History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 80

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

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Sunday schools were early established, though not of the form we know in these days. The first effort in this respect was probably in 1815, by Mr. Goodhue, in the cabin occupied by the Widow Byxbe, sister-in-law of Col. Byxbe. There is no tradition in regard to its character or its results. Later, James and Paul Ferson, of Orange, taught a Sunday school. Mrs. Gregory, who lived at Berkshire, had an occasion to go East about the time when the interest in Sunday schools was at its highest there, and became greatly interested in the subject of introducing them in the West. On her return home, she communicated her enthu- siasm to the Ferson brothers, who became promi- nent in Sabbath-school work, establishing at various places schools on the plan inaugurated at the East.

The first school in this township was taught by Joseph Eaton, in a cabin which stood west of Alum Creek, and a half or three-quarters of a mile north of the old Baptist meeting-house. The second was taught by Lucy Caulkins, in a cabin near where the block-house stood, about 1810. The first schoolhouse was built just south of the block-house, on a ridge of land which overlooks the creek, but was not much used. It was of the rudest sort, built of round logs, with paper windows, bark roof and puncheon furniture. A school was taught in a cabin near the bridge, opposite the place of John Jones. After this, the block-house furnished good accommodations for school as well as church, and was used for some years. There

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

were, in 1818, but four schoolhouses in the town- ship, with an enumeration of about 100. They were distributed as follows : one in the northwest quarter, two in the northeast quarter-i. e., one in the Durham settlement, and the other in the Eaton neighborhood-and one in the southeast quarter, situated across from the Presbyterian church, south of Cheshire. Peletier Morgan, an old Revolu- tionary soldier, was one of the early teachers in this latter schoolhouse. He carried his whisky in a wooden bottle regularly to school, and divided his attention between that and his pupils. A brick schoolhouse was substituted for this old one in 1826, with Joseph P. Smith as first teacher. The children of that day were not different from those of, to-day. Full of mischief, they watched the teacher's eye, and were on furtive mischief bent at all times. An anecdote is told of Thomas Scott and Harry Hoadley getting bumped against the logs of the block-house by the teacher for punish- ment. The justice of the punishment they never questioned, but they sought to evade it in the future by having their heads literally shaved. At another time, a boy of eight years was observed weeping bitterly, and leading a youngster of some four years, who evidently did not comprehend the disturbance. On being asked the cause of his grief, the boy blubbered out that his brother " didn't seem to feel the importance of business, and he was afraid he never would." What solace could be offered to a mind thus stricken with grief, it is hard to conceive, but of such were the boys of the

pioneers. Spelling-schools and singing-schools were engaged in at that time with far more zest than has come down with those institutions to us. And in the part not laid down in the programme -the going home with the girls-there was a zest which shows itself in the very stories of the time. Milton Sackett relates an incident which pictures forth the society of that day in a vivid manner.

As is often the case nowadays, two' boys had their hearts and attentions set upon one girl, and' both proposed to himself to escort her home. While one of the contestants was lighting his torch of hickory at the old block-house fire-place, his rival, who had been quicker than he, just placed his torch in close proximity with the other's coat-tail. Of course there was a sudden hurrying about to extinguish the blazing coat- tail, but, in the mean while, the shrewd incendiary had gone off with the girl, leaving his rival to grieve over the lacerated state of his feelings, as well as that of his coat-tail.

Since the earliest authentic data at command- 1837-the yearly increase in school population has been from 10 to 12 per cent. In 1837, the enumeration was 340; in 1858, about 530. The number in the last enumeration has fallen to 288. In 1837, there were seven schoolhouses; in 1845, there were ten; in 1853, there were thir- teen ; now there are but ten. Of these ten, all but two are good, substantial brick structures, furnished with improved school furniture. Ladies are largely employed as teachers, receiving from $18 to $25 per month. Gentlemen receive $35 per month. These prices are without board.

In compiling the above pages we have been greatly indebted to the manuscript of Mrs. Ripley, and to an historical sermon by the Rev. J. W. Thompson. These papers were written during the life of some of the original settlers, and clothe the scenes of long ago with a romantic interest that can be felt but not copied. To those whose ancestors came here as early settlers, as they trace their history in these pages, there must come as to no one else a feeling that

"Something beautiful is vanished, Which we sigh for now in vain ; We behold it everywhere, On the earth, and in the air, But it never comes again."

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

CHAPTER XVII.

ORANGE TOWNSHIP-THE EARLY SETTLEMENT-SOCIAL CUSTOMS IN THE WILDERNESS-HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES, ETC.

" Eschewing books and tasks, Nature answers all he asks ; Hand in hand with her he walks, Face to face with her he talks, Part and parcel of her joy:"- Whittier.

T HE historian called upon to record the history of Orange Township from the earliest settle- ment, finds his duty a pleasure not unmixed with difficulties. For him no record exists, and only vague tradition, with here and there a fragment of personal reminiscence, serves, like a " will-o'-the- wisp," as an uncertain guide through the obscurity which the shadows of seventy years have brought about the early men and times. The early settlers were men and women of heroic mold. Though coming simply to find more room, cheaper lands, and to found a home, they met the trying experi- ences of the new country with a spirit that exhib- ited such characters as make the world's heroes.

"The applause of listening senates to command, The threats of pain and ruin to despise, To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,

And read their history in a nation's eyes, Their lot forbade."

Slowly and laboriously they toiled through the unbroken wilderness, and here reared their first cabin. Herethey dispensed their frugal hospitality, spread around their humble charities, and, with heroic patience and fortitude, endured the stern fate of the pioneer, unknown and unsung of fame. And yet,

" Let not ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure ; Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile, The short and simple annals of the poor."

What is now called Orange Township, was, be- fore the pioneer's ax disturbed the native quiet of the woods, an unbroken forest of heavy timber. Oak, ash, beech, elm and hickory abounded, in- dicating a generous variety of soil. Sloping up, on either hand, from the Alum Creek on the east, and from the Olentangy on the west, the land forms a ridge of some elevation, nearly in the middle of the township, and is now traversed by the track of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati

& Indianapolis Railway. The soil along the river bottoms, for the most part, is a rich alluvial de- posit. The ridges which rise immediately back of these bottoms, are covered with beech timber principally, indicating a clayey formation. The same is largely true of the central southern por- tion of the township. In the northern portions existed, in the early times, a considerable extent of elm swamp, which, under the influence of clearing and tilling, has proven fine farming land of black, rich soil. Geographically, Orange Town- ship lies next south of Berlin; is bounded on the east by Genoa, on the west by Liberty, and has for its southern line the southern line of Delaware County, and was known in the early survey as Town 3, Range 18. Alum Creek, rising in the northern part of this and Morrow County, passes through the eastern portion, and the stream, vari- ously called Whetstone and Olentangy, runs just west, but curves eastward enough to cut off the lower western corner of the township. It would seem, from the configuration of the ground, that these streams would afford fine drainage for the whole township, but it is complained that the higher portion of the township is most in need of artificial draining. In looking on the map, it will be observed that the southwest corner of the township is cut off by the Olentangy River, and is annexed to Liberty Township. Thereby hangs a tale. Somewhere about 1824, Ebenezer Good- rich, living on this little point of land, was elected Justice of the Peace, by the citizens of Liberty Township. There seems to have been no sus- picion on his part, or on the part of any one else, that he was not a citizen of Liberty Township, and he went on performing the ordinary duties of a Township Magistrate. Finally, it dawned upon some mind that Mr. Goodrich was not a citizen of Liberty, and, therefore, not eligible for the office he held. Here was a dilemma not easily evaded. All the business of an official nature that he had done up to this time was found to be void, and there seemed to be no escape from confusion worse confounded. A remedy was found, at last, in a

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

petition to tlie Legislature, in 1826, and the Olentangy was made the boundary line of Orange, in that corner.

Three places have, at different times, endeavored to concentrate the leading interests of the town- ship within themselves, viz., Williamsville, on the Columbus and Sandusky pike; Orange Station, and Lewis Center. In this case the Bible rule of precedence has been observed, the last is now first. East Orange Post Office, more popularly known as Africa, though, perhaps, not aspiring to metropol- itan distinction, should be mentioned as a marked cluster of dwellings, whose community exercises a decided influence upon the township.

Orange Township was a part of the United States military lands, and in the survey of those lands was known as Township 3, Range 18. When the first settlers came into this township they found Sections 2 and 3 a part of Liberty Town- ship, and Sections 1 and 4 a part of Berkshire Township. On September 3, 1816, a petition headed by Alpha Frisbey, asking that the original survey of Township 3, Range 18, be set off as a separate township, to be known as Virgil, was granted by the Commissioner's Court. This severely classical name was endured by the plain settlers just six days, when another petition pray- ing for a change of name to the more prosaic one of Orange was granted on September 9 of the same year.

It was in Section No. 2, then a part of Liberty Township, that the first cabin of the Orange settle- ment was built. Hither, Joab Norton, with his little family, came in 1807, and built his home near the house now owned by Mr. Abbott. His motive for moving into the wilds of the West seems to have been to please others rather than himself. His wife's father, John Goodrich, had become interested in the emigration movement, through a colony which had left his native town, Berlin, in Connecticut, and, possessed with the spirit of emigration, he sold his property and pre- pared to join his former neighbors in Worthing- ton, Franklin Co., Ohio. Mrs. Norton, seeing her father's family about to go, at once urged her husband to accompany them. Mr. Goodrich and James Kilbourn, an agent for Section 2 of this township, added their influence, and won him over to the project. It is not unlikely that he was easily persuaded that the West offered advantages to him which he could not hope for in the East. He was a tanner and currier by trade, and the natural demand for the services of such a man in

a new colony seemed to warrant his removal. The journey was at once undertaken. Getting together his worldly effects, he placed them with his family, a wife and three children, one scarcely a year old, in a wagon and started for the West. The start was made in September with an ox team, and it was not until the cold days of November warned them of the fast-approaching winter that they reached Worthington. Here they prepared for the winter. Not content to be idle, Mr. Norton soon sunk one or two vats, and prepared to realize some of the brilliant promises of business which had dazzled his eyes in the East. His was not an un- usual experience for that day. The business was not forthcoming. Nothing larger or better than woodchuck skins, and an occasional deerskin, could be had. Tired of this prospect, he at once set about finding a new business and a new home. He struck north, probably influenced by Kilbourn, who had land to sell, and bought some 150 acres, where he built his home. At this time the town- ship adjoining on the west, had been somewhat settled, and named Liberty, a name that expressed the feelings of the early settlers, and was broad enough to take in the future township of Orange. Dr. Delano, the owner of Section 3, a resident of Woodstock, Vt., sought to give the name of his native town to the new township, and this name of Woodstock did gain a local popularity which dis- puted supremacy with that of Liberty, until both gave way before the present name of Orange. So late as 1812-13, commissions were dated at Lib- erty, and letters were directed to Woodstock, both names meaning the same place.

After rearing a shelter for his family, Mr. Nor- ton's first care was to establish a business to gain a livelihood. While not neglecting the manifest duty of a pioneer, true to the instincts of his trade, he sunk vats, and prepared to do a little tanning " between whiles." About this time, 1808, Elia- phlet Ludington came from Connecticut, and, buy- ing land in Section 3, of Dr. Delano, built a cabin just south of Mr. Norton, their lands adjoining. A little later in this year came William and Joseph Higgins, with their families, and their mother with the younger part of her family, con- sisting of Josiah, Elisha, Irving, David and two girls. The older boys were well educated, and possessed a high degree of culture for those days. Joseph was especially gifted as a penman, and it is said did marvelous things in counterfeiting others' writing. Such dexterity soon gave rise to a sus- picion that he signed the counterfeit bills which

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

were issued for the South. There was no appar- ent ground for this suspicion, and the family was ostensibly as much respected as ever. A cloud did, however, come over them, and, as they soon left the township, not to be heard of again, it may be related here. It appears, that, before leaving Vermont, the father of the boys had left his fam- ily, running off to Canada with a younger, if not handsomer, woman. About 1812, he came to Orange with a desire to " make up." He seems, like a prudent general, not to have omitted in his arrangements to prepare for d feat, for he brought his companion in sin as far as Berkshire, and then went forward to spy out the land. He came to the house of McCumber, and, finding the latter's stepson, young Elsbre, about to go for an errand, persuaded him to take a token to Mrs. Higgins. Old Mr. Higgins knew his wife's weak point, doubtless, and sent his pocket-book with the sim- ple instruction, " to hand it to the old woman." This young Elsbre, in passing, did, but, while Mrs. Higgins was contemplating the well-known relic of her husband, Mrs. Eaton rushed in on her, telling her her long-lost husband was at hand. The re- sult was a reconciliation, which operated disas- trously to the family. The change was soon marked by the little community. The former high estimation changed gradually to suspicion, then to distrust, and finally culminated in the arrest of the old man, together with the three younger boys, Josiah, Elisha and Irving, for coun- terfeiting. Dies, metal and a large quantity of finished counterfeit coin were captured, together with some paper money. Through some irregu- larity in the papers, the boys escaped, and, later, through some means, the old man escaped the just deserts of his doings. The family at once Icft the township, and were lost to view.

But to return to 1808. In this year Mr. Nor- ton decided to return to the East on business, the importance of which was, doubtless, greatly en- · hanced by his longing to get a glimpse of the civilization left so far behind. Mr. Norton never became thoroughly reconciled to his new home, and it is a family tradition, that, had he not been cut off so early in life, the family would have re- turned to Connecticut. A letter written home, from Sbippenburg, on the Alleghany Mountains, while on his way East, gives some idea of the magni- tude of his undertaking. He writes that the weather was oppressively hot, that he had ridden fifteen miles before breakfast, and that, though the letter is dated July 26, 1808, he does not

expect to see them again before the last of Octo- ber, or the first of November. He also conveys the unwelcome news of the loss of his pocket- book, containing $25 in bank notes, a note of haiid for $300, and sundry memorandum papers. This was no small loss for those days, and he notes in his letter the painstaking search he makes as he turns back to seek the lost property. Unfor- tunately, he found only the memoranda, and learns from some children, who saw the book hanging out of his pocket, the probable spot of its loss. He concludes that it'has been picked up by some traveler westward, and adds, " God knows whether I shall ever see it again." He made this journey twice, riding a large, strong bay horse which bore the name of Sifax. This horse was a marked member of the family, and was especially valuable on the frontier. At this time horse-thieves were somewhat troublesome, but Sifax was not to be won, wooed they never so wisely. With a toss of the head and a parting kick, if molested, he would rush to the cabin, arousing the family with the noisy clatter of the bell he wore.

On his return from the East, in the fall of 1808, attracted by the new town, Mr. Norton went to Delaware, where he established the first tannery in that place. He bought a house built on a side- hill in the south part of the town, on the north part of the grounds where the university now stands. The front of the house had two stories, but the back part, from the necessities of the sit- uation, had but one. The tanyard was immediately adjoining. Here business began to brighten, but the Nemesis of the early settler, the ague, laid its hand of ice upon him and shook him until he surrendered unconditionally. No inducement of gain could make him brave such terrors, and, sell- ing out to one Koester, he returned to his farm. It was in this year, 1810, that Mr. Ludington lost his wife by death. She left an infant boy a few weeks old. This was the first birth and death in the settlement. Mr. Ludington, his home thus broken up and his courage gone, left for Connecticut with his infant son, and was never heard of by his neighbors in the settlement save through some vague rumors which are too indistinct to furnish data for history. In this year, the families of Nahum King and Lewis Eaton joined the settle- ment. These families lived and died here, and their descendants are still to be found in the town- ship. In the following year, 1811, came James McCumber, with his third wife, and two sons by his former wives. Collins P. Elsbre, then a lad of

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

eleven years, accompanied his mother and step- father. Mr. McCumber started from Dutchess County, N. Y., early in November, 1810. Taking a horse team, they came down the Hudson River and across it. to Easton, Penn., thence to Harris- burg, through Charlestown, W. Va., and Zanesville, Ohio, to Granville, where the family stayed three weeks. Meanwhile, McCumber proceeded west to Worthington, and later brought his family there. Their stay here, however, was of short duration. Kilbourn, who seems to have been peculiarly fitted for a land agent, interested Mc- Cumber in the land further north, and, buying 150 acres, he settled on land situated about half a mile north of Mr. Norton on the same road, their farms nearly joining. The intimacy thus begun, increased until, in later years, the families were united by the marriage of young Elsbre to Matilda, third child of Mr. and Mrs. Norton. Mr. and Mrs. Elsbre, at this writing, are still living, a hale and hearty old couple of eighty and seventy-four years respectively, doing the work of the house and farm, upon their own responsibility, with as much apparent vigor as in years ago, and the historian is under obligations to them, and to papers in their possession, for many of the facts which appear in these pages .*

. The first actual residence of McCumber's family was in the cabin left vacant by Mr. Ludington. Theland purchased of Mr. Kilbourne was then in all its virgin grandenr, untouched by the remorseless ax of the pioneer. A place was to be cleared, and a cabin put up, and the little family found plenty for stout hands and willing hearts to do. While the men chopped trees, cleared away the brush, and rolled up the timber for the cabin, the women folks prepared comforts and such adorn- ments for the inside.as only womanly taste and in- genuity could provide in such times. In the fall they took possession of their frontier mansion, about 12x18 feet, and dispensed a 'hospitality com- mensurate more with the largeness of their heart than the smallness of their home. About this time, the cloud of war which culminated in the following year, began to cast its portentous shad- ows over the new settlement. By the treaty of Greenville, this county had been freed from Indian domination, and the Wyandots were only seen as they came down on hunting expeditions. But the trouble brewing on the frontier seemed to

promise a serious experience for the unprotected settlements. As early as 1809, application for permission to form a rifle company had been made by Joab Norton and others. Permission was granted, and on June 24, of the same year, a com- pany was organized with Mr. Norton as Third Sergeant. The company was composed mostly of Liberty men, and consisted of some forty officers and privates. Mr. Norton's rise in military affairs secms to have been rapid, marking him, inasmuch as the promotions were secured by popular elec- tions, a favorite with his company. On the 12th of September of the same year, he was raised to Sergeant Major, to a lieutenantcy on September 6, 1811, and very soon afterward to a captaincy of his company. This organization was composed of the best material that the settlements afforded, and were uniformed and equipped in a way that made their wives and sweethearts envy the bravery of their dress. An old copy of the by-laws adopted by the company sets forth with minute particu- larity the prescribed uniform. It is provided, " That each and every member belonging to our company shall uniform himself as follows, viz., with a black hat or cap, and a bearskin on the same, and a cockade, and a white feather with a red top on the left side of the same, said feather or plume to be of seven inches in length, also a black rifle frock or hunting shirt, trimmed with white fringe, and a white belt round the same, and a white vest and pantaloons and white handkerchief or cravat, with a pair of black gaiters or half-boots and black knec-bands." It was further provided that the wearing of this uniform should be enforced by sundry fines. To be delinquent in the matter of hat, bearskin, plume, frock, vest, pantaloons, or gaiters, subjected the offender to a fine of 50 cents for each and every particular. In the matter of knee-bands, the fine was fixed at 64 cents. To be absent from muster on account of drunkennesss, waywardness or otherwise, threw the delinquent upon the discretionary mercy of the majority. Such was the discipline of the early military forces, and such the brave array in which they decked themselves. To the mind of the casual ob- server, the suggestion of that school-book poetry-

"Were you ne'er a schoolboy And did you never train, And feel that swelling of the heart You ne'er can feel again ? "

is irresistible. But this organization meant more than " boy's play," and it was soon called upon to act a manly part.

* Since the above was written, a distressing accident has removed Mr. Elsbre from this world. On February 16, 1880, while attempting to manage a bull, which he had driven into a stable, the infuriated animal turned upon him and gored him to death.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

In June of 1812, orders came from Gov. Meigs to Capt. Norton, to call out his force, and, taking up a position on the "boundary line," to defend the frontier settlements against any hostile incur- sions. Capt. Norton at once promptly prepared to obey. There was a hurried summoning of the members of the company ; there were hasty prep- arations for the husbands, brothers, and lovers, in the cabin homes scattered through the settle- ments, and many a brave but anxious woman's heart suppressed its sorrowful forebodings to cheer their dear ones on in the path of duty. An old copy of an address made to the company by Capt. Norton on the occasion of their final muster before starting on their march, has the ring of the true patriot and enthusiastic leader. Said he : "Fellow officers and soldiers of the Rifle Company : It is with pleasure I see so many of you assembled on this occasion. Many of us have met on this ground frequently and spent a day in the performance of military tactics, drank our grog and retired to our several homes, but this is a more serious call. We are now called on by the Executive of this State to go and protect our frontier from savage hostili- ties, provided they are offered. I have this much to say in your praise at this time, you have ever manifested a willingness to do your duty on every assemblage we have had since I have belonged to the company, but the thing is now not nominal but real. We are now to go into actual service, and let us view the subject on the worst side. Are we to meet with hideous savages painted in hideous warlike colors, threatening us with all the savage barbarity which imagination can paint ? What are they ? They are but the simple tools of British intrigue sent forth to disturb us of those superior blessings which we enjoy above that na- tion. They are hirelings, and of course, cowards, sneaking in here and there and doing a little mis- chief, and then running off. But you, my brave fellows, are freedom's children, born in a land of liberty and plenty, and, of course, will never sub- mit to bondage. Let Britons, let savages, or any others of equal numbers, encounter with us, and we will maintain our rights. Such are the senti- ments of my heart, and such, I trust, are the sen- timents of yours." Here is voiced a knowledge of the causes of the war; a just appreciation of the dangers to be met, and a brave patriotism that expects to achieve success in spite of obstacles. It is not difficult to believe that the hearts of his fol- lowers were fired with enthusiasm, their courage

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History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 80

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