History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 97

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 97

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).

William Critchfield built the first house in the plat. It was a small, rude, log affair, but he soon after ereeted a frame building and kept tavern in it. S. H. Draper sold the first goods here, be- ginning about 1835, and continued five or six years. There have since been as many as three stores in operation at one time. The construc- tion of the Walhonding canal gave an impetus to the little village, which presaged a prosperous future, but the failure to extend the canal mili- tated against much commercial glory and emi- nence. The terminus of the canal is about a mile below Rochester. A dam is here constructed across the river, and the slack-water navagation as far as Rochester made practicable.

Soon after the canal was finished, a large ware- house was built by Isaac Thatcher and James Clement. A large amount of grain was handled here for a few years, but from some unknown cause the business was permitted to decline.

The first postmaster was Dr. Singer, who was also the first resident physician of the place. William Oldroyd, Samuel Thatcher and William

599

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

Conner afterward kept the office in turn. It was then hekl by Henry Borden about two and one- half miles north of Rochester, and a year later, in 1861, it was removed to the Center.

The population of Rochester, in 1840, was 111. This was before the completion of the canal. At one tinie there were here two hotels, three stores, two blacksmith shops, one mill, one ware house, one tannery, a wagon maker, a cabinet maker and a tailor, but none of these now remain. The village has almost passed the period of decadence and will soon pass into oblivion. The Cleveland and Mt. Vernon railroad, which is only four miles north, has attracted to the villages on its route the trade in this vicinity.

A small saw mill was operated for a few years, in early times on Folly run by William Smith. Bradford Borden, son of Thomas Borden, about 1837 opened a little distillery on his father's place, but continued its operation for a few years only.

CHAPTER LXVII.

TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP.

Boundaries-Soil-Railroad and Canal-Military Sections- Early Settlements-Fulton's Mill-Early Milling-Indian History - Bouquet's Expedition -Indian Towns-Burial Ground-Mounds-Murder of the Indian, Phillips-Min- ing, its Development in the Township-Canal Lewis- ville-Churches.

AUSCARAWAS township, in extent, is the

smallest civil subdivision of Coshocton coun- ty, embracing that portion of range 6, township 5, which lies east of the Muskingum and Wal- honding rivers. In its original boundaries at the formation of the county, it included nearly the entire northern portion of the county. By the successive organization of new townships, this large territory was gradually separated from it, and in 1835, by the formation of Lafayette town- ship, it reached its present limits. In 1836, that part of range 6, township 5, which lies west of the Muskingum, was taken from Jackson, and re-annexed to Tuscarawas township. This ar- rangement becoming unsatisfactory, particularly to the people of Roscoe, the re-annexed portion was soon restored to Jackson township, and its boundaries have since remained undisturbed.

The township is particularly rich in fertile, river bottom lands. The wide valley of the Mus- kingum for a few miles from its formation, lies wholly upon the eastern side of the river, that is, in this township, while the valley of the Wal- honding and Tuscarawas embrace nearly the whole of the northern part of the township. Al- together, the level lands amount to more than one-half its territory, and this makes it probably the best township in the county for agricultural purposes.

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis rail- road enters from Franklin township on the south, and extends northward in an unbending course to Coshocton, thence it follows the mean- derings of the Tuscarawas eastward into La- fayette township. The Ohio canal crosses the Walhonding by an aqueduct from Jackson town- ship, and winds through the northern part of the township, north of the Tuscarawas, dipping once or twice into Keene, until it reaches La- fayette.

The entire township consists of military land. The first, second, third and fourth quarters of township 5, range 6, respectively, are known as the Price, Backus, Bowman and Denman sec- tions. Immediately after the military lands, to which Coshocton county belongs, were set apart by congress and surveyed, the rush for locations was so great by those who held warrants for land, that priority of selection must be deter- mined, and a public drawing by lot was held at Philadelphia. Mr. Cass, the father of Hon. Lewis Cass, drew the first choice, and Elijah Backus, a resident of Marietta, the second. Ebenezer Buckingham and John Matthews, both of whom were practical surveyors, were employed by both Cass and Backus to make the locations. The surveyors inquired of the proprietors for what purposes they wanted the land, and Cass replying that he desired land for agriculture only, the section at the mouth of Tomica creek in the northern edge of Muskingum county, was se- lected as the most desirable for this purpose. Mr. Backus wished a site for a town, and the second section or northwest quarter of range 6, township 5, at the forks of the Muskingum, was selected as the best location which the district afforded. Buckingham and Matthews became

600

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

interested in this section as tenants in common, and afterward laid out Tuscarawa, later, Coshoe- ton, on an extended scale. The greater part of this section lies west of the Muskingum and Walhonding rivers.

The first section, or northeast quarter, lies wholly in this township. The patent for it was granted by President Adams, to Benjamin Mor- gan and Chandler Price, merchants of Philadel- phia, as tenents in common, April 15, 1800. Two days later Morgan disposed of his moiety to Price for $1,000. October 25, 1800, Mr. Price sold John Matthews 180 acres, and in March, 1812, deeded Philip Waggoner 240 acres. The residue was re- tained and disposed of in toto to William Hul- ings in 1824, and five years later he deeded it to R. Butler Price. In 1831, Mr. Price began to sell it in lots, and in a few years it was mostly sold. The section was surveyed into sixteen lots of nearly equal size.

Matthias Denman was the original proprietor of the 4th seetion of the southeast quarter of the township, though the date of his patent does not seem to be on record. He was a resident of Springfield, Essex county, New Jersey, owned the two other military sections in this county, and was also proprietor of a tract of land upon which Cincinnati is now built. He did not be- come a resident of Coshocton county, but his children and grand-children settled here, and still occupy portions of their ancestor's posses- sions.

The first conveyance on record of the 3d sec- tion or southwest quarter of the township, most of which lies in Jackson township, is a deed from Martin Baum, of Hamilton county, to Jesse Ful- ton, for 455 acres, lying west of the Muskingum. A little later, November 5, 1802, the residue of the section was conveyed by Mr. Baum to Jacob Bowman.

The owners of these sections of land were dis- posed to withhold them from the market until, by the occupation of the surrounding country, their value would be considerably enhanced, and accordingly the settlement of this township was very slow. Most of the earliest occupants were either squatters or lessees, who remained but a short time and left little or no trace of their set- tlement here. The few early permanent settle-

ments that were formed, were made usually on location lots, the land received by the surveyors in return for their services in locating the sec- tions for the proprietors. The location lots were usually sold as soon as a purchaser appeared for them.

One of the first settlements in the county, and probably the first permanent one in this town- ship outside the limits of Coshocton, was made by the Fultons about one and one-half miles south of Coshocton, about 1803 or 1804. They were three brothers, Jesse, John and Samuel. Matthew Denman sold to John Fulton, Novem- ber 13, 1801, 640 acres, a tract one mile square off the western part of his section, and soon after he settled upon it. Just west of this was the tract purchased by Jesse Fulton from Martin Baum. Part of it Mr. Fulton sold to his brother Samuel. The latter died in the township during or before the war of 1812. John died of cold plague in 1815. Jesse, who was known as Judge Fulton, remained in the township for a while and then removed to Linton township, where he operated the salt works on his place in connection with farming. He was an enterprising and prominent pioneer and a man of very decided character.

The Cantwells about the same time settled just north of the Fultons on the Denman section. They were lessees only but remained several years. They were Nathaniel, John, William, James and Jacob, and several sisters. William was the post boy, who was shot from his horse in 1825 just across the Tuscarawas county line, while carrying the mail. Some of the family moved west; the others died in this county.

John Mitchell, a Pennsylvanian, who had mar- ried a sister of the Fultons, settled on the north part of lot 8, Bowman section, about the time the Fultons came. He was one of the first asso- ciate judges of the county.

Benjamin Fry, who emigrated from Red Stone, Pennsylvania, in 1808, purchased land just south of Mitchell. His house occupied the site of Samuel Moore's present residence, and in it he kept for sale a small stock of goods. In 1810, he removed across the river and there operated a small distillery for a short time, then moved to Fry's Ford, in Bethlehem township.

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

The Fry farm, of 262 acres, belonging to the location lot of the Bowman section, was sold in 1810 to William Moore, then of Muskingum county. His sons, Charles and Elijah, both unmarried, oc- cupied the place until 1814, when they returned io Muskingum county and a third son, John D. Moore, took possession of it. He was originally from near Pennington, New Jersey, and was a tailor by trade. In 1802 he went to Cincinnati, and for a few years worked at his trade succes- sively in the then small villages of Cincinnati, Marietta, Chillicothe, Circleville and Zanesville, carrying his goose and bodkin with him from place to place. He then came to Coshocton, and, in 1810, married Mary M. Miller, daughter of George Miller, of Lafayette township. In 1812, he was working at his trade in Coshocton with Mr. Neff, and living at the northeast corner of Main and Fourth streets. He was deputy sheriff for C. Van Kirk, his brother-in-law, the first sheriff of Coshocton county. He was also a cor- poral in Captain Johnson's company, and served a few months in the war. After his removal to the country in 1814, he engaged in farming and tailoring.

When the cold plague broke out with severity in 1815, he was one of the very few who had the courage to visit and minister to the wants of his sick and dying neighbors. Mr. Moore died in December, 1824. Of his five children, four died in infancy or youth. The remaining son, Samuel Moore, still has possession and resides at the old homestead.

John Noble, from Brownsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, about 1814, settled upon the north part of lot 9, Bowman section. He died a few years later. About the same time John Ostler, also from Pennsylvania, leased in this vicinity. He lost several children by the ravages of cold plague, and soon after purchased and removed to lot 19, of the Denman section.

Isaac Masters was an early tenant on lot 7, Bow- man section. He was from Brownsville, Penn- sylvania; honest and straightforward in conduct, but could work better for the material interests of others than his own. He died in 1822. Wil- liam Booklass and a Mr. Baird were other early tenants near by.

In the northern part of the township Isaac

Workman and David Waggoner were among the early settlers. The latter, in 1822, moved from Oxford township to the tract which his father, Philip Waggoner, purchased ten years be- fore from Mr. Price. He was born in 1796, and is at this writing one of the few remaining pio- neers. In 1822, the land he moved upon was still a dense, unbroken wilderness, as was almost the entire northern part of the township. A few squatters had come, built rude, small cabins, and departed, but no permanent settlement had been made in this portion of the township.

A ferry was kept about two miles below town in an carly day by John Noble, and afterward by Benjamin Fry. The road to Coshocton, east of the river, was much better than the one on the other side, and the ferry was consequently ad- vantageous to the southern settlers. It was maintained only a few years ..

For some time after the first settlement was made, there was no wheat flour to be had unless it came from a distance, and no corn meal except such as could be made in a hominy mortar. It was quite an event when the Fultons arrived, for they brought with them a small hand-mill, such as was common in the pioneer settlements of the West. Grinding frolies, after night, were common among the young folks, each one carrying home a few quarts of meal as the fruits of their labor. The first mill in the county was made with these millstones. The date of its erection is not known, but it was previous to 1811. The mill was situ- ated on that part of the old Rickett's farm, now owned by Seth McClain. It stood in the hollow, just below, and close to, the road south of the fair grounds, and about thirty rods south of Mr. McClain's stable. It was fed by Flint run and the water of a fine spring. The power con- sisted of a huge overshot wheel, exceeding twenty feet in diameter, which, however, turned exceedingly slow. Nothing but corn was ground in the mill, and very little of it. The mill was designed only to meet the wants of the imme- diate neighborhood in which it was located, and was operated only a few years. The supply of water power was insufficient to render it availa- ble to any extent, and it never repaid the cost of ! its erection.

602

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

The early settlers often went to Zanesville to mill in canoes. The only mill there for some time is said to have been a kind of floating mill, tied by a grape-vine to the river bank, and turned by the current of the stream. Such mills were common in early days, and did good service in those necessitous times. After a while Colonel Williams erected a horse mill in Coshocton, as mentioned elsewhere, the machinery of which, after doing good service here for a time, was re- moved to a new mill on Cantwell's run, across

the river. These were the only two mills in Tuscarawas township, except those afterward built in Coshocton. It is said that the first wheat ground in the county was ground on a coffec- mill belonging to Mrs. Williams, and sifted through a piece of linen. The salt used by the early settlers was brought from Taylorsville on horseback, and was often $8 per bushel, a cow being sometimes exchanged for a single bushel of salt. The dresses of the women were for the most part made of home-manufactured linsey, and the wearing apparel of the men was of the same, or of buckskin.

It would be a difficult matter to find another tract of equal extent with Tuscarawas township, in this portion of the State, that marks the site of so many and so varied scenes of Indian history. Many of these, unfortunately, have faded from the knowledge of men beyond recall. The ear- liest visitation of its territory by white men, of whom a record is preserved, was in the winter of 1751, when Christopher Gist, an agent of the Ohio company, remained a month in a village of the Wyandot's called in Hutchin's map, "Old Wyandot Town." It was situated on the Tuscara- was, several miles from the forks of that and the Walhonding rivers, in all probability at or near the site of Canal Lewisville. On Christmas day, 1751, Mr. Gist read the English service here, and delivered a discourse to the Indians, which was well received. The next day a woman, who had attempted to escape from captivity, and had been retaken, was put to death in a very cruel man- ner. Mr. Gist found here one Thomas Burney, a blacksmith, who had settled here. George Croghan, an English trader, afterward deputy In- dian agent to Sir William Johnson, Andrew Montour, a half-breed, and other white men.

The place of General Bouquet's encampment was on the highland, about a mile north from the mouth of the Wallonding. Its location is gen- erally supposed to have been at the foot of John- son's, formerly Salliard's, hill. What were prob- ably remains of the encampment, existed here as late as 1850. Four redoubts were built here op- posite to the four angles of the camp. The ground in front of the camp, to the north, was cleared, a store-house for the provisions erected, and also one in which to receive the Indians. Three houses, with separate apartments for the captives, were built, and with the officers' mess- houses, ovens, etc., this camp had the appearance of a little town.

Here 1,500 men were encamped from October 25, to November 18, 1764, and during the time 206 Indian captives were delivered to them. The ancestors of some of the present citizens of the county were among the prisoners restored. Among the rest, were six children, four brothers and two sisters, belonging to one family. They had been taken captive in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, together with a brother who was never restored, and a mother and an infant child who were killed. On their return to Fort Pitt, they were recognized by the bereaved father, who for seven years knew nothing of their fate. Among them was Rhoda Boyd, the youngest of the sisters,and fourteen years old at the time she was restored, the grand-mother of Smiley Har- baugh, who was a life-long resident of Coshoc- ton. Some of the soldiers, too, who served in this campaign were delighted with the country, and afterward returned and settled here. Among them was the father of George Beaver, of Keenc township.

Connected with General Bouquet's expedition was an assistant engineer, Thomas Hutchins, who projected a map of the country passed over, and laid down upon it the most important Indian towns in this vicinity. Besides " Old Wyandot Town," there were in this township two others, "A Delaware Town," occupying the site of Co- shocton, and " Bullets Town," situated some dis- tance below Coshocton, and represented on the map as lying on both sides of the river. Its ex- act locality is not known, but it was probably in the vicinity of Lichtenau, two miles south of

603

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

Coshocton. This latter was a Moravian village. The town was laid off in the form of a eross, one street stretching along the bank of the river. It was in the vicinity of the larger mound, standing near the road, several miles south of Coshocton, and other remains of the Mound Builders. C. H. Mitchener, in his "Ohio Annals," gives the following account of an ex- extensive burial ground at this place :

" Zeisberger settled Lichtenau, in 1776, and he was attracted to the spot from the numerous evidences as an ancient race having been buried there, more civilized than the Indians of this day. The missionaries have left but meager details of what they there found, but enough to clearly prove that the inhabitants understood the use of the ax, the making of pottery and division of areas of land into squares, etc. In a large grave- yard, which covered many acres, human bones or skeletons were found, less in stature than the average Indian by a foot and a half. They were regularly buried in rows, heads west and feet · east, as indicated by the enameled teeth in pres- ervation, so that the disembodied spirits, on com- ing out of the graves, would first see the rising sun and make their proper devotional gestures to their great Spirit or God. From approximate measurement this graveyard is said to have con- tained ten aeres, and has long since been plowed up and turned into cornfields The race of beings buried there averaged four feet in height, judging from the size of the graves and layers of ashes. Estimating that twenty bodies could be buried in a square rod, this human sepuleher, if full, would have contained over 30,000 bodies, and the ordi- nary time required to till such a graveyard would not be less than 500 years, in a city the size of Coshocton of the present day, assuming that the generations average thirty-three years of life. One skeleton dug up from this graveyard is said to have measured five and one-half fect, and the skull to have been perforated by a bullet. The body had been dismembered, and iron nails and a decayed piece of oak were found in the grave.

On the farm of a Mr Long, about fifteen miles southwest of St. Louis, was found, many years ago, an ancient burying ground, containing a vast number of small graves, indicating that the country around had once been the seat of a great population of human beings, of less than ordin- ary size, similar in every respect to those found near Coshocton. But on opening the graves they found the skeletons deposited in stone coffins, while those at Coshocton bore evidence of having been buried in wooden collins. . After opening many of the graves, all having in them skeletons of a pigmy race, they at length found one, as at Coshocton, denoting a fully developed, large sized

man, except in length, the legs having been eut off at the knees, and placed along side the thigh bones. From this fact many scientific men con- jectured that there must have been a custom among the inhabitants of separating the bones of the body before burial, and that accounted for the small size of the graves. The skeletons, how- ever, were reduced to white chalky ashes, and therefore it was impossible to determine whether such a custom existed or not.

A custom is said to have existed among cer- tain tribes of the Western Indians to keep their dead unburied until the flesh separated from the bones, and when the bones became elcan and white, they were buried in small coffins. The Nanticoke Indians of Maryland, had a custom of exhuming their dead, after some months of bu- rial, cutting off from the bones all the flesh and burning it, then drying and wrapping the bones in clean eloths, and reburying them, and when- ever the tribe removed to new hunting grounds, the bones of their dead were taken along. It is known that this tribe removed to Western Penn- sylvania, and portions of them came to the Mus- kingum valley with the Shawanese. Zeisberger had two Nanticoke converts at Schoenbrunn, and one of whom (named Samuel Nanticoke) af- firmed-as tradition goes-that this pigmy grave- yard at Lichtenau, was their burying ground, and contained the bones of their ancestors, car- ried from one place to another for many genera- tions, and found a final resting place in these valleys, when their posterity became too weak, from wastage of war to remove them elsewhere.

Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, contains the following account of this burying ground :

A short distance below Coshocton, says Dr. Hildreth in Silliman's journal, on one of those elevated, gravelly alluvians, so common on the rivers of the west, has been recently discovered a very singular ancient burying ground. From what remains of wood still (1835) apparent in the earth around the bones, the bodies seem all to have been deposited in coffins; and what is still more curious, is the fact that the bodies buried here were generally not more than from three to four and a half feet in length. They are very numerous and must have been tenants of a con- siderable city, or their numbers could not have been so great. A large number of graves have been opened, the inmates of which are all of this pigmy race. No metallic articles or utensils have yet been found to throw any light on the period or nation to which they belonged. Similar bury- ing grounds have been found in Tennessee and near St. Louis.

We learn orally from another source that this burying ground covered in 1830 about ten acres. The graves were arranged in regular rows, with

604

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

avennes between, and the heads of all were placed to the west and the feet to the east.

In one of them was a skeleton with pieces of oak boards and iron wrought nails. The corpse had evidently been dismembered before burial as the skull was found among the bones of the pelvis, and other bones were displaced. The skull itself was triangular in shape, much flat- tened at the sides and back, and in the posterior part having an orifice, evidently made by some weapon of war, or bullet. In 1830 dwarf oaks of many years growth were over several of these graves. The graveyard has since been plowed over. Nothing was known of its origin by the early settlers. Below the graveyard is a beautiful mound.

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 97

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