USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115
LEADERS IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD.
In 1832, Thomas and David Wilson, brothers, came to Wayne town- ship and located east and south of Middletown. Thomas had come from New York state to Clark county and then came up into Champaign and bought land of James Galloway, the original proprietor, for one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. He was married in Clark county to Lockie Pem- berton and they reared a family of nine children: James, Hiram, William, Isaac, David K., Margaret, Catherine, Hannah and Cinderella. Thomas Wilson died about the middle of the seventies. His brother, David, came direct from Pennsylvania to Wayne township the same year Thomas located in the township. He was twice married and had seven daughters by his second wife: Sarah, the wife of William Corbett; Rebecca, the wife of Marion Corbett : Nancy J., the wife of Amassa Corbett; Christina, the wife of Aaron W. Devore : Margaret ; Nettie, the wife of Coleman Spain; Emma. the wife of Oliver Haines, and Laura A., who died at the age of eleven. David Wilson died in March, 1876. These two brothers, Thomas and David Wilson, were leaders in their neighborhood for nearly half a century.
THE OLD NATIONAL ROAD.
The first half of the thirties brought in a large number of new settlers into the township. The old national road was built through Ohio in the latter part of the twenties and the first half of the thirties and this enabled thousands to reach the West who had heretofore hesitated the hazardous river and overland trip. It has been said that more than ten million people
Digitized by Google
234
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
passed along the national road by the time of the opening of the Civil War. and Ohio secured a few of these several millions. There was a considerable amount of land which was still in the hands of the original proprietors as late as 1840 and there are those now living who can recall that at the time of the Civil War the township was still heavily forested in many places.
SETTLERS DURING THE EARLY THIRTIES.
Among the settlers of the early thirties may be mentioned Elijah Breed- love. Ezra Lamborn, William Clinton, Jefferson Dempcy. John B. Paden. William Lary and the Martin brothers. Breedlove located in the township in 1832 in the southeastern part of the township and lived there until his death in 1861. His four sons, William, Lewis I., David C. and Thomas H .. became substantial citizens of the township. His one daughter, Mary Ann, became the wife of E. W. Stafford.
Lamborn. a native of Pennsylvania, came to Ohio in 1835. and bought seven hundred acres between Cable and Brush lake. It is interesting to note that the land at that time was only worth two dollars and fifty cents an acre. He had three sons and two daughters, Marshall. Nathan, Ezekiel, Margaretta and Rebecca. Margaretta became the wife of Ephriam Woodward and died on October 26, 1868, leaving her husband with five children. Rebecca mar- ried David Edwards. None of Lamborn's sons settled in this township.
William Clinton located at Clinton Corners on the first day of the year. 1838. He was married in Maryland in December, 1814, to Sarah Parker and to this union were born three children, Thomas, Margaret and Sarah. After the death of his first wife he married Peggy Gary and three children were the result of this second union. Henry, Margaret and Elizabeth. After the death of his second wife he married Polly Guthridge. Thomas went West, Margaret married Edward Middleton, Sarah became the wife of Thomas Douglas and Henry died at the age of eighteen.
The Dempcy family was one of the several families of the Friends church to come from Pennsylvania to Champaign county in the thirties. Jefferson Dempcy was born in the Keystone state in 1802 and located in Wayne township with his family in 1835. He bought a tract of land about half way between Brush lake and the present village of Cable and made his home there until his death in the eighties. He paid three dollars and fifty cents an acre for his first tract and later made substantial additions to his first purchase. Dempcy had seven children: Ezekiel, who married Ann F. Cox: Ezra L., who married Lucretia Pennington and became a large
235
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
landowner: Isaac, who married Hannah Wilson; Marshall, who had an enviable career in the Civil War, later served in the General Assembly of Ohio from Cleveland and became a prominent resident of that city; Anna, who became the wife of John Swisher and moved to Pennsylvania; Margaret E., who married L. C. Guthridge, of Mingo, and Mary M., who became the wife of Charles A. Barley.
A COUSIN OF PRESIDENT BUCHANAN.
John B. Paden. a full first-cousin of James Buchanan, President of the United States just preceding the opening of the Civil War, was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, August 15, 1800. He came to Champaign county in 1833, but did not locate in Wayne township until 1837. He was a weaver by trade, but devoted most of his attention to farming after coming to this county. He was married twice before coming to Champaign county and once after locating here. Two of his sons, Ross and James E., served with distinction in the Civil War. Paden was constable of his township for six consecutive years.
The Lary family was introduced to the township in the latter part of the twenties, when William Lary settled in the northeastern part of the town- ship. Born in 1800, he came to Wayne township in 1826, but three years later moved over into Salem township and located near the Pepper mill. He soon moved back into Wayne and for thirteen years lived on what was then known as the Camby farm, later the Tehan farm. He bought fifty acres of the farm of Reese Miller in 1843 and lived on this until his death in 1864. Of his sons, three became well-known citizens of Wayne town- ship-John H., James M. and Ira W. The others located elsewhere. There were two daughters. Martha died in Mingo in 1879, while the other became the wife of George Allen and settled in Middletown in this township.
DECLINE IN POPULATION.
Strange as it may seem. Wayne township probably had more actual inhabitants in 1840 than it has in 1917. The middle of the thirties saw large tracts still covered with native forests, and yet the records will show that many of the school districts at that time had several times as many pupils enrolled as they have today. In fact, many of the school districts in the county have been discontinued because of the failing attendance. The decade from 1840 to 1860 saw a decline of nearly two hundred in the population of
Digitized by Google
236
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
the township. and the 1910 census clearly indicated that the township had fewer inhabitants by 555 than it had in 1860 at the opening of the Civil War. In 1860 the population was 1,827, while in 1910 it amounted to only 1,272.
SCHOOLS.
The early school houses of the township were like the early dwelling houses and all the other buildings -- that is, they were made of logs. The first building erected for school purposes was in the western part of the town- ship near the Mt. Carmel church and was built about 1813 or 1814 by a num- ber of the settlers of the community headed by Isaac Gray. It was such a structure as appeared in the early days of each township and was used until the settlers were able to put up a better building. The building erected for a Methodist church on the farm of B. R. Tallman was also used for school purposes during the latter part of the twenties. As the population increased additional school houses were provided until the number finally reached eleven. With consolidation and centralization of the schools in the county nine of these schools have been discontinued until there are now only two schools in operation. A more extended discussion of the schools of the township may be seen in the educational chapter.
CHURCHES.
The Methodists seemed to have had the first regular church organization in the township. They erected a church, a log structure, near the present site of Mingo about 1824, and called it North Salem. This house was used until 1838, when a school house became the headquarters of the congregation. They held their services in school houses at different places in the northern part of the township until 1851, when the Salem church was erected on the farm of Joshua Spain. This building stood about a half mile south of the Logan county line on the road leading from Mechanicsburg to West Liberty. The principal members of the Methodist church were the Spains, Devores, Millers. Goodes, Iarys, Morgans, Martins, Russells, Igous, Inskeep, Sharps, Everetts, Thomases, Haineses, Coles and a few others.
The Sanctuary was the name applied to a church erected in 1842 by the Congregational Methodists. It stood on the farm of John ( Mingo) Thomas, northwest of Mingo, and housed the feeble congregation as long as it lived. It lasted less than a decade and then the building passed into the hands of
237
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
the Protestant Methodists and they were able to maintain themselves for about ten years, 1850-1860. The Baptists next took charge of the building and they had it for six years, giving it up in order to make use of a house of their own. The building has long since disappeared. The Mingo Baptists started up after the Middletown Baptists became so weak they could not maintain their organization. The latter had a congregation locally known as the Pleasant Run church. The Mingo Baptists dedicated their building on February 3, 1867.
The Friends have been strong in the township since the days of the Cowgills, their first organization dating from about 1825. Their first build- ing appeared in 1832 and this was succeeded in 1873 by a second building. The main families of the church in its early history were the Cowgills, Ryans, Baldwins, Robinsons, Millers, Grays and others. Eli Cowgill and his wife, Abrilla, served the congregation for a long period of years as ministers.
Jenkins chapel made its appearance in 1863 and was the successor of another church known as "Clinton's meeting house" which stood about two hundred yards farther east. This first church was built about 1842, follow- ing the preaching efforts of Andrew Williams, a Congregational Methodist preacher. In this first building the United Brethren and Methodist Protes- tants alternately worshipped for a number of years. Finally the congrega- tions amalgamated under the name and title of Methodist Protestant and in 1863 erected the building known as Jenkins chapel. This church stood about a mile and a half southeast of Cable.
The first church building in Cable was started as a Presbyterian church, but the few citizens of the village and the surrounding community all went together to assist in its construction. Before it was completed it was seen that the expense of building would fall on Hiram Cable, the founder of the town, so he decided to sell it to a group of Methodists who offered to take the unfinished building off of his hands for three hundred and fifty dollars The Christian church at Cable was organized about 1860. For many years a camp ground was maintained by the Methodists half a mile north of Cable. The site was known as Mount Olivet or Sodom camp meeting ground. It came into existence in 1833 and maintained a regular summer Methodist revival meeting for six years. at the end of which time it was discontinued.
INDUSTRIES.
The first mill in the township seems to have been built on Kings creek, near the west side of the township, by Mathew Mason, Thomas Baldwin and
238
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
David Williams. It was provided with an overshot wheel, sixteen feet in diameter, and was in operation as early as 1830. Shortly after the mill was completed Williams retired from the firm and Baldwin & Mason continued alone for four years. Mason then became the sole owner and he proceeded to attach a distillery to the mill and for about twenty years he operated the flouring-mill and distillery with a goodly profit to himself. His brother, John, was associated with him for a number of years. Mason leased the dis- tillery and mill in December, 1855, to Benjamin Bosler for a period of seven years, but it is not certain that the lessee operated it for the full term of the lease.
Mathew Mason died October 3, 1869, in his eighty-first year. For a number of years prior to his death the mill and distillery had stood idle, but after the death of Mason, James Taylor, as administrator, sold the mill to W. D. and J. A. Linville for two thousand three hundred and five dollars. They overhauled the plant, installed two turbine wheels, added steam power and put the mill in first class condition. In 1875 Henry Wolfe became the owner and during the next three years the mill changed hands several times. Wolfe had it only a few months and disposed of it to Griff Kelley and the latter shortly afterwards sold it to Emeline Getting. She sold it to Cuyken- dall & Kirtland. In 1878 the new firm, which had been in charge only a short time, sold it to H. Kesler for three thousand dollars. Kesler sold it in 1881 to James and William Turpie, speculators, and they turned it over to Daniel Parlett two years later. Parlett seems to have had the mill for about a decade ; at least the mill was transferred to Elwood S. McClelland in 1894. The next owners were Nelson B. and Ivan T. Johnson who secured it in 1903 and in 1912 the old mill site became the sole property of Nelson B. Johnson. The old mill itself has long since disappeared, and nothing remains to tell the story but the old race.
A mill was established about 1840 on the headwaters of Spains creek by Joel Woodward and Stephen Hannum. It was a flouring-mill and was operated by water power. The first owner soon sold out to Hiram Mead and thereafter it was known as Mead's mill, although it was later owned by Samuel Child, and still later by David Smith. Thomas Hunter finally became the owner of the mill and after finding that the mill needed extensive repairs in order to do satisfactory work he decided to discontinue it. By the opening of the Civil War it had ceased operation and within a few years it had disappeared entirely. It stood about two miles east of Mingo near the present crossing of the Erie railroad and Spains creek.
Digitized by Google
-
239
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
One of the pioneer grist-mills of this township was located on what is commonly known as the John Tehan farm east of Mingo. The mill-race was dug by a man by the name of Good, and evidences of the race and the mill are still in existence. The mill received its water power from the "Big Springs," whose water supply has always been inexhaustible.
What was known as the Pepper mill was located in the northwestern part of the township, and was both a saw- and grist-mill. Asa Williams was the proprietor for many years, following W. Inskip, who had a reputation for making money not only in his capacity as a miller, but by actual manu- facture of it. It was discovered in later years that he made a great deal of counterfeit money which circulated with ease and with no suspicion at the time.
A COAL MINE.
Not far from this mill and near the Slatestone school house remain evidences of a misguided industry. The early settlers were impressed with the idea that coal existed in the hills and so sincere were they in their belief that at one time a tunnel nearly one hundred feet long was dug into the side of a hill, but their efforts met with no reward.
CABLE.
The little village of Cable is located near the center of Wayne town- ship in the northern part of Survey No. 4516. It was platted by James B. Armstrong, county surveyor, on December 12, 1851, and February 19, 1852, for Philander I .. Cable. The plat was recorded on April 5, 1852. The original plat contained thirty lots. The first house on the site of the village was erected in 1851 by Henry Nincehelser, who came to the township in the fall of that year with his young bride from their Pennsylvania home.
The beginning of the village reads like a romance. Young Nincehelser was twenty-four years of age when he arrived and his possessions consisted of his young wife, fourteen cents in cash and a few household effects which they had brought with them from their old home in the Keystone state. This first settler was a blacksmith by trade and as soon as he settled he opened a shop which soon became the center of a thriving village. When he arrived here on a beautiful day in the fall of 1851, he and his young wife tramped along the creek, hand in hand, looking for a suitable place along Kings creek where they could pitch their home. They saw many high spots, but they
240
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
wanted one where there was a spring. Such a place they finally found-and this spot became, as events later proved, the center of the future village of C'able.
The young blacksmith had located in the community at the instance of Hiram Cable, who, with his brother, Philander L. Cable, was a large land- owner in this part of the township. Cable had assured him that he could furnish him plenty of work and this proved to be the case. It was but two or three years before a number of houses had been built around the house and shop of the first settler-so fast, in fact, did a number of settlers gather at this spot along the creek that P. L. Cable started platting a village in December. 1851. During the following year the Pan Handle railroad was being built through the county and the little village was the center of a con- struction crew and grew amazingly. The young blacksmith and his wife boarded a number of the construction crew, and, because the young wife was such a fine cook. the railroad men promised her the honor of riding on the first train that should run into Urbana.
The home of this worthy couple is now occupied by the Rudisell Hotel. The original settler of the village died August 7, 1914, his wife having passed away on August 5. 1905. They had four sons. John J. followed the black- smith trade for a number of years and is now engaged in the mercantile business in the village. Another son, Grant, had a hardware and implement store in the village for twenty years, but is now living a retired life.
A STORY OF OVERREACHING AMBITION.
The Cable brothers were soon in such financial straits that they were forced to dispose of a large amount of their holdings in the township, includ- ing the lots in the village of Cable which they still owned. In the county recorder's office is filed (Plat Book A., pp. 78-79) a two-page plat of the village and adjoining lands to the total amount of one thousand one hundred and two acres and one hundred and thirty-seven perches, all of which were to be sold, or to use the exact language of the court order: "The entire premises to be sold without reserve at auction on the 27th December. 1855, by P. L. and H. Cable-the Rail Road chartered from Columbus and Piqua and inter- mediate points to carry persons free to and from the sale."
Back of this forced sale lies a story of the overreaching ambition of a man to handle more land than he could manage. The Cables had become indebted to the railroad company to such an extent that they were unable to meet the demands of the company, and the forced sale of part of their exten-
Digitized by Google
241
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
sive holdings was the result. The plat of Cable as recorded in 1855 shows a steam saw-mill at the west end of the village along the railroad; a large warehouse, which, according to the description was in a lot containing one hundred and forty-five perches of land; a Presbyterian church building on out-lot No. 6 on Fillmore street : and eight other buildings, which, from the plat appear to be dwelling houses. The village by 1855 had been enlarged to fifty-five lots by P. L. Cable.
The village suffered a temporary lapse after the railroad was completed and grew slowly for several years, although in 1860 it was returned with a population of one hundred and thirty-one. By 1872 the village contained about twenty houses and a few stores and other buildings. There was a Christian church on lot No. 37 and a Methodist church on the site of the Presbyterian church of 1855-the same building. In 1872 John M. Shaul was the proprietor of the largest store: Henry Nincehelser was still operating his blacksmith and S. S. Parr also had a similar establishment; M. V. Kee- secker ran a small shoe shop; J. Miller had a wagon shop; A. Graham was the proprietor of the saw mill: Thomas Simpson was a dealer in fruit trees; Hiram Mcclellan was the express agent: Albert Ramsey was the station agent; Horatio Havens was the only resident physician ; and the Odd Fellows had a building. McClellan also operated a cider press at the edge of the village during the eighties.
FURTHER PROGRESS OF VILLAGE.
The next decade showed a decided growth in the village. not so much in way of an increased population, as in the amount and character of the business transacted in the village. The population had increased to one hun- dred and seventy-two by 1880. The business interests in that year included the following: General stores. W. R. Shaul, Donovan & Crisman; restau- rant, J. A. Galloway : shoe shop, Martin V. Keesecker ; grain dealers, Hard- man & Hess; stock dealers, Hess & Organ; wagon- and carriage-makers, Jacob Miller, Albert Gray. Nincehelser & Son, Charles Wallace (and most of these wagon-makers were also blacksmiths) ; saw-mill, Charles M. Gra- ham; physicians, Samuel C. Moore and G. W. Swimley : veterinary surgeon, John M. Larue : telegraph operator. Philander Guthridge; station and express agent, Wesley Hardman: band leader, Richard Johnson; insurance agent, W. E. Fuson. Charles Dempsey conducted a general store in Cable for several years.
(16)
Digitized by Google
242
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
The business and professional interests of Cable in 1917 are represented by the following: O. M. Clark, elevator, grain and stock dealer; Edward Keesecker, general store; J. W. Middleton, general store; Dr. A. H. Middle- ton, physician, and John Nincehelser, general store.
MINGO.
The village of Mingo was known as Mulberry at first, the name being suggested by the presence of a large mulberry tree on the site of the village when it was being platted in 1866. It was laid out for Ebenezer C. Will- iams in March, 1866, and owes its location to the construction of the Erie railroad through the northern part of Wayne township at that time. It is located on surveys 3684 and 4534 and as originally platted contained twenty- seven lots.
According to local accounts the location of the village on its present site was prophesied by Alexander St. Clair Hunter as early as 1844. In a conversation with Rev. B. W. Gehman in that year, Hunter turned to the preacher and pointing to the large mulberry tree standing near them said: "There will be a railroad through this valley some day and right by that mulberry tree will be a village." The railroad came -- the village came-and it was called Mulberry. Later its name was changed to Mingo, at the request of a number of the citizens headed by Thomas Hunter, and it has since been known by this Indian title.
MILL. THE NUCLEUS OF THE VILLAGE.
Two years before the village was platted the Guthridge saw-mill was built by E. C. Williams. When the town was laid out all of the original twenty-seven lots were on the south side of the railroad. There was only one house on the site until the fall of 1865. and it was the dwelling of Mary Guthridge. About the same time the Biggs House, the first caravansary, was erected on lot 6; Jonathan Guthridge, on lot 1, and Rees Miller, on lot 4. built houses in the fall of 1865. The largest building to be erected in 1865 was the Stevenson flouring-mill which was erected by E. C. Williams on the north side of the railroad, east of the saw-mill, and just across the street from the warehouse and railroad station erected the following year. Williams also erected the John S. Hunter house and had it ready for occupancy in December. 1865. In the fall of that year J. L. Guthridge and J. B. Brinton opened the first store on the corner of east Main street. This completes the
Digitized by Google
243
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.
building operations for the first year of the village -- a flouring-mill, store building, hotel and five dwellings. This is rather an unusual beginning for a town and is a tribute to the faith of its first citizens in the future possibilities of the town. The railroad, it will be remembered, was not built through the valley until 1864, and, according to the local papers, the rails were laid through the street of the future village of Mingo on Sunday, April 24, 1864.
The year 1866, the second year the town was in existence, and the first that it had a legal existence as far as being set off as a town is concerned, saw renewed interest in the welfare of the little village. In this year the flouring-mill began operation; David Williams and J. L. Guthridge started the erection of a large business block ; Henry T. Raymond built a large store room west of the mill and opened ready for business in the late fall of 1866. One other event of importance in 1866 was the location of a postoffice in the village with J. L. Guthridge as postmaster. Mrs. Crain built a building in the fall of 1866 on the north side of the railroad which she occupied as a hotel. Finally the Baptist church made its appearance in 1866 on lot 23.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.