History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 53

Author: D. W. Ensign & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 541

USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 53

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).

Zadock Street, with his family, came to Brownsville in 1805 from Salem, N. J., and, with his son John, came over to what is now Salem, in the winter of 1805-6, to see friends. They intended to go down the river, which was, however, so low they could not proceed. Being much pleased with the country, Zadock purchased a quarter-sec- tion, a part of which he afterwards gave to Anna, his daughter. Anna married Robert French, and became the mother of the first child born in the town,-Zadock French, born Jan. 7, 1808.

They all returned to Brownsville, and in the spring of 1806 again moved to Salem, Zadock's family consisting of his wite and his children,-Anson, John, and Anna, and Thomas French, his son-in-law. John went to New Lis- bon, where he kept a store about a year. He then came to Salem, bought an acre of ground at the corner of what is now Main and Depot Streets, for $12, of John Strawn, where he erected a log dwelling and store under one roof. In this he opened the first store in Salem, and, in 1807, the first post-office, which he kept. In 1832 he built a brick store where the log structure stood.

During the early part of 1806, John Strawn and Zadock Street laid out and platted the village of Salem, an account of which is given elsewhere. At this time the settlement was named " Salem," after Salem, N. J., from which they came. Zadock Street built a log house, a part of which is still in existence, in the building west of the " West Block," the logs having been covered with siding. In this log house he lived until his death, which occurred in 1808.

In 1832, Zadock Street, son of John, rented the store of his father, and kept it four years, when he built a new store. The old one was taken down in 1845, when the street called Broadway was opened. He kept a store in the east end of this building, and the "State Bank of Salem" occupied the west end. It stood about 100 feet back from Main Street, and in the centre of Broadway. Zadock, from this time, became much interested in the subject of rail- roads, has given it much time and attention, and has been instrumental in the construction of a railroad through the

. Spelle:1 Straughn, Straughan, Strawn, and in other ways.

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town. Prior to this he established a number of stage routes. He is still living in Sulem, and is interested in the " Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals," and his time is almost entirely devoted to that object.

Jobn Street died in 1850. He had three sons,-Zadock, Samuel, and John,-all of whom are living in Salem.

Joel Sharp, with his wife and two daughters, came to Salem from Egg Harbor, N. J., in 1806, bringing the family and goods in wagons and a carriage. Mrs. Sharp drove in the carriage, holding one child in her arms, while her husband cut and cleared the way. Three weeks were consumed in crossing the Alleghany Mountains. They passed through the township as far as Abram Warrington's, and finally located on the southwest quarter of section 3. They were the parents of Thomas, Simeon, Clayton, and Joel Sharp,-names favorably kuown throughout the county. Joel Sharp was treasurer of the township in 1814 and trustee in 1815. He died in 1820. Mrs. Sharp married Nathan Hunt in 1824. She died at the age of ninety-one years.

George Baum, an emigrant from Germany, was sold for his passage. After his labor had paid his passage-money, he came to the town of Salem, and purchased from Jonas Cuttell the southwest quarter of section 36, in the year 1806. He built a log house on the farm now owned by Campbell & Boone. He was treasurer of the township in 1812-13. His daughter Ann married Robert McKim. Her father gave her land in the southwest quarter of section 10, where Mr. McKim settled, and where his descendants live.

John Blackburn came from near Chambersburg, Pa., in 1806, the year of the eclipse, with his wife, three sons, and five daughters, and settled on section 2, where his son, John Blackburn, still lives. His sons were William, John, and Joseph A. William was known as Gov. William Black- burn, and represented his district in the State Legislature eight years and in the State Senate a like period.

James Tolerton came from Ireland to Philadelphia in 1809, and te Salem in 1811, where he taught school, and was a thorough believer in " switch suasion." He was a straightforward, impetuous man, and at the division of the Society of Friends he went with the Hicksites, and was their fighting-man. He purchased 130 acres of land from Joseph Wright where Albert Phillip now lives. Later he removed to Knox township, and lived there about thirty years, when he returned to Salem and lived there until his death, in 1871, aged ninety-three. His sons, Robert and Hill, are living in Salem.

Thomas Stanley came from Richmond, Va., and settled, in 1806, in that part of Butler township which is now in Perry. Benjamin, bis son, was then fourteen years old, and afterwards helped survey, clear, and open the section West of Damascus.

Stephen Wisner, with his wife and four children, came to Salem in 1818, and bought land on Green Street, where he followed his trade,-that of a shoemaker. He was for a time justice of the peace. Mr. Wisner died Nov. 5, 1877, aged eighty-nine years. William Wisner, a son, lives in Goshen. Mrs. Samuel Wright, Mrs. Frank Birch, Mrs. Jeremiah Zimmerman, daughters, all live in Salem.

Richard Fawcett, from Virginia, near Winchester, located,

in 1807, about a mile north of the village of Sulem, where his son Richard lives. . He remained on the farm, and his children settled in the vicinity,-David, where Robert Tol- ertou now lives; William, on the place where Joseph Fawcett now lives, 1879.

Abraham Barber settled in the township in 1805. IIc married Drusella Gaus, whose father, Isaac Gaus, settled in the same year at Salem.

Anthony Morris lived in Salem a short time in 1805, but moved to Damascus, where he raised a large family.

Nathan and Stacy Hunt, brothers, and natives of Moorestown, N. J., emigrated to Fayette Co., Pa., and thence in 1806 to Salem, where Nathan arrived first. Nathan was a builder and contractor, and erected the first frame dwelling in Salem, on the lot adjoining that on which the African Methodist Episcopal church stunds, on Green Street. He was one of the projectors of the cotton-factory erected in Sulem in 1814. In 1832 he removed to Cleveland, where he remained about ten years and then returned to Salem, where he died in 1850. His oldest and youngest sons, Ira and Nathan, sole survivors of the family, are living in Sulem.

Stacy Hunt, in 1807, was employed on the meeting- house of brick which the Friends were then erecting. He became the first foreman of the cotton-mill when it was put in operation in 1815, and in the following year married and removed to Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1829. Returning in that year, he settled on a farm-two miles west of Salem, and in 1847 again made Salem his home, where he died Jan. 31, 1878, in his eighty-ninth year. His widow, Hannah, and George, a son, are living in Salem.

Jacob Painter, in 1802, located on section 32, on the farm where John Pow at present resi les. He came from Virginia with his wife and five children,-David, Samuel, Abigail, Joseph, and Robert. They belonged to the Society of Friends. The sons settled mostly in the vicinity of Sulem. Joseph is living in Damascus.

Elisha Schooley, from Virginia, located where Robert Hole resides. His sons also settled in the township. Mrs. Ross Stratton, a daughter of David Painter, is a grand- daughter of Mr. Schooley. Mr. Schooley in 1832 sold .he property to Thomas Horner, who lived upon it until 1870, when he moved to Salem.

About the year 1816, Israel Schooley built, on a branch of the Mahouing, a grist-mill which was operated for a period of nearly or quite thirty years. The inhabitants had previously been obliged to resort to mills on the Ohio River,-a distance of twenty-four miles.

Michael Stratton, a brother of Aaron, came from New Jersey in 1800, and settled on section 25, where Joseph Launer now resides, whose wife is a granddaughter of Mr. Stratton. He was a carpenter by trade, served on a town committee in 1811, and was trustee in 1812, 1818, and 1819.

Jonathan Stanly, with his wife and three children,-An- drew, Fleming, and Abram,-came to Salem in 1806. He bought 100 acres of land from Job Cook, where Jonathan, his youngest son, now lives. James, another son, is living in Salem. Mrs. Milley Johnson, a daughter, lives in

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Howard Co., Ill. Mr. Stanley died in 1852, aged seventy- six years.

Jonathan Evans came from. Upper Darby, Pa., in 1804, with his wife and son Philip, and settled on sections 5 and 6, where Philip still resides. His log cabin was built on the Franklin road where Ephraim Murphy lives. His other children are Mrs. Lydia Matthews, of Iowa ; Mrs. Hannah Bonsall, of Green township ; Mrs. Susan Stratton, of Go- shen ; Mrs. Sarah Bonsall, of California.

Israel Gaskell came from New Jersey in 1805, and settled on section No. 6. He built his first log cabin on the knoll where Zadock Street now resides, living in his wagon until his cabin was completed. He had three sons and four daughters, none of whom are living. . Robert Tolerton married Zilpha, the youngest daughter. Mr. Gaskell died about 1850.

David Gaskell, Sr., father of Israel and David, lived in the village of. Salem. He was interested in the organiza- tion of the Baptist church, and was the second justice of the peace in the township, William Cattell having been the first.

Benjamin Stanton, son of Henry and Abigail Stanton, was born in North Carolina, Aug. 28, 1793. In 1800 his mother, who was then a widow, removed with Benjamin and several other children to Brownsville, Pa., where they remained until the following spring, and then again removed, to Mt. Pleasant, Ohio. At the age of twenty Benjamin begun the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Hamilton, of Mt. Pleasant. He opened an office in Camden, Ohio, where he remained a short time, and in 1815 settled in Salem.

The next year he married Martha Townsend, who taught school in New Lisbon in 1811 and 1812, at Beaver Falls in 1813, and afterwards, in 1815, at Salem, in the old Baptist log meeting-house on Dry Street. They lived nearly two years at the west end of Main Street, then pur- chased the property on the northwest corner of Chestnut and Main Streets, and in 1854 moved to the corner of Chestnut and Green Streets, where Mrs. Stanton still resides.

He practiced medicine for nearly half a century, and was respected as a physician and beloved as a man. He was a member of the Society of Friends, but the dissen- sions which arose in that body induced him to withdraw.

He was a leader in all good works. Religion with him was a vital, living principle, and " life was a state in which a free human being was to work out for himself a high and holy character; man, a responsible being, sustaining physical and moral relations to God and the universe; and pure religion, the perfection of human character, consisting in the performance of the duties aud obligations growing out of these relations."

Through his influence the first tax was raised in Salem to establish a district school, upon the principle that prop- erty should educate the children of the community. He was also active in the cause of temperance, and among the earliest friends of the slave before the anti-slavery cause had many advocates.

His children were Oliver, Rebecca, Laura, Joseph, David, Caroline, William, and Byron, all of whom are living ex-

cept Joseph and David, who were both physicians. Joseph practiced in Akron, Ohio, and was a physician of good repute and a man of undoubted integrity. David was elected auditor-general of Pennsylvania, and became widely and favorably known. William was a lawyer, studied with his cousin Edwin M. Stanton (late Secretary of War), and now lives near Pittsburgh. Byron is a physician now practicing in Cincinnati. He was superintendent of the Northern Lunatic Asylum of the State of Ohio. Two of his daugh- ters, Mrs. Rebecca Weaver and Mrs. Caroline Adams, are living in Salem. Benjamin Stanton died Feb. 28, 1861.

Isaac Wilson, a native of Kennett Square, Chester Co., Pa., was born in 1786. . He remained in that State until about 1813 or 1814. He was in the army in the war of 1812, and served about nine months. After the expiration of his term of service he removed to Smith Ferry, Colum- biana Co., Ohio, where he was connected with a paper-manu- facturing company, whose headquarters were in Pittsburgh, and afterwards became a partner. He remained with the company until about 1825, when he removed to Salem and bought " a piece of land" on the south side of Main Street, where he built a hotel and store of brick, which was long known as " Wilson's Hotel." He also built a tannery, and carried on the business of tanning hides in connection with his mercantile affairs. He was a prompt and energetic business man, and gave new activity to the business in- terests of Salem. He was popular with all classes, and a thorough Democrat.

Jacob Heaton came to Salem in 1831, and soon after his arrival it happened that in a game of quoits, in which he was engaged with Isaac Wilson, he came off victorious. Wilson said, " Young man, any man who can beat me pitch- ing quoits I want to work for me; come on to-morrow morning." This circumstance determined the destiny, in a worldly point of view, of Jacob Heaton. He went into the store of Mr. Wilson, and for a while pursued the mer- cantile business, but has been for many years in the insur- ance business. He married the daughter of Emor T. Weaver.

Mr. Heaton was one of the leaders of the anti-slavery cause in the county, and had a large acquaintance with the principal men and women connected with that movement. When the lecture course of the anti-slavery society wes in full progress, Mr. Heaton conceived the idea of keeping an anti-slavery register. John Pierpont dedicated it in a poem dated March 12, 1856. Abby Kelly, William Lloyd Gar- rison, George Thompson, Horace Mann, Wendell Phillips, Salmon P. Chase, and many others have graced its pages with their vigorous thought. William, a son of Mr. Heaton, resides in New York.

Isaac Boone left Adams Co., Pa., with his wife and three children,-Thomas C., James, and Phebe J.,-in the year 1827, traveling in a two-horse wagon containing housebold goods. They were twenty-one days on the route, Mr. Boone settled near where he still resides. He moved into & one-story house with two rooms, in one of which he opened a harness-shop; the other was used by the family. Mr. Boone has ever since continued the harness business in Salem without interruption. His son, Thomas C. Boone, is well known as colonel, during the late war, of the One

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Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and as the present treasurer of the Buckeye Engine Company. His daughter, Phebe, married Nathan Hunt.

Marius Robinson was born in Dalton, Berkshire Co., Mass. In his tenth year he removed with his parents to Dansville, Livingston Co., N. Y. He soon after went to Utica and entered the printing and bookbinding establish- ment of Merrill Hastings, where he learned the trade of a printer. In 1827, when in his twenty-first year, he went south and taught school at the Creekpath mission of the Cherokee nation. While teaching he studied theology, re- citing to private ministers. In 1830 he entered Nashville University, and after examination was admitted to the third year of the four years' course.

At the reorganization and opening of the Lane Semi- nary, under the Rev. Lyman Beecher, Mr. Robinson was the first student to arrive and enter. He remained two years, until the difficulty arose between faculty and students by reason of the agitation of the slavery question, when the whole class of which he was a member revolted and left the seminary. They hired a room at Cummingsville, and there pursued their studies during one winter. At this time Mr. Robinson had studied theology about seven years, and in the spring of 1836 was ordained to the ministry in Jamestown, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. He immediately went to Cincinnati and commenced preaching and lecturing on the subject of slavery. In August of that year he was ap- pointed by the American Anti- Slavery Society as lecturer for Middle and Northern Ohio, and from that time until 1838 he addressed assemblages from one to three times a day, when he was prostrated by sickness. His illness re- sulted partly from injuries received at the hands of a das- tardly mob that assaulted him in Berlin one Sunday night in June, 1837. This mob carried him away to an open field about ten miles distant, where they left him, having first covered him with a coat of tar and feathers. This sickness and his ensuing feeble condition prevented him from speaking much in public for about twelve years. In 1851 he assumed the editorial control of the Anti-Slavery Bugle, upon the retirement of Oliver Johnson, and contin- ued in that position until 1863, when he retired from its management and engaged in life and fire insurance business. He was president of the Ohio Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany at the time of his death. He died Dec. 8, 1878, at the age of seventy-two years and six months.

Perhaps a summary of Mr. Robinson's life and character can be best given by an extract from an article written by one of his life-long friends, Oliver Johnson :

" Mr. Robinson was a man of great sweetness and purity of life, and an earnest and eloquent champion of every principle and measure which he thought beneficial to his fellow-men. He combined great courage with great discre- tion, winning the respect and confidence even of those whose views differed most widely from his own. Of pure and undefiled religion, as defined by the apostle Jumes, he was at once a defender and an exemplar. As a speaker he was full of what is usually called magnetic power. by which he was able to command the attention and sway the sympathies of his hearers. For many years he was editor of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Bugle, the files of which are a memorial of

his power as a writer as well as of his unswerving devotion to the cause of freedom."

EARLY LOCATIONS.

The four sections cornering on Main Street were num- bered in the northwest 36, northeast 31, southwest 1, south- east 6. At that time the government sold no land in less quantities than sections. As many of the early settlers were too poor to pay for so much land, they clubbed together, one of the parties making the entry, with a previous understand- ing as to how it should be divided. Section 36 was divided by a line running midway from east to west, Jonas Cattell taking the north half. The south half was divided by a line running midway from north to south, Elisha Hunt taking the east half, and George Baum the west half.

Section 1 was to be divided between Job Cook and John Strawn; the line to be run from east to west; Strawn to have one-third, and Cook the remainder. The north third fell to Strawn in the division. Section 31 was entered by Samuel Smith, who soon disposed of it to Samuel Davis. Section 6 was entered by Samuel Davis, who sold the north- west part of it to Israel Gaskell, and the remainder, running to the east line, to Jonathan Evans.

In 1806, Zadock Street, from New Jersey, purchased Elisha Hunt's or Horton Howard's quarter, and the north- east corner of John Strawn's. On the Strawn purchase he erected a log building, in which the first store in Salem was opened, by John Street, father of Zadock Street, who is still living in Salem .*

Section 35 was entered by Thomas Hutton, and the deed conveying it was dated Feb. 2, 1807.

The parchment deeds signed by the President of the United States, conveying sections 31, 33, 35, in this town- ship, and section 20 in the township of Goshen, are in the possession of Mrs. Sarah Hiddleson, and sections 31, 33, and section 20 in Goshen were deeded to Samuel Davis.

ORGANIZATION.

Johu Strawn and Zadock Street, having chosen farm lands in this vicinity, laid out a plat of land into lots in 1806 for the purpose of settlement.

This land was at the intersection of the townships of Butler, Goshen, Salem, and Green. Inducements were offered to those coming in to settle upon the lots, and upon land in the vicinity. A store and blacksmith-shop were opened, settlers representing the different trades soon gath- ered at the four corners, and the settlement grew slowly. To attend elections in the several townships the inhabitants of Salem and vicinity went to the town-meetings in four different directions. Jun. 8, 1830, the town of Salem was incorporated, and the election for officers of the corporation was held at that place. The civil divisions being incon- venient and the occasion of confusion, the people of Salem petitioned the commissioners of the county to form a sepa- rate township, to be called Perry. The township was set off in accordance with the petition in 1832.

Upon a petition made by the citizens of the town of Salem in 1832, there was held a meeting on Deccm- ber 5th of the board of county commissioners, consist-

. Compiled from "Salem, Past and Present."

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ing of Michael Arter, Isaac Wilson, and John Smith, at which the following order was passed for the erection of the township of Perry : " Application was made by the citizens of Salemtown for the erection of a township, to be composed of sections 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Salem township, 29, 30, 31, and 32 in Green township, 25, 26, 35, and 36 in Goshen township, and sections 1, 2, 11, and 12 in Butler township.

" The board, on consideration of the application and the circumstances connected therewith, consider the application for a township a just and reasonable one, and therefore erect said sections into a township, and call the name thereof Perry."

The commissioners ordered an election, the record of which, as taken from vol. i. of the township records, is subjoined :

" At an election held by order of the county commissioners on the 21st of January, 1833, the following-named persons were elected, viz. : for Township Trustees, John Antram, Joseph Wright, Thomas Webb; Clerk, Benjamin Hawley; Treasurer, Benjamin Stanton; Constables, Isaac Wilson, Jeremiah Heacock ; Fence-Viewers, Thomas Horner, Mordecai Norton, John Fawcett; Overseers of the Poor, Israel Gas- kell, Jonathan Stanley."

The officers were sworn by John Campbell, justice of the peace, and Jacob Snyder, president of the town of Salem.

CIVIL LIST.

The following is a list of the principal officers of the township of Perry from the first regular election, held April 1, 1833:

TRUSTEES.

1833 .- Joseph Wright, Thomas Webb, Joseph England. 1834-35 .- Joseph Wright, John Antram, Joseph England. 1836-37 .- Joseph Wright, David Fawcett, Joseph England. 1838 .- Aaron Hise, David Stratton, Joseph England. 1839 .- Aaron Hise, Joseph Pippitt, Allen Farquar. 1840-41 .- Aaron Hise, Joseph Pippitt, John Antram. 1842 .- Aaron Hise, Joseph Pippitt, John Schooley. 1843 .- John Schooley, John Flitcraft, Isane Wilson. 1844-45 .- John Schooley, John Flitcraft, Joseph Pippitt. 1846-48 .- John Schooley, John Flitcraft, William Webb. 1849 .- John Schooley, Hill Tolerton, William Webb. 1850-51 .- John Flitcraft, Joseph Straughan, Allen Farquar. 1852 .- John Flitcraft, Hill Tolerton. 1853 .- John Flitcraft, Hill Tolerton, James Woodruff. 1854-55 .- James Woodruff, Hill Tolerton, Lewis Keene. 1856-58 .- Lewis Keene, George Sheets, John Hunt. 1859 .- Lewis Keene, Samuel Grove, Robert Tolerton. 1860-63 .- Lewis Keene, Robert Tolerton, George Sheets. 1864-65 .- George Sheets, Leonard Schilling, Levi S. Dole. 1866 .- Robert Tolerton, Leonard Schilling, Levi S. Dole. 1867 .- Robert Tolerton, John McLeso, William Daniel. 1868 .- Robert Tolertop, William Daniel, Joseph Fawcett. 1869-72 .- William Daniel, James S. Seaton, Lewis Keene. 1873 .- William Daniel, Allen Boyle, James Davis. 1874-76 .- Allen Boyle, James Davis, Robert Tolerton. 1877-78 .- Samuel Grove, James Davis, Allen Boyle. 1879 .- Samuel Grove, Lewis Keene, James Daris.

CLERKS.

Benjamin Hawley, 1833-49; Charles L. Cook, 1850; Benjamin Haw- ley, 1851; C. K. Greiner, 1852; Caspar W. Hillman, 1853; Jas. Eggman, 1853; C. W. Hillman, 1854; W. H. Garrigues, 1854- 56; James Eggman, 1857; Chas. H. Garrigues, 1858-60; James McConnell, 1861 ; Charles H. Garrigues, 1862; William Morris, 1863; Aaron Gufitt, 1864; Charles H. Garrigues, 1865; Norman B. Garrigues, 1866-76; George Holmes, 1877-79.

JUSTICES OF THE PRACE.

John Campbell, Stephen Wisner, Jacob Snyder, Joseph Saxon, Thomas Kennett, Benj. Hawley, James Boone, A. H. Baltur, R. H. Garrigues, David M. Carey, S. D. Hardman, Lawrence A. Hall, Allen A. Thomas.

INDENTURES.

Among the interesting items to be found in the first vol- ume of township records are the copies of indentures.

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History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 53

Author: D. W. Ensign & Co. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 541

Author: D. W. Ensign & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 541