History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 44

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854

USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881 > Part 44

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).

Doubtless many other white men passed into and through this territory during the Indian war of 1788-1795; many are known to have done so; among them the scouts Brady, Wetzel, McCul- loch and others in the employ of the govern- ment.

The treaty of peace at Greenville, which con- cluded that great war, opened Ohio to settlement by the whites, and the great wave of emigration began, and did not cease until the territory now embraced in the State was overrun and settled by the white racc.

CHAPTER XXV. SCRAPS OF HISTORY,

Name-Formation-First Settlers and Settlements-Popula- tion-Flora and Fauna-Early Roads and Transportation- A Pioneer School House-Prices for Produce-Early Taverns -Starting a Town-Character of the Pioneers-Social Gath- erings-Trapping-Wild Pigeons.

THE name Coshocton is unquestionably a mod- ification of the name of the old Indian town 1 at the forks of the Muskingum-Goschachgunk- somewhat variously spelled by the old chroniclers in different languages. Different and quite con- tradictory definitions of the name have been given.

As originally constituted, Coshocton county embraced a considerable part of what is now Holmes, extending to the Greenville treaty line, six miles north of Millersburg; but that county having been organized in 1824, the limits of Cos- hoeton county were fixed as they now are. Prior to the adoption of the present State Constitution, in 1851, there was considerable agitation about a new county to be formed out of parts of Guernsey, Tuscarawas and Coshocton, with New Comerstown as the county seat. There was also a movement contemplating a county with Walhonding as the county seat. But that instrument rendered such movements hopeless. The territory embraced in Coshocton county is part of that designated as United States Military Land District-so called from the fact that Congress, in 1798, appropriated it to satisfy certain claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war. These lands wore surveyed into townships five miles square, and these again into quarter townships, contain- ing 4,000 acres, and subsequently some of these into forty lots, of one hundred acres each, for the accommodation of sokliers or others holding war- rants for that number of acres, What land was not required for the satisfaction of the military warrants was subsequently soll by act of Con- gress, under the designation of Congress land. Twenty-two and a fraction of these original town- ships were embraced within the limits of Coshoc- ton county as finally fixed in 1824,

The military expeditions mentioned elsewhere, besides accomplishing the immediate object for which they were undertaken, drew attention to the exclencies of the country. Wonderful sto- ries about " the forks of the Muskingum " were told by the returning soldiers. The father of Geo. Beaver, of Keen township, was in Bou- quet's expedition. John Williams (brother of Charles), who afterwards settled in Mill Creek township, was in the Coshocton campaign ; and among the earlier settlers were several whose

255

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

relatives had been in Brodhead's forces. The first white man known to have come into the ter- ritory now embraced in Coshocton county, with the purpose of abiding in it, was Charles Wil- liams. In the spring of the year 1800, having come up the Muskingum in a canoe, he passed on up the Walhonding to what is now known as the Denman land, long called " the Pararie " (four miles above Coshocton), and there raised that season a patch of corn, besides fishing, hunting and prospecting. The next year he fixed upon the site of Coshocton as his home, and was there joined by his brothers-in-law, the Carpenters, and William and Samuel Morrison, who, after stay- ing with him for the season, went up into what is now Holmes county, in the Killbuck valley. The same year, 1801, a settlement was made in Oxford township by Isaac Evans and others, who are reputed as having raised some corn and se- lected their land the preceding year. The Rob- inson and Miller settlement in Franklin township was made about the same time. The Hardestys are reputed as having been in Washington town- ship the same year. A little later the Millers and Thomas Wiggins located in Lafayette town- ship. Nicholas Miller, James Oglesby, Geo. Mc- Cullough, Andrew Craig, Isaae Hoagland, Benja- min Fry and Barney Carr, are reported as on the Lower Walhonding in 1805. In 1800, Philip Waggoner, Geo. Loose, John Wolf and Gco. Leighninger, settled in Oxford township, and the MeLains were in Lafayette. In the same year the Darlings, the Butlers, John Bantham, and John Eller went to the Upper Walhonding val- ley. In 1807, Francis McGuire, who had been living above New Comerstown, moved down to the locality known as the McGuire settlement, above Canal Lewisville. Then came Moore, Workman, Nell, Lybarger, Thompson, the Bat- kers, Cantwell and Whitton to Coshocton; and Meskimens, Johnston and Harger to the Wills Creek region ; and Mitchell, Markley and Wil- liams to the north of Coshocton : and Pigman, Chalfant, Norris, Slaughter, Woolford, Wright, Stafford, Meredith, John and Severns into the western part of the county. No regular census of the county was taken until 1820. In ISIO, Muskingum county, embracing the present Mus- kingum, Morgan, Coshocton and part of Holmes, !

had only ten thousand population. A Scotch traveler, who spent the night at Coshocton in 1806, wrote of it as having a population of one hundred and forty; but it was doubtless not un- derstated by him. Dr. S. Lce, who came to the place in ISII, found it a hamlet with a score or so of rude structures. Fifteen hundred would probably be a large statement as to population at the time the county was organized in April, 1811. Immediately after the organization, immigration was large. The war of 1812, while temporarily checking the growth of the county, and espe- cially the inflow of population, was yet an alvan- tage, particularly in making the region known to the people to the cast and south. Just at the close of the war there were in the county one hundred and thirty-eight resident landhoklers, owning tracts of land varying in size from thirty- five acres to four thousand and five acres. The list of these, and the townships as now named in which they resided, is as follows:

Tuscarawas-John D. Moore, Nicholas Miller, Henry Miller, John Noble, Isaac Workman and Charles Williams.

New Castle-David John, Thomas John, Obed Meredith, T. Hankins, John Wolf, Matthew Dun- can, David and Martin Cox, and Robert Giffin.

Washington-Payne Clark, Mordecai Chalfant, Isaac Holloway, Peter Lash, Geo. Smith, and Frederick Woodford.

Franklin-O. Davidson, Valentine Johnston, Catharine Johnston, Michael Miller, sr., William Robinson, James Robinson, Benjamin Robinson, Joseph Scott, James Tanner, William Taylor, Abraham Thompson, John Walmsly and Jacob Jackson.

Oxford-Jacob Reed, David Douglas, Henry Evans, Isaac Evans, John Junkins, George Looze, John Mills, William Mulvain, James Mulvain, John Mulvain, Andrew McFarlane, Ezekiel Me- Farlane, Samuel McFarlane, Benjamin Norman, George Onspaugh, William Pierpont, George Stringer, Philip Wolf, Philip Waggoner's heirs and James Welch.

Linton - Hugh Addy, William Addy, William Evans, James McCune, John McCune, James Meskimens, Joseph Scott, George MeCano and AAmos Stackhouse.

Pike-Daniel Ashcraft.

256

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

Keene-George Armory, Elizabeth Armory and John Colver.

Tiverton-Isaac Draper.

Jefferson-Joseph Butler, Thomas Butler and Robert Darling.

Virginia-Beal Adams, Patrick Miller, Joseph McCoy, Richard Tilton and Joseph Wright.

Adams-David Mast.

Lafayette-Hugh Ballantine, Archibald Elson, William Johnston, George Miller, sr., Francis Mc- Guire, Thomas MeLain, Elijah Nelson, Matthew Orr, Lewis Vail and Jane Wiggins.

Bedford-James Craig, Ezra Horton and Thomas Horton.

Bethlehem-Henry Crissman, Benjamin Fry, John Shaffer, John Thompson, George Skinner and William Trimble.

A number of these landholders were heads of quite considerable families, and upon some of the large tracts were several tenants. It is known that, besides those whose names appear in this list, and their children, the following persons were resident of the county at that time, several of them having been so for a number of years preceding: Richard Fowler, William Lockard, James Willis, Joseph Harris, C. P, Van Kirk, Peter Casey, George Carpenter, Joseph Neff, William and Samuel Morrison, James Jeffries, Dr. Samuel Lee, Wright Warner, A. M. Church, Thomas L. Rue, William Whitten, Thomas Means, Thomas Foster, Barney Carr. James Oglesby, George Bible, John Bantham, William Bird, James Calder, William Mitchell, Lewis Vail, Asher Hart, John Williams, Adam Johnston, John Dillon, Abel Cain, Joseph Vail, Rezin Baker, Israel Ba- ker, John Baker, James Buckalew, Benjamin Burrell, Joseph Burrell, James Cantwell, Barney Cantwell, J. G. Pigman, J. W. Pigman, John El- der, Archibald Ellson, Samuel Clark, Ezekiel Parker, Andrew Lybarger, John Hershman, Peter Moore, the MeLains, William Biggs, George and Levi Magness, Richard Hawk, Isaac Sham- baugh and Elijah Newcum.

At the October election, in 1814, there were one hundred and three electors in Tuscarawas township, which, however, embraced at that time not only the township proper on both sides of the river, but also all the territory north of the Tus- carawas, and east of the Walhonding rivers.

After the war the accession to the population was large, running through several years. In those years-1815-1820-came the progenitors of the since well-known Burns, Crowley, Ricketts, Sells, Mossman, Heslip, Renfrew, Boyd, Gault, Thompson, Roderick, Squires, James, Tipton, Powelson, Luke, Borden, Neldon, Ravenscraft, Norris, Winklespleck, MeNabb, Slaughter, Mul- ford, Stafford, Cresap, and Lemert families. In 1818 there were 285 resident landholders.

The personal and family records of the period running from 1814 to 1820 (especially the earlier part of it), are full of stories of laborious efforts and wearying hardships in clearing and planting and building. The large inflow of population in- volved a great deal of exposure. The conven- iences of life, even with those best supplied, were scarce. Sickness, incident to all new countries, abounded. Especially was a form of congestive chills, known as the " cold plague," very preva- lent, carrying off many of the settlers and dis- couraging immigration. Milling facilities were still poor and remote. Corn meal and bacon af- forded, in many cases, almost the whole support. whisky, the panacea of those days, was not plenty. Yet, despite all drawbacks, children were born and settlers came in, and, in 1820, the census- taker found 7,036 inhabitants in Coshocton county.

From 1820 to 1830 there was apparently an in- crease of only a few over four thousand, making the population in the latter year 11,162. It must, however, be borne in mind that in that period. by the formation of Holmes county, a number of people, hitherto counted as of Coshocton county, were set over, and the limits of the county de- creased. Still the immigration was not heavy, especially in the earlier part of the period. Re- ports of the sickliness of the river region and the rough ways of the settlers had gone abroad. It may be stated in this connection that the advance- ment of the county in both population and wealth has been regarded by many as having been hin- dered in all its carlier stages by the fact of there having been a large number (thirty-three) of four- thousand-acre tracts taken up by military land warrants, and held mainly by non-residents, cul- tivated only by a few cabin tenants, if at all.

From 1830 to 1840 the population of the county was nearly doubled, there being in the latter

257

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

year 21,590 inhabitants. This large inerease was largely owing to the opening of the Ohio canal.

The immigration of that period was of a much more miscellaneous sort, and having almost noth- ing of the old Virginian and Marylander ele- ment, so prominent in the first settlement of the eounty. New York, Western Pennsylvania, East- ern Ohio, Germany and Ireland were largely rep- resented.

The population of the county in 1850 was 25,674; in 1860, 25,032; in 1870, 23,647, and in 1880, 26,763. It will be seen by these figures that there was a deerease within the twenty years from 1850 to 1870, but a material inerease sinee that time.

The same condition of things has been noted in many other counties in Ohio, especially such as have hitherto been most largely agricultural. It is observed in this connection that the eities and larger towns of the State show the chief gains attributed to it. Thus, while Coshocton eounty lost during the time above noted, the town of Coshocton more than doubled its population, which in 1840 was 845, and in 1870, 1,757. In 1880, its population was 3,044. The disposition to forsake the farm for the shop and store and office, the "go-west" fever, the readiness of forc- handed farmers to purchase at good priees the small tracts adjoining their larger ones, the en- largement of the stock interests, the develop- ment of manufacturing interest, and even the cas- ualties of war, have all had to do with diminish- ing the population, especially in the rural dis- tricts, and the filling up of the cities and towns.

Appended will be found the population, as enumerated by the Federal census-takers, of the several townships for the years indicated :

1×10.

1850.

1870.

1850.

Adams,

838

1,119

1,113

1,216

Bedford,

1,141

1,221

918

929

Bethlehem,

827

850

886

Clarke, .

703

833

867

1,041

Crawford,

1,134

1,552

1,215

1, 131

Franklin, .

670

966

972

1,053

Jackson, .

1,896

2,037

1,767

1,969

Jefferson, .

771

920

1,059

1,113

Keene,

1,013

1,078

×30

Lafayette,

1,010

920

1,081

Linton,

1,196

1,502

1,600

1,918

Mill Creek,

907

872

586

626

Monroe,

557

760

832

1,003

New Castle,

905

1,229

1,005

85$

1840.

1×50.

1870.

1850

Oxford,

760

1,112

1,140

1,20]

Perry,

1,339

1,340

932

901

Pike,

1,115

1,080

773

720

Tiverton, .

665

940

Tuscarawas,

1,144

1,593

2,75

4,082

Virginia .. .

1,005

1,226

1,01:

1,180

Washington,

1,029

998

720

White Eyes. .

997

1,132

923

960

The territory of this eounty, in its wilderness state, presented landscapes of a greatly diversified eharacter.

When, eighty years or more ago, Charles Wil- liams, the earliest settler, occupied the Mus- kingum valley, he must have been surprised at the variety and beauty of its vegetable produc- tions. The silence of the primeval woods had until then been unbroken by the axe of the white man; the forest was here in all its native majesty and beauty; the gigantie size and venerable an- tiquity of the trees, the rankness of the weeds,

grasses and trailing vines which formed a thick covering for the ground, the luxuriance and variety of the underbrush, the long vines that reached to the tops of the tallest trees, the para- sites that hung in elusters from the loftiest boughs, the brillianey of the autumnal foliage, the splendor and variety of the vernal flowers, the snowy whiteness of the dog-wood blossoms of early spring and the exhuberance of the fruits that were ma- turing during the summer and autumn, were undoubted manifestations of the most vigorous vegetable life, and an encouraging proof of the quality of the soil. The yield of nuts, berries, grapes, plums and other wild fruits, was immense, and these for years, perhaps centuries, had been dropping and wasting, save, only, the few gathered by the red man.

The surface of the country was beautifully di- versified by hill and valley, with here and there a small swamp, pond, prairie, lakelet, spring or running stream-almost every variety of natural scenery appeared to the eye of the pioneer.

Along the streams, on the bottom land, and also on the more level or second bottom lands, grew the walnut, buttercup, sycamore, hickory, sugar, maple, hackberry, white, black and blue ash, linden, white and red elm, and the beech, box- elder, red and yellow plum, black-haw, erab- apple, red-bud, dog-wood, iron-wood, American multi-flora, arrow-wood, kinnakinnick, Juneber-

258

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

ry, and a few others These were found in vari- ous places on the above described lands.

The gum, cucumber and sassafras trees wore found on the clay formation, while in the hills, the different varieties of oak abounded, with a small sprinkling of the tulip or yellow poplar, and, in limited numbers, most of the above are mentioned as abounding in the level lands.

Many of the grape-vines on the bottom lands were of enormous size, approximating in thick- ness a man's body. These sometimes spread themselves through the branches of half a score or more of the largest trees, completely shutting out the sun-light, and bearing immense quanti- ties of fruit. The huckleberry, confined princi- pally to the hills, yielded fruit bountifully. Some other berries grew spontaneously, as the straw- berry, raspberry, blackberry, dewberry, and, in a few localities, the cranberry. The latter were, in an early day, an article of traffic, for the Indians as well as the pioneers. The early set- thers laid up for use during the winter months, large quantities of these wild fruits, and also chestnuts, hazlenuts, walnuts, butternuts and hickorynuts. Paw-paws and Mayapples were plenty, and were used to a considerable extent.

The ginseng plant abounded in most localities, in carly times, and was an article of extensive traffic, both hy whites and Indians, for many years after the first settement of the county. Every merchant bought it. Beeswax, tallow, furs, hides, feathers, coon-skins and whisky were not more general articles of trade and barter than ginseng. It disappeared as 'an article of eommerce in the county about 1835, and has not since been known. The plant is exhausted. It was wholly of spontaneous growth and never an article of culture. It was a jointed taper root, as large as as man's finger, and when dry was of a yellowish white color, with a mucilaginous sweet- ness of taste, somewhat resembling licorice, ac- companied with a very slight bitterness. It was exported to china, where it was in demand for its real or supposed medicinal virtues.

Occasionally a beautiful grove of wild cherry trees were found. They were thick, tall, of wide- spreading branches, tolerably clear of knots, and generally sound, except those that gave indica- tions of great age. The woodman's ax had been

laid upon but few of these, even as late as 1825 ; but not long after, their commercial value be- came known, and when the Ohio canal opened, in 1833, they gradually disappeared, being shipped to Cincinnati and converted into lumber for furniture. The concentric circles of many of them indicated that they were centuries okl, fixing the date of their origin in the pre-historic age of the country.

When the wave of white settlers first touched the borders of this county, a great variety of wild animals contended with the Indian for suprem- acy. Some of the native animals of this primeval forest had gradually given way to the general westward movement of the white race. The buf- falo was gone, probably never to return, at least in any number. A few years after the first set- tlement, probably about 1803, a small herd, six or eight in number, strayed from their usual haunts further west, and reached a point a short distance east of where Wills creek empties into the Mus- kingum. Here for a day or two they were pur- sued by the late John Channel, of Licking county, a famous hunter and pioneer, and perhaps by others, but without success so far as Mr. Channel was concerned. This information is given on the authority of Adam Seymour, who was here at that time, and Mr. E. S. Woods, who obtained the information from Mr. Channel himself. This was probably the last sight of wild buffaloes cast of the Scioto.

The elk, too, was gone when the pioneers came, but the numerous wide-spreading antlers he once carried, were found profusely scattered in the forest, showing conclusively that he had once been here in considerable numbers, and at no remote period ; but probably no living wild elk was ever discovered here by the pioneers.

Panthers were not numerous, but occasionally one was seen or heard, and a few were killed during the first ten or fifteen years after the first settlement. They disappeared from this section about 1812.

Bears were more numerous and remained longer; an occasional straggler being seen at intervals of many years, until 1846, or later. Bruin was hard on young domestic animals, pigs particularly, he had a good appetite for, and it

259

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

was with great difficulty that the pioneers were able to raise their own pork

Wolves were found in great abundance, and long continued to be a great annoyance to the settlers. The legislature encouraged their exter- mination by laws which authorized the payment of liberal sums for wolf scalps, both old and young. The records of the county commissioners show that large sums were paid the pioneers of the county for wolf scalps; four dollars being the price for full grown and two dollars for those less than full size. They have long since disap- peared.

Deer were very abundant, and for many years after the first settlement, supplied the pioneers with most of their animal food. The pioneers were mostly hunters, and the chase yielded them much profit as well as amusement. So numerous were the deer in early times that an hour's hunt was generally sufficient for scouring a fine buck or the more palitable doe or fawn. So plenty and tame were they that they were killed fre- quently with a shot gun charged only with squir- rel shot.

Gray foxes, raccoons and ground-hogs were plenty, and hunting them afforded fine sport. The two latter of these are yet found in limited numbers, but the first has, probably, entirely dis- appeared.

Red foxes, catamounts, wild-cats and porcu- pines, were found in large numbers, but they early disappeared, except the first named, which may, perhaps, even yet be occasionally found.

Rabbits and squirrels, if not here before the settlement of the county, came soon after in great numbers, and still remain. They seem to follow rather than precede the settlements.

The beaver and otter were here in considerable numbers, and were much sought after by the trapper for their valuable furs. The former has long since disappeared, and the latter is exceed- ingly scarce, if indeed, any remain.

Muskrats are very numerous and have con- tinued so, affording much profit to the hunter and trapper.

Will turkeys were also very abundant in pio- neer days, and so continued for many years, af- fording no inconsiderable portion of the food of the carly settlers. They were so numerous and

tame that they could be procured by the hunter on very short notice. They are yet occasionally found in the woods.

Pheasants were not so numerous as the turkey, and have almost wholly disappeared.

Will geese and ducks were plenty around the little lakes and swamps, and along the streams. These are rarely seen at present.

Quails are not natives of the wilderness ; nei- ther are crows, blackbirds, bluebirds nor turtle doves, but they all became plenty after the settle- ment of the county, and still remain in moderate quantities.

Bees were plenty, and the tables of the pioneers were generally supplied with honey.

Cranes, woodcocks, woodpeckers and pigeons were plenty, and yet remain, with the exception of the first pamed.

Birds of prey, such as turkey buzzards or vul- tures, hawks, ravens, owls and eagles, were very numerons, but have been slowly disappearing, particularly the cagle, which is now seklom seen.

Singing birds of various kinds became plenty soon after the settlement of the county, and yet remain.

The streams abounded in fish of large size. The pike were from two to five feet in length. It has almost, if not entirely, disappeared from the waters of the county.

The catfish were plenty and of large size, but there were no eels. The white perch and sucker were numerous and of large size ; the black jack and clear jack were here and grow large, but have long since disappeared. The streams, no less than the forests, contributed to the support of the early settlers. Indeed, so plenty were game, fish, fur animals and the fruits and other spontaneous productions, that it was hardly necessary to till the ground to procure subsistence.

Serpents were of many varieties and in great abundance. Especially numerous were the rat- tlesnake, the copperhead, the viper, blacksnake, the garter and watersnake. They were often found in the cabins of the settlers, and even in their beds. It was not unusual for the settlers to be bitten by them, but few, if any deaths of- curred from this cause, as the settlers understood the treatment of snake bites.

For many years the people were troubled with

260

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

snakes, but the venomous ones have long since disappeared.

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History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 44

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 854

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854