USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 21
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5049
200
John McKinney
10425
640
John Evans
4666
1,000
Thomas Browder
4520
675
R. Osborn
4958
500
Finley, Denny & Barreth
5150
370
John Goode
5057
50
W. Tidball
4932
500
R. Means
8608
22
James Galloway
4507
100
Thomas Browder
8422
IIO
Gross Scruggs
I
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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
3684
720
J. Calderwood
12795
175
John Evans
5050
200
Jacob Poe
Benjamin Biggs 1147
Gabriel Peterson 4534 1,200
666 2/3 Thomas Frazier 3695
9007, 9812, 10099 and 10327-
366
Ladd & Norville
4606 and 4741 666 2/3. Thomas Sears
9680 and 8997
700
Ladd & Norville
6966 and 7024
300
James Galloway
12382 and 12288
60
T. Melton & J. Galloway
4922
150
John Barreth
H. Morton 5169 393
William Herbert 5123 200 1 1
1118
2,000
George Weeden
5158
400
George Pomeroy
4284
742
R. Armstrong
600 John Kean 4512
560 William Heath 4753
4516
1,064
John Campbell
9455
200
Thomas H. Hinde
6985
450
David Black
6238
1,000
George Hoffman
7311
1,958
James Galloway
4182
1,000
Samuel Smith
1,200 1 John Campbell 4544
1 Clough Shelton 9401 150 1
13005
200
Allen Latham
5596
830
William Washington
1386
400
Joseph Swearington
300 William Boniface 8793
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
THE ORIGINAL POLL-BOOK RECORD.
As previously stated, the evidence points to the organization of the township in 1811. The original poll-book record for an election held on October 8, 1811, has been preserved and is here presented verbatim:
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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
POLL BOOK OF WAYNE TOWNSHIP, OCTOBER 8, 1811.
Poll Book of the election held in the township of Wayne, county of Champaign, on the eighth day of October, A. D., one thousand eight hundred and eleven. Abraham Hughes, Nathan Norton and Jobn Paxton, Judges, and Basil Noel and Wesley Hughes, C'lerks, of this election, were severally sworn as the law directs, previous to their entering upon their respective duties.
NAMES OF ELECTORS.
Reuben Paxton, Abraham Hughes, William Tharp, William Fagan. Joshua Jones, John Black, John Richardson, John Ballinger, John Barrett, Daniel Reed, Jobn Bowlman, Jobn Devore, Isaac Hughes, Henry Williams, Abuer Tharp, John Paxton, John Sutton, Gray Gary, Nathan Norton, William Williams, Basil Noel, Wesley Hughes, Jobu Thomas, Nathan Tharp, Andrew Grubbs, John Bowlman, Jr., Otho Johnson, Benjamin Lee, Solo- mon Tharp, Jacob Paxton, William Pickrill.
These thirty-one voters were distributed over the territory now compre- hended within Wayne and Rush townships, but there is no way of determin- ing how many of the number lived within the present limits of Wayne. It will be noticed that not one of the thirty-one is among the list of original holders of patents in the township. The early elections were held at the homes of the settlers which were the most easily accessible to the majority of the voters. Among the early voting places were the homes of Isaac Gray, Reuben Paxton, Robert Stevens, Peter Black, John Holycross, Ebenezer Miles and Jerry Baldwin. The first election after Rush township was set off in 1828 was at the house of Jerry Baldwin. Peter Igou was elected justice of the peace at this election, but St. Leger Beck and Martin Flaherty contested the election and a new one was held on February 8, 1828, Igou being elected this time beyond a doubt. Among the justices of the peace elected before the Civil War may be mentioned Peter Igou, William Organ, John Stowe, David B. Williams, Robert Pennington, Lester Ware, John J. Harlin, Andrew McBride, C. O. Johnson, William Thomas, Silas Igou, Alex- ander Pickard, William R. Clark and John W. Barlette. Many of these served a number of years, Peter Igou serving from 1828 to 1839, and others for three terms of three years each.
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OTHER EARLY TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS.
The early township clerks, those serving prior to the Civil War, were as follow : John Organ, John Shaw, Wsley Hughes, George N. Swisher, Thomas Cowgill, Jr. ( served ten years, 1834-1844), Daniel Vertner, Robert Archibald, Solomon Linville. Peter P. Wilson, Solomon Linville, David Vert-
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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
ner and J. W. Barley. This roster of clerks gives all who held the office up until 1864.
Among the early trustees may be mentioned Thomas Cowgill, Sr., Henry Fairchild, Thomas Middleton, Silas Hale, Thomas Irwin, James Williams, Erastus Burnham, Jeremiah Baldwin, James De Vore, Sylvanus Smith, James Mitchell, Thomas Lary, Jesse Johnson, Thomas Goode, St. Leger Beck, Paul Igou, John Stowe, Aaron Guthridge, Simon Miller, Mathew Mason, John Middleton, William Organ, John J. Harlan and James Gray. Many of these trustees lived in what is now Rush township.
An examination shows the names of a large number of citizens who filled township offices of one kind or another .. During the period of the old constitution ( 1802 to 1852) there were many offices which were discontinued when the second constitution was adopted. In addition to the trustees, clerk, treasurer and justices of the peace, there were overseers of the poor, fence viewers, ditch viewers, listers and road supervisors. While a large number of citizens in the early days of Wayne township never held any public office, yet before 1840 the following freeholders are noted as being connected in some official capacity with the local township government: Ezra Winger, Otho Johnson, James Claypole, Robert Cloud, Robert Stephens, John Rich- ardson, Peter Black, Erastus Nutter, John W. Walburn, Ross Thomas, Allen Haines, Reuben Fairchild, Reuben Paxton, Anson Howard, Samuel Reed, William Winget, Samuel Goode. John Colwell, Andrew Hays, David Ripley, John Parthemar, Boyd Richardson, Isaac Farmer, Stephen Cranston, Will- iam Gifford, Asahel Woodsworth, Angus Clark, Solomon Black, Barney Richarson, John Wilson, Asa Gray, Jonathan Looney, William Jenkins, William Middleton, Jonathan Moorecraft, Basil Day, Simon Moorecraft, Henry Reynolds, Stephen Thompson, Moses Devore, John Spencer, Thomas Baldwin, Nicholas E. Swisher, Willis Spain, Isaac Wilson, John H. Swisher, Jeremiah Davis, Benjamin Spillers, David Parker, Thomas Wade, William Pepple, Levi Williams, William Shackleford, James Middleton, Robert Wil- son, William Sharp, Elijah Breedlove, Thomas Cooper, Cephas Atkinson, George Barley and William Lary.
I.IST OF VOTERS IN 1840.
At the presidential election on October 30, 1840, there were two hundred and forty-five votes cast, one hundred and ninety-one for Harrison and fifty- four for Van Buren. This election was probably more exciting than any
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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
which has ever occurred in the township and it is fair to presume that prac- tically every voter in the township cast his ballot on that day. The poll book and tally sheet were kept on the same sheet of unruled foolscap and was in the handwriting of Thomas Cowgill, one of the clerks. The other clerk was Daniel Vertner, the judges being William Organ, James Gray and John J. Harlan. The complete list of voters of the township in 1840 is here given as it appears in this record of seventy-seven years ago:
William Organ, Daniel Vertuer, Thomas Cowgill, James Spain, John J. Harlan. Jeremiah Davis, James Gray, William T. Hilton, Henry Reynolds, John Middleton, Noah Hilton, Thomas Parker, Samuel Swisher, Andrew McBride, Henry W. Spain. Parker Long. Bayles Breedlove, Samuel Organ, William Middleton, James Williams, Alexander Hayes, Jesse Snidichar. Benjamin Bidwell, William H. Mead. John Stowe. James Guthridge. Willis Spain, Hezekiah Spain, Joseph G. Johnson, John Devore, Theodoric Sullivant, Nicholas 8. Organ. Ezra Lamborn, Cloud Marshall, Simeon Morecraft, John P. Spain. Morgan Baldwin, Edward L .. Timmons, James Devore, Benjamin Parker, Allison Walker, James Swisher, John S. Goode, Benjamin Devore, Joshua Devore, Francis A. Yocum, Marsball B. Lamborn, Jobu W. Yocum. Thomas Breedlove, Griswold B. Hawes, Jack M. Sally, William Jenkins, Jamey B. King, James Lindsey, William Johnson, Thomas Lindsey. Nicholas E. Swisher, James H. Swisher, James N. Swisher, George Hess, Michael Hess, John Daly, Robert Archibald, Joel Brown, James Reynolds, John Lay- cock, Charles Dickinson, Jesse Reams, William Breedlove, Jesse Gray, Charles Stewart, James McMahill, Reuben Adams, David B. Williams, Isaac Willett, Joseph Baker, James Hess, Nehemiah Mathews, Jesse Goode, Abram Martin, Amos Brinton, David Martin, Charles Martin, Matthew A. Wright, Aaron Guthridge, John Hammond, Jonathan Bonsall, Ezra Mead, Jefferson Dempey, James H. Ford, Thomas Cowgill, Nathan Davis, James Stephens, Isaac Cedars, John Barrett, Isaac Gratham. Robert Pennington. Rees Miller, William Barrett, James Cox, William Jenkins, Lorenzo Timmons, Montgomery P. Mitchell. James Mitchell. Gould Johnson, Isaac Everett. Jefferson Vertner, John H. Richardson, George Robinson, Rees Ellis, Phineas Thornton, Boyd Richardson, John Mason. Daniel Bishop, William Gutbridge, Elijah Breedlove, Joel Stowe. James Organ. John D. Hale, Jacob Witty, Matthew Mason, Samuel T. Organ, St. Leger Beck, James Middleton, James D. Bayless, Hugh Moffitt, Henry Hall, Ezra Mead, Jr., William Holy- cross. Asa Gray, Joseph I. Baker, William McMahill, Garland Wade, Allen Matthews, Samuel MeCumber. George Whittleberry, Joshua Miller, Robert Ludlow. David Wade, Solomon Haines, Robert M. Goode, Stephen Hannum, William Helcht, Chillian A. Cox. John Williams, Joshua Spain, Abel H. Morgan, William Stowe, Archibald Scott, Levi Cowgill, William Reed, Thomas Eaton, Benjamin Moffett, Ross Thomas, Levi Osborn, William Clinton, David Osborn, Oliver Jenkins, William Spencer. Thomas Spencer, John Morebead, Peter Igou, Francis Everett, Manley Robuck, Paul Igou, Benjamin Holy- cross, Pleasant Reams, Edwin Long. Solomon Cowles, Benjamin Spiller, John Goode. David Wilson, John Baldwin, John Paige, Hiram Wilson, Joseph Swisher, Isaac G. Wilson. Franklin Baldwin, James McDaniel, George Holloway. Samuel Jones, Shad- rack Musteen, Hiram Johnson, John Davison, Nelson Richardson, Thomas Middleton. Wilford Allison, Nelson B. Jobnson, Theodoric Goode. Edward Spain, William McDaniel, John Thomas, Thomas Wilson. John B. Paden, Jobu Pennington, Alfred Johnson, Albert Cowles, Heaton Pennington, Levi Williams. Thomas Wade, Samuel Marks, Joel Inskeep, James Cole, Richard Stowe, Nelson Hilton, Woodmunsie Tallman. Richard Baldwin.
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Washington Woodward, Alex St. Clair Hunter, Benjamin Archer, Hilon Mead, Robert Pennington. Jacob H. Linville, James Stubblefield, Thomas Brown, Cephas Atkinson, Levi Atkinson, Henry Plael, James Ellis, Isaac Brown, Ellis Miller, Walter T. Organ, John Miller, Adam Kerns, Archibald Everett, Joseph Leach, Elisha B. Hess, John Hile, John Thomas, Jr .. Isaac Black, Caleb Russell. Samuel Hubbard, Andrew Davidson, Philip Hess, David Irwin, Reuben Paxson, Holdridge Chidister, Jacob Karnes, William Lary, John Everett, Samuel Wilson, Thomas Hunter.
POPULATION STATISTICS.
The greater portion of the population of the Wayne township from 1811 to 1828 was in the eastern half; that is, in that portion of the township which was set off as Rush in the latter year. The settlements in the vicinity of North Lewisburg and Woodstock were the largest in the township. The broken character of the surface of the land within the present limits of Wayne was such that it was not settled as early as some other parts of the county. The population taken by the government was not returned by townships until 1850. In that year Wayne township was given a total population of 1,429 of which twelve were colored. The population by decades since 1850 is as follows: 1860, 1,827; 1870, 1.729: 1880, 1,631 ; 1890, 1,389; 1900, 1,345; 1910, 1,272.
EARLY SETTLERS.
The difficulty of definitely establishing the sequence of early arrivals into the township arises from the fact that more than one hundred years have elapsed since the first pioneers blazed their paths into the township. They were not concerned with leaving written accounts of their arrival, or setting down for future generations the troubles they experienced in establishing homes. The complete story of one family of Wayne township from 1800 down to 1850 would be the story of practically every other family in the township as far as general conditions are concerned. Each family went through the same privations, ate the same food, wore the same linsey-woolsey and jeans, played the same simple games; and, generally speaking, most of the people had common ideas about most things. No one is now living whose memory comes within twenty-five years of the first settlers of the township. There were no newspapers to record the daily events and no settler in the township has preserved a written account of them. However, there have appeared in the newspapers of later years various accounts concerning the early settlers in the township, while the records of many of the families have been preserved in genealogical volumes. These have been consulted along
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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
with the official records in the court house in an effort to reconstruct as far as possible a fair account of Wayne township in the early days.
Abner Barnett is said to have been the first settler within the present limits of Wayne township, but little is known concerning this pioneer other than that he came about 1800 and settled in the northeastern part of the town- ship. His name does not appear in the list of voters of 1811, nor does it appear in the taxpayers list of 1819, the earliest list which has been preserved. If he came to the township in 1800, he evidently remained only a short time or else did not participate in public affairs. It is certain that he was later located in Goshen township, in the chapter of which township his career is briefly noticed.
FIRST PERMANENT SETTLERS.
The Spain family has been credited to both Wayne and Rush townships as probably the first permanent settlers. The facts seem to be that they settled in both; one branch settling in the northwestern corner of Rush and the other in the northeastern corner of Wayne, their importance in the eyes of the early settlers being shown by the fact that the creek draining the north- ern part of the two townships is named in their honor. Hezekiah Spain came to the township in 1805, the year the county was organized, bringing with him his family of several children. At the time Hezekiah Spain came from Dinwiddie county, Virginia, there were probably nine other families from the same county who located either in Rush or Wayne, although at that time the whole territory now in the two townships was included within Salem township. These other nine families were those of J. P. Spain, Stephen Spain, Jordan (or Gordon ) Reams, Hubbard Crowder, William Spain, Daniel Spain, John P. Spain, Jr., Thomas Spain and John Crowder. These families came together to the county in 1805 and settled in the northern part of what is now Wayne and Rush. The Spains were of German ancestry, but had been identified with Virginia since the Revolutionary War.
Hezekiah Spain bought the entire survey No. 4666, original patent holder, Thomas Browder, the deed for this extensive tract of one thousand and sixty-three acres being recorded on February 6, 1806. Most of this land lies in Rush township, while part of it is in Logan county, then Cham- paign county. Spain disposed of small tracts of this survey from time to time. A few of these may be noted: Thomas Goode and James Spain each purchased one hundred-acre tracts in the summer of 1809; Jordan Reams and Gray Gary bought fifty- and one hundred and fifty-acre tracts, respec-
:
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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
tively, in 1810; Hubert (or Hubbard) Crowder bought seventy-five acres in 1813; Howell Holycross and Thomas Spain bought fifty- and two hundred- acre tracts. respectively, in March, 1814. Most of these tracts came off of that part of the survey of Hezekiah Spain which lay in what is now Rush township.
TYPICAL PIONEER EXPERIENCE.
Willis Spain, one of the sons of Hezekiah, was born in Virginia in 1796 and was nine years old when he came with his parents to Champaign county. He continued to reside here until his death. He married Nancy Spain, no relation, and they became the parents of seven children, Lemuel. Henry W., Fletcher, Newton. H. Wright, Elizabeth and David. They all grew to maturity, all married and reared families, with the result that the Spain name became probably the most widely known name in the northern part of Wayne and Rush townships. Willis Spain was a typical pioneer and in later years recounted some of the experiences which befell the family in the early history of the county. He recalled that he had to go to Springfield, a distance of twenty-eight miles, in order to get grain ground; that postage on a letter was twenty-five cents; that deer, fox, wolves, bear and other wild game could be shot from his own door step; that salt obtained on Buck. creek at McLain's cost the family four dollars a bushel; that the hogs were fattened on oak mast; and finally that he never had a law suit in his life. He was a stanch member of the Methodist church from the time he was fifteen years of age and was always active in the work of the church.
STORY OF THE JOHNSON FAMILY.
The Johnson family came to the township in 1804 and have been associated with the history of the county since that year. The first of the family to come to the township seems to have been Jacob Johnson. He was born in Maryland, July 27, 1766, and his wife, Martha Boggs, was born in Pennsylvania, October 20, 1874. His wife had previously married a man by the name of McFarland and two of her sons by this first marriage, John and Moses McFarland, became early settlers in Champaign county.
Jacob Johnson's father, William, came to the county and died here in 1820. His four sons-Jacob, Barnett, William and Otho-became large landowners and influential citizens. William Johnson located near the vil- lage of Mingo and built a house on his farm of three hundred and seventy-
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seven acres, which he bought from James Denny. His farm included all of the present site of Mingo. Jacob Johnson, the oldest son of William, had eight children and seven of these grew to maturity and married: Mary, William, Lavina, Hiram, Nelson B., Jane and Alfred. Jacob had bought four hundred and seventy-eight acres of James Denny in 1804-05 adjoining his father, William, and located on it in the summer of 1805. The sons of Jacob became large landowners, Alfred eventually securing control of all of the original paternal estate. Jacob died in 1845, his widow dying in 1854. Hiram, Nelson B. and Alfred lived together on the home farm until 1868, in which year Nelson B. married. At that time the three sons had increased the paternal estate to one thousand nine hundred acres valued at one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Upon the marriage of Nelson B. to Ann Eliza Gilbert on May 12, 1868, the brothers divided the vast estate without the intervention of the court. Nelson B. later added to his third until at the time of his death he owned nine hundred and seventy acres. It is said of him that he never uttered a profane oath, never drank a drop of intoxicating liquor and never used tobacco in any form.
Another of the Johnsons, Otho, a son of William and a brother of Jacob, was one of the first merchants in what was afterwards Mingo. About 1833 he purchased the small store which his nephew, O. M. Herron, had established a few months previously on his uncle's farm. Otho Johnson managed the store and postoffice, the latter having been established there in 1833, for about two years, but with the abandonment of the store in 1835 the postoffice was also discontinued. In 1838 Otho Johnson sold his farm to Cephas Atkinson for twenty-five dollars an acre and in the following year moved to Hancock, Illinois, where he died about 1870.
The Spains and Johnsons were the leaders in township affairs for the first decade of the county's history. They were not only large landowners, but they were interested in seeing the county getting started and township organizations effected. Their names are found in the local records of Wayne and Rush townships from 1805 down to the present time. Most of the other families which came from Virginia in 1805 with the Spains and Johnsons located in Rush township.
SOME OTHER EARLY SETTLERS.
The same year which brought the Johnsons to the northern part of Wayne township brought James Devore, a native of Washington county,
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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
Pennsylvania, to the same vicinity. He located on a farm east of the present village of Mingo, occupying it under a lease for twelve years, at the expira- tion of which he bought a farm north of Middletown for three dollars and fifty cents an acre. James Devore had seven children: Hester, wife of Mathew Wilson; Elizabeth, wife of John Inskeep; Moses, first married Rachel Inskeep and after her death, Jane Wilkins; John married Betsy Buck- ler; Joshua married Elizabeth Clark; Jacob married Lydia Organ; Mary married Thomas Ballinger.
Thomas Goode came to the township in 1805 and located in survey No. 4932, in the northeastern part of the township. He lived on this farm the remainder of his life. One of his sons, Theoderic, was born on this farm and died on it, January 5, 1876, leaving only one living child, Levi J. Levi J. and his wife, Maria Reams, had six children, five of whom lived to maturity, Eliza, Sale, James E., Aai, Ivan T. Polly Ann died in childhood.
The year 1810 brought in Isaac Everett and family, who settled a mile west of Mingo. They reared a family of nine children, Samuel, Joseph, John, Francis, Isaac, Thomas, Archibald, Mary and Elizabeth. Samuel later acquired the old home farm. Mary became the wife of Daniel Cowgill and Elizabeth the wife of David Martin.
In 1813 Isaac Gray and Alexander St. Clair Hunter arrived in the township. Gray was born in North Carolina in 1762 and located in Gray- son county, Virginia, in 1801, having previously married Lydia Robinson. They had nine children: Elizabeth, who became the wife of Ross Thomas; John, who married Ellen Thomas, a daughter of John (Mingo) Thomas; Hannah, who married Richard Thomas; Jehu, who died unmarried in 1822; Mary, who became the wife of Aaron Guthridge in 1815 and lived to a remarkable old age, having, it is said, up to the time of her death an inex- haustible fund of early history at her command; Asa, who first married Mary E. Johnson and later, Catherine Walker; Rebecca, who married Samuel B. Lippincott; James, who married Hannah Robinson; Rachel, who married Samuel Taylor.
REMINISCENCES OF MRS. MARY GUTHRIDGE.
It is fortunate that there have been preserved a few reminiscent sketches by early settlers in Champaign county. A number of these have been incor- porated in this volume in whole or in part, and all of them have a great historical value. One of the most interesting, and at the same time one of
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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
the most valuable of these reminiscent articles, was written by Mrs. Mary Guthridge to be read before the Pioneer Association at Mingo on June 4, 1885. Mrs. Guthridge was born on May 15, 1787, and was therefore ninety- eight years of age in 1885. She came to the county in 1813 and consequently was well qualified to speak about early conditions in the county. Her com- plete article as prepared in 1885 is given in full in this connection :
I have been a member of this association since Its organization and have met with you when I could, but for the last two years I have not been able to meet with you in person, but I heard you were to meet at Mingo, my first home in Cham- paign county, over seventy-two years ago (1813), I thought if I was well enough 1 would meet with you once more; finding it impossible to do so, I will write a letter to be read at the meeting.
When I let my mind run back and view this country as it was when I first saw it, almost like a wilderness, and think of the privations the first settlers had to go through and what little they had to do with, I wonder what the future may have in store. To look at it now and see what a glorious country they had made it in the juist eighty years with nothing to work with, what it will be in eighty years to come, with all the means they have to work with now? If I would try to tell you all I have passed through in my long lane of life it would fill a volume. I could tell you many anecdotes of the way we dressed, our amusements, etc., but so much has been said on that subject I will only give you a sketch of my life and first acquaint- ance in this country.
My Grandfather Grey was an Englishman, raised In the city of London. He came to America when it was a British colony. Parliament had lasued a proclama- tion that any man who would go to North Carolina, select land and settle on it would be given a large farm. My grandfather settled In Guilford county, North Carolina. married a Scotch woman, raised a large family and had grown sons before the Revolu- tionary War to fight for liberty.
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