History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 77

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 77

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).

The first school in the village was held about 1822 in a little log cabin which stood near the present residence of Mrs. Sarah Movel. Edward MeCoy, an easy, good-natured man, was the first teacher. His pupils were John, Daniel and Henry Haines, Owen Marshall, Elijah, Elisha and Joseph Musgrove, Absolom Wolf, Conner Crawford, Arthur and Robert MeBride and Elias Norris. Schools continued to be held in the vil- lage with tolerable regularity from that day to

470

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

the present, at first not longer than three months in a year. About 1846 the West Bedford acad- emy was organized, and for many years was one of the leading institutions of the place. The building was erceted by a stock company con- sisting of James Jones, James and Matthew Mc- Farland, William Smith, Charles Barnes, Patrick Thompson and others. William Renfrew do- nated the land. After a flattering career of four or five years the academy was destroyed by fire, but the school was transferred temporarily to the Methodist church and the energetic citizens pro- ceeded at once to crect another. . Its cost was about $1,200, a fund raised by stock subscription as before. Rev. William Grissell the Methodist minister at the time was the founder of the in- stitution. He was assisted in the instruction by two lady teachers from Oberlin The school in its day ranked high as a college preparatory de- partment. The catalogue showed one hundred and ten students in attendance at one session, a number of them from Coshocton and Roscoe. A bell capped the building and a fine library circu- lated among the students. In the course of time the property passed into the hands of the school district, the directors buying the stock at a dis- count. The village school is still held in the building. It is a two-story frame, twenty-four feet by forty-eight, and contains three rooms only two of which are now used. About eighty- eight scholars are now enrolled. They are taught by Samuel Moore and W. R. Spencer.

Wakatomica Lodge, No. 108, of the Masonic Order, is located here. It was organized at West Carlisle, February 10, 1840, under name of Wash- ington Lodge. Afterward, it was removed to West Bedford. The lodge formerly owned a one-story frame hall, situated across the street from Jones' store, but, in 1875, it erected a third story to a building belonging to Patrick Thomp- son, and have since occupied it as a lodge room. The present officers are : Joseph Dickerson, Mas- ter; T. W. Thomson, Senior Warden; James White, Junior Warden; John McKee, Secretary ; Frank Jones, Treasurer; T. W. Helrigle, Senior Deacon; Martin Wolford, Junior Deacon; Frank Tredaway, Tyler. The membership is now forty- five.

A lodge of Good Templars was located here once, but it has perished.

The population of the village is one hundred and thirty-four. Although there have been three or four stores here formerly at one time, at pres- ent Thomas Jones monopolizes the mercantile business. Several blacksmith shops, a shoe shop, and a cabinet shop complete the business. C. F. Moore is proprietor of the hotel. Two physicians are now in practice here, Drs. J. W. Heskett and William Litten. Former practitioners were Drs. Nelson, William Stanton, Roof, Wattel, Simmons, Smith and Stockdale.

Zeno was the quaint appellation which Abra- ham Cheney bestowed upon a little town of his own creation, in 1833, situated on lot 11 of the military section. Its life was ephemeral. Few houses were built, these few soon removed, and the village plot vacated not many years after its formation, the reason whereof is veiled in obliv- ion as deep as the town itself.

Tunnel Hill Postoffice is situated about two miles cast of West Bedford, on the Coshocton road. It was formed in 1873 by the appointment of T. W. Thompson postmaster. He still holds the position. The postoffice was secured through the influence of the railroad officials then en- gaged upon the construction of the tunnel a mile or so to the northeast. T. W. Thompson owns a store here, Leonard Haines a harness shop, and Samuel Dickerson a blacksmith shop.

CHAPTER LI.

BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP.

Name -Boundaries-Streams-Surface-Soil - " Denman's Prairie"-Name of the Killbuck-Legend of the White Woman-Hunting Grounds-Mounds -- The Morrisons-Mrs. Kimberly and the Deer-Other Early Settlers-Squatters- Saw Mill-Bridges and Canal-Schools-Churches.

B ETHLEHEM township was organized in 1826. The honor of naming it was given to William Speaks, a revolutionary soldier, who was the oldest resident of the township at that time. It is bounded on the north by Clark town- ship, on the east by Keene, on the south by Jack- son and on the west by Jefferson.

471

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

It is watered by the Walhonding river and Killbuck creek. The Walhonding enters the southern portion of the township from the west, and, pursuing a nearly easterly course, crosses the line into the southwestern corner of Keene township. The Killbuck enters at the northwest from Clark township, and, just after crossing the line, bears to the west about a mile and touches Jefferson township in one or two places; it then seeks the Walhonding by a southeasterly course, reaching it almost a mile southeast of the town- ship center. The northeastern portion of the township is drained by a little stream called Buckalew run, which enters Killbuck creek near its mouth.

The valleys of the Walhonding and the Kill- buck give to the township more bottom lands than are found in any one of the surrounding townships. That of the Walhonding, having an average width of more than a mile, possesses a soil of unusual fertility. The valley of the Kill- buck, not quite so wide, contains a soil which is often a clay and very productive, though not equaling in this respect that of the Walhonding. The ridge land is mostly of a clayey and lime- stone nature, and is, consequently, of good qual- ity. Beyond the valleys the surface is rough ; the roughest, as well as largest, section of it being found in the northeastern part, where there is no stream of any consequence.

Timber of a heavy growth covered the town- ship at the coming of the first settlers, except in two localities. In the southeastern corner of the township, south of the river, and extending across the line a short distance into Keene and Jackson townships, was an open space of several hundred acres, known as Denman's prairie. The soil was rich and productive, bearing a luxuriant growth of tall, waving grass. The other exception was between. the Killbuck and Walhonding, near their junction, where there was a scope of several hundred aeres, covered only with saplings and low underbrush. The place is still called the plains. The principal growths here were the serub-oak, jack-oak, white-oak, hickory, cherry, walnut and wild plum. It has mostly been cleared since. About all that is left of this young growth is the little grove standing in front of the residence of Mr. John Hogle. The

trees here have now attained a goodly size, being a foot in diameter, some of them.

Killbuck ereck received its name from that of a noted chief of the Delawares, whose town was located on this stream between Millersburg and Wooster. Concerning the origin of the name Walhonding, which in the Indian tongue signi- fies " the White Woman," there appear to be two accounts. Along the western banks of the river, in the southeastern part of the township, on the Denman farm, is a broken ledge of rocks invested with a romantic legend. The river here winds close to the base of a steep acelivity of ground from which, here and there, jut out cliffs of sand- stone rock lending an air of picturesque beauty to the scene. The tradition, current among the people in this vicinity, tells that a beautiful, young, virgin captive, loath to endure the indig- nities and barbarities of an Indian life, preferred stern death instead, and, breaking away from the hated camp adjacent, rushed madly towards the storm-swollen stream-the Indian braves in hot pursuit-and plunged from this overhanging rock into its seething waters beneath. Accord- ing to one account the cold waters closed over her forever, the Indians, on reaching the brink, beholding the bubbles of her expiring breath rise to the surface; but from another version, she concealed herself beneath a projecting rock until the Indians abandoned the chase and returned to their camp, then cautiously stole away and es- caped. The poetic legend is traced back to the Carpenters, who came to Coshocton county in 1801, and many people of the present generation, who live within knowing distance of the rock, give full eredence to it and fondly tell to the passing stranger the story of the White Woman. The chronicles of the earliest white men, who saw the beauty of this valley, however, give a different account of the origin of the river's name. Christopher Gist, a surveyor, in the in- terest of the Ohio Land Company visited " White Woman's creek " in 1751. In his journal of that date he says the white woman who gave the river her name was Mary Harris, the wife of an Indian chief who dwelt upon its banks. The le- gend of this woman is narrated in another chap- ter of this volume.

The valley of the Wolhonding, as also that of

472

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

the Killbuck, before the advent of the pale face, was doubtless one of the happiest of the terres- trial happy hunting grounds of the untamed, forest-roving savage. A hundred years ago two villages of the Delawares were located in the valley; one three miles, the other ten miles, above Coshocton.

In the forks of the Wolhonding and 'Killbuck was Custaloga's Town. Here was the residence doubtless of Mary Harris, after whom the river was probably named. Custaloga was a Delaware chief, and the orator of his tribe. He, with twenty warriors representing his nation, was the first to surrender their prisoners to Colonel Bouquet. His speech at the treaty of Fort Pitt is full of noble sentiment and Indian eloquence.

From the name of this town, it is probable that it was the residence of this distinguished speaker and chief.

For years after the Indians left Coshoeton county, wandering red men returned to visit the loved haunts of old. In 1822, and perhaps many years later, Indians from the Tuscarawas river came to the Killbuek during the summer season to trap and to hunt. Game of every description was abundant. The air at times was black with wild turkeys. Deer were often seen in herds of forty or fifty. Bears and wolves were numerous. No place was more eagerly sought by the lover of the chase than the valleys of Bethlehem town- ship, and for many years the sport was enjoyed alike by the cabin-dwelling huntsman and his dusky neighbor of the forest wigwam.

Upon John Hogle's farm, or, as it is better known, the east reserve of the Rathbone section, not far from the Wolhonding, is a large mound, having a height of perhaps fifteen feet and a very gradual slope. Another mound of a lesser size stands on the Moffat farm, a short distance north- west of the center of the township in the Kill- buck valley. These are the only ones known to exist in the township.

Bethlehem township is made up entirely of military land, consisting of four military sections, of 4,000 acres each. The first or northeast sec- tion was surveyed into forty one-hundred-acre lots, by the government, for the accommodation of revolutionary soldiers, or other individuals, who held warrants for this number of acres.

George Skinner, of Franklin county, Pennsyl- vania, was the original individual owner of the second or northwest section. The third or south- west section is known as the John Rathbone section. He obtained it in 1825, from Alexan- der O. and Mary E. Spencer, and James C. and Sarah Norton, who, it seems, were the heirs of William Steele, the original grantee of the sec- tion, under patent dated March 20, 1800. Mat- thew Denman and William Wells were the pro- prietors of the southeast section. All these pro- prietors were non-residents.

The first settlement in the county was made on Denman's prairie, in the eastern part of this township, in the spring of 1800, by Charles Williams, William Morrison and Isaac and Henry Hoagland. These little open spaces of rich, productive soil, scattered sparingly, like oases, in the unlimited expanse of timber growth, were eagerly seized upon by the earliest pioneers, and afforded an excellent opportunity of raising the indispensable crop of corn until tillable fields could be wrought out of the native forests. Ebe- nezer Buckingham soon after, in 1800, settled at the mouth of Killbuck, remaining two years only. On Denman's prairie, as early as 1801, were also Samuel Morrison, Ira Kimberly, George Car- penter and James Craig. The wives of Wil- liams, the two Morrisons and of Kimberly were sisters of George Carpenter, and were noted for their physical strength and activity.

For years previous to their emigration to Co- shocton county, they had lived with their father on the banks of the Ohio, in the midst of the fierce and prolonged Indian warfare which then was waged unremittingly along the border. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter, while out in the fields at work once, in the Ohio valley, were suddenly surprised by a band of Indians. He was shot, and fell mo- tionless to the ground. Supposing him to be dead, the Indians left him and pursued Mrs. Carpenter, who sped fleetly in the direction of the fort which had been erected, and succeeded in reaching it in safety. Mr. Carpenter, who was not fatally wounded, recovered sufficiently to crawl away and conceal himself before the In- dians returned. He thus escaped the tomahawk and the scalping knife. Inured to emergencies demanding great endurance and physical action,

473

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

his children were raised to bear the brunts of a rugged and shifting pioneer life with ease. A little incident which occurred on the Denman prairie, while these early settlers were encamped here, will illustrate the muscular power and hardi- hood of these pioneer women. Mrs. Sallie Kim- berly was visiting at the cabin of her brother-in- law, William Morrison, who at the time was suf- fering from some bodily ailment, and in conse- quence was unable to move about much. He saw a deer across the Walhonding, and, taking down his rifle, he shot it. Not being well enough to go across for the game himself, he asked one of the women to do so. Mrs. Kimberly consented to bring over the deer. The river was deep in this place, and not fordable anywhere in the vi- cinity, but nothing daunted her. She sprang into the stream and swam easily across; then securely tied her large neckerchief around the deer's neck and drew it to the water, and, holding one end of the cloth by her teeth, she swam over with the deer to the opposite shore.

The Morrisons and the Carpenters afterward passed on up the Killbuck, becoming the earliest settlers of what is now Holmes county. Kim- berly moved two miles further up the valley, to the place where the bridge now crosses the river. It was long known as Kimberly's ford, afterward as Fry's ford. James Craig kept a little grocery close by, for a number of years, whisky being the chief article of trade; then removed to Coshocton, where he and his family died about 1814, of "cold plague."

Isaac Hoagland came from Virginia to the Denman section, about the same time the Morri- sons did. He afterward moved up to Clark township, becoming one of the pioneer settlers.

About 1806, Henry Carr, from Hardy county, Virginia, settled on lot 11 of the southwest sec- tion, now owned by James Richardson. He here operated a little still for a few years, beginning about 1810. The distilled spirits he disposed of mostly to his scattering neighbors, often exchang- ing it for the raw material-corn. One bushel of shelled corn was worth a gallon of whisky, and many of the settlers would send a bag of corn to Carr as regularly as they did to mill.

John Bantum came in 1806, from near Balti- ' more, Maryland, and settled on that part of the

Rathbone section, afterwards known as the east reserve. He had served through the revolution. Joseph Burrell, a son of Benjamin Burrell, who was one of the earliest settlers of Keene town- ship, settled here early. He was from Frederick county, Maryland; died in August, 1874, at the age of eighty-four years.

About 1808, Adam Markley came in from Maryland with a large family-eight sons and four daughters. John Markley, who was killed at an election at Coshocton in 1816, by George Arnold, a noted rough from what is now Bethle- hem township-then forming a portion of Tusca- rawas township-was a member of this family. This murder was the first one committed in Coshocton county. John Biler accompanied the Markleys here. He died soon after his arrival. The names of other carly settlers concerning whom little is now known are, Joseph Bradford, Joshna and Peter Woods, James Rich, Stephen Willis and Thomas Pool.

Benjamin Fry was an early settler from Vir- ginia. His was a restless spirit, which led him to make frequent migrations. He run a little dis- tillery awhile, in the western part of the town- ship, then moved to Tuscarawas township in 1808, and two years later, to a place in Jackson town- ship, two miles below Coshocton, where he dis- tilled a short time. He next went to Jefferson township, then back again to Bethlehem, settling at the site of the bridge. His habitation here gave the place the name of "Fry's Ford." Mr. Fry raised a large family and lived to an extreme old age. He was active and energetic in life, and apt to be strong in expression. When ninety-five years old, he declared with an oath that unless he got away from the Walhonding river, he couldn't live five years longer. He accordingly " pulled up stakes " and moved his entire family to Illinois, where he died the next year.

Michael Hogle settled in the township in April, 1814. He was born near Plattsburg, New York, but emigrated here from Vermont. He settled first on the Denman section, south of the river ; raised a family of nineteen children, removed to Illinois in 1845, and died there the following year. His son, John Hogle, still lives in this township; has long been a justice of the peace, and is well known as one of its best citizens.

474

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

John Merrihew and David Ash came at the same time with Mr. Hogle. A little later Niles and Ebenezer Coleman came from New York. About 1830, these four settlers moved westward to Knox county.

Albert Torrey, a New Englander, settled in the northern part of the township about 1814. He was a blacksmith by trade, and pursued this vo- cation here in connection with farming; said to be the first mechanic in Bethlehem township. George Shearer, Elijah Newcome and Matthew Boner, were also early settlers. Newcome settled near the center of the township, on the D. War- ing farm. He afterwards removed to Iroquois county, Illinois.

William Speaks, a revolutionary soldier, settled about a half a mile north of Newcome, on the place which in later years belonged to A. Fred- erick. Mr. Speaks was a Virginian, drank noth- ing stronger than wine, was well respected, quiet in his habits, a member of the Methodist church and died in the township at a good old age.

James Willis, from Virginia, settled on the farnı now occupied by John G. Frederick. He was a famous hunter and engaged more in hunt- ing than in tilling the soil. He killed five bears in one day. Samuel Ray and Andrew Wilson, two soldiers of the war of 1812, were early set- tlers. The former owned 500 acres south of the Killbuck, adjoining Jefferson township; the lat- ter, lot 39 of the northeast section.

Samuel Clark, born in Ireland, emigrated to Virginia at the age of eighteen. He there mar- ried Rachel Clark, and came west to Coshocton county at an early day. He spent a number of years on the Miller section, in Franklin town- ship, and about 1820 moved to the Denman tract, in this township. He here became one of the township's most prominent citizens. He was a justice of the peace nearly all his active life, and was several times county commissioner. Two of his brothers, Archibald and Gabriel, and his father, Archibald, settled in the township about the same time.

Somewhat later came Nathan Spencer, from Hardy county, Virginia. To "draw it mildly," he was a rough, rollicking, boisterous kind of a man, fond of cards, whisky, company and sport He had a frolic of some kind about once a week

at his place, which was situated near the town- ship center-the Samuel Moffat farm. He mar- ried a daughter of William Speaks, and termin- ated his career here by moving to Missouri.

Many of the settlers who cleared the first fields in Bethlehem township, as on military lands else- where, were only squatters, possessing no right whatever to the soil they cultivated. When the land would belong to a capitalist he would often wish to retain it for years until it could be sold at a greatly enhanced price. There was little or no opportunity to lease it, and occupancy by squat- ters was encouraged rather than forbidden, as the improvements that would be made on the place were advantageous to the proprietor. An instance of this kind of settlement was on the Rathbone section. Men began to settle here as early as 1806, and a constant stream of emigration was flowing in from that time on, while very little if any of the land was sold before 1835.

The survey of this section was made about 1834. It was surveyed into thirty lots, varying in size from 100 to 150 acres. These lots in- cluded all of the section except two tracts on the river, one of 192, the other of sixty-nine acres, reserved as mill sites. The western reserve in- cludes an island, in the Wolhonding, of nineteen acres in extent. These reserves were well se- lected for the construction of dams, but the building of the Wolhonding canal destroyed their value for this purpose, as excellent water power might be obtained at the locks of the canal at a comparatively trifling expense.

Bethlehem township is distinctively a rural district. No village or hamlet exists on its soil, nor has the establishment of one ever been attempted. The various industries common in early days also have had a very meager represent- ation here. Shortly after the arrival of the earliest settlers, one or two little still-liouses found lodgment in the township for a very lim- ited period. One saw mill embraced the extent of the milling interests. It was crected by Thomas H. Miller, near the mouth of the Kill- buck, about 1830, and worked a very few years. Perhaps the chief industry was the rafting of logs down the Killbuck. A great amount of this was done. The logs were usually poplar, oak, walnut or sycamore, and were rafted at first to

475

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

Zanesville, afterwards to Roscoe and Coshoeton.

One bridge, located near the northwestern corner of the township, erosses the Killbuck. The only bridge across the Walhonding in Beth- lehem township is at "Fry's Ford." It was erected in 1868-9. John Sharke, of Newark, was the contractor for the masonry, which cost $6,- 709. The superstructure, of wood, contracted for by John Hesket, cost $6,100. In early times a ferry was kept here by William Kimberly, John Kimberly and Thomas Clark successively. A large flat boat, of sufficient size to hold four horses and a loaded wagon, was used.

The Walhonding canal passes through the township along the river valley. It enters from Jackson township on the south, erosses the river by a dam in the western part of the township, and continues up the northern side of the river into Jefferson township. It contains two locks in this township, one about a half mile above the dam, the other about the same distance below it.

It is affirmed that a school was taught on the prairie up the Walhonding in 1802 or 1803, but who the teacher was, and who there learned to read their A, B, C, it is impossible now to tell. What would we not give to be able to call back to memory the picture of that school. Yes, we should like to hand down to future ages, and im- mortalize the name of the first pedagogue of Coshocton county. What a tale might be tokl of school-boy feats, could we only bring the past in solenin review before us again. We have met with but a single individual, Mr. Alvah Bucking- ham, of Putnam, who recollects having attended this school. All recollection, except this simple fact, has faded from his mind.

An early school was taught by Charles Elliott, who afterward became a famous Methodist min- ister, editor and president of the Wesleyan Uni- versity of Iowa The school was situated in the southeastern part of the township, Mr. Elliott re- siding at this time in Keene township.

A school-house was built about 1821, near the township center, close to the banks of Killbuck. Matthew Boner was the first teacher. With all his pedagogie arts, however, he coukł not pre- vent the most of his pupils giving greatest atten- tion to a pet deer, belonging to Martin Spencer, that would frequent the school yard.

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.

History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 77

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