USA > Ohio > Hardin County > A twentieth century history of Hardin County, Ohio : a narrative account of its historical progress its people and principal interests, Vol. I > Part 4
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The new township at first included what are now Lynn, Buck and Hale townships, and was considered one of the most promising locations in the county. It was on the Hull Trail or Detroit Road, and was in direct communication with the older settlements of Logan, Cham- paign and the southern part of the state. It was named for General James Taylor of Kentucky, and the "Creek" was added to do honor to the sparkling stream that flows through the rich, rolling country. The old Shawnee camps were also partly situated in this township, so that the little clearings made by the Indians near the springs, were vantage points to the settlers who came flocking in to occupy the land. As they were comparatively near the mills of Logan county, there was not so much need to establish mills of their own, though here and there the remains of mill races along the stream show that rude saw and grist mills came later on to supply the settlers with lumber and meal.
The present area of the township is about 17,280 acres of land, being about six miles long and four and a fraction wide, but irregular in shape. It lies in the old Virginia Military Survey, and comprises part of that curious glacial formation known as The Devil's Back Bone -- a strip of gravel and boulders extending north and south through Buck and Taylor Creek townships, from which millions of cubic feet of gravel have been taken to ballast railroads and build pikes.
Some of the older residents place the establishment of the first school at 1835-36, with Jonathan Seig as teacher in the vicinity of the present St. Paul's church, while others give the date as ten years later and the teacher as Jacob Seig. As the old records are destroyed it is
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
impossible to fix the date exactly. The first church society was formed by the Methodists in 1834 in John Collins' cabin, with James Andrews as class leader. It had twelve members, and later grew into the pres- ent St. Paul's Church. As there was direct communication with the stores and mills of Logan county, no villages were established, but later on Silver Creek and Yelverton were laid out in this township.
The names of the pioneers of this township with the dates when they arrived in Taylor Creek are as follows: Chas. W. Stevenson, 1827; Samuel Stevenson, 1827; William, Silas and Basil Bailey, 1827 or 1828; Thomas, James and John Collins, James Scott and Samuel Hat- field, 1828; Elizabetlı Baker, 1827; William and Mary Bailey, 1831; James Wilcox and family and Elizabeth Hollinger, 1832; John and Sarah Sloan and family, 1833; John C. Bailey, born in Hardin county, 1831; Andrew and Rebecca Porter, Jacob Seig and Henry D. Thorp, 1833; Elisha Byers, 1834; Homer P. Stevenson, 1835; Benjamin McIntire and family, 1835; Thomas and Hannah Wilcox, 1833; Jere- miah Lisles and Andrew Miller, 1836; Thomas Sloan and Chas. Scott.
Cessna township was formed in 1834 and named for Charles Cessna, who located on what is known as the Range Line Road or old Hull Road in 1830. Ile was doubtless the first settler in the township and took up a large tract of land there. In those days Mil- itary Lands were not held in as high favor as Congress lands, on account of poor surveys and difficulty in getting good titles, so the early set- tlers prudently located north of the Scioto for these reasons in many instances. It was thought at that time that the county seat would be located northwest of its present site, and many pioneers bought lands in this township on that account. A little town named Peru was platted and some lots sold on the Charles Cessna farm, but though it had a few houses and a store at one time, the selection of the county seat-Kenton-at its present site, kept the little village from growing and ultimately it went back to farm lands. The story is told that a man from New York City bought two lots in Peru and when he found them located in the wilderness that Cessna township was at that early day, he left the country and never came back. However, the fear that he would return kept anyone from locating on those lots for fifty or more years, though crops were grown on them regularly. The Governor of Rhode Island at that time paid $350 for two lots in Peru, but never came to claim them.
The township contains about twenty-three square miles of very fertile land, and was originally covered with magnificent forest trees. Cabins were erected out of valuable black walnut, corduroy roads con- structed out of valuable timber of all kinds, and worst of all, the prod- uct of the virgin forest was consigned to the flames to provide a place to raise corn and wheat for the settlers. Owing to its proximity to Hog creek and the Scioto marshes, game was very abundant, and at first, noted
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
hunters were attracted to the new country, but moved on farther west as the game was killed off. As long as the marshes remained undrained, deer and occasionally bears were driven out by high water, to furnish sport for the hunters, but when the march of civilization cut off these hiding places, the game soon disappeared.
The village of Huntersville just aeross the border of the township, and the newly located town of Kenton on the east, probably kept the settlers from establishing villages after Peru ceased to exist. They could go to mill east of Kenton, and to Huntersville for necessary work by a blacksmith, and both places had stores at an early day. For many years a doctor lived at Huntersville and there was even a carding mill at one time at that plaee. Kenton grew rapidly, and the Cessna pioneers found their lands rapidly increasing in value on account of the richness of the soil and fine location.
The descendants of the old settlers are not agreed as to when and where the first school was opened, but it was probably in the home of James Hamilton or Joseph Wilson, as there is no record of a house for the special purpose until 1836. It was a subscription school and the pupils came through the forests for several miles, for the short term each winter. Joseph Wilson, John G. Lee, Simon A. Reed and James Hamilton are all mentioned as early teachers in the cabins that served as homes and schools both, but just which one was first is not known. The school house stood on William Cessna's land when it was built in 1836, but all trace of the location is lost now. School was also held in the old hewed log church which the Methodists named Salem, but as that was not built until later, there must have been a log house that served as the first building for educational purposes.
The Methodists organized a little class of seven members at the home of Joseph Wilson in 1835, and afterward this was known as Salem Church, an organization that still exists. About 1840 a hewed log building was put up by the congregation which lasted many years. Rev. Kinnear and Rev. Enos Holmes were eireuit riders who early visited this settlement, but services were often held by loeal ministers of the Methodist Church and by class leaders. The Presbyterians, the Disciples and the Protestant Methodists also had classes in this community, but the exact dates are not known. The Salem log ehureh stood in the middle of the present Salem cemetery.
The earliest burying place for the township was the little soldiers' cemetery at the old fort, but as it was the fashion in those days to bury right on the farms, many a private burying ground is forgotten. The last resting place of the earliest settler, Charles Cessna, is still enelosed and kept intaet, and here rest the remains of many of the pioneers. The Drapers and other early settlers buried their dead there, and while it is not used at present, it has not fallen into complete deeay.
Many of the pioneers are mentioned below, together with the dates
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
when they came to the township. The names of the migratory and roving settlers who were attracted by the game, and then moved on as the land was cleared up, have been forgotten in almost every instance. Following is the pioneer list mentioned: Charles Cessna and family, 1830; Jacob and Catherine Ryan, Thomas Leedom and William Cessna and family, 1832; Thomas McGoldrick and Daniel and Sarah Trump, 1833; Isaac Gray and family, 1832; Jacob and Elizabeth Been and Levi and Elizabeth Matthews, 1834; Smiley and Phoebe Matthews, 1835; Isaac Matthews and family and Joseph and Martha Wilson and fam- ily, 1834; Rev. Thomas H. Wilson, 1835; Allen Leper and family, 1834; John Houser and Joseph Leper, 1835; Jacob and George Rhine and James and Robert Coffee, 1834; William Cessna and family, 1835 ; Thomas and Naomi Hitchcock, Chester Hatch, Peter Foglesong and Lloyd Leonard, 1836; Moses and Tamar Kibby, 1837; Samuel Calhoun and family, 1839; Stephen Cessna, and a Mr. Whitesides and John F. and Julia Gramlich, 1838.
Moses Dudley, who was the first settler of the important sub- division of Hardin county that bears his name, came into the unbroken wilderness some time about 1825-26 looking for a location. Sub- sequently he brought his family and settled on land now owned by the Morrison family, where he lived for some years. From the best accounts now at hand, it seems that Dudley township was organized about 1833 or 1834, as the first election records bear the latter date. From the very first the township took a prominent part in the county's history, as is shown by the fact that while there were but sixty-three votes cast in the county at one of the early elections, Dudley town- ship had twenty out of the whole number. The fertility of the soil and the fact that it was on the old road from Sandusky to Cincinnati, gave the township the reputation of being a good place in which to settle, and many of the new settlers sent word "Back East" to their friends and relatives to come on to this fertile region in the newly organized county.
This township, like several others, was once larger than at pres- ent, but even now it is of considerable extent, comprising thirty-seven square miles of rich bottom land, and fine diversified pastures along the little streams. The Military lands south of the Scioto settled slowly, while the Congress lands went rapidly when the township was opened. The numerous springs and creeks afforded good lodging places for the pioneers until they could get established, and the little town of Marseilles, then called Burlington, on the east, made it possible for the pioneers to buy some supplies. Also the old trails to Upper San- dusky and the Logan county mills were great advantages, and Dudley settled up rapidly. Then, too, the great storm that is still spoken of by the children of pioneers that laid low the magnificent forests of a part of Marion county-literally blowing the huge walnut, hickory,
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
sycamore and other trees out by their roots-furnished a great field for agriculture to the settlers. The Indians had partly cleared up the underbrush and burned the logs, so that all that was necessary was to plant the corn in the loose, ashy soil and watch it grow. Pioneers from all the neighboring country went there to plant corn and veg- etables before their own lands were cleared. Mrs. Sarah Cary, a daughter of Moses Dudley, says her father and all the men of the neighborhood left their families in camps the first summer they lived in the county and went off to the "Windfall" to raise their crops.
Mrs. Cary, though now eighty-seven years old, talks in a very inter- esting manner of those early days in the woods. Her father's camp consisted of a shack for cooking and eating and one for sleeping, and there under the fine forest trees they lived from March till October, thoroughly enjoying the pleasant side of life and ignoring the hard- ships. Her mother went down to the creek with the family washing and when the clothes were clean hung them on the bushes to dry, and all the drinking water had to be carried from the spring on the land of George Elzy, a close neighbor. This spring later figured in some difficulties between the settlers, as a surveyor in laying off the land was compelled in running the line to give all the improvements on the Elzy farm and the spring to Mr. Dudley. Both men regretted the tronble, as a spring was a valuable possession in those days, and a cabin, however rough, not to be lightly lost. However, those happenings were numerous, as people just took up lands where they pleased, and waited until a convenient time to have them surveyed.
One day as Mr. Dudley and the other men in the family were chopping away at the logs for the first cabin, they heard a great screaming and noise down by the river. Dropping their tools they ran down and there stood a man named Madison, who implored them to come across the river to him. The river was high and there were no boats, but he still begged and coaxed, saying that he and his family were so lonely. They had settled on a claim that had come to his wife through some Revolutionary ancestor of Kentucky, and were there in the woods helpless and alone. They had brought with them their negro slaves, but only one remained at that time, and Mr. Madison and his wife were as helpless as children in the green woods. To sat- isfy him, work on the cabin had to be stopped until enough trees could be cut to make a bridge across the river, and after that the two families passed back and forth in friendly fashion.
As soon as settlers began pouring into the county, traders with their great Pennsylvania wagons loaded with flour and salt and other provisions visited the cabins, bearing away furs and such produce as could be spared in exchange for their goods. The stage route from Upper Sandusky to Bellefontaine and thence to other points was
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
early established, and as early as 1836 the fine old Wheeler Tavern was erected that still stands near the old Shawnee Ford. This historic old house has sheltered many notable guests, and is still a fine type of the colonial mansion. Mr. Alfred Wessling of Kenton, who owns the tavern and the surrounding large farm, has used all care in restoring the interior exactly as it was at first, when repairs have had to be made. Although not in use at present, the big old fire place in the kitchen is still preserved, and if old accounts are true many were the
WHEELER TAVERN
delicious things prepared in it for the guests lumbering across the country in the clumsy old stage coaches. Of course, whiskey was sold in all taverns, and the old built-in sideboard, or cupboard, for liquid refreshments still remains in the old office of the tavern. Several of the rooms are large enough for five or six bedsteads to be set up, and the whole house is built along generous lines. As mentioned in another place, tradition has it that Charles Dickens stopped here, and it is quite likely he did on his trip West, as there were no railroads in those days. It is known without doubt that Henry Clay, General Harrison and many other leading men of their times were enter- tained here, for Mrs. Cary remembers that General Harrison took dinner with her father when making his memorable campaign and spoke in several places, and Mr. John Van Fleet, a son of the pioneer, Miles Van Fleet, of this township, remembers as a boy the visit of Stephen A. Douglas to his father. Mr. Miles Van Fleet lived a short distance below the tavern, and. a Jacksonian Democrat, greatly admired the Little Giant ; so, when he went through the county, Mr. Van Fleet called on him at the tavern, having an interesting conversation with him on the great issues of the day.
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
Only a short time ago the cabin of Miles Van Fleet was torn down, and it was in this cabin that the first school was taught. There are conflicting statements as to the first teachers, the few remaining pioneers not being exactly certain just who was the first, but Melissa Gossip, Hampton Wood and Benjamin Boynton probably all taught in the township at a very early day. These schools were of the old fashioned subscription type, the books being very few and the fur- niture and everything of the most primitive kind. A strong man with the ability to "lick" the big boys took charge of the short term in winter, while a lady taught the little people in summer time, when the big boys and girls were too busy to attend and make trouble for the teacher. In spite of much courting and thrashing and rough fun, the teachers managed to do fairly good work in those old log huts, and some of the men and women who received their only schooling in them have gone out to show the world that even under adverse cireumstanees much good may be accomplished. After the old eabin on the Van Fleet farm was no longer used, regular log school houses were established in various parts of the township.
About 1835 a steady stream of settlers poured into the county, and Dudley township from its position saw much of the tide that poured westward. Stephen A. Douglas on one of his visits to the Van Fleet family spoke of the coming city of Chicago, and urged his friend to go there with him, saying that it was destined to become the great city of the West; but Mr. Van Fleet was well content with his farm, and would not leave. His home, and the Dudley homestead, as well as those of other pioneers, lodged party after party on their way to settle on new lands, and the Wheeler tavern did a thriving business. The women and children slept in the cabins while the men erected tents or slept in the great wagons, cooking in the fire-plaees and the next morning starting out again on their journey. Mrs. Sophia Banning bravely came into the woods to claim the land her husband, Anthony Banning, had bought some months before, and the Copes, the Davis family, the Roby family and many others followed.
Anthony Banning after purchasing his land went baek home for his family, but died before he could carry out his plans, so his widow with her children bravely took up the struggle for existence in the forest. Dudley township has a long list of honored pioneers, and many of their descendants still live to enjoy the prosperity purchased by these sturdy men and women. While the pioneers had much to contend with in the way of sickness, it can hardly be said that they were very lonely, as Dudley township oeeupied first rank commercially in those days because of its trails, the river and the stage route. People eame so very fast after the first few years that the lands were speedily taken, instances being given where races to the land offiees were made to get deeds recorded before some one else wanted the property.
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
Even at an early day Dudley township had several church organ- izations. The first of all to form a church were the Free Will Baptists who had seven members, with Elder David Dudley for a minister. These faithful church members were William and Mary Salmon, John and Jane Marks, Asa Davis and wife, and Mrs. Gardner. They met in houses and school houses and seem never to have had a regular church edifice. This was in 1834, and in the same year or perhaps the next the Pisgah congregation was formed with seventeen members. This was a Methodist church, as was also Reinhart church established in 1839 in a log school house. The latter had about twelve members and later was lodged in a frame church that still stands. The Baptist congregation broke up because its members moved away, but Pisgah and Reinhart are still doing very well.
The Dudley township pioneers are as follows: Moses Dudley and family, 1829; Miles and Elvira Van Fleet and family, 1832; Rolin Madison and family, Jacob Dick and family and George and Elizabeth Elzy and family, 1830; Joshua Cope and family, 1831; Harvey Chap- man and family, 1833; Portius Wheeler and family, 1834; John Latimore and family, 1830; Mrs. Sophia Banning and family, 1836; William and Mary Salmon and family, 1832; Solomon Goss, 1831; Samuel Codner, 1832; James and Polly Paver, 1830; William C. Hampton and family, 1836; George Thurman, 1834; John Carr, 1835; John Kern and William and Abraham Matthews, 1837; Henry and Hester Burris, 1838; John Henry, 1834; Thomas Bramble and family, 1835; Josiah and Margaret Roby and family, 1833; Asa and Jane Davis and family, 1832; Elias Lownes and family, 1835; David and Margaret Ward, 1836; Josiah and Margaret Roby and family, 1833; Gardner Hatch, 1835; Lewis and Mary De Moss, 1834; Anson Clement and family, 1835; John and Jane Marks, 1831; Peter Spracklin, 1835; David Clement, 1835; George Clement, 1836; Henry and Mary Jackson, 1834, and Amassa Farnum, 1839.
Although what is now Buck township had the very first settle- ments of the county, it was one of the last to be organized. The first recorded history of the county gathers about Ft. McArthur in the western part of the township, and after that the Old Sandusky Road was the center of activity, with its taverns, for many years, but still pioneers seemed slow to settle here. One reason for this is the fact that its lands are all in the Virginia Military Survey, lying as they do south of the Scioto, and the pioneers were not anxious to have some descendant of a Virginia soldier claim their land after the painful work of clearing it had been accomplished, no matter how patriotic they were. However, when the titles were quieted, the township settled up rapidly, and is now one of the finest in the county from every standpoint.
Buck township was probably organized in 1845, as the first records
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
of an election date from then. The destruction of the county and township records of an early date, leave the fact in doubt, but the old settlers set it as about that time. It was named for Harvey Buck- minster, who was really a pioneer of Hale township, but in 1839 or 1840, started a little tavern on land owned by Albert Mallow on the
BUCKMINSTER TAVERN
Old Sandusky Road. Some accounts of Mr. Buckminster's life say he was really first a resident of Dudley township, settling there in 1828 on the farm now owned by Alfred G. Wessling, but Hale township has always claimed him as one of its pioneers, and a great part of his life certainly was spent in the township that bears his name. Buck township comprises nearly twenty thousand acres of fertile land and is well drained by a number of small streams. The only one of these tributaries to the Scioto that furnished water power to the pioneers seems to have been the spring fed Taylor creek, along which there were several saw and grist mills, which though primitive in character, supplied the settlers with much needed materials. The soil was orig- inally covered with fine forest trees, but the settlers anxious for large fields and cultivated spaces speedily destroyed the virgin forest, and the small amount of timber still standing is of a later and scrubby growth.
Mention has already been made of the Hale family who were the first settlers of this township, but not permanent. Without doubt Mrs. Hale was the first woman to be buried in the then unorganized county, and no doubt other rovers whose names have not been pre-
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
served were buried at the fort, for milk siekness and ague abounded. After the Hale family came Judge William MeCloud and his family, who took an active part in the early history of the county. Judge MeCloud was a mighty hunter and many tales are still told of his skill with the gun. Reports say that he lived in the fort, that he had a eabin on what is now known as the Old Fort farm, that he lived north of the river on the farm now owned by Ralph Rarey in Cessna town- ship and several other loeations. Evidently this sturdy pioneer moved often, or the tales handed down about his place of residence have be- come confused. As eourt was first held at Ft. MeArthur and the first postoffice was located there, as well as the place of holding eleetions, it is safe to infer that the MeClouds lived in the fort, in one of the rude structures that had once sheltered Duncan MeArthur and his men. There are some men and women still living who dimly remember the old log stockade at the fort, and that somebody lived there, but all traee of this historic group of rough log buildings is lost. It was Mrs. McCloud who had the honor of naming Kenton, and her son was the first postmaster in the new county. Afterward this son, Robert MeCloud, held several important county offices, while William McCloud was the first associate judge. Other families must have lived in and near the fort from time to time until it fell into deeay, but their names are lost. It is well known that the McClouds were hos- pitable, kindly people, and their home was the stopping place for people going up and down the Detroit Road, as well as the refuge of the surveyors who laid off much of the new eounty into seetions. Of course, when the place was occupied by the soldiers the country was an unbroken wilderness, with no white people within its boundaries exeept a few traders and adventurers, but it will always be remembered that Buek township contains many interesting pages in its early history. It seems ineredible that such large bodies of troops could have been lodged at this low, swampy place, and later on that four thousand men should have marched across the county over the Shawnee Trail, but it is true. And from then on until the summer of 1908-nearly one hundred years later-when a detachment of United States troops marched through Kenton and camped within a mile of the old fort, Hardin county saw no United States regular soldiers
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