, are the yellow and white boulder clays. Under proper care and cultivation the up- lands of this township would afford abundant pasturage for large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. While the valleys would grow fine crops of clover, corn, wheat and tobacco.
Springs and Water Courses.
Every portion of Winchester Township affords fine springs of pure limestone water. These springs are found at the heads and along the courses of the numerous small creeks that flow through the township. Just below the site of every pioneer cabin in this township is a fine spring of water. These are factors which, when properly utilized, will make the township a grand pasturage area.
(492)
Digitized by
493
WINCHESTER TOWNSHIP
Three branches of the West Fork of Ohio Brush Creek traverse this township. From the northwest flows Little West Fork; from the west, arising in Eagle Township, in Brown County, flows West Fork proper; and from the southwest flows Elk Run, a wicked, rapid stream, in whose waters many a life has gone out in attempting to ford it when swollen. These three creeks unite on the eastern border of the township and form what is known as West Fork of Ohio Brush Creek, one of the most beautiful streams in the State. These streams have cut deep channels through the blue limestone underlying the surface, and in the deep pools along their courses, sheltered in these shelving layers of limestone, are found the gamest black bass that ever spun the reel of a sportsman's rod.
Early Settlers.
Among the first settlers in what is now Winchester Township was Joel Bailey. As early as 1799 he had come to Adams County and was one of the first court constables when Washington, at the mouth of Ohio Brush Creek, was the seat of justice of the county. He afterwards, perhaps about 1805, settled on what is now the Roush farm at the junction of the Buck Run and Seaman pikes east of Winchester. Here he built a stillhouse and a horse mill. He reared a numerous family, decendants of which are scattered from the Alleghenies to the Pacific coast.
John McIntyre, Andrew Clemmer and Israel Rhodes were early settlers on lands about one and a half miles south of Winchester.
Early Schools.
It is said that the first shoolhouse in this township was a log structure which stood near the present cemetery at Winchester. Richard Cross, a relative of the Alexander family, which settled about 1805 in that portion of Adams County now included in Eagle Township in Brown County, was the first teacher. When Joel Bailey resided near Elk Run his older children attended a school held in a little log cabin on the old Aid farm in the eastern portion of Jackson Township, Brown County. This was about the year 1811. Spencer Records was one of the first schoolmasters in the township.
Churches.
The churches in the township are Calvary M. P. Church in the Kennedy neighborhood in the northeast part of the township, and Centenary M. E. Church about three miles north of the village of Win- chester. In the village of Winchester, Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Baptist organizations are mairtained. Of these latter the M. E. Church was organized in 1830 and the Baptist in 1831. In 1887 the Presbyterians erected a very handsome frame church at a cost of five thousand dollars. The Baptist organization was formed at the house of Spencer Records on West Fork, on the farm now owned by George Baker, in 1813. Elder Charles B. Smith was the first pastor, and had charge of the congregation until about the year 1820.
Archaeology.
In the northern part of the township are a number of small mounds, the work of the pre-historic inhabitants of this region. Some of the larger ones have been partially explored by treasure-hunters but without success, only some fragments of human skeletons, and trifling trinkets of stone and shells having been found.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.