USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > Steubenville > Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, 20th > Part 75
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his freedom, together with a mattock and shovel, and no doubt, a blessing, as recom- pense for the long and faithful service to the benevolent Friend. Henry Crabs lo- cated in 1798, the year after Steubenville was laid out. He was accompanied by his wife, the two having all they possessed tied in a quilt. They crossed the river to the site of Steubenville in a skiff. The settle- ment was very sparse, he in his lifetime mentioning "Hans Wilson, Esq., Cable and Black Harry as among the few inhab- itants." Crabs erected the first blacksmith shop one mile east of the John Kilgore farm, near Richmond. where he did work for the settlers, there being quite a number of families in that vicinity. He made plow points, axes and trace chains, all the raw material having to be packed across the mountains.
Salt springs were noticed by the very earliest settlers on Yellow Creek; in fact, were known to the Indians as well as the four-footed denizens of the forest, and when the government surveys were made Section 34 was retained as public land, con- taining valuable mineral. This, however, did not prevent the settlers from utilizing the springs in the manufacture of salt, which was then worth $8 a bushel in the Ohio Valley. Henry Daniels in 1802 erect- ed a small furnace for boiling the salt water. He sunk a hollow sycamore log in an upright position at the spring, and from this the salt water was dipped into the boiling kettles, producing about three bush- els per day, a crude process certainly, but profitable at the then prevailing prices. When Isaac Shane went there in 1803 for salt he found so many waiting customers there ahead of him that he returned with out it. Wood was used for fuel in these furnaces, but about 1820 coal was substi- tuted by Mordecai Moore, and the salt water was pumped into a reservoir and conducted by means of wooden pipes back to the bluff where the fuel was obtained. But the supply from the spring was lim- ited and the brine was weak, consequently the product was not nearly equal to the de-
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mand. At this juncture, John Peterson, an ex-territorial constable, conceived the idea of boring a well. The facilities were very poor, the work being done by hand, assisted by a spring pole. But perseverance pre- vailed and at a depth of 300 feet a flow of salt water was struck "strong enough to carry an egg." Other wells followed, and a plentiful supply obtained. In the meantime Mr. Moore had substituted shal- low pans for evaporating the water, super- seding the old kettles, and carried on busi- ness for a number of years until competi- tion at other points made it unprofitable. Stewart MeClave purchased a part of Sec- tion 34 in 1826, and just in front of the family residence on Yellow Creek is a mound five feet high and several rods in diameter, composed of einder, which marks the site of the old United States Salt Works. Mr. Moore's works were not all in Section 34, for he afterwards moved to Section 28, father east, where he founded what was known as Moore's Salt Works or Mooretown, although the word "town" must be used here in a very restricted sense as applicable to the small collection of buildings around the grist mill which was operated for many years, and the store kept by Lewis Moore. For some nnexplain- able reason the postoffice name was changed to Pravo, which finally disap- peared with the progress of the rural free delivery. In fact, the present Ross Town- ship never had a regular town or village within its borders, being exclusively a rural community. There is no postoffice in the township. Early indications of oil and later efforts in searching for the oleaginous fluid are related in the chapter on that subject.
Township elections were held at the resi- denee of Henry Crab until 1850 and after- wards at school house No. 3. William Scott, the first justice of the peace, resided on Section 32.
Robert George, a native of the township, born March 27, 1806. started the first store in the township at Mooretown in 1828. and has left an enduring landmark to his name
by a gray sandstone monument erected by him in 1871, at a cost of $700, to the mem- ory of the soldiers of Ross Township, who lost their lives in the war of the rebellion. It stands on a bluff overlooking the creek, resting on a stone platform seven feet square, being a dorie column, including its capital twenty-one feet high. On the western face of the base is the inscription, "To the memory of the fallen soldiers of Ross Township, Jefferson County, Ohio, in the War of 1861 to 1865." Dies are in- serted bearing the following names: "Thomas, son of Robert and Martha George, Second regiment, O. V. J., killed at Perryville, Ky., October 8, 1862; Thomas Duke, Thirty-second, died August 27, 1864; John Duke, First Tennessee battery, died Angust 27, 1864; James Dorrance, Second, O. V. L., died March 31, 1862; Robert Me- Clave, Fifty-second, died January 14, 1863; Barton Gerin, Second, killed May 8, 1864; Elbridge Green, Eighth Iowa Cavalry, died 1862: David Potts, Thirty-second, killed 1864; James Russell, Second, died April 14, 1862; John Porter, Second, killed April, 1864; David Call, Second, died 1863; Isaiah Call, Second. died 1863; J. Kirk- patrick, Thirty-second, died 1864; Alfred Walters, Second, died 1864; Samuel F. Me- Lain, Second, died 1863; Thomas B. Starn. Thirty-second, died November 2, 1865; Ed- ward Graley. Thirty-second, died August 4, 1864; G. W. Graley, One Hundred and Twenty-second, died October 20, 1863; John Stewart, Second, died in prison, 1864; Aaron Scamp, Thirty-second, died 1864; David Kriner, Second, died 1862; Jacob Kriner, same; Enos Striker, Second, died 1864; H. K. Crabs, Fifty-second, died November 3, 1863; Adam Sauer, One Hun- dred and Seventy-Eighth, died January 14, 1865; Stanley Shane, Second, died Novem- ber 23. 1863; Newton Wycoff, Fifty-second, died Inne 1864; William Rea, Second, died a prisoner, August, 1864; Benjamin Rea. Fifty-second, died October, 1863; Ross Coyle, One Hundred and Twenty-second, killed December 4, 1863; Edward Goodlin, Fifty-second, died 1863." An appropriate
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military device is carved in high relief on the western face of the shaft, and the mon- ument is a striking object to those descend- ing or ascending the valley.
In Section 33 are the remains of a pre- historic mound which may have been a fortification. It is circular with a radius of 250 feet which would give a circumference of about 1,700 feet. It is located on a bluff, which on the northwest side is about 200 feet high and ahost perpendienlar. On the southwest the "fortification" is about 100 feet high, sloping gradually to the creek. The ditch when first discovered by the whites was abont four feet deep, and had large trees growing in it. The north- western portion of the enclosure had ap- parently been washed away by the creek. This is the most extensive relic of the kind discovered in Jefferson County.
The early prodnets " the townshin. flour, whiskey and salt, were hanled to the mouth of Yellow Creek and thence carried by flatboat to down-river points. When the Ohio Canal was opened wheat was hauled across the country to Massillon and Bolivar, but pork soon became the leading product of the section still known as Bacon Ridge, because it was cheaper to turn the grain into logs and sell the pork rather than cart it fifty or sixty miles in order to seenre water transportation. While the Ohio canal system was of immense benefit in developing the sections of the state through which it passed it was of very lit- tle use to Jefferson County, which received practically no return for the many thou- sands of dollars of taxes paid by her eiti- zens to build up rival comnmnities. Pork was hanled to Pittsburgh and Baltimore in six horse wagons, and the teamster's office was an important one. At home smoked ham brought six cents a pound, butter five and six cents, eggs two cents a dozen, and people made their own clothing. As to the morality of that region the late Isaac Shane writes: "The morals of our neigh- borhood were fairly good. While my fa- ther (James Shane) had many criminal cases before him, the offenders came mostly
from the Yellow Creek settlements. Wil- liam Johnston, a law student in Steuben- ville and afterwards a judge in Cincinnati, started, as I suppose, on Bacon Ridge, the first temperance society in the county, the members signing a very strict pledge. This was in 1833."
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
The first school house in the township was built about 1814 and was located about half a mile southeast of Stephen Coe's mill near Mooretown. James Ewing was the first teacher with a three month's term. Others were not long following and con- cerning these Mr. Shane writes: "The early schools were tanght on subscription. There were no school houses (this as we have seen was not always the case). A teacher would get the use of some cabin or outhouse, or a farmer's kitchen in which to hold his school. He would seat it in a very primitive way, but it served his pur- pose; the children learned to read, write and cypher, and all were pleased. The teachers were persons of very common scholarship. The first I call to mind were Mr. Dixon, Thomas Riley and Mr. Baker; next came Henry Crabbs and Samuel Mc- Cutcheon. The schools were held some- times one month, sometimes three, accord- ing to the money raised. The schools were kept in winter, but seldom in summer; nor were they kept every winter. The predom- innting religious influence being Presby- terian, the parents were encouraged by the ministers to edneate their children. About 1820, under a then new law, townships were districted and school houses built ; but still the distilleries outmmnnbered the school houses four to one. The first school house in our neighborhood ( Bacon Ridge) was built on lands now owned by John Lysle, and then a marked improvement was no- ticed both in schools and teachers. Samuel Mccutcheon and Henry Crabbs continued to wield the birch and after them came Peter Eckley, nnele of Hon. E. R. Eckley, of Carrollton. Joseph Shane (uncle of Isaac), and James Clendenning; and in
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1837 the first female teacher caine among us-a Miss Hartshorn."
Had the early schools of Ross Township produced no other visible fruit than Hon. Wm. Johnston, whose career is related in Chapter XX., they would have more than justified the expectations of their founders, in that it was mainly through his efforts that Ohio secured her first common school law. But they have kept up with the times and the township has eight school build- ings, an average of one for each two and a half square miles, located as follows: Sec- tion 5, Lewis; 7, Montgomery; 8 and 16, McLean; 16, Sutton; 19, MeIntire; 27, Smythe; 28, Moore.
Rev. George Scott organized a Presby- terian Society about 1804, which had a meeting house about the center of Section 25, which was called Richmond Church, al- thonghi it was five miles from the present town of Richmond. The original members were Arthur Latimer, John P. MeMillen, Stephen Coe, Thomas Bay, Calvin Moore- head, Aaron Allen and Andrew Dixon. Win. McMillen was the first pastor and served two years. The first place of wor- ship was the usual primitive log structure, small in size and poor in accommodations, but the congregation growing, in 1820 a brick building 30x50 was erected, which stood several years, when it was decided to divide the congregation on account of it covering too much territory. There be- ing other churches in the neighborhood it was decided to move a couple of miles eastward in the northwest quarter of See- tion 13, and here on what was known as Bacon Ridge a new frame strueture 33x44 feet was erected, and the old building torn down. The records previous to 1840 are lost, but Thomas Hunt was pastor for seven years, succeeded by James Robinson, a classmate of Dr. Chahners. J. R. Dundas served from 1840 to 1844, sneceeded by Cyrus Riggs, Lafferty Geier, for seven years, and John S. Marquis, who resigned on account of ill health in 1865. William Wycoff served from June, 1866, to October 19, 1873, and was succeeded by W. M.
Eaton until October, 1868, since when the congregation has depended on supplies from Richmond.
Rev. E. N. Seroggs, of the Associate Presbyterian, organized a congregation on Yellow Creek in 1814, which subsequently became the Yellow Creek United Presby- terian Church. Rev. John Walker and Dr. Ramsay were among the early ministers. The first preaching was at the house of Thomas George (afterwards noted as an underground railway station), then in a tent, and in 1828 a brick house of worship (30x40 feet) was erected, which was after- wards lengthened twenty feet. In 1858 a frame building 40x60 was erected, which is still in use. Among the first members were: Henry Crabbs (Krebs) and wife, Anna, Hamilton Walker and wife, Mary, William Kelly and wife, Christine, Nathan Barr and wife, Margaret, Samuel Dorrance and wife, Mary, John Jordan and wife, Mary Ann, Thomas George and wife, Jane, John Kean and wife, Mary, and Sarah Story. Thomas George and Henry Crabbs were ruling elders. Rev. John Donaldson succeeded Dr. Ramsey for twelve years; James Patterson, eighteen years; John Easton, one year; T. Simpson, December 25, 1856, to September 12, 1861; James Golden, April 4, 1863, to April, 1869; H. Y. Leeper, January, 1870 to July 8, 1902; W. C. Work, supply one year; J. Walter Liggitt, 1904-08.
The Methodists as an organized body be- gan comparatively late in this township, but for quite a number of years preaching services were held at the home of Richard Jackman (maternal grandfather of Rich- ard Henry Gregg of the Steubenville Bar), on Bacon Ridge. Alexander Johnston (fa- ther of Judge William Johnston), who came from Pennsylvania to Ohio about 1800, was a Methodist Episcopal minister, following farming during the week days and preaching on Sundays. He became quite wealthy and owned a large tract of land in the township, including the farms later owned by Jolin Lysle and Matthew Stevenson. Alexander Johnson's son,
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Alexander, was also a Methodist Episcopal minister; a man of wonderful talent, he having written a commentary on the Bible, declared by those who read the mannseript (it was not published) to have been a scholarly effort. The first organization was in Section 8 in 1834 called Mt. Zion, by Rev. Edward Taylor. The class was composed of Thomas Taylor, leader; James Taylor and wife, Hettie, Henry Gregg and wife, Susannah, Benjamin El- liott and wife, Nancy, and Jane Jackman. A frame church was built in 1837, which was burned twenty years later and imme- diately rebuilt, 32x44 feet in size. It is a part of Richmond circuit.
Pine Grove Church in Section 5 was be- gun by the preaching of Rev. Samuel Wharton in an old log house in 1838, and a few months after a class was formed by Rev. Thomas Thompson, composed of four- teen persons, including Samuel N. Herron, leader; Andrew Saltsman and wife, Cath- erine, Solomon Hartman and wife, Jane Saltsman, Mrs. Rebecca Schwinehart and daughter, Julia Ann, Matthew H. Roach and wife, Elizabeth. In 1841 under the auspices of Revs. John Murray and George Mccluskey a brick structure replaced the old log house, and is still in use, being on Hammondsville circuit.
Rev. J. Williams organized a class at Mooretown in 1847, composed of Mordecai Moore, leader; Thomas Smith and wife, Eleanor, Wilson Anderson and wife, Re- becca, Dr. McDowell and wife, Mary, James Knox and wife, Ann, Mrs. Elizabeth Moore. A frame house, 30x41, was erected in 1851 and is still in use. It is part of Bergholz circuit.
In 1830 Bethel Lutheran Church was or- ganized in Section 3 on the east side of the township and a brick building erected. It was replaced by a frame in 1872, which was dedicated the same year by Drs. Sparks and Passavant of Pittsburgh. While the congregation has always been small, serv- ices have been maintained with more or less regularity by supplies.
BRUSH CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Mr. Caklwell in his history has the fol- lowing paragraph: "Brush Creek Town- ship at this time (1879) contains neither a lawyer, doctor, preacher nor saloon. It has one small village of eighty inhabitants with a postoffice, a store, a blacksmith shop and a shoemaker shop. It contains within its limits four churches." This descrip- tion applies just as well today, except that rural delivery has displaced the postoffice.
When Columbiana County was formed from Jefferson on March 25, 1803, most of what is now Brush Creek Township was within the limits of the new county, but in 1832 the legislature changed the line, throwing three tiers of sections back into Jefferson. The following March the county commissioners detached a tier of sections from the north side of Ross and attached it to the territory acquired from Columbi- ana, and organized it into a township, call- ing it Brush Creek, after the streamflowing through it. Thus it contains twenty-four sections or about that number of square miles. At one time wheat raising was a considerable farming industry, but in later years grazing and stock raising are in the lead. Coal abounds as in the adjoining townships. As stated, there is but one vil- lage in the township, Monroeville, a small hamlet laid out by Abraham Croxton in 1836 and named after President Monroe. The postoffice was called Croxton, there being another Monroeville in the state.
William B. Derrick has preserved some reminiscences of the early settlers, among them being Martin Adams, who bought his farm from the government in 1805, moving there on March 25, 1806, and remaining there until his death. He was a justice of the peace, donated the land for Chestnut Grove Church and cemetery, ran a mill and distillery, and, according to his biographer, acenmulated a large fortune, which was scattered at his death among impatient and dissatisfied legatees. Thomas Gillingham was agent for Nathan Harper, Joseph
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Potts & Company, a company of Quaker salt boilers from Bucks County, Pennsyl- vania. Henry Emmons had the property since known as Collinswood. Matthew Rus- sell, a bachelor, willed a large sum to the state for the benefit of the insane, which was materially reduced by litigation on the part of heirs. Thomas Adams came about 1810 and settled on Section 27, since owned by his son, John. Jacob Ritter settled in 1810 on what was afterwards the MeIntosh place. Then there were William Kerr, Samuel Clark, Elisha Brooks, Cyrus Moore (soldier of 1812) Kenneth McLennan, John C. McIntosh and others. According to Mr. Derrick Joshua Downard and John Hutton discovered salt water in the ereck near the mouth of Salt Works Run, where Irondale is now situated. It was while they were hunting deer near the close of the Eigh- teenth century. Downard came to Brush Creek in 1784, and his son Joseph was born on the north fork of Yellow Creek in 1796. It will be remembered that Salt Run flows through Brush Creek Township and empties into Yellow Creek at Irondale in Saline Township.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
Like Ross, the pioneer schools of Brush Creek Township produced at least one character which rescued them from ob- scurity, Rev. Alexander Clark, who became a prominent minister in the M. P. Church, as well as a writer and educator of wide reputation. He started the "School Day Visitor," the first child's paper published in the country, which afterwards grew into the St. Nicholas Magazine and at his death was editor of the Methodist Recorder, the organ of his religious denomination, pub- lished at Pittsburgh. The first school house in the township was on the farm owned by Moses Marshall and afterwards by Elias Cope about twenty rods east of the present site of Chestnut Grove Church in Section 2. It was built of logs in 1814, and the teacher was Samuel Clark, father of the Rev. Dr. Clark mentioned above. He was engaged at $10 a month for four months by Mat-
thew Russell and Moses Marshall, and boarded free with the latter. Some of the attending pupils lived fully three miles away. Of course in those days there was no such thing as teachers' examinations, and little discrimination in their employ- ment. The patrons of the school took what they could get and at the least price, gen- erally without regard to quality. However, the results were better than might have been anticipated. Close by this school house were the mill and distillery of Mar- tin Adams, the latter abandoned a few years later for want of patronage. In 1830 the school district was regularly organized, consisting of Sections 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, giving a district of nine square miles. The first election for school officers was held at the house of Martin Adams on September 8, choosing Samuel Clark as clerk, John Adams, William Kerr and Elisha Brooks, directors; Martin Adams, treasurer. At this meeting the building of a new house was ordered, to be a hewn log building, shingle roof, stone chimney, a door and windows. The size was to be 20x20. Application was made to the aud itor of Columbianu County for an abstract of the taxable property of the district, and a levy of ten mills on the dollar was made, which aggregated a total of $50. The building was erected the same full under the direction of James Clark and Charles Marshall, on a tract of land granted by John Adams. The neighbors joined in the "raising," and the house was built in one day at a cash ontlay of $32. The fact that the whisky of the forefathers lent in- spiration to all these gatherings is general- ly recognized, and in this case it is related that the next morning after the raising Clark went to the newly erected building to finish up the work, and arriving before his partner, Marshall, concluded to "take a nap" in the adjoining woods. Marshall arrived shortly after, and not finding Clark, he also coneluded to "take a nap" and fell asleep in the woods. Clark finally awoke, and not seeing Marshall went to his residence to ascertain the ennse of his
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absence. In the meantime Marshall awoke and went to Clark's to find out why he was missing. When they found each other is not recorded.
William Kerr was the first teacher and school was held with more or less regu- larity until 1852, when Samuel Clark was hired as teacher at $18 per month. When Christmas came he refused to give the customary treat, which the scholars de- manded and quit the school in disgust. His son, Alexander, who had received his early education here, was employed to finish out the term, and thus the place became im- mortalized in his book, "The Old Log School House."
Among the sketches in Mr. Clark's book the following is worthy of preservation:
"A long time ago, before any of the pio- neers had permanently settled in the valley of Yellow Creek, it was common for Vir- ginians to make excursions over these hills, bringing their horses with them from the settlements, and hobbling them in the wild meadows to graze while they wandered off in search of game, in which the woods abounded. In such exploits it was usual to sleep on the grass with the far-off sky as the only shelter and the distant howling of the wolves the only Inllaby. About this time salt springs were discovered on the creek, and crude furnaces were built for 'boiling salt.' The persons who first en- gaged in this business were a daring, reck- less class of men, not partienlar regardful of their appearance or habits. Commonly two or three would join fortunes, erect a rongh cabin, and build a furnace near a saline spring, there to spend weeks and months boiling salt in the wilderness,
"One of these establishments was owned and operated by a rongh, mischievous fel- low by the name of Miller, who was always ready for a joke, no matter how severe or at whose expense. While Miller and his two associates in the enterprise were seat- ed around the great roaring furnace one morning, wishing for some kind of amuse- ment, a stranger, lean and lank, having every symptom of a genuine Vermonter,
approached on horseback, and asked per- mission to leave his pack-saddle and other traveling appendages in their care, while he should spend the day in hunting. The favor being cheerfully granted, he dis- mounted, left his saddle, and wandered off in quest of deer. As soon as the newcomer was fairly out of sight, Miller, who looked upon him as an intruder, determined to annoy him, and as a convenient method of testing the calibre of the stranger, he threw his pack-saddle into the furnace, where it was soon reduced to ashes. Toward even- ing the hunter returned, and on very delib- erately making inquiry for his saddle, was told the less he said about that the better otherwise he might share the same fate. The remark was accompanied by a signifi- cant look toward the fire, which instantly suggested to the indignant stranger the whereabouts of his saddle. However, he said nothing, and was soon on his home- ward way. In a few days he returned once more, seeining in a fine humor, and brought a new pack-saddle which he left in Miller's care, as before, charging him emphatically not to burn that one or else there would be a noise about it. Of course the warning not to touch the saddle was more than Miller was willing to bear, and he resolved to repeat the experiment as soon as the stranger should start on his day's hunt. No sooner had he turned his back upon the furnace than Miller called after him, 'Look- a-here, Mister, I'll show you who's a goin' to do the orderin' round here,' and into the fire went the saddle with a will. But in a moment the linge kettles, the walls of the furnace and everything thereunto pertain- ing were scattered in one universal wreck, the hot fluid sprinkling freely over the un- suspecting heads of the salt boilers, and the clouds of hissing steam completely blinding them for awhile, thus affording the revengefnl stranger opportunity to make good his escape, which he did with- out the formality of bidding his victims good bye. The truth flashed upon Miller's mind abont as soon as the hot ashes flashed into his face-the pads of the new pack-
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