USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > Historical collections of Coshocton County, Ohio : > Part 5
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* " Johnny Appleseed," an eccentric but far-seeing man, had fre- quently journeyed from Wheeling to Mansfield, donating his little sacks of seeds, and planting his little nurseries in out-of-the-way places suited for them.
+ In 1850, there were only fourteen pianos in the county; in 1875, one hundred and twelve.
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Advancement of County in Wealth, etc.
$488,000 ; cattle, $269,000 ; sheep, $265,000 ; hogs, $75,000 ; bank and other corporation stocks, $569,000 (of which in town of Coshocton, $189,000) ; moneys, $469,000; book accounts, credits, etc., $1,110,000 (of which $472,000 in town of Coshocton) ; merchants' stocks, $232,000; car- riages, $150,000.
TAXES.
Land subject to taxes was, in the early days, divided into three classes. Of the one hundred and thirty-eight resident . land-holders in 1814, only Robert Darling, Isaac Evans, Patrick Miller, James Meskimens, Benjamin Robinson, and Charles Williams had " first class " land. James Meski- mens, on one hundred and sixty acres of first class and five hundred and sixty of second class land paid in that year fourteen dollars taxes. Besides the tax on land there were license fees paid into the county treasury for keeping taverns, ferries, and stores. Taxes on personal property were specific, and not according to value. In 1822 horses, mares, mules, and asses were each taxed thirty cents ; neat cattle, ten cents per head, and town-lots one-half per cent. on their returned value.
The taxes collected in 1812, amounted to something over $1,000, of which $260 were paid over to the State. The county treasurer for 1816 reported the collections at $1,319. In 1822, the number of resident tax-payers was 1279. In 1825, the collected tax was $2,932.34, and the delinquent list counted up some $700. The tax collected in 1840 was $23,000. The State tax alone in 1875 was $42,417. The paying of the bonds given by the county and townships for the railroad; the great improvements in school line ; the construction of half a dozen large and many more small bridges (many of them of iron), and the erection of the new jail and sheriff's house and court-house, have for some years demanded very heavy local taxation. The levy for 1875, for county purposes, was $68,414, and for other local pur- poses $80,523.
The indebtedness of the county, March 1, 1876, is an in- considerable sum, and the townships and villages are in debt but a few thousands in the aggregate.
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
CHAPTER VII.
SOMETHING ABOUT ROADS, FERRIES, BRIDGES, STEAMBOATS, CANALS, AND RAILROADS.
SOME of the earliest settlers of Coshocton county came into it by the route taken by Broadhead's military expe- dition, and others by that taken by Boquet's expedition- the former from Wheeling, and the latter from Pittsburg to the Tuscarawas valley. The roads were of course In- dian trails and bridle-paths. Others of the pioneers used canoes or other water conveyances, floating or poling up or down, as the case might be, the rivers and creeks.
While yet a part of Muskingum county, the road through Coshocton from Marietta to Cleveland had been made.
In 1812, the legislature provided for roads from Cam- bridge to Coshocton ; from the head of White Eyes plains to Cadiz, and from Coshocton westwardly. Congress ap- propriated three per cent. of moneys derived from the sale of land to the making of roads. For the making of State roads, or the principal ones, commissioners were designated by the legislature. Many roads laid out in early times have in more recent years been somewhat altered, but the chief ones are in alignment wonderfully near the old Indian trails. An immense proportion of the time occupied in the sessions of the county commissioners has been from the beginning, even to this writing, taken up with road matters. With all the alterations and improvements, Coshocton county has even yet little to boast of in the way of roads. There is not prabably at this writing a mile of turnpiked or macadamized road in the county. Fortunately in many parts of the county, especially along the valleys, the natural grade is such and the soil of such composition as to give for most of the year quite fair facilities for traveling.
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Roads, Ferries, Bridges, Steamboats, etc.
FERRIES.
Ferries were established very early in the century at Coshocton and near New Comerstown. Later they were numerous on the Tuscarawas and Walhonding rivers and on Will's creek and Killbuck creek. The business was never a very remunerative one to those operating the ferries, and the appliances rather rude. In 1817 the price of license for the ferry at Coshocton was put at sixteen dollars, and for the upper Tuscarawas at seven dollars. The authorized charge for ferriage was : for footman, six and one-quarter cents ; horse and rider, twelve and one-half cents ; loaded two-horse wagon, seventy-five cents. As might be ex- pected, the attention of the ferryman was not always close. A witness in the court once declared that he " had been en- tertained (detained) for two hours waiting in the rain for the coming over of the ferryman." At another time the ferryman in charge declining on account of ice to come over, a settler famed for his courage and strength, and fresh from a visit to his girl " up the country," swam over the river, and not stopping to fully dress, " threshed " the ferryman and a dozen bar-room loafers in the tavern near by. At the ferry at the mouth of Will's creek John H. Hutchinson lost a valuable pair of horses, and barely es- caped with his own life, the flat having been carried away by the force of the swollen stream, when the horses had not got a complete footing, and were dragged down by the wagon, which was heavily loaded with iron castings being brought from Zanesville for the Coshocton mill. It is said that one of the earlier ferrymen (perhaps an employe of Williams) at Coshocton for a time lived with his family in the trunk of an immense tree, quite after the big kind now attracting so much attention in the Yosemite (California) region.
Sanuel Morrison seems to have been the last licensed ferryman at Coshocton, and James M. Burt's father at the upper Tuscarawas ferry.
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
BRIDGES.
A toll-bridge was built for the county over Killbuck in 1818 by Adam Johnston, at a cost of $495. Thomas John- ston and others, authorized by the legislature, built one over Will's creek. After many years this was turned over to the county, on condition that it should be repaired and kept up. A bridge was built over the Tuscarawas at Coshocton in 1832 by Elisha Gibbs, Robert Hay, and William K. John- son, under the supervision of James Renfrew, Samuel Lee, and Benjamin Ricketts, who were designated for the pur- pose by the county commissioners, and especially repre- sented the citizens, who made donations (amounting to $1,200) for the building of this bridge, in order to have it a free bridge. It was carried away in a freshet about a year after it was finished .*
In 1836 a contract for the present bridge over the Tusca- rawas, and also the one over the Walhonding at Roscoe was made with William Renfrew, James Hay, Thomas Johnson, and Robert Hay. The Tuscarawas bridge was finished in 1837, and the other in the following year. The contractors received for both bridges $19,900. That was a large sum for a county expenditure in those days, and there was some difficulty in obtaining it. Sealed proposals for the loan were invited, without response. General Burns was sent by the commissioners to Baltimore to get the money, but failed. Ten thousand dollars of it were at length obtained through the Bowmans of Brownesville, Pa., legal custodians for some parties in Columbiana county, Ohio, and the other $10,000 from the " Ohio Life and Trust Company." For the first ten years the county was to pay only the interest and in the second ten the interest and $2,000 per year of the principal.
The next considerable bridge erected was a wooden one at Walhonding about 1854. It got out of shape, and was regarded by many as insecure, and was rebuilt in 1860.
* " Sal's Gut," a bayou near the Tuscarawas bridge troubled the old settlers a good deal, but it was at length filled.
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Again giving way, it was superseded by an iron bridge in 1872. Some of the material in the old bridge was used in the masonry of the new. A mistake in dimensions was made, increasing the expense of the masonry, which (almost wholly for labor) cost some $1,200. The masons were Bachman Brothers and N. W. Buxton. The superstructure was furnished by the Coshocton Iron and Steel Works, and cost $7,844. The ice in the winter of 1874 carried away a pier and two spans of this bridge. The latter were re- placed by the Cincinnati Bridge Company (of which for a time the Coshocton Iron and Steel Works was a partner) in 1875.
The next bridge built was the Meskimens bridge, on the upper Tuscarawas, about 1854, costing some $10,000. This also was disturbed and somewhat rebuilt. The river having in 1861 cut a new channel, necessitated a new bridge a few hundred yards east of this one, the cost of which was about $9,000.
In 1868-9, the Warsaw and Fry's Ford bridges (wooden) were built. John Shrake, of Newark, was contractor for masonry on both. The superstructure of the former was contracted for by B. & J. Haggerty, and of the latter by John Hesket. The masonry of the Warsaw bridge cost $6,765 ; of the Fry's Ford, $6,709. The superstructure of the former cost $8,893, and of the latter, $6,100.
The Orange bridge was built in 1870 ; the masonry-N. W. Buxton, contractor-cost $8,311; the superstructure (iron), J. W. Davenport, contractor, cost $7,258.
An iron bridge was built over the Mohican, a little above Walhonding, in 1871. N. W. Buxton constructed the piers and abutments for $4,465, and the Massillon Iron Bridge Company furnished the superstructure for $5,070.
The Lafayette bridge (iron) was built in 1873; stone- work by N. W. Buxton; cost, $6,290; superstructure by Cincinnati Bridge Company (J. W. Shipman & Co., of Cin- cinnati, and Coshocton Iron and Steel Works) ; cost, $8,746.
The commissioners are proposing to mark the centennial year by building a bridge near Morris' Ford (two miles be- low Coshocton), and another at Robinson's Ford (seven
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
miles below Coshocton), over the Muskingum river. The masonry of the upper one has been let to S. H. Moore, of Tuscarawas township, and of the lower one to Perry Collins, of Knox county. The superstructure of both is to be fur- nished by the Smith Bridge Company, of Toledo. They will be sixteen feet wide (wooden), and cost, together, some $21,000.
STEAMBOATS.
Until the Ohio canal and Muskingum improvements were made, steamboats occasionally came up to Coshocton. The original proprietors of the town designated certain lots on the river bank as " warehouse lots," looking to shipments by river. By act of the legislature, the Muskingum, Wal- honding, and Tuscarawas rivers, and Killbuck, Mohican, and Will's creeks, within Coshocton county, have been de- clared " navigable streams."
They have not, however, on that part within Coshocton county been much disturbed by "prows " for many years.
In 1875, a little steamboat was built at Jacobsport by Mr. Parker, proprietor of the mill, and was running as a pleasure and burden boat for short distances on Will's creek.
CANALS.
That part of the Ohio canal (from Cleveland and Lake Erie to Portsmouth, on the Ohio river) lying in Coshocton county was built in 1827-30. Among the chief contractors were the following citizens of the county, viz. : Thomas Johnston, Wmn. Renfrew, Matthew Stewart, Solomon Vail, A. Ferguson, Ephraim Thayer, and A. G. Wood.
A sad incident in the construction of the canal was the death of Judge Brown, a citizen of Coshocton, who had a contract, and was killed while superintending his work by a falling rock. An amusing incident was the ex- ploit of one of the M-e girls, who was employed as cook for a gang of hands. Picking up the rifle of one of the boys who was preparing for a Sunday hunt, she declared she would shoot a man on the other side of the river, who was only an old bachelor, and, therefore, as she alleged, of
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very little use, and so saying she fired, and actually hit the crown of the man's hat.
The first boat-the " Monticello "-arrived from Cleve- land, August 21, 1830. She remained several days at the point of the hill above the aqueduct, attracting wonder- stricken visitors in multitudes from this, and even adjoin- ing counties.
The Walhonding canal was commenced in 1836, and fin- ished in 1842. In the engineering corps were William H. Price, Charles J. Ward, John Waddle, Jacob Blickensder- fer, Henry Fields, and Sylvester Medbery. Several of the gentlemen named above as contractors on the Ohio canal were also connected with this. In addition to these were John Frew, S. Moffitt, Isaac Means, John Crowley, W. K. Johnson, and others. This canal lies wholly within the county, extending from Roscoe to Rochester, twenty-five miles. It cost $607,268.99, or an average of $24,290.76 per mile.
The first superintendent of the Ohio canal, residing at Ros- coe, was S. R. Hosmer, now of Zanesville. Alonzo Ransom, James Hay, John Mirise, James Carnes, and Wm. E. Mead, also held this office. The first collector was Jacob Welch, from Boston, Massachusetts, who (and also John M. Sweeny) had been in the engineering corps under Leander Ransom. At his death E. Bennett was appointed. The following persons have held that position, viz. : John D. Patton (now of Washington City), Houston Hay (of Coshocton), Chauncey Bassett (now in Illinois), Wm. M. Green (ex-postmaster of Dayton), C. H. Johnston (of Coshocton), James Gamble (deceased, of Walhonding), and Foght Burt (now in Illi- nois).
The superintendents of the Walhonding canal were Lang- don Hogle, John Perry, Wm. E. Mead, and Charles H. Johnston.
The first canal-boat launched in the county was called the " Renfrew," in honor of James Renfrew, a merchant of Coshocton. It was built by Thomas Butler Lewis, an old Ohio keel-boatman.
It was intended to have the Walhonding canal extended
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
to the northwestern part of the State, but there was already (1842) much talk of a speedier mode of conveyance. The work had been very expensive, and the members of the legislature from districts where canals were not regarded as practicable were indisposed to continue the appropria- tions. In the days of the prosperity of the canals, several gentlemen were required to look after their interests in the capacity of collector, superintendent, and lock-tender, but of late years Samuel Gardiner has held all these offices, and served besides as justice of the peace and county infirmary director.
RAILROADS.
The Steubenville and Indiana Railroad (now merged in the Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway) was built 1850-54-that part of it in Coshocton county in 1852-53. It was originally planned to go from Coshocton up the Walhonding valley, taking much the same direction as was once proposed for the Walhonding canal, and striking for Northern Indiana and Chicago. But the movements of another company anticipated part of this plan, and the road was built to Newark. A few individual subscriptions of stock were made, but most of the stock, afterward in the possession of individuals, came through the contractors to whom it had been given for work, or was given to the hold- ers of it for right of way, etc. The county, in 1850, took $100,000 of the stock of the company, and the townships along the line of the road (except Oxford) $80,000 more- viz ; Lafayette, $20,000; Tuscarawas, $30,000; Franklin, $15,000 ; Virginia, $15,000; for all of which bonds were is- sued. Subsequently, in processes of consolidation and ex- tension, nearly one-half of this stock was relinquished, leaving the rest in possession of the county and townships. No dividend has ever been paid on it, and it is all regarded as practically sunken. The road paid into the county treasury, as taxes for 1875, the sum of $5,578.68.
The citizens now readily recalled as having contracts for building the road are Samuel Brown (since removed to Illi- nois), John Frew, J. W. Rue, John, Ninian, and Geo. Ross. Neither these nor any other citizens specially con-
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Roads, Ferries, Bridges, Steamboats, etc.
nected with the building of the road, reaped much benefit from it, but many have gained immensely, and the general advancement of the county though it has in amount ex- ceeded many times over all that was ever invested in it. Until comparatively recent years, one of the board of direc- tors was taken from Coshocton county. Wm. K. Johnson served in that capacity from the inception of the road until his death, and was succeeded by his brother, Joseph K. Johnson, now of New York city.
In 1872, a railroad was located (as a branch of the Cleve- land, Mt. Vernon and Columbus Railroad) through Clark, Bethlehem, Jefferson, Bedford, and Washington townships, and some work was done on it. But " the panic " of 1873 prevented any further progress for some three years. At this writing fresh efforts are being made to complete the work.
The Massilon and Coshocton Railroad, branching from the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley and Wheeling Railroad near Massilon (Beach city), and running to Coshocton, was located in 1875, and by the hearty assistance of parties along the line, under the direction of R. B. Dennis, W. L. Holden, and others interested in the C., T. V. & W. R. R., and also in coal-fields near Coshocton, is at this writing being rapidly constructed. A. H. Slayton, J. C. Fisher, E. T. Spangler, and J. C. Pomreue, of Coshocton, have been actively and officially connected with this enterprise. Sev- eral other railroads, notably one from Liberty, in Guernsey county, to Coshocton, and thence up the Walhonding val- ley (a part substantially of T. S. Humrickhouse's projected " Lake Michigan and Tidewater" Railroad); but up to this writing no effective measures have been taken in rela- tion to them.
The first agent of the S. & I. Railroad at Coshocton was John Frew ; then J. W. Rue; then E. Denmead ; then G. G. Ridgely (1864).
At West Lafayette, J. W. Rue was the first; then S. Ketchum ; then Robert Beall.
At Oxford the agent is James Coles. J. Sawyer has been for many years the agent of the Adams Express Company at Coshocton.
have
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
CHAPTER VIII.
COUNTY BUILDINGS AND OFFICERS.
FOR a number of years the courts of Coshocton county were held in Colonel Charles Williams' tavern, near the corner of (now) Water and Chestnut streets. Williams was one of the county commissioners at the time the first court was held, and then, and for some years afterward, the only tavern-keeper in the town. He received thirty dollars a year rent for the court-room, and two dollars per term for room occupied by juries. Asher Hart occasionally fur- nished a jury-room. When Alex. McGowan became clerk to the commissioners (in 1821) they entered into a contract " with Wilson McGowan for a court-room in the building occupied by Wm. Whitten," standing near corner of Second and Main streets (now), the site of part of the present " Cen- tral Hotel," and the courts were held there for some four years.
In 1819, the clearing and fencing (with post and rail fence) of the public square was let to Charles Williams and Adam Johnston.
In 1821 the commissioners determined to take some measures for building a court-house, and the auditor was directed to write letters to the townships touching the mat- ter, " as an address to the feelings of the people." Twenty- eight hand-bills, pressing the necessity for such a building, were ordered to be printed and posted up in the several townships. Subscription papers were prepared, soliciting all sorts of building material, and in addition pork, rye, oats, and corn. At the next meeting of the commissioners it was determined to receive only money on subscription. At the April meeting in 1822 a plan was settled upon-a brick building, one story, thirty-two by forty feet, em- bracing a court-room and two small rooms for juries. No- tices inviting proposals were ordered to be printed in the
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County Buildings and Officers.
Zanesville Messenger and Tuscarawas Chronicle; the bids to be opened July 9, 1822. On that day the letting was post- poned until December, and the plan was somewhat changed. At the December meeting of commissioners it was con- cluded not to build at all unless citizens would aid by sub- scription, and papers were ordered to be again circulated, it being agreed this time to receive, as at first proposed, produce as well as building materials and money. The letting was fixed for April 18, 1823. At the April session, however, the plan was again changed, and it was resolved to have a house forty by forty feet and two stories high. On the day of the sale (April 18th), Peter Darnes bid $2,185. The commissioners were not willing to award, and adjourned until next day. Then the contract was given to Charles Williams, he being authorized and instructed to associate with him Peter H. Darnes, Abraham Richards, and Andrew Daugherty. It was substantially finished in 1824. The contract price was $1,984. A small allowance was afterward made for extra work, etc. The belfry was completed in 1830 under the supervision of John Elliott. The bell, still in use on the new court-house, was purchased, at the request of the commissioners, by William K. John- son in 1834.
The structure was sold in April, 1875, and removed by M. Johnston, a grand-son of the original contractor.
It will thus be seen that the building stood for somewhat more than fifty years. Before it was finished a grand ball was given in it, and during all its history it was used for business, political, educational, and religious meetings, and was doubtless beyond anything else the theater of agents and operations affecting and manifesting the character and condition of the people of Coshocton county. Like the men of the day in which it was built, it had a measure of incurable roughness and few trappings, but was thoroughly square and true and strong and abundantly useful.
The matter of building a new court-house having been agitated for several years, was submitted to a vote of the people in the fall of 1872, and decided against by a very large majority. The following winter the legislature passed
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Historical Collections of Coshocton County.
a special enabling act,* and the matter was proceeded with steadily, according to the requirements of the law and of the case. The contract for the new building was in due time let to S. Harold & Co., of Beaver county, Pa. Work was begun in 1873. The plans had been prepared and the work was superintended by Carpenter & Williams, of Mead- ville, Pa.
The structure was turned over to the commissioners in July, 1875, the county officers moving in the latter part of that month, and the District Court sitting therein the fol- lowing month. The contract price was some sixty-five thousand dollars. Additions, extra work, furniture, and appliances vastly added to that sum, and the whole cost may be put down at a round $100,000. On either side of the old court-house there were built, in 1834, county offices (brick), one story, about forty by thirty feet. William C. Blodgett was the contractor, and the contract price was $1,360.
In 1849 an additional story was built on the north build- ing by William McFarland. In 1854 the south building also received an additional story, and W. H. Robinson and William Welch were the contractors. These buildings were sold and removed at the same time with the old court-house. Just on the site of the present court-house stood the first jail, built of logs by Adam Johnston for $1,397 ; some $900 of this sum being the proceeds of sales of lots in south public square; also the second jail of brick. The latter, with sheriff's house adjoining, was built for $2,200 by Eldridge & McGowan in 1836. The present jail, built of stone, and sheriff's house of brick, were built in 1873. The whole cost of this undertaking was about $30,000. The contractors were M. Johnston and A. Wim- mer, the former being a grandson of Charles Williams, the contractor for the first court-house. The plan was fur-
* On the urgent solicitation of the citizens of Coshocton, who, by their course in the matter, drew upon themselves the censure of many in the rural districts. A vigorous effort was made by the village of Warsaw to have the new court-house built there.
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nished by Carpenter & Williams, of Meadville, Pa., who were consulting superintendents, John Dodd, of Roscoe, being the acting superintendent.
The county infirmary was erected (on the farm of two hundred acres, two miles east of Coshocton, purchased at $15 per acre from W. K. Johnson & Co. in 1848) by E. Da- vis and others in 1849. It is a two-story brick building, and cost about $3,900. Subsequently an adjoining tract of land was bought from Henry Wheeler for $2,500, making the whole farm nearly four hundred acres.
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