History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 17

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

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The dense forests seemed to defy the efforts of man to remove them. The aggregated strength of a commu- nity always triumphed. It was the custom, for iniles, tu assemble in aid of each other, to cut and heap the logs. The hands were divided into squads. so that they could work to advantage, and by the use of strong ox-teams, the logs were easily heaped into, piles, where they could be consumed by fire. These gatherings furnished excel- ient opportunities for the display of strength, and the herculean woodsmen of that diy were not backward it secking the championship. The rugged men of the- times overflowed with fun and frolic. After a hard day at a cabin raising or a log rolling. it was not uncommon to wind up with a foot-face, a wrestle, or even a trial of skill in boxing. if blows followed, the parties were com. pelled to strike hands, take a drink, and agree to be

A Deceased in 1275.

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

good friends. These little frolics were esteemed trivial, and only meant a sort of friendly how do you do. To hold resentment after sach an adjustment, was regarded as cowardly, and hence, discountenanced. These cchi- bitions of fun and merriment were thought to be but the outeroppings of a whole-souled, courageous and spirited nature. Very few new communities possessed a more rugged, go-ahead class of backwoodsmen than the branches of Mohican, and nowhere in Ohio could be found a more generous and hospitable people.

The rarest sport was found at the corn huskings, flax scutchings, and quiltings. The corn was plucked from the stalks, hauled and piled in a long row, near where it was to be cribbed. An invitation was then extended to "the hardy settlers and their sons to assemble in the evening and husk com. At these gatherings captains were chosen, and the hands divided as nearly equal as possible, and the long pile of corn measured, and the center marked by a rail. The captains were placed next the ratt to maintain fair play, and keep it in position until the pile had been husked. At a given signal all hands entered briskly upon the contest. The rivalry was generally very exciting, and the golden maize was unshucked with astonishing rapidity. Interest was in- creased by an occasional song and a little whiskey. It was thought that a little musie and whiskey added fresh- ness and vigor. Shouting and hurrahing were in order. Thus hours passed, until the pile had disappeared. In the meantime, it was not unusual for some sly contestant, if the night were dark, to conceal many bushels of un- husked corn, that his side might excel. Such perform- ances, if not discovered at the time, were esteemed al- lowable, and evidence of shrewdness. When the task was completed, supper was announced, and the huskers assembled in the cabin of the pioneer, where a plain meal had been prepared. To the surprise (?) of all, a large company of married and unmarred ladies cot .- fronted the huskers. They had assembled in the after- noon to aid a neighbor friend in preparing a quilt. While the huskers had been enjoying themselves over their contest, the quilting ladies had been arranging and bringing upon a table a steaming supper. After the huskers had satisfied their hunger, the tables were re- moved, and some native violinist appeared. "French fours," and "Old Virginia reels" were then in order. The puncheon doors received additional polish by the brogans of the rustics.

The cottons, calicoes and other goods used at that time were scarce and costly. This deficiency was supplied by liome manufacture. Flax was extensively cultivated by the early settlers, and when manufactured into linen, largely used for shirting, pantaloons, and other wearing apparel. When combined with wool, the article was called "linsey-woolsey," and was very generally worn by both sexes. What were known as "hunting-shirts" with a cape, a belt, and fringed around the edges, were worn by the men. They were large and flowing, and were much esteemed in thew das. Almost any housewife at that era could spin and preside at the loom, and much of the family wearing apparel was spun and woven by them.

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The flax seutchings, therefore, were of prime necessity. and the young men and women regarded such gather- ings as highly useful and honorable. It was on such oc- casions that the flax was broken, the shives separated therefrom and made fit for spinning and weaving. These frolics, so called, furnished much amusement for the young people, and generally wound up with a merry cabin danee. Everything tended to practical utility. The hardy mothers, fathers, sons and daughters of that period entered heartily into the pursuits of active life.

For several years, Beall's trail, and the Portage, cut by General Crooks, were the principal roads in the county, along which many emigrants reached their new homes in the wilderness. The roads diverging from these trails were mere paths, being only ten or twelve feet wide. The undergrowth had been eut, and removed to the sides of the road. Owing to the sparseness of the settlers, the roads were, for several years, very rough and poorly kept. To keep thema, even in a passable condition, required a good deal of labor. The super- visor of highways was a man of considerable impor- tance. If he pre perly filled his office, he was regarded as a publie benefactor. From the importance of the position, it was customary to select the most energetic man as supervisor. For a long time, the only bridge fund was the strong muscle of the pioneer. By him, the ruts were filled, and the marshes spanned by ecrdu- roy bridges.

On the arrival of the early settlers, in 1810-11-12. there were a good many black bear, deer and wolves in the forests. In a few years the bear and wolves disap- peared. The deer and turkey remained until within the last thirty-five years. When the dense forests began to be cut away, gray foxes appeared. Hunting deer and other game was regarded as rare sport. A majority of the hunters kept hounds for deer and fox hunting. Foxes were esteemed for their fur. In pursuit of this game the baying of the hounds, as they wound up and down the valleys and over the uplands, was deemed charming music by the hunters. The head branches of Black river were the usual resorts for game. Deer, bear and wolves were found there in abundance. Solomon Urie, John Mc Connell, Christophe: Mykrantz, and Jacob Young were among the most noted hunters. Many an- ecdotes are related concerning their exploits with the riffe.

Sugar was one of the luxuries of the carly settlers. The forests of this county abounded in maple and sugar trees. Along the Black fork and Jerome fork and their branches, there was one continuous camp of sugar trees. For a long time prior to the appearance of white settlers, these regions were the favorite resort of the Delawares, Wyandots and Mingoes, in the season for making sugar; and numerous hats and small camps of Indians were scen along the banks of the various streams of this county. The Indian mode of tapping sugar trees, se- curing the sap, and boiling it down, and granulating sugar, has been fully described in a former article. , After the treaty of 1814, the Wvandets, Delawares. Ofanas, and Mingoes or Santos, returned to this region in the spring of 1815 to make sugar and hunt The white set

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

tlers and the Indians were frequently neighbors during the season for making sugar, and exchanged visits, and generally got along on friendly terms. This custom, in some parts of the county, continued for twelve or four- tren years, when the Indians finally disappeared, never to return. Some of the pioneers who had lost relatives during the war, did not entertain the most cordial affec- tion for their red skinned brethren, and occasionally one of the Indians known to have been very active in killing and scalping white people during and prior to the war of 1812, ceased to visit the settlements, and it was whis- pered about that they had probably fallen into Black river, or mired in some of the swamps about the Mifflin or Clearcreek lakes.

Making sugar was rare sport for the young people. Small camp-houses of poles were erected and covered with clapboards or bark, and a furnace of stones, ce- mented with yellow clay, and sufficiently long to receive eight or ten large iron kettles, in which the sugar water was speedily evaporated, and prepared for granulation. When large iron kettles could not be obtained, iron pots, brass kettles and other cooking utensils were brought into requisition. The large iron kettles were generally purchased at Zanesville, Pittsburgh, and Portland. Large troughs, dug-outs of white ash, holding two or three hogsheads, were made for the surplus water in a good run. The usual mode of tapping, sugar trees being abundant, was to notch, and bore a hole so as to inter- sect the inner part of the notch, which sloped down and back, so as to fit in a spile of elder or alder to convey the water into a trough or other vessel. The troughs were generally made of black and white ash, dug out, and would hold two or three gallons each. It was not uncommon for a pioneer to tap from three hundred to six hundred trees, and make from one thousand to one thousand five hundred pounds per season. Sugar, in those days, ranged in price from eight to eighteen cents per pound, and hundreds of pioneers paid for their farms by making sugar. The utmost Hilarity and good cheer prevailed in the camps, and it was not uncommon for parties of young, and even middle-aged people, to travel four or five miles about the neighboring camps to serenade, sing, tell anecdotes, romp and frolic Thus, the friendly Indian and the white settlers gathered a harvest of sweets for many recurring springs, as neighbors.

CHAPTER XXVIII. TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.

Organization an Anglo-Saxon Characteristic. - Mohican Township. -- The First Justice of the Peace, - Green Township .- Lake .- Perry .-- Jackson. --. Hanover. - Vermillion .-- Montgomery. -- Orange. -- Mifflin -Milton .- Clearcreek .- Ruggles .- Troy .- - Sullivan.

ORGANIZATION seems to be the highest characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon. Wherever enough adventurers or pioneers are found to locate, the first prominent idea is, to call a meeting and organize for self government. In the midst of the warlike excitement of 1812-15. the pio- neers of the branches of Mohican failed not to remem- ber that self government was the boon for which their revolutionary fathers contended. As rapidly as the pop- ulation would permit, they proceeded to organize town- ships, and elect magistrates to enforce the laws and prc- serve order. Wayne county was comprised in one town- ship, which was called Killbuck.

MOHICAN TOWNSHIP.

On the twelfth of April, 1812, the commissioners of Wayne county, one of whom was John Carr, then a res- ident of what is now Mohican township, divided Wayne into four townships, the western part including what are now Jackson, Perry, Mohican and Lake, and part of Washington in Holmes, and the west half of Clinton, Plain, Chester and Congress townships in Wayne; and organized this territory into one township under the name of Mohican. This was a large township. John Carr was one of its principal citizens, and one of the first commissioners of the county.

The first justices of the peace are believed to have been Nathan Odell and James Loudon Priest, who were succeeded by John Weatherbee and John Newkirk in 1815. A new justice was added in 1815, and William Metcalf was elected.

GREEN TOWNSHIP

was erected in 1612; prior to that time, Richland county constituted but a single township, which was named Madison. That township was authorized to elect several justices of the peace. As early as isto, Archi- bald Gardner was elected a justice in what became Mifflin; and Henry McCart in 1St1, and Peter Kinney in IS12; in what subsequently became Green ; and James McClure and Andrew Coffinbeny in ISr4, in the balance of Madison township. In 1812 this arrangement was deemed inconvenient, and the township was divided on the seventeenth range, giving the territory in ranges six- teen and seventeen to the jurisdiction of the new town. ship, which was called Green. It is asserted by some, that it was named after General Nathaniel Greene, of revolutionary fame ; but probably received the name of the Indian village in the west part of the township. Peter Kinney was acting as a justice when the township was organized.

LAKE TOWNSHIP

was organized by the commissioners of Wayne county; . in September, 18:4; and in : 82; upon the organization of Holmes county, a strip from the south side of the -- township was ceded to that county. In istqt the popu-

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

lation of Lake was very sparse. The settlements were east of the Lake fork, in the region of Odell's lakes, and were composed, principally, of those who forted at Priest's in 1812. Nathan Odell and James London Priest are believed to have been acting as justices of the peace at the organization of Lake .*

PERRY TOWNSHIP

was organized at the same session of the commissioners with Lake, in September, 1814, and had jurisdiction over the territory of Jackson until IS19. The pioneers of Perry at that time (1814), are believed to have been John Carr, John Ewing, Joseph Chandler, Aaron Cory, John Cory, John Raver, Benjamin Emmons, James Scott, Richard Smalley, Henry Worst, Arthur Campbell, Cornelius Dorland, and John Jackson, who was the first justice of the peace.

JACKSON TOWNSHIP

was organized by the commissioners of Wayne county in February, 1819. The township, at that period, was thinly settled. The pioneers of that date are believed to have been Noah Long, Isaac Lyons, John Chilcote, John Jackson, John Davault, Charles Hey, Jacob Berry, Thomas Cole, James A. Dinsmore, Jonas H. Gierhart, Josiah Lec, Jesse Mathews, Michael Richel and Mathias Richel. The pioneers concur in the statement that John Jackson was the first justice of the peace for Jackson township.

. HANOVER TOWNSHIP

was organized by the commissioners of Richland county in 18(S. The major part of the township being exceed- ingly rugged and difficult of cultivation, retarded settle- ment. At the period of its organization it is believed the following heads of families constituted the majority of the settlers: William Burwell, Thomas Taylor, Robert Dawson, George Davidson, George Snider, Anos Har- bangh, William Webb, Abner Winters, Stephen Butler, Abel Strong, John Hilderbrand, John Burwell, and Chapel. Stephen Butler was the first justice of the prace.

VERMILLION TOWNSHIP

was organized in December, 1816, by the commissioners of Richland county. It is difficult to ascertain the pre- cise number of the heads of families at that time, the township records not being in existence. It is believed the following families resided in the township as early as 1818: Ezra Warner, George Eckley, James Wallace, Robert Finley, Samuel Bolter, Jonathan Palmer, George McClure, William Harper, William Karnahan, William Reed, Wifiam Ryland, Joseph Workman, Peter and John Vangilder, Joseph Strickland and sons, Mr. Harlan, Mr. Lattimer, Mr. Crabb, Mr. Beabout, Mr. Beck, and the late John Scott, sr. James Wallace was the first justice of the peace.

MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP

was organized by the commissioners of Richland county in 1816. Prior to that time Vermillion and Morgon- ery each elected one justice of the peace and acted as one. township. The pioneers of Montgomery, at the

period of its organization, are believed to have been Robert Newell, Daniel Carter, Jacob Fry, Benjamin Cuppy, Henry Banghman, Samuel Burns, Daniel Mickey, Solomon Urie, Samuel Urie, Jacob Figley, William Montgomery, Jacob Crouse, James Kuykenda!i, Joseph Markley, John McNaull, Michael Springer, John Springer, Henry Springer, Daniel and Henry Vautilburg, and probably a few others not now remembered. The first justice of the peace was Robert Newell, who was sueeeeded by Daniel Carter, sr.

ORANGE TOWNSHIP' € .

was organized by the commissioners of Richland county in 1818. The pioneers of that date are believed to have been Christian Fast and sons, Martin Mason and sons, Jacob Young, Vachel Metcalf, Amos Norris, John McConnell, Patrick Murray and sons, Jacob Mason, Jo. seph Bishop, John Bishop, Frederick Heiffner and sons, Thomas Green, Mordecai Chilcote, Philip Fluike and sons, James Clark, William Patterson, and probably others not now remembered by the present generation. The first justice of the peace was Vachel Metcalf.

MIFFLIN TOWNSHIP

was organized by the commissioners of Richland county in 1815. The pioneers at that date, as near as can be ascertained, were John Lambright, . Leonard Cron- inger, David Braden, Michael Culler, Daniel Harlan, George Thomas and sons, Jacob Keiffer and sons. James and Wesley Copus, sons of Rev. James Copus, Daniel Hoover, Elijah Hart, sr., William B. James. Peter Dear- dorf, Samuel Lewis, and many others not now remem- bered. The first justice of the peace in Mififin, was Archibaldi Gardner, who served one term, and was suc- ceeded by William Gardner.

MILTON TOWNSHIP

was organized in 1816, by the commissioners of Rich- land county. The pioneers of that date are believed to have been Jacob Foulks, Alexander Reed, Robert Nel- soli, Benjamin Montgomery, James Andrews, Peter Brubaker, John Clay, Henry Keever, Frederick Sultzer, John Hlazlett, Joseph Charles, Andrew Stevenson, David Markley, James Crawford, David Crabiss, Elijah Chorles, Pavid Me Kinney, John Ferrell. Abei Montgomery, William Houston, George Burget, and possibly a fox others. Prior to 1816, Milton had been under the jurisdiction of Mifflin. The first justice of the peace was Robert MeBeth, from what-is now Clearcreek, then under the jurisdiction of Milton.

CLEARCREEK TOWNSHIP

was organized by the commissioners of Richland county in 1820 .* The pioneers at that period are believed to have been David Burns, John Richards, lohn Frechorn. James Haney. William Shaw, Abraham Hofman, Poter Vanostrand, Isaac Sanbieter, Elias Ford, Thomas Final. John Bryte, Natrinid Bailey, Daniel Halfman, Time Barns Abraham Clayberg, Jacob Backs, Riduand Ine horn, Thomas Haney, John ilaves. And Bass, John " This ? de recolha tion of Mr. John Bryte. S.c . Lograrhal Sketches.'

* John Greenlee so states.

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO

Bailey, Thomas Wright, John McMurray, John Cuppy, Patrick Elliott, Isaac Harvuot. Jolin McWilliams, john Aten, Robert McBeth, and perhaps others, not now remembered. Robert McBeth, who had been justice during the jurisdiction of Milton over Clearcreek, was also the first justice of the peace for Clearcreek.

RUGGLES TOWNSHIP

was organized in 1826, by the commissioners of Huron county. It was called after Judge Almon Ruggles, who surveyed the Fire Lands. It was erected from the Fire Lands, and was five miles square, and subdivided into four quarters, each being again subdivided into lots con- taining from fifty to five hundred acres. The jurisdic- tion of Bethel township was extended over Ruggles until her -population was sufficient for home rule. At the time of the organization, in 1826, the following heads of families are believed to have resided in the township: Bradford Sturtevant, Daniel Beach, James Poag, Harvey Sacket, Aldrich Carver, Norman Carter, Enoch Taylor, Reuben Fox, Jacob Roorback, Perry Durfee, A. Bates, C. Sanders, Abraham Ferris, Ezra Smith, T. Hendrix, D. J. Parker, Justus Barnes, and, perhaps, a few others, not now remembered. Harvey Sacket is believed to have been the first justice of the peace after Ruggles assumed self-government.

TROY TOWNSHIP

was organized by the commissioners of Huron county, in 1835. It was erected out of territory known as the "Gore," and was four miles wide and five miles long. At the time of its organization it abounded in forests, and was the resort of wild game. It had been attached, for purposes of civil rule, to the township north of it, in Huron county. The pioneers, at the date of its organi- zation, are believed to have been: Joseph Parker, Na- thaniel Clark, Benjamin Moore, Christian Bush, David Mason, Ralph Phelps, Nicholas Fast, Christian Fast, and Sanford Peck .. Benjamin Moore was the first justice of the peace after the township assumed its organized con- dition.

SULLIVAN TOWNSHIP

was organized in 1819 by the commissioners of Lorain county. It is divided into lots in the same manner as Ruggles, being five miles square. This township was originally heavily timbered and abounded in wild game. The Canesadooharie, or Black river, famed as the re- gion of deer and bear in Indian times, rises in Sullivan township. The pioneers at the date of its organization were, -- Sylvanus Parmely, John Parmely, Asahel Parmely, Jesse Chamberlain, Abijah Chamberlain, Thomas Rice, James Palmer, Aretas Marsh, George Mann, J. M. Close, Henry Close and Rhesa Close. These were followed in IS18, by Whitney Chamberlain and Mr. Durfee. John Gould is believed to have been the first justice of the peace in Sullivan.

This concludes the organization of the various town- ships, and shows their original position in the counties, from which they were, at a later day, detached.

CHAPTER XXIX.

EARLY GRIST MILLS.

Hominy Plocks. --- The Coffee Mill. -- The Horse Mills. -- Water Mills. -Chop Mills .- Mill-wrights.

"Oh, who has not seen Kitty Clyde, She lives at the foot of the hill, In a sìy little nook by the babbling brook, That carries her father's old mill."

When the pioneers entered the forests of what is now Ashland county, and commenced to erect cabins and remove the sturdy oak and the tangled undergrowth, they experienced many privations and inconveniences. A majority of the first settlers were in moderate circum- stances, and had to depend upon their own strong arms and the smiles of Providence for subsistence. Their food was exceedingly plain, and their habits industrious and economical. Their clothing was generally of the most primitive character, and spun and woven by the faithful pioneer mothers.

From 1809 to 1813 there were but two grist-mills within a radius of some thirty-five miles. These mills were owned by Messrs. Shrimplin and Stibbs, and were of hewed logs and quite primitive in appearance. The former was located on Owl creek, some distance below Mt. Vernon. This mill could be reached by descending the branches of Mohican to the Walhonding, and as- cending Owl creek, or by Indian paths through the for- est. By either route it took several days. Stibbs' mill, near Wooster, was less distant, and could be reached by wagon or bridle paths. Pack-horses, ridden by small boys, generally made the trip to Stibbs' in from two to three days, depending upon the throng for their grist. These settlements being somewhat earlier in their im- provements, generally had surplus corn crops, and were able to supply the new settlers on the branches of Mo- hican.

HOMINY-BLOCKS.

In consequence of the difficulties attending pioneer life, the great distance of grist-mills, the failure of the corn crops to mature, and the economic habits of the people, the pioneers were compelled to resort to the use of hominy-blocks. This method of preparing meal was, perhaps, the oldest in the world. The red races that preceded the pioneers have left many relics of the mortar and pestle. The hominy-block was very simple in its construction. It was generally made of a section of a beech tree, fifteen or eighteen inches in diameter, and three or four feet long, in one end of which holes were bored, forming a sort of hepper, the inside being removed by burning or a chisel, and the surface polished or maile smooth. This rude receptacle was placed upright, and the corn, in the mortar, was pulverized by hand of the spring-pole. An iron wedge inserted in the end of an upright shaft and secured by a ring, formed the pestic. By the use of such an instrument, corn was rapidly crushed. In a few hours an active hand could wepere from one to three pecks of hominy meal. Many of the pioneers brought frem the seldements wire steves for the separation of treat from the coarse portions of the cracked, corn, while others occasionally used homemade

HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

sieves, of perforated deer skins, drawn over a hoop. The finer meal was inade into mush or journey-cake, and the coarse made excellent hominy.

THE COFFEE-MILL. .

The labor of preparing meal in the foregoing manner, was so great that a more expeditious method had to be adopted. Ingenious native mechanics soon began the construction of what were known as " hand-mills." Two or three neighbors joined in the purchase of such a mill. They were made from a large bowlder, much after the fashion of the coffee-mills now in use. A hopper was drilled in a " nigger-hend," and made in the shape of an inverted cone; a cylinder of the same material, exactly fit- ting the hopper, perforated through the center by a shaft, and also regularly grooved, was placed therein, on a pivot, and propelled by the aid of a lever, by one or two hands, as necessity required. The meal was re- ceived in a box below, and sifted by hand. It operated much like the modern coffee-mill. The hopper was stationary and generally artistically finished. About the same time an improved hand-mill made its appearance. Small "nigger-head" buhrs were used. They were placed within a hoop, very much as in the larger mills of the present day. The buhrs were grooved in the same man- ner, and the meal, being somewhat finer than that pro- duced by the coffee-mill, was secured and sifted in the same manner. They were adjusted for fine or coarse work, and required from two to four men to turn them so as to greatly increase the quality of meal produced. They were not in extensive use, and were soon super- seded by

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History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 17

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