History of Delaware County and Ohio : containing a brief history of the state of Ohio biographical sketches etc. V. 2, Part 32

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 836

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 32

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On the 19th of February, 1831, the session of the Genoa Church met for the first time, the Rev. Ahab Jinks beimg Moderator, and Diadatus Keeler and Eleazar Copeland Elders. These men

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

were appointed by the Presbytery, and as there is no mention made on the records of their ordination, it is presumed they were Elders in the Leburn, or Blendon Church, at the time of their transfer to this organization. The Rev. Ahab Jinks contin- ued to minister to the congregation until 1836, when he was succeeded by Rev. Calvin Ransom. During this year, fourteen members who resided in Trenton Township and its immediate vicinity, were set off and organized as the First Presby. terian Church of Trenton. In 1837, Mr. Jinks was again the stated supply, and so continued until 1841. During the year 1840, a protracted meet- ing was held, in which the Rev. Mr. Cable assisted the minister in charge. In 1842, the Rev. John MeCutehen was their Pastor, and continued to minister to the congregation one year. In 1844, the Rev. R. De Forrest came and preached as an evangelist for the space of about eight weeks. In the succeeding year, 1845, the Rev. Mr. Avery officiated, and continued his ministrations one, or perhaps, nearly two, years. From the year 1845 to the year 1850, the congregation enjoyed the labors of the Rev. Mr. Whipple, Rev. Milton Starr and Rev. M. Brown. In 1850, the Rev. Warren Nichols occupied the pulpit and remained until about the close of the year 1852. In the summer of 1853, the Rev. David Coyner, then a licentiate of Franklin Presbytery, was employed, and continued his labors for two years and part of a third. From the fall of the year 1855 until the summer of 1856, the pulpit was vacant. At that time, the Rev. Homer McVey, then a student of Lane Seminary, during his vacation preached for the charge occasionally. August 1, 1856, the Rev. Warren Jenkins-from whose dis- course, delivered January 1, 1860, we have gath- ered the information in relation to the church, and other items of interest-entered upon his labors, and, at the time this sermon was delivered, had supplied this congregation and that of Trenton alternately. Following him, and for the space of three years and five months thereafter, the Rev. Mr. Coyner had charge, since which time there has been but little preaching, and, for a number of years, they have had no regular Pastor. In the summer, however, they have a Sunday school. When the church was first organized, it held meetings in the schoolhouse then standing in the rear of the present residence of Augustus Curtis. In the year 1837-38, the present house of worship was erected, and the same was dedicated the 8th of December, 1838.

The Methodist Episcopal Church existed as an organization as early as 1840, worshiping in schoolhouses and cabins of the settlers. It Was not until 1849, they commenced to build at Max- well Corners a frame church at a cost of $800. The church was dedicated by an English minister named Taylor. The ministers who have held this charge are as follows: George G. West, Havens Parker, William Porter, Havens Parker, Samuel C. Riker, Martindale, Brown, Dr. Gurley, Hooper, Ellis, Adair, Elliott. This denomination existed and worshiped in this church until about 1865. At that time, the ministers in charge, Revs. Adair and Elliott, declined preaching longer on account of political differences, and brought the matter before the Quarterly Conference. The conference decided the church to be a non-organized band and appointed a committee, consisting of John Milicent, Bijah Mann and Elijah Adams, to sell the church edifice. This committee immediately advertised the church for sale, and H. Bennett bid it off for $336 for the Christian Union denomination, which had been formed out of the dissolution of the Methodist Episcopal society. The church was then rededicated, about 1866, by the Rev. Green, from Columbus, who have organ- ized it. The ministers that have officiated since its last organization are as follows : Green, Gates, Stephenson, Durant, Allen, Mann and Flax. The Rev. Mr. Stephenson is now in charge, and holds meetings every two weeks.

It is not uncommon, at this day, to hear the rising generation wondering how it came that these old pioneers and their immediate descendants possessed such " good common sense." Nature was the inimitable book from which they gained the inspiration that was to make the " wilderness bloom and blossom as the rose," and if perchance they were able to attend, in the dead of winter. the little log schoolhouse on Ralph Smith's farm, where in 1814 Lanson Gooding taught the rudi- ments of learning, they realized that they were enjoying a boon too sacred to be idly thrown away. Lanson Gooding has long since disappeared. and the log schoolhouse, too, is gone. Near its site stands a substantial frame school building that is a credit to the township. A large brick school- house is situated near the covered bridge, at the old Williams' Ford, and the Curtises, Williamses. Halls, and the sons and daughters of other well- known pioneers, who used to tramp through the snow for the purpose of attending the little log structure near the same spot, if alive, could

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

scarcely be made to realize the great changes and improvements that have been made. Perhaps the accompanying statistics will be of interest to some :

Balance on hand, Sept. 1, 1878, 8932.72. Local tax, for school and schoolhouse purposes, $1,230.03; total, $2,667.80. Amount paid teachers, primary, $1,173; amount paid for site and buildings, $480; amount paid for fuel and other contingent expenses, $150 ; total amount of expenditures, $1,803.

Balance on hand, September 1, 1879, $864.80. Number of districts or subdistricts, 9; number of schoolhouses erected during the year, 1; cost of schoolhouses erected during the year, $498. Number of schoolhouses, 9; number of rooms, 9. Average number of weeks in session, 24. Total value of school property, $4,500. Number of teachers necessary to supply schools, 9 ; number of different teachers employed, gents, 4; ladies, 5. Average wages per month, gents, $30 ; ladies, $22. Number of teachers who taught the entire year, ladies, 2. Rate of local school tax for 1878- 79, 2 mills ; rate of local school tax for 1879-80, 1.9 mills. Number of different pupils enrolled within the year, boys, 180; girls, 125. Average monthly enrollment, boys, 170; girls, 125. Aver- age daily attendance, boys, 160; girls, 120. Number enrolled between ages of sixteen and twenty-one, boys, 45 ; girls, 46.

Jeremiah Curtis built the first mills in the town- ship, and the first still-house, which were situated on the Big Walnut, on the farm now owned by Stephen Ulry. Curtis only ran the mill a year or two, when he sold out to Elisha Newell, who ran it about a year when, the dam and buildings be- coming undermined and unsafe, he sold out to Hezekiah Roberts. Roberts built a race across his farm, erected a three-story, hewn-log grist-mill, and putting in the running gear of the old mill began to do business. This was in 1816, and at that early date they had no buhr-stones but had to work with what were know as "nigger heads." This mill ran until 1839, when it was burned down, owned at the time by a man named Duncan. It was rebuilt and soon after sold to R. C. Barnum, who sold out to Lewis Mahany. Under the latter's ownership, steam was introduced and it ran for a number of years, when business having become dull, the mill was sold to Mathias Roberts, who took the steam gearing out and took it to Illinois and put it in a new mill in that State. At present, there is nothing left of the mill excepting the frame-work. The dam has long since disappeared having been carried away during a heavy freshet.

About 1826 or 1827, Squire Hough and Dr. Copeland put up a grist and saw mill down where Yankee street crosses the Big Walnut. The grist- mill had but one run, which was made of flint ridge-stone. After they had run the mills a short time, they were joined by a man named I. S. Car- penter, and through his influence and his co-opera- tion, they built a brick dry-house and put machin- ery in the mill for breaking hemp, which at that time was raised upon nearly all the farms in this vicinity and formed the principal staple. McLeod, who came to this locality from Pennsylvania at rather an early date, put up a saw-mill about 1838 on Big Walnut Creek, just east of where Mr. H. Bennett now lives. The dam was made from logs and stood for many years.

There are only two bridges in the township, one near Maxwell Corners and the other at Will- jams' Ford. The former was built about twelve years ago. The latter was built by the Sherman brothers. Both are wooden structures, and cov- ered. The State road connecting Columbus and Galena was surveyed by Barack Weeks about 1821 or 1822. There was an old State road connect- ing Worthington and Berkshire, which ran through the western part of the township. A detachment of Harrison's army is said to have traveled over this road from Worthington on their way North. It has not been used for some fifty years. The Columbus & Mount Vernon Railroad follows the ridge through the township, running southwest and northeast. There is simply a flag station at what was formerly the Genoa Cross-roads, and the people are compelled to go to Galena if they desire to avail themselves of the advantage of railroad traveling.

Maxwell Corners, formerly known as Maxwell Post Office, is the nearest approach to a town in the township. It at present consists of one store. a church, and a few frame houses, and is situated on Yankee street, in the southern part of the township. A survey was once made, and a town laid out, the name of which was to be Inglesbe, but the plat was never recorded. After the post office at the Genoa Cross-roads had become defunct through the neglect of Dr. Badger, who moved away without naming a successor, the office was placed at Maxwell. It existed here for a short time, when on one occasion the mail carrier having got drunk, the Postmaster, Thomas Kline, resigned, and this office also perished, although at present there is an effort being made for its restitution. The first post office in the township was at the residence of Marcus Curtis, and he was the first Postmaster.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

.DELAWARE TOWNSHIP.

H. G. ANDREWS, Delaware, is a native of Franklin Co .. this State, where he was born in July, 1813. His parents were Noah and Ruth (Griswold) Andrews; his father was a native of Connecticut, and his mother of Massachusetts ; Mr. Andrews came from his native county to this place in 1831, when he entered a store as clerk, and in about two years he engaged in the mercantile business for himself; this he continued for about twenty years, engaging also in the manufacture of paper at Stratford, an account of which business will be found in another part of this work ; during this time, Mr. Andrews purchased a farm which he has retained and operated ; it has been his fort- une to fill several positions of prominence, and his wholesome influence has been felt in the com- munity in which he has moved, serving to mold in no small degree the sentiments of those who were brought in contact with him; Mr. An- drews was for a number of years a director of the S. & D. R. R. In 1835, he was married at Zanes- ville, Ohio, to Miss Emily Downer, and seven children have been born to them, four now living. Hiram R., a son, served in the late war for three years as a member of the 18th U. S. Regulars.

days, arrived in Delaware Co. and located on the Radnor road ; here Mr. Avery and family remained until 1822, when they moved to the present home- stead of Mr. Avery : this farm then had but few improvements, no improved farm between them and Scioto. Mr. Avery went to work with a will, and in a few years, he owned a good improved farm; he was Judge of the court for several years, filling that office with honor and credit; he was every way a most estimable man. He died June 13, 1878, nearly SI years of age, leaving a wife and four children to mourn the loss of a kind and loving husband and father.

GEORGE H. AJGLN. engineer fire department. Delaware. Among the old settlers of Delaware may be mentioned the Aigin family, who came here in 1837; the subject of this sketch was born in Monroe Co., N. Y., in 1829, and is the son of James Aigin, who was born in Baltimore in 1801, and went to Buffalo, N. Y., to learn his trade as a tailor, at 16 years of age, at which he worked in different parts of the country; he was in Bos. ton when the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument was laid, and was married in 1828 in New York, to Miss Martha Angier, of Andover, Mass. In 1837, with family, he moved to Delaware and is recognized as one of its honored citizens ; he keeps a news stand, which business he has been in for the last twenty-one years; Mr. Aigin was one of the committee that organized the Ohio Wesleyan University; had one son in the late civil war, Stephen P., enlisted in Co. C, 4th O. V. I., who was lost about 1863, supposed to have been drowned; George H. remained a resident of Delaware until 1847, when he went to Alabama. and was there engaged in helping build the Selma. Rome & Dalton Railroad, of which he was loco- motive engineer for a number of years; Mr. Aigin was taken sick with yellow fever, and was danger-

FREDERICK AVERY (deceased). One by one the old settlers of Delaware Co. are pass- ing away beyond the shores of the dark river, and in a few more short years there will be none of them left to tell of the hardships and trials of their early settlement in this now beauti- ful region. Frederick Avery was born in Groton, Conn.,in 1796; his father died when our subject was very young ; Mr. Avery clerked in a store for a number of years. About 1816, he married Lydia Ann Chamberlin. who was born in Berkshire Co., Mass., Feb. 22, 1799 ; in 1818, they, in com- pany with Justice Chamberlain and family, and Nathan Chester and family, started for Ohio in wagons, and after being ou the road thirty-six ; ously ill with that dreaded disease some five days,

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in 1859; he then returned to Delaware, and has since worked in the flax-mills, and helped to set up the engine in that mill; he also had one-third interest in the city foundry, which business he carried on about one year; Mr. Aigin was for one year engaged in the grocery business. In 1870, on the organization of the paid fire department, he was made engineer of the steamer, which position he has filled ever since with entire satisfaction to all; he is now the oldest in the service of the de- partment; Mr. Aigin has attended church in the present engine-house, which was originally erected for church purposes ; he was for a short time en- gaged in operating a grist-mill in Concord Town- ship, where he was elected Township Clerk, and filled that office with satisfaction.

A. G. BYERS, agent Columbus & Toledo Rail- road, Delaware, was born in York Co., Penn., in 1840, and in 1849 came to Delaware, where he has been a resident ever since; in 1857, he en- tered the Ohio Wesleyan University, and was a student in that institution for some two years ; in 1861, he entered a dry-goods store as a clerk, and in 1865 became a partner in the dry-goods busi- ness as a member of the firm of Mendenhall & Co .; in 1876, Mr. Byers received the appointment as station agent in Delaware for the Columbus & Toledo Railroad, which position he has filled with satisfaction to the company and the traveling pub- lic; he also holds the position of passenger and emigrant agent for the old reliable Pan Handle Railroad. Mr. Byers' father, George Byers, was a soldier in the late war, enlisting in the 48th O. V. I., in which regiment he also had two sons, George L. and Lee W .; the father was taken sick at Shiloh and removed to the hospital at Fort Pick- ering, Memphis, Tenn., where he died ; one of the sons, Lee W., was taken prisoner up Red River and remained such some six months, when he joined his regiment; both served full time and were honorably discharged.

JAMES A. BARNES, Delaware, proprietor of the Delaware Oil Mills, is one of the leading and most successful business men of Delaware; he was born in New Hartford, Conn., Dec. 3, 1818; when he was but 3 years of age, his parents came West and located in Licking Co., Ohio ; in 1840, Mr. Barnes came to Delaware, which has since been his home, with the exception of one year, 1849, when he went to California, gold seeking, with fair success, and one year in Missouri, where he was engaged in the saw-mill business, on the Mis- souri River; in 1846, Mr. Barnes commenced the

practice of law, at the Delaware County bar, where he was associated with the late Charles Sweetser, the firm being known as Barnes & Sweetser; in 1857, he retired from the practice of his profes- sion, and in 1859 purchased his present busi- ness, which was then carried on in a two-story frame building, with a capacity of fifty bushels of flax-seed every twenty-four hours, employing six men ; in 1863, he erected the present stone build- ing, which is known as the Delaware Oil Mills ; the business now has a capacity of 300 bushels of flax-seed every twenty-four hours, employing nine men. In 1859, Mr. Barnes was elected Mayor of Delaware, and again, in 1876, to the same office, filling the position with credit and satisfaction to the public.

H. L. BAKER, merchant, Delaware, was born in Orange Township, Delaware Co., in 1841, and is the son of George and Mary (Baker) Baker, who emigrated to Ohio and located in Delaware Co. at an early day; he was born on the farm ; from Delaware Co. he went to Clark Co. and remained there five or six years, when he returned to Orange Township, Delaware Co .; he lived also in Westerville and Lewis Center, and was Postmaster at the latter place for three years; also agent for the Express Co. and C., C., C. & I. R. R., for a number of years; in 1878, he came to Delaware and commenced mercantile business, and formed a partnership with Mr. Scoffield, which continued until 1880, when Mr. Baker became owner of the entire business ; his store is located on South Sau- dusky street, near the C., C., C. & I. R. R. cross- ing, where he has erected a handsome residence and business block ; besides running a full line of choice family groceries, Mr. Baker is engaged in the coal business, and intends soon to erect opposite his place of business a fine warehouse. two stories high, 26x60; he will then, in connec. tion with his present business, enter the grain trade. Mr. Baker was married in Orange Town- ship to Miss Mary Angle, of New Jersey.

BROWN & BURNHAM. proprietors of City Foundry, are among the leading manufacturers of Delaware. They commenced business in 1862. Matthias Brown was born in Germany; having emi- grated to America, in 1830, he went to Philadelphia, and learned the trade of a machinist ; from this he became a railroad engineer, which he followed some fourteen years, taking charge of his first en- gine on the P. & R. R. R., where he remained some four years. He was at one time in the em- ploy of the famous locomotive works of Rogers &

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Baldwins, of Philadelphia, and traveled all over the country, going to. Quebec to set up one of their locomotives. Mr. Brown was also at one time master mechanic of the Springfield Division of the C., C., C. & I. R. R. He is now about 59 1 years of age, and is considered one of the best machinists in Central Ohio. John A. Burnham was born in New Hampshire, and learned his trade, as a machinist, at Lowell, Mass., at 22 years old. He is now 81 years old, having had an experience of fifty-nine years in mechanics, and is now, perhaps, the oldest in his line in this part of the State. Mr. Burnham came to Delaware in 1846, since which time he has been engaged in the manufacturing business; in 1847, he com- menced on the west side; afterward he became a member of the firm of Bradley, Burnham, Lamb & Co., who erected large buildings, and was en- gaged in the manufacture of all kinds of machinery, thence to his present establishment, which was erected by Burnham & Miller. Mr. Burnham is the patentee of an iron and wood fence. The present shops are 30x60 feet, 2 stories high, with 20-horse power engine, and are fitted up with every facility for turning out first-class work, a reputation which they now enjoy and expect to maintain.

REV. H. A. BECKER, Pastor of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Delaware, was born in Mahoning Co., Ohio, April 30, 1841, and is the son of Rev. F. C. and Mamie Becker. His father was born in Germany in 1805, having emigrated to America when young, and, about 1839, came to Ohio; he is now a resident of Lordstown, Trum- bull Co., Ohio, where he has bad charge of a church for the last forty years. The Rev. H. A. Becker, after receiving a common-school education in his native county, went to Columbus and grad- uated from the Capitol University; in 1866, he was ordained and licensed to preach, his first charge being at St. Paris, Champaign Co., where . he remained some eight months, then in Thorn- ville, Perry Co., from 1867 to 1877, having charge of four large congregations, one in Thornville and three located in different parts of Perry Co. ; here Mr. Becker did good work ; in 1877, he came to Delaware, where he has since been the resident Pastor, and is also engaged in publishing a Sunday- DAVID BEVAN, JR., farmer; P. O. Dela- ware; was born in South Wales, April 20, 1829; his parents were David and Margaret school paper called the Illustrated, Lutheran Child's Paper, which has a circulation of some , 5,000. Rev. H. A. Becker married in September, (Lewis) Bevan, who, in 1842. with six children, 1866, Miss Mary L. Hoffman, of Germany ; by ; emigrated to America, and located on the Radnor this union they have five children.

CAPT. BENJAMIN A. BANKER, merchant. Among the leading business men of Delaware may be mentioned the above-named gentleman, who was born in Tompkins Co., N. Y., Aug. 10, 1829, and is the son of Benjamin Banker, who engaged in farming. When 15 years of age, Mr. Banker, with his parents, moved West and located in Will Co., Ill .; in Joliet, Ill., he learned his trade as a carpenter, and worked at it until 1849, when he came to Cardington, Ohio, and remained there until 1855, when he came to Delaware Co., and has been one of its honored citizens ever since. Here, during the late war, he enlisted as a private in Co. D, 121st O. V. I. After being mustered in, he was made Orderly Sergeant, and, afterward, Second Lieutenant, then First Lieu- tenant, filling the lieutenancy for about a year, when he was promoted to Captain of Co. A, where he served until the close of the war, having par- ticipated in some of the hardest battles and long- est marches of the war -- Perryville, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Atlanta, and Sherman's march to the sea, through the Carolinas to Washington and the grand review. During the march through the Carolinas, Capt. Banker was detailed to re- build a bridge over Feather River, N. C., which had been burned by the rebels. He began, at & P. M., with a corps of workmen, and by 6 A. M. the army was passing over the bridge. Capt. Banker, in November, 1862, was taken sick with typhoid fever, and was in a dangerous condition for some four or five weeks; but in May he reported for duty, and, after serving in the war until the dawn of peace-enlisting as a private and being mustered out a Captain-he returned home to Delaware County, where he engaged in farming in Delaware Township. His house was burned in 1867, and he moved to Delaware. He was master mechanic of the Ohio Penitentiary, under Gen. Noyes, which position he filled for two and one- half years. In 1875, he commenced the flour, feed and commission business, which he is now following. ' He married Miss Elizabeth Worline, of Delaware Co .; they have five children. Capt. Banker is a Republican, and served as Coroner of Delaware Co. for two years with credit ; he is a member of the M. E. Church.

pike, Delaware Township, on a phee then but

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little improved, with only a log cabin and a small piece of cleared land for a beginning; the family had in a few years a well-improved farm, now only marked by an old orchard and part of the barn ; after farming here for a number of years, he moved to a farm west of Mr. Bevan's present home, where his mother, Margaret Bevan, died some seventeen years ago; in 1879, on the 23d day of May, David Bevan died, at the age of 83 years; thus passed away two of the old and highly respected citizens of Delaware Co .; of the Bevan family there are now living three sons and one daughter-James, William, Dinah, and David, the subject of this sketch, who has been engaged in farming through life, and is now owner of a fine, improved farm. He married Eliza Davis, daughter of Thos. Davis, of South Wales, and has four children. William Bevan was a soldier in the late war, having enlisted in the 121st O. V. I., and served three years and two months, participating in battles and marches with the 121st, and was honorably mustered out.

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History of Delaware County and Ohio : containing a brief history of the state of Ohio biographical sketches etc. V. 2, Part 32

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co. cn Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 836

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : O. L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 836