USA > Ohio > Ashland County > History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 61
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The first school-house, in 1820, was on the old Crouse farm, built of logs, and taught by the late Sage Kellogg.
The first four blacks.niths were Solomon Urie, 1816, and Peter Bid- dinger, 1818, Robert Lincoln, 1818, and John King at a later period.
Robert Ralston, sr., was the first carpenter and cabinet-maker, in 1820. Alanson Waller and Robert Russell, leading citizens, learned the trade of him.
The first wheelwright was George Hall, in 1822.
The first wagon-maker was Jacob Young, in 1815.
The first grist-mill was erected on the present site of Leidhigh's, by Martin Mason, in 1815.
The first Methodist Episcopal church, at Orange, was a frame struc- mre, built in 1829; by Robert Williamson and John P. Anderson. The church was erected under the preaching of Rev. Haney and Hazzard, local preachers.
The first Presbyterian church was the old Hopewell, west of Ashland . one and one half miles. Rev. Matthews and a few members built the church. There was also occasional preaching near Philip Flukes', in Martin Hester's house, in 1828.
The first Baptist church was at the house of Christian Fast, in the west part of Orange township, by John Rigdon, in 1825.
The first turner in wood was Jacob Fast, in 1817.
The first coopers were Thomas and Solomon Urie and Jolin Y. Burge, who also made wooden moldboards for plows, as well as plows themselves, from 1820 to 1830.
The first regular wagon-maker in Orange was Fred Nichols, in 1829. The first doctors in Orange were: John Hannah, 1834; William Dem- ing, 1836; Dr. Alden, 1839; John Lambert, 18,8; A. McClelland, 1850; J. Deal, 1862; J. Hahn, 1865; and Dr. Crowell, 1871-'80.
The first stores: Isaac Cutter, 1828; Cutter, Metcalf, Norris & Co., 1829; Thomas Smutr & Co., 1833; Charles R. Deming, 1835; George W. Urie and Daniel Campbell, 1841.
The first tanners were: Christian Rugh, 1834; Philip Fluke, jr., 1838; Isaiah Crouse. 1840 to 1845.
The first postmaster at Orange was Vachtel Metcalf, in 1828.
The first tailor in Orange was Brown, in 1829, who made buckskin breeches, moccasons, etc., and Mrs. John Murray, who also made gloves and moccasons of deer skins.
The first shoemakers were C. Biddinger and Philip Biddinger, in 1820-21.
The first gunsmith was Peter Biddinger, who had a shop north of Orange two to three miles, at Culberson's corners. He had worked in the United States armory at Harper's Ferry, and it is related that he received his pay in United States continental money, just prior to the grent depreciation of that currency. He paid forty dollars for hi- sup- per, and the morning before leaving, sixty dollars for his breakfast, so grent had been the depreciation in a few hours. Mr. Biddinger died at his old home in Orange township in 1842, and was buried at St. Luke's church in the west part of the township, where many of his relatives rest in peace.
Mr. Stull was married in 1832 to Miss Susan Kail, who deceased March 8, 1879, aged seventy-one years and five months. Mr. Stull had lived happily forty years with this lady, and they were blessed by three children; one son, Mahomet H !. , and two daughters, Jane A. and Mary Estelle. Mahomet H. died at the residence of his father in South Ashland, aged thirty three years and twenty-seven days. Hle had been afflicted over three years, but bore all with unusual patience and resignation. He was a young man of rare intellectual endowments, of most amiable man- ners, and of unblemished reputation. If his physical powers had been equal to his mental faculties he would have made a large figure in the world, in almost any de- partment of learning or mechanics; but the fell destroyer had marked him for his own, and neither the ties of friendship nor medical skill could rescue him from an early grave. Few parents possess such a son, and fow sisters a kinder brother. His loss creates a great change in his father's house, and many a tear of deep sorrow
will be shed over his departure; and often around the family circle, in evening's silent hour, will his memory be called up, and his goodness of heart, the many pleas- antries of his life, and his unselfish nature be rehearsed. In their irreperable loss his parents and sisters have the sympathy of all their neighbors and friends. "So die the good and the pure." Peace to his ashes.
Jane A. married Mr. Orville Pershion, and Mary Es- telle, Mr. Joseph B. Charles, now business partners with Mr. Stull in the hardware business, in Ashland.
FRANCIS GRAHAM
was born in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, October 14, 1792. His father removed to Crawford county, in 1797. In 1812 Francis was in Erie county, and in 1814 entered the establishment of Reed & Sanford, dry goods mer- chants, as a clerk, in the village of Erie. In 1815, Reed & Sanford being overstocked with goods from the war, sent him west with a stock of goods intended for Detroit. These goods were transported on sleds, and when he reached Huron, Ohio, the snow disappeared and he was obliged to open a store there. He spent four years in the service of Reed, Sanford & Co., at Huron. The stock being disposed of Mr. Graham en- tered a new store in Portland, now Sandusky City, as a clerk for William Townsend, where he continued until October, 18?1, when he purchased a new stock of goods, and located at Uniontown, Richland, now Ashland, Ashland county. He rented a room of the late Joseph Sheets (died in 1866), which contained a small stock of goods, owned by Mr. Sheets, and of which he had sold, prior to the arrival of Mr. Graham. He boarded with Mr. Sheets, at one dollar a week, for some time. He continued actively in the mercantile business until about 1844, when financial panics compelled him to wind up his business. Sinee that period he has been miscel- laneously employed. He has served two terms as jus- tice of the peace in the meantime. He yet (r$80) pos- sesses considerable mental and bodily vigor, and is spending his remaining days in domestic quiet. At the organization of the County Pioneer Association, Septem- ber 10, 1875, he was unanimously elected its first presi- dent, and served one year. He was married to Amelia Shepard, March 13, 1823. The family consisted of Fran- cis A., Franklin S., Helen S., Henry C., John P., Augus- tus C., and Alice E. Amelia A., Helen S., Henry C., Augustus C., and an infant, are dead. Mrs. Graham, although well advanced in years, retains all her bodily strength, and much mental clearness. There are only three members of the family living: Franklin S., of Illinois; John P., of Ashland, and Alice E .. married to Mr. J. H. Black, a merchant of Mansfield, Ohio.
Mr. Graham gives the following early incidents of the village when he landed :
The first great mill in Uniontown, nes chiant, was owned by Henry Wessel, and was a log building, and have one run of stones, "niggerhend."
The hist saw mill was created by Seth Cook. on the check, at the west of town, helt what is now the cemetery
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251
HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.
The first school was kept by Mr. Williamson, a cripple, in :82! and 1822.
The first church was created by the Methodists, on the lot where the court house now stands, and was of stone.
The first blacksmith was the lite Samuel Crie. The shop stood where the citizens' bank was built, on Main street.
The first cabinet-maker and undertaker was the late Colonel Alexan- ander Miller, who resided on the Daniel Gray lot.
The first tinner was John Croft, who was secured by the late George Swineford, on the lot where the agricultural works of Whitney & Co. now are. The next, the late Hugh Davis, at the east end of town.
The first carding-machine was owned by the late Andrew Drumb, associated with his brother, the late Uriah Drumnb.
LABAN BURGAN
was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, near Mount Pleasant, August 13, 1866. He was the son of Jo- seph Burgan, who came to that State from the east (origi- nally from England,) at an early day. When about eight years of age, in 1814, his father removed to Wayne county, Ohio, and seitled near Wooster, where he contin ued to reside until 1832, when he removed to Medina county, where he lost his wife, by death. From there he removed to Michigan in 1853, and died in 1860, aged about seventy-seven years. Mrs. Burgan died in Medina about 1840, aged about fifty years. Laban Burgan lived at Wooster from the time he was eight years old. He learned the trade of a tailor, and worked, when a young man, in Canton, Ohio.
He came to Ashland in 1829, and returned to Wooster and married Miss Jane Chubb in 1830. She survived until 1874, aged nearly sixty-seven years. Mr. Burgan continued in Ashland, as a merchant tailor, until 1856, often going to the Indian country in the west, and pur- chasing large quantities of Indian dressed buffalo robes, which he sold annually, from 1849. He remembers the early days in Wayne county very distinctly. He states that the pioneers bad hard times, owing to the sparse- ness of the settlers and the newness of the country. At the period he came it was the custom of the pioneers to · navigate the Killbuck in keel-boats, to convey to Co- shocton and Zanesville surplus grain, whiskey, sugar, etc.
The Delaware Indians often visited the settlements to trade, and were hanaless. Their oll trail passed a little south of the village, and crossed the Killbuck near the old Warner farm, west of Wooster.
Owing to the scarcity of flesh, it was the custom of Joseph Burgan, his father, to hunt wild deer and tur- key in the forest; skin the deer killed during the day, · hang up the carcass upon a sapling out of the reach of wolves, and carry home the skins and other game at night, and return the next morning with Laban and his pony to carry the game home. After being loaded he- turned the pony homeward, and continued to hunt at a distance of six or eight miles. In this manner he ob- tained all the flesh needed to supply meat. Laban, then about nine years of age, made many trips with the pony, who always Finded him safely at his father's cabin. Mr. Burgan remembers that the waters of the Killbuck were often very high and dangerous in the spring of the year, owing to the floods and freshets. At one time he
remembers a keel-boat was crushed in its downward trip by large quantities of driftwood, and the owners landed on an island, where they could only get to shore by being reached by a canoe ; in fact, some of the parties saved themselves from being drowned by clinging to trees icaning over the water.
It is a common observation that all the streamns sup- plied more water at that period, and are gradually be- coming smaller as the country becomes cleared up, and the forests disappear.
Mr. Burgan says, in addition to a great abundance of game of every kind, the forests abounded in large quan- tities of wild honey, which was easily obtained ..
In 1858 Mr. Burgan entered into the erection of the lightning rod business, and continued until 1876, when he removed to Findlay, where he now is. His family consists of Isaiah, married to Miss Hogan; Mary, single; Edmund, married to Miss Kriss; Frances, married to C. P. Lewis; and Flora, married to Frank Reynolds; five in all, two boys and three girls.
Mr. Burgan is now in delicate health, owing to a chronic condition of stomach and liver. He is credited with ringing the old academy beil upon the announce- ment of the passage of the legislative bill erecting Ash- land county, in the spring of 1846. The old man was bound to make a noise over that notable event. The old bell still rings our children to their lessons in the new school-room. May it continue to ring another half century. Many endearing memories cling around that old school-room. Lorin Andrews, a name always dear to Ashland, is still held in grateful recollection.
WILLIAM FAST
was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1794, and went to school until he was sixteen years old. He came to Orange township when about twenty-one years old, and entered three hundred and twenty acres of land for himself and father. and moved out in the spring of 1814. The family were Martin, Nicholas, Ja- cob, William, Christian, David, Francis, George, John, Margaret, Barbara, Betsy, and Christena, married to a cousin in Fayette county, Pennsylvania.
William Fast married Elizabeth Fast, a cousin, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1817. His wife lived until July 1869, when she died, aged seventy four. Their children were: Frances, Elizabeth, Christena, Sarah, Levi, Jesse, John V., Wilham, Jonas, Joshua B., and one who died in childhood. Five of these are also dead : Frances, Elizabeth, Christena. John N. and Wil- liam. Levi, Jesse and John live in Michigan ; the rest in Ashland county.
The mental faculties of Mi. Fast seem to be well preserved, and he possesses fine physical powers for one of his age. The old statleman often relates tacidents in relation to Tom Lyons, Jonacake, and other Pa- vares with whom he was acquainted in las youth. He knew many of the Green and ferometown failians.
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252
HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.
JUDGE EDMUND. INGMAND
was born at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, February 9, 1806, and removed with his parents to a farm about two miles southeast of Jeromeville, Ashland county. At an early age he fully realized the responsibilities of life, and strove to avail himself of every opportunity. He per- formed with due respect to his parents the routine of light and arduous duties of a boy's life, exerting every possible effort to secure a home.
The trials and vicissitudes incident to pioneer life pre -. vented young Edmund from giving vent to his natural in- clinations, hence he and his sister Mary (she is now Mrs. Joshua Carr, of Bowling Green, Ohio,) received nothing more than the instructions given at common schools, the educational advantages at that time being quite lim- ited. Part of his time was occupied in school-teaching, and at odd times did carpenter work, which trade he pur- sued with great success, the knowledge of which came from his own ingenuity. Thus, by his ambitious dispo- sition and industrious habits thus formed, he devoted every hour td doing good. At the age of eighteen he united with the Methodist Episcopal church, to which helm he clung with unwavering steadfastness till the death sentence reached his ear, "Come up higher !" In his twenty-sixth year he was married to Miss Mary Kinsey Naylor, an amiable young lady of eighteen. Miss Mary being of a very retiring and modest temperament, as well as Joving and agreeable, she adorned the home of her af- fianced in the most becoming manner ; so mild and gen- tle was this " gude wife " that one of her daughters avers that she never heard her mother laugh aloud.
Though Mrs. Ingmand was delicate in constitution, yet she shared the lights and shadows of " early days, " which were destined to surround her husband with a great degrce of pleasure and patience.
Mr. and Mrs. Ingmand located on a farm given them by his father, which was situated one mile south- west of Jeromeville. Mr. Ingmand clerked in a dry goods store one year previous to his marriage, and two years following that event, most of his mercantile life be- ing spent in Waynesburgh (now Congress), Wayne county.
This youthful pair's home in the forest, of course, re- quited a vast amount of labor to change its rude appear- ance to that of case and comfort, as well as profit and pleasure.
A family of eight children was reared on this farm -- Almira, the eldest, dying in the year 1851, in her twen- ty-first year. The other seven -- Samantha A. (now Mrs. J. D. Axe), of Ashland; William, Alva, Joseph:, Edmund Il., Hattie A. and Leslie survive.
On the twelfth of June, 1866, Mrs. Ingman J exchanged worlds, after suffering the most excruciating pain for nearly one year, previous to her death.
Mr. Ingmand being a man of sterling qualities and an excelled business capacity, he was chosen many times to settle differences of minor, as well as of great, importance. He was appointed administrator of fitty estates, besides protecting the affairs of many orphans. For twenty years previous to his demise he made entries in his journal of each day's proceedings, and at the close of each respect.
ive year knew the exact outlay and income of his farmi and household. He was a true friend of the needy and afflicted; none went from his door hungry, or in need of comfort. His willing and beneficent hand was endeared in every circle m which he moved. In disposition he was remarkable for the cheertulness and geniality which he possessed, and from one of his oldest children comes the pleasant reflection, that she has often heard bien say, that several consecutive months had passed in his life without the least inclination to become angry.
After five days of extreme suffering from paralysis, after enjoying nearly sixty years of uninterrupted goud health, he closed his eyes on earthily things on the twen- ty-seventh of March, 1866, to open them in Heaven.
LUKE INGMAND
was born on Carroll's manor, in Frederick county, Mary- land, and, a few years afterward removed to Berkeley county, Virginia, where he resided a number of years, and, at the age of twenty-six years, was married to Miss Elizabeth Hay.
.About the year :805 he removed to Ohio, locating in Amanda township, Fairfield county. A few years later he removed to Wayne (now Ashland) county, near je- romeville, where he resided until two years previous to his decease, which occurred at the residence of his son, Judge E. Ingmand, in Asbland, of the advanced age of ninety-two years.
Of him it may be said that he was an honest man, in every sense of the word, greatly abhoring any base prin- ciple in the character of his fellow-men. Being reared under Quaker discipline, he was catremely plain in his dress, and exceedingly courteous in his address. Ifis plainness of speech, and marked eccentricities, called forth many peals of laughter, wry faces, and at times, perhaps, a slight degree of ill feeling; his intentions, however, were of the purest character, disliking the idea of coming in contact with those he could not salute cor. dially. He possessed an unusual jovial disposition and affable bearing, which gained for him hosts of friends wherever he went. He was a great favorite with the children, and was often besieged to relate anecdotes of long ago. Among the writer's happiest hours were those spent at the feet of "grandinther," pleading bim to tell a story, when he very often replied, jestingly. "Why, no child, I'd rather tell the truth than a story."
Thirteen years of loneliness was allotted this venerable man before he was called to join Mother Ingmand in the spirit land. Nearly seventy-five years he adorned the Christian profession, being a member of the Methodist Episcopal church most of his life.
His last days were not victimized by disease, but was merely the wearing out of life's machinery, and, on the morning of June 25, 1865, the white haired patriarch was ralled to swell the boly ranks above.
It would be injustice to bring before the public eye the history of this noble pioneer without mentioning the commendable qualities of his amiable companion, who
253
HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.
shared the privations and trials of pioneer life with such marked Christian patience and fortitude.
Her parentage was of the highest rank and culture, being fortunate to receive as good an education as ad- vantages would permit, which, in addition to their digni- fied bearing and mature judgment, placed them on an equality with the most respectable.
About the time Mrs. Ingmand moved to this State her brother, John Hay, moved to Kentucky, where he be- came a neighbor and intimate friend of the late Abraham Lincoln. The two familles, Hay's and Lincoln's, soon after removed to Illinois. As Mr. Lincoln had chosen the legal profession, as did also a son of Mr. Hay, the two became fast friends, and entered into the practice of law together.
Grandmother Ingmand was equally as lively disposed as uncle Lukey, as her husband was familiarly called. Hence their home and society were often sought after, when in quest of pleasure. This dear old lady spent sixty-five years in this world, and on the seventh of June, 1853, was transplanted to a higher, holier clime.
LOUIS JEFFERSON SPRENGLE
was born in Frederick City, Maryland, January 26, 1824. His father, David Sprengle, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1796, and died in Frederick City, Maryland, in 1332, of cholera. Captain David Sprengle was a soldier in the war of 1812, entering the army at Baltimore, in 1814, at the age of eighteen years. He was a direct descendant of the same family from whom Dr. Kurt Sprengle, the eclebrated German botanist, of Halle university, descended. The family emigrated from Prussia, Germany, to this country about the year 1760, and settled in that part of Pennsylvania known as York county. His father served as a private soldier in the Revolutionary army for American indepen- dence. His mother, Caroline M. A. Ruth, was of Ger- man descent. Her grandfather, Jacob Medart, was one of the staunchest supporters of the American Revolu- tion, and his hotel, in Frederick, Maryland, at that critical period, was the rendezvous of the pat iots of that trying time General Washington always made his hotel his stopping place, when passing through Freder- ick. He furnished the army of the Revolution with many thousand dollars of supplies, taking his pay in con- tinental money, and leaving several barrels of it as a legacy to his children. Her father was in the war of 1812, and rose to the rank of captain. Having, during his early boyhood, attended a select school in Frederick City, our subject came to Ohio, unto his parents, in 1835, and settled in Ashland. Until 1839 he was employed as a clerk in a store. In the public schools and in the Ashland academy he finished his education. Ile then learned the trade of a cabinet-maker, and worked at it sub .equemiy in Ashland, Mansfehl, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While at Mansfield keeping up his studies, he walked over to Ashland each Satur- day for the purpose of reciting to Professor Lorin An-
drews, afterwards professor of Kenyon college. While working at Pittsburgh, during the year of the great fire in that city, in 1845, all his books, about three hundred volumes, educational and miscellaneous, were burned. Returning to Ashland, he there worked at his trade for two years. He was then appointed agent for that county for the old Protection Fire Insurance company, of Hart- ford county, in which position he remained until that company ceased to do business. He then, in connection with J. O. Jennings, Abraham Huffman, Joseph Wasson, G. W. Urie, Joseph Musgrove, Peter Resser, Hugh Burns, J. B. F. Sampsel, and B. B. Clark, on the eighth of February, 1851, as incorporators, procured a special charter from the legislature of the state of Ohio, and organized the Ashland County Mutual Fire Insurance company, of which he was elected secretary, and has retained that position ever since, and for the last six years also performing the duties of treasurer. Up to 1869 he also performed the duties of general agent and adjuster. Under his management this company has been very successful, its business being done on what is known as the twenty per cent. plan, and without making any assessment on the premium notes. For twenty-five years they took none but the safer kind of risks, and this practice has been but slightly departed from. Recently a few of the better class of special hazards are written up by the company for small amounts. The accumulated assets of the company, July, 1880, amount to six hun- dred thousand dollars, while the risks have been so care- fully selected that their losses have not exceeded fifteen thousand dollars a year.
In 1853 Mr. Sprengle began the publication, at Ash- land, of a weekly newspaper in the interests of the old Whig party, called the Ashland Times. This be contin- ucd with the assistance respectively of the Hon. William Osborn and Josiah Locke, until the spring of 1857, when he assumed the entire control of the paper as editor and proprietor, until June, 1876, when he sold the property to his son-in-law, Joseph E. Stubbs. Under Mr. Spren- gle's management the paper became one of the most in- fuential and prosperous weeklies in the State, and was the first paper printed on a Hoe power press, and by steam, between Cleveland and Columbus. He was the author of the agents' hand-book of insurance, of which an edition of over ten thousand copies was sold to the underwriters of the different States; also of the manuscript reader, for the use of schools and academies, printing offices and the counting-room. Its object was to learn the pupil to read readily any manuscript Pages of man- uscript for this novel work were contributed from Profes- sor Spencer, President Andrews, of Kenyon college, President Andrews, of the Virginia university, Horace Grecley, Rufus Chote, and other eminent scholars of the day. He was also associated with all the enterprises of the place, acting as secretary of the Ashland union mills for the manufacture of flour and woollen goods; also as president of the Ashland machine company, manufact. urers of agricultural implements and clover thre here and hullers, as well as an independent manufacturer of other useful implements having an extensive sale throughout
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