History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 65

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

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The following sketch of Mr. Osborn's life is taken from the Ashland Times, under the cover of the signature of J. E. S .:

William Osborn came of good New England stock. He was the third son of Ralph and Catharine Osborn, and was born in Columbus, Chio, May 11, 1821. He received his collegiate education front the Ohio university, at Athens, when that institution was enjoying its great- est prosperity, taking his degree about the age of twenty-one. Thenes he went to Norwalk, Ohio, and entered the law office of his brother, Hon. John Osborn, now of Toledo. Having in due course of time ac- complished his legal studies and been admitted to the bar, he decided to begin his practice in Astand, then a small village of large expecta- tions. He came to this place in 1846, and prepared for the practice of his chosen profession. In 1853 he entered into copartnership with I .. J. Sprengle to publish the Ashland Time, Mr. Osborn's name appear- ing as editor. From this position he retired at the end of three years in order to devote alt his time to the practice of law. In i845, $0en after locating, he entered into law partnership with Willard Slocum, In (858 be formed a copartnership with A 1. Curtis. The firm of Osborn & Curtis had a large and Bourishing practice for many years. The Army was dissolved in 1866, when Mr. Out m was elected je's" of the court of common pleas. After retiring from the bench, in is?". he resumed practice at the bat, January te thys. he ... soweit | | Owngg; to the rapid growth of their other business Mr @ J For mis

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was admitted to the firm last year, and the firm name changed to Os- born, Grosseup & Kenney.

As a lawyer, Judge Osborn ranked very high in this section of the State. His was a nund of mental grasp and power. He was an acute thinker, a clear, conclusive reasoner. If his physical strength had been commensurate with his intelectual ability, his reputation and influence would have extended far beyond the limits of northern Chio. Hewas especially distinguished for the ability of his pleadings, and an exten- sive knowledge of the principles and practice of law. He was, in a pre-eminent degree, a wise and conscientions counsellor, enjoying the confidence and patronage of many corporations, commercial houses, and capitalists, to whom he held the relation of legal adviser.

From carly manhood Mr. Osborn was a man of affairs, devoting much time and money to promoting worthy public enterprises. Every good cause received his support, and for over thirty years he has been identified with the industrial, commercial, and moral growth of Ash- land. The years have been few in which he has not been serving his fellow-citizens in some place of public trust with marked zeal and fidel- ity. As a member of the board of education, he has bad much influ- ence in building up our public schools. As a public-spirited citizen, he has been identified with all public improvements. At the time of his death he was president of the Ashland County Mutual insurance com- pany, a position which he held for ten years. He has been a member of the board of directors for a period of twenty years. He was also a director and stockholder of the First National bank.

In politics, Judge Osborn was an ardent and consistent Republican, loved by his party associates, and esteemed by his political opponents. He was a skilful party organizer, and trusted party leader to the day of his death; yet in the hottest political campaigns no breath of slon- der, or taint of dishonor, ever touched hiim. His name was always above reproach. In his death the Republican party of Ashland county has sustained an irreperable loss.

But if in public and professional life he was conspicuous for ability and nobility, with how much more brilliant lustre does his name and character shine in private life, distinguished as he was tor unostenta- tions benevolence and generous helpfulness, especially to young men struggling to secure a foothold in a chosen business or profession. A man of abstraction in thought, he was yet a careful observer and lover of the young. There are young men who owe a lifetime of success to the counsel and substantial assistance rendered by Judge Oshorn, at a time when the only security they could offer was that of personal hon- or. As long as gratitude springs up in the human breast, so long will the memory of this sainted lawyer be kept green in the hearts of many who have lind the blessing of his confidence and counsel. The memo- ry of this just man "blossoms in the dust." His deeds of benevolence were done so quietly, that not even nearest friends knew how constant and frequent were the acts which have distinguisded his private life. "Those who knew him best loved him most."

Few men have been so happy in their home life, and few have infused such a spirit of love and happiness in the domestic cirele as this huts- band and father, whose attention was so constantly engrossed by pub- lic and professional duties. In all the plars and pleasures of home he was a participant. The little things, which enter so largely into home life, were never overlooked. That ready sympathy which made the friend of the young in business, her found its free ist expression .. Judge Oshoin, especially at home, was a genist companion. His conversa- tion abounded in practical observations of men and things, set off in a delightfal way, by the kindly humor which pervaded al! that he said. Matheinatient studies had great attraction for him, and he took much pleasure in solving new problems as he formed them. He had a wide and familiar acquaintance with standard literature, and kept abreist with the best current thought and investigation of the day.

At an carly period of his professional life Judge Osborn united with the Presbyterian church, and at once took his place as a Christian worker. Ilis loss will be especially felt in the Sunday-school, where he has been engaged as a teacher or superintendent for almost thirty years. No part of the Sunday-school escaped his attention, and many poor children have been provided with clothing. that they might attend Sunday-school, without knowing that the means were provided by one who had seen thei need. This was a characteristic fentine of his benevolent spirit; he avoided observation and comment in his charita- ble work.

Liver from our imperfect sketch it will be aten that the life and Four- acter of Judge Osborn was exceptionally noble and exalted. There was in him a rare combination of the higher qualities of Inunan nature. He has demonstrated that a noble Christian life is compatible with the practice of law and the discharge of political duties; that it is possible

to le an active participant in public life, and yet keep "oneself un- spotted from the world." Pure and above reproach he passed through thirty-four years of public hfe, a distinguished example of the highest type of Christian manhood. It was in feed befitting, that when the mortal remains of William Osborn were passing to their last resting plice, that business should be suspended and the public schools closed as a tribute of respect to his memory. He rests from lus labors and his works do follow himn."

W. T. ALBERSON

was born in Orange township, Ashland county, Ohio, September 17, 1846. He entered the auditor's office as clerk, March 14, 1870; was elected auditor in October, 1874, by eight hundred and thirty majority, and re- elected, in October, 1876, by seven hundred and sixty- one majority. He and W. G. Heltman purchased the Ashland Press, July 17, 1879, of which paper Mr. Alber- son is editor.

The following letter the author inserts in this place : MINE LAMOTTE, April 15, 18;6. MR. GEORGE W. HILL, ESQ. :

I was absent when your letter arrived, which accounts for it not be- ing answered sooner. Your first query is, "where did Jerome settle on Mohican." When we came to the county he was living at Jerome- town, in a small cabin, a short distance apart from the Indian houses. He caltivated some six or eigt! acies of land ; kept a few hor-es, cattle, and swine; he also kept a house of entertainment. He and the in- dians did not get along very well. They wished him to divide the pro- ducts of his farm with them ; this he refused to do, the consequence was, when they had whiskey they whipped him. When the Indians left he said he gave his squaw the privilege of going or staying with Him. She close to go with the Indians. He then bought land y here Jeromeville now stands, but soll to Mr. Deerduff. He soon after set- tledat Huron, in Huron county, and married a white lady, and die:l shortly after. Jerome commenced trading with the Indians when seventeen years old, but how long he continued a niader I do not know He was with the Indians in Wayne's campaign, but whether he was with them in Harmar's and St. Clair's, i do not know. Vou en- mire how much cleared land the Indians had. I never saw theit fehl. but it was situated out of sight of the village: I think only a few small patches. The cleared fand around the village was a lawn well set with bine grass with an occasional tree and a few shrubs, perhaps amounting to six or eight acres. I was in the village during the resilence of the indians, some three or four times. The village consisted of some five cabins, about sixteen or eighteen feet, one story high. The council- house, I think, was a temporary building, built lodge fashion. I do not recollect ever having seen it. I did see Pipe, and bis wigwam with in Jerometown. Ihave no recollection of wife and children. ile ap- peared to be fifty years okl ; a iall, dark, straight Indian. I never talked with him ; perhaps father did, but I think not much, as i'mne ' was a surly, unrelenting for of the whites, and had but little intercourse with them. I think he left with the other Inchians. I have so khov ! edge of Captain Pipe, junior. The Captain Fipe the author spe des of must have been some other Captam Hope. I know that an hy han by that name resided at Jerometown in the years 18e9, 18to ab ! 18:t. believe there were more Captain Pipes than Det. It ne grund . si! the Indians had been on Mohican about ten or take your pre ts to the white settlement, but of das I am not positive, but it was i ! very lung.

Very respectfully & mrs.

DR. HILL'S CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.

DELIVERED AT ASHLAND, OHIO, JULY 4. 1876.

FELLOW-CITIZENS :- This is the natal day of our inde- pendence. We have assembled to review the progress of a century. How amazing has been the change in these valleys. At the close of the Revolutionary war the ter- ritory now constituting the great State of Ohio was in the possession of the red men of the forest, the I'yan- dots, the Ottawvas, the Mohegans, the Senecas, the Dela- wares, successors to the tallen Eries, owned and hunted upon the headwaters of the Mohican.

In 1755, just prior to the defeat of General Braddock, James Smith, a Pennsylvania youth, was captured and brought to the Indian village of Tullehas, on the Lake fork of the Mohican, and adopted by the Molegans. He afterward ascended what has since been known as the Jerome fork of the Mohican, and passed over what are now the townships of Lake, Mohican, Montgomery, Orange, and Sullivan, to the headwaters of the Canesa- dooharie or Black river. He was, probably, the first American who penetrated these wilds.

In 1760, after the surrender of Canada to the English by the French, Major Robert Rogers, of the Royal army, was ordered to take charge of the western forts, one of which was situated at Detroit. On his return east, he passed around the southwestern border of Lake Erie, by the Maumee and Sandusky, down the old trail across what are now the counties of Crawford, Richland, Ash- land, Wayne,' Holmes, and Tuscarawas, to Fort De- Quesne, now the city of Pittsburgh. He tarried and hunted one day at Mingo village, probably where Je- romeville now stands, in January, 1761. He and his red-coated soldiers were the first armed men who pene- trated these valleys.

From memorials preserved by Rev. John Hecke- welder, the Moravian missionary, it is pres' med that sometime between 1750 and 1760, Mohican John, with a remnant of the old Connecticut Mohegans, from near Montreal, Canada, founded a village on a branch of the Walhonding, on section eighteen of what is now Mohi- can township, and gave name to all the streams of this county.

In 1782, the disastrous military expedition of Colonel William Crawford passed over this county en route for Upper Sandusky. The story of that ill-fated movement is too well remembered to need repetition. Many of his defeated, dejected, scattered, fugitive troops, as they hurried through the forests of Richland and Ashland counties, fell a prey to the tomahawks and scalping knives of the exasperated red men. Thus; on the branches of Mohican was avenged the bloody work of Williamson and his men on the Tuscarawas,

In 1783 the Indian village of Greentown, on the

Black fork of Mohican, was founded by an Anierican tory from the blood-stained valley of Wyoming. After that sanguinary slaughter, Thomas Green, who had aided the fierce Mohawks to murder his countrymen. fled to the wilds of Ohio with Jelloway, Armstrong, Billy Montour, Tom Lyons, and others. The village received the name of the white fiend, and was called Greentown.

In 1791-2, the Mohegans and Delawares of these valleys joined the Wyandots, Shawnres and Miamis in repelling the invasions of Harmar and St. Clair, and disaster met our arms at every point. The Delawares, of Greentown, were led by their chief, Thomas Arin- strong, while the Dslawares upon the Sandusky and the Huron were led by Captain Pipe. In 1794, these con- federate tiibes met the vigilant and unconquerable Wayne, at Fallen Timbers, and were signally routed, while their military ardor was forever crushed, and their power broken.

In 1795, the treaty at Greenville gave the United States the fertile valleys, streams and forests of northern Ohio. Reservations were assigned the conquered, and they ceased to depredate upon the border settlements. The territory thus acquired was erected into one county, per- haps the largest in the world, and received the name of the hero that wrested it from the proud-spirited red man, Wayne. Soon after the treaty, Captain Pipe and a rem- nant of the wolf tribe of the Delawares, with a Freach- man by the name of Baptiste Jerome, joined the Mole- gans at their village, in what is now Mohican township.

In 1806-7, the territory of this county was surveyed into ranges, townships, sections and quarter-sections, by deputy United States surveyors; and a land office was established at Canton, and subsequently at the village of Wooster, for the entry of wild lands. Very soon the primitive forests of Wayne and Richland counties were penetrated by the enterprising pioneer.

On the fifteenth of April, ISog, Alexander Finley and family, from near Mt. Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, settled and erected an humble cabin on the present site of Tylertown, in Mohican township. About the middle of May, he was joined by William and Thomas Eagle and John Shinnabarger, and their families. Their nearest white neighbor was John Baptiste Jerome, a French trader, who had married a squaw, and lived in a cabin on the present site of Jeromeville, a village that was named after him. He bad cleared thirty or more scies of land, had horses, cutle and swine, and was attached to the band of Captain Pipe, who resided hen the Indian village.

In March, 1800, James Copus and family passed

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through the Indian village of Greentown, on the Black fork of Mohican, and located, in a pole cabin, near the present site of the John Charles mill. Upon his arrival he found near the Indian village, a wild, rollicking, West Virginian, and his wife, who fancying the nomadic habits of the Indians, had settled in their midst and hunted with them.

From 18og to the spring of 1812, as near as now can be ascertained, the following families located within the present limits of this county; On the Clear fork: Sam- uel Lewis, James Cunningham and Peter Kinney. On the Black fork : Henry McCart, Thomas Coulter, Allen Oliver, George Crawford, David Davis, Edward Haley, John Davis, Melzer Charles, and Bazel Tannehill, Jo- seph Jones, Ebenezer Rice, Joseph Hill, Lewis Hill, Calvin Hill, Harvey Hill, Moses Adzit, Jeremiah Conine, Sylvester Fisher, Otho Simmons, Frederick Zimmer, John Lambright, Martin Ruffner, Melzer Coulter, John Coulter, and Abraham Baughman. On the Lake and Jerome forks: James Loudon Priest, William Greenlee, Thomas and Joshua Oram, Mordecai Chilcote, Vachtel Metcalf, Jacob Lybarger, William Bryan, James Conley, Benjamin Bunn, James Slater, James Bryan, Elisha Chil- cote, James Collyer, George Eckley, Jonathan Palmer, James Wallace, Ezra Warner, John Carr, David Noggle. And in what is now Montgomery township: Robert Newell, Daniel Carter, Jacob Fry, Benjamin Cuppy, and Christopher Trickle. These families, by reciprocal aid, had succeeded in erecting comfortable cabins and in clearing and cultivating a few acres in Indian corn, the first year of their settlement.

Early in the spring of the year 1812 the Indians on the branches of the Mohican began to be uneasy, and fre- quent visits to Sandusky and Detroit were made. It was noticed when they returned they were in possession of new blankets, guns and tomahawks. The seductive influence of British agents was brought to bear, and the demeanor of the Delawares evinced their readiness for the fray.

In June the United States declared war against Great Britain. The events of the Revolution forcibly con- strained her to admit the independence of the colonies; yet she refused to execute the treaty in good faith, and availed herself of every equivocation to justify her per- fidy. She refused to vacate the western forts, and paid a price for human scalps in the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, and claimed the right to impress our sailors and seamen into British service.

Governor Meigs, of Ohio, was required to furnish twelve hundred militia for the defence of the northwest and the border settlements. These, with other troops, were placed under the command of Brigadier General William Huil, of Dayton, Ohio, and marched to the Maumee, and thence to Detroit, where, without a strug- gle, on the sixteenth of August, he surrendered his army to the British commander, Major General Isaar Brock. The army of Hull contained about twenty -five hundred men, well armed, with an abundance of fixed ammuni- tion, and plenty of rations. The circumstances attend- ing the surrender were of the most suspicious character.

Hull, stupefied from intoxication, was believed to be a venal coward, and was doubtless bribed with British gold. The surrender was execrated by the brave officers and men who had thus been treacherously betrayed inte. the hands of the enemy.

Upon the reception of the news of the surrender, alarm and consternation spread throughout the border settlements of Ohio. It was apprehended that Tecum- sch, with his red fiends, flushed by the late disaster, would immediately begin a war of extermination upon the defenceless people of this region. By order of the governor, the citizens of the border counties were en- rolled in the home guards, to defend their firesides against invasion from the relentless savage. In a few days General Payne and Colonel Johnson arrived at Dayton with two thousand Kentucky militia, and were joined by Tupper and Winchester with one thousand regulars, who hastened forward and held Tecumseh and his bloodthirsty bands in check. In the meantime, Col- onel Samuel Kratzer, from Mt. Vernon, received orders to remove the Jerome and Greentown Indians to Ur- bana, where they could be restrained from joining the hostile Indians under British influence.

A few days after the removal of the Greentown In- dians, the cabin of Frederick Zimmer, near the Black fork, was attacked, and he and his wife and daughter, and Martin Ruffner, killed and scalped by a band of hostile Greentown Indians, from Sandusky; and on Tuesday morning, September 15th, the guard at the cabin of James Copus was surprised and he and a part of the guard killed. Immediately thereafter there was a general flight of the pioneers to the block-houses at

Beam's, on the Rocky fork; Samuel Lewis's, on the Clear fork; James Loudon Priest's, on the Lake tork ; Jerome's Place, on the Mohican; Clinton, in Kuov county, and to Wooster. In a few days most of the pio- neers of Green township returned, and a block-house was prepared on the lands of Thomas Coulter, and an- other of the cabin of Allen Oliver, in which several fan ?- ilies quartered during apprehended danger. In the meantime a stockade was erected by James Loudon Priest, in Lake, and another by Vachtel Metcalf, in Mo- hican, and a cabin defence by john Shinnabarger, to which several families retreated for safety.

During the panic there were many adventures and amusing occurrences. We have room for int one or two: The family of Alexander Finley sought safety at Wooster, which was about eleven miles away. Arrang- ing his cabin, and concealing such articles of value as could not be carried along, he and his family crossed the Mohican and proceeded as rapidly as possible along the Indian paths. Suddenly recollecting that he had several young calves in a pen, he returned to let thedi out lest they might starve in his absence. Having done so he again turned toward the fort at Wooster ; but suy- posing he could save distance, attempted to pass straight through the forest. He became confused. naveled in a circle, had to sleep upon the leaves and did not rush the fort until he had been out over thirty hours and sere- naded by the wolves. Jacob Lybarger, a neighbor, also

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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO

fled to the Wooster block-house. In his haste he gath- ered his only child from the cradle, wrapped in a blanket which he swung across his back, and started along the paths, directing his wife to follow. The shades of even- ing made the forest gloomy; Mr. Lybarger exerted him- self lest night and darkness might prevent his escape. His wife followed for a time near by, but at last becom- ing quite fatigued hallooed to her husband: "Jake, Jake, are you afraid!" The brave husband, being some- what nettled at the curiosity of his wife, exclaimed: "No, I am not afraid !" The journey was continued, and Mr. Lybarger failed to siacken his pace. In his haste along the winding paths he was considerably em- barrassed by the brush and brambles. Suddenly stum- bling upon the child, his wife again exclaimed: "Jake, you need not say you are not afraid -- you have dropped Maria and did not know it!" The little daughter was speedily replaced, survived the war, and upon reaching womanhood became the wife of the late Justus S. Weatherbec.

Some weeks after the flight of the pioneers General R. Beall, with an army of about one thousand seven hun- dred soldiers, passed by Jerome's Place, and cut, on the old Wyandot trail, a wagon path through the townships of Vermillion, Montgomery and Milton, and thence over Richland county to Sandusky. This army was fol- lowed by General Robert Crooks, from Pittsburgh, with a large army train, and about two thousand two hundred soldiers. From Jerome's Place he cut a trail southwest by the Inlian village of Greentown, known as the old Portage road, and quartered some weeks at the village of Mansfield. Troops from these armies were detailed at various points to defend the block-houses of the pioneers.

During the continuance of the war the following fam- ilies quartered in the Priest stockade when menaced by danger from the savages: James L. Priest, William Greenlee, William Hendrickson, Nathan Odell, John Oram, Thomas Oram, Joshua Oram, and Mordecai Chil- cote; at Shinnabarger's -- William and Thomas Eagle, . Jacob Laybarger, and Alexander Finley; at Metcalf's- William Bryan, James Conley, Elisha Chilcote, Benjamin Bunn, James Slater, and James Bryan; at the Jerome block-house -. Robert Newell, Jacob Fry, Ber jamin Cup- py, George Eckley, Jonathan Palmer, James Wallace, Christopher Trickle, James Bryan, Daniel Carter, Jolin Carr, Ezra Warner, and David Noggle; but Messrs. Cup- py, Fry and Carter did not remain. Mr. Carter and fam- ily passed on to Tuscarawas county, and returned in a few months to their cabin in Montgomery, and again entered the fort, where Mrs. Carter died. Those who forted at Bean's, Lewis's, Coulter's, Oliver's, and Clin- ton's, were the Olivers the Coulters, the Tannehills, the Rices, the Chapeis, the Crawfords, the Adzits, the Baugh- mans, the Kinneys, the Conines, the Lambrights, the Copuses, and the Hills. About eighteen of the Green township block-house pioneers, ranging from sixty eight to eighty three years of age, yet survive. Of those who gathered at the Priest fort, John Greenlee, and of those of the Jerome fort, Daniel Carter, jr., and Joshua Carr are beheved to be the only survivors.

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History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 65

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