USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio, containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its general and local history : with descriptions of its counties, principal towns, and villages > Part 17
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Public Square, Coshocton.
Coshocton, the county seat, is finely situated on the Muskingum, at the junction of the Tuscarawas, with the Walhonding river, 83 miles northeast from Columbus, and 30 from Zanesville. The ground on which it is built, for situation, could scarcely be improved, as it lies in four broad natural terraces, each elevated about nine feet above the other, the last of which, is about one thousand feet wide. The town is much scattered. About sixty rods back from the Muskingum, is the public square, containing four acres, neatly fenced, planted with young trees and covered with a green sward ; on it stand the county buildings, represented in the engraving. Coshocton was laid out in April, 1802, by Ebenezer Buckingham and John Matthews, under the name of Tuscarawa, and changed to its present appellation in 1811. The county was first settled only a few years prior to the formation of the town : among the early set- tlers, were Col. Chas. Williams, Wm. Morrison, Isaac Hoglin, Geo. M'Culloch, Andrew Craig and Wm. Whitten. Coshocton contains 2 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, and 1 Protestant Methodist church, 6 mercantile stores, 2 newspaper printing offices, I woolen factory, 1 flouring mill, and had in 1840, 625 inhabitants. In times of high water, steamboats occasionally run up to Coshocton.
" A short distance below Coshocton," says Dr. Hildreth in Silliman's Journal, " on one of those elevated gravelly alluvions, so common on the rivers of the west, has been re- cently discovered a very singular ancient burying ground. From some remains of wood still [1835] apparent in the earth around the bones, the bodies seem all to have been deposited in coffins ; and what is still more curious, is the fact, that the bodies buried here were gen-
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CRAWFORD COUNTY.
erally not more than from three to four and a half feet in length. They are very numerous, and must have been tenants of a considerable city, or their numbers could not have been so great. A large number of graves have been opened, the inmates of which are all of this pigmy race. No metallic articles or utensils have yet been found, to throw any light on the period or nation to which they belonged. Similar burying grounds have been found in Tennessee, and near St. Louis, in Missouri."
We learn orally from another source, that this burying ground covered, in 1830, about 10 acres. The graves were arranged in regular rows, with avenues between, and the heads of all were placed to the west and the feet to the east.
In one of them was a skeleton with pieces of oak boards and iron wrought nails. The corpse had evidently been dismembered before burial, as the skull was found among the bones of the pelvis, and other bones were displaced. The skull itself was triangular in shape, much flattened at the sides and back, and in the posterior part having an orifice, ev- idently made by some weapon of war, or bullet. In 1830, dwarf oaks of many years' growth were over several of the graves. The grave yard has since been plowed over. Nothing was known of its origin by the early settlers. Below the grave yard is a beauti- ful mound.
On the west bank of the Muskingum, opposite to and connected with Coshocton by a bridge, is Roscoe. This town was laid off in 1816, by James Calder, under the name of Caldersburg. An addition was subsequently laid off by Ransom & Swane, which being united with it, the place was called Roscoe, from Wm. Roscoe, the English author. The Walhonding canal, which extends to the village of Roch- ester, a distance of 25 miles, unites with the Ohio canal at Roscoe. This town is at present a great wheat depot on the canal, and an important place of shipment and transhipment. Its capacities for a large manufacturing town are ample. "The canals bring together the whole water power of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding, the latter standing in the canal at this place, forty feet above the level of the Muskingum, and the canal being comparatively little used, the whole power of the stream, capable of performing almost any thing desired, could be used for manufacturing purposes ; and sites for a whole manufacturing village, could be purchased compara- tively for a trifle." Roscoe contains 1 Methodist Episcopal church, 5 dry goods and 2 grocery stores, 2 forwarding houses, 1 fulling, 2 saw and 2 flouring mills, and had in 1840, 468 inhabitants. From the hills back of town, a fine prospect is presented up the vallies of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding, and down that of the Muskingum.
The following are the names of small villages in the county, with their population, according to the census of 1840: since then some of them have much increased. East Union, 210; West Carlisle, 213; New Castle, 155; Rochester, 111; West Bedford, 103; and Keene, 100; New Bedford, Evansburg, Birmingham, Chili, Jacobs- port, Lewisville, Plainfield, Van Buren and Warsaw, each less than 100.
CRAWFORD.
CRAWFORD was formed from old Indian Territory, April 1st, 1820. The surface is generally level, and in part slightly rolling : the south
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CRAWFORD COUNTY.
and west part is beautiful prairie land. The plains are usually cov . ered with a rich vegetable loam of from 6 to 15 inches deep : the subsoil in most parts of the county is clay, mixed with lime ; in many places-particularly the plains-a mixture of marl. Several rich beds of shell marl have already been discovered. The whole coun- ty is well adapted to grazing. The principal products are wheat, corn, oats, clover and timothy seeds, grass, wool and horned cattle. There are some fine limestone quarries. The following is a list of the townships in 1840, with their population :
Antrim,
261
Holmes,
744
Pitt,
423
Bucyrus,
1654
Jackson,
636
Sandusky,
679
Center,
132
Liberty,
1469
Sycamore,
958
Chatfield,
878
Lykens,
742
Tymochtee, 1659
Cranberry,
680
Mifflin,
316
Whetsone,
1124
Crawford,
812
The population of Crawford, in 1830, was 4,788, and in 1840, 13,167. In 1845, the county was much reduced by the formation of Wyandot.
This county derived its name from Col. William Crawford, who was born in Virginia, in 1732, the same year with Washington. In 1758, he was a captain in Forbes expedi- tion, which took possession of Fort Duquesne, on the site of Pittsburg. Washington was the friend of Crawford, and often in his visits to the then west, was an inmate of his hum- ble dwelling, in Fayette county. He was a brave and energetic man, and, at the com- mencement of the revolution, raised a regiment by his own exertions, and received the commission of colonel of continentals." He often led parties against the Indians across the Ohio. In 1782, he reluctantly accepted the command of an expedition against tlie Ohio Indians. On this occasion he was taken prisoner, and burnt to death amid the most ex- cruciating tortures, on the Tyemochtee, in the former limits of this, but now within the new county of Wyandot.
Bucyrus, the county seat, is on the Sandusky river-here a small stream-62 miles N. of Columbus, and 46 from Sandusky city. The view shows, on the right, the Lutheran church, and on the left, the county buildings and the academy. It contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Lutheran, 1 Baptist, 1 Methodist and 1 Protestant Methodist church ; 14 stores, 1 grist, 1 saw and 2 fulling mills, 1 newspaper printing office and a population of about 1,000 : in 1840, it had 704 inhabi- tants. On the land of R. W. Musgrave, in the southeastern part of the town, a gas well has recently been dug. On first reaching the water-a distance of about 18 feet-it flew up about 6 feet with a . loud, roaring noise ; a pump has been placed over it, and the gas is conducted to the surface by a pipe, which, when a torch is applied, burns with a brilliant flame.
Bucyrus was laid out Feb. 11th, 1822, by Samuel Norton and James Kilbourne, proprietors of the soil. The first settler on the site of the town was Samuel Norton, who moved in from Pa. in 1819. He wintered in a small cabin made of poles, which stood just north of his present residence on the bank of the Sandusky. This region of country was not thrown into market until August, 1820, at which time it abounded in bears, wolves, catamounts, foxes and other wild animals. When he came, there were but a few settlers in the
118
CRAWFORD COUNTY.
county, principally squatters on the Whetstone, the nearest of whom was on that stream eight miles distant. North and west of Mr. N. there was not a single settler in the county. Others of the early settlers in the town, whose names are recollected, were David and Michael Beedle, Daniel M'Michael, John Kent, Wm. Young, Jacob Shaeffer, Thomas and James Scott, James Steward, David Stein, George Black, John Blowers and Nehemiah Squires. The first frame house was built by Samuel Bailey, and is the small frame building standing next to, and north of F. Margraf's residence. The first brick dwelling is the one now owned by Wm. Timanus, on the public square. The Methodists built the first church.
LAUCK & FAILOR!
View in Bucyrus.
On the 13th of August, 1838, part of the skeleton of a mastodon was discovered in wet, marshy land belonging to Abraham Hahn, on the Sandusky plains, near Bucyrus. "This skeleton was particu- larly interesting and important to science, as the head and skull bones were perfect in all their parts, and furnished the only known specimen from which a correct idea could be obtained respecting the massive and singularly-shaped head of this animal." The hori- zontal length of the skull was 3 feet 3 inches ; perpendicular height, 3 ft. 23 inches ; weight of skull and upper jaw, 160 pounds, to which added the weight of the lower jaw, 77 pounds, made 237 pounds. The length of the back molar tooth was 72 inches.
Kniseley's or Crawford sulphur spring is 7 miles NE. of Bucyrus, in Sandusky township. The water is highly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, tarnishes silver and deposites a sulphurous precipitate a short distance from the spring. One of its most re- markable features is a deposit of a reddish or purple sediment at the bottom, giving to the water a color resembling a tincture of iodine. The water is a gentle cathartic, and is diuretic and diapho- retic in its effects. The place is now improved, a boarding house being there, and it proves a valuable resort for invalids. A few rods from it is a burning spring. The Annapolis sulphur is a beautiful, clear and copious spring, owned by Mr. Sliffer, who has neatly enclosed it with an iron railing. It possesses medicinal virtues.
119
CUYAHOGA COUNTY.
Opposite Bucyrus, near the river, is a chalybeate spring of tonic qualities. There are various beds of peat in the county, the most extensive of which is in a wet prairie, called Cranberry marsh, in Cranberry township, which, as shown on the map, contains nearly 2,000 acres. This marsh formerly annually produced thousands of bushels of cranberries. The peat upon this marsh is estimated at two millions and five hundred thousand cords, by Dr. C. Briggs in the State Geographical report, from which we have derived the prin- cipal facts in this paragraph.
Galeon, 11 miles SE. of Bucyrus, has 3 stores, 2 or 3 churches and about 375 inhabitants. Leesville, about 10 E. of Bucyrus, has 2 stores, 2 churches and about 250 inhabitants. Near this place is a locality called "the battle ground," where, it is said, Crawford, when on his way to Upper Sandusky, had a skirmish with some Indians. De Kalb, West Liberty, Middletown, New Washington, Annapolis, Benton, Oletangy and Osceola, are small places ; at the last named, the Broken Sword creek has a fall of 32 feet within a space of two miles.
CUYAHOGA.
CUYAHOGA Was formed from Geauga county, June 7th, 1807, and organized in May, 1810. The name was derived from the river, and is said to signify, in the Indian language, " crooked," a term signifi- cant of the river, which is very winding, and has its sources farther north than its mouth. The surface is level or gently undulating. Near the lake the soil is sandy, elsewhere generally a clayey loam. The vallies of the streams are highly productive in corn and oats ; in other parts, the principal crops are wheat, barley and hay. The county produces a great variety and amount of excellent fruit ; also, cheese, butter, beef cattle and wool. Bog iron ore is found in the west part, and furnaces are in operation. Excellent grindstone quar- ries are worked, and grindstones largely exported. The sandstone from these quarries, is beginning to be a prominent article of com- merce, being in some cases shipped for building purposes, as far west as Chicago. The following is a list of its townships, in 1840, with their population.
Bedford, 2021
Independence, 754
Rockport, 1235
Brecksville, 1124
Mayfield,
852
Royalton,
1051
Brooklyn, 1409 Middleburg, 339
Solon, 774
Cleveland, 7037
Newburg, 1342
Strongville, . 1151
Dover, 966 Olmstead,
659
Warrensville, 1085
Euclid, 1774 Parma,
965
Orange, 1114
The population of Cuyahoga, in 1810, was 1495; in 1820, 6328; in 1830, 10,362, and in 1840, 26,512, or 43 inhabitants to a square mile.
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CUYAHOGA COUNTY.
As early as 1755, there was a French station within the present limits of Cuyahoga. On Lewis Evans' map of the middle Brit- L . FRIE ish colonies, published that year, there is marked upon the west bank of the Cuya- hoga, the words, " French house," which was doubtless the station of a Frenchi Cuahoga R. & Tawas trader. The ruins of a house, supposed to be those of the one alluded to, have been discovered on Foot's farm, in Brooklyn township, about five miles from the mouth of the Cuyahoga. The small engraving annexed, is from the map of Evans, and French House delineates the geography as in the ori- ginal.
MingoesA
In 1786, the Moravian missionary Zeis- Portage berger, with his Indian converts, left De- troit, and arrived at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, in a vessel called the Mack- inaw. From thence, they proceeded up the river about ten miles from the site of Cleveland, and settled in an abandoned village of the Ottawas, within the present limits of Independence, which they called Pilgerruh, i. e. Pilgrim's rest. Their stay was brief, for in the April following, they left for Huron river, and settled near the site of Milan, Erie county, at a locality they named New Salem.
The British, who, after the revolutionary war, refused to yield possession of the lake country west of the Cuyahoga, occupied to its shores until 1790. Their traders had a house in Ohio city, north of the Detroit road, on the point of the hill, near the river, when the surveyors first arrived here in 1796. From an early day, Washington, Jefferson and other leading Virginia statesmen regarded the mouth of the Cuyahoga, as an important commercial position.
The first permanent settlement within the limits of Cuyahoga, was made at CLEVELAND, in the autumn of 1796. On the 4th of July previous, the first surveying party of the Re- serve, landed at Conneaut. In September and October, the corps laid out the city, which was named in honor of the land company's agent, Gen. Moses Cleveland .* By the 18th of October, the surveyors quitted the place, leaving Mr. Job V. Stiles and family, and Mr. Edward Paine, who were the only persons that passed the winter of 1796 and '7, within the limits of the town. Their lonely residence was a log cabin, which stood near the site of the Commercial bank. The nearest white settlement west, was at the mouth of the Raisin ; south or east at Fort M'Intosh, at the mouth of Big Beaver ; and northeast, at Conneaut. Those families that wintered at Conneaut, suffered severely for want of food.
The surveying party, on reaching the Reserve the succeeding season, again made Cleve- land their head quarters. Early this season, Elijah Gunn and Judge Kingsbury removed here from Conneaut, with their families, and in the fall, the latter removed to Newburg, where he still resides, at an advanced age. The little colony was increased also by the arrival of Major Lorenzo Carter and Ezekiel Hawley, with their families.
In 1798, Rodolphus Edwards and Nathaniel Doane, with their families, settled in Cleve- land. To faintly show the difficulty of travelling at that time, it is stated that Mr. Doane was ninety-two days on his journey from Chatham, Conn. In the latter part of the sum- mer and in the fall, every person in the town was sick, either with the billious fever or the fever and ague. Mr. Doane's family consisted of nine persons : the only one of them having sufficient strength to take care of them and bring a pail of water, was Seth Doane, then a lad of thirteen years of age, and even he had daily attacks of the fever and ague. Such was the severity of the billious fever at that time, that a person having only daily attacks of fever and ague, was deemed lucky. There was much suffering for the want of food, particularly that proper for the sick. The only way this family was supplied, for two
* GEN. MOSES CLEVELAND was born in Canterbury, Conn., about the year 1755, and graduated at Yale College, in 1777. He was bred a lawyer, and practised his profession in his native town. He married a sister of Gen. Henry Champion, of Colchester, and died at Canterbury, in 1806, leaving a large fortune. He was a man of note among his towns- men, and often represented them in the legislature of Connecticut. In person, he was of medium stature, thick set and portly, and of a very dark complexion.
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CUYAHOGA COUNTY.
months or more, was through the exertions of this boy, who daily, after having an attack of the ague, went to Judge Kingsbury's, in Newburg-five miles distant-got a peck of corn, mashed it in a hand-mill, waited until a second attack of the ague was over, and then started on his return. There was at one time a space of several days when he was too ill to make the trip, during which, turnips comprised about all the vegetables the family had. Fortunately, Major Carter having only the fever and ague, was enabled, through the aid of his hounds and trusty rifle, to procure abundance of venison and other wild game. His family being somewhat acclimated, suffered less than that of Mr. Doane. Their situation can scarcely be conceived of at the present day. Destitute of a physician, and with a few medicines, necessity taught them to use such means as nature had placed within their reach. For calomel, they substituted pills from the extract of the bark of the butternut, and in lieu of quinine, used dog wood and cherry bark.
In November, four men, who had so far recovered as to have ague attacks no oftener than once in two or three days, started in the only boat for Walnut creek, Pa., to obtain a winter's supply of flour for the colony. When below Euclid creek, a storm arose, drove them ashore, stove their boat in pieces, and it was with difficulty they saved their lives and regained the city. During the winter and summer following, the colony had no flour, ex- cept that ground in hand and coffee mills, which, for want of proper means to separate from the bran, was made into a bread similar to that of Graham's. In this summer, the Conn. land company opened the first road on the Reserve, which commenced about ten miles from the lake on the Pennsylvania line, and extended to Cleveland. In January, '99, Mr. Doane moved to Doane's corners, and from that time until April, 1800-a space of fifteen months-Major Carter's was the only white family in Cleveland. During the spring of '99, Wheeler W. Williams, from Norwich, Conn., and Major Wyatt, erected a small grist and a saw mill at the falls, on the site of Newburg, which being the first mill on the Re- serve, spread joy among the pioneers. A short time prior to this, each house in Cleveland had its own hand grist mill, in the chimney corner, which is thus described by one of the early settlers. " The stones were of the common grindstone grit, and about four inches thick and twenty in diameter. The runner was turned by hand, with a pole set in the top of it, near the verge. The upper end of the pole went into another hole inserted into a board, and nailed on the under side of the joist, immediately over the hole in the verge of the runner. One person turned the stone, and another fed the corn into the eye with his hands. It was very hard work to grind, and the operators alternately changed places."
In 1800, several settlers came, among whom were David Clark and Major Amos Spaf- ford, and from this time the town slowly progressed. The first ball in Cleveland, was on the 4th of July, 1801, and was held at Major Carter's log cabin, on the side hill ; John and Benjamin Wood and R. H. Blinn, managers, and Major Samuel Jones, musician and master of ceremonies. The company consisted of about thirty, of both sexes. Mr. Jones' proficiency on the violin, won him great favor. Notwithstanding the dancers had a rough puncheon floor, and no better beverage to enliven their spirits than whiskey, sweetened with maple sugar, yet it is doubtful if the anniversary of American independence was ever celebrated in Cleveland by a more joyful and harmonious company, than those who danced the scamper-down, double-shuffle, western-swing and half-moon, forty-six years ago in the log cabin of Major Carter.
The Indians were accustomed, at this period, to meet every autumn at Cleveland, in great numbers, and pile up their canoes at the mouth of the Cuyahoga. From thence they scattered into the interior, and passed the winter in hunting. In the spring, they returned, disposed their furs to traders, and launching their bark canoes upon the lake, re- turned to their towns, in the region of the Sandusky and Maumee, where they remained until the succeeding autumn, to raise their crops of corn and potatoes. In this connection, we give an incident, showing the fearlessness and intrepidity of Major Lorenzo Carter, a native of Rutland, Vt., and a thorough pioneer, whose rough exterior covered a warm heart. Some time in the spring of '99, the Chippewas and Ottawas, to the number of several hundred, having disposed of their furs, determined to have one of their drinking frolics at their camp, on the west bank of the Cuyahoga. As a precautionary measure, they gave up their tomahawks and other deadly weapons to their squaws to secrete, so that, in the height of their frenzy, they need not harm each other. They then sent to the Major for whiskey, from time to time, as they wanted it; and in proportion, as they be- came intoxicated, he weakened it with water. After a while, it resulted in the Indians becoming partially sober, from drinking freely of diluted liquor : perceiving the trick, they became much enraged. Nine of them came on to the Major's, swearing vengeance on him and family. Carter being apprised of their design, and knowing they were partially intoxicated, felt himself to be fully their match, although possessing but poor weapons of
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122
CUYAHOGA COUNTY.
defence. Stationing himself beind his cabin door with a fire poker, he successively knocked down three or four, as they attempted to enter, and then leaping over their prostrate bodies, furiously attacked those on the outside, and drove them to their canoes. Soon after, a deputation of squaws came over to make peace with the Major, when, arming himself, he fearlessly repaired to their camp alone, and settled the difficulty. Such eventually became his influence over the Indians, that they regarded him as a magician, and many of them were made to believe that he could shoot them with a rifle, and not break their skins.
The first militia muster in Cuyahoga county, was held on the 16th of June, 1806, at Doane's Corners. Nathaniel Doane was captain ; Sylvanus Burke, lieutenant ; and Sam- uel Jones, ensign, with about fifty privates. The surveying party being at Cleveland, and many strangers, this event attracted much attention. Never had so many whites been collected together in this vicinity, as on this occasion. The military marched and counter- marched to the lively roll of the drum of Joseph Burke, who had been drum major in the revolution, and the soul-stirring strains of the fife of Lewis Dill. " Yankee Doodle," " Hail Columbia," and " Who's Afeard," were among the tunes that aroused the martial spirit of many a gallant heart, as he wielded, perhaps, some ancient relic of the revolution upon his shoulder.
Early in the spring previous, a small boat, containing a Mr. Hunter, wife and child, a colored man named Ben, and a small colored boy, who were moving to Cleveland, were overtaken on the lake by a squall of wind, and driven ashore east of Rocky river. The bluff being perpendicular, they were unable to ascend. They, however, climbed up the rocks as far as possible-the surge constantly beating over them-with the vain hope that the storm would subside ; but on Saturday it increased, and during Sunday, Mrs. Hunter expired, the children having died previously. On Monday, Mr. Hunter expired. Black Ben held out until Tuesday, when, the storm subsiding, some French traders, going in a vessel from Cleveland to Detroit, discovered him, took him aboard, and returned with him to Cleveland. Thus, for three days and four nights, had he been without sleep or food, and with little clothing, exposed to the continued surge, and holding on for life to some small bushes in the crevices of the rocks. Ben was treated with great kindness by Major Carter, in whose family he remained an invalid over a year.
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