Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th, Part 72

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 926

USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th > Part 72

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).

The village of Ashley is the most popu- lous municipality outside of the city of Dela- ware in the county. Its original name was Oxford, but was changed to Ashley in honor of L. W. Ashley. one of the proprietors of the ground upon which the village was built. The other owner was J. C. Avery. County Sur- veyor Charles Neil platted the village on June 15. 1849, laying it off in 69 lots. On August 6th of the same year an addition of 83 inlots was made and on June 18. 1850, J. C. Avery, S. Finch and Henry Lamb made an addition of 15 in-lots. In 1852, Lamb and Finch plat- ted ten out-lots, and in 1860. L. W. Ashley added three more lots. In 1877. Hugh Cole and John Doty made a small addition, bring- ing the total number of lots up to 183. In May, 1850. a small grocery and dry goods store was started by Lewis Purmort on the Shoemaker farm east of the village. Later in the same year Aloy Patee built the Ashley ho- tel, and Purmort moved his stock of merchan- dise into one of the rooms of the hotel. In 1850 or 1851. the first postoffice was estab- lished. and J. H. Miller, of the dry goods firm of Miller & Mulford served as the first post- master. Among the earliest firms were Rob- ert Morehouse, Jr., who erected a frame build-

ingp on in-lot No. 4 and started in the dry goods business. Two years later they sold out to J. S. Brumback. A year or two after the vil- lage was laid out. Benjamin McMaster. Jo- seph Riley and Israel Potter erected a grain warehouse, of which Mr. McMaster became sole proprietor in 1853. He engaged in the grain business a few years longer and then sold out to the firm of Breeden & Place. About the time this grain warehouse was first erected, Jesse Meredith built another on the railroad grounds, and combined the grain business with the duties of station agent. Among other early merchants we may mention Adam Sher- man and a Mr. Clark. The village of AAshley was incorporated August 30. 1855, and the fol- lowing were the first city officials: James Cul- bertson, mayor; A. Patee. recorder; Jesse Meredith. S. Joy. Levi Shisler and Samuel Shisler, councilmen. They served until the regular election the following spring, when L. D. Benton was elected mayor : J. M. Coomer, recorder, and Solomon Joy, Samuel Shisler, S. B. Morehouse, A. G. Hall and George Mc- Master, councilmen. Benjamin Fry was the first marshal, and Solomon Joy the first treas- urer. The first ordinance passed by the Coun- cil was for the suppression of intemperance. In the spring of 1857. B. F. Fry was elected mayor. Ashley is now one of the most pros- perous municipalities of its size in the State.

Its financial interests are taken care of by the Ashley Bank and the Farmers' Savings Bank. The Ashley Milling Company and the firm of Lin & Shoemaker conduct prosperous flouring mills, while Frank Goodrich and Gra- ham Company are elevator proprietors and dealers in grain. The hardware buisness is represented by B. Bartholomew and John Olds: Fisk & Wilcox deal in agricultural and other implements : A. B. Claypool. Lee & Fisk. Frank Sharp and Ray Waters are grocers ; James Dugan deals in clothing : A. Aldrich, Charles Malony. William Robinson, and E. Wilkerson are blacksmiths; Miller Bros. are proprietors of a furniture and undertaking es- tablishment : while the dry goods interests are looked after by E. C. Sipes ( proprietor of "The Bazaar"), Westbrook & James, and Jo-

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY

seph Wilt. There are two hotels-the Cot- tage and the Franklin, presided over respec- tively by William Ashbrook and E. Stalkbar- ger. and other business interests are repre- sented by John Brehm, baker and confec- tioner: Frank Barto, William Osborn, bar- bers; M. Powell. dentist; O. M. Gilbert, dis- tillery: Jesse Achelson and Ray White, dray- men ; Aldrich & Stratton and Ed Keltner, em- blem manufacturers; James Durkey, harness and shoes; D. Davis and Frank Pierce, jew- elry ; Clyde Sherman, livery ; Welch & Wind- sor and A. M. Myers, meat ; Mrs. Clara Wil- kerson, millinery; A. P. Oliver and A. E. Thomas, real estate and insurance; Ray Slack and J. G. Redman, restaurants: Doctors Bur- key, A. E. Westbrook, Elda Welch and M. McGough, physicians. The Ashley Star has W. S. Shoemaker for editor and manager, while Charles Longwell is engaged in the manufacture of monuments.

Oxford Township Officials ( 1908) : Jer- ome Harroun and Seebers Martin, justices of the peace; Stanley Beel, J. B. Glenn, and E. .A. Martin, trustees; Ralph Davis, clerk ; Le- roy Watters, treasurer; J. L. Porterfield, as- sessor; John R. Compton and B. L. Martin, constables.

PORTER TOWNSHIP.

This township, which was the last one to be organized in Delaware County, and was named after the Hon. Robert Porter, of Phila- delphia, who received from President John Adams a patent dated March 21, 1800, for 4, 000 acres in Section 3. Township i and Range 16 of the United States Military Lands. So far as is known, this was the first patent for lands in Porter Township that was issued by the Government. The proprietor of this land was a prominent attorney in Pennsylvania, where he was a circuit judge for many years. The present township of Porter was created at the June session of the county commissioners in 1826. It is bounded on the north by Mor- row County ; on the east by Knox County; on the south by Trenton Township and on the west by Kingston. There are quarries of fine

Waverly sandstone in the township, and these are its only mineral resources. The soil of the township is rich, and all the grain crops do well here. Farming and grazing have always been the principal occupations of the citizens. Before the axe of the white man was brought into this region, it was heavily wooded with all the varieties of timber common to this section of the State. There are a large number of streams in the township, and this makes the problem of drainage a comparatively easy one to solve. Big Walnut Creek is the principal stream of water. It enters the township about a mile and a half east of the northwest cor- ner of the township, and flows through the center of the west half of the township into Trenton. Among the principal tributaries of the creek we will mention Long Run, which comes into the township from Morrow county and runs in a westerly and southwesterly di- rection until it empties into Big Walnut a short distance southeast of Olive Green. Sugar Creek runs through the township from north- east to southwest, joining Big Walnut about a mile north of the southern boundary of the township. Wilcox Run is the principal tribut- tary of Sugar Creek.

Prior to 1812, a number of white squat- ters, commonly called "Taways," but not re- lated in any way to the Indian tribe of that name, settled in this township. They were indolent and without ambition or enterprise. Their nearest approach to labor was in hunt- ing, trapping or fishing. Wild game and wild hogs with wild fruits were their principal sub- sistence, though occasionally they broke over and raised a little grain. Among the earliest real pioneers of the township were Daniel Pint. Timothy Meeker and Timothy Murphy. Though they reared large families as was the custom in those days, few if any of their de- scendants are now to be found in the county. In 1810, Peter and Isaac Plan, two brothers, settled in the southern part of the township. In 1817, two brothers, Ebenezer and Christo- pher Lindenberger. settled where the village of Olive Green was later located. They were from Rhode Island and owned several hun- dred acres of land. About the same time two

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other Rhode Islanders. Festus Sprague and Edward Mason, settled nearby and married two of the Lindenberger girls, sisters of the men we have mentioned. Ebenezer Linderber- ger was a graduate of an eastern college, and his brother had a better education than was the common lot of men in those days. Mason was also well educated, and possessed a men- tal endowment that qualified him for any township, county or State office within the gift of the people. He seemed. however, to lack energy and ambition. From the time he settled in Porter until his death which occur- red near the beginning of the second war with England, he was justice of the peace and held other township offices. His lazy habits re- sulted in his becoming very stout, and the slowness of movement, coupled with his pon- derosity, gave him an air of importance which led people to call him "Pompey" Mason. Like most large people, he was good-natured, and easy-going, and the radiance of his sunny dis- position was shed alike on family, neighbors and friends-he had no enemies. His court was one of conciliation. Before the trial of a cause, he tried by every possible means to et- iect a settlement between the litigants, thus saving them money and winning their friend- ship. Festus Sprague married a sister of Squire Mason. By application and industry Mason succeeded in educating himself suffi- ciently to meet the requirements for a teacher in those days, and to fill various offices with ability. For many years he served as justice of the peace, and while he possessed no legal training was regarded by those in the profes- sion who knew him as having naturally a legal mind, and his counsel was often sought in im- portant cases. He was a man of temperate habits and of the utmost moral rectitude. His neighbors could never understand what it was that influenced him to adopt the polygamous doctrines of the Mormons, which led him, about 1857, to sell his property and move with his family to Utah, where he died net long after. Christopher Lindenberger and part of his family also moved to Utah for similar rea- sons. Ebenezer Lindenberger and family moved to the West. John Lindenberger, a son

of Christopher, served as a justice of the peace and in other township offices.

Section 4 came to be known as the "Irish Section," by reason of the fact that the patent for these lands was issued by President Mon- roe, on November 28, 1817, to the heirs-at- law of Hugh Holmes and Robert Rainey, who at that time were residents of Ireland. On April 10, 1837. these parties, by their attor- ney, conveyed his section to George C. Bum- ford, who in turn deeded it to John W. Wor- den. Not long after that Mr. Worden sold one-half of the section to Benjamin S. Brown. of Mt. Vernon, and this land was not placed upon the market until after Mr. Brown's death in the fall of 1838.

On May 19. 1800. Judge Robert Porter deeded 300 acres of land, situated on Big Wal- nut Creek about three-quarters of a mile south of the present village of Olive Green, to Thomas Mendenhall, a merchant of Wilming- ton, Delaware. Mendenhall gave this land to his son Joel Z., who brought his family here and erected a cabin in 1819. He was a prac- tical farmer and surveyor, which occupations he followed for many years. He was county surveyor for a number of terms. He married his second cousin. Eliza Mendenhall, in Phila- delphia before coming to Ohio. Mr. Menden- hall had a good education. He was a justice of the peace and held other township offices. From 1835 to 1853 he resided in the City of Delaware, where he also filled the office of jus- tice of the peace. But city life did not ap- peal to him, so in the latter year he returned to his farm in this township. The increasing in- firmnities of age finally compelled him to give up farming, and he moved to Olive Green, where he died about 1872.

Another settler who came into the town- ship in 1817 was Samnel Page, who came from Broome County, New York. His farm was on the Sunbury and Mt. Gilead State Road near the Kingston Township line. About two years later he sold this farm to his brother William, who had immigrated to the township. Samuel Page moved onto another farm in Bennington Township, Morrow County, where the village of Pagetown is now located. Wil-

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY

liam Page was upright and industrious, giving a practical demonstration of the principles of Christianity in his daily life which won for him the high esteem of his neighbors. He was justice of the peace, and filled other offices with credit. He married Miss Sarah Ed- wards. They had five sons-William A .. Roswell. Samuel, Washington and Ranson. and one daughter, who married a man named Wells. In 1840, William Page laid out the village of East Liberty on his farm. It was laid off into four regular squares. The lots were readily sold and the purchasers erected homes, but the failure at this time to build the projected railroad arrested the develop- ment of the place. Dr. H. Bessee, who located here in 1847, was the first physician, and he remained here until the beginning of the Civil War. The first hotel was kept by George Blainey, who was also the first postmaster.

Olive Green was the first town laid out in Porter. It was surveyed and platted in 1835 by Joel Z. Mendenhall for Christopher Linden- berger and Festus Sprague, who were the owners. The village was laid out in eight regular squares, and is located on the State Road between Mt. Vernon and Columbus at the intersection of the road between Sunbury and Mt. Gilead. The first store was kept by Christopher Lindenberger. A post office was established in 1860, James N. Stark being the first postmaster. The first frame house was erected by a Mr. Baird. About 1830, Andrew Hemminger, who was of German descent. moved into the township from Tuscarawas County. For many years he was the only set- tler on the road between East Liberty and the old Vail tavern, and so his home came to be a stopping place for travelers. Ile put up a double log house, and as many as fifty teams were sometimes put up here over night. Aaron R. Harrison located in the western part of the township in 1833. He had a farm of several hundred acres on the road running from Sun- bury to Mt. Gilead. He was born in New Jersey in 1778, and married Mary Condit in 1805. They brought five sons and four (laughters with them from New Jersey. He built the first frame barn erected in the town- ship, which was 30 x 50 feet in dimensions.

His son Zenas served as county commissioner, besides filling different township offices to the satisfaction of the people.

About 1820, a man named Sturdevant, the father of James and Chauncey H. Sturdevant, settled in the township. A. G. Kenney emi- grated from Maryland in 1828, and settled on a farm on a branch of Long Run about half a mile from the northern boundary of the town- ship. They erected the first brick house in the township. Two years after they came here. Sam- uel Dowell settled at the head of Sugar Creek. Rev. Henry Davey, a Dunkard preacher, set- tled on Sugar Creek, near the center of Sec- tion I, about 1832. He enjoyed vigorous health, and was capable of great mental and physical labor. He built a saw-mill on his farm and soon had the farm well improved and good buildings erected. He was a recog- mized leader of his sect, and for many years he was away from home the greater part of the time attending to his ministerial duties. He was well-to-do in this world's goods, but lived simply and without display. In 1856 he sold the farm just described. and purchased an- other on Big Walnut Creek ; here he lived for several years, finally selling the property and removing to the western part of the State. In 1830. Charles Patrick, a son of Squire Joseph Patrick of Berkshire, settled on the Porter section. He cleared up and improved a farm of 300 acres. The same year William Iler and the Gray family came from Tuscarawas County and settled in Seption I near the Mor- row County line. ller was a local preacher in the Methodist Church, but was broad-minded and tolerant of the beliefs of others, often uniting with members of other denominations in religious work. Other early settlers were H. Blackledge, who gained the reputation of keeping some of the best stock in the township. Harvey Leach settled in the township in 1834, and married a daughter of Mr. Dunham. whose farm was on the State Road near the Morrow County line. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. During the later years of his life he was blind.

In 1837. Mr. Charles M. Fowler located in the north-eastern portion of this township. When yet a young man he left the parental

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home in the Catskill Mountains to engage in the manufacture of oilcloth, having Messrs. Snyder and Pratt for his partners. The enter- prise did not prove successful from a financial standpoint, and Mr. Fowler came to Ohio. In 1840, he married Miss Catharine Ann Gray of New Philadelphia, and brought her to the farm in Porter Township on which he had set- tled three years before. They came overland in a spring-wagon-the first one in the neigh- borhood. Having taken the most important step in a man's lifetime, Mr. Fowler pow set to work with all his energy to clear up his 200- acre farm. The forest was so denise that they could not see forty rods from the cabin, and only reached this neighborhood by following a path that was indicated by blazed trees. After remaining here for four years with his young wife, who had never been away from home, Mr. Fowler returned with his family to his old home in New York State, driving in a wagon to New Philadelphia, and making the rest of the journey by canal and wagon. He remained away four years, during which time his farm was cultivated by a tenant, McCreary by name. While he was away, Mr. Fowler was again engaged in business as a manufacturer, but sold out his interests when he decided to re- turn to his farm. He began to make improvements, and soon had his farm well fenced and under a good state of cultivation. He erected a large frame house and two frame barns, set out an orchard, and soon had every- thing about him for his comfort and conven- ience that was possible in that day. He and his wife were Presbyterians, and for many years they were regular attendants of the Old Blue Church in Kingston, a distance of seven miles from their home, and great as was the distance, they were seldom late either for Sab- bath school or preaching services. When the New School Presbyterians built their church in East Liberty, he went there, the distance being three miles shorter. In this new church Mr. Fowler and Mr. John Van Sickle, of Kingston, were the main pillars. Mr. Fowler was a man of true piety and practical religion. He made several trips to his old home in the Catskill Mountains, and was frequently visited

by his father and mother. Mr. Fowler died in Delaware, where he had resided but a short time, on June 12, 1872, and was buried in the old cemetery he had helped to lay out, near the old church in Porter, with which he had been so long identified. He was well versed in the Scriptures and in ancient and modern history. His oldest son, Dr. S. W. Fowler, of Dela- ware, is the oldest physician in the county, and an able contributor to this work.

In 1839. David Babcock emigrated from Rhode Island to Porter Township and settled on the east side of the Big Walnut, near the northern boundary or the township. He cleared up the farm and resided here until his death, which occurred in 1871, when he was seventy-two years old. About 1844. S. A. Ramsey purchased a farm of about 200 acres near the center of the "Irish Section." This he developed into a profitable farm. He reared a large family, and won the respect of all his neighbors by his uprightness of character. He served as justice of the peace and in other township offices. We have endeavored to give all that we could learn regarding the early settlers, who left homes of comparative com- fort and braved the perils and endured the hardships of the wilderness to pave the way for the civilization that we enjoy today. It would be impossible to go into such detail re- garding the thousands of worthy citizens who now' compose the population of Delaware County. So far as we know, no record ex- ists to show the date of the first marriage, but as nearly as we can learn, the contracting parties were Reuben Place and Rachel Meeker. Tradition also says that Eliza Allen Menden- hall Pint was the first white child born of the permanent settlers, and Polly Place was the first to die. This has always been a farming community, and one of the last places in the world for a speculative enterprise to gain a footholl; yet, in 1865, when the oil specula- tion in Ohio was at its height, the Delaware & Hocking Oil Company was organized by Judge Isaac Ramsey, David Coban, Dr. H. Bessee, Mr. Huston and others, with Charles McElroy as secretary. The necessary appar- atus was purchased, and the Company started

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY

to bore for oil on the Big Walnut. The ex- citement grew greater from day to day, the stock of the company increased in price and sold rapidly to those whom, it is easy now to say, were more hopeful than wise. It was decided that the work was impracticable after the well had been driven 900 feet through the sandstone, blue clay and clay shale, and the enterprise was abandoned. Had they been successful, the promoters of the venture would have been credited with unusual foresight and business acumen. The citizens of Porter Township are the peers of the citizens of any similar neighborhood in the State in intelli- gence, industry, enterprise and morality.

The present officers of the township ( for 1908) are as follows :

C. H. Forsley and L. E. Smith, justices of the peace ; F. O. White and C. W. Sherman. trustees ; W. H. Fredericks, clerk ; C. N. Metz- ger, treasurer; E. R. Chadwick, assessor ; Ernest Garvin and Elmer Vining, constables.

RADNOR TOWNSHIP.

Radnor, one of the three original townships of Delaware County, rich and fertile in its soil, substantial and progressive in its citizenship, takes second rank to no farming community in this section of the State. Peopled from its in- fancy, largely by men of the sturdy Welsh race, the development and improvement of the land and the establishment of schools and churches was accomplished with greater rapidity than is recorded in the experience of most virgin territories. Henry Perry, of Angel- sey, South Wales, accompanied by his young sons, Ebenezer and Levi, was the first white · settler, coming in the fall of 1803, but it was not until July of the following year that he became a property owner. He purchased 100 acres of land for $150 of David Pugh, an ex- tensive land owner, at whose solicitation he had come west from Philadelphia to make set- tlement.

David Pugh. leaving his native country. Radnorshire, South Wales, crossed the ocean in 1801, and took up his residence in Balti- more, Maryland. The following year he went to Philadelphia, where he met Dr. Samuel

Jones, who had a warrant for 4,000 acres of United States Military land, in Town- ship 6, Range 20, as designated by the United States Survey. The result of the ac- quaintance was the employment of young Pugh as an emissary to go west and learn something of the character and value of the land owned by the doctor. Early in 1802 he left Philadelphia and after an adventurous trip on horseback, lasting two months, arrived at Franklinton, Franklin County, the settlement nearest the land he sought. With an exper- ienced backwoodsman as guide, he made his way northward through an unbroken wilder- ness to the land, located in the township to which he subsequently gave the name of Rad- nor, in honor of his native country. The name however is of English origin, the Welsh name of that country being "Maesyfed." After a thorough examination, David Pugh returned to Philadelphia and made a favorable report to Dr. Jones. In the city of Philadelphia, March 2, 1803, for a consideration of $2,650, a trans- fer was made to David Pugh, of the tract of 4,000 acres, excepting 50 acres given to David Lodwig, and 50 acres donated as a "glebe" for a Baptist or a Presby- terian minister who would locate in the pro- posed settlement.

Henry Perry, who had but recently arrived in this country, was persuaded by Mr. Pugh to make settlement in this wild country, which he and his two sons did in the fall of 1803, as before mentioned, leaving his wife and two small children in Baltimore. The journey was made on foot, and after many trials and hard- ships they arrived on the Pugh land. A small clearing was made, a cabin erected and the following spring crops planted on land which they had cleared during the winter. Leaving his young sons ( Ebenezer being fifteen and Levi thirteen years old at the time of their ar- rival) in possession of the cabin, Henry Perry returned to Baltimore for the remainder of his family, which in the early summer he brought West, making the journey in a cart. In 1804. David Pugh returned and had his land sur- veyed into 100 acre tracts, except 150 acres in the center, which were laid out in town lots, the town to be known as New Baltimore.

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Others who came in 1804 and purchased of Mr. Pugh, were Richard Tibbott, John Wat- kins. John Jones, Hugh Kyle, and David Marks. The year of 1805 witnessed the com- ing of the following families: Evan Jenkins, David Davids. Richard Hoskins, David Davies, and John Minter. David Pugh went to his native land in 1806, and in 1807 re- turned with his sisters, Mary and Hannah. wives of David Perry and John Philips, re- spectively. The same year. came Mrs. Eleanor Lodwig with her children, Thomas, John and Letitia : and in 1808, Benjamin Kepler, Elijah Adams, Thomas Warren, and John Foos. came to Radnor with their families.

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Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th, Part 72

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company Number of Pages: 926

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 926