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 27
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From 1820 to 1830, the settling-up of the county, and the divisions and subdivisions of lands, furnished much employment for practical surveyors, and Mr. Mendenhall was occupied much of his time in his professional occupation. His wife was a Miss Eliza Mendenhall, and her
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
parents, at the time of their marriage, resided in Chester County, Penn. He was a few years her senior, and she was born in the year 1795. They were second cousins. Their ancestors belonged to tho Society of Friends, and they always venerated the name and memory of George Fox, the founder of this benevolent and exemplary sect of Chris- tians. Their great-grandfather came over from England to America on the same ship with the celebrated William Penn, the friend and patron of George Fox, and the colony and State that bear his name. This ancestor had two sous, whose names were Robert and Benjamin ; the former was the grandfather of Joel, and the latter was the grandfather of his wife, Eliza. Mr. Menden- hall was well educated. wrote a neat and elegant hand as a penman, performed well official duties, was a Justice of the Peace and held other offices ; was an honest man, and a kind and obliging neigh- bor. In 1835, they moved to the town of Dela- ware, where they lived for a period of seventeen years, and a large portion of the time, he dis- charged the duties of Justice of the Peace. He built him a neat cottage residence and seemed to enjoy every comfort, but was not satisfied, and, in 1853, he sold his town house and moved back to his farm. Some years later, old age and bodily infirmities compelled him to abandon altogether the occupation of a farmer. He built a house in Olive Green, where he lived at the close of life, and died about the year 1872. His widow is now living at the great age of eighty-five years, and, although blind and helpless, enjoys good health.
In the same year the Lindenbergers came to Porter, Samuel Page emigrated from Broome County, in the State of New York, to Ohio, and settled on a new farm in the western part of the township, near the township line between Kings- ton and Porter, and a little north of the center of the township, on the Sunbury and Mount Gilead State road. This was in the year 1817. Mr. Page had a wife and several children, and he at once built a cabin on his new farm, and com- menced improving and clearing it up. But, about two years later, a brother of his, Mr. William Page, immigrated to Porter from the same county in the State of New York, and purchased the farm of his brother Samuel, upon which he set- tled. Samuel Page bought and settled on a new farm farther north, on the Big Walnut Creek, in Bennington Township, where the village of Page- town is now located. Upon this farm he lived about twenty years, and died in the year 1839.
The farm descended to his son, Marcus Page, who died a few years after the close of the war of the rebellion. His wife was a Miss Wheeler, and sister of the Rev. James Wheeler, the famous Wyandot missionary. Mrs. Page is still living, and this farm is still owned and occupied by the Samuel Page family. William Page was an industrious and exemplary Christian, and greatly respected. He cleared up his land, built comfort- able buildings on his farm, and raised a large family. He was drafted in the war of 1812, but the war having been closed soon after he was drafted, he saw but little active service. He died, on the farm he had cleared up, in the year 1846. His wife, a most estimable woman in every rela- tion of life, was a Miss Sarah Edwards. They arrived in Porter on New Year's Day, and received their New Year's farm in a new country, as a New Year's present. The names of his sons were William A., Roswell, Samuel, Washington and Ransom. None of these brothers are now living except Roswell and Ransom. There was in this family one daughter, who married a Mr. Wells. As already stated, William A. Page was the proprietor of the village of East Liberty, and was an enterprising, intelligent citizen, respected by his neighbors and acquaintances ; held the office of Justice of the Peace and other township offices. He died nearly thirty years ago, and his family are considerably scattered; some are dead and others have moved away. Roswell Page married a Miss Sarah Sherman, and settled on his farm of about one hundred and forty acres, situated on the Big Walnut Creek, near East Liberty. This was in the year 1835. He is still living upon this farm.
David Babcock, who came from the State of Rhode Island, settled in Porter in the year 1839, on the east side of the Big Walnut, and near the north line of the township. He cleared up his farm and occupied it until his death, which occurred in the year 1871, at the age of seventy- two years. The farm is still owned by the family, and his widow occupies it. Mr. Andrew Hem- minger, a Presbyterian of German descent, moved into Porter Township from Tuscarawas County, Ohio, in the year 1830. After the death of a former wife he had married a Mrs. Weaver, who had several children by her former marriage with Mr. Weaver. These united families numbered in all fifteen. He settled on a new farm on the north part of the township and adjoining the county line on the Mount Vernon. and Columbus road, aud at
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the time he was the only settler on the road be- tween East Liberty and the old Vail tavern stand in Bennington, and for many years movers and travelers were compelled to stop over night with Mr. Hemminger. Forty or fifty teams were known to stop over night at one time, so great was the travel at that early day upon this road. The fam- ily put up a double log house on the main road, and went to work clearing up the farm. They had much work to do, and did it. After the death of Mr. Hemminger, which occurred many years ago, his wife took charge of the family and farm. By her good example she taught the chil- dren industrious habits, and upon the farm they performed much manual labor, under the watchful eye of their most affectionate mother. This re- markable old lady, after the death of her husband, made several trips on foot to visit her friends in her native county, Tuscarawas, a distance of nearly one hundred miles. She was always ac- companied by her faithful old dog " Tiger." This watchful animal would guard his mistress with jeal- cus care by day and night. She lived on the old farm to see all her children grown. She died only a few years ago at a great age. In the year 1833, Mr. Aaron R. Harrison located in the western portion of the township, on the road running directly north from Sunbury to Mount Gilead, upon a tract of several hundred acres. His parents were English and he was born in Essex County in the State of New Jersey. He settled near his New Jersey friends in Kingston Township-the Deckers, Van Sickles and Finches. Mr. Harri- son was born in the year 1778, and he married, in the year 1805, Miss Mary Condit. She was a relative of the Condit family living in Trenton Township south of Porter. As usual with the early immigrants, Mr. Harrison and his wife were blessed with a large family of children. He brought them with him from New Jersey in wagons. There were four boys and five girls. His double log house was erected just opposite the house where his son Zenas now lives. Here they lived many years in almost a wilderness, and were compelled to listen to the frightful scream of the panther and the hideous howl of the wolf. He enjoyed many happy days with his family in this new country, and was greatly beloved by all who knew him. It is now a little less than fifty years since Mr. Harrison settled in Porter, and such has been the improvement of the country, the present generation can scarcely credit the fact that in his time in Porter, the panther and the
wolf were so plentiful, the safety of sheep required them to be housed nights and carefully guarded by day. When traveling from the schoolhouse after the spelling-school at night the boys some- times were seen quickening their steps to secure safety at their homes. The first frame barn in this township was built by Mr. Harrison. It was 30x50 feet. He has been dead for many years and his son Zenas now owns and lives upon the old homestead farm, and his son George lives in Peru in Morrow County. These two sons have ever retained the confidence of their fellow-citi- zens. Zenas for many years filled many township offices, and, during the past four years, he has been twice chosen one of the County Commissioners.
In 1837, four years after Mr. Harrison settled in Porter, Mr. Charles M. Fowler located in the northeastern portion of the township. He, at an early period of life, left the old homestead farm of his father's in the Catskill Mountains, and, in part- nership with Messrs. Snyder and Pratt, began the manufacture of oil cloth, but the business proved unprofitable, and Mr. Fowler emigrated to Ohio, and married a Miss Catherine Ann Gray, of New Philadelphia, in 1840, and immediately moved with his young wife to his new farm in Porter. Mr. Fowler and his wife came overland in a spring wagon-it was the first spring wagon in the neighborhood. Here they built themselves a cabin on their land. Mr. Fowler had purchased 200 acres in the first section of the township, and joined on the north by Bennington Township. He went to work in earnest to clear up his land. So dense was the forest that they could not see forty rods from the house, and only reached this neigh- borhood by following a path that was marked by blazed trees. After remaining here for four years with his young wife, who had never been out of town or away from home, Mr. Fowler returned with his family to his old home in the State of New York, going as far as New Philadelphia by wagon, and the rest by the canal and wagon. He rented out his farm for four years to Mr. McCreary. He again engaged in the business of manufacturing for about five years, when he sold out his interest in the manufacturing establishment, and returned to his farm and commenced improvements, and he soon had his farm under good fences and cultivation. He built a large frame house and two large frame barns, set out an orchard, and soon had everything about him for his convenience and comfort in the best of order. He and his wife were Presby- terians, and for many years they were regular
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY ..
attendants of the Old Blue Church in Kingston, a distance of seven miles from their home, but, great as the distance was, they were seldom too late, either for the Sabbath school or the church. But when the New School Presbyterians built their church in East Liberty, he went there, which shortened the distance about three miles. In this new church, Mr. Fowler and Mr. John Van Sickle, of Kingston, were the main props and sup- port. He made several trips to his old home in the Catskill Mountains, and was frequently visited by his father and his mother; she is now living at the advanced age of ninety-three years. Mr. Fowler died in Delaware, where he had moved but a short time previously, on the 12th day of June, 1872, and was buried in the cemetery he had helped to lay out, near the old church he had been so long connected with in Porter. His widow and a part of his family now live on the old homestead. His oldest son, Dr. Fowler, a medical graduate and a young man of 'promise in his profession, lives in Delaware. Old Mr. Fowler was a great reader, well versed in the Scriptures, and in his- tory, both ancient and modern, and all who had business with him had confidence in his ability and integrity as a man and a Christian.
Mr. Harvey Leach settled in Porter Township in 1834, and married a daughter of Mr. Dun- ham, who lived on the State road, near the county line between Morrow County and Delaware. Mr. Dunham settled on this farm quite early, but the precise date is not known. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and, in the latter part of his life, he became blind. Mr. Leach is still living, and occupies a farm adjoining the land that belongs to the estate of Mr. Dunham, his father- in-law. One of the early families in this part of Porter Township is the family of Mr. A. G. Kenny. He came from the State of Maryland, in 1828, and settled on a farm about one-half mile from the north line of the county, on a branch of Long Run. He was born in the year 1803, and his wife, whom he married in the State of Maryland in 1822, was born in 1802, being one year his senior. They settled in the woods, cleared up a good farm, raised a family of ten children, built the first brick house in the town- ship, and by their industry, sobriety and honest dealing, have won the confidence and esteem of all who know them. They are both still living and enjoying good health, and still own and occupy the old homestead. Just south of the farm of | Mr. Kenny, Mr. Samuel Dowell settled on the
head-waters of Sugar Creek, about the year 1830. He was a native of the State of Maryland, and an old acquaintance of Mr. Kenny. He was married to a young woman in Maryland previous to their immigration to Ohio, but they were not blessed with children. They settled down in the woods, and cleared up a farm. Mr. Dowell built a water saw-mill . upon Sugar Creek, and for many years sawed great quantities of lumber, this mill prov- ing to be a great help to many early settlers in Porter. Mr. and Mrs. Dowell were noted far and near for their hospitality, and their friends from great distances frequently visited them. The old inhabitants remember them, from the time they first came to Porter only as old people. He was born in the year 1769, six years before the com- mencement of the American Revolutionary war, and died at the great age of nearly one hundred years. His wife was born in 1800, and died at the age of seventy-five years. On the Sugar Creek, near the center of Section 1, and of the township, north and south, the Rev. Henry Davey settled with his family, about the year 1832, from Tuscarawas County, Ohio. It was then woods, and Mr. Davey commenced to clear up his farm with a will, built a saw-mill on the creek running through his farm, and, in a few years, his farm was well improved, and had good buildings. He was a man of great energy and will power, enjoyed robust health, and possessed great power of endurance, and was capable of performing great mental and manual labor. He belonged to the Society of Dunkards, and he was far and near known as the " Dunkard Preacher." He dressed in the habit peculiar to his sect. He wore a low- crowned, broad-brimmed, brown fur hat, and a single-breasted, brown cloth coat, with rounded skirts. His hair was moderately long, and his beard heavy and flowing gave him quite an apos- tolic air, although he seemed free from vanity or hypocrisy. He was recognized as a leader of his sect, and for many years his ministerial duties called him a greater part of his time from home. Although well to do in this world, he and his fam- ily were unostentatious, and by no means extrava- gant in their style of living. In 1856, he sold his farm on Sugar Creek and bought another on Big Walnut, where he lived for several years, and where he again sold out his farm and moved to the western part of the State, where he is still living, but is advanced in years and compelled to be less active in his ministerial labors. While living ou his farm in Porter, he induced his people to hold
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
an annual meeting at his house. The communion and baptismal services were held on the Sabbath day. The announcement having been made sev- eral weeks previously, hundreds were brought, out of curiosity, to the services of this peculiar sect. This was the first and last time they ever held their annual meetings in this county. During the day, they had preaching and baptized a great num- ber by immersion, and in the evening and night they ate " the feast of the passover," and admin- istered the ordinance of washing feet. The fatted lamb had been prepared in readiness, and they all sat down around the table. The people were all especially anxious to witness this part of the cer- emony, and the number in attendance did not in the least diminish by the approach of nightfall. At the hour of midnight, the washing and wiping of feet began, and when the ceremony closed, they turned around in their seats, and ate the supper of the passover. This ended the programme, and all repaired to their homes. One amusing incident occurred during the " feast," which greatly excited the mirth among the young of the Gentiles. A lad of only a few summers, somewhat acquainted with the Davy family, had been a careful observer, during the day, and having had nothing to eat from early morning, before leaving his home, be- came very hungry. He supposed this supper was for all present, and for himself as well as others. This belief was strengthened by the young men at the table-whom he knew, and he seated himself at the long table, with the communicants. His little eyes were steadily fixed on the communicants, who were washing and wiping feet, and his young mind was thinking all the while about the good supper he was about to have. Outsiders enjoyed greatly his mistake. The smell of the savory soup and lamb greatly excited his hunger, when, greatly to his disappointment, he was taken from the festive board and led to the kitchen by the kind-hearted leader, where his keen appetite was well supplied.
In about the same year, and as early as the year 1830, Mr. William Iler and the Gray family moved from Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and settled in Porter, near the north line of the township, in Section 1. His connection with the M. E. Church dates back a period of more than fifty years. He is a local preacher, and is an efficient worker among his own sect, but his mind is broad and catholic, and he frequently goes among other denominations, and with them performs his most efficient work for the promotion of the cause of the Christian religion. He has a beautiful home,
has everything about him arranged in methodical order, and devotes much of his time to reading He married a daughter of Mr. Gray, now deceased, who lived or an adjoining farm. He has raised two children, both of whom are married daughters, and have interesting families. He relates with great interest, amusing incidents connected with his frontier life. He and his wife are now in the decline of life, but they enjoy good health, as well as the respect of all who know them. S. A. Ram- sey, Esq., immigrated from the State of New Jersey about the year 1844, and purchased land and located on what is called the " Irish section," being Section 4 of Porter Township. At this time, this part of the township was very new. This was the last section brought into market for actual settlers. The titles, up to 1838, were in he hands of speculators. Mr. Ramsey settled upon a tract of about two hundred acres, located in the woods, near the center of the section. By his energy and industry, in a few years he put his farm in a good state of cultivation. His build- ings, fences and orchards are all in the very best condition, and Mr. Ramsey now, after many years of hard work, finds himself surrounded by the com- forts of life, and able, if he chooses to do so, to live, and live well, without labor. He has raised a large family, and is much respected by his fellow- citizens, who have frequently honored him with their confidence by electing him Justice of the Peace, and to other township offices ; and in the discharge of his public duties he has been faithful, and is regarded as an honest man. He is a relative of ex-Governor Ramsey, of Minnesota, who is now a member of President Hayes' Cabinet as Secretary of War. James B. Sturdevant, who is a farmer by occupa- tion, and lives one mile cast of Olive Green, is one of the oldest residents now living in Porter Town- ship. His father, when James was a small lad, settled in this township nearly sixty years ago. Mr. Sturdevant is a hard-working and honest man, and has cleared up and owns a good farm. His younger brother, Chauncey H. Sturdevant, is also a farmer, and owns the farm where he now lives, and has lived for nearly forty years. He has done his full share of hard work, in clearing up his home in the woods of Porter Township. Mr. Charles Patrick, son of Joseph Patrick, Esq., of Berkshire, settled on the Porter section in 1830, and has cleared up his land and has a well-improved farm of about three hundred acres. Mr. H. Blackledge settled upon a į farm, which he has highly improved, many years
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
ago. His farm is well adapted to the raising of stock, and, for many years, Mr. Blackledge took great pains to improve the quality of stock in his part of the county, and has raised the best stock of any farmer in Porter Township.
One of the most active and prominent business men of Porter Township, and not to be overlooked in this history, is Mr. George Blainey, a native of old Virginia. He immigrated to Ohio in 1873, and engaged in mercantile pursuits in Kingston Township, at Stark's Corners, for several years. He was three times married, and twice married in Virginia. His first wife was Miss Mary Sutton, and after her death he married Miss Mary Kemp- ton, who was his wife when he came to Ohio, but she died a few months after his arrival, and in 1838, he married Miss Elizabeth Van Sickle, the oldest daughter of Mr. John Van Sickle. In 1840, Mr. Blainey removed from the Corners to East Liberty, in Porter, and immediately built there a large frame building for a hotel and store, and for years he kept a hotel and a store of goods, and at the same time engaged in farming. Mr. Blainey was widely known and greatly respected for his well-known ability and honesty. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, and possessed much more than ordinary ability. He died deeply lamented in the year 1869, leaving a wife and several children. A few years after the death of Mr. Blainey, Mrs. Blainey married Mr. Richard Harbottle, a farmer who had purchased the farm already spoken of and known as the "Henry Davey Farm." Mr. Harbottle was a native of England, and born a subject to the crown of Great Britain, but he did not believe in a mon- archical system of government, and, when quite a young man, immigrated to America. With a wife and family, on his arrival, he had nothing to begin life with but his hands and head. Mr. Harbottle has been very prosperous in the home of his choice, and is now known as one of the most enterpris- ing and thrifty farmers in this township. 'In 1865, the oil speculation in Ohio reached fever heat, and like an epidemic spread over the State. In this year, the Delaware & Hocking Oil Com- pany was organized by Judge Isaac Ramsey, Mr. David Coban, Dr. H. Bessee, Mr. Huston and others, with Charles H. McElroy, Esq., Secretary. The Company, after making a careful and minute examination, discovered what they regarded as marked and unmistakable surface indications of oil. The Company prepared themselves with the necessary machinery, and proceeded to bore for
oil on the Big Walnut, not far from East Liberty. The excitement grew from day to day, the stock advanced and sold rapidly to those who were more hopeful than wise, and expected in a few days to become rich. They sunk the drill to the depth of 900 feet, through the Waverly sand- stone, blue clay and clay shale. They were com- pelled to pronounce the work impracticable, and abandoned the enterprise.
The Company suffered a heavy pecuniary loss besides the mortification of failure. Thus ended the visionary speculation of the Delaware & Hock- ing Oil Company in Delaware County.
The church history in this township is quite brief. The New School Presbyterians organized a. society soon after the division of the church, which was occasioned by the slavery agitation ; and in 1840, in East Liberty, they built a large frame church edifice. The principal parties in the building of this church were Mr. John Van Sickle. Charles M. Fowler, William Guston, Isaac Finch, Jesse Finch, Charles Wilcox, George Blainey and others. Their Pastor was the Rev. Dr. Chapman. They at once organized a Sabbath school in connection with the church, which for several years prospered, and was productive of great good. Mr. Ried M. Cutcheon was the archi- tect. and builder of the church edifice. In the year 1864, the same parties who built this place of worship laid out and established a cemetery just east of the church and town of East Liberty. in which the remains of many of those most con- spicuous and enterprising in the construction of the church and the Sabbath school now sleep.
As near as can be ascertained, the first marriage in this township was that of Reuben Place to Miss Rachel Meeker, at a very early. date, but there is neither a public nor private record to be found which contains its date. The first birth is in- vulved in the same uncertainty, but it is believed the first child born in this township was Miss Eliza Allen Mendenhall Pint, and the first death was Polly Place. Joel Z. Mendenhall, Esq., was the first Justice of the Peace elected in this town- ship after its organization, and, as already stated, he was repeatedly re-elected, and made an efficient and competent officer.
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