History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 78

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 78

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About the same time a cabin for school pur- poses was erected in the northern part of the

township, about a half mile east of Archibald Clark's residence, near where the school-house now stands. It was built in regular primitive fashion, rude, but substantial. "King" Cole and Walter Truat were among the first to rule over the " future presidents" who attended school here.

A few years later Michael Hoyle built a school- house, at his own expense, where school was kept for a number of years. Leander Hoyle and James Madden were among its first teachers.

To the Methodist Episcopal church is due the earliest propagation of religious sentiment in this, as in nearly every other township in the county. In days when the country was sparsely settled, the merest nucleus for a religious organization could be found only here and there in the broad range of developing lands, yet they were fostered and nurtured with a self-sacrificing zeal that in- sured success from its very intensity. The local preachers knew no rest, but were constantly in the saddle or the place of worship. Services were held on every day in the week, so numerous were the appointments that must be filled by one preacher. It was about 1820, that a class was formed in Bethlehem township. Its carly meni- bers were Samuel Clark, Rachel his wife, and his daughter Nancy; Archibaldl Clark, his wife Susan and daughters Catherine and Jane; Mrs. Chris- tina Lowman and her daughters Mary and Han- nah; Elizabeth Clark, Joseph Meigs and Eleanor, his wife; Mrs. Willis and William Speaks. The circuit of which this congregation formed a part extended from Millersburg to Dresden, and as far east as Evans' ereek, near Newcomerstown. For a long time preaching was held on week days only. The society never became sufficiently strong to ereet a house of worship, and services were held in dwellings and school-houses until about 1870, when the society united with the Warsaw congregation.

The Mount Zion Methodist Protestant church is located in the northwestern part of the town- ship, on land donated to the society by John C. Frederick. The building, a hewed log weather- boarded structure, was erected about 1850. At that time John C. Frederick, George Parks, Abra-

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

ham Mowrey and William Clark, were the prin- cipal members. The church was organized about three years before, just over the line in Jefferson township, and the early meetings were held in the Tabor Evangelical church of that township. Revs. A. Robinson, William Holland, John Han- by, William Chandler, -- Lawson, William Baldwin, William Woodward, William Nicker- son, J. P. King, William Bradford and John Mur- phy have been pastors of the church. The pres- ent pastor is Rev. John Baker, who has charge also of the congregation at Big run, Monroe township, the Pleasant Valley church of Holmes county, and Prairie chapel of this township. The membership of Mount Zion is now quite small.

The Bethlehem Evangelical or Albright church, is a religious organization composed of a few German settlers, most of whom live in Clark township. The building is situated within a few rods of the northern line, and within a few feet of the central line of the township running north and south. The society was formed about 1854, under the ministerial charge of Rev. Jacob Resch- ler; the church, erected some four years later, has been undergoing repairs during the last win- ter. Revs. Henry Futheroe and John Smith, are the present pastors. The membership, through removals and deaths, has been reduced to four- teen. A Sabbath-school, organized in 1854 by John Gamersfelter, still the leading member of the church, is now in as feeble condition as the church.

Prairie chapel is a Methodist Protestant church, . situated in the southeastern part of the town- ship. The class was organized in 1861, with Zachariah Clark as leader. It owes its formation to Rev Samuel Frederick, who was at that time a mere lad and a member of the Mount Zion Methodist Protestant church, of this township. He conducted a series of revival meetings at the old school-house which stood on the site of Prairie chapel, and notwithstanding his extreme youth, the meetings were attended with great success. From the conversions which followed, the society was organized. Among the members who united with the church in its infancy, were Mrs. Elizabeth Baird, Zachariah and Susan Clark,

Louisa Baird, George Baird, Mrs. Mina Boring, William and Dian Maxwell, Isaac and Susan Fivecoats, George and Mary Thompson, and Daniel and Mary Benning. Rev. Frederick con- tinned to labor here four years, and since his pas- torate the ministers have been as follow: John Baker and William Robinson, one year ; William Wilkerson, one year; W. L. Baldwin, six years; J. D. Murphy, one year; William Bradford, one year; William Woodford, two years; Thomas Scott, one year; J. P. King, one year; John Baker, present incumbent. The membership is fifty-four. The church, a commodious frame, was dedicated August, 1877. It was erected at a cost of $1,272. A Sabbath-school, under the man- agement of James Slaughter, is in very flourish- ing condition.

CHAPTER LII.

CLARK TOWNSHIP.

Location- Topographical Features- Organization -Name - Early Settlements-Indians- First Schools- Mills-1Iel- mick-Bloomfield-Churches-Population.

C LARK township is the middle one of the five northern townships, touching Holmes coun- ty on the north, Mill Creek township on the east, Bethlehem on the south, and Monroe on the west. Its surface is broken and hilly, except along the streams, where the alluvial deposits broaden into fertile valleys. The soil in the bottoms is usually a heavy clay, and sometimes of a gravelly con- stituency ; on the hills, it is in places clayey, but generally sandy. The whole township was heavily timbered when first the settlers began to occupy its territory, and among the varieties of wood most abundant were red, white and black oak. beech, sugar, chestnut, hickory and poplar. A vigorous growth of the last mentioned variety flourished on the hills, and large quantities of it were rafted down the Killbuck in early days, to Roscoe and Zanesville. Wheat and corn are largely grown, and much of the hillside lands is devoted to pasturage. Killbuck creek, which per- petuates the name of a famous Indian chief, is the main stream that courses through the township.

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

It enters from the north, flows circuitously about and crosses into Bethlehem township at a point almost directly south of its point of entrance. Three wooden bridges span its waters within the limits of the township.

Its principal tributary is Doughty's fork, com- memorative of the name of another Indian brave well known to the first pioneers. He doubtless pitched his wigwam upon the banks of this stream; but not here only, for Captain Doughty was familiarly known to the early set- tlers on Will's creek in Linton township, and also in Virginia township and elsewhere. The stream that bears his name enters the northeast- ern part of Clark township from Holmes county and unites with Killbuck a short distance west of the township center. Smaller streams than these are Big run and Hoagland's run, both western tributaries of Killbuck. and Buckalew run which enters Bethlehem township and flows into Kill- buck near its mouth.

The northern half of the township consists of military land; the southern half is congress land, which was surveyed into sections for settle- ment in 1803 by Silas Bent, Jr. Of the military portion, the western half or second section was surveyed into forty 100-acre lots by William Cut- bush in 1808, and located by different settlers in tracts of 100 acres or more. The northeast quarter of the township, or the first military section, a body of 4,000 acres, was granted by President John Adams to Jonathan Burrell, of New York City, by patent, dated March 29, 1800. It was located for him by John Matthews, who received in compensation 284 acres from the northeast corner of the quarter. In 1807 Mr. Burrell disposed of the remainder of the section to Philip Itskin, of Baltimore, Maryland, who sold it in parcels to various persons.

The township was organized with its present limits in 1829. At the coming of the first settlers it was a part of Mechanic township. The adjoin- ing township in Holmes county still bears this name. When Monroe township was formed, in 1824, it became a portion of it, and when Bethle- hem was organized, in 1826, the southern part of what is now Clark was united to it. When this territory yet belonged to Mechanic township, the elections were hell for a few years at the cabin

of John Craig, near Bloomfield. The new town- ship of Clark, in 1829, was organized at the house of Peter Buckmaster. Only fifteen or twenty votes were cast. Benjamin Patterson was elected clerk, and William Craig justice of the peace. John Duncan was the second justice, and was suc- ceeded by Joel Glover, who served his township as "'squire" for twenty-one years. He was elected to his first term by a majority of one vote only. The township elections continued to be held at dwelling houses until the erection of the present township house, on the farm of Nicholas Mullet, some twenty years ago.

The township was named in honor of Samuel Clark, then a county commissioner, who was among the earliest and most highly esteemed cit- izens of the Killbuck valley, a resident, however, of Bethlehem township

The first settlement in the township was made, probably, about 1815, though it is impossible to be exact, as the recollection of no one now in the township extends back beyond 1817 or 1818. Isaac Hoagland was among the first arrivals, and probably was the first to settle permanently in what is now Clark. Has was also among the foremost pioneers of this county, coming in 1800, with Charles Williams, to " the prairies," in Beth- lehem township, and the next year occupying, with him, the first house built in Coshocton. He was a soldier in Captain Adam Johnson's com- pany, which did service on the frontier, in 1812. It is not known when he moved to this township. His farm near the Killbuck comprised the southwest quarter of section 16. Both he and his wife, a Carpenter, sister of Charles Williams' wife, died and were buried upon this place. They had a large family of children, some of whom died here, the others removing to the West, chiefly to Illinois. Mr. Hoagland is remembered as a genuine frontiersman, and wore the hunter's garb up to the time of his death. Dressed in an old linsey hunting-shirt, belted around the waist, and fringed below, he spent much time in roanı- ing the wilderness, in quest of game. In stature he was tall and, like most other settlers of that day, was unlearned in things pertaining to books.

A settlement was formed very carly in the northeastern part of the township. Arthur Cun- ningham, of Virginia, settled a short distance

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

from Bloomfield, on a 300-acre tract, and in 1818, about twenty-five acres of it was cleared. He sold it, however, about 1817, to William Austin, and removed elsewhere. Mr. Austin came from Chautauqua county, New York, with his only daughter, Lucy, a servant. Shurey Odle, and a negress. Two sons remained in New York. Mr. Austin's sojourn here was brief, for he died in 1819. In this year William MeBride came from Virginia to the Austin farm, and remained there until 1824. He then removed to Warsaw, but the ycar following he was drowned in the Walhond- ing, at Fry's ford, while attempting to cross the river on a horse His widow survived him many years, terminating her earthly career at the house of her daughter, Mrs. Martha Bnckalew, in Mon- roe township.

John Craig settled on the location lot of the first section in 1818. He was born in Ireland, and emigrated to Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, from his native land when a youth of six- teen years. Thenee he moved to Jefferson county, Ohio, and from that county here. A daughter, Mrs. Mary Dougal, had removed with her hus- band to Richland county. His son, William Craig, accompanied him to this township. They first built a house near the southeast corner of the township, but the next year, 1819, William erected a cabin for himself on the spot now occu- pied by the dwelling of Washington Lawrence, in Bloomfield. Both were engaged in agricul- tural pursuits. John Craig died in 1824; aged sixty-two years. William died August 17, 1853, having almost completed his seventieth year. John Craig served as justice of the peace from 1819 to 1822, when this territory belonged to Me- chanie township. William, as stated above, was the first justice of Clark township. His son Charles, also, has now for many years served the township in this capacity.

Abraham Miller settled upon the southeast quarter of section 16 in 1818 or 1820. He was the son of George Miller, a pioneer of Lafayette township was originally from Virginia and had been a member of Captain Adam Johnson's com- pany in 1812. He was yet a young man when he came to this township and remained in it till his death. He had married a Miss McNeal, and his brother-in-law, Archibald MeNeal, an Irish-

man, moved to his farm and lived there with him the remainder of his life.

Parker Buckalew came in about 1817 from Virginia, settling on the northwest quarter of section 25, where he remained the rest of his life, tilling the soil as an avocation, though spending much time in hunting, of which he was very fond. He was well respected by the community in which he lived, and upon his death was buried on the home farm. His children are still living in this vicinity. His brothers Samuel, James and John, afterward took up a residence in this town- ship.

Eli Fox entered the township in 1820, locating in the eastern part of section 18. He was origi- nally from Hartford county, Connecticut, and came to Zanesville at an early day. By trade he was a ship-carpenter, and after his emigration to Ohio devoted much attentio .. to milling. He rented the mills of Mr. Dillon, at East Zanesville, and operated them for some years, then pur- chased property and lived a short time in Gran- ville township, Licking county. Not liking this country he returned to Zanesville and leased a piece of land near by. Soon after, he obtained the contract for building the first bridge across the Scioto, at Chillicothe. A little later he re- solved to seek a more unsettled neighborhood and erect a mill. With this purpose in view he came to this township in 1820. He brought with him Piatt Williamson, William Barl and a Mr. Brooks, to assist in its erection. The mill was built about one-fourth mile above Helmick. In a few years it was burned, but was replaced by an- other on the site of the present mill at Helmick. Mr. Fox boarded with Piatt Williamson the first year, and in 1821 removed his family from Zanes- ville to his new home. He spent the remainder of his life here, and his descendents still cultivate the soil of the old home place.

Piatt Williamson was a native of New Jersey. In December, 1819, he emigrated to Zanesville, where he remained a year. He was a blacksmith, and followed this oeeupation in Zanesville. For one year after his arrival at Clark township, he remained in Mr. Fox's employ, performing the work connected with his trade necessary to the construction of the mill. He then bought 80 acres of land from Mr. Kinney, and the next

INTERIOR VIEW OF THE "COSHOCTON AGE" OFFICE.

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

year entered 80 more. From this time until his death he carried on his trade and farming to- gether. When a lad of seventeen, an apprentice in a blacksmith shop under an older brother, near Jersey City, he enlisted in the army during the war of 1812. His children are still residents of the township.

William Barl was also a New Jersey man by birth and a resident of Zanesville prior to his re- moval hither. He lived on section 18 and hunted and trapped a great deal. After a few years' stay in this township he removed to the vicinity of Marietta. Brooks remained here but a short time and returned to Zanesville.

Andrew Weather wax, a glass blower by trade, removed from Albany county, New York, to this township in 1821 and settled upon the southwest quarter of section 25, purchasing the land from James Buckalew. After his arrival he followed his trade a while in Zanesville, but devoted most of his time to farming. He died while visiting his sister in Bedford township in June, 1872, aged eighty-four years. His brothers Leonard and Adam settled here some ten or twelve years after his arrival.

William Estap was another early settler. He came into this township from Holmes county, purchased and occupied ninety acres about a mile west of Bloomfield, then a tract of two hundred acres two miles south of this village. He after- ward removed to Monroe township.

Isaac Purdy, from Pennsylvania, settled upon lot 11, section 2, prior to 1822. He tilled the soil here the remainder of his life. Jacob Frazier was another settler, who was a tax payer on real estate in section 25 as early as 1822. He was a shoemaker and followed this calling in this viein- ity for a few years in connection with farming. He removed subsequently to Muskingum county and there died.

William Shepherd settled in section 24 proba- bly as early as 1820. He was from Virginia, and, unlike the other settlers who made this town- ship their home, came provided with bountiful means, driving a six-horse team and possessing a comfortable cash-box. But this proved a hin- derance rather than help to him in developing his backwoods home. He was not spurred by neces- sity to exertion, and having no settled taste for

hard work, he lived at ease until his available re- sources were exhausted, and then found that the sturdy blows of his neighbors had wrought a transformation in the value of their farms not discernable in his. A brother, Samuel, and a sister, Nancy, lived with him. He died in this township.

Isaac Johnson settled on eighty acres in the southeast quarter of section 23 about 1827. His mother was a sister of Isaac Hoagland, and he was the brother of John and Henry Johnson, the two lads who daringly killed their Indian captors in Jefferson county and escaped unhurt. Mr. Johnson subsequently dwelt for a time in Bethlehem township, then emigrated to Indiana. George Lowman came to the southeast quarter of section 24 about 1825, from Maryland. A few years later he removed to Wabash, Indiana.

Jonathan Maxon, Thomas Endsley, Benjamin White, Daniel Fulton and John Bise were other early settlers. Mr. Bise came in 1825 or 1826, settling upon the west half of the southeast quarter of section 23. In 1829 he sold this place to Joel Glover and removed to Muskingum county.

Mr. Glover is one of the few pioneers who still survive. He was born in Jefferson county in 1SOS; removed to Crawford county in 1826, and three years later to the place he now occupies. When he entered the township he moved into a deserted school-house, located on the place he had purchased. It was about fourteen by sixteen feet in size, built of split poplar logs, with a rude fire- place extending across one end of the room. In lieu of windows, a log had been removed from each side, to admit the light, and over this open space strips of oiled paper had been pasted.

The usual wild animals prevailing in this State in pre-colonization times, were numerous in Clark township, and the earliest white arrivals had abundant opportunities to gratify that love of hunting which is common to backwoodsmen. Deer, bears and wolves, and occasionally a " pain- ter," were the types of game the country afforded. Bill and Tom MeNeal, sons of Archibald MeNeal, on one occasion tracked a bear to a tall, hollow oak stub, in which it had taken refuge. The most feasible plan of obtaining the game was

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

adopted; accordingly Bill elimed a hickory tree close by, and, having reached the proper height, crossed over and sat astride the hollow stub; his musket was handed him by Tom, who, at the foot of the tree, watched and waited, while Bill thrust the muzzle of his gun into the hollow tree and fired. The shot took effect, but only irritated the bear, and before Bill could realize his situation, the wounded bear was at the top of the tree. He had just time to drop his gun, seize a branch of the hickory tree and swing himself away from the bear's elutches. The bear hastily descended the tree and ran away. Tom shot and wounded bruin as he ran. The two young hunt- ers followed up their game for about a mile, and discovered the bear behind a log, plugging its wounds with hair. This time both discharged their guns simultaneously and the bear fell dead.

No Indian village is known to have been lo- cated in the township, but hunting parties of the red-skins frequently eneamped on the Killbuck and Doughty fork. An Indian camp, built of split logs, and having only three sides, stood in a bend, on the north side of Killbuck, in the north- east quarter of section 17. The fourth side was wholly open, and when the camp was occupied at night, a log fire must be built across the open side, to protect the sleeping inmates from prowl- ing animals. Tom Lyon was an Indian brave, who was wont to encamp on the banks of the Killbuck, with several other Indians. He was a tall, slim savage, and when irritated or intoxi- cated, taunted the white settlers who chanced to be within his hearing, by telling of the many pale-faces he had slain. He had taken ninety- nine scalps, he said, and wanted one more to make it an even hundred. Becoming enraged at Abram Miller, one day, he boasted that he had shot Miller's grand father, in Virginia. John Hoagland, a lad of fifteen years, the son of Isaac Hoagland, was so incensed at the idle boasts of the Indian, that it was with difficulty he was re- strained from shooting him. Lyon frequented his old haunts on the Killbuck, until about 1825, when he bade them a final adieu, and started westward, in search of happier hunting grounds.

Little can be said of the carly schools in this region. The schools were few in number, held

for terms of two or three months only in deserted cabins, or whatever buildings could be obtained for the purpose. The son of one of the earliest settlers relates that the "schooling " of his boy- hood was as follows: The first school he attended was taught in an old cabin on Abe Miller's farm by Alexander Young. It was two months in duration. The next was one held on what is now J. J. Gamersfelter's land, in the southern part of the township. Adam Clark was the teacher of this school. The third was taught at the same place as the first, by Leonard Hogle; then one just south of this on the Opdyke place, taught by Mary Bassett. The fifth and last was on Piatt Williamson's place, and was presided over by Durius Snow, a venerable, itinerant preacher of Monroe township. These five terms of two or three months each scarcely amounting to one year in all, constituted the extent of his school privileges between the ages of eight and twenty- one years. The greater number of the neighbor- ing children were equally limited in educational advantages. Other schools had been held not so remote as to render attendance impossible, but the tuition of the subscription schools, small as it now appears, was an item of expense that could not well be allowed every year by the majority of the settlers. The text books usually employed were the spelling-book and the new testament. When the first was completed, the pupil must continue his spelling lessons in the testament, and half the book would be spelled sometimes before the pupil was able to read a verse correctly. One of the earliest schools in the township was taught just west of Bloomfield, about 1828, by George Elliott.

The first, and for a long time the only, mill in the township was the one erected by Eli Fox. A saw-mill was first erected, and a little later a large grist-mill, containing one run of buhrs, afterward two. The buhrs were rude, rough stones, inca- pable of reducing the grist to impalpable fineness, but they answered their purpose very well in those days. In I829 the mill was burned. In a few years Mr Fox built a saw-mill about one- fourth of a mile farther down the stream, at Hel- mick, and some time after the grist-mill was re- built at the same place. The mill was afterward

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

operated by James Clark, Albert and G. W. Sew- ard, Absalom Petit and Benjamin Beck. Mr. Beck is the present owner, and has owned it for about ten years He has rebuilt the saw-mill, constructed a new race, refitted the grist-mill, and is doing a good custom trade at present. Mr. Beck is also proprietor of a store located here. He is a resident of Holmes county, and the store is managed by Eugene Henderson. It was opened by Mr. Nelson, and by him transferred to Mr. Ferrell. J. P. Henderson and William Jack were the next owners, and sold the property after a time to Mr. Robinson, who disposed of it to Oli- ver and Saul Miller. Saul retired, and after a while it was purchased from Oliver Miller by the present owner.

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History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 78

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