USA > Ohio > Franklin County > History of Franklin County [Ohio]: > Part 4
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In June, 1813, while the army lay at Franklinton, a soldier, by the name of William Fish, was shot, under the sentence of a court martial, for the offense of deser- tion and threatening the life of his captain. It was an awful scene.
Three other prisoners were condemned to death by the same court martial, but were pardoned by General Harrison. The last one who was pardoned, had been previously conducted to his coffin, and the cap placed over his eyes, in which situation he remained until Fish was shot. His pardon was then read to him.
* Columbus Gazette of January 30, 1823, and January 1824.
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FRANKLIN COUNTY.
In 1816, the first banking institution was established in Columbus. The same year, the town of Columbus was first incorporated, and the same year, the town of Georgesville was laid out. In 1817, the town of Oregon, originally called Middletown, was laid out, and in 1818, the town of Dublin. They will all be noticed under the head of their respective localities.
In 1816, John Kilbourne obtained a copy-right for the " Ohio Gazetteer," and published the first edition of that work. The demand for it was such, that within less than three years, he published his sixth edition, in Columbus. About the year 1822, he also published his Map of Ohio, which was much in use for a number of years. Mr. Kilbourne's works were very useful and highly appreciated. He died in Columbus, in the spring of 1831.
In 1817, William Lusk published his first Almanac, at Columbus, to which was added a Register of public officers, etc., of the State, by counties, making a pamph- let of some sixty or seventy pages, and entitled it the " Ohio Register and Western Calendar," for which he ob- tained a copy-right. The Register part was continued some five or six years, when it was dropped ; but the Almanac was published annually until about the year 1852 or '53. Mr. Lusk died at Dayton, about the year 1854 or '55. In his Register of 1821, he thus describes
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HISTORY OF
the old county seat: "Franklinton, the county seat, contains a post office, a store, three taverns, a common school, and an Academy, in which are taught English Grammar, Geography, Book-keeping, double and single entry, Mensuration, Geometry, Trigonometry, Plane and Spherical Surveying, Navigation, Algebra and Astron- omy." Rather a flattering notice of his own school.
Worthington is described as containing, " A post office, a printing office, four taverns, four mercantile stores, a College, a Masonic hall and a number of large manufac- tories for woolen cloths, hats, saddles, shoes, combs," etc.
In the latter part of August, 1817, President Monroe and suite passed through this county, on their return from Detroit after his northern tour of inspection of the public fortifications, etc. They were met at Worth- ington by the Franklin Dragoons, commanded by Cap- tain Vance, and escorted to Columbus, where proper arrangements had been made for the reception; and the President was received in the State House, and welcomed to the Capital by a neat and appropriate speech from Hon. Hiram M. Curry, then Treasurer of State. To which the President made a suitable reply, complimenting the " infant city," as he called it, and its inhabitants.
They traveled on horseback, and were generally escorted from one town to another by the military, or
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FRANKLIN COUNTY.
some distinguished citizens. They rode fast, generally
in a canter. Mr. Monroe wore the old-fashioned, three- cornered, cocked hat - his dress otherwise was in plain, citizen style. His face was effectually sunburnt from exposure.
Of the company composing the above escort, there are still living in Columbus, Gen. P. H. Olmsted and F. Stewart, Esq.
This troop of dragoons was first organized in time of the war, and continued until 1832, or '33, when they disbanded. They were commanded by the following, successive captains : Joseph Vance, Abram J. McDow- ell, Robert Brotherton, P. H. Olmsted, Joseph McElvain and David Taylor. All good officers, and all now passed off the stage except Messrs. Olmsted and Taylor. But the writer, through this work, has made it a rule to say but little of individuals yet living, while he pays an occasional mark of respect to the deceased. And even under this rule, he finds himself embarrassed ; for it is impossible to notice all that he would desire to.
Captain Vance was a fine military officer, and was in the service, in different grades of office, during the greater part of the war. He was amongst the early settlers of the county ; married in Franklinton in 1805, and remained a resident of the county the balance of his life. He was a surveyor and for many years the
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HISTORY OF
County Surveyor ; was one of the conspicuous citizens of his day, and highly respected. He died in 1824. His widow still survives, and lives with her son, Cham- bers Vance, Esq., of Blendon.
Captain McDowell was a military officer of portly and commanding appearance. He was afterward pro- moted to the rank of Colonel, which title he bore through life. He was amongst the early settlers of the county, and held the office of Clerk of the Courts and County Recorder many years. He was afterward May- or of the city of Columbus. Was a man of free and jovial disposition, and always had warm friends. He died in the fall of 1844, in the 54th year of his age.
Captain Brotherton was the third commander of this popular troop, and was, from that, promoted to the rank of Colonel, which title he bore through life. He was a native of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and came to Franklinton when a youth, and resided in this county ever after. He married a daughter of Captain Kook- en, a family of high respectability. He was of a mild and sociable disposition, and became very popular, apparently without an effort on his part. He served two constitutional terms of four years each, as Sheriff, and filled that critical and unpleasant office with pecu- liar ease and kindness, and was never charged with oppression.
1
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FRANKLIN . COUNTY.
He died in November, 1837, aged about forty-five years.
Captain McElvain, like his predecessors in the com- mand of the troops, was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the Ohio militia, and bore the title of Colonel through life. He died suddenly on the 7th of February, 1858, at his residence in Worthington, aged about 65 years. Col. McElvain was one of the first residents of Franklin County. He came here with his father and family, when he was a child, in the spring of 1798, and remained here ever since. He was in turn farmer, mer- chant, hotel-keeper and public officer. He was many years an assistant at the Ohio Penitentiary. He held the office of County Treasurer four years, and was Superintendent of the County Infirmary a number of years, and discharged the duties of his office with kindness and urbanity.
In 1815, or '16, a wooden toll bridge was erected across the Scioto, on the road leading from Columbus to Franklinton, by Lucas Sullivant, under a charter from the Legislature. The bridge started from near the same point on the east side of the river that the present one does, but, running more direct across the river, landed several rods lower down on the west side. And a new road was opened from thence through the fields to Franklinton, and passed through Franklinton one
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HISTORY OF
square further south than the road had formerly been, or now is. This change gave dissatisfaction generally to the property holders on the main street. The bridge stood some eight or ten years, when some of the timbers becoming rotten, it fell. It was then rebuilt, starting from the same point on the east, and running in the same direction that the national road bridge does ; and the former road to and through Franklinton was restored.
This toll-bridge and the franchise fell to the share of Joseph Sullivant in the division of his father's estate. When the national road was constructing, about the year 1832 or '33, upon the superintendent agreeing to erect a good, free bridge, at the expense of the govern- ment, provided Sullivant's right under the charter was extinguished, the citizens, principally of the north end of Columbus, aided by a few subscriptions west of the river, raised by contribution $8,000; and the county (through the commissioners) gave $2,000 more, making $10,000, which was paid to Mr. Sullivant for his right ; and thereupon, the present substantial structure was erected at the expense of the general government, as a part of the national road.
For the first twenty years or more, after the settle- ment of this county, fishing and hunting were favorite amusements ; and the fish and game being plenty, a
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FRANKLIN COUNTY.
person did not tire in the pursuit. Fishing was some- times with a net seine, but more frequently with a brush drag, which required from a dozen to twenty men, and was a kind of frolic. Hunting was for the double or treble purpose of amusement, the obtaining of fresh game for the table, and the protection of the crops against devouring animals.
The subjoined account of a general squirrel hunt, from the Columbus Gazette of August 29th, 1822, is illustra- tive of the above fact. And at the same time it brings to view the names and the memory of a number of re- spectable citizens of that day, most of whom have now passed away.
" GRAND SQUIRREL HUNT .- The squirrels are becoming so numer- ous in the county as to threaten serious injury, if not destruction, to the erops of the farmer during the ensuing fall. Much good might be done by a general turn out of all citizens whose convenience will permit, for two or three days, in order to prevent the alarming ravages of those mischievous neighbors. It is, therefore, respectfully submitted to the different townships, each, to meet and choose two or three of their citi- zens to meet in a hunting caucus, at the house of Christian Heyl, on Saturday, the 31st inst., at 2 o'clock P. M. Should the time above stated prove too short for the townships to hold meetings, as above re- commended, the following persons are respectfully nominated and invited to attend the meeting at Columbus : Montgomery, Jeremiah MeLene and Edward Livingston ; Hamilton, George W. Williams and Andrew Dill ; Madison, Nicholas Goetschius and W. H. Richardson ; Truro, Abiather V. Taylor and John Hanson ; Jefferson, John Edgar and Elias Ogden ; Plain, Thomas B. Patterson and Jonathan Whitehead ; Harrison, F. C. Olmsted and Capt. Bishop ; Sharon, Matthew Mat- thews and Buckley Comstock; Perry, Griffith Thomas and William
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HISTORY OF
Mickey ; Washington, Peter Sells and Uriah Clark ; Norwich, Robert Elliott and Alanson Perry ; Clinton, Col. Cook and Samuel Hender- son ; Franklin, John McElvain and Lewis Williams; Prairie, John Hunter and Jacob Neff; Pleasant, James Gardiner and Reuben Golli- day ; Jackson, Woollery Conrad and Nicholas Hoover ; Mifflin, Adam Reid and William Dalzell.
" In case any township should be unrepresented in the meeting, those present will take the liberty of nominating suitable persons for said absent townships.
" RALPH OSBORN, LUCAS SULLIVANT,
" GUSTAVUS SWAN,* SAMUEL G. FLENNIKEN,
" CHRISTIAN HEYL, * JOHN A. McDOWELL."
A subsequent paper says : "The hunt was conducted agreeably to the instructions in our last paper. On counting the scalps, it appeared that nineteen thousand six hundred and sixty scalps were produced. It is impos- sible to say what number in all were killed, as a great many of the hunters did not come in." The hunting or killing of deer was successfully practiced by candle or torch light, at night, on the river. The deer in warm weather would come into the river after night, to eat a kind of water-grass that grew in the stream, and the hunters, by taking a canoe, and a bright light in it, could let it float down stream, and the light appeared to blind the deer, until they could float near to them, and shoot them with ease.
In March, 1823, we find in the Gazette the following
* Yet living.
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FRANKLIN COUNTY.
proposition for improving the Granville road, which was then the most direct eastern line of road from Co- lumbus, and was almost impassable, being but little else than one continuous mud hole :
" The undersigned respectfully request, that as many of the citizens of Franklin County as can make it convenient, will meet at the tavern of Robert Russell, on Saturday, the 11th day of April next, for the pur- pose of making arrangements to meet the citizens of Licking County, and labor on the Columbus and Granville road, for two days, in the latter part of May next.
" EBENEZER BUTLER, JOHN KERR,
" ARCHIBALD BENFIELD,
SAMUEL G. FLENNIKEN,
" SAMUEL SHANNON,
ORRIS PARISII,
" HENRY BROWN,*
RALPH OSBORN,
" WILLIAM NEIL,* JAMES KOOKEN,
" J. A. McDOWELL,
JAMES K. COREY,
"P. H. OLMSTED, *
ELI C. KING,
FRANCIS STEWART."*
Near this time, David Pugh erected two toll bridges on this road - one over Alum Creek and the other over Big Walnut Creek. They were wooden structures, and did not last many years until they became unsafe, and he ceased to take toll, and abandoned the bridges. Mr. Pugh then lived by the road side, and kept a tavern east of Walnut Creek; he did not keep toll collectors at the bridges, but collected from travellers at his house.
* Yet living.
4
" A. J. McDOWELL,
" EDWARD LIVINGSTON,
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HISTORY OF
Building his bridges was an unprofitable enterprise. Mr. Pugh died in October, 1857, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. The generation to which he had be- longed had run away from him; and he too has now " gone glimmering through the dream of things that were."
The summer and fall of 1823 exceeded any thing before known for sickness. The whole country was lit- tle else than one vast infirmary - whole families were frequently prostrate without well members enough to take care of the sick ones. The diseases were bilious and intermittent fevers, of all types, from the common fever and ague to the most malignant. Although the mortality was great, still it was not excessively so in pro- portion to the number of sick. Many prominent men were taken off that season, amongst whom were Lucas Sullivant,* Judge John A. McDowell, Judge John Kerr, David S. Broderick, Barzillai Wright, keeper of the Pen- itentiary, and others. The ensuing year, 1824, was also very sickly, but not so much so as 1823. Amongst the prominent old citizens carried off this year, were Capt. Joseph Vance, Billingsby Bull, Esq., James Culbertson, John Starr, sr., and others.
Amongst the writers for the newspapers about this
* Mr. Sullivant was about fifty-eight years of age. He was the leading pioneer in Franklin County - a man of enterprise, good judg- ment, and great energy of character.
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FRANKLIN COUNTY.
time, was Thomas Backus (father of the late Elijah Backus) who wrote over the signature of "Fabius." Mr. Backus was an able and cutting writer. He occa- sionally wrote poetry. The following lines from his pen, have a reference to the demolition of the beautiful mound that once stood at the corner of High and Mound streets, in Columbus, and was partly used up in the manufacture of brick for the first State House, and from which many human bones were taken :
" Oh Town ! consecrated before The white man's foot e'er trod our shore, To battle's strife and valour's grave, Spare ! oh spare, the buried brave.
" A thousand winters passed away, And yet demolished not the clay, Which on yon hillock held in trust The quiet of the warrior's dust.
" The Indian came and went again ; He hunted through the lengthened plain ; And from the Mound he oft beheld The present silent battle field.
" But did the Indian e'er presume, To violate that ancient tomb ? Ah, no ! he had the soldier grace Which spares the soldier's resting place.
" It is alone for Christian hand To sever that sepulchral band, Which ever to the view is spread, To bind the living to the dead.
" FABIUS."
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HISTORY OF
Mr. Backus died in the fall of 1825.
Harvey D. Little was also a contributor to the col- umns of the newspapers, and wrote over the signature of " Velasco." He was a young man of some talent, and afterward editor of the National Enquirer, published by Horton Howard. He mostly wrote poetry ; was of a sedate and solemn turn of mind, and his productions were generally expressive of his own feelings. The fol- lowing is a specimen of his poetry :
" When many a year bath roll'd its round, And left life fast decaying ; When all those silver ties which bound Our fondest hopes arc straying ;
" When wounded friendship finds no balm To heal its cruel anguish ; When pity's tears shall cease to charm The heart that's left to languish ;
" 'Tis then that mem'ry brings to view The hours now passed forever ; The loves, the joys, the griefs we knew, Which shall return - O never.
" How faithful then mem'ry portrays Those hours of childish pleasure ; When basking in youth's brightest rays We thought each toy a treasure.
" Our prospects then were sweet and fair, We thought no griefs could cloud them ; Nor that cold penury and eare With gloom so soon would shroud them.
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FRANKLIN COUNTY.
" But oft these prospects disappear, As time our years are stealing ; And retrospection calls a tear To ease each wounded feeling. " Worthington, July 20, 1823.
VELASCO."
Mr. Little died in Columbus, of cholera, in 1833.
In 1823, the present straight road from the north end of High street, Columbus, to Worthington, was opened ; previous to that, the road passed up the river, and Olentangy Creek .*
In 1824, the county seat was removed from Frank- linton to Columbus.
Times remained dull, and prices of real estate and agricultural productions low, until about 1827 or 1828. And from about 1830 to 1837, improvements of all kinds and business generally, were brisk; and the price of real estate in both town and country, run up at rail- road speed. In fact, a kind of speculation mania pre- vailed about this time through all parts of the Union ; and the people of Franklin County partook in their full proportion. Buying and selling of real estate, laying
* This stream, formerly called Whetstone, is, by a law passed in February, 1833, to restore the Indian names to certain streams, called Olentangy -and the stream sometimes called Big Walnut, and some- times Big Belly, is named Gahannah - though it is said that the name Gahannah is only applicable to that stream below the junction of the three creeks - Blacklick, Walnut, and Alum Creeks -that the Indian word Gahannah signifies - three united in one.
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out towns, and sub-dividing lots and lands into smaller parcels, and selling, leasing, etc., were the most common operations of the speculator. The mora multicaulus excitement also prevailed, and money was made by some in the sale of the plants, or bushes,-but those who bought and attempted to cultivate the mulberry, raise the worms, and manufacture the silk, did not suc- ceed so well. Messrs. Joseph Sullivant, A. S. Chew, and perhaps some others connected with them, set out a large field of the mulberry plants, and erected a good sized frame building near Franklinton, for a silk manu- factory. The experiment was made, but not succeeding well, the whole concern was abandoned in a few years, and nothing now remains to even show where the " Silk Factory " stood.
The raising of the sugar beet, for the manufacture of sugar, was also another wild chimera introduced about this time. Mr. Sullivant also experimented in this, but abandoned the project after one or two years of rather unsuccessful operations.
About the year 1837, this wild career of speculation - this getting rich one off another, without creating any additional wealth in the country, but merely ex- changing property from hand to hand, and every time placing a higher estimate on it, had about exhausted itself ; and things began to gently recede, and by 1840
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business had again become very dull, and prices of real estate and produce had essentially fallen.
During this year (1840) the principal business of the country, far and near, appeared to be electioneering - attending conventions and stump speeches, making and waving of flags, singing political songs, etc. All now appeared intent on saving the country and bettering their own conditions in this way.
From 1846 or '47 until 1853, was another flow of speculative enterprise ; and money being plenty, and the currency good, the whole country improved rapidly. The city and towns flourished, population increased from emigration, and the farming interest never before was so prosperous.
Since 1853, things have been again receding, partic- ularly in the city and towns-the farming interest is not, however, much affected yet, and probably will not be so much as the towns. The railroads bring the farmers so near to the eastern cities that they are not much de- pendent on their neighboring towns or city for a market for their productions. The capital of the towns and cities principally made the railroads-the farmer profits by them.
About the year 1839 or '40, a paper mill was erected by Henry Roedter and John Siebert, on the Scioto, some two or three miles above Franklinton, where they
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HISTORY, ETC.
for some time carried on the paper making business. It did not, however, succeed well, and Roedter soon passed out of the concern, and removed to Cincinnati. It was then for a time owned and worked by Siebert and Ernst Frankenberg, and succeeded no better. It then passed into the hands of Asahel Chittenden, who abandoned the old site and building, and in the fall of 1845, removed the machinery to a new brick building erected for that pur- pose, just above the national road bridge, in Columbus, where it was worked for some time by J. L. Martin and R. H. Hubbell, and then by William Murphy, until it was destroyed by fire, in 1848. It was then rebuilt and worked by Mr. A. B. Newburgh, until the fall of 1849, when it finally closed its business. The same building was afterward converted into a machine shop, owned by Messrs Swan and Davis, and in July, 1854, it was again destroyed by fire - building, machinery, and all.
CHAPTER IV.
NEWSPAPERS.
Ohio State Journal and its Antecedents - Freemen's Chronicle - Ohio Monitor - Ohio State Bulletin - Western Statesman - Co- lumbus Sentinel - Anti-Masonic Review - Western Hemisphere - Ohio Statesman - People's Press - Ohio Confederate - Old School Republican - Capital City Fact - Cross and Journal - Ohio Press - Ohio Cultivator - Free Soil Papers -German Papers- Sundry short lived papers.
THE first newspaper ever published in Franklin Coun- ty was at Worthington, in 1811. It was called the Western Intelligencer, and supported the measures of the general government. Col. Kilbourne was the original proprietor ; it however soon passed out of his hands, and early in 1814, the office was removed to Columbus, and the paper was then published by P. H. Olmsted, Joel Buttles, and Ezra Griswold, jr., and by a slight change in the title, was called the Western Intelligencer and Columbus Gazette, and it has been continued ever since, under different proprietors and modifications of title. It was the root, or original of what is now The Ohio State Journal. It soon passed entirely from But-
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HISTORY OF
tles and Griswold, to Col. Olmsted, who dropped part of the title, and as sole proprietor and editor, published it until the year 1825, under the name of The Columbus Gazette. After the commencement of the sessions of the Legislature at Columbus, he did the State printing by contract. The office of State Printer was not created until the session of 1824-5, when George Nashee was elected the first State Printer, and he and John Bail- hache both came in as partners with Col. Olmsted, and the paper was then enlarged, and the title changed to the Ohio State Journal and Columbus Gazette. Mr. Nashee died before his term as State Printer expired, and Olmsted was appointed for the balance of the term. At the session of 1827-8, Judge John Bailhache was elected State Printer, and he and Olmsted bought out the Western Statesman, and merged it in the Journal. ยท The Western Statesman was a paper of respectable ap- pearance, that had been commenced in 1825 by Zacha- riah Mills and Martin Lewis, and in 1826 it passed into the hands of Martin Lewis and Elijah Glover; afterward to Freedom Sever and Glover, and in 1828 they sold out and it was merged in the Journal, as just stated. In 1831, Col. (afterward General) Olmsted sold out to Judge Bailhache, who continued proprietor and editor until the spring of 1835, when he sold out to Charles Scott and Smithson E. Wright, who united with it the Co-
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FRANKLIN COUNTY.
lumbus Sentinel, a paper that had grown out of Ohio State Bulletin, as hereinafter noticed. In 1837, Mr. Wright sold out to Scott, and John M. Gallagher, who had some months before started a new paper by the title of the Ohio Political Register, came in as partner with Scott in Wright's place, and merged the Register in the Journal, and the title was changed to Ohio State Journal and Register, but before long the Register was dropped from the title, and the paper assumed its present name-the Ohio State Journal. In the spring of 1839, Mr. Galla- gher was succeeded by Samuel Douglas, who continued in the concern less than a year, and sold out to Mr. Scott, and Scott then continued sole proprietor, assisted by various editors, amongst whom were James Allen, O. Follett, V. W. Smith, John Teesdale, Wm. B. Thrall, Henry Reed (now of the Cincinnati Commercial), and Wm. T. Bascom, until the year 1854, when he made an assignment to trustees, who, after continuing the pub- lication some time, organized and transferred the estab- lishment to the Ohio State Journal Company, and by them it was continued under the editorial charge of Oran Follett, assisted by Wm. T. Bascom and John Greiner, until the summer of 1856, when it passed into the hands of William Schouler & Co., by whom it is at present conducted.
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