USA > Ohio > Jackson County > A history of Jackson County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 12
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been fed at Andrew Donnally's ordinary, and guarded by deputy sheriffs. John George, the contractor for the building of the jail, was in trouble with the courts all the time, and the expense of guarding him in the fall of 1817 amounted to $33.75. The guard- ing of Peter Marshall for a few days in August, 1817, cost $39.75, and he escaped after all. The further sum of $25 was paid as a reward to William Jolly for his recapture. The following extracts from the Commissioners' Journal relating to the lot sale and the letting of the contract for building the jail throw additional light on the business methods of the early days. It will be noticed that the sale was worked for all that was in it by the inhabitants of Poplar Row:
JULY 4, 1817-This day, according to appointment, the Com- missioners of Jackson county met for the purpose of selling out the building of a jail for the county of Jackson, legal notice hav- ing been given by advertisement at our annual meeting in June, and also for settling and receiving a statement of the sale of one- half section of land belonging to the county of Jackson of Joseph Armstrong, director. This meeting was held at the seat of justice in Jackson county, in the house of Andrew Donnally; present, Emanuel Traxler, John Stephenson and Robert G. Hanna, Com- missioners, and Nathaniel W. Andrews, clerk.
This day Joseph Armstrong presented a statement of the sale with the number of lots belonging to the town of Jackson, to-wit: Inlots 137 and outlots 36, one outlot, No. 36, out of which number was reserved for the use of this county until next sale, being a fraction. Eleven inlots were also reserved until the next sale, to-wit: Nos. 64, 66, 74, 78, 85, 92, 95, 96, 98, 99, 136.
The balance of the lots sold, the first installment of which amounted to $1,799.31 1-4, the total amount $7,196.75.
The director, Joseph Armstrong, then presented the follow- ing accounts as expenses of the survey, and the expenses of the sale, and also his own account of the number of days employed up to the present time.
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Ordered, that Judge Fletcher be allowed for surveying the town of Jackson, etc., $60, and that an order issue for the same payable to Joseph Armstrong.
Ordered, also, that the following accounts be allowed, and an order issue for the same, payable to Joseph Armstrong.
Three days taken up by the director in employing a sur- veyor, $6.
Four days taken up in getting hand bills and advertisements printed by the director in Gallipolis and Chillicothe, $8.
The printing of the hand bills and advertisements, $3.25.
William Ransom, for going to Chillicothe to surveyor gen- eral's office, for the field notes of the section, $3.
Abraham Welch, for the use of a horse in going for said field notes, and a boy one-half day making stakes, $1.
Nathaniel W. Andrews, for two days and a half assisting sur- veyor, $2.50.
John George's account for boarding in the time of the survey, $19.62 1-2.
Hugh Poor, for two hands employed seven days, making stakes, etc., and hauling plank for a shed for clerks, $11.50.
John James, for the use of a boy and one-horse wagon for hauling stakes and stone for the corners of the public square, and a hand one day in making stakes, $6.50.
Joseph W. Ross, for carrying chain three days, $2.25.
Francis Ory, do. six days, $4.50.
George Riley, do. four days, $3.
David Radcliff, assisting surveyor, $2.75.
James Chapman, two days making stakes, $1.50.
Joseph Armstrong, for two days taken up in employing hands, $4.
Do, do, to eight days attendance on surveying the town, $16.
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Richard Johnson, employed to go to Chillicothe for blank notes and certificates, $3.
J. Nashe, for printing blank bonds and certificates, $10.25.
Absalom Wells, for going to Gallipolis for the plat of the town, $3.
J. Armstrong, for ten days attendance on the sale of lots, $20.
Richard Johnson, for acting in the time of the sale 10 days as clerk, $10.
Nath'l W. Andrews, do. do., $10.
Do. do. do., five days after the sale, $5.
Joseph Armstrong, for five days employed in settling sale business, $10.
Andrew Donnally's account for whisky in time of sale, $25.75.
John James' account for boarding hands time of sale $14.12 1-2.
Joseph W. Ross, for crying sale ten days, $17.75.
Joseph Armstrong, to two days employed in getting hand bills and advertisements printed, $4.
To one-half paper of pins, 20 cents.
For one quart whisky for hands erecting shed for clerks in time of sale 37 1-2 cents.
To writing paper, three quires, $11.12 1-2.
Being the total amount of this order, $289.95.
THE FIRST COURT HOUSE-After the completion of the jail the Commissioners found themselves without enough money to build a Court House at once, but on November 5, 1819, they gave notice that the sale of the contract for building would be made December 4, 1819. The proceedings of that date as they appear on the old Journal are as follows: December 4, 1819 .- The Court House in the town of Jackson was let according to law, and Elisha Fitch, of the county of Ross, became the purchaser
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at $4,061, he being the lowest bidder; whereupon, the said Elisha Fitch, together with Levi Mercer, William Givens, Hooper Hurst and Jared Strong, his securities, entered into bond conditioned for the faithful performance of the work. The building of the Court House occupied several years. There was trouble with the con- tractors, and as late as June 4, 1821, the roof had not been put on, for an order of that date reads as follows: "The roof to be what is called a hipped roof, and the cupalow to be in proportion with that in Piketon and finished in the same manner; likewise the octagon to be of the same size and form of that of Piketon." The finishing of the interior took several years more, for one of the contracts for that part of the work was not let until July 16, 1825. The building never was entirely finished. A bell was put on in the Fifties, and in 1860 the old structure burned to the ground.
THE FIRST MERCHANTS-French and English traders vis- ited the lieks during the Indian ocenpation, and after the salt boilers took possession, traders became expected and regular vis- itors. The memory of these pioneer agents of commerce has passed away. The first merchant at the licks of whom there is a record was Daniel Hoffman, to whom a license was issued November 5, 1816, by the Court of Common Pleas, "to vend merchandise other than the growth and manufacture of the United States." The tax on a merchant's license was $15 per annum. In order to give an idea of the scale upon which this pioneer merchant did business the following entry from the Commissioners' Journal is inserted here:
June 27, 1818 :- This day the Commissioners of Jackson county met for the purpose of valuing the house in which Daniel Hoffman now lives and at present keeps store; present, John Stephenson and Robert G. Hanna. Having carefully examined the said house, with all the loose plank on the lot, counter and other work for the store, with all its appurtenances, we do appraise the whole to be worth $175. The house referred to was newly built and stood on the Gibson House corner. The second store at the licks was
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started after the county seat had been located. It was owned by Peter Apple & Company, and was licensed April 8, 1817. Daniel Burley, the third merchant, took out a license May 12, 1818. George Dovenet took out a peddler's license June 27 of the same year. The firm of Hugh Poor & Company, consisting of Hugh Poor, Horace Wilcox and Edmund Richmond, was licensed July 15, 1818, and the firm of Strong & Givens, consisting of Jared Strong and William Givens, was licensed September 26, following. The next year, James & Hurst started a store, and the little town was well supplied with merchants.
THE FIRST BANKRUPT-The Court Journal shows that Walter Murdock was the first bankrupt in the county. He peti- tioned the Court of Common Pleas on June 30, 1818, for "benefit of act relieving insolvent debtors." The court ordered that notice be published in a Chillicothe paper named The Supporter.
TEACHERS' EXAMINERS-Little attention was paid in the early days of Jackson county to schools and education. The strug- gle for life was too hard, the farmers were scattered too far apart in the woods to organize school districts, and the population at Jackson, the only village in the county, was not of a character that appreciated the advantages of an education. The village was much like the mining camp of later days, a large proportion of the inhabitants being single and transients. The first teacher we hear of was William Wilds, who taught a school about 1820 in a log house built for the purpose on the Adam Sell place, near Coalton. James H. Darling, who was the last survivor of the pupils of that school, furnished me the following particulars con- cerning it: The school house was a low log building, with puncheon floor, a large fireplace at one end and a window on each side. The windows had been constructed by cutting out the lower half of one log and the upper half of the log under it for a distance of several feet, thus making a narrow slit, over which greased paper was pasted. Hoisting was a matter of impossibility in the case of these windows, but the securing of ventilation was an easy
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
matter, for paper was cheaper than even the cheap glass of today, and a diamond was not needed to cut an artistic looking hole in it. The only furniture in this school house were the benches for the scholars to sit on, which had been constructed by setting slabs on legs, and a stool constructed in a like manner, which was used by the teacher. The latter was always equipped with a bundle of switches cut from a hickory thicket nearby, and Mr. Wilds had the reputation of never sparing the rod. The oldest scholars read the Bible and studied arithmetic and writing. The smaller pupils studied the spelling book, and mischief. At Christmas time the big boys and girls locked the teacher out, and he capitulated gracefully by agreeing to treat. This old custom, which prevailed from time immemorial in the western country, survived in this county until 1877. The last case I can recall occurred at the Oak Hill school, in Madison township, just before the holidays of that year, when Hon. T. J. Harrison was barred out on a certain noon intermission. He had gone for a walk, as was his custom, and when he returned and found the door locked, he stepped back into the play ground, picked up a fence rail, which had been used as a base in playing "blackman," placed it on his shoulder, and then made a run for the door. The rail battering ram crushed in the door, and Harrison was master of the situation. He taught out the term and then resigned. But he put an end to the custom of "locking out." After the county had been organized some ten years, there came an educational awakening. The cause is not known. The departure of the salt boilers may have had some- thing to do with it. Be that as it may, one of the results was the appointment of a committee by the Court of Common Pleas to examine applicants for certificates to teach. The appointment was made June 8, 1826. This first Board of Examiners consisted of the three best informed men in the county, viz: George L. Crookham, Daniel Hoffman and Alexander Miller. This was the initiative of the common school system in the county.
AUTUMNAL FEVERS-Nearly all writers neglect to men- tion perhaps the greatest trial of the pioneers. Every family that.
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
moved into the woods knew that the move meant death to one or more of its members. Finley says: The new settlements were regularly visited with autumnal fevers. They were of the bilious type, and sometimes the symptoms resembled those of yellow fever. Billious intermittents, or fever and ague, prevailed to a great extent. They were supposed to have been caused by the effinvia arising from the decomposition of the luxuriant vegetation which grew so abundantly everywhere. These fevers were attended with great mortality, and the sufferings occasioned by them were intense. Often there was not one member of the family able to help the others, and instances occurred in which the dead lay unburied for days, because no one could report. The extensive prevalence of sickness, however, did not deter immigration. A desire to possess the rich lands overcame all fears of sickness, and the living tide rolled on heedless of death. In the summer of 1798 the bloody flux raged as an epidemic with great violence, and for a while threatened to depopulate the town of Chillicothe and its vicinity. Medical skill was exerted to its utmost, but all to no purpose, as but very few who were attacked recovered. From eight to ten were buried per day. The Scioto salt works, located in a low swampy valley, was perhaps the sickliest place in South- ern Ohio, and the death rate was very high. Even visitors who came here after salt in 1798 sickened and died. There was hardly any hope for any one attacked, for there were no physicians located here until 1810, when Dr. Gabriel MeNeal came from Vir- ginia. For eight years after the epidemic of 1798 there was a comparative respite, but according to Atwater, in the autumn of 1806 a fever of the remittent type made its appearance, extending from the Ohio river to Lake Erie. Its symptoms were chills in the forenoon, between 10 and 11 o'clock, which were succeeded by violent fever, afterwards, in an hour and a half. The fever con- tinued to rage till about 6 o'clock in the evening. During the exacerbation great pain or oppression was felt in the brain, liver, spleen or stomach, and frequently in all these organs. The sweat- ing stage took place about midnight. By daylight there was a respite, but not a total exemption from the urgency of these symp-
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toms. The first cases mentioned afforded no opportunity for inter- posing tonies. From information given us by many in the circle around Chillicothe, one-sixth part of the inhabitants were swept off by death. In 1813 and 1814 there were like epidemics. But perhaps the worst of all was that of 1823. Heavy and long con- tinued rains commenced about the 14th of November, 1822, and continued almost daily until the 1st of the ensuing June. It is computed by some persons that the country lying between the Seioto and Miami rivers had the twentieth part of its surface cov. ered during the months of March, April and May with water. A fever commenced its ravages and continued its course during the months of June, July, August, September and during the early part of October. It was of the remittent type, affecting more or less, many, perhaps nineteen-twentieths of the people. In 1824 there was a repetition of the epidemic on a smaller scale. The ยท families living in the valley of Salt creek were visited by another, but lighter epidemic, again in 1827. This was the last epidemic, but for nearly 40 years after the settlement of the county many suffered and died from autumnal fevers. To this cause may be ascribed the early death of so many of the pioneers. Those afflicted with any chronic ailment succumbed to these fevers.
THE FIRST DEATHS .- The earliest settlers at the Scioto salt licks found many charred tree trunks still standing in the cleared ground on the ridge which is now occupied by the business part of Jackson. They were so many monuments to white pris- oners who had died at the stake. The exact number of those un- fortunates will never be known, but any one that has studied the history of the sixty years' war between the Ohio Indians and the white pioneers of the Alleghenies will readily concede that fully one hundred persons may have perished thus within the present limits of the city. The large number is thus accounted for. Bands of Shawanese, Ottawas, Wyandots, Delawares and other Indian tribes came to the licks every summer to make salt. The drudg- ery at the kettles was squaw's work, and while the women toiled and the old warriors smoked, gambled or hunted, parties of young
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
braves made incursions into the Virginia mountains, and brought back many scalps, and not a few white prisoners. The boys were often spared for adoption and the women for drudges, but the majority of the men, in fact, all who failed to win favor with their captors, were tortured at the stake. These barbarous execu- tions generally occurred on the high ground on or near the site of the Public Square. The Indians cut off the top of a small tree, leaving the trunk for a stake, to which the victim was tied. The torture then began, and did not cease until life was extinct. These executions were regarded by the Indians as entertainments, and the tribes expected every returning war party to furnish at least one victim, especially if the party had lost a man on the foray. Inasmuch as the licks were the first safe stopping place after crossing the Ohio, a number of whites must have been tor- tured here each year, particularly between 1755 and 1785, when the border warfare was most bitter. It was the Indian custom to gather the remains of such victims and give them burial, but the spot has not yet been discovered.
THE OLD GRAVEYARD-The first white settlers that died at the licks were buried on the hill afterward known as the Ford hill, not far from the Lutheran church. Later a number of salt boilers were buried on the hill, which is a part of the McKitterick farm. The graveyard lies east of the old Indian trail from the licks to Chillicothe. The place was selected by the whites because it had been used as a burial ground by the Indians. There is no record of the names of those buried there, but the number must have exceeded fifty. The graves were marked with native sand- stone, many of which crumbled in time, while others were carried away by collectors. Names and dates were cut on a few, but the great majority bore only initials. A visiting collector asked per- mission years ago to take away the stone bearing the oldest in- scription, but Mr. John McKitterick, Sr., refused. A few days afterward, it was discovered that the stone had disappeared, and it was suspected that the stranger had stolen it. For half a cen- tury the graveyard remained uncultivated, but after the ground
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was cleared the stones disappeared rapidly. Ten years ago, when I first visited the place, only two were left. One of them bore the following inscription: "D. F. D., Sept. 23, 1802." Daniel F. Dean was killed at a log rolling. He was a large and powerful man, but on that unlucky September day he lost his hold while raising a heavy log, and it rolled back and crushed him, killing him in- stantly. Many of those buried here were men who were murdered at the salt works. Some of the earliest salt boilers were lawless men, and the morals of the community were at a par with those of the wildest mining camps of the early gold days. It was a com- mon occurrence from 1795 to 1803 to find the corpse of some one murdered overnight floating in a salt water tank, and to discover later that one or two others had departed between two suns with- ont leaving their addresses. The last of these murders was com- mitted by a negro. He was caught and lynched, the lynching taking place near the Mitchell rocks. His remains were interred . in the old graveyard, which caused it to fall into disrepute. Many of the earliest burials were made without coffins, but they came into use later. They were made of good old oak, and one of them lasted over sixty years, for Mr. G. C. McKitterick remembers when the grave fell in. I have been informed that members of a family named Hill, living in Liberty township, have been buried here, but the information has not been verified.
A FORGOTTEN GRAVEYARD-The salt furnaces were built in the valley from James A. Lackey's farm up to the infirmary. Pieces of the old salt kettles used at the furnace on Lackey's farm were plowed up in the spring of 1900. The salt boilers at the upper furnaces found it inconvenient to bring their dead to the "Old Graveyard," and they began to bury in a spot near Smith's lane, where it crosses the railroad, on land now owned by W. H. and M. K. Steele. There are forty to fifty graves at this place, but none of them are marked. Peter Bunn, who is now in his eightieth year, says that two of his infant brothers and another little boy named Walden were buried there. Mrs. Sophia Mitchell remembers that she attended the burial of a little daughter of
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John Radcliff at this place, when she was a mere child, about seventy years ago.
THE BUNN GRAVEYARD-This old burial ground occupies the greater part of outlot 26, and a part of outlot 27 in the south half of the original town of Jackson. The lots were laid out by Ga- briel MeNeel, the county surveyor, on May 25, 1819 but the spot had been selected for a town cemetery before that date, for Charles O'Neil was buried there May 17, 1819. Mrs Sophia Mitchell states that her mother, Mrs. Tacy Bunn, attended his funeral, and that this burial was the first in the cemetery. The spot was selected on account of its location and the character of the soil. It lay a quarter of a mile from the new town of that day, but it could be reached without crossing low or wet ground. The high ground selected forms a little hummock, which was more than half sur- rounded by water at that time, and therefore unsuitable for build- ing purposes. The soil was sandy, free from slate or rock, and thoroughly drained, considerations that appealed to the pioneers. The sale of the lots in the south half of Jackson occurred in June, 1819. Outlots 26 and 27 were purchased by Peter Bunn, the first for $31 and the second for $25.25. The title remains in the family to this day. The Bunns came originally from Germany and set- tled near Baltimore. Peter Bunn, Sr., born in Maryland, moved with his family to Ross county, in this state, about the beginning of this century. Four of his children, Peter, Jr., Samuel, Hannah and Polly, settled in this county. Peter Bunn, Jr., was born near Baltimore, January 1, 1780. He married Tacy Howe in this county February 29, 1824. Five daughters were born to them. Mary Ann died an infant. Sophia, who became the wife of Dr. D. H. Mitchell, was born May 29, 1826; Elizabeth, who became the wife of John Ratcliffe, was born February 4, 1828; Eunice, who mar- ried John Smith, was born October 16, 1829, and Tacy, who mar- ried Henry C. Hale, was born July 27, 1836. Elizabeth is dead, but two of her children, Mr. Peter Ratcliffe and Mrs. W. H. Steele, survive. The other three daughters are still living, Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Smith in this city, and Mrs. Hale at Warrensburg, Mo.
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Their father died July 19, 1853, aged 72 years, 6 months and 19 days. His wife survived until January 4, 1881, dying at the age of 78 years, 8 months and 29 days. Both now lie side by side in the burial ground bought by Mr. Bunn in 1819. The oldest tomb- stone in it is that of Charles O'Neil. It is a flagstone, and the inscription reads as follows: "In memory of Charles O'Neil, who 'departed this life May 16, 1819, aged 26 years." O'Neil was county treasurer at the time of his death. Although a young man, he became a victim of the insalubrious climatic conditions at the licks. A number of other county officers suffered a like fate, as the following inscriptions indicate: "Sacred to the mem- ory of Jared Strong, who departed this life December 20. 1827, aged 43 years, 7 months, 10 days." "Sacred to the memory of . William Ransom; born September 20. 1. D. 1794, died December 8, 1832; aged 38 years, 2 months, 19 days. For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.'" "In memory of Absalom M. Faulkner, who departed this life September 18, 1829, aged 31 years, 7 months, 10 days."
Strong was the first representative of this county, and held many other positions of trust. Ransom was treasurer of the county for about 12 years, dying in office. Faulkner, who was a Free Mason, was clerk of courts for about six years and died in office. Henry May Faulkner, his little son, died the same day, and his infant son, Jacob Offnere, died December 13, 1829. The fatal- ity among county officers was great in those days, for the records show that in addition to those named above, Sheriff William White died in 1824. Other prominent people in early Jackson who died in the twenties where Edmund Richmond, who died Feb- ruary 16, 1820, aged 55 years, 5 months and 6 days, and Huldah, his wife, who died Angust 21, 1823, aged 59 years, 3 months and 18 days. The Richmonds were an influential family here for years. There were four brothers in all, named Seth, Nathaniel, David and Edmund. I have not been able to learn what became of the other three. A woman that deserves to be mentioned was the wife of Thomas Scott, who was prosecuting attorney in 1830-2. The in- scription on her tombstone reads as follows: "In memory of Eliz.
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