USA > Ohio > Delaware County > History of Delaware County and Ohio : containing a brief history of the state of Ohio biographical sketches etc. V. 2 > Part 22
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wagons, over rough and almost impassable roads, are superseded by the iron track and the railway car. A thousand and one conveniences that the pioneer never dreamed of appear to us actual necessities.
Brown Township is a division of the county that is replete with historical interest. Originally, it occupied the central portion of the county, and, later, the north central portion, lying in Range 18, and, by the United States survey, is Township 5. It is bounded on the north by Oxford, on the east by Kingston, on the south by Berlin, on the west by Delaware and Troy, and is in area a full town- ship. Just when Brown was erected into a separ- ate and distinct township is among the lost arts, or rather, the record book of the County Commis- sioners' Court, containing this valuable informa- tion, has been spirited away or destroyed, probably the latter, leaving a gap in the proceedings of the honorable court from 1822 to 1831. When Delaware County was formed, it was divided into three townships, viz., Berkshire, Radnor and Lib- erty. In this division, one-half of the territory now included in Brown was in Radnor, and one. half in Berkshire. At the first meeting of the County Commissioners' Court (June 16, 1808), Delaware Township was created. This took from Radnor that portion of Brown contained in it, and gave it to Delaware, while the balance of Brown remained in Berkshire, as before. The formation of Peru Township (now in Morrow County), April 22, 1817, took one-quarter of the present territory of Brown. It has thus changed hands frequently since the formation of the county, and somewhere between 1822 and .1831, probably about 1826, Brown Township was created.
The township has but one large stream of water -Alum Creek. It passes through the eastern part, entering near the northeast corner and flowing
* Contributed by Dr. S. W. Fowler.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
south passes out near the southeast corner into Berlin Township. There are several small streams that flow into Alum Creek, some of which have their source in the township. Some of these little streams are noted for having been the ancient sites of Indian encampments, at a time when the Scioto Valley formed a part of the hunting-grounds of the Delawares and Mingoes. Leatherwood Run takes its name from a shrub found growing upon its bank. This peculiar shrub was much sought after by the early settlers, who used both its bark and wood for a variety of purposes. Leatherwood Run has its source in the south part of Oxford, and flows south through Brown, emptying into Alum Creek near Eden Village. Along this run in early times were three Indian encampments, more particularly mentioned elsewhere. Big Run rises in the central portion of the township, and flows southward into Berlin, where it mingles its waters with those of Alum Creek. Sugar Creek, a small stream, rises in the western part and flows into the Olentangy at Delaware. Here it has been utilized by Mr. Vergon, who has con- structed an artificial lake which is supplied with water by this little stream. Three small streams in the southeastern part are called respectively, Longwell's Run, Dutton's Run and Matthews' Run.
The land east of Alum Creek is particularly adapted to grazing. In close proximity to the creek, it is broken and of a rather thin soil, while at a greater distance it is gently undulating, and not only good grazing land, but well adapted for farming, the soil having less clay and more rich black loam than the rolling land near the creek. Along the west bank of the Alum, the land is also undula- ting, and was the first to be brought under the influence of the settler in the present township of Brown. The grand old elms with their long shel- tering arms were rapidly reduced to ashes; the giant oaks that had withstood the storms and tem- pests of centuries, soon found their way into fences surrounding the newly opened fields of the pio- neer. The land further west was low and wet, defying horseback or wagon travel through its swamps, and even barring roadways for years. Ow- ing to the tile and open drainage systems, however, this section, this wet, swampy land, once consid- ered worthless under the sway of the prudent husbandman, has become the most productive in the township. The roads and highways that were located on the highlands and took circuitous routes to the county seat, have long since passed away,
and now direct roads, graded and graveled, are passable all the year round.
Among the attractions which brought the early settlers to the territory included in Brown Town- ship, was the "Salt Lick," as it was called. When the United States Government sent its agents to survey the country, a salt lick was discovered in the northeast quarter of what is now Brown, from which the Indians procured this much-needed article. A reservation was made by the United States of 4,000 acres, and deeded to the State for educa- tional purposes. This was called the " salt reser- vation." Some years later, perhaps about 1804 or 1805, Dr. John Loofbourrow, moved into what is now Berkshire Township. He was from Vir- ginia, and located on what afterward became the Eckelberry farm, but after a short time sold out and moved to the Durham farm, as it is called. lying just east of Alum Creek, on the Delaware and Sunbury Turnpike. Here he lived and prac- ticed his profession for many years. He had with him his old faithful man, "Friday," Oko Richey (colored). This old darkey, it is said, was ever mindful of and faithful to his master's interest. When Dr. Loofbourrow learned from some friendly Indians where they obtained their salt, with his servant and a few of these Indians, he made a visit to the locality, which he found only about five miles to the north, and just up the creek from his own settlement. He and Oko procured large iron ket- tles, built a furnace and commenced the manufact- ure of salt. Although a very slow process, they produced the article in sufficient quantities to par- tially supply the inhabitants, and thus very soon became noted salt merchants. After some twelve years, this salt business was investigated by other parties, who thought they saw in it an enterprise of untold wealth. In 1817, these parties went to Columbus, and succeeded in securing from the State a contract, leasing to them 1,000 acres of land adjacent to, and 300 around, the salt lick and on the salt reservation. for a term of twelve years. The provisions of this contract with the State were, that the contractors should bore to the depth of at least 200 feet, unless salt water in paying quantities was sooner reached. They were to leave the well tubed with good copper tubing at the expiration of their lease. Loofbourrow now withdrew from the business, and soon after re- moved to Wisconsin.
The contractors at once commenced boring for salt, and went to a depth of 480 feet, and even i then failed to find salt water in paying quantities.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
To their great disappointment, they found their visions of wealth rapidly dissolving into thin air. They notified the State authorities, who in turn reported to Congress, and that august body ordered the salt reservation to be surveyed and sold. Accordingly, a Mr. Carpenter, of Lancas- ter, Ohio, was authorized to survey it, which be did into 100-acre lots. In November, 1826, these lots were sold to the highest bidder; the early settlers and contractors being allowed the re- fusal of the lands which they had been for some time improving, a business they had found more profitable than boring for salt.
As we study the history of our country, and ponder over its early settlements, we naturally ask, " whence came the pioneers ;" for necessarily they must bring with them their industry, mor- ality, Christian influence, and the well-established customs of their native places. Their ideas, to a large extent, form and mold the future importance of their neighborhood and vicinity. Decades, even centuries, scarcely suffice to obliterate the influences left upon a country by its pioneers. Thus it was with Brown Township. Its early settlers were mostly from New York and Vir- ginia, the oldest, most refined and aristocratic sec- tions of the American Union ; sections where law and order, education and religion, hold a high place in the minds and hearts of the people. The first permanent white settler in Brown Township was Daniel G. Thurston, in the spring of 1817. : But as far back as 1809, a settlement was made in the extreme southwest corner, by a man named Erastus Bowe, from Vermont. He built a cabin and called the place Bowetown, though it was never, we believe, laid out as a town, or populated, except by Bowe and his family, consisting, at the time, of his wife and two children. He remained here but a short time, when he went to Delaware. He resided in Delaware until 1817, and then re- moved to Tiffin, where he died in December, 1863. But few now remember anything of him, and Mr. Thurston is generally recognized as the first permanent settler. He moved into the township from the eastern part of Berlin, which. at that i time, was the central part of Berkshire Township. ; He had settled in that region upon his arrival in the county in 1810, but, in the spring of this year (1817), moved into Brown. He was origin- ally from Clinton County, N. Y. With bis family, a few goods packed into a large wagon, which was drawn by four good horses, he left his home in the East, carrying with him the good | nated.
wishes of the many friends left behind. Along the lonely route were seen occasionally
"Cities and towns, dim and mysterious,
Like something pictured in the dreams of sleep ;
A hundred streams, with all their wealth of isles,
Some bright and clear, and some with gauze-like mists
Half-veiled like beauty's cheek :"
these were some of the scenes that relieved the long and tedious journey of its monotony. Trav- eling over mountains and through the dense wil- derness, subjected to numberless exposures, he reached, finally, his place of destination on Alum Creek. He located on the summit of the first little hill west of the creek, on what is now known as the Delaware & Sunbury Turnpike Road. This road, or but a trace then, wound along under the hill, following the river toward the Eaton set- tlement, as it was termed. Here his long journey ended; a cabin was at once built, into which he moved with his family and his brother Isaac, who had accompanied him to the West. The latter went to work in a distillery that had been raised at no great distance, while Daniel himself worked in a saw and grist mill near his rude home. In 1817, seven years after he had settled in the county, he sold out to Ebenezer Loofbourrow, who had just arrived in the neighborhood from Virginia.
After Mr. Thurston sold out to Loof bourrow. he moved into the present township of Brown, where he had to begin his pioneer lite over again, as it were. With the blue canopy of heaven for shelter, Mother Earth for a bed and the forest as walls of protection, he proceeded to carve out a new home. He soon had logs cut and on the ground for a cabin; a few days more and the cabin was reared, the clapboards placed on for a covering and a floor of puncheons added to the building. His family now occupied this " palace of logs," and his companion, with that instinct and refinement natural to woman, soon rendered it attractive and homelike. When his cabin was completed and his family located, Mr. Thurston entered into a copartnership with James Eaton, who lived a short distance south of him, and a man named Steven Gorham. These gentlemen formed the company. and were the contractors in the famous salt speculation, of which we have al- rady spoken, and the lessees of the " salt reser. vatioa." His new home was on this reservation, or on the " salt section," as it was usually desig- Shortly after his location, Mr. Gorham
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
moved in, but, after the failure of the salt busi- ness, left in disgust, and was lost sight of. Isaac Eaton erected a cabin a little north of Mr. Thur- ston's, in a short time after the latter's settlement. These, with Isaac Thurston, were, for several years, the only settlers in the present limits of Brown Township.
With becoming reverence, we may add in this connection, that Daniel Thurston worked in the " fear of the Lord," and " eschewed evil." " The Lord blessed him," and he " waxed rich and mul- tiplied." He died in 1843, at the age of seventy- two years. His wife outlived him twenty-one years, and died in. 1864 at the age of eighty-two years. She saw the country twice convulsed in war, but died without being permitted to witness the peace which finally crowned the great rebel- lion. She and her husband had born to them thirteen children, all of whom reached the years of maturity. They followed in the footsteps of the father-multiplying abundantly. As a matter of some interest to our readers, we devote a little space to the genealogy of this prolific family. The children of Daniel Thurston were Harriet, Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Samuel, Sarah, Phoebe, Norton, Vinal, Eunice, Fannie and Barbara. Harriet first married Dr. Monroe, and, after his death, married Dr. John Loof bourrow. She had two children when she moved to Wisconsin, and died. Mary married Israel Wood, a Quaker (who lived in Peru Township, then in this, but now in Mor- row County). She died fifteen years after her marriage, leaving twelve children. Joseph mar- ried in 1826, a daughter of B. F. Loofbourrow, who at the time was living on the Thurston farm. There were born to him ten children, all of whom, with one exception, we believe, are now living. Elizabeth married Ralph Longwell, a soldier of 1812, and who died in 1874. In 1879, his widow drew a pension due to the soldiers of 1812, by an enactment of Congress. She was the mother of thirteen children. Sarah first married Lyman Thrall, and, after his death, Andrew Thrall. a | brother, who is now living in Southern Ohio. 1 Phobe married William K. Thrall, and has but one child, Mrs. T. S. Scott, of Eden. Norton married a Miss Jones, and died in 1817. He was the father of six children. Vinal married a Miss Plant ; eight children was the result. Eunice married Norton Harden; she died, leaving eight ! children. Fannie married H. Walker, and bad born to her six children. Samuel married, and had born to him eight children.
William Livingston and was the mother of ten children. These were the families and the children of Daniel Thurston, numbering in all one hundred, twenty and two; and the number of all the gen- erations of this old patriarch down to the present time are " two hundred, eighty and seven souls." To his son, Joseph Thurston, now an active old gentleman of seventy-eight years, we are indebted for most of these facts, as well as much of the history of the township. He is possessed of a strong mind and is in excellent health. The com- panion of all these years is equally as vigorous as her husband, and together they recount the rem- iniscences of the early times, with the liveliest in- terest. The spring after his marriage, he erected a cabin on the one hundred acres of land he purchased at the sale of the " salt section," a pur- chase that joined his father's place. He paid 80 cents per acre for it in the following payments : One-twentieth of the entire amount down, and of the remainder, one-fourth in sixty days ; one-fourth in two years; one-fourth in three years, and the last remaining fourth in four years ; all without interest and without taxes. The first year he cleared ten acres of ground. This he planted in corn, the result of which was a beautiful crop. He fed the corn to hogs, which he sold at $7.25 per hundred pounds, and some cattle, " pastured in the woods," were sold at from $6.00 to $8.00 per head. The money thus obtained was applied in payment for his land, and for the necessaries of life. Some years later, Mr. Thurston bought 200 acres of land for which he paid $3.00 acre. He moved on to this last purchase where he lived until 1868, when he sold out and moved to Wisconsin. He there embarked in the drug business and continued it for eleven years, then disposed of his interest and returned to Delaware County.
The early settlers of this section were not with- out their Indian experiences. Although the In- dians were supposed to be friendly, yet they were looked on with some suspicion by their white neighbors. The Thurstons, being one of the first families to locate in this region, and that sometime prior to the removal of the Indians to reservations further west, enjoyed a more extensive acquaint- ance with them than settlers who came at a later date. They (the Indians) used to bring their game and furs to trade for corn and as a general thing behaved well. The elder Thurston, who had a little mill, would grind their corn for them,
Barbara married | and was on the most intimate terms with them,
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
and known far and wide among the neighboring tribes. When Joseph was a small boy, but nine years old, he was one day sent out for the horses, which, when not in use, were allowed to run at large in the forest. He wandered through the woods for hours, but after a long and fruitless search, he gave up finding them, and started to return home. After traveling for some time, he became lost in the forest, but finally struck an old Indian trail, which he followed some dis- tance, when, much to his surprise and conster- nation, he came upon an Indian encampment, where he was warmly welcomed (?) by an army of dogs, and forced to take refuge in the near- est tree. The commotion produced by these ferocious beasts brought an old Indian from his wigwam, to investigate the cause of so much dis- turbance. To the astonishment of the lad, he discovered in him an old friend of his father, while the Indian, quite as much astonished as the boy, found the game " treed " by his dogs to be none other than the son of his old friend Thurs- ton. The dogs were called off, and the boy in- vited to come down from his exalted perch. After he had related his adventure, a young Indian was ordered to catch a couple of well-trained ponies. Upon one of them he was placed, while the Indian boy mounted the other, and, acting as guide, led him through the forest, and after several hours' ride, he was restored to his already over-anxious parents.
It was shortly after the Thurstons settled in Brown Township that Isaac Eaton came, and lo- cated just a little north of them. He was a son of Joseph Eaton, who was among the early set- tlers of Berkshire. He worked at the salt wells with Thurston and Gorham, and, after the failure of the project, he turned his attention to farm- ing and improving the land where he had squatted. Here he lived and kept " bachelor's hall " for ten years, when he accepted the sensible advice, that "it is not well for man to be alone," and took unto himself a "helpmeet." He was married to a Miss Root, of Peru Township. At the sale of the " salt reservation," he bought the land he had improved, upon which he lived until 1838, when he sold to William Williams. This place lies adjacent to the old church and school grounds, and is still oe- cupied by Mr. Williams. One of the traces left by the Mound-Builders, and the only one notice- able in this immediate section, is on this farm. This relic of a prehistoric race is but a few rods from Squire Williams' house. It is cone-shaped, the
summit standing some eight feet above the level of the surrounding ground, and is about forty feet in diameter at the base. A ditch, two feet deep, surrounds it, outside of which is a wall, or embank- ment of earth, about one foot and a half high and about two feet wide. In the east side of this wall or embankment is a bridge-like opening, resem- bling a gateway. . This mound was opened, and in it were found portions of a well-preserved skeleton, charred remains of wood, and a few other unim- portant relics, pertaining to this lost race of people.
William Williams, who boughtout Isaac Eaton, came from Fairfield County to this township. Three years after he located here he was chosen Justice of the Peace, an office he has been elected to from year to year until the present time. He has also served the county as Treasurer two terms, from 1846 to 1852, and as an Infirmary Director three years. He has likewise served the township in the capacity of Clerk and Treasurer, and been often chosen administrator of estates and guardian of minor heirs. In all of these positions, his duties have been discharged with a faithfulness and fidelity that is rare in these degenerate days. With the exception of the first three years, he has held official position ever since he has been a res- ident of the county.
Emigrants came in rapidly, and soon the entire salt reservation was settled up. One of the first families to move in after those already mentioned, was that of Benjamin McMasters, who came in about 1826. This pioneer of county and State was born in New York September 24, 1795, and was the third in a family of four children. His father died when he was quite young, and his mother moved with her family to Ohio in 1813, and located on the Scioto River, in Franklin County. He worked here for some time in a saw- mill, the first one built on the Scioto. It was in this mill that the lumber was sawed used in the construction of the old State House at Columbus. In 1814, the MeMasters family moved to the village of Worthington, and lived for a time in part of the house in which Col. Kilbourn kept a tavern. In the latter part of the same year, Ben- jamin came to Delaware County. His first work was the clearing-up of twenty acres of land for a Dr. Warren. In 1817, he went to Champaign County, and the next year married a daughter of Lemuel G. Humphrey, of Liberty Township, Del- aware County. His wife lived but a few years. After her death, he came back to this county,
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
'where, in a year or two, he married again. At the sale of the salt section, in Brown Township in 1826, to which reference has been frequently made, he purchased 100 acres of land, upon which he at once built a cabin of the regular pioneer pattern. He moved into it one night between 9 and 10 o'clock, late in December, and snow on the ground at the time some fifteen inches deep. His worldly wealth consisted of one yoke of steers, one heifer, ten head of young hogs, a dog (all early settlers had a dog), a small supply of household goods, a few provisions and $50 in money. Here he lived until 1851, when he started a warehouse and formed a business partnership in Ashley, where he still resides. In the spring of 1852, he sold his place to his son Horace, who still occupies it. For many years, the latter has devoted much attention to fruit culture, and stands deservedly high in that branch of business. His large and well-assorted orchards produce from one to two thousand bush- els of apples annually, with other fruits in con- siderable quantity. He has just completed a cider mill and press, which is most perfect in every particular, and has a capacity of 150 barrels a day.
The same years that brought to Brown Town- ship the pioneers we have already mentioned, witnessed the arrival of others, who, at the same land sales, purchased themselves homes. Among them we may mention Andrew Finley, J. Flem- ing, Zenas Leonard, James, George, Ralph and E. Longwell, S. Harlow, Charles Cowgill, John Kensill and others. With such an influx of immigration, the township rapidly settled up. Among those who came at a later date were John Walker and Will- iam Finley. Walker came from Virginia in 1832, but was a native of Ireland. He was born in 1784, and died upon the place of his original settlement (in this township) at the great age of ninety-eight years. Finley was a son-in-law of Walker, and settled first in Kingston Township, but after a few years moved into Brown. He bought 100 acres of land, upon which he still lives with his son, and is now ninety-two years old, but growing somewhat feeble. His wife is living, and remembers quite vividly the stirring seenes of those early times, when the country round about them " was all woods" and stocked with game of all kinds. The same year of Walker's settlement in Brown, a young man named Charles Neil, now better known as " Uncle Charley Neil," came in. He was also from Virginia, and also married a daughter of Mr. Walker. Mr. Nei! carried on an
ashery, and taught school for some ten years, when he was elected County Surveyor. This office was given to him by the people of Delaware County from 1842 to 1864, without any solicita- tion on his part. In the latter year, unknown to him, he was nominated, and, afterward, elected to the office of County Auditor, which office he held for two terms. During his second term as Auditor, he was elected Mayor of the city of Delaware by an overwhelming majority. A short time after the settlement of the Thurstons, Eatons and others already mentioned, Hugh Cunningham came from Pennsylvania and located on what is now called the Hann farm. He was the father of fifteen children, all of whom reached the years of maturity, and of the number there were three pairs of twins. He died in 1824, and his children have all fol- lowed him, except one-Mrs. Torrence, who lives at Mount Vernon, Iowa, and, at an advanced age, is enjoying good health. In 1827, Hugh Lee located in Brown Township, on what was then called the Peter Baker farm, but is now owned by Mr. Snedeker. He was a branch of the illustrious Lee family-a family that has produced as many great men as any in our country. As a proof that the family did not deteriorate in him, a son, John Calvin Lee, who was born while his father lived on this place, and who spent his childhood here, rose to the rank of Brigadier General during the late war, and, after its close, was twice elevated to the position of Lieutenant Governor of the State. In 1867, and again in 1869, he was elected Lieutenant Governor on the ticket with Hon. R. B. Hayes, now President of the United States. A more extended notice is given of both of these gentle- men in another chapter of this work. Dr. Lyman Potter, who lives near the north line of the town- ship, is a native of New York, and settled in Peru Township in 1821, and, in 1844, moved into Brown. When somewhat advanced in life, he began the study of medicine with old Dr. Carney, of Berkshire, one of the early practitioners of the county. After his term of reading, and after practicing some years, Dr. Potter attended lectures at the Starling Medical College at Columbus, from which he graduated in 1850. He then returned to his old location (the village of Eden) and con- tinued practice until his removal to the farm where he now resides. After locating upon his farm, he attended those in the immediate neighborhood who required his professional services, but did not make it his business exclusively. He assisted in organizing the first medical society in the county,
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