History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 81

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 81

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Lewis Rodruck entered the township in the spring of 1809. He was born in Maryland, Sep- tember 28, 1772, and moved here from Virginia. He leased a place from William Robinson, raised a erop or two with his sons, Levi and Yale, and in 1811 brought out from Virginia the rest of liis

family. After staying a few years on the Robin- son place, he purchased and moved to a farm in the southern part of the township. He was the first class leader of the Methodist church, and after- ward became a minister in the Dunkard church, preaching about forty years. His death occurred in 1866, at the advanced age of ninety-four years.

George Littiek came about 1811, and entered land in the northwest quarter of section 12. He was born in Germany, in 1759; left an orphan in early youth, he was bound as an apprentice to a baker, but cruel treatment crused him to run away and cross the ocean at eighteen years of age ; arriving in this country, he was obliged to work three years to pay his passage way. He died in Franklin township, December 25, 1847.

The township gradually settled up toward the east, but the uninviting hills made the settlement necessarily słow, so long as there were better lands to occupy. It was not until 1836 that all the land in the township was entered. Several years before this there was an influx of Germans from Muskingum county, and a few years later the French began to arrive and people the hills. Philip Kromnaker was the first Frenchman to locate here, in 1835. During the next fifteen years a constant stream of emigrants from France flowed in, and in 1850 the French element pre- dominated in the eastern part of the township. They emigrated principally from the province of Alsace, ceded a few years ago to Germany, coming mostly by water to Zanesville, by way of New Orleans. They are a frugal and industrious class of people, and have transformed some of the wildest and roughest lands of the county into prosperous and happy homes. Many have since removed to other parts.

The early records of the township have been lost or destroyed. A partial list of the first offi- cers is as follows: John Wamsley, clerk ; James Robinson, treasurer; Lewis Rodruck, constable. William Taylor and Abraham Thompson also held first offices, probably as trustees.

It was not uncommon, prior to 1812, for stroll- ing Indians to appear at the cabins of the early settlers. Mrs. James Rice, daughter of Joseph Scott, recollects that a young Indian brave, while visiting at her father's cabin, became angry at his

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HISTORY OF . COSHOCTON COUNTY.

squaw for some cause and beat her severely in the face with an ear of corn till she bled pro- fusely. This mark of affection the squaw re- ecived without flinching and with the fortitude characteristic of the Indian race. Still more en- raged, the Indian seized a cooper's wooden horse standing by, and hurled it forcibly at his wife. This time she dodged, and the missile barely missed Mrs. Rice, then a little girl three or four years old. At another time an Indian lad ap- peared, begging meat. Her father, at heart a hater of the whole Indian race, on account of in- juries received by relatives at the hands of the savages, with grim humor presented the boy a very large piece of raw meat, and then com- pelled him to eat it; a feat which the lad accon- plished only after manifest suffering. Mr. Scott then gave him some meat to take home with him. The young Indian complained of the treatment he had received to his friends, but they regarded it as an excellent joke, and ridi- culed him, and often afterward used to langh with Mr. Scott about it.

Israel H. Baker was in all probability the pion- cer school-teacher of this township. He was a native of Massachusetts, began teaching here about 1806, and continued it for many years in different parts of the township, wherever he could get pupils. A Mr. Patterson and Mr. Roberts, also, figured among the earliest teachers, A lit- tle later came Abram T. Jones and William J. Robinson.

There are now six school districts within the township, four east, and two west, of the river. District No. 6 was formed in 1876, a short dis- tance northeast of Coalport.

The Methodist Episcopal church was the first to form a religious society within the township. In 1812, Rev. John Mitchell organized a class in the Robinson neighborhood, now called the Bethany church. The details of its early history are meagre. For a long time services were held at the houses of the members, and afterward in the school-house which stood north of the site of the Methodist Protestant church. Rev. Ruark and Joseph Pigman were among the earliest preachers. Among the original members may

be mentioned James Robinson, Lewis Rodruck and wife, John Wamsley and William Davidson. Their present church edifice was erected in 1870, about a mile northwest of Will's creek, where the old building stood. It is a nicely finished frame, costing about $3,000, and has served as a model in constructing several churches since. The pres- ent membership is about fifty. A successful Sunday-school is in operation under the manage- ment of Ira Wilcox and Dr. Henderson.

The Bethel Methodist Episcopal church, situ- ated west of the river, was organized in 1864, at the Conesville school-house, by Revs. A. S. Mof- fatt and John Blanpied, the two ministers of the Dresden and Roscoe circuits, then united. The need of religious services in this vieinity had long been felt. Occasional preaching had been held in the school-house previous to the organi- zation of the church, but there was a demand for a permanent church, and this demand gave rise to the Bethel church. Francis Wolfe, Ben. Wol- ford, James Davis, Henry Harris, C. W. Uffner, C. W. Darnes and others were instrumental in effecting its organization. The pastors have been as follows: Revs. Moffatt and Blanpied, one year; B. F. Bell, one year; J. H. John- - son, two years; S. R. Squire, two years; J. R. Reasoner, two years; W. Ben. Taggert, three years; John Phifer, three years; S. Barcus, two years. Rev. Williams is the present pastor. Services were held in the school-house until 1874, when the present house of worship, a neat, sub- stantial briek of goodly dimensions, was erected at a cost of $2,500. The present membership in- cludes about sixty souls. Contemporaneous with the organization of the church was that of the Sunday-school. For four years previous, how- ever, a union Sunday-school had been successfully conducted. During the twenty years just past, the average enrollment has exceeded 100. Lon Myrice has charge of the school.

The Methodist Protestant church was organized in 1831 in the school-house which stood on the lot adjoining the present church building, by Rev. Israel Thrapp. The organizing members were six in number-George Littiek, Abram Jones, Charles Borough, Isaac Shambaugh, Wil- liam Davidson, and one other. Several years later the school-house was burned, and a church

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

building was erected. This, too, was consumed about 1850, after which preaching was transferred to a frame school-house close by, and held there until the completion of the present.building, in 1857. Among the pastors who have supplied this charge were G. W. Hissey, Joseph Hamilton and John Woodward. W. S. Wells fills the pulpit at present. The church membership is eighty-two. A Sunday-school has long been successfully car- ried on, superintended at present by Seth M. Cullison.

The German population is principally Lutheran in religious sentiment. In or about the year 1839 a German Lutheran church was built in the southeastern part of the township, on section 21. Here the Germans were accustomed to meet once a month for religions services. But the church never flourished. Schisms arose and di- vided the members. The meetings were grad- ually discontinued, and finally ceased. The stout structure of the old log building is still standing, doorless and windowless.

Many of the German settlers emigrated from Muskingum county and had there belonged to the Lutheran church near Adamsville. After their settlement in this township they were oc- casionally served as members of the old church. When they had become sufficiently strong in number, a church organization was effected June 18, 1853, at George Struts' house, under the name of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church. George Shurtz was elected elder; John J. Werts and Daniel Ganmer, wardens. Early in 1855 Har- rison Wagner, Solomen Werts and Elijah Wag- ner, were elected trustees. Other original mem- bers were George Vinsel, Jesse Ganmer, Jolın Miller, William W. and Charles Adams. Rev. Samuel Kummerer was chosen first pastor. The early meetings were held in Ganmer's school- house. The church was erected in 1858, and dedicated December 5, the same year, by Rev. A. N. Bartholomew, the second pastor. It is a frame building thirty by forty feet, costing about $1,200. The regular ministers since, have been J. P. Hentz, and J. Weber the present incum- bent. The membership is now about 100. A Sunday-school has been held regularly during the summer season since the formation of the church.

With the advent of the French, came the ma- terial for the St. Nicholas Catholic church. Its organization was effected in 1856, by Father Bainter. The principal original members were Anthony Wimmer, Sr., Nicholas Roger, Wendal Strasser, Matthias Factor, Nicholas Erman, Jo- seph Salrin and John David. The first meetings were held in Mrs. Margaret Factor's house, and in 1857, the present house of worship, a log, weather-boarded building, was erected. The la- bor was performed and the material furnished by the members, each contributing three logs for the structure. Rev. Bainter remained in charge but a short time after the completion of the church, and was succeeded successively by Revs. Serge de Stchonlepnikoff, Andrews, Northmeyer and John M. Jacquet. The membership in- cludes about twenty-five families. A Sunday- school has recently been started, and is now in successful operation.

About 1824, a Dunkard minister, Schofield by name, began preaching on Will's creek, in the southern part of the township. No church building was ever erected in this township, but services were conducted many years, by Lewis Rodruck, at Philip Hershman's house. The society now has a church in Keene township.

The only tavern ever kept in the township was one kept by John Wamsley, west of the river, on the farm now owned by Charles Mar- quand. It was about the year 1810, that he hung out this sign of the Black Horse, offering enter- tainment to the wayfaring stranger. It was the only thoroughfare between Zanesville and Co- shoeton at that time, no road east of the river having been yet opened; and, in those days of slow travel, it was doubtless a welcome sight to the weary traveler. But it has long since filled the measure of its usefulness. It continued per- haps thirty years, then, like most other early country taverns, passed away.

Distilleries here, as elsewhere, prevailed in early days. Several little mills were built along the brooklets in the township, where a little corn was ground and whisky distilled. One of these was on Robinson's run, close by the school-house, where the run crosses the road. In 1847, a large

PHOTO

MRS, MARY MARSHALL.

OWEN MARSIIALL.

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

distillery was crected by Bcebe S. Cone, H. Schmueser, and two others, west of the river, on what is now James Jolinson's farm. It was a large building, about forty by fifty fect, with a capacity of 400 to 500 bushels per day, and was run by steam power. It was destroyed by fire, in 1857, and several years later partially rebuilt, by James Beebe, and conducted on a somewhat smaller scale; but a few years later, the fiery element again reduced it to ashes, this time effectually.

Frew's mill, the first and only one of any con- sequence in the township, was built on Will's creek about 1814 or 1815, by the Parker brothers, Zebulon, George and John. The land upon which it was built belonged, at that time, to James Mon- roe, of Muskingum county, and at the expiration of the Parker lease it fell into his possession. He shortly afterward transferred it to John Frew, whence its name. The Frews retained it thirty or forty years. It is now operated by D. G. Cooper. At this mill Zebulon Parker made all his experiments in perfecting the celebrated Parker water-wheel, now in extensive use in this county.

Franklin township has three postoffices, Wills Creek, Franklin Station and Conesville. Wills Creek is a little village of about fifteen houses, scattered irregularly about the bend of the stream, the name of which it bears. It was never laid out, and owes its existence to Frew's mill, located there. Its business consists of a store, two blacksmith shops, two wagon shops, one shoe shop, and the mill. A saw-mill was formerly operated in con- junction with the grist-mill. A steam saw-mill, built in 1851, was also carried on about ten years. Wills Creek receives a tri-weekly mail from Co- shocton. A. M. Henderson, the only practicing physician in the township, resides herc.

The other two postoffices are situated on the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis railroad. Close by Franklin Station is a small mining town, Coalport, containing about twenty houses, a store and a blacksmith shop. The name indi- cates its origin. Most of the families living here are those of miners employed by the Coalport Coal Co., whose mines are in Jackson township. A horse railroad connects the mines with the canal at Coalport.

Conesville of to-day is merely a railroad sta- tion. with a country store attached. The name was formerly applied to a collection of some six- teen or eighteen houses which sprang into ex- istence about Cones' distillery for the accommo- dation of the families of the men employed thierc. While the distillery was in operation, James Johnson built a cooper shop there, em- ploying about cight workmen. This also helped give the little town a boom. A store was estab- lished and everything for a while looked lively; but its existence was ephemeral ; it rose and fell with the distillery. All the houses have been removed and nothing remains to mark their for- mer existence here. Before this time, about 1840, a 'Mr. Delaney laid out in the same locality the plat of a village to be called Delaneysville but nothing ever came of it.

The coal beds of this township are little devel- oped. They may be found on nearly every farm in the eastern part of the township, but only a few are worked, and these few for home con- sumption only. A single mine, that of Mr. James Fitch, is worked regularly. It is situated on the line between Franklin and Tuscarawas town- ships, but the greater part of it lies in the latter township. The mine was opened about twenty- five years ago, and the supply is now almost ex- hausted. About 4,000 tons are mined annually. It finds a ready sale, and is shipped mostly to Newark.

Iron ore is found in some parts of the town- ship. Josesh R. Tingle has discovered on his farm several veins of a brown hematite ore which assays 45 per cent of metallic iron.

Petroleum oil of superior quality, is found in small quantities along a little run in section 11, on the place now owned by Prosper Royer. It oozes from the surface of the ground freely, in early spring. Philip Hershman first noticed it, when the land where it is found was still unentered. He would collect and use it for medicinal and other purposes. Wells have been sunk several times, at great expense, in search of the oil in paying quantities, but they have heretofore proved un- successful. The land has recently been leased to an experienced oil merchant, and search for hid- den oil, will again soon be instituted, with what success the future only can determinc.

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

The oldest person now living in the township, is Mrs. Catherine Miller, now in her ninety- third year. She is the widow of Patrick Miller, and the daughter of Arnold Kane. George A. McCleary is another pioneer who still survives. He was born February 4, 1798, and emigrated to this county in 1814; he has lived in Franklin township fifty-seven years, and has been one of its leading, active citizens, representing the county in the Ohio legislature.

About 1835, when the road between the Robin- son and Miller sections was opened east of the river, a mound, perhaps twenty-five feet in diam- eter and five in height, was in the road and was leveled to the ground in consequence. In it were found the remains of five or six skeletons. They were arranged like the radii of a circle, having the head nearest the center. A small mound was still to be seen west of the river and near the line between the lands of George Wolfe and Charles Miller.

CHAPTER LV.

JACKSON TOWNSHIP.

Size-Location-Organization-Streams-Canals-Settlement -Mills-Roscoe -- Its Growth -- Business -- Schools -- Physicians -Fire Losses, ete .- Fourth of July Celebration-Churches.

O F the townships of Coshocton county Jack- son is second in size, Linton slightly ex_ ceeding it in area. It includes the fifth township of range 7, according to the original survey, and that portion of township 5 of range 6 which lies west of the Walhonding and Muskingum rivers, embracing a little more than the one-fourth part of it. The former is composed wholly of congress land, which was surveyed into the usual half sections, of 320 acres cach, by Silas Bent, Jr., in 1803, many years before it was required for actual settlement. The land east of this, the eastern part of the township, consists of the frac- tions of the two western military sections of Tus- carawas township proper which lie west of the Muskingum and Walhonding rivers, the upper one of which is the Bowman section, the lower one the - section. An account of them is

given in the history of Tuscarawas township, and need not be repeated here.

Jackson township was organized in 1828. The eastern portion of it was taken from Tuscarawas township; the full original township west of this had previously been within the civil jurisdiction of Washington township. It was named in honor of the nation's military hero, who was just then passing through his first presidential campaign. A temporary separation took place between the two portions of the township shortly after its or- ganization, owing to the dissatisfaction of settlers in the western part. It seems that at that time each township was obliged to support its own paupers, the custom being to auction them off for support to the lowest bidder. As it happened, quite a number of poor lived along the river bot- toms, and the maintenance of them bore heavily and mainly upon the pioneers in the west, who were as yet barely able to provide for themselves ; hence their petition for divorce, which was grant- ed by the county commissioners, and the eastern part re-united to Tuscarawas township. This condition of things did not last long, however. After two or three years of civil isolation from Roscoe, the advantages of union and the incon- veniences of separation became manifest. The township, as it now existed, was wholly rural in its character, and the elections must be conducted at some lonely country cabin, where there was no whisky, no jolly crowd, no bustle or activity. Roscoe was rising in power and beginning to re- gard itself a rival of Coshocton rather than a mere appendage, and was anxious to become an inde- pendent local center. The desires of the two parts became harmonized, and at their mutual request they were re-united. Since then the bounds have been as they now exist. On the north are Bethlehem and Keene townships, on the east Tuscarawas, Franklin and Virginia on the south and Bedford on the west.

No streams of much importance belong to Jack- son township except the Muskingum and Wal- honding rivers which form its eastern boundary. Into these flow several small runs which drain the surface in the eastern part of the township. A branch of Simmon's run, flowing northwest, is found near the western line and toward the south several trickling streams carry the outgushings

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

of numerous springs through their channels into Virginia township. The surface is rough and hilly except in the eastern part along the river and on this account the township was settled very slowly. The soil of the greater part is of good quality, usually sandy in character, and may be made to yield excellent erops. In population Jackson ranks next to the township containing the county seat. It contains 1,968 inhabitants. Linton township follows closely upon its heels with 1,918.

Jackson has perhaps been more closely identi- fied with the canals of the county than any other township. The Ohio canal enters it from the south, and passes up the valley to upper Roscoc where it forms a junction with the Walhonding canal and crosses the Walhonding river into Tus- carawas township. The Walhonding canal pur- sues a northwesterly course up the valley of the river the name of which it has assumed, and passes into Bethlehem township.

The earliest settlements in the township were made along the river bottom, in the eastern part of the township. Here several settlements were made which rank among the earliest in the coun- ty, although the land beyond in the west was not generally settled for twenty years thereafter. It has been found impossible to fix exactly the date of the arrival of the foremost settlers, or perhaps even to mention the names of them all. Rev. Calhoun, writing thirty years ago, states that William Hoglin, about 1806, was living for a while in what is now Roscoe. This was proba- bly the year in which Thomas Cantwell settled here. He was Irish by birth, a shoemaker by trade, and came from near Charleston, Virginia. He cleared a little patch of ground just south of what is now Roscoe. The little stream upon which he settled is still known as Cantwell's run.

Henry Miller was probably here as early as Cantwell, perhaps sooner. He had been a revo- lutionary soldier; emigrated here from Virginia, and was a brother to Michael Miller, one of the earliest settlers of Franklin township. He had six sons, Nicholas, John, Michael, Thomas, Obed and Alfred. The eldest became one of the first settlers of Keene township. The other boys re- mained with their father for many years in the

northeastern part of this township, on what is now the Haight farm. Thomas subsequently moved up on the Killbuck, where he died. John, Obed and Alfred moved to Indiana. Michael died in this county. One of the carliest orchards in the county was planted by the Millers, on this farm. Asa Hart, from New Jersey, had emigrated to the township prior to the war of 1812. It was not, however, much before 1816 that the township began to be permanently settled. Beginning with that date and extending over a period of twenty years cabin after cabin slowly rose in the midst of the vast wilderness which then covered the town- ship, and which in time melted away beneath the sturdy strokes of the hardy backwoodsmen and left behind pleasant hill-side farms, many of which are now furnished with all the conveni- ences and improvements of modern farming.

Samuel Brown was from Salem, Massachusetts. He first located, in 1814, at Rock run, three miles south of Coshocton. In 1816 he settled on a tract about a mile and a half west of Roscoe, and, after clearing a few acres and building a cabin, sold his claim to John Demoss. He then built a saw mill on Cantwell's run, which had head of water enough to run the mill on an average three days in the week. For a number of years (until he united with the church) he depended on Sunday visitors to give him a lift in getting enough logs on the skids to keep the mill at work. The neighborly feeling, mellowed with a good supply of neighbor Sible's corn juice, sweetened with neighbor Craig's maple sugar, was always equal to the demands thus made. Later in life Mr. Brown engaged in the making of brick. He re- mained in the vicinity until he died, in February, 1871, aged eighty-four years. He was for many years a useful and highly esteemed citizen.

About 1815 a man by the name of Craig bought forty acres of land and built a cabin a little south of Robert Crawford's residence, ou the tract now owned by Burns & Johnson. He was one of the most successful makers of maple sugar, an article largely made and in universal use in early days in Coshocton county for sweetening coffee, tea, whisky, etc. Mr. Craig died about 1826, and his family removed from the county.

About 1814, a man named Sible built a small distillery on the farm just south of Roscoe, now

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

owned by John G. Stewart. A little later he put up a little mill on Cantwell's run, about a third of a mile up. It was called a thundergust-mill, as it only run with full force after a heavy shower. "Sible's corn-juice " was very popular in that day, and the business done by him and his neighbor, Samuel Brown, was enough to warrant the idea of a town, and doubtless led James Calder to lay out, in that vicinity, Caldersburg.

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History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 81

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