History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 16

Author: Hill, George William, b. 1823; Williams Bros
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: [Cleveland] Williams
Number of Pages: 896

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The Pioneers from 1813 to 1815 .- The Situation .-- Roads. - Currency. -A Trip for Salt.

WAYNE was the third county established in the terri- tory ceded by the Indian tribes to the United States at the treaty of Greenville in 1795, and was the largest county in the United States. Its original limits em- braced nearly all of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Governor Arthur St. Clair erected Wayne county by proclamation, about ten years before the township and sectional surveys were made by the United States. As early as 1808 the site of Wooster was purchased at the land office at Canton, and was laid out by the proprietors-John Beaver, William Henry, and Joseph H. Larwill. Shortly after, a few cabins were erected, and among the first settlers were William Lar- will, Joseph H. Larwill, John Larwill, and Abraham Miller. In 1809-10, James Morgan, John Beaver, Joseph Stibbs, William Smith, Hugh Moore, Jesse Rich- ards, Michael Switzer, and a few others, located within the county. In 1811-12, a few scattering settlements were formed, among which was the Odell colony in Lake, and the original families in Mchican, the Finleys, the Metcalfs, the Eagles, the Carters, the Carrs, the Bry- ans, and others. Range fifteen was included within the jurisdiction of Wayne county. When Wooster became the seat of justice, the whole of Wayne county was com- prised in one township, which was called Killbuck, after a noted Delaware chief, whose village was on a stream of that name, ten miles south of the present site of Wooster. In i8to the census gave the whole number of heads of families in this township at forty-six.

In discussing the erection of Fairfield county, it was stated that the inhabitants of Licking, Knox, and Rich- land counties were much scattered. The great extent of Fairfield rendered it inconvenient for the settlers of most remote parts to attend the seat of justice at Lancaster. In ISOS the counties of Licking and Knox were erected by the legislature, and their boundaries defined. Their seats of justice were located at Newark and Mount Ver- non. The boundaries of Richland were also defined, and the citizens, for civil purposes, left under the juris- diction of Knox county, until her population had be- come sufficiently large to resume the home government.

In 1813, the population having resched about five hundred, it was deemed proper to take the incipient steps for county organization. The people met and sen- sulted, and concaried in the necessity of a home gov-

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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

ernment. The commissioners established the seat of justice at Mansfield, and converted one of the block- houses, that had been erected in the public square, into a hall of justice, and, in August, Thomas Coulter and Peter Kinney, of what is now Green township, Ashland county, and William Cass, of Mansfield. being associate judges, held the first session of the court of common pleas, for the administration of estates, and other purposes. The jurisdiction of this court extended over ranges six- teen and seventeen, in what is now Ashland county.

We again return to the condition of the pioneers in the years 1813 and 1814.

. After the splendid naval achievement of Commodore Perry on Lake Erie, on the tenth of September, 1813, General Harrison prepared for the immediate invasion of Upper Canada. The army under Generals Cass, Mc- Arthur, Ball, Shelby, Johnson and Hill, embarked on board Perry's vessels for Malden, which they entered without opposition, or. the twenty-eighth of September, and found the British and Indians under Proctor and Tecumseh had just evacuated the town and fort, setting fire to the latter to destroy the work and stores. General McArthur with his forces was dispatched to take posses- sion of Detroit, which was also abandoned by the British. General Harrison pursued General Proctor's retreating army up the river Thames, on the second of October. On the fifth the great battle, two miles below the Mora- vian town, known as the battle of the Thames, was fought, in which General Harrison's forces gained a sig- nal victory over Proctor, in which the noted Indian war- rior, Tecumseh, fell under the sure aim of Colonel Rich- ard M. Johnson. The death of that daring and wily chief was a great disaster to his Indian allies. for they immediately lost all courage, and all hope of ever regain- ing their old hunting grounds in northwestern Ohio. This blow completely humbled nearly all the Indian tribes that had aided the British in their invasion, and assisted in perpetrating revolting cruelties upon our sol- diers at Detroit and the river Raisin; and Walk-in-the- water, Between-the-legs, and other chiefs of the Oliawas, Chippewas, Miamis, Kickapoos and Pottawatomies gladly accepted peace at the hands of General Cass. This suc- ress of the army of General Harrison put an end to all active hostility in Michigan territory, Indiana and Ohio; and on the twenty-third of October, 1813, General Har- rison, with all his disposable force, embarked on board Perry's fleet and sailed for Buffalo, in obedience to orders from the Secretary of War. Previous to his departure, he appointed Lewis Cass provisional governor of Michi- gan territory. General Cass was left with about one thousand inen, who were employed at once in preparing winter quarters at Detroit. From this period the war was transferred to northern New York, and the borders of Lower Canada.

At the close of the year 1813, we left the pioneers of the Upper Black fork, at Beam's block house-those of the Greentown neighborhood, at ! ! wis' Flock heus. ..... those in the region of the Rices, at Couler's, with the exception of a few families who had strong cabins for self-defense -- a few families in the vicinity of Odell's,

Oram's and Priests, who collected in a strong cabin in that neighborhood-a few families, among whom were those of Alexander Finley and James Collyer, at Thomas Eagle's or Jolm Shinnabarger's, and all the pio- neers up the Jerome fork, at the Jerome block-house. The inmates of these retreats remained there tmtil the spring of 1814.

After the death of Ruffher, Zimmer's and Copus, that settlement was abandoned for nearly two years, and the small fields cleared by them were overrun with tall weeds and underbrush; and wild game had an undis- turbed range along the valley. The Carter, Cuppy, Fry, Newell and Trickle clearings in Montgomery had again become a wild waste, where deer, turkey and bear roamed at will. The Trickle cabin, where Markley's brick house was subsequently erected, was the pioneer mansion of Uniontown. There was not a cabin north of it containing a white family. Neither was there a house in any of the now villages of this county, except the cabin of Jerome, near the block-house .. The Hyan- dots and Delawares had a free hunt during the fall of 1813 and the winter of 1814; for the inmates of the block-house did not venture many miles into the forest, unless compelled to do so to visit the mills. The dan. ger of returning to their cabins, however, was more imaginary than real ; for, after the battle of the Thames, the Indians of the northwest were shorn of their power to inflict serious mischief upon the settlements, many of the Delowares, Wyandots and Sharonces voluntarily has- ing joined the army of General Harrison.

Early in the spring. the inmates of the block-houses prepared to return to their cabins and put out crops. The woodman's axe was again heard in the forest, and new cabins began to appear in every direction. The tide of emigration, though not rapid in the spring, dur- ing the summer and autumn increased considerably, and the settlers were greatly encouraged.

In the spring of 1814 all the territory in ranges sixteen and seventeen, within the present limits of Ashland county, for civil purposes, comprised one township --- Green : and all the territory in range fifteen, within the present limits of the county, was under the jurisdiction of Mohican, for civil purposes, no other township having been, as yet, organized.

We learn, from pioneer tradition, that in 1813, 1814, 1815, the following new settlers arrived on the Black fork: Trew Pettee, William Brown, John Shehar, Ahir Hill, Asa Brown, Lewis Crossen, Stephen Vanscoye. Noah Custard, David Hill, John Crossen, H. W. Cotton, lewis Pierce, Adam Crossen, William Slater, Jeremiah Conine, Moses Jones, Sylvester Fisher, John Totton, William Irvin, John Murphy, Hemy Naugh, John Pool.

William and Asa Brown started the first dry-goods store on the present site of Perrysville.

In what is now Hanover, we find Stephen Butler and Caleb Chapel, with their families.

In Mohican, Wilham Veteaif, William Ewing. Myjor Tyler, John Bryan. John Naylor, Christian Heardorf, Wilton Vaughn, Adam Teener and John Lake, with their families.

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

In Lake, John Newkirk and family.

In Perry, Hugh Carr, Cornelius Dorland, Thomas Johnson, Joseph Chandler, Arthur Campbell, John Ra- ver, Richard Smalley, Henry Worst and John Pittinger, with their families.

in Jackson, Joseph A. Dinsmore, John Chilcote, Isaac Lyons and Noah Long, and their families.

In Vermillion, Lemuel Boulter, Samuel Hutchins, William Black, George McClure, Daniel Harlan, Wil- liam Reed, Robert Jackman, John Vangilder, William Harper, William Karnahan, William Ryland, Joseph Workman, George, William and Thomas Hughes, John McCrory and Joseph Strickland, with their families.

In Montgomery, Jacob Crouse, Daniel Mickey, Sam- uel Burns, Henry Baughman, Joseph Markley, Widow Trickle, John Carr, Benjamin Cuppy, Robert Newell, Daniel Carter, William McNaull, Henry Gamble, James Kuykendall, David Markley, John McNaull, Michael Springer, William Montgomery, John Heller, Conrad Kline, Robert Ralston, and John Smith, and their fam- ilies.

In Orange, John Bishop, Jacob Young, Amos Norris, Vachel Metcalf, Jacob Mason, Joseph Bishop, Martin Hester, Lot Todd, Solomon Urie, John McConnell, Martin Mason, Jacob Mason, Patrick Murray, Christian, William, David, and Nicholas Fast, Henry Hampson, Mordecai Chilcote, and William Patterson, and their families.

. In Milton, Alexander Reed, John Clay, Robert Nel- son, Andrew Stevenson, Henry Keever, Michael Smeltz- er. John Hazlet, William Dickey, S. King, F. Sulizer, J. Hoover, Peter and Benjamin Prubaker, John Hewey, A. Doty, A. A. Webster, J. Church, and J. Crawford, and their families.

In Mifflin, George Thomas, James Ford, Jacob Sny- der, Jacob Keifer, Leonard Croninger, Daniel Harlan, Michael Culler, and David Braden, and their families.

Ir Clearcreek, David Burns, John Richard, and W. Freeborn, James Haney, William Shaw, Abraham Huff- man, Peter Vanostrand, and Isaac Vanmeter. The rec- ords of the settlers are very imperfect, and our record of early settlers is mostly a matter of tradition, and, hence, it may be quite imperfect.

The year before Mr. Thomas and his family arrived at their new home, Peter Thomas, now a resident of Mont- gomery township, made a trip from near Cadiz, Ohio, through the forest, unarmed, accompanied only by a faithhill watch dog, to the cabin of his uncle, Jacob Beam, on the Rocky fork, where the block-house had been built in 1812, and where his uncle had subsequently built a mill with one run of bubrs. He stayed all night at. Stibbs' mill, belos Wooster, and the next night at what was afterwards known as John Raver's cahin, southeast of the present site of Rowsburgh, the only house he found between Wooster and Beam's block-house. From the cabin on the Muddy fork, he followed horse trails, by the way of Jerome's place, until he reached the cabin of his rek, which took one day. He is unable to point out the precise cute, but remembers that he traveled hard all day; with his faithful dog at his side, and neither

feared Indians nor wild animals. His brother, George, was at Beams' when the Ruffner-Zimmer-Copus murders took place, and helped bury the dead. In 1814 he was returning from Cadiz with his family, by the way of Odell's lake, when he took sick and died, and was buried there -- his wife and children subsequently reaching the residence of Mr. Beam with their goods.

In the fall of 1814, John Coulter and Ebenezer Rice contracted with the State commissioners to cut a road on the old survey, from Trickle's cabin, at the east end of the present site of Ashland, to what is now Windsor, in Richland county-ten miles -- for ninety dollars. The Trickle cabin was then deserted; Mrs. Trickle having sold it to Mr. Markley, who had not yet taken posses- sion. When the road was cut, it became the duty of Melzer Coulier and Alexander Rice, then boys, to sup- ply the laborers with food. On pack-horses, they passed down the old Portage road to rear the Jerome block- house, and then took the Beall trail to near the present . residence of James Newman, and then followed a path through the forest to the present site of Ashland. On one of those trips, while passing down the old Portage road, Alexander Rice found an axe setting beside 'a log. with the letters "U. S." stamped upon it, which had probably been left there by the pioneers of General Crooks. He took the axe home, and used it for a number of years; finally having it made into a wedge, which he yet has in his possession, as a memento of the days sixty years agone.

The territory along the branches of Michienn remained undisturbed during the fall of 1814, and emigrants in large numbers visited the country, to select sites tir their new homes. A glance at the financial condition of this region, therefore, may be interesting.

The only currency in circulation among the pioneers of this region in 1814 was gold and silver, and that in very limited quantities. The supplies finished the army of the northwest, kept a small amount of specie in cir- culation. But when the sums paid the soldiers for their services had been invested in small tracts of land, money became very scarce. "Necessity" is said to be the "mother of invention," and Pennsylvanians, Virginians, and Yankees, alike, were driven to "invention." Failing back to the common remedy for all evils --- the constitu- tion of the State- the pioneers held, that in consequence of the scarcity of money, they had the right to have charters granted for the establishment of a bank or banks by the legislature. Insisting upon such right, articles of association were drawn for the establishment of a bank at Mt. Vernon, with a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, in shares of fifty dollars each. In December, 1814, arneks of association were submitted to a meeting held in Mt. Vernon, and it was resolved that an institution, to be called the "Owl Creek Bank of Mt. Vernon," be established : and certain commissioners were appointed, to open stack books. Petitions for a charter were presented to the legislatore, which was re- fused; and then the stockholders " went it alone," and planting themselves upon their assumed constitutional rights, they formed themselves into a company and es-

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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

tablished the "Owl Creek Bank of Mi. Vernon." This institution issued shinplasters, from the denomination of sis and one-fourth cents, up to ten dollars, and the coun .- try was soon flooded with them. In fact, the settlers of Richland county, and the people of what is now Ashland county, were complied to take it or nothing for their surplus produce. In a few years, the Owl Creek cur- rency became worthless, and much distress, with unlim- ited recrimination, followed. Samuel Williams, a mer- chant of Mansfield, got up a sort of rival currency, upon which he had printed a coiled rattlesnake. A good many of such shinplasters were thrown into circulation. Fi- nally, Jacob Beam, who had purchased about a section of land in the vicinity of his mill, and was the owner of a fine six-horse team, which was used to haul produce to Pittsburgh, and bring back salt, nails, iron, dry-goods and the like, for the use of the settlers, became involved in the meshes of Williams, and was subsequently stripped, by litigation, of his wealth. Such was the beginning and effect of the wild currency of 1814.

Many anecdotes are related concerning the "Owl Creek Bank," and its worthless notes. The Indians visiting Mt. Vernon and Mansfield, were frequently offered the "Ow! Creek" shinplasters, on which was the figure of an owl, in exchange for venison and furs, but they invariably refused to take them, saying: "Too much hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo." On one occasion, an enemy of the bank killed a large owl, which he deposited on the counter of the bank, saying "he had killed its presi- dent."

Salt was extremely scarce among the pioneers, so much so, that neighbors often borrowed pints. Corn-bread, hominy and mush were exceedingly unpalatable without salt. This article was generally brought from Zanesville on pack-horses, or in small boats up the Muskingum and its branches. Late in the fall of 1814, William Ewing,* then a young man, living two miles below the present site of Jeromeville, fitted out a four-horse team, taking a small load of shelled corn, and money enough to par- chase a load of salt and plow-castings, and started for Zanesville. He passed up the old Portage road to Green- town, thence to near Lewis' block-house, on the wagon trail leading to the village of Clinton, one mile north of Mt. Vernon. The day he started it was clear and cold, and he minde good progress until he reached the Clear fork. That stream was unusually full and rapid. In crossing it, he struck the opposite bank obliquely, and in attempting to ascend it the bind port of his wagon was overturned, emptying the. greater part of the corn, which was in sacks, into the stream. For a time he thought his wagon would be drawn into the current, and his horses entangled and drowned. Fortunately, he had a fifth-chain along, which he fastened to the coupling pol!, and, hitching two horses to it, and at the same time en. couraging his wheel horses, he succeeded in righting the hind wheels and dragging the vagon up the bank to dry land. The Best effort was to tiah out !de sacks of com and food, which had become completely saturated wich

* Mr. Ewing died in Montgomery Township. in 1824, and then: eighty year's.

water. After considerable exertion, he finally replaced his corn in the wagon, when, to use his own language "the only dry spot on him was the collar on the back of his neck." Being much chilled and benumbed, it was with difficulty he could hitch his horses in their proper places in the team. This he finally succeeded in doing; and again started on the path through the forest. He continued along it until after dark, expecting to lay out during the night, and probably freeze before morning; but, as he was about to lose all hope, the light of a cabin window was seen in the distance. Pressing on, he soon reached it, wet, cold and hungry. He was welcomed to its shelter. His horses being arranged about the feed- trough, and fed, be found his new landlady had prepared him a bowl of warin mush and milk, for which he was exceedingly thankful. The fire kept up a cheerful blaze until he had dried his clothing and recovered from his numbness. He slept soundly, rose bright and early, and started on his way whistling. In about ten days he re- turned safely to his cabin, with a load of salt and cast- ings. We give this incident to illustrate the hardships endured by the pioneers.

CHAPTER XXVIL

AFTER THE WAR OF 1812.

The Close of the Tour .-- Peace Declared. - A Ruch of Picorets to the Branches of the Mohican .- Cabin Raising .- The Woodman's . Ive. -- Log Relling .- Planting .- Social Bearing of the Pioneers. -- Sugar Making in 1815.

AFTER the departure of General Harrison for Buffalo, New York, the humbled Indian tribes of the northwest were earnest in their desire for an early peace. The government of the United States appointed General Harrison and General Cass commissioners to negotiate a treaty with the Indian tribes. The commission met at Greenville, July 2, 1714 ; and the tribes were represented at that place by their herd men, chiefs, and warriors, and a treaty was agreed upon, which was ratified by the Senate of the United States, and signed by President Madison, December 1, 1814. In the treaty, the M'you- dots, Delawares, Sharonees, Senecas and Coyupis, being friends of the United States, granted peace to the Miamis, Pottareatomies, Ottareas, Kickapoos, Chippears and other tribes aiding the British. The treaty was signed by Killbuck, White Eyes and Captain Pipe of the Delaweres, and one hundred and ten other chiefs and heads of Indian tribes. The various bands or tribes mentioned in the treaty, agreed to place themselves in- der the protection of the United States, and aid on di wars against Great Britain. This brought a speedy ne- conciliation among the Indians of Ohio, and averted all danger of subsequent difficulties, by fixing boundaries to the tribes and regulating their intercourse with the whites who had settled in their midst. In the rican-

'HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

time, commissioners on the part of the United States and Great Britain met at Ghent, in Belgium, and on the twenty-fourth of December, 1814, agreed to articles of a treaty of peace and unity between the two coun- tries; but before it had been received and ratified by the two governments, the brilliant victory over the Brit. ish forces tinder Packingham, at New Orleans, had been won by General Andrew Jackson and his gallant army, en the eighth of January, 1815, the treaty being ratified and signed February 18, 1815. Thus ended the second war for independence, after the United States had shown, ability, for nearly three years, to cope successfully with the mother country by land, lake and sea. The war having closed, pioneers from all the States east, with their families, goods and valuables hastened to occupy a portion of the paradise west of the Ohio river ; and in 1815 the forests of this region echoed with the sturdy blows of the new settlers.

A pioneer, Michael Culler, who was among the first settlers within this region, assures us that in the months of April, May, and June, the forests along the various streams of this' county presented a scene of unrivaled beauty. The banks of the streams resembled a vast greenhouse, where choice flowers, flowering shrubs, and plants of every variety peculiar to this climate, might be seen growing in wild luxuriance, diffusing their fragrance on the passing gale. The trees being in full leaf, with an undergrowth of shrubbery, pea-vines, and sedge grass, intertwined by wild grape-vines; and, in the glades, black haw, red haw, and plum trees, in abun- dance ; and all echoing with the merry songs of birds, and the chatter of squirrels, leaping from hranch to branch, saluting the pioneer or hunter, rendered the scene a veritable paradise. He says: "Nothing could be more lovely and inviting; though to the town and city people of the present day, a scene of this description would possess' but few charms." After a trip to the Black fork to select his future home, he returned to Maryland to report what he had seen in the far west, and to invite a fair young lady, of that State, to accompany him to his cabin, to share his joys and sorrows, in his newly discovered paradise of flowers, beautiful streams, blooming forests, and rich land, in which dwelt Indians, wild animals, and serpents of all kinds! "Telling the whole truth, the old people thought it extremely hazard- ous to make choice of such a home :" but the little lady he had left behind him had a strong will and a brave heart, and said "she would freely go to the wilds of Ohio, and share his joys and griefs, amid the serenades of wolves, and the teriffic scienins of the wild cat." She did come; and, for over half a century, dwelt upon the banks of the Black fork, sharing the prosperity and happiness of a faithful husband, surrounded by her fami- ly, until the benevolent Father of all, in 1873, called her hence. The old man still lingers, with gray locks and trembling gait, and is now waiting to jom her in that better land .* Since they came to the Black fork, what it change ! The unbroken forests have been leveled by

the woodman's ave, and the village and farm are now seen, where then all was wild luxuriance. This is the story of hundreds of pioneers, now old and feeble, re- siding in this county ; and, though romantic, is, never- theless, real life.

The first task of the pioneer was the erection of a comfortable cabin for the reception of his family. The first cabins were generally made of round logs, which were cut in suitable lengths, and dragged by oxen to the spot selected for the erection of a house. Those who had ox-teams hauled the logs, while the axe-men cut them in suitable lengths. While this was being done, others were riveing clap-boards of oak for the roof. They were made six or eight inches wide, and about four feet long, and a half to three-quarters of an inch thick. Though mechanics were very scarce, almost any pioneer could use a frow, an adz, a broad-axe and a draw- ing knife. When the logs were collected, the task of raising commenced. A good axe-man was placed at cach corner to notch the logs, while other hands shoved er lifted them into position. When the first story was completed, straight saplings were placed across for joists, and upon which rested a clap-board loft. From the sec- ond story the logs were gradually cut shorter, and the ends tapered so as to form the roof, by placing straight logs three or four feet apart, upon which the clap-boards rested, the last log of the main round jatting over about fifteen inches for the eaves, upon which a log was placed for the first course of clap-boards. As cach course of boards was placed in position, it was secured by a roof- pole, supported by blocks of the proper length, extending from pole to pok. The chimneys were very ample, and built on the outside, of split timber, and lined with stone and clay. A section of the logs was cut out for a door, chimney, and a small window or two. The floor was made of split timber, hewed inte what were known as puncheons. Many of the cabins had ouly earth floors for the first year or two. In this manner the first cabins were erected near a good spring. Having thas complet. ed a cabin for the new settler, and congratulated hita on his new home, all hands dispersed. In such rude cabins, the pioneers of Ashland county lived many hap- py years. The occupants of . bose humble homes were always distinguished for their hospitality and manhood.

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History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 16

Author: Hill, George William, b. 1823; Williams Bros Publication date: 1880 Publisher: [Cleveland] Williams Number of Pages: 896

Author: Hill, George William, b. 1823; Williams Bros
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: [Cleveland] Williams
Number of Pages: 896