History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 70

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 70

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The church has never been a separate parish. From 1860 to 1865, it was included in the bounds of the Woodbury Circuit : in 1865, it was trans- ferred to the Galena Circuit; in 1868, it was made the chief appointment of a newly formed circuit,

* By Rev. J. W. Icenbarger.

+ By the Rev. S. R. Squier.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

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called Delaware and Eden Charge. It still belongs to this charge, which now includes also Eden and Cheshire.

The following is a list of the Pastors who have served the church : 1860-61, Revs. Samuel Mower and C. B. Brandebury ; 1861-62, Revs. Philip Plummer and John Blanpied; 1862-63, Revs. Chilton Craven and John Blanpied; 1863- 64, Revs. John Mitchell and William Jones. Mr. Mitchell died in November, 1863, and Rev. Oliver Burgess was sent to fill the vacancy. 1864-65, Revs. James Wheeler and William Jones; 1865- 66, Revs. Allen S. Moffit and Francis M. Searles ; 1866-67, Revs. Heman Safford and Jacob S. Albright ; 1867-68, Revs. Heman Safford and William Hudson ; 1868-69, Rev. Cadwalader H. Owens; 1869-71, Rev. Joseph F. Kennedy, Soon after the commencement of the year 1870- 71, Mr. Kennedy was appointed agent of the Ohio Wesleyan Female Cellege, and Rev. Wesley B. Farrah was appointed to fill out the year. 1871-72, Rev. Stephen Fant was Pastor; 1872- 73, Rev. Charles F. Creighton ; 1873-76, Rev. Benjamin F. Bell; 1876-77, Rev. William L. Phillips; 1877-80, Rev. Samuel R. Squier.

In this chapter, devoted to religious organiza- tions, it is not inappropriate to say a few words of other organizations, founded in truth, and that take for their great light the Bible itself-organ- izations which teach a " belief in God, hope in immortality and charity to all mankind." There are those, doubtless, who will take issue with us in this, but we know whereof we speak.

The origin of Freemasonry, the most ancient of all the secret societies now in existence, is a point upon which there is much curious speculation among men, and about which there is some contra- diction and more conjecture among those distin- guished for their knowledge of ancient history. That it originated so long ago that the oldest his- tories can tell little of its beginning, is true. That Masons are to be found in almost every country subjected to modern discovery, is a point universally admitted. In tribes and countries where letters and arts are extinct, and where commerce and modern improvement have as yet made no impres- sion upon the national character, the grand feat- ures of Masonry are found to be correct. This remarkable coincidence is accounted for in various ways by different writers upon the subject. All who have carefully considered the origin of the Order have been convinced that the germ from

which it sprang was coeval with that wonderful command of Jehovah : "Let there be light." At the building of King Solomon's Temple, the Order assumed something like a definite form. We learn from tradition, that, at the crection of that superb model of architecture, there were employed three grand masters, 3,300 masters or overseers of the work, 80,000 fellow-crafts, and 70,000 entered apprentices, who were all systematically arranged according to their grade and rank.

A writer whose intelligence and veracity have never been questioned says : " After the comple- tion of the temple at Jerusalem, most of the Tyrians who had been employed by Solomon, re- turned to their native country." From the same source we also learn that many of the Jews who had been engaged upon the temple migrated to Phoenicia, a country of which, at that distant period, Tyre was the principal city. For some cause, left unexplained by the historian, this Jewish colony was oppressed by its neighbors, and flew to their friends, the Tyrians, for relief. The latter fur- nished them with ships arid provisions, and they (the Jews) took their departure for a foreign land, and finally settled in Spain. If, as workmen at the temple, they had been invested with secre's not known to others, there can be no doubt but they preserved and carried them wherever they went. Another writer, whose accuracy is sur- passed by no author of his time, informs us that about 190 years after the Trojan war, which would be about fifteen years after the completion of the temple, a colony of Jews from Palestine made a permanent settlement on the western coast of Africa. From these three distinctive points, we may follow the march and spread of Masonry throughout the world. In all the countries settled by emigration from these places, or connected with these people, either by alliance or commerce, Masonry is found, her signs the same, her mystic word the same in all. And that it has existed in some form ever since, there is no shadow of doubt in the mind of the educated craftsman. At what precise date it became speculative, and dropped the operative form, is not definitely known. In the early part of the eighteenth century the Grand Lodge of England was established, and, from that day to this, the history of Masonry is familiar to all reading members of the order.

With the early pioneers, Masonry made its ad- vent into Delaware County. The Byxbes, Car- penters, Lambs, Littles, Roots and others of the early settlers were members of the Order,

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

and charter members of the first Masonic lodge in the county. The original charter issued to the Masons of Delaware to establish a lodge, bears date January 15, A. L. 5812, and is the constitutional authority under which Hiram Lodge, No. 18, now exists, and exercises its its functions as an organized body .* It is signed by Lewis Cass, Grand Master of Ohio, and August Louis Langham, Grand Secretary, and contains the names of the following charter mem- bers, viz .: William Little, John Carpenter, Reuben Lamb, N. W. Little, Charles Thompson, Azariah Root, Jonathan Collin, Stephen Harring- ton, Czar Sturdevent, Aaron D. Lebar and Moses Byxbe, Jr., not one of whom but has long since been laid away to rest beneath the "evergreen." Of these members, Moses Byxbe was Worshipful Master; Stephen Harrington, Senior Warden ; John Carpenter, Junior Warden; Reuben Lamb, Treasurer; N. W. Little, Secretary ; William Little, Senior Deacon ; Azariah Root, Junior Deacon and Steward. One of the first entries on the minutes of the Lodge is the following : "That all Master Masons who are members of this Lodge, except the Worshipful Master and Senior and Junior Wardens, shall take their turn in Tiling this Lodge alternately." Among the relics laid up in the archives is a diploma of Azariah Root, one of the charter members. It is as follows :

And the DARKNESS comprehended it not. In the EAST, a place of light where reign SILENCE and PEACE. We, the Master, Wardens and Secretary of Franklin Lodge, held in the town of Cheshire, and State of Massachusetts :

Do certify that the BEARER hereof, our worthy brother, Azariah Root, has heen regularly initiated in the third degree of Masonry.

As such, he has been received by us, and, being a true and faithful BROTHER, is hereby recommended to the favor and protection of ALL Free and Accepted MASONS wheresoever dispersed.

In witness whereof we have caused the seal of our said Lodge to be hereunto affixed, this 12th day of November, Salvation, 1795, and of Masonry, 5795.

It is signed by the Master and Wardens and Secretary, but the ink has faded until the names are almost wholly illegible.

The Order glided along in "peace and har- mony " from its introduction into Delaware in 1811, doing "good work and square work," until 1826-27, when the great anti-Masonic storm burst upon the country with a violence, that for a time,

* It was organized under dispensation, January 21, A. D. 1811, and chartered the next year.

threatened to sweep Masonry into the "Valley of Jehoshaphat." A great political party had dis- covered that Freemasonry was an institution es- tablished in "opposition to all laws human and divine," and the cunning sought to snatch away her richest jewel - secrecy ;- that they might expose her to the scorn and contempt of the world. It was but a little while, and the " wings of Jehovah" were even then sheltering her, yet many a true heart despaired, and many an honest, though weak one, endeavored, for the sake of peace, to untie the indissoluble bonds of Masonry. The storm of the Morgan excitement (not the rebel General Morgao, but the apostate Mason) reached Delaware. For a time, the faithful few stood to their posts, and met on "the highest hills and in the lowest vales," the better to " guard against the approach of cowans or eavesdroppers, either ascending or descending." But their ex- ertions failed; their efforts to keep the fire burn- ing upon their altar were unavailing, and their temple was closed for a season.

It was during this period that the charter of Hiram Lodge was lost or stolen. There is a pre vailing tradition that Harry Rigger, who was a member of the order, was intrusted with its keep- ing, and, in removing from Delaware to Millville, lost it. For years it lay as securely hidden as the " book of the law and testimony " lay hidden in the " ninth arch," from the destruction of the first to the building of the second Temple. If it was stolen, the thief finally threw it away (where he knew it would be found), and, one day, toward the close of the anti-Masonic crusade, the lost charter was picked up near Millville. It was handed, by the finder, to Judge Griswold, who was known to be a zealous Mason. Griswold returned it to the Grand Lodge, and succeeded not only in having it renewed but in having the original num- ber of the Lodge restored, which, during its dor- mant period, had been given to a newly organized body. The charter bears this inscription upon its margin : " Returned to the Grand Lodge, Oc- tober 20, A. L. 5846 ; re-issued, by order thereof, October 24, A. L. 5846. Attest : B. F. Smith, Grand Secretary."

A strong anti-Masonic element existed in Dela- ware, and, in derision of the faithful few (who had closed the doors of their temples about the year 1827 ; year of Masonic light, 5827 ; year of Masonic darkness, 1), lodges were convened by the antis ; degrees were conferred from the exposi- tions of Morgan, Allyn, Richardson, and kindred

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 1

publications, for the benefit of the curious, or any one else, who chose to attend the vile exhibitions. For a period of about twelve years the persecu- tion was kept up, but-

"Truth crushed to earth will rise again, The eternal years of God are hers."

The storm passed by, and the sun of Masonry came forth again brighter than before. Hiram Lodge, after a Rip Van Winkle sleep, was re- organized under its original charter, which we have seen was re-issued, and which had been almost miraculously restored to the Lodge. In 1846, the Master's gavel again called the work- men to labor, order assumed its sway, and the fire was rekindled upon the altar, where it has ever since continued to burn.

We have noticed, among the charter members of Hiram Lodge, some of the very first settlers of Delaware. They were not only active Blue Lodge Masons, but equally active in the higher degrees. In an old file of the Delaware Patron and Franklin Chronicle, a notice appears of the election of officers in Mount Vernon Encampment of Knights Templar, February 22, 1820, as follows : Sir John Snow, Grand Commander; Sir Chester Griswold, Generalissimo ; Sir Benjamin Gardner, Captain General; Rev. Joseph Hughes, Prelate ; Sir Mark Seeley, Senior Warden ; Sir James Kil- bourn, Junior Warden ; Sir Levi Pinney, Treas- urer; Sir William Little, Recorder ; Sir Erastus Webb, Standard Bearer; Sir Parden Sprague, Sword Bearer, and Sir Chancy Barker, Warder. Several of these werc citizens of Delaware. But these old craftsmen are all gone. Mr. James Aigin, whom many of our readers know, is one of the oldest surviving members of Hiram Lodge. He says there is but one man now living who was a member when he took the degrees in this Lodge, and that is Horatio Smith, of Millville. B. F. Fry, of Troy Township, was admitted about the same time as himself. These three are the oldest landmarks now left, and soon they too will have passed away.

Hiram Lodge is in a flourishing condition, and, in connection with the Royal Arch Chapter, have a handsome and well-furnished hall. The mem- bership is large, and comprises many of the best citizens and business men of the city. The present officers are : James M. Crawford, Worship- ful Master; George H. Aigin, Senior Warden ; David Battenfield, Junior Warden; Sidney Moore, Treasurer ; Charles M. Converse, Secretary ; John

Cowgill, Senior Deacon ; Henry Robinson, Junior Deacon, and James Aigin, Steward and Tiler. These are well tried, true and trusty, and in their skillful hands the temple is safe.

Delaware Royal Arch Chapter, No. 54, was organized under dispensation, June 4, 1853, and chartered in October of the same year. The char- ter members were: Ezra Griswold, W. L. Harris (now of Chicago, and a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church), Caleb Howard, J. A. Burn- ham, B. F. Willey, Moses Byxbe, Jr., E. L. Le- roy, George Taylor, E. Dutton and J. S. Brown. The first officers were : Ezra Griswold, Most Ex- cellent High Priest ; W. L. Harris, Excellent King, and Caleb Howard, Excellent Scribe. Most Excellent W. B. Thrall, Past Grand High Priest of the State, was authorized by the Grand Chap- ter to institute the Chapter and set it to work. At present it has a membership of eighty-eight, and is officered as follows, viz .: C. H. McElroy, M. E. High Priest ; F. E. Moore, E. King; S. C. Conrey, E. Scribe ; Sidney Moore, Captain of the Host; James M. Crawford, Principal Sojourner ; William Robinson, Royal Arch Captain ; John Cowgill, Joseph Wells, George H. Aigin, Grand Masters of the Veils; Max Frank, Treasurer; C. M. Converse, Secretary, and James Aigin, Senti- nel. Delaware Council of Royal and Select. Mas- ters, had an existence in Delaware for a number of years, but during the year 1879 it surrendered its charter, and is now extinct. The city has never had a Commandery of Knights Templar.

White Sulphur Lodge No. 10 (Colored Masons), was organized in March, 1868, under a warrant from the Grand Lodge of the State of Ohio (col- ored), and duly set to work by Right Worshipful David Jenkins, Deputy Grand Master of the State. The three officers named in the charter were, J. J. Williamson, Worshipful Master ; Benjamin Austin, Senior Warden, and Hubbard Menden- hall, Junior Warden. The Lodge is prosperous and has twenty-five members, with the following list of officers : B. F. Thomas, Worshipful Mas- ter; . J. J. Williamson, Senior Warden; H. C. Clay, Junior Warden ; Allen Mitchell, Treasurer ; E. D. Roberts, Secretary ; Samuel Greer, Senior Deacon ; J. Alston, Junior Deacon, and Lewis McAfee, Tiler.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, though of far more modern origin than Freema- sonry, is very similar in some of its essential qualities. Its grand aim is charity and benevo- lence. It was introduced into Delaware a third of

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

a century or more ago, and is at present repre- sented by a lodge and encampment. The Lodge was instituted November 15, 1845, as Olentangy Lodge, No. 53, I. O. O. F., and was composed of the following charter members : Henry Pattee, Adam Wolfe, J. W. Place, Charles A. Drake, C. Platt, William L. Harris (now Bishop of Meth- odist Episcopal Church), and George Breyfogle. The first officers were : William L. Harris, Noble Grand; C. S. Drake, Vice Grand ; C. Platt, Sec- retary, and George Breyfogle, Treasurer. The Lodge has an active membership of 158, and is officered as follows : J. L. Wolfley, Noble Grand; Lewis Benton, Vice Grand; O. A. Wolfley, R. Sec- retary; G. W. Wentsell, P. Secretary, and A. Evans, Treasurer.

Delaware Encampment, No. 52, I. O. O. F., was chartered May 5, 1851. The charter members were J. A. Barnes, S. A. Cherry, W. P. Jones, C. T. Bradley, John Converse, H. W. Chamber- lain and Cyrus Masters. It has sixty-seven mem- bers, and the following is the roll of officers for the present term : H. A. Weld, C. P .; J. L. Wol- fley, H. P .; Thomas C. Evans, J. W .; E. R. Ryan, Scribe, and C. T. Bradley, Treasurer.

Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 1,511, Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America (colored), was chartered December 12, 1872, under authority from the Grand Lodge of England. Among the

charter members and first officers were H. Garvin, B. J. Johnson, and J. W. Highwarden. The Lodge at present has thirty-five active members, and is officered as follows: A. Highwarden, V. G .; A. Crawford, N. G .; J. W. Highwarden, P. and F .; J. C. Lyons, P. and G .; R. R. Lindsey, P. S., and D. Alston, W. T. Their meetings are held in C. Renner's building, every second Wed- nesday.

Lenape Lodge, No. 29, K. of P., was instituted December 22, 1870, and chartered February 11, 1871, with the following original members : P. H. McGwire, C. V. Owston, Jacob Kruck, Robert Bell, H. E. Buck, Jacob Heller, Jonas Brown, M. M. Miller, Aaron Frantz, Geo. E. Breyfogle, C. Riddle, W. A. Lear, T. P. Vining, Henry Fleck- ner, Enoch Shelley, and G. W. Stimmell. The first, officers were P. H. McGwire, P. C .; C. V. Owston, C. C .; J. Kruck, V. C., and Aaron Frantz, K. of R. and S. The Lodge is in a flour- ishing condition, the records showing seventy-five members in good standing. The welfare of the institution is guarded by a Board of Trustees, con- sisting of H. F. Brown, B. F. Sprague and Geo. C. Eaton. The present officers are Geo. C. Eaton, C. C .; Ira G. Rawn, V. C .; P. H. McGwire, P .; Aaron Frantz, K. of R. and S .; Lew Willey, M. of F .; Levan Miller, M. of E .; W. K. Rutter, Master at Arms.

CHAPTER XIV.

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP-EARLY SETTLEMENT-PIONEER LIFE-MILLS AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS -- SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC .- STORES AND VILLAGES.

-Like the one

Stray fragment of a wreck, which, thrown With the lost vessel's name ashore,

Tells who they were that live no more."-Moore.

THIS particular section of Delaware County is rich in remains of the strange people who once inhabited the country and left imperishable evidences of their labors behind, extending from Lake Superior to the Isthmus, and from Ohio to the Pacific. Of them and concerning them history is silent. No record exists of their achievements and progress; no sculptured memorial attests their skill and greatness, yet all about us is proof that a population vastly greater than now abounds, once inhabited these valleys, and reared these mysterious structures. Our houses are built on grounds once

appropriated by others; our towns and cities oc- cupy the sites of older cities ; and our cemeteries are sacred to the memory of a ghostly people, who, in the event of a final resurrection, could rise up and claim ownership prior to the present occupants. As to these mounds, investigation and research tell us, that-

" A race that long has passed away Built them, a disciplined and populous race, Heaped with long toil the earth, while yet the Greek Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock The glittering Parthenon ; "

but whence the builders came, in which age they existed, and the cause of their final disappearance, we know absolutely nothing. The antiquary finds

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in them no inscriptions, which, like those found on the plains of Shinar, or in the valley of the Nile, can unfold the mysteries of bygone centuries. He finds only moldering skeletons, the scattered remnants of vessels of earthenware, rude weapons of war, axes made of stone, and other implements equally rude.

Not only this township, but the country imme- diately surrounding it, contains many traces of that wonderful people, the Mound-Builders. One of the most extensive relics of them in this region, and perhaps in the county, is in Orange Township, just across the river from the southeast corner of Liberty, and is on the land of A. E. Goodrich, Esq. It is located on the bank of the river, which here rises into a bluff, and being so near to Lib- erty Township, and the land upon which it is located having, for a number of years, been owned by the Goodriches, citizens of Liberty, they take more interest in it than do the people of Orange. It bears all the marks of having been a fort, and with the river-and a large ravine which enters the river almost at right angles-forms a semi- circle, or, more properly speaking, a quadrant, and incloses something near ten acres of ground. Several gateways or openings in the wall surround- ing it, which is of earth, from five to eight feet high, are guarded by mounds on the inside of the inclosure. This work, whatever it may be, has never been examined scientifically, and hence may be as rich in archeological lore as any of the mounds and fortifications hitherto examined in the State. Mr. Goodrich, who owns the land, is much interested in the matter, and, doubtless, will sooner or later have a thorough investigation made. About a quarter of a mile southwest of the elder Goodrich's residence, and on the farm of one of his sons, is a mound, perfect in shape as though made but a few years, instead of untold centuries. ago. It is some forty or fifty feet in diameter, and has the appearance of having been walled in. Another mound in Mr. Goodrich's barn lot, some forty feet in diameter, which was recently removed for grading purposes, was found to contain three skeletons, most of the bones in a pretty good state of preservation. One of the skeletons, judging from the bones (which the writer had the privilege of examining) was that of a man considerably above medium stature ; the other two were much smaller, and were apparently those of a woman, and an individual not fully grown. These relics were found some eighteen inches below the sur- face, but as the ground about the mound had long

been used as a kind of barn lot, they were, doubt- less, originally placed much deeper in the earth. Still another of these mounds was on the old Carpenter farm, in the north part of the township, and embraced in the family burying-ground. When Capt. Carpenter had occasion to choose a site for a graveyard, upon the death of his wife, he selected the spot where this mound had been built in the " dim ages past." In grading down the mound, assisted by some of his neighbors, and leveling the ground, a human skeleton was found of an unusually large size. Mr. Gillies, who was present, and who was a man fully six and a half feet high, in comparing the thigh bones with his own limbs, it was admitted by those present that they had belonged to a man much larger than Gillies. But our space will not admit of a full detail of all the mounds existing in this part of the county. The subject is more fully discussed in another chapter, and with these local allusions we will pass to another branch of our work, leaving further investi- gation to the scientific.

Liberty Township lies south of Delaware, and is one of the three original townships into which the county was divided for temporary purposes, at the time of its formation. In that division, Liberty comprised about half of Orange, Berlin, Delaware and Scioto Townships, and all of its present terri- tory, and of Concord Township. At the first meeting of the County Commissioners, Delaware Township was formed, which took a large corner from Liberty, as did Scioto, Berlin and Orange some years later. In 1819, when Concord was erected, Liberty was called upon to contribute most of the material for its formation. With all these drafts upon its territory, it is at present about eight miles in length ; from four to five miles in width, and bounded on the north by Delaware Township, on the east by Berlin and Orange, on the south by Franklin County, and on the west by Concord Township. Its principal water-course is the Olentangy, which enters almost in the center of the north boundary, and flows a little east of south, passing out near the southeast corner of the township. A number of small streams, such as McKinnie's, Wild Cat, Big Wolf and Lick Runs empty into the Olentangy. There are also many fine springs along its banks, of never-failing, pure water. Not far from old Liberty Church, but on the opposite side of the river, is one of the finest sulphur springs in the county. The water is the very strongest of sulphur, and the flow said to be ten or twenty times greater than that in the campus of

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the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware. The Scioto River forms the boundary line for some two or three miles between Liberty and Concord Townships, and drains all the western portion of Liberty. Upon the farm of Mr. Stanbery, situated on the Scioto River, in the extreme southwest part of the town- ship, is also a fine spring, noted for its cold water, which, in summer, is said to be almost as cold as ice-water. In early times it was a favorite camp- ing-place for the Indians when hunting in the vicinity. The land in Liberty Township will com- pare favorably with any portion of the county. It is what might be termed rolling, but not rough or broken, and originally contained all the varieties of timber common in this section, among which may be noted black and white walnut, oak, hickory; sugar-maple, hackberry, sycamore, etc., etc. Fine sugar orchards abound in various parts of the township. What were called pigeon oaks were quite plenty. This name was applied to them on ac- count of the vast numbers of wild pigeons that swarmed into them in the fall of the year, and fed upon the acorns.

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History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 70

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