USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > Historical collections of Coshocton County, Ohio : > Part 3
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These were all settled in the township before the county was organized, in 1811-many of them years before.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
The list of earliest settlers in Franklin township includes the names of James Robinson, Benjamin Robinson, John Robinson, Wm. J. Robinson, Michael Miller, Jacob Jack- son, James Tanner, John Walmsley, William Taylor, Abra- ham Thompson, Joseph Scott, John G. Pigman, Obadiah Davidson, Valentine and Jane Johnson, Geo. Littick, Isaac Shanbangh, Philip Hershman, and Lewis Roderick. One- half of the township was originally owned by Michael Mil- ler, Sr., and the Robinsons, each having a four-thousand-acre tract. James Robinson, William Davidson, and John G. Pig- man were men of more than the average (for their day) ed- ucation and force of character. None of those taking part
* See " Biographical Sketches."
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Notices af Earliest Settlers, etc.
in the organization of the township are now living, but the descendants of many of them are still well known in the township. The earlier settlers were nearly all from Vir- ginia.
The German element, for some years quite prominent in this township, first became noticeable about 1835. About 1840, there was a considerable immigration of French. Of later years, the Germans have been outnumbered by the French, the former having moved largely to the west. James Rob- inson, of this township, was a member of the Legislature, and also an associate judge of the county. G. A. Mc- Cleary has also been in the Legislature. Henry Schmeser has served as county commissioner. Isaac Shambaugh was the discoverer of the Wills creek oil springs. Louis Rod- erick was a preacher connected with the German Baptists (Dunkards). He held services mainly at the house of Philip Hershman for more than thirty years, and was well- known throughout the county. He died a few years since in Lafayette township at the advanced age of ninety-five years. Mrs. George A. MeCleary is reputed as the first child born in the township. She was a daughter of James Tanner. Isaac Shambaugh is doubtless the oldest person now living in the township. He came from Virginia in 1816, and is nearly ninety. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, as was also Robert Hawk, of this township.
NEW CASTLE TOWNSHIP.
Robert Giffin was among the earliest settlers in New Castle township. He was, for a number of years, the largest landholder in it; but, after a time, sold out his interest there and became more largely identified with Knox county. Edith Hull, a very early tax-payer in the township, was Giffin's sister. They are reported as being from the State of Delaware.
Thomas Butler and Joseph Severns are reputed as having come into the township about 1806. They were both from Virginia-the south branch of the Potomac. They were connected with Robert Darling, and he and they removed to Ohio about the same time. Mr. Severns
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
died in 1857, being about eighty years of age. A son, of same name, died near New Castle, in 1850. A grandson is now living near Coshocton. Samuel Severns, the oldest son of Joseph, yet living on the old farm on Severn's Ridge, in New Castle township, is, at this time, about eighty-four years old. Another son, William, has reached the good old age of seventy-five years. A son of Mr. Butler, James, is now living just over the line in Jefferson township, at the advanced age of eighty-three years; and another son, Felix, about sixty-seven years old, resides on the old home place. Few, if any, people have given character to the upper Walhonding valley beyond the Butlers. Both Jo- seph Severns and Thomas Butler were out in the war of 1812.
Martin and David Cox were early settlers, keeping the post-office, for the township, for many years, at Cox's Cross roads. John Eli owned the farm on which New Castle now stands, though the town was laid out by John Clark under the name of West Liberty. The Meredith family was one of the earliest and best known in this township. They were from Virginia. Squire Humphrey lived, at an early day, on the tract now owned by Loyd Nichols. M. Duncan made his mark, in early times, by building a large stone house, as also did the two Johns-David and Thomas -- who were among the earliest, coming from New Jersey. sith W. John G. Pigman was a prominent settler in New Castle ; 1 but is reported more fully in Perry, within whose geo- graphical limits, as ultimately fixed, he lived. John Wolf was another early settler.
The mother of Thomas Dwyer, of Coshocton, came into New Castle with her son-in-law (she then being a widow), Benjamin Farquhar, in 1808. They were from Maryland. Of Eli Nichols, long a prominent citizen of this township, mention is elsewhere made.
This township is the home of one of the professors of the occult sciences, Wm. Gorham, who claims to be able to discover hidden things, whether of the past or the future, and has sometimes created a sensation in the classic Owl Creek valley.
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Notices of Earliest Settlers, etc.
One of the noticeable people of New Castle township, some years ago, was one Walter Turner, an Englishman, who figured at a saw-mill in an effort to make the same water do duty several times-pumping it up again into the race after it had run over the wheel.
New Castle was one of the four townships organized before the county was organized (Tuscarawas, Washing- ton, and Franklin being the others) ; and it is understood to have been named after New Castle in Delaware.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
The first settlers of this township were John Hardesty, Jacob Cray, Mordecai Chalfant, Peter Lash, Francis Staf- ford, Frederick Woolford, James Williams, Bradley Squires, and George Smith. These were all in before 1811. John Hardesty was from Maryland, and came into the territory afterward embraced in Washington township before the State of Ohio was admitted. He was a regular frontiersman, and kept moving with the tide of emigration westward while his years admitted. He died some years ago in St. Louis. Edmund Hardesty, also from Maryland, came into the township in 1811; died a few years ago in Illinois. Mordecai Chalfant came from Pennsylvania in 1808; was for some time an associate judge of the county. George Smith was from Virginia. Bradley Squires was from Vermont. Jacob Cray came from Wheeling, Va., in 1808; was a farmer; died about 1864. Thomas Hardesty, coming from Maryland about 1811, still lives in the town- ship. Walter McBride, farmer and carpenter, came from Pennsylvania in 1814 ; he is now more than seventy years of age.
The township was named at its organization by Mordecai Chalfant. Through his influence, a small mill was built in 1810. In 1811 a school-house was erected, and also a church (M. E.), which still goes by the name of Chalfant's meeting-house.
OXFORD TOWNSHIP.
It is believed by some that the first settlement made in the county was made in this township. It would seem
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
that, at all events, the same season that Charles Williams was raising his corn on " the prairie," Isaac and Henry Evans and Charles and Esaias Baker, all from Virginia, were raising a crop on the Tuscarawas, near Evansburg. Williams had come up the Muskingum, and the four above named had come down the Tuscarawas. The Bakers af- terward went over into Linton township, and were among the very earliest settlers there. Isaac Evans brought his family in 1801, and remained in the township until his death. He was a captain in the war of 1812; was also one of the associate judges of the county. He built a mill, and was extensively engaged in farming. In 1806 Philip Waggoner, from near Carlisle, Pa., came in, and soon thereafter a brother-in-law, George Loose, and another named Philip Wolf, and still another, George Leigninger, all from Cumberland county, Pa. John Junkin, John Mills, and William and Joseph and John Mulvain, and An- drew and Ezekiel and Samuel McFarlin were all quite early settlers. Moses Morgan was an early settler, and well known as the keeper of the tavern at the forks of the road to Cadiz and New Philadelphia.
LINTON TOWNSHIP.
Among the earliest and best-known settlers in Linton township may be mentioned the following : The Addys, the Bakers, the MeCunes, the Meskimens, the Heslips, Thomas Johnson, George Magness, the MeLains, R. Fowler, and George Smith.
The Addys were from Delaware. One of the family (the mother of Rev. John Baker) is perhaps the oldest person now resident in the township, being in her eighty- eighth year. They came to Ohio in 1806. The Bakers were from Pennsylvania. Rezin (father of Rev. John and Lane) came into the county as early as 1802, and remained until his death, in 1842, in his sixty-second year. The family removed from Pennsylvania to Harrison county, and Rezin, just as he had fairly attained his majority, passed on out west, and hired out with John Fulton, living near Coshocton until he had earned enough to buy a farm
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Notices of Earliest Selilers, etc.
in what is now known as the north bend of Will's creek, of which tract he took possession in 1808. His wife was in Harrison county, and she and two children were removed by death, he afterward marrying Miss Addy. Three other families bearing the name of Baker (Charles and Esaias and Basil), relatives of the above, came in at a very early day, and were recognized as of the " bone and sinew " of the township. The McCunes were also from Pennsylvania, and came in about 1806. The Meskimens were from Vir- ginia (Potomac valley), and were originally quite large landholders. James Meskimens was a man of more than ordinary force, and was of the first board of county com- missioners. Joseph Heslip, now living at an advanced age, in his youth had a passion for a life on the ocean wave. His father thought " the wilderness " would afford as much variety and spice, and prevailed upon him, after he had made a voyage or two, to settle upon a large tract, on part of which has since been built " the Linton mills " and the little circumjacent village. The elder Mr. Heslip was a minister, and was much observed in the neighborhood be- cause of his regard for the Sabbath, in a day when the chief use made of it was to hunt and fish.
As early as 1808 Andrew Tairare built a little mill on Wills creek, about fifty rods above where the mill now stands, but a freshet soon swept it away. A few years later Mr. Loose built a mill near the mouth of Bacon run, making, with the volunteered help of the neighbors, a race some eighty rods long. But that was the day of hard toil. A walk of ten or twenty miles for a quarter of tea by a boy was nothing unusual, and a journey to Cambridge or Zanesville for a little flour was a common thing. Of Thomas Johnson an extended account is given in the " Biographical Sketches."
George Magness was from Maryland ; was in the war of 1812. Of the MeLains, mention is made in Lafayette. Fowler and Smith were from Virginia; both in war of 1812. These all died at an advanced age in the township, and are still represented therein by descendants.
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
Among the more prominent families of later date have been the Shafer, Sibley, Bassett, Love, Glenn, and Hes- kett.
PERRY TOWNSHIP.
Among the earliest settlers in Perry township who have attracted most attention were the following: Samuel Far- quhar; came from Maryland with six sons and five daugh- ters ; lived to be over ninety years of age, and none of his children have died under eighty. They were Quakers in their religious views, farmers as to employ- ment. John Pritchard, a Baptist preacher; Wm. Coulter, from Bedford, Pennsylvania, who did most of the survey- ing in the western part of the county, and, it is said, with "a grape-vine chain ;" Joshua Cochran, originally from Dublin, Ireland, directly from Maryland, who had six sons and five daughters ; also his sons-in-law, John 'and Solo- mon Smith, all coming in about 1814; Joseph W. Pigman, a famous Methodist Episcopal preacher, who was associate judge, and was also in the Legislature. He came from Cum- berland, Maryland.
The first residents of the township to pay taxes on real estate were Andrew Billman, holding southwest quarter of section twenty, and Ann James, holding the northeast quar- ter of same section, and the southeast quarter of section twelve. That was in 1817. Several of those who at that time were non-resident tax-payers, as, for instance, John Berry, Samuel Farquhar, John Pritchard, and Peter Dillon, soon took possession of their lands.
William Dillon, father of Israel Dillon, the present clerk of the court, came from Greene county, Pennsylvania, to the township about 1815; entered and cleared a quarter section of land, continuing to occupy it until his death, in 1862, he being then sixty-eight years of age. He was a zealous Baptist.
Dr. E. G. Lee, the first physician in the towhship, came from Mount Vernon, and laid out a town called New Guil- ford. Calvin Hill, also from Mount Vernon, built a store- room on one of the lots, and kept the first store. The next year David Mellenry opened a hatter's shop.
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Notices of Earliest Settlers, etc.
Soon after New Guilford was laid out, John Conway, who owned the quarter section of land next east of that on which Guilford was located, started a town on his land, calling it Claysville. The rivalry between the towns was disastrous to both. After some years, they were consoli- dated under the name of East Union by act of the Legis- lature. The plat of New Guilford is now all used for farm- ing purposes, having been practically vacated.
MILL CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Richard Babcock purchased a quarter section of land in this township, and settled on it in 1812 with his family. They came originally from Vermont, but had stopped for a time in Harrison county. Mr. Babcock was killed by a run-away team about 1823. His widow died a few years later. His youngest son resided upon the home farm until his death, in 1874. His grandson, Daniel, now lives upon the place.
Solomon Vail purchased and settled on a traet im- mediately south of Babcock, in 1815. He removed to Il- linois, and there died. His widow still lives-probably the only one of the parents among the first settlers. Vail had a hand-mill, on which a few of the settlers did their own grinding. He afterward, assisted by his brother-in-law, built the first mill on the creek. It was a primitive affair, truly, grinding only Indian-corn, which was about all there was to grind for several years. The stones for the mill were hauled from Mansfield by Thomas Elliott, who was to re- ceive for his labor a pair of shoes, which Vail, who was a sort of "jack of all trades," was to make for him.
In March, 1816, Moses Thompson, from Jefferson county, but originally from Ireland, took possession of his Mill creek " cabin," which he had built after the most approved " back-woods " style of the day. He died in 1862 on the same place. He was the first clerk of the township. His son S. T. Thompson resides near Keene. In 1817, there was quite a number of settlers came in. Henry Grimm (afterward associate judge), Thomas Moore, Joseph Beach, and John P. Wilson-these, as the former, came from
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
Eastern Ohio. With the exception of Babcocks and Mrs. Bible (whose father's name was Tipton), now eighty-five years old, none of the descendants of settlers prior to 1820 are now in the township. The Sheplons and the Mitchells came in somewhat later. The township is largely peopled by those coming from Jefferson and Harrison counties.
The township was originally very heavily timbered, and most of the carly settlers were poor and had very hard work to get their lands. Wolves and other wild animals were numerous, and sheep could be raised only by the closest attention. Many of the people wore deer-skins, others linsey. Still, there, as elsewhere, those who made due exertion soon had enough to eat and wear. As to drink, as soon as grain was raised, whisky was at hand and freely dispensed. The first " gathering " of men with- out whisky was at the raising of John Shannon's barn, say about 1835.
The first school in the township was taught by David Grimm, son of Henry. The pupils came from remote points, and had nothing scarcely but bridle paths to come by. The first church built was the Protestant Episcopalian at the Knob. Among the earlier settlers of this township was John Williams. He was a brother of Colonel Charles Williams, and the father of Wm. G. Williams, a former county treasurer, and of Joseph Williams, now of Coshocton. He was in the Revolutionary War. At its close he settled near Wheeling; was in the Moravian campaign (the cruel- ties of which he always condemned) ; also was in the Cos- hocton campaign. He moved to Coshocton about 1812; came into Mill Creek about 1817, and there died in 1833, when about eighty years of age.
PIKE TOWNSHIP.
Daniel Ashcraft, from Pennsylvania, came to what is now Pike township, and entered the first quarter of land taken up in that township. His son, Jonathan Ashcraft, now eighty-four years of age, was the first man to plow a furrow in that township. He also had a saw-mill. Alex- ander Graham, also from Pennsylvania, came into Pike
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Notices of Earliest Settlers, etc.
township in 1819. He died in July, 1844. One of his sons, William, still resides in the township, and is seventy- two years of age. Daniel Forker came into the township in 1824, from New Jersey. He worked at shoemaking for a number of years in the town of West Carlisle, and then bought a farm about three miles south of the town, where he still lives, being about eighty-four years of age. He served many years as justice of the peace, and also was county commissioner. Two of his sons, Samuel and Wm. R., have held the office of county auditor. John Rine came from Maryland about the year 1819, and is still living in the township, being over eighty years of age. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, and now a pensioner. Peter Ault, in 1814, came from Belmont county, Ohio. He died in 1844. He was a cooper. Augustine White, Joshua Lemert, Pierce Noland, and Payne Clark were all from Virginia. Clark came in in 1808, farmed extensively for several years, and then removed to Indiana. Lemert came in 1810, and was for years a prominent citizen of the town- ship. His descendants are still well known in the region. White came in 1818; reared a large family ; died in 1852. Noland came in 1814; was a farmer ; died in 1834. Adam Gault came into the township in 1815 ; was from Pennsyl- vania; died in 1846. About 1817, Samuel Perkins, from Pennsylvania, entered the tract on which West Carlisle is now situated.
WHITE EYES TOWNSHIP.
The first freeholder in this township was John Hender- son, who was in possession of four hundred and eighty acres of land in 1818. His brother, George, is understood to have been interested with him, and they were both occu- pants. They were from Beaver county, Pennsylvania. George died on his farm in White Eyes, at advanced years, in 1868.
In 1818, Michael Stonehocker settled in White Eyes. He was from Jefferson county, Ohio, not far from Smith- field. The next year Jacob Stonehocker, brother of Mich- ael, and John M., the father of both Michael and Jacob, came to White Eyes. John M. died in a few years.
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
Michael removed to Powsheik county, Iowa, in 1865. Ja- cob died in White Eyes.
Michael Frock was born in Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, May 9, 1785. He married Elizabeth Seldenright, in 1807. In 1818, they came to White Eyes. He was the first justice of the peace of that township. His wife died in 1856, and himself in 1871.
Abner Kimball, from New Hampshire, settled in White Eyes in 1818 ; died in 1870.
John McPherson, from Virginia, was a resident of White Eyes from 1821 to 1834. He was a soldier in Anthony Wayne's army.
Robert Boyd, from county Donegal, Ireland, came to White Eyes in 1824. He died in a few years. His sons are yet well-known citizens of the neighborhood.
The Ravenscrafts were among the best known citizens of White Eyes for many years. They were freeholders in 1820. One of the family (William) was a Revolutionary soldier. James was county surveyor for some years. He died in the township about 1854.
John Carnahan came to White Eyes in 1826, and in the following year his father and the rest of the family, viz. : Adam, James, Ellanor, Andrew, Thompson, William, Nancy (now Mrs. Alex. Renfrew), Eliza, and Hugh. Most of these are still in the land. The family came originally from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. John, the first named, died November 21, 1869, being sixty-six years old. His wife (Sarah Marshall, of Jefferson county) died Janu- ary 30, 1872, aged about seventy-three years.
George MeCaskey, from Donegal county, Ireland, came to White Eyes in 1819, and remained on the same farm until his death, in 1871. He was eighty-six years of age. His wife died in 1862, in her eightieth year.
Wm. Himebaugh, long a resident of this township, was county auditor.
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Notices of Earlier Settlers, etc.
CHAPTER V. 1248178
SOME NOTICES OF THE PRINCIPAL EARLY SETTLERS, AND OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST PERTAINING TO EACH TOWNSHIP.
THOMPSON has been a prominent name in the heraldry of Bedford township from the start. The name, familiar and in good repute in all that region, was among the first, if not the first, heard in the township as that of a settler. James Thompson, a native of New Jersey and a soldier in the Revolutionary War, settled near West Bedford, in 1808. Henry Haines and his bachelor brother, John, came in about the same time. They were from Bedford county, Pennsyl- vania; as also was Michael Heaton, who laid out the town Wie cafa of West Bedford. Heaton set up the first loom in the township, and for many years his own and his wife's fame was good in connection with "the fine linen," which was quite a thing in that day. Thomas and Edward Smith came in about the close of the war of 1812. The story was long current that the latter accompanied some Amer- ican soldiers on their return home from Canada, where he had been in the British army.
The first resident land tax-payers were Ezra and Thomas Horton. They had some blooded-stock, and were well up in " the horse talk " of their day. Elias James still lives on the place in the township where he settled at a day giv- ing him rank among " the earliest settlers," paying taxes on it since 1822, but occupying it at a still earlier day. The family was from Virginia. John McNabb entered, before much land was taken up in the township, the place now oc- cupied by his son. So, likewise, did Thomas Norris, Sr. Daniel and James McCurdy, long known in the township, were among the pioneers. So, too, were Bennett Browner, Nathan Evans, Edward McCoy, Henry Rine, Wm. Rich- ards, and Hugh Barrett.
The township got its name through the influence of the settlers who had come from Bedford, Pennsylvania.
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
VIRGINIA TOWNSHIP.
In Virginia township, as in some others, there were some who spent a single season taking a little tract by towahawk title, or beginning a little clearing, and then selling out their claims to some one coming along a few months later. The first settler, properly so called, in this township, was proba- bly Joseph Tilton, coming in about 1804. He was from Maryland. Considerably beyond the four score, he still lives in the township. His descendants are, for the most part, in the west. Joseph Wright and Joseph McCoy came together into the township, December 24, 1806. Mr. Wright died, April 1, 1867, being eighty-seven years of age. Probably no one was more prominent in the town- ship. His oldest son, Willis, is now a resident of Coshoc- ton. Another son, Thomas, still lives in the old home township. Mr. McCoy, a number of years ago, was injured by a horse in his stable, and died from the effects of the injury, being in his eighty-seventh year. His children (one of them now eighty-two years of age), are well-known residents of Virginia or Jackson townships. Wm. Norris settled in Virginia township in 1808, and remained until his death, which occurred many years ago, at advanced years. One son, Daniel, died in 1875, aged eighty-one years. Another son, Samuel, still lives in the township, as also other descendants. These three families were all from the south branch of the Potomac, and were somewhat intermarried. Nancy Hays was a daughter of Norris- afterward married to Joseph McCoy. Mrs. Hays was a tax-paying landholder in 1814. Elisha Compton, now of Roscoe, married her daughter.
Henry Slaughter settled in Virginia township in 1812. He died in 1858, in his eighty-seventh year. Alex. Slaugh- ter and Dr. Slaughter are his sons.
Beall Adams also came into Virginia in 1812, settling upon three hundred and twenty acres of land. He died, at advanced age, some years ago. Two of his sons are still in the township. John Graves-the father of Wesley, of
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