USA > Ohio > Ashland County > History of Ashland County, Ohio > Part 6
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"They were greatly excited in viewing the smoky ruins of their village and property when they had the pledge of soldiers and friends that their property should be taken care of. They were removed immediately after Hull's surrender and taken to Urbana. They were not kept very long for they had asked the privilege of going to their friends at or near Sandusky, on the pledges that they were to remain peaceable and quiet they were permitted to go. On the 10th of September, 1812, a band of about forty-five of them returned, no doubt, with the intention of avenging the wrongs done them, and at this time Martin Ruffner, Fredrick Zeimer, his wife and daughter Kate were inhumanly murdered in cold blood. Five days after this, on the 15th, occurred the massacre of James Copus and three soldiers.
"Immediately after the attack and repulse at the Copus place, they came over into the Jerome Fork valley and burned Robert Newell's house, situated three and a half miles southeast of the present site of the village of Ashland. Previous to these Indian raids Captain Murray came with a company of soldiers to where Jeromeville now stands, as a guard to the frontier settlers and built a
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY
blockhouse. When we got the news of the Zeimer family murder, all except- ing father's family fled to the blockhouse. In about five days after the Copus family were attacked the news reached Captain Murray, when he immediately dispatched thirty soldiers for our relief. The news came to Captain Murray the morning after the Copus murder. At the same time Absolom Newell volunteered to go on foot to give us notice to flee, but when he got in sight of his father's house in flames, he ran back to the blockhouse. Father had just got in with his horses from the woods. David Noggle mounted a horse, took his rifle and rode as fast as he could to give us notice to flee to the blockhouse. Father and Noggle threw the harness on the horses and hitched to the wagon while mother and us boys threw some bedding in the wagon and tumbled in. Father with gun in hand mounted one of the horses and drove as fast as he could while Noggle on horseback rode ahead.
"When the Indians were told that they had to leave they told father to remain right where he was, that they would not harm him, that he had been their friend, and had always used them well. Their passing within eighty yards of the house when we were there on their revenging raid shows that they had kept their pledge in good faith. In about a week father with a guard of soldiers returned for the balance of our goods. I went along with them. We counted the tracks of thirty-seven Indians who had passed through our corn field going in. the direction of Cuppy's which indicated a loss of eight killed and wounded at the Copus battle. They had passed before we left and before soldiers got there. The soldiers found Cuppy's house on fire and saw the Indians run out of the corn field into the woods and a little further up found Fry's house on fire. I have no doubt that had Newell, Cuppy and Fry been at home they would all have been murdered, as it was known that they had not treated the Indians well. Newell, although a good neighbor, would not allow the Indians around him, neither would he feed or harbor them, but drove them away when they came about his premises. Cuppy, when they came hungry and asked for anything to eat, would order them away without giving them a bite. Fry, although a preacher, would not allow them around him.
"After getting the balance of his goods father concluded to go back to Canton ; got as far as Massillon and met William Rhodes, an old acquaintance, who invited him to come and stay with him as he had an empty house and could give us work to do so that we could earn ourselves a living, where we remained until about the 10th of February, 1813. As there was no disturbance along the frontier we found our corn all standing in the field excepting what the turkeys had eaten. We then opened our sugar camp and commenced making sugar when the news came that the Indians had made their appearance at Colonel Colyer's about four miles below the blockhouse. We had almost two kettles of syrup almost ready to sugar when we received the news to flee. We set the kettles off the fire, covered them and fled to the blockhouse about the 5th of March. Colonel Colyer was living on the Muddy Fork of the Mohican. Three Indians made their appearance at the door and asked for something to eat. Colyer told them that if they would give up their guns and tomahawks to him that he would give them something to eat. They handed him their guns and tomahawks, when he set them back in the house where he could stand
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between them and their guns and told Mrs. Colyer to set on the table what meat and bread she had, calculating that when they got seated at the table that he would arrange to shoot two of them at one shot and kill the other with the breech of his gun. Mrs. Colyer was a weak woman and was nearly scared to death, and when he raised his gun Mrs. Colyer screamed, fainted and fell to the floor. This alarmed the Indians; they sprang to their feet, held up their hands and begged him not to shoot as they were friendly Indians and meant no harm; that they were on their way to their friends in Goshen, in the Tuscarawas valley. Colyer told them to go out and come around to the window, and if they would promise to go off he would hand out their guns and tomahawks and what they were to eat. Colyer then raised his wife and put her on the bed, then took out the flints from the guns threw out the priming, plugged the vents and handed them out together with their food and told them to leave and not be seen again around there or they would be killed. Colyer and his wife started to the eagle blockhouse as soon as the Indians were out of sight. Colonel James Colyer was a stout, resolute man, who scarcely knew fear by that name unless the odds were too great.
" All around and about the blockhouse took shelter. There were eight families in all who took shelter at the Jerome blockhouse. We were almost without food or raiment. There were about, fifteen acres belonging to Mr. Carr and Warner of Cleveland. We all joined in plowing, planting and work- ing that to corn and potatoes. Some worked while others were posted as sentinels. In this way we got some corn and potatoes and in the spring of 1814 we all left the blockhouse. Some of these families had sold their lands and began again in the woods.
"As I had frequently seen Captain Pipe, chief of the Jerometown Indians, perhaps it would not be amiss to give a short description of him. He was about six feet in height, straight and well proportioned, rather round features, slightly pale face with a grave countenance and to appearance was about fifty years of age and I should judge had perhaps one-fourth white blood in his veins.
"I have also seen Armstrong, the chief of the Greentown Indians, and think he had a mixture of white blood in him. I will give the location of those towns for the satisfaction of those who were not here until the last traces of them were wiped out.
"Jerometown was situated one and one-fourth miles a little southwest from Jeromeville, on the state road from Wooster to Mansfield. Greentown was in the Black Fork valley about five miles southeast of Petersburg.
"I saw Captain Lyon, one of the Jerometown Indians shortly after the war was over. He knew me and asked if we had seen them when they went up to burn Cuppy and Fry's houses. I answered 'no.' He then asked if we had seen their tracks in the corn field? I replied 'yes.' He then said, 'we saw you and would have gone to the house and got something to eat but we were afraid you would be frightened ; we did not wish to scare you.' "
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY
LEADING ROADS AND WATERWAYS STAGE LINES, TAVERNS AND FLATBOATS.
Before taking up the history of townships, there are matters of a general character that should be given a separate chapter, and one of these is the state and other leading roads of the county and the travel and traffic over them.
When the first settlement was made in Ashland county in 1807, there were no roads within its borders, except the Crawford route. (if that could be called a road) and some blazed trails. The first road that could be called by that - name was from Wooster by way of Greentown to the Newman settlement, thence to Mansfield. The next road was from Mt. Vernon north through the McCluer settlement (Bellville) to Mansfield and on to Huron on Lake Erie. History states that a road from Wooster to Mansfield was opened in 1810. Some claim it was at an earlier day. Beall's trail opened up the country in northwest Ohio in 1812, and General Crook's army opened a road from Mansfield west to Upper Sandusky the same year. The road from Mansfield to Ashland was cut through the forest in 1813, at a cost of nine dollars per mile. One of the most important and most used of the early roads was the one from Mt. Vernon through Mansfield to Lake Erie. This later became a state road, and the greatest stage and freight route between central Ohio and Lake Erie. Portland (now called Sandusky) was the great mart upon the lake for Ohio trade and traffic.
From Mansfield the state road ran directly north to Brubaker's creek, thence to the northwest through Ganges to Planktown, where it struck the Beall trail-the stage road running through Ashland to Tiffin. From Planktown there were two roads to the lake, one through Paris (now called Plymouth) to Sandusky, the other north to Huron.
Prior to the opening of the New York and Erie canal there was but little market for the farm products of this part of Ohio. Wheat sold at twenty-five cents a bushel, with other cereals proportionately low-too low to pay for transportation. The principal commodities at that time for shipment were ginseng, beeswax, feathers and maple sugar. Merchants then bought their goods in the eastern cities, usually in Baltimore, and the same were hauled through to Ohio in wagons. The wagons then used were generally of the style called "Pennsylvania wagons" or freighters. These wagons had long, deep beds, set on wooden bolsters without springs. Wooden bows surmounted the beds, and these were covered with canvas. The bed of the Pennsylvania wagon was a frame work mortized together, the slats both horizontal and perpendicular, conformed in curve to their respective body pieces and made the top of the bed longer than the bottom and curved upward. The poles of these wagons were known as "stiff-tongue" and were not supported by neck yokes, as the Ashland county wagons are today. The poles were used to guide the wagon and to hold the same back when going down hill, for which purposes breast-chains were attached from the hames to the end of the pole. Teams of from four to six horses were attached to these wagons and the driver used but a single line in
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY
driving them. The line was attached to the bridle rein of the near lead horse, and might be called the signal rein, for whenever the driver wanted the team to turn to the left, he called out "haw," and pulled on the line, and if he wanted the team to turn to the right, he called out "gee," and gave the line two or three jerks. A trained leader obeyed these signals. There was a saddle on the near wheelhorse and the driver could ride or walk at will. The route of these freighters was along the National road, after it was completed, and it took weeks to make the trip from the seaboard to Ohio. The first transportation line established through Mansfield was by Barney & Marsh, and its purpose was to carry freight between Mt. Vernon and intermediate points to the lake. After a lake market had been made by the opening of the Erie canal many farmers hauled their own products to the lake, and after harvest as high as two hundred teams have been known to pass through Mansfield in one day, hauling grain from the central part of the state to Huron and Sandusky.
The old Portage road deserves special mention. It was cut through the wilderness in 1812, by General Harrison's army. This road enters Worthing- ton township in the south part of Richland county, and runs diagonally through the same from the southwest to the northeast and crosses Gold Run valley in the vicinity of the Butler oil region, thence through to Bunker Hill, the Davis settlement and Ashland county, to its terminal at Old Portage on the Western Reserve. It was called the "Portage" road from the fact that it terminated at Portage, on the divide between the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga rivers. Old Portage, on the Cuyahoga side of the divide, was an old trading post for both whites and Indians, and in the war of 1812, it was a rendezvous for troops. New Portage, on the Tuscarawas side of the divide, was in the vicinity of the present town of Barberton.
The old Portage path, between the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga rivers, in Summit county, was one of the most important trails for its length (eight miles) in the state. This path was defined as a portion of the western boundary of the United States in the treaties of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, and Fort Harmar, in' 1789, and thus this Portage path became a noted land mark, and when General IIarrison opened a military road across Ohio from the southwest to the northeast it took its name Portage road from the Portage path.
Since the opening of the Portage road no other period of equal length in the world's history is fraught with so many marvelous, industrial and scientific achievements as are crowded into the years since this part of Ohio was settled. Railroads have been made since then to span the continent; wires have been strung to carry tidings of the world's affairs around the earth and under the waters of the sea; the human voice to steal swiftly over the mountains and across the plains to convey to distant ears messages of comfort and of love, and the dark places of the earth have been made luminious by electric lights and trolley cars are being propelled by electricity along our roads and through our streets.
In referring to the early transportation facilities, it should here be stated that flatboats were built at different times at Perrysville and Loudonville and sent down the Mohican to the Ohio river and thence to New Orleans, where the cargoes found a money market. The volume of water in the streams of the county at that time was larger than it is now. There were no dams in the
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY
Mohican nor its tributaries at that time. One or more flatboats were built at Newville, loaded and sent down to the Cresent city. One boat built at Loudon- ville carried a cargo of fifty tons. How to get grain and other products to market was a perplexing question with the pioneers. To relieve the situation, the National road was built and canals were made. As early as 1816, the Hon. Jeremiah Morrow was placed at the head of a committee of the United States senate, to whom was referred so much of the president's message as related to roads and canals, and on the 6th of February of that year, he presented a report recommending a general system of internal improvements. When Mr. Morrow's term in the senate expired, in 1819, he declined a reelection and returned to private life. But public sentiment was against his retirement and he was appointed a canal commissioner in 1820 and again in 1822. Having, however, been elected governor in this latter year, he declined to act as com- missioner. But during the four years he occupied the gubernatorial chair, he was industriously encouraging the construction of roads and promoting the great enterprise of connecting the Ohio river with Lake Erie by means of a canal-the success of which had a remarkable influence over the future charac- ter of the population of Ohio, and of advancing the grade of the state in the Union.
The two laws of 1821 and 1825 for the construction of the Ohio and Erie canal were secured by a coalition of the "school party" and the "canal party" as certain factions in the Ohio legislature were then called, and neither of which could secure an enactment without the aid of the other. The school party wanted a free school system and the canal party wanted canals constructed as waterways for commerce. The two parties worked together and won both schools and canals.
On the 4th of July. 1825, ground was broken for the Ohio and Erie canal by De Witt Clinton, then governor of New York, and Governor Morrow of Ohio. But it required years of work before the canal was ready for business. The first passenger packet to reach Massillon was on August 21, 1828, and it was called the "Monticello." The completion of the canal was hailed with great joy by the people, especially by the farming community, for with its opening the price of wheat advanced from twenty-five cents to seventy-five cents a bushel. The canal extends from Cleveland on the lake to Portsmouth on the Ohio river, a distance of three hundred and six miles.
In 1842 the Walhonding canal was projected, which was to extend from Coshocton up the Mohican to Ganges, Richland county, but at that time the building of railroads began and the canal was never finished farther than to Rochester, a distance of twenty-five miles. The legislature had previously passed a law declaring the Blackfork of the Mohican a navigable stream up as far as Ganges.
This reference to the Ohio and Erie canal is given to show the great value of the eanal, as it opened nearer and competitive markets for farm products. Hlad the canal been completed to Ganges and the old conditions continued Ganges would have been the metropolis of the part of Ohio lying between the "divide" and Lake Erie. Doubtless large warehouses would have been erected at Ganges and the water power of the Blackfork been utilized to operate mills
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and factories, and by the schemes for new counties prevalent at that time, Richland would probably have been divided from east to west instead of from north to south, and Ganges would probably have been the county seat of a new county to the north, but things went the other way, and Ganges barely holds its place on the map today. And pleasure seekers and other transient persons hurrying through the old village today neither know nor care about the history of the little place that was named after the famous river of the Hindus,
BLOCKIIOUSES.
The people of today doubtless know very little of the blockhouses of the pioneer period. They were usually constructed of hewn logs, closely fitted to- gether, were two stories high, the length and width of the building being about twenty feet. The logs resting on each other, prevented balls from the enemies guns from entering cracks or crevices, which would otherwise have been between the logs. The doors were made of thick planks or puncheons, hung on strong hinges and bolted on the inside. A door was sufficiently thick to prevent ordinary musket balls from passing through it. The first story of these blockhouses was generally about eight or nine feet high. Sometimes the floor
consisted of well packed earth. The second story projected over the lower story about three feet on the sides and end. This over-jet rested upon logs or joists, which were allowed to project over the lower story. The second story was about seven or eight feet high, and was perforated by numerous port-holes; pointing in every direction, so as to guard against the approach of an enemy. The floor of this story was thick and strong, and had port-holes pointing down- ward, so that if an enemy came under the projection, to set fire to the building, he could be shot from above. There were also port-holes in the lower story, from which the savages could be seen and cut off before they reached the build- ing: The roof was of clapboards, supported by logs. These blockhouses were generally erected in an open space upon some slight elevation of ground, so as to prevent the approach of the savages without being seen by the inmates. Another point to be considered in the location of a blockhouse, was to be near a spring of water. The blockhouse at Jeromeville had a well of water within it. In such a blockhouse, twenty or thirty families could be accommodated, by spreading their beds upon the floors. During the day the inmates could pass in and out most of the time and attend to their duties without being molested by the Indians; their raids being only semi-occasionally and very unexpectedly. Dr. Hill says in his history that there were only two blockhouses in the county which were surrounded by stockades.
Life in blockhouses was extremely irksome and monotonous, and the inmates were always pleased when assured they could return to their deserted cabins with safety.
BLOCK-HOUSE AT JEROMEVILLE
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY
THE PIONEERS
SEEK REFUGE IN THE BLOCKHOUSES.
The pioneers along the different branches of the Mohican creek were almost panic-stricken upon hearing of the murders of Martin Ruffner and the Zeimer family by the Indians, and immediately sought refuge in the blockhouses.
Pack-horses, wagons and carts were in demand-in fact, every means of conveyance was put into speedy requisition ; and such articles of bedding and wearing apparel as could not be dispensed with, were put in packs and conveyed along with the fugitives. As near as can be remembered, the following families fled to Clinton : Ebenezer Rice and family, Joseph Jones and family, Calvin Hill and family, Moses Adzit and family, Abraham Baughman and family, Allen Oliver and family, and J. L. Hill and family. There were in all about thirty persors, and they made their way, as rapidly as possible, along the paths leading through the forests to the village of Clinton, near the present site of Mt. Vernon, then a sort of depot for supplies for the army.
The upper settlement on the Blackfork hastened to the blockhouse on the Clearfork, owned by Samuel Lewis. At that time, some twenty or thirty soldiers, under Lieutenant Barkdall, were there as a guard. Those seeking refuge there were Peter Kinney and family, James Cunningham and family, Andrew Craig and family, David Davis and family, John Davis, William Slater and family, John Wilson and family, Peter Zimmerman and family, Harvey Ilill and family, Henry McCart and family, and Henry Nail and family. Most of these families made a temporary stay at the blockhouse, returning to their cabins frequently, during the fall months, to keep watch over such household goods as were left in them, and to take care of their abandoned stock.
The next day after the flight to the Lewis blockhouse, Harvey Hill and John Coulter, who aided the fugitives in driving along most of their cattle, returned; and by the aid of the Tannahills and others, whose names are not now remem- bered, the roof of the cabin of Thomas Coulter was thrown off, and a second story put on, and the cabin thereby became "Coulter's blockhouse." The Coulter cabin was perhaps sixteen or eighteen feet, built for their first dwelling in the fall of 1810, the overjutting part being put on as referred to above. It stood at the base of a bold bluff, on the bank of the Blackfork, near where the mill-dam now is, about half a mile southeast of the village of Perryville, and furnished a safe retreat for the neighbors of Mr. Coulter, when endangered by the savages. As soon as this blockhouse was completed, the following persons occupied it: Thomas Coulter and family, Allen Oliver and family, Melzer Tannahill and family, Jeremiah Conine and family, and George Crawford and family. When the foregoing families had gathered in, Thomas Coulter and Harvey Hill volunteered to go to Wooster, through the forest, to secure soldiers to defend the settlement against Indian incursions. They succeeded in obtain- ing a guard of eleven soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant Winterringer, of the Tuscarawas militia, of the army of General Beall, then collecting at Wooster, for an expedition to Upper Sandusky. The guard accompanied them
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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY
home, and in the daytime skirmished about the hills, and up and down the valleys for Indian signs, and then stood guard at night to prevent an attack by the Indians.
While a resident of the blockhouse, the wife of Jeremiah Conine died and was buried in the cemetery at Perryville. She was the second person interred in that ground, the first being Mr. Samuel Hill who died the preceding June.
The settlers along the Jeromefork and its branches were also greatly excited and alarmed over the murder of Ruffner and the Zeimers. Thomas Eagle hastened to Wooster for assistance. The blockhouse at Wooster, then a mere village, was under the command of Captain Stidger, whose company constituted a part of the army of General Beall. The company of Captain Nicholas Murray, composed of about sixty soldiers, immediately hastened to the relief of the Jerome settlement.
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