USA > Ohio > Darke County > History of Darke County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume I > Part 25
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
ANCIENT LANDMARKS AND LOCALITIES.
"Kentucky Point."
Where is Kentucky Point? Gone! Where was it? It was a quarter of a mile west of the old fair grounds, and the waters of Mud creek surrounded it on three sides when the floods come.
I do not know who gave it the name of "Kentucky Point," but I do know that no spot of land in Darke county produced more grapes than those few acres of land. There was prairie on three sides of it full of mud and tussicks, but on the south side was dry walking to the top of "Bunker Hill," a quarter mile south. I suppose half of the wedding engage- ments in those days were first "whispered" on that hill. It was the one-and the only one-romantic spot near town.
281
DARKE COUNTY
The hill was probably one hundred feet high, which was very "mountainous" to we boys then. Lovers could climb to the top and gaze up the prairie many miles, and see the big hill on Peter Weaver's farm, four miles away, and then they could "see all over" Greenville, and see "Turner's mill on Martin's Hill." This "mountain" was densely wooded and "lovers' paths" leading hither and thither to ideal spots in which to tell to each other as to "how happy my love will make you."
Another wild pigeon roost was over on "Kentucky Point," in Mud Creek prairie. That "point" was about one-half mile due west of the south end of the old fair ground. Enos Shade and Jack Switzer used to kill pigeons by the hundreds at that place. That prairie used to be full of rabbits in the winter time, and the creek used to be full of muskrats. I think I have seen as many as fiffty muskrat houses projecting through the ice from Mud creek bridge to Bishops Crossing. There used to be lots of mink in those days. I can remember seeing the pelts-several of them-of otters killed in Darke county. Allen LaMotte had them in a huge pile of other pelts that he had stacked on the sidewalk in front of his store on Broad- way. "Big Jack" Smith, who lived in the "Beach," told me that he killed a prairie wolf on his father's place when he was a boy. There used to be lots of foxes in Darke county. Yes, and lots of deer, too. There were wild deer in that county when I was a boy. Wild turkeys were also plentiful. There were lots of wild geese and wild ducks flying all over the county no so many years ago. I don't think there ever were any bear in Darke county-at least during my boyhood.
"Armstrong's Commons."
"What a little bit of a Jim Crow town Greenville was in '65! Now it is putting on city airs with several kinds of gas, electric lights, fire department, water works, telephones, and a street railway-electric line, I believe.
"All that part of town south of Fifth street was a barren tract of land, known as 'Armstrong's Commons.' Before the war of the rebellion, it was covered with a thick forest. At the left of Central avenue, before it crosses the railroad, was a huge pond of water-now filled up and I undertand cov- ered with dwelling houses. West of that street, where there is now a long row of houses, was Jonathan Gilbert's brick
1
282
DARKE COUNTY
yard, afterwards leased by Manning Hart and later to John Harry for brick-making. Mr. Hart finally sold it off in lots."
"I can look back to the time that all that part of Greenville was a dense woods. I can remember when Ed Cline and Bill Creager shot a pheasant at about where the Pennsylvania depot stands. I give both of them credit for killing it as both shot at it at the same time. A little north of that stood se- veral dead trees in a bunch where wild pigeons by the hun- dreds used to roost. It was great sport for the Greenville sports in the '50s to shoot the pigeons on their roost.
"There were but two kinds of guns in those days-the smooth bore rifle and the single barrel shotgun. The double barrel shot gun was a rare article. The possessor of a double barrel shot gun was envied on all sides. There were quite a number of flint locks too in those days. Wooden ramrods were in time displaced by iron ones. A gun with an iron ram- rod was worth twice as much as it would be if it had a wooden rod. Just why I can't say, but a fellow with an iron ramrod to his gun wouldn't trade that gun off for a gun with a wooden rod unless he got the worth of the other gun in cash to 'boot.'
All that section of territory south of Martin street and east of Central avenue, was a dense forest at that time, and many times did I carry the game sack for hunters in that woods. There used to be a brick yard on that plat of ground now oc- cupied by the residences of Manning Hart, George Ullery and the Widow Meeker (200 Central avenue, opposite Fifth street) and more than once have I tracked rabbits in and out of that yard. Jim Collins was my running mate in those days, and while we were both good hunters, we never caught a single rabbit to my recollection. Yet the sport was great, and I look back upon those rabbit tracks with a fond memory. I was considered some "punkins" in those days as a wood- sawyer, and I shall never forget the day I was sawing wood for Mr. Dorman and succeeded in sawing one of my big toes nearly off. Taylor Dorman and Volney Jenks assisted me in bandaging up the toe and then helped me home, where I remained for several weeks.
"Old Orchard" and "Spayde's Woods."
By the way, how many of the boys and girls of Greenville have knowledge of the fact that all that block west of Mrs.
283
DARKE COUNTY
Judge Sater's house (218 West Fourth street) was once an orchard ?
Another thing the school children of 1856-1860 will recall is the fact that from Lucas's corner (southwest corner of Fourth street and Central avenue) to the railroad on Central avenue, there wasn't a house, but back a bit from the street was a huge brick yard.
And right (about) where Mrs. Lizzie Shepherd lives (201 Euclid avenue) was the center of Fletcher's nursery. And about one hundred feet south of the residence of Charles Roland, Sr. (corner Fourth street and Switzer street), was a tombstone factory, also owned by Mr. Fletcher.
There was a grove of trees that extended along the side of the hill in the rear of the residence of the editor of the Cour- ier, where the boys and girls of 1856-1860 used to assemble in winter time and coast down hill. In summer time it was a great place for picnics and political meetings. Corwin, Chase, Galloway, and many other distinguished orators addressed large audiences there.
Another picnic and public meeting ground was "Spayde's Woods," a little east of where Lee Chenoweth and Newt Arnold live (I am taking it for granted that they are still living where they built many years ago).
"Goosepasture" and "Bunker Hill."
But one house existed east of the D. & U. railroad- south of Martin street. "Martin's Hill" rose fifty or seventy- five feet and opposite the old Martin tavern stood Turner's distillery-all gone! There was no "Mackinaw" railroad in those days. No Union school house or high school. No city hall, no free turnpikes, no opera house, no daily papers, no stenographers or typewriters or telephone girls. The pret- tiest part of Greenville today was known as "Goosepasture" in '65. The bridge at Broadway over the Greenville creek and the one over the same stream at East Main street were both covered. The latter was called the "Dutch" bridge, because so many Germans crossed it to and from their homes a few miles east of town. Mud creek was not ditched in those days, and every spring the water overflowed the whole prairie from Morningstar's to Weaver's Station. "Bunker Hill" was the only real "mountain" in the county, but now it is no more forever-only as it lies spread on the streets of Greenville and
.
284
DARKE COUNTY
on the railroad. At the head of the prairie was another large hill, near the Peter Weaver farm, but it was chopped down and hauled away to ballast the Panhandle railroad.
Wayne Avenue and Wayne's Treaty.
What is now called Wayne avenue in Greenville, was the outpost of the old fort. What was known for years as Arm- strong's Commons was once heavily timbered, but was "cleared" off by citizens of Greenville for firewood, etc.
The Indians were very treacherous in those days, and had sneaked in and murdered a number of persons throughout the county, who had been working in their cleared patches of ground.
Abraham Studabaker never went into his cornfield without his flint lock rifle.
When I left Greenville in 1877, the trenches dug by Wayne's soldiers were still in evidence along what is known as Wayne avenue, and the huge rock that I spoke of in former letter as having been buried at the crossing of Fifth and Syca- more streets, was one of "Mad Anthony" Wayne's landmarks.
I went over this ground pretty thoroughly in 1873, in com- pany with David Baker of Mercer county. Mr. Baker was then about eighty years of age, and he had the benefit of his parents' personal knowledge of what he told me, and which he afterwards published in The Courier in 1875. I think Mr. Baker was a grand uncle to Jake, Van and Evan Baker. I asked him to point out to me the exact spot where Wayne held his treaty with the Indians, in 1795; he walked about for awhile, and finally struck his cane on the ground and said : "This looks to me as the spot my father declared that he saw the Indian chiefs and their tribes sitting in a circle when Gen- eral Wayne and his aids came down from the creek bank or the old fort, I can not now sav which. But father said all the chiefs were smoking long pipes filled with tobacco General Wayne had given them."
In company with my son George to Greenville in 1904, I took him down to show him where the treaty of Greenville was held, and found the ground was occupied by the resi- dence of Monroe Phillips (Sycamore, Fifth and Devor streets). That is the spot where Mr. Baker said: "Greenville will some day build a monument to General Wayne, and I hope it will be done during my lifetime."
!!!
BALDRY
حي الطبيعي
JG
RE
UPPER BROADWAY AND PUBLIC SQUARE,
GREENVILLE, OHIO, ABOUT 1857, SHOWING OLD COURT HOUSE
(Courtesy of Mrs. James W. Martin)
285
DARKE COUNTY
Mr. Baker died the following year, I believe, near Cold- water. Mercer county.
Old Court House and Market House.
The entrance of the old court house of my childhood faced Main street on the west. Originally a wide hall passed through it from east to west, but the east end was shut off to make room for the auditor's office. Immediately on the left as you entered the building was the stairway leading to the court room above. The front door to the left as you entered the hallway was the treasurer's office. Jim McKhann, George Martz, Thos. P. Turpen, Eli Helm were the treasurers in those days. The recorder's office was entered by a door facing on the north side, east corner of the building, and the recorders, as I remember them, were Edington, Robison, Shep- herd, Beers and Medford. The auditor's office, facing on the east side of Broadway, was presided over in succession by George Coover, D. B. Clew, E. H. Wright, O. C. Perry and Dr. John E. Matchett. The clerk's office faced Broadway on the west side and Doc Porterfield, Henry Miller and Ham. Slade were from time to time the occupants, Slade, I think, going from there into the new building.
The east side of the old court house was always a shady spot in the summer afternoons and many a political meeting was held there. I have heard such men speak there as Sal- mon P. Chase, Thomas Corwin, George H. Pendleton, Sam Cary, Sam Hunt, C. L. Vallandigham, Durbin Ward, Senators Thurman and Sherman, Lewis D. Campbell, George A. Sheri- dan, General Gibson, Governor Tod, Governor Dennison, General Noyes and many other orators of national reputation. Corwin, of course, was the greatest of them all, America never having produced his equal on the stump. Great as In- gersoll was in his prime, he could not sway the masses as Cor- win did.
*
Then the old market house stood north of the old court house (now the site of the city hall).
"Many were the nights" I played "London Loo" on that historic square and around that old market house. Well do I remember the great bonfires we used to build there on elec- tion nights.
286
DARKE COUNTY
"Quicks' Spring" and "Big Woods."
I suppose that "Quicks' Spring" has been dry many years. Where was it located? Just take a walk to the foot of the hill on the Jefferson pike to where it crosses a ravine, south of the old residence of the late Isaac Rush. south of the Brethrens' Home, and follow the rivulet in that ravine east- ward to its source, and you will come to the Quick Spring, or where it used to be when I was a boy.
Many and many a time have I rolled up my pants and waded in that stream, from Rush's culvert to the Eaton road. Great place that was for boys to build small dams and ope- rate "flutter mills" made of cornstalks. I can remember when it was all "woods" from our home (where Smith O'Brien now lives), to the present fair grounds, and on to Fort Jefferson, with very slight breaks. In later years, when the trees were all cut away. mullein stalks grew up there so thick that we boys often "charged upon them" with sticks and beat them to the ground-mowing them right and left, as we "moved for- ward in solid phalanx upon the foe."
Then House's "thicket," where the fair grounds are now located. There is where we boys of 1857-8-9 and '60 used to go hunting rabbits.
Bishop's mill-pond (north of Prophetstown) was always an objective point in winter when the skating was good. I think Noah Helm was the best skater in Greenville after Bob Roby left. Bob was the champion, if my memory is correct. Henry Tomlinson and his brother Ed were both good skaters.
Indian Trail.
(By Mrs. Barney Collins.)
"One of the last spots I visited about old Greenville, in com- pany with two of my children, was to follow the old Indian trail as far as I could trace it, out the Panhandle railroad tracks, which followed and destroyed the trail for a long dis- tance, just west of what is now Oak View. The trail then was as plainly to be seen as the public road, worn deep into the foot of the hill that skirts Mudcreek prairie by many Indian feet that trod it, single-file, as the tribes traveled from point to point in those wild days.
"From the hillside trail we crossed over past the spring (yet bubbling from the earth just below Oak View, I am told
287
DARKE COUNTY
north, on edge of prairie) and found the old bridge and road built across the prairie by General Wayne's men to reach the block-house on the old Devor farm, just west of the prairie. The logs in the house were (1850) in a good state of preser- vation. Some of them were deeply imbedded in the soil, while others lay out plainly as though but recently put there. That old trail led on north along the brow of the hill a few steps west of where Sweitzer street now is, ending, as far as I recollect, at what is known as Tecumseh's point, at junction of Greenville and Mud creeks."
"Beech Grove" and "Matchett's Corner."
When in Darke county last summer I looked in vain for the "Beech." It was gone-cleared off into farms of the most productive kind. Even the corduroy road was gone that stretched for two miles below Matchett's Corner, toward Twinsboro. Even Twinsboro is gone. Sampson is gone and Karn's school house is no more. Judge D. H. R. Jobes used to teach school in that old log building. I can see it now with its two big windows on one side and its big fire place in the center. And the benches-wooden ones without a back, lined up in front of two long tables that sloped to one side. I don't remember whether there was a blackboard in the house or not, but I do know that there were slates galore.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of Matchett's Corner. crossing of Eaton and Ithaca pikes, in the Reigle district, I think -- was an old church that had been converted into a "college," by the Martz Brothers-George H. and Jacob T., -and for the life of me I can't remember the name of that college. Perhaps it was Otterbein. No, that can't be. for there was a college at Westerville by that name.
That was in the days when Hen. Wikle drove stage (hack) from Lewisburgh and Euphema to Greenville twice a week. Several Greenville girls attended that college-among them my sister Lucinda-and these girls always rode to and from college in Wikle's hack. When the roads were good the hack reached Greenville about five in the afternoon, but in bad weather it seldom got in before ten or eleven at night.
From the time these girls would leave the college until they reached Greenville they would sing such songs as :
288
DARKE COUNTY
Roll on, silver moon, Guide the traveler on his way, Roll on, roll on, roll on, etc.
"Where was Moses when the light went out?" "Home. Sweet Home," "A life on the ocean wave," "Annie Laurie," "I'll hang my harp on a willow tree," "Nellie Gray," "Suwanee River," "The last rose of summer," "Wait for the wagon," "Willie, we have missed you," and many other old-time songs.
I wish some reader of The Courier would send me the words to the following sons: "Welcome, old rosin, the bow." "Pat Malloy," "Roll on, silver moon," "Kitty Wells," and "Daisy Dean." I have tried a number of places to get those songs, but failed.
Neimeier's Pottery.
While we are standing on this corner (Vine and Main streets) let's take a peep up and down this (Vine) street. That house you see standing across Mud Creek yonder is where 'Squire Morningstar lives. He is one of the best fid- dlers in town. He calls off the dances while he is fiddling and dancing himself. That's gretty good. isn't it? That's a steep hill that goes down to the bridge. The farmers often get stuck there when they're hauling in wood or maybe pump- kins. That little house to the left on the brow of the hill is where Sam Musser lives. He's a tailor and he can swear like sixty ; but he's so "Dutch" nobody can understand his cuss words, and they are more amusing than profane. That frame house standing away back there to the left is Neimeier's pot- tery, and if we had time we'd go over there and see him make crocks. He's got lots of clay over there and he's got an iron rod that stands up about a yard, and on top of that rod is the top of a table, which isn't over a foot and a half in diameter. Then he has two dogs, and he keeps 'em in a box that tips up at one end. There's a floor in the box that moves under the dogs' feet every time they try to walk. There is a big strap that is fastened to a big wheel on the side of the box and it runs over to a small wheel that turns the little table-top around about a hundred times a minute. Then he pulls a wedge out of the side of the dog-house and the weight of the dogs makes the floor move under their feet and the dogs just keep a runnin' their legs so's they won't fall down. An' when the table gets to spinnin' real good. Mr. Neimeier picks up a "hunk" of clay about as big as a brick and he puts it on the
289
DARKE COUNTY
table. Then he pushes his fingers into the center of the mud and the sides of it begin to grow right up as high as a crock. He puts a little paddle inside this hollow place he's made in the mud, and he makes it as smooth as this board here on the fence. He makes about one hundred and mebbe more of 'em in a day, and then he puts them in a furnace and bakes them as women do bread in their ovens in the yard. When they are baked real hard he takes them out one at a time and dips them in some red stuff in a big box, and they come out all colored up.
I'll bet them dogs get awful tired, for when he lets them out their tongues lall out of their mouths. I heard he was going to get a horse machine that will beat that dog machine all hol- low. I hope he will, so's to give the dogs a rest.
You see there are no more houses on that vacant lot, but I heard that Lawyer Devor, who lives down in Huntertown, was going to build a frame house right there on that corner.
"Huntertown."
It was the opinion of many folks in Greenville that the "tribe" living in Huntertown didn't amount to much. But do you know, my dear reader, that right in that one spot of Greenville, more young men and boys responded to their country's call in its hour of need than any other one spot per- haps in this whole country of ours. Think of it, will you, and then count them over?
Stewart Buchanan, Melvin Shepherd. Wikoff Marlatt, Billy Marlatt, Jerry Tebo. William Stokeley, Henry Shamo, George Perkins, Thomas Hamilton, Frank Pingrey, Philip Ratliff, Warren Ratliff. David Ratliff, Elijah Ratliff, Firman Sebring, Lafayette Huff. George Calderwood, John Calderwood, Enos Calderwood, Andrew Robeson Calderwood, Willard Pember, Daniel Nyswonger, William Musser, Isaac Briggs, Thomas McKee, William Miller, Barney Collins, Adam Sonday, John Hutchinson, Fred Reinhart, Mayberry Johnson, William Musselman, James and Isaac Pierce; John Hamilton, Tom McDowell and Thomas F. Boyd. Fourteen of the above named belonged to the Fortieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The only men left behind were John Wilson and Wallace Shep- herd, Thomas Stokeley and his father (too old for war), John Kahle. "Dutch" Thomas, Linus Purdy, David Welch, Bob Brown and George Tebo.
(19)
290
DARKE COUNTY
John Schnause would have been credited to the list of vol- unteers above named, but he enlisted in an Iowa regiment, and at that time was a resident of the Hawkeye state. I doubt if any other town can show the same percentage of enlistment as that one little spot in Darke county.
* *
*
Then why shouldn't I always be proud of the fact that I was a member of the "tribe of Huntertown." The founder of the "town" himself (George Hunter) had been a soldier in Great Britain. So as a military center "Huntertown" is not to be "sneezed" at.
Studabaker School House.
No one has dared to tear down that old school house-a brick one at that, and the first brick school house in Darke county. Where are the boys and girls who once learned to "figger" there as far and no farther than the "Rule of three?" Webster's Elementary Speller, with its "in-com-pre-hen-si- bil-i-ty" words-to all but the older schloars-was the great- est book of its day in any school. The spelling matches of fifty years ago are as potential in my mind now as they were then. The recollection of those days has found a tender spot in the heart of George Studabaker and he has kept them in- tact. Money can not buy them nor modern ideas efface their historic caste as long as he lives. I hope he will make a hun- dred years beg his pardon as they pass by.
The Old "Fordin'."
There isnt' one of the "old boys" of Greenville but will re -. gret to learn that the old sycamore tree that stood on the north side of Greenville creek at the "fordin'" was blown down by a storm this week, and floated down creek. Under the shade of that old tree the "kids" of the town used to go in swimming, piling their "duds" on the beautiful lawn on the bank. In that old swimmin' hole about all the boys in Green- ville in the days of forty years ago, learned to swim. The bottom of the creek was always delightful at this point, and the depth of water varied from "knee deep to neck," just the sort of place for amateur swimmers. Fifty yards down the stream is where they would go for "crawdads," after swim- ming was over for the day; and just above the "swimmin' hole" was a small district that was literally lined with stone toters, sucker fish and leeches; and it was always the "un-
291
DARKE COUNTY
tutored" lad who ventured into that district ; and when he did he invariably came out calling for help. "Come take these leeches off'n me quick!" After two or three years' sojourn in this place, the boys who had become expert swimmers-that is, could "float with both feet off the bottom," why they would move on up creek a few rods further, to the Morningstar and Seitz swimmin' holes, and their places at the old fordin' would be taken by the ever-coming and anxious new kids. Several limbs of the old tree hung out over the deep water, and the just-learning-to-swim boy would grab a limb and use it as a derrick to lift him up and down in the deep water. It was a brave lad who could make his own way out to these limbs from the shallow water on the south side of the creek. My, how many changes have taken place around that old swim- min' hole; in fact all along the old creek's banks in that neighborhood! The sites of the old ice house, slaughter- house, tannery, etc., have given way to cozy homes and beau- tiful streets.
CHAPTER XII.
DARKE COUNTY DURING THE CIVIL WAR.
We have noted the mixed character of Darke county's early population, its early isolation, and backward develop- ment. By 1860, however, great improvements had been made, railway and telegraphic communications had been established with the older communities and the weekly "Democrat" and "Journal" kept the people well informed on the happenings of the outside world as well as on those of a local nature. The firing on Fort Sumpter, on April 12, 1861, and Lincoln's first call for volunteer troops on April 15, 1861, were soon heralded in Greenville. Had the inhabitants been imbued with the spirit of national patriotism, and would they respond to the President's appeal? An extract from Beer's "His- tory of Darke County" answers these questions and gives a graphic description of the enthusiasm of the times. "The response from Darke county was prompt, determined and practical. Union meetings were held at Greenville, Union and Hill Grove. Speeches, fervent and patriotic, were de- livered, and within a few days three full companies of volun- teers had been raised. On Wednesday afternoon of April 24, three companies had left the county-two from Green- ville, led by Capts. Frizell and Newkirk, and one from Union, under Capt. Cranor, aggregating full three hundred men. These troops were mustered into the United States service as Companies C, I and K of the Eleventh Ohio, and on April 29, went into Camp Denison, where they rapidly learned the discomforts and expedients of military life, shouting and cheering as they marked the arrival of fresh bodies of im- provised troops. At home, the people manifested their zeal by generous contributions for the support of soldiers' fami- lies. One hundred and sixty citizens of Darke are named in the Greenville Journal of May 8, for a sum subscribed to that end of $2,500. The mothers, daughters and sisters sent to camp boxes of provisions; the men freely contributed of their means to aid the loyal cause. Bull Run was fought, and soon three months had gone by and the volunteers return- ing to Greenville were discharged only to re-enter the ser- vice for a longer term. Two companies were soon ready for
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.