History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 84

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 84

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490

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

The village of Ostrander is the largest in Scioto Township, and is situated in the south central part on the Short Line Branch of the Cleveland, Colum- bus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad, about seven miles and a half from the town of Delaware. It takes its name from a Mr. Ostrander, who, as a civil engineer, surveyed .the line for the railroad. Great exertions were made by the representatives of Edinburg and Millville in the interest of their villages to cause the proposed railroad to be located through their respective places, but the decree was otherwise, and it took the present route, much to the disappointment of those who had labored so zealously in the interests of the neighboring ham- lets. The results are that upon the once bare clay hill stands the little village of Ostrander, while its rivals, Edinburg and Millville, have gone into a decline. The town of Ostrander was laid out in the year 1852 by I. C. Buck, and originally con- sisted of 104 lots. The railroad passes through the center of the town in direction west and east, and the waters of Little Mill Creek flow just east of the town, touching the corporate limits. Al- though the town was laid out in 1852, it was not incorporated until May 18, 1875.

The first Council met April 5, 1876, and there were present, Mayor, D. G. Cratty ; Treasurer, W.C. Winget; D. C. Fay, Clerk. The Council consisted of T. Mangans, J. H. Fields, Samuel Stricklin, G. S. Carr, F. W. Brown, J. B. Roberts. The pres- ent Mayor is H. B. Felkuer; Treasurer, W. C. Winget, and Clerk, D. C. Fay.

The first Postmaster was M. C. Bean. Abner Said now fills the position, the post office heing in his store. The first store was that of W. C. Win- get; the first drug store was opened by Mr. Mer- riman; the first physician was Erastus Field, who came to Ostrander in 1849, where he now lives; Dr. Fay is another of the prominent physicians; the first blacksmith was William Fry, and the first tavern-keeper was Samuel Stricklin. The

lodge of Odd Fellows was organized November 2, 1871, and the delegates who were authorized to institute it were from Marysville, Delaware, Ruff- ner and Beachtown. The lodge itself is an out- growth from the Ruffner Lodge, at Millville, and was instituted by Grand Master H. Y. Beebe. It is the only secret society in Ostrander, and at present is in a very flourishing condition, having forty-three members. The following-named gen- tleman were the charter members: Daniel Dowart, D. G. Cratty, Robert McMillian, Isaac Anderson and D. C. Fay. The present officers are as fol.

lows: John Pounds, Noble Grand; James Jen- nings, Vice Grand; Homer J. Cowles, Recording Secretary ; D. G. Cratty, Permanent Secretary. The lodge-room is a very pleasant one, situated in a large frame building opposite the store of W. C. Winget.

Ostrander has a good brick school building, in which is held a primary and high school. The fol- lowing statistics will show its standing :

State tax, $120 ; irreduccable fund, $7.84; local tax for school and schoolhouse purposes, $558.93; from fines, licenses, or tuition of non-resident pupils, $29.20; total, $747.85. Amount paid teachers for the year-primary, $150; high school, $360; total amount, $510. Amount paid as in- terest on redemption of bonds, $15.97; amount paid for fuel and contingent expenses, $190; grand total of expenditures, $715.97; balance on hand, $31.88; total valuation of school property, $1,600; number of teachers, 2.

Fairview, now called Edinburg, is the oldest village in the township. As early as the year 1815-16, the families of William Cratty, John Lawrence and Andrew Dodds came to the banks of . Little Mill Creek, as we have elsewhere stated, and settled in the immediate neighborhood of each other, thus forming the nucleus for the ham- let. It is supposed that shortly after this, the town was laid out, and a plat made. Who platted it, and when it was recorded, are not known, as there is no date to the record. The town was laid out into twenty-seven lots. The principal street, running east and west, was called Harrison street. The streets running east and west were Columbus street, Franklin street and East street. On account of its beautiful location, it was called Fairview. Soon after the plat was made, others came and settled in the place, and it began to grow rapidly. Its situation and surroundings being so favorable, it was thought the place thus started would become of considerable importance. These anticipations were warranted, in a measure, by its gradual growth, and years later, when there were prospects of the railroad being located through its limits, it seemed as if their hopes were to be realized. But upon its taking its present route, about one mile to the south, the establishing of Ostrander as a station in such close proximity proved the death of Fairview. The people of enterprise, and those interested in shipping, were soon compelled to move to the railroad station, and but a few buildings now remain to denote the location.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

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The station at White Sulphur was established for the convenience of the Girls' Industrial Home, located in Concord Township. The station is established at the west end of the iron bridge,

over the Scioto River, about five miles west from Delaware and two east from Ostrander. It takes its name from the Sulphur Springs at the " Home," and consists of only a few houses and a grain warehouse.

CHAPTER XIX .*

CONCORD TOWNSHIP-ITS DESCRIPTION AND TOPOGRAPHY-SETTLEMENT-EARLY HISTORY- CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS-THE GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL HOME-AN INCIDENT-BELLEPOINT.

"All honor he, then, to these gray old men, When at last they are bowed with toil ! Their warfare then o'er, they battle no more, For they've conquered the stubborn soil. And the chaplet each wears is the silver hairs, And ne'er shall the victor's brow

With a laurel crown to the grave go down Like the sons of the Good Old Plow." __ *

C YONCORD is one of the most picturesque and interesting townships in Delaware County, and is rich in historical scenes and incidents. Its primeval forests, rolling rivers, winding creeks, babbling brooks, its green hills and fertile valleys, to one imbued with poetic fancy, present a field of inexhaustible wealth. The origin of the name, Concord, and its bestowal upon this township, is somewhat in doubt. There is a tradition that it was named from the old town of Concord in New Hampshire, made famous by the part it took in the war of the Revolution. In absence of proof to the contrary, we will willingly accord it the honor of thus attaining the name.

The township is very irregular in its boundaries, and more changes have been made in its territorial limits, perhaps, than any other subdivision of the county. Additions have been made to it, sections and lots have been taken away from it, and changed around, until the people used to get up of a morn- ing in doubt as to whether they were in Concord or some other township. The county was origin- ally divided into three townships, one of which was Liberty, and in it Concord was included. Union Township was formed June 16, 1809, and comprised in its limits all that part of Concord west of the Scioto River. On the 20th of April, 1819, Concord Township was created, and bounded as follows : Beginning at the county line between Franklin and Delaware Counties, on the east bank of the Scioto River, and running up the river to where the range line between 19 and 20, strikes *Contributed by H. L. S. Vaile.

the river; thence north on said range line to the southeast corner of fourth quarter, fifth township, and twentieth range ; thence west to the Scioto River, theoce up said river to where the State road from Delaware to Derby crosses the same; thence west- ward along the south side of said road until it strikes the westerly line of survey, and extra No. 2,994 ; thence southwardly on said line and on the west line of survey Nos. 2,993, 2,989, 2,998, 3,006, 3,005 and 2,991, to Franklin County line ; thence east to the place of beginning. It was bounded on the north by Scioto, Radnor and Dela- ware Townships, on the east by Delaware and Lib- erty, on the south by Franklin County, and on the west by Union County and Scioto Township. About the year 1852, Scioto Township was allowed one school district from that portion of Concord east of the Scioto River, and extending north between the river and Delaware Township, to the south line of Radnor. A few years later, a school dis- trict in the southwestern part of Delaware Towo- ship was added to Concord. This was effected by a petition of the voters of that section, setting forth their preferences for Bellepoint over Dela- ware as a voting place. The shade of politics, however, is believed to have been the true incent- ive of the petitioners. Bellepoint was strongly Democratic, and Delaware was strongly Whig and afterward Republican ; the petitioners were adher- ents of Gen. Jackson, and desired to vote with kindred spirits. A small triangular portion of the southwestern part of Liberty Township bordering on the Scioto River was once annexed to Concord, but in a few years was restored back to Liberty. Lastly, a school district was taken from the north- western part of Concord, which lay in the bend of Mill Creek, and is now that part of Scioto Town- ship lying below Ostrander and south of Mill Creek. With all these changes it would not ap- pear at all startling, if the border-settlers of

492

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

Concord sometimes found.themselves at a loss to de- termine just where they actually belonged. At present, Concord is bounded on the north by Scioto and Delaware Townships, on the east by Delaware and Liberty, on the south by Liberty Township, Franklin and Union Counties, and on the west by Union County and Scioto Township. Its greatest length from north to south is six miles and ninety rods ; the greatest breadth is about three miles. That portion lying west of the Scioto River is em- braced in the old Virginia military lands, in the survey of which, and its division into sections, quarter-sections and lots, each settler had his own surveyor, and his own idea of boundary lines. Hence, there is but little order or regularity in these subdivisions. The Scioto River flows through from north to south, dividing the township into two almost equal divisions. Originally the river was bordered by fine forests of oak, hickory, maple, walnut and sycamore. The banks, in some places, rise into precipitous cliffs of stratified rock, twenty to thirty feet high, which present a firm wall, defy- ing further erosion. Mill Creek enters the town- ship from the west, and flows into the Scioto at Bellepoint. Big Run and Deer Lick Run have their sources in the western part, flow in a south- western direction and empty also into the Scioto. A number of other brooks and rivulets meander through different parts, but are so insignificant as to remain nameless.

The country back from the Scioto bottoms is generally undulating, except that portion lying between Bellepoint and Delaware Township. This, when the country was first settled, was a vast swamp, apparently valueless. But since the clearing-up of the forests, and an improved system of drainage instituted, the land has been gradu- ally reclaimed, and instead of bog and treacher- ous marl are fertile fields, rather flat, but of extra- ordinary richness, near the river, owing to the many little streams flowing into it; the land in places is broken by ravines, presenting quite a rolling surface, but is highly fertile. Back from the river the land is rich, and produces grain abundantly. Owing to the heavy timber in this section, and especially along the river bottoms, rafting, in the early days of the occupation of the country by white people, was carried to a consider- able extent, and was a lucrative business. Large rafts were gathered along the banks of the river and its tributaries, and at " high tide" floated dowu to Columbus, and sometimes even to the Ohio River. The raftsmen brought back groceries

and such other goods as pioneer life demanded. The business of rafting was begun before the river was so much obstructed with dams as at present, though there were a few at that date, and many are the anecdotes told of the way these huge rafts were made to " shoot" the dams, but our space will not admit of a repetition of them.

On the west bank of the Scioto River, about two miles south of Bellepoint, and one mile from White Sulphur Springs, stands an old gray-colored stone house. In this old house, built in 1823, lives Mr. Benjamin Hill, the last of the " hermits," and a son of the first white settler in Concord Township. His father, George Hill, came to Ohio, and settled in this division of the county in 1811. He was a soldier of the war for independ- ence, and, on the long winter evenings, when his children gathered around his knee for a story, he used to take down his old, long-barreled, flint-lock rifle from its customary place above the fire, and recount to them the hardships he had experienced in the old war of the Revolution, when, half-fed and half-clothed, he had followed the banner of Liberty under the immortal Washington. He came from Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County, and made the trip on pack-horses. Upon his ar- rival, he built a log cabin upon the site of the old stone house occupied by Ben Hill. and settled down among the Indians. Joseph Hill, another sou of George Hill, served in the war of 1812, and carried the same rifle that his father had car- ried in the Revolutionary struggle. He was out but five months, and, on his return, reported to the few scattering settlers in this part of the country the surrender of Hull and the capture of Detroit. Mr. Hill's cabin stood on the direct trail north and south, and hence many of the soldiers of 1812 used to pass by, in going to and from the seat of war, and many were the exciting stories they told of the Indians, and "wars and rumors of wars." A man named Saunders, from Tennessee, being badly wounded, remained at Hill's cabin for some time. He reached the place by floating down the Scioto River in a canoe, which several of his friends had made for him in Hardin County, of linden bark.

There were no roads to Delaware as early as 1812. A great and almost impassable swamp lay between that place and the ford on the Scioto, at the mouth of Mill Creek. Even the pack-horse trail wound two miles south to avoid the treacher- ous bogs. The usual and safest way of reaching Delaware was by going north to what was known as

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

498

Riggers' Ford, and then striking the State road, one of the first roads through this portion of the county. Benjamin Hill, relating some of his recol- lections of pioneer life, when he came here a boy with his father, says: "The woods were full of wolves, which, in a long, hard winter, driven wild by cold and famine, would come often at night, and jump against my father's cabin door, in vain endeavors to break through. Many and many a night, we children would huddle closer together in bed, and cover our heads with the bed-clothes, when we heard the sound of the wolves around the cabin, shuddering as they made night hideous with their dismal howls, the lullaby most common to the children of the frontier. Woe betide the benighted traveler ; if he escaped them it was by a miracle. The Indians told us that a pack once broke into their camp, and, before they could be driven ,off, had devoured two men and several children.

" Rattlesnakes were very numerous, often cover- ing the driftwood in the river so completely that their mottled skins gave it the appearance of calico. They had a den in the cedar cliffs just below our house. My brother 'Josh ' killed the king rattle- snake in our orchard. It was the largest of its kind ever seen in this locality, and weighed thirty pounds. Brother 'Josh' was once bitten by a rattlesnake, but upon frequent potations of whisky, he came out all right. George Freshwater met a similar accident, and was cured by a poultice given him by the Indians. We often tried to find out from them of what the poultice was composed, but without success. The secret they would never impart, and when they left the country they car- ried it with them."

Mr. Hill, the original settler of this township, has long since passed to his reward, and lies buried in the little graveyard on his original settlement, and, as we have already said, Benjamin, his last surviving offspring, lives upon the old homestcad. His relatives are scattered around him. Solomon Hill, his cousin, lives just below him-a short dis- tance from the sulphur springs. A niece, Mrs. Robinson, lives opposite him on the road to Belle- point. His brother " Josh" and. a sister, who were his constant companions for years, died two years ago. "Uncle Ben," of all his father's large family, is alone left; the grim tyrant has claimed the rest for his own.

" He laid his pallid hand Upon the strong man, and the haughty form Is fallen, and the flashing eye is dim."

For forty years, Mr. Hill has not left his farm ; the things that are transpiring in the busy, bustling world around are unknown and unheeded by him. The Mexican war, the great rebellion, the trials and triumphs of the Government for nearly a half- century are to him as a sealed book, or " as a tale that is told." Once a pioneer, fifty years in advance of the time, he now stands half a century behind-a living monument of the past. Old and feeble, he is tottering on the brink of the hereafter, and soon he will know all.

The next settler in Concord was Christopher Freshwater. He came to the township about the same time as Hill, probably with Hill. They were brothers-in-law and neighbors in Pennsylvania. He bought fifty acres of land adjoining Hill, and was a carpenter by trade. On his trip from Penn- sylvania to this State, which was made on foot, he carried his gun and " broad-ax " on his shoulder. Many of his relatives still live in the township, among them C. Freshwater, Jr., B. H. Fresh- water, D. Freshwater, and George Freshwater. The latter is his son, and was the first white child born in the township. Joel Marsh settled here soon after Hill and Freshwater, and located near them. It may be that the handsome daughter of George Hill was the attraction which prompted him to build his cabin adjacent. At any rate, he was not long in wooing and winning this frontier maiden, whose marriage is chronicled among the early historical incidents of this section. They both sleep in the Hill Cemetery after a long life of usefulness. Josiah Marsh, their son, an old man now of eighty-eight years, lives but a short distance below Benjamin Hill's. He is a man of considerable natural ability, and, withal, quite a poet. At the close of the war, then past his threescore and ten years, he wrote a little poem, dedicated to the Union and the soldiers who fought to maintain it, which contains considerable merit, and, would our space permit it, we would gladly give it in this connection.

Another of the pioneers of this township, Will- iam Carson, came from Pennsylvania in 1806, and settled in Ross County. In 1821, he came to Concord and settled on the place where his son, C. T. Carson, now lives. Here he died in 1873, in his seventy-second year. George Oller came here from Loudoun County, Va., in 1839, and settled in a small cabin on the east bank of the Scioto River. He was an old soldier of 1812, and died at the age of eighty-four years. His sons, John, George and M. Oller, still live in the township,

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

and are wealthy and influential farmers. J. E. Hughes also came in 1839, and is a minister of the United Brethren Church. He was born in 1822, and his father dying soon after, his mother married James Kooken, the original proprietor of the town of Bellepoint. Mr. Hughes lives on the east side of the river, on the old section-line road, about half a mile from Bellepoint. His grand- father, J. O. Hughes, was, at one time, President of Miami University, and his father, J. S. Hughes, who came to the county in 1810, was the first Presbyterian preacher within its limits, and es- tablished the first church of that denomination in Liberty and Radnor Townships. He was a chap- lain in the war of 1812, and was taken prisoner at the surrender of Hull, but was soon after exchanged and returned to his home at Delaware, where he died in 1823. James Kooken was from the neigh- borhood of Philadelphia, and came to Ohio in 1810. Soon after his arrival, the war of 1812 broke out, when he enlisted, and fought until peace was de- clared. After the close of the war, he carried the mail from Chillicothe to the frontier, and from 1816 to 1823, he was Warden of the Ohio Peni- tentiary. About the year 1824, he-moved to Delaware County, and started a tavern three miles south of Delaware, near where the town of Strat- ford is located. In 1833, he moved to this neigh- borhood, and two years later, laid out the village of Bellepoint. John Robinson, from London, England, settled here early. A short time after his settlement in Concord, his wife died, when he married a neice of Benjamin Hills, and now lives just opposite to him on the road to White Sulphur Springs. William Jackson came to the township with his father when he was a mere child, and now lives about a mile from White Sulphur Springs. He relates as an incident of some interest, the fact that his grandfather was one of those, who, in colonial days, had to choose his wife by lot. He shut his eyes and " selected" her from a shipload of females that had been sent over to the colonies from the old country. Thus he " drew " what he always termed his " little Dutch girl." When he first married her, they were unable to under- stand each other, but soon learned enough to get along without trouble.

D. W. C. Lugenbeel, the veteran school teacher, lives near the Sulphur Springs. He is now engaged in teaching his fifty-third term without a single interruption. He was one of the first students admitted to the Ohio Wesleyan University after its opening, but left it after a course of several

years without graduating. John Cutler was among the old settlers of Concord, and came from Delaware. He remained in his native State until some thirty years of age, when he came West and enlisted in the war of 1812, in a company com- manded by Capt. Brush. After the close of the war, he returned to the State of Delaware, but came to Ohio in 1828, stopping first in Chillicothe, where he remained but a short time, then went to Columbus, and in 1830 came to Concord Town- ship, and bought 800 acres of land. Here he lived until his death, which occurred about ten years ago, at the advanced age of ninety years. He was the first Treasurer of Concord Township. The following are a few of the early settlers who' " bore the toil and endured the privations " of frontier life, and whose records could not be fully obtained : Daniel Creamer, Francis Marley, the old blacksmith, Joel Liggitt, Daniel Gardner, William Stone, Aaron Gillett. John Artz, Thomas Bryson, Gilbert Smith, John Black, Jacob Wolford, John Jones, and others, perhaps, who are entitled to the same honors, but whose names are now forgotten.

There is quite a colony of colored people who may be reckoned among the early settlers of Con- cord. The first of this race of "American citizens" who settled in this region was John Day. He was brought to Ohio a slave, by George Hill, when he came here in 1811, but immediately upon ar- rival. he was given his freedom by Mr. Hill. John remained in the township for a time, when he went to the town of Delaware and opened a barber- shop. He is still living there, a feeble old man, and the business of barber is carried on by his son, John Day, Jr. A. Depp, another colored man, came to the township in 1834, and bought 400 acres of land. He is dead, and his wife, a very old woman, lives still upon the land where her husband first settled. John Day came long before Depp, but did not identify himself with the township as did Depp, who was a man exerting a large influence in his neighorhood. Upon his land was built the old colored Baptist Church, which is said by some to be the oldest church in Concord Township. "Depp's church," as it was called, was built of logs, and the cracks stopped with clay-mortar. However, the congregation growing smaller year by year, left the church nearly empty, and it was finally abandoned and torn down. Dr. Samuel White, another old colored settler, is well and fa- vorably known to the citizens of the township, and came to. the place where he now lives, half a mile south of the Industrial Home, in 1836. He

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

was born a slave, in the State of Virginia, but was a free man when he came here. His father bought him and his mother from their master, and then brought them to this settlement. Samuel White is a physician, and, although now sixty-four years of age, is still actively engaged in the practice of his profession ; he ranks among the well-informed men of Concord Township.

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History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 84

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