History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 53

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Ohio > Delaware County > History of Delaware County and Ohio > Part 53

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).

The ticket, with Gen. Hayes for Governor and Gen. Lee for Lieutenant Governor, was elected by a majority of some three thousand. In 1869, the same ticket was renominated by the Republican party, and again elected ; this time by about eight thousand majority. As Lieutenant Governor, and President of the Senate, Gen. Lee discharged his duties with all his characteristic faithfulness. At the present writing, he is United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

Delaware County has produced many other men of note, but none, perhaps, who have been carried quite so far, or so high up, on the crest of the popular wave, as those we have mentioned. The honor of furnishing a President falls to a county or a State, but once in four (or eight) years. In the past fifteen years, Delaware County has pro- duced a President, a Governor and a Lieutenant Governor. Her Congressmen, Judges, other military men, and State officials will be noticed in the professions to which they belong.

310

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

CHAPTER X.

DELAWARE TOWNSHIP-THE CITY-EARLY SETTLEMENT-THE FOUNDERS-EARLY DISAPPOINT- MENTS OF THE CITY.

" It was then a city only in name, The houses and barns had not yet a frame, The streets and the squares no mortal could see, And the woodman's ax had scarce hit a tree."

I N considering the history of the limited dis- trict now covered by the township and city of Delaware, it is difficult to divest it .of its share in the Territorial history of the once Northwest. But a few years before the coming of the pioneer, these hills and valleys were rife with the busy hum of human life. " Here lived and loved another race of beings. Here, the wigwam blaze beamed on the tender and helpless, and the council-fire glared on the wise and daring." Here, long be- fore the restless pioneer had crossed the Alle- ghanies, the Delawares and Mingoes had found a home, and hither brought their trophies of the foray and chase. Here they received the fiery prophet of Pontiac, who inspired their hearts with revenge, as they listened to the tragic story of the Cherokees. And from here proceeded one of the affluents of that mighty flood of war, that, like a bloody deluge, swept up the valley of the Ohio, bearing back before its resistless current the line of settlements from Detroit to Niagara. Again and again did they array themselves against the steady encroachments of civilization, but in vain. " The ancinted children of education have been too powerful for the tribes of the ignorant." Their council-fires paled in the growing dawn of the nineteenth century, and shrinking before a power they could not comprehend, they have passed away.

Such, in brief, is the history of the whole race of that peculiar people, about whose memory there must ever linger a melancholy interest. " The In- dian of the falcon glance and lion bearing, the theme of the touching ballad, the hero of the pathetic tale," is indeed gone, but the story of his primi- tive virtues cannot be forgotten. The history of the early Dutch and English colonies is a record of the basest treachery, in return for the most open-hearted hospitality. Picture the meeting on Long Island between the chiefs of the river tribes and the Dutch colonists. Hear the record of

broken faith, as, with more grief than indigna- tion, the warriors recount the outrages they have suffered. " When you first came to our shores you wanted food; we gave our beans and corn, and now you murder our people. The men whom your first ships left to trade, we guarded and fed ; we gave them our daughters for wives ; some of those whom you murdered were of your own blood." Can it seem strange that with so por- tentous a beginning the land should have been drenched in the blood of a hundred massacres ? Trained up in such a school of infamy, is it a matter for surprise that the "Indian question" is yet an unsolved problem ?

The pioneers of Delaware County came close upon the steps of the retreating savages. The country south of the Greenville Treaty line had been ceded to the United States by the council at Fort McIn- tosh in 1785, but it was done when the Indians were overwhelmed with a sense of their inability to successfully cope with the whites, and they sub- sequently engaged in a struggle to retain the lands thus ceded. In the event it proved a forlorn hope. After successively defeating Gens. Harmar and St. Clair, they were in turn defeated by Gen. Wayne, and, yielding to the inevitable, they con- firmed, in a grand council at Greenville in 1794, their former cessions of this territory. It was not, however, until 1802, that the Delawares tore themselves from the land of their forefathers, never to tread it again as "lord and king." The site was one well suited to captivate the savage heart. Stretching down on the west side of the Olentangy River, from the horseshoe bottom on the north, to the cherry bottom on the south, lay a broad expanse of meadow, radiant with the promise of the com- ing harvest. Embracing it on three sides and separating it from the dense forest beyond, extended a chain of circling hills on which, like watch- towers on the battlements, were placed the towns of the natives. Beginning with a half-turn, some rods from the Olentangy and the mouth of the run which divided the meadow into nearly equal parts, a ridge took its rise, and, running with a gradual ascent toward the northwest, reached its

311

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

highest point near where the court house now stands, then, turning with a broad sweep to the west and south, it joins the outer boundary near the grounds of the Female College. Putting off on the south side of the run almost at the point of contact, it takes its course toward the east, abruptly terminating in the high ground where the University stands, inclosing a cove of some seventy-five acres. At the foot of the northern slope of this ground was a deer-lick, famous among the tribes for the medicinal qualities of its waters and for the game it attracted. The exact loca- tion of the Indian towns is largely a matter of speculation, the traditions proving on this point conflicting and unsatisfactory. It is pretty well determined, however, that the Delawares had a village on the north side of the run, where it entered the meadow. Where now Monnett Hall reposes in the cloistered quiet of the wood, stood the rude wigwams of the savage, looking out on a scene of loveliness that untrammeled nature alone can present. Spread out like a picture before them lay the beautiful cove, where

"Amid the leaves' green mass a sunny play Of flash and shadow stirs like inward life,"

while the murmuring brook, meandering to the river, sang to them of the goodness of the Great Spirit. Here, too, if tradition may be credited, echoed their warwhoop; here was the scene of the " bloody grapple, the defying death-song; and, when the tiger strife was over, here curled the smoke of peace." But the leveling hand of art has long since passed over the place, and on the spot once so rich in Indian memories now rises the thrifty city of Delaware.

The township was organized as one of the divisions of the newly formed county of Delaware, on June 16, 1808, and included the whole of Township 5 and the northern half of Township 4, of the United States Military Survey ; Section 3 of Brown, and Section 2 of Berlin. In 1816, Troy was formed, taking off the northern half of Township 5, and on January 8, 1820, the Berlin section was taken off. In the year 1826, Brown was organized, leaving Delaware in regular shape -five miles square-though composed of parts of two Congressional townships. In 1852, a piece of territory a mile square, was taken from the southwest corner of this township and annexed to Concord, in compensation for a certain surrender of territory to Scioto, leaving Delaware in its present shape. As now situated, it is bounded on

the north by Troy; on the east by Brown and Berlin ; on the south by Liberty and Con- cord, and on the west by Concord, Scioto and Rad- nor. The Olentangy River intersects the northern boundary of Delaware near the north and south section line, and passes through the township in a course a little east of south. Flowing into it from either side, are a number of small tributaries, the more important of which are Delaware, Rocky and Slate Runs, affording ample drainage for the larger part of the township. Along the east bank of the river, are rich lands known as "second bottoms," made up of a fine gravelly loam, highly prized by farmers, which changes to clay as the high lands further back are reached. After passing the horseshoe bottom, the high land approaches to the bank of the river and takes on the character of bluffs in the city, but recedes again as you go south. Along the western bank, the land extend- ing toward the northwest is high, rolling ground. South of the Delaware Run, there were originally a number of elm swamps of greater or less extent, especially along the Bellepoint road. Here, elm, black-ash and burr-oak timber abound, while along the margin of Delaware Run, and in the northwest, are found maple, ash, oak and walnut. In the further corner of the latter section, there is evidence of the ravages of a tornado which passed over that point in 1806-07, felling the timber over a narrow space for some distance through Troy. The banks of the Olentangy were well wooded with a heavy growth of oak and maple, save where the bottoms had been cleared by the Indians. Here there was an abundance of jack oak and wild cherry. The site of the city of Del- aware was covered with a tall growth of prairie grass, with a fringe of plum-trees along the run, with here and there a scrub oak or thorn apple. Although the township is thus admirably adapted to agriculture, it is, by no means, the absorbing pursuit. The raising and importing of fine stock has reached very large proportions, and some of the finest specimens of blooded horses, cattle and sheep to be found in the State are seen here. It may be said that some of the finest animals of the Percheron breed of horses in the United States are owned in Delaware, while animals from a herd of short-horns in the township have been ex- ported and sold in England for some $30,000. This feature merits a more complete description than can be given in this place, and will be found elsewhere.

The early vigor of the city of Delaware has precluded the growth of anything like villages in

312

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

other parts of the township, but, notwithstanding such discouragements, two places have been platted and have succeeded in perpetuating their names. Prospect Hill, situated on the high land east of the river and just north of Sugar Creek, was laid out as a town with eighteen lots in 1852, by Dr. Ralph Hills. It is intersected by Prospect and Olentangy streets, and has since become a part of the city of Delaware. Stratford on Olentangy was laid out in 1850, by Hon. Hosea Williams and H. G. An- drews, and consisted of seventeen lots, containing from fifty to seventy-nine perches of land each. These lots are situated on the west bank of the river, front on Sandusky street, and were intended primarily to furnish homes for the hands employed in the mills located at that point. This has been a favorite point for mills since the first settlement of the county, the first being built as early as 1808. This structure and property passed into the hands of Col. Meeker, who rebuilt and enlarged the mill, and, in 1829, added facilities for carding and full- ing. Some years later Caleb Howard, an enter- prising, speculative sort of a man, conceived the idea of establishing a paper-mill here, and suc ceeded in interesting Judge Hosea Williams, a safe, cautious business man, in the project. In the spring of 1838, the old flouring-mill with the mill privileges and property were bought, the old dam replaced by a fine stone structure, and a paper-mill put in operation October 1, 1839. John Hoyt was the first Superintendent, and gave the classical name of Stratford to the place. On October 30, 1840, a fire originating among the old rags, by spon- taneous combustion, did considerable damage to the interior, of the building. In three months it was repaired and improved, and, in the fall of 1844, Howard sold his interest to H. G. Andrews. In 1849, the old flouring-mill was fitted up for the manufacture of wrapping paper, and turned out about a half a ton per day, employing some ten hands. On February 27, 1857, the entire mills were burned, entailing a loss of $25,000, with an insurance of not over $10,000. In Novem- ber of 1857, a stone building, two stories high, about 50x80 feet, with several additions, was built .at .a cost of some $30,000. These mills have filled some important contracts with the State. At the time of the fire, in 1840, the firm had accounts to the amount of $10,000 due it from the State, and, in 1861, they had a large contract with the State, which, owing to the unforeseen and extraor- dinary rise of the paper market, they were obliged to ask to have rescinded. In 1871, J. H.

Mendenhall became a. partner; later, Mr. Andrews retired, and the property is now in the hands of V. T. & C. Hills. The main mill manufactures print and book papers, and the one on the site of the old flouring-mill furnishes wrapping paper. The mini- mum capacity is abont one ton of paper each per day. An artesian well which was sunk 210 feet through solid limestone rock furnishes water for purifying purposes. Steam furnishes the power during the low stages of the water.

The tide of emigration, to which this county is indebted for its settlement, flowed up the valley of Alum Creek, following the main Indian trail, along the fertile banks of the Scioto, and by the old Granville road, forming settlements in Radnor, on the forks of the Whetstone, in Berkshire and in Berlin. The first colony did, indeed, follow the Olentangy, but it stopped at Liberty, leaving Delaware an "undiscovered country." Thus, while the forests all about were ringing with the blows of the pioneer's ax, the township of the greatest future political importance stood desolate amid the ruins of her early habitations. In their excursions through the woods, the first settlers found here, in a tangled mass of tall grass and thickets, wild cherries, plums and grapes, growing in generous profusion. It was the scene of many a frolic, and, occasionally, of a more serious expe- rience of those who were attracted from the sur- rounding settlements for the fruits with which to embellish the frugal meal of the frontier cabin. One day, in the fall of 1806, two girls, about sixteen years of age, named Rilla Welch and Rena Carpenter, from the Liberty set- tlement, came to what was then called the Delaware Plains, for plums. Busy gathering fruit, they took no note of time, until nearly sun- down. Startled at the lateness of the hour, they hurriedly took a course which they thought led toward home. Night came on before they reached a familiar spot, and, following the course of the Delaware Run, they found themselves at last at the cabin of Mr. Penry, in Radnor. Here they were obliged to stay through the night. In the morning, as they were escorted home, they met the people of the Liberty settlement out in full force, with every conceivable instrument of noise, in search of the girls, whom they supposed had re- mained in the woods all night.

The first purchase of land in this township was made by Abraham Baldwin, and included the third section of Brown and the northeast section of Delaware, containing eight thousand acres.

313

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

The patents were dated December 24, 1800, and were signed by John Adams, President of the United States of America. Mr. Baldwin was a native of New Haven, Conn., and sprang from a family noted for its high intellectual attainments, numbering among its members, legislators, Gov- ernors, and a Judge of the United States Supreme Court. He graduated from Yale College in 1772, and from 1775 to 1779, he was a tutor in that institution. He was a soldier in the Revolution- ary army, and, after the war, having studied law, he settled in Savannah, Ga. Soon after his arrival, he was chosen a member of the Legisla- ture. He originated the plan of the University of Georgia, drew up the charter, persuading the Assembly to adopt it, and was for some time its President. He was a member of the Continental Congress from 1785 to 1788, and a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States. From 1789 to 1799, he was a Representative in Congress, and from 1799 to 1807, he was a member of the United States Seriate, part of the time President pro tem. of the Senate. He was a man of large wealth, and owned considerable tracts of land in Iowa, Penn- sylvania and Ohio. In the latter State he had 16,000 acres situated on the Whetstone and Licking Creek, in Licking County. March 1, 1801, he sold 500 acres of the original purchase to William Wells, one-half to be located on the northeast corner of Delaware Township, and the other on the northeast corner of Section 3, in Brown. He was never married, and, at his death, March 4, 1807, Mr. Baldwin devised the re- mainder of this property to his three half-brothers and two half-sisters. These heirs lived widely apart in various States of the Union, in the then Mississippi Territory, in Connecticut and in Penn- sylvania, and the property soon passed by power of attorney or purchase into the control of one of the heirs-Henry Baldwin, a lawyer in Pittsburgh. This was probably a part of a project to unite with Col. Byxbe in laying out a town to their mutual advantage. It is difficult, at this late day, to ascertain the particulars of a transaction now of so much interest to the citizens of Delaware. It appears from various records, however, that Col. Byxbe, during one of his trips to the East, met Henry Baldwin at Pittsburgh, and broached to him the project which resulted in founding the city. Having secured control of the property, Mr. Baldwin repaired to Berkshire, and, under some arrangement with Byxbe, platted a town of Dela-

ware, they uniting on March 7, 1808, in granting a power of attorney to Moses Byxbe, Jr., to record the same. This was the plat which located the town east of the Olentangy, but which has never been recorded in this county. For some reason which does not appear on the records, this place was abandoned, and another, under different aus- pices, was made May 9, 1808 (if the date it bears be correct), locating the town on the west side of the river. What the new arrangement was, the fol- lowing instrument, drawn up and acknowledged at Pittsburgh, will explain ;

HENRY BALDWIN AND WIFE, DEED TO MOSES BYXBE.

This indenture, made the fourteenth day of May, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight, between Henry Baldwin, of the borough of Pittsburgh, in the State of Pennsylvania, Esquire, and Sally, his wife, of the one part, and Meses Byxbe, of the county of Delaware, in the State of Ohio, of the other part.

Witness. th, That, whereas, on the twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred, John Adams, Esquire, then President of the United States of America, by his patent bearing date the same day and year, granted unto Abraham Baldwin, of the county of Columbia and State of Geor- gia, a certain tract of land estimated to contain four thousand acres, being the third quarter of the fifth township in the eighteenth range of the tract appro- priated for satisfying warrants for military services, and, en the twenty-sixth day of the same month and year, the said John Adams, by another patent, bearing date the day last mentioned, did grant unto the same Abraham Baldwin one other tract of land, estimated to contain four thousand acres, being the fourth quarter of the fifth township in the nineteenth range of the tract appropriated as aforesaid. And whereas, the said Abraham Baldwin, being so seized in fee of the aforesaid tracts of land, by his last will and testament, made the first day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seven, devised among other things as follows ; to wit : I give and devise to my half-brothers, William Baldwin, Michael Baldwin and Henry Baldwin, and to my half-sisters, Clarissa Ken- nedy and Sarah French, in fee simple, all the lands I own in the State of Ohio, to be divided between them share and share alike, and, after making and publish- ing the aforesaid last will and testament, the said Abraham Baldwin not revoking the same, departed tbis life leaving the aforesaid William Baldwin, Michael Baldwin, Henry Baldwin, Clarissa Kennedy and Sarah French vested in fee of the above-described tracts of . land, as by a reference to the above-recited patents and to the will of the said Abraham Baldwin, recorded in the office for recording of wills for the county of Wash- ington, in the District of Columbia, may more fully and at large appear. And whereas, the title to the said described two sections of land hath since, by sundry mesne conveyances and assurances in the law, become vested in the said Henry Baldwin in fee, except twe

314

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

hundred and fifty acres, which has been granted off the northeast end of each section, as the place for locating the same; now this indenture witnesseth, that the said Henry Baldwin and Sally, his wife, for and in consideration of the sum of five thousand six hundred and twenty-five dollars, lawful money of the United States, to them in hand paid by the aforesaid Moses Byxbe, at and before the ensealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged by the said Henry Baldwin, and the said Moses Byxbe thereof acquitted and forever discharged, have granted, bargained and sold, aliened, conveyed and confirmed, and hy these presents de grant, bargain and sell, alien and convey and confirm, to the said Moses Byxbe, and to his heirs and assigns forever, one undivided moiety or half part of the above-described two sections of land, after the two hundred and fifty acres above mentioned shall have been taken off the northeast end of each section, for the purpose aforesaid, together with all and singular the improvements, ways, water, water-courses and appurtenances whatsoever, to the same belonging or in any wise appertaining, and the reversion or re- versions, remainder and remainders, rents, issues and profits thereof, and all the estate, right, title, interest, property, claim, and demand of him, the said Henry Baldwin, and Sally, his wife, of, in and to the same, to have and to hold the said undivided half part of the above-described two sections, with all and singular, the premises hereby granted or mentioned or intended so to be, to the said Moses Byxbe and his heirs, to the only proper use, benefit and behoof of him, the said Moses Byxbe, his heirs and assigns forever. And the said Henry Baldwin, for himself, his heirs, executors and administrators, doth covenant, promise and agree to and with the said Meses Byxbe, his heirs and assigns, hy these presents, that the premises before mentioned now are and forever after shall remain free of and from all former and other gifts, grants, bargains, sales, dowers, judgments, executions, titles, troubles, charges and incumbrances whatsoever, done or suffered to be done by him, the said Henry Baldwin. And the said Henry Baldwin, for himself, his heirs, executors and administrators, doth covenant and engage, all and singular, the premises hereby bargained and sold with the appurtenances unto him, the said Moses Byxbe, his heirs and assigns, against him, the said Henry Bald win and his heirs, and all and every other person or persons whatsoever, lawfully claiming or to claim, will warrant and forever defend by these presents.

In witness whereof, the said parties have hereto set their hands and affixed their seals, the day and year first above mentioned.

HENRY BALDWIN. [L. s.] SALLY BALDWIN. [L. s.]

Sealed and delivered in presence of ALEK. JOHNSON, Ja.

Moses Byxbe was a native of Lenox, Berkshire Co., Mass. He was a man of large wealth for that time, which he had accumulated in the double capacity of hotel and store keeper, and was marked by an energetic, enterprising spirit in

business matters. Though not always commanding the love of his fellows, he impressed them with the shrewdness of his foresight, and, by a plausible exterior, secured a social influence which a closer study of his character fails to warrant. In the latter part of 1804, he came to Berkshire, where he owned a large tract of land, as well as in the townships of Berlin, Genoa, Kingston, and Brown. He embarked his whole energies in the new enterprise which had absorbed his capital, making frequent visits to his native State to inter- est his friends in the West. In this he was eminently successful, and he soon had the double satisfaction of disposing of the larger part of his real estate in Ohio and at the same time planting a community which had great weight in the polit- ical circles of the new State. It was his early aim and ambition to make Berkshire Corners not only the county seat, but the capital of the State, for which there were, at that time, very flattering hopes of success. But his good fortune in dispos- ing of his Berkshire property was the very rock on which the high anticipations of the " Corners " were wrecked, and we find this restless speculator at Pittsburgh, engaged in an enterprise boding no good to the future metropolitan growth of that place. With the purchase of the tract of land in Delaware and Brown Townships, Mr. Byxbe's plans seem to have undergone a complete change. It is probable that this was an unwritten consid- eration in the purchase, not less important than the pecuniary one expressed in the deed. On the same day, a power of attorney was executed, giving him complete control of the property in question, and leaving him untrammeled in the prosecution of his new scheme. It was not to be expected that such a radical change on the part of Col. Byxbe would be allowed to pass without a vigor- ous protest. Many of the residents of Berkshire had been attracted there by the probability that the county seat would be located at the " Corners," many others came upon the express promise of Byxbe to that effect, and an earnest and bitter struggle was begun to secure it. Fortunately for Mr. Byxbe's success, he had a considerable follow- ing, made up of those who were under obligations to him in various ways, and whose fortunes lay in the same scale with his. The sulphur spring, which had begun to attract attention, gave a pres- tige to the location as the probable site of a famous watering-place, thus adding strength to his cause. Although requiring all his resource to carry his project to a successful issue, the result

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 53

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818